Chapter 104 - Patch & Mistral - Final Pieces in Place
Year 74VE, February
Cover Art by Mi Chumi
Patch
Qrow had spent the last few days in Patch, helping Tai pack up, helping Ruby paper-train her new pupper, and generally trying to make himself useful. He'd told Oz he was planning to see them all off, and his boss had asked him to keep an eye on Summer, get a feel for her health when she got back from Atlas.
Oz had also asked Qrow's opinion on Summer's reasons for accepting the offer to move in the first place. Qrow had given him the superficially true answer. Summer wanted to focus on family, put as much distance between that family and Salem's plots as possible, and had decided Menagerie was well off the beaten path.
Thanks to Qrow's recent successes in coaxing the Fall Maiden back to Vale, Oz had seemed satisfied by that answer. Saddened, but satisfied.
As the days in Patch around Tai and the girls had worn on, Qrow had felt himself growing more and more morose, though mostly only when Ruby and Zwei weren't demanding his attention. It had been the third or fourth day when he'd realized with a start the reason why, and had broached the subject with his teammate that evening as they sat in the cool night air of the porch with a couple of beers. The girls were inside, playing video games and attempting to teach Zwei to sit.
"Did you know, Tai, that Summer got on my case during that whole Amber mission, about being Oz's errand boy?"
Tai regarded him with cool blue eyes, and tilted his head. "Oh? Can't say I'm surprised. Can't say I disagree, either."
Qrow kept his gaze on the woods, and took a pull of his beer. "Yeah… she... asked me where my home was. Where was my family." He glanced over to find Tai's expression intent, and continued, grimacing. "I thought I was okay with not having a home. I had a room at Beacon, an apartment in Mistral City. A regular hotel in Vacuo and Atlas. A handful of Inns across the Kingdom where they knew my face." A smile quirked his lips. "Maybe the bed of a willing lady here and there."
Tai snorted, and took a drink of his own beer. "And?"
"Yeah, today I realized that was all bullshit, because I'm watching you guys pack up, and I realized that even though I didn't stay here, this was my home, and you guys are my family." He felt his eyes sting. "And now you're leaving and taking the kids with you." He glared at the bottle. "Turns out I'm a fucking moron."
That was why I've been okay wandering the world rudderless at Ozpin's beck and call. This had been my anchor, not Beacon. This had been my sanctuary, even if it hadn't technically been my house.
And now it was gonna be empty.
The revelation had hit him hard.
Might be time to call on Dr. Maz again.
Taiyang Xiao-Long reached over and laid a hand on Qrow's lean shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Qrow couldn't meet his gaze, not feeling as broken as he did at the moment.
"You know, you could always come with us, bud."
Qrow started. "Eh? What the hell would I do all day in Menagerie?"
"Sit on the beach and turn lobster. Be attacked by the local birds of prey. Tear a path through the local singles scene," Tai rattled off with a smirk.
"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever," Qrow scoffed. "I thought the plan was for me to stay tied to Beacon , at least for now, so I could keep a finger on the pulse of a certain immortal."
Tai squeezed a little harder. "That's best case. You know as well as I do what Summer will say."
"Don't be a whiny little bitch?"
"That's your sister, dummy." Qrow laughed, and it eased some of the tightness in Qrow's chest. "No, Summer will say that you need to take care of yourself first, and worry about the world second." His voice lowered. "She learned that, we all learned that, the hard way, my friend."
They sat for a bit, listening to the sounds of night insects for a bit, before Qrow managed to drag his line of sight back to the other man. There he saw nothing but concern and support. "Thanks. I needed to hear that." He held out his beer, and the two clinked them and took a drink. "I'll think about it. Just having the option… well it helps. Still gonna miss this damn place, though."
And then both scrolls pinged simultaneously.
Tai tilted his head to the side table so he could read the notification.
And might as well have not bothered, as an electric tearing sound disturbed the night air of the yard, loud enough to draw the attention of those inside the house.
. . .
When the crackling portal opened, you would have thought a bomb had gone off.
"Mommmm!" two girls screamed in unison as they charged out through the door, a frantically barking and short-legged furry projectile in their wake.
Taiyang Xiao-Long most decidedly did not scream, though the gods knew he felt like it. They'd been separated for an entire week, the longest they'd been apart since her return, and despite being able to talk to her daily, and the knowledge of why she was staying in Atlas while he managed logistics here in Patch… well it had still been hard. Having Qrow around had helped, but…
He watched her ease toward the portal in the darkness of Branwen Camp, and knew how his face must have looked.
"Summer…"
And he didn't care.
Summer Rose barely made it through the portal before she was immediately mobbed by their two children, jabbering and clinging to her. She knelt, letting them express fully just how much they'd missed her, ignoring the excited attack of Zwei's long tongue on anyone and anything he could reach.
Tai took the opportunity to examine his wife in the dim light. In the last four years, she'd filled back out to her pre-imprisonment build, and thanks to Raven, she was also carrying herself with more of the old Huntress confidence.
Now, she had two functional eyes as well. Oh, he'd seen the new eye on the calls, and so had their girls, but to see it in person as he moved toward her To watched both eyes, the natural silver and the polished metallic iris turning to him in unison, watching both of those eyes widen with increased joy…
"Tai…"
"Mom your eye is soooo cooooolllll" Ruby exclaimed, hanging off Summer's arm and enraptured by the sight. "I wish I had a cool laser eye!"
Yang snorted. "No way, Rubes. Like you'd let anyone near your eyes."
"Well… naw… but… if something did happen…"
Tai saw Summer's face pale.
And to his surprise, it was Yang that intervened first. "Ruby! You can't freaking say that!"
Ruby's face registered confusion, then shock, and then it turned beet-red, the color creeping up from her neck until even her ears were bright red. "OhgodsohgodsmomI'msosorry."
Tai watched as his wife took a deep breath, then smiled broadly. "It's okay, baby. But please don't joke about that."
"Wasn't really joking..." Ruby said very quietly, then covered her mouth with one hand even as she flipped her hood over her face. "Sorrysorrysorry!"
And this time, Summer couldn't help but laugh, and grabbed her youngest daughter, squeezing the stuffing out of her. "Gods, I love you."
"EEEP!"
"What about me!?" Yang demanded, stepping back with hands on hips and a dangerous gleam in her lilac eyes.
Summer's smile widened and she opened an arm. As soon as Yang inserted herself in, Summer stood up with both girls dangling and squealing, legs starting to flail.
Tai arrived just in time to add himself to the group hug, and then felt Qrow's lean frame on the other side.
"Hey Sum. You're looking good," their friend rasped.
This is how it's supposed to be, Tai thought.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, the girls complaining and laughing about being squished, before Summer spoke in a quiet voice. "You can join us, too."
And to Tai's surprise, Raven's voice answered. "Nah... not really my thing."
The tone wasn't mocking, though. More… just matter of fact.
Tai opened his eyes to see Raven, in the yard with them, eyeing the four with her red eyes and an uncharacteristically soft expression on her face.
He eased himself out of the hug. "You want to stay for dinner? It'll be takeout, since the kitchen's already packed up."
"You still planning to leave tomorrow?" Raven asked. Tai nodded, and Raven's eyes flicked between the three adults and Ruby, and then lingered on Yang. "Yeah. I think I will." She smirked. "Maybe make it a Team STRQ party after the kids are in bed, since the idiot's here, too."
"Auntie Raven, Uncle Qrow's not an idiot ," Ruby objected, finally wiggling herself free and dropping to the ground, only to be nearly knocked down by Zwei. Her voice dropped down in volume. "You're not gonna let him sing again, are you?" She asked with slight horror.
Raven laughed. "We'll try to keep the noise levels down," then she looked the question at the other three.
Tai shrugged and scratched at his head with a free hand. "Sure. I've got some stuff I wanted to go through with you both anyway." Raven arched an eyebrow, and he continued. "I found a few old boxes in the attic. Stuff that… we couldn't have handled going through, before ."
Raven looked away for a minute. "Oh... yeah…" She shook herself. "Fuck it. Can't hurt, right?" She eyed Yang. "How's your Aura training going?"
"I kicked dad's butt yesterday!" the tween replied with a grin.
Raven glanced at the blonde man and got a wry smile in return.
He always did coddle Yang… but… maybe that is okay. Yang is tough. Like I am. "I bet you did," she said with a smirk. "Got to keep him from getting a big head."
"Dang right!"
. . .
True to their promises, after dinner and putting the girls to bed, Tai brought down the boxes he'd found. And as they went through them, they didn't get stupid drunk. They just soaked up the old memories, mostly good, some painful, and chatted about old times and recent events. Tai had been right, though. Four years ago, they'd have come to blows over the contents of those boxes. Two years ago, they'd have probably ended up arguing and Raven storming off.
But now? Now they felt comfortable enough with each other, with who they were to each other, to poke and prod at old scars a bit. Especially if there was a moderate amount of alcohol involved.
Qrow was fascinated with Summer's new eye, and didn't see any reason not to say so. "So… how's the new eye working out for ya, Sum?"
Summer's eyes, both of them, rolled to the left and up. "Well… I'm still getting used to having binocular vision again, it's a little weird. Like… everything seems a little too real , like it's all super 3-D." She swirled her glass, and focused on it while lifting it to her lips. Qrow watched her pupils dilate in unison as she did, one her natural deep black, the other with a faint blue inner glow.
"Huh."
"Yeah. And the color on the new one is a little off from my natural eye, though Dr. P says that after I've used it a while, I can come back for another calibration to fix that."
Qrow leaned forward, red eyes peering. "That blue glow is kinda cool."
"If you'd half a brain, you'd have demanded a laser add-on," Raven quipped, whacking her friend on the shoulder. "Never did have the balls to demand that little extra something."
"Oh can it, sister. Just because you never know when to quit-"
"Looks like you two ladies still aren't seeing eye-to-eye on everything!" Tai laughed.
Godsdammit… Qrow thought. That was horrible.
"You know, Rae, sometimes I understand why you left…" Summer growled. "Seriously, Tai?!"
His hands were lifted, palms up, but his face was unapologetic. "You came back, Summer. That means you love me!"
"You can always come live with me in the wilderness," Raven said, giving Tai a mock glare. "We'll live like wild women, screw men. Kindred fucking spirits."
Summer reached out and gripped her friend's shoulder. "I'm thinking about it." And then Tai eased over and whispered in her ear. She blushed. "Okay… uh… maybe a rain check on that."
"Fucking whipped," Raven laughed. "And damn me if I can't blame you." And the four clinked glasses.
Branwen Camp / Kuroyuri
They spent almost a week in Mistral, because they could. Because, as Summer had said, they were going to take time for family before they dug in at Breakwater.
It was a mixed bag.
. . .
"Stop! Calling! Me! That!" Yang yelled.
"I'll stop calling you a snot-nosed little wimp when you stop hitting like one!"
"RRRRRRAAAAHHHHGGGHHH!" Yang Xiao-Long charged in, fists flying.
And Raven Branwen stood her ground.
Omen was, uncharacteristically, sheathed and on the ground.
Raven was, characteristically, unsympathetic to the fact that Yang had minimal control over Aura, and nearly zero control over activating her Semblance, and was only twelvish years old.
As Yang charged up, more frustrated than she could have possibly ever imagined, she thanked all the gods above that this woman had not been the one to raise her. No amount of double allowance was worth it.
Nope.
There was a complex sense of movement, and Yang found herself flying through the air. Her fists hadn't even touched Raven. And then she slammed into the ground, hard enough to bring tears to her eyes.
But she didn't cry .
She'd learned that lesson exactly once, months and months ago when they'd first started training together. Raven had been teaching her blocking strikes, and Yang had gotten tired, and wanted to take a break, and Raven had called her weak , and she'd… well she hadn't cried , exactly. More like her eyes had just watered up from frustration.
And Raven had looked at her, turned her back, and opened a gate back home.
And told her to go crying home to mommy.
Mom and Raven had a fight over that one. An ugly one that ended up with them actually screaming at each other and saying some stuff that Yang didn't want to remember at all. Stuff that she wished she hadn't heard. Stuff that she was glad Ruby hadn't heard.
And Yang had been terrified for a while back then, that something bad was gonna happen. Like… what if Raven didn't come around anymore? Or mom left again. Or… something.
It was stupid, really. Cause Raven wasn't nice , and she wasn't her mom , but… but she and 'Auntie Raven' kinda clicked sometimes. That's the only reason she cared. Right.
But none of those things ended up happening. Instead, Uncle Qrow and her dad had talked to them both, and then the two women had disappeared for an evening. Dad said they were 'having it out' and not to worry, but Ruby had almost had a fit even with mom sending text messages saying they were okay, though as the evening had gone on, some of the messages had been hard to read with all the misspellings.
And the next day, mom and Raven had both been home, and had complained a lot about having headaches, but had been nicer to each other. And Raven had been nicer to Yang after that, too.
But Yang had still decided that she wasn't gonna cry around Raven any more. It just wasn't worth it.
"You gonna get up, or-" Raven warned, arms crossed.
"I'm gettin' up." Yang groused, and rolled over.
Mom had also told her that she didn't have to train with Raven. It wasn't something anyone expected of her. She didn't owe Raven anything.
And that fact was what had kept her coming back. She didn't have to. She could stop any time. She was here because Raven was tough. Raven , dad said, was one of the toughest Huntresses out there . Nobody messed with her. And that thought really appealed to Yang on a bone-deep level.
It was why, when her dad and mom had decided to head back to Kuroyuri for the afternoon, Yang had asked if she could stay at Branwen Camp and train with Auntie Raven.
"Come on Yang! You can take her!" orange-haired Nora yelled from the edge of the practice field, and Yang felt a look of complete disbelief wash across her face.
"Easy for you to say!" She yelled back. Yang had met Nora and Ren a few times by now. And she found that she really liked Nora, most of the time. She was loud, and physical, and not afraid of anything, and that's how Yang saw herself.
Like her, Nora had her Aura and Semblance unlocked.
And she'd told Yang how she'd done it, too.
Which Yang had thought sounded insane . People died to Grimm without Aura. You don't just go wandering out into the woods assuming your Aura will take pity on you and show up. That sounded stupid. Heck, she'd been sure Nora was making it up, except that she actually did have her Aura unlocked, and Miss Dania had said she was telling the truth.
But unlike Yang's Semblance, Nora's didn't have a trick to it. All she had to do was charge herself up and it did its thing.
Nope Yang's was being pissy. So here she was, in the dirt.
Again.
Her Semblance, so far, had stubbornly refused to activate unless she got seriously hurt first.
Not. Fair.
She rolled over and sat up.
"Had enough? Is it mommy hugs time?" Raven taunted.
Grrrrrrrr…. You suck, Raven!
"I can see what you're thinking, you know," Raven replied to her unspoken accusation airily. "You don't have to do this. You're the one insisted you wanted to train today."
" Train , yeah. Not… not make fun of me."
"That's part of the training." Raven said and lifted her hands in a classic fighting stance.
"Crap! Bullcrap!" Yang said, feeling herself getting angrier.
From behind her, she heard the not-a-Huntress, Dania. "Yang, she's not… wrong. Getting your opponent mad, so they make mistakes, take risks, is a tried and true combat technique."
"See, even Taste the Rainbow over there gets it," Raven quipped.
"Not going to work, Raven." Dania had a thing about changing her hair color, which Yang couldn't understand at all.
"Heh. Worth a shot. So, what's it gonna be, brat?" Raven asked. She hadn't taken her eyes off Yang the entire conversation.
"Not a brat!" Yang growled as she made it to her feet.
"Yang she's just trying to get you mad so you'll lose focus," Dania rebuked.
"It's working!" Yang replied with a screech.
Yang Xio Long had discovered, thanks to Raven Branwen, that she had a freaking temper . Sure, over the years she'd gotten mad before. Like when Ruby broke her toys, or somebody tried to touch her hair.
But Raven knew how to freaking wind her up .
Bad.
"Your nose is running. And you've got twigs and shit in your hair." Raven taunted.
With a high-pitched roar, Yang charged again, rebounded. Hit the ground.
Really. Really. Bad. It made her feel… strange and itchy in a way that was oddly familiar. Like she had bugs all over her skin. And hot inside, like she wanted to just explode. She started to realize when it was that she'd felt that before…
"Maybe I should have Vernal give you a haircut like hers," Raven said, one eyebrow lifting. "Be a lot easier to take care of."
Yang's eyes widened, even as she heard Nora gasp.
"That. Is. It!" She screamed, and she felt like… like she was freaking on fire. All that anger, that rage, just bubbled up and outward, and she charged forward, fists cocked back.
She felt her Semblance activate.
Holy crap it felt incredible!
There was a glorious moment when Raven looked surprised, even shocked. Her red eyes were wide as saucers, but decades of instinct took over. She hauled off and nailed Yang right in the center of mass with her boot, causing her to fly backward into a tree.
Which exploded into splinters.
Yang Xiao Long stood among the shattered remains of the trunk, eyes bright red and hair wreathed in flame, and across the clearing, she could see Raven on the ground, several feet back from where she'd been before.
Raven had kicked her, sure. But it hadn't really hurt.
Yang felt supercharged now.
And the impact had also thrown Raven backward, knocking her clean off her feet.
A grin slowly split Yang's face from ear to ear as she watched Raven pick herself up, eyes bright.
"Wooooo! Kick her butt, Yang!" Nora called from the sidelines.
Raven grinned. " There it is!" She motioned a come-hither. "Bring it, cub!"
. . .
Later that day back in Kuroyuri, Yang was being tended to by Summer, who was clicking her tongue and pulling twigs and dirt out of her hair in the Ren family's bathroom. When she'd come back with Nora from her training with Raven, she'd looked a complete mess, but she'd been grinning from ear to ear. Based on Nora's excited telling, it had been a wild fight, and Yang had completely beaten Raven up at least fifty times, and then challenged the entire Tribe to a one-on-twenty match and won that too.
Ruby was beginning to think that Nora exaggerated a little bit.
Yang wasn't here to dispute her version, though, because Summer would be working on her hair for at least an hour.
Summer was the only one allowed to do anything with Yang's hair. Not dad. Not Ruby. Definitely not Uncle Qrow, who'd gone back to Branwen Camp to have some sort of talk with Raven.
That left dad visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Ren.
And that left Ruby hanging out with just Ren and Nora.
"You should totally let us find some Beowolves to try to kill you!" Nora said happily, clapping at the idea. Her aquamarine eyes were wide, and her smile was manic.
"Nora. That is a horrible idea," Ren said calmly beside her.
Nora turned innocent eyes to her friend. "What? It worked for me!" She slapped a fist into the other palm.
"We almost died , Nora. Remember?"
The orange-haired girl's face fell briefly. "Oh.. well. Yeah . There's that . But..." she shook her head and rallied. "Still working!"
Lie Ren sighed.
Ruby stared at her two friends. And they were her friends, even if they didn't get to see each other and they were two years older than her. Nora reminded her a lot of Yang, but without the temper and with a little more…. insanity. Ren was…. Calm and reassuring. Yeah. The two of them made a weird pair, but they kinda worked together.
"Nah, I think… I'll pass on Grimm tryin' to kill me." Ruby finally managed, fingers fidgeting.
"Well, what about… something else then?"
Ruby thought about that. About how Ren and Nora and Yang's Auras and Semblances had unlocked. It sounded really scary. She didn't feel like she was ready for that much fear. But… it had worked. Ren had needed to hide, and he'd gotten Tranquility. Nora had needed to protect Ren, and she'd gotten High Voltage. Yang had gotten hit hard enough to break her in half, and she'd gotten Burn.
What do I want?
Ruby thought about that. What did she want? Not hitting stuff. And not lightning. Maybe something like mom's Scatter. She thought back to her training with mom. They'd started playing around with practice sticks and padding, with mom trying to hit her and her supposed to block.
And most of the time it ended up with her giggling and running circles around her mom, and her mom laughing and threatening all sorts of things when she caught her.
What if… what if… she couldn't catch me?
What if nobody could catch me cause I was super-fast? Like super-duper-mega fast?
The idea was so awesome that it made her feel suddenly dizzy.
"Oh no…" Ren said softly, as he stared at Ruby's face.
"Eh?" Nora blinked, looking between them.
Ren spared Nora a glance. "Nora, I think you just gave Ruby an idea."
"Yay!"
Lie Ren covered his face with his hands.
. . .
The next morning, Nora Valkyrie disappeared into town after breakfast, and then returned.
Lie Ren appeared completely calm, but beneath that calm was a slowly growing terror. One that he really wanted to reveal to the adults around them.
But he also did not want to alienate Ruby. Of the two girls, he found her much easier to deal with and relate to than Yang. She was excitable, yes, but she was also the more level-headed of the two, in his experience.
At least, she had been before Nora had infected her.
Gods….
It was after lunch, and the four kids were outside in the rear courtyard. Nora was holding Zwei, and had asked Yang to tell them about when her mom had come back and then they'd found mom's whole team in their house, drunk and singing.
Mom and dad and 'Grammy' Visha were visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Ren inside the house.
So Yang had, with a wicked grin, agreed and had started in on the tale. She'd gotten about a minute in, when she sensed Ruby step up directly behind her.
Yang's blood went cold as she heard the sound, a sound she knew extremely well. The sound of a pair of shears snipping closed.
Right. Behind. Her. Neck.
Yang's head turned glacially, eyes wide, to find her dark-haired sister slowly backing up, silver eyes large as soup plates and face pale.
Holding a pair of shears in one hand.
And a lock of blonde hair in the other.
"Ru-" Yang managed, before full awareness crashed down on her.
Her sister… her sister… had just cut her hair.
With scissors.
Her world exploded.
. . .
It was an incredible, awesome plan, Nora thought.
"I'm gonna freaking KILL YOU RUBY ROSE !"
It had been a simple plan. Get Yang mad. Get her mad enough to chase Ruby. Mad enough that Ruby was actually scared of what Yang would do when she caught her.
That would make Ruby have to run.
Run fast.
And with luck, that would give her Super Speed !
. . .
And then Yang's hair exploded.
. . .
Ruby was starting to really freak out.
Cause… Yang hadn't just gotten really freaked out and scary mad.
No, she'd gotten so mad that she'd gone nuts and activated Burn!
Ruby was running as fast as her little legs could carry her, which was really freaking fast! And she was huffing and puffing so hard that she couldn't-spare-a-breath-to-explain-that-it-was-all-a-big-mistake-and-oh-gods-Yang-is-really-fast-and-scary-when-she's-got-Burn-going!(!)
And Yang was… gaining on her! She could feel it! She'd already done three laps around the back yard, dodging chairs and jumping the water feature.
And Yang has Aura and I don't!
Why is the wall so tall! I gotta get outa here!
She's gonna actually kill me!
Mom's gonna be so mad if she kills me!
Don'twannadie-don'twannadie-don'twannadie.
And Nora and Ren were screaming something, and Zwei was barking his little puppy head off, but Ruby couldn't hear actual words over the blood rushing through her hears and Yang screaming and Yang sure wasn't listening and she couldn't tell exactly how close Yang was because if she looked back she'd totally trip and then she'd die but Yang was really loud so she was probably really close and ohgodsohgodsohgods.
Ruby started circuit number six. Or maybe it was seven?!
It's hard to keep count when you are about to die!
I've gotta get away. Gotta get away. Gotta-
She felt something grip the hood of her cloak.
Oooooooohhhhhggggoooooddddsssss
Every cell of Ruby's body, suddenly, was united in singular purpose.
We do not wish to be in this place, at this moment, with Yang Xiao-Long about to kill us and our brethren.
And Ruby's world went… red .
Ruby's vision blurred, as if she were seeing the world but her eyes weren't in just one spot. And things were… slowing down.
She could still hear the yelling and screaming behind her, but the sound was shifted down in pitch and falling behind her.
Fast.
I'm moving. I'm moving! I'm doing it!
Er.. that wall is.. coming up really really fast.
I… ohgodsIdon'tknowhowtoturn!
And with a bone-jarring, head-banging, eyeball rattling boom, Ruby Rose crashed full-force through the wooden rear wall of the Ren family's home in a cloud of rose petals, flew across a bedroom, and pancaked into the far wall with a series of Aura flashes.
"…. Ow…." She managed, as she slid down the wall into the pile of debris that she had created. A soft rain of something wafted down around her.
Am I dead? I might be dead. Does dead hurt like this?
"I'M GONNA FREAKING KILL YOU!"
Through the haze of pain, Ruby managed to pry one bruised eye open, to find Yang advancing on her through the slowly settling flower petals, hair ablaze, and one fist cocked back.
Nope. Not dead.
Not yet.
Thank the gods, Ren managed to catch up to Yang. Ruby saw him grip her shoulder, and a subtle pink glow formed over him, transferring to her sister.
Burn cut out like a fire starved of air.
"Whoah…" Yang managed, knees suddenly wobbly. She stared at Ruby. "You cut my hair!" she yelled with shocked outrage, hands outstretched as if seeking an explanation.
"She didn't! She didn't! It was a social experiment!" Nora yelled from behind them, trying and failing to hold on to Zwei, who jumped loose and charged forward to protect Ruby.
"Nora!"
"I mean we tricked you! It was fake hair!"
"Ruby! Yang!" Came the yells of Summer and Tai, with Visha and the Ren parents behind them, eyes wide in shock at the damage to the home, and the state of the children within.
"It was Nora's idea!" Ruby croaked.
"Awwww… why is it always my idea?" Nora huffed, hands on hips.
. . .
They spent two more days in Kuroyuri, in part to ensure Ruby was completely recovered, in part to ensure the Ren home was going to be suitably repaired, and in part because Summer was catching up with Visha.
But in the end, this was just a waypoint. Their goods had been taking the slow route to Menagerie, and would likely be waiting for them when they arrived. They just had to… take that last step.
Summer completed a long and watery hug with Visha. The old woman was, indeed, thriving with Branwen Tribe. Summer was glad to see it. For her part, Visha had been elated to see Summer with both eyes usable. They were both showing the benefits of freedom and purpose. And it was thanks to Selene and Raven.
Summer turned to Qrow, seeing the look on his face. "Invite's still open, Qrow."
He shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "Might take you up on it someday. Let's see how things play out. And yeah, I'll come visit." He eyeballed his nieces, standing warily next to their dad who had a stern expression on his face. "Both of them with Aura and Semblance? You're gonna have your hands full, Sum."
She regarded him with soft eyes. "We'll live. Make sure you do, too."
Qrow hugged her and then made the rounds through the rest of the family, pup included.
"If you're all done gettin' sappy, Vernal's in position," Raven mock-groused. "Seriously, it's not like stopping by for a beer is hard ."
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm the big baby," Qrow rolled his eyes.
Raven shared a look with Summer, drew Omen, and cut a slash in the air with Kindred Link.
The Rose Xiao-Long family stepped through into Breakwater, and into the rest of their lives.
[A/N] And so we have yet another of Team RWBY / JNPR unlock Aura and Semblance, thanks to yet another of Nora's Totally Awesome Ideas. We also see some early training by Raven in baiting Yang into activating Burn (and to her horror, Ruby figures it out too!). We also get a few interpersonal moments with Team STRQ and some Cameos by Visha and Deedee / Dania.
And now, we have nearly all of Team RWBY in place in Kuo Kuana, though they wouldn't start Cove formally until a bit later. You can bet they'll be getting some private instruction between now and then, and have some madcap adventures!
Next chapter we will return to Atlas to catch up with the Schneeblings!
Special thanks to recent reviewers Rookie80, TichePotato, Shadowstorm-Vash,
Rookie80: Yep, I love taking cameo or secondary characters and fleshing them out. Tons of fun! And I think it's canon that Adam Taurus, for all his faults pre-Beacon, is furiously loyal. And yes, Ozpin is getting concerned about his lack of ongoing understanding of what is going on in Menagerie. Qrow's report helped, but that was a temporary solution.
TichePotato: Glad I could scratch that itch. I find that I really like doing these from time to time, so we don't lose track of everyone.
Shadowstorm-Vash: Professor Quirrel is sadly a boring human. And yes, Argent is super sharp, though she's also feeling the strain a lot more than she's letting on. She's very single-minded and very driven at the moment. LOVED your comment about lazer pointer for Zwei! Atlas relations are going to get worse before they get better, and yes some people are going to get tired of it. And in the end, it's going to royally screw up Mistral because it's stuck in the middle with a lot of conflicting loyalties.
Watts always bites off more than he can chew. It's how he ended up getting ashed by Cinder in canon. Any bets on whether history repeats itself here?
I've decided to make Jax's Semblance subtle and powerful, but with significant limitations. Unlike in canon, it can't quite force you to do something you would completely reject (or if so, it would require him to constantly reinforce). And he can only work one "suggestion" at a time. He has to touch to create the link, but after that he can use that link to maintain it from a distance. But the more people he's managing, the more difficult for him, and he's very limited in power at this time.
You'll get some updates from Garek and Selene soon! And now I have to write a combat between Blackfeather and Zwei!
AtomicR4y: So glad you enjoyed the worldbuilding! It's lots of fun to explore the corners and nooks.