Author Word: Yee Yee motherfuckers.

Music Choices: Lone Digger by Caravan Palace

Eclipse

Chapter 52

The White Rook

Part IV

"Now, I personally do not prefer this strategy when confronted with such a large Grimm! It does not play into my strengths as a Huntsman nor that of my partners!" Port carried on, drawing out a surprisingly accurate Jotunn on the blackboard. "However! There are Hunter and even Witchfinger experts who swear by this method, and it has even been utilized successfully against several Settlement Killers in the past! So, in the event that you and your teammates are forced into such a confrontation? I'd suggest this strategy first and foremost - unless you have Semblances that would be at obvious odds with it! In which case, there are five other recommended strategies for a team of Huntsmen with rare or incompatible Semblances! And we will go over them next!"

Raven twirled her pencil, seated next to ARSN. She was struggling to pay attention, even though Petey's lesson had been fairly interesting so far; she was actually shocked that he had mentioned Witchfingers in a class, and going off of Sigyn's face, she wasn't the only one.

Most Beacon Professors and older Hunters that Raven had encountered? Refused to say 'the W' word or acknowledge that there were problems in the Hunter community so severe that it required the creation of another branch of law enforcement to be created and maintained over several tumultuous centuries.

A hand went up in the auditorium. Petey, again full of surprises, paused in his lecture to call on them; naturally, it was Liana, of team BBLK infamy.

"Yes, Hollis?" Peter boomed cheerfully.

"Sir? What's a Witchfinger?" Hollis asked carefully, her teammates giving her various looks of either curiosity or irritation. Hollis liked to ask a lot of questions in class and could frequently derail a Petey lecture completely from the topic at hand.

Raven glanced up from twirling her pencil, appraising the young Professor below. He seemed pleased by the question, which again, was utterly bizarre. She couldn't think of any other Professor who would react like that to such a question. Except maybe Arc, though she would hardly be cheerful about it.

Everyone hates a critic….

"An excellent question Miss Hollis!" Petey boomed, pleased.

He liked Hollis. At least after his first, most disastrous day as an instructor, he had come to like Hollis. Something about Liana's bookish appearance and her desire to ask questions while demanding the absolute best when it came to her education inspired Petey to be his best as an instructor.

He did not, however, like Raven or her questions, regardless of how nicely she phrased them or how similar her motivations were to Liana's. Which, Raven had decided, was simply typical of most Kingdom folk.

Too sharp, too direct, too uncomfortable.

Too threatening…

Which, one would think, a question about Witchfingers would qualify as regardless of who asks it.

"Witchfingers are similar to Atlassian Specialists, only one could consider them the special forces of the entire Huntsman Agency!" Peter boomed enthusiastically, his eyes roving around the room. If he noted that Raven was not sitting with the rest of her team, STQ being several rows up behind them, he did not comment on it. "They are trained to kill and hunt Grimm as we are, and attend our academies, before graduating on for further education at their own school! However, they specialize in apprehending, or in many cases eliminating, individuals who use their Semblances to threaten those who cannot defend themselves from such power! Or at times, a township or civilization itself!"

The classroom perked up in interest, or at least those who had never heard of Witchfingers before. Raven glanced at the rest of ARSN, most of whom rarely ever listened to Peter lecture past the first five minutes, locked onto the topic; they looked surprised that he was painting them in such a good light, as was she.

Even if said light was a little too rose tinted and gave the impression that Witchfingers did not primarily investigate cases of Hunter corruption and Grimm Baiting or hunting down rogue blacklisters.

Tell them how they actually came to be there, Pumpkin Petes, I'll pay you ten lien...

"That's- why haven't we heard of them before?" Hollis prompted curiously, her glasses flashing as she leaned forwards in interest.

"Hmmm, yeaaa? I wonder whyyy?" Sigyn snickered wickedly under her breath. Natalia smirked around a toothpick while some of the other students glanced their way; they quickly averted their eyes when they made eye contact with Nat.

"Because Witchfingers make many adult Hunters uncomfortable!" Peter folded his arm, trying to look tough. She fought the gravitational urge to roll her eyes.

"There have been an unfortunate number of Hunters over the decades who forsook their duties and mantles as Huntresses and Huntsmen, and used their power and training to abuse or harm those they swore to protect! A person without aura or training cannot protect themselves against a fully trained Hunter who has allowed themselves to become corrupt with power! The imbalance is extremely severe!"

Students shuffled and whispered to one another in the auditorium, surprised, disturbed or intrigued by this new information. Raven twirled her pencil slowly.

"As Hunters, it is our sacred duties to protect civilians and the auraless against the Grimm!" Petey insisted with his typical pompasity. "Similarly, it is a Witchfinger's duty to help us achieve that goal, by holding us accountable!"

Raven snorted, exchanging a shrewd glance with Sigyn, who was also extremely amused by all this.

And you just love being held accountable, don't you Petey?

Raven eyed their young Professor cynically, but refrained from trying to antagonize him. Peter carried on, gushing about Witchfingers for several long minutes, while she thoroughly tuned him out.

"-iss Branwen!"

Oh go fuck an Ursa.

She refocused on the Professor below. He looked neither displeased nor pleased to be addressing her. Which said it all, really.

"Professor?" she prompted dryly.

"Care to reiterate anything I just said?" Port asked, sounding a little smug. He thought he had caught her daydreaming and was hoping to perhaps embarrass her.

Raven smirked a little.

Nice try, asshole .

"Sure," she tilted her head, several tresses falling across her eyes before she brushed them away. "Witchfingers exist to police the systemic corruption within the upper and lower echelons of the Huntsman Agency, and to apprehend individual or black-listed Hunters that use their Semblances to harm innocent civilians, to commit war crimes or who break international statutes such as human trafficking, child slavery and Grimm baiting."

You could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. Raven leaned back in her chair, feigning nonchalance.

Port twirled his mustache intently as he appraised her for a moment, before nodding, some of the air going out of his sails.

"I - Ahem! Well, I wouldn't go so far as to label it systemic corruption, Miss Branwen! Witchfingers apprehend many dangerous non-Hunters in their duties! And I didn't even mention the black-list or any of that yet - But essentially yes! Very good! Glad to see you're trying to pay attention after all!" he boomed, before finally going back to the board. "Now remember! Next week is our wilderness survival course ! Which will be a very large portion of your grade for this semester!"

Raven yawned pointedly, before she realized many of the other students were still giving her strange or disconcerted looks. She paused briefly before choosing to ignore them, too.

Everybody hates a critic… .

The day was dragging by like Boarbatusk arse, but despite the pace she still couldn't relax. In fact, the gruesomely slow pace made it worse. Raven felt trapped in that orbiting sensation of being both physically exhausted and horribly anxious, her mind and her body spinning around each other at different velocities. Several times, she felt like she was on the cusp of a panic attack and had even considered going to Amosa to see if he had something that could help; but then, he would want to know what was wrong and probably insist she speak to someone else on the staff.

Which wasn't an option. Because someone else on the staff could very well be Ozpin, or inform on her mental escapades to Ozpin. Annnd that was a rabbit trail to yet another kind of mental breakdown that she didn't need or want right now.

So, no trips to Amosa. She did briefly consider asking Natalia for an assist, but immediately felt guilty over it. Nat had enough on her own plate to juggle, and often played team therapist and dormroom mom for ARSN, whether she really wanted to or not. She didn't need yet another responsibility or someone else to worry about.

Still, Raven was certain that if she couldn't filter out what the bonds of her Semblance were feeling? She might have already had a panic. The possibility that she could pick up on whatever her girlfriend was genuinely feeling towards her in the moment - or if her brother or Taiyang were possibly judging her for what had happened - was extremely upsetting. It was a risk she didn't want to take.

So currently? She had them all locked down, no traffic in or out: nothing. Initially, it had taken her a moment to adjust to the sudden sensation of emotional quarantine. It was unpleasant, to be honest; being caged off in her own head again, with only herself for company.

Raven tried her best to focus only on the classwork, and not allow herself to be dragged off into some dark mental corner full of pointless worry and dread. ARSN were at least a good distraction from the white noise her brain was kicking up. Their banter was entertaining and they kept trying to loop her in, keeping her from getting bogged down; they certainly managed to keep themselves entertained throughout the day, though Argent and Natalia somehow kept them collectively on track enough to actually learn and be reasonably productive.

Eventually however, both Qrow and Taiyang had checked on her in their own ways during the day. Despite the parade of anxious thoughts stomping through her head currently, the boys were not teaming up on her or mad that she had potentially made a mistake and pissed Summer the fuck off. They were not that informed nor were they that mean or unreasonable, despite the nonsense her brain kept bringing up.

They were, however, aware enough to realize that some kind of fight or big fucking argument had happened, though they didn't seem to be aware of the details yet; they were only aware that Summer was fuming, Sigyn was being unnaturally meek and non confrontational and that Raven was spending the day with ARSN to give Summer space.

After several classes, Raven realized that Qrow didn't seem very worried, which was actually a very good sign. Before one of their classes started, he threw a paper ball at the back of her head, and when she looked around, flipped her off. She flipped him off in kind. Reassured, he went back to his work. Similarly reassured, she'd gone on back to her own work.

Later, Taiyang checked in on them at lunch, choosing to sit with their group in the cafeteria; Summer was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Qrow. Raven assumed they were talking or eating somewhere more quiet. Tai didn't ask what happened, and he didn't fish in other ways either; but his concern was apparent when his eyes met hers occasionally.

Still, she was very grateful he didn't try to fix the problem or offer to moderate in some uninvited way. Her and Summer's problems weren't Tai's responsibility, and they would sort it out themselves. Or, they wouldn't. Either way, Tai shouldn't feel like he needed to intervene or feel pressured to come up with a solution for them. Because that wouldn't be fair to him, and it would take agency away from their own relationship.

Sigyn at least seemed to be pulling out of her own anger spiral, and so too was Reinhardt. They were now both talking to her frequently - too frequently - or trying to involve her in their goofy fucking discussions which literally ran nonstop. So when Taiyang joined them at lunch, they immediately roped him into their silly bullshit, blatantly surprising the blonde. He'd rolled with it quickly enough though, clearly pleased that they were no longer being standoffish with him; and pretty soon the table had almost reached normal levels of rowdiness.

Taiyang liked to be loud when he was with friends. Because to him? Being loud was very fun. It was a fact that she had accepted about him - and about Summer - and eventually come to appreciate last year. In the right context, at least.

To the sunny side of stark, loud was fun . Therefore, Raven endured said fun, for the sake of their happiness. It's not like she was unused to such things , after all. Free people were hardly fucking quiet.

However, this also applied to Sigyn and Reinhardt. So together? The trio comprised of Tai, Sigyn and Reinhard could all be literally fucking deafening.

Today, despite her own preferences, Raven appreciated the absurd cacophony and even embraced it. She felt herself relax as she drank her tea and listened to them tease each other like normal, and throw things, and just enjoy being alive the way they typically did.

Things were complicated still, too complicated, and she wasn't entirely sure she could handle everything that had been dumped on her plate; but it was a relief to hear that at least part of her attempt to patch things up between their teams had worked.

She glanced up from her drink instinctively, her eyes trailing the freshmen teams passing in front of their table. FLNT, or at least Fiyero, refused to make eye contact with any of them, speaking louder and laughing nervously as he herded his team out; his partner Lilith, however, gave them a surprisingly mirthful glance, apparently pleased that they had scared the Dust of her obnoxious was team leader that morning.

RAZR was also passing by, right behind FLNT, and they were the ones that had actually drawn her attention. Alejandro gave them a friendly wave which they acknowledged; but so, too, did his partner Rihanna, who made direct eye contact with her and instantly smiled.

The hairs on the back of her neck went up.

Raven paused, trying to determine if that smile was a raider smile and meant as a threat; or, something else. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously; Rihanna's smile brightened.

Something was wrong. Raven didn't immediately know what it was, but it was wrong . She could feel a weight settling at the back of her nape -

Magic?

Rihanna grinned cheekily and flipped something silver her way as she strolled past without pausing. Raven caught it without looking away from the freshman. Neither Tai nor ARSN had noticed this interaction, as they had become distracted by whatever food related competition nonsense Reinhardt and Argent and Tai had gotten up to.

Raven waited for RAZR to exit the cafeteria before she glanced down at the cold object in her hand; and stilled.

The noise in the cafeteria seemed to fade out as her anxiety shot sky high, and her breath nearly choked as her pupils shrank; briefly, Raven dropped the barriers she had up on her bonds and grabbed hold of them to steady herself and hopefully prevent a panic attack, despite her own fears of said connections.

A small chain of portals cracked open overhead for a microsecond, before she dismissed them quickly. The noise the portals made was largely drowned out by the yelling and laughter, but for a moment Tai looked up in confusion before going back to the conversation.

Raven didn't react immediately, getting a hold of herself. After a minute had passed and she felt capable, she stood up and took her tray to the scullery, eyes darkening as she stalked out the door; the round mirror piece in her palm clenched tight.

The hallways had their regular traffic, but Raven wasn't concerned. She knew where RAZR were going. They had the same schedule as most of the other freshmen.

Why would she single me out like that?

Raven wove around the bodies and faces in her way, making next to no sound as she hunted. There was a possibility that the other girl was trying to lure her into a trap, and she knew it. Especially if she really was an aetheri-

Her eyes aren't silver though! And she'd have to be crazy to try to pull something right here and now!

Raven bit back a snarl, aware of what she looked like to the innocent passerby desperately trying to get out of her way.

Why hide it? Most people don't know about these things - just other magic users and those that hunt them.

Rihanna could technically conceal being an aetheri to unaware passersby with contacts; it was possible Raven simply wasn't aware of her magical status due to that, or her own inexperience. Or, she could be another enemy magic user, or someone aligned with the King's Service; revealing herself now for a strategic reason.

Rihanna could literally be anyone, and Raven knew that she needed to bring this to STRQ's attention immediately.

However, Set had also warned her that an enemy aetheri was going to take an interest in Summer, and try to kill her; and Rihanna had, according to Natalia, been asking a lot of questions about them. She'd made the connection between them, Arc and the Service herself. She'd made a total pest of herself, actually, but she hadn't approached STRQ until now; which, if she was a spy or trying to be subtle, she was totally failing.

She wasn't going for subtlety, but also refused to be direct. Rihanna wanted them to notice her, to be aware of her on the periphery, but only approached liaisons like ARSN to communicate.

No, she wants Summer to be aware of her. And since going to ARSN wasn't working, she was going to Raven now - Why?

Because approaching another aetheri directly would be dangerous possibly? Or perhaps because she thinks I'm STRQ's intermediary for these things? There's too many possibilities.

She slowed down in her pursuit. The classroom where RAZR had gone in was up ahead, and the halls had emptied out here. Raven obviously couldn't follow her into the classroom; her own magic was too limited for her to effectively spy on the other girl.

Calm down and think, idiot. If another aetheri was interested in Summer, but was afraid of direct confrontation with her and wanted some kind of leverage for safety, then how would they get to her-

"Son of a bitch!" she cursed, trying to throw the mirror piece away from her as she opened a portal.

Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough. There was a flash of all too familiar silver and song-light; and Raven was gone.

The red and black portal spun for a moment, abandoned, before collapsing in midair.