STRQ (A RWBY fanfiction) [Book 1]

Epilogue

We arrived at Tai's house late afternoon the next day. Raven was already there talking to him on the porch.

"I see you beat us here," I said.

She smiled a little. "Did you forget my semblance?"

"No. I'm surprised you even showed up. I thought you were desperate to return to your tribe. Plus you didn't sound too enthusiastic about this," I replied.

Qrow took my hand and looked at me. "Let it go. What matters is that we're all here. Let's do our best to enjoy ourselves."

I kissed his cheek. "Right. So what should we do first?"

"Well, I did make us tons of food and I'd hate it to go to waste," Tai said.

"Wow. You can cook, Tai?" Qrow asked.

Tai responded by playful pushing him.
I laughed and Raven giggled a little.
I walked inside and looked around the house. There was a fully furnished living room, as well as an upstairs. We followed Tai into the kitchen, where the table had been already set up. The food was laid out on the counter. Various vegetables, fruits as well as other foods that looked like main dishes.

"Wow... this food looks so good!" I exclaimed.

Qrow was about to respond when he accidentally bumped into the table, causing a glass to fall. It shattered into tiny shards all over the floor.

"Dammit," Qrow mumbled. "Stupid semblance."

Tai walked over and retrieved a broom that was leaning against the wall.
"You're cleaning that up," he said, holding out the boom to Qrow.

"Where are the cups, Tai?" Raven asked.

Tai gestured to the cabinets above the counter. Raven walked over and grabbed a cup. She sat it where the former cup stood.

"There. Hopefully this will be the only thing Qrow breaks today," she said.

"I heard that," Qrow replied, still sweeping the floor.

After the floor was swept, the four of us sat at the table. While we ate, we joked and laughed about the crazy events that happened to us throughout our time at Beacon.

"I really am going to miss things like this," I whispered to Qrow.

He sighed, looking a bit sad. "Yeah... me too. I guess it was bound to happen. Things can't last forever."

"Maybe you're right..."

I shook my head and did my best to smile. I wasn't going to let my own feelings ruin the rest of today. It was late afternoon when we finished eating. I helped Tai clear the table and wash the dishes.

"Thanks for the food," I said to him. "It was great."

He smiled at me as he set a plate onto the drying rack.
"It's no problem. I was worried none of you would show up."

"I'm honestly surprised Raven showed. She seemed to have no interest at all..."

"Yeah. I'm glad she came. Now you can take that photo you've been wanting to take with all of us," Tai mentioned.

My eyes widened. "I almost forgot about that! How are we going to set it up? And how are we going to print off a copy for each of us?"

"I think I have an old printer and a tripod in the shed I believe. I'll go look."

Tai went outside, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I heard the door open a few seconds later.

"Hey," Qrow greeted.

I smiled at him. "Hi. Are you having fun?"

Qrow laughed a little. "As much fun as I can. Actually... there is something that's been bothering me."

I took his hand. "Tell me. If there's anything I can do to help, you know I'll do it in a heartbeat."

"Thanks. That mean a lot. Um... since I'm not longer with the tribe, I don't really—"

"Summer! Great news! I found them!" I heard Tai yell from outside.

"Can this wait, Qrow? I want to get a picture of us before we leave," I said.

Qrow's face fell a bit. "Yeah... of course. Let's go outside."

We walked outside of the house to find Tai fixing up the tripod.

"Okay, That should do it. Raven is hooking up the printer, she'll be out in a few minutes."

"Thanks for doing this, Tai. I appreciate it," I said.

"It's no problem. Besides, I don't think we've ever really taken a photo of all of us together like this."

Raven came out a few moments later.
"The printer's done," she said.

"Great! We should take a photo in front of that tree," I said, pointing to a tall tree that stood near the house.

"Sounds good to me. Do you want us in a particular order?" Qrow asked.

I thought for a moment. "How about me, Tai, Raven, and then Qrow?"

Tai shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

I got my scroll out and set up the the camera to automatically take a few photos and then quickly ran to my place beside Tai.

"Make sure to smile, Raven," I said.

"Whatever you say," she mumbled.

I smiled at the camera as it flashed a few times. After a few minutes, I took my scroll off the tripod to look at the results.

"Hmm... not bad. Let's get these printed!"

I sprinted toward the house as the others followed me. With Tai's help, we are able to print off four copies.

"Here you go," I said, handing Tai a copy.

Tai took a look at it. "We don't look half bad. I'm going to have to frame this later."

Qrow took a copy and put it in his pocket. "Thanks, Summer."

I smiled. "It's not a promblem. Do you want your copy, Raven?"

Raven hesitates a bit before taking the copy from me.
"Thanks... I guess," she said.

"Will we ever see you again?" Tai asked.

Raven shrugged. "I guess we'll have to see, won't we?"

Tai sighed. "I guess. Take care of yourself, okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. See you later."

I watched as she turned into her corvid form and flew off.

I took Qrow's hand in mine gently. "Where are you going to go after this?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Since I don't live with my tribe anymore, I really don't have anywhere to return to. ...I guess I'll just have to—"

"You can come live with me," I suggested.

He looked shocked. "What? In your apartment? I couldn't. I don't want to be a burden..."

I kissed his lips. "You're never a burden, Qrow. I wouldn't offer if I wasn't up to it. I care about you, and I want you to be safe. And I don't think it's safe for you to be on the streets."

Qrow smiled. "If you insist. I promise to keep you safe, too."

I hugged him tightly. "I love you."

He kissed the top of my head. "I love you, too. Very much."

I looked up into his dark crimson eyes. "Ready to go home?"

"You bet."

We said our goodbyes to Tai and headed toward the train station. One of my hands held Qrow's while the other gripped my photo in my pocket. Things were starting to look up.