Luoyang was once a beautiful city, teeming with life, people coming and going from the great Imperial Capital. That was 10 years ago, shortly before Dong Zhuo's attack, and it is there that we begin this chapter.

Qrow was not a fan of the machinations of the Imperial court, and tried to stay away from the political intrigue as much as possible, preferring to keep to his job as the Head of the Imperial Army. Yet, nonetheless, it was required of him to attend the Emperor's weekly council meetings, to discuss the State of the Empire with his advisors.

The Imperial Palace itself was huge, a monument to Chinese Architecture, it was only through the luck of his father arranging the marriage of his sister Raven, to the reigning Emperor Taiyang, that Qrow was in a position like this at all, it had been pure luck that he hadn't been stuck in the backwater frontier provinces for the rest of his life, like his father. As Qrow approached, the Imperial Guard gave a salute, and opened the gate for him, Qrow headed down the hallways of the Palace before reaching the council chamber, where his Brother-in-Law and his second wife, Summer Rose, were waiting with some of the other council members, including Dong Zhuo, Governor of the Frontier Provinces, Cao Cao, Minister of Finance, Yuan Shao, Lieutenant of the Imperial Armies (effectively Qrow's second-in-command), Qrow sat at his position on the right of the Emperor, opposite the Empress Consort.

Emperor Taiyang smiled as Qrow took his seat. "And finally, we can begin." The Emperor stated, as the other advisors took their seats after having waited for Qrow to arrive. Taiyang motioned to Dong Zhuo "I believe you had business you wished to discuss Governor." He said with the best polite smile he could muster, Dong Zhuo was good at his job, but he was a very large and ugly man, and rude besides, not exactly the company the Imperial Court wanted around, but Taiyang stomached him anyway.

Dong Zhuo frowned, as if he could hear Taiyang's thoughts of him, but he said nothing to indicate the fact, instead beginning with his plea. "Your Majesty, the frontier provinces are quite dangerous places, as I'm sure you well know, and I am running out of troops and resources trying to hold them in your name." He went to continue before Qrow quickly interrupted him.

"Let me guess, you want me to divert even more of the Imperial Army to your control so you can go fight bandits on the border, and waste even more of the peasants taxes on these 'bandits' you complain about so often." Qrow said with a smirk. "Am I right? I think at this point you might have more Imperial Army units than I do anymore."

Dong Zhuo let out a guttural growl "And you'd be wise to remember that, bird." He said, trying to insult Qrow, who merely shrugged in response. "One day you'll regret such slights." He said before sitting down again, giving up on his plea.

Next up was the Minister of Finance, a more handsome man then Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao was well liked, if shrewd, and was, like the rest of the advisors, very good at his job. "Funding the war on the frontier has been costly, yes, but keeping Salem and the Mongolians at bay has been a very pressing matter." Cao Cao said, Dong Zhuo nodding to agree with him.

Taiyang seemed lost in thought for a moment before sighing in defeat, leaning over to Qrow. "Please see to it that Dong Zhuo has the troops he asks for, after all it is he who holds back Salem and her hordes." Qrow rolled his eyes, but Taiyang knew he would comply with his order.

Qrow motioned to Yuan Shao. "I want the 13th and 7th divisions transferred to Dong Zhuo's command when he leaves the city tonight." Yuan Shao nodded, but Dong Zhuo did not seem pleased.

"That's it? I'm the one protecting China, and you see to it that almost all of MY army is kept here? For what? To protect a bunch of ungrateful peasants it seems!" Dong Zhuo stood, and laid his hand on his sword.

Qrow quickly stood and reached for his scythe. "Careful fat man, you stand in the presence of your Emperor!"

Taiyang tried to stop things from escalating. "How about we hold a council again tomorrow and we can discuss this further, please, there is no need for violence." He pleaded, while managing to keep his composure.

Dong Zhuo calmed a bit and stayed silent for a moment, before shaking his head and walking out. Qrow returned his scythe to his back and shook his head. "You should not put up with his disrespect, Your Majesty."

Summer Rose finally piped up. "I agree with Qrow, Taiyang, Dong Zhuo's disrespect seems to grow with every meeting, and your inability to punish him seems to only make him bolder." She says, taking her husband's hand.

Taiyang nodded. "I know, I know, but I don't want to be like my father… using violence to scare the people into submission."

Qrow sympathized with his brother-in-law. "The burden of rule has fallen to you my friend, as it will fall to your daughter after you, my niece, but as noble as kindness is, sometimes it is better to be feared than loved."

Summer shook her head. "It would be best to be both." After that, they all took their leave, with Summer and Taiyang returning to the Imperial Quarters, and Qrow heading to the palace balcony to get drunk.

It was a few hours after that, deep into the night, when screams woke Qrow from his drunken stupor. He blinked the world back into focus, only to see the Imperial City burning. He shot straight up, his only thought was to save his nieces, he made his way through the palace, catching sight of several Imperial Guards battling with Dong Zhuo's frontier troops. A bunch of traitorous dogs to betray their Emperor in such a way.

One of the frontier troops decided to test his luck with the Head of the Imperial Army, charging straight at Qrow, and as if it was nothing to him, Qrow pulled his scythe from his back and cut through the man's waist, cleaving him right in half. As two more frontier troops cut down an Imperial Guard, they advanced at Qrow as well, ignorant of their comrade who had fallen moments before. Qrow almost laughed, worthier foes had failed to strike him down, and with that thought, he spun himself around, slicing the head off one before cutting downwards, taking the hands off another, before jamming the scythe blade into his chest, ending his life.

Qrow continued his quick sprint, down the stairs to the first floor of the palace, and back through the hallways to the Imperial chambers, passed them and into the Crown Princess's chambers, he kicked open the door, only to find his niece's bed empty. With an angry grunt, he continued on to the next room over, kicking the door open to reveal his other niece, Ruby, cowering under her bed.

He approached her slowly, she was likely already traumatized enough. He held his hand out slowly. "Come on, let's get you out of here kid." He said quietly, and with that she crawled out from under the bed before running over and throwing herself into his arms, sobbing and muttering something unintelligible as her 5 year old mind struggled to understand what was going on.

Qrow heard screams of pain behind him, one of them was almost certainly Taiyang's, and moments later more of Dong Zhuo's troops burst through into the room. "Get him!" they shouted, as three of the men advanced on Qrow. He grabbed one of his smoke pellets and tossed it on the ground, covering his escape as he sprinted out the door, Ruby cradled in his arms.

Qrow had made it to the stables and taken his horse, riding out of the Imperial City until they made it to a hill about half a mile away. He stopped and dismounted, taking a moment to observe Dong Zhuo's bloodthirsty destruction. The city would be in utter ruins after this, and Dong Zhuo would likely abandon it, mostly likely with his niece, Yang, now the Empress, in tow. All this so that his puppet Empress would provide his frontier troops…

No, it was more than that, Dong Zhuo had always been a prideful man, maybe he had just been looking for an excuse to finally seize the Empire for his own. For right now, none of it mattered though, Qrow thought as he lightly ran his fingers through Ruby's hair. She was asleep now, he hoped she would forget as much of this night as possible, to spare her the pain.

And with that, Qrow set out for the province of Shandong, hopefully to find a safe place for Ruby.

Because as soon as she was safe, Qrow had revenge to plan.