Volume 3 Chapter 3: Taken Under Their Wings
AN: Fun fact: the first hour or so of working on this chapter was spent rewatching Episode 3 to figure out where exactly I wanted to start this chapter off at.
Also: new, never before seen perspective.
(Perspective: Qrow)
"What?" Glynda gasped.
Qrow's smile faded; sure, messing with Ice Queen was fun and all, but this topic of conversation wasn't well-suited to amusement. He took another drag from his flask; he wasn't drunk enough for this shit.
"Despite what the world thinks, we're not just teachers, or generals, or Headmasters. The people in this room; the leaders of the other two academies – we're the ones that keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about." He paused long enough to storm up into Jimmy's face. Maybe, just maybe he could get the point through that thick tin head of his. "It's why we work behind closed doors," he continued, "why we work in the shadows. So you tell me, James: when you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discreet? Or did you just not give a damn?!"
Jimmy just glared back, and unfortunately it seemed like he still couldn't figure out when he was being a complete idiot. "Subtle wasn't working," he said after a few seconds. He laid his Scroll against Ozpin's desk and let it display a hologram showing his fleet's positions around the Amity Coliseum. He gestured at it before continuing, "I'm here because this is what was necessary."
Necessary? Necessary? Qrow went off, "You're here because Ozpin wanted you here! He made you a part of this inner circle and opened your eyes to the real fight that's in front of us!"
"And I am grateful," Jimmy espoused.
"Oh, well, you've got a real funny way of showing it," Qrow fired back.
"The people of Vale needed someone to protect them," Jimmy lectured. Because that totally wasn't Ozpin had been doing for how many decades now. He added, "Someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe. And our enemies will feel our strength."
What? He said what? And he actually believed it? Qrow couldn't help it when he started laughing. He had no idea that Jimmy had turned delusional. "Y-You think they're scared of your little ships?" He cut off his laughter as abruptly as it started. "I've been out there and seen the things she's made, and let me tell you: they are fear."
"And fear will bring the Grimm," Ozpin said, intervening right as Qrow was getting into things. Cooler heads prevailing and all that rot. "A guardian is a symbol of comfort, but an army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now; a question in the back of everyone's minds: if this is the size of our defenses, what is it we're expecting to fight?"
Qrow couldn't help from looking a bit smug as they all turned their gazes on Jimmy. If anyone could get through that goose-stepping skull of his, it'd be old Oz. Jimmy looked between the three of them, collecting up his Scroll in the meanwhile. "So then," he began, "What would you suggest we do?"
"I suggest we find our guardian," Ozpin replied.
Qrow perked up at that. There's something he'd been mulling over the past few weeks, and now that he's thought about it he figured it wise to bring it up while they were all gathered. "Speaking of finding our guardian," Qrow said, interrupting everyone while they were getting ready to leave, "I have a candidate for Amber's replacement."
"Oh?" Ozpin asked. "By all means, please share."
"Kassidy Smith."
Jimmy drew attention to himself when his fist slammed down on Ozpin's desk. "Absolutely not!" he seethed.
Qrow took a step back before Jimmy could get too worked up. "What's your problem with her? I would've thought you would be all over getting a girl like her in the driver's seat."
Jimmy looked like he was about to blow a gasket, but suddenly calmed down. "That's right, you haven't been here."
"I've heard enough to have an idea," Qrow reassured. Geez, did Jimmy think he lived under a rock or something?
"Then you'll have heard," he began, "how she tears apart our security like it's some kind of game, leaving so many holes and opening in her wake that I'm still not convinced it isn't sabotage. You want to know why I brought my army? She made me bring it! Discreet wasn't working because she wasn't letting it work! While Ozpin and I were trying to solve things quietly, your suggestion for the Maiden candidacy singlehandedly caused hundreds of thousands of Lien of property damage and brought a shooting war to the streets of Vale! People are scared, and panicked, because even if they don't know it's her that's responsible, they're worried when will be the next time she blows up some building while thoroughly ruining our investigation into the White Fang."
Qrow hissed and took another swig from his flask. Damnit Kassidy, just when he was starting to like the girl, too. "Now look," he defended, "I'm not about to say she's flawless. She'll need some coaching to be a good Maiden. But she's not some menace to society, Jimmy – even if for no other reason that my nieces won't let her be one. And she's got one thing going for her that absolutely none of your other candidates have."
"Please, share," Jimmy grunted through gritted teeth.
"She knows what's at stake," Qrow said. After thinking about it for a moment, he quickly corrected, "Well, she will when she's told about it." Jimmy looked like he was about to blow another gasket, but Qrow began explaining before he could go off again. "This is a girl who's spent her whole life at war. She's lost everything, gained everything right back, and nearly lost it all again. She's also got one of the biggest brains I've ever seen and an awareness of what's going on around her. And I don't think I need to explain to you of all people that there's some parts of being a warrior you can't train – parts that Kassidy has in spades." He took the time to sip some more from his flask, since with the way Jimmy was he still wasn't drunk enough for this shit. "You bring Kassidy on board, and she will immediately know just how important this whole Maiden business is, and exactly what's at stake. That'll lead to a level of cooperation and urgency you can't just demand of regular people… because she ain't regular."
Jimmy had his eyes closed and was taking effort to breathe through his nose. Maybe he was actually listening to reason? Qrow's hopes were dashed when Jimmy said, "That doesn't change the fact that she's dangerous."
Seriously? This was his best argument? "In case you haven't gotten the memo, pal, someone's hunting the Maidens, or Fall at the absolute least. I happen to think dangerous is exactly what we need."
"She can't be controlled!"
"Oh, so everything needs to be controlled, huh? By you, preferably?"
"When the Maiden in question is an even looser cannon than you are, then yes!"
"Now what's that supposed to me-"
"Enough!" Ozpin commanded, bringing Jimmy's boneheaded arguments to a close. And his own perfectly reasonable ones. Ozpin sighed, sat down, and poured himself another cup of coffee (which had to be spiked with something… well, Qrow's would've been, at least). He turned to his right and said, "Glynda, you've been rather quiet tonight. Do you have an opinion on the matter?"
Qrow turned to find Glyndie fiddling with her little riding crop, looking rather conflicted if he did say so himself. Almost looked like she could use a sip of the good stuff to help out. Not that he was going to offer any of his; if his former classmate wanted any, she should've kept her own flask. Eventually, Glyndie explained, "I think, overall, Miss Smith would be an ideal candidate. She has the strength of spirit to bear the Maiden's power, she has a certain maturity not found in her other classmates, and she has both the skill and the will to, after training, defend those powers from any that would try to take it for their own gains. And after having taught her… I believe she'd be the perfect Maiden."
Jimmy's jaw dropped. "Are you actually voting in favor of her?!"
"Let me finish!" Glyndie snapped. "I think Miss Smith is the perfect Maiden. Which is why I won't vote for her. It's… it's what she had to go through to be forged into the perfect vessel for a Maiden. So much war, so much pain. And then to ask her to bear the burden of taking Amber's place? Of abandoning those she's come to love, to see as her new family, to live a life of paranoia with no place to call home? I'm… I'm sorry, but I can't." She finally looked up, meeting their eyes. "I agree with you, Qrow, but my conscience cannot allow me to place this burden on Miss Smith."
Qrow closed his eyes and sighed, nodding. He could see where Glyndie was coming from: Kassidy didn't exactly have an easy road to get to where she is now. And to rip all this out from under her, make her return to what her life used to be? He hammered back another shot as he reflected; sure, he chose this life, but that was to keep his Semblance from tearing apart those he cared about. He didn't have a choice but to stay away. The least he could do was make sure those he cared about could live happily. He was pretty sure Kassidy would do the exact same thing if she had to… but then, there wasn't a guarantee she had to, at this point in time.
"I understand," he said at long last. "If nothing else, all I ask is that we keep her in mind. I think we all know that time isn't exactly on our side, and if nothing else we'll be able to count on her to keep Amber's half of the powers safe until we can come up with a better idea."
"I concur," Ozpin announced. "While Miss Smith wouldn't necessarily be my first choice, she is a relatively safe choice all things considered. Thank you for your input, Qrow."
"If we're finished discussing making a known terrorist one of the six most powerful people on the planet," Jimmy spat, "I should return to my fleet." The old hard-ass didn't even wait to say goodbye before he turned on his heel and stalked into the elevator.
"Yeah, nice seeing you too," Qrow threw at the closed door.
Ozpin sighed to his right. "Now Qrow, I know you don't see eye to eye with him, but James is simply worried is all. I might not share these particular worries of his, but Miss Smith does seem to have a talent for making those in power uneasy."
"Sounds like my kind of girl," Qrow laughed. "Now if only she weren't a generation and a half behind me." He took another swig from his flask, then offered, "Though ol' Jimmy did have a good idea, I think. Should probably go get some shut-eye."
"Unfortunately, I must keep you from that for a while longer," Ozpin said. Something in the man's tone set Qrow on edge. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. News about your sister."
"Raven?" Qrow grumbled. Almost reactively, he took another swig from his flask. Or, well, tried to, anyway. It was kind of empty right now. Shame; he wasn't nearly drunk enough for talking about his sister. "What's she want?"
"I'm not sure; I was hoping you could offer some insight," Ozpin muttered. He tapped on his desk a few times, and a camera view of some kind started showing in the holographic display in the middle of the room.
"Alright, what am I looking at?" Qrow asked.
Ozpin answered, "A video from young Miss Smith's camera mounted on her contact lens. I believe she calls it an 'iris cam'."
Qrow opened his mouth to ask more questions but was silenced when his sister came into the fore. Something about testing Kassidy's strength. He watched a few minutes of his sister playing with Kassidy a bit, getting bored after her helmet got blown up, then BAMF-ing back to wherever the hell she hid. The whole experience left him scratching his stubble. "You're right," he offered after a minute of thinking. "This is strange. This is… this isn't Raven's M.O."
"I don't take kindly to my students getting attacked, Qrow," Glyndie seethed from her side of the room. "Is there anything you can tell us about why Raven is attacking Miss Smith?"
Qrow couldn't help wincing; Glynda Goodwitch was one person you did not want to get on the bad side of. He didn't fancy it when they were students together, and he sure didn't fancy it now. "Nothing much," he admitted. "Raven wants her for something. She's… I think she's training her." He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "That's just a theory, though. What I do know is that Raven wants Kassidy for something. And that it would probably be a bad idea to let her get it."
"Agreed," Ozpin decided. "Do you have any thoughts?"
"I don't think Kassidy would survive Raven's training. In the literal sense," Qrow admitted. "And since we can't really do much to keep sister dearest from popping up out of nowhere if she really wanted to, maybe the only thing we can do is make sure the girl's ready for whatever Raven can throw at her." Shrugging, he added, "Well, either that or keep her under constant armed guard. But I don't think she'd take kindly to that idea."
"Indeed not," Ozpin conceded. He started to talk again but was interrupted by his desk ringing at him. Raising an eyebrow at the sender, he caught each of their eyes for the briefest of moments – probably thought he was sending them some sort of obvious message that wasn't nearly as obvious as he thought it was – before tapping on a button. "Ah, Bob, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?"
"Raven attacked Kassidy again," this Bob character announced. Qrow wracked his brain for why it seemed familiar, before remembering that Bob was what Kassidy called her computer.
Of course, that was all secondary to the obvious reactions. Glyndie actually swore before demanding, "What? Where are they? Is Miss Smith alright?"
"Blood was drawn, but it seems to be a superficial injury," the weird computer… thing admitted. "Kassidy and Yang are nearly returned to their dorm room."
"Damnit," Qrow muttered. Damnit, indeed… and damn you, sis. "Alright, I'll head down there, see what's going on." Turning to his two coworkers, he assured, "Don't worry, I'll make sure things are handled. Leave it to me."
"If it didn't involve your sister, I don't think I would," Glyndie admitted. "If you need any help, you have my Scroll number. I'm always available for my students."
"Hey," Qrow said as he backed into the elevator. "This is me we're talking about. Have a little faith."
He could see both Glyndie roll her eyes, and Oz chuckle as the elevator closed behind him. He couldn't really be bothered to care about that, though, seeing as his sister up and attacked his niece and her partner. Again, apparently. Qrow took the opportunity of hiding in the elevator to morph into his bird form, then took off across campus as quickly as he could. He made it to the dorms in thirty seconds flat, and entered through an open third-story window before changing back. A quick look at one of the nearby doors would've made him chuckle at how near he was to his nieces, but he needed to get there now. It was only a matter of seconds before he'd made it to outside their room…
"Why does she hate me?!"
Yang's anguished cry made Qrow pause with his hand scant inches from knocking. The computer said that only Kassidy had been attacked. But didn't it also say that Yang had been with Kassidy? Had Raven attacked her own daughter?
"I don't know," a second voice said. "But you know I don't, right? I love you, Yang."
A low whistle nearly revealed him. He knew those two were going to jump on each other at some point with they way they were looking at each other before he left, but that Kassidy girl moved fast. That… was probably something to keep an eye on.
"I… I know," Yang sniffled. "It's just… she attacks my girlfriend, nearly takes her head off, and then just sneers at me whenever I show up to help? Like I disgust her?"
"UNCLE QROW!" his other niece yelled while he was distracted, suddenly bursting up to him and damn did she get faster while he was gone. The half-pint nearly bowled him over and there was a pressure wave that felt like she was this close to breaking the sound barrier. "What are you doing here?!"
Needless to say, the noise caused all conversation in the room to die down. Qrow cursed internally that his cover had been blown, but that was just his typical shitty luck. Plastering his smirk back on, he answered, "Figured I'd come see how my favorite niece was doing."
Ruby looked like he had just told her that cookies went extinct. "Yang's your favorite?!"
"I was talking about you, short stack," he teased.
Ruby blushed and stammered at having walked right into that, and Ice Queen Junior looked like she had something to say as well. Before she could, however the door to the dorm room opened – and out came the woman of the hour. Kassidy found Ruby and Weiss first, which gave Qrow plenty of time to look over the giant bandage across her forehead, and… also a pair of cat ears? The hell? Alright, he was pretty sure he wasn't that drunk. "Mr. Branwen?" she asked, almost like she was having trouble exactly remembering who she was.
Well, he couldn't have that. "I told you not to call me that, you little shit."
A few of the girls gasped, but Kassidy only took a beat before replying, "So you did, Mr. Branwen." Her face fell, though, and she said, "I'm sure Yang would love to see you normally, but this –"
"Heard you had a run-in with my sister," he interrupted. Kassidy's eyes widened, and he took the opportunity to say, "How about I come in? We need to talk."
"What's going on?" Ruby asked. She shoved her way past him, then gasped when she saw Kassidy. "Kass! What happened?!"
Qrow opened his mouth to talk everyone down but was interrupted by a door opening behind him. Apparently, it was time for the peanut gallery to have their turn gawking. Some short orange-haired chick with headphones on her neck started talking before she even got a good look. "Hey guys! What's with all the noi… Kass!"
As more people came out behind the girl (who was quickly identified as Nora), Qrow couldn't stop himself from groaning. He knew he'd quit teaching for a reason. "Alright, that's enough, you pipsqueaks!" he yelled, overriding all the other voices. "I need to talk to my niece's team tonight, so you four… whoever you are, need to go find something else to have fun with tonight. Alright, Short Stack, Ice Queen Junior, Cat Girl, get in the room. Let's have a chat."
That seemed to settle things. The peanut gallery retreated into their own dorm, and his niece and her teammates quickly skulked to their own beds. He rose an eyebrow at the bunk beds they had set up (Summer would've loved that idea) but quickly found his other niece, eyes rimmed red from crying and all balled up on Kassidy's bed. The way the two blondes went to right on top of each other reaffirmed a need to put some holy fear into Kassidy regarding how she treated Yang. "Alright, first things first," he announced. "Everyone in one piece still?"
"More or less," Kassidy admitted.
Yang spoke up from where she was leaning on her partner. "Uncle Qrow, do you know why Mom's doing this?"
"Less of one than I'd like to admit," he threw out. "I'll keep this quick since it's getting late and we all need sleep. So, here's the facts. Fact: my sister has suddenly taken an unhealthy interest in Kassidy there. Fact: my sister is one of the biggest badasses on the planet. Fact: people who wind up being her entertainment tend to have short lifespans."
"Would rather her attention be on me than on my team," Kassidy spat.
Qrow glared at her; now was not the time for bravado. "From now on, I think it would be wise to never be alone, anywhere. We clear?" Nods with varying degrees of blankness were his answer, and he moved to shoving a finger in Kassidy's direction. "You there. North gym, training room three, five AM tomorrow morning. But take it easy tonight. Get yourself fixed up."
Her eyes hardened; at least it seemed her super brain was still sharp as ever. "Yes, sir," she spat.
"And don't call me 'sir'," he reminded. "Alright, it's late, I'm nowhere near drunk enough for this shit, and you've all got some crap to take care of. I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright kiddos?" Qrow gave his farewells, then sauntered out the dorm. Time for priorities. Right now, he needed to create a hangover to nurse.
After, of course, he had a word with Glyndie. If he was going to smack that Kassidy girl around so she stood half a chance at not getting murdered by his sister, the least he could do was figure out the best way to go about that.
Shifting through the manila folder he'd haphazardly thrown together gave him some idea on how best to go about this. With a slight chuckle, Qrow threw the folder to his side and leaned back. He might not be a teacher anymore, but he still had it. He'd probably even find time to threaten hanging Kassidy with her own entrails if she got any ideas about Yang.
Some noise got his attention – and Qrow looked down from the rafters he was currently sitting on. Kassidy seemed like she wasn't as sharp in the early mornings as he remembered as she belted out, "Qrow? You there?" After a few seconds' pause, she yelled out, "Qrow, I'm here for your training!"
Qrow sighed and shook his head. Poor girl had gotten soft, living the comfortable life. With Raven on her case, being soft was a very good way to end up dead. Time to remind this girl that paranoia was always useful. He leaned to his side and slipped off the rafter, fully intending to hammer Kassidy into the ground as she walked beneath him.
Something in the way she walked clued him in that something wasn't right. Had she somehow heard him? Either way, his gut had a bad feeling, and instead of continuing through with his attack he rolled out the moment he hit the floor. Good thing, since Kassidy had, at the last moment, pulled some weird gliding stunt that got her a good ten feet away from the point of impact. She followed up the moment he'd hit the ground, drawing her sword and swinging for where his head would've been if he'd remained stationary.
"Glad to see you haven't gotten entirely soft," Qrow praised.
Kassidy started before turning around. Apparently, she'd been fooled into thinking he went for a different wall. With as serious an expression as she could muster (the cat ears kinda ruined it, though), she asked, "Alright, can you guys just teleport around like it's nobody's business, or am I just that slow this morning?"
"You're slow," he affirmed. "Which is a problem." Qrow left his weapon leaned up against the wall before sauntering forth to meeting the girl in the middle of the room. "Went over Glyndie's notes. You can't take a hit, you can't really hit without your gun, and you can't even move fast enough to make up for either of those. Raven'll tear you a new asshole sooner rather than later."
"Excuse me for only just unlocking my Aura something like six weeks ago," she pouted. Pouted.
"Alright, rule number one: don't take that kind of tone with me. I'm dragging my hungover rear up at the asscrack of dawn to help you stay alive. Show some respect." When she nodded and dropped the glare, he expounded on the point she made. "And six weeks is plenty of time to learn all the basics. Which you haven't done." When she tried to argue, he cut her off. "You can slide around, you can project Aura around your palms in a pseudo-offensive repulse, and maybe, just maybe, you can pull off a powered jump if you absolutely have to. I had that on day six of Aura training. Plus change."
Kassidy sighed. "I'm trying. Yang's trying, Weiss is trying, Professor Goodwitch is trying… nothing ever seems to work. Flukes aside."
"That's what we're going to spend this morning doing," Qrow announced. "Let's get some sparring done. I'll go unarmed, figured I'd give you a chance. You want to not get creamed? Then you better get to learning."
"Didn't you used to be a teacher at Signal?" she asked. "Did they let you teach like that then?"
Qrow made her pay for her lack of readiness (not to mention her mouth) by decking her in the jaw, sending her sprawling across the floor a good dozen feet away. "Wrong answer," he called. "Now, again."
AN 2: Oh dear. It seems General Erec… err, Ironwood still doesn't like Kassidy all that much.
Holy crap, two chapters a week again! Is this the end times? Probably not, but in the end I'm not the judge of that. Things are kind of slow around here at the moment while I wait on some things, so at the moment I've got plenty of free time and a plan on how to actually write these chapters. So, enjoy a whole bunch of RWKY.
Coming up next: RWKY (plus Qrow and Winter) enjoy a day off in between fights.
Right after these Reviewer Responses
FlouriteFlower: I suppose we'll have to find out, won't we. Though, do be warned I have some fairly hilarious ideas I want to work in there.
Ultimatrix bearer: I have not seen the finale of Fairy Tale. Actually, I've kinda only seen up to episode 48 (or whichever one is the last episode on Netflix). As far as death battle is concerned, I'm just more interested in the RT animation for good fights than anything else. You keep being awesome, yourself.
DIYEyal: While I am always partial to fresh seafood, living in the middle of the Midwest leaves one with few fresh fish that aren't bottom feeders. And I don't like bottom feeders. So have some fresh beef instead. Yeah, rewriting the chapters can be… not necessarily difficult, but interesting. Can't write them verbatim (Kassidy and Blake aren't the same characters, after all), but I still have to keep things pretty darn similar depending on how many things I changed. Thumbs down here, reference not received. And thanks for the P.S., means a lot.
ThornedRose367: Nor, I bet, are any readers wanting this to develop an M rating.
