I'm hoping the vanishing new story issue is resolved now. Something to do with the site's servers causing problems with updates. I'm not much of an IT person.

Chapter 3

What would you do if you went into the past?

It was probably a little late for Qrow to be asking himself that, as he and his sister made their way aimlessly through the wilderness of Mistral. The old adage going back was that you wanted to be careful about changing things, and not change too much for fear of losing what future knowledge you had. Well, he'd well and truly gone and fucked that one up. That was for sure. You couldn't get much of a different timeline than the one in which Qrow Branwen, as a child, slaughtered the chief of his tribe, took over, then ran away in the middle of the night with his sister.

This was less the subtle tweaks he'd been going for, and more a grenade in a fish tank.

Raven had been quiet so far, which he was thankful for. She understood they had to go once he pointed out that the others would kill them in the night. Honour among thieves didn't count children, as they weren't really thieves or warriors in the minds of the people there. It didn't matter that he was strong or proved himself. They'd just think of what could go wrong with a child making the calls and decide that it'd be safer for everyone if Qrow Branwen and his sister drowned in the bathtub or burnt to death in a freak tent fire. He wouldn't be surprised if it was up in flames right now, or if the bundled cloths they'd left in their sleeping bags had been discovered.

It was times like this – that time being lost o'clock – that Qrow missed being able to turn into a bird.

That magic had obviously not come back with him on account of how it was Ozpin's and cast on his future body. It was a shame because not only would it be an easy way to get a lay of the land and find a village they could crash at, but it would also be a good way to convince Ozpin of who he was.

Without it and knowing how paranoid old Oz could be – and rightly so considering all the treachery and shenanigans from Salem, Lionheart and Cinder – the only way he could think to prove himself was to somehow get the Relic of Knowledge and let Ozpin use it for proof.

Only problem was, child-Raven obviously wasn't the Spring Maiden yet, and never would be now that the previous one wasn't going to get herself killed by Raven like a schmuck. He had no idea who the maiden was, where to find her, or how to convince her to open the vault in Haven.

Which means doing this the old-fashioned way. Get us into Beacon, befriend Tai and Summer, make sure they live – while somehow both not letting Raven run away and abandon Yang, but also making sure Taiyang and Summer bump uglies at some point to have Ruby.

Honestly, that wouldn't be hard. Summer had been infatuated with Tai, and he was sure he could wink and nudge her into asking for a threesome at some point. It did feel a bit weird to be thinking that while his probably twelve-year old sister was walking behind him, but then plotting the sex life and breeding of your friends to enable your nieces to be born was probably a bit weird as well.

Such was life when you were tossed back into the past. He was not writing Ruby and Yang out of existence. No way. Those two were some of the only good things to happen in his shitty life, and Remnant was a poorer place without them.

"Gods, I need a drink."

"What? We passed a river not too far back." Raven held out her waterskin. "I have some left."

"Not what I…" Qrow sighed, took it and faked a quick drink. He wasn't sure how to explain to his sister that he was craving some beer and a corner to slink off and fall asleep in. That'd be a little hard to explain. "Thanks."

"We're lost. Aren't we?"

"No," lied Qrow. It was bad enough he was lost, but he sure as hell wasn't going to admit it to his baby-faced sister. He was a forty-something year old man for crying out loud. He shouldn't be getting lost like this, but Mistral had changed a lot in nigh on thirty years.

Shocker. Who could have guessed his knowledge of thirty-odd years in the future wouldn't perfectly translate? He was honestly annoyed he hadn't considered that, but there'd been more important things to focus on in the tribe.

"I know exactly where we are. We're close to Mistral."

As in, closer to Mistral than Vale. Maybe. He knew the rough direction and pointed that way, and he was glad she didn't ask how far away or how long it'd take because his answer would have been to shrug. He'd not exactly had a lot of time to plan their escape after Raven went on that raid and sparked him into a fight with Balmung. His carefully laid plans to slip away when next the tribe passed near the city were in ashes.

On the bright side, they had supplies. Balmung's tent had been well stocked and neither of them ate much, the size that they were. The warmer days of spring had also come and thawed the rivers and lakes to provide drinking water and he was confident he could hunt for food if they had to. Hopefully, they wouldn't, as the plan was to get back to civilisation, not become hermits in the wilderness.

We're about the right age to get into Signal or another prep school. That'd be our best shot. The benefit there was that, as someone who worked in Signal, he knew most of the forms and what the selectors looked for. It might have changed a little in the decade or so before he became a teacher, but he was sure the qualities sought after were pretty much the same, and the forms for orphaned children almost certainly were. The law that made that a thing went back over a hundred years.

Qrow held a hand up for quiet. He'd heard something ahead – something unnatural. Or, well, not made by animals or Grimm.

Conversation.

That was the thing about people; they tended to be loud. When people walked through a quiet forest, they didn't have the same fear of discovery as the wildlife did, so they chatted, and without other people to tell you to be quiet or feel self-conscious around, the sound travelled. He heard loud laughter, then someone loudly saying something back, and more laughter. It was a group of people. He highly doubted it was the tribe unless they'd somehow mobilised and overtaken them and then looped back around. Unlikely. The tribe had been roaming, but you couldn't move so many people quickly. It took time to take down tents, gather supplies, package food and so on. Usually, it took a full day or two to prepare. They'd only been gone one and a half.

"I hear people," said Raven, picking up on it. "That must mean there's a village nearby."

"Or it could be bandits," said Qrow, then winced at his own stupidity. He and Raven were the local bandits. This area wasn't big enough for many more bands their size. "Never mind. They could be bad people, though. We should be careful."

He kept his voice low and waved for her to follow close, creeping forward himself. Not too slowly, or they'd outpace him, but cautiously enough that their small bodies didn't make too much in the way of sound. He had his borrowed sword, which was a rusty piece of crap that weighed too much in his opinion, but which would have to do for now. He also had his aura, though not much and still fluctuating as most people's did when it was freshly unlocked.

One of the biggest things kids learned at Signal, Sanctum, and the other pre-academies was how to properly use and control their aura. It took time for Oscar to pick it up even with Ozpin's help. He still couldn't believe that Jaune kid had unlocked his in initiation, then somehow mastered it enough to survive in Beacon.

Some people had all the luck.

It wasn't long before Raven and he found themselves looking out over a wide dirt path cut between the trees. It must have been hewn out for vehicles, though from the sounds of it the people coming were on foot. He shushed Raven and had her crouch low, himself as well behind a bush, and waited. The voices rose and he could already see the people coming a way off, but it took another minute or so before they were close enough for him to make out details.

Namely that they were a group of three, they were adults, they were armed and they were dressed in obnoxiously bright colours. Huntsmen. Qrow's grin threatened to take over his face. Sure, huntsmen didn't necessarily hold the monopoly on garish fashion, but it was close. It also made sense. Huntsmen needed to be easily identifiable in a dangerous situation, and they needed people to listen to them. Bright clothing helped draw the eye. Qrow's own reluctant adherence to that had been his cape, which he'd only worn after being hounded by Summer, and then with more reverence after she passed.

"They look dangerous," said Raven.

"Nah. They're huntsmen." Well, two huntsmen and one huntress. "They're our ticket back to Mistral."

"That's where they come from?"

Presumably. A lot of huntsmen lived outside the big cities because it was cheaper and because they were capable of it, but they still tended to report and commute there because that was where you found out what jobs were available. If these lot were on their way back from a mission, they might be headed to Mistral. Failing that, they'd be headed somewhere which was a whole lot better than the nowhere Qrow was leading them.

Ambushing or surprising them was not a wise move. Huntsmen could be twitchy for obvious reasons, and his and Raven's hair was black – which might be mistaken for fur in a stressful moment. He didn't fancy testing his aura out blocking a bullet snap-fired by a paranoid huntsman.

"Follow my lead."

"What? Aren't we going to talk this- Qrow, you – you butthead!"

He really wished he had the time to just stop and stare at her for that insightful insult. Alas, he was already moving out the bushes and onto the dirt road, a good hundred or so feet ahead of the trio, who naturally stopped at seeing something come onto the path. Once Raven followed and it was clear they weren't Grimm, however, the tree continued, albeit carefully.

They're good, thought Qrow. Not just rushing in to help a couple of kids like Yang and Ruby would. They're definitely not students. As they got closer, he got further confirmation and placed them in their mid-twenties. Probably a graduated team of a couple of years' experience. Perfect. With any luck they'll know what to do with us.

"Hello there," called the woman on the team, a girl with bright red hair and sparkling green eyes. The other two deferred to her, which might have been because she was the leader but also because they were children. Qrow knew well that a lot of frightened kids responded better to women, which only went to show that kids were dumb because Raven had been a woman, and she was the last adult any child should be trusting.

The redhead came up to them slowly, ahead of her teammates, and then crouched down to Qrow and Raven's levels. "Hello there," she repeated. "What are the two of you doing all the way out here? It's dangerous."

Gods, he hated being short.

"Hello," said Qrow, trying for weak and helpless. It wasn't a very Qrow state of being, however, so he just sounded bemused. At least he didn't come across flirtatious. "I'm Qrow. This is my sister, Raven."

"I'm Athena," said the huntress, smiling prettily at them. "Are your parents nearby?"

The question had no effect on him, and he hadn't thought it would on Raven either. To his surprise, her breathing hitched. It had both him and Athena looking her way, and Qrow was stunned to see Ray – his thunderous bitch of a sister – holding back tears.

Shit, it was still fresh to her.

He'd assumed she'd be over it given their shitty winter of grasping onto survival, but that must have just prevented her dealing with it. Let her push it aside and focus on other things. Had this happened the first time? Probably, but he'd been the weepy and useless one, and she'd probably cried and screamed somewhere in private so as to present a strong face to him. Their situations were now reversed.

Without thinking, he stepped in front of Ray, shielding her with his body and glaring at the huntress.

Yeah, she was a bitch, but she was his bitch of a sister.

"We're on our own," he said, meaningfully. The woman's eyes widened. "There's no one left."

Let her think of that what she would – it wouldn't be that they were bandits. Survivors of a lost village; children whose parents had died to Grimm; there was enough tragedy in the world to explain away their appearance, and the way her eyes softened told him she'd figured at least one out. Desperately she waved her team over, and they came running.

"This is Alexander and Reed," she said, pointing to the large man with red hair first, a shade darker than Athena's, and then the brunette. "They're my teammates. Our fourth is sick."

"Preggers," said Reed,

Alexander punched his arm. "Let's not add the birds and the bees into this, you idiot."

Qrow almost snorted.

"We're a team from Mistral," explained Athena. "Graduates. Huntsmen. Do you know what those are?"

"You fight Grimm."

"That's right!" Athena smiled and looked to his rusted sword. He probably should have left it behind. "You know about Grimm, I'm sure. Would you mind coming with us to Mistral? We can find you somewhere to stay and get some food and drink, and maybe to rest. I understand if you don't want to trust us but-"

"We'll trust you," said Qrow. It must have surprised them how quick he agreed, but he figured they'd write it off as them being desperate. In all truth, they were. "And sure. Mistral sounds good. Food, too. We're starving."

/-/

Athena and her team had circled around them after that and took their packs and equipment so they wouldn't weighed down – a rare benefit of looking so young. They probably expected them to be broken and helpless kids, which was only half true because they'd been able to look after themselves thus far, so they didn't have any trouble with keeping pace walking with the team even after three hours. The broken part, Qrow was less sure of. Far from impress Athena, it all seemed to worry her.

On their past, Qrow remained quiet, only saying that their parents had died and then everyone had sort of abandoned them and they hadn't been welcome. He then said that there had been an attack, meaning the raid, and he and Raven had run away when things got bad. The story had holes in it, but so did any story given by a clearly traumatised child, and they accepted that. With Raven's reaction earlier, they obviously wanted to direct all questions his way since he was the less likely to burst into tears.

They stopped at a village he didn't recognise, which probably meant it was going to be destroyed at some point in the next thirty years or so, and Athena paid for them to have a room in the inn and even promised to spend the night with them. Before that, however, there was food, drink – of which he and Raven stuffed themselves – and then a brief "team meeting" that took place in the guys' room while he and Raven got used to their rented room. Raven was busy exploring the marvels of a hot bath, and was refusing to come out, which gave Qrow plenty of time to place his ear against the wall and listen to their saviours.

"-have to help them, Alex. We can't just leave them!"

"I'm not saying we do. Do you hear me saying to leave a pair of kids in the wilderness? I'm just saying we need a plan beyond help them. Where do we take them? How do we help? What do we do? It's not as easy as it sounds, and they don't need us bumbling around like idiots."

"Headmaster Lionheart will have ideas,"

Ugh. There was a name he didn't like hearing. Then again, the guy might not be a traitor yet, and he wouldn't break his cover to inconvenience two random kids if he was. There wasn't much he could do about it other than play dumb.

"What is the headmaster of Haven is going to do with kids their age? We should take them to the authorities. They'll know what to do. I mean, there has to be a proper support structure for this." The man sighed loudly. "Really wish someone had taught us what to do. You handled it pretty well though. You're a natural with kids."

"Don't you two start making out now," groaned the other guy. "I swear, I'll throw myself out the window."

"Don't you think they were acting a little weird, though?"

Uh-oh. That wasn't good. Qrow couldn't blame them thinking it since the average kids their age didn't survive in the woods on their own, nor act as calmly as he did. It wasn't as easy as pretending to be a kid either, since he'd never had a real childhood in the first place. He was suspicious as a forty-year-old man in a kid's body, but he'd have stood out even if he was the real Qrow at this age as well. Raven, too. They just weren't normal kids.

"What do you mean?"

"The girl makes sense. Looked like she's barely holding on. It's the boy I'm worried about. He was too calm. Too relaxed. It was like looking at… I don't know what it was like. Veteran crossed with child crossed with sociopath."

"Don't be silly. He's putting on a brave face for his sister's sake," said Athena. "It's obvious he's pushing his feelings down to look after her. I bet he won't let anything show until they're safe, then it'll all come pouring out."

"I guess…"

"Did you see the way he glared at me when his sister almost cried? It was so cute!"

Guh. Qrow winced on the other side of the wall. He'd been going for intimidating, and he'd thought he nailed it. Damn this small body and his pudgy cheeks. Puberty couldn't come and go fast enough in his opinion. Brother Gods, he didn't even have facial hair. His face was as smooth as Ruby's, and that was a critical hit to his already dwindling confidence.

"He was so adorable!" gushed Athena. "I just wanted to pinch his little cheeks and-"

"Traumatised kids, Athena. Traumatised kids."

"Traumatised kids can be cute too, you know…"

"Yeah, but it's bad form to comment on it."

The door to the bathroom opened at that point, which was Qrow's cue to push off the wall and stop listening in. It didn't sound like they were in any danger of being found out anyway; the idea of bandits hadn't even crossed the team's mind. They had taken his sword away, but that only made sense and it had been a piece of shit so he hadn't bothered fighting to keep it.

Raven padded out in an obnoxiously fluffy dressing gown she'd likely found hung up on the back of the door. It was designed for someone much bigger than her, so it trailed on the floor behind her bare feet and covered her from head to toe. Better yet, the collar was so puffy that it came up to her cheekbones. She looked like an irritable puppy being swaddled in a cocoon of blankets. It was probably a good thing Athena wasn't here to lose her mind.

I wish I had a camera and the ability to show this to older Raven, thought Qrow. She would flip, but it would be so damned worth it. He almost wished he had one now just so he could sit on the picture for thirty years as blackmail material.

"Enjoy your bath?"

Raven dragged herself and her over-large gown to one of the three single beds and plopped herself down on it. "Yes."

"Better than heating water over a fire, isn't it?"

"Shut up." Raven glowered at him, but he could tell she was uneasy. "What happens now?"

"What do you mean?"

"We've found people. They're taking us… somewhere. What now? What's next?"

He doubted she just meant where to next, and instead wanted a long-term plan. He'd never really given her one, just telling her they needed to leave the tribe and then them running after Balmung's death. Raven had trusted him this far because she didn't have any other choice, but he knew that wouldn't last forever. He also knew she wouldn't want to hear that they'd settle down somewhere and do nothing. Raven was many things, but sedentary she was not. She was ambitious, determined, and desperate to get stronger. Well, he could work with that.

"We're probably safe from the tribe but I don't think we should take any chances," said Qrow. "We need to get strong enough to look after ourselves."

He was watching her closely, so he didn't miss the way her red eyes widened, and how she nodded excitedly. Yep. Getting strong – the quickest way to Raven's heart. It was almost too easy to manipulate her, and then he remembered she was an orphaned child literally just ripped from everything she'd ever known, and that took away any pleasure or achievement he might have felt. Of course she was malleable right now. Who wouldn't be? It was his job to look after her – after them both.

"I figured we should try and become the strongest we can be," said Qrow, "Which is why we should become huntsmen."

Raven looked to the adjoining wall. "Like them?"

"Yes. They're strong – stronger than anyone in the tribe. They have aura, and training, and good weapons and probably Semblances as well." His, he knew, was bad, but Raven's was not, and she'd be a lot safer once she unlocked it. "So, if we become strong huntsmen then no one will be able to put us down, especially not the tribe."

"Yes." Raven agreed easily, as expected. "I want that. How do we do it?"

Join an academy, he wanted to say, but he shouldn't because there was no way he should know that. He'd been raised in the same tribe she had, and that knowledge hadn't been found out until later. "I'll ask them," he said instead. "There must be a place you learn – a school, or a training camp or something. We'll sign up." Here was the kicker. "I don't think we should do it in Mistral, though."

"Because we'd get in trouble if they found out we're from the tribe."

He was pleased, and a little impressed, that she'd figured it out on her own. "Exactly. We should go to Vale."

"Vale? Why Vale?"

"Because Vacuo is a desert and I hate sand and Atlas is snowy and I'm sick of winter after we just got through it."

Perfect reasoning for a child if he did say so himself. Raven snorted, but even she didn't disagree. Sand was fine when you visited the beach, but having to put up with it twenty-four seven was a definite no-no. And if they went to Atlas then it was more likely they'd be drafted into the military. Also, he might run into a child version of Ironwood, and Qrow wasn't sure he'd be able to resist punching him in the face.

And in Vale there was Glynda Goodwitch. Qrow had known she existed in Beacon when he went there, but they hadn't really known one another. Seeing what she was like when she was older, he definitely wanted to meet her when they were both of age. Maybe see if he couldn't corrupt her a little and get her to ease up.

Of course, the main reason was Summer and Taiyang. Team STRQ was going to be a thing if he had to hunt those two down in initiation himself – and he damn well would. Nothing was going to be left to chance.

Team STRQ was happening, and he'd brook no argument.

/-/

It was surprisingly easy to get Athena talking about how to become a huntress when she came back. He suspected it was because she wanted to steer the conversation away from anything that might set them off and talking about Sanctum – Mistral's equivalent to Signal – was about as safe a topic as you could manage. Of course, most of her stories were designed to make them laugh, so she told stupid stories of her and the other students back then and what they'd gotten up to. Much of it fell flat on Raven, who wouldn't have known "fun" if it crept up and strangled her in her sleep, but there were little pearls of wisdom among the chatter.

Namely, how you could sign up for it. Specifically, the orphans programme.

No civilised person really liked talking about the OCHP – the Orphaned Children Huntsmen Programme. It was a relic of legislation that had been born long ago be necessity, and it had been kept by the same cruel hand. It was legislation present in every kingdom, sometimes under different names, that allowed orphaned children as young as eleven to volunteer for huntsmen prep schools and receive a bursary to attend. This bursary included funding to stay at a dedicated state-sponsored home, to have food delivered to you, and to have your bills such as lighting and heating handled, so long as you stayed in the programme.

The reason no one liked it was because it was basically drafting children with no good options into fighting the Grimm and treating them as child soldiers, though the OCHP had mellowed over the decades as more progressive governments made changes to take it away from "child soldiers" and closer to "supporting career choices." It was still kids expected to learn to fight, but now there was mandated time set aside for fun, spending money to live a normal life, and no requirement to spend at least four years in the field as there had been over sixty years prior. Nowadays, the OCHP really was a fairly generous package for a child with no options. For a pair like he and Raven, it was a gift from the brother gods.

"We want to sign up," said Raven, taking the lead for once. "We want to get stronger."

It probably wasn't hard for Athena to figure out why. It was the wrong assumption, but Raven spoke for both of them in this case. The only issue was that Qrow wanted it to take part in Vale if he could swing it, and swinging it wasn't going to be easy. Though, I guess it's not the end of the world if we learn in Haven and then transfer to Beacon when we hit seventeen. We didn't meet Taiyang and Summer until then anyway.

"Let's get you to Mistral first and then you can decide," said Athena.

"Won't change anything," said Raven, sticking out her chin stubbornly. "Need to be strong. No one messes with strong people."

Come morning, Athena continued to regale them with stories of her youth, now moving onto Haven where she joined her team. Reed and Alexander chipped in as well both over a hearty breakfast, and as they carried on the final leg of their journey to Mistral. It was obviously all designed to keep the two kids from breaking down in grief, but Qrow enjoyed it all the same. He'd never been one to listen to stories like this before because it brought up grief over Summer, but now Summer was alive and well, and he had a chance to make things right. That meant he was going to get to see her again, and to see Team STRQ actually as a team and not a broken collection of individuals masquerading as mature adults.

It took them half a day to see Mistral's towers appear over the forests, and then another two or three hours to reach the gates. By that point both he and Raven were exhausted; an older mind did not mean an older body, and his had been pushed to the extreme. That didn't mean he was entirely comfortable with Alexander scooping him up and carrying him the final part of the way, and Raven definitely wasn't a fan of Athena picking her up.

No fair. Why didn't he get carried by the babe? Okay, that sounded as weird as it felt. Even to him.

"Nearly there," said Athena. "You'll get some good food and a place to rest, and I promise we won't just dump the two of you in an orphanage and forget about you, okay? I'll make sure you're being looked after."

"Welp." Reed slapped Alexander's shoulder. "Looks like you're about to have two kids, Alex. Congrats."

"Shut up, Reed."

Next Chapter: 14th October

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