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howlingday · 3 months

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Nora Finds Fear

Based on OSP's retelling of "The Boy Who Found Fear At Last"

Mama Valkyrie: (Screams)

Nora: Mommy? Why are you screaming?

Mama Valkyrie: The wind blew the door open, and it scared me!

Nora: It... scared you? What's scared?

Mama Valkyrie: Well, um, it's like a really bad feeling you get when you think something bad is going to happen to you.

Nora: Like what?

Mama Valkyrie: It's worse if you don't know.

Nora: That's dumb.

Nora: (Leaves without saying good-bye)

Mama Valkyrie: (No longer in this story)

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Nora: (Sees mountain in the distance) Ooh~!

Nora: (Hears laughter, Squeezes between bandits)

Raven: And that's when I stabbed him! (Bandits laugh)

Nora: What are you guys talking about? (Bandits scream)

Raven: If you're looking for fear, then I'm afraid you've found it! (Draws Omen)

Nora: Really? Where?

Raven: ...

Raven: (Sulks)

Shay: There, there, boss. You're still very terrifying.

Vernal: Uh, there's a graveyard nearby you could try. Here, bake this cake while you're down there.

Nora: Thanks~!

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Nora: (Baking cake in a cemetery)

Pyrrha: (Reaches out) IS... THAT... FOR... ME?

Nora: Nope! (Whacks hand with spoon) Dead people can't eat cake.

Nora: (Takes cake, Leaves)

Raven: (Still sulking)

Shay: Look, boss. The weird girl brought cake. You should try it.

Vernal: Uh... There's a spooky pool of water on the other side of the mountain.

Nora: Ooh! I like the sound of that!

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Jaune: (Crying on a swing set over pool)

Nora: Huh...

Saphron: Please! You have to help my baby brother!

Nora: I do?

Saphron: Here, let me get on your shoulders so I can reach him!

Nora: Okay. (Saphron stands on shoulders) Just let me know when you got him. (Saphron pushes down) OOGH! S-Stop it! (Throws her) Alright, I'm done! Hm? Ooh! Shiny white bracelet!

Nora: (Takes bracelet from the ground, Jaune and Saphron disappear) Hey, problem solved~!

Nora: (Wanders into town)

Blake: Hey. I'm an unexpected reminder of the casual occurrence of faunism in historical literature. That's my one personality trait, and also that bracelet is mine.

Nora: Tell it to the judge!

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Ironwood: You claim you "won it from a ghost". And your claim is...

Blake: I'm a sneaky and conniving trickster and boy do I hate humans.

Ironwood: Uh huh... Well, seeing as both claims are so far-fetched, despite being an old fairy tale of dated historical relevance, I have no choice but to hold onto this bracelet until I can be provided with a bracelet just like this one to prove ownership.

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Nora: (Unfazed by complex legal system, Still no fear) Stupid judge...

Nora: (Sees ship sinking with people screaming) Ooh~!

Nora: (Swims over) What's the matter? Are you guys stuck? (Screamed at) Uh... Okay, I'll take a look!

Nora: (Dives, Sees Weiss dragging boat down)

Nora: (Punches woman, Ties her up)

Weiss: What just happened?!

Nora: (Gurgles, Blurgles)

Nora: (Swims up) Okay! Try her again!

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Nora: (In an enchanted forest)

Nora: (Experiencing whimsy) Is this existential dread?

Nora: Huh? (Sees three birds flying nearby, Watches birds transform)

Saphron: You will not believe the night I had!

Pyrrha: Try me, sister.

Weiss: So, there was this bird~.

Pyrrha: (Pours drink) A toast to the brave girl who smacked my hand away when I was coming out of my grave!

Saphron: (Raises drink) A toast to the fearless girl who threw me off of her shoulders when I tried to drown her!

Weiss: (Swigs drink) And a toast to the weird girl who swam to the bottom of the ocean to fight me IRL.

Nora: DO YOU- Stop screaming- Do you have another bracelet?

Saphron: (Leads to enchanted treasure hall) Are you sure you don't want anything else?

Nora: (Walking away with bracelet) Nah, I'm good!

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Nora: READ IT AND WEEP, OLD MAN!

Ironwood: I will do no such thing.

Nora: (Walking away happily with bracelets, Sees crowd) What's going on?

Oscar: We're about to have a new king!

Nora: Does that happen a lot?

Oscar: ...No. Anyway, since the king died with no heirs, we have a foolproof plan to determine who our next king will be! See, a pigeon will be released from the top of the castle wall, and whoever it lands on will become our new king!

Nora: Wow! That's so much better than a democratically elected system! Huh? (Pigeon lands on her) Oh. Would you look at that?

Oscar: ALL HAIL THE KING! (Crowd cheers)

Suddenly, Nora feels something. Sees something. She peers into a window of the future, one most uncomfortable. She was bound to a throne, tied by a sense of obligation and responsibility, and forced to spend the rest of her life trying and failing to make the poor richer, the hungry satiated, and the bad better. Never again would she have her freedom to wander and do as she pleased. Nora's chest became tighter, and her breathing shallower. Her vision began to blur as tears filled her eyes and spilled over from her cheeks. Her heart began to ache so much, she brought a hand to where it tried to rest, and found her arm, her fingers shaking with this strange new emotion! Was... Was this the fear she sought?

Robyn: Huh... She doesn't look to happy.

Nora: My carefree lifestyle! My free time! My vibes!

Qrow: We gotta reassure her! RELEASE MORE PIGEONS!

Nora: (Sobbing, Covered in pigeons) Thanks, you guys... I'm good now... (Crowd cheers)

#rwby #overly sarcastic productions #osp #mama valkyrie #nora valkyrie #raven branwen #vernal #shay d mann #shay d. mann #pyrrha nikos #saphron cotta arc #jaune arc #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #james ironwood #oscar pine #qrow branwen #robyn hill

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midnightechoes · 4 months

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A Bridge Chapter 2 of 2

A Bridge is the third part in my post-RWBY volume 5 STR-Crossed Lovers fic series, Kintsugi. It was originally posted on AO3 back in February 2023.

Kintsugi Part 1, A Visit, taking place immediately after v5 and written by me, can be read on AO3 and Tumblr.

Kintsugi Part 2, A Dream, part flashback, part sequel to A Visit, was written by my friend @shera-dnd and can be read on AO3 and Tumblr.

A thick layer of clouds almost completely covered the sky, with just a few specs of blue peeking out here and there. There was a coolness to the air, the kind that signaled that hot summer days were beginning to give way to cool autumn evenings.

The dirt road crunched under the wheels of Tai’s moped as he sped down it at a brisk pace. The mostly orange machine vibrated as it carried its owner through an unremarkable forest, trees whipping by on either side of him.

Tai was dressed mostly as he always did, but he was currently wearing a bucket helmet that was strapped tightly around his chin, and an old-fashioned pair of racer goggles fastened over his eyes. The other notable difference in attire was a new bandana that was wrapped tightly around his right bicep. It was red and had a black-and-white patterning that made it look just like the bandana Raven had been wearing in her hair.

It had been almost two hours since he had passed the last semblance of civilization, a quiet little rest stop on the side of the road, which meant that he was getting close to his destination. Sure enough, before long he was upon the clearing he had been looking for. Tai slowed down and turned into the clearing, following the faint trail for a few hundred yards as it led into a thicker part of the forest before giving way to another open area. The moped rumbled to a stop less than a hundred yards from a large wall made out of twenty-foot-high tree trunks whose ends had been cut into spikes. In the center of the wall was a wooden gate, currently closed and being guarded by three people.

One was a man with long, scraggly blonde hair and a long, unkempt face. Another was a woman with a gray, leather eye patch and brown hair that appeared to have been thrown up into a ponytail without consideration. And the third was another man, his curled black hair kept short, allowing the two scars running down from cheek to chin to be his most prominent feature. All three were carrying relatively simple weapons and wearing outfits that looked like they were pieced together over time.

Powering the moped down and popping the kickstand, Tai dismounted, a smile on his face as he pulled the helmet and goggles off. “Hey there,” he cheerily called out to the trio, slowly making his way towards the gate.

Within seconds, a bullet was flying past Tai’s head, not grazing only thanks to his semblance, Juke, which allowed him to slide out of the way in time.

“Not another step,” the scraggly blonde man called out with a grizzled voice, his handgun pointed directly at Tai. “That was a warning. Now I suggest you get back on that tiny bike and turn around while you can.”

“Look, pal,” Tai responded, a look of smug confidence on his face as he set down his helmet on the seat of the moped, then continued taking a few steps towards the trio guarding the gate. “This is a misunderstanding, I don’t think you know who I am,” he said with his hands raised as a show of peace.

“And I don’t much care,” the blonde man barked back. He tried rattling his gun at Tai in an attempt to intimidate him, a move that did not seem to be working. “I’m warning you! Take one more step, and you’ll be sorry,” he yelled.

Tai stopped in his tracks at the threat. His expression had devolved from smug to annoyed, his blue eyes squinting at the man. He thought about the warning for a second, then exhaled a deep breath out through his nose, and took another step forward.

“Get him!” the scraggly blonde man yelled as he tried to steady his aim at Tai. The other two guards sprung into action as well: the woman charged forward with a basic axe, the kind usually used for chopping wood, while the other man took a few steps back and drew up his simple hunting rifle. All three were scowling, and all three were utterly unprepared for what was about to happen.

In the blink of an eye, Tai activated his Juke semblance, allowing him to move laterally at such a speed that he seemed to leave a trail of afterimages of himself. He zig-zagged forward, crossing the distance to the guards in barely a second. When he came to a stop, he was directly in front of the woman, slamming her with a punch to the gut before she even had time to react, sending her stumbling backward. He juked again, crashing his elbow right into the man with the rifle, getting him off-balance enough for Tai to flip him over his shoulder.

Taking out the man with the rifle had put Tai behind the scraggly blonde man, who had been struggling to keep track of the intruder.

It was about this time that a “kraa-kraa” could be heard echoing softly in the clearing as a blackbird passed overhead.

The blonde man was able to get focus on Tai long enough to fire off a shot at him, one that Tai easily juked out of the way of. Suddenly the huntsman was inches in front of the man. A quick strike to the elbow followed by a chop to the wrist sent the blonde man’s gun flying. Tai elbowed him in the chest, creating just enough room to wind up and slug the blonde man so hard in the face that he pirouetted in place before falling to the ground.

“That’s enough, Tai,” a voice called out. Tai looked up to see Raven standing just in front of the gate, her arms folded and an amused grin on her face. She was still wearing the same orange tank top and black pants with gold seams that she had during karaoke, but now she was missing the red bandana she had often worn in her hair.

“Look, he started it,” Tai chuckled before relaxing his posture and taking a step back from the fallen guards.

Raven strolled up to the scraggly blonde man, towering over him as he lay on his back. “That’s not surprising, this one here loves to start problems he doesn’t know how to get out of.” Raven let out a laugh and shook her head at the man on the ground. “Honestly Shay, is it your mission to get your ass kicked by my entire family?”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Shay weakly groaned.

A hand appeared in Shay’s field of vision. He latched onto it, allowing Tai to hoist him to his feet. “Hey, Shay was it? No hard feelings.”

Shay grunted. “You’re just lucky that the boss lady got here when she did.”

The statement made both Tai and Raven burst out laughing. “Sure I am!” Tai chuckled.

“Alright, enough fun,” Raven commanded as she recomposed herself. She turned to the two other guards that had just regrouped from their beating. “If you would open the gates so my ex-husband can wheel his little bicycle inside.”

“Um, it’s a moped, we already went over this!” Tai huffed.

Raven turned to Tai for just a second before walking into the camp. “Yes, because that sounds so much more impressive.”

Tai grumbled under his breath as he collected his helmet and walked back to his moped. As he wheeled the bike forward by hand, pushing it forward by the handlebars, he caught Shay snickering under his breath.

“Got something to say, pal?” Tai flatly asked. Immediately Shay straightened up and went quiet. “Good man,” Tai added as he strode past.

The Branwen Tribe camp was bustling with people going about the business of breaking it down. Most everything was being packed into the back of six beat-up old pickup trucks that had all seen better days and were in desperate need of paint jobs. There were a couple more trucks and vans designated for passenger transport parked off to the side of the camp. Tai quickly wheeled his moped over to them and parked it.

“Starting to wonder how helpful I’m going to be,” Tai mused as he made his way back to Raven, who had been waiting for him in the center of the camp. They continued on slowly through the mostly barren camp towards her tent, one of the few standing structures left.

“You insisted on coming,” Raven chuckled. “Your help is appreciated, Tai. We’re behind schedule, every extra hand will be helpful,” Raven added, her tone becoming more somber.

“Behind schedule?” Tai gasped. “Looks like everyone’s working their hardest, Rae.”

Raven came to a stop and turned to the man next to her. “It’s been a week, we should already be on the road. But, it took a few days to procure all the vehicles we need, plus I haven’t been here the last few, and… we did lose a day mourning our fallen.”

“Right,” Tai nodded. “That girl that Cinder killed… V… Virginia?”

“Vernal,” Raven flatly corrected. “Her name was Vernal,” She added, never breaking stride as they marched towards her tent.

Once they reached their destination, they both stood there for a moment, taking it in. It was the same tent that the Branwen Tribe leader before Raven had used, as well as the leader before them. Like many things in the tribe, Raven’s tent was something that had been used and reused and passed down for generations, and at the moment, the old canvas fabric that draped down to make its walls was the only thing separating Tai from the last part of Raven that she had left to share: her history, and all the messy, ugly parts of it that she had hoped she’d never have to tell Summer and Tai about.

Raven took a deep breath.

“Sure is modest and welcoming,” Tai blurted out, making sure that every letter was dripping with sarcasm. Raven let out a chuckle despite herself. She looked over to the man next to her that was smiling brightly.

“Come on, it’s not going to break itself down,” Raven said, leading Tai through the opening of the tent.

Tai took a look around once they were inside, and let out a little hum. “I’m glad we didn’t let you furnish our bedroom.”

“Oh please,” Raven scoffed. She walked over to the large chest in the corner and cracked it open. “Summer would have loved this.”

“That she would have,” Tai agreed as he made his way to Raven.

“Here,” Raven began, pulling out a few sheets of heavy cloth and shoving them into Tai’s hands. “See the tea set over by my bed? Wrap it up before we pack it.” Tai nodded at the command. While he was occupied with that, Raven began taking down and rolling up the various maps and notes that had been pinned up to the back of her tent. In the middle of it, she stopped, taking a moment to look at one of the notes. It was a report of the security measures of one of the villages that weren’t too far from the camp. Raven let out a sigh. There was a familiar tug-of-war in her heart. One that she had felt long ago until fear and panic let one side win, leading her to make a choice that she’d done everything in her power to never question.

That was until Yang showed up at her door. It had taken all of Raven’s fortitude to keep up her guard in front of her daughter. Something made harder by the realization that Yang wasn’t even there for her. Raven was nothing more than a means to an end.

It hadn’t actually hit Raven until that moment that her family had completely, and successfully, excised her from their life. She should have been happy about that, after all, it was what she had claimed she had always wanted: no attachments to that world, the side that had lost the tug-of-war. But there was Yang, staring at her like a stranger with nothing but demands on her tongue and contempt in her eyes.

Raven had gotten what she wanted.

And it had been killing her ever since.

Until finally, after defeating Cinder, after confronting Yang, and returning to the tribe to mourn Vernal’s death for a day, her heart led her back to a dusty cabin in the woods of Patch, to the one member of her family that didn’t currently, and rightfully, hate her…

… To the man that apparently just dropped one of her teacups.

A crash rang out in the tent, pulling Raven out of her stupor. Wet eyes sought out the source of the crash, and quickly found Tai kneeling over a small pile of ceramic pieces.

“I’m so sorry, Raven! I was trying to be careful, I swear, I—” Tai was blurting out, trying to collect the pieces up into one of the cloth towels he had been using, until a gentle hand touched down on his shoulder, stopping his sentence.

When Tai looked up, Raven was kneeling just next to him, her hand on his shoulder, a soft, sad smile on her face. “It’s fine, Tai,” she assured him. Her free hand reached down and picked up one of the bigger pieces. She turned it over and over between her fingers, seemingly studying as her attention was drawn to the jagged dark-blue piece of ceramic that had one flower painted on it. After turning it over a few more times, she shifted her attention back to Tai, her smile brightening as she took in his sad puppy dog expression.

“This can be fixed,” Raven murmured to him.

The assurance seemed to ease something in Taiyang, whose expression softened. He took the piece from Raven and put it with the rest on the cloth before returning his focus to her, a warm grin forming on his face. “Yeah, it can.”

From there, it didn’t take long for the duo to finish breaking down Raven’s tent. Within an hour, it was empty, with everything that had been in the tent packed away in a large chest, and after two hours, what had been Raven’s tent was now nothing more than a large, open wooden platform. While Tai was loading the chest onto one of the trucks, Raven remained on the platform, taking in the progress of the camp breakdown.

Besides the built-up walls enclosing the camp, one would hardly know that an entire tribe of people had called this place home for the last few years. In fact, there was only one tent left. The tent was one of the larger ones and sat less than a hundred feet away from Raven’s. She couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“Hey, everything okay?” Tai’s concerned voice called out from just behind Raven, making the woman jump.

“Gods, Tai! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Raven huffed, twisting around to slap him in the arm.

“Right, because we all know of my exceptional stealth skills,” Tai chortled. “Your head was somewhere else, Rae. What’s up?”

It was almost disconcerting how quickly the two had become able to understand each other again. In many ways, the eighteen-year gap remained this raw, overwhelming presence hovering over them, but in some ways, they had picked up right from where they left off. Raven still wasn’t sure how she felt about letting someone that could so thoroughly read her back into her life, but she had to accept that some part of her had craved this, had always longed to get this back.

Plus, Tai was already there, his dopey, sincere, concerned half-smile on his face as he stood in the middle of her bandit camp. She had passed the last exit to turn back days ago.

Raven turned back to the tent she had been staring at. “I have to break down the last tent,” she muttered, dread dripping from her voice.

“Huh? I thought you said that it was everyone’s responsibility to break down their own…” Tai’s sentence trailed off as the reality of the situation set in. “Oh.”

A heavy arm found itself slung around Raven’s back, pulling her into a side hug. “Hey,” Tai cooed, “you don’t have to do it yourself. I’m right here.”

They gave each other a nod. Then, after Raven took a deep breath, they slowly made their way over to the last tent. Raven stopped briefly at the entrance, taking a second to compose herself.

Even with all the mental preparation, the flaps to the tent felt heavy, as if the fabric was made of steel rather than thick canvas. Once inside, Raven immediately reached for the lamp that was sitting on the crate just a couple of feet inside the door, near the center of the tent, and lit it using her maiden powers.

Tai entered just after and found Raven standing next to the lamp, slowly surveying the space around them, her shoulders slumping more and more as she did. He made his way towards her, clearing his throat loudly this time before speaking. “Rae?”

There wasn’t an immediate answer. Instead, Raven simply continued staring down at the items scattered around the room, a sneer growing on her face as she did.

“She should be here. She should be doing this. She…” Raven’s words trailed, leaving them there, standing in silence.

“Vernal was special to you,” Tai whispered, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Raven set her gaze on a neatly stacked pile of clothes that was sitting on the bed. “Vernal trusted me, and she was a fool to do so,” she spat out, her body shaking slightly.

“Rae…”

The soft call of her name made Raven snap her focus to Tai, but there was no anger on her face. Instead, there was a look of anguish, her lips quivering, her eyes half-lidded as tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. “She trusted me, and it got her killed. I was supposed to protect her, but I couldn’t, I let her die because I was a coward. If I… If I was braver she would still be alive. And I… I can’t help thinking that leaving was the best thing that I ever could have done for Yang.”

By the time the first sob escaped Raven, Tai was already pulling her into a hug. He held her tight, his hand gently stroking her back while she broke down in his arms.

It was a few minutes before Raven settled down. Eventually, she got control of herself, and simply leaned into the embrace, resting her entire weight against him.

“I think you’re blaming the wrong person, by the way,” Tai mused. The statement made Raven shift around in his arms so that she could glare up at him with a perplexed look on her face. “You didn’t kill Vernal, Rae, that Cinder chick did. Same person that terrorized our girls when they were at Beacon. She’s the reason Vernal’s dead. And Salem’s the reason Cinder did any of those things, not you. They took Vernal from you, they took our wife from us.” Tai released Raven from the hug and took a step back, his hands still firmly grasping her shoulders so that he could look her dead in the eyes when he said “And someday, they’re going to be the ones who pay for what happened to the people we care about, not you.”

A slight, sly smile came over Raven. “So, focus on revenge instead of guilt.”

“Err,” Tai stammered as one arm fell to his side while the other reached up to scratch the side of his neck. “That’s not exactly the point I was trying to get at.”

“I know,” Raven said, letting out a bellowing laugh before patting Tai on the cheek. “I just love watching you squirm, Xiao Long.” Tai joined in the laughter as it cut through the mood of the tent. After it died down, Raven turned back to the bed where Vernal’s clothes were still laid out. “Come on, we have to get this done… I’m not going to leave her behind.” Tai walked up to her and nodded as the two of them began breaking down Vernal’s tent.

---

At daybreak the following morning, the Branwen tribe’s motor caravan pulled out of the little patch of land, and began their journey south, away from the capital of Mistral, and into the vast wilderness of the continent of Anima. Tai’s moped rumbled along at the front, along with a handful of other motorcycles that were leading away. Raven scouted ahead, her bird form allowing her to get a clear view of potential perils and dangers.

The first two days went smoothly, making good time through the rugged terrain, and avoiding any conflict. The third day presented a bit more of a challenge, being forced to confront an unavoidable pack of Grimm. Raven, Tai, and a handful of the tribe’s strongest fighters were able to deal with them, allowing the caravan to pass through with only a few scratches.

That’s how it was for the rest of the week, a good day here, a challenge to avoid trouble there. Luckily there was only one dust-up with local law enforcement. Tai didn’t feel great about it, but he knew what he had gotten himself into, and agreed to it when he insisted on accompanying Raven on this journey. Even still, he did all he could to get the tribe out of the situation with no one getting hurt. But when push came to shove, Tai stuck with the tribe, something Raven appreciated, even if she hadn’t found a way to voice such sentiment. For her part, Raven made sure that the tribe focused on evasion and avoiding conflict instead of violence.

Overall, they were making good time, all things considered. During that week, Tai managed to bond with the tribe. At first, it was slow, mostly finding common ground in everyone’s mutual love to complain about Qrow, but over the days he worked at forming friendships with his fellow travelers. As he did, he began to gain a new perspective on Raven, because to these people she wasn’t a teammate, or friend, or spouse, she was their rock. A guiding light that they all looked to with reverence and respect. For so long Tai had only known what Raven had run from, and how much it hurt to lose her, but his time with the tribe gave him a chance to get to know what she had run towards, and why. In many ways, they were as much her family as he, or Yang, or Summer had ever been.

Finally, Tai saw Raven for what she really was: a woman torn in two, pulled in opposite directions for most of her life. For so long Tai had barely dared to dream what Raven coming back into his life might look like, but in those times that he did, he had always envisioned pulling her away from her life as a bandit. And truth be told, a part of him still wanted to help her get away from a life of crime, but his time with the tribe made him realize that he’d have to give a little too, that if he really wanted this to work this time, if he wanted them to work this time, it couldn’t be an either-or choice. Accepting Raven Branwen meant accepting everything about her, from being a fiercely loyal teammate to being a bandit leader.

This was the thought that Tai found himself dwelling on as they sat around a campfire in the middle of the woods on the evening of the ninth day. It had been a quiet day, and everyone was finishing up the stew that had been made for the night. Raven had been busy while everyone else ate, securing the perimeter, and making sure that everyone was aware of their guard duty rotations for the night. Finally, after just about everyone was finished and most people were turning in to get some rest, Raven sat to have a bowl of stew just next to Tai.

She got a few spoonfuls in before stopping and turning to face him, a look of mild annoyance on her face.

“Is there something you wanted to say to me, Tai?” she huffed.

For his part, Tai’s expression immediately softened, a warm smile growing on his face. “Um, no, why?”

Raven let out a sigh. “It’s just, you’ve been watching me since you sat down.”

The statement made Tai blush slightly, which, luckily for him, was mostly washed out by the orange glow of the fire. “Have I? Sorry! It wasn’t anything bad! It’s just… I don’t know, I guess I’m a little in awe of how you can command the tribe so effortlessly.”

Now it was Raven’s turn to blush. She quickly looked back down at her stew, the warmth of it seeping into her lap. “Oh.” She had another scoop of stew to buy her a few extra seconds to think of how to follow up on that. By the time she had gulped it down, a warm thought had settled in. Raven let her eyes become lidded as they drifted to the fire, a half-smile forming on her face. “Let’s be honest, everything I know about being a leader Summer taught me.”

Tai scooted closer to her so that he could rest his hand on her knee. “She’d be proud of you,” he murmured. In response, Raven leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Think so?”

“Yeah,” Tai responded. The two of them sat there, wordlessly enjoying their time together until it was time to turn in for the night.

---

The following morning was like every other one since hitting the road, everyone quickly breaking down the makeshift camp, disposing of any evidence that there had been a camp, and lining the convoy up to depart. Tai had done his part just as he had every other day, and was currently buckling his helmet on as he waited for the caravan to rumble to a start. Suddenly, Raven swooped in, standing in front of Tai’s moped, but not looking at him.

“Tribe!” she barked at the top of her lungs. “Get a move on, I’ll catch up!”

With her command, trucks and vans and motorcycles roared to life and began lurching forward in unison. Tai watched in confusion as everyone drove away from the campsite except him, who sat there on his moped, Raven’s hands planted firmly on the handlebars.

“Um, Rae, what’s going on?” he asked, taking his helmet back off.

Raven finally turned to face him, and her face immediately betrayed her, a look of deep sadness painted all over it.

“This is as far as you go, Tai.”

“Hold up!” Tai yelled as he jumped off his moped. “You’re ditching me now?!”

“No, Tai, it’s not like that,” Raven sighed, doing her best to retain her composure.

Tai did his best to let his initial anger pass over him. He took a deep breath before taking a step toward Raven. “Then what is it? I don’t understand, things have been going well.”

“Yeah,” Raven answered. She let go of his moped and closed the distance between them, leaving maybe a foot between them. “Things have been great,” she agreed. “But I can’t let you go any farther with us. We’re going to be hitting the arid lands of Anima soon and it’s going to be extremely dangerous out there.”

“Which makes you leaving behind a huntsman make no sense,” Tai huffed. His arms were crossed as a very annoyed look came over his face.

“Yes Tai, but you’re not just a huntsman.” Raven reached forward and placed her hands on his crossed arms. “You’re also the father of my daughters, and I need you to be safe for them. We’re running from Salem, and if you came with us… if she found out that you know where I am…” Raven gulped down a sob and used all her willpower to keep herself together. “I will not lose any more of my family to that woman.”

There was a beat of silence that felt deafening in the small clearing they were standing in. Finally, Tai let out a quiet hum. “Daughters, huh?”

Raven let out a chuckle, taking comfort in it. That was something she always admired about Tai, his ability to lighten any mood, to be able to focus on the upside of things.

“Well, someone recently pointed out that despite not giving birth to her, Ruby is just as much my daughter as Yang is… Not that either of them would think much of me as their mother.”

Tai unfurled his arms and wrapped them around Raven, pulling her into a tight hug. “They will, you just have to make the effort,” he whispered into her ear.

“I’ll get the tribe to its new home. Then I’ll come back. I’ll put in the effort,” Raven leaned back so that she could stare into Tai’s eyes while cupping one side of his face. “I’m not going to abandon our family this time.”

“Promise?” Tai blurted out almost before he could even think about it. As soon as he did he regretted it, but before he could focus on the regret, he found himself pulled down into a deep, searing kiss. Their arms unconsciously wrapped tight around each other, their bodies craving the warmth and contact of each other, a connection so familiar, yet it had remained dormant for years. Tai found himself lost in that connection just as he always had been, as if every kiss erased another year of separation.

They were both panting when they finally pulled apart, doing so more out of the need for air than want.

“I promise,” Raven replied through red, plump lips. She reluctantly pulled herself from his grasp and took a few steps back. “I promise,” Raven repeated before spinning around and darting off, transforming into her bird form after just a few steps.

Tai stood there, watching as Raven slowly drifted out of view beyond the treeline, all the while with a smile on his face. Raven had made a lot of promises to him over the course of their relationship, and he had to admit that she didn’t have the best track record in keeping them.

But in that clearing, at that moment, watching her soar through the sky, his heart had no room for doubt.

After she was gone, Tai hopped back onto his moped. It rumbled under him as he spun around and began driving back the way they had come. He only got a few yards before he stopped, and took a moment to look back over his shoulders in the direction that caravan had gone.

“I’ll see you soon, Rae.”

#rwby #taiyang xiao long #raven branwen #shay d. mann #vernal #tai x raven #raven x summer #tai x summer #raven x tai x summer #str crossed lovers #str-crossed lovers #sk's writing #rwby fanfiction #sk's 2023 recap

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