Chapter Text

Qrow couldn’t sleep. He was lying awake on the hardest mattress he had ever felt, underneath a few scratchy blankets. He was in an inn a ways outside of Vale, the cheapest one he could possibly find, so he felt as though he couldn’t really complain.

He had been sent by Ozpin to investigate reports of unusual Grimm activity in this area. Sure enough, Qrow had spoken to some locals about it, and they had strange tales to tell. Grimm that seemed to come through locked doors, and species that had never been seen before. There was one small girl that he met, probably around Ruby’s age. She had been attacked by a small Grimm while playing outside. While she had not been seriously injured, she had been left with a strange scar and had not spoken since the attack.

But despite all the villagers had to say, Qrow could not find any evidence of the creatures of Grimm themselves. He was now staying overnight on what was meant to be a day trip. Every time he considered going home without answers, he thought of the small girl with the strange scar. So now, he laid in bed, the room spinning from the alcohol coursing through his veins.

He checked his scroll again. It was 2:34AM. Qrow decided that he would let Ozpin know in the morning that he planned to stay in the area for a couple days to do more research on the mysterious Grimm. Ozpin was a light sleeper, and in the past had lost entire nights of sleep after being awoken by Qrow’s nocturnal updates. He chuckled at the memory. All of a sudden, a different memory rushed over his mind.

Using both hands, Qrow quickly navigated to a hidden folder on his scroll, where he kept a certain something stashed away. It was the only picture he had of Winter. In fact, because they had never exchanged contact information, it was the only evidence he had of her.

The picture was perfect. He had snapped it while she wasn’t paying attention, in her kitchen the morning after her promotion ceremony more than a year ago. She was standing by the stove, her long white hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, wearing a white apron over a soft blue t-shirt and white lace panties. The picture highlighted the curve of her ass and her long, long legs. Her head was turned slightly towards him, as she was just realizing that he was taking a picture of her. In the moment after he took it she had rushed up to him, laughing while insisting that he shouldn’t take a picture while she was “such a mess” and then kissed him. After all this time, the picture still took him back to that moment.

Qrow had no shortage of sexual encounters with beautiful strangers, but he held onto this secret picture because it was different. Sure, it was sexy. It captured perfectly the feeling that he felt when he and Winter were together, that she was too beautiful to be real. But that wasn’t quite it. After a life of casual dating and even more casual sex, he was constantly drawn to the domesticity portrayed in the photo. It was a tiny glimpse into another life, like time borrowed from a parallel universe where things were different. But there was one more thing that made the picture so precious. It was so rare and striking to see someone like Winter, who constructed a public persona to hide behind, completely undone.

He closed his scroll, but the feeling lingered. Even more restless now, he rolled over to his other side and closed his eyes. Qrow knew sleep wouldn’t come, though. He stood up and opened the window, letting the warm summer air rush into the stuffy room. Outside, the sky was full of stars. He hadn’t seen them lately, due to the light pollution of the kingdoms where he spent most of his time. It was strangely comforting.

As he leaned out the window, a breeze came through that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Something wasn’t right, even though Qrow couldn’t quite figure out why he knew. From his many years in the field as a Hunter, he had learned to trust his instincts. He quickly dressed and packed his bag, grabbing his sword on the way out.

It felt good to be out in the night air, but the feeling of uneasiness had only grown as Qrow exited the inn. As he made his way into the forest, he realized what had tipped him off to begin with: the silence was complete. There were no birds chirping, no small animals moving, even the crickets were silent. Something was afoot.

Another breeze came and went. As it settled, Qrow heard the sound of large wings beating. His mind was racing now, his muscles tightened and he stood defensively, trying to identify the source of the sound without drawing too much attention to himself. He could do a lot more damage to the potential target with his weapon in its scythe form, but the sound would draw the enemy to him in an instant.

He heard the wings a second time, louder and closer. Qrow slowed his breathing, remaining alert but calm. He had figured out the general direction in which it had come from, and he squinted through the darkness to try and make out something. His heart dropped as he saw two large, red eyes open.

Qrow stepped backwards very quickly. Never taking his eyes off the unknown creature of Grimm, he took aim with his weapon and fired three quick shots directly at the eyes. It did not recoil or shrink back from the injury, but leapt towards him in one large bound.

As it came into the moonlight, Qrow recognized it as one of the strange creatures that the villagers had described. It was huge, with the body and mane of a lion and large, fleshy wings. It let out a great roar.

I’ve got to keep it away from the village, Qrow thought to himself. He shifted his weapon back into sword form and ran towards it, taking aim for its neck. The sword connected, but before it could cut deeply, the Grimm threw him off with a swing of its back foot.

He rolled into the fall, ending up crouching on his feet. Qrow took a quick moment to scan the Grimm for weak points. He was unsuccessful, and the opportunity passed as the creature launched its counterattack. As it jumped towards him, preparing to swipe him with its claws, Qrow caught of a glimpse of its long, white teeth. He decided to take a risk. At the last second, he rolled forward out of the way, swinging his sword into the creature’s back leg.

It collapsed where Qrow had been a moment earlier, crying out in pain. He hadn’t quite severed the leg, but he had done a fair amount of damage to it. The Grimm returned to its feet, limping but more focused than ever. Backing up, Qrow took aim with his gun, but it seemed unaffected by the bullets once more.

Now that he was facing the village once more, he could see that people were watching him from the windows of their houses, holding onto one another in fear. Qrow shook his head, consciously remaining calm and focused. For Hunters and Huntresses, panic and fear could be fatal mistakes. He moved quickly in a circle around the creature, still searching for some kind of weak spot. Finally, he found it. Something glowed on the back of its neck, nearly hidden by the thick mane.

But it wasn’t going to give him an opportunity to strike it. The creature turned around quickly and ran at him with full force. He barely dodged it, trying to formulate a plan all the while. He focused on the point where he had already wounded the creature. If he could strike it there again, he could take advantage of the spare moment and hit the creature’s weak point.

A second later, Qrow got his chance. The creature roared again, different and louder than the previous ones. He ran forward and slashed the wounded leg once more. As it recoiled, he leapt on top of it and plunged his sword into the glowing mane.

He felt the creature collapse to the ground, and he knew he was successful. Qrow looked up, triumphant, to the window of the house nearest him. But the people in the house weren’t looking at him. Their faces were struck with horror, and the small girl with the scar was pointing to something behind him.

Qrow knew exactly what was about to happen. He couldn’t run to safety, there was no time. He heard the sound of wings beating behind him, and he braced himself. Against his better judgement, he turned to face the creatures that his enemy had called out to. He saw many pairs of red glowing eyes, and a claw coming towards him a second before the world went black.

---

Qrow almost returned to consciousness. The world was hazy and spinning in the unique way that it did when he had lost too much blood. Indeed, he could feel that his chest was wet with it. He clenched his body, bracing for a fatal blow, but it never came. A familiar pair of boots approached him. Raven.

Seeing that his eyes were open, she crouched down to speak to him. If he had been able to, Qrow would have sighed. He would never hear the end of this from her. She never liked adjusting her plans to help someone else, especially him.

“Don’t get involved with this, Qrow,” she said in a deadly whisper. It was not a suggestion, it was a threat.

“With what?” He mouthed, not able to make sound come out of his lungs. He wondered if any of his internal organs were damaged, but his body was still numb from shock.

Raven was annoyed by the question. “With this,” she grabbed the collar of his shirt for emphasis, disregarding the fact that it was soaked with blood. “I told you not to get in too deep with Ozpin, but you didn’t listen.” She let go of his collar with a small shove, and he fell onto his back. Pain suddenly shot through his entire body, blinding him, and he felt himself begin to lose consciousness again.

“No one will make it through the storm that’s coming,” she warned, “not him, and not you.”

---

When Qrow opened his eyes again, he was laying in another unfamiliar bed, and the sun was out. Instinctively he looked around for Raven, even though he knew she would have left him in the woods to live or die. He was in a tiny room, clean and nearly bare. When he looked around he discovered that he was hooked up to an IV, and his chest was heavily bandaged. He wanted to call out to someone, to ask them where he was and how he ended up here, but the pain made it difficult to speak above a whisper.

Instead he waited, glancing around the room continuously. His sword was leaned up against the wall, with his own dried blood on it. How embarrassing. He was wearing a hospital gown, and could not locate his normal clothes or his bag anywhere in the room. From the view out the window, it was clear that he was still in the same village. Based on the sun, Qrow guessed it was mid- or late-afternoon. He had probably been asleep for at least twelve hours, but he still didn’t feel like it had been enough.

Finally a nurse passed by his open door and noticed he was awake. “Oh, oh my goodness, sir,” she said, her voice breathy, “We—we didn’t realize you’d be awake this soon. You’ve been gravely injured.”

“I’m fine,” Qrow grunted, trying to sit up, “Do you have my bag?”

“I’ll get the doctor,” the nurse replied. When he looked disgruntled, she added, “And your things.”

Qrow let out a long breath once she left the room. Due to the nature of his job, he had been seriously injured quite a few times throughout his life, but his age was starting to show. It was getting harder and harder to bounce back. Deep down, he wondered if his mistake this time could have cost him his life, if not for Raven.

Before he could dwell on that thought, the nervous nurse returned with the doctor, a sprightly elderly woman with her blue-grey hair pulled back into a tight bun. “Doctor Lazuli,” she introduced herself as she sat in the chair beside Qrow’s bed, “Pleased to meet you, young man.”

Qrow laughed. “No one’s called me that in a long time,” he said, wincing from the pain of speaking.

“Well, you’re young to me,” Doctor Lazuli laughed as well. She looked at her clipboard. Qrow assumed that she would ask how he was feeling, how he had gotten injured—the usual hospital routine. Instead, she asked, “What are you doing out here? Not a lot of travelers pass through our village.”

“I’m here investigating the strange Grimm attacks that have been occurring,” he answered. He was honest with them partly because they deserved all the help they could get, and partly because he much preferred the demeanor of most small town people to those who lived in the main cities of the kingdoms.

Doctor Lazuli sighed. “That’s what I thought. We haven’t seen a Hunter out here in a long time, even though we kept sending requests to Vale.”

Qrow felt a twinge of guilt. Because of his level of experience, he tended to only see the highest priority missions. This poor village had been on the backburner until Ozpin realized that their strange events might be connected to others they had investigated.

“I’m only sorry I couldn’t do more,” he admitted.

“You did plenty. Those Chimeras would have wreaked havoc on the village if you weren’t there. Lives were saved because of you,” she replied, placing his hands over his. This was the reason he had become a Hunter so long ago. People like this woman had taken care of him and protected him as a child, and this felt like the only way he could make things right. “Now, I’m used to treating people without unlocked auras and semblances and whatnot,” she continued, “What can we do to—help you help yourself?”

“Food,” Qrow said with a short sigh, “And sleep.” The nurse returned once more, this time with his bag and clothes. “I’ll be out your door in no time,” he promised, winking at the doctor, who laughed.

As the doctor and nurse changed his IV, he asked the question that had been burning on his mind.

“Did…one of the villagers bring me here?” He asked, not quite directly asking what he wanted to know. In the past, he had hallucinated while in the addled state of blood loss. Doctor Lazuli and the nurse looked at one another, then back at him.

“No,” the doctor said slowly, “There was…a woman. She fought for you when you fell. She brought you here and…left. I’m sorry. No one knew who she was.”

“That’s okay,” Qrow sighed. So Raven really was there, and she had the decency to drop him off at the hospital. Maybe she was going soft after all these years. His mind drifted back to Beacon for a moment, until a realization jolted through his whole body. His eyes widened as he practically yelled, “Ozpin!”

It startled the other two. “My scroll!” he exclaimed, gesturing to his bag. Qrow was currently missing in action, having missed his checkpoint without any indication to Ozpin where he was or what had happened to him.

The nurse glanced at the doctor again. She retrieved a small clear bag, containing his shattered scroll. It had, without a doubt, been stabbed with a sword. Qrow narrowed his eyes, filled with desperation and fury. Through Doctor Lazuli’s protests, he tore out the IV needle, threw the covers off his bed and attempted to stand. The doctor reached out to him as he fell, but he pushed her hand away. Clutching his chest, Qrow took his bag away from the nurse and his sword from against the wall.

“Sir, you’re not well enough to go!” Doctor Lazuli shouted as he made his way to the door. He wasn’t moving quickly, so the nurse took a few steps to stand between him and the doorframe.

Qrow laughed, and it was a haggard, rough sound. He coughed, checking his hand afterwards to make sure there wasn’t blood. “I appreciate your help, I really do, but this is important,” he said. Still clutching his chest with one arm, he bowed with dramatic flourish, then activated his semblance and flew away.

---

Night had fallen by the time Qrow made it to Taiyang’s house just outside Vale. The flight was long and agonizing, but the constant floods of emotion kept him alert. He supposed that his lack of energy made him more susceptible to panic and agony, but even that realization wasn’t able to calm him down.

He transformed as he reached the doorstep. Normally Qrow would land on his feet, but not this time. He fell to his knees, still feeling the ill effects of blood loss on top of low blood sugar. There, on his knees on Taiyang’s doorstep, he felt nervous. What if Taiyang didn’t want to see him? They had shared unkind words as teammates and rivals time after time, but as they got older the wounds didn’t seem to heal as quickly. Qrow considered leaving, but didn’t move a muscle. After staring death in the face, the only place in the world he wanted to be was with his family—the only place that felt remotely like home. So he knocked, falling to his elbows afterwards.

He could hear his heart beating in time with Taiyang’s rushed footsteps. “Qrow,” he gasped as he opened the door. Qrow remembered just then that he had forgotten to stop and change out of his hospital gown, which he realized made the scene even more pathetic. “What happened?” Taiyang said, crouching down to speak to him at his level.

“I got my ass kicked,” Qrow grumbled, almost laughing, “Obviously.”

Taiyang helped him stand up, not laughing at Qrow’s joke. He wobbled, but maintained his balance as Taiyang guided him inside his small home. He directed Qrow to a seat at the kitchen table. It seemed as though he had been working there when he heard the knock on the door, because there were stacks of papers spread out on it. There was a single light shining down on the table, all the other lights in the house were off.

“Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?” Taiyang said, investigating him, “Or, back to the hospital, I guess?”

Qrow tried to physically wave him away. “No, I just need something to eat…and a nice strong drink, please,” he said.

Taiyang stood up straight and folded his arms across his chest, “Do you really think you should be drinking right now?”

Qrow rolled his eyes and said, “Look, I’m pretty beat up as it is, do you really think I should be hungover too?”

Taiyang sighed. He heated up what looked like leftover stir fry for Qrow and poured them each a drink—whiskey.

“Thanks,” he said, nervous again. The initial confusion of his arrival had settled, and Qrow was waiting for the tension to set in. But when Taiyang sat back down at the kitchen table with their drinks, he didn’t have the stony expression that Qrow had seen a lot of lately.

They avoided each other’s gaze for a while, as Qrow ate. Finally, Taiyang cleared his throat. “Look, Qrow, I’m sorry,” he said. Qrow looked over at him, but he was staring straight ahead, his eyes shiny with tears. As he waited for him to continue speaking, Qrow felt immensely guilty. “I’m—spread a little thin these days. I wouldn’t change anything about it, but it gets hard…and lonely. It’s---it’s like it was easier to find someone to blame than to just…accept this is how things are now. I took it out on you when you were trying your best. I’m sorry,” he said, finally looking at Qrow in the eyes.

“I should be the one who’s sorry,” Qrow replied with a self-deprecating laugh, “I was being a selfish prick. I should have been around to help you. If anyone deserves it, it’s you.” Talking about his feelings always made Qrow immensely uncomfortable, but it was as though a weight was being lifted off of his aching chest.

Taiyang looked at the floor, resting his forearms on his knees. Qrow barely saw a single tear run down his cheek. “We got a call from Ozpin this morning,” Taiyang said softly, almost too quiet to hear, “That you missed your checkpoint last night, that he wasn’t able to contact you through your scroll. I didn’t tell the girls. But it was just like—just like when we got the—the first call about Summer.” Taiyang looked up, and the two men stared at one another across the table for a long moment.

“I’m so sorry,” Qrow whispered, blinking tears back. Running away from his problems had put his family through hell. There was no getting around that fact anymore.

Taiyang looked away again. “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and forget she’s gone,” he said. He turned back to Qrow, “Sorry, I just…“ But he had nothing else to say.

“It’s alright,” Qrow said, “I think about her…most days.” He had slowly realized over time that part of the reason he found himself running away from his family was because of her. The closest thing to her existence was the memories that lived on in her loved ones, and it was so much more difficult than spending time with strangers that distracted him from his pain.

“Did you see…” Taiyang began to ask, then trailed off. But Qrow had no doubt who he was talking about.

“Raven? Yeah,” he replied. There was a moment of silence, then Qrow added, “Look, even I couldn’t find her if I wanted to. I really have no idea how or why she showed up last night, but if she didn’t I would have—I wouldn’t have made it. So,” he shrugged, having run out of things to say. In these moments more than any other, Qrow resented his sister for abandoning her family. But, to tell the truth, he hadn’t been much better lately. “Can I see Ruby and Yang?”

Taiyang willingly moved past the subject of Raven. “They’re asleep, but they’ll be excited to see you. As long as you don’t keep them up too late,” he said, standing up.

“Of course I won’t,” Qrow assured him, “Even cool uncles have to follow the rules,” he joked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. A small smile appeared on Taiyang’s face, and he led Qrow to the girls’ shared room.

Qrow pushed open the door a crack to peek inside, and the light from the hallway illuminated their room ever so slightly. Yang, who was about to turn fourteen, had plastered her side of the room with all kinds of posters of her favorite bands and warriors, and a variety of books and weapons were strewn about the floor around her bed. Ruby was twelve, and she seemed to be holding onto the last of her childhood toys. Her bed was covered with stuffed animals and dolls, some of which had been grievously injured in the process of fighting one another.

Qrow found himself overcome with emotion. He turned to Taiyang, scratching the back of his neck nervously as he spoke, “You know I was never really big on it, but I’m sure Summer would want me to tell you that I…love you.”

Taiyang smiled, with just a touch of sadness hidden somewhere deep inside. “I love you too, Qrow. I’m glad you’re here—glad you’re home,” he said, grasping Qrow on the shoulder, then embracing him. Now this, this was worth the pain of coming home. “Go on,” he said, gesturing to the open door.

He tiptoed into the girls’ room, and knelt down beside Ruby’s bed, clutching his chest for just a moment. He shook her awake, very gently at first, then with slightly more vigor as she seemed not to notice. There was a look of confusion on her face as she peered through the dark to see who was waking her up. Then her silver eyes lit up.

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck. Yang, who was the lighter sleeper of the two, woke up instantly. She repeated Ruby’s cry, but louder, and leapt from her bed onto his back.

Ruby noticed his bandaged chest, “Uncle Qrow, are you okay?” She peered up at him with big, worried eyes.

“I’m fine,” he said, ruffling her hair, “There was a big monster, but I beat it,” he said, making sword motions with his hands.

“You’re going to tell us all about it, right?” Yang asked, letting go of his shoulders and running around to his front to sit beside Ruby.

“Not right now, you girls need to get back to bed,” Qrow said, glancing at Taiyang, “I just wanted to say hi. I wouldn’t want to give you nightmares anyway,” he added.

Yang put her hands on her hips and stated proudly, “Pssh, I don’t get nightmares!”

“You’re going to be here tomorrow, right?” Ruby asked expectantly.

He ruffled Yang’s hair now, and she looked quite displeased, “Of course.”

“Promise?” Ruby asked.

“Promise.”