Chapter 2

When the Faunus Wars began thirty years ago, Remnant had barely recovered when the first shots and skirmishes of the conflict rang throughout all four of its major kingdoms. Though General Laugne's failure was what the general population widely remembered today, the one battle was only a small part of the overall war efforts around Remnant. Vale, for example, did not see direct fighting for much of it, most of the major land battles were fought in the fields of Anima. However, everyone who has lived through that era will tell you of the Varsovian uprising, beginning where the Faunus quarters were located right in the center of Vale.

Despite the Valean army's best attempts, they held out until the final peace treaty ended the war, albeit at great cost to its denizens and buildings. Today, the quarter has been largely rebuilt, though the area has seen a lot more human residents living there now compared to prior decades. Still, if not for their uprising in the first place, Ruby may have never met Molly, the owner of Sid's Vicious Cafe, where she currently works as a waitress and part-time barista. After all, the former Faunus quarter was now the largest collection of everything from punk movements to new-age beliefs and beyond in Vale, if not all of Remnant.

"Ruby, love, once you're done with that start preppin' on the tumbler."

Nodding at Molly, the middle-aged woman was involved with the peace movements when fighting began, and quite viciously if she had to guess. Even thirty years after the war ended, she still sported the spiked leather jackets that seemed right out of the era her father grew up in. Finishing up by wiping down table number four, she prepared to head into the pantry, only to hear the familiar ding of the front door. A new customer, and being the only waitress on hand right now, she had to take it.

"Welcome-"

Ruby cut herself off upon seeing who actually walked in. With a shit-eating grin on his face, she saw that it was her dear uncle, and if she had to guess, right after coming back from another huntsman mission.

"It'll be a table for one-"

"This cafe is closed, please leave the premises."

"Ugh!"

Qrow faked a heartache by placing his hand dramatically on his chest, it was bad enough seeing Yang come in with her father last week, she had no desire to relive a similar experience, even with the cafe as empty as it was now.

"What kinda service is this?! I am just a poor, dusty, old huntsman who just wants a drink, are you really that cold?"

She was, and in fact, Ruby began looking for a broom so that she could shoo him-

"Qrow, you bastard! Don't you bloody leave just yet, you still haven't paid your tab!"

Molly suddenly called out from the bar counter, evidently her exchange was a bit too loud to keep it quiet.

"Yeah, and I'm here to pay it."

Walking up to the bar counter, he took out a small stack of Lien and handed it over to Molly. Counting it carefully, the last time this happened she threatened to wring his neck over trying to short her, though judging by her calm expression this time, he was smart enough to not pull the same trick again.

"Two decades I've known ye, and you're still the same arse from Beacon. Still living the life of the big hero? Saving villages n' all?"

"I do other stuff too, but I'm also here to see my niece, you mind?"

Holding her hand up, she poured out a glass of water for him before retreating into the pantry. "Water, it'll help wash that booze off ya."

Ruby had a guess as to why her uncle came here today, and it was probably for the same reason why her father awkwardly kept trying to strike up conversations at breakfast today. Knowing him, however, whenever a topic with any degree of difficulty came up, he always tried to ease into it as a means of shielding himself from potential arguments breaking out. Qrow was probably here on his request.

"So, how you doing here kiddo? Like the place? Molly is the same as ever, but she's as good as ever-"

"This is about my career quiz, isn't it?"

Two days ago her entire year was given a career quiz to do. Signal Academy was divided into two parts, the regular teaching component and the latter regular school component for non-aspiring huntsmen or other related career paths. Because she was in the regular school component, she was given this quiz, unlike her sister who was in the preparatory programme and obviously had her career path well in mind already. Classes were mixed, and they were essentially taught the same things, only that the preparatory classes included combat and other skills to deal with the Grimm.

"Couldn't even get that past you, huh? Alright, yeah, Tai freaked out this morning and asked me to talk to you about it."

"Ask or beg?"

"Beg, he owes me one hell of a favour now, don't let him know I told you."

His scroll was taken out, and after pressing on it a couple of times, a picture showing her own quiz was displayed. Ruby crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Qrow.

"I thought these were only given to Mister Simmons, why do you have it?" Mister Simmons of course, was her homeroom teacher.

"You know I am a teacher at Signal right? Just not for any of your classes. Anyways, do you see why Tai freaked out yet? Honestly, did you write it just to mess with him?"

To be completely honest, she didn't think much of it when she wrote down her top three career options then and there. From top choice to bottom, she listed only three things:

Maritime officer

Singer

Maid Cafe Waitress

"The third choice is something I just wrote in."

Qrow let out a chuckle before speaking again. "Funny, but Tai probably prefers you doing that than your first choice. Honestly? I should have recorded the call from him this morning, at least it would make for some great blackmail."

Ruby stood her ground, she didn't put a lot of thought into it but that particular career path of being a maritime officer was something she had an inkling of interest in. Yes, airships were the new method of transportation but it didn't mean shipping was over, far from it in fact. So why were her father and Qrow so worried about her picking that?

"I don't see anything wrong with it."

He took a sip of water before responding. "Ruby, I think the fact that they have as high of a mortality rate as some huntsmen made Tai practically beg me to make you reconsider. I mean, I know the numbers myself, and lemme tell ya, they are not…"

"Tch. So what? Are you going to recommend that I become a huntress again?"

"Honestly? Yeah, at this point I'd say it's a better career path since you'll at least get paid more for the same chance of dying."

Unlike her father, Qrow usually did not mince words when saying something. That has led to some awkward statements said during dinners together, especially when anything regarding politics came up, but she did appreciate his candidness at times. Now though, she wasn't so sure.

"Look, I know you like ships and sailing and all of that, by the way, never got why you liked those things, but at the very least, just make up some vague thing about wanting to become a singer or something during tonight's dinner. At least Tai won't be wide awake at night thinking about your potential watery grave."

That part about Maritime Officers having the same mortality rate as huntsmen was true, the seas were infested by Grimm and sailing through them was a very arduous journey. The chance of death came usually because the industry was declining, and automated airships like the ones made by Atlas often took over shipping roles. With the industry being replaced by airships, it led to fewer sea-going ships, and fewer ships meant that costs were cut. Unfortunately, that resulted in the ships being maintained in less-than-ideal states, which then led to its defences being subpar, finally resulting in a higher mortality rate.

"So everything comes back to huntsman and huntresses after all…"

In Signal, she often got questions from curious and brave classmates regarding her programme choice, after all, she was from a huntsman family, the expectation was that she should follow the same career path, right? Yang was going on the same career path, so what made her choose to be different?

"I know we've had this talk before, but it's honestly not that bad, heck, Summer even-"

Qrow shut himself before he continued on, clearly seeing Ruby's glare searing itself onto him. The last time they had a similar conversation was when she had to decide on whether or not she would enroll in the preparatory academy or not, it ended in a lot of shouts and a silent agreement to not pursue it any further.

"Mutter-" Ruby clamped her mouth shut before speaking again. "Mom didn't want me pressured into it, and you are definitely not helping your case by mentioning her."

Hands were raised in faux surrender, Qrow had a resigned look on his face as he finished the rest of his water.

"Okay, I get it. Just think about it for a bit okay? And don't forget to mention that during dinner, I'll head back to Patch myself."

With another whimsical wave, Qrow secured his sword before leaving the cafe. Looking at the clock, there was only an hour left until closing time-

"Ruby! You're not leaving until you help me finish peelin' the tatty croquettes for tomorrow! Don't you dare think of hanging up your apron just yet!"

Of course, she expected this. Calling back out to her, Ruby got back into the pantry to help with tomorrow's service. Just as she was about to head inside, a pang of deja vu hit her all of a sudden, causing her to take in the antique decor of the cafe mixed in with what were very clearly punk icons of Vale's music scene from decades past. A familiar scene played in her head, of boundless horizons mixed in with the smell of gunpowder and soot. At the forefront, were flashes of a distant naval base that she felt an odd melancholic desire for; a similarly run cafe was present as well, only this time there were other Kansen running it with her.

Shaking her head out of those thoughts, she got back to the task at hand, those scenes remaining as they always were, memories.

With that potential disaster averted, Qrow began making his way toward the piers of Vale. These days, the airship ports saw much more action, and more passengers than the ferries. Not that they still weren't useful, but people preferred airships because they were much faster than a regular ferry, and he guessed that the chances of coming across a giant Feilong or something similar was much lower when high up in the sky. Walking to a pre-determined meeting point, he found Ozpin looking at the setting sun. Glynda, who in his mind was the one who actually ran Beacon nowhere to be seen, it appeared that he wanted this kept to the two of them only.

Transforming from back into his human form behind a true, he was immediately greeted by him.

"Ah, there you are. I trust everything regarding your niece is in good order?"

"Yeah, you want the update or what? I told Tai I'd be making my way back there for dinner today, so probably can't stay for too long."

Sure, he told Tai that, but Ruby was the one who made dinner…and breakfast most of the time now. Not to say he was a bad cook, actually no, he was, that soggy noodles incident made him prefer Ruby's cooking permanently. She acted sorta like Summer actually, just with the whole emo-goth phase going on right now.

"By all means, I won't stop you from taking a well-deserved rest."

Then why did you want the update?!

Grumbling aside, Qrow began telling him what he found. "That crater on that island you mentioned? It's recent, and probably aimed at something."

"My suspicions were correct then?"

"Not exactly…"

Two months ago, a large explosion was reported some nautical miles in the seas surrounding the island of Patch. By the time the Valean coast guard was dispatched to investigate, all they found was an empty, and quiet patch of ocean. The explosion was heard by many in the settlements on the island, but despite days of searching, no source or origin of the explosion was found. Qrow however, was notified by Ozpin of a large crater a dozen kilometres away on an island where previously there was none.

"It's recent, and not a dust bomb. It looks more like a crater caused by one of Atlas's artillery than anything. You sure Jimmy isn't doing some exercises off the coast of Vale that we don't know about?"

"Preposterous, there are more than enough training fields in Solitas than to do it in Vale's backyard. And what of the ghost ship I've been hearing so much about?"

Right, the supposed 'ghost battleship' sailing around the seas. Qrow chalked it up to an urban legend from old and drunk fishermen. "Nothing, are you seriously asking me to investigate that?"

Ozpin didn't even turn around as he replied, what a bastard. "I wouldn't ask you about it if I didn't intend to. You may want to hang around some old sailor bars in the next few days, I'm sure you and your semblance will make sure loose lips give you all the leads you need."

A mission where he could actually head to a bar? It suddenly didn't seem so bad after all. "Well then, see ya Oz. I'm gonna need a bit more funds if I'm going pub crawling."

Sighing, Ozpin waved him goodbye as he transformed back into a crow. On the way back to Vale, he wondered if Ruby may know something about it. Seemingly out of nowhere, she had developed a strange fascination with all things to do with sailing and ships a couple of years back. The only people that Qrow knew were into these things as well was Port, and Ruby was most definitely not him. She was the last person he expected to ever develop an interest in that particular hobby, but at least it gave her something to talk about. He much preferred this Ruby to the one right after Summer's… disappearance, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all.

The sun had fully set by now, and his destination was within sight, an odd, nondescript-looking cabin in the middle of the woods. Judging by the wonderful aroma he smelled, Ruby had made his favourite cream stew again.

Yeah, she's going to be alright, what's the big deal about worrying over her?

AN:

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