"Hello?" Stepping through the frozen wasteland as snow crunched underneath her feet, Cheyenne cautiously looked around. "Kagami? I uh, have your sword by mistake?" She swallowed, holding the sheathed weapon in her left hand while her right hand tightly gripped the handle. "Kris? Elise?" She quietly called out. "Hello? Anyone?" She paused. "Miss Baren?"
Upon hearing nothing, she stopped in place and glanced down at her feet. Staring at them for a moment, she shook her head and attached the sword to her waist. Reaching up, she pulled the wolf hood she had made over her head. Her antlers sticking out through small holes she made. "Okay. You need to make it to Mantle. Who knows how much longer you'll last out here."
She let out a shaky breath, seeing a small cloud escape her mouth before she pulled down the sleeves of Kagami's hoodie farther over her hands. Pulling out her scroll, she checked the time. It was a little after eight. Sliding it away, she glanced up at the sky to check the position of the sun. "Then Mantle should be..." With her finger extended, she moved her body around before pointing in a direction. "That way." She nodded to herself before she began walking once again. "Hopefully the others know what's going on more than I do... and hopefully are heading towards the Kingdom as well."
"Your friends are fine." A voice came from behind.
Nearly jumping, she stumbled in the snow and almost fell. Grabbing the hilt of the sword, she quickly turned around with wide eyes. Upon seeing pink hair she softly exhaled. Her shoulders relaxing as she let go of the weapon. "Baren, what... where..." She trailed off slightly.
"Don't worry." The old warrior nodded, stepping up beside her. She stretched out her arm a little. "Call this another one of my unorthodox ways of teaching." She chuckled quietly. "You already know your way to Mantle, so that's good." She nodded.
"So... why do I have Kagami's sword?" She glanced down at the weapon before eyeing her again.
"I want you to learn how to use something more than just your rifle." She softly smiled. "You know, so you can do more than what you already can. I'd prefer if it wasn't her sword, but right now that's all there really is for you to use."
The Faunus blinked a few times, her brow furrowing before an idea struck her. "You know, actually, I might have an idea. I mean I thought about it when I was making this," She touched the wolf hood she had on. "But that was interrupted with... whatever you did." She shook her head. "If you could get a few things though, I could make myself a melee weapon and you could take Kagami's back. I know it's not the usual kind weapon." She glanced down at the sword.
Raising an eyebrow, Baren let out a very faint sound before nodding. "Well what do you have in mind? I'm sure I could find time between keeping all of you in check."
"Do you remember that large wolf? I wanted to use as much of it as I could. And I had this idea for a blunt weapon." She reached up to rub her neck. "I wanted to decorate it though. Make it look nice."
Smiling, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Alright, alright. Just give me a list and I'll find the stuff."
As the day went on, the Faunus was lucky for the most part. The wind wasn't blowing hard and the snow itself wasn't too terribly deep. With the sun overhead, it warmed the chilly air ever so slightly.
With her cheeks slightly red from the cold, she glanced around between the trees she was walking inbetween before freezing. Exhaling softly, she reached out to rest her hand on a tree. Slowly peeking behind her, her shoulders squared at the faint and shadowy movement she saw. Closing her eyes, she inhaled very slowly before they both shot back open.
Activating her semblance, she pushed herself off the tree with a heavy huff of air. The area where her hand was rotting away. As she moved out of the way, an icy Ursa landed in the snow where she once was. Growling, it turned its head in her direction before hearing the tree beside it crack. As it moved its head back, it grunted loudly as the tree fell over on top of it with a loud thud that echoed in the quiet air.
"Alright... alright, let's do this." Taking a deep breath, Cheyenne slid one foot back while reaching to her side with her right hand to grab her friend's sword. Gripping it tight, she pulled it from the leather sheath and raised it up. Her left hand following and grabbing a hold of it as well. Her eyes slowly narrowing at the grizzly beast.
Growling in pain, it flashed and bared its teeth at her while squirming out from under the fallen over tree trunk. Digging its large paws into the snow and ground, it finally pulled itself free only to fall still as a blade swung through the air. Everything went still for a moment before the Grimm's head slowly began to fall off. Its body disappearing into nothing but a black and misty smoke.
Blinking, Cheyenne stood for a moment with a few deep breaths. The sword in her grasp pointing down towards the ground with the tip of it just barely resting against the snow's surface. "Whoa... I just did that." She slowly began to smile before letting out a small laugh. "I did that!" She triumphantly called out before her expression dropped at the sound of growling and footsteps behind her. She blinked, glancing back as her shoulders slowly dropped at the sight of an alpha Ursa covered in ice slowly stalking towards. "Oh... crap..." She trailed off with wide eyes.
Panting heavily as she sprinted through the snowy woods with the sword sheathed, she knocked down any tree she could to slow the beast down behind her. Clouds of her breath escaping her mouth with each thud of a collapsing tree. With wide eyes, she slid down the side of a small hill before pushing herself behind a tree. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she rested her hands on her knees before swallowing as she slowly looked back. Glancing around, she exhaled in relief at the sight of nothing. "Oh thank Oum... I lost it." Turning around, she let out a scream and jumped back at a shadow in front of her. Drawing her friend's sword, she closed her eyes while letting out a faint warrior's cry as she swung it around.
Blinking, Baren raised an eyebrow and glanced down as the blade clunked against her shoulder right shoulder. "Uh huh. Well someone is slash happy." She let out a quiet chuckle while pushing the weapon aside with her left hand. "How about we don't damage my clothes more than they already are."
Going stiff, the Faunus' face shot a deep shade of red. Nearly dropping the sword as she slid it back inside the sheath, she placed her hands on her thighs and closed her eyes while bowing forward. "I'm so sorry! There was this Ursa! This... really big and icy Alpha Ursa! It was chasing me and I thought-"
"Enough, enough." She waved her off with a small huff of air. "I've brought the stuff you asked for and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious on how you plan to create a weapon from this." Reaching behind her, she pulled out several items. "I've spent over half my life away from civilization. I'm very much intrigued."
"Then I'll show you." Smiling to herself, she reached out and took what she had asked for. "It shouldn't take too long."
"I'd hope not." She glanced up at the sun which was starting to fall. "I still need to go check up on Kris before it gets dark."
"Right." Nodding back, Cheyenne made her way beside a rock next to a tree. Dusting off the snow from the rock, she sat down on it as she began to set aside everything that had been gathered along with things from her own pockets. Looking over everything, she softly bit her lip before reaching out and grabbing the jaw bone from the large wolf from earlier. Standing it upward in a v in the snow, she pulled out Kagami's sword to carefully cut it in half. Once done, she slid the weapon away and set aside on half of the jaw bone.
"What exactly are you making?" The old warrior asked, approaching her with a questionable look before kneeling down in the snow to watch.
"A club. Of sorts. And maybe something else..." She eyed the bone resting in the snow tightly gripping the one in her grasp and pulling out the first several teeth. "The something else wouldn't be for me though."
"Mhmm." She nodded, inhaling calmly as she watched closely. "I think I can see it."
"Yeah..." Swallowing as she grew a little nervous, she took a deep breath and began scraping down the bone with a rock so that it would be smooth and white. "Hey... Baren?" She quietly asked. "Are you... do you really not get cold out here? I know you gave your leather jacket to Kagami but..."
"Don't worry." The pinkette flashed a smile. "If I was cold I wouldn't be out here chasing a group of idiot teenagers around."
"That's... only slightly reassuring." She half mumbled to herself with a small sigh. Grabbing a different rock, she began making small grooves into the back side of the jaw. After a few moments of silence, she took a deep breath and began to carve a hole through the joint of the bone.
"Hmph." She shook her head before leaning back a little as she relaxed her shoulders. "You have very nimble fingers. I'm guessing you always liked tasks that you had to do with your hands?"
"For the most part." Grunting as she struggled to make the hole, she flipped it around and began to work on the other side in the same fashion. "We didn't have much where I grew up, so I always made the most out of everything. I like to make boring things look pretty and new again. And well... art just falls in that territory." She let out a small chuckle. "I wish I could practice painting more. It's definitely my favorite."
"Painting, huh?" She stretched out her arm. "Maybe someday you could ask Aero to help you get better. She has a very... unique way of painting. She likes hitting her paintbrush on things when she does. It's a strange habit."
"Maybe." She blinked once and looked over. "How did you know she-" She stopped herself, flinching as she finally made a hole and hit her thumb in the process. Groaning, she shook her hand around before going and widening the opening. When she did, she set everything aside and grabbed a oval shaped rock and began to rub it against the larger one she was sitting on to turn it into a sphere.
"You're weighting it, aren't you?" Baren smiled with an amused gaze. "Smart."
"Yeah. I thought it would be best. That way the momentum helps with heavier hits since I'm not that strong." After getting it small enough to fit, she placed the round stone inside the whole in the jaw bone. Grabbing some heavy string, she began to wrap it around it while using the grooves she carved into the bone to hold the string steady.
Glancing at the setting sun, the old warrior let out a soft sigh. "I should get going." She pushed herself up to her feet while dusting the snow off her. "Be careful."
Glancing over, Cheyenne smiled and nodded back. "I'll do my best. Especially with that Alpha Ursa out there."
"I wouldn't worry about that." She flashed a grin, chuckling as she stepped over to take Kagami's sword back. "That creature won't bother you again."
Giving her a strange look, she raised an eyebrow before wrapping a slim piece of fur pelt around the bone just below the teeth. To keep it steady, she began to wrap another string down it to eventually form a handle that she finished with another piece of pelt. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, setting it aside while looking over.
Blinking as she saw nothing but the cold tundra around her, the Faunus sighed as she picked up another piece of string. "Well, it was a nice conversation while it lasted." She mumbled, sliding a jade bead followed by a tigers eye, cuprite and a green aventurine bead onto the string before tying it off. Grabbing two feathers, she used her teeth to help tie them to the end. She then took the excess string from the side the beads were on, tying it off as tight as she could to the bottom of the jaw bone club.
Smiling to herself at the sight of it, she weighed it a few times in her hand before setting it aside and grabbing the other half of the jaw bone. "And now for the other thing."
Back in Mistral, on top of the mountain they were born, Nihilus had his hands in his hoodie pockets as his sister stood with her arms crossed. "Well, are you going to go first or do I have to?" He finally spoke up as the two looked off the mountain's edge.
Taking a deep breath, Thanaton kicked around the ground a little. Her head sinking between her shoulders as she swallowed. "I um, I dunno... you can do it first..."
Raising an eyebrow, he eyed her for a moment in silence before sighing. "You don't know what to do, do you?"
"No..." She very quietly let out while lowering her head.
Glancing around, he slowly reached over to grab her hand. Holding it tight, he gently nodded towards her. "Then we can do it together." He mumbled, pulling her along beside him as they made their way down the edge until they came up to a small gravestone.
Being nudged forward, the purple haired young woman stumbled a bit before catching her balance and heavily swallowing. Biting her lip as she stared down, she slowly began to kneel down in front of it. Her hands grasping together as she rested them in her lap. "I um..." She glanced back at her brother, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as she moved her head forward. "Um..." She slowly opened her eyes, quietly exhaling as she slouched forward. After a few seconds of silence, she very quietly spoke up.
"I bet you're disappointed..." She quietly muttered. "I'm nothing but some destructive low life criminal and you were such a well known soldier... which honestly is a really lame and basic job but um," She paused, coughing slightly. "Um, that's rude... I know." she sighed, closing her eyes again. "I never really cared if I was being rude. Or if what I said or did hurt anyone..." She trailed off, slowly opening her eyes to stare at her hands. Slowly, she opened and closed her fingers.
"I... I just did whatever that felt like fun. No matter what the consequences could be. Whether it was stealing or cheating or killing or taking someone into a bedroom and locking it and um," She paused again, coughing out a single profane word before letting out another sigh. "Sorry. There just... there just was never any negative outcomes for anything I ever did. And then those four damn brats decided they were going to start screwing with our plans-" She stopped for a second and took a deep breath before sighing again.
"Sorry... sorry, I just..." She groaned quietly and shut her eyes. "I don't know. I just don't know. After all the terrible things I did to them... they still did all they could to help us. To free Val from Valentine... to get us back here... to make sure we wouldn't give up hope about meeting you and mom even..." She clenched her jaw. "Even when I was terrified... they even managed to save our lives... and I don't know. No one has ever done that before. I just... I really don't know." She glanced up, staring at the stone before she sniffled and reached up to rub her eyes. "And I'm talking to a fucking rock."
Watching her closely, Nihilus let out a heavy breath of air and crouched down beside her. His hand resting on her shoulder. "No, you're not." He mumbled quietly before closing his eyes.
Blinking, Thanaton glanced over towards him, her brow furrowing as he went silent. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and stood back up. "Huh?" She quietly let out, staring at him for a moment before her eyes widened as she pushed herself up. "Wait, were you talking to him?"
"Hmm?" He tilted his head back with a raised eyebrow.
"You were, weren't you?" She began to step towards him.
He shrugged a little, looking away and back towards the house on the mountain. "Maybe."
"Oh come on, that's bullshit. I spoke aloud. What did you say?" She rushed up beside him.
He eyed her, very faintly smiling as he slid his hands back into his pockets. "No one said you had to speak aloud." He kept walking.
"What? No! Nihilus!" She threw her arms down. "Nihilus! I will kick you off this damn mountain!"
"No you won't." He chuckled softly, waving his hand back at her. As he did, he glanced back. The corner of his eye faintly catching the gravestone as he did such. Exhaling, he looked back ahead with his smile growing.