'Thought' "Speaking" {On the Phone}
Aqua and Qrow walked to the Rose/Xiao Long residents to see Raven outside sparring with Tai while Yang and Ruby watched.
"Uncle Qrow, Aqua, Emerald." Ruby shouted seeing them.
"Didn't think I'd see you two having a fight already." Qrow said, taking his flask out.
"Zip it Qrow." Raven said dodging another fist then grabbed it and threw Tai over her shoulder. "Tai wanted to get back into fighting shape and I offered to help since I'm sleeping on his couch till the remodeling can be done."
Yang walked over to her father as he laid on the ground breathing heavily and handed him a bottle of water.
"Thanks Yang." Tai said, taking the bottle of water.
"Yang, can you give me your father a moment." Raven said, taking a seat next to Tai.
"Okay." Yang said, walking over to Qrow's group.
"You're really out of shape Tai, I know losing Summer was a big hit to all of us. Even with me knowing she was alive it still hurt that she wasn't here with us." Raven explained, looking sad. "But I thought you would have done better than this. Back in school you were praised as the man that would have to be killed to stop you from standing back up in a fight."
Tai chuckled then said, "Part of me wants to argue with you about that but you're not wrong. After Summer disappeared something finally broke in me. I may have been the one with the will to keep going, Summer was the hope of a better day." Raven nodded her head thinking of all the times when they were down on their luck, she'd have a smile on her face and look of determination in her eyes that just lifted their spirits. "That's why I know I need to do this, because when she comes back, I want to prove her right about me being a man that can be trusted."
Raven gave Tai a smirk then got up then held out her hand and said, "Then you'd better regain that strength that we fell in love all those years ago."
"You got it." Tai said, taking Raven's hand.
Ruby & Yang went up to Aqua & Qrow and said, "Uncle Qrow, Aqua, I had this really weird dream last night."
"Oh really." Aqua questioned, thinking she knew where this was going. Ruby then told Aqua and Qrow about the dream she had, once done Aqua chuckled a little. "That sounds about right for an awakening."
"Awakening?" Yang questioned.
"Yes, every Keyblade wielder has that type of dream before they start their training." Aqua explained. "The sword is strength, the Shield is defiance, while the staff is magic."
"What!?" Ruby complained. "Does that mean I can't use magic?"
"Oh no, you're just going to have weaker magic compared to me who gave up defiance." Aqua explained. "But before we talk about training I need to speak with your father, so why don't you take Emarald into the house and play."
Okay," Ruby said looking at Emerald. "I like your monkey." The complement made Emerald smile.
"If you want, we can show you some of the toys our dad and uncle Qrow gave us." Yang said, holding out her hand. Emerald slowly took Yang's hand and followed the two girls into the house.
As the children walked into the house Aqua & Qrow joined Raven and Tai.
"So is the dream she had part of the whole keyblade wielding thing and putting our world back in the realm of light." Raven asked. Aqua then looked towards Qrow with a look of we will have words later. "He wanted to convince me to trust you."
"All the same, I would like to keep suction secrets a secret." Aqua argued.
"Hey, I can understand needing to keep curtain secrets close to home." Raven said, looking at the house. "Trust me, I know."
"Which brings up something else." Tai said. "Ozpin sent over some paperwork that had your name on them. Looked like a birth certificate and school records."
"Yeah, since I wasn't born here, he agreed to help me gain a record here so that if anyone saw me or looked me up it wouldn't be too weird or like I fell from the sky."
"Which, you kind of did." Qrow stated.
"Well, the rest of the world doesn't need to know that." Aqua said back. "Also, before I start to train Ruby, I need to ask you all something." The three adults looked at Aqua wondering what she wanted. "I need you to unlock my aura. If I fight like I have been someone will get suspicious and start digging."
"Been a while since I've done it but," Raven said, placing a hand on Aqua's shoulder. "Close your eyes." Aqua closed her eyes as Raven channeled her aura. "For it is in passing we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound death I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."
As Aqua opened her eyes she saw Raven hunched over somewhat then looked at her hand and saw she had a glow about her.
"You have a lot of aura." Qrow said, looking at Aqua.
"I don't know why, but it feels like a weight was taken away." Aqua said, summoning her Keyblade feeling how her body moved.
"Well then let's see how good you are." Qrow said, taking Harbinger out in sword form.
"Why not, I could use a warmup?" Aqua said, pointing her Keyblade at Qrow. Raven & Tai took some steps back watching Aqua and Qrow go at it Aqua blocking everyone of Qrow's swings. "Firaga!"
Qrow dodged the fireball and then fired a few shots off at Aqua who blocked two of them, but the last one hit her.
"You good?" Qrow asked, seeing Aqua's aura flicker somewhat.
"Yeah, not going to lie, really not used to this aura thing yet." Aqua explained. "But I can still fight."
"Then let's kick up a notch." Qrow said as his sword started to curve. The next moment he was holding a scythe. "Here I come."
Aqua smiled like she was back on the Land of Departure training with Terra and Ven. As the spar continued the children soon came out to see about playing outside.
"Aqua is so cool." Ruby said seeing the two adults spar. "But I still think mommy is better."
"That's just because it's mom." Yang said.
"Isn't it the same for you?" Ruby said back.
Yang looked towards Raven then smirked and said, "Guess your right sis, Mom is the best." Yang then saw a sad look on Ruby's face. "What's wrong Ruby?"
"When my mommy comes back what's going to happen to us?" Ruby said looked at TaiYang.
"Well, we could gain two mothers and still have a father." Yang guessed. "After all, it seems our mothers were like sisters to begin with." Ruby smiled.
"You two are lucky you know that." Em said watching the fight.
"You have Aqua don't you." Yang said.
"She's taking care of me, but she's not my mom. We don't share any blood." Em argued.
"But my mommy took care of Yang, and she wasn't her mommy, but she called her that, so what's the difference?" Ruby asked. "Does she have to share blood with you to be your mommy?"
"I guess she doesn't have to share my blood to be my mom." Emerald said, looking back at the fight.
"Oh, I know, why don't you ask her to be your mommy." Ruby cheered.
Emerald shook her head and said, "Ruby, Aqua is nice but I don't think she's looking for a daughter. Besides, it seems they're already looking for a family for me."
"Have you asked if she wants to be your mom?" Yang asked, looking towards Emerald.
"Um, no." Em said not thinking of that.
"Well, no way of knowing unless you ask." Yang said back.
"I guess so." Em said seeing Aqua blocking one of Qrow's swings.
"Alright, that's enough you two." Raven shouted.
Aqua & Qrow both immediately stopped their swings and retacked their weapons.
"You've got some moves, Waterfall." Qrow said changing his scythe back to a sword and placing it back on his hip.
"Do you need to keep calling me that?" Aqua said, unsummoning her Keyblade.
"What can I say," Qrow said, taking his flask out, then taking a swing of it. "I call everyone something at times." Aqua just looked at Qrow like really. "What? I called my nieces Firecracker & Kiddo, I call Tai Houseman at times."
"What about Raven, and Summer?" Aqua questioned.
"Short stack & Dram…Ow." Qrow said until a shoe was thrown at him.
"You want to try that again." Raven said, picking her boot up off the ground. "Little brother."
Aqua started to giggle at the two Branwen's going at it like children. The three kids soon joined the adults with Emerald walking over to Aqua and Ruby going to TaiYang while Yang went to Raven looking at her sword.
"Oh no you don't young lady." Raven said, stopping Yang from reaching for her sword Omen. "You're not getting hold of a weapon till you're old enough."
"But Ruby is learning to wield a weapon." Yang argued. "It's not fair, I'm older."
Raven rubbed her head knowing Yang was right then thought of something, "Fair point so why don't you and I go get some paper from the house and design of weapons you can use when you're older. After all you'll be able to design your own making it look like whatever you want."
"Really?" Yang said with stars in her eyes.
"Yes, and get some for Emerald too, she'll want to draw some pictures too, while Ruby is training with Aqua." Raven said as Yang ran back into the house to get her crayons and paper.
"You know she's not much of a sword person, right." Tai said, standing on Raven's other side.
"Yes, she's just like you and will most likely punch her way through things." Raven said.
"Are you going to teach me magic?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes, walking up to Aqua.
"Sorry, Ruby that will be later," Aqua said, crouching down to be eye level with Ruby. "For now, we have to work on you summoning your Keyblade and your form." Ruby pouted at that while the other laughed at how she just made herself look cuter. Yang then came running out of the house with paper and crayons plus a smile on her face that spoke volumes. "Emerald, why don't you go color with Yang."
Raven got a table from the porch and sat in on the grass while Qrow got chairs for the kids to use and Tai went inside to get drinks. Emerald walked the table and sat next to Yang as Aqua summoned her Keyblade one more time then summoned it.
"Now Ruby, to summon your Keyblade." Aqua explained. "The Keyblade wielder's power is from the heart."
"The heart?" Ruby questioned.
"Yes. Our heart is the core of our being, where our emotions come from. The source of our power and what we draw on when we use our Keyblade." Aqua explained. "Now do as I do." Aqua held out her hand.
"Okay!" Ruby agreed, holding out her right hand.
"Now close your eyes and focus on your chest until you feel the warmth." Aqua said, Ruby then closed her eyes and did as Aqua said, but didn't feel anything at first till she felt a warm light calling to her.
"I feel it." Ruby said excitedly. "It's like a warm hug.
"Now I want you to imagine yourself taking hold of the warmth and pulling it to the surface."
Ruby pictured a fire that was warm and inviting standing before her, with her hand stretched out Ruby took hold the fire and pulled with all her might. Warm curled through her body and Ruby opened her eyes to see she was holding the Keyblade from before.
"Congratulations Ruby," Aqua said with her own Keyblade out. "You've completed the first step in becoming a Keyblade master."
"Cool." Ruby said, examining her Keyblade. "Hey Daddy look at my Keyblade."
Tai smiled seeing Ruby so happy then said, "Looking good sweety." Tai then saw Yang was drawing what looked like a red and yellow gauntlet. Raven tapped Tai on the shoulder then pointed to Emerald. Tai looked over to see she was drawing a picture of her and Aqua holding hands.
"I think we need to talk to Aqua about that." Raven suggested.
"Right." Tai said looking over Aqua and Ruby practicing a few stance's
After a few hours of practicing swings and forms with a little bit of Raven's help. Aqua called it a day and children had used up a great deal of energy, Ruby practicing, with Yang & Emerald running about. As the children had a nap in Ruby & Yang's room Aqua sat in the kitchen with Raven and Tai with Qrow having left a while ago.
"So, what's on your mind?" Aqua asked as Tai handed her a glass of water.
"What makes you think something is on my mind." Tai questions.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a terrible poker face?" Aqua said back as Raven chuckled.
"You're the third person to tell me that." Tai said, taking a seat across from Aqua. "It's about Emerald." Aqua took a sip from her glass then looked back at Tai. "What are your plans for her cause if this keeps up you know she's going to get attached to you or you might."
"I think it's a little late for that." Aqua said, looking down. "Just like me, she doesn't have anyone to call her family, but part of me knows I can't just keep her. Not if she wants to have a peaceful life."
Silence plagued the room as no one knew what to say with Raven finally breaking the silence.
"What happens if she wants to stay with you?" Raven questioned.
"Then I guess I just might become a mother at the age of twenty." Aqua answered not even bothering to hide it. "I just feel like that sweet little eight-year-old girl needs me and I need her. So, I'll look for a family to take her but if she wants to be mine then I'll accept it wholeheartedly."
"At least you thought about it." Raven said, looking at the stairs.
"I did." Aqua said getting up. "Now Emerald you should know it's not nice to eavesdrop on people." a squeak was soon heard along with shuffling.
"That goes double for you as well, Yang, Ruby." Tai said as Raven got a pot out.
"I'll start making dinner." Raven suggested putting the pot on the stove. "Tai, you handle the kids."
"Oh no." Tai said, taking the spoon from Raven. "You're still not able to make anything without burning it, I'll cook while you help Yang with her homework."
"It' wasn't that bad, man you act like it was worse than the time Qrow set the kitchen on fire." Raven said, walking over to the stairs to see three children and picked Yang and Ruby up.
"Emerald, I'd like to talk to you." Aqua said without moving from the table. Emerald walked over to the table holding her monkey plushie tightly. "You don't have to worry, I'm not mad at you. I did the same thing when I was younger."
"Did you get caught too?" Emerald asked.
"I did but surprisingly my friend Ven never did." Aqua said. "He was always able to hide so well no one knew he was there unless he wanted you to know." Emerald giggled at that. "But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm not going to ask if you heard our conversation."
Tears then started to roll down Emerald face as cried, "I..I..I.. I want…y..you to..r..raise me." Aqua got on the ground and hugged Emerald. "I..I..I want..y..y..you to…m..m..my mommy."
"Then it looks like we're stuck with each other, my little treasure." Aqua said holding Emerald tightly. "Because I would love to be your mother." Aqua sat there holding Emerald tightly as she cried, finally gaining a loving family she always wanted.