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Underestimating The Allies

"Give the kid some slack, he's been living on shifting sand for almost a year now," Qrow advised. "I know I'm not the best judge of people most of the time, but you can trust him. I promise." Tai gave him a look.

"So your okay with all of the weird looks they give each other?" the man clarified. Qrow laughed slightly, of course he wasn't okay with that. But he knew better than to say that out loud. Well, now he knew better.

"I felt that way too, at first. But the kid's been through enough. If he really feels that way about Ruby, I won't stop him." Tai seemed stunned by what Qrow was saying. What went and warmed his heart?

"Did you know about his nightmares? How bad they are?" The man admitted that, while he hadn't, he guessed that they were there. "And no one thought to tell me about them? What he's so afraid of?" Qrow recoiled.

"I thought he was over them," the man said. "Oscar's dreams are probably different now that he doesn't have the memories. But..." Qrow shifted, pausing. "I'm sure he's still scared of the same thing." Another pause. "Salem."

"Were you at that news conference?" Tai asked. More questions, less answers. Qrow nodded silently. "Yang let me see parts of it, she videoed the whole thing to send to the rest of the world." It was quiet.

"She didn't show you Oscar's speech, did she?" Tai shook his head, saying he hadn't seen all of it. "I'm not surprised." Qrow didn't elaborate.

"The kids said they're leaving next week, do you know where they're going?" Yes, he did. "I couldn't get them to tell me anything. It's like they don't want me to know." Right, they didn't want him to know. But, they didn't have to know that it was Qrow that told Tai... right? Yeah.

"Jaune and his redheaded friend are going with Oscar and Ruby to Mistral," Qrow began. "Oscar wanted to catch up with his family and Ruby tagged along. The other two are heading to Argus. Blake's returning to Vacuo, then she's on her way to Menagerie. Weiss is planning on going to Vacuo to help with the Atlasians, I'll be joining them. The emo and his companion are going to travel some, clear out the Grimm near small villages. And Yang? She's taking local bounty missions."

"Why is Yang the only one staying in Vale?" Tai asked, as if he felt something was wrong. Qrow's eyes shifted from the table to his knees. "Why is everyone leaving like that? It doesn't feel right." Silence.

"Look, I wasn't crazy about it either. But Yang's still going through a lot right now, and she thinks it will help her. I don't know about the others. I think they just want to keep the peace they worked so hard for."

"Ruby just seems so... distant these days. I don't know what I did wrong." Qrow continued his silence.

"It's not your fault," he said. "Tai, she's not a child anymore. She's been through actual war now."

Of course, the man kept the greatest secret to himself. Tai didn't need to know.

Added Note: Please do not plagiarize my work. Just because you can copy and paste, doesn't mean you should.