Ruby took a deep breath, filling into line between the others as they prepared to leave the airship. Back in Vale. As strange as it was, the hunt had been a welcome distraction. She hadn't needed to think about the fact that she was alive. She just had to live, and do everything she could to keep on living. There was a sort of blissful peace to fighting for one's life.

But now she was back. And Weiss was missing.

She wasn't there.

Ruby had to find her.

There was a hissing as the doors unlocked, and steam billowed out from around the latch of the airship. The door lowered from hinges at its bottom, acting as a ramp. Blake was the first out, and Ruby was the last. She blinked as she stepped out of the shadow into the glaring sunlight, squinting as her eyes adjusted and watered a little.

"You never call anymore." A gravelly voice spoke behind her, and Ruby stilled. Then she grinned. She spun around and launched herself at the man who was standing, leaning against the airship, grinning cockily.

"Qrow!" She squealed excitedly as she crashed into him.

Qrow caught her hug and spun her around. Before setting her down. Ruby bounced up and down on her tiptoes, hands clasped in front of her.

"How are you doing? How's it been? I'm so glad you're here! How did you know I was around? Oh! Have you met any pretty girls? Do you have any more stori-"

"I know everything," Qrow cut her off by putting his index finger across her lip. "You should know that by now little red." He looked up at the rest of the party behind them, and Ruby turned. Blake and Pyrrha were smiling lightly, but Yang had her head bowed and was avoiding Qrow's gaze.

"Don't worry Yang, haven't forgotten about you either." Qrow reached into his back pocket and withdrew a flask, similar to his ornate silver one, but with golden flames on it. "Heard you were carrying on the legacy, thought you'd earned this." He tossed it, and Yang caught it reflexively, although it looked like she had just watched someone get shot. Ruby looked between the two of them.

"What are you talking about? Yang doesn't drink."

"Qrow," It was Blake, her voice low. Almost a growl. Qrow leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at her.

There was a tense silence.

It was the middle of the day, but Ruby couldn't help but feel like it was the middle of the night. There were things here, unsaid and dangerous.

"Huh, looks like everyone's going to be having some long talks." He pulled out his own flask, and threw back a hefty swig. "But I didn't just come to see you again Ruby. I had a nice little visit from Winter Schnee the other night."

"As did Jaune," Pyrrha offered politely. Qrow just narrowed his eyes at her.

"So he did. Anyway, she said that Weiss' scroll was somewhere around the redhead's apartment. Which is funny, because the little icicle's been missing for a while now. Any ideas where I might find it?"

"Umm," Ruby scratched the back of her head nervously. "Yeah, I-um, I have it."

Qrow looked at her, cocking his head at a slight angle. It was a habit of his that Ruby had been acutely familiar with since she was a child. Then, she thought it was funny because it made him look like a bird. Now though, she knew it was more contemplative.

"And why would you have it?"

"She and I… She left it for me when I woke up." Ruby spluttered, hardly able to get anything coherent out.

"When you woke up… Huh." Qrow scratched the thin shadow of his beard, but his scarlet eyes still pierced Ruby. She knew she couldn't hide the pain from him. "I think you should give me the scroll for the day. Winter's offered to volunteer her help, and she can run some diagnostics on it. Give us some clue where Weiss might have been recently."

She fished the tablet out of her pocket and held it out to him, but even as he grasped it, she did not release. This was the last piece of Weiss she had. Those letters were the only concrete memory she had of the woman she loved. She trusted Qrow, he had been by her side since the day she had been born, but to give this up…

Qrow could see it in her eyes. The way she offered the scroll gingerly, as if it would shatter at any moment, was almost as revealing as the weary, cracked and broken fragments of her now icy irises. He knew that grief. He was so familiar with that pain. Each and every day, it tore his heart to shreds. Worse than the pain though, was the fear. Ruby was a vole caught in the talons of a hawk. She looked like she couldn't decide between bolting and freezing. The fear would be paralytic.

He remembered that fear. One could not forget it.

Those few days where they didn't know, all those years ago, when Qrow had torn the country apart to search of her. Nary a rock had been left unturned for leagues around Vale. He had charged into the deepest forests, the darkest tunnels, the hellish wastelands between the kingdoms searching, always searching. He had been driven by the hope that he was wrong. But the fear was there, every night.

Every night, even as he destroyed the shadows of the world, those of his mind would snake their icy tendrils through him.

Every night, he had sobbed like a lost child. Because he was. Years of experience with the worst the world had to offer was no preparation for that kind of loss. The abhorrent acts he had born witness to, innocents slaughtered in broad daylight, towns razed and burned, and they all paled in comparison to that injustice with which he had been slighted. It wasn't enough that he had to watch her love another. It wasn't enough that it was his best friend, and he had no choice but to smile and laugh alongside them. Then, the world had to take her away, leaving nothing but the broken remnants of those who loved her, and two small, terrified children.

And then… When he had found her…

Losing Summer had broken something deep inside him. Some fundamental part of his heart snapped that day, and could never be repaired. That fear and pain never left. Their hounds nipped at his heels every day, and those few times he lowered his guard, they tore into his heart. The only difference, is that there was no more hope. The shadows had come, and the light was gone. The best he could do was to try and forget it. He had seen Yang wandering down the twisted and revolting path he himself had been on, and as much as he wished to help her, he knew not how.

And looking at Ruby now, he saw another on the brink of falling to that abyss. The perpetual gut-wrenching loneliness and the ice that crept through the skin every night. That feeling of being sick even when your body was perfectly well. Knowing that no matter how bright the day got, it would always be the twilight where the shadows were longest and not even the stars shone down. When the moon was shattered and the sun forgotten.

Ruby looked so much like her. Like the woman that Qrow knew he loved. He wished he could trade places with her, even now. She had children, and while Qrow had done his best to guard over them and save them, he was too weak to provide salvation from themselves. He never had her strength. He had failed with Yang. She was twisted and ruined, just as he was.

But Ruby… He could save her.

She needn't have said a word. Qrow could see the depths of her love for Weiss in those eyes. His nieces had already lost too much. He would not let the last ray of light die in her.

He brought Ruby close and hugged her tight. He could feel her shivering. She would not be sobbing. Tears were cathartic, and nothing could alleviate her suffering now. Nothing but the touch of the woman she loved.

"Hey, it's alright." Qrow whispered fiercely, a fire igniting deep inside him that had been snuffed out eons ago. Something he thought he had lost forevermore. "I'm going to bring her back to you."

Ruby hugged him tighter, and Qrow ran his hand over her head comfortingly. They stayed like that a long time.

She leaned back and held out the scroll. Qrow pocketed it, and tried to give her a reassuring grin. But now was not the time for smiles. There was a steel resolve in him now. Here, he would not fail.

He strode over to Yang, looking between her and the faunus. Blake, if his memory, impaired as it usually was, served. He could see the fire in her eyes, and she practically bristled. The flask had been offensive. He studied Yang's lavender eyes carefully, and something caught his eye. There was hope in there. He looked back to Blake as he began to walk past her.

"Take care of her. Save her, if you can." He whispered, quietly enough that only her faunus ears would ever hear. He got a twitch of them in acknowledgement. Maybe Yang wasn't lost quite yet either. He shouldn't be surprised. Both Yang and Ruby were strong. Stronger than he'd ever been.

He couldn't save Summer. He couldn't bring her back.

But he could save her daughter, just maybe. If he was lucky. And though it would never be enough to pull him back from his hell, it might be enough to help him bear the rest of his life with some vestige of peace.

Short chapter here. I've been having a lot of issues writing lately, and I'm sure it shows. Everything's not coming out quite right. I may take a bit of a break before the next chapter, just to let myself mentally reset.

Anyways, here's a little insight to Qrow. He's going to serve as an interesting character I think. As I'm sure you're starting to notice, there's heavy imagery of dark and light in this story. Qrow's someone who's resigned himself to the shadows. He doesn't believe there's any way for him to be happy again. But he's still fighting to help others achieve that.

There is a very important chapter coming up. That's why I want to take a break. There's just a few big things coming, and I want to do them justice.

Sorry for the quality this time round. Hope you enjoyed anyways.

-Unjax