Volume I: Ant. 9: Friction:
The next day: March 2nd:
The raspberry-haired boy watches the hazel-eyed girl shuffle her cards with skill. He can't help but find it a bit satisfying to see as he couldn't take his eyes off her movements. He especially likes hearing the sounds of the cards get shuffled as she expertly maneuvers them around and piles and overlaps and flips and does all sorts of other things with them. There's a part of him that thinks she's just showing off, but he never calls her out on it. He just likes watching her do it and she seems to enjoy putting on this little show for him as well. Eventually, the girl finishes her shuffling and begins distributing the playing cards among themselves.
"And one for me, and one for Mari, and one for you, Simin,…" Sophia says as she begins dealing him and Mari into another small game with just the three of them.
This will be the third game they've played with her in a row. But Simin will not complain. He actually wants to be here. Ever since she got injured, Sophia has pretty much been stuck in her tent all day, every day. The only person who sees her outside of Vernal is Mari, who comes in to check on her and change her bandages. So for the majority of the day, she's practically on her own. For someone like Sophia, this is extremely boring… or at least Simin imagines it would be boring for her. So to keep from her feeling bored, he also tries to pop in regularly when he's not doing grueling sparring sessions with Vernal because of their punishment for the stag hunting fiasco or when he's not helping serve lunch with Jeremiah.
Ever since they sort of made up in the woods the other day, right before the incident, he and Sophia have essentially decided to start over. They've walked it back a bit and have been trying to be more casual with each other with Sophia no longer being "aggressively nice", as Simin once put it. As for Simin, he is no longer so resistant toward her and gave her a chance to try and officially be her friend. And so far, he finds some enjoyment when spending some time with her. Or at the very least, not unenjoyable. And to Simin's relief, along with some of the changes he's noticed about her behavior, her gambling has seemingly ceased.
However, if there is one thing that hasn't changed between the two, it's that she still has a habit of taking extra-long amounts of time with Simin's haircuts. He was due for another haircut yesterday and Sophia insisted on giving him one. The boy, worried about her condition, tried to persuade her to hold off on it. But he should've known better that Sophia doesn't take no for an answer. When she says, "Can I cut your hair, Simin?", she really means, "I'm cutting your hair, Simin."
The injured Sophia insisted until Simin eventually relented. They would have their usual banter and conversation in the meantime. During the cut, she teased him a bit saying, "Look how long your hair's gotten, Simin! You don't want people mistaking you for a girl, do you?"
He didn't think his hair was that long, but he decided to play along and respond with, "Well my dad did say I inherited more of my mother's looks."
They both laughed at his joke… and it almost caused her to mess up the haircut. But luckily she caught herself in time. However, feeling mischievous, this was when Sophia decided to play a cruel joke on the boy.
"Shit!" She exclaimed under her breath.
"Wh-what? What is it?" Simin responded as worry entered his voice.
"I messed up…" She 'admitted'.
"What?!"
"Yeah. Big ol' spot." She said with a sigh. "Welp… Gotta even out. You okay if I cut the rest off?" She added as she snipped her scissors.
"WHAT!?" I frantically yelled as he was about to panic.
"Don't worry. It's just hair. It'll grow back. Now hold still." She said with a snicker.
"Sophia!" The boy was ready to jump out of the chair and run for the hills.
Sophia couldn't contain herself as she immediately cracked up laughing and she revealed to Simin her little prank. The boy didn't seem too pleased by it though as he sat back in his chair with a pout on his face.
When the two were done the girl sent the boy off with her signature vise-like hug. The hugs don't hurt or make him struggle to breathe anymore due to Raven's training (not including the fact her current state wouldn't allow her to squeeze him that hard anyway). But he still resists and protests and wrestles himself out of her clutches anyway to 'uphold the tradition.' You could say it's sort of their 'thing' at this point.
"Alrighty!" Sophia says as we return to the present and she picks up her hand of cards. "Let's get started-"
But as soon as the bandaged 18-year-old finishes her sentence, a figure walks through the flaps of the tent, engulfing the three in its shadow as the light that cracked through was blocked. The trio all turn their heads in unison and see the owner of the shadow, Raven Branwen. It seems like she came for something.
"Mari." She says as she turns her head to her the second she spots her. "I figured you'd be in here."
"Did you need something, Raven?" Mari asks as she puts her hand of cards down.
"Just wait outside the tent for me." She ordered.
"But we were about to start a game!" Sophia protests as she inserted herself. Raven responded by shooting a glare at her that shut her down fast.
"Don't worry Sophia. We'll start the game when I get back alright?" Mari assures with a hand on her back as she stands up.
"Alright, fine…" Sophia disappointingly relents.
And with that, Mari simply gets up and walks out the tent past the now duo to wait.
"Hey, Simin. 1v1 me?" Sophia proposes.
Before Simin can even respond, Raven manages to catch him.
"As for you, Simin…," Raven then turns her attention to the boy next to her. "Vernal's waiting for you. You know what to do."
"Okay, Raven… Sorry Sophia..." Simin sighs as he reluctantly gets up. He speaks with disappointment in his voice before heading to train with Vernal.
Once Simin leaves the tent, Sophia realizes it is now just her and Raven, alone. The air suddenly feels heavy for her. It's extremely rare for her to be in Raven's presence by herself. And being in a position where she is forced to look up at the looming figure fills her with a sense of intimidation. On top of that, ever since her talk with Vernal and Vernal promising she would work something out with Raven, she's been very anxious regarding her next interaction with the woman who took her in. She wonders to herself if Vernal kept her promise and Raven knows and that this was precisely the reason she came here, if not one of them.
"How are you feeling, Sophia?" Raven speaks to her in a calm voice. She crouches to her level so she can check her. She tries to sound almost comforting or trying to put her at ease when she asks, but it sounds more like a command for her to talk.
"Mostly alright." She answers. "I'm feeling pretty okay if I'm being honest. My back still hurts, but… eh…" She shrugs her shoulders slightly.
"Try to see if you can move around a bit. I want to see your mobility." Raven requests.
In response, Sophia tries to stretch her arms out in front of her and to her side as her face winces. She then tries to reach up above her, but Raven stops her as she sees her clearly struggling to even get her palms above her head.
"That's all. You can stop there." Raven stops her as she sticks her hand out to Sophia. "I want to test your grip strength now. Try and squeeze my hand as hard as you can or at least until the pain becomes too much for you."
Without a word, Sophia does just that as she grabs Raven's open palm and wraps her fingers around it. She then attempts to make a fist around it and applies increasing pressure.
"You know I was speaking to Vernal earlier this morning." Raven brings up without warning.
In response, Sophia instantly increases her grip strength as she gets hit with a jolt of nervousness. She looks at Raven with a surprised expression at her suddenness.
"So you know what I'm referring to, I take it?" Raven capitalizes as she clearly notices it.
"Kn-know what?" Sophia stutters as she lets out a nervous chuckle.
"Don't try it, Sophia." Raven shuts down her poor attempts to play dumb. "You already gave yourself away. I felt your grip tighten the moment I brought her up as if what I said startled you."
"I… I…" Sophia tries to search for some kind of excuse. But ultimately, she gives up as she knows it's pointless to try and brush it off. "Fine… yeah…"
"I was genuinely surprised when she asked me if I could give special permission to sell surplus supplies to a nearby village. I thought she was pulling my leg at first." Raven chuckles before continuing as Sophia nervously listens.
"But I realized she was serious when she kept pushing. I was confused as to why she would ask that of me- especially considering her current standing with me and the fact that she was asking something she knew I would never allow. But then I started to get the suspicion she was asking on someone's behalf. And then it started to make sense to me. And you know what I told her? I said, 'If Sophia wants to do that so badly, then I want her to ask me herself.'"
Hearing that, Sophia has a look of fear grow on her face.
"So now that you have me present, is there something you'd like to ask of me, Sophia?"
Sophia doesn't say anything. She begins to sweat under the pressure of the bandit leader herself. She opens her mouth to say something, but she can't bring herself to speak.
"Sophia, if you want to ask me, now is the chance. I have somewhere I need to be soon. Don't waste my time. I won't give you another chance. So speak now or forever hold your peace."
"Come on, you idiot! Say something!" She thinks to herself. "She's literally giving you a chance. Just open your mouth and ask. Simple as that! Remember who you're doing this for."
"R-raven... " She finally speaks, but with a quiet voice as she hangs her head. "I-I was wondering-"
"Hold on." Raven cuts her off. "Look up here, Sophia. You're talking to me, are you not?" Raven says as she tries to get Sophia to look her in the eyes.
"Right…. Sorry, Raven…" Sophia apologizes before slowly picking her head up as she forces her gaze to meet Raven's. She clears her throat. "I was wondering… if maybe… you could maybe give me p-..." She stumbles a bit in her sentence and pauses a bit as her nerves get to her a bit. She never imagined asking something so bold from the bandit leader.
"You're doing fine, Sophia." Raven assures her. This time she surprisingly was able to sound assuring to put her at ease enough to speak.
Sophia then takes a small moment to regather her nerves before continuing
"I… I was wondering if you could give me permission to sell some surplus supplies or unused supplies to a nearby village?" She spat out quickly to get it over with. "The reason is-"
"I didn't ask for a reason, Sophia. You don't have to tell me why. Vernal filled me in on that already."
"Oh… well I guess that saves me the trouble, huh…?" She nervously laughs as she tries to ease her nerves a bit.
"Yeah…"
"So... um… What's your verdict…?" Sophia asks as she anxiously anticipates her answer.
"So… you want to have permission to sell some supplies over an undetermined period of time to a nearby village that will be marked off limits for the rest of the tribe by me, huh?" The way Raven says it almost makes it sound like she is about to say no, which Sophia is bracing herself for. "Well… my answer is… yes. You have my permission, Sophia."
"Wait, really?" Sophia asks for confirmation as she was expecting to be shot down.
"Really." Raven confirms.
"Thank you so much, Raven!" Sophia then tries to go in for a hug on Raven, but she simply blocks her motion by stopping her with her palm.
"You're not mad at me, are you?" Sophia asks with a bit of worry in her tone in response to Raven's reaction.
"No. Just not the hugging type. Why do you ask?"
"Well I just figured you might be mad at the idea of a tribe member leaving along with the fact that I'm literally going to be selling some of our stuff on my way out."
"Sophia, I'm not mad. I always knew that when I took you in, you'd leave eventually. I just didn't expect it to be like this. To be honest, I expected it to be behind our backs when we're not looking." Raven jokes, though there was a bit of seriousness in her voice.
"What? I wouldn't do that." Sophia responds in a tone that makes her sound exactly like the type of person that would do that, but is bad at lying about not doing it. However, despite that, the girl is being genuine. "Look, I'm honestly grateful for you taking me in and giving me a place to stay and all that stuff. I'm not gonna go and ditch you without notice behind your back or something. Really. I should honestly thank you."
The red-eyed woman is taken aback slightly for a few seconds. She doesn't exactly know how to respond in moments like this.
"Anyway," Raven says in a bit of a cold tone as she dismisses her thanks. "...like I said, you have my permission. But in the meantime, just keep resting up and you can get started when you've recovered."
With that, Raven stands up and makes her way out of the tent as Sophia tries to shoot her another "thank you". The bandit leader simply ignores it as she walks out. As soon as she exits Sophia's tent, the young Mari stands outside waiting almost at attention, her hands held low in front of her as she teeters back and forth on her toes and heels. She seems to have spaced out a bit.
"You. With me." Raven orders the girl, which snaps her out of her state.
"Huh? Wh-what?" Mari says as she regains focus.
"We're going on a trip. Outside the camp."
"Where to?" She cocks her head slightly to the side.
"Grimm territory. We're going to finish cleaning up that trio's mess from the other day. After my fight with the horde the other day, I can safely say I killed a vast majority of the grimm in the area. But I'm not confident I got all of them. So what we're going to do is look for any stragglers and fully liquidate the area."
"And you want me to help?" Mari says almost with a confused look.
"Yes. I thought I made that clear." She confirms to Mari her role.
"No, no. I understand that. It's just, you killed almost all of them on your own. And you want help to take out the few remaining?"
"Look, it'd be less boring if I had some company."
"Well if that's the case, then why not ask Vernal to go with you? I'm not very exciting to be around." Mari excuses as she tries to get out of being dragged along on the field trip Raven has planned. "Wouldn't she be more useful and better to have around?"
"Maybe. But Vernal isn't allowed to leave campgrounds for a week as part of her punishment." The pale swordswoman answers.
"So process of elimination then?"
"Not necessarily. Even if she was allowed, I probably still would have brought you anyway."
"Why me though?" The girl whines.
"Because I said so. Now stop your whining and stop trying to get out of this!" Raven demands as she starts to lose her patience with the girl. "I better not hear any of that the whole way, understood?"
"Fine…" Mari reluctantly relents. "Can I at least get something to eat first?"
"You can eat on the way." Raven then pulls out a small wood box with a lid and hands it to Mari. There is a small thread tied around it, helping keep it shut, and a fork tucked under the thread.
"Oh… uh… thank you…" Mari says as she was still a little surprised by Raven's preparedness as if she knew Mari's request in advance.
"Now let's go. I'd like to get this done today." Raven ignores her thanks as she begins walking toward the gate of the camp with Mari in tow.
. . .
One Hour Later:
[CLANG!]
The sound of Raven's sword colliding with and cleaving a beast in two rings through the area. Raven Branwen swung at an oncoming beowolf that Mari spotted and alerted her of. Another mindless beast ends up running directly into a swing so fast, you'd only see a red flash of her blade if you watched without blinking. The beast's arm is cleaved off. It flies off and disintegrates into a puff of black smoke before it even hits the ground. Raven then follows up her swing at the staggered and backed beast with an upward diagonal slash and slices the monster in half like butter. It hits the ground with a thud, the rest of its body evaporating as well.
"Is that all in this area?" Raven looks back to Mari as a gentle breeze blows by and moves their hair. The purple-haired girl is sitting on a log, cross-legged. She's eating her food while also playing the role of lookout, as directed to by Raven.
"I believe you killed the last one, yes." Mari confirms as she looks around while the wind quickly dies down.
"Alright." Raven speaks as she sheaths her sword. "Let's get moving again. We still have more ground to cover."
Mari gets up silently and begins following as she finishes her food. As she follows Raven in their trek through the woods, the wind begins to gently pick up again around them. The wind is as constant and interminable as the silence between the two as Raven isn't in the mood to strike up a conversation- as if she ever is. Mari struggles to find a topic to break the silence. The only sounds exchanged between the two is the crunching of leaves beneath their feet.
"So, uh… how is your body holding up?" The girl speaks up without thinking as she is desperate for some kind of interaction.
"Hm…?" Raven slightly turns her head to Mari as she wasn't listening. Mari just broke her focus.
"How is your body? You know, after the forest incident?" Mari repeats with clarification.
"Fine." Raven answers bluntly as she is trying to keep most of her focus on their surroundings than the conversation that Mari is initiating.
"You know you didn't have to treat your injuries on your own. You could have called me in to help."
"You were busy looking after Sophia. She needed the attention much more than I did." Raven answers. "And besides, I can treat myself."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to though." Mari reiterates.
"I'm aware of that, Mari. I appreciate the thought. But I prefer to do things on my own."
"Yet you brought me here…?" Mari responds a little sarcastically as she changes the subject.
"I said I prefer. I can always choose different from my preferences if I felt like it. Today I felt like choosing something different."
The silence the girl tried so hard to combat eventually returned as she had no response ready for Raven's retort. However, the silence wasn't as wide as last time as Mari would speak up again with a light inhale.
"You know we're being followed, right?" She tries to bring the bandit leader's attention to the beowolf behind them. It has been stalking the two soon after they started moving.
"Yes."
"Aren't you going to kill it?" Mari asks, confused by Raven's casualness.
"Why should I? You said I got them all."
"Well clearly you missed one."
"No, you missed one." Raven snappily responded with snark in her voice.
"...Huh...?"
"You're the lookout, Mari. You said I got them all in that area. You clearly missed one. You take this one."
"Wait, what?" Mari sounded surprised.
"For every grimm you miss, you have to take. Next time, be more thorough when you look."
"Well, in my de...fense..." Mari cut herself off. She felt herself shrink as Raven cut her off with a glare that said, 'I won't repeat myself.'
Mari pauses for a moment as if she were waiting for some signal from Raven to indicate that she is joking. But there was none.
"Okay." She peeped. "If you say so…" Mari acquiesces with a light sigh.
Though Mari relents and obeys Raven to kill the beowolf, she doesn't bother turning around as she continues strolling alongside her. The beowolf begins to charge toward Mari, believing her to be the weaker of the two. It couldn't have been more wrong. The moment the beast pounces toward her, its great claws are just inches from her hair. But in a split moment, the beast's head suddenly separates from its body as the now disembodied head evaporates. The beast's hulking corpse hurtles into Mari as its body, in turn, also evaporates, briefly engulfing the 15-year-old in its black mist as she continues walking, emerging while the smoke dissipates. In its place, floating on the ground where the beast had perished, is a single, wet, leaf with a silver-colored layer coated along its edge. The only shred of evidence of what she did.
Not once did Mari turn around to face the beast nor did she physically move in response to it.
"I should have had you fight that grimm horde." Raven comments as she gives Mari some light praise.
"Then who would take care of Sophia?"
"I could have."
"...No..." Mari bluntly replies.
"What do mean, 'no'?"
"It's just... well..." Mari sounds a bit hesitant of what she is about to say.
"What is it?"
"... don't take this the wrong way, but she would have died in your care…"
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Raven sounds offended.
"Well… you can be a bit… brutish…"
"Brutish?!" Raven scoffs. "I just handle things urgently, that's all."
"Raven, when we picked up Simin, I had to take over and manage half the things you were doing because you were being too rough with him."
"He's a tough kid."
"And you almost made him a dead one. He may be tough, but not everyone is like you, Raven."
"Whatever…" Raven brushes off Mari's response, though there is a bit of an underlying guiltiness in her tone. "Look, let's just focus on the task at hand."
Mari, sensing her words had some sort of effect on the bandit leader, elected to stay silent and follow.
. . .
The two fighters continue traveling deeper into the woods. They occasionally encounter grimm before promptly executing them. Raven took care of most of them while Mari was mainly responsible for tracking them. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the girl didn't take out a few herself.
"You've gotten better at fighting grimm." Raven comments. "You don't even seem to have a problem disposing of these monsters."
"Thank you." Mari says as the body of a freshly slain beast evaporates near her.
"I wonder why that is." Raven sounds like as if she is leading to something.
"Well you said it yourself. They're monsters. Grimm don't really bother me all that much."
"If only you were as good at fighting people." Raven takes the opportunity to segue.
Mari sighs in response. She gives a Raven a look that says, 'I see where you're going with this.'
"You're going to have to get over it eventually, Mari."
"Monsters are one thing, Raven. But you and I both know I draw the line at people. It just doesn't feel right to me."
"You will have to sooner or later, you know."
"I just can't bring myself to do something like that, okay?" Mari responds, with an irritated voice. It was as if she's heard this a thousand times before.
"You say that as if you have a choice."
"There's always a choice." Mari snaps back, an indicator that Raven touched a nerve with her remark.
"Mari, you don't seem to understand that this isn't the cushy, middle-class Mistralian neighborhood that sheltered you anymore. You're living in the real world now. You live in a world where people kill, steal, exploit, maim and more to their fellow human beings. That is just how things are. And the sooner you accept that, then maybe you'll finally learn something."
Mari listens to Raven's words, but she looks on with disapproval as she shakes her head.
"Take me. I don't want to do the things I do." Raven continues, using herself as an example for her point. "I don't even like doing these things. But I need to. Because that's the world we live in and I need to survive in it. We don't get to choose that."
"Yes we do. We choose by how we contribute to it. Simply by continuing to murder and pillage, you contribute to things being how they are- how you say they are. If things are this way, it's because people like you choose to keep it this way. And the worst part is you don't even realize it because you just pass it off as things always being that way and treat it as an excuse to continue it when it's really the result of your own actions."
"And what about your inactions?" Raven responds as if she already knew what to say.
"What?" The girl sounds confused, caught off-guard by Raven's quick response.
"Let me play advocate for a moment. Let's say the world being how it is is of my own doing and other people like me. You want to point the finger at those whose actions and decisions actively contribute to things being this way. But what about the cowards that have the ability to do something about it, but elect to do nothing? If I choose to make things this way, they choose to do nothing about it. Because when the time comes for people like you to step up, you step aside. Have you ever considered that people like you who have the power to do something about it, yet choose to step aside contribute just as much?"
"I-... um…"
"But I digress..." Raven snidely remarks before Mari can respond. "Back to my real point, Mari, do you know what it's like to be starving? Thirsty? Deprived? To have to fight? To get punched in the mouth, kicked in the ribs, your arm dislocated? Do you know what it's like to be made to bleed at the hands of another person? For someone so sheltered, you seem to think you know a lot. The only reason you think that this godsforsaken place is any better than this is because you've never experienced it for what it really is. When you were living in your sheltered community, reality was showing people like me its true face. You never had to struggle for anything in your safe bubble. You never had to deal with the danger in the poverty-filled slums and criminal underground of your kingdom or the cutthroat brutality of the politics in the higher levels. Just safe and nestled in your comfortable middle-ground. You never had to fight or claw just for basic necessities. And it makes people like you weak. In mind. In spirit. And in body. And you volunteer to keep yourself this way because you refuse to acknowledge that fact.
"I'm going to tell you something that was told to me when I was your age. 'Everyone starts off weak. The strong are the ones who truly know what it's like to be weak first. The ones who realize and acknowledge their weakness and struggle to overcome it. And this is where you separate those who remain weak from those who will become the strong. There are those who choose to remain how they are and don't do what they need to to survive. Then there are those who fight and claw and struggle and do whatever they can and are the ones who make it to the end.' You, Mari have yet to even take your first step. You haven't acknowledged your weakness. And you've yet to actually push yourself.
"You are very, very powerful, Mari. But you'd crumple at the slightest pressure when you have to do something that even slightly challenges your ideals and morals. Meanwhile I've seen bigger steps taken from people younger than you like Vernal. Even Simin has-"
"Hey, don't bring him into this!" Mari interrupts Raven.
"And why shouldn't I? It's not my fault it's true. He's shown potential and unlike you, he actually takes steps toward improving. And I teach him how by showing him how to survive."
"I wouldn't exactly consider dragging a child out into the woods to murder someone and loot their home to be 'survival', Raven." The girl mutters.
"He would have been a threat later had I not."
"He was just defending himself!"
"Excuse me for teaching the boy the tough necessities that we need to adhere to."
"No. You went out of your way to seek him out and attack him." Mari emphasizes her pronouns to get her point across. "And on top of that," She continues. "You put Simin, a child- a literal child-, in the position of killing the guy and risking his life too when the guy tried to fight back and held the boy hostage so you wouldn't kill him. Everything that happened that day was because of you!"
"Mari, what would you do if someone you cared about had their wellbeing or life threatened or the high possibility of being threatened and you know that you could prevent it before it even happened? Would you do something? Would you take the initiative? Or would you just sit there and wait for it to happen because you're too afraid to get someone else's blood on your hands?"
"I would take precautionary measures and be prepared to protect them." She answers. "But that does not equate to a premeditated attack on someone that is not actively posing a threat."
"You get them before they get the chance. Before they can even think about it." Raven responds with her own answer.
"You're teaching him to be a murderer!" Mari outbursts as she seemingly has had enough of Raven's rhetoric.
"As if he isn't one already." Raven dismissively laughs off Mari's accusation.
"Just because he's done it before does not justify or excuse making him do it again. We are way past what he's done. The guilt was eating him alive and I helped him move past it. I was there for him and supported him when he needed it most, which is more than anything you claim to be doing for him. He's gone through enough! And what you did back in December was more than just crossing the line. So stop trying to hold him back."
"I'm holding him back? Not everyone gets to live a normal life or even keep living a normal life, let alone live at all. I'm sure you, of all people, would know that better than most." Raven scorns. "There are things that we will have to do that go against certain parts of our character, but in times like that, it is do or die. And that is what I was teaching Simin. I'm not holding him back. I'm pushing him forward." Raven pushes back against Mari's position.
"Well I don't like where you're pushing him."
"I don't care." The woman replies coldly.
Raven's sheer apathy toward Mari's stance and feelings on the matter briefly takes the girl aback. She struggles to find the words to respond.
"...He's just a child, Raven…" Mari pleads.
"Then maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to convince said child to live among literal bandits. What did you expect, Mari?"
Mari, at a loss for words, didn't fully know what to say. It was as if for a split second, she began to doubt herself. She takes a couple steps back and sits down on a nearby log, hunched over.
"I… I just didn't want him to throw his life away and die... I wanted him to live. Is that wrong...?"
"No. It isn't. I want him to live too." She approaches the slumped-over Mari. "But I want more than just that. You convinced him to continue to live and that's great. You played your part. And now let me play mine and teach him how to continue living. I understand that you want what you believe is best for him. I really do. But you will only do more harm than any good you intend. And besides, he is not yours to guide. He's mine. He is part of my tribe. Lives within my boundaries. He follows my rules. He lives our way."
"Can't you see he doesn't like doing this?" The girl stands back up. "When he murdered six of your own, the boy thought he was a monster. He was genuinely scared of himself. And you want him to go back to that. Why should you get to choose what he does, what he thinks, how he lives? Why doesn't he get a say in this? Where's his choice? All you're doing is making him think that there is no other way to live. You're making him think he doesn't have the freedom to live how he wants."
"It's not about what he wants. It's about what he needs. And he did have that freedom." Rave answers with irritation. "And you know what he chose? He chose to give up. When he attacked those six tribe members, that was when he chose to give up. When he attacked me, he chose to give up. When I gave him my ultimatum, he chose to give up by essentially saying he'd rather die than live among us. He simply did not care anymore.
"You think that was his pride speaking, but that was mostly his broken spirit speaking. You wanna know how I know? Because only someone with a literal death wish would turn down that offer and speak to me in that way in the situation and shape they were in. And don't get me wrong. I know he doesn't see bandits very highly and his words reflected that. But like I said, even someone who hated bandits, but valued their life, would take up that offer if the alternative was death, albeit with reluctance. Simin meant his words, but his initial rejection was more out of giving up than anything. A person who is governed by a broken spirit is not fit to live on their own because they will find an excuse to toss their life away the first chance they get. And I am going to make sure he never does that. And that's why I'm going to choose for him.
"And besides, what if this was what he wanted? What if he did choose this? What would your rhetoric be then?"
There was a moment of silence from Mari. Just from the expression on her face, she is thinking carefully on how she will phrase her response to Raven.
"Personally…," She finally speaks up. "I don't care what other people do so long as they are doing it by choice and what they are doing is not actively or directly hurting or negatively affecting anyone. I want people to live however they want so long as it doesn't get in the way of someone else's well-being. So long as no one is getting hurt, then I will always support their choice and defend their right to make that choice no matter what. Even if what is being chosen is something I disagree with or dislike or am critical of, I won't stop them from making that choice. I won't tell them 'no'. I will still support the choice and defend their right, so long as it's not hurting anyone, even if the object of choice is not one I am particularly fond of."
When hearing the answer, Raven was silent for a few moments. She tried to trap the girl with her question, but didn't anticipate the answer she would give. If anything, Raven expected to be answered with silence. Raven was honestly impressed by the Mari.
"Hmph. Clever answer." Raven gives Mari credit. "But that still doesn't make you any less naive."
Raven's remark prompts a heavy sigh from the girl.
"Anyway," She continues. "It seems our little argument has drawn out the last of the grimm."
Raven and Mari were suddenly surrounded by the growing sounds of snarling grimm closing in on them. The wind gently picks up before dying back down.
"You can hear them right?" Raven adds. "How many are we looking at?"
"About 25? Maybe 30… They're not close enough for me to pinpoint an exact number."
"Alright. Then let's end this here and finish this trip." She draws her sword.
Without a word, Mari gets into a fighting stance. The two pick off every individual grimm that leaps out at them from the trees. One by one, the two execute each grimm with swift ease. With every beast that lunged at either of the fighters, they responded with a single motion as their existences were snuffed out. But as Mari finishes her last grimm, she turns to see Raven landing a blow on hers. However, where Raven struck this one, it was in a nonlethal area. Raven has always been very efficient when it came to her kills. She would never do this unless... she were deliberately trying to inflict suffering. At that moment it becomes clear to Mari that Raven wants to take her time with this one.
In short succession, Raven lobs off the beast's arm. I howls in pain before it attempts to deal its own blow in return. Raven effortlessly stabs the beast in the shoulder before dragging her sword down, slicing its tendons, rendering its other arm useless. This brings out another howl from the monster- this time a howl of distress. She then brings her sword back up and cleaves the beowolf's snout off.
"That's enough, Raven!" Mari speaks up. "Just kill it already."
"After what these things put me through and did to Sophia, I intend to take my time." There is a cold cruelty in the woman's voice. She struck the beast with vengeance and savagery in her attacks- breaking its leg with a swift kick and leveling it down to size. As the creature is down to Raven's level, she lands a heavy haymaker onto its skull, cracking the bone-like mask around its face as it lets out a grunt.
"This is unnecessary, Raven!"
"Then why don't you stop me?" Raven sharply turns toward Mari and steps up to her. "Come on. Do something about it. Make me stop. Kill it yourself or sit there and watch it continue."
Mari feels an urge to step forward and push Raven away and kill the beast herself, but she knows that doing so will cause a physical altercation with her. She doesn't want to fight Raven. She swallows and picks up her foot to step forward. But at the last second, she restrains herself and holds herself back as she returns her foot back to its place. The teenager balls her fists and looks away as she tries to avert her eyes from the sight with a slight change of scenery.
"You don't get to look away from this." Raven calls to Mari while maintaining a calm tone. She easily tosses the beast right in front of her line of sight. "Watch what happens when you don't act. You watch or you do something. You don't get another choice."
Raven then proceeds to drive her sword into the back of the creature's knee, pinning it to the ground, as it lets out a sharp, raspy exhale. She then plants her foot on its neck.
For the first time in her entire life, Mari felt pity for even that of a literal monster. In the face of Raven's cruelty, the girl can feel her breath grow heavy as she tries her best to hide it and balled her fists as tight as she could.
"You are so much more powerful than me, Mari. But even if you were to step in and physically get involved and I fight you back, you will never beat me. And do you know why? It's because I know your weakness. You want me to show you what your weakness is?"
The girl doesn't even respond and neither does Raven. But instead, she pulls up her sword and points the tip onto Mari's chest, specifically her heart. As soon as Raven did that, she proceeds to add pressure with her foot, crushing the beowolf's neck under her boot, never once taking her eyes off the girl. The mangled beast evaporates into a puff of smoke, briefly enveloping Raven; however, only her burning red eyes and parts of her pale face were visible through the screen. No sooner than it happens, the smoke dissipates around her, revealing the human who was just briefly underneath.
"Was that the last one?" Raven asks Mari while maintaining the cold undertone in her voice.
Mari says nothing for a moment, but simply nods her head yes.
"Y-yeah…"
"Are you sure, this time?"
"Yes..." Mari muttered.
"Let's leave, then."
The blood-irised woman then slices a portal open. But before Mari steps through, Raven stops her.
"The only reason why you're alive still is because you are my responsibility. Mari, in any other scenario, I would have let you die out there that night. And you'd have been beaten and robbed, killed and looted, or mauled to death by some grimm or wild animal without a hint of hesitation, mercy, or remorse. You've lived the vast majority of your entire life sheltered. And you think that the person you are is proof that your words and ideologies about this world are true, but you're not. You're an exception of the truth you refuse to accept. You're not fooling anyone, Mari. You may be special, but that doesn't make you better. So I'd change my attitude if I were you. Because every breath that you take out here is a blessing. And if I were you, I'd start counting them because you're starting to run out. You're on borrowed time, girl. Now you may walk through."
Raven gestures for Mari to walk through first. The girl steps up as Raven commands and exits through the portal. She feels her heart race a little as she passes Raven less than an arm's length away. Raven would then follow, completely abandoning the newly liquidated forest.
For the first time in her life, Mari saw true cruelty and malice in the face. Indiscriminate and savage… and it was donned by a human. Not even literal monsters and demons- the embodiments of malice and cruelty- hold a candle when a human dons the mask. There are few forces as destructive and horrifying as the level of malice and cruelty a human is capable of.
**Chapter End**
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Hey everyone!
I told you this one would be out fast.
We only have one more anthology chapter and then we can finally jump back into the main story. This chapter and the next chapter are essentially going to be a transition back to the main story as we pivot back to Mari, Raven, and Simin in the final act. And one character that is going to be getting a good amount of exploration is Mari. If I'm being completely honest, Mari has sort of gotten the short end of the stick as a character and has primarily served as an anchor for Simin throughout her entire tenure in this volume. So because of that, I feel like I've been neglecting her a bit. I think it's time she steps into her own a little more as we explore her in relation to Raven. My biggest worry is that Simin might get third wheeled for most of the final act. But Mari needs focus and her relationship with Raven is very important and I have not touched on it nearly as much as I should have. So I'm trying to make up for it here. It'll make sense soon.
With Mari's character I feel like she's been depicted as the "pure, perfect, paragon, good" one in the group of characters this volume (which is what I've been going for for most of this volume). But we're about to find out she is anything but pure. She's not evil or anything. But she is incredibly flawed in her own way. But despite her flaws, I hope to be able effectively explore and explain her flaws and why she's made the choices she's made. Like with the other characters, especially in this volume, I don't aim to make them sympathetic or make you like them or make you hate them. But I do aim to get you to understand them and get you to care about them in some way, shape, or form. Whether you like them or dislike them, agree with them or disagree, side with them or oppose them, I want you to at least be able to say that you hear where they're coming from- that you understand them. As for how you feel about them, that is entirely up to you.
I also did a small change with Mari's character. Originally, I had her as basically an ultra-pacifist who wouldn't even so much as hurt a grimm. But I thought having that as a trait might hurt her character, so I changed her so that she has no problem fighting grimm so long as she kills them quickly. But people are a no-go for her no matter what.
Anyway, this chapter:
A lot of dialogue got cut out too, but that was mainly because I repurposed it to other chapters.
This chapter is the first major butting of heads between Mari and Raven that we see. There will be a good amount of this moving forward as their relationship gets pushed to the forefront. In this chapter, we see three things to note.
1.) We see for the first time their views directly clashing. Raven's view of the world being a cutthroat because that's just the nature of it versus Mari's view that the world is the way it is because of people who make it this way.
2.) We see their stances regarding Simin's direction/guidance. Raven wants to "show" Simin how to live and wants him to live her way (the only way she, herself, knows how to live). Meanwhile Mari wants Simin to have the choice to live his own way (so long as he's not murdering people or whatever) and just wants him to be happy. And the way each of them want Simin to live relates to their worldviews.
3.) And we see Raven trying to expose Mari to herself by essentially weaponizing Mari's views against her. Though Raven has her own views of the world, she sees Mari's views as hypocritical and naive due to how she knows Mari.
All of these will be elaborated on moving forward.
Also the stuff where Raven was like, "What if he did want do this? What would you say then?", Raven was trying to trap Mari with her answer and call her out as a hypocrite. So Mari tried to give the most middle-ground answer she could think of by basically saying, "Do whatever you want, just so long as you're not hurting anyone. Even if I don't like or agree with or am critical of what you're doing, I'm not going to say you can't do it or tell you no. If that's what you want to do and you're not hurting anyone, I'll support you and defend your right to make that choice." And she meant it too. This wasn't her way of dancing around the question. She meant what she said. She just wanted to phrase it in a way so that Raven couldn't respond or hit her with any comebacks.
There were multiple routes I wanted to go with this chapter and it sucks I could only do one. One route involved Raven straight up ditching Mari in the woods and force her to have to fend for herself by attracting a beowolf pack and then just portalling away as they charge her. But Raven secretly portals back in her bird form to keep an eye on her and make sure nothing bad happens.
Another route, Raven was going to disengage her aura and hand Mari her sword and leave herself vulnerable to the grimm with full faith that Mari would step up and kill them before they got to Raven. I was really close to picking this one, but the problem is that Mari has no problem killing monsters so whatever lesson Raven tries to teach her or whatever point Raven wanted to try to prove I thought wouldn't have amounted to much. I mean Raven is trying to teach Mari to do things that are against her character, but she has no problem fighting when it's against grimm, so what exactly would be accomplished? The only thing I could think of would be her learning to step up in order to save a life, but since she has no issues killing grimm, I thought it would be a bit pointless? If she were defending Raven from another person or some animal, then that make a bit more sense since Mari is against hurting people. I could have tried the animal route, but that would have been hard to do without blatant shoehorning.
So instead, I tried to do something I thought would be a bit different with Raven torturing the beowolf to try and force Mari's hand to make her stop and kill it painlessly. I don't know how well it landed, so this was a bit of a gamble. Another reason why Raven was torturing the beowolf was also because she wanted let off steam for what the grimm did to her and Sophia a few days prior.
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say for this chapter. As I work on the next one, here is fun fact #26:
Fun Fact #26: The last scene with Raven becoming enveloped by the smoke with her red eyes and pale face being the only things visible is meant to be symbolic of how Raven is capable of being just as monstrous as the grimm are, if not worse.