For a moment I hope I hit him, but that excitement dies quick. He spins around his sword to deflect my quick-succession blows. I do smirk when I see I didn't even give him the chance to extend the sword out of its stagnant form.

I dart back forward, giving neither of us time to rebound. This time he does have time to extend his weapon. I nearly run into the flat of his blade but skid around it and launch forward again. He spins the blade and deflects again. I leap back and pause for a moment, bouncing on my feet

"Hey, above the waist please. I feel we've even had this conversation before," Qrow retorts.

"My apologies. I didn't really expect you to fight fair, so my methods needed to be adapted," I pause, presuming that conversation meant a safe period.

I barely have time to cross my blades in an x-formation to block his downward blow. He slowly adds pressure, pushing me to the ground. His lips drawl into an insufferable smirk.

"You accuse me of cheating? Damn Ice Queen, your words really hurt you know." His breath tickles my face. It reeks of whiskey, and I feel as if a rock was planted in my stomach. I plant my feet firmly on the ground (roof?) and shove back, placing all my power in my hops backwards, leaving me to swiftly reconnect my sabre.

I summon a glyph behind me that I push off of, flying towards him. I know he'll bring up Harbinger to block my advance, so I flip my legs forward at the last possible moment so they connect with his gleaming blade. I push off, causing him to stumble back a bit. As I fly backwards I summon a flock of small Nevermores to batter him as I charge once more, darting around amongst the confusion. I manage to get close enough to neatly place the curve of my blade against his stubble-coated neck.

I open my mouth to utter a taunt, but Qrow grabs my forearm and swings me around. I shamefully trip as he does so. Now the tip of his claymore is level with my face, glittering tauntingly in the noon sunlight. Qrow stands over me, apparently also eager to taunt. With a satisfactory feeling of revenge, I grasp the blade with my legs and manage to twist it out of his hands in a singular acrobatic movement. The sword clatters across the barren landscape.

Qrow leaps after it, and I set off after him, using my glyphs to increase my speed. I fly off the edge of the building, and for a sickening moment all that is below me is empty air and concrete roads floors below. I summon another glyph to catch myself, and turn back to the roof. There Qrow stands, sword in hand, his crimson eyes now holding a sadistic glint. I feel a tinge as I partially want him to be worried about my near tumble off the building. It is illogical, since I clearly have glyphs to save me. Still.

I launch myself towards him, and he swats me away. I skid across the roof and spin around to charge. He meets me halfway.

Just like the Vytal Tournament, our blades cross in a dance of glory. For a while we are nothing but our swords. For a moment I truly forget all that is happening and has happened. There is the occasional moment where our blades are not crossed. Moments when we dance back and forth, waiting for our opponent to present us with an opening for attack as they change their footwork. My body is heating from the exertion, but the cold air keeps my limbs still feeling fresh. Qrow's grinning, I notice. And so am I. It's almost the same as all of those years before.

Almost. My mind seems to keep me wary of the fact that Qrow's fighting style is more swaggering than before. His movements blur together in a way I no longer can determine as either artful or sloppy. He constantly looks as if he's about to lose his balance, but he never does.

We dart around each other in a circular pattern. We weave in and out, our blades clamouring for any sort of contact. We continue this movement all across the circular roof. We do this in a constant cycle until the pounding of adrenaline because a normal feeling along with the throbbing of my tired arms. This fight isn't going to end as neatly as the Vytal battle did. Almost as if sensing this fact at the same time as I, Qrow huffs with impatience. After blocking another one of my blows, Qrow's claymore mech-transforms into a giant scythe around my sword.

I shuffle out of the instrument's reach. Qrow follows after me, smirking when he matches my footwork. I only huff back, but the corners of my lips curl upwards. Still ever-smiling, Qrow uses the recoil on his rifle mechanism to swing around his weapon in a large arc. I block his blow, and he uses the recoil once again, this time to fly backwards. He flips his blade back and in firing another shot comes racing back towards me. The butt of his hilt jams into my midriff.

I slide back, using my hand to slow down my skid. I straighten up across the roof from Qrow, my sabre still arched in the air. I flex my hand, my glove barely blocking me from road rash. The fabric itself is scuffed.

"You good?" Qrow lowers his scythe, but his stance is still braced.

"I might need a new glove, but other than that, fine. Actually, let me check something," I pull out my scroll and check my aura count. I'm fairly low, but it's not dangerous.

"No, don't check that," the lanky man whines.

"Why not? It's my property," I retort, sliding the device into one of my many coat pockets.

"Yeah well now you're going to be annoying me the rest of the fight and worried about aura level."

"Can you blame me? Qrow, we're high up in the atmosphere, we'll catch possible hypothermia in next to no time at all if our aura count gets to zero."

"We'll be in the elevator in seconds," Qrow swats the air as if there's a fly.

"Mere seconds is all it takes—"

"See, look, you're doing it already."

"Oh, am I?" I lower my sword and scoff.

"Yeah, and this fight hadn't even gotten interesting yet," with a soft grinding noise the scythe shifts back into its claymore state.

"Well... I thought it was good..."

Qrow's eyebrow darts upward. "Well, that's flattering. I guess. You were just a little rusty, but that's understandable if you haven't had a fight in a while. We didn't even use any dust. That should be like, your specialty."

I smile for a moment. "Funny, but, no, it's not my specialty. Plus using dust might be reckless up here, I wouldn't want the roof to collapse because of our endeavours. And really the only I enjoyed the fight was because no roof beam threatened to crush me." I pause. "Also what the hell does rusty mean?"

"Oh... well..." he runs a hand through his hair. "You know, the idea of bringing this roof down isn't that upsetting."

I let out a 'tsk' noise while I sheath my sabre. "It really isn't."

"Yeah." Harbinger slides into its dormant stage. Qrow attaches it to his belt, the weapon's sheathed but sitting clear in view. That, plus the man's well-toned physique, and extravagant everyday outfit, (despite the depressing colour tones consisting of only black and grey) there is no doubt to be had that Qrow is a huntsman. "Do you want to talk about what went down in the elevator?"

"No." I walk to the edge of the building he stands by and pause beside him. I avoid his gaze, but I try and dull down my bluntness. "I am glad that someone knows about the situation with my father and the company. Keeping it all quiet is hard sometimes."

"I'm glad to have helped to lighten your load," Qrow sounds genuine. His voice shifts to something soft and kind, but there's a heaviness to it. I meet his eyes, and they are the same. Happy to take someone's burden, but struggling under the weight of it all. His eyes shift away from mine.

"If... you uh, want me to return the favour, just let me know."

"Maybe next time. Things are still weird with my feelings towards you."

"Oh, okay." I decide to push no further because I know he will not answer.

"I am sorry for what I said in the elevator. About you... not wanting to risk yourself to help others. I didn't realize you couldn't, but I'm sure you would. Not just for Persimmon. I'm sorry, you said you didn't want to talk about it and here I am blabbering along," he lets out a stark laugh and brushes his hair out of his face again.

"No, no, it's fine. And I accept your apology," I copy Qrow by tucking a strip of hair behind my ear.

"Yeah... damn though, it definitely is tough seeing things that need to be stopped and knowing you don't have the power to do such," he shakes his head, as if snapping out of a trance. "I'm sure we can do *some* things. Next time we come here, we'll bring lots of dust.

I let out a hardy laugh. "Alright, then." I don't even question that there's going to be a 'next time.'

"I like it when you unwind like this. It's the first time since I've gotten here that you've acted like an actual human being around me," he chuckles at the scowl I send him. He gestures back at the elevator, and I nod. We walk there side-by-side. Qrow bows in a dramatic, presenting fashion when he presses the button and the doors slide open.

"Thank you, good sir," I joke back as I step into the box. This time it doesn't feel quite as small.

"Anytime, Winter," Qrow leans against the door, grinning. "I forgot to say earlier, thanks for the flowers. In the hotel room, I mean."

"Anytime, Qrow."

A/N Yeah technology hates me. Since writing on mobile is kind of tough, the next chapter might take a while. Please enjoy this for now. Until next time