Chapter 4 : The Bird Man Cometh

8 Days ago

Qrow was out drinking, which wasn't really a shock. He had gotten drunk countless times before, somebody with a semblance like his wouldn't be able to avoid alcohol. But since Summer Rose's disappearance the bottom of a bottle held some reprieve for the huntsman, more so than it ever had. After returning to Patch via Raven's semblance, he went straight to Beacon to consult Ozpin and hoped to get some good news about his leader and friend.

Unfortunately, the old wizard was just as in the dark as he was. He did reveal the details of the mission. It was a simple escort mission in Vacuo, high priority but supposedly low risk. So the disappearance of one of his best students was a surprise to Ozpin, and the lack of a link with Raven's semblance even more so. They both had their suspicions of course, mostly for the former, however they were very confused about the latter and if Ozpin knew anything, he didn't tell Qrow about it.

After a brief farewell and a short flight to Vale, Qrow found himself in a secluded corner of a bar, drowning himself in alcohol to alleviate his pain. He didn't know how long he was there, he didn't keep track but if the number of bottles on the table said anything, it's that he'd been there a while. At some point he heard a strange, familiar noise, one of his sister's portals. He looked up from the table to see his sister there with a look mixed with both concern and disappointment.

"What are you doing?" Raven said with an exasperated sigh.

"What does it look like?" Qrow said back, his drawl much more slurred than usual.

"Do you really think this is the best way to deal with this? What about the kids?"

"Tai'll take care of them" Qrow said nonchalantly.

"Have you even told Tai yet?"

Qrow thought for a second, before his shoulders sagged and he dropped his head on the table.

Raven scoffed. "That's what I thought. You were a bad enough influence on Yang already, the last thing we need is for you to be an even worse influence for all three of the kids."

It took Qrow a second to process what his sister had said before he raised his head and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, three? I thought you didn't want me to meet Corvus just yet?"

"Yeah well, he's old enough to know better than to take after you, but we'll talk more about it when you sober up. Now go home and stop being so miserable."

"Alright, fine" Qrow said as Raven helped him up from his chair and opened a portal to patch before casually shoving him through it, then opening another one to the tribe.


7 days ago

Raven needed to speak to Qrow today. She was unsure about letting him be around Corvus when he was younger as Qrow is a bad influence and his semblance may cause some problems; she knows it's a sore spot for Qrow but Raven wasn't going to take any chances.

Opening a portal vaguely near Qrow, she ended up outside the Xiao-Long/Rose/Branwen household. She transformed into her bird form and flew to a windowsill to look into the house, where she saw Qrow sitting up on the couch. No Tai and no kids though. 'Good' she thought. The last thing she needs is for them to know she stopped by. She started pecking on the window to get his attention and when she got it, he rolled his eyes and pointed a thumb towards the back door.

She jumped off the windowsill and shifted back to her normal form, and walked around to meet her brother. He opened the back door and looked at her through his half-lidded eyes, he was very clearly hungover.

"Whadda you want Rae?" Qrow said with a groan

"I wanted to talk to you about Corvus, remember? He's old enough now and I think it's about time you met him. Properly."

"What about my semblance? Don't you think it might still be a little dangerous for the kid?"

"If he's old enough to spar with me then he's old enough to deal with your semblance. He's stronger than most his age."

"He's your kid, so obviously. Still though, are you- "

"I don't want to hear it Qrow, Corvus will be fine. Make sure you have a few days clear one week from now. I'll be coming by to pick you up."

"Wait, a few days? Why- "

Qrow didn't even get to finish his question before his sister disappeared into a portal.


Present day

Corvus was training, going through some advanced movements with his Shoto. His mother had stepped up his training routine and had him doing much more to build up his strength and skill. Advanced movement sets, aura training and regular sparring are just some of the things his mother has added to his regime. It was exhausting at times, but Corvus wouldn't have it any other way. He has begun to enjoy pushing himself as of late, though he has been warned not to push himself too far. Not that he always listened, of course. It took him spending a full day bedridden due to aura exhaustion for him to actually begin pacing himself. He had just finished another set of movements and was on his way back into the tent for a break. After a few minutes of rest and water he was about to return outside to continue his training when someone entered the tent. Corvus turned to entrance expecting to see his mother, but it was not her that now stood in the tent with him. While the red eyes were very familiar to him, Corvus didn't know the man and was immediately on guard.

Getting to his feet and drawing his Shoto, he glared at the intruder. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Whoa, relax kiddo." the man said as he raised his hands in a non-threatening gesture. "I'm not here to fight."

"Answer my questions then." Corvus said sharply.

"Alright, alright, calm down. I'll answer your questions. First off, the name's Qrow, I'm your uncle. Secondly, your mom, my sister, brought me here. Why? I dunno, but she wanted me to clear my schedule for a few days. You know anything about that?"

"She did she had a few surprises for me over the winter." Corvus said, lowering his weapon slightly. "But that doesn't matter, how do I know you're really who you say you are?"

"Really kiddo? Is the resemblance not enough?"

"Of course not." He said flatly

"Well, how about this?" Qrow says as he reaches into his pocket, takes out a photograph and hands it to Corvus.

As he looks at it, he sees four people who are clearly hunters if their weapons and outfits say anything. The first one that catches his eyes is his mother looking back at the camera with a small smile on her face and Omen on her hip, looking pretty much the same as she does now. The second person he notices is the man, Qrow, standing to her left with a very large sword on his shoulder. Seeing him and his mother stood side by side does make their resemblance all the more noticeable. Next to his mother he sees a blonde man, dressed in brown and orange with a grey pauldron on his left shoulder, leaning on a tree. He's standing very close to his mother and they're both facing each other. Bruno had told him about huntsman teams and partners, was this man her mother's? He put this thought away for later as he looked at the final member of the team, a short woman in a white cloak with black and red hair. He doesn't see anything about this woman that interests him other than her silver eyes, a rather unique eye colour. He thought they were pretty cool, not as cool as red eyes but cool nonetheless. He doesn't recall his mother talking about any of these people, not even his 'uncle'. But why though? Qrow speaks up before Corvus can ponder any further.

"Team STRQ. We're pretty well known in the kingdoms, but I'm not really surprised that you've never heard of us considering you've probably not been to any of them yet."

"I knew mom was a huntress, even though she never spoke much about it. It'd make sense if you were too, if you really are her brother. Who're the other two?"

"Well, the guy next to your mom is Taiyang. He's a brawler, likes to get up close and personal. Well, more so than hunters usually do anyway. He's also bit of a dork with him making bad jokes all the time, but he's a good guy. The girl with the cloak was our leader, Summer. She was pretty quiet at first, being a bit too shy to be leading a team with a big brawler and two scary tribesmen, but she stepped up eventually. She's probably the main reason we became as popular and well-known as we are. If she hadn't wrangled us in in the early days of our time in Beacon then we'd probably not have graduated at all, if I'm being honest."

"I wander why mom never told me about you, or them." Corvus said as he passed the photo back to Qrow.

"I'm not too sure about the others, I'm sure your mom had her reasons, but me? Well, let's just say my semblance is a bit problematic. It's caused trouble in the past and she didn't really want me around you because of it."

Corvus frowned and was about to inquire more, but he heard the flap to the tent be pushed aside and as he looked over, he saw his mother walk inside. Her eyes snapped towards Qrow before softening and settling on Corvus.

"Corvus? I thought you were supposed to be training?"

"I was." he swiftly responded. "I came in for a break, then Qrow walked in."

"Instilling your bad habits into him already, are you?" she said as she walked over to the center of the tent to take a seat.

"They aren't that bad. And no, I'm not. Just introducing myself to him since you seem to have forgotten to. We were just having a chat as you walked in."

"He's right mom." Corvus said as he sheathed his sword and went to take a seat beside his mother. "Is he really my uncle then?"

"Yes, he is. I'd have introduced you to him sooner but he's..." She trailed off, trying to think of an accurate description of her brother.

"A pain in the ass?"

Raven's eyes darted to Qrow, who was grinning until he saw that she had a glare that could level mountains and it was directed right at him.

"Uh, don't say that kiddo." He spoke nervously. "We'll both get in trouble."

"Yeah, and one of you will get it much worse than the other." Raven said, still glaring intensely at her brother. "It would be wise to choose your words more carefully when you're around my child, Qrow."

"Right, sorry Rae." He said, rubbing the back of his neck and sheepishly looking away. "Anyway, why don't you tell us why you brought me here? You didn't really explain that earlier." He said, hoping to smoothly change the topic.

Relenting her glare, she took a moment to compose herself before turning to Corvus.

"Pack your things, we'll be gone for a few days."

Corvus nodded and wordlessly walked to his side of the tent to gather his things, as Raven left the tent to talk with her brother.


"Mom, how long til we get there?"

Corvus had left the tribe's camp nearly two hours ago with his mother and newfound uncle, yet he had no idea where they were actually going as neither would tell them. They'd just say "You'll find out soon" which honestly annoyed him a little, but he couldn't be too upset since he rarely gets to venture this far from the tribe. He was honestly enjoying the little hike they were going on through the snowy forest.

"We're almost there Corvus, we should be able to see it any moment now."

She was shown to be right. As he was coming out of the tree line he saw a large gate and walls with people standing guard on top.

"This is Kumo-Rui, one of the more secret villages in Anima. We're going to be spending a few days here so you can have fun and experience some new things instead of training yourself to death."

"I don't train that much" Corvus said with a pout.

"Sure you don't kiddo" Qrow spoke. "But regardless, it'll be good for you to have some down time. No training, no sparring. Just enjoy yourself."

"But how? Training is how I have fun, most other things are boring. What else am I supposed to do?"

Qrow took a second to process what Corvus said, before chuckling. "He really is your kid ain't he? What were you saying earlier about bad habits?"

"Training isn't a bad habit, Qrow. It's a-"

"A necessity, yeah I'm well aware of that. I meant training all the time and not having any other hobbies. Honestly Rae he's as bad as you are."

"That's why you're here you idiot. You've always been much better at this than I have."

"Well that goes without saying, but yeah, alright. We'll show you around kiddo, maybe we'll find you a new hobby."

"Ok" Corvus said quietly. While he was excited to be spending time with his new uncle, he was anxious about being in this village and being surrounded by unfamiliar people. Even the prospect of finding a new hobby makes him a bit hesitant. He knows it sound stupid, but he doesn't really want to go outside of his comfort zone.

Raven, noticing his discomfort, places a hand upon his shoulder. "Relax Corvus, I know this is new to you, but don't worry. You have no reason to be nervous."

"Yeah don't worry kiddo. We're gonna be with you, you're not gonna be let loose on your own."

"Alright" He says.

The three of them reach the large gate and Raven waves up at the guard.

"Hey! You gonna let us in or what?"

The guard open the gate and the trio enter the village as Qrow speaks up.

"This village was founded by huntsmen, kiddo. Me, your mom and some friends of ours joined up with some hunters from a nearby village. They were having a little spider problem, Arachne Grimm. The things had set up a massive nest in this part of the forest. If it were still here we'd have encountered them at the edge of their nest about an hour ago. We worked with the hunters to take it down. Me and the others started causing a ruckus to draw out the most of the Arachne while your mother went around the other side and snuck her way into the nest. You see, we had a bomb. Got it from some Atlesians from Argus who were nice enough to lend a hand. It was strong enough to burn the entire nest to the ground, but the hunters had no way of delivering it. Luckily your mom's semblance came in handy with that little problem. She got to the center of the nest, opened a portal to us, armed the bomb and moved it through."

"Good thing you got that bomb though when you did too." Raven spoke. "I remember hearing the queen approaching as we were moving it. As much as I enjoy a challenge, I'll pass on a fight with an Arachne queen any day."

Qrow chucked. "Not gonna argue with you on that."

"Are they really that strong?" Corvus asked.

"Yeah, they're a pain." Qrow answered. "They're giants, way larger than most Grimm you'll find and they're surprisingly fast for their size. Those two things alone make them a terrifying enemy, but they can also churn out smaller Arachne surprisingly fast so if you leave one for too long then you've got yourself a massive problem before you know it. If we didn't have that bomb, it may have taken us weeks to work our way through the nest and kill the queen."

"Whoa" Corvus said in awe. He knew there were some strong Grimm out there, he had heard tales of sea dragon and horse-rider Grimm that were quite challenging, but this one horrified him. And not just because he didn't like spiders.

"We can tell stories later." Raven interjected. "Let's get our rooms first shall we?"

Corvus didn't even notice but they had come up to a building, one that he assumed they'd be staying in. They entered to see people sat around tables drinking, it reminded Corvus of home funnily enough, when tribe members would come back from a raid and start drinking and celebrating. His thoughts were interrupted by the man behind the counter.

"Raven! Qrow! What brings you two back here?"

"Oran!" Qrow responded with a smile. "How've you been?"

"Good, good." The rather round man said. "But I do have a little something that we were hoping you two could help us out with."

"We'll we've kinda got out hands full" Qrow said, gesturing to Corvus who was stood partially hidden behind his mother.

Oran was about to speak up again but Raven cut him off. "How big of a 'something' are we talking about?"

"It's a Grimm problem, obviously. Not exactly a big one, but it's weird and it's starting to worry some people. If you want to help out then come back down here once you get settled in." He says as he tosses a pair of keys towards her. "Rooms are still on the house for you two, as usual."

Raven gave the man a brief nod before tossing a key behind her to Qrow, who easily caught it, and the trio went upstairs to their temporary rooms.

After Corvus and his mother unpacked their things they left their room and met back up with Qrow in the hallway.

"Ok Corvus..." Raven said. "I'm going to go and see what the problem is that Oran is having. Will you be alright with your uncle Qrow?"

Corvus looked towards his uncle, he wasn't entirely comfortable around him just yet, but he'd rather be around him than some of the tribe members. Plus even if he didn't completely trust him, he did think Qrow was pretty cool. He looked towards his mother and gave a tentative nod.

"Relax kiddo, I won't bite. Why don't I finish telling you about the town while your mom does her thing?"

"Ok" Corvus said, looking forward to hearing the rest of the tale.

"Alright" Raven said, walking past the two. "I'll try to make this quick but no promises. Make sure you don't tell him anything I wouldn't. And no drinking." She shouted back as she moved out of sight.

"Well then." Qrow said. "Why don't we grab a bite to eat so I can finish this story?"


A/n

Hello again! Hope I didn't keep you guys waiting too long, I wanted to do longer chapters instead of the 1,000 word ones that I was doing before but also I don't want to make you guys wait any longer than usual. I'm hoping I can get into a routine of a certain number of word per week but it's difficult. I'm definitely gonna upload at least once every 90 days, which isn't very impressive I know. But, baby steps.

This was actually going to be one of two parts to a much larger chapter but I decided to split them up to get an update out sooner. The larger chapter was actually one of the first parts of Corvus' story I had thought of and even though it's undergone a lot of changes since I first thought of it I'm still glad I get to deliver it to you guys.

No reviews for the last two chapters unfortunately, I do enjoy reading and replying to your guys' review, whether it's advice, a question of even just brief commentary. Though I'm hoping that the next few chapters will change that. Once we've finished up the foundation for Corvus and his story, then we'll get into the meat of this fanfic. We don't have many chapters to go until then and while they may take a bit for me to upload I will be doing what I can to bring them to you guys sooner rather than later.

Finally, I'm open to OC characters if you guys would like to suggest them. They'll only small roles for the most part and I can easily fill in any spaces I need but I feel like some of you would like seeing them in this story. They'd mainly be tribe members, maybe a few hunters too, and while it'd only me a small thing I still think it'd be nice.

Anyways! I do hope you guys enjoyed this update. Also let me know if you'd rather me upload shorter chapters more frequently or spend more time per chapter. See you next chapter!