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Spirit Of A Warrior
July 1st, 4-81 — Lushu
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The day was waning, with no sign of Taiyang coming back.
Summer had already wandered around the city for a few hours, looking at various things without really seeing them before settling down to wait at a table near the base of the Ladder. A glass of water sat untouched before her, the ice well on its way to melting, as her mind drifted once again to her current situation.
To be honest, she still felt like she was in a dream.
She hadn't fully processed the fact that over a decade had passed without her noticing. Sure, things looked different…people around her had changed, gotten older without justification…but she didn't feel like that much time had really passed.
The photos back home showed a group of girls that, supposedly, included Ruby and Yang. While it was still beyond strange that they had grown up so quickly, Summer could not deny that the two young women in the photos had the right… energy, that was the word. Ruby may have looked different, but even in a frozen image locked behind a pane of glass, it was still her little girl smiling back at her. And Yang… she looked even more like a perfect fusion of Taiyang and Raven than before.
Summer tried once again to imagine meeting them, to picture their reunion… and almost burst into tears.
And then she started laughing. Honestly, if she was this much of a mess just thinking about it, there was no way she'd keep it together on the actual day it all went down.
"One thing at a time, Sum," she muttered to herself. "No sense in getting hung up over things that haven't even happened yet."
Thank the gods Taiyang was still there for her! At this point, he was the only thing solid she had left to hold onto, the anchor in the storm that was now her life. And considering what he'd told her on the way here, he was probably the only one of the old team she could rely on for stability; Qrow had slipped into heavier drinking than before, if that was even possible, while Raven had fully embraced her role as leader of her tribe, turning her back on everything they'd ever fought to protect back in the day. They had both completely moved on.
The part about them now being able to turn into birds was a bit hard to swallow. Still… there were enough bizarre things happening around her lately that Summer was willing to accept a lot more than normal.
Suddenly, a scream pulled her back to reality.
It sounded pretty far away, past the border of the town and deep within the trees. It also sounded young, like a child; Summer had seen plenty of kids running around the Lower City, not really seeming to care that they lived in a city without any real defense against the Grimm. Had it been one of them?
But why would they be that far out…?
The scream came again, and Summer was on her feet. Other screams joined in, other children, some clearly calling for help. Before she even knew what she was doing, Summer was rapidly dashing past the edge of Lushu and into the woods. Agni and Varuna were already in her hands.
Yet deep in the back of her mind, alarm bells were blaring. Something wasn't right here.
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The sound of the screams eventually stopped, but Summer wasn't ready to quit; even if there weren't any survivors, she would be damned if she didn't at least make sure. Children were far too precious to ignore even in the direst of circumstances. Whether or not they were hers made no difference, and if even one was still alive out here she would walk through hell itself to make sure the child lived.
The alarm bells in her head continued blaring, giving her cause to keep her guard up. If there were no survivors then she would still have to face down whatever it was that had ended them in the first place.
On the other hand, she had a sneaking suspicion that there hadn't been any kids in the first place…
Soon enough Summer came to a clearing in the woods, about a quarter-mile north of the town limits. Trees towered high all around her, along with a few boulders that were once small plateaus similar to the ones past the edge of the forest. A dried-up riverbed bisected the area, the last remnant of rainwater having long since made its way to the sea. And not a single trace of humans; no bodies, no children's toys left in the tall grass, not even footprints from little shoes that would be plainly visible in the mud of the riverbed. Nothing.
A perfect spot for an ambush.
The first one leaped at her from the right, hurling through the air from behind a tree, mouth agape and growling. The only thing it ate was the blade of Varuna, which plunged into and out the back end of it.
A moment later, a second and third one dove at her from the other side. These two met the lethally sharp edge of Agni, one swipe each, before falling to the grass with four distinct thuds.
Only now did Summer raise her Aura, her shield snapping into place with an audible noise. Power flooded her muscles, life and energy that also brought a clarity of mind as the world came into stark relief, her senses now enhanced… and she finally noticed that she was surrounded.
Grimm. As expected.
About 20 of the creatures sat all around her, staring with their soulless yellow eyes set within burning red holes in their faces. They were smaller Grimm than she was used to dealing with, but no less dangerous for it; these were called Fishers, monsters more suited to surprise attacks than straight fights. They were no bigger than a large dog, with mostly round bodies with four legs, but their unique trait was a long appendage growing over their heads that ended in a glowing bulb. They were able to use this appendage as a lure to draw unsuspecting humans deep into the woods before tearing them apart. Hence the name.
Two of them opened their mouths, which were lined with eerily human-like teeth, and made sounds that caused Summer's skin to crawl – they sounded exactly like the screams of little children. The screams she had heard.
The woman gritted her teeth and gripped the handles of her swords more tightly. She'd fallen for their trap like an amateur. Ran headlong into it, in fact.
But that didn't change the fact that she was about to make them regret it.
They charged, coming in waves while darting to and fro all over her field of vision. They knew how to move in ways that could confuse their prey, any normal person would have trouble with such tactics. Had she tried to follow their erratic movements Summer would've had trouble as well… so she didn't.
She closed her eyes… loosed her grip slightly, flipping the weapons backhand… and let Agni and Varuna dance.
Agni was slightly shorter than Varuna by about 4 inches, but otherwise, the two blades were nearly identical in appearance; the handles were wrapped in black leather, the mechanism of the hilt and metal pieces supporting the blades were a mix of gunmetal gray and dark red, similar to her hair color, while the blades shone a brilliant silver. Hidden within that mechanism were a few surprises, but a fight such as this would not require them.
The blades flew seemingly of their own accord. She let them fight, for that was what they desired; who was she to deny them?
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May 9th, 4-53 — Mistral Highlands
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"This is impossible!"
The wooden objects clattered to the ground in a huff as Summer stormed off to her tent, nursing a recent bruise on her leg. A bruise she had given herself yesterday before hitting it again just a moment ago, almost bringing her to tears. How in the nine hells was she supposed to figure out something like this?!
Maria Calavera sat calmly on a nearby rock. She'd seen the whole thing, or at least Summer guessed she saw it; wearing that skull mask all the time made it hard to be sure what the woman was actually looking at. Could've been asleep for all she knew.
Summer had no idea where the sun was today, as their camp was deeply shrouded in the mists. The region was well known for the constant fog, which was likely the reason Maria chose to stay here. It was daytime, and hot… that's all she knew for sure. The girl, almost a teenager, took a swig of water before walking back.
"Finished already?" Maria suddenly said, causing Summer to jump slightly. So she was awake. (Must have been meditating or something.)
"Have I even started?" Summer shot back, "After all this time, you haven't actually trained me at all! The only things I've done is make cheap wooden copies of weapons to hit myself with! I'm training with junk!"
"I think you've misunderstood something, child… I never said I would teach you any specific fighting style. I am not a Master…"
"You're a master at being irritating!"
The woman calmly removed her mask and stood up, and walked over to the discarded sticks, picking them up. This set was meant to be a pair of s-curved short swords, similar to an ancient variety of Vacuo weaponry. After a moment of study, she gave one an experimental swing… and it seemed to move with liquid grace, swinging in a fine arc over her head and around her middle.
One singular motion and Summer's jaw dropped.
"I see nothing wrong with this one," Maria said. "Perhaps it is not the weapon that is at fault, hmm…?~"
Summer crossed her arms and pouted off to one side.
Maria walked over and knelt down, no longer as far a trip as it used to be, and looked Summer full in the eyes again. Summer was always struck with how similar their silver eyes were – the only other person she'd ever seen with those eyes was her mother… before the Grimm attack those few years ago.
"When you go to scratch your nose… does your hand decide, on its own, to pick for boogers instead?" Summer giggled before she caught herself, then shook her head no. Maria continued, "If you chose to walk forward, would you expect your legs to randomly carry you off to one side with telling them to?"
Summer shook her head no again, brow furrowed.
"Why not?"
"Because they're a part of my body. My hands and my legs don't have minds of their own-"
"And so it is with a warrior and her weapons."
Maria handed the sticks back to Summer, who took them in stunned silence. Something about what Maria was saying… made a bizarre, yet undeniable, sort of sense.
"Instead of trying to master your weapon… instead of making them do what you want them to do, why not try working with them instead? As extensions of your body, they are as much a part of you as your hands and your feet. However… they do have minds of their own, in a manner of speaking."
Summer quickly held the sticks away from her body, no longer sure that they wouldn't bite her.
"I speak hypothetically, idiot; a piece of wood will not move under its own power!"
The younger girl straightened up, her cheeks flush with embarrassment.
Maria sighed, then stood up and continued. "It is a part of our warrior heritage, the blood that runs in our veins. I've met two other warriors of our ilk in my lifetime, and both were capable of this; now it is time to see if you are truly one of us."
Summer grabbed her two sticks back in fighting position as Maria took up one of her discarded copies, this one a simple staff, and prepared herself. For about half a second.
An instant later, Summer was sent flying by a blow to the head she had no hope of seeing.
"Dead," Maria stated.
The almost-teenager scrambled to her feet, head throbbing, as she tried to bring her sticks up to guard… but the woman was suddenly behind her, swinging in a downward arc that was aimed at cracking her skull.
Summer's sticks almost seemed to move by themselves, darting up half a moment before she knew the blow was coming and blocking it. The sound of wood striking wood echoed across the clearing for the first time since they arrived.
What…? How…?
Her awe was short-lived however – Maria quickly recovered and jabbed with her staff, pushing against the girl's back and giving her butt a whack for good measure. Summer yelped in pain as she landed, now more indignant than angry. She glared at Maria as she rubbed the sore spot.
The older woman was smiling, an expression Summer would rarely ever see during their time together. "So you are capable. Excellent. Let's continue."
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July 1st, 4-81 — Lushu
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It was always fascinating to watch her swords dancing from a relative distance. Maria never could explain why it worked like this, but they both knew it to be true. Professor Goodwitch guessed it was something like a Semblance back when she still attended Beacon, and it may be… but it didn't really matter then, and it certainly didn't matter now. What mattered now was ending the fight.
Three Fishers attacked from three directions; Summer spun in a full circle, letting Agni bite into all three in a fine arc. Two more came at her from the front, one leaping over the other to try and avoid her first strike; Varuna took that one in the face as Summer easily dodged around the flayed bodies.
The Fishers, which turned out to be closer to 30 in number, were rapidly whittled down to about 5. The remainder held back, clearly smarter than their fallen brethren. Either that… or the one leading them had had enough.
Less than a minute later, she had her answer. The ground beneath her swelled a moment before a massive creature burst through, tearing through dirt and rock with the ease of a large fish jumping out of the water. Summer barely dodged in time.
The creature before her resembled a gigantic worm, its head about three feet wide and all mouth – like its smaller cousins, this mouth was lined with square, human-like teeth. No eyes were visible near this mouth, and around the outside of it flailed a dozen or so appendages, each one about a foot long and glowing with a different colored light at the end.
(Want… some… candy…?) the worm said in a perfect, child-like voice.
Summer bit back a wave of revulsion, then spun Varuna back around fronthand. A gang of Fishers was bad enough – a Fisher King would require a lot more focus.
Or at least, it would have… if they hadn't been interrupted at that exact moment.
A half dozen bursts of light suddenly shot through the clearing from behind the Fisher King, half of them hitting nothing but air while the other half hit and obliterated the other Fishers. Behind her, the sounds of trees exploding echoed forth.
What the…?
The Fisher King had seen enough, making a pitiful whine as it dove back underground and burrowed away. Summer watched it go, mentally guessing it was probably a good 50-60 feet in length. And it had gotten away. Not good.
On the other hand, whatever had scared it away was still here. Also not good.
At the other end of the clearing stood a figure of ghostly white with a slightly greenish hue. He (at a guess) was too far away to make out any distinguishing features, but she could clearly see a dozen or so balls of light floating around his head.
As she watched, one of those balls moved in front of him and shot out, splitting into nearly a dozen smaller balls as they all rocketed towards Summer.
Not at the remaining Grimm… at Summer.
Well, now it was obvious who his real target was.
Flipping Varuna back around, Summer flared her Aura and leaped over the volley. She cleared the highest shot by mere inches before landing again. The blasts ripped through the trees behind her for several hundred yards, which would have been awe-inspiring had it not been for the fact that the one who fired those shots was still gunning for her. So she turned and ran.
A Grimm was one thing… someone or something who could level an entire forest without much effort was something else. She needed time to plan, or at least observe her opponent and see what she was up against.
Another volley came before she was ready, but with more distance between them the shots had more space to spread out. Summer was already back in the trees when she turned, focused, and weaved between two shots, then another two, all as the trees around her exploded into leaves and splinters.
Agni almost moved to hit one of the shots back, but she resisted. Powerful shots like this would most likely shatter the blade, and that was a loss the woman was not prepared to deal with.
As the dust settled, Summer spotted her opponent heading her way and finally got a moment to look at him. The figure – she would hesitate to call him 'human' – looked and moved like a ghost; his entire body glowed with that slightly green light, a monotone that washed out any other color. That and he was floating about a foot off the ground. His face seemed to shift from moment to moment, making it impossible to recognize any distinguishing features. Whoever this guy was, he clearly had no intention of waiting around; almost as soon as Summer finished her initial examination, another ball of light had moved into place and shot forward.
Summer moved as fast as her Aura-enhanced muscles would allow, darting forward and leaping at the precise moment the shot expanded and fired. She avoided them all, deftly landed in front of the bewildered man and swung…
Varuna bit into nothing but fog. The figure smiled broadly.
… … …Was he really a ghost after all?
The figure's lips were moving silently as he lifted his hands. The remaining balls of light (which, Summer noted in passing, were not replenishing themselves after each shot) suddenly darted forward and struck her, knocking her back like giant, angry hornets defending their nest. She didn't explode on contact, but they still hurt.
Agni and Varuna danced again, moving to defend Summer in a similar way, knocking away orb after orb but doing no damage. Instead, she noticed that the figure was moving backward, still smiling. He was trying to put some distance between them, keeping the last two orbs next to him as the rest of the bunch kept Summer busy. A distraction.
So… it seemed he couldn't use his blast attack at close range. That was a thing.
Summer pressed forward, urging Agni and Varuna to strike faster, harder. The orbs responded by moving even faster and darting around her attacks like they were moving in slow motion, gradually pushing her back against her will and adding even more distance. She gritted her teeth with each blow, wondering if she'd even be able to dodge the next shot.
Sure enough, the figure stopped about 20 feet away and moved another orb into position. He smiled as it shot forward, ready to spread into a rain of destruction-
-Before simply blowing apart, embers falling harmlessly.
The distant echo of a gunshot followed a moment later.
The ghostly figure gave a violent start, losing his focus. Summer found an opening as the orbs suddenly froze in place. She ducked around them, ran forward and hit one of the hidden switches on Agni's handle. The blade began to transform, but she was cut off as they were interrupted once again.
Okay, seriously? Can't a girl finish a fight around here?
She would have said what she was thinking, but the interruption in question made that impossible – a blast of sound and power erupted from her left somewhere, blowing forth with the force of an explosion and hitting the ghost full-on. Amazingly, the spirit decided this was enough to make it dissipate as it vanished like fog in a gust of wind.
Summer retracted Agni's mechanism and smiled; she knew what had caused that particular blast.
Freaking took him long enough.
With a spring in her step, Summer followed the trail of flattened grass back to its source. Taiyang Xiao Long stood there like a hero from a storybook, Wu Xing gleaming on his wrist, the symbol of a white circle still glowing slightly. Fei; the element of Metal. The ultimate trump card for winning an argument.
As she approached, Tai said, "Heh… nobody told me these woods were haunted. You alright?"
Rather than respond, Summer embraced her husband and finally let her Aura disperse before she crushed him. He waited a moment, then hugged her back in a move that felt… awkward.
Summer looked up again and said, with a playful growl, "What took you so long, you big oaf?"
He raised both hands in defense, "Hey, I can't be everywhere at once! Jasmine heard a commotion and insisted we both come out and take a look."
As though her name summoned her, Jasmine Corbett strode into their small clearing. Her large rifle swung easily from her back. "Are you hurt, Summer Rose?"
"Just worn out," she replied. She'd used up a lot of Aura and needed a rest.
Then Taiyang scratched the back of his head, looked at her… and said something that made Summer's heart drop into her shoes.
"So, uh… you two've clearly met. My name's Taiyang. And you are…?"
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Author's Note: Those who know, know; depression doesn't just go away on its own, does it? You can have weeks on end with no trouble, but out of nowhere it knocks you back down and just… *sigh.*
On a lighter note, I should probably point out now that my interpretation of the Silver Eyes will likely be very, very different from canon (which is kinda the point of fanfiction, innit?) Bear that in mind as the story progresses.
(^ω^)