Die

Qrow stretched as he headed downstairs, a knot forming in his throat. Silence this early in the morning and no smell of breakfast from the kitchen? Summer and Raven were usually up by now with one of the cooking. Even with as flighty as Raven had been over the past odd year, the two women were usually talking about something .     He headed in and saw a white heap on the table, an empty root beer bottle on the table. This…wasn’t good. Both his sister and Summer refused to touch alcohol when he and Tai drank. They opted for root beer since it at least looked somewhat similar to beer without any of the negative side effects. What had happened to make her turn to her substitute?       He pulled a chair over to Summer and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Damn!” He jerked his hand back from the shock of despair.     Oh hell.     Gods damn it all.     Raven wouldn’t have, would she?     Summer raised her head, eyes red and swollen. Qrow’s heart sank and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.     Yeah, she had.     Summer was behaving far too similarly to after how Raven had been captured by Salem.     He steeled himself and pulled Summer into his arms, ignoring the depths of true despair that swept over him .She clung to his shirt and shook. What the hell had Raven been thinking, abandoning Summer like this? The fury bubbled but he shoved it down. Summer was more important than his own feelings at the moment. HE could bitch, yell, and curse his sister later.     “…What happened?” His voice barely reached above a breath. Right now, gentility was key. Summer was strong, yes, but she was still human in the end. “Dunno… Just woke up when I heard Yang cry in the middle of the night and she was gone…” Summer curled in on herself and he pulled her into his lap fully. Raven had left without a word to Summer? That seemed very out of character for her but… She’d been out of character for the past year so, anything was possible at this point, he guessed…   He just placed a kiss on her head before looking down at her. “…What about Yang?” Raven abandoning her daughter felt so wrong… Sure, she and Tai had been shaky at best but to leave like this… “…I’ll raise her myself. I’ll retire from being a Huntress. I know Ozpin needs my powers, but I think this is more important.” Qrow found himself hardly disagreeing. Yeah, fighting Salem was important, but he already knew Summer wouldn’t leave Yang. He still wasn’t sure what Summer and Raven’s relationship was, but she was all Summer had left of her now. She wasn’t about to throw that away. “…Qrow, please don’t go. I’ll need all the help I can get.” The unexpected request made him tense and the color drained from his face. Why was she asking? If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought she was mocking him. They both knew the truth… He didn’t understand… He pulled back and rested his hands on her shoulders, gaze downcast. “…Summer, you know I can’t. My bad luck would just make things awful. Yang doesn’t deserve that. You have Tai. Who knows; maybe you’ll finally get your chance with him.” Considering she’d be raising his daughter as her own, nothing felt impossible. Everything was upside down and he didn’t know what reality was anymore. She just looked down and he felt the abyss deepen. His heart constricted and he pulled away, throat knotting. It was just too much to stand. “But she needs her uncle…” “Summer, it won’t work. We both know you never loved me.” She flinched back and tears rolled down her cheeks as he mentally cursed himself. It was too damn early and he wasn’t the type for this. Emotions were what Raven was for, not him. He pushed himself off the chair and headed out the kitchen door. Without looking back, the small house soon disappeared beneath the forest canopy. He had a report to make to Ozpin.