59

Chapter 59: Revelations

Well… this is about as awkward as it can get.

Ruby did her best not to sigh as she glanced around the neatly decorated lounge. According to Qrow, it was meant to be used during special events the school hosted, as a place for VIP's to rest and relax. It certainly gave off that kind of feel. Black leather couches and chairs, dark brown tables with fake-flower centerpieces. It gave off the feeling of being intended as a nice, homey place to relax, but its rare use made it feel somewhat fake, like the entire room had been put together recently.

The quiet was getting to her. Things had been great when they'd first entered, Taiyang and Qrow chatting with Weiss and Blake, Yang and Ruby giving their two cents every so often. But once Raven sat down… that's when the fun stopped.

Ruby looked around at everyone. Blake and Weiss had taken a small loveseat off to the side of the room, out of the way but with a clear view of everyone, Zwei panting happily in Weiss's lap. They had come mostly to be moral support, though they all decided that it wouldn't hurt to have a possible buffer if emotions ran high. Taiyang and Qrow had each commandeered an armchair, trying to look relaxed and failing miserably, the cardboard boxes they'd been carrying sitting at their feet. And Raven…

At the center of the room were two couches facing each other, a small coffee table between them. Raven sat by herself at one, and Yang had almost instantly moved to sit across from her. It was only Qrow's reminder from yesterday that Raven had wanted to speak to her as well, for some reason, that had Ruby awkwardly sitting next to her sister.

Ruby squirmed uncomfortably as she realized, intentionally or not, they'd all grouped themselves right down the middle of the room, Team RWBY on one side, the remaining STRQ members on the other. This… was not encouraging.

After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, Raven breathed in quickly through her nose, clearing her throat. "So," she started, fanning her hands out in an open gesture from where they lay on her knees. "Where do you want to start?"

"Why did you leave?"

Ruby bit back a groan. Yes, she knew Yang was dying for an answer to that very question. But she'd still hoped they could ease into it.

Raven apparently had similar thoughts, given her slight grimace. "That's… going to be harder to answer than you might think."

Yang's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why?"

Raven huffed tiredly. "I didn't just leave on a whim, Yang. It was a hard decision to make, and there was a lot of time that built up to me making it. Years, even." She leaned back against the couch, putting a hand against her temple "I don't even know where to start explaining."

Warning bells went off in Ruby's head as she felt Yang's anger start to rise. She couldn't fully blame her sister, given how little sense Raven's words made. Years? What?

Hoping to avoid turning the conversation into a fight, Ruby quickly interjected. "The beginning's usually a good place."

She cringed slightly when Raven's eyes turned to her. Raven gave her a hard stare, before quirking a brow. "… true. Well… I suppose the beginning was right after we graduated from Beacon."

At that, Qrow let out a sound that sounded like a cross between a snort and a groan. "Uh, Rea? You sure that's the very beginning?"

Raven gave him a warning glare. "I'll get there. Just… let me start here."

Qrow groaned in exasperation, rolling his eyes towards Tai, who just shrugged sheepishly in response.

Ignoring them, Raven crossed one leg over the other, getting more comfortable on the couch. "Fine, then. A bit more background." After a moment's preparation, she started explaining. "Qrow and I were born into a bandit clan in western Mistral. It…" She paused, searching for the right words. "Wasn't exactly a pleasant childhood. Our lives were nothing but stealing and fighting, every day. Qrow and I didn't think much of it growing up. It's how we were raised, how we were taught the world worked. That the weak existed to make the strong stronger."

At the teenagers' horrified looks, Qrow let out of bitter laugh. "Yeah, not exactly a wholesome family setting."

Raven shot him another look of warning, though her lips did twitch upwards. "The clan was powerful enough that no one would mess with us… with one exception."

"The almighty Hunters," Qrow smirked sarcastically. "'The brave men and women dedicating their lives to combat grievous Grimm and outlandish outlaws'".

Tai groaned, putting a hand over his face. "Geez, I forgot about those stupid recruitment posters…"

Again, Raven sent them both warning looks. "Do you two want to tell the story?" she asked irritably.

Tai looked away from her burning gaze, while Qrow shrugged. "Just adding a little commentary is all."

Raven rolled her eyes at his antics, focusing back on the girls. "To make a very long story short, the clan leaders were getting tired of Hunters always defeating the clan every time we tried to do something. So, they decided to send their best fighters-"

"Present- yow!"

Raven smirked as she retracted her elbow out of the tiny portal that appeared next to her, leaving Qrow massaging his ribs as both ends snapped shut. Ignoring the girls' stunned and baffled looks, she went on. "They sent us to Beacon to train. The idea was that we'd come in under the guise of becoming Hunters, while actually learning how to counteract Hunter tactics and fighting styles. To become Anti-Hunters, I believe one said.

"What they didn't count on was that when we got to Beacon… we actually started to like the place. Nice people, clean buildings, not having to fight for scraps at every meal. Qrow changed perspectives pretty much instantly. I… took a little longer."

"How long?" Yang asked, her wariness of what she was hearing being outweighed by the new information.

Raven sighed. "Until about the end of our first year. The whole time, Qrow and I were almost constantly at each other's throats." At their surprised looks, she explained. "Even though I was starting to prefer Beacon, I still had a lot of loyalty for the clan. But for about a month straight, Qrow started talking about us straight up leaving the clan, to follow through and become actual Hunters. I… disagreed."

"Loudly," Tai added, not even flinching from Raven's annoyed look.

"... what made you change your mind?" Ruby asked.

Raven's face softened as she took a slight breath. "Summer." At the mention of her mother's name, Ruby perked up slightly, a little bit of light entering her eyes. Raven smiled slightly as she went on. "She was my partner back in Beacon, and was bound and determined to make sure all of us got along with each other. One day, Qrow and I really started butting heads, to the point we were throwing punches at each other. Summer jumped in, gave us each a good knot on the head, then demanded to know what was going on with us. Neither of us wanted to bring her into it, but… Summer was about as stubborn as you could get."

Qrow snorted lightly, mumbling "Understatement of the century," under his breath.

Raven continued. "She dogged both of us for about a week before she finally managed to corner me. Started getting into a fight with her, yelling that it was none of her business…" She trailed off briefly, her eyes drifting upwards. "But Summer just had this way about her. If she looked at you the right way with those wide eyes, you couldn't help but start giving your life story… and that's exactly what I did.

"I told her about the clan. I told her about how hard our lives were, the things we needed to do just to stay alive. Eventually… she managed to weasel our original reason for coming to Beacon out of me. I told her where Qrow stood, why I still felt the way I did about the clan… and you know what her response was after she heard everything?"

"What?" Ruby asked, fully entranced by the story. Yang nodded beside her, asking Raven to go on.

Raven gave a smile that was just too soft to be a smirk. "She asked how she could help with the clan. The way she said it…" She chuckled softly to herself. "Like she was going to march all the way to Mistral and give the leaders a piece of her mind."

Her smile faded somewhat, though didn't fully leave her face. "It wasn't until we were halfway through our second year that I fully changed my mind, Summer and Tai spouting their support to us both all the way." She let out a long, slow sigh. "We fully cut ties with the clan, getting our fair share of threats and promises of retribution on the way out. We didn't care at that point. We… I… had found something better.

"As for how this all ties into me having to leave…" The way Yang instantly perked up both amused and saddened everyone in the room. "That all happened right after we graduated."

At that, Tai blinked. "Uh… Raven?"

"I think you skipped something pretty important there, Sis," Qrow echoed Taiyang's thought, looking thoroughly annoyed with his sister.

Raven just growled under her breath. "I know," she muttered irritably. "I'm going to get there. Just… Let me cover this first."

Qrow groaned loudly but waved for her to go on nonetheless.

Raven scowled lightly at him, before focusing back on the story. "Right after we all graduated, we took a mission. The request asked for a team of highly trained, resilient Hunters, capable of taking down multiple Grimm packs at once. It sounded like a good job. Not all that dangerous for us, but challenging enough to warrant all four of us going. The pay wasn't too bad either."

"Anyway… the mission was at a new building site out at a place called Mountain Glenn, where they were wanting to build a new city. So, we loaded up and headed out. Problem was, whoever posted the mission didn't seem to grasp just how hard our jobs are."

Ruby cocked her head to the side, not sure what she meant. Raven's lips curled up in a brief half-smile, before explaining. "We asked the locals for information, expecting the usual: Beowolves, Ursas, Boarbatusks, maybe a Deathstalker or two. Instead, we found a damned Grimm hoard. Creepers, Geists, Goliaths, Gryphons, and that's on top of all the usual Grimm."

Off to the side, Weiss sucked in a sharp breath, looking paler than usual. She glanced at Blake, finding the Faunus staring back, looking equally apprehensive. Goliaths, Gryphons… those were some of the nastiest Grimm they'd learned about thus far, and Professor Oobleck made it very clear to never fight such beasts without backup. And that was just on their own or in small groups. To be faced with so many at once...

Raven shot the two a look, taking in their expressions. She nodded slowly in agreement. "It was more than one team could take. To even have a chance, you'd need at least five full teams, and that's being conservative. We should have called for reinforcements." She then looked down, crossing her arms. "But… we didn't do that."

Raven scowled at the colorful flower centerpiece in the middle of the coffee table. "We were young… and stupid. We saw all those Grimm, some we didn't even recognize, and we just jumped right in. Just started fighting without a second thought. We didn't see the danger. All we saw was a... challenge."

She trailed off, her scowl deepening by the second. Seeing this, Qrow straightened up in his seat, drawing the girls' attention. "You know team STRQ's reputation? That we were the best of the best that Beacon ever put out? The unstoppable, unbeatable force?"

The sisters nodded, Ruby excitedly while Yang was more subdued. "You've both told us the stories," Ruby confirmed.

At that, Raven raised a brow. She turned from Qrow to Taiyang, giving each an expectant look. "Oh, did they?"

Tai gave her a sheepish shrug, turning to the girls. "Yeah, well… we didn't exactly ask for those titles. Thing is, though, when people are constantly saying you're the best there is, that there's nothing you can't do… after a while, you start to believe it. I don't know when it happened but, somewhere along the line… we got it in our heads that we were... invincible."

Qrow scoffed, shaking his head. "Yeah, we were idiots." He took a deep breath, then continued the story. "The fight started well enough. We jumped in, guns blazing and swords slashing, and we just tore into them. We took down Grimm after Grimm, cutting loose like never before. It was just such a rush back then, being in the field, in force, as a full team."

"... what happened?" Yang asked hesitantly. Her stubborn anger was slowly drifting aside as she watched the three Hunters' grim faces, pushed away by the dread worming its way through her stomach.

Qrow chuckled without a trace of humor. "We realized how screwed we were. For the first fifteen minutes, it was business as usual, pulling out our moves, breaking out our combos. Just… having fun. But then… fifteen minutes became thirty. Thirty became an hour. It was about the ninety-minute mark when the fun stopped, and we realized the problem."

Raven's hands clenched against her folded arms, her scowl deepening. "The Grimm weren't stopping. Every time we'd cut one down, it seemed like two more took its place. They just kept coming, not even in packs, just random Grimm coming out of the woodwork. It wasn't much longer before we were overwhelmed."

"We ran out of ammo fast, and were starting to tire." Taiyang leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees as he looked down. "Raven had exhausted herself by using too many portals too quickly, and I'd used up all the strength I had stored up. Qrow and Summer covered for us, but they were exhausted. And as we grew more tired, we started getting sloppy."

Qrow nodded. "We started taking hits. Beowulf bites and Gryphon claws. Yeah, little pro-tip you might not have reached in training yet. Don't get too reliant on your aura healing. When you start running on fumes…" He pulled down the collar of his shirt, revealing a jagged scar running down his collarbone. "...things don't get put back together quite right."

Raven glanced at him, eyeing his scar apprehensively. With a sigh, she bent over and pulled down her right stocking. Yang inhaled sharply, Ruby giving a little gasp at the ragged puncture marks ringing around her lower leg as if she'd stepped in a bear trap and tried to rip it off.

"We all have scars from that day," Raven muttered, her voice tight. "One of the worst mistakes we ever made."

Tai nodded in agreement, absently rubbing his left thigh. "We managed to last about three hours of non-stop fighting, but by then, we were dead on our feet. Out of ammo, out of Dust, out of aura. We were tired, bleeding. We…" He paused, shaking his head in disgust. "We should have died that day."

Ruby gaped at what she was hearing, eyes darting from one adult to another in disbelief. "How… how did you…?"

"How the heck did you all get out of that alive?" Yang shouted, completely gobsmacked.

There was a long beat of silence as the surviving members of Team STRQ looked to each other, each asking the others who should speak. It was Raven who took a breath, letting it out as a long sigh.

"Because… of Summer."

Ruby blinked, her heart skipping a beat. "Mom?"

Qrow nodded, then bobbed his head side to side, thinking. "Have any of you ever heard the legend of the Silver Eyes?"

Blindsided by the random question, Ruby and Yang looked at each other in confusion. They looked in turn to Blake and Weiss, who could only offer apologetic shrugs, just as lost.

Qrow chuckled. "Don't feel too bad. None of us had either. It's a lesser-known Legend, but in terms of power and significance, it's right on par with the Four Maidens. No one knows exactly what that power actually is, but the short version is that whoever has the Silver Eyes has the potential of destroying all Grimm."

Ruby's eyes widened. "All? As in…?"

"All of them," Qrow confirmed with a laugh, shaking his head in bemusement. "Don't ask me how, but according to legend, the owner of the Silver Eyes supposedly has the potential to wipe out all the Grimm in the entire world."

"...that's one heck of a legend," Ruby said, slightly dazed.

Yang nodded in agreement, only to suddenly jerk back in surprise. "Wait... did Summer…?"

Raven gave a small half-smile, nodding slowly. "The fight ended when a new Grimm showed up, a Beringel." She smiled slightly at Yang and Ruby's confusion, noting the stunned look in Blake and Weiss's eyes. "Basically a Grimm gorilla. Except this one… I couldn't even call it an alpha. It was gigantic, towering over even the Goliaths. It tried to hit Summer, but Tai blocked it, sending him crashing against the trees. Qrow and I tried to get to her, but the damn thing just reached over and picked us up in each hand. Before we had a chance to react… it squeezed."

She touched her ribs, wincing at the memory. "We were done. Tai was on the ground, barely conscious, Qrow and I were trapped in the Beringel's grip as it crushed us, and Summer…" She swallowed thickly. Her eyes fell to the floor as her hands clenched. "Summer was barely standing. Her cloak was ripped to shreds, her arm so bloodied she couldn't even lift it. She lost her weapon earlier in the fight, having to snatch up mine when I dropped it. The Grimm were surrounding her and…"

"And the damn gorilla tried to eat you." Qrow interrupted.

The RWBY's jerked back at the sudden statement, both from surprise and Qrow's almost bored tone. Raven shot her brother an irritated look, but he just smirked back. "You really think I was going to let you not mention that little tidbit?"

"It wasn't exactly relevant," Raven grumbled under her breath.

"Oh, I beg to differ," Qrow retorted, his smirk growing.

Raven glowered at him, but merely let out an annoyed breath through her nose, focusing back on the girls. "Yes, the Beringel tried to eat me. It started lifting me towards its mouth… and then Summer screamed."

"And everything went silver," Tai muttered.

"Silver?" Ruby murmured.

Raven nodded. "This… silver light exploded out from Summer as she screamed and the Grimm just… vaporized. All of them. There must have been dozens of Grimm surrounding us, of all kinds, and that light turned them to ash in an instant."

"The Beringel got blasted right out from under us." Qrow let out a tired chuckle. "Dropped me and Rea right on our asses." He shook his head, letting out a huff of a breath. "After that… I swear the thing I'll never forget is the silence. One minute, you could hear nothing but snarling, growling, roaring Grimm, and the next… nothing. Just dead silence." His smile bled away as he sighed. "We pulled ourselves up, whirled around… and there was Summer, her eyes shining like searchlights. She kept standing for a few seconds, and then just… dropped. Like a puppet with its strings cut."

He paused, a faraway look in his eye. With a small shudder, he continued. "We ran. All the Grimm were gone, but Summer was unconscious, Tai could barely move, and I'm pretty sure Rea and I had either cracked or broken every rib between us. We were all bleeding, all exhausted, and all freaking out over what the hell just happened. So, we picked up Summer and ran back to the local town as fast as we could. Made it back to town, found a doctor, and just waited… and hoped… for Summer to wake up."

Yang swallowed thickly. "That's… honestly a pretty awesome story," she said, managing a small, impressed smile. It faded as she turned back to Raven, wariness firm in her eyes. "But I still don't see what it has to do with where you've been the last decade and a half."

Raven met her eyes evenly. "The story's not finished yet." Taking a breath, she continued where Qrow left off. "We'd only been back in the village for a few hours. Summer was put in a bed at the doctor's house, and Tai was passed out in the bed next to her. Qrow and I watched over them, trying to figure out what happened and what we should do next… when we heard an explosion outside, and people started screaming."

The RWBY's eyes widened in surprise. Raven went on. "Qrow and I grabbed our weapons and ran outside, just in time to see the mayor's house go up in flames. There was a group of people, all wearing dark cloaks and blank masks, walking down the middle of the street and taking potshots at anyone they happen the see. Leading them was a man dragging a hammer with one hand and spouting flames with the other."

"His name was Maxwell Coatel." Qrow piped up when he saw the curiosity in his nieces' eyes. "I looked him up after all this. Shade Academy dropout turned assassin. Had a Semblance that let him generate fire, at the cost of killing all the nerve endings in his arms if he used it too much. The guy was off his rocker, so of course, he used it all the damn time." He crossed his arms, scowling. "This day being no exception."

Raven nodded in agreement. "He was yelling to the whole town, demanding to know who had done it. Who was the cause of 'that silver light.' He ordered for whoever it was to be brought to him, otherwise he would just burn down the whole town looking for them."

Ruby shuddered in distress, a look of helpless confusion on her face. "Why was he looking for Mom?"

Qrow folded his arms, scoffing. "Because, he wanted to know who had just screwed up 'their ultimate plan', whatever the hell that was. Turns out that he and his band of masked nuts were part of an even bigger bunch of nuts called The Cult of Salem."

When Qrow finished speaking, Blake's cat-ears perked up, a startled look on her face. The adults quickly took notice of this, Qrow raising a brow at her. "You've heard of them?"

Blake shrank under the sudden attention, taking slight comfort as she Felt the Support from her Mates as they looked to her. "Only the name Salem," she admitted hesitantly. She had to take a moment to steady herself before continuing. "I think I overheard… Adam… say it once or twice, when he was making a scroll call."

"...well, that makes a scary amount of sense." Qrow groaned as he looked up at the ceiling as if asking which god he'd ticked off to deserve being in this situation. He suddenly straightened back up in his chair, clapping his hands together as he plastered on a forced smile. "Anyway, one catastrophe at a time! The Cult of Salem, to put it simply, are a bunch of people who… well, they either worship Grimm or think they know a way to control them." He scratched the side of his head sheepishly. "Never really figured out which one."

There was a beat of dumbfounded silence from the four girls, each having a look ranging from confusion to utter bafflement. "That's insane!" Weiss eventually burst out, looking almost insulted.

Qrow barked out a laugh. "That's about them in a nutshell. Regardless, these guys really think, if nothing else, they can make Grimm their allies." He then looked Ruby and Yang right in the eye. "So you can imagine when someone just vaporizes dozens of them at once, they want to get their hands on that person."

A chill went up Yang's spine at the thought, the Link letting her Feel the same sensation from Ruby. "What happened?"

Qrow looked at them both for a moment, looking like he wanted to keep talking. Then, slowly, he turned to Raven. "Rae?"

Yang and Ruby followed his gaze, and as they saw Raven look back at Qrow, for the first time since the conversation started… Raven looked… nervous.

Raven held Qrow's gaze for a long moment, before breathing in deeply. She faced the sisters, a determined look etched on her face. "The whole village was going up in flames. Qrow and I were barely able to fight. The smart thing to do would have been to retreat, but Summer and Tai were in no shape to be moved. Qrow and I figured our best course of action was to lead them away from town. But...these people were not going to stop until they found the Silver Eyes. So… I said it was me."

Yang blinked, stunned. "What?"

Raven let out a breath through her nose. "I yelled out to them that I had made the silver light, and if they wanted me, they'd just have to come and get me." She shook her head, letting out a huff of a laugh. "It was a complete shot in the dark, but we were out of options. They were just a few doors away from the doctor's house. I guess they were too enraged to think things over because they bought it. They chased after me, and I just led them around the forest while Qrow picked them off.

"They finally scattered after we managed to take down Coatel. We got most of them, but…" Raven scowled fiercely at the ground, her hands clenching. "Some of them got away."

Ruby swallowed at her dark tone. "I'm guessing that was… bad?"

Raven turned her full attention. She took a slow, deep breath, the action eerily similar to what Yang usually did when she tried to calm herself down. "Yes, Ruby, it was very bad. We managed to get away that day, but the cult didn't give up. Apparently, they deemed the Silver Eyes a big enough threat to their 'plans' that they tried to get rid of it every chance they got. Which was… often."

At their questioning (and, Yang grudgingly admitted, concerned) looks, Raven explained. "About six months after that, I took a solo mission down near the southern archipelago. It was a two-day job, so I spent the night at a local inn. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a man holding a knife to my throat."

"I got out of that, obviously," she went on, ignoring the looks of horror on the girls' faces. "But things like that kept happening. I'd go out on missions, and every now and then, some would-be assassin would show up."

"But… why would they go after you?" Yang asked, slightly agitated by how nothing was adding up.

At that, Raven gave a small shrug. "They thought I had the Silver Eyes, and I didn't exactly do much to make them think differently."

Ruby blinked slowly, her brow scrunching up in thought. "You… took the fall for Mom?" she asked slowly.

Raven nodded, a satisfied smirk on her lips. "Yes."

"...why?" Ruby asked faintly.

Raven stiffened a little at the sheer disbelief in Ruby's voice. She stared intently at the youngest girl, her eyes slowly panning to look at Yang. She took a moment, looking between the two sisters, before squaring up her shoulders. She turned to Taiyang, giving him a meaningful look. Taiyang grimaced, before straightening up in his seat, leaning forward. Ruby and Yang exchanged nervous glances. Something felt very off.

Her face set in determination, Raven answered Ruby's question. "Because… after the mission at Mountain Glenn… Hunting lost a bit of its luster for Summer. All of us could have died that day, would have, had Summer not activated the Silver Eyes. There was a lot Summer wanted to do with her life, and after that mission she realized… there was a real chance she might die before she could do any of it. So…"

Raven sighed. "Summer did not need random attacks happening on her every other week. She... we had something too important to risk losing."

There was a pregnant beat of silence as Raven's words truly registered. Slowly, Yang's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean… we?"

Raven held her gaze, before looking down. Taiyang swallowed discreetly, running his palms across the legs of his pants nervously. Taking a deep breath, he spoke. "Girls… there's something we need to tell you."

At his tone, Ruby and Yang looked at each other in worry. It was a tone he reserved only for when he was going to tell them something they did not want to hear. "Isn't that what you've been doing?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

Taiyang let out a heavy sigh, sharing a resigned glance with Raven. "Yes, but… this is a bit different. We… I... haven't been entirely honest with you… regarding the past." The sisters blinked at him uncomprehendingly. Taiyang took a shuddering breath, rolling his shoulders. "How… how much do you two remember from when you were really little?"

Now thoroughly worried, Ruby thought hard. All she had were vague memories of her mother, now hazy give it how long ago they were. As for Yang…

"Not much…" Yang admitted, scratching the side of her head nervously. "But… you already knew that, Dad. I'm just like you. Took a few too many hits when I was first training and now everything is a little blurry."

Taiyang bit his lip, nodding in agreement. "True… But that makes this a bit harder." Taking another breath, he gave them a smile that was both happy and sad. "Girls… I'll just say it. Raven and I were never in a relationship. And… neither were me and Summer."

Silence. Cold, deafening silence filled the room. It took a full minute for his words to fully register with Ruby and Yang, the both of them only capable of staring blankly at their father, mouths agape. Off to the side, Blake and Weiss were only able to shake off their shock when they felt their Mates' emotions go haywire, Disbelief drowning out the rising myriad of confusing and conflicted feelings. Qrow merely watched his family intently, his eyes piercing through each of them as he waited, a slight tremble going through his folded hands.

"W-what?" Yang finally managed with a disbelieving chuckle. "That's… the heck is that even supposed to mean?"

"He means," Raven interjected, effectively drawing all of the attention in the room. "That he holds no romantic feelings for me or Summer."

Yang just glared at her. "Okay, fine. Good joke, you made me laugh. Fun's over. Now what the heck-"

"Yang." The blonde's glare shifted instantly towards Qrow. He met her head-on, giving his head a little shake. "We're not joking, kid."

In an instant, Yang jumped to her feet. "C'mon! Are you kidding me? I-" A bark of a scoff left her lips. "I'm proof positive that that can't be true!" She gestured towards herself frantically. "If… if you two weren't together, then where the heck did I come from?"

Raven stood as well, meeting Yang's outburst with focused calm. "You came from nearly a full year of careful contemplation and soul-searching on a part of me…" She paused, as if steeling herself. "And Summer."

Yang jerked back, looking like she'd been slapped. Behind her, Ruby looked up at Raven, her face going unnaturally pale. "What?" she breathed silently.

Raven looked between the two, a conflicted expression on her face. Without a word, she went over to Taiyang and picked up the box at his feet. She brought it over and put it on the coffee table, Yang and Ruby's eyes following her every move.

"All through our first year at Beacon," Raven started as she opened the box, revealing stacks of books, envelopes, and loose papers. "Summer kept trying to get closer to me. Said that we were partners, so we should learn from each other. I kept pushing her away, putting all my efforts into following the clan's orders. But, Summer did not know the meaning of the word 'quit', so she kept doing everything in her power to be my friend." She laughed lightly as she pulled out a stack of envelopes, flipping through their contents as she spoke. "Then one day, a few weeks after explaining the whole clan situation to her and Tai I just… broke. Between the pressure the clan was putting on me, fighting with Qrow, struggling through schoolwork, and just… starting to doubt everything… I just had to get away for a little bit.

"The first place I thought up was the rooftops. I must have been up there for hours on the dorm roof, just watching the stars, having everything go through my head. All my doubts, all the pressure, feeling worse with every second that passed. Then, suddenly, Summer sits down next to me on the edge of the building. With the mood I was in, I was ready to rip her head off at the first 'helpful' word, the moment she turned those star-lit 'I'm-going-to-help-everybody!' eyes on me.

"But," Raven said as she set the envelopes aside, pulling out a thick photo album stuffed to the brim. "She never did. She just sat there, silent, not even acknowledging me. So naturally, I chose to ignore her in turn. We stayed like that in stubborn silence, just staring up at the sky. It wasn't until the sun started coming up that I realized she'd spent the whole night up there with me, just silently keeping me company, making sure I wasn't alone."

As Raven spoke, a soft smile formed on her lips as she paged through the various contents of the box, the girls could only stare. Yang remained standing, her face a mixture of confusion and denial. Ruby just watched Raven go through the box, her face a blank mask of shock.

Raven went on. "I suppose that's when I finally realized that Summer… she really just wanted to help. That she didn't just want to use my abilities for her own gain, like the clan did. She… cared. So the next time she asked if I wanted to go into Vale to bond, to go see a movie or just sightsee, I said yes. And when I found out I actually had fun, and she asked again the next week, I said yes again. It went on and on like that for months, even into our second year.

"And slowly... things started to change. We went from purposefully bonding as partners to just hanging out. Quick trips into the city turned into day-long events. Before we realized it, we were spending more time with each other than without. Being around Summer was just… she had this way of making you feel so…" she trailed off briefly as she pulled out a particular item, a framed photo, her eyes widening slightly. "...free."

The conversation lulled as Raven's eyes scanned over the photo, a strange smile on her lips. After a moment, the stunned look bled off of Yang's face, a fierce scowl replacing it. "I… I don't believe you," she growled, her hands clenched into fists. Her eyes sparked dangerously, threatening to turn red.

Raven looked up from the photo, looking slightly startled. She took in Yang's angry expression, panning to see Ruby's bewildered look. She looked back down at the photo. With a steadying breath, she said, "Well then… as the saying goes," She held out the photo for Yang to take, back first, that small odd smile still on her lips. "Seeing is believing."

Yang glared, snatching the picture out of Raven's hand without breaking eye contact with her. Still scowling, she flipped it over.

Her scowl vanished in an instant, replaced with a dumbfounded look of shock.

Weiss and Blake jolted. Like a splash of cold water, Yang's Anger and Frustration were instantly doused, replaced only with cold Shock. Ruby looked up at her sister, breaking out of her stupor when she noticed Yang's hands were shaking. "Yang? What? What is it?"

Yang slowly, so slowly, tore her wide eyes away from the photo, looking down at Ruby. "S-Sis…" she stuttered out. She swallowed thickly, looking back at the photo. She slowly sank back down to the couch, tilting the photo so Ruby could look at it as well.

Ruby gasped.

In the photo, Raven and Summer stood side-by-side, each in their usual battle attire. Summer was positively beaming at the camera, while Raven had a small content smile on her face. In Summer's arms, happily kicking out her legs as she grinned at the camera, was little toddler Yang, her already long hair tied into twin pigtails with orange ribbons. And in Raven's arms… was baby Ruby, her eyes closed as she dozed against the nape of Raven's neck, a miniature red cloak tied around her neck.

Slowly, the sisters pulled their eyes away from the… impossibility before them, twin looks of disbelief on their faces. Raven just smiled back at them, her grin looking frightfully similar to the one in the photo.

"We took that on your first birthday, Ruby," she explained.

Ruby's eyes widened even further. Silently, she took the photo from Yang, the older sister not offering any resistance as she stared at her mother. Ruby's eyes darted across the photo, trying to make sense of it.

"But… if you and Mom were… then how did we…?" Ruby looked from Yang to Raven, her unasked question clear.

Raven paused, thinking over her words. "After Mountain Glenn, we all came to a realization. We had been talking about what we'd do in the future for years, making plans, having dreams, thinking that we had everything all planned out. But that day… we all could have died. Should have died. And Summer… Neither of us came from conventional circumstances, so she always had this little dream of us starting a family of our own later down the line, wanting to know what normal life was like. I didn't think much of it, figuring it was just Summer being her happy-go-lucky self. After that mission… it finally sank in for all of us that we could die any day out there.

"For Summer, that meant realizing that, as Hunters, we didn't have the luxury of 'later'. If she wanted us to make a family, it would have to be soon." She shook her head slightly, remembering. "I wasn't really against the idea. Growing up in the clan was tough, so the idea of raising a child differently… better than I was…" She smiled softly. "It grew on me."

"But…" Yang shook her head in denial. "I know I'm Taiyang's daughter! We have the same eye color. The same hair color!"

"That's because," Taiyang said, keeping a calm smile on his face despite his obvious nerves. "When Summer and Raven mentioned that they were thinking about having kids, I volunteered to be a donor if they wanted."

At that Qrow snorted, a smirk on his lips. "'Volunteered'." When they turned their attention to him, Qrow chuckled. "One day we're all sitting around the dinner table, Raven and Summer telling Tai and me about their problems, when this big lug blurts out like it's the best idea in the world, 'She could have a baby with me!'''

Taiyang let out a loud groan, staring up at the ceiling. "I didn't mean it like that!"

Qrow just laughed harder. "Summer sure thought you did. She nearly took your head off before me and Rea could hold her back."

Raven rolled her eyes at the two, going back to the conversation. "Despite Tai's lack of tact-"

"Hey!"

"-Summer and I agreed that it did seem like the best option. Nine months later… we had you."

Yang sat there, stunned. She looked at Ruby, but her little sister just kept staring at Raven, a lost look on her face. "So…" she started hesitantly, trying desperately to wrap her head around what she was hearing. "Ruby and I are actually you and Summer's kids? And Dad...Tai… you," she settled on, looking pointedly to Taiyang as her words started failing her. "You were… just our donor?"

Taiyang frowned, but then gave a wry smile. "I'm not sure anyone in this family is 'just' anything. They also made me you and Ruby's Godfather."

At that, Ruby shoulders slumped a little, her head dipping down. "S-So, then… that's why you…"

Taiyang understood what she was getting at, and was quick to correct her. "No! No, sweetie, believe me. I saw Summer and Raven as my family long before you two came along. I would have taken care of you two regardless, no matter what." He then shifted a little in his seat, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Though, there is one last thing."

"What now?" Yang ground, equal parts worried and annoyed by… everything getting turned upside down."

Raven sighed. "When Summer and I decided to have a child, we went over all of our options. Adoption was one, of course, but we had it in our heads that we wanted a child that was ours." She pursed her lips as she thought. "We settled on using Taiyang as a donor… but only because we thought our other option was too risky."

Yang blinked out of her daze, asking, "What other option?"

At that, Raven hesitated. She bit her lip, before asking them, "Do either of you know what L-Dust IVF is?"

Yang and Ruby both frowned. For some reason, it sounded familiar, but neither could quite place why. A sharp intake from Weiss drew their attention. They turned to face her, finding her looking between Raven and Ruby with wide eyes. "Weiss?" Ruby asked, Feeling the heiress's sharp Realization and Shock.

Weiss flinched slightly at the sudden attention. She glanced at Blake, seeing her expecting but knowing look, before clearing her throat. "We learned about it earlier this week, Ruby. In Dust Studies, remember?"

Ruby blinked. "Nooo…?"

Weiss sighed in exasperation. "That's what Professor Peach was talking about while you were playing around with Velocity Glyphs."

Ruby blinked again, then scratched the back of her head sheepishly, oblivious to the confused looks Qrow and Taiyang we're giving her. "Oh...right." She shared a brief smile with Yang, who had no excuse outside of just not paying attention in class. She then looked at Weiss expectantly. "So, what is it?"

Weiss hesitated, not sure what to say. She looked towards Raven, finding the woman looking at her with a neutral expression on her face. Raven gave her a slow nod.

Weiss bit her lip, having a pretty good idea how Ruby would react. But if it was true, she felt Ruby deserved to know. Taking a steadying breath, she said, "It's when they take the eggs from two different women, and use Lightning Dust to combine them and start cell division."

Ruby and Yang froze. They slowly turned back to Raven, the picture of disbelief.

Raven smiled back, though it had shrunk quite a bit under Ruby's expression. "Now, the science has come a long way in recent years, but when we were first looking over our options back then, the chance of carrying such a child to full term was around sixty-percent." She frowned at the thought. "Summer and I agreed that we didn't want to risk the life of our first child on a coin flip."

"But…?" Ruby asked, her soft voice rather tight.

Raven looked into Ruby's eyes, seeing the knowing glint in them. She gave a small nod. "When Yang was around nine months old, the SDC made some big breakthrough in the medical field. Dust application in medicine became a lot more potent all of a sudden… including with L-Dust IVF. The success rate jumped from sixty-percent to eighty-five. Knowing that, Summer and I talked it over… and decided to take the chance."

Ruby fell silent. She gave a tiny shake of her head, looking to Qrow and Taiyang, but they couldn't offer her anything different, smiling at her with sadness in their eyes, Taiyang giving her a small nod.

Yang look between the four of them in complete disbelief. "Are… are you trying to tell me that Dad's not her dad… you are?"

Raven couldn't help but quirk her brow at Yang's phrasing. "Not exactly how I would put it, but… essentially, yes. I'm her paternal mother, you might say."

Yang stared blankly back.

Then she exploded.

"Are you kidding me!? That's… I… how the heck does that even work? How can you be both her dad and her mom?! I don't even-"

She cut off mid-gesture when Ruby suddenly stood.

Yang turned to her in surprise, only to feel her stomach drop.

Ruby's eyes were glued to the family photo, her whole body trembling as her hands shook. The look on her face… Yang struggled to find a word better than… lost. With her focus on Raven broken, Yang was bombarded with the Helplessness, Denial, Confusion, so much Confusion just radiating off of Ruby. Blake and Weiss were on their feet in the same instant, Blake looking like she was about to run over and hold Ruby as tight as she could.

"Ruby?" Yang asked in concern.

Ruby's head snapped away from the photo as she stared down at Yang. Yang felt her heart clench at the tears forming in the corner of her silver eyes.

"I-I…" Ruby tried to speak, but nothing seemed able to leave her mouth. She looked around the room, almost frantically at everybody. "I-I don't… you… b-but…" Her eyes fell on Raven, and the tears fell.

There was a flash of red, a loud bang, and rose petals filled the air.

"Ruby!" Yang jumped to her feet, head snapping towards the door out of the room, now hanging limply from its broken hinges. Tai and Qrow leapt to their feet as red rose petals fluttered throughout the room.

Yang's head whipped back and forth, looking to each of the adults in the room helplessly. She locked eyes with Raven, looking so torn. She seemed about the say something, then snapped her mouth shut. With a quick, desperate look to Blake and Weiss, Yang blasted after her sister, leaving her own whirlwind of yellow petals behind her.

"Yang!" Raven lifted an arm out to stop her, but it was too late. Shouts of surprised and shocked students echoed from the hallway, growing fainter by the second. Raven let her arm drop, her face falling as red and yellow roses swirled around her.

She thankfully didn't hear Qrow mumble under his breath to Taiyang,

"...well… that could have gone worse."