NinjaYacdan here; This is something I've been working on for a while and finally got past the Blurg guarding the dungeon and keeping me from posting it. You'll notice it's not another run through of canon with a little perspective spice thrown in because honestly, I find work like Forged Destiny and Hunter or Something more interesting because I'm not anticipating events like the Breach or the Fall of Beacon. This is something different, same characters and general world, but I've scrapped Aura, Semblance and Faunus for reasons of making something new. You'll notice subtle callbacks to canon traits, but that'll be about it. So, in the interest of not speaking over my work…
She was near, he could feel it. She'd led him on a long, hard chase, but he wasn't called the best for nothing. It was only a matter of time, always, a matter of time. He knew she was no base prey, the men she'd killed during her attempt at the life of local nobility were far from amateurs. Even for him, she was dangerous. Yet nothing he wasn't willing to handle… for a price.
The dying light of the setting sun forced him to stop; he'd lost sight of her faint trail. No matter, he'd other senses, honed and ready to bear. Breathing deeply, he meditated… slowing his heartbeat… and returned to his primal self. When his eyes opened, his inner beast was awake and ready. He took the scrap of cloth one of the guards had managed to tear from her as she ended him and breathed deep her scent. Strange, that jolt he always felt as that scent took hold of him…
He knelt and sniffed for traces of her. He wasn't delayed for long, she'd brushed against a nearby shrub. As his blood set aflame, he resumed his hunt…
…
Just what had that tyrant sent after her? No matter what she tried, she couldn't lose that strange man. She'd leapt between trees, she'd swam, she'd used every trick her grandmother had ever taught her, yet still he kept gaining ground. She would have to stand and fight, very soon, but she knew that, whoever this man was, he was worlds apart from anything she had ever fought. The way he moved… was like water and lightning and fire, all captured in flesh…
…
Her scent was growing stronger, faster than he'd anticipated. The beast within grew eager, the chase nearly over, the quarry nearly at hand… Strange, why did his blood sing with such energy at her proximity…?
…
She stood at the ready, her blade, Miló, in hand. Whoever this man was, he was in for a nasty surprise…
…
Her scent was strong, very strong. The beast within shivered, a jolt setting his hair on end, ringing through his nerves. He crept slowly forward, peeking between foliage, and felt lightning strike as he saw her standing in the clearing beyond, looking straight where he was concealed. Silently, he shrugged off his pack, drew Crocea Mors, and stepped proudly into the clearing…
…
She spoke no words, only stared down this strange man that had so hunted her to her limits. The intensity of his gaze hit her like a rockslide, the raw bestial power of him setting her heart fluttering and her breathing ragged. Whoever this man was, she was right to have run as hard as she had. Though he stood still, she was mesmerized by the harmony, and grace of his form. Her skin tingled with lightning, her muscles trembling in anticipation…
…
His every fiber was stretched tight. The fire in her eyes setting an inferno in his blood. He held his stance and kept his breathing even. His eyes locked with hers, lightning tearing him apart within…
…
Her wrist flicked, the air rippling as Miló began a dirge…
…
Something was wrong, very wrong. The world tilted as a hum filled him from every direction, his head began to spin when he saw her surge forward with blazing speed, a thrust aimed at his heart. He flicked the tip away and swung a hard punch at her throat, which she gracefully twisted and rolled out of his reach to evade, then flicked her wrist to renew her bladesong.
Dipping his hand into his coat, he withdrew a poisoned dart and flicked it at her neck, only to see her catch it between her fingers and flick it into a nearby tree trunk, smirking at him. Lunging forward, he clove downward with his blade, watching her coolly while the sapling she'd stood before slid neatly to the ground as she regained her footing, again, out of his reach, with that infernal hum filling his bones and the inferno behind her eyes burning him to a crisp…
…
She darted in close, blade whistling above her bladesong as she wove a web of steel, trying in vain to pierce his hide, desperately fending off his own blade that took slivers from Miló at every touch. Finally, she locked blades with him, each striving to pierce the other's defense, then pushed off, rolling out of his reach, then twirled Miló to hone the tune of her bladesong before joining him anew in their dance of death and steel.
His intensity set her hair on end, his speed and power, astounding, his every move forcing her to dodge or die, his defenses impenetrable, every near miss almost crackling with lightning, his scent setting her heart racing. Why was she so… mesmerized… by the near invisible tells, the flexing of his muscles that betrayed his next move? Why couldn't she stop trembling in his presence, though she could fight at this pace for days? What was this hunger that grew with every near miss as he resisted her bladesong as if she were playing a lullaby?
Suddenly, a tremor she couldn't stop ran through her, his blade snapping upwards, catching the hilt of Miló and sending her twirling out of her reach as his foot slammed down onto hers, locking her in place. Time slowed as his blade swung towards her neck, her hand darting out, fingertips pressing against the flat of his blade, knocking it out of course as she bent like a reed, evading his strike.
She grasped her knuckles in one hand and drove her elbow into his ribs with such force, a crack resounded through nearby trees as a growl rumbled from him. As his blade swung towards her again, she twisted her head from its path, slammed one hand to the inside of his wrist as her other slapped into the back of his hand, knocking the sword from his fingers. Catching the pommel with the back of her hand, she launched it well out of his reach, then rammed a palm thrust into his jaw…
…
Cornering this fox was a worse mistake than he'd bargained for. Even disarmed, the world tilting hum filled the air and threw his every sense into chaos, let alone how much it sapped his strength. Odd, how it also strengthened his inner beast in ways he'd never known, how it did not hunger for victory… only… Her…
In a moment of strangest clarity, he knew what he wanted, and relented with an inward, 'Why not?'
…
What was the matter with her? All she could notice as she pummeled him was how blasted hard his muscles were, how the wind from his right hook seemed to almost kiss her cheek, how, no matter how hard she swung, she just didn't feel she was hitting him hard enough… How that wolfish growl rang through her every bone when she slapped the rib she'd cracked in him, how she relished being like smoke to his grasping hands, despite her trapped foot, that merely gave her better purchase for her own strikes.
Suddenly, she felt his arm snake beneath her armpit, wrapping across her back, his hand grasping the hair behind her skull, then the deep, aching moan that tore from deep within her as he sank his teeth into the base of her neck, and the sound of ripping cloth filled the air…
…
…
…
The warm sun roused her gently from her slumber. Large, strong arms pinned her gently to a broad, warm, muscular chest, a deep, rhythmic breathing keeping all the dangers of the world at bay. Eyes closed, she sought her lover's kiss, lightning crackling through her when she found his soft lips. Suddenly, lightning struck again as she remembered last night!
In a flurry of motion, she wrestled free of his embrace, snatched the largest remnant of what was her shirt to cover herself, tore Miló from where she stuck in the ground and stood, trembling like a leaf as he sat up, still dazed from being roused from sleep and looked at her, uncomprehending.
"St-stay away from me!" she shouted at him, then twirled and fled as fast as her legs could carry her…
…
As her lithe form flitted between the trees and away from him, the memory of last night returned. "…oh."
This didn't happen often, but Beacon Law was very clear on what to do when it does…
"I've a lot work to do…" he groaned as he flopped back to the forest floor. "And I am not looking forward to it…" He laid a palm across his brow. "Not… One… Bit…"
Okay, the whole 'pinned to a tree at the first chance' might not have been as subtle as advertised, but seriously, she was remarkably forward in marking him as her territory in canon. Critique, hatemail, fanmail, and general "I like it, ANOTHER!" can be conveyed to me via reviews. NinjaYacdan signing out until Thursday 8/30/18 and we'll see where this goes.