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Clover sank under the water, watched the waves of the storm tear apart his beloved ship, and expected death to claim him. When the darkness started to overtake his vision, he thought it had, a form appearing from the shadows to reach for him. When he woke, he was sure he was dead. There was a face hovering over him, pale and angular with soft red eyes, but then the pain in his chest registered. He’d somehow been saved, and the face over him was responsible for it. At least he thought it was and as he scooted back so he could sit up, he became sure of it. Green eyes trailed down the long form, lingering on the point where pale skin became pearl scales, shades of red streaked along the tail and fins black. Those eyes kept watching him and he wondered what it was the merman was thinking. He’d never met one before, never thought he’d get the chance to with the way they avoided ships and he took the chance to study every little detail he could see.
There was something familiar about the pale face as the other slid back on the sand, disappearing back into the water Clover had made his life on for so long, though he couldn’t place what it was. He waited until the merman was long out of sight, until the waves had started to recede with the tide before he turned to look at where he was. There was a footpath through the trees and he started on it, slightly surprised to come across a basic cabin that was taken care of but empty. His first worry was that he’d been saved to be kept as a pet but there were maps to a nearby town pinned to the wall and one of the bedrooms had clothes in it from someone nearly as tall but much thinner than him. He wondered who the house belonged to but he couldn’t afford to be picky or courteous and he was a pirate anyways so it was hardly the first time he’d laid claim to something that belonged to someone else.
Clover spent the next several days foraging in the forest and visiting the beach, hoping that he’d catch another glimpse of the merman. He wanted to know why the other felt so familiar, why he was so convinced he knew that face, but he never saw him. Days became weeks, the pirate settling into a quiet rhythm until one day he came back to find someone else in the cabin. He recognized the clothes from the other bedroom and knew, before the other turned to face him, that this was the owner of the home. He was already going through his mind of what he might have to do when the other turned, red eyes locking with teal and Clovers thoughts halted. The merman’s legs were long, graceful as he walked around the table to take what Clover had scavenged to the kitchen.
It was when the lithe man looked up at him from under dark lashes that Clover remembered.
He remembered a night years ago, back in his military days before a betrayal that had nearly killed him turned him rogue. A night years ago when a beautiful man had danced with him. A beautiful spy that he had caught but hadn’t been able to bring in. Not with the impassioned speech that was given to him about what was right. That speech is what had compelled him to investigate things he had previously ignored. It was what had eventually led to him being betrayed when he had gotten too close to uncovering secrets those in power had wanted to keep hidden. He’d never regretted letting the man go, not when he’d learned the truth and now, after he had been saved by him, he doubted he ever would.
“Did you give me your real name that night?” Clover finally shook himself of his shock, coming to sit at the counter on one of the stools.
The other glances at him, a small smile curving his lips as he tucked things away. “No. My name is Qrow.” He finished what he was doing and leaned against the counter across from Clover. “I wanted to tell you then but I couldn’t risk my name getting out. Not with all that was going on…”
“It’s okay.” Clover grimaced, memories of nearly dying coming back hard. “I get why you wouldn’t want it out.”
Qrow slowly came around the counter, placing a hand on Clover’s shoulder. “They turned on you, didn’t they? That wasn’t a military ship and this,” long fingers plucked at his collar, “isn’t the uniform I remember you in.”
A tanned hand wrapped around his, pulling the collar down to reveal the top of a scar across his chest. “Yea, they turned on me.”
Qrow swallowed, looking at the mark and imagining how bad it must have been to have left something so jagged and deep. His eyes lifted to meet the solemn ones staring at him. “Stay here with me. I can help you get another ship if you really want but…”
Clover smiled, recalling a time when he hadn’t wanted to let go of a man he’d barely known, of turning against everything he stood for in a single night because a pretty pair of eyes had asked him to look deeper. He recalled a time when he wished he had gone with the spy so he could have gotten to know him better. “Yea. I’ll stay. We can talk about the ship another time…”
He had wanted this chance with Qrow since they’d first met and he wasn’t about to let it go now.