"You are in so much trouble when I find you" Yang swears as she takes off on bumblee, not knowing that she had been watched the moment she stopped at the cross roads.
Raven, in bird form, watched as her daughter made her choice. Waiting a few moments before taking flight, she soared off down the opposite route, flying until she passed over a large camp of people.
Altering course, Raven flies down towards the camp. Now that she is closer, she sees that the people appear to be celebrating something as there is a dozen fire pits set up with food cooking and there is also a stage set up in front of a row of tents. Passing over the stage, Raven shifts in mid-air and lands flawlessly on it.
Everyone stops what they are doing and watch as she turns to face them, removing her mask as she does so.
"I see you have all started without me" Raven mentions as she sweeps her ruby eyes over the crowd, a mixed group of races and genders. "I take it that the latest raid was a success?" An uproar of cheers is her response causing her to smirk as she takes her seat on the stage.
"Many see us as nothing more than bandits. But we are survivors, we do what we must and those who fall before us are too weak to survive in this world!" Raven encouragingly tells her bandits. Again the crowd cheers. Raven raises her hand to call for silence. "I see that we are missing a few faces, did they fall to Grimm or to resistance?"
"Resistance, ma'am" A large man with monkey tail answered her. "They foolishly rushed in before the signal and nearly jeopardised the entire raid."
"Then they shall not be honored. Weaklings and fools have no place amoung us." Seeing that her words have silenced the crowd, Raven stands back up and walks to the edge of the stage continuing. "Do not let this dampen your spirits, you have all earned the right to celebrite tonight!"
Once everyone returns to their celebrations, Raven turns to the faunus who spoke up. "I shall retire to my tent for now. I do not wish to be disturbed unless something of importance happens. Understood?"her tone is serious.
"Yes ma'am" He answered as he was very familiar with Raven's orders by this point and knew if anyone disturbed her, they would pay dearly.
Sealing the tent, Raven begins removing her armor, taking care to inspect each piece before setting it down on a table. Walking around the table, she makes her way to the back of the tent where her bed is located, she takes her sword off and places it on a display stand next to the bed.
Turning away from the weapon, Raven moves over to a small box and kneels down at it. Inhaling and exhaling slowly, she opens the box to reveal a small shrine with a framed picture sitting inbetween some candles.
"The weak die, the strong survive" While igniting a match, she talks as she slowly lights all the candles around the picture. "That is the creed I was raised under, the creed in which I live my life" tossing aside the burnt out match, Raven gently takes the picture into her hands.
A small drop of water falls onto the glass, next to the smiling face of Summer Rose. More droplets follow as Raven quietly cries over the image asking. "So then why?. Why am I still alive and you are dead?"
She cradles the picture to her chest as memories of her partner, friend ,and to her everlasting regret, the woman she never admitted her love to rush forward. Only in the privacy of her own quarters does Raven allow herself to give in to these emotions.
The sounds of her tent's flaps opening several minutes later, alerts Raven of someones arrival and she quickly, but carefully, places the picture back into the shrine and closes it. Composing herself, she keeps her back to the person as she addresses them. "I left instructions not to be disturbed!"
"Apologies chieftain" the intruder was a young, dark skinned woman who kneels down before Raven while keeping her head down answering her angry boss. "but the scouts sent an urgent report about a large Grimm nearby."
"Is it the Nuckelavee?" Raven asks thinking that this creature was one of the few Grimm that the scouts would send an urgent news about and so Raven was more forgiving about the interruption.
"No ma'am. It...it is something unknown" This causes Raven to turn slightly and stare at the woman with a crimson eye. Swallowing her fear the girl continues. "They report sighting a reptile like Grimm about three miles from the camp."
"Hmm unusual, but the scouts should be able to handle it, I fail to see what was so urgent about this" Her piece said, Raven turns back to her shrine only to pause when the girl says more.
"They also report that the beast is of the elder class, as it is covered in battle scars and has an old, strange weapon buried in it's back"the girl says, causing Raven to question her.
"Weapon? What kind of weapon?"
"From the report it seems to be some strange combination of a spear and sword" She doesn't notice that Raven's body has gone riggid. "The only other feature they noticed was a worn white cloth -"
"Tied just below the base of the blade" Raven cuts off the girl by finishing the statement for her, which surprises the girl. Swiftly she stands up and moves towards where she left her armor and orders. "Send word to the scouts to pull back and leave the Grimm be!"
"Ma'am?"the girl asks confused.
Raven finishes putting the armor back on and grabs her sword. "I shall deal with this Grimm myself"she says and with a determined look leaves the tent.
Shifting quickly into her bird form, Raven takes off and flies towards the forest all the while her mind is running wild with thoughts and memories about the weapon mentioned.
"It can't be possible. Crimson Thorn should be safe with Tai" Diving into the trees she nimbly moves between the branches. "But Qrow said they never recovered it with her...her body. They also never said what type of Grimm it was she faced."
Landing on a branch, Raven scans the area for any sign of the Grimm and quickly spots some large and unusual claw marks cut deep into the stone. She takes off again and follows the marks and notices more damage done to nearby trees. She transforms back makes sure the area is safe while walking over to a tree and running her hand over a gash in the wood. "A quick, clean cut. Possibly blade like claws." she muses to herself.
Stepping away from the tree and crouching down, she examines a decaying patch of grass. A scowl appears on her face as she recognizes the effect. "A poison user, wonderful" Raven sarcasticly muses.
Hearing a loud crash in the direction of a local river, Raven stands back up and continues to follow the tracks on foot, one hand resting on her sword hilt ready to draw it at any moment.
"Did this Grimm kill Summer?. Is it even Crimson Thorn?. Even if it isn't, this Grimm shall die!"she thinks to herself. Reducing her speed down to a silent jog as she approaches the river, Raven hides herself behind a tree and stealthily looks around the trunk to spy on her target. "Well...don't see many Grimm that big on the ground."She thinks with a observing look.
While she couldn't see the head, as it was obscurred by the broad, heavily armored body, Raven took a guess about the beast being 7 meters long, half of that being it's tail which ended in a bone blade. "Whipblade tail, interesting" The legs were short but they were thick and heavily armored with large claws. In fact from what she could see, nearly the entire creature was covered in thick white bone armor, with the back being covered the most.
Jagged, multi directional spikes sprouted up like bamboo all across it's back. Suddenly the entire body swung around as the Grimm turns away from the river. As the head comes into view a long yellow, forked tongue laps up the water dripping down from it's broad, blunt snout. As the tongue retracts, the jaws open wide, showing off the serrated teeth that were coated in a strange purple fluid. However that is not the feature that catches Raven's eyes.
"It's blind?" The entire skull was covered in the standard bone armor that all Grimm share, only without the burning red eyes. It's lack of eye sight didn't appear to hinder it, as it easily moved around in the clearing, the tongue flicking out every so often.
"Well this should be an interesting-" Raven's thoughts screeched to a halt as the clouds parted and the light from the sun illuminates the weapon buried deep into the flesh between the Grimm's shoulders. "It...it really is Crimson Thorn"her eyes narrow while the thought goes through her head.
While not in the condition she remembered it, there was no doubt in her mind that was the weapon of her dear partner Summer Rose. A growl escapes her clenched teeth and her eyes flash even more red then usual. Drawing her sword, Raven steps out from behind the tree and into the clearing. At first the Grimm didn't notice, but slowly it's tongue darted out and the head turned towards her.
Althought it didn't possess eyes that did not mean the Grimm was bereft of vision. To it's 'eyes' the forest appeared as a mass of dark, cold objects while Raven was visible as a source of heat. Shifting it's massive body around, it faces the huntress and lets loose a deep rumbling hiss before opening it's jaws and vomiting up a torrent of poisonous liquid.
Diving to her right, Raven narrowly avoids the poisonous bile. As she moves to stand, a whistling sound alerts her to an incoming object and she rolls away. The Grimm's bladed tail digs into the ground where Raven was only seconds before. Pulling it's tail free, the head once more turns in her direction and the tail again rapidly head towards her.
What follows is a delicate balance of Raven narrowly dodging and parrying the tail strikes while also making sure to keep the head in view at all times. The few instances in which she fails to factor in the Grimm's head, it would lunge at her trying to bite or spewing more poisonous bile at her.
Finally an opening presents itself when the tail gets caught between two large rocks. Reacting in an instant, Raven's blade glides through the air and cleaves the tail in two. The beast, having been trying to pull itself free, crashes backwards from the sudden release. Painfilled screechs fill the air as the Grimm thrashes around which Raven once more takes advantage of and goes for it's head. However it recovers enough, to pull away ,only to lose it's tongue to the crimson blade.
"Ha! Not so tough now, you walking suit case" A smirk, not unlike her daughter's, graces Ravens face as she steps towards the downed Grimm. "Now it's time to get what I came for-oomph!"her sentence being cut short by a large mass slamming into her stomach.
It sends her rocketing through the air until she impacts into a tree, leaving a large indent in the wood before sliding to the ground.
Gasping for air, the huntress slowly looks up to see what struck her and is shocked to find it was the Grimm's tail, which is quickly regrowing right before her eyes. As a wave of pain and coughing overtakes her, the lizard manages to get back to it's feet and turns to face Raven again.
Picking up her sword, Raven slowly pushes herself back up using the tree. "Regeneration, didn't expect that. " panting heavily "Any more surprises?" she says to herself becoming annoyed by the lizard.
Then, as if it completely understood her, the Grimm's body beings to change. The back arches upwards as the front legs become longer, the armor on it's back splits open. Revealing another set of limbs that shift around and move into place slightly over the front legs and finally a pair of horns appear out of the head were the red markings where, while two glowing red patches take the place of the eyes.
With an ear shattering roar, the transformed monstrosity lunges for Raven and it is only thanks to her experience that she narrowely avoids the Grimm as it easily smashes through the tree that stood there previously.
Putting it's extra limbs to work, the Grimm turns sharply and comes back at Raven before she has time to recover from the first assault, catching her in the back with it's head. The force of the impact, coupled with the injury she already recieved from hitting the tree causes Raven to cry out in pain as she is knocked onto her front.
"Fucking son of -" She curses pushing herself up but gets interrupted as massive jaws filled with serrated teeth clamp down on her right arm. The armor she wore prevented most of the damage the bite was causing but it was not going to stop the poison, that was entwering her body and coursing through her blood.
Gritting her teeth and trying her best to block out the pain, Raven slowly turns her head towards the Grimm and glares defiantly at it. In retaliation the bladed tail rises up into the air and preparing to finish the job.
"Yeah...not...today!" Before it can even comprehend what she is talking about, Raven buries her sword up to the hilt in it's right 'eye'. The tip of the blade comes out the other side of the skull, removing the second 'eye'.Causing the Grimm to trash and fling Ravens body across the forest floor.
An unholy shriek of pain comes out of the grimm. It begins to desperately claw at it's head to try and remove the sword buried in it .
"That should keep...him busy" She tries to push herself back up with her good arm but collapses back to the floor. "Getting a bit tired...might just...rest a bit."
"...ven...Raven" The sound of her name spoken by an familiar voice .starts to bring Raven back to the land of conciousness.
"That...that voice...it...it can't be" she says to herself and when she opens her eyes, Raven finds that her head is laying on someones lap. Looking up, she is greeted by a pair of silver eyes and a smiling face. "S-summer?"
A light giggle escapes Summer's lips and she gently brushes some of Raven's hair out of her face and answers with a gentle voice. "I've missed you, Raven"
"Not as much as I have missed you"Raven states with a longing look and reaches up slowly putting her hand on Summer's cheek.
The moment is temporarily broken by the thrashing of the Grimm as it continues to furiously claw at it's head, but it is unable to grab hold of the blade.
"You've gotten sloppy, Raven. A beast like that should of given you no trouble"Summer mentions teasingly with a harsh undertone.
"I don't have you here to keep me from being to hasty" raven answers with a broken and hollowlaugh before speaking what she regrets most . "I should have been there with you."
Summer smiles sadly , while leaning into Raven's hand, puts her own over it and saying . "We can't change what happened. But we can do something about it now."
"No, Summer. We can't" Raven lowers her gaze and drops her arm. "I'm tired, Sum. So damn tired. I just want to be with you." she admits sounding ready to truelly give up.
Seeing Raven's eyes close, Summer quickly changes position so that she is in front of a kneeling Raven summer shakes her and yells in a desperate tone. "You can't close your eyes!. You need to stay awake, Raven. Please!"
"Why?...What's the point. You aren't there anymore!"Raven answers in a sad tone.
"I know, but there are people who need you!" Summer says angryly and takes Raven's face in her hands "Dammit Raven the girls need you!"
Her eyes snap open and she stares at Summer with shock. "The...the girls? Summer, I...I can't" Again Raven turns away, but this time the woman she loves does not let her look away. "I can't be there for them, I'm not you"she looks down depressed as she answers.
"You don't have to be me" Summer smiles at Raven replying with a proud tone . "You just need to be Raven Branwen. The toughest bitch of team STRQ and the woman I love!"
"You...you lov-" Once more they are interrupted, only this time it is more serious, The Grimm has managed to get a foot on the sword hilt and begins to push it down through it's own skull.
"It looks like we are out of time" Summer says helping Raven onto her feet.
A wet thud and the clang of metal on dirt alert them to the fact that the Grimm has removed the sword from it's head, as well as it's entire lower jaw which is already in the process of regenerating.
"I hate regenerators" Raven scowls annoyed and looks down at her arm before continuing "My Aura isn't fighting off the poison quick enough."
"Yes, it does seem like you have a tough fight ahead." While she is probably imagining it, but to Raven it sound's like Summers voice is getting further away. "Well that's interesting."
Wondering what it is Summer means. Raven examines the Grimm and at first notices nothing different. But when she looks over the head one more time, she sees that the area where the glowing 'eyes' were has regenerated, but the glow did not return.
"It can't regrow organs?" Thinking it over, the idea makes sense. "All Grimm have weaknesses, having a limitation on what it can and can't regrow is plausible. But how to use that in our favor. "Raven muses as she looks at the lizard.
"Want some team leaderly advice? For old times sake?" summer offered sounding even further away now and when Raven looks at her, Summer seems to be fading in and out of existence.
A vicious smirk appears on Raven's face before replying. "Gladly"
"Remember how we dealt with our first DeathStalker, back during initiation?"Summer says in a cheery tone.
"Of course. The stupid thing tried to pin us from above and ended up impaled on-"Raven eyes widen as she gets what summer meant and snap towards Crimson thorn, sticking out of the Grimm's back. "I love you Summer"Raven says with passion and without waiting for a reply she is already in motion.
Dashing towards the blind monster, she snatches up her blade as she passes it. The sound of her rapid steps draws it's attention and the head turns towards her.
Reacting before it can attack, Raven uses the head as a platform and launches herself into the air. As she jumps, she also throws her sword backwards through its head , pinning the head to the ground. Turning quickly, Raven plants her feet on a branch and kicks off, back towards the Grimm.
"This one is for you Sum" she thinks to herself turning in midair one final time and Raven's foot connects with the pummel of Crimson Thorn and driving the blade deep into the Grimm's body. There were no words to describe the sound it made as it's body was pierced from the top.
Raven almost losing her footing as the beast thrashes about in pain ,she grabs hold of the largest spike and uses it as leverage to push herself and the naginata down further, not caring as the other spikes cut into her exposed back, all that mattered was killing it.
The chest armor cracks and finally breaks as the tip of Thorn burst through in a shower of crimson with the still beating heart impaled on it's blade.
Raven loses her footing as the weapon pierces the chest and is stopped by the ground. Rolling forward as soon as she touches earth, Raven gets back to one knee and watches as the Grimm's body finally gives out and collapses, only being held up by the weapon sticking out of it's chest.
"Ha...ha...we did it Summer, we did it!" Raven yells looking up with a tired grin and her elation plummets as she realises that only she and the dissolving Grimm remain in the forest. Disappointingly she says her name while looking around "Summer?"
Lifting up her arm, Raven examines the bite mark and notices that most of the venom has been expelled by her aura. "We finally see one another again. And it was nothing more than a hallucination."she muses before everything finally boils up.
A scream of frustration, rage and sorrow rips out of her as she beats her fists against the ground. After what felt like an eternity of venting, Raven lays on the ground, spent and exhausted. A rumble in the skies over head signals the arrival of rain and yet she still doesn't move. Staring up at the clouds as the downpour unleashes itself upon the world, Raven reflects on what happened.
"Don't worry Summer. I won't forget"she says to herself getting up and walks towards Crimson thorn, pausing to pick up her own blade sheathing it, Raven pulls Thorn from the ground and collapses it into sword mode. "I'll take care of them"with a resolved tone Raven says hoping Summer can hear her.
It took Raven some time to get back to the camp, as with the addition of Summer's weapon, she could not shift into bird form. After getting checked by the medic and taking a long hot shower, she retires back to her tent.
After cleaning her blade, she sets about examining Crimson Thorn and giving it a much needed maintenance. Putting the naginata on a stand next to her's, Raven steps back and admires her handy work. Smiling to herself as she gets ready to turn in for the heavy eyes close as she hits the pillow.
Eyes snapping open, Raven wakes to find herself in a forest, one that is very familiar to her. Standing up slowly, she does a quick assessment of what she has and finds that she has nothing but casual clothing, the type she wore when on break in Beacon. "This is...Patch?"she asks surprised.
Looking around, Raven discovers a small path that leads towards another familiar sight, a quaint but homely looking cabin. Walking towards it in shock, she takes note of the sound of children somewhere behind the house.
With a shaking hand, Raven reaches up and slowly opens the door. She let's it swing open freely until it hit's a door stop.
Taking an unsteady step over the threshold, she is forced to put a hand on the wall to stay standing. Using this leverage, Raven slowly moves further into the house until her hand brushes against something on the wall, knocking it to the floor. The sound of shattering glass rings throughout the cabin, but she takes no notice of it. Crouching down, Raven brushes off the broken shards and picks up the picture frame.
Covering her mouth to muffle her sobs, she stares at the image in the frame. Two young girls, one blonde and the other red with a tint of black, stand together at the front, smiling at the camera, while behind them, linked hand in hand, stand herself and Summer, each with their free hand on one of the girls shoulders. Summer for Yang and herself for Ruby. This picture was everything that Raven has ever wanted.
"Raven? Is that you?" Hearing that familiar voice, the frame slips from her fingers as she stands up and turns towards the kitchen doorway. There she was, cleaning her hands on the apron she wears, a smile on her face that quickly changes to a look of concern as she takes in the broken picture and Raven's shocked appearance,asking worried. "Raven! Are you ok?"
"S-summer?" Walking towards her in a daze Raven questions , she can't take her eyes off the vision before her. Even when her hand brushes against Summer's cheek, Raven in disbelief asks desperate. "Are...are you...is this real?"
"Of course I'm real" Summer answers taking Raven's hand in her own and examines the small cuts from the glass before continuing. "Are you alright, Rai? Is something wrong?"
Summer suddenly finds herself buried in Raven's arms as the taller woman embraces her tightly, as if she were going to disappear. At first she thinks it's just a show of affection but when Raven starts shaking and her shoulder grows damp, Summer knows something is very wrong.
"What is it, Raven? Please tell me" Summer with worry questions her " There had to be something wrong, Raven hardly if ever allowed herself to get overly emotional." Summer muses in her head and then tries to reassure Raven."It's ok my love, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere"
"You're not real. This is a dream, a beautiful dream. If I let you go, you are going to disappear again" Raven answered near hysterical and not stopping . "I love you Summer, I love you so much and I'm such a coward for never saying anything before it was too late."
Pulling away gently, Summer moves her hands up to Raven's face and wipes away the tears that are falling from her beautiful red eyes. Leaning forward, Summer kisses Raven softly, they stay together for a moment before separating once more and leaning against each other's forehead.
"I'm not going anywhere, Raven. Not anymore. You've freed me."Summer says in a reassuring tone.
"Freed you?" Raven asked confused and it showed clearly on her face as she inquires further. "Summer what do you mean. This is just a dream, isn't it?"
"No Raven, this isn't just a dream. When you took back Thorn and killed the Grimm, you freed my spirit" Standing up and bringing Raven with her, Summer continues to explain. "I'm dead, there is no changing that, no matter how much we both want that. But in here, we can be together."
"If that's true, then I never want to wake up again" Raven admits and Summer frowns at this and letting go of Raven's hand.
"I never thought you would be so selfish, Raven" Summer states angrily taking some steps away from her. Summer stands by the doorway to the living room, which has a large bay window that looks out into the back garden and she asks . "Are you going to throw away your promise to me that quickly?"
"Promise? Summer what do you-" Following Summer's gaze, Raven stops her sentence and watches as Yang and Ruby run past the window, laughing as they play a game of what appears to be tag. Gasping as she remembers what took place earlier, Raven looks down in shame responding. "I don't deserve this, any of it!"
Moving in a sudden burst of white petals, Summer launches herself into Raven and takes the two of them down onto the couch.
"Don't! Don't you ever say that!" Summer says tears starting to fill her eyes as Summer stares down at her love. "You do deserve this, Raven. More than anyone. Just because I won't be there, doesn't mean you can't have this in the waking world, you just need to work for it"
"How!? How can I have this? My daughter probably and rightfully hates me! And your's doesn't even know me as anything other than the woman who abandoned her own child."Raven says in a dejected tone looking away.
"So you're just going to give up?" Frowning, Summer asks and sits back, still keeping herself on top of Raven. "That is not the Raven Branwen I know. Yes, you made mistakes, but the longer you wait the harder it will be"Summer finishes.
"And what about my tribe, Summer?" Raven asks raising up on her elbows, following Summer. "If I leave, they will kill each other and everyone around them"
"..." Summer mumbles something while looking away shyly. Narrowing her eyes, Raven gets even closer intrigued she asks . "What was that Summer?"
"I...I said it...it wouldn't be...so bad if you brought them into the tribe." Summers words once more take Raven by surprise as Summer continued . "Yes I've heard all the stuff that Qrow had to say, but if you and him are anything to go by, maybe it's not so bad"
"My brother and I aren't the best of examples, Summer" Raven admits giving her best attempt at a stern look, she quickly cracks under the force of Summer's pout and gives in. "But thank you for the vote of confidence"
"I'll always have your back, Raven. That's never going to change" summer giggles and acting quickly, she steals another kiss, only Raven was ready for it and returns it filled with love.
The two share that kiss for what feels like an eternity before they are interrupted by a knocking on glass and a pair of high pitched giggles. Breaking apart, they both turn to the bay window where the girls are pressed up against the glass and smiling at them.
"Ok you two, go get cleaned up, it's almost lunch time" Summer says waving the two girls off, before turning back to Raven with a smile . "Care to join us?"
"Do I have the time?" Raven questions as she was beginning to wonder how long she had been in this dream.
"Don't worry in a dream you have all the time that you want since time moves differently here." Summer explains and after a last kiss, Summer get's up and heads back to the kitchen.
Sitting up on the couch, Raven takes a second to look around the room and take in everything around her she gets up following Summer and saying. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad to stick around for awhile "
For the first time in years, Raven Branwen sleeps with a smile on her face.
While on the table across from her bed, Crimson Thorn has slipped from it's stand and is resting up against Raven's sword.
The two weapons, reunited once more, and two souls who are able to find peace, if only in the realm of dreams.
Omake:
Chibiraven: * gets tackled by chibisummer *
chibisummer: now that the girls are fed and in bed its time
chibiraven: time for what
chibisummer: time for summer to fuck over raven kukukuku
chibiraven: actually* reverses the position * you are the one who i will fuck over with my years of sexual frustration
chibisummer: be gentle please
chibiraven: we will see *evil naughty grin *
chibisummer: * thinking * okay shouldnt have teased her *gulps *
* screen gets censored and naughty sounds can be heard *
*omake end *