Thanks to TehGramerPolise and MasterofBones for their help with this chapter.


I woke up all at once, staring up at a clear blue sky that filled the horizon; blades of long grass tickling my face.

I alternated closing and opening my eyes and realized that I could see out of both of them just fine; that was kind of a surprise..

Slowly I sat up and surveyed my surroundings.

I was sitting in the middle of a large field of grass, with a few impossibly massive trees scattered here and there being the only distinctive feature.

I turned my head as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye; wisps of shadowy beings were gliding through the grass. They weren't really moving towards me, more like they were simply meandering around; occasionally two or more would meet up and glide together for a while before slowly drifting apart again.

I looked closer at one such pair that had come closer than the others and I blinked in surprise. I could barely make out a face, a human face on one of the two shadowy figures, I then switched my gaze to examine the other one and saw another face, this one with orange fur covering its narrow face… a Faunus?

Then as they passed by I heard faint whispering, like the rustling of leaves, "I have long held that position, you know that." The Faunus told its companion calmly.

The human shade shook its head emphatically, "I'm aware of that." It growled, "But it's simply ridiculous… a duck simply cannot survive in such an environment."

I didn't hear what he said next as my brain was trying to comprehend what I just heard, and by the time I had done so, the two shades had already moved on out of earshot.

Then behind me I heard someone step through the grass and I turned around, my hand instinctively flashing down to Harbinger's hilt, only to close around empty air.

A shade was hovering a couple of steps away from me; without warning it gave a sharp bark of laughter that I recognized from a time long ago, "Looks like even after all this time, I can still sneak up on you."

"No way." I murmured in disbelief.

Slowly the shade sank to the ground, its form solidifying into a short woman with shoulder-length hair. As she took shape, color began suffusing her features, red intermingled with black in her hair, and her eyes turned silver.

She smiled, "Hey there, Qrow."

"Summer?" I whispered.

"Yup."

"Am I… dead then?"

"Oh yeah," She answered, "The metal from that chain went straight through your eye and into your brain. Apparently even you still need that to live."

I felt a hard lump form in my throat and I looked away, "Then I screwed up." I said softly, "I failed."

"Maybe." Summer allowed, "That kind of depends on you."

I frowned, "What do you mean by that?" I asked her.

She pointed towards one of the trees and I followed her finger to see several shades sitting underneath its boughs.

Slowly they began to shift into solid forms and my nearly leapt out of my chest.

Sitting there, playing a card game around a small table, was the squad of soldiers that had joined me after Mountain Glenn, there was Private Rama, with that mischievous smile on his face. Private Broderick sat next to him, hulking over his fellow squadmates with his immense height. Then Corporal Clancy and Private Raleigh, laughing as they talked with the others. Off to the side was Private Chloe, who had no cards, but was watching the game intently… she had always acted like a sort of impromptu referee for the games they played.

Their squad leader, Sergeant Hazel, was sitting with Sienna and Roy, the Huntsmen brother and sister that had fought alongside me; quietly chatting as Roy was knitting what appeared to be a sweater.

Then off to the side was four other shades, the first was Sir Geralt, still wearing his armor as he nodded along to something that Ari… a member of Zorja's air crew, was saying. He let out a deep belly laugh and Ari smiled wickedly... despite myself, I felt a smile spreading across my own face. There had always been something uniquely humorous about seeing a knight enjoying some of the most ribald jokes and stories in Remnant... and boy had Ari known how to tell them.

Sitting across from them was Zorja herself, who had an evil grin on her face as she elbowed a younger woman with crystal blue eyes and short, silver hair.

Luna.

My heart stuck in my throat as I watched them, all enjoying each other's company. I had missed them all so much, to see them all happy here…

"I gotta tell you; you found one hell of a team." Summer told me.

"Yeah." I whispered, "Yeah, I was pretty damn lucky."

"You could join them, here in Elysia." Summer told me, "You've more than earned it, the chance to rest. No more pain, no more suffering… just bliss here with friends and teammates."

I nodded slowly and then reluctantly turned to face her, "And what would happen with Winter?" I asked her, "With Kali? Jaune? Ruby?"

She shook her head, "That's not how this works." She replied, "I can't tell you any of that until you make your decision."

I grimaced, "Figures." I muttered.

Summer shrugged, "Hey, I don't make the rules."

"And you want me to go back."

Summer smiled, "Of course, someone needs to keep an eye on Ruby."

I snorted, "A little literal in my case I guess, I don't have another to spare anymore." I got to my feet, and gave one last long look at the shades under the tree. My heart felt like it was tearing in half, but that was because while there were two options… there was only ever going to be one choice.

I turned back to Summer, "So how does this work?"

She held out a hand and motes of golden light began swirling around inside of her open palm. A sound filled the air like the swarming of bees and when I looked closer that's what I realized the lights were, little swarms of tiny bees that flew around and around until a golden orb had formed in Summer's hand.

"Take it." She told me.

I hesitated, then reached out and grabbed it.

There was a soft, golden glow and the orb began taking on a new shape, elongating and lengthening until it was in the shape of a long cloak. Slowly the golden light began to fade and the sound of the bees died away, until I was holding Summer's cloak.

"When you put that on, you'll be able to channel anima freely." Summer said, "And you will return to the land of the living once more."

"When the hell did you learn how to do all of this?" I asked her.

She was silent for a moment.

"If you were to walk underneath that tree." She nodded to the shades of my old teammates and friends, "They would have no idea you were there… that's because you are still amongst the living. You are… on a different level of existence than they are."

She looked slightly sad as she turned back to me, "It would be the same thing with me."

I frowned, "But… when I first saw you… you looked just like they did."

She shrugged, "That's because your life force was still draining. The only reason that you can interact with me now is because Gaia is holding onto it… stopping it from falling into Elysia completely."

Summer lifted a hand to rest over her heart, "And even now, as we speak, that's what she has done with me." She told me, "I have become a spirit of Gaia… able to use the power of anima far more than any living creature."

"Did she give you a choice with that?" I asked her.

She nodded, "Indeed, a choice very much like your own… to become a spirit… or to allow myself to fall into the peaceful bliss of Elysia."

"Why did you choose to become a spirit?" I asked her.

Summer's eyes darkened, "A day is coming." She told me, "A day when Gaia herself will be attacked by the Dreamers… on that day, every spirit will be needed to prevent Her light from being extinguished. If that should happen… all life would perish."

I shook my head, "So even in death, you're looking out for everybody else." I noted quietly.

She smiled at that, "Yes… I suppose so."

"Gaia…" I said slowly, "What is she exactly?"

"Gaia is life." Summer said simply, "She is a speck of every single living thing, all drawn together to form a greater whole."

I grunted, "Damn… even with my ego that makes me feel pretty small."

I was silent for a moment, Summer's cloak clenched tightly in my hands. Then I looked up at her, "Summer, I'm so sorry," I whispered, "I should've saved you, I-"

She put her hands on her hips and lifted an eyebrow, "Don't you dare." She tossed her head angrily, "I knew the price I was going to pay. I made my choice; to save my husband, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I knew what I was doing; so don't you dare apologize for a decision I made."

I winced, "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am." Summer replied haughtily, then she jerked her head, "Now get going, you've got a world to save."

I wrapped the cloak around myself and closed the clasp around my neck.


I came to and almost immediately wished I hadn't. I had gone from a blissful existence of no pain, to every part of my body feeling like it had been systematically pummeled by a hammer.

There was a moment of searing agony followed by a wave of nausea and I felt metal brush against my cheek before it fell to the ground in a bloody pile.

I reached up to my right eye and shuddered as I felt the roughness of the undoubtedly horrific scars that now covered it.

Then I shook my head, "Pity party later, Qrow," I growled, "Kick ass now."

I heard the sound of clashing steel and I looked up, realizing that the whole thing in Elysia must have taken only a few seconds because Winter and Ashuna were almost exactly where they had been before I had… passed out.

I stood up, surprised at the energy and strength in my limbs as I did so. I picked Harbinger up from off the ground, considered it for a moment and then whispered softly, "Ignis."

The power of anima came and a golden fire roared along the blade. It was far different feeling then than one I had gotten from using mana; that had been like a raging storm, a current that swept through me in waves.

This was more like the feeling you got when you came in from a snowstorm to sit by a fire, or from a cool breeze in a desert.

Ashuna seemed to sense something right away, as he looked past Winter and his eyes widened as he locked his gaze on me. Winter took the opportunity to lash her sword twice across the monster's chest, drawing a pair of bloody cuts.

The monster let out a roar and swept his hand with blinding speed. Winter never had a chance to get out of the way, and the blow collided with the side of her chest and sent her flying at the wall.

I wasn't even consciously aware of the next few moments, one moment I was simply watching the fight. The next I made the decision to move, and the next thing I knew was somewhere else. The right place at just the right time to catch her before she collided with the unforgiving stone surface.

"You okay?" I asked, cradling her in my arms.

"Qrow?" Winter shook her head as she cleared out the cobwebs in her head from the blow, "I thought that was Kali, last I saw you were-" Then her eyes widened as she saw my face, "Oh Maidens, Qrow your eye… I'm so sorry."

I winked at her with my remaining eye, "Don't be." I told her, "I'm going to look badass with an eyepatch."

"You probably will." Winter agreed, then her face reddened and she cleared her throat, "Would you mind… uh…"

I blinked, "Oh right, sorry." I gently set her back on her feet and she brushed herself off, "So, did you find some more Mistralian Gold or something?" She asked, nodding to the golden fire burning along my blade.

"Apparently, don't need it anymore," I replied.

"That have something to do with the new cape?"

I glanced at my back to see a long cape with tattered edges that was red on top and white on the bottom; huh… my cape had merged with Summer's then… neat.

"Something like that," I answered, "Long story."

"You'll have to tell it to me later then." Winter turned to Ashuna, who was staring at me, his face pale.

"Impossible." He finally said, "You were dead, I saw you die."

"Yeah, I guess like you it didn't stick." I replied.

Ashuna's face slowly twisted into a crazed smile, "I suppose this is for the best. I will get to test this out after all."

Oh boy, I didn't like the sound of that, I began advancing on the monster, hoping to stop him, but somehow knew even before I did that I was going to be too late.

Ashuna snapped his fingers and a silver coin appeared in his hand, he then opened his mouth and popped it in.

He fell to his knees, and for a wild moment I had the hope that he had simply decided to take the easy way out.

Instead, liquid silver began pouring out of every pore of his body, absolutely covering him from head to toe… then he started growing… and growing…

And growing.

"Oh hell." I breathed.

Ashuna stood up, at this point a golem made entirely out of silver that was at least a couple stories high.

"Well then." Winter walked up beside me to join in staring up at the monster, "How do we kill it?"

"Destroy its heart." I turned at the unexpected voice to find Seydin there, leaning heavily on his staff, Count Arnau slung over his shoulder, "I am familiar with this particular spell." He told us, "The coin will have enlarged and lodged itself somewhere in his chest, if you destroy that, then he will die."

"Thanks for the tip." I told him.

He nodded, "I believe that the Count and myself will sit out this one." Then he began dragging the Fey lord away.

"Fair enough." I replied and turned back to Ashuna, who let out a bellow as he lowered his head and charged.


"I go high, you go low!" I commanded Winter as I brandished Harbinger and began running to meet the oncoming golem.

"Understood." She called back as she ran alongside me at the monster.

Rule of thumb when fighting against something bigger than you and just so happen to have the luxury of being with at least one other person, a good strategy is to split its attention.

That was all well and good in theory, the problem is that I had forgotten a crucial piece of the equation. Because when I tried flapping my wings to soar up at the golem's face, my heart dropped into my stomach as I remembered that I was now completely wingless.

So, with the golem barreling down on me, way to close to even think about swapping roles with Winter. So, as my eyes fell upon one of Count Arnau's spears laying on the ground, I realized that I was going to have to improvise.

I continued charging at the golem, but darted to the side, picking up the fey lord's spear as I ran; relieved that if there were any magical traps on it, at least they weren't instant.

Then as I closed in I sheathed Harbinger, grabbed the spear with both hands, and planted it on the ground.

Pole vaulting is both harder and easier than it looks and it's something that I bizarrely have some experience in; this wasn't the first time that I've had to… pull… something out of my ass.

This was however, notably the first time I had tried it while being supercharged with anima.

I had been aiming for maybe around the golem's shoulder or chest. Instead I shot up through the air, clearing the monster's head.

Thankfully, the maneuver had either surprised Ashuna as well, or he was still getting used to being several times bigger because his clumsy swipes went wide.

I whipped Harbinger out of its sheath and shifted it back into its schtye form as I flew over the back of the golem's head and flipped around to slam it right into the nape of the monster's neck. The blade drove right through the metallic flesh with ease, no doubt due to the anima-infused flames that burned along its blade.

Ashuna let out a bellow of rage and swatted at me with his hands; I wrenched Harbinger out and fell out of their reach just as one of them clapped over the back of his neck like he was crushing a fly.

While I avoided the blow, the wind generated from the impact slammed into me, sending me shooting to the ground.

I had just come to terms with how much slamming into the ground was going to hurt as I prepared to drop into a roll to lessen the impact when something golden sprang up beneath me. I blinked in surprise as I fell on something soft and cushiony.

I rolled off of it and just had enough time to see that it was a large pillow before it disappeared.

"Did you actually plan that?" Winter asked as she stepped up beside me.

"Oh yeah, every step." I replied as I turned back to the golem.

"You forgot you couldn't fly, didn't you?"

I flicked my gaze to see that Winter had a small, smug smile on her face.

"Maybe." I answered evasively. Damn, since when had she become so good at reading me?

Ashuna was bleeding heavily, black and silver ichor running in streams from wounds on his neck and legs. He turned slowly towards us and the silver around his chest warped and twisted. I made sure to note where the center of the movement was, no doubt that was where the 'heart' that Seydin had been talking about was.

The ichor flowing down his body froze and I watched in fascination as it reversed course; flowing back up to the wounds and fusing with the flesh there. Then it solidified, causing the flesh there to be infused with black, web-like lines.

The golem cracked his neck and smiled down at us, "Not bad." He murmured, "But ultimately… futile."

The splotches of black and silver blood on the floor abruptly began vibrating violently and pool up. Then as one they shot up, morphing into human-shaped creatures with silver skin just like Ashuna, but with pits of black good for eyes and mouths… Filth.

As if having a bunch of Filth infused little mini-golems wasn't wasn't enough, they all turned to us as one and smiled wide.

"Oh well, that's just terrific." Winter breathed.

"How are you doing on Mistralian Gold?" I asked her.

She grimaced, "Not great," She replied, "I'm already feeling a little tipsy, if I drink much more than I'm not going to be in much shape to fight."

"We're seriously going to have to work on your tolerance after this." I told her.

She groaned, "No way, my head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it after that time with the Yrrl'ten."

"Don't worry, there are some tricks I can show you." I replied, "One of the biggest ones? Stay hydrated. You wouldn't believe how much of that headache is just from dehydration."

"You know what? Fine, if we live through this, I'll take you up on that." Winter promised, "But you're buying."

I snorted, "Seems kind of cheap for a Schnee."

"I've seen how much you drink." She replied, "I don't feel like going from a Schnee to a pauper in one night."

I chuckled, "Fair enough. It's a deal then." Then I rolled my shoulder before dropping into a combat stance, "Now let's kill this asshole."

And without another word, we charged forward.


The next few minutes were a blur, nothing but constant movement, attack, and counter-attack.

The humanoid minions that Ashuna had made from his blood mutated into all sorts of different ghastly horrors. Some simply grew extra limbs that flailed, clawed, or hammered at us, others started breathing fire, others ice, one even spat out Filth at us in sprays of black tar.

None of it could stop Winter and myself.

It was something almost like a dance, I cut one of the minions in half and Winter stepped over the body to slash her rapier out to take down two more. One of the bastards charged and tried to tackle her, only to be blasted aside as I swapped Harbinger to its shotgun form.

As I was swapping back to my scythe, Winter lifted a hand and a large glyph formed in midair to block a scorpion tail that was flashing towards me. The monster that grew the tail let out a hiss as it darted around the glyph and leapt forward, only to be sliced to pieces as I slashed at it with Harbinger.

I don't think I've ever fought like that with another person before, not even on Team STRQ and not with any of the companions that I fought alongside after Mountain Glenn.

My mind cast back to when we had fought the monsters on the train at the Atlesian base; I had felt some of that there too. We had fought alongside each other and against each other for so long that maybe it made sense.

Somehow I knew when Winter was going to cut down one of the monsters with her rapier, but that would leave her open to another one that was opening its maw… embers of flame gathering as it prepared to launch fire at her.

So I stepped up and kicked the monster's mouth shut and smoke erupted from the sides of its head as it roasted its own inside, it didn't even have enough time to scream as I separated the head from its shoulders to roll along the ground.

And then somehow she seemed to have known I would do that, because she was already twirling around, her rapier blocking as one of the monsters that had grown blade-like limbs tried to stab me in the back.

Similar scenes played out over and over as we made our way through the horde, until finally, we were standing in front of Ashuna once more.

And without saying a thing, we threw ourselves forward.

We cut and sliced at his legs, drawing more wounds and this time, as each splotch of blood hit the ground, I called up fire to burn it to the crisp; preventing the monster from raising any more of its minions.

Slowly but surely, we drove the golem back, stumbling and cursing as more and more wounds covered its body.

Finally, it fell to its knees, gasping for air and I let out a roar of triumph as I lunged straight for the spot on its chest where I thought the heart was.

Something flashed into sight from beneath me, and I barely managed to step backwards as a chain shot up that would have probably gone straight up through my chin and into my skull if I had kept going.

I let out a snarl as more and more chains rose up around us, and I cut and slashed through the links as they sought to wrap themselves around me. Then as I watched a large portion of them simply began lacing and interweaving until they formed a large wall in front of the monster's chest.

"Oh hell no, not this shit again." I swore as I held up my hand, palm directed at the heart, "Ignis" I spat.

The fire came out in a roar of golden fire that burned away the chains in front of me, and as I concentrated, they tightened and narrowed until they were burning at the area where the heart was like an acetylene torch.

The smell of burning flesh reached my nostril and Ashuna let out a bellow, but more of the chains came, and then more, building up on top of each other shielding the chest.

And I was tiring, while the anima was empowering me, I could feel the strain of keeping up the flames like a physical pressure that was building on my head and shoulders.

I fell to a knee, the effort of standing becoming too great as I kept the fire going; and yet the wall of chains had rebuilt itself and was growing thicker and thicker as more weaved themselves in… I was losing this.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Winter fighting to get closer, the chains snaking around her as they sought to wrap around her or kill her outright.

She sliced the first few aside with her rapier, but the golden glow around the blade was beginning to wane as her anima began to run dry.

Then all at once, it gave out and she let out a gasp as the chains shot forward. She swung her weapon and there was the sound of metal against metal, but the chain simply blew past it, knocking the rapier from her hand.

The chains were around her in an instant, and she let out a gasp as they began squeezing tight.

Then she let out a scream as I heard the sound of bone snapping.

Time itself seemed to freeze. My very heart had stopped pounding and I could feel my blood run cold.

I turned my attention fully back to Ashuna and reached down deep inside, gathering up the storm of emotion that was whirling in my chest.

But what I grabbed wasn't rage, although there was plenty of that. Somehow, I knew that using that wasn't going to work, not with anima. Anger, pain… that all worked with mana, but anima required something… else.

And something else was in that rage, something that came before it, and it was so deep and vast that I almost drowned in it.

The flames grew hotter and brighter; and strangely, I could have sworn that I heard the buzzing of bees as the air was permeated with a golden glow.

Ashuna let out a roar of rage as the chains were vaporized in an instant, and then the flames punched straight through his chest and out the other side.

The roar turned into a scream that nearly deafened me, and the very palace seemed to shake as the Mayor of Noradz clutched at the massive hole in his chest. I let out a gasp as I fell to my hands and knees, letting go of the flames and the anima.

I watched in amazement, the monster shrunk, withering away until he was a pale, skeletal human.

Then all at once, he simply melted, and soon Ashuna was nothing more than a small puddle of Filth on the ground.

I simply stayed there, panting for a moment, and then I heard footsteps behind me and Winter knelt down, "Are you alright?" She asked me.

"I'm… fine." I gasped, "You… that didn't sound good."

She put her shoulder under mine and helped me to my feet, and as she did so, I saw that her right arm was hanging limply at her side, "Broken arm, that's all." She replied, "I'll manage."

"That son of a bitch." I spat.

She blinked a little in surprise at the venom in my voice and then gave a slight smile, "Don't worry, I kind of think we paid him back for it." She quickly ripped off a strip of cloth and bound it up.

Despite myself, I smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, I guess so."

She turned me around and we began shuffling out of the field of dried up puddles of Filth that were all that remained of the minions that Ashuna had created.

"So that was… something." Winter finally said, "I've never… I mean..."

"You were right." I interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Winter asked me.

"I was remembering back at the Atlesian base, that train fight with those monsters… the frog things." I replied, "Afterwards you said we make a good team. You were right."

She tossed her head, "Well, I mean… I am right most of the time."

"Okay, now you're pushing it." I quipped.

She smirked a little at that, and then suddenly her smile vanished and she looked somber, "I wanted to tell you… back at Beacon… what I said about your sister…"

I looked up at her and then snorted, "Damn, going way back for that one… that was over two years ago."

"Yes well…" She bit her lip, "I wanted to tell you that I was sorry… that was... vulgar of me."

"To be fair, I had just completely wrecked your robots and we were not exactly on the best of terms back then." I told her.

"You only pulled off their heads, it wasn't like they were completely destroyed." She told me.

"Completely. Wrecked." I emphasized, "Destroyed… annihilated…"

The side of her mouth quirked up in a grin then her face turned somber again, "It's just that… when I learned what your sister had done… that she had brought the monsters into Remnant… I blamed her and by extension, you… for what happened to my brother."

My heart tore a little at that and I looked away, "Can't exactly blame you for that." I told her.

"The thing is… it was only after you told me what had happened with Summer… after what happened with Zorja… that I began to realize just how much you had lost too." She said, "Then at the base, I saw how hard you were trying to keep everyone alive… about how much you cared for Kali and Jaune…"

I let out a snort, "Jaune?" I asked, "I was a grade-A asshole to the kid."

She winced slightly at that, "Maybe at first." She agreed, "But that never stopped you from trying to protect him."

"He was kind of the Chosen One and all that." I replied.

"It was more than that." She told me, "You can try to fool yourself, but you can't fool me."

I started to say something, but then went quiet. I turned to Winter to see her deliberately keeping her eyes off of me, her face slightly red from exertion… damn was I that heavy?

"Now of course I have been listening to Ruby for two years." She said, "And she is one convincing propagandist… but even before then I… I…"

Well hello, hello.

Winter spun the two of us around and my heart plummeted into the depths of my stomach. While we had been talking, we had failed to notice that Ashuna's miniature Filth puddle had swelled up into a small lake and rising out of it was a massive centipede like creature made out of the stuff whose mandibles open and shut as it leered down at us.

Revenge is a dish served cold, that's the adage, but I've waited for so long now that it's gotten ice cold… just like the bitch who deserves it.

I reached down and tried to reach for the anima only to come up with fumes… I was completely dry… nothing left. I could only watch helplessly as the creature reared up.

Die.

It lunged down at us in a wave of black tar, inescapable and implacable as a tsunami.

Then I felt a thrum rip through the air and the centipede creature froze in place; the tar solidifying in place just an arm's length above our head.

Then I watched in disbelief as it disintegrated… dispersing into dust.

"Holy shit." Winter breathed, "Kali must have reactivated the temples. That was…"

"Lucky?" I shrugged, "You get used to it."