A/N: *cracks knuckles*
We're finally here; you know what this chapter's all about.
As ever, we're going by the now infamous Embers rule for this story. If folks don't like it...well, it won't be continued So by all means! speak up! I'm working two jobs -have been for awhile now- and I don't have time to write something folks don't enjoy. That's why I'm here you see, to write stories that resonate with people, be they happy or sad. So Make yourselves heard! Every bit of feedback counts!
That's no joke!
I really look forward to reading and chatting with you all after a long day working back to back shifts. What little downtime I have is often spent writing these days, and that really has a tendency to wear me out; moreso when no one responds.
So, in lieu of a million questions...lets go.
Once more, I'll let the chapter do the talking for me. Hopefully everyone enjoys it.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes. Not a wit or a one. Here we go~!
Recall what happened last chapter? No? Go ahead and reread the last bit for the full experience. I'll wait.
Lastly, yes, that title card is a not to the Imagine Dragons song. Right banger, that one.
"Come now, don't act surprised. 'Tis a tale older than time, older than myself, really.
Treat someone like a monster long enough, and eventually..
...they become one."
~Salem.
Cutthroat
Raven woke to screaming at dawn.
Not just any scream mind you; the high reedy cry of someone about to die.
For a wild fretful instant she thought it was herself, but no, the voice didn't belong to her.
Try telling that to her body! Panic bleated in her brain and had her thrashing out of bed like a madwoman...only for her body to fail her spectacularly. Her shoulder sang with pain, white-hot agony spearing down her spine with such intensity that she actually blacked out for a moment.
She came to and found her face in the floor of her tent.
Memories came rushing back soon thereafter; they served as a grueling reminder all the same. Right. Her shoulder was screwed. One did not face Salem without risk, and her injuries were not minor. She'd all but fell out her portal and into her bed the moment she got out of Mountain Glenn.
Another scream pierced the morning, this one sharper -shriller!- than the last. Should probably get on that.
"I'm sorry!" Someone wailed outside her tent. "Oh, please, oh gods, I didn't KNOW-
SPLAT.
Something spattered the floor just outside. Her hackles rose.
"Monster!" another cry went up. "Stay back! Stay...!"
Words died in a bloody gurgle.
...ah, hell." she spat and forced herself upright, swearing like a sailor as her armor screamed all the while. She'd taken a well deserved rest, trusted in her tribe to follow her orders, treat her guests right. Her own damn fault. Bandits wouldn't know hospitality if it slapped them upside the head. She heard another scream, a wail of fear, then she was out the tent and into the fray. In truth she half-expected to find Grimm running hither and yon through the camp, devouring her men.
What Raven found was so much worse.
While she did hear howls in the distance and glimpse a few red eyes lurking in the shadows, it was a far cry from the dread swarm she'd both feared and expected. But the bodies...oh, the bodies...
"Hey, boss...
By chance or luck -Raven Branwen believed in neither!- she found one of her men sprawled nearby just shy of her tent. The poor fool was gripping a tattered hole in his stomach. Anyone could see he wasn't long for this world. Glassy eyes looked her way, already misted over. Her anger sparked and she seized the fool by the throat.
"I told you to keep him here!"
"We did! Vernal...chained him up real good!" A wet cough followed. "But he got loose...
"Loose?!" Horror dawned in her heart. "When I said keep him here, I didn't mean with chains! Booze, women, lien, anything but chains! Whew the hell is Vernal?!"
Her man blinked up at her, not quite comprehending. The silence was telling. She was holding a fading fool-which meant her second was probably just that; dead or dying, the stupid girl. She'd always been eager to prove herself. Too eager. Leave it to her to piss off the one man she shouldn't have. It wasn't fair. How had everything gone so spectacularly wrong?
Her temper slipped its leash.
Omen roared free from its sheathe and lopped the dying man's head clean off his shoulders. It wasn't enough.
"You absolute idiots!" she swung down into the corpse again and again, screaming her fury. "How could you screw the pooch this badly!"
The corpse had no answers for her. She stomped down one last time, blood spattering her face, and forced herself to move on.
She found the kid's human companions caged nearby. The huntress was still as the grave and the reporter didn't look much better. There was a nasty welt on her head. Hopefully they'd been knocked out. Please, gods, let them be knocked out. If they were dead, she'd have no way of calming that living hurricane down.
Damnit, damnit, damnit.
In the end she couldn't find the keys and gave up; Omen flicked out and shattered the lock. She stalked in and made for huntress. What was her name again? Elm? Right, that was it. Hopefully she'd forgive her for what she was about to do.
Her heel cracked out into her chest. "Wake the hell up!
The burly woman groaned. "Whuzzat...?"
Not good enough! Raven reached down and, ignoring the agony in her shoulder, grabbed a handful of the larger woman's hair. Slapped her face. Once. Twice. Thrice. On the third strike, the huntress finally caught her wrist. Good. Anger. They could use that. She didn't have time to explain.
"Call your boss. Now."
She tore her wrist free, dropped the woman, and waded back into the fray.
Which begged the question. Where was the-
Her sixth sense screamed a warning and she twisted to the side. A body -what was left of one!- hurtled out the haze and spattered itself on the wooden palisade behind her.
She pivoted, seeking the source, and found a shadow swinging in the smoke.
"Orah!" A man roared in the smoke and bandits flew through the air by the dozens.
Once there, they were snatched out the sky by a bloody Grimm dragon of all things. The lucky ones were crushed in her claws. That lot died quickly; the unlucky found themselves bathing in tainted black fire spewed from her jaws. Their deaths were long, lingering, full of misery as the flesh sloughed from their bodies.
...nope. Not messing with that.
Those who tried to flee the blaze -and there were many!- were set upon by the blond's one-eyed woman; she'd swiped a sword from someone somewhere, and bloody hell she knew how to use it. Vicious swings made short work of any who lacked aura. Those who did were left begging for death. She didn't deliver it.
The dragon did.
It was too much. If this continued, they'd be wiped out, and all because of a spectacular miscommunication.
Grimacing at the pain in her shoulder, she stormed into he fray. She could see the kid -Naruto!- ripping through her men just ahead; he still wasn't losing steam. Qrow was right. You couldn't fight something like this; your best hope was to calm it, placate, give it what it wanted, and get the hell out of its path. Her tribe had learned that lesson too late.
She stormed his way now, careful to keep her hand well away from Omen's hilt.
"Stop!" she hollered! "Stop fighting, you louts, all of you!"
Weapons clattered to the floor. Too little, too late.
The wyvern saw her and swept down. Her heart skipped a beat as she beheld the sheer bulk of the beast up close. Fly! Flee! Escape!
In that moment she wanted nothing more than to turn tail, cut a portal, and flee. She knew what would happen if she did. She'd never make it in time. A single bite would take her head. She stood her ground, unflinching as that unholy Grimm landed before. Massive slavering jaws parted not an inch from her face. She willed herself to stand fast in the face of them and the baleful roar that followed. Fetid air blasted her face. Her hair flew back, but she kept her eyes opening, squinting only a little in spite of it.
...you done?"
Naruto turned to face her at the last, fire flickering over his face, and her heart skipped a beat. "Is this what you call hospitality?"
Raven froze at the gleam in his eyes. They were red now. Like a Grimm. Dangerous and wild. Strong, too-no, no, now was not the time for such thoughts.
There was something on his left arm, dark tar twisting the limb into a monstrous black claw she hadn't seen before. She'd seen him fuse himself with that dying Grimm back in the Glenn; it had made him stronger, given him abilities he'd lacked before...until Salem put him down. No such luck here. She had no desire to pick a fight with something like that. The power of the Spring Maiden afforded her much, but she was far from her peak now, and with only one arm to defend herself...well, best not to take chances.
"This is all a misunderstanding." she raised her good hand and took a tentative step towards him. "You have every right to be angry, but the fault is with these idiots." a thumb flicked over her shoulder. "Not me."
"Yes, thanks ever so much for that, but I don't care this," he made a pinching motion with his human hand, "What you think. Alpha?"
A sword tickled Raven's throat. Sneaky bitch. She hadn't even heard her coming.
Those eerie, blank red eyes glared her way. "If she lies, kill her."
"Happily."
Raven swallowed her anger -and her fear!- fighting against every instinct she had. Talk, his eyes seemed to say.
And so she did.
"I told my men to look after you." she chose her words carefully, unwilling to move her head so much as an inch for fear of opening her own throat. "Apparently they thought that meant chaining you down. Stupid shits. I would've killed them for it if you hadn't beat me to it.
"And where were you all this time?"
"Asleep." she growled. "I passed out as soon as I gave the order. In case you've forgotten, I pulled your ass out the fire back there!
His eyes traveled to her shoulder, bleeding red through the crude bandages she'd applied. "Not a lie."
...where's Vernal?"
Her guest scowled at her. "You mean the bitch that booted me in the face? Where do you think she is?"
Raven bit down on a keening whine. It died an ugly death behind her teeth. Damnit. If that close call in Mountain Glenn hadn't hardened him, this certainly had.
If that girl was alive somewhere, she'd kill her. Personally.
With a wretched sigh, she threw down Omen at his feet.
"Come to my tent. We can talk there."
(.0.0.0.)
"Mistral?!"
Ironwood's jaw clicked open.
"Say again, Elm? You're where? With who?!"
He hadn't expected to receive the call at all; he'd feared them dead.
"Well done, soldier. So long as you're alright. Stay there. Keep your scroll on. I'll dispatch the fleet...
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto watched Raven like a hawk.
What else could he do? Any trust he might have felt toward her had all but evaporated in the wake of her tribe's mistake. That she'd brought him into her tent did little to assuage his worries. If anything it only made them worse. Exacerbated his darker emotions. Or maybe that was the Grimm he'd taken into himself. He hadn't a choice at the time, didn't even know he could do it, but the deed was done.
Casper had been strangely silent since...
Raven plonked down on the either side of the table, eyes dark. "You know who I am." It wasn't a question.
He granted her a rueful grin "Pretty hard to forget, after the entrance you made.
"Hmmhmm. I'll be frank. I want to use you. But you're a magnet for trouble.
"That, and Grimm."
"Figured, she huffed. They're part and parcel with you. In any case," she hoisted herself to her feet, "We've captured a Grimm. Well, more like it followed you through the portal. I had intended to give it to you when I woke up, give you a chance to show your power before the tibe, but...
He scoffed. "Already did, that."
...fair. If I hadn't seen it myself, i wouldn't believe it. You're not human."
"What do you mean?" The insinuation stung more than he cared to admit. "Of course I'm human!"
"No," she shook her head, tossing her dark mane to and fro, uncaring for his ire." You're not. Face it, a human can't do half the things you do. If you didn't bleed red, I'd think you were a Grimm."
A growl rumbled through the air; it took him a moment to realize it came from him.
"But you're not one of those either, are you?" Raven thumbed her chin, considering him as one might a juicy steak. "You aren't drawn to negative emotions the way they are, and you need both food as well as water to keep going. Not things a Grimm would need. Which begs the question. What are you?" She crossed one leg over the other, drawing attention to the slender expanse of her thighs. "What you want? What are your goals?"
...would you believe me if I said world peace?"
She barked a laugh. "Bull and shit."
"I'm not joking."
"Neither am I, boy." her eyes were daggers on his, cutting into his hopes. "You can't have peace between human and Grimm. Not while Salem exists. Can you fight her, resist her?"
An unpleasant feeling bubbled up in his gut. "You want a weapon."
"Well, well, well." Full lips quirked in a smirk. "Aren't you a quick study. You're correct. I do want a weapon. Something to throw at Salem. Knock her off balance. Keep her distracted. Whether or not you can become that weapon remains to be seen.
"And if I refuse?"
Her shoulders rolled in a shrug. "I can hardly force you to comply now, can I? If someone pisses you off, the Grimm will come tearing down on us.
His lips thinned. "You're a bunch of bandits."
"Best in Mistral." she puffed out her chest as if it were something to be proud of. "I make no excuses. The strong rule here. If you have a problem with it, then change it. I can't force you to stay and I'm not foolish enough to manipulate you. If nothing else, I can promise you this. I will never lie to you. You will only ever hear the truth from me. And here's another. If you try to face Salem as you are now, you will die."
"..."
"And on the other side of the coin," Keen eyes flicked up and down the length of him, assessing whatever threat he might present. "Ozpin wants you out of the picture, and he'll get his way if you don't push back. As to what that means, is up to you."
...you really are the opposite of Summer."
Her eyes flashed. "At least I'm not part Grimm. I know who I am. Do you?"
Naruto knew he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
She knew it. He knew it. But he wouldn't give in.
He raised his gaze.
...I do."
A/N: Farewell poor Vernal, we barely knew ye.
Ozpin's fate is up in the air. Did his body die? Did he move onto another...?
As ever, we're going by the Embers rule. This'll won't be continued if folks don't like it. So speak up! Make yourselves heard! Every bit of feedback counts! Seriously! Strange at it may seem, I can't write without reviews. That's no joke.
Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write.
So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly?
Have your previews.
I'm so tired...
(Previews)
"But my queen! They're right there! We must strike!"
"Patience, Tyrian."
Judging by his expression, she doubted he would listen. Pity. It would be a shame to loose such a useful minion...
...but perhaps he might blood the boy. Harden him. Push him that much closer to her caue.
He was so close now, ready to be what she needed him to be.
He just...needed...a little...push.
Summer gripped her arm and doubled over. "No! I won't! You can't make me!"
The airship descended. A man stood on the ramp and held out his hand.
"Come with me if you want to live!"
"You ready to blow this story wide open?"
He clasped Lisa's hand. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
R&R~!