Holy shit, we did it boys and girls, we made it to 200 followers! Damn guys, I first published this story in August 2018, it took so long for my first story to get to 200 followers, but this one got there in less than half that time. You have my heartfelt thanks! Kai Matsuoka loves you all as well!
Hey to all the reviewers from last chapter! I get that a lot of you guys prefer to vote in reviews, and I appreciate that, it is pretty easy to count all the votes and such. But I won't be responding to reviews that are purely just votes, know that I've read them, but it takes up space and a lot of time before I can even start the chapter. I read all my reviews though, so it goes without saying that I definitely still read all of them.
Arctech: You reviewed three times, so I am going to be responding to all of them at once. Rick and Brick are fourteen right now, but they are short and look younger than they are, act younger to, so you're not too far from the truth. I don't mind being second best, the fact that this story is so far up there brings a smile to my face! I got some fun plans for Blakey here, trust me, you want originality? Here it comes. I have to take a look at the fanfic one day, when I am not busy, I definitely will. I also definitely will be finishing this story, I am not one to leave a project hanging and unfinished along with the following. I am aware that people are multi voting, I get it. I know which is real and which is not, wish me luck on the math.
RandomName: Thank you for enjoying the story!
Poaling12: I understand that you are writing a story as well, whenever I can maybe I'll give it a look one of these days, I got a lot going on right now though.
Silver Blade: I think I had great timing with this story, because Vol 6 seems to be finally explaining what Silver eyes do and the history behind them.
CameronWalker: You'll see what I got planned, this will be following the cannon but not super closely. There's going to be my own little changes here and there.
And there we go, the rest of the reviews are just votes, and I thank you all for voting and giving me a review!
Poll results:
Yang Xiao Long- 47
(Holy shit)
Ruby Rose- 44
Weiss Schnee- 19
Blake Belladonna- 17
Orchid Rosa- 17
Neo- 15
Pyrrha Nikos- 14
Wow, Yang finally pulled ahead by a few votes, that is crazy. I never thought I'd see the day. Excluding that last time she managed to pull ahead.
With not much else to say, let's get right into the story!
RWBY: The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 21- Volume 0, Episode 19
Vernal's Trust
Vernal and Malikai just finished watched Kai's match, and after a brief bit of banter which ended up with Vernal face first into the bark of a tree, they packed up the miniscule amount of gear they had out of their packs, and got ready to make the rest of the journey to the city itself. If they went on without any more breaks, they would make it by nightfall.
They hiked a good distance in relative silence, not out of tenseness or awkwardness, but because they simply didn't have enough things to talk about to last the entire journey to Mistral. Malikai has already spoken about his family, mostly his son because Vernal seemed to be freakishly interested in him, which would have been strange if he didn't know Raven also had some kind of interest in him, not to mention that Qrow must have made some kind of connection with him as well. Must run in the Branwen family bloodline, even if Vernal isn't technically a Branwen herself. She told him near the day they first met that she never knew them, and doesn't have any intention to. He understood, not by experience, but from imagining how one of his teammates must have felt, Vanessa was the one, rest in peace her soul.
She fell in a botched training mission to a Deathstalker, she died in his arms while seeing his eyes for the first time. After Vernal heard that story, she had to courtesy to actually not hide the fact that she felt pretty bad for him, which was appreciated.
A bit after that he did try asking her about her past family before she joined the gan- sorry, tribe, but she gave him the silent death glare treatment and let her eyes flame on, and while she couldn't really hurt him if she wanted to, Malikai didn't have enough mental energy to deal with the aftermath of making her eat dirt again.
However, after a bit of talking and gaining her trust throughout their trip, he did manage to get the knowledge that Vernal wasn't actually her real name, but a coverup to protect her true identity as the Spring Maiden. When he tried asking her what her real name was, she looked away with the saddest expression on her face that Malikai has ever seen.
He stopped asking about it after that.
They made good travel distance over the next hour, Vernal keeping track of the matches in the tournament. Making fun of the children fighting much to Malikai's amusement, while she could certainly defeat about ninety nine percent of them, some of them are sure to pose a challenge to her, especially if she gets all cocky like she is known for when she is winning a fight, or even in the beginning. Scratch that, most of her fights even if she is losing she would be cocky, until you drag her face through three different trees and manipulate her own powers against her would she actually admit defeat. Something she had reluctantly done to him on more than one occasion.
At this rate however, they would make it after all of the first round of triple threat matches conclude, so most likely Vernal would go to confront Kai in the morning after, and knowing her, she would just walk straight up to him while he was surrounded by all of his friends, and maybe even some teachers. He wasn't exactly inconspicuous with that new white shiny headband he has on around his eyes. At least it looked good though, and it was a good idea to go with the hood just in case he wanted to hide some features on his face. Even if it wasn't the intention, that was what Malikai thought about at least.
Actually, now that his thoughts have strayed to his son, it reminded him of something…
He was supposed to convince Vernal to let him see his son on the way there, not while they were there anyway, and he was running out of time.
"Hey, Vernal." He stopped, and looked at her, earning her attention when she looked up from her scroll.
"What is it?" She asked, raising an eyebrow when she saw him turn his body to fully face her.
"It's about when we get to the stadium itself, I know you're going to go see my son as soon as you can, and I was wondering if you could-"
"You want me to go behind Raven's back and let you see him," She finished for him, her teasing smile telling him that she knew all along. "I'm not stupid Ol- Malikai, I've known you long enough to know that you would try something like this."
Malikai shook his head, but sighed in defeat, he was never really good at the whole convincing thing. When it comes to fighting he is arguable among the top ten elite huntsman in the world, but never in your right mind actually put him in a spot where he needed to negotiate with anything, that route only lead to things becoming worse.
In this case though, it wasn't like he was about to give up on a chance to see his son and wife again.
"Figures, but yeah, that is what I am trying to get you to let me do. And in all honesty, it's not like you can really stop me." Malikai said with a grin, he hit a nerve, and he knew it. Training her for as long as he did has given him access to almost everything about her, from what Raven has told him, to what Vernal as told him herself, he knows how to push her buttons.
"You're right, I won't be able to stop you, so what is stopping you from escaping from me now?" She asked, gaining some ground again as Malikai's grin faded away.
"I thought you knew that already, Raven would do something someday, something to hurt me, and if not physically, then she'll find a way. I've known her long enough to know that she is a spiteful woman who does not take kindly to deal breakers." Malikai explained, frowning as he hesitantly rested a hand on the hilt of his new sword.
"Ah, but there's something you haven't realized yet." Vernal stepped forward, and ratted her knuckles against his shoulder. "That Kai kid right now is surrounded by other huntsmen in training, not to mention the Mistral Police Force, fully trained huntsman, her brother, her daughter, and her Ex. Let's you beat me up now, and make the rest of the trip on your own, I might tell Raven, and she might attack Kai or your wife. Raven's strong… amazingly strong, but Qrow has always been her equal, other huntsman wouldn't just let her attack a kid, and all the other shit I said before comes into play to."
"Raven's not stupid, she wouldn't attack him while he was in a big group like that. She would wait until night, get him while he's alone and vulnerable." Malikai countered.
"Then what? She kills him, okay he's gone, and out of the picture, but all that would do is anger you with grief, you can beat her on your own already. And as much as Qrow loves her, he wouldn't stand for it either, would he? Family bonds could only go so far." Vernal smirked. "All of Mistral would rally against her, maybe even Vale and Atlas to, Ozpin especially, our tribe would be destroyed, and we both know that is the only thing she really cares about in the world. Besides you maybe, and whoever she has been visiting when she thinks no one is looking."
"Why are you telling me all of this?" Malikai questioned. "This isn't like you, you wouldn't just lay all this out to me without some reason behind it."
"Hey, you've grown a soft spot for me, it can work the same vise versa you know." Vernal admitted in her own special way with a light dust of pink on her cheeks, Malikai was shocked and touched to hear that coming from her. "But since you haven't done all that yet, then something must be stopping you…" She looked up at him, her ice blue eyes staring into silver.
"I… I didn't…" Malikai couldn't say anything, and left it unsaid.
This girl that he didn't care about before has managed wormed her way into his heart in her own special annoying way during the many months of training he has been providing her, but even when they weren't training, they were almost always together. She was his main source of company, entertainment, and was pretty much the only friendly face around the tribe, even with Raven in the mix, and by friendly face he means a face that he actually didn't would try to kill him in his sleep. He cares for her, so much so that he doesn't want to risk getting into another fight with her, one that she would most definitely go all out with her maiden abilities, and might force him to use some abilities of his own. The Spring Maiden powers were powerful, and could only be challenged by an overwhelming being just as powerful if not more. He has experience over her, and has some tricks down his sleeves that no one knows about yet. But the only thing he would need to use if he wanted to end the fight quickly, were his eyes. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he saw Vernal as some sort of faux daughter to him, or at the very least, a dear close friend.
Vernal on the other hand, hasn't had anyone like Malikai in her life, ever. She had Raven when she was a young age, but she was only taken in because of her being the Spring Maiden, and she always knew that was the only reason Raven took her in. By no means was she like a mother to her, she was only family by the rules of the tribe, and the closest thing she could describe Raven as would be a mentor. But even that role has been tossed onto someone else when Malikai came into her life. She isn't someone anyone can get close to, and yet here someone was, close to her. Her first real friend, something more than a mentor. He was strong, caring at least for his family and those he held dear to his heart, kind when he wanted to be, and was fair. He wouldn't just kick her ass for no reason like Raven would if she saw any kind of weakness in her, but also wouldn't stand with being pushed around like she tried to sometime, and earned a few bruises for it. He was her friend, her first real friend, and she didn't want to lose him.
"I get it, you don't got to finish that sentence." Vernal said as she leaned her head on his shoulder, not hugging him, but as close to a hug she was willing to give. "Let's just agree that we both don't want to kill each other in a nice way."
"Yeah, that sounds good…" Malikai chuckled, and with the arm she was leaning on, he ran his hand through her hair and held her just a little closer, as close to a hug he was going to give her, and didn't want to go any further just in case Vernal decided to use that perfect opening her knee has to plant it directly into his crotch. "Still though… I want to see my son."
Vernal sighed, and pushed off of him. "I never said I wouldn't let you see him did I?" She asked with the smirk that she was known for. And once again Malikai found himself shocked with this sudden development. "Geez, you act like I don't have any feelings at all. What, you think I was going to fight you to the death or something stupid like that?"
Yes, yes he did. "I just wasn't expecting you to be this easy going about it, I thought your loyalty was to Raven." He said instead.
"Eh, I guess you could say that." She shrugged non committedly. "But I'm also not stupid, as long as I am there with you I could care less if you see that kid of yours."
Malikai smiled, and nodded his thanks. "Thank you, Vernal, I knew there was a reason I haven't killed you yet." He teased as he actually went to give her a full hug. "Come on, bring it in."
"W-what are you doing?" Vernal asked, stepping away and her eyes widening like a deer in headlights. "Stop that!" She demanded.
"Why? It's just a hug." Malikai smirked. "The great Spring Maiden, Vernal, is afraid of hugs? Wow, now I know how to defeat you without having to draw my sword." He teased her even more as he stepped closer, almost able to get his arms around you when Vernal started pushing him away with all of her strength, but Malikai was always stronger than her, and managed to lock his hands together in the middle of Vernals back.
"STOP IT!" She screamed with a red face as she tried desperately to get him off her her, forearms digging into his chest as she pushed away at his face. "Get off of me!"
Malikai chuckled, and after a few more seconds of watching her struggle, he let her go. She gave him the deadliest stare of a promise of death she wouldn't be able to fulfil when she wiped away at her outfit to get rid of any Mali-germs.
"I hate you." She declared with a pout. A pout, coming from Vernal.
"You know I can detect lies right?" Malikai asked as he stuck his hands into his pockets.
Vernal growled at him, but didn't bother to try and deny it out of fear that he get even more ammo to torture her with.
"Well, let's get going then, we have a ways to go." Malikai spun back around on one foot, and headed back in the direction of the kingdom. "If we get there in time I'll-"
He cut himself off when he heard a familiar sound of the air being displaced, and an odd pressure filling the air around him. He turned back around to see Vernal standing by him once again, but looking at the same thing that he was looking at. A red and black portal ripping itself into the air, and a masked Raven stepping out.
"Raven." Malikai greeted in a neutral voice. "What're you doing here?"
"Just checking in." Raven told him, the truth. "You guys aren't too far from the place, how was the trip?" She asked, leaning on one hip and taking off her mask. Shaking her head to let her long black wild hair wave around her after being free from her mask.
"A few hours away, we should be able to get there by nightfall." Vernal said.
"Hm." Raven hummed, and quickly unsheathed her blade, cutting it through the air and creating a second portal. "Take this one, it leads to Qrow whom I know is by himself at the moment."
Malikai narrowed his eyes. "What's the price of this generosity of yours?"
"I'm in a good mood, don't ruin it." Raven warned, sheathing her blade and turning back around to walk through the portal she had just come through. "Say hi to little Kai for me." She said with a two finger wave and disappeared through the portal. The other portal stayed there, swirling in the air and waiting for them to step through.
"That was… odd." Malikai said as he took a step through the portal, sticking his hand through it and back out, just in case it was some kind of trap of sort. "She just, did that because she felt like it?" He asked, not really believing it despite it happening right in front of him.
"You know, I've known here for pretty much all my life, and she still manages to surprise me with the shit she does." Vernal said as she stepped up to the portal. "Well, let's go through it, I would like to sleep in an actual bed for once." She didn't wait for him to respond, and stepped through the portal before he could even open his mouth.
Malikai sighed and followed her through, whatever reason Raven had for doing this for them, he didn't care to find out. But he did manage to catch the hidden meaning in Raven's final words to him.
Say hi to little Kai for me. Does she know that he is going to go see him despite her warnings? Did she not care the whole time? He shook his head of a headache before it could fully manifest.
Women were weird.
Qrow choked on his drink when he saw Malikai walk through the portal next.
"So, what's your name?" Kai asked as she followed the mysterious Spring Maiden that had literally just walked up to him and asked him to follow her. His friends asked what a Spring Maiden was, but he and his mother both waved it off and played along with her, telling everyone else that they would be back soon and to cheer for Two in her fight. One of the last things his father told him in the message he left for him was to make friends with any Maidens he came across, and he aims to do just that. It must be so awesome to have magical powers!
"Vernal." She simply told him, looking at the younger boy through the corner of her eye. He doesn't look like much, but he has a certain aura coming off of him that says he is not one to be fucked with. She thought to herself.
"Well, it's good to meet you Vernal." Kai said with a smile, which was odd since Malikai told her that he left a message to him, telling him of his eyes and everything else fucked up with the world like that bitch Salem that even Raven was afraid of, and yet here he is, knowing all of that and still able to put on a genuine smile for someone he has never met before who also happens to be the Spring Maiden. It was decided at this point, that all Matsuoka's were weird.
"Yeah, same to you I guess." She said as she turned her head back to what was in front of her. "I heard you were blind, that true?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Well, yeah." Kai said with a chuckle. "It's hard to believe, I know, but I really am blind."
Vernal stopped, and turned around, looking down at Kai with a curious look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Marron asked, placing a hand on Kai's shoulder and squeezing it, it seemed like the woman was not as trusting as her son was, which was good in a way, since being so trusting could be lethal in a lot of cases.
"Nothing, just checking something." Vernal said as she leaned down until her face was just a foot away from his own.
Here she was, Vernal, Ultimate Badass Bandit, one of the best fighters in her tribe, and also one of the four seasonal maidens out of hundreds of thousands of other women in the world. Here she was, checking to see if a blind boy was actually blind by slipping his headband up and over his head fast enough that Kai couldn't stop her.
"Wow, you really are blind as a bat." Vernal said with a surprised look on her face, her eyes widening and her lips parting ever so slightly. She got a full look at both of his eyeballs, not only confirming that he had silver eyes, but also staring into those snow white pupils of his before he squeezed them shut and pulled the headband back over his eyes. He stepped back with a much less friendly expression on his face, and hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"What was the meaning of that!?" Marron shouted at her, gritting her teeth and her tail wagging angrily before stiffening out into a curl.
"Calm down monkey lady," Vernal said as she narrowed her eyes at her, bringing her hands up to behind her head. This woman wouldn't stand a chance against her, and it was kind of annoying that she wasn't able to shut her up. "I just wanted to check if the kid really was blind is all." She said nonchalantly like it wasn't a big deal at all. "He's not mad about it is he?" She asked next.
Kai was conflicted, he didn't really mind showing his eyes anymore, it seemed like a lot of people wanted to see them nowadays, and he even showed them to a complete stranger earlier. Little Miss Malachite if his recent memory told the truth, but still, his father's warning on showing people his eyes rang true within his mind. Since this girl, Vernal, is a subordinate of Falcon in some way, shape, or form, then he can't really put it past her for her to have already known about his silver eyes.
Also, despite her… colorful personality. That was the nicest was he could put it. She didn't seem like she was out to get him, if she really wanted to she could have just attacked him right then and there, he has no idea how strong a maiden actually is, but if they are as strong as he imagines, then she would be able to defeat him pretty handily as he is now.
He relaxed his form, and took his hand off of Silver Ebony, his smile returning to his features. "It's fine." He said with a chuckle, it wasn't too forced, but it came out nonetheless. "A lot of people wonder if I really am blind, if you asked I would have showed you willingly."
"Heh, you're a good kid." Vernal smirked. "Just letting you know now though, I am not the ask first kind of person. Keep that in mind." She winked at him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to actually see it, but Marron did, and she was not very content about it.
"Thanks!" Kai cheered, a light red forming on his cheeks barely visible on the outside.
/-/
A few more minutes of Kai and Vernal chatting and walking the halls later, she brought them both to a training room, meant for contestants to warm up in or sharpen any skills they want right before a match, but since a match was going on right now, everyone is busy watching. That or nobody wanted to use this one, mostly likely the latter of the two.
Poor training room.
"What did you bring us here for?" Marron asked before her son could.
"Well, there's just one thing I wanna do before you guys see my mentor." Vernal said as she took out both of her elemental wrist blades. "Kid, you and I are going to have a bit of a sparring match." She said as she cocked them, and readied to fire her laser straight at him.
"Kai, get back!" Marron exclaimed, jumping in the way of her son just in case Vernal would open fire. Her motherly instincts ignored the fact that Kai was easily many times better and stronger then her at fighting.
"Calm down Marry." A familiar gruff voice called to her, belonging to a certain red caped huntsman. "She can be trusted, this was just part of the agreement we came to." Qrow told her as he jumped down in between Vernal and them.
"Qrow? You knew about this!?" Marron asked, still using her body as a shield for her son.
"Mom, I think i'm gonna be okay." Kai interrupted, gently taking his mothers hand off his shoulder and stepping out from behind her. "Also, hey Mister Branwen! How have you been?"
"Tch, what'd I say about calling me Mister kid, just call me Qrow." He said with a quiet growl as he stuck his hands in his pockets.
"O-oh sorry." Kai nervously smiled and scratched the back of his neck. "Anyways, you say we can trust Vernal?"
"Yep." Qrow nodded, and stepped out of the way.
"Okay then." Kai rolled his shoulders and stepped forward, having complete faith in Qrow's answer. Vernal smirked, she liked the fact that the kid wasn't one to stray from a fight, despite his kind heart that he has.
"Wait! Are you sure?" Marron almost got back in between Kai and Vernal, but Qrow held out a hand to stop her. "Qrow, you know what she is right?"
"I know, her… mentor told me." Qrow said with a roll of his eyes. "If anything gets out of hand, she'll be answering to me, I promise."
"Tch." Marron crossed her arms.
"I'll also ignore how you know about the maidens, just enjoy the show, your son is more talented than you believe he is." Qrow said with a chuckle as he walked away and leaned against the wall.
Against her better judgement, Marron stepped a fair distance away from the two strong warriors. She wished she wasn't so useless in this situation, even her own son saw her as someone that needed to be protected, when it should be the other way around. It ignited something within her, she wanted to be the one protecting her son from danger, since Malikai is nowhere to be seen, it is up to her to make sure her son doesn't get himself hurt, or worse.
She wants to change that.
Vernal flourished her weapons as she began to get excited. Finally, after all this time of being compared to this kid, she gets to finally fight with him! A silver eyed warrior no less, a destined fighter, so few of them less, it's a shame that the only ones she's met is Malikai, who was so far above her it wasn't even funny, even with her maiden powers, and the other being some young boy, who shouldn't be anywhere near her level right now.
Oh well, time to see what he's got.
"Aren't ya going to take out your weapon, or are you gonna leave a girl hanging?" She asked him.
Kai didn't catch the innuendo, but did end up removing his sword from his holster. "I was focusing, sorry." He said in a calm, but determined voice. Kai entered focus mode not a second later, sensing out the terrain of the room, it was quite big, and it seemed like they were going to start this match closer to the wall. He felt bad about missing Two's match that had started a few minutes ago already, but the sound of a fight after the disappointment that was his very first tournament match was way too enticing for him. And if she is nearly as good as Falcon was, he would have quite the battle on his hands.
Vernal didn't wait any longer, nor did she feel like hiding her power, even in front of the one man she was directly told to not let know that she was the Spring Maiden. That was all thrown out the window when she let her eyes flamed an icey blue, and kicked off the ground so explosively that in the very next second Kai blocked her attack at his side with inhuman reflexes. He wasn't even looking at her, but his wince after blocking her strong attack was enough to give her that push to keep going.
Their blades sparked as the metal was dragged against each other, Silver Ebony being so sharp that it nearly cut through her entire left wrist blade in two, she pulled it back just in time and jumped back, not surprised about the occurrence since a certain someone told her about it. Instead, she summoned spears of ice and threw them at the blind kid. By the way his lips parted in surprise told her that he wasn't expecting this, and crossed his arms together with that silvery bracer thing he had on his left hand, and let his aura block any damage to his body.
She smirked when he rolled out of the way, and started running in zig zags in what looked to her a piss-poor attempt at disorienting her. She simply redirected some of the ice spears at him, and it looked like they stopped in mid air when Kai held out his hand after sensing the cold projectiles in the air around him. She was even more surprised when he turned them around, and sent them right back at her, a move that his father used against her more than enough times for her to stop tossing spears of ice at him.
"Ugh!" She cried out when the spears cut away at her aura, she got frustrated after learning that this kid somehow managed to damage her aura, this blind kid. She wouldn't be surprised any more after this set back.
With narrowed eyes, she activated an aura around her body that blew away the rest of her own ice spears. Kai sensed this overwhelming wind funnely forming around her body, and his senses were working in overdrive to be able to keep up with all the vibrations being caused by this. With his quick thinking, he counteracted this in a small circle around just his body so he could keep steady, and lifted a stone wall out of the ground to block the cutting winds he felt within the air.
Vernal rose an eyebrow, weren't only Maidens able to control the power of Nature? It might be because of his silver eyes, but she feels like its a bit of bullshit that he was able to do this, when only three other select people could do it to her knowledge, excluding Malikai of course, he was just a monster of his own category.
This is the power of a Maiden? Kai asked himself with a smile as he felt his body get more and more excited, adrenaline flowing through his veins as he fought the powers of nature with nature. Actually, you know what? He slammed Silver Ebony back into its sheath, and used both hands to blow a three-sixty degree blast of air that surprised Vernal enough for her to stop creating these high mile per hour winds. During that opening he had, he kicked out the wall in front of him toward her, it was nothing to her of course, and she kicked it with enough strength to completely shatter it into pieces.
Kai smirked and used the pieces of rock he sensed fall on the ground to wrap it around her leg. She widened her eyes in surprise when a long arm made of pure stone pulled her up into the air, forcing her to hang upside down, and then get thrown to the other side of the room, away from Qrow, and Marron, who was desperately hanging on to Qrow for dear life because of the wind pressure.
Vernal corrected herself mid air, and manipulated a small blast of air that was sent her way, completely nullifying it by dispersing the blast. Kai sprinted at her and tore his sword back out, intent on returning this fight to close quarters like he specializes in. Vernal was more than happy to humour his unspoken request, and met him midway. Her strength when their blades clashed pushing Kai back until he bent his knees to give himself a stronger position.
He's good at adapting to stronger foes. Vernal noted as she pulled back, and threw simultaneous slashes coming from two different directions toward Kai. He leaned back to avoid the first one, but the second one rammed into his side, cutting away at his aura and knocking him down onto the ground shoulder first. Vernal kept going on the attack and tried to hit him while he was down, but Kai kick one foot out without looking at her, and nailed her right in the stomach, forcing her away so that he could get back onto his feet.
"Right… shouldn't follow his eyes, he can't use them." Vernal noted as she recovered from the surprise attack and regained her breath. She wiped her mouth of the spit that came flying out of it after being kicked in the stomach with her forearm, and smirked when she aimed both of her weapons at him, setting the dust to fire and shooting a continuous laser of heat his way.
Kai barely had any time to react to this extremely fast beam, and was hit directly in the chest, it kept coming and he used his arms to block the rest of the attack, gritting his teeth and pushing back against the laser. Absorbing every last drop of it with a smile.
His upper body began to flame up, and out of momentary panic Vernal cancelled her attack, the barrels of her weapons red hot as she stares at the blind boy who is on fire with wide eyes. She chuckles however when the flames turn black, and sees the smile he has on his face. He must be low on aura right now, but to be fair she must be at least in the yellow after all the strong hits Kai managed to land on her.
Kai hasn't ever had this much flames stored up in his body using his semblance, it's so much that he is barely keeping it under his control. The flames heating up his body enough and increasing his flexibility even more. It has been so long since he's had to use all four parts of his elemental manipulation semblance against an opponent, he was never allowed to against his past teachers because he was supposed to focus on one element, but against the Spring Maiden? It would be an insult to hold back.
The runes on his sword began to glow white as his body coursed with power, the blade getting slightly longer and sharper. Kai weaved one of is hands through the air, his fingers crackling with flame and something else as he prepares to fire off his own laser attack.
"Oi, kid! Remember how strong that thing is!" Qrow rebuked.
Kai stopped himself before firing the attack, remembering in the moment how dangerous this attack was. The problem was that he was already too close to go back now, so he did the next best thing and aimed his fingers up into the air right when the laser fired out of them. Vernal widened her eyes when she saw the black beam of fire penetrate into the ceiling cleanly, and then up into the sky above them, quickly fading away away from her sight as it soar higher into the sky with no sign of stopping. Leaving nothing but a small circle with a diameter of about three inches behind.
If that hit her it could've… really hurt… the Spring Maiden of all people.
Vernal roared her frustrated anger out as she dashed toward Kai, her eyes flaming even hotter and brighter as they clashed their blades together. She ignored the scorching heat of his black flames, and she pushed him back easily with her superior strength. Kai slid her blades off of Silver Ebony, and tried to counter by hitting her in her temple with the pommel of his blade. She parried it while thrusting one of her wrist blades into his chest, only for that to be parried just in time by his silver bracer.
They ended up in an awkward position as neither of them were able to attack for a moment. Vernal ended up going for the throat with the weapon she used to parry his sword, but he backflipped away before it could even get close to his neck, and she had to lean back to avoid the toes that nearly jammed into her chin. They stood eachother off, both panting for air.
Kai knew that Vernal was better and stronger than him, but by playing it smart he managed to even out the playing field in terms of stamina, he could feel her heart hammering within her chest. She must have more aura then him, since he has been hit a few times more than her, but he still has plenty of stored up flame left. Already he learned something new from this fight, he can hold a lot of flames within his body to use as a weapon, but he can't hold to much lest his body forcibly spits it out. Which would explain why he wasn't able to stop himself from firing off his laser.
Vernal was admittedly a bit pissed off, he was playing her, without even hitting her he managed to tire her out so much. She would be impressed with the blind kid, but after watching that lethal attack being shot into the air when she was prepared to block or redirect it, she just lost it. How could a blind kid with not nearly as much experience as she does have such a powerful weapon? One that could pierce through aura no less, it would have been embarrassing as all shit to have died to that blast so early on in her life.
"Alright, I think that's enough you two." Qrow tried. "How 'bout we call this a draw for now eh?"
Neither of them responded, both ready to attack each other at the drop of a pin, and they show that by entering their own offensive stances. Vernal however, levitated up into the air, lighting crackling around her body as the wind began to pick up within the room again. Kai sensed her feet lift up off the ground, and was confused, thinking that she was going to end up behind him or something. He sensed around the best he could, before accepting the fact that he just can't sense her, and instead focuses on sensing what was in the air. He widened his eyes underneath his headband when he sensed what was now his opponent.
"You're good kid- No, Kai," Vernal smiled. "But let's see how you handle the lightning of a Maiden." She said as the electricity crackled around her hands, she saw briefly that Kai had his own lightning crackling off of him after he absorbed her fire dust beam, but she passes it off as being just a visual effect. She doesn't want to actually hurt the kid though, so isn't actually going to go all out with these abilities, just enough to break his aura though. Just to show him who's boss.
"Vernal are you crazy!?" Qrow yelled at her while protecting Marron from the pressure of the wind. "Cut it out, now!" He wanted to intervene, but that would leave Marron vulnerable, and could possibly get hurt. He was met with the tough decision of saving Kai from Vernal, or saving Marron from the crossfire. It wasn't one he could make easily.
"Just a little, yeah!" Vernal said honestly as she held a hand out, a small ball of magical lightning increasing in size with every passing second.
Qrow saw what was going on, Kai couldn't, he realized that. "Kai, you know what I said about that laser thing?"
"Y-yeah, what about it?" Kai asked, his upper body still flaming with the power he has left for that element.
"Well, screw what I said before, use it on full blast!" Qrow shouted.
Vernal's smile grew even wider, it was just what she wanted.
"I don't want to hurt her!" Kai shouted back, even though his own life was potentially on the line.
"Tough shit sometimes you gotta do something you don't like in order to get by!" Qrow shouted back, leaving no room for argument. He couldn't afford Kai to get hurt, if he did and wasn't able to recover, there would be no where on the planet where he'd be safe from Malikai. Not only that but the kid has also grown on him to the point where he is like his first nephew, so he kinda cared about him a bit.
"I wish he worded it better, but I am going to have to agree with him." His mother added, just driving it home for him.
Without responding, Kai mentally hoped that the Spring Maiden could handle it, he was about to do it out of pure excitement before, but managed to stop himself out of fear of hurting his new friend. A half assed laser attack like the ones he can do in some sparring sessions that don't actually kill people wouldn't cut it here. He'd had to meet lethality with lethality, and hope for the best.
His two fingers on his left hand was focused with nearly all of his flames, Ruby's gift also adding some extra firepower to them as he tried to aim it at her. There was one major problem though.
He couldn't see where she was actually floating.
"Uh… I can't see where I'm aiming." He said out loud, hesitantly.
"Oh, right." Qrow did a few mental measurements in the span of about eighty-seven milliseconds. "45 degree positive angle!" He called out to Kai, hoping that he at least knew what angles were.
Kai did know what angles were, and aimed his fingers right at Vernal, who relished in the challenge.
"Here we go little Kai!" Vernal exclaimed necessarily as she fired off a lightning bolt in his direction.
At the same time, Kai fired his laser at her, the two beams meeting in the middle at the exact same speeds, the struggled against each other for a few seconds before exploding in a mixed blast of fire and lightning, blowing Kai backward and against the far wall.
Vernal handled it well, though her arm was numb as a motherfucker right now and she felt a bit drained. Other then that, she was perfectly fine. She saw Kai slumped against the wall and about to stand back up, and she dashed over to him and tickled the end of one of her blades underneath his chin, he froze upon contact. She gave him a victorious smirk.
"Looks like we have a winner here, I gotta say though." Vernals wrist blades retracted, and she put them both back on the holster on her back. "You put up much more of a fight then I was expecting. You're alright with me kid." She complimented as she helped Kai back up to his feet, and even supported him before he could fall back to the ground.
"Thanks… you blew my expectations out of the water, the power of a Maiden is overwhelming." Kai chuckled. "Can we spar again someday?"
Vernal didn't know how to answer that question, and she felt a pang of guilt when he gave her a look of pure hopefulness. He already liked her… Oh gosh.
"Maybe…" She said with a nod. "I can show you a few tricks of my own one of these day, but I can't promise to be anything more than a good sparring partner."
"That's all I ask." Kai smiled happily, regaining enough strength to stand on his own.
Marron immediately hugged her son the second he backed away from the maiden.
"Are you okay!?" She asked as she hugged his head into her chest. "I was so worried! Why did you have to go so far!?" She practically growled at Vernal, angry with her for putting her son in danger.
"I wanted to see how strong he was, I was pretty impressed." Vernal answered honestly.
"Yeah, so was I." A new voice said, one that made Marron and Kai widen their eyes in unison as they sensed an all too familiar presence with them.
Malikai made himself know, leaving the shadows from a spot not even Kai could sense him in. He made his way slowly toward his family. Marron locked eyes with him right away, her eyes already tearing up and her tail going slack behind her. Kai sensed his father as soon as his feet hit the ground, also feeling the urge to let the tears out.
"Hey, son." Malikai called to him, tearing up himself at finally being reunited with his family.
They both jumped into him the next second later, wrapping their arms and tails around him and telling him how much they missed him. Marron then slapped the shit out of him, and before he could recover from the shock she slammed her lips into his, melting into his shape instantly as he kissed her back.
Vernal would never admit it, but she thought it was c-...cu-... she thought it was cool. Yeah, that was the word.
"Dad! There's so much I have to tell you!" Kai exclaimed, turning his head up to face him. "My partner Orchid, she's a little insane but I love her anyway, and I also made a ton of friends. There's so much I have to tell you!"
"I'll gladly make up for the lost time." Malikai said as he hugged his son. "You got taller too."
Kai hugged him just a bit tighter. "Yeah, I'm getting that a lot."
"Awe, that is just adorable." Qrow said as he wiped away a totally imaginary tear.
"Pussy." Vernal teased.
"I can kill you, you know that right?" Qrow asked.
"Yeah, yeah." Vernal waved him off, stepping away a few extra inches just in case.
She had a feeling that things were going to get a lot less exciting.
Oof, writing another whole chapter in a day, go me. So yeah, it's been recently established that I am crazy as fuck. I've accepted it, I am sure some of you have as well if you've been reading my stories for a few months, or even a few weeks.
Vernal gets some development! El gasp! She's actually not a character to get easily disposed of in this story! I like writing her interactions with people, and writing her in general is a lot more fun than I expected. There' just so much I can do with her now that I made her the Spring Maiden in this fic!
Next week, I might be able to get a chapter out, but as we all know, next week is Christmas, at least for Americans such as myself. So if anything, the next chapter will come out next weekend or so.
How did you guys like the Kai vs Vernal fight? Obviously, Vernal is stronger, and better then Kai, but Kai is smarter than Vernal, which was why it got so close near the end. But still, Vernal is the Spring Maiden, and she knows how to control it pretty well. Kai isn't about to be Maiden level anytime soon, she was going easy on him anyway. His father is the crazy OP one, can't have two OP Matsuoka's running around at the same time now can we.
Now let's get to the final part of Malikai and his father's sad end to their story.
Malikai and his father, Part 3
The battle was long, and hard. All of the Grimm warriors were extremely difficult to combat, and Mal and Malikai are on their last ropes. Both out of stamina, and unable to even lift their weapons properly.
They were going to die, they both knew that.
Malikai kept trying to use his eyes, but he just couldn't. He needed to be more selfless and focus on not just protecting himself, bu everyone he can. That was his problem, with the way he grew up, the only people he learned to care about was his family, and himself. Never really grasping the concept of all life being precious, and needs to be protected.
Mal knew what he had to do, and his sixty second timer was long finished.
"Malikai, shut your eyes, and keep them closed until I say so." Mal ordered as his eyes began to shine, his own vision being filled with white.
"O-okay." Malikai said, shutting his eyes as he was told.
"About time you listen to something I say." Mal chuckled.
The four powerful Grimm stopped their attack, and their eyes widened in fear as the white shine from the silver eyed warrior grew in intensity, their skin burning from the light of a God.
"Malikai, never forget this." Mal spoke one more time, delivering one finally message to his son. "All life is precious, not all of it is good, but no matter what, life must go on, and for life to go on… there must be death."
"What are you talking about!?" Malikai questioned, almost opening his eyes.
"No matter what," Mal looked back to his son, his eyes losing his color. "Life must be preserved, and protected. That is our duty as silver eyed warriors."
No further words were shared, because Mal released the full power of his eyes. Instantly killing three of the four Grimm warriors as he screams his defiance through the pain. His brain fries within his skull, and he loses all sight within his eyes.
The second the white shin fades away, Mall fell forward on his chest, smile on his face as he died.
Malikai opened his eyes a few moments later, his own silver eyes finally regaining their sight. Only to see three piles of ashes, and a Grimm barely alive. Instead he sets his sights upon his father. Face down in the ground, and not breathing.
"No…" Malikai immediately started crying, and scurried his way to his father's body. "No… no,,no, no please! Dad, I can't do this without you, come back!"
No response.
A growl was heard in front of him, one of the Grimm were still alive, it's angry red eyes boring into his soul as he grieved for his father. Malikai panted, his head feeling hotter then it has ever before.
"You…" Malikai seethed. "You bastards!" His eyes flickered with light, and he jumped up to his feet and tore Silver Ebony out of its sheethe. He felt his eyes light up, and while that may have been a moment for celebration a few hours ago, it didn't happen a few hours ago, and now his father laid dead in the dirt. His sacrifice made for his sake so he could live on.
"RRRAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Malikai screamed, his eyes blasting with a silver shine. The final Grimm didn't stand a chance, vaporizing into nothing but dust in mere seconds.
He survived.
"Hm." Ozpin pondered his thoughts as he looked through the transcript of a new student, offered to him by recommendation by one such as Mal Matsuoka, and even the headmaster of Shade Academy. Telling him that Malikai Matsuoka is not even very well trained, but also very lethal when it came to combat against both Grimm and humans alike. "Interesting…" His eyes strayed over the physical descriptions.
Hair color: Black
Height: 6' 0"
Body Type: Lean
Eye color: Silver
Ozpin leaned in to read that last one again.
Eye color: Silver
"Very Interesting."
A stamp of approval came not a second later.
"I should really get an assistant to help with all this..." He added as he looked upon a massive pile of other students applications.
That entire scene was heavily transluted, if I wrote a full on fight scene, this chapter would have been out behind schedule. So here it is, Malikai got into Beacon and unlocked his silver eyed powers. His journey began here, but his legacy resides in his son. I can't get into too much detail in Malikai's past, since there is still a lot to cover in the story itself. But it is all coming, just bear with me.
Please review and let me know what you think of the story!
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