aunt ft. rw n bee babies
Ruby grinned as she spotted her niece crouched in the corner, hiding behind her rose bushes, taking care to not hurt her hands while peeking over them, trying to spot her.
Ruby jumped out and moved to tackle her unsuspecting victim, only to cry out in confusion when her arms went straight through the girl and into her roses.
“HEY!”
She heard a giggle off to her right and noticed Summer was standing almost right where she had been only seconds before, but was a bit more to the left, just out of Ruby’s line of sight. She untangled herself from the bushes and readied herself, and after a few seconds of waiting, launched herself in the direction of Summer, managing to catch her and struggling to keep her from slipping away.
This went on for nearly twenty minutes, Ruby chasing Summer, or Summer chasing Ruby and Ruby trying to catch her.
They collapsed onto the grass, making sure not to crush any of Wiess’ flowers, giggles coming from both of them, smiles large on their faces as they looked up at the clouds, just basking in the warmth of the sunlight.
“Hey, Auntie Ruby?”
“Yeah, Summer?”
Ruby looked to her left and sat up when she saw the concern on her niece’s face.
“Hey, Summer, what’s wrong? Talk to me, bee.”
Summer looked at the sky, hands splayed out on the grass, her fingers messing with the grass, concern, and apprehension written clearly on her face.
“It’s Mummy, I’m worried for her, Auntie. She’s been really jumpy lately and almost, skittish?”
Ruby scrunched her face, thinking about what could be wrong. Summer kept talking, oblivious to Ruby’s brainstorming.
“She’s always cautious, but she’s been extremely, just, off lately.”
Ruby thought hard before it hit her. It was the anniversary of the hell month that was Adam years before. Though he was safely locked up, with no hope of parole or escape (Weiss made sure of that,) his shadow never fully left her. No matter the circumstances, sometimes Blake still slipped into the mindset that she would turn a corner and she would see him standing there, angry, a demon coming to finish what he started long long ago.
“Bee, there’s a long and painful story behind that that it is not my place to tell you.”
“But-!”
“I’m not done, just listen. It’s not my place to tell you the story, but I’ll tell you a bit, though if your moms ask, you didn’t hear this from me. There was a bad man, a very very bad man who hurt your Mami very very badly. And it was like that for a while, before your mum came in - very much like a superhero - and helped her. But the bad man had gotten to your Mami. You know how your Mami’s semblance leaves a shadow, and that shadow can stay for a long long time until your Mami makes it go away? But it isn’t your Mami?”
Summer scrunched her face in concentration, thinking over the words her aunt had told her, picturing them in her mind, before nodding.
“Yeah, I get that.”
“Well, the bad man left a shadow on your Mami, but it hasn’t gone away. And I don’t know if it will ever go away completely, but it’s faded. But it’s still there, and some days the shadow is scarier than others. And there are days that were very scary for your Mami and your mum, and on those days you’ll notice Mami acts different. One day, she’ll explain it to you a bit better, a bit more detail, but that won’t be today. It may not be until you’re an adult - or almost.”
Summer looked at her aunt, saddened, but then her face shifted into one of silent contemplation. Her aunt looked sad. And Summer knew that was something that rarely happened to her aunt, and after taking in her face, her eyes shining with unshed tears, her slightly shaky voice, her pained look. She wrapped her in a hug, holding her tight, not unlike how she held her when she’d been scolded or she’d gotten hurt when she was younger. Summer could understand that she was small - she was only six - but she knew was a strong girl, after all, she helped her little sister Pyrrha out all the time when she got into tight spots, like up in the trees in the backyard when running from Auntie Ruby and Auntie Weiss’ dog Zwei.
Mami said that dog was immortal often. She didn’t like Zwei very much either, but Summer loved him.
“I’m not that big a girl yet, but I’ll be strong for Mami like you want me to. I don’t want her to worry about the bad shadow man. Maybe we can get ice cream? Ice cream makes me feel better, maybe her too!”
Ruby grinned. “That’s a good idea, and maybe some for you too now that I think about it.”
Ruby began a tickle attack, causing shrieks of laughter to escape Summer before she managed to get a clone in place and escape.
“I’M GONNA GET YOU BEE!”
“NOT TODAY AUNTIE!”
Weiss and Yang watched on fondly from the downstairs window, small smiles on each of their faces as they watched some of the most important women in their lives live it up outside, their innocent energy emanating off of them in waves. Weiss’ smile was marginally larger than Yang’s, Yang being preoccupied with the drowsy three-year-old in her arms, and her wife’s temperament, her fears of monsters that would never truly go away. Weiss turned her head slightly and saw the way Yang worked her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes flitting over to the staircase leading upstairs every thirty seconds or so. It twisted at Weiss’ heart, reminding her far too much of a time where eggshells made up the floor and eyes said what words could never, of a time where demons were all too real.
She carefully unwrapped Pyrrha from her mum and wrapped her around herself, before looking at a bewildered Yang and nodding towards the staircase.
“Go. Ruby and I can handle the girls. Be with her. Bring her back to us.”
Yang’s eyes filled with the things she wanted to say, but Weiss just nodded towards the staircase once again. That was all Yang needed and she took off, just before Ruby and Summer came inside.
“Auntie Weiss! I-”
Weiss quickly made a shushing motion and motioned towards the sleeping girl in her arms, who made a quiet noise of discontent but didn’t wake up. Ruby crouched and whispered in Summer’s ear before the girl cringed and then repeated herself, in a whisper this time.
“I’m gonna be strong for Mami and chase all the shadow men away!”
Weiss looked to Ruby for clarification and she just shrugged, and Weiss looked at Summer carefully, taking in the girl's determined face, and the set of her shoulders, and clearly saw the influence of her parents.
“Alright, but you have to be gentle. Your Mum’s in there with her right now, so just wait until they come down, and then give your Mami the biggest hug you can give her, and tell her that the night is always darkest before the dawn.”
Summer looked a tad confused at the phrase, while Ruby breathed in slowly, remembering the first mission they’d had after the incident, how Blake had panicked when they got lost and night fell, how it took them all hours to calm her down lest she attract creatures.
“Sometimes the monsters are really scary, and they can only be defeated with others. That’s what your Mum is helping your Mami do.”
Summer nodded, determined. Ruby talked to Summer and after a big nod and a conspiratorial wink to Weiss, they skipped out of the house, only to return about fifteen minutes later with their arms full of ice cream. Weiss sighed, knowing she’d have to drag Ruby home when the sugar wore off, and at that moments, there was a quiet shuffling as Yang came down the stairs, supporting a glassy-eyed Blake who smiled a bit when she saw Pyrrha asleep in Weiss’ arms, and there was a thud of something heavy hitting the floor and next thing Weiss or Ruby knew, Summer had made it across the living room and hand wrapped her Mami up in a tight hug, before pulling back and telling her with a tone reminiscent of Yang’s,
“The night is always darkest before the dawn, Mami!”
Tears sprang in Blake’s eyes and she clutched her daughter close to her, quiet sniffles heard as her tired voice spoke up.
“Thank you, Beebee. Thank you.”
Ruby smiled at the interaction in front of her, before gently elbowing Weiss in the direction of it and seeing her scoff before moving over and joining the hug, Yang finishing it off by wrapping her arms around as many of them as she could.
Ruby grinned, happy at their little family, happy she could be in these girl’s lives, be their auntie, and happy that they were happy.
Sometimes just seeing them smile was the best thing she could ask for.