Author's Note: Well this certainly is a departure for me. This is my first RWBY story without Yang. And look at that mess of relationship tags! Is what I would be saying if you were reading this on Archive of Our Own. For the benefit of those reading on this website the tags are: Raven/Summer, Qrow/Taiyang, Summer/Taiyang, Raven/Taiyang.
Just so I don't set the wrong expectations, Summer/Raven is the relationship I'll be primarily focusing on, and this is NOT a story about a polyamorous Team STRQ. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about how that statement jives with the relationship tags.
(No disrespect to the people who were hoping for a polyamorous Team STRQ story. I haven't looked for any, but I know they must exist. Team STRQ is practically begging to have that kind of story written about them.)
All characters in this story unless otherwise indicated are eighteen or older. (You know why.) The legal drinking age in Remnant is eighteen.
This is the Teen and Up rated version of the story. The Mature rated version has been posted over on Archive of Our Own.
I guess I don't have to add my usual tag about how far along canon was when I wrote this story anymore. For now, nine volumes is what we get.
Chapter 1: Friends, Enemies, and Those Undecided
Raven stared at the campus lying before her with an intense scowl on her face. She'd lived her entire life in the wilds of Mistral, and she'd never seen anything like Beacon Academy's towering spires or immaculate landscaping before. However, rather than being awed by the sweeping architecture, she was offended by it. The school's very existence was yet one more painful reminder of how insignificant someone like her was to the world.
Raven's brother, Qrow, was standing alongside her on the unfamiliar campus. They had both arrived together about ten minutes ago, and tomorrow their first official day as students of Beacon Academy would begin.
Qrow glanced at Raven. He said, "Relax, Sis. You look like you're about to pop a blood vessel."
"Shut up," Raven said.
Raven started walking, and Qrow followed behind her. They were both dressed in threadbare red and black kimonos with bokken, wooden swords, tucked into their belts, although despite their near-identical outfits, Raven had no fear of being confused for her brother. Her impressive mane of jet-black hair was pulled back into a long ponytail and held in place with a simple hair tie. Qrow, on the other hand, had his much shorter hair slicked back. He was also sporting his typical five o'clock shadow, despite it only being mid morning. And there could be no mistaking Qrow's hunched-over gait for the proud way Raven carried herself.
As Raven and Qrow made their way toward the heart of the campus, Raven was keenly aware of how much she and her brother stood out. Several of the students that Raven could see casually walking about were wearing school uniforms, but those who weren't were invariably dressed in colorful and eccentric outfits befitting of their status as young, upcoming huntresses and huntsmen. However, to Raven's eye their clothes reeked of them having too much money to spend on frivolous things. It was perfectly clear to see that none of them had ever had to scratch out an existence on the fringes of civilization like she had. Raven decided she hated everyone at this school already, although deep down she was afraid she might envy the carefree lives these strangers around her seemed to live.
Raven's eyes swept this way and that as she continued to walk. Beacon Academy clearly took great pains to present itself as clean, safe, and civilized, and that was precisely why Raven didn't trust it. Back home she was intimately familiar with the dangers that lurked both outside and inside the Branwen Tribe's camp. Here at Beacon she had no idea what snares and pitfalls were waiting for her. However, Raven was so focused on spotting unseen threats that she failed to notice someone was walking directly toward her with their head buried in a book.
Raven suddenly collided with the unnoticed pedestrian. Whoever it was let out a squeak of surprise. Raven reflexively reached for her wooden sword, but she stopped herself from drawing it when she realized that kind of behavior might have been frowned upon at Beacon. She looked down and saw a girl at least a head shorter than her. The girl had dark, red-streaked hair and was wearing a simple black dress with a corset and combat skirt.
"Watch it, Shortstuff," Raven said with a sneer. She was mad at the stranger for running into her like that, but she was also mad at herself for letting someone get so dangerously close without realizing it.
"S-sorry!" the stranger said. She looked up and Raven caught a glimpse of her distinctive silver eyes. "I was just—"
Raven didn't stay to listen to the stranger's excuses. She immediately started marching away.
"Wuh…? But…?" Raven heard the stranger sputter in confusion as she was left behind.
Qrow continued to follow Raven. As soon as they were out of earshot, he said, "Nice job making friends, Sis. You're going to be real popular around here."
"I don't see you doing any better," Raven snapped back at Qrow. "And we're not here to make friends. Father commanded that—"
"Yeah, yeah. You don't need to tell me. I was there," Qrow said. He suddenly adopted an overly dramatic pose as he sarcastically mimicked the pronouncement the siblings' father had made to them. "'Go and become students of Beacon Academy! There you'll learn the skills necessary to defeat these accursed huntsmen who plague us at every turn!'"
Raven was impressed. Qrow had done a passable job of impersonating their father. He'd even replicated the sweeping hand gestures that Father was so fond of. However, instead of complimenting her brother, Raven said, "I'm surprised you were sober enough to remember all that."
"Just because I don't hang on Father's every word like it was sweet nectar doesn't mean I'm not paying attention," Qrow said. "I'll leave the bootlicking to you."
"I am not a bootlicker!" Raven said.
"Sure you are," Qrow said. "For all the good it will do you. Father's never going to name you as his successor, and you know it."
Raven's eyes narrowed dangerously. If there was one thing she truly hated about her brother it was his ability to effortlessly wound her pride. She said, "When the time comes, he won't have a choice."
"Hmph," Qrow said. "That'll be a sight to see. Little Raven, all grown up and Queen of the Branwen Tribe."
Raven didn't care for Qrow's disrespectful tone, but she chose to not argue with him any further. She didn't want to come away second best in another one of their spats as she felt she all too frequently did when Qrow goaded her into stooping to his level. Instead, she refocused herself on why she was at a huntsman academy in the first place. As much as she was annoyed about being stuck in this school with Qrow for four years, she understood Father's decision. Grimm attacks had been abnormally light in Mistral for the past several years, and that meant there were a lot of huntresses and huntsmen with far too much free time on their hands.
Unfortunately, a number of Mistral's more self-righteous huntsmen had taken it upon themselves to solve the kingdom's "bandit problem". They'd started patrolling the roads in between settlements, looking for those they judged to be ne'er-do-wells. It had never been easy for the Branwen Tribe to survive, at least not for as long as Raven could remember, and now the situation was becoming all but impossible. Raven was determined to plumb Beacon Academy for every last one of its secrets so she could become the instrument of her tribe's retribution. More than that, she intended to use what she learned to supplant Father and lead her tribe to the glory it, and she, so richly deserved.
Qrow's voice suddenly cut through Raven's thoughts when he asked, "So do you know where we're supposed to be going?"
"Why would I know that?" Raven asked.
"Then where are you taking us?" Qrow asked.
"That way," Raven said, vaguely gesturing ahead of herself. Her cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment when she realized the irony of her self-indulgent daydream about becoming an all-powerful bandit queen being interrupted by her brother forcing her to admit that at present she was just as clueless as he was.
"That way?" Qrow echoed, arching an eyebrow.
"There's got to be someplace new students are supposed to report to on this stupid…." Raven suddenly trailed off and came to an abrupt stop.
"Uh…Sis?" Qrow asked, stopping as well.
Raven didn't respond. Her eyes had locked onto a figure off in the distance. The person she was staring at was a middle-aged man with a mop of graying brown hair. He wore a dark jacket with an emerald-colored cowl around his neck. A pair of glasses with tiny, tinted lenses were perched on his nose, and his hand was resting on a cane with a fancy silver handle. However, it wasn't his appearance that had caught Raven's attention. Rather it was that his placid but nonetheless intense gaze was focused directly at her. Even now that she'd caught him looking, his eyes didn't waver.
Raven realized that she might have been wrong about Beacon. Maybe the dangers of this place wouldn't be so hard to spot after all. Raven knew all too well what it was like to be both predator and prey. And right now every instinct in her body was telling her that she was being hunted. Whoever that man was across the way, Raven was fully convinced that he had very bad intentions toward her.
"Excuse me, do you need assistance?" an unfamiliar voice asked Raven.
Qrow muttered, "More than you know."
"Who is—?" Raven started to ask, but she cut herself off when she turned to look at the person who had spoken to her.
Standing in front of Raven was a bespectacled woman with short, blonde hair who was, in Raven's opinion, obscenely tall. Raven didn't doubt that the woman would've towered over her even without the ridiculous stiletto heels she was wearing. The woman was also dressed in a simple, black pencil skirt and a blouse that was obviously intended to present a veneer of modesty while simultaneously flattering every last curve of her body.
"Who is that?" Raven finally finished asking. She pointed in the direction of the man she'd caught staring at her. Although when she turned to look at him again, she saw that he was walking away.
The woman's gaze followed Raven's finger. She said, "That's Headmaster Ozpin."
"Ozpin…" Raven mumbled. She lowered her hand.
The woman turned back to Raven and Qrow, saying, "As new students, which both of you obviously are, you'd do well to introduce yourself to the headmaster. I could arrange a meeting, if you'd like."
"No thanks, Beanstalk," Raven said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
A look of consternation flitted across the woman's face before she schooled her expression back into something more neutral. She pushed the bridge of her glasses up her nose and said in a strained tone, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. But please, you may refer to me as Upperclassman Goodwitch. Might I ask who you are? Other than new to this campus, of course."
Raven's nostrils flared with anger. If there was one thing she despised above all else it was being condescended to. She put on a painfully fake smile and said, "No, you might not ask."
One of Glynda's eyeballs twitched. It was the most restrained expression of rage that Raven had ever seen.
Qrow let out a weary sigh. He said, "I'm Qrow Branwen. This idiot is my sister, Raven."
"Well, Freshman Branwen," Glynda said to Raven, completely ignoring Qrow. "It's been a pleasure meeting you. I look forward to the no doubt many opportunities I'll have as your senior classmate to help…direct the course of your first year here at Beacon down its proper path."
"Oh, I assure you," Raven said with a smarmy grin. "The pleasure was all mine."
"I'm sure it was," Glynda said. Then she turned on her heels and marched away with her head held high.
"Way to go, Sis," Qrow said. "You haven't even been here an hour and you've already made an enemy."
"Shut up," Raven said. She started walking off in the same vague direction she'd been going a few minutes earlier.
Qrow slouched after Raven, saying, "Do you think she'll have her goons beat you up in the middle of the night? Or maybe she'll poison your food. No, wait. This place is supposed to be civilized. She'll probably just have that headmaster guy expel you. Won't dear old Dad be surprised when you wash out of school before I do."
"Shut up!" Raven repeated, once again bemoaning the fact that Father had sent Qrow to Beacon alongside her. She was already trying to figure out how she could ditch him.
Raven had heard that students at the huntsman academies were put into teams, and she was hoping beyond hope to avoid being teamed up with her brother. But knowing her luck, or rather knowing Qrow's "luck", she suspected it was all but inevitable that they would end up together. The next four years couldn't go by fast enough.
Author's Note: Sounds like the Branwen Tribe isn't doing so well right now. But maybe with a little luck they'll get a new and ruthlessly effective leader in the future. Who's to say!
Hopefully it was clear in this chapter that Raven, Qrow, and Summer aren't in their canonical outfits. Not yet anyway. Summer mostly is, although she's missing her signature white hood. I do intend to keep this story completely compatible with canon. Success, however, is not guaranteed.
As always, I welcome constructive criticism. Please feel free to leave a review. And if you like what you've read, taking the time to favorite and/or follow really helps me out. You can also find me on tumblr (electronicyarn) if you want to send me a message or be notified of updates.