The streets of Mistral looked more dismal than usual, well maybe that was because things weren't going that well anyways for one man. The weather sure showed this with its slight shower of rain. This man sighed as he stopped at a nearby bar. This man was the legendary huntsman Qrow Branwen, or at least that's what some called him. He did have a great reputation when compared to others in his profession. Qrow, though he hated it did stand out. Even when he slouched like he did most of the time, he was still taller than most, and the scent of alcohol was always around him. It tended to drive people away, so that was a plus if he was honest.

It was just past noon, but this morning was worse than others, and he still had the rest of it to go. He took a seat at the counter and signaled the bartender over.

"Hey, give me the strongest thing you got," he ordered.

"This early?" asked the bartender.

"Yeah, the day's already off to a shitty start," Qrow responded bluntly.

The bartender wandered off to get the drink, which gave Qrow a few moments to think. What was I doing again? he thought, Getting Huntsman, right… The bartender returned fairly quickly with what smelled like Moonshine.

"You got some pretty strong stuff," commented Qrow.

"Well, you look like you need it," stated the bartender placing down the drink, "You also seem like you have the money to pay for it."

"You're not wrong," Qrow answered taking the glass, "Hey can I ask you somethin'?"

"Shoot," said the Bartender.

"You know of any Huntsmen nearby?" Qrow asked after downing the moonshine in one swift gulp.

"Many of them have left to protect the little villages and stuff from what I heard," he said, "Apparently we've lost quite a few of them too."

That was exactly the answer Qrow didn't want to hear. Fuck, he thought. Ozpin had his suspicions and quickly passed them onto Qrow. Well, it was really the other way around. Oz seemed to want to remain as optimistic as possible, and while that wasn't a bad thing, times like these needed some form of apprehensiveness. That's enough for now, thought Qrow.

"Wow, I really needed a drink," Qrow said, "Thanks for the drink. And for the answer."

Qrow left the bar feeling worse than he did before, but at least he had a little more information. This wasn't the first bar he visited today, the first one almost got him stabbed though. He made his way to Haven Academy to see if any Huntsman for hire were up for grabs since so far, his leads have only led to dead ends. This was all to frustrating, nothing was going his way. As he walked, he finally took notice of how the streets were pretty empty, especially for Mistral. Last time he was here, you'd see Huntsman talking and exchanging stories of battles fought, or children playing in the streets, even during the rainy season. Maybe it was because of the fear of what happened to Beacon, he didn't know. But what he did know was that something was fishy. I'll figure it out later, he thought. He did have a job to do after all.

When he finally made his way over to the Huntsman Listing board, he saw that most of the listings were occupied. Looking at the length of time they were gone was what really caught his eye. Many of them were gone for weeks. He sighed yet again, this time in anger. It just didn't make sense. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to find anyone. Or more likely, they didn't make it. He did notice that there was an anonymous huntsman, probably a foreign one, that was just freed up, and not wanting to miss this chance sent them a message, in hopes that he could at least not come home empty-handed.

On the miserable way home Qrow returned to the bar he first went to in hopes of finding a Huntsman named Wan Shiro, to no avail, but he did pay off the man's debt. At this point they'd been missing for too long, just like all the others he was in search of. When he made his way to the house they were staying in he just couldn't bring himself to go inside. Not just because of his disappointment, but because of his thoughts.

"This isn't right," he though aloud, "I get one of 'em but… all of them?"

He looked down in frustration when the sound of his sister's semblance shocked him out of it.

"Raven?!" he exclaimed, but then he heard the sound all to familiar to him, that of the motorcycle owned by his niece.

"Oh," he let out, seeing not just his niece, but the little Ice Queen on the back of Yang's motorcycle as it exited the portal.

"Guess I'm not comin' home empty-handed," he greeted.

"Nice to see you to Uncle," Yang said.

"Come 'ere firecracker," he said gesturing for a hug, to which she complied, "It's good to see you outta that slump."

"It feels good too," she responded with a smile as they ended the embrace.

"I see that you have company, but I'll ask about that another time," he said walking over to the door, "I know there's someone in there who you both wanna see more than me."

He opened it, and saw no one in the little entrance room, but he did smell the scent of some Mistralian dish.

"Hey, I'm back!" he shouted as he opened the door. He did hear a response, but didn't hear any footsteps, "Hey, a… Ruby?!" This time he did hear some. His little niece almost fainted when he saw the guests he brought, though she did destroy the tea set from the house. Shit, I'm gonna have to pay for that, he thought. He didn't really pay attention to the little chat that happened, but he did smile when he saw the little team reunion that just happened.

Those kids sure know how to be fucking loud, he thought, as he tried to catch a nap. He knew that there was no way he could sleep through the noise, so he went up to go for a walk, when he ran into the kid that Ozpin had reincarnated into, …Oscar, that's his name!

"Hey kid," he greeted, "You need somethin'?"

"Uh… not me, but Ozpin wants to have a chat with the others downstairs," Oscar said.

"Alright then kid," Qrow responded, "Let's head down then."

I thought it would only be a little louder down here, but I was fucking wrong! Qrow thought.

"How can six kids possibly make so much noise eating dinner!" Qrow exclaimed when they reached the dining room.

The group made their way over to the dining room where they recapped over past events, or more so what happened to Yang and Wiess, Ozpin went over his whole spiel of the maidens and magic and whatever else. Eventually, they made their way over to the topic of Qrow being able to turn into a bird, a piece of information that Qrow thought Raven would have kept to herself. While Ozpin went into the specifics of it, he did mention that it was a choice given to them, not a curse. Eventually, the kids made their way upstairs to get some rest for the following day, and so did he, just later.

He actually managed to get two hours of sleep when he heard a knock on the door. The fuck! he thought, Who the fuck could be at the door at… two in the fucking morning! He was going to give whoever thought this was a good idea a piece of his mind, through his fists of course. He quietly made his way downstairs hoping not to wake the kids, with the exception of the orange haired one. That one could sleep through anything. He switched on the light at the entrance, and opened the door ready to scream at whoever it was, but that quickly died when he saw a familiar face… well, he had to look down to see that face.

"You?!" he exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"You?!" exclaimed the person at the door, a girl, "You're the one who sent out that mission request?"

The girl wasn't short per se, but when compared to Qrow, she looked tiny. She had a look of surprise on her face, and well it was warranted. She had her golden blonde hair tied in a French braid that reached to her neck before tapering off into a ponytail. Her large, almond neon blue eyes reading the deep red ones of Qrow, seeing if he knew it would be her, or if it was just a weird happenstance. She was dressed in a simple navy hoodie that looked a size to big, and a pair of black pants that also looked to large. She'd grown somewhat since the last time Qrow had met her, and noticed the duffle bag slung over her shoulder, probably housing her gear. Her features of her heart-shaped face softened as they settled on it being a coincidence through a non-verbal conversation

"Wait, why aren't you in Atlas like all the other… Atlas military people?" he asked finally, breaking the silence.

"'Cause I'm not exactly one to listen to authority that well," she answered smugly, "They keep me around 'cause I'm good at what I do. You should know."

"That doesn't explain why Ironwood isn't hunting you down?" he explained.

"I'm on mandatory vacation," she stated with a grin, "I can do whatever the fuck I want during that time, that and I still have some days left that I can pull of this doesn't last too long."

"He's gonna kill you, just so you know," Qrow stated.

"I know," said the girl, "So, do I go back to my hotel or are you gonna let me bunk here like your mission parameters said?"

"Yeah, come in kid," he said, "Just try not to wake everyone up."

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