Grooooaaaan…

The last thing Qrow remembered was his hand full of purple liquid. After that, he blacked out. As he awoke, he noticed he was far from where he had slept. He looked around to see the makeshift hospital beds inside what was clearly a wooden building. Qrow was accustomed to this type of place throughout his days travelling Mistral, but he never expected to be in the bed of one.

Of course, he had no time to reflect as he was suddenly tackled.

"Uncle Qrow! You're alright!" Ruby said as she held him.

"H-hey there, kiddo…" Qrow petted Ruby on the head. "Nnngh… What happened?" Qrow looked to where his bandaged wound was. To his surprise, it wasn't oozing purple, and instead was just a normal, small red splotch on what was clearly clean bandages.

"Well, we grabbed you and went as fast as we could to a nearby village. Doctors were able to patch you up right away. One of them said that had we've been any later, the venom would have… well…" Qrow never saw Ruby be upset before save for when she first awoke after Beacon's fall, so seeing her simply frown caused him to wince, as though the wound he had returned. Ruby then smiled, as though to lighten the mood.

"Look's like your luck's finally turned around!" She said. Qrow took a moment to reflect on that.

Luck.

Qrow's Semblance was the ability to constantly give bad luck to people. Unfortunately, he couldn't target who would be affected or when he can have it on. It's just always on. Thanks to it, he saw himself as a burden to everyone he's ever made eye contact with. However, it wasn't the problem of never seeing his friends and family without his Semblance muddling them or the fact that he can never turn off his Semblance like his friends.

"Really? Because from what I could see… It's just my bad luck saving me." Qrow said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Let me ask you something. Is it bad luck if I were to die from the poison?" Qrow asked. He braced himself for the shrunken irises that Ruby had as the question entered her thought.

"N-no! Of course not! Like I said, it was really lucky for us that we got you help in time!" Ruby said.

"Really? Because from what I could see, it's bad luck, since that means I'm still around." Qrow said.

"… W-what do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Think of a bad luck charm. Break it and you break the bad luck. Kill me and… well…" Qrow chuckled a bit.

"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby began to whimper.

"Well, it's just my luck, right? I'm alive so I can just spread misfortune to everyone I care for. I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen if I died, right?" Qrow said.

"You wouldn't be around to help us… We need you, Uncle Qrow." Ruby said.

"Well, from the looks of things, you guys managed to progress pretty far." Qrow said.

"But we progressed that far because you were there for us!" Ruby said.

"I've seen you constantly slaughter Grimm every time you go on a trip to your mother's grave. You're strong enough to not have me around ruining you or your friends' days. Besides, I bet it'd make a couple of certain somebodies happy if I was dead." Qrow said.

"W-who do you…" She bit her lip. "Jaune? Don't think he's upset at you! He's just upset that Pyrrha died and-"

"What he said was justified. We kept people in the dark and selected people to make the sacrifices we're too afraid to commit ourselves." Qrow said.

"You don't mean that…" He could see Ruby's eyes water up. He sighed.

"Sorry… Just… Been thinking a lot during that night." Qrow said.

"Well… I think you are doing the right thing." Ruby said.

"Yeah. I don't doubt myself there. Where I do doubt myself, though, is if I'm just unlucky to be alive." That's when he witnessed Ruby doing something he would never have thought of before.

She slapped him.

"No! Don't think that! Don't ever think that!" Ruby then held him and cried. "I don't care if you constantly bring bad luck! I love you and so does Yang!"

"I know you do, but look what happened to your sister. I'm the last person she spoke to before the invasion began and… well…" Qrow then sighed. "Or how about Pyrrha? I was with her when we told her about the Maidens and the moment she chose, her choice and life were robbed from her. Even my own friends aren't lucky. Ozpin, James, Glynda…" He then looked around. "Can you grab me something to drink?" Qrow asked.

"O-of course." Ruby went to find something, a nice cup of cold water. She went over, but then tripped and splashed the water all over Qrow's face. "S-sorry!" Qrow just chuckled.

"Thanks for proving my point." He said. "It's better if I was away. If I just kept my distance. Like my sister, y'know." Qrow said.

"Qrow… You don't have to. You can stay. You can-"

"And put you in danger? No. I'm not risking that. I lost your mother, I'm not losing you to my bad luck too!" Qrow shouted. A nurse came in, only to stop as she heard Qrow snap. She sighed and walked in, taking the clipboard and writing down the appropriate notes.

"… Were you and mom close?" Ruby said. Qrow shook his head.

"No… We're just as close as you and your friends are. Nothing more, nothing less." He said. Ruby just glared at him though.

"Qrow… I don't like secrets. You can tell me anything." Ruby said. Qrow took a moment before he began to talk.

"Alright… But only because you asked." He took one more moment to properly word it. "I have a daughter." Ruby's eyes lighted up.

"You what!? I have a cousin?" Ruby smiled.

"Yeah… You'd like her. She's sweet, innocent, but not naïve. She doesn't know when to give up, even when Grimm are staring her in the face. She's a very nice girl. I don't tend to visit her a lot because of… well, my Semblance, but I tend to pop by whenever I could. Make her a part of my life, even if my luck could rub off on her at any moment." Qrow said.

"… Well, Qrow, I want to be part of her life too. I want to meet her at some point, okay?" She then blinked. "Oh, right, Ren and Nora should be back from shopping. I should go greet them." She then waved goodbye and ran off. Qrow simply smirked.

"Well, you've already met her…" He chuckled and went to rest up for the journey ahead.