Qrow's Moving Castle (A Fair Game AU)

Chapter 2

"I need to stay calm." Clover kept repeating this to himself, trying to figure out what to do.

"I need to stay calm." Clover looked at his reflection again, confirming that he really did look like an old man. He touched his face, feeling the wrinkles. He took deep breathes to calm himself.

"Maybe if I go to sleep, I'll wake up normal. Maybe this is all just a bad dream." He said, heading into the house and struggling up the stairs towards his room.

The next morning, the store was alive with energy as people shopped and employees joked. A tall lady, in her late thirties, walked through the door, wearing the most gaudy hat anyone had ever seen. 

All the employees jumped up from their seats in excitement when they saw her. 

"Ma'am!" They shouted. This woman was their former boss's wife. Before he had died, he had remarried to this woman and everyone loved her. Her blonde hair was piled up under her hat. Her dress was large and brightly colored. She demanded attention, but not in a bad way.

"Hello everyone!"She said, bright and bubbly. "I came to check in on the store." She looked around. "Where's Clover?" 

"Your son hasn't come down today Ma'am." One employee said. The blonde lady walked into the house and up the stairs. She stood outside of Clover's room and gently knocked. 

"Clover, honey, are you in there?"

On the other side of the door, Clover sat on his bed, a blanket wrapped around him. He looked in the mirror and stared at his face, which was still an old man.

"Go away!" He called. "I have a nasty cold and I don't want you to catch it!" 

The blonde woman stepped back from the door. "My, you sound terrible, like an 80 year old man. Well, take care of yourself. I'm sorry that I didn't get to see you." She headed back down the stairs, said goodbye, and left.

Once Clover was sure that she was gone, he took the blanket off of him and began to pack. He rushed around the house, making sure that nobody noticed him. Then, he headed out, traveling across town, towards the west.

He was stopped by a few strangers along the way, who made sure he was okay. But he just brushed them off and continued to walk. The only time he stopped walking was to talk to a traveling farmer and ask for a lift out of the town, to which the farmer agreed. Clover sat on the back of his wagon until they got just outside of the city, where he parted ways with the farmer. 

Clover passed by a house outside of the city limits, and the owner of the house stopped him to ask where he was going. 

"To look for a long lost brother." 

"But sir, that's the waste. You can't go in there alone," The farmer said. 

"I can take care of myself young man, but thank you for worrying about me." Clover continued west, ignoring the worries of the few people he passed.

As the sun was beginning to set, Clover stopped to eat the food he packed. He pulled out bread and cheese, ripping it and chewing it slowly. By now, he was about halfway up an extremely large hill, overlooking the city. Clover noticed the tackle shop he had lived in his whole life and wondered if anyone had realized that he was gone. But he just shrugged his shoulders, no one would miss an old man. 

He began to head back up the hill, but his whole body was sore.

"If only I had some sort of walking stick," he told himself. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a rather large branch sticking out of a bush. The branch was perfect walking stick size, as well as smooth. Clover made his way over to the bush and began to pull on the branch. 

The branch refused to move, it was stuck hard to the bush.

"I'm not letting a bush get the best of this old man!" Clover shouted, giving one large tug on the branch.

Suddenly, the branch pulled away from the plant and Clover realized that it wasn't a branch at all. Standing in front of him was the strangest looking scarecrow he had ever seen. It was on the end of the branch that was hidden in the bush.

"My," Clover said, "you really were stuck in that bush. I wonder how you got there." Clover looked closely at the scarecrow. 

"Is that a turnip? Your head is a turnip. I always hated those vegetables, ever since I was a young boy. Well, it's not your fault. I'm going to call you Turnip Head." 

Clover turned around, disappointed that he didn't get a walking stick, and began to head back up the hill. After a little ways, he heard a bouncing behind him and turned to see Turnip Head bouncing on the end of his stick, following Clover. 

"Go away! I've helped you already! Plus, I can tell that you have a nasty spell on you and I've had enough of magic to last me a lifetime!" But Turnip Head just continued bouncing behind Clover. 

Clover turned, deciding to ignore the scarecrow until it disappeared. Not long after, he heard it's bouncing heading away from him and he let out a small sigh. But then the bounces came back and Turnip Head was standing right next to him, offering a pretty walking cane.

"For me?" Clover asked. Turnip head bounced happily. "Thank you. I have one more thing to ask of you, could you go ahead and find me a place to spend the night?" Turnip Head bounced happily again and headed off up the hill, Clover watching him until he was out of sight. 

Clover continued up the hill slowly, until he heard Turnip Head's bounces coming back down the hill. 

"Did you find me a place to spend the night?" Clover asked. He looked up at the sky, which was gathering storm clouds, threatening to rain down on him. 

Turnip Head bounced happily, as if nodding. 

"Then show me please." Turnip Head bounced just a few steps in front of Clover, leading the way. 

Soon, the rain started to pour, and Clover hoped they would reach this place to stay soon. 

As they reached the top of the hill, Clover heard the groaning of an extremely large machine. He looked up and immediately knew what the machine was. Standing in front of him, walking itself towards the north, was a castle made of garbage and strange buildings. 

"Are you crazy?" Clover asked Turnip Head. "That's the wizard Qrow's castle!" 

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A/N: The picture is the moving castle from the movie. In this AU, it's gonna look pretty similar to that. So I put it there for reference. 

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!