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: Fireflies Reprise
The boy witnessed the death of Gin, Vio, and the Winter Maiden from the safety of the tree line. When the battle was over, he ran to Vio's body. He dragged the dead man across the clearing and slit his throat, allowing the blood to flow over Aima's mangled body.
"A-Al?" she croaked, gaining strength from her uncle's blood. "Al, it's too late. I-I can't heal..." She trailed off and her eyes rolled back.
"No!" the boy yelled in frustration. "You have to hold on!" he told her as he took out a scalpel. He began to carefully cut the girl open, starting at her chest and slicing all the way down to her slender waist. To his surprise, he found that Aima's heart was glowing with a blinding white light. She moaned as Vio's wound began to dry.
"Not yet, I need more time," the boy mumbled as he continued to work. He used his scalpel to cut his own hand, allowing the blood to drip into Aima's wounds. But it was not enough, he saw that Aima would die. As she gazed up at the sky, her whole body tensed in agony, the clouds seemed to pass. The twinkling stars reminded her of a distant memory, of an ocean of grass. The boy noticed the white light fading from around her heart. The fireflies, Aima remembered as she began to swim in the sky. She had lost her footing, she thought, and was set adrift among the stars.
Aima's body suddenly relaxed, and the light around her heart faded completely.
Calmly, the boy wrapped his wound with a ribbon from Aima's dress, got up, and began his journey back to the inn. That was it, his one chance to understand the maiden's powers, and it slipped right through his blood soaked fingers. He would never have another chance to find the answers he sought.
"But at least I'm not dead," he muttered as he passed Gin's body, "Maybe I'll have a drink for you."
As he walked back through the Forest of Everfrost, the boy noticed fireflies dancing in the evergreens. It looked like a forest of Christmas trees lit up with hundreds of fairy lights. The fireflies looked welcoming, but the boy did not feel welcomed. He was too warm, their lights were too bright, and the lovely red of the blood on his clothes was drying into an ugly brown.
A/N: Thank you Bomberguy789 for all of the awesome reviews! This is the last chapter, besides the epilogue. I may come back to this story and make it longer, but I also have an idea for another RWBY story that has the potential to be significantly longer as I write it, so you can look forward to that.
Best, RC