Ubiquitous reminder that I am off from Dec 20th to 3rd Jan.

Chapter 12

Nothing made sense.

All his effort, all his hard work, all the odd looks he'd gotten from everyone over the last day or two – all to save Summer from her bullies – and Raven went and did it for him.

He was grateful, obviously, but that didn't mean it made any sense!

The only thing that convinced him this was reality and not some crazy fever dream was the fact that it clearly didn't make any sense to Summer either, who was sat at their table waiting for the other shoe to drop and not really know what to say or do.

It seemed to be less of a friendship and more of an abduction, and that at least fit Raven's usual MO. He'd have chalked it up to Summer being such an incredible person that she could make friends of enemies, but the Summer before him wasn't really fitting with the Summer of three years down the line.

Evidently, there was some character growth for her to go through.

And it still upset him that he'd never thought to ask about her past. What kind of friend was he? The worst kind, and she was the most patient kind to put up with him all the same and not kick his head to the curb.

"So…"

Summer flinched as he came close, shrinking back behind – of all people – his sister.

"Back off," Raven said automatically. "You're crowding my minion."

"She isn't your minion, Ray."

"And she isn't your damsel in distress either." Her response had him choking a little. He hadn't looked at her like that! He tried to splutter out an excuse, but she didn't listen. "Summer is part of my clique."

"It's a clique now? I thought it was a gang."

"Headmistress said gangs are against the rules," said Rosebud, the large boy with the unfortunate name somehow managing to sound embarrassed. "So Raven decided we're a clique now. I'm really hoping those don't get banned because then we'll end up as an after-school club, and then as a self-help group."

"Deciding you're something else doesn't make you any less a gang."

"We changed the name, too," said Raven. "We are no longer the Branwen Gang." Qrow shuddered at the mere name. "We are now the Branwen Appreciation Society Targeted At Reforming Delinquents." Raven nodded proudly. "BASTARD for short."

Qrow sighed.

What else was there to do?

"I don't think Summer counts as a delinquent and a bastard is one of the few things you and I are not."

"Summer broke school property by smashing a window and then elbowed a teacher in the nose when they tried to pull her off me." Raven said it with extreme glee, but Summer went white as a sheet and began mumbling to herself. "When I did that, I got called a menace to society by the headmistress."

"I'm a menace…" Summer Rose whispered, swaying like a tree about to fall. "A menace to society…"

Raven steadied her with one hand, smiling grimly. "Yeah, you are. We'll make a proper BASTARD out of you yet. You just need to learn to stand up to those idiots calling you named. Or stab them. I bet that'd put a stop to it. It's like rock, paper, scissors. But it's talk, violence and… well, it's talk and violence. Violence beats talk and talk… uh…" Raven rubbed her chin as the metaphor escaped her. "Talk is cheaper, so it costs less resources. Wait, wait, I've got this."

Qrow had at several times as an adult wondered how Yang might have ended up if Raven stayed and decided to be a real parent. It was just a thought exercise, one of those sorrowful little moments pondering at how much better life might be if everything hadn't gone wrong. In those hypothetical worlds, he'd tried to imagine how Yang's personality might have changed.

Now, he realised it was for the best Summer took over, because Raven's life advice was ass.

"Please don't listen to her, Summer," said Qrow, kicking Raven under the table. She kicked back and much, much harder. Right into his shin, the little bitch. Qrow grunted and did his best to ignore it. "Raven means well, but intentions are about all she can manage. Anything more complicated and she gets confused."

"Fuck off! I'm not the one who wanted to go on some weird-ass bullying-crusade over a girl. I went and fixed it!"

"And I'm still not sure how you did," he snarked back. "How come when I get into a fight to stop a bunch of bullies I'm misguided, violent and the problem, but when you go and do it, you instantly solve it all and no one bats an eyelid. How is that fair?"

"Maybe because she's a woman," said Rosebud.

"My sister is not a woman. She's a Grimm taken human form."

"I am what I am," Raven said. "But maybe the reason why what I did worked is because of my reputation. Everyone knows I'm a badass bitch. Who's going to stop me? What is calling the teacher going to do?" She snorted. "Won't stop me beating someone up like it did you, so they know better than to try."

As much as it galled him to admit it, she might have had a point. The reason the bullies had succeeded in getting him off their backs was because the threat of punishment did in some small way work. Because he, unlike Raven, had to think of the bigger picture of getting into Beacon, and because he was an adult who could look at his own actions and feel bad. And because he even felt a little bad for the teachers having been one himself.

Raven gave zero shits, and the bullies knew it.

Best not to get on her bad side.

Qrow sighed and poked angrily at his lunch. It was an overall net positive that Summer was a) away from her bullies and b) friends with him and Raven. Or acquainted. Friendship could come. This would make getting Team STRQ back together easier. Still, that didn't mean he was happy to have been bested by his sister.

I was going to save Summer to make up for how useless I was back then, and instead it was Ray who went and saved her.

The fact that he had and still was thinking of her as a damsel in distress, as Raven had said, wasn't lost on him and only made him crush a fishfinger under his fork. Raven's stabbed down into the meaty part left over and she stole it.

Bitch.

"Oh dear. Are you sulking? Did I steal your thunder? Poor baby."

Raven was many things, but a "good winner" she was not.

Neither was Qrow.

"Hey. Wanna spar?"

Raven's fork hit her plate. "Yes. Absolutely."

Good old Raven. Always so predictable, always so eager for a chance to train and get better, even if it meant agreeing to a spar she wasn't about to win with someone who was in the mood to take her down a few pegs.

/-/

Summer's life was over.

This was it.

It had been a good run, and she'd done well for herself, but now she'd become some kind of criminal and been inducted into a violent gang, and her parents – bless their souls – would be rolling in their graves. Her grandfather would be disappointed in her as well, especially since he'd always told her to never let herself become a bully.

I'm sorry, grandpa. I'm weak!

Saying "no" to Raven Branwen wasn't easy, however. The girl had been bloody when the red haze lifted and Summer realised what she'd done, but instead of being angry she'd spat blood onto Summer's face and called her a badass bitch, then practically abducted and forced her to sit with them.

That wasn't how these things worked!

Raven was supposed to hate her and want to hurt her, and Summer was supposed to cower and apologise and slink back into the shadows. Instead, she was stuck with a huge boy called Rosebud – "Call me Bud, please. I beg you" – and the rest of Raven's posse, while the Branwen siblings climbed onto one of the training arenas. Raven had a metal sword she absolutely was not allowed to use in spars, and the two had instead gone with a pair of metal, blunted swords. Training ones. They could still pack a punch and leave a nasty welt if your aura broke, and aura did regularly break in Signal.

Summer was considered pretty good with her aura, but even she had hiccups every now and then. Qrow was a prodigy however, or that was what everyone said. She'd heard that his aura had never once failed, and that he'd beaten kids a year or two older than him. As he strode onto the arena, she couldn't help but think he looked a little too eager to knock his sister about.

"Um." Summer made a sound and then flinched when the rest of Raven's gang looked at her. "Is… Is this really okay?" she asked. "He looks… annoyed with her…"

"He doesn't lose much to her," said one of the girls. "Never in fights, and rarely outside them. Raven's probably right that he's sulking at being shown up and doing this to take it out on her. He's going to make a fool of her."

That was Summer's thought entirely. "Then shouldn't we stop this…?"

"Nah." Rosebud replied. "You can't convince Raven to not accept a fight. That's the way she is. Force of nature."

The way he looked up at her made Summer instantly think he had a crush. It wasn't unreasonable, because as rough and violent as Raven was, she couldn't be called boyish. She had a figure a lot of girls were jealous of, and a beautiful mane of pitch-black hair. Her red eyes were exotic as well. The whole package made Summer feel more than a little self-conscious. It wasn't fair that Raven looked prettier than her even with a black eye and a split lip.

It really isn't fair…

In normal school spars there was a countdown and a teacher. None of that existed here. Raven went from admiring her practice blade to lunging, and Qrow flicked his up and into hers before she closed the distance. He charged her, shouldering her even when both their blades were too high to be used, and he slammed his other hand forward for her head, narrowly missing as she ducked but catching a fistful of her hair and yanking on it.

Summer winced. Long hair was a liability, hence why Summer's was quite short, but that didn't mean that it was considered nice to take advantage of it in what should have been a friendly spar. Raven howled and clumsily parried one strike, but was caught with the second and third until she was able to pull free. Several strands of black hung from Qrow's fist as she did.

"You fucker!" howled Raven.

"Told you before, sis, but you have to earn the right to long hair."

"I'll earn the right to your balls, you prick!"

That odd and rather incoherent sentence out the way, Raven approached with wild aggression again. Summer would have thought she'd go for a more cautious assault after Qrow won the first pass, but she just seemed to attack harder and faster. Sheer aggression. Raw rage. Nervously, Summer asked Rosebud about it. He seemed knowledgeable about her.

"That's Raven for you. If at first you don't succeed, try harder and more angrily." He was smiling, eyes shining. "The instructor says it'll get her in trouble against people, but he won't correct it because it'll work just fine against the Grimm."

Summer nodded. She hadn't actually fought a Grimm one-on-one but she'd been on field trips where their teachers had done so as a demonstration, and one thing she'd realised was that defence didn't mean much versus them.

Dodging was good, and you had aura for when that failed, but you couldn't really parry an arm the size of a tree trunk. You weren't going to deflect a claw as long as your arm. The way huntresses and huntsmen dealt with it was to match aggression with aggression. It was always good to minimise harm by dodging or feinting the Grimm into over-extending, but you weren't meant to play the defensive game against them. If you went in hard and fast, you could kill a Grimm and only take one blow to your aura. None if you were aggressive and quick enough. Better that than to trade blows on one Grimm when there might be ten more around the corner.

And Raven was quick. Quick and aggressive and spiteful.

But Qrow was good.

Better.

There was no other way to put it. He chose his ground and held it, and Raven was pinging back and forth like a pinball off a bumper, except with the clang of metal and an angry howling noise from her. Raven liked to scream and howl on the assault, like a battle cry. Summer wasn't sure why as no one else did, but she'd admit it was both distracting and intimidating.

"It's so one-sided…"

"Always is," said one of the girls. "Raven is great, but Qrow is something else. He could be out our year if he wanted to, but he stays. Probably for her sake."

"Family should stick together," agreed another.

Summer agreed.

"He's dragging this on, though," said Rosebud. "Looks like he's grumpy on losing out to her. Heh. He talks and looks down on us but he's no better when his feathers are ruffled."

"Isn't that a good thing? Makes him feel more normal."

"True."

The fight was closing up. You couldn't normally tell when a spar would end because there was always the chance one side would pull something out, but that definitely wasn't going to happen here. Qrow was in complete and utter control, and so it was painfully obvious that this fight would end when Raven's aura hit the red and signalled the buzzer, and it was very close.

Qrow, meanwhile, hadn't taken a single hit.

This is insane, Summer thought. I knew he was good but I didn't realise he was this good. It's like watching one of us fight against a teacher.

Not only in terms of it being one-sided, but in the lazy way he let his guard down to bait Raven in, and the tiny smile on his face like he was playing with an overly affectionate dog. The teachers sometimes did to spars with students to keep them humble and show them the difference between a real huntsman and a student, and they felt just like this. One-sided massacres, but almost always in the sense that the huntsman would let you attack and wear yourself out rather than just end the fight in two seconds.

It was meant as a teaching experience after all.

I'm so weak, thought Summer. Why am I so weak—? No. I can get better. I definitely can.

And maybe… maybe she could ask for help.

/-/

"I—I want to be a better fighter!" shouted Summer. "Please take me under your wing and train me!"

Qrow puffed up, eyes shining, thoughts in his head of all the training he and Summer could get up to. He swivelled in his seat, acceptance already on his lips.

Only to choke.

"Huh?" Raven set her pen down and looked at Summer, who was bowed in front of her with her hands clasped together.

"I want you to spar with me!" Summer said. "So I can get stronger!"

Raven sat taller. If she'd been a faunus then her ears would have perked straight up. If there were two things Raven craved it would be power and recognition. The latter mattered to her. It wasn't enough to be strong. Others had to recognise you as strong. Raven couldn't just be a strong person in the tribe; she had to be the leader. It was just how she worked.

And right now, having Summer beg for her help was flicking all of Raven's switches.

"W—Well, it's good that you recognise your betters!" It was one of the few times Qrow had heard Raven stammer that wasn't from intense cold in winter. "I suppose that I can take you under my wing. Make you my protégé. But that means you have to do what I say and spar with me whenever I tell you to."

"Alternatively!" said Qrow, butting in. "I could help you without—"

"I'll do it!" Summer shouted in Raven's face. "I'll do whatever it takes to become a strong huntress!"

Qrow stared at them.

This was so unfair! He was the one who had done all the work. He was the one who had cared to try and help her. This was like his past all over again, except that it was Raven stealing girls away from him instead of Taiyang! He didn't think his Semblance had unlocked itself yet, but he'd have to double check.

Damn it all.

"Then we spar now—"

Qrow slammed his hand down on Raven's desk. "Homework now. Sparring later!"

"But Summer needs help," whined his sister. "And you're always telling me I should think of others…"

"Homework."

"But it's stupid. Who cares about the faunus rebellion?"

"The faunus." He picked up her pen and forced it back into her hand, then eyed Summer. "You can either sit down and do homework with us or leave and find Raven when she's free."

The door opened and shut as Summer fled.

"You're just jealous because I recruited your crush before you could—ow! Ow!" Raven slapped at the hand pinching her ear. "Ow! Quit it! How childish are you? Argh, that hurts. Okay, okay, I'm writing! I'm writing!"

Qrow tweaked her ear once more for good measure before letting her go.

"Bitter brother," she mumbled.

He wasn't bitter. He was just annoyed that she'd stolen Summer out from under him. Hmm. Okay. Maybe he was bitter, but he was fourteen and sober, damn it, and neither was a good combination. He went back to his own side of the table in their dorm and sat with his own homework, pretending to write on what he'd finished in class. It was all much too easy for him.

Summer is still awkward around me but I guess that'll fix itself with time. I'll just need to make sure she doesn't pick up any bad habits from Ray. An image of Summer in black with chains and piercings in her face flashed through his mind and he shuddered. Definitely not. Ugh. I guess all that's left now is to find Taiyang and try to bring the team back together. I really don't think he goes to Signal though, or I'd have seen him by now.

It took Raven another forty minutes to complete the homework he'd done in ten, and even then she'd made all kinds of mistakes that had him wanting to tear his hair out. He didn't correct her work, though. Raven had to learn on her own. It was honestly a miracle she was willing to do schoolwork at all, and it was only because he'd threatened – and committed – to withholding sparring privileges from her if she didn't.

It was getting on late when there came a knock on the door.

"Fuck off!" Raven called through cheerily.

Qrow sighed. "One moment!" He approached the door and opened it. "Yes, I— O—Ozpin!?"

Crap.

Had he been caught? Had he done something wrong? Was Ozpin going to try and draft him into Beacon early? He'd taken Ruby at fifteen and might be thinking he could take Qrow in a year as well. Worse still, Raven would jump at the chance if he offered it to her, and Qrow would have to go to keep her alive.

Fortunately, Raven was not as speechless as he.

"Oh, hey. You can come in."

"Thank you, Miss Branwen." Ozpin stepped inside. "I'm glad to see buying you a weapon has earned me some trust."

"You could get more buying me a cool dust-loaded scabbard."

Ozpin's eyes crinkled. "I'll consider it, but, alas, I'm here as your legal guardian today."

"You're our legal guardian!?" Qrow asked, shocked and a little worried. This meant Ozpin could make decisions on their behalf, which was all kinds of bad. "Since when?"

"Since I brought you out the orphanage and here, Mr Branwen. I had to take you from an orphanage in one country to a school in another and that required some paperwork be signed. Until you are eighteen, I count as your legal guardian, though not as your father or a member of your family. It's more of a temporary arrangement."

He smiled and waved it off as something that just had to be done.

But Qrow knew he was lying.

As an adult working in Signal who had, on many occasions, welcomed orphans into the school through the same programs he and Raven were using, he knew that you could very easily sign them up as wards of the kingdom, or even wards of the school, without them being tied to any one individual. That way the school could make decisions of a medical nature on their behalf, and the kids could have the independence they wanted and needed.

For Ozpin to deviate from that, and then to lie to them about it, was not a good thing.

The alarm bells were already ringing in Qrow's head.

Can you seriously not meddle for, like, ten minutes, old man? I'm literally planning to form the best team ever and join your side of the war. You don't need to stick your nose in early and ruin things because you're impatient!

But, of course, Ozpin was going to Ozpin.

It was just what he did.

"O—Okay. Cool." Qrow hid his panic as best he could. "So, what brings you? I've not been drinking so you can keep the puppets away."

"I've not been in any fights either," lied Raven.

"Really?" Ozpin smiled patiently at her. "Then I suppose all the reports and emails I get about your scuffles and various disciplinary infractions are spurious."

"They're not spurious. They're fake!"

Ozpin smiled, while Qrow palmed his face.

"It means the same thing, Ray."

"What?" Her face scrunched up. "Then why not just say fake? It's shorter and quicker."

"You will find, Miss Branwen, that when you are as old as me you appreciate making yourself seem a little more intelligent. Too much time spent around lawmakers and lawyers who charge by the word, you see. Regardless, I am not here to offer more discipline – and I've had no warnings over your drinking either, Mr Branwen, so I am pleased to see my puppet show did its job."

"Scarred me for life, more like. I'd drink to forget it if I could. Then what are you here for, old man?"

"A far more mundane reason." He brought out two paper forms. "Permission slips."

Qrow stared at them. "Really? What are you giving us permission for, and why did you feel the need to come all the way here to talk to us about it? You could have just signed them yourself from Beacon and been done with it."

"I certainly would have if I wasn't already here in Signal. It's a field trip to Beacon, you see."

"Really?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Really!?" asked Raven, excitedly.

"Yes. We do this every year." They hadn't when Qrow was an adult, but he supposed things could have changed. Ozpin didn't sound like he was stretching the truth. "Most of the kingdoms do, the idea being to let you see what the next stage of your education might be like. It also includes a trip into the Emerald Forest with older students and teachers for what will be your first fight against the Grimm."

He paused, then, and added, "For most students, anyway. Some have had the misfortune of running into Grimm in the past. Regardless, it's all very safe and I've been sent here to arrange the particulars with Julianna. While I'm here, I thought I should check up on you and ask whether you want to attend or not. It's optional—"

"We're there!" yelled Raven. "A chance to fight Grimm? Hell yes. Sign us up!"

"It's a chance to see others face Grimm and perhaps to challenge one in a contained and safe environment," Ozpin corrected, with boundless patience. "You will not be rushing off to fight the Grimm alone, Miss Branwen, or I shall personally pull you out the tour group and force you to wait in Beacon's library reading history books."

"Erk!"

Ozpin was good. Qrow had to give him that.

He'd need to check up with the other students and see if they knew about this trip and whether it really was a regular thing. It sounded reasonable, even a good idea, and Qrow knew the budget at Signal had been stretched when he was there so he could imagine it having to be dropped. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry whenever Ozpin was involved. You never knew what was a casual comment and what was some thinly veiled reference to events several hundred years ago.

Sometimes Ozpin could be manipulative without even meaning to be, solely because he was used to keeping the kingdoms in one piece against Salem and had been doing it for the last few thousand years or so. It came naturally and unconsciously to him, sometimes to the point that Qrow had even called him out on it and the future and Ozpin hadn't realised he'd been doing it.

He wasn't a bad person.

But their goals weren't aligned right now.

They would be later, and Qrow would serve him faithfully when that time came.

But I've done all that for twenty years and I've finally got a chance to go back and fix things. Save Summer. Protect Team STRQ. I'm not throwing that away to do a Ruby and join Beacon two years early. Sorry Oz.

"I guess it sounds like fun."

In truth, Qrow was curious to see what Beacon was like before Team STRQ arrived there. He knew Ozpin wasn't yet the headmaster, and he hadn't been when their first year happened. It had actually been two or three years after Team STRQ graduated that he took on the mantle of headmaster. Qrow had always suspected the man currently running Beacon did answer to Ozpin in some way, however.

At least he was more loyal than Leonardo. Which, speaking of, was something he should probably keep in mind for the future. A lot of good huntsmen had been sent to their death by that treacherous bastard. There was a lot he should probably keep in mind – Cinder Fall, for instance – but the woman had only been about a year older than Yang, so she wouldn't even exist yet.

He had time yet.

"Excellent. I'll get you both signed up for it, then." Ozpin smiled and handed them a copy of the forms to look over. Qrow would, but Raven just tossed it into a corner to be forgotten. "I'll need to ask you both to be on your best behaviour. A field trip to Beacon does carry some risk, especially in the Emerald Forest, and we have to be quite strict about things."

"I'll keep an eye on Raven," he promised.

"Me? He's talking about you, dipshit. You're the one who got an upper year girl pregnant."

Ozpin froze, mouth open.

"It's a rumour!" Qrow yelled. "It's not real!"

The last thing he wanted was to accidentally cause Glynda trouble and get in the way of her becoming deputy of Beacon.

"I—I'm glad to hear that." Ozpin coughed into his hand. "It saves me bringing out an entirely different set of hand puppets to explain to you the benefits of safe sex."

Qrow shuddered. There were some things he really didn't want to see.

Ozpin hung around a little longer to check up on them and probe them for how they were doing in classes. Qrow was careful not to express any suggestion he was bored or not challenged enough, and instead focused on how many friends he was making. Something that Raven gave him the side-eye for, since he was a loner and a tagalong to her friends rather than having any of her own. Familial loyalty kept her from calling him out, however.

Once the man was gone, he felt much more relaxed, even excited for the field trip. Maybe it'd be a chance to get to know Summer a little more. Or at least to convince her he wasn't some creep stalking her.

Next Chapter: 16th December

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