RWBY: Tale of Two Roses

Chapter 6: Hearts Bloom

Ruby and Aries are training in Forever Fall. "You getting tired yet?" Ruby taunts.

"No, I could go a few more rounds." Aries retorts. They go around searching for more grimm to hunt. "So, this is how you trained, huh?"

"Yep, used to spar with my brother but when he left this is all I had. Although it gave my scythe it's name, "Wolfsbane"" Ruby snickers and Aries shakes his head. "Yeah a little odd but it works. Beowolves were the ideal targets. Not too big, not too easy. And they kept me on my toes. This thing made mincemeat of them."

"It definitely seems intimidating. Two blade heads, yikes."

"I could have experimented more with that. I was tempted to work with a flying guillotine orientation but it made it hard to operate." Ruby nods and they continue to walk. They get to a clearing and take a break. "This place is truly beautiful." Ruby looks over at Aries which is staring into the forest. "The leaves around our house turn like this, but only before winter. It's the most beautiful time of the year. But the trees around here stay like this all year." He smirks. "It's amazing." Ruby looks around her and smiles. "Yeah, it is pretty, isn't it?" Aries stands up and walks over to a tree and focuses. A small chunk of wood comes out as he pulls his hand away, causing some red sap to leak out. "That was cool!"

"This part of the tree is denser. It's called a knot. By tugging on the knot it broke away from the less dense wood around it. Allowing me to form a hole." He dips his pinkie into the hole and sucks on it. "Just as sweet as the books say it is. C'mere." He waves her over and takes her hand. He places one of her fingers into the tree and she tries it. "That's really good!" They stand there, tasting the sap for another few minutes when Aries senses something. He draws his scythe to his hand and unfolds it. He spins around and chucks it and it digs deep into a tree but whatever he had sensed had disappeared, leaving him baffled and Ruby shocked. "Aries what the hell?!" Ruby shouts.

"I coulda sworn I sensed something tailing us." Aries responds, confused. He pulls the scythe back to himself and folds it back up. Qrow lands on a branch and morphs back into a human. "Geez, he nearly took my head off with that. He's definitely no joke. But he seems to have problems sensing me as a crow. Guess I'll have to be careful." Aries takes one of his depleted water bottles and fills it with the red sap. "I bet we can make a nice syrup out of this." He insists. They start on their way when he senses that presence again. This time he grabs it with Telekinesis before spinning around and charging it. Stopping his scythe short of slicing Qrow's head off. "Oh, Mr. Branwen. My apologies. I'd sensed someone tailing us for some time and I feared the worst."

"Aries, it's fine. And enough with the formalities, I changed your diaper, y'know. Call me Qrow." Aries nods. "As you wish, Qrow."

"Uncle Qrow, why were you tailing us?"

"I was keeping an eye on you two to make sure you stayed out of trouble. But I can see Aries here can definitely handle himself if need be so I'll take my leave." Aries reaches into his bag and hands the sap to Qrow. "Here, go ahead and take that with you. Wouldn't want to draw undue attention to ourselves." Qrow nods and leaves. The two continue on. They encounter a small pack of beowolves but dispatch them with ease.

Qrow returns to the house with the sap and lays it on the counter. "Honey, I'm home!" He jokes. Summer comes down the stairs and sees Qrow. "I thought you were tailing Ruby and Aries."

"I got found out, he really is a good huntsman." Qrow compliments.

"Y'know I think he's taken a shine to Ruby." Summer jokes.

"Oh, has he now?" Qrow replies.

"Yeah." Summer laughs a little then continues. "He, he kept blushing the whole time he was talking to her when we first arrived at his place. He was trying WAY to hard to make it look like he didn't like her. If he said something that could be taken even slightly wrong he instantly clarified it. It was adorable." Summer continues to laugh but Qrow goes into "daddy mode" and starts thinking of ways he could skin him if he even touched Ruby. "Oh, Qrow relax. I think it's adorable. And, hey, maybe he's who she needs. Someone her own age she can talk to.