"Is Headmaster Lionheart in? He's expecting me, I'm sure."
Raven watched as his secretary flipped through some papers before landing on what appeared to be Lionheart's schedule.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, he has an important meeting in handful of minutes discussing the finishing touches of the new school year." the woman said without lifting her head from her papers. Raven continued watching her in silence, and eventually the woman lifted her head, face etched into a polite smile, and words of polite dismissal no doubt on her mind. Raven's eyes locked with the secretary's, and the Dark Lady smiled in a satisfied way after seeing the absolute horror on the secretary's face.
"Are you sure?" Raven asked with an innocent tone that was betrayed by the predatory look in her eyes, and her not-so-innocent smile. "I could have sworn he had told me he'd make some time for me. Do you need me to come over and help you check? Surely, you must have missed my name."
"No!" the secretary cried out reflexively, before recomposing herself, though the fear was clearly evident on her face. "N-no… no need, Ma'am! I'm sure you're right after all, I must have missed something. You go on ahead, and I'll be sure to ask the others to wait if your business dealings take too long."
Raven's smile widened as she nodded at the woman. Truth be told, she didn't really need her permission, she could have easily snuck past her. Ah, but it was so fun to mess with people sometimes. What's the point of her fearsome reputation if she can't ever use it?
She walked over to the oak doors at the far end of the room, and entered Lionheart's office, closing the doors behind her. Lionheart had his head buried in a book, writing something on a piece of paper to his side.
"You're here early, Councilman Papyr-" his words paused as he raised his head and laid his eyes on his actual guest. "Raven." his voice was tinted with clear surprise, not having expected her here.
"Leo." Raven greeted him amicably. "Unfortunately your meeting with Councilman Papyrus will have to wait for a few minutes, and fortunately for us, your secretary graciously offered to make sure your guest wait if needed."
"You have some nerve coming here and acting like we're old friends." and though his words were accusatory in nature, his voice sounded more unimpressed. 'Nervous', was Raven's assessment, 'and trying to hide it.'
"Aren't we?" she countered voice laced with fake confusion. "I thought we were pretty close when we all worked together in our extracurricular Huntsmen activities."
Leonardo released a humorous chuckle. "I don't think you ever were really close with anybody. How much of all that was just forgery, to take all you can and betray us?"
Raven was about to say something back in response before he cut her off. "Why are you here, Raven? I don't believe for a second that you came here to reminisce about the good old days."
For a moment she stared at him with a deadly cold stare, not pleased in the least at being interrupted, but that was gone, and a pleasant expression was back on her face. Lionheart grimaced.
"Oh, I remember that expression alright. You want something, and you're self-assured enough that you can control the negotiation with the aces in your sleeves. Doesn't really seem like good tidings to me."
Raven laughed, amused one, as she walked up to his table and looked him in the eyes.
"And here I thought you said we weren't close? Seems like we were close enough for you to read my more obvious tells, and what a surprise, seems like even with all this time apart, I can read you just as easily."
Lionheart shook his head and motioned at a chair near her, and she took his invitation to sit down, as did he. "I really don't think you're here to discuss the differences between our definitions of the word 'close'. I really am very busy, and somehow I don't think the council will be very eager to hear that my delay in our meeting was due to me chatting with an enemy of the state."
Raven considered pushing just a bit more, but getting him in trouble would lessen the potential usage she could extract from him. He was right, of course, she had hardly come here to rekindle their old friendship.
"Right down to business then? Fine." Raven said, her previously amicable tone growing slightly colder, as her games have come to an end, focus being directed to getting what she wanted, though the self-assured smile never slid off her face. "I have a deal for you, one that I think you'll find very interesting."
"You do know I can't just unilaterally approve whatever your deal is? Even places where I have the most authority, Huntsmen activities, they still fall under some sort of oversight by the council."
Raven gave him a pointed look. "That sounds like an issue on your end, doesn't it? Besides, when Ozpin made any kind agreement with you regarding one or other thing that Mistral would do, the council hardly were ever given any consideration."
"I do my best to convince them in some way. Somehow I doubt a bandit leader will propose many ideas that the council would want to accept, especially when doing so might risk the next election."
"The only thing I care about is that Mistral carries out its part of the deal. I don't care if you persuade the council, threaten them, or just withhold certain unnecessary information. Like I said, from my point of view, that looks like an issue on your end. As far as I am concerned, I only have to convince you."
Lionheart sighed. "Well, let's hear your proposal then, but please be quick."
"Containment Zone. Grimm cleared. The evolved Grimm dead. I control the area, and that effectively gives me total control over much of South Eastern coast of Anima. I am willing to relinquish it for a price." Raven spat out those sentences in rapid succession. She could do quick, if that's what he wanted.
"You're offering to sell to Kingdom of Mistral land that it already owns?" Leonardo asked in a perplexed tone.
"Well, I didn't exactly see your Huntsmen there, or even the Kingdom's flag there. But, let's look at it a different way. I got rid of all the Grimm I could find in that area. Huntsman work. I also got rid of the evolved Grimm. That's some serious Huntsman work. All I'm looking for is compensation for the favor I did to the Kingdom of Mistral. Think of the zone as collateral. I don't get my money? We keep it. The entire place is surrounded by mountains, and as soon as we find the mountain pass that the Grimm used to invade the village, we'll have a very secured base of operations."
"You're extorting us to pay up for a Huntsman contract you never took."
"I prefer to think of it as asking due compensation for a service rendered." Raven countered.
"This would be a great help to Mistral." Lionheart had to concede. "And it would help assure the public of our reliability."
"And give you a lot more political power." Raven pointed out. "It'd make Mistral seem far more stable. Stable Mistral, stable Lionheart."
"What I can't seem to understand is what you get out of this." he continued, unbothered by her comments. "Despite your words, that place would make for a poor outpost, and you know it. I'm guessing you don't have nearly enough men to man the entire area. Sure, chokepoints would be helpful, but there's no way to make aerial chokepoints, meaning you'd have to spread your forces thin to try and spot and shoot down any aerial aircraft. You also don't have a constant source of workers willing to try and actually make something financially viable out of that place. It makes sense that you don't care much for keeping it, but I still don't see your angle."
"I get handsomely paid." Raven suggested as a potential angle of interest.
"I don't buy it." he said with a shake of his head. "If money was all you were after, you'd be taking more contracts than simply doing bandit work. I can't imagine frontier villages are exactly filled to the brim with riches."
"I'm not hearing a 'no'." Raven pointed out. "You wouldn't be searching for 'my angle' if you weren't interested."
"I am interested. You knew that before you stepped one foot into my office." Leonardo confirmed before continuing in a perplexed tone. "But this is so unlike you. Making a deal with you should make me cautious in the best of times, and the mystery isn't making this any less suspicious."
Raven considered how much she should reveal. She could, of course, just push him to accept the deal. She was certain he would. But that'd leave him heavily suspicious and could force his eyes on her for the foreseeable future, something that wasn't healthy for her plans. She wanted his attention on the Spider Guild, and likewise, their attention on the Huntsmen. She could openly reveal this, make the board and the rules clearer for one more person. That, of course, risked him making his own plans to depose her. Lastly, she could compromise and just detail the events that lead her to consider this course of action. That's hardly dangerous knowledge.
Before she could speak up, Lionheart spoke again. "I think I can guess the answer, but what happens if I decline?"
"Like I said, I keep it." Raven repeated before elaborating. "But I'll make it public, make sure to really twist it in the public eye that I easily did what Mistral could not."
His eyes widened, realization flashing clear as day. "You want to move the power balance!" he accused her. "I take the deal, power shifts in my position. I decline, and power shifts away." his voice soon returned to one of confusion. "But why? You spent nearly two decades being content with maintaining the status quo. I couldn't send a force of my elites after you without risking the Spider Guild taking advantage. You were content to have us fight over the influence of Mistral while you reaped all the benefits outside its walls. You were careful to not appear to favor either side as to not risk getting drawn into this conflict. Now you're seemingly helping me win. Why?"
Second option it was then. She thought about it a bit more. She could add a bit of a mixture of the third. "The status quo has become boring," Raven admitted, "and I want to take a more proactive role. I'll be honest, the zone? I was curious, and now I'm trying to turn a profit from my curiosity. It just so happens that this ends up helping my plans. I want to see what happens. Will Malachite make a move fearing that your strengthening position means her opportunity is quickly fleeing? I can take advantage of that. If not, there are more mutually beneficial deals we can make. Either way, my plans are flexible enough that I benefit."
He seemed to consider it and reluctantly accept her words as a possibility, and like that, victory was in her grasp. If Malachite strikes, she will flank her, and deal with her after Malachite kills Lionheart, directing Ozpin's ire away from herself. If she does not and Leonardo uses his increased power to solidify himself even more, she can be there to drain him from all Mistral's got, or to aid him to such an extend against his enemies that he would be forever indebted to her, Servant of Ozpin replaced by a Servant of Raven.
"So, do we have a deal?" Raven asked as she extended her hand towards Leonardo.
Likewise, he extended his hand towards hers, but paused in hesitation. "I'll need some time to make sure you weren't lying."
Raven nodded. "Of course, I understand." her hand, however remained extended. "But I think we can make a deal now and agree that it takes effect after you are finished with your inspection. Your Huntsmen, if not you personally, will not come to any harm while you are conducting your inspections."
"While?" Lionheart repeated, finding issue with the word she had used. Raven smiled in response, a truly devilish smile.
"Until our deal is finished, I mean." Raven faux clarified. "After that, well…that depends on our further relationship, doesn't it?"
"One would hope you wouldn't threaten your prospective business partners." Leonardo did not sound offended, more so somewhat disappointed.
"I'm not threatening anyone," Raven said in a barely perceivable smug tone, "merely defining the terms of the inherent truce of this one-time partnership. Further mutually beneficial deals, of course, would carry further truces. Who knows, maybe one day we'll have to look elsewhere for targets if our relationship becomes good enough."
He did not look overly happy about the arrangement, but nevertheless reached out, clasped her hand and shook it.
"I'll send someone over after my meeting with Councilman Papyrus is done. I'll have them identify themselves by the codeword 'Black Mane'. Once it is all finished, and if your promises are true, I'll send the same person over with the money."
Raven nodded satisfied. "That works for me."
There was a knock at the door, and the secretary's face peaked through. "Sorry, Sir, but Councilman Papyrus insists you meet him immediately. He claims he has waited long enough already." she shot a fearful look at Raven, who pulled out her Omen and before anyone could say anything, slashed at the air before her, and disappeared with the help of her semblance.
As she stepped out from her portal near her right hand woman, Vernal, one thought intruded among many others. The secretary had mentioned the school year was soon starting, didn't she? That meant her daughter would be of age to attend Beacon. Despite it all, she was curious as to how Yang was in comparison to herself. Surely she was stronger, she had lead a death-filled life of suffering whereas her daughter surely lived an easy life under Taiyang. Perhaps, Yang should become another Peaco; a test of the usefulness of nurturing potential. A daughter of two Huntsmen surely had potential in spades. She had to be careful to only give a nudge, her daughter had to make the most of the nudge, as she would have.
Raven smiled to herself. The nudge she was giving was small, but with severe possibilities should Yang be smart enough to exploit them. Perhaps it would even aid her in finding her; naturally she must be filled with curiosity, and determination, and given how reluctant Qrow was to talk about their past, Raven hardly thought that she would learn enough to be discouraged. 'Would my ex-husband let our daughter find her own truth, seek out her own destiny?', Raven wondered. 'Or would he shatter whatever conceptions Yang had, and rule her with a strong hand for her own benefit?'
She supposed it didn't really matter, though she thought that Tai would be far more likely to do the former. Regardless, if she was worth anything, she'd forge her own destiny; if her father was controlling her and she couldn't break free than she was not worth of her care and attention. In any other scenario, what matters is what she'd do with this gift of hers.
"Vernal go to the city and pick up some festive wrapping paper and a box." Raven ordered, and though there was confusion on Vernal's face, she nodded and obeyed, making her way outside the camp. 'The problem,' Raven thought, 'is how do I make this hard to trace back to Mistral?' she knew she could write a wrong return address, but the markings by the postal office would give away that she's in Mistral ; she could send it through other Kingdoms and hope that the markings would overwrite one another, but that only worked if they did not use stickers instead as some Kingdoms do; and finally she could use her Kindred Link to appear outside of Tai's home and send the package from Vale.
'Third option would work best', she decided, as she entered her tent and looked through her possessions for a gift suitable enough for her goals. Nothing caught her interest on the walls, nor did the cow skull she had on a table near the entrance, nor did…Raven paused and looked back at the skull. She wasn't sure why she had it, probably some conquest from a conquered village, and took it in her hands. The skull was nothing special, but it gave Raven an idea.
She picked up a barrel from the leftwards part of the room, and placed it on the opposite side of the entrance to her tent. On top of it, she placed the skull, facing the point of entry. She stepped back and observed her small adjustment. "Yes, that suited the atmosphere must nicer."
Near where once was the barrel was a wooden chest, containing her most important valuables, some even memorophilia from her time as a member of Team STRQ. She walked over to it, lowered herself to its level, and opened it. She gently removed the clothing from the top, sparing only a few glances to her old uniform and other elegant clothing she hadn't wore in ages, and the true treasure was revealed before her eyes. There were books aplenty, papers of all kinds, dust weaponry, and more. She picked up one book without a title, and flipped through it. The book, it turned out, was actually a photo album from her days in Beacon. She considered it and put it nearby the clothing; this would be a better suited gift for Summer's child, plenty of photos there had her in it, if she ever had the need to gift something to that kid. She picked another book up and read the title. 'The Weaponless Woman's Guide to Aura'. She thought it over, and put it aside too. She wanted to gift something far less useful at first glance, that only would become more useful as you investigated the subject. She picked another, and read its title. 'The Madman's Dust-Forged Body'. She immediately put that aside; Dust Infusions to your own body were a bad idea even at the best of times. An interesting read, but she had hardly ever found it useful. 'Onyx's Guide to Fantasy'. Raven had to pause as she read the title. She was certain there were only a handful of people who owned this book, one of which was obviously her. The name wasn't inaccurate per se, but it did a terrible job describing what the book was about. It was an introductory course into infusing Dust into your weapons, this specific volume focusing on non-permanent infusions. Specifically it focused on making your weapons look like weapons from fairy tales. She put it in another pile, marking this one as a 'maybe'. "The History of the Castaway Art of Dust". Warm feelings flooded her upon holding this book in her hands once again. Many years ago she had convinced Taiyang to help her rob a Schnee sponsored Dust museum in Atlas. "Those were the days…" she murmured to herself full of nostalgia, and then laughed to herself. "Ironwood was so mad at us even if he couldn't prove anything. Even Qrow had found it funny, always didn't like Atlas and Ironwood." her mood soured and a frown grew on her face at the mention of Qrow. She shook her head. "Those days are in the past." she said quietly but determined. She turned her gaze back on the book and quickly flipped through its pages. Just like she remembered, barely anything on actual usage, almost everything was strictly historical. She nodded, this would do nicely. A hint to a power she had likely never heard, and the ability to use would depend heavily on how good she'd be at tracking down this obscure art. In a few moments everything was put back into the chest, as tidy as before.
Vernal arrived before she had heard anything about Lionheart's envoy; the meeting was either still ongoing or the envoy was still traveling to the Forbidden Zone, though Raven figured it was likely the former. She took the items from Vernal's hands and dismissed her, sitting down in her tent with some empty paper and a pen. After the letter was finished, she wrapped the book in the festive wrapping paper, and put her letter on top of it, and put both of them in the box, finishing it all by wrapping it too. She looked with a bit of pride at her handiwork; she hadn't had to wrap presents for around sixteen years now. She stood up and grabbed her Omen ready to depart before another thought occurred to her.
"Perhaps this can wait a few days…" she murmured to herself, as she put down the gift on the table.
Her bullhead touched down at the Forbidden Zone, and as she stepped out of her aircraft, she was met with weaponry pointed at her throat. The six bandits, for what else could they be, demanded that she identify herself.
"Sepia Drab." she said calmly, though inwardly she was praying that the Headmaster didn't lead her to her death. "I was told to tell you the code word 'Black Mane'."
Once she finished uttering the phrase, the weapons were quickly lowered. A blonde man with wavy hair and gray eyes stepped up in front of his comrades, clearly cementing himself in control here.
"Raven told us to expect a Huntsman, yeah. Didn't tell us to expect a beauty, though."
"I don't sleep around with criminals, bandit." was her disgusted response. "I wouldn't even be here if I could, but orders are orders, and your boss has something the Headmaster wants. I'm here to see if this area is as clean of Grimm, and Evolved Grimm, as was promised. If I die, the Headmaster will assume it isn't."
"Well, boys, guess we better make sure the lassie here doesn't trip and fall off a cliff, huh?"
The man flirted with her one moment, and mocked her another. Was this some sort of test Branwen had set up to test her? Or was this bandit simply that unashamedly vile? She considered it, and decided it was probably the second one. It is truly a dark day for Mistral that a Huntress is forced to work with these scum. Why couldn't the Professor give the order? They'd strike and wipe all of these bandits out. It was a long time coming in her opinion.
"Do you have a map for what area you are confident you've secured?" she asked, deciding to ignore his jab. She certainly did not believe that they explored every single inch of this place.
The blonde tapped a few things on his scroll, and it projected a holographic map of the area. The center was highlighted as green, North-Eastern corner as yellow, with one particular place highlighted with a black exclamation mark, the Western part was highlighted as a mixture of green and yellow, and the Southern part was entirely red.
"Green means fully explored, green-yellow means almost fully explored, yellow means partly explored, and red means we've done fuck all there." the blonde helpfully supplied.
"I was told that Miss Branwen promised there weren't any Grimm, and you didn't even fully explore the place?" her voice was mixture of fury and disbelief, and the blonde just shrugged in response. "If Raven says there aren't any Grimm, then there aren't any Grimm. It's that simple."
"It isn't that simple!" she angrily retorted to which the male just shrugged again. "Bring it up to Raven if you want." was his response. He looked her in her blue eyes. "You've got your job, we've ours. Let's save us all a grave and get to it."
As she was about to retort, parts of the Southern area switched to yellow. Seeing her look the man explained in his own insulting way.
"You didn't really think there were only six of us here, did you? Guess it's true what they say about beautiful woman. It's either or, huh?"
"Be sure to let your boss know, I'm sure she'll be delighted to hear that."
"Oooooh, watch out boys, we've got a lively one here. Pity that her tongue is the only thing working now, otherwise we might actually get something done today."
Another man stepped up and clasped the blondie on his shoulder. "You two can flirt on your own time, Shay. Like you said, Raven is going to have our heads if this doesn't go through." he turned to look at her. "As Shay told you, Raven has more of us here than just us six. The others are mapping the finer details of this area, as well as seeing if there's still anything worthwhile remaining here."
"That's Mistral property!" she said outraged. They all laughed at her. "Our property now, Miss Drab." was the response from the only other person who had talked to her here. She really shouldn't have been expecting common decency from savages. She turned her eyes to the map again.
"What does that exclamation mark mean?"
"I wouldn't want to steal your thunder, Jett." Shay sarcastically said. "If I answer her a bit more you might just blow a casket out of jealousy."
The man, now identified as Jett, snorted. "As if you wouldn't be trying to get into her pants, Huntress or no. Just trying to keep us focused." speaking of which, he turned to address her. "That's the mountain pass we found an hour ago leading through the mountains to the other side."
"The one Grimm used to invade this place!" she said with a spark of realization, to which Shay and Jett replied with "Yeah, no shit" and "That's what Raven thinks as well" respectively.
She glared at Shay, and the bastard had the gall to wink at her. Disgusted she snatched his scroll –with an annoyed 'Hey!' from Shay- and looked over the map again. She decided that the mountain pass and the North-East was the best place to start, then she could cover the entire Eastern and Southern parts, and finish it all off with the Western part. Though the Headmaster told her to not be extremely thorough, that could be handled by another team once this place is back in Mistral's hands, he did tell her that her priority is to make sure the Evolved Grimm wasn't present. She sighed, this place was massive. It would take her a day, at least, two tops to look through it all. She was thankful she brought some food and water along, looking at Shay she had a feeling his generosity would come at a disgusting price. Though, she'd probably have to return and sleep in her bullhead, just to be safe.
The Huntress, it seemed wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible, as in around a day and a half, Raven heard that she set off, and as she saw a bullhead in the distance approaching her camp, Raven knew that she was now returning, and for her sake, hopefully with an acceptable amount of money.
It took ten more minutes for it to land, and as it did, she finally got a good look at her appearance. She had shoulder-length green hair, with tips dyed black, blue eyes, sharp features contrasted by a button nose. With a bare glance, Raven thought the girl was around five-foot-four, much shorter than her own five-foot-eleven. She wore a white dress shirt with first two buttons unbuttoned; cargo skirt that went to her knees; and a pair of black knee-high boots. In her right hand she carried a large brown bag, one Raven presumed had her Lien, and on her left shoulder was a leader handbag. Raven didn't see any weapons on her, which caused her to be somewhat wary; no one walked beyond the walls unarmed, which meant her weapon was hidden, and that by necessity meant she could swiftly withdraw her weapon from its hiding place, marking her as one with preference for speed. A visible weapon was easy to keep track of, a hidden one much harder.
The woman approached her, and extended her right hand towards her. Raven pulled her Aura's protection tightly around herself –she could feel plenty of hostility towards her, and it paid to be careful- and grabbed the bag. With a quick work of her hands, the bag was untied, and Raven peered inside. Her carefulness proved warrantless, as the bag was filled with nothing but Lien cards. Personally she preferred Lien in cash form, but Lien was Lien, she thought as she emptied the bag on the ground. She motioned for Vernal to unclasp the black attaché briefcase she had her hold, and when Vernal did so, Raven began to put the cards there while counting them.
"You think the Headmaster undercut you?" the Huntress asked her with a tone mixture of bewilderment and offense. Raven spared the woman a quick glance and returned to counting.
"You tell me." Raven said in a disinterested tone. "You trust him, correct? Is he stupid enough to attempt to screw me over?"
"Professor Lionheart is an honest and honorable man." Drab faithfully insisted, to which Raven just laughed. Nevertheless the woman continued. "He would keep his word even to…" she paused, clearly realizing the need for diplomacy. However, it seemed, that her distaste of Raven's tribe won out, "…undesirables."
Raven paused her counting, and shook one of the Lien cards she was holding in front of the woman's eyes, with a smug smile. "I don't know, Huntress, I feel like we are very desired right now." her smug smile turned mocking. "Or does the great headmaster often send his Huntsmen to deliver such large unemployment benefits to wanted criminals?"
"Perhaps we simply missed the letter of pardon, Ma'am." Vernal joined in. "Who better to receive a pardon than patriots that are as devoted as we are?"
There was laughter all around the camp, and even Raven seemed genuinely in a good mood. Nothing unites people better than mockery of common enemy. Raven spied a quick glance and saw the woman had gone red in the face, and Raven smirked at her. As the Huntress was about to say something, Shay D. Mann interrupted her.
"You did your job, Sepia, now let our boss do hers."
At this Vernal turned her head to look at him. "Already on first name basis? Are we going to have to worry about conflicts of interest?"
"You know me," he said with a cocky laugh, "ladies can't escape my charm."
Vernal nodded all serious-like. "Yes, I do. Your overflowing charm is exactly the reason why you don't have a girl. Because you are just too charming."
Mann took the insult in stride. "See, Miss Huntress? There really is no escape."
Raven couldn't help herself, and glanced at her reaction. She had to stifle a giggle at how disgusted the Huntress looked. She shook her head, and resumed counting as a thought floated through her head. 'What was it with men and shooting for something that's better left alone?'
Her tribe continued to talk amongst themselves, as the Huntress and Mann bickered, or flirted as she heard another of her tribesman refer to it, as she continued to sort through the considerable amount of currency. In few more handful of minutes she was done, and turned to look at the Huntress, snapping her fingers to kill the conversation. All of them, and with amusement Raven noticed that even Drab obeyed, quickly shut up.
"Tell Lionheart that I am satisfied with his payment." He paid her the standard rate for her high-tier clearing –unlike low-tier missions, high-tier missions did not pay per destroyed Grimm, but per the perceived difficulty of the mission- and then paid what she considered more than adequate sum for the destruction of the Evolved Grimm. Truthfully, she perhaps could demand more, there isn't a standard rate for Evolved Grimm, but she considered fortunate enough to have extorted this much out of post-hoc favor.
The woman looked relieved -whether because Raven was not going to kill the deal, or because she could finally leave, Raven didn't know- and she turned to leave before stopping with hesitation and turning around. Her face was sketched with disgust, as she gave an extremely small bow. "Kingdom of Mistral thanks you for your service, Raven Branwen."
Despite her feelings on the issue, the woman seemed to have swallowed her pride and decided to leave this meeting on respectful note, in case her boss ever needed Raven's services again. Raven liked those who knew their place. She gave the woman a nod in response, as the Huntress departed. The only thing that remained was to wait for the perfect moment to deliver her daughter's gift.
Yang was listening to Professor Ozpin talk about the Initiation and their goal; reaching the northern end of the forest; finding the relics and coming back alive, when she was distracted by a black raven flying in the distance, out of place in the otherwise clear sky. As Ozpin's speech drew to a close, the bird similarly drew closer and closer to them. She was broken out of her thoughts by the Professor wishing them all a happy landing, and then, boom!, she was souring through the sky, thoughts of the raven forgotten for now.
Raven landed a few feet away from Ozpin, but he nevertheless turned to look at her. It was now only her, Ozpin, and Goodwitch.
"It's a surprise to see you here, Raven." Ozpin said in an amicable tone.
Raven shifted from her bird form to her human form, and gave both of them a nod in greetings, before turning her attention to Ozpin and adopting an innocent expression.
"Can't a former student visit her place of education anymore these days?"
"Beacon has its doors open to all its students, and Huntsmen of Vale." Ozpin confirmed before his face grew into an amused and knowing smile. "And yet, I dare say, you haven't come here to pursue knowledge, and I don't remember you being one for long-lasting feelings of nostalgia."
"Perhaps you don't know me as well as you think." Raven countered, a pointless gesture, as they all knew, or suspected, why she was here. Still, this sort-of-banter was helping to set the conversation on a happy foot, so it wasn't just for fun.
"Ozpin, do you really think it's wise to let her stay here? She betrayed us all, not to mention the despicable things I've heard from the East."
Raven's head turned to observe the speaker, Goodwitch, who decided to interject. Her face was carefully set to not betray her emotions, but from her tone Raven suspected she was more worried what she would do here than she was mad at her presence.
"Wise?" Ozpin repeated as if surprised by the word itself. "No, probably not. Then again, I doubt she'll be here long. I have a feeling that this could lead to something good."
Even without her Evil Gauntlet -she had removed it and hid her Minions whenever she met someone she didn't want to reveal her hand to just yet- giving off the visual que of 'she's Evil', she was certain that Ozpin was by now very aware that 'good' wasn't exactly the right word to describe her. For a moment she hesitated, unsure if somehow she'd be playing into Ozpin's plans unknowingly, but cast her worries aside. She came here for a reason, and she'll make it a reality.
"If you say so." Goodwitch clearly wasn't convinced, and the stern glare she gave her made Raven assured that she wasn't welcomed here by her, but Raven wasn't particularly concerned with the woman right now.
Raven turned her gaze to the forest below. She couldn't make out any details and so she glanced at Ozpin again, "I know you have people there keeping watch, evaluating, all that, but surely you're not just going to stand here staring at nothing."
The unspoken request was easily understood with Ozpin, and he tapped his scroll a few times. Raven heard a 'ting' sound and looked at her own scroll. Her scroll was now connected to the cameras, and with a quick skimming of its content she was able to ascertain that her new powers stretched no further than the Emerald Forest. Seems like Ozpin could resist being foolish on rare occasion.
Her eyes searched through the camera feeds searching for her daughter, and with great ease she had found her, saw her destroying Beowolves left and right. Raven could hardly tell her skill from simple Beowolves, no real Huntress had any problem with them. Soon enough her daughter had found a teammate, and Raven could have sworn she had seen that face somewhere, but it alluded her. Raven gave a tiny smile, whoever that girl was, if Raven had seen her somewhere and had bothered to remember her, that must mean she's worth something. Fortune favoured her daughter, Raven thought, as it very well ought to. She kept an eye on the other feeds too, seeing if any other caught her interest.
"Plenty of wasted energy with even more potential," Ozpin said suddenly. "Wouldn't you say so, Raven?"
Momentarily she moved her eyes away from the scroll and to her former boss, face hiding her surprise. "You want my opinion?"
He looked at her pointedly, waiting for her to humor him, as he humored her. Raven sighed, but answered regardless. "I don't know about their possible potential, but they remind me of kids in a park playing play-pretend. They are treating this as a game, full of underserved arrogance, drunk on false-invincibility of Aura. Not one of them seem even the tiniest bit careful, or aware."
Ozpin's stoic face shattered as genuine surprise appeared on his face. His secretary worded his surprise in words more confrontational than Raven thought he'd have chosen.
"You? In a park watching children? Stooped to kidnapping kids, have you, Branwen?". Ozpin nodded and voiced his own surprise. "I must admit, I can't really imagine you lounging around in a park watching children play being Huntsmen."
Raven turned to look at them, firstly focusing on Goodwitch. "I have my own daughter, thank you very much. I don't want more children. What would I even do with kidnapped children? I don't do ransoms usually, and somehow I doubt a children of the Schnees are just going to be left unattended in an easy-to –kidnapp position." her tone sounding slightly offended at the accusation. She turned her head to Ozpin next, tone shifting back to her seemingly uncaring tone. "If you must know, Tai and I have taken young Yang to the park a few times while we were still together."
"How could someone like that turn out like you? How could someone who loved her husband and child ever do such horrors? I hardly ever hear any news about you that isn't foul to the core." Was this a reprimand? An appeal to her emotions? Raven couldn't tell, but what interested her was that Ozpin suddenly looked uncomfortable with the conversation. More skeletons in his closet? Or did he fall for a woman like her in one of his lives? Ozpin soon shifted the conversation back to the one before, and Raven allowed it. She wasn't going to get anything out of him now; he was very guarded about his secrets.
"You are very good at spotting the bad," Ozpin said in a tone that suggested that he wasn't trying to insult her, "but a lot of what you noted Beacon intends to cure. And when the bad is removed, there is nothing left but for the good qualities to grow."
"If nothing else, Beacon is pretty good at creating warriors," Raven somewhat agreed with him, "but how many of these new warriors will survive your games against her?"
Ozpin shook his head, a bit of annoyance visible on his face. "What would you have me do, Raven? I grieve over every of my dead Huntsmen. They knew what they were signing up to; they want to be the heros, I give them the opportunity to fulfill that dream and make the world a safer, better place." Seeing that she was about to object, Ozpin shot her down. "Enough! We had this debate many times."
Even now he couldn't bring himself to admit to his lies, but that didn't annoy Raven, she was used to it. Raven switched tabs and pulled up the online application website for Beacon academy and sure enough, she could find nothing on fighting immortal Queen of Grimm. Personally, Raven though this was pretty big deal, but Ozpin clearly disagreed.
She peeked at the feed, and froze. All sound quickly became inaudible to her ears, vision blurred in and out of focus, except for the part that saw her. Her best friend, who was supposed to be dead, was talking, relaying some sort of plan. Relief washed over her, before cruelly it crashed just as fast. She was seeing things, a hallucination tormenting her with memories of what she had lost. Her brain processed the information normally now; the shock had passed, the hallucination vanished, and where she once saw Summer, there was what was surely her daughter.
"Ruby…", Raven whispered. If she remembered right, that's what Summer had named her child; she had been rather proud of the name. Raven didn't know what to feel and it didn't help that she was full of different emotions. She felt great rage at the girl for daring to trick her like this, fury that she wore the face of Summer; she felt disappointed in herself for letting a mere lookalike of her former friend mess with her mind like this; she felt wistful longing for times long past; regret that she had ever helped Summer at all, she would have never forgiven her, but would have been alive; and many other emotions flying in and out, all raging for control. For a moment she stood shell shocked, tornado of uncontrolled emotions, but then after giving the young girl another glance, carefully observing her, one other thought surfaced to her mind. 'Taiyang'. She didn't think it all hit him this bad.
Suddenly she lost her mood to spectate the initiation. Her Omen cut open a portal, and she left Beacon to return to her tribe, picked up the gift for her daughter, and returned once more to Beacon, the portal closing behind her. She tossed the wrapped package to Ozpin, who deftly caught it. "Make sure this gets to my daughter." She was about to use her Semblance to create a gateway to another place, but Ozpin's words stopped her for a moment.
"In a gifting mood, Raven?" he asked with a slight tinge of curiosity in his voice. "I trust that this is nothing I should be concerned about?"
For a few moments she wondered if he referred to her newfound attention to her daughter, or whether he was worried about the gift instead. She decided to address the latter part. "Nothing illegal to possess in the Kingdom of Vale."
Before Ozpin had the time to respond, she slashed at the air, and disappeared through her newly created portal.
She appeared in a school of some kind. Her ex-husband was at work, clearly. If she remembered correctly, after they split, she had heard from Summer that he became a teacher at Signal. This must be Signal then. Her portal had deposited her outside of some classroom, presumingly his, and the only thing that stood between her and what she wanted was a thin classroom door. She raised her right foot and kicked the door open, drawing the attention of everyone inside on her, while her eyes found Tai, and his shocked expression. She wasn't good with things like this, but she had to try. But first, they needed some privacy. Time to put her Huntsmen training to work.
"Mr. Xionlong, quick!" Raven said, voice changing into one of urgency and a tinge of fear. "You have to come with me quickly! Orders from Professor Ozpin himself, there's a big Grimm tragedy, Evolved Grimm from Mount Glenn have descended on the heart of Huntsmens' future, descended on Beacon! He couldn't get a hold of you, so I came instead. All top Huntsmen are gathered!"
Taiyang's mouth turns into a bemused smile, before he quickly hardens it, putting on a serious expression. "From Mount Glenn, you say, Ms. Branwen? It must be really serious if they are calling back retired Huntsmen like me."
He knew her game, she was certain, and yet he insisted on turning that into banter, taking her-made excuse and nearly ripping it to shreds. Her voice adopted even more urgent quality.
"There's no time for jokes! All the best Huntsmen were summoned, and that includes you! You have a duty to protect the people of Vale, to protect its future!"
For a moment Taiyang's mask broke, and his incredulous expression conveyed the hidden message. Yes, Raven had to agree, this sounded incredibly hypocritical and ironic coming from her. For a moment it looked like he would continue this banter, but he instead looked over the class.
"Well, students, you can thank Ms. Branwen here, because you just got a free period while I go handle the mess at Beacon."
Without waiting for the class' response, Raven tore open a portal with her Semblance, and with haste grabbed her ex-husband's hand and leapt through the portal, it closing behind them. Predictably, Raven didn't bring him to Beacon, but instead to her own camp. Ignoring Vernal's questioning glance, Raven dragged Taiyang into her tent.
"I can't help but notice this isn't Beacon." he said in a tone that was supposed to sound natural but instead sounded cheeky to her ears.
"I can't help but notice that you didn't resist being pulled into my tent despite that." Raven shot back. With a tiny smirk she continued. "I hope you haven't lost your touch; your students will be eager to know why they can't find anything on the news." she adopted a thinking expression. "Come to think of it, so will your employers."
Taiyang shrugged his shoulders. "You visiting me after all these years, and all that respectful-" he mimicks Raven's voice, "-'Mr. Xionlong, Sir! I need your help, it's very urgent, please!'" his voice returns to normal. "Convinced me that this must be pretty important."
Raven frowned lightly. "You know, I don't really remember saying most of that. I guess it's true; men hear only what they want to hear."
He didn't seem to take any offense to the comment, and laughed lightly. Then came the million-lien question. "So, Raven, why did you come here after 17 years?"
Her expression softens, before it sets into a face of determination. She sat down on her bed to the right of the room, and motioned for him to sit near him. He complied. When he sat down, Raven roughly pushed his head into her lap, and with slight hesitation began gently stroking his hair.
"Not that I mind," Tai began, voice betraying clear confusion, "but what brought this on? It's rare to see you being gentle."
Raven didn't answer for a few moments, thinking the best way to approach this, no doubt, delicate subject. She had acted on a whim, on her emotions; she hadn't thought this fully through.
"I saw Summer's daughter in Beacon." she eventually said.
Silence reigned after her words. She normally had no issue with it, but this one seemed oppressive. She wanted him to choose to lay open her his problems on his own volition; she didn't think it was prudent to push him too much.
"Ooookay…?" to Raven's surprise, her ex-husband seemed no less confused by her attempts at clarification than he was before. "Why were you there?"
"I figured my daughter deserved a gift, but postal service could give her too many hints as to my location." while she was speaking, she did not stop gently caressing his hair. "And since I already was going to visit Vale, to send it from there for the minimum information, I figured, why not? Might as well wait for the Initiation and see how you raised her."
"And?" Taiyang prompted her. "What do you think?"
"Didn't get much of a look before I spotted Ruby. Seemed to handle Beowolves fine, but that's hardly a surprise." she replied honestly.
She saw him looking confused, before a realization fell on his face. "Summer must have told you, didn't she? I know you two kept in touch even after the team, and us, broke up."
Raven nodded, before a slight frown appeared on her face. "Don't change the subject. We're not talking about Summer. We're talking about her child and you."
"Uh huh…" he mumbled, "you still haven't told me what she has to do with your visit…or your kindness."
This was getting annoying. Couldn't he get the hint? "She looks exactly like Summer. Including her Emblem pin. Her outfit is pretty much the same as Summer's except instead of her colors, it's mine."
"Oh!" he voice saturated with realization. "You're worried that I projected the trauma from my two breakups onto Ruby!"
"I'm more worried about you than the kid." she said with honesty, pleased that he finally got the hint and started opening up. Despite their breakup, she still cared for him. She didn't relish in his suffering.
"Yes…" he said awkwardly. "That's…uh…exactly what happened, yes…I totally molded my daughter in both of your image to cope with my trauma…so you can feel free to not stop this caring gesture."
Now it was Raven's turn to be confused. The awkward way he said it did not sound to her like an admission. Nor did it sound like he was mocking her. Something dawned on her, and her cheeks tinged red slightly.
"You would tell me if I was wrong, wouldn't you?" she said with a bit of warning in her tone. Surely it was not needed. It couldn't be that she overreacted based on her assumptions. "You aren't lying to me for my affection, right?"
"If I say 'no', will you believe me?" he said, clearly not seeing any more point in pretending. To Raven this sounded like confession.
"So you don't have massive mental problems?" Raven asked in clarification, traces of hope carefully inaudible.
"Sorry to disappoint you."
Relief flooded Raven's body, and she sighed happily, weight she didn't know she was carrying, gone from her shoulders. She was glad he was okay, and though embarrassed by her overreaction, she was delighted that he wasn't suffering.
"So, what have you been up to since I last saw you?" Taiyang asked in a conversational tone, happy to squeeze as much of her affection as he could. "Somehow I don't think the people I managed to glance at before you pulled me into your tent are law-abiding citizens."
Raven chuckled. "Matter of perspective, isn't it?" she said in a faux innocent tone, easily falling back as if no time at all had passed since she last saw him. "The Big Government always tries to press its boot on us little businesspeople. You do a bit of entrepreneurism here and there, and look at that! Suddenly you're a criminal and a murderer and all the buzzwords like that."
Her ex laughed long and hard. He was not oblivious that she was an evil woman, nor was he ignorant of the background of her and Qrow.
"Yes, I'm sure you're just an innocent woman in all this." he said in a sarcastically amused tone. "I guess your banditry backstory was just to impress me?"
She winked at him seductively. "I heard guys like bad girls. Nothing quite as bad as slaughter of the innocent, is there?"
"Yes, nothing gets a man more horny than genocide." he faux-confirmed.
They started at one another for a few more moments, and unable to bear it, burst into laughter. Their charade had reached its end. When their laughter subsided, Raven shrugged and decided to be honest.
"If you must know, I've recently finished extorting Lionheart. Independently I had gone on an… expedition, and I extorted him for all the Grimm I cleared out."
"You know, trying to scam the government for a payment to a job you didn't previously agree to do doesn't really seem all that evil."
"Well, I can't very well devote all my time to raids, can I?" she said looking him right in the eyes. "Felt like checking out if the rumors about the Evolved Grimm in the Containment Zone were true. And, well, might as well cash in on my efforts, right?"
"Well, I'm not going to complain about you doing less raids, that's for sure." this had never been a major problem for them back when they were dating, she hadn't yet returned to her old habits. And despite her never changing her stance on the issue, the fool fell for her all the same. Despite him never changing his stance on the issue, she, the fool, fell for him all the same. "So, were there any Evolved Grimm?"
"Sure." she said in an unimpressed tone. "It evolved to have bones made from steel. Useful for combating blades, but…"
"Conductive to Lightning Dust" Taiyang finished for her, guessing her train of thought. "Not much of a challenge for your Omen, was it?"
"No." Raven confirmed. "But I wouldn't say the trip wasn't interesting."
Taiyang was about to say something when a female voice interrupted them, coming from outside the tent. Raven easily recognized it as the voice of Vernal.
"Ma'am? There's that Huntress again to see you. She says it's urgent."
"Working with Huntresses now, Raven?" Taiyang asked her with a teasing tone as he removed himself from her lap and stood up. "You're back on the Good Side; wait until Qrow hears about this!"
Raven gave him an annoyed glare, though it was lacking any malice. The nature of the teasing was annoying, but she'd be lying if she said that she found it intolerable.
"Someone needs to do the menial task of delivering the money; far too trivial task for our esteemed headmaster to bother himself with." instead she shot back. Her face then turned into one of curiosity. "Though…our business had already concluded. What does Leonheart want from me now?"
She stood up as well, and made her way to the entrance of the tent, her ex-husband following her close behind. She composed herself, and exited through the tent flaps. Vernal, once again, spared a glance at Taiyang, but then she walked away leading to the entrance of the camp, where Sepia Drab stood surrounded by the weapons of Raven's tribesmen.
"Well, Huntress? What does Lionheart want from me?" Raven said, tone disinterested despite her inner curiosity. "I trust that you are not wasting my time."
"You could stand to be slightly more polite, Raven" Taiyang said from her left, having stopped at her left side as opposed to Vernal who stopped at her right side. The tribesmen turned their eyes to him, eyes full of shock at his daring attitude to their leader. The Huntress, too, looked surprised.
"I could stand to be many things," Raven said disinterested. "and yet, here I am, myself."
Her eyes began looking threateningly at the Huntress as the silence reigned, and the woman hurried to answer her.
"Professor Lionheart wishes for your help with another matter. I was told it was very important." Drab answered politely, though her eyes make her distaste at the situation rather clear. "There is a letter in my handbag. It's for you."
"Oh? Love letters from the esteemed Headmaster? I'm flattered really." Raven said sarcastically, and felt a tiny sense of accomplishment at hearing Taiyang chuckle. She gestured to Vernal with her head, and she dutifully walked up to the Huntress, removed the letter and presented it to Raven. The letter was in a black envelope, and Raven easily took the letter out, throwing the envelope away. She began reading the letter, and felt Taiyang read it over her shoulder.
"You know, it would be pretty respectful to wait until I show it to you." Raven commented as she kept reading. Vernal placed her hand on Taiyang's shoulder about to pull him back.
"You were never one that was big on respect." he shot back in a conversational tone.
"I was never big on showing respect. I enjoy others showing respect to me." she said as she briefly looked back and gave her right hand woman a sign to disengage. "But you know that."
Thankfully, he didn't prod her after that, as they both read the letter in silence. When she finished, something occurred to her.
"I've heard about that place before." she murmured as she quickly reread the letter. "This mentions the village of Sanctus, to the South-West. The allegedly haunted village from which no one ever returns."
"I've heard from Barth that Beacon is concerned about that place too. Fears of a large infestation of Apathy Grimm." Taiyang informed her from her left.
"Barth?" Raven repeated before understanding dawned on her. "Oh, you mean Oobleck, right? The teacher?"
"Mhmm", Taiyang murmured in affirmation. "He's my friend, we hang out when we find some spare time."
Raven let out an amused chuckle.
"Didn't have enough charming your way to Ozpin's closest confidents? Now you have to steal his staff too?"
It was Taiyang's time to frown slightly.
"You know that it's not like that. I like him; he likes me."
Raven turned to look at her, a rare teasing smile on her face.
"Was Summer really that bad in bed that you turned to men to, as you put it, like you?"
The shooting up of his eyebrows was the only thing that indicated that he was surprised and caught off guard by her question. She didn't expect him to rise to her bait, but she was still saddened to not see a funny reaction. His reaction turned neutral before it reshaped itself into a confident smirk.
"We can always find out, if you're that curious." he looked back to her tent. "I think I saw a bed there we could use."
It was her turn to be surprised. She didn't really expect a flirtatious comment in response. From the weapons at his throat it seemed that her fellow tribesman didn't approve of his insinuation.
"You'll have to spend less time with Qrow if you want to get that lucky." she joked in response as she waved the weapons away. From the increased smile, she could tell he understood her joke. He should feel honored, puns were more his thing than hers.
"Branwen?" the Huntress interrupted her with some nervousness, though as Raven looked at her she could see some agitation too. "Will you take the job?"
She glanced at the letter again. The job seemed simple enough. Go to Sanctus; investigate it; kill whatever is causing the issue; report back. The reward was a favor from Lionheart, something that would be useful for her to have. On the other hand, she didn't fancy potentially fighting Apathy Grimm, though it wasn't a challenge insurmountable.
"Taiyang?" she asked, to which he responded with a questioning 'hmm?', "You haven't lost your edge have you?"
"I might have gotten a bit rusty in my years as a teacher." he said with a slightly embarrassed look. "Students aren't much of a challenge, you know?"
"We'll see about that. Will you watch my back?"
"Just like old times, huh? Sure, I could go for some action."
Raven nodded at him and turned to look at Drab. "You can tell Leonardo that I'll do it."
"Are you sure that the two of you can do it alone? I don't care about you bandits, but I want to see Professor Lionheart's orders complete."
"He wouldn't have called for me if he didn't think I could do it, would he?" she said in response. "Go back to Lionheart. There is nothing for you here anymore."
With a nod, the woman turned around and boarded her bullhead, and flew off. Taiyang poked Raven to get her attention.
"I don't see a bullhead of our own." as he finished speaking, out of nowhere a bullhead appeared, and he did a double take. "…I stand corrected, I guess."
Raven felt a Tower Gate appear and disappear, and understood that this is how the vehicle appeared here. Though she didn't remember issuing an order for the Minions to send her one from the Dark Tower, which is where she had parked the stolen bullhead after their expedition to the Containment Zone. Suddenly she heard Gnarl's voice in her head. "I hope you don't mind, Master, but I took the liberty of having the Tower Heart deliver this device to you. I tuned in at the end of the conversation, and it seems like you'll need transportation."
She sent him a mental thought acknowledging the usefulness of his action, and boarded the bullhead, only pausing for a moment to verbally snap her ex from his stupor. As they entered, the bullhead's doors closed behind them, and Raven walked up to the pilot's seat where she was not surprised to find her Peaco.
"What is that, Raven?" it seems that Taiyang had followed her to the pilot's seat. His reaction was unsurprising, a Minion were very shocking to the senses.
"That is Peaco." she informed him, specifically choosing to interpret his question in the narrowest way possible. "He's the pilot. And my Royal Guard."
That seemed to have taken him aback even more than the appearance of her servant. "Since when do you need a guard?"
"Well, I don't really need one," she said as she leaned in and showed Peaco where to fly them on her scroll, "but he had the guts to assign himself to the position, and he has plenty of potential. Hasn't disappointed me yet at any rate."
The Minion seemed to perk up at the indirect praise, and the bullhead lifted off. They started flying, and Raven and Taiyang sat down at nearby seats.
"Well that's generous of you." he said, and Raven could tell he hadn't yet the time to get adjusted to all this weirdness. "Why is he dressed like that?"
Raven laughed lightly. "You should have been there. He saw a butler, liked his clothes, beat him up and stole them. They don't fit him at all, but he seemed so proud of himself and happy, and that didn't change."
He smiled a bit. "That sounds so out there, that, yeah, sounds like it would have been a sight to witness. What happened to the butler?"
"The same thing that happen to the rest of the passengers of this bullhead." Raven said uncaring. "We didn't kill them, just kicked them out and stole their bullhead."
As they flew to Sanctus, not a long trip, they talked about safe topics, ones that they both knew wouldn't start an argument.