Didn't say anything last chapter, but it feels pretty cool to be up in the double-digits.

"Figured you'd be here."

The young Raven sat on the ground in a small, hidden away arbour on the Beacon grounds, her head propped up against her left arm resting on her knees, right hand lazily tracing circles in the soft grass.

"What do you want, Mister Xiao Long?"

Taiyang winced at the verbal distancing as he gently strode up to his past love and sat down beside her.

"I've been an ass. I shouldn't have gone for Sum like I did the day before yesterday. It must've made you guys very uncomfortable." The memory of a man's toned arms hugging her team leader tight briefly flashed in Raven's mind causing her to blush, thankfully hidden from Taiyang's sight behind her mane of jet-black hair covering most of her form in her sitting position.

"… It's okay, Tai. It's not every day you get a second chance meeting your deceased love."

"… But it was you who was my first." Raven lifted her head from its resting spot and looked her future husband in the eyes, sighing.

"If it makes you feel better - I left you, remember? I ran from you and Yang." Taiyang looked to the skies, his eyes tracing a lone bird with midnight plumage as it circled overhead.

"It hurt, yes. In fact, it hurt a lot…" He tentatively stretched out his right hand to give the young woman a reassuring pat on the back, but hesitated midway and just let it drop back to the ground again.

"…But I forgave you years ago. Watching Yang get better after she lost her arm… It made me realise that holding grudges? Not good for you in the long run. So I forgave you. I'm sure there was a fairly legitimate reason for you to leave."

"I went away to investigate Summer's disappearance." Taiyang looked at the girl, blinking in confusion.

"… But… Summer died after you left, not before? How else would she have given birth to Ruby?" Before Raven had a chance to retort, they were both spooked by a loud cawing. Looking at the nearby garden furniture, they saw the bird hopping around on the table, then hopped down into one of the garden chairs and shifted into a chuckling adult Qrow Branwen.

"Aww, did I interrupt the big reveal?" Taiyang shot him an annoyed glare.

"Yes, as a matter of fact you were. Get lost Qrow, I'm trying to talk to Raven in private here."

"I was hopin' t' do so m'self, actually… guess we'll have to do this the hard way…" He staggered up to his feet and held up his hands in front of his face, swaying a bit in the afternoon breeze.

"It's going to be so exciting to have STRQ join us for the monthly RWBY-JNPR movie night! Ooh, I can't wait!" Ruby practically bounced down the dorm hallway towards their room.

"Please take it easy Ruby, or you'll spill." Weiss said as she walked up beside her younger girlfriend and slowly angled up the bowl the redhead was holding.

"… Oh. Sorry." Ruby smiled sheepishly as she looked around the floor with her good eye. No spills. She looked down into her white-haired partner's bowl.

"Hey… Isn't that…?" Weiss smiled as she obligingly held up the bowl for Ruby to take a snack.

Ruby wasted no time to carefully balance her large bowl of candy in one hand to put her free hand into Weiss's bowl and grab a handful of fried mealworms. Her face was one of pure bliss as she put the snacks in her mouth.

"Definitely tastes a lot better than it sounds…" Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby's antics.

"Movie night doesn't officially start for a few more hours, we should put all this in the kitchen cupboards in the meantime." Ruby stretched out her free hand to turn the doorknob, but when she tried to grip the handle her hand grasped at thin air.

"Dammit, this is getting really annoying." Weiss smiled reassuringly at her team leader as she put an elbow down on the doorknob.

"You'll get used to it eventually. Here, let me help you with that…" As they stepped into RWBY's dorm room, they were met by Yang and Blake and team JNPR, idly chatting with ¾ of the time-displaced STRQ.

"Hey guys, we're back with tonight's snacks!" Ruby cheered as she began to unload hers and Weiss' cargo on the table.

"We've got the traditional crisps…" she pushed the bowl with mealworms forward.

"… And for those select few who doesn't love them to bits-" she chuckled as she glanced at the person in question.

"… We got those Mistralian wine gums you tipped us off about, Pyrrha. With plenty to go around for all of us, mind you." Pyrrha turned towards Weiss.

"Once again, I'm sorry if I offended you by not liking your homemade snacks. If it makes you feel better, your recipe was better than the store-bought ones I sampled." Before Weiss had a chance to answer however, Qrow pushed his way up to the bowls on the table, eyeing them suspiciously.

"What are these anyways?" Weiss smiled her most pleasant smile.

"Go ahead and try some first. If I told you what it was in advance you'd be less inclined to. It has a rather… unappetizing name." the young ST(R)Q members each carefully took one of the long, twig-like snacks and put them in their mouths.

"Pretty tasty!" came Summer's verdict.

"Agreed. Maybe a pinch more spices?" said Tai.

"Eh, I'll stick to competing with Pyrrha for those wine gums I think. I've tasted better crisps. Now what were those?" Weiss smiled and answered in her most neutral voice possible.

"Fried mealworms." Summer's eyes grew wide as she looked down at the snacks in the bowl.

"Yeah, I would not have been as eager to try had I known that in advance."

"Qrow, what're you doing? You know you never could take me in a straight fight." Taiyang had risen to his feet and was staring his former teammate in the eyes, arms folded over his chest in a display of confidence.

"Whozzed anythin' 'bout fightin'? Now shush, I'm… I'm consentressing here…" Suddenly Qrow had turned away his gaze from Taiyang and was facing his time-displaced sister. He unfurled his fists and started signing to her.

"*So I heard from a certain young firecracker a certain someone bumped into a certain older someone on the dormitory roof some time ago. What is up?*" Raven stared at her older-younger brother as she started to sign back.

"*Well, older me seems to enjoy sending mixed messages when it comes to trusting her.*" Taiyang looked in disbelief between his company.

"You've got to be kidding me, not this crap again…" He sat down and watched the two signers, hoping to maybe pick something up, fruitless as it would be.

"*Yeah, she does that. Did she tell you we are still in contact, she and I?*" Raven's eyes grew wide as her signing hitched up in speed for a moment.

"*She does what?! Does anybody else know?*" Taiyang perked up at as he noticed Raven's reaction.

"What? What's he saying, Raven?!" Qrow glared at his old friend.

"Stay out of it, Tai. This doesn't concern you." Taiyang begrudgingly sat back down, muttering threats under his breath. Qrow turned his attention back to his and Raven's hands.

"*Yang knows. Felt like I owed her that much after she lost her arm.*"

"*Sounds reasonable enough. Guess mom and dad taught you some decency after all.*"

"*Ouch sis, that hurt.*"

"*Serves you right, you drunk old man.*"

"*Did… did you just repurpose my name-sign as 'drunk'? Ha ha, real clever.*" Raven just shrugged.

"*It runs in the family, I guess.*" Qrow straightened up and extended a hand towards Raven, helping her to her feet.

"Well guys, this was fun. What do you say we get back to the kids and see what they're up to?" Taiyang just opened and closed his mouth in shock.

"But… but… I never got to finish my conversation!" As Raven passed her older teammate, she gave him a playful nudge with her elbow.

"Some other time, dorkus. Now let's go."

And with that, they walked back towards the dorms.

AN: Holy crap, Old!Raven lied to Young!Raven? Mysterious!

Qrow you moment killer.

Oh hey, the mealworms make a surprise cameo! (For those interested, Raven liked them too. Qrow was the only one to not be an instant fan.)

You really thought I was going to leave the Taiyang-Raven-Qrow showdown as a cliffhanger until next chapter, huh? Well, the joke's on you!

I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.