Raven
"Really Summer, here?"
"What of it?"
Raven Branwen felt a tinge of irritation as the red-haired and silver-eyed woman shot her a confident smirk, the opulent front entrance of the Glass Unicorn stretching out far in front of them. Raven rolled her eyes considering for a moment -just a scant, nary moment- whether it was worth it or not to turn and leave, and then Summer's smirk hit her and she stopped.
"Thinking about running again, Blackbird~?"
The subtle, barely there tone was present, and once again, Raven felt her heart jump into her chest. She turned her head away, and then, replied in a tone that she hated herself for almost shaking.
"Fine. Let's get this over with."
The doors parted with a soft, barely present sigh, and Raven Branwen, a criminal mastermind, leader of the Branwen bandit tribe, and member of team STRQ, followed Summer Rose into the jaws of death.
It was nice, for a five-story monument to the greed of capricious nobility who had to step into the "filth" of Mantle. In fact, one could even say it was exceptionally nice, and by Raven's standards, it indeed was one of the nicest places she'd ever visited. The two had paused in front of a truly garish statue of a King Taijitu in the central lobby, while awaiting a front desk servicewoman to arrive, Raven found herself studying the abominable statue.
"Not thinking of taking a souvenir, are we, Blackbird?"
Mildly, no… teasing, was that tone of voice and it was almost whispered into her ear, Raven whirled on the other woman, and her hand almost flew for the scabbard, before her senses calmed down.
"Fuck, Summer. Why!?"
Summer Rose, ever the tease, stood her ground, firmly in the taller woman's space, a lilting smile on her lips and a cheeky grin flashing in those silver eyes. Raven almost lost herself in that gaze, but was cut firmly off as Summer spoke quietly.
"Did you see our interested party?"
Raven only nodded, glances hadn't even really been exchanged, but she'd marked the girl the moment they'd entered, small, head of dark hair, and orange eyes that practically screamed out to everyone that she was staring.
"Mm. Not hard to notice, but… only a child. She's probably staring at your weapon."
Summer smirked, stepping back, and twirling idly, the flashing brilliance of the silver and red frame of Dawning Rose burnished on her back. The vast scythe curved into a half-moon at both ends, although the blades were safely collapsed.
"Well~ Dawning Rose does attract quite some attention, but are you sure she's not just staring at you~?"
Raven tried and nearly failed to prevent a blush from that, but while Summer's tone was warm, the smile never quite reached her eyes.
"That's… not fair."
"Oh~? Isn't it? You're the one who's out there being the badass huntress now, couldn't even stop by for a visit in the past 4 months?"
Raven scratched at the back of her neck, avoiding Summer's gaze was, by now, a mastered skill for her.
"Busy. Alpha Beringel showed up at the village, and it took me and a pair of my best to distract it long enough to lure it away from the rest of the pack."
Summer's gaze tinged, those silver eyes filled with something more akin to worry and sadness, and the following question's answer would be something that would hurt her.
"Any-"
"Casualties? Always."
Raven's voice was sharp, cold, punishing, and Summer looked away, the air between them quickly filling with awkwardness and silence as the difference between the two set in. The bandit queen let up, trying to dispel the air between them with something else…
"Did Qrow ever convince you to try bourbon?"
Summer flushed a positively brilliant color of red, and immediately shot back a dagger-sharp retort.
"Oh, like the time he convinced you that birds knew how to fly instinctively?"
"He said he'd never tell anyone!"
Raven hissed, her voice as soft as her face was red.
"She's moving."
Summer's voice cut through Raven's sudden embarrassment, and the huntress watched from the corner of her eye as the young girl, clad in white with a very fancy necklace, stole towards the stairs.
"Quiet. Very quiet. Talented for her age."
Any further conversation was cut firmly in half as a young woman, blond, approached them. She spoke firmly and confidently.
"Madame bids you both welcome and apologizes for the delay, it is not often that we have two huntresses of your… appearance stay with us."
Raven rolled her eyes, and she felt, more than saw, Summer's tinge of annoyance, the little way that single muscle on her bare neck twitched. Summer hated very few things in the world, but… this was one she hated. She hated the forced politeness and more to that end, she hated the way that people kowtowed to her, the mighty huntress, whenever she showed up in Atlas.
"It's no trouble at all, we're used to far worse conditions. Is our room ready?"
Raven's mind flashed into alarm all too quickly, sharing a room? Again? Serious-
"Of course, and madame does apologize for the delay, there was a complication that led to a slight delay in the cleanliness standards of your room, our deepest apologies."
Raven noted the way she looked, noted the little twitches, the little movements. She was certain Summer had seen them too, based on the way the woman's neck muscles pulsed once, twice, a third time.
"It's no trouble at all."
The woman took a brief moment, evidently considering asking for the duffel bags both women carried on their shoulders, before thinking better of it at the sight of Raven's odachi and Summer's enormous scythe, without another word, the woman turned towards a lower hallway and began leading them towards it. Summer took the lead, a hum from her lips bursting forth to mask the slight annoyance she very clearly felt. Raven… was nowhere near that polite, and let herself feel that irritation and annoyance, and exude it. Something their guide very clearly felt based on the very visible shiver that rolled across her shoulders.
"Rae, stop it."
Raven did not stop it. Only continuing to glare, until Summer gently whacked her across the head with the small Atlesian travel pamphlet she'd picked up in the hallway.
"Rae, stop intimidating the staff."
Raven stopped for all of 4 seconds.
The door that they were led to was clearly a sizeable suite, and Raven flashed Summer a look that asked her "why" in a simple question before the door opened and Raven realized why.
Jacuzzi, by dust, a fully functioning jacuzzi.
Summer only flashed that ever-present smirk and led Raven into the room, before the door shut and the two let the smiles slip off of their faces, or well… Summer did, Raven wasn't smiling.
"Interested party?" Summer spoke quietly and quickly.
"Tracked us across the lobby, looked at us like we were water in a desert."
"Necklace?"
Raven grimaced, not wanting to tell Summer what she knew.
"Rae."
Her tone was a warning.
"Electric dust crystal in the center, remotely activated."
"Faunus traits?"
"None visible."
"Child abuse or trafficking?"
"Maybe both?"
Uncertainty clouded their tones, and as the conversation petered out, Raven watched Summer move to the window, flinging open the blinds, and looking outwards across Mantle.
"So, the serial killer that even James can't find?"
"Yeah. Captain Ironwood is having some serious problems with this guy, and initially, they weren't even classified as an individual, team of hunters thought it was an Alpha Manticore that had swarmed through the town. People stripped to pieces."
Raven prompted the next piece with a rhetorical question.
"Until he attacked a nobleman from Atlas…"
"Yep. Agave Bluecrest was shot and stabbed to death inside his limousine. Guards ripped in half."
"Brutal."
"Yep."
"Any idea on where to start?"
"Streets and patrol, seems they like targeting civilians."
"Right, perfect. Are you on first watch or me?"
Raven cracked her neck and stood, waiting for Summer to tell her what came next."
"I'll take first watch if you want to get some rest, or… well, take a bath. I saw you eying that jacuzzi."
Raven didn't dignify that with a response, and strode towards the jacuzzi anyways, in one, smooth, fluid motion she divested herself of her armor, clothing, and outwear, before plunging into the dry tub and turning the faucets on to the max. The utterly steaming water came out in a wonderful, warm rush that had Raven sighing in delight as Summer, back turned to her looked out across the windows into Mantle.
"Tai still asks about you, you know."
Raven tried to ignore the clammy feeling that wrapped around her heart and squeezed.
"You and I both know I wasn't cut out for that life."
"The being domestic part? Or the loving more than one person part?"
"Summer… that's unfair. I'm going back with you, aren't I?"
"Yang needs to know you're not just her fun Aunt, Rae."
"Yang thinks I'm fun?"
"She's 8 and into Menagerie manga, she thinks you're the coolest aunt ever."
Raven turned her head away from Summer.
"I… don't know if I can Summer. I'm not cut out for being a mom. Especially… compared to you."
Summer snorted, a soft, light sound that had Raven looking up just enough to catch her gaze, and the slight, but growing anger hardening those silver eyes into hardened ingots.
"Sorry Rae… but you don't get to say that. You don't get to say that when you told Yang you were her aunt and left her with us before going dust knows where only to return 3 weeks later by portaling into our house's living room."
Her tone might have been soft, but the intentions behind it burned and licked at Raven's core, guilt and regret soaring into her being like unfettered feathers.
"What were you thinking? Do you not anticipate what happens when Yang starts growing? When she starts looking in the mirror and wondering why she doesn't have mine or Tai's face? What's going to happen then?"
Raven didn't have an answer for her, and the silence that surrounded them quickly gained an air of finality to it. Summer had always had a knack for attacking her at her weakest points, and… she'd struck home on this one.
"I… don't know. I thought it would be better if she grew up around… Tai and you… more than-"
"More than what? A bandit queen, a friend? An ex-lover? What are you so afraid of, Rae? Eugh… I can't even…"
Summer stood up, and turned, her form blurring briefly as she sank clean through the window and stepped into the open air. Her semblance drifted white rose petals as she fell away from the window.
"Sum-"
Raven reached out, but her leader was gone. Disappeared amongst the streets and crowds of Mantle's seedy underbelly with nothing but a scattering of white rose petals left behind.
"Fuck."
Raven cursed, and let the long-awaited sight burst from her lips, her bath had been thoroughly ruined, and the woman found herself getting out of the tub, glistering water pouring off of her body and into the tub as she reached for a towel and began to dry herself off.
"Dammit Summer… Every single time."
The late evening turned into early night, and even deeper twilight as Raven watched from the balcony of their suite until Summer returned, the woman clad in her white cloak, lips chapped and cheeks red from the cold, nodded to Raven. Words weren't exchanged, simply because neither of them needed to speak, for Raven… it was too awkward, and for Summer? She was simply too angry to speak to her partner.
This was why, when Raven took to the skies in a beat of magic and wings, she missed the small figure on the roof of the Glass Unicorn. Orange eyes tracked the shape of the raven as she soared away from the building. The small girl kicked her feet over the edge of the roof, watching the simple action of flight in that beautiful raven, and for a brief moment, she dared to dream of something larger.
A/N
Hey everyone! Been a long-time lurker, though I've worked on a few things on this site before, this is my first time posting something. Do enjoy, and feel free to leave reviews and the like! I will say that this story is probably going to be a little different from what some of you are probably expecting. But I'm excited to give you this story!
The cover art is from SoulsCore on DeviantArt. Fantastic artist, very much worth a visit!