Cinder eyed Neo with Maggy very closely as they sat together in the coffee shop.
It was a bit of a personal celebration, this outing - due to having gotten news from Hazel that Lisari had stabilized, and was out of critical care and now into just...general care. Not that that meant things were fine and dandy - no, not by any means - but it did mean she had a very high chance of recovery now. Of living on.
As she watched Neo, she finally decided to ask the question that had been on her mind for the past several days now - even since before the little festival outing, she realized.
"How and why are you so good with her?"
Neo just smiled.
"Seriously, I'd like to know," Cinder pressed, setting her drink down and spreading her hands on the table. "I- look, I realized I don't exactly...know much about you. About your life before we...met. But I want to get to know you - the you from before. You must have had family, gone to some kind of school, had friends? How do you go from that, to being the right hand of a man like Torchwick at the age of nineteen?"
Neo withdrew her scroll and tapped at it, then she slid it across the table with a careless little push, returning her focus squarely to Maggy again.
Cinder took up the scroll and read the message.
I'm good with Maggy, because I was good with mine.
"Wait, what? You had a-"
Neo held up a hand, shook her head firmly. Her lips were pressed together tight.
"Okay - sorry I asked," Cinder backtracked quickly. Ugh...this trying-to-make-friends-out-of-allies thing is a lot harder than I thought...
"See, I told you it was her!" Ruby cried, with utter vindication - and no small level of annoyance. After days of Team RWBY plus Qrow scouring all of Mantle looking for signs of Cinder Fall, only to, in the end, find her sitting out in the open in a coffee shop was just...infuriating.
"And Neo's even with her," Yang said. Then her eyes fell on the black-haired girl in red shirt and black pants who had come to join Cinder and Neo at the table. "No way! Is that-"
"Who?" Weiss asked.
"From the nightclub back in Vale! One of those twins I fought - I forget their names."
"And who's the other woman with them? I've never seen her before," Ruby wondered, eyes furrowed.
"Neither have I." Yang shook her head.
"Me, neither," Weiss chimed in.
"I don't recall her at all, either," Blake spoke. "But that isn't what worries me," she went on, tone turning soft. "Look: look at Neo."
"Oh my gosh," Ruby whispered. "They're holding a baby hostage!"
"That's sick," Weiss snarled.
"It's disgusting," Blake agreed, quiet. "Before we do absolutely anything else, we need to get that innocent child away from them and into safe hands. I'm sure their parents have been distraught over their disappearance. Nothing else matters. Not even bringing them in."
"Right," Ruby said firmly. "We have to come up with a way to separate them - a way to save that poor baby."
"We should talk to Qrow and the others first," Blake said. She turned her head to indicate with eyes alone, the black crow sitting on a nearby signpost.
"We really do need a plan first," Weiss said, troubled. "We can't just go rushing in there trying to fight them."
"How in the world are we going to beat a Maiden?" Yang sighed.
"We don't have to beat her - just distract her, keep her at bay," Ruby said, determined. "Just long enough to get that baby from her safely! Though, it'll still likely take all of us to do this right. Even Penny, if she's willing to help us."
Qrow Branwen perched on the sign, staring in through the window of the shop.
Even after the girls gave him a really non-discrete wave and walked off down the street, he stayed behind.
Some things never changed, he thought, amused. Here he was again, using his bird form to spy on Cinder Fall - and a few other agents of Salem's.
Only this time it wasn't because of Oz's orders - it was his niece's observations, at a festival five days back.
And now it was confirmed: Cinder Fall was alive, and right here in Mantle.
Their enemies had either moved really fast on this one, or they'd already been here a while.
Qrow would have bet on the latter, watching them in the shop now.
They were at ease, they were familiar - routine.
Looking to all the world like a gaggle of women enjoying a morning out.
They even had a little baby with them in a cute little carrier.
That baby...
Why did they even have it?
Whose was it?
A kidnapping victim?
But why?
What would they get out of that, besides a massive search party led by distraught and terrified parents, and a chance of capture if anyone recognized the baby?
Qrow had no idea. No answers.
Well, whatever the story was there, priority had to be getting the baby away from them. Just an innocent little thing...lugged around by one of the worst women in the world...
Qrow observed the group until they got up to leave.
He stayed where he was as they came out onto the street - an unassuming black bird on a sign. He'd gotten pretty good at playing the role right; if he'd flown away, that would have caught an eye, and possibly even been caught in a mind as suspicious behavior for a normal bird.
So he stayed, ruffled his feathers a bit and shifted on his talons as they came down the sidewalk toward him.
They passed him by, talking among themselves and not giving him a second glance.
Until one of them did - a woman at the back of the group, with brown hair styled up prettily. A soft, kind face to her. Not the kind of person who looked like she should've been running with this crowd, Qrow mused - was she the mother? A hostage, along with her kid?
"Oh - Cinder, look, look, another bird! Neo, don't you dare spook it! Try this one, try your Semblance again!"
A sigh from Cinder Fall, turning sharply on a heel to look directly at Qrow. Irritation on her face. "Flora, this is the fourteenth bird you've tried to get me to bond with! It's just not going to happen; birds are just- not good pets, okay? Forget it."
"Please!" the woman - Flora - persisted. "Lucky number fifteen?"
Another sigh. "Fine. At least this one is a crow."
He stayed perfectly still as the woman stalked right up to him. She got real close, her face filling his view.
"Hello."
Qrow startled. What the hell? He'd heard her in his head, felt something ripple across his soul! In his deepest core. It was the most unsettling, disturbing thing he'd ever felt in his life. Her Semblance?
"You don't have to be scared; why don't you hop over onto my arm here? I'd like to try being friends..."
Qrow stared up at the woman's face. Expectant, a bit impatient - and nervous. Was she...actually talking to him? Or, to the bird she thought he was? That feeling, the echo in his mind...was that what it was? Her Semblance was to commune with birds? Soul to soul? Well, shit, he couldn't now fly off without alerting her with one hundred percent certainty that he wasn't a normal old, non-sapient bird, could he? And wasn't that just his damn bad luck, that the guy with the ability to turn into a bird would run into the only person in the world with the ability to talk to birds...
With greatest reluctance, Qrow hopped off the sign and onto the outstretched arm of a great enemy.
Cinder's face changed, flushing with relief and even happiness. A smile came to those lips as she brought him up closer. "So, do you come to these streets often?"
Qrow gave her a normal old bird squawk.
She frowned at him.
Wrong move...
"You're a very quiet thing, aren't you?" Cinder remarked. She looked at him with a single eye, critical - but shimmering now with something like compassion. "I wonder why...Were you ever hurt, or is it a disease? Or are you just really, really solitary in nature?"
"What did it say?" Flora was speaking again, coming up next to Cinder. She leaned in, hands on knees, beaming at Qrow.
"This one doesn't seem to want to say anything at all." Cinder shook her head. "I'm getting nothing from it. I've never gotten nothing from an animal before! It has to be hurt, or it caught a throat illness, or- or something! Something awful."
"Well, maybe that's what makes number fifteen special?" Flora spoke lightly. "And so cute that you just have to take it home with you!"
Cinder gave a laugh, soft and true. "Right. Special. Though, you are right: he is a real cutie. Okay, then - new pet acquired!"
Pet? Hell no. Except...I could get more information than I ever dreamed of, if I let them take me right to wherever it is they're staying. If they talk and talk, thinking I'm just some bird. I can easily leave out some window at any point. I can't pass this chance up - getting closer to the enemy, unawares, unsuspecting...and I'd be in the best position to get away with that kid, too...
So Qrow stayed right there, cooperated when Cinder moved him to her shoulder, and they started off down the streets together.
Most of what they talked about on the walk there was inane babbling, with some jabs and ribbing - no different from the sorts of things his kids would get up to with each other.
Qrow supposed even his enemies needed to have their downtimes; you couldn't be planning all the time, could you?
He did his best not to flinch or bite whenever Cinder would reach up to stroke her finger against him. He couldn't have her deciding he wasn't worth keeping around - keeping close.
The things I do for the sake of the mission...
Qrow took note of the street signs, the shops around them as they continued on through Mantle's downtown. Finally, when the group moved into a crummy, small hotel building, he memorized the name of it and the street address. Furthermore, he committed to mind the exact number on the door of their room as they passed through it.
He watched them all unwind and spread out - watched closely as the one called Neo went and set the baby down in a corner. Cinder, meanwhile, walked right to the window - tapped a finger to the dirty sill. It was closed, but what she wanted out of him was obvious.
"You can stay right here for me. I have a big couple of favors to ask of you - if you'd be willing, please."
Qrow was glad to leave Cinder's person, flap down to the window. He got his balance there, and then Cinder was lowering herself down. Putting her face on level with him. Her hands grasped the sill.
Cinder's expression was solemn, and anxious. "The first favor...is that I'd like to ask you to look out for some people for me around the city. Very dangerous people. They'll be coming here sooner rather than later, I think - after me. After us. To kill us. Tyrian Callows, Arthur Watts, Mercucy Black and Emerald Sustrai, and...and possibly even Salem, herself. I don't know. These individuals are very- very bad people. I'll give you descriptions of them, and if you see even one of them...I want you to come back here and tell me. Somehow. I'll let you out to scout around every day, but I'd really like to keep you close at all times otherwise."
Qrow stared at her as she listed off physical descriptions of the other followers of Salem - appearances he already knew about. What was going on here?
Cinder's head turned, her non-damaged eye fell on the baby - Maggy, he knew now. A girl. "See her? That's- that's my baby sister. She's the one, most of all, that I need you to keep watch over while you're with us. Salem k-killed her mother, my mother. Our mother. One of them, anyways. The other, thankfully, survived the attack. But I..." She trailed off, clearly struggling with herself. This close, it didn't take keen bird eyes to see the tears welling in her functioning eye. Didn't take much to see the way her throat swallowed, hard, or the way her fists clenched on the sill, or to hear... "I promised mom I'd do everything I can to protect Maggy, keep her safe and hidden from Salem. So that is what I'm doing. What me and my- friends- are doing. All of us are just...trying to survive, to keep hidden from the monster that wants us dead. Dead for getting in her way, dead for messing with her plans, dead for betraying her and abandoning her."
Qrow ruffled his wings, shifting majorly on the spot. So, these people have left Salem's cause? They're being hunted for it? Their loved ones killed over it? That isn't hard to believe - Salem would do it, and worse, to anyone who betrayed her...or even just chose to stand against her. But these people? Cinder Fall, of all of them?
But she couldn't be lying - who'd lie to a bird? - and the way she looked, the way she was talking, you couldn't just fake that. So this had to be the truth. Deep and real. Though, to account for the chance it was all some ruse, Qrow decided he had to properly investigate this as soon as he could get away from them.
"Anyways," Cinder said, rubbing at her eye and clearing her throat. "That's- my task for you. Keep watch out for those individuals, and keep a watch over Maggy for me. Please." She eyed him a long moment. "Could you just- give me some kind of response here? An affirmative squawk or something?"
Qrow complied.
Cinder gave him a smile, and a nod. "Thanks...oh, I haven't even given you a name yet! You need one, for sure. But what...?"
As Qrow listened to the woman go down a list of the most uninspired, uncreative names ever, he mused to himself that, clearly, his enemies weren't nearly as cunning as he'd once thought.
Not that these women could be considered enemies, now, could they? Although, just because they'd abandoned Salem's cause, didn't mean their own ideals and ideas were good and righteous. How could you be, if you'd join up with an evil like that to begin with? But maybe there was an opening there for a truce, or even some kind of real alliance together against Salem and her other followers. Mutual benefit. Qrow knew he could count on that from just about anyone, at least. And he wasn't even a stranger to working with less than savory types of people. If it was possible with this group...
In the end, Cinder Fall settled on christening him "Zeke," which he learned through eavesdropping on the subsequent conversation that took place between these women, was apparently the name of some old, famous blacksmith (though Qrow had never heard of the guy).
Qrow endured being passed around and cooed over by these people - to the point where he risked an annoyed, fluttery flight up onto the high curtain pole above the window.
"Maybe you should let it hang out on the roof or something," Flora suggested to Cinder. "It really doesn't seem to like being inside like this - or being handled."
"Right." Cinder gave a nod. She opened the window and gestured at it, her eye on Qrow.
He looked at her, looked to the baby. He did need the opportunity to slip away and call the girls - make sure they didn't think he'd gotten lost or something - but on the other hand...he was really reluctant to let this kid out of his sight now. If any of what he'd learned wasn't true - though, he conceded it was likely it was all true - he didn't want to leave the baby alone with them again. Although, true or not, he hadn't seen them hurt the kid. Quite the opposite - they'd been caring, doting and loving as any parent would have been. But if that was a front for him, secretly knowing who he was, what he was...No, not even then, he argued with himself; they couldn't very well keep going outside with the girl if they were hurting her. Someone would see, someone would know. Especially if they were regularly taking her into public places like coffee shops.
So, no matter what, it was likely the girl really was...fine with them. As reluctant as he was to even admit that.
Qrow waited a good minute more, before he ended his internal battle, and flew out the window.
A minute, he told himself. Just a minute. Then he'd be right back there.
He flew up to the roofs, landed and changed back behind a great heat generator.
Qrow took out his scroll and called Ruby.
"Are you okay, Uncle Qrow?" her voice came in immediately, worried.
"I'm fine, kiddo. Just doing some extra recon on my own. The way only I can, you know?"
"Yeah," Ruby said, relieved. "Have you found out any good stuff about- her?"
"I've found out a hell of a lot," Qrow admitted, laughing. "But I need you girls to help me with something here - to help start to even verify if any of it is true or not. And, if it's not true...I need you all to be very serious and careful for me, if we're going to have any hope of safely getting a baby girl away from Cinder and her group. We cannot risk collateral, or crossfire - not of the kid. So I need to know- that you can all listen to my exact word, follow my exact plan to the letter. No outbursts, no emotions, nothing."
"You mean Yang, don't you?" Ruby's voice held only the tiniest bit of mirth.
"Hey, I mean it. I said serious. You're huntresses now, and I need to know you can act like it."
"Okay. Sorry. How can we help? What's your plan, Uncle Qrow?"
"Well let me see here..." Qrow began.
After a quick rundown, he put away his scroll. Then, he transformed and flew back down from the roof; he went right back inside the window, landing on a bedpost.
And he waited, his keen eyes fixed to the baby Maggy.
And he hoped to god nothing would go wrong soon.
Hoped he wasn't wrong about this.
Cinder stepped out the front doors of the hotel, out onto the streets, and watched as Zeke immediately took off for the skies, gliding over a rooftop to disappear again.
He really was one flighty bird, she thought, amused. At least there wouldn't be trouble getting him to play lookout for them - he wasn't going to perch himself somewhere and refuse to leave it.
"Neo - is Maggy all ready to go?"
Neo nodded, gave a little skip and a hop.
Cinder smiled. "Good."
"Where are we going again?" Miltia said, with a heavy sigh.
"We're just going to the park," Flora informed her. "It's nothing different from usual."
"Fine, then."
As they went from block to block, Cinder was pleased to note that Zeke was following along - from rooftop to rooftop, signpost to signpost, perch to perch.
When they arrived at the park, he flew into a high tree, disappearing into branches and leaves, and made a loud squawk.
Cinder wished she could've been nearby - had her Semblance activated. She wondered if she might have finally heard something out of him.
She sat with Flora under the tree Zeke had disappeared up into. Holding her hand, Flora leaning against her.
Idle chatter passed time by, and the occasional glance across the grass, to Neo and Miltia, and Maggy, at a lonely table.
Cinder was torn from peaceful relaxation by a series of high squawking sounds - Zeke! But the sounds weren't coming from up in the tree anymore; they were coming from behind a group of tall, thick bushes between two wide trees nearby.
Cinder stood, immediately making for those bushes, those great trees. It sounded like he was alarmed, or in pain, possibly! It was incessant, it was-
"Zeke, where are you?" she called, striding over to the bushes. He sounded like he was on the ground - behind the trees? Was he being attacked by another animal or something? She wasn't going to lose her new pet so soon! "Zeke, talk to me for once!"
Cinder leaped clear over the thick bunch of bushes, landing on the other side of them, and those two flanking trees.
And she froze.
"Hey."
Qrow Branwen stood before her, hand in his pocket. The other was grasping the hilt of his weapon, but it wasn't yet drawn.
Cinder conjured a flaming glass sword to hand, held loosely at her side, practically automatically. She glanced left and right, all around, her heart beating furiously; Zeke was nowhere to be seen - or heard. "What did you do to him? Where is he, where's my-"
"Your what?" The huntsman, dangerous and one of Ozpin's inner circle, cocked a grin.
"My- my pet, my bird! You- you killed him, didn't you?!"
"Hey, there are a lot of birds flying around out here - how am I supposed to know whether or not one of them is somebody's pet? Let alone yours. Besides, why would you have an ordinary bird for a pet? You strike me more as the type to have...I don't know...a sabre grimm instead."
"Don't screw with me on this!" Cinder snarled, summoning a second blade and taking a step forward. "Tell me, right now, where-"
"What do you think you're doing?! Get away from her - let her go, right now! Cinder, Cinder help!"
Cinder whirled around instantly, leaping back through the trees with superhuman speed at sound of Flora's panicked screams. Pure terror gripped her heart. And then she landed, and at the sight before her, there was only horror.
Maggy...
Maggy, whose carrier was being held in hand by Ruby Rose.
Four other girls stood in front of Ruby, blocking Flora off.
Cinder took a step forward, arm weakly stretched out across the distance. A tremor, lips parted, vision blurring. The girls all had hands on weapons. P-Please...don't...M-Maggy...
Another step, and another.
The girls drew on her.
"Stay back!" Weiss Schnee called to her sharply. "We mean it - Ruby, get out of here!"
"I can't!" Ruby cried.
Cinder looked past the girls, and saw Neo and Miltia, who had just materialized out of shattered glass and pink light behind them. They both had their weapons readied. Umbrella out, claws extended.
Weiss Schnee flourished her rapier, and an icy wall appeared in a "U" shape around her and her team - cutting off Neo and Miltia squarely.
Cinder heard a thud, and glanced back to find Qrow Branwen stepping out from around the trees - putting himself behind her, and closely. She drew a shaking breath, ignoring him entirely and looking to Ruby Rose. She'd thought all she'd ever feel was hatred, vengeance, when faced with the girl again. But now, here, this...it was nothing of the sort. It was just pure panic, and utter desperation. Several dozen feet of open ground - too much for even her to clear fast enough...too much for her to reach, grab, get away with Maggy safely. She'd be putting herself into the fray, with all of them, and there'd be a fight, and if there was a fight...Maggy might surely be...She'd promised... "Please! Give her back, please don't do this, you c-can't take her from me! She's- she's m-mine, she's my little sister! You can't do this, you can't do this!"
Ruby's expression shifted. Those silver eyes of hers widened.
"Yours or not, sister or not, she's better off not living with you," Yang spat out. "You're a terrorist, and a murderer! Hell, one of your two personal victims is standing right in front of you! Or do you not even remember her name?! Like with Jaune? How about a name you should know - Pyrrha?! Look at her, fucking try to even say it to her face!"
Cinder dropped her arm, and turned her gaze to the freckled imitation of a human girl. "P-Penny...Penny Polendina."
"You're responsible for Beacon. For what happened to me," Penny replied, nothing but distressed.
"I- I'm s-sorry."
"What?" Yang said loudly.
"I'm...I'm sorry. For you, for Pyrrha Nikos, for Penny, for Amber...for Weiss Schnee - the spear. I am...sorry." Cinder slowly lowered herself to her knees, holding up her hands. "Please, I'm not even with Salem anymore, I left her, I don't care, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I left her, she wants to kill me, kill all of us - that's why we're here, we ran away, we're hiding from her - she killed my mother r-right in front of me, I- I fled with my baby sister! I p-promised, I promised I'd protect her, I...god, please, please just give her back, please I'm sorry, I'll do anything, I'll say anything, I'm sorry!"
The girls looked at her, then at each other in the silence filled by her sobbing and gasping. Ruby Rose moved forward, parting her sister and the Schnee girl. She stood there at forefront, holding Maggy still. Staring at Cinder.
Cinder lifted her head, tears falling, shaking. She met Ruby's eyes again now, and held it with all she had. Pleading. "Please...I d-don't- I don't even...want to hurt you, I don't want to kill you, I don't b-blame you for doing any of this to me, I don't- I don't...I don't know what to say, I don't know what to do, I don't know what you want! Just take anything, take anything - just not her! Just give her back, please god, I love her, she's my sister, I have to protect her, she needs me...Salem will kill her, she'll kill her! She doesn't care, she has no fucking limits, there's no line - she'll kill her! Just to get back at me for leaving her! L-like she k-killed my m-mother already for betraying her...Please...Ruby Rose...I'm begging you..."
Ruby Rose bent down, and gently, carefully set Maggy on the ground. She stared at Cinder for still longer, and then she took a step back. "If you've really left Salem...if any of that is true - I hope it is, I have to hope, even for you, if there's even a chance in hell - then we're going to leave you alone, and you are going to do the same for us! Mantle is big enough for all of us. But, when the time comes, I want you to prove it all - by helping to stop the grimm when they come, and by helping to stop Salem's other followers when they come here to do what they do. What you did. What you know they are going to come here to do. What we both know they're going to come here to do. Are we clear?"
Cinder stared into those narrowed, silver eyes that terrified her so. "Y-yes, yes we're clear. Please...just give me my s-sister back...Just let me have her back..."
"Come get her," Yang hurled out. "Crawl to us."
"Yang-" Blake Belladona gasped.
"It's the fucking least she can do for us!" Yang shouted, her eyes turning red. "She fucking murdered Pyrrha in cold blood, she got Penny killed, she- everything!"
"Okay." Cinder gave a simple nod. "Okay...You're r-right...That is the least I can do..." And, she reflected, it wasn't exactly a new experience for her in life - she had plenty of years behind her of being made to do this very same thing to, and by, her stepmother and stepsisters. What was one more time, if it meant getting Maggy back?
And so she did. Slow, careful, silent. She did. She crawled right to them, right to Maggy.
She reached, she touched the carrier, and she gently took it in hand. She looked up at those girls. "I'm s-sorry..."
"Tell those other two to stand down, let us leave," Ruby spoke, a quaver in her voice.
Cinder nodded. "Neo - Miltia - let them g-go. We- we have a truce. Truce!"
"Truce," Blake Belladona said quietly, nodding down to her. "We'll honor it. I hope, for your sakes, that you will too."
Weiss lowered her ice wall, revealing Neo and Miltia still standing there with weapons at ready.
Cinder made eye contact with the two. "Stand down, please - we are not going to risk hurting Maggy!"
They obeyed her, but still maintained tense, wary eyes on the Huntresses.
Weiss and Blake stepped behind Ruby, to face Neo and Miltia. Yang and Ruby remained facing forward, looking down at Cinder.
The standoff continued in silence.
Until Ruby Rose moved. She stepped off to the side, and began to walk away. The other girls came up behind her, guarding, and they left. Cautious, and slow, and with many looks back. But they did.
Cinder just sat there on the grass, holding Maggy - carrier and all - in her lap, head bowed. A sob escaped her again - this one of pure relief.
She looked over to the trees, and saw no sign of Qrow Branwen. The passing thought came to her of just what his Semblance could even be; she'd never seen it in action, and there was no information about him that pointed to what it might be.
The girls were a good distance away now, almost at the street.
Cinder called out to them in the most sincere voice she could ever manage.
"Thank you!"
Ruby Rose stopped. Her teammates passed her. She looked over a shoulder, shock written on her features, even from afar. Then, she gave the tiniest of nods, and continued on, that red cape of hers fluttering behind her.
"Can we really believe her? Can we believe any of it?"
Qrow sat back, sighing. "I've seen a lot of things in this world, kiddo - a lot of impossible things. I've seen friends become enemies, and enemies become friends. But for as great an enemy as this woman is? For everything she's done? I'd say it's really damn unlikely. But, on the other hand, what I saw of her behavior was just so completely different from what we know is her usual that...well, she's either the world's damn greatest actress, and she knew who I was, or she was telling the truth. And none of what she did in front of you was inconsistent with how she was being in private with just me, either. I just can't square any of that with...none of it makes any sense unless it's the truth."
"So what do we do? How do we know?" Ruby asked, quiet. "I don't want to think I made a terrible mistake, even thinking I might possibly be able to trust her word - on anything! But how she looked, in her eyes, how she talked, she was...she was begging, she was shaking, she was...You saw her! She even did what Yang asked! That was low, it was gross, but she did even that! Do I believe my eyes and my heart now, or ignore it in favor of how I know she was before? At Beacon, at Haven?"
"No matter what, we need to keep alert, be cautious with her - with them. And we need to keep watching them. And besides that, we need to start by seeing if her story even checks out. If she's really abandoned Salem or not, if she's really in hiding under a death sentence because of it. If their relatives have really been attacked over their betrayal of their former Master."
"How do we find out if it's true, for sure?"
"By checking into the facts of the story elsewhere - not just from their word and mouths - but wherever they happened, however it happened elsewhere. Facts, evidence, not just words. Yang said they've got a familiar face to her with them - from a club in Vale. Her name's Miltia, I learned back there. So, I'll get in touch with some old contacts in Vale, see if they can't investigate that part, at least. And as for her claim about her mother's murder..." Qrow eyed Ruby a long moment. "That's what got you, isn't it?"
"I...Was it stupid that it did...get me?"
"Some enemies always know just what buttons to press - how to prey on your weaknesses - manipulate you to their own ends." Qrow spoke slowly. "Who knows if that's what she was doing with you back there - grabbing for that, just to get that baby back from you. Knowing you'd cave to it. Because you...you hope, Ruby. You're a shining light in the world. You always have been. You trust, you have faith, you take chances - like you tried to do with Raven, back at Haven Academy. It didn't work out with my sister then...but maybe it did work today, with Cinder."
"Would my mom have done the same thing? Would she have believed her? Caved...?"
"You're like your mom in all the best ways," Qrow answered. "She was always the best of us; yeah, she would've believed her, too. She had real compassion to her, real soul. And you have that, too. And even though sometimes it might not work out...I'd never want to see you lose it. Because when it does work out...it works out something wonderful. I saw it before, with Summer, time and again. To be honest, I envied her that ability. I envy you, Ruby. I'd never have believed a word of it, not a second of it. And that would've escalated things, it would've...even with situational context set aside, I think it's better to be an optimist than a cynic. But it's something I just can't do."
"So you think I made the right choice?"
"We can't really say right now, can we? Who knows where the choice will lead us? We haven't walked down that path yet." Qrow paused. "And while I...I can't have faith in it myself, I can still put my faith in you for being the one to lead us down it. Just like I chose to put my faith in your mom whenever she made a choice like this one."
"Thanks."
"Hey, no problem." Qrow sighed, stood. "I'll be back - time to see if the story checks out. Gotta make some calls - and then I need to get back to them. Might get suspicious without "Zeke" coming back, and if there's a real possibility of alliance, I don't want to squash it by letting her think her damn pet was killed by me." He gave a little chuckle. "Anyways, I won't be back for a few hours. You kids just take it easy while I'm away. You've done more than enough today, finding this all out - finding Cinder and her group out. And if they have really abandoned Salem's cause...then maybe, just maybe, we might have gained ourselves a whole new pack of allies - or at the least, a wealth of information on Salem's movements. All because of you, Ruby."