Back with a second chapter! I am enjoying this story so far. I am open to all criticism and reviews. I like hearing what you say about it and what you're thinking.

I will point out, obviously, my Schnee family tree is different to the show. Currently in this time it is Daddy Schnee, Winter, and Weiss alive, her mother is dead and...I know I could have Whitley in this universe, but I don't think I will. I am guessing he is younger than Weiss so he could turn up but I don't think I will be having him (flash forward to me contradicting myself...)

Still thanks to my sister for being an awesome editor, she is teaching me so much by pointing out my errors and making me change it. And obviously, I didn't create all this, much love to Monty Oum.

One week later

It had taken time, but Winter was getting used to this different life. For a large part of her life, all she had to do was ring a bell and a servant would be there to help. Sometimes it would be Klein with his ever happy face smiling in through the door, but in recent days he had been preoccupied with Weiss. Winter didn't mind that he had taken Weiss under his wing as he had once done with her when she was little. It kept her mind at ease and eased the ache of leaving her. Honestly, it was a better option than her father, he could really be cruel after a bad day. But at home, all Winter had to do was press a button and her wish was done. But here in this dingy, unkempt, and poorly decorated room, she would have to work.

Winter finally opened her eyes and looked around the small room. She found it hard to believe people paid money to stay in places so filthy. Not that she was complaining, this was probably the last place her father would come looking for her, but it wasn't great either. Even if her father wouldn't personally come here, she knew he wouldn't give up so easily. She sat up as memories swirled through her mind.

What had begun merely as phone calls that consisted of her father saying, "Just get it done", had evolved into Winter waking late one night as a visitor approached the manor, with a sniper in one hand and a bloodied bag in the other. He showed her father the contents of the bag, and he nodded in return and handed over a suitcase of lien. Then, he left. Winter had heard rumours at the office when she had accompanied her father that after her mother's death, he had some... less than moral business standards - but now, she could safely say he definitely did. Winter couldn't exactly talk to anyone about it as she knew what her father would think of it. It wasn't exactly in the Schnee way to go to anyone to air your family's dirty laundry. And even if she had told anyone, he would probably have had the same man with the sniper pay them a visit. So, she would say silent. She leaned over and checked that her mother's sword was still under the mattress. Feeling the familiar handle made her feel safe and calmed her.

She got up and got dressed, pulling the blue hood over her face as she left her room. This inn had been the safest bet she had of hiding. It was in a less than desirable area in the outskirts of town by the river. She was learning very quickly, as she had only found the place by seeing sailors being enticed into hotel rooms by risqué women. This had made it the perfect spot in her mind, as it would be the last place her father would look for her - but it was also a great place to start learning how the world really worked. She was laughed at for the curtsey and thanks she would finish any conversation with. When she had asked for a room, the innkeeper belched a single loud laugh and said, "It's my job, what else am I gonna do?"

For the rest of the week, she had been walking around the river and watching people work through their lives, as she kept her eyes out for anyone who could have been looking for her. It fascinated Winter, as they all had to do so much. One woman was doing the washing as well as watching her two kids. Winter didn't need to know the story, but she could tell the woman was a widow and was doing all this work on her own. Winter was fascinated to see all the jobs that needed doing in a normal family. She had seen movies and taken glances out the window on trips into town at normal people and their houses and it had always confused her. But as she was learning more and more these days, Winter had been incredibly lucky to be born into a rich family with servants. Life was tougher than she had thought, but that only gave her more determination to learn.

She reached the ground floor and looked around. She must have slept through it, but the evidence of a bar fight was strewn across the room. Parts of chairs lay shattered over tables. Broken glasses were sprinkled over the floor. Blade cuts and bullet holes decorated the walls and surfaces. Passed out people - probably sleeping off the alcohol - were artfully placed over the room.

Winter carefully tiptoed over to the bar, glass crushing beneath her shoes. She sat down on a stool and dinged the bell placed on the bench. There was a few groans from the people around the bar, one poor soul muttering "Fuck off, I don't want to go another round..." Winter's mouth dropped open, still getting over the initial shock of the language used in the real world.

At that point, the bar keeper entered from the kitchen. He held a bag of ice wrapped in rags to the side of his face with one hand, and a hearty plate of breakfast in the other.

"Well if it isn't little miss popular and mysterious..." his deep voice grumbled. He placed his breakfast next to her, leant on the bar, picked up a fork, and started eating.

"Oh my Oum, what happened to you?" Winter exclaimed as he brought down the bag of ice to reveal a large bruise covering his cheek, with a slash cutting through it diagonally.

"What this? Ah don't worry about it, the other guy just got lucky..." he said as he cut up some toast with egg and bacon on it and shoveled it into his mouth. "I've had worse regardless. But what I really want to know is who are you."

Winter was shocked. She froze and didn't know what to think. She hadn't been expecting this question so early in her journey.

"I...that's not your concern, that's my business," she said with false confidence. She knew it was a poor lie, but it wasn't her forte. The innkeeper didn't seem to appreciate this, his face crumpling up in anger.

"Well it became my business when ten men, real shady assholes, came in here asking about a young woman in blue and where they could find her. Not that it was 'my business', but I refused to tell them. Not exactly my place to tell shady men where they can find young women. So I told them to check down the docks for some more... open women who weren't hiding. That was before I saw the metal gloves he was wearing, and his sword slashing around. He followed up with a good punch and I was out for the night. Luckily it was late enough that the regulars were drunk enough to help out and fight those ten guys. And what you see," he said, gesturing around the room, "is how this fight happened. Drunk masses took them on and chased them out of the bar. Gonna cost me a Oum damn fortune, so: you tell me, is it 'my business' that in protecting you, I have ruined my job and potentially become broke for the rest of my life?"

Winter's mouth fell open when he finished his story. She couldn't believe it. The innkeeper had barely cared when she came to stay and yet if it weren't for him, she would be back where she had started.

"I am so sorry, I didn't mean this to happen. They were after me and you..." she began but the innkeeper held up a hand to stop her.

"Ah, don't worry about it lass. Look at me, I'll be fine. You're not an experienced innkeeper without having a few fights on your hands. They are just lucky I didn't get to my weapons." He pulled out a cross between two guns, that were a magnum and an axe. "But now all that has been explained, I really want to know. Who the hell are you?"

Winter opened her mouth, but paused and thought before speaking. She brought her hands up and lowered her hood, revealing her Schnee hair and hair pin, but more importantly her face with her eyes welling up. Now his mouth dropped open.

"You're...you..." he stammered, but Winter interrupted.

"I'm Winter," she said - he obviously knew her surname but she kept going. "I'm... I'm going on a journey, and you can probably guess my father is not happy that I am doing so without his permission. I am so, so sorry this happened to your bar. Take this." She placed small bag of lien on the bar next to his breakfast, and he dropped his fork which clattered to the ground. The scare made her bring the hood back up over her face.

"Oum damn it, I've got tied up with a Schnee in a incident..." he muttered before addressing her, looking at the plump bag of lien. "I'm sorry for being so rude to you... but I think it's best you move on..."

Winter opened her mouth to argue, but the bar door was suddenly kicked open and a bloodied man covered in bruises and ripped clothes barged in. He was holding a sword in a gauntlet clothed hand. He was followed by five new men who were wearing ripped worn down clothing and holding small axes in each. The sword wielder pointed said sword at Winter and yelled, "I knew you had seen her Anthill, get her!"

The man with the sword dashed forwards towards the pair, when he was hit square in the chest with a orange dust blast that sent him flying back out the door. Winter turned to look at Innkeeper Anthill. He was holding his smoking magnum axes aimed straight at where the man had been.

"That's for the slice and punch, you lucky bastard... Winter, go! I'll hold these rookies off." Winter was so caught up in the moment that she knew it was best that she run.

As the five remaining men dashed towards Anthill with axes raised, Winter yelled, "Thank you for everything..." but she doubted he could hear her as he began unloading round after round at the men. She dashed up the stairs, ran into her dusty room, and locked the door. She dove onto the bed and put on her mothers sword as she unsheathed it. Every option opened up in her mind. She remembered seeing a cellar door exit out the back of the inn when she was walking past it when she first booked in. She ran back towards the door with sword in hand, but she could hear footsteps approaching, and the door handle shook violently, pressuring the lock. Winter stumbled to a halt and raised her weapon to the door. The purser took a few steps back and barged the door. It bulged on its frame but held steady.

The pursuer took gasps for air then yelled, "You're gonna make me rich, you little Schnee..." and took another run at the door. Needing more time, Winter pointed the sword squarely at the door and fired a round at it. A ball of ice covered the door, securing her more time.

"Your dust won't help you, bitch!" he yelled as he began to hack away at the door with his axe. Winter turned and looked at her only option.

The window.

She dashed over to it and fumbled the lock open. She then threw the window open and leant out. To her right was the river and the public walking around it. Whenever Winter had been out, she had been readily alert and had not been followed or looked for. She had no idea if the men had back up outside the inn, so that was out of the question. Going left would take her to the docks. Winter was already formulating her next move in her head: stowaway on a boat, and leave Atlas for good. Never come back.

Winter climbed on the ledge as the ice began to crack. As it shattered, she slid off and fell. It wasn't a long distance as she was only on the second floor, but she still slowed her fall with glyphs. She landed in a crouched pose, quickly stood back up and took off down the alley, blue coat billowing behind her.

She reached the corner and skidded around it. As she approached the cellar door, it flew open and one of the five men leapt out and held his axes at his sides, ready to fight. Winter was still running and did the only thing she could. She concentrated hard, and a black glyph appeared over him. She jumped and landed with both feet on his chest and kicked off, sending him flying down the back alley and leading Winter back to the corner she had come from. As she rounded it, the pursuer wall-jumped off the inn and the building next to it and started running directly towards her. In fear, Winter pointed two fingers at him, making a glyph appear underneath him and making him lose his footing. He crumpled to the ground.

Winter jumped back in to the corner, and it was this lucky move that saved her as an axe landed in the wall next to her from the cellar door man. She backed into the corner, pointing her mother's sword back and forth between the two men. She looked up at the building she was under, but was disappointed to see that it was a warehouse. It towered above her at heights her glyphs had never taken her. She looked back as both men approached her, and managed to kick the pursuer in the side of his ribs with a glyph, which caused him to smash into the wall and fall to the ground, unconscious. A small mischievous smile crawled over her face, but was instantly replaced with horror when the cellar door man placed the blade of the axe against her throat. He held her by the waist as she struggled as little as she could without moving the blade.

"Finally caught me a Schnee..." he breathed into the air around her, the smell of alcohol lingering on his breath. "I know a few people who have conflicted feelings towards you. Some want to hold you hostage and make millions, some just want the satisfaction of killing a Schnee. I know this guy who is deadly with a chainsaw..." but he was cut off as a newcomer from the streets silhouetted the entrance and spoke.

"Well that's not a nice way to treat a lovely lady..." a rusty voice echoed down the alley as both the man and Winter looked. A red cape waved in the wind behind him as he walked towards the pair. His feet clacked as he walked in black dress shoes, which complimented his black dress pants and grey dress shirt. A crooked cross pendant was hanging from his neck as he looked at the scene with his piercing red eyes. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"None of your business, huntsman," Winter's captor said, readjusting his grip on the axe as the other man approached. "Yeah, I've heard of you, you're a part of that new team in from Vale... what's your name? STAK? STIK?"

"It's STRQ, and it is my business if I see someone doing no good," the man replied as he ran his hand through his spiky black hair, making sure to step on the unconscious guy on the floor. "And if you know the group I'm from, you know how dangerous we are, so I suggests you run."

The man didn't budge, only pressing the axe harder onto Winters throat, this time with the flat end. It was choking her. She struggled for breath as she looked pleadingly at the stranger. He locked eyes with her, red with blue, and said, "Do you trust me?" Winter didn't have time to think of any reasons why not, and blinked once at him as she struggled her head into a semi nod. "Close enough," the man said.

He moved unbelievably fast. He reached behind his cape and pulled out a large sword, triggered the blade to fall down and aimed two barrels at the pair. He shot Winter's captor in the hand that was holding the axe it. He dropped the axe and grabbed at his hand, as Winter fell to her knees gasping for air. The man let out a bellow of anger, and ran towards the stranger. He grabbed the axe that was wedged in the wall and flung it at the stranger, and continued running towards him. Anticipating this, the stranger retracted his gun back into sword mode and slashed downwards, cutting the axe clean in half and shoulder barged the man back. He was sent stumbling back against the corner, but was raising his fists to charge again when a bang echoed from the direction of the cellar. The assailant stopped and looked in that direction just as a orange staff embroiled with yellow dragon engravings came flying end first into his head. This sent out a shotgun blast of yellow dust when it hit his head, knocking him clean into the wall and sending the staff back to where it came from. It was grabbed out of the air on its return journey by a blonde haired male, dressed in a light orange vest to compliment his darker range pants. He placed the staff into the sheath on his back and walked towards Winter and the stranger.

"I had him, Tai," the stranger said as he triggered his sword to transform back into its default carrying mode, placing it behind his cape.

"Oh sure, how far ahead had you thought beyond that counter with the axe?" the man named Tai said as he brushed off dust from his shoulder plate and adjusted his arm cloth. "Because if you hadn't realised it already, these guys are more agile and trained than that of your average street gangster..."

"I was just about to finish him with a slash into the wall," the stranger retorted, raising his hands to place them behind his head as he cocked his head to the left in thought. "But you're right, these guys weren't your ordinary thugs. They would have killed that guy in there if we hadn't intercepted them..."

"You...I...Anthill..." Winter stuttered as she rose from the ground, only to nearly fall as she leaned on the wall, still deeply taking in air. The pair of men looked at each other. The look between them depicted an argument about what to do. Tai gave the other what looked like a glare, and the other one shook his head sternly in reply. Tai let out a groan as he folded his arms and began walking away down the alley. The other shrugged and focused on Winter.

"Listen, we really shouldn't have been here, this area isn't our job," the stranger began as he lent on the wall next to Winter. "The Atlas police should be the ones roaming the street and taking assailants like that down. Hell, this isn't even the reason we're in town, but I feel like it's something bigger than we ever thought. We just saved your ass, which leads me to assume you don't want to be found. But you don't look the kind of person to be in trouble, so we're gonna help you out - and take you to lunch. You're gonna tell us what you know and we'll sort this out, do you understand?" When he finished he had his hand on Winter's shoulder and was looking down at her when she looked up. Their eyes connected again as Winter breathed out the question on the top of her list.

"Who...are...you?"

"Name's Qrow. Now come with us, we're the best chance you have to stay away from these clowns."

INTRODUCING MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER...QROW! :)

Until next time...