"It's a pleasure to see you again Qrow," Madame Winter said.

"You're looking good Madame Winter." Qrow took Clover's hand and pulled him closer. 

"Rather weak disguise. I thought I taught you better." 

"I'm not trying to trick you. I just came when I was summoned, I kept my oath. Now, if you'll excuse us, 'father' dear and I should be going." Madame Winter smirked when Qrow said the word "father," indicating that she would not believe any lie Qrow tried to tell her. 

"Oh, but I think you should stay," Madame Winter said, holding out her staff. "I think it's time your 'father' saw who you really are." She slammed her staff down on the ground and the room began to grow dark.

Spirits that seemed to be made of light appeared in a circle around Qrow and Clover, blocking any path of escape from the sides. The light spirits began chanting in a language that Clover did not recognize, probably an ancient magic language. Madame Winter did not leave her chair, but instead watched Qrow's face, waiting for him to make his move.

From next to Clover, Qrow began to transform using his magic. Clover was startled for a moment, as he watched the wizard grow black feathers like a crow. 

Clover put his arms in front of Qrow to keep him for charging at Madame Winter. "Qrow, no! It's a trap!" Clover shouted to make himself heard over the chanting of the spirits, which was growing louder by the second. Qrow stopped and looked at Clover, they're eyes meeting for a split second. Qrow nodded, understanding that Clover was saving him. 

Then quite suddenly, as the spirits were getting closer and louder, Qrow wrapped his arms around Clover and shot up into the air, using his new crow wings to fly. They went straight through the glass roof, shattering it into a million pieces, the fragments falling to where they were standing only seconds before.

Clover looked down at Madame Winter, who sat in her seat, unmoving, staring up at the hole in her greenhouse. Clover thought he saw her smile, but he couldn't tell for sure from all the way up in the air. 

Then it struck him, he was in the air, with no ground under his feet. He began to panic, and flail around, but Qrow, who was still in a sort of bird form, held onto him tightly.

"It's just like the day we met, you got to stay calm!" Qrow yelled. So Qrow knew who Clover was, even though he was now an old man. Clover followed the wizard's instructions, stretching out his legs and walking on the air. 

They landed on one of the royal air bikes, Clover practically throwing himself into the back seat. In his terror, he hadn't noticed the two figures who had grabbed onto his legs when Qrow had flown up. Raven and the dog, Marrow, hung onto him for dear life.

"Did you have to bring those two?" Qrow asked, indicating to the two stowaways.

Raven tried to stand up when she heard her younger brother's voice, probably to fight him, but collapsed down into Clover's arms. She was still to weak to hold herself up. Marrow jumped up into Raven's lap, cuddling close to keep from falling off of the air bike. 

"Well, I guess we can't just toss them," Qrow joked. Clover couldn't help but smile, even though he knew that this wasn't the best time to be joking around. 

He heard the sound of more air bikes taking off of the ground and following them. Qrow stood up from the front seat and turned to Clover, hands still on the wheel.

"Come and take my place!" Qrow shouted over the roaring wind.

"Are you crazy? You don't want me to drive this thing, do you?" Clover asked. 

Qrow nodded. "I believe you can do it!" He said. Clover sighed and fought the winds, plopping down in the seat and putting his hands on the wheel. Qrow continued to hold the wheel, keeping the air bike steady. 

"They're gaining on us, so I'm going to distract them. I can give you five minutes of invisibility, so you'll have to use it wisely." 

"But I don't know how to get back to the castle!" Clover said. Qrow took Clover's hand suddenly, which made Clover blush. Qrow indicated to the ring on the hand he was holding. It was the same ring Qrow had slipped on Clover before he headed to the palace. 

"Don't you worry about that. This ring will guide you right back. All you have to do is summon Yang, with your heart." 

"With my heart?" Clover pulled his hand gently away from Qrow's and stared at the ring for a moment. Then he closed his eyes and whispered, "Yang, please, help me." 

When Clover opened his eyes back up,a faint beam of light was coming from the ring, pointing towards the Waste. 

"Wait! Before you go, I have a question." Clover held onto Qrow's sleeve for a second, before letting go. "If you were planning to come the whole time, why send me?" 

Qrow smiled at the other man. "Having you nearby gave me the courage to go and face Madame Winter. I never could have done that by myself. You saved me Clover. I was in big trouble back there, but you stopped me from letting things get out of hand." Qrow smiled the most sincere and warm smile Clover had ever seen on a person, and the very sight of it made his heart melt just a tiny bit. But he quickly snapped out of his lovesickness, reminding himself that he was old, and that he was flying hundreds of feet above solid ground. 

"Now just keep following that light and it will lead you on the straightest path back home. I'll meet you there later." Qrow gave a small salute type wave and let go of the wheel, forcing Clover to keep the air bike from spinning out of control. 

Qrow pulled away from them, on what seemed to be a ghost version of Clover and his passengers on their air bike. "Remember, only five minutes of invisibility!" Qrow yelled, before flying away, leading the royal military away from Clover. 

Clover gripped the wheel tightly, trying to focus on what was in front of him. He followed the beam of light, hoping to get as far away as possible before Qrow's invisibility wore off. 

Night had fallen by the time they saw the castle. 

"Ruby!" Clover yelled at the top of his lungs. He didn't know if the young girl would hear him, but he had to try. Luckily, Ruby was sitting on the balcony, and she waved at him.

"I can't stop this thing!" Clover shouted. He had never flown an air bike before and Qrow had barely shown him how to keep it in the air. 

Inside the house, Ruby ran to Yang's place at the hearth and threw some fire in. 

"I have an idea," Ruby said.

"Why does that scare me?" Yang asked, eating up the wood. 

"Yang, you need to open up the castle as wide as you can. Clover can't land that thing, so he's going to have to crash it.  If he crashes it into the face of the castle, you can move it so that we have minimal damage. Right?" 

"In theory, yes, you're right." Yang said. "But Clover has to crash into the face just right. Think he can do that?" 

"I'll tell him." Ruby ran as fast as she could up to the balcony. Clover was much closer to the castle, but Ruby had just enough time to tell him what to do.

"You want me to do what now?" Clover shouted, not believing what he was hearing.

"Just do it, before you crash into something else and get hurt!" 

Clover nodded, though Ruby couldn't see the motion, and gripped the wheel tightly. He aimed the air bike straight into the castle. Yang opened up the mouth of it as wide as it could go and Clover did his best to go straight through the opening. It wasn't even close to being the perfect landing, but nobody was hurt.

"Great, now there's a giant hole in the side of our home," Yang muttered. But even she was glad to see that Clover had gotten home safely. 

Ruby helped Clover pull Raven and Marrow out of the rubble. Clover said he'd explain why they were there later, because right now they needed to focus on covering up the hole in the wall. In the end, they opted to placing a curtain on the inside, at least until they had the supplies to fix it. Turnip Head stood outside the hole, almost guarding it in a sense.

"I'm glad to be back home, where it's safe." 

~

Madame Winter called to one of her assistants, she ordered him to take her to her chambers.

"Today was quite an exciting day, wouldn't you say?" She asked the assistant. The young boy nodded. "Too bad we couldn't get what we wanted from Howl. But it's okay, because that boy just showed me his hand. If I want to get to Howl, maybe his dear 'father' can help me with that." 

She smiled and then summoned another assistant. "I need you to run out and find someone for me. There is still more work to be done." 

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A/N: Sorry this took so long to finish. I hope you enjoy it and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon!