[At 15 chapters in of this arc, it's hard to believe only three days have passed. What is this, Volume 6?
See, I never thought the team should be gone for that much time in the timeline, but for that much time to spend on their absence, actually... I'm more open minded.]
Neapolitan had gone out into the streets with little idea of what she was looking for, or where to find it, but on some blind instinct, she headed just down the street with the tents on it, towards where the makeshift houses were.
She didn't have much else to go on.
Strange that she had little doubt at this moment, however, that it had really happened. Neo was either more naive or more confident than most people.
However, she'd almost given up of finding anything, until suddenly she heard someone say,
"Neo?!"
If that wasn't the very last thing she'd ever heard Roman say!
She turned toward the sound--also hesitantly, for all that.
Somehow it was almost not strange at all, though.
Roman Torchwick, lacking both his hat and his cane, but otherwise in the same attire as when last she saw him, was standing at the corner of one street, looking completely puzzled by where he was, but otherwise completely intact.
"How hard did I hit my head?" he said. "Neo, come here and give me my hat at once! What did I say about touching it without permission?"
Of course that was mostly a joke, and Neo didn't even stop to acknowledge it.
She sprang across the street, regardless of the person she almost ploughed over in the process despite her size, and jumped on Roman when he wasn't quite ready for it, knocking him over.
"Neo, what on Remnant has gotten into you?" he said.
Neo grabbed his face to be sure it was true, but it was...yes, just the same...
She got up and burst into tears quite without warning--and of course without sound, so it took a split second for Torchwick to even see it.
"Neo...?" He was utterly baffled. "Whatever are you upset about now? What's going on?... And where is this? It looks like Vacuo...in the middle of a sandstorm no less... Ugh, I hate sand. Are you crying because you got sand in your eye? You know you should try one of those sand mask things if so..."
Neo realized he had no memory at all of what happened.
She wiped her face off and looked puzzled.
"Be honest...how hammered did I get after the battle? Because I recall literally nothing after Little Red and the plane," Torchwick said. "Oh, and you fell off it--I remember that, but I see you're all right... What did I tell you about those theatrics! One of these days you're going to push your luck too far, you know that? Anyway, it all came out fine in the end. I told that little brat I'd survive--"
Neo suddenly punched him in the face.
Torchwick was so caught off guard he just stared at her.
Neo began making motions at him furiously.
He didn't understand all her signals entirely, but he knew things like "dead" and "killed" and "Grimm".
"Stop, stop, stop, what are you on about?" he cut in.
Neo slowed down enough to spell it out.
"You'll kill me if I ever get eaten again?" Torchwick was puzzled.
:"You don't remember, dummy!" Neo was more energetic now. :"But I do!"
"Have you lost your mind?" Torchwick didn't believe it. "I think I'd remember being eaten, thank you very much. There was this one time--but never mind that. Quick--where is that fiend Cinder?"
Neo made a face and implied with her hands that Cinder had hopped on a broom and left.
"Well, that's the first good news I've had in a while," Torchwick said. "And I desperately need a drink. What do you say after this storm blows over we find a nice, seedy bar--oh heck, why wait? It's Vacuo. There's probably one on every other corner--it is Vacuo, right?"
Neo nodded.
"Oh, by the gods, how long was I out?" Torchwick said.
:"Months," Neo answered.
"That's not funny," Torchwick said.
Now, given Neo's general outlook on life and people, she didn't feel compelled to belabor the point. She had what she wanted--why argue further? She was rather simplistic in that way.
"You have money, right?" Torchwick said.
:"Who needs money?" Neo replied.
"True," Torchwick smirked. "Let's go."
Neo nodded and took his arm and pranced down the street in search of the nearest bar.
[If that's not exactly how it would happen, you don't know Torchwick.]
[Video by ASL Princess, both conversations in the chapter are covered, in order. All lines are Neo's.]
* * *
Qrow, discouraged and disillusioned both, and flat out furious with Theo, found his way to a bar unhindered because of the sandstorm that blew up.
He didn't know whether he was going to have a drink or not, but given his track record, he probably would have.
Some people in Vacuo knew him by sight--and nodded, even--but it wasn't exactly a get-up-and-hug kind of place.
There was some depressing music in the background, too...
"When the day is long, and I've lost my way around, and the seasons stop and hide beneath the ground...I will reach inside just to find my heart is beating.
...And I'm bleeding out. If it's the last thing that I do is bring you down...
With the darkness fed, I will be your scarecrow..."
Some other customers were making some racket as Qrow slid into a corner table.
"But I heard you were snuffed," one voice said. "Last of you. Why, some of your old guys even came here looking for a new job. But crime ain't what it used to be these days. Making a dishonest buck just gets harder all the time. Embargo didn't help."
"What embargo?" that voice sure sounded familiar. "And what is this about me being snuffed? Neo was just on about that earlier too. How could anyone think I of all people--? Why, I'm a survivor, Tony."
"I know, I know, but it's been months. What were we supposed to conclude?" the other voice replied. "And ain't no one saw your little woman there either."
"It's Neo, not woman," Torchwick said. "And that's hardly surprising to me, but these rumors are more puzzling. Why did everyone think I was dead? Where could I have been for months...and have no memory of it?"
Qrow realized this was not a normal conversation.
"Were you going to order?" a waitress asked him, winking suggestively.
"Hang on, Sweetheart," Qrow brushed her off, to her annoyance. He got up and looked around his booth.
At the counter he saw that tiny, little menace Neopolitian. Well, he'd heard she was back, but hadn't seen her real close.
And next to her...wasn't that her old boss? The one who got eaten? At least Ruby said he did.
And he'd tried to kill Ruby several times, too...and that little b---- had been the one who almost killed Yang, the one time Raven decided to be a parent.
Well, not surprisingly at all, the next thing both of them and everyone else heard was Qrow yelling,
"You!"
Neo jumped in alarm and whirled around.
Torchwick turned around.
"Who?" he said.
"Roman Torchwick!" Qrow pulled out his scythe.
"Do I know you?" Torchwick said. "Because I gotta say, I know a lot of schmucks, but you don't look the least bit familiar."
Neo was making some familiar hand motions at him.
"What do you mean that's Red's family? That looks nothing like her--oh..." Torchwick stopped.
"You're that jackass that attacked my niece!" Qrow said.
"Neo, I think this would be a terrific time for your vanishing act," Torchwick hissed.
Neo nodded.
"Oh, no you don't." Qrow attacked them much faster than Neo could throw up an illusion.
Recognizing the same speed and power in him as in his sister--at least minus the powers she didn't even know about--Neo freaked out and leapt over the counter.
Torchwick ducked also, but Qrow wasn't dissuaded for long. He spun around.
Torchwick was no match for Qrow, even without being down his weapon, but without it he was a sitting duck. Qrow pinned him scarily into the wall.
Neo sprang at Qrow from behind, bravely enough, and he turned back only to shatter the illusion of her, then she kicked his feet out from under him.
Qrow fell into the bar stools, but he started to scramble up.
Neo jumped at him but then tripped over one, oddly enough--unusual for her--and Qrow got up and almost sliced her in half, but she ducked just in time.
Torchwick got up.
"Hey, buzz off!" he called.
Then someone fired a gun.
They all looked.
The bartender had a gun that was also a spear out.
"You people are gonna tear up my business," he said. "I don't have money for repairs. You want to settle it, get out of here. But I suggest you go, Funky Hair. Roman's an old friend."
Some other people looked willing to attack.
"That one of those Atlas scum?" one said.
"No, that's Qrow Branwen," someone else said. "He's one of us."
"Not anyone who works with Atlas, not to my way of thinking," they scoffed.
"Get out of here," several people started yelling at him. "Yeah, go! Get lost."
Neo used this chance to grab Torchwick and yank him out the backdoor, hat and all.
"What was he so angry about? All's fair in love and war, you know. It was just business." Torchwick was ruffled.
Neo realized that this was not going to be as simple as she'd thought. The team would be sure to look for them now!
Well, the only thing she could think to do was the last thing she really wanted to do, but she motioned for Torchwick to follow her.
"Where are we going now?" he said, coughing on sand.
Neo just led him back to the tents.
Qrow, once he escaped the bar, flew after them, and she had to take off running and try to give him the slip.
* * *
Shine and Emerald put down the tent flaps and tried to cover their mouths and noses. The kids in the tent cried, and the others all groaned and coughed and said they were miserable.
Some Grimm, not encumbered by the sand as much, came sneaking into the tent, but Shine scared them off.
"Why not just kill them if you can?" Emerald said.
"Because why waste energy if you don't have to?" Shine asked, sneezing. "Ugh, this sand will kill me before a Grimm ever does, at this rate."
"Welcome to Vacuo," Emerald muttered.
Not long after this, Neo suddenly came stumbling into the tent, dragging her boss behind her.
Shine didn't act the least bit surprised about it, but Emerald was so freaked out she screamed, to the annoyance of the other people who covered their ears.
"Well, isn't this nice? It's the kid." Torchwick brushed himself off. "But I don't know this one." He looked at Shine balefully.
"You--you--" Emerald sputtered. "He--what have you done?" Looking at Shine.
"Nothing," Shine said. She held out a hand. "Roman, isn't it? I'm Shine. A pleasure."
"At least this one has manners," Torchwick said. He tipped his hat. "But how is it you know me and I don't know you? And, Neo, may I remind you that we have a bird on our tail, as it were... Also was it just me or was there an actual bird following us also?"
Neo signed at Shine frantically.
"I can't understand you when you're that fast," Shine said. "But Bird Man--you mean Qrow? Saw you... Oh, I see.... Oh, that could be bad. Did he see you come in here--"
She got her answer just at that moment because Qrow came barging into the tent, looking pissed.
"There you are!" he said, then paused. "Likstar?"
"Ah!" Emerald ducked behind one of the cots. "This is freaking me the frick out! Why can no one stay dead anymore?! Who's next?"
"Do relax." Shine was not ruffled. "Qrow, put that scythe down--the kids are scared enough. All of you lower your voices too, not that they can hear much over this wind."
Neo backed way from Qrow and motioned at Shine again.
"Well, I can try," she said. "Qrow, what is going on? Where have you been?"
"Where have I been? What the h--- did you do?" Qrow pointed at her. "For a moment there, I thought it was just a misunderstanding, but now I see it--you brought him back too. Why in the ever loving h--- would you do that? You know who this rat is? Been after Ruby, and that little psycho there was after Yang once. Are you for real out of your mind?"
To this Shine suddenly slapped him.
Qrow was so stunned that she did it that he just stood there.
Emerald also laughed in hysteria.
Neo smirked and Roman choked on a snicker.
"Are you out of yours?" Shine asked Qrow fiercely. "Hold your tongue, Qrow. This is a public place."
"I bet on the girl," one onlooker said.
"No way, she's a twig. You see the size of his scythe?" someone answered them.
"We can discuss this later." Shine was coldly furious, and it was scary. "If you insist on it, though I have no wish to explain myself to you. You people are so clueless! You don't know what to be grateful for! You'd thank someone for stomping on you and hate them for performing first aid, I swear. Guess what? I don't stand around asking for miracles in order to get your attitude about it. Now, you want to be useful? Go and find Winter and Wally. I'm worried they've been caught in this horrid storm."
"Did you just slap me?" was Qrow's response.
"I'm sorry, but you just barged ahead with no regard for how smart it is," Shine said. "So I had little choice. Also you were making me angry. Did I offend you?"
"No." Qrow rubbed his face. "You just don't seem like the type."
"My temper is one thing I still need to work on." Shine rubbed her hand a bit regretfully. "Get out."
"Wait a minute, I'm not just letting this go," Qrow said.
"Why is he angry at us again?" Torchwick asked Neo. "And how does this chick know us?"
Neo shrugged.
"Qrow, do not try my patience," Shine said. "I'm ready to cry already. Do you want that? Would it make you feel better if I had a panic attack on top of everything else? Does one more of us need to be unstable?"
Qrow frowned at her.
"So stop making it harder for me already and go help our ever in peril team," Shine said. "I really hope you've been off doing something important as it is..."
Neo signed: "He was at a bar."
"Qrow!" Shine looked upset. "Now?... Oh, what do I expect?... But still...we were doing so good..."
"Whatever she just said, I didn't do nothing," Qrow said. "But you did."
He rubbed his head. "You do that, but you can't bring the girls back here?"
"I don't make the rules," Shine said. "And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop blaming me for what I cannot control. Do I do that to you?"
"Don't change the subject," Qrow said.
"I'm not," Shine said. "Does it occur to you that I have feelings too, Qrow? And that I don't like being pushed and pushed and pushed like this, over and over again?"
She looked upset. "I'm trying to do the right thing, and I did as I thought I should. It's not up to me. You think this matters so much, but it has nothing to do with what you should be doing. This was about Neo."
Neo looked at her oddly.
"So leave it," Shine said. "I did not ask you to be my judge. I am not yours."
"Funny, because every word out of your mouth is a judgment about something," Qrow said.
"Something, but not someone," Shine said. "I reserve that for special occasions. Would you just go?..."
"If you think for one second I am going anywhere while they're here, you've got another think coming." Qrow said one of the most parental phrases in the world.
Shine looked at him, then at Emerald, then at Neo and Torchwick.
"Fine," she said. The fight just seemed to go out of her.
She sat down on one of the cots and proceeded to burst into tears--not loudly, but they came out of nowhere.
[Men, pro-tip: Any woman who's not usually emotional and does this is at the end of her rope. Handle with care.]
It was no mystery to Emerald why she was upset, but Neo--who was emotionally challenged--and Torchwick--who was himself-- were quite baffled.
Qrow just stood there, not sure what to do.
Emerald decided she'd had enough. She might not be the gushy type, but Shine was willing to help her out, and, other than Oscar, she didn't have too much of that going on. She needed her to be in good working condition.
"Well, nice going, jackass," she said to Qrow roundly. "Geez, show some consideration."
"Excuse me?" Qrow felt guilty for making a woman cry but had no clue what to do about it. He was the fun uncle, not the fatherly comforter.
"What is the matter with her?" Torchwick hissed to Neo. "Are we dead or not?"
Neo shrugged helplessly. She had no idea.
"Who's been dealing with this hell for three days?" Emerald did her best to give a scolding. She wasn't very used to it. "Not you, definitely. You don't want to be there for your d--- team, then don't come and give one of us crap for doing someone a favor, or whatever happened here. I mean, sure, I have no idea what's going on, but like, who are you to say it's not helping when you're not helping either? And like, isn't it more important that some of your team is probably lost out there in this d--- storm? Torch-Hat can wait, right? Like, can you even think, man?"
She was far less afraid of him since he helped her out, so she dared to say this.
Shine put her face in her hands. She felt she should say something here, but she had no idea what to say. She had her limits too.
God, you know, this really isn't that fun to deal with, she thought upwards.
"I know," came the answer.
Then do something! Shine knew better than to be short with God, but she was in a rebellious mood.
Her only answer was to get a reproachful sense of guilt for being a pill.
Of course, Emerald was doing something, she reflected. Whatever she was doing, at least she was trying. That was really cute. It would have been so touching if Shine was not past the point of feeling anything other than pure exhaustion and frustration. [As a woman, been there. All I want then is chocolate and a nap.]
Qrow was not in a real frame of mind to be rational, but he felt guilty enough and wondered if he was pushing his luck too far, and his luck wasn't great anyway. Emerald might have a point.
"If it helps, we promise not to do anything outrageously evil while you're gone," Torchwick said.
Neo elbowed him, and he winced.
"I'll deal with you two later," Qrow warned them sullenly. "Even if you run, don't think you can escape... Fine, I'll go check around for the others. They're probably buried by now anyway, but why not?"
Shine made him no answer, and Emerald had none.
He left in a huff.
"Geez," Emerald said. "Is everyone just going to lose it?"
Shine looked at the floor. Sand skittered across it.
"Uh..." Emerald said slowly. "I...um... Can you get a grip? Like...this...team kind of is falling apart, and you and the ginger are the only ones who seem to have any kind of plan..."
"I am emergency ready!" Penny surprised the crap out of her by just appearing in the doorway.
"Ah!" Torchwick cried. "Dead robot!"
Neo grabbed him.
"This storm is throwing my sensors off," Penny said cheerfully--then not so cheerfully, "Well, I thought I'd wait it out in here. How long do they typically last?"
Shine finally spoke, "Average is a few minutes to an hour, but they can last longer. For this kingdom, I don't know. The last one wasn't that long."
[A day is about the maximum length; once it's night time, the air cools, and the wind tends to die down. That's in big deserts. Vacuo is probably not quite that bad, but I doubt we'll ever get that explained.]
"Can I get an explanation now for what is going on?" Torchwick asked.
* * *
Wally was pretty sure he was hopelessly lost. He wished he knew more sandstorm safety rules.
He thought maybe he could outrun it, but doing that only made him hit a rock, and he was lucky he didn't break something doing that, so he just sat behind the rock and tried to breathe shallow and cover his nose.
It was horrible.
It was hard to be an optimist in the middle of a sandstorm. Things sure seemed bleak right about now.
He covered his head.
But the storm began to grate on his nerves suddenly. After all, this really was the worst time for this. It was like the world itself was just trying to crap on them every chance it got.
It was totally irration, but Wally started to get mad, like the storm was a living being.
He wasn't sure what got into him, but he suddenly stood up and yelled at it. "Oh, just quit it already!"
But the strangest thing happened.
The wind around him suddenly stopped quite abruptly, and the sand dropped to the ground again.
The sun reappeared, bright and piercing as ever, but welcome after the dust cloud.
"Huh?" Wally looked around, puzzled. But then he grinned. "That was so awesome! Whoa, total moment right there. Did anyone else see that?"
But no one else was around.
"Well, I gotta go tell Shine." Wally always liked to brag to her first off. Shayera ragged him about acting like a kid, but hey, Shine thought it was cute--sort of.
But before he could go anywhere, he heard a voice say, "And what do you think you're doing?"
"Heading back to tell her of course," Wally said, just as if it was an audible voice.
"Not before you get those people," came the answer.
"What people?" Wally looked around.
Then, as if it had just had a veil torn aside, he saw many yards away that there was some quicksand of some sort in the sand, and there were people stuck in it, looking half smothered.
"Oh...those people," Wally said sheepishly. "Heh...didn't see them."
No answer to this, the impression being "get to it."
Wally rushed to find some way to pull them out without getting stuck himself.
* * *
Before this, things were in quite a desperate spot for Winter, who probably would have suffocated or even been eaten by a Grimm after she collapsed for the second time in two days.
She heard howling dimly over the sand, but couldn't get up, and any backup nearby seemed to have been separated by the storm and wouldn't be able to hear her scream anyway.
She started choking on grit anyway.
But unexpectedly, the air around her suddenly stilled and became about 20 degrees cooler. Her spine tingled like when she used the Maiden powers.
But it wasn't her. Instead it was Raven, who had her eyes glowing red and was hovering overhead for the moment, then she landed, hand out.
The storm continued around them, but the rough circle of stillness they were in was about 20 feet wide.
"Why does your continued incompetence not surprise me?" Raven gritted her teeth. "Get back inside the walls. I can't hold this off forever. Blasted sand is like a thousand lancers altogether."
Winter found her voice was pretty much gone from the sand and dryness, but she rasped, "What are you doing here?"
"Gratitude," Raven said. "Noun: The state of being grateful for something. You all ought to look it up in the d--- dictionary. Along with "intelligence" and "survival'."
Did vicious mockery just run in this family?
Winter attempted to stumble to her feet, unsteadily, and spat sand out.
"Ah, right on time to be late as usual, little brother," Raven said, looking behind her.
How she saw the crow through that wind was anyone's guess, but Qrow did appear a second later.
He had thought this would be Winter, based on the pillar of air he'd seen from outside it, but he was not happy to find it was his sister instead.
Winter had no words for how embarrassing this looked.
Sure, she'd been working her tail off, and Raven had done next to nothing the last three days, so she had every reason to be less exhausted than her--but Winter would not have been realistic in her expectations of herself in any case, let alone when it came to the Maiden powers.
"Get your girlfriend, Qrow," Raven said, smirking. "I'm not going to keep this up."
"The real shock is that you're doing anything at all. Did you get bored of eavesdropping and abandoning your kid?" Qrow said. "Oh right, you can't do that."
"I could abandon you." Raven was mad. "And I should. But you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"
"For the last time, I didn't abandon anyone!" Qrow said. "And maybe if you hadn't left us in Haven, Yang would still be here."
Oh, that had to hurt.
If Winter could have yelled, she would have, but she couldn't, so she just watched as Raven turned and fire formed in one hand.
But then it died out, and she looked down.
The storm began to eat away at the edges of her clearing.
Then a Grimm suddenly sprang into it without further warning and went right for Qrow--why did it ignore Raven?
And Winter, who was by far the easy target.
Qrow sliced it in half without so much as a second thought, but then he looked around warily. "There's more of them coming. We'll have to kill each other later. This storm isn't letting up any time soon."
Right at that moment, the storm suddenly died.
Raven looked at her hands strangely and then around.
"Did you do that?" Qrow asked uneasily.
"I'm sure I didn't." Raven would have felt using that kind of energy.
The sun beat down on them as mercilessly as before.
"Well...that happened fast," Raven said. "You were saying, Qrow?"
"Oh, shut up," Qrow said.
"Both of you shut up," Winter croaked, rubbing her head. "Listening to you squabble like magpies is worse than the storm."
"Raven, not magpie," Raven corrected. "Get it right."
"I don't give a--" Winter stopped short. Was she really just going to swear? Weiss would be horrified.
"On that note--" Raven looked her up and down. "If you keep using up your energy like this, you're going to be dead by the end of the week. Didn't Qrow tell you to pace yourself?"
"Everyone told her that," Qrow said. "But try getting an idea through her head. A sledgehammer's too gentle."
"All the Schnees are stubborn fools," Raven said. "But at least the little one knew to time her attacks."
"Yeah, you know, your running down anyone who's actually been doing their job really doesn't seem deserved." Qrow was cross still. "And neither of you will believe what I just saw back at the camp."
"You were at the camp?" Winter managed to convey her disbelief even with only half her voice.
Raven choked on a snicker.
"Yeah, and you won't believe what I just saw there. Roman-The-Frick-Torchwick," Qrow said. "And that Thumbelina girl who used to follow him around."
"The one with the umbrella?" Raven said.
"Yeah," Qrow said.
Raven's eyes flashed. "In the camp?"
"Yeah, but the thing is, Ruby swore up and down that he got eaten by a Grimm," Qrow said. "So either she saw a different Torchwick get eaten, or--and this is way more likely, based on her reaction--Likstar up and did it again."
"She brought another person back to life?" Winter rubbed her throat.
"How dare she!" Raven said. "I mean, not that she can't, but that she'd pick that slime! What purpose could he possibly serve?"
"She said it was for the midget," Qrow said. [This being a joke. I know Neo is not a midget.]
"For her?!" Raven said. "The little circus freak?"
She turned into a bird and flew away.
"Raven, wait--" Qrow was going to say no to just rushing in, but she was gone.
"What circus freak are we speaking of?" Winter said.
"Neapolitian," Qrow said.
"Whoever that may be, what would she be doing here?" Winter inquired.
Neither of them knew about her part in Cinder's plan. Qrow had been arrested for the whole time that had been going on, and Winter had never heard. It was a small detail that the kids had easily forgotten about with Hazel and Emerald around to distract them.
"Better question is what she's doing with Likstar. They seem to be all chummy," Qrow said. "Apparently also she speaks Sign Language. So that's just great."
"Why would that be necessary?" Winter coughed.
"Because she's mute," Qrow said. "I guess... I don't know. Maybe she's just annoying." [Not a comment on mute people. I suppose I have to say that. Qrow is just being Qrow.]
"In this case, why are you here and not there?" Winter said.
"Likstar sent me to find you and her dumb partner," Qrow said. "I'd rather have found him actually. At least he's useful."
Way to rub it in.
"You look like hell, by the way." Qrow was ever helpful. "Took it too hard again. Didn't you get heatstroke yesterday? What kind of idiot is out in a sandstorm the day after getting heatstroke?"
"What kind of idiot is not doing a d--- thing to help in a crisis?" Winter lost her composure--and anyway, it didn't signify much if she swore at Qrow. Weiss would forgive that.
[And I can't even really blame her.]
"And if you die out here, what then?" Qrow said. "We'd be hard up without another Maiden."
"And I'm sure that would be of great concern to you." Winter was cutting, but then she started choking on grit again.
She really didn't feel good, either. The ground was getting kind of unsteady under her feet. [What is it with Schnees and losing all their stamina? The whole family seems to be like this.]
"I am not hauling your butt back there again," Qrow said.
Again?!
Winter dimly remembered being taken back to the school the day before, but hadn't that been...? Why...?
She turned redder than she was already. The indignity of the whole thing! Oh, she could just die of shame right here on the spot--better than the elements, at least.
"I don't require your assistance," she said crisply--but not the least bit convincingly. "Why don't you go look for West or someone else who probably got lost in the storm?"
Qrow would have only been too glad to do so, had he not thought Shine would kill him later if he did--yeah, deep down he was probably scared of her almost as much as Emerald was. It wasn't as if he could have gone long with her, from what he heard from Ren and Nora about her taking on Salem.
And...well, Ice Queen was still kind of his responsibility...unfortunately. This was his job after all...not that he'd been doing it...but still, she wasn't going to make it back. It was a wonder she was standing at all.
He began to feel guilty again. Was this how Yang and Ruby would expect him to be dealing with this situation if they were here?... But they weren't here... He made a fist.
But...
Well, Qrow wasn't heartless enough to really just leave someone in the desert, even if he didn't like them.
Winter took three strides before she lost her balance again.
She hit the sand first with her face, and then, pushing up, with her fist.
She could have screamed bloody murder. Why did this have to happen to her now of all times?
[I'mma just going to say it was ignoring what literally everyone told you and pushing yourself too hard, but that's just me.]
But her fury was overcoming her pride quickly enough, because she began to both swear and cough at the same time.
"One thing after another! This kingdom just loves to make our lives a living hell, and where is that b-----d Theodore? Nowhere! People are dropping like flies, and our team has been cut in half, and what does he do? Not a d--- thing! No, he just has to go sell us out, just to be original! And between the d--- sandstorms and Grimm, we're dying out here. And for what?..."
Then she sighed. "And worst of all, Weiss is gone..." Some tears came... "She's gone..."
Qrow began to feel like a prick...
He wasn't the only one suffering here...he reluctantly recalled.
Coming a little closer, he said, more subdued, "She might come back."
He didn't believe that himself, really.
Winter looked up, looking humiliated to be having this meltdown in front of him of all people--but past the point of caring enough to stop. [Been there too.]
"You don't think that." She called him out on it.
"Well, you don't listen to what I think," Qrow pointed out. "So why does it matter?... But whatever is up, dying out here in the sand won't make it better. Come on." He held out a hand.
Winter looked at it like it was a scorpion.
"Do you really think I'm going to--?" Her head spun even from holding herself up this long, and she broke off and winced.
"I'm not happy about it either, but it's literally the only option, so I guess we'll both just have to suffer," Qrow said. "Or you can stay here..."
Winter loathed it, but she very haughtily took the hand, and Qrow pulled her to her feet.
She wobbled.
"I'm going to have to carry you," Qrow said it like "I'm going to have a root canal."
"No!" Winter said.
"Then I'll wait till you pass out," Qrow offered.
That wouldn't be a long wait.
Winter, rather than go through that again, supposed the humiliation of the alternative would at least be more efficient...if repulsive.
"If you do anything--" she began.
"Oh, don't flatter yourself." Qrow scooped her up before she could even argue further. "You think I like this? The things we have to do in the field because we're professional. Oh, and if you throw up on me, you're on your own."
"I hate you!" Winter said.
"That's the spirit," Qrow said. "Definitely won't attract Grimm either. Then again, that would be all you would attract."
Winter kicked him.
"This is going to be a long walk." Qrow was not happy.
[But I am. Mawahahaha! I love dramatic irony.]