Chapter 21:

Ends

"Mother."

"Heian. So, after all this time, you finally decided to visit me."

"I knew you'd be through here."

"And you've found me. You were patient, determined, and strong enough to make your dream a reality. Well done, Heian. But did you have to be so rough with my men?"

"I've come to kill you Mother."

"At this rate, you'll be dead before you have a chance."

"I'm free to die however I wish. Yes… Free. You don't get the last word, Mother. I'll break the curse of my heritage. And to do that, first… I will kill you!"

When Yang pushed the charred and smoldering timbers off of her, she thought she'd woken up in Hell.

People were dead. People were dying. Soldiers, bandits, innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. Higanbana was burning all around her in the wake of the completely unexpected airstrike. The streets were soaked in blood and covered in bodies. The roar of flames, the rancor of gunfire, and the clink of spent casings were all that filled Yang's ears as she fought aimlessly through the carnage.

Eventually, the shooting stopped. The fighting stopped. The screaming stopped.

And there were only two left alive.

Yang found Raven standing alone on the edge of a field on the outskirts of town. It had once been a meadow of white flowers in spring-time bloom. Now it was a graveyard, the green grass trampled under blackened corpses, the white flowers now stained crimson. The sun was obscured by clouds darkened with smoke, the world painted with the literal fog of war.

As she stared at the bodies of her fallen comrades and enemies, Raven's face was simultaneously distant, furious, and sad. She didn't appear too shaken up about the death of her men, which didn't surprise Yang in the slightest, but something had clearly rattled her. Yang glanced around at the carnage and devastation, and as she looked upon the brutal scene of war, she began to understand why.

Clearly, the airstrikes had not been part of the plan. No one in Higanbana had been spared. Raven had made her move, and probably knew full well much of her tribe would die in the battle. But this was almost complete annihilation.

There was a phrase for it. Several, in fact. Shock and awe. Scorched earth. Total war.

And Raven had put everything she'd ever cherished right in the middle of it.

Do I have any sympathy left in me, even for my own mother? Can I really say I understand her and what she's done?

No. I can't.

"I warned you, Yang." Raven said as she turned to face Yang. "I gave you the opportunity to walk away from Wintergreen. So you can believe me when I say this wasn't personal."

Yang was still tensed, still caught riding the wave of adrenaline and whatever else was coursing through her veins.

But she still saw the empty, resigned look in Raven's eyes.

"Everyone is dead."

"Thanks to the chaos you and your friends caused up north. I knew you could handle it. You're my daughter after all."

"Wintergreen told me once that a good commander should fight for those who fight for them. Your tribe… they would've had to have trusted you if they followed you into a battle they couldn't win. Cared about you a lot."

"I'm sure he told you plenty." Raven's voice was cold. "And you just sat and obeyed."

"No. I'm starting to ask questions like you said."

After everything that had happened in the past few hours, Yang couldn't help but ask questions. Atlas attacking Higanbana, right where Wintergreen and his men were, was almost proof that Raven had been telling the truth. And if Wintergreen, a soldier all but shunned and reviled by his kingdom, was waging a war against the most powerful military in the entire world, how far would he go to win it?

What would he sacrifice in the name of victory?

Yang once thought she knew the answer. But with every question she asked herself, her almost blind admiration and trust in the man she knew as Wallace Wintergreen began to chip away piece by piece.

"So tell me... what happened to Spade? Did he die in battle? Was it sickness?"

"What does it matter to you?"

Raven's features were drawn with almost genuine pain and grief, and in her mother's crimson eyes, Yang's worst fear was all but confirmed.

That's where he sent Spade. That's why she's afraid of Wintergreen.

"I can already see the answer. It's all over your face. How could you!?"

"You have no idea what he was!" Raven shouted, her calm and collected composure gone. "What he would have become if I had let him live! When he came after me, I saw that he was already on a path no one comes back from! What I did-!"

"Wasn't personal."

"It was mercy!"

"Which is it, Mom? Are you merciful, or are you a survivor? Did you let me walk into that trap because you knew I could handle it, or because it meant you could get what you wanted!?"

Yang was referring to the night, three years ago. She understood that Raven had sent her to Mistral to do something that would benefit her, not particularly concerned if her own daughter was put in harm's way or died in the process. She saw the truth strewn on the ground all around them. Despite the gaps and questions that remained in the back of Yang's mind, it was obvious now that Raven didn't care how many people died for her so as long as she herself was still standing at the end of the day.

"It's not that simple." Raven insisted, as if there was something she could possibly say to excuse her actions. "You don't know me, you don't know what I've been through, the choices I've had to make!"

"You're right. I don't know you."

Yang raised her arms to indicate the scene of death around them.

"But I know you killed them, too."

Raven's eyes flashed and burned with wounded anger.

"I've stared death in the face over and over again! And every time I've spat in that face and survived, because I'm strong enough to do what others won't!"

"Oh, shut up!" Yang snapped and spat. "You don't know the first thing about strength! You turn your back on people, you run away when things get too hard, you put others in harm's way instead of yourself!"

Yang pulled up her right sleeve to show Raven what she had done to her daughter. Her prosthetic limb was aflame with phantom pain, and the other shook with fury waiting to be unleashed. She raised her trembling left hand and pointed at Raven.

"You might be powerful, but that doesn't make you strong."

Raven turned away.

"You don't want to do this Yang…"

"Nope. But I'm going to do it anyway."

"I…" Raven put her hand on the hilt of her sword. "I'm sorry…"

Yang had no idea if she was crying or not.

But the time for tears, and words, had passed long ago.

"Me too…"

And in an instant, Raven had drawn her sword and spun around to strike at Yang. She ducked under the blade and went for an uppercut, which only glanced of Raven's Aura despite the power Yang put into it. Raven immediately sprang back, getting some distance for another attack. Both them were aiming to kill, every strike and movement devoted entirely devoted to killing the other. Their battle raged upon that bloody field, every step treading over the broken bodies of the fallen.

Yang had always been searching for a purpose her entire life. Something to fight for. Something to believe in.

But as she was fighting Raven, Yang saw what she was born to be. Whatever Ruby had that made her so determined to do the right thing had not been passed down to Yang. The proof was right in front of her. She saw it in her mother's eyes. A mirror to her own.

She saw her entire life there. The blood, the death, the endless and pointless conflict. They did not fight for anything but their own survival.

At the end of the day, they fought for nothing but themselves.

It was in their blood.

They fought for what felt like ages, neither one gaining any advantage over the other. Once, Yang would have gone all out, using her Semblance to utterly destroy her opponent in seconds. But three years of being a soldier, learning to hone her instincts and judgement to a fine razor's edge, allowed her to hold back and keep her anger in check. She was fighting more defensively now, waiting and watching for every opportunity to strike at Raven. It stretched out the fight, but Yang patiently stood her ground against her far more experienced mother.

Eventually, inevitably, they were both worn down. Their Auras were broken, their bodies tired and bloody, their will to even take another step forward hanging on by a withering thread.

Somewhere deep inside her, Yang knew it would come down to this.

Somehow, she'd always known.

With their last drop of strength, they stepped forward. Raven raised her sword with both hands, intent to strike her daughter down with a single, final blow. Yang raised her right arm to deflect the attack, leaving a deep gash as the blade scraped down it and into the dirt at Yang's feet. But before Yang could counter, Raven disappeared right before her eyes in a shower of black feathers.

Without thinking, Yang snapped her head to the left. Raven's blade passed right by her ear where her neck had been not an instant before. Yang reached up, grabbed the blade with her right hand, snapped it in half, and twisted around to face her mother.

Yang rammed the crimson blade in her clenched artificial fist into Raven's side, driving it deep into her abdomen.

Raven dropped her sword's hilt and staggered backward, holding her side as the red sash around her waist turned dark. With some last reserve of either defiance or resolve, she tore the blade from her chest. Blood started spilling from her lips, and Raven coughed up even more as she vainly tried walking forward.

She tried to reach out to Yang, not with the blade, but with an empty hand.

And then she fell.

Yang, finally able to breath, gazed down at her mother as she lay dying on the grass and bloodied flowers. Here at the end, she found herself unable to muster any hatred for the woman who'd given birth to her, abandoned her, and sent her to die. It was done. The battle was finally over.

She only had one question left to ask.

"Why did you leave?"

Raven raised her head, her bloody fist holding onto her blade in her very last moments, and with her last breath, spoke to the daughter she'd left behind so long ago.

"The strong… live… The weak…die…"

Her head fell back onto the ground, her eyes closing as life faded from them.

"Those are the rules..."

Qrow was jostled awake when the dropship landed on the ground, his whole body aching with pain as the craft settled sharply on its landing gear. Heian was first out the door, quickly disembarking without a word or command to his men. Regardless, Wintergreen's two soldiers silently pulled Qrow off his seat and half-carried, half-dragged him out of the dropship.

The first thing that hit him was the overwhelming stench of battle. He'd smelled fresh bodies before, but the sensation burning his bloodied nose was almost completely overwhelming. The coppery scent of blood. The throat rasping fog of Dust gunpowder. The smoky haze of fire burning through metal, wood, and flesh.

After a moment, his eyes adjusted to the sudden illumination. Qrow slowly turned his gaze over the field strewn with bodies. It shook him to his core and froze his blood still.

He'd seen death up close. He'd handed out some of it himself. But this was worse than anything he'd ever done during his early days. Anything he'd seen during his career as a Huntsman. Anything he'd seen that night in Mistral as it fell and burned all around him.

This was the true face, and the true cost, of war. Not the eternal struggle between humanity and the Grimm, but the war humanity seemed all too willing to wage on itself.

But from what Qrow saw, there was only one thing Heian cared about.

Heian had his back turned to him, staring down at Raven's body, but Qrow clearly saw the absolute rage wanting nothing more than to be unleashed and being held back only because its long-intended target was already dead. Qrow could only imagine what the kid was thinking at that moment, and what he would do in the next.

Eventually, Heian turned away and looked back to his men.

"Bring him here."

Just as the two soldiers began to move, Qrow heard a small snipping sound and felt the plastic zip-tie around his wrist loosen as if it were about to snap with only a sharp tug of his arms. The soldier on his left, whose voice Qrow recognized as the female soldier from Beacon, whispered a single word into his ear as they began to move forward.

"Go."

As much as Qrow wanted to comply, he couldn't. He wouldn't get away before Heian or someone else gunned him down. He needed just a few more moments to gather his strength, shapeshift, and fly away. Qrow made no attempt to run as the soldiers put him down on his knees in front of Heian, careful not to snap his cuffs too soon.

He came face to face with Raven's body. Her still face possessed a peace and serenity if had not ever glimpsed in life. Qrow had always known Raven as a fighter. From the day they were born, her life had been an unending struggle. But now it was over. Raven had fought her battle and played her part, whatever that ultimately was and to whatever end she'd sacrificed everything for.

Qrow had no idea what would have been in her last thoughts. He'd lost touch with his twin sister a long time ago.

That's life I guess. Straying from our roots…

"Long ago, I vowed that I would kill her." Heian began, his voice cold and emotionless. "I would take everything she loved and burn it to the ground. And here I stand, amidst the ashes..."

Heian stepped toward Qrow and glared down at him.

"Yet I am not yet free. I wanted to watch her die with my own eyes. I have thought of nothing else for eight long years. Everything I have done has led me to this place and moment. And here, at the end of her life, my chance at revenge is lost forever. Even in death, Raven has stolen everything from me."

He drew a handgun from his coat, pulling back on the slide and chambering a round.

"So… this is how it ends?" Qrow asked, gathering every last drop of strength left in his body to make his escape, and starting to fear he would come up short. "You're going to kill me, then run off to fight Atlas? You're going to make the whole world live in fear of another Great War?"

Heian raised the gun to his uncle's forehead, and Qrow saw it again in Heian's pitiless eyes. He saw what truly drove the kid to do what he'd done and will do from that moment on. It was what had always driven Raven to do what she did, right up to the end.

It was in his blood.

"Let the world fear us all." Heian replied simply, wrapping his finger around the trigger. "It's just means to an end."

Tai… Summer… Ruby… Yang…

I'm sorry.

Just before Heian began to pull the trigger, Qrow closed his eyes and prepared for the end. Oddly enough, he thought he could hear the sound of gentle waves upon the shore, coming from somewhere far off over the horizon.

It sounded peaceful.

Not gone… just far away…

Then, much closer, Qrow heard a quiet click.

And… nothing.

Qrow opened his eyes, finding the gun silent and unmoving in front of him, and Heian's eyes wide in surprised, angry disbelief.

The gun, in a completely unexpected stroke of sheer misfortune, had misfired.

Sad to say… I'm your bad luck charm.

"See you around kid."

Seeing and seizing his opportunity, Qrow snapped his cuffs, transformed into a crow, and flew away.

When the last black feather had settled on Raven's chest, Heian opened the slide of his gun and ejected the chambered round. He studied it closely for several long moments. The casing appeared to have been crimped slightly when it left the magazine, knocking the round out of alignment inside the chamber and preventing it from properly firing. The malfunction was neither the result of improper maintenance nor faulty ammunition.

It was a simple case of bad luck.

"Are you done?"

Heian tossed the deformed casing away and turned to find Wintergreen standing a short distance away.

"Are you finished?" Wintergreen asked, his expression more unconcerned than accusatory. "Raven's dead. You ready to get back to the fight at hand?"

Forcing himself to exhale, Heian replaced his gun in his coat and strode past Wintergreen toward the waiting dropship without further comment. Wintergreen had a point. There was the Atlesian invasion to contend with, and once again, Heian had to put his personal vendetta aside for the moment and focus on the greater objective. They still had a war to start.

Besides, there was only one person who could have killed Raven.

And there was only one way this would end.

Not yet.

It's not over yet.