Hey everyone! This chapter is a bit longer than the others because I wanted to include a lot of things. I am more proud of this chapter than the previous one, and this is more the kind of chapters/story I am going for. Please let me know your thoughts and comments! Enjoy!

Carly sat quietly as she gazed at team RNJR from a good distance while they all digested the information Qrow had given them a short time ago. Everyone had been silent after Qrow finished telling them about getting to Haven ASAP as well as his semblance. Shortly after the elite huntsman had gone off for a walk and Carly couldn't blame him. The uncertain tense silence filling the air was suffocating. She herself had to separate herself from the group because she felt like she was drowning from the somber air of the team.

She had walked a decent distance away to a small couple of ledges that reached just above the treeline. Despite being exhausted, she forced herself to the highest point. Once at the top, she sat at the edge and gazed at the team from afar. She could just see them well enough that she could still make out their expressions slightly.

Carly let out a sigh and leaned forward, her elbows coming up to rest on her knees as she swung her legs a little.

The day had been exhausting. Finding the chilling abandoned town of Oniyuri, fighting the crazy Tyrian, meeting Qrow, and then having knowledge of how things would progress after tonight had left Carly feeling very…drained. She knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight and it wasn't just because of Qrow's infected wound.

The brunette let out a groan as she rubbed her face with her hands. She couldn't think about that now, or things might only just get worse. She had to make sure she was prepared for the oncoming…events.

Moving her hands to thread to her hair and rest behind her neck, Carly looked back up and gazed at the distance. While the night sky was clear and the moon and stars shined brightly, Carly couldn't help but feel as if the evening was darker than ever. Not for the first time, Carly wished she had a book or her ipod or something to help distract her from everything coming up.

But there was no avoiding it. The team as well as her and Sam were going to have to face that horrible nightmare. They were going to have to pray that they had gotten strong enough to survive. That tomorrow wouldn't be the last day of their lives…

The sound of pebbles tumbling down the ledge and scrambling startled Carly enough to let out a small gasp and reach to grab her weapon as she turned around. But it was only Sam reaching the top of the ledge. The shorter haired brunette stood up and brushed off the remaining gravel on her before looking at her with an encouraging smile.

"Mind if I sit with you?" she asked.

Carly smiled and patted the spot next to her, saying, "Only if it's you."

Sam quietly took a seat next to her while letting out a contemplating sigh of her own. The two sat in a comfortable, albeit bittersweet silence as they watched team RNJR. Not even a gentle breeze disturbed the night.

"So…" Carly started, solemnly, "Tomorrow is…" She couldn't continue.

"Yep," Sam said just as quietly, with a touch of uncertainty in her voice as well.

There was another moment of silence before Carly whispered, so softly she wondered if her friend would hear her, "Do you think we're ready?"

Sam took a long breath and seemed to think about this for a long moment before she said, both confidently and nervously, "Yes. We're going to make it through tomorrow."

Carly turned to look at her friend and asked, "You sure about that? The…that Grimm that we'll have to face tomorrow isn't just a run of the mill Beowolf!" She couldn't even say the Grimm's name; it terrified her too much at this point. "It's something that even they—" Carly gestured to team RNJR "—are terrified of! They're better huntresses and huntsman than us and they struggled with it!" her voice turned to one of incredulity as she continued, "How can you be so sure that we'll be okay?!"

Sam had turned to look at her during her bombardment of questions and gave her a determined gaze, "Because we've gotten stronger than when we've faced that Grimm, and we have Team RNJR on our side. I am not saying that there isn't some horrible possibility of us not surviving, heaven forbid that happens though. But I do know that we have to be brave and stay positive. We need to have hope, because without it, the odds of us surviving tomorrow become impossible."

Here Sam paused for a second, her gaze returning to the distance, as if trying to figure out what to say next before she continued, "I'm scared too. I know that that…thing is incredibly powerful and we need to be cautious. It's not something we can just brush off, but we need to believe that we can make it."

Sam turned to look back at her once more with an encouraging smile, "I believe in us. We wouldn't have been brought here if whoever sent us didn't think we couldn't handle it. We can do this. We need to be careful, and it's going to be tough, but we can do this."

Carly gave her friend a long look before sighing and giving her a tired smile, saying, "I hope you're right Sam."

Both brunettes went back to once more gazing at Team RNJR before Carly said, "Thanks Sam."

"No problem, buddy," Sam responded.

There was another quiet moment that settled between the two friends before Sam spoke, in a more cautious tone, "I do have a question for you though. It's one of the reasons why I came to find you."

Carly looked back at Sam and asked, "Okay, shoot."

Sam appeared to take a moment to figure out how to go about asking her question before saying, once more in a cautious tone, "Are you doing okay with Qrow being around now?"

The question immediately took Carly off guard. It was completely different topic compared to discussing the possibility of their deaths in the coming future.

When Carly didn't respond after a moment, Sam looked at her and asked, "Are you going to…I don't know, try and flirt with him? See if something happens between you two?"

Carly frowned at those questions. She hadn't had time to really think about that since she had pushed all thoughts of Qrow out of her mind when they had first entered this world. She didn't want to be distracted or end up giving something away while they travelled with team RNJR. But now, she couldn't run from those thoughts.

"I'll be honest with you, I haven't really thought about it. But…" Carly paused, her mind almost instantly giving her an answer, "I probably won't."

Sam's gave her a deep look, but she didn't say anything, letting her friend decide if she wanted to go into detail or not.

Carly brushed a hand through her hair and explained, "It just…He doesn't seem to be looking for someone to be with long term, and that's what I want from him. It wouldn't end well, and even if he was…I don't think he'd care for me like that. I'd love for him too, but realistically speaking…he's most likely not going to want that," a dark look passed Carly's face as she whispered, "I can't imagine him wanting that from me."

After a moments pause, Sam responded with confidence, "Okay, I understand. And I'll support your decision, but I think you're wrong in that Qrow wouldn't want that from you. You are a wonderful person, Carly. You're very kind and considerate of others. And you have always been there for people, whether it's for something good or bad going on in their life. I personally think he's missing out on being with an amazing person if he ever gives you any indication that he doesn't want to be in a relationship with you."

Carly smiled to herself as she said to Sam, "He seems to be giving off that aura right now. He's done nothing but glare and be snarky at us."

Sam gave a small nod at this but said, "That's most likely because we're travelling with his niece and her friends and he isn't sure that he can trust us. Once he sees that we mean no harm to the kids, he will probably be friendlier to us."

Carly let out a large exhale and said, "Let's hope so."

Her friend leaned over and raised her hand to fake whisper, "I just needed to know so that you don't end up like Tyrian."

"Ouch, love you too Sam!" Carly laughed as she turned to her friend.

The short haired brunette raised her arms in a shrugging manner and said playfully, without any belief in it, "I'm just saying! You never know what might happen!"

Carly let out another laugh and replied, "I appreciate the concern, but I can promise you that I will not end up like Tyrian. That man is coo coo for Salem puffs."

Sam let out a laugh of her own as Carly muttered, "And now I regret saying that last part," her face contorting to one of humored disgust as she thought of the crazy Faunus.

This only made Sam laugh more.

Once both females calmed down a bit, Sam turned and asked her, "Ready to head back?"

Carly let out another small sigh before saying, "Yeah, let's go."

As the two brunettes walked back to the camp, Carly noticed Qrow was returning from his walk as well. The man was clutching his side and he had a pained look on his face, making Carly grimace in worry. She changed her attention to her companion, leaning in to say, "We should probably keep watch tonight. Both for Qrow's sake as well as how tense everyone is. Better safe than sorry."

Sam nodded and said, "We can split the night into two shifts. You wanna stay up later or get up early? I'm good with either."

Carly didn't need to think about it to give her friend a definite answer, "I am not a morning person. You mind if I take the first watch?"

"Fine with me, that's why I asked," Sam said as they finally reached the camp.

The two older females started to set up their sleeping bags for when they called it a night, when a thump sound interrupted the air. Everyone glanced to see that it was Jaune returning to his spot on the log. He leaned forward and rubbed his face with his hands.

"You alright there, Jaune?" Carly asked the blonde male.

The blonde male spoke through gloved hands, sounding very muffled, "It's just…a lot to take in."

Everyone, including Qrow, gave the young huntsman in training a sympathetic look.

Ruby looked down as she spoke, breaking the silence, "When I started this journey to Haven, I didn't know what to expect, or what to learn once we got there. But this…this is definitely not what I thought was going on."

Here she paused, and Carly wondered what she was thinking. She undoubtedly wanted to help in any way possible. But that didn't erase the fact that the girl was probably struggling with how much bigger the picture was.

For once, Carly was glad she couldn't tell Ruby and the others the real truth about Ozpin and Salem.

"I still want to help, however I can. And I still want to stop Cinder and her team, but…the fact that this is all about a secret battle involving magic and fairy tales that we were told as kids…" Ruby continued before she took a deep breath and said, "We're just gonna need some time to digest it. It still feels a little unreal."

Carly felt her gaze fall away from the group as she felt guilt overtake her. The truth stuck in her throat as she muttered, "I know how you feel."

Going by the fact that no one responded to her comment, they most likely thought she meant learning about Salem, the Maidens, and the Relics. The only one who didn't seem to share this thought, though, was Qrow. He was giving her a suspicious look as she avoided his gaze, trying to act normal.

After another moment of silence, Jaune spoke, "What about you two?"

Carly and Sam looked up to see that the blonde male was referring to them.

Both brunettes gave each other a look as they searched for a response to Jaune's question. When they didn't give an answer after a few seconds, Jaune continued, "You must have heard about what happened at Beacon, but you didn't know about…all this. You didn't even know about Cinder until we told you."

The man was referring to when Carly had to force herself to ask Jaune about the reasons why the team was headed for the Mistral Academy. She had only asked to keep up appearances and not raise suspicion should she or Sam make a comment later in the future.

Carly bought herself some time to think of an answer by rolling her sleeping bag out and wiping off any dirt or grass that had gotten onto it. The best thing she could think of was by manipulating her words to make it seem as if she was talking about the info they had just received but in actuality be referring to something else.

"I won't lie, we didn't expect to be in this kind of situation," Carly started, more referencing being transported to the world of RWBY, which helped, "But considering how things have been in Remnant, it doesn't make the whole thing…implausible." Carly tried to think of when she had first learned of Salem and tried to manifest how she had felt to assist with her next statement.

"In all honesty, the hardest thing for me to grasp, at the moment, is that there is some woman out there trying to…well I don't know what really. Everything that was just said ties to some fairy tale that everyone knows about. And I have the belief that often time's fables are often somewhat true, if only embellished to a certain degree. But Salem…that's the part I'm struggling on," Carly explained.

Finishing her camp set up beside her, Sam spoke, "History and fairy tales can be similar in that there is some truth to them. There will have been altercations to make things appear more heroic or mystical to entertain others, or in the case of record histories, the great moments of it, but only the kingdom parts, especially the fragments where they were the 'winners'," her friend paused for a second before saying, "So like Carly said, it's not implausible. Just a lot to take in."

Jaune let out an exhausted chuckle, muttering, "You're taking this a lot better than we are."

"Yeah, how can you two be so calm after everything that just said to you?" Nora asked, looking very confused.

Carly shot her friend a look, watching as Sam started, "Well…I learned long ago that…" at her pause, Carly wondered if her friend had been about to unintentionally try to tell kids the truth, but Sam surprised her, "It's…a world…of laughter…it's a world…of tears…"

Carly stared at Sam, stunned as she realized what her friend was saying.

"It's a world of hopes and a world of fears…there's so much that we share that it's time we're aware…It's a small world after all," Sam finished in a tuneless tone.

After a heartbeat of silence Carly couldn't help but ask, "Did you really just quote the song, 'It's a Small World'?"

Sam shrugged and said, looking back at her, "Well it's true isn't it?"

"That's not the point!" Carly said, slightly louder than normal, her arms raised to wave in astonishment.

This little exchange between the two older females had the air lift a tiny bit, as the younger members of the group smiled softly and even let out a few chuckles. Qrow merely rolled his eyes but it appeared to be more out of humor than of annoyance.

After a few more minutes of setting up camp, Carly stood up and said, "Well I don't know about you all but I don't think I will be falling asleep anytime soon. And with everything that has occurred today, I think I'm gonna stay up and keep watch."

"Do you want us to take over at any particular time?" Ren asked, the only one who appeared calm throughout this whole ordeal, despite Carly knowing he was just more introverted with his emotions and thoughts.

"No, Sam and I can handle it, we were talking a little about it earlier," Carly explained as she began to walk toward where Qrow was resting against a tree. The path they had taken to get here had diverted into two parts. One to the next village and one to their little campsite, which was surrounded by boulders and trees and bushes. Carly figured the best place to keep watch was atop the tree nearby the path.

Sam yawned and said, "Yep, wake me up when you're ready for me to take the next shift." Then without another word, she got into her sleeping bag and tried to get some sleep.

When none of the other members of their group booked any argument on the matter, Carly expanded her hobby horse hammer (she really needed to figure out a name for it instead of just calling it that) and went about looking at how to climb up the tree to keep watch in the branches.

As she was surveying for any tree knots to use to pull herself up, she felt Qrow's presence move closer to her till she could practically feel him standing behind her. Digging for her courage, Carly turned to face the tall man and asked, "Can I help you?"

The shapeshifter gave her a long hard look with his arms crossed, distrust in his eyes. He spoke lowly, so as to not be heard by the other members of the team, "You know, normally people wouldn't be taking the things I said earlier so well like you and your friend are."

Carly returned his stare and said, despite the uncertainty growing inside her, "Have you ever thought that maybe I have seen enough weird shit that it's not too hard to believe what you've said?"

Qrow didn't seem to believe her words and said ominously, "Or maybe you've already known about it and are just trying to cover it up."

Well crap.

What now?

Carly frowned, it was taking all her efforts to not give away how spot on he was, questioning, "Not everyone is going to have the same reaction. I never said I wasn't shocked, but I have no reason to doubt it. And based on everything going on these days, maybe it only clarifies things instead of making them more confusing?"

When Qrow's brow furrowed at her words, Carly hoped it was because he was seeing that she was right and not thinking something akin to, 'The-lady-doth-protest-too-much-methinks,' with her logic. After a moment passed with the avian man not saying anything, Carly asked, "I'm sure you've met at least one person who was shocked by everything but in the end just rolled with it, right?"

To her surprise, she saw something flicker in Qrow's eyes, as if a passing memory played before them for just a second. Or at least, she hopes that's what she saw and not something worse.

Whether it was that or not, Qrow didn't give her an answer and instead unfolded his arms and leaned forward to loom over her as he whispered threateningly, "Regardless, if you or your friend try anything on Ruby and her friends, I'll—"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Carly growled. The threat of her possibly bringing harm to teens brought up more courage than when Qrow was questioning her reaction to the news about Salem. She ran with it and growled, glaring at Qrow, "I get that you are her uncle and you are gonna destroy anyone who hurts her, but do not insult me by thinking me or Sam would do something like that. You obviously know that she and I did our best to protect Ruby from that nut job, so don't you think for one second we would harm a hair on those kids."

'Maybe it won't be so hard to get over my crush on this guy if this is how he's going to act toward me all the time,' she thought.

Qrow didn't seem intimidated by her words though and if anything growled back, "You could be just acting though. They do say, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies' closer.'"

Here, Carly rolled her eyes and said, blatantly, "Yeah, no offense, but if you knew me or Sam, you would know that we have such strong consciences that we would be ready to arrest ourselves should we accidently steal a bottle of freaking water."

It might have been just the remaining flickers of the campfire, but Carly swore she saw a hint of a smirk and amusement in those garnet eyes. However, it passes as quickly as it came and Qrow pulled back to say, while not in a growl, but in no way less intimidating, "Regardless, you know I won't hesitate to keep these kids safe."

The tension in Carly's shoulders released a little as she replied by saying, "Good to know. Based on everything you said earlier, these kids are gonna need an elite huntsman like you looking out for them."

This statement seemed to bring more shock to Qrow than the rebuttal she had shot back at him earlier. He appeared to do a double take, apparently thinking she'd react differently to his words. The tall male shook it off before he said, "Look, I'll watch tonight instead since you're probably exhausted and—"

"Absolutely not! I may have gotten my ass handed to me earlier via break dancing skills from an escaped asylum patient, but you actually got injured from the fight. You need to rest, per doctors' orders," Carly argued back, no heat in her voice, gesturing to Sam.

Based on how fast the venom would affect his body, it would be best for Qrow to get some rest instead of staying up. But he couldn't know that. So she was going to have to convince him otherwise.

"Geez, you and doc are overreacting. It's just a scratch!" Qrow said, though he clutched his side as he let out a cough. Carly had to fold her arms so as to cover her anxiety upon seeing him slowly get worse.

When he finished coughing, he turned back to see her raise her eyebrow in response to his coughing. He sighed and said, "Fine. I'll sleep," he began walking to another tree to rest against as he continued, "But you wake me if you see anything."

Carly didn't respond as the man let out another coughing fit as he settled down. She looked away as if not looking at the weakening man would prevent his injuries from worsening. When she heard the elite huntsman finally still, she began climbing the tree to the first branch. She took a seat, listening and watching for any signs of movement.

The sounds of the teens tossing and turning, and Qrow's increase in coughs only made Carly's anxiety rise, her worries plaguing her mind.

'It's going to be a long night,' Carly thought to herself.

Dawn was bright the next morning, providing a large contrast compared to how bleak and dark yesterday's weather had been. But the peaceful sunrise did nothing to lift the mood as Carly opened her eyes and let out a sigh. Just as she had thought last night, the evening was tough. Not because she was having a hard time staying awake, but because her anxiety kept her awake and unable to properly rest. Even after Sam had taken over keeping watch, Carly hadn't really fallen asleep. She had mostly just laid there, her mind unable to shut off.

And going by the shuffling around her, she wasn't the only one who barely got any sleep.

"We should probably get moving," Ren said tiredly, though it didn't sound primarily from lack of sleep.

"Yeah yeah," Jaune agreed, sounding worse than Ren.

Carly got up herself with a sigh and rubbed a hand over her face, dreading the oncoming day. But a loud coughing fit woke her up enough that she worriedly looked over at Qrow.

The man was clutching his side, his skin paler than before with sweat covering him. Sam, who was beside him, had a hand to his forehead for a moment before checking his pulse. She kept her hand on his wrist and waited until he ceased coughing to count his beats. The man panted and as Carly jumped up to run over to the shapeshifter, Ruby bolted from her sleeping bag. She reached her uncle in less than a few seconds, a worried look on her face.

When Carly reached the trio, she then noticed the bandage was damp with not only blood, but was also violet from the venom running it's course through Qrow. As if to prove her point, Qrow pulled his hand back and noticed that he his entire palm was covered in the same violet fluids.

Ruby gasped and Sam bit her lip in worry while Carly knelt down in front of Qrow, a worried look of her own etched in her face.

Qrow looked despondently up at the three around him before landing his gaze on Ruby as he said, "Well, that's unfortunate." When his head fell down in obvious exhaustion, Ruby kneeled closer to her uncle and shook his shoulder, horror on her face as she uttered his name.

Carly exchanged a look with Sam before she looked at the wound on Qrow's abdomen and then his face. The man apparently had passed out from exhaustion and pain from the infection. And when the remaining members of team RNJR joined them to see what was going on, all Carly could do move her hand to grab Qrow's ankle and give it a squeeze as she prayed,

'Please don't let mine and Sam's interference change your fate.'

Authors note: I felt that it would be in character for Qrow to be a little distrustful of Sam and Carly, but to be honest, he doesn't believe that they're working for Salem. Just that they are suspicious. I know that these past few chapters haven't been too funny, but with how the storyline is at this particular chapter, it's hard to write that in without it coming off wrong. So I promise that once they get past all this drama, there will be more humor. Please let me know your thoughts and comments, I love seeing them! Thank you!