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qrowintextposts · 6 years

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Bad Luck Charm (Fanfic)

“WINTER!”

Her body crashed to the floor.

“How unfortunate.” A menacing laugh filled the room, coming from none other than Cinder Fall. Her glass heels clinked against the floor as she walked over to the fallen Winter. She stepped on the helpless woman’s chest and she cried out in pain. “Hm. Lucky shot.” Cinder eyed the arrow in Winter’s chest before pulling it out.

Qrow rushed at her, but Cinder had moved before he could tackle her, leading the man to fall to his knees beside Winter. He breathed heavily. He had tried so hard to protect her, but for what? For his semblance to take hold and condemn her to death? For his semblance to grant Cinder a perfect shot to nearly kill her?

Glass heels walked away from the two of them. The arrow she had pulled out disappeared. The woman in red didn’t stop to look back, having no regrets about her actions. It was about time she got rid of one of the general’s specialists anyways. And if she managed to cause some despair in doing so, so be it. Emotions like that attract the Grimm.

Reflections of orange and pink filled the ballroom the three had been fighting in. An oddly peaceful setting for the horrendous events that had just taken place. Winter’s face was covered by Qrow’s shadow. She appreciated this. He couldn’t see just how much pain she was in.

Cinder made her way out of the ballroom, Qrow paying very little mind to her. His only concern now was Winter and making sure she was safe. The woman in red smirked to herself. Mission complete. She didn’t dare stay to watch the woman die. Cinder wanted to avoid an altercation with Qrow at all costs.

“Winter, I-” He didn’t know what to say. Here she was, bleeding out and gasping for air and he couldn’t find any way to reassure her or find a way to fix it. Hastily he pulled out his scroll, dialing an emergency service number.

Low signal.

His eyes widened. He wasn’t going to be able to get a hold of anyone without a signal. Frantically, he called James, and Ozpin, and Glynda. Anyone he could think of. He even resorted to calling his nieces. But no, he wasn’t able to reach any of them. He was alone in this.

He put his scroll to the side, deciding to find some way to help her directly. He was by no means a doctor. He had been trained in cpr once. Just once. He hadn’t been prepared for this.

But he’d be damned if he was going to let her go.

Qrow knew some basics of medicine. Apply pressure to wounds and all of that mumbo jumbo. So that’s what he did. Ripping off his cape, he placed it on top of her bleeding chest, pressing down forcefully. Winter was fading in and out of consciousness, struggling to stay awake as she coughed up blood and gasped for air.

“Goddamnit, you have to stay with me, Winter.” He breathed out sharply. She looked as though she was trying her hardest, but it didn’t seem like it would be enough.

“Qrow, I-” She coughed violently, head falling back to the cold tiled floor as she finished. Tears were streaming from her eyes, a combination of pain and fear. “Please don’t let me die…”

Finality had always been her greatest fear, though she never admitted it. The fear of things ending, the fear of never being able to walk the world again. She knew that there was a last time for everything, but she didn’t like to think about it. Was this her last time seeing him? She had wished for that sort of last time hundreds of times before, but now that it was here she just wanted to hold on to him longer, cling to the idea that there would never be a last time.

Qrow had started crying now too. Not sobbing, but there were tears rolling down his face as he stared down at the dying Winter. He placed a hand under her head, trying to protect her from the cruelness of the cold tile underneath her.

“I won’t.” He wasn’t going to let her die. So what if he couldn’t reach anybody? He’d find some other way. He wouldn’t his semblance get the best of her. “I won’t,” he repeated, grabbing her hand and squeezing it as an act of reassurance.

She squeezed it back, though weakly. The one man she despised more than anything else in the world was right next to her as she died and somehow she couldn’t be more thankful for it. “Thank you,” she said, voice as weak as her smile as she smiled up at him.

“I’m so sorry I did this to you.” It was his fault. His failure to take Cinder down. His semblance that gave her the chance to shoot the poor woman who had been roped into this entire mess. She didn’t deserve this. He did.

“What do you mean?” She asked, frowning slightly. “This isn’t your fault…” She knew about his semblance. Ironwood had told her before the first mission they went on together. But she didn’t blame him for this. His semblance may control some aspects of fate, but that didn’t mean it were the reason for every wrongdoing in the world, at least in her eyes.

“Yes, it is.” He was still holding on to her hand. “If I had taken her down...If I had stayed farther away from you...None of this would have happened.”

“It happened, Qrow.” There was no going back, as much as she hated it. Even if she survived, she’d still meet her end some day. They couldn’t turn back time, as much as they wanted to. All they could do was hope. And neither one of them seemed very capable of that at the moment.

She was right. They couldn’t fix this. Even if Winter recovered, she’d still have a large scar where her wound was to remind her about the finality of life. About the end she could have met.

“Please, don’t blame this on yourself.” She looked softly to him. There were many times in the past where she had wished horrible things on him, but she would never wish this feeling of immense guilt on him.

But all he could do was blame it on himself. “No...I need to go. If I stay, something else will go wrong.” He got up to leave, but Winter’s hand pulled him back down. She looked at him with pleading eyes. She understood that his semblance meant that the Grimm could break in here to kill her any second. But she wanted him beside her. She wanted someone to comfort her as she took her dying breaths.

He sighed, sitting back down and still holding onto her hand. He gently brushed the bangs out of her face. It was only now that he realized that he had never taken the time to appreciate her. Yes, they fought, but he admired her strength. Her courage. She was brave and stood up for those around her while all he did was run from those he loved, trying to protect them from something that would inevitably catch up with them.

“I feel...cold.” Winter was on the verge of tears. Everything was spiraling down a dark hole. She could feel everything fading away, but she didn’t want it to go. She didn’t want to go.

“You’re always cold,” Qrow replied without any thought. He paused, realizing what he said. “Wait, no, I didn’t mean-” He was cut off by weak laughter. Tears started streaming down Winter’s faced, pushed out by the strength it took her to laugh.

“You’re not wrong.” She met his red eyes, smiling softly. Of all people to die with, Qrow was a good one. No, he wasn’t very reassuring, but he cared. Even when everything seemed to be going wrong, he was right there, staying with her to make sure she was okay. Even though he wanted to leave and protect her, he didn’t fight when she wanted him to stay. She knew he was dangerous, but something kept pulling her back to him.

Winter coughed violently and then wound up in a fit of crying. Between tears she choked words out. “This is the end for me. Please, find Weiss and tell her that I love her.”

It was all so close to being over. The pain, the suffering of this cruel world. But the world was beautiful too. Full of people she loved and cherished, people that she may never see again.

“You can tell her that yourself,” Qrow stated. But they both knew that there was no way she would make it out alive. With no help on its way and Grimm surrounding the ballroom, this was the end.

Winter’s mind was racing, full of thoughts of things she had never done. She had never fallen in love, not truly. Yes, she had flings to piss off her father, but she had never found someone who truly cared for her. Well, until now.

She absolutely despised him before, but here he was, being careful and caring, protecting her in her dying minutes. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as she thought.

“You know, Qrow. I feel like you and Weiss were the only people I could ever truly love.”

Qrow’s eyes widened. What the hell did she mean by that? “I’m sorry, what?”

“Only the two of you were ever there for me. Everyone else, even the general, was cold, demanding. The saw me as an object, as a Schnee. You two saw me as something else. As a person.” She turned her head to stare up at the tall ceiling. “When I’m gone, I want you to take care of her, okay?”

Qrow frowned, thinking for a moment. He knew how Winter talked about her father, as though he were some sort of dictator rather than an actual parent. Did she think he was...better than Jacques? “I will,” he responded, voice dry from all of his silent tears.

Winter could feel it. This was the end. This was where she died. Hundreds of legends had been lost to the dust before, and now she was going to become another one of them. She closed her eyes, feeling as though she was about to pass out.

“This is it, Qrow.” She shook her head softly, a silent tear sliding down her cheek. She squeezed his hand a final time, opening her eyes to look back at him.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

It was a few more seconds of silence before he saw it happen. The light faded from her eyes, she didn’t blink. She was gone.

Just minutes later he heard the sound of airships. That’s what broke him. He broke into tears, crying over the dead woman’s body. Atlesian soldiers made their way inside, surrounding him.

They took Winter in a body bag. Qrow hated to see her reduced to that, just another lifeless person. She was so much more. He exited the ballroom, ignoring the general calling for him.

This was all his fault. If they hadn’t gone after Cinder, none of this would have happened. He would have never had to say goodbye. But who was he to question his semblance and its control over fate? In his eyes, he was just a bad luck charm. Something that affected everything around it and left destruction in its wake.

And he had just killed his latest victim.

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