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PART I: Covenant
Chapter IV: Team STRQ
"Set the foot down with distrust on the crust of the world - it is thin." Edna St. Vincent Millay
There were few things, Raven decided, that she disliked more than traveling underground. It was cold down here, and damp. Every slope in the cavern ceiling looked precarious, and she had to keep her eyes lowered in order to prevent herself from growing too anxious over it. The thought that there were thousands of tons of rock and earth above her right now…
Well it didn't bear thinking about. At all.
She still did.
She fought her discomfort. She was never a fan of being underground. The only times she was okay with waiting in the back of the Tribe's forces to strike was when their plans involved sewers or underground mountain passes, because there was always too much closed space and—
Raven took a deep breath. Relaxed. Focused on the floor.
It wasn't like they were going too terribly deep. This particular cave barely sloped downward—imperceptible over a short distance, but due to how long they'd been walking Raven estimated they'd descended almost forty feet underground over time.
So it was easy going, but she still didn't like it. And the fact that it was cold, windy and damp was not helping anything.
She supposed it was good that there was water running down the walls. It meant there was an exit somewhere down here, or they would be swimming. And the draftiness of the cave suggested a wind tunnel effect. The fact that there was still a noticeable breeze with the entrance they used blocked meant there were multiple exits. Good and bad news—they had no idea where they were going, but they had a high likelihood of getting out of here without plowing through several tons of rock and a pack of monstrous Grimm.
…Raven made a mental note to set her standards for good news a bit higher.
The cave was just wide enough that everyone had comfortable maneuverability if they walked single-file. Raven had the rear, and Taiyang walked a few steps in front of her with an infuriating sense of calm in his easy gate. Qrow shuffled in front of Taiyang, and Raven was watching him carefully. He woke up…remarkably quickly, for someone as depleted of aura as he had been. It was odd, and Raven was not exactly sure how he was standing. Paradoxically, the longer he was awake the more Qrow seemed to recover. His gait was smoother and he hadn't stumbled in five minutes or swayed in ten.
Summer, her brother's bitchy partner, was a similar case. Raven didn't exactly pay her much attention after she got herself knocked out though, so she had no means of gaging the comparative oddity of that. Judging by the way she incapacitated the blond oaf though, she was fine.
Raven kind of wanted to hate her. She came from money, Raven was sure of it. She had a clipped Atlas accent indicative of a very expensive education, if Raven knew her marks. And she had an attitude about her that set off all of Raven's warning signs. But she also kind of owed her for keeping Qrow alive, so.
The girl in white was walking too far ahead of Raven to really see her shape, even with the white cloak. It was dark down here, and even with her adjusted eyesight she couldn't quite see more than ten feet ahead. It was unfortunate no one thought to bring a torch or a lighter or something.
Up ahead, Summer paused.
"Left," Taiyang suggested. She hesitated for a second more before marking the cave wall with her sword in a few deft strokes.
"Remind me again why we're just following the wind down here?" Raven asked as they pressed on. She knew why, but honestly she was getting a little frustrated. And bored.
"We have no way of knowing where we're going down here," Tai told her patienty. Raven wanted to tell him her internal compass was fine, thank you, but didn't because it wouldn't do to let him in on just how good her navigation skills were. Qrow, likewise, said nothing. "It's going to be better for us to just get out of here and search for an entrance closer to the center of the maze. We think the relics are there because the ruins seem like as good a place to look as any. And since there's a strong draft down here, that means there're at least two more exits."
Raven scowled as the draft blew her hair around her face again. "How long before we give up and start moving rock? We have no idea how extensive this cave system is." That, and going up top at this point would be pretty damn useless. If her internal compass was correct, and it always was, then they were close to the underside of that field the maze was in, about half a mile East of it, if she had to guess. They'd been walking down here for almost an hour now, so that
Qrow surprised her by speaking. "I don't think that'll be a problem. Look at the walls, Rae."
She looked. "I don't see—"
Except she did.
They were straighter, the edges smooth and curved, no longer bulging and wavering around them as they walked. The stone looked more like metal than rock. And it was starting to get more humid down here, and warm, like a greenhouse or—
She looked up and saw the ceiling covered in green ivy.
The maze. They were walking under the maze.
"There're people up ahead," Tai informed them, "about a mile away and they're not moving." Raven didn't miss how everyone seemed to fall into a defensive stance. Summer looked particularly tense, being at the front of the line and therefore the first to come across strangers.
Wait. She could see Summer. Clearly.
"The light," she told them. The darkness lifted so gradually she hadn't even noticed. Taiyang blinked and then gave her a tense grin. She ignored him, and looked up ahead toward the source. It was faint but she could see thin streams of non-directional light fixtures in the corners of the ceiling.
The light became brighter—a faint blue color, and after another ten minutes she could see the tunnel clearly, even if she couldn't exactly see the top panel where the walls were attached.
Up ahead, Summer stopped. Raven craned her head around Qrow and saw why. The relatively level path they'd been walking on declined sharply, closer to ninety degrees than forty-five. It looked more like a slide than anything.
Summer hesitated at the top of the top of the decline, then cocked her head. "Two people?" she asked. Raven realized the question was directed toward Taiyang, and forced down her irritation over that. It took all of ten minutes for Raven to realize Taiyang was almost preternaturally gifted in aura usage. She hadn't asked, obviously, but she suspected it had something to do with his Semblance.
Summer, on the other hand, was clearly very good at aura sensing, albeit on a much more reasonable scale. Raven still couldn't sense anyone, and they had to be pretty close by now.
Aura-sensing was…not her strong suit.
"They still haven't moved." her partner told the other girl, and she nodded before stepping forward to slide carefully down the steep descent. The ceiling once again turned to stone as they went further and further into the earth. It was less nerve-wracking now, though—this was obviously reinforced, and Raven wasn't sure but she had a gut feeling that they were standing on the edge of the maze's center.
Qrow followed, and Raven was glad to see he looked a lot better now. Still tired and a bit haggard, but his face wasn't nearly so drawn and he wasn't so pale. Her idiotic partner had the audacity to wink at her before jumping into a controlled slide, and Raven rolled her eyes before following with much less enthusiasm.
None of them spoke as they descended the chute. Keeping her balance was a bit of a challenge—Summer, being the smallest of them and therefore not quite as affected by gravity, was going a bit too slow for the people behind her, and not running into the rest of them was proving to be a pain in Raven's ass.
She got fed up with it quickly and growled an immoderate "faster," down the line. She saw Summer turn her head slightly, and ignore Raven entirely which, she wouldn't deny, made her more than a little irritated.
But it was only another thirty feet before everything flattened out again. Absentmindedly, Raven brushed herself off and looked around, casting her senses out.
They were in a circular chamber, about fifteen feet between the ground and ceiling and thirty feet in diameter. There were three other entrances in addition to the one Raven and the rest of them just exited. In the center was a raised dais, with a terribly bright light emanating from the center. Raven fought the urge to cover her eyes before they adjusted. Taiyang had no such compunctions and Raven noticed his wince.
The biggest surprise, however, were the two people standing near the dais. Both were boys, and they were standing on the same side of the room as the four of them. One carried a battle axe, and the other was a stag faunus with strangely regal antlers.
The boys turned to the four newcomers and grinned.
"Oh hey, you made it!" Said the bulky one. Raven raised an eyebrow. They clearly recognized at least one member of the group, and it definitely wasn't her, so—
"Er…what were your names again?" Qrow asked, scratching the back of his neck carelessly. Raven knew him well and could see the gesture for what it was—a ruse to put his hand closer to Kismet's hilt.
"Zilar Winchester, and Ardit Baikal," Summer supplied. There was no inflection in her voice but Raven could sense a certain hesitance regardless.
The light from the dais shadowed the boys' faces and made it impossible to tell what they were thinking because both of them had water-tight seals. "Got it in one," the faunus boy chirped cheerfully.
Taiyang stepped forward, equally genial. "I'm Taiyang," he offered, and turned to her expectantly.
She seriously needed to reevaluate her ability to judge people. Becoming this guy's partner was a terrible idea. "Raven Branwen," she muttered, irritated.
"So…Qrow's sister?" The big one asked.
Raven was not used to being introduced as such and this was the second time in one day. She found it irritating. "Twin."
"Cool."
There was an awkward beat where the six of them stared at each other.
"So," Taiyang began, "What're you guys up to?" Something about his tone and countenance made Raven want to hit him.
The faunus boy shrugged. "Well, you know. Getting chased underground by monsters. Trying to collect a relic. That kind of thing."
Another pause.
"...any progress on that front?" Taiyang asked, apparently tired of waiting for them to expand on their own.
The bigger one nodded. "Well we all found the relics, so. That's something I suppose."
"Wait what?" Raven asked, suddenly interested in the otherwise painful conversation. She stalked forward and felt the rest of her party follow close on her heels.
Battle axe pointed to the center of the dais as she approached on his right, and as Raven drew nearer she could see what he meant. The center of the dais was actually…a pit? And it was filled with…rocks?
"What." She asked, because what the hell kind of relics were those?
They were just…rocks. Circular and flat, about the size of her palm, a sleek grey color washed out by the bright blue light. And they obviously were the relics, because there was just no way these things were just coincidentally sitting here when these guys, too, were herded here, and she could feel—
"Woah," Taiyang whispered, and Raven actually looked up at him because it was the first time he actually seemed thrown since she met him…like four or five hours ago? And in that time they'd escaped an electrified maze, traipsed aimlessly through an overgrown forest, were nearly killed by a ridiculously-sized Deathstalker, and travelled an hour underground with no light in an unmarked cave system. He wasn't easily thrown.
Her partner's eyes were blown wide, his mouth hanging open in shock as he stared into the pit, the lights set into the bottom of it throwing his features in sharp relief.
"It's aura-sensitive," the faunus boy on her left explained, and Raven turned to him. The light was throwing interesting shadows on his forehead and the ceiling from his antlers. "At least, that's what we've gathered so far."
Taiyang just nodded dumbly and crouched next to the edge. He raised his right hand, hesitating for a second. There was a flash on the edge of Raven's senses as he gathered his aura in his hand, and then he reached down to close his fist around the nearest stone, otherwise indistinguishable from the rest.
"Wait—!" The faunus boy cried, but it was too late and the blond let out a sharp hiss before rearing back and dropping the stone. He stood slowly, shaking out his hand like it burned.
"A little warning might have been nice," he grouched. Raven approved of irritation in all its forms so she wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiment.
"Sorry," the faunus said sheepishly. "we—ah—we already tried that. I didn't think you would too. Sorry."
Taiyang didn't seem inclined to hold a grudge, and he waved off the apologies distractedly, his attention already diverted to the pit. He walked back up to the edge with significantly more wariness than before. Raven couldn't exactly blame him but also kind of wanted to call him a wuss.
"They're aura-receptive," Taiyang said after a moment. "But for some reason when I tried just now, it rejected my aura and sent the feedback into my hand."
"Oh Tisan, you used your aura just now?" Battle axe asked, wincing in sympathy. "I just tried to grab it."
Raven had to admit, she was glad she wasn't her partner right now, and judging by the way he kept on clenching and unclenching his fist he wasn't so pleased with the situation either. Aura feedback was notoriously painful. Raven experienced it a few times on a raid where she ran into the odd aura-protected room or box or whatever happened to be kind of valuable to someone rudimentarily skilled.
"There are twenty-one stones," Summer stated. Everyone turned to look because, hey, the mute speaks.
"Each pair of partners is probably s'posed to grab one," Qrow observed, his rough, familiar speech an almost comical contrast to Summer's almost delicate annunciation. Or it would be, if it wasn't indicative of so much that Raven would rather not be reminded of, thanks.
Battle axe pouted, and Raven lost any potential respect for him she might have otherwise had. "Someone already figured it out then."
Taiyang hummed distractedly. "Goodwitch did say to recover a relic—with our partners, if I'm not mistaken."
He was right, so Raven didn't correct him, and glared at the glowing pit as if it would just spit out the rock she needed on principle.
It didn't.
She gave a mental sigh, and set her mind to work.
Aura-receptive stones that…reject aura. One stone for each pair of students. What else did the blonde bitch say? Some fluffy nonsense about how much they would need to work with their partners—
"Oh shit."
Summer looked up at Raven's exclamation. She had discovered over the last hour or so that the other girl was basically just a constant source of rumbling irritation on the edge of Summer's senses, with much of it, inexplicably, aimed at Summer herself. The break in her behavior was almost more startling than waking up with Taiyang hovering over her.
Almost. Not quite.
Raven's face was pale, any color she might have had washed out in the cool light. Her red eyes looked purple in the light. She was looking at Taiyang with unmitigated horror, and that raised all kinds of flags in Summer's head, because Raven did not strike her as someone who just let those kinds of emotions show.
"What?" the blonde asked, and for once Summer actually believed he was honestly surprised, "What's wrong?"
Raven was shaking her head in denial and Ardit looked both worried and excited.
"Did you figure it out?" the faunus asked eagerly, and Raven flinched.
"What the hell is wrong Rae?" Qrow asked, obviously bewildered. Raven did not seem to acknowledge him, which indicated nothing but bad news to Summer.
Raven swallowed, five pairs of eyes glued to her face. Summer saw her resolve steel in the tightening of her fists and the settling of her aura.
"I—it's." A deep breath. "They want us to perform synergy with our partners."
The room froze. Summer's mind blanked.
Zilar was the one to break the silence. "What?" The horror on his face was palpable and Summer watched Ardit shift away from his partner unconsciously.
She did not blame him—not when she was doing the same.
"Oh." Taiyang breathed, and once again Summer actually believed he was genuinely horrified.
"That can't be right," Zilar protested, "that—no one just does that with a stranger."
Ardit was tense. "I think—Goodwitch was talking about how we would need to work with our partners. This—this could be what she meant."
Summer could not move, could not make her brain work or think or process. Synergy was…well it was supposed be intimate, an act of trust. It was developed as an augment in battle, for people to use in truly dire situations. It was supposed to be a last-ditch sort of effort, even when performing it between two people who trusted each other. It was…uncomfortable, because for all the added power it was—a person was laid bare to the other, it would be like revealing the center of her soul, and she could not do it, she would not—
"Fuck," Qrow spat, and he stalked to the other side of the room. Summer could not help but be relieved at the added space and backed herself up to the other wall, facing the room so she could see every occupant. Her senses were desperately attuned to their movements, her mind and body instinctively wary in response to her chaotic mix of fear and horror and disgust floating around.
There was a moment of silence, and Raven's uncharacteristically hesitant voice broke through Summer's silent panic.
"I—Qrow and I have—we could switch—"
No, Summer panicked, suddenly filled with nauseating revulsion, no I cannot, I cannot do it, I cannot do it with Taiyang, I—no, I would fail first—
"They're watching, Rae." Qrow told her, his anger aimed more at the situation than anything, but Summer could not contain her flinch in the face of it. "And they marked down who was partnered with who. That's why they were in the maze in the first place."
Summer was shaking hard enough that her cloak vibrated—this was not, this should never—
"Why would they force such a thing," asked Zilar, his voice quiet with bewildered terror.
"To forge a bond," Taiyang spat, and Summer trusted his fury, because how could he be anything else? "They—they're using this to push people together, forge functional teams quicker. It helps iron out the kinks in teamwork a whole lot faster." He looked rightfully furious about it.
And Summer could echo the sentiment because how dare they force something like that. Synergy was supposed to be something used between people who trusted each other implicitly. Something that amplified the participant's abilities to something greater than the sum of their parts. It was supposed to be—not sacred but—honored, respected. This—this cheapened it all.
What kind of place was this, she wondered, where have I come?
And worst of all, it would force Summer to—to trust—to open up to—
Summer did not realize she had wrapped her arms around her torso until her knuckles brushed Luna Cruor's solid hilts. She could not relax her hands enough to grasp them.
"I—" five pairs of eyes snapped to the faunus, but he was only looking at his partner. "I'm willing to—to try. If you are." The tall boy looked away in embarrassment.
No one said anything. Summer could not even fathom speaking.
Zilar did not move, his expression frozen in something unreadable.
Ardit backtracked. "I—sorry—just never mind—"
"Okay."
Ardit looked, quite literally, like a deer caught in the headlights. Summer stared at both of them in disbelief.
There was a second of hesitation, where Summer felt the entire room ask the same question—are they really going to do this?
Then the faunus offered his hand, a thin sheen of blue-grey around it. His aura. It was already activated and his seals down, Summer could feel the riot of emotion in the thin boy—
Zilar took the offered hand with his own, and Summer's senses exploded.
It was like fireworks going off in her head, or gunshots behind her ears. The room buzzed with energy and Summer curled around herself and moaned helplessly at the incandescent beauty of it, too great to witness, something terrible and wonderful all at once. It was more than emotion, it was more than aura, it was something unlike anything she had ever experienced. The light at the center of the pit grew so bright as to be blinding—Summer could sense the difference even with her eyes closed and covered by her hood.
The world hung still for a suffocating minute and then—it was over.
Summer looked up, hesitantly, still cowering under the hood of her cloak. Ardit and Zilar stood next to each other, uncomfortable but with a palpable sense of wonder and relief around them. Both were staring at the glowing stone in Ardit's hand.
"Hope?" Zilar asked after a moment. Ardit shrugged, equally confused.
"What?" Raven queried. It would seem she was somewhat recovered from her initial disgust.
"It's on the underside of the stone." Zilar supplied. Well at least that explained where the light was coming from.
They were still for a minute, and then by unspoken agreement the two of them made their way to one of the exits.
"It's not hard to get out this way," Zilar explained to the remaining students. Ardit seemed disinclined to speak, and Summer did not blame him. "I don't know about wherever you guys came from but. Yeah."
Ardit seemed eager to get away, and did not acknowledge them as he began climbing up a slope as steep as the one they descended to get here. Then Zilar followed him and the chamber descended once again to silence.
Well, silence, and Qrow's pacing. Summer watched him go back and forth along the wall like a caged animal, and could not muster the energy to care overmuch.
Taiyang sighed, breaking the tension. "Well at least we know it works," he told Raven. She pinned him with a look that could kill Grimm in response.
"That makes it all better, doesn't it," she snarked, but even Summer could tell her heart wasn't really in it, that she was mostly just nervous. Summer would be too if she was being forced to do this with Taiyang of all people. She barely trusted him enough to turn her back to him, let alone with—
"Well at least it makes it worth it," Taiyang responded, his gaze steady. Summer did not dare to move. She felt it the moment Raven acquiesced and it made her gut twinge with nausea.
"Raven," Qrow protested, and she glared at him.
"We don't have a choice," she snapped, and Qrow scowled but made no further remarks.
How can they—why are they just—
Taiyang offered his hand, and it glowed with a warm gold. Raven hesitated a moment more before reaching out to take it.
This time, Summer shut down her aura-sensing as best she could. She wanted to watch, to see what happened with her eyes instead of her soul. She had no desire to witness either of their souls on display, she did not want to know either of them that way, she was too raw from Ardit and Zilar—
She could not ignore that sense completely, of course—Raven and Taiyang's synergy felt more…subtle, than Ardit and Zilar's. Where the previous pair felt more like an explosion in her temples, Summer felt Taiyang and Raven deep in her chest, a low rumbling of opposing forces. It was less overwhelming too, although Summer chalked that up to her attempts to cordon herself off from the rest of the world.
As it turned out, it was not the light at the bottom of the pit that brightened, but a single stone. At the very edge of the pit, the side closest to Summer, one of the flat grey disks glowed a bright, brilliant white that cut through the blue of the pit. It was also at the location farthest from Raven and Taiyang.
It seemed like it took too long for the two of them to notice. Both had an expression of subtle awe in their features, their eyes blown wide as they each looked at each other and at nothing at all. As one they began moving toward Summer, toward the glowing stone that they were sent to collect.
Summer, for her part, watched in morbid fascination, and curled tighter around herself as they drew nearer. She did not understand how they could do this, how they could just open themselves so callously to a veritable stranger. How they could appear as though it was anything other than a perversion of what this act was meant to be.
Eventually, they reached the stone, and Taiyang bent down to pull it from the pit. As he stood he held it delicately, with the pads of his fingers, as if he were afraid of it.
Then they dropped their hands, another unspoken agreement, and the stone did not glow so blindingly bright anymore. It retained a subtle hue of white but Summer could look at it without covering her eyes now.
No one spoke.
No one had to.
Raven's right hand slipped to her sword. "Let's go." She ordered, and stalked toward the exit Ardit and Zilar used just a few minutes ago. She put up a good front but Summer could sense she was deeply unsettled. Taiyang, pale, shaking, looking nauseous, was seemingly in complete agreement with her and followed without saying a word.
Something deep and anxious settled behind Summer's sternum as they made their way out.
Panic, she realized, and clutched at her chest.
She felt a pressure on her bladder and internally bemoaned the indignity of it—her fear was pungent in her mouth, and she could not feel the earth beneath her feet or the soft fabric of her cloak. There was only the fear, the silk of her anxiety as it spread through her and locked her joints and muscles and—and—
She did not realize her breathing was quicker than normal until her vision began to get fuzzy around the edges. She fought to control herself—and in an inspired fit of anxiety she cast her senses about to find Qrow—she could not let him get near her, she could not—
He was no longer pacing. He was standing quite still on the opposite side of the room. His attention was…on her.
The distance allowed her to relax. The attention made her tense. He was not going to—to force her to—at least not yet—
She took a deep, shaky breath through her nose. She released it harshly through her mouth. Repeat.
She noticed her position, finally, after two more unsteady breaths. Somewhere in the course of the last ten minutes Summer managed to curl herself into the corner between the wall and floor. Something akin to shame filled her, because she should be so much better than this by now, but she could not muster enough energy to move. Not—not right now.
Qrow seemed to realize she was calming down, at least externally. He moved away from the wall and started walking toward her with slow, deliberate steps. Summer squeezed herself into the wall in response. Qrow huffed a frustrated breath, and stopped a few steps in front of the pit. Summer turned her head slightly to watch him, one eye peeking out from under the hood.
"You know we have no choice, right?" he asked after a moment. His voice was quiet, but steady and solid.
"No." she responded, and she was surprised by the raspy quality of her own voice.
Qrow frowned. "Look, I know you don't trust me—"
"I cannot." She interrupted, because how could she trust him at all after only a few hours? He had yet to do something to earn her scorn but—but—
For some reason her response made his whole countenance soften. He started toward her again, and this time, for some inexplicable reason, she did not feel so threatened by it.
He came within a few steps of her, and Summer was about to move away because too close, height advantage, when he crouched down. His face was shadowed by the pit behind him but she could see the relaxed line of his shoulder and knew he was not going to move any closer.
"What're you gonna do if we don't do this?" he asked reasonably. And it was a reasonable question because if they did not do this they would likely not be allowed to enter Beacon, and if she was not enrolled in Beacon she would—she would—
In her mind's eye she saw the clean white uniforms of the General's Specialists, their ominous marches through snow-covered fields and macabre exercises on grotesque, faunus-shaped dolls. She flinched.
"I've got to," he told her. "I have no choice." His voice was soft and determined.
She shook her head. "I—I need this."
He nodded like he understood, and offered her his hand. There was no aura coating it—he was just helping her to stand.
Summer still did not take his hand.
"I—" she swallowed. Shook her head in denial.
"I'll never ask you again," he promised, and he shifted so his eyes were visible to her past the brightness of the light. "Not unless you trust me."
And to her astonishment, he unlocked his seals just enough to let her know he meant it.
She could not go back. She could not otherwise move forward. Like usual, Summer simply had to move through.
She took his hand. He pulled her up with minimal force and she uncurled from her cramped position against the wall.
She stood without tipping on her shaky legs. She felt desperate suddenly, the pressure on her bladder there again, the urge to run strong in her heart and the twitching of her free hand.
I must, she told herself, I must, I must.
There was no choice. Not one she could live with, at any rate.
Qrow did not drop her hand, and she was grateful for the fingerless gloves she wore—she was too overwhelmed right now for so much skin-to-skin contact.
Carefully, with a strong sense of dread hanging about them, they walked to the edge of the pit. She turned toward Qrow, lowered her hood to look him in the eye, and with the shakiest of nods, told him she was ready.
Synergy was always meant to be something used in battle—to amplify aura, to increase a sensing range to truly incredible distances, to multiply strength by factors unique to the participants. Someone fast could become faster, someone injured could receive aura. It was developed by active Hunter partners, people who could not otherwise ask for help on missions. Traditionally, doing it with anyone who was not one's partner was considered a betrayal of sorts. Since the war that had changed, but people did it mostly out of necessity, and even then, sometimes a loss was considered preferable.
It was something intimate, her teacher always told her, it was something shared with only those you trust.
Summer never thought she would experience it.
Qrow unlocked his seals first, his hand wrapped in a dark red aura that tickled her skin. Summer took a deep breath and—
All she saw was red, blood and fire and violence and pain, an endless push for survival one day to the next, second to second, anger, so much anger, at injustice at hate at pain inflicted on himself and others, a child cowering in fear of himself and the world around him, a protective sister with raven hair and red eyes who she lovedhatedenvied so much, a cruel name, ash in her mouth, sharp blades along her skin and deathdeathdeathpain, get out get out get out—
Instinctively she called on her own aura—ice was a balm to fire, and the feeling as it coalesced between them was—indescribable.
It was cooling and excising, tempered steel and flight, she could not breathe as she sensed violence but temperance and all the stars in the sky. It was this resplendent, glowing thing, a product of opposing forces and beauty in ugliness and so many things Summer could not name, and it glowed between them with the force of suns.
She opened her eyes—when did they close?—and the world looked different. Angles were sharper and shadows deeper and light more brilliant and colors more vibrant. Qrow's eyes veritably glowed with blood and violence and for the moment it did not scare her, because she could feel the terrible ache of his regret and ever-pulsing push to survive that so matched her own.
Slowly, as if waking from a dream or rising from a deep sea, she remembered why they were doing this at all. As one, the two of them turned toward the pit, and Summer had to wonder how anyone battled like this—with the world so different and so many feelings not one's own.
Practice, her mind supplied, but it was not her mind but theirs, it was both of them, it rose between them because there was no place where one ended and the other began, it was simply existence in the way all things did.
One flat disk in the very center of the pit called to them, its light bright and unique among the relics, a star among purest form. Their mind urged her to descend into the pit, and he lifted her gently down the two-foot drop.
Careful, their mind admonished, and it was not really a thought as her body picked its way across the pit. They could not touch the other stones—that way lay pain—and a memory of aura feedback flooded them. They could not tell from which of them it came.
Her fingers lifted the glowing stone gingerly, and they were surprised when the bottom of the pit proved itself soft. Daintily her body wove between the stones, his hand supporting hers all the while, and he lifted her back to the top when she drew close enough.
Too long, their mind said, too long.
Simultaneously their hands released and—
Summer came back to herself with a gasp, shaking, the glowing disk in her left palm. She backed away from Qrow like she was afraid of a blow and she was because never in her wildest dreams did she expect that.
She kept moving until she hit a wall and she heard Qrow swear behind her but she did not care, she could not, because there was a twisting riot in her stomach and in her mind and she was breathing too quickly again and—
Summer locked her seals as tightly as she could, shutting down all awareness of the world outside herself. It was a temporary measure, just until she could breathe again.
One beat. Two. In. Out.
"Did you see—" she gasped, shaken, "what I—"
Qrow did not speak, and that was an answer in itself.
"I have not—I have never done this before."
She did not see him nod—her eyes were screwed shut—but she got the sense he did. "I know. Sorry."
It was five more seconds before her breathing evened out a little. She stood from the wall, refusing to cower away from this again, and suddenly embarrassed by her own behavior. It was not Qrow's fault that this was overwhelming her, that this was—that something like this was so terrible for her. And after something like that, it was…cruel of her, to treat him as such a burden. Especially after he made it as easy as possible for her.
"I apologize," she whispered, making sure to look Qrow in the eye.
He did not acknowledge her apology, but Summer got the sense he accepted it anyway—or at least did not hold her fear against her. "What does the rock say?"
Summer stared in confusion for a moment before remembering—the relics had words carved into them.
Carefully, she turned it over in her palm. It did not burn her, but she wondered what would happen if she gave it to Qrow. She would not be testing it.
The script on the relic was blocky, almost childish. But it was clear and easy enough to read for all the glowing light it emitted.
"Endure," she told him, her voice almost reverentially quiet and for some reason she was unsurprised. "It says endure."
Qrow's hands were shoved in his pockets as he grumpily made his way into Beacon's auditorium. Summer was a quiet shadow behind him, her cloak whispering against the ground and her normally reserved presence anxious.
Not that I can blame her, he thought rather vindictively. Not after the things he saw. And he knew from Raven's testimony that he was not an easy person to perform a synergy with, and that was coming from his own twin sister, so.
The headmaster of this stupid school was standing in the middle of the auditorium, sipping coffee and looking intently at a scroll. The bleachers were nearly filled with people, and Qrow assumed most of them were upperclassmen and faculty, come to watch the commencement ceremony for the new class.
Fuck them all, he thought angrily, and three quarters of the people in the auditorium turned their attention to Qrow. For a second he thought about cussing them all out mentally just to bug them, but cut himself short when he noticed Summer clam up and Raven, sitting near the front, was giving him a Look.
He gave a mental sigh, and let it go. Summer had calmed down considerably since the cave but she still seemed skittish, and maybe it was a result of their recent synergy but he was having an easier time reading her and honestly her nervousness was a little distracting.
Goodwitch approached them, her heels sharp against the stone floor and her bearing direct. It was the first time she came close enough for him to really observe her and immediately he realized she was younger than he'd thought. Probably only a few years older than him, actually. Mid-twenties, max. Her green eyes narrowed on Summer, who was outwardly about the same as always—the hood certainly helped in that regard.
"The relic?" She asked bluntly, holding out her hand. Summer gave her the stone carefully, like she was afraid to drop it. Goodwitch read the back, made a note on her clipboard, and gestured to the still-empty section Raven and Taiyang were seated in.
"I applaud your efforts, Mr. Branwen, Ms. Rose." There was a note of warmth and sympathy there that Qrow wasn't really sure what to do with. "Please take a seat—the other students should finish soon."
Qrow gave her a perfunctory nod—she may have been the messenger but Qrow knew that Ozpin was the one who actually concocted that absurd scavenger hunt—and moved toward his sister.
Raven gave him a speculative look as he approached, and because she was his twin he could tell there was a note of concern in her eyes. He waved it off by not acknowledging it.
"You guys made it," Taiyang greeted, and behind him Summer stiffened in suspicion, her tightened aura brushing against his senses.
Qrow had to agree with the sentiment. That Deathstalker took him by surprise back in the forest, and his aura broke. He had to keep fighting after that because Summer nearly got herself killed saving him, and then they ran for their lives for forty minutes without a break. He knew exactly where his aura levels were when Raven and Taiyang found them in the forest. Hell, he passed out. He woke up after ten minutes. He should only be waking up around now, for crying out loud.
Not to mention Summer was injured at the very end, and he knew her aura levels had been too low to really heal herself from a serious injury. She was knocked unconscious, he was dead to the world, and for at least a little while, Raven took off to explore the cave. That left one, rather glaring answer.
Taiyang did something. Qrow wasn't sure what, but he did.
He realized it about ten minutes into their walk in the cave. His head was a little clearer by then, and the only reason he didn't immediately call him out on it was the fact that Taiyang hadn't seemed to hurt them, at least not obviously, and he was proving himself an asset to the group.
Qrow still had every intention of confronting him, but…timing. Plus, Raven was his partner and therefore Qrow had to play nice. Otherwise he could make things tense for his sister.
He took a seat next to Raven and Summer sat delicately beside him.
"Of course they made it," A familiar voice said behind him. Qrow half turned just to have an eye on him, but his senses already told him who it was. Ardit looked a lot more comfortable than he had right after he and Zilar grabbed their relic. His partner sat beside him easily, with a familiar air about him.
Qrow was simultaneously impressed and disgusted—not at his fellow students, but at the situation in general. Yeah, they were all going to work with their partners better than they might have otherwise, but they still forced them into…that.
The scythe-wielder barely suppressed a shudder as a faint memory of ice and terror swept across his mind.
Just figured that he got partnered with the one person with a childhood almost as fucked up as his and Raven's. Or maybe more, if he was interpreting some of her memories correctly.
He didn't dwell on it too much. Forcing them into performing a synergy was a heinous perversion anyway. Qrow refused to try and pick the experience apart after the fact. Felt like an invasion of privacy otherwise.
Four more people entered the auditorium. Goodwitch went to greet them as she had earlier.
"Sixteen," Raven muttered under her breath, and Qrow nodded. Not many groups left.
They didn't have to wait long for the last few groups to stumble in. They all looked some degree of scared, shaken or angry, and Qrow could understand why. He passed the time glaring at Ozpin, alternatively imagining slicing him in half and blowing his head off. The old creep must have noticed, unless he was unaccountably incompetent, but he made no acknowledgment of it except the occasional twitch of a knowing smile.
After the last group stumbled in, Ozpin and Goodwitch had a hushed conversation. Qrow watched them, begrudgingly curious. Ozpin gave a short nod and handed Goodwitch the scroll before stepping forward to face the crowd. Immediately a hush fell over the audience.
"I would like to start," Ozpin told them, his voice grave, "with an apology."
No one spoke, but Qrow felt the straining, simmering anger of his fellow classmates tighten in a collective force. A hot flash of fury rose from beside him before Summer reigned it in. Ozpin was undaunted.
"In order to sort you into compatible teams, we forced you all to use a technique usually reserved for people who are truly close to one another. I forced you into doing so with a stranger, and for that I sincerely apologize."
There was no forgiveness to be found in the crowd. Most especially not in himself.
"Some of you undoubtedly speculated that this was a heavy-handed attempt to accelerate team-bonding. This is not the case, and as long as I am headmaster, Beacon will never resort to such crass methods of team-building. In truth, the relics we use," Ozpin continued, apparently knowing he had yet to win the students over, "respond to synergistic energy signatures only. If we had items which did not require such a thing, I would never have asked it of you. I can only promise that I will never ask you to do that again for any part of your Beacon curriculum."
There was such sincerity in his voice, such obvious regret and honesty, that a good third of the students relaxed, seemingly forgiving him. Ardit and Zilar did. So did Taiyang, and bizarrely even Raven softened a bit. Summer, he noticed, just grew tenser in response.
"The relics are dust-infused and aura-receptive, so they responded individually to the word that best reflects the acting partners' most dominant shared quality. Each relic has a mate, and it is in this way that we will match you into teams." The headmaster gave a wry smile. "I promise you all—compatibility between teammates is going to be one of the things that defines your time here at Beacon most strongly, and indeed your careers as Hunters. The ordeal you experienced today in your initiation will be worth it for a positive team experience, I assure you."
Goodwitch stepped forward and returned the scroll. He nodded his thanks, and turned back to the students.
"Now I will call you all by name, and sort you into teams. When your name is called, please come down to the floor of the auditorium. Professor Goodwitch will then show you to your rooms." Then Ozpin cleared his throat and started listing off names.
He was a good two-thirds of the way through the teams when he finally called some names Qrow recognized. "Ferro Savage, Rust Remmington, Ardit Baikal and Zilar Winchester, please come down."
The two men behind him stood awkwardly, and made their way through the packed stands with an unfortunate lack of grace. Two people in the very first row also stood, and were waiting patiently near Ozpin when Zilar and Ardit finally got down there.
The strangers were interesting. One was the dark-skinned girl asking all the questions earlier that day, with the orange-gold eyes. She was wearing a long, dark green and grey dress that cut off around her knee and had slits up the sides, probably to allow for free movement. She wore black leggings underneath and her long brown hair was pulled back in a tight braid. Her weapon—weapons, he corrected, were strapped to either side, and Qrow couldn't tell what they were from here.
Her partner was a man with dark red hair and average height and build. He was dressed in a steel-grey sweater and black pants. A glaive was strapped to his back, and looking closer Qrow could tell it was a mech-shift of some kind.
Probably a gun, he mused. Everybody liked guns.
"The four of you retrieved the 'hope' relics. From this day forward you will be known as Team Zaffer, led by Zilar Winchester." Ozpin smiled at the four of them warmly, and both pairs of partners looked at each other with open curiosity. Zilar himself looked floored. Goodwitch ushered them offstage quickly, and Ozpin called another set of names.
Five more teams were called by the time Ozpin read his and Summer's names, and by then the first-year section of the bleachers were close to empty.
"Raven Branwen, Qrow Branwen, Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao-Long. Please come down."
The four of them froze, and Qrow fought the urge to place himself bodily between Taiyang and Summer.
Damn synergy. It was throwing everything off.
He'd expected this, he reminded himself. Back in the maze. He expected to be paired with Raven and whoever her partner was.
He just hadn't counted on her partner being as suspicious as he was.
It was fine. Or it was going to be, at any rate.
He and Raven stood first, and Summer followed. Made sense—she had to get up for the rest of them to leave.
They had a far easier time of it than Ardit and Zilar—mostly due to the fact that the stands were largely empty by now. There were only three teams left to sort.
When they made it to the floor of the auditorium, they lined up with Summer on Qrow's right and Raven and Taiyang on his left. Ozpin threw their likeness on the screen, and gave his benediction. "The four of you retrieved the 'endure' relics. From this day forward you will be known as Team Stark, led by Summer Rose." Qrow felt Summer freeze beside him in obvious shock. Ozpin gave them a quick grin that he had not bestowed on any of the previous teams. "Between you and me, I always look forward to witnessing the growth of the team that reflects this particular trait. It is almost always interesting."
Summer was, apparently, just as surprised as the rest of them.
She threw her hood back and stepped forward. "Professor, I do not think I should be—"
"Give it a try, Ms. Rose." Ozpin interrupted, his gaze warm and his stance confident. "You may just surprise yourself."
Qrow allowed Goodwitch to usher them off-stage. Why in all of Remnant would he pick Summer as team leader? Qrow liked her in general, despite her obvious issues and oddities, but she was deeply reserved, and didn't seem to like…anyone, really. And she was actively afraid of at least one of her teammates. Not that he thought he himself should be leader—Qrow had enough perspective on life in general to know that was a terrible idea—but maybe Raven—
Okay no, that was also a terrible idea. Raven was too petty, if Qrow was being frank, and she tended to have an ego problem. Also a tendency to micro-manage. She looked openly mutinous and downright jealous of Summer at the moment. And Taiyang—
Qrow eyed the studied expression of good natured surprise and felt the inconspicuously good-natured projection of his aura that was so out of place considering the circumstances, and oh yeah, that's why he couldn't be the leader.
Huh. Well Ozpin was right about one thing—this should be interesting. At least, it would be if Ozpin's definition of "interesting" included attempted homicide.
Hey guys, sorry this was a bit late. Midterms are a bitch. This is probably riddled with errors but I kind of want to put it up now so I don't have to worry about it later. I may make changes as I have time, but yeah. If you see any glaring mistakes point them out.
I admit I am...really not sure about this chapter. I was going to go a completely different direction, but. Yeah.
For those of you who are terribly confused about why everyone's freaking out about privacy, I have a head canon that there are a whole myriad of cultural taboos around sharing information about one's Semblance in Remnant as a whole, with some places being more strict about it than others. Atlas is notably stricter about this than other regions.
This of course leads into Summer's rather intense overreaction to the whole situation she found herself in. She's already a private and reserved person, but if I had a nightmare generator handy, that might literally be one of the first things that popped out for Summer-trusting a stranger in literally any capacity. So forgive her, synergy is an unnerving experience.
Speaking of, I'm pretty much done with complicating the premise of aura and how it's used. No more surprises or weird new ~supernatural abilities~, for a while at least. Now the characters get to work within the bounds of their constraints. Woo.
Summer's Dual Swords have been named. It's still in Latin. Luna Cruor, which should roughly translate to Moon Blood, as in the gore of a kill. In plain English, cruor is the word describing the part of blood that clots. It works both ways, in Summer's case.
Tisan is the Eastern Sanusian god of mercy/redemption/salvation. I kind of doubt his story is going to make it into the fic, but we'll see.
Zilar is Cardin's father. And Team ZAFR is my answer to Team JNPR. If you guys figure out what their theme is, let me know, I want to see if it's too easy to catch or not.
In other news, I have discovered Raven is a sassy bitch. I kind of love her for it.
While reading this, keep in mind that the characters do not know everything and there are machinations happening behind the scenes.
Let me know what you think! And especially let me know if you see any mistakes I should take care of!
