The Child of Omens Part 2: RWBY x Male Reader

Chapter 11: Birds of the Feather

Qrow Journal entry 7,134

Tomorrow will be one year since he's been gone. I'm not gonna lie. It was-no, it still is tough getting over his death. I thought by maybe focusing on protecting the family I still had, I could ease my pain, but all it did was make me think of him more. When I looked after Ruby and her friends as they walked to Haven, I could only imagine he'd be right next to me making wise-cracks. Even as I was fighting my own sister when she and Cinder's group raided Haven academy for the Relic of Knowledge, I imagined him taking on Cinder by himself with a stupid grin on his face. And when we finally managed to get to Atlas in one piece, the first thing I thought was of him saying something about how damn cold it is. Everywhere I go, I think of him, and I constantly ask myself what he would do. I'm gonna see him tomorrow, and if I had to thank Ozpin for one thing, it'd be this stupid bird transformation spell.

End of Entry

It is early morning, way before the sun rises in the city of Mantle. Qrow is walking down a set of stairs. He wears Falke's old red coat that Qrow had Raven make larger so he could wear it. He also has on Gnasher, Falke's backpack, which he'd fashioned out of a Beowolf skull. As he walks down the steps, he sees Ruby, Ren, Nora, Balke, Yang, and Weiss sleeping in the living room around the fireplace. Ironwood had set this place up for them since he was still keen on helping them keep the relics safe. Qrow walks to the door, slowly opening it, but before he walks out, he hears the faint voice of Ruby.

Ruby: "Where're you going, Uncle Qrow?" She says as she realizes where he was and super-speeded to him.

Qrow: "Oh..uh...just heading out for a walk is all, don't worry."

Ruby: "You're going to see Falke...aren't you?"  She says as her face takes a more saddened look.

Qrow: "Yeah...tomorrow would be a year since...you know."

Ruby: "Please promise you'll come back, okay? I don't want to lose more family, and please tell him we all miss him."

Qrow: "Don't worry, kiddo. I'll be back soon, and I'll tell him you all miss him. Now go back to sleep." He pats her on the head as she walks back to her sleeping bag.

As he walks out of the building, he wipes some tears from his eyes as he takes on the form of a crow, a gift Ozpin had given to him. It allows him to transform into his name-sake. His sister was also gifted this ability allowing her to change into a raven. So he begins to fly towards Mistral, to his old home where he raised Falke and made his grave. He flew for many hours, only stopping for short rest and to eat a light snack. Finally reaching the border of Mistral and Atlas at the town of Argus, he managed to get a ride from a Bullhead, making a supply run to the city of Mistral to drop him off near the cabin. Qrow would reach the cabin by around 1 pm. Finally arriving, he walked into the cabin to see he'd left it as he had before, but it seemed it'd been picked up. Qrow brushing it off as Raven stopping by to keep an eye on the place. He begins to make two glasses of ice-cold sweet tea, Falke's favorite, walking out to the tombstone he'd made for his son. Setting down one glass next to the rock, he sits down next to it, taking a sip from it.

Qrow: "Hey, son, it's me. Sorry, I wasn't here for your birthday, I know bad parenting, but I had to keep an eye on your cousins..you'd understand. Anyway, I know you don't need me to tell you cause I'm pretty certain you already know, but everyone misses you. Your teammates Ren and Nora have been watching each other's backs, not letting the other out of their sights. Blake went AWOL for a bit. I know you two weren't that close, but she told me how you treated her like family, and I think you'd be happy to know she does too. Weiss tends to keep quiet when I try to talk to her about you; you two must've been close if she is afraid to talk about you. Yang's the same way, but I know deep down she misses you the most. Ruby took losing you the hardest, she'd already lost her mother, and I can't even imagine what it was like to her when you left. She carries the heaviest pain for you, but she's lousy at hiding it. I'm certain you know Rave' misses you, she has her tribe, but that never stopped her from visiting you when you were younger. I doubt it'll stop her from visiting you now. As for me?" A long silence follows as he struggles to find the words. "When I first saw you...you had the biggest eyes imaginable like you could see the world differently...you always saw the world differently than we did.  You had a way of grabbing the whole room when you walked into it. I mean, when you exploded that nevermore, that was by far the craziest thing I have ever seen, and the first thing you did was make a damn joke. Hehehe...When I was told how you...how you...passed, I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to. I said to myself, 'Qrow, this little shit's gonna walk through that door throwing up a storm cause someone broke his girlfriend's shield.' Speaking of your girlfriend, they built her a nice statue in Argus. Apparently, that's where she's from, but you probably knew that already. It would've been nice to see the two of you tie the knot...hell, would you believe me if I told you I already wrote a speech. Well, I haven't finished it yet. I'll probably save it for when your 21, hehe."

As he continues to drink some tea, he sees a bird fly into the open kitchen window. Shortly after, Raven walks out the front door, holding a glass of tea in her hands.

Raven: "Mind if I sit?"

Qrow: "After Haven, I should kick your ass, but this isn't about Haven..so go ahead." She takes a seat to the left of the tombstone. "Got any words you wanna say? I kinda ran out."

Raven: "When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a mother, to raise a child of my own and lead them to become a greater person than I was. When I had Yang, I was scared that since I was a leader and a criminal, I wouldn't be a good mother to her. So I ran back to the life I was so set on not living. I lived that life until one day I broke into a small cabin in the woods, and there you were, drinking this abomination called sweet tea. And from that day forward, I would unintentionally raise you as my own, teaching you things your father didn't think were important, like how you are supposed to use both shampoo and body soap or how to properly wield a blade. I grew to love you, Falke, as a mother would love their son, and I thank you for that, Falke. You gave me the chance to prove to myself that I could be a parent to be proud of, even if I'm not a person to be proud of."

After her words, there came a long silence. The two stare off out into the field with smiles laced with tears as they continued to recall moments with Falke, each taking turns telling stories of the youngster. Then, as the sun reached the point of the afternoon, Qrow finally set his empty glass of tea down.

Qrow: "Hey, Raven?" She turns to look at him. "I know what's happened between us hasn't been what I like to call sibling bonding time. But I want you to know that, no matter what, I'll always be there for you."

Raven: "Thank you...brother. That means more to me than you'll ever know." *sigh* "I believe I have something for you." 

She takes out a small envelope and hands it to Qrow. He sees the picture he took long ago with his 'angel' Willow Schnee.

Qrow: "Where did you get this?"

Raven: Gesturing towards the tombstone, "Your son."

Qrow looks at the tombstone, and his eyes widen as he finally sees that a message had been etched onto the tombstone by a sharp knife, its words right underneath the words originally put on the rock. 

NOT YET!