When Raven found the girls and Jaune, she’d been filled with relief. Qrow had caught her several times trying to break down the wall that had formed on her bond to Yang. It didn’t disappear, it just felt like it was locked. Fear had coursed through her when she’d felt the wall go up, it felt all too similar to how Summer’s bond felt. Only one day, the wall disappeared, and she’d been met with the face of her daughter, well, daughters. Not that they knew that.
Raven didn’t leave because she had wanted to. She’d wanted to stay, but things had gotten out of hand, and Ozpin had found out about the life she and Tai had created. What he didn’t know about was Summer’s involvement in that life. Yang was 8 months old when they found out Summer was pregnant. Raven hadn’t taken to motherhood very well; she’d been terrified, and Summer, well, she was perfect. Always had been, even on her worst days. Their life had been perfect, even on the worst days.
It was a running joke that Taiyang had tricked Raven into marrying him. Which was half true, technically it was the Mistrali whiskey that they couldn’t hold that tricked both of them. At least it wasn’t a matter of them being total strangers, they’d been dating beforehand. Raven did get a little upset that drunk her had chosen to marry her blonde brute of a partner rather than their lovely girlfriend, Summer.
Of course, the morning they had woken up to signed marriage papers and matching rings was nothing compared to when the team had been in the middle of a fight, when the twins had gone into a bird mode, well, Qrow had, Raven had simply hit the ground face first. “Taiyang Xiao Long, you are so beyond dead.”, she growled out before they’d finally killed Nevermore. They were back in Patch before dinner.
Raven had snuck off after dinner to the pharmacy. After slipping into the bathroom and going through the motions, she’d sat crisscrossed on the floor. That’s where Summer had found her nearly an hour later, sitting on the floor. “I’m sorry.” Raven had whimpered out before Summer called, for Tai, who came running into the bathroom, nearly crashing into the two. The redhead had sunk to the floor, wrapping her arms around Raven, and Tai sank to the floor, wrapping his arms around both of them.
“It’ll be okay, we’ll be just fine.” Raven so desperately wanted to believe him, and for a while, she’d let herself believe in it. She’d managed to learn how to mother; it might not’ve been everyone else’s definition of being a mother, but it was enough. She stayed, and she wanted to stay. That is, until Yang was 7 months old and Ozpin had been getting suspicious of the fact that Summer rarely had been more than an hour away from the small island they called home.
Summer was going to leave, and they’d argued for three weeks over the idea. Then, Summer threw up, and Raven forced a pregnancy test on her. They’d sat in the same position they had almost two years ago, staring at the stick as they watched the second line form. Summer was pregnant, which left only one option. I have to leave, Raven thought, she felt it in her bones. Summer needed Tai, and both children needed their father. Tai was established here, it made no sense for him to suddenly leave. Raven, on the other hand, is a born and bred bandit whom no one would be surprised that she left. So, when Raven put Yang to bed that night, reading her a story, she’d perched herself on the windowsill, “I love you, I’m sorry.” She whispered before falling out the window, shifting into her bird form.
Shortly after Yang had been born, Raven took a mission. It was to find the Spring maiden, when she finally found the young girl who was mortally wounded, she had no choice but to let nature take its course. She held the girl, trying to figure out a way to save her, to complete the mission. In the end, all she could do was to hold the girl and sing her to sleep. As the girl faded away, Raven sobbed as the power left the girl and entered her. She’d portalled herself back to Patch with the girl's body in her arms, Raven had handed the girl to Tai, portaling herself up to Yang. She never did sleep that night.
Raven was never far, however. She’d been watching from a tree as Summer gave birth, and she had a feeling her loves knew she was there. Tai brings the newborn to the window, “World, say hello to Ruby Rose.” Raven, still in her bird form, had almost started sobbing, and when she’d returned to the tribe later on, she had locked herself away.
When Summer needed help with a mission, one that would hopefully end the war they’d secretly been fighting for all these years, she’d been there. They’d portalled to Qrow and the three had set off, hoping for a future where they could all be in the same house again without fear. When Summer had managed to knock the twins out and disappear, Raven had waited. She’d waited in the same spot for two weeks before returning to Patch, she stood in the tree line waiting for Tai to see her. When he finally noticed her, she just shook her head. Qrow had barely gotten to him before Tai collapsed. Raven wanted nothing more than to run to him, hold him, but she couldn’t do that. Not where there was too much risk involved.
A risk that reappeared less than a year later, when Yang was 8 and Ruby was 6, the blonde had wrapped her sister in a blanket and placed her in a wagon. Tai hadn’t been checked in the last couple of months, and Qrow, who had been watching them, had fallen asleep. Raven had been watching over the house when she noticed Yang pulling a wagon without Qrow or Tai being with the girls. Raven had followed them, after all, how much trouble could two small girls get into? The answer came in the form of pure terror. As soon as Raven had realized where the girls were headed, she’d flown back panicking, she banged on a window until Qrow woke up, and the next minutes were a blur. In the time Raven had been gone, Yang had stumbled into a horde of Grimm. Qrow took the lead in taking care of them while Raven stayed hidden, getting in stragglers. That night, Raven sat on the back porch with Tai, holding each other as they cried. Raven was gone again before either of the girls could see her.
When she saved Yang at Mountain Glenn, she’d lied. She would do everything she could to save them, both of her daughters. She would save them every lifetime, no matter what was happening and what would happen. She couldn’t save Summer, but she would save the rest of her family. She and Tai had a deal, if there was anyone to be blamed, it was Raven. She could scrap her way out of any fight, both verbally and physically.
When she’d given Qrow permission to tell Yang where she’d been, she didn’t fully consider the fact that Yang would take the offer. Tai had never wanted to stop Yang from being around her; he’d begged more than once for Raven to come home, but they both knew it wasn’t possible. When Yang had landed in the Branwen camp, she had to stop herself from laughing. She might’ve run headfirst into every situation, Yang fighting her way through it was all Tai, though her inability to stay quiet during a fight was Summer Rose.
Raven returns to the present when she hears Ozpin’s voice, she still has to stop herself from throwing punches at the boy, Oscar. Her brother had beaten her the the punch there, I gotta stop spending so much time with Tai. “They have to fight, we don’t have enough numbers if they don’t.”
Raven stands abruptly, forcing her chair back as she slams her hands on the table, “THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE TO. WE WERE SUPPOSED TO END. THEY ARE CHILDREN, NOT SOILDERS.”
“Miss Branwen, the two things can coexist.”
“Oh?” Raven’s voice turns deadly, “Then what was it all for, huh? Nothing?” Her voice rises, and Tai goes to reach a hand out before thinking better, not because he wanted to stop her but because their daughters were watching and it wasn’t safe yet. “WAS HER DEATH FOR NOTHING? DO I FEEL HALF OF MY SOUL MISSING FOR NOTHING?” Raven is steadfast as the tears run down her face. Yang and Ruby gasp at the implications. The bomb has been dropped, and Raven storms out, slamming the door. Tai stands to follow her, I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, he tries to say with his eyes as he rushes out behind her.
Tai finally found Raven perched on a ledge, her legs hanging over the edge. In all honesty, if he didn’t know better, he might’ve thought it was Ruby. Summer had often joked that Raven might’ve actually been the father and not him; some days, he believed her. “I think they know.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have burst out, but he just pisses me off. He’s taken so much, and he isn’t even still here for me to be able to be mad at him.”
“I know, I keep thinking when all this is over, I’m going to lock the three of us in a room and not come out for a few days. Then I remember it’s only us left.”
Raven’s breath comes out shaky as she finally admits what she’s been mulling over since she’d felt Yang’s bond reopen, “I’m not sure if she’s dead.” Tai furrows his brows, questioning his wife. “I don’t know, but when Yang fell, the bond just felt like a wall was placed in front of it. That’s how Summer’s bond feels.”
“Then, let’s figure out how to move the wall.” She shoves her husband lightly, before realizing they are on a high ledge and she would like to keep him around, even if she’d never admit it. She settles into his side before reaching into his pocket, looking for his wallet. She almost rolls her eyes at how easy it is to get from him. She smiles as she opens it up to see a picture of STRQ shortly after they became a team, but it was what was hidden behind it that she was after. It was the three of them STR crossed as Qrow called them, standing in the yard of their home. A baby Yang in Tai’s arms, it was their wedding day. The real one, where all three of them pledged their love and devotion to each other. Their love may never have been recognized legally or accepted in any church, but it was theirs and that was more than enough for all of them.
Many weeks of fighting later, led them to where they stood now. In the throne room of Salem. They were a team without their leader, but they tried to follow what Ruby had laid out for team RWBY and JNR. None of them willing to let Ruby or Yang out of their sight. They still hadn’t managed to talk to either girl about what Raven said, but there would be time when the whole thing was over; Tai wouldn’t allow himself to think there would be anything but time.
It was as Raven took down a particularly vile Nevermore that she felt it. She makes panicked eye contact with Tai as she rushes toward him, putting his back towards her. Trusting him to protect her as she made a portal, and without thinking, she reached her hand in. She almost sobs when a hand grasps hers. Raven pulls the hand towards her and stares in shock as the body attached to the hand appears. “I thought you guys might need some help.” Red hair and a pale woman looking only slightly worse for wear speaks. Summer Rose, if they weren’t in the middle of a bloody battle, Raven would’ve kissed her.
Then again, that’s never stopped her before. She rushes forward, pulling Summer’s mouth to hers and then pushing them apart, breathing heavily. “Ya know, if we don’t die, we are gonna have to talk about this.” Summer rolls her eyes, brushing past Raven's shoulder-checking her. Raven melts at the affection before refocusing on the fight. Tai stares at his lost love in shock, Qrow wearing a similar stare before a mischievous glint crosses his eyes at the sight of his partner.
The four quickly move to stand back to back like the well-oiled machine of war they always had been. When Summer speaks, “Team STRQ, shall we dance?” With that, they start fighting because now the cost of losing truly was everything.