In the grand probability of endless potential and opportunity, there exists a timeline where everything goes right, rather than wrong. A timeline where events play out as close to the current one, yet key subtle differences alter and change the fates of those touched. Within the endless reaches of time, space and opportunity, we find ourselves at the entrance of the Haven academy halls. Where Blake, Sienna and both her parents were scrambling around. Sienna, who had been informed of the Albains plans to execute her, was busy making sure Adam's wounds to his eyes weren't as dangerous as they seemed, all the while making sure he was restrained for questioning, Ghira stood defensively over Weiss and Jaune, who was begging her to stay with him and unlocking his semblance in a desperate attempt to save her life, while Blake and Kali looked on in shock. Hazel was trying to pound the ever loving snot out of Oscar, having identified him as Ozpin, causing in Qrow taking a lethal amount of damage, while Nora was amped up by his lightning Dust infused body pinning her down, earning him a wide hammer crack on the ribs as she screams "I just need him to go down!". In the confusion, Raven, Vernal and Cinder had snuck out into the Maiden vault while Yang tried to pursue, being stopped by Em and Mercury, when Ruby backed her up letting that iconic "I am angry" free in anger. While Emerald distracts Yang with illusions, Mercury taunts Ruby.
"Well now that you have that oversized gardening tool perhaps that battle of ours in Vytal is go-", his taunt is interrupted as the taste of iron and copper hit his nostrils and tongue, in a flash Ruby had used the recoil of Crescent Rose and drop kicked him in the face. Angered, he kicks her scythe down, once more trying to taunt her before he was heatbutted straight in the face, now a full on nose bleed. Guess he had taken more damage from that blasted brawler than I thought. Yang, however, was struggling. Each time she tried to hit Emerald, her mother or Adam appeared in her sight, throwing her off just enough. But before Hazel is blasted through the wall by Nora, Adam was questioned.
"So, Taurus, you're gonna burn for this. The Mistral police have been informed and your acts to cause harm will end here", Kali hissed as she stood over him. Yet he couldn't see her, just the outline of a soul that was just as purple as her daughter had been.
"Harm…the humans deserved it. They always have…", weakly he replied before another sharp pain caused him to flinch, Sienna had dragged her nails over his back, adding new scars to the many whip ones that are already there.
"We don't just mean humans. You tried to have us killed. Kali, Ghira and me!", Sienna boomed as he could sense the golden reddish Aura of High Leader Khan. At that statement however, a new fury kicked up in Adam's soul as he turned his blind eyes towards her: "LIES! I've never meant harm upon any of the Faunus!"
"Fennec and Corsaic testified that…", Kali tried before she was aggressively interrupted by Adam facing her. The empty dead eyes of his, blood still pouring from the new wound, the branding scar on his eyes, it terrified Kali. How had Blake ever followed this monster? "They disobeyed direct orders! I demanded they 'contain and take care', obviously not meaning 'kill'"
"You say that, but where is your proof?", it was Blake's voice. The voice he had nurtured as he trained her. Helped her develop a weapon like his, with stolen materials they both forged Gambol Shroud. He even helped her with Aura and Semblance training. It was quite the memory of seeing Blake vanish from an Atlesian Knight in smoke before he killed it. How he had tucked both her and Ilia in when they had driven themselves to exhaustion painting and working on banners and other things at Fang camp. And now she doubts his words. Adam's face falls to the floor as he realizes he'd have to come clean on two things. "You want proof? Vic Migel and Gura, the white haired shark girl that remain in the Mistral Sanctuary will confirm with you-"
"That fake angel won't save you!", Sienna said as she raised her hand to make another claw at his back. Yet Kali and Blake stopped him. "If the word of a perfectly normal Faunus and the kid I was hoping to bring to her father aren't enough. Then how about the fact that Wilt is still intact…"
"How does your blade filter into this?", the Belladonna women asked. Adam closed his eyes, not that it really mattered as he couldn't see anything at all. Yet it helped focus his mind as the shapes around him turned into a void of black.
…
CRACK! Sharp pain. Anger. A blue eye flashed towards the aggressor. Dressed in that disgustingly uniform outfit. The slavers! Repulsive. Their existence alone drove his anger into overdrive. "Back in line beast", that disgusting nickname. His eye pierced the mask and saw a set of green ones. Dirty green, dying sickly green. Growling wasn't allowed, but inside, the young kid was fuming.
"Alright, fire up the machine", another one screamed towards another one. The walls started to quake and shiver. They were deep underground and the lights began to shimmer in and out. Covering the walls in darkness, before from the far back at the elevator towards 'free life', the blue cracks of dawn showed. His anger subsided, replaced with eagerness. To be free, unchained, unleashed..
CRACK. Damn. Shouldn't have dropped my guard, the kid was only around eight or less, looking old for his time but unjustly scorned because of a heritage that was mistreated by those of 'normal' blood. Humanity, the beasts of everything. "You're slacking. Remember your eye?", the voice was condescending. Als if the one holding the electro whip somehow stood higher on the social ranking than the poor boy had been from birth just because of those two horns. And 'eye'...his anger intensified, coating the world in a sea of red. Searing pain. The letter S was the least painful. Since it was just across his brow. But D and C basically seared into the flesh and turned a vivid crystal of blue into a pale unseeing white. Blinded, only having one view window, that's how he was forced into the Dust mines. He recalled the whimpering cries of his mother, a Faunus, when a man with white hair and a snarky demeanor entered their low class house in Atlas, proclaiming they were both property of the Schnees, before armed forces took them both away. Rosa begged for her life, claiming he'd serve her and she'd leave Atlas. Seeing her weak physicality, the white haired monster accepted and took him away. The kid couldn't contain his anger. Lunging forwards the electric whip cracked again. But the man was crueler than before and aimed for the head.
"Dammit, now ya done it, stupid animal", the kick to the gut wasn't as painful as the whip scarring his back once again. That pain was branding. The hatred was boiling but the despair was far more intense. Not only had this poor youth never once seen the sun in his life, he'll never ever see it, ever. Because the SDC slaver had cracked him with a whip and damaged what little colour he could see. Now all the world was to him was a shade of red. The gut wrenching scream whaled for a moment. Before it was silenced by another crack. A crackling. A..snap?
"Easy child...", a different voice spoke. In a panic, the boy didn't know where to look, only to recoil and back up into an outcove he had dug trying to harvest Dust crystals. Seeing red, he hit one of those crystals and a sharp pain rocked through his body. Until a warm hand grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the voice. "I understand trust is hard when you're wounded and not used to kindness. But i'm getting you out"
"who...are...you?", the boy wondered in quiet awe. Feeling a rush of air and the freedom of shackles sliced in half. The voice, he now understood to be disciplined and practiced, said warmly, "I'm just a Storm Approaching the Schnee. What's your name?"
A name. It had been years since last someone even mentioned that. A new despair crawled into his soul, the cave becoming even more rumbling as a scream of terror and fear allerted everyone that the mining shaft had come under attack from Sentinels. Grimm, those killers of indiscriminate nature. He shivered. Who was he...?
"kid?"
"A...adam..."
…
"You're improving. Very good. Now to get your weapon fully yours. What do you know of Aura, gakusei", a shape that stood before him, with medical aid Sensei had managed to restore as much of Adam's right eye as possible, even though he was still seeing red in the world. And among all that red stood one shape, as blue as the deepest ocean. With respect, Adam answered like a textbook "Aura is the manifestation of one's soul. It shields us from harm"
"Rather basic, but close enough. Now, I want you to focus. Put your hand on the blade and as you hammer it, extend your will and soul. Hammer and push yourself into the steel. Until at the very last you forge a weapon bound to your soul. It will be part of you and an extension. Just like Yamato is for me. And when you do, make a vow. A vow that you'll live by. Because once you falter once, your sword will break and become unusable"
…
"So because your sword is still intact, means you didn't cause harm to a Faunus?", Kali wondered as Blake just stared in awe. This explained his hatred and need to put humanity beneath his heels so much. As well as the reason he wore masks all his life. Masks and shades to cover up the branding mark.
"Yes. Now I bet you won't believe me but it's the…", Adam sprang forth and pulled Kali aside as a screaming shape of Hazel was flung through the air. Nora having been amped knocking him through the wall, exactly where a wounded Adam was standing.
"YOU! Worthless beast!", As Hazel charged, Ghira moved to protect his family, but was quickly bulldozed aside by the unstoppable force of nature that was Hazel. Adam growled.
"That is why I double crossed you! You and your master won't hurt any more Faunus!", Adam crossed his arms as he tried to protect Blake standing nearby, only for Hazel's abdomen to be pierced as he was pulled back inside. Adam collapsed under the surge of energy he had tried to move, earning a realization from Sienna and the Belladonnas that perhaps he wasn't the evildoer and maybe he was trustworthy. In the confusion of this exchange, Ruby ordered Yang to go after Cinder. While Emerald wasn't able to stop her, Mercury reached for her arm. Yet as he grabbed her arm, he was hit by a Crescent Rose shot in his left shoulder, a Queen Lancer firing her stinger and the cold steel of Yang's prosthetic arm giving him a black eye as she jumped after the runaway ambushers. Emerald, a wounded but still functioning Hazel and bruised and bleeding Mercury were surrounded by far too many to keep track of. This would get interesting.
…
"VERNAL!", With the flick of a wrist, Cinder had caught both Raven in a prison of ice, while she had her hand pierce the Spring Maiden's guts and attempted to suck the very Maiden power right from her! She would become a double maiden! Spring and Fall! All for the quartet that Cinder hoped to collect. Those without power only became hungry for it. And she was starving! Even with the Fall Maiden powers, she wasn't nearly as satisfied as she should be! The lethal damage of her Shadow Hand piercing the abdomen was a satisfying start. But as she began to drink from this unworthy girl's soul for the power, she tasted..nothing. Her hunger wasn't sated. In fact it only deepened. As Vernal sank into a pain induced coma on the floor, Cinder howled in anger. "Where's the POWER?!"
"You won't find it…because my daughter isn't the Spring Maiden…I AM!", Cinder gasped as she looked at Raven and cracked a sadistic smile. "Using your own daughter as a decoy to save your own life? Salem's right, you really are the biggest coward in Remnant!"
The fight between Cinder and Raven happens exactly as it would in the show proper from this. Raven shoots Omen and engages, furious at being called a coward. Each action from the canon timeline happens, right down to the first strike Raven lands on Cinder's Grimm arm.
"Aura can't protect your arm. It's Grimm. You turned yourself into a monster, just for power"
"Because a mother using her own child as a scapegoat isn't?"
Raven loses her temper and attacks once more, ferociously, viciously. Cinder retaliating. Hungry for more power. Like trying to kill a boar for it's meat right then and there. Spring vs Fall. The very foundation of Haven crumbling and shivering as they go full out! The only difference being that when Raven gets bandersnatched by Cinder's stretchy Grimm arm, she slices it clean through, not letting Cinder have a taste of the Spring powers, who stumbles to her knees in pain as Raven freezes her in place for the debris to hit her as the timeline once more settles into the fight canon of the show proper. Up until the conclusion. Where Vernal distracts Cinder.
"DIE!", before Cinder could finish her threat as she raised her arms to kill Vernal fully and completely a sharp and unnatural cold hit her heart. The sticky red rivers of blood spreading a faux warmth over her chest. Looking down a red Dust Blade pierced her chest. No…no this..this isn't right. Cinder's hand tried to grab the blade as it started to ember and cinder at the penetration wound. SLowly flames began consuming her flesh. The cold sense of her life slipping from her. NO! I had more power to eat. So hungry! Then she was raised upwards, sliding deeper upon the blade until she felt her head fall upon the shoulders of Raven, who glared at her with a sickeningly arrogant glare. Shapes and colour drained from Cinder's eyes and her view began to fade to black as the arms of death reached up for her. Is this my swansong? No, I can't die here! She tried to will herself onwards. To become so angry she endured this hit. But as she did, her anger rising despite life draining away as fire and steel ate away at her life, the Grimm arm spasmed and vanished. Gasping, Cinder's eyes opened in a feeling she had long forgotten: fear.
"Do you believe in destiny?", Raven asked her mockingly. She had been there, flying over the skyline as she heard Cinder ask that defenseless girl the question. Before Ruby showed up and saved her. With a sickening sound of flesh being ran through by steel, Raven pulled out Omen from Cinder's body and swung once, severing the head of this hungry snake. A final verbal salt on the wound as the decapitated body of Cinder fell over. Dead and done.
"M-mom…", came the soft cry of Vernal as Raven stood there, watching the remains of Cinder burn away as if she never existed. As she did, Raven barely acknowledged her daughter, like Yang before her, Vernal had served her purpose. She walked towards the vault. "thank you Vernal..but you know the rules. The weak get left behind"
As Vernal lay there dying, tears in her eyes from the betrayal of her own mother, the emotional stress and pain, the drive to save herself, something broke in her mind. She felt a tug at her navel, where the Grimm Arm had pierced her abdomen as a voice came to her mind. A seductive feminine one. For it is in passing we are forgotten. Out of sight and out of mind. Through this we exist as a lingering memory of pain and regret to those we've left behind. Finite in distance and shackled to hell.
I claim your soul and condemn you to suffering. Within a flash, Vernal's world becomes an endless void of orange. Standing there, stomping her foot, was Cinder who just glared at her. "Now you're the Fall Maiden. I'd say use it wisely, but it seems you're already a puppet to Salem", as she says the name, Vernal's mind is treated to an image that should terrify her, a ghostly white skinned demonic woman that smiles at her, extending a hand. Her soul shivers, as the daughter of Raven, her Semblance awakes and a portal opens where she's lying down. Before vanishing through it. Leaving Raven to open the relic chamber in isolation. As she opens the vault, Ember Celica echoes and as Raven turns around, hand on Omen for a fight, Yang lands on her knees and fists, glaring daggers at her mother.
…
"Are you ok?!" Weiss said as her summoned beast was reduced to a fleeting memory by Hazel. He was unstoppable. Sheer will as Qrow put it. His endurance was inhuman as he got Ghira to back off, holding his wounded arm. Kali was using a frying pan she had found to bang as many Emeralds as she could. Sienna was pushing Mercury to his absolute limit. While she was a fresh fighter, her Semblance was driving her furious attacks even higher, given that Mercury's Aura was close to breaking, bleeding from the nose and barely standing. Adam was broken. He sat there, desperately holding his face. Ren and Nora similarly were done, too exhausted to continue pressuring Hazel. Jaune was now busy trying Hazel at bay, also peppered from the sidelines by shots from Qrow, while Ruby and Weiss talked to Blake. "ME?! You took a spear for me! ARE YOU OK?"
"I'm fine…but weren't you more…the silent quiet type?", Weiss joked, earning a 'not today' from Blake as they readied to fight. A berserker rage took over Hazel, prompting Weiss to ask "what now?!"
Ruby first shot at Leo who retreated in terror, earning a 'are you kidding me' of a beaten and bloodied Mercury as she grinned.
"Checkmate!", Ruby smiled. Yeah team RWBY was back together. At the attackname, Blake and Weiss smiled at one another and charged Hazel. Yet before they came close, both of them tripped over one another. Blake attacked out of turn causing Weiss to snag her ankle behind Gambol's ribbon and stumbled. Hazel saw and capitalised, leveling his fists at the girls before the sickening whine of metal echoed through the atrium. Jaune had raised his shield to block the attack meant for Weiss, while Blake was whisked away by Ruby's speedy motion. Ruby sighed. Off course, they hadn't fought like this for months. She looked up at Hazel barreling down on Jaune, desperately trying to get Weiss back, earning a bodily blow to the gut. "Sugar Rush!", she yelled, causing Nora to swing her hammer. In a flash Ruby was on Magnhild as Nora launched her like a catapult. A burst of high intensity speed as Crescent Rose sliced at Hazel's arm, once more breaking his Aura as he roared in pain from from Jaune's sword, two green blades whisking like boomerangs to cover his retreat, Ren smiling at his team leader, this one was called Martial Arcs. Blake and Weiss were left to stand there at the distance, like Qrow, amazed at the synergy. Jaune slid across the floor having his shield bend in a 'fist sized' dent, Ruby and Ren nodding. A shower of lavender bullets hailed down on Hazel as a single heavy red blast came front and center, a bullet pattern of a lotus flower forming over the recovered Aura of Hazel: Crimson Lotus. The RNJR teamwork was spot on, driving Hazel further and further back. Qrow giving a sly smirk: "now that is impressive teamwork"
"Just wait until Cinder comes back!", Desperate, grasping for straws, anything in her hope and despair for a victory, Emerald staggered forwards, Mercury couldn't move anymore, his legs having received too much punishment, Hazel had buckled and fallen, if only temporarily, under RNJR's combined efforts, Ruby hoping this was the end of it. Until the sound of wings flapping pulled their attention. A shape came from the whole. Making Emerald scream in terror: "NOOOOOOOOO"
…
"Hear me, Yang. I gave you every opportunity to walk away from Qrow and Oz. So believe me when I say this wasn't personal", yeah my buttcheek, Yang thought as she threw a skeptical look at her mother. She saw a severed head, no Vernal and only Raven standing, something clicked, like a puzzle falling in place: "You opened the vault.."
"Thanks to the chaos you and your friends caused upstairs. I knew you could handle it, you're my dau-"
"Qrow and Oz told me how the Maiden powers are transferred. The girl you found, must have trusted you if you were in her final thoughts. Maybe even care", Yang cut off her mother's rambling. She refused to be named daughter of this manipulative coward. There was an angry reply, as Raven was ABSOLUTELY done with people interrupting her: "I'm sure they told you plenty and you sat there like an obedient puppy"
"Actually no, I'm asking questions, just like you told me. So tell me, what happened to Spring? Did she die in battle? Sickness?", Raven's eyes flickered back towards her daughter as she glared at her, recalling the dying '...Raven?' after Omen had run through the former Spring Maiden, "What's it matter to you?"
"Yeah…I figured as much. And your face speaks volumes. So did you kill her in her sleep? Or stab her in the back?", Yang's perspective eyes caused Raven's facade to crack, if but a little, as she crossed her arms: "She was scared and weak when I found her. No matter what training I put her through, she never learned. She wasn't cut out for this life and with those powers painting a lifelong target on her back. What I did-"
"Wasn't personal?", Yang said in cold anger.
"It was MERCY!", Raven glared in justified hate. How dare this spawn of her question her like this!? She has some nerve to speak to her mother this way! Tai you raised…
"Which is it, Raven? Are you Merciful? Or are you a surviving coward?", Yang hissed back, her words dripping with venom, "did you let me walk into that trap because it was wishful thinking I'd survive? Or because I'd be another decoy? Where's my sister?"
"Your sister is upstairs. And besides, it's not that simple. You don't know me, what I've been through or choices I had to make!"
"And who's fault is that? Dad told me of my mom: a troubled and complicated woman who was head strong, fought for what she believed in whether that be her team or tribe. Imagine my surprise when I find 'Raven', the woman who is easily coerced into ambushing her family, sacrifices a tribe's member to stay ahead. I can't believe I once thought you could be my mother! Because I wasn't asking for Ruby. Where is Vernal? Did you kill her too? Sacrifice her in an attempt to hide from death?", Yang once more spat back. This time Raven recoiled as her eyes gave off reddish lights as she attempted to scare Yang into submission.
"I have stared death in the face time and time again. And each time I spat in that face because I'm strong enough to-"
"OH SHUT UP! You don't know the first thing about strength! You turn your back on people, run away when things get too hard like a coward and put others in harm's way instead of yourself!", Yang stops and points her trembling finger at Raven, shaking from the stress of the battle still in her mind, "you are a spineless-"
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE LECTURING ME? Standing there like a scared little girl!"
"I am scared…scared that I one day become as spineless a coward as YOU! Because I am not like you! I won't run, hide and sacrifice a friend to save my skin like you did your own daughter! Which is why you'll give me the relic", Yang said. How can this be my mother, she thought as she questioned Raven's life. Leading a tribe of bandits but what do they do all day? Sit on their butts and do Grimm all. Scrambling for a gun when someone challenges their supposed strength. The mom that dad talked about was a powerful and strong warrior. Yet the Raven I've seen and observed is nothing but a spineless coward. So much so that she left so she can sit in a tree and watch me all day like a stalker? Did you watch me undress and get off on it too? What the hell kind of leader does that? Your tribe just sits around all day undisciplined and ignorant. Picking fights with barely functional weapons they probably scavenged from destroyed villages while you prance and pose like a scared little girl pretending you have what you want? And you want to have a relic with you?
"And why would I do that?!", Raven hissed, clenching her sword hilt.
"Because you're a spineless COWARD!", Yang stomped her foot as her eyes turned from lilac to red. "and a braindead one at that! You thought being a Maiden painted a target on your back? Imagine having a relic! But you're gonna stand aside and let me take it, because then the big bad Salem that you're so afraid off, will come for me. Precisely why you wanted me and Vernal to stay at your side. As decoys. So flock off featherface. Or do you wanna stick around and do this the hard way!? So be a good little raven and go find something else shiny to steal. It's all you're good at!"
For a moment, Raven's hand on her sword lingered. A tense silence hung for a second. Before the hand relented, her flaring eyes snuffed out like a dying candle. "You…you don't wanna do this Yang..Why…would you wanna save me…?", Raven asked. Her eyes giving the slightest watery look. One that Yang didn't care for as she mockingly laughed in Raven's face.
"I'm not doing this for you…Raven. I'm doing this for my family. Because I won't abandon them. And I'm doing this so I won't become like you…an embarrassment", Yang said as she walked forwards and shoulder bumped Raven. There was a flash in her mind. She had felt this bump before, Summer had done so before. They were both so much like Summer, it wounded her heart, because in that moment Raven realized that while she sacrificed one daughter, she'd never be the mother of her eldest. Nevermore. Her words cut through the Tribe leader as a knife through butter. She felt a single tear leak over her cheeks. Raven was broken. But before she left. She growled and enraged she screamed at Yang: "FINE! THEN DIE PRETENDING YOU'RE A BIG GIRL…but when things go south…don't come back looking for forgiveness!"
With that, Yang saw in the back of her eye that Raven made a motion before she was gone. Looking at the space where Raven had stood, she rolled her eyes. "Even if you were the last human alive…Raven…"
So events return to their canon timeline for a moment. Yang takes the relic and breaks down, the confrontation with Raven taking it's toll. Leonardo gets killed like a rat, fulfilling his role as cowardly lion. Emerald, poor delusional Emerald, claims that Cinder will return, stopping all of them and turning the tide. That is when the real change once more comes, as Raven leaves a small gift for the 'kids' that came with Cinder. A final payback for challenging her rule and authority. Before she vanished from Yang's sight, she put Cinder's severed head on the elevator back up to the atrium. And flew away. When in her mental breakdown, Yang failed to notice this and as she arrives, holding the relic, Emerald's eyes spy a 'token' that shatters her mind: Cinder won't be coming for her, as her head lay there, gazing at nothing, eye lids open. Cold and dead. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Emerald falls to her knees, throwing up in the process as her eyes begin crying rivers of tears. A terrible mental pain shoots through her mind and body as she feels the abandonment and loss. She doesn't hear Mercury spurring her on to run with them, no all she sees is the girls from Beacon. The people who took her beloved Cinder from her! She screams in utter despair, whaling like a banshee as her mind fractures. THe intense emotional stress spiking through her eyes as her semblance cascades like a tidal wave. With another desperate scream as rivers of salted tears fall over her ebony skin, Emerald casts an illusion on the 'good guys'. A monstrous figure that crawls out, darkens the world and puts the fear of death into everyone.
From there things progress as happens in canon.
…
Aside from Mistral police detaining Faunus. Ilia and a few others were explaining they had responded to a rescue call. In the chaos of the villains taking flight, a red shape had slipped into shadows and vanished. Taurus was gone. Looking at what almost transpired, the infighting and nearly killing of one another, Ghira gestured for Sienna. Watching his daughter hug and be friends with the unmistakable daughter of the Schnee: " Sienna please. Things have gone too far. You know as well as I do what a loose cannon like Adam Taurus can cause. Such infighting does nothing but undermine everything you and I spent years working towards."
"I have seen fanaticism at worst. While I admit Taurus was a wildcard. He still seems to have his goals prioritized. The actions he has taken are certainly a little extreme. But he does so for the sake of the Faunus. Because he was right: at Beacon's Fall and now here in Mistral's siege, no Faunus blood was spilled. In a way he achieved something. More than you have in years might I add", Sienna said, before sighing.
"I stepped down as leader of the white fang at your behest. Because you felt you could do so much more than what my more pacifist tendencies allowed. But what you've accomplished is to vilify our people all the more! My daughter has accomplished more in 5 years than both of us put together!", Ghira said, earning a look from Sienna who was quickly calmed down as Kali gently put a hand on her shoulder as her husband continued, "She has gone so far as to team up with and befriend the Schnee Heiress. Who, as I've heard, was seen defending faunus above her own life. I am not the one who can truly bring about the changes we need. But Blake has the tools she needs to make a real difference in this world . With our guidance."
"A Schnee protecting Faunus? And how do I know this is not some 'one-off' scheme to show them in a better light?", Sienna asked, skeptical, yet somehow she wanted to agree. If a Schnee could be a friend and ally, perhaps there was a chance for pacifism and equal footing between them…and us.
"Because I saw her do it! Schnee saved my daughter from death. Which is the very thing I could hope for. Humans and faunus coexisting. The mere presence of my daughter and other Faunus-friends has changed a staunch racist bigoted by her father into a truly compassionate and caring young woman. We have an opportunity to establish true peace for the next generation if we can set aside our own hate and show that even the worst of them can be made to care.", Ghira explained, as he and Khan looked at Blake, who was looking over Weiss' wounds, who was giggling as the finger tracing her scar seemed to tickle her a little. She shook her head.
"That's all well and good Ghira. But what difference can a single former heiress do for us that we have yet to accomplish? Especially since she's probably the only one among the Atlesian elites. You tried this very tactic only to be laughed off and cast out. The Schnee are among our most difficult opponents. But the rest of the world still watches idle. Lionheart was a figurehead placed to give us legitimately yet he apparently betrayed us. What would you have us do? Do you believe Mistral's council will suddenly set you in charge of Haven?"
"The world is in turmoil Sienna. The brink of war is upon us and a single loose canon can light the spark. I am not asking you to relinquish the white fang to me. I am asking you to work with me. We need not a single leader calling the shots but a council of our own. We have the experience. We can garner the respect and authority to truly be seen as equal. And I believe in Blake and her friends being the ones to show the world who they are and become a voice for everyone on Remnant", Ghira said. "and off course the Red Fang can also become part of our coalition force"
…
"Why are you all leaving!?", Raven hissed as she returned to camp only to find a single tent standing, her own. Most of the Tribe had disbanded or scattered to the wind. Of what little remained of her 'family', she was gazed at with anger and hate.
"Because we're tired of living under your thumb"
"We deserve better than to be pawns for you"
"You betrayed the core of us all, Branwen. The weak get left behind!"
"You allowed foreign people to come and boss us around. And with that, you also sacrificed your daughter"
"How dare you! I've sacrificed a lot for this Tribe! You all owe me your lives!", Raven hissed as she saw what little power she had, vanish and slip from her eyes. She had been ousted from the clan! Those weaklings couldn't hardly survive on their own! Well then FINE! The weak get left behind! I'm a survivor, the world has always been against me. As she returned to her tent, finding herself alone and abandoned, the cracks of thunder in the sky caught her attention. She was still being hunted?! She went to cast a look out and saw…a storm approaching. Bright blue bolts of lightning struck the ground as it advanced, straight towards her. She shivered, this storm was unnatural. She gazed out, leaving her mask as her eyes spied a figure at the eye of the storm. Cloaked in navy blue. Raven's eyes snapped open in terror. Oh no…
"Gakusei…you have spoiled my teachings…", came the loud voice carried by the wind. No, sensei! Raven's fear went into overdrive as she took Omen and used her Semblance to run to the one person she never expected to see again. As she stepped through, she transformed into a Raven and ran!