Disclaimer: This story has been previously published as The Hunters of the Maidens on RWBY Amino. The cover art was done by I3blacksun, who has given me permission to post it here and can be found on RWBY Amino. I do not own anything borrowed from RWBY, such as the Winter Maiden or the concept of semblances. If I did, this wouldn't be 'fanfiction' but a real sideplot.
The Maiden Hunters: Standing Orders
The girl returned to the inn. It was warm and bright, welcoming. But she did not feel welcomed. The fire was too hot, the huntsmen too drunk. The air was stale. She bypassed the servers, the tables of rambling drunks, and the large wooden fireplace heating the hall. She retired to her room to await the return of an angry Vio and a drunken Gin.
She was sitting on her small bed, it would be nice after weeks of sleeping in the woods, braiding her long, red hair when Vio barged in. "Aima, how dare you leave at a time like this! What if something were to happen to you?! All of this would be for nothing! Three years—THREE YEARS—we've been searching! And you'd just throw it away! I ought to—"
"Where's Al?" Gin interrupted, calmly entering the small room. The girl shrugged. He shrugged in response and withdrew, returning to the bar to fill up on ale.
"Aima," Vio sighed as he sat next to his niece, "I promised your parents I'd take care of you." He paused and his eyes turned a brilliant shade of violet. The large, dark man seemed less threatening. The bright color of his eyes was almost comical against his tanned skin and black hair. "Aima, you are not to leave without one of us—me, Gin, or Al—by your side." The violet color faded and his eyes returned to their normal shade of steely purple. "It's just too dangerous," Vio added as he left the room.
The girl shivered. She knew what Vio had done. He had been controlling her with this power since she was a young girl. Once she realized that she was being controlled, she began pushing the boundaries of his commands. She knew that only one order could stand at a time, and that more detailed orders were easier to break. It had been a long time since she was given an order, so long that she could no longer remember what the last order was. The girl realized that they were close, very close, to finding the maiden.