Her tribe finished clearing out the Grimm quickly enough. There were only a few left after the sack of the village, after the alpha collected his trophies and left the rest of the pack to whatever spoils they could find.

Her lieutenants had advised her not to bother with Kuroyuri; that there would be few treasures left in the old one's wake. Raven had almost allowed herself to be convinced. She had almost agreed that the reward was too meager to bother with entering the territory of such a powerful Grimm.

But the winter would be a harsh one. They needed whatever stores they could manage, and she knew the Grimm would not bother with preserved food. There may not have been much Lien left, but some goods would survive their rampage. Rains would quell the fires and wash away the blood of the dead, and there'd be some gains left for the Branwen tribe when the sun rose.

Raven took the field herself, dispatching a Nevermore that might've caused her tribesmen difficulty. She headed for the intact building that the beast had briefly perched upon, thinking there might be some spoils there.

It was a homestead -not a granary- but her instinct was on the mark. Under the bed, a small stash of Lien. In the dresser, a few precious gems and the finery of a lady's jewels. In the cupboards, a few spices they could trade. In the pantry, an unopened bag of rice and a few sacks of flour.

Not the most glamorous of rewards, not the great hoard of booty her tribe wanted when they seized upon a sacked village, but prizes enough that their expedition was not a waste. A meager profit was still a gain, and the only cost a few bullets and a few hours' patience.

Raven stepped out from the stilted house with the foodstuffs over her shoulder. She called to one of her clan to come collect, to set up a pile to collect whatever of value they could find, and to set up a tarp or use a suitable storehouse to keep any food from being damaged by rain.

They'd wanted to pass on these gains... to let the food spoil and rot all because they'd have to face a few Grimm loitering in these ruins... foraging was not as much fun to them as sacking, but every bit as important...

Raven intended to go to the next house when she heard something... some odd skittering under the stilts of the raised house she'd looted.

A smaller Grimm that had managed to escape her sword? Raven's hand moved at once to the hilt of Omen as she drew closer.

She heard no new motion. It could've been simple debris brushed around by the wind...

Raven did not allow herself to underestimate even the smallest sound. She waited before the house, peering into the darkness beneath the raised stilts...

She heard... breathing.

Something had lived when the Grimm attacked? Something had managed to survive the storm of black without the benefit of heavy arms or the strong aegis of a safehouse?

Raven crouched down, looking under the foundation...

She saw two shapes in that darkness, one so gray it almost vanished from her sight. The other was at least partially obscured by that same gray, but was still a bit too bright to fade: it also had a brighter hair, brighter eyes... and a tiny hammer in one hand.

Raven kept one hand on her sword. No matter how small the weapon, she wasn't yet ready to lower her guard.

The brighter one -a girl with blue eyes and orange hair- tried to defend her cohort with that tiny wooden hammer. Even huddled in the dark, disheveled, possibly starving... she faced someone older, stronger, and better equipped without a hint of fear.

Two children... resourceful enough to survive the rage of Grimm under the command of a powerful and intelligent alpha... and unafraid of a bandit chieftess even when she discovered their hiding place and robbed them of their only advantage...

Raven took a long time in deciding her course. Her hand hadn't left the hilt of her sword.

The gray that encircled them... it smothered their Aura, disguising their light. It concealed them from the Grimm.

One who had an incredibly powerful ability, the other without fear.

Raven still had one hand she'd yet to put to use. And one she thought these children might appreciate after a dreadful night of pain and loss.

She still said nothing. But she extended her hand to them. She just offered an open palm, even if one hand remained firmly on her guard.

A long silence passed between the three. The only sound was their breathing.

Eventually, the orange-haired girl reached out too... though one hand still firmly held to her wooden hammer, useless as it may have been in the face of Raven's might.

She didn't lower her guard either.

Raven thought she might like this one...


Raven usually had no trouble sleeping. When her demons became vocal, she drowned them with drink. When guilt scratched upon her neck, she took someone to warm her bed and buried the noise with a thundering heart. The prior night she'd done a little of both.

Tonight... she was restless. She considered dipping into her personal stash, she entertained taking on a new lover to help her find that quiet contentment, but ultimately did neither. She wandered about her campsite, checking fortifications, musing on her thoughts before the central fire, and taking a second helping of what remained of dinner... it would go bad by morning anyway. Just... passing the time, without too much excess. Just trying not to become too dependent on anyone or anything in chasing sleep.

She chanced upon their tent and heard a commotion. When they had trouble sleeping, the young ones usually found their method quickly... and Raven wouldn't usually disturb them, but tonight...

Raven pulled open the flap of their tent, half-expecting to find the two frantically pulling up bedsheets to cover themselves. Instead...

Lie was asleep, but thrashing about, frantic, almost in death throes... while Nora tried to keep his head static on her lap, humming to him, trying to soothe him.

For a long time Raven waited, just observing. Lie was not a talkative man, but when he did speak he was always very calm, direct, and authoritative. It was quite the contrast to hear him... whimper.

She prized him for his powers, but also his diligence and bravery. Raven hadn't even realized such fear found him, if only in the dark of night. She was patient in her footstep, trying to fight her instinct to wake him in walking over to Nora.

Nora was still humming softly, caressing his black hair with two fingers. Lie continued to thrash a while longer... but at last he subsided, drifting back to slumber. Nora continued her hum a while after that, and had no apparent desire to remove his head from her lap, nor stop her gentle caress.

"A nightmare," Nora finally explained. "Kuroyuri... he lost his parents that night."

Raven had heard the story already, but Lie had downplayed it. He'd feigned that it hadn't bothered him, put up a front of strength. He'd behaved exactly as Raven expected him to, and hidden his weakness away.

"This isn't good," Raven mused. "I hadn't realized he was still... troubled."

She quickly turned her eye to Nora. "Will this be a problem?"

Nora shook her head. "No, Chieftess. He'll be ready."

"At Beacon you'll have to stay in a dorm with two others. They will notice this," Raven reminded her.

"He'll get better," Nora optimistically replied.

"Oh?" Raven asked. "And how long have you told yourself that?"

Another long silence, while Nora continued caressing his strands of hair and the soft skin of his forehead. She eventually looked up and replied: "About as long as you have, Chieftess."

Such disrespect would be unthinkable from one of her lieutenants. But it reminded Raven why she so valued Nora: not only a lack of fear, but a raw honesty that so few others in her inner circle could ever match.

She and Lie were the only ones Raven knew to tell her the truth. Though, apparently, not the whole truth...

"Is there something that he needs?" Raven asked. "Something that would help him... cope? Before you left for Beacon?"

Nora shook her head. "He'll always carry this with him, I think. At least... until he's strong enough to go back there."

Raven thought on it.

Lie and Nora were exceptionally talented. Under her guiding hand, they'd become fierce warriors.

But natural talent and carefully mastered skills were not the only things that made for effective warriors. Sometimes one needed... clarity. Peace of mind.

Raven knew what it was to go without it.

Another long silence followed before Raven decided her course. "Rest. We'll leave first thing."

Nora looked up and met her eye again. "Chieftess?"

"The world could do with fewer demons, I think," Raven replied, leaning over... joining Nora in a caress of Lie Ren's forehead.

For Nora, a lover's hand in the night, draped over without waking. For Raven...

She'd missed this chance before, to listen to a life in her charge, to help shape it not only through her lessons, but her action...

To not only want someone to be strong enough to solve problems on their own, but to want to help them in their growth, standing beside them in their lowest moment...

"Tomorrow, we kill the past."


The Nuckelavee was at least a few decades old. Raven had heard stories of it from the elders when she was a child, and they had passed those stories down from their elders before them. It had a deservedly fearsome reputation, and had no doubt left more victims like Lie Ren.

Yet now, he stood before it, while Nora and Raven bound its arms, and thrust his father's ancestral dagger into the beast's black heart.

For his mother. For his father. For all those it had slain.

For Nora. For himself.

The beast's body withered away. Lie watched it dissolve into naught but black smoke.

Raven knew he had to watch it all. He had to see the darkness fade completely and know it was gone forever.

Her hand still flickered with lightning -with the power she acquired in seeing another life extinguish. Raven had watched the light fade from her eyes. She'd seen her mission through.

Without that action, she'd never have been powerful enough to face this thing with only two allies. Without her lightning, she could not have empowered Nora, to give her the strength to hold the beast down so her lover could finally kill it.

Without Raven making that choice before, Lie Ren would not have been able to sleep through the night.

When the last ember of his past burnt away, Lie turned to his present and future instead, embracing Nora in his arms and knowing that he had everything and everyone he needed. With her at his side, he would not falter in infiltrating Beacon and carrying out Raven's mission.

Raven smiled at the two, but could not help but think... as great a triumph as this was, as fond as she was of the two's sincere love for one another...

She thought back on pressing her hand on Lie's forehead, and thinking he was not merely her lieutenant, not merely her clansman... that he was not only important to her because of his power and skill.

She risked her life on a mission that gained her nothing but his happiness and peace of mind. And why?

Because she knew how important it was to have those things too. She knew how the guilt -even the blameless guilt of merely surviving- could hang over you forever and never let you be.

She returned with them to camp and rested a brief moment. Then she headed out again... through a portal, rather than afoot.

To somewhere and something with a value her tribe -save perhaps Lie and Nora- would not understand.


Raven spent a long time outside his door with her hand outstretched.

She had no idea what to say. She wasn't sure even where to begin.

Lie Ren must've been afraid today, but he faced down his past just the same. His Chieftess had to be strong enough to match him.

Raven finally knocked, tapping her hand against the wooden frame.

She knew Yang wouldn't be home tonight. But he would be. He always was.

The door slowly creaked open. She saw him for the first time in years.

He'd aged, but still retained his strength and frame. His eyes were still that piercing blue that could so affect her.

He grimaced. She almost reached for the hilt of Omen, expecting his wrath at any moment.

But Raven reminded herself that was not how this battle would be fought. That she had to try and learn from Nora's example and try honesty... and learn from Lie's to not hide how guilt had tortured her too.

Raven offered her hand, gesturing with her open palm. "I'd like to talk for a moment, if you're willing."

It had been a long time since she spoke to him. But not a night where she hadn't thought of him.

"Can I... come in?"

No doubt he was guarded too. After Summer, after her... what man would fail to harden his heart after two harsh lessons?

For a long time, silence. The only sound their breathing.

Taiyang opened the door and waved her in. Raven stepped into the cabin -her home for so short a time- and found a place to sit across from the man once her husband.

"We... have a lot to talk about."


Raven reminded herself how dangerous sentiment could be. And yet...

She interceded to save her daughter's life. She revealed her hand -and her personal stake- in events to both Ozpin and Salem. Ozpin might've known that she'd already placed two of her lieutenants in his school -he figured out about Qrow and herself quickly enough- but now he knew that Raven cared enough about her daughter to intercede. Now he knew he had some form of leverage over her, and if the short girl Yang fought against could get that same message back to her masters...

Raven played it off. She sent a message to Qrow about honoring an old tradition, about allowing Yang the same small mercy she had shown to her teammates at Beacon.

But Qrow also knew Raven had visited Taiyang and spent hours with him at his cabin. He knew that whatever games his twin may have been playing, she was acting very much out of character.

And like a good lapdog he went right to Ozpin to tell him all about it...

Raven received a message from Nora. Her teammate Pyrrha Nikos had been acting "out of character" too.

Raven hoped that Nora herself would be the one Ozpin chose as vessel for the Fall Maiden, especially after her standout performance in the tournament, but this was the next best thing. They knew when Ozpin would make his move, leaving only Salem and her minions as the unknown variable.

If her brother thought her on the verge of some kind of reformation, some change back into what he and Taiyang wanted her to be...

Raven had been sincere in trying to open a dialogue with Taiyang. Once he knew that she was also going to steal the Maiden right out from under Ozpin's nose he'd never trust her again and any chance for them to... if not reconcile then reach some understanding...

Raven reminded herself to complete the mission. Lie and Nora would be perfectly placed, and if things went smoothly she could simply stop whatever machinations Ozpin and Ironwood had in mind. It was too late to simply have Nora be selected as their candidate, but their time at Beacon had served its purpose. They wouldn't need to maintain their cover much longer.

Raven only waited for the call...


The Grimm, the White Fang, and Ironwood's machines all at once. Salem committed quite a few resources to ensuring Beacon fell...

Chaos usually benefited her plans. Ozpin and Salem clashing would make it easier to disguise her hand... but now there were so many moving parts her enemies could conceal themselves too.

Raven had hoped Nora could handle it all herself. But when Ozpin stepped out from his office and bid his chosen candidate to come...

Raven waited only until she saw him step inside. Then she interceded.

"The invincible girl" lived up to her name. Even with the advantage of surprise Raven couldn't quite break her defense.

Nora and Lie moved from her back to clash against this unknown enemy. "Go!" Nora called to Pyrrha. "We'll hold her off!"

Raven applauded her commitment to the disguise. But this wasn't the plan...

Lie moved in close to clash the blades of his Storm Flower against Omen. In the moment between the flying sparks of impact, he whispered to her: "Yang's in trouble."

Raven had tried to teach them that sentiment was a weakness.

Raven had tried to remind herself that her mission was what mattered: it was why she had sent her operatives to Ozpin's house to begin with.

Raven tried to tell herself that she had done enough for Yang, and that delaying this step would leave her empty-handed, and Ozpin or Salem would gain the advantage instead.

She would have revealed herself for nothing.

Raven peered through the slits of her mask at her two lieutenants, holding the line as their teammates raced into Beacon tower, aided by their cover. She did not doubt they formed some affection, some camaraderie with these other two souls... but also did not think they were holding her back out of any misplaced loyalty.

Lie had his peace because of her. Nora knew a world where she was valued and did not have to hide the truth. Raven did not doubt they were still her allies.

They were just trying to get Raven to decide for herself...

The power? And the price she paid to acquire it?

Or this foolish thing that she had so steadfastly denied...


"Why must you hurt me, Blake?" Adam asked, looking down at her as she tried to defend her fallen friend.

He had not intended to do her any further harm. He'd left a scar, he'd burned this night in her memory. That should've been enough.

But her affection for this girl... it was so frustrating. It demanded action on his part.

It demanded... punishment.

Adam took hold of Wilt and locked onto her determined gaze. Her lack of fear... that would not do.

That would not do at all.

He heard a new set of footsteps. Adam turned from the unarmed and defeated girls to the source of the sound. He barely had time to dodge as another red blade nearly cleaved him in two.

A woman clad in red and black, with a Grimm-like mask...

"This doesn't concern you," Adam tersely informed the woman.

She was not deterred. Her mask betrayed no fear.

Adam was tired of enduring such disrespect. Raven could tell her foe was provoked just because he could not make her fear him.

She looked to Yang lying on the ground.

She thought on what this man had done.

She knew exactly how to react.

Adam moved to strike. Raven parried his first swing and pushed his arm ever so slightly back, giving her just enough opening to slash a second time, right over his wrist.

Red splattered against her eye. It was rarely so satisfying.

The Faunus raged at being thwarted. But aggressive as he was, he wasn't fool enough to fight a battle he'd already lost. He fled into the night, clutching the stump of his wound.

Raven turned to the Faunus girl before Yang, looking on, confused... uncertain of this new arrival.

Raven held Omen in one hand, still stained with Faunus blood. The other... she extended an open palm.

"Let me take her out of here," Raven requested. "I'll get her to safety."

The sentimental choice.

Raven tried to tell herself it was the long game, accepting a loss of the Maiden's power for the trust she gained with Qrow, with Taiyaing, maybe even Ozpin.

But that wasn't at all what she thought when she reached down and hoisted a tall -much heavier than she remembered- girl in her arms and held her close for just the second time in their lives.

What did the plots and plans matter when she could know a feeling like this one?

Raven carefully ambled to open a portal, taking the girl away, disappearing as quickly as she came.


Taiyang received the call very late into the night. He hadn't slept -he was still trying to get through the safe zone borders to get to Beacon- and he was eager to receive any news.

Even from... "Raven?"

"I have her. I'll keep her with me until she recovers."

"Have- Yang! Is she all right?" Tai desperately inquired.

"I'll bring her back to you soon," Raven promised. "I just need to get her somewhere safe first."

"Raven..."

He wanted to know more. Needed to know more.

Normally he wouldn't be able to trust anything she'd said. He still wasn't entirely sure.

But for the moment... "Please... when she's awake... please call me back and let me talk to her."

Raven considered allowing just that.

But she didn't want to break a promise, if it came to that. Not when trust was already fragile.

She just ended the call, leaving the desperate father with the small comfort that -if nothing else- he didn't have to grieve.


Raven left her instructions to Lie and Nora: to stay beside their friends and maintain their trust. To build alliances for the future.

She learned quickly who won the fight. And strangely... didn't care that she had lost the opportunity and that the Fall Maiden's power was hidden away from her again.

Her children were alive. That... that seemed the greater priority now.

And Yang...

Raven gently traced her hand over Yang's right arm, as much of it as she could.

Her tribe would spurn such a wounded person. They would see Yang as a burden and -worse- Raven as weak for bringing this burden into their home.

But they didn't understand. Their views of strength had always been so narrow. For such a long time, so too had Raven's.

Now...

She sat beside Yang a long time. She still had one hand to hold, if only for this one time.

When Yang finally opened her eyes, she knew at once who kept vigil at her side. She knew at once that the person she'd spent so much time searching for had come right to her.

But why...?

To Yang's uncertain, cautious lavender eyes, Raven finally explained. She took her cues from Nora, and remembered that raw honesty had seen her further than she ever thought it would.

"I'm sorry it took so long," Raven told her. " Honestly... I wasn't sure this day would ever come.

"I want to talk to you about what happened today," Raven pressed on. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but first and foremost...

"I want to tell you who you are."