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Neo and I trained before Rosé. I kept my semblance unactivated to keep it a fair fight. Or more fair, at any rate. I was still winning over her. I flew at her and swung my longsword down on her little form with both hands and she jumped out of the way in an acrobatic flip. Then she came back down on me with three quick falling stabs of her stiletto which I stepped back away from, parried, and pushed to the side.
She jabbed me with her umbrella and buffeted me. Then she shattered into nothing and came at me from behind. I hovered forward and twisted in the air to block once more and then I riposted. I shoulder checked her tiny body and chased with a sort of dashing swing, I tried to catch her before she reached the ground and could rebalance. My swing met empty air when she burst apart once more. She couldn't keep that up forever. Not like I could keep up my flying and the speed it provided me. I was going to catch her eventually and we both knew it from the times we had done this before. It really was just a question of when and whether or not she could get a few of her own licks in before I did.
But I had reserves of aura and I was robust even for a hunter. I would come out on top. Even without my semblance. I had grown too much.
I was so far from the frail thing with no aura who entered Beacon. I trained everyday back then and pushed myself. I was good at pushing myself. So much so that it became my semblance in a way. My semblance and powers were a manifestation of my ability to go beyond and try harder every moment. It was a tiny expression of that. It was odd. Did I choose my semblance? Ruby once made a joke that I should just decide my semblance already when the glow first appeared. And in many ways it looked like I had done just that. It looked like I chose this. And with the presence of magic in me perhaps I had.
It boggled my mind a little. My power had seemed to respond to my desire to grow stronger. At first it was to maintain my place in Beacon but then it was about vengeance for Pyrrha. Either way my soul had seemed to respond to my needs. It was odd. It was reassuring. It had helped me break Mother's most recent influence over me with her tentacled Grimm at the academy. My semblance was about going beyond and adapting to my needs as they came up.
I took a tremendous swing at Neo which clipped her before she could teleport and I reached out to grab her with my free hand and slam my knee into her. She wiggled free and stabbed me as she withdrew in a long back-flip.
Rosé watched from the sidelines. At least getting a glimpse into how fast the pace a hunter fight could be. Neo and I were going fairly light to be honest but we were both blurs of speed and lethal power.
She watched with rapt attention to our battle. She was interested in just how hunters fought. She would have to spar against classmates at Beacon and she would need to one day kill murderers who had aura and huntsman training. It was good for her to see and take notes.
Neo cut me and my semblance activated from damage. She backed off immediately. Wary of my power, she did a floating flip away and drifted on her parasol. I flipped at her just scaring her into reacting with my pure movement. I put her in a trap as I flipped next to her. I forced her to respond one way or another. There was honestly no right answer. She tried to jump away and I back-flipped and sliced her. She shattered into glass and appeared in front of me but the entire thing had been a bait by yours truly. I then Cross slashed her as gently as I could.
She landed in the dirt and I floated to the ground with my semblance exhausted. I sighed and breathed deeply. Neo struggled to rise and pink waves of light crackled over her body.
"We'll call it there. It's time for breakfast. Rosé, I believe it's your turn to cook for everybody."
Rosé got to her feet from where she sat cross legged and went over to the crude firepit and relighted it. Then she started scrambling eggs. I didn't expect anything more than that. It was an important skill for a hunter to have. One of many skills I intended for her to master before she left my services for Beacon.
"It's amazing how fast you both are. How am I supposed to match that speed?" She asked as she scraped a spatula over the pan with a dull noise.
"Give it time. You'll speed up as your power settles into itself. Be patient and keep working hard."
She handed me my breakfast. It was a little over cooked but who was complaining? Not this guy. I ate solemnly and quickly. Neo plopped down and ate hers with a frown. She preferred when I cooked, I knew that. But this was important.
"Thank you Neo." I was appreciative of her tolerating this whole apprentice thing. It wasn't something she agreed to and she even occasionally helped out. I was extremely grateful to her for that. She gave me a smile and a nod and ate in her usual quiet. Neo was good people, for a sadistic monster, but - hey, glass houses. I wasn't going to go casting at her when I had my slew of issues I was dealing with. I liked killing people and the dominance that came with destroying a person. It was the monster and a bit of the man in me that liked it to be sure. A large portion of myself enjoyed those things.
I didn't want Rosé to get that from me. There were some things I wanted her to take after me in regards to but that wasn't one of them. I wanted her to be more than a killer. Not like me. I hoped for better things for her than that. I watched her sit down with her own breakfast after cleaning the pan and I watched her eat. She grimaced.
"I overcooked it," she complained with a deadpan expression. "Why didn't you say something?"
"It's not so bad. It's hard with a fire. You'll get it."
She grumbled quietly to herself. She was not content with 'not so bad.' She wanted it to be good. She was always pushing herself in a good and healthy way. It spoke well of her. She was going to be a great huntress if I had anything to say about it. And I did in fact have something of a say in it. She was getting to be a quick learner of the important things. Swordplay and form as well as Grimm types were quickly becoming her's to own. She struggled with dust still so we didn't move on to eating the stuff. I wanted her to have control over the raw power before she consumed even a single grain of the metamaterial.
But overall she was doing well and Neo was doing more than I could have hoped for. Life was as good as I could expect it to be for myself. And it wasn't going to stop. I just had to take it as it came. The good with the bad since I had resolved to not kill myself. Or so I told myself, at least.
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"It's time you learned how to kill a man. It's time you learned what it means and what it takes from you."
"Killing people is wrong. I want to be a huntress to kill monsters. Not men," Rosé protested. She was naive, ignorant, not dumb.
"Sometimes men and monsters are the same thing," I told her. Just look at me and whatever the fuck I was. "You're signing on to fight bandits as well. Are you going to take them all prisoner? Where to? How will you hold them?"
Her mouth opened and closed. She worked her jaw for something to say. I pressed on, however.
"No. You will have to kill them. It will be your responsibility. It's a part of the job. When you kill someone do it fast. We're going to sign up to fight bandits in the next town's warden's office. You'll have to kill."
Her mouth moved feebly but still no words left her lips.
Eventually she mustered herself. "The Branwens. They were a problem at Winhill as well."
"The very same. They raid every town around here and they kill as many people as the Grimm do. They see settled people as livestock to be milked and slaughtered as they please. We're going to do our part in putting a stop to it. Not all monsters are Grimm. People can be just as evil. If not more so in their own way. Do you understand?"
"I… I do. But… yes. I don't want to hurt anybody, though."
"You have to. It's hard and living with yourself afterward is even harder. But you have to. It's the job."
She was dead silent. Her lips were drawn in a tight line.
"You can still back down and go back to Winhill."
"No. I need to be a huntress. I have to do this. When will it happen?"
"We'll talk to the wardens in Vense. Our next stop is there. They'll probably have both Grimm and bandit missions. We'll take both on. Then we'll be on our way. That's the when of it. But it's important for you to understand that you'll also be killing a piece of yourself. I've seen innocent huntresses kill for the first time. I've seen the aftermath of empaths murdering people. It comes at a horrible price to one's self. You have to realize that and you have to do it anyway. I always say it gets easier but that is never what they want to hear."
"Well yeah," Rosé told me in a 'no duh' tone. "Why would anyone want to hear that?"
"So I'll tell you it before so you can get a grip on it now. Be in reality about it. Don't lie to yourself. Don't go in with an attitude of 'oh I might' or 'maybe I can spare this one' or even 'I don't have to do this.' You do have to do this. It's important. And I'm going to be there right beside you all the way. I'll be killing bandits as well. Our hands will be soaked in blood together. But you have to be willing to go for the kill or else you might get hurt. And then every person that you could have saved will die. We carry more than just our own lives around with us. We wear them around our necks. Do you understand."
"Yes. I understand. I must kill. But… it doesn't make me a murderer, does it?"
"I wouldn't know. I'm not an expert on that sort of thing. I really can't say. It certainly makes you a killer. Only that and nothing more is beyond question. You will be a killer. But that's a part of the job. Are you sure that you don't want to back down?"
"I do. But I can't. I just can't. I want to lead and I want to do it as a huntress."
"Very well. If you're prepared let's begin by going over the human body and how to take one apart. The head and neck are the most vital areas followed by the upper chest. Don't go for the gut unless you want them to die slowly because that's all that that will accomplish. The heart and head are the most critical and instantly lethal. The lungs are next. You can kill someone quickly by piercing their lungs. You can also cut major arteries. The inside of the thigh or the armpit and they will bleed out relatively fast. It's nothing like the Grimm which don't have blood or internal organs. Killing a person is messy and it's like nothing else on Remnant. Go for the kill. Make it fast. It's better for both you and your target that way. Better a quick kill be your first than something drawn out slow and awful. Go for the literal throat if you can. Do you think you can do that? Cut a person down? If you can't do that, you can't be a huntress. Just a facsimile of one. Are you up for that? Can you handle blood on your hands? It's a serious question and it deserves serious thought. You need to know yourself. What are you willing to do and take on yourself."
"I have to be a huntress. I have to do this. Killing people isn't something I never wanted but I will do whatever I have to do. I'll do whatever it takes to be a huntress. Even killing people. But only bad people. Does that still make me a good person? If I only kill bad people?" She wondered up at me with bright blue eyes.
"I wouldn't know. I'm not an expert on good and evil. I'm the furthest thing from it, you'll find. I'm good at killing people. I'm even fond of the power I have over life and death. I'm pretty sure I too am a monster. It is a thin line to walk, certainly. Handling ethical razors this sharp is a good way to slice yourself. If the line you're willing to draw is that you'll only kill bad people. You better be ready to answer the question of who is good and who is bad and you better be able to answer it fast. Ethics are hard. Killing is easy. And you had better be ready to deal with that wicked sharp blade."
"But surely you've only killed bad people yourself. Surely you're a good person. You are a good person, aren't you, Cloud?"
"I've killed people for getting in my way. I've killed people with very little reason. I've even killed people because I felt angry. I'm not a very good person. My life isn't black or white and it's more black than white. I don't know if I'm a bad person but I'm not a good person. I'll tell you that. I enjoy killing too much. I indulge myself in it far too often. I have killed people who I'm not sure if they were good or bad. Like I told you. You better be ready for these ethical razors to cut you and they will cut you deep."
"You saved people's lives though. You saved that girl who got hit by that carriage and you took care of Grimm near Winhill for free. You're a good person."
"Those things cost me nothing. Not really. Surely you'll agree. A day hunting monsters and a few seconds of my time for a little girl. That's all? What did I do that no other hunter could have done? Maybe I was more efficient but that's about it. I am a killer. I have killed for the sport of it. That's the sort of person I am. Many good people would say that I should die for the threat I pose and they may well be right. Are you prepared to be a killer as well? Good and bad are so trivial. And they can be said way too easily."
"I want to still be a good person but I want to do whatever it takes. Are those conflicting?"
"I don't have a good answer for you."
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-WG
