The air was conclusively still. It did not bother to move, as it stood above the fields that it remained in, unwavering in its watch. What populated the great sea of grey, rolling hills and grass fields was a lone, black tree. It was a carcass, old and decrepit. Burnt. It still smelled, as the two horses approached.

One was a black mare, with a long, white stripe along its nose, huffing slightly as it waddled alongside the larger, brown stallion. Upon both sat hooded figures, their brown and black robes covering themselves and the hinds of their steeds. One's face was sculpted at the chin with a growing, black beard, various strands being grey or almost silvery white. Next to him, the hood of their companion was lower, but both had evident broadswords strapped to their saddles, with the bearded ones having a monstrosity's head strapped to it.

In these lands, it was known as a Grimm, a form-less monster, that had taken the form of a lion, bear and wolf at once. Its singular, red, devil-like eye was a darker shade now, and only its head remained, sloshing up and down the side of the saddle.

By the tree, three men stood, among them a fourth, with bound hand, leg and mouth. His face was muddied, bruised and bloody. The men around him, however, were as muddy as he was. Two had horns from their foreheads, one's were shorter, the other had one of them cut in half. The third of their kind turned about from the fourth human man, revealing his feline eyes and ears, scowling at the two riders as they slowly approached. He nodded to his two fellow men, and the feline Faunus approached them.

Putting a hand on the butt of his sabre, the two riders stopped as he approached. Without looking, the bearded rider unhooked the head, dropping it at the feet of the horse, making it shake its head in slight annoyance. As the rider patted it, calming it down, the feline knelt, smirking at the head and nodding.

"Tough Hunt?" The Faunus asked, smirking up at the bearded man, passing him his coin.

The rider looked up at the tree and saw the tightening of the noose on the human. His mouth was unbound, but he did not dare speak. He was shaking. One look at his uniform said it all- a Thorian. He grunted, looking back down at the Faunus, as the trench-coated man's sabre rattled, having stood up and picked up the head.

"Tougher than yours." The man said in a rough grunt, trotting off. For a moment, the other rider remained, even as a spit came at the back of the bearded man's trudged path from the feline before he marched off.

Returning, the feline sighed, smirking at the tied up human, as his noose was prepared.

"Gavrilo Frederickson. You are a Corporal of the Imperialistic Regime and Army of Torinth. Your crimes are as follows. Looting. The pillage and occupation of Faunus land. The genocide of our forefathers by your forefathers. The sins of your race. By order of the Khan, I sentence you to hang until death. Or by torment." The feline said, never losing his smirk, even as the teen-looking soldier shook.

At that, the riders stopped. The bearded one looked to his companion, who had stopped first. They had shut their eyes, looking up at the sky, earning a knowing, yet disappointed frown from the bearded one. She breathed in, hearing the yelps of the soldier, begging for mercy as he was dragged along the ground, about to be hanged for crimes that were not his.

"... You said we must choose a Lesser Evil, brother." Red eyes met red eyes, and the bearded one nodded.

"I let you choose. Make it quick. We still have to find Him…"

The sister nodded, hopping off of her horse. She gripped the hilt of the broadsword, pulling it out, just enough to see the steel, before pushing it back in, marching off toward the tree. Unstrapping her cloak, she let the brown cloak drape off of her shoulders. The bearded man didn't even watch, as he heard her boots slosh in the mud.

The three Faunus turned, the two horned brothers removing their grips from the rope and taking their rifles, with bayonets.

The feline smirked, extending his hands to either side, smirking at her:

"What's the matter? I gave you all the money you-..."

She pushed him to the ground with a firm hand on his chest, before extending her hand and summoning a burst of her energy toward either of the men, sending them both tumbling to the ground. She approached the young boy, loosening the noose around his neck and letting him sit on the ground. Her red eyes stared down at him through raven locks.

"Close your eyes."

He did. She turned to one of the horned men, staring him down. He pointed his rifle, bayonet first, at her, and growled like an animal, charging forward after the feline Faunus yelled out a command to take her alive. Then, his eyes perplexed, as his bayonet was caught by a swift hand, his charging legs tripping over a placed boot. The woman pulled him forward, sending him on his back and pulling his gun out of his hands, as she pointed at the other horned man.

Cocking the hammer back, she fired, mercilessly shooting the man in the head, letting horn, brain and skin fly, making the boy on the ground shriek in surprise, and the feline Faunus' eyes perplex.

The feline pulled his sabre out, roaring, as he ran at the woman, slashing at her, before being blocked by the rifle's side, and then hit in the chest with the butt of it. She turned, dodging a wild punch from the other Faunus still alive, sending the same bayonet he had pointed at her into his neck, and out of it, before digging the butt of the rifle into the face of the feline behind her.

Swiftly, she pulled the bayonet down and cruelly stuck it deep into the horned man's head, scowling as she forced it through his skull, letting forth blood to spew from him.

The Feline stared up in awe, as she watched the man fall. The feline then backed away, crawling backwards across the grey grass beneath him, hot air turning into cold fumes under the grey sky, as her silhouette came over him. In a stutter, he mumbled out:

"W-what are you doing?"

She knelt down, having taken his sabre, and the neck of his coat, pulling him closer.

"Killing Monsters."

And so, Raven plunged the blade into the ground, before dragging the man over to the tree. The boy had been on his feet now, and soon enough, was gripping the same rope that the Faunus had gripped, the same noose, once around the Thorian's neck, was around the Faunus' neck.

The sister walked back to her brother, to ride forth,

and continue their Hunt.

REMNANT ALTERNA

A retelling of RWBY,

by Storyteller by the Inn.