"We're all set." A gruff voice drew Raven's attention from her scroll, she was watching a silenced recording of Ruby's plea that the huntress had sent around the whole of Remnant, sighing as she closed her scroll, placing it back in her pocket she turned towards the bandit that had spoken to her. Looking past them at the rest of her tribe she could see them looking back expectingly as they had finished packing up camp. It had been a few months since the fall of Atlas, soon after witnessing the broadcast, Raven had opened a portal to Qrow, but her brother had selfishly been riding in a bullhead forcing her portal to open mid-air, this didn't bother her too much as it allowed her to remain hidden. Taking her bird form she flew down onto a nearby rooftop and witnessed the fall of Atlas first-hand.
Soon after a rumour spread of survivors appearing in Vacuo and Remnants remaining forces gathering to defend the kingdom from Salem. Incensed, Raven ordered her tribe to move towards the closest port that travelled to Vacuo. The journey had been easier than Raven had expected, the tracks the tribe found along the way implied that hunters had come before them, lowering the numbers of Grimm in their path, no doubt she thought that they surprisingly for once shared the same end point. The tribe eventually reached their goal as the forest finally gave way to the outskirts of the port, Raven ordered them to make camp out of sight, away from prying eyes although she noticed the settlement was uncharacteristically empty save for a few guards that Raven easily spotted and avoided.
Slowly, Raven made her way towards the port and laid eyes upon a passenger ship that was docked, supplies and people were being boarded, Raven let a small smile of satisfaction creep across her face as she laid eyes on the captain as he spoke to his crew.
"Come on people, I've seen Beowolfs with better hustle than you lot. You think the Grimm will take a number and let you finish?"
The captain's voice dripped sarcasm as he tried to keep morale up. A fluttering sound forced his attention behind him, and the captain's expression paled slightly as he laid eyes on the infamous leader of the Branwen tribe.
"You know who I am?" Raven said smugly and the captain nodded. "Today's your lucky day. Your people are tired, and I have a small crew willing to earn a spot on a ship to Vacuo."
"What makes you think I'd be reckless enough to trust letting you onto my ship?" The captain's voice was stern as the paled expression gave way to confusion, evidently surprised that Raven Branwen was volunteering to earn their way aboard rather than just take it by force. Raven's expression softened as she turned her gaze towards the ship.
"My idiot brother was at the fall of Atlas and although she probably rightly doesn't consider me her parent. My daughter was as well… I give you my word as a mother. We just want transport to Vacuo, my tribe will keep to themselves, I'll even offer up my services as a huntress, if that will sweeten the pot."
The captain mulled over Raven's words before releasing a heavy sigh. "You keep to your word; you can come aboard but one wrong step and I throw you overboard."
Raven flashed a smile.
"I'd like to see you try."
The captain attention was dragged to behind him by a crashing sound as some boxes took a tumble he let out a huff and turned back blinking in surprise as Raven had seemingly disappeared, the only proof that he hadn't imagined the conversation was a flutter of bird feathers, taking a moment before acting he caught one of the feathers as he beckoned a guard over and told them that they were expecting some visitors and that he was to ask first, not shoot first.
The group of sailors and people, along with the Branwen tribe were unloading the ship of supplies and placing them into some carts and wagons, Raven stood guard next to the captain who were both off to one side overseeing the disembarking together, a sailor ran up to the two and asked the captain when they were shipping back out causing Raven to frown slightly.
"You're not coming to Vacuo?" She asked.
The captain shook his head as he answered. "There's still people out there to help and those who want to help… Normally, I would escort them to the city but I trust that they'll be safe in your care."
"With me?" Raven said surprised.
The captain laughed before responding. "When you first came aboard I wouldn't have believed you. Your reputation precedes you but I'd be a fool to ignore what I see in front of me. A woman looking to protect what she has left in this world, her tribe and her family. Besides, your tribe isn't large enough to carry the supplies needed to make it through the desert, which means you can't leave the people and wagons behind. And from what you've told me of your daughter, it would be stupid to exacerbate an already tense reunion by abandoning all these people just to see her sooner."
Raven thought over his words for a moment. "It's not very common for people to trust me." She admitted.
The captain let out another laugh, pausing before looking towards her tribe and then back to her. "Oh believe me, Raven Branwen, I don't trust you… but call me an old fool or a hopeful father, but I trust a mother and that's who I see in front of me."
Raven nodded gratefully. "Thank you."
Raven let out a sigh of relief, while her mixed caravan of Remnant folk and her tribes' people had an uneventful journey across the Vacuo desert, the grimm that had come upon them were easily dispatched, it wasn't until the buildings of Vacuo came into view that you could feel the mood of the group improve easing Raven's worry about attracting any more grimm. As they came closer to the city's boundaries, Raven let out a loud whistle leading to a tribesman to run up alongside her.
"Make sure these people get properly set up, it's the least we can do, then bring everyone of us to Shade. I'll go on ahead, let them know we're here."
The man nodded and filtered out the information, Raven took on her bird form and made her way towards Shade Academy, as she flew over the city she could see that it was bustling with activity, while it was clearly overcrowded the mood wasn't of despair or dread, instead it gave a feeling of determination and anger though it didn't seem clear where that was directed, Raven flew higher to avoid the chatter as sounds seemingly annoyed her. Landing down onto the academy grounds she could recognise the effort that has gone into accommodating so many people as makeshift tents were scattered across the area as well as a mixture of students from all four academies were spread out and training or taking part in lessons by the remaining professors.
Raven made her way into the atrium of Shade Academy, the doors swung open easily from repeated use, there was a small army of hunters spread out across the entire room, groups had assembled around a series of tables that were dotted throughout atrium. Raven's eyes scanned the room and she recognised some people from her involvement in the Haven incident, her eyes landed finally on the familiar bodies of Qrow and Tai, they both had their backs to her and were sat at a table, opposite them were three people she didn't recognise. As she made her way towards them she was able to take in the other three in greater detail. One was a middle-aged woman with white hair with a white and blue ensemble that gave her the feeling of a Schnee, she doubted her assessment however as the attitudes of the SDC and their CEO were well known to not be kind towards the Faunus and the other two that were sat next to her were evidently both Faunus, even more surprising she had her hand out over to them sympathetically. The one sat in the middle had moved to accept the hand that was offered but stopped as she turned to the man beside her, her cat ears that sat sadly had perked up slightly and Raven could see that they were adorned with piercings while the man that was sat beside her was clearly a tall broad and muscular man who's left hand's claws were dragging their way into the table, the two shared the same ashen expression on their face leading Raven to frown.
Her heels clicked loudly drawing the tables attention as Qrow and Tai both jumped up out of their seats, the two former members of her teams' unsteady voices spoke over each other.
"Raven!" Spoke Qrow
"What are you doing here?" Asked Tai.
Raven rolled her eyes as she moved them between the two before landing on Tai. "Really? Your daughter broadcasts a message across the whole of Remnant and you think I wouldn't take notice?" Raven paused as she looked around. "I have to say your daughter really knows a thing or two about lost causes… So, where are they?" Raven hadn't intended to sound quite so smug, to be honest her last conversation with Tai wasn't as constructive as she hoped and seeing him and her brother together she had reacted defensively, when her eyes landed back on Tai the red in his eyes caused her to pause for a moment, she also noticed that Qrow had grabbed Tai's shoulder and his knuckles were white holding him back in place.
"What's wrong with you two?" She asked but when she looked towards her brother his face said it all, she could always read him like an open book.
"Raven." Tai said softly, his voice straining to stay steady.
Raven scoffed in disbelief, taking a step back she drew her weapon as she spoke. "If you won't show me where she is I guess I'll just have to find her myself."
Raven slashed it through the air, her portal struggled to take shape, at first it expanded slowly, clearly struggling before shrinking down to the size of a golf ball, a sound of white noise reverberated from it before it flashed intermittently as it grew quickly in size, Raven was forced to take a step back as she struggled to control her semblance, it grew until it was twice her height and equally as wide before collapsing in on itself, the white noise screamed in a higher pitch as the portal shrunk. Raven dropped her weapon in shock and turned back to Qrow and Tai.
She spoke through gritted teeth; she covered her pained voice with an accusatory tone "What have you done?"
"They were fighting Cinder-" Qrow started but he was interrupted by Raven.
"CINDER!" she shouted silencing the rest of the room as the rooms' attention turned to herself. "You're trying to tell me my daughter lost to that upstart bitch!.. I told her she shouldn't rely on those around her if she insisted on surrounding herself with such weak-" The male Faunus shot up and moved towards Raven but he was stopped in his tracks by the cat Faunus, she held onto his arm like an anchor, it was obvious to Raven he could just force his way out of the grasp but the touch was enough to keep him still.
"Ghira." The cat Faunus pleaded and his face while still glaring at Raven softened slightly, slowly he turned his eyes to the woman holding him and as they stared into each other's tearing eyes they softened further.
"Kali, you expect me to stand here and listen to this stranger disrespect our child's memory." Kali opened her mouth to answer but the woman beside her spoke first.
"Where were you?" Willow asked sternly, staring down Raven, unlike the other two she had remained seated but her shaking hands showed she was struggling just as much to remain composed.
"Excuse me?" Raven scoffed dismissively as she retrieved and stored her weapon.
"I asked, where were you? My daughter and her team were there. Saving the people of Atlas and Mantle, where were you then? Don't think I have no idea who you are Raven Branwen, you and your bandits have attacked almost as many SDC convoys in Mistral as the White Fang did, my husband was an awful person… he gave the Faunus ample reason to hate us but you, you just take what you want without care or without just cause. So I'll ask you again, where were you while our daughters fell saving as many as they could? Because I know where I was, I was there. I watched as both of my daughters went to fight and only one came back. I watched their daughter…" Willow gestured to the Belladonnas'. "…their daughter stood side by side with mine, a girl who would've had plenty of reason to hate my family, she stood alongside my daughter to save as many as they could. So I'll ask you again, where were you?"
"Where was I?" Raven bitterly spat back with a dismissive scorn as she glared at the Schnee. Raven paused before answering, her eyes flickered between the, Schnee, Belladonnas, Qrow and Tai, as if suddenly overwhelmed she took a step back to feel less surrounded and outnumbered, she reactively reached for her weapon, grasping the handle hard she watched as Qrow and Tai tense up. An echo began to repeat in Raven's head.
Where was I?
Where was I?
Where was I?
Where was I?
Where was I?
Where was I?
Raven let go of Omen's handle, she grasped her head with both hands as the words pounded around her head louder and louder. Her legs gave out as she collapsed to the floor, Raven felt a hand rest on her shoulder, she blinked to keep back the tears forming in her eyes as she looked up, Tai had appeared beside her, she averted his understanding eyes instead following his shoulder down to his arm that rested his hand on her shoulder, in an attempt to keep control she brushed it off herself. Looking down to her knees she let out a hollow laugh before looking back up at Willow she could feel the tears falling off into her lap.
"Where was I?.." Raven let out an empty laugh as she wiped her cheek.
"..I was losing everything."