She wasn't coming home.

Summer Rose was never coming back.

That was a revelation that I did not want to believe. Yet, I knew that it was fact. How could I not?

I was only four when it happened. I was playing with my pet dog, Zwei, when the doorbell rang. We were not expecting any visitors, but mom was out on a mission and some of our neighbors came by every now and then to offer us something from our garden or something else of the sort. My daddy asked Yang to get the door. It was then that my happy, quiet life of enjoyment would be changed forever.

Our mother would not be coming back.

Ever.

It was her uncle Qrow who came to tell the tale. When he was revealed by the doors opening, daddy ran over to hug him. He asked how the man had done, only to notice that uncle Qrow was crying. Liquid pain dripped as my uncle tried to force anything other than jitters and mumbles of panic and grief to be forced out of his mouth. The visitor fell to his knees before anyone could ask what was wrong, sobbing and apologizing. In the midst of doing so, he told us the truth. About how my mother, Summer, was attacked on a mission. How she was grievously injured, and how Qrow was too late to save her. How worthless he was. The words had flowed from his mouth like the tears that flowed from his eyes. We knew that he was not lying. That he was not telling a cruel joke.

"Taiyang… forgive me." He pleaded to daddy.

He refused.

Daddy punched my uncle. He asked why he would pull such a cruel joke, even though we knew that uncle Qrow would not lie to us. Even though we knew that he wouldn't pull such a cruel joke, and though his actions all pointed to him telling the truth. Daddy realized this soon enough, and stopped hitting uncle Qrow. Tears exploded from both of their eyes, and from the corner of my eyes, I saw Yang running up to our room. However, I stayed. I didn't know what was going on. I was only four, after all.

I stared up at daddy and uncle Qrow. They had both collapsed, crying, and screaming in rage, pain, and grief. This was something I have never seen before. I slowly reached out for daddy, hoping to comfort him, but found that I couldn't. Back then, I didn't fully know what it meant for mom to have died. What I did know, was that she was never coming back. I was frozen in fear and sadness, before I started crying as well.

Never again would I taste her delicious homemade cookies.

Never again would she stand by my bedside, telling Yang and me tales of her missions as a huntress.

Never again would she tell us bad jokes to make us laugh.

Never again would she flirt with daddy, grossing us out.

Never again would she hold me as I cried.

At that moment, I was crying. I stood there, crying. Time flew by, and yet nobody held me. Not uncle Qrow, not daddy, and most definitely not mom.

I clutched onto my red cape. It was way oversized for me. This thing wouldn't fit me even if I folded it three times. Yet, this giant, massive cloak, I could hold. It was almost as if mom was here with me. She was not. It didn't feel as though she was here. However, it almost felt like it, and that was enough to sooth me just a little bit. Not enough to make me calm, but enough for me to start moving. Not enough to make me move towards daddy, who also needed solace, but enough to let me run back to my room, where I promptly wrapped myself into a cocoon with the cape around me. I hoped that when I woke up, I would find out that this was all a dream. That I would wake up to hearing my mother ringing the doorbell as I did so many times in the past.

It didn't happen.

I woke up in the morning, and went downstairs. There, I saw my father sobbing on the couch, with uncle Qrow consoling him. I asked if they were alright, and uncle Qrow merely smiled before shaking his head. So, I just went about my usual day, playing with my toys where my daddy was watching, in hopes that he would start going back to our usual days. You know… just… without mom.

Yang was 6 at the time, and she was just barely old enough to understand the truth. She began searching for more information on her own birth mother, who as we both found out, was not Summer Rose. My sister was only a half-sister, and her birth mother was still out there. I could safely continue trying to cheer up daddy, knowing that my sister at the very least has recovered.

I would love to say that my uncle was doing fine as well, but I knew that wasn't the case. Whenever he thought that we weren't watching, he was drowning himself in alcohol. Uncle Qrow really blamed himself for not being able to save mom. He developed that unhealthy habit of getting drunk every night. To make things worse, his problem was getting worse. At one point I called him to check if he was doing alright, only to hear from one of his co-workers. My uncle wasn't only drinking at night anymore. Now that he wasn't living with us, he started drinking in the middle of the day, and even came to work drunk a few times. Uncle Qrow was a teacher at Signal Academy, so that meant that he was coming to not just any workplace, but a school. He was trying to teach kids while being drunk, and nobody stopped him. I guess everyone felt bad for him.

Yang probably thought that I was fine due to the idea that I was too young to fully comprehend what had happened. Although that would be great if that was true, I could feel my own sanity breaking apart as I watched every member of my family degenerate. I found that I couldn't stop shaking when I tried to sleep, and I never stopped depending on mom's red cloak that was given to me. Perhaps due to my loneliness, I even developed an imaginary friend. He had white and black hair, perhaps symbolizing how I was seeing the world in black and white at the time, and emotionless black eyes that were like a dozen mile deep abyss. I saw nothing in those eyes but pain and suffering, and imagined that my own eyes were the same. The boy was rather short, but appeared to be of the exact same age as Yang. I supposed that I really missed playing with her. Maybe that was why. He never said a word. He just quietly watched me play with a smile, only acting occasionally in the times that I was playing with superhero and supervillain toys, although he only used the villain toys in opposition to my hero toys. That showed me several clues that I was going insane. Not only was I seeing this imaginary friend as if he was real, but I thought he was moving some of the toys every now and then. Yet, he wasn't real. That much she knew. Yang didn't react to having a little boy in the living room when I was playing. Daddy may not have been paying attention, but Yang was still attentive. Uncle Qrow didn't say anything either.

So that was it. That was my life when I was four. My father was severely depressed, my sister was searching for her lost mother who had apparently abandoned us, and my uncle was drinking his sorrows away. This would continue for quite some time… several months, actually. The funeral passed and none of us said much. Nobody questioned us, just choosing to stare at us with pity as my father stood on stage with Yang and me behind him. For almost a full hour, everyone stayed silent and still, before my father slowly left the building. Not much happened afterwards, either. We were stagnant, and nothing changed until five months had passed, and the summer season finally arrived.

On the first day of summer, I woke up in a moving wagon. Yang was pulling the wagon, and breathing heavily. Where were we going? Where was she taking me? I had so many questions, but Yang was so focused, so determined, that I did not want to interrupt her thoughts. I knew that she would never try to hurt me. She loved me, just as how I loved her. We were probably going somewhere that Yang really needed to go to. Most likely, I was being brought to serve as some kind of emotional support or something, to help her keep going even if she got tired. She really was tired, though. I could see her shaking, and her wheezing in exhaustion. Due to her condition, I knew that she wouldn't be able to keep an eye out for any approaching Grimm. Grimm were monsters of darkness that were threats to humans that were void of souls; they would attack anything with a soul that they could find. I had never seen one in person, but I saw pictures, and they were absolutely frightening. If we spotted one, then we would have to immediately escape, or we'd both be dead for sure. At least if we ran, one of us might escape. So, I stayed awake, as tedious as that was, in order to keep us both safe. Yet, to make things easier for Yang, I pretended to be still asleep. If there was anyone else here, I would probably have been caught. However, Yang was still only six, and thus not very smart. Not to mention that she was very focused on her current actions and her goal, and thus was not paying much attention to what I was doing. I was supposed to be asleep, after all.

After two hours or so had passed, we reached… a building of some sort. From what I could tell, it was a shack of some sort, and it was broken down beyond any repair. There was moss all over, the wood was shattered in many places, and it seemed as if it should have already collapsed into a heap of wood and metal. There were no lights to be seen, and no sound could be heard from within. Where was this? When was the last time someone lived here? I didn't know, but I saw that Yang was covered in cuts and bruises. Coming here was obviously immensely important to her.

Unfortunately, the possibility that she might be disappointed about what she might have found here would be the least of our worries. For the first time, I saw lights emerge from the darkness of the shack. The illuminating, crimson lights formed into unblinking eyes that glared at us were soon followed by many others. Six quadrilaterals screamed their silent rage at us, and both Yang and I were frozen. This was what I had been staying awake for. The red glare signaled that it was Grim. Based on the faint outline that I could just barely visualize as if started approaching the entrance, I could tell that the one closest to the light was a beowolf. Beowolves may have been the weakest form of Grimm, but they were one of the faster ones, and almost always travelled in packs, meaning that the two behind it were probably other beowolves. I had to tell Yang to at least try to run away. However, I couldn't. My lips were parted, ready to scream in fear. Yet not even a breath could escape my throat. Odd, considering that the beasts had yet to tear it out with the bloody jaws that they most certainly had. All I could do was sit there in the wagon, motionless, hoping for someone to save me as I watched the Grimm slowly leave the shadows.

Why?

What was stopping me?

Run for home, legs!

Scream for help, mouth!

Reach for Yang, arms!

Please.

Please!

Please!

Anything!

Please move, or Yang and I are going to die!

Yet nothing changed.

I could do absolutely nothing.

So this was what it meant when uncle Qrow claimed to be worthless…

As the first beowolf pounced, I closed my eyes and waited for my fear to be ended by the bittersweet glance of death before my pointless, worthless, meaningless existence would come to an end.

Farewell, daddy.

Bye, uncle Qrow.

Yang and I are coming, mommy.

…

…

…odd.

I wasn't dead.

With all my will, I forced my eyes to open. Still being as frozen as I was before, it took all the energy in my body to slowly and shakily raise my eyelids.

Uncle Qrow.

He was in front of us, holding a scythe that had apparently sliced the beowolves in two. We were safe, and three dead beowolves were lying on the dirt.

Now that my fear was starting to fade, I could actually notice what was going on. Despite how easily he must have killed all three beowolves, he was shaking. His body was shivering anxiously, obviously having been scared. Was he scared of the Grimm? No. If anything, he was terrified beyond comprehension of losing us. That he might be too late. Yet, he seemed to relax and stand up straight, smiling at Yang and me. "You weren't scared, were ya? I mean, you were never in danger since I'm alive to protect you."

A cocky grin graced his features as he spoke, yet I could see that he was still shaking. He had not calmed down. Adrenaline and intense fear had persisted in his thoughts, as he had almost lost us, and he had to concentrate so that his teeth wouldn't chatter. Yet, it was obvious that he was terrified, horrified, mortified, petrified, and stupefied by the mental image of having been too late to save someone he loved for a second time. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to keep a cool, hero-like image so that Yang and I would feel safe and protected. In order to make us happy, he was thrashing his own feelings until they would be minimally visible.

Without caring about pretending to be asleep, I followed Yang as we both tackled uncle Qrow in an embrace, and felt him wrap a single arm around us while keeping a hand steady on his scythe. My sister and I were sobbing, but I could see from the corner of my eyes that the hand holding his scythe had not stopped shaking. When we finally stopped crying and started heading home, I noticed that his hand, at the very least, was still shaking, and had not let go of the scythe. We reached home, and our daddy embraced Yang and me, apologizing for not having been attentive lately, and how he wasn't there to protect us. Even then, uncle Qrow had not let go of his scythe, and the hand was still shivering.

On the day that we were attacked, I learned that heroes aren't invincible beings who had no fear. I learned that being courageous and brave didn't mean not being afraid of danger. I learned that it meant being able to overcome one's fear for the sake of others.

The idea of it enraptured me.

This was what I was looking for. For the past few months, everyone had been different. Dad was in a depressed state of shock due to the death of my mother. Uncle Qrow was drinking until he passed out, as that was the only way he could sleep without seeing the corpse of my mother. Yang was desperately searching for clues for the one who gave her birth so that she and I could have someone to fill the gap left by the disappearance of my mother. I could barely think of myself or of my future due to all of them being replaced with the impossible hope of getting back my mother. Even now, although my dad promised to go back to the old days, uncle Qrow promised to be more attentive, and Yang promised to not do anything too rash like she did today. I knew that not everything would be changed. Dad will start doing stuff again, but would end up moving very sluggishly, and would continue doing unexplainably weird things like mailing our dog to our uncle in a tube. Uncle Qrow would stop drinking to the point of passing out and he would stop being drunk twenty-four seven, but he would continue drinking even in the middle of the day. Yang would stop going to dangerous places without protection, but would continue going to dangerous places without anyone being able to stop her. If my memories of the little time I spent with my mother were a blissful and lovely dream, then this was a crude and heart-shattering one. Only the darker version would not come to an abrupt conclusion in a sickeningly sudden event.

There's no knight in shining armor to save me from this unending nightmare.

However, I could be one for the others.

They say that heroes can't be everywhere. However, I saw today a hero that just barely made it on time. He was nowhere around us. We didn't tell him that we were leaving, and he wasn't even around when we headed out. Uncle Qrow didn't live with us, so the only way that he could have found out was if dad told him. Yet, with how dad was, he probably didn't notice that we were gone until a good amount of time had passed. It did not stop Uncle Qrow from finding out and somehow getting to us in time to save our lives. He was as terrified as I was when I was paralyzed by the Grimm. It didn't stop him from decimating them in order to save our lives.

Uncle Qrow was a huntsman. Huntsmen and Huntresses were elite warriors dedicated to slaying the creatures of Grimm and to uphold the peace of the world. Although unsaid, they handled problems involving major criminals as well. Mom was a huntress as well, along with dad. However, seeing uncle Qrow in action was different from listening to mom and dad's stories.

Heroes couldn't be everywhere, but they could arrive on time. That was what a true hero did. Having the power that could defeat any enemy sounded great. Owning the defense to never be harmed sounded amazing. However, possessing the speed to never let anyone be harmed sounded heavenly. It was the ultimate ability to have, and it was something that I needed. This was what I would have.

I would become a huntress and nobody would stop me, even if they got in my way. However, I would be different from other people. I would never be too late to save a life. No matter what happened, I would arrive before anything could be ended.

Luckily, I was already on the path of this goal as mom had awakened my aura earlier this year.

Aura was the manifestation of our soul. When activated, it would passively protect us like a barrier around our bodies as long as we had some left, and would also grant us superhuman capabilities. Some awakened it naturally on their own; while others had theirs awakened by others by having them slip some of their aura into their souls and vice versa. Those who followed this method, like me, would always be spiritually connected forever. I always held a piece of my mother inside me, which turned my red aura a darker shade, and was why I was especially affected by her loss. My father was probably the one to awaken my mother's aura. That, combined with the fact that he had lost one wife already when Yang's birth mother left us, was most likely the reason why he was so… broken.

I was way ahead of other kids my age, thanks to this. Most kids didn't get their auras awakened until they were much older. The only exception that I really knew would be Yang, who had her aura awakened for as long as I could remember. If I started training with this now, I would be able to reach my goal. I would mold my aura to be more focused on speed, while sacrificing defensive capability. While I was not sure if that was possible, it was definitely something that I was going to try. In the first place, my aura was naturally inclined towards speed for some reason.

Increasing speed seemed to be the best method to fight in my mind, anyhow. Defense could be forgotten as long as I could dodge all attacks. Strength could be ignored if I could get an immensely powerful weapon that could deal great damage.

I had the perfect candidate for a weapon, as well. It had come into my eyes the day I changed this way as well. Uncle Qrow was most definitely skilled with a scythe. While impractical as a weapon due to its shape, the scythe had a heavy blade and was easier to maneuver than a sword. While a spear or a lance would be easier to use with great speed and had great piercing power, it could only pierce in a simple thrust, rather than being able to swing from multiple directions. So I was left with either a scythe or a pole arm. While a pole arm would be a much better option… I had a great teacher available who was more used to a scythe. I would be able to achieve much greater skill with a scythe than with a pole arm.

As for a ranged portion, a sniper rifle would be best with no competition. I could always use great speed to escape from being in close range with an enemy. Thus, the sniper rifle would be best fit for me, due to the fact that it is the king of extremely long ranged combat and accuracy.

While I was calculating, a great deal of time had passed. I wasn't certain what time it was exactly, but I did know that several hours had passed. I was still in my dad's arms, and uncle Qrow had apparently agreed to stay for the night. Dad and Yang had seemingly fallen asleep in each other's arms after having tired out from crying, and uncle had noticed how I was silently blanking out. He saw me bawling like Yang earlier that day, so he was worried that I may have been traumatized by what I saw. I was only four, after all.

"Uncle Qrow?" I asked. He blinked as he focused his vision back to the present. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was thinking hard about the future. "Could you train me?"

"Train you?" He was evidently confused by the question. It was quite sudden, after all. However, my uncle was no moron, and for once he wasn't drunk. He was attentive and smart, so he easily figured out what I meant, despite my having asked out of the blue. "Why do you want that? Aren't you scared of Grimm?"

I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to turn me away from the dangerous life of being a huntress. Although I was afraid, I wanted to become a huntress in spite of my fear. In order to deny him the answer that he wanted to use against me, I almost shook my head. However, I remembered my revelation from earlier. A true hero would admit his fears, but push them aside for the sake of others. Slowly, I nodded, but revealed what I was thinking as I did so. "…but I won't let that stop me."

We stared each other down. Seconds passed, but this was not like mom's funeral where silence would last for hours. This silence was not that of respect, pity, and grief. Instead, this silent moment was being used by uncle Qrow to judge my determination, and I did not waver. My eyes were locked into place, staring up as I stared him down. No aura was involved, yet I felt that it was almost as if my unused, untrained soul was connected to his broken, experienced soul. Perhaps what they say about eyes being the window to the soul wasn't just a simple cliché. After a full minute had passed, and I mean exactly sixty seconds, uncle Qrow smirked. "Fine. I'll be the best damn teacher you ever had… but for now, go get some sleep. It's almost midnight."

I began running upstairs, up to my shared bedroom with Yang. This was it. I had taken my second step towards becoming a huntress, and I was only four and a half years old. With uncle Qrow's help, I would surely grow to be able to fulfill my dreams and be able to save everyone that I care for.

"It's almost as if you got a happy ending, isn't it?"

A voice that I've never heard before rang out behind me. I slowly turned around, and felt nobody's presence. Yet, I could see somebody who, by all means, should have been nobody. A white and black haired boy, whose lighter tufts of hair was starting to darken into a gentle shade of gray. Standing there in a plain white T-shirt that was five sizes too big for him, with some form of pants underneath, was someone who I recognized.

It was the child who had been playing with me when my family fell apart.

He was the one who only I noticed.

It was the boy who was not meant to exist.

This was the boy who could not exist.

The smile on his face hadn't changed since I had been worried about my dad, yet it seemed much more menacing than it had before. His attire hadn't changed from when the crisis had just started. I previously noted how he couldn't possibly be anything more than a figment of my imagination. The very presence of him was meant to be visual evidence that I was losing my sanity at least to some degree. Now that my family was recovering and I wasn't in total depression anymore, shouldn't I have lost this? Shouldn't the hallucinations stop?

Was I still insane?

If not, then who was he, and why didn't anyone else react to his presence?

Was he a part of my psyche telling me that I had gone mad?

Was he someone who had some kind of ability that made him invisible or something?

Was he a threat to my family?

Am I a threat to my family?

How could I get rid of him?

Should I get rid of him?

Clumsily, I fumbled into a fighting stance that I saw on one of the cartoons that I watched on Saturday mornings with Yang. I had nothing to use as a weapon, but I could use my fists to some degree. Yang was more of the fist fighting type of gal, but she hadn't noticed this boy even when she passed through the living room with him sitting in the center of it. Dad and uncle Qrow also couldn't help, as they had been in the same room while I had been playing with this boy. Thus, it was up to me to stop him if he was a threat. Unfortunately, it seemed that I was not as threatening and I tried to make myself out to be, as the boy continued staring up at me with that odd, creepy smile of his.

Then he took a step up the stairs.

Another step was taken.

The climbing the stairs continued with those short little legs of the six year old boy.

However, I wasn't frozen this time.

I swung my tiny fist at him, and the hit connected. The boy seemingly allowed himself to be hit, and was knocked to the bottom of the stairs. Yet, the smile did not leave his face. Instead, he smiled brighter as he spoke again. "Aha. Sorry if I frightened you. I promise I didn't mean to."

Who takes a hit that throws him down the stairs, yet continues to smile?

At the very least, this solidified one idea that I had so far. My fist definitely hit solid flesh when I punched him and I could surely hear and see him, meaning that he was probably real. Yet, although he impacted the ground and was still lying on the ground near them, Uncle Qrow did not notice, while Yang and dad didn't acknowledge his existence. I couldn't feel his aura in the slightest. That showed that he was probably not real. So I only learned that I didn't know. Indeed, he was a complete and utter enigma. A paradox.

I supposed that all I could do at this point was attempting to talk to him without alerting the others. Nobody could see or hear him, with the exception of myself, so there was no point in worrying them. They probably couldn't fight him off even if they knew of his existence. No need to make my family believe that I was insane, unless I truly was mad. Thus, I started backing up, slowly going up the stairs. Once I reached the top of the stairs, I whispered to him. "Who are you?"

Silence screeched, bypassing my ear completely and directly attacking my mind. In response to my question, he merely tilted his head like a young owl, before smirking innocently. The black and white haired boy opened his mouth, but I could not understand him. We stared each other down, until the silence was finally broken by the quiet "ding" of the nearby clock, signifying that the current time was midnight, signifying that it was finally the second day of summer.

Only then did I realize that I had never thought up a name for my imaginary friend.

I was coming home.

After so long, I was finally coming home.

Team Stark… Team STRQ had finally graduated. After quite some begging on my part, and making use of my resources… we agreed to have a party at my home on the island of Patch. I could finally introduce my team to my family!

Raven, my beloved friend. She was like a sister to me, and we always had each other's back. We may not have been partners, and our fighting styles may have clashed many times, but we were very close. Stronger, tougher, and manlier than either of our male teammates… she'd beat me up if I ever said it out loud, yet it was true. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if my family believed that Raven was a man, based on the letters that I sent home.

Lil Qrow… no, just Qrow now. He was originally the smallest member of the team, but was now the tallest. It wasn't fair. He was starting to be loud and obnoxious, too. I remember the good old days when he, as our youngest member, used to follow Raven and me around like a little cutie. He was still a bit of a crybaby when things got harsh, but he now acted a lot like a mix between his sister and Tai. Partially for his sudden growth spurt, I never told my sister that he wasn't a shorty anymore. Boy, is she in for a surprise.

Tai… I mean, Taiyang… he was the glue of our team. He was calm, funny, and observant. Although he did a lot of unreasonable things, he was the reason why disputes between teammates never went too far. We all loved each other, but thanks to Taiyang, our fights never resulted in anything that couldn't be resolved within hours. I didn't dare tell my sis anything about him, or things would get awkward due to her "shipping".

I couldn't wait to have them meet my family.

My sister would be waiting in our home, Qrow would hit on her like he does with every girl he meets, and I would smack him while Taiyang and Raven laughs at him. The little ones would rush out to greet us, and Qrow would panic at the sight of my sister's husband.

Then I would bring them to the graves of my parents, to tell them that we were setting out for a long mission, and won't be back for a few years.

I was a terrible daughter. However… it was time to move on.

After all, I, with my team, had to make a name for ourselves.