"Who's this gu-?"

Sora's question was interrupted when Ruby suddenly screamed in excitement and dashed to the rugged, unkempt man. "UNCLE QROOOOOW!" she cheered as she latched onto his arm. The man wobbled for a moment before holding his arm straight out, holding her without any struggle and a neutral expression on his face. "Hi." Ruby greeted in a much softer tone, clinging to his arm. "I'm glad you're okay! Did you miss me?! DID YOU MISS ME?!"

The seemingly apathetic visage Qrow vanished, replaced a playful smile as he replied with a simple, "Nope." An answer he clearly didn't mean as he started ruffling Ruby's hair with his free hand and set her down. The moment he did, Ruby looked up at him and hugged him tightly. His smile didn't falter an inch as he reached down and pat her on the head, just as relieved to see she had survived. A joy and relief that Yang shared as she rushed toward him and hugged him just as tightly.

"He's Ruby and Yang's uncle?" Goofy asked, pointing at the embracing familiar trio. "I don't quite see the resemblance." Donald remarked, looking at him with a squint. It was no surprise that some might find it hard to believe that Qrow was their uncle.

Those who knew such beforehand however... "Oh great. HE'S here." Weiss grumbled with an annoyed expression. Blake and Team JNPR however were just relieved to see another person from Remnant survived. Even if said survivor was a bit on the uncouth side.

As Ruby and Yang broke their embrace, they turned toward the curious and confused trio. "Sora, Donald, Goofy?" Ruby said, presenting the man of the hour. "This is my Uncle Qrow. Everything I know about fighting? He taught me. I was complete garbage before he took me in."

"Hey now kiddo, give yourself more creddit than that. You weren't complete garbage." Qrow said with a sympathetic frown before smirking again. "Recyclable at the very least." Yang chuckled along with the rest of the group, minus Weiss of course. With introductions out of the way, Ruby turned back to her uncle with an excited smile. "Since you're here, that means you'll be coming with us, right?"

Qrow's expression wavered to an apologetic one as he looked around briefly. "Well, Ozpin told me about those armored guys you stopped. The one from when you first arrived and the other when it arrived here in this part of town. Because of that, the smaller Heartless I've met aren't around as much but they still pop up every now and then. We got that Leon guy and his friends but they can only cover so much ground. So I do what I can to help out. I think they need me here. Besides. You guys got plenty of backup."

Yang and Ruby seemed a little disappointed by the fact that their uncle wouldn't be out there with them. But Yang gave a smile, realizing it was probably for the best. "Ah well. The ship we fly in is kind of getting crowded anyway. You'd have to squeeze in to fit, and I doubt you'd enjoy it." she remarked with a shrug.

"Heh. Well in that case, I'll pass. Only time I'd wanna fly a ship is if I'm flying first class with a cute waitress serving a nice cold drink." Qrow's comment made Weiss let out an audible "Ugh." before the middle aged huntsman leaned in close to Sora and whispered, "By the way, kid. Lemme give you a little piece of advice. Never tell a cute waitress your real name. You'll find out some day when you're older." He topped off his little piece of advice with a wink, though Sora was...utterly confused. Donald glared at Qrow, tapping his webbed foot at the less-than savory advice he was giving the Keyblade Master.

"Qrow, could you please show a bit of restraint around these children?" Ozpin pleaded wearily with a pinch of his brow. "Hey, I'm just teachin' em what they need to know for when the fighting is all over. It's a harsh world out there even without the Heartless and the Grimm and who knows what else." Qrow responded unapologetically.

"If by that you mean you are a disrespectful, loud-mouthed, ill behaved little drunk attempting to justify his ill behavior in the most reprehensible way possible, then congratulations. You are an absolute reprobate."

The sharp, icy, feminine voice drew everyone's attention, but especially Weiss who let out an audible gasp. Everyone turned toward the fountain and saw descending the stairs was a tall young woman clad in an elegant, magnificently woven white, steel blue accented collared tailcoat that showed off the sides of her shoulders along with her upper arms, and topped off with a brilliant red jewel at the central neck part of her coat's collar. Underneath, she wore a steel blue button down vest with a white frilled undershirt stretching down to her ankles, a pair of tight, white pants covered by a pair of grey, decorated high heeled boots. Her hair was tied up in a bun with a part done mostly over her right eye. And those eyes of hers were, much to Sora's surprise, an identical shade of grayish blue as Weiss.

"Winter!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were taken off guard by the sudden jubilation in Weiss's voice and the energy she showed as she rushed toward the newcomer. Her friends however knew precisely why as they smiled at the frigid fraternal reunion. "I'm so happy to see you! After what happened at Beacon I was worrie-" Weiss's joyful exuberance halted as she cleared her throat and changed her demeanor entirely. Smoothing out her combat skirt, she stood up much straighter than usual, almost as if speaking to an authority figure. "I'm relieved you're here, sister. What happened at Beacon was terrible and I was concerned."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy blinked at the sight, exchanging equally surprised looks. "Wait...she's Weiss' sister?" Sora whispered to Ruby who nodded almost instantly. "Yup. Just wait til she comes to you though." she whispered, remembering her own rather...shaky introduction to Weiss's sister before the Fall of Beacon.

With her arms behind her back, Winter looked at her younger sibling with a small smile as she responded to Weiss's greeting. "I'm relieved to see you too, Weiss. How have you been?"

Weiss was further giddy, something that still surprised Sora, Donald and Goofy while she went on. "So much has happened! We've been to so many different worlds! There was this place with living playing cards working under a tyrannical queen! Then another world that had a coliseum! Of course, I was the one who performed the best. And then we went to this jungle where we met a man who was raised by apes-!"

SMACK!

Sora, Donald, Goofy and many of the others with them were stunned to see Winter gave the side of Weiss' head a hard swat with her hand. "Silence, you boob!" Winter demanded in a reprimanding fashion. "I've asked how you've been. Have you been eating properly? Have you kept up your training? Are you making new friends?"

After briefly nursing the place where she was bonked on the head, Weiss nodded and answered, "Well, yes. I've made three new friends, actually. Sora, Donald and Goofy." she introduced, gesturing to the confused trio in question...who were utterly oblivious as they continued to whisper among himself. "Oh boy. She's Weiss' sister, alright." Goofy muttered, seeing the similarity between them wasn't just their appearances. A sentiment Donald shared as he gave a hushed, "She's even more stern than Weiss twice over."

Winter's icy gaze fixed upon the trio as he said that, making Sora and Goofy stiffen with fright. Donald didn't even need to look behind himself to realize with great anxiety that Winter was right behind him, staring at them in a scrutinizing fashion. "Is there something wrong with that?" she asked, staring at him with a look that might have turned him to duck a l'orange right on the spot if looks could kill. Donald gulped and shook his head with a nervous "N-No ma'am!" to placate the older Schnee's indignation.

"Yup. Scary, isn't she?" Ruby whispered back to the anxious Sora. The instant Winter rose back up, hands behind her back in the dignified manner she entered in, Ruby and everyone else inched away from her examination of the trio. "So you three are my little sister's new friends?" she asked in a sharp, firm manner that made the three of them straighten up even more. "Y-Yes ma'am. We saved Weiss from bein' befuddled by that mean ol queen." Goofy said. "Beheaded!" Donald corrected him with a kick to the shin.

The memories of their little spat with the Queen of Hearts made Weiss cringe. Especially the undignified way she flew out of a box with a Heartless on top of her. If Winter had seen that, she'd never let her little sister hear the end of it.

Winter's brow rose at this before shifting her gaze to Sora who gulped as she looked him up and down. The scrutiny in her gaze was palpable as she leaned in to examine him more closely. "So I suppose that would make you the Keyblade Master I've heard so much about lately." she deduced. "Y-Yes ma'am." Sora said, unable to help answering back nervously Goofy and Donald. Hearing that, Winter's expression softened and she leaned away from Sora, seeming satisfied, much to the trio's relief.

"Well I suppose I should thank you for taking care of Weiss." Winter spoke up again, her words drawing another smile to her little sister's face. "While I would prefer she not go back into the thick of battle against these Heartless fiends, it seems unavoidable. So with that in mind, I have this to say." The three stiffened again when her eyes narrowed at them, pointing to them one at a time as she said her final piece. "You WILL keep Weiss safe, you WILL ensure she survives, and you WILL be the best teammates she could ask for. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" Sora, Donald and Goofy said immediately and loudly, like soldiers before a commanding officer. A response that fortunately pleased the older Schnee sister going by the shadow of a smirk that touched her lips. While Weiss felt slightly embarrassed by the way Winter asserted herself to Weiss's new friends, she couldn't help sighing with admiration all the same. "Oh, how I've missed her." she said to herself, relieved to know at least someone in her family had survived Remnant's destruction.

Yang and Nora snickered at the way Winter made trio tremble, but cleared their throats and turned their gazes away when Weiss's sister gaze passed over them, only to fortunately fix on Ozpin. "Ozpin? I'm going to continue my rounds throughout Traverse Town."

"As you were, Ms. Shnee." Ozpin answered, prompting Winter to march off without breaking stride even for a moment.

Once she was out of sight and earshot, Qrow scoffed. "If that woman keeps dedicating her life to working as a soldier, she's never gonna find herself a man...Then again I doubt she's gonna find a man with any interest in her considering she's always got a stick up her-"

"Hey!" Weiss shouted with disapproval as she stomped up to the older man. "That's my sister, you rapscallion!"

"Hey!" Ruby said in the same sense of disapproval as Weiss, stopping her partner in her tracks indignantly. "That's my uncle! Don't you go calling him a... rap... um, well I don't actually know what that means but I'm sure it's not nice!" Blake and Yang sighed and facepalmed respectively with Team JNPR looking with expressions ranging from anxiety, to weariness, to simple head shakes at the display between the white and red huntresses. They thought the two of them had moved past this sort of behavior!

"Everyone. Please. Settle down," Ozpin announced, causing the younger parties to stop any altercations that might have been brewing. "You still have a mission you need to accomplish, don't you? If you've finished your business here, then I suggest you continue."

"Oh, that's right! We still need to resupply our ammunition." Blake pointed out. "And get ourselves more items." Goofy reminded, emphasizing the point by turning out his large pockets. They'd all gotten sidetracked by so many things since they came here. "AND get the pages back to Pooh's book!" Ruby added, with Zwei letting out a cheerful bark as he held the rolled up pages in his mouth.

"Alright then. Let's go you guys," Sora said before turning to Qrow with a smile and wave. "See you later. Best of luck keeping this town safe for us." And thus they departed, with Ruby and Yang of course giving a final, "Bye Uncle Qrow!" as they waved to him and caught up with the rest of the team.

As the large group of friends departed to finish their respective business, Qrow sat down at the fountain, his expression turned to a much more weary one as he gave a sardonic chuckle and muttered, "Luck..." He knew better than anyone, excluding Ozpin, that luck would have little to do with what was to come. He just hoped Sora could handle it, if only for the sake of his nieces.

A hope Ozpin shared, among others, as he looked toward the door to the first district as it closed. Their one hope of seeing if his hypothesis was correct rested on Sora's young shoulders.