"I'm so sorry, ma'am!" A White Fang member profusely lamented, head bowed in shame.
"Man, you said that they really did a number on you guys?" A silver haired man remarked, whistling at the damage done to what was previously the office.
"Quiet, Mercury. I need to hear." Came the soft, edge like voice from behind the man. The woman's heeled steps were slow and calculated as she moved around the man, a devious smile on her lips.
"Now, what did you say they looked like again?"
At the sound of Winter's sudden surprised tone, Qrow's ears pricked as his curiosity got the best of him. He glanced over to the Schnee to see her eyebrows furrowed, eyes boring holes into the smooth white pavement. When Winter caught his stare, she turned away from him, fully facing away from the Branwen to which he shrugged off.
He stared down at his empty thermos, having gulped its contents as Winter had walked away to take her call. Coffee wasn't worth it, Qrow realized. Screw his morning mentality of trying to stay away from alcohol for once.
Maybe it was the pristine, flawless look of Atlas that influenced him to make some coffee instead of going out to the nearest bar so early in the morning. Being a professional Huntsman, the nightmares were an added plus that kept him up when he woke before dawn. His past morning self stupidly made a cup of coffee and poured it into a convenient thermos that was in his temporary room and walked out with the hope of meeting anyone to talk to.
All to stay away from thinking of the horrors his mind plagued him with.
It was there, standing at the door of the dormitories where he saw Winter Schnee. Standing in front of one of the fountains all by her lonesome. Not that he would ever mention it to her face, but when Qrow saw the sunlight's rays hit the fountain and illuminate her form he could've sworn he saw something ethereal yet lonely.
And then they were actually conversing, like normal people would. It was something Qrow found surprising - that the two firecrackers of Vale and Atlas could be civil for once.
Back in the present, Qrow fiddled with the rings around his fingers as his thoughts wandered. Could he call what was developing between him and the Schnee a friendship? A rivalry? He shook his head as he too couldn't wrap his head around it - even though he had brought up the topic the night before. For now, he'd like to think they were civil enough to not be at each other's throats 24/7.
When he glanced up to see how Winter was doing, he saw that she was still intently conversing with whoever it was.
So back to his thoughts he went.
Before Winter had picked up the call, Qrow had gotten a momentary glimpse of how the woman was really feeling. The wave of emotions that swirled in her expression had spoken volumes about their conversation before - reaching out to Weiss. Winter had said "once" in such a melancholy voice, which piqued Qrow's attention. And after mulling over it for a moment the thought finally hit him hard.
The previous face of the Schnee Dust Company was their mother. He remembered when there was huge news of the woman passing and how it shook the Schnee name. The face of Jacques Schnee then emerged, his white mustache and stern gaze dampening Qrow's mood. He had heard rumors...of the Schnee family expecting their children to be absolutely perfect.
Perfect to the point of being beaten down.
The thought of a person making the choice to do such a thing made Qrow clench his jaw. It wasn't hard to figure out why Winter had responded the way she did now. Qrow's gaze lifted back to the Schnee's back, seeing it ramrod straight and proper and noticed that her posture had not even wilted despite the turmoil of emotions he had seen. The amount of discipline and authority Winter must have faced...even before she joined the Atlesian military made Qrow's mind reel.
The sound of approaching footsteps disrupted Qrow's thoughts. He saw a small smile on Winter's lips as she pocketed her scroll.
"What're you smiling about, Ice Queen?"
"Weiss...she called me just now." Winter replied, fighting the smile that was on her face.
"And that's supposed to mean..."
Winter's smile slid from her lips as she rolled her eyes and kicked the man in the shin.
"It means that it was important because we've never been able to call each other, you dingus." Winter insulted as Qrow rubbed the affected area, pouting. "But..."
At the hesitation, Qrow looked up to see Winter's concerned expression back on again.
"Qrow...she said she saw me disappear. In her dream."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Ice Queen. You'll be fine. I'm sure that dream could mean anything." Qrow said with a cross of his arms.
"And why should I believe your words, Qrow?" Winter stated as she gave him a glance of distrust.
"Because we're friends?"
"Not even close."
"Oh, come on!"
Winter let out a soft chuckle as she watched Qrow sulk, giving her a glare every now and then in a childish way.
Winter gasped awake, her eyes blown wide as everything flooded her senses at once: The smell of smoke, the sound of an alarm blaring, and the blaze of white hot pain coursing through her leg. She blinked away the tears that developed from the smoke and moved to sit up, letting out a pained noise as she stared at the jagged piece of metal jutting out from the side of her thigh. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as Winter scanned the area, catching the slumped body of the pilot in his seat at the cockpit.
As she tried to piece together what happened, Winter registered she was still sitting inside the burning airship and attempted to stand. When her leg screamed in protest, Winter doubled over in pain as she panted, her eyes seeing white for a moment. Using what was left of the wall beside her for support, Winter grimaced as she examined the metal impaling her thigh and immediately tapped into her aura. She reached a shaky hand down to the metal, internally cursing to herself at how painful this would still be even with the help of her aura, and took hold of the end with one gloved hand.
"One...two..." Winter whispered to herself before clenching her jaw on "three", yanking the piece out and throwing it to the side.
Winter instantly put up her aura to help with the wound, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less. So she let out a grunt of pain when she felt like honestly screaming and stumbled out of the airship, falling to the ground. Feeling like she would pass out any minute, Winter made a move to grab her scroll when she suddenly felt the heavy pressure of malicious intent and stiffened. Her senses awakened at the possibility of a threat.
Winter had no idea where she was, how she got there, and now there was the possibility of a hoard of Grimm attacking.
"Weiss..." Winter muttered as she shifted her feet under her, a hand reaching for her sword. She prayed that Weiss' warning of a dream would not come true before she left for this mission - even banking on Qrow's reassuring words.
But as the shadows of figures started to emerge and they began to resemble forms of humans and not Grimm, Winter felt like she caught a stroke of bad luck.
hello! It's been a couple days since the last update! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I can understand if there's some confusion but all will be cleared up soon! :)
Thank you for reading! Let me know your thoughts!