Hey everyone! In this long overdue update to Nevermore's Wrath we travel to Atlas where Qrow and Winter have some screen time. I know that a lot of people don't like ships but the interactions between Qrow and Winter in Volume 3 reminded me of two ex's being forced to work together, or at least two people who had a fling that ended badly. Those interactions in the actual show is what gave me the idea of having these two share a rocky relationship in my AU. Also in this chapter we see that the plans to end the war are starting to be formed. I hope you guys enjoy and as always please let me know what you think. Work has finally started to slow down so expect more chapters to be released at a quicker pace!


VII

Qrow Branwen yawned gently as he stretched tiredly. The room he laid in was dimly lit and was cool from the decorative ceiling fan that ran high above him. He slowly shifted his weight so not to wake the woman who laid next to him as he rose from the bed to make his way to the restroom. As he prepared to stand he felt a delicate kiss on his left shoulder before being pulled backwards onto the bare chest of his lover. He smirked and kissed the woman's right hand before clearing his throat to speak.

"You know it's not smart to grab a highly trained Huntsman from behind right, Ice Queen?" He said playfully, smiling wider as the arms around him shifted up to his neck before squeezing tightly.

"You call me 'Ice Queen' one more time and I'll show you just how foolish it is to test the anger of a Schnee, old man." Replied Winter with a slight tinge of frustration before playfully pushing Qrow away from her.

Qrow stumbled off of the bed and across the room to where his pants laid across the back of a chair. He quickly slid them on and looked back at Winter. She kneeled on her bed with one hand holding a blanket against her naked body while she brushed her long white hair out of her face with the other hand. He couldn't help but smile at the beauty of the young woman with whom he had shared an on and off affair with for the past couple years.

It had been dangerous hiding their affair from the governments of both sides of the brutal war that had been raging for the past five years. However with Winter being the acting leader of Atlas' council while General Ironwood was away and Qrow serving as Mistral's representative to Atlas since shortly after the start of the purge, it was fairly easy for the two of them to find time to be alone together.

Shortly after the Atlas attack on Vale and Beacon, Qrow managed to find his nieces in the forest near the school and led them to safety along with the other survivors. It was then that he had noticed the state of distress that Ruby was in. The usual cheerful air that the young girl gave off had been dissolved with that of sorrow and pain. Ruby had all but shut down after losing her sight in her right eye and it seemed that she would never recover. After several serious discussions with Yang, Qrow took Ruby to Mistral where a brilliant robotics expert by the name of Doctor Hale owed him a favor. This led to Ruby receiving her new eye along with a safe haven for her to grow and train.

Qrow silently entered the bathroom connected to Winter's bedroom and spoke loud enough for her to hear him.

"So, this big peace summit going on this week. Any chance that Atlas is going to be withdrawing their forces?" He asked, a question he already knew the answer to.

"Hardly." Winter scoffed with an irritated tone at the thought of the peace summits. "The best we are going to be able to do as long as Ironwood is in charge of our military is get a temporary cease fire in Mistral." She continued as she slid out of the bed to get dressed.

"And Vale? No chance of a full withdraw?" Qrow continued with his questions as he washed his hands.

"Ironwood will most likely never pullout of Vale without a gun to the back of his head." Winter replied with a shake of her head. "The council members that support an end to the war have all decided to not approve any invasion of Vacuo, so that's good." She continued before tying her hair into its usual bun.

"Yeah, because the best thing for Atlas right now is to invade a third kingdom." Qrow replied sarcastically. "I doubt even Ironwood is crazy enough to spread his forces that thinly. The VLA is giving him enough problems in Vale that he has most likely been forced to pull his best forces from the front in Mistral. Not to mention the rumors of an armed rebellion here in Atlas." He finished before exiting the bathroom and walking over to Winter's small bar to pour himself a drink.

Winter strolled over to where her lover was standing and poured herself a drink as well before giving him a worried look. Her eyes gleamed with concern as she silently sipped at the liquor in her glass. After a few moments of silence she walked into the next room, motioning Qrow to follow her.

"Uh oh, I know that look. What's on your mind?" Qrow questioned her before following her into her study.

Once inside, Qrow closed the door and took a seat in one of Winter's plush chairs. He swirled the alcohol in his glass gently before sipping at it some more. The look that Winter had given him was still fresh in his mind and it was slowly eating away at his mind. After a few more moments of silence, Winter sighed deeply before fishing out a large envelope with papers poking out of it.

"This came across my desk from General Ironwood a few days ago. Inside is a report about a special operations team named Team CRME's involvement in a small Mistral city." Winter said with a tinge of growing agitation.

"Oh yeah? What's this got to do with anything? Everyone's heard of CRME and their dirty operations." Qrow replied as he took the file. "Who did they kill this time?" He questioned.

"Cut the shit, Qrow." Winter snapped as she darted her eyes up at her partner. "Inside that report is a detailed account of Roland Egle's battle with one Team SHDW while in Mistral. I read it several times and only three of the four team members were confirmed to have been killed. But imagine my shock when one of my spies in Mistral reports to me that one Silver Morrigan of Team SHDW has been listed as killed in action by the Mistral military." Winter continued angrily.

"Whoa now, just let me explain this." Qrow started as he put his glass down and leaned forward in his seat.

"You better explain quickly, Qrow. Because I know that you and Silver had a close bond. Not to mention his adopted sister is a high value target in the VL-fucking-A!" Winter's voice began to rise as she stood from her chair quickly.

Qrow sat in silence for a few seconds as he tried to piece together an explanation that would be accepted by the young woman across from him. He sighed softly before beginning to speak.

"It was the kid's idea. He wanted Mistral to fake his death and to retire him from service to allow him to travel to Vale. Once there he plans to join with the VLA and hopefully kill Roland and the rest of his team. I agreed to it simply because the kid seemed like he wouldn't take anything other than approval for this mission as an answer. And I also saw it as a chance to get Ruby back to Vale safely." Qrow admitted cautiously.

The air in Winter's study instantly grew stuffier as the young woman's rage reached an apex. She glared deeply at Qrow before slamming her fists on her desk and sitting in her chair.

"You've got to be joking. Please, tell me you're joking." Winter said with a trembling voice.

"Nope." Qrow replied before taking another sip of his drink.

"Do you realize what will happen once Roland catches wind of Silver fucking Morrigan and Ruby Rose on his tail?" Winter growled impatiently.

"I do." Qrow answered.

"And what makes you think it's a good idea to send them to Vale? Roland is a fucking lunatic!" Winter said with a fire in her eyes. "Once he even suspects them coming to Vale he will hunt down every single person that they love and kill them just to bait them!" She continued.

"I do realize this, Winter." Qrow raised his voice as he glared at Winter. "One of those people just happens to be the daughter of my sister. But damnit something has to be done about him!" He continued.

"And another one of those people just so happens to be my sister!" Winter yelled fiercely as she slammed her right hand on her desk.

"I know, sweetheart." Qrow answered gently, trying to ease the woman's rage. "But if anyone can help the VLA stop Team CRME, it'd be Silver and Ruby." He said before finishing his drink.

"Qrow, you don't get it. Weiss adopted Roland Egle's little sister as her daughter." Winter said worriedly. "He's going to lose his mind once he finds out that not only is his sister alive, but she is with his enemy. And to add onto it he may find out fairly soon that two highly skilled fighters are on their way to Vale. Both of which he has done battle with in the past." She finished before rubbing her temples.

Qrow sat in silence as he processed what he had just heard. He had heard that Weiss had adopted an orphan as her daughter but he had no idea who the girl actually was.

"Winter, why is Ironwood pulling Team CRME from the front lines and redeploying them in Vale?" Qrow questioned with a sudden sense of dread overcoming him.

"The obvious answer would be to hunt the VLA down." Winter replied.

"Exactly!" Qrow replied. "Team CRME is Atlas' best unit. But the one thing that makes them more dangerous than any other team is Roland. He's unstable, a killing machine. If he is told that his sister is in the hands of the VLA then he will stop at nothing to destroy them." He continued.

"And as long as Ironwood is feeding Roland that barren serum then he will be basically an attack dog." Winter said as she began to piece together what Qrow was getting at.

"Exactly. The VLA doesn't need to kill Roland. They need to kill Ironwood and the other three members of Roland's team. Without them then Roland won't be under the control of Ironwood." Qrow said with excitement.

"Not only that but Ironwood's death would mean an end to the war and the end of production for his mind altering experiments on barrens!" Winter replied, sharing Qrow's excitement.

Qrow stood quickly and fished for his scroll with a grin on his face. He winked gently at Winter before flipping through the contacts in the device. After a few moments he laughed to himself before looking up from the scroll to Winter.

"How often do you get in contact with your agent in Vale?" He asked her.

"Once a week if I can. She's posing as a double agent for Ironwood so it's sometimes hard to get communication to her. Why?" Winter asked.

"Because she's going to be our ace in the hole, that's why." He replied before scooping his glass up to exit the room and pour himself some more.

"If Team CRME is going to be sent to Vale to kill the VLA then Ironwood's first task is to get one of them in contact with the very person he thinks is his spy inside the VLA." Winter said as she followed Qrow closely into the next room.

"Yep." Qrow said as he poured more alcohol into his glass. "And I just sent a message to a friend in Vale who owes me a favor. His task is to get in contact with your agent and to deliver a message to Yang. All we have to do is to cause enough damage to the Atlas forces in Vale that James Ironwood himself will be so pissed off at his top squad failing to suppress the VLA and he will travel there personally." He continued before pouring Winter a glass as well.

"And once he goes to Vale then the VLA can set up an ambush and take him out." Winter said as she took the glass in her hand with a smile.

"Exactly. All we need to do is to hope that my contact in Vale can provide the VLA with enough support that Ironwood will have no choice but to redeploy troops into the area." Qrow replied before tapping his glass against Winter's.

"But wait, what about Silver and Ruby?" Questioned Winter with a sudden worried tone.

"Silver is due to contact me in three hours." Replied Qrow. "Once he does I'll fill him in with some details." He continued.

"Three hours?" Winter asked with a raise of an eyebrow. "The first meeting for the peace summit isn't until tomorrow morning. Of course it'd be rude not to show our esteemed guest around Atlas before such a historical undertaking. But what to do for the next three hours?" She questioned Qrow with a sly grin before placing her drink back onto the bar and turning to walk towards her bed, letting her hair down and loosening her clothing as she did so.

Qrow stood silently for a few moments before understanding the hint that Winter had given him. He finished his drink quickly before following her back to the bed, unbuckling his pants as he approached her.