[Amazing what you can find on Know Your Meme.]
The hull hit right over their heads and began sinking.
It just missed Pyrrha and Jaune, who hit the water farther away.
Yang struggled to get out from under it, hoping not the much of it was overhead.
Neptune was thrashing around too much.
One of the Grimm sharks latched onto his leg and started dragging him farther down.
D--- it! Yang thought.
She tried to follow--fumbling to pull out a dust clip that might be helpful in this situation... Fire was no good, so maybe ice?
She was going to run out of air too though.
It was hard to see, but she didn't think Neptune looked quite normal--
Then she saw it was because the water was actually moving away from him--like in a bubble, not just from being kicked.
It moved away from the shark Grimm also, till the thing started flapping in the air pocket it was now in.
Neptune kicked it off, maybe more by accident than anything else.
He looked like he was trying to yell something that she couldn't hear through the water.
She didn't understand what he was afraid of if he had air, until she noticed the water shooting towards her like some kind of blanket, like it was crawling away from him and smothering her instead.
What the...?
Yang kicked to get free from it...with some success, but her air supply was too low. She felt like she was going to pass out--no, the surface was still too far away. She had to make it farther than this!
Suddenly the water under her rushed downward, just like if you opened the plug in a bathtub.
The air and light changed completely, and she was on this grassy patch of land, and the air was crisp like regular fall weather--biting after being wet like that.
Water promptly fell on her like a bucket being poured.
"Yang!" Tai cried, coming up to her.
Neptune was close, coughing.
"You're all right?" Penny said, hovering over his head. "Mostly...a bit water-logged perhaps."
Yang spat water out.
"I...I was drowning..." she gasped. "But...where is this?"
"You don't recognize it?" Tai pointed.
Yang looked...a familiar hill.
"Summer's...grave?" she said.
More like grave marker, actually.
Another portal opened and Shine, Pyrrha and Jaune all fell out of it, with water coming after, splashing everyone else.
"Wow..." the pilot said.
"That was close..." Jaune said. "Isn't this...Vale?"
"The air feels like it," Pyrrha shivered.
"You got us all the way to Vale?" Neptune said, finally able to speak.
"Yeah." Shine spat water out and pushed her wet hair out of her face. "This was the best location outside of Beacon I could think of. Didn't like to land us all right there where we'd scare everyone--and soaking wet, too. I'm sorry." She glanced at Tai. "I hope that's okay"
"But how did you know where this was?" Tai asked.
Shine shrugged.
"Nevermind," Yang said, wringing her hair out. "Our house is just down the hill, and we need to get dry before we go anywhere. I hope my dust isn't ruined now."
"Yeah, come on, before you all catch your death," Tai said, pulling Neptune up, who was shaking--and not just from the cold.
Shine started shivering too, and she already looked a little blue. The water had been cold.
"Where's Wally and Cinder?" Pyrrha asked.
"They'll be in Beacon," Shine said, "once Wally finds it... I assumed you don't want Cinder to know where this house is?"
"Ah, no," Tai said darkly.
* * *
The house looked pretty good for being left for weeks on its own.
Tai started a fire right off, and everyone took off their wet clothes and put on borrowed ones, then he put the wet ones into the dryer.
They all put their shoes by the fire.
"Are scrolls waterproof?" Shine held hers up.
"Depends on how expensive you get," Jaune said.
Shine's didn't turn on.
"Cheap, I take it," she said.
"Mine is," Pyrrha said. "But..." she sighed, "it's dead. I guess using the global data drained the battery."
She plugged it in.
"Nice house," the pilot said. "Cozy."
Watts sniffed.
"Hot cocoa?" Yang offered.
She seemed kind of glad to be home.
"Yes, please!" Jaune said.
Neptune had been pretty quiet.
Shine handed him another blanket.
"Could have happened to anyone," she said gently. "It's okay."
"No, it couldn't happen to anyone," Neptune said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry," glancing at Yang.
Yang raised an eyebrow. "What was that?" she asked. "Your Semblance?"
"Yeah..." Neptune looked at his hands. "I control water."
"That seems odd," the pilot began, "since you didn't seem to--"
"Maybe we should get more firewood." Tai cut him off and jerked him outside--apparently he had Yang's method of dealing with annoying people.
"You don't have to talk about it," Pyrrha said to Neptune.
"No, you probably feel like it's completely pathetic," Neptune said. "I mean, guy can control water, but almost drowns?"
"Actually looked more like you were fine and I almost drowned," Yang said.
Shine shot her a warning look.
"Sorry." Yang looked at the wall. "I just don't understand--but I'm sure there's a story behind it."
"Yeah..." Neptune said. He paused for a few moments than went on. "When I was a kid, my brother, Jupiter [Real name. Wiki.], tossed me in the ocean because I didn't know how to swim."
"That's a real thing people do?" Jaune interrupted.
"Yeah, one could compare it to launching kids off catapults to see if they have a landing strategy," Shine said dryly.
Jaune gave her a weird look, while Pyrrha choked on a laugh.
"Sorry, go on." Shine sipped some cocoa.
"Well, it didn't work," Neptune said. "I started drowning and Jupiter dove in to get me, but the water started going away from me and onto him... He almost drowned...but he used his Semblance to escape, and we both made it. But I didn't want to touch water for years after that... It was horrible."
Silence.
"Pretty stupid phobia, right?" Neptune finally said. "I mean, you'd think by now I'd be over it...but I just can't stand it."
"But you know, I'm pretty sure it's normal to have phobias at 18 that you still haven't gotten over. Lots of people do," Shine remarked.
"I wish I'd known what your Semblance was..." Yang said thoughtfully. "That's...that's a horrible story. What kind of brother does that?"
"I know, it's horrible that I almost did that to him," Neptune said.
"What? No, he had that coming," Yang said. "I mean Junior-what's-his-name. If someone did that to Ruby, I'd break their legs so they couldn't run! What kind of sick method is that?"
"Ozpin's apparently," Pyrrha said.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune said.
"I do see why that bothers you so much," Pyrrha said. "I have the same problem with my Semblance. I try not to use it too much because I could really hurt someone. After what I did to Penny, that felt worse..." She looked at her hands too. [This really is an anime.]
"But I also realized, thanks to Mr. West, that not using it can be just as dangerous to my friends. If I could stop something because of my Semblance, I need to do it...and, I didn't hurt Penny because of my own poor judgment but because of an illusion... But...to be honest, there's a part of me that still thinks about that every time I start to do a big thing with my Semblance. Maybe if I'd hesitated less out there..."
"You did great," Jaune said. "It's not your fault. That would...it would be hard to get past that for anyone."
"You never mentioned having problems." Yang glanced at Pyrrha.
"Well, you never asked," Pyrrha said. "And also, it wouldn't change a thing, it just might make you all not ask me to do things, and I'd rather you expect me to help than treat me like I need to be pitied. I had enough of that after dying."
She seemed very red-haired when she said that, for some reason.
Shine laughed lightly. "I can relate... Pity is nice in small amounts, but it sucks when it's all people give you. I don't have superpowers, but even with my natural abilities, I worry about going too far. Wally has told me he has the same thing, and most of his friends do. But that's a good thing--to worry too much, instead of too little, about power."
"You...you guys don't think it's stupid?" Neptune was surprised.
"No," Jaune said. "I think it's just a thing you've gotta deal with. We all have something that trips us up... I wish mine was just my Semblance and not...a lot of other stuff."
"Well, I don't have anything like that," Yang said.
They glanced at her.
"I'm not saying it's stupid." Yang crossed her arms. "I just don't have it, but whatever, we all have PTSD over some crappy thing that happened to us in the past. I don't see why it really matters what it was. I just wish you'd told us that was the reason ages ago. We could have avoided this more if we knew it wasn't just the water."
"She's not entirely wrong," Shine said. "It would have been better to be forthright about how it worked so that we could help more."
"I don't know if you guys really can help," Neptune said.
"Well, it's okay," Pyrrha said. "The important thing is we're all safe...though Winter is going to kill us when she hears we lost a ship."
"We didn't, the Narwhal did," Shine said. "When I meet Salem again, I'm asking her if she has a Nat Geo Wild magazine."
"Are you...kidding?" Jaune never could quite tell with her.
"50%," was the reply.
"Well, I should call her and let her know." Jaune pulled out his scroll.
He dialed. But Winter didn't pick up.
* * *
In Mistral, Qrow, Weiss, and Kip had seen the Midges fly away from them and out towards the East.
"How strange," Weiss said, from a rooftop
Qrow landed on it next to her and turned human.
"They're not just giving up," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Something is out there already."
"Vara?" Weiss asked.
Kip hovered overhead. "Aunt Vara is still out there?"
"Yeah," Qrow said. "But she should be closer to the city. See, they're going over there, some of them."
"They're headed towards the tunnel," Weiss said.
"The one from Argus," Qrow said.
"Yeah," Weiss said.
"Winter," Qrow said at once, in a different tone.
"Was she supposed to be on it?" Weiss squeaked.
Qrow didn't even answer, he just flew away.
"We have to follow him!" Weiss said to Kip.
"So far...?" Kip hesitated. "Weiss...it's dangerous. Those...horrible monsters will be out here, and they could clog my jets if I run out of electricity."
"Kip, it's my sister, and probably Emerald and Mercury also," Weiss said. "We have to help. And we can look for Vara also."
That got him.
"Okay...she's close, right?" Kip said.
"We'll check on her first." Weiss was willing to compromise if it meant he'd take her to Winter afterward--she just hoped that only took a few minutes. Vara would be fine, right?
Right?
* * *
Qrow cursed at himself for not suspecting that the Midge plague would have only have cleared off on purpose if their target was another direction. Had he lost too much time already?
At least he knew Ruby had gone a different way--he could only hope none of the things had flown toward the route she'd be taking.
But they seemed to target the Maidens, not the Silver Eyes.
It only took him a short time to get as far as the train would have. The wind was on his side at the moment.
And he saw nothing on the tracks.
Except the black sludge that was the living mud of the Midges.
And a track through them that showed the train had already reeled off of them.
Qrow's wings were aching, and he knew he needed to take a break, but he turned that way.
Not again...not again...he thought. Not another teammate--or more than one.
He reflected he should have been nicer to Winter when she called...
Why hadn't they jumped off the train?
Unless they couldn't... The Grimm must have been worse than anticipated. Of course it was.
He always did the wrong thing...
What if it was too late?
The fear was suffocating...
Just when Qrow really might have stopped and given into despair, he saw the black shape of some Grimm in the snow and grass off the mountain.
They were clustered at what was about half of the box cars, where some people were locked inside.
Qrow resumed human form and scythe attacked one of the Grimm, while the others turned to look at him and sniffed.
He didn't see anyone he knew.
He attacked them again, with more fury.
* * *
Emerald had found Mercury not that far from the train itself. Some of the Grimm had come closer to them, but she used her Semblance to hide, and they went towards the passengers who were freaking out way more and flew off.
Emerald couldn't do anything to help.
Mercury wasn't crushed to bits. Thankfully his Aura seemed to have held up
"Mercury." She shook him a little. "Come on...say something."
It was so cold!
Mercury stirred and muttered something indescernible.
Emerald was crying a little, but she shook him some more. "Come on, you need to get up before we freeze out here."
Mercury blinked a little, his eyes not focusing.
"Em...did that happen?" he said weakly. "Or did I have a stroke?"
"Did you...? It looked like you... Well, it looked like Ruby," Emerald said, "but...with you."
"See, I thought that, but then I think that's impossible." He groaned and blinked. "My eyes hurt now...and so does my head... I think that just about killed me."
"I should kill you!" Emerald said. "You scared me. Again! Stop almost dying!"
"Stop almost getting eaten!" Mercury snapped back.
"I'm always trying to save your a-- when it happens," Emerald said.
"That had nothing to do with me! You don't watch your back."
"Oh, shut up," Emerald said. "Can you get up?"
Mercury tried to, unsteadily. "Maybe...but that just about drained my Aura... Sure would be nice to have more of that stuff... I think it gives people extra powers."
"No...I think it just makes what you already have stronger," Emerald said. "That's what Pyrrha said... So...yeah, we need to talk about this."
"No, don't tell anyone what happened." Mercury snapped more awake. "If they find out, I'm dead."
"They wouldn't care," Emerald said.
"Salem would. Any chance I have to escape into oblivion after a while, it's gone," Mercury said. "And not just Salem, all kinds of people. Swear you won't tell them."
"Even if I promised something that stupid, Winter saw," Emerald said.
"Maybe she'll keep it quiet. It'll just cause problems," Mercury said. "Besides, I'm sure it's not the same thing, but if it looks like it, that's bad."
"Merc, what else could it be? You do have grey eyes." Emerald pointed to her eyes. "Or silver, I guess."
"Don't say that!" Mercury said. "I'm not some freak."
He got up. "It had to just be the weird steroid food."
"It's not steroids." Emerald got up, shoving snow off herself. "And I'm telling you, it's not that. You have Silver Eyes."
"I don't want Silver Eyes," Mercury said.
"I don't think you get a choice. Anyway, wouldn't it be kind of nice to be able to fight Grimm that easily?"
"I do just fine doing my own thing," Mercury said.
"Not sure that that's not still your own," Emerald said. "But whatever. We'll talk about it if we survive this, how about that? Which is starting to sound like a refrain for this team. We should find Winter. I'm not sure she'll hold out."
"Yeah, if we were smart we'd just leave her out there and save ourselves." Mercury crossed his arms.
Emerald looked at him.
"I said if we were smart, which we clearly aren't. Let's just find the stupid b---h.... Maybe she can make a d--- igloo or something."
"Sure..." Emerald said. "Hey, maybe you do care a little."
"No, I don't, but I know you're not budging if we don't," Mercury said, walking slowly.
"Well, that means you care enough not to leave me out here alone," Emerald said.
"If I show up without you, they'll just kill me," Mercury said.
"Sure," Emerald said again. "Whatever."
"Just shut up and look." Mercury shivered.
Emerald thought she saw a crow flying over their heads just a couple minutes after that, and though it could have been a normal crow, she hoped it was Qrow looking for them.
She went after it, and Mercury followed, slipping a lot. His metal feet didn't have the best snow grip.
They found Qrow fighting the Grimm.
Mercury fired a few shots--nothing happened with his eyes again. Emerald didn't really know how it worked exactly, but she wished he'd figure it out so they could be done with this fight.
She couldn't use her Semblance anymore without maxing her Aura out the rest of the way, so she only used her weapons.
"You two are here. Where's Winter?" Qrow asked them while he sliced some of the Grimm away.
The Midges had moved...probably to follow her.
"That way." Emerald pointed. "With the rest of the train... Go help her, okay? She's low on Aura too. We can take these other ones."
One of the huntsmen got the turrets to fire and blasted one of the sphinxes.
"Yeah, I'd say we'll take care of this," Mercury said.
"Call for help," Qrow told them, turning into a bird.
"Sure, help..." Mercury said.
* * *
Of course that stupid Ice Queen would isolate herself from the other two! Qrow thought as he flew that way.
It might still be too late, what was she thinking?
That would be like Winter, to make the noble choice when the smarter choice was available.
Or perhaps she figured she was going down and didn't need to take Emerald with her... That would also be in character.
Qrow finally realized that he wasn't worried about this just because she was a Maiden or teammate...
No...it was going deeper than that. He hadn't been this scared in a long time...
What had happened?...
Oh, he knew already.
He'd really known this a couple days ago... In a way he'd be a little glad that she went to Argus right after that--given him a chance to get a grip... He'd known he was slipping.
But this made it clear to him--if it was too late, he'd already slipped all the way.
Not that Qrow was entirely oblivious, as much as he tried to make himself think so. He'd noticed his growing concern with Winter's safety also in the kidnapping incident--and known that it was more than a professional concern. But he'd thought it was still somewhat in check before...or that he could ignore it.
But...
Because they'd known that Kanap wasn't going to kill anyone...so even with the idea of torture at hand, they'd been pretty sure of finding them alive.
Maybe that was why this was so, so much worse.
He really hoped that it wasn't going to be too late...
But he suddenly had more hope, because he spotted some clouds that didn't look quite natural over some trees ahead.
And there was the Grimm. The Midges also.
Winter had braced herself between two cars to get cover and was trying to use wind and ice to keep them from enveloping it...and to keep the other Grimm from getting close.
Pushing her magic this far, with lower Aura, was making her head hurt, and she was feeling pretty dizzy and off balance.
But if she stopped, the passengers and her were both dead.
Some of them, the only huntsmen aboard, had picked themselves up and were trying to pry open a window so they could take some shots at the Grimm. But the Midges has it gooped shut pretty good.
The others were telling them to try different things--some helpful suggestions, like using fire dust--and others ridiculous, like using a tissue.
Winter regretted that she never carried that much dust because she usually just used it for glyphs.
She was trying to pray right about now...but no burst of strength had followed it this time.
Was it because she was using magic?
The pain was getting to be too much. She finally stopped.
Was this it? Trapped in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of people who would probably be eaten after the Grimm were done tearing her to shreds? Was Salem watching somehow?
What an awful way to go...
Not that it mattered.
The cold was terrible now...
"I should have called Weiss before we arrived..." she muttered to herself. "I was too focused on everyone else...but I should have..."
One of the Manticores stuck its head into the space and snarled at her.
Winter was both angry and afraid at the same time, because it almost seemed like these things spoke for Salem herself--was this how Ozpin saw it?
She backed up.
A Sphinx landed on the other side.
Great...nowhere to run now.
The Grimm didn't even attack immediately, like they couldn't believe it was that easy. They might have been waiting to see if she'd do something.
Winter had her sword...but doubted she'd land an attack without glyphs on Grimm this size.
The passengers were still trying to get free... Well...in a way it was nice that they weren't just going to leave her to die...but...they'd be safer if they just stayed inside.
"Don't!" she called, making one of the girm twitch. "Just leave it!"
[One has to respect that Winter is able to think of someone else at this moment.]
Abruptly, something sliced through the Manticore in front of her, before it even had time to look up.
Winter thought she knew that movement, and she dashed forward--even if she didn't, any help was welcome at this moment.
But it was Qrow.
"There you are!" he said.
His extremely relieved tone went over Winter's head at the time because she was thinking of the Grimm.
"Behind me!" She motioned.
Sure enough, the Sphinx, not liking that she suddenly ran for it, leapt after her.
Qrow moved with a speed that really showed his years of experience on the field versus being held up in military bases--Winter couldn't help but think this after seeing Argus' sorry state.
He shoved Winter behind him and sliced through the Sphinx very easily.
There were other Grimm still...but those Midges seemed gone...
There were about 4 big Grimm of the other kind close.
Winter had killed more than she realized, thankfully.
They attacked anyway.
But Qrow, who'd had enough of these things by now, made short work of them all.
After he got the last one, he paused to see if any more were coming, but it was dead silent.
Some of the passengers cheered. Others were crying or in hysterics...
"Well...that was less than I thought," Qrow finally said. "All that fuss for just a few."
Winter raised her hand, and fire formed in it--fire wasn't the easiest element for her, but she didn't need that much.
She threw it at the train car and blew up some of the Midges, making them turn into smoke.
They finally got it open...
"Free the rest of them," Winter said.
They nodded at her.
"How did you do that?" one of them asked. "With the weather?"
"Is that important right now?" Winter snapped.
"No, ma'am." They hurried to do as she said.
Qrow chuckled...kind of weakly.
"What are you doing here?" Winter asked, rubbing her arms. "I mean, how did you know where to find us?"
"Followed the Grimm," Qrow said.
"Oh..." Winter supposed this was how Ruby must feel. "Well...thank you..." Why was this always so awkward? This was what huntsmen did. She shouldn't be taking it personally.
Qrow didn't make a snarky comment either.
Instead he was giving her an odd look that she didn't quite know how to interpret, almost like she was made of glass and he thought she was going to shatter.
She didn't know if she liked that.... Then again...how close had they all just come to dying for the 10th time in a row?
"Honestly, if you hadn't shown up, I'm not sure what we would have done..." she broke the silence awkwardly. "So..."
She wished he'd just say something!
"You look like he--," Qrow finally said.
Winter wanted to strangle him.
"Overdid it again, right?" Qrow finished his thought.
"I...I had no choice," Winter said slowly. "Ran out of Aura--and if you say that's foolish and dangerous, I know! But I couldn't just let them die! Or myself, so--"
"No, I know," Qrow cut her off. "You just really should be more careful."
Winter frowned. "I can't be."
"Maybe not," Qrow said resignedly. "A guy can dream though."
Whatever that meant.
"You should talk. Did you come out here alone?" Winter said.
"I usually work alone," Qrow said.
"But they've been targeting all magic itself," Winter said. "That's stupid."
"You want to talk about stupid? You sent Stustrai away."
"To find Black, I had to," Winter argued.
"Black is fine," Qrow said.
"Is he?" Winter said. "Oh...actually he's not." She lowered her voice. "Qrow, I think you should know something."
"Um, sorry to interrupt, love birds," one of the others said, "but do you have a way we're going to get to Mistral?"
Qrow had no clue.
But surprisingly the problem was solved for them by Vara flying over the trees and looking down at them.
Heat seemed to follow her from her magic; the snow began to melt.
Weiss and Kip followed her.
"There you are." Vara looked down.
"Winter!" Weiss cried.
Winter let out a sigh--and the energy just seemed to leave her. She sank to the snow.
"A flying kid?" someone said.
"Another flying woman?" said another.
"Who are you people?" they asked.
"Nevermind that," Weiss said. "How many of you are there?"
At least 50 was the answer.
Weiss summoned a larger beast.
"Everyone who can't walk fast, get on," Vara ordered them, her tone not leaving much room for debate. "It's only 15 miles or so to Mistral, and I don't want to get caught out here after dark. So get moving."
They started walking back up to the train tracks--at least that would be an easy way to find Mistral.
"We'll talk once I get them farther up," Weiss called to Winter. "Are you okay? Do you need a lift?"
"I'll be fine," Winter said.
Kip hovered like he was going to wait for them, so Weiss took the people she had and headed up the hill.
Winter shivered. "Although honestly..." she said wryly.
"Here." Qrow put his cape over her shoulders. "It's getting cold out here..."
Winter smiled faintly.
"What was it you were going to say?" Qrow asked.
"Hmm? Oh...it was about Mercury." Winter rubbed her head. "You may not believe this...or, I think you will, actually, because we really should have--" She was babbling.
She shook herself. The stress must have rattled her mind. "Something very strange happened before we crashed," she said more distinctly. "Mercury's eyes flashed, just like Ruby's."
"What?" Qrow was not ready for that.
"I saw it myself," Winter said. "In fact, I felt it." She looked at her arm and pulled back her sleeve.... Sure enough, she saw a light singe on her skin. She held it up. "It hurt the same way Ruby's did. Knocked me out of the air for a moment. I'm sure it was the same. He has Silver Eyes."
A pause.
"Frick..." Qrow said. "That's not good."
"Why?" Winter shivered again.
"That makes it worse for him," Qrow said.
"Do you think Salem knows?" Winter asked.
"I don't know..." Qrow paced a little, just like Raven did. "I don't know if she knows...or if she'd care. She already wants him dead...but if she knew the whole time, did she plan this?"
"I can't explain why she would do that," Winter said. "But we're going to have to do something about it. If she didn't know, then Callows may not kill him next time he sees him."
"That already makes me think she didn't know," Qrow muttered. "But if she found out...the last thing we need is another big target for her side.... I don't understand--how did it happen though? He's pretty apathetic."
"Emerald was in trouble."
"Oh," Qrow said.
Funny, just the way he said it, Winter knew exactly he was thinking.
"Yes...I'm not entirely sure how the Eyes work, but apparently she means something more to him than just a teammate," Winter said. "Or perhaps that's enough."
"For him, I'd say it has to be more than that," Qrow said. "According to Maria, those eyes work when you're concerned about the sanctity of life. Black doesn't care about life...just one person's life. It was like one chance in a thousand that he'd ever worry about someone else like that. Emerald just happened to be it, I guess."
"Are the Eyes hereditary?" Winter asked.
"I don't know. I doubt it. Ruby and Summer both had that though," Qrow said. "But no one else I know of inherited it. It just happens.... I doubt his father had them."
"Marcus Black." Winter had done her research after Beacon fell. "I doubt it. A famous assassin doesn't seem like the right type of person to me..."
"We'd better not say this in front of any of the people who work for her," Qrow said.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Winter said. "But Sustrai better know that also..."
She got to her feet slowly. "Still, I thought you'd want to know."
"Yeah..." Qrow didn't seem to care as much as she'd have thought. "Anyway are you okay?"
"Me?" Winter said, as if she hadn't almost died a few minutes ago. "Yes...for now."
"It didn't burn you?"
"Well, a little." Winter held up her arm again.
Qrow took it, to her surprise, and examined it but shook his head. "Well, it doesn't look that bad."
Winter wished he wouldn't do that without a warning. She felt like she was flushed--why did being touched make her so uncomfortable!
Really, there must be something with the Schnees...
"I'm fine, really," she said hastily.
Qrow let go. "Right. Can you walk?"
"I can walk." Winter wasn't about to just sit here--she was still a Special Operative after all.
[Yeah, that stubborn streak really gets her into trouble.]