Hello !

I know it's not Christmas yet, but here's my gift ! I wanted to post it the 24th but I realised we would all be a little busy that day, and it's been some time since the last chapter so I decided to post it now.

Also there won't be anything for some time again, because I spend all my time on my sewing machine making Christmas gifts for every one (and it's a lot of people ...) and I want to focus on my family during the holidays. And maybe we'll have snow for Christmas this year ! Seriously, the south of France has like 15min of snow for the whole year ... It sucks ...

I hope you'll like it, good reading n_n

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-Mommy, who is Santa Claus?

Raven nearly stumbled as she slashed her sword into the void, not so much because she thought she was alone but because of the question itself. She was currently in the forest, both training and watching for Grimm. And also to have some calm, everyone was quite excited a few days before the holidays, it tended to tire her quickly. She didn't expect Yang to join her, let alone ask her about Santa.

-Where did you hear about that?

Yang shrugged, absently swinging her tanto, making little furrows in the snow at her feet. She had probably heard someone bring it up, without giving her an explanation. Raven sighed and pointed her sword at her. Yang smiled and got into a fighting position. If she had come this far flying, they might as well use that time here to practice a bit.

-So ?

Yang rolled to her right to avoid a swing, and stood up with snow on her hair and in her hood, before attacking too, from the top of her four years.

-Santa Claus is … How to explain that?

Raven looked up to think, while warding off Yang's attacks. A tribe of bandits was not really a good place to make her believe in Santa Claus, there would have to be someone to tell her he didn't exist, it was inevitable. But it was still sad that a child didn't believe in Santa Claus even once in a lifetime, even Qrow and she had believed in him when they were very young, they just thought they weren't nice enough, always stealing wallets and food… They were really naive at the time…

-It's just a silly old legend, about a bearded old man with a red coat distributing gifts to children on Christmas Eve.

Yang jumped back and stopped, closed her eyes for a moment in thought, then bent her head on the side curiously.

-Is he a former incarnation of Ozpin?

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-I beg your pardon ?

-Well, you said it's a legend. Legends are things that happened because of Ozpin and Salem so people mustn't know they are true so magic can stay a secret. So if Santa Claus is an old legend, it must have been Ozpin.

Raven looked at Yang with wide eyes, unable to have any coherent thoughts.

-Mommy ? What is it? Am I wrong ?

Raven hoped with all her heart she was.

Qrow wasn't expecting anything in particular this Christmas. His last mission took him to a village near Argus, and he had found himself stranded there by a snowstorm. He was now alone in a deserted bar, the owner was upstairs with his wife, and he was apparently the only traveler here. It wasn't the worst Christmas he ever spent, maybe he was alone but at least it wasn't because he had no family or because people rejected him. He was just stuck, and as soon as the weather permitted, he would go visit his friends and his niece for a slightly late Christmas. He had worse.

But all those times he had worse, he also had Raven …

She was a pro in giving him silly, but thoughtful gifts, like that time he spent months borrowing everyone's scissors because he didn't have any, only to get a box full of scissors as a present, or even when he had a huge cold the whole week before Christmas, and returned to the dorm to find his bed covered with bundles of tissues. And of course, she couldn't resist giving him a skirt on their first Christmas at Beacon…

Only a few people on Remnant had such a weird sense of humor as Raven's on Christmas Eve, and Qrow would put his hand to chopping that was one of the main reasons Tai had a crush on her at the time, even if in the end it had been a bad choice.

-At least she's not going to piss me off tonight.

Qrow raised his glass of wine to his lips, when a way too familiar noise sounded next to him. As the sound of the heeled boots drew closer, he put down his glass and let his head fall back, moaning.

-Oh you've got to be joking …

He straightened up and Raven sat down in front of him.

-Fuck off.

-Merry Christmas to you too little brother.

Qrow ignored her and took his drink in one go. He usually didn't drink wine, too expensive for his tastes, but he allowed it on festive evenings.

-What do you want ?

-I have an important question. It's about Ozpin.

Qrow froze as he went to pour himself another drink. Raven had a question about Oz? Raven was starting a discussion by talking about Oz ? Maybe this wine was stronger than he thought …

-What question ?

Raven closed her eyes for a moment as if searching for words, and despite the low light he noticed a slight blush on her cheeks. Maybe he wasn't the drunk one tonight after all.

-So ?

-You agree that Santa Claus is a legend?

Qrow blinked a few times, before pouring himself a drink. Yeah, she was definitely drunk.

-Yeah.

-You know it is a very very old legend?

-Yeah.

-You know his sleigh flies by magic ?

-Yeah.

-And you know that at first his coat was green and only became red after the Great War when the different cultures mingled?

-Uh… Yeah, I've heard about that. What are you trying to say ?

Raven took a deep breath, before finally saying what was on her mind.

-Is it possible for Santa Claus to be Ozpin in a former life?

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-You just ruined my childhood.

-Our childhood was fucked up.

-And you still managed to ruin it, good job.

-That doesn't answer my question.

-…

-…

Qrow took his drink in one go and took out his Scroll.

-Hello?

-Hey Oz.

-Oh Qrow, merry Christmas. What makes you call me instead of enjoying your Christmas Eve?

-Boredom on the one hand, and an important question on the other.

-I'm listening.

-Were you the real Santa Claus in one of your previous lives?

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-He hung up.

-Oh shit …

-Hey, how was Christmas in your tribe?

Falcon looked up from her sword and looked at Rook with a raised eyebrow.

-Why do you want to know that ?

-Simple curiosity.

Falcon stared at her for a moment, then resumed the sharpening of her Ice Dust blade.

-It wasn't anything really special, we just partied with music and alcohol every night from the 24th to the new year, and of course we wiped some general fights. The hunting group had more work to bring back enough meat to make a great feast without touching too much on the food supply. We usually ate bear or deer, once we even had wolf, but that was when I was a baby. Have you ever eaten wild boar charcuterie?

-No …

-It taste pretty good, and it's quite fun to make. I was eight for my first hunting trip, I managed to kill a bear and as a reward I kept its skin.

-You kept the skins …?

-Of course. It would be a big waste otherwise.

-Not wrong. I grew up in a city so I'm not very familiar with hunting stuff.

-You really missed something then.

Rook chuckled. Falcon always enjoyed talking about her life in her tribe, it made her proud and enthusiastic, and sometimes a thin smile briefly appeared on her lips. But it was still a little unsettling to hear her talk about unusual things like it was completely normal. Of course the practice of hunting was not exclusive to her tribe, all the small villages lived on it too, but Rook doubted they would ever let an eight year old face a bear with only a dagger.

The fun part about this lifestyle was that Falcon had gained a whole bunch of skills from it, from cooking and sewing to leather tanning and star orientation.

-And the gifts?

-No, we didn't do that. If you wanted something, you just took it during a raid, and if you couldn't, you could only blame yourself.

Ah yes, there was that too… The raids…

-So you never believed in Santa Claus? Now you are the one who missed something.

-What do you mean ?

-Well, even if it's a childish thing, it's still the very image of Christmas, it makes children dream, it's-…

-No, not that. Not believing in Santa Claus.

Rook stopped cleaning her weapon, and slowly looked up at Falcon, who was changing the blade to sharpen.

-You… believe in Santa Claus …? You?

-I don't believe in him. I know he exists. He's an asshole by the way.

Rook was at a loss for words. Falcon noticed her silence and looked up at her, before frowning.

-What? It's true ! Mother told me, and she had very good sources on the subject. You can ask Qrow if you don't trust me.

-I'll pass …

Rook returned to the maintenance of her weapon, trying to pretend she didn't hear anything.

-They are all crazy in this tribe …

Done !

At first it was just supposed to be little Yang being confused about Santa being a legend when she knows many legends are real, but then while writing I realised Ozpin could totally be Remnant's Santa and just doesn't asume it at all, and I thought it would be funnier than just a "Yang is cute and Raven loves her" chapter. And for those who didn't know, yes, Santa's cloat was originaly green or blue depending the culture, and became red around 1914, so it fits perfectly XD

I also took the opportunity to talk about the hunting part of the tribe, I mean they can't only live from the food they steal during the raids, but I didn't talk about it at all in Part I, and it's not something very important anyway, so I just put it here n_n

I hope you liked this bonus, happy holidays and see you next time !