The Song of Crows and Snow

Chapter 3

       Qrow wandered the halls of the Schnee mansion for what felt like hours. He never understood how people could live in such large houses without getting lost constantly. He eventually found himself outside, in a large garden that had a wide variety of plants growing everywhere. Sitting in the center of the garden was Winter, in this setting she seemed so different from the strict military woman that she was. Qrow took a deep breath and walked up to her.

"Hey there Ice Queen, I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have said what I said" He stood there awkwardly.

"I suppose I should accept this apology" She looked up at him, her eyes were almost like daggers.

"Not just yet.....because what I'm about to say may or may not land me in the hospital." He paused for a moment "I read your diary" He waited for Winter's reaction. She sat there in silence for a moment.

"You did what....." she stood up and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt "What made you think that was such a good idea? I'll give you ten seconds to explain before I break every bone in your body" She spoke in a way that was so calm it was almost terrifying.

"I did it so that I could learn about you...and your past. I knew you wouldn't tell me anything if I asked so I took matters into my own hands" Qrow explained himself, Winter released him and took a step back shaking her head.

"You're unbelievable, of all the things you've done....this has to be the absolute worst" Winter sat down trying to keep herself from breaking his neck.

"Look, I know that I shouldn't have done that, but I'm going to make things even. I don't have a diary but I'll tell all about my past" Qrow offered, hoping she would accept.

"That's hardly going to make up for what you've done, but I'll consider us even after this" she sighed, she was admittedly curious about Qrow's past. Qrow nodded, taking a seat beside her.

"I grew up in a bandit tribe with my sister Raven. Believe it or not we were actually close when we were younger. She always had my back, no matter what happened. Life for us wasn't exactly easy. We had to steal to survive, we were the best fighters in the camp so we were always sent out to get supplies and whatnot for everyone else. The only trouble we ever had were huntsmen, no matter how hard we tried we couldn't beat them. Even once we unlocked our semblances, they still beat us. When we came of age, it was decided that we would attend Beacon to learn how to kill huntsmen. Getting in was a simple job, childsplay. We thought it would be easy going through the academy and gathering information on huntsmen. Fate had other plans for us though, we got put on a team with two people who changed our lives forever. Summer Rose was the leader of team STRQ, she always saw the best in people, not to mention her constant optimistic attitude towards life. Taiyang Xiao Long....I don't even know where to begin with him, he's a great guy with a big heart. Needless to say, at that point we couldn't bring ourselves to betray them by going back to our tribe with what we learned. We finished our training at Beacon academy and became fully licensed huntsman." Qrow paused for a moment. Winter had been listening intently to his story.

"Go on," she said quietly.

"That's where the real trouble started. I used to go on missions with other huntsmen all the time, but I was the only one who would return. After a while I decided it was too dangerous to go on team missions, so I started flying solo. Keep that in the back of your mind for now. Anyways Taiyang had gotten together with my sister and just a few months after our graduation she found out she was pregnant. At first I think she was happy to have a chance at normal life, but just a few months after Yang was born, she left. I guess she still felt attached to the tribe, I still don't understand why. Taiyang was heartbroken when she left, it left him in a dark place and Summer and I had to take it upon ourselves to help him get back on his feet. During this time, he and Summer had grown closer and eventually they had a kid together. It seemed like everything was falling into place for us finally. Life had one more punch to throw at us however. Oz called Summer in for a mission, it was a dangerous one and so he decided someone had to go with her. Tai was gonna go with her, but I convinced him to stay with the kids.....I told him I would go with her. I regret that choice to this day.......remember how I said that I stopped doing team missions? My semblance always caused problems for anyone unlucky enough to get paired with me on missions. I remember that day like it was yesterday...we were fighting some Grimm, it was on a cliffside in Mistral and Summer was so preoccupied with the Grimm she was fighting she hadn't paid attention to where she was going. The ground she was on wasn't stable and she ended up losing her footing and falling over the edge......I tried....I tried to save her but I wasn't fast enough, I won't ever forget the image of her falling to her death....or having to tell Taiyang and the girls that she was gone.....the details of the mission contained sensitive information, so the circumstances of her death were kept hidden from the public, I still can't tell Ruby or Yang the truth behind that mission, as far as they know it's just one of Ozpin's many secrets" Qrow took a deep breath "After her death I started to pick up drinking...I wanted to forget it all, but no matter how much I drank I couldn't....and after our near death experience with Apathy on a farm, I decided to give up drinking for good. How's that for a life story?" Qrow gave her a half hearted smile. Winter was silent for a moment. She wasn't sure what to say to him. As long as she had known him, he had always been an obnoxious drunk to her. Now there was a whole other side to him that she had failed to see.

"I'm sorry Qrow, I never knew about your team....that's truly a tragedy" Winter never had been good with her words, and now when she needed them the most, they were failing her. She instead pulled him into a hug. It was all she could think to do in the moment, it had caught Qrow by surprise. The two just sat there in silence, there was no need for words.......