And at just over 8000 words, this is the longest one to date; considering that I wrote most of this today, I'm actually pretty freaking impressed with myself right now. My apologies in advance, too, since most of it is italicized; I hate flashbacks/dream sequences, but that's what this chapter is. Again, my apologies, but it was necessary.
This one's for Monty, for ever remaining an inspiration. May he rest in peace.
Volume 1, Chapter 23
Revenant
Part 3
"Well, those two were... interesting."
Summer chuckled in amusement. "That's one way to put it, Ice Queen." One of her two partners for this mission, the white and blue garbed Winter Schnee, scoffed at the moniker, but Summer carried on regardless. "Personally, I would have gone with adorable."
"Of course you would..." Winter had a very slight sneer on her face as she said that, but Summer could hardly fault her for that; once upon a time, she might have reacted much the same way upon finding out someone she looked up to didn't act the way she expected them to. So of course Summer intentionally played it up, enjoying the way cracks began to show through Winter's carefully practiced Ice Queen facade. And Summer could tell it was a facade; her old partner from her Beacon Days had been the epitome of The Ice Queen, and Winter Schnee, as much as she may have tried, was no Raven.
"They were putting on an act."
Summer turned an interested gaze on the third and final member of her team for this mission, Ronald Springfield, as he returned carrying three pints of locally brewed ale.
"Ugh... Do you really expect me to drink this, Spring?"
"Hey, you said yourself that it can be hard to find fine spirits outside the cities. And you can hardly afford to keep a constant stock of your preferred vintages, right?"
Winter glared at him, but Summer was looking between the two curiously, sensing a story; trouble between Papa Schnee and his daughter? If so, Summer would have to keep an eye out for an opportunity to impart some motherly wisdom...
Summer took a swig of her own tankard as she watched the duo bicker.
"Well, yes, bu-"
"What's the matter? Your fancy palate revolting at the thought of an ale?"
"You know very well that is not true! You also know that I prefer wine or vodka to this... this... swill!"
"Ah ah ah! You're not allowed to knock it before you try it!"
"Fine, but if I drink this and still dislike it, I will proceed to complain as much as I want!"
"Fair enough. So, what're you waiting for?"
Summer watched with the beginnings of a smirk as Winter, done in by peer pressure, raised her mug to her lips, used her other hand to pinch her nose shut. Summer laughed outright when Winter proceeded to tilt her head back and pour her ale down the hatch...
"Wow. Look at her go... Chug! Chug! Chug!"
"Chug!" Summer cheered as Winter proceeded to do just that, managing to down her entire mug in one go. Not very smoothly, though, if the way she was coughing and gagging was any indication.
"Oh, come on," Spring rolled his eyes at her. "It can't have been that bad. You did manage to finish it."
"And I hated every moment." Winter declared with a disdainful tilt of the head.
Summer chuckled. "She did reserve the right to complain."
"Hmmph!"
"Get her the moonshine next time. Hehehe. Moving on. What was that about those kids putting on an act?"
Summer was frowning at Spring, not knowing why he cared enough to bring it up.
"They were. It was a decent act, I'll give them that, but the boy looked like he was exaggerating his surprise on recognizing you."
Summer shrugged. "So he's a teenager who likes to make a scene. Probably part of a theatre club."
"The girl was doing... Something with her Aura."
Summer raised a brow, and across from her, she could see Winter doing the same.
"'Something?'"
"If I knew what, I'd say so. All I can say is it looked like it was directed at her cousin... Who, by the way, looked nothing like her."
Summer had to agree with him on that latter point. Still, "Their irises were exactly the same shade of blue, and even had the same pattern to them. Which is more than you could say about my two girls; they share a parent, yet you would never even guess they were related just by looking at 'em."
A quick reach into her cloak and Summer produced a picture of her family. And as her eyes settled upon it, the rest of the world seemed to fade from existence, until all that remained was the picture and the scene it depicted.
If one were to judge the mood of the scene based solely upon the background, one might assume it ought to be rather dreary or dismal; even beneath the midday sun, the grey forests of Patch could have that effect. But one need only look to the family of five arrayed before it to dispel the false gloom and bring a smile to their face.
Standing tall near the center of the frame was a grinning blond man, with facial hair consisting of a soul patch and stubble along his jawline, and his blue eyes were gleaming with pride in the family that surrounded him. He wore brown cargo shorts and a dark brown belt, black shoes, a red bandanna around his left bicep, and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off. But his right arm was not bare; in addition to the black ink tattoo of what could be described as either a heart or a lion, he wore a metal spaulder, a leather vambrace, and a brown, fingerless glove. It was the outfit nearly any picture of him would show, for it was the same one he wore whenever he appeared in his capacity as a Hunter. And when one took into consideration that this man, Taiyang Xiao Long, was an Instructor at Signal Academy and had two children who wished to follow in his footsteps, he rarely appeared in anything else.
The equally blonde, lilac eyed teenage girl in front of him was much the same way in that you could rarely catch her wearing an outfit other than the one she was depicted in. She wore a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow low-cut crop top with a black crest that resembled a burning heart, conveniently positioned in front of the girl's own. The vest had puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs, on the sides of which were two small, golden buttons.
Moving downwards, it could be seen that she wore a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object. The same burning heart crest was depicted on this banner, except golden in color. She wore black shorts under her belt, which resembled a pleated skirt in the back. Over the short shorts but under the belt was a white, asymmetrical back skirt.
Unusual for a girl her age, she wore no discernible jewelry, aside from the orange infinity scarf worn about her neck. She also wore brown knee-high platform boots made of leather, with orange socks of different lengths. Her left leg also had a gray bandanna-like object wrapped around the top of her boot. She wore fingerless black gloves underneath a pair of huge, golden bracelets, which anybody could reasonably assume were weapons of some sort. Considering that the girl, Yang, also happened to be a second year student at Signal Academy, they would be right. And the confident grin she wore would be enough to tell you she knew how to use them.
Next to her was her younger sister, Ruby... But as Summer had said, you'd never know they were related judging by appearance alone. Where her sister's blonde hair gleamed like the sun, Ruby's own was black with a red tint, kept trimmed to just below her jawline while her sister's easily reached her waist. Ruby had silver eyes to her sister's lilac. Add in the black and red goth lolita outfit contrasting her sisters brighter colors and the many differences in facial structure and one could assume the sisters were as different as night and day.
Nothing could be further from the truth. While it was true that Yang radiated confidence while Ruby could be described as shy and socially awkward (this narrator prefers the term 'adorkable,') both girls were outgoing, and the sisterly bond was clear to see in the way the grinning blond had her arm wrapped around the ravenette's shoulders, and the way Ruby nuzzled in to the contact.
Cradled in Ruby's arms was the family corgi, Zwei, who was facing the camera with his own mouth open, panting happily in a way that suggested he was intelligent enough to recognize his picture was being taken.
Finally, leaning into Taiyang and resting a hand on Yang's shoulder was Summer, resplendent in a white, silver, and red outfit that was clearly the inspiration for Ruby's, and wearing a smile that personified contentment.
In a blink, the perspective shifted, and Summer was watching as Zwei escaped Ruby's grasp, somehow managing to take the preteen's cloak with him.
"Zwei! Get back here!"
The corgi, ears perked and tail wagging, dodged when Ruby dove after him, causing Ruby to slide face first through the grass; Summer silently thanked Monty that Hunter-grade clothing happened to be stain resistant, even as she silently suppressed a chuckle at Ruby cursing the awkwardness that came along with puberty. Ruby was quickly back on her feet though (Semblance was her Speed, after all), and soon enough she was chasing the dog up, down, and around the the grounds of their family home... Though the fact that she wasn't using her Semblance to immediately catch the dog, as well as the smile on her face, told her parents that she wasn't truly angered by the dog's antics.
"Well, aren't you going to go help her?"
Summer didn't even bother trying to hide the amused smirk she had pointed towards the elder of her two daughters after her husband's comment. A smirk that Yang returned so perfectly that Summer almost felt like she was looking into a mirror.
"Are you sure it isn't Zwei that needs help?"
Summer rolled her eyes. "Oh, just get over there already, my Little Dragon!" Summer accentuated the order with a ruffling of the blonde's locks, causing the girl to squawk in indignation (because the girl took an absurd level of pride in her hair) despite Summer knowing how much she enjoyed the show of affection. "You know that looks like fun."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going, I'm going!"
Summer smiled as she watched Yang go, her grin widening as she joined in the chase...
"Is it bad that I wish they could stay like that forever?"
Summer had her mouth opened to retort, but the man who had just taken their photo beat her to the punch.
"She may've pushed one of them out, but I'm pretty sure Summer is unique in being able to run pretty much forever."
Summer had the perfect retort for that, of course. "I dunno Qrow, I'd say your sister has me beat there."
Qrow winced. "Ouch. Here I was thinking Tai was the bitter one..."
Taiyang just laughed. "There's a reason the girls tend not to invite their friends over, and it isn't because I like to embarrass them."
Summer grinned. "To be fair, those little shits totally had that coming; I mean, really, who badmouths a little girl, to her sister, in her own home? That's one sure fire way to bring out my Inner Bitch."
Qrow cringed; he didn't even need to hear the emphasis to know that 'Inner Bitch' was capitalized. And while it was true that it could be entertaining to watch Summer's Inner Bitch come out, that only held true so long as it was directed at someone else. But when one remembered that they had all gone to Beacon together, that Summer, as the leader of their team, had felt responsible for the antics of her teammates, and that Qrow and Taiyang had, as typical of the male sex, messed up many times over the years? Yeah, they knew just how terrifying Summer was when her Bitch Mode was activated. The fact that Summer herself referred to it in such terms should tell you all you need to know.
Tai, however, was laughing. "Oh, yeah, it was pretty bad; those girls still run off with their tails tucked between their legs whenever Summer picks Ruby up from school." Summer openly laughed at that one; she was firmly of the belief that faunas were people, just as much as humans were, but the one wolf faunas in that pack of girls (Yang had been suspended once for making a related pun) literally tucked her tail between her legs at the sight of Summer. She couldn't resist at least a small chuckle any time she happened to think of it.
"They're just lucky that Yang was able to stay calm long enough to restrain herself and go tell Summer." Tai continued, ignoring his wife's evil giggling. "I'm still surprised that Yang didn't try to beat them to within an inch of their lives, on the spot."
Summer beamed with pride, causing Qrow to laugh while Tai sighed. "Hey, she may enjoy violence, but at least I don't actively encourage it. Ruby may be a lost cause on this front, but Yang has certainly picked up a thing or two from my Inner Bitch!"
"Oum have mercy..." Tai groaned, causing Summer to chuckle.
Qrow took that as his cue to change the subject.
"You know, I wouldn't mind taking this upcoming mission for you, Summer. Give you a chance to spend some time with the kids."
"Ha! As if! I love my girls to death, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pass up a milk run during my last few months on the job. I mean, c'mon; Fairbrook is only about a day out from Vale. I'm surprised my name even came up for this one; they usually pass something like this off to a second-year team from Beacon."
Qrow just shrugged. "If it was a normal infestation, sure. But I read that report too, so I know that you know that the size of the infestation is rather unusual."
Summer raised a brow. "So send two teams, and maybe a Hunter with 3-5 years of post-academy experience to supervise."
Tai responded this time. "Yeah... But you know how The Council gets when prominent Hunters announce that they're retiring. They'll do all they can to squeeze a little bit of extra service from us before they can no longer ask."
"Whatever; it makes no difference to me, so long as my pension check shows up on time each month." And Summer really meant that; once upon a time, she had been of the opinion that she would simply fight until she died, happy to give her life keeping the dark tide of Grimm at bay for however long her life could buy... But then Yang came along, and Ruby a little while after that. Maybe it was selfish of her, but she wanted to ensure that she could provide for them, even put them through university if they chose that path (though, it was seeming increasingly likely that Ruby would follow her parents, uncle, and sister on the path of the Huntsman). She couldn't ensure that if she met an early grave, so she'd opted to retire as soon as she reached the earliest date she was allowed to do so, 15 years to the day from her final day at Beacon. Of course, it had helped that Ozpin had offered her the job of combat instructor...
"Alright then," Qrow conceded. "Just... Be careful, okay? I know it's supposed to be a milk run, but you never know when something unexpected might happen."
Normally, Summer would have made a quip something along the lines of "Aw, I knew you cared!", and Tai, regardless of whether she had or not, would've gone with "Careful, that's my wife you're attempting to woo..." But the uncharacteristic seriousness in Qrow's demeanor demanded the same in return.
"I'll be careful, Qrow."
There was a heavy pause after that, in which Summer and Qrow exchanged a look of conviction.
Tai took it upon himself to once again change the subject. "Speaking of the unexpected happening, it looks like there's going to be rain."
Summer looked up through the forest's canopy, frowning at what she could see beyond her raised hand.
"Looks like the rain's going to pick up; probably a storm coming. We should try to get back to town before we find ourselves caught in the worst of it."
Summer spared a glance for her companions, Spring and Winter. Both seemed to be slightly fatigued from the fight with the Deathstalker, but otherwise okay; nothing that a couple rounds of ale and a warm fire couldn't cure. "You two good to go?"
A nod and a grunt from Spring, and a terse "Affirmative" from Winter; she could see why they'd remained partnered after graduating from Atlas. The two had good synergy, both on the battlefield and off, and Summer would be sure to include that in her report to The Council. A report that she was actually looking forward to writing, seeing as it would mean she was out of this rain and had had a chance to take a hot bath.
"Good, let's get out of here."
They proceeded to do just that, Summer leading the way back to Fairbrook, but they hadn't made it more than a dozen steps before a large hand seized her by the shoulder, forcing her to stop. She turned her head to look over her shoulder to the owner of that hand. "What's wrong?"
"We're about to be ambushed. There's one at our 10:45, in the trees, preparing an offensive spell using Earth Dust. From the shape, I'd say it'll come in the form of bolts."
"Shit," Summer cursed as she felt her body tense. "Is that the only Aura you can sense right now?"
"Yes."
"Meaning that the rest of them are probably going to attack using conven-"
"Buildup behind us, 5:30, ground level. Concentrated into three points. Feels like electricity."
"Fuck. Schnee, defend the front. Springfield, rear guard. I'll take center. Don't let them separate u-"
"Scatter!"
The trio did so; Summer watched as the first arrow, targeting herself, barely flew past her ear, while Springfield's arrow was swatted aside by the blade of his axe. Winter actually reacted quickly enough to slice hers in half, only to give a cry of pain when a trio of bolts slammed into her back, causing her to stumble. Summer spared a glance in that direction to see the offender, the mage Springfield had spotted, on the ground and running towards them, not holding any visible weapons but the lingering glow of active Dust around his hands.
"He's mine!" Schnee snarled as she stepped forward to meet this foe. Summer decided to let her handle it for the moment, turning to Spring to find him already engaged with a another foe, this one not carrying any visible weapons either but displaying an impressive grasp of martial arts. What alarmed Summer more, however, was that she hadn't heard him approach, even through the moderately heavy rain.
"Where'd he come from?!"
"Directly above us! I only spotted him because he did something with his Aura, probably sound suppression!"
"Shit! I'll take him, you keep an eye o-"
Summer cut herself off when she was forced to raise her katar, deflecting an arrow with the flat of her blade. And then another, and another...
"Nevermind, doesn't look like they're going to let us!"
So things continued in that way for a couple of moments, Summer dodging and blocking a fusillade of arrows from within the tree line, frowning as she was forced a short distance away from her allies.
"Spring! Move!"
"Falcon, PAWNCH!"
Summer blinked as the man (judging by the build and voice) called out an attack... That literally made a falcon formed of fire, the beak projected just millimeters in front of his fist and exploding upon impact with Springfield's solar plexus. The assassin paid for it, though, both due to the haft of Springfield's axe catching him across the top of his head, and when Winter very nearly skewered him through the face. Before Summer could attempt to insert herself into that fight, however, she found herself deflecting more arrows, until, suddenly, they stopped coming.
"Either they ran out of arrows, decided to reposition, or..." A pop that sounded slightly different than that of the rain hitting the canopy and the small puddles beginning to form was the only warning Summer received, a quick spin and a swing of her arm deflecting a pointed object being jabbed towards her abdomen...
Okay, what the actual fuck?
Summer's assailant appeared to be a goblin wielding an umbrella. An umbrella with a blade protruding from the center of the canopy, but still:
"An umbrella? Seriously?"
The goblin simply grinned at her beneath the balaclava it wore, and Summer could have sworn something about it looked familiar. But there was no time to ponder on that, for she soon found herself under attack from it... Though she (at least, Summer assumed it was a she, based on it's build) soon learned that it was a bad idea to attack Summer Rose without support, as Summer had her on the defensive within five strikes. And even though the goblin was good, Summer found herself having an easy enough time of it that she could keep tabs on the other two fights occurring.
Winter, it seemed, had her opponent under control, exchanging magical fire (among other elements) with her opponent in a highly acrobatic, very close ranged wizard's duel; were they fighting in a tournament setting, Summer would have been absolutely riveted. Spring, on the other hand, seemed to have picked up a second opponent, this one using sickle-bladed pistols and fighting near seamlessly with the martial artist.
Also not our mystery archer. This could be a problem; better wrap this up quickly.
Returning her undivided attention back to her own fight, Summer quickly found an opportunity when she changed tactics, beginning to add kicks and elbow strikes to her arsenal in addition to her slashes and thrusts. The goblin reacted admirably at first, managing to adapt quickly, but she soon fell for a trap that Summer had lain, attempting to stab her but finding her umbrella trapped when Summer pinned it between her arm and her side. A quick head butt left her opponent briefly dazed, and Summer began to move her opposite arm in for an uppercu-
Summer quickly aborted the attempt, ducking and turning the move into spinning throw in order to dodge the arrow that otherwise would have struck her in the temple. The archer had finally revealed herself, and Summer found herself dancing to the side, in order to both dodge an incoming assault from twin curved swords that had once been a bow, and to put some space between her and her currently downed opponent, preventing her ankles from being grabbed.
The archer-turned-swordswoman turned out to be highly adept in close range, able to keep up with Summer as the two began to dance and weave deadly patterns of steel, punctuated by the occasional gunshot. Judging by the woman's skill and her slightly different manner of dress compared to the other four, Summer was willing to wager this was the leader.
Again, were she not outnumbered and fighting for her life, she would have been ecstatic; it was rare indeed that someone could keep up with her this well in single combat. But she was all too aware of the stakes here, and thus the only emotions she felt were determination and just a small bit of anger that the site of what was supposed to be an easy mission before she retired could very well end with her death, and at human hands rather than Grimm. Summer wouldn't have been worried if she was only fighting the swordswoman, but the goblin remained a factor, and while the goblin was mostly content to stay out of the swordswoman's way, it didn't stop her from making the occasional attack, which without fail would force Summer to relent in her assault in order to defend herself, keeping the fight relatively even.
"Rrraaarrrrrgggggghhhh!"
All three combatants paused to glance towards the source of that yell, and each was alarmed at the current state of affairs; the enemy mage was down, but so was Winter.
"Lee!"
Suddenly, Summer realized why the goblin's grin had seemed so familiar. The teenage boy she'd talked to back in Fairbrook had been called Lee, and his companion had been a mute midget named:
"Neo!?"
The short bandit's lips were set in a carefully neutral line, but she had reacted to her name, and that was confirmation enough for Summer; they were the same Lee and Neo that had greeted her back in Fairbrook.
Rage coursed through the Huntress' veins; how fucking dare they! Here she was, risking her life to protect the people of Remnant, yet here this little shit and her friends were, ambushing her after she'd treated her with nothing but kindness?!
With speed and power fueled by her rage, Summer chopped both hands downwards towards the little shit, fully intending to cut her open down the middle while she was distracted, but she reacted at the last second, catching the blow on the shaft of her umbrella and standing her ground for a moment before she pushed back, Summer allowing her to in order to dodge the leader's sudden assault.
"Go! I can handle this!"
Summer's Inner Bitch was released.
"Oh, you're going to regret those words!"
Recognizing her best chance to quickly take one of her opponents out, Summer went on what she could describe as the fiercest, most carefully coordinated offensive she had ever mustered, no tricks held back in her attempt to end the woman standing in front of her.
It was almost enough. Summer had to hand it to the woman: she'd put up an admirable defense, lasting nearly a full two minutes before Summer had managed to disarm her and proceeded to gouge chunks out of her Aura with each succeeding strike. Had they been fighting in an arena configured to show combatant's Auras, Summer was certain this woman would have been in the orange by the end of it. But when she had put the woman on the ground and went for the blow that likely would have broken the woman's Aura, the goblin had returned, teleporting in front of her to turn the assault aside at the last instant. The woman with the pistol sickles appeared beside her a moment later, now carrying only one and swinging it like a kusarigama while taking a stance next to the gob- Neo, while their leader picked herself up behind them.
Summer cursed and reloaded her weapons while glancing to where Springfield had been fighting. The man was down in an expanding pool of his own blood, while the martial artist he'd been fighting was hopping on his remaining leg over to where Winter had been fighting the enemy mage.
Shit!
As the fighting resumed, Summer recognized that the situation was beginning to look bleak. Both of her allies were down; Springfield was most likely dead, and Winter would soon follow if Summer couldn't intercept the martial artist heading her direction. Were her own situation a little less dire, she would not have thought twice about attempting to save her... But the rational part of Summer's mind recognized that to save Winter would be to sacrifice herself, and then Winter would most likely die anyway. Once upon a time, Summer might have attempted to save her anyway...
But one did not survive nearly fifteen years as a Huntress by choosing the idealistic option; you had to save yourself before you could save others. She hated it, but the simple fact was that her only chance at survival now was to kill her assailants and make it back to Fairbrook, where she would report the attack, and the deaths of Atlas Specialists Winter Schnee and Ronald Springfield.
Despite the fight becoming three on one, Summer was giving better than she was giving, and that gave her hope, hope that she would survive to see her husband and daughters again. She had succeeded in dragging the fight out, turning it into a battle of attrition that she was winning, but about ten minutes into it, one of the worst possible things that could have happened, did:
"Gem!"
The enemy mage, Lee, had woken up.
After a brief shared look with her leader, the kusarigama wielder, now known as Gem, disengaged to heed the call, and Summer did her damnedest to remove one of her two remaining opponents from the fight before Gem returned with Lee. If she could just take out the leader, she would be more than capable of handling the rest. She was so close, managing to successfully swat Neo aside and break through the leader's defenses...
It was not to be, as the chain of a kusarigama halted a stab mere millimeters before it could claim the downed leader's life. Forced to deal with the offending object in order to regain her mobility, and thus, her chance at life, Summer settled for kicking one of the leader's dropped swords to the side while she used her free hand to empty a magazine at Neo, forcing her to turtle behind the canopy of her umbrella, which, to Summer's frustration, was entirely undamaged from both the bullets and her blades from earlier. But she didn't waste time pondering on that, instead dropping the spent katar, transferring her trapped one to her free hand, kicking the other sword, and yanking on the chain that was wrapped around her wrist all in one motion, dragging the girl towards her. The girl was both smart enough and quick enough to fire the last two rounds in the magazine (both of which grazed Summer's Aura) before letting go, and Summer swung it around herself, the first rotation catching the surprised leader across the face with the butt of the pistol just after she'd recovered one of her swords, causing her to fumble it while her Aura finally broke with a small shatter effect. Summer could not capitalize on this quite yet, however, for Neo caught the chain with the hook of her umbrella, and pulled when Summer was slightly too slow to fire the last round in her own weapon's magazine at the wholly unprotected leader, the jerk being just enough to throw her aim off.
Summer cursed, and was forced to finally pick her own weapon back up while the others all did the same. Summer was the quickest to have herself sorted out, of course, and she charged, bee lining for the kusarigama wielder, the one who seemed to be the least suited for melee combat out of the group. However, the girl remained calm, retracting the chain back into the gun's mechanism to wield it as a sickle (in the back of her mind, she noted that Ruby would love to see that, and the thought simply filled her with both more rage and more determination). Gem managed to meet Summer's charge, expertly (but barely) deflecting a rapid flurry of blows before being staggered when Summer closed the combo with an extra hard hit, which Gem was forced to catch. Summer was forced to push away, however, spinning to deflect a slice from the leader, whom in turn found herself twisting away from a punch which aimed to gut her. Summer was once again forced to disengage, however, in order to jump over Neo, who had, contrary to her previous tactics, decided to lunge at her legs from the side. Being able to hear the chain of the kusarigama unspooling behind her and seeing the woman in front of her preparing a swing aimed not at Summer, but the space in front of her, Summer was able to deduce that they were attempting to trap her, so she took the only evasive action she could; she jumped, nearly straight up and slightly towards Neo. But her instincts were nagging her as she jumped, so, obeying them, she twisted, and began the motion of a stomp kick...
That impulse saved her life, at least for the moment, as her foot impacted something she couldn't see, and propelled her away. She was able to see when Lee suddenly returned to the visible spectrum, however, his extended, gauntleted fist making clear just what her foot had just hit.
Damn, that hurts!
Summer couldn't help but flinch when her foot touched the ground again, and she didn't even dare to hope that her opponents hadn't noticed; they most definitely would have, and one of them, Lee, was still bearing down upon her.
Shit!
She had initially planned to take advantage of the brief moment of having all of her opponents in the same spot in order to reload, but she was prevented from doing so by the three rapidly fired bolts of electricity that were fired at her; as it was, Summer was just barely able to dodge all three and get set in time to meet Lee's charge.
Thankfully, the way Lee was raising his fists reminded her enough of her husband and her eldest daughter that she responded to it on pure instinct, using a quick 1-2 punch to bring his momentum to a hal-
Twin explosions of pain blossomed in the center of Summer's face, and only her instincts saved her from taking a third, harder strike when she leaned her head just a little to the left, and felt more than saw the elbow that was hovering just above her shoulder.
Rage blossomed, and had Lee been any slower in moving, her lunging upper cut might have killed him; at the very least, it would have definitely broken his Aura. As it was, he was still just barely ahead of it, so close that Summer could feel his presence, despite her vision still attempting to correct itself, and the same held true for the entirety of her assault; the felt of his balaclava tickled the skin of her leg as he ducked under a round house kick. The fabric of his shirt, grazed, as he sidestepped her axe kick. And as her vision finally settled back to normal, her mouth twisted into a savage grin as she watched her blade tear through felt, plastic, and flesh when he just barely escaped impaling himself on an uppercut; had her blade punched through the bone rather than scraping along it, the kid would have lost his eye. As it was, it was going to leave an impressive scar, assuming he managed to survive this.
Not something I plan on allowing at this point!
But she couldn't press the attack, for two pressing reasons. The first? His friends had finally caught up, and were now engaging her while he removed the ruined goggles from his face and attempted to keep the blood from flowing into his eye. The second, and more alarm inducing? Her nose was bleeding freely, and her opponents were not allowing her the chance to clear it. The only reason she'd been doing as well as she had against them was because her Semblance boosted the efficiency of her body's natural processes; the process that was important here was her aerobic respiration. But an important part of aerobic respiration is, you guessed it, air, so with her nose being blocked and her breathing now relying solely on her mouth, she would be cycling oxygen and carbon dioxide less efficiently, and if the fight dragged out long enough, it would eventually bring her down to more human energy levels, at which point she wouldn't be able to fight as effectively as she had been.
In short, Summer was finally on a timer.
Half an hour later, Summer's time ran out. She'd done her best, managing to break through the protective Auras of all four of her opponents over the course of the fight, but in the end, Lee had gambled and surprised her with a stone to the funny bone, causing her to drop the katar she was about to finish Gem with. She had known she was doomed then, trying to fend off four different opponents with only one weapon in hand... She'd panicked while trying to fend off the leader and Neo, not realizing she was being herded towards a waiting Lee until it was too late.
Summer felt the moment her ribs were mangled and tore into her lungs, and for the next couple of minutes, pain that was all her conscious mind was capable of even comprehending.
But conscious Summer did remain, and when she was able to think again, an excruciating lift of the head revealed that her opponents had let their guard down. More importantly, however, she could see past them to where Winter lay, and it was with a sense of relief that Summer could see that her hands were bound, meaning that she was alive, and the assailants probably intended to keep her that way.
Heh. These guys probably intend to ransom her to the Schnee Dust Corporation. But that means I just have to kill them and hold out long enough for Winter to get help. I can do that... Maybe.
Every movement inciting a new wave of agony, Summer reached to her belt, quickly but clumsily finding a magazine for her weapon.
Focus, Summer! If you want to see Ruby and Yang again, you have to do this right!
Summer clenched her eyes shut, and her daughters' smiling faces were thrust to the front of her mind.
For them.
Resolve restored, Summer smoothly rose, instantly being noticed by the one legged martial artist near Winter. She considered shooting him first... But he hadn't killed Winter yet, and seemed to have no intention of doing so, so she instead targeted the one enemy who had caused the most damage, and one of the two whom she had developed a personal grudge towards. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she sighted in on the upper-left part of his back, and as soon as she had the desired spot lined up, she fired.
Blam!
The bastard spun just as the bullet left the chamber, quickly enough for it to hit him in the right shoulder instead of the left, and saving him from taking the .50 caliber slug through the heart. Summer was frustrated by this, but the spray of crimson that erupted from the wound, along with the fact that it knocked him off his feet, caused the rational portion of her mind to move him to the bottom of her priorities list.
The kusarigama wielder, Gem, was the next to receive a bullet.
Blam!
Summer made a slight adjustment to her aim when she saw that the bullet took the girl in the thigh, rather than in the stomach like she had intended. The bitch had tripped her up multiple times during the brawl, and for that, Summer's Inner Bitch wanted her to experience pain before she passed. A thigh wound, though not as satisfying as a gut wound, would have to suffice for the moment.
It was her pragmatic side who chose the next victim, despite the fact that Inner Bitch whole-heartedly agreed.
Blam blam blam! Blam!
It took four shots to down the goblin, Neo, because the canopy of her umbrella had been expanded quickly enough to block the first three. So Summer had allowed her aim to shift towards the girl's vulnerable knee, dropping her with the third shot; small as she was, the girl was lucky the leg hadn't been blown clean off. Not that it would matter in the next few moments.
That left the leader...
Blam!
Who managed to dodge the first shot...
Blam!
And the second...
Blam!
And the third. Summer gritted her teeth; she only had two left. Making a quick, and somewhat risky decision, she shifted her target...
Blam blam!
And succeeded in knocking the swords right out of the leader's hands. Satisfied for the moment, Summer studiously ignored the agony and charged, managing to swiftly close the distance before she thrusted, failing to skewer her as intended but, successful in leaving a deep gash on the woman's upper arm. And, just as with Lee, she was certain it would scar, given the opportunity.
She did her best to put her down, utilizing what her own daughter, whose Semblance was speed, had once described as a dizzying series of kicks. The woman, wholly unprepared for this, was on the ground quickly, still clinging to consciousness but clearly delirious. At the very least, Summer would die with the satisfaction that the woman had been humiliated in front of her subordinates.
Immediate threat removed, Summer turned back to where the other three had gone down, and was simultaneously extremely frustrated but utterly unsurprised to find Lee standing before her, left hand clutching his right shoulder and gaping at her in what could only be described as pure horror.
Her Inner Bitch practically purred as she started to stalk towards him.
If I only succeed in taking one of you out, it'll be you...
That purr became a growl when the kid got his shit together and put his good arm up in a defensive stance.
Okay, so I might have to work for it. You're still going to die.
And indeed he would, if her determination could outlast his panic. Compared to earlier, his movements were telegraphed and sloppy, which Summer's rational side had to admit was likely the only reason she hadn't already been put down. But she wasn't complaining; it worked in her favor, allowing her to maneuver until she had her right hand balled up in the neck of his shirt, while her left was drawn back and ready to stab. She was snarling, staring him directly in the eye when the most peculiar thing happened:
His eyes changed colors. Idly, she'd noticed that his eyes both had two different colors, being mostly bright green with equally bright blue sections on the sides, but even if she hadn't, watching them suddenly turn cobalt would have been startling enough on it's own, and would have caused her to pause. The fact that his face went blank, and his eyes proceeded to glow like a neon light and lock her in place, however, was alarming. And when she felt what little remained of her Aura being drained from her body, and her own silver starting to show in specs amongst the cobalt? That, was terrifying.
Death was one thing, but to feel your Aura, literally a manifestation of your soul, being sucked out of your body, while you watched a series of memories that weren't even yours being played out before your eyes? Summer wasn't sure if she even believed in an afterlife, but she staunchly believed that even hell would be better than having her soul be eaten by somebody else!
She nearly cried with relief when expression returned to Lee's face, and she felt herself starting to regain the ability to move her head and neck. Taking full advantage of this, and desperate to escape, Summer yelled as slammed her head into Lee's...
And with a startled shout of his own, Lee returned to the land of the waking. Mostly green eyes bored a hole into the ceiling, while a frantic heart pulsed well above what could be considered a healthy rate. Normally, Lee would have noticed that and began forcing himself to calm down by taking deep breaths...
'Normal' is about the furthest thing from what I just saw!
Under any other circumstances, Lee would have simply written it off as a dream, brought about and made more vivid by his guilty conscience. But during the previous day's spar, he'd received a piece of solid evidence which, when taken together with ending of the dream he'd just had, led him to a rather startling conclusion: Lee had absorbed Summer Rose... Or at least, some of her memories, and so completely that it felt like they were his own; he'd felt the rage, the horror, the love, the amusement, the determination, the rain on his skin, the breaking of his ribs... He'd felt it all, in explicit, vivid detail. It certainly explained how he'd perfectly executed that feint against Neo, despite never having even conceptualized such a move before, and it would explain the dream he'd just had... But it still didn't explain how that had happened.
Normally, I'd write that off as one of our Semblances... But all accounts reported that Summer's was unlimited energy, and boy did we all wish we had looked into that before fighting her. On the other hand, my own, while still relatively new, is definitely related to either temporal manipulation or enhancement of my nervous system, since all I can do with it so far is change my perception of time. Neither of our Semblances should have been able to do that, alone or together...
It wasn't until he was treated to the sight of Neo slowly phasing into existence, umbrella gripped tightly, that he realized that his own Semblance was currently active, and almost certainly overclocked if he could actually see Neo in the middle of teleporting. But of course, that itself was enough of a distraction that his heart began to beat a little less frantically, and the world around him suddenly sped up as Neo, satisfied that there was nobody else in the room, turned towards him.
"Lee, what's wrong? I heard you shout."
Lee finally turned his gaze fully towards Neo, and couldn't help but smile; the worry on her face was clear, but the fact she cared enough to worry (not that he ever had reason to doubt) was both heart warming and calming. Still, he wasn't quite sure how to tell Neo about what had apparently happened, or whether he even should. And apparently, something in his expression must have clued Neo in to his dilemma, because her own expression softened.
"Bad dream? You can talk to me about it, Lee, I can keep a secret."
Lee wanted to tell her. He knew that telling his best friend would make him feel a little better about it... Normally, he'd have done so without any hesitation. But his life had been far from normal the past seven months, and there was one very important thing to consider whilst deciding whether or not to share the contents of his... memory; did he want Cinder to potentially know about this?
The answer to that was a solid, resounding no; if Cinder knew just what Lee could apparently do, she'd want him to learn how to control it, so that she could harness it during her crusade to take over Remnant. And while Lee was fully on board and willing to be a liar, a thief, a cheater, and a murderer to in order to bring about that reality, he was not willing to potentially interfere with what happened to one's soul after death, for reasons that should be fairly obvious.
Still, Neo had said she'd keep it a secret if she wanted him to, and while it was true that, like him, she was a liar and a thief, a cheater and a murderer, it was also true that over the time they'd known each other, Neo had developed a fierce loyalty towards Lee, and vice-versa; one would willingly die for the other, and carry any secrets with them to the grave. Thus, Lee decided he could tell her.
"Alright, but only if you promise not to tell anyone about this." Lee sat up, draping his legs over the side of his bed. He patted the bed next to him, and the pajama-clad Neo, taking the hint, sat next to him, preparing for a story.
"I promise."
"Alright then. Remember that mission that took us out to Fairbrook?"
"That's where we ended up killing those Hunters, right?"
"Right. Well..."
Wow. I really cut this one close, didn't I? Hehe. Still technically the first of February, so I actually made my deadline this time, even if just barely! :D
Anyway, to answer a couple of questions that I'm sure will have come up: THIS is why I had Summer remain alive past when she would have died in canon. Oh, and when Lee was apparently invisible, that was Emerald using her Semblance on Summer to prevent her from seeing him.
As always, please remember to leave a review: I don't make money off of this, so the only reward I get, beyond providing entertainment for my readers, is the FEEDBACK I receive in turn. It's important to me, so PLEASE, after all the time I spend thinking on and writing this story (it's been nearly a year and a half now!), all I ask in return is a review, even if it's just a couple of lines telling me you think the story sucks, is cliche, etc, etc.
And now that I'm done shamelessly begging for reviews, until next time (notice that I'm not promising a deadline yet!),
-Cerulean Sorbeltz
