Hey everyone! Happy New Year! I hope you like this chapter. Some of the discussion of family is based on my own personal thoughts, sort of.
This is also where I've decided that the other end game ship for this fic is Winter/Qrow. Because I just love them so much.

"So, what do you want to do with it?" Qrow asked her. He had not sat the whole trip, choosing instead to lean against the wall of the cockpit, staring at her.

"The body?"

He had yet to say anything about her piloting abilities, likely because they were completely beyond rebuke.

"Yeah," he said. He took a drink from his flask.

"Does that thing ever run out?" she asked.

He peered within its depths. "It just did," he said. "Damn."

Winter sighed. "Please be somewhat presentable when we encounter my father."

"Don't you want to stab him in the gut? You don't really need to be elegant for that."

She would have taken that as an insult, had anyone else said it. But this was Qrow, and he viewed anything beyond basic aesthetic coherence (and occasionally, not even that) as too much unnecessary effort. "Some of us prefer looking our best when dealing with family."

"I think most people don't have Jacques Schnee as their dad."

"That is very true. Those people are rather lucky."

How quickly her opinion had soured. Winter remembered, with growing embarrassment, the desperation she had felt for so long. Would that her father notice her for once, not her little sister or awful brother. The company had seemed so important. And continued to seem important, even after her conversation with Qrow back in the village with the Wayfarer's House.

It had taken the long walk through the woods, the contemplation that only came with utter quiet, for her to realize the full scope of what she had done. She had remembered why she trained Weiss in the first place.

Killing Adam Taurus was nowhere near enough to make up for what she had done.

Winter watched Qrow watch her. "You would absolutely hate running a company," he said. "Can you imagine being stuck up there all the time?" He shuddered. "Just being in Atlas makes me itch, at least in the parts you come from. Too damn clean. Starts to eat at you from the inside."

"You're more right than you know," Winter said. "We should drop somewhere in the woods, before we leave Vale. Burn it. Bury what's left. Give Blake some time to mourn."

"That sounds reasonable," Qrow said. "It's good to have you back, Winter." He actually smiled, then looked mournfully at his flask again. "You sure you don't have anything on this ship?" he asked.

"I wasn't exactly planning a party when I came down here," Winter said. "And what do you mean, back?"

She had some inkling. "You're like how you were when we worked together," he said. "You remember that your family sucks."

"I never forgot," Winter said.

Qrow shook his head. "I don't blame you," he said. "Sometimes if I go long enough without seeing her I start pretending like Raven had a good reason for disappearing to be a bandit queen. Then, I meet her again, and I remember that there's a reason we haven't told Yang much about her. I'm just glad you stopped before you killed your sister. That would have been the worst kind of reminder."

He was right. She had spent too long in the mansion.

"Hearing that story over the radio," Winter said, staring out the window, "—I felt something break inside me. When I confirmed it I—" The vista below them was wholly inappropriate to her emotions. The stark, colorless mountains of Atlas would have been better than the infinite sea of dark green. "Even though she's not dead, she's killed someone now."

"Excuse me?" Qrow pushed himself off the wall. He was still a little drunk, but he was focused on her, on her face.

Winter rubbed a hand over her face. She wondered if she smudged any of her makeup. Perhaps it did not matter. "I sent an assassin after her, Qrow. You know that. You know Echo Regent disappeared."

"I assumed the White Fang caught up to them," Qrow said. "It's a valid assumption."

"I don't know everything—I have given Weiss no reason to trust me, after all—but I found the body. She was stabbed, and burned, and left to freeze. I don't know if Weiss has any real memory of the event, however."

"How do you mean?"

Winter could not look at Qrow as she answered. "Echo drugged her," she said. "Weiss, I mean. I warned her that I trained my sister better than I have anyone else, and she told me that would be her solution."

"Gods," Qrow said. "I would understand if she never forgave you."

"Yeah," Winter said. "Do you remember the first time you killed someone?"

Winter could. It had been early in her military career, before she had traveled much farther than one of her father's remote dust mines. She had been a faunus, potentially a member of the White Fang, potentially not. Back then, Winter had been certain. She trusted the information both the military and her father fed her. She did not ask questions. Now, things were far less simple.

It had not been easy. The woman had fought, harder than any opponent Winter had faced before or since.

"Sure," Qrow said easily. "I was thirteen, there was a raid on a rival bandit camp. Guy got in my face, stabbed him in the chest. One of the many reasons why my family's a piece of shit."

"Why did your sister return to them?" Winter asked. Perhaps it was a foolish question, but she did not want to dwell too much on the image of thirteen-year-old Qrow killing a man. He had told her stories of other deaths years ago, before she had gone back Atlas.

Qrow laughed. "Hell if I know," he said. "Maybe the thought of being a mother spooked her. Maybe our parents died, I don't actually give a shit." His voice was far too light and brittle for him to be telling the whole truth, but Winter did not press.

"Look out the window and tell me if this looks like a good spot to burn a body," she said, switching the subject.

He moved to stand next to where she sat, leaning his arms with apparently carelessness against the control panel. She did not comment on how he made sure not to touch anything important.

The sea of unbroken green was become patchier, bits of white now lying exposed to the sky. "Yeah," he said. "I don't see any sign of a village. If you can find someplace big enough to land—we need to get rid of the corpse before it starts to rot."

"What do you think of Blake's suggestion that we return it to the White Fang?"

"I think we should do our best to stay as far away from them as possible."

Winter nodded. "They don't tend to like me."

"That might just be the understatement of the century."

"Yeah," she said. "Go tell them we're about to land. I want some time to plan."

"Look," Qrow said. "If you need—if you need anything—" He left without finishing the sentence.

There weren't too many comfortable places to lie down on Winter's airship, but Weiss had managed to make something resembling one using what they had been given at the Wayfarer's House.

Weiss, surprisingly, heard Qrow's footsteps first. "Hey," she said. "You should put a shirt on."

Through circumstances best not thought about while she was pulling on her dress, Weiss and Blake's clothes had left their bodies and become a combined mess between their sleeping bags.

"Uh," Blake said, pulling on her clothes with a speed that impressed Weiss. "Hi," she said. Her expression was still a little vague.

"Did that… knock out your hearing?" Weiss asked. She was only a little bit kidding.

Blake laughed, startling Weiss a little. "I think I've just been a little knocked out in general," she said.

Weiss blushed. "I wasn't that great," she said. "This isn't exactly something I have a lot of experience with."

Blake took her hand for a moment, before returning to getting dressed. "Hey," she said. "It felt good. I hope it felt good for you too."

Weiss nodded. "Anyway," she said, "like I said, we better get dressed."

They were mostly presentable when Qrow appeared.

"White looks good you, Blake," Qrow said. Blake blushed even harder than Weiss had when she realized that some of the clothes she had hastily pulled on were not hers.

"Thanks," she stuttered.

"We're landing soon," Qrow said. "We're going to burn the body."

It was Weiss's turn to grab Blake's hand.

Blake nodded. "Okay," she said. "That makes sense."

"Do you want to do the honors?" Qrow asked.

Weiss couldn't read Blake's face when she looked at her. "Do you still have some of that fire dust left?" she asked.

"Yes," Weiss said. "But only a little."

"Can I use it?"

The question hung in the air for a few moments. "Okay," Weiss said, almost like an exhale. "Sure."

Blake squeezed her hand, and pressed a short kiss on her mouth. "Thank you," she said.

Qrow grinned, crossing his arms across his chest. "Look," he said, "I'm sure Winter has more than enough dust to replenish your supplies."

"Oh, right," Weiss said. She looked over at Blake, suddenly feeling rather silly.

"Hey," Blake said. "I appreciate the sentiment, anyway." She kissed Weiss again.

"You too aren't going to be too distracted by each other to do anything useful, right?" Qrow asked.

Weiss started. It had taken her only moments to forget he was there. "We should be fine," she said. She didn't let go of Blake's hand. "This isn't a new development."

Qrow nodded. "Good to know," he said. He looked at Weiss with an unreadable expression on his face. "You should be fine, anyway. Didn't think you had it in you?"

The warmth Weiss had been feeling froze. A knot formed in her stomach. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Winter told me that you were the one who killed Echo," Qrow said. "Is that true?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said.

Qrow returned the nod. "Okay," he said.

Weiss stared at him. "You're not upset?" she asked.

"With you?" Qrow asked. He shook his head, answering himself. "I'm pissed off on your behalf, mostly. But it means that you can handle yourself, and that's something you'll need to be able to do for what's coming?"

"What's coming?" Blake asked. She had yet to let go of Weiss's hand.

Qrow shrugged. "Winter's not sure yet, and I don't know your part of Atlas well enough to come up with a plan of my own. But I'm pretty sure we're going to be storming your familial castle."

"Oh, wonderful," Weiss said. "More fighting."

"You'll have more than a day to rest," Qrow said. "Atlas is still pretty damn far from here."

"Yeah," Weiss said. "But still."

"It sucks," Qrow said, "but it's this or your father gets away with murder."

"I guess," Weiss said. She exhaled, and looked at Blake. "Have you ever been profoundly failed by your family?" she asked. It was hard to say it even in partial jest, but it was true.

Blake shook her head. "I've felt like I was," she said, "but I think I mostly failed them."

"You don't know that," Weiss said.

"I'll explain later," Blake said. "When I have the words for it."

"Alright," Weiss said. "I trust you."

"That's good," Qrow said.

The three of them felt the airship begin its descent. "Let's go get a corpse out of the cargo hold, shall we?"

"We have to wait until after the ship lands," Weiss said.

"Right," Qrow said. He looked at both girls. "How did you meet, anyway?"

"She found me standing over a corpse," Weiss said. Blake looked at her in surprise at her bluntness. Weiss was a little surprised herself, but in all probably Qrow had already guessed. He seemed like the type of person who was good at figuring that kind of thing out.

Qrow nodded. "Your sister said that's what happened. I didn't entirely believe her. I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

Qrow didn't so much sigh as exhale the sonic representation of exhaustion. "I had to kill when I was young, too. It sucks."

Weiss started a little as she felt Blake spontaneously hug her. The touch felt nice, she just wasn't used to it.

"Something you said," Blake said, partly into Weiss's shoulder, "made it sound like you thought there were multiple hunters after you."

Weiss shook her head. "I think that was being drugged," she said. She shuddered despite herself. "I don't remember much, but I remember thinking things that had to be wrong."
Qrow shook his head. "Fuck."

The airship landed. After a few moments, Winter stepped into the passenger compartment. "Hello," she said. "We have a body to burn."

Winter had landed in a clearing just big enough to fit the airship.

Adam's body had already started to mottle, and Weiss had to look away as Winter once again picked it up. She didn't complain, she didn't even discuss what she was doing, and not even Qrow seemed willing to say out loud who was doing the carrying.

"I saw a smaller clearing not far from here. How controlled are your fires, Weiss?" she asked.

"Blake said she wanted to do it," Weiss said. She didn't mention that she had been the one to light the fires the nights they had spent camped out in the woods.

Winter shook her head. "I'm sorry, Blake," she said. "I can let you help build the pyre, but Weiss has years more experience with direct dust manipulation than you could ever hope to acquire."

Blake crossed her arms. "What do you mean 'let' me? You're not White Fang, and I am. I should be the one to send him away."
If they had been back at the camp, or better yet, at one of the permanent strongholds, there would have been two full days of mourning, the pyre, and the release of Adam's ashes onto the winds.

"I don't want to burn this forest down," Winter said. "And I don't even know if Weiss has enough control. She didn't, our last training session."

That would have been before the Knight, Weiss realized. Gods.

"She made us a fire I could cook with," Blake said. "That has to count for something.

Instead of responding with mockery, like Weiss half-expected, Winter seemed impressed. "Congratulations, Weiss," she said. "That is quite impressive. Did the fire continue to burn naturally once the dust was depleted?"
"Yes," Weiss said, "though we snuffed it out pretty quickly, since we had to leave.

"Hey," Qrow said, breaking into the conversation, "we're here."

The second clearing had less more open sky than the first.

"Do you think it's going to rain?" Weiss asked nervously, looking at the clouds. The cold in Vale seemed to be much less dry than the cold in Atlas, and rain would at the very least set back their plans rather significantly.

"I don't believe so," Winter said. "We should hurry up, though, in any case."

Because they didn't intend to leave the fire burning longer than necessary, they didn't gather that much wood. For the most part, the fire dust itself would suffice.

Winter put the body down on the small pile they had collected.

"Hey," Weiss said, looking at Blake's shoulder instead of her face, "you can stand with me." Her heart beat oddly in her chest.

"Thank you," Blake said.

They walked together towards the pyre, Weiss holding the cartridge of fire dust carefully in her hands.

"Is there anything you want to say?" Weiss asked. She didn't want to impose on Blake's funeral traditions more than she already had.

Blake shook her head. "I've already said it," she said.

She suddenly buried her face in Weiss's shoulder. Weiss could feel moisture, and when Blake pulled awake again her face was wet. "Sorry," she said.

Unsure of what to say, Weiss released just enough fire dust to ignite the body.

The two girls walked back to the edge of the clearing, rejoining Winter and Qrow.

"Back to dust, I suppose," Qrow said.

"Good riddance," Winter said.

Weiss couldn't help but agree. She reached for Blake's hand again.

Winter snuffed the flames with a glyph when the body was no longer recognizable as human. "We don't want to burn the forest down," she said.

All four stood and watched for a moment longer, before beginning the walk back to the airship.

No one spoke. There was not much to say.

"So," Qrow said. He was back against the wall, having still refused a seat. "Plan."

"Plan, yes," Winter said. The ground above them remained a sea of trees. It would remain such for a while yet. "I suppose skewering him through the stomach at one of those awful parties he throws would be too much."

Qrow laughed. "I thought you liked those kind of things?" he asked. She was the one had done most of the playing nice, when they had worked together. Not that he couldn't clean up handsomely enough if he needed to, Winter thought.

She smiled, though he couldn't see it. "I see their usefulness more than you do," she said. "That does not mean I find them fun." She savored the momentary image of the scandal that sort of bold murder would cause, being dismissing it. "I want to say it was all his fault, somehow. That he goaded me into thinking being heiress was worth Weiss's life. But it wasn't just all him, was it?"

"It wasn't," Qrow said. "I can blame my family for a lot of crap, but at some point..." He shrugged. "You, at least, can do something."

"I hope so," Winter said. "We have a while yet before we get to Atlas. You should get to sleep."

"So should you," Qrow said. "I'm assuming this thing has a passable autopilot?"

"That's not important," Winter said. "Not for the moment."

Qrow watched her. "How well do you sleep, anyway?"

"How do you think?"

The thing about forgiveness is that it is YOUR choice. You don't owe it to anybody. And Weiss being more pissed at her dad does not mean she's forgotten that really it's Winter who instigated a lot of this-though you might remember that I'm writing Jacques Schnee as a manipulative dick.

Something I had to think about a lot with this chapter was how they deal with Adam's body. Obviously, him going missing is going to destabilize the White Fang pretty significantly, but these four characters are pretty isolated from the rest of the world right now, so that's not something Weiss and Blake, at least, think about that much.

I decided to go with a not-quite funeral 'cause I feel like Blake can still feel some remains of affection, or maybe even respect, for Adam, even though obviously he's a terrible person. So she wanted to do something more that just dump him in the woods, but couldn't quite bring herself to HONOR him exactly.

Please leave reviews with your thoughts on this chapter!