Winter woke who knows how long afterward to the rum. She heard birds but does not feel much light. She struggles to sit up and someone lays her back down. The someone had small hands and a soft, high pitched voice.
"Oh, careful! You hit your head pretty hard." The voice warned her but helped her sit up slightly. "Someone wasn't very careful when he threw you back here." The voice said with some teasing. The gravelly voice huffed back and told her to shut up. They hit a large bump and Winter felt her rear leave the cart. The small hands flew up and pulled her back down.
"Can you calm down, Qrow? They could be hurt!" The high pitched voice squeaked in frustration.
"Kid, we're running from the Atlas military and the Schnee private police force, we need to get to the ship NOW." The gravelly voice shouted back. "You have an issue then you can take the reigns."
"Maybe I will." She argued. The gravelly voice sighed.
"How about you run ahead and let doc know we're almost there. Then he can treat them faster."
The high pitched voice sighed but complied. There was a "thump" as she jumped out of the cart and a rush of air as she began to run. Winter pushed herself further into the corner of the cart, now terrified as the only kind voice she had heard that day left and she was alone with the man who had just held her at knifepoint. She resisted the urge to cry and held herself stoically.
She knew that if she had any hope of escaping that should would need to rest. Once she had fully gathered herself then she would wait for the perfect time. She moved each limb slightly to make sure nothing was broken. In doing so she found that not only was she unharmed, but also unbound. What was their game? Either they really know what they're doing or they have no idea at all.
After a while the cart began to slow down and Winter steeled herself to jump. The cart lurched to a halt and Winter used the momentum to vault out of the cart. She ripped off her blindfold and ran as hard as her stupid wedding dress would let her. She looked back to see if anyone was chasing her and found that there was no one. In doing so, she failed to see the man standing firmly in front of her and she collided into him with great force.
"Trust me, kid, you don't want to go back there." His chuckled in his gravelly voice.
Winter gasped. He was behind her driving the cart, how could he have gotten there. He threw her over shoulder before she could put anymore thought into it. They walked back to the cart and he stopped. He dropped her onto the driver's seat then reached back and drew his sword. Winter winced and the blade swung through the air, far to close to her for her liking.
There was a bray then the mule that had been attached to the ran off towards the woods. The man with the gravelly voice put away his weapon then picked Winter back up and over his shoulder. He turned to the cart.
"I'm assuming you will come a little more peacefully?" He asked the other passenger.
Winter gasped as Weiss came into view. She was covered in dirt but was otherwise unharmed. She ceased her struggling and turned to face her captor as best she could.
"You can put me down. I will walk in peace." She commanded firmly.
"Nah, in that dress and those shoes we won't get to the coast until nightfall. It'll be faster this way." The man chuckled.
Winter huffed but knew he was right. She made a mental note that she would have to change before she and Weiss could escape. She spent the rest of the trek biding her time and planning. Now that Weiss was with her, the possibilities were endless. They had been freed of her father, now all she had to do was escape her captors.
She knew well how to defend herself. Her father's head guard had insisted on the girls learning the noble art of swordsmanship in order to protect themselves should such an occasion occur. If she could somehow steal his sword she could possibly fight. The sword was rather large, even larger than a standard broadsword. Perhaps she should start smaller with something she knew how to use. She spotted the dagger in his belt and smiled.
She could smell the sea before they saw it. The seagulls flew overhead and the grey sand of the beach. They began walking at an angle and Winter realised they were on a gangplank. Once they reached the deck she took action. She grabbed the dagger and lifted her legs over his head, spun and landed on her feet.
Her plan was was to attack from behind since he had such an advantage, but he was prepared. Her strike struck his sword and reverberated through her arm. She stepped back and he turned to face her. She lunged with the dagger towards his midsection but he dodged it. She struck again and he dodged again. She ducked under his arm and then kicked him from behind but he caught himself with a sword. He swung and she tried to dodge but he stepped on her skirt and she tumbled back.
"Here, let me help you with that." He grinned and swung his sword by his foot, cutting a chunk of the skirt out. She sweeps his foot out from under him and struggles to her feet.
"Let us go! Let us free." She shouted and lunged down with the dagger.
He caught her wrist as she throws herself at him, pinning him down. He smirks and forces the dagger out of her hand and spins so that he is now pinning her down. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and she knees him in the groin and pushes him off of her. She tries to stand but he grabs a handful of her skirts. She fumbles with him, struggling against him in an unbalanced tug-of-war.
Finally Winter reaches down and slashes the skirt, cutting herself free, and tumbles backwards. She stands much more easily now that she is not fighting with her skirt. She grabs for Weiss and starts to run. Weiss struggles and tried to speak. The young girl in a black dress and red cloak forces her way between them and tries to stop. The man is running towards her with his sword drawn when suddenly a brawny blond man steps in and decks him in the face, derailing his attack.
"Yang, raise the gangplank! We need to leave now. Qrow reign it in and focus, we have a job to do. Get up and steer this ship. Doc raise anchor. Ruby, take the girls below deck and keep them safe."
The man was stern but confident. He was angry but in control and still showed warmth when he addressed the young girl between Winter and Weiss. They look nothing alike but Winter assumed that there is some kind of family bond. The boat lurched forward and began to pick up speed. Unless she jumped and swam to shore, there was no escaping. Weiss wasn't a strong enough swimmer and Winter would be damned if she left her sister alone with these brutal pirates. She allowed the young girl to lead them below deck.
The girl showed them to their bunks, rickety hammocks stacked atop each other. She introduced herself as Ruby Rose and executed an adorable but incorrect attempt at a curtsey. At least not every pirate here was as vicious as the man. Ruby offered them food and a wet cloth to clean up and then headed up the steps saying that she would work on finding some clothes for them to change into.
Once Ruby was out of sight, Weiss flung her arms around Winter and began bawling. Winter embraced her sister and looked into her eyes.
"Did they hurt you? What did they do? What did they say? Did they threaten you? Is that why you're crying? Is that why you tried to stop?" Winter questioned her sister. Weiss sobbed and smiled and tried to choke out an explanation between sobs.
"They're…*hic*... trying to… *sob*...save us." Weiss sobs harder and flops onto her bed. Winter looks at Weiss in confusion.
"Obviously the stress has addled your mind, Weiss. Did you miss the part where that man tried to kill me?" Winter huffed.
The door opens and Ruby enters with a black bird on her shoulder. She is holding various colors of cloth and a plate of biscuits. She smiles sweetly at Winter. Winter sits down on a hammock, Weiss bounding over to procure the food. The crow flies over and lands on Winter's lap.
"What your sister said is true! We're really just trying to help. We found out how miserable you guys were and we figured that there were two more victims of Jacques Schnee that needed to be saved. Though I admit, we probably could have gone about it differently. My uncle isn't the most tactful…" Ruby blushed.
"Is that why he tried to kill me?" Winter argued. There was a puff of black feathers and the bird on her lap suddenly turned into a man. A man that remained on her lap. He lounged across her with his hands behind his head.
"I didn't try to kill you, if I was trying to kill you then you would be dead." He smirk. Winter pushed him off of her lap and onto the floor. He frowned. "Besides, you tried to kill me first, Ice Queen."
"Well, I'm sorry. I was raised to survive." She turned away from him, nose in the air.
"So was I, but which one of us got kidnapped?" He argued.
"Uncle Qrow just leave them alone. You're really not helping our case here…"
"Yeah yeah, anyway. I came down here to tell you that the doc is ready to check you out and make sure I didn't do any lasting damage when I kicked your ass." Qrow stood and smirked.
"I think you'll find that it was you who got their ass kicked." Winter poked his chest. He raises an eyebrow at her and pushes her hand away from his chest. Her smiles at her with mock sweetness.
"Well, when you're up to settling this debate with a Round 2 then let me know. Maybe I'll even give you a real sword so it's a fair fight." He winked then turned away to head to the deck. "Come up when you're done changing."
As he left Ruby began to lay out the clothes. She had a couple of pairs of dark trousers, some tulle skirts, some shorts and shirts and a dress. She offered Weiss some of her nicer tunics since they are around the same size and Weiss eventually chose one that was grey with red lining and accents. It was longer, like a dress but she still chose to wear trousers underneath for modesty. Ruby handed her a tulle skirt.
"My mom would always make me long tunics and line them with tulle when I wanted to look like nice. She always wore dresses, even when fighting pirates. It was so cool to watch." Ruby smiled.
"Thank you, it does feel a bit more…normal." Weiss responded hesitantly then finished changing. Ruby turned to Winter.
"We haven't really had any ladies your size on the ship in a long time so I don't have much."
Ruby held out a grey shirt with a dark collar and red lining and a pair of white trousers. It was obviously a men's shirt, but it would get her out of this dress. She stepped out of her dress and put on the shirt. It didn't fit quite right so sadly the corset would have to stay, but Ruby was happy to help her loosen it to a more tolerable state. The trousers fit well around the waist but they were a bit short in the leg, but Winter was happy to be able to move freely.
"If you don't mind, could I have your old clothes? It may seem silly but we're not exactly dripping money. We're a waste not want not crew and dad and I could probably manage to put these to good use." Ruby gathered the old clothes. "Oh and maybe we could make something to fit you properly Winter! But if not, I think we will be stopping in Mistral trade markets we can probably get something there."
"We're going all the way to Mistral?" Winter asked incredulously. Ruby snorts.
"Pshhh, no silly. We're going to Menagerie. Mistral if just one of our stop. Now, I should take the rest of these clothes to the other kids." Ruby waved her hand and began scaling the steps.
"Menagerie? Wait, others?" Winter and Weiss followed after her.
The deck was crowded, more so than before. Or maybe it wasn't, Winter was a bit focused on fighting for her life. Had this many people seen her make a fool of herself? She blushed. Most of them were young, younger than Weiss even. There were none older than herself. She also noticed that some of them had some very distinctive features. She thought back to what Ruby had said. "...Two more victims of Jacques Schnee."
These were her father's slaves. These faunus children were the ones who had been abused in her father's dust mines. Her heart broke to see them battered and bruised. A man, presumably the doctor of the crew was going down the line up, examining and treating as best he could. Some of the children bristled at the sight of the two Schnees, others cowered. They looked so human. They were only children. They were certainly not the rebellious beasts that her father had described and suddenly she realised why she was never allowed near the mines. One faunus girl in particular stood out. She wore a face mask designed to look like a Grimm skull. She had a long, dark coat wrapped around her to conceal her form and long black hair. She seemed to be a little older than Weiss but not by much.
"What are you looking at." She hissed at Winter.
Winter kept her head down and walked to the end of the examination line. She held Weiss' hand tightly and fought the tears. As terrible and alone as she felt, she knew it was nothing compared to the lives of these children. Weiss She heard bickering behind her and turned as Qrow and the blond man walked up from the Galley. The stopped once they reached the deck and the blond man gave Qrow a look to not press his luck. Ruby appeared out of nowhere and handed the remnants of the clothes over to the blond man, whom she referred to as Dad. Qrow looked at the pile, confused about
"Well if she's not wearing the dress then what is she wearing?" He asked, Ruby shrunk back and smiled, blushing. Qrow scanned the line in a panic until he spotted her. He breathed a sigh of relief. Winter turned to face him, intent on questioning his panic. His face then blanched and he looked at Ruby with a half-hearted scowl.
"But-Ruby-That- Ugh, is that why you said I couldn't change out of this junk?" Qrow groaned then flung the doors of the galley open and slunk back down. The blond man, Ruby's dad, flung his head back and laughed heartily. He bumped fists with his daughter and took the clothes from her hand. He opened the door to the galley just enough to shout down to Qrow.
"Don't worry bud, you can just borrow my clothes until we get to Mistral!" He laughed.
The blond man continued to laugh as he walked off to hand out clothes and Winter heard a faint "Fuck you Tai!" from the galley.