Here we go.

Cover Art: Aristeo Storm

Chapter 55

Nothing was ever handled quickly where bureaucracy was concerned. As much as he would have liked it, the matter with Ghira had gone nowhere in the few days it took for their weekend trip away to come around. Qrow had told the members of Team SWRT how he'd approached Ozpin and they'd had their various reactions. Raven seemed to think he'd somehow become "less of a man" by going to a teacher about it, as if he should have solved the issue by breaking into the police station and freeing Ghira by force. Evidently, he'd betrayed her somehow by running to "tell teacher like a little bitch".

The others had been more optimistic about it, even if they weren't sure how far Ozpin would go. To them, he was a teacher – and while he might have been a legal guardian to three of them, that didn't mean they know him well enough to predict his actions. Qrow did. It was why he was willing to leave it to Oz.

On the Friday before their trip out, all the students were summoned to the auditorium to be put through a seminar about what would happen. It was typical health and safety stuff, stressing that even though they were huntsmen-in-training, that didn't mean they should be idiots. There was a long list of "do and do not" and also contact details shared out for teachers. Most shouldn't have needed them, but Qrow knew from teaching experience that you should never underestimate the ability for someone to get lost on a school field trip.

Honestly, it shouldn't have been possible for kids to up and vanish on a professional huntsman, and yet he'd had it happen where he looked away for one freaking second and half his class had gone missing. He blamed his Semblance for that one. Luckily, he'd always been able to find the stupid brats before they got themselves in trouble.

The Friday night was one spent sleeping, with all first years banned from leaving Beacon in case they came back late and missed the flights on Saturday morning. Their team spent the evening chatting and relaxing, having finished most of their planning ahead of time. Qrow was actually quite impressed by that, since he seemed to remember Team STRQ hadn't even bothered to plan at all and had basically gone in with the intent of winging it all. Such was a philosophy that had felt "cool" when he was a teenager, but which now felt like an insult to their teachers. It was difficult being a teacher-turned-student sometimes. He often sympathised with the teachers more than he did his classmates.

On the morning, they were all summoned and allowed to eat before being loaded onto different Bullheads. Qrow approached Team SWRT before they could head off.

"You can't be serious," Raven growled. "We don't need your help or advice, Qrow. We're perfectly capable of looking after ourselves—"

Qrow silenced her with a hug. "Good luck. I'll see you soon."

"T—Tch. Yeah, whatever." Raven did not hug him back. Instead, she just pressed one hand to the centre of his back and let it rest there. That was her excuse and she was sticking to it. "Don't poison yourself by trusting that idiot teammate of yours," she grumbled, her face a little red.

"And don't you get pregnant via Taiyang."

"Bitch!" she roared, face turning red with something other than embarrassment. Qrow laughed as she slugged his arm. "Is this what I get for not choking you out when you went to hug me? It's not worth it!"

"Do I get a hug?" asked Summer, sliding up with an impish smile.

"Of course." Qrow hugged her tight as well and, when Willow pointedly cleared her throat, he stepped beyond Summer to hug her. Summer mumbled something behind him, probably unhappy that Willow was taking advantage of the moment of friendship. Qrow turned to Taiyang and offered a hand. "Look after—"

Taiyang engulfed him in a hug and pounded his back. "Look after yourself, man. We'll be fine."

It was hard, he supposed. Hard to watch what was meant to be Team STRQ go out, and hard to imagine that they'd be okay without him. They would be, though. It wasn't like his presence had made or broken the team back then. He hadn't been some prodigal member keeping them out of trouble, nor the glue that kept them together. He'd just been that guy on the edge. Replacing him with Willow... well, that wouldn't make them any weaker. If anything, it'd make them stronger.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you will be." Qrow stepped back. "I'll see you all Monday. Watch what you eat."

"We're taking some books on foraging," Summer said.

"I meant my sister's cooking."

"Seriously!" Raven cried. "Go die already!"

Their team was called off to mount a Bullhead so Qrow drifted back to his own. It wasn't lost on him how awkward they looked, having to watch him say goodbye to another team rather than spend time with them. It was probably best not to bring it up.

"So, just the four of us," he said, smiling. "Looking forward to it?"

The positive change of subject cheered them up. "I certainly am!" Peter boomed. "Outdoors, nature, sleeping under the stars. Ah, it's such a wonderful feeling!"

"Will you be okay leaving Vale?" asked Nessa. "I know you have that thing on with the protest group."

She was probing. Qrow could tell. Not necessarily because she was suspicious – because he'd been upfront about it all, and there was nothing illegal to the White Fang yet. It was because she was worried his mind would be elsewhere, and that the trip would be even more difficult for them because he'd be in a dour mood.

"Nah, it's all good." Qrow made sure to smile as he dispelled it. "I talked to Ozpin and he's going to take a look at it while we're gone. And a professor of Beacon can achieve a lot more than a first year."

"That's good! I'm glad it's working out. I said we'd be happy to come help—"

"You all can do the next time a proper protest is on. There's just not much to help with when Ghira is in jail and the White Fang don't want to respond to the attacks with violence. Not even we could do anything. But I will introduce you to them later," he promised, knowing that was what they wanted. To be involved in some way. To not be left out. "You'll all like them. They're good people."

"Maybe we can meet Peter's sister too," Gretchen teased. "The one he keeps boasting about."

"What's this?" Peter shot back, in a rare form of confidence. "The girl who keeps talking about how cute her little brother is, teasing me about praising my sister? Why, I'm sure that's not ironic in any way."

Qrow couldn't help laughing along with Nessa, especially when Gretchen looked so utterly shellshocked by the return-teasing. Peter normally didn't fire back. This trip must have had him in a genuinely good mood.

"He's got you there, girl," Nessa said. "Step out the kitchen if you can't take the heat."

"Hazel is fun, though." Qrow said. "Good lad, even if he's not interested in being a huntsman."

"I prefer him that way!" Gretchen said. "He doesn't have the mentality needed to fight monsters like we do. I don't want him to die."

It was a casual comment, and one that didn't draw any real response from the others besides some teasing and questions about Hazel. It did from Qrow, though. Knowing what he did of the future, it made him grimace. His future wouldn't be this one. He'd already changed so many things.

I already failed my teammate once in the original timeline. Never again.

/-/

The Bloodstained Ridge was a rather boring place. If you liked red, it was a pretty-enough place but Forever Fall was more aesthetically pleasing. The rocky ridge itself was impressive in its size, but the copper and clay deposits weren't exactly photo-worthy, and a lot of the copper had been mined out a long time ago, blasted away with dust to leave great big gaping holes pockmarked up and down it.

Back when dust was so readily available and cheap that it was more cost-effective to mine by exploding the ground than digging. Now, people understood dust wasn't so readily available and such methods had died a death. It was crazy to think how wasteful people had been back then, but that was just the way of things.

The spot they'd been dumped at was between the ridge and the forest, an open stretch of ground with a small patch of forest to work with if they wanted it. They had a small bit of river and a clearly marked section marked off by flags to call their own. It was about three hundred metres by three hundred metres.

"We've got a big plot," said Nessa. "Come on, Pete. You're team leader and experienced camper. Where do we set up?"

Qrow knew, of course, but he made a point of playing along. There was no point them being in Beacon if he was just going to use all his experience to make decisions for them. With any luck, Peter wouldn't do something silly like camp them on the river's edge or in the forest.

"We can make camp almost anywhere out here," he said. "Plenty of open ground and a good view of our surroundings. The ground looks solid and there's little risk of issues given the weather forecast."

Good man, thought Qrow.

"Well, you did promise to pitch the tents if we did our stuff," Gretchen said, pulling her ruck off and letting it fall to the ground. "Is that still okay?"

"Of course! Of course!" Peter laughed boisterously. "I was always the one left to pitch tents before. My sister tried once, but the tentpole collapsed and buried her in the tarp. I found it hilarious. She, less so. Ah, but watch the boundaries," he said. "I'm not sure what trouble we'll be in if we cross them but I'd rather us not lose a future weekend to be made to do this again."

They each saluted and spread out. The area was small enough that sticking together wasn't necessary, and they always had the opportunity of jogging back if they saw Grimm. They were huntsmen and huntresses anyway; Grimm was kind of the point of being here. The ridge wasn't exactly crawling with them, but it had enough that Qrow was sure they'd face a couple in their time here. It'd be pointless to be here at all otherwise.

As Gretchen and Nessa fanned out to forage for food and collect wood, Qrow headed to the forested area for a little of his own. Meat was his responsibility, but finding deer in this tight a space would be a roll of the dice. Most would have bolted when the Bullheads flew overhead and wouldn't come back for at least another hour of relative silence. Smaller critters would still be around, albeit hiding in their dens and in trees.

Shooting a rabbit with a dust-infused bullet was a surefire way to render the meat inedible, especially if the round exploded and turned it to paste. Luckily, Qrow had his own experience of having to hunt in the wild without huntsman weaponry. Collecting some sticks and pulling some twine from his belt – useful for wounds, enemies, and basic tools – he began to fashion a rudimentary trap. It was just a tightening noose that would be staked into the ground. If a rabbit or small animal stepped in it and got tangled, it'd pull on the string and tighten it around their feet, and then be trapped there until Qrow could come later and put it out its misery.

Not exactly a Ruby-friendly hunting method but Qrow, in his first life, had spent his first seventeen years living in a tribe of cut-throat killers. They'd eaten anything they could get their hands on, only really listing other people as off-limits. Deer, bird, boar, horse, donkey. Qrow had tasted it all. Food was food when you were hungry.

With around ten small traps set – which was, at best, likely to catch maybe two critters – Qrow collected some more sticks and made his way to the running water, where Gretchen was already collecting some in a metal pot.

"Do we really have to boil it?" she asked. "I thought running water was safe."

"Eh, it can be but do you really want to take any chances when other teams might be upriver of us? Other teams who might be bathing and pissing in this?"

"Ewww! Qrow!"

"Hey, I'm just saying. Also, the water probably tastes a bit tinny with all the metal in the area. Best to be safe." He started wedging sticks down in a pattern, and Gretchen watched curiously. "I'm making a funnel," he explained. "A lot of fish will be letting the current pull them along and just going wherever it flows. If you make a narrow path or channel, they'll flow down it, and you can catch them with a net at the end. Or even just a bucket or your bare hands."

"Wooow. You know a lot. Is this from... you know... the bandits...?"

"Yeah." It wasn't entirely a lie. He hadn't needed it this time, but, originally, he'd had to learn to fish and hunt when he and Raven lived in the camp for longer. "People were expected to be self-sufficient there. You were a burden if you weren't, and burdens got left to die."

"That's awful. What about babies?"

"Babies would be looked after by their parents or families. If they had them..."

"And if they didn't?"

"Sometimes a baby would be adopted by someone..."

"And if they didn't?" she asked, again.

Qrow smiled and shook his head. It didn't happen often, but every now and then someone would die in childbirth and not have any family left to take the child in. The child was almost always left to the elements to die. Taken out the camp, laid down, and just left there. Qrow hadn't even thought anything of it back when he was a kid. It was their culture, the way things were done, and anyone who didn't understand that was obviously too soft.

At least Raven took over, she offered greater shares of loot to those who took unwanted children. It was one of the few things he was proud of his sister for doing, even if he'd have rather she stayed with Taiyang.

"There's a reason we left," he said. "And a reason we don't want to go back."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Gretchen looked awkward. "So, um. Show me how to catch a fish?"

It was a clumsy attempt to shift the mood.

Luckily, he was in the mood for it. "Sure. Roll your pants up and take your shoes off, then come on in."

"Into the water teams are pissing into...?"

"Sure. Might as well add your smelly feet to the list of problems those downriver have to deal with."

"My feet smell like a botanical garden, thank you very much!" Gretchen kicked off her boots and socks and waded in. "Brr. Cold." A moment later, she sloshes over to him. "Now what?"

"Simple. Crouch low and hold your hands on either side of the opening – cup them." He showed her with his own, holding them like he was waiting for a ball-shaped object to just roll out between the sticks. "It's easy. You just wait. There's fish coming by all the time, but we have to wait until we get lucky and one tumbles down between the sticks. Then, it'll fall right into your hands. All you need to do is close them before it wriggles free."

"That easy?"

"That easy. You've got to remember this is territory lost to the Grimm. No one lives out here and no one is overfishing these waters. Nature is in balance, and that means more fish." Qrow caught the sparkle in the water before she did. "Heads up. One is coming."

The fish shimmered in the water as it came rather quickly downriver, propelled along by the current. The channel Qrow had made took up a small part of the river, but that was the point. Too much traffic and the weight of fish would break the thin stick barriers open. This one tumbled in without realising it and, as its route got narrower between the sticks staked down, its path became less erratic and more of a straight line.

Directly into Gretchen's waiting hands.

"Ah! Got—Arghhh!" Gretchen made the mistake many did, trying to grab the fish rather than scoop it out the water. It was a slippery devil. Instead of letting it go and trying again, Gretchen threw herself into the water and pinned it to the floor. "Grbblll! G—Got it!" she said, miserably.

"I can see that!" Qrow replied, roaring with laughter. "You know, you could have let it go and try again. Like they say, there's plenty more fish in the river."

"S—Shut up," she moaned, standing up soaked from top to bottom. The fish wriggled against her chest. "You didn't tell me they'd be slippery!"

"Yeah. Sure. This is definitely my fault."

Pouting, Gretchen let the fish slide into her metal pot and clambered out the water, dripping all over the floor. "Ughhh. I shouldn't have asked to try it. And now I'm freezing cold."

"You can take your clothes off and dry them later."

"And let you see me undressed?"

"You don't have anything I haven't seen before." Qrow couldn't resist adding, "Or much of anything at all, really."

"You are such a dick," she moaned. "I hate you."

/-/

Nessa took one look at Gretchen and helped her into one of the tents to change. Peter had gotten the two tens up, one for the boys and one for the girls, and was starting on a campfire when they got back.

"Someone is productive," Qrow complimented.

"I love this," Peter confessed. "Honestly, I just love everything about it. Being outdoors, camping, living off the land. I feel I could do this my whole life sometimes. Just live out in the middle of nowhere and survive. What happened to Gretchen?"

"I was teaching her to fish and she slipped."

"You didn't push her, did you?"

"No. Do you think I would?"

"No. No, I'm just..." Peter trailed off. "Never mind. How was the fishing?"

"Good. We have one each – and I'll check my traps later. I don't expect much but we might have some rabbit or squirrel for tomorrow. How are you with animals being gutted?"

"Unhappy but willing to put up with necessity. It's only cute animals I have an issue with." Peter chuckled. "It's almost hypocritical, isn't it? A life is a life and yet somehow it's more acceptable to slice a fish open than it is a rabbit, just because one of them was born cuter. My sister can't stand it at all, no matter how ugly an animal is, but then she's the type to gently collect spiders and carry them out her room – even if she's terrified of them."

"Sounds like a nice girl."

"She is. How about you? Any family beyond Raven?"

It was tempting to talk of Ruby and Yang, but the conversation might get back to Raven and she'd be confused by it. "None that is alive right now. Our mom and dad... well, they looked after us, but it's hard to remember a lot about them." Harder for him than Raven. It had been decades for him. "It's kind of a relief to know you and Nessa have parents. Practically everyone I know is an orphan otherwise."

"There does seem to be an abundance of them in Beacon, doesn't there? A consequence of the huntsman lifestyle I suppose..."

Definitely. Qrow and Raven's parents hadn't been, but they were the outliers. He didn't actually know what had happened to Summer's mom and dad that left her being raised by her grandfather, but it wasn't hard to imagine they'd fallen in battle with the Grimm. It was just something that happened. People got older, got slower, and they sometimes didn't realise it until it was too late. It was all too easy to tell yourself "just one more job" because people needed your help.

Just one more mission, just one more village, just one more fight—

And then death.

"I'm glad the whole team isn't like that," Qrow repeated. "It'd make things miserable."

"Hmm. We're lucky you and Gretchen are so relaxed about it. I assume the loss was a long time for both of you."

"I assume so. Haven't asked her. Never feels right to bring it up."

"Same." Peter started boiling water. "To change the subject, the girls found plenty of edible roots. I've set aside the dangerous ones. Not too many, nor too dangerous, but enough that we'd have been hunched in the forest with our pants around our ankles all day tomorrow if we'd eaten them."

"Fun. Need me to do anything?"

"If you could fillet the fish, that'd be good. I'm going to boil the vegetables and roots and then we'll cook the fish over an open fire and serve them together. I'm no chef, but I smuggled some salt and pepper sachets along."

"Nice! I didn't think of that."

"Ha ha!" Peter's laughter was quieter, more peaceful. "Well, it's my job as team leader to worry about everyone's stomachs, isn't it?"

"You're doing a good job."

"Hmmm." Peter stared into the water. "But one small thing I can do right—"

Gunshots crackled in the distance.

Their heads rose, and Nessa's poked out the tent. Instincts told them to be alarmed but reason reminded them that there were a whole host of other teams in the area, some of whom would be dealing with Grimm, or even using guns to hunt animals.

"Sounds like someone is having fun," Peter said.

"That was close," Nessa added.

"Must be one of our neighbours," Qrow said. A few more shots sounded. "I'm assuming it's Grimm given the frequency."

"That or someone is really being outclassed by a rabbit."

Qrow snorted at the joke. It was hard to be too worried when there was perfectly good reason for the gunshots, but it also wouldn't do to be too relaxed about them either. He pushed himself up. "I'll go check it out."

"Are you sure?"

"You're cooking and Nessa is helping Gretchen dry off. I'm the only one with nothing to do." He stooped and picked up his weapons. "I won't be long. Might as well check my traps while I'm at it." A few more shouts sounded. "I'll be back soon."

The fact there were no cries for help made it seem a little less dangerous. Judging by the spacing of the shots – something Qrow had learned from experience – it was one person, too. Different kinds of guns made different sounds, and while he wasn't savvy enough to pick out which was which, it was obvious this was the same weapon being discharged over and over. There would have been a small but noticeable shift in pitch if there were more, and sounds overlapping.

It's going on a while, though. Must be a lot of Grimm. That, or they're woefully inaccurate.

Which wasn't likely for someone who made it into Beacon. Jogging to the far end of their area, Qrow frowned as another sound became clear – that of metal clashing on metal. Not Grimm, then, but a fight.

But it could be a spar between students, as ill-advised as that'd be this far out. Teenagers could be stupid and tempers could flare, especially away from Beacon and when you were stuck in tents. Keeping to the perimeter and being careful not to step over the flagged area, Qrow searched for the source of the combat. It didn't take him long to find it.

They weren't students.

Two women – though it was hard to tell at first. One wore a grey-blue cloak and a mask that made him think her White Fang before reminding himself they weren't a thing yet. A skull mask over her face, with black hair coming down behind. She was the one shooting, while wielding what looked to be twin kama or even twin scythes.

The other was a faunus with grey-green skin and shaved hair, attacking with twin swords. Two-weapon fighting was rare and, quite often, a bad idea. The whole idea of it as a technique was to make it harder for an opponent to defend due to unpredictability, but Grimm didn't defend in the first place, and it was usually better to have a weapon you could swing two-handed in a pinch, in case you had to crack through armour or thick skin.

There were always those who didn't care for such rules, however. Those that fought other people made good use of the weapons, as these two were. Qrow hunkered low, cursing under his breath.

What is this…? This is completely new to me. The White Fang aren't violent and I don't know shit about this era otherwise. I spent all this time in Beacon with my team. Obviously, the world had been moving outside, but a young Qrow hadn't cared to know about it. Okay, think. They're obviously huntresses. This doesn't look like a spar, either. This is a deathmatch.

It was painfully obvious to him, what with the way they were wildly attacking one another, and the chunks of aura they were tearing away. Qrow could tell the difference between a friendly spar and attempted murder.

"Don't recognise either of them," Qrow mumbled. "And that says something. They must be retired or dead in my time. Maybe this is when they die."

The faunus struck the masked huntress across the face and managed to dislodge the mask. Qrow caught dark skin and a furious snarl as the huntress with the scythes stumbled back. As she looked back, her eyes flashed – for a moment reminding Qrow of a maiden and making his heart leap into his throat.

And then he caught the colour. Silver.

A silver-eyed-maiden.

It's Maria. I'd say "young Maria" but her age is a little hard to predict since she was basically a shrivelled old crone in canon, and canon is about 20 years ahead of this. Not sure how much that means though, since, in canon, Qrow and Taiyang are at minimum 40 years old, and they look like fresh daises. Benefits of a healthy lifestyle I suppose.

As such, I suppose there's no reason "young Maria" couldn't have been 40 herself when we saw her in canon. RWBY always had older characters look youthful, which was probably more a limitation of the art and animation style than anything else. I guess it could be argued that, after retiring, Maria no longer exercised as hard and her body broke down from a life of fighting.

I dunno. Going from a tall person to a tiny one is a bit iffy anyway. People do shrink as they age, but I'm fairly sure it's a matter of inches – 3 at most. And that the rest is posture making you look shorter. Maybe it's those silver-eye genes reminding her that the correct height is Ruby height.

Next Chapter: 16th November

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