Feathers And Petals

A Shocking Descovery

The chill of winter had finally arrived and the Xaoi Long/Rose family was getting ready for the frigid temperatures.
"Ruby, why don't you go get the tree box from the attic?" Asked Tai, Ruby and Yang's father.
"Ugh on my own? It's so heavyyyyy" Ruby complained loudly, although she was already moving to get up from her spot on the couch.
"Oh come on sis I know you can handle it" Yang giggled, taking a sip from her cocoa.
Ruby stuck her tongue out at her older sister and turned to climb the steep latter to the attic.
She pushed the wooden hatch open above her and crawled through the door. Wood creaked beneath her as she stepped along the boards, searching for the box that harbored their ornaments and decorations for the holidays.
Ruby always hated the attic as a child, it was so cold and creaky, so dark and dusty. It gave her the creeps.
Suddenly, a bird fluttered loudly across the room. It was a low ceiling and a small space so it fluttered across her head briefly, scaring her so much she shrieked in fear and ducked to the ground. A loud thud and fading squawking told Ruby the bird had flow out the window and probably wouldn't be back any time soon.
"Is everything okay up there?!" Asked Yang worriedly,
Ruby rubbed and patted her hair where the bird had touched "yeah, everything's fine, but there was a bird living in here and it flew out at me.."
She heard a pair of giggles down the latter and out of eyesight
"Hey! Stop laughing!! It was scary!!" She pouted
"Okay okay bird brains, just hurry and get that box, uncle Qrow will be here soon and we wanna decorate the tree before he gets drunk off eggnog like last year" Yang giggled
Ruby huffed and turned around to sort through the boxes.
It was then that she noticed, in the moment of chaos, a box had been knocked over and the contents of it spilled all over the floor.
She crouched down to pick up the scattered objects when she noticed something strange. There was writing on the box. She dusted it away with her hand to read it more clearly.
"Summer"
Ruby's mouth fell agape. She had been in this attic numerous times and she was sure she had seen every box there was to see, so how had she never noticed this one before?
Hesitantly, she reached to search through the foreign objects.
Her hand first found a small pocket watch. She opened it to find a tiny picture of herself and Yang tucked in the top like a locket. Yang couldn't have been older than three, meaning Ruby herself was at least a year old; definitely too young to remember the picture being taken.
The next few items she found where faded, dusty pictures of team STRQ. One was of Summer taking a photo of herself, Raven and Tai. They where standing close, arms wrapped around each other. They look so young, so free, so happy.
Ruby smiled sweetly looking through the photos of her family, they all looked so content with life. She wished it could have stayed that way...
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a stray picture that lay face down on the ground. She reached to pick it up, but she would never be prepared for what she saw on the other side of the little Polaroid photo.
Her blood ran cold as she saw the familiar forms of her mother and her uncle Qrow, smiling with their lips pressed together. Summer had one eye open and face turned slightly to the side as to see that she was taking the photo correctly. Her lips where parted in a sweet smile as Qrow, with closed eyes, rested his lips softly against hers, sporting a smile of his own. He had his arms around her waist and was pulling her tiny figure close to his own, wrapping her up in a close hug.
Ruby stared at the photo, eyes wide and mouth agape. Her hand was raised to her bottom lip in shock.
She was broken out of her trance by the sound of the front door opening and closing loudly and a scruffy voice jokingly proclaiming
"Honey, I'm home!"
Ruby scrambled to pick up all of the scattered photos and small belongings, and stuff them back in the box as neatly as she could.
She shuffled down the latter as quickly as she could, face even whiter than her usual porcelain complexion. Her state of shock wouldn't be noticeable if not for her eyes still being wide as saucers, and she looked around as if the latter from the attic had led her to another dimension.
Suddenly, a familiar face popped out around the corner
"Hey petal! Come here kid" Qrow said pulling Ruby into a loose, yet loving hug. "Miss me?"
It had been a few months since her beloved uncles last visit, as he had been away on a mission and happened to come home right in time for the holidays.
She shook away her state of shock just enough to return the hug and respond
"Miss you? Didn't even notice you where gone." She said with a smirk
"Oh you little monster" he replied, playfully scruffing her hair.
He led her back to the livingroom where the tree was already set in place. Tai and Yang stood in front patiently.
"Soo what happened to the decorations?" Yang inquired.
Ruby kicked herself for forgetting the whole reason she went up there in the first place.
"Oh uh,," She stuttered " I uh, couldn't find them," she lied
"Ugh fine, I gotta do everything myself around here," yang groaned and went up to get the box.
"Hey hon, what's got you looking so shaken up?" Tai asked, worried.
"Oh, it uh- must have been the bird. I guess" she lied, again.
"The bird?" Qrow perked up from his scroll. He was now sitting on the couch. "What bird?"
"Oh, uh, there was a bird hiding in the attic. It flew out at me and scared me really bad. It flew out the window though."
"What kind of bird was it? Was it black? Maybe a raven?" Qrow pressed
"What? No, just a common robin." She replied
Qrow sat back in his seat, seeming to relax a bit. "Oh. Ok." He grunted and took a sip from his flask.
Seeing her uncle, her mind drifted back to the almost unreal photo she had stumbled upon. She shook it out of her head and turned to the doorway to see her sister holding a medium cardboard box,
"See? Right where it always is you dummy," She huffed.
"Oh, sorry haha! Must have been to shaken up to notice." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"Man that bird really freaked you out didn't it?" Yang worried
"Why don't I get you some hot cocoa sweetie" her father suggested
"That would be nice." Ruby smiled softly at her family and for a brief while, let her thoughts slip away.
Her family decorated the tree, told stories and, those who could, drank quite a bit.
The night was finished by Qrow placing the star on the top of the tree. They all stepped back and looked at the soft glow of multicolored lights reflecting off glass orbs and figures hanging and rotating on the sweet smelling pine tree. It was beautiful.
They said their goodbyes to Qrow, he headed home and they headed to bed.
Ruby had a lot to think about.

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Authors note:
oh my gosh!!! This might be the first thing I've written that I'm really happy with!!! I really hope you guys enjoyed and expect more soon!! Thank you so much for reading! 💖