Reputation: Book One

Autumn

My day started with getting attacked by a dozen balloons in the supermarket after the strings tangled in the wheels of my cart; I can say things extremely escalated from there. I went to a gay dance club, my daughters were kidnapped, I stabbed somebody in the neck with a steak knife, and now I'm currently dragging my beaten, bloodied and half-unconscious friend down the stairs of my house that got broken into. None of this was exactly on my agenda this week.

"I'm going to die," Qrow whimpers. "Just leave me here, I'm holding you back."

I turn to him, using my free hand to wipe blood from his eyebrow. "No, Qrow. You'll live. We just need to get you to Jerzei's car."

"Sounds like some wishful thinking there," He mutters, stumbling over his feet. I grab him tighter, grunting under his weight. "It's called hope," I snap, glaring at him.

"It's called a goal," Talitha corrects, and I let out a heavy breath. She wasn't wrong.

"Talitha, will you go get two bottles of water from the basement?" I ask, pushing out the door. Qrow's boots scrape across the porch and the bottom corner of the glass door bites into my heel. I bite down on the inside of my cheek and groan. She nods, rushing back inside. As soon as she's gone, I hear a gun cock beside me and the safety click off. I freeze, holding my breath.

"Don't think I'm letting you off this easy," A smooth, insistent voice slurs, and I slowly turn my head. Staring into the barrel of her gun I knew I should be somewhat afraid, but through all the chaos the only emotion I could really feel was the burning desire to cut her throat out. Liz steps forward out of the darkness, two guys by her side holding automatics slung over their shoulders.

"Where's the girl?" She asks in a low voice. Defeat swept over me, and it was hard to keep the tears in, and I came up with the most pathetic excuse.

"Your Blitz stole the crystal for herself," I say, and Liz glances at the guard on her left, who slightly shrugs. Fear flickers across her face, but when she turns back to me, she inches closer, her lip raised.

"She wouldn't risk that," She snarls. "I offered a reward-"

"That species is bred for thieving," I sputter. "You really trusted her?"

"She killed her for it," Qrow rasps, managing to lift his head.

"I thought I killed you," She breathes, averting her muzzle to him. A guard points his gun at me, a whirring noise starting up from inside the weapon. I arch a curious eyebrow, eyeing his gun warily. Qrow chuckles, shaking his head.

"You're fighting style is half-assed," He fires back. "I've learned that your enemy is alive until you know their chest stops heaving. It's a hard thing to realize that we, as a team, trusted you, and still you took nothing of your teachings into consideration," He coughs. She tosses her head back and cackles. "Oh, my sweet, innocent Qrow," She smiles, reaching forward and grabbing his chin. I jerk him away and both guards move forward aggressively, thrusting their barrels at me. I straighten upright, lips pursed.

"Trust is just a word used by children. You have to have some sort of background kowledge when attempting to take sides," She hisses.

"It doesn't matter," He grunts, his hand tightening on my shoulder. "Either way, you will be defeated by dawn."

She smirks at him, leaning down. I felt disrespected by her not acknowledging my presence, but I needed to be there for Qrow when the worst comes.

"And why is that?" She whispers, all eyes on him. I snake my hand behind my back, pushing the hem of my shirt up to pull out my dagger from the underside of my belt.