Summer was breathing hard, sweat rolling down her mostly bare skin despite the relatively low early morning temperature. Sand flew about her ankles as she continued to do jumping jacks to the soundtrack of the waves rolling in and out behind her. She could feel the sun at her back, warming her skin and the cloth of her black and white patterned bathing suit as she continued to exercise alone. The shifting shadows of the small cliffside straight ahead were the only indication of how much time had passed since she had left the beach house, but in truth, Summer had absolutely no idea how long she had been gone. All she knew was that she was getting tired, and that she needed to get back before the others realized she was missing.
Even through the nagging tug to get back home in the corner of her mind, Summer didn't want to return. The sounds of Vacuan nature all around her helped her to think… or so she thought. The sheer volume of scenarios, threads, and memories running through her mind had increased exponentially since she had left the house and found herself free of distraction. It had been ages since she had truly had some alone time, and the idea of sending a text to the others to just let her have a day to herself was incredibly tempting. As much as she wanted to simply hide away, though, a voice in her head reminding her of her responsibility as leader of Team STRQ was growing ever louder. Raven was in danger. Potentially, they were all in danger.
The sound of a searing tear being ripped open in the space before her overpowered Summer's thoughts and caused her to let out a panicked scream. By the time she realized what she was looking at, she was already upon her butt in the sand and scrambling backward to where she had partially buried Pearl Phoenix so as to appear unarmed. Summer gripped the staff with white knuckles as she watched the scarlet portal expand, her heart racing and breathing labored. As Raven stepped through wearing her usual layered sleeveless robe top and skirt, she began to calm… at least a little.
"There you are," Raven announced softly as the portal closed behind her. "I was beginning to fear you'd been kidnapped in the night, or something."
"Kid… what?" Summer asked.
"Well, your room is empty," Raven explained while sheathing Omen. "I had to search for Willow, too, but I actually found her in the house."
"Where was she?" Summer asked as she let go of her weapon and stood up to wipe sand off her thighs. "She never came back to our room last night, as far as I know…"
"Asleep in Kali's room," Raven answered. "Apparently, they spent the night together. The less I know about that situation, the better. I only know because I saw her through the crack when Kali opened the door to head downstairs. She and I are the only ones currently awake."
"You don't think they're like… uh…" Summer began, blushing despite her best efforts. "You know? After everything that's been going on with Willow getting all 'free' and stuff."
Raven shifted her weight and gave her hair a toss, letting her bangs fall in front of her damaged eye.
"…if they are… again- I don't want to know. It's none of our business. We're all supposed to be relaxing, so… let them relax, whatever that means. If Willow wants to have some sort of wild sexual awakening, I say we stay out of it entirely. That's her prerogative, and honestly, it might just be the next step in her letting her hair down."
"Of course," Summer agreed. "I mean, it's cool if they're like that. Just… surprising. On Willow's end, at least."
"Maybe so," Raven replied. "Speaking of relaxing… what are you doing out here, alone? It's barely even dawn…"
"Uh… well, you know," Summer began awkwardly, her blush intensifying. "Training?"
"Training," Raven repeated, sounding unimpressed as she looked the other girl up and down. "At six in the morning. Alone. On vacation, on the beach, on the hottest continent on Remnant, when you occasionally try to skip training back at Beacon. That is so incredibly unlike you that I don't believe it."
"It's true!" Summer whined as she folded her arms beneath her chest. "I can train! I'm not totally incapable, even if I'm not the best at combat on our team…"
"It isn't that you can't train," Raven explained as she walked closer to her companion. "It's that this is usually when one of us is forced to either quite literally drag you out of bed or stop you from raiding the cookies in the shared kitchen. There's very little in-between on a day-to-day basis."
"Yeah, yeah," Summer grumbled as she watched Raven move closer to the ocean. "I was just thinking it'll be like, the Summer of Summer, you know? New location, new year, new me."
"This is the first I'm hearing of this idea," Raven said flatly. "What's really driving this? Your potential new role as a Maiden?"
"…is it that obvious?" Summer griped.
"Incredibly," Raven confirmed as she fanned out her skirt and moved to sit down in the sand. "Come."
"…isn't that super uncomfortable?" Summer asked as she took her place next to Raven.
"I have short shorts on underneath," the young woman answered with a roll of her eyes. "Don't change the subject. Talk to me."
"Talk to you?" Summer asked. "Now who's behaving strangely? You really came looking out of concern, and now you want to give me advice? Did Willow put something in the water?"
"Would you rather I just go about my business and leave you to your thoughts?" Raven asked candidly.
A mental chorus of Yes! rang out in Summer's head, but she knew that being completely honest would not only damage her relationship with Raven, it would turn away an opportunity that she had been waiting an entire year for. Summer was well aware of the fact that she couldn't always do what she wanted or what she felt was best for her mental health with so many new variables popping up around her. It was, after all, one of the reasons she had come to the beach in the first place. Raven had been right- she didn't want to be training alone at dawn at all.
"Of course not, I'm just… surprised," Summer half-lied. "I've always wanted to get closer to you and just talk about our futures, but you've always been resistant…"
"Now, when you say 'our futures'…" Raven began.
"Not like that," Summer reassured with a wave of her hand. "Our futures like… the next few weeks. Our next moves. That kind of thing."
"In that case, why don't you start by explaining the moves you're making right now," Raven suggested. "This is hardly the most efficient way to train, and we're quite literally on vacation right now. If you're truly trying to take your growth in combat more seriously, Qrow and I can h-"
"It's not like that," Summer interrupted. "I just… I think I'm fine in combat, I just want to… lose a little weight."
Raven stared as Summer buried her face in her hands and tucked in her knees.
"…Summer."
"I have a little bulge!" Summer whined. "What if… I don't want to be all fat and gross looking if Professor Gumo is running tests and putting sticky pads all over me or whatever!"
"Sticky… pads?" Raven questioned, bewildered. "Electrodes?"
"Yeah, those!"
"Why would he…" Raven started, only to shake her head. "…you know what, never mind. I don't believe being self-conscious about your little belly is really what's going on here, either."
"It is!" Summer insisted.
"Is it? Or are you just hyper-focusing on that problem you've had since we started at Beacon in order to avoid thinking about the bigger issues, because toning your stomach is easier and more manageable? I think you're running from your problems and spinning your wheels because you truly don't know what to do, and you've gotten so used to just retreating to spend time with yourself when things get stressful that it's your first move."
For a while, the only sounds around the girls were those of the waves lapping up against the shore. Summer transitioned to hugging her knees with her chin atop them while staring out at the horizon line. Raven closed her eyes and simply waited, knowing that her friend would crack first. Though she was correct, Summer was quiet for long enough that Raven almost broke the silence.
"…I'm scared of change," Summer admitted. "I'm scared of what's about to happen to us all when we return from Vacuo."
"How do you mean?" Raven asked. "STRQ will be STRQ, OKRA will be OKRA, Willow will visit, classes get harder, life goes on."
"Raven," Summer said in an accusatory tone. "You don't really believe it's going to be that simple, do you? Professor Ozpin said our team will be going on more dangerous missions and learning more about the Relics. We just found out about this 'Salem' woman, and I doubt she works alone. OKRA isn't even supposed to know about any of this, and now, Jacques is gone, so our opportunities for side-job team-ups are more or less nonexistent. The rift is just going to get wider, we're having more petty, stupid fights…"
"But OKRA does know about all this," Raven countered. "And Ozpin seems to have planned for that possibility. I'm sure he'll pull them in alongside us, and the opportunities we have will just be different. More challenging. More… interesting."
"I want to believe that, but I…" Summer started, only to stop herself as she felt Raven's eyes on the side of her neck.
"…but you've seen something."
"…I've seen something," Summer confirmed. "A murky vision I didn't want. Foresight that's just unclear enough to be worrying…"
"Your predictions have been wrong before," Raven reminded. "You can't just obsess over w-"
"I have to!" Summer exploded as she raised her head up and gave Raven a desperate look. "What if my predictions being wrong means I'm on the wrong path!? What if they're just going to happen later? What if I'm screwing things up and deviating from some kind of d-"
"There is no destiny," Raven spat, putting extra venom on the word. "And we don't even know if what you're seeing are predictions. Half the things you've told us were so far off in the future that we won't know whether or not you're right for years. You think you've seen my daughter, for the gods' sake. This is no way to live your life, cowering in fear and indecision because you don't know if you're sticking to a path that isn't real!"
"This is why I hate change," Summer muttered. "Because it always just feels wrong. It feels like I should know what to do, but I don't."
"That's just life," Raven insisted. "None of us know what we're doing- we just do the best with what we have right in front of us. Your Semblance… or, other-Semblance, or Maiden foresight, or whatever is going on with you is poisoning your mind. It could be the byproduct of something we don't understand, and hopefully, the Headmaster here can give you some answers. You should just ignore whatever you're 'seeing' and do the best you can to relax. If I'm trying to let my hair down these next few weeks, you can, too."
"I don't think one of us is coming back from Vacuo," Summer said suddenly. "I saw us leaving the desert, and there were only eight of us getting on the airship. How do you expect me to just ignore that?"
The revelation was enough to give Raven momentary pause. Immediately afterward, though, she shook her head and let out a snort.
"…because Kali will be late and we end up waiting around for her to get her shit together. Because Qrow decides he wants to fly alongside us instead. Because Bartholomew wants to stay behind for a few weeks and do some extended research at the museum, so the rest of us leave on time and he doesn't. There are a million explanations for why that could happen. Don't jump to conclusions and assume the worst."
Summer let out a wistful sigh and rested her chin atop her knees once again. Though she understood Raven's intent and could even admit that the girl had a point, she could feel that something was off in comparison to what she had seen. There was nothing optimistic about her vision.
"Maybe you're right," Summer said without quite believing it. "Maybe… I'll just try to put it out of my mind and figure out how to get that done no matter how impossible it seems. Focus on 'new opportunities' and the good that's going on around us…"
"Not that there seems to be a lot of it at the moment," Raven grumbled.
"I can think of at least one really good thing from today already," Summer teased with a smirk. "You opened a portal to me. Given how your Semblance works… doesn't that mean something about us as friends?"
Raven looked taken aback. It was immediately clear that she hadn't realized just what she done until Summer pointed it out, and it was her turn to be overtaken by a flustered blush.
"I… I was just really worried…"
"It's okay, Raves," Summer said lightly as she stood up into an overhead stretch. "I love ya, too."
Raven merely rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, saying nothing in response. She watched as Summer thrust out a hand to her with a sad smile. The constant shifting in moods was enough to cause Raven to hike a brow, unsure of her friend's intent.
"I don't know if I can put my visions out of mind… but a distraction would certainly help. Train with me? Please?"
Raven gripped the other girl's hand and pulled herself up with a confident nod.
"Of course. We aren't going to be separated, Summer. After all that we've been through… STRQ is going to last through Beacon and beyond. Promise."
Summer could tell that Raven spoke with absolute sincerity, but something else held her attention instead. She saw something that hadn't yet happened- something that could be a portent of disaster reflected in Raven's blood red eyes. Summer watched the events play out over the course of a few seconds, during which she forgot to even breathe. After the display was over, she took a deep, steady breath and looked away as she stooped down to gather Pearl Phoenix from the sand.
"…yeah. STRQ is forever…"
Author's Note:
Maybe Summer saw the current state of RWBY as a series. Ooooh, spooky.
-RD