September I

Yang was born in the fall.

Patch was a beautiful little island around that time of year. That descriptor, island, wasn't perfect, as Patch as a whole was almost as large as Menagerie (albeit not nearly as populated), but it wasn't the same size as a continental landmass like Solitas, Anima, or Salem's hometown, so it was truly inevitable that Raven's sizeable home was relegated to its island status.

She hadn't chosen to live here. That wasn't to say she disliked it in any way, mind you, but it simply hadn't held any interest to her when searching for a home. There were probably over a thousand places she hadn't been interested in choosing as her permanent residence, from the capital cities of the kingdoms to their most minor outposts known to man. She would've preferred somewhere with less water and more dirt, but when Patch had been suggested, Raven had agreed. Again, she had nothing against Patch; she had barely even known of it before and thus never really considered it.

Raven Branwen was a Mistrilian by birth, but her citizenry mattered very little to her, given that the people who designated her as a Mistrilian would have also seen her arrested, drawn, and quartered (perhaps she exaggerated, but Racket, the leader of the tribe when Raven had left, once implied that a captured Branwen raider was put to death and eaten alive by the huntsmen and huntresses).

Raven now knew better, for many reasons. For one thing, the kingdoms patted themselves on the back (one might also describe it as jerking themselves off) with their overbearing flavor of artificial civility, and they would have thrown some sort of noble trial one way or another, be it rigged or fair. Secondly, as a huntress herself, Raven understood that her role was little more than being the weapon of someone else, someone in power, who would truly call the shots. The idea of hunters themselves being asked to execute a prisoner was laughable when the kingdoms' prisons were all but an incorporated industry.

It would have been nice to pat herself on the back and say that those ethical qualms and moral failings were the reason she'd left her role as Ozma's weapon and decided to live on a not-island she'd never chosen. Sadly, it was not so. The truth was unprofessional, cowardly, and repulsive, which made it fortunate that Raven had so many nice little reasons to fall back on when asked.

"It's not right, to work in the secrets like this."

"How much of our lives are we choosing? And how much is Ozpin choosing for us?

"Will we ever be given the truth by that man, about the millions of secrets we've been entrusted to bear?"

Raven didn't care about any of that stuff. She couldn't, not when the revolving-door that made up the position of chieftain of the tribe had inured her from expecting the truth. Ozpin was fine, and so were his little mysteries. Raven's disgrace was not only in being nonplussed by such things, but in failing to find the resilience to overcome her actual struggle.

She'd announced her departure from Team Stark, to a perfect four walls of protestations from her leader, her brother, her boyfriend, and her boss, but she had somehow found the strength to not cave in spite of being boxed in. When it became clear that Raven was going and wasn't to be stopped by honeyed words or promises of doing nothing dressed up as something, one of those walls, the third in the list, had turned into a doorway.

Vale was Taiyang's true home, but while his family who had long since turned their back on their son for 'engaging in huntsman barbarism' and disinherited him of any and all holdings, their summer home on Patch was not lost to him. It belonged to his grandparents in truth, the patriarch and matriarch of the storied Xiao-Long lineage, but according to Tai-Tai…according to Taiyang, it was a safe location for many a reason. If they hadn't forgotten about it entirely, the real estate was valued so lowly that his rich folks wouldn't care to fight for it, and the process of evicting their erstwhile heir might require them to actually leave their mansion. Both were said to be bags of skin and bones, far too frail to make the journey or even summon the litigators necessary to have Raven's little family removed.

With a home to live in and a companion to live with, Raven in theory had all that she needed. While the intimacy of the latter was wholeheartedly appreciated, lodging in the former was more an act of convenience, or perhaps it was apathy, for any location that wasn't the tribe was functionally the same to an indifferent Raven. The fact that she hadn't returned home promptly upon graduating Beacon with the secret huntress knowledge she and her corvid brother had been tasked with uncovering would brand her a defector at best or a traitor at worst. It wasn't like she really wanted to go back, not after how small those people had become in comparison to the worldly life of plenty Vale offered. Raven didn't think she could go back to relieving herself behind a bush, at the very least.

Raven had made her decision to leave Team Stark mere days after the celebration of the Winter Holiday, but she willingly delayed her departure to the New Year, solely for the cleanness of the new year heralding in her new life. Yang's conception was almost immediate when they'd arrived in Patch, hence her birth in the ninth month of the year. It almost felt obligatory, Raven sometimes mused with the benefit of hindsight. Like having a baby was the next step now that they'd settle down, fixed up a log cabin, and started their new lives.

It sounded so negative when she thought back on it all, and to some extent, it truly was a negative experience, but that was only with the benefit of hindsight to taint it all retroactively. At the time, Raven had played the role of the happy housewife to perfection, with her Tai-Tai becoming Signal's newest professor. It wasn't a life she'd ever thought she'd want growing up, and she looked back and realized she hadn't truly been proud of her own domestic idleness, she couldn't have been, but at the time, an insurmountable heap of Raven-shaped stubbornness had been enough to push her into staying the course. She'd decided she didn't want to be a huntress any longer, and going back on that decision would be akin to admitting defeat.

The pregnancy had been a sort of healing period for Raven. She was still coming down from her period of service on Team Stark, and she'd just wanted to rest, so she had. As the baby got bigger and sapped more of her strength and mobility, Raven had let it. Tai earned enough for both of them, and he did all of the chores around the house; he loved his precious little summer home and was possessive of it something fierce, insisting he himself take care of all of the construction and renovation they had planned. Taiyang never asked Raven to take care of anything, and she took that as an invitation to never having to take care of herself.

Lounging about, reading, exercising on occasion, or just spending hours staring at her own reflection when Taiyang was at work, desperately praying that her mistake with Rainart wouldn't ever stain Raven's hands with the blood of her closest friends, Raven survived, and she lived. As long as she told herself she was happy, she could be.

She and Taiyang were truly in love. That much was certain. Qrow commented on it whenever he stopped by, as did Ozpin, and Summer had always called them a cute couple back when they'd been a team together. Raven was minimally content in that cabin in Patch doing nothing, but she was alive when her husband returned home at night to warm up her life and fill her with joy.

The triumph of their love made it infinitely more surprising when he disappeared less than a week before the birth of his daughter.

"Qrow," Raven weakly managed to squeak to her brother, still in his bird form on her windowsill.

He switched into a human as he slid into the house, landing on the floor in a squat that he quickly recovered from. "Heya, Ray."

"This…Th-This is Yang," she announced dumbly. "Your nephew…eh, ah, your niece. You're her uncle."

"Figured I wasn't her aunt," Qrow japed, reaching a hand out to accept the baby.

Raven couldn't offload it fast enough onto the young man. She didn't dislike her daughter in any way, but she really had no idea what to do with her. The expectation that she'd come up with in the months preceding the birth was that Taiyang would handle the care of the child, as he'd handled the care of everything.

Her voice was weak, full of fear, though she didn't exactly know of what she was supposed to be afraid. Perhaps it was worry that Qrow wouldn't see her as fit to take care of Yang (true), or perhaps it was concern that he would reveal some dark truth about Taiyang's departure. Maybe she just didn't want to be judged for being a single mother, even though everything she knew about her starry-eyed sibling told her that nothing of the sort would ever come true.

Raven knew she couldn't trust herself to not be a sniveling wreck, an utter embarrassment to the Branwen name, so she just spoke as minimally as possible. Her brother could do the talking for the both of them.

For a few minutes, he just handled the day-old baby, likely trying to see her as cute in spite of the screaming and flailing. Raven certainly had t̶r̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶.

"I did come with news," he said. "About…About your…about Taiyang."

Raven swallowed to steady her voice as best she could, and yet it still cracked when she spoke. Reaching out, she offered to hold Yang once more so that Qrow could deliver his news.

"Go ahead, brother," Raven said.

He pulled back a little. "I…uh…I think that I should hold onto her for…at least until the shock wears off. It's…yeah, it's a bit bad, Ray. I'm sorry."

My own brother doesn't think I'm capable of caring for my baby.

Well, he's probably right. I don't know anything at all about child-rearing. Gods, please, I hope I don't have to give her up for adoption.

"The news," Raven faintly prodded, with all the vigor of a legless grasshopper. "The news?"

It was pathetic, the way she begged. First, she failed as a huntress, then she failed as a wife, now she failed as a sister, and it was only a matter of time before she failed as a mother. How long until Raven was nothing left but a long list of defeats?

"Ok," Qrow went on. "Brace yerself, sis. So, first things first – Taiyang is technically not your husband anymore."

In hindsight, Qrow had been wise beyond his years to take Yang out of Raven's hands, for she surely would have dropped the child right onto the living room floor of the cabin had she still possessed her.

"W-What?"

"He filed for annulment…um…a-a few weeks back."

"He's divorcing me? He's been divorcing me for months?" This was truly the first Raven was hearing of this, which waved all sorts of red flags inside her head, as she was fairly certain she was supposed to know when her marriage was actively being dissolved.

I can hardly believe it. I probably wouldn't have if Taiyang weren't missing in action this very moment. He always loved me – he kept saying it, probably more than I said it back. He said it every night, even on the last one before he just up and left. If he's been planning this for weeks…why…why would he…?

"Not divorce," Qrow explained. "Annulment. It basically means that the marriage is never considered valid in the first place, usually used for cases where the partners find out they're related or one of them is…uh…well, long story short, it's easier to get than a divorce in a Valean court, especially for a new marriage. That's why Taiyang went for it. It also only requires the consent of one participant…also a part of why Tai went for it."

Cancelling a marriage didn't sound like something that was supposed to be easy, especially when a child had been conceived during the…

"Qrow," Raven growled, some of her nerve returning to her as the impact of her brother's words sank in. "How did you find all of this out?"

Ozpin or any of the others could have told him about the annulment or when it was filed, but the reason behind it? And the fact that he was referring to Taiyang so comfortably?

"Yeah," Qrow said, sinking down into an armchair with the squirming bundle of Yang. "It's as bad as it sounds. He wants back on the team, and he –"

Raven dove for Qrow, a scream on her lips, but he saw it coming and raised his foot, blocking her chest pre-emptively. With a kick, she was pushed backwards and sent sprawling on the floor.

"Ray, get a-fucking-hold of yourself! I'm holding your damn baby, okay?"

The rage at her brother for what Raven had construed as a betrayal simmered away as the flurry of emotions that replaced it set in. Fear, worry, disgust, self-hatred, regular hatred, all of them negative. It was fortunate that the useless failure that was Raven Branwen had a powerful huntsman with her to defend her from any Grimm her useless emotions summoned.

"Look, I'm sorry for kicking you," Qrow apologized, ashen faced. He was always the more mature of the two of them when it came to sorting himself out on things like this. "I'm gonna chew the hell out of your hus…of Tai…of Taiyang, but it's out of my hands at this point. Ozpin needs hunters to stop Salem, and Summer and I are both overworked after months of it being just us, so…and I'm not sayin' it's a good thing or some shit." Qrow cradled Yang with one arm and ran a hand over his forehead, dragging his eyelids. "Just, he's probably gonna get away with this, because they all need him. He said he was itching to get back into the action, and the action is itching to see him again. I don't think I'm gonna be able to deny him his spot on Stark or force him to turn around. But, I mean, would you even want that?"

The answer was yes, even if Raven chose to remain silent. The spurned wife probably would accept her missing spouse back even though he'd abandoned her, because right now she needed a rock on which to depend. Raven had no idea what she was doing. She had a baby who'd shot out of her womb onto a quilt just yesterday because she didn't have a scroll to call a hospital or a car to drive to one (transforming while pregnant was recommended against by Oz), nor did she even know where the hospital was on Patch.

Why did I come here, to this nowhere cabin in Patch? Because Taiyang wanted me to? And now he's gone!

In theory, that meant she could ditch this log-based prison and move on to bigger and better things, whatever that may entail. In practice...

Where would I even go? This is the only land I own. Rather, the only land that Taiyang owns and I have access to.

Vale had apartments for rent, but Raven didn't exactly have a job. As a former bandit, she had no practical skills beyond combat, and the huntress life was long since lost to Raven. Not only did her old squeamishness over…over a lot of things still exist, but she also now had a child to worry about. If Raven died, Yang would have no parents left to her. In spite of her utter incompetence towards mothering and a general aura of disgust at babies and their anatomical, biological grossness, Raven still wanted the best for her child.

Hunting is all I know how to do, and I went through all of this effort to get out of that. If I tried again…

Hunts, especially 'Ozpin' hunts with secret secondary objectives, could take upwards of weeks. Yang would have to be raised by a babysitter, and at that point, Raven may as well look into adoption for how little participation she'd have in her own child's life. On top of that, she knew that trying again would just be rehashing her old problems. The second she came across a dying citizen or wounded enemy, she'd flash back to Oniyuri or Hazel Rainart and lose her nerve again. It would be a whole lot of nothing, and Raven knew exactly what the end outcome would be – quitting a second time, exponentially multiplying her disgrace.

In other words, she had no future ahead of her. That was all, then.

"I'll take Yang back, brother," Raven said, holding forth her arms to accept her child.

Qrow clearly hesitated, but Raven kicked back down the pain that threatened to jeopardize her rigid calmness.

"I'm okay," she promised her brother. "I can take her back."

He didn't have faith in her and was clearly displeased about Raven receiving the child, but it was needless. Raven's fits of temper tended to be brief and fiery, often the briefer the more they were fiery. Her rage over Taiyang's departure was already fading as more pressing concerns than vengeance took the forefront of her mind.

Qrow gave her updates on the status of Ozpin's organization, including a promising young huntress named Goodwitch that they were considering bringing into the know, but Raven barely cared. As interesting as the fate of the world was, it would just continue on out there regardless of how minimally involved Raven chose to get in it.

He said his goodbyes flew out the window after about a half-hour of conversation, leaving Raven alone in the empty log cabin with her daughter.

Breastfeeding felt like a cheat code, the type used in Summer's videogames, but Raven knew it wouldn't last forever. Yang was pacified with milk as her sole source of sustenance for now, though, and Raven could just eat…whatever was in the fridge.

That also won't last forever. There's only so many leftover or instant meals, and I don't know what to do with ingredients. Gods above, I really should've paid more attention to how Tai turned the white powders and shredded sprinkles into that tasty food, the peetsa.

And, of course, that too would also eventually expire. Raven would have to venture away from her log cabin residence to the grocery store to acquire nourishment for herself and her daughter. Killing squirrels, plucking mushrooms, and foraging berries had served Ray well in her time as a bandit, but she also knew from experience that the average bandit died of disease before they turned 40, and Raven was currently 23, so that ruled out being a rural hunter-gatherer.

It was already fall, meaning that winter would be setting in soon. That meant more work, worse cold, and an increased chance of illness. Raven really needed to learn the location of the hospital. Hell, Yang probably needed a doctor to look her over and report and problems – the sort of thing was typical for newborns, right? Or was it?

Come to think of it, Raven probably needed to report the birth to someone in the government. Vale liked to know the population of the kingdom, and there had been all that hullabaloo over the birth certificate debacle when Raven and Qrow applied to Beacon.

Beacon…the thought of the academy reminded Raven of school. Yang would need to go there eventually. Raven was almost certain Taiyang had mentioned some word, kinderkarter or something, that was school for babies, though she knew not how to enroll her own daughter in it.

Babies pooped a lot. They peed, too. To add to the to do list, Raven was going to have to find where they kept the diapers and master that skill. That was, assuming that they even had diapers.

Sleep would need to be scheduled. At the moment, the infant was little more than a scream factory, and it would be up to Raven to soothe her and sing her to sleep. There would also be baths in the future, and Raven had no idea how long she was supposed to submerge a dirty newborn to get it clean without drowning it.

She would also have to teach Yang how to speak, how to read, how to count, how to fight, how to survive by her lonesome…

Except Raven wasn't even sure that she herself knew how to do that last one yet.

Author's Notes

This is a slightly shorter one than I usually do – my shortest, in fact, for a standalone. At only 108k words (over 32 chapters), it juuuuuust barely meets that feature length film marker.

It's a full Summer/Raven romance and drama with zero physical fights or onscreen combat, so if that's not your thing, you may not be interested. They spend the entire time in Patch and don't fight Salem or anyone for that matter. It's a fluff, angst, and romance fic, not a danger one - a little something for the normies on AO3 to enjoy.

Because of the nature of the story, switching Raven having run off for Taiyang, there is no Summer/Taiyang, and thus Ruby has been utterly and entirely erased from existence in this canon. The work is done. I can finally go to the Thanos farm and rest with a Thanos omelet in my hand as the sun sets on a grateful universe. *sighs* True peace at last.

Not really much else to say besides what you see on the front. RWBY is not my property. Maybe one day I shall receive it…a rat can dream. Updates will be Tuesdays, written in advance, comment if you like what you see (or don't , cuz I welcome criticism or roasts), please point out any typos and I will correct them.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!