Salem understood how it had gone unnoticed; she hadn't seen it herself when Cinder brought her apprentice back to her keep. In the immediacy of tending to Cinder's wounds, Salem had allowed her to pass unnoticed, exactly as the young woman had hoped to be.
Cinder didn't know it either -which was less forgivable given the time she'd spent with the girl- but then, Cinder hadn't really known what she was looking for. When she searched Emerald's eyes Cinder looked for deceit and treachery, just as Salem had taught her to and just as Cinder had become practiced at discerning. It hadn't occurred to her to think the color of Emerald's eyes held any significance. That was a lesson Cinder should have learned by now.
Instead her attention was on one other, and only one other, and Salem did not want to discourage Cinder's efforts when her hatred gave her focus. Salem stoked that fire, that desperate need for revenge, because it pointed all her power in a direction that would rid Salem of a potential threat and end the lineage of the silver-eyed warriors and Ozpin's careful direction of them.
Emerald moved to her mistress's side. There were seats for herself and her silver-haired partner at Salem's table, but they stood off against the wall like good subordinates. Salem had not intended to remind them of their rank, but Cinder had done a good job in instilling in them that instinct. Unfortunately, Emerald still rushed to Cinder's side and broke ranks, ever willing to appease her mistress, even in Salem's own house… even when a far greater power may not have appreciated her bold action.
She was what Salem believed her to be.
Still, the queen invited her input. "Speak, child."
Emerald was timid when she spoke; aware she was out of her depth and surrounded by those more powerful and more dangerous than herself. She averted her eyes for most of her inquiry. "She wants to know… what about the girl?"
"What about her?" Watts scoffed. "Seems to me this is Cinder's problem, not ours'."
Cinder slammed her fist on the table and glared at Watts with her remaining eye. Watts smiled at her, pleased to get a rise out of his rival for Salem's favor.
"That's enough," Salem firmly instructed, musing on how to proceed. This infighting could eventually be useful in removing any weak links in her band, but at the moment it was a distraction. And she needed Watts to play his part in Mistral, but while Cinder remained in her keep, Salem needed to appease her, if only slightly… "Tyrian?"
"Yes, my lady?" Tyrian perked right up at being addressed by his queen.
"Spring can wait," Salem decided. "Find the girl who did this to Cinder." He started giggling to himself, and before he got too happy at his new order Salem immediately interjected: "And bring her to me."
He eventually accepted his order, even if he was less pleased with the changes to his usual methods. Still, Salem had given him a command and Tyrian would follow it. "Thanks to your efforts, Beacon has fallen," Salem acknowledged Cinder, though pointedly didn't refer to her by name. "And Haven will be next."
She had scolded Watts for berating Cinder for her failure, but he hadn't been wrong to do so. Cinder still clearly hid something from Salem, and more than that had never realized the valuable commodity serving under her. Just because Salem was willing to lie to Watts didn't mean she was willing to lie to herself.
Cinder and her apprentices would remain in the keep… and Salem would find the opportunity to learn what she wished to know.
Cinder had finally healed enough, and now obsessively sought to slay her enemy; to kill the silver-eyed warrior again and again to vent her endless rage. Salem observed as Cinder incinerated the same patch of stone floor again and again, never quite satisfied with the damage dealt, but appeased by the harm done just the same.
Cinder saw her hated enemy burn again and again. Her silver-haired brute saw only stone scorched by a stream of flame. Emerald, so focused on appeasing her mistress with one illusion after another…
Salem saw the distortion. She recognized it; she knew its cause.
She saw a similar change, a tug on the fabric of this remnant when power was exerted upon it and forces of nature were forced to act out of sequence. It tore at the bindings of reality, temporarily crafting a new framework upon creation.
Emerald thought she cast illusions. And at the moment, that was all she knew. Again Cinder had failed in drawing out greater power from her subordinate, never realizing the potential she wielded.
She was one of them, those red-eyed bandits… progeny of one twin or another. One who cut through reality and made distance irrelevant, and one who distorted space and time around him to alter the direction of objects or the outcome of fate.
At the moment all Emerald did was cast illusions. Now all she could do was trick a single mind.
If she only knew how powerful she really was… and what her Semblance was actually capable of. Emerald had been content with her gift because she had a use for it, and didn't realize just how much she could do.
She didn't know how real illusions could be, and just how many people could believe them.
That dream again. The dream of her mother's death and her desperate flight away, to scramble into the dark and hide. She saw her die because she'd spurned an unworthy man's advances, and he'd killed her to avenge the slight. He hadn't even killed her because he'd been stolen from or wounded, only because his pride had been hurt and he was petty enough to lash out at the perpetrator. Emerald didn't know if he meant to kill her too, but she ran when her mother told her to.
She didn't see the end. She just heard a cry out, and then silence. Silence but her quiet sobs as she hid, knowing that no matter how much she hoped her mother would not come to find her. She was alone, cold, hungry and without reason to believe any of that would change.
The authorities paid her mother's death no heed; another street rat killed. They didn't even bother to record her name. They collected the body at some point, because when Emerald returned it was just an empty street and a few dark stains in dirt and stone.
Emerald knew her mother wasn't at fault for dying, but she cursed her just the same for leaving her child alone. She cursed the father she'd never known for abandoning them both, trying to find some solace in knowing she still lived despite his indifference. And just as she always did, she woke not with a thrill of fear, but of a quiet sadness that would not leave her. When Emerald sat up in bed her heart wasn't racing from terror; it had fallen back and left her feeling dull and empty.
As she always did Emerald turned her attention to Cinder lying beside her, and the warmth Emerald had now. Though outside this bed she was Cinder's subordinate and did not delude herself to think otherwise, in the confines of this small space she was Cinder's lover and her equal. Cinder did not love her –or at least, wasn't able to say so- but she valued Emerald enough that she was not merely a disposable bedwarmer. She was worth something to Cinder, and knowing someone valued her and wanted to remain with her was all Emerald needed to find solace.
She lay down beside Cinder and pressed to her back, knowing that no matter how sad the past might've been, the present reminded her how far she'd come… that she was no longer alone, no longer forgotten or abandoned…
"I know all about your master, but I don't believe we've met," Raven observed, taking in Salem's four followers. The woman in red was clearly the one to be wary of, but Raven had no intention of dismissing the others just because they appeared less threatening.
"We're the guys you should be afraid of," interjected the one with silver hair. He was hotheaded and impulsive… but probably with reason to believe in his strength. The girl standing beside him was far more quiet, doing nothing more than casting a smile the boy's way… confidence she didn't need to act.
"I doubt anyone should be afraid of you," Raven mocked, waiting to see how his colleagues would reply. How the silver-haired boy was respond… that was a given.
"Oh yeah?" he demanded, "Tell that to-"
"Quiet," instructed the woman in red. The silver-haired boy was immediately brought to heel. Whatever strength he possessed, he knew not to defy his betters. He just hadn't had reason to believe Raven was among them… which was telling in itself. When she shut him down, the dark-skinned girl standing at the far right widened her eyes considerably, and something drew Raven's attention to her… something distinct in the pools of bloody red.
"That's what I thought," Raven observed, rubbing it in ever so slightly. The green haired girl beside him relaxed ever so slightly, no doubt disinclined to interrupt. She at least seemed wise enough not to rush ahead while the players were still feeling each other out.
"I am Cinder Fall," introduced the woman in red. "This is my associate Arthur Watts," she indicated the doctor beside her and then the silver-haired boy and the green-haired, red-eyed girl, "and my disciples, Emerald and Mercury."
The red-eyed girl… there were features to her that stood out. She looked a lot like-
It must've been a coincidence. But then, the trait was a rare one to pass on… and the sharpness in her chin was one she recognized, back before it was covered by barbs of hair.
"Two children you've tricked into following you…" Raven mused, still discreetly eyeing the red-eyed girl for a reaction. She dressed down Watts and Cinder as well, and never once did the red-eyed girl flinch. She may have respected Raven enough not to mock her, but she didn't fear walking into the bandits' house when standing beside her mistress.
She was still stoic and silent even after seeing Vernal's powers. But then, the red-eyed girl's mistress was a Maiden too… and if she'd lived long enough to see Salem in person, perhaps she no longer knew fear from even the fury of magic, when she'd seen the terrors of the dark. She'd been hardened by that.
Just like her father.
And she thought it might be prudent to see if the girl knew who that father was. So when Cinder issued her ultimatum, Raven made it clear that she didn't trust them… not without some services rendered on her behalf.
"You are in a very poor position to negotiate," Doctor Watts observed.
He wasn't wrong, but Raven wanted to see those red eyes of Emerald's respond when she replied: "I want my brother dead."
Emerald seemed surprised, but no more so than any of her cohorts. "Qrow?" Cinder inquired, and again she had no visible reaction to the name. It seemed as though Emerald knew him, or at least knew of him, but didn't seem distressed to hear his name.
She didn't know, which meant if nothing else Raven knew something that Salem's band of lackeys didn't.
"Now this is a proposition I can get behind," Cinder agreed. Emerald made no effort to dissuade her. Watts did, but for purely practical reasons about keeping their hand undetected… and an implication Cinder wanted revenge on someone tied to Qrow in some way. Another possible advantage for Raven and her tribe, if she could infer the meaning quickly enough.
"All of us against him?" Raven suggested. "It'll be over in a heartbeat."
"But it's not just him."
She finally spoke. Raven paid her due attention, eager to confirm her suspicion. The way Emerald's eyes moved between Raven and Cinder, Raven knew her hunch was correct. It was subtle finding emotion in pools of blood, but she'd looked in those eyes from the first day of her life.
"He has the students with him," Emerald pointed out to her mistress. "He has Ruby."
So that was who Cinder was after: Summer's child and Yang's little sister. The last silver-eyed warrior. "He certainly does…"
They'd be working in collaboration, which might give Raven an opportunity… because she'd have something Qrow would want, even if he didn't yet know it.
When Raven shook Cinder's hand, she felt confident she knew more than her 'ally' did, which would make all the difference when the time finally came.
The Battle of Haven
Raven had made a point to case her target ahead of time by meeting with Lionheart. He wasn't fool enough to let Raven into the vault before Salem's followers were there to oversee the transaction, but he had given her enough information to move Vernal into place while the battle would rage above her. She'd tipped off Qrow about his impending trap and Lionheart's betrayal, and then simply waited for the ensuing chaos to take hold so she could make her move.
Qrow brought six students with him, including Yang and her little silver-eyed sister. Raven was briefly tempted to intervene, but resolved that Qrow had likely already told her. If their 'family' was so close-knit then surely her brother would keep his nieces in the loop. Raven focused her attention on the real prize.
Cinder didn't seem too bothered that Raven had abandoned the fight so quickly; she was entirely focused on pursuing Ruby Rose, thus ending up in combat against Qrow as well. Yang moved to fight the silver-haired boy, and her friend Weiss Schnee engaged Emerald in single combat. The White Fang attacked en masse, only to come up against the combined efforts of three students on one flank and a massive horde of Faunus attacking their rear. Raven hadn't known this would be so easy…
She shifted form and found a place to observe the battle from above, a bird observing carnage from afar. Raven took a quiet sense of pride when she saw Yang get the better of Mercury; not only had Raven been right about him, but Yang had proven herself stronger than Raven ever thought she'd be.
But to business. Weiss Schnee was having far more difficulty defeating Emerald, who was constantly doing… something to redirect an attack from the heiress, so Weiss was wasting effort attacking empty air. Raven focused intently, searching for the trick…
Searching for the distortion.
Once she was certain Cinder was far enough away and the White Fang were trapped in their bottleneck, Raven finally interceded. She landed on the ground away from the two combatants and returned to her human form and drew her blade to cut the pretty Schnee girl away with the sheer air pressure of her attack. There was no need to kill that one yet. There was no need to make Yang or Qrow her enemy when she could let them claim the spoils of victory.
Just perhaps not the spoils they expected to have.
"About time you showed up," Emerald grumbled. "We need you to-"
She stopped talking when Raven turned to face her with a sort of half-smile. Emerald was a suspicious one, and instantly realized Raven's assistance was going to cost her. She was preparing another illusion, a means to escape.
Raven saw the distortion. She knew where to cut.
Raven slashed again, hitting Emerald in her fleeing back. The Emerald that had addressed her moments beforehand vanished in wisps of Aura, while Raven reached down to hoist up the green-haired girl by the back of her shirt.
"There's a very different 'we' who has need of you now," Raven promised her, before cutting the air again with her blade, creating a portal to lead them underground, to Vernal and the vault. "There's something I'd like to share with you…"
They found a place in Mistral to lay low while fighting raged; an abandoned single-room building on one of the shadier parts of the lower rung. Raven considered simply retreating as far as she could, but if Qrow lived she wanted to be on-hand to rub his nose in this discovery. Though first she needed to convert Emerald to her way of thinking…
Raven didn't know the outcome of the battle, but she suspected Qrow and his side had emerged victorious without Raven and Vernal's assistance and with Cinder's forces short by one. Certainly the White Fang were supposed to reinforce Salem's faction but had ended up pinned between two opposing fronts. Raven hoped Yang and Qrow lived… if for no other reason than to eventually introduce them to their blood.
Raven hadn't needed to infuse Aura into Emerald as she had with Tai, Summer, and Vernal. Emerald already had her blood, and the marker in her that had come from Qrow. She had only to touch Emerald to awaken it, to bring a bond that had always existed to the forefront.
Emerald was stunned by the feeling, unable to recognize it. She sat on the dirty floor, looking down at her hands, trying to find the source of the unknown sensation beneath her skin. "What did you do?"
"Confirmed my suspicions," Raven explained, standing over her while Vernal waited in a corner, observing them from afar. Emerald glanced between the two and around the room, searching for an exit. "You are who I think you are."
Emerald glared up at her. "And who -exactly- would that be?"
"I wondered if my brother's stupidity would ever catch up with him," Raven mused. "I'm betting you never even knew…"
"Knew what?" Emerald demanded.
"That we're family, girl," Raven replied. "That you have the blood of my tribe… that you're the daughter of my brother Qrow."
She didn't seem thrown by Raven's claim; likely she simply didn't believe it. She only stared straight ahead and demanded: "Where is Cinder?"
Such intensity in her eyes. That wasn't mere loyalty to her mistress, but a protective instinct… Raven had no idea Cinder was so close with her subordinates… or at least with this one. At least her niece had good taste. "Probably still struggling, if I had to guess. I don't think she's used to fighting a losing battle."
Emerald glared at Raven with such intensity. Their relationship wasn't off to a great start, but Raven could think of worse starting points than this. She'd press-ganged far less talented people to join her. She'd certainly put up with worse than this bloody red glare… she didn't yet have her father's experience in putting it to use, though her hue was darker, not unlike Raven's own.
"Vernal," Raven called, and the Spring Maiden stepped over. Raven gave her a simple nod and Vernal retrieved it from her person… a smooth white stone that responded to her touch, Vernal's Aura running over its surface and causing the rock to spin between her fingers. Emerald's attention shifted from Raven to the stone, suspecting what was before her.
"I don't know every little trick this thing can do, but back when I was still in his confidence Ozpin did tell me that this thing had a way of unlocking the potential hidden within someone," Raven explained. "That it allowed them to know the full extent of their powers and achieve more than should've been possible within their lifetime. If this relic does what he claims… is that something that would interest you, Emerald?"
She was hardened by years of mistrust and did not believe that Raven was offering her anything that would be to Emerald's own benefit. Her attention returned to Cinder and the mission, rather than Raven's fanciful story. "Salem will kill you for this betrayal. She'll kill everyone you care about to get that thing."
"Including you now," Raven assured her. "Once Salem knows you're my blood she'll convince your mistress to kill you too…" Raven leaned in close. "…and whatever you think you have with Cinder, you know that if Salem gives the order she'll kill you right along with me. You know how this game is played."
Emerald tried to be stoic, but Raven saw the distortion once again. That was an illusion Emerald hid behind now; a confident face to conceal the doubt in her eyes. Raven merely smiled, content she'd struck a nerve Emerald had scrambled to hide.
"Ask yourself what you have to lose," Raven suggested. "Or what you have to gain. Really, Emerald… would it be so bad to know who you really are?"
Emerald dropped the façade and eyed Raven with suspicion. "And why would you give this to me?"
"I told you, didn't I?" Raven mused. "You're my blood. Consider it a gift to my niece… an offer to rejoin the family you didn't know you had."
Emerald looked past Raven to the stone still spinning between Vernal's fingers, glowing brightly as it was further encircled in the Spring Maiden's Aura.
She began to wonder…