Qrow's Little Secret

Chapter 4: Ruby Rose

After learning about who Summer, Raven, and Taiyang were, Jaune, Nora, and Ren were a lot more careful around Ruby. She seemed to not be all there and they didn't want to lose her completely. Therefore, there was little talking amongst the group, the only conversation being that of where to go and how much longer. Qrow still continued to mumble throughout the day. He seemed to slipping away little by little. He very rarely was conscious enough to speak. He was way too weak to stand and when night came, someone would always have to be on night watch to protect him.

Jaune, who at first wasn't very fond of him and didn't really care for him, now understood what he meant to Ruby and would protect him by any means necessary. But he knew that if they didn't find help soon, he would die.

"How much father?" He asked.

"I don't know. Without the map, we have no clue." Ren replied.

"Well, where is the map?" Ruby asked.

"Oniyuri, where we fought Tyrian. We were so caught up in making sure Qrow was okay that we forgot it, again." Nora replied, heavy-hearted.

Ruby looked away and down towards the ground as tears began to fall from her cheeks.

"Ruby," Ren said, causing Ruby to look up, "I'll carry Qrow with Jaune, you go on watch."

"No, I got this. I want to be as close to him as possible." Ruby said.

"Ruby, you've been carrying him for over 5 hours now non-stop. You need a break." Ren said.

"No, I have to do this. I have to save him." Ruby said.

"You can't save him if you're too tired to fight if you carry him for this long. Please." Ren said.

Ruby sighed. "Fine."

Jaune, who was at the back, heard Qrow mumble something again.

"Summer...please...don't die..."

Jaune looked up. Neither Ren or Ruby had heard what he had said. He still hadn't told them about Qrow apparently having a kid and this just added to the mystery. Jaune just stared at him, trying to figure this all out.

"Jaune." A voice snapped him back to reality. It was Ren. "You good?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking." Jaune replied.

Flashback 16 years ago

"Push, Mrs. Rose. Push!"

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Summer screams echoed through the walls of the room.

"Ugh. Do I really have to be here for this?" Qrow said, standing in the corner wearing a scrubs outfit.

Summer looked at him angrily. "It's your fucking kid!" She yelled.

Qrow just looked away. Not for long he thought. Summer's screaming brought him back to reality. There were in the maternity ward of the hospital. Summer's water broke a few hours ago, and now she was in the middle of childbirth. Both of them had seen some weird shit out in the fields but for Qrow, this was the worst. While Summer's aura was protecting her from some of the pain, it wasn't completely blocking all pain. She was surrounded by three doctors/nurses, trying to assist her in any way possible. They had her hooked up to all sorts of machines but Qrow was most worried about the heartrate one.

"Doc, why is her heartrate so high? Is that normal?" He asked

"Her body is under a lot of stress right now." The doctor answered back.

"That doesn't answer the question." Qrow snapped back.

"Yes, it is normal for her to have an increased heartrate." The doctor looked at the monitor. "However, that seems to be a bit higher than normal." The monitor read 165 BPM.

"Could it be because of her aura trying to block the pain?" Qrow questioned, slightly panicked.

"Wait, is she a Huntress?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah." Qrow answered.

"Oh, then that makes total sense. Yeah, it's normal." He turned to Summer again. Come on, one more big push." He said.

"AhhhhhhHHHHHHH!" Summer yelled before crying could be heard. Qrow walked over to doctors who were holding the newborn. They were washing it off and wrapping it up.

"It's a girl! Congratulations."

The doctors gave the baby over to Summer, who was now calmer. Qrow walked over to her and the both look at their little girl.

"Look, she has your eyes." Qrow said.

"What are we going to name her?" Summer asked

"Ruby, remember. Ruby Rose." Qrow said, happily. They looked at each other and smiled. Right now, Qrow didn't care about anything else in the world, only his two girls in his life. He knew that they would make him a happy man.

"Qrow, I...I..." Summer began.

Suddenly, life reared its ugly head again. Qrow looked up at the heart rate monitor.

165...178...192......0.

A loud, monotone beeping sound came over the monitor. He looked back at Summer. Her eyes were closed and she lay there motionless. No...not now. Please. A sudden explosion of commotion brought him back to what was happening.

All the doctors and nurses were rushing over to Summer, yelling things at each. At some point, the baby was taken and Qrow was lead out of the room by another nurse into a separate room. He could hear the baby crying was it was wheeled out and down the hall to the infant ward. This made Qrow begin to cry. The man who could take on any beast without breaking a sweat, was on the floor of the room weeping for his wife, his little girl, his curse.

"WHY?!" He yelled at nothing. "WHY?! WHHHHYYYYY...."