It had taken several hours for Ruby to calm down enough to be in the presence of Crane and not lash out violently. That was fine. That was time that Weiss was spending asking Crane a million questions. Everything from where have you been. ( the bits she could share ) to what she was doing here.

When she was done Crane was impressed by how much the young women looked and acted like her mother. " How is your mother doing anyway? Is she still married to…?" before she could finish Qrow nudged at her with his elbow and gave a look that told her not to bring it up.

Weiss took a moment to answer wanting to compose her thoughts clearly. "I'm afraid that she is but from what I can tell he may be dying soon so I suppose there is some good to be had."

Crane looked momentarily confused but she wiped in favor of holding Qrow's hand a little tighter and saying. "Well I hope everything works out for the best, I'm sorry for having been away for so long but I've been busy."

Qrow seemed to tense for a moment before cursing under his breath. "I left my scythe back in the swamp I need to get it. I'm gonna have to catch up." he seemed very embarrassed at the fact that seeing Crane made him forget about his weapon but he still needed it. That is until a wolf made of ice trotted up from behind them with the collapsed form in its mouth.

Realizing that Crane must have sent the beast back for it at some point Qrow hung it on his belt and wrapped an arm around her. "I love you," he said, bending his neck down to kiss her.

This started a chain reaction in the long separated lovers that ended when Ruby cleared her throat loudly. They both stopped and realized that they had somehow wound entangled with each other pressed against a tree with Crane fighting for Qrow's belt and Qrow trying to get at her shirt.

Qrow stepped back and Crane unwound her legs the two of them trying to act like the last ten seconds didn't just happen. "Can you two at least try not cause a scene for seven seconds!" the half pint reaper shouted before storming off. She was angry about Crane being back and about Qrow not being angry at Crane. At one point in his life she may have been right about Qrow being angry but honestly he was just so happy to have her back that he was about to forgive her for being gone.

That being said they really needed to get into a proper city so that he could lose the kids somewhere and they could do some "catching up".

Up ahead the remnants of JNPR and Willow seemed to be arguing about something. When they reached them it was revealed to be about whether or not to pass through a small abandoned town. The sign read Kuroyuri and when Qrow thought about it he understood. The redhead and the monk were about the right age to be children when the town was ravaged by an ancient Grimm.

"We need to avoid this town," Ren said hoping that his tone would get through to Willow who was looking at her map.

"We need to get to Haven and passing through Kuroyuri is the fastest way there that doesn't involve trekking through a mountain pass or hoffing it through the woods. Why wouldn't we want to?" Willow asked. Her answer was a pained cry that Qrow and Crane knew was a wounded Grimm

The group raced towards the noise to find the Nukaleave that destroyed the town on the ground in the town square. It was incapable of moving since he seemed to have broken all of its legs. And it's arms had been pinned to the ground by a few metal rods from the refuse of a house.

Ren ran up to the defenseless Grimm while Qrow looked over the broken legs. "This thing killed my parents," Ren said, his contempt on clear display.

"That's why it's still alive." a raspy voice said from behind the creature. A man stepped into view and his appearance was striking. He was wearing a pair of old torn pants, what seemed to be a armored skirt with an opening in the front to allow for running, and metal plated boots.

His chest and face were covered in faded burns and scars. He seemed handsome enough but the damage to his body didn't help. His hair was short and that was for the best since his burned scalp kept him from growing a full head of hair. When he stepped further from his cover Willow Recognized him at the same time as Crane.

There were certain things that an Arc never lost and the way they carried themselves after battle was one of them. It was hard to explain but Willow had seen it all her life and she was seeing it now.

He ignored the stares he got from those who knew who he was instead talking to Ren. "I was one of the men who cleared this town of Grimm after they ransacked it. I knew your father and when I couldn't find you I figured that you had escaped."

Lightly kicking the beaten but not dead grimm he continued. "This filth took my friend but he took your parents, his death is your revenge, take it." without another word or look to anyone the man walked to just behind Ren and waited.

Grabbing the broken monster by its horns Ren said. " you took my family, from me, you took my life from me, and you took my innocence from me." As he spoke Ren drew his father's dagger. "Were it not for you I would never be here today, I would be living a happy life in a small town with the love of my life at my side. But now your actions and their consequences have come home to roost. I don't know if you can understand me, I hope that you can. You made me what I am. For years I have been afraid of this moment. Terrified that it would never come and I would never tell you this."

Ren violently stabbed the dagger into the beast's neck looking it in the eye one last time. "You failed." he growled. When the eyes of the monster died Ren released the horn and allowed it to hang limp. At the same time he collapsed to his knees and wept. Over a decade of work was now complete.

The man gently patted Ren's shoulder before stepping out of the way to allow Nora to run over and try to console her distraught friend.

Qrow approached the new man offering his hand and when the man shook it he said. "Good to see you Jerimiah. Heard you were dead?"

Jeremiah nodded looking at Crane. "Heard you were dead too. So how many of us haven't died in the last couple decades." his joke seemed well timed since Crane laughed and Qrow chuckled.

"You're Jeremiah Arc?" Willow stated in disbelief.

"Just Jeremiah now, I lost the Arc part a long, long time ago." he corrected still looking at Qrow like he was waiting for something.

"Is there a problem Jeremiah?" Qrow asked nervous under the semi withering gaze.

"Last time we met you tried to kill me. I still have the scar." Jeremiah replied gustureing to one of the scars along his chest.

"Times change," Qrow answered, hoping that Jeremiah was still as forgiving as he remembered him to be.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Jeremiah broke into a small grin and said. "Good, glad to hear it."

"What are you doing here Jeremiah?" Crane asked. She actually had standing orders from Ozpin to kill Jeremiah if she ever got the chance but on top of her not being sure that he was mortal she also didn't want to start anything right now.

"Same as his I suppose." he answered nodding at Qrow. pointing at Willow he explained. "That one was my niece and I guess some habits die hard."

Willow for her part in this knew better than to speak when she didn't know much. Opting to listen and learn before getting involved with Jeremiah. She had heard fairly bad things about him but the last five minutes made no sense if what she heard was true.

"Where are you all heading?" Jeremiah asked Qrow.

Ruby was the one that answered "Haven academy we want to find out who attacked Beacon." Jeremiah nodded at her.

"You in charge here?" he sarcastically asked.

" yes I am!" Ruby declared.

At this Jeremiah laughed turning to Qrow. "she is the dead copy of her mother."

Realising the problem with his choice of words just after he said them he stopped laughing and said to Qrow. "I guess I'm travelling with you guys now, try not to give me any more scars okay."

Qrow wanted to laugh at the joke but the fact that Jeremaih was cracking jokes about Qrow trying to kill him was concerning to the surly huntsman.

"Well let's get a camp set up. I don't think that ponytail over there is going to be ready to leave for a few hours at least." Jeremiah said heading to one of the mostly intact houses.

…

It had been three days since Blake and Ilia had arrived at the Belladonna house. Blake was about to go to dinner from her training room when she got a message from Feru. he was out in a snowstorm so he couldn't call but his message still got through. "Blake I think you should know. I just finished killing the last of Adam's White Fang operation." as he spoke he seemed to be holding the scroll with one hand and holding something else with the other.

There was a brief struggle before he thrashed his non-scroll arm and the struggle stopped. "There," he said. "That was the last of them. But that's not why I called you, Adam asked me to do this and gave me the location. He even called in a favor I owed him to make me do this. That being said. Someone is not here," reaching into his pocket he pulled out a notebook reading names he stopped when he got to the one he hadn't found. "Ilia Amolita is missing. I think she is the girl we found. If Adam ordered her away but told me to kill her I think someone has been lied to and I doubt it was me."

The screen went dark as the message ended. Blake had no idea why Adam would want his unit destroyed but it seemed he did. Why he would be willing to call in a favor with Feru Lung to make sure was even more confusing. That led to Ilia. why would Adam have told Feru about her if she wouldn't be there.

Blake needed answers. She noticed more about Ilia than may have been noticed by others. And she was starting to get nervous about her old friend. But she needed to be sure.

Heading back to their shared room she asked Ilia. "how much about your mission did Adam tell you?"

Ilia didn't look up from the laundry she was folding. "Not much, He sent me as well as several others to look for you. I don't know about them but I wasn't sure if I was going to report back to him or not he seemed a little unhinged."

Taking a subtle breath Blake started to lie. " I just got a call from him," she made note of how Ilia went rigid when she said that. "He says that he's had a change of heart. Seen things he was blind to or some other magnanimous thing. Funny thing is I believe him." at this Ilia's head turned.

"You can't be serious, he wants to kill you!" she snapped.

"I doubt it, he sent you to find me not kill me," Blake knew that Ilia was thinking fast on her feet trying to either find a way to explain her actions or convince Blake that Adam was lying.

"Blake, he wants to KILL you!" she repeated.

"He didn't really seem too serious about it." Blake added hoping that Ilia would keep buying the line about her actual thinking about going back.

"He left his mask hanging on your fucking door does that seem serious enought for you!" Ilia yelled.

Even as the words left her mouth she knew she had made a mistake. But when Blake's head dropped with a tired sigh she knew that it was over.

"I never told you about the mask, Adam didn't send you did he?" she asked, hoping for the truth.

Ilia seemed like she was trying to answer but Blake knew better than to expect anything coherent. "Listen," Blake said, moving for the door. "Adam just had Feru wipe out his old unit. You're on that list. As long as you stay here Feru won't attack you," at the door she froze. "You deserve the truth no matter how much it hurts, Ilia I don't love you, I'm sorry that there is no way for me to but there isn't, I need to find my team but you still have your own choices to make." with that she left and headed for the kitchen.

She found her parents there eating at the table so she joined them. A few bites in her mother asked. "Where's Ilia?"

Blake froze; she knew that Ilia needed help but she was the last person who should comfort her right now. "She, she just got some bad news. I think she may need a shoulder to cry on."

Nodding silently Kali got up and headed for the room. When she did Ghira spoke up. "What about you?" he could tell that his daughter was troubled by both the past several years and minutes.

"I…"

Before Blake could continue Kali screamed. "GHIRA CALL EMS!" Both of them were on their feet in an instant and Ghira was on his scroll. When they got the guest room they found it empty but Kali could be heard from the master bathroom. Blake got there first and what she saw would haunt her until the end of her days.

Ilia Amolita was dead. Slumped against the wall in the shower with a switchblade next to her right hand and a seven inch gash in her left forearm.

Blake staggered out of the room just as her father made it inside. She could feel the bile rising in her throat. She had seen death before, she had watched Adam kill before. This was different. "You still have your own choices to make" that was what she had said to her.

Just barely making it to the window before emptying her stomach Blake collapsed against the side of the bed. She had done this. She had told ilia that everything she cared about was gone, then she told her that she was leaving. She had given Ilia two choices and Ilia chose.

The rest of the night a blur. And that might have been a good thing. You can only remember so many tears before you drown in them.