When Winter came to, the light of day seared into her eyes and her ears rung from the blast. Realizing she had been buried under some rubble, she shifted only to hiss in pain that bloomed at her side. Winter continued to push herself to her knees and surveyed what had happened.
There was yet another enormous hole in the ground. Which could only mean one thing: they were in Vale and Grimm were coming.
Ears perking at the sound of a groan, Winter stumbled to her feet to push aside some rubble covering Dr. Oobleck. As he dusted himself off, he kindly thanked her and stood to search for the students. Following suit, Winter tapped into her aura to heal any injuries and assisted Weiss and Blake to their feet.
"This ain't good..." Qrow said as he brushed the dirt from his coat. "Any second now Grimm will be piling through."
"Then we fight!" Ruby and Yang said prepping themselves.
"It seems like we have no other option." Dr. Oobleck added.
Winter remained silent when she felt her scroll vibrate. As she reached for it, the ground beneath her feet felt that familiar rumble and all at once chaos ensued.
Grimm appeared from every crevice imaginable, their screaming and roaring filling the air. The onlooking citizens screamed in terror as the Grimm prepared to attack.
Not if they could help it.
Qrow's Harbinger clashed against the tusks of the Boarbatusks, the noise ringing in his ears. With a grunt, he pulled away his blade and leaped into the air coming down on to the Grimm's neck with a side slash. As soon as the head came down, Qrow barely had time to recover when a pack of Ursa's swarmed behind him roaring. Leaping into action, he slashed and hacked slowly becoming aware if his semblance as more and more Grimm surfaced.
Jumping away from the swipe of a paw, Qrow was surprised to suddenly hear the shimmer of glyphs beneath his feet. Feeling the surge of strength, Qrow shot off toward the growing pack of Ursa using his temporary enhanced speed to effectively kill them all. Taking a breath, he looked above him to see Winter propel herself forward using her glyphs to shoot straight into an incoming Nevermore. Glancing around, he could see other students from Beacon now fighting alongside his nieces and their teammates. The sight of fighting in unison suddenly made his heart ache for his former team, the feeling catching him off guard.
A pair of boots landed beside him, causing him to turn to see Winter looking slightly concerned. Given that she was fighting, Qrow would have expected there to be some dishevelment but to his surprise her appearance retained it's pristine, clean stature. Qrow would've made a comment but Winter beat him to it.
"Daydreaming again, Qrow?" Winter said as she swiped her sword to flick off the Grimm blood.
"Something like that." He replied with a small scoff, his hand readjusting his hold on Harbinger. "Hey, you seem to be helping me a lot lately. Don't tell me you got something for me, huh Ice Queen?"
Qrow gave the Schnee a teasing smirk, catching the incredulous look in her sky blue eyes. Winter crossed her arms and turned away, head held high.
"Not on your life!" Winter defiantly replied, resulting in Qrow chuckling.
Winter opened her mouth to say more but was interrupted by the screech of more Nevermore making their way to the group. The Grimm they had killed seemed to resurrect and multiply given the sheer amount. Wordlessly, the two of them stood back to back preparing to strike.
"This damn semblance..." Qrow darkly muttered, Winter glancing over her shoulder at the incomprehensible words he said.
Paying it no mind, Winter created a line of glyphs in front of her about to fire when the Grimm surrounding them burst into dust. Turning her head to the source, she allowed herself a small smile of relief as she recognized the Atlas ships making their way in. The ships dropped their automated soldiers and proceeded to overwhelm the Grimm rampaging into Vale.
"Fantastic. Our automated savior." Qrow drawled out before throwing himself into the fray.
Winter shook her head as she followed suit.
Winter stared down at her hands in the sink, the sound of running water filling her ears. Observing the healed over calluses along the top line of the palm, she ran her thumbs over them when there was a knock on the door.
"Winter? Are you okay?" Weiss' muffled voice came through the door.
Memories of her joining the Atlesian military and the feeling of her father's disappointment dissipated as she dried her hands and called that she was coming. Opening the door, Winter paused as Weiss took a step back with a worried look in her eyes. They both walked to one of the spacious courtyards Beacon spotting a few empty tables and a beautiful setting sunset.
"Weiss," she began as they both sat down at one of the tables. Winter held her hands in her lap, mulling over her thoughts before she raised her gaze and gave her younger sister a smile.
"You seem brighter, happier even. I can't tell if it is because of your new friends and team or if it is because of your choice to stay here in Beacon or both, but I wanted to say that I am glad to see you like this."
Weiss blinked at her words for a moment, processing it before she let out a delighted gasp, grinning.
"Thank you, Winter. For those words, and for being here." Weiss said gratefully, her cheeks reddening slightly from the praise.
Winter smiled warmly at her before tilting her head to the side, a knowing grin on her lips.
"Now, how is your semblance coming along?"
Qrow let out an exhausted yawn as he left the building of Ozpin's office. Having stayed after the initial meeting with Ironwood and Winter, Oz had him stay to discuss even more important matters. One that added to the weight of all the secrets he's kept so far.
Walking along the stone path, the fatigue started to get to him as he reached into his coat pocket to grasp his flask. With what he's learned so far, he really needed a drink at this point. Grumbling incoherently to himself, he took a few gulps and sighed as he capped the flask, the noise providing him with some comfort. Hearing a couple of voices near him, Qrow craned his head to see Weiss and Winter speaking to each other in the courtyard. He could see the glow of their glyphs and was about to turn away deciding that it definitely wasn't his business to stare when Winter bent down to give her sister a hug.
Now it really wasn't his business anymore to stare.
Heading in the direction of his nieces dorm, Qrow walked over believing that playing video games with them would be better than brooding over all these secrets. But he paused in his tracks when he saw Weiss jog over past his nieces dorm and around the corner. If she went that way then that must mean the rest of her team was in that direction. Better to not get involved.
"So this is the end."
Jumping at the sound of Winter's unexpected voice, he glanced over to see Winter a few feet away from him with a hand on her hip. When a questioning "huh?" escaped his lips, Winter gestured to the pair of automated soldiers that were making their way towards her.
"Oh?" Qrow said as he stuffed his flask away, his eyes narrowing for a moment. "Well, this isn't a proper goodbye at all, now is it?"
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Winter tilted her head suspiciously, sky blue eyes analyzing Qrow's movements.
"I'm sure we'll see each other again, Ice Queen. 'Ol Jimmy never likes to keep away from Beacon recently anyway." Qrow replied with a shrug, crossing his arms in front of him.
"Hmph, we shall see."
"You know, for someone who is usually so cold and stern, you sure have shown enough emotion for me to see that you care about Weiss more than you let on." Qrow abruptly said as he crossed his arms casually, noticing Winter's posture stiffen at the note. He saw her pause for a moment, perhaps thrown off guard for once.
"Wh..." The Schnee trailed off, her thoughts clearly jumbled at Qrow's statement. She gave him a hard stare, trying to get a read on him but could not place a reason on why he would mention such a detail. In a minute, she straightened her form and cleared her throat, smoothing down her coat. She supposed it would be no harm to converse for a moment.
"Of course, she is my sister. However...unlike you with your family, I will not be able to be at Weiss' side constantly. I cannot protect her always. But I treat her the way I do because I know she is strong." Winter suddenly explained, glancing off to the side as she was a bit uncomfortable speaking about her sister so seriously to someone else.
The silence that Qrow gave her made Winter look up to see his eyes closed for a moment. Robotic hums reached Winter's ears as the pair of automated soldiers reached their destination - a few paces behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see them and turned back to say her farewell to Qrow when she met his light red hued gaze.
"Weiss is strong. But she also needs more of her sister than the drill sergeant side you have."
"You dare lecture me, Qrow?" Winter said defensively, narrowing her eyes at the man at his sudden words. Qrow grinned at the sudden change, taking a step back.
"And there's the Ice Queen again."
The robotic beeps that suddenly filled the air again disrupted the banter between the two of them, making Winter glance at the two patiently waiting soldiers. As she turned back yet again, Qrow cleared his throat and extended a hand out to Winter without any hesitation.
"You're not half bad, Ice Queen. We've argued many times before but...I think we can get along eventually." Qrow drawled out, Winter stiffening at the sudden gesture.
Winter's gaze turned into suspicious slits as she glared at Qrow. The thought of an alliance or whatever he was implying was definitely throwing her off guard. She didn't like it one bit. But to do anything to finally leave Beacon, she gave out a long resigned sigh and gave the man a firm handshake. She did so, not knowing what she had just signed herself to.
"Fine."
Hello again! I understand if Qrow or Winter may seem a bit off in this one...but I feel like this chapter worked out well! Let me know what you think! This kind of finishes that "Mountain Glenn" arc(?) I guess! If I can think of even more ways to propel these two forward into friendship and camaraderie I'll update (or leave me any suggestions and I'll try to tie it in!)
Thank you for reading this! Glad to see these chapters have some attention ^^