Here it is! The second chapter! Hope you like it and don't forget to review!
The glass clinked on the wooden bar as a hunter set down the whiskey.
"Another one over here." The hunter squinted at the bartender, blurry, but he could still see him, shit. "Make it a double." The bartender shook his head, but set to work. One does not question a man with a giant sword or, at least, the bartender thought it was a sword…it was big and it was sharp, and that was all the he needed to know. He set the drink in front of the hunter and moved on. The Hunter picked it up and stared at his reflection in the glass. The face staring back out at him was tired. Stubble on his chin, untidy black hair, and world-worn red eyes. The hunter shook his head.
Qrow, you're going to start scaring children. He drank the burning liquid down, barely even noticing the fiery burn running down his throat, no matter how bad the drinking got, the void it brought was infinitely better than the burn he felt where his heart used to be.
"How long has it been?" Qrow thought to himself. "Four, five years? Five years since..." He shook his head, trying desperately to clear the thoughts from his head. He wasn't going down that path, not even looking down that path, but the memories came flooding into his head without heed to their owner's wishes.
She was ten, only ten...
"She must of been attacked by Grimm in the forest. I'm sorry, Qrow."
"You don't seem very sorry..."
He had seen the bruises, Qrow wasn't a idiot...
"Don't you dare do that! She was my daughter!"
"And yet, you never loved her."
"..."
"Did you?"
"Shut the fuck up and get out of my house! Yang is upset enough without you here!"
Qrow hadn't been back to Patch since then and he had no inclination to return, ever.
He gazed at the rows of bottles that lined the shelf behind the bar, some small dingy inn deep within Mistral, on a another top-secret mission for Ozpin. He sighed and went back to his drink. The world was complicated before Ozpin came around, now it was a freaking nightmare. A whirl of madness, blood, regret, and haunting memories...Life will never truly be the same.
Qrow snorted. Life will never be the same? Gee, what gave that away? Was it the rise of a monster queen, the threat of another Great War, or the loss of Ruby? Mmm, guess he'll never know...the loss of Ruby. Tears formed in Qrow's eyes, what else mattered, now that she was gone?
Another memory, from the depths of Qrow's mind came up, a conversation with Ozpin, nearly four years ago...
The office was lit with the glow of the sinking sun, The two hunters sat staring at each other before Ozpin gently broke the silence.
"I have an assignment for you, Qrow."
"..."
"Qrow, I need you to go to Vacou, I need to kno-"
Qrow interrupted with a quiet voice. "No."
"Qrow..."
He slammed his hand on the desk. "NO!"
A stern look crossed onto Ozpin's face. "Why not, Qrow?"
"You know very well why fucking not!"
"Qrow! I know the events of the past year has been hard on you, but-"
"She was all that I had left!"
"Qrow, you know that is not true."
Instead of yelling, Qrow just throw back his head and laughed. "OH! Really? Who else do I have? My lovely sister? Xiao Long? YOU?!" He laughed some more.
"I have nothing. Nothing to gain, nothing to lose. So, explain to me, Oz, why should I continue to do this?!"
It was Ozpin's turn to slam his hand on the table. "So that no more uncles lose their nieces! So that no more fathers lose their daughters! We do not do this for the dead, Qrow!" His voice slipped back into it's normal tones. "We do this for the living."
Qrow snapped back to the present, his eyes readjusting to the low light of the inn, facing the lines of bottles again. "ah, bartender?" Another loud sigh sounded from the bartender. As Qrow waited for the drink a news report flashed across the TV above the long bar.
"Breaking news! The Vale police force has discovered the mutilated bodies of known members of the Grimm Pack, a street gang known for its brutal kidnappings and smuggling illegal substances across the borders of the Kingdoms. The bodies were found earlier today in the Industrial distract in a large alley. The cause of death seems to vary between long gashes made by some bladed weapon to fire dust rounds. Police suspect a gang war, but so far, no leads has been followed. In other news-"
Qrow drowned the sounds of the television out and went back to drowning his body with whiskey. Idiot gangs...a child could kill them!
Well, what do you think? Let me know and I'll publish the next chapter as soon as possible!