Qrow transformed into his human form as he landed in the alley behind the building and brushed himself off. He leaned for a moment on Ozpin's cane as he peered around, making sure that he was alone. It was odd that his contact would want to meet in the middle of the afternoon like this, but with increased Raven's Claw activity happening during the night recently, he was under the impression that she might be worried that they would be found out about. He lifted the cane and looked it over. Sadly, it no longer possessed the power of three of the maidens, of which it had been drained during the battle against Cinder. It did however, still possess the majority of Ozpin's power and it was more than enough to dispatch some of the worst that Qrow had been paired against. He had learned it well while watching and protecting Team RNJR.

Qrow had always made himself seem more masterful than he actually was, he was better than the rest of his graduating class of huntsmen at calculating and timing attacks. When Salem attacked Summer however, it was then he realized he'd need more than his brains, and he had trained ever since. With Ozpin's cane, he felt like he could go a few rounds with Salem, and he wished that he could. He took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to the abandoned bank, closing it quietly behind him.

"I swear, they don't tell me anything…" A man called out before being silenced. The sound of a blade slicing through the man ended his protest and Qrow heard him hit the floor with two distinct thuds.

"I would hate to have to kill all of you to get some answers, and I will get answers before I leave here. Who is behind all of this?" asked a woman, her voice thundering through the building. Qrow stopped for a moment, noting that this wasn't his informant. This voice sounded hell bent on answers. This voice struck fear into the men that were in question, and they knew with every word, every syllable, that this woman would get answers, or they would all die. This voice was the opposite of his informant. "Perhaps you, will tell me?" Qrow rounded the corner of the back hallway, giving him a direct view of the empty vault, unable to see the woman.

"Listen here lady-" The man began. One of the men tried to run and Qrow watched as he made it halfway to the vault's grand door, before a flash of Dust sliced him in two. He dissolved, leaving nothing of his body.

"How about instead of beating around the bush... " The sound of her blade sliced through the air and the man's head rolled towards the door closest to Qrow. "You just answer me." Qrow moved in a flash to the doorway, staying in the hall just enough so that no one would spot him. His hand trembled as he gripped the cane.

"Oz told me never to do this, but I have to be sure." Qrow slammed the cane against the floor and the gears tumbled and whirled violently inside. He heard her blade sheath, and a delayed mechanical clicking, before she unsheathed it again.

"Last chance boys." She told them.

"Never!" One of them spat out. He heard the slicing of air again and felt the building tremble as the wall cracked, she had used gravity Dust. He stepped slowly into the room, she was turned away from him, and she wouldn't be able to spot him in her peripheral due to her hair.

"Raven." The word hung in the air for a moment as they both stood motionless. She sheathed her katana and tore open a portal, preparing to leave. Qrow held her in place with Ozpin's power, a green force field tearing at her body as she tried to move.

"Qrow, let me go." Her voice was commanding and he held back his emotion. He couldn't let her go again, not this time.

"I wasn't sure that you'd get my letters," he replied. "That girl must have tricked you into coming here to meet me." Raven struggled harder.

"I wasn't tricked. I came here willingly. Please, let me go!" She demanded he listen but again he refused. She could hear him coming closer and she grew more frantic. "Please Qrow, don't come any closer!"

"Why not?! It's bad enough that I lost Summer during that battle on the cliff, you leaving didn't make anything easier!" Qrow shouted.

"Ozpin's mission was for me to leave."

"Raven, you are so full of it. Ozpin sent me to bring you back because we needed you!" She broke free of his grasp and closed the portal, body heaving.

"I am ashamed!" She finally turned around, mask concealing her face, but he knew she was on the verge of breaking down.

"You did what you had to, this is nobody's fault!"

"I killed Summer Rose! Or have you forgotten?!" Qrow's heart stopped for a moment and he lowered the cane.

"I'll never forget what happened," he choked the words out. "But I can forgive you. She was the strongest out of the four of us and none of us could have known that Salem could snatch people's bodies like that. She would have killed us all, her power paired with the silver eyes would have been unstoppable. So I get why you did it, I always did. I was angry before, but now, I just want my sister back." He turned around to leave. "You can go if you want." He made it three steps towards the side door when he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"I'll never forget how you protected me when father got so drunk that he didn't recognize either of us and he nearly beat me to death. I'll never forget how you and I would run out to the tree house and we'd sit up there all day, dreaming of how awesome it would be to hunt Grimm like mom used to, just so we could escape father for a while. I'll never forget watching you act out those battles that you imagined happened during the Great War, and I could only think one thing. You were my hero. And I hurt you." She pulled off her mask as he turned around and she fell on him, her legs limp beneath her as she held tightly to him. She was crying.

"Just like Yang," he chuckled softly. "As much as Summer's death hurt, it was a blessing in disguise. If not for those two girls I might have drank myself to death." She stood up and wiped her eyes.

"How is Yang?" Raven asked. Qrow fell silent.

"She might be dead…" Raven looked at him a moment in disbelief, her head slightly tilted. She pulled on her mask and ripped open a portal.

"Was it the Schnee girl?" asked Raven.

"No, it wasn't Weiss. Give me a second to explain." She looked at him for a moment, waiting for an answer.

"Time's up!" Raven leapt into the portal and Qrow swung the cane up, holding the portal open with its power.

"Dammit! Just like Yang!" He ran into the portal and tackled her in the inter-dimension, tearing through its fabric, and throwing them through a new portal, back into the real world "Raven, wait a minute!"

"I never had a chance to apologize!" Raven yelled at him over the howling snow. Somehow they had ended up one of the northern most regions of Atlas. Qrow wanted to remind her that it was mostly her fault that they never reconciled, but thought better of it. She tore open a portal but he immediately closed it. "Qrow, don't make me do this!"

"I really think you might be bipolar, you know that?! One breath, sorry for hurting you. The next, move your ass or I'm kicking it!" Qrow lifted the cane and blasted her back a few feet. "Hear me out!"

"Stop talking Qrow. Whoever killed Yang will pay!" She flew at him with remarkable speed, her katana meeting the cane as they exchanged glancing blows. She leapt back, and in a single motion, resheathed her sword and removed it, now flowing with lightning Dust. This time as he met her blow, a ball of lightning threw them back from each other. Qrow tried to land on his feet but stumbled and slid through the blizzard, falling in a drift. He cleared it off of him with a single blast. As he reached his feet, he was thrown back again, Raven had done the same thing with gravity Dust through her blade.

"Raven!" He called out. He stood and found her blade at his back. His body instinctively arched away from it. A flick of his wrist and a blast sent her reeling away. She found her balance and they attacked each other with their weapons again, neither landing a scratch. Qrow deflected three quick swipes from the massive sword and managed to knock her back away from him.

"Would you really stand in my way?" She asked. She swung her blade over her head, a wave of energy slammed into him, freezing half of his body in ice.

"If it means keeping you from killing Weiss, then yes!" She changed her katana back to the gravity blade and swung for Qrow. He took on his bird form at the last moment, causing the Dust wave to miss him and the extra force shattered the ice, freeing him. He flew past her and she quickly changed her blade to fire, swinging his direction several times, the waves of heat making it difficult for him to fly, forcing him to land and take his human form back. She landed a blow from her gravity Dust and Qrow was sent flying, landing after almost 30 feet and rolling to the edge of the cliff. They were on top of a mountain.

"We can't keep going on like this Qrow. Your aura has to be running pretty low at this point and I have no intention of killing you. You just have to let me go," she demanded. Qrow pulled himself up and used Ozpin's power to move instantly to Raven. He batted her around with the cane about 5 times before Raven's body was surrounded in dark flames and her hair slowly floated. "So this is how it has to be?"

"That's not good." He told himself. She sheathed the sword and swung for Qrow. He blocked it with a forcefield and it held for the first couple of hits. The 4th proved too much and her fist swung through, nailing Qrow in the chest. It took some of the air out of his lungs and two more quickly placed blows took the rest, causing him to double over in pain. She kneed him in the chest, making sure his aura was low, and grabbed him by his hair.

"Maybe I'll leave you on Vytal, out of the way. You can battle all the Grimm imaginable there!" She opened her portal and shoved him through, she followed steps behind. As Qrow tumbled out, he bound across the floor and crashed into a large, round stone table. He recoiled and quickly moved to the left, Raven's blade coming down and cracking through the table. "I'll return to retrieve you once I've finished the job."

"Sis." She tore open her portal and he knocked her katana away with a single concentrated blast from the cane. "Knock it off!" She spun back without warning, her fist slamming into his jaw and he was launched over the table, smashing through one of the stone chairs.

"To think that this is where the war we dreamed of fighting in ended. And where the war between each other begins," she said as she grabbed up her sword and sprinted for her portal. Before Qrow could reestablish any sense of direction, she was gone. He slowly stood, holding his side. He looked the cane over, shaking his head.

The floor crumbled apart and Qrow was standing back inside of Oz's tower at Beacon. "Oz?" The elevator doors opened just behind him and out stepped someone Qrow never thought he'd see again.

"Ozpin!" yelled a much younger Qrow who stormed into the room and up to Ozpin's desk. The wizard sipped his coffee, unphased. "Are you enjoying the view from up here? Does being up here make you feel safer?"

"Qrow…" Qrow reached across the desk and grabbed Ozpin by the lapel.

"You ever wonder if things might go over better if we all knew the entire plan? Instead you sit up here pulling the strings. What are we, puppets?" Ozpin removed Qrow's hands and brushed the top of his suit.

"You don't think that everything I do regarding Salem I do for a reason?" Ozpin asked as he moved to the window. Qrow moved beside him and stared out at the students scattering about below. "Qrow, I can't describe it. I don't think that I could describe it well enough that anyone would ever understand, but I care for all of you very deeply. As deeply as though I fathered all of you. I didn't tell Raven that I had decided to send Summer to fight Salem instead because I was afraid that Raven would interfere as she did." Qrow watched the students run about, it sank in slowly.

"Are you suggesting that Summer would have won, despite her body being taken over by Salem?" Ozpin adjusted his glasses and sat again behind his desk.

"We'll never know for sure, but Summer was the most remarkable huntress that has ever enrolled at Beacon. I think she might have stood a fighting chance, but by no means does that mean you should feel any animosity towards your sister. What's done is done, and there's nothing that can be done about it now. The best thing we can do now is keep moving forward." Older Qrow let out a soft chuckle. Qrow stood behind Ozpin, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I still want to help. What can I do?" Ozpin smiled as he removed the file from his desk drawer and placed it on top. Qrow grabbed it slowly.

"It's by no means easy. You'll report directly to me, and you'll only tell Tai and anyone else you meet what I want them to know, are we clear?" Qrow nodded as he flipped through the file.

"Oz, these are all pictures of Raven." Ozpin nodded knowingly and Qrow smiled. "Thanks Oz." The younger Qrow left the room, leaving Ozpin there with the real Qrow. Ozpin set his cane on the desk and looked directly at Qrow.

"Hello Qrow." Qrow looked around as though Ozpin was talking to someone else. "I can see you. This is simply the after effect of using the cane's power, this isn't actually real. Come here." Qrow slowly walked across the room to the desk, looking at the cane in his own hands and back to the one on the desk. "Before I left that in your care, I told you only to use it under the most extreme of circumstances."

"It was extreme." Ozpin stood and removed his glasses.

"Was it? You call making sure your sister knows that you still care, extreme? In a matter of speaking?" Qrow looked at the cane in his hands. He returned his gaze to Ozpin and nodded.

"I need to save her. I need her to know that I never stopped caring about her. I want her to see she can right her wrongs. That for once, she can be the hero." Ozpin chuckled.

"And you think that that's a good enough reason to destroy my power forever. For your sister? You're telling me that you're willing to give up the one thing that made you feel more powerful than ever for the sake of mending your sister? Just for a glimpse into the future?" Qrow hesitated and Ozpin laughed, setting his glasses on the floor. "I always knew you'd make the right choice Qrow. I only wish I could have seen this through to the end with you." Qrow smiled.

"Thanks Oz." Ozpin smashed his glasses with his cane and the room spun violently below Qrow before coming to a halt. The cane dissolved off of the hilt. Just for a glimpse into the future...

"... Just answer me." Qrow realized where he was and moved to the doorway again, staying hidden. He heard her blade sheath, and it all happened again as it had the first time. "Last chance boys."

"Never!" One of them spat out. He heard the slicing of air again and felt the building tremble as the wall cracked, she had used gravity Dust. He stepped slowly into the room, she was turned away from him, and she wouldn't be able to spot him behind her.

"Raven." Neither of them moved for a moment. She pulled open a portal to leave. "Wait Raven! I know what's been tearing you apart for so long. You think that I hate you. You think I resent you for killing Summer. It's not true, Ozpin revealed to me that if I hadn't told you, Summer might have lived. I'm the one to blame for her death and I need you. I need your help sis. Yang needs your help too." Raven remained still before slowly closing her portal. She turned to face Qrow.

"How is she? How has Yang been?" Raven asked. Qrow hesitated momentarily before smiling.

"She's just like you Raven. Headstrong and not willing to let anything or anyone stop her. She married this Faunus girl, Blake Belladonna. I think you'd really like her." Qrow told her laughing. Raven smiled.

"I lost track of her after she lost her arm. I've been so busy hunting Salem and doing what you asked." Qrow looked around the empty room.

"This was a Raven's Claw meeting?" He asked. She nodded her head and pulled off her mask.

"But no new information to be had here. In the last few weeks or so I've broken up about 8 of these. Every time it seems like the same clueless losers from the last one. 'Nobody is in charge. Nobody leads us.' It's not true of course. Even if none of them believe that they're in charge, there's always someone."

"Can you come back with me? To the base?" It came out almost as a plea. Raven frowned and shook her head.

"I'd love to, but I'm just not ready to face Yang yet, and I still need to get you some answers. Not to mention there's been an increase recently in breeches to Salem's realm. It's almost like someone is trying to contact her." Raven explained as she pulled her mask back on and open a portal.

"Or she's trying to contact someone?" He asked. Raven nodded.

"What's the plan Qrow? What did Ozpin tell you all those years ago that would help us takedown Salem?" The memory echoed in his head, the file filled with her picture. He grinned.

"He just told me to keep moving forward." She nodded and left, leaving him alone in the room. He pulled out his scroll and dialed Winter.

"How did it go?" she asked him.

"I ran into an old friend. I was right, Salem's trying to come back." Silence.

"What do we do now?"

"We get Ruby ready."


Look's like Qrow has Raven on his side, but will it be enough? Was getting his sister to help worth using Oz's power? Fun Fact: This story was finished before Volume 4, when we found out that Raven is entirely soulless... Just kidding... But seriously...

Upload comes a day early this week as I am currently on vacation. Thanks for stopping in this week and if you're so inclined, return next week for Chapter 8 - Venom and Lust.

Weekly reminder, shout out to OrganoidZero (Co-Creator / Editor) and Zephyros-Phoenix (Artist).

Phoenix's fan art for the story can all be found over at silent-celicadeviantartcom/favourites/72050617/Operation-Nightshade (Periods need to be inserted after celica and art in the address). Or if it's easier, look for Silent-Celica on Deviant Art and find the Nightshade folder in my Favorites tab! Let us know if you drop in! Until next week, stay classy.