A/N: Please read at 3/4th story width. At the time I wrote this, we knew almost nothing about Ruby or Summer Rose, so as the story progresses some things will turn out to be against canon. Keep that in mind, and I hope you enjoy this story.

OoOoOo

Ten little Huntsmen all in a row
Send them off and watch them go

"Hold your fingers up like this, little rose," Summer said with a grin, holding up her own hands to demonstrate. Ruby followed suit, knowing their bedtime routine by heart and eager to play. They pressed their palms together once with a clap, and then held their hands out and open, fingers splayed.

She heard her scroll notifier go off, but didn't pay it any mind. Ever since Summer got the thing it chirped nonstop, updates and messages and downloads constantly appearing on its thin screen. Ruby would watch her pore over it for hours, her eyes scanning news articles and reading, always reading, always searching.

One, two, three, four
Lift up their swords and go to war

They folded over their middle and ring fingers, leaving the index and pinky up. Sometimes Summer would forget the game and turn her thumb in, to make her hand look like a little giraffe. She would tickle Ruby's belly until Ruby laughed so hard, tears flowed.

Five, six, seven, eight
Battle dress and heavy plate

They made two fists now, just their thumbs extended.

Lastly count nine and ten
They rise up.
They start again.

Ruby always did it wrong. "No no no, Ruby," Summer would say. "You're tucking your thumb in again. That's not how you make a proper fist, you'll break your hand punching someone that way."

Ruby made the correction at once, then gave Summer a bop on the nose. She fell over with an exaggerated yell, clutching her face. "Ohhh! You got me! You got me good!" she said in agony, rolling over on Ruby's bed. That was when her scroll chirped again, and again. Looking up in confusion, Summer pulled Ruby onto her lap, cuddling her younger sibling with plenty of forehead kisses. "Now what could that be, at this time of night," she murmured to herself.

"Is it one of your friends from combat school?" Ruby wanted to know, always excited to hear more about the family tradition. But Summer didn't answer, planting another idle kiss on top of Ruby's bright red head. Without another word she got up, lighting up her scroll and glancing through its notifications.

Her eyes widened.

That was when the door opened wide, so loud it made Ruby jump in fright. It was their father, pale as a sheet. Ruby couldn't help but notice he also held his scroll in one hand, messages lighting in faster than the operating system could keep up. They chirped, and then buzzed when he flicked it into silent mode. And buzzed, and buzzed, and buzzed. "Summer," he said, "Something big just came up. I need you to stay here and watch after Rub—"

She had already pulled her cape off the bedpost, wrapping it over her shoulders as she strode towards the door. "No. I got it too. Even students are being called in."

Sliding off the bed, Ruby looked from one to the other. "What's happening?"

"Huntress stuff," Summer said. "You're big enough to stay here alone for one night, right, Ruby?"

"You are not a Huntress," their father reminded her, putting one hand on her shoulder to keep her still as she made to try and brush past him. "All-call or not, you're staying here. This is bigger than you're capable of dealing with."

Her face immediately twisted into a snarl. "I am capable of dealing with this!" she said. "Not that you can see it."

She took after him— both the Rose children did. Thick black hair, with red accents playing at the shadows. Already familiar lines were beginning to form on Summer's face. The pinched, angry expression caused a similar groove between her eyebrows as the one permanently etched between his. Pulling one hand across his face in a very obvious attempt to keep calm, their father spoke again. "This is not the time for this argument, Summer. You are fifteen years old. I'm not risking your life on top of mine. You're staying with Reuben."

"Ruby," Ruby couldn't help but correct him, pulling the blankets off his bed and wrapping them around his shoulders. Half to keep the cold winter night away and half to feel more like Summer. "A reuben is a sandwich."

"Not now, Ruby!" they both snapped at him, except their father said Reuben again. Turning his attention back to Summer, he undid the clasps on her cape. "This isn't a democracy, young lady. You stay here, and you wait for me, and you do as I say until this sudden attitude you've developed—"

She wrenched free from him. "Attitude? Well maybe I'd stop giving attitude if you could be consistent with me!" she said. "You're always saying I'm the best in my class, but you never let me do anything! All the other teachers agree, I should be a year higher at least! What's the point in being special if you keep holding me back?"

"I'm trying to keep you safe," he said. "This isn't like the games you play with Ruby. We're not trying to see who's the strongest rose."

Her scroll screamed, furiously flooding with messages. "Look," she said, holding it up for him to see. "We're wasting time!" Standing a little straighter, she regarded him with a thin smile, eyes shining bright with something Ruby couldn't define. "I'm not going to sit here while there's an all-call in the town next over. I'm going. And I'm going to show you who's the strongest rose."

Before he could do anything else, she activated her semblance, zipping around him and down the hallway. Shouting in fury and concern, he tried to follow before skidding to a halt, torn between his two children. Somewhere further in the house, they heard the main door slam shut. Swearing under his breath, he turned back to Ruby, getting down on both his knees and holding onto his son's shoulders, shaking him lightly to make sure he was paying attention. "Ruby," he said, "You know the rules for staying home alone, right?"

Ruby nodded, uncertainly. "Don't open the door for strangers."

There was a lot more to it than that, but his father made an exception tonight, kissing him roughly on the forehead. "And don't go outside. Be a good boy, okay?"

"Yes, daddy," he said, trying not to hold on too tight to the sudden fear that gripped his heart as his father followed his older sister, and he was left alone.

Normally staying up past his bedtime would have been an exciting opportunity, but all Ruby could do was restlessly pace the halls in his house, touching the familiar markings where their father had cut Summer and Ruby's heights ever since they could stand. It got to the point that the emptiness and silence were almost too much, that he wished he could go to bed. And he tried, lying down under the covers and staring at the ceiling and reciting the nursery rhymes Summer would sing to him every night.

Hours passed, the darkness creeping in. He suddenly remembered the war stories his father told him. All the huntsmen and huntresses who left one day and never made it back. Lying rigid in his bed, Ruby tried to fight an unexpected panic that began to tear through his mind. Finally, when it was no longer night time but very early morning, he heard the door open again.

Shooting from his bed, he raced down the hall to see Summer sitting with her back to the main door, slowly taking off her boots. Shouting her name, he ran into her, landing heavily with his arms wrapped around her neck. She held him back, wordlessly squeezing him tight for reassurance. "Hi little rose," she said, voice cracked and dry.

"Hi big rose," he said back, finishing their long running back-and-forth that they had held since he could remember. "Are you okay? Was it a really big hunt? Where's daddy?"

"Daddy's fine," she said. "I'm fine. He's in the hospital, though."

Terror shot through him again. He gripped her shoulder tight.

"He's fine," she said again. Her cheekbones seemed finer than usual, a deep and tangible exhaustion painting purple shadows under her eyes. "He's fine. He just got a little hurt. He told me to go home instead of stay with him. But he's okay. We're gonna see him tomorrow as soon as visiting hours allow." Grabbing Ruby's face, she squished his cheeks, turning his head this way and that. "Don't worry little rose. We're big hunters. We saved lots of people today."

That made Ruby smile, all doubts wiped away like light chasing away the darkness, and the nightmares they held. "How many?"

She opened her mouth to respond, a weak smile on her face. And then it trembled. She cleared her throat. Cleared it again. And then she put the heels of her hands against her eyes, rubbing them furiously. "A lot," she said, voice cracking. "W-we saved a.. a whole bunch, Ruby. All of us working together."

And then she started crying, so suddenly and so furiously he was certain she had gotten injured after all, and just wasn't telling him. But she wouldn't say what was wrong, no matter how much he asked.

It took him a few years to understand that sometimes, it wasn't always a physical injury that could bruise you bad enough to cry.