Winter sat silently in the still running car, looking at the house where she was expected. The sun was still in the air, its golden rays illuminating the street, but it was lowering quicker every second, with the lights from jack o'lanterns quickly taking control of the night. Winter tried to put her hat on her head, but her normal bun wouldn't exactly work with a hat. Instead, her hair was going down into a long ponytail that reached almost halfway down her back. Winter admired herself in the mirror, aside from early mornings and late nights, her hair didn't get many chances to be this free.
Her heart was beating fast as she looked at the front door, exactly like it had done that past dozen or so times she'd gone to the house. Images of Qrow and her on the dance floor, her lips on his and that wonderful warmth that filled her soul to the brim. But then the images always quickly flashed to the next morning, how his eyes seemed to dull when she told him her memories had escaped her… It was the first time she'd really lied since leaving her father behind, and she didn't like it. It felt like some kind of worm, devouring her insides and leaving behind caverns that filled with guilt and sorrow.
A ding sound like a firework from the seat next to her, making her jump and almost punch the ceiling of her car. Winter put her hand on her chest trying to calm down her breathing, as her other hand went and fetched her phone and saw a message from Qrow. Are you almost here? Kids are crazy and Ruby's being Ruby. Help.
Winter couldn't help but laugh at the message, Qrows words somehow breaking her out of her small funk. Instead of sitting there any longer, she decided to come to his rescue. Winter straightened her hat, grabbed her saber out of the back seat, and headed out to the house.
Winter kicked in the door, after cracking it open ever so slightly, and sauntered into the home with her sword drawn and an evil grin on her face as she walked right to the living room. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, Winter wasn't prepared in any way shape or form for what she saw.
In the middle of the room was a full blown pirate ship with a group of kids dancing and chanting around it. Now, the ship looked like it was made out of a stroller or something, but it was decorated so well it was hard to tell. It went up to Winters waist and had a hull made out of well painted paper, with paper mache cannons sticking out all up and down the sides. There was also an anchor, sail, crows nest, and a pirate flag with a poorly made drawing of Zwei on it.
Oh, and Inside the ship, leaning over the port bow, was the jolly rogers inspiration himself. Zwei was dressed in a small pirate costume that looked like a cut up baby costume, but it fit him well enough. The real impressive thing was the huge captains hat on his head that he seemed to not even notice. Now, this on its own would be a pretty weird thing to see, even in this house. But the really crazy part was that the kids around the ship.
There were a handful of kids with fake weapons raised in the air and all of them, at the top of their lungs, chanting, "We are the Zwei-rates, We are the Zwei-rates, We are the Zwei-rates!" Over and over like it was all they could say. Some of them had glass bottles in their hands and were drinking something dark that Winter hoped was pop.
In the circle was Yang, Ren, Yatsuhashi, and a girl with shoulder length orange hair that was bouncing even higher than Ruby normally does, with all of them dressed up in their zombie pirate costumes.
Ruby was standing on the couch laughing maniacally and swinging around a fake sword like a demented conductor with a huge captains hat. There was a grunt from the other side of the room and Winter noticed Qrow, also dressed up, tied with rope and sitting on the couch.
Winter thought about sneaking over to help Qrow, but what fun would that be? Instead Winter raised her sword at Ruby, who hadn't noticed her yet, "Avast small lass! Yee've taken me friend, and now I challenge thee for the right to his life!" Winter growled, trying her best to imitate those pirate movies that Qrow loaned her last week. In the back of her mind, Winter wondered if he thought something like this would happen.
Ruby turned to Winter in surprise, her eyes confused at first, before they went wide at the sight of the real saber in Winters hands. The sabre wasn't sharp or anything, but it was shiny and metal, two of Rubys favorite things. But before Ruby jumped at the sword and begged to play with it, she remembered what exactly was going on, and got back into character with her best menacing smile just as the rest of the kids turned to look at them. Qrow smirked and leaned back, suddenly a lot more content with where he was.
"Well if it isn't my greatest enemy, Whitebeard-hair, Captain Whitehair!" Ruby quickly corrected after realizing Winter didn't have a beard. "So, yee finally show your face against me, the mighty Deadrose? If yee want Qrowfoot, then come and get him you scallywag!" Ruby grinned as she raised her plastic cutlass that Winter was positive she'd made herself.
"Oh, a fight is what ye want? Then it's a fight you'll get Deadrose!" Winter called as she raised her sword over her head. Ruby got into a stance and dodged out of the way as Winter brought her sword down, maybe a little too slowly, where Ruby was standing. The kids started to cheer loudly as Ruby tried to slice at Winter, who managed to parry it just in time. Winter jumped up on the couch, but Ruby didn't give her much of a chance to adjust as she launched a fury of blows at Winters chest.
Winter managed to dodge or counter the attacks, waiting for an opening. Soon enough, Ruby made a misstep, and lost her balance, "Not bad Deadrose, but not good enough!" Winter laughed as she made a slow slash to Rubys side. Before the dulled blade could touch her though, Ruby jumped onto the floor and out of the way, rolling with a surprising amount of grace. Well, until she accidently went too far and hit the wall. But that didn't slow her down for long.
While the kids chanted the name Deadrose, Winter got close to Ruby and started to slash. Ruby was fast, dodging and parrying as well as Winter was, "Whitehair, catch" Qrow called as he threw her a sword with his feet. She had no idea how he got it, but either way Winter grabbed it out of the air with a grin and started to attack Ruby with a storm of attacks.
Ruby was thoroughly on the defensive, but still had a huge smile on her face as she danced around the two blades. Winter looked and noticed a few open spots that if she was in a match she definitely would've taken advantage of. Instead however, Winter tripped on her feet and threw her arms out as she stumbled. Ruby grinned as she took her opportunity, slicing at Winters belly.
"Ugh, yee got me! I can't believe it, the mighty Captain Whitehair, defeated!" Winter dropped her swords and fell to her knees, grabbing at her stomach like it was pouring invisible blood. Ruby grinned, taking her sword and pointing it at Winters throat.
"Yee've lost, Whitehair. In your next life… How about yee join my crew?" Ruby chuckled deeply. Then, with a mighty swing, she took Captain Whitehairs head. "For Captain Zwei!" Ruby cheered as she held up her sword as everyone cheered for her stunning victory. Well, everyone except the captured Qrowfoot and slain Captain Whitehair, not much cheering from them.
The kids swept Ruby up and took her away to talk about how awesome what just happened was. Winter sat up with a doofy grin on her face and her heart beating fast from the match. She turned and looked at Qrow who had a small grin on his face, "Not a bad show, don't worry about the loss Whitehair, Deadrose has the fiercest blade in the seven seas, or whatever. Now, do you think you can help me out?" Qrow chuckled as he struggled with the ropes tied around him.
"Of course, Qrowfoot. I mean, I just died for you- er, re-died for you. So that's the least I can do '' Winter chuckled and gave him a wink as she walked over and started to take the ropes off of him. They weren't tied or anything, but just wrapped around in such a weird way it was a lot faster to help him. "So, how'd you end up like this? You sent me a text not too long ago" Winter asked as she got the last of the rope off of him. Now that she was holding it, Winter wondered where the kids even got this much rope from.
"Deadrose told me I could sit on the deck till we left, so I sat here while they played for awhile. Then I sent you that text and she told me that I was, 'trying to call for help' and had me tied up. I mean, I was. So good on her I guess" Qrow chuckled as he stood up and stretched his arms.
"And you just let them?" Winter gaped at him, not sure how they managed to overpower the man. Qrow blushed and scratched his head as he looked at her.
"It's her birthday, am I supposed to tell her no?" Qrow questioned, and she just laughed at him.
"I think you really gotta work on that. Otherwise she'll always get whatever she wants" Winter told him as she stood up and straightened out his shirt softly.
"What's so wrong with that? They deserve it… By the way, your hair looks nice" Qrow shrugged with a soft smile, as he looked at her gently. Winter expected him to follow it up with some half-assed sarcastic comment, but instead he let the comment settle on her. The way he looked at her made her butterflies take off, as much as she tried to fight it.
"Yeah, but… don't spoil them rotten, OK?" Winter sighed, knowing that the girls really did deserve the world, "And thank you. I appreciate it" Winter added on at the end, glad her makeup was hiding her blush.
"I don't think that's possible" Qrow laughed as he finally turned away from her with a cough and walked towards the kitchen where the kids were talking, "Alright scallywags, get your stuff ready, we're heading out in five!" Qrow called loudly, breaking them out of their trance and sending them into a panic.
"Where's my bag?"
"How are we gonna get Zwei onto the street?"
"How long are we gonna be gone for?"
All of the kids were running around grabbing this and that, drifting around like grass in the wind. Except that the grass is all in a panic about not forgetting anything. Qrow took a seat at the kitchen table and gestured for Winter to join him.
"Ya know, Ruby actually wasn't that bad with her sword. If she practiced, she might actually be quite good at fencing in a few years" Winter explained as she sat down, sword in her lap.
"Oh God, please don't tell her that or she'll beg me to let her do it. She'll probably end up making her own sword to practice with- I don't wanna think about how much damage she'd do to this place with a sword… Please don't tell her" Qrow groaned and begged as he rubbed his temples, it was light enough so that like he was trying to ease his future headaches.
"I'll tell her she was good, but I won't push it. Just because you asked so nicely" Winter chuckled as he looked up at her and smiled, looking her in the eyes for longer than probably necessary.
"Uncle Qrowfoot, we're ready!" Ruby called, her small but excited crew behind her with Zweis shit ready to go with him in it.
"You sure you aren't forgetting anything you guys?" Qrow probed, not getting up yet. The kids talked quickly back and forth between themselves.
"Nope, we be ready!" Ruby grinned as the redhead next to her started to jump up and down like she had springs in her legs.
"Time to pillage the streets in search of our sweet treasure!" The girl laughed like she was losing her mind. Then, Ren walked over to her and tapped the girl on the shoulder.
"Nora, you're scaring them" He said calmly and quietly, but the girl stopped bouncing and looked at Ren, embarrassed. Then she whipped around to Qrow and Winter with a grin that took up her whole face.
"Sorry about that! I've been super duper excited for this ever since Ruby told me about it! Oh, I'm Nora by the way, not sure if you heard Ren say that or not, but whatever. Hi, I'm Nora, nice to meet you!" The girl talked even faster than Ruby, which is really saying something. She took one huge step, more like a jump actually, and landed right in front of Winter with her hand out, "Wait, I'm sorry! Do you not like getting touched like Ruby? I don't wanna make anyone uncomfortable, so I always try and give Ruby space! I should really ask everyone-"
"Nora" Ren interrupted, causing a fit of laughter to seep out of the rest of the kids.
"Right, sorry. Nice to meet you!" Nora smiled, holding her hand up again.
"Nice to meet you Nora, I'm Winter. I've heard a lot about you, I'm glad to finally meet you" Winter smiled as she shook the energetic girl's hand. She hoped that her makeup didn't make her smile look too creepy.
"Alright, a few rules real quick. One, stick together, nobody should be missing. Two, if a sign says to only take one piece of candy, take the whole bowl" Qrow smiled, the kids cheered, but Winter wasn't.
"Qrow, we can't do that! What about the other kids?" Winter complained as she stood up and gave him a look that was a mix between harsh and pleading.
"Alright, Whitehair says only take one. Sorry guys, I tried" Qrow chuckled while Nora and Ruby booed, "Third, if anyone gets into trouble, gets lost, hurt, or anything, come find the two tall zombie pirates. Fourth, don't destroy the neighborhood. And fifth, if you guys get anything with peanut butter in it, you gotta give it to me. Alright, let's go! Oh, crap, everyone be back here by eight or your parents will kill me!" Qrow pointed his own fake sword at the door and the kids rushed towards it like a starving lion.
Qrow laughed as he sauntered after them, with Winter stuck trying to fit her sword in its scabbard. She was slow, trying to get it just right as she stepped out onto the lawn. She noticed that the kids and Qrow were already pretty far down the road. She took a quick step, but tripped on the uneven cement path, dropping her sword on the lawn behind her.
"I'm sorry, baby!" Winter cried as she bent down to grab her sword. As she grabbed it, something caught her eye, leaning on the side of the steps leading into the house, lit up with the last of the sunlight, was a thin envelope. Curiosity drew Winter to it, and she picked it up carefully. It was about the size of the average birthday card, with one word carefully hand written on the front, Ruby. On the back was a hastily written address, but winter had no clue where it had come from.
Winter smiled as she walked inside the house, putting the small envelope on the kitchen table, propped up so it would be the first thing Ruby would see after her candy quest. Winter left the house, sword in its scabbard, closing the door behind her. The kids and Qrow had already made it pretty far down the road in the few minutes she'd been gone, and they were still running at full speed from house to house.
Qrow turned back and looked at her, a smile clear on his painted face as he waved to her. Winter was rushing over to him, when a thought hit her. If her parents had both passed away, who exactly had sent Ruby that birthday card?
The thought left as quickly as it had come, and Winter slowed down to a crawl. Because a new member had joined the crew. Moving with Yang in a pirate costume that looked like normal clothes thrown sloppily together, was the black haired and amber eyes girl who called herself Bell Donna.
-Authors Note-
With all this junk going on with viruses and stuff, I hope you guys read this and relaxed for a bit, because all of you deserve it! I hope you guys enjoyed this silly little chapter, because it was really fun writing that sword fighting scene. Stay safe, stay healthy, and see you guys next week!