.
It was night, all Mistral was sleeping. In one room in particular, the bluish light of the moon passed through the window, reflected on the white furniture and the various trinkets decorated with precious stones, from the jewelry box on the dressing table to the frame of the picture hanging on the wall. In a corner of this room was a large four-poster bed straight out of a fairy tale. And behind the white sheer curtain, a girl was sleeping peacefully in a silk nightgown, her long black hair scattered over the pillow. Her slight breathing and the ticking of the clock were the only sounds in the large room.
Sitting on the roof of a nearby building, Yang put her pair of binoculars back in her bag.
"Falcon, you hear me?" she heard in her earpiece.
"Yep."
"I'm in position, and you?" Rook asked.
"Same." Yang said, sitting on the edge of a building.
"Okay, beginning of the mission at midnight precisely." she reminded her "And please, don't blow everything up this time. A kidnapping is suppose to be discreet." she insisted on the last word.
"Yeah yeah, I know…" Yang could hear Rook sigh in her earpiece but didn't pay attention. It was two minutes before midnight, she still had two minutes before the operation started. To wait, she took out her dagger and started to spin it in her hand.
It had been a few months now that she was under Rook's tutelage, and it was her fifth contract. But unlike the previous ones which were all assassination contracts, this one was for a kidnapping. A ransom thing or some crap. Regardless, the client wanted an impeccable job, and ordinary mercenaries wouldn't have the same quality of work as assassins. That was why the assassins were hired to kill in only ninety percent of the cases, their qualifications made them ideal for other types of jobs. Like kidnappings.
One minute to midnight. A click could be heard as the blade inside the scabbard changed. Yang was standing and in position, hand on the handle of her sword. She had managed to master the handling of the left hand, but her child fingers were still too short to reach the button which unhooked a blade outside of the scabbard. It wasn't very important, but it was frustrating, because it would be possible with her right hand.
Yang took a deep breath, then looked back at the window. The seconds passed in her head, just like before a raid.
Three.
Two.
One.
Midnight rang throughout the sleeping city, masking the sound of the blade being drawn. In her jump from one building to another, Yang threw a big blow in the void in front of her, leaving a trail of purplish glitter. When she passed through the sparkling cloud, her body became lighter, so light that she didn't fall, and floated gently to the window sill. There she sheathed what was left of the blade, and put her hand on the glass. Her eyes caught fire, and the glass under her hand began to shine because of the heat. In just a few seconds, a hole of molten glass had formed, and Yang put her arm through it to open the window from the inside.
The assassin landed quietly on the ground, and observed her surroundings for a moment. It was the most richly decorated room she had ever seen. So much luxury almost disgusted her. She wasn't jealous, far from it, but just one year ago, if she had fallen on such a room during a raid, she would have fought with certain members of the tribe to take just about everything, useful or not. Today, she didn't need any of all that, she didn't even think about her personal belongings when she returned to the camp with Qrow. She hadn't contacted him since…
Shaking her head, Yang refocused on her mission and approached the bed where her target was. She was sleeping like a baby, completely oblivious to the dangers there could be around her. Was it a common thing of wealthy people? To believe they were safe anywhere and anytime just because they had money? It was stupid, some Lien weren't going to stop a blade from slitting their throats, or in this case, kidnapping them.
Yang took a piece of cloth out of her pocket and put it fold in four on the bedside table. She then took out a small bottle that Rook gave her and opened it, keeping the stopper between her teeth, before pouring the content on the cloth. After that she closed the bottle, put it away, and took up the soaked cloth.
It was very frustrating to see simple things become ridiculously complex with a missing arm…
Rook was waiting in a dark alley, a little four-year-old girl tied up and asleep sitting on the floor against the wall in front of her. She didn't like to get children in trouble, but a contract is a contract, and that one paid very well… She just didn't want to know what was going to happen to the two girls when they were held captive or if their parents were too late to pay the ransom… Or if they didn't pay it at all. The wealthy sometimes valued their money more than their own flesh and blood.
Revolting. Rook may be a murderer, but she at least had respect for human life, she never killed for personal satisfaction, she made the death of her victims quick and painless, and in the case of the Huntsmen, honorable with a fight. And most of all, she never left someone behind, let alone for something as secondary as money. What she earned wasn't even for her.
Anyway, what was Falcon doing? She should have finished several minutes ago, she only had to make the older sister breathe the product so that she doesn't wake up on the way and take her with her-…
Rook facepalmed. Falcon had only one arm… She completely forgot this detail… Escaping at night through the third floor of a house while transporting a fourteen years old teenage girl unconscious only with her left arm must have been complicated.
In fact, Rook often forgot that her apprentice was missing an arm. It wasn't normally something you could easily miss, but the girl acted so naturally it was hard to notice, as long as she wore a long-sleeved top. Maybe it had been a long time since she had lost it. But then why was her sword designed for a right-handed? If she had obtained it when she still had both of her arms, it must have been recent since the scabbard was adult sized, she couldn't have obtained it too young, even in anticipation. Or maybe it was someone else's weapon before…
Finally, Falcon landed in the alley, her target on the shoulder.
"Not bad." Rook complimented.
Rook hurriedly tied the girl, and swung her over her shoulder while taking the smaller one under her other arm.
"Go ahead." she told her.
Falcon nodded and the two girls set off.
In the middle of the night, it was easy to go unnoticed, especially if they were both dressed in black, but their charges weren't as discreet as them… They were supposed to bring the two girls to Vale, where their client was waiting for them, and had to figure out the transportation between Anima and Sanus by themselves. It was always annoying when a client gave them a tedious task and just told them to "deal with it", but this time the pay was up to the job required, so Rook wasn't going to complain.
At the end of an alley, Faclon leaned over to observe.
"We're at the right place, but there's a lot of guards." she informed her.
Rook put the two girls on the floor and glanced over. A cargo from the SDC was being unloaded, obviously the airship takeoff area would be more guarded than usual. They needed a new plan, because stealing a ship in these conditions carrying two unconscious people was going to be complicated.
Let's see, she couldn't wait until there were fewer guards, the girls' family would realize their disappearance in the morning and leaving the continent would become impossible. They could try to use a boat, but reaching the coast without an airship would take way too long, not to mention the journey time once at sea. And there were too many guards to get rid of them… She needed a distraction, far from the airship they would take…
And the technical room was perfectly placed.
"Seems like you'll get your explosion after all." she told Falcon with a smile.
"The rumors about Winter Schnee's resignation from her status as heiress of the SDC has been confirmed this very evening. Following a disagreement with her father, the CEO of the company, Miss. Schnee would have decided to emancipate herself from her family, and would train in order to enter Atlas Academy at the beginning of the next school year. General Ironwood has not yet spoken on the subject-…"
"Ah! Even his kids are out! Do you think Jacques Schnee is really such an asshole?" the guard asked his colleague
"Nope, I heard a testimony from a Faunus who worked in the mines before. He's worse than an asshole." the other guy answered with a laugh, taking a sip of coffee.
"Well fuck him… Let's just hope that the kid will make herself a place of choice in the army and put him in his place, that would be very fun to see.
As the two guards continued to listen to the radio, they didn't hear the window in the back room open, and didn't see the blonde girl coming in.
Yang discreetly closed the window, then stood still for a few moments to be sure that she hadn't been spotted. Still hearing the radio and the two men talking, she relaxed and looked around. There were several large electric meters with their function written on them.
"'Surveillance cameras', 'lighting'… 'radio transmission'!"
Yang put her hand on the meter and focused. She could feel the metal under her skin heating up, and if she was doing it right, the inside was even hotter and should soon catch fire. Dust or manual sabotage risked leaving traces that the police could find. And the fewer traces, the better. Soon, crackling sounds were heard, and a smell of burning was released in the room. Her fire control had improved a bit, she could now light it from a distance, well, only short distances, but she was still unable to use other elements. Too bad, being able to control the weather would be a huge asset, it could for example 'accidentally' drop lightning on the control tower to cause a diversion.
On the other hand, she liked being on the ground to act, to be in the middle of danger. It reminded her of the raids, the risk of the Huntsmen, the arrival of Grimm, the adrenaline rush… Even if at first she didn't like killing, she got used to it, and after that, raids had become one of her favorite activities. She loved this feeling of power when she entered a house and could do whatever she wanted, she loved this race against the clock while she explored the pieces in search of treasures, she loved this competition with the other members to find out who had brought back the best loot… Yes it was on the death of innocent people, but that was how the world always worked for her. They would die because they were too weak to defend themselves, she did what she wanted because she had the strength to back it up.
The weak die, the strong live. It was an absolute law.
Until Raven died too.
"Hey! What are you doing here?!" one of the guards shouted behind her.
Yang jumped. She had been so lost in her thought that she had forgotten the two guards. Her gaze landed on the counter, a large amount of smoke was coming out of the interior, communications had to be out of order, so one of the men came to see what was going on. And she was caught red-handed.
"Well… time to hurry…" she thought without any worry.
"I'm talking to you!" the guard said angrily as he walked toward her.
Yang did not listen at him and sent a strong wave of fire through the metal under her hand, exploding the meter from the inside, and causing a chain reaction on the adjacent meters and even weakening the roof, which threatened to collapse any second now. After having trained a lot to use her "Semblance", something like that no longer destabilized her, unlike the man who had been brutally propelled back and knocked against a wall. With such an explosion, everyone was probably coming to see what was going on, including the local second guard. She had to get out immediately and leave unnoticed, otherwise she would be caught for sure. Unfortunately, some tribe members had already been caught by the police, and she knew that what happened to them afterwards was not very kind. She had to get out of here and quickly!
"Falcon you hear me? I got an airship. Go to the top of the control tower, I'll catch you there." Rook informed her in her earpiece.
"Got it."
Well at least she knew where to go. She just had to find how. Yang quickly looked around, trying to keep calm. Don't panic. Stay calm… Calm…
"Stop. Take your breath, just like in training."
Yang took a deep breath, not paying attention to the smoke she was inhaling.
"That's it. Now go on, slowly."
This time Yang calmly looked around. Fire and smoke obstructed her vision, but she focused on finding a way out. Her eyes then fell on the small window through which she had entered, which had been broken by the breath of the explosion, just above a counter. The opening was too small for a human, but…
"Over there! Watch out for the fire!" someone yelled outside of the room.
Yang ran and jumped on the meter. And the moment the first person entered the room…
"… I turned into a bird!"
When the guards entered, there was no one left.
Before she even touched the ground, Yang had already turned back into her human form, and was running towards the control tower. She hadn't even taken the time to check for the presence of her right wing, she was in too much of a hurry for that, but the feeling she had had when she transformed was exactly the same. It was a little different from when she made fire, maybe because unlike the Maiden's powers, it was an ability with which she was born, it wasn't something that she activated, like her Semblance, it was something she did naturally.
Since most of the guards were busy putting out the fire, sneaking up to the tower was easy, but the question was, how was she supposed to reach the top? Whether she could fly or not, Rook might see her, and she would have a hard time explaining to her why she was able to turn into a bird. Semblances could do incredible things, but it was one per person, and Falcon's Semblance was fire. There weren't any windows except on the top floor, where there were the most people, so going inside wasn't a good idea. She could still reuse Gravity Dust, but she might not have enough to reach the top, and even if the whole area was now plunged into darkness, someone might see her…
There had to be a way to get in from the outside, right?
"Wait a minute. Since when do I think that much?"
If there was no way to climb, she would just create one, she had climbed trees and logs all her childhood, a tower wasn't going to scare her!
So she stepped back a little to gain momentum, and with her Semblance, her real Semblance, well charged by the explosion, she ran towards the wall and jumped as high as possible before sticking her fingers in the cement to create a grip. She had never been one to do in finesse. It was difficult to climb with one arm and putting enough force in her hand and feet to create grips, she would never do it without a Semblance like hers, and she had to force herself not to think to the height to stay focused, but it worked, she saw the summit getting closer and closer, and the lights were still not on.
"Almost there!" she thought as the top floor was now just above her head, and she could hear people walking across the window. If she trusted the sound, there was an open window to her right, she could use the ledge to jump and continue to climb to the roof. Yeah, good plan.
By grabbing the ledge, she easily reaches the open window, and squats on it for a few seconds to catch her breath. She even dared to look down and suppressed a laugh when she saw how high she was. If she didn't have her Aura, falling would kill her for sure, and she was completely out of breath after so much exercise in so little time. And yet it was nothing compared to the height she was able to fly… She was still able to transform, but in the panic she didn't check her right wing. She didn't feel any difference, but when she woke up without her right arm for the first time, she didn't feel it immediately either, it came back to her only when she tried to rub her eyes and only one hand did its job. Ghost sensations had been a big problem for her at first, but she got used to it by training intensively, as well as for her call foot. This time she had no choice and she didn't need to fly… but she still didn't know if -…
"Ah!" a scarred voice cried. Yang suppressed a growl of frustration. It was the second time that night that she was stupidly spotted!
Still balanced on the ledge far too far from the ground, Yang drew her sword with a simple metal blade. She had neither the time nor the desire to be noticed. Further down the hall, the little plump woman with glasses who had spotted her dropped the papers she had in her hands and started to back away trembling, then looked frantically around her in search of an escape. The eyes of the two girls fell on the door halfway between the two of them. Yang would obviously be the fastest, but the woman in front of her didn't know that. Rook may have said to be discreet, but one silent death to avoid being caught was discreet, wasn't it?
The tension was palpable, but the only reason why Yang's heart was beating faster than normal was because of her climbing of the tower and the continued activation of her Semblance.
The little woman rushed towards the door, and the assassin got into position to do the same and strike her target before she could flee, when a projectile coming from behind her passed only a few millimeters from her face and planted in the floor of the corridor.
"What-…?"
This half-second of inattention was enough for the woman to run away. Yang turned around furious to see where the shot was coming from, but the sky was too cloudy for her to see anything. However, even though it was dark because of the clouds and the power cut, the dim green light on the panel indicating the direction of the emergency exit was enough to be reflected on the wire tied to the projectile.
"Grab it, we're moving! Hurry!" Rook shouted in the earpiece.
It didn't take more than that for Yang to pull the wire and wrap it around her hand enough not to cut it, and take a last look at the distance that separated her from the ground, while she was secured only by a simple wire, with low levels of Aura, and without the certainty of being able to fly if she fell.
"Vernal may have been right when she said I had a weird notion of trust…" Yang thought with a shrug, and jumped.
"Okay, note to myself: never pulling someone up with wire again…" Rook said laying down on the airship floor gasping. Without her Aura, she would have cut her fingers a good twenty times. Falcon too, in addition to having dislocated her shoulder… "You're okay kid?"
"I survived to worse…" Falcon said, also lying on the ground.
"Really?" Rook asked raising an eyebrow, so the girl sat up and pointed at her missing arm, frowning. "Good point."
Rook stood up and walked over to the two girls they had captured that night. The trip to Vale was going to be long, they would surely wake up on the way… Only to discover that they had been torn from their home in their sleep and without any idea of where they were taken to…
Her gaze then turned to Falcon, who just sat on one of the seats of the airship, facing the girls, and was starting to fall asleep. If Rook hadn't been stopped earlier, she would have killed this woman without any remorse in order to be able to flee… An assassin wasn't a heartless killer, and it was to avoid her getting lost in that path that Rook took her with her… but for the moment it was a bad start.
At the same time, it was hard to help someone when you didn't know the problem, and she didn't know Falcon enough yet. Of course, by being around her, she had been able to understand many things. For example, she wasn't very talkative, but given the speed with which she talked when she answered with more than one sentence, she must have been the type to never stop when she was launched… So why was she so silent now?
Rook sat in the pilot's seat and uncovered her face. Come to think of it, keeping her Semblance activated for so long to keep red eyes was probably exhausting for Falcon, maybe they should find another way for her to hide her identity during missions. She had too much hair to hide it under a hood or anything like that that didn't risk to fall during a fight, so maybe something like a mask? Hmm, maybe.
"Mmmh…" speaking of which, a little voice started to mumble behind her. Rook smiled and turned to look around.
"Hey, already awak-…" she stopped immediately.
It wasn't Falcon… The youngest of the two girls had just opened her eyes and would start to panic in three, two,…
Rook wasted no time and got up to go put her right hand on the little girl's mouth while the left quickly put her hood on to hide her face. The child started to fidget to try to free herself, terrorized, but tied like she was, it was useless. Rook sighed internally and squeezed her hand over the child's face to force her to look at her, then put a finger to her lips trying to look threatening. The little girl was terrified but nodded under what she thought was a threat, and Rook slowly put off her hand, before returning to the cockpit. Well, it was on autopilot, but she liked the view. And she didn't want to scare the girl more than necessary, after all she would never hurt a child if nothing forced her to.
After only a few seconds, she started to hear sobbing behind her, and her heart sank.
"Sometimes I hate my job…"
There was silence in the ship, except for the little girl's crying. They weren't even a quarter of the way to Vale, maybe she should put her back to sleep, just to make it easier for her? A good assassin shouldn't show their weaknesses while they are working, especially if the witnesses remained alive afterwards, and little ones were her biggest weakness…
BIIIIIIIIIIP~
Rook took her Scroll out of her pocket and glanced at the message she had just received.
"HEEEEY! GUESS WHOS HACING THE BEDT NIGHT OF HERR LIFE!" Rook sighed with a little smile.
"Someone who's a little too much drunk visibly" she texted back to her best friend.
"PFFF YOURNT FUNNNY" she received a long minute later.
As she was about to point out that she forgot to turn off the caps, Rook heard a groan behind her, followed by the little girl who seemed to be agitated. The older sister was awake and would be harder to calm down.
"Look Fi, I'm working right now, go have fun with your friends instead" she quickly sent before putting her Scroll in silent mode and putting it away without waiting for an answer.
She then got up to face the two girls, the little one was hugging as best she could against her sister, who was leaning over her protectively, trying to look threatening towards their kidnapper.
"Who are you and what do you want from us?" the teenager asked with a demanding tone. Great…
"Me, nothing, you should ask my client." Rook answered with a plain voice.
"And who is your 'client'?" the girl asked again still with the same ton despite her position, making Rook frown.
"You'll find out when we get there. For now all you have to do is stay still and the trip will go without problems." she said firmly.
The older girl glared at her with her blue eyes, while the little girl's green ones were trembling in fear. Rook headed back for her seat, when the teenager's voice stopped her.
"And who is she?"
Rook turned around and her eyes fell on Falcon, who was sleeping on a seat with her doll on her knees, and like every time she slept, tears slowly trickled down her eyes.
"My apprentice, she won't hurt you." Rook said with a shrug as she sat on the pilot seat. "I hope…" she muttered to herself.
For several more minutes the ship was calm, the little girl had her sister to reassure her by telling her stories, and the two tried to keep their voices down to avoid attracting the attention of their kidnapper. Of course Rook could perfectly hear them, but it didn't bother her, she even thought it was cute, and also a little sad. She pulled out her Scroll and ignored the burst messages from her completely drunk friend, and instead sent one to her client, telling him where and when they would arrive. Then she collapsed in her seat and looked up at the sky, it was dark, and the bright light of the moon was reflecting on the clouds below them. It was a magnificent view that relatively few people could see, after all, not everyone could afford or needed to take an airship at night, or go so high. As for the rich who had more money and free time than consideration for the lives of others, they would never take the time to admire the beauty of nature.
"Sometimes I wish I could fly…"
And with that thought, Rook fell asleep.
The wind was strong, it was blowing her hair and disheveling it. Annoyed, Yang wanted to run her hand over her head to put it back in place, but couldn't. She then suddenly opened her eyes, only to realize that she was falling from very, very high. By reflex, she turned into bird and began to flap her wings. But one of them was missing, preventing her from avoiding the impact.
The ground was getting dangerously close, it was a forest, stretching as far as she could see, and the place where Yang was about to land violently was on fire. It looked like she was falling in hell.
She finally touched the ground, and shattered into a thousand pieces, like a porcelain doll.
Yang woke up with a start, her heart was beating fast and she felt the sweat run from her forehead. Then she looked around, she was sitting in an airship, her doll had slipped from her hand, and the first rays of sun illuminated the inside of the ship.
Ah right, the mission…
Yang yawned and stretched, then put her doll back in her bag and looked around for her partner. Instead, she met a pair of blue eyes staring at her angrily. It was the eldest of the two sisters they had captured during the night, she was still tied up, and her little sister was sleeping laying on the seats with her head on the girl's lap. The blonde ignored them and looked around again, until she saw Rook's hand hanging limply from the side of the pilot's seat.
Did she really fall asleep leaving their prisoners unattended? Okay, they couldn't try to escape because they were above the water, but it was still very reckless to her. … Well, the way she climbed the tower was also reckless…
Yang stood up and walked to the front of the ship to get a better view. The sun was rising behind them so it was still a bit dark in front, but the first rays illuminated the clouds under them, and the sky displayed a gradation of soft colors while there were still some stars above their head.
She had seen this view dozens of times, but she would never get tired of it. It was reassuring to see that some things never changed despite everything that happened.
"'Long ago, before we met, I dreamed about you… The peace you'd bring, the songs we'd sing, the way you'd make things new… Then one day, you arrived, I heard your angel cry… Helpless, small, and perfect, welcome to your life…'"
Her fist clenched. It was practically the last time she had heard her mother's voice, and she was unable to remember the end of the song. It was frustrating…
"You sing well." an amused voice said behind her.
Yang turned raising an eyebrow. "I thought you were sleeping."
"I was. Then I heard you." Rook said with a smile.
"Then sorry for waking you up." Yang turned back to the window.
Silence fell again, and Rook crossed her arms behind her head, putting her feet on the edge of the control panel. It was weird to see how professional she could be in action, and yet so overconfident the rest of the time.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Rook finally broke the silence.
"Hmm?"
"Who taught you to fight?" she asked.
Yang's gaze was lost again in the horizon, thinking back to the long training sessions that sometimes lasted until nightfall, or even until sunrise if nobody stopped her. In the end she was so exhausted that she was just swinging her sword around all over the place, but she didn't care, she was young and stupid, and she wanted to be just as strong as the person she admired.
"My mother…" she let out, even though she had decided not to talk about her past.
Silence fell for a few moments, until Rook talked again. "How did she die?"
Yang punched the control panel and returned to her seat without answering. She really hated that Rook could read between the lines, especially to remind her of sad memories. Most of the time she respected the limits, she never asked questions about her arm or her past, but sometimes, with a single question, even without an answer, she could deduce a lot more than she should know. That was why Yang avoided her interrogations as much as possible, she may have accepted Rook as a mentor for assassination, because it was true she was very talented in her profession, and trusted her to have her back during fights, but she didn't see why she should tell her everything when she barely knew her. In addition, almost everything in her life was related to magic, her mother was a Maiden, they could turn into bird, her existence was hidden from Ozpin, it was a Salem's minion who attacked her tribe and destroyed her life…
Magic had followed her everywhere since before she was even born, wherever she went. And Rook didn't have to know that magic existed.
Yang pulled out her dagger and started to spin it in her hand. She could feel the look of the teenage girl in front of her, a poor girl who had probably never done anything in her life. So just to taunt her, Yang ran a trail of fire behind the blade, creating a little light show.
"A psychopath and a pyromaniac, wonderful…" the girl said sarcastically rolling her eyes.
Yang stopped spinning her dagger and looked back at the girl indifferently. She had the guts to insult armed kidnappers while she was tied up with a child sleeping on her lap. Or was it just arrogance?
"What? Did you expect me to stay quietly in my corner all along?" she said with a smug.
Ah no, it was just stupidity.
"It would be better for you." Yang said in annoyance.
"Well, missed. I'm not the type to let it go. And anyway, I think you don't realize the stupidity that you did by kidnapping us both." she kept talking, even though Yang ignored her and just played with her dagger. "Hey! Who allowed you to ignore me?!" she shouted outraged but got no response, "Pff… I hate people like you, who think they can have anything they want by taking it by force, while others have worked hard to get it." still no world from Yang, who didn't give a damn about her. "You're just a bunch of stupid selfish people who think they're better than everyone else just because you have weapons! Do you really think our family is going to let it slide? By now they must already know we are gone, and they won't take long to find you! You are dead. Our parents have a lot of contacts and-…"
Yang sighed. At another time she would have gladly put her back in her place with a little demonstration of force, like this time when Shay provoked her in front of everyone and ended with a missing tooth. This girl had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, it would have been so easy to demolish her idealistic world view with a simple knife under her throat for a few seconds… Nevertheless, Yang wasn't feeling like it, she didn't see the point, she would never see that girl again after this mission, and would continue her life as if nothing happened, as she did until then, living day by day, without worrying about the future… or the past… Or at least she was trying…
"… and when the police and the Huntsmen will catch you, you…" the girl was still going on, when a very angry voice cut her.
"Can't you just shut the fuck up?!"
The teenager stopped talking and turned to Rook. The latter turned her seat to face her, and even though only her eyes weren't covered by her scarf, they shone with an undisguised rage. It was the first time Yang saw her upset.
"Do you really think life is so easy? Do you really think rich people all deserve their money? That they all earned it by their own efforts? That the poor haven't worked hard to get the few they have?!" with each question, Rook's voice grew darker as she was clenching her fist, and the teenage girl lowered her eyes a little more. Apparently, she had ventured on dangerous grounds and she risked to regret it…
Rook stood up and slowly walked over to the girl. "You think because two kids have been missing for a few hours, all Remnant will bend over backwards to find you? Don't make me laugh, I've seen these kinds of situations enough times to know that some people care more about their image and their money than their own children. You hate 'people like us' because we think we don't thinking of others? I could say the same to you! We take anything we want by force? Do you know how many families have lost their homes so that some assholes can get additional villas?!
The teenager's head was completely lowered, while Rook was standing in front of her, giving off an aura of intense anger. Whatever her problem with money was, it sounded like something serious, because it was the first time Yang saw her enraged, she was usually so smiling, and so serious on the ground, that was weird. And thinking about it, despite the astronomical sums she earned with her numerous missions, she didn't seem to keep more than what she needed to eat and maintain her weapon, the rest had to go somewhere else, she wouldn't allow herself to talk like that if she kept everything to herself. She had sometimes mentioned her "hometown", did she send this money to people there to help them? Yang had no idea, she didn't really wonder about her mentor, where she came from, or what motivated her. Maybe she should… even if she didn't see the point.
"You think you are all above everything because of the number of zero you can put on a check! Do you even know-…" Rook was suddenly cut in her speech when the airship got struck by something, and a deafening croak rang out. Rook rushed to the cockpit, then turned to Yang, who was already in the fighting position, hand on the handle of her sword.
"It's a Nevermore. I hope you can throw fireballs because at this distance I can't kill something that big." the adult kidnapper said while pressing some buttons on the control panel.
"I can manage." the young girl said with a shrug.
The teenager's blue eyes watched the blond girl open the airship door in the greatest calm. How could she remain so impassive when a Grimm larger than their ship was flying around them?!
"What's happening…?" her little sister said, waking up because of the mess.
"N-Nothing sis, nothing serious." she tried to reassure her.
"You're really as stupid as you seem, we're facing a fucking Nevermore, you moron!" the kidnapper yelled angrily from the cockpit.
"No need to be vulgar!" the teenager replied.
"I'm scared…" her sister was now shaking in fear.
Another croak sound, and the teenager then saw a large threatening red eye appear in front of the large door of the ship, completely blocking the light. The two girls screamed in fear, snuggling against each other, but the blonde girl, yet just in front of the monster, didn't move, didn't tremble, she didn't seem to be afraid at all. Without pressure, she drew a long sword with a bright yellow blade, and jumped on the beast, thrusting the weapon into its eye. The giant bird let out a cry of pain and moved away from the airship, still with the girl on its head.
Was she completely crazy?! She would never kill something of this size! Even less with a single arm and a sword as her only weapon! She was a completely jaded handicapped kid facing a giant Grimm alone!
The big sister turned to the other kidnapper, she was now piloting manually to avoid the monster that was flying in all directions to try to get rid of the parasite now on its back. And suddenly, the airship plunged, crossing the cloud layer almost vertically, the two girls even felt floating for a few seconds… It was almost fun… Then the airship stabilized a little above the water, causing them to fall suddenly on the floor.
The big sister held back a groan as her knees banged hard against the metal. She would surely have bruises after that…
"You're okay, sis?" she checked on her little sister.
"My elbow hurt…" the kid said with tears in her eyes.
"It's okay, it will quickly pass." the teenager got up and walked over to the pilot. Fortunately, her legs were not tied. These two kidnappers really had to be very sure of themselves. "You can't be a little careful?!" she yelled.
"I'm trying to save us from a Grimm, in case you haven't noticed!" the kidnapper yelled back angrily.
"Yeah, you let your stooge do all the work! As if she had a chance!" seriously, that girl was like ten!
"Don't underestimate Falcon. She is much more resourceful than she looks."
As she was about to reply, the girl was cut off by a loud croak from above them. And suddenly, the giant black monster came out of the clouds and fell for a moment before opening its wings wide to stop its fall, creating a great gust of wind which shook the entire airship. It was still far ahead, but its size was still imposing and frightening, and its still closed eye let out lightning and a strange black smoke.
So that was a Grimm… It was… impressive… There were really such creatures outside of Mistral? And there were really people who fought them? Like in movies? She knew it existed, but she never imagined it, so seeing it for real…
A light began to fall through the clouds, and the teenager, forgetting for a moment that she was tied up and right next to her kidnapper in an airship just above the waves, approached the window. The light appeared to be the blonde girl, intense flames making her hair shine like the sun, and even from so far, you could see the red flames coming out of her eyes. It was like seeing a fireball falling from the sky… Halfway, the girl, Falcon, started to spin on herself, and quickly approached the monster that was waiting for her below, its eye still bleeding smoke because of the first blow.
The next scene happened in just an instant, but looked like it was in slow motion. Just before Falcon fell into the beast's wide open beak, she used her rotation to narrowly avoid it, and drew a long red blade that cut the Grimm's head, leaving a trail of circular orange flames behind her. The different colors of the fire created an absolutely magnificent light show, enhanced by the rays of the sun which lit the scene in an almost supernatural way through the hole that the giant bird created when it fell. It was beautiful, and as the daughter of one of Mistral's greatest actresses, she knew what she was talking about.
From a very young age, Herica had dreamed of going on stage like her mother, interpreting roles of incredible characters and living through plays adventures so crazy that they could only be invented, because in real life, there was no prince charming to come and deliver the princess in her tower, there was no hero who delivered a kingdom from the grip of an evil tyrant, there were no cherry petals nor angelic light during a marriage proposal. Real life was too empty and boring compared to the fantasy of plays… Or at least that was what she thought, because even the best acting and the best special effects couldn't reproduce the beauty of what she had just seen…
Then Falcon fell in the water.
Yang took a deep breath of air as she pulled her head out of the water. She was in pain everywhere after having forced so much on her Semblance in such a short time… To load it enough, she had to let this damn bird give her pecks and claws in bursts. And it hurt! In addition, her Aura had worked so hard because of this method that it was completely empty after this last blow, and the coldness of the water was already starting to numb her already bruised body…
Fortunately, the airship was approaching to pick her up. The door opened in front of her, and Rook reached out her left hand to help her up. Yang took it and hoisted herself to the floor of the ship, pressing her hand on her lap to catch her breath. She was completely soaked, freezing, and without Aura to warm her, after fighting a simple Grimm.
"Still too weak…" she thought with frustration.
"I think I finally found you a nickname." Rook said reaching out for her head, and Yang, thinking she was going to touch her hair, straightened up and took a step back, but her partner had apparently been faster than her, because she was now holding a big green alga in her fingers, with an amused smile on her face. "Yep, it will be firecracker!"
And she casually threw the alga in the sea before closing the door and returning to sit on the cockpit. Yang for her part collapsed again in her seat, putting water everywhere.
"Fuck you, Rook… Fuck. You." she said loudly but slowly.
She heard a laugh and didn't bother to answer. Instead, she began to spin her hair and clothes. Luckily, she left her bag in the ship, so the rest of her things were dry, especially her doll. She couldn't bear to damage it even more…
Footsteps came to her, and she looked up to see the teenager come and sit down next to her little sister, while staring at her with a strange look.
"What? Got another alga on my head?" Yang asked, only half-sarcastic. She didn't want those things in her hair.
"How old are you?" the girl asked sounding sincerely curious.
Yang raised an eyebrow, it wasn't really the answer she expected… "Ten."
"You're the same age as my cousin…"
"Good to know." she didn't care.
The rest of the trip was silent, except for the stories the girl told her sister to keep her calm. Rook stayed at the front in case another Grimm spotted them, as she actually should have done before, instead of getting upset unnecessarily and leaving her post… And maybe even attracting the Grimm with her negativity.
When they finally landed, it was dark again, and yet Yang's clothes were still damp. They landed in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, a clearing in a large forest quite far from the city, but when Rook opened the door, her hood on her head, several men in suit and armed came out from behind the trees. And among them, a man a little better dressed than the others, with a white suit and a bowler hat.
"Well, well, well, you are late, I waited you half an hour ago." the man said, although he sounded more amused than annoyed.
"We stumbled upon some Grimm on the way, but we still fulfilled our part of the contract." Rook said with a calm, professional tone.
Much more serious than usual, she made a small wave to Yang, who led the two sisters out of the ship. The man watched them for a moment, then motioned for his men to retrieve them. Of course they tried to fight, but again, it was a waste of time, and they even got they mouths taped to silence them. They were probably just starting to realize how well they had been treated so far.
"I must admit, I'm impressed, these two were not easy preys. And a deal is a deal, of course." he said.
Another henchman approached and opened a briefcase full of money before them, more than Yang had ever seen in her life. Rook nodded without showing any emotion and took the briefcase. Each group left on its side, the client and his men in the forest, surely in the direction of some landmark, and the two assassins in their airship. And from the moment they were on board, Rook took off her hood and re-displayed her usual smile, as if nothing happened.
"Okay, the plan is that we spend the night here and tomorrow we're going to Vale to take the first airship to return to Mistral incognito. We can't use this one." she laid down on the seats with her hands behind her head.
"Don't we risk to be spotted?" Yang asked as she sat down too.
"Of course not, no one knows our real faces." Rook shrugged.
"I only change the color of my eyes."
"Well you'll just put on a hat and it'll pass. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
Yang looked at her neutrally and shrugged, then walked over to her bag. Her clothes were practically dry now, but her hair was still wet and full of salt. She rummaged around a bit and pulled out the golden comb her mother always used to comb her hair. This time, she really had no one to help her… It was time to learn. She started with her bangs. It was hard, the comb jammed at the slightest knot, and there were many, even over such a short length.
Then she heard Rook's laughter in front of her.
"Need some help?" she asked nicely.
"No." Yang deadpanned.
No one was allowed to touch her hair except Raven. … And Qrow… She wasn't sure why, maybe at that time she needed someone to comfort her, something reassuring, and nothing relaxed her more than the feeling of the comb that her mother passed skillfully through her hair.
Rook was silent for a few seconds, then shrugged and pulled out her Scroll. Yang grabbed a strand of hair and looked at it. Was she really so incapable that she couldn't even untangle her own hair?
"Weak." a little voice called in her head.
Her fist clenched, and she tried to ignore i. She knew she was weak, and she was doing her best to change it. But without a reason to fight, it was hard to move forward…
"By the way…" Rook broke the silence. Again.
"Hmm?"
"Sorry for earlier. When I got angry." she said a bit guilty.
"No problem." Yang didn't pay much attention, but Rook insisted.
"I'm serious. I really wish you didn't see me getting upset like that, I'm always a little ashamed of myself when it happens. It's just… the kind of stuff I'm pretty sensitive about." she explained with a bit of shame in her voice.
Yang shrugged and put her comb away, then laid down on the seats, clutching her doll against her, and using her bag as a pillow. She didn't want to think, all she wanted was to sleep.
"And Falcon…"
Yang groaned without opening her eyes to indicate that she didn't want to talk. Rook sighed and remained silent for a few seconds, before talking in a soft voice.
"What you did earlier was really impressive."
"I'm proud of you, little bird."
"Thanks…"
Now Yang really just wanted to sleep.
After a short while, Falcon fell asleep, and Rook looked back at her Scroll. The article she was reading had been written and approved by the greatest scientists in Atlas, and it was formal. Unless you possessed two distinct souls, it was impossible to have two Semblances.
Falcon's flames could be powerful, but even with that, and even with a blade of Fire Dust… She shouldn't have been able to decapitate a Nevermore. Kill it, okay, but not completely separate its head from its body. Rook could believe that her Semblance combined with the Dust could give an explosive result and make more damage than a normal blow, but she had seen a clear cut at the place of separation, made by the edge of a blade and not by an explosion. Falcon was stronger than average, yes, but she shouldn't be able to get a blade, which was gradually dissolving, through something as thick and hard as a Nevermore's neck. Just as she shouldn't have been able to climb the control tower like she did.
Rook had seen her do the last few meters, she had seen her hit so hard with the tips of her fingers and feet that she had made holes in the cement, and in a position that enormously limited her movements and prevented her from taking the slightest momentum for that. It wasn't natural, unless it was a Semblance. But Falcon couldn't have lied about it, because she was actually capable of producing and controlling flames, and there was no connection between fire and an overdeveloped physical force, so it couldn't be two different applications of the same Semblance… She was hiding something, something big.
Rook's eyes fell on her apprentice. She was sleeping, her chest was rising at a regular rate, tears were flowing softly from her closed eyes, the light of the moon made her hair still wet shine, and her doll was firmly held against her. She looked so fragile in this state, like any child her age. Yet when she was awake, she was cold and distant, easily vulgar if provoked, and could kill in cold blood without any remorse…
However, sometimes, she showed a certain innocence where one would not expect from her. Of course there was her doll, which she took almost ridiculous care to always keep in good condition, but there was also the gleam of gluttony in her eyes when she passed in front of a pastry or candy shop, or the way she drank her tea, back straight and holding her cup as perfectly and delicately as a girl from a wealthy family, without even paying particular attention to it.
It was quite paradoxical, and Rook felt that she really didn't lack a lot to understand and find the key to the mystery. Just an element that would allow her to connect everything logically. There was always a truth, regardless of the size of the plot…
"Mom …" the young girl whispered in her sleep.
Except there was no plot. Falcon was hiding a lot, but she had no bad intentions, Rook could feel it when she talked with her. It looked more like she was scared, that she was hiding by keeping secret as much information about herself as possible. She was talkative by nature but now silent, she said only the bare minimum when she was talked to, as if to avoid leaking too much information, left the conversation as soon as her past was tackled, and she was immediately prepared to attack when Rook understood that Falcon wasn't her real name. Plus the fact that she used a false name when she had apparently no identity to hide, she was supposed to be only an orphan who for some unknown reason had been trained to kill by her mother, but not to assassination. That didn't make sense.
"What are you hiding from…?"
She was close, she was really close from solving the mystery, she was just missing something, a sign, a little clue, anything…
"I will find who you are Falcon, you can be sure… But in the meantime you are safe with me."
No matter how much she was a walking puzzle, Rook liked Falcon and her odd manners, it was like having a little sister who followed her everywhere and whom she could teach anything she wanted. And she had to admit, missions were much less boring since she was there… even if she always ended up detonating something.
And here is chapter two!
I feel like my fight scenes are getting better, don't you? And they are handy for me since I write them quickly and they take half a chapter XD
As with Part I, I'm going to jump long periods of time to focus on important events, and it's during these time jumps that you will find the bonus chapters. I've written two so far, pretty comical, but I'm also thinking of some a little bit sadder n_n
Also, I hope you can understand Rook's character, it's hard enough for me to convey what I have in mind about her, but basically, she is very similar to Raven (and it wasn't even on purpose, I realized it after starting to write Part II), but less survivalist and without overwhelming guilt, and who doesn't know Yang yet.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, see you next week!