Reputation: Book One

Qrow

Fake Death- Tiger's Jaw

Lay It On Me- Vance Joy

As She's Walking Away- Zac Brown Band, Alan Jackson

I realize I probably overreacted with the whole event downstairs, but what else was I expected to do? Liz was alive following months of thinking she was dead, standing there in my kitchen, in front of me, asking if I forgave her for all the hell she put me through. Do I?

Not too sure, since I'm questioning my own sexuality at this point.

But still, I wondered... was that really Liz? If so, then how? I hugged her until she died, cradled her head and held her hand until her body went cool and the colour drained from her face. There's no natural way she can be the Liz I wanted to marry just a few months ago. Due to the way she was acting, she really only came to prove to us she was 'cool' because she withstood a direct hit to the stomach with a 10mm bullet. Not to apologize, not to forgive anyone, not to tell everyone she misses them. I honestly didn't know what to think about this. Should I believe her, or should I just move on? I'd say I was doing rather well with the 'moving on' part and I didn't need her here to distract me. But what if things with Tripp didn't go very well? I would never love again...

"Qrow!" Autumn nearly shouts. She rapidly wove her hand in front of my face, the air stirring my whispy straggling hairs on the top of my head.

I twitch, blinking rapidly as our blue eyes locked together.

"You good?" She questions, arching her eyebrow as she looked me over in uncertainty. I slowly and nod, regaining the strength to move my fingers again. My whole mind had drawn a blank. It was like I went into complete shutdown mode. I look up to see everybody staring at me. Where was Liz?

I take in an unsteady breath, reaching up and running my hand through my thick, black hair as I walked to the front door. Overlooking all of the hollow stares from my teammates, I pushed it open and started down for the end of the driveway to look for her. The scuffing of my shoes against the cement silenced the brown and black songbirds perched up in the front tree. I stopped where the concrete met the paved asphalt and stared out to my left down the street, then snapped over to my right side. A chilled, icy wind cut into my skin, sending goosebumps up my arms. I hadn't noticed that Tripp had followed me out until he grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around to face him.

"Oh," I exclaim, wobbling to keep balance on my long, unsteady legs. "Elizabeth kind of ripped you a new one... You good?" I ask. Tripp stared me dead in the face with a placid expression. My stomach sank. Whatever he had to say was gonna sting.

"So, what do you think of Liz now?" He asks, shifting his weight to his other leg. I shrug.

"Well, she's definitely different," I say softly. "I'm not sure how I thought she could be the one I'd spend the rest of my time with."

He glances over at me. "And how do you feel about that?"

"A little disappointed in myself," I admit after a few seconds. "knowing that I could've done better but for some odd reason chose not to care."

"How do you mean?" Tripp asks, giving me an odd look.

"Like, I knew she was different when we very first met," I explain. "Just with the way she was secretive, the way she'd just ditch me out of nowhere, I figured she had something way bigger to conceal from everybody than I could've imagined, so I kind of gave up on trying to care."

"Like Jerzei did when we were out in public," Tripp adds. I slowly nod. I tried to imagine Liz out on a field, body covered in camouflage body armour while quietly waiting to ambush the enemy. I couldn't see her behind a rifle, a blade, a weapon of any kind. She's too kind, too generous, to sympathetic.