A barman was wiping a glass from the counter, his methodical shining remained as his attention was somewhere else. One gruff-sounding man kept speaking to himself and the barman was concerned and curious.
"Hehe… look at you, being a bigshot now. I'm glad you boys managed to convince me to come back." The man slurs after taking his 6th drink of the strongest liquor he had, his hand holding unto his scroll, a news report from what the bartender could see.
"…Sir? Are you okay?" He asked, it had been minutes like this.
The man looks up with dazed eyes. "Huh? Oh, yeah… just give me another drink."
"The same one?"
The man with greying spiked hair nodded randomly before reaching out towards the table. "This one! I know a strong drink when I see one!" He pauses and looks down. "What do you guys mean?"
The bartender was thoroughly confused, was the man speaking to himself? "…Your drink?" He reiterates.
"Uh… yeah! It's just, something is bugging me about my drink of choice - telling me that I ain't right!" He gestures to the bar table which makes the bartender more concerned.
"Well… if you're intending on downing a bottle of ketchup, this 'something' bothering you would be correct." He pointed to what the man was holding.
"Huh? Ketchup?"
The man squinted his eyes and rubbed them as if he couldn't believe he was wrong before opening the ketchup bottle and slapping out a small dollop in his glass. He takes the glass before taking a shot of ketchup and clicked his tongue, savouring the taste before putting a hand on his chin in deep thought.
"I knew I shouldn't have believed you guys. This stuff is amazing!"
'He's lost it.' The bartender remarks to himself.
"Anyways… I've gotta go. You, you… my man… what's the name of this place? I like it."
"The Crow Bar" The barman gave a simple answer. "Anything else before you leave?"
"The Crow Bar!" The man exclaims. "Heh, that coincidence doesn't just happen anywhere! The name's Qrow, pronounced 'Crow' if you're wondering. Here, I'll add a tip for this service!"
The bartender picks up the cash and a chewed-up tube of plastic. "Sir, this is a used straw."
"...Ah, sorry, wrong pocket. That was supposed to be for later but you can have it."
"For later?" he asked with a much-needed explanation.
Qrow chuckled before standing up with a wobble and he made a small gesture of goodbye as he left. "See ya… I have a meeting with death, in other words… work! Ah, I suppose I could visit the little rascal first, thanks, buddy."
"Alright…"
Qrow walks out of the bar, feeling his ageing bones creak at every step, at least he has alcohol to dull the pain of being middle-aged, not that he'd want to admit it. It was days earlier than he expected to come back, additionally, he still couldn't shake off a message sent.
'Pawn captures Pawn, En Passant. I don't know how Oz wanted me to decipher this word back then but at least I got enough of a signal to see it then.'
"You guys okay up here?" Qrow asked.
A flicker from reality shimmered amongst the shadows of the streets. Two planes showed themselves with the insignia of the Regia Aeronautica glimmered from a glimpse of the sun.
The plane on the left yells, "Si Signore Qrow! Although that horrid smell of whiskey is poisoning my engine the more I stay within breathing range… though I don't need to breathe, haha!"
The Macchi C.205 Veltro - a sleek and streamlined fighter aircraft that was optimized for speed and manoeuvrability. Veltro had camouflage, a late-war addition to many vehicles much like the later models of planes and tanks of their German allies. Given ample opportunity by the war, it proved itself a contender amongst the aircraft at the time, if only its technological advancements kept up.
Another on his right, much with the same voice and tone, does the same. "Vero! Why drink cowpiss when you can drink luxurious wine? Doppio rifiuto! No wonder women run away from you! Either it's the look or the smell!"
Only a few were ever built but the Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario was the same as its counterparts in formidability, like Veltro, he was among the Series 5 of the Italian aircraft. Unlike his relative in the skies, Sagittario fulfilled a secondary aircraft role, different from Veltro's air superiority-focused role.
"Hey! My nieces like my look and I don't smell that bad. I'm pretty sure an 'aeroplane' can't tell me what I should eat or dress. Veltro, Sagittario, do I need to remind you that without me I wouldn't have taken you here in the first place?"
""Discutibile!"" They both voiced.
Veltro, the plane on the left, follows. "What next, Signor?"
His friendly drunkenness was replaced with a slightly less and more serious drunk state, "The trail ran cold, getting close to her became much harder when she sent them out. But now I have a guess where they sent them, I need to find out what they are doing. Reading the news was fun and all but… what is Oz thinking when he is indirectly involving Ruby in this? Especially allowing soldiers in Vale…"
Sagittario gave his own thoughts. "Il Duce would likely use us and since I met my relative here, there are definitely more around her. So, are we going to follow where soldiers are? They would have a reason to be concentrated."
Qrow gave a small nod, looking at his shoulders and seeing a pair of aeroplanes that were non-existent to the normal person he slowly assessed how this crazy world had gotten crazier.
"Oz would censor anything related to her from coming out, the last thing Vale needs is another reason to be wary. The military presence already makes people worried, good thing Jimmy has some sense in him not to put the entire Atlesian fleet here."
A week earlier…
A crow perched itself on a branch, its fading red eyes scanned the area and saw the clearing below. It stretched its wings before diving down to the clearing, moments later, Qrow emerged from the bushes.
'Finally, the CCT's signal is getting stronger.'
It was mere months after the failed killing of the Maiden he was supposed to protect. In the end, he succeeded in stopping the assassination but all things considered, they lacked too much of what Salem was planning.
Qrow had just left the continent of nightmares, or so he calls it. The monsters that constantly roam the barren wasteland full of the creatures of Darkness painted a very disturbing reality that Qrow darts in and out of.
All for him to realize that Salem planned something with those who attacked them, too bad he was stuck trying to evade notice. But… something more sinister was brewing, Hazel and Tyrian came out and travelled and Qrow couldn't help but shadow them, what would Salem have two of her inner circle members do?
As much as he'd like to find out, he needed to rest, wings weren't exactly the most efficient of ways to not get tired.
A rustle in the bushes made him turn with perfect accuracy as to where he heard it. '...I know I'm far enough from them. Grimm?' Qrow looked at his flask while keeping his attention on the source of the noise before taking a swig of it as he approached.
"What?" he uttered, his sword slicing through the foliage but nothing was there, he could've sword he heard something there moments ago. "Oh, just a bunch of squirrels. Sorry for destroying-"
*SCREE!*
The squirrels attacked him. "Oh come on, I'm sorry for making you drop your nuts! What kind of luck would I have for a random animal to attack me, Ruby would hate me for doing this… but shoo!"
Taking a few minutes to fight off a bunch of wildlife critters wasn't the best of stories to tell from an agent of Ozpin. He'd likely never speak to anyone about the incident to anyone, although that story would eventually lead to something else.
"I have to get a drink after this…"
"Mi scusi signor?"
The random voice out of nowhere sounded like it was right next to him, the eeriness of the situation already made him jump but he kept his cool. He didn't even speak, trying to focus on if it was an enemy.
"Non come quello! He's been chasing down a few enemies, don't you think a bit more subtlety would be better? He's the only one we could follow to civilization, we can't meet Il Duce Rose like this!"
'Summer? No... Ruby?' Qrow narrowed his eyes, finally, after checking the surroundings, he couldn't find anything different and decided to speak. "What do you want? Where are you? Why do you need to follow me?"
"See? He is warier than ever, Veltro! Maybe it's the fact we are hiding from him? We aren't exactly in a position to be shown, maybe if we make it up by revealing ourselves to him!"
"That makes sense, unlike our officers and generals, haha!"
The conversation was being picked up by Qrow, he didn't know how to react, usually, Salem had all sorts of people with her, and he was pretty sure none of them was ever this chipper in tone, nor could they not be seen for any reason.
Suddenly, without warning, in the middle of a clearing, the warplane named Veltro appeared, its rotors running and its fuel already dangerously low, they had to take the risk of meeting Qrow.
"Ciao!" Veltro greeted, at this moment, Qrow had seen it all happen.
"...Did I get no sleep to hallucinate or did that thing just appear in front of me… and spoke? Yang was right, I might be drinking too much… nah."
"Oh!" Veltro exclaimed without warning, making Qrow look at it with curiosity. It was the first time he'd seen something of its kind, it wasn't VTOL so what exactly was it? "It seems my landing gear is somehow jammed! How'd that happen, it was fine up until now!"
"That would be my bad luck." Qrow decided to be cautious but wouldn't be open to hostility, it didn't look like the machine was anything other than just odd to talk to. "Mind if your friend comes out too? I'd like for both of you to explain why you're here."
A second later another plan appears right next to Veltro. Sagittario explains. "There might be a misunderstanding here, we are not people! Like you and your bird form!"
That had made Qrow return to being defensive. "So you were following me."
"Apologies but it was the only way we could try to survive and reach Ruby Rose, the Duce and our fearless leader!"
'...Leader?' Qrow mused, seeking to find out more as he question the pair of planes. "Leader huh, why follow me then? What made you follow me specifically?"
"You're taking this quite well, Signor! Sagittario is my relative, I am Veltro, the one who had the instinct to follow you, despite our critical situation. What luck!"
"Luck? You followed me because of a gut feeling?" Qrow asked.
"Si!
His instincts were sharpened and honed, this situation didn't present itself as one that could be dangerous. If they were enemies, they wouldn't have shown themselves despite their advantage of not being seen.
"So you're looking for my niece?" Qrow asked, lowering his weapon and letting it settle behind him. "Also, what language are you speaking? I don't recall pipsqueak having a following that looks… special."
"Ah~" Veltro mused. "It is the most beautiful language in the world… Italian! I won't hear anything other than our language is other than the best, if the French says otherwise, then it could be true! Although they are French, so we will never forgive them for Savoia!"
The plane tried gesticulating but it was a plane, so it just spun its propeller and wiggled its flaps.
"But they did help us with the Austrians back then." Sagittario comments, making Veltro pause.
"Ha! So they were a friend and also an enemy? Good! As the saying goes, 'Keep your friends close and enemies closer!' if shooting a friend doesn't make us closer, I don't know what will!"
"I don't think that's how it works, Veltro."
"Friendship is measured in lead!"
"...That will do! Excuse me, Signor. But we are from another world and we have been called by Il Duce Rose. We are too far and we cannot feel her presence but when you arrived that day, Veltro had a thought that we could follow you!"
Qrow had more questions than before. "Another world? I guess that explains everything…"
"You are very accepting!" Veltro declared.
"Honestly I saw much worse stuff when Tai and I hallucinated during an… incident back in our days in Beacon - don't ask what we were doing with some mushrooms, I think I made out with the bedpost by the end of the hour. Also, I have a feeling you people don't exactly belong in here, with all things considered."
"Grazie! We will respect your recreational use of hallucinogens! We did the same with our painkillers - although we are not people, haha!"
Qrow couldn't help but smile, was he really getting entertained by a pair of machines? He had a guess that his luck was starting to come around.
"Uhuh… wait," Qrow remembered a message he received as soon as he got within a weak signal. It was a short message but he wanted to confirm its meaning. "Do you know what En Passant means?"
"Si, it's a filthy, yet begrudgingly, pretty French word for a chess move! En Passant refers to a pawn that captures a neighbouring enemy pawn that has made an initial two-square move! Like an allegory for a pawn that was already in place, ready to capture an enemy pawn that advances!"
Qrow nodded, the French origin word was confusing but he pretty much got the same conclusion. "So Pawn captures Pawn… someone was already in place before it happened. Looks like Oz got my message when I still had a signal weeks ago."
"So… can you carry us to Il Duce?" Sagittario asked, creeping closer with his landing gear turning on its own.
"Why not? Can't be drunk all alone in this world, I'd like some companions. If you could follow me for this long, then that means my bad luck only affects you when you show up. You're magical right? I suppose you'd have a reason for asking me to carry you."
"Amazing, you learned all that from us? We do in fact have the ability to separate ourselves from reality and shrink in size! It's how we tore through the universe! I can reiterate what my relative said, you are taking this very well for someone who just got informed of multiple realities and magical planes!"
"Planes… heh… if you ask your 'Il Duce' or whatever, you'd know that I'm relaxed with everything, I'm the cool uncle after all. I'd like to get to Vale as soon as possible, I have a competition to watch."
Present day…
"Umm… sir! You can't come in here!"
Qrow walked past the guards raising their arms, they were in a hospital so the guards weren't allowed weapons - It would be a good image for the Atlesians.
"I'm… friends with your boss," Qrow said with a sarcastic tone, especially the part where called Ironwood a friend. He would shiver at the thought of that day would come.
"But we can't just-" The guard tried running after him before he trips and falls, he tries getting back up but comically starts continuing to fall down over and over again. "Ow! Hey, where did you- Ow! Why is the floor so slippery?! Ow!"
Qrow had already gone past, his semblance was a curse but at least he could somewhat control the intensity. "Sorry, bub. I'd rather find out what happened than ask, I have a separate conversation reserved for Oz and Jimmy."
He quickly roamed the halls as he bypassed the guard, and soon he reached the room he had heard about. It was a quick stop by just being a bird and waiting for details to uncover themselves.
Winter was alarmed, her sudden change in resting position made her uncontrollably start coughing, purple ooze came out each time and the pain started coming back, maybe it was her sudden movement or just Qrow.
"Qrow!? What… are you… doing-"
Without a knock on the door, Qrow simply opened it without warning. "...Brothers. I'm guessing Tyrian Callows got to you and it wasn't just a graze." His gaze went toward her covers and walked towards Winter.
With one swift movement, he lifted up the covers to see the dressed state of the wound, he could still see veins popping out like Winter was currently experiencing a heart attack. There was a purple tint in every vessel and Winter could barely handle the pain, usually, she just bit down on the cloth as evidenced by the covers being wrinkled and teeth marks on it.
"...Shit."
That was all Qrow could say, he knew of the consequences of venom. Being a huntsman doesn't necessarily invalidate you to the common threats in wildlife. What Winter was experiencing wasn't just a small numbness, it was deadly.
"What… are you… doing here… Qrow? You were… gone… for- " Despite Winter's disdain for the rugged drunk, she couldn't even voice it. Each syllable was the equivalent of crawling an inch while needles were scattered on the floor.
Qrow put a finger in front of her mouth to shush Winter. "Shh. Just shut up and stop talking, Ice Queen. I'll be taking your scroll from you."
"...confidential." she tries reaching for her scroll in protest but couldn't even move as her scroll was taken from the table next to her bed.
He responded with a grin. "And? I don't think you're in a position to stop me. I'll leave you alone while I take a look, Veltro, Sagittario, keep an eye on her for me, will you? I don't want anything bad to happen while I'm here."
Winter looked confused at the names but as she tried to stop Qrow from leaving, a pair of Italian planes appeared on Qrow's shoulders. Winter couldn't believe it, two new vehicles and it wasn't just a tank.
"Qrow… you found Ruby Rose's vehicles?"
"So they were right in guessing there's more. Veltro, I know you like talking but don't force Winter to speak. Just talk about women, the beaches of Italy or Gods forbid, the hundreds of times you've told me about the promised rebirth of the Roman Empire.
Veltro announced with his usual attitude. "I understand! Good thing I have a catalogue within my memories of the history of the Italian wars of unification!"
Sagittario clarified. "Mostly on how we didn't do much on our own as much as we hate to admit it but at least we unified, unlike the Habsburg menace!"
"Agreed, cousin!"
Qrow shrugged. "Looks like you have plenty to talk about. See ya Ice Queen… oh and… sorry if I came out as rude. You're a specialist and all but I have the common decency to let the injured rest, can't get a reaction to someone who can't even speak. But... good luck with them."
"Get a… reaction?"
Qrow gets to the lock screen and immediately puts in the passcode and gets it correct. Winter didn't know how the drunkard found her passcode but she has more things to worry about. Soon, the door shut with no further answers from Qrow, he'd be busy catching himself up with more news of the military secret variety.
"So… Signora Ice Queen? I don't recall names being that odd but considering you're a friend of someone named Qrow, then I believe it's natural this time!" Veltro said in a chipper tone.
"That's not… my name… it's Winter Schnee. Qrow is not a friend, he's some idiotic scoundrel that managed to drunk walk his way into the Headmaster's employment."
A spark of realization hit the plane, if he could feel giddy, it was that time right now. "...Ah, a classic tale of enemies to friends and eventually lovers. Such romantic classics in Italian works are magnificent. Did you know that there's a popular trope of forbidden love? Quite the story, you two!"
"...What?!"
Ignoring Winter's complaints, the plane continues talking. "Well, as for a story, since Signor Qrow asked me not to force you to speak, me and my relative will tell you about the history of Italy! It all started when…"
"No, don't continue! We are not- Ack!"
Winter coughed harshly but the Italian plane ignored it as he was fully immersed in his retelling of the entire history of Italy because he was just that dedicated to spreading his love for a country that made him.
Sagittario then took over after Veltro added a bit of history as to how the geography of Italy was formed. "There were many civilizations that first inhabited the peninsula of where Italy back then! Cultures surrounding the area created identities based on…"
"Curse… you… Qrow!" Winter croaked out, the room would be filled with the ecstatic pair of planes telling of history. A certain Professor would be proud of the history lessons and another specific Professor would be impressed by the number of stories Veltro and Sagittario somehow knew - It would take a long for her to remove the thoughts of the glory of the Roman Empire.
Poor Winter.
