Chapter 3: Rebellion

"She's too young to crawl," Raven chastised, seated on the green carpeted floor in the far corner and splayed out for anyone. She could not seem to compose herself properly here, didn't like to stand in the sunlight as the early dusk orange drew illuminated panels all over the room, aside from her little contained segment. A shadowed perch with a good view, a place to be.

"No, but," Amber argued, holding onto the covered feet of the three month old Yang, her padded foot kicking back at the older girl's gentle hands, "she is adventurous, I can tell. She wants it bad." Maybe she did, the lavender eyed tiny thing sure took well to "tummy time." Raven and Amber would from time to time flip her over, it helped her build neck muscles and encourage movement. Summer joined them sometimes, but usually it was the two of them, Amber playing with the young babe and Raven watching. She prefered watching.

"The young Ms. Long is very strong," Ironwood, he was still here, "I have no doubt she'll start crawling sooner than you think." He also prefered watching, now that he was stuck here. A new attempt on the headmaster of Atlas locked him down. He, however, prefered to stand in the light, dim glow of the low sun added a bit of color to his white, he kept watch, gave the baby Yang twenty-four-seven care. Tried to take off some work from Raven. Everyone was. She had spent a grand total of ten minutes with the child alone. They all pretended, but the truth crossed their lips constantly. Only Qrow was willing to say it to Raven's face.

They kept Raven under watch because she wasn't eating, because she wasn't bonding with Yang like she should, looked so tired, so sad when it came time to feed Yang, because Summer decided to tell Ozpin she cried sometimes at night. They all didn't trust her because of postpartum depression. In hindsight, it was a criminal simplification.

"Little baby Branwen is going to be a fighter," Amber corrected politely. The last name of little Yang was turning out to be quite a topic of discussion. Qrow, the government, and Amber prefered Branwen. Ironwood, out of malice; Taiyang, out of fatherly attachment; and Ozpin, despite his repeated apologies, all called her Xiao Long. Summer constantly reminded them, in jest, that Yang was the first golden haired Rose and the rest could kindly fuck off. That made Raven laugh, crack a smile, but she never threw in, never called her anything really. Yang. The child. Her. Raven felt like the name should belong to the mother, and at the time, she wasn't sure if it was far to consider herself it.

"You're not going to send Yang out there with a battle axe as soon as she can crawl, are you?" Raven joked in a wisp of a voice, comedy hard in front of the Atlas military man. She felt a pressure, pushing the mother into the far corner that frankly wasn't there or certainly wasn't intended. "Let her walk first, at least."

"Nah, she's got her tiny fists. Give me a battlecry, little buddy, give me a roar!" Amber's fingers descended on the little thing. The tips sweetly and like the bristles of a brush toyed at her sides. Yang let out a yelp and some jumbled giggle.

Raven never stopped mourning her fantasy, but she had to admit, when the gold hair didn't make her want to rip out the roots, Yang was the cutest little bastard she had ever seen. She loved her as much as she had the heart to, and loved those small baby sounds. Closing her eyes, the world was brighter with just the sound.

I don't know exactly when the epiphany that she still loved Yang hit Raven. That she , despite her mourning, her depression, despite never feeling quite the way a mother should, still wanted that little creature to be in a bundle, warm and laughing, untouched and in the light. The rest of her actions required that revelation of love.

"If you'll excuse me," Ironwood announced, brushing the nonexistent dust from his coat, happily taking those heavy booted steps towards the door. "I need to use the restroom. I'll be back momentarily if you'll watch Yang for me, Autumn."

"Always." The young girl smiled and nodded, happy as could be with her pseudo-little sister. A shame Yang never knew how loved she was by this dark olive girl.

Ten more steps, one shut door, and Raven was free to lift her chin, dark red eyes peering over her nestling and adoptive sister. "Amber, I have a question." The autumn maiden met her gaze without hesitation or fear. The odd Branwens and their grimm colored countenance was a comforting presence.

"You wanna hold her?" Amber countered the question with one of her own. She lifted the baby up by the arms and pressed that tiny body to her chest. Yang giggled, fat cheeks pulled up in the chubbiest little smile. She loved the adventure of movement, bouncing in her yellow onesie, begging to be shaken around more.

"I," Raven felt her voice crack, no one really asked like that anymore, "Yes, can I?" The question left a meek dust on her lips that tasted bitter. What kind of mother needs to ask? Amber didn't seem, or care to notice.

"It's mommy time, Yang. Let's go!" Amber kept her tight and stomped towards Raven, making all the big monster noises she could dream up, "oh no, who's going to free you from this horrible grimm," the little one giggled, no way she understood anything coming out of Amber's mouth, "It's Raven, the undefeated huntress of Forever Falls! I am defeated!" She collapsed onto her knees at a rate one might say is too slow to sell the bit. Baby Yang squealed in delight, held out into the room corner, the sunlight splitting orange bars over her lilac eyes.

"Hi," Raven whispered, hands wrapping around the cotton cloth of her child. Despite their unusual level of separation, her arm instinctively formed the a cradle. It popped its gold topped head back and forth, comfortable in this distant guardian's hands. "How are you?" Yang said nothing. Raven didn't know what she expected.

"So what were you gonna ask?" Amber found her own comfortable spot against her idol's shoulder, resting her cheek against the unarmored red dress. She had earned the right to physicality and Raven did not resist.

"Do you want to stay here?" Raven started, the time to move was coming, the pieces in place.

"In this room?" Amber asked, her voice ending in a sleepy yawn. Taking care of the little one was hardy work for a teenager. Unsurprisingly, her lids fluttered to a close and breath steadied.

"In Beacon, in the brotherhood," Raven clarified, toying with Yang's checks with her free hand. The small one had gained a good bit of weight since she took her first breath. Chubby and energetic, her pink hands clacked away at the touch. "If I left somewhere, would you want to be here or free?" Before she even knew it, Raven tossed out her dice. There was no turning back now.

"I am free," Amber mumbled, traipsing back and forth between the dreaming and waking world.

"Can you, right now, walk out and catch a boat to Vytal, Mistral, anywhere?" Raven tilted her head, cheek resting on top of her sleepy surrogate daughter's brown waves of hair. Autumn's eyes opened and mind began to stir.

"I'd ask Ozpin first, he'd want to—"

"Could your teammates?" Raven cut off her excuse. Free-ish was not the same as free. Amber could not just go see her father, nor him her. It was true, perhaps not just in Raven's view, that a leash rarely tugged is still a leash, and a cage often opened is still a cage. "Now what's the difference between you?" She postulated, tracing back her original doubts and sharing them with the youngest of the maidens. "I know my brother can, and would, travel the world if he wasn't waiting for me. I'm not free, are you?"

"It's because I'm still a teenager," Amber rationalized. No longer a sleepy headed child, her eyes were wide open, alert as they were brown. She pulled away from her chosen role model, unconvinced, but listening. Listening was all Raven wanted.

"Am I?"

"It's for our own good," the Fall Maiden offered to her summer peer.

"Is it for the weapons own good we lock them in a safe, or the good of the one with the key?" Raven countered, expecting not an answer, just consideration. "I know people are after my power, but if we are trying to keep it out of the hands of non-maidens, why are the maidens the ones in chains?" The huntress kept her voice hushed, both for the baby and the ears Ozpin may have embedded in the walls. "Are they protecting us as people or as weapons? And if so, what makes them justified to do so?"

"Are you saying Professor Ozpin isn't a good man?" Amber asked bluntly, her brows pinched aggressively. It was hard for Raven to tell if she was convinced or convicting the huntress of treason.

"I'm just saying, he is a man as much as any other, but with authority derived by our ability to do this," Raven's free hand set the air aspark. Flames with no source hovered and strung together between her fingertips, hot and feasting on some invisible magics. "And in my time on Remnant, I found I don't trust any moral authority, especially one so old and archaic over my own." The Summer Maiden's flame danced around her digits, heat enough to flush their faces and dry their eyes. Between such serious expressions, Yang giggled, hands reaching out for the fire, enthralled by the magic light. Raven kept it just safely out of reach. I think she found some joy in that moment. What other mother got to hold up the sun itself for her baby?

"The maidens have a purpose, to do such good out there and I guess," Raven continued, "I'll always trust simpler souls on their own, than old men buried in secrets." This baby, it might never feel quite right to Raven, but its hands wanted hers, and I know she wanted it to have that simple life. "I plan to leave, leave this place with Yang. I won't make you come with me, that can be your choice, but you have a choice. All you have to do is say the word."

The nursery door swung on its hinges, the thudding steps of their Atlesian warden followed and Ironwood was back, happily refreshed. "My apologies for the wait—Raven!" His body clenched up at the sight offire and the face full of heat. Yang still giggled and tried her best to nab the flame, but Ironwood was not laughing. "Get away from her!" James sprung with greater mass and plenty of surprise. One arm snatched the baby and the other slammed into her, nearly bashing his entire shoulder into her center. If he had hoped it hurt, Raven felt worse. He was one snap of the finger away from being reduced to ember, but Yang's wailing just stalled her completely.

"She wasn't hurting her!" Amber screamed, pushing against the larger Atlesian commander. A teenager's cry has a way of knocking people to their senses. Ironwood backed away, baby still in his arms, shielded from the maidens. Raven, her lip was bleeding from how hard she was biting in her anger. Old James would get his, I'm afraid, far worse than the man deserved.

"She was endangering the child. What sort of psychopath plays with fire right in front of her newborn's face!?" His chest rose and fell in strong repetition. His hair was already damp with the stress sweat. With every second he seemed to grow more unsure of his actions and less of Raven's . She stood, brushing off the pain in her chest. She was a stronger huntress than Ironwood could imagine.

Amber, well, no argument was more persuasive than what she had just seen. The Fall Maiden, so small then, took her stand for personal independence. You know how this ends, but I promise, that spirit never left her. Amber never just accepted things, not after that. Maybe if she did she would still be alive. "I'm telling the headmaster."

"Professor Ozpin is a wise man," Ironwood argued, "He's old enough to know complete responsibility when he hears about it." The young officer stood straight, back aligned with his legs, soon to be the fourth headmaster of Atlas, led it during the peak of his power. You have to admit, holding a baby in the face of two of the most powerful beings in existence, he has courage.

"Go to hell," Raven muttered, turning out of the nursery, off to the Emerald Forest to kill some things, but soft steps quickly followed. The Fall Maiden had more to say.

"Raven, no matter what, I'm with you!" Amber shouted, enough to turn more than one head at Beacon. Her short brown hair in her face, lithe form muscled from training, but still awkward in the hands of a growing teenager. She certainly seemed willing to take on the world. I can guarantee Raven smiled at her, bright and hopeful.

"Always Amber."

"Tai, stop being a lazy shit and let's finish all the wood today," Qrow shouted from his stump, a small choice selection of Vytal forest wood to his left, an axe to his right, and a full coating of sweat from the heat staining his clothes. The sun came down hard that day, even as the redness was fading from the sky, it cooked them alive in their combat clothes.

Raven ended up with that forest getaway after all, with the shimmering and tall swamp grasses to swim through. All the touches of the natural world against her skin again. Their chosen patch of Vytal, a three way cross the sporadic woods that began to vanish this far from the mountains, the small lake fed by several serpentine streams, and the more open rolling green fields Vytal was famous for, covered completely in emerald weeds. Yet, this was not quite what she wanted either. This vacation was a mandatory getaway, an attempt to deal with the depression with her entire team watching out for her, as well as just watching her. Better than James.

But there was another little notch of disrespect. Yang was not allowed with her. Ozpin gave her a thousand well rehearsed and produced explanations, but the reality was, since the incident with the fire, Raven was kept even farther away from her child. Temporary, Tai and Summer kept saying. Qrow prefered calling it bullshit, and that's why she loved him. Yang wouldn't play with bugs for the first time, dig her tiny fingers into the dirt, feel the cold of the lakes licks while Raven held her. She wouldn't be able to breath air not filtered in that tower for the first time since her birth. Soon, though, Raven swore, whether Ozpin wanted it or not.

"Couldn't we have just taken some with us? Do we really have to make everything ourselves?" Taiyang asked as he stepped out of the boy's tent, pitched opposite of Raven's loggings. The site of their camp lay in the remains of a small faunus post. Often little wooden remains would dot the water lines of Vytal's rivers, the faunus here nomadic and structures meant to belong to everyone. This camp was old, the paths mostly grown over and only two of the three structures stood, and of them only one Raven felt safe in. Summer and her set up their bags in the small red triangular structure. The crimson paint was flaking off, but the wood was not rotted and the supports still held.

"This isn't a resort, Tai, you want something, natural world and all that shit," Qrow countered, slapping the old rotted stump that had been used as a cutting board for half a century from the look of its gashes.

"If it's not a resort, why are we here for vacation?!" Taiyang shouted, the heat never agreed with him, especially when the moisture clogged the air like a steamer. Regardless, he came when beckoned by the older Branwen.

"Because it's not for you, idiot," Qrow rewarded him with a swipe to the back of the head as soon as the blonde came into range, "It's for your baby's mama," ew, "she could use a brake after all this bullshit."

"I'm present you know." Raven planted herself cross legged where the water met the soil, bare feet an inch away from the little waxing and waning tides of the freshwater. It was a good spot, the bamboo pole in her lap, string tied to it to form a rudimentary fishing rod. Works well enough for the small prey she hoped to bring home for a small fire lit dinner. They had rations, but where was the fun in that?

"I hadn't noticed. The smell of brooding sister is shockingly close to pine wood," Qrow joked, setting up the first log for Taiyang's axe. The blonde was making a big show of it, marking the center with the blade, doing practice swings, rolling up his sleeve. Around log ten Raven felt confident he'd be real fucking tired of the showmanship.

"I am not brooding," the maiden snapped, even if the fish weren't.

"You're extremely broody." Qrow didn't back down.

"I am perfectly content."

"Nah," Taiyang cut in, snapping his tongue like it would excrete some wisdom, "You're at least a little broodish."

"I am enjoying fishing, I'm finally out of that damn tower and maybe I want a little less talking!" Raven nearly went into a full scream, the stress was getting to her more than she realized. The tranquility of a rippling lake wasn't quite calming the nerves like it was suppose to.

"Yeah, she's broody," Tai turned to Qrow and thought he was funny. "Anything I can do for you bud? Maybe a back rub, get the stress knots out." He was pretty good with his hands, but Raven rather vomit.

"I got this!" Summer's voice was muffled from inside the small structure. Her job was interior decoration. If they were going to have a love nest in the middle of nowhere Vytal, it was going to hit all the benchmarks of a Rose certified living quarters. "Raven, come in I've made our bed, it looks cute!"

"I'm fishing!" Raven yelled back, though all the screaming probably chased away the two finned bastards left in the lake.

"Qrow can take over!" Summer shouted right back.

"Qrow sucks!" Raven didn't turn to see if Qrow took exception to that.

"I do suck." He did not.

"You will regret not~" Summer reverberated with a bit of a sing-song melody at the end, the final notes a thin taunt. Raven just wanted one bite, one little nibble to say this wasn't a waste of time. It was her vacation, probably the last all together like this, and certainly the last not on her dime.

"Don't be mad," Raven called out, choosing her spot at the riverbed, comfort and the company of fish over whatever problem she might ha—

"Not that kind of regret love~" Summer giggled at the end and Raven turned a very dark shade of red from what I've heard. They were always an open pair, spared the details but no one questioned their employment of their bodies from time to time, but the invitation in such a sultry voice right next to their friends and family? Well, surprising no one, Raven burned to the tips of her ears.

"We need to hang out with other women, Tai," Qrow groaned. He did not look forward to hearing anything, especially considering how fast Raven lept towards the cabin's door. "Let's fish, just a little up river. Please, just please."

"Summer, so what did you n—" Raven spoke at a thousand miles per second, coming to a dust kicking stop when the door opened to the wind, "—eed." Most lovers lose the initial lust one has when seeing them in their natural form the first time. It's not that they stop being beautiful, simply we get more accustomed to it, becomes only natural. Summer though, to Raven, always managed to reinvent herself. The way she sat on the bed, one leg hanging off slender in the low light, smooth to the touch and shimmering, the other raised up in contrast both agape to show off a patch of black and the hint of more. Her arms stretched out as pale as her pillows, letting her muscled tummy, growing out strains of black and red, and the lightly dropping sight of her chest, pull Raven in.

If that didn't work there was always her smile. Softy etched in round cheeks with warm eyes and flashing silver irises. "Can you close the door? It's a little, uh, breezy," Summer's voice cracked a little with a gust of wind, the giggle that followed could send a beast to its knees.

"Oh, yeah," Raven's mind might have flashed white, but closing a door still fell within her functional range. So was peeling off the ribbon belt from her waist and tossing boots at the nearest corner.

"Well, we haven't had sex since we got Yang, which I understand, it's been busy, but I figured now might be a fun restart for us?" Raven's shoulders were something to behold according to Summer, arms and chest of someone who could wield a greatsword with that level of depth and precision were apparently a thing of great interest to that young huntress. She licked her lips as a freed ponytail draped the maiden's naked chest in tendrils of silken black, eyes red and hungry, looking back at her. "I understand if you're not ready, but if not, I want some cuddles, naked cuddles perferabl—hey!" Raven was barely in a pair of shorts by the time she reached Summer, picking up the huntress' entire body like a gentle forklift and slathering her neck in kisses. A weak spot from what I've heard.

"Yes, please." Raven begged into her lover's collar. She loved the way Summer's long fingers delved deep into the straight frays of her hair, pushing for more of that sweet touch.

Summer laughed as warm skin held her tight, just the way she wanted, "I've missed you, love."

"You really wanna do more?" Raven asked, feeling Summer's hand trace her inner thighs, finger brushing where no one elses were welcome. This tease was a dangerous game between sexually frustrating, a nice slow build back up, or just a gentle downgrade. Usually though, it just meant Summer wanted to love on her more, leave more marks. Raven usually took lead, at the start, but damn if the Rose did not out do her in staying power.

"Leaving the option open, I just missed you," Summer whispered into the back of Raven's neck, cold breath icy and sweet on the sweat glistening hair. Raven was astounded she could breath in that jungle, much less find the other side. "I can't believe we waited this long, the pregnancy was dry enough," Her leg slid over the maiden's waist and entangled their bodies further, not to mention the other hand that happily held onto Raven's stomach and a free breast. What a mess.

"I'm sorry—"

"No, it's not something to apologize about. I'm only joking, love," Summer complained with a wispy voice, tugged by the pains of sex driven sleepiness.

"I just, it felt a little, this sounds dumb, but dirty." Raven couldn't explain it. The problem was irrational, for one, that certainly didn't help. Being with Taiyang wasn't an STI, but it felt worse than one. A real degrading virus.

"Because of being pregnant?" Summer assumed, and Raven did not blame her, "You weren't dirty. Regardless of the bowling ball belly, I wanted you so bad, I was hoping you go into my gutter." The funniest part was just how slow and slurred Summer sounded, like a fifty year old drunk man. Old lecher.

"Please stop it with the dirty talk, you are awful," Raven complained, but Summer never cared, she knew Raven loved her and her bowling puns.

"I just want you to know, you never needed to feel dirty because of a belly." Raven couldn't decide whether her inability to view Raven's sin as evil was her boon or bane. It didn't change the guilt, only shuffled it.

"I felt like I betrayed you. I regret it so much." Summer's hands stopped, her breath hitched. She tried not to judge with her reaction, but she did, she was afraid.

"You regret Yang?" Summer's voice quivered, though she did her best to hide it. She was way too in love with that little baby to not be afraid.

"No, despite what they are saying, she is my… she's just a happy wonderful thing. I don't regret her." Raven sighed in relief when she could feel the chest pressed into her back fill and contract once again, reanimated. "It's just she could have come later. I wanted our child, our baby. With you. I felt like I had to, and with Tai. I regret cheating on you, I'm sorry." Raven didn't cry, though she could feel that tightening in her throat and chest, the misting in the eyes.

"Love, she is our baby, you never cheated," Summer denied.

"If she was my baby, why can't I hold her without guards watching me, why isn't she bundled up with us?" Raven's voice hitched a ride right to the doorstep of shouting. "She's Ozpin's tool, we all are. We have always been." Summer pulled way, both arms clutching Raven's center, pulling her tight and close. Not the grip of a lover, but the suffocating hold of a scared child. "I'm leaving Summer, when I get back. I'm leaving with Yang." Raven turned around, shifting her body under this pile of skin and blankets. On the other side Summer was crying, not even trying to resist, just holding back the sounds as the tears poured and nose sniffled. This was torture. "Summer, come with me, please."

"We will be maidens, we can't l-leave," Summer jostled the end of her sentences in pain, knowing maybe even before Raven the impasse that strutted towards. Raven had no idea she was breaking up with her. "Ple-ease no, R-raven~" the held note was a painful whine, not the sing songy love they use to have.

"I know, and I plan to keep helping people, out there, as a huntress. Amber wants to as well. We can take Yang, she can really be our baby." Raven placed her hand on Summer's cheek, wiping away the stream if tears, so confident their love could overpower everything. Summer smiled, though her eyes were redder than Raven's.

"L-l-love, please. I'll talk to Ozpin. I know he'll understand if I tell him what's going on in your heart," Summer's pleading reminded Raven too much of a trapped dog. She hated Ozpin more than anything for reducing this proud warrior to his pet.

"Why do we need his approval?!" Raven shouted, her anger cracking when she saw how fearfully Summer recoiled. The huntress pulled all her resolve, swallowed the weight in her throat, and tried to reason with Raven.

"Love please, we will get what we deserve. We will both be maidens, but that doesn't mean we can't have our family. We can move into a little house on Patch, away from the city, raise our girls like normal girls. We can travel, too. I promise this feeling is temporary. I promise, just wait a little longer. We will have such a beautiful future, just us and our daughters." The dream sounded sweat, Patch was a beautiful rural island, a little too far to be at Ozpin's beck and call. The hot summers, colorful autumns, deep winter snows, and springs ripe for growth. Almost freedom.

"I just," Raven struggled, what was the point in rebellion without Summer to fight for? "So you want a second daughter and a little house on Patch? Get bunk beds?" Raven broke down, feeling weak, but willing to dream, taken away by hope. Maybe the next one, Qrow might help make it closer, maybe the next one will look even a little like her.

"I'm sure Yang and her sister will want their own rooms," Summer started crying again, her eyes shining with a mad hope, one too quickly dashed by her panicked running mouth. It was too late anyways. Any hope of preventing this tragedy ended months prior, this delusional hope, it was just love's blinding and mindless refusal to give up. It's beautiful in a certain light. "It makes sense to have two. Ozpin almost suggested twins, but I'd rather carry the other. I'll take the turkey baster though, I'm sure me, you, and Tai will appreciate a little more separation, huh?" Summer smiled, thinking she was funny. I'm afraid nothing funny remains. Our story is near over. I am so sorry for what is to come and my part in it.

"Tai? Shouldn't Qrow be the donor? Why Tai?!" Raven's silent pit of jealousy opened up, bound to swallow them one day, but neither of them ever expected it to be there, that resentment.

"I just… I was going to pick Qrow, but with Tai they will be biologically sisters. I thought that was reassuring when Ozpin mentioned it." The name Ozpin had become a curse. A symbol for control. Raven no longer believed Summer could decide anything without it.

"So you and Ozpin planned out my whole future?" Raven withdrew her touch, her body. She broke the precious chains that linked the two of them. Summer's arms and the sheets that covered them. Raven stood alone.

"No," the still hopeful Summer tried again, voice reverberating fear, regret, a sense of total guilt. She would die believing this was all her fault. "I'm sorry, I was being presumptuous of what I thought you wanted, of course we can talk about it."

"No."

"No?"

"No." Raven clarified, standing naked, back turned to her lover, to the world. She felt the pain of chains dropping from her body, a weight she never wanted to lose. "I'm leaving. If you love me, you won't tell Ozpin." The last fragment of her faith. "Promise?"

"I promise," Summer cracked all to pieces, "I love you so much…"

*** So considering my house flooded twice, I think you all have to forgive me for this chapter being so god damn late lol. I'm real sorry, I did get a little lazy towards the end, been just criminally lazy a lot recently.

Anyways, for those reading please consider leaving a review or comment, they certainly help and I hope you are all ready for next month's fourth and final chapter of Paradise lost. It's all coming to a head and I am so ready. Lol.

Thanks so much LazyKatze for the editing and I'll see you for the last chapter next month!