I LIIIIIIIVVVEEEE! Guys I am so so so sorry for the long delay! It has been a crazy couple of months. I have had to make adjustments with my schedule and been busy with some really important things. I was also struggling with writing for a bit, but this story was always in the back of my mind, it just took me a while to get here. I am looking forward to the next chapters, so I'm hoping that means that I will be completing these more quickly. But I can promise you, this will not be abandoned. I may take a break or not get to it as soon as I want, but this will not die! Thank you all for your patience! I hope you enjoy!
Despite overcoming the nightmare inducing Nuckelavee, it was too soon for Team RNJR, Carly, and Sam to celebrate. There was still Qrow to be worried about.
Carly bolted after Ruby, Sam rushing after them and even running past Carly. It was not surprising, Carly wasn't the fastest person.
Catching up to her two comrades, Carly whirled around the corner of the building, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw Qrow still breathing, albeit raggedly.
Sam was checking his vitals and wound as Ruby took Qrows hand, whispering his name. Letting out a gruff chuckle, Qrow said to his niece, "Don't worry kiddo, I haven't kicked the bucket yet."
Letting out a soft chuckle herself, Carly walked over and knelt beside Ruby, saying, "If you still have the energy to sass others, you're obviously doing okay."
Upon hearing Carly, Qrow shifted his garnet eyes to gaze at Carly, "I'll need to in order to keep up with these kids."
For a moment, Carly swore she saw a glimmer of humor in those eyes directed at her. But just as quickly as it had come, it was gone, leaving Carly wondering if she was imagining (hoping) things.
Before she could ponder that thought, a high pitched beeping filled the air. Smiling, as Carly knew what the sound indicated, she turned her head to the skies as she rose up. She gestured with her hand for Ruby and Sam to stay put before running back around the building to locate the Haven airship.
The beeping became louder and it wasn't long until the small band of comrades saw two Mistral airships aiming to land near them. As they descended, the air from the propellers or rockets or whatever operated them blew a cloud of dust right into Carly.
Covering her mouth and squinting, Carly coughed and waved with her other hand, catching the attention of the Mistral officers. When she saw that they registered the group on the ground, she and the others pointed to where Qrow was resting. The officer frowned in confusion before jumping down with a few others.
"We saw smoke coming from over here! No one's been out here in years! What's the situation?" he questioned.
Trying to speak over the noise and the cloud of dust still billowing around them, Carly said, "We have one man injured over behind that building. He was scratched and poisoned by a scorpion Faunus. Sam, my friend, is a doctor and was able to help him a bit, but he needs medical attention right away!"
The Haven officer nodded briskly before turning back to the jet, shouting something into a walkie-talkie attached to him. Whatever the response was, Carly didn't hear it but was pleased to see two more officers jump down with a gurney that looked stronger than the makeshift one they had crafted earlier.
She led the officers to Qrow, then stood aside with Ruby as they lifted Qrow onto the gurney while Sam gave them better medical details than Carly had. As they carried Qrow to the airship, Ruby moved close to her uncle, intent on remaining by his side.
Sam fell into step beside Carly as everyone aimed to load themselves onto the airship.
Leaning over to Sam, Carly asked as quietly as she could, "Do you think he's gonna make it to Haven?"
Sam smiled, "I believe so."
X
X
Carly really wished she could enjoy the view from the airship as it flew above mountains and forests, but she could barely take her eyes off Qrow. She was afraid that if she didn't keep her eyes on him, he would slip away.
Sam, looking the most calm out of all of them, said, "It's going to be okay. The paramedics are waiting for him at the landing strip. They'll be able to help him."
"But what if we don't make it in time?" Ruby asked worriedly.
"Ruby…" Jaune whispered, his blue eyes lighting up at the view coming over the horizon. Sam, Ruby, and Carly all got up and looked out the side open door. Carly gasped.
It was beautiful.
It reminded Carly of the difference between viewing a location from a photograph and viewing it in real life. Seeing the kingdom of Mistral from a computer screen paled in comparison to seeing it in reality. The sight was almost ethereal, especially after the ordeals they went through. The sunlight broke through the clouds, lighting up the eastern kingdom. Some of the homes were actually part of the mountain terrain, from its shaded bottom to the Haven academy high atop it all. The eastern style architecture made it appear both historical and something out of a fairy tale.
The sight, and everything it meant brought tears to Carly's eyes. They had survived. They had made it Haven Academy. And while the adventure was far from over, along with the danger that came with it, for a moment, just a moment…
Carly believed everything was going to be okay.
Tears fell down her cheeks as she smiled and turned to Sam, noticing her friends own eyes were brimming with tears. She was even shedding a few herself, but both their smiles were beaming.
Unable to hold in the joyous feelings inside her, Carly threw her arms around her friend in an emotional embrace. Sam returned it with just as much emotion and strength as Carly whispered softly, "We did it."
"I told you we would," Sam teased, but with affection. Carly burst out laughing and broke away to see her friend laughing as well. Carly said through her tears and joy, "I never should have doubted you."
Out of the corner of their eyes, Carly and Sam saw Ren and Nora at the other open side door. They watched as Ren took Nora's hand, causing the red haired girl to look at Ren in surprised joy and affection. The two shared soft smile before leaning into one another. After a moment, Sam leaned in to whisper in Carly's ear, her eyes still on the two old friends, "Boop."
X
X
Carly and the others stood quietly as a Haven doctor finished injecting Qrow with whatever antidote he needed as well as tending to the wound that he got poisoned from. Afterwards he set up an IV with morphine and checked his vitals once more. Going by the smile on the doctor's face after checking Qrows pulse and listening to his heartbeat and lungs, the elite huntsman was doing better.
"Good news, your uncle is responding positively to the anti-venom and seems to be making a swift recovery," the doctor paused to look at Sam, "You are all lucky to have a level headed doctor with you. You probably saved his life with your quick thinking. Have you thought about working in the medical field exclusively instead of being a huntress?" the doctor asked, interest in his eyes.
Sam smiled, blushing slightly from the compliment and responded, "Thank you, I'm actually a Physician Assistant back from my…home island. And while I appreciate the offer, I get the feeling that being a huntress is where I need to be right now. But I'll always be a doctor at heart."
The Haven doctor dipped his head in a nod and said, "Well if you ever change your mind, feel free to contact me. With how Remnant has been, we could use more people in the medical field like you." Here he paused again to look over the rest of the team before landing on Ruby and stating, "I'd highly recommend someone checking in on your uncle every hour or two, just to be sure everything is healing properly. I'll be back in a few days to check on him again, but at this moment, he needs lots of bedrest. Just try to monitor him for now."
"Okay. I'll stay with him for a while," Ruby responded.
"Ruby, no offense, but we just battled a Nuckelavee and nearly got killed. Plus we've all had a rough and stressful journey. You need to rest for a few hours yourself and heal up. Maybe I could watch him for a bit," Carly offered, not arguing but more in a concerned manner.
"I'm fine! I can handle a couple a few hours! Besides, you're the one who got less sleep than me the night before!" Ruby debated, harking back on the previous night when Carly and Sam kept watch after the attack from Tyrian.
Carly opened her mouth to disagree, but before she could speak, Sam spoke up, pointing out, "You also got hit pretty hard by the Grimm, Carly. You need to be checked out as well and then get some rest yourself."
Whirling around to give Sam a halfhearted glare, complete with a fake pout, Carly tried to speak again but the doctor looked at her in concern and spoke first, "What do you mean?"
Turning her gaze to the doctor, Carly said, "Nothing too bad, I just got thrown by the Grimm, that's all!"
"Thrown? You got tossed around like a bad game of hot potato!" Nora commented.
"And then slammed into the ground," Ren added calmly.
Carly looked at the two former Kuroyuri residents, opening and closing her mouth, mentally searching for a way to make it sound not as bad as it did. But ultimately failed.
Crap.
The Haven doctor's eyebrows rose up in surprise and returned his gaze to Carly, saying, "Ma'am, you should let me take a look at you to make sure there's no lasting damage from what happened."
For a moment, Carly debated arguing with everyone on the matter, before quickly realizing that they were right. Despite feeling fine at the moment, she remembered the pain she felt and how she had blacked out after being thrown by the Nuckelavee. That kind of injury couldn't be just brushed off.
Sighing in acceptance, Carly said, "Alright, fine," but still stubbornly turned to Ruby and said, "I'll get some rest, but you need to recover as well. I'll take over monitoring Qrow afterwards. Deal?"
Smiling, Ruby nodded and said, "Deal."
"I hate to bring this up, but where are we supposed to stay? We came here to talk to the headmaster and get some information, and we don't know how long that all will take," Jaune interjected.
The Haven doctor turned his gaze to the blonde and said, "Don't worry about that. Once Headmaster Lionheart heard about what you all went through to get here, he said you could all stay in this house here. It's one of the dorm buildings for Haven students, but as school isn't in session, you are free to reside here."
Carly and Sam caught each other's eyes at the mention of Headmaster Lionheart. The look they exchanged spoke volumes on how they felt about the lion faunus. As they returned their vision to the others, Carly made a mental note to talk to Sam later about how to proceed with all the information they had.
"That's good to hear, thank you," Jaune said, and his shoulders sagging, making Carly realize just now how tired the blonde looked.
Everyone but Ruby exited the room and as Sam and Carly were led to their chambers, Carly saw, out of the corner of her eye, the remaining members of team JNPR huddle close together as they walked. The three former Beacon academy students all seemed to not only be physically exhausted, but emotionally drained. Carly couldn't blame them after all that had transpired.
When they parted ways after finding their rooms, Carly was checked by the doctor and given a clean bill of health. The only thing he instructed for her to do was to get some rest and let her aura finish the rest of the healing.
Sam and Carly yawned as the doctor left, both females moving to the two beds occupying the room. As they pulled off their weapons and bags, Carly mumbled to Sam, "We need to talk about everything that's going to happen after we rest."
Sam yawned again and replied sleepily, "Definitely."
Climbing under the covers of the bed, Carly fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
X
X
Hours later, Carly woke up, her mind waking her up after horrible visions of Nuckelavees and other Grimm while her friends screamed in fear. Panting, heart pounding, Carly looked around. Relief flowed through her at the sight of the Haven dorm bedroom, as well as seeing Sam sleeping in the bed a few feet away from her.
Pulling out her scroll, Carly noticed a decent amount of time had passed and figured she could take over for Ruby in terms of monitoring Qrow's health. Quietly, so as to not wake up Sam, Carly got out of bed and exited the room. Heading back to the room where Qrow was resting, Carly looked outside. It was late afternoon and the sun gave a soft glow to everything.
Reaching for the door handle of Qrow's room, the door opened before she even touched it. Jumping a little, Carly let out a little yelp, only to see Ruby standing on the other side, a letter in her hand.
Startled herself, Ruby spoke, "Oh, sorry Carly! I was actually hoping to come get you."
Smiling, Carly took note of the letter in Ruby's hand, knowing that it was for her sister, Yang. Carly nodded and said, "No worries, I was coming to take over for you. Why don't you take care of that," she indicated to the letter, "and then get some sleep. I'll wake you if there are any changes in Qrow's health."
Ruby let out a sigh, looking exhausted, and responded, "Thank you," she paused and looked away for a moment before looking back at Carly with a sweet smile, "I really appreciate you and Sam sticking with us and helping us throughout all this. Who knows what would have happened if we didn't have you both there to help us out."
Mentally Carly thought, 'Don't worry kiddo, you would have been fine,' but said instead, "That's nice of you to say, but I am sure you would have figured something out. You kids are a smart bunch."
Ruby giggled and said, "I'll remind you of that the next time we get lost travelling."
Chuckling herself, Carly patted Ruby's shoulder and said, "Alright, get outta here and get some shut eye, kiddo."
With a flick of her red cape, Ruby walked down the hall to deliver her mail and Carly entered Qrow's room.
The elite huntsman was resting on the bed closest to the window, his weapon and Oz's staff (that Carly had to act ignorant about) leaning against the wall. Walking around the bedside, Carly checked on shapeshifter.
Qrow was resting peacefully, the color of his skin no longer a dangerous pale and his breathing less shallow. Smiling, Carly pulled up a chair and took a seat next to the bed the huntsman was resting in. As she watched Qrow she thought about everything that had transpired and all that was to come.
To be honest, she hadn't thought that far ahead because she was so terrified of the Nuckelavee and had a hard time thinking about what they would do after battling it. But now she had to force herself on figuring out what her and Sam were going to do.
It was obvious Leonardo Lionheart couldn't be trusted, but she couldn't just outright tell team RNJR and Qrow the truth. She doubted that if she could tell the others the truth beforehand, now wouldn't be any different.
There was also the factor of Cinder and the White Fang coming to attack Haven with allies. Recalling the episodes, Carly tried to remember as many details as possible for her discussion with Sam later.
Carly's thought process was broken by movement from the ash haired huntsman lying before her and she felt herself blush.
She herself also needed to find a way to deal with her silly crush on the elite huntsman if she were to be of any help to the rest of the gang.
Carly forced herself to shut down any thoughts of Qrow returning her feelings, which was a lot easier than she thought. That didn't mean her feelings disappeared, it just meant that she accepted the fact that Qrow and her wouldn't be anything more than comrades, possibly. Carly had a hard enough time maintaining friendships, so thinking that someone wanted to be in a romantic relationship seemed…impossible.
The brunettes gaze turned somber as that statement entered her mind. That kind of thought process came from multiple rejections on not only romantic interests, but from people who abandoned her as friends. She wasn't proud for thinking like that, but she couldn't help but feel that was more realistic for herself.
'And with how Qrow seemed so distrustful to me and Sam, it won't be hard for me to get over my attraction to him,' Carly thought, sighing.
Movement on the bed broke her out of her thoughts and she saw said man open his eyes and try to sit up. He groaned and rubbed his eyes before glancing around the room, landing on Carly. Carly gave him an awkward smile before saying, "Welcome back dude."
Qrow frowned at her before asking, "Where are we? Did we make it to Haven?"
Nodding, Carly explained, "Yeah. After the Mistral police found us, they transported us here and a doctor gave you everything you needed to get better. It's even better since…the Headmaster is letting everyone staying here indefinitely. How are you feeling? Do you remember anything?" Carly had to catch herself from saying anything about Lionheart.
Qrow ran a hand through his ash colored hair as he said, "A little. I remember being carried by you and blondie, then being attacked by a Grimm. But after you guys took it down, I kinda blacked out," his garnet eyes widened and he asked somewhat frantically, "Are Ruby and the others okay?"
"Don't worry, the kids are fine. Everyone is resting and should be back to their crazy selves in no time. Including yourself. The doctor said all you need to do is rest until we are sure there are no side effects and your body is back in top shape," Carly explained, easing the older huntsman's worries.
It seemed to work as Qrow's shoulders released the tension they carried, and the man let out a relieved breath. Then a few seconds later, he turned and looked at Carly, a complicated look in his eyes. For a long couple of moments the two simply regarded one another. Carly, not really knowing what was going on in the shapeshifters mind, simply waited patiently in case he said anything.
Finally Qrow sighed then said, "Thanks…for helping keep the kids safe. They're strong kids, but it's nice to know they have people to back them up should anything happen."
Smiling softly at the appreciation, Carly said, "No need to thank me, we all kept each other safe. And you should probably thank Sam more than me, she did a lot more to make sure you weren't in as much pain as you could be."
Qrow gave a brisk nod before stating, "I'll be sure to do that."
Another awkward pause. Carly let out a cough at the slightly uncomfortable silence before Qrow ran a hand through his hair again before giving Carly a look resembling a teen that realized they were wrong but loathed to acknowledge it.
"Look…I still am a little hesitant to trust you and Doc. But I can't deny that instead ditching the kids and I when things got tough, you stuck around to help. So, I guess what I'm saying is…I'm sorry for giving you both a hard time when we met," Qrow explained, rubbing his eyes.
Finding the situation somewhat humorous, Carly smirked and said, "Don't worry about it. I get it, but maybe one day you can trust me."
Qrow gave her a smirk of his own before muttering, "Maybe," in a tone that held some positivity.
After that the air felt a lot less awkward and Carly wondered, 'I know that I can't expect a romantic relationship from Qrow, but perhaps someday we can be friends…'
X
X
Sometime later, Carly sighed as she returned to her room with Sam, falling face-first onto the bed. She heard a chuckle from the opposite bed and turned her head enough to see Sam smirking at her. The short haired brunette was sitting cross legged on the bed, her quiver in her hands. She appeared to be counting her arrow supply as well as checking her bow for any damage.
"Did drunk-uncle Qrow give you a hard time?" Sam asked playfully.
Carly groaned and returned to burying her face into the bed, mumbling, "No, he was nice. It's just…everything is complicated."
"A little bit," Sam agreed, checking the arrow tips, "But the good thing is that we have a pretty good idea on how things are going to progress from here on out. We just have to keep up until we find a way to get home."
Hearing this, Carly rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, pondering. After a few seconds she stated, "Do you think we'll find answers on that here at Haven?"
Sam shrugged, appearing more positive on the matter than Carly did. She spoke, "Don't know. It wouldn't hurt to dig around to see if we can find any information that might help us. But if I'm being honest, I don't think it'll be that easy."
Letting out another groan at that, Carly grabbed the pillow on her bed and pressed it over her face. Taking a deep breath, the brown eyed female screamed into the poofy object.
Sam merely kept checking her arrows, unfazed by Carly's actions.
After her cathartic crazy scream, Carly left the pillow on her face and contemplated the insanity of it all. The RWBY universe, her stupid crush on a drunk shapeshifter who was giving her the stank eye, not being able to say the truth otherwise the trees will go full LOTR* Ent's on her, and getting smacked around like Loki was by the Incredible Hulk via Grimm nightmare fuel.
Good God she somewhat wished this was all a dream and she'd wake up wondering what the heck she ate the night before to imagine this absurdity.
But there was no denying this was hers and Sam's reality for who knows how long, and she had to accept that.
She also had to start thinking about where to go from here. Things were only going to get more intense and Carly and Sam had to figure out how they were going to handle Lionhearts traitorous actions as well as the plan to attack Haven Academy.
"I'm pretty sure you're fine, but I do need to check, you haven't suffocated yourself, have you?" Sam asked, finally looking over to her friend.
Carly let out a muffled response.
Accepting the unintelligible words, Sam nodded and replied, "Good. After fighting a Nuckelavee, that would be a downgrade on how to go out," while going back to her bow and arrows.
"Thanks for the concern," Carly muttered into the pillow, loud enough for Sam to understand.
A few moments of silence passed, and just as Carly was going to bring up what they would be expecting in the future and if they could possibly change anything, a few knocks on their door caught their attention.
Sam called out for the person to enter and Carly lifted herself and the pillow enough that the top of her head could be seen.
Ruby opened the door, saying, "Hey, Uncle Qrow wants to talk to us all."
Arching her brow, Carly looked toward Sam in affirmation, who stood up and said, "Alright."
X
X
"Alright, first off, good job to all of you in getting each other here. That level of teamwork will be vital in the coming trials we'll face. But that alone won't be enough to stop Salem and her plans," Qrow started. He looked around at his audience from his place in the bed. Ruby sat close to him, with Jaune, Nora, and Ren on the sides, and Carly and Sam standing at the foot of the bed.
"As soon as I'm back on my feet, we'll meet up with Leo—Headmaster Lionheart. Hopefully he'll have some information on what to do next. Besides, I need to talk to him about some other stuff too. Stuff I'd rather not repeat twice, so you'll all have to wait till then," Qrow explained.
Everyone nodded, Ruby asking, "So what do we do in the meantime?"
Qrow took a swig of his flask, taking a moment to think, "Rest up, and start honing your skills. The stronger and more experienced you are, the better. Who knows what's gonna happen next, so the more prepared you are, the better our chances at keeping Haven and the relic safe."
Once again, everyone nodded, and Qrow swiveled his gaze to the team surrounding his bed, his garnet eyes landing on Carly and Sam.
Following his stare, team RNJR all turned to look at the two brunettes that had, unbeknownst to them, invaded their stories.
Carly raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner at the multiple pairs of eyes on them. Ruby broke the silence by getting up and saying, "Look, I know that you two had your own reasons for coming, but…" Ruby paused, looking back toward her teammates and uncle.
The young huntress in training returned her silver gaze to the two older females and said, "But we could use your help. I know this isn't what you both signed up for, and we'll understand if you'd rather part ways with us here. Still, we'd love for you to keep traveling with us…and to be a part of our team."
Smiling softly at that, Carly looked at the other RWBY characters gazing back at her. Ruby was hopeful but unsure, Nora looked somewhat excited, Ren gave them a respectful nod, Jaune gave an encouraging smile, and Qrow looked neutral on the matter.
Carly turned herself enough to look at Sam, who returned her gaze. Carly thought for a long moment, her mind racing through everything that they would have to face. It wasn't so much as they weren't going to stick with the team, it was more questioning the belief that they could make it through all the trials and events.
But despite enormous fear bubbling inside of her at the mere thought of all that, she felt an even more powerful emotion shine through. It was a mixture of hope and positivity, and it flowed through Carly's entire being, making her smile.
They could do this.
Sam smiled back, as if she had the same feeling all along and was happy to see Carly feeling the same emotion she had. Sam gave a subtle nod and with that, both brunettes reverted their gazes back to the rest of the gang, saying confidently.
"We're in."
*Lord of the Rings
Authors Notes: I am actually pretty proud of this chapter, despite it not being my best work. I do like how everything came together and we even get a decent amount of humor. I do plan on including that WAY more in the future chapters. I just needed to find my footing in terms of writing. I will also say that chapters revolving around the next volume will be longer and there will be more of them. I do want to focus on character interaction and I feel that I rushed through the Volume 4 chapters a bit. I considered rewriting it but I am okay with what I have. Still, expect the coming volume chapters to be longer and in larger quantity. Anyway! I hope you enjoyed!