The Conquerors bloodline

Chapter 144: The Xiao-long Rose household

Summer's heart was pattering a mile a minute as she took step after laborious step down the dirt road connecting the main village of Patch to her home further in land on the island. It was all familiar to her but different at the same time. The trees were taller and more vibrant, the road more compact from the feet that had treaded upon it.

There was even a slight difference to the smell, the pollen of the plants was stronger, though that was more than likely due to the time of year it was than any real massive changes.

She had separated just half an hour earlier from Parc and the others, leaving them at the docks with enough Lien in hand to get her to Patch and back, as Parc had said. For whatever reason that was necessary, she was unsure, Tai wouldn't be stingy to come and pick him and Ferry up when he learnt of what they had done for her.

Summer had thought of bringing Ferry with initially but after a bit of convincing from Parc saying that she should go to him on her own. For some inexplicable reason, she felt there was something more to it than just wanting to give her and her family some alone time to talk.

Crossing her hands over her heart, Summer let out a trembling breath. The anticipation and nervousness sending her body back to its shakiness but still she brought herself forwards, deeper into Patch and closer to her home, to her family.

It wasn't much longer when the log cabin came into view, it was a two story, block shaped house with the aforementioned logs making up the outer appearance of the building. Outside, beneath the two bottom floor windows were the wooden flowerpots she not so subtly forced Tai to build so she could plant some roses. The irony being something she absolutely relished in.

"You haven't changed a bit," it was calming to see the house in such a good state. It at least meant that Tai hadn't completely lost it after her disappearance. When she saw the lights still shining in through the windows of both floors she knew that Tai and the others were still up.

Steadying her heart with a few quick pats, she approached the door. Hesitant about bringing her knuckles to rap against the wood but finally doing so after hyping herself up with a single fist pump and a mumble of reassurance, "you can do it Summer. He'll open up and you just say 'Hi,' and everything will go back to normal."

Or, at least she would have if not for the click and creak coming from the door that sent the hair on her hackles skywards and she threw herself to the side, flurrying away in a burst of red and white petals that were quickly swept away with the wind.

"Why did you run Summer! It's just Tai!" She whisper screamed to herself while slapping her cheek, stood now around the corner of the house and out of view to the person who had come to stand outside. Slapping both her cheeks at once she whispered, "alright, let's go," and went to step out from around the bend.

But as fate would have it, something stopped her as when her head passed the bend and turned to the door did she see not Tai, not Yang, not even Ruby, but a woman she didn't know. She was pretty with flowing, curled pastel purple hair. On her lips the remnants of wiped off lipstick and on her cheeks the faint hue of pinkish blush.

She was dressed in a nightgown, a cute, but sensual set that frilled out at the bottom and hung loosely to her knees. From the side Summer could tell she was a very pretty woman with vibrant eyes that always seemed to be alight with the vibrancy of life.

Clasped lightly in the woman's hand was a stopwatch, whether or not it was ticking she didn't know. Nor did she have the chance to see when the woman's head tilted her way after a soft crunch of leaves alerted her and Summer quickly dashed back around the corner.

"Must have been the wind," Summer heard the woman mumble. Her heart now furiously beating in confusion. Who was this woman? Was she the new owner of the building? had Tai moved away with her girls?

He couldn't have, could he? There was one way to make sure, she could hear some things coming from inside the house, not particularly audible to her but enough to let her know there were people awake. Moving to a window not far from her, Summer tilted her head over and peeked inside, her breath hitching as she saw two blonde haired individuals inside.

One, the familiar face of Taiyang, though more wrinkled and with paler hair than before. But the other, though much older and much, much more different than she remembered was clearly her Yang, her little dragon.

Her hair messy but in a stylish way that hung to her hips in a very reminiscent manner to her birth mother, Raven. Though unlike Raven, Yang took after Tai in the colour department earning her almost sun bright blonde hair. Yang was dressed in a yellow tank top with some fiery emblem emblazoned on the front that really accentuated her very apparent bosom, something she got from Raven no doubt. For pants she wore an equally as accentuating pair of black boys' shorts that even from so far away Summer could tell would clearly put her crack on display.

"Oh my god," Summer exclaimed, "she has boobs. Damn you Raven, why did you have to be the lucky one," she grumbled and squeezed her own chest. Quickly returning to sanity with a weak smile as she watched the tuckered Yang who looked to have been roused from bed and Taiyang chatting. Still outside was the woman whom Summer was still confused about.

"Three two" she could hear the woman's voice resound from the front, counting down as another, sharper, air splitting noise rapidly shot passed the woman and into the house just milliseconds before she could utter the number one. "Two minutes thirty-eight!" the woman's voice softened behind a slam of the door shutting behind her as she returned into the house. "You're getting faster hun."

Summer was still latched to the sight of her family inside, but now all her attention had been taken by a red petal blur left panting and clasping her knees. It was a young girl just two years younger than Yang as well as being a clear opposite with stark black hair tipped in red. Smaller even just a bit so more than Summer herself and dressed in a black and red accented gothic skirted dress. On her hip a belt upon which hung Summer's own Rose family emblem and from her back came the bright red, hooded cloak Summer had made for the girl prior to her birth.

"Ruby!" Summer excitedly exclaimed, tears now falling unhindered from her eyes as she gently stroked across the girl's cheek in the glass of the window.

"You will never believe what just happened!" Ruby panted out, her eyes sparkling as she animatedly threw her arms around, launching into a tirade of her night. "So I was at the Dust store reading through the new issue of Weapons weekly, there was this really cool segment about a new dust blend that's more explosive than compressed blast dust and I really want to buy some and see how it works with Crescent Rose-"

"Ruby," Tai tried to interject but was admonished when the purple haired woman teasingly slapped his arm, silencing him.

"-but as I was reading it this man came into the store and tried to ROB me." eyes widened, Yang's though turned to one of amusement, "I was like Hwah, yaah, hwacha!" karate chops ensued, "but the big bad ran away in a bullhead. Then this weird lady came out and threw fireballs at me! I nearly got burned when this really mean lady saved me. She ended up taking me to the police station where she put me in this small room with a bright light that hurt my eyes and nearly hit me with a riding crop. It was a really well-maintained riding crop, but it would have still hurt!" On and on Ruby spoke with very few if any breaths in between her rapid fired words.

"But then, out of nowhere Professor Ozpin came into the room with a plate of cookies and offered to let me go to Beacon early! So I accepted and now I've got to go pack my bags oh god, I am not prepared at all!" And just like that, the hyperactive girl disappeared into a red flurry that ran up the stairs where numerous loud crashing noises came from.

"Did anyone understand any of that?" Tai looked between Yang and the woman who sat practically on his lap getting a shrug from her and from Yang an actual answer.

"I heard something about a robbery, two ladies, one mean, one weird and then something about going to Beacon early wait what?" Ticking noises filled the house, quite literally from whatever it was Ruby was doing upstairs.

As realization came to the three, Ruby reappeared at the bottom of the stairs with bags stuffed to bursting in each arm and herself covered in many layers of extra objects and satchels that she couldn't fit into them.

"Yeah, we don't have time to go through that," Tai mumbled, his head shaking with an exasperated tone thinking he'd need to be giving Ozpin a call in the morning. For now though, he had other issues to deal with. "Ruby, could you come sit down please." Tai indicated to the couch upon which Yang was already sitting with legs crossed. Tai and the woman having taken a single seater with Tai sat on the chair while the woman took the arm rest.

"Uhhh, yeah, sure, why not," Ruby shrugged, her bags dropping as she burst towards the chair, flumping into it right besides her sister. "Hey Yang," Ruby leaned to the side.

"Yeah Rubes?"

"Is it me, or is dad acting weird?"

"I don't think you have any right to say that after what just happened."

"Alright," as the two sisters whispered between eachother, Tai and the woman shared a look, their hands overlapping with one another as Tai spoke. "So, as you two know I have been dating Mauve for a very long time now."

"Yeah, she's like, the best not-mom in the world," Ruby blurted, getting a small twitch from the now named Mauve's cheek.

"Thanks Ruby."

"You're welcome."

Tai chuckled, his hand growing tighter around Mauve's, "yes well, what if we were to turn that 'not-mom' into just, mom?" Tai's expression grew brighter as confusion and shock grew to Ruby and Yang's expression respectively. Watching as Mauve lifted up her hand and waggled her fingers to show off the large, diamond ring on her ring finger. "I asked Mauve to marry me, and as you can see, she said yes."

Silence filled both the inside and outside of the building. Silence which soon gave way to one yelp of glee and one loud groan of 'finally!'

Outside, Summer crumbled to the ground, unable to even hold onto the wall to keep her up as she spun and landed on her bottom, back to the log wall. Her eyes blank and dead like a fishes. The tears of happiness at seeing her family gone to be replaced by sorrow.

She didn't listen any more, the words ran through one ear and out the other and as if she were a machine set to a routine, she rose to her feet and began hobbling down the road. The moon to her back and stains of tears dashing the ground behind her. Each rapidly drying into nothingness.