Raven Branwen

In a break between classes he sends a text to Raven. <How’s Yang?> Sometimes she sent pictures of their daughter. Work was going well and he enjoyed teaching the kids, but he missed Yang, even when he was only away for a few hours. 

Raven checked her scroll when it went off in case it was Qrow looking for a way home. Once they were inside she started making tea and Yang woke up, so she sent him a picture of the toddler mashing up an innocent strawberry. 

Summer didn’t look at the nurse that came in, wheeling in the ultrasound tech. “I want to go home. Please.” She was always ready, always prepared for any scenario– it was part of what made her the leader she was, able to approach a situation and adapt quickly to it. But this wasn’t anything like that. She needed…. time to think, to process… but for once Summer was at a loss.

“I feel sick.” Summer wanted to throw up, but now she doesn’t know if that was just because of the news or morning sickness. Oh gods, was that what the nausea was for all this time? Her stomach flipped and she pressed her face against Raven’s shoulder, grateful for her presence. “They’re supposed to bring in a machine…”

Despite Raven showing up, Summer didn’t feel relieved. It was hard to breathe, and her throat felt tight. It was hard to get the words out, but the doctor would be back eventually with the sonogram machine, and if she didn’t say it right now, Raven would hear it from someone else. “I’m pregnant.” She pulled her cloak tightly around herself, face burning at the admission. Saying it out loud made it more real.

“I think– no, I know. It happened right before I came back from Mistral. I didn’t know until now. I just…” Her voice trailed off, trembling.   

A few months after Yang’s birthday, Summer sat in a hospital room, waiting for the results of her tests and examinations– required upkeep for active huntsmen and huntresses who need to renew their license. She knew everything would be fine. She was fit, went to missions regularly. Aside from some nausea she felt occasionally when she went too long without eating, it went away as soon as she had a snack, which now she was doing a lot more to avoid it happen. When the doctor walked in she looked up from her scroll, pausing a video of Tai and Qrow being absolute idiots as they were trying to feed Yang corn. She smiled, but the look on her physician’s face was odd.

“What is it?” Summer asked, wary.

“Miss Rose, how long have you known you were pregnant?” 

Summer stared at him. “I… I didn’t.” The doctor apologized for his lack of tact as she continued to stare blankly at him. He stated it appeared in her test results, and she barely listened to him as he told her he’d send her to get tested again, letting a nurse direct back into the bathroom to pee in a cup.

Sitting back in the room on that table, she tried to think. It wasn’t possible. Pregnant? No, she hadn’t been…. and then she remembered. One drunken night with fellow colleague in Mistral after a particular tough mission they collaborated on. Oh gods. She’d barely given the night a second thought. They talked a little while after they returned to their respective kingdoms, and conversation fizzled out. 

But that was several weeks ago. 

The doctor coming in to congratulate her was her horrifying confirmation. He told her that he’d be sending in a midwife to come take an ultrasound, and to let her know what to expect for future appointments. When he left the room, Summer picked up her scroll with shaking hands. Who should she call? Tai was at work. Qrow was…. who knows where. It was hard to think. 

Tai gasped, his eyes filling with tears. “She just said Dada,” he whispered, turning to look at the others. “Did you hear her? She said dada!! Yang!! Yang you said dada!!” He lifted her into the air, spinning around, a massive grin lighting his face. “That’s my girl!!!!” he crowed triumphantly then hugged her to his chest again, grinning at Qrow. 

“Dada,” he said gleefully, bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement. “She said her first word and it was dada. I love you too Sunbeam.” He kissed her neck, rubbing his soul patch against her to make her laugh and flail at him.

Raven grinned happily. “We heard!” Her daughter’s first word, and she’d been around to hear it... she got up and kissed her forehead. “Soon she’ll be saying all sorts of things we can understand, won’t you, Yang?” 

It hurt a little, wondering what she might miss because she was gone... but she had to go.

“A few more syllables and we can start having fun!” Qrow said, grinning as he likely imagined the kind of chaos he could begin.

HOW .

‘  how long must i wait for you?  ’

‘  how long must i wait for you to become what i need?  ’

‘  how long before the last dance?  ’

‘  how come he’s the one to let me down?  ’

SMOTHER .

‘  i want all that is not mine.  ’

‘  i want him, but we’re not right.  ’

‘  they will all agree i’m a suffocate.  ’

‘  i should go now quietly.  ’

‘  what a mess i leave to follow.  ’

‘  i’m sorry if i smothered you.  ’

CANDLES .

‘  take me away into the night.  ’

‘  i’ll do whatever you say to me in the dark.  ’

‘  blow out all the candles.  ’

‘  you’re too old to be this shy.  ’

‘  i bite my tongue and torch my dreams.  ’

‘  things cannot be reversed, we learn from the time we are cursed.  ’

‘  we both know i’ll never be your lover.  ’

HUMAN .

‘  my mind’s lost in bleak visions.  ’

‘  i’ve tried to escape but keep sinking.  ’

‘  he’s lost faith he’ll ever see again.  ’

‘  buried deep within there’s a human.  ’

‘  despite everything i’m still human.  ’

‘  i think i’m dying here.  ’

‘  i’m all ready for healing.  ’

‘  i think that i’m still human.  ’

LANDFILL .

‘  don’t think about the consequences.  ’

‘  don’t think about the choices you make.  ’

‘  this is torturous electricity between both of us.  ’

‘  this is dangerous because i what you so much.  ’

‘  i want you so much, but i hate your guts.  ’

‘  i hate you.  ’

‘  wipe away your tear stains.  ’

‘  thought you said you didn’t feel pain.  ’

MEDICINE .

‘  pick it all up and start again.  ’

‘  you’ve got a second chance.  ’

‘  you could go home.  ’

‘  escape it all, it’s just irrelevant.  ’

‘  it’s just medicine.  ’

‘  you could still be what you want to.  ’

‘  you’ve got a warm heart.  ’

‘  you’ve got a beautiful brain.  ’

‘  it’s disintegrating from all the medicine.  ’

ALONE  /  WITH  YOU .

‘  i hate sleeping alone.  ’

‘  i hate living alone.  ’

‘  talking to myself is boring conversation.  ’

‘  me and i are not friends, she is only an acquaintance.  ’

‘  i hate dreaming of being alone ‘cause you are never there.  ’

‘  i should get a dog or something.  ’

‘  i hate sleeping with you ‘cause you are never there.  ’

‘  you and i were once friends, now you’re only an acquaintance.  ’

‘  i hate dreaming of being with you.  ’

LOVE .

‘  i can’t forget it, though i’ve tried.  ’

‘  i know you regret it, you told me so many times.  ’

‘  but i still wonder why you left with her and left me behind.  ’

‘  take your hands off him ‘cause he’s the only one that i have ever loved.  ’

‘  he’s the only one that i have ever loved.  ’

‘  please don’t find her skin when you turn the lights off.  ’

‘  i can’t erase it from my mind.  ’

‘  i just reply it, think about it all the time.  ’

‘  i don’t want to imagine the words you spoke to her that night.  ’

‘  you both knew i’d be bleeding inside.  ’

‘  did she make your heart beat faster than i could?  ’

‘  did she give you what you hoped for?  ’

‘  i hope it made you feel good knowing how much i adored you.  ’

‘  you’re making me sick, love.  ’

YOUTH .

‘  it’s a waste of time.  ’

‘  if you’re still breathing, you’re the lucky ones.  ’

‘  most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs.  ’

‘  we are the reckless, we are the wild youth.  ’

‘  one day we’ll reveal the truth.  ’

‘  if you’re still bleeding, you’re the lucky ones.  ’

‘  most of our feelings, they are dead and they are gone.  ’

‘  we’re setting fire to our insides for fun.  ’

‘  it was a flood that wrecked this home.  ’

‘  you caused it.  ’

‘  i’m a lifeless face that you’ll soon forget.  ’

‘  my eyes are damp from the words you left ringing in my head when you broke my chest.  ’

‘  if you’re in love then you are the lucky one.  ’

‘  most of us are bitter over someone.  ’

drunkscythmaster‌:

Qrow was surprised when Summer spoke up. She’d be the last person he suspected of having a deep, dark secret. But going by her expression… chances were that she did.

“Where do we have to go?” He wondered, frowning slightly. Raven’s expression remained neutral, but he suspected she was just trying to keep a hold on herself.

“Outside.” Summer forced herself to look them all in the eye. “The Emerald Forest. It’ll just… make more sense if you see it.” She stood and adjusted her cloak, opening the door. Everything was already way out of control and they were already pretty much ditching their classes anyway, so what did it matter? If everything went smoothly, she made a note that it wouldn’t happen again.

“Just come with me, please?” She glanced back at them, trying to appear braver than she felt.

Tai scrambled to his feet, wanting to wrap an arm around her when she looked so skittish, but his recent encounter with Raven’s knife had him shoving his hands in his pockets to keep them to himself. “Wherever you need us to go,” he said stoutly. He meant what he said about their secrets becoming his own. He might be a rotten liar but he was a vault for the secrets of others, especially about serious things. 

drunkscythmaster‌:

For once blondie had a point… Raven did seem less twitchy about Summer… wary, perhaps, but not twitchy. Hell, maybe even relaxed? What was going on?

Raven glared at Tai. “I’m not twitchy about anyone,” she growled, stabbing a piece of strawberry. “And nothing happened.”

“Don’t worry, blondie, you weren’t the only one not involved,” Qrow reminded him, drinking coffee. “I was just as left out.”

“Of course neither of you were involved. Nothing happened,” she repeated, a little too defensively.

“Just some bonding moments?” He asked lightly, taking a stab in the dark. Raven cast him a quick look. Well, fuck…. she bonded to Summer.

“Whatever,” was her response for everyone else to hear.

Summer didn’t exactly get it, what the big deal was. “We were just… learning how to understand each other a little better.” Something like that. 

“I guess we had a bonding moment.” The connection flew over her head and she smiled even if Raven didn’t sound enthused about it. The kingdoms weren’t built in a day after all, but they were getting there.

Tai stared at Qrow. “Blondie? Did you just call me Blondie??” he demanded, scowling at his teammate and missing the acres of subtext underneath what Qrow said to Raven. 

He huffed, munching sulkily on his bacon. “How would you like it if I called you… um…. Redeye?” 

Qrow raised a brow at the outburst. “Is that really the best you can do, Blondie?” 

nevermoretheravenreturns‌:

It was a week before Raven was taken out of the coma. Her aura was coming back strong, but there was still significant damage that needed to be repaired, and needed to be handled with care or else risk permanent damage to her back.

A few hours later, she stirred slightly and opened her eyes. Everything was foggy and confusing and bright, and different. There was a power within her she hadn’t felt before. She blinked a few times to clear her vision, trying to piece together what had happened. She was… someone needed her. No… more than one person… but she had to do something, had to take someone to a safe place… but it hadn’t been safe. The monster had been there, and then there was jut pain…

Jade.

Jade was dead… but the while the Nucklavee had caused her death… it hadn’t killed her. 

Tears started falling, blurring her already distorted vision. She tried to curl up on her side, but couldn’t move. 

Summer stood as soon as Raven opened her eyes, carefully taking one of her hands in hers and drying her tears. “Hey, we’re here.” She didn’t want to say everything was okay, because it wasn’t. Jade was gone. Raven was still in terrible condition and now…she had the powers of the Spring Maiden.

Her throat felt tight, and she felt her own vision well up with tears. None of this was supposed to happen. 

“We completed the mission. The techs managed to get what they needed,” she replied. “Once you’re cleared we can go home and relax for a few days.” And hopefully Tai would be home because Summer wouldn’t be able to cook for a while and if they had to rely on Raven they would starve. Same for Qrow.

Raven gave her a kind smile and patted her hand. “Your brain must really be on the fritz if you think that’s going to work on me.” Then she sighed. “Clearing out Grimm from the remains of a small village so that techs could get in and salvage what they could from the coms tower.”

nevermoretheravenreturns‌:

Raven nodded. “A pretty big one. I ended up thrown in the opposite direction. And I’m telling Qrow and Tai that you referred to yourself as ‘tiny’. The important thing is that we did manage to complete the mission and will get paid.” She stretched out alongside Summer. “I managed to dig you out, but you were unconscious.”

“But you won’t really tell them because I’m brain damaged and I don’t know what I’m saying and I’m your best friend in the whole world?” Summer tried, turning her head to look at Raven with pleading silver eyes before turning serious again. “I don’t remember any of it. I don’t even remember what we were doing before then.”

She smirked, but her relief showed. “What did you expect when you made a rule like that?” She wondered, squeezing Summer’s hand in turn. “I’d tell Qrow I almost managed to get one over your head, but its not that far of a reach.” Raven relaxed. “How’s the head? You really had me worried there for a moment.” The admission escaped before she could stop it.

Raven smiled slightly. “Summer, I never told you the name of our team or who was the leader. I just said that we were on a team and gave you names. You remembered that all on your own. So take a deep breath, fearless leader. It’ll just take a little while.“ 

Raven was getting worried as well. “If something is wrong, we’ll figure it out, like we always do. Your aura will heal you and as the swelling goes down things’ll get easier.” But if she never recovered her memories… it would be like she was a whole new person. A blank slate. Summer Rose would be gone forever. In a way, Raven couldn’t help but be jealous. “We’re your team, your family. We’ll always be there for you.”

nevermoretheravenreturns‌:

Well…. fuck. So much for that helping. “Nothing about three goths and a banana?” Because Tai insisted on sticking out badly and ruining their colour scheme. “You have to stay because you’ve got a really bad concussion. Brain swelling, bruising, and all that. They have to make sure nothing’s been damaged.” Hm…. “I’d say they’ll check your height, but I don’t think anything could make you shorter than you already are.” She watched for any kind of reaction to that.

“What if something is wrong?” The short joke didn’t even register, and she really started to worry about the state she was in. “What if there is damage and I don’t recover from this?”