The Asian hornet in my kitchen WAS an Asian hornet and I had to report it to "HornetWatch" which I did not realise was a thing here in the UK, but apparently, it's a government body to track the invasive species. Learn something new every day.

I've been around looking for a nest but can't find one so am thinking it's off in hedgerows on the main road and this was a stray one that wandered to my house. Hoping so anyway.

Dumbest thing is my mom came over to have a look and said – and I quote. "You know, it kind of has a cute face…"

Said no one ever about a wasp/hornet! Wtf mom.

I guess that puts in context all the times my mom called me a cute baby rofl.

Cover Art: Aristeo Storm

Chapter 34

Raven dragged his sorry ass to the gym for spars practically every day, knowing full well she would keep winning when he didn't have a weapon and relishing every moment. A kinder person would have said she was helping "in her own way" to encourage him to get his weapon made, but Qrow was not a kind person, and Raven's satisfied smile every time she beat him showed she was no better.

He ran into Hazel every now and then, the boy coming every other day so his muscles could rest. He wasn't huntsmen material from what Qrow could tell, a little too soft despite his wishes for a stronger body. Though he never said it, Qrow got the feeling the kid was bullied in school and that this was an attempt to thwart it.

It probably wouldn't work. Qrow had known plenty of bullies since his time teaching and things like "logic" didn't stop them. However, it wasn't a bad coping mechanism to pick up and the kid would maybe grow in confidence once he saw results. If nothing else, he could always beat his bullies up.

Not that Qrow wanted to encourage that kind of behaviour or anything.

Honest.

Hazel became something of an automatic thing for him, to go up and help the boy out and escape all the other boys and men embarrassing themselves as they tried to catch Raven and Summer's attention. It was so much worse than Signal. At least back there, the kids had thought themselves in love. Here, they just thought they were hot shit and that the girls should be swooning over how much they could bench.

Inevitably, he and Hazel got to talking.

"My sister is a huntress like you, she's going to Beacon this year."

"Oh?" The name Rainart was tickling something in the back of his mind, maybe someone he'd met or vaguely remembered from class. It was hard to put a face to the name. "I take it she isn't from Signal, then? You from abroad?"

"No. We live here, but we've lived alone since our parents died in a car accident. Gretchen has been looking after me and she won a scholarship to train with a private pre-academy in the city. She's amazing."

"I'm sure she is."

Qrow smiled at the similarities between him and Raven. Stories like that were a lien a dozen, though most happened outside the walls due to the Grimm. It was a reminder that Grimm weren't the only danger in the world. All it took was one drink driver. Qrow had never bothered learning to drive, primarily because he could turn into a bird and fly quicker and for cheaper, but the fact that traffic in the city was a bitch certainly helped.

"Maybe you'll be on a team with her," said Hazel.

"I doubt it. Me and my friends are already planning on sticking together."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry, kid. I'll keep an eye on her for you." Qrow smirked at Hazel's shocked expression. "That's where this was heading, wasn't it? You're worried and want me to make sure your big sis comes home safe."

Blushing, Hazel looked away.

Heh. Adorable. It reminded him of Ruby for the short period between Yang being accepted into Beacon and Ruby foiling the robbery, a time when Ruby had expected to spend the next two years at Signal alone and miss her sister. There'd been plenty of "almost tears" moments, and Qrow had privately suspected that there would be actual tears come Yang leaving, if Ozpin hadn't stuck his nose in and offered Ruby a deal without consulting her father or uncle.

Manipulative old men were going to manipulate, that was just a fact of life. They'd had words about it. Stern, dangerous words. Ultimately, Qrow could accept it was probably for the best since, if Ruby hadn't been there, then Yang or any of her teammates could have been hurt in the fall of Beacon. As much as he hated it, Ruby had been instrumental in stopping Torchwick before things could get worse.

"I'll keep an eye on her. What about you? Thinking of following in her footsteps?"

"No. I don't like fighting. Not that there's anything wrong with it—" he hurried to add. "It just makes me uncomfortable to watch it, even when I know it's a friendly spar like you have with your sister.

"It's fine. It's fine." Qrow laughed. "I'm not going to get angry you don't want my job. What are your plans, then?"

"I want to be a doctor and help people."

"That's a good ambition. Good pay, too." Assuming he got into a business in a capital city. "You doing well enough in school?"

"Yes. Gretchen says she'll help me apply for a scholarship, too. Vale needs more doctors ever, especially since they're expecting a lot of them to move out of Vale soon."

"Hmmm? Move out?" That was news to him. "Why? Has something happened? Strikes or bad pay?"

"Nothing like that. It's because of all the job opportunities."

Qrow took a stab in the dark. "In Atlas?"

"No. In Mountain Glenn."

The barbell almost slipped from his fingers and crushed Hazel's throat. He caught it at the last, helped in no small part by Hazel pushing it back up himself. "M—Mountain Glenn?"

"Yeah. You know, the new city outside the walls. They think it's going to be completed this year and then a lot of people are going to move over. They're saying it might cut the number of professionals in Vale in half, especially with the lucrative deals they're offering."

Shit on a pancake.

How had he forgotten this!?

He'd been so focused on the good of Team STRQ and mitigating the bad of Salem and the fall of Beacon that he'd never so much as considered one of the biggest disasters to ever befall the country. Mountain Glenn, a new city of hundreds of thousands of people, wiped out. Tunnels closed on still-alive people, huntsmen and huntresses killed trying to hold them open, and so much fear and negativity that it sparked a wave of Grimm attacks forcing an exodus of refugees.

It was all coming back now, the memories of the news coverage and the drama playing through his mind, all distant memories he'd pushed away and, if he were honest, not fully understood or appreciated at the time.

Team STRQ had been in the latter half of their first year when it happened and their roles had been to help frightened people from Mountain Glenn to shelters, and later on to help hunt Grimm around the city to lessen numbers. They'd been nowhere near the real action and it all felt like some distant thing he and Raven weren't a part of. They would nod and agree it was tragic, but they'd never known anyone who went and died there. There hadn't been anything they could do.

Except that wasn't the case now, was it?

Fuck me, I'm the only one on Remnant that knows Mountain Glenn is going to fall...

How could he not try and stop it?

But, fuck me, how CAN I stop it? I'm one man, a child at that, and I have next to no idea how it'll happen! They said Grimm, so Salem...? I can't go and spread her existence around or it'd hurt Ozpin's efforts.

He also couldn't really tell Ozpin because that would force him to reveal everything else.

"Qrow...?" Hazel let out an uncomfortable grunt. "A hand here...?"

"Oh, right." Qrow raised the bar so Hazel could slot it back into place. The boy sat up, rubbing his chest to work out the soreness. "Are you okay? You're normally the one to tell me off when I space out. Not the other way around."

"Just lost in thought, kid. So, Mountain Glenn. What stage is it at?"

Hazel glanced back. "I dunno. I only know what I've been told in school about the jobs it'll create, half from working there and half from people leaving Vale to live there. Our homeroom teacher says it'll be a historical event."

It sure would.

For all the wrong reasons.

From what he knew, the fall hadn't been instantaneous. Mountain Glenn had stood for a while, not years but maybe a year to a year and a half. Enough time for people to let their guards down. There'd been conflicting reports, though. Some said the Grimm came from within, which shouldn't have been possible. They'd gotten past the wall, however, and it wasn't by breaking it down.

Did Salem have traitors loyal to her before Cinder and Tyrian? It made sense she would, but he sure as hell hadn't been told any. Maybe Ozpin thought it unnecessary if they were already dead and gone. It was just as likely Oz hadn't known, since it wasn't easy to identify one or two traitors out of tens of millions of people.

There hadn't been any red flags for Cinder, either.

Not until she killed Amber.

Amber would be one or two years old right now, I think. Not much I can do on that end, but at least she'll have her friends and family. Who knows, maybe if Raven stays loyal and Summer lives, one of those two will take on the mantle instead.

Qrow wasn't sure if he liked either possibility, but at least Raven wouldn't fall for an ambush like Amber did, and she could use her Semblance to portal out or portal reinforcements in. The thought of willingly given Raven maiden powers made his stomach flip, but she wasn't the same woman and never would be. This Raven was going to be a happy and loving member of Team STRQ, and a great sister-wife to Summer, however the hell he was going to make that happen.

Sheesh. How come so many of my goals are this hard? Stop Mountain Glenn, create a polyamory involving my own sister, ensure the birth of Ruby and Yang in the future and at the right ages.

Because, hey, what if the Yang and Ruby he knew could only exist if they were conceived on that specific day, with that specific sperm, with that specific egg? Qrow felt a headache brewing, especially at the idea he'd need to track his teammate's reproductive cycles. This was sounding more and more creepy, especially given they weren't even seventeen yet.

I belong on some kind of list...

"Actually, my sister is picking me up. Do you want to meet her?"

"Hmm?" Qrow snapped back to reality. "You're not trying to set us up, are you?"

"Ew! No! You're not good— I mean, Gretchen has very particular tastes."

Qrow knew exactly what the little brat had been about to say. "Cheeky brat. Fine, but just for that I might put the moves on her anyway." An empty threat, but enough to make Hazel panic. "Go get changed and come find me. I'm going to do a few more reps."

It didn't take long for Hazel to shower off and get changed, during which time Qrow had run through several reps on different machines and not worked up much of a sweat at all. Huntsmen were built different, prioritising stamina and endurance over brute strength, so while he couldn't bench as much as a lot of the guys here, he could keep going for much longer. That was more important where the Grimm were involved.

That the kid was going more for bulk was no big surprise, that being the ambition of a lot of guys his age. When you didn't have to train for purpose, you might as well go for aesthetics – and Qrow was self-aware enough to know his preference for leaner people was just him being too meshed in the huntsman culture. Huntsmen tended to date huntresses and so on, and oftentimes "performance" was more attractive than pecs, abs or bust size.

No one wanted to commit to falling in love with someone who might die at any moment.

Taiyang had once joked it was "romance of the fittest" and he wasn't far wrong, though any commentary on romance from a man who so casually seduced every woman within a one mile radius needed to be taken with a heaping of salt.

"I'm back," said Hazel, watching as Qrow set the weights aside. "There are a lot of men giving you ugly looks, you know."

"I know."

"Don't they realise she's your sister?"

"Hazel, I'd be surprised if there's a coherent thought going on in their heads. Too many supplements and, in at least half the people here, steroids as well. All they see is the two good-looking girls spending more time with me than them, and they jump to conclusions."

"They're not that good looking."

Caught between the urge to defend them and to laugh, Qrow instead snorted and ruffled the boy's hair. "They don't need to be when this gym is, like, 80% male. Just being female is enough to make them the centre of attention, but the fact they can fight in the ring makes them stand out. Your sister will get this as well, you know. Huntresses tend to fascinate a lot of guys."

"And huntsmen...?"

"Ironically, a little different. Sure, women are interested, but they also know dating a huntsman means being with a guy who won't always be there for them. Even if they're not emotionally unavailable, they'll often be physically unavailable. So, huntsmen become a curiosity. You dream of sleeping with one and maybe dating them for a bit, but they're not someone to settle down with."

"Wouldn't that be exactly the same for huntresses?"

"Yes, but the difference is women consider all that and men just think `titties` and dive right in, then realise the complicated stuff later."

Hazel snickered. Sure, he was exaggerating a little, and not all guys were that lame. Not all women were that smart, either. But Hazel knew he was talking about the gym bros leering at Raven and Summer, so it fit here.

"Gretchen says a lot of huntsmen and huntresses date one another."

"She's right. It's easier to keep a relationship going if you can go on the same missions as them and, even when you can't, you're usually too busy fighting Grimm or protecting some village to worry about what your significant other is doing."

Which, most of the time, was also the same as you. Hard to suspect your partner was cheating on you when they were deep in the wilderness. Not exactly many opportunities to get frisky with anyone. But, mostly, those that dated worked together, either because they were already on a team, or because they got joined it for the duration of the relationship. Nothing quite like sharing a tent with someone to make those nights out in the wild feel a whole lot less troublesome.

"You explain it a lot better than my sister does..."

That's because I'm used to teaching kids your age, Qrow thought, amused. That and the fact that he'd been an onlooker (and regular third wheel) to the rest of his team being some crazy not-quite-poly mess of a romance. If it wasn't Taiyang and Raven getting frisky, it was Summer pining for him. He'd always been the one on the outside looking in, which made it easy to spot all these things.

"Eh, you'll get used to it. Or not if you're planning to become a doctor."

"Yeah, I—" Hazel broke off. "Oh, there she is! Sis! Over here!"

The girl was his age, with skin the same colour as Hazel's and hair only a fraction of a shade darker. She wore it in a short ponytail with a few bangs coming down her face, framing pale brown eyes that almost looked a little golden on the edges.

"Hazel!" she said, jogging up. She was quick. Not Ruby quick, but nippy, and he could tell she was a speed fighter. A quick up and down didn't reveal a weapon, but he noticed the bracer on her left arm and the padding over her left chest. An archer, maybe? If she was right-handed, then it made sense to protect those areas from a string. Aura didn't stop things like that stinging. "And who's this?" she asked, coming to a stop. Her gaze was wary at first, but she soon relaxed on seeing how calm Hazel was. "Your new friend?"

"This is Qrow! He's a huntsman, like you. He's even going to Beacon."

"Nice to meet ya," he said, extending a hand.

"Hm."

Gretchen took his with fingerless gloves, tilted her head, closed her eyes and smiled.

It was because of that motion that she missed his suddenly horrified expression. That fact, that pose, struck the memory within his mind and made it ring out with a gong. Ozpin's voice came to him, speaking out to the students in the auditorium as he stood before a projector image of this very face.

"It is with great sorrow that I must announce to you all that Beacon has lost one of its students today. On a training mission, Gretchen Rainart lost her life in battle with the Grimm. I ask for a moment of silence for the fallen."

Just one more death, this one on, if he recalled correctly, a task from Ozpin. The memories came streaming back fully. Gretchen had almost become like Team STRQ, not necessarily granted transformative powers like him or Raven, but she'd been considered to become one of Ozpin's inner circle.

Until she was killed.

And he'd just promised to look after her, hadn't he?

Fuck my life...

/-/

The list was getting longer and longer. It started so easily, back with getting Team STRQ back together and making sure Yang and Ruby were born. The latter wasn't so easy, but the first part was.

Meeting Willow added the new caveat of either protecting her from Jacques or making sure she was happier in that relationship – awkward, but probably not impossible. He just needed to make sure she didn't sign away any of her rights.

Beating Salem was another goal, and his plan there was really just to find and make sure Cinder had a better life. Adopting her was the easiest route, since killing a child was too much even for him, but given how shitty a parent he'd be, maybe the best choice would be finding her loving parents. Oh, and he should find and kill Tyrian Callows at some point.

Those objectives weren't that hard all things considered. He had time for each of them, and they didn't require him to shift heaven and Remnant to get them done.

It was the new ones that were going to prove problematic.

Save Gretchen Rainart. Surely, that wouldn't be too hard. He had time aplenty to befriend her, and every good huntress was worth saving. But Mountain Glenn…? Where was he even meant to begin!?

I'm back in the past, though. I should try and stop bad things. Am I missing anything else? Are there other things I've forgotten about?

It was hard to remember. There was a lot that happened in twenty years and most of it was distant memories and overshadowed by his excitement over Team STRQ. Qrow paced his hotel room, wracking his mind.

"Mountain Glenn. Mountain Glen falls. What else? Tyrian Callows, Cinder won't be born yet, Willow Schnee. General Ironwood? I need to punch him in the dick, but should I also do something about his arm? How could I? I don't even know how that happened! What else? What else? Think, Qrow. Think! What's bad in the future?" He snapped his fingers. "White Fang! Of course!"

Rushing to his scroll, he searched up the group and found it was still a peaceful protest organisation. In fact, they had a rally organised in Vale for the coming week, having timed it when school holidays were on so they could try and appeal to the younger and, hopefully, more impressionable generation.

"They're still peaceful for now. Good. Can I do anything about that? I don't see how I can stop global racism but… Sienna. Sienna Khan." She was the new leader, and the one who took over from the old and turned the group into a terrorist organisation. "If I can somehow stop her… would that change anything? She may be the leader, but she can't have been the only driving force behind it."

The old adage of cutting off the head of the snake rarely worked for terrorist groups.

It was an ideological movement more than it was a dictatorship.

"Still, it's Sienna Khan and… Adam Taurus? And he was Yang's partner's ex…" Qrow tried his hardest to remember the little things Yang told him about her partner. To be honest, he hadn't paid as much attention as he probably should. "And she was part of the peaceful movement before it split off, and she went with Taurus. That means… what? It has to mean she was at least over twelve when it happened."

If he went with "above ten years old" as a safety measurement, that still meant he had until after Yang and Ruby were born until the White Fang turned evil. A lot more time than he'd expected, but then the White Fang really weren't that old. That meant at least fourteen years from now, maybe longer.

Time enough to make it less of a priority.

But should he ignore it…?

"I'll check out the rally," he decided. "It won't be time wasted. And I'd best start researching Mountain Glenn tomorrow as well. How did it fall? Did Salem smuggle Grimm in somehow? Can I find a way to let Ozpin know? There's no way he wouldn't be aware of the risk. This is Ozpin, he's massively paranoid."

Rightfully so, too. Ozpin knew what he was up against and there was no way in hell he'd have dropped the ball on a new city. He had to know 100% that Salem would want it destroyed, so the thought of him ignoring the risk here was ridiculous. Something must have happened that slipped past even Ozpin. Either Salem pulled off a real miracle or this was a failure on Mountain Glenn's part.

And who do I feel like I'm forgetting something…?

Been in meetings this week with potential buyers for the business, almost all of whom have been timewasters. Legally, I have to try and "save" the company rather than close it down as my boss wants, so we're going through the steps.

Next Chapter: 15th June

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