It's been a great run with you all! Thank you to everyone that joined us for one last celebration. It has been such a pleasure being able to host this event for the past 5 years & all the contributions throughout that time have made it all the more special!
We hope to have been able to bring some joy within the fandom with this event, so we encourage you all to check out everything that has been shared this year & all the previous years!
Thank you for joining us!
⬇️ View the read more below for answers to some questions about the future of this account.
What will happen to this account?
This account will remain open as an ARCHIVE through the years! If you’d wish to have access to prompts from previous years, then feel free to check out our Prompts Page !
2. Would you give this account away to someone else?
We will not be giving this account or the @rosebird-week handle away to another user. If anyone would like to keep the Rosebird Week tradition going, then we highly encourage you to do so under a new username!
3. Would you host more events if RWBY were to continue airing?
No. There are no plans to return to hosting this event. The mods have other priorities & keeping up with managing a ship week has become difficult. Let it be clear that the current status of RWBY had nothing to do with this decision. Thank you for understanding!
4. Can someone else host a new Rosebird Week event?
ABSOLUTELY! Rosebird is a ship that many enjoy so if anyone would like to continue the Rosebird Week tradition, then we encourage you to go for it! And if you'd also want to host the event in September feel free! Regardless, we wish good luck to anyone that decides to host a new event!
It's been a great run with you all! Thank you to everyone that joined us for one last celebration. It has been such a pleasure being able to host this event for the past 5 years & all the contributions throughout that time have made it all the more special!
We hope to have been able to bring some joy within the fandom with this event, so we encourage you all to check out everything that has been shared this year & all the previous years!
Thank you for joining us!
⬇️ View the read more below for answers to some questions about the future of this account.
What will happen to this account?
This account will remain open as an ARCHIVE through the years! If you’d wish to have access to prompts from previous years, then feel free to check out our Prompts Page !
2. Would you give this account away to someone else?
We will not be giving this account or the @rosebird-week handle away to another user. If anyone would like to keep the Rosebird Week tradition going, then we highly encourage you to do so under a new username!
3. Would you host more events if RWBY were to continue airing?
No. There are no plans to return to hosting this event. The mods have other priorities & keeping up with managing a ship week has become difficult. Let it be clear that the current status of RWBY had nothing to do with this decision. Thank you for understanding!
4. Can someone else host a new Rosebird Week event?
ABSOLUTELY! Rosebird is a ship that many enjoy so if anyone would like to continue the Rosebird Week tradition, then we encourage you to go for it! And if you'd also want to host the event in September feel free! Regardless, we wish good luck to anyone that decides to host a new event!
Woop woop woop Day 6 Knight/queen is up, I'm officially 3/4 of the way through, only just 2 more days to do with fall from grace and free day coming up next. I hope you all very much enjoy this, and as always check out @rosebird-week for more information/other submissions
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Okay I know this is a little late but I went to a concert on the 26th and it completely threw off my writing groove. In other news the concert was amazing, and there's a lovely new addition to my rosebird week submissions. Ik it's technically finished now but better late than never.
This is Day 5 Noir/Detective
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
As always check out @rosebird-week for more info about rosebird week and to view other submissions. This has been really fun to take part in and yes I will try and do the other (4?) days despite the fact it’s finished. It may just take a little while.
We hope you all enjoyed this year's set of prompts & thank you to everyone that joined us for this event! While we make arrangements for the final send off, be sure to check out everything that was shared this week.
⚠️ If there's still something you'd like to submit don't hesitate! We just ask that you directly tag us with @rosebird-week so we don't miss anything!
We hope you all enjoyed this year's set of prompts & thank you to everyone that joined us for this event! While we make arrangements for the final send off, be sure to check out everything that was shared this week.
⚠️ If there's still something you'd like to submit don't hesitate! We just ask that you directly tag us with @rosebird-week so we don't miss anything!
Summary: Back home with the tribe during Beacon's summer break, Raven's tried to build up her resolve not to get close to her partner: once her mission is complete, their bond is going to be severed, after all. But one look at Summer Rose brings every feeling she refuses to admit she has rushing back to fill her head and lead her astray.
Written for @rosebird-week Day 8 (free day).
~0~
“You’ve gotten faster!” Kite crows, right before showing off exactly how little that matters by lunging in before she can react, catching Raven with an uppercut, bolstered by her fistful of heavy rings, that slices the end of her chin.
Only the end, though, which is better than what she was getting about a year ago. Much as part of her feels better under the sun and sky, the entire world open around her, than she does in the Beacon gym, she can’t deny that she got a lot more done within dark walls and under eyesore lights.
She ducks back, tucking her chin further in and going low — Kite typically prefers her fists, it would be perfectly natural to assume she’s recovering from her near miss by doubling down, lunging in again and swinging her other fist into the side of Raven’s head. Unfortunately for her, it’s the same kind of feint that stopped working on Summer after only two tries, and she herself has gotten good enough at reading movements to realize that it’s a kick from the other leg that’s coming for her instead.
It’s not a hit she’d like to take, but better to risk eating it for a chance to win than get knocked down. They’d stayed over an hour later in the ring than they’d planned to, but insisting that Summer show her what she’d done after the third time had not been the charm (well, at least for Raven it hadn’t).
When Kite’s leg rises up, she's already a push away from off balance: Raven charges in close, grabbing her around the neck with one hand and an arm with the other. As her body collides with Kite’s, she manages to plant one foot and hook the other around Kite’s remaining leg, pulling it out from under her and shoving her to the ground.
Kite’s back hits the grass, but Raven doesn’t even get a moment to be proud of herself for pulling it off, let alone move back, before her other boot flashes out and slams Raven’s stomach in. She drops to her knees, coughing for breath, as Kite bounces back up and shakes dirt out of her hair, long copper ponytail swinging back and forth.
“Look at you! Since when did you get all gutsy?” Kite says cheerfully, as if Raven’s not doubled over trying to brace herself and keep from retching at the same time. She lurches back when Kite leans down, but it’s only to grab her arm and pull her to her feet. “All right, at ease.”
Raven’s shoulders only relax when Kite goes for the pack she’d left in the grass several feet away instead of for a sucker punch, digging out a brown glass bottle that the label has long worn off. As she goes to her own corner, such as it is, she rolls her eyes at the obnoxious glugging sounds from the other side of the clearing: the sharp smell means either paint-peeling moonshine or the world’s most horrific homebrewed energy drink is in that thing.
She takes the opportunity to rest a bit, crouching down in the soft grass. Sweat soaks the sarashi under her shirt, and the square sheet under that is sticking conspicuously to her skin.
Damn it, now she can’t stop thinking about it: what else exactly had Summer done on the training floor? She doesn’t like hand to hand, even when she’s good at it, but she’d seemed to start having fun once she’d started trying that style that let her dance around the ring for most of the fight and then throw Tai over her shoulder with a crash that shook the stands…
She knows it won’t help to jog her memory. But still, with another quick look over her shoulder to make sure Kite is still busy destroying her liver, she can’t resist slipping it out. Just for a look.
The photo is sort of blurred: they’ll have to take a better one sometime, maybe with all of them, Qrow had suggested, which had caught her off guard. They’d been in their dorm room, on Summer’s bed: before they’d gotten the idea to just push all the beds together to make one with enough room, it had been a tight squeeze to get close enough to do their work in peace. Just the reasonable thing to do, she hadn’t thought that deeply into it.
So it hadn’t really hit her that it was anything special when she laid down, head on Summer’s thigh, while the two of them parsed through a chapter of their History of Mistral textbook. Or was it Vale? Somehow the actual material they’d been trying to memorize has completely slipped her mind. The softness of her skirt, the warmth of her body, the hand on the back of her neck so light and careful, betraying none of the brutal strength its owner is capable of...that’s what sticks.
Summer had been in the middle of repeating some weirdly worded line, trying to parse the meaning, and Raven had been in the middle of watching her, when Tai’s excited call and the glint of his new Scroll made them both look up. Summer’s eyes are wide and bright, and her grin had come reflexively, it seemed. As for Raven...
She’s not quite glaring at the camera, but she’s not so quick to smile as Summer, either: it leaves her looking bored at best and annoyed at worst. She wonders if the others agree. She wonders what kind of look she’d had just seconds before, that had been worth trying to capture in a picture.
Raven swallows, and tries to remember how Summer’s hands had felt in her hair. Something she had known for sure.
She had had to cut it back above her shoulders as soon as she and Qrow returned to Anima: thick as it is, keeping it short has always been the only way it’s at all manageable out here. Maybe she shouldn’t have recoiled for quite so long when Summer approached her with a brush and various sprays that absolutely nobody asked her to spend what little money she had on. Much as she’d grumbled about how long “doing her hair” had turned out to take, it had been...nice, to have someone take the time on her. It had felt quiet. Easy.
(Gentle and safe are words she isn’t ready to think, let alone wrestle with, just yet.)
The memory alone is enough that she forgets where she is now for just a moment too long.
“Hm? What do we have here?”
She gasps — the sun’s at the wrong angle, or rather, Kite had come in at the right angle to not throw a giveaway shadow over her — and presses the photo to her chest just as her leader throws an arm around her shoulder, very purposefully crashing into her from behind. Raven bites the inside of her cheek in time to cut off what would have been a very undignified yelp.
“A good luck charm? You’re not the one who needs that.”
Kite’s other hand swoops down to grab it and have a look, like her namesake snatching up a mouse. But Raven is already scurrying away, pressing the photo hard to her chest. Once she thinks she’s far enough away, she shoots Kite a glare over her shoulder.
Kite raises an eyebrow. “What’s the matter with you? Can’t be that embarrassing a picture, can it?”
“It’s none of your business,” she snaps, hoping it doesn’t sound too defensive.
“All right, if that’s how you want to be.” Kite smirks. “A girl can have her secrets, after all.”
Raven dramatically rolls her eyes, covering up her sigh of relief as exasperation, and turns to go get her own drink of water. At least, there better be water —
Slam. Something soundless and strong collides with the backs of her knees so hard they buckle instantly, knocking her back down to the ground. Her arms flail out reflexively to catch her, and she does, her open hands smacking against the hard earth.
“Just not from me.”
Both her palms and her pride smarting, she spins around and rushes her. “Kite!”
Kite doesn’t even look at her as she thrusts a palm out into her forehead and shoves hard, sending her stumbling right back onto her ass. She’s too busy inspecting the photo she’d snatched out of the air, her boot innocently toeing at the dirt. “Don’t yell at me, you’re the one who turned your back.”
Her heart pounds far harder than it ever does in battle as she scrambles back up. Another charge might actually piss Kite off, or worse, let on just how badly she wants her to take her eyes off that photo. She’s not worried that her leader will destroy it. No, the indulgent smile slowly spreading on her face is much more terrifying.
“Aww…” she purrs. “Is this your little partner?”
Raven bites the inside of her cheek hard, trying to look more angry than scared as Kite turns the photo around to face her, thumbnail pressing into Summer’s bare neck.
“She’s so cute. Did you pick her out yourself?”
“…Not exactly how it works over there.” Raven can’t help but smirk too, remembering how she’d barely touched down on the red grass of Forever Fall before a hundred pounds of Summer Rose had dropped out of the sky onto her head. “It’s worked out, though.”
“Yeah? How’s that?”
“Just look at the picture.” Raven helpfully nods at it. “She likes me. She makes things easy for me over there.”
“Oh, does she?”
“She used to live outside the kingdoms too,” she goes on, hoping Kite can’t hear the way she cherry-picks the information her leader gets about her…leader. Damn it, she told herself she wouldn’t start thinking like that. “Sanus, so she doesn’t recognize our name. This is the first time in a while she hasn’t been all by herself, I think. She’d probably have latched onto anyone who gave her attention. Good thing I got ahold of her first, huh?”
“Mm…gone and stolen her heart already, have you?” Kite snickers. “Want to bring her back here when you’re done?”
“No,” Raven snaps, trying not to show just how the question throws her. Even if it wasn’t obvious bait, everything in her revolts at the idea of Summer anywhere near this place, of Kite’s eyes on her for real. Like lightning striking water, a mess that’s liable to destroy everything near it.
“That’s right — we have a different plan for her, don’t we? Show me how you’re going to do it.”
Raven blinks. “Show…you?”
Kite smiles in a way that doesn’t reach her eyes, and every syllable comes light and deliberate, as if reminding a child of a very basic lesson. “When you graduate, you’re going to kill her, right?”
“…That’s the plan,” says Raven, levelly as she can. She hasn’t forgotten: Kite’s explanation of what she expected from them when she sent them over the ocean has played over and over again at the back of her head since they left. Still...the cold truth that this part of her life will have an ending, let alone that one, doesn’t feel quite real.
“That’s my order.” Still grinning, Kite tugs a hunting knife from her belt and tosses it to her. She’s done it enough times before that Raven catches it by the hilt easily. “Now show me.”
She grips the knife, tight in a hand still damp with sweat, and says as dryly as possible, “If that’s what you want, why not give me a gun?”
Kite laughs loudly enough to ease some of the tension in Raven’s shoulders. “Where’s the fun in that? Come on, now.”
Raven had been hoping that she would keep Alder sheathed for today. No — Kite draws the bronze gunblade with a flourish, turning it to watch it gleam in the bright spring sunlight. She’s never fired it during a sparring match before, but the fact remains that it’s always loaded. Both twins have been trained to dodge bullets, and it’s something she’d prefer to do as little as possible. No better way to do that than —
Kite’s throat is guarded by a metal plate around her neck, held fast by a bandana. Her face, however, is bare and grinning: a target more enticing than any Raven has encountered before. The knife is more fit for gutting bears than fighting another woman, seven inches of steel with a wickedly sharp tip, but it'll do just fine here.
Alder is longer, broader, and she spends more time dodging it than she does trying to get a cut of her own in, but she’s better at finding her windows here than she was just a year ago too. She supposes she’s got Sundered Rose to thank for that: after handling a gun on one side and an axe on the other in sparring match after sparring match, one blade is nothing.
(Kite’s plan is working after all, one traitorous — or doggedly loyal — part of her mind reminds her.)
Still. She’s got a lot to learn.
She’d been aiming to give Kite a slash on the shoulder or arm — not enough to constitute a threat from an heir in such a shaky position, but just a reminder that she isn’t to be taken so lightly. But her leader is her leader for a reason, and she spends most of the next few minutes on the defensive, still too slow to reach her fleeting openings before Kite’s blade is swinging up at her, and she’s forced to scramble back again.
When Kite twists around and aims another good kick at her chest to let her know the round is over, she’s quick enough to throw up her arms and take the blow with her bracers instead. The heels of her boots dig into the dirt, but she manages to stay on her feet even as her bones ache. Even the flare of Aura that keeps them from bruising doesn’t exactly soothe it.
“Not good enough.” The snap is common enough out of Kite’s mouth that it’s long since lost its sting. It’s her drawing that damn picture out of a bandolier pouch that has Raven’s heart dropping down into her stomach. “At this rate, even this little purse dog you paired up with could get the better of you. Is that what — ”
Before she can finish her sentence, Raven lunges forward and slashes several feet too early, tearing through the air and disappearing into a whirl of blood red. Faster than she can blink, she’s up behind Kite’s head, finishing the swing of her blade for the side of her neck.
It’s a half-hearted attack: she knows better than to think that she can actually land a killing blow on Kite, and she’s not at all surprised when she’s fast enough to jump out of the way, brandishing Alder to ward off any further attempts to stab her. None come, though: Raven lands on her feet and pointedly slides the knife into her belt loop, looking Kite in the eyes.
“This was all your fucking idea,” she reminds her leader, doing her best to make every word bite. “Don’t send me there and then turn around and tell me I don’t have the guts to go all the way.”
“All right, no need to bite my head off about it,” Kite snickers, giving Alder a showy little spin before sheathing it too. She goes on, digging in her bandolier pockets again, “These are the people training to grab the bread from our mouths, I need to know you won’t forget that no matter how cute you think they — eh?!”
She blinks at her own hand, as if expecting it to explain to her why it’s come up empty, before thinking to look up at Raven, who’s already beating a hasty retreat. Feeling Kite’s eyes on her back, she turns on her heel.
“Sorry,” she chirps, entirely shameless, as she flips the recovered photo around in her fingers, just like Kite had: now she and Summer are both grinning at her. “You’ll at least let me hang on to a memory?”
Kite snorts, but allows it, putting her hands on her hips. “You could at least give me my knife back.”
“Nope. That’s mine now too.”
“Well, use it right, understand? There’s a supply truck coming in from Hanabishisou, to those new guys trying to set up shop by the water. Most of it’s seeds, but the rest of it’s rice, lumber, guns and ammo. I think we need all that more than they do, don’t you?”
Raven’s thoughts immediately start racing, homing in on the most obvious weaknesses. “So they don’t have proper walls?”
“Nope, they’re trying a bit too late to build some up.”
“Any guards?”
“That’s the thing. Somebody there must be loaded, because they shelled out for a whole team. Fresh out of Haven,” Kite says with a smirk. “How about you and your brother show us what real Valean Huntsmen can do, hm?”
She bites the inside of her cheek, one hand reflexively drifting to her sword hilt. Right. This isn’t a training exercise. It’s her job. It’s what’s real.
Easier, a voice at the back of her head hisses, and she wants to smack it.
“Raven.” Kite’s voice isn’t playful anymore. Her eyes, as always, search her face for weakness. Well, she won’t fucking find any.
“What,” she deadpans back, mirroring her leader’s pose. “I’m thinking about it, Kite, I’m the one who has to sneak in and funnel all you assholes in through—”
Kite’s dramatic sigh cuts her off. “Not that.”
She pointedly stares at Raven’s other hand, and it’s only then that Raven realizes that her palm is stinging. Her fist was closed so tight over the hard plastic of the photo that it’s bent in half, its corners digging into her skin. Her heart jumps, but she manages to keep the shock off her face.
Well. Not that that does her any good.
“If it helps,” Kite says, deceptively light and casual, “you have my permission to make sure she doesn’t die a virgin.”
Raven can’t help the choked, outraged noise that escapes her, and she knows instantly that it’s pointless to hope that the sickening heat that floods her body doesn’t show on her face. She doesn’t waste time at all thinking about why this is her instinct: what matters is the subtle shift in Kite’s tone that means she’s inviting a fight, the way her fingers close deliberately around Alder’s hilt.
They mean that she can drop the knife, draw her sword and charge in without a thought other than winning, losing herself in the clash of blades and the burn of combat. That she can swing as hard and relentlessly at her leader as she can and be following orders at the same time, never having to think about whether it’s what she wants to do, or whether she could raise her blade this easily to her other leader.
~0~
Breathing in the ocean air still hasn’t lost its novelty, nor has the freedom of not even having to watch for pirates when they’re out on the open water. (Kite still tells the story of the one time that she’d shot one right off the deck of his ship from up on top of a cliff with only a sawn-off; well, this ship’s got cannons.)
She’s got her back to the city, steadying hands on Qrow’s shoulders as he’s doubled over the edge of the dock, twitching and green in the face, when she hears the voice ringing from across the street.
“RAVEEEEEN! QROOOOW!”
She spins around so fast she nearly kicks poor Qrow off into the harbor, and still, she’s not quite fast enough to lift her arms before her entire body is caught in a bear hug. A forehead nuzzles at her chest for a moment, and then Summer’s face is popping up just inches from hers for the first time in almost two months. It’s the same as the last time she saw her — if quite a bit more sunburned — so Raven sees absolutely no reason why her heart should be jumping at it.
“You made it!” Summer’s practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. “We barely heard from you — we were starting to think you weren’t coming back!”
“Glad you survived,” Tai is saying, having crossed the road a bit less recklessly than Summer. He crouches down to pat Qrow on the back. “Your old lady wouldn’t spring for an airship after all, huh?”
Qrow makes a noise between a cough and a retch. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Flying has gotta be easier than this.”
Raven’s about to cut in with something — she doesn’t know what, just something — to change the subject from where they came from and the woman who is not quite their mother, when the feeling of her hair being brushed back tells her it’s too late for that.
“Are you hurt?” Summer’s eyebrows furrow as she runs her fingers over the edge of the half-healed cut on Raven’s hairline. “What happened?”
Raven twitches back, trying at a careless smile. “Fishing accident. Don’t worry, it was deeper than I’d like, but it’ll go away soon.”
Qrow is occupied staggering to his feet, one arm slung over Tai’s shoulders and hanging on for dear life, but he does back her up with a quivering thumbs-up, that welded-together mess of junk he calls a scythe clanking on his back.
He hadn’t been anywhere near so shaky back by Hanabishisou: she’d been holding her own just fine against the last Huntsman standing when the bastard’s flail lashed out and caught a lucky shot across her forehead. Shutting her eyes in spite of herself, she hadn’t even had time to be afraid before an arc of grey flashed through his chest. When his body dropped to the ground at her feet, there was her brother, breathing hard, the other end of that scythe just far enough that the spray of blood only hit the toes of his boots.
(Kite had cackled when she heard about it later, smacking Qrow on the back and teasing him for putting as much distance between himself and his kill as possible. Qrow hadn’t answered her, hadn’t even looked at her, but had sure leaned into the hand that moved up to ruffle his hair.)
They’re doing their job. They’re doing it perfectly. Of course the sympathy in Summer’s eyes and the softening of her touch makes her stomach roil: it’s nothing that’s meant for her.
Gentleness doesn’t exactly come easy to her, but she pushes aside her partner’s hand with as much of it as she can. “You worry too much. And what about you guys? Didn’t you say you were spending the summer in a shack or something?”
“It’s Tai’s house!” Summer cries, theatrically offended. “Don’t be mean to it, it’s not its fault it got left like that!”
“It is kind of a shack though,” Tai mutters behind them, looking somewhat sheepish. “Like, it’s habitable, but it needs a lot of work.”
“Better than tents, I bet,” Qrow mumbles into Tai’s shoulder.
“Way better!” Summer agrees. “It took a bit longer than we thought to clean up and inspect everything for damage and all that, but we did have some progress on the floors and a little on the walls? I know they have to come last, but I think it would be cool to put up some cabinets in the kitchen!”
“Definitely way better than it was in the pictures I showed you. Or at least it’s going to be. And honestly? Doing all this home makeover stuff is better than a workout.” Tai brightens, and points at her like an announcer introducing a champion. “Summer! Show ‘em the guns!”
With a proud grin, Summer steps back and flexes, letting her short sleeves fall back and show off the new definition of her shoulders and arms. She strikes one ridiculous bodybuilder’s pose after another, rapid-fire, while Tai whoops and eggs her on with every one.
Raven should be filing all of this away in her head, like a bird of prey watching movement on the ground. Thinking about how much faster the swings from Sundered Rose will come, how she’ll slowly but steadily be able to tough out longer battles, how quick she’ll have to be to slice those arms in two to make sure nothing is in her way to the final slash that Kite is craving, that is her duty. Instead some part of her is pushing all that down and away, into the same place as every dream she’s ever forgotten.
Instead she’s laughing, like she’s one of them, like this is supposed to be happening. Summer’s eyes positively glitter at the sound, unfamiliar to them both, and playfully she bounces over and throws an arm around the back of Raven’s neck, putting her in the loosest headlock she’s ever felt.
“What’s funny?” she giggles, looking as if she’ll never stop smiling. “You think I’m funny? I’m a joke to you? Put ‘em up, I could take you!”
A year ago, she thinks, she would have pushed Summer into the water for that. Then again, a year ago, Summer wouldn’t have had the nerve to come out from under her cloak, let alone joke and tease any of them like this. Nor would Raven have even thought of leaning down into the embrace, face in the side of her neck: her hair is softer than she remembered, and she still uses that cookie dough scented body wash she’d made fun of her for all last year.
Do you think she’d let you touch her at all if she knew you? Kite’s voice lilts at the back of her mind. Don’t forget, you’re not who she thinks you are.
Raven closes her eyes and takes in a short, steadying breath. Before that thought has time to sink in, before she has to fend it off, Summer’s shoulder bumps gently against her cheek, and her voice makes Raven open her eyes to look.
“Oh — that reminds me, while I was going a little nuts with the saws — !” Summer’s reaching back with one hand into her bag, unwilling to take the other off of her partner. “It’s not that great, I did screw up the finishing touches a bit, and I still have to figure out how to paint it, but…”
She fishes out a small wooden picture frame, oversanded in some spots, all the sides not quite the same width, but recognizable for what it was nonetheless. Inside lays that photo, the image of her head on Summer’s lap shiny and unblemished as the day they’d picked up the hard copies from the store.
Summer’s eyes are practically glowing with excitement. “I wanted you to see it first! Don’t you think it’ll look good in the dorm?”
A rush of heat overtakes Raven’s whole body. She thinks of her own copy, soft and faded and sweat-stained, its creases leaving indents in her skin where it still presses against her chest. And here she’d thought she treasured it.
“Good you kept it, yeah,” she agrees. It’s second nature to smile like this, to cover up whatever’s twisting inside her, its bashful touch even easier to add. “I don’t know what happened to mine.”
Maybe she shouldn't have made that sound quite that casual. Summer blinks, and for a second Raven expects to have to endure some chastisement, or worse, some hurt noise like something small got stepped on. But she loads back up again quick.
“Well, don’t worry, this is both of ours now!” She slides the frame into the bag on Raven’s belt — it’s just big enough to fit it — and tugs on her hand. “Come on, let’s go see how it looks on the new dresser. We unpacked a little bit, but we really wanted to come meet you! The second-year dorms aren’t that much bigger, but they have an extra couch in the common room and they left a bowl of candy on the table for everyone moving in, the good stuff, which is really nice of them — !”
Raven won’t ask whether they’ll need to push the beds together again: either she’ll wait for someone else to do it for her, or move them herself while they’re out and see what happens. Besides, right now, she’d rather let a voice she hasn’t heard in weeks upon weeks wash over her without interruption: it had taken months for Summer to talk this unrestrainedly last year, even to them.
It was a wonderful honeymoon. A full week of alone time with the love of her life.
If they didn’t have any responsibilities, Summer Rose and Raven Branwen would spend their days just in each other’s embrace.
But sadly, it was time to head home.
But their sadness of having to leave was short-lived. They’d get to go home and spend time with their wonderful daughters! Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long (Damn Tai for forcing that name on her. Yang Branwen was so much better).
And they said they were preparing a party for the two. Their wedding anniversary was a big celebration for them.
“C’mon, Rae!” Summer called to her wife, “We gotta get home. Yang just texted me. She and Ruby just baked some cookies for us. We need to get there before Ruby eats them all.”
Raven nodded as she caught up. She opened a portal and the two stepped through and back home…
Raven woke up to see the battle in front of her. Someone had pulled some kind of new grimm off of her. A grimm that gave her the vision of her dreams. She must’ve gotten ambushed or something.
To her left was Yang and her new girlfriend tearing apart grimm.
To her left were the Schnees using their glyphs and dust to hold the line.
And right in front of her was Ruby. Leading the charge against the grimm. It was the final stand against the gods. Well, god. The God of Light had declared that this was the end of humanity. He didn’t want a humanity united against Salem. Or against any kind of common threat. No.
He wanted a humanity that was united in worshipping him.
His brother’s final action was to strip him of his divine power. He could now bleed. He couldn’t just hit the reset button on everything.
Salem’s corpse was behind her. Her immortality gone, she couldn’t maintain her grimmified body any longer.
The grimm were no longer hers or the God of Darkness’ to command. It was now all on him. The God of Light.
Some light. He was a selfish being. He didn’t like it when people went against him, no matter how justified.
He let Salem run rampant. He made the monster that took away Summer.
Raven sighed as she grabbed her blade. She felt a warm hand grabbing it too. It felt like Summer's hand. Right there to fight alongside her one final time.
Summer Rose. The one who was stronger than her. The one who made her realize that she could be more than just strength. The love of her life. She looked up, but didn’t see anything. A remnant of that illusion maybe?
Raven smiled, “And I was having such a sappy dream too.”
She had to keep moving forward, for the promise she made.
The god’s violent intentions had to be erased.
She wished Summer could see her now.
But she knew.
Summer’s gentle light was shining on all of them now.
She couldn’t save Summer. But Summer’s daughter?
She could do that.
Even if it meant joining Summer in the afterlife. No. Especially if it meant joining her. Ruby was carrying on Summer's legacy in her own way. She'd fight to keep that going too.
Another random moodboard for Rosebird Week 2025. Today was “Free Day”, so, since, I could do whatever I want, I decided to do a summer romance on the beach. 🏖️
It's the final prompt of the year! Our prompt for Day 8 is Free/Collab! Did anyone collab with each other or are you using this free day to draw something else?
As always if you plan to participate be sure to keep your works SFW & tag your posts with #rosebirdweek and/or @rosebird-week!
So I was planning to have a more in-depth, completed Rosebird fic ready to post today, but unfortunately that just didn't seem to happen.
Though I did manage to finish the main/juiciest/angstiest part of it, so I figured I'd go ahead and post that today anyway XD
---
“And…” Raven trailed out, unable to help thinking about a worst case scenario, “What happens if I fall, and you… can’t pull me out of it? What if… they were right about me?”
Raven was sure she would have to push Summer hard on this. That her partner would immediately deny that such a thing could happen at all.
But instead, as Raven turned to Summer with a haunted, uncertain, scared look, her partner went quiet. Looking away from her partner, Summer spent a moment in silent thought.
Raven felt a small bit of relief that Summer was willing to give her an honest answer. In truth, there was only one answer that Raven was looking for, only one answer that she could even THINK was even possible. But it was something she needed to hear from Summer.
That if Raven turned out to really be the monster her former family thought she was, that Summer would do what she did best. As a slayer of monsters…
And yet it seemed that as she so often did, Summer managed to surprise Raven.
“I guess…” Summer finally spoke in a quiet voice, “if that really did happen…” Summer looked to Raven with a small, melancholic smile.
“I’d just fall right along with you.”
---
Also, this idea was partly inspired by a theory post I did a couple months back that should probably give a bit more context if anyone's curious:
💬 0 🔁 25 ❤️ 59 · So here’s an interesting little theory spun out of a recent conversation between myself and @tumblingxelian:
Looking bac
“Raven Branwen. I never thought I’d expect you of all people to be a bride with cold feet.”
Damn Tai. Damn him and his way of knowing what would get under her skin.
Damn Qrow. Damn him and the way he helped Summer propose.
Damn Summer. Damn her pretty hair, gorgeous eyes, kickass weapon, tasty lips, and- What was she doing again?
Raven blinked and looked in the mirror. She was wearing a white wedding dress. If any member of the tribe saw her, they’d ask how far she had fallen.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. Some had asked how hard she had fallen, and made fun of her for it.
Big bad Raven Branwen was now in a wedding dress.
And sweet cute Summer Rose was in a dress. A dress way better than hers.
She couldn’t fall any further from grace if she tried.
Of course, Summer would hardly call it a fall from grace. Not that she could talk, she was the one in the hot dress!
“C’mon, Raven. The sooner that you get this done, the sooner you can let Summer top you.”
“Dammit Tai, I am not a bottom!”
“You are for Summer.” Tai said.
Raven sighed, “No way Summer’s suffering with my dumbass of a brother as much as I am with you.”
…
“Dammit, Qrow!” Summer was fuming.
“It’s not that bad…” Qrow said.
“How the flying fuck do you end up staining a black dress!?” Qrow gulped. Summer had rarely cursed. Even in the face of grimm. But when she did… It usually didn’t end well.
It was arguably as bad as when Raven was pissed off at him for when several shingles fell on her when Summer proposed.
Scratch that, it was worse.
Summer looked like she was torn between crying over her ruined dress and murdering him. As much as he didn’t want to see Summer having a breakdown, Qrow was hoping it was the former.
“AUUUGHHHHH!” Summer dropped to her knees, “The dress’s ruined, and it’s our wedding day! This isn’t supposed to happen! Why? It feels like fate just keeps conspiring to keep me and Raven from being together.”
Qrow rolled his eyes, “Okay. Now you’re just being overdramatic. I’m sure we can fix this.”
Summer’s lip quivered, “Do… Do you really think so?”
Qrow smiled, “I know so. I’m not about to let my best friend lose her chance at happiness, even if it is with my sister.” He looked around, and saw one thing that could potentially fix it, “Hey, I got an idea.”
…
Raven steeled herself. Whatever was about to happen, it was going to be big. Summer had apparently said something about a minor delay, so Raven was in for a big surprise.
Then she saw it. Summer Rose in a tuxedo.
She was so stunned that she could only focus on Summer throughout the ceremony that the officiate had to snap his fingers to get her attention.
“Do you?” He asked.
“I do.”
For Summer, it was a day of nearly falling from Grace.
For Raven, it was a day of falling from Grace… But who cared when she was about to be carried off in the arms of the woman she loved?
“I’ll be back later,” Summer said as she gave Taiyang a peck on the cheek. “Ozpin wants me to check a few things out.”
Taiyang nodded and sighed. “Alright. But please, no more late night missions.”
“I promise.” Summer watched as the door closed in front her, her smile falling into a glare. “I know you’re there.”
“Summer Rose, lying?” Raven said with a smirk as she dropped from a tree branch. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“I told you I didnt want to lie to him-”
“But if he knew what you’re doing, then he’d stop you,” Raven interrupted. “And you dont want to let him see what you’re becoming.”
“Its not… he would understand…” Summer looked away from Raven. “This isnt about that and you know it.”
“So you’re not lying and sneaking around behind his back-”
Summer glared at Raven and pushed past her. “I’d be doing this alone if I didnt need your semblance to get in and out quickly.”
“Can you blame me for having a little fun?” Raven asked as she drew her blade and created a portal. “You know just as well as I do that there’s no turning back once we step through. We’ll have to commit-”
“I’ve already made my peace with it,” Summer interrupted as she stepped through the portal. The warm, summer air she was used to abruptly became a chilly breeze as she looked around the forest just outside the Branwen camp. She took a deep breath as she listened to the portal close behind her and Raven’s footsteps on the fallen leaves. “What do I need to do?”
Raven smiled and started to walk away from the encampment. “First, you have a few trials you need to get through to show that you’re worthy of joining my tribe. There’s a village not too far away that’s been giving us trouble even after a few new huntsmen came to check out some grimm attacks. I need you to get rid of them for us.”
Summer looked at her curiously. “What can I do that you cant?”
“Ozpin already knows that I abandoned him for my tribe and made sure all the kingdoms knew that I was a threat. You, on the other hand, are still in his good graces. Which means you can walk right in and make sure they’re not a problem.”
“I never agreed to kill anyone!”
“And you said you’d do anything for me to keep your little… problem… a secret and agreed to join my tribe. This is part of joining my tribe. Unless… you want Ozpin to find out what Salem did to you.”
Summer growled at Raven, her nails turned into claws for a brief moment before going back to normal. “Fine.”
Raven smiled and motioned for Summer to go. “I know you wont disappoint. Oh, and no using your eyes if any grimm show up. We still dont know what’ll happen to you if you do.”
Summer nodded and made her way towards the village. Thankfully, it wasnt far from the camp. The village itself was bustling, and as she walked through the village streets, she looked for the huntsmen. When she finally found them, she quietly followed them to the inn. She took a deep breath and gripped the hilt of her axe as she watched them, waiting like a hungry predator.
Once they were near their rooms, she struck out as quickly and quietly as she could. She shivered as the blade of her axe slid through the first one with ease, no time for him to put up his aura to fight her off. But the other three with him put up a fight. Summer grunted as she took a quick strike to the chest, her eyes staying on her prey. As her heart pounded in her chest, her vision started to get cloudy. Soon, everything went black and the sound around her was muffled.
When her vision came back, her body was nearly frozen in place as she pulled her hand out of the huntsman in front of her. Her fingers shook as she watched blood drip from her claws and her eyes followed the black fur that ran up her arm and to her elbow. She quickly turned around as she heard a scream from behind, the owner of the inn standing at the stairway.
Thunder cracked outside the inn and storm clouds started to form over the village as Summer made her way into one of the rooms and out the window. By the time she had made her way to the edge of the village, bandits had started to set fire to the buildings, pulling out the supplies they could. Food, water, clothes… if it had use for the tribe, they pulled it away and packed it up and off towards the tribe.
“I knew you could do it,” Raven said from behind the mask she wore. “The first of many victories.”
Summer glared at Raven, and yet, she couldnt stay angry at her. “I’m only doing this until we find a way to fix me.”
