Chapter Text
Chapter 1 - You Go To My Head
The frugal room with dark shades of green was silent, a middle-aged woman with black skin and perfectly coiffed hair in a bun to match her very professional clothes was behind a wooden table, at her back was a curtain that let in the light. In the afternoon enter and on its right side had a flagpole with the state flag of the Valley and on its left side the Republic of Mistral.
The woman was looking sternly at the two people seated across from her across the table.
“Not that I find the stillness unpleasant, but I'm a busy person and I'd like to know why I was called here, Mistress Carmilla.” Raven said without showing her irritation with the woman as she discarded the end of the cigarette, she had just smoked in the table ashtray.
School principal Carmilla sighed and cast a hard look in the direction of the blonde girl who was sitting next to Raven.
Yang turned her face away, but she knew her daughter had been sniffling and struggling not to cry since Raven arrived at school. The girl was only 8 years old, but she was proud like her mother, Yang held back her tears with all her strength.
Raven still had no idea what had happened.
“The reason I called you here, Mrs. Branwen, is that two fifth graders came home with black eyes today, don't you want to explain to your mother how it happened, Yang?”
Both Raven and the headmistress looked at the child who bit her lip too hard.
“Yang?" What did your colleagues do to make you decide they deserved to be beaten?”
Yang turned to her mother and spoke hastily.
“They were saying nasty things to my friend Blake just because she's a faunus!”
Mrs. Carmilla sighed as if to say something she's already repeated a thousand times. “Listen, Yang, you can't hit your buddies, if you have any problems you should talk to the teachers.”
“But they-”
“Not! Without buts and without less, you will be suspended for a week and this will be noted on your record.”
Raven frowned when the woman offered her a paper for her to sign Yang's suspension.
“Are you punishing my daughter for hitting two little Nazi shits?”
The woman turned around with wide eyes looking absolutely horrified by Raven's words.
“Mrs. Branwen, I don't think…”
“Don't you think what? You are colluding with this! Are not all the faunus that died in the extermination camps enough? Those who suffer from daily prejudice in sub-human jobs Does a faunus child have no right to be in school without being attacked by other children? This happens all the time, and the lady closes her eyes.” Raven rose from her chair. “Yang didn't do anything wrong, and if you can't see that, maybe it's better to look for another school for my daughter. Come on, Yang.”
She went to the door and grabbed her coat and hat from the wooden rack. Both the woman and the girl were a little stunned looking, but soon Yang smiled and ran to follow his mother down the hall. She had to make an effort to keep up with an adult's quick steps, but she caught up with Raven to stand beside her as they left school.
Yang took a shy look at his mother's face and saw a sullen frown deep in the woman's features, the pale complexion, vivid red eyes, and black hair giving her a very intimidating look. She wore a high-waisted black skirt, white T-shirt, tights, and a black coat that when closed looked like a dress. As she walked, she put on her short-brimmed, round-topped hat that leans too far on her head covering part of her left eye.
Raven got to the car, she opened the door and motioned for her daughter to get in, Yang jumped through the driver's entrance and passed the large seat that looked like a sofa until reaching the passenger seat, Raven went in right away, closing the door and starting the car.
The coupe car had glossy black paintwork, smooth curves and a prominent front with large chrome grilles, the windows were small and followed the vehicle's body. The interior was finished in leather, wood and chrome details, the valve radio in the center of the dashboard was the highlight for being the latest generation, the large steering wheel was all wood and took up a good part of the driver's space.
Yang sulked in her corner as the car moved through the streets of Argus. Raven noticed that, probably her daughter was in need of some kind of word of support, but she didn't know how.
Raven reached into her pocket for her pack of cigarettes and found something she had bought Yang and was waiting for the right moment to give. She pulled a strip-shaped candy made of red gum from her pocket.
“Here! Take it.”
Yang lifted her head and as soon as she saw the treat her face lit up, she took it and put it in her mouth immediately.
“Thanks Mom.”
“But you won't get used to it.”
The girl nodded.
“Are you really going to take me out of school?”
“Don't you want this?” Raven asked, glancing sideways at her daughter as she popped the cigarette into her mouth and lit it with a lighter.
Yang got a sad face.
“I don't want to be away from my friends.”
“Understand.” Raven looked straight ahead, she knew there was a possibility that someday they would need to leave town, but decided she wasn't going to upset her daughter's head with it. “So I'm not going to get you out of there, but you have to stop hitting your colleagues, if not, that bitch will kick you out and I won't be able to do anything about it.”
“But you said I was right.” Yang was angry.
“And you were, but a lot of times you have to play by other people's rules to get what you want.” She said opening a part of the window glass to let the smoke out.
“Like this? I did not understand.”
“If you want to stay in school, you're going to have to follow their rules, even if you don't agree.”
“That's not fair.” She bit into candy. “If they are going to mess with my friends, I will beat them.” She said, sure of herself.
“How about using an indirect tactic?”
“What is it?”
“Bully them until they are afraid and never again think of messing with you and your friends.”
“Aaah… I don't know if I know how to do this.”
Raven chuckled discreetly.
“I'll teach you some techniques later.” She put her hand on top of her daughter's head and ruffled her hair, Yang smiled happily.
The journey went more smoothly, Yang finished his candy licking her fingers still sticky with sugar and Raven discarded the cigarette in the car's ashtray as she rounded the corner of her street full of traditional houses with red brick facades and concrete stairs in front, all huddled together and with trees on the narrow sidewalk, Raven stopped in front of her house seeing something strange.
“Look, mother! There's a beggar sleeping on our stairs!” Yang pointed through the window. “Let's kick him!”
“Not! Stay in the car.”
“But-”
“Obey me!” Raven scolded, her voice hard as steel making the girl shrivel up in her seat.
She opened the door and got out of the vehicle and walked around towards the entrance to her residence. Raven reached inside her coat, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of her revolver as she stepped closer.
The figure lying on the highest steps of the front stairs was leaning against the banister and with a khaki-colored suitcase on his side, he had a blanket over his body, a wide-brimmed white hat over his head that could not be seen because it was very slanted. Raven approached cautiously, and just as she was about to kick the person, something moved under the blanket.
Raven tensed and pulled some of her gun from its holster, but still left it hidden behind her back. She recoiled in surprise when a small, innocent-featured head popped out.
She was clearly a child who couldn't have been more than six years old, white skin with big pink cheeks and round silver eyes, hair tousled and a little red.
The child yawned and rubbed her eyes, she focused her eyes on Raven and was startled back to hug the person under the covers. The latter, in turn, seemed to finally wake up and opened her eyes raising her head looking confused.
She was a young, sharp-faced woman, her eyes striking and the same bright silver color as the child in her lap. She looked around trying to get her bearings, until her eyes focused on Raven and suddenly the woman gasped and hurriedly stood up, pulling the child with her.
“Oh, thank the gods, I was beginning to think we were going to spend the night out in the open.” She said in a surprisingly soft and sweet voice.
Raven nodded discreetly and put away her revolver. She put on her worst moody expression and scolded the stranger:
“Who are you? What are you doing sleeping at my gate? Start explaining right away!”
The woman blinked uncomprehendingly.
“Is this your house? Oh sure, sorry I'm Summer Rose, this is my daughter Ruby, we come from a long way from the Valley.” She said trying to smile as best she could.
The child put her head on her shoulder and dozed off, looking painfully tired, actually looking better, Raven noticed the dark circles under Summer's eyes, the two of them looking thinner and paler than a completely healthy person should be.
“Did you come here from the Valley just to sleep on my sidewalk?”
“Not!” The Ruby girl stirred whimpering in her lap. “I came here to look for Qrow Branwen.”
Raven frowned, her expression must have startled the woman because Summer took a step back as if she were a threat. “How do you know Qrow? Who are you anyway?”
“Mom? Is this person a friend of Uncle Qrow's?” Yang suddenly appeared behind her, startling Raven who didn't notice when her daughter got out of the car and ran to join her.
“Yang, I told you to stay in the car.” Raven stepped protectively in front of the girl.
“Uncle? Ah, you must be Qrow's sister! Of course, as I didn't recognize.”
“Don't come any closer!” Raven cried as the woman stepped forward with her hand outstretched. “I still don't know who you are, how you know my brother, or how you know where I live.”
Summer's face sank as she backed away again and Ruby began to whimper in her arms.
“Did he…never talk about me?” She looked disappointed.
“Enough of this nonsense!” Raven grabbed Yang's hand and pulled her to the top of the stairs. “Go away and leave us alone.
“Wait, please listen to me.” Summer despaired. “Me and Qrow were engaged!”
“How is it?” Raven was already opening the door and turned to the woman in annoyance. “Stop making up lies!”
“It is true! He is Ruby's father! We were getting married!” She practically begged. “See, please see this!” With tears in her eyes, Summer pulled envelopes of letters from the inside pocket of her coat.
Raven ran her eyes between the yellowed papers and the woman's desperate expression. She practically snatched the letters brutally out of her hands and after a quick inspection, she saw that there was no sender, only recipient.
She pulled the paper out of the already torn envelope and immediately recognized her brother Qrow's handwriting. The letter already started with a:
My love, Summer, I'm going to a new job in Atlas, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for Ruby's birthday, I'm sending money, I hope you buy something pretty for our little princess and something special for yourself.
Things aren't going as well as expected, but I'm working to get it over with as soon as possible. When this mission is over, I will be able to fulfill my promise to you and our daughter.
The letter continued, but Raven couldn't read it any longer, something tightened in her throat to the point where she began to feel choking, she had to take a deep breath.
“I just want to find him, please tell me where he is?” Summer said. “The last I heard from him was over a year ago, if he has abandoned me to say it in person, at least.”
“This is impossible.” Yang spoke in front of his mother's silence. “Uncle Qrow is dead.”
Summer seemed to weaken, for a moment she thought the woman was going to pass out, but she resisted.
“Mom?” The Ruby girl called and that's what seemed to give Summer the strength to recover from the blow.
“Yang, come in.”
“But…”
“Yang, come in soon!” Raven demanded more aggressively and the blonde girl huffed and walked into the house. “Looks like your story is true.” Raven continued to turn to Summer. “Unfortunately the place where you'll find my brother is in the cemetery.”
“Mom…” The child whimpered painfully on her shoulder.
"It's okay, honey, Mom's here with you, I won't let anything bad happen.” Summer comforted her with a kiss on her forehead. “Please, we have nowhere to stay, I spent all my money just to get here.”
Raven pondered for a time, the woman still looking at her with a pained expression, she sighed, the silver of her eyes darkened and filled with something she had no idea what it was.
“Okay, come on in.”
Her face lit up, her eyes growing clearer and brighter, Raven decided they were prettier this way.
“Thank you, thank you very much, I can't thank you enough.”
~**~
Raven was sitting at her kitchen table reading all the letters Summer had handed her saying they were from Qrow, and they were, she could recognize his handwriting on them all.
After dinner Yang went to her room and Summer put Ruby to sleep also in the guest room Raven offered, the girl looked very tired, from what the woman said, they crossed the world by boat and train, expected the child to be like this, to fall asleep.
She looked up when she saw someone approaching, it was Summer, she also looked tired and sleepy.
“Ruby slept, her daughter offered her things to help, she is a wonderful child.” The woman said, coming closer, Raven didn't react. “I wanted to thank you for letting us stay, Ruby suffered a lot with this trip, but she is a strong child and faced everything bravely.”
“Sit down.” Raven said sternly.
Summer's eyes widened for a second and then she sat up looking smaller than her naturally petite body was.
“How's it going with this news?” Raven thought it best not to be so direct with her.
“I think Ruby doesn't really understand what's going on, she's only seen her father in person about four times, I've always talked about him, but I know that in time she'll... she'll...” She was choked up with tears. began to fall from her eyes. “Sorry… it's just… of course I had considered this possibility, but…”
“I understand. Everyone lost someone important.” Raven said, sounding wistful.
“I know, but it's still hard to accept, finding him was my only hope.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Things were tough, I lost everything, and I couldn't work because I had no one to leave Ruby with, people are hesitant to hire single mothers.” Summer lifted her head more composed and recovered. “How do you manage to support yourself and take care of your daughter?”
“I get a pension.”
“Oh, I see, what kind of work did you do?” I could hear the mistrust in the woman's voice.
“More or less the same as Qrow did.” Summer's eyes widen almost in fear. “But I basically had only one mission, infiltrating the enemy government by gathering information and deploying false information to Mistral's command.”
“But is it over?" Are you retired?”
Raven gave her a very analytical look, she decided that Summer was already fine to explain her past.
“How long were you having a relationship with my brother?” She asked seriously.
“More than eight years.” She replied after a minute of hesitation.
Raven sighed and got up from her chair, she went to the cupboard and pulled out a kettle filling with tap water and putting it on the stove.
“Tell me everything.”
“We met in the Valley, I'm a nurse, he showed up with a bullet lodged in his ribs, I told him he must be the luckiest man in the world because the bullet didn't hit any organ and he laughed, even though he's bandaged, and said that he was the luckiest man, but not because of the bullet but because he met me.”
She began to speak while Raven busied herself with pouring tea leaves into two cups.
“We started dating and he told me about his job as a government agent for the Valley, I knew it was dangerous, but he said it was a very important job… I couldn't deny it was.”
Summer sighed.
“We lived like that, he traveled on his secret missions and when he came back, we met. When Atlas started the bombardment of Valley, I stayed to help the wounded.” She swallowed hard. “It was horrible, every day we took hundreds of wounded and dozens of dead, there was an evacuation, but I didn't go, I helped mainly to put children, old and sick people on the trains to escape to the interior while the bombs fell from the sky night and day.”
Raven took the kettle off the stove and poured the hot water into the cups, turning to offer Summer one and taking the other as she sat down.
“But then I found out I was waiting for Ruby, helping others was important, but what good is it if something happens to me and hurts the baby I was carrying? So, I left on one of the evacuation trains. After that, contact between me and Qrow became more difficult. The war was at its height, the correspondence services were no longer functioning.”
Raven watched as Summer took the piece of porcelain to her thin pink lips, she sipped her tea trying not to think about it too much and concentrate on the story, after all, in the letters there were many declarations of love, but little concrete information about what happened between her brother and Summer.
“After the battle of Shade, everyone said the end of the war was near, Ruby was already two years old, a while later I got a letter from Qrow saying that things would get better and as soon as the war was over, we were going to get married.”
Her face saddened.
“The war is over, but his missions aren't, Qrow was upset about it, said it seemed his superiors didn't want him to leave, they always said 'this is the last mission' right before sending another mission.
She wiped a tear that fell.
“So, a year ago he sent his last letter, since then nothing else… a part of me already knew, I just didn't want to accept it. His job was so dangerous, but I didn't want to believe he…” She swallowed. “How did it happen?”
Raven looked at the yellow tea in her cup that she had barely touched. “He was in Mantle, we don't know how his location leaked out, but revisionists shot his car. 18 shots, he didn't have a chance.”
She saw Summer's face wrap and soon the tears began to fall.
“Gods, I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't have another plan. I took all my savings and came here hoping to find him.”
“You can stay here while you think of something, with your head full as it is now, you'll hardly think of a solution.”
“Thank you so much, I don't know how to thank you for helping.” She smiled, wiping away tears with the back of her hand, and Raven felt something warm inside her, as if her smile were a beautiful landscape that is eternalized in the mind and forgotten in the heart.
“It's no big deal.” No good would come of that, Raven was sure of it.
She left Summer from the guest room where the woman slept holding her daughter, they were both really tired. Raven tried to follow her usual routine, took Yang to the girl's room, where she checked her chores and then watched as her daughter changed clothes and brushed her teeth, when it was over, Raven offered her a glass of hot milk.
“Mom? Is that woman going to live with us?”
Raven looked at her a little surprised by the question.
“For a while.” She said looking at the girl lying on the bed, Raven picked up the empty glass that Yang returned to her. “You're going to have to be polite to them, understood?”
“Yes mom.”
“Treat her with respect, you call her Mrs. Rose and I want you to be kind to Ruby, she lost her father just like you.” Yang widened her eyes a little at that, she turned and looked at the picture frame that was on the side dresser, a picture of her father was there.
Because of the war, both Raven and Taiyang spent very little time with their daughter, unfortunately, the man fighting on the front lines did not survive to see Yang grow up. Raven was trying to do her best, but she always thought she was doing a bad job and Taiyang would fail her. The man was kind and always seemed to know the right thing to do, she managed to be more open and emotional when he was around, now the only thing Raven knew how to do was try to pick up the pieces of what was left of her after the war.
“I will do my best.” Yang said.
“Good.” Raven got up and left. “Good night.”
“Good night mom.”
She turned off the light and closed the door, after which Raven checked all the doors and windows, turned off the lights in the rooms and finally went to her own room.
She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath, what was she doing? Accepting a stranger into your home? What if it's all a lie? Was she really trustworthy? Raven had seen many liars herself; she could say she became an expert at it because of her work, in her judgment Summer seemed totally sincere, but even so, she told herself that the next day she would check the veracity of the story she told.
Raven walked to her dressing table and opened a suitcase where there was the record player, there was already a vinyl there, she moved the arm that held the needle to the record and started playing, soft music began to come out of the sound outlets.
She looked at herself in the mirror and using a cotton wet with lotion, she removed all the makeup and dirt from her face, then she pulled the pins out of her hair, undoing the hairdo and leaving the strands free. She took off her shoes and her pantyhose, went to the closet and opened the door, pulled out a glass bottle filling a glass with Mistralian sake, Raven sat in the chair by the window lighting a cigarette and starting to smoke, she gave some occasional sips on your drink.
So many years working during the war in government service, the only thing she learned was not to trust anyone, not to cling to anyone, they can be your next targets when superior orders arrive, or when you least expect, try to kill you, but for some reason, his thoughts spun back and forth to the silvery glow of her eyes.
What was wrong with her? It seemed that a peculiar bond of empathy had developed between them, Summer loved her brother, she was a mother and a woman who had been scarred by war, just as Raven herself had been. That spell was nothing more than an identification arising from their similarities.
She told herself it was that and that was it, despite that, every time she closed her eyes, she could see that silver glint again.