The day after, Rei and Qrow's meeting with Raven, Rei left the drunk Qrow at the inn, and quickly set out with the others, not saying a word about the drunk man he left behind. He notes on how the day is a cloudy one, and he along with the rest of RRNJRS is following a mossy stone tile path through the wilderness. While walking, Nora stretches her arms up wide.
"Another day, another adventure!" She cheers.
Beside her, Jaune Arc reads a map while Ruby Rose and Lie Ren continue alongside them.
"What's on the agenda today?" Ruby asks.
"Walking!" Jaune says.
"With a side of...?" Nora says hopeful.
Ren sighs. "Walking."
Ruby sighs slouching down, as she holds her pack. "Haven is a lot farther away than I thought."
Rei glances to his fellow Red teammate. "Ruby? How long did you think this journey was going to take?"
"We were supposed to take the train back in Kuchinasi, then again in Shion."
"Right but... how long?" Sky asks.
"It was supposed to be like, two weeks, tops." Ruby looks back down annoyed, not making eye contact. "Look, whatever." Ruby looks up again after a beat and notices something ahead. "Hey, what's that?"
Nora jumps onto a slightly fallen post of a fence to get a closer look at a wall and building ahead.
"That's... strange." Jaune says checking his map. "I didn't think we'd be hitting another village for a few days."
Nora squints her eyes to try and see better, just as Rei's eye alerts him to the city. "Are those buildings... damaged?"
Jaune panics. "We should search for survivors!" Jaune drops the map and all four go running into the village, with Nora leaping onto the wall and to a rooftop from there. Rei grumbles grabbing the map following after them, along with Ren, the two knowingly share a look.
They discover the town to be empty. Ruby lifts a fallen plank of wood to find only plant outgrowth underneath.
"Anything?"
"Nothing over here!" Nora says from atop a building.
"No one over here, either!" Jaune shouts.
"It almost seems like... the town was abandoned." Ruby looks around while the others go to search on their own, feeling unease in the wind.
"Hey, I think I found something!" Nora shouts. Ruby turns and rushes over. Nora, Sky, Jaune and Ren are looking at a town sign. Nora moves the ivy growing over it to the side to read what it says.
"Oniyuri? Never heard of it." Nora says.
"Me neither."Jaune also affirms.
Ren stares at the sign. "I have." The other three look at him, surprise on Nora and Ruby's faces. "You might think of it as one of Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the Kingdom was being run." As Ren speaks, Rei scours the various unfinished buildings, disrepair and neglect of the village. "Frustrated with the council, they pooled their resources together to build their own city, with their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe even become its own Kingdom. Many thought it would be the future." Ren walks away from the other four. "I know my parents did."
Ruby looks to Ren. "What happened?"
He brushes some dirt off of the stone border of a low wall to reveal claw marks. "What always happens."
Jaune's stare hardens. "The Grimm."
Ren tightens his hands into fists. "Not just any, one."
Ruby briefly faces Nora in confusion, but Nora doesn't move her concerned gaze away from Ren. Ruby turns back to him. "One?" She and Sky ask.
Several small black birds take off from a tree outside Oniyuri's wall. They fly over the village and the six travelers.
Jaune sighs. "Come on. Let's just get through here. This place gives me the creeps." He turns and leaves, soon followed by Nora and Sky. Ren lingers for a moment for a few moments, seemingly in thought, then follows. Ruby is the last to move as she looks over the empty village. Leaves blow through behind her after she follows her friends. Rei however, turns back, himself looking to see if Qrow is behind them, not seeing anything he glares back, and keeps a hand on his sword. As the six members of Team RRNJRS continue out of Oniyuri, Ren suddenly senses something. Rei senses it as well, and draws his sword, quickly changing to his bow form he grabs an arrow. The two put out their hands to stop the other four, eyes closing as Ren focuses. Somewhere close by Tyrian Callows can be seen running. Ren draws his weapon. Ruby, Sky, Nora and Jaune immediately follow suit. Tyrian soon leaps high over the wall to engage them in combat.
He immediately takes out his weapons in a seamless motion and, laughing eagerly, moves to attack Ruby. Ren intervenes, StormFlower clashing with Tyrian's claw blades. Ren attempts to both kick and shoot Tyrian, but he dodges. The two have a couple more attack and parries until Tyrian kicks Ren several feet away.
Before Tyrian can turn he's quickly attacked by Rei who forces him to dodge arrow after arrow, before one hits a wall behind him a glyph forms that pulls Tyrian towards after he catches another arrow, he quickly lets go of said arrow that collided with the wall exploding. Rei leaps back avoiding an attack.
Tyrian turns to go after Ruby again, who rushed forward with Crescent Rose to meet him. Tyrian uses his blades to block the scythe and kicks Ruby backward. She easily remains upright and they clash again. Tyrian manages to land a strike on Ruby's right arm, causing her to cry out at the pain and him to laugh. She's doesn't break stride however and leaps back to take a swing at him with her scythe. He dodges and then lands a moving blow against the body of Crescent Rose, causing a red shimmer to cross her Aura in the area of the strike.
Jaune steps in at that moment and Tyrian climbs onto his shield and grins at him. Nora rushes in with Magnhild, but Tyrian just leaps from Jaune's shield to her hammer and up through the top story of a narrow, rectangular building. Holding himself up with his feet on wooden frames to either side of him, Tyrian looks down at Team RRNJRS.
"We're not looking for a fight!" Jaune shouts.
Ren rejoins them. "Who are you?"
Tyrian leans forward, drops from the tower, does a front flip, and lands on his feet in front of them.
"Who I am matters not to you." He points to Ren. "Or you." He points to Nora and Sky. "Or-... " Tyrian cuts himself off and pauses. "Well... you do interest me." He says pointing to Jaune" Jaune gasps nervously. "No, I only matter to you two." He points to Ruby and Rei, Rei growls aiming an arrow at Tyrian, and the rest of RRNJRS turn to look at her. She tilts her head in confusion. Tyrian breaks down into laughter. "You, you haven't the slightest clue, do you? Oh, how exciting this must be."
Rei glares at Tyrian using his shoulder to lift the eye patch revealing to most of them for the first time his robotic eye. "What do you want?"
Tyrian begins acting dramatically in response to his tone of voice. "Oh, the rose has thorns! My little flowers, I'm here to whisk you away with me!"
Nora steps before the pair. "Well, what if they don't want to go with you?"
He stares for a moment with his lips scrunched up before answering. "Well, then I'll have to take them."
Jaune walks over and stands between him and Ruby, almost explicitly handing over Rei, his shield held in front of him. "We're not going to let you take Ruby."
Tyrian closes his eyes and inhales through his teeth. His eyes slowly open, and he happily growls a single word with a dark grin. "Good." He glances between the group, noticing Sky missing. Delighted that they're willing to fight, Tyrian moves fast to attack Jaune from behind.
Ren notices second, an arrow is already in the air, but he's the one who signals. "Jaune!"
Ren deliberately shoots Jaune's shield so that the ricochet hits Tyrian. Tyrian covers his eyes with his arm and then cartwheels onto Jaune's shield, using his claw blades to spin in the air against it. Ruby steps in to face Tyrian on his descent, but he just kicks her to the side. She regains her ground by using Crescent Rose to steady herself. Jaune takes a swing with his sword at Tyrian, but he simply dodges and kicks him away as well.
Rei moves back, using a glyph he pulls each member of RRNJRS back just in time to avoid a massive wall of Ice, Tyrian however also managed to dodge the attack. Sky growls allowing Rei to pull her out of harms way behind him, that was the last of her ice dust.
His next move is to run toward Nora. From across the way, Ruby grins and shoots Nora with lightning Dust. It passes just over Tyrian's left shoulder, and he turns as he senses it. Nora gets knocked down when the bolt makes contact, dropping Magnhild in the process.
Mistaking the move for an error on Ruby's part, Tyrian gives Nora a baffled stare and laughs while Ren, Jaune and Ruby simply watch and wait. "Well, if that isn't ironic."
He senses something is up and loses his mirth. With a determined, satisfied grin, a now upright and supercharged Nora rushes Tyrian from behind, moving over his right shoulder and coming before him just in time to hit him with Magnhild. The blast from the contact has the other five covering their eyes from the backwash of dust and air, Jaune actually taking cover behind his shield. Rei remains watching with his robotic eye.
The air clears to reveal a perfectly fine Tyrian in a crouch, using his now unveiled scorpion tail to block Magnhild. He giggles and curls his fingers at Nora. "Surprise." He kicks Nora twice in the face before leaping backwards and upward onto a roof, leaving his coat behind.
Ren stares in awe. "He's... a Faunus."
Ruby glares. "What is this about? The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?"
"Plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart and body belong only to our goddess!"
Ruby glares. "Cinder..."
"No... Salem." Rei corrects, leveling his bow, a string of blood wraps around the end of the arrow.
"Hmph, only in Cinder's wildest dreams." Tyrian leaps back into the fray. He uses his tail to knock Crescent Rose down. Though surprised, Ruby doesn't lose her grip on it. The two both attack each other and miss until Tyrian kicks Ruby backwards again. Tyrian uses his tail to go after Ren before finally kicking him away and attacking Jaune next. Rei and Sky fight alongside each other, Rei setting up for his teammate, who uses her fire dust, alongside wind dust to launch powerful blasts at the scorpion Faunus.
A crow flies determinedly toward the fray while Tyrian kicks Jaune back and then Nora, and then Ren returns for more only to leap away again. Without missing a beat, Tyrian lets Ren be and goes after Ruby and Rei again. In quick succession, he delivers a right hook to her face and a left blow to her torso, causing red shimmers on her Aura on her head and chest respectively. He turns and swings his tail to knock her back into the air. She flies back several feet and he rushes forward to meet her before she lands. While Ruby's still midair, he kicks her right in the abdomen, causing a large red shimmer over her abdomen and hips. Rei, blocks the attacks aimed for him, clearly having learned from Glossy over the last two years he fights equally to Tyrian for a spell, his sudden and quick attacks combined with the gravity glyphs and his blood powers making him a tough foe to beat. He's ultimately kicked from under on the jaw, launching him back just in front of the recovering Ruby.
The incoming crow turns into Qrow Branwen who keeps running forward after landing.
Tyrian approaches Ruby and Rei on the ground and raises his stinger, his eyes turning dark purple. Nora, who is comforting a fallen Ren, and Jaune both look on in horror. Laughing, Tyrian is about to strike with his scorpion tail when Qrow bursts through a building and inserts himself between them, holding his weapon behind his back. There's a metallic noise as Tyrian's stinger hits against Qrow's weapon and clips into the blade. He lets out a nervous giggle of surprise while Ruby and Qrow make eye contact and smile at each other.
"Hey." Qrow says to the pair trying to sound cool.
Tyrian Callows pulls his tail back. Qrow turns around, swinging his weapon and holding at the ready by his side.
"As I live and breathe, Qrow Branwen." Tyrian does a mock bow. "A true Huntsman has entered the fray!"
Ruby gets up and sets Crescent Rose on its end. Qrow glances back at her. Ruby shrugs, speaking to Qrow. "I don't know, this guy's weird."
Qrow turns, facing Tyrian again "Look, pal, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece alone."
Tyrian chortles. "Why, friend, my name is Tyrian. And I'm afraid that is not possible." He places his hands together before gesturing at Ruby and Rei. "My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl, and her Boyfriend. So, that is what I must do." He says placing a hand on his chest. "One does not upset the Queen."
"Queen?" Ruby glances to Rei who covers his robotic eye again, holding his arm out warning the others to stay back.
Qrow glares. "Salem."
Ruby glances to Rei and Qrow, both of them know this Salem person. "Who?"
"Hmm, I think we've had enough talk now, don't you?" Tyrian assumes a crouching position.
"You took the words right out of—" Tyrian rushes Qrow before he can finish voicing the thought and the two begin fighting.
Qrow blocks two strikes with Harbinger, then slashes at Tyrian who jumps trying to pierce Qrow as he lands. Qrow dodges then swings but Tyrian back-flips away and rushes back in. The two clash as Tyrian goes flying, he comes to a stop digging his weapons into the ground. He ducks to avoid a slash from Qrow then leaps aside to dodge a horizontal strike. He follows up with a slash, using the force to transition into a kick that Tyrian slides under, then the Faunus tries to strike his back but it is stopped. Tyrian attacks again as Qrow parries several thrusts of his tail. Tyrian blocks a downward strike pinning him on his knees a roof gets damaged by the shock-wave and Tyrian uses The Queen's Servants built in guns to get free. As Qrow blocks the shots with Harbinger Tyrian circles him firing a steady barrage, Ren and Nora join in, but Tyrian catches their sneak attack and dodges then easily knocks them away. He moves to chase them as the two land back near Jaune and Ruby, but Rei intervenes to hold him back. Blocking all of the remaining members of team RRNJRS
"Don't get closer!" He orders.
The two men continue to fight.
Ruby growls. "Fine!" She takes Crescent Rose to the top of a building and waits for an opening to shoot Tyrian. However, both he and Qrow move too fast for her to get a clear shot. Ruby grimaces in frustration. Rei joins her readying his bow, he uses his robotic eye he tracks the pair using basic arrows, that Tyrian destroys with his tail and weapon while still battling Qrow.
Qrow blocks a jab from Tyrian's tail then counters, Tyrian parries before retaliating with a slash followed by a kick. Qrow ducks before swinging three times as the Faunus avoids them all, before using his tail as a spring to gain altitude as he opens fire again. Qrow blocks the attack then fires a shot of his own then dodges another thrust. Tyrian manages to uses his tail to disarm Qrow flinging the sword away as he rubs his wrist. This slows things down enough for Ruby to repeatedly shoot at him from the roof, but after the first shot misses an amused Tyrian just deflects each with his tail.
Qrow curls his hand into a fist then switches to punching Tyrian in the face. He groans in pain backing up before Qrow lands a few more hits. With a final kick, he manages to send Tyrian flying and casually moves to retrieve Harbinger from where it embedded in a wall. A frustrated Tyrian waits crouched until Qrow has his back turned before striking, but Qrow merely leaps on top of his own weapon and partially changes it to scythe mode. Using the gun barrels he propels himself to a roof top, Tyrian follows as their battle continues. They appear evenly matched until Qrow notices a damaged beam. He tricks Tyrian into landing on it and the Faunus descends into the building and uses his tail to drag Qrow down, too. As the two land, the remaining roof collapses inward.
This is enough to make Ruby decide to no longer stay back. Staring at the dust cloud in concern she descends to street level. Just as she reaches the building, Qrow comes crashing out through a wall, his body bouncing. He tosses Harbinger which lands with its blade in the ground, and Qrow perches atop it. Red flickers of damaged Aura move over his body twice.
Tyrian comes out of the floating dust and grime inside the building, purple flickers moving across his body. As the two begin to strike again, Ruby jumps in between and deflects Tyrian's blades with Crescent Rose.
"Ruby!" Jaune shouts. Ren holds Jaune back from moving forward.
"Do you wish to be taken?"
"No! But I won't stand by and watch someone get hurt!"
Both Qrow and Ruby move in to attack Tyrian who parries both weapons and the three clash. He kicks Qrow away then shoots and jabs at Ruby with tail, she blocks and tries to counter but the blow is knocked aside. His eyes purple again, Tyrian closes in and almost gets her with his stinger, but Qrow blocks it.
Qrow holds glancing to the side. "Ruby! What did I say?! Get back!"
"This is my fight, too!" She attacks Tyrian while he's still locked blade-to-blade with Qrow, but his legs arch away from the swing of Crescent Rose.
"No, it's not that. It's—"
Ruby attacks again, and Tyrian moves to her. He flips and sends her back with a two-footed kick. She slides closer to the building and gains her ground, but the wooden beams near the roof have been shaken up too much and a heavy one breaks and descends upon her. Qrow slices it in half so it falls in pieces to either side of Ruby without touching her.
She smiles at him in gratitude and affection, and he raises his head from his stance to look at her, only to gasp in pain as he is immediately cut in the abdomen by Tyrian's stinger.
Tyrian chuckles while everyone but Rei pauses in shock. He, however, immediately aims to decapitate Tyrian, though he blocks with his Tail, Rei seeing this, activates the electric dust in his sword, cutting off the stinger from the rest of Tyrian's tail. It bounces, spurting purple liquid, to the ground. Tyrian reels back and cries out from the pain. Standing, he whirls to face Rei, infuriated.
"You bitch!" He takes a step or two forward but is off balance. Nora, Ren, Sky and Jaune all move to block his path to Rei, Ruby, and Qrow. Tyrian takes a few awkward steps, not engaging. He mutters to himself. "She'll forgive you." He runs away.
Qrow, who had still been upright with his weapon at the ready, collapses to one knee and clutches at the wound, panting heavily.
Ruby rushes to his side. "Uncle Qrow! Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine. He just grazed me." He pulls his shaking hand away to show the blood on it. The other three arrive at his side.
"Who was that guy?" Nora asks.
"How did you get here?" Ren joins.
"Why are people after Ruby?" Jaune asks.
"Why are people after Rei and Ruby?" Sky corrects.
Ruby crouches down to her uncle, as Rei grabs a box from a pocket in his vest, a box of Dusks cigarettes, he quickly lights it using a small amount of Fire dust. "Uncle Qrow? What's going on?" Ruby asks.
Qrow is unable to answer breathing heavily and clutching his abdomen again. Rei steps behind the constantly drunk man. "What's your favorite fairy tale?" Rei asks. Qrow groans, having heard this too many times recently.
Around a campfire, Ruby Rose, Sky Grimoire, Rei Ferrari, Qrow Branwen, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie sit on four logs positioned in a square. Rei has just finished telling the story of the Maidens, Qrow sits next to him interjecting where he can.
There is silence and Qrow takes a swig from his flask. He has a bandage wrapped around his abdomen over his clothing. "Really? No questions?"
Jaune sighs. "Of course we have questions. This is just... a lot to take in."
Qrow nods, sighing. "Sure, of course."
"So these... Maidens... They're powerful fighters that don't need Dust to use magic."
"Yeah." Rei nods.
"And there are four of them?"
"Yup. Always."
"Which means that, whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone - a female - that they cared about?" Ren asks.
Qrow interjects. "Whoever was in their thoughts last. Important distinction. Best option is someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined, in a way."
"And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha... the night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them."
Qrow and Rei glance to each other. "The previous Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know is Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well." Qrow says.
Jaune glares at Rei looking angry. "So you forced it on Pyrrha."
"We didn't force anything, Vomit boy." Rei retorts. "We explained the situation and gave her the choice, and she chose. Did I know what was going to happen, no. You were there, you heard her."
Jaune hangs his head for a brief moment before getting up and walking several feet away from group. Rei watches him go.
"That guy, Tyrian - why was he after us?"
Qrow looks down, sighing. "Well, you definitely painted a target on your back with what you did at Beacon. I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you were able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes. Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you in order to make sure you were safe. All of you."
"Well, then, why not just travel with us? It seems like that would've been way easier."
Jaune answers her loudly enough to be heard, but with his back still turned to everyone. "He was using you as bait."
"Look, I wouldn't put it like that - it's complicated." Rei says
Jaune turns back to face him. "What is all of this? Ruby's being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what?! What is the point of all of this?! Will you just tell us what's going on?!"
Qrow stares at him, then slouches over with a sigh. "Would you sit down? You're stressin' me out, 'kid."
"This is why you weren't supposed to join us until after we graduated." Rei says glaring at Jaune.
Jaune sits back down on his log and crosses his arms. Qrow starts to take another swig, but changes his mind before the flask reaches his lips. "Not many people are super religious these days." Qrow caps and sets the flask down. "This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real." Qrow sighs, beginning the story. "They were two brothers. The older sibling, the God of Light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the God of Darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something - something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything."
Ruby looks down. "The creatures of Grimm."
Qrow nods. 'You guessed it. The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation... together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow - the path of light or the path of darkness. And that is how Humanity came to be."
"But... what does that have to do with us?" Ren asks.
"Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind - knowledge, creation, destruction and choice - aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the Gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose - guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the Relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself... and, of course, keeping them out of her reach."
Rei glances around to the rest of the group sitting around the campfire.
"So yeah, there's that."
"Her. You mean Salem?" Ruby asks.
Rei nods. "That's right. Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the Relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well."
Team RRNJRS still sits talking to Qrow at the campfire.
Jaune sighs. "Alright. So, let's say we believe all this. There really is this crazy evil being behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to become powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?"
"And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven? Shouldn't we be getting them a message? What if they're next?"
Qrow sighs. "The Headmaster over there saw what happened to Beacon. He's not dumb. He'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned out that attack on Beacon overnight?" He Stops pointing at Jaune. "And to answer your question, it's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the Relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. There'd be another Great War on our hands, and this time, you'd have to fight."
Rei sighs. "Even then, I don't fully trust Lionheart now."
Everyone recoils, Rei grabs his sleeve slowly raising it Ren and Nora notice the tattoo and recognize it, followed by Jaune then Sky, and Ruby.
"You're... a Vermilion?" Ren asks.
Rei nods. "Aye. I'm the red captain. Leader of the Vermilion's Assassination unit." Everyone stares at Rei shocked, everyone but Sky and Qrow. "I found information on Salem during my joint mission. Afterwards, I used that Intel to get in with the crew. Ironwood, Glynda, Ozpin, and Qrow. When they asked who I'd recommend to join them I recommended, Dusk Kai, Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos, and Jaune Arc. I specifically requested that their introductions be scattered. I was informed Pyrrha would have to be integrated quickly, and thus I requested Dusk be integrated before the end of the tournament. Weiss was meant to join during our Third years, with Jaune only joining after graduation. Jaune, I wanted you last, because I figured something out, Well, Erin did."
"What's that?" Jaune glares at Rei.
"Your transcripts. You forged them." Everyone recoils, except for Rei, and Qrow. "I won't judge you now, you've been through enough to have earned the spot, hell, I can't judge, having been a wanted criminal."
"What does this have to do with not trusting Lionheart?" Jaune says.
"Simple. I assassinate traitors. Lionheart recommended Mercury for the joint missions. Mercury is a part of Salem's cabal. Either Leo didn't know, or Leo's part of the enemy now. Once we have confirmation, I have my orders from my families leader."
Jaune turns away.
Qrow sighs. "Look, I had the same questions, too. But ol' Ozpin would always put his foot down. "We can't cause a panic." Heh, can't tell you how many times I've heard that. Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us - Humanity, and so far she's done a pretty damn good job." Leaning back, Qrow looks up at the broken moon, he looks ahead and sighs.
"Alright, so what should we do?" Ruby asks.
Everyone looks to Qrow. Qrow chuckles. "I don't really know." The teens all look at each other, surprised and nervous, except for Rei. They return their gaze to him when he starts speaking again. "Ozpin has put a lot of trust in the Headmasters. Like I said, the schools are an important part of stopping Salem. Atlas is going to be on high alert after the last attack, and Vacuo is - well, Vacuo. It'll be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, add in the fact that Cinder and her crew claim to be from Haven, and I think it's likely the next target. So, we're on our way to the Headmaster. Haven't heard from him in a while, even before the attack. I'm hoping he has the answers." Qrow stands, but grabs at where he was cut.
Qrow stands groaning. "Alright, I think it's time you kids got some sleep."
Ruby looks to him. "Uncle Qrow?"
Qrow glances back. "Yeah?"
Ruby stands. "This is a lot to take in, and it all sounds crazy, but... I'm willing to do whatever I can to help because I trust you. But why couldn't you trust me? Why couldn't you just travel with us, instead of this secrecy, and, and--"
"Look, this has nothing to do with trust. I-- It's a long story, okay?"
Nora groans. "Seriously? Now you're tired of telling us stories?"
He stares at the fire in silence before speaking. As he talks he kneels down, picks up a stick and pokes at the fire. "Did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck? Old superstition, but it's how I got my name. See, some people can absorb electricity and some people can burst into rose petals and some people are just born unlucky. My Semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something I do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune." He chuckles bitterly. "I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. Comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy, but it makes it a little hard on friends..." He pauses looking over at Ruby. "...and family." Getting up, he still holds his side.
"Well, you are just a real bundle of help, aren't you?"
Ruby and Rei turn to glare at Jaune.
Qrow nods. "Yeah." He walks away from the campfire, slowly.
"Where are you going?" Ren asks.
Qrow stops briefly. "Taking a walk."
"There's nothing else you want to tell us?" Ruby asks.
A red-eyed raven lands on a tree branch with a quiet caw. Qrow looks at it, and it cocks its head, looking at him. "Not tonight."
He continues his slow walk away, leaving the six teenagers to themselves for a bit. The log he had prodded earlier rolls out of the campfire. Ruby watches Qrow, concerned. Rei sighs, and leaps up into tree taking the first watch of the night, just as he had so many nights before, the others all watch him, as he sits in silence, Ren, Nora, and Jaune all eyeing him, whether it be out of distrust or other reasons, he didn't care. Sky looks to him worriedly. Ruby wondrously.
"Go to sleep, I'll wake up Ren in a few hours, then Sky." He orders, Sky nods, her agreement seemingly convincing the others to do so as well. Rei sighs looking to a watch, on it several dots ping at regular intervals, he taps on one of the pings, and it expands showing Glossy, herself standing with Dusk, the pair talking.
Come morning time at the campsite, and the birds are a-tweeting. All six teenagers are in their sleeping bags, the campfire burned out in the middle. Qrow sits up against the base of a tree, facing the group. Ren sits up with a sigh. Sky sits next to Rei brushing some hair out of his face.
"We should probably get moving." Ren mutters.
Jaune sighs sitting up. "Yeah, yeah."
Both turn at the sound of Qrow coughing, which grows louder and sounds worse with each cough. Nora and Ruby sit up, and Ruby quickly goes to her uncle's side.
Purple staining is visible on Qrow's bandage, which he is holding his right hand over. He lifts his left hand to his mouth as he continues to cough. A cuckoo bird joins its call to the rest of the morning birds. Qrow pulls his hand away with a groan, and the whole palm, including up over the wrist and his fingers, is covered in the purple stain.
Ruby's eyes grow wide, and she gasps. Qrow looks at his hand. "Well..." He looks up at Ruby. "That's unfortunate."
Rei looks over, with a grumble, he quickly begins packing up and setting up a stretcher for them to carry. "Fuck." He mutters.
Chapter End.