(Chapter 29)
"No way."
The blonde looked a bit surprised, taking time to find his voice.
"W-What? Why not!?"
"Kid, did you forget I'm here on important biz for Oz and Jimmy?"
"I mean, you aren't always gonna be busy, are you?"
"No, but that's besides the point. And trust me Kid, you wouldn't want to learn from someone like me, and you shouldn't either."
"I don't care about that! If you're working directly for Ozpin on something important, then you have to be good."
The older man brought a hand to his forehead as he reached for his flask, not caring if Maria approved of the action or not. After taking a deep swig, he responded to Jaune.
"Look, I'll agree there; I'm good, really good even. But like you just heard me telling the Grimm Reaper, I'm a loner. And besides, my semblance would probably find some way to ruin any progress you and your team would make. So trust me when I say that you and your team would be better off finding someone who can give you their full attention, and help you grow."
Jaune felt a bit frustrated with how easily he was being brushed off before Maria chimed in.
"Oh, quit yer whining!"
The two were caught off guard by the volume she scolded Qrow with as she pointed her cane up at him.
"All you've done since you sat down is complain and make excuses. What kind of example are you trying to set for this boy here?!"
The older man recovered after a moment before gently pushing the scythe-turned-cane away from his face.
"All the more reason for me to not teach the kid. Trust me…it's for his own good."
"Oh for the love of-"
"Mr.-No, Qrow. I don't mean to be rude, but I don't care about your semblance. You're the perfect sponsor for my team."
The man raised an eyebrow once Jaune cut Maria off as he continued to pester him. The man took out his flask and asked a question.
"Oh? And how do you figure a washed-up old drunk like me is 'perfect?'"
The man was about to take a swig when Jaune responded.
"Yang and Ruby said you were a teacher. You said yourself you're a good huntsman, and if Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood trust you, then you're our best shot!"
The man, interrupted as he almost drank from the flask, growled irritatedly as the younger man had begun to get on his nerves.
"There are tons of strong huntsmen out there who have Jimmy or Ozpin's backing! You don't need me to succeed!"
"Maybe not! But now that the idea is in my head, I won't accept anyone else as our sponsor!"
"Why the hell not, you damn brat!?"
"Because you were one of the people who gave me hope that I could do this in the first place after I got expelled from Beacon! Everyone else told me that I couldn't do it, that I wouldn't be able to cut it as a huntsman, that what I wanted didn't matter! I refuse to agree with a future I didn't decide on myself!"
The man was about to take a swig of his flask, but what Jaune said stopped him. Little did Jaune know how deeply his words just then resonated with the old drunkard. Memories swam through his mind as he remembered when he got sent off to Beacon alongside Raven. Back then, he wasn't just some three-bit thug, he was a bandit. But where Raven reveled in preying on the weak, Qrow had grown to detest it.
Living out in the Grimmlands, raiding settlements, being complicit in crimes that would have him in jail for life. But as these memories resurfaced, he remembered one thing in particular: the hatred he felt that none of this was his choice, that nothing ever had been. Perhaps that's why when Ozpin confronted him about his and Raven's entrance into Beacon, he'd been so quick to come clean. He'd been given an opportunity to change his life and he jumped at the chance. That chance would never have come if someone didn't offer him a way up.
The man seemed to stew on these words for a few moments before putting his flask away.
"Look Kid…even if you and your team are okay with hanging around me with my semblance being what it is, I wouldn't be a good fit. I'll only be in Atlas for a week or two at a time, and when I'm not I'll be in Vale waiting to get sent back here. Besides, I haven't been a teacher for almost half a decade now. You should find yourself and your team someone who can dedicate more time to making you all the best you can-"
"What if I assisted?"
The two men looked towards Maria who'd taken to brewing more tea as the two argued.
"If you're willing to teach Blondie here what you know, and be his team's official sponsor, I can make sure they don't slack off on mastering what you teach them."
"Hey!? We wouldn't do th-"
The blonde teen was cut off as the woman's cane found his ankle, tripping him and causing him to fall to the ground with a yelp. Qrow resisted the urge to snicker, but the corner of his mouth was visibly turned upwards. As he looked back to Maria, he saw the lens of her implants move as if she was raising an eyebrow at him, waiting for his answer.
Qrow, for the first time since they'd started talking, seemed to seriously consider it. His hand instinctively went to reach for his flask again, but was caught by Maria's cane outstretched towards his hand, a hot and fresh cup of tea balanced on the tip. The man sighed as he accepted the cup and blew the steam away.
He drank silently, knocking back the cup of tea before handing the ceramic cup back towards the older woman.
"I…I guess it wouldn't hurt to teach you a few tricks."
The blonde smiled big before throwing both of his hands in the air as he allowed himself to fall onto his back where he was sitting. The two adults shook their heads at the younger man's antics before they looked at each other.
"Tell you what: since you're gonna be taking the time to teach him, I'll share a few stories from my glory days with you."
Qrow's eyes widened at the offer from the older woman. The elder smirked at him, and the drunkard coughed into his hand trying to not look too excited at the prospect. They watched as Jaune was about to call his team to inform them that he'd found them a sponsor, but saw the time and hopped to his feet before quickly shooting off a round of goodnights to Qrow and Maria before running towards his dorm.
The two adults waved idly as the blonde disappeared before the man prepared to follow suit. He stopped, however, when the woman started talking again since they were alone.
"You know, I think you two will bring the best out of each other."
The man turned to her with a raised eyebrow as she continued.
"He refuses to let you withdraw into that lonely place you always seem to put yourself in. And I don't know if you noticed this or not, because Jaune sure didn't, but while he kept persisting on you training him and his team, you didn't drink."
Qrow's eyes widened again as he thought about what the woman was saying, and realized it had been much longer than usual since he'd last had the taste of alcohol on his tongue. The man shook his head before going to respond before Maria cut him off.
"You don't have to justify drinking to me, Qrow. There are many vices that we hunters fall into when things have gone to their worst. When I lost my eyes, I spent too many nights to count in whatever inn served the cheapest drinks, all to try and forget. 'If only I'd done this, If it wasn't for that, What if, What then?' All questions I asked to try and detach myself from reality. Eventually, as I got older, the question changed to, 'What if I'd never given up?'"
The woman took a deep breath as she finished packing up her tea set.
"I'm honored, truly, that someone looked up to who I was, especially enough to base their weapon off of me when they only had rumors and word of mouth to work off of. But I'm not that person anymore. So, from the current me, here's a piece of wisdom."
"It's not wrong to feel down on your luck, no pun intended. There's no shame in taking a drink when things aren't at their best and no one will shame you for being a lone wolf. BUT! Think about how it feels when something does go your way, and I don't mean getting a free drink at an inn or some malarkey like that. Don't your drinks taste better when things are good? Or are you really going to stand there and lie to yourself, saying that you enjoy being alone all the time. Because you know what I think? I think that maybe-just maybe, you're waiting for someone who needs you just as much as you need them."
The man stood there in thought at her words as he idly rubbed the flask at his hip, but strangely, he didn't have the desire to bring it to his lips. Maria patted his arm before slowly leaving the room, and Qrow with his thoughts. He too, after a few minutes, began to make his way out of the room and towards his temporary room.
Once there, he sat in the chair at the corner of his room, his fingers laced in front of his mouth as he stared at the flask sitting on the desk. His long-passed partner's voice still haunted him as he looked at the flask he'd carried for almost twenty-years, her graduation gift to him. Back then, he remembered looking at it confused before the two of them and their team shared a good laugh over it.
He was the only one of team STRQ that didn't drink, and would often obsess over them when they went out to bars as a group. Summer had given him the flask so that he could pretend that he was drinking alongside them, and as the years had passed, and so did his partner, he was now the only one of his team who drank.
The man laid back in his chair as he stared up at the ceiling. He stayed like this for nearly half an hour before he leaned forward and got to his feet, having found his nerve. He walked over to the flask before picking it up and making his way to the bathroom. He stood there, looking at himself holding the flask in the mirror for a few moments before unscrewing the cap and shakily dumping the contents out.
He knew himself. He knew that to pull this off, it was either cold turkey or nothing, else he'd fall back into his addiction. As the last of what was inside trickled out, he cleaned it before setting it on the desk as he turned off the lights in his room. Falling onto the mattress, he thought about Maria's words and how Jaune's words resonated with him again, before drifting off to sleep with his decision made.
(The Next Day, Beacon)
"Freezerburn!"
Weiss did a twirl before stabbing Myrtenaster into the floor of the training room, followed by Yang shooting herself into the air over and past Weiss, before firing another shot to propel her to the ice covered floor. The combustion dust in Ember Cecilia shot out into the ice and created a heavy mist.
Team RWBY regrouped as the young reaper looked amongst her team.
"Ladyb-"
She was cut off when the mist that had just been created was swept away with a wave of the hand from their opponent. He didn't give them a chance to reevaluate however as he immediately shot out aiming for Weiss. The heiress's eyes widened as she tried to raise a wall of ice to defend, but the speed of her opponent was just too much to overcome in the moment.
Checking her weapon by knocking it to the side, the older man landed a quick pair of punches to the gut before ducking under a desperate retaliatory strike from the dust action rapier and following up with a kick that sent the girl out of bounds. The man heard the sounds of Ember Cecilia firing and immediately vaulted away as mere moments later, Yang touched down where he'd been with a combustion dust explosion following her landing.
The girl narrowed her eyes at the man as he smiled at her in response. She put up her guard and began to run towards him as he put up a loose guard while noticing Ruby plotting something as she whispered to Blake. The man was willing to let them scheme however as he refocused on the golden-maned dragon that was Yang now doing her best to land a hit.
Every punch, every elbow, hell even her kicks, which she wouldn't normally use, were caught, evaded, or countered. The frustration was beginning to build as she grit her teeth and the lilac of her eyes started to bleed into red. Flame started to lick at the tips of her hair as her exhales became visible as if superheated.
"JUST STAND FUCKING STI-"
The girl was caught off guard when her opponent stepped to the side before landing a heavy chop that sent her into the floor.
"Language."
The girl groaned but smirked up at him as she held onto the black ribbon of Gambol Shroud, which was now wrapped taut around his ankle. The man turned to see Blake missing from where she and Ruby should have been behind him, instead, the kusarigama of Gambol Shroud was stabbed into the floor. Out of his peripherals he noticed a flurry of rose petals before he heard the voice of Team RWBY's leader.
"LADYBUG!"
Looking to either side, he saw Blake with her cleaver and Ruby with Crescent Rose speeding towards him. He grinned, causing Yang to get worried. Her worry was proven well founded when the man raised the leg not wrapped and stomped into the floor of the training room's stone ring. The ground trembled a bit, causing Ruby to stumble, impacting her stride. Grabbing one of the rocks that flew up from his stomp, the man swiped his hand to the side and shot the rock out towards Blake causing her to have to roll to avoid taking the stone to the head.
Grinning, the man stuck his leg out and tripped Ruby, before reaching out and grabbing her by her belt and twisting into a spin. A second later, the reaper was thrown and sent into the arms of Blake, who'd opted into dropping her cleaver so as to not accidentally catch her leader on it. As she managed to keep both her and Ruby in bounds, she looked up towards her opponent only to see Yang flying towards the two of them.
A second later, the three girls were sent out of bounds when Yang hit them, causing a tangle of limbs.
"Not bad, Girls!"
A chorus of groans was his response. The man reached down and unwrapped the ribbon from his ankle before walking over to where the kusarigama of Blake's weapon was and wrenching it from the ground. The blonde man walked over casually before standing at the edge of the ring.
"You know, I think you all would've managed to land a hit there if you took to heart what I've told you only, oh I don't know, twentyish times now?"
As the team regrouped and stood together by the ring, with Blake reaching out to accept the other half of her weapon being handed towards her, Ruby stomped her foot down with a pout as she addressed the man.
"Oh, come on Dad! You've gone after Weiss like, every single round!"
Taiyang chuckled at Ruby's pout before ruffling her hair, earning an indignant yelp.
"Well, yeah. I told you when I agreed to become your team's sponsor that I wasn't gonna train you girls like kids."
The man looked at the unsatisfied look on the faces of team RWBY before sitting down on the stage with an exhale before beginning to speak.
"Look. The team attacks are a unique idea, and not even a bad one. I imagine they helped accelerate how quickly you all were able to achieve some cohesion in combat. But, they have some glaring weaknesses."
Ruby seemed more attentive at this as the team attacks were something she was quite proud of coming up with.
"After seeing them once, you calling them out is a signal of what me, or one of your team's opponents, can expect to have coming their way. Not only that, you usually use them in one or two sequences, which is a bad habit. Add to that if any of you get taken out, the number of options you have gets cut down pretty hard, and if I or anyone else take Ruby out first, then you lose the team attacks as a whole, not to mention Yang will lose her cool-and you know you will."
The girls were at a loss for a rebuttal before eventually groaning and taking a seat on the ground.
The man knew this was a vital part of them getting better, and took their lack of a response as acknowledgment of his words.
"As for personal weaknesses: Ruby, you can't fight without Crescent Rose and if your speed is used against you, winning just isn't in the cards for you, Sweet Pea. Weiss, you fight primarily with dust and your semblance, meaning that the longer a battle goes on, the worse off you're gonna be. Blake, you're too passive. You scan the battlefield when you don't have a clear opening, which isn't a bad thing in its own right, but you don't do anything with the information you get or the time you have. Yang…You already know because I've told you over and over again."
"Yeah yeah…"
The girls looked a bit upset at the lack of progress it felt like they were making. The man knew they'd get what he was trying to teach them eventually, but for right now, they were progressing steadily, even if they didn't see it that way. Once they got out of the bad habits they had, both individually and as a team, they'd be better for it.
(Beacon, Same Time)
Ozpin sat in his office with Glynda Goodwitch mulling something over. He'd been watching Team RWBY's as well as team PRVN's recent training sessions with their sponsors, and despite the improvement both team were already showing, and the level they'd no doubt be at by the time of the Vytal festival, he still hadn't made a decision regarding the teacher-led student expeditions coming up. Or rather, he hadn't decided on who would be accompanying Bartholomew on the expedition to Mt. Glenn.
Mt. Glenn is one of the more dangerous areas in the areas nearest to Vale, and he wanted whichever team he sent to come back alive, which with someone like Oobleck, shouldn't be a worry, but that isn't the only factor. Mt. Glenn stands as a reminder that the grimm are dangerous, relentless, and inevitable. And to those that knew the truth of Mt. Glenn, it stands as an abandoned monument of a would-be city that Vale's council doomed to tragedy.
Sending team PRVN could backfire since there's no telling how much Raven knows about Mt. Glenn's tragedy, or how she would react to him deciding to send her apprentice's team there. And this logic extended to team RWBY as well, as their sponsor was not only the father of two of its team's members, but one of them was Raven's daughter.
No, it was much too risky in the long game to send either of these teams there. But…such a dangerous expedition would serve as a good chance to see how another team, one that had yet to find themselves a sponsor, would fare.
"I've made a decision. Glynda, please notify Oobleck that team CRDL will be joining him on the Mt. Glenn expedition."
(A/N)
I finally managed to get this chapter out. Been having trouble deciding how I want to speed things up since when I'm in set-up for something big, it's hard to focus and lock in towards one specific thing that might get me excited to pump out more chapters. One of the stories that really got me back in the mood to touch this story was "Empyrean" by Cold Daylight. It's a really fun read, so if you haven't given it a read, there's my recommendation.
Sorry this one took so long!
B.J.H.