"I'm telling you, this year's under fourteens is already decided. Most of the other competitors are the same as the ones Nikos beat last year, and the new ones are coming up from the open qualifier." One particular analyst argued on the television screen.
"You don't think there could be someone in the qualifiers who might surprise us?" A woman fired back. "There have been dark horses before."
"Look, it's possible, right?" The man agreed in a tone that suggested it really wasn't. "But it's rare for the competitors who made it in through there to even reach fourth place. The combat schools offer too much of an advantage for someone operating at a local level to compete with. They tend to drain the talent pool that way as well."
"But you never know." An older host added. "Nikos might just have a bad day."
"I feel that Nikos making a mistake is probably the only real hope for anyone else looking to win. It's her tournament to lose-"
The screen was changed with the flick of a remote, silencing the voices and replacing them with a cheerful jingle and colourful animations. "Hey, I was watching that!" Yang turned to her sister. "Turn it back!"
"My cartoons are on!" Ruby answered, eyes glued to the screen.
"I said, turn it back!" Yang growled and reached for the remote.
"Nope!"
The sound of one of his daughters squealing drew their father to the living room where he found his eldest holding the tv remote up in the air while his kicking and struggling youngest hung off it.
"Booper Beetles is on!" Ruby's high pitched voice did little to persuade Yang, who was waving the remote above her head.
"I wanna see the measuring!" Yang yelled back.
"Girls, stop!" Tai ordered and pulled them both apart with a firm hold on their shoulders causing the remote to thump onto the floor as she lost her grip on it He quickly scooped it up and turned the tv off completely, to which both of his daughters yelled in protest.
"But it's Booper Beetles!"
"Daaaaad!"
"Enough, both of you." Tai spoke over them, and when they were both quiet, he fixed his elder daughter with a stern look. "What's going on? It's four o'clock, why can't Ruby watch her show?"
Yang just pouted in an unusually sullen manner, and Tai figured it out immediately just from her expression. Usually, she would dote on her 'sweet baby sister' endlessly, caving in to her every desire no matter how silly. For her to deny Ruby anything meant she was pretty upset, and Tai could only think of one recent event that fit the bill.
He sighed, and gave the remote to Ruby. "Yang, just because you're mad, doesn't mean you can take things out on your sister."
"I wasn't!" Yang denied.
"Yes, you were." Tai sighed. "Now apologise."
"...Sorry." Yang mumbled, barely sounding contrite at all.
"Sorry for wha-" He began to press, when the doorbell rang. He turned his head to look in that direction, and by the time he glanced back at his daughters, Ruby was back to watching tv on the couch, and Yang had run off up the stairs to sulk. With a grumble Tai turned away and walked to the front door.
The face that greeted him was an expected one, and surprisingly sober at this time and day of the week. With his messy stubble and perpetual scowl, Qrow Branwen looked up, "Tai." He greeted in a borderline growl as he leaned around to glance past his friend. "I heard screams, is now not a good time?"
"Uh… there's been a little dissent in the ranks, but it's fine." Tai sighed tiredly and stepped back so Qrow could come inside. "Remember to take off your shoes, I just vacuumed."
Qrow arched an eyebrow, but bent down to undoe his laces and kick off his boots, before following Tai to the living room in his cotton work socks.
"Hey Uncle Qrow!" Ruby greeted from the couch without even glancing away from the tv.
"Not even a hug for your favourite uncle?" Qrow groused and she pulled a face.
"But the Beetles are on."
"Well, glad to know where I rank in things." He looked around. "Where's Yang?"
Tai looked towards the stairs. "She's in her bedroom."
"What's got her upset?" Qrow asked.
Her father could only shrug helplessly. "She wanted to compete."
"You said no? Good call." After a moment he added in a softer voice. "You want me to talk to her? I can play cool uncle; she might mellow out."
"Maybe later." Tai sighed. "You had something important to tell me?"
"Yeah." Qrow scowled. "Let's take this to the yard."
The backyard was always a mess. Between Ruby's creative projects and Yang's destructive tendencies, Tai had a difficult time trying to coax the grass to grow back. The most recent scar on his turf was a great patch of dead brown grass that radiated outwards from just behind the swing set. The low hanging sun cast long shadows over pits and craters, with the occasional piece of twisted and warped metal mixed in.
Despite being mostly Grimm free, Patch had a fairly low population due to the lack of natural resources and industry. That meant that the people who did live there enjoyed a fairly spacious lifestyle, with large personal lands. To Tai that meant there was plenty of space for his girls to grow up, but more importantly the only people who met them were ones he knew and trusted. He wasn't quite as paranoid as Qrow, but he wasn't without caution.
"So what's up?" Tai asked after pulling the door shut behind him.
Some days he thought Qrow might be the sort of person he should keep his daughters away from, and he was reminded of that as the man unscrewed the cap of his hip flask and took a long pull. The last time Tai bought up the local A.A group he didn't hear another word for Qrow for a month.
When he was finished, Qrow answered. "Raven's missing."
Tai blinked at that. "What do you mean 'missing'? She's been missing around here for a while."
"I mean, the Branwen Tribe just up and left the hills a few months back," Qrow said. "Nothing too unusual, they migrate whenever there's trouble, except a hunter team from Haven stumbled across a mass grave in the woods up north while fishing for some work out around the area, and found pretty much the whole tribe inside."
"Oh, god." Tai blanched. "Are you okay? Your family-"
"Is right here." Qrow interrupted. "The only one of them I was still on any kind of speaking terms with was Raven, and if anyone could have escaped there it was her with her semblance. I was hoping she would have just portaled herself right to you, but it looks like I'm still too much of an optimist."
"I'm sorry, but we haven't seen her." Tai answered honestly. "If she did come we definitely would have called you."
"I figured." He looked around for a second, before taking a seat on the step. "Ozpin thinks this could be serious, so he's sending me out to Mistral to try and figure out what's going on."
"Got any leads?"
"Yeah." Qrow took out his phone and showed him a photo of a broken off sword. Flicking his thumb across the screen moved to the next image of several bullet casings. "These were all used on the clan and they're all Atlas military hardware."
"Atlas soldiers in Mistral?" Tai was incredulous.
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too." Qrow replied. "Ironwood denies it was his and says he'll investigate on his end. My gut feeling is that if it was him, it'd be done by hunters, not soldiers, and he probably wouldn't try to hide it."
The logic was sound. General Ironwood was always a big fan of shows of force. The man was military through and through, to the point where he couldn't really wrap his head around the way Ozpin and the other headmasters did things. In Ironwood's mind, slaughtering a tribe of bandits would inspire confidence in the public, and should be displayed openly.
"So, what? Did someone inside Atlas smuggle weapons to Mistral?"
"Probably, but we're not just looking for some arms dealer. Whoever did this brought some serious firepower to bear against, you know, bandits, and we didn't know a thing about it until a few days ago. Those guns are still out there, and Lionheart is freaking out."
Tai hummed with understanding, but paused. "Why are you telling me about this? It wouldn't be the first time you've vanished without even leaving a note."
Qrow huffed and took another pull of his alcohol. "On the battle site, there were some weapons that looked like they were flash frozen. It might just be a particular semblance or maybe dust, but I can't think that the Tribe would have anything that expensive or anyone that powerful, other than Raven… I think that maybe she was the Spring Maiden."
In an instant, Tai's blood froze. "That's… a bit of a leap in logic."
"Maybe." Qrow concedes. "Maybe not. I'm here to tell you. Yang got her, uh, 'second semblance' right at the time we think this attack happened."
"... I don't want anything to do with magic, or Ozpin's business. I don't want the girls to deal with any of that either." Tai sat down on the step next to Qrow. That world was a dangerous one and he didn't want anything to do with it anymore. Tai wasn't the type to hold grudges, but that didn't mean he would forget so easily.
First Raven went into Ozpin's world, and whatever she found scared her so bad she left forever. Then Summer disappeared into that same world without a trace, and Tai was left to try and raise both his daughters without their mothers. Ruby so obviously had the silver eyes, and now Yang was the Spring Maiden…
Not my daughters… Just the thought filled him with an unspeakable dread. Please, not my daughters.
Seeing the expression on Tai's face, Qrow hesitated for a second, before putting his hand on the father's shoulder. "That's why I needed to tell you. We'll protect them as much as we can, but… it might be out of our hands already."
In a flash, Tai felt a bubble of hot rage climb up his throat, and he bit his lip as he stood to his full height, towering over Qrow. "Out of your hands?" He bit out through grit teeth. "What does that mean? What are you saying?"
Despite the obvious threat, Qrow kept his face neutral. He explained in the softest tones his voice could manage. "Tai, don't think I'm trying to threaten you. I'm telling you, the worst has come to the worst, and it's already too late. Neither of them can live a normal life."
Tai recoiled and swallowed the lump in his throat, but all he could do in the end was nod.
After a moment, Qrow reached out and squeezed Tai's shoulder. "I'll give you a minute to process. Let's see if I can't soften Yang up a bit for you."
The door swung shut, and Taiyang was left alone with a horrible and familiar sense of helplessness.
Whatever else could be said about the franchise, B.R.T was a well run business. They were growing at a steady rate, with multiple restaurants open across the Kingdom of Vale and new locations opening up in Mistral and Atlas, making them an international franchise. Geoffe's father and uncle, who ran the business together, were careful in how they grew. They only ever opened up a new restaurant when they were sure it was a good location, and hated wasting money. Which is why in the end, the BRT sponsorship ended up being pretty disappointing. The truth was Blake was an unknown fighter with no record, no coach, and no other options. In the end what Geoffe was able to pay her amounted to barely more than minimum wage. It wasn't even enough that Blake could stop working at the restaurant.
With the two incomes combined, Blake was finally able to afford an old used scroll of her own, a gym membership which brought some helpful weight training to her routine, sturdy clothes better suited for combat, and her own accomodation so she could move into her own small flat.
That was it.
"They're absolutely getting the better end of this." Raven said while the faunus wiped down a table. "You're worth a lot more than they're paying you."
"Yeah, well, not like I'm getting any other offers," Blake replied.
At several points during the weeks leading up to the tournament, Blake caught Fang, the other waitress staring at her as they worked. "I can't believe you're actually competing." She said again and again until Blake was thoroughly sick of hearing it.
The official tournament invite had come days earlier, along with a date and time for all the competitors to get their aura measured and their weapons registered. Geoffe would be busy that night, so Maud had agreed to drive Blake uphill to where the event would be held. Apparently, it was going to be something of a show, with a lot of expected trash talking and a certain amount of spectacle involved. Not for the first time, Blake worried about the White Fang and drawing attention, but in the end she doubted anyone would expect much from the coachless newcomer with a duffle bag full of wooden swords.
"Maybe I could have at least have gotten a mechanical sheath for them." Blake grumbled, looking down at the bag in her lap.
"Sorry, dear." Maud said. "I tried to talk Geoffe into it, but he's worried about our overheads as it is."
"You'll make it work." Raven said.
Despite the reassurances, the churning in her stomach never went away.
The location for the measurements was a conference hall attached to the arena where the competition was being held. There were sixteen fighters to each division, and eight divisions stretching from the under twelves to the under nineteens, meaning there would be a hundred and twenty eight auras measured tonight.
Among all the faces, Blake could see a couple of more famous fighters being pulled aside for interviews and hot takes. Maud wandered off to plant herself near the buffet table, leaving Blake to line up with the other teenagers of her division. A few of them eyed her duffle bag up curiously, and Blake tucked it under her arm somewhat defensively despite herself.
Eventually she reached the front of the line and a woman in business casual raised an eyebrow at her. "How many weapons in total do you plan to register?"
"Twenty."
The woman looked annoyed, but professionally counted out the individual forms. "Well, let's see the first one."
Blake heaved her bag up onto the table and unzipped it, while those nearby curiously craned their necks to get a look inside. All at once, there was a tittering of laughter around her, as everyone who could see scoffed at the sight of a pile of essentially wooden sticks. The tournament official scowled at Blake openly, before reaching into the bag to take the first one out and begin her inspection. After making sure there weren't any hidden compartments or banned weaponry concealed on it, she filled out the form for that one, then took out the second to begin the process all over again.
While that was happening, a boy behind Blake with a long purple fringe that covered one eye and ear piercings smirked at her. "Are you for real?
She ignored him, feeling faintly embarrassed.
Eventually, the official was done and returned all the swords to the bag and took it away with a grunt. "These are in our custody now to prevent tampering, you'll get them back on the day of the tournament. Please head over there to get your aura measured."
She pointed a finger to where a long line of competitors snaked around the room, and to a platform with multiple cameras pointed at it. There was a series of complex instruments sitting on top of it, which a particularly large boy with black hair and green armour currently stood on top of, while the machines flashed lasers at him.
"Yatsuhashi." The doctor working the instruments announced. "According to this your rating is seven D.A. Does this sound right to you?"
He nodded once in response, before stepping off the platform.
Raven explained. "The average adult human has a DA of one and a half."
"So his rating is about five times the average person." Blake murmured as she took her place at the back of the line.
"You're going to have a very high score." Raven predicted. "My aura reserves were always huge by any account, and yours was also large before we combined them."
The line slowly crept forwards and a number of competitors had their aura measured. The largest among them were about a nine or a ten, until a familiar looking red head took to the stage, and murmurs broke out all over the room.
"Welcome back, Miss Nikos." The doctor doing the measurements greeted her.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha waved once cheerfully. She was making something of an odd fashion statement in Blake's eyes. Maybe in tribute to her Argosian heritage, she was wearing a hooded white cloak, though it was cut more like something someone would wear in the winter than a traditional toga. No one else commented on it, so the faunus wasn't going to.
All eyes in the room were trained on the Invincible Girl, and the doctor worked the dials and buttons of his machine for a while as lights passed over her. The room waited with baited breath while the man wrote a few things onto his clipboard. Eventually he looked up and announced the results. "Twenty three point three."
"Wow." Someone near Blake murmured. "That's twice the size of the next runner up."
Someone else in line commented, "What's the point of even holding the under fourteens this year?"
"Isn't this basically just a victory lap for her?" Another replied.
"It's just so unfair. How can one person just have everything like that?"
All across the hall, similarly frustrated murmurs broke out among the competitors, but Pyrrha seemed oblivious to it, still showing off that bright, ten watt smile.
Just keep smiling. Just keep smiling. Pyrrha told herself again and again in her head with a voice that sounded a lot like her mother's. All around her, there was a sea of bitter, jealous faces, even among the other age divisions she wouldn't have to compete against.
As her eyes scanned the crowd, she caught sight of the runner up to her from last year, a girl named Porpura. Even from the other side room, Pyrrha could see hot tears streaming down her face,. Guilt settled into her stomach, and that smile got harder and harder to maintain as she watched a hard working young woman's dreams get crushed just by Pyrrha being there.
None of the audiences at home would see the furore over the cameras, and all Pyrrha could do was hold onto her nicest smile. Everyone watching from their living rooms only wanted to see the winner, they didn't care about the losers.
"Does that number seem right to you?" The doctor asked.
"Yes, it does." Pyrrha replied, sunnily.
"Alright then, next."
All the eyes in the room followed her down from the podium to where a waiting camera crew and reporter rushed forward to meet her. "Miss Nikos, Miss Nikos." A blonde woman in a dress suit pressed a microphone up under Pyrrha's nose. "How are you feeling about your chances this year?"
"I think it looks like a very motivated field." Pyrrha replied quickly. "It wouldn't be smart to underestimate them."
Of course that was just a dull platitude. Last year's tournament had been disappointingly easy, and Pyrrha hadn't fought anyone in the time since that even came close to seriously pressuring her.
Could she go home yet? How long did this thing have to drag on for?
She answered the reporter's questions one by one, saying something cheerful and encouraging for her opponents each time when an odd sight caught her eye. There was a bird in the room, sitting on the shoulder of a girl Pyrrha didn't recognise. The large raven was perched serenely next to the ear of a girl with straight black hair and attractive features.
For some reason nobody even glanced at it. Amidst the noise and flashing lights, Pyrrha wouldn't have expected any bird to be so calm. For a moment she even thought it wasn't even alive, but a prop of some kind, until it turned its head and observed Pyrrha directly. "Huh. Weird."
"Has someone caught your eye?" The reporter asked interestedly. "Scouting out the competition?"
"Oh, uh, no." She stumbled for an answer, while distractingly watching as the raven took off and found a perch elsewhere. "Just, uh…"
The dark haired girl stepped up onto the platform, and the doctor operated his machine. Something must have been wrong with the reading, because he frowned and ran the same sequence again.
"Can I get your name, please?" He asked suddenly.
"Magdalene Pie." The girl answered softly, and Pyrrha just barely heard the words over the rest of the room. Her outfit was almost business casual. With just a bow tie she would have fit in perfectly among the caterers. For some reason she had a large pair of ribbons on top of her head.
All in all, she had quite a striking appearance. Maybe the bird was to help her get attention?
The examiner gave her a considering look. "According to this you have a D.P. of twenty three point eight."
Instantly the room fell silent and everyone stared at the girl.
"Does that seem accurate to you?"
"I've never been measured before." Magdalene answered. "So I don't know."
"Well, barring some kind of machine fault, you're done."
With a small nod, the girl stepped off the stage and disappeared back into the crowd.
"That aura was even bigger than yours." The reporter said, before looking back to Pyrrha. "Do you think you'll be able to defeat her?"
"Well, having a large aura certainly helps." The champion explained. "But any casual observer could tell you individual skill and the performance of your semblance is more important." Then she added, "That said I'm not sure if we're even in the same division, I don't recognise her." The reporter opened her mouth to ask something else, and Pyrrha hurriedly held up a hand to forestall it. "If you'll excuse me. I need to go register my weapons." She wasn't interested in delivering any kind of trash talk, which is what the reporter was really fishing for.
With that said she stepped away and disappeared into the crowd. Just like anyone else would, Pyrrha lined up at the end of the queue and glanced up to see the pet raven that had been perched on a lighting fitting near the roof looking down at the people in the room. It scanned the crowd before fluttering down to land back on Magdalene's shoulder, who was currently talking to a very obese woman by the buffet.
How novel to bring a pet to an event like this. Pyrrha felt a flicker of curiosity, and seeing that the line wasn't really going anywhere, decided to act on the feeling. She stepped away from it, and walked towards the two, giving her best smile as she did.
Magdalene was saying something to the woman, and immediately noticed Pyrrha coming closer. Was the woman her manager? Or maybe a PR consultant? She didn't look sharply dressed enough for either of those.
"Hello!" Pyrrha greeted them with a friendly wave and her trademark soprano note.
She had been expecting a greeting back, but Magdalene just quirked an eyebrow at her and stared. In the silence that followed, the large woman turned around and gaped at Pyrrha, putting a hand to her vast chest.
"Oh my goodness, you're Pyrrha Nikos."
"Yes, I am, Ms…?"
"O-oh, I'm Maud." She put a hand to her chest. "Oh, you must be here to meet Magdalene?" Maud turned to the teenager and said, "Maggie, say hello back."
"...Hi." The girl eventually replied after a long moment. "Do you want something, or...?"
Pyrrha's smile wavered slightly as she felt the familiar sting of rejection.
"Maggie!" Maud hissed, disapprovingly. "Don't be rude."
"No, no, it's my fault for interrupting your talk with your... daughter." Pyrrha quickly guessed at their relationship and hurried to reassure the woman. "I shouldn't have just-"
"Oh, no-no-no." Maud interrupted, rapidly waving her hands so fast that it made her meaty upper arms jiggle. "She's not my daughter, and you weren't interrupting." In direct contradiction to that statement, the woman reached across and cuffed the girl over the back of the head exactly like Pyrrha's own mother would have.
The teen stared back at her, obviously frustrated before forcing a smile and turning back to Pyrrha. "Sorry, I was being rude. I'm Magdalene Pie." She reached out and took her hand in a gentle shake. "Did you have a reason for approaching us?"
"Uh, not really." Pyrrha admitted and indicated the Raven on Magdalene's shoulder. "I was just hoping that maybe I could pet your bird?"
The girl and her pet both froze, looking shocked while Maud just looked confused.
"'Bird?'" She repeated.
"O-outside." Magdalene answered. "We can do it outside, I don't want to make a spectacle."
The idea of privacy sounded great to Pyrrha, and she happily followed the girl through the crowd and out the front door, leaving Maud behind to eat.
The evening air was chilly as they ducked out of the building, and somehow Pyrrha couldn't help but feel like they were doing something deliciously clandestine. They were sneaking out! The thought of escaping the crowds and paparazzi was a thrill to the champion as they ducked past the ticket barrier and into the empty open air arena itself. After carefully making sure no one else was around, peeking up and down the stands, Magdalene turned around and presented her pet to Pyrrha.
"H-here." She said, turning her body so the shoulder her bird was perched on was
closer. "Just uh, be gentle I guess."
"Ooh." Pyrrha cooed, and slowly reached forward with a crooked finger to stroke down the back of its head. "What's his name?"
"Her name is Raven."
"That's a funny name for such a beautiful little bird. Beautiful? Yes you are, oh yes you are."
"I-I got her when I was young." Magdalene said.
"Oh, I wish I had a pet like that." Pyrrha murmured, utterly enchanted. "Do ravens make good pets where you're from? What do you feed her?"
"Uh, meat scraps and a little fruit?"
Her plumage was so soft! Pyrrha wished she had something to feed her with. For some reason the bird kept looking back at Magdalene.
"Just bear with it." She said after the third time and looked amused.
The sensation of the feathers beneath her fingers was pleasing to Pyrrha, and she was careful never to stroke up against the direction they were facing, but following their lines down the neck. After a while Raven seemed to settle into it, closing her eyes and leaning into the touch.
"You're good at this." Magdalene murmured in disbelief.
"She's so well behaved."
"...Sure."
"If you don't mind me asking, where are you from? That's an interesting accent."
"Uh… Menagerie?"
"Oh, really?" Pyrrha looked up surprised. "Are you a Faunus?"
"N-no."
"Oh, I didn't know many humans lived in Menagerie."
"Well, the ones that were there left after the White Fang took over."
"Oh, I heard about that on the news, I'm so sorry." Pyrrha felt guilty for bringing it up.
Suddenly Magdalene looked interested. "It was on the news?"
"Yes it was, it was all anyone would talk about for a few weeks. I didn't watch it personally, the footage was horrendous." Pyrrha shook her head, sadly.
"...What footage?"
Something in the girl's voice caught Pyrrha's attention, and she looked up to see an expression like none she'd ever seen before on Magdalene's face. There was something drawn and dangerous in her eyes, and for a moment the darkness of the empty arena suddenly seemed like a dangerous place to be.
"Are you okay?" Pyrrha stopped stroking and asked, worriedly.
"I'm fine, what footage?" There was a raw edge to her demand.
"Well I didn't watch it, but I was told they had the Belladonnas in stockades."
Magdalene staggered, like she'd suffered a physical blow, and leaned heavily on the wall next to her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, did you know them?"
She didn't answer, instead reaching into her pocket and taking out her scoll and accessing the internet with it.
Realising what the girl was about to look up, Pyrrha babbled. "If you knew them, maybe you shouldn't-"
Apparently the video wasn't hard to find, and all Magdalene could do was close her mouth and watch too.
It was every bit as horrible as she'd been warned.
It started in the middle of the action, and was obviously shot on a scroll from the low quality image and the way the camera moved. In the middle of a street with a large building of some kind behind them, three faunus had their hands bound behind their backs with ropes, as people in the crowd took turns tugging on the cords to jerk their bodies around roughly. Around their necks were planks of woods with holes cut in them to fit their necks, covered with writing that said 'human lover' and 'whore traitor' and other things like that. There was a large bear Faunus man with blood pouring down his face from a head wound. He was struggling, trying to break free and reach the woman in the middle while shouting, "Kali! Kali!"
The woman in the middle was a cat Faunus and had gone completely limp. Her head rolled around sickeningly as the rope was pulled, her mass of hair covering her face.
The last one was another cat Faunus, a teenage girl who was crying and begging for the crowd to stop. She'd been beaten so badly that teeth were missing and her eyes were swollen almost shut. She kept saying, "You got it wrong, you got it wrong! Stop!"
The crowd around them were shouting things at the three and hurling bits of trash, which included cans of drink, small rocks and glass bottles. Pyrrha could only shake her head in disgust, and glanced across to see the expression on Magdalene's face was pale and horrified. Her hands were still steady, her breathing was getting faster and there were tears forming her eyes.
From out of the crowd stepped a tall redheaded man in a mask with curled horns.
"I'm not her!" The teenager at the end said. "Please, you have to believe me I'm not Bla-"
The man drew his sword so fast that the camera couldn't keep up with it, and the teenager's head fell to the ground with a curtain of dark blood.
The crowd cheered and let go of the ropes, and the body flopped forward to splash into the mud.
The man strode down the line to the bear Faunus, who started to snarl something when his head was struck from its shoulders. Again, the mob howled with laughter, and the man turned to the woman in the middle. He bent down to murmur something inaudible in her ear.
After a long moment, she nodded once slowly saying something back, before the man cut at her neck with his sword.
The video ended shortly after that, and Magdalene closed the scroll with shaking hands. Without saying a word she turned to leave, tears streaming down her face.
"Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked automatically, and immediately regretted it. Obviously she wasn't okay, she probably just saw people she knew being killed. Not sure what else to do, Pyrrha reached out for the girl's shoulder, but the second she made contact, Magdalene flinched back and ran.
The girl's black hair disappeared out the door and with a flap of wings, Raven flew after her. Not sure if she should chase down someone who was basically a stranger, Pyrrha was paralysed with indecision for too long, and the choice was taken away from her. Even if she started sprinting after her now, it would be too late.
"Did I do the wrong thing?" She asked aloud.
"... I don't think you did." Came the answer, softly spoken and gently concerned. "Some things just aren't about you at all. The only thing you can do is watch and offer to help."
"...I hope she'll be okay."
"So do I..."