Chapter 1: Nightmare

Another story inspired this story! Wise as an Old Qrow written by Coeur Al'Aran. 

Warning! Unlike his story, this one definitely contains a harem! And no I will not be changing it! 

Leave a comment if you want more!

Next update? Let me Show You a true Hero!

Enjoy!

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Chapter 1

Qrow was dreaming.

A whirlpool of mingling scenes and unfathomable happenings was flashing through his eyes. The fine line between reality and the surreal was blurred as fragments of what appeared to be the future danced like phantoms in his mind.

Qrow…

Every intricate detail, every face, every echo of voices lingered with an eerie promise of what was yet to unfold.

His dream was a realm immersed in soft shades of red and yellow.

The air possessed a profound stillness, punctuated only by the distant whispers of the wind. Structures loomed around him like specters in the fog - familiar and yet not, for these were places he had known, or will know.

He walked through cobblestone alleys laced with creeping ivy, their veins branching out with an almost sentient curiosity. Then he found himself standing before an edifice of glass and steel—a monument to human ingenuity—its towers stretching towards the heavens as if reaching for some forbidden knowledge.

Faces flitted through his dream – faces of those he loved and those he feared. They came unbidden, flashing before his eyes like errant frames from an old film reel. Others bore the weight of loss, their eyes echoing echoes of silent screams that curdled his blood.

Qrow…!

As Qrow journeyed deeper into this tempestuous vision, he saw a world torn asunder – cities crumbling to dust, fires consuming forests leaving only charred skeletons in their wake, oceans of blood rising to swallow entire lands with insatiable hunger.

He saw mountains of people draped in despair, their bodies worn and spirits fractured. All their bodies tossed upon each other like a sickening staircase that tried to reach the sky.

Yet among the bleak chaos and the stark despair, his eyes fell on a sight more brutal and more harrowing than all else. There, amidst the wreckage of the world, two rotting heads were impaled on weather-beaten wooden spikes.

Each was surrounded by a swirling vortex of crows, their dark feathers glistening in the ethereal light.

Sickening dread filled his heart and soul as he approached, drawn powerfully toward the gruesome sight.

As he neared, features began to unfold from the decay of maggot ridden flesh. Their eyes that were once filled with life were now empty sockets bleeding black, healthy hair of red and yellow that once shone under the sun now tarnished with death's cruel hand.

Their faces are etched with unending agony, their eyes wide and consumed with terror that will haunt him for eternity.

His knees buckled under him as he felt unfamiliar recognition of the decapitated corpses.

He couldn't scream.

He couldn't breathe.

He felt a part of his very soul being ripped apart as he continued to stare at the horrible sight.

Qrow's heart screamed in silent protest at this monstrous vision, begging him to do something! Anything!

…

…

…But all he could do was watch.

Helpless and horrified, he could only bear witness as the maggots and crows mercilessly devoured their once-flawless features. Their mangled remains lay before him, a macabre feast for the scavengers as he fought back bile rising in his throat.

Tears streamed down his face as he realized there was nothing he could do to save them from this horrible fate.

The memory would haunt him for eternity, etched onto his mind like a grotesque painting.

The crows around them cawed loudly, their harsh cries reverberating through his soul like a mournful dirge. They were carrion birds, emissaries of death heralding the doom foreseen in this terrible dream.

QROW!!!!!!

Suddenly, the world around him began to tremble violently. The buildings shivered and danced like phantoms in a stinging whirlpool. The ground split open vomiting ash and fire and gory fragments of what once was alive.

As Qrow reached out to what was left of the rotting heads, an unseen force ripped him back into reality.

And then he woke up.

"Qrow!!!"

His sister, Raven was shaking him awake her little hands clenched tightly around his shoulders. Her usually stoic face was contorted in a mix of anger and worry, her eyes filled with an unexpected fear.

"Wake up, you damn fool!" she hissed at him, shaking him harder.

"R-Raven?" He croaked out hoarsely, his mind still dazed from the cruel nightmare. His voice was raspy and weak as if he had been screaming for years.

The crows seemed to caw even louder now that he was awake as if they were laughing at his helplessness.

Her grip tightened.

"You were screaming like a damn banshee!" she snapped, but her fearsome glare didn't quite reach her eyes. A flicker of genuine concern leaked into them.

It was strange, foreign – something he hadn't seen since ever.

But the terror of his dream was too fresh, it clung to him like a nightmarish cloak. The sight of those rotting heads and the memory of their despair distorted any comfort his sister tried to offer – however rare or genuine it was.

Tears spilled down his eyes once more as he recalled the gruesome sight - the heads on stakes, the crows feasting, and those terrifying empty eye sockets begging him to save them.

"Qrow…" Raven's voice softened slightly but it did nothing to quell the storm raging within him. Her initially angry glare changed into something akin to desperation as she saw her brother breaking in front of her eyes.

"What's wrong?! Talk to me, dammit!"

But Qrow could only stare back at her in absolute terror as the tears continued to fall from his eyes. His face was deathly pale from fear and his eyes bloodshot red from crying. His gaze seemed so far away, trapped in the afterimage of the nightmare he had just woken up from.

The terrible sight from his dream was still vivid in his mind as if it was burnt onto the back of his eyelids.

Their decapitated heads, rotting and mutilated… those empty sockets bleeding black… the carrion birds and maggots picking at their rotting remains…

She cupped a hand against his cheek, trying to bring him back to reality, but he flinched away from her touch as if it burned. Raven sucked in a breath, hurt flashing briefly in her eyes before it was quickly masked by a grim mask.

"Qrow!" she demanded, shaking him once more. "You're not there anymore. You're here, with me. So, snap the fuck out of it!"

But the gruesome vision from his dream still haunted him - the decapitated heads, the crows feasting on their remains... He could feel the bile rise up his throat again.

Over and over the nightmare kept repeating.

"I-I can't..." Qrow choked out, his voice barely a whisper as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed, trying to distance himself from the horrifying images that still plagued his mind.

He closed his eyes, praying to forget.

…But he never will.

He was lost in the depths of his horror, his eyes glazed and unseeing. His body shivered uncontrollably, wracked by silent sobs as he was continuously assaulted by memories of his nightmare.

Raven grimaced, her grip on him never wavering. She let out a frustrated sigh, biting down on her bottom lip hard enough to almost draw blood.

"Damn it, Qrow!" she growled, forcing his face to look at her.

Her usually fiery eyes were softer now, filled with concern that he could hardly comprehend.

Unable to do anything to calm him down, she did something that shocked him. She pulled him into an embrace, her arms wrapping around him tight and secure. The feel of her, the warmth radiating from her body, it was surprising, unexpected - but it was real, and it grounded him in reality.

Her hold was gentle yet firm, comforting yet commanding. It was a strange mix of authority and concern that he hadn't experienced before. But it was enough to pull him away from the haunting images of death and decay veiling his vision.

Her heartbeat echoed in his ears, overlaying the screams that plagued his mind. Her breaths were steady against his own erratic ones, serving as a calming rhythm amidst his internal chaos.

Raven pulled back slightly, only enough to let her gaze bore into his. Her eyes held a silent plea for him to fight off whatever it is that was affecting.

She whispered softly, "...You're stronger than this."

At first, he found himself still lost in the midst of his fear. But slowly, oh so slowly, he felt himself returning to reality. He clung to that connection with his sister like a lifeline, desperately chasing away the shadows that played at the corners of his mind.

Raven didn't say another word as time passed by in languid seconds. She merely held him close as minute tremors racked through his body and subsided gradually.

Eventually, Qrow's throbbing heartbeat calmed down and his sobs died down into weak hiccups. His tears slowed their flow until they were nothing more than damp tracks on his cheeks. His death grip on Raven's arms relaxed, fingers unclenching to lie flat against her skin. His harsh breathing gradually leveled out into a slow, steady rhythm.

Then, as if bidden by stolen moments of stillness, the exhausted boy dozed off, his body finally succumbing to the need for rest. His last conscious thought before darkness claimed him was of Raven's comforting presence, her warmth enveloping him like a protective shield against the terrors of his mind.

Raven felt him relax within her arms, her heart ached at the sight of his peaceful face amidst the recent nightmare. She sighed softly, brushing away loose strands of hair from his forehead.

For a moment, she allowed herself the luxury of tenderness, her normally stern facade softening in the quiet tent.

She knew that nightmares were nothing new in their lives. But this… this was something else. Something far worse than anything experienced before.

Raven traced her fingers lightly down his wet face, wiping away the remnants of his tears. His face, usually so animated with smirks and confidence, was etched with lines of deep torment that stole his youth away from him.

She wondered, not for the first time, what horrors could have possibly invaded his dreams to bring about such a reaction. But she respected Qrow's privacy enough not to push him into revealing anything he wasn't ready to.

She was his older sister by mere minutes, but the responsibility she felt for him made those minutes feel like years.

A dull pang resonated within her chest as she realized she was not equipped to handle whatever was tormenting him- the sight of his bloodshot eyes and trembling hands imprinted itself on her mind like a distressing scar.

Raven held onto him tighter, the act of comforting another was not something she was accustomed to. But this was Qrow, her twin, her other half. And seeing him like this invoked a certain protectiveness within her that she didn't know she possessed.

"S-Summer…"

Qrow's voice broke the silence, a faint whisper fading into the cold air. He was mumbling in his sleep, lost in the clutches of another nightmare. Raven stilled at hearing the name. Summer, a name that she knew held meaning for him, though she didn't know why.

"Ruby... Yang..." Qrow murmured again as his eyebrows furrowed in distress. Unfamiliar names that meant nothing to Raven but everything to her brother. Ruby and Yang, mysterious names that tangled themselves within Qrow's restless nightmares.

In the dim light of their shelter, Raven drew up her knees and rested her chin atop them. The tent around them seemed to shrink with every whispered name from Qrow's lips.

The names continued to fall from his lips like whispered prayers or desperate pleas – Raven wasn't sure which, perhaps they were both. They resonated within the tent, echoes of unfamiliarity that strummed a melancholic tune against her heartstrings.

With each passing moment, Raven felt more distant from her twin. She longed to reach out to him, to pull him back from wherever he was lost. Yet every unfamiliar name created an unseen barrier between them.

"Raven." His voice wavered as he called out her name, quiet and fraught with a vulnerability that cut through her like a knife.

She felt the walls she carefully built around herself crumbling at the raw emotion seeping from his voice.

She couldn't help but hold him tighter, pressing her body against his to assure him of her presence. To assure him that he was not alone. Her fingers curled into his hair, an attempt to ground him in reality.

"Shh... it's okay," she murmured into his ear, even as his whispers continued to fill the tent with foreboding.