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What We Fight For
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Everyone needs a reason.
No matter how small.
No matter how fragile.
No matter how flawed.
We all need something that keeps us going.
One of the tricks to living is that understanding.
In most cases, we don't choose the reasons we have.
Sometimes, they choose us.
…
And maybe,
Someday,
We realize there might just be something to this.
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In the moment of truth, one thought erased all else.
Raven emptied herself of stray emotion. Anything that could prove a hindrance was coldly cut away. She knew the consequences awaiting the slightest hint of hesitation. Not a breath, not a single inch could be spared to the enemy she now faced.
Her strike was to be made in its truest form, a symbol of her grim conviction.
And Raven faltered—at one lone thought.
I can't kill her.
There's no way I can kill her…
It was the smallest fraction of a second, but Raven paused—she doubted.
And that was all it took.
A single whisper of weakness.
In the freezing hinterlands, icy wind blew frost into her freshly opened wounds. The truth never hurt so much and her loneliness never cut so cold and deep.
Her knees hit the crunching snow.
She was alone.
Raven always fought alone.
And now, she would die alone.
"…Heh! Hahahahaha!" she cackled with a harsh mist expelling from each breath. "Well, if I'm going to get done in, I'm glad it'll be by you."
Raven glared ahead without a single trace of fear.
"Summer."
…
The small woman donned with a white fluttering cloak stood across from her. White rose petals trailed in her wake, mixing in with the falling frost. The undisputed victor held her opponent in an unflinching gaze.
Their battle had gone on for years. Raven and Summer fought all across Remnant and even found themselves opponents on the Never Realm plane.
So many things divided them since their days as teammates. Loyalties to their own causes and the deaths piled on each side. They were friends, they were rivals, they became enemies—and now…
Now, it all came down to this moment.
A moment that would be frozen in time for eternity.
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X
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(The Present)
"You've forgotten what it means to live."
Masa Moon's words echoed across the empty chamber.
Only one figure slumped against the wall there.
Qrow Branwen.
But he wasn't the one Masa addressed.
"You do not have the right nor the responsibility to decide their future. Someone like you, who has no attachments to these Children cannot possibly guide them."
"And why would I attach myself to these Children of Remnant?" the Old One responded.
"Yes, of course. Why would you ever bother yourself with the effort, Titan?"
"Hm." Qrow chuckled. "I haven't heard that name in a long time."
"Further proof you and Salem lack the ability. You've forgotten how to live, both of you. You have no sense of responsibility."
"I exist to defeat the Witch and put a stop to this endless cycle of suffering! You think I do not feel responsible?!" Titan raged. "You think I do not feel guilt?!"
"I said nothing of that."
"I killed my own brother!" Ozpin screamed. "I doomed my whole world, my own people due to my arrogance!"
"I believe my Tree helped with that."
"Are you joking?" Qrow spoke with an ever-festering anger.
"Your brother is gone," the Architect said, with a tinge of sadness. "Your world you know is dead."
"I KNOW !" Titan boomed.
"And so are your reasons for fighting for it."
"…"
"The Witch is the same. Everything you two ever put your faith in, everything you two ever loved, is now gone."
The figure of Qrow Branwen pulsed with a fading green glow. Signs of resignation frayed the edges of his features. A fatigue and weariness built over ages.
"How long must this all go on? How long will the world fight until it learns all of this was just a mistake?"
Masa shut her eyes in deep contemplation.
"I, too, once thought this design flawed. And that anything that remained of our worlds was nothing but a mere shadow." Masa massaged her arm. "But now, I think differently. I think this world can be the one the two previous could never be."
"…"
"So easy it is to remember things better than they were—better than they are now. But that is nothing but a fleeting thought to distract us from the present."
Confidence began to swell as Masa spoke.
"You once believed in this world, Titan. You once believed in its potential. Else, you would never have divided your power among the Maidens."
"I did that out of misplaced guilt! It was a selfish attempt to redeem myself, if just a little."
"And it was the only thing I never held against you."
The Architect walked over, and sat beside Titan. And for the first time in perhaps centuries, the woman looked to her old friend with an expression of sympathy.
The Old One took a shallow breath.
"And what makes you so different? Everything you love is gone, as well."
"No."
Masa's immediate answer came so swift and true, Titan almost felt cut by it.
"No," the small lab technician repeated. "It is true that the people I come to care for live and die with each passing age. But… my meaning is never truly gone."
"…"
A small laugh escaped her before continuing.
"I used to think I would have been better off like you or the Witch. Detached and unfeeling… But in this one's life alone, I know the weight in this one's heart. The reasons to endure, that give meaning to my actions."
"…And what would those be?"
"Victoria Stein. Summer Rose. Raven Branwen. Penny Polendina. Ruby Rose. Neopolitan. Mercury Black. Emerald Sustrai. Yang Xiao Long."
"They are temporary existences."
"And yet, despite my earnest efforts, I cannot stop myself from caring for them."
"They are the most fleeting distractions of all."
"Yet, they are everything in this precious life. Not my host's alone, but mine, as well."
"…"
Titan recalled the memories of his past life. The time he allotted his hosts before he took over completely.
He never involved himself with them. To the Old One, his hosts were nothing but a means to an end. In a sense, he was their benefactor, granting them immeasurable power to carry out their ambitions before exacting his price.
Titan resolved himself to his final task with complete understanding of what it entailed…
But as time went on, the will to see his mission to its end dwindled little by little.
He didn't care for this world that was no longer his. Not what its Children did with it, or how they lived their lives.
There was no reason to.
…
"Then, perhaps it is time, we find one," Ozpin's voice advised from within.
"There is no point," Titan refused.
"There's always a point, no matter how flawed," Qrow added.
"I can't. I won't," Titan refused again.
"I believe…you can." Masa's voice chimed with Titan's previous two hosts. "Ozpin and Qrow believe in you—for who can fathom why."
"…"
"And after so long, after hating you for so long—maybe I can forgive you. And start believing in you again, too."
"…Why are you all doing this?" Titan asked.
"Because we found something to love in this world. And I believe you can also…"
"You need only look."
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X
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…
"You know why you lost?"
"…"
Raven had nothing but silence to Summer's question.
"It's because I knew you wouldn't kill me. You hesitated, Raven. And that's all I needed to know."
"…So? Finish it, then. End it already."
While Raven was wounded to her knees, Summer approached without reserve.
"I never hesitated, because I never wanted to kill you."
Raven looked up in surprise, and only saw the kind smile of Summer glowing down at her. But that shock quickly turned to bitterness.
"So, you're going to turn me in," Raven spat. "Ozpin will be happy. You carried out your orders well. I might get thrown into some prison, but my death is guaranteed, even if you saved me for just a little longer. After all our friends I've killed, the shit that's gone down between us—and Athos."
She gritted her teeth.
"I doubt Qrow and Tai would want anything else than a quick end to me. You might as well just kill me right here, right now, Summ. Save a lot of trouble."
"You, too?"
…
Summer leaned down and grasped the sides of Raven's face with a heartbroken gaze.
"You're going to say that, too?"
Summer held Raven with such transparent tenderness, it made the other try to flinch away, but Summer held her steady.
"Everyone keeps asking me the same thing. Remnant calls for your death. And even you? Why did you think I would ever listen?"
"Summ…? You can't let me live. If people found out you beat me, and let me go—"
"Who says I'm letting you go?!" Summer shouted with tears in her eyes. "I'M NEVER LETTING YOU GO AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
"…?!"
"I…I love you, Raven!"
"Summer…"
"Everyone—EVERYONE keeps asking me how I can care about you after everything that's happened. How, out of Qrow, or Tai, or anyone, can you be so special to me. And you know what I thought when I finally asked myself the same question?"
"…What?"
Summer's bottom lip trembled before it curved into a fragile smile, that looked like it could break with the slightest breeze.
"I thought, 'How could it have been anyone else?'"
Raven felt herself pulled forward, and her lips met Summer's.
When they parted, the woman with glistening silver eyes looked at her in a way Raven would remember for the rest of her life.
"How could it have been anyone else?"
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(Two-Chapter Release)