Hi there, long time no see, huh?

After spending the last couple of weeks in creative limbo, I finally pushed myself out and wrote all of this in one go, crazy right?


"They executed their prisoners?! And you didn't try to stop them?!" Qrow sighed at the incoming headache, oh he understood exactly how Ironwood felt, still, him yelling wasn't helping.

"They were mostly done by the time I made it back Jimmy, only managed to save the one." he answered as he raised his flask to his lips, then frowning when he found it to be empty.

Glynda shook her head with a sigh. "But at what price?" She pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath. "We need to figure out what to do about this…"

Ironwood nodded in agreement. "Ozpin?"

Ozpin hummed as he took a sip of his morning coffee with an indecipherable expression. "Bring them to me." he finally said, much to everyone's shock.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Ironwood was the first to voice his displeasure, very loudly one might add. "I don't think I need to say that bringing unknowns into Vale is a very bad idea, they could be working with Salem for all we know!"

"I don't usually say this but I have to agree with James on this one, this could turn very bad very quickly," Glynda said with her arms crossed. Qrow sighed at the looks he received, they were clearly waiting for him to say his thoughts.

He carefully thought of what had happened last night, just as he was about to agree with Jimmy, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, readying his ears for the shouting. "Alright Oz, I'll do it."

As he expected, Glynda and Ironwood immediately voiced their displeasure, Qrow silenced them by repeating the words the golden knight said. "It's not something I do out pleasure, but a task I must fulfill, the law will not falter, not under my watch." The two looked at him with confusion, silently asking him what he ment, Qrow was much obliged to answer. "Why would someone so fixated on upholding the law serve someone like Salem? Why did he say they couldn't take prisoners? And how did a group of 50 people traveling so relatively close to Vale go unnoticed?"

"So many questions that we cannot answer by ourselves, and that will remain unanswered if we let them go," Ozpin added. "Right now they are a wildcard, so I'd like to meet them in person and see whether they are a useful ally, or an enemy that needs to be dealt with."

No one could argue against that.

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Alistair sighed as he looked at the small bags of food that the soldiers managed to barter from the townspeople. It was just enough to sustain them for a week if they rationed, the soldiers knew it too.

"Alistair." The lawbringer looked at the kensei who called his name. "We should get moving, the faster we do the more those supplies will last."

"I know, Ishikawa." He sighed and began walking north, with luck, they'd find another settlement to trade for food along the way and hopefully get a better grip of their location.

Just as they began advancing, a voice he recognized called from behind, Alistair raised an eyebrow as Qrow Branwen approached, holding a massive sword on his hand, the back of the segmented blade resting on his shoulder. "Ah, Branwen, are you joining us? I'm afraid we don't have the funds to hire a mercenary."

The black haired man chuckled. "Not a merc, I'm a huntsman pal, but yeah, I am joining you people, for a while at least."

The lawbringer raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You're going north aren't ya? Same direction I'm going, so might as well go together, strength in numbers and all that," Qrow said with a shrug.

Alistair hummed. "Very well then." The conversation ended there, for there was nothing else to be said.

Cold as he may have seemed on the outside, Alistair was pleased the man had come, a capable fighter was always welcome, and his gut told him that he'd be useful to have even if it was for a small period of time.

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After a week or so of travel, Virgil didn't know what to make of the people she had been forced to join.

The knights acted indifferent towards her, they clearly couldn't have given any less of a damn whether she was with them or not, the only real interaction she had with any of them was with the officers and captains who bossed her around, she felt more like a slave than a soldier, constantly doing things like gathering timber for the campfires, bringing water or just training under captain Blackwall, who would work her to the bone, and of course she had to do all of it under the careful watch of Alistair.

She hadn't had a chance to talk with anyone outside of the Iron legion other than Bran, big man twice her size with a black hole for a stomach and a very magnificent red beard. Bran was friendly and told her stories of how he'd gotten his scars, all with a friendly smile.

It was safe to say that she liked hanging around with him in those rare occasions when she wasn't doing anything, like she was right now.

"- And then he throws his axe at me, misses and hits Hjalmar's bear instead!" Bran said as he reenacted the motions as best he could given that they were walking.

Hjalmar, who was walking besides Bran, laughed. "Oh yes, I remember that very well, Gungnir chased the berseker for HOURS before dying of blood loss, gods I miss that bear, bloody good companion that one was."

Virgil giggled. "How did you even manage to have a bear as a pet? What did you even feed him?"

Hjalmar elbowed Bran, knowing that the red headed Viking was a better storyteller than him, the man in question grinned as he was about to go into another story. "Well-"

Ishikawa raised his fist before Bran could continue. "Quiet, I hear something."

Everyone immediately went silent. First there was the sound of leaves being stepped on and the brushing of bushes around them, then came the growling, Virgil hoped it wasn t what she thought it was, her question was answered when she saw the glowing crimson eyes.

"Grimm!" as soon as the word left her mouth, a large pack of Beowolves jumped out at once, taking some of the soldiers by surprise, who barely managed to hold the beasts back with the aid of their nearby comrades.

Alistair growled as he held a Beowolf back from biting his head off. "What sort of devil is this?!"

Everyone was doing their best to wound the Grimm, but not Virgil, Virgil had always been terrified of Grimm, of their malicious red eyes and reckless abandon, so she just stood there, shaking in her oversized boots. She looked behind her, the way was clear, she could flee now, escape with her life and free herself, it was just a step away!

Then the screams of the soldiers came as the Beowolves easily tore through their armour as if it wasn't even there, Virgil almost fled right there and then, and only one voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"It's got Bran!" Hjalmar shouted as he did his best to aid Torbjorn to kill the Beowolf that had pounced to one of the officers.

Bran was off to the side, his axe lost as he used his shield to keep his head safe from the jaws of the Grimm. "Get it off me! Get it off me!"

Her life, or a friend's? Virgil looked back one last time and drew the cheap sword and shield she'd been given, as she forced herself to run to help Bran, she kept repeating to herself the first lesson captain Blackwall had drilled into her. "You're not hiding, you're holding, you're not hiding, you're holding," every time she said it, she got louder and louder, eventually breaking into a sprint with her shield covering her small frame and sword pointed forward, screaming like a banshee.

Virgil slammed into the Beowolf's side with her sword burying itself deep into the beast, the Beowolf howled in pain and backhanded her shield, pushing her away before chasing after her. Virgil whimpered as the large Grimm grew closer and closer, that's where she made the mistake of hiding behind her shield.

She screamed as she felt the full force of the blow on her arm and was knocked to the ground, tears began to flow from her tightly closed eyes, she readyied herself for the pain, but it never came, she opened her eyes to see only black smoke and the caped huntsman standing before her before rushing off and carving a bloody path through the Grimm like they were nothing but a nuisance. With him there, the battle was soon won.

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Qrow had gone away to gather some food, why? Well apparently Alistair confused 'huntsman' with 'hunter' and so would often make him go around killing small animals for everyone to eat, not that he couldn't do it, it was one one of the things he learned to do back in the tribe, and it was a good excuse to get in contact with Oz or have a drink. Now imagine his surprise when he returned to see them under attack by Grimm.

Thorne approached him, panting for breath. "What in God's name were those things?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Never fought Grimm?"

Next to approach was Ishikawa, who was holding his bleeding arm. "What is a Grimm? I've never heard of such creature."

He had take a double take on that. First confusing huntsman for hunter, and now they don't know what a Grimm is? What in Remnant was even going on here?!

"We have a bigger problem than that," Alistair said from the back. They all turned around and the sight wasn't pretty. Ishikawa had gotten away with just a scratch on his arm but many of the warriors weren't so lucky, with many of them being badly wounded.

Bai, who had shown his skills as a healer in the past week, observed the wounded and simply shook his head with a solemn look, Qrow understood the message the monk was giving them; there was nothing he could do.

Shit had gone straight to hell, without a proper hospital these warriors would-

Qrow stopped his train of though with a hum, this was exactly what he needed. Qrow had of course, lied to the lawbringer about why he was going with them, his real reason was to wait for the perfect excuse to bring them to Vale without much convincing, like their supplies running short, this was a golden opportunity.

"I know some people that could save them." He said, which immediately caught the warrior's attention.

"Where?" asked Aquila.

"Beacon academy, just a few days away, they'll recover as long as they can survive the trip, I can promise you that."

For them, the decision was more than obvious. Alistair was the one to voice the thoughts of his fellow warriors.

"Lead the way then."


Short one, I know, but next one should come out relatively quickly, so keep an eye out for that one, ye?

See ya later you magnificently beautiful bastards.