Chapter 20: Set in Stone

The first thing Raven became aware of as she regained her senses was that she was face down on the ground with a great weight pressing down on her back. She tried to stand up, but she met resistance. Undeterred, she planted both of her hands firmly on the ground and pushed. Slowly, she began to rise up, and a sizable slab of concrete slid off her back.

Raven stood, coughing and sputtering from all the dust, the mundane kind, that she'd inhaled. Once her lungs were mostly clear, she was finally able to look around, and she was immediately taken aback by the unbelievable sight in front of her. Night had finally given way to day, and the sun was peeking up over the horizon. In front of Raven was the nightclub she'd just barely managed to escape, at least what was left of it. Fully half of the building had collapsed into a heap of rubble, and the other half hadn't fared much better. Its roof was dented inward and its walls were tilting at worrying angles. It seemed like it would only be a matter of time before the rest of the structure caved-in on itself.

Raven saw Qrow and Taiyang emerging from the debris, looking unharmed. But who she didn't see was Summer.

"Sunshine? Where are you?" Raven called out. No reply came.

"Sunshine?" Raven said, trying again.

Dread started to seep into Raven as the seconds ticked by. She scanned the wreckage of the nightclub, convinced that if she looked just a little closer she'd spot Summer. But all she saw was twisted bits of metal and broken concrete.

Taiyang and Qrow joined Raven. Taiyang was brushing himself off. He said, "I'm not sure what happened there, but we won, right?"

Raven didn't respond to Taiyang. She hadn't even really heard what he'd said.

"Hey, wait," Taiyang said, glancing around. "Where's Summer at?"

Qrow said, "Last I saw her, she was behind the rest of us."

A horrible realization started getting through to Raven, despite her best efforts to keep it at bay. She'd just barely managed to escape the worst of the blast, and Summer had been closer to the epicenter than her.

"No…" Raven quietly said. Her eyes turned toward the catastrophic mess that had been a nightclub only moments before.

"No!" Raven said, louder this time. Her hands flew to her sword, and she drew it from its sheath.

"Sis, wait!" Qrow said.

Raven ignored her brother. She frantically slashed the air. A portal began to form, but it hadn't even reached its full size before it collapsed back onto itself and vanished in a shower of red sparks.

Taiyang asked, "What just happened?"

Qrow said, "There wasn't enough space on the other side for the portal. Which is better than us getting buried by a ton of rubble falling through it."

Raven's face was a volatile mix of disbelief and despair. Her gaze locked onto the remains of the night club, and she finally saw it for the tomb it was.

Suddenly, something snapped inside of Raven, and her desperation turned into determination. She sheathed her sword and sprinted over to the crumbling mountain of rubble. Then she immediately started grabbing bits of debris and slinging them to the side.

"Sis…" Qrow said.

"Qrow," Taiyang said with a firm voice. "Go fly and get the medics or the cops or someone. We've got this."

"Yeah, okay," Qrow said. Then Raven heard the sound of flapping wings behind her.

Taiyang was suddenly by Raven's side, and they both furiously shoveled, rolled, and threw piece after piece of rubble aside, trying to unearth a miracle. It didn't take long before Raven's hands began to ache from all the scrapes and cuts they were accumulating, and her arms began to burn from exertion. But she kept going. She kept digging. Each bit of concrete she tossed aside was one more that Summer might be buried under. But the more she and Taiyang dug, the more hopeless the situation felt. It was like trying to excavate a rock quarry with a teaspoon. Yet they kept on going.

Taiyang suddenly called out, "Look!"

Raven paused long enough to glance in Taiyang's direction. He'd uncovered a small hole in the rubble, a breach in the side of an otherwise solid sheet of concrete. Raven immediately shoved Taiyang aside and peered into the opening. It was about the size of her head, but a larger cave-like hollow was on the other side of it, created by some of the building's structural members that were still semi-intact. However, Raven couldn't see very far into it. It was pitch-black inside.

Taiyang squeezed up next to Raven and shouted into the hollow, "Hello? Summer?"

The only reply was Taiyang's own voice echoing back at him, but that gave Raven some hope. It meant that there was a sizable space on the other side of the opening, and Summer could be inside of it somewhere.

Raven grabbed the concrete edges of the hole she and Taiyang were standing in front of and tugged on them, trying to make a larger opening, but it did no good. The concrete refused to move or even crack slightly. Taiyang also gripped the same bit of debris that Raven was, but even together they couldn't get it to budge.

Taiyang and Raven let go, and Taiyang asked, "What do we do?"

Raven stared at the opening. It was far too small to fit through. Even the petite Summer wouldn't have been able to squeeze past it. But Raven realized she had another option. Without a word to Taiyang, she transformed. Then, as a bird, she hopped up to the hole and slipped inside.

Raven heard Taiyang say, "Oh! That'll work."

Raven transformed back into a human again. Then she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark. The hollow felt claustrophobic—Raven barely even had enough headroom to stand up straight—but she could see that it went back a good distance. Sharp bits of rebar were sticking out of the rubble that composed the hollow's top, sides, and bottom, and there were some worrying creaking sounds coming at frequent intervals. It was obvious how dangerous this place was. Raven knew that one false step would be her end, but she wasn't deterred. She started picking her way forward.

"Sunshine?" Raven called out. "Are you in here?"

There was no reply.

Raven kept moving forward. It was almost impossible for her to see anything at this point. The only source of light was the sun streaming in from the opening behind her, and the farther away she got from it the more absolute the darkness became. She called out again, "Sunshine?"

Suddenly, Raven heard a faint laugh, followed by a weak voice saying, "Still not calling me by my name, huh?"

Hope flooded into Raven. She trudged toward the sound of the voice she'd just heard as quickly as she dared. Then she finally spotted Summer lying on the ground. Raven hadn't even seen her until she'd been practically on top of her, but Summer was suddenly there, right in front of her.

"Sunshine!" Raven called out. She dropped down onto her hands and knees next to Summer. "Come on! Let's get you out of here!"

"I don't think that's going to happen," Summer said.

"Don't talk like that! I'll…" Raven trailed off. Her eyes drifted further down Summer's body. She had to strain them for all they were worth in the dark, but she finally saw that Summer was buried from the waist down underneath a landslide of concrete rocks and boulders. Not even the most naïve optimist would've believed there was any hope of digging her out by hand.

As if to add insult to injury, the rubble above Raven's and Summer's heads shifted slightly, making a worrying noise.

"You have to leave," Summer said to Raven. "Just promise me that you'll stay at Beacon. The world needs huntresses like you."

"No, Sunshine. It needs huntresses like you," Raven said. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she desperately tried to think of what to do. She was just about to give in to despair when a thought occurred to her.

Raven suddenly let out a laugh.

Summer asked, "What's so funny?"

"I never thought you'd take it this far," Raven said. "But I guess you win."

"Huh?" Summer asked.

Raven reached into her pocket and pulled out a large, purple Dust crystal. It was the one she'd stolen from the initiation ceremony, the one Summer had been pestering her about. She said, "Here it is. But if you don't mind, I'm not going to give it back to Ozpin."

Raven couldn't really see Summer's expression, but she imagined that she looked stunned. Then she heard Summer laugh, followed by a cough, and say, "No. I don't mind at all."

The crystal in Raven's hand began to glow as she concentrated on it, filling the cave with a purple light. Raven finally got a good look at Summer's face again. Summer looked tired and dirty, but even seeing her in that state made Raven's heart flutter. Raven made sure to take in the sight like it would be the last time, because she knew it very well could be. She only had one chance to get this right, and if she didn't, she and Summer would be crushed to death in an instant. However, for once in her life, Raven had faith that things would work out in the end.

The crystal's light intensified as the gravity Dust began to exert its power. The rubble surrounding Raven and trapping Summer began to tremble. However, Raven could already feel the edges of the crystal eroding away as the Dust was rapidly expended. She gripped the crystal tighter. Then she steeled her nerves, and the light from the crystal became blindingly bright as its power exploded outward.

Paramedics, police officers, emergency workers, and even a few city officials were all milling about around the pile of debris that had been Senior's nightclub. Raven was watching the scene, feeling numb and detached. The day was only a few hours old, and it had already been one of the most intense of her life. To say she was emotionally drained would've been an understatement.

Raven's eyes drifted this way and that as she looked around. With all the authority figures present, Raven was mildly surprised that Ozpin wasn't among them. However, she suspected that at least one of his agents was about. She doubted that when she finally got around to reporting back to him, if she ever did, that anything she would say would come as a surprise to him. The more she'd learned, or inferred, about how he operated, the more she'd begun to wonder why he'd bothered giving her magic in the first place. Fortunately, she didn't particularly care what his reasons had been. It was her magic now, and she'd use it as she pleased.

Raven's gaze continued to wander until it happened to fall on Qrow and Taiyang. The two of them were being interviewed by a cop, and Taiyang must have been weaving quite the tale. His hands were emoting wildly, and even from a distance it was plain to see how enthusiastically he was speaking. Then he grabbed Qrow's shoulder and gave his boyfriend a hearty shake. A silly little smile spread across Qrow's face.

It suddenly occurred to Raven that being ordered by their father to attend Beacon Academy had probably been the best thing that had ever happened to Qrow. She wondered if he knew how tenuous his newfound happiness was, but she decided not to tell him. Maybe, just maybe, he deserved to be happy for a time.

Raven looked down at her hands which had been terribly cut up by her frantic digging earlier. A paramedic had come by a few minutes ago and had bandaged them up for her. She normally wasn't one to accept help. It was just one more sign of how much Beacon had changed her that she hadn't turned the paramedic away. It was funny, but unlike Qrow, coming to Beacon had been one of the worst things that had ever happened to her. She'd been humiliated, embarrassed, belittled, cursed by a wizard, nearly killed with an axe, and she was pretty sure she'd met the embodiment of true evil. And yet, if she'd known back then what she knew now, she still would've obeyed Father's order. Despite all the awful things that had happened to her, there had been something, or rather someone, who had made it all worth it.

Slowly, Raven's head turned toward where Summer was lying on top of a gurney. One end of the gurney was tilted up so that Summer was in a sitting position. A paramedic was standing there, speaking with her. Both of Summer's legs were in braces, but there was still a smile on her face and a lively shimmer in her eyes.

Raven started walking forward, moving like she was in a trance as she drifted closer to Summer.

"Raven!" Summer said as her partner walked up to her. She glanced at the paramedic. "Give us a minute?"

"Of course," the paramedic said and walked away.

Summer sat up completely and very slowly swung her legs out over the side of the gurney, only wincing a few times. Then she patted the empty space next to her.

Raven smiled and sat down beside Summer. They both leaned into each other. Raven's arm came up and draped itself over Summer's shoulders.

Summer said, "The doctor told me I'll be fine. Eventually anyway."

"That's good," Raven said, silently grateful for the wonder that was aura.

"But I am supposed to keep off my feet for a while," Summer said. "I guess you'll have to carry me everywhere."

"Anything you want," Raven said.

Summer giggled.

Raven's fingers gently rubbed against Summer's shoulder. She couldn't believe how close she'd come to losing Summer. But she hadn't. Summer was still there. Even better, Senior's gang was out of the picture. There was still the matter of the other gang hunting Summer, but Raven was hoping that they'd hear about what had happened today and think twice about coming after Summer. If they didn't, Raven was already making plans to do things to them that Summer wouldn't approve of. She hoped, she believed, that would be enough to keep Summer safe. She reasoned that if that thing they had spoken to through that squid-like grimm could get to Summer on her own, she wouldn't have hired the gangs to do her dirty work for her. But Raven didn't want to think about any of that right now. All she wanted to do was to enjoy the simple pleasure of being by Summer's side.

"So…" Summer said. "When were you going to tell me that you could turn into a bird?"

A blush colored Raven's cheeks. Rather than admit she'd been embarrassed by her behavior when she'd first been transformed, she said, "The longer I waited the funnier it would've been."

Summer laughed, much to Raven's relief. She said, "Yeah. I guess you're right. It is kind of funny in hindsight."

Raven glanced in Summer's direction. She was surprised to see that Summer was staring at her now with an expression on her face that made Raven's stomach tingle pleasantly. But she had no idea why Summer was looking at her like she was. She let go of Summer and said, "What?"

"I'm proud of you," Summer said.

"Why?" Raven asked.

"You did a good thing today," Summer said. "Lots of good things in fact."

"Don't get used to it," Raven said.

"Why not?" Summer asked.

"I know what you're thinking," Raven said. "But I'll never be a real huntress."

Summer's expression shifted slightly. All of a sudden there was real weight behind her words when she asked, "Why not?"

Raven pondered Summer's question. It seemed ridiculous that Summer would even ask it, and yet Raven had no idea why. A legitimate huntress's license was waiting for her at the end of this four-year escapade at Beacon, and no one would stop her from using it as it was intended to be used. She could walk away from her father and her tribe. She would have the means and the ability to start a new life. And it would be a life with Summer. So, as Summer had asked, why not?

A strange sensation came over Raven. She suddenly felt disoriented. Time seemed to stretch out in front of her, and the pathways of her life unfolded before her eyes. She saw her father lying dead at her feet. She saw the power Ozpin had tempted her with actually within her grasp. She saw a young woman with blonde hair who strongly resembled her confronting her. She saw the same young woman weeping over her dying body. And all along the way there was opportunity after opportunity for her to turn from her path and be a better person. But she never did. Deep down she knew that she wasn't the heroine that Summer believed she could be. Deep down the one thing that truly drove her was her craving for power. She would pursue it at any cost, even unto her own ruin. It wasn't that she wanted power for the sake of power. Rather she understood, as few did, that the world, even with Summer in it, was a cruel and unjust place. The powerless would always be fodder for the powerful.

Raven suddenly snapped back to the present. Summer was still looking at her, but there was a melancholy in her eyes now. Raven wondered if they'd both somehow just witnessed the tragedy that would be her life, but she dismissed the idea on the spot. The strange, out-of-body experience she'd just had was merely a product of the day's stressful events. It wasn't like she could actually see the future, and it especially wasn't like Summer could see it with her. However, Raven did realize one thing. Her happiness was just as fragile as Qrow's. But in a way its ephemeral nature made it all the more beautiful.

Summer smiled again. She said, "I love you, Raven."

"I love you too," Raven said. "Summer."

Author's Note: And that's it for this season of Team STRQ: The College Years. Kind of a bittersweet ending, but that's the best I can manage with these two. They're kind of doomed by canon. Although in Raven's case it's her own dang fault. I hope you enjoyed reading!

Oh hey…. I managed to get Yang into the story for real. Go me!

This will probably be the last story I post this year due to my work schedule, but I've got a big fanfic project planned for early next year. I hope to see you then!

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.