RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.
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RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 18: The Battle of Haven Part III: Siblings
Raven slashed down the thin, deadly blades of ice that Cinder had thrown at her. There was no denying that the newest Fall Maiden had become quite talented with her powers since obtaining them. She sent a blast of fire at Cinder from her scabbard but the disciple of Salem caught hold of the fire and dispersed it into the air.
"You'll have to do better than that." Cinder said as she blocked an attack from Qrow. She threw a blast of fire and wind at Raven, forcing her to duck. Cinder summoned up another sword and used both of the dark blades to duel Qrow. She slammed both of them down but he managed to parry the two blades.
"You really think you can walk away from this? Face it girl, there is no version of this where you come out okay." Qrow said as he managed to land a kick on Cinder stomach. Cinder grunted in pain but she ignored it for the most part as she managed to get one of her swords under Reaper and with the other atop it she leaned in and slammed her head into Qrow's chest. As he staggered back she summoned up her glowing Dust and sent a barrage of it at him. While he managed to deflect some of it he could not dodge the small projectiles. They slammed into his legs, torso, arms, and face, blowing him down.
Cinder approached him as she summoned up the power of the wind, her eyes glowing as she gave a small smile. She lifted him up and slammed him into the wall five times until she heard the sound of a cracking bone.
"Oh my, is that a cracked rib? Maybe two. Shall I do the rest?" she asked as she lifted him up and created her bow and arrow. She pulled back the bow and let the arrow fly at Qrow, only for Raven to reenter the fight and cut the arrow into pieces with some quick swings of her sword. Qrow jumped free of Cinder's control and slammed his sword down on her but she managed to parry his attack with her bow. She slammed him in the side of the chest with the bow but he barely felt it as he slammed his fist into her face.
"That's for Amber, bitch!" he snarled as he slammed Reaper down on her bow, cutting it in half.
Cinder allowed her weapon to disintegrate and she jumped back, just barely avoiding another Dust blast from Raven which went flying into a wall, blasting it wide open and creating a hole into another hallway.
Cinder used her powers to bring up the debris from the blast and froze it, creating more deadly ice shards but she knew they wouldn't be enough so she encased them with Dust. She glared at them as she let loose her new barrage of attack, sending a powerful wind blast towards them, taking the deadly projectiles at them.
Qrow and Raven ran to get out of the way but did not avoid being hit. The shards went through their clothes, creating painful scratches and cuts. Raven used her blade while Qrow transformed Reaper into its scythe mode and they managed to deflect some of the shards thrown at them.
Qrow felt his aura begin to heal him as he recovered and saw that his sister's aura was doing the same. He looked to see Cinder standing in the newly created hole, eyes glowing.
"Let's take this elsewhere." Cinder said as she sent two fire blasts at them. Raven absorbed it with her scabbard while Qrow caught the flames with Reaper's scythe and sent it off to the side.
This had served as a good distraction as Cinder had already ran off.
"Well, we got her scared." Raven said.
"Or bored, we've been at this for five minutes already. Come on." Qrow said as he ran after her, his sister following.
"So you're taking this personally, I see." Raven observed as they gave chase.
"Yeah, Amber was a good kid, I was supposed to protect her and I fucked up big time. I'm gonna make this witch pay for it." Qrow said as they saw Cinder standing in front of an elevator, her bow and arrow out again.
She released her arrows, five of them in total, and the deadly spears soared towards them. Qrow used Reaper's gun mode to blast them down, detonating the Dust they were loaded up with, briefly creating a dust cloud but Cinder used that to her advantage and created several powerful spears of hardened Dust and sent them at the Branwen siblings.
Qrow managed to cut one in half with Reaper while Raven destroyed another with a fire blast from her scabbard but the final one went too fast and struck Raven in the mask.
"Raven!" Qrow cried as his sister fell to the ground.
Cinder smirked as she sent another beam of fire at Qrow, who was too worried about his sister to notice. The fire smashed into his arm, engulfing it in flames. Qrow screamed in pain as he began to put the fire out.
Cinder watched with an amused look on her face, but that soon vanished as Raven got up, throwing her ruined mask down and revealing her face that had a bit of blood on it. She quickly changed the Dust crystal in her scabbard to a water one and doused Qrow's arm.
"You alright?" she asked as her brother got up.
"Nothing a little payback won't cure." Qrow said as he got ready to fight.
Cinder glared at them and she aimed her arm behind her and blew the elevator doors open with a fire blast. She created a new series of ice shards with the debris and sent them flying at the two to allow herself a chance to escape. Qrow wouldn't have that and he managed to fire off Reaper's gun mode and hit Cinder in the shoulder.
Her loud grunt of pain was music to his ears.
Raven easily destroyed the ice shards to protect them as Cinder jumped into the elevator shaft and rocketed up using her fire powers.
"You okay? That Dust spear could've taken your head off." Qrow said.
"I'm fine, just need a new mask once this is over and done." Raven said as they walked towards the elevator.
"She'll be expecting us to follow her up, you know another way?" Qrow asked.
Raven nodded, "While I was here last night I familiarized myself with the basic layout. There's a staircase well down there." She said, pointing to the adjoining hallway.
"Let's go." Qrow said. The two Branwens ran down the hall together, side by side.
Qrow glanced at his sister as the bleeding on her head came to a stop courtesy of her aura. His curiosity got the best of him and he couldn't help but ask "So what's gonna happen between you and Tai once this night is done?"
Raven glared at her brother and said "I don't know. I don't think we could ever be together again after the pain I caused him."
"Whatever pain your leaving him did is nothing compared to the pain Summer's death brought upon him." Qrow said sadly. Raven looked at her brother with a raised eyebrow.
"How bad was it, honestly?" she inquired.
"I had to stop him from committing suicide." Qrow revealed.
"WHAT?!" Raven screamed as she came to a halt.
Qrow sighed, he knew he'd have to tell her this someday but now was most definitely the worst time to tell her. Sad thing is he wasn't even drunk so he had no excuse for letting it slip out. He hadn't been thinking at all about the words that left his mouth, as he was too focused on Cinder and what he'd to to her. He knew that facing Cinder meant they might never get a chance to properly tell his sister. Plus, she'd make it out but he didn't know if he was strong or smart enough to make it tonight.
He looked at his sister as she glared at him and said "After Summer died he got low, rock bottom. I stuck around Patch for a couple months after she died to keep an eye on him and the girls and one day while they were playing outside I walked in on him trying to slit his wrists. The ass kicking I gave him..." he stopped and let out a bitter laugh.
Raven was using every bit of restraint she had not to strangle her brother right now.
Qrow continued. "I asked him what the hell he was thinking, why he didn't take Yang and Ruby into consideration. He said he wanted me to be their legal guardian. Ain't that a joke? Me, a parent? Can you imagine what that'd be like?" he asked.
"A disaster." Raven deadpanned.
"Bingo, anyway I got him to see that killing himself was a pretty shitty thing to do, how devastated his girls would be, etc... I know you're going to demand to know why I never told you until now it's because I knew what your reaction would be; to go back, berate him, call him an idiotic coward for even considering suicide and then you'd probably do something really dramatic like kiss him and then run away leaving he and Yang heart broken again and confused and I wanted to avoid all of that shit, okay?" Qrow finished.
Raven sighed as she resumed walking down the hallways. "You really piss me off, Qrow." She said.
"Isn't that what brothers are supposed to do to their sisters?" he joked as he took a swing from his flask and poured some on his arm which was still healing up from the burns.
Raven smiled and said "I suppose it is. I don't know what will happen between Taiyang and I after this is over. Maybe we can be together again but I doubt it. The life he wants, it's not for me. I need to run free, I need to fight, I need to fly. I care for Taiyang and Yang deeply Qrow but I can't stay with them, surely you can understand that?"
"A little, but I was never the nomad you are... or maverick or whatever the hell it's called. I may go off on missions for months at a time but I always return. The thought of those two kids keeps me going, sis. I've lost count of how many time I nearly gave up only to keep goin' because the thought of those two crying over my death was something I'd never let happen." He said.
"Qrow, I think you'd make a better father than anyone gives you credit for." Raven said.
"I don't know, you have any idea how many women I've slept with over the last eighteen years? I may be a dad already and not even know it." Qrow joked as they came to the stairway entrance.
"Qrow, you're an ass and yet I still love you." Raven said.
"Well that's what sisters are supposed to do." Qrow returned.
"Tell that to Cinder, I saw no love for her own brother in her eyes." Raven stated.
Qrow nodded, he didn't really know Ashe or could he claim to like him so far but he had to feel for the guy. He knew Cinder was bad news but anyone who had killed off their own family to get more power was obviously beyond redemption and couldn't be reasoned with. Fine by him, he wanted to kick her ass anyway.
As Raven opened the door she glanced at Qrow and asked "Shall we take flight?"
"It would be nice to fly together again." He said as he transformed into his avian form. Raven followed his example and the two Branwens flew up the staircase.
Cinder stood before the elevator shaft with a group of seven guards behind her. She found that the shaft led up to the now empty warehouse storage area of the factory and most of it had been cleared out. She had also been lucky enough to run into a squadron of guards who had not yet joined the fight. She looked at the shaft and knew her adversaries wouldn't come up.
"They won't be coming up that way; they'll probably find the staircase up ahead. Go cut them off." She ordered.
"Yes, Lady Cinder." The sergeant who commanded the squad said. He led his men down towards the adjoining platform of the large, empty warehouse portion of the factory. Cinder knew these pathetic excuses for soldiers wouldn't even last a second against the two professional Hunters. They were but mere cannon fodder in a grand conflict, barricades to wear down the enemy.
Her thoughts couldn't help but stray to her brother, the pleading look in his eyes, the desperation in his voice... after all she had done he still believed she could change.
Could she?
No, she banished there thought of it. The mere concept of betraying her master was laughable. Salem made her what she was, the Fall Maiden, one of the most powerful and dreadful beings in all of Remnant. Not just deadly but beautiful, she would be a queen in the new world.
True, she was a pawn for the moment while Salem was the queen, but what was the title of queen to someone who longed to be a goddess?
Cinder knew her time would come. No one would get in her way. Not even Ashe.
She looked at a scratch she had gotten during the battle and watched as it vanished with the aid of her aura. The way the scratch looked reminded her of something from her childhood. The day that Salem found her.
An eleven year old Cinder Kasai ran through the forest after her little brother who stayed ahead of her, jumping over logs and little creeks. Their mother was not far behind, but had decided to stay behind to rest her tired legs as she had been worn out by trying keep up with her children.
"Come on, Cindy! Keep up!" he called.
"If you call me 'Cindy' one more time I'll call you Ashley for the rest of your life!" Cinder threatened.
Ashe stopped and looked at his big sister, his eyes wide with dread. "You wouldn't... would you?" he asked.
Cinder smirked and answered "Oh, I would, Ashley!"
Ashe sighed and said "Okay, I'll stop."
Cinder smiled and rubbed his hair, messing it up. "You're way too easy. What was it you wanted to show me?" she asked.
"That old willow tree in the forest, I was walking around yesterday..."
"You know you're not supposed to walk around the woods alone! There could be Grimm out here!" Cinder scolded, giving him a disapproving look.
"I wasn't alone! Mom and me were out here while you and dad were training in the fields. Not everyone can be the guardian who actually gets to do stuff." Ashe said with an annoyed huff.
Cinder chuckled and said "I'm older than you, plus I'll always be the better fighter. That's why you'll be stuck with the boring mystic mumbo jumbo."
"I can fight too! Anyway, the willow tree got knocked down in the storm from a few nights ago; you gotta see it, there were branches and leaves everywhere!" Ashe said.
"We're in a forest; of course there are branches and leaves everywhere." Cinder said, unimpressed.
"Wait 'til you see it, mom said it wasn't the wind that took it down, lightning hit it!" he said.
"Okay, that may be worth seeing." Cinder admitted as she followed her little brother deeper into the forest.
They soon came upon the old willow tree and sure enough Cinder had to admit it was an impressive sight. The old tree had been hit in a vital area of its trunk, the wood was cracked wide open as if it had been hit with an explosive from the inside.
Black burn marks scarred the otherwise pure insides of the tree. Cinder imagined it must have been set on fire when it happened but the rain had obviously doused it, still she could see little burn marks on the grass around her so it must have been one heck of a bolt. She was glade she and her brother were wearing shoes as jagged bits and pieces of tree lay all around the meadow.
Cinder was too distracted by the light of the demolished tree to notice Ashe approaching a nearby log.
"Cinder, come here! I think there's an animal inside of this log." He said.
"Leave it be, it's probably a fox or something else that'll give you rabies." She warned him.
"I don't think foxes meow." Ashe said as he crouched down.
"Meow? What would a cat be doing out here?" Cinder asked.
"No clue, hey Cinder you can do the fire thing, right? Give me some light; I can see the cats eyes but not its body." Ashe said.
Cinder sighed and said "No, Ashe. I can't do the 'fire thing' yet. Dad says that's still a year away. I'll get the thing out."
She sat down next to Ashe and reached in. "Okay, okay, almost there... I can feel the little sucker... OW!" Cinder screamed as she yanked her hand out with a cat attached.
"Let go of my arm you mangy fur-ball!" she demanded as she shook the cat off.
The cat, one who appeared to be rather old with black, brown, and dark orange fur all mixed together in patches and blotches with yellow eyes, landed near Ashe and hissed at Cinder.
Cinder hissed in pain as her aura quickly began healing her clawed up arm. "You stupid cat, I'm gonna..."
"Cinder, don't scare her! She's just an old cat. Let me handle her." Ashe said.
"Okay, two questions: one, how do you know it's a girl? Two, what makes you think she won't be afraid of you?" Cinder asked.
"Well for the first question mom told me how to tell the difference and for the second, I am nowhere near as scary as you." Ashe teased as he got down on his belly and made a comforting meow sound which got the cat's attention. The cat looked at him, its eyes relaxing a bit as it did so.
"Hey there, what's a pretty girl like you doing all the way out here?" he asked.
"Someone probably dumped her out here." Cinder said as he aura continued to heal up the claw marks.
"I don't understand how people can do that... she looks like she's been in a fight." He said as he noticed some scars on her flank. "You think a Grimm did this to her?"
"No way, Grimm don't attack animals, remember?" Cinder said.
Ashe nodded, pretending as if he did. He carefully and slowly reached out to the cat with his hand, not putting it in her face but only close enough so she could smell him.
"Mom told me the best way to gain an animals' trust it to just let them smell you. Not if they show signs of being angry or anything... and the only reason she scratched you is because you grabbed her." Ashe said before Cinder could contradict him.
The cat looked at Ashe judgingly, lowering her paw that she had raised up to smack, as it smelled his scent. It then leaned into his hand, as if demanding to be pet. Ashe smiled at Cinder and rubbed the side of the cat's jaw. "There you go, see? She's a good cat." Ashe said.
Cinder approached the cat but it looked up at her and hissed.
"Guess she doesn't like you." Ashe observed.
"Good, I don't like her." Cinder said.
"Can we take her home?" Ashe asked.
Cinder sighed and said "What would mom and dad say about bringing some stray cat home? I don't think we should..." Cinder was cut off by a loud roar. Cinder looked up and saw a black shape moving through the trees and bushes, growling as it moved towards them.
"Ashe, get behind me now." Cinder ordered as she took out a knife her father had given her.
Ashe did not question her, the fear in his eyes obvious. He got up, ignoring the cat for now as he moved behind his elder sister.
"It's a Grimm! Cinder what are we going to do?" Ashe asked as he hid behind her, shaking a bit.
"We'll get moving back to mom. Don't be afraid, fear attracts them." Cinder said.
"I can't help it! Have you ever killed a Grimm before?" he asked.
"No, I've watched dad kill them before but I think can handle it." She said, but then doubt went across her mind. "But we should get ready to run for it just in case." She added.
Ashe nodded as he got ready to run. He glanced at the cat who was now hissing at the dark shape that was getting closer.
The Grimm appeared through the forest, revealing itself to be an Ursa. It roared at them as it bared its claws.
Ashe was beyond terrified and Cinder would be lying if she said she wasn't scared either. It roared at them again, its red eyes staring right at them. Cinder guided Ashe to the ruined willow tree and she ordered him to climb up.
"I'll follow you, just get up!" she said.
Ashe obeyed his sister, trying not to sob as he did so, and climbed up the ruined tree. Luckily the branches were big and strong enough to both support the tree and keep him out of the Grimm's reach. The Ursa lurched forward but Cinder quickly slashed it across the face with her knife. It backed off a bit, hissing in pain.
Ashe quickly called for their mother and hoped she heard him. While his mom wasn't the best fighter around she was more than capable of killing this lone Grimm.
It swiped at her with its arm but she quickly stabbed it in the paw. It roared in pain as Cinder jumped up and slammed it in the face with her foot and pulled out her dagger to stab its muzzle.
The Grimm launched itself at Cinder and headbutted her, knocking her into the tree. Cinder held her blade, she shaking hands ready to strike. The Grimm glared at her and looked like it was about to attack when it stopped. It looked right at her, staring at her eyes as if it was possessed. Its eyes suddenly turned white.
"What the heck?" Cinder said in confusion as the Grimm suddenly stopped moving, as if it was frozen.
"Cinder, let's make a break for it!" Ashe cried.
"R-right, get down, we'll run home and never mention this to mom and..." she was interrupted by the Ursa recovering and growling at them.
"Oh give me a break!" Cinder cried as she quickly climbed up the tree branches next to Ashe.
The Ursa roared and clawed the down tree trunk, stabbing its claws into the wood as it growled at them.
"You do realize it can probably climb up, right?!" Ashe said, more terrified than he had ever been in his young life.
"I know. Don't worry, I promise we'll make it out of here." Cinder said as she hugged him to her.
The Ursa began to climb up only for the cat to jump on its back and begin clawing its back up. The Ursa roared it pain as it fell off the ruined tree and onto its back. The cat jumped off and got back, ready to pounce on the Grimm again but the beast ignored the small animal, not seeing it as either a threat nor as prey. It looked back up to the sibling only for the cat to jump up and slash it across the face. It roared in pain as it covered its face as it glared at the cat, now angered. It slammed its arm into the cat and sent it flying into a tree.
"No!" Ashe cried.
The Ursa glared up at them and roared, it got up on its hind legs and got prepared to attack them only for a loud whistle to get its attention. It looked to the right and a flash of red, white, and black appeared out of nowhere as their mother, Ember Kasai, slashed its arm off with her weapon, a gunsen war blade that was loaded with Dust. Clad in a red and white kimono she glared at the creature, as if to ask who would dare to attack her children.
She slashed sideways, cutting its belly open and quickly followed up by cutting the remaining arm off and then jumped up and sliced its head off. The Ursa fell as its body disintegrated.
Ember collapsed her fan blade and put it away as she looked up to her children. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah mom, we're okay." Cinder said.
"Good, come down. Don't worry you're not in trouble, I'm just happy you're both safe." She said gently as she helped Ashe down.
The young boy hugged her tight and nestled into his mother's chest, muttering "Thank you, thank you mom."
Cinder got down and looked up at her mother, worry obvious in her eyes. "I'm sorry mom; I didn't know what to do. I was..."
"It's okay Cinder, I'm not mad. From the glimpse I got at it you gave that thing quite the fight." Ember said proudly as she hugged her daughter. "I'm so proud of you; you protected your brother at the risk of your own life. That's what all big sisters should do."
Ashe ran over to the body of the cat and was shocked to see that it had been killed by the Grimm's strike. Ashe began to cry for the dead animal as Cinder explained what had happened.
Cinder sighed as she shook her head. Ashe had remained in a depressed state for over two weeks after that day, blaming himself for the cat's death. Their mother gave the cat a burial as thanks for helping her children and Ashe, despite only knowing the cat for a few minutes, visited the little grave site every so often.
It was hard to believe that sensitive, little Ashe could have turned into the dark, tortured warrior he was now, but that's just the way the world worked. She had discovered that the reason the Ursa's eyes had turned white was because it sensed her potential and had alerted Salem to her. Cinder couldn't help but appreciate that day a little bit more.
Qrow and Raven landed on the top level of the staircase and turned back into their human forms.
"Been a while since we've flown together, miss the old days." Qrow said.
"You can get nostalgic later; right now we have a Maiden to defeat." Raven said.
Qrow nodded and muttered "Right. I hope there's someway we can get her powers out of her and into someone less insane."
Raven opened the door and saw the hallway was filled with the seven guards. "Freeze!" the sergeant yelled as they all readied their weapons; rapier-guns. Similar to Weiss' but much less sophisticated and much cheaper with the sword tip opening for the gun barrel.
"Ladies first." Qrow said. Raven nodded and jumped towards the guards, unsheathing her blade and setting to work. She landed in front of one and thrusted her sword into his head, piercing his brain. He died with a wide-eyed and horrified look on his face at his brain died with the rest of his body soon to follow. Raven swung her sword wildly towards two more guards and decapitated both of them, splattering thin lines of blood on the walls.
Qrow smirked as he ran forward and slammed Reaper into a guard's chest, stabbing him the heart. He then twirled around, slicing one guard in half while another guard got eviscerated, the pain and shock killing him quickly.
The sergeant fired at Qrow but the expert Huntsman easily knocked the shot away and sliced the leader's arm off at the elbow. The man screamed in shock and horror but Qrow quickly blasted him in the chest with Reaper's gun function.
Qrow looked to Raven as she nodded. "Quick and brutal as always, you never change."
"Neither have you. Those two make what, seven decapitations tonight? What is it with you and removing the head?" he asked.
"Decapitation is a quick and painless way to kill a person... and I've only decapitated three tonight." She lied.
"I know bullshit when I hear it, but whatever. Now let's go take that bitch down." Qrow said.
They ran down the hallway to the main warehouse area of the factory only to find it devoid of anyone at all.
"Do you think she ran?" Raven asked.
"Possibly. The first time I faced her she ran and she ran off from us. Maybe she's a total coward."
Raven was about to respond when she heard the slightest noise from above them; the sound of an ambush. She changed the crystal in her scabbard to an earth one and yelled "Duck!" as she summoned up a wall of rock from the concrete floor to protect them from the raining daggers of hardened Dust from Cinder.
Cinder stood on a catwalk above them, slamming down her attacks again and again, wearing down Raven's shield.
"Alright, you wanna fight dirty? Two can play at that game!" Qrow said as he took out a small orb from his pocket. He jumped out from the shield and threw the orb at Cinder. She quickly destroyed it with a fire blast but it created a smokescreen.
"Really?" Cinder asked as she used her wind powers to blow the smoke away only to be thrown down as the catwalk she was on was destroyed by a fire blast from Raven's scabbard. Cinder flew up into the air and landed a dozen meters away from the Branwen siblings and quickly created little shields of aura to block the blasts Qrow was shooting at her.
Raven swung down her scabbard three times, creating three arcs of fire that rocketed towards Cinder.
The Fall Maiden smirked as she caught the first blast then spun around gracefully and caught the second with her remaining free hand and then she clapped her hands together around the third blast, combining all three. She held all three blasts up as one big fire ball and threw it at the Branwen siblings but Raven quickly absorbed it with her crimson sword.
"Well that was pointless!" yelled Qrow as he jumped up, ran along the walls and launched himself at Cinder, managing to get one good kick in the face as he jumped off of her, landed behind her and just barely caught her blades before they slashed into him. "Eager, aren't we?" he mocked.
"Ready to fail again, Branwen?" Cinder asked as her amber eyes glowed, the leaf-like shape of a Fall Maiden's eyes taking shape around them.
"What I'm ready to do is spank your ass like the spoiled brat you are." Qrow said as he kicked her in the stomach and slashed at her with Reaper's sharp blade but he missed as she ducked down.
She launched a Dust blast at him which knocked him back but she was forced to ignore him and parry a strike from Raven.
"Give up, Fall. As we said earlier you cannot possibly win this." Raven said.
"I disagree." Cinder said as she slammed Raven into the rafters with her wind powers. She turned around only to see Qrow mere feet away from her. He jumped up and sucker punched her in the face and unleashed a barrage of powerful punches and kicks on Cinder.
The Fall Maiden screamed in fury as she used her powers over the wind to lift Qrow in midair and squeeze his throat. "I've come to appreciate these powers very much but I've been saving this method of murder ever since I obtained these gifts." She said.
Qrow gasped as he felt air leave his lungs, drawn out as if it was being pulled by a magnet. He nudged his head down to look at Cinder who was smiling wickedly, a serene look of sadistic enjoyment on her features.
"Taking one's ability to breathe away is quite a cruel death, but I think it works just nicely." Cinder said.
Just then she was sent flying into the wall with a mighty hit from Raven's scabbard. Raven heard Qrow drop to the ground and whip out Reaper.
"Thanks for the save." He said.
"Just part of what I do." Raven said as Cinder got back up and began to throw a series of fireballs.
"I think we're getting on her nerves!" Qrow said as he began spinning Reaper around in scythe mode to catch and deflect the flames.
"You're the expert in that." Raven said as she blocked all the blows that came near her. She managed to either dodge or absorb all of the fireballs with her sword but then something bad happened.
Her hair got hit with one of the fireballs.
Her red eyes began to shine as she quickly changed the Dust crystal within her scabbard to a water one and quickly doused herself before it could reach her head. More fireballs came at her but she dodged them expertly.
"Oh boy, you're gonna regret that." Qrow muttered as Raven charged at Cinder.
Cinder smirked as she summoned up her sword only for Raven to quickly jump and land down in front of her, unsheathe her sword and slam it into Cinder's blades, cutting them off at the hilts.
Before Cinder could react Raven smashed her into the wall and began to repeatedly smash her face in with her fist, her metallic arm braces making the hits much more effective. Raven grabbed Cinder by the sides of the face and slammed her into her knee, disorientating her.
Cinder was now off balance and feeling out of it, not helped by Raven's next attack; a spin-kick to the head which sent her flying to the side.
"What...?" Cinder moaned as she tried to get up, only to get sent sailing across the storage area with a mighty, rage fueled punch from Raven.
"You messed with her hair. You shouldn't have done that." Qrow said, smirking.
Like mother, like daughter.
Cinder landed on her glass shoes and screamed in frustration as she created another dome of flame around her body to keep her attackers at bay.
"Looks like you got her on the ropes." Qrow said to his sister as they got ready to attack the dome.
"I'm not done with her yet." Raven hissed. It was personal now.
Inside of the dome Cinder was seething with rage. How were these two fools keeping up with her? How?! She needed to finish them off once and for all, but she needed more power.
More power...
She looked at the palm of her hand and grinned. She knew what to do now.
Qrow and Raven watched as Dust fragments began to appear outside of the fire and rise up, glowing with power as sharp ice encased them, wind whirling around powerfully.
"I think we made her mad." Qrow muttered as he got Reaper ready.
The flame dome vanished and Cinder rose up into the air, her eyes glowing with power. She looked down at them and grinned.
"Die." She said.
She came down hard, slamming into the ground and sending lifting up the concretes and waves of concrete like an earthquake. The two Branwens quickly jumped to avoid it but were bombarded with the projectiles. Their bodies were slammed into over and over again by shards of heated Dust combined with ice and wind making it all the more painful.
Qrow fell to the floor, bleeding as his aura began to heal him. Man his body was hurting, those things stung like a thousand different rapier wasps attacks. He looked to Raven who was in the same condition and couldn't help but notice one of the shards had stabbed her shoulder.
She yanked it out and threw it to the floor. "That was the most pain I've felt in a long time." She admitted to Cinder who now casually walked towards them.
"Good, you two will pay for your impudence and that was just the beginning." Cinder said as she took out her bow and arrows and aimed for the general area around them and let loose a grand total of ten arrows.
The two siblings quickly got out of the way as the arrows slammed into the ground where they previously had been and exploded.
Qrow was smashed into the wall by the force of the blast while Raven, who had been closer, was sent to the other side of the storage room.
Qrow got up to see Cinder standing before him, smirking down with smug superiority. Qrow swung Reaper at her but she leaned back, however he did cut open a part of her shirt. Cinder used the wind to pick Qrow up and toss him into a row of shelves, the force of the throw was so powerful that he dropped Reaper as his body plowed through them until he was in the corner of the room, covered with bruises and debris.
"Time to finish you off." Cinder said as she summoned up to incredibly powerful fireballs and sent them flying up at the rafters and catwalks above Qrow.
"No!" Raven screamed as the heavy wooden and metal debris fell down on her brother, crushing him and pinning him down.
Raven got up and held her sword forward as Cinder glanced at her. "I don't think your brother's dead yet, but I'll correct that once I'm done with you."
Raven screamed as she charged at Cinder.
It was the day of graduation at Beacon Academy and yet here Qrow Branwen was, not inside preparing for the ceremony or celebrating with his friends, but here in the Emerald Forest, in bird form, going after his sister.
Taiyang didn't really say what happened, all he said was that Raven took off into the Grimm infested forest and he couldn't stop her. Qrow knew his sister better than anyone did, even their mom, so he knew he had to be the one to find out what happened between the two lovers, as Taiyang was too nervous to really explain things and Summer was just as clueless as he was.
He soon found his sister sitting stop a cliff by an old dead tree. He landed on the branch and cawed down to her, getting her attention.
She looked up and glared. "Go away Qrow. I'm not in the mood."
Qrow flew down and transformed back into human form as he landed. "Nope, not taking that for an answer, sis. What happened between you two?" he asked.
Raven glared up at her brother as she hugged her knees to her chest. "I don't want to talk about it." She said stubbornly.
"Sis, come on, you have to tell me what's up. Graduation is in five hours and Team STRQ can't do it without you." He said. She said nothing.
He smirked as he got an idea. "You want me to get Summer out here?" he asked.
Raven looked up at him, glaring. "You're a prick. Fine, I'll tell you what happened; Taiyang asked me to marry him."
Qrow's eyes widened. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?! Taiyang Xiao Long asked you to marry him? Settle down and everything?" he asked in disbelief.
Raven nodded in confirmation. "Yes, he got down on one knee, showed me the, rather beautiful, ring, and asked me to be with him."
"And did you give him an answer?" Qrow asked.
"No. I ran, I ran away so fast I even risked him seeing me transform." Raven said.
Qrow buried his face in his hands and groaned. Maybe he should go get Summer, she's way better at this shit than he ever could be.
"Okay, why did you run? You were telling me not two weeks ago that Taiyang was too cowardly to ask you to commit to marriage. I thought you'd be happy that he proved you wrong." Qrow said.
"I... Qrow I... I'm pregnant." She said suddenly.
What?
"What?" he asked.
"I'm pregnant with Taiyang's child; I even had a pregnancy test to confirm it." She said, not meeting his eyes.
"How have we not noticed?" Qrow demanded as he sat down next to his sister, putting a comforting arm around her.
"I got up earlier than the rest of you when I had morning sickness. I managed to keep quiet enough so the rest of you couldn't hear me." She explained.
Qrow nodded. "Okay, I'm beginning to understand; you're afraid to tell him because now it'll look like he's only marrying you because he knocked you up."
Raven nodded again.
"Okay, I have no real idea what to say. How do you really feel about Tai?" he asked.
Raven glanced at him and said "Despite everything; his love of bad jokes and how much of a slacker he can be and don't even get me started on his occasionally cowardly tendencies I... I truly do care for him. I love him, Qrow."
They sat in silence for a while as Qrow hugged his sister to him. It had been a while since they had just sat in silence together. Enjoying the sounds of the forest and the birds that flew around and chirping.
"Okay so what would your answer be if you weren't pregnant?" Qrow asked.
Raven looked at him and said "I'd probably say yes."
"Then come back with me, tell him you'll answer him later, and after the graduation tell him yes or no." Qrow said.
Raven sighed and said "What about the baby?"
"If you say yes, fuck him again sometime this week, and tell him you're pregnant later so he and everyone else will think the kid is legitimate." Qrow said, not really knowing if it was good advice or not.
Raven looked at her brother and said "Sounds like another one of your idiotic plans... but it's better than breaking his heart." She leaned into him, hugging him tighter. "Qrow, despite everything, no matter how much we fight or get on each others' nerves I want you to know that I love you."
Qrow smiled as he pulled his sister closer. "I love you too, sis."
He stood up and said "Let's get back to Beacon."
"I'll stay here for a while. I need to think things over." Raven said.
"Okay, don't be late sis. I'll tell Tai you're thinking it over but I won't mention your bun in the oven. Later." He said as he jumped up, transformed, and flew away.
The sound of a huge explosion jolted Qrow awake from his short sleep. He moaned in pain as the rubble and wreckage shifted above him, some of it even falling off. What happened... Raven! She was fighting Fall alone!
He quickly began to push the heavy debris off of his body, slowly but surely getting more and more freedom to move as he glimpsed at the fight between his sister and the Fall Maiden.
Their swords clashed together faster than he could keep track of, Raven's crimson blade slammed against Cinder's black and ember one, which appeared to the combined form of her two swords from earlier.
Both of the women had scratches on their bodies, small shimmers of aura healing them as they dueled. Cinder played dirty and slammed a small ball of fire into Raven's side, forcing her to stagger back which allowed Cinder to kick her in the head, knocking her down.
"So this is the feared Raven Branwen? People like you never live up to your reputations." Cinder said.
"I'm not done yet." Raven said as she sheathed her sword and began to wildly swing the scabbard at Cinder as the crystal cartridges changed at randomly, sending an intense barrage of fire, earth, water, ice, wind, electricity at Cinder, who was caught off guard by the tactic and got blitzed up by it.
She soared across the warehouse room, bombarded by every type of Dust Raven had inside her scabbard. She slammed into the wall and fell to her feet, crouching to catch her breath as Raven approached.
"Good enough for you?" Raven asked as she took out her sword again.
"Oh yes." Cinder said with a small smile as he eyes began to glow again. She knew Raven was powerful, and there was no power Cinder could not take away thanks to the Scarab Grimm within her.
She jumped up, creating the bow again along with three arrows, she let go and the trio of small spears sailed with lighting speed at Raven, shooting through her leg, shoulder, and hip.
"AH!" Raven cried in pain as she fell to her knee.
"NO!" Qrow screamed from the rubble as he struggled to get out.
Cinder glanced at him as he struggled to free himself. "I'll deal with you soon enough." She said as Raven tried to get up.
"You know what Cinder Fall? You and I aren't so different." Raven said weakly as she forced her wounded body to get up, her aura struggling to heal the injuries.
"What makes you think that?" Cinder asked, curiosity piqued.
"Because you'll end up like me one day; alone, and just like me you'll have no one to blame but yourself." Raven said bitterly as she held up her sword.
"Isn't that profound?" Cinder said as she recreated her sword and parried Raven's first strike, then slammed it into the red blade, knocking it out of Raven's hands.
Raven growled as she tried to land a punch on Cinder's face but the Fall Maiden easily caught it the fist with an open hand, ripping off the metallic glove and then capturing it again swiftly.
"Thank you, you just gave me what I wanted." Cinder said as her arm began to glow a dim red.
"What the hell?" Raven said before a black web covered her hand. Raven screamed in pain as she felt her aura and her power being sucked up by something pure evil. She screamed louder than she had in years as her body was violated and pillaged by the Grimm insect, her powers being taken from her and given to Cinder Fall.
"NO! Leave my sister alone!" Qrow screamed desperately as he failed to get free of the rubble, a heavy piece of metal pinning his legs down.
Cinder withdrew her hand from Raven's which was now marked by dark shadows of the Grimm's web.
She looked up to Cinder who grinned down at her as the light in her eyes surged with power and her body shook as she got used to this new power. Cinder slammed her glass shoe into Raven's face, blowing her down. "Now then..." she said as she made the sword again.
Suddenly she felt a Dust round blast into her shoulder. It was nothing but an annoying bee string thanks to her new, mighty powers but she glanced to see Qrow had freed himself and was now wielding Reaper again, ready to fight.
"Get away from her, you bitch!" he yelled.
"Very well." Cinder said as she sent an incredibly fast fireball at him. Qrow had no time to react before it slammed him across the room and into the wall. Before he could get up Cinder was right in front oh him, her sword ready to thrust into his chest.
"You know what Branwen? I suppose I should thank you for everything. If it hadn't been for your failure to save Amber I would have never gotten my powers. Now its true you did prevent me from getting the whole thing right away but because of your interference all those people at the Vytal Festival died, including that Nikos girl." She said, loving the pained, defeated look on his face. "You should have been able to recognize us at the festival even though our faces were blurred in our initial encounter, but I suppose that's what happens when one is as drunk as you are. Maybe if you had been sober none of this would have happened to begin with. Now your sister's power is mine and yours will be too and maybe I'll do the same to your precious little nieces. Time to say goodbye, Branwen." Cinder finished as she kicked Reaper out of the way and blasted him in the gut to keep him down.
Qrow shut his eyes and accepted his fate.
Cinder pulled back her sword and plunged it forward, but she did not hit her intended target.
Raven took the stab for him, the glowing black blade impaling her.
"What? How did you...?" Cinder asked, amazed.
"You're far too guilty of underestimating this family!" Raven said as she pulled out her sword and stabbed it through Cinder's leg. Cinder screamed in agony before Raven slammed her fist into the Fall Maiden's face, sending her flying on her back.
Raven fell to the ground but Qrow quickly recovered and caught his sister. "Raven! Come on sis, don't do this, stay with me!" he begged as he cradled her head.
"Qrow... tell Tai and Yang I love them... I love them so much and I can never make up for what I did... oh god!" Raven cried as she clutched her bleeding chest.
"No! You can't die! You can still patch things up with 'em! You can make it out of this, you're the toughest woman I've ever known! You can't do this to us!" Qrow begged, holding back tears for the first time in years.
Raven reached up and weakly cupped Qrow's face. "I'm sorry Qrow... I had to save you. Please take care of them for me... I'm sorry..."
"Why? Why did you do that for me?! WHY?!" Qrow yelled.
"Because I love you, little brother..." she said as her eyes dimmed.
Qrow's eyes forced tears away as Raven died in his arms. Despite everything that had happened over the years; the fights, her disappearance, her abandoning of Taiyang and Yang, her grim and dark outlook on life he knew that she was a good person.
Qrow remained silent, refusing to cry, as he held his sister in his arms. He wouldn't let Cinder have the pleasure of seeing him sob.
Cinder stood up as she pulled the sword out, her newly reinforced aura healing her very quickly. She looked at the sight of the man holding his dead sister to him and she couldn't help but feel... odd. Was it guilt? Regret? No, such things were beneath her.
Then she remembered that the two before her had been brother and sister and she couldn't help but picture herself holding Ashe's dead body for some reason.
Why? Why had the foolish woman sacrificed herself for him, but then she remembered what her mother had told her that day: 'I'm so proud of you; you protected your brother at the risk of your own life. That's what all big sisters should do.'
Qrow's head snapped up to look at her. "YOU!" he screamed as he gently laid Raven's body down and reclaimed Reaper as he transformed it into scythe form. "I'm going to break you." He said.
"You will try." Cinder said smugly, only for Qrow to appear right in front of her in a flash of white, gray, and black and his fist smashed into her face.
"No trying, I'm going to make you pay." He said.
"That's the last time you will lay a hand on me." Cinder said as she floated up into the air and with her newly empowered aura combined the Fall Maiden powers that were enhanced by Raven's she created a massive fireball and flung it at Qrow.
The scythe wielder ducked down and the mighty ball of flame went over him and smashed into the wall behind him, blowing it apart and exposing the room to the outside world.
Qrow jumped out of the way to avoid more of Cinder's arrows as she came after him. Her bow transformed into a sword and she slammed it down on him but he countered it with a mighty strike.
The two dueled further onto the roof the room was on and both of them could see the war zone around them as young hunters fought for their lives.
"It's over Qrow, you cannot win this." Cinder said.
"I don't have to, I only have to take you down with me!" he said.
The two slammed their weapons against each other, dueling on into the night.
To Be Continued...
Next time: The Siege
Sorry if this one feels a little rushed, I needed this to be a short chapter since I'm not too sure about my ability to write a fight scene between Cinder and Qrow (who we already know) and a character we know next to nothing about.
Yeah, first Cardin, now Raven. I knew when I began to plan the part of the story that if the good guys were to win this they'd need to lose some people.
I added Cinder's flashback to give her more depth, as one of my main issues with Volume 3 is that Cinder has little to no personality.
Please leave a review, a comment, or a kudos if you please. Let me know if you like this story or not because there's this pathetic part of me that just feels really depressed because of how little attention this has gotten. I look at Resurgence, Darth Arc, Run, and a lot of other post-V3 stories and how many follows, faves, kudos, and reviews they have and I just wonder why do I even bother? My story is nothing compared to theirs and yet I try so hard to make this a good story. I have an audience without a doubt and I appreciate each and every one of you for your support but I can't help but get all Eeyore when I look at how small my story is to the others so please, give me some feedback.
I want to make a good story and I want people to enjoy it, sorry if I sound needy but... well anyway, thanks for reading.