So, how many of you guys and gals have watched the Rise of Skywalker? What are your thoughts on it? Because I just saw it recently and I have to say I'm feeling pretty mixed about how it all played out. Personally, I find it neither good nor bad. It did get better towards the end, but even then that was a mixed bag.
However, had the movie been just a half hour longer, I think it could've been something truly good since it felt like they were getting from plot point A to plot point B and so on and so forth way too quickly for its own good.
So, again what are your thoughts on it all? I'm really interested to know.
Now, on another note, I've been keeping up with RWBY volume 7 via Murderofbirds' reaction vids. I have to say, it's still going strong, surprisingly to me. I do have some points of contention, but eh, that's nothing new when it concerns RWBY. Granted, there's always something to contest with anything, it's just a bit more noticeable with RWBY.
Anyways, getting off track there. In recent episodes, there's been a bit of info revealed that honestly lined up quite well with some stuff I'd already had planned regarding the backgrounds of certain characters. By no means is it a perfect alignment or anything, but it does give me a few ideas on how to better work it into this fic smoothly, so there's that! I hope that the results will pay off when I get to them.
With that said, let's not waste anymore time – onto the chapter!
Oh, and belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!
Chapter 28
As much as he likes to bitch about his semblance – and with damn good reason, he should add – Qrow was actually thankful for it to an extent.
The thing about everything being able to go wrong at literally any instant around him meant he's had to really train his reflexes to make sure he would be able to respond just as quickly to the change. And he's had a lifetime of practice.
Thus, when his attempts to flirt with the cute waitress – successfully at that too, he wanted to stress – were suddenly interrupted by someone leaping from the lower floor up here, swinging some dangerous looking blades at him, Qrow was able to respond on pure instinct.
In one swift motion, the scythe user shoved the waitress to the side while simultaneously kicking his table right at the attacker. The table slammed into the attacker with a heavy thud, but not because it had actually struck the man but rather the guy had suddenly spun around at the last second and landed feet first on it.
The man, tall and lean and with one hell of a crazy expression on his face, kicked off the table and landed on the wall across the ways, hanging a dozen or so feet above the bar's entrance. Rather than try and leap again, the man laughed in delight before just raising his right arm – where two barrels popped out from underneath the straps that held his circular blades in place.
"Go! Evacuate!" Qrow yelled in urgency, not just at the waitress but at everyone in the bar in general as he drew his blade to deflect the initial burst of gunfire.
The man cackled and simply switched targets, which got a curse muttered out of Qrow who quickly dashed towards the now fleeing waitress to swat aside the bullets that would've struck her otherwise. After deflecting more than a dozen shots, Qrow immediately activate his weapon's gun function and fired two shots at the man.
But the man now jumped high and landed on the second floor's ledge, which then suddenly broke under his weight. The man, tall as he was, was lightly built and thus there's no way his weight could've caused that to happen. It'd instead been the result of Qrow's semblance which he tried to capitalize on by firing several more times.
However, the man recovered with grace, rolling forward in such a way that the tail ends of his brown coat flapped about, obscuring parts of his body. The only thing Qrow's shots accomplished was blasting off entire parts of the ledge and the flooring near it.
The man licked his lips upon landing and blitzed towards Qrow, smashing aside all the other tables up here that were in between the two of them, obscuring Qrow's view even further.
But Qrow didn't let this stop him. The guy was undoubtedly going to try and just slice through the table just to get to him. He wasn't about to let that happen. He took one smooth step forward and swung his blade down, cleanly slicing through the thick table and hearing a clang as his weapon ended up clashing with the man's.
Only for it to turn out that the man had in turn seen his action coming for he'd already been pivoting, Qrow's sword only cutting into the edge of the man's blades on his left arm.
The man swung his right arm towards Qrow's neck and if not for his reflexes kicking in instinctively at that instant to dodge, Qrow was sure that he would've died right then and there. Aura can only do so much to protect vital spots from actual injury, after all.
His assailant was undeterred though and just kept on spinning about, taking advantage of his lanky frame and small weapons to launch a seemingly endless stream of attacks in rapid succession.
"Shit, you're a quick bastard…" Qrow mumbled as he dodged back, freeing up just enough space each time to make use of his large blade. Unfortunately, the waitress was still scrambling away from all this. It's not that she froze up or anything, it's just that compared to even huntsmen trainees, civilians might as well be moving in slow motion. With this in mind, he couldn't let himself get pushed back any further.
Deflecting yet another blow with the portion of his blade that hung just a bit past where it was connected to the hilt, Qrow grunted in exertion as he suddenly barreled forward into the attacker, just as the man had been about to pivot around to his other side. This resulted in the man, caught off guard, being forced to block his sword with both of his own weapons.
In terms of pure brute strength, Qrow felt they were pretty much equal, but he had the advantage of having a larger and heavier weapon plus some leverage. Thus, he was able to quickly force the guy's knees to buckle just a little bit and for the guy's crazed expression to now be replaced with one of genuine effort.
"Not so fun once you're on the losing end, huh?" Qrow quipped with a bit of a smirk before trying to kick in the side of the guy's left knee to bring him down – only for the guy to then return the smirk with one of his own before kicking out with his right foot right into Qrow's crotch.
The huntsman let out a less than manly wheeze at that and felt his strength buckle for a split second, which was more than enough time for the guy to push him back hard and land a cut on his left shoulder. Thankfully, the attack had been a light one and his aura had stayed strong in the face of it, thus he suffered no injury.
Still, it hurt like a bitch for it had slightly struck his collarbone and it had only added to the pain of being kicked in the family jewels. He was still able to get in the literal swing of things, however, for the man backed off and opened fire again, which Qrow raised his blade to guard against while trying to close the growing gap between them.
He suddenly started to spin around several times rapidly, building up a lot of momentum that he then put to use by leaping and swinging his blade down, hoping to catch the man's side. Instead, the man dodged and Qrow's attacked ended up cutting into the flooring… and in turn bringing down the entire second floor.
Damned semblance. He hadn't even swung widely enough for that to happen!
In any case, the floor fell apart and they both lost their footing, the obvious result of such an action. This still didn't stop the attacker from kicking off a large piece of falling debris fast enough to land a cut along Qrow's side. However, in Qrow in turn had been able to smash the butt of his weapon's hilt into the man's back, sending him careening in mid-jump.
The two of them ended up crashing into the first floor hard and all the rubble falling all around and on top of them didn't exactly help. For added insult to injury, courtesy of his semblance, when he sliced through a piece of debris the size of his weapon, a much smaller piece of debris ended up slamming against the side of his head somehow.
For a split second, he saw stars due to the unexpectedness of this and that gave the attacker yet another chance to charge at him – only for him to trip over an equally small piece of debris that had landed in front of his feet, causing him to stumble wildly for a second.
Qrow allowed himself a small smile. At least his semblance didn't play favorites. He capitalized on this chance by slicing horizontally at the man's torso. The hit connected and clearly took off a solid chunk of the guy's aura in addition to sending him flying through the bar itself nearby. Thankfully, by now everyone had evacuated including that cute waitress, meaning he no longer had to worry much about civilian casualties.
Still… he couldn't let this fight drag on too much. Whoever this guy is, he's pretty damn good. Not many people he's met could so quickly adapt to the changes his semblance can bring about.
He was going to have to beat him down as quickly as possible.
Switching his weapon to its bully gun form, he took aim and fired at the man just as he started to get back up, infusing the shots with some aura. Thus, even though the man had blocked with both arms, the sheer force behind the shots ended up blowing him well through the wall and outside the bar itself.
Even as he went tumbling back, however, the man was still able to take aim and return fire, slowing Qrow's charge. Even so, Qrow persisted and simply stayed behind his large blade as much as he could to avoid being struck. Then, when it seemed like the distance between them had shrunk enough, he suddenly swung his blade upwards.
The man had dodged with a dark giggle, however, and landed a solid kick to Qrow's ribs that threw him off balance, only to then reach out with one hand to tug on his cape and pull him in for a slice with his free hand.
At this range, one would think using his sword to block would be impossible, but Qrow proved all these thinkers wrong by raising his sword's hilt up high enough to crash right into the man's blade, stopping the attack in place. Qrow then let go of his own weapon to grab the guy by the scruff of his coat and hold him in place long enough to land a solid punch to the armpit of the attacking arm.
The man let out a cry at that but didn't slow down enough for Qrow to follow up with another attack. Rather than try to give chase again, however, Qrow just picked up his weapon and held it defensively as he glared at the man, who was also just standing where he now was.
"Alright, pal. What gives? I owe you money or something? Can't say this would be the first time someone's gone this far to make me cough up however much lien I owe." This was all just a joke, of course. There were plenty of people out there that had no trouble picking fights with huntsmen, but this didn't feel like that was the case.
Sure enough, the man cackled as if he'd just heard a really dumb joke. "Money? Oh come now, surely you're not trying to tell a joke that poor… Qrow Branwen."
Qrow narrowed his eyes. So, this guy knew of him. Okay then, so that rules out quite a few possibilities… that said, why did this guy also look a little familiar? He sure doesn't recall ever meeting him before; he'd remember meeting someone that looks this nuts.
"If you don't want to hear poor jokes, then help me out a little here – just who are you? Why start a fight?" Qrow questioned as he now slowly began to move away from the bar. Additionally, he started to try and stretch out his senses; there was no way to know just yet if this guy was alone or not.
"My name is Tyrian," the man introduced himself with a surprisingly smooth bow, the gentlemanly action contrasting with his obvious craziness. Sure enough, as if to prove how big a contrast there was here, the man then grinned sinisterly. "And as for my purpose, why, is it not a basic tactic to remove the opposing side's pawns?"
At that, Qrow quietly hissed. The whole chess motif thing has often been used for many things… but in his personal experience, it's always been used to describe the hidden war that he was a part of.
The war against the queen, Salem.
"So… you're one of hers, huh…?" he murmured. "…You're here for Raven, aren't you?"
"Indeed," Tyrian – shit, Qrow suddenly realized, wasn't he a serial killer that Atlas had caught years back? – admitted. "Her grace has bequeathed unto me the task of retrieving the Spring Maiden. Your former tribe, now headed by that sister of yours, seems like the only bunch the young Maiden could have possibly ran off to all those years ago. And now the time has come to bring her back in."
"Oddly nice of you to tell me all that," Qrow quipped, preparing to attack now. Now that he knew for sure this guy was working for Salem, he definitely couldn't let him run off.
Tyrian chuckled. "Again, it should've been clear to you from the start that this was no simple ambush. As much of a lush as you are, you're the pathetic wizard's right-hand pawn for a reason." The man now assumed a crouched stance, arms hanging loosely at his side, ready to attack. "Now, I believe we've wasted enough time talking, yes? It's not as if you knowing my purpose or name will make a difference, after all, heh!"
Qrow grimaced in respond to Tyrian's arrogance. "Bring it, you-."
Tyrian pounced before Qrow could even finish his comeback. How rude. But the huntsman had seen it coming and thus wasn't caught off guard, swinging his blade just as he pounced, swatting him away as if he were a really large fly.
But Tyrian gracefully flipped back and landed on his feet before rushing in for yet another attack. He crouched a little low and threw a punch, but thanks to the blades attached to his wrist, the attack was obviously a lot more dangerous than just a simple punch.
Qrow deflected it with the side of his sword – only for a scorpion tail to suddenly spring forth from under Tyrian's coat and wrapped itself around his wrist. It squeezed hard enough to make him involuntarily loosen his grip on his blade, the appendage pressing down on the nerves there. Then it just as quickly uncoiled itself and snatched his blade out of his hand and flung it far behind Tyrian.
"Damn it!" Qrow muttered as Tyrian then went in for a stab with his tail. He'd forgotten that it'd been mentioned the man was a Faunus in the report done on him. He dodged to the side to avoid the stinger, but Tyrian's tail proved remarkably dexterous and it practically followed after him, forcing him to leap back a few extra feet to really avoid being stung.
Tyrian took this in stride though and simply took several smooth steps forward, swinging his blades in conjunction with his tail lashing out. Combined with how fast he is, Qrow ended up unable to dodge every strike and had to settle for using the back of his own hands to deflect the blades, reinforcing said limbs with aura so that they didn't get too harmed from the continuous blocking. Just about the only thing he made a point to dodge at all costs was the tail; no telling what kind of lethal venom was in that sucker.
Tyrian cackled like a loon as he saw him struggle and Qrow so very badly wanted to punch his teeth out. Instead though, the huntsman leapt back and Tyrian followed, lashing out with his stinger. Qrow smirked as he twisted to the right and watched as his enemy's stinger ended up impaling a tree – and would you look at that? The stinger got stuck.
"Hmm?!" Tyrian now gritted his teeth as he tried to free his appendage, which he did do after a mighty tug, but not in time for Qrow to punish him for his lapse in concentration. Qrow went up and punched the crazy bastard right in the side of the jaw, then followed it up with an uppercut that sent the guy flying.
While airborne, Qrow made a dash for his sword and made it in just the nick of time – Tyrian had latched his flexible stinger around the thick branch of a tree nearby to halt his flight. Not only that, but the man had used the momentum to throw himself right at Qrow, who managed to get his sword up to block the incoming lunge. Even then, the force of the lunge lifted him right off his feet and the two of them went sailing through the building near the bar, smashing all the way through it. Thankfully, the commotion they'd made at the bar had attracted a lot of attention, for this place – a shop of some kind – had been deserted by the time they ended up bringing it down.
Tyrian leapt off him as the building they smashed through collapsed and Qrow took a short swing at him as he did so, hoping to strike him. He missed by an inch at most but proceeded to simply switch to his weapon's gun form and open fire again, this time without enhancing his shots with aura.
However, Tyrian this time used aura to enhance to his own firepower and his paltry little rounds thus ended up colliding with and piercing right through the much heavier rounds Qrow uses. The huntsman thus had no choice to but to swat these bullets aside himself.
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face after doing so, not from exhaustion but from nerves. He could keep this up for the next hour or so and it was clear that so can Tyrian. However, if this does keep on going, the rest of this little town is going to be put at serious risk. He could try and lead the man away from the town itself, but Tyrian was a well-known psychopath. And yeah, sure, that words gets thrown around a lot, but it just matched the crazed Faunus all too well – he's kidnapped, tortured, and killed plenty of people in the past and all for no other reason than sheer bloodthirst and a severe lack of self-control and empathy. If he left him alone for even a minute, there was just no telling what the man may try.
And judging by the truly smug grin on the Faunus' face, it seemed that Tyrian was well aware of this too. "What ever will you do, Branwen?" he mocked. "Now that we've come this far, there's no reason for either of us to simply stop. And if you even think of trying to take this elsewhere, why, I've no reason to follow. Killing you would surely please her grace, but you now know that's not my main goal."
"Fair enough…" Qrow found himself muttering. "But can you really think 'your grace' is gonna be happy with you raising such a fuss here? Isn't her whole thing operating from the shadows and all that?"
"We were going to make ourselves known sooner or later," Tyrian admitted with a shrug. "But… I suppose you've a point."
Qrow quirked an eyebrow. Did he really just get a lunatic like Tyrian to agree to something? Maybe his semblance wasn't just a bad luck generator, after al-.
"So," Tyrian continued, his yellow eyes now turning a dangerous purple as he readied his stinger. "I'll just have to end this quickly."
His stinger was raised high, ready to strike. But with the distance between them, unless he was about to do a running leap, there was no way it was going to hit him. So just why was it raised so high like that, Qrow wondered?
Then to his surprise, the stinger started to slowly and rather dramatically inch towards Tyrian himself-.
Only for the man to suddenly draw his stinger back and for him to also leap out of the way when a wave of veritable flames nearly cut into him.
Tyrian ended up landing on top of a pole nearby and he glared at a spot near his previous position. A position where a woman now emerged from a portal that definitely hadn't been there before.
Qrow's feelings upon seeing the woman in all too familiar garb were quite mixed to say the least. Nonetheless, he greeted the newcomer.
"Raven," he drawled out, though inwardly thankful for the save. "Took your sweet time to back up your dear bro here."
Though his twin was wearing that annoying Grimm mask of hers, he could practically see her rolling her eyes underneath it. "As if you really needed it."
Shit, did Raven just compliment him? The world must be turning upside down right now.
"Oooohhh~" Tyrian let out a long little sound as he recognized Raven. "My, my. I didn't expect to attract my prey to me like this."
"Prey? I think you got that backwards," Raven retorted as she sheathed her blade in that nifty Dust scabbard of hers, switching out the fire blade for a different one. "You're strong. I can tell… but do you really think you can take both of us?"
Tyrian's eyes, still purple, narrowed dangerously. However, that the man didn't have an immediate reply ready was telling to what he seemed to be thinking. Sure enough, the man let out a thoughtful hum before leaping away to a different rooftop and then to another rooftop from there on.
He was retreating.
"Coward," Raven all but spat as she slowly released her grip on her sword's hilt.
Qrow sighed as he slowly sheathed his own weapon. "Still going on about that whole 'survival of the fittest' thing, huh? You can't tell that he's just going to try again later?"
There's no way that the two of them scared off Tyrian. Even ignoring his bloodthirst, the guy is under Salem's control. No way he could afford to just run with his tail between his legs.
"And he can try to track us down and fight all he wants – he'll just be coming to his death," Raven replied as she took off her mask. "So, what brings you out here near my neck of the woods."
Her neck of the woods, eh? Looks like he'd been right – Higanbana here had been pretty close to where the tribe was currently set up at, close enough that the sounds of battle just now had carried out far enough for her to be alerted to it. That meant that this place would've been the tribe's very next target if he and Tyrian hadn't just fought it out…
Maybe that bastard attacking him actually had been a good thing in hindsight – if nothing else, with the whole town now on high alert, raiding it wouldn't be as easy a thing for the tribe to do, even when no accounting for how strong Raven is.
"Well, to answer that question," Qrow began neutrally, only to pause when he heard people cautiously yet loudly approaching the ruined bar and shop. Realizing that if he didn't leave right now that he might end up being stuck paying for all the damage done – something that's happened to him more times than he'd like to count – the huntsman turned to his twin with just a tiny bit of panic in his eyes. "How about I answer that somewhere else? Literally anywhere else."
Raven stared at him flatly. "You really never do change, Qrow," she quipped. Nonetheless, she opened up a portal – presumably back to her base – and motioned for him to follow after her.
Qrow will deny scampering after her like the devil was on his heels.
At least he'd managed to complete the first part of his objective, he silently noted as he entered the portal. Now to just hope and see he could talk Raven into this.
"No." That was the only word Raven could bring herself to say as soon as her brother had asked her about the Spring Maiden.
The look on Qrow's face in response to her one-word answer would've been priceless if under different circumstances.
"Raven, did you not just hear a single word I said?" he asked.
The two of them had returned to back to base – well, her base, that is. Currently, they were within her tent while the rest of her tribe lingered around outside. Aside from herself and Qrow was her most trusted subordinate, Vernal.
And said subordinate was glaring harshly at her brother. "Oh screw off, you punk," Vernal said. "You're the one who doesn't seem to understand what the situation is."
Qrow glanced at Vernal, utterly unimpressed. "I can't believe you actually told this shrimp about Salem…" he said before sighing.
Vernal bristled but managed to keep cool for the most part.
As for Raven herself, the woman just snorted. "Unlike Ozpin, I at least like to make sure some of my closer subordinates are more aware of the world's circumstances. And besides… them knowing doesn't change the fact that we're remaining neutral in this ridiculous war of theirs."
"I can tell," Qrow quipped. "But while having you join us again would be nice and all, I'm really just here for the Spring Maiden. Come on, Raven. At least let me speak to the girl."
"So you can try and miserably sweet talk her into risking her life again? Again, the answer is no," Raven retorted. "I know you don't care much for the tribe anymore, but at least with us, she's learned to become strong and independent… unlike you and how you've been so whipped into being Ozpin's lapdog."
This was partially a lie – what she was saying about the Spring Maiden, that is. Sadly, the poor girl had been unsuited for fighting and killing in general… and her power as a Maiden, which only invited battle, had been wearing down her very body and soul. While Raven herself had rather pitied the girl, she hadn't let said pity stop her from ultimately doing what was needed to further protect her tribe.
Alas, she couldn't let Qrow and by extension Ozpin and his inner circle find out about that. While she hardly feared their judgement, having them potentially try and take the new Spring Maiden by force is not something she could afford. Sure, Vernal here was to serve as her stand-in as said Maiden, but if push came to shove, Qrow and the others would see through that ruse all quickly.
Now, without said Maiden power, she and her brother were equals in prowess. With said power, she naturally held the advantage. But to blow her cover and use it would be like sending out a Beacon to less than savory people like Salem to come and attack and that she couldn't risk.
Thus, she had to keep up the ruse that the girl was still alive and merely being kept hidden by the tribe.
"That's rich coming from you," Qrow immediately responded. "You upped and ran not only from the fight against Salem, but from Tai and Yang too. For someone so strong in body, your spirit is weak as shit, sis."
Raven felt her own eyes narrow dangerously. Beside her, Vernal looked ready to pounce. However, after a few seconds, Raven took a breath and motioned for Vernal to settle down. "I fled because I could no longer see the point in fighting. Salem and Ozpin have been carrying out this secret war for who knows how many centuries. You really think that this battle between them can be finished within our own lifetimes, Qrow? And as for Tai and Yang… that's none of your business."
"I'm nowhere near a big enough optimist to say we can win this war," Qrow responded as he folded his arms over his chest. "But you know something? As much as I may hate this tribe now, if there's one thing it's taught me that I've always abided by, it's to not go down without a fight. Honestly, I don't expect to see Salem die or whatever within the next decade or however long it'll take. But after growing up among thieves and killers, having something genuinely worth fighting for isn't something I'm going to just throw away now. And as for Tai and Yang, they're family, so damn right it's my business."
Then, Qrow sighed again, looking just a little tired. "…But now's not the time to be talking shit about each other," he murmured after a long minute. "Raven, at least try to consider things from a new point of view. Think of it this way – if Salem does achieve whatever her goals are, you really think you and the tribe are going to be allowed to keep on living as you do right now? Now, yeah, it's not as if she's going to immediately smoke you guys out and make you into kebab for the Grimm to have, but if she does win, it's going to happen eventually."
"And should that day come, we'll give it all we've got," Raven answered. "Like you just said, we're not going to die without a fight."
"Okay… fine. But do you really think you and little miss gung-ho here are going to last that long against her forces if it came to that? Do you think that she'll just let you go down on your own terms? And again, you really think you can speak for the girl?" Qrow asked one question after another rapidly.
But Raven didn't falter. At least, not outwardly. He didn't know what she knew, she reasoned inwardly. And sure, she could enlighten him to the truth, but even then that wouldn't change the fact that Ozpin didn't tell Qrow in the first place showed just how insignificant a pawn he and the others were to that ancient man.
"And do you think serving under Ozpin is any better?" she asked in a quieter voice. "Salem may be bad, but he's just as bad too. He gave us two – just two bandits turned students at the time – his cursed magic and made us just start doing missions for him!"
"Missions that we chose to do with magic that we accepted in the first place," Qrow shot back now leaning forward in his seat. "Seriously, Raven?" He sounded to be in pure disbelief. "You make it sound like the ability to freely turn into birds and back to our original selves is a fucking blasphemy. And useful as it is, we've both seen semblances way crazier than that in action."
Raven's right eyebrow twitched. "Has he ever bothered telling you all that he's kept secret?"
Ah, that got a reaction out of him. It wasn't much, just a sudden quietness, but it was enough to make her feel a little better about all this. "No, he hasn't," Qrow admitted. "But come on, don't act as if we now don't do the same."
"But for different reasons and very different scales, brother," Raven responded in a cold tone. "As far as I know, us two nor anyone else we've ever met quite have as many secrets nor secrets as big as the ones he has."
Qrow's own right eyebrow twitched and he said nothing in response.
And so, for a solid minute, the twins settled for just glaring at one another, neither one backing down.
Then, at the same exact same time, both of them huffed almost childishly and looked away.
"This is getting us nowhere," Raven said as she stood up. "I'm honestly feeling tired now, so if there's nothing else, I'll be turning in early for the night."
"If you're expecting me to just take a hike back to Vale, then you're officially more optimistic than me," Qrow said, remaining seated.
Raven grimaced. "Fine then," she started. "Stay the night if you want, try and bullshit me into giving into your demands tomorrow morning or whatever… but you'll have to see to your own sources of shelter and comfort until then."
Qrow finally stood, smirking just a little. "Alright. I'll do just that then. Heh, just you watch, Rae," he said, calling her the shortened name he'd sometimes call her as kids. "I'll be pestering you out of bed and over breakfast just like old times."
"And I'll make sure to smack you upside the head each and every time you open your mouth… just like old times," she retorted, the smallest of smirks on her own face.
Qrow let out a quiet chuckle and turned to leave her tent.
But just as he was about to exit…
"Hey," Raven called out, making him stop in his tracks. "…It's good to see again, brother."
"…You too, sis." And with that quiet reply, Qrow took his leave.
Raven remained standing in place, however, until she knew her brother was well away from her tent. Once she was certain of this, she let out a breath she hadn't quite realized she'd been holding.
"So what do we do?" Vernal asked, now looking a little concerned. "You think him sticking around will be a problem?"
Indeed, if Qrow does stick around for tomorrow, then the odds of him figuring out that the girl he came for was dead and buried would only increase, which would again lead to the risks she'd pondered to herself just moments ago.
"Unfortunately, just kicking him out ourselves will only raise suspicions," she told her subordinate/stand-in. "And it won't stop him from just tracking us down again at the next opportunity."
"Then…" Vernal started as she hefted up her weapons. "Should we… kill him?"
Raven shot her a blank expression before replying. "No. That would only eventually attract Ozpin's eyes once he realizes something has happened to him… and besides, even I'm not so cold-hearted as to kill my own brother."
Vernal nodded and put her weapons down. "Yeah, I kind of figured as much… but… and not to sound like a broken record here, just what do we do? I don't want to say your dick of a brother is right, but he did make some points about Salem."
Reluctant as she was to admit it, Raven had to agree. Regardless of what choice she'd made back then, the war against Salem would've gone on. And like her brother, she was hardly an optimist. There was no way to know if, had their choices been, they'd have made an actual difference.
And as for what he'd said about Tai and Yang…
Raven closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them.
"For now," she began. "Just leave him be. Tomorrow, we'll continue this little charade until it's time for us to pack up and move out. At that point, he'll have no choice but to head back – no way he can afford to pester us for that long, not when Ozpin will undoubtedly need him to do other things eventually."
Vernal raised an eyebrow. "Okay… sounds good. But what about Higanbana? We still plan to raid it?"
"No, we'll have to cancel that. After what just happened there, they'll be on high alert. I don't doubt that we can take the town without too much trouble, but Qrow will undoubtedly stick around as long as it'll take to make sure we don't go through with it. It's no longer worth the hassle."
Vernal sighs. "Well, that blows. Your bro has a real knack for taking the wind out of people's sails, doesn't he?"
Raven smiled a bit. "Vernal, that's his only notable trait too."
The two of them shared a laugh at Qrow's expense and proceeded to do so for the next several minutes.
The next day and elsewhere, Adam awoke early and alert. After swiftly changing into his usual outfit and adorning his infamous mask, he immediately made his way out of his personal tent and towards the command tent which was close by.
"What's the status on our new operation?" he immediately asked upon entering, having tasked several people with building up a certain profile to be utilized.
That being Blake's profile.
The girl had been on numerous missions during her time with the White Fang, both alongside him and with others and even by herself. After having made contact with those among the group that were more suited towards hacking and the like, he'd immediately had others go through the records they had on old missions and dig up the ones that Blake had been involved in.
The number of records was by no means a small amount and thus had taken a fair bit of time even with so many people working almost around the clock on it, but it'd proven quite rewarding as one by one, the team he'd put in charge of this endeavor would hold up a good sized stack of old mission reports that Blake had either written up herself or had been mentioned in.
Taking these stacks, he quickly sat down and started going through them, smirking in satisfaction upon seeing that all the parts about Blake's actions have been highlighted for his benefit.
Blake, skilled as she is, was hardly the most noteworthy or accomplished member of the White Fang, not by a long shot… but to the eyes of mere civilians, she would surely seem like a monster of some kind, much like how many humans out there already view Faunus. And combined with her father being the original founder of the White Fang, well… that certainly would paint a horrible image of her and Beacon for allowing her in.
At the thought of dragging a former friend's name through the mud, even if for a greater good in the end, Adam's smirk drooped into a frown. To also end up throwing Ghira's name under the bus was also putting a horrible taste in his mouth… but after the failed train operation, this was the only other thing they could do. After having come this far, it would only be a matter of time until Sienna hears of this and while she won't be able to outright shutdown his operations by force right off the bat, it will eventually happen in one form or another.
After everything he's done for Faunuskind and how much more must be done, he couldn't afford to let that happen. Thus, this in turn must be done.
"Mm, good. Excellent work," he said as he handed the folders back to one of the team members now standing before him. "You've the pictures as well?"
"Yes sir, we do," answered one of them, a woman with deer antlers. "We've old photos of Blake during our… our time just hanging out, enough to show her affiliation with us. And the undercover agents in Vale have managed to snap some pics of her too recently alongside that human team of hers…"
Adam nodded. "Then pour through all this and send the highlighted sections and the pictures to Vale's 'best reporter' – that Lisa Lavenders. And of course, make sure it's discreet. I don't want whatever electronic method is used to be tracked back to the White Fang in any way, understood?"
"Yes sir!" the woman said before snapping off a salute and taking her leave. The rest of the team followed suit for the most, save for one.
"Is this… sorry, sir, it's just… should we really be doing this?" the guy, young, probably around Blake's age, asked. Most of the others were quite eager to make the 'traitor' pay, but this one appeared to be one of the few not so willing to go through with this.
Understandable, really, it was. But Adam couldn't allow any form of dissent to fester. It was bad enough that he and his own forces were already essentially going rogue. To risk dissension among his own ranks would only lead to trouble later down the line if not addressed.
"…I don't wish to do this either," Adam began softly. "But it must be done. Blake may have once been a trusted friend and comrade, but she's made her opinion and choices quite clear by now. And our own options have long since been dwindling. If we don't deliver a message of some sort to Vale and the other kingdoms soon, then the White Fang will soon be viewed as a joke… and our goal of liberating our people will come to an end."
"…Sacrifices… sacrifices have to be made… don't they, sir?" the man asked, his hyena tail quivering slightly in response to his emotional state.
"Yes… yes, they do," Adam answered as he patted his shoulder. "At least with this… it can be said that Blake would have performed one final duty for the White Fang, if in a rather unique way. If nothing else, take solace in at least that much."
Indeed. For all intents and purpose, Adam was going to make Blake into a martyr of sorts, one with whose exposed past and eventual death would serve to show the kingdoms the might of the White Fang and the lengths they'll go to achieve what they want, be it liberation for Faunuskind… or dealing with 'traitors' to their cause.
The young man – no, boy, really – shakily nodded before excusing himself, leaving Adam to himself for the most part. And despite having gotten only minutes ago, the man ended up sighing and all but collapsing into the nearest chair.
It really did pain him to have to do this to a former comrade and friend of his, to say nothing of whatever repercussions there'd be for Ghira and Kali… but if nothing was done then nothing will ever get done.
…Well, at least when this gets done, presumably by tomorrow at the latest, Blake won't be able to just up and vanish her way out of this. She's done a lot of running her whole life but Adam highly doubted the girl would be able or willing to duck for cover from what was about to happen. And even if somehow whoever was clearly prying into their secrets managed to alert Blake of this in advance, well, it still wouldn't accomplish anything.
"So, just what will you do in response, Blake?" he muttered to himself as he leaned back in the chair a bit. "Will you finally stand your ground for good when we finally come for you?"
Blake was strong, of that there'd never been any doubt. But she was also far more uncertain and fragile than she'd probably ever admit to. After all, she had run away from them, abandoned the cause they'd all taken up…. and it wasn't as if they'd radicalized without knowing what the potential consequences would've been. So now the question is if Blake will end up breaking down from having her checkered past exposed… or if she'd find the strength needed to hold her head high.
Either way it wouldn't ultimately matter – the goal was to kill her at some point down the line anyways. But even then… as her former friend, Adam would probably be able to handle this just a bit more easily if Blake showed to him one final time the inner strength he knew she had.
…He'll have the answer to this question soon enough, he figured.
Until then, he could only bid his time and hone his blade even further. At the very least, he could grant her a quick death in the end.
Tyrian sat quietly and patiently within the particularly thick leaves a tree had on its branches. Having had to go on the run numerous times from authorities in his youth, he's become accustomed to surviving out in the wilds on little to nothing. Thus the rather misshapen branches he rested upon didn't bother him.
Not that he was even paying much attention to his current accommodations anyways – instead, he thought back to the encounter just earlier today.
His haphazard attack on Qrow Branwen had been a failure. However, said failure didn't bother him; he may not have been able to deprive that pathetic wizard of a pawn, but the fight had nonetheless proven to be a blessing in disguise. After all, it had drawn out Raven Branwen herself, who was for all intents and purposes his proxy target, given her association with the Spring Maiden.
That she'd shown up to her brother's aid meant that she must have been just near enough to hear the sounds of battle in the first place and deem it interesting enough to show up. This in turn meant that, unless she happened to be a habitual wanderer from her own unruly tribe, her base should be relatively nearby.
If he were to establish a large enough search area, then he should stumble across the bandit tribe's current location at some point. And that in turn meant the Spring Maiden was close by…
He laughed quietly at that thought. Indeed, he'd been most fortunate. He would even go as far as to call it a blessing from her grace herself.
It was decided then – he would continue his sweep until he found their base… and then, hold off on attacking it until some time tomorrow. While he was hardly tired from his fight with Qrow Branwen, he'd lost a fair amount of aura and so needed some time to fully recover it. And besides, as this was a holy mission given by the goddess herself, it wouldn't do to be at nothing but his very best for when he attacked the camp.
However, destroying the camp itself and slaying everyone there would be something he would have to give up on doing – as he currently is, combatting either Branwen would be within his ability to do. But to potentially fight both in addition to whatever riffraff try interfering? That would be impossible to do, especially if the Spring Maiden, no doubt more trained and experienced than when she was all those years ago, also got involved.
Of course, the tides could very much change should he be able to inject himself… but doing that made him a true berserker. Sadly, that won't do; he could end up killing the Maiden by accident and cause that damnable power to transfer to who knows who. The setback, while hardly that significant in the long run, would disappoint her grace and that was a thought that terrified him more than anything else.
So, yes, using his trump card was sadly not to be. Perhaps in the future, when it finally came time to step out into the limelight… but certainly not a moment before that.
Oh well. He's waited all this time as it is to truly cut loose. He could easily afford to wait just a little longer. The goddess has decreed it so and so he shall gladly obey.
"For you, my grace…" he muttered aloud, bowing his head lowly as he thought of her before finally leaping down from the tree.
And then, he began his search anew.
As you can see, this chapter focused on all the other major players involved… and as you can also see, things have already started to pick up a fair bit. Expect things to start getting just a bit crazy in the semi-near future. Hope you'll look forward to it!
Also, regarding Raven, I'm going to try writing her as a semi-sane but mainly paranoid woman. But honestly, that's going to be hard to do. I want to try and keep her relatively close to canon in terms of personality… except her canon self is so paranoid and ultimately short-sighted, cowardly, and dumb (strictly my opinion) that trying to write her the same way here in this fic would feel like a huge disservice to myself and you guys. Thus, I'm going to tone down her more negative traits to manageable levels while still keeping the core of her character the same.
Now, you might be wondering why I'm trying to keep her so similar to canon when this is fanfic and all, but that's just a bit of a pet peeve of mine – I don't mind characters being out of character within fanfiction… but only if said OOCness is explained, either because of a change to their own backstories or the backstory of the plot itself or even the entire setting itself. Like this version of Jaune, whose changes from his canon counterpart is due to the backstory I wrote for him so far.
Anyways, that might seem like a random and even dumb explanation/excuse, but just thought I should make it known though. Hope you all don't mind.
Whelp, other than that, not much else I think needs to get explained or otherwise elaborated on… so with that said, see you all with a new chapter in the new year!
Until 2020, everyone. Take care and have a Happy New Year!