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Qrow’s thumb smeared the blood on the pendant, it was almost funny He thought to himself, almost laughing, Clover was supposed to be the lucky one, HE was supposed to be the one to make it out of this, not Qrow. Qrow stared at the pendant, a four-leaf clover, signaling the good luck he had, which was now covered in blood, his blood. He ignored Robyn pacing back in forth in her cell. Instead, his focus was on the events that unfolded earlier that day, which had led them into the cell.
It all happened fast, too fast. Qrow let his guard down, that was his first mistake. He thought, it was silly looking back at it, but he thought that since Clover’s semblance brought fortune, it would cancel out his misfortune. He was wrong. Qrow should’ve known that his semblance was stronger, his bad luck was just that bad. It was going so well for him too.
They had a mission to do the three of them together; arrest Tyrian and bring him back to the Acadamy. That was it. It was three against one, they should’ve easily overpowered him. They DID overpower him, he was in their custody, they were on their way back to Atlas, but then Clover got the report, and everything went to shit. Qrow couldn’t even remember everything. All he knew was that he, his nieces, and their friends are all wanted by Ironwood. And Clover...Clover sided with Ironwood, not him. He tried to talk some sense into him, but Robyn, Robyn was trying to protect him, he was aware of that, but...No, this isn’t her fault. This was on him. And of course, Tyrian, Tyrian had to use this situation to his advantage.
“It's taking a very long time for this show to get to the good part!” Tyrian mocked, which only made everyone’s nerves fray even more. That manic always knew the right or the wrong, thing to say in a situation. With all of the chaos that was going on, Tyrian managed to get access to the controls, crashing the plane. Looking back at it, it doesn’t surprise Qrow that Tyrian would do that. Qrow had managed to turn into crow form and Clover was able to escape, Robyn wasn’t so lucky. Clover...Clover used Robyn’s health to his advantage Who does that? Qrow thought That wasn’t Colver, he wouldn’t? Would he? Maybe Qrow didn’t know Clover at all, maybe...Qrow shook that thought from his head. The rest of that night was even more blurry, next thing he knows, he was head-to-toe against both Clover and Tyrian, and then it was Tyrian and Qrow against Clover.
Qrow couldn’t wrap his head around it, he sided with the enemy, the manic serial killer who tried to kill his niece, almost killing him! What was he expecting? Tyrian to NOT kill Clover? Of course, he was going to, that’s Tyrian for you! Even though it wasn’t him who gave the final blow, it wasn’t him who stabbed Clover, it was HIS weapon, it was HIM who sided with the enemy, and HE destroyed clover’s aura and HE was the reason they were fighting in the first place...it was HIS semblance that caused such misfortune. He was the cause of Clover’s death and he knew it.
Qrow was forced back to reality by Jaque yelling, “And although my hands may not be clean, at least I am not a murderer!” Qrow’s hand wrapped around the bloody pendant, He was right to call Qrow a murderer, Robyn gave Qrow a pleading look, I don’t need your sympathy right now Robyn, I don’t deserve it. He thought to himself, not daring to say it out loud.
“He didn’t kill anybody…And I’m not gonna stand here and be lectured by some snake with a mustache who helped that man tear us all apart!” Robyn snapped back. Qrow wanted to interject, to correct her. He DID kill people, both back in the tribe and now. Guess some things never change. Robyn and Jaques continued to argue, Watts interjecting into the conversation every once in a while. What got Qrow’s attention once again was Robyn punching the hard-light walls to Jaquces cellar. “SHUT UP” She shouted. And then the doors opened.
The guards came in, grabbed watts, and left. The rest of them just sat and watched.
“I hate not being able to do anything” Robyn mumbled, plopping herself down on the cold, concrete bench in the cell, placing her head on her hands, elbows propped on her knees.
“We can do something” Qrow’s gaze left the pendant, eyes murderous rage filled his eyes “We can kill the man who put us here.” His regret has turned to anger, anger towards himself, and anger towards the man who put him in this position, Ironwood. Qrow shook his head, He wouldn’t exactly call Ironwood a friend, but he did trust him. He was a colleague of his, part of Ozpin’s inner circle, they were fighting the same threat, they were on the same side, or so he thought.
***
Qrow didn’t know how much time had passed, he kept going over the events in his head, the words of Tyrian Callows kept echoing Doesn't look like your friend's going to make it…like you just killed Clover?... The words were haunting him. Playing back in his head over and over again, a broken record, almost as broken as he was.
“You should have seen the look on Joanna’s face. I don’t think she’d ever lost a fight before that. At least, not fair and square” Robyn was telling a story, trying to ease the tension in the cell, trying to cheer Qrow up, but he wasn’t paying attention. How could he? When the thoughts of Clover’s death and the events surrounding it were taking up that space in his head. “ Tough crowd tonight,” She jabbed, “Guess Ironwood should have paid for better cell block entertainment.” Qrow gave her a chuckle, at least it’ll make Robyn happy if she thinks she made him feel a little bit better.
“And he smiles!” Robyn responded, “Did I win?”
“Hey, it’s your game. I don’t make the rules.” Qrow shot back.
“I’m sorry for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.” Robyn’s voice had softened, her face was serious too. But it WAS my fault Qrow thought, It was my semblance that caused this to happen, I let my guard down, I should have NEVER let my guard down.
"It was, though,” Qrow responded, once again staring at the four-leaf-clover, lucky charm pendant, “I made a deal with the darkness, and he paid the price.” The thoughts of him siding with Tyrian plagued him, “It was all happening so fast, but Clover wouldn’t let up. Could have worked together against Tyrian if Clover just” Qrow took a breath, shakiness coming out of his voice, “But the thing that really stings? For the first time in a while, I thought, maybe, maybe I could be around somebody - anybody - without my Semblance making it” Qrow hesitated for a moment, before continuing on, “complicated. And now, it just feels like a childish dream. Gone... like everybody else.” His mind was bringing up everyone else he lost his Parents, Summer, Ozpin, Lionheart, and now Clover. His semblance was killing the people he cared about, his mind came up with a terrifying thought What if my semblance takes out Ruby and Yang too?
“Believe it or not, I know a little of what that’s like,” Robyn responded, piquing Qrow’s interest, causing him to shove that thought in the back of his mind, “When people are worried you’re gonna sniff out their secrets, they tend to push you away. It makes a real connection” Robyn paused, searching for the right words, “difficult.” Qrow knew what that felt like, not being able to connect to people, He always felt the need to push people away, if no one is around to care for him, no one can get hurt. Maybe I should leave, maybe everyone will have a better chance at surviving if I’m not with them.
“I” Qrow responded, wanting to get his mind off of his dark thoughts, The doors to the cells opened up, Qrow’s grip on Clover’s pin tightened. Marrow and Harriet came in, throwing Watts back into his cell Something suspicious is going on here Qrow thought. “Never thought of it that way” He finished, unsure if Robyn even heard those words.
Harriet noticed the pin in Qrow’s hand, her eye’s narrowed, “You don’t get to keep that,” she snarled.
“I didn’t kill him” Qrow snapped back. I didn’t kill him he thought But I was the cause of his death.
“You keep saying that, but it was your weapon covered in his blood.” Qrow bowed his head in shame, the words hitting him hard. It was my weapon, would Tyrian have been able to kill him without it, no. At least, not as fast, if it was just his tail, Clover would’ve been able to get medical help, just like Qrow had. If Tyrian didn’t have access to his weapon, Clover would still be here.
“ If you really wanna know what happened, mohawk, why not open this cell and take my hand?” Robyn stuck her hand out, waiting for Harriet to give in and open the cell door. And it looked like she was about to. Harriet stomped over to Robyn, scoffing at her.
“If I open this cell, it won’t be to shake hands,” She spat.
“Yeah, because you don’t care about the truth. You just want someone to be mad at. Easier than taking an honest look at what side you’re on.”
“Hare? What’re you doing?” Marrow interjected, breaking the tension. Harriet stomped past Marrow, giving him a shove when she passed. Marrow followed behind, leaving them alone once again.
“Well, that was… almost exciting,” Robyn sighed, lying back down on the concrete slab. Leaving Qrow to his thoughts.