"Thoughts"-Italics

"Speech"-Regular

"Past/Flashback"-Bold

Chapter 1: Icy eyes

The thing about nothingness is that it is impossible to gauge, it's neither positive nor negative, yields no response and therefore shows you, unsurprisingly, nothing. To see nothingness would drive any man or woman mad, to peer into the abyss that is so vast and empty, to see nothing looking back at you, to see only yourself; to see nothingness is to go mad.


Raven Branwen had lost track of the amount of days since she had left, her home, her brother, husband, best friend, and even her child. Her brother, Qrow, had tracked her down a few days ago in rage. They had argued, yelled, screamed, and they almost fought but he had let her go; she knew he would let her go, eventually. She walked down a beaten path, her eyes were cold and her expression unreadable. Raven walked through Forever Fall, the mountainous area had many cliffs and was covered by a forest of red-leafed trees, allowing the whole area to appear as a dust-red color, even the grass. She paused, the ever-present crimson fields were completely contrasted by an icy white. She noticed a trail, it was rare to see people live so far outside the city walls, she could feel her skin grow goose-bumps as walked through the trail, curious, "Ice?" She thought coming off the path, trees and grass were all frozen and she came towards a lone house.

Raven let out a small breath, she could see it. The abandoned house shuddered on the hill, wishing the morning light would come all the sooner to warm its weary walls. It felt so alone, so empty. How long had it been since it heard the laughter of a precious child? How long had it been since it felt the coolness of fresh paint or contained the fragrance of Sunday dinner? Raven wondered all these things as she walked to the front of the house, the door looked like is was blown open. Readying her weapon, she entered cautiously.


Raven slowly went through the house, the halls were frost-bitten, icicles came off the walls, and then she stalled. A boy. Young, probably no older than her own daughter. His expression almost made her stagger, it bordered on cold, blank, and uncaring. The scene before her almost made her gasp and had she not been such a seasoned huntress she may have done just that. The boy looked at her with a slightly tilted head, across from him was a larger man, "Is that-" She thought looking a the man and then back to boy again, his icy blue eyes peering into her crimson red.

"He's dead." The boy said in an emotionless voice.

Raven placed her weapon away, she took in everything, the man across from the boy was frozen, "His semblance?" She thought while tentatively approaching him, examining the boy she could see bruises littered over his body, his face, arms, she wondered if they littered his entire body. Kneeling down next to him she didn't try to sweeten her voice, this boy, he had no need for such courtesies, "What happened?" She asked although she already had already figured what may have happened in this lonely house.

"I did it." The boy said looking over at the man, Raven noted that he didn't say "He killed him" showing a bit of withdrawal from the situation or maybe he lacked the will to say kill, he was young after all.

"I don't feel bad." The boy said looking down at his hands, they were red and shaking. Raven managed to place herself in front of the boy, blocking his view of the man, she frowned, "This boy..." She thought running a hand through his hair, "She liked when I did this-" She thought for a moment before pulling away, the boy didn't seem to mind either way, his white locks were disheveled all over his head, even his eye lashes were a snowy white.

"Do you want to leave this place?" Raven asked suddenly.

The boy perked up at the prospect, his blank eyes took on a slightly curious glow, he didn't say anything but nodded. Raven looked at him for one more moment then stood up and headed back towards the entrance of the house. The boy followed silently, they both exited the house without so much as a word to one another. They went on silently, for miles, Raven didn't stop, not for one moment. They had kept going until the boy collapsed to the ground, Raven looked down at him before continuing to walk.

"This world will do you no favors and neither will I." She said while continuing her stride, whether he could follow or not was of no consequence to her. She heard shuffling behind her, the sound of dirt, and then footsteps. Right next to her the boy followed once again, his legs shakily pressing forward, Raven almost smirked. They kept going until the forest slowly changed from red to green, the sun had fallen long ago and the shattered moon was the only light in the sky. Raven finally stopped and as she did a flop followed. Looking down she said the boy shaking, his arms and legs tired, she found a small smile as she watched him stand up again and look at her. His eyes, the originally empty, uncaring, cold eyes, were peering into her red as if challenging her, "Unsightly brat." She thought before motioning to a cave not far from them. He nodded and continued forward in front of her, Raven stood and watched him push himself further and further, collapsing onto the ground and then pushing himself back up again. She knew his body was at the very limit and yet she couldn't help but see, "How strong are you? How strong do you want to be?" She thought as he took a hard fall onto the ground, this time staying on the ground. The cave was a few meters ahead and Raven nodded to herself before starting to walk towards him, intent on carrying him into the cave before pausing again.

Small grunts and the sound of dirt being pulled, Raven could only stare in small awe of the child before her, dragging himself towards the cave, his arms slowly giving way, using even just his chin to pull himself forward. She walked past him and sat down, the grunting continued, and she watched. Inch by inch, each agonizing second, she watched. The grunting stopped. Raven looked down, icy blue eyes looked back at her, once again challenging her.

Raven smiled, "What's your name?"

The boy stared at her for one second, "Frost. Frost Borealis." He said before falling unconscious.

A/N: Hihi! So this is the start of a new story! If you haven't read my other story "From the Ashes" (You should do that! (Shameless plug)) But this character Frost was actually someone that I wanted to add into that story but after writing him more and more I came to the realization that I found him way too interesting to just put in as a side character.