It was a long dark night, and she was burning.

The idea behind it was very simple. To attract monsters, practitioners coat the chosen person in a robe that shimmered under light. After giving a prayer for luck and hope, the chosen are handed a talisman of a circle engraved with a whole moon, and told to walk as long as they wish.

"The longer you walk across the earth, and the longer you live, the more people are saved."

"Then I'll never stop walking!" the girl said.

She walked off into the woods, shining like a small star amidst the dark forest, with cheer and optimistic hope.

… Cries whispered in the darkness, and she did not falter, instead brushing back anything even remotely resembling a fear.

… Hours passed, and it was still dark.

She did not stop walking.

… She could have, but she made a promise.

Clicking trailed behind her, the origins hidden behind the iron curtain of her long hair.

She toyed with the talisman, trying to match the marks on its' surface with the glimpses of the moon she saw through the small beams glimmering in the blackness.

… As she wandered, a soft light began growing in the pitch dark, bobbing and flickering past trees.

Holding the glowing circle in astonishment, the child began to look for spots of the moonlight, becoming excited upon the moon glowing brighter every time the light hit the surface.

Her wandering became focused when she came upon the edge of the forest. Fatigue had been hidden by a challenge and they went into the fields under the night.

She did not stop walking.

… She may have wanted to on other nights, but not now.

As the little beacon ran amidst the earth, over dale, through holloway, beneath crag and along gully, she marveled at the world and wished she could admire it more.

But, that was no problem. If she wished to, it would be very easy to walk back once again from wherever she went to.

She did not look back,

She did not listen to what lay behind.

After many steps, many sights, and many wishes to rest, she shone as a light on the earth, a small mirror of the night sky.

When her legs grew longer, she went further. Frost, rain, wind, nothing impeded her progress, for she made a promise.

She did not freeze, for her little moon was warm with the glowing.

She did not avoid the water, and just drank.

Wind did not impede, just softly whispered for her to explore elsewhere in her travels.

Time went ever onward. The maiden walked, the shadows trailed after her light, and she did not falter.

The light in her hands grew into a gleam that caused her pain; Closing her eyes, she felt the world reach out to her, and she found a new challenge. The shadows no longer mattered, for the blind see shadow always.

Still, they trod upon the earth in her wake.

When she only knew the warmth around her darkness, the textures of nature, and the sounds of her feet and the noise behind, she continued, not remembering where she began.

It was a long dark night, and she was burning.

The small sun in a woman's form burned, and walked, and cared not for what she had become.

She was a shining star, and she was glad.

The star no longer feared for the shadows, as they would fade into smoke in her presence.

She feared she would falter.

…

The earth was large, and she could not recall anything long before the day she was chosen. The star began to wish for company, and chose to find the forest she knew before. Gliding in an inexorable yearning, the shadows stood in the light as it began to change in melancholy.

All faded to smoke and dust, and the noise behind was no more.

The star strode softly, and hoped, and listened in the quietness of the air's empty expanse for a noise not of her own.

A step emerged from the void, and the darkness was split for the first time in an aeon.

A maiden, with hair shining like iron, in garments of white.

She knew this… once, before the shining white and enveloping darkness.

They spoke, turning as the star continued onwards.

"Why do you not rest?"

…

… "I must walk to save them all."

"Do you have no-one to share your burden?"

The star spoke to the maiden:

… "Will you be that one?"

…

The maiden nodded once, holding metal and wood out towards her. "My weapon I hold to you. A vow, if you accept, for we are siblings in our goal."

… A hunter. She smiled, for she was tired.

The maiden touched her shining moon, her hope, her talisman, her dream, and stood in her path.

"Spirit, I will take your burden. Please rest."

…

It was a long dark night, and she was burning.

Her joy was incandescent, for she knew they will be saved.

…

Paige woke up.

She often woke up in the middle of the night. It kept her alive longer.

Afraid, but alive.

Part of her mind was sane enough to know that she was in a safe location… but she heard a noise.

"Where…"

She was fairly disoriented; confused and stymied at her surroundings that were so similar, yet so off. This was similar to her bedroom, yet very distinctly not her bedroom, unless she had somehow been living inside a sparsely decorated room with chairs and a table pushed against a wall without knowing it.

Paige could honestly say that yes, she had been in worse.

Despite that, the room's objects weren't even the most surprising thing.

The most surprising part is that she was in the room with her old apartment neighbour. That was the one thing that she would have said was impossible, but she had experienced weirder things in her life.

… It's just that meeting this man before was the catalyst for all those weird events.

He seemed to be similar to his old self, black hair with the nice spiked tufts, face weirdly shaven… He had his shotgun in much better maintenance today. She could actually tell metal from the rust over it used to have. The look was altogether much nicer than the endlessly worried man with crippling self doubt he used to appear as.

"Hey, man."

He turned to look at her, and responded in kind.

"Paige. You slept well?"

Wow. His voice got wrecked.

"Brandon. Did you further choke with a handful of medicine or something? Your voice went to the dogs."

… Paige hoped her casual question would divert from her guilt, but felt that poke was probably a bit too harsh. Brandon was more comfortable than she ever saw him in his entire life. This could just be how he usually talked. After all, his natural voice probably wasn't a staccato voice that was up two octaves from constant fear.

… She did have a far amount of reasons to feel guilty though, as long as his vocal deterioration was caused by smoke inhalation. Paige did burn down the apartment they lived in. On his request… but still.

"Branwen. Not Brandon."

… Wow. She had his name wrong for months.

…

Wait. This seems a bit too relaxed right now.

"Branwen… Why are you here?"

… "I'm staying here, briefly. Why?

… Paige flinched, and realised she was going to have to tell him an uncomfortable truth about what she did after they stopped being neighbours.

"Branwen. I killed your girlfriend."

Wish I could say she's actually an undead, psychopathic girlfriend that devours human flesh and raises her prey as sentient corp-

He laughed, "Kid, you definitely are still half asleep."

She darted up to look him, dead in the eyes.

"I would have killed you if you had done something like that." he said.

Branwen. Why are you reacting like this-

… "I'd have to get one first, though." He spoke with some lingering amusement.

… Branwen was most likely suffering from memory loss. Paige, shaking off her stupor, eventually came to the most likely truth of the matter:

The spirit of Branwen forgot about his life, and she had inadvertently summoned him with her subconscious mind. His shotgun was in his hands so he could stand guard as she was asleep. After all, he had died trying to protect people in the night.

Paige was awake now, so he could rest.

She murmured a desummoning thought, and thrust out her hand.

….

Kid. What in the world are you doing?

"Just… dematerialize already!"

She tried it a couple of times before pausing in an obvious state of confusion. Then she pouted.

So, Qrow thought it was a lovely idea to pinch her cheek.

She looked like his niece. It was both a sign that she had emotions besides a range of annoyance at scythes, apathy, and dour-ness, also doubling as an excellent way to verify his physicality in the world to her.

"I am a flesh and blood human being, kid."

… She flinched so sharply that she shot a few feet to the wall.

"Now, I'm meant to guard you from being a menace to this building. It keeps the faculty free to actually do their jobs. You agree?"

Paige nodded to show she was a dutiful listening not-menace.

"You do not get to keep your weapons on your person, unless given clear permission, thus I will be in possession of them unless you are allowed access to them.

"You are only allowed access only during that period of time."

He glared, showing an incredible facial similarity to her old neighbour. "That means none of that weapon summoning you did last night."

...

She slept an entire day? Weird.

…

"Kid. You can ask me about your situation. You're not a prisoner, just a monitored visitor."

Ah, good. "May I continue to stay here?"

"How… will you do that?"

...

"I stay here. I have no current living arrangement made anywhere else."

Qrow continued to sit down watching his new charge. Out of everything he expected to happen, this hadn't been one of them.

… Is she asking to literally stay in Beacon? Just... sleep on the floors?

She ignored his confused gaze, and quickly muttered "What time is it?"

He checked his scroll to find the time.

"2:37."

"I'm going to keep sleeping. G'nught Branw-"

...

Kid?

...

Qrow got up and went towards them. They were completely asleep, or so it seemed.

"Good night."