'Thought' "Speaking" {On the Phone}
Once off the ship Aqua could help but smile as Neo's eyes sparkled looking around at the island. Qrow took his flask out glad that Aqua returned it and took a swing of it tasting the fruit punch Aqua replaced the whisky in it with. Qrow looked at Aqua, but she waved him off knowing she did the right thing pouring the alcohol out before she gave it back to him.
"Really?" Qrow complained. "I couldn't even finish it off."
"Nope," Aqua said, popping the p. "Cause you need to stop, and no better time than now."
"Hey Aqua, Qrow, over here." A voice shouted. They looked towards the voice to see Tai waving at them by a pickup truck. "Come on everyone is waiting for us and the girls, what to hear about how the mission went." Aqua and Qrow soon made their way to the truck. "Who's the kid?" Qrow put his bag in the back of the truck and got in the back as well then motioned to Aqua. "Did you find another one, Aqua?"
"Yes, I did, and Emerald is going to love being a big sister." Aqua said as she threw her bag into the back with Qrow then got into the truck and put Neo in her lap. "And I gave gifts for all of them as well."
"Well alright then." Tai said getting into the driver's seat. As they drove back to the cabin Tai could help but see Qrow messing with a necklace around his neck. "You get a new necklace, Qrow?"
"It was a gift from an old friend." Qrow said putting it under his shirt then took his flask out, but then he looked at Tai. "You wouldn't happen to still have drinks at your place would you."
"Sorry Qrow, but Raven made me pour all of that out months ago." Tai said as they left town. "Besides you know Ruby will get on to you about not keeping a promise. You and I both know she never lets that kind of stuff go."
"Come on, are the brothers that bent out of shape to make me sober." Qrow complained.
Both adults laughed knowing that it may not be fair, but Qrow needed to stop drinking so much. When they got to the cabin three girls came running out of the house.
"Uncle Qrow & Aqua are back." Ruby said running as fast as she could towards the parked truck. Once Aqua was out of the truck she put Neo down making Ruby stop. "Who are you? Are you a new friend?"
Neo immediately hid behind Aqua's leg as Emerald and Yang came over to see who the new girl was.
"This is Neo." Aqua answered. "She's going to be your new little sister Emerald; she may be the same age as you but you're older by a few months."
Emerald looked at Neo for a bit then smiled and said, "You want to play huntsman & Grimm with us." Neo nodded her head a little then Emerald held out her hand. "Well then come one you and I can be the Huntsmen while Yang & Ruby are the Grimm."
"See, there friends already." Aqua said, taking her bag from Qrow. Qrow shook his head as they made their way to the cabin. "So how was it?"
"Yang asked a question that I hated telling her." Raven said watching the girls play. "I guess you'll resume Ruby's training tomorrow."
"Yep." Aqua said, popping the p. "And thank you again for looking after Emerald."
"No problem." Raven said.
"Oh right, I almost forgot." Aqua said, putting her bag by the door. "Hey guys, come here a moment I have gifts for you."
The kids immediately ran up to Aqua wondering what she got them. Each girl received an Atlas toy, but Ruby and Emerald reserved their own Wayfinders. Emeralds was a dark green with blue outline and a Lapis raindrop in the center. Rubys was red with a gold outline and a silver piece in the middle that looked like a sun.
"I hope you like them." Aqua said seeing the girls smile.
Yang went up to Raven showing her a new raven doll that had its wings out. Raven rubbed Yang's head, happy to see her daughter smiling.
"Daddy come look at the Wayfinder, Aqua got me." Ruby shouted running past, into the house.
"Thank you, Mama." Emerald said, hugging Aqua.
"You're welcome." Aqua said in return. She then opened her arms and allowed Neo to join the hug as she held her new Nevermore plushie.
It didn't take long for the day to pass by with the kids running about and Aqua & Qrow giving stories of what happened leaving out parts not needed at the moment. When it started getting dark Aqua had Tai take her along with Neo & Emerald to their hotel.
"Okay you two get ready for bed." Aqua said, opening the door to the room. "Emerald no jumping on the bed young lady."
"Oh, come on, I saw Yang and Ruby do it once." Emerald complained.
"Yes, and they most likely got in trouble, so no." Aqua firmly said. "Plus, we don't own the beds here. Now brush your teeth and get to bed."
"Okay," Emerald said, getting off the bed.
"Can you read a story before bed?" Neo asked as Aqua gave her a set of clothes.
"Or how about you tell us a story like that princess story you told me." Emerald requested.
"Princess?" Neo questioned.
"Yeah, this one story she told was about a prince that fought a dragon in order to wake a sleeping princess from her eternal sleep." Emerald explained.
"Alright but you need to get ready for bed." Aqua said pointing to the bathroom. Once Neo and Emerald then laid in bed with Aqua in between them. "Alright let me think, oh I know a story I can tell you. Once upon a time there lived a peasant girl called Cinderella that lived with her stepmother and stepsisters."
Aqua woke up to having Emerald's head on her stomach and Neo holding her arm.
'Maybe Qrow's right and I should think about getting a more permanent place to live.' Aqua thought as she got herself out of bed. "These two are going to need their own rooms eventually."
Aqua got breakfast ready as the two sleepy heads got out of bed.
"Chocolate chip! My favorite." Emerald said pour syrup on her pancakes.
"Don't worry Neo, I made blueberry for you." Aqua said, putting a plate of blueberry pancakes in front of Neo. "Eat up, and Emerald drink your milk."
"Okay." Emerald said, eyeing the glass of milk.
After the two were done they made their way to the Xiao Long/ Rose residents seeing Raven outside having Yang do push ups.
"If you want to have a strong punch you need to build up your muscles." Raven said as Yang did a push up. "Good, now rest for a bit then we'll go over some fighting stances." Yang collapsed onto the ground breathing heavily.
"Here you go Yang." Ruby said, holding out a water bottle.
"Thanks, Ruby." Yang said, rolling over and sitting up.
"Looks like you're doing well." Aqua said, coming closer.
"Yeah, mom finally agreed to train me so that I could be a Huntress like her." Yang said, getting off the ground. "I'm not much of a sword fighter but Mom knows a bit about hand-to-hand combat."
Aqua smiled then said, "Well Ruby are you ready to resume your training."
"You got it master Aqua!" Ruby said, summoning her Keyblade. "Let go."
"Alright then, we'll start with a practice of the forms then we can see about branching off from there." Aqua explained. Ruby started taking practice swings as Aqua saw that Emerald was kicking the dirt. "Neo, do you like to draw?" Neo nodded her head and smiled. "Then while I'm teaching Ruby, why don't you go into the house to see if Tai can get you some crayons to draw without her and the table.
"Okay." Neo said, running off to the house.
"Emerald?" Aqua said, getting her daughter's attention.
"Yes, I'll go play with Neo." Emerald said, walking away towards.
"Hold it Emerald." Aqua said, stopping her. "Is there something you want to ask me?" Emerald didn't say anything but stood there with her back turned to Aqua. "Well, I guess you don't want me to teach you after all."
"Wait?" Emerald quickly said, turning around. "You'd let me train to be a huntress like you and wield a Keyblade."
"Hey Aqua, I got those things you wanted." Tai said walking over holding wooden Keyblades. "And I gave Neo some crayons & paper to draw with."
"Thanks." Aqua said, taking the wooden blades. "Alright Emerald, I won't give you a Keyblade. Yet." Emerald looked saddened. "But I will train you with this, and when you turn twelve if you still want one, I'll give you one." Aqua handed the wooden blades to Emerald. "Deal." Emerald took the wooden blade, noticing that they looked like Aqua's but only had one guard each. "Try putting them together." Emerald did just that then saw that it looked identical to Aqua's but had teeth on both sides. "I saw your drawing and thought you might like it, so I had Tai carve out the design from wood."
"Thank you, I love it." Emerald said, hugging Aqua.
"Good now go stand next to Ruby and start practicing." Aqua said. "You've got some catching up to do."
"Yes ma'am. I'm Master Aqua." Emerald said joining Ruby in her practice swings.
"Do you think she'll want to have her own when she's older?" Raven asked seeing the girl's practice.
"Maybe, and when she's ready I'll let her try." Aqua said. "I have a feeling Ruby is going to need help in fighting the darkness."
"Well Yang isn't going to let her fight alone." Raven said as Yang ran over to join them.
"I know." Aqua said back. "Okay you two, Ruby, I want you to come at me, Emerald keep practicing your forms then will move you to sparing afterwards."
"Got it!" Ruby said taking her stance against Aqua as Emerald continued her forms.
"Well then Yang how about you show me what you've got." Raven said, taking a wooden sword out. Yang grinned and ran at Raven ready to fight.
"Wow there Fire started." Raven said dodging a punch. "You need to keep your balance when you throw a punch like that." Yang turned around the throw a few jabs then took a step back then went for a right hook only Raven to block it. "See there you can't just rely on power alone, try to find an opening or better yet make one." Raven then pushed Yang back then quickly swung the sword and hit Yang in the head. "Take a deep breath then come at me again." Yang looked at Raven and took a few breaths then ran at her once more.
Aqua blocked a swing from Ruby and side stepped her then tapped her on the head.
"You're still trying to copy my moves but that's not you." Aqua said, looking at Ruby. "You need to find your own style that unqice to you only. Kind of like how you'll gain a semblance that is all your own." Ruby thought for a moment then nodded her head then red took her stance. "Emerald come on, you're going to be fighting too." Aqua held out her Keyblade. "Both of you against me."
Ruby and Emerald looked at each other then back to Aqua.
'Okay let's try this.' Ruby thought running at Aqua used her speed to make quick attacks.
Emerald separated her wooden key and followed going for Aqua's blend spot.
'Better but Ruby's still lacking in strength due to her size but trying to make up for it with swift attacks.' Aqua thought as she blocked another attack from Ruby. 'As for Emerald she seems to be doing well but I can feel a lot of anger inside her.'
As they had their training Neo watched then draw a picture of Aqua, Emerald and her smiling as a happy family. She then wrote names under each person then above them wrote the name Eraqus family.