Till Ashes do we Part

"Love is not a feeling of happiness. Love is a willingness to sacrifice." –Michael Novak

Chapter 4

It wasn't until a few days after Winter's confrontation with Qrow that she searched out the vampire again. Since then she had been taking her meals in her room at night and only wandering the castle grounds during the daylight hours when her undead housemates were asleep. Sometimes Ilia would join her, but only if Winter stayed up late enough as the brunette tended to be exhausted from talking and playing with Ruby and Yang.

Truthfully, Winter had nothing against the other three vampires she lived with. They, while obviously having a different and wilder upbringing then Winter's own, seemed kind enough and lacked the dramatic flair that Qrow did. However, the risk of her running into the ruby-eyed-male was far too great for her to risk venturing out during his own hours of consciousness.

From Winter's daylight strolls she had learned several things. One, that the vampires did not sleep in coffins. She had accidentally wandered into Yang and Ruby's shared room once not only to notice that the blonde was not present but that there were blackout curtains present and Ruby sleeping in a large canopy bed, not in a coffin.

The second thing Winter noticed, after accidentally wandering into Ilia's room where the brunette and Yang were cuddled up in bed, was that the blackout curtains were not necessary to keep them from turning to ash. It was not likely direct sunlight would harm them and judging by the number of open windows and the fact they did not turn in as soon as the sun rose if they applied enough sunscreen they might even be able to go into the shade outside.

Those weren't the findings though that made Winter's blood boil as she searched for the dark-haired-male now. No, the final find that she had found the day before had been when she wandered into the grand library to find some books to read while she waited in her room and came across a wi-fi router. Not only that, when she opened some drawers she found several smartphones and chargers, all disconnected from the internet.

Normally, she wouldn't have bothered even confronting Qrow. Instead, she would have just taken the phone and contacted her sister and been done with it. However, the phone was not connected to the signal, had no data usage of its own, and the wi-fi had a password. This left one option to her that left a bitter taste in her mouth. And that was to confront Qrow.

She found the raven-haired man reading in one of the many living rooms. What he was reading she had no idea, nor did she care at that moment as she stomped up to him. He had heard her coming and looked up from his book only to be met with the smart-phone she shoved in his face. Qrow blinked in confusion.

"Is this some kind of game to you?" Winter snarled more then she asked and Qrow would normally take the opportunity to tease her but something in her expression must have told him it would be better to let her at least finish her rant first.

"Is what a game?" He asked, playing naïve.

"This whole thing," Winter exclaimed as she threw her arms up in the air. "Taking a bride, isolating Ilia and I in this castle, not letting out loved ones know we are alright."

"Why would they think some harm has come to you," Qrow asked still fainting innocents. Winter would have slapped him again if she thought it would get her anywhere or make her feel better. Neither would be a result of such an action so she just opted to ball her free hand into a fist.

"Because you're a vampire who doesn't tell anyone or let anyone know how you live your lives instead you isolate yourselves from the rest of society and let our families be worried sick over this childish game of yours," Winter snapped back.

"What can I say," Qrow retorted with a shrug. "It gets boring when your alive as long as I have been."

"You are an overgrown brat who doesn't think of anyone but himself," Winter fired at him only for him to rise to his feet again. He was almost too close again but Winter wouldn't let him be that close and took a step back instead when he rose to his feet to tower over her.

"And what makes you so much better than me?" Qrow asked her as his eyes darkened- making her swallow hard. "Because you have money, your pedigree, or maybe the fact you have a heartbeat."

"Maybe its because I have humanity," Winter replied and she could feel herself beginning to choke up. "I have a sister who thinks I'm dead. Who I was willing to die for so that she could live her life away from our father and family. So, she could give the Schnee family name the definition it deserved."

Winter didn't realize she was crying until a cold hand reached out and whipped the tears away. When her blue eyes stared at Qrow he seemed almost hurt. Like it had never occurred to him that she could have family members that loved her just because her father had thrown her away.

"I'm sorry," his words were sincere as he took the phone from her hand without any resistance from her and quickly he unlocked it and typed something that Winter assumed was the password to the internet. "I assumed you wouldn't want any contact with them. I forgot that your sister might be worried. Please, email her as much as you would like."

Qrow's hand dropped from Winter's face and she clutched the phone to her chest. Everything seemed like a dream. His games were gone and instead it felt like for the first time she was actually looking at him, not some vampire lord or her own personal version of hell. Instead, she was looking at a man who had seen more of the world then Winter could ever hope to see.

"Tell her to keep it to herself though," Qrow said with a half-cocked smile. "I still have a reputation to uphold."

It was Winter's turn to snort then as she watched him flop back down in his chair.

"Don't worry," she started with a smile of her own; it was small but still genuine as she watched him. "I don't think anyone would believe the vampire lord is too old and sickly to be hunting humans anymore."

"Hey watch it," Qrow laughed, being one of his deep and genuine laughs, not the fake laughs she had come to hate. "People might think you have a sense of humor."

"And wouldn't that be a terrible thing," Winter said with an eye-roll. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Qrow said and waved her off. With a nod, she ran off to the library to send her sister a letter.

…

Winter found that writing a letter to someone after you had convinced yourself you were going to die was a lot harder then she realized it would be. She had been staring at her phone screen for the past hour trying to decide what exactly she would say to her beloved younger sister. Should she tell her about Ilia? About the other vampires? That they were harmless?

While Winter resented Qrow's behavior and games with her captivity she doesn't wish harm to come to any of them. If the townsfolk knew that their local ghost-story was as harmless as a kitten, they might try to run them out of town, or worse.

Winter shuddered at the idea of any harm coming to Yang or Ruby. They were children, around Weiss' age, even if they were immortal their mental growth would have stopped at the age they were turned. Though Winter still found herself trying to decipher what Ruby meant when she said three and a half, that would be a question for another day.

Maybe Winter should keep the letter brief. Let Weiss know she was alright. See if maybe she could reach out to the Belladonna girl, Blake, and let her know that Ilia was well. Though she might have to leave out the part that she had taken to sharing a bed with one of their captors but Winter couldn't find it in her heart to judge the girl and Yang seemed nice enough.

Mostly though, Winter wanted to know how Weiss was doing. She wanted to know if she had chosen her classes for Beacon college in the fall. She wanted to know if Weiss was keeping up with her fencing practice for her scholarship. She wanted to make sure she wasn't obsessing over Winter and trying to save her from somewhere she didn't need to be saved. Winter didn't mind being a captive if it meant Weiss was free, and she minded it even less if Weiss could know she was alright and wasn't wasting her energy trying to save her when she should be studying and getting away from their father.

So, that is exactly what Winter did her best to display in the letter. She didn't know if Weiss would read the email or assume it was some kind of elaborate scheme from the vampires to try and lure her in. She didn't even know if Weiss read emails, or if it would get lost in a see of promotional emails. Whatever it was, it made Winter feel better as she typed out the letter of reassurance filled with questions for her sister. When she was finished she quickly scanned the letter for any mistakes or anything that needed rewording. When she was satisfied she gave a curt nod.

Before Winter could change her mind, she clicked send.

BRK: Alright, ladies and gents and everyone in between we are about a fifth of the way there. This was more of a filler chapter that I really needed to help show some progress with the relationship between the two as well as some closure for Winter with Weiss. Also, the next big thing will happen in the next chapter however that chapter will not be uploaded next week but will be uploaded the week after that. Why? Because next week is Qrowin week so I will be taking the week off from my regularly scheduled writing to update my stories instead. I hope to see you all out there for support to all the artists and writers that are participating. See you in two weeks! Later Gators!