Rays of light seep in through the windows hitting the face
As if it was like any other day Summer wakes up and she noticed that it wasn't the roof that she was use to seeing and then as she looks around she sees that she's not even in her hotel room in Traverse Town
As the memories of last night return she smiles and looks down to see a peacefully sleeping Tai and she goes down to kiss him he surprises her as he wraps his arms around her and kisses her right on the lips as lopsided grin was on his face as she blushed in emberrasment at getting caught and tries to get out of his grip
As then
*slap*
"Eeep!"
As Summer let out a Squeak in surprise as Tai smacked her butt and she glared cutely at him and Tai just smirking at her
"Now is not the time Tai I need to meet someone it's very important for me to go and meet with them" she chastised him as she kept trying to escape his hold
as he Groaned and let go of her "alright" he said dejectedly
"But first breakfast" she said as she was about to go to the kitchen she looked around and she didn't see Cloud was here
"is Cloud sleeping outside again" ashe let out a sigh as she went to the door and went outside and looked around and saw Cloud sleeping in a branch peacefully and with Zwei on his lap
'How did Zwei get up there? Did Cloud grab him and climb up there?' She Thought it was the only thing that could be explained as Summer walked closer to the tree as it seems that the steps have woken up Zwei as he woke groggy and yawned cutely shook his head as he saw Summer his little tail started to wag happily at the sight of her and jumped from branch to branch as he then got to the second story window where was Ruby's room
"Huh impressive" said Summer surprised by the corgis agility as then she punched the tree with an Aura infused punch as it shook the tree and a second later Cloud plopped on to ground with a tired groan escaped his his lips
"and that's pay back for waking me up with cold water, morning Cloud how are you" she said as a victorious smile crossed her lips
"Go fuck yourself" he blantinly said to her, she didn't get offend nor reacted to it
"I have a husband for that, but I woke you up because we need to go see him" she said to Cloud as this seemed to wake him up when hearing they needed to go meet the person but then his stomach grumbled hungrily as they both stared
"but first we need to eat breakfast" she declared as she then went back inside with Cloud in toe
as she began to make some breakfast with eggs and star shaped waffles
As she puts them on the table for the rest of the family as they finally decide to wake up. Yang walks down the stairs yawning while trying to rub the sleep of her eyes with Tai getting up and walking towards the kitchen and stretching off all the notes. saying morning to the two of them and goes behind Summer and hugs her from behind as she was cooking breakfast
"Tai! im making food so wait at the table!"She chastided her husband as he, with displeasure, went to the table and sat as he waited for his food alongside Cloud who was looking through the scroll just seeming to catch up and see what's going on around Remnant.
and plates were served with the food
"Morning" yawns Yang at the three while Cloud & Tai were eating there breakfast
"Morning sleepy head" said Summer back to her and Summers seem to have slightly woken her up as she saw Summer. shock was evident in her face mixed with confusion but then realization seemed to have struck as memories from last nights debacle seemed to have surface as she then tackles her mother into a hug
As Summer let out a gasp of surprise a she was not expecting a hug and one given so tightly from her eldest daughter
"Yang I'm happy to see you too but can you please give me some air cause I can barely breathe" said Summer as Yang quickly let her go as she took her time to regain her breath.
As footsteps are heard walking down the steps both Yang and Tai were surprised by what they saw.
Was Ruby smiling well it would be normal but it seems that their a little flicker in her eyes that they once saw but that was from a longtime ago but now it seems like she was the same little girl they knew but now she seems different and a little more illuminescent. with a small kick in her step while she wears the same old pumpkin pete hoodie when she begins to have a nightmare but now she seems better.
"Morning my little Rosebud how did you sleep?" Said Summer as she laid down her breakfast not noticing the other two's reaction at seeing her where the hoodie
" I slept well and today got even better cause your here mom" said Ruby as her mother awed at what she said to her as she hugged her daughter and she does the same in return
As they all sit down to eat as they were telling everything as she was listening intently to every word and she's happy that both her daughters were having hobbies as Ruby got her love for weapons from and Yang is getting interested into motorcycles
but then summer saw a light reflected from Ruby as a necklace which got her curiosity.
"What is that Ruby?"asked Summer as she pointed to her daughters necklace that's on her
And it seems to also get the attention of the others as Ruby takes out the necklace as she holds it up to show it to her mother
"You mean this"as Ruby shows her Necklace that had the shape of a Kite shield and then Summer just stares at the Kite shield shaped necklace she couldn't stop the memory from showing itself.
-FlashBack-
As a groan escapes her, she looks up at the sky but it seems that the dark night sky no stars shown she lifts herself up sitting , she looks at her surroundings only to see a desolate wasteland with no sign of grimm anywhere, as she tries to stand she winced in pain as she fell back down winced as she held her stomach in pain as she also felt pain on her leg, as she looked and saw her leg with a deep claw mark in her leg as her aura was flickering as if trying to heal it.
"Damn it " she cursed under her breath as she then made a makeshift bandage with her hood, then tried to get up once more but fell once again as the stinging pain felt worse, as she tapped places on her chest and then winced.
" Okay, yeah I may have a bruised rib or two" she said as then she noticed something in front of her
her Mecha Weapon
"Thorn Stem" she breathout in relief as she began crawling in pain towards her weapon, slowly making her way to the weapon and grabs hold of it and uses it as a crutch, standing with the makeshift crutch she looks around again and still no sign of grimm.
"That's odd they would be on me like a starving pack of wolves when they are a freshly dead deer carcass" she said under her breath keeping up her guard as she decided on a direction to go and began to limply walk the direction.
-Time skip-
As Summer was wandering around with no sense of direction she just walked not knowing where she was heading, where all the grim were, or what time it was as it felt like it was hours but maybe minutes passed seconds even.
As she checked on her scroll it was useless to say the least there was no signal, when she tries to see the time in the scroll, it goes static and just changes to random numbers and the only useful thing is the aura meter is showing that she's in the ver low and in the red as it shows it's slowly but surely rising and slowed down considerably do to her injuries that she sustained.
She just lets out a sigh putting away the scroll and just continues to walk, but if she was paying attention to surroundings she would have noticed that a group of glowing yellow emotionless eyes were looking at her from a distance and then they merge back to the shadows.
Summer has continued to walk but she then fell to her knees as she was tired, not exhausted at walking with no sense of direction as the only thing she sees is an endless wasteland.
No matter what direction she seems to go it seems to lead in the same place she seemed to appear in this strange wasteland. It seems she is stuck. No matter where she seems to go, she's going around in circles and she won't be able to go home.
Home where was that?
She can't get out of here?
Why does it seem like this place is trying to keep her here?
Can she even get back home to see Ruby, Yang, Qrow...Tai?
Maybe not
All the thoughts that kept crossing in her mind felt like a damn that was once over flooded that now broke, the intrusive thoughts couldn't be stopped no matter how much she tried to deny them it didn't help, as they kept stacking on each other making the known weight of her situation almost unbearable as the sense of despair began to creep in the sense to just give up to stop trying it felt almost intoxicating, as she looks up at the sky no stars can be seen to comfort her in her darkest hour, she then began to feel the hope start to deplete from as she just looks around her her surroundings, as then she saw a silhouette of someone was seen and it was easy to make out who it was.
A sense of warmth and her eyes light seemed to have returned to her as she stood back up once more with the help of thorn stem as a crutch again and as best as she could she began to run to them even though it was more of a jog
"Tai!" She yelled out to the man limping towards him, as his head perked up looking around for the person that yelled out his name yet seems to see no one
"Am I going insane" he mumbled to himself
Summer trips down and fell but quickly recovered and once again stood up this time without thorn
"Tai!" She yelled out towards him and she knows he heard her as he frantically looking around
"Summer?" He questioned with bewilderment as he then began fading
"Tai! I'm here, Tai!" She dove towards him as he was looking around not knowing what's happening, as she tries to hug him but she goes through him like he wasn't there
"Tai! i'm-" Summer tuned and yelled to her husband but the moment she turned around he was gone as she began thinking that her mind was beginning to play tricks on her
"all alone" she said as everything from the desolate wasteland
"hey are you okay?" asked a voice as she turned around to see a kid no older than 15 as the first thing she noticed that caught her eye was the shield
the shape was a kite shield and the emblems being two yellow arcs
-Flashback end-
"mom? hey mom are you ok?" asked Yang in concern as her mother was just staring at the necklace for 30 minutes
"Huh" she was taken out of the memory
"Oh! yeah sorry I was just spacing out my bad" she said to her daughters to calm them down as it did so only slightly as they didn't want to push it, as they are enjoying this morning Breakfast.
As they finally finished eating Summer buts on her cloak as Ruby and Yang noticed this they became curious on where she was going and where Cloud was.
"Mom where are you headed?"asked her youngest daughter out of curiosity
"Oh I'm going to go meet up with an old friend of mine it's about something important Don't worry I'll be back as soon as you know it ok" she said to her daughters as she reassured them that she'll be back
"Promise?"asked Yang in a nervous manner to her mother.
"Promise" reassured Summer, as she hugged her daughters tightly.
As Cloud was leaning on the door way waiting for his partner in saying their farewells and Tai came up to him
"Um Cloud right?" He asked Cloud, as Cloud nods for confirmation
"I uh got to say thanks for bringing and looking over Summer it must've a bit of a hassle I bet but still thank you for bringing her back us" the man thanks him and smile at him appreciatively but for Cloud
"I'm not the one you should be thanking for that" he said simply and coolly as they then left for Vale.
They get onto the fairy as Summer looks out to the blue sky.
and the memeory of the day that she was saved came to mind
-Flashback-
Summer was walking as a kid was leading the way having a sword and shield strapped to his back.
And it has only been what feels like a few hours and she is able to walk properly but she still walked slowly but the kid was walking at the same speed as her, and the walk was filled with an awkward silence that you can cut with a knife.
"So um what's your name miss? Mine is Jaune, nice to meet" said the boy introducing himself trying to break the awkward atmosphere by trying to start a conversation with her and it sort of worked as she let out a small chuckle even though I sounded a bit strained amusement could still be heard
"Nice to meet you Jaune my name is Summer, Summer Rose" Summer introduced herself to Jaune in which got a reaction from the young boy as he looked at her with a look of contemplation, it confused her but then the but stopped and rummaged through his pockets and took out something that shocked her to her core.
a silver metal Rose brooch, Her brooch, the same brooch that she decided to give to her daughter for a birthday present when she returned back from her mission.
'Why does Jaune have it? Did her daughter give it to him? Or stole it from her daughter or probably worse...did he kill her for it!?' She Thought, as Summer was letting her imagination begin to run wild into different scenarios, some that didn't make sense.
But as Jaune looked at her Summer quickly regained herself composure as she had her guard up for if he tries anything but what shocked her was that he was out stretching his arm showing her brooch curiosity evidently shown in his eyes
"Um is...Is this yours?" he asked, easily showing how nervous he was by his tone, as she carefully took the brooch and inspected it as he was looking nervous at her as she looked carefully to see if it was hers.
"No sorry it's not mine" she lied through her teeth she didn't like it but she needs more information instead of assuming and since she knows very little she needs to lie incase he did something bad to keep him at distance, don't get her wrong the boy looks kind but she doesn't know him enough to trust him because he can turn on her at a moments notice so she needs to be careful with him.
She gives him back her/daughters brooch, though he doesn't need know that at the moment she gave it back the boy looked sadly at it and a small wave of guilt was sent through Summer's heart she felt bad to lying to the boy but she doesn't know enough about the boy to see if she can trust him or not so she would need to live with the small sense of guilt.
But she couldn't help herself but to get a sense of curiosity as to why he had it though.
"Uhm Jaune is it okay if I can ask you a question?" she asked him, as a fake smile appeared on his face, replacing his sad look from before but still some of the sadness could still be seen from someone in a profession that you need to see, to know the person's motives and he couldn't hide that from Summer but she didn't push it, albeit he tries his best to mask it.
"You just did" he tried to take a jab at her as Summer
she could only let out a small chuckle and mumble "smartass" under her breath as she couldn't help but smile as the boy tries to make light of the situation
"I'm Just kidding with you, and yeah sure ask away while we continue walking and I think there's a forest over there" He said as he pointed out the forest and she also looked at the direction he pointed towards, and as he said a forest is seen but for some reason she can't help but get a bad feeling and she always trusted that feeling mostly because that feeling saved her on multiple occasions.
but she did have a bad habit in the past of ignoring it at times which did cause some trouble for her team, but that was the past when she was naive and anxious but she got better.
(AN: i can just hear the group saying this to when they react to this something like this
Raven: doubt it
Tai: Sorry Honey but she's right
Qrow : i have the scars to prove it
Summer: traitors the lot of them
Also you guys can do a reaction to this if you want I don't mind I just ask to give me credit on the story that I wrote also if you don't if I can read on the reactions too anyway, sorry for the ranting)
She shook her head and reclaimed her senses as she kept her guard up and continued walking forward and Summer decided to ask Jaune
"So where did you get the brooch?" She asked Jaune, as he turns to her facing her
"Um the thing is I don't know where I got it from or why I have it to be honest with you" he said honestly to her and this caused her to raise an eyebrow in curiosity
"And I don't even know if Jaune is even my real name and this brooch it's one of the few things that I have and that were found on me when I was taken in by the village along with the sword and shield." He said as he looked forward, not looking in her direction and Summer was feeling thankful for that.
Because an anime arrow her hit her both in the head and heart metaphorically as the feeling of guilt grew 3 times, but Jaune kept talking
" and I don't even know or remember about my birth parents or my siblings if I had any did I have a small or big family did they care about me or was I just nothing but a secondary thought or maybe they didn't even care about me and they tried to quietly get rid of me, but because of the sword and this brooch, I want to find the owner of this brooch because if it's the same thing as a wayfinder? was she important to me? or was it a dreadful situation that only one of us could live and as a sign of hope that we would see eachother once more she gave me her brooch and maybe, just maybe it can help me find who I was before and find out why she gave me something so important" he said as he took out the brooch and looked at it .
Meanwhile Jaune was unknowingly guilt tripping Summer as multiple metaphorical arrows being shot at her at every direction, and when he finished talking an anvil with the words 'guilt' written on it with big bold letters, fall on top of her head and made her fall to the floor as well began crying silent tears for hearing the boys sad story she's a sucker for tragic romance stories and this kids story felt like one.
'Why do I feel like such an ass?' She Thought mentally cursing at herself as she was crying anime tears.
As Jaune stopped walking he turned around as he saw her facing the floor he became worried as went to her and kneeled down
"Um, you must be tired from all that walking, I'm sorry I should've been paying attention, you're in a really bad condition we can rest here if you like" he kindly suggested as unknowingly another arrow pierced through her heart as the feeling of guilt once again ramped up
'He's too kind for this world' she thought as she raised her head with tears threatening to fall, she nods her head agreeing to make camp
"Great you sit still and recover while I make camp" he said
As he got a satchel from his back that was hidden under the shield as he got an apple out and gave it to Summer
"Here you go" he said with a smile as Jaune was somehow beaming as the light was blinding Summer
"Thank you" she thanked him 'he's such a good boy!' She thought as she was inwardly crying anime tears of gratitude while munching on the apple that was given to her.
As Jaune begins to make camp And she sits looking up into the starless sky thinking of her husband, and daughters if they're ok and that they're doing fine.
As Jaune starts a fire she notices that Jaune had something on him what looks like a star charm made of sea shells on him.
"Hey Jaune, what is that?" she asked him, as she pointed at the star charm.
"Oh this?" he said as he took out the wayfinder, Summer nodded.
"This is a wayfinder that was given to me by my younger brother as a way to see each other in case we ever got separated I just that everyone at home is okay as well" he said as he looked at the charm fondly.
Summer smiled at hearing about the way finder it sounded nice and it help lift her mood and now she understood why he sees her daughters brooch as a wayfinder and the funny thing it worked cause in the end it led Jaune to her which is funny and the irony in it is seen to a gift meant for her daughter that was a promise somehow found its way to the boy's hands and here he is with the brooch that she planned to give her daughter almost as if it was a sign.
She couldn't help but let out a little hum at the thought in which caught Jaune's attention.
"Is something wrong ?" Jaune politely asked her, but she turned to him and quickly answered.
"Oh uh, no nothings wrong just have a lot on my mind you know" she said trying to push away her worries and trying to keep Jaune calm she needs to focus on trying to keep him safe and calm she won't be able to do that if she's all moppy and depressed so she needs to stay focused.
"About?" he asked, letting his curiosity getting the better of him
"Umm don't worry about it i'm fine" she said to him with a smile easily seen as fake trying push away his worries but his face showed that he became even more worried about her but didn't push it
"Okay but if whenever you want to let something out your chest im all ears but i hope it's not a part of your rib cage" he tried to make a joke even though it sounded dark, Summer could only smile that Jaune was patient with her but the smile fell as remembering that he told her a complete stranger about himself it didn't feel right with only him talking about his life story it didn't feel right that he would tell about himself and she should with hold on the that information about herself even if some thing were a touchy subject, he already said something that personal to him so what's, wrong with just saying that was bugging her mind
She lets out a deep and tired sigh
"Im worried about my family" she said straightforwardly Jaune stayed quite not wanting to seem rude and decided to just listen to her.
"They may think i'm missing or worse dead, I don't know where i am, my best friend will be looking for me at every corner of the world not even getting a wink of sleep my step daughter Yang doesn't know who her birth mother is she will be going through hard times, without me being there for her when she needs me to confide in me, and my baby Ruby is barely 3 she probably wouldn't remember who i am and wouldn't probably understand what was happening and my husband, Tai lost his ex wife when she left out of nowhere and was broken by that, but after he got better and we became a family and had Ruby and now he probably thinks i died and he's...he's"her voice became meek and weak as tears were beginning to pour down her face as she couldn't finish the sentence as the memories of seeing her husband at such a bad state and thinking that she was the cause of making him like that now she felt horrible and angry that she doesn't know what to do.
Just the mere thought of her husband falling to despair, was too much for her and was hurting feeling like broken shards of glass piercing her heart and she couldn't help but begin to cry at the thought of accidentally causing pain to the love of her life.
She then feels a hand on her shoulder as she looks at blue sapphire eyes that contained a look of sadness looking into hers, as then he closes in and hugs Summer, which surprised her, she never expected such an action
"You've been through so much haven't you, worried about things like about your family and there well being don't worry, you'll be back with them before you know it I give you my word on that i'll help you get back to them" he said in a gentle voice that made every word sound reassuring as she could only try to reclaim control of her frantic breathing as she was trying to hold back tears and Jaune pats her back in comfort but she could not as tears couldn't be held back as she began to cry her heart out as she hugs Jaune tightly and Jaune not letting go and just comforting the woman that's going through a lot.
-FlashBack end-
that day for Summer she saw Jaune a someone you can trust to him it seems like a small kind gesture but to her it was like seeing a bright star in a sea of darkness as she felt a sense of peace because that encounter and she could only smile
"Huh it's funny how fate works" she mumbled to herself under her breath as a smile was adorning her face
"Thank you Jaune, and I guess our reunion will happen sooner than expected" she said to no one in particular as she looks at the sky then closes them takes a deep breath of the salty sea air
"It's good to be home" she said