*** These RWBabies and cover art belong to Okaminoki my friend and talented artist, also warning for half-cousin romantic incest***
Mei Schnee
Li liked to look up at the canopy of Forever Fall forest, the little red pieces dripping from the sky. She wouldn't even move as the leaves dropped onto her frayed blue vest or got caught in the purple scarf wrapped around her neck, much less when it tangled between her black wild hair. I don't think I've ever seen her more, more Li, than when I caught up to her, heaving from way more walking than I had signed up for, and she turned to me, leaf flat on her nose, yellow eyes staring right at me. "You're slow, Mei."
"Excuse you," I wheezed as we hiked further down the path, each step seemed to get us nowhere closer in the crimson tree sea, "Stamina isn't really my strong suit." I brushed myself off and stripped the leaves from the white of my cloak and blue of my dress shirt. Honestly not the best things to wear when the blowing wind could send an awful stain my way.
"We're almost there, just a little farther," Li stared back down the path, overgrown with blood grass, it hadn't been walked, not in a long while, "do you need help?" She waited for me, at least, as I dragged myself up to her, resisting the urge to summon my knight and get a queenly carriage ride. That was giving up.
I'm a Beacon graduate, giving up isn't a thing. "Nope!" I slid my duffle bag over my shoulder, ignored the summertime swelter, and I kept walking, right past her. "I am just fine! Why are you slacking?"
"You sure?" Li asked, picking up a matching pace. She looked more curious than annoyed by my hijinks, "You seem a lot more worn out? You're very sweaty."
"Rude," I chastised as my face started matching the rest of the forest, "I am fairer skinned and, well, I just glisten more, it's normal." What was wrong with a huntress sweating, anyway? Not the most romantic thing to bring up regardless.
"I'm just worried you're dehydrated. Heat kills more people than any other weather related death," Li warned, cute in her own awkward way.
"I'm fine, Li," I countered, brushing a few more drops from my bangs. Ugh, I really needed to need to wash out my ponytail, the rose color was going to turn into a greasy burgundy if I didn't stop this tragedy. "I could always summon us an ice igloo. Just enjoy ourselves as it melts above us. So wonderful!~"
"No!" Li snapped, crossing her arms in an x of disapproval. "Rule one: no Aura unless we are under attack." Her eyes glared at me, sharp and yellow, eye to eye, not breaking even as we walked side by side. I considered keeping it going until she ran into a tree, but I am older and more mature.
"That's dumb." I, for one, kept watching the path.
"No, it builds strength in our body and mind. Raven said so."
"It makes me sweaty."
"Drink more water, Mei," Li grumbled before she took in one sharp breath, "Not that I mind you sweaty…" she muttered in an unintended hiss.
Suddenly we were both a little red around the cheeks. Things had been weird between us lately. Ever since Cinder, since she had her first real drink, since we… No, it wasn't bad, not bad at all. I tried to blow it off, ignore that while of course we would always be close, we always were, but in what way was changing. When it was all over, we would still be close, but we wouldn't be the same, we wouldn't be us. Mei and Li, half-cousins, close as sisters, instead….well, that was to be decided.
And I have sure as hell been avoiding deciding it.
We both found our excuses. Me figuring out how to tackle my supposed destiny, Cinder's attack, and now the one year anniversary of Li's grandma's death. Just kept kicking the discussion can down the road.
With all that on their shoulders, today was not a great day to have that discussion. "Hey, Li," I tried to be brave, though that just resulted in a lot of staring at my feet and being all around silly, "I know this trip must be hard on you, but it's just us, so I thought we mig—"
"We're here."
A wood and weave cabin had snuck up on us, built on six columns as thick as a trunk and walls made of the same thin sheets of fiber as the trees that had grown quite close to it. Branches scratched and poked holes in the red leaf triangle top and foliage had already begun to consume the place.
The foundation had steps dropping down to a path that on the right brushed a small pond connected to a thin rocky stream. The left was cleared of trees, a stoney circle and clay cooked oven suggested it was once a fire pit, though it had long seen its final days.
The forest was reclaiming that place, for years even, though Raven passed only a summer ago. My great aunt's fame as a renegade and a recluse really hit the nail on the head.
"So, this is it?
"Yes," Li replied, voice hushed down and submissive. It had to be hard, had to be really hard. I never knew great aunt Raven. She was a criminal, one famous for her work with Cinder. Even with that in the past. if she had ever taken a step into Vale again a heart attack wouldn't have been what killed her. She was an enemy of the state and my mother wouldn't have that. "Raven's training camp."
Li, well Li had Branwen blood in her. She had spent every summer out here since she was little with her grandma, first under Yang's supervision of course, but every year following without on the same week. Li spoke fondly of her training, and from someone who prefered to talk non-verbally that kind of praise meant love. A lot of love for every moment, every summer together.
Except this year. "Well," I sighed, tossing my bags toward the steps of our small living cabin. I didn't know how we were going to eat, drink, protect ourselves from the grimm, deal with the whole awkward "are we dating, are we not", and process some grief, but Li wouldn't be alone, never while I'm alive. "Looks like you're going to have to show me around Li, It's camping time!"
"You're not swinging it right."
"I'm more of a dagger girl, not an axe wielder."
"Anyone can cut wood." Not me apparently.
"I could split the entire forest with my summons."
"No Aura!"
"I wasn't gonna!" I might have. It went against every ounce of Beacon's training not to throw my soul into this simple iron and oak two hander and splinter the offending log into a mulch field, but that's against Raven's rules. A healthy soul needs a healthy body, and a healthy body needs to cut wood… apparently. "Here we go!" A combination of nervous and heat sweat loosened my grip as I dropped the axe head into the thick of the red-leaf oak with all the might my huntress arms could manage. Without Aura, mind you.
"Damn it!" I cried, the iron edge snagged about a third the way down, stuck in the meat of it. I basically just gave the log a handle and turned an axe into a wooden hammer. Fear me, grimm of the world, or face the scourge of plant kind!
"On the way down slide your hand, let gravity do it. You can do it, Mei!" Li remained encouraging from a distance, happy to clean out the fire pit, punch a tree or two down, dust the cabin, all the easy stuff.
"Li, it's stuck!" The mortification nearly made me cry. My entire life flashed before my eyes, and it just so happened to make the perfect little presentation on how I look like a wimp compared to my baby cousin. Life is unfair.
Li smiled from where she was stacking her own gathered wood into a triangle pyre of sorts. The day was half done and meals would soon have to be prepared. We didn't come here to starve, after all. "Okay," Li answered plainly, coming over and ripping out the axe in a swift and almost careless tug. The wood cracked under the pressure, and I grew increasingly sure that 'no Aura' thing was stretched for her. "Here." She tried to give me the tool and I took her hand instead.
"Thanks, little kitty." Li's hands are surprisingly soft, though not devoid of callouses, my fingers can run the length of her palm, trace her digits, the smoothness of the back. She was... taller than me, but her hands seemed just one size smaller than mine. I prefered it that way.
"Mei, can I?" She never says what it is exactly, but I always have a guess. The blush across her face gives me an idea, however embarrassing. I pretend to hate it, maybe even do when I'm in public, but when she looks, well, I guess it's technically down, but whatever, when she looks at me, needs me, it feels so good.
"For now. You've had it rough." I cut the reservations. No one's watching, not unless Forever Falls is packed with peeping squirrels. Li didn't answer, she always liked talking through touch anyways. She wrapped her arm around mine and clinged to that little piece of me.
"Thanks Mei," she whispered into my shoulder, having to tilt her head down at what had to be an uncomfortable angle to do it. My height complex was killing me.
"So do I still have to cut wood?" I asked. My free hand played with the ponytail of my hair as I tried to act cooler, older, and more use to whatever this was.
"Yes," Li muttered with a hard-earned smile on her lips. Her ears shuttered gently as I scratched between them, something that always would make her melt.
"I can't cut wood and cuddle." I hoped she prefered the latter. My affection is an excellent bargaining chip for this little cat.
"You can try," Li groaned. Somehow she expected me to turn into a one handed axe master after what, two words of advice? With both of them relying on a two handed motion? No, with a wry twinkle in my eye and a perky lift of my lips, I threw out my terms.
"Maybe if you let me summon my knight I could stay right in cuddle range and get us some clean logs." I huffed at my own notion, feeling pretty confident she couldn't, nor wouldn't, resist anything like that from me.
"No!" Li shouted, punctuating with a thump of her foot. "Raven's rules!" I've never been more vexed by a dead woman. Maybe that was unfair, but it was unfair to me to have to try and argue with her through her surviving disciple!
"Come on~" I sung, trying to tease out her surrender. Li looked back at me, eyes squinting into angry sharp angles of yellow.
"No." She was not amused.
"You will break, and when you do, I'm turning this place into a winter wonderland," I warned in a hush tone, making an enemy of Raven's rules, Li, hell even the summer heat itself, but nothing worth having doesn't require a good fight. Yet, when Li put her foot down and bared her fangs, I just couldn't say no. A natural weakness. "But, for now I'll be good, you'll need to let me cut though."
"Okay," Li sighed, detaching from my arm and brushing the new wrinkles of her sleeve out. She looked blank with gold eyes, crossing over the grounds, a mess of red from over grown grasses to crimson leaves, and repeated that sigh. "I have something I need to do anyways."
"Hm?" I begged with a sound effect. Something certainly distracted her, something personal to rend her from me.
"I should be back within an hour, heading north. If you need me call for me, I'll come running." It was like Li to be short on words, but unlike her to be so dispassionate. Still, I shook my head, scratched my neck between my cloak, and most importantly kept my chin up and a smile on my face. Got to be strong for her.
"Enjoy," I replied, watching her go, snatching one of the smaller bags with her, "And when you get back I promise we'll have quite an impressive stack." She waved back, though she never turned back to face me. I watched her hips sway as she walked, wind ruffle the black fraying hair I hear she inherited from her Branwen side, and eventually fade into a dot on the horizon. It was getting late in the day. I guessed she was off to find some spot in the sun, watch the sky turn as red as the rest of the forest, and find a little peace.
I think maybe one, two hours passed, dusk was hard on me, but I managed. Gaining a future blister or two, I splintered all those logs into fine firewood. Li's trick worked, though I could definitely feel it kill my back.
Free, I stacked the wood, put out the laundry line, unpacked my bags in the little cabin, really just one room under a fairly snug roof. My sleeping bag went right next to Li's. The nights could get cold. Perfect time to snuggle.
Even after that, Li wasn't back.
I brushed the inside of our camp, getting rid of dust and cobwebs. Li may like bugs, but I could deal without them in my hair. I found the remnants of an old wooden fence, and propped it back up. I lit a small fire, enough to cook some beans and warm some tea, and again:
No Li.
I wasn't worried, she was a top fighter and no one besides our moms knew we were here. I found myself more concerned for her emotions. I never lost a grandmother. Never had one. Neither Schnee nor Rose family grandmothers made it. I mean, I had grandpa Tai, but it wasn't the same, it wasn't what Raven and Li had.
I hear my mom, Ruby Rose to be specific, say I would have loved my grandma Summer, that we would have been thick as sisters, she even wore a white cloak like me, had my special eyes. I wish I could have met her, even if it meant feeling whatever Li was feeling now. I wish I could have missed her.
In that thought, I heard the crunch of wood and knew why Raven had set that fence up in the first place.
"Li?" I slide the paper-like fiber door open. Outside my small fire kept itself just barely lit in the stone fire pit. Its light was enough to illuminate my world's monsters. A creature of grimm, big black, punctured full of boney protrusions, only a figment of the wolf that they replicated. The thing's arms smashed the fence down with his steps, making enough noise to alert me. Of course, it wasn't alone.
"Shit." Four more followed their alpha, sniffing for the scent of something. Me, I feared, thanking whatever gods might exist I had dragged my sword up here in one of my bags. No Aura, unless we're attacked, Li had said very clearly, and I was happy enough to call on my summon. The whining sound of my glyph whirled as it spun behind me, an arm content to reach out and lift my great sword with me. I kept my real body matched with my summoned arm, clinging to my sharp, but short dagger. It was game time.
"Here, boy!" I called out, stepping beyond the doorway and into the light. The beast's head tilted toward me, the feral glow of his red eyes found something tasty. If the fire wasn't a strong enough to give me away, the giant glowing white circle behind me with a frosted arm sure had to be.
The alpha growled, scratching the ground, leaving claw marks over our beautiful camp. For that, I decided I was going to cleave its hand off. The other siblings began to advance with it, a rare pack in these parts and a soon to be dead pack. I hunched over, preparing for a charge. Taking out the Alpha was a must, the rest a joke compared to the bonier beast. Without their leader, they were lambs to even a newly graduated huntress like her. That was the plan, that was till it sniffed the air once again.
Grimm lived to snuff out humanity and whatever humanity touches. They rarely had the forethought to back down from that bloodlust, needing ages to learn patience. Beowolves did not live that long. This thing sniffed prey out of the air, prey too intoxicating, the whole pack just up and left, turning north and prancing away from the human right in front of them.
"Huh," I muttered to myself watching them go. I'd never seen beowolves act like that, usually they were the more mindless drool and kill kind of grimm. "I need to call this in," I decided, pulling out my scroll and tapping the screen. Mother, headmaster, the hunter's association, any would do. Mostly I was worried there was some emergency I wasn't aware of. Someone had to be pretty damn upset to drag the whole pack north away from a kill— "Oh god, Li!"
The chase forced me down the valleys of Forever Falls towards the sea. I thought I could catch them if I moved, moved with reckless thirst, but the closer to the prey the more vigor the grimm had. I wasn't scared so much that Li couldn't handle them, but if she was that upset, maybe she was already under attack? Even if not, just being caught by surprise ended the lives of more hunters than losing straight out to grimm ever did. Uncle Roman once told me he got swallowed whole by a grimm and had to be cut out of its belly by Aunt Neo…
` "Li, where are you!?" I was not going to have to cut any part of Li out of some beowolves stomach!
I didn't find Li, not at first. I found her predators, the pack was breaking apart near a rill to my right, my luck I was above them on the elevated bank. I didn't really have a plan, my heart was pounding, I was afraid and all I could keep in my head was Li and these bastards hurting her. Under that strain, my Aura shined alabaster and bright. The white knight stepped out of my memories and into the chase with me, and when I jumped, the colossus vaulted down with me.
The first beowolf didn't stand a chance. I landed on a glyph and my knight landed on its back, shattering its little body before cutting it in two with my sword. The beast's black blood spilled out and the river near me got its pool of tar.
Two others in the pack had enough sense to turn around and engage me. One crawled on all its limbs, snakely keeping close to the ground and harder to hit, the other charged me directly. Grimm hunted feelings, often the dumb ones never even noticed what was really killing them. My knight readied my greatsword and once the second wolf lunged at me, I ordered it to swing and divide the beast into horizontal halves.
Thankfully the body turned into smoke before it splattered over me, not that I was staying still. I didn't have enough time to sit around and let my knight do all the fighting. Was running, kicking down the rill for the second wolf, brandishing my dagger.
The remaining wolf watched the previous fight and uncharacteristically kept low so he could slash his claws at my feet. I saw its shoulder twist for the attack and did a front flip, landing my feet not on the ground, but upside down on a gravity glyph. I bent my knees and shifted the glyph's direction, it launched my body like a needle with my dagger for its point. It buried into the back of the wolf's skull, all the way to the hilt before beginning to dissipate.
By now my breath was ragged and coming out in heaves. An hour walk in a ten minute sprint was kicking my ass, but still no Li. I sucked in enough air to force a cough and then again to shout so loud I swear I caused a tree or two to fall.
"Li, where are you!?" The wind blew, I heard fragments of sound, mostly drowned out by the not too distant coastline. My giant came and picked me up, lifting me above the trees, yet all I could see was red. "Li!" All I could hear was wind, water, growling, and...and…
"Mei!"
Dagger in hand, I commanded the knight to run, smashing the trees as he rushed me through the thinning brush and stopped down the bank. One second Forever Falls Forest, another and we knock down a tree to see the free ocean of black waves. The last light had faded and what remained was a shattered moon and a lantern.
"Help!" Li's hair had turned gold, the lantern's light let her make those shadow gauntlets she loved, and had used, judging from the twitching form of the dying beowolf gurgling on its own blood. That left the Alpha, right on top of Li, its claws intertwined with the shadow fists and mouth biting at Li, my Li!
"Get away from her!" I didn't even think about it, I just threw my dagger as hard as I could. The steel tip dug in between the bones of the Alpha's skull, slipping in just an inch or two, enough to right piss it off. Blood drunk, it let go of Li and roared at me, ready to try and claim a real huntress. I had no weapon, but my knight was happy to step in. Wasn't necessary.
"Die!" Li jumped on the Alpha's back, hammering the dagger deeper into the beast's brain. Even as it shuttered and died, melting into the dirt, Li kept pounding, her fists cracking its flesh, then bone, then just the rocky coast line below her.
"Li!" My dagger was shattered, but I didn't care. I left the knight to protect us and tackled Li to the ground just to keep her from breaking her own knuckles. "Are you okay? Li, are you hurt?!" She was crying, I could feel it when I held her. The way her frame shook between breathes, how she sucked in air sharp like knives, and how she cried out into me.
"I just can't!" she yelped into my shoulder as I rocked her. I wanted to check for blood, though I didn't feel the sticky warm liquid anywhere on her.
"Li, where are you hurt? What did they do?"
"I'm not hurt!" she shouted, pulling us not apart, but giving herself a tiny opening to breath. "I thought I could let her go, but I can't!" A wave of confusion hit me. Her gold eyes glowed at night and looked at me for comfort. I avoided them, scanning for clues about what had happened.
I found the lantern again, a jar of ash, and a mask white as bone with faded red paint. All ready to be tossed into the sea. That's what Raven wanted, her final request. "Li…"
"I can't, Mei, I don't wanna throw Raven away," Li's voice shattered into a choking breath at the end. This feeling called to the grimm. Despair, sadness, loneliness. Dummy should have called me.
"It's okay, Li, you don't have to right now. We can do it tomorrow, or the day after, or whenever you're ready." I pet her hair and tugged her close. I held Li like life itself was trying to claw its way out of my hands and I sure as hell wasn't going to let it. I don't even know why I was so scared.
"Don't go away, Mei," she moaned into my neck. She was begging for things that weren't up to her and it drove a knife into my heart. "People keep trying to take you away. I'm scared. I don't want to lose you, lose anyone ever again."
"God, Li." We fucked her up, I thought, we, me, our mothers, Cinder most of all. She was too young to be dealing with this, she hadn't even graduated yet! "I will always fight to find you Li. Always."
It happened again. What's kept happening every time Li and I go through some pain, some shock, some alcohol maybe, all with increasing frequency. I find myself holding her, naked under her bed sheets, ignoring the ache of bite marks on my neck, scratches on my back, lighter hickies on my thighs. Not that I ever hated it, or couldn't stop her, I just can't seem to stop myself from giving into her, giving into whatever we are now. The adult us.
It had to be one in the morning, and the lantern was burning low now. It was so cold out there and warm together, my legs stuffed between hers, one hand wrapped around her lower back and the other cradling her head in just a way that I could scratch the small space where the fur of her ears met the hair on her head. Her face was buried deep into my bare chest, I could feel her warm breath tickle my skin. It felt good.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, I felt her lips move when she spoke, still electric.
"Don't be, Li," I answer, kissing the top of her head. I'm getting tired, the pull of sleep is calling me, but I know this isn't the time. Post-sex talks tended to actually be pretty meaningful between us. "You've been holding in a lot, this is okay."
"I'm not using you." I knew. It would be way less complicated if she was.
"I never thought you were. I'm not mad." I was the opposite. I breathed her scent in and brushed her skin with my fingertips, finding myself dangerously content.
"I love you, Mei. I'm sorry." My heart thumped so hard I could hear it just by listening to silence.
"I do, too." I feel her squirm, her hips shuffling beneath the blankets. Her legs clutched mine and I could tell she was scared. It was time to have this conversation, the one neither of us wanted, definitely not today. Yet, here the conversation was knocking on our door. "As a lover, Li? Or as a half-cousin, a friend, or a 'sister'? I don't know what we are. I'm not mad, I'm confused. I didn't think things would change," I laughed at myself, "I guess that was dumb."
"Yes," Li answered my question without a bit of hesitation. Not exactly with the clarification I was hoping for.
"I mean, which of those are we?" I hammered.
"I don't know," Li's voice came off confident and despite her nervous body she never wavered.
"How do I treat you? What should I be doing? I thought I knew, but I don't." There was a stillness after my admission. I could tell Li was working on a thought, churning out an answer. I was too nervous to interrupt.
"You should treat me," Li pulled her head away, just so that she could look at me. There was always gold in her eyes, and that night it was like two little orbs of sunlight were looking into me. "Like how Mei wants to treat Li."
"What does that mean?" I asked, no closer to the point than before.
"For me," her head tilted up and I felt the slightly chapped lips of Li's press against mine. "I treat you like I want. I hug you when you say it's okay, kiss you, hunt, and do what we always did. Raven always said words are only useful for conveying how we feel. If you don't have a word for it, it doesn't change what we are." Li returned to my chest, I could tell there was some embarrassment. She was trying to be all tough and wise. Maybe she was a little bit.
"Do you steal all your best quotes?" I joked nervously. Li shrugged. "I need to find the right words, but I don't hate this," I tried to explain. Probably failed. Li laughed at something, I could feel her chuckle through my whole body.
"It's okay, Mei, you don't have to right now, we can do it tomorrow, or the day after, or whenever you're ready we can," Li quoted me word for word, flipping the name around and throwing my procrastinating ways back in my face. Still, I found comfort, just a little bit, in hearing her say it.
"Alright, until I figure out what we are," I decide, coming to a complete circle. "We are just Mei and Li." Was that alright?
"Good," Li decided for herself. "So sleep, we got to hunt tomorrow." Damn it.
"Why don't you be cute and sing me to sleep?" I didn't expect her to start.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy, when skies are gray.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine awa—"
I fell asleep much faster than I thought.
***Well that ending was cheesy and made at 5 AM! Hey I hope you all enjoyed this one off request Noki asked me for, I certainly had fun making it. It kind of hard writing characters from a comic or au that isn't mine, but noki helped me a lot working on the story what happens and the narrative. If you're interested in more about these kids check out ookaminoki on tumblr (bonus points if you can find her hidden one ;P ), she has a special tab for Mei Li as well as her other white rose comic called huntress. Both are excellent and well recommended.
This particular short story is based off of Three different comics by Noki, one about cinder, one about when Raven and Li met, and well... one other you're just going to have to find yourself. ;P It's up to Noki if this is "Canon" or not.
Also thank you so much to Lazykatze for editing once again and Noki for the opportunity, I really hope you enjoyed it my friend.