Raven

Raven wondered just how she'd found herself being sent to get breakfast at a nearby store, or why, when she returned, she found Summer Rose laughing and giggling, and Cinder desperately trying to reassemble one of the magazines of Dawning Rose. The heavy assembly, and the spring of the magazine, had been ejected, and Cinder was frantically scrambling at the floor, near a kneeling, laughing Summer Rose who was idly spinning one of Dawning Rose's heavy, .50 caliber rounds between her long fingers.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

The girl's frantic apologies weren't helped by Summer's laughter. With some consternation and a strange feeling in her stomach, Raven noted that Cinder almost seemed tearstruck. So, as Raven set the small bag of pastries and coffee down on the desk in their opulent room, she bent down and gently spoke to Cinder.

"Here, give them to me."

As Cinder reluctantly passed over the shells and pieces, Raven offered a small, small quirk of upturned lips and spoke quietly.

"It's ok, it was a mistake."

Cinder looked at her with a curious expression, one that Raven wasn't quite able to place, and with the slight laughter of Summer Rose in one ear, she gently took the girl's hands and spoke once more.

"Shall I teach you how to assemble it and load it?"

Raven shocks even herself, and, apparently, Summer Rose as well, as the other woman's peals of laughter abruptly cut off with an almost choking noise. The noise causes Cinder to try, and fail, to split her attention between the two women. She eventually chooses to focus on Raven, as Summer rises from her seated position and moves towards the placed bag of coffee and assorted pastries.

Raven calmly takes the pieces of the magazine and carefully holds them out to Cinder. She points to each piece in turn and begins to speak.

"A magazine has five central pieces, all of which work together to make the weapon chamber and fire rounds of ammunition. This small central piece is called the floor plate, and it locks to the spring, and this other piece, which is called the baseplate. That assembly is then loaded into the magazine, like this."

Raven clicks the pieces together and slides part of the spring assembly out to point out the last pieces.

"These two are the follower and the spring, the spring is what pushes bullets, called rounds up the magazine and into the mechanisms of the weapon itself. Once the entire assembly is ready, you click it back into place, like this."

Raven slid the spring and assembly into the magazine, locking it tightly in place and offering that small quirk of her lips as Cinder looked up at her with something resembling pure awe. Then, the tall Branwen pulls Summer's small bag, embroidered with flowering roses, she lifts the flap and begins removing rounds, one at a time. Each one has different colors and tips, and as Cinder remarks over all of them, Raven calmly speaks as she touches her fingers to each one.

"High explosive, Armor piercing, gravity, incendiary, and wind."

Cinder's face, though she tries to hide it, immediately gives away that she has no real idea what any of this means. Something that Raven takes on explaining, again in her calm, solid tone.

"Blue tips are incendiary munitions, they use fire dust to set Grimm ablaze and burn lightly armored targets."

Cinder's finger moves to the Armor Piercing round.

"That one with the black tip is an armor-piercing round, it'll punch a fist-sized hole through a wall and anyone unfortunate enough to be on the other side."

When she touches the purple one, Raven gently takes her hands and moves them away.

"Gravity dust, not a great idea to touch it, ok?"

Cinder nods, spellbound as Raven picks up the wind dust round.

"This one, where the entire bullet is green? It's wind, it will generate a large storm of wind or focus itself into a blade when fired. Depending on what the user desires."

The woman takes a breath, and feeling the warmth of a mug of fresh coffee pressed into her hands, Summer takes over for the last one.

"This one, green and white, is a high explosive round. The bullet hits a target and then explodes, violently. I usually use it on the larger Grimm, like Goliath's or mammoths."

Cinder's eyes snap open, wide and almost even frightened as she stares at the unobtrusive bullet, clad in its shell. Summer smirks and speaks boldly, even, with a gravitas to her voice that almost would feel out of place for her, and yet it doesn't even really remotely feel that wrong to hear her boasting.

"Yep! Even a Goliath feels it when Dawning Rose kicks one of these small ones into its hide."

Summer's pride was clear, and Raven felt her own lips widening and then a large smile breaking out on her face as she watched her partner gently stick an armor piercing round into the base of the magazine, before loading each one deeper and deeper into the magazine until the 10 round receptacle was full.

With a smile on her face, Summer snapped the magazine into the center of Dawning Rose's loading assembly, and the mecha shift weapon clicked shut over the mag. Completely and utterly masking its appearance within the considerably large body of the weapon. Twirling it up and over her head, Summer strapped the massive war scythe onto her back and smiled at Cinder, affectionately, she gently pinched the girl's left cheek, slowly speaking.

"It's time for us to go, but we'll be back later, ok?"

Raven tunes out this part of the conversation, she is idly listening to the weather advisory that's been playing on the tv since they awoke. When with some consternation, she notes that the newscaster is getting handed a parcel.

Immediately Raven's senses light up and she focuses entirely on the television, just in time to catch the updated piece.

"Recent data given to me has necessitated a sudden announcement, as of right now, the City of Atlas is under an emergency weather advisory. All citizens should avoid going outside unless absolutely necessary. A freak storm has formed to the north and is moving towards Atlas, it is projected to hit the city in the next hours and will swing into full force by early evening. Temperatures will be extreme, and all civilians should take note and shelter in place by the time evening hits. Atlesian air force operatives will be flying as long as the weather holds, but they will have to withdraw at that time."

As the broadcast ended, Raven raised an eyebrow. Sure, with their aura, they'd be able to hold against the cold, but this would throw a monkey wrench into leaving the city early. Not a big one, but it would be likely that they'd have to delay their departure until the storm passed, or just use one of Raven's portals.

Her portals… she'd have to do that again, have to renew the control she used over them. Maintaining an emotional connection with people was difficult, especially when you barely liked them. Roland, one of her singular contacts within the tribe, was one who was tolerable, but really only because the man was so toughened and hardened that he didn't die when asked. Now, he led the tribe in her absence, even though it had been some time since she'd last seen it in person.

Her other contact was a woman named Carina, and while she wasn't any longer in the tribe, living in the mountains of Solitas, she had something akin to a time-honored bond with Raven, one that… wasn't as strong as it had been in the past, now that Raven thought about it.

Then, there was Summer, and that bond was as strong as the day she'd made it, powerful and thrumming with the emotions that formed it even now. For Raven, interacting with such things often forced her to submerge herself within them, and then, in that connection and those emotions was she able to pull a portal into reality. It took time and effort to do so, and only two bonds had ever been strong enough to be near instant. Both of which had long since faded to mere flickering flames.

Those bonds were with Taiyang Xiao-Long and Summer Rose. They were strong even now, but only in the way, a defiant ember is the last to stand up when one quenched a fire. Taiyang… she felt something akin to the deep respect and love for the man, even now, even after everything she'd done. And… at some level, he felt it too, while her semblance was not strong enough to allow her to see such insights of others, it did not work if the bond was one-sided. Those in the tribe who hated her had completely and utterly blocked themselves off from her semblance; Such strong negative emotions could sever a bond instantly, and they nearly had when Taiyang and Summer had initially found out just what she and Qrow had meant when they'd told the two that their backgrounds were painful and too long to elaborate on.

Raven opened her eyes when she felt a small tug on her sleeve, and she looked down to find those shining amber eyes looking up at her. Cinder, stared up at her with something akin to wonder and curiosity, eyes glimmering with tears that were uncertain.

"Will you come back…?"

Raven nodded once, her red eyes staring into those amber pools, and noting that beneath the sadness, the uncertainty, and the anxiety, there was something that bucked and barked against it. There was something in those eyes that was screaming that she had to find her way back because it was Cinder counting on her. That she would make it work and make it in the world if she had to die trying. This girl had a fire that had been near quenched before, but that quenching had failed, and now that little flame was burning ever brighter. So Raven told her the blunt truth.

"Yes. We will return. We will be back for you. But."
Raven smiled a thin, sad smile before she took a small ring from her left hand and pressed it into Cinder's own.

"Do you know how to read the street signs?"

The girl nodded solemnly.

"Good, you need to go three streets down from here, knock on the building with the golden door, and give them this ring. They will get you to a safe place if need be."

Cinder nods, inspecting the heavy, solid ring, emblazoned on it is a small wing, made of a dark, beautiful, and glossy metal. She feels that this ring is more valuable than anything she has ever held in her life because it is a promise.

This ring is the tall woman's bond, Raven's word. This is who Raven is, and this is what Raven's eyes tell her. The tall woman, the huntress, is telling Cinder that she will find her, and if she does not find her it is not because she wishes to, it is because she has died.

Raven smiles at Cinder, and Cinder feels something akin to warmth in her smile, as the woman stands, resting a single hand on her katana, she turns to face the door and proceeds outside. Once she leaves, Summer speaks up, almost conspiratorially close to Cinder herself, the woman whispers.

"She's trying to be all stern and hard, but you and I know that's just an act."

Cinder giggles, the half-stolen sound peeking from her lips like the first rays of sun after a blizzard. Summer hides her shock in a closed fist over her mouth, but her wide grin closes her eyes as she gets up and stalks out of the hotel, sending a single glance back to Cinder, she speaks one more time.

"Hang in there, Cinder, we'll be back, and then you'll leave this place behind forever."

Cinder wants to trust her, she wants to have faith in the other woman's ability to save her and provide for her, and yet she knows in her heart that she can't rely on the other woman. So as the door closes gently, Cinder takes the small ties out of her hair and ties it back up into a heavy, thick bun. Inside of this, she secures the ring to the bun and hopes that it will be enough to hide it from others' prying eyes.

The girl steals into the servant's passage, while she has been somewhat saved simply by how early it is, she knows that if Madame catches her there will be a form of hell to pay beyond all others.

It is with trepidation that Cinder steps into the kitchens and begins hurrying to make breakfast, her steps are light, and excitement thrums through her body, Summer and Raven had seen fit to give her, her of all people, gifts! She bears one from each woman; In her small, flat boot, Raven bestowed a small knife, and hidden away in her room, Summer has left her a beautiful, feathered, and decorated jewel piece that she's stashed under her pillow. Summer never said specifically why she gave it to her, or why such a beautiful piece was given to Cinder, and yet… she did so anyways, and now Cinder's heart beats fast against her chest just thinking about what it is.

The knife in her boot, the brooch in her room, gifts from two huntresses… and yet they paled in comparison to the feeling of the power running through her. She had her semblance, and she knew how to activate it, she knew how to throw it and fight it until it bubbled out of her in an addicting, wonderful rush.

The routing at the hotel was always the same for Cinder, she would be up at 4 AM, if not earlier, and would have 5 entire hours to herself to prepare food, do laundry, and make certain the "guests" were taken care of before the Madame awakened, even then, she'd have another 2 hours before Iris and Clove awoke. In this section of the morning, she was happy, she had her chores, but no one was awake or could be bothered to punish her. Hence, Cinder hummed a melody, albeit slight, a melody from within the depths of her half-remembered parents, a melody sung by the gravel and chocolate of her father and hummed by the silk and glass of her mother.

So as Cinder found herself rushing to complete her chores that morning, she hummed, and she stuck to the sunspots as they became slowly more and more infrequent, and as her humming began to be drowned out by the encroaching storm Cinder felt every single part of her gently sing. She had power, she had hope, and that was enough for today.

It was with some surprise that her voice cut off when Madame entered the kitchens, swaddled within a vast overcoat and covered in a thick layer of ice and snow, that led Cinder to rush to the woman's side. Even though she was horrible, Cinder knew the winters in Atlas could turn deadly if one wasn't careful, and as she took the massive coat from Madame, splatters of ice water began raining down around her and coating her. Immediately Cinder was shivering as the other woman stood up and turned to face her.

"Breakfast is ready, yes?"

Cinder nodded, the meekness returning with the loss of her voice as soon as Madame had spoken. But as she nodded, she felt the Madame speak quietly, and something… about the way she spoke was strange.

"Good."

Madame passed her on her way out, and Cinder was left sitting there, holding a sodden scarf in one hand and almost completely and utterly slackjawed at the sheer thought of such a thing.

Madame had just complimented her work.

Madame did not do this, Cinder knew that, and more to the point, she didn't just never do such a thing, she willingly chose not to do so. This… this made no sense, so what was happening?

Cinder's mind whirled, turning to look at Madame's way out, the door gently waving. Her eyes narrowed and focused straight ahead, and she considered the possibilities.

One, Madame had turned over a new leaf.

Immediately, it was discarded; she would not do such a thing, she was set in her ways of alcohol and vast wealth.

Two, she wanted something.

This was possible, albeit unlikely, what did Cinder have that Madame didn't? She was 9 years old and knew nothing of serious importance. Her body was slight and small, and Madame couldn't want anything that she didn't already have.

Three, Madame had found out about the huntresses.

This… was possible, and even likely, Cinder's mind gently considered it, if Madame had seen or been awake for long enough in the past few nights it stood to reason she could have seen what had transpired with the huntresses. But how had she heard them? Or… had she seen Summer talking to her on the roof? She couldn't have assumed the huntresses were serious, right?

Even if she had, she wouldn't have approached them, Huntresses were heroes, unstoppable demigods, and they wouldn't even remotely struggle when faced with the Grimm, let alone a single human woman.

If it was none of them… why did she feel a cold pit in her stomach that only got worse the longer the morning dragged on?

Raven

Raven and Summer had forged out into the snow in the early morning to establish their ambush site and prepare for their target's arrival. The warehouse he resided in was a decrepit old building that had yet to be torn down by Atlas' revival projects, it still had shattered windows near the top, and rusted metal side sheeting. It was at the very back of an alleyway and the street was a scant few blocks north from The Glass Unicorn. The massive building was dark and foreboding in the early light of the morning, the extreme cold that blasted every part of Raven's exposed skin hurt her even through her aura.

Luckily she wasn't entirely unprepared, and a heat stick – a small packet of dust readied and activated by huntresses in the field – kept most of her warm as she and Summer held themselves up on the building. Summer was silent, hanging in the dim light a dozen feet from Raven, both of them suspended up and atop the wall. Quietly the two searched for… something. Raven, for her part, was trying to nap; Their target hadn't shown all morning, and they knew that he likely wouldn't return for another few hours.

It was moments like this that Raven wished she could just hang out, waiting, and that her brain wouldn't fill with images of what would happen if they sprung the ambush and it went horribly, horribly wrong.

But for now, all the Spring Maiden could do was look out at the warehouse's dusty interior before sweeping her eyes back to the street just as Summer trailed her gaze to the interior. They knew each other, and more to that point, each of them was in sync. Breathing as one, holding themselves quietly, carefully, and calmly in one place, because they knew each other wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Shadow up the street by the entrance."

Raven doesn't move her head, doesn't give any indication she's heard, she can't, the shadow moves towards the warehouse itself, and then, the figure stops.

It is all Raven can do not to make a sound, hanging above the doors, masked in the overhang of the roof, it is all she can do to not suck in a breath, to not alert their target, as the man steps into the warehouse and moves towards the small room at the back. As the door clangs shut, Raven releases her breath and waits, the next part will be the most difficult.

Waiting for one's target was one thing, but waiting until one's target felt safe in their abode was another. The two women remained hung outside the warehouse, bodies masked by snow and ice, until the beginnings of the howling storm began to fall upon them.

The wind and sleet and ice came fast and hard, but as Summer looked up, her face lit up with a flash of lightning, and Raven knew, right then, that it was time to go.

At the precise moment that the thunder rolled over the warehouse, shaking the metal sheet roofing and the doors, Raven and Summer crashed in through the upper windows, Summer already drawing Dawning Rose, the twin blades of the scythe spiraling up and outwards, as it deployed. The man in the center of the warehouse had looked up at the sound of glass shattering, and Raven saw those dead, withered yellow eyes as Omen flashed from its scabbard.

"Two little birds~! Come to play~!?"

His voice was lilting and high, and before he can say anything more, Dawning Rose clashed downwards and collided sharply with the man's forearm. The blow should have severed the arm at the elbow, it should have continued through and then cut deeply into the man's thigh.

Instead, it deflected off of an armored vambrace with a loud exclamation of metal rasping against metal. The scythe soared to one side as Raven flashed in, Omen's long red fire dust blade striking right towards their target's throat at speed.

The man ducks to one side of the blade, and then a flash of steel is flying at Raven's face and she's ducking too, sliding as Dawning Rose cuts a steel strike towards the man's throat. A strike that the man defends against by leaping backward before the giddy voice pours forth from his lips once more.

"My goddess did not say I would have such cute chickadees dropping by~!"

The man leaps backward, tumbling end over end until he reached the edge of the warehouse, some 30 feet distant. As he straightens his stance and leans up, looking towards Raven, his eyes briefly glimmer, before he's dodging as Summer pulls the trigger on Dawning Rose.

The massive slug tears a furrow into the floor several dozen feet long, before detonating in a flash of orange at the edge of the warehouse.

The man looks back towards the bullet's channel, and that nearly kills him as Summer Rose appears in front of him, mid-swing, an arc of rose petals soaring outwards and fluttering to the floor as her scythe flashed downwards.

Raven is quick to follow her, Omen flickering low as Summer's scythe cuts high, the crimson blade arcs towards their target's feet even as Dawning Rose cuts towards his neck, and neither is particularly prepared for what happens next.

Instead of dodging or deflecting, the man takes Dawning Rose on his face, the scythe blade shrieking and cawing and crying and snapping outwards in flashes of brilliant purple sparks.

His step forwards cause Raven to overcommit, and her blade slaps against the flat of the man's knee as his boot extends into her head, smashing her to one side and setting her head ringing as she collides with metal sheeting.

"Rae!"

She vaguely hears Summer yelling, her ears ringing in the collapsed heap of metal and pain before a tremendous crash greets the same ears, and she sees their target fly past her cone of vision, Summer a white streak of petals in his wake, scythe aimed for his head.

The man rears away from her, and Raven catches a flash of brown as Dawning Rose is violently knocked free of Summer's hands. The spring maiden staggers to her feet, and she flashes a look at the other man, as he looks around, searching for someone. But Summer is only a scant 10 feet away, across the warehouse.

"Not the best actor!"

Raven's voice is slightly pained, but she gets a nod from Summer, and the man begins to speak once more.

"An actor of my talents? Slandered so!? Such rudeness in my guests… no, no no…. My goddess won't tolerate this. Her task is too important, too important-"

Summer slams a fist into his jaw.

The man soars backward, and as he gets to his feet, Summer smirks at him, walking across the warehouse floor, approaching the lowered and slapped-aside form of Dawning Rose. As soon as she touches it, Raven sees the man's eyes narrow, and he leaps for her partner.

His hands are extended, and she sees the sleeves of his coat tear, razor-sharp, crescent-shaped blades protruding from vambraces hidden at his forearms.

The sparks of his weapons clashing upon Omen's red blade are matched only by the sound of the fragile dust blade bursting, Raven's entire body appearing from a portal above Summer as the woman launches herself across the warehouse and into the fray.

While Omen's blade shattered, Raven smiles once and snaps a finger. She feels the warmth on her face, as her eyes burst into violet flames and the fire dust ignites into a raging inferno that sends their target staggering backward, bladed hands covering his eyes.

"That flame, that warmth…"

His voice takes on an unnatural pitch and cadence, before spiking even higher.

"Hahahahahahaahahahahaaaaaaa~"

The laughter seems almost anxious and excited as their target bows elaborately.

"Well well, Spring, herself. May this humble servant greet you~! I am Tyrian, a servant of your rightful queen, dear Maiden."

Raven's eyes narrowed, and the woman sheathed Omen, rotating the scabbard and choosing the next blade unconsciously. Summer racked the bolt on Dawning Rose, since recovered, and the three opponents began to circle each other.

"What, no words from such a lovely fae? No words from her companion? No words from-"

His smile turned dark and sadistic.

"Lovers~?"

Summer hisses through her teeth, and Raven finds herself almost reaching out to reassure the other woman, trying to slow the steady rage of her partner.

"Please, let us continue this dance~!"

Tyrian cackled, pulled back his coat, and cast it to one side, his arm blades ready and unsheathed.

"No words even now? No matter~! I am nothing if not a jester who makes time for my guests~!"

The clash began with Summer swinging Dawning Rose up and onto her shoulder, and disappearing into the rafters, flashing her semblance even as Raven throws her open palm outwards and draws Omen with the other.

The crack of Summer's rifle is drowned out entirely by the fork of raw, natural lightning that sears the air and fills the warehouse with the stench of Ozone and paralysis. While Tyrian slides to one side from the lightning, Summer's rifle round scores first blood in the fight.

The bullet tears a chunk of aura off of Tyrian and then rips into the flesh beneath, while its impact is blunted from his aura, Summer's piercing rounds still tear chunks from the flesh underneath.

Tyrian howls in pleasure, clapping a hand to his thigh as Raven soars towards him, blade extended towards his throat.

"THIS IS TOO GOOD, CHICKADEES!~"

Tyrian deflects her blade, and at first, Raven is not sure how, until a flash of brown pierces towards her face and Summer's rifle cracks again, the bullet deflecting off of the hard, chitinous shell of Tyrian's tail as the veteran huntress is saved from it via a beautiful shot from her partner.

"Scorpion Faunus."

Summer hisses out, Raven replying evenly.

"Venomous, the purple liquid found on one of the bodies."

The scorpion replies with a strange emotion blurring his tone.

"She was so beautiful… she would have been perfect for Mistress…"

His face turned to a scowl, a vile, evil look darkly covering his face. Then, he moved, and the tail and arms flew forwards in what amounted to a horrific rush of limbs and blades crashing forwards and threatening to overwhelm Raven.

She barely got Omen up in time to block the worst of it, and the second worst scored long, nasty cuts on her arms and legs. The scorpion faunus' tail, augmented and shielded by his purple aura, crashed down so hard against her blade that she felt as though her arms might shatter.

Summer's rapid recycling of the bolt action on her rifle announced the next round a few seconds before the crack of the round split the warehouse's air.

Tyrian slides to one side, as Raven slides to the other, and the massive slug smashes into the ground, carving a deep furrow into the concrete floor of the building. The slight feel of petals on Raven's upper body announces Summer teleporting back down, and the two women stare down Tyrian.

"You know… you could stand to make this more fun~!"

The taunts aren't met by a verbal response, instead, the gentle touch of Raven's hand upon Summer's waist, feeling out her anger and soothing her partner's rage ever so briefly. Summer's own expression of affection is slower, more gentle, and far, far more cautious, a gentle bumping of her hip into Raven's side.

Raven nods to Summer and receives a slight inclination of her head in return, her chin gently wobbling back and forth as she ever so slowly, ever so carefully brings the edge of Dawning Rose up.

The two women look once more at Tyrian, and their dance begins again.

Cinder

Cinder remembers the train of events that leads to her running into the snow, she remembers how the impromptu hiding place of her hair bun is immediately discovered when Clove tears out of her room with a thunderous level of rage not seen since she lost her first partner to his brain realizing how terrible she was.

She remembers her hair being torn at, her screams and protests shut down and spit upon as Clove yanks and tugs and tears until a chunk of Cinder's hair, and the ring within it comes free.

"Gutter rat has a secret hmm? How could you keep secrets from your family? Don't you know we care for you?"

Her hair lays in Clove's ham fist, and the girl unravels it until the shining weight of the ring drops into her hands, Cinder is left sobbing, left hurting in the corner, watching as Clove holds the ring up to the light, holds it up to Iris, who is sitting in the corner of the kitchen.

"Huh, solid silver, heavy engravings… something about a Raven on the inside of the ring. Any idea how much its worth, Iris?"

The blonde looks up from her book, beckoning her twin closer and holding out a hand. When Clove places the ring in her hand, Cinder feels a bit of her die, a hole in her chest, suddenly, that escape doesn't seem so possible anymore. Suddenly, her future is threatened, and suddenly, her hopes begin to die.

The feeling is like one has ripped open her heart and poured salt into the wound, and Cinder feels her emotions boiling over, tearing up from the hole she keeps them in, bubbling and rising like lava to the surface.

"Hmm, solid silver… pretty good chunk of Lien, split? Or do you want the whole thing?"

Clove looks to Cinder, taking the ring back. She stares at the crest and engravings.

"So, why'd you steal it?"

Cinder shocks even herself at the tone of her voice.

"Didn't."

There is something there, something edged in steel, plated in flame, and boiling with emotions not unleashed since Cinder was a very small girl.

"You didn't steal it? You certainly didn't buy it, so… someone gave it to you… was it that girl begging outside the hotel a few days ago?"

Iris looked up, suddenly interested.

"You mean the woman who tried offering herself to madame?"

"The same~! She was pretty… in the same way a monster is I suppose."

The two girls dissolve into a conversation, and Cinder finds herself rising to her feet, moving toward the background of the kitchen. Neither of the two of Madame's daughters realizes what she is doing, neither sees her or even perceives her as she picks up an implement of the kitchen entirely too familiar to her.

Cinder is unsure of why she's resorting to this, why she is choosing to throw everything away potentially over a pair of adults whom she… trusts.

She trusts them, why does she trust them? She shouldn't trust them at all, they are dangerous, and unknown, people do not come to help her, they come to pity her or use her. There is no in-between, and Cinder knows this, she feels it keenly. Is it because they are nice? Is it because Raven passed her something of her own? Cinder knows it is foolish to place such trust in another human being. Especially after everything that has been done to her, after everything that has hurt, harmed, and broken her.

"Cinder… please… put that down…"

She doesn't even realize she's brandishing a knife until the timid, quivering voice of Clove sounds in her ears.

Snapping back to the present, Cinder finds the blond curls of Iris splayed against her shoulders, and the rapid pounding of the girl's heartbeat pounding against Cinder's own chest.

How light and feathery it is, like a bird, and yet this is one bird Cinder feels would be better served by being set upon by dogs.

Cinder holds a trembling blade in one hand, her entire demeanor, her entire form twisting, turning, and breaking apart in her head, she feels it keenly, feels the utter pain of what she could do to Madame, what she could, and would do to Madame.

All it would take was a single push, a single, careful push inwards, and Iris would never hurt anyone again. She'd spend the last moments of her life twitching on the floor. Begging for help that would never come.

But… something in Cinder quails when she thinks about doing such a thing, and when Clove holds out the ring, the dark-haired girl takes that opportunity, snatching the ring and then, dropping the knife with a clattering bang to the floor.

As Iris staggers towards her sister, Cinder turns and runs, she runs out of the kitchens, out into the main halls, and into the doors leading out to the streets.

She runs until she collapses into the powdering snow, into the ice-cold flakes as they pour down from thick grey clouds, slamming into the ground and pouring forth further. She feels them alight on her bare arms, and then, then Cinder begins to feel the cold sink in. The howling, blurring gale over her head smashes down and drowns the streets of Atlas in a blanketing, rushing storm that smothers everything in its path. The winds press Cinder as she darts and scrambles and trips into an alleyway, running down towards the only building open on the road, the warehouse.

"Cinder!"

The voice is Madame's, Madames! Cinder tries to stop herself and yet she turns and looks back.

That is her mistake, as the blonde woman, covered in a thick winter coat so encrusted with ice that the crystals are shattering and crackling against her as she moves, and the voice calls out again.

"CINDER!"

The voice calls again, and Cinder flinches as the warehouse behind her bursts open, and a flash of red and white follows one of purple into the snow.

Cinder thinks she recognizes the snarling, pain-filled face of Summer as the huntress kicks at the man, only for the man to catch her in midair, wrapping his tail around her waist and then throwing her away from him.

Summer Rose disappears into a red, crackling portal that spawns right on top of her. Before the other woman steps through the portal and glares at the man. Raven draws a long, ice-cold blade from her scabbard, and Cinder watches, utterly spellbound, as magenta, purple, and red flames ignite the corners of Raven's eyes.

"You'll die for that one, Tyrian."

Her voice is so cold that the blizzard around Cinder feels warm by comparison. Her stance is aggressive and authoritative as she steps forwards, and Cinder recognizes, with widened eyes, as the storm itself bends to Raven's will, snowflakes swirling around her body.

The sudden flash of lightning lights up the street and the howling snow, and for a moment, Cinder sees that Tyrian flinches, it is only a moment, but that is enough, as a bullet smashes into his shoulder and Raven directs that lethal, deadly strike into the ground around the man.

A horrifying noise shreds Cinder's ears and sends her flying as wind and snow clash and burn across her vision, and she skids to a stop in the snow. Raven lies in a heap by the doorway of the warehouse, and Summer is hastily bandaging over her, Tyrian stood in the road, but based on the way his arm hung limply from his body, Cinder could see it was broken.

"Ahahahahahhah~! Such a wonderful~! Wonderful~! Bout! Maiden~! You know your skillset so very well~!"

His voice soared across the air as Cinder found her legs moving, found herself running towards Raven and Summer, running and padding the snow and feeling the cold sink into her bones and skin, she skids to the front of Summer, who catches the girl and whispers to her.

"She's alright, a little dazed, but that's it. He got off far worse, but we're not quite in the clear yet."

Cinder frowns as Raven sits up, opening her red eyes as the pain of her head injury snaps her eyelids open. Her hands rest first on her forehead, then she shoves off of the wall, standing up and staring down at Cinder, her hand comes down, and gently ruffles Cinder's hair as the small, dark-haired girl freezes completely. But Raven's touch is exceedingly gentle as she stands up and looks over toward Tyrian.

SNAP

The man has wrenched his shattered arm back into place, and he casts a hateful, spit-soaked look to the two women, and then, then his eyes alight on Cinder.

His laughter is brilliant and warm.

"Little girl, are you the latest pet project for Summer Rose? Are you to be her newest little wounded bird?"

Cinder grits her teeth, and she concentrates. At that moment, she feels a storm of emotions burn up from within her, she is not a pet, she is not some wounded, childlike, pitiable thing, she is to be a huntress, she is one who commands her semblance, and then she pushes her hands outwards.

Tyrian leaps up into the air, as the ground under him turns a brilliant orange and red and detonates in a spray of superheated energy. Cinder feels sheer, utter joy as her semblance, her power, makes itself known.

"SHE HAS TEETH~! HOW WONDERFUL!"

His shout is joyous and yet tainted by the resounding crack of Summer's rifle and the flash of steel that is Raven's sword, soaring up to meet him.

This time, he is not quite fast enough, and his tail, screaming towards Raven, is deflected by a spike of ice, pulled and congealed from the air itself around her shoulder, into an armguard of pure, pure ice.

Raven's twisted shoulder sends his tail to one side, and her katana spears upwards, it tears chunks of aura free, drawing a long, blue line across Tyrian's open chest, and then, the blade shattered.

Tyrian responded by kicking her in the face, launching her upwards, before sending his tail forwards.

In that moment, Cinder's stomach gives a lurch she's never felt before, she looks up, and her eager eyes pick it out, She sees Summer teleporting in front of Raven, she sees the woman's aura shining brilliant and red, and then, she sees that scorpion tail, glowing purple around the stinger. She sees it and she knows something is wrong.

"Rae-!"

Cinder will wonder, in the coming months, why she calls out for Raven and not Summer, but she does so, and she sees the horrible, wet, awful crunch as Tyrian's tail pierces the dead center of Summer's bodice, tears out her back, and sinks, stinger first, into the soft flesh of Raven's stomach.

She hears someone scream, she's not really sure who, but as she takes a step forwards, her legs turn out from under her, and she falls into the snow.

She hears muffled screaming, accompanied by ringing in her ears, accompanied by heavy footsteps towards her.

"I'm sorry, little bird, you won't be able to see each other anymore, but, on the plus side~! You'll meet our goddess soon enough!"

Cinder kicks at his hand, as it wraps around her ankle and begins to drag her towards the warehouse, but her feet slip off of the ice coating his form, she glances to the fallen forms of the huntresses, and sees, at that moment, Summer's eyes open, and the huntress makes eye contact with Cinder, and she smiles.

And that smile is all teeth.

Cinder feels a shiver run down her spine as her vision of Summer is obscured by the blown-open warehouse doors, she feels cold set in as she's dragged into the building, hearing and listening as Tyrian, the scorpion faunus throws her like a ragdoll across the floor.

She feels, hears, and screams as her hand, pinned under her in the fall, bends too far backward and snaps like dry firewood. The weak bones shatter as she falls, something that has the scorpion-tailed man standing over her with a perplexed expression on his face.

"You… have no aura? How is this possible? Why would you not have an aura? You have a semblan-"

His eyes widen, and Cinder watches through hazy, pain-filled eyes as he drops to the ground, lays flat, and begins to study her intently.

"You have unlocked a semblance without aura… THIS MUST BE A GIFT FROM THE GODDESS! OH, HOW YOU'VE BLESSED ME SO~!"

His shrill, shrieking voice is so loud Cinder can feel her ears ringing after it cuts off and it only cuts off because she hears a voice, filled with rage, say something she'd never, ever thought she'd hear again.

"Get away from my daughter!"

The gunshot seems almost apocalyptically loud. Tyrian spins as the bullet takes a chunk from his shoulder, his already weak aura failing spectacularly in a cloud of purple, blue, and blood-colored sparks.

"You BITCH."

Then, Tyrian is running towards the figure of the Madame, and Cinder can see her eyes, full of shock and terror, as they meet Cinder's own, and as the Madame opens fire with her tiny, delicate firearm, Cinder sees something harden in those eyes.

Then, she sees the spray of gore and blood burst forth from Madame as Tyrian lands atop her and begins to tear, stab, and crush.

Madame is no huntress, she is a civilian without her aura or semblance, who carried a small firearm for self-defense and nothing further, she cannot, and would never have been, able to stand up to a first-year Atlas student, let alone the sheer, vicious prowess of Tyrian.

He is fast, he is terrible, and Madame dies screaming as the scorpion faunus tears her apart in a fountain of sadistic violence that only ends when Madame's body stops moving entirely.

She has bought Cinder seconds, and the girl knows that. She concentrates on her semblance, on the power she felt rushing through her. Focusing on the pain of her shattered hand, Cinder brings that emotion-driven power to bear, projecting a wave of heat from her exhausted legs.

The warehouse fills with an explosion of steam that leaves Cinder breathless from the burns now cutting at the flesh of her face. She knows now, that her lack of aura makes her semblance as dangerous to her as Tyrian was to the Madame, and she knows that he will only be distracted for seconds, but there is a part of her that, despite knowing he can catch her, that he can find her and continue to do so, there is a part of her that refuses to give up.

So she runs, she forces her exhausted legs to pump up and down, and tears through the steam clouds that even now bring the prickling of tears to her face as she tears out of the warehouse, at speed, and runs right into something soft, warm, and calm. The howling gale of the storm seems almost… lesser here, and as she looks up, her eyes meet with the flaming ones of Raven.

"Cinder…"

The woman breathes out, bringing Cinder in close and pushing her into the long shadow of her form, she stands in front of the girl and draws her blade, the sword-bearing a purple and black blade.

Tyrian staggers out seconds after her, and Cinder watches as the man ignores the puffy, swollen, and red eyes he has, looking back and forth.

It is dead quiet, the only sound of the storm raging around the calm that is Raven, and the gentle crunching of the snow as the two circle each other.

Summer interrupts that silence by surging forwards out of the steam, scythe going before her, the whirling blades singing in the air as Tyrian whirls on her, and at that moment, Cinder sees his eyes widen in shock.

Summer is bleeding heavily, her side torn open, and yet she's still coming, still attacking at her prior height. She barely blinks, even as Raven launches herself forwards, the curved form of Omen leaving her scabbard and turning a brilliant, beautiful shade of purple-black as it carves the sky in twain.

Tyrian catches the first blade of Dawning Rose across his chest, and the blade tears a jagged line across the skin and muscle, nicking bone and then spinning off to one side, the man coughs loudly, the sheer pain overwhelming as Summer collides bodily with him, tackling him forwards and into the shining blade of Raven's weapon.

This time, Omen strikes true, cutting through the half-raised bladed weapons of Tyrian's left arm, and scoring a deep, horrific injury on the man's lower stomach, carving up and bursting out from the flesh with a dreadful sound.

The three warriors land splayed across the snow, gore dripping from each and every one. Raven is bleeding black and red, the poison injected from Tyrian's tail working its way through her system, Summer is pierced through the midsection, hurting badly, one hand clamped tight to the hole in her chest. Tyrian bleeds freely from open wounds on his own front, and all three warily survey each other, Summer between Raven and Tyrian just a bit deeper into the mess of the warehouse.

Cinder feels her gut give that wrench again, and she sees Summer's eyes turn hard. She looks away from the wounded, but still standing Tyrian, to her own state, and then to the state of Raven, and Cinder, peeking out from behind the cloak.

Raven must sense it too because she goes to run, and yet, it is too late.

Cinder sees Summer smile beautifully, she sees her mouth something to the both of them, hears it on the whisper of the quiet of the wind.

"Take care of each other for me, I'll be back when I can."

And then Summer Rose draws her weapon and fires at the warehouse.

Raven's rush is stopped cold as the entire building gives a jarring shift, and Tyrian, sensing what is about to happen, tries to jump away only for Summer, sans her cloak, to teleport into his path. She uses the leading edge of Dawning Rose to carve a second line across his chest, piercing deep and sending the two of them tumbling into the center of the warehouse.

The building groans, shakes, and then, in a titanic spray of metal, crashes, crushing debris, and the red and white form of Summer, gleaming blade pinned deep into Tyrian's chest, vanishes behind the noise and titanic spray of the building as the warehouse implodes on itself. Collapsing utterly into a pile of misshapen debris.

Cinder sees Raven, lovingly, barely cognizant, her gaze filled with tears, taking the cloak from the rubble, and she hears the woman speak, in a forced warmth, her tears crashing home.

"Little Kite… we need to go, go now."

Cinder feels her hand taken, and she feels Raven pick her up, hoisting her exhausted form up and onto the shoulders of the woman, and as the snow obscures their footsteps, she feels Raven drape the ruined cloak over both of them, keeping them warm as the snow obscures their path. She falls asleep, sheer exhaustion setting in, as Raven trudges through the snow toward the gates of Atlas.

A/N: The confrontation occurs and is resolved, I contemplated leaving everyone on a cliffhanger, but I think I will save those for occasions down the line. Recent life events, including a death in the family, have reorganized some of my time for me, so expect chapters to be a little longer while that occurs. Beyond that, comments, criticism, etc, give me life, so do feel free to leave reviews and the like.

Next Chapter: July 3