Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth. I only own Agatha Griseo/Goddess of Empty

Content warning: Alcoholism and the process of detox

Chapter 12

Brand New Day

*SOARING NINJA WINS! TOTAL ANNIHILATION*

My new scroll beeped, the 'GAME OVER' message playing along with an automated voice.

"I thought you said you were good at video games, Agatha," Yang joked. Her scroll flashed with the brighter, happier colors of 'WINNER!'

"First Person Shooters and the occasional RPG's," I clarified. "Not fighting games."

Ruby and Qrow just chuckled at my expense. Ruby pulled up her scroll, ready to fight her sister. Qrow leaned back in his hospital bed, smug as a cat with cream. A very unusual expression on a guy that can turn into a bird. He'd been beaten by me in games all week, all except this game. It's all the strain the doctors allowed for him.

The general had offered Qrow a drink because he thought Qrow didn't look too good, but Qrow turned him down saying he wanted to quit alcohol. Turns out Ironwood had a right to be worried because right after Qrow said that, he promptly passed out right in front of James. We rushed him to the hospital. The medical team reported Qrow's status to Ironwood, along with his nieces (them being the only family present). Together, they insisted Qrow go through detox. Qrow accepted, but got pissed when he heard he had to stay in the medical wing for the process.

"I will not have you going through withdrawal symptoms in the field," were Ironwood's words.

I stayed close to his side. Ironwood would have as well, if he wasn't so busy, and if Qrow didn't give him a constant stink eye. This family was so full of warmth and love, I couldn't help but find myself drawn to them.

Okay, fine, I just wanted to win one match against them.

Our new scrolls came with a lot of upgrades. The sisters instantly brought up the games they could play in between training sessions. When I admitted to liking games, and that Qrow could use the company, the decision was made.

The girls were as brutal in the game as they were fighting Grimm. I could never figure out the control systems these fighting games used. All my rounds ended with me button mashing my way to a failure. Sometimes, it accidentally gives me a victory. Even in those cases, I have no idea how I did it. Yang especially liked beating me, but against Ruby I stood the best chance at winning. Not often, but better than nothing.

The two sisters were already so drawn into their newest fight. I went over to Qrow, leaning by his hospital bed.

"Have they said when they'll release you?" I asked. Playing games was fun with Qrow, but I knew Qrow wanted to be out in the field with us.

Qrow hummed. That smug grin was replaced with a much more familiar annoyed frown. "They said another week."

"That's good!" I reminded him.

"No, it's a week until the worst is done." Qrow grumbled. "I don't know how long after that."

I bumped his shoulder, trying to cheer him up. He's actually really lucky, I think, despite what his Semblance would tell you. By the end of this week, Pietro will give us our upgraded weapons. It gave us time to settle and for Qrow to heal.

That he made it to Atlas without collapsing was another lucky break. If he'd collapsed during the fight against Cordovin, he would've died.

The door opened and a nurse walked in.

Ruby pouted, the game pausing. "Are visiting hours over already?"

The nurse smiled at her and said "Oh no dear, I'm just here to collect Ms. Griseo."

I looked at her, tilting my head.

"General Ironwood wants to talk to you about something." The nurse told me.

The uncle and nieces gave me matching looks of confusion. I didn't understand it any better than they did. I shrugged, before following the nurse. She led me to Ironwood, already in discussion with a doctor.

Upon seeing me, Ironwood paused his conversation. "Ah Ms. Griseo." He nodded his head politely.

"Agatha, please, General." I insisted.

"Then call me Ironwood." He replied. I nodded in agreement...for now. Nicknames would come later, for sure. "Agatha, I was having a talk with the doctor about Qrow's progress and he mentioned something to me that I feel you should know about."

"Me?" I asked. "Not the girls? But they're his-"

"This isn't the sort of thing Qrow would want them hearing. I'm the General of Atlas' Army, and I decided this was the best course of action." Ironwood replied. A nasty feeling grew in my stomach. "As someone close to him, his doctor and I thought it best to reach out to you about this first."

I braced myself. "Okay."

Ironwood turned to the doctor. The man cleared his throat before explaining. "We've removed the alcohol from his system, and his detox is going quite well for a patient in his state. We want you to be aware that there is a chance for relapse."

"Relapse?" I asked, eyes widening. "He might go through this again? But- but the only way that can be is if he-"

"-drinks, yes." The doctor replied. "It's entirely too common in cases like this. We cannot say for certain what Mr Branwen's triggers are, but given his history and his career as a huntsmen, the statistics are not on his side."

I gave the doctor a frown. "He's stronger than you give him credit for."

Ironwood gave a small chuckle. "And that's why we asked for you. You and Qrow may not have known each other long, but I can see that you two are already forming a close bond."

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head at that. People were just so easy to connect with, no matter the era. While it's true I bonded quite fast with Qrow, I felt there was a lot of reasonable build up to it. He's a good guy, even if he doesn't ever give himself enough credit for it. For all the time I've known him, it feels like I have seen him in his worst moments. He always came out of them better than even he expected.

"Therefore, I want you to help Qrow during this time." Ironwood instructed. "As an adult, you'll be able to follow him if he enters a bar or drinking establishment, and be better equipped at dragging him out."

Yang could also do that, I thought to myself. Even from down the hall, her smug laughter could be heard as she definitely beat up Ruby's avatar. Again. But okay, I get what the general and Qrow's doctor are asking.

"Qrow will want to handle this himself." I stated. Ironwood opened his mouth to protest. "I'm going to respect his wishes, General. If he needs me, I'll be there. A real friend should be there because they want to be, not because a general ordered it."

Ironwood hummed.

I didn't give him a chance to argue or reply. Turning on my heels, I went back to Qrow's room. Yang and Ruby started a new round. Ruby was in the lead for now. They paid me no mind.

Qrow nodded his head at me, calling me over. "What was that all about?"

"Has Ironwood always been so overbearing?" I asked.

Qrow thought about it. "He wasn't as bad before, but after Beacon..." He trailed off. The game paused. I glanced over, seeing the girls lower their heads. They were likely still haunted by what happened there. Who wouldn't be?

Wanting to change the subject I held up my scroll and said "Anyone up for another round? Or we could watch a movie."

Yang got up and stretched. "Actually I think I'm gonna grab something to eat." She started to leave. Ruby got up to follow her. "You want us to bring something back Uncle Qrow?" Yang offered.

Qrow turned her down. The withdrawal is already starting to kick in. He didn't have much of an appetite.

Yang then looked at me. "You want to eat with us or are you staying?"

"Staying." I replied. "Get me some sushi?"

The girls nodded and left the room.

Qrow leaned back down. His brows furrowed, and his body started to shake. I pulled the blankets up to his shoulders as he started to drift off. "You don't have to stay, you know," Qrow muttered as he drifted off.

I brushed some hair away from his face. "I want to."

He'd already faded out in a daze. Though he'd been healing, he looked worse than he did in Argus. Even so, he seemed happier. I know this won't be easy but I truly didn't want Qrow to be alone in this. Sure he has Ruby, Yang, and the other kids but he deserves more than that.

He should be surrounded by so many people that will care about him. From my perspective, he never experienced that before. Whether because of his Semblance or some other experiences in his life, it's not clear. It's just something I could tell. Everyone should be surrounded by lots of people to care about them.

Seeing that Qrow was sound asleep I put my headphones on. It's time to let the music take me away until I got my sushi.

Qrow woke back up at the same time Ruby and Yang came back with some food. I tried to feed bits and pieces to Qrow but he kept refusing. He needed to eat, despite his little appetite. A nurse then came in with some dinner. She shoved me out as apparently outside food was 'contraband' in the medical center.

We went back the next day. The nurses warned us that Qrow wasn't all there at the moment. The doctors were monitoring him for seizures, and that he was hallucinating. They still allowed us to visit but it could only be for a few minutes.

Qrow seemed awake when we came in. He even looked our way. I could see in his eyes that he wasn't all there.

His eyes locked onto Ruby's and he said "Short Stack, how have you been?"

Both girls froze. I gave them a confused look. Yeah, Ruby was kinda short but that's just because she was the youngest out of all of us.

"Umm, I'm doing fine. How are you holding up?" Ruby said, ignoring the nickname.

Qrow just gave a laugh. "Feel like shit but I suppose I'll make it through. Did you see the girls? Ruby has gotten so big. You should have seen her when we fought Cordovin. Take a lot after you, Summer."

At that moment I felt very awkward and out of place. Clearly Qrow was hallucinating and whoever this Summer was, was clearly someone important to the girls as well. Ruby continued talking to Qrow as though she was Summer while I tapped Yang on the shoulder.

"I'm just gonna..." I trailed off and pointed to the door.

Yang nodded with a pleading look so I bolted out of there.

I didn't see the girls again until dinner. None of us said anything about what happened that morning.

But as Ruby and I grabbed our trays I heard Ruby whisper "Summer was my mom."

Ah, things were making a lot more sense. Given their neutral looks at the hospital I'm guessing she passed a while ago. That can't make being mistaken for your mom any easier.

The following morning Qrow had finally gotten through the worst of it. With a heavy dose of warnings and caution, he was released.

We threw a small party for him. Ruby and Yang gave him a sobriety token for him to start collecting. Ren made a bunch of pancakes. Jaune and I kept guard of those to make sure Nora didn't eat them all. Weiss performed a small concert for us and wow can that woman sing. The rest of the night was spent playing video games and watching movies. Qrow crashed around midnight, still tired from his treatment. I tucked Qrow into the couch while the rest of the kids bid us goodnight.

The next morning was the day before our first mission with the Ace Ops. We were busy getting ready. Clover brought Qrow, Ruby, Jaune, and I over to Ironwood's office.

Once there, Clover activated the little holo-table. One panel appeared in front of Ruby and Jaune. Another appeared in front of me and Qrow. A third one appeared in front of Clover. All of them had the same details of our mission. I jumped up and sat on the edge of the table getting a good look at it while I let my legs swing.

Clover raised an eyebrow at me before getting started. "Alright, gather around. Our mission tomorrow is to secure the launch site for the Amity Communications Tower. The designated area is an abandoned dust mine. Since its closure the Grimm have moved in. The good news is that all that untouched dust is still down there, too. Science team says they'll need it for the first phase of the launch. Atlas military are already hard at work clearing out the surrounding tundra. But recon has identified a powerful Geist that has evaded capture and taken several lives. After we increased our numbers the Geist was smart enough to retreat into the mine itself, meaning it's old and extremely dangerous." He pulled out a remote and switched the image from the reports to a picture of the fully formed Petra Gigas. "This is our target."

"Seems simple enough," I said, giving a nod of understanding.

"How are we going to handle this?" Ruby asks Clover.

Clover pressed another button and a map of the mine was shown. "The mine was a labyrinth back in the day. Meaning there's all sorts of tunnels and chambers the Geist can move between, so if we're going to kill this thing, we'll have to split up and corner it." He then looked directly at Ruby. "Team RWBY will join with Marrow and Harriet and will drop off at Zone 1." He clicked his remote and a small dot appeared on the south part of the map.

He then turned to Jaune. "Jaune, you and your team will be with Elm and Vine. You guys will drop off at Zone 2." Another dot appeared west from the dot where Ruby's team will land.

"And what about us?" Qrow asked gesturing to me.

Clover gave us a smile. "You two will be with me. Our drop zone will be right here." Clover added a third dot to the map which was at the north part of the mine." Qrow and I gave a nod to Clover. He looked back at the kids. "General Ironwood says you've all seen your fair share of combat. I trust that man with my life. So tomorrow, I'll be trusting you all too." He dismissed us.

Qrow walked back to our room to get some more rest while I went with Ruby and Jaune to pick up our weapons.

We met up with Pietro at his lab along with the rest of the kids.

"Apologies for the delay," he said as he led us inside. One by one he went over the new enchantments with them. I was the last one he went to. "So I went over your request and found the best way to implement the shields. You see that strip of blue line?"

I looked at the handle of Yin and saw that on top of the handle there was indeed a thin, light blue line that wrapped around. Underneath it was another button. "Yeah. I see the button as well," I said pressing the button. A small hexagonal shield appeared. I smiled in amazement before holstering my weapons. "Thank you very much, Doctor."

Penny made its way into the room to speak with Pietro. It waved at me as I left, but I ignored it.

Ruby seemed to notice this as she came over to me. "Hey, is everything okay between you and Penny?" She asked.

My jaw clenched at the reminder of that thing's existence. "It's fine." I replied, trying to move past her.

Ruby just used her semblance to get in front of me. "Are you sure? Because you don't seem fine."

"Look, the mission-"

"Okay, you can totally say I'm too immature here, but I thought it was really cool how open minded you were to all of this. With Jinn and Salem, and you just went along with it. That was really cool! And you were so nice to my uncle this past week. But you're really rude to Penny, and I don't know why someone so nice is being so mean to the nicest girl on Remnant!"

It's not a girl, it's a thing! Pietro played god- and when it blew up in everyone's face he decided to do it again! Life wasn't meant to be made this way. I should know! I'm the one that decided it! And while I admit, I should have anticipated same-sex couples and found a way to make reproduction work for them, that doesn't mean I was entirely wrong. Pietro should've let sleeping bots lie!

"Look, I don't like being a mean person." I can tell from their view that I am being rude, but I can't bring myself to like the machine. "And I can see that Penny means a great deal to you. So for everyone's sake I'll be polite around the thing."

"Penny's a girl. Not a thing!" Ruby shouted.

"Yeah, well, good luck trying to convince me of that," I said walking around her.

She didn't follow me this time. As I left I distinctly heard her telling the others that I'll eventually come around. I seriously doubt that.