If there was one thing that Qrow Branwen hated at times; which he'd rank up there with hangovers, girls who play him up for free drinks, Salem's flunkies, the SDC, and many other things, was long boring treks through Anima. Seriously he knew that these outpost towns, and villages that wanted to live outside the kingdoms needed protection, but one village being a couple days late checking in didn't sound like the huge catastrophe that Leo made it out to be. He continued flapping his wings just taking in the natural beauty of Anima, one of the few things he'd missed from his childhood as a bandit.

He took note of the storm clouds forming, hopefully he could get to that Inn before it began to rain. A warm bed, a nice stiff drink, maybe a cute waitress to get to know; all things that promised a great evening before he went to report back to Oz. Ewww

When he'd gotten bored of the scenery Qrow found his thoughts drifting back to his conversation with Leo about the situation, and how he promised to help. Despite how much of a hardass he liked to pretend he was, he truly was a real softie at times; no way he'd ever admit that out loud though. He didn't want to give Tai more ammunition for his obnoxious behavior.

Qrow sat in Leonardo Lionheart's office in Haven academy as he stared at the picture of, an admittedly handsome man in green with a bow. "So what am I looking at here Leo?" Qrow asked the faunus.

"This is Li Ren, one of the founders of Kuroyuri, he's one of the few huntsmen who helps keep the peace within the village's lands." Lionheart explained

Qrow nodded along still not following Leo's meaning behind this Li guy. "Alright that's good to know Leo, but how does this involve me?" Qrow didn't mean to sound as annoyed as he did, but he preferred it when people spat these things out.

"Well Qrow, since you're business in Mistral has concluded I had hoped to ask for a favor from you," Lionheart said as he stopped projecting the image of Li Ren from his desk's omputer terminal.

"I take it the favor involves our friend you were showing me?" Qrow quirked a brow already having a good feeling on what Leo meant to ask of him.

"Yes, Li hasn't checked in with the Huntsmen boards, and word is a rather ancient Grimm has been spotted some ways away from there in the past. Please if you would be so kind as to check on the village." Leo had informed Qrow.

Qrow for the most part raised his brow again at Leo's request since there had to be local huntsmen who could do that for him, but he sighed not seeing much of a reason to argue since one of his favorite inns wasn't to far from that village give or take how fast he could fly.

"Sure Leo, I'll go check for ya." Qrow told his friend as he stood up from his seat. "Just be sure to inform Oz for me about why I'm late."

Leo smiled, and nodded to Qrow. "I'll have him informed the moment you leave Mistral's walls." he told his friend, already making plans to contact Ozpin.

"Alright, later Leo." Qrow said as he left the office of Haven's headmaster. Once he was sure that Harbinger was secured, and no one was watching, he transformed into his bird form, and flew off in the direction Kuroyuri was located.

Qrow soon found he was taken out of his thoughts as he'd noticed a trail of damaged trees, and ruined earth ahead of him, and quickly prepared himself for whatever he had to expect. He'd landed just outside of Kuroyuri's main gate before he walked in with caution. He hadn't been prepared for what he saw though.

An entire village reduced to nothing but rot, decay, ruin, and death. He saw men, women, and children alike had lost their lives this day. The children were always the worst parts to these missions, it was so easy to place Yang. and Ruby amongst those poor lost souls that would never live to see adulthood. Using every ounce of willpower in his body Qrow stopped himself from reaching for his hidden flask, he needed to be sober for this.

"Is anyone here?" He called out hoping there were survivors he could help. Part of him hoped this wasn't due to Raven, and the tribe; though even that more optimistic side of him that still had hope for his twin sister wasn't that convinced this hadn't been her fault in some capacity.

Qrow had found himself so on edge that the sound of a man coughing had startled him enough to draw Harbinger. "Who's there?" he called out as he followed the sound of coughing, but he made sure to keep his guard up. He followed the coughs right to their source, and was shocked to see that it was the man that Leo had shown him not to long ago, Li Ren.

"Easy buddy." Qrow said trying to help the broken man as best he could. Judging from how beat up his body was, and how critical his condition looked to be; Li's aura was broken, and he needed better medical attention than Qrow could hope to provide.

Li looked to Qrow, and in a strained voice spoke to the other man with the last of the energy he had inside of him. "Please, my son." Li coughed as he looked into Qrow's eyes.

Qrow felt a lump growing in his neck as he'd heard Li speak the world son. "Your kids?"

"Please, save him. Lie ran off with a girl, to safety from Grimm." Li gasped as he spoke his last breaths, before he grabbed Qrow's arm. "Please save them both." he spoke before he finally went limp in Qrow's arms

Qrow didn't flinch much at seeing Li Ren die before his eyes, he was used to these things after years of being a professional huntsman, but hearing that there were little kids out in the woods with a Grimm that can cause this much havok running around didn't sit well with him. He'd laid Li down before using his fingers to close the other man's eyes, and raced off into the forest after shifting into his bird form again.

'Gotta find those kids.' Qrow thought to himself as he tried to fly as fast as his wings could carry him. The search would be a long, and strenuous, but he'd been able to locate tracks they looked fresh, and judging from them, the tracks of two children trying to survive in a forest that Grimm infested.

Without skipping a beat Qrow had transformed back into his normal form before he began to search for the children with his hands close to Harbinger, ready to strike any Grimm that dared rear its ugly head. "Come on where are they." He said to himself, scanning around for them heavily.

Unfortunately Qrow didn't get much time to think for very long as he heard a loud scream, no a wail, that shook him to his very core. That wasn't the wail of your average Grimm, experience taught him that this one had to be three things: big, mean, and ancient.

"Damnit." He cursed more towards his semblance affecting things in general than the Grimm. Without thinking he'd drawn Harbinger as he felt the ground shaking, and as he steeled himself for battle an odd sense of serenity cane over him.

Qrow couldn't help but look over himself as he felt so different, as I'd every negative emotion he'd been feeling was gone. "What the?"

When Qrow has finally looked back up, after questioning what was going on, he'd ended up staring up at the face of a giant Grimm that looked like a rider on horseback, Nuckleave he recalled. The more battles these things lived through as they aged, the more deadly they became. If Qrow were a gambling man he'd bet from how many weapons were sticking from this thing's back meant that he'd been taking his lumps for decades.

"Your move pal." Qrow Said coldly as he waited for the Nuckleave to attack, but it turned around as if Qrow hadn't been there. "That's new."

"It can't see you." A voice said to him from nearby, startling Qrow into lowering Harbinger.

"Who's there?" Qrow asked trying to keep an intimidating tone while he searched for the source of the voice. He'd heard rustling in the bushes to his left, and watched as two children emerged. A boy dressed in fancy, albeit dirty, green clothes, and a little girl who looked like she was from Mantle.

Qrow sighed as he'd put Harbinger away so he came off as less of a threat. "Uh hey, I take it you're Lie?" Qrow mentally kicked himself because Tai and Summer were better with civilians, especially civilian kids.

The boy nodded before speaking. "Y-yes, how did you know?" He'd asked Qrow, he was somewhat shocked that an adult with a huge weapon knew his name.

Sensing what was going on Qrow lowered himself to his knee. "It's ok kid, I'm a huntsmen. I was sent to check on your village by the headmaster of Haven. Your dad told me to find you."

"My father is he?" Hoped seemed to have returned to the young boy at the idea of his father possibly still living.

Qrow sighed as he'd tried his best to suppress his feelings, this part….it was always this part that he hated the most. Having to tell his friend's families that they wouldn't be coming home…..having to explain to Ruby and Yang why Summer wasn't coming home while Tai barely kept it together….

"I'm sorry kid…" Was all Qrow said as he saw tears leave Lies eyes while the serene feeling seemed to leave him. It didn't take much for Qrow to put together that this was the kid's semblance, and it was what kept them safe for so long.

"Look kid I know this is hard, but we have to go fast." Qrow looked up seeing the storm clouds were worse, and judging from how the kid looked, he was about to become a Grimm magnet. The tell tale stomps of the Nuckleave seemed to emphasize his point.

"Shit." Qrow looked to the startled little girl who had been quiet the whole time this was happening. "Take him, and hide." He told her before drawing Harbinger.

"W-what?" She finally spoke in a small stuttered voice.

"I don't need you two getting hurt while I fight this thing, so please hide." Qrow tried to tell her gently, but he didn't know how long they had until the Nuckleave made its presence known.

Thankfully the girl finally understood as she grabbed Lie's hand, and quickly told him. "Come on." Before disappearing back into the brush.

Once he knew the children were safe Qrow has raised Harbinger, and pointed his weapon at where the Nuckleave would reveal itself. Soon Qrow has found himself face to face with the Nuckleave, and he didn't waste any time before the creature could let out its sickening wail as he fired from Harbinger's shotgun getting the Nuckleave's horse throat before moving to circle it, and continue firing.

The Nuckleave roared out in anger, and pain as the human's weapon continued to pierce into it's flesh. The large Grimm howled as it brought it's arm down to slam into the puny human that dared oppose it. Within moments the human had disappeared into nothingness, but there was no evidence the Nuckleave killed him. Within seconds the Nuckleave howled in pain as it's lower body's back had been cut open, causing it to buck wildly in pain.

"Yeah you don't like that do ya?" Qrow said as he swung Harbinger's scythe form around effortlessly before charging the Nuckleave again, intent on taking one of its heads off. Just as he was about to swing he heard the screams of one Lie Ren who was charging forward to stab at the Nuckleave's legs to stab it with a dagger.

"Kid no!" Qrow said as he quickly transformed to get to Ren before the Nuckleave's hand could. In one fell swoop Qrow had transformed back from his bird form to his human form, and used his momentum to protectively grab Lie before they just barely moved out of range of the Nuckleave's attack.

Lie's little outburst had taken Qrow so far out of his combat mode that he'd just now noticed the storm that had started around them, but he didn't have time to reflect on that since Lie was fighting him for freedom.

"Kid stop it!" Qrow yelled at Lie as he continued dodging the Nuckleave's attacks.

"Let me go! It killed my parents!" Lie fought Qrow whole the rain was making it hard for the older man to tell I'd Lie was crying, or just covered in the rain.

"I don't care, you're acting reckless and can get yourself killed!" Qrow said back to Lie before he lost his footing causing them both to fall just inches from the Nuckleave's attack.

"Shit." Qrow began to aim Harbinger again hoping the gun had enough shells to take at least this thing's arm off fast enough, but that didn't look like it was the case.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" The little girl's voice cried out as she was throwing rocks at the Nuckleave to distract it from attacking Qrow, and Lie. "YEAH I'M TALKING TO YOU!" She continued to holler much to Qrow's surprise.

"Run kid!" Qrow yelled at the girl when he noticed the Nuckleave was focusing on her with a swipe of its massive claw, but he was too late as he saw the claw collide with the girl. In that moment he saw Yang's face on the girl's body and flew into a rage as he charged at the Nuckleave, and in one swipe of Harbinger's sword mode he'd taken its arm off.

The Nuckleave howling in pain didn't matter to Qrow, what mattered was seeing if the girl was ok. He'd hoped that when he saw her the wound wouldn't be deep, but was surprised to see the signs of her aura pulsing, and he silently thanked whatever gods were out there. "Kid what were you thinking?" Qrow asked her now very concerned for her well being.

"You and Ren were gonna her clobbered." She said defiantly, gone was the quiet girl who barely uttered a syllable to him. Qrow couldn't help but let a twinge of a smile form on his lips, the girl had guts he'd have to give her that.

"Either way, stand back I better finish this thing off now." Qrow stood up as he glared at the Nuckleave that looked like it was on the verge of retreating via charging through them before he looked to Lie, or Ren as the girl had called him. "Lie."

The boy looked to Qrow when he'd called his name. "Yes?" He asked the older man, his tiny voice still held some of the edge of a man out for revenge, but he knew that Qrow was the more experienced between them.

"Can you do that trick you did, you know make me invisible to it?" Qrow asked as he readied Harbinger again.

"Yes sir." Lie said as he tried to follow Qrow's line of thinking.

"I need you to use it on me as close to the last minute as you can. I know how to immobilize this thing." Qrow said as he started converting Harbinger back into a scythe. "Can you do that?" Qrow asked Lie

Lie could only nod as he looked to Qrow, and got ready. No sooner than he'd caught onto Qrow's plan did the Nuckleave finally charge forward ready to trample the humans only for the bigger human to suddenly disappear from its sight. Sadly it didn't have long to process this as it shrieked out in agony as it's lower half toppled over, its legs had disappeared, no had been sliced off.

The Nuckleave continued to shriek as it looked to Lie, seeing the pure hatred the small human radiated. The large Grimm started to reach out for the boy only for Lie to scream and charge forward, and begin to repeatedly stab the Nuckleave with the dagger in his hands. The Nuckleave let out one last shriek as it's body began to wilt away into nothingness, leaving a panting Lie whole fell to his knees.

Lie could only look at the area where the Nuckleave had once been as he gripped his knees after dropping his father's dagger before tears began to fall from his eyes again. He'd done it, he'd avenged his mother, his father, and himself...yet he felt so hollow...he just wanted wanted his parents back now, but he knew they weren't coming. He wouldn't have continued his sobs further were it not for the girl he'd been hiding with, Nora, hugging him, and a hand placed on his shoulder.

"You saved us Ren." Nora said to her friend as she hugged.

"Yeah, you did good kid." Qrow said knowing how hard this must have been on Ren before standing up. "You as well um."

"Nora." The girl said going back to her more quiet persona.

"Yeah, well come on you two." Qrow said as he stood up.

"What, why?" Ren asked

"It's a long way back to Mistral, and I'm sure the headmaster of Haven will know how to keep you safe." Qrow said as he looked out the corner of his eyes seeing a familiar black bird with red eyes watching them with its head tilted. "You two probably don't need anymore surprises in your life." He said more to the bird than the two.

Not long after the bird had flown away from the retreating forms of Qrow and the two children. As it flew lower, and lower along the forest floor it was replaced with a lone woman wearing a mask styled after a Nevermore's, this woman was Raven Branwen leader of the infamous Branwen bandit tribe.

"So dear brother still as soft as ever." She spoke coldly at her brother taking those two children in, though the boy had caught her eye she would admit. A semblance that makes you invisible to Grimm, that was more than valuable. It was a shame her brother got to him first, but there was always time to sway the boy to join her; she'd even take the girl too if she had to. Thought there was a pressing matter to attend, valuable semblance or not Sakura disobeyed her. That girl, the spring maiden was much too soft for her liking, and her powers were wasted on her…seems she would have to deal with her personally.

"You've disappointed me for the last time Sakura, I said make sure no survivors left Kuroyuri..." Raven said to herself as she unsheathed her Ōdachi, and cut the air opening a portal to a meadow where a pink haired woman who'd been sitting alone in a flower field.

"Master." The younger woman didn't turn around to address Raven.

"Sakura, I take it you're enjoying time to yourself?" Raven notes how this one meadow seemed to be sunny, and clear despite the area around it having heavy rains.

"Yes, I wanted to clear my head." The younger of the two women said. "Master I don't think I'm right for the tribe."

Raven grasped her Ōdachi firmly. "The strong thrive, while the weak die Sakura…."

"That doesn't sound right, the strong should protect the weak." Sakura said as she stood up to look at Raven, she'd never seen the red blade aimed at her heart coming sadly ...at least the last thing she'd seen was Raven looking at her with some remorse as the life faded from her pale eyes….