Here's chapter 15, everyone.
"There!" Willow exclaimed and scooted away from the fire she managed to make. Raven walked over, grumbling a bit as she felt hungry. "I don't really feel like that was too hard after all." The white haired woman said proudly.
Raven groaned in response. "It took you two hours… I've been hungry…"
Willow could hear the black haired woman's stomach growling, so she blushed in embarrassment at how long it took. "O-Oh, then why didn't you just use the dust yourself?!"
"It's a lesson, you idiot." Raven held her stomach. "Ugh, still, I'm not waiting on you to make the food. Just sit there. I'll be right back." She headed into the cabin, while Willow sighed and looked at the small fire in front of her.
Even though she was able to use dust, she still kicked some snow to the side in annoyance. "Has it really been two hours…" She sighed to herself, wishing she could do more, but she couldn't blame herself. She was a mother first, not a dust user or aura enthusiast.
As Raven walked over with a stick and some fish, she sat on the other log and placed them over the fire. "Look, kitchen appliances manage to use dust faster than you, Willow. And you're literally in the family that refines it. Why was that so hard?"
"I-I don't know… I never really thought about using dust all that much. And you can't say anything about machines. Dust is already built into them." Willow defended.
"Even so, it's just concentration. And knowing you, I feel like that would be the easy part." Raven commented.
"Can you not blame me here, please? You said it yourself. This is just my second day learning this sort of stuff." Willow stated.
"Is it though? I know you helped your daughter train before too." Raven reminded.
Willow rolled her eyes. "My daughter trained on her own, Raven. I only ever helped her with setting up training dummies."
"You still have first hand experience seeing how it's done, Willow." Raven folded her hands and crossed her leg over the other. "Is there something you avoid with this or what?"
"Huh? No, I don't try to avoid any of this. I just never felt like I needed to use my aura or dust." Willow answered honestly.
"Hmm, okay then. So just not interested or have you felt comfortable with how your life is?" Raven asked, watching the fish to make sure they didn't burn.
"Comfortable? No… Not really. For my kids, I was happy to give them a home and food on the table. As well as support their goals… But for me, Jacques could never make me feel comfortable with my life." Willow sadly answered.
Raven closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I won't pester about it, but look, what would make you comfortable? If the only reason to keep on going with that place was your kids, which now two of them are out of the house, what else would you do?"
"Whitley still needs me, Raven. And not only that… But I don't have a clue on what else I can do." Willow said, looking at the flames. "Dust plays a large part in my family, that much is obvious, but I never felt the need to hold it."
"Well not everyone in the world is a hunter, so it does make sense. Yet here you are, only with the thought of your kids driving you. Do you get what I'm saying?" Raven asked.
Willow thought about it for a moment, but nothing was coming up. Moments passed, but it hit her. It wasn't what Raven just said, it's what she told her the night before. "My trigger…"
"Bingo. I'm not trying to rush you on it. Just reminding you about what drives you is all." Raven stated.
"I still don't know whether I should be thanking you or kicking snow at you with how you teach, Raven Branwen." Willow said as she scowled at the other woman.
Raven shrugged. "Do whichever you want. I'm not here to give you all the answers, Willow."
Willow looked down and nodded in response. "I know that." She lifted her head back up, looking serious for the moment. "May I ask you something?" With a nod from Raven, Willow spoke again. "What's your drive?"
"Hmm, I was wondering when you'd ask." Raven unsheathed her blade, "Some people would be afraid seeing me unsheath this. Glad you aren't one of them." She said as she placed the blade on the snow. "Think about my sword. What does that tell you?"
"It's… A weapon?" Willow seemed confused, but the unimpressed look on Raven's face made her sigh and look at the blade again. "Well, you use it to fight, so it's what gives you the strength?"
"Not really. I can hold any old blade and cut down monsters." Raven grabbed her sword from the snow and stood up, holding it out at Willow, who backed away a bit. "If I made you hold this, you wouldn't know the first thing to do with it."
Willow rolled her eyes, doing her best not to swear. "Well that much is obvious. Your point?"
"Is that this is my drive." Raven said as she held her blade out horizontally. "Some people will try and show off, saying they can handle anything thrown at them. Idiots like that get killed, so what can you do to not end up like them?"
"Learn to not showboat?" Willow guessed.
"Not the answer I was looking for, but that's part of it." Raven planted her blade in the snow. "Survival. It's the word to use, your lifeline, the key to your survival. At the moment, your lifeline is your trigger."
"I… Don't follow." Willow said honestly.
Raven sighed. "What made your aura stronger. It was your trigger, and in turn, your lifeline. It's what would keep you alive. This sword is not my lifeline, but what I do with it is."
Willow was starting to get a grasp of what she was saying. "Which is why you said if I held it, I wouldn't be able to do anything with it, or even consider it a lifeline?"
"There you go." Raven smirked. "Finally getting it." She sat back down on the log. "I don't expect you to find a weapon, but think about it and come back to me when you have the answer."
"Huh? Wait, a weapon? No, I can't get into that. Aura training is barely something I can handle already." Willow reminded.
Raven sheathed her blade. "I know, which is why I said think about it first. I'm not forcing you to have one, Willow. It's just an option to have a new lifeline."
Willow sniffled at the cold air. "Alright." She said nothing else, deeply thinking about what she should do next. It wasn't just a question though. It was to accept or deny an offer. "When will this fish be ready…"
"Ugh, stupid leaves." Ruby complained as she brushed her outfit of stray leaves that stuck to her. "Hmm, good all gone." She took Crescent Rose out and smirked. "Alright, Crescent Rose, we need to find you your first target."
The rose themed girl hoped no one was around to hear her talking to her weapon. She walked around the forest, keeping an eye and ear out for anything or anyone that could be around her. When she heard a bush rustling, she aimed at it after swapping Crescent Rose to its sniper form, but when all that ran from the bush was a squirrel, she sighed disappointingly.
"Lame…" Ruby kept on her path, wondering if the relics were scattered around the forest, or if they were placed in one spot. "There's gotta be something out here to-." She yelped and jumped back when she saw a pair of claws pounce at her.
Two blue and black tiger like creatures were now in front of the girl, both growling at her as their stripes pulsed, making Ruby aware of what they were.
"Taaras? Ugh, too easy." Ruby swapped Crescent Rose to its scythe form and prepared herself for a fight. Once she saw one of them jump at her, she dodged to the left, keeping an eye on the second one who slammed its front paws down, causing a lightning surge to coat the ground, so when Ruby saw she was about to land on it, she quickly swapped her weapon to sniper mode and shot at the ground, propelling herself up as she landed on a branch, keeping her balance well. "Phew, almost got me there."
The one that first jumped at her clawed at the tree, sending electricity up it, but it didn't seem to go through the tree itself. It merely bounced up to reach the girl, so she jumped over to another tree and took a shot at one of the beasts, hitting one of its stripes and successfully making it discharge electricity on itself, so Ruby smirked.
"Number one weakness." Ruby jumped down, swapping back to scythe form for her weapon as she watched the one she shot fall to the ground. "Can't imagine you'll be as hard to deal with." She said to the second one, who growled and swatted its tail up, acting as a conductor when it focused its lightning through its entire tail.
Ruby gasped as she knew that attack would paralyze her completely, so she tried to rush it before it could get the attack off, not remembering to keep an eye out for the first Taara. It took the chance and weakly slammed its paws on the ground, coating the ground in electricity as soon as Ruby got close.
The rose girl gasped as she was shocked by the ground, falling forward as she was now about fifteen feet away from the Taaras. "Uh oh…" The second Taara reared its tail back and was about to launch the attack, but as it shot out the lightning, an ice wall was formed between it and Ruby, making the scythe wielder gasp.
"I swear, not five minutes in and I already have to save you, Ruby Rose." The voice Ruby heard made her perk up in joy as she turned to see her white haired friend, standing right next to her and offering her hand to get up. "Are you okay?" Weiss asked as Ruby took her hand and stood up.
"Hehe. Yup! I may have forgotten about the other Taara." Ruby chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head.
With a loud growl, Weiss turned her attention to the ice wall that broke apart after a few seconds. "Didn't last as long as I hoped." The white haired teen noticed that both Taaras were up again, so she held her rapier out, ready to fight.
Ruby got Crescent Rose ready as well, making sure to focus more. "We can take em, partner."
Weiss realized then and there that it was true. She saw Ruby first, making them partners, so she grinned and nodded. "Right." When the injured Taara roared, a wave of arc pulse energy shot towards the two girls, making them back up a bit as the shockwave partially electrocuted the two.
Luckily their auras protected them enough and the other Taara ran at them, using the chance to get them while they were stunned. Ruby didn't let it finish the attack though, as she accessed her semblance and quickly dashed forward, swinging her scythe at the beast. Silence. The Taara stopped moving for just a few seconds as blood sprayed from the side it was slashed, making it fall to the ground.
Weiss noticed it wasn't breathing, confirming the kill, so she focused her attention on the other Taara, who had enough time to charge up its tail attack. When she saw it was targeting Ruby, she gasped and tried to bring up another ice wall, but was shocked when it turned to her and shot its lightning, hitting the white haired teen in her right shoulder, making her cry out as she fell on her back. "Ugh…" She couldn't move her right arm, so she did her best to stand, finding that the attack was spreading through her body and making it that much harder to move.
Ruby didn't waste time and dashed over with her semblance again, getting between both the Taara and her partner. "Weiss, are you okay?!" Her concern was obvious, and the white haired teen groaned.
"I-I will be… Just cover me for one minute for the paralysis to wear off." Weiss held her shoulder, doing her best to focus her aura on the spot she was hit so the paralysis would wear off a bit faster.
The Taara limped a bit since it was still injured from the previous shot it took from Ruby's sniper. "I should be able to take it down, but… No, I'll keep you covered." Ruby didn't want to risk the Taara finding an opening to attack her downed friend, so she kept her guard up, watching as the Taara was about to attempt another ground attack, so Ruby swapped to a gravity dust round, taking a shot at the ground under it.
With her gravity dust in affect, the Taara was partially lifted up off the ground and growled as it did its best to spin around, creating a lighting dome around it for protection. Ruby bit her lip, knowing she wasn't going to be able to break through the dome, but when she heard another groan, she turned to see Weiss slowly getting back up.
"D-Did it wear off?" Ruby asked in a worried tone.
"N-Not completely, but I can move enough." Weiss clenched Myrtenaster tight as she looked to Ruby. "Can you still keep it in the air?"
"I should be able to… Wait, I have an idea. Why don't you create an ice spike under it? It should be enough force to break right through the dome." Ruby suggested.
Weiss took a breath, rubbing her shoulder as she nodded and swapped the dust chamber to ice. "Easy enough." She did her best to get close, but knew the Taara could still attack her, so she took one more breath, running right at it and sliding underneath the electric dome, sliding the tip of Myrtenaster against the dirt under the Taara. It was enough to form an ice spike that shot up in zero point two seconds, going right through both the dome, and the Taara.
Ruby watched as the electric dome died down on the Taara was dead. She sighed to herself and watched the ice spike shatter, so the Taara's body fell to the ground, blood pooling around it as Ruby ran over to where Weiss slid. "Hey, is the paralysis still… You know, affecting you?" She asked when she knelt next to her partner.
"A little bit…" Weiss groaned and did her best to sit up. She rubbed her shoulder and looked over Ruby's shoulder, seeing she was able to kill the other Taara. "I guess we both have earned one kill each."
Ruby chuckled a bit and gave her a big grin. "Yup! We'll wait a few more minutes for you to be fully mobile again."
Weiss nodded, but made sure not to drop her guard. "I wasn't expecting our first fight to be with Taaras to be honest. But we did it, so I can't complain."
"Heck yeah we did!" Ruby exclaimed, but then she thought about something. "Wait, how come you didn't use your semblance, Weiss? A-Are you still not wanting to?"
The white haired teen blushed. "I-I just felt we were able to handle it without exerting too much energy is all. You know it requires aura to use our semblances after all…"
Ruby frowned in response. "But you got hurt."
Weiss sighed. "Ruby, it's nothing. Seriously."
"It's not nothing, Weiss. If it hit you say in the chest, you'd be paralyzed all over your body… I-I would hate seeing that happen to you… I hate seeing this happen to you." Ruby said as she reached over and rubbed her partner's injured shoulder, trying to ease her pain.
It made Weiss blush a bit more, but she shook her head. "I'm just trying not to make any wrong decisions, Ruby. It just caught me off guard because I thought it was aiming at you."
"Well… Okay, but please don't feel like you shouldn't use your semblance. Glyphs can be really really helpful." Ruby said, not knowing what Weiss' true 'semblance' really was.
"Um, yeah… Right." Weiss moved her arm around, feeling that she had full mobility of it again. "I think the paralysis is dealt with. Come on, help me up so we can find that relic."
Ruby nodded and lifted Weiss up by her arm, making sure to see if her friend had any difficulty standing. When she saw she didn't, Ruby felt a bit more relieved for Weiss' wellbeing and smiled. "Okay! Where to next, partner?"
Weiss looked to the right, and to the left, feeling a bit confused herself. "I… Don't really know to be honest… Maybe that way?" She pointed to her right, but Ruby chuckled. "W-What?"
"That's the direction we were launched from." Ruby grinned, making Weiss blush in embarrassment. "Hehe. Don't worry. I'll lead the way!" She took Weiss' hand and the white haired teen yelped when Ruby ran off with her in hand, not hearing her partner's complaints to let her go.
Sorry this is a little late. My computer wasn't being nice to me. Anyways, I have new types of Grimm here. They're named later on. As in why they have these attacks.
To JJ- Tough teach Raven is fun to write, and Willow is making more progress, so yay on that. Gonna keep this one short since my computer is still being rude to me.
To Lionheart- Haha. Well that does get dealt with. So your question will be answered in that regard when it happens.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 15. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 16.