Ruby sighed, she dodged a few swings from Oscar, he was having a hard time learning how to fight, he may be progressing but it was extremely slow.
"You know, Oscar the way you fight I almost mistook you a dancer, it's graceful, methodical, and not likely to hurt anyone." Ruby commented as she kneed him in the gut then flipped him onto his back "See." she added earning a groan from him, he then stood and was engulfed in a green glow
"Perhaps you and I should go a round or two, Ms. Rose." Ozpin said causing her to smirk
"Bring it on, I've wanted to see what you could do for a while now." Ruby said, she looked a little excited as she lowered into a more aggressive stance
(\_/)
Qrow sat down next to Akame, she was crying and Qrow had no idea how to fix this, but he did know that she knew he was here, placing his hand on her shoulder he did the only think he knew how to do for her
"I don't know if its my place to say this, but I am sorry." he apologized pulling her into a hug
"Don't apologize..." Akame cried into his shoulder
"Why did you leave your girlfriend after... getting busy." he asked "'cause she came wandering around the house looking for me... naked." Qrow added causing Akame to laugh a bit through her tears "Yeah it's funny now but... not then."
"I... tried to put faith in her but-"
"You're scared of getting burned again." Qrow interrupted as she seemed about to lose her words, she nodded as she began to cry again "I understand, I really do... but the way Raven deals with these things isn't the way to go... neither is the way I deal with them." he added patting the flask in his coat "Be better than us... face your issues and deal with them, regardless of what your nature tells you to do... face the fact that-"
"I don't want to let her hurt me... like... everyone else did." Akame said, Qrow finally understood why she was acting like this, why she fell back into cowardice he had a few guesses about who, but it was a better idea to keep those quiet while she was upset
(o)
From that point on Akame would never leave Qrows' side, not that it wasn't that way before but, now it took actual convincing to separate her from him, Qrow didn't seem to mind but Neo seemed jealous, if her attitude was anything to go off of, it was mainly little things like slamming every door in his face even if it wasn't a room she needed to go into or locking him out of his room forcing him to climb through the windows on the outside, it didn't really help that he was on the third story if you counted the training room as a floor. But this evening she did something that made Akame finally considered asking her if something was wrong... she took Qrows' leftovers from the night before, he wasn't planning on eating them but she was going to ask him if she could take them, but Neo didn't ask so now she didn't have anything to look forward to
Akame walked out of the kitchen carrying Neo by the scruff of her neck, she was squirming around trying to get Akame to let her go, dropping her on the couch Akame spoke
"Why do you seem so intent on making everything difficult for father?" Akame asked sitting down next to Neo who crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling
"Look, I don't know if its because I ran away, but I am here now. I will never leave you again I promise." she said forcing Neo to look at her
"Am interrupting something?" Rubys' voice came from the staircase
"No, but I am trying to figure out why Neo is being so spiteful towards father." Akame answered earning raised eyebrow from Ruby
"Are you serious?" Ruby asked earning a nod from Akame "Well this is certainly a first, you can slaughter a whole horde of Grimm on your own but you can figure out why she's mad." Ruby commented with a chuckle, that confused Akame even more, what did that have to do with this?
"She's mad that you are spending all your time with him after you ran out on her." Ruby said causing Akame to blink in surprise, that made... sense, she then looked to Neo who nodded and crossed her arms
"Oh... I didn't know that would be such a problem." Akame commented, she was clearly out of her depth and both Neo and Ruby knew it
"Right so now that that is fixed I'm gonna go get somethin' to eat, I'm starvin'." Ruby added as she walked down the rest of the stairs and into the kitchen, Neo and Akame looked at each other... this was gonna be awkward
(o)
the airship let out a hum as the engines shut down, Weiss helped carry out the crates of dust, they hadn't ran into an real threats, an airship crossed their path but they avoided them to the best of their abilities
"Hey, Weiss." the pilot said earning her attention as they placed the crate down "I'm glad to finally have you off my ship." he said with a smirk, that earned a smile from Weiss who rolled her eyes
"It was a crappy ride admittedly." Weiss said earning a sigh from the man
"You get what you pay for." he shrugged off "Can I still expect that good word?"
"Of course. You were loyal and you got the job done, I'm sure she would be happy to have someone like you." she reasoned "Good luck with that too, she is pretty tough to impress." Weiss added as she began to walk away, he waved as she left, it was a short trip but that girl had a thing about her, she just seemed to relate to everyone.
(o)
Leone sat up... today was the day, getting to her feet she walked up to the door
"Hey... Hey! HEY!" she shouted, the guard was trying to ignore her "HEY! I AM TALKING TO YOU, YOU FUCKING ANIMAL!" she shouted causing him to turn to her
"You bitch!" he raged as he stormed over to the door reaching through the bars he grabbed her throat. Yanking her forward she moved her hand in the way cushioning her head, reaching through the bars she grabbed him and slammed him into the bars knocking him out as she unlocked the door, walking out she looked down at the body
"Shame you seem to be quite the soldier." Leone commented as she reached down and snapped his neck, straightening her back she walked over to the locker they put her clothes in and dressed herself, she then walked out into the hallway, looking left she saw no one, looking right she saw also no one... man, security in this place sucked. Hopping up into the rafters Leone began to sneak towards the throne room.
(o)
Looking up at the gates Yang smiled
"Hello~" she sung happily as she walked up to the large wooden gate, a woman leaned out from the entrance and looked her up and down
"Hi... do you... have business here?" she asked awkwardly it was clear she wasn't used to talking to people
"Yeah, I need to see Raven." Yang answered crossing her arms "I've traveled quite the distance to um... whats the word... find? You guys." Yang said it was clear that she was having difficultly with that too if her awkward smile was anything to go off of
"Well... um... Raven isn't... here right now..." she said earning a nod from Yang as she activated her gauntlets
"Doesn't matter." Yang said in a sweet tone her smile seemed to transform from awkward to sadistic in an instant, the woman seemed to be shaken up by this experience as she backed away leaving the gate open, Yang sighed and walked into the place, looking around she couldn't help but feel that she was being watched by someone who was an actual threat, the rest of the fools here just seemed to watch her then go back to what they were doing, most were training for what seemed to be the first time in years, their instructor was a young woman with short brown hair and blue eyes, when their gazes met she seemed to freeze for a second before returning to her students, reaching the head of the camp she looked around, the raven sitting on the roof of the large tent at the front looked familiar to her though
"So... are you going to sit up there and stare at me, or are we gonna talk like adults?" Yang called causing the raven to drop as it neared the ground it quickly transformed into a woman with long black hair, she had red spiked bracers going up to her elbows and a large Katana on her hip "Well... isn't this nice. I spent years of my life searching for you but all it took was the greatest general in Atlas to help me find you." Yang said coldly as she crossed her arms, she was happy to watch as Raven twitched at the mention of Atlas
"Yang... it's... good to see you." Raven commented causing Yang to roll her eyes
"I'm sure it is. You've kept an eye on me for years, and I appreciate that." Yang said, she was being genuine "But there are things that I want to know."
"I'm sure there is much for you to want to hear, or what you want to know... but first I want to know why you're here."
"I'm here to use you to get to Qrow. But I'm not one to leave without asking or answering questions." Yang answered causing Raven to look a little hurt but it was quickly concealed
"So... what would you like to know." Raven asked a hint of anger in her voice
"Firstly, why did you leave me and dad?" Yang asked looking at the few people that were watching them
"I... offered for you and Tai to come with me." Raven answered as she gestured for Yang to walk with her, they began to walk around the camp, it was mostly full of people working or training, not too dissimilar to what Esdeath taught her life in her tribe was like, but something felt wrong, it was different in one way.
"Really... and he declined."
"Actually he said that once you graduated he would tell you everything... but I guess you never got there." Raven commented earning a nod from Yang
"Yeah..."
"So... what happened in Atlas?" Raven asked she didn't know how to show that she cared other than this
"Esdeath began to train me it was harsh at first. For the first few weeks she had William give me horrific nightmares... but they all strengthened me to the person that I am now." Yang answered with a disgusted look in her eyes, every time she thought about the beginnings of her training it infuriated her, the disgusting weakness that she had back then, the stupid fear that she would never be good enough, the fear of that filthy animal that cut off her arm
"I..." Raven stuttered "You'll... become more than just those fears." Raven finally said, she clearly had more to say but she didn't want to seem weak, Yang was clearly furious about this turn of events, looking around she realized why this place only kind of reminded her of what Esdeath told her
"You know something I've learned from master Esdeath... why this place doesn't feel right. It's all a show. It's all a sham. It is nothing. All the people here aren't strong, just scared. They don't know who or what they are so they hide away out in the woods." Yang said clearly she felt strongly about this, but it also seemed like she was reading from a script "Why the hell are you leading a place like this?! I thought you were strong!"
"These are my people." Raven answered glaring at her daughter "You could be among them-" Raven began with her lies but was quickly interrupted by Yang
"I'd rather die." Yang said "All you have to do is bow to master Esdeath and she would gladly help you." Yang added earning a scoff from Raven
"That's ridiculous, you have no idea what Esdeath would do to me, if I were to do that she... would..."
"So you have considered it." Yang commented earning a sigh from Raven
"No, that would would kill me, and I am not going to bow to that freak." Raven said earning a nod from Yang
"Of course she's the freak, you are wearing a bone mask... who is the real freak?" Yang countered earning a growl from her mother
"If I wanted to have a battle of wits I would have gone to Qrow-"
"Oh good, two birds with one stone." Yang followed up with a grin, that earned a growl from Raven
"That wasn't funny." Raven said in a cold tone to counter Yangs' warm one
"It was pretty funny." Yang countered as they made their way towards the tent at the center of camp again, Raven stormed up to the tent
"Now then I think it's time for you to leave." Raven commented coldly
"I'll be on my way as soon as you open a portal to Qrow." Yang happily said causing Raven to freeze just before entering the tent
"You come into my camp. Insult me, then you demand me to give you-" Raven began to angrily vent
"You can either open a portal for me, or I can deliver the video that your former raiding party wanted me to deliver." Yang said quietly earning a raised eyebrow from Raven "Oh... you didn't know? I guess you ran away before the offer was given, your 'soldiers' weren't too happy about that." Yang added with a massive grin on her face
"Get. Out. Of my camp." Raven ordered opening a portal "You should be glad that I am being merciful." Raven added her eyes burning with anger
"Hahaha..." Yang laughed as she walked to the portal "Good luck with that, I'll be sure to leave you alive for master Esdeath." Yang added as she stepped through the portal
(o)
Qrow looked over his shoulder at the portal soon after Yang exited the portal, she looked paler her outfit was that of the Atlas Heer but in black and white... it looked
"Is she making you dress like her beasts?" Qrow asked earning a sigh from Yang as she leaned next to him
"It is the only other pair of clothes that I brought." Yang said "And yes, any of her beast must dress to distinguis-"
"Yeah, Liver gave me that spiel already, didn't buy it then and I wont buy it now."
"Did you know I was coming?" Yang asked looking at him in surprise
"It wasn't hard to figure out, Esdeath learned how to freeze time itself because Tatsumi got away from her, she cant really learn much else after that so I figured she probably send a few million soldiers to make sure Ruby doesn't sneeze the wrong way."
"I wouldn't say that, she probably has something else up her sleeve." Yang said with a shrug, Qrow sighed as he began to walk away
"Come on, I don't wanna think about that. Besides I'm sure Ruby would be glad to see you." Qrow added as Yang walked after him
"I think I should apologize for-"
"If you 'think' you have to apologize, you aren't sorry." Qrow cut off coldly "I know you were just trying to settle things between us... but the only thing that'll end our hatred is battling it out to the end." Qrow said earning a nod from Yang
"She'll kill you though." Yang said trying to bring reason to him
"Probably, but we have a score than sorely needs settling." Qrow waved off as they walked
(o)
Leone crawled along the rafters above the throne leaning out she watched as a man entered the room, he had red hair and black clothing, the blade on his hip seemed to be a normal katana but the sheath looked abnormal, it was probably a gun, everything around here was
"High leader Khan." he greeted with a smile "We have a lot to discuss." he added, Sienna for her credit looked calm, with the exception of chains rapped up one of her arms
"I'm sure we do, Adam... firstly I want to know why the HELL YOU AND YOUR MEN WERE INVOLVED WITH THE FALL OF BEACON!" she shouted, she then sighed and closed her eyes for a few seconds to regain her composure "Look, just because we use fear to get what we want doesn't mean we should destroy such valuable objects. With the destruction of the tower communications between sects has ground to a halt, and whats worse is human hunter groups have reformed."
"That's fine, we can use the fear that they instill to reunite our people!" he countered with quite the vigor in his voice "But I have found an amazing truth, one that you need to know about, before we continue forward." he said with a smile "Firstly I must ask; what is your favorite fairy tale?"
(o)
Leone was so bored, this guy had gone on and on about maidens, vaults, and relics, she didn't care in the slightest, and it appeared Sienna didn't care either, considering she was rubbing her eyes
"Adam I cant believe that you would come up with such a... stupid story." Sienna said causing the man to clench his fist
"That's not the reason why I am here anyways, it was for him." he added as the door behind them opened and in walked a tall, burly man, he had tan skin and brown hair, from what she could see the man was a tank
"What is the meaning of this?" Sienna questioned looking at the man "You brought a human here!? What is wrong with you!?"
"High leader Sienna Khan." he greeted as he knelt before her "My name is Hazel and I bring an offer from my master, she wants an alliance, we want to see Haven academy indisposed." he said earning a hum from Leone, she watched Adam as he quietly drew his blade, hugging onto the rafter she was on she swung onto the bottom of the platform and placed her feet on it, then kicked off slamming into Adam sending him flying into a pillar, Hazel stood and clenched his fists
"Hi, I was imprisoned... um... I have nothing cool to say here." she said to him earning a sigh from Sienna
"My... hero..." she commented dryly "Now I think it's time we left."
"STOP THEM!" Adam shouted, the soldiers behind Sienna prepared to attack but a chain whip swung out knocked the weapons from their hands, Adam rushed Sienna and brought up his sword "TRAITOR!" Roared from his mouth as he brought down the blade, stepping out of the way Sienna leapt away her eyes quickly darting to the large man, he didn't move to attack but he did stand defensively, Sienna darted away from another strike from Adam while he was recovering Leone slammed her boot into his jaw caught his wrist and threw him into the throne shattering it, she then followed after Sienna
"Thanks for not fighting us!" Leone said with a wave as she ran past Hazel
"WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THEM!?" Adam shouted as he stood, Hazel turned to him
"I was only told to speak with Sienna, not kill her, besides you can now assume control of the fang." he reasoned earning a sigh from Adam
"It'll take a little convincing but I can get many to agree with my assumption of power." he thought out loud as he sat on the broken throne
"See to it that Haven tower is destroyed and a bright future for your people will be yours." Hazel ordered as he walked towards the door
(o)
Sienna looked over her shoulder at the loyalists she had gathered, Leone was among them
"Thank you for the help." Sienna said gesturing for Leone to join her
"High leader, why are we trusting this... human?" a voice came from the crowd, it was one of the many loyal soldiers that followed their commanders, he wasn't in the loop
"This young woman grew up among our people, she is a faunus at heart even if she doesn't have a tail or ears."
"I used to have both." Leone grumbled to herself
"I'm sorry? I thought you weren't a faunus."
"I'm not, and I wasn't... its a long story... I'll tell you later." Leone vaguely explained placing her hands on her belt, she tried to get one that looked similar to Lionelle but it didn't have the same comfortable feel that Lionelle had
"Okay, now we to find somewhere to go... I have a few ideas, but I wanna run them by my contacts first." Sienna said as they made their way towards the city of Mistral
"High Leader, we should split up in case they send trackers." one of the captains said running up next to them
"Good idea, we'll regroup in the forest outside of the south-eastern gate." Sienna said earning a salute from the man who ran over to the other and began calling orders Sienna pulled Leone off to the said and whispered
"So whats this about having a tail and ears?"
"Well back home, before Menagerie, I had a powerful item called a Teigu, it was a belt that gave me claws, cat ears, and a tail, as well as a powerful healing factor." she said proudly "It was called The King Of Beasts Transformation: Lionelle or Lionelle for short, or Lionel for shorter. I miss that thing... anyways I ended up dying after it broke, now I'm here." Leone answered
"You know, I thought what Adam said about the maidens was the craziest thing I'd have heard today. Thank you for proving that wrong." Sienna commented earning a laugh from Leone
"Yeah... I made some stupid mistakes in my final moments that I sorely regret, I came all the way here because I need to fix that." Leone said earning a laugh from Sienna
"Well if you ever need my help, or you hear any movements from the White Fang, please contact me."
"Well they are going after Haven... so keep an eye around there, I'll see if I can hear anything in the underground, sorry I broke your faction... by the way."
"No worries, it has begun to crumble into corruption anyways... there was already a need for a purge."
"Well... be careful with corruption, it's a horrible disease." Leone warned earning a nod from Sienna
"I understand, good luck with whatever you came here to do. But I do know someone who could help." Sienna said as he took a sheet of paper from her pocket and wrote something on it with a pen she also had
"Why do you have pen and paper on you?"
"To cash in favors." she answered "And this is a small amount of my debt repaid to you."
"Cool, I'll see about finding something to get the rest of your debt payed off." Leone said as she took the note and began to walk towards the city
"Good idea, hope to hear from you soon." Sienna called after her as she took off towards the rendezvous point, Leone sighed as she began the trek towards Mistral
(o)
"I'm back!" Qrow called as he pushed the door open
"Welcome back!" Rubys voice called back that caused Yang to freeze, for one reason or another it felt... wrong
"I brought someone I think you'd wanna see Ruby." Qrow added as he walked towards the kitchen before he was able to reach the doorway Ruby leaned out as soon as she saw Yang her eyes widened for a second, she then walked out letting Qrow pass her
"Hello Yang." Ruby greeted Yang dropped to one knee and bowed her head
"I apologize for making you wait for so long. I'm sorry. I am so sorry." Yang apologized earning a raised eyebrow from Ruby
"Don't apologize." said waving her hands in front of her
"But I should... I..." Yangs' eye twitched as she prostrated her self in front of her sister
"It's all my fault for leaving you alone with no one to serve you and-"
"YANG ENOUGH!" Ruby shouted causing Yang to immediately look up at her "I had Jaune, Nora, and Ren, you had something else to do at that point." Ruby waved off "Now stand up... are you paler?"
"There's not much sun in Atlas." Yang said with a bow she then jumped up and drew her scroll "Hold on a second." she then pressed a few buttons then held the scroll out to Ruby "Master Esdeath wanted me to deliver this to you."
"'Master' is it?" Ruby asked earning a nod from Yang
"Of course, I obey you and her." Yang said with a bow, she then drew her own scroll and pressed a few buttons
(o)
Weiss drew her scroll and looked at the map that popped up the red light showed where she was suppose to go, Yang seemed to finally arrived, she had been keeping a low profile but she was pretty sure that she saw Akame once or twice around the Shadowlight.
"Well it looks like I'm on my way." she commented walking towards the location on the map
A/N Chapter 3 done, I am happy! And this has been quite a fun time, I can continue this for quite some time, and if you are reading this one and are also watching for 'A Warriors' reward' I'll be trying to get it out bi-weekly, until the point where this volume ends.