I noticed I didn't have this crossposted, oops. Still most of my stories will remain Ao3 exclusives but this one is fine for ffn. The tags for it are. Qrow/Ruby Ozpin/Ruby Qrow/Ozpin and Qrow/Ruby/Ozpin. Shapeshifting, No Aura or Semblances and not set at a particular time in ASOIAF but rather I'm cherry picking bits and pieces and mixing them together. As per usual in the event of sex scenes they will be cut from this version and included in the Ao3 version.
A Battle in the Wolf's Wood
The snow was thick upon the ground and stained with drops of red and black. The trees of the Wolf's Wood pressed in around the combatants. Grimm of all shapes and sizes flanking the hunting party on every side.
"Damn it!" A monstrous man with the legs of a panther and the torso of a man bellowed. A beowulf lept for him its fangs out bared, jagged and sharp. He dodged putting a oak tree between him and the monsters as he jumped up onto the trunk and rebounded up into another tree before firing himself like a arrow at the Grimm. His sharp talons sliced the Grimms neck open, black blood further spurting onto the snow, its head falling with a thud.
"Of all the hair brained things he could have done." The shape shifter blasted through the snow again, all around him the men of the unit were fighting against the Grimm. None were who he was looking for though, where was his king?
The sound of ice being magiced into existence, caused him to stop with a slide. Just in time to see shards of ice impale a Grimm. Then a great sword of salthrim, living ice cleaved the monsters head off, the owner spun on the spot bringing both hands to the claymore. He swept the blade up cutting the arm off another beowulf, then kicked it's head off. "Qrow where have you been?!" The figure shouted as the raven haired man leapt up into a tree then straight down onto another wolf, grabbing it under the jaw and ripping it's neck apart.
"I could ask you the same thing Oz!" Qrow reached to his hip and ripped his own greatsword from it's sheath. They backed up and put their backs to each other as the Grimm closed in around them.
"I've been a bit preoccupied." Ozpin summoned more ice into his left hand, clicking filled both men's ears and their heads snapped up.
Spider Grimm were crawling down the trees. Dozens upon dozens of them, their fangs were so large they could bite through plate mail and Oz really didn't need reminding what their venom could do. "ARILIANS!" Ozpin screamed to his hunting party, just as a spider lept for his face.
Qrow was already in motion he spun his greatsword slicing it neatly in two as the swarm descended. "Run!"
Ozpin did not need telling twice, they ran coming back the way Qrow had come. Only this time his troops had formed up and his head scout Winter had taken command. "SHIELD WALL!" Ozpin roared as his troops scrambled to form up ranks. Oz spun jumping backwards as the spider Grimm charged forward, ice blasted from his outstretched hand. Impaneling the creatures in a wave. "Winter, we need to find the Matron. Fall back as best you can and find the damn horses! Qrow I need you in the air, draw the bitch out!"
"Right!" Qrow cast of his cloak revealing his ebony black raven's wings. He leapt up into the air, jumping from tree to tree till he vanished. Ozpin blasted another wave of ice slowing the closing horde. "Anyone seen Ghost?"
"He bolted with the horses, probably keeping them safe." Winter said moving behind the shield wall while sheathing her swords summoning her own ice magic into her palms.
A ear piercing screech assaulted their ears and the troops cowered behind their round shields. Ozpin was already moving, he could always count on Qrow to find the trouble.
"My King!" Winter moved but then remembered her orders and cursed. Damn the wolf blood in his veins.
Ozpin raced through the woods spinning his body to cut through the swarms of spiders their parts raining down around him the sickly squelch of smaller spiders under his feet. The green fire almost blindsided him as he dove for the ground. Only for a huge spider almost as large as himself to leap upon him. It dove for his head it's huge black fangs dripping with venom, he only just moved his head mere millimeters out of the way. Ice, his greatsword had fallen from his grip so he grabbed the spider by the fangs and heaved attempting to push it off of him. He could hear his leather gloves melting under the venom.
The spider reared up and he just enough time to see it's stinger before the death dealing bone shot his way. In the next instant the spider was gone, sent crashing into a tree and a HUGE white Direwolf stood above Oz. Ozpin panted a few times before pulling himself to his feet and grabbing Ice from the snow. He reached out and pet the direwolf's cheek. "Thanks bud, I own you one."
The spider righted itself and lunged again. Only this time Oz was ready and he bisected it mid air with a single mighty swing. The scream echoed through the forest again and Oz ran for the clearing the fire had come from.
Qrow was dodging blasts of green fire up in the trees as the Matron was forced upon the ground, it had the torso of a young woman fused to the body of a black widow spider. It was Grimm make no mistake but it was a Grimm that liked to draw it's prey in with a false sense of ease. He saw Ozpin and Ghost race into the clearing and come to a skidding halt before they split up and started flanking the monster. Ozpin blasting ice from his hands trying to distract the Grimm so Ghost could get into position.
Qrow shot from the trees, cleaving for the Matrons head. It saw him coming and screamed again, blasting green fire from it's over extended mouth. Qrow snapped his wings closed and plummeted to the ground, kicking up a trench of snow around him. Oz raced forward and cleaved a front leg off before it rounded on him firing again.
Ghost saw his chance and jumped upon the huge Grimm's back and raced the length. The Matron didn't even have time to turn her head before the direwolf's jaws bit it clean from her shoulders. The Grimm toppled to the side as Ozpin raced over to Qrow. "Come on." He grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it along the smoking feathers.
Qrow rolled once in the snow before staggering to his feline feet. "Right, let's get out of here before the rest of her brood closes in."
Ghost head butted Oz in the shoulder affectionately before lowering his body. Qrow laughed and pulled himself up onto the massive wolf's back. "Well I'm not saying no to a ride." Ozpin rolled his eyes and let Qrow pull him up behind him.
Ghost raced through the forest, the very intelligent creature took his passengers straight back to Winter. With the death of the Matron the swarm was disoriented and the team able to retreat and fight at the same time. A pair of pages had found several of the horses.
Ozpin cast ice from his fingertips again creating a wall between the swarm and his men. "Everyone double up if you have to, we are leaving NOW!"
Seeing their King upon his wolf the soldiers scrambled to do as ordered and in no time they were racing from the Wolf's wood. Ghost was faster than the horses in the snow, so Ozpin and Qrow took point. Winter tossing the latter a short bow to shoot down any Grimm while Ozpin' watched the canopy for more spiders.
Thankfully they thundered out into the tundra plain without further incident. Ghost slowed giving the horses a chance to catch their breath and for people to dismount. "That could have gone better." Qrow said.
"Hmm." Ozpin's expression turned to blank stone.
"I hate spiders." Qrow jumped off of Ghost and brushed down his tunic. "Damn Nan is going to kill me." He poked a finger through a new hole. "I wonder how I will die."
"A better question is how did a Matron get this far south." Ozpin looked out over his troops he counted two loses, given the ambush it could have been much worse.
The company rode in silence through the tundra till the great castle of Winterfell rose before them. The sight of its massive blue-grey stone walls finally allowed Oz to breath more easily. The massive castle spanned several acres of land. They passed through the Hunter's Gate, which was the first wall of Winterfell and eighty feet high while the second was over a hundred.
Only once in the courtyard did the party stop so Oz could issue new orders. "You are all relieved from your duties for the next three days."
Shouts of glee rose up and the men quickly scattered eager to visit their wives and families. Ozpin's feet had barely hit the ground before a old voice called his name, he sighed leaning into Ghost's side.
"My King Stark." Luwin, the Maester of Winterfell bowed his body as best the heavy chain of metals around his torso allowed.
Qrow leaned over and whispered into Winter's ear. "Ten gold pieces says its bad news."
"Deal." She uttered back.
Ozpin Stark King of Winter, put on a smile and turned to Luwin. "Maester, what news do you have."
"A raven brought this while you were away." The Maester pulled a small scroll of paper from a sleeve of his voluminous grey robe.
Ozpin took the message from the old man and unrolled it, he could tell the Maester had already read it. He gave it a once over and sighed, of course it would be this again. He crumpled up the paper and felt his ire rising.
"That bore the Red Keep's seal." Peter of House Mormont's eyebrows rose comically.
"Same old message Peter. Only this time it's Visenya. Does Adam think that because I said no to Rhaenys that his warrior sister will suit me better?" Ozpin pulled off his ruined gloves and rubbed his eyes.
"You do need a wife my King." Luwin said. "And heirs, by your age most Lords have at least three."
Ozpin glared with a face of ice at the Maester before storming off towards the Great Keep. Qrow sighed watching his friend go. "Best let him cool off or a while."
"He is already cold." Winter said, she hated how hard it was to read the King at times.
"Just shows how little you know him. He was just about ready to explode there. That's the fourth offer this year. You'd think King Adam of the South would get the message." Qrow stretched his wings out before settling them around him like a cloak.
"Would you shift back please?" Winter flinched away from him.
"Na, fun watching you squirm Ice Queen." Qrow stepped away but was stopped by Luwin.
"Please try to convince him to at least consider the offer."
Qrow made a show of pausing to think about it before smirking. "Yeah, no can do Maester. I don't want some inbred Taurus bitch in my castle thank you very much."
Peter spoke up as he watched Qrow walk away. "Sometimes I wonder if he has wolf blood like the King."
"House Branwen is all but extinct, it is impossible to know if they share an ancestor with the Starks." Luwin folded his arms over his chest, hiding his hands in his sleeves. "Though both Houses are shapeshifters…"
Winter huffed at being so clearly cut out of the conversation. "I am going to deliver my report to James."
Ozpin slammed the door to his rooms closed behind him, the heavy hawthorn door rattled on it's hinges. He yanked his belt from his hips and tossed the whole assembly plus Ice into the massive fur covered bed. "Bloody inbred Taurus…" He growled under his breath yanking off layers, his blood was up. He knew part of it was his 'wolfs blood' that made him fierce in battle, wild even. It also could make his temper quite short, among other things that he kept an even tighter lid on.
Luwin's remark reverberated in his skull, this was all because he didn't have a wife. At that thought Oz's rage buried out and he sat with a flop on the edge of his bed, running a hand through his black hair. It wasn't that he didn't want a wife, he just hadn't found the right woman yet. He leaned back into the bed, the furs were a familiar sensation on his skin. Twenty seven name days wasn't that old, it wasn't like he left a plethora of bastards behind him like some Lords.
He heard the door open and close and said. "I'm not in the mood."
A furred hand traced over the chiseled muscles of his torso. "Oh I rather doubt that. Talk with me?"
Ozpin closed his eyes as a feline nose brushed over his jaw, thin lips kissing his skin. "Remember how much Adam offered Rhaenys for?"
"Ten thousand crowns." Qrow said against Oz's neck.
"He doubled it this time. As if a different woman with a bigger downy would get me to change my mind." He felt Qrow shift, those long fingers started to massage his chest and he groaned.
"Why don't you marry one of the other southern ladies then? A Lannister or Tyrell? Tully even." Qrow inquired as Oz melted under his touch.
"I refuse to go near those golden headed lions, the Tyrells… they feel like snakes and the Tully's while they are closer than everyone else." Ozpin sighed. "I've met all the Tully ladies, skinny bone racks with problems baring children. To much inbreeding if you ask me."
"You could always legitimize Oscar." Qrow said moving down and unlacing Oz's breeches then pulling off the rest of his clothes.
Ozpin moved further up onto the bed resting his head on the pillows. At a gesture from Qrow he turned over. "If I do that every Lord in the North is going to want the same for their bastards… And Oscar is too much his mother's son. He's no Stark. Oww."
The griffon man worked on a knot of muscle as Oz talked. "Could always just head through the wall and take a wife the wilding way. It's what you're father did."
"If only." Ozpin bit the pillow muffling another groan of pain. "A wilding wife probably wouldn't care about you. That would make life so much simpler."
"Is that why you keep turning them down?" Qrow stopped his ministrations. "Oz we've talked about this…"
Oz turned over under his friend and reached up stroking under a feline eye. "It's not just this Qrow. I am looking for the right woman." He glanced away. "I know we've talked about it, but… well you are… you and I don't want to live without you. I'll just be picky till I find a woman I think will be content to share me."
"And can keep her trap shut." Qrow said with a smile.
"And can keep her trap shut." Ozpin sat up and cupped Qrow's cheeks. "But this is getting ridiculous, I'll have to do something about it soon."
Qrow dipped his head resting his forehead against Oz's. "Gods I miss Dorne, fuck whoever we please there without any of this secret bullshit."
"Blame my brother getting himself killed. You know I never wanted to be king." Oz ran his hands through the feathers upon Qrow's neck and shoulders. "Gods I love these."
Qrow laughed. "I know, part of why I so rarely wear my human form… you know you could just marry Winter. I think she already suspects something and Luwin."
Oz let his head fall against Qrow's feathered chest. "By the Old Gods bringing her home was such a mistake. I'm so glad I learned more of her personality before I made the mistake of marrying her." He scrunched up his nose. "I don't think I could bed her, I like women just fine but she's just such an ice queen."
Qrow chuckled, the sound rumbling against his chest. "And what about you my King, the one able to manipulate ice?"
"Hey I'm the King of Winter. Not the same thing," Oz said and flopped back down. "I should have just married her you know, or left Oscar with her."
The shape shifter resumed his massage, knowing they were no longer speaking of Winter but of another woman whom they have both made love to. "You aren't even sure Oscar is yours are you? We both loved her you know, she was magnificent."
"Father would have killed me, she was already promised to my brother. I guess I did one thing better than my brother."
"Knock up his promised?" Qrow asked.
"Earn her love." Ozpin closed his eyes remembering black hair and violet eyes.
"Hmm, we should check in on Oscar." Qrow said.
"I'll send Glynda a raven later. Right now can I just enjoy this? Winter will report to James and any matters of the household that needed my attention Peter would have brought up." Oz tilted his head back into the pillow as Qrow worked upon his neck.
Qrow moved his wings so they shielded Oz like great curtains. "I suppose my King. Anything particular you're wanting?"
"You could stop calling me King for a start. Why do you do it at all, you know I hate it." Oz opened his eyes and reached out to Qrow's wings burying his fingers in the feathers.
"Because you hate it, it's fun riling you up." Qrow said with a smirk.
Ozpin gave him a very nonplussed look. "Oh I'll show you roused." He grabbed Qrow by a shoulder and flipped them. Qrow yelped and then laughed wrapping his legs around Oz's waist. A knock sounded on the door. "My King, Lord Ironwood requests your presence in the war room." It was Luwin.
Oz groaned and let his head drop onto Qrow's pectorals. "I hate my life!"
Qrow patted him on the back and called his griffon form in. The fur and feathers flowed smoothly and silently back into his body and the bones of his legs transitioned over to human shapes. "There there, work before play. We'll have all night."
Ozpin swept into the large war room his grey cloak swirling in his wake. The room was dominated by a large weirwood table, upon it a map of the north extending all the way to the Lands of Always Winter. James Ironwood his General and Lord of Ironraith was already glaring a the map. With their head scout Winter sitting a oak chair sipping malic. Oz could smell the spicy milk beverage from where he stood. "What is it James?"
"Grimm." He lifted a hand a moved a tiny iron sculpture of a Nevermore from beyond the wall to a few hundred leagues from Winterfell. Only he didn't touch it, for his magic was telekinesis a few flicks of his fingers was all it took.
"It's always Grimm." Ozpin flopped into his own weirwood chair, padded unlike Winters. He ran a hand through his hair. "So what about them?"
"More have been making it over the wall, Glynda hasn't sent a raven either." James said.
Qrow peered at the map. "She's got giants up their helping her. Most of the Grimm we've been getting are the type that fly."
"And a Matron." Ozpin said crossing his arms and starting to brood.
James said. "That's my point, I think we need to check on the Wall. Bring Glynda some more men, maybe a few dozen?"
"You want to find the volunteers to send up there?" Qrow asked. "I sure don't. I can't think of one man how would want to leave his family to work in that frozen hell."
"Some will have too." James said.
Oz's frowned and said. "We aren't sending men."
"Then what do you propose?" James looked over sharply.
At Ozpin's silence Qrow clued in, ohh he did not like where this was going. "You want to launch a raid."
"Mmhm." Oz's eyes were fixed upon the map.
"Maybe twenty five man Watch?" James asked, he wondered if Oz would send him or Qrow.
"I'd want a fifty man, check in on the wildling clans while we are at it." Qrow spoke his mind already turning to the people beyond the wall.
"Why do we care? Most of them are savages?" Winter asked moving over to the table.
"Savages that we can resupply with." James said. "This is why you are just a scout Winter, you don't think about the bigger picture. Besides, the Kings of Winter have always had a good relationship with most of the clans."
Ozpin closed his eyes as the three started to bicker. Oh how he hated being King, however this presented an opportunity that he could use to solve several problems at once. He cut in with a icey voice. "It will be a hundred man Watch, and I will lead the raid."