The Black Rose Has Thorns

Chapter 12

Qrow wakes up the next morning. He didn't sleep very much. The others woke up too, unsure of what to do next. Was there any hope in saving Ruby or was it already too late after seeing her?

Wanting to be alone, Qrow goes outside. He stands in the grass and looks up at the sky. He falls to his knees. "Has my semblance of bad luck caused this to happen to my daughter?"

"I highly doubt that," Blake said, coming over. "I know it's surprising to see me come to you instead of Yang. I'm just worried about her. Ruby is my family too. I've always looked up to her."

"I'm glad you're here for Yang otherwise I would probably end up losing her too," he said. "Yang may not be my daughter but she is my family. And since you're with Yang, that makes you my family too. It doesn't matter if you're a faunus or not. Don't ever let that get you down. I may not be too familiar with the White Fang or Adam Taurus himself but I'm always here if you ever want to talk."

Blake cries softly and hugs Qrow suddenly, the mention of Adam hitting her again like a boulder was thrown at her chest with full force. Qrow put his arms around her comfortingly. "It's okay."

Blake tries to pull herself together, wiping her tears away. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"It's okay," Qrow repeated. "It's a lot on all of us right now. I can't say I understand what you're going through completely but I will try to the best way I can."

Blake smiles at him. "Thank you, Qrow. And don't worry. We will think of something. We haven't given up before so why start now?"

He smiles back. "You're right. We better get back inside. You know how Atlas is. Always cold and snowing."

Blake chuckled and followed Qrow back inside. "Just don't lose hope. And remember, semblance or not, none of this is your fault. We're going to make it through this one way or another."

"We will," he agrees and goes inside with her. "We have to."