Raven stared at the map, after the fall three months ago, her and her tribe had been unabated in this area so they had gotten rather bold when it came to raids
"Raven." Vernals' voice came from over her shoulder, looking over to her she gestured for her to speak
"The raiders are ready, do you want me to come?" Vernal spoke in her monotone voice
"No... you need to stay at the camp and watch over Kurome. Her condition may have gotten better but she still needs to be careful." Raven waved off placing her hand on Eclipse, lightly petting the weapon had comforted her when she needed it and right now she needed it
"Go now... I want to address the troops." Raven ordered creating a portal for Vernal to cross through
"Yes ma'am." Vernal agreed stepping through the portal leaving her, hopping from the tree as she rolled up the map she looked around at their hardened troops
"You all are prepared and ready to put these weaklings to the flame, yes?" Raven asked earning a cheer from her soldiers "I cant wait to watch them burn either, but we must be careful, I feel that this could end poorly if we do not take caution." Raven continued causing a few to laugh, she ignored them as she walked to the front of her troops and pointed at the village "This village is large, and its people are hardy, the snowfall has made them strong, but we need to prove that we are stronger." Raven said earning a cheer from her troops at they charged into the town
(o)
Entering the center of town Raven looked around, there was no one... it was quiet and empty, as though everyone was gone, where could they have gone? Something was- before she could finish her thought massive walls of ice encircled the village cutting off any form of retreat
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Esdeaths' voice echoed above her, looking up Raven drew Eclipse from its' sheath and leapt back avoiding Esdeaths' blade
"Men retreat to me!" Raven shouted as Atlas specialists came running out of the buildings around the village attacking her soldiers, her men could deal with soldiers but those were trained huntsmen, turning towards them a spear of ice landed in front of her
"Your fight is with me, after all 'the weak die, and the strong survive.' isn't that right? Let the weak die." Esdeath commented the smug look on her face made Raven growl as she rushed her, locking blades Esdeath let out a chuckle, Raven pushed as hard as she could without using her powers but Esdeath easily pushed her away, moving Eclipse in front of her Esdeath slammed her foot into the blade shattering it and causing it to explode Raven landed and stared into the black smoke, she was searching for Esdeath but as the smoke cleared she found her gone looking over to her men they were already defeated
"Well, this was far easier that I originally thought it would be." Esdeath said from behind Raven who quickly turned and suffered a powerful strike to the jaw shattering her mask and sending her to the ground, Esdeath smiled at her as she grabbed Eclipse and looked it over
"Perhaps this weapon deserves a wielder who cares to seek and actual challenge." Esdeath commented as she dropped the item a few feet away from Raven, the red blade was dull showing that the power of the dust had vanished
"All of you have been proven to be weak." Esdeath said looking over her new prisoners Raven stood and swung a fist at her, ducking under Esdeath tripped her and forced her face into the dirt "Your leader is weaker than most I have fought." Esdeath added as Raven tried to get her hand off the back of her head "I offer you all a choice, abandon her and the weak life you previously led and serve me, or die." Esdeath offered with a sadistic smile on her face pulling Raven up she gasped for air and watched as the majority of her 'loyal' soldiers were looking between themselves, debating on their choice, a few of them were talking among themselves and that pissed her off, they should be loyal to her an no other
"YOU BITCH!" Raven shouted grabbing Esdeaths' arm and rolling over flipping her over and slamming her into the ground her eyes burning with red fire for a few seconds, Esdeath smiled at her and snapped her fingers, hundreds of spears of ice formed out of nothing all aimed at Raven causing her to freeze, she may have the powers of the Spring Maiden but that doesn't mean she is invincible, especial when it comes to Esdeath
"Am I the bitch here?" Esdeath asked as more spears appeared completely surrounding Raven "I truly wonder, what sounds you will make when you're filled with holes. Perhaps if you die here your people would be allowed to leave." Esdeath added as she raised her hand in mimicry to a firing squad, before she could send the spears Raven grabbed the hilt of her blade and opened a portal below her dropping her away leaving the portal to close and her soldiers abandoned, Esdeath smiled and crossed her arms satisfied with Ravens' weakness
"See the truth of your 'master' she has left you all to die, all to save her own skin." Esdeath said turning back to the raiders who all had various degrees of shock on their faces, Raven had never run from a foe with the exception of this woman "You all have seen that once the situation becomes harder she will abandon you all for herself. What say you to that?" quite a few of them let out shouts of anger
(o)
Raven landed in the middle of the camp with a gasp many of the tribe members ran to her aid as the portal closed above her
"We... were ambushed the Atlas military... we tried to escape but..." Raven said with a shutter in her voice as, she held up her hand to prevent them from helping her "We tried to escape but they were too close... Jacks pushed me through the portal before anyone else could..." Raven explained causing them all to look down and depressed
"What... what do we do now?" Vernal asked as she joined the many standing around her, she was clearly frustrated about their loss, the people who were in the raiding party were always her favorite people they were also the only people who understood her
"We can only prepare for the future, break down the camp and get ready to move. There's no telling if they know where we are." Raven answered finally sounding honest, the tribe were never liars so regardless they would believe her... she wasn't a coward though... she wouldn't run from a fight she could win, she was smart... she didn't lie... she just...
rising to her feet Raven let out a growl, Vernal was guiding everyone in activities that broke down the camp faster, Raven walked towards her tent with a low growl, she needed to talk with Kurome
(o)
Upon entering the room she saw Kurome stretching her limbs, her long black hair looking smooth as silk and was well kept even in these conditions, she looked more like Akame with each passing day
"Have you rested well?" Raven asked causing the girl to turn to her
"I have rested." Kurome answered in a cautious tone "But you still haven't told me where we are."
"I doubt you would believe me." Raven commented sitting down on Kuromes' bed with a sigh
"I know we aren't in the empire anymore... and you smell like battle." Kurome commented sitting down facing away from Raven "Did it always smell this poorly?"
"Probably, not everyone is built to fight, the empire forced you into a fighter, but now that you are free from it and your 'medication' you should begin to think clearer." Raven answered earning a nod from Kurome
"How did you save me from the effects of the poison? They told me regardless if I stopped taking them I would die in agony." Kurome said earning a dry chuckle from Raven
"Yes... that was true, but much like my brother did for your sister I unlocked your Aura." Raven answered "You still need training in how to properly use it but eventually you will be back in fighting shape again, this time you just might be able to keep up with your sister without doping yourself up." Raven added causing Kurome to perk up, any mention of Akame did that for her
"Sister... why didn't you take me to her?" Kurome asked seemingly preoccupied with her thoughts
"... That's... complicated... me and my brother aren't on the best of terms right now and... your sister probably wouldn't want to see me right now either." Raven avoided
"Why don't you just kill your brother and get it over with, you both looked at each other like that? I'm still resolved to kill my sister after all this time, I'm certain she is prepared too, not much could happen over the course of a year." Kurome questioned her mind was still messed up... but she and Qrow could already be branded kin slayers... perhaps they were worse than anything in the empire...
"Maybe... … …" Raven trailed off her thoughts wandering to Tai and Yang... how they would be effected if she kill her brother... she already couldn't face Tai or Yang, perhaps that was for the best... if Qrow were to die though... Akame would... Shaking the thought from her head she stood
"We'll be leaving soon, prepare yourself for that." Raven added as she began to walk to the entrance
"Already prepared." Kurome said as she stood and placed her hand on the side of her head
"You may be ready but your body is still healing." Raven said as she walked back over to her, placing her hand on Kuromes' shoulder she focused on her magic, a red flame started in her other hand as she placed it on her back, Kurome gasped then she relaxed
"What are you... doing?" Kurome asked as she yawned, she was struggling to keep herself awake, that had been the problem she had run into quite a bit, Kurome didn't need her drugs anymore but she could barely do anything without becoming extremely tired due to the enhancements in the drugs, but with a bit of magic she was able to recover slowly but she was recovering, the first few weeks she was here she couldn't even get out of bed without getting winded, so this was major progress
"What did you do?" Kurome asked again turning towards Raven, she had become quite suspicious of any aid that anyone gives her, but it made sense the last few people she trusted were; the imperials who experimented on her, and Akame who betrayed her
"I gave you some help, no need to worry about it. It has no price." Raven waved off as she exited the tent, Kurome stared at her hands for a few moments the scars were still there so that made her happy, each of them were memories of her kills, as she stared a long strand of hair fell in her face, grabbing the hair she ran it back into position, her hair was far longer now, walking over to the cracked mirror, which was probably looted from some raid, she stared into it. The face she saw staring back was a shorter Akame with black eyes it angered her... slamming her fist into the mirror it shattering it completely, she wasn't her sister, she was devoted to family and would never betray them
"... Sister..." Kurome growled; she wasn't dead, and Akame wasn't dead, either way they couldn't move forward without the death of the other, that's always how she looked at it, but without Yatsufusa there was no why she could keep up with Akame, she needed to figure out a way to keep up with her or it would be a very quick death match, she needed to find a new weapon.
(o)
Raven exited the tent and sighed, Vernal walked over to her and began to list off the current problems they were having, Raven wasn't listening though she was lost in her thoughts over what to do with Qrow, she needed to find a way to keep him from finding out about Kurome, whenever they were around each other she would accidentally drop random bits of information, she had no idea how he managed to coax information out of her like that but she still had questions for him
A/N Chapter 6 of Volume 5 is out, have fun with the information provided by this chapter, the battle between Esdeath and Raven isn't really a battle because... it would end with Raven dying, so retreat was her only choice. Maiden or not Esdeath still has a massive edge on her with Age and experience, that is mainly why whenever I have Qrow fight Esdeath it has steadily gone from 1 on 1, to 2 on 1, and so on and so forth, at this point in time Qrow and Esdeath are on two different levels now, but Qrow is still capable of giving Esdeath a very difficult fight due to his semblance and his fighting style, Raven is just too conventional to prove a challenge anymore, Qrows' style is all about hitting hard and causing chaos that does the rest of the fighting for him.
P.S. This was suppose to come out weeks ago, i just forgot that I didn't put it up