Stark White

Notes: angst, bisexuality, committed polyamory, more angst, rampant speculation, second-person narration, major character death. If these bother you, don't read this. Notes about fan-theories at bottom of page. Written after v3e9. RT owns RWBY, not me.

...

"Your name is Summer, but you're so cold," says the blonde buffoon. You have no idea how to respond to that, so you settle for your most venomous silver glare.

You've only known him for a single hour and you already can't stand him. He's basically everything you're not. You're calm, quiet, and intellectual. He's rude, loud, and stupid (you can already tell having spoken to him twice). You specialize in ranged combat, picking your enemies off from a distance. He charges in and punches them in the face. And sure, you're cold, but cold is good. Cold keeps you safe, cold lets you aim and shoot and live. But everything about this boy is fire and you loathe it.

His partner, a weedy black-haired boy who looks entirely too young to be at Beacon, shushes him with a hissed "Taiyang, do you have to?" Taiyang only shrugs back. You liked his partner well enough. Qrow, Raven had said his name was, and he's her little brother. And though he may be a few years younger than the rest of the class, he (with the aid of his deadly scythe) acquitted himself quite well in the emerald forest. He seems shy- you can't recall him actually saying anything else- but maybe he's just quiet, like you.

Whoever gets these two on their team is in for a ride, you think to yourself. For some reason, the thought discomfits you. Suppressing a shudder, you pull the hood of your white cloak in tight and avoid making eye contact with either of the boys.

"Are these idiots bothering you, Summer?" asks your partner, appearing suddenly behind you. Raven Branwen: you're not sure what to think about her. Like Taiyang, she's your opposite in many things. Outspoken and confident, as you are antisocial and withdrawn. She's a melee fighter, with an elegant ōdachi that puts your utilitarian sniper rifle to shame. Her smile lights up the room. She's red and warm, but she doesn't burn you, not like him. With Taiyang, these differences grate on you; in Raven, they complement you.

She really is the perfect partner for you, you reflect.

"No," you mumble out, realizing that she's waiting for a reply. That's another thing you like about her, she's patient. So many people in your life steamroll right past you, dismiss your opinions and your intelligence. But not her.

She stands to your left, close enough that you feel that she's got your back but not so close that you feel like she's encroaching on your space. You've only known her for an hour, but it's like she understands you so well. Raven must possess some sort of social intelligence you lack, you conclude, but it looks like Taiyang and Qrow might lack it as well so you don't feel too inadequate.

She laughs a musical laugh, and you feel a warmth blossom in your chest. The little bits of red that break through Taiyang's yellows and browns indicate that he feels the same way. You wonder if you're also blushing, and you wonder if this is what falling in love feels like.

Taiyang laughs too, like he can share it with Raven. He can't, though, and you feel a little sympathy for him. You're not good enough either, but at least you have the grace to keep that to yourself. The sympathy is cut with jealousy, but you aren't sure what you're jealous of just yet. It's not like he can take your partner away.

Your musings are cut off by the headmaster as he takes the stage to announce the teams. You space out just a little, playing with the hem of your cloak instead of listening to Ozpin rattle off strings of names you don't recognize, but you snap to as he calls out:

"Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao-Long, Raven Branwen, and Qrow Branwen will form team STRQ, led by Summer Rose."

...

Your favorite thing about Raven is that she understands your boundaries. She never pushes you to do anything you don't want to, and that's a total freedom you've never felt with anyone before.

Even the shy Qrow asks you about your cloak. He phrases it a good bit more appropriately than Taiyang's flirtatious "Why would you hide such a pretty face all the time?" but you still don't feel comfortable answering. After a long moment where you don't respond, Qrow looks over your shoulder then apologizes to you for prying.

As he skulks away, you peek over your shoulder. Hovering a few steps behind you (to your left, as always), you spot your partner. Even when you're not aware of it, she's looking out for you. You mumble your thanks to her and she beams right back.

...

The only question she does ask is the one you're confident in answering. "Summer," she queries in the locker room after the first combat class, "I was wondering... why do you use a high impact sniper rifle?"

It's atypical for a huntress to favor a purely ranged combat mode like you do, and you know it. None of your other classmates uses a gun that's exclusively a gun; it's common to mech-shift to a bladed layout as well. The only mech-shift you use is to fold up your barrel and stock- you're too short to carry your rifle around otherwise.

You're prepared for this question, but not from her. If a professor had asked it, you'd coolly explain the pros and cons of your combat style and the modifications you'd made to your weapon to reflect those. If another student asked you (any other student), you'd challenge them to a casual sparring match and paint them white before they could even approach you. But when Raven asks you the same question, you struggle to remember your words.

"I like a little distance," you respond. It's not the most articulate statement, but language often escapes your grasp when you're alone with her. It's becoming a problem, you suppose. She probably thinks you're a complete idiot.

But somehow Raven understands what you mean, maybe even more than you do. "It suits you," she says, as if you've made some greater statement about your very being.

...

"You're a tough leader," Qrow tells you, "but I wouldn't have it any other way. Better to be served some harsh words now than to lose a teammate to the Grimm." It might be the most you've heard him say at any one time, and it's definitely the most passionate he's ever been about anything. Perhaps he's already lost someone dear to him.

Your first field mission, team STRQ shadowing a professional huntress on a routine border patrol, was a resounding success. Sure, Taiyang got a bit beat up (but what can you expect, with the way he throws himself in front of the enemy's claws) but everyone else got out completely unscathed. Still, you had some choice words for Taiyang and his risk-taking behavior.

And once again, Taiyang proves himself your polar opposite; he hears your admonishments born of rational observation and reacts to them emotionally. The scolding isn't anything new, but he never tears up like this when you tell him off for not studying. You're not one for guilt, but you wonder if you went too far this time.

You take it to the Branwen siblings because for the first time, Taiyang's made you doubt your ability to lead the team. They take this seriously, as you knew they would. Raven's sympathetic to Taiyang- she's got a big heart and is prone to emotional reactions- but Qrow speaks up and puts you firmly in the right. Even Raven's shocked, as if she had never seen this side of her brother before now.

Still, this is why you asked both of them; you needed Raven's heart to temper your cold rationalism and Qrow's pragmatism. You decide to let Taiyang cry for now, and apologize once he's had some time to cool down. It'll be for the best in the long run, you argue to yourself. Taiyang needs to feel the weight of mistakes, but they shouldn't crush him completely.

...

You don't have to courage to ask her to the dance. It's not that you think she'll turn you down, no, it's quite the opposite. You're worried that Raven won't turn you down because she's too nice, and that it'll somehow ruin your team dynamic. It's not a concern you've had before, but Raven brought up the subject when she found out that Qrow had asked you out. (You said no, of course. Qrow will always be Raven's sulky little brother to you, and you can't fathom a scenario in which you'd be attracted to him. "Besides," your partner tells you, "he's just a kid with a crush.")

There's very little that you treasure as deeply as your team dynamic with Raven. You'd rather hide your feelings than gamble away your friendship. Besides, you tell yourself, you're just a girl with an inappropriate crush.

It's hard for you to be around her, you discover. She's always smiling, and every one of her smiles makes your heart skip a beat. And when she laughs- and she laughs so frequently- you have to hide deep in your cloak so she can't see you blush. It's easier to be alone, you decide, so you seclude yourself on the roof, pulling your white cloak tightly to protect you from the wind.

Ostensibly, you're here to practice your dust magic. That's one of the few things you'd do without Raven anyways, so it's a good excuse. In reality, you're here to brood. Your imagination drowns you in her rose-red eyes even when she's not present. "Raven Rose," you breathe to yourself. That's the proper way to daydream. The name Summer Branwen leaves some ambiguity, and you don't want to encourage Qrow.

The door bangs open, startling you. Did Raven come looking for you? You're too embarrassed to face her right now. Luckily, it's not a Branwen at all.

It's Taiyang, making himself useful for once in his life: "She turned me down, you know?" Usually this interruption of your personal time would merit a harsh rebuke, but you allow it for now. "Qrow told me she's waiting for you to ask her. I don't know why she doesn't ask you herself, though."

You understand why. It's Raven, and she doesn't want to pressure you. She knows you do these things at your own pace, she knows how to give you the space to do things your way, and she knows that you'd run away if she ever asked you herself (no matter how much you wanted to say yes).

Taiyang rambles on, you'd think he'd never been rejected by a girl before. Maybe he hasn't. You don't really care. For you, the situation is as clear as if Raven had asked you out herself. Suddenly Taiyang stops his blathering. After a brief moment of uncharacteristic silence and consideration, he says, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you smile before."

...

"Your name is Summer, but you're so cold," Raven whispers into your ear. She uses the same words Taiyang used on that first day, but this time the tone is completely different.

You give her a small smile and whisper back, "I guess you'll just have to warm me up, then." She laughs that musical laugh of hers, and your lips meet.

...

"I applied to become a teacher," Taiyang announces one day, "On Patch, at a combat school. Signal. And I got it." You think Taiyang would do well there, working with children. He's the biggest child you know, after all. You encourage him to take the job.

"Actually, they have a second job opening, and they said I should recommend one of you for it." That bombshell hits you in a way the first didn't. You all know there's only one option- half of your team is completely unsuitable to work with children.

...

You're not sure who betrays the other first. Maybe it was Raven, when she decided to support Taiyang and work as a teacher. Maybe it's you, when you and Qrow start working for Ozpin directly.

His missions are important, you can see that. And Ozpin always recognized your skills and your genius, and he gives you a role in his plans befitting that. It feels good to be in the world-saving business. If only the missions didn't take so goddamned long.

You're away for months at a time, traveling to Atlas, traveling to Mistral, traveling through the Grimmlands on foot with only Qrow for company. As company goes he's not bad, but it's hard for you not to think of him as Raven's sulky little brother.

The first thing you do each time you get home (well, second. First you'd report to Oz) is see Raven. You greet her with a smile and a kiss, and she tells you how much she missed you, how much she loves you. You have a nice dinner together, a glass of wine, a little romance. Absence, after all, only makes the heart fonder.

It becomes a routine, and one you think you both can live with.

...

You're gone for almost a year this time, and coming home is all the sweeter.

It comes as a total surprise when you wake up to Raven sobbing in bed, beside you. "We thought you had died," she chokes out, "you and Qrow, out doing god knows what for the greater good." You try to reassure her, you're skilled and Qrow's the best Huntsman since Ozpin himself was in the field. You won't die so easily. "Everyone else did," Raven tells you, and then she tells you of your remaining classmates. You haven't kept track of them since graduation, you've been so busy saving the world. You're astounded how many of them have been killed by the Grimm.

"What was I supposed to think?" sobs Raven. "What was I supposed to do?"

In the gentle morning light, it's obvious to you what she's talking about, though you missed it altogether the night before. After all, Raven never had a double bed before. And she'd always been so tidy, so what other explanation was there for the pile of crumpled yellow shirts in the corner.

Before you can get angry, though, she defends herself. "I didn't stop loving you, Summer. And that made not knowing when you'd come back- if you'd come back- so much worse." And now you're sobbing too, as you hold her tight. You kiss her gently through the tears, as if somehow that'll make things right.

You're not sure it's working.

That's how Taiyang finds you both, when he and Qrow come in a few hours later.

"I... should leave." You're in the way, and you hate yourself and you probably hate him and you could never hate Raven and why is this so hard.

And then Taiyang makes it simple. "She has enough love in her heart for us both." "Us all," Qrow corrects, and everyone looks at him funnily. I know what he's doing, he's trying to defuse the tension. "You know, team STRQ," he goes on, but Taiyang interjects, "Is there something you need to tell us, Branwens?"

Qrow pretends to be flustered, pretends to stutter a little. "Y-you know, in a brother-sister-sibling kind of way. Not a... weird way." He's averted his eyes, and for a moment you wonder why. Then you realize you're laying nude in his sister's bed and Qrow may still have a bit of a crush on you. His stuttering may not be intentional after all.

And the four of you share a laugh, like it's old times, junior year, when nobody faced death on a daily basis, and your biggest fear was your girlfriend seeing your acne.

...

Eventually you learn to love Taiyang, in your own way. It doesn't come quickly, but it starts when you begin to appreciate him being there for Raven when you can't. It matures to a mutual respect, and you feel like you can meet his eyes over the dinner table. The awkwardness when it's the two of you gradually disappears.

You become something less than lovers but something more than two people in love with the same woman. It becomes comfortable, something familiar to return to after the missions; You, Raven, and Taiyang.

You only kiss him once, when he comes to you for permission to ask Raven for her hand in marriage. You say yes because you know you can never marry her yourself, not with your lifestyle. You say yes because you know you can trust Taiyang to take care of her the way you can't. You say yes because you know this doesn't change anything, not really. And when you kiss him for the first, last and only time- it's soft and sweet and long and deep- you make sure he understands all of that.

...

They have a beautiful daughter together. She's blonde and she's somehow louder than Taiyang. Not being the creative sorts, they name her Yang. Taiyang junior, essentially.

You're a little alienated by the name, but you can forgive Raven for just about anything. Especially after she tells you, "Think of Yang as your daughter as well." You introduce yourself to her as Auntie Summer, but Raven corrects you: "Mama Summer, Yang." It's quite overwhelming, suddenly learning you're a mother.

The baby's emotional as well, it turns out. Her thin wisps of golden hair are abruptly just fire for a moment. "She shares Tai's semblance?" you inquire. Raven giggles, "This is why we called her Yang, actually."

...

Raven entered your life without warning; she leaves it the same way. Only a year after you met baby Yang, the love of your life disappears. You come back from your mission, and as usual, your second stop is the house on Patch.

Nobody answers the door, so you let yourself in. Baby Yang is crying, but there's no answering coo from either parent. You try to ignore the wrongness of the situation, instead pulling out your scroll and messaging Taiyang and Raven. There's no response.

Tentatively, you walk through the house. (As much as Raven and Tai tell you this is your home too, you've never felt all that welcome). Your keen eyes, able to spot a beowulf from half a mile away, immediately pick up the singe marks on the living room ceiling. Taiyang lost his temper here.

You decide that your first priority needs to be the child, and you hone in on the master bedroom. Yang sleeps in a crib next to Tai and Raven's usual bed (When you're here, you and Raven share the second bedroom).

As you get close to the the baby's wails, you pick up on a second sound, a softer sound. It's a gentle sob you're familiar with, but only when you've said something particularly cruel. You've never heard of him crying in any other context. You use your Speed to arrive at the bedroom nearly instantaneously. "Taiyang, what happened?" you demand. "And where's Raven?"

He can't answer you, buried so deep in his misery. You don't know how to deal with this, you were never good with people, so you call up the only backup you know. "Qrow," you practically shout into your scroll. "I need you at Patch, now." Taiyang's still crying and the baby's still screaming. You can't do anything about Tai if he's going to ignore you, so you pluck Yang out of the cradle.

"Hey there," you say flatly. You don't know how to talk to babies. "Do you remember me?" Luckily, it appears that the baby does remember you, and it stops wailing quite so violently. Babies cry when they're hungry or when they've shat themselves, you recall. A hesitant sniff confirms to you that Yang is probably hungry, so you search the kitchen for some formula.

You're inefficient enough at this task that Qrow arrives in the meanwhile. "I talked to the headmaster at Signal," he says. "Raven disappeared a week ago. Nobody's heard from her since."

You don't know what to do, so you run. Nothing can touch you when you run.

...

You spend weeks looking for her, you and Qrow, but nobody seems to know anything. It's as if someone erased Raven from existence entirely. Eventually, there's just nowhere left to search and you give up.

Perhaps it's more accurate to say that Ozpin forces you to give up. You go to him for resources, contacts abroad and manpower, but he denies you. "Summer, Qrow," he addresses you solemnly, "loss... is difficult, but it's a part of life." He tells you some of the things Raven told you before; no hunter team survives this long without experiencing loss. He tells you to treasure the time you had together instead of mourning the time that you lost. And when you're beginning to feel that just perhaps you can come to terms with the new hole in your life, Ozpin tells you he has a new job for the two of you.

Qrow, quiet Qrow, loses his temper. He shouts at Ozpin, calls him a scheming puppetmaster, says that he just sees pieces on a board when he should be seeing people. Ozpin weathers the storm calmly, and accepts Qrow's resignation as if he expected it all along. Then he turns to you. "I recently brought on a new Huntress, a very skilled dust mage. Would you be amiable to working with a new partner?"

You walk out.

You find Qrow drowning his sorrows in some shady Vale bar. Grabbing the stool beside him, you order your drink. A strawberry sunrise, no ice.

"What do we do now?" you ask. It's not that you expect Qrow to have an answer, but you want him to know that you're lost.

He starts. "You didn't take the job?"

"Everything you said to him was true. It was… eye opening." You accept your drink from the bartender, and fiddle with the little umbrella. "He's not the mentor I thought he was."

"Cheers." He clinks his tumbler of whiskey against your martini glass, then downs it in one pass. You sit in an uncomfortable silence, neither you or Qrow know how to fill it. Before now, neither of you ever felt the need to.

Halfway through your second drink, the words start to come unbidden. "We've been so focused on where she is… Maybe the more important question is why she left." Did you do something wrong? Does she not love you anymore? What about her child, and her brother?

There are no answers.

The shared despair brings the two of you together in the way that years of watching each other's backs couldn't. Raven was everything to you; Raven was the only family that Qrow ever knew. You drink to remember her, then you drink to forget the pain.

…

When there's enough alcohol in you, it becomes impossible to look at the full picture. You look at a face but only a few of the details stand out. You focus on Qrow's eyes, red, rose-red, just like his sister. The high cheekbones, the pale coloration, all the little pieces of the Branwen genetic legacy. He could have been her twin.

You look at Qrow but you see Raven.

He was in love with you, years ago. You wonder if he ever outgrew that.

You're not sure what you're thinking, or why you're thinking it. There's probably a good argument against it, and you're sure you could come up with it if you weren't drowning in Raven's eyes right now.

You barely even notice they're on the wrong face as you lean forward and capture Qrow's lips on your own. Some small part of you, the part that was protesting a moment ago, notes that he even kisses like his sister.

…

Mistakes were made.

You realize this in the morning, as you slip your cloak over your shoulders and run away.

You don't know who else to turn to, though. You've walked out on your mentor, your girlfriend's gone missing, and Taiyang's in a worse state than you are. It's sad how few people you know.

And so you always come back to Qrow, and so you drink with Qrow, and so you wake up next to Qrow and run away again.

There isn't really anything else you can do.

…

You find out that you're pregnant. You didn't mean to have a child, but you never used protection. Because that would have meant taking responsibility for your actions, acknowledging that Qrow wasn't Raven, and admitting that you'd planned to sleep with him. That's something you still can't do.

You can't drink anymore, not with a child on the way, so you stop. Qrow doesn't, and now you don't have that in common anymore. You drift away from him.

You need help, you realize. You know nothing about raising a child. You don't even have a job right now- you're only trained to be a Huntress, and you can hardly do that as a single mother. You only know of one person who can help you.

…

It's been a few months since Raven disappeared, and Taiyang's less of a wreck. He answers the door when you stop by his house unannounced. He tears up a little when you bluntly explain the situation to him, then make your proposal.

"It's a logically sound argument," you reason. As two single parents with infants, neither of you can work and you won't be able to support your separate families. As a couple, one of you can work and the other can mind the home. "Hell," you say (Tai shushes you, hissing "there's a child here, Summer!"), "We can even alternate."

It turns out to be a better proposal than you thought. Taiyang's still employed as a teacher at Signal, which means you don't have to return to the high-risk missions with Qrow and Ozpin. Not right away, anyways. You keep that in mind, though, and suggest the idea of marriage to Tai. "In case anything happens to me," you frame it. "It'll give you some legal protections and benefits."

There's no romance, of course. It's all strictly business.

…

Little Ruby Rose is born and you adore her. She has your silver eyes and Raven's cute little nose. Her hair is generically black right now, but you suspect it'll follow your coloration by the time she's a teenager.

Taiyang thinks of her as your daughter with Raven, and raises her like his own blood. This is more than acceptable to you.

You wonder if Qrow even knows that Ruby is his. It's possible he's too drunk to connect the dots. He didn't take your marriage to Taiyang particularly well, and drifts further away. The last you heard, he went crawling back to Ozpin for missions.

…

Summer Rose, you realize, makes a terrible mother. She's too cold, too distant, too introverted. And although Taiyang's socially functional again, he's changed. He's somber sometimes, more given to brooding. You can't blame him after what he's been through, but you worry that he can't compensate for your poor mothering.

You decide on a new strategy. You pack Summer away and do your best to emulate Raven. You're going to be super-mom, you're going to bake cookies, you're going to hug your children and not hide away in your cloak.

…

One day Ruby asks for a cloak, just like yours. You make it red, for Raven. "It's not to hide in," you tell your daughter. "Think of it as your cape, fluttering in the breeze when you fight evil."

…

It's five years later that Qrow comes crashing back into your life. You've done your best to forget him, he's a reminder of what you've lost and the wrong that you've done.

He won't talk to Taiyang, but he'll talk to you. "I want to rebuild my bridges, Summer. I know my drinking drove you away, and I want you to know that I'm better now."

"What's changed?" you ask. He only shakes his head. "Nothing's changed. Not yet. Some things need to change."

He sighs. "I made amends with Ozpin, you know? I… understand why he acts the way he does. The world is fucked up, and he's going to save it."

"Is this a recruiting pitch? I haven't been a huntress for years."

"It's not something you can stop being, Summer. I'm not offering you a job or anything. I'm just saying… pick up your gun again. Be ready."

…

Qrow tries very hard to be part of your life while completely avoiding Taiyang. He's not too successful, and fades back into the background. The few times you do talk to him, you can tell he's been drinking. He's gotten quite good at hiding his alcoholism, but you can always tell.

You have no patience for him- you've expended it all raising your two highly active children.

Still, you take his warning to heart and start training yourself again. Even after five years, you're still the best shot on the continent.

…

You're out on the strawberry fields of Patch with Yang and Ruby. It's a pleasant summer's day. You relax on the picnic blanket and watch your girls pick the sweet fruits. They're supposed to put them in the baskets, but Ruby keeps eating them all instead.

You catch a flicker of movement, off in the distance, just near the treeline. It tickles your senses, something familiar, and you take a full minute to realize what it is.

It's been years since you actually encountered any Grimm. And on Patch? The least negative place to ever exist outside any city walls? The situation strikes you as suspicious.

After Qrow's warning, you've taken to carrying your sniper rifle at all times. You pull it out now, peering through the scope. Beowolves.

You call for your children to return to you, using your serious voice. Your Summer voice.

You take aim, you fire. And again, and again, and again. Ten beowolves, fifteen, twenty beowolves. One shot, one kill, rinse and repeat.

Why were they here? The thought runs through your head even as you take the kids home.

…

You return by yourself to investigate. You leave a note on the fridge, explaining the situation to Taiyang. You call Qrow on your scroll, but he doesn't pick up. You leave a message. Looks like there's no backup for you this evening.

You shouldn't need backup for a nest of beowolves, you're one of the best huntresses on the continent. Or at least you were.

You arrive at the field where you saw the Grimm earlier and walk right up to the treeline, where they stood. The bodies evaporated hours ago, but Grimm leave other signs. You're looking for tracks, pawprints and broken twigs, something to indicate where they came from. You trace their steps back a quarter mile through the forest until you run across a narrow, winding path. For lack of a better option, you follow it, weapon at the ready.

The absolute silence of the forest is broken by your scroll buzzing. It's Qrow, and he's frantic. "Where are you?" he demands. "Don't go any further. Turn around and go back to your home."

"Why?" All you're looking for are answers, answers to questions you haven't even really figured out how to ask, but answers nonetheless.

"You can't do it, Summer. You're not ready."

"I don't need to be coddled," you retort. "If this is a fight, get your ass over here and back me up. Just like old times, Qrow."

"That's not what this is."

"Then tell me."

"I can't."

"Then I'm going to keep looking."

He's silent for a moment, then he asks you plaintively, "What if I told you…If I tell you what you're going to find, do you promise to stop looking?"

There's only one thing that would make him react this way. One thing that he'd be terrified of your reaction to.

And that's the one thing you've been looking for, all this time.

"Summer, don't." Qrow knows he's said too much, that you've put it together.

"I have to."

"She's changed, Summer. She'll kill you." You don't believe that. Raven- gentle, understanding, patient, loving, perfect Raven. She couldn't do such a thing.

You can't imagine her changing.

…

You follow the path to a derelict shack. It's not as evil as you thought it would be. If you had to pick one adjective to describe it, it would be apathetic.

That gives you hope.

…

"I rather hoped you wouldn't come." The voice is unfamiliar, flat and hollow, but you'd recognize Raven anywhere. Even if she is wearing some terrifying Grimm mask. "Summer Rose." The way she says your name sends shivers down your spine. It's both familiar and alien; the voice itself is different, but the way she shapes the syllables is simply perfect.

"R-Raven." Language deserts you, all you can manage is to stammer out her name. You try again. "What are you doing? Why?" The why is the important one, the thing that's tormented you for so many years. It's good that you got it out. You gain confidence. "Take off the mask, Raven, and face me."

She ignores your questions, but surprisingly obeys your command. The mask slides off, revealing the face that fills your dreams. Those eyes, red like roses, that you always lose yourself in…

"You've changed, Summer." Listen to the kettle call the pot black, nobody's changed as much as Raven. "Surely Qrow warned you about me." You nod. "But you came anyway? The Summer I remember would have said it was too great a risk. She made rational decisions, not emotional ones."

"I needed to see you. I needed to know."

"He told me that you've gotten warmer. Your name fits you now." The Raven you remember would have said that with a chuckle and the brightest smile. This one just says the words. She steps towards you. "What made you like this?"

"You did. I became what I had to. We have two daughters, Raven. Two beautiful daughters."

You tell her about seven-year-old Yang and five-year-old Ruby, about their faces and their auras, how you see her every day in their smiles. You tell her how Summer Rose, the one she knew, wasn't good mother material. You tell Raven how you try to live up to her standards, how you model yourself in her image.

You tell her you never stopped loving her.

You're in tears at this point, you've poured out the heart you're not used to having, you bared your soul to this unfeeling creature that wears Raven's skin.

She doesn't react to anything you say. The words are there, you're saying them, she's hearing them, but it's not going any further than that. There's not even spark of recognition when you tell her about Yang, the child born from her own body.

You look at those eyes of hers, the ones you've always loved, ever since red met silver in an emerald forest. They've changed too. They're unearthly, inhuman. The life behind them, the reassuring glow of her heart and soul is warped into some hateful creature of purpose and destruction. Her eyes are Grimm.

You realize there's no going back for her. Raven Branwen died some time ago, you rationalize, this is just another monster. You begin to raise your gun; you know what to do when you're faced with monsters, after all. You're a huntress. You hunt them.

But as much as you've stared into her eyes, she's started right back. She knows the instant you make the decision, and intercepts your actions with a perfect iaijutsu strike. With one fluid motion, she draws her ōdachi and removes your right arm at the elbow. Your gun, still clutched in your right hand, clatters to the floor.

You stand in shock, clutching at the wound with your remaining hand. You've never been hurt like this before. Physically, emotionally, it's all too much. "W-w-wh-" Words, they don't come.

"You asked me why," there's a quiver of something in her voice this time. Some emotion. Fear? Affection? Regret? You can't read it. "Why I left, why I became this?"

She seems to expect a response, so you manage a wavering nod.

"It hurt so much, Summer. Watching the world go to hell around me. I had to do something." You don't understand what she's talking about. She anticipates this. "I don't expect you to understand. Just, before the end, I want you to know… I'm not sorry for what I've done or what I'll do, but I'm sorry it has to be this way."

She slides the mask back on, and for that you're thankful. It would be entirely too much to watch Raven Branwen, love of your life, coldly murder you. At least this way, you can imagine that she's sad about it.

You pretend that under that mask is the Raven you met on your first day at Beacon. She's strong in all the ways you aren't, kind in all the ways you wanted to be. She's perfection plus a sword (but you try not to think about the next thing that sword is going to cut). She understood you completely, but it's clear you never understood her.

You use your left hand to pull your cloak in tight, one final time. There's no comfort in the act.

She cuts you down and you know no more.

…

"Thus Kindly, I scatter."

...

Notes: There's a lot we don't know about the four characters in this story. Or rather, we really know nothing about these characters. Some gaps were filled in with the following fan theories:

-Team STRQ's colors loosely relate their personalities/roles to the person with the corresponding color in RWBY. Thus, Summer is linked to Weiss, Raven to Ruby, and Qrow to Blake. (And then obviously Taiyang to Yang).

-Taiyang is basically just a bigger Yang, is also a hand-to-hand fighter. (It's canon that he trained Yang, and the name Taiyang just means Elder Dragon to Yang's Dragon).

-Qrow is Ruby's actual father.

-Summer uses a high impact sniper rifle (with the assumptions on Taiyang's weapon, nobody else on STRQ really focuses on ranged combat. Also note that the rifle in Qrow's sword-scythe-rifle shoots low caliber bullets, unlike Crescent Rose)

-Thus Ruby's sniper-scythe is actually some combination of her parents' weapons.

-Qrow is an alcoholic because he can't deal with the loss of his sister. Taiyang was still functional after Raven left, but got really bad after Summer died. This is the kick in the pants Qrow needs to get his shit together- he then takes the teaching job at Signal and mentors Ruby.

-Qrow and Raven aren't twins: instead, they mirror Yang and Ruby's two-year age difference. Qrow is a scythe-wielding badass prodigy, just like Ruby.

-Raven's portals are weird Grimm/maiden powers.

-Summer Rose wasn't the summer maiden (or any maiden) and her silver eyes have to do with something else entirely. (She has the silver eyes in the team picture Qrow carries around, which is earlier than when most theories say she would get her maiden powers)

-Summer's semblance is speed. (This is almost completely baseless, but I used it because it works with the personality I wrote for her)

-Most hunter teams die.

-Summer married Taiyang because Taiyang couldn't raise Yang by himself and because she realized that Qrow would make a bad father.

-Raven chose to become whatever the hell she is, and is either a) evil and doing evil things or b) a brooding anti-hero. Either way, she's got no love for her family. As Qrow says: "She wanted me to tell you that she saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again. Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. And she's dangerous."

-Raven kills Summer because something something maidens? (I don't know, any speculation about how Summer died is almost completely baseless at this point)

...

Pretty much everything else I used here was baseless speculation. I wanted to write a Taiyang that didn't cheat on Raven with Summer, or impregnate his entire team, and I wanted to write imperfect characters that treat each other badly (like actual humans do).

I also threw out the thing Yang says about how Summer did Huntress missions when she was being a supermom and baking cookies, just because it didn't fit my story too well. Fucking plot, amirite? Everything else should be reasonably (read: loosely) consistent with what we know about team STRQ through v3e9, which is… not much. But I'm snowed in, so this happened.

Proofreading was difficult because I kept making myself sad.