Raven

Charlie followed Vernal and her back to their camp.

He didn't have a place to stay, and it wasn't too much trouble to provide shelter for him. If it kept her on his good side, then a few extra supplies here and there was a bargain as far as she was concerned. The last thing that she wanted was to find herself staring down the edge of his sword again.

Raven couldn't help but shudder at the thought.

There was something off about Charlie. He was talkative with her and Vernal, sometimes annoyingly so. When some of the other members of their tribe had grown curious and tried to strike up a conversation with their resident knight, he hadn't even bothered to give a response. It was as if they didn't even exist to him. There wasn't any of his usual smiles or easygoing attitude. There wasn't any of the usual spark in his eyes, they were blank and uncaring.

As if everyone else were simply… inanimate objects. Pieces of matter in his way.

It was disturbing and honestly? Terrifying. By some grace of the gods, she and Vernal had somehow avoided that fate. Raven didn't know how Charlie classified certain people as people in his mind and others as… whatever he looked at them as, but she had every intention of firmly staying in the other camp. She could still vividly recall how detached he had been when he cut down some of her warriors, as if he were taking out the trash or wiping off some dust.

Raven couldn't help but groan as she ran her hands through her hair.

Wasn't Qrow the one that had the bad luck Semblance? How the hell did she get stuck into this situation? If she had known some crazy knight was going to strong-arm her into stealing the Relic of Knowledge, she would have never taken the spring maiden into her ranks.

How had he even known that she was spring?

Raven had never used her powers in front of anyone without Vernal nearby. And anyone that had seen her powers without Vernal were promptly silenced. It wasn't too strange for him to think that the spring maiden was in her tribe; she had routinely used her powers during their raids. But Vernal should have been the one he was after.

She just didn't understand how he knew the truth.

Knowing her name was one thing. Having knowledge of her Semblance? That wasn't too far-fetched, perhaps someone in Ozpin's circle had informed him. But knowing that she was the spring maiden?

That should have been impossible.

Nothing made sense with that kid. How was he so powerful? He barely looked older than the twins and yet, he was one of the strongest opponents she had ever faced. Raven wasn't weak, Charlie was just too damn strong. Absurdly so.

If it weren't for that agreement, she would have hightailed it out of Mistral as soon as he turned his back on her.

Charlie seemed like the straightforward type, however. He was honest to a fault, from what she had seen of him so far. Sometimes even brutally so. Call it a gut feeling, but she didn't think he would go back on his word. At the very least, she had an ace in the hole now if Salem ever came for her.

Raven just needed a little bit more time to finish forming that bond. She didn't need to wait for one to form naturally, like with her old teammates.

It wasn't difficult to take a more active approach with the nuances of her Semblance. There were others she had bonded with artificially, simply because it would have been useful to have the option to jump to them if needed. The connection between her and Charlie didn't need to be a positive one, she just needed to have some kind of emotional connection with him. Charlie just needed to occupy some space in her mind. That could be easily achieved by simply spending time with him and with how often they saw each other now that he was staying in their camp? It wouldn't be long.

Her tent flapped opened and Charlie suddenly strode inside, sipping a juice box with one hand and casually juggling an orange with his other.

Speak of the devil…

"Hey, Raven." Charlie casually greeted as he took a seat at her table. "So… I was thinking."

"... About?"

Charlie slurped his juice box.

"I'm kind of on a tight timetable here, so I was hoping we could hit the vault within the next couple of days."

Raven almost snapped the pen in her hand in two.

"... I'm still working on the logistics."

She had been tirelessly, meticulously planning out the assault on Haven ever since they had come to their agreement. And now, here he was, trying to rush things. Did he not realize how difficult it was going to be to launch an assault on one of the four huntsman academies? Was he just so confident in his own strength that none of that even mattered to him?

"We don't need that many people." Charlie waved off as he continued to obnoxiously slurp from that damn juice box. Where the hell did he even get that, anyway? "Me, you, and Vernal should be enough."

Raven felt one of her eyes twitch.

"Actually, we won't even need Vernal. She can be our get away person." The boy added as an afterthought. "Just me and you should be fine."

"Charlie." She began, trying her best to keep her tone neutral. "It's the middle of the school semester. That means that Haven is going to be crawling with huntsmen and trainees."

Slurp.

"Yeah. So?"

"... We should at least wait until summer starts, that way there would be less–"

"Nah, I can't wait that long." Charlie casually interrupted. "What's the big deal, anyway? Just follow me in and I'll take care of anyone that stands in our way. Then you can open a portal to Vernal and get us out after we grab the relic."

Damn him and his complete and utter disregard for danger.

"You might be damn near invincible. But, I am not."

"That's what you're worried about?" Charlie laughed. "Come on, Raven. We made a deal, remember?" The boy grinned. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

The sheer amount of confidence in which Charlie had uttered that statement made her want to believe him. It was as if he wasn't making a promise, but was simply stating a fact. That as long as he was there, no harm would come to her. How was this kid so damn charismatic?

Charlie just smiled at her, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Raven mentally groaned as she ran her hands through her hair once again. She couldn't believe that she was actually thinking about going through with his insane idea. She blamed Qrow and his damn Semblance. It must have rubbed off on her. There was no way she was unlucky enough to get caught up in a crazy situation like this. All that effort to get away from this damn war just to be dragged back in.

Damn it all to hell.