Turncoat Part 2
"Your sister was a recent edition. The lion on the other hand…"
"Leonardo's been sending Salem all sorts of information for a very, very long time. Isn't that right, Professor?"
"You sit on the Mistral Council. You had information on every Huntsman and Huntress in the Kingdom. And you gave it all to her. I couldn't find any of them. Because you let her kill them!"
Everything became chaotic after that once Arc charged that bitch in the red dress. Weiss got run through, Ruby nearly went all silver-eyed and the entire lobby of Haven Academy became a giant arena. Qrow ached in a way he never had before thanks to Hazel's strikes, like bones he didn't even know he had had been broken. How his Aura hadn't shattered yet was a miracle. No thanks to that snake Leo, who had been taking pot-shots at himself and Oscar- Ozpin- the entire fight before Ruby finally broke his Aura and he ran like a coward. Ruby and her teams were keeping Hazel and Cinder's acolytes distracted for a moment, so Qrow took a moment to check on Oz. He was pushing the boy to his limit and beyond and that adrenaline that had kept him up this far was finally running out. He'd crash soon.
Oz caught Qrow's look. "Go after Leo!" he gasped out. "We can't let him leave the city."
Qrow nodded quietly, tapping Ozpin on the back. He looked over at Ruby as she flew in between the illusionist and that smug silver-haired brat he'd seen a year prior in Mistral, while Yang and Nora slammed into Hazel with the force of a wrecking ball. She'd be fine, she had to be. She also had to be distracted. She didn't need to see or hear what would happen next.
Qrow shifted, flying up past the staircase and landing in the hallway. He shifted back in an instant, rolling with the landing. His sword extended out as he jogged down the hallway, past cabinets with scriptures and trophies, over crimson red rugs. This hallway had been well lit when he had come through with RNJR but now the lights were dim, shadows cast over everything.
The door was open at the end of the hallway, showing Leo's office. The man himself was being dragged towards a silent Seer Grimm that loomed overhead. Leo scrambled desperately on the floorboards as the appendages began to wrap around him, razor-sharp tips cutting narrow slices into Leo's face. He screamed in desperation and fear, blind to the world as the grip tightened. Qrow almost left him there, almost content with just watching for the moment. But then a dark little voice began to whisper in the back of his mind.
Almost subconsciously, Qrow raised his shotgun and fired, the flechette rounds punching a baker's dozen small holes in the Seer before it scattered into black dust. Leo was silent for a moment, just breathing in ragged gasps. Qrow entered the office, grabbing the key to the door where Leo had left it. He stood at the door after closing it behind him. Leo's sobs covered the small click of the key sliding in and locking the door shut behind him.
"Qrow…" Leo got up onto one knee, looking over his shoulder at the last fragments of the Seer as they flittered away. Qrow didn't speak. He breathed through his nose, tightening and loosening the grip on his sword. "Thank you, Qrow."
That… tone. Fear was an undercurrent in Leo's voice but now with a broken Aura and a weapon out of reach he was almost… sycophantic to Qrow. His fists clenched.
"Did you do it?"
"W-what?"
Qrow closed the distance, kicking Leo back into his desk. He hit it with a thud, eyes widening as Qrow's sword tip hovered in front of his eyes.
"Amber. Did you tell Salem where to find her?"
Leo's pupils dilated in obvious fear. A part of Qrow was slightly amused that he even had room to feel more fear. But most of him took Leo's silence as answer enough.
"You sold out a Maiden and let her attackers stay in your Academy as cover. That's why you sent her and me to Shion, so that they could attack her." Qrow's eyes blazed in the low light of the office. "Everything that happened since- Cinder becoming a Maiden, the fall of Beacon, Ozpin's death- that all happened because of that night. Everything that happened was your fault."
"Yes!" Leo snapped, voice cracking. "Fine, I sold out the Maiden, and all the other Huntsmen. But you were with her! I thought you could stop them. Why didn't you? Blame me all you want, but the fact remains that not saving the Maiden is as much your fault as mine."
Qrow's sword wavered as he pondered Lionheart's words. He had gone back other the day of the attack a thousand times. If he'd been a little faster, could he have saved Amber? Stopped Cinder's plans dead in their tracks and prevented the fall of Beacon? It was nothing more than a flight of fancy that he had considered, one that had become more frequent in his mind since he began following RNJR along the same paths he had walked with Amber. It was all pointless to consider, he knew that. It was ultimately his own fault he had been behind Amber. Her wanderlust had grown as they neared Shion and it bean to dawn on Amber that she wouldn't be free much longer, that Ozpin would ensure she was well protected for her safety. So, on that day she had stolen a horse and began to ride. Qrow found her letter on the nightstand in her room (they had separate rooms both to throw off anyone looking for a Maiden and their protector and because… well he was twice Amber's age, the idea of sleeping with her was just disgusting) and darted out right away, his jog becoming a full-blown sprint when he heard gunfire and the roar of lightning.
And it wasn't enough. He had one job and he failed miserably at it. Seeing Amber be reduced from the woman who practically floated with life and energy to a derelict shell barely able to breathe had been… difficult. Qrow fell back on old habits and vices, poured himself into work and became a wraith for over half a year.
"Maybe," Qrow conceded through ground teeth, "maybe it is my fault that I didn't save her. But you're the man who put her in that position to begin with, and your excuses stink of bullshit since you decided not to tell me to watch out for an ambush. You're trying to change how the past went so you can look yourself in the eye." Qrow spat to the side in disgust. "At least the rest of Salem's cabal have the decency to own their sins. You're nothing but a revisionist."
Leo shrank under the words, the spine he had exhibited fading away as fast as it materialized. "I did what I had to do," he mumbled, "she would have killed me."
"And in turn you let hundreds of thousands of people die. Every Huntsman you sent off could have saved countless settlements from Grimm. What you did… it's a war crime."
"Yes." Leo shuddered as he looked past Qrow at the door. "You locked the door, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Rewarded as a traitor deserves, I see. So, I either die at the hands of you or the Grimm."
Qrow didn't respond for a moment. "What happened to you Leo? I remember the Huntsman who stared down a Goliath and drove it away. Now you're just a shadow." He shook his head and put away his weapon. "The police can deal with you. The Huntsmen you helped kill will get you the noose for sure. The surviving families will see to that. Meanwhile the rest of us will be left to clean up your mess."
Leo stayed silent at that. Qrow scoffed and began to walk back to the door, the sound of the key sliding in echoing in the tight space. It also made the sound of cloth scrambling over wooden floor. He turned as Leo rose with his shield extended, Dust beginning to form on the end.
A shot rang out.
The battle was over. By the time Qrow came back out the rest of the enemy had fled. Raven had probably used her Semblance to flee back to Patch while Sustrai had made a giant hallucination of Salem, so the rest of the cabal could flee in the panic. Barring low Auras and a lot of bruises, they were alive, and Haven was still standing. It was nice to win for a change.
Qrow was perched on the roof, watching the relief efforts cleaning up the mess they'd left behind. A few Haven students had come in specially to help, including some blue-haired, smarmy-looking prick with blue hair that was getting along well with Belladonna's friend. It was a near perfect victory, and yet Qrow felt bitter inside. He tried to shake it off as just his bitterness over Raven's defection refusing to leave, but it ran deeper than that.
Leo was dead. He'd provoked Qrow into drawing first and firing even though Qrow's Aura could afford to take the hit. Qrow didn't know how to feel about it. On the one hand he was glad that Leo was dead and, judging by Yang's comments about what went down in the vault, Cinder was feeding worms as well. Now the souls of those who died at Beacon and the Huntsmen Leo sold out could gain some traction of solace from beyond the grave. But the families of people like Heather Shields would never get that satisfaction, of seeing Leo receive the punishment he rightly deserved. Even if ultimately, his fate would have been settled behind closed doors to prevent Leo having a chance to tell anyone anything about Salem.
Even from beyond the grave, Leo was acting like a royal pain. Qrow sighed wearily, sipping from his flask. The sun was starting to set behind the mountains, orange rays slowly crawling across the courtyard and making the shadows look harsher than they were.
Nature was so goddamn cliché.
Placing the flask into his offhand, Qrow pulled out his scroll, rifling through a few photo albums. Some of these were years old, a few even dating back to the STRQ years- Qrow with Shiro Wan, three drinks into a drinking contest while Farrow Vaccaro and Aoi Rivas mediated. Heather Shields sleeping on a couch while Qrow held her little baby girl. Amethyst Kreiss could be seen in the background suppressing some of those squeaks she used to make.
And finally, a few of Amber. Some from their venture to a Halloween festival, a few Amber had asked Qrow to take and send to her scroll when she forgot it, including one of her posing with a potential paramour. The last one was from two days before she'd run off. Amber had fallen asleep under a tree with her cloak wrapped around her. She seemed genuinely pleased with how it came out- she hadn't made a single sarcastic retort about it, though she did get back at him by taking a picture of Qrow draped over a bed, snoring.
Tilting the flask, Qrow poured most of its contents onto the ground below, most of it splattering onto dirt below. He swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to save many of you, and I failed the one person I was there for. I hope you find a peace up there that wasn't provided here. I won't scatter your sorrow to the heartless winds, for I will always carry it alongside my own sorrows." Qrow took a swig. "And maybe put in a good word for me when it's my turn to meet you up there- I'm gonna need all the help I can get."
Perhaps it was just the mixture of pain and whiskey, but Qrow almost felt the wind tug at his cape. Below, a few leaves that had fallen already as Autumn set in scattered across the courtyard.
Qrow sat in silence for a spell, watching the sun rise higher into the sky. His thoughts were distracted by a quick flurry of rose petals. Ruby let out a tired groan as she sat beside him. "Hey."
"Hey Petal." He exhaled slowly. "Long night."
"Yeah." She groaned again. "I could sleep for a week after all that. And then I need to ask Ozpin about this whole…" She gestured to her eyes loosely. "whatever the heck my mom gave me."
"We'll get a few days R&R for sure. Gonna need to find someone to take us to Atlas." Qrow pointedly ignored the other thing that Ruby was talking about. Not many good memories lay down that path.
Ruby hummed softly in agreement. "They found Professor Lionheart."
It was Qrow's turn to hum.
"I saw you go after him while we took on Emerald and Mercury. Everything was so chaotic I couldn't help you but…" Ruby hesitated. "They found Grimm residue in the air around him."
"Yeah, there was a Grimm there. Nearly killed him before I came in."
"But… he was shot. Qrow, did you-"
"Do you really want me to answer that question?" Qrow interrupted suddenly.
Ruby paused, looked down at her feet for a moment. "… No."
"Then would you like a lie or the truth?"
"... Lie to me." Ruby eventually said.
"Leo was cornered, and he knew it. He surrendered to the authorities but tried to escape custody... and he was shot in the pursuit." The lie flowed easily.
"Liar," she whispered. Ruby rested her head on Qrow's shoulder. "Was all this worth it? All the pain and death, will anything good come out of it?"
"… I don't know Petal. But no sense regretting it, or else you might as well just give in to fear and never out of bed in the morning." He got up slowly, pocketing his scroll and flask. "Come on, there's beds with our names on them back at the safehouse."
They left the roof, the dusty old crow accompanied by a flurry of petals that mixed with some of the feathers as they drifted off into the lazy morning breeze.
Thanks for reading.
