Qrow glanced back at Winter as they made their way down the main roads towards the capital of Vale. Since their confessions two days ago something changed between them. One would expect the air to clear a bit now that her biggest secret was out, and in a way it was...but at the same time there was something more to it as well, something different, at least from his side. And he couldn't quite put his finger on it either; he would now catch himself staring a little bit longer at the young woman than usual, glancing back to check on her far more often than he had before, and he also found himself at loss of words whenever their eyes met, never quite knowing what to say, so he kept silent.

They continued walking until finally they reached the borders of Mountain Glenn, a would be expansion of Vale that was destroyed during Cinder's bloody coup. Qrow felt a pang of sadness as he thought about the lives of the Huntsmen, his brothers and sisters in arms, who lost their lives when Cinder felled Beacon and drove Ozpin away, as well as the civilians that also lived there. They all fought valiantly, but ultimately failed.

"...Qrow?" He was brought back to the present when Winter walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder, which caused a strange sensation to wash over him. "Is everything alright?"

"Uh, y-yeah," he said, getting a grip of himself and running his hand down his face, "it is. Let's get going."

Winter nodded determinedly, and they both stepped over the invisible border into Mount Glenn. However they didn't get far when Qrow's keen senses told him they were being observed. His brow furrowed and he looked around as discreetly as possible, and soon his eyes caught a shadow of movement behind them. He slowed his pace slightly, and put his hand in front of Winter's while reaching for his weapon at the same time.

"It's not use hiding anymore; I know you're there, just come on out!"

For a while there was nothing but silence. Then, suddenly, a group of people emerged from behind the ruined buildings. One of them, a girl with black hair and a bow on top of her head came forward. She was dressed in a long white coat, wore a pair of tall, black boots, and in her hand she held a large, cleaver like sword.

"Who are you?" she asked sharply, narrowing her golden eyes at Qrow and Winter.

Qrow said nothing, his eyes darting back and forth between the people around him. They were mostly women, and mostly Faunus from what he could tell. They were all dressed in simple garments, and used equally simple weapons. Many of the weapons were very old, most likely things they'd collected from the ruins and wreckage of the battle: abandoned swords and shields crudely reforged back at home. He guessed they were mostly used for self defence, and another look at the women and the way they held their weapons confirmed that. Many of the women looked at them with the curious wariness of people trying to determine whether or not they were in any danger. He relaxed his posture.

"We're refugees on the run from 'Her Majesty' Queen Cinder," he explained, holding up his hands in plain view. Many of the women looked at each other, repeating his sentence in astonished whispers. "We're on our way to General Ironwood's camp, we're not here to harm any of you!"

After considering his statement the black-haired girl finally lowered her sword, though her gaze remained wary. "...Then why did you raise your sword?" she asked.

"I told you, we're on the run. And this place happens to be a former battlefield and a ruin, in case you hadn't noticed; I didn't know if you were Grimm or bandits or what."

The girl said nothing, considering his words, when another voice suddenly came in.

"Miss Winter?" it said it disbelief, "is that really you?" The golden-eyed girl turned around in surprise, and Qrow felt Winter stiffen behind him as a tall bunny Faunus, a girl with brown hair and brown eyes, broke from the crowd and came forward.

"Velvet!" Winter cried, darting past Qrow towards the brunette, taking the girl's hands into her own.

Qrow and the others just stared at the reunion confusedly.

"You two know each other?" the black-haired girl asked, to which Velvet nodded.

"Yes! This is Miss Winter, Blake," she explained, "I've told you before, remember; the one who saved me from the guards when I was little?" Blake's eyes narrowed as she took in Winter's appearance, but didn't say anything.

Qrow raised his eyebrow. Winter actually sided with a Faunus while still living at her father's castle? That was interesting.

"Right, yes, indeed," Blake said after a while, a small, amiable smile now on her face. "Forgive me, I didn't recognized you at first; 'Winter' is a very popular name all around the world, and you hadn't given us your title or your last name."

Winter nodded, and Blake turned her eyes from her to Qrow again.

"And you are?" she asked.

"The name's Qrow," he said, not bothering with his last name. Blake wouldn't recognize him anyway; she couldn't be any more than eighteen or nineteen years old at most, so his career would have been dead by the time she was old enough to remember anything.

"...You're a Huntsman?" questioned Blake further.

"Ex-Huntsman now," he corrected her, "but yeah, basically."

She nodded and fell silent again, visibly contemplating something.

"The General is stationed in Forever Fall," she said after a while, "in the most southwest part of it."

Qrow opened his mouth to say something, perhaps to thank her, but was suddenly cut off by a sudden, sharp pain in his side. He couldn't help but grimace, and his sword fall from his hands. Damn, he forgot about his injuries; they must have been worse than he had thought!

"Qrow?" Winter was by his side in seconds, concern written all over her face. Her eyes scanned him, stopping on the hand resting on his side. She quickly reached out and pried it away; she gasped when she noticed a wet, red stain forming on his shirt. She then turned to Blake and Velvet. "He's seriously injured," she told them, "please, do you have anything I could use to dress his wounds?"

The two girls exchanged looks and held a brief, whispered conversation, before Blake nodded. "Of course, come this way." With that she spun around and walked away, Velvet in tow. Winter, just like the other night, put her arms around Qrow, letting him rest on her as they walked. He tried not to grimace, but it was a fool's errand as every step send new waves of pain through his body. He really, really shouldn't have left his wounds unattended when his Aura hasn't fully restored.

"We are almost there," he heard Winter say, "just bare with it for few more moments; we're almost there..."

Qrow hissed as Blake poured alcohol on his wound.

"Gah! That's not the kind of alcohol buzz I'm used to!"

"Sorry," said the girl, "but I need to clean it. Unless you want it to get infected?"

He said nothing, letting his eyes wander around the hollowed out cavern they'd retreated to. He had to admit, this was a really impressive place; a whole underground community, hidden away from the eyes of the Queen! It was well organized and seemed like any other place on Remnant; in fact, it felt like Patch the way it was before the war. Blake truly was a genius, organizing these- as he suspected -survivors from the capital and small villages, and hiding them where Cinder would neither think nor bother to look for them.

His eyes wandered around to the faces of the women and children, finally resting across from him where Velvet and Winter were talking. The two women seemed to be rather close, chatting animately about what he supposed to be how their lives went since they saw each other last. It was the first time he had seen Winter like this: at ease...almost happy, even. It caused a strange, fuzzy feeling to swell in his chest, and not the one he usually got when he drank. He suddenly wished he could see her like this more often.

But...there was a question on his mind as well.

"Say, kid," he said to Blake, "what's the story between Winter and Velvet?"

"I'm not a kid! I'm nineteen, for your information!" Blake snapped, "...but to answer your question, Winter helped Velvet back back in Atlas when she was still a servant at the palace. Velvet told me that one day, when she was being harassed by the guards, Winter stepped in and saved her, threatening those young men at sword point. When the news of it reached the King he was furious, and locked his daughter in a pig-sty for two weeks, without food and with only the rainwater to drink." She frowned, falling silent.

Qrow's eyes winded, and he glanced over at Winter again, once more surprised and impressed by her bravery. She risked her freedom and her good relationship with her father for a young Faunus servant? Once more she proved to him that she was completely different than what he thought she'd be like, and once more showed that she had the spirit of a Huntress within her, helping those in need without a second thought. His heart clenched with guilt when he remembered that barely two days ago he considered, however briefly, leaving her to the Queen because of his stupid prejudice. However, this guilt was soon replaced by determination, his resolve to bring her to Jimmy becoming even stronger than it was before.

Weiss continued to follow Roman and his people, and now they made their way through the Kingdom of Vale. It was ironic; she'd left these shores for Patch not more than a few days ago to find her sister, and now she was back for the same purpose. Though Weiss's mind didn't consider the irony right now; she was, instead, thinking of her sister and Qrow Branwen. She was scared for them after what she'd witnessed, or rather heard, of what Roman and his men did to that poor man in the shack. They killed him, mercilessly and needlessly, after they got what they wanted from him. These people had no qualms or morals, and if they got to her sister and the man who helped her escape, well...Weiss didn't even want to imagine what would happen to them in such a scenario.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by one of the men. "Sir! I found this filthy brat trying to pickpocket us!"

There seemed to be something going on; one of the goons was holding up a young boy- around her own age, apparently -with spiky green hair and ratty clothes.

"'Trying' being the operative word here," said Roman, leaning down to get a better look at the boy, "So, brat...what's your name?"

"R-r-russell Thrush," said the boy, trembling under the stern gaze of the redhead, "b-but please, sir, don't punish me! I didn't know who you were! Life ain't been easy here recently...I-I'm just trying to survive! You understand that, right? Doing everything you can just to keep yourself alive?"

The words apparently resonated with Roman, and after a moment he motioned at the guard to let the boy go.

"Tell me, Russell Thrush," he said, "how would you like to earn some coin? Enough to keep yourself alive for the next six months?"

Russell's eyes winded for a while and then he nodded eagerly. Weiss furrowed her brow and sneaked moved closer, hiding behind a rock as she listened intently.

"Good," said Roman as he stood back up. "You're a local, aren't you? Then tell me, have you seen some strangers come through here recently? You see, I'm looking for a pair of people, a man and a woman. He looks like a lowlife; torn cape, unkempt hair, probably reeks of booze..., and the woman is dressed in white and has long white hair and blue eyes."

"I saw them, earlier," nodded Russell, "They passed through this morning, and my friends tell me they ran off to the secret village."

"...Secret village?" asked Roman.

"Yeah!" confirmed Russell, "It's mostly Faunus women that are hiding in the caves of Mountain Glenn."

Roman smiled. "Really? Then do you think you could you lead us there? I promise you'll be rewarded!"

Russell nodded eagerly before leading the way, with Roman motioning others and riding behind him on the horses he had stolen from one of the villagers on his way here.

Weiss continued to follow them, now even more worried for her sister.

It was late at night but Winter couldn't sleep, her eyes fixed on the ceiling of the cave. It all seemed so surreal; here she was, in an underground community of warrior women, and one of them just happened to be Velvet, the servant girl she helped so long ago. Now, it seemed like it had happened in another lifetime and to another person...and yet, at the same time, it felt heart-warming. It was good to meet a familiar face, and for it to be a kind and friendly one as well. It gave her hope for finding Weiss alive as well, for if Velvet, who hadn't escaped into the protection of James Ironwood, had survived, then Weiss truly stood a chance. Winter smiled at the thought, it seemed like things at long last started to look much better...

"Winter?" She was brought back to reality by Qrow's voice. She turned her head and saw the man standing over her; in the dim light of a nearby torch his brownish red eyes shone with a comforting warmth to them. Her breath caught in her throat...how did she never notice how beautiful his eyes were, and how deep their colour was? Or how ruggedly handsome his face was? He looked like an outlaw from an old ballad, who fought for the freedom and justice of people around him...

"Y-Yes?" she asked at length, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice, her cheeks feeling warm. She was sure glad for the shadows around them. What was going on with her all of a sudden?

"I...," he paused, "I just wanted to say that...I'm gonna bring you to Jimmy, I promise."

"I know" Winter said, furrowing her brow. Didn't he tell her so back in that ruined house, first night after they arrived in Vale?

"No, you don't understand!" he shook his head, "What I wanted to say is that I'll bring you to Jimmy, no matter what will stand in our way and...and that I'll do it for free; you don't have to pay me those hundred gold coins I asked for. You've done so much for me during this journey that I'm the one who now owes you."

For the second time Winter felt her breath cut short and she was at the loss of words. She opened and closed her lips a couple of times, unable to find the proper words.

"Thank-" she started to say, but before she could finish there was a loud rumbling sound, as if something heavy fell. She and Qrow turned around, and in the same moment all hell broke loose.

So a bit of cliffhanger because I really have 0 how to end it, I rewrote it. Sorry if anything is confusing with Vale, I just tried to incorporate what we know from WoR into it.

Yes Blake is here and so is Velvet. I know I probably could put them with...well other group but there were these women in the movie, and I thought it would be cool to have Blake run such a colony given she's so involved in the equality fight and used to be in The White Fang and believe in it before it turned more violent. She seems like one to have it. Her outfit is based on her newest one from Vol4. As for Velvet she's here a bit to add more trustworthiness to Qrow and Winter, to thaw the doubts. Plus I like her so I wanted a bit of her and she seems like someone who'd be in such a place too, trying to help her kin and those less fortunate and organize survivors.

We also have Russell, he is a jerk like Cardin and he does give me off the vibe of a guy that would become a pickpocket or thief when chips were down and that he wouldn't have many qualms about betraying and denouncing people.

Also a bit of fluffy Qrowin there, not an exactly romantic scene but we do need some build-up. They already had some talks and got to know each other a bit, and they had this one spontaneous moment last chapter. Now time for their relationship to shift a bit more, and for another step-not doing it for money anymore. On Qrow's part. Also in the movie Erick has left Snow at this point, but since Qrow has already promised Winter he'll get her there I thought it would be a bit backwards if he suddenly jumped back to leaving her. Even if it would be to 'protect' her or something. He gave his word after all...and Erik...well in the last scene before leaving he did not say anything of that kind so...yeah. I hope you liked this chapter. It really took me a lot to write it, as I had huge writer's block which I still kind of have...

Editor's note: So on the technical side of things the most I need to do for this chapter was a little touch up for the dialogue in some places and the usual typo fixes.

As for the story, it looks like something's going down, tonight, at the underground hideout! Also, dat Qrowin fluff.

Oh, and hooray for RWBY Vol.4 finally coming out! Woo!