"Yield."
Rhea threw the fragmented blade to the ground in front of Raven, turning away from her fallen mother and facing the Tribe, her smirk falling into a light glare as she examined each and every person carefully. When she was satisfied, she lowered her guard and folded her hands behind her back, her eyes narrowed.
"Ladies, gentlemen... Step forward, state your name and age, give a brief description of your backstory and fighting-style, and state whether you wish to stay in this Tribe under me or depart and try to make your own living." Rhea's eyes darkened slightly, her brow furrowing. "Either way... Your lives are about to change, forever."
"... Hail, High Leader Branwen!" A man shouted, slamming his fist onto his chest and bowing. All of the other bandits did this as well, and Rhea's smirk grew as they began walking up to her, obeying her first order.
"Okay, then."
Some unknown amount of time later, Rhea walked through a forest of red, looking around. She seemed anxious, excited even, a small smile on her face as she searched for something.
She wore a shallow-cut black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of black beads hanging haphazardly around her neck, a dark-blue girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. Over these gauntlets rested her silver bracelets, and an object that looked to be made from black feathers hung from the right side of her skirt. She also wore detached black leggings with a dark-blue splatter pattern, and black leather boots beneath them. On the left side of her belt, her sheath for her blades hung ready with a new companion - a large Grimm-mask with blue detailing.
She appeared to have added some dark-blue highlights to her feathery black hair, which was held back slightly by a dark-blue bandanna that peered out from under her hair, and she was wearing black mascara and eyeliner with a touch of black eyeshadow.
She looked like Raven. A lot like Raven, really.
Rhea heard noises nearby, gunshots, and she listened for a moment before grinning and running towards them. She knew the sound of that gun. She'd helped to forge it, after all. Rhea turned at the entrance of a clearing, and...
"Excellent work, Blake." Adam nodded, lowering Blush as a young Blake Belladonna lowered her weapon. Two targets were set up in the clearing, and the two were practicing. Rhea quickly hid behind a tree, her eyes wide as she peeked out from behind it to watch the two.
She had never really met Blake before, only observed her and heard Adam's stories, and Rhea was curious as to who and what the girl was growing into under his tutelage. She seemed to be Rhea's age, and she wore a bow on her head. Rhea assumed that it covered her animal trait. Rhea's eyes went to the target, and she nodded at what she saw. Impressive. Adam had trained her well.
Rhea's eyes returned to Adam, and she noticed that he was wearing the ornate Grimm-mask that Raven had made for him. It didn't cover his whole face, as a mask that size would have probably hidden his horns. Adam would never, under any circumstance, hide his species. He was proud, and Rhea encouraged him... Rhea vaguely wondered why Adam had let Blake hide her animal trait (probably ears). She'd ask when she could.
"So." Blake turned to Adam, sheathing her weapon and crossing her arms. The girl was frowning, and Rhea's eyes narrowed slightly. Why did she seem uneasy, upset? "What do you think?"
"Of what?"
"Adam Taurus, Leader of Vale's White Fang."
Rhea's heart stopped. Sure, it had been some time since she and Adam had parted and he had returned to the White Fang, but she didn't think that he would be promoted that quickly...
"I'm going to do what's best for our kind." Adam turned away from Blake, giving a small smirk. "It's time to light the fires of revolution... And burn mankind to the ground."
Rhea's eyes widened, and she pulled away from the tree, taking a step back from the clearing and raising a hand to her mouth to stifle a cry as her sapphire-blue eyes teared up.
An hour later, Blake had left the clearing, and Adam was looking around one last time. His masked eyes fell on a figure standing just outside of the treeline.
Rhea stood there, her hair waving slightly in the wind, gazing at Adam forlornly. She drew something, a large blue and white Grimm-mask, from behind her and raised it to her face. It molded perfectly to her features, staying on her face without anything holding it there as she lowered her hand.
Adam stared at her, stunned, as she turned away, towards the forest, drawing her dark-blue blade and slashing a blue vortex into the air. She walked through it and vanished without looking back.
Adam gazed at the spot for a moment, then clenched his fists at his sides, nodded, and turned away, heading back towards the White Fang camp.
He didn't notice three figures, one in red and one in green and one in grey, watching him from the trees.
"A Branwen."
"Branwen?! Ma'am, was that-?!"
"No, it wasn't. Interesting..."
"Our plan will be beneficial for both of us... Or one of us."
Rhea reappeared in her tent and immedietly threw her mask aside and ran over to her bed, falling to her knees and folding her arms on her bed and resting her head on them, beginning to sob. She hadn't cried that hard in forever, and the last time she had...
"Hey, hey. It's okay, Rhea. It's all going to be okay."
"S-she's never hit me, before! Why-?!"
"I don't know. But you don't have to worry... I'm going to look out for you, from now on. I won't let her hurt you, not without going through me. I promise."
"A-Adam-"
"I promise."
Rhea sniffed, snuggling her head further into her arms, feeling the ghost of Adam's arms around her despite herself, tears streaming down her face.
"N-never again..." She hissed softly to herself, her eyes clenching shut as her fists closed around her blankets. "I-I will never trust anyone, e-ever again... To Hell w-with Adam... T-to Hell with R-Raven... To H-Hell with the world..."
/\/\/\/\
Less Than Two Years Later
/\/\/\/\
Rhea stepped back, her eyes widening in fear as she drew her ice-Dust blade, the tribesmen beginning to close in. She managed to calm herself a little and take a deep breath, then she looked up, glaring.
"If this is the way it must be, then so be it." She announced, then all of the bandits suddenly charged. Rhea quickly stabbed her blade into the ground, a circle of icy spikes rising from the ground and impaling those on the front-lines due to their weaker aura and the others pressing on them.
"Now, she kills her people!" Raven shouted, keeping the anger flowing. "She cannot be allowed mercy!" Rhea looked up, glaring, then stabbed the blade into the ground several times, a pillar of ice rising with her standing on top. She looked down at her attackers, getting ahold of herself, then she glared and put her ice-Dust blade away, drawing a crimson blade of fire-Dust as her eyes turned violet.
"Section Three under the Tribal Codes for Combat... Do not allow mercy to those who would not allow mercy towards you." Rhea looked up, her eyes glinting as they turned blood-red. "Or even those who would."
"Incoming!" Raven warned, and Rhea plunged the crimson blade into the ice, an explosion of steam erupting and shrouding most of the Tribe in steam. Raven looked around, her eyes narrowed as she heard the slicing of blades and the screams of men and women, the thuds as bodies struck the ground. Raven drew a green blade of wind-Dust and swiped it, sending out a powerful gust of air that cleared the steam.
Among piles of unconcious men and women was Rhea, her eyes narrowed as she sheathed a blade. Raven's eyes narrowed further as she sheathed her own blade, the two remaining silent. Then...
"So, am I supposed to take this as you throwing a fit?" Rhea gave a light smirk, rolling her eyes. "Really, Mother - remind me who the teenager is."
"I told you what affect saving Yang Xiao-Long's arm ALONE would have on the future. What you did tonight was-!"
"More irresponsible than saving her life, on that train?" Rhea asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mother, Mother - what a hypocrite."
"Do not call me Mother, traitor."
"Traitor? Really?"
"By saving your sister, killing that dragon, and giving all of that information to those people - you may have thrown the future into chaos, and you knew that! You're a traitor to your tribe, and you're a traitor to mankind as a whole!"
"... I'm not a traitor to my sister." Rhea stood up straight. "Or all of the people I saved by killing that monster." Rhea placed her hand on her hilt. "... Your move, Raven."
"... Very well." Raven nodded, placing her hand on the hilt of her own blade. All was silent for another moment, then Raven drew a blade and Rhea drew her ice-Dust blade to challenge it... Only for the blade to be shattered upon contact.
Rhea yelped, taking a hit with her aura and being sent flying back, rolling across the ground and coming to a stop - laying on her back. Her right hand clutched her hilt as her eyes drifted up, her eyes widening as she saw that Raven was holding a blade of pure Hardsteel.
"What..?" Rhea looked up at her mother, stunned. Raven slowly smirked, chuckling.
"Rhea, Rhea..." Raven walked over, placing a foot on Rhea's stomach and raising her blade. Rhea's eyes flashed with fear, and Raven's eyes narrowed as her smirk grew. "You're so predictable."
"Mother- AH!" Rhea yelped as she was stabbed right in the stomach, Raven twisting the blade as Rhea continued to let out cries of pain. Raven removed the blade and stepped off of Rhea, the girl laying still for a moment before rolling over and forcing herself onto her hands and knees, her head bowed.
"Hmm." As she sheathed her blade, Raven could hear her daughter's deep, ragged breaths, then Rhea chuckled weakly as she stood and turned to her mother. "So, you can still stand?"
"You..." Rhea released the remains of her ice-Dust blade, letting it fall to the ground before she placed her hilt onto her sheath and readied to draw a new blade. Rhea looked up, smirking weakly as blood dribbled from her lips, a wild look in her eyes as she drew her blade of fire-Dust. "Are going to have to do better than that."
"... Alright." Raven smirked, then she drew a purple blade of gravity-Dust. Before Rhea could react, Raven slashed it in the air above her daughter, releasing a wave of purple energy, and Rhea was suddenly forced to her knees as gravity came crashing down on her. Rhea's back arched backwards, the girl crying out, and Raven smirked as she drew her blade of Hardsteel once more. "Is that better, Rhea?"
"AH!" Rhea screamed in pain as Raven delivered several powerful strikes to her chest and abdomen, her dark-blue aura shattering halfway through. Five long, deep, bloody gashes were carved into Rhea's body. An X across her chest, an X with a line going down the middle at a horizontal on her stomach.
Rhea fell to the ground, wheezing for breath and closing her eyes, curling up slightly as small, choked sobs escaped her. Raven scoffed, walking over and kicking the girl's back, the girl yelping in pain as she was forced to roll onto her stomach. Raven glared then slashed and created yet another X going across Rhea's shoulders, the girl yelping again before falling still, too weak to move at all.
Raven gave a light smirk as she flicked the blood from her blade, grabbing the girl by the hair and lifting her up, her feet losing contact with the ground, the girl looking up at her mother weakly. She tried to raise her blade, but it was all she could do to hold onto it. Raven gave a small chuckle, shaking her head.
"The weak die, and the strong survive. No exceptions." Raven announced, almost-gleeful. Rhea closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then muttered something. Raven's eyes narrowed slightly. "What was that?"
"I-I said..." Rhea looked up, giving a weak smirk. "You shouldn't have taught me how to hold a small amount of aura in reserve, Raven..." Rhea's eyes turned crimson. "And you REALLY shouldn't have kicked me." Rhea suddenly kneed her mother in the stomach, the woman dropping her daughter in surprise.
Rhea scrambled to her feet, gripping her stomach and backing away as Raven looked up, growling in rage. Rhea's expression flashed with fear, the girl sheathing her Fire-Dust blade, and she looked around at the Tribe as its members began to recover and close in on her. Her eyes darted around, her heart pounding in her chest, then she yelled as she drew a turquoise blade and stabbed the ground, a shockwave going out.
A weak, flickering turquoise, black, and teal swirling portal formed beneath the kneeling girl, who looked up at her mother with wide eyes one last time before her eyes narrowed, the bond between them finally severed completely and the last support of the bridge between mother and daughter burned, sending the structure falling into the abyss of distrust and hate. Rhea fell into the vortex, vanishing into the night, and Raven glared after her, then sighed as she sheathed her blade.
"... From this day forth, Rhea Branwen shall be exiled from the Tribal Territories and cast out." The Bandit Queen announced, clenching her fists as her fellows glared at the place where Rhea had vanished as well. "If she ever returns... Kill her where she stands."
Well... That was one of the more brutal chapters, eh?
We see the day that Rhea and Adam sorta parted ways, and how Rhea became the colder, less-kind person that she is in present-day. But, obviously, she still cares for Adam as she later agreed to give the White Fang sanctuary in the Tribal Territories while she led the Tribe.
But now, she's no longer the leader of the Tribe, and she's gravely injured due to Raven's merciless attacks and she's somewhere out in the world by herself. One can only wonder where she'll go from here.
Speaking of Raven and Rhea's fight - DAMN! That was harsh, even by my standards! I don't think I've given one of my characters such a solid ass-kicking! I'm honestly sorry!
But, to be fair - Rhea'd had a rough night. Her aura was fairly low, which made it ll the easier for Raven to take her down.
...
That's it. I've gotta formally apologize to my OC. I'm sending her an apology card.
*pulls out card, starts writing*
"My condolences"... "Your creator"... "IceWarrior13".
*sets card down*
... You know what? That's not enough. I'm sending her chocolates, too. You know, just so she can say "hey, it wasn't all bad - I got chocolates"!
*sets red box down next to card*
... And a check. I mean, as she is one of my characters and is acting out my story, she is probably getting paid a good deal. But, whatever I'm paying her - it ain't enough.
*takes out check, writes*
"Wasn't"... "Enough"...
(Skit inspired by the Nostalgia Critic's review of "Master of Disguise". XD )
...
I only own my OC. Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks! :)
