The group walked through the fractured streets in relative silence, the faint crunch of broken glass and asphalt under their boots was the only exception. The once, mist-drenched city block was now hollow and quiet. No more distortion or haze. Just the eerie calm of a world gone still.
Ahead of them, Qrow walked at his own pace, shoulders and hand relaxedly swinging, as if they hadn't just witnessed a titanous creature being torn apart by six monstrous versions of him. The glow of his rune frame had dimmed to a dull gray now, dimming with each of his steps. The shadow raven perched lazily on his shoulder, its eyes gleaming a dull crimson that reflected the faint light of the broken moon above.
Jaune trailed behind him, watching Qrow's back with quiet disbelief.
It wasn't just what he'd seen—it was what he now understood.
The scale between Rank 1 and Rank 2 wasn't simply a gap. It was a chasm. Qrow hadn't fought that thing. He had destroyed it.
The rest of the squad moved behind them. Yang's hair was tied back, a few strands loose and windswept. Jaune wasn't sure where she had even kept her hair-tie. Ruby kept glancing at the raven on Qrow's shoulder. Weiss and Ren were talking softly, mostly about the structural distortions of the operating the ward and what it might have meant for other Rank 2 Nightmares.
Jaune, however, couldn't shake the question burning at the edge of his mind.
Finally, he asked. "Hey, uh—Qrow?"
The older man didn't turn around. "Yeah?"
Jaune hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. "Could you… have done all of that by yourself? I mean—the whole mission. The amalgamation, the surgeons, everything. You... uh, didn't really need any of us to distract the smaller grimm or anything didn't you?"
There was a long pause. Then Qrow nodded once, almost absently. "Yeah," he said. "You guys were actually getting in the way a bit there. To be honest, I held back a lot of my power."
The words hit harder than expected.
None of them said anything for a moment. Weiss stiffened slightly and even Ruby frowned.
Qrow glanced over his shoulder at their expressions and smirked faintly. "Don't look so grim. It's not an insult—it's just how things are. Rank 2s… we're on a different scale."
He gestured loosely with his hand, as if trying to find the words. "Rank 1s are strong. You can take down most grimm, hold your ground, survive in the more dangerous areas of the Dream. But Rank 2s? We don't simply fight against Nightmares. We erase them. We're akin to tactical cluster bombs in human form. That's the difference."
Jaune could tell Qrow wasn't boasting. He spoke like a man describing the weather. A simple, unchangeable truth.
Still, hearing it said so plainly made something inside Jaune tighten.
Qrow sighed, stretching his neck with a faint crack. "You kids did fine, though. You held the perimeter, gave me the time I needed. A lot of Rank 1s wouldn't last five minutes in a place like that. Besides, this was meant for training you lot anyways."
Yang gave a weak laugh, though there was no humor in it. "Yeah, but you still didn't exactly need us, did you?"
Qrow gave her a sidelong glance. "Need? No. But backup's always nice. Some Nightmares can be… unpredictable. Besides—" He gave a faint smirk. "—gotta give the next generation a chance to see what they're in for, right?"
That earned a few chuckles, though none of them fully reached their eyes.
Jaune looked down at his hands as they walked, remembering the feel of the shockwaves from the fight—the raw, physical power in every movement of those crows. A single Rank 2 could shift the balance of an entire battlefield. He wasn't sure whether to be inspired or terrified.
"Uncle Qrow, are all Rank 2 zones going to be on that type of level?" Yang couldn't help but call out, her curiosity burning.
"Not all Rank 2 zones. That one had scale manipulation as part of its kit to make it seem as if things were bigger than they should be. It wasn't that it made us smaller or anything like that. It just made the central dreamer larger so they could be tormented easier. But most zones usually have a central grimm theme. This one was more bug and surgery-like. It usually revolves around what the dreamer is most afraid of, but sometimes they're vastly different."
"I... see."
"You'll understand in time. Most of this, when told about, seems hard to comprehend, but when you truly experience it, you'll gain a greater understanding."
The group nodded in resignation. They'd studied the different types of grimm and how they could change based on rank. The sizes, abilities and stature of the grimm weren't things that were new to them.
It was still surreal however, to see creatures walking around on that scale.
The group eventually turned down a narrow street where the lights of the LUCID forward base shimmered faintly in the distance—a makeshift outpost nestled between collapsed buildings, its sigil glowing softly in the night.
Jaune glanced back at Qrow. "So… are all Rank 2s are like that?"
Qrow grunted. "Pretty much. Every Rank 2's different though, but once you get there, you stop thinking in terms of what you can't do. It's just a matter of how fast you get it done."
That didn't exactly make Jaune feel better.
He'd known about Rank 2s before—had studied their combat data, seen simulations, even watched a few video logs from LUCID's archives—but seeing one in action was a completely different story.
Qrow wasn't exaggerating. He was a force of nature.
If something like that Amalgamation ever breached into the real world… Jaune didn't even want to imagine it. Cities would fall. The planet itself would twist. Humanity would have no defense if LUCID didn't exist.
He felt a chill run through him. "You fight things like that quite often, don't you?"
Qrow's smile was faint but knowing. "Kid, my fights are usually much worse."
Jaune believed him.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, the hum of the city filling the void. Then Jaune, still curious, finally asked, "Those Runes of yours—Crow, Misfortune, and Murder… you mentioned them before. What do they actually do?"
For a moment, he wasn't sure Qrow would answer. But then, the older man glanced sideways at him and shrugged.
"Crow was the first ever Rune I created. I've got it at mastery now. It's why I can transform into a massive monster crow. Honestly, you lot have only seen the tip of iceberg when it comes to its abilities." He motioned vaguely to the memory of the gigantic crows tearing through the sky.
"The rune can do a lot more when you take Rune synchronization into account."
"Rune synchronization?"
"Uh... you should look up the term in the archives. But long story short, some rune work really well together that they create super cool matching abilities that might make your runes either stronger or... more versatile."
"Oh... thanks."
He continued casually, "My second rune, Misfortune's… trickier. It doesn't boost strength or speed. It's passive. It warps probability in my favor—more for me, less for my enemies. Accidents happen, bullets miss, timing breaks etc. I don't always control it consciously—it just is. It's also the rune which I've currently hit a bottleneck on."
Jaune frowned. "That sounds… overpowered."
Qrow chuckled dryly. "It's got an odd price however. The world seems to balance itself out, and it tends to collect the tab later. I win many fights, but I don't win much else. Story of my life."
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "And the last one? Murder?"
That earned a different kind of smile. Darker. Older. "Its a Meta-rune. Sort of like your own rune, Weakness was it?"
"You know about it?"
"Mhmm. Meta runes are arguably considered... the strongest category of Runes. Their abilities depend entirely on how their user comprehends how to use them. They could be the strongest of all Runes or the weakest, all depending on how the user perceived the world."
"Really?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.
"Indeed. That's also one of the reasons why I chose to create this Rune, Murder."
"I see... then, is Misfortune also a Meta-type?"
"Not exactly. It can technically be considered a half Meta-type rune but its effects don't truly lie in the conceptual category. The phenomena surrounding it mostly only affects negative probabilities."
The group listened to his words intently.
"In any case, Murder. It has a variety of effects that I've comprehended. Some, simple and others, convoluted. You've already seen the multiple Crow bodies that I can become right? That is one of Murder's effects. It synchronized well with my Crow rune. One of its other most prominent abilities allows me to grow stronger for a while. The Rune feeds on violence and returns it as power. But if I let it go too far…"
He trailed off, letting the sentence die.
Ruby blinked. "What happens?"
He looked at her and smiled faintly. "Let's just say I'd stop being a Qrow and start being like one of the things you fight."
No one spoke after that.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, the looming LUCID compound gates growing nearer. The neon signs flickered in the misty air, the faint hum of machinery growing louder as they approached the checkpoint.
Then, out of nowhere, Yang froze mid-step. Her eyes flicked toward the raven on Qrow's shoulder. It was still perched there, unmoving—but its head was turned directly toward her.
It didn't blink or twitch, just stared.
Weiss noticed it next, then Ruby. One by one, their eyes followed the creature's gaze until the whole squad was aware of it.
Even Jaune felt a ripple of unease crawl up his spine.
He cleared his throat carefully. "Uh… Qrow?"
"Yeah?"
"That… raven. It's not part of your Crow Rune, is it?"
For the first time since the fight ended, Qrow stopped walking. The street was quiet again, save for the faint hiss of wind.
He looked at them, then at the raven. His expression didn't change much—but there was a faint glint of something like surprise in his eyes.
"Huh," he said quietly. "Guess you noticed."
Yang's voice came out sharper than intended. "So? What is it?"
Qrow tilted his head, studying the creature on his shoulder. Its feathers rippled faintly, shadows shifting under its wings.
Then, for a moment—just a fraction of a second—it smiled.
Or maybe it didn't. Maybe the shadows just looked like a smile.
Qrow stopped mid-stride, the faint crunch of glass beneath his boots echoing through the quiet street. His eyes slid toward the raven perched on his shoulder.
"Well," he said dryly, voice carrying that tired drawl, "don't you think its about time you showed yourself in your real form, for once?"
The raven tilted its head, then gave a deep, throaty caw. It leapt from his shoulder—its feathers dissolving midair into black ink that splashed against the cracked pavement. The puddle rippled, spreading outward like living oil before rising and forming into the shape of a woman.
The shadows peeled away, revealing someone striking—long black hair, crimson eyes that glowed faintly in the dark, and a curved, blood-red katana resting at her hip. Her coat, feathered and half-melting into darkness, shimmered with faint motion like smoke clinging to her frame.
Her gaze moved lazily over the group, landing briefly on Jaune, then Weiss, then Ren. But when it reached Yang—it stopped.
The tension in the air shifted from heavy to suffocating.
Jaune felt the breath catch in his throat. The resemblance was impossible to miss.
Yang's expression hardened instantly. Her fists clenched, knuckles white, fury sparking behind her amber eyes.
"Raven," she spat.
The woman smiled faintly, her gaze flicking between Yang and Qrow. "Hello, daughter."
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AN: Advanced chapters available on patreon.