"So, my incompetent partner has two blondes under her wing now?!" Raven spat as she landed a clean heel against Qrow's left shoulder.
"For the last time, Jaune isn't the son of who you think he is you crazy lunatic!" Her brother protested with a knee to the stomach.
Drawn to a stalemate in both emotion and physicality, the Branwen siblings eyed each other with caution and burning disgust. Truth be told, Qrow preferred solving issues with his sister through speech, but that was rarely the case seeing Raven tended to show her emotions through actions instead of words.
"Well, even if you kill me, it won't lead to you learning about the spring maiden so why don't we both cut our losses here and move on with our lives?"
Raven hissed and clenched her teeth. "To think that I gave you that useful tidbit back in Mistral, are debts something you're used to brushing off, brother?"
"Tidbits come and go, whether they lead to anything is really up Oum." Qrow barked and raised both arms in a classic boxer defense pose.
Taking a running start, Raven somersaulted forward with the intent to shatter her twin's forearms.
The initial impact sent his heels into the dirt, but Qrow maintained his form and latched a free hand around Raven's ankle. In last-minute desperation, he spun his heels and threw his sister into a pile of thorny shrubs.
The prickly spikes doing little to deter her thriving determination, Raven unsheathed her weapon and slashed through the foliage sending the bits every which way in a swirling fashion.
Her brother eager to take up arms, dove for his weapon but received a swift knee to the midriff for his troubles as his sister intercepted him. Still, he managed to snag his weapon midflight and barrel-rolled to a standing position.
Now on equal footing and properly equipped, the tension in the atmosphere could be cut with a knife, a knife that would soon be wielded by a pastry-loving Grimm slayer; and also devoted mother of a sunny little dragon and a red reaper in the making. Not to mention an honorary auntie of a brave knight and dutiful spider Faunus.
The branches of the trees snapped as if struck by thunder, their leaves swirling into a chaotic dance that joined the blizzard of rose petals in pairs. From the foliage, a flash of blinding silver light pierced through the shadows that bee-lined toward Raven.
The bandit barely had enough time to raise her sword, the crash of metal rung her ears as her eyes widened at the last person she wanted to see.
"Raven, how dare you attack my teammate and friend!" Summer yelled with tears in her eyes.
Biting her lower lip, Raven replied with silence through the glower she wore could make flowers wilt. Though despite her anger, she possessed enough wits to realize that she was out of her depth in her current form. After all, she'd just finished duking it out with her brother and barely had enough aura for a quick scuffle.
Options limited, Raven dislodged from the clash and prepared to use her semblance, but she underestimated her former leader's resolve. In haste, Summer closed the distance and swung for the bandit's head. Let it be known that while the red reaper possessed a heart of gold, she also understood through experience that being too lenient tempted future despair.
Shocked at the aggressive approach, Raven's footwork faltered and a stray lump of pebbles deterred her balance thus twisting her heel. The bandit hissed in pain, though masked it with adrenaline as she corrected her stance and lunged forward. Her second blade on the verge of shattering, she took a gamble and met Summer's next sword swing head-on, as Raven's preference for fighting revolved around a direct approach.
A bright spark upon the bladed clash of Omen and Crescent Swan, the white blade's owned by Summer proved victorious, but that was expected by her former partner.
A few pieces of shrapnel from Omen's broken blade blinding the red reaper, Raven was quick to take advantage of her good fortune and pounded her heel against Summer's shoulder.
"Of all days you had to show yourself, it had to be during my family's picnic month!" Summer shouted and hastily wiped the mixture of dust sprinkles and tears from her eyes.
"Family?!" Raven blurted. "The only family that you have are second helpings that don't know how to think for themselves! Does it make you happy, Summer, to admit that you're blindly following Ozpin and his questionable schemes?!"
"Ozpin has done nothing but make a home for us! He took you and Qrow in despite your history as bandits!" The red reaper's expression darkened and her eyes flared in silver light.
"And don't you ever label my family as secondhand! My husband and children mean the world to me, something that you threw away because you were too scared to hold on!"
"Hah!" Raven sheathed her hilt and allowed a new blade of chilling blue to replace the former. "You mean that idiotic son of yours? He won't last a week on Grimm-infested terrain, that much is assured seeing he takes mostly after his bumbling father!"
"Son?" Summer's grip on Crescent Swan wavered.
Another opportunity present, Raven parried a half-hearted swipe and retaliated with an uppercut. The edge of her blade made contact, causing her former partner's aura to flare across her chest where a patch of ice had been left behind.
Prepared to deal the finishing blow, or at least one that would guarantee her escape, Raven raised both arms and heaved downward. The attack should have left a nasty scar on Summer's forehead if it weren't for a sudden stoic cry that is.
"Straw Sword!"
A serpent of straw speeding past a nearby group of trees, it deflected Raven's blade then whipped around for another strike. The bandit, eyes wide at the sudden intrusion, barely had enough time to gather her bearings before ducking for cover.
The straw line snapping into a stump, it made it a quarter way in the rough wood end, then retracted back to the cover of trees. Raven followed the straw's path but was annoyed to see no one manipulating it. Whoever made that attack, was a person who preferred to keep their presence hidden unless they were forced into the open.
Raven grit her teeth. She didn't have time to play cat and mouse, and her fleeting aura reserves mirrored the fact. Not to forget, Summer was still raring to go and it seemed that she'd brushed off the bandit's crude remarks. This meant the reed reaper was ready to prove how she earned her nickname.
Denying the forces of STQH her capture, Raven dipped into the last pocket of her red-tinted aura then slashed open a portal.
"RAVEN!" Summer screamed at the top of her lungs.
"It was nice seeing you all." The bandit shot her former leader a mocking smirk and stepped through the portal.
Gone in a flash, Summer pounded the earth with her boots and slashed the earth around them in anguish. Tears marring her fair cheeks, she threw her weapons aside and began to violently pull on her hair with three questions running through her mind. Why? Why did Raven choose to reveal herself after five years? And why did she attack Qrow? And why did she assume Summer had a son?
One thing was for sure, however, it was that Qrow had a lot of explaining to do after she brought him back to the cabin.
Still thrashing, Summer spat insults that contradicted her good nature, but alas, the red reaper was still human and all humans had an eventual breaking point. Knocking her head until her vision blurred, a strong set of fingers wrapped around her wrist, but the abrupt action did not go without a reaction.
"What do you want?!" Summer wailed and landed a hard fist against the unfortunate man who aimed to console her fury.
"Sums? It's me, Tai." The blonde brawler sighed with a weak smile. Doing his best to speak through a flattened mouth.
His wife's eyes, blotched in tears, blinked very slowly as she leaned forward to rest her head against her husband's chest. Muffled sobs drenching his shirt, Tai shifted to support the crying reaper's weight while placing his chin above her scalp.
"T-Tai..." Summer whispered weakly, "I-I'm not a second mother am I?"
Guilt, anger, and determination brewing to form an absolute resolve, Tai chose his next words very carefully and whispered them so only his beloved would hear them.
"I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, but marrying you was never one of them."
The scene unfolding into a bitter, yet emotionally sweet display, Hawkins decided that now was a good time to reveal himself from the shadows. He strolled over to Qrow and assisted the ravenette to his feet who gave a weary thank you in return.
"Hmph, there's more to your family than you let on, Mr. Branwen," Hawkins said.
The hunter coughed out a laugh. "Believe me, you don't even know the half of it. You interested to hear the story?"
The magician veered his crimson pupils to the two adults currently holding each other in a loving embrace. Releasing a heavy sigh, he shook his head and turned away.
"If I wanted to uncover your past family problems I would simply perform a few tarot readings given the information I already know. Besides, I don't think my input here would be appreciated at the moment."
Qrow studied the unreadable expression on the former pirate's face. Though shoved his curiosities to the back of his mind when a pained spike erupted from his left leg.
"Can you pass me my weapon?" He panted. "I can use it as a crutch until my aura sets my swollen ankle straight."
The magician saw no reason to deny his teammate, but he immediately released the ravenette from his support when he went to fetch the blade. Thus Qrow landed face-first against the dusty dirt.
/-/
"Hey, Jaune, whatcha doing?" Ruby peeked over the kitchen table as her blonde friend scribbled over his test papers.
"I'm trying to remember what this card means in reverse." The boy pointed to a drawing of an angel in the clouds while playing the trumpet to a group of men that looked toward it with open arms. However, the image was flipped.
"Joodgamint?" Ruby tried to pronounce the word and failed which earned a chuckle from Jaune.
"The word is Judgement, Ruby," he relayed while mouthing the word for the little reaper to copy.
The little reaper puffed her cheeks. "It's a hard word okay!"
Jaune shielded his head from Ruby's childish fists and did his best to focus on his test paper. He needed to finish as many practice readings as possible before dinner, and he couldn't allow any distractions, even if they were from someone as innocently adorable as Summer's daughter.
"Why do you do all that stuff anyway? Doesn't it get really boring?" Ruby asked as she pulled out a plate of chocolate chip cookies out of thin air.
Jaune curled a brow at the inexplainable tray of chocolatey goodness but stayed his mouth from the sweet treats as he'd no doubt receive a scolding from his Grandma for ruining his appetite.
"I'm writing this because my dad told me to," Jaune explained.
"That doesn't sound fair," Ruby countered, "Yang tells me to do lots of things but sometimes I don't wanna do them."
Scribbling down another set of words, the blonde cupped his chin in deep contemplation. Ruby did raise a good point. Why did he do half of the stuff he was told to? Then the memory of him sleeping outside for ignoring his chores flashed before his eyes and he quickly went back to doing his homework like an honest student.
Ruby continued to munch on her cookies until the waves of boredom finally overtook her. Trifa was busy helping Carla with dinner so she had no time to weave beaded bracelets, while Yang was occupied with Sam who was teaching the sunny little dragon how to tie a bowline knot in the backyard.
This left Ruby with a studious Jaune, as the other two activities didn't pique her interest. Though perhaps she should've joined Yang or Trifa as her brain struggled to entertain itself with only the ticks of Jaune's pencil to break the looming silence.
Her silver pupils scouring the table for anything of interest, they landed on the image of a stone tower being struck by a thunderbolt. Pointing to the image, Ruby asked Jaune to elaborate the picture earning a sigh and a smile from the studious boy.
"This one is the tower, I'm pretty sure it's the card that predicts chaos, revelation, sudden change, and a few other things I can't remember."
"Hm, boring..." The little reaper pouted and shoved another cookie in her mouth.
Jaune frowned, but ignored the remark, as his focus was stumped by the reversed star card. He knew the outcome of this flipped image depicted a negative outcome, but he couldn't remember exactly what it meant.
"Hey, Rubes, check out this sick knot I made!" Yang shouted as she burst through the backyard door. Tied rope in hand, she let out a yelp after tripping on the doorstep which led to her long locks getting tangled in her proud creation.
"Easy, Yang, if you keep flailing like that it'll only make the knots worse." Sam soothed as he maneuvered his hands from blocking childish punches to separating blonde hair strands from toussled string.
As the young brawler's peril continued, Jaune and Ruby peeked from the kitchen doorway with wary eyes. Yang was always ferocious when it came to her hair, as was proven when she got her first haircut. Yep, Summer and Tai had to pay quite a hefty sum and several apologies to the barber after he cut the first handful.
"Hey, Ruby?" Jaune whispered.
"Um, yeah?" Ruby replied, confused at the blonde's sudden shift in tone.
"Why does your sister not like me? Did I do something to make her mad?"
The little reaper narrowed her eyes and puffed her cheeks. Racking her brain for a plausible reason, she came out with nothing seeing Yang was more aggressive towards Hawkins instead of his son. Nevertheless, there was a simple solution to the matter, one that Ruby supplied after moments of empty ideas.
"Why don't you ask her?"
Jaune gulped. "If I do that then Yang might try to hit me."
"C'mon, you're tough right?" Ruby beamed. "Your dad said that there's a 65% chance that you can beat my sister too!"
The boy curled a brow. "When did you ask my dad for that kind of tarot reading?"
"When you were chasing after your test paper."
The crunch of cookies breaking his contemplation, Jaune pursed his lips at the pastries his friend was munching down on.
"Hey, that reminds me, you told me that all of my chocolate chip cookies were eaten by my dad. But he doesn't have a particularly strong sweet tooth except when it comes to his favorite fortune cookies."
Ruby's cheeks flared red in shame. Though she continued to nibble on the edge of her cookies as she did so.
"So that means," Jaune leaned over and tried to swipe the handful of treats from his sugar-loving friend. "That you ate my cookies!"
"T-They would've gone bad if I didn't eat them!" Ruby protested and broke into a speedy sprint down the hallway. Unfortunately, the hallway was still occupied by Sam and Yang, which led to the little reaper to crash into them. Cookie crumbs now added to her golden locks, Yang screamed in dismay as her honorary grandpa did his best to regulate her temper.
Jaune, meanwhile, decided to slink back into the kitchen to finish his tarot card tests. After all, his father had done well to instruct the boy when the situation demanded a hasty retreat instead of a careless charge. A lesson Jaune was very thankful for.
/-/
The front door of the Xia-Long cabin creaking open, the members of STQH stumbled through with weighted expressions. Qrow sought the aid of Carla and Sam who eagerly rushed to care for his wounds. As for Tai, Summer, and Hawkins, however, the married couple dragged the magician a fair ways away from the house to speak with him in private.
Positioned at a southern cliffside that overlooked the forest below, the trio stood under the afternoon sun that warmed their backs.
"Why have you brought me here?" Hawkins demanded, as his eagerness for drama was nonexistent.
"Hawkins, I know you have a lot of questions..." Summer began with a sigh, "and we owe it to you, to be honest."
"Am I really the one who deserves your honesty at the moment?"
Both Summer and Tai blinked, but they quickly shook off their dumbfounded faces and plastered on a more serious set.
"What are you talking about?" Tai cut in.
"Yang isn't Ms. Rose's true daughter, is she? At least in a blood-related manner."
The red reaper and blonde brawler froze.
"If you're aware of the interaction I had with Yang when I first arrived here, then there's no need for me to elaborate on the situation. If it eases your conscience, I never declared who her birth mother was, as I saw no reason to increase the tension of your already stressed family."
Summer and Tai looked to each other, both trying to convey in silence the words they wanted to relay though their mouths refused to comply.
Hawkins drew a deep breath and ran a hand through his golden locks. "If this meeting has anything to do with the stranger who tried to hack Qrow's head off, then I want nothing to do with it. If the infiltrator threatens you or anyone else in the cabin, then I'll offer my swordsmanship in defense, but I don't want to impose on your private matters."
Hawkins sighed. "Besides, it's not up to me to tell Yang that you're her adoptive mother, Ms. Rose."