Last update of this in 2023, due to me taking 20th Dec too 3rd Jan off. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Make sure not to get too sober and try to do something questionable. Wait, that might be Qrow's advice.

"Aaand remember, girls, if you absolutely must kiss under the mistletoe." Qrow took a heavy swig of beer. "Make sure the hot blonde you're making out with isn't Taiyang with beer goggles."

Chapter 13

It turned out that Qrow's paranoia was for nothing and the Beacon trip was an annual thing, and quite a big deal among the younger students at that. Ozpin may have had his fingers in every pie from Vacuo to Mistral, but he supposed the old man had to spin a lot of normal plates as well, so it couldn't all be manipulation and grand schemes.

Not that Qrow was about to let his guard down any. They hadn't been adopted and kept under Ozpin's guardianship out the goodness of his heart. There were was something going on there; Qrow just hoped the old coot could be patient. They'd become his agents without him having to stick his fingers in.

It was a shame to think the annual Beacon trip got phased out by the time he became a teacher, but that was fifteen years in the future and a lot could happen. Maybe someone had died on it, and over-protective parents clamped down.

Great. Now I'm even more paranoid about this trip.

He highly doubted Ozpin would have continued to make headmaster if he'd lost visiting students on a field trip, and he also doubted Ozpin could lose any. The man was actually in his prime right now, with his body being young and his mind sharp. It was more likely someone in the other kingdoms had suffered a fatality, or maybe there hadn't been one at all and it'd just been parents making a huge fuss over nothing, and pressuring the schools to stop it.

The worst thing about being a teacher never was the kids. They were dumb troublemakers, sure, but they were just having fun. It was always the parents. If it wasn't a helicopter parent screaming at them for little Timmy being roughed up in sparring, then it was another howling about how their darling girl wasn't top of her class and then only reason was obviously teacher bias. They'd even had a bunch of particularly cantankerous moms criticising their sex ed programs a while back, saying it should be left to parents to decide. Except that what "they decided" was to just "not teach" their kids anything, saying they should be pure until they were adults. Instant teen pregnancies.

It was those thoughts that had Qrow thinking he just wouldn't bother this time round. He'd only become a teacher because Ozpin made him, and that was only because Ozpin could see he was drowning himself to death in alcohol and regret and hoped a strict regime with hours and duties would pull him out of it. It had, and Qrow was grateful to the old coot, but he was less grateful for the career that came after.

Summer wasn't going to die this time around, and Raven wasn't going to go and run away on them, so there'd be no need. He'd stay on Team STRQ and they'd kick ass as huntsmen and grow old together. He'd be the cool uncle bouncing two girls on his knee, and maybe he'd find someone to settle down with himself.

His girls may have called him the eternal bachelor, but it wasn't like he couldn't have found someone. Qrow just knew he was a mess enough that no one deserved to be saddled with him, especially when he was forever flying off on Ozpin's orders. Living with him and forever wondering if he'd come back alive or not wasn't a way for someone to be happy, and he hadn't wanted to put anyone through it.

New life, new trauma.

Wait, no. New life, no trauma. That was the one.

Although watching Summer follow Raven around and try to mimic her was a little traumatic. His old team leader had taken to Raven's little school gang like a child molester in a prison. Qrow frowned, pinched the bridge of his nose and decided he needed better metaphors. Basically, Summer had decided that the safest place from her bullies and everything else was to find the meanest bitch in Signal and stick to her. Hence, Raven. He could have told Summer she wasn't the strongest, that honour went to Glynda Goodwitch, but it didn't much matter when all of Summer's bullies were weaker than Raven.

Also, Glynda was out for his head due to some rumours that totally weren't his fault, so he was doing his best to avoid her. All his experience as a huntsman and all his skill at fighting didn't much matter against a Semblance that could pluck you off the floor and mould you into a pretzel. Honestly, her Semblance was downright unfair, and easily as strong as the Schnee's own. He'd have said it was wasted in Beacon, but then she'd also been one of the best teachers of a generation.

"You should really stop mooning at her," said Raven. "Since a) it's feeding the rumours and b) she's glaring hatefully back at you for it."

"Huh." Qrow blinked and realised that Glynda very much was shooting him an angry look. "Whoops." He glanced away. "Would you believe me if I said I was romanticising over her Semblance and not her?"

"I wouldn't, though I would agree with you. I wish I had her Semblance."

"Why don't you believe me? Have I given you one indication I'm interested in girls?"

Rosebud leaned away.

"Not guys, either." Qrow snorted. "Sheesh."

"Well, you did try and white knight Summer—"

Said girl blushed furiously and focused on her porridge like she was panning for gold with her spoon. Qrow kicked Raven under the table, but she kicked back with heels. His whole plan with Summer now was to just be a constant and familiar presence. Be there, be chill, let her get used to him and slowly win her over. Raven wasn't helping by constantly reminding her of their awkward first meeting. Every time he thought Summer might be able to look him in the eye, Raven would chip in with something and ruin it.

His sister had the social awareness of a sea slug.

"You've also made no effort to hide the way you stare at some of the teachers," added Raven. "And I figure in the absence of alcohol, you might be looking for another vice."

"Look at you. The literal worst student in Signal talking to me about vices. You get into fights every day."

"Yeah, but starting fights isn't a vice."

"Violence is."

"What? No it isn't." Raven sounded awfully convinced. "Violence is the answer. Why else would we be at a literal school teaching it? Come on, Qrow. Even these soft civilised folk have schools teaching people how to fight better. They know where it's at."

That was another thing. He'd made the ballsy assumption that coming to Signal would civilise Raven, and it would. In time. Right now, however, all she was getting was further reinforcement on her messed-up worldview. He blamed Patch's isolation and the fact that they didn't get out of Signal much. A school for huntsmen was not an accurate representation of a kingdom's demographic. Maybe he should make an effort to get her out into Patch. Show her how "normal people" lived.

Man, that sounded like hard work. The things he did to keep Team STRQ in one piece.

A commotion over by the entrance to the cafeteria had his year scrambling. Two teachers who had obviously drawn the short straws had been lumped with the care of about fifty children, and not just any children but huntsmen children who were about to be sent to Beacon. He didn't envy them. Raven, Summer and the rest of Raven's gang were already there, showing their excitement by sprinting up to the teachers as if they would make the Bullheads arrive sooner. Qrow sauntered up at a more leisurely pace, chewing a last slice of toast as he went. One good thing about being this age again was that other people cooked for you.

Qrow had been a lazy teenager at heart, even on his fortieth birthday.

"Stay still. Stay still! We need to tale a head count. Stop jumping— Now I've lost my place and I'll have to start all over again."

"Awww!"

"Nooo!"

"We'll miss Beacon!"

Qrow rolled his eyes and munched. Half these brats probably thought Santa Claus was real. Qrow could still remember when he'd been bribed into dressing up and sneaking into their home by Taiyang and Summer in an outfit to make it more "magical" for Ruby and Yang. It ended up with them seeing a man in red sneaking cookies and milk, and screaming because they thought it was a home invasion. He'd gotten nothing more than a black eye from a toy Yang had thrown at him.

Memories like that used to bring about unimaginable pain because of the loss of those happy times, but now it prompted a fond look toward Summer. He could still remember her rolling on the floor in tears of laughter as Taiyang calmed down his daughters and convinced them the house wasn't being robbed. Summer, feeling his eyes, glanced over, blushed and looked away, sliding behind Raven.

Damn it. Qrow cursed as another week of awkward interactions was added to the list. He needed to stop being so weird and start acting like a normal kid! As soon as he figured out how normal kids were meant to operate.

Dumbly, apparently, as they failed to stay still and be counted.

Once they were all accounted for (as if anyone would have missed this) they were brought outside into the courtyard where a large aircraft had landed. It wasn't technically a Bullhead, those being smaller, but Beacon had its own larger craft that brought the students to and from the school. Mostly, that was graduates coming to Beacon for initiation, but it served here as well. In truth, it spent more time ferrying crates of food, dust and other supplies between Vale and Beacon. The academy was out in the middle of the Emerald Forest and they couldn't exactly have stuff delivered by road.

Starter schools like Signal and Sanctum were designed to be safer, so they were attached to cities and towns rather than in genuinely dangerous land. The kids weren't yet good enough with their aura to have the latter. Atlas was the outlier, having their secondary academy up above Mantle with next to no access to Grimm. They made up for it with advanced training rooms instead, but not every kingdom had the technology or the budget.

The teachers forced them to board the ship in single line and took another headcount. Qrow knew the students were annoyed, but, as a teacher himself, he agreed with their caution. If there was one thing you could trust about students, it was their ability to lose one of their number the nanosecond you let your guard down. You could look away for half a second and someone would have cracked their head open on a desk. He could still remember one student who had come to class pale as a sheet and saying how a Grimm ate her homework then, before he could chastise her the weak excuse, held up her stump of a wrist and said it got her hand as well.

Now that had been a panic moment and a half, though he'd managed to put his first aid training to use, prevent her dying to shock, and got her a bitching prosthetic as well. She'd gone on to be a good huntress in Shade Academy in Vacuo.

So, yeah, he didn't fault the teachers acting like they were all little bombs about to go off.

Once they were strapped into their seats and in the air, the chatter rose.

"Do you think we'll be able to fight against their students?" asked Raven.

"We're going to go into the Emerald Forest. I bet they won't let us even fight a Grimm," said Summer.

"It's probably going to be speeches and lessons," said Rosebud, but it was obvious he was trying to talk it down in the hopes he was wrong. His feet kept tap-tapping on the metal floor.

"Maybe we'll get a demonstration of a fight," said someone else. "Two teams fighting one another."

"That'd be good," Raven said, her red eyes glinting. "I want to see what makes these teams of four so special."

"I already told you it's teamwork," said Qrow.

"I know." Raven rolled her eyes. It was an argument they'd had many times, with her saying that people should learn to be independent and him arguing that you couldn't watch your own back against a horde of Grimm. "And I want to see proof of it with my own eyes. You should be encouraging your sister's willingness to learn."

"Yes, dear sister. You truly are an inspiration to people everywhere."

Raven thumped him in the shoulder for his sarcasm.

Despite his words, it'd be good to see Beacon again.

/-/

Raven was excited for Beacon but also couldn't take her eyes off Qrow. He always stood out among the other students either for his maturity or his skill, and he didn't seem to realise just how much he was standing out right now by not being as excited as everyone else. He spent the entire flight leaning back with his eyes closed, in stark contrast to everyone else playing games, staring out the windows of loudly chatting.

It didn't bother her, of course. He was her brother and they'd stuck together through the harsh winter together, and they'd stick together now as well. That was what family did, and he was her last bit of family. Raven had grudgingly agreed to come to the civilised lands with him, and she'd put up with the orphanage because he asked her to.

Signal had been a positive all things considered, but it ought to be after how much shit she accepted in Mistral. The women running the orphanage had been kind, and she respected that, but they'd been weak. Why else would they accept dwindling funds? Why not go out and take money from people to keep the orphans fed? It was what she would have done. In the end it had been her and Qrow who fought in a tournament and gave the prize money away.

Raven had liked the matrons for their kindness, but she couldn't respect their passivity.

Qrow might have been right that she would like Signal but he hadn't been right about Mistral. Today, she'd find out if he was right about Beacon, and all signs pointed to yes. Stronger fighters, tougher lessons, and a forest full of Grimm to train on. It sounded perfect.

When the aircraft landed, Raven gazed in awe at the school itself.

Buildings had never much been a thing in the tribe as they slowed down their nomadic nature, and most towns and cities had fairly boring buildings anyway. Beacon was anything but. Its huge spire and sloping architecture fanned out almost like a flower, and the huge open spaces of gardens and training fields had her itching for a fight. Tall windows, bright banners and the odd teenager walking around with much more grace than those at Signal. They had weapons, too. Some of them were even scarred, instantly reminding her of the toughest people in the tribe. Raven looked to Qrow, wondering if he'd be as awed as her.

He was smiling oddly at the whole thing, pleased, but not surprised.

Her brother made no sense. How could he be so strong in some ways and yet an absolute idiot in others? And what was his obsession with Summer? Raven would never admit it, but she knew she was jumping between him and Summer, and she did it on purpose. Whenever Summer started to relax around him and Qrow looked hopeful, she'd dive in and remind Summer of his weirdness before and ruin it.

It was petty, and she wasn't 100% sure why she was doing it, but she did it anyway. Raven didn't want him and Summer getting close. He was her brother, and they'd grown strong together. Summer would get in the way of that. Slow him down. Distract him. Take him away. Raven's smile morphed into a scowl aimed at Qrow's dumb face. He looked back. "What…?"

"Nothing," she grunted. "Just thinking they look weak."

They didn't, obviously, but insulting people always got a reaction out of him and Raven smiled on the inside as Qrow started to lecture her about not judging people on appearances. It wasn't anything she didn't already know, but at least he was focused on her again.

That was better.

"Good morning, everyone." Ozpin strolled toward them with his cane under his arm and pinned against his side and a friendly smile on his face. He was an odd one for sure, but even Raven could tell he was strong.

That cane of his was definitely a weapon since he didn't need it for balance.

"My name is Ozpin and I'm the combat instructor here at Beacon. I'm also head of the first years, so some of you will get the chance to be my students if you make it here. Beacon is a select school and only accepts the best of the best, so you'll all have to work hard to win a place, especially with students from other kingdoms also vying for positions."

He went on to explain that there would be a test for anyone who wanted to go to Beacon, and that it would place them in genuine danger and test them against the Grimm. Raven wholeheartedly approved, as by that point anyone who wanted to become a huntress should really be tough enough to take on the Grimm. If it had been a written exam then she'd have ranted and raved about it, but this was the kind of test she could get behind.

"Those of you who cannot make it to an academy should not give up your dreams, however. There is more than one way to become a huntsman or huntress, and some of our finest never studied at all. They learned in the field. Regardless, let's not worry about that for now. We're going to split you up into two groups and show you around Beacon. One group will visit the Emerald Forest in the morning to have a demonstration on combat with the Grimm—"

Excited whispers and chatter overtook him, and Ozpin waited patiently for it to die out. He probably expected it.

"Thank you. Thank you. While that group experiences the forest, the other group will have a chance to meet some of our first years and talk to them, then see them fight. We'll then break for lunch before reversing the order. Don't worry, you'll all get a chance to experience both sides. We just don't want to crowd our poor students with too many of you at once. Or the Grimm," he added with a wink. "They can be awfully shy this close to Beacon."

His joke earned him giggles and laughter, but a grunt from Raven and a roll of the eyes from Qrow. It pleased her that he shared her lack of interest in it, and doubly so that they were the only ones to do so. It made them feel more unique and, importantly, united. They were two warriors trapped among children, lamenting at such childish quips.

"Those of you who gather on my left will brave the Emerald Forest first, while those who gather on my right will see the students. I'll let you all choose, though we may have to swap people over if the groups aren't even."

Kids rushed to pick a side but Raven grabbed Qrow's arm in one hand and Summer's in the other.

"Which is better?" she asked.

"Huh?" Summer looked surprised, too caught up in her excitement for once to even worry about Qrow being there. "Aren't they both the same?"

"No."

"Not necessarily," said Qrow, using more and longer words to say what Raven had. He was like that sometimes, thinking it made him sound smart. "There's an argument for either side. Going to the forest first might mean seeing more Grimm because a lot of them will have been killed by the afternoon, but the same goes for the students. Their fight in the morning might be better because they have more aura and aren't as tired."

Raven nodded. "It's whether we want a better fight to watch or more Grimm."

"And which do we?" asked Summer.

"Dunno. What you think, Qrow?"

"I think we should go see the huntsmen first," he said, after a moment's thought. "There'll always be Grimm, and there might even be more drawn by the fighting in the morning. But if these guys go all-out in their first fight then they might not have much left in the tank come the afternoon."

That made sense to Raven, so she dragged the two of them over to that side of Ozpin. She wanted both, of course, but the thought of not seeing the students at their best pained her, especially when they'd be allowed to hunt for Grimm on Patch soon. Like Qrow said, there'd always be Grimm available. That was kind of the big problem the kingdoms faced. It might be years before she got to see some actual Beacon students fighting off against one another.

The sides weren't even because there were too many wanting the immediate excitement of the Emerald Forest – the fools. The teachers had to convince some to switch sides, but they were off soon enough. While one group were led, headed by Ozpin, toward the forest, the other group was brought by another teacher Raven didn't care to remember the name of to the training fields outside. She figured Ozpin, as the head combat guy, would be looking after both groups when they entered the forest. They'd want their strongest there for that.

There was a team of four at the training field waiting for them. Four boys of seventeen years, new recruits. They wouldn't be too good, she supposed, but they'd won their place in Beacon so they must have had something going for them. There were two brunettes, a boy with black hair, and the leader stood in front with scraggly blonde hair, angular features and dark blue eyes.

Raven felt an uncomfortable flutter in her stomach and looked away.

Had they served her dodgy food for breakfast? Cretins.

"Hey everyone," said the blonde. He had a firm voice. Strong arms, too. Raven looked him up and down and was quite pleased with what she saw. He had a bit of armour on his chest but thick arms and powerful muscles. He could have picked her up with ease. He had a sword on his hip. It was simple, without the flair and nonsense of other weapons she'd seen. Raven trusted he could use it, and his large hands suggested he could use a lot of things as he waved them at her. At them, the whole class. But also at her.

"You're drooling," Qrow whispered.

Raven drove her elbow into his ribs.

The huntsman ignored them.

"My name is Nicholas and this is Team NCKL. Or Nickel." He introduced the others, but she didn't care to remember their names. Nicholas was obviously the strongest since he was team leader. "We've been asked to answer some questions and then give a few demonstrations. So, ask away!"

The first few questions were stupid and pointless. How did they like Beacon? What was it like? Were the lessons hard? Raven wanted to wade among her classmates beating heads for wasting her time like that. If Beacon wasn't hard then it was pointless. And how would Nicholas know if they would like it? He could only talk for himself.

"How many Grimm have you killed this week?" Raven demanded, not bothering to raise her hands like the others. No one dared speak over her anyway, so there was no point.

"This week?" asked Nichoals, looking at her. Raven tried to stand her ground but his piercing eyes made her squirm a little, which she didn't fully understand. He was strong, and deserving of respect, but he couldn't be as strong as Ozpin or the combat instructor at Signal, and neither of them made her feel so nervous. "I'll take that as meaning the last seven days. Hmm. It's hard to give an exact number. We go into the forest every day and kill as many as we come across. I think we dealt with twenty yesterday, so I could take a stab in the dark at a hundred and forty but it could be less or more on any day." He shrugged, unconcerned with the specific number. "I hope that satisfies."

It certainly did.

He couldn't remember the exact number because the Grimm didn't matter to him. Raven sat back with a positively euphoric smile on her face, and it didn't fall even as the questions turned stupid again, asking what he and his team did for fun. Let them be idiots. Raven had gotten her answer on his strength, and it was enough that the Grimm – literal monsters – weren't worth counting. This was what she wanted.

"You know, I genuinely can't believe you're crushing on this guy so hard," Qrow whispered to her.

Raven's head snapped to his. "Shhhh!"

"Are you shushing me? You never pay attention in class—"

Raven jabbed her hand into his gut. "Shut up! Nicholas is talking!"

Summer giggled, but she looked away when Raven threatened her with a fist as well. They were both interrupting this moment and she wanted to give the man in front of her all the attention she could. More than that, she wanted to fight him. Test herself against him. He'd win, of course, but that didn't mean she couldn't learn a few things under him. From him. With him. Whatever. Point was, he was strong.

"I should tell the kid my sister wanted to become his mother," mumbled Qrow, but it made no sense so she tuned him out.

Once the talk was over, Nicholas stood and ordered one of his team to engage him in a one-on-one spar. It turned out she needn't have worried about exhaustion because two of them were going to fight in the morning and then two in the afternoon. Still, it wouldn't be him fighting later, so Raven knew she'd gotten the better deal. A chance to see the team leader in action.

He didn't disappoint her.

Nicholas fought like a hurricane, blowing open the doors of his opponent and driving him around the arena while his teammate could only hope to fend him off. It was rough and quick, with his opponent relying on clever tricks and mecha-shift weaponry with a spear that could turn into a gun, and Nicholas besting it with sheer aggression and skill.

He wasn't like Qrow, either. Her brother was a quick and willowy fighter, probably because he was too small to pull off the sheer power that Nicholas could. The older boy – no, the man – dodged when he could, but he was unafraid to tank hits on his aura, confident it would hold, and he also slipped in punches and kicks with his swordplay that had the entire class cheering and leaning forward.

Raven's red eyes sparkled.

/-/

Qrow couldn't help but think his sister must have liked Taiyang because he was her type as well as for his personality, because she was practically drooling over Nicholas Arc. Blonde hair, blue eyes, muscular. Yeah, Taiyang would fit that bill in a few years, but it was fun to see his bitch of a sister act like a schoolgirl with a crush for once.

It was a shame Nicholas was – or would be – taken. The man had been in his final year of Beacon when Qrow joined, and he only knew that because of the Vytal Tournament in their first year. Team NCKL hadn't won it, but they'd made the finals and Nicholas had done well in it, only just losing out to a stronger opponent. By that point he'd already been dating someone in the city, or so the rumour mill had said.

And later, Ruby's best friend and maybe-crush Jaune Arc had been born. Not that there'd been any actual romance between the two from what he'd seen, but Jaune Arc had that blue-eyed blonde bastard energy Taiyang had, and he'd already lost the first love of his life. That was prime Rose-family territory right there. Blue-eyed blonde grieving from the loss of a lover. Time for a Rose to move on in and make a claim.

"I want him," whispered Raven.

"To fight him, right?"

"Yes."

"To make sweet, sweet love to him?"

"Ye—No!" Raven punched him in the chin. "Fuck off, Qrow! I hate you!"

Next Chapter: 6th January

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