Chapter 3: Confrontations
"W-WHY!" Yang Screamed. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!"
"Calm down," her mother said, sternly.
"CALM DOWN?! YOU JUST DESTROYED THE WHOLE CITY! YOU KILLED EVERYONE!"
"It had to be done."
"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY JUSTIFY THIS!"
"I have my reasons. You would never understand. You're just as blind as your father."
"I can't believe this!" Yang was beginning to break down. She couldn't handle that her own mother was such a monster.
"Go Yang! Get out of here!"
"NO!" Yang screamed. I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Yang leaped at Raven, activating her semblance.
Foolish girl. Raven blocked her daughters attack with no effort and sent her flying back with a swift strike from her sword. Yang hit the ground but got right back up. She charged a second and third time only to achieve the same results. Raven was quickly growing agitated.
"ENOUGH!" Raven shouted as Yang charged at her for the fourth time in a row. Do you really believe that you can just beat me to death simply because you're angry? No! You have no business in this fight, now leave before I have to hurt you!"
By this time, Yang's aura had been depleted. She slowly got back to her feet with considerable effort. "But why?" Her red eyes were filled with tears.
"I have my reasons."
"Is that what you said when you left me?"
I knew this was coming. "Yes. I had my reasons for leaving you, and I have reasons for destroying this city now."
"Then tell me! Tell me right now because there is nothing that could possibly justify this!" Yang was starting to steady herself again.
"Sometimes bad things have to happen to good people."
"But this?! This is murder! You killed the entire town!"
"You're just like your father. You'll never understand. Leave."
"Yang is that you?" Ben's voice called out through the smoke.
"What!?" Yang called back.
As Ben appeared through the clearing, Raven's head turn directly to him. Her face contoured into a look of disgust, and she charged, without hesitation towards Ben. Yang could only look on as Raven closed the gap and made a diagonal slice down Ben's chest with her katana. His aura shattered upon impact, and blood began to spill out of him. He tried to get to his knees, but Raven kicked him back to the ground.
"No Royal!" she growled. "You die today!"
As Raven lifted her katana to finish Ben off, Yang ran forward in a final effort to save him. Raven was too quick, however. Just as Yang left her feet, Raven turned around and sliced her sword through the air. Yang flew through the air as a portal opened between the mother and daughter. Yang flew through the portal and landed on the grass in the middle of the forrest. Seeing his opportunity, Ben gathered all the strength he had left and leapt passed Raven, into the closing portal. Caught by surprise, Raven swung her sword down to try and stop him, but she missed by inches. "NO!" she screamed as the portal closed. "Damn't Yang! You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into!"
Raven turned to retrieve her mask and leave when she heard a friendly bark from behind her. She turned around to see a big, grey wolf sitting in the road. By the looks of him, the wolf had been there for a while and had probably watched the whole exchange.
"Timber," Raven addressed the wolf.
"Bark!" The wolf replied back.
"I'm not in the mood! In case you didn't see, Ben Royal got away again, and he's now with my daughter who has no clue who he is!"
"Bark!"
"Ok fine, what do you want?"
Raven watched as the wolf stood up and walked a few paces before transforming into a young man that was a just a few years older than her daughter.
Ben landed next to Yang as the portal closed behind him. "Aaarrrgh!" He was still beeding from his wound, and his energy was completely drained.
"Ben!?" Yang cried. "Ben, are you ok?"
"It's fine. I'll live." Ben was beginning to feel light-headed from blood loss.
Yang eyes finally started to adjust to the darkness, allowing her to see Ben's injury. Blood was pouring out of him at a considerable rate. Yang took off her jacket and started tearing it into strips. She then applied pressure to the wound with as much strength she could muster.
"Stay with me Ben! You're going to be alright!"
Timber Grey was about six feet tall and wore black pants and a black jacket that was accented in blue. He also donned a tattered blue cape around his shoulders. His attached to his belt, but his jacket blocked it from view.
He stood a few feet from Raven, staring at the four faunus she had slain before being confronted by Yang. "I've been tracking those four for months then you get to have all the fun of killing them before I even get to pry information out of them. Typical."
"Is that the only reason you're hear? Do you just want to whine about me taking away your kill?"
"I think it's fair to add that you let their leader escape as well."
This annoyed Raven. "Do you think I did that on purpose!? My daughter was being foolish, and I got distracted."
"Oh I know. All I want to know is where they landed."
"I'm not sure about specifics. I had to think quickly. They should be somewhere in the forrest though."
"Well that's not ideal, but it could be worse." Timber turned to leave.
"Wait." Raven almost had a hint of concern in her voice, something Timber had never heard before from the hardened warrior. He was curious what could cause such a change in Raven.
"I thought you didn't want to talk," he said, raising his eyebrow in curiosity.
"Look, that man has my daughter. He may be injured, but he'll recover. We both know he can keep up an innocent victim routine long enough to recover. When he does, he'll kill her, or worse, lead her to his boss. I can't stand the thought of such a weak coward killing my own blood with such honor-less tactics. It sickens me."
"Then what are you suggesting, Raven."
"You don't let him recover. Before I opened the portal I thought about the forrest north of here. If you go that direction, you can catch his scent. You should only be a day behind at most, and once you find him, you get all the information you need and kill him like the rat he is."
"I see this is important to you."
"It is." The look in Raven's eyes was dangerous. She always looked terrifying when angry, but this was something else entirely.
"Come with me."
"I wish I could, but you know the tribe won't allow it. If I go save Yang again, they will denounce me as leader and hunt her down. I'd be signing her death warrant."
"Alright. I'll hunt him down, then bring your daughter to back to you"
"No"
"No?"
"Kill Royal. Then, take Yang to Mistral. Leave her with Qrow."
"Are you sure? You know Qrow. He's..."
"It's for the best." Raven interrupted.
"Ok. I'll let you know when it's done then."
"Thank you."
Timber turned to leave. As he walked through the smoke, he transformed back into a wolf and ran off into the night.
Raven stood there for a moment, collecting her thoughts. Yang, you'll never understand. It's all for the best. I just wish you could understand. You and Tai. She put her mask back over her face and called out for the tribe to return. As the bandits gathered around, she made one final portal, and silently, they all disappeared through it as the city continued to burn.
As Yang placed another strip of cloth over Ben's wound, the blood began to slow. "Stay with me Ben."
"Uuuggghh. Yang," he moaned.
"Yes Ben, what is it?"
"Thank you."
"It's alright Ben. You're going to be ok."
"Yeah."
The blood flow had finally stopped, allowing Yang to finally ease off on the pressure. He's stable. Finally. Yang sat back against a tree, exhausted from all that had happened. As she looked up, she saw that the sun was getting ready to rise. Morning already. I'm tired. Too tired to continue, Yang fell asleep sitting up, and she didn't wake up until sunset the next day.
A/N: So Timber is an OC of mine i've had in my head for a while. I'll give a little backstory in later chapters. Just know he is based on the big bad wolf. Thanks for reading. Message and review if you're so inclined. Thanks.
