Here we go.

Chapter 19

Ozpin was up to his neck in work so there wasn't much he could do beyond arrange their rooms for them and hand Qrow a generous amount of spending money so they could do some shopping and get food through the day.

"I am trusting Mr Branwen with this," he said. "Please ensure at least some of it is spent on food for you all."

Raven and Summer's eyes had lit up.

"Real food!" he stressed. "Not sweets, not pure sugar, but actual food. I will be busy almost all day with school matters but I'm giving you my emergency contact. Please do not use it for anything short of a genuine emergency."

It wasn't that he didn't trust them and more that he was a teacher with hundreds of years of experience, and he knew – as did Qrow – the capability for teenagers to find trouble the nanosecond you let them out of your sight. Raven and Summer may have been offended at his constant pleas, but Qrow understood.

He'd heard about the shit Team RWBY got up to.

Kids were the worst.

"We'll be good," he said. "I'll keep an eye on them."

They were quickly unleashed on the city and, despite Ozpin's worry, Summer was too busy being amazed at everything and Raven was too busy trying to appear knowledgeable about a city they hadn't really done much in.

"We're visiting the orphanage first," said Qrow.

"Why?" asked Raven. "We're done there. Why go back?"

"Because it's polite – and because we should let the matrons know we're happy. They do good work looking after helpless children and deserve to know we're safe. It also won't kill you to show them some gratitude."

"But we can't take Summer there – she's an orphan now!"

Summer snorted. "Ray, I was an orphan even when I had my grandpa, and it's not like the orphanage kidnaps orphaned children. I'll be fine."

Raven shot her a glower; she was no doubt annoyed that Summer hadn't lied to back her up. Qrow wasn't sure why she didn't want to see the orphanage again because their time there hadn't been bad at all. Maybe it was just nerves or embarrassment around Summer. He didn't much care. Qrow was willing to let Raven get away with a lot, but not this. The matrons were good people and he'd be damned if Raven was going to disrespect them.

Given how many kid they looked after, he wouldn't have been surprised if they'd been forgotten. When the head matron opened the door and clasped her hands to her mouth, however, he knew that wasn't the case.

"Qrow and Raven!" she gasped. "Oh, you've grown so big!"

"Hello matron," said Qrow, with a tiny smile. "We're in Mistral to watch the festival and Raven said she wanted to come see how everyone was doing."

Raven did a wonderful impression of her bird form being caught by a falcon in midair, but the matron rushed forward and swept them both up into a hug before she could call Qrow out on his bullshit.

"Oh, it's so good to see you both doing well!" cried the woman, rubbing her face first into Qrow's hair and then into Raven's. "You both look so healthy and happy!" He felt the tears on his scalp. "I'm so relieved! I was so worried when you wanted to leave to an academy, with all that fighting and the weapons!"

"H—Hey," mumbled Raven, squirming uncomfortably. "It's fine. We're fine. T—There's no need to worry or anything."

"I'll always worry! It's my job to!"

There was a click and a flash behind them.

"Summmmer," snarled Raven. "I swear if that's you taking a photo…"

"And who is this?" asked the matron. "A friend from Signal?"

"This is Summer," he said. "She's an orphan we're dumping here with you."

It was Summer's turn to squawk. "He's lying! He's lying!"

The matron laughed and swept Summer up into the group hug as well, squeezing the life out of all three of them before finally letting go. Only then did she notice the cakes they'd bought from a store nearby and brought with them.

"For the kids," Raven muttered, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "Not that I care or—"

"Yes, my dear. I remember how you were. All fire and ice." The matron tugged Raven's cheek with a fond smile. "Why don't you all come on in and I'll slice the cakes up. The kids have missed you. I have to say I thought things would be quieter once you were both adopted, but now it's too quiet. I'd gotten used to your early-morning spars and your constant troublemaking. Speaking of, how are they in Signal?" she asked to Summer. "Not still causing trouble, are they?"

"Um. Raven befriended me after goading me into tackling her through a window and beating her up."

The matron sighed. "That sounds about right."

"Uh. No!" Raven growled. "You didn't beat me up. The fight was inconclusive."

"I was on top of you, unharmed, and you were bleeding with two black eyes…"

Raven crossed her arms. "I was lulling you into a false sense of security. You were seconds away from letting your guard down."

"Uh-huh. Sure thing."

"I'm serious!"

"I totally believe you."

"Don't make me kick your ass, Summer."

"It's fine. It's fine. You'd need to spend two weeks lulling me to false security first, right?" Raven's throat vibrated as she growled like a wild animal. Laughing, the matron swept an arm around her shoulder and dragged her into the orphanage. Summer giggled, turning to him and saying, "I like her. She seems nice."

"They were good to us. Put up with the worst of Raven's crap without so much as a sigh."

It was places like this that reminded him even in a world of ruthless Grimm and monsters like Cinder and Salem, there was some part of humanity worth defending. Heavy thoughts for someone his biological age, but at least they weren't so morbid.

/-/

Summer was relieved things weren't as awkward as they could have been. Visiting an orphanage, as an orphan, was panic-inducing on its own but she'd also been afraid this would be some terrible memory moment for the Branwen siblings as well – some traumatic past. Personally, she blamed TV and movies for filling her head with the idea that orphanages were terrible places run by abusive people.

It looked like that was far from the truth because the matron was very sweet.

Inside, it turned out the matron wasn't the only one who remembered the pair. Qrow and Raven were swarmed by children, many of them several years younger, who pestered them with questions about Signal. The older woman chuckled and steered Summer toward another room. "How about you help me cut the cake while those two fight off the children."

"Hm. Okay."

The kitchen was small but obviously well used, but it was obvious the woman didn't need help slicing a cake. She also didn't trust Summer with a knife, which was kind of funny since she was a huntress-in-training and knew more about weapon safety than this civilian did. Still, she looked after loads of kids, so Summer assumed she just had bad experiences with children holding sharp objects.

"How are those two doing in Signal?" asked the matron, revealing the real reason Summer had been invited into the back. "I know they'll say they're fine, but they said as much to a winter spent fending for themselves in the wilderness. They'll lie if they think it'll make me happy."

"I actually think that's just their default mode," said Summer.

"Oh?"

"I didn't mean anything by it. They're actually doing great in Signal. Raven has her gan— um, her friends." The matron sighed heavily. "And Qrow doesn't have as many but he's very popular and a lot of people respect him even if they don't like him. We have each other, though. He also seems to get on with the teachers a lot, which is kind of weird."

"He was mature even when he was younger," said the matron. "He often felt like the oldest boy here, and I know several other members of our team said he was easy to talk to – if a little jaded. Does he seem happy at Signal?"

"Yes." Summer felt her heart melt a little as the woman smiled. "He's a bit of an idiot sometimes. He got into a fight with Ray a while back and moped around for so long that I had to teach him how to apologise, but I think he's happy. Though there are times he does this thing where he watches other people be happy and smiles and goes all distant. It's strange."

"I did notice that here as well, but only ever with Raven. He was always protective of her, and I don't mean in the physical sense. Raven was a rough and tumble girl capable of looking after herself, but her brother would always enter a strange little mood whenever she interacted with others positively. We thought he might have been jealous at first – either of her befriending others or the thought of her replacing him – but we quickly realised that wasn't the case. It was more like he was watching her proudly, like a father watches their child play at a park."

Was that what he'd been doing to her before? It was a lot less socially terrifying than him liking her, but it was still a little weird. She could kinda get why he'd be happy Raven was making friends, because Raven had the social acumen of a bullet to the head, but why her? Summer was normal and aside from the bullying she'd never struggled to make friends.

"Can I ask a question of my own?"

The woman smiles. "Of course, dear! What is it?"

"Did Qrow ever have problems with bullying here?"

"No. Not at all. He was a little aloof and preferred to talk to the matrons instead of children his age, but no one would have dared bully him or Raven. Why? Is he being bullied at Signal?"

"Uh. No. I was. He just… helped me…"

"That's sweet." Summer was grateful she didn't press on the matter, probably sensing Summer didn't want to talk about it. Instead, she started placing out plates for Summer to life slices of cake onto. "In all truth, Qrow was the kind of young boy that would have been adopted in a heartbeat if he was on his own. But he refused to leave Raven and we weren't prepared to split them up. Those two need one another. That much I'm sure of. Now, let's go deliver this cake. Hm?"

Phew. The conversation had been getting a bit heavy for her liking as it was. Together, they balanced a bunch of paper plates with cake on across two large metal trays and carried them back into the main room.

Summer almost dropped hers when she saw what was happening.

Qrow was sitting on a low chair with a girl of around eight on one knee and another around seven on his other. In front of him, no less than thirty children knelt and sat cross-legged in a semi-circle, perfectly silent as he narrated a story to them, his hands holding the much smaller girls in place.

"—the Beowolf had the family cornered, but the mother remembered the lessons her father had taught her and reached for his spear. Placing herself between the beast and her children, she waited for it to attack—"

"What on Remnant is this?" whispered Summer.

"Story-time," the matron replied, with no small amount of amusement. "Did I not mention Qrow used to tell stories to the smaller children? It was the only way we could get them to sleep, and they'd fight to get the best spots to listen." The woman's voice was practically crooning. "I always said he'd make an excellent teacher one day. The way he commands their attention is incredible, and he's so good with younger children – girls especially. You should have seen him breaking up arguments and teaching the younger girls to share toys."

Summer blushed. She wasn't sure why, especially when it was so irrelevant to her, but something about the way he was emoting and talking reminded her of her own father. He was even mimicking voices, rising and lowering his pitch at critical moments of the story. When he reached the climax, the children cheered and threw their hands in the air.

"Everyone!" announced the matron. "Qrow and Raven brought you all cake!"

Another cheer, and then a swarm of tiny hands grabbing and reaching for her. Qrow may have been improbably good with kids, but she was not, and it was all she could do to keep on her feet and not have the tray ripped from her hands.

"OI!" roared a familiar voice. Raven stomped forward. "Are you brats starting something? Line up, you cretins!"

Raven, you can't call orphaned children cretins, Summer felt like saying. It worked, though. The kids formed a more orderly line and Summer was able to give out the cake one at a time. There was even a slice left over for each of them and the matrons. Once Summer had sat down, she awkwardly found herself the centre of attention as well.

"Are you a huntress?"

"You're pretty!"

"Are you Qrow's wife?"

"Are you Qrow's mommy?"

"W—What's with that last question!?" Summer cried. "How could I be his mother at my age? I'd have had to have a baby the day I was born!"

"You know how babies are made!? Tell us! Tell us!"

"Erk—"

"Babies are made when a married couple love each other very much," said Qrow, coming to her rescue. "And only when that couple are over eighteen."

"Is it true that Raven is the most popular girl in school and can even beat her teachers?"

That question came from a girl only two years or so younger than them, and Summer caught Raven's panicked glare over her head. Was that why Raven was telling them? Summer smiled slyly, especially when Raven started wildly shaking her head.

"Well, if Raven said it then it must be true," she teased.

"I knew it! Raven is the coolest!"

"You two are popular here," she said to Qrow and Raven, once the kids were all busy eating.

"It's not often the big kids come back once they leave," Qrow replied. "They're either adopted and don't come back, or they move out the orphanage as adults and are too busy trying to make ends meet. I imagine the two of us going to Signal makes us cooler in their eyes as well. Huntsmen and huntresses are the coolest, right?"

They were cool. Even Summer had fangirled over them when she was young. To a bunch of orphans without parents to look up to, it probably made sense they'd look up to the biggest and strongest kids in the orphanage.

"How many young children has Raven corrupted beyond all redeemability?"

"I can fucking hear you. I'm right here."

"Raven, this is an orphanage!"

"Bah. How are they meant to survive the world out there if they don't know how to curse?"

Qrow sighed. "Cursing isn't a survival skill, Ray. I've told you this."

"Like fuck it isn't! And you swear just as much as I do."

"Not around kids, I don't."

"Bah. Kids are just psychopaths with less morals."

"You'd know," Summer said snidely. Raven responded with a flick of cake that bounced off Summer's forehead and landed in Qrow's hair. Raven pumped her fist, impressed with her own accuracy. "Bitch."

"Gasp!" Raven gasped – and said the word. "Qrow, look! Miss Perfect swore!"

"No one calls me Miss Perfect, you— you…" Summer eyed the children suddenly paying more attention. Her eyes narrowed. "You teacher's pet!"

The kids gasped.

Raven looked like she'd been run through.

"T—The fuck you call me!?"

"Is it true?" whispered a boy. "Did Big Sis Raven become a teacher's pet…?"

"Oi! No!" Raven rounded on the kids. "She's lying! Summer, tell them you're lying."

"Or what, bitch?" Summer smiled evilly. "You'll tattle on me?"

/-/

"But my street cred!" wailed Raven, face in her hands as she walked down a high street with them. "Why there? Couldn't you have, like, kicked me between the legs or something? Pain is temporary. Street cred is forever!"

"Raven, you don't live on the streets and you don't have street cred."

"I was born on the streets."

"You were born in a tent in the middle of the wilderness. We both were."

"That's worse than the streets!"

"Then you can have your bum-fuck-nowhere wilderness cred," said Qrow. "Your fault for convincing the kids you're some badass bitch."

"I am a badass bitch! I'm the baddest bitch!" A woman strolling a baby in a pram nearby hissed at them. Raven shot her the middle-finger in return. "I'm a gang leader. I'm a Branwen. I have the coolest weapon in school."

"Omen is—"

"Bromen."

"Omen is not an indicator of how cool you are," stressed Qrow. He was not calling it Bromen no matter how much Raven and Summer insisted that was its name. If this kept up, they'd demand he call his beloved weapon Sisenger. He shuddered at the very thought. "And it's just your reputation in the orphanage. No one at Signal will find out."

"You don't get it, Qrow." Raven sighed. "There are few things I hold dear in this world. My skills, my weapon, and my reputation."

"And your brother, I hope."

"Obviously. That goes without saying."

"And your best friend?" teased Summer.

"What best friend? All I see is a cruel woman who would lie and break the hearts of orphans."

"Oi! You're the one who lied first!"

Qrow sighed, even as he laughed in his own mind. This reminded him too much of Beacon, especially with how wild their arguments could get. He just missed that there wasn't an arm around his shoulder and Taiyang egging them on. He felt more complete than he had in decades, but not wholly so. There was one quarter of this equation missing, and it was possibly the most important part.

I guess our best bet of finding him will be when the tournament starts proper. He'll be in the stands with everyone from Sanctum – assuming he's a student of Sanctum. I guess it's not a huge problem if he isn't. I can still catch him at Beacon in a year and a bit.

The last part was mostly to calm himself down because he really, really wanted to see Taiyang before that. It was strange how Tai was the one in the future to most remain the same, the one he had the least reason to miss, and yet not having him around felt like having a hole in his stomach.

Qrow's scroll buzzed. He fished it out, leaving Summer and Raven to argue. The old models of scrolls really were much too bulky given what he was used to, but he answered it all the same. "Qrow here. We're fine, Ozpin. Nothing bad has happened."

"Knew I was checking up on you, did you?"

"Not sure why else you'd call."

"Have you all eaten?"

"Yes. We went to visit the orphanage and spent the morning with the children there."

"That was good of you. How are they all?"

"Doing well. I'm glad to see the place is still running successfully on donations."

"Myself as well. You know, I might have a way for you to make a rather sizable donation to them if you're interested."

"Random, but okay. What?"

"I've been speaking to the CEO of the SDC. His daughter is becoming a huntress, and he was telling me how he wants to get her a good weapon. I brought up your own accomplishments with weapon smithing and showed them a picture of Bromen—"

"It's Omen. For crying out loud, it's not Bromen."

Ozpin chuckled. "I must have misheard your sister, then. Either way, Mr Schnee was interested in seeing if I'd ask you to forge a weapon for his daughter. You're welcome to accept or refuse, and to keep the money for yourself if you want it, but the SDC do a lot of charitable work and supporting an orphanage would be well within their budget."

"Is this a guilt trip?"

"No. Why would it be? I personally don't have any say or inclination toward Willow Schnee. I told you that before."

Right. And Qrow believed him seeing as how Willow had never gone to Beacon. He was just being paranoid for the sake of being paranoid. If there was any manipulation here then it was probably more along the lines of wanting Willow to do well so there was a strong huntress influence on the SDC, and maybe Ozpin wanting him to have more friends.

Willow Schnee, though? The only way he knew her was as a broken and defeated woman drowning in alcohol and a loveless marriage. She probably wasn't like that right now, but that'd almost make things worse. Seeing a bright young woman and knowing she'd be ruined later in life would be more than a little difficult.

But Ozpin was doing him a favour and it'd mean a lot to the orphanage to have financial backing.

"Sorry. I'm just being weird. I'd be up for making something. I already have a bunch of clients in Signal so it's not like I'd have refused. I don't suppose you can handle the orphanage thing, though? I'm not sure how I'd bring that up."

"Of course I will. I'll be back at the hotel in two hours. Meet me there and we'll go meet them. I imagine Miss Schnee will want to tell you what weapon she prefers before you make anything. I'll also see about getting you access to the forge in Haven."

A shame it wasn't Sanctum in all honesty.

"Appreciated. I'll see you there." Qrow hung up and noticed Summer and Raven had gone silent to eavesdrop on him. He rolled his eyes. "Ozpin wants me to maybe craft a weapon for Willow Schnee. If all goes well, her father might pay to support the orphanage."

Raven nodded. "Do it, then. They need the money."

"Why does she get a weapon before me?" whined Summer.

"Because she's rich," he said.

"Can you support an orphanage?" asked Raven.

"That's not fair. I'm awesome in other ways!"

"Name one."

Summer's mind blanked.

"Yeah." Raven crossed her arms and smirked. "Thought so. You're a basic bitch."

"I am not! Qrow, tell her!"

"I mean, you do like axes over swords."

"Swords are for basic bitches! You're both basic bitches! I'm a sparkling gem – a sparkling gem with an axe!"

/-/

"I appreciate you being willing to do this," said Ozpin, leading Qrow into Haven Academy. "I know you're here to watch the tournament and I didn't mean to give you more work. In truth, I was simply trying to assure Mr Schnee that his daughter would be safe in Atlas Academy. We got onto you once he asked about weapons."

"It's fine. This is no big deal."

"I think he perhaps also wants to pick your brain for his daughter's sake. Get an idea of what his child can expect."

"Isn't she older than me?"

"No. Did I say she was?"

He hadn't, but Qrow had assumed. Winter was two or three years older than Weiss from what he remembered, and Weiss had been Yang's age. Taiyang and Raven had her only a few years after Beacon, so he'd assumed Willow was older than them by a couple of years. If not, then she must have had Winter literally the year she graduated.

It wasn't that twenty-one was too young to be having a child in his opinion, but more that having one right after graduation made an education in an academy feel pointless. Willow obviously hadn't gone back to active duty, so what was the point in spending four years learning to be a huntress? Had it just been a PR move for the company? That sounded like something the Schnee would do. Show up, pretend to rough it with the peasants and then return to their cosy life.

Winter had stood out as the exception to that rule and that was part of why he liked goading her. There hadn't been anything sexual there, however. Given he'd been forty and she was in her early twenties, it would have been awkward if there had been. Winter had only been three or four years older than Yang for crying out loud.

"I guess I just assumed she was older when you said she was going to an academy soon."

"You should never make assumptions."

"I know. I know." Like how he was assuming she was half-assing being a huntress right now. He'd need to go in with an open mind. Jacques wasn't even in the picture yet. "I'll be a perfect gentleman. You see."

"You've never been anything less before. I have faith in you."

"But not my sister."

"This is a meeting with a very influential man and his daughter, and your sister is… competitive."

"You don't need to sugar coat that for me."

"I'm not sugar coating anything. There's nothing wrong with being competitive. I simply don't want her causing an incident with a very powerful and protective man." Ozpin placed a hand on a doorway and pushed it open. "Here we are. Mr Schnee! Miss Willow. Thank you for waiting for us."

Qrow had never actually seen Nicholas Schnee before.

He looked…

Nice.

Really nice.

He was an older man with a huge, grandfatherly smile and bright blue eyes, worn skin and a light beard that sparkled white as snow. He was the kind of man you felt could be trusted around children, with a warm expression and a large hand placed on the shoulder of a pretty young woman at his side.

As for Willow, he was even more surprised.

Cocky expression, bold eyes, white teeth, and a single raised eyebrow. Willow Schnee's hair was tied back and cut to her shoulders, and she looked him up and down like she wanted to see how good he'd be in a fight. Her outfit was tight-fitted and well-made, with little pointless decoration. Simply a white tunic-like blouse tucked into purple pants with knee-high boots. Her arms were bare but ended in pale lavender gloves with tiny metal plates on the back of the hand and the knuckles.

Willow looked like she was ready for a fight and fully capable of throwing down with Raven and not only holding her own but giving back just as hard. Qrow instantly compared her in his head with a shell of a woman clutching a bottle of wine and blue screened. What the fuck had Jacques done to her?

Or what was he going to do to her…

Don't get involved. Don't get involved. You're already working on Raven, Summer and Taiyang. Focus on Team STRQ. You can't save everyone.

"Hey," said Willow, her voice clear and bold and sharp. "You look pretty strong. Want to fight?"

"Willow, darling." Nicholas Schnee sighed. "Be nice."

"I am being nice, daddy. I said he looks strong."

Fuck it.

From one alcoholic and depressed bastard to another, he was going to have to save her as well.

Next Chapter: 17th February

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