DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN RWBY OR ARCANE

Ruby didn't want to wake up.

In her dreams she was still at Beacon, sneakily playing around with Nora during class, Weiss teaching her about dust combinations and how to properly handle them even though it was useless since Ruby was already pretty knowledgeable in that area, Team RWBY and Team JNPR having lunch together with Yang and Nora, who were once again, throwing food at each other. It was an amazing dream, but still a dream nonetheless. She knew she would have to wake up and face reality, with her friend being dead and her sister being in a possibly critical state.

The raven red haired girl didn't open her eyes when she felt herself wake up. Even though it was useless, she tried to fall back asleep. Ruby knew that she had been asleep for quite some time, with how her body was feeling refreshed despite her mind being exhausted.

The bed she was on didn't feel like the one she had at Beacon. It didn't feel as soft, and the pillow her head was laying on was noticeably softer. Was she at Patch? Most likely. The musky scent of the wooden planks of her home wasn't present, though it was probably because her father cleaned her room or used some new air freshener he just bought. Her father might've also changed the pillows and mattress, probably even the sheets as it didn't smell or feel the same as it was during the last time she slept there.

As much as she wanted to stay in bed, the urge to get up and use the bathroom became too much to ignore. The raven red haired girl expected to see her room, or at least a room she was familiar with when she opened her eyes, but instead she was met with the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling.

She panicked, frantically looking around to look for Crescent Rose. She found it beside her bed, leaning against the wall while in storage mode. She sighed in relief. If her weapon wasn't taken away, then that would mean that whoever took her was someone she knew, or at least someone who didn't have any bad intentions. Most likely. That's what she hoped.

Now that Ruby wasn't panicking anymore, she decided to take in her surroundings for a bit before going to the bathroom. The lack of personal belongings made Ruby assume that she was in either a newly rented apartment or a guest room. The bed, as Ruby guessed, was smaller than the ones she had slept in either Beacon and Patch. On the other side of the bed, where Crescent Rose was not placed, was a nightstand that had a small lamp on top of it. The light from the sun made Ruby assume that she had most likely skipped breakfast. Across the bed was a door, which she assumed was the door to the outside of the room and not the bathroom. She looked around, Ruby took note of the closet cabinet beside the window, which was partially covered by the curtains, and the mirror right beside it. On the other side of the closet was another door, which Ruby assumed was the bathroom. She was right.

After she got in the bathroom to do her business, Ruby heard the door outside the bathroom open. It was probably the person who took her.

"You here, kid?"

She sighed in relief. It was her uncle Qrow. He probably wanted to talk to her about what happened at Beacon. In all honesty, she didn't remember much of what happened after she saw Pyrrha die. When she saw her friend turn into nothing but ash all Ruby could feel was sorrow. White light then filled her vision as she screamed and all she could hear was her friend's killer's scream and her uncle Qrow's voice before she passed out.

She was mad at herself for not being fast enough. Maybe if she were she could have saved her red headed friend from the woman who's eyes were on fire. She could have protected Pyrrha. Ruby frowned shook her head. Now was not the time to think about that. She had to talk to her uncle first and ask him how her sister was doing.

Once Ruby finished doing her business, she went and washed her hands before drying them with a towel she found neatly folded in a towel rack.

"Oh hey. Morning, kiddo."

Qrow said when he saw her come out of the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the bed as he drank from a flask that Ruby could only assume was filled with alcohol. She gave her uncle a weak smile.

"Hey uncle Qrow."

Her uncle closed the flask before focusing all of his attention on her. She could tell that he wanted to tell her something and that whatever it was wasn't going to be good.

"Listen-"

"Where's Yang?"

She cut him off. The dark haired man gave his niece a look of confusion.

"I don't know."

Now it was her turn to give her uncle a confused look. How could her uncle not know what happened to her sister? He was usually the one who knew everything about everyone. Before she could say anything, Qrow continued to speak.

"Yang called me and told me to look for you when you wouldn't answer your scroll. She said she was gonna find your teammates. Did something happen to her?"

"Yang lost her arm."

.

.

.

Silence filled the room.

Ruby walked around the bed towards Qrow, who was surprised by the news his niece just gave him, and sat beside him. He soon regained his composure. His red eyes roamed her face and soon, she felt her uncle's arms wrap around her. She hugged him back and began crying on his chest.

"Pyrrha's dead and I couldn't do anything."

Qrow's hug tightened as Ruby cried harder. She felt one of his hands move from her shoulders to the back of her head, pulling her closer to him.

"I know, kid. I'm sorry."

The dark haired duo stayed like that for a moment, with Qrow doing his best to offer his niece comfort. He had a lot more to tell her, but it would be better, healthier, for her to cry it out.

"Can we go see Yang?"

Ruby asked as she pulled away, wiping her eyes and nose with her sleeves. Qrow sighed.

"That won't be easy kid."

-

Qrow told his niece what happened during the time she was passed out. From them not being in Remnant to him being offered a job as a spy. Her silver eyes, red from all the crying she just did, went wide with surprise before it was once again filled with tears. He went to hug her again, knowing his niece was overwhelmed with everything he just told her.

"I'm sorry, kid."

He felt Ruby shake her head before she pulled away.

"No. I'm the one who should be sorry. My eyes took us here, this is my fault."

Qrow could hear the hate in his niece's voice. He saw that Ruby was blaming herself. He had never seen his niece's eyes fill with hate. Sure, he had seen her get mad at someone, but it was never hate. What hurts the most was the fact that the hate wasn't directed at him, but at herself. He saw Ruby squint her eyes before covering them with her arm.

"None of this was your fault, kid. And even if it was I wouldn't blame you."

"Why not?"

Ruby looked up at Qrow again. He placed his right hand on her head, gently caressing her hair.

"Whatever your eyes did was something that has never happened before. From what I heard, silver eyes were supposed to only affect the Grimm. So maybe your silver eyes had nothing to do with it. If not and it actually was your eyes that did it, then I guess whoever spread that information was wrong."

Qrow picked up his flask and got up.

"We'll figure out what happened one day. Still, after what happened at Beacon... I'm gonna have to intensify your training. You gotta get stronger before we get back, especially now that people, dangerous people, know about you."

He walked towards the door with Ruby right behind him. The two left the room to head to the kitchen. Qrow already ate, but that doesn't mean he was gonna let his niece starve. She probably didn't notice it, but she's been out cold for a day and a half.

"And you've gotta be in tip top shape before we start your training. So what do you wanna eat, kiddo?"

Qrow and Ruby were in the living room with both their weapons dismantled, out in display. After Ruby finished eating, the two decided to check on their weapons and see if there were any dents or broken parts in them. Even though they knew their weapons were extremely durable they can never be too sure. And Qrow knew that working on their weapons would help Ruby take her mind of the situation.

Of course, Qrow didn't forget about Jinx. He already had told Ruby about her while they were having the conversation in Ruby's room. She wanted to get to know the little girl that her uncle took in. Especially when she found out that the girl was younger than her.

"She's asleep, kiddo. Don't worry, I'll introduce you two once she wakes up."

"You better not run out on me when she wakes up, old man."

With a smirk, Qrow flicked Ruby's forehead when she finished checking her weapon's scope.

"Don't call me old."

Ruby stuck her tongue at Qrow, who in response, playfully muttered 'brat'. He could tell that Ruby was feeling a bit better, which was comforting to the red eyed man. It would take a while for her to be back to her old self again. It was also possible that she wouldn't, but that was something he can't control. As much as Qrow wanted to protect his niece from the reality of her chosen profession, she was still going to go through what every Huntsmen dread to experience. Loss.

The two heard a creak and turned to see the blue haired girl come out of her room. The girl was surprised to see the girl in the red cloak out of bed.

"I'm gonna go get you something to eat."

Ruby's turned to her uncle, her eyes wide in surprise. He threw her a subtle smirk before setting down Harbinger's hilt and headed to the kitchen. The silver eyed girl turned back to the blue haired girl. Jinx. She was standing awkwardly in front of the door, shifting her weight from one foot to another.

"Hi Jinx. I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose. I don't know if my uncle told you my name yet, but that's my name. Ruby Rose."

The raven red haired girl awkwardly said, setting down Crescent Rose's scope as she scratched her head. Jinx didn't respond and merely looked down at her feet. Noticing this, Ruby decided to use a different approach. The younger kids back home loved it when she showed them a few tricks with Crescent Rose. Though she couldn't exactly do those tricks here, especially in such a small space, she could still show the girl how awesome her beloved weapon looked.

Ruby reassembled her weapon and slowly got up. Crescent Rose was in storage mode when she walked a few feet closer to Jinx.

"Hey Jinx, check this out."

The girl gingerly looked up from her feet, her blue eyes nervously looking at the older girl. Ruby carefully swung Crescent Rose in a circular motion as it shifted from storage mode to scythe mode, it's mechanism rearranging itself to adapt to the change of the weapons form. She made sure to swing it slow enough for the younger girl to process what was happening with her weapon, but also fast enough to not make it look awkward. Once Crescent Rose completed it's transformation, she skillfully placed the sniper-scythe on her shoulder.

Ruby's smile widened when she saw Jinx look at her with amazement in her eyes.

"Awesome right?"

Jinx nodded, a small smile forming on her lips. Ruby changed Crescent Rose back to storage mode, telling Jinx she'll show her some more tricks once they are in a more open space. Looking around, Ruby saw a few black markers on the table beside the couch she and Qrow were sitting on.

'This is payback for leaving me alone, uncle Qrow.'

"Wanna mess with uncle Qrow's weapon while he's not here?"

-

It took a few(many) tries for Qrow to finally make a pancake that wasn't completely burnt. He should've asked for Ruby's help, but what uncle asks his niece for help? Not Qrow. Admittedly, he did have Ruby make her own pancakes. Still, he was gonna have his niece handle Jinx on her own. They were both gonna spend a lot of time together after all.

He still hadn't decided wether he should take the job the strange woman, Mel Medarda or something, offered. He found it quite suspicious for her to want him to be her spy. She didn't even schedule an interview, she just outright offered him the job. He told her that would think about it. After all, he and his niece had to get settled to this place before anything else.

The apartment he rented was affordable for one that had two rooms and bathrooms. He had Ruby and Jinx sleep in the bedrooms while he slept on the couch in the living room.

It was quite difficult to have Jinx stay asleep when they arrived. Qrow could tell the girl was afraid he would leave her, if her grip on his shirt when he tried to leave her room wasn't any indication. In the end she eventually slept through the night, exhaustion taking over.

He was also quite worried with the blue haired girl's mental health. Multiple times last night did the kid ran out her room screaming, her eyes frantically looking around for something and she immediately ran to Qrow when she saw him.

He was glad Ruby was awake now. Maybe she could help Jinx as she was closer to her age and they were both girls.

"What the f-."

Qrow nearly swore when he saw the two girls doodling on his dismantled weapon. If they were anyone else he would have been mad. Really mad, but it was his niece and Jinx that were doodling on his weapon, which made it really hard for him to actually get mad mad. Especially since the two were smiling a sincere smile.

"Ruby..." Qrow teasingly said in a warning tone.

The girl in question quickly reassembled Harbinger while the younger one laughed at their antics. Qrow mentally smiled at the scene in front of him. Despite the fact that his weapon now had doodles of roses and skulls, he was happy to see the two kids get along and hear them laugh after what they went through.

Qrow went out to find the woman after a few days. He gave Ruby and Jinx some money in case they wanted to buy something while they were outside. The two seemed to get along well. So well that last night, he saw both Ruby and Jinx in Ruby's room, with Ruby pointing out parts of her dismantled weapon. From how it looked, Ruby was explaining to Jinx how the mechanisms in her weapon worked. It was nice to see Ruby have someone who she can talk about weapons with.

The money he got from the casino was actually quite a lot, and if he was right the three of them could live off of it for at least two months. Still, he should probably get a job. He can't stay with the kids for long periods of time with his semblance being what it was.

In his bird form, Qrow flew up the city in search of the strange woman. It didn't take long for him to find her, or her to find him. She seemed to have found him before he found her as she was subtly gesturing at him to go to her.

"Hey."

He greeted her with a small nod once he turned back to being human.

"Good day to you too, Mister..."

"Branwen. Qrow Branwen."

The woman laughed softly upon hearing his name.

"What a fitting name."

"Shut up. Let's get to business."

The two went to her office with Qrow constantly looking around for possible escape routes, taking note of several exits and hiding spots in case thing go awry.

"I hope that's not how you're going to treat me once I'm your boss. Close the door, Elora."

She said once she sat at her table. Qrow saw the other woman, Elora, nod before closing the door.

"You're not my boss yet. I have questions. I won't become your spy unless I get answers."

Mel leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands.

"Ask away. And do sit down if you want."

Qrow stayed standing, not even making an effort to look for a chair to sit on.

"Why hire me?"

"Ah, the famous 'why me' question. You already know the answer to that Mr. Branwen. I know being a spy would best suit your skills. How do I know? Well... Call it intuition."

She was right. He was one of the best, if not the best, spies back in Remnant. Though the title of 'Spy' wasn't exactly official, he could've been one if he fully committed himself into being one.

"What if I said no?"

"It would be disappointing, but I will not force you into doing a job you are unwilling to do. However, I will remind you that you have children to take care of."

Qrow frowned. She was also right. Who knows how long him and Ruby are gonna stay here. The money would still run out even if he had a lot. Might as well have a source of income in case they need it.

"And if I said yes?"

The green eyed woman smiled.


Author's Note: Can't believe people are expecting something from this. I might edit this in the future since I wrote this while I was still sick so... Don't expect anything.