Summer blew her hair out of her face as she blasted the pouncing Beowolf into smithereens. She turned to her partner and called out. "You all good on your end?"
The man in question swung his scythe out, bisecting what looked to be the last Grimm around, before responding. "Yeah. All good. That the last of them?"
"Pretty sure." Summer answered walking up to her friend. It hadn't taken two hours to find the pack of Grimm scouring the woods, and it took about ten minutes to kill them. She nudged the fading corpse of the Beowolf Qrow had slain with her foot. "You know, it used to be we'd have to spend half the day just lookin for Grimm, especially in thick woods like these."
Qrow shrugged as he slipped Harbinger behind his back. "That was back in Beacon. I'd hope we'd be a little better by now, or else I wasted four years for nothing."
She playfully punched his shoulder, giggling. "Oh please, you loved it there as much as I did." She frowned as she noticed it seemed to be getting darker. "Hey it's getting late. You wanna head back into town to get our pay?"
He shook his head. "Nah, screw that, this'll be our third job today. I'm tired. We can go back into town in the morning."
"Fine by me." She shrugged, heading back to the nearby road.
Still…It was a longish walk back home. May as well have a little fun.
"You know…I'm surprised you're taking it all so well." She began.
Qrow frowned. "Taking what so well?" He asked slowly.
"Oh you know… Personally I kinda thought you'd freak out and go all overprotective brother, but you've been really chill, actually. Good for you."
He put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "Okay, seriously, what the hell is goIng on? Did something happen to Raven and she didn't tell me? What's wrong?"
She put a hand over her mouth, feigning shock. "Oh, did you not know? Goodness me, forget I said anything."
"Summer!" He shouted.
Summer snorted, before breaking out into a fit of laughter. "Alright, alright, relax! Nothing happened, nothing bad anyways, or I wouldn't tease you about it." She wasn't trying to get him actually worried, just a little riled up. Besides, this was payback for when he told her Tai and Raven had gotten married in secret without them. She hadn't let anyone sleep that night until she was assured that the real wedding was yet to come, and a date was firmly set.
"But something did happen?" He pressed.
"Oh absolutely." Summer clarified. "But you'll love it, trust me. Well, after you get over it that is."
Her poor partner just let go of her and sighed, although whether it was out of relief or frustration she had no clue. "I wish you never learned how to actually talk to people. You're a menace, Summer." He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked past her.
"Aww, but I just wanted to have a bit of fun!" She pouted. When he didn't respond she fell into another round of giggles. "By the way, I'm totally telling Raven about how panicked you were." His head whipped backwards. "Did something happen to Raven and she didn't tell me? What's wrong?" She tried mimicking the raspy edge to his voice, but her voice cracked halfway through.
"Sure, sure, laugh it up. But if she hears a word about this, Summer, you're dead." Summer was impressed. He actually managed to last a few seconds before cracking a smile. "Fine, you got me. I was worried about my sister, big deal." He leaned in closer. "But you realize this means war, right?"
"Oh, I was counting on it, big guy." Her smile fell. "Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut" She reassured him. "I know how you two are. If I even hint at you two enjoying being around us, you're halfway down the road with a bag over your shoulder, because brother's forbid you have feelings."
Qrow rolled his eyes. "Hey, we're not that bad, otherwise I wouldn't be stuck with Taiyang Xiao-Long as a brother-in-law." He took a moment to put his thoughts in order. "We're just…used to a different way of doing things, that's all. This lovey-dovey crap doesn't come as easy to us as it does for you two. It used to be dangerous for us to get attached."
Summer felt herself grow angry on her friends behalf. No matter how much she saw they had changed, or how much progress they had made since Beacon, It always pained her to see the reminders that two of her best friends had such a horrible childhood, and they might never fully get away from it. Not for the first time, she wanted nothing more than to go to Mistral just to hunt down and beat the crap out of their former Tribe. "They don't even make any sense!" She complained, mostly to herself. "They put so much emphasis on doing things 'for the Tribe', but they punish you for getting close to the people in it. It's stupid!"
Her partner shrugged, thankfully catching on despite her seemingly random outburst. "Kinda, but you're missing the point of how they think. Loyalty to the tribe as a whole, as a concept, is what they want. Loyalty to others, individuals, out of anything other than fear or respect is relying on them, which makes you weak." He answered. "Still stupid though. But don't think I didn't notice you change the subject, though. I'm still waiting to hear what happened with Raven."
"Sure thing, once we get home." Summer answered noncommittally, with a wave of her hand. "Come on, I wanna get back before dark." She said, before racing ahead.
"Home", as it happened, was kind of a work in progress. The house itself was currently a patch of dirt in a clearing, with all sorts of building supplies stacked haphazardly around it. There were, however, Three tents, one noticeably larger than the others, which just so happened to be the current living quarters of Team STRQ.
As she approached the clearing, Summer slowed to a walk, panting as she tried to catch her breath. A loud caw brought her attention to a certain Red-Eyed bird perched on a branch just at the edge of the clearing.
"That…was totally cheating." She said in between breaths. She used her elbow to wipe the sweat off her brow and when she looked up her partner stood in front of her. Raised voices could be heard from behind him, coming from the smaller of the two tents.
"They've been like that for a few minutes now." He answered before she could ask.
"Oh great. Wonder what it's about this time." Summer moaned.
Qrow placed his hand under his chin, as if deep in thought. "Now I believe…" He began. "That they're trying to pick out appliances."
She snorted. "Seriously? That's it? Isn't it a little soon for trouble in paradise?"
"Nah, that's not the way Raven is. She's arguing with him because she loves him. It's when she's quiet that you gotta look out for." He warned. "If there was actually something wrong, she'd ignore him and sneer, like he was mud to be scraped off her boot. This? This is just flirting."
Summer raised an eyebrow. "I seem to remember their flirting back in Beacon, meaning we'd get locked out of the dorm, and we'd go cheat people out of their money at cards with your semblance."
"That was teenage Raven flirting." He corrected. "This is freshly graduated Huntress Raven Branwen flirting."
"If you say so." Summer looked past him, towards the tents. "Alright, how are we gonna do this? Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who goes first?"
He shook his head. "Nuh-uh. We're partners, Sum. That means we go to our deaths together."
"Well, in that case." She stuck out her arm. "Shall we go together to our glorious deaths?"
Qrow smirked, and looped his arm around her own. "May our names be forever be remembered by huntsmen and huntresses to come."
Summer continued, barely containing her laughter. "Let our tale serve as a warning to all; Don't ever, under any circumstances, interrupt an argument with your sister."
The two met each other's eyes, and gave a sharp nod. Arms linked together, they marched onwards to their doom.
"We don't need anymore, we have plenty as is!" Raven shouted.
"One set of silverware for each of us is not 'plenty', Raven, we're building a home here, not buying supplies for a camping trip." Tai said.
"It's wasteful to spend more money on something we already have, when we can just wash them!" She insisted.
"Say that again when you're the one washing dishes every night because you didn't want to be 'wasteful'. Besides, we're Huntsmen, we aren't exactly hurting for money, and silverware isn't exactly expensive."
"We're living in tents." Raven reminded him.
"Temporarily! And you're the one who suggested it in the first place!" Tai answered angrily.
Raven huffed. This whole argument was pointless in her opinion. She thought Tai was being an idiot, he didn't see why, and the two of them were going to yell about it until the others got back. And the most annoying part was that she knew the others would agree with him once they got back. To be honest, She had even started to see his point awhile ago, but she couldn't just come right out and say it. Which meant they were stuck in a pointless argument where they both knew how it would end.
"Seventeen years of my life, and all Qrow and I had were two forks, a spoon, and a knife between us, and we got on just fine." Raven defended crossing her arms.
"Oh really now? Well my bad then. Excuse me for wanting to have higher standards of living than some backwoods-dwelling homeless tribe of LITERAL MURDERING THIEVES!" Both of their eyes widened. Raven took a deep breath as Tai unconsciously winced, bracing himself.
"Pffftt-Ha! I don't think I've ever seen you that mad! Backwoods-dwelling homeless- Brothers, I needed that." Tai seemed confused for a moment, before falling into laughter with her. Why was she even angry again? She couldn't remember. She smiled once she realized that. Tai was the only person who could make her forget to be angry.
"Great, so are you two done now?" Husband and Wife turned to find the other half of Team STRQ sitting by the entrance of the tent.
"How long have you been there?" Raven demanded.
"A few minutes." Summer began. "We had this whole plan where we were gonna come in, and it was gonna be this big thing and hopefully get you two to stop arguing-"
"But then we came in, and you two didn't notice us, so we sorta quietly agreed to chicken out, and took a seat." Qrow finished. "Besides, It worked out in the end anyways, so no harm, no foul."
"Oh, By the way, I vote for more silverware!" Summer chimed in, raising her hand.
"Same here. Been there, done that. Wasn't fun." Qrow shuddered.
Her idiot husband had the gall to smirk. "Three to one, Honey. I win."
She tried glaring at him, but she couldn't resist breaking out into a smile. She settled for rolling her eyes, and making a show of throwing her hands up. "Fine! If it's so important to the rest of you, we'll make sure to get more silverware."
Tai shook his head, smiling, and turned to Summer. "So, how's your day been? Better than ours, I hope."
"Well, First we had to find a Geist that was possessing a car somewhere in town." She began, counting off with her fingers. "Then we took on a Nevermore that had made its nest in a very tall tree-" She turned to glare at Qrow. "-Which for some reason I had to climb, despite my partner being able to, y'know, fly."
Qrow shrugged. "We were still kinda close to town. Someone might've seen. Besides, you did great! You only fell, like, a third of the way down before you caught yourself."
Summer scoffed. "Anyways, after that, we spent a few hours hunting down a Beowolf pack, and took care of that. Which brings us here."
"Here, and hungry." Qrow added.
"That too." Summer amended.
"Well, luckily for you, dinners already made!" Tai cheerfully declared.
"What are we having?" Qrow asked.
"Leftovers!" Tai answered.
Summer and Qrow groaned in unison, as Taiyang made their plates, and handed them around. Qrow and Summer gave a little more detail about their hunts for the day, but as with the last few nights, the conversation drifted into plans for the house.
"So, we're settled on the floor plan, right? Four bedrooms, kitchen, Living room, Bathroom?" Tai asked.
"Three bedrooms, Tai." Qrow interrupted. "One for me, one for Summer, one for the newlyweds."
"Right, sorry, I'm still thinking like a beacon, where we each had a bed."
"Actually." Summer started, smiling like a madwoman. Why was she smiling? "Tai was right the first time. Four bedrooms."
Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Uh, you forget how to count there, Summer?"
"Nope." She began pointing at the others. "One for you. One for Raven and Tai. One for me." Summer smirked and pointed at Raven's stomach. "And one for the baby."
Tai sputtered as water spewed out of his mouth. Qrow's mouth hung open for a moment, before shaking his head and turning to his Brother-in-law. "Something you wanna tell me there, Oh very dear friend of mine?"
Tai began waving his hands in front of himself. "I have no idea what's going on here." Summer was on the floor laughing, clutching at her stomach. Raven took a Long drink from her water, and when she set the glass down, the boys were both staring at her expectantly. "Hmm?" Were they expecting her to say something? Did she miss some sort of- OH right. "By the way, I'm pregnant."
Summer laughed even harder, while Tai and Qrow looked at each other. "Is this a Branwen thing?" Tai asked.
Qrow scratched his head. "Kinda? Not really? I mean, people in the Tribe used to hold off on telling others for a bit, so it didn't seem like you were trying to get out of fighting just because you're pregnant, but Raven's also her own special brand of weirdness." He turned to his sister. "Any reason you didn't tell us this extremely important information just yet?"
Raven shrugged. "Didn't seem relevant."
"Didn't seem relevant?" Tai exploded. "You're a Huntress! Next week is our turn for jobs, were you just going to go on missions as normal and risk the Baby? How long have you been doing that?"
She scowled. "I only found out a few days ago, and let it slip to Summer by accident. I was planning on telling you when we would normally start preparing for our week of missions, and have Qrow or Summer fill in. Obviously I wouldn't do Huntress work while pregnant.
Tai ran his hands down his face and relaxed. "Maybe lead with that next time?" He sighed. "Besides, isn't waiting till the last second a bad idea? What if Qrow and Summer aren't able to fill in? You're going to be pregnant for nine months, you know, there's a lot that needs to be done!"
"I…Should have told you sooner." She relented. "I honestly didn't see a reason to rush. I apologize."
Tai took a deep breath. "Well. This changes things. We…We need to start planning. Now." Tai stood up and made to leave the tent.
"So this is what you were going on about earlier?" Qrow asked Summer.
"Yep." She replied. "And I was right, wasn't I? You love it?"
"Love…Is such a strong word."
"Oh come on! You're going to be an Uncle! Isn't that exciting?" She had mostly recovered from her fit of hysterics, and playfully punched his arm.
"A little. Still kicking in for me, I think. You've at least had a couple days to be excited." Qrow smiled wistfully for a moment, before the brief silence was broken by his scroll ringing.
"Hello?" He asked slowly. Raven wondered who the hell would be calling her brother this late. Qrow seemed to grow more annoyed as the call went on. "What the hell do you need me for now, of all- Is it Important? Well I know it's probably important, but is it, you know, her? You aren't positive? Then can it wait?" Qrow sighed, before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine. I'll head out in the morning. Yeah, I know you wouldn't call if you didn't think you had too. I'll see you around." He hung up.
"Who was it?" Summer piped up immediately.
"Who do you think? Oz." He answered.
The tent grew quiet. That put his words in a whole new light. "He needs you for a mission, doesn't he?" Raven asked.
He nodded. "In Atlas. He isn't positive, but he thinks it might be one of her agents, so he can't risk sending some grunt. The only one in Atlas that knows, that Isn't the headmaster, is some young lieutenant in the military. He's occupied, but he's supposed to back me up once he's free if I'm not done."
It wasn't exactly a surprise that he had called. They had done missions for Oz for years now, but it wasn't until the start of their final year at Beacon that he had told them the truth about Salem. About their war. About what's at stake. And it was only then they had started taking missions directly tied to her, and her agents. They were pretty much the only agents of Oz at the moment, who weren't tied down to one of the academies, which meant there was often one or two of them called away. He didn't like sending any less than a full team, unless he was reasonably sure one or two of them could handle the threat. And if that Lieutenant guy was supposed to be backing up her Brother as well, She supposed it would be alright.
"I'll tag along." Summer offered. "We're probably not going to be able to do any Huntress work for a week or two anyways while we prep for the baby, and Raven definitely won't be able to, not for a long time yet. So, I may as well make sure you've got an extra hand. You're my partner after all. Wouldn't want something to happen to you." Her words were teasing, but despite her smile, Raven sensed a deeper layer of concern laced in her offer. Qrow looked as if he were about to protest, but he must have decided against it.
"If you're sure. We'll leave in the morning then." He said.
"Awesome! I'll go pack!" She beamed, before leaving the tent.
Qrow sighed. "Alright then. If I don't see you in the morning, I'll just say goodbye now."
"If you or Summer get yourselves killed, I'll murder you." She warned.
He snorted. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. Love you too, Sis." With that, he left as well, just as her Husband finally came back in. Oh, right. She'll have to tell him everything he just missed. Eh, It could wait til morning.
"Ok: Baby names. I've thought of a few right off the bat, just for starters of course, But I was thinking something special, you know, something original. How about-" Raven laid her head back on her pillow as She half listened to Tai spout off baby names a mile a minute. Her real concern was with the other half of Team STRQ. Qrow and Summer were two of the finest Huntsmen she knew of, despite their age. All of Team STRQ were. They could handle themselves, and even had some fancy Atlas soldier if they needed it. Still, She worried for her Brother, and her friend.
Not that she would ever admit it to them.
But she worried.
Summer stumbled to the ground, coughing. The freezing wind whipped around her, biting at her exposed face. She felt something trickle down her mouth, and wiped it with the back of her hand. Blood. The wound in her side had mostly closed, but her Aura was low, and most of it was being used to keep herself warm. She pushed herself up, struggling to stand. We can't stop. We need to keep moving, or we'll freeze. Or worse.
She turned to check on her partner. "Qrow?" She called out. Summer couldn't see very far through this damned blizzard, but he hadn't been far behind her. He had checked on her last, but when was that? Ten minutes ago, twenty? She wasn't sure.
Fear began to creep up her spine until, a few seconds later, she heard a reply. "Y-Yeah?" He answered shakily. The tension left her shoulders. Brothers, he had scared her. "Just making sure you're still there." She had to shout over the wind.
"Aw, you miss the sound of my voice that much?" She could hear the smirk in his voice, even if she couldn't the bastard. "No, just making sure my human shield is intact, for when we get back to the others."
"Ha!" Qrow barked out a laugh. Summer hugged herself closer, and winced as she pressed against her side. She wasn't exactly sure how bad of a shape she was in. The wound in her side was pretty obvious, but she felt a nasty gash on her forehead, and she was sure she broke a rib or two. Qrow was even worse off, and she could tell that just off sight, as they ran into the storm. There wasn't any time to check on each other.
She grimaced. They shouldn't even be in this position in the first place. Things were so close to going according to plan. So close.
Oz's suspicions were proven right, naturally. They usually were, and Summer and Qrow had arrived in Atlas fully expecting to find trouble. The only thing that surprised them was how simple it was to find Salem's agent, and who they were. They weren't some rich Atlas oldblood, or city councilman, or big shot military officer; They were a worker in one of the SDC mines. More specifically, an "Supervisor for Worker-Executive relations", which essentially meant he was the one faunus who happened to get a slightly higher paycheck than the other workers, and the company got to tell everyone else 'Hey, look at us, we're trying really hard!" Apparently he didn't like that too much, and he honestly wanted to improve faunus relations and livelihoods in the mines. Something Salem offered him.
Only thing that didn't make sense was why Salem would bother. He wasn't exactly some big figure after all. Qrow had initially thought she was trying to stage some kind of revolution(which Summer thought was a little too bold, even for her), but after a little digging, they had found out that Mister Rowan Hatcher had a daughter.
A daughter who attended Atlas academy.
A daughter who had formed a close friendship with a retired Huntress who occasionally visited the Academy to give lectures.
A retired Huntress named Fria.
Who happened to be the current Winter Maiden.
Salem's choice made a bit more sense after they found out that little tidbit.
Still, it should have been easy as cake. And it was, at first. They followed him for a while, and learned that he had an outpost way out in the tundra, where he was hiding away supplies stolen from the SDC. Exactly what for, they didn't get the chance to learn. Maybe it was for some kinda revolt, Like Qrow thought.
Even after that, confronting them was simple. The Atlas Lieutenant who was meant to be their backup was on their way back to Atlas, so they made a plan to tail the guy, and have Mr. Soldier serve as transport back, assuming they needed it. All it took to follow him was stowing away on a bullhead one night as he was leaving the city. Once the Bullhead reached its destination, They revealed themselves, intending to offer him a chance to surrender and bring him to Vale. Which is where it should have ended. He should have accepted the offer, let them extradite him to Vale, and maybe even offer protection in exchange for information.
Only, they had failed to consider the fact that they just appeared out of nowhere, two Huntsmen showing up in a supposedly off the grid outpost, telling an already desperate father his only option was to accept arrest. Summer blamed herself for that. They should have maybe approached things a little gentler.
What she did not blame herself for, was Rowan apparently being an Ex-Huntsmen.
Ok, maybe that was something the two of them should have figured out before the whole daughter thing, but they were excited! They knew he hadn't been working for Salem for very long, and they wanted to nip whatever designs she had for the Winter Maiden in the bud. Though, admittedly, they may have jumped the gun a little.
But honestly, why the hell would an Ex-Huntsmen willingly be working in an SDC mine?
Still, they subdued him without much trouble. He was retired after all. He had managed to get her with a nasty blow to the gut, though. Stupid Dust powered shovel. Who bothers upgrading a shovel of all things with Dust? That was what had broken her ribs. They managed to bind Rowan and take him back to his bullhead. Summer laid down on the floor so as to not worsen her injuries, and Qrow began flying back to Atlas. They hadn't even needed backup! They told that Atlas soldier they were on their way back, that they could just sit tight back in Atlas.
Except they made the same mistake they did to begin with. They rushed it. They wanted to get back as soon as possible and didn't bother searching him properly. They took away his weapon and assumed that would be enough.
She wasn't sure what it was. She didn't get a good enough look. It might have been some kind of grenade, or maybe just a vial of volatile fire dust. All she knew was one moment, Rowan was fidgeting around, twisting and turning and the next, she heard the clink of something hitting the ground, and Rowan's boot slamming down.
What happened next Summer was unconscious for, and all she had was Qrow's hasty explanation. Whatever it was Rowan had, exploded, and the bullhead crashed, hard. Qrow had broken a leg in the impact, and Summer noticed some of the fingers on his left hand were bent wrong. From the way he was breathing, he must have broken a few ribs as well.
When Summer finally did come to, She had done so screaming. She was trapped under a piece of the bullhead, part of which had pierced her side. Qrow couldn't lift the part of the bullhead, without pulling it out of her.
After tearing off a bit of his cape, and wrapping it around her waist, He gave her a quick rundown of what happened. When she asked where Rowan ended up, His face darkened and he had told her he found a few pieces while he was looking for her.
After checking their scrolls to see if they couldn't maybe get out a distress signal, they decided to head back towards Atlas, as far out as they were. It was that, or sit and Freeze to death. They had already told their backup they wouldn't need him, and they couldn't get a message back through the snowstorm. Summer briefly floated the idea of Qrow flying back as a bird, But he quickly shot it down. In these winds, even without his injuries, he'd be tossed around and bashed into the ground if he was lucky.
So they set out, with Qrow lagging behind a little with his leg. Summer offered to let him lean on her, but he brushed her off, saying his aura would kick in soon. They just had to make sure they stayed close enough to each other.
Summer took a deep breath. Her aura was helping, a little. But not enough, and not fast enough. The cold was still draining it, and so was her wound. And she knew they were nowhere near Atlas, or any civilization for that matter.
She stopped, deciding to let Qrow catch up. She may as well get a good look at how bad his injuries were.
He came into view a few moments later, hobbling along. His eyes widened as he saw her, before wincing. Summer glanced over him, and immediately her anger rose.
"You idiot!" She hissed. "How long has your aura been broken?" A layer of frost had formed on the outline of his body. His fingers hadn't righted themselves, which she had expected, as they were a more serious energy, but a number of small cuts on his face still hadn't scarred over. Aura, even low, should have taken care of it.
The bastard had the gall to try forcing a smile. "Broke it in the crash. Figured there wasn't any point makin' a fuss. We had to get going quick, Aura or no."
Summer would have punched him, if he wasn't already half-dead. "That's not the point! We could have looked around, built a splint, or found something to wrap around you, keep you warm."
He shook his head. "No time. We had to get moving. Grimm woulda been drawn to that crash like moths to a flame. Besides," he added. "It was my fault we crashed anyway. I wasn't gonna let something happen to you because of it."
Summer frowned. "What the hell are you on about? Rowan stashed some kinda explosive, we didn't bother checking. That goes for me as well, you know."
Qrow rolled his eyes. "C'mon, really Sum? We forget to check the guy, then he just so happens to have an explosive on him, and the explosion just so happens to destroy most of the bullheads survival gear for dealing with blizzards? Then, just as we crash, a storm comes outta nowhere, stopping us from calling for backup. Backup, I might add, that we had just told to stay put, as we had everything under control. My luck screwed us Summer. And I'm not gonna waste precious time looking for a splint or something, when your life is at stake."
"Like your life doesn't matter? I'm not gonna let you fall behind because of your leg Qrow." She grabbed his arm and placed it over her shoulder, letting him put his weight on her.
"This is just slowing us both down." Qrow protested.
"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Summer growled.
"Go back to how we were going before. If I can't keep up, well, better one of us gets out than neither. Besides, my semblance-"
"Your semblance is not the reason for every little thing that goes wrong in the world, Qrow!" She yelled.
"But it is responsible for what happens around me." Qrow countered. "How many hundreds of times have you, or Tai, or Raven, come within a hair's breadth of dying, because of a jammed weapon, or a misstep, or faulty intel?" He paused for a moment, then scoffed. "Hell, what about all the things I've done? Not my semblance, me. I came to Beacon to kill people like you Summer. When you took me up to the roof of Beacon, to tell me you found out, that you didn't care? The first thing I did was shove you off the roof, and book it into Vale. I killed Oz." He let out a bitter laugh. "I was bad luck for you before we even met, Summer."
She held him tighter. "If all your argument consists of is trudging up ancient history, you can quit it. Oz came back, we know that now."
"But you didn't know that, did you? How many years did you mourn him? We didn't know till our final year." He retorted.
"Enough!" Summer shouted. She had enough. "You know what else you did? You saved me during initiation."
"There were cameras…" Qrow began.
"But you didn't know that, did you?" She spat, throwing his own words back in his face. "I remember. I also remember the first few weeks when I'd run off into the library, or the roof and break down crying because I didn't know what I was doing wrong, and I thought Raven hated me. And I remember you hunting me down everytime, to reassure me. And I remember you taking me out to dinner to cheer me up after Tai and Raven got together. Before we left halfway through and decided to hang out in the library, that is. Look, you did some crappy things, yeah, but you and Raven had a shitty life, Qrow. Worse than most. I don't really remember my parents very well, but at least I had Oslo. Your family, on the other hand, hated you. And even with that, look at you now! One of the best Huntsmen out there. You left us when I found out because you got scared? Boo hoo. So what. You came back, Qrow, that's what matters. You came back. I don't give a damn about luck, or what happened years and years ago, because none of it matters. What matters is that you, Qrow Branwen, are my best friend in the whole, crappy world, and you came back. So if you think you're going to get me to ditch you because of your stupid semblance, I'm going to kick your ass. And then I'll drag you back to Atlas myself."
Summer let out a deep sigh as she finished. That felt good to get off her chest. She saw his eyes start to flutter as he tried to say something. "S-Summer…" He fell to the ground, dragging her with him. "Qrow? Qrow!" She shook him, but didn't get a response. He was still breathing, but unconscious. She felt herself growing woozy. Summer didn't have the energy to get back up. Oh well. They gave it their best shot, and got pretty damn far. At least they did what they set out to do. She laid down on the snow, turning to look at her partner. At least they wouldn't go alone. And as she drifted off into unconsciousness, she swore she saw a light descend from the storm.
Summer woke to the ambient noise of an engine. A bullhead, she recognized. She tried to stand, but a firm hand gently pushed her down. "Take it easy. Don't stress yourself, you need to rest."
She tried questioning the mysterious voice. "W-Who…are…" Her voice was weak, raspy. She couldn't quite see yet, her vision still blurry. Thankfully, she seemed to be understood. "My name is Lieutenant James Ironwood, of the Atlas Military. I was supposed to be your backup." Backup? But they had told him to stay in Atlas, why would he be searching. She could just barely begin to make out the outline of a white uniform, and a tall man with broad shoulders. "The storm hit after your all clear. I debated heading out for awhile, but I figured it was better safe than sorry. Luck for that, seeing as how I seemed to have found the two of you just in time. Your partner's fine, by the way." Summer felt a crushing weight being lifted off he spoke. They made it out. They both did."
He continued. "The two of you are in pretty rough shape, but you're stable, and once we get back to Atlas you'll have access to the finest medical treatment available. It's just me by the way." He clarified. "I didn't want to risk bringing anyone…outside onto the bullhead with me, as I wasn't sure what to expect." Her vision had cleared enough to make out a rough detail of his face. He seemed tired, more than anything. "Well, I'll leave you be, for now. The bullhead's been on autopilot, but I should head back up to the front. I'm sure you'd like some quiet as well." James stood up and began walking out of the room. "I was just waiting to see if you'd wake up before we reached Atlas. Didn't want you panicking. Goodbye."
Summer breathed a deep sigh of relief. Everything was going to be okay. They were fine. Qrow was fine. She began to drift back off to sleep, when a different, more familiar voice spoke up. "Hey, Summer?" Her partner croaked. Qrow! He was awake? "Qr…Qrow-" She rasped.
"Don't talk. Listen. Your voice is a bit more sore, you just woke up. I've been awake for an hour or two. Yeah, yeah, I know, don't start. I'll get back to resting in a minute. I just wanted to say…thanks for what you said back out there. You were right, obviously. Think I just needed to get some sense knocked into me. And I'm glad you were the one to finally knock it into me. Don't think I would have listened to anyone else. So, don't worry. Everything's all good now, I get it." She heard a shuffling, presumably Qrow turning around in…whatever he was laying on. "Now get some sleep, Sum. Easy parts over, now we both need rest to survive the shitstorm that'll be telling Rae and Tai what happened."
Summer smiled. Oh she was terrified, absolutely. Raven was gonna kill them. But right now, all she cared about was that they were alive. And that Qrow listened. And as she slept, Summer dreamed of old memories, of her best friend taking her out to dinner to cheer her up after her heart was broken.
Another speedy update, I know. I do have good news, though! I've figured out how I want to finish this, so expect two more chapters. You know, the funny thing is, this kinda was a speedy update. I spent however long trying to force out a chapter, writing like, a sentence a day, if that, and ended up with two and a half paragraphs that I absolutely hated. I started rewriting this chapter with a completely different…Time period? And wrote this in three days. Anyways, I have an Idea for what I wanna do next, and I'll explain more about that in the last chapter. Thank you for reading, have a nice day.