Warning: Qrow trying to be a dad. Cause that's just a disaster.

"What are we doing here?" 26 asked, yawning.

The sun was just barely peaking over the horizon, and Qrow had dragged him to the courtyard where he usually held sparring matches against the teams of Beacon Academy.

Despite his sleepiness, 26 liked to look around with interest. Patches of grass were scorched while others looked unharmed, most likely decorations the yard got from accidents in Qrow's impromptu lessons. Some of the stone pavements were cracked, and 26 doubted it was due to age. The cracks were too deliberate...too new.

"We're here to gauge your combat skills," Qrow commented offhandedly, spinning his weapon with one hand.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Kid, Ozpin said you want to come with me instead of staying at Beacon Academy. The only difference is that I'm portable, and Beacon isn't," Qrow snorted.

26 could think of a lot more differences Qrow had with Beacon, but he stayed silent on that end. Instead, he sighed.

"Couldn't we have done this in a few more hours?"

As fine as he was without sleep, he liked the nice beds. They were much more softer than he was used to.

Much warmer too.

"Of course. But then all the students would be watching too, and the more quiet we keep about you, the safest it is for you," Qrow answered. "Right now, I don't know if you can take care of yourself. If you're coming with me, you should know it probably won't be very different from the time you spent in the forest with the Grimm, before I found you. I'll protect you, but you should still know how to protect yourself."

26 nodded.

That sounded logical enough.

26, above all else, liked to think he was logical.

"Now, usually, a Huntsman would test someone's strength and speed through various forms of specialized combat, but you have no fighting experience at all," Qrow stated, suppressing a smirk. "We'll start simple with lesson number zero."

26 eyed Qrow suspiciously when the smirk couldn't help itself, and surfaced onto Qrow's face.

"What's lesson number zero?" 26 asked tentatively.

As if it wasn't impossible, the smirk grew larger.

"Dodge."

The students of Beacon were not morning people.

Sure, once in a while you would get one of those healthy nuts or eccentric loonies who would rise from their beds at the crack of dawn, but about 90% of the student body population would wake no later than eleven, just before noon, if given the chance.

But Beacon Academy was very much an Academy, and required students to shed their lazy cocoons of quilts around seven, so that they could get enough time to prepare for class at eight.

On that particular day, students regret not getting up earlier, because Huntsman Qrow was putting on quite a show.

Glynda Goodwitch, despite being a new teacher, was quite a strict one. Tardiness due to the fact that they wanted to linger around to be entertained? That would not go well as an excuse.

Some students thought Qrow was a clever bastard who was doing it on purpose to avoid an audience.

Some students sacrificed their breakfast time to watch though, and what an interesting show it was.

Oh. What was this particular show, you ask?

Well.

It seemed that Mr. Branwen decided to teach and apprentice an eight year-old boy.

Now, while Qrow Branwen had plenty of gossip going on about him, the mysterious boy that slept in the infirmary was thought to be a false rumor. Victoria Irving knew otherwise, but she wasn't much for gossiping, and despite meeting the boy, she didn't confirm any speculations. It would be rude of her, and quite uncomfortable for the boy should some of the more intrusive Huntresses-in-training decided to go stalk the poor thing.

But we're getting off-topic.

At around 7:55 a.m. in Beacon Academy courtyard, the fact that Qrow had an apprentice spread like wildfire.

After all, why would a renown Huntsman like him teaching someone who wasn't even attending the Academy? Sure, the kid was dodging bullets like crazy, and despite being somewhat slow, he was at least not getting hit, but he was nothing special. Qrow, upon teaching this kid, very much just claimed the boy under his wing.

"They're all...staring," 26 panted.

"They're heading to class. Won't be staring for long," Qrow shrugged.

"We've been at this for hours. Can we...stop now...?" 26 asked. At the very beginning, he got hit with each and every bullet fired. For hours, he wondered how he could dodge anything he couldn't even see. Eventually, he stared at where Qrow aimed, and moved away from the direction of the aim.

Of course, when Qrow realized the tactic, he feinted pulling the trigger sometimes, and immediately switch aim.

That made 26 frustrated, and he was getting hit with bullets again. His shirt was littered with holes and dried bits of blood, but the dark clothing hid what would be an unusual sight. From the calm way that the Beacon students observed, 26 knew that they thought he had aura.

But by the second round, he was moving faster than before, and the bullets were little more than annoyances. 26 supposed it really did look like he had aura. They hurt like hell, don't mistake him, but it didn't hurt as much as Qrow's blade. His accelerated healing always closed up the wounds before he could feel much pain anyway.

They were practicing for about three hours before the students of Beacon came out to witness the scene of 26 barely dodging those pesky metal pellets, and another ten minutes before 26 asked for a break.

"Stop? Already? Boy, you sure are weak," Qrow snorted. Still, he lowered his weapon, letting the tip of the blade crack into the cement of the courtyard, the sound echoing in the empty courtyard.

A few birds took flight from the trees.

26 eyed the weapon with a critical eye. Now he knew where the cracks in the stone structures came from.

"We'll need to bring up your stamina and speed. Your strength however..." Qrow picked up one of the bullets he shot.

The whole end was tapered into a flat, crushed lump.

"Is just fine..."

26 stared at the piece of metal Qrow was holding up.

"Sorry," he panted out.

Qrow looked surprised, "sorry? What for?"

"Destroying that bullet. You could've reused it, right?" 26 asked.

"This? Ha. Nah," Qrow flicked the wrecked bullet over his shoulder. "I buy these things by the bulk but I never use 'em much in battle. It's fine, kid."

"If you never use them much, why buy them at all?"

"It's more of a convenience thing than anything. It's pretty much unspoken that everyone's weapon should have a long-range specialization just in case there's any enemy your combat specialization can't handle," Qrow answered expertly.

"Would I get a weapon?"

"Before any good Huntsman learns how to attack, he first must learn to dodge. We'll probably repeat this lesson a few more times before I even think about getting you a weapon," Qrow smiled deviously.

26 shivered at the evil expression.

Qrow, in reality, was already thinking about the choices 26 might have in terms of weaponry. With super strength like that, it was hard to find one that wouldn't over-encumber his speed. He was slow enough as it is.

"You mentioned something earlier..." 26 hummed. His panting had lessened dramatically. Qrow marveled at the recovery speed. "Combat specialization. What is it?"

"Curious huh?" Qrow grinned. "You'll learn eventually. For now...take a shower. We're heading out immediately after."

"Heading out?" 26 repeated.

"I've been stuck in Vale for three months. I got things to do, kiddo...and if you're going to stick with me, that means you got to do those very same things with me," Qrow answered wryly. "Plus, we gotta get you some better clothes, and maybe some hair dye..."

"What's hair dye?"

The kid was pretty unusual, Qrow had mused.

His strength was abnormally above average, and if he challenged the kid to an arm-wrestling contest, it would possibly be a stalemate. However, the kid was slow, so much slower than trainee-kids his age. On the other hand, the kid learned faster than any normal human, and his body grew faster after that intense training session. He supposed it was to balance out the fact that the kid had absolutely no aura, whatsoever.

And he checked, many times.

Throughout the whole session, he watched without flinching—and wasn't that a challenge?—how his shots would open up holes in the kid's arms and legs. Even in the gravest of dangers, like when one of his bullets accidentally lodged into the kid's lungs, or even after receiving shots that were more painful than others, like that one shot that hit the kid's knee, the kid's aura didn't even kick in.

Usually, people without their aura unlocked were designated as civilians. However, this boy didn't even have aura at all, locked or unlocked.

That would mean the abnormal strength, the increased rate of growth, and the accelerated healing was all from the experiments.

Qrow admitted that even without aura and a semblance, the kid would grow to be quite a terror.

Now it was up to him that the kid reached adulthood.

That meant choosing a hair dye.

"Blond looks quite handsome on you, doesn't it?" Qrow grinned.

"Define handsome," 26 questioned, seriously confused. His once-black hair was now a orange-yellow tinge, and while not the best color to complement his red eyes, it most certainly did the job of changing how he looked completely.

Qrow pushed back the faint thought on how much 26 looked like an older, male version of Yang when she would get angry.

Boy, could that three-year-old niece of his could throw a tantrum.

Luckily, it seemed that while 26 did look like his niece, he didn't have her horrible temper. Instead, he was more for curiously inspecting himself in the mirror, turning his head this way and that way for a better look.

26 couldn't even recognize himself. The Scientists most certainly wouldn't recognize him now.

"Don't worry kid. Once you know how to defend yourself, you can get your silky black locks again," Qrow chuckled.

26 huffed. He wasn't worried about his looks. He was just fascinated how one small change in color could make a person so different from what they looked like before.

"Let's get going. We need to get to get out of Vale by nightfall. I have a lot of work to catch up on."

So they bid Ozpin farewell, and exited civilization once more.

26 was equally fearful and excited of what laid ahead.

Qrow could only hope this long-term babysitting mission wasn't one that he failed at.

A/N: A little shorter than the others, but I think a I did an okay job. Next, we do character development for both Qrow and 26, and world-building.

I know that I don't ask for reviews, but they're still appreciated. Would you guys like to see anything in particular? How would you like 26 to develop? What personality traits do you want him to have? Like 26 discovered in the previous chapter, "he's a blank slate, and the world's his oyster."