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Requested By : Polemoduke

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Raven watched the by now ten year old drawing on the front porch of her house, with her sister a few yards away grappling with Tai, and cocked her avian head. From so far up and away in the tree right by the end of the driveway, her human eye would never have been able to see it. But she could make out a crudely drawn sort of map of Remnant, with notes and squiggles scratched into the margins around Atlas and Vale, and big frowning faces over Vacuo and Mistral.

Because of course she’d drawn frowny faces instead of just… Putting an X over it or something.

Just like her father… And her mother, too.

A rustle of feathers caught her attention and Raven turned as a smaller crow landed beside her, easing down and turning to her. He cocked his head and crowed gently as if to ask, ‘Anything?’

She just huffed and shrugged her feathered shoulders lazily in a ‘not really’ sort of way, turning back to watching the sparring while her brother watched Ruby. Yang was taller, now. Almost past Tai’s shoulders. And she was a brawler like him, with powerful arms that she tried to use to pull the larger man over her shoulder in a throw. But even as strong as she’d gotten, Tai was twice her size and ten times as experienced as her - and even then, that was only in grappling - and planted his feet. He looped his arms down and around her back, across her stomach, and pivoted back at the waist, lifting the girl up and falling backwards in a sort of suplex.

She watched the girl hit the ground and crumple into it with a meaty ‘thwack’ Raven could hear even from where she was, and she watched Tai turn and stand as Yang lay there.

She didn’t realise she’d half-stood until Qrow’s wing landed on her back and pushed her back down. She bristled at the contact and he let go as she settled back down, but she did huff and dip her head in a quick nod of thanks as Yang stood and shook herself off. Tai said something to her, arms crossed and face worried, and she shook her head and waved him off, turning and bringing her arms back up defensively as the man backed away and nodded, smile easing its way onto his face.

She was growing up to be strong…

A bit of motion caught her eye as Qrow shot up and Raven turned, watching Ruby blink and rush to push her map away before the spasms hit her and she tumbled over, curling into a ball. She and Qrow both stood, cawing as loudly as they could, and Tai spun to face them and, after only a second, turned to run for his daughter with his oldest right behind. They both went quiet as he grabbed her, wrapping his arms and legs around her and cradling her protectively against him, and she turned as Qrow bristled, chuffed, and gestured at the woods.

Raven tapped her claw twice and spread her wings, ‘I’ll patrol.’

And Qrow dipped his beak and cawed gently, ‘Okay.’

It was the motions they had fallen into over the years, whenever either - or both - of them had spare time to come and look in on everyone. And it had only taken two of those years for Tai and Qrow to back off of trying to pressure her into coming in and meeting Yang. As if that would be good for either of them, somehow.

As usual right after one of Ruby’s ‘attacks’, she found a few Ursa slowly meandering in the general direction of the house from a few miles out. They lived on an island, so there were never a lot of Grimm, but even one could surprise Tai if they weren’t careful. Last time, the Beowolf had nearly run down the blonde brat before he got to it…

She shook it off and dove, changinging mid-air and landing on the middle one’s back. Omen hissed free as she turned, severing its spine and facing the closest of the Ursai. It rose and bellowed a roar, trying to frighten her, but Raven just twisted and thrust as it opened its mouth. Omen’s top punched into the back of its mouth and out the back and she ripped it free as the monster fell back, smoke drifting up around her as she turned and blinded the last of the three. It staggered away, snarling and pawing at its face, and Raven watched it for a moment, baring her teeth.

It felt good to blow off steam…

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Cinder wrapped the thin coat tighter around her body as she pushed out into the blizzard, shielding her face from the biting wind with an arm as she hustled up the road towards the bakery. Her uniform was thin and didn’t do much against the cold, but the trip was short enough. Only a block and a half, and around a corner. And the air inside the little bakery nestled at the bottom of the larger, towering building was warm and filled with the smell of fresh dinner breads and sweet breads alike. She stepped to the side of the door and leaned against it, massaging the cold out of her arms until she felt better and pulled the hood of her thin coat down.

The bakery was a small affair, for Atlas, with a dining area set out in front of it and stairs at the side that ran up over the counter to a landing lined by elevators. Lifts, she already knew, up into the rest of the building and the offices that filled it. Luckily, as early as it was, the bakery was mostly empty. Just a few people who had gotten in earlier than they had to head in for work who nibbled on muffins, croissants and bagels while they read the paper, scrolled their news feeds, or just relaxed with a pair of headphones on.

She hated every last one of them…

“Miss Fall?” Cinder’s ears perked up at the old, weary voice and she turned, coming over as the old woman who ran the bakery stepped onto her little stool behind the counter. She was covered in wrinkles and stooped over in an arthritic slump, but she still smiled and held out a hand for Cinder to shake as always. Frowning when Cinder released it, she muttered, “No gloves? It’s positively phlegmatic out there!”

“I…” She paused, thinking up another lie, and eventually she sighed, “I can’t afford them.”

“Can’t afford- Your mother runs one of the nicest hotels in the Kingdom!” She hissed, turning and, in spite of Cinder’s flush and wide eyes, shouting, “Robyn! Get up to my room and fetch one of my old gloves! You know the pin.”

“Got it, boss.” A dark skinned young woman with a shock of white hair grunted, shooting around the counter and up the steps.

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Cinder watched her go, half-reaching to stop her, and started to say, “You don’t have to-”

“Of course I do, girl.” The old woman scoffed, cutting her off and snatching a warm muffin off of a tray as one of the other workers came up and set it on the counter, opening the long display that made up a lot of its front to fill it. She held the pilfered pastry out for Cinder and smiled thinly, “It’s all I can do, so it’s what I must do.”

She wanted to snarl, to scream and throw the pathetic offering back at her- To demand why she’d do this and nothing more, nothing to help her.

But she was so hungry… And that hunger would last all morning and into the afternoon, before she got a chance to steal something left over off of someone’s plate. Could she really make her little rose bud wait through all of that? She would, Cinder knew. And Cinder wouldn’t get one unhappy note from the other half of her bond. She’d only get warmth, until she felt like it could burn her up.

So she took the little muffin and bit into it, frowning as the old woman’s worker came back with a rattier than not pair of wool gloves that she tugged on.

“Thank you…”

“Rhodes asked me to look out for you.” She smiled sadly, “So… I will do what I can.”

She hummed and frowned thinking of the Huntsman, watching the girl, Robyn, head back to join another person packing her ‘mother’s’ order of pastries and parcels up and stack the boxes carefully on top of each other. She hadn’t seen him in a few weeks by now, but the bakery was run by his aunt. If he was missing, or dead, then the woman would obviously tell her. So she didn’t concern herself over-much about that.

She was more concerned about her shift, honestly…

Though she would have killed for a good spar. And some of the snacks he always smuggled into her little backroom sanctuary.

“Oh dear me…” She heard the old woman murmur as Cinder’s load was brought out, stacked up and tied well enough for her to carry it. Cinder’s brows furrowed and she turned, following the woman’s gaze out the window where the snow was gusting ever harder, shaking the windows in their frames. “Dear, you should stay… Surely that harpy would understand?”

“No,” Cinder frowned, finger trailing over the choker on her neck, “she wouldn’t.”

Hefting the boxes she turned, heading over to the door while Robyn opened it for her and let her out into the howling blizzard. The cold was biting, and painful, and she slipped more than once. But if she was late, she wouldn’t be the only one to suffer…

What was a little cold to that?

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Qrow nudged the door into Ruby’s room open with a foot, a blanket heaped over one arm and a box of calzones tucked under the other. She was waiting inside, bundled up in spite of the fifty degree winter weather Patch was enjoying at the moment, but she smiled as he came in. And then her eyes widened as he turned and grunted, pitching the folded up blanket right into her face with just enough force to earn a little squawk and an ‘oof’ from the brat as she was bowled over.

Laughing, Qrow set the calzone at the foot of the bed and grunted, “Good catch.”

“Bully.” The little girl pouted, wrapping the new, fourth blanket around herself while Qrow unfolded a little tray and set it in front of her. He set the little red box on it and, grinning, Ruby rushed to dig in.

“Feeling better?” Qrow turned, watching Yang poke her head into the room and blink worriedly.

“Just cold!” Ruby chuckled, setting her calzone down to snuggle down into the covers a bit more. “She’s… Super cold, wherever she is! Like, super, super cold.”

“It’d be winter in Vale and Atlas, yeah.” Qrow rumbled, frowning deeply. They’d already settled on the two Kingdoms a long while ago, but… Quietly, he asked, “Ruby, how cold is she? Is it steady?”

“It changes.” Ruby shook her head, “Sometimes she’s just… Chilly. That’s what I feel, anyway. Other times? It makes me shiver…”

“Huh…” Pain was easy enough to feel through the Link, according to what Qrow had read. Hunger, strong emotions, and strong sensations all bled through almost automatically. But just being cold? It’d have to be bad for that. ‘Dangerous to be outside’ bad. Flicking open his Scroll, he hummed, “It’s upper forties in the worst parts of Vale… Low forties on the coast.”

“But…?”

“Ruby, Atlas is suffering from a polar storm.” Qrow muttered, “Whole continent is drowning in ice. If you’re that cold-”

“She’s somewhere up there!” Ruby’s silver eyes widened and she practically started vibrating, flower petals flying off of her head. And, Qrow was sure, filling her blankets, too. “We have to go and find her and get her away from the mean people who-”

“Mantle is a whole continent, Rubes.” Qrow sighed, patting her on the head to calm her down. She pouted up at him, more than just ‘unhappy’ with another delay, but listened as he went on. “I… Can reach out to a, uh, business friend o’ mine. But even then, unless we head up there ourselves, there’s not much chance we can-”

“So let’s go!” Ruby cut in, throwing her hand up in the air when he blinked, confused. “We have to find her, Uncle Qrow. Nothing else matters more. Not to me, anyways. And if you need to go up there and see whoever the heck you need to se-”

“Scrolls exist, dummy.” He sighed, shaking his head and plopping onto the seat beside her. Flicking Yang a look he frowned and told her, “Tell your dad what we figured out. Yeah?”

“Sure.” She nodded, bouncing out of the room in a flash of blonde.

“Ruby…” Qrow finally sighed after a long, quiet moment passed between them. “I’m sure I can convince your father about all o’ this, but… A search like this could take months. Years, even. You’d have to give up… Shit, just about everything. Including being a Huntress.”

“I know.” Ruby nodded, tucking her knees against her chest. “But… Honestly, that was always about finding Her anyways. so, like… I’ll give it up to do it now.”

“Ruby…”

“And besides,” she laughed, waving him off, “you can still teach me! My fri- My classmates, they all talk about you! With a teacher like you, I’m not losing anything. A-And besides, a Huntress protects people! She saves people. What kind of Huntress would I be if I just… Left someone that important to suffer so much when I could have helped?”

“Well shit, kid.” Qrow snorted, shaking his shaggy head and scratching at his beard. “Talk like that? You don’t have much to learn at an Academy anyways.” Though, from the feelings he was getting looking at her, she could definitely use a bit of time with one of the counselors… Shaking that off, though, he sighed, “Look, I’ll talk to your dad and-”

“Qrow!” Tai bellowed from further in the house, voice filled with the same terror and shock he’d grown used to hearing over the years.

The man was moving before he could register the rest of the man’s words, whatever they were. Ruby was close behind him, judging by the smell of flowers that caught in his throat, but he set her aside for the moment, one hand on the hilt of Harbinger in its place on his waist. He found the man holding Yang who was clutching her head like she’d been struck, sucking in breaths through her teeth while her father looked around wild-eyed.

“It’s-”

“My girl’s hurt!” Yang snapped, cutting him off and snarling, hand curling and uncurling into fists reflexively as her hair started to sort of… Smolder. “Fuck! Feels like when dad brains me by surprise….”

“Someone hit her?” Qrow’s brow furrowed, eyes catching movement as his gaze flickered to the kitchen windowsill where his bird-form sister sat, watching them all warily. Shaking it off, he knelt by the girl and asked, “Sharp or hard?”

“What?”

“Dd it feel like a cut,” he grunted, “or like something clubbed her?”

“I-I dunno…” Yang muttered, “She was… Mad, all day, like, but just a bit ago she got real scared. Then even more, and then this and now- Now she’s quiet.”

“She got knocked out.” Qrow grunted. Yang was more pissed off than broken, and if her mate had died she’d be too shocked to feel anger at all. Waving at the couch, he said, “Sit her up there. Ruby, snacks. Tai, did Yang-”

“Told me what you figured out.” Tai nodded, “Now, sounds like we have two girls out there to search for…”

“Yeah.” He sighed, “Ruby wants to go to Atlas with me.”

“I figured she would.” Tai grumbled, closing his eyes slowly as he processed the idea - and everything that came with it. Finally he said, “We’ll settle this and talk. Alright?”

Qrow nodded and stood, reaching for his flask as he headed for the door. One step forward, one step back, just his luck… But even if he only had a good lead on one, he could head out and help someone. Finally do something. And he took some comfort in that, at least.

What else could he do…?

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