Surprise! Doubt you expected to see this one updated.

Enjoy the chapter.

Cover art by: Fuura Xen

Chapter 2

Summer loved her life.

Waking up, she and Tai had made the best breakfast for the kids with bacon, eggs, and waffles! Even if all she did was prepare the ingredients while Tai actually cooked. Suffice to say, they loved it and thought it was a great start to the weekend.

I'm still proud, dang it!

With that fantastic start, they all got together as a family and played board games and even linked up their scrolls to play one of those electronic games the kids loved so much. Tai was surprisingly adept and gave little Yang a run for her money. Usually, she'd have frowned on celebrating beating a kid at a game, but even she couldn't resist doing a little shimmy at their expense.

That had been most of the day, and after they all washed up and the kids were put to bed, it was time for Tai's favorite game. It was her turn after their little adult moment, and cuddle time was a go!

Rolling around in bed, she snuggled closer into the chest next to her and drifted off in his loving embrace—the perfect end to a perfect day.

Her eyes snapped open as decades of Huntress instincts kicked in, driving her awake. She wasn't the only one either.

"You feel that to Sum?"

Tai had tightened his embrace, instinctually shielding her and while she felt safer, they had more pressing concerns. Locking eyes for a brief second, they both bolted up and started rummaging the drawers on either side of the bed.

Tai pulled out his dust metal bracers while she pulled out a simple hunting knife with her real weapon being too big to stash by their bedside.

Both armed, they dashed out of their room with Tai taking point as they made it out. Breaking apart, he veered deeper into the hallway to secure the girl's shared room while she raced down the stairs to identify the threat.

Slinking down the stairs, she made no noise as she descended further into the darkness of the living room, scanning the inky black for the faintest movement.

Her steps were silent as she was swallowed by darkness—a Huntress's second home. The inky blackness obscured not only her movements but also her enemy's as she scanned for the faintest movement. Roving around, her eyes jerked as they caught the barest hint of movement by the couch.

Soon as she cleared the final step, she began stalking closer and closer. Each step had her grip tighten and her muscles tense, ready to spring at a moment's notice.

She took refuge on the opposite side of the couch, hunkering down to wait out her prey. She wanted to sit tight and wait till Tai finished hiding the girls, but the decision was taken out of her hands as the shuffling grew panicked, and the intruder dashed out from behind the couch.

Leaping into action, she went for a sweep hoping to catch them mid stride. Feeling her attack land, the intruder toppled to the ground as she pounced, knife at the ready.

"Oh morning, Sum—What are ya doing?" Only for a familiar voice to chime in and interrupt her mid swing. Blindsided, the kitchen lights turned on, blinding her temporarily. Adjusting quickly, she glanced over, and who would have guessed the second intruder would be her very own partner, Qrow.

Standing in the kitchen entrance, Huntsman attire still on and weapon strapped to his waist, he looked exactly as he did before leaving for his mission.

Happily munching on a leftover cookie, he seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing.

"Mind not stabbing the kid?" He said, taking another bite. "Just found him, and I do not wanna explain to Oz why we killed a kid while he was gone."

Wait, kid? Looking down, she realized exactly who she was about to shank. Terrified cerulean eyes stared back as the child shielded his body from the incoming strike trembling even as his hands froze, reaching out.

She was never going to hear the end of this one, was she?

/-/

Honestly, Qrow was having a pretty good day, all things considered.

"Come on, is that really all the info you can give me?" His grip became that much tighter around the struggling man's throat. "I come in here and do your business a favor by running these thugs out, and this is the thanks I get? A bat to the head ain't payment even where I'm from pal, now cough up." An actual cough was the only reply he got.

"Very funny, but I doubt even Tai would laugh at that one." He let the bartender go when he stopped responding to him. The face wasn't meant to be that purple, and ya didn't need to be Tsune to know that.

Flopping over the counter, the man greedily sucked in air as he clutched his bruised throat.

"What? Why the long look? Ain't my fault—you attacked me! Besides, look at you, big guy. You'll walk it off." He'd seen smaller guys in the tribe be knocked around way worse. He'd even done most of the knock'n around himself, and they were fine! Probably.

A quick glare of his own, and the guy got the message, though. "Look man, I told ya I don't know nothin' bout these kidnappings, alright? Now get out!" Or maybe he needed a little more shaking.

Instead, he took Summers's advice and tried a more diplomatic approach.

"Ugh, fine…just top this off, and I'll be out of what little hair you got left, alright?"

Bursting out of the place a minute later and a flask fuller, he went about consolidating all he learned since coming here. Though frankly, it could all be summarized as a single statement.

"Gods, this place sucks."

While he wouldn't be the first to say that about Vacuo, he kinda wished he'd have known that before hitching a ride down here for his big 'mission.'

At least part of his job was done, and he could tag in and have Summer take her turn to search for Oz.

Gazing around at the run down ghetto he'd wandered into, he tried to imagine where the older man could be.

"Come on, Oz. Give us a sign or something." They'd been running around like headless chickens ever since the event lovingly dubbed 'The Fall.' They'd lost all of Vale, but an honestly bigger blow was the subsequent disappearance of Remnant's greatest defender in Ozpin.

No Vale, no Beacon, no Maidens, and no damn Ozpin! Honestly, we won't survive losing anything else.

Only bright side to all this is that the other kingdoms were doing fine—for now. Lionheart in Mistral and old Jimmy up north, we're holding down the fort well enough at least.

If only this place could get its shit together.

A tall order—Oz said it best, that if this place could just band together, they'd easily be one of the strongest kingdoms around. What with its powerful tribes and the insane number of registered Huntsman.

Fat chance of that now, though.

He walked past another beggar asking for handouts, just one of many that lined the streets here. Tossing a lien card the guy's way made him feel just a tad better about it, though.

He could just hear his sister's voice telling him off for helping the weak and blah blah. But at least he wasn't the one hiding when the world was at stake.

Passing an orphanage, he spied dozens of kids through the broken and boarded up windows. One of many overflowing with them, and he hadn't even left the same block yet!

The sooner he called and told the gang what he found, the sooner he got out of this dump.

Across the street, he spied probably the happiest sight in this whole crapshoot of country. Another orphanage, except this time there was a group of kids outside tossing around a rubber ball. Actual shit kids their age should be experiencing? What a novel concept.

Yet looking down had him met with the saddest sight he'd ever witnessed here. A kid no older than Yang huddled tightly in a cardboard box as their only shelter. Their eyes deadened to the world were trained on the group of kids—the space in between showing a seemingly insurmountable difference.

He'd have typically tried to help...if this weren't the third or fourth time, he'd run into the very same thing.

There was nothing he could do for this level of injustice but shake his head and try not to let his Semblance make things worse for either of the two groups.

"Hey, bud! Remember us!?"

He turned as a bat swung for his head.

He tilted back as the wooden bat struck air. Honestly, his quirked eyebrow moved more than his body did to dodge. He took the time to examine his assailant or assailants as he spied six or seven of the very same goons he 'fought' back at the bar.

"Really, guys? Ya want a round two?" He dashed in and smashed idiot one's wrist. "Wasn't much of a round one even." Catching the bat mid fall, he swung and knocked the wind out of idiot number two. "And I was tipsy!"

Still kinda was. Didn't change much, though, as he used his newly borrowed weapon to lay waste to the rest of the drunken hoard.

After less than a minute, they were all lying in an unprompted group cuddling session. Wouldn't you know it, they seemed almost as happy asleep as those kids did playing—wait.

Where did those kids go?

In the field across the street where kids once played, all that was left was an eerie bouncing ball. In the distance, he could hear the squeaking of tires and, weirdly enough, the screams of a bunch of terrified children…

"Fuck my Semblance."

No sooner after he said that did something else grab his attention. Feeling the slight tug on his cape, he froze. Looking back had him met with the previously dubbed 'saddest sight he'd ever witnessed.'

It was that kid from earlier clutching his cloak between malnourished fingers. All he could think at that moment was how the kid reminded him of his niece Yang. Even had similar long blonde hair, and though it was easy to see it was a boy, it was easier still to see he was trying to tell him something.

"What you saw what happened to them?" The boy shook his head yes. "You saw where they went to?" Again he shook his head yes. "Gonna take a wild guess that you also know where they're headed?" One finale shake of his head, and his mind was made up. Picking the boy up and placing him on his shoulder, they set off.

"So you got a name, kid?"

/-/

"You sure this is the place, Jaune?" It looked like a warehouse but more run down—and that was saying something when the whole kingdom looked that way.

Scrutinizing it further, he noticed the dilapidated bricks and smashed in widows overgrown with desert fauna. Shadows twisted around it to give an even more oppressive quality that really livened the place up.

"Eh, on second thought, this would be the type of place I'd stash a bunch of dumb kids I stole to. Raven would vouch for it at least." And wasn't it a dark day when they agreed on anything. He'd have to take this to the grave.

"Alright, Jaune." Weird name for a kid in Vacuo. "This is where we part ways—where'd you go?" Looking back at the building showed the little rascal had begun shimming his way inside by way of a small crack in the wall.

Ugh, why can't he be more like Ruby? She listens to me, at least.

Who was he kidding? With Summers blood, she'd have probably run in headfirst like an idiot too. Really, it's his fault with the company he keeps.

Brandishing his flask, he casually walked towards the structure. How to get in? Well, he wasn't really the front door type of guy, so he'd just follow the kid's lead. Instincts had him assume his alternate form, so he shifted into it to squeeze into the tight crevice.

Qrow went in one side, and out the other came a horrific abomination of man and magic—and if you asked Summer, mainly abomination.

She might have freaked out when first seeing it, but really, he knew she was just jealous. At least Tai could appreciate the benefits it gave. Or he was too busy thinking of the new opportunities he and Raven could get up to now.

Again, taking those thoughts to the grave.

On the other side, only darkness greeted him. Dark and dank, he couldn't really call it empty, what with the sounds of crying children reverberating off the walls. Shifting back into human form, he stalked closer and came upon the children tied up and gagged in the corner.

"I gotcha guys just one sec, and I'll have ya outta here and back to your somehow only slightly less crappy lives." Untying the hasty knot, all seven kids were freed, clamoring together in fear.

"There, now did any of you see where those bad guys went?"

"Hey, who the—quick somebody get him!" A voice much older and much dumber sounded off behind him. Too bad it was apparently scary enough to startle the kids to start running around like headless chickens.

Now he had a bunch of children running around acting as accidental targets if he swings too wide—all in pitch black darkness to boot.

A metal pipe struck his back, bouncing off his Aura but definitely leaving a mark for later. Turning around, he grabbed it and pulled his opponent closer, clubbing him with the blunt side of Harbinger—unsure and quickly losing care if they had Aura or not.

So now he was also being swarmed—no doubt by Faunus goons who could see and hit him, but he could barely hit back. Anything else Semblance?

He felt a small body glom onto his back, its sheer small size being the only reason they weren't cut in two. Damn kids!

"Duck!" The living backpack yelled out.

He threw caution to the wind and followed the order, and as he did, he felt a weapon sail overhead. Finding the angle it came from, he figured where the attacker was and slammed his sword on the guy's head.

"Huh, that you Jaune?" A mess of dirty locks flopped around above him. "Welp, keep it up!"

Turning around, he readied his blade as he heard a mess of steps too jumbled up to be discernible through sound, especially with a chorus of screaming kids and raging mooks.

"On your right!" He brought his blade up just in time to catch the steel of a sword on its edge.

"A little too vague, kid!" Parring it to the side, he backhanded the assailant with his free hand, cracking the low life's Aura.

Sword's and Aura now? These guys were a little better armed than he first guessed. If they had those, then at least a few had to have—the loading of a gun cut through all the chaos around him.

"Rifle pointed at your back—but the first shot jams!"

"Okay, way too specific. Did ya guess that last—" At that moment, the telltale clicking of a round stuck, and a subsequent smattering of curse words rang out.

Putting his questions aside, he barreled towards the sound and swung. The resistance felt visceral as the man screamed when his chest was sliced into, spraying a dose of hot blood all around.

"Above you on the upper floor!" The previous body hadn't even struck the floor when another set of call outs was yelled out. "He's got a rifle too. Two shots and then he'll—" He interrupted the boy.

"Don't worry. I got this one."

He closed his eyes and felt out for the guy feeling only his vague direction. Thankfully that was all he needed, and with it, he dug deep into his soul and concentrated.

"Woah, what the?!" The goon's voice was panicked as the groaning metal overpowered the airwaves. The building shook and seemed to show its age in instability as not a second later, the entire top walkway collapsed, accompanied by the last assailant's screams as he was taken with it.

"See Jaune, I had it handled—" Jaunes panicked voice interrupted him this time.

"He's not done!" Heading his warning, he raised his weapon, keeping on guard. "He'll shoot one last time, and he'll hit m-me!"

He'd gotten used to dealing with a lot of weird crap when dealing with his Semblance, so he naturally just stopped questioning how the kid knew this stuff on the off chance he was right.

Good thing only a single part of the kid was exposed enough to get hit—that being the kid's head meant he knew just the angle!

By the time the shoot rang out, he'd already swung Harbinger. Finally, a bit of light was returned to him as the bullet sparked off his blade, illuminating the chaos for a brief second.

Just enough!

"Gotcha!" Aiming, he let off a single shot of his own, and unlike before, nothing got in the bullet's way. The thud of a downed body was all the confirmation he needed.

Now to round up these damn kids.

"Nice one, Juan. That faunus vision sure is handy..." Glancing over his shoulder had him come face to face, not with nocturnal animal eyes but instead a set of illuminated irises. One moment they glowed this otherworldly light from within, and the next, they returned to that same blue they were when they met.

"Huh, neat trick."

/-/

"So after that, you just what? Kidnaped him?"

He paused mid sip as he mulled over the word.

"Guess so."

With that, he took another drink out of his flask.

"What the—Qrow why?!" Tai flailed around like the worrywart he always was, and he didn't doubt Summer would have been just as loud. You know, if she weren't busy sulking in the dining room away from them and especially away from Juan.

Never letting her live that one down.

"You good, Sum?" Tai squawked as he was ignored.

It was never a good sign when Summer Rose was quiet, let alone remorseful.

"Y-yea, I'm—" She choked up. "g-good…."

"Oof, she does not handle failure well. She'll probably be like that all day…."

He took another swig.

"Qrow, it's your fault she's like that!"

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Okay—okay, I get it. Next time I'll knock. That good? Sheesh, you guys get way too worked up over the little stuff…."

It seemed his best friend didn't wanna take his humble apology, though. Ungrateful!

"It isn't us you scared. Nor are we the ones you should be apologizing to." He quirked an eyebrow as Tai nodded his head to the stairs behind them. Peeking over had him flinch something fierce.

"U-uncle Qrow, is e-everything okay?" Two sets of nervous eyes stared timidly at him through the railing.

"Y-yea, everything's under control, kids! Just uh false alarm. Why don't you come over and hug your grunckle—he missed ya!" He looked over to Tai for help when they didn't budge but just got a disappointed look only a real dad could give.

When did you go and get mature, huh?

"Uncle Qrow, who's that?" Again the oldest and the more outspoken of the two spoke. Following her point, he groaned, seeing why they were still nervous.

"Hey—Juan. Mind not being so creepy?

Okay, maybe he deserved the punch he got that time.

But come on, look at the kid! His eyes were deadened to the world again starring off into the wood grain of the coffee table. Having popped a squat next to him, the kid was just giving off all kinds of bad vibes.

"Hey—Juan, was it? How are you feeling, little guy?" Tai used a more calming voice when talking to the boy. Fat load of good it did him, though, as the kid didn't seem to even register his words. Instead, he continued to stare off into space.

Maybe he was a little too soft now as this only really made him worry about him. Taking his hand, he ruffled it through the boy's long and filthy blonde locks trying to get a reaction.

Surprisingly it worked, and he could tell he had the kid's undivided attention now. His blue eyes were drilling holes into his now, but hey, it was more than Tai got.

"Ha! Kid doesn't like ya. That's a first, ain't it?"

With his newly gained attention, he took his chance to get some private time. "Why don't you go upstairs and get acquainted with my nieces while the grownups talk." He kinda wanted to add the 'don't try anything' line, but it felt unnecessary with Juan.

Affirming that thought, the kid instantly got up and began making his way upstairs.

"Weird kid, but he means well. I think?"

All he got was another disappointed stare.

Author's Notes:

So this one's been on the back burner for a while.

Just so everyone's aware, this story will be very sparsely updated while I focus on A Hero's Dilemma. But I still haven't forgotten about it! I sort of use this to destress when I'm getting tired of writing 'AHD.'

To clear up some confusion, the first chapter was from the perspective of an OC in the future. While this chapter starts in the present with a portion of it in the past with Qrow in Vacuo. Then back to the present with Summer and Tai.

Hopefully, it's also clear that 'The Fall' mentioned in this chapter is different from the canon fall in Vol. 3—evidenced with the main cast being aged down.

Also, the beautiful cover art was done by a phenomenal artist named Fuura Xen. Check him out on Twitter!

See ya next chapter

Date Published: 2022/01/19