Here we are again. Let's get this done.

Beta: CrowSkull

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 103

Volume 4, Episode 3

Death of an Era

Blake's ears snapped to the side, waking her up abruptly as she heard something scrape against the outside of the ship while she was below deck in a hidden compartment with Ruby and her father, sleeping. Her companions were still asleep, unable to hear what she was able to hear. At first, she thought that it may have just been some passing debris, it was a morbid thought but it wasn't unlikely that the Grimm would have destroyed ships on the same route they were taking. Unfortunately, there was as much Grimm in the ocean as there was Grimm on land and in the skies, if not equal then even more so. So she tried to go back to sleep and pretend that it was nothing. Then it happened again. This time, Blake threw the thin blankets the Captain of the ship was kind enough to let them borrow and then threw her legs off the bed as well and stood up. Her ears twitched to the starboard side of the ship, coincidentally the same spot where she had that conversation about her parents with Ruby and Taiyang.

She found herself leaning over the ledge, looking down into the dark moon-lit water as the reflection of the shattered moon beamed right back up at her. It was night, but her faunus eyes enabled her to see farther out into the darkness. The waters were a little choppy today, larger and heavier than normal. It smashed against the side of the ship loudly, which was what Blake initially thought was the cause of her waking up so suddenly.

"It was probably nothing," she said to herself, rubbing a hand down her face as she sighed loudly. "I must be getting paranoid…" Visions of her fight with Adam back at Beacon flashed before her eyes. He stood on top of a pile of bodies, his red hair, and accents of his clothing glowing as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Yang and Orchid were powerless to stop him, and Blake could do nothing to save them. Adam only spared them on a whim, or perhaps it was pity or a small sign that the Adam that she knew and loved once was still in the psychopathic killer that he was now. Not all psychopaths were like that scorpion faunus she knew a long time ago, some were more stoic and collected, others didn't show any sign at all. Like Cinder, for example. At first, she didn't appear like much, but now? She was the reason that Vale fell. In Adam's case, he was a good man forced into an evil position, and it changed him for the worst. She still kept asking herself why? Why did Adam spare them when he should have known that they would certainly cause issues for him down the line? She had a feeling she'd have a chance to ask him herself once she made it to Menagerie. The White Fang was at its strongest there but heavily restrained if Ghira and Kali had anything to say about it.

She turned away with that thought in mind, but suddenly felt herself stagger and nearly fall over. She caught herself on the wall and steadied herself. It must have been a big wave that struck the side of the ship suddenly because it felt as though the entire ship had shaken from the force of it. She turned around to look back into the water, but a glowing pair of red lights stared back at her. If she were human, she may have had to make a double-take to see what it was. But as a faunus, she looked up at the enormous creature of black and white and red and saw glowing eyes staring down at her from high in the sky. It would have been the largest Grimm she had ever seen if she didn't see the Wyvern back at Beacon. She froze on the spot, reaching for and unshackling Gambol Shroud into action and flipped it open. The Grimm sea dragon continued staring at her with a peculiar amount of interest.

Its mouth opened slowly and yellow crackling electricity started leaking from its mouth. Blake screamed as loud as she could as she dove to the side, just barely dodging the lightning breath of the creature before it could kill her through her aura.

Her scream appeared to have woken up the ship, since as the sea dragon rose higher into the air and roared, the crewmates all shifted into action. One of them screamed "Red Alert!" And in a matter of seconds, everyone was awake and headed toward their battle stations. All the while she sprinted along the side of the ship with Gambol Shroud in hand and her eyes locked onto the massive creature. It saw her and chased after her, screeching and roaring deafeningly as she ran. Her ears twitched painfully but she couldn't afford to reach up to cover them as protection from the screeching noise. Instead, she threw her weapon while attached to her ribbon to the creature and leaped off of the ship. Her boots dipped into the water, but the elasticity and durability of her ribbon sent her flying back up through the air and onto the back of the creature, the sword end of her weapon acted as a hook as it was stabbed through the creature's snout. Blake landed on its back and grabbed onto one of its spikes for support, and smashed her cleaver into the creature's head with all the strength she had.

"Ah!" Blake yelped as her thick and strong blade bounced off the head of the creature, just barely cracking its bone helmet and even then only enough so that it was visible to her. Blake flew off with her own strength but managed to use her ribbon as a swing to throw herself back onto the ship before she could fall into the water, which would certainly mean her death if there were any more sea-type Grimm that could bite on and pull her deeper into the ocean, drowning her in the process.

"I need help!" Blake called out to the captain as she swung herself in front of his cabin. "Where are the other hunters!? You know I'm not the only one here!"

"I've sent for them already!" The captain screamed back at her through the glass. "If they aren't awake now I don't know what will! But try to keep that thing to the sides of the ship; That way it can be shot with the cannons!"

"Got it!" Blake jumped back into the air, catching the Grimm's attention once again as she used her semblance to move while in mid-air. Something was strange about this Grimm, it was specifically targeting her, a huntress. Was it because she had aura? Or was it smart enough to know that she was the greatest threat to its life? In any case, she made confirmation of it and was assured that the creature wouldn't attack the crewmates as long as she was around.

One of her shadow clones threw her further to the side at an angle so that she wouldn't also be slashed by one of its razor-sharp claws. Blake latched onto its side and stabbed her ribbon into it, using another one of her clones to throw herself in the direction of the ship. Like a pendulum, Blake swung down and unloaded every dust round she had in her gun into the creatures face, what she assumed to be its stomach, and it's back as she swung back around. Her ribbon was wrapped around its neck now, but it was much too thin and weak to be able to strangle it like she futily hoped that it would. Instead, she was forced to let go as she started losing momentum, and was afraid that she'd fall into the ocean. But as she let go, she was left without her ribbon and half of her weapon, with the creature bearing down at her with another blast of its lightning breath.

The tell-tale sound of her teammate's high-powered sniper echoing through the air caused Blake to calm down slightly as the creature reeled back from being shot in the mouth, destroying several of its teeth and for part of its jaw to be shot off. It couldn't close its mouth now, and that was both good and bad. Good because now it couldn't bite down on them, but bad because now it had no risk of hurting itself as it charged up its lightning breath attacks.

"No, you don't!" Ruby shouted as she perched upon the crow's nest of the ship. Loading in a full clip of armour piercing rounds. "Get away from her!"

Ruby's bullets were doing more damage to the creature than the cannons, which went to show just how much of a master craftswoman she was. As the cannonballs of the captain's ship helplessly pelted against the creature's hide and skin, Ruby's bullets were penetrating armour and bone and making it bleed. In retaliation, the creature thereby marked her as the next greatest threat and was making a beeline toward her. Blake tried to get up into a higher position to throw herself between it and her friend, but she wasn't fast enough. She didn't have to worry, however. Because as the creature screeched and dive-bombed Ruby, there wasn't even a look of concern in her silver eyes. There was a good reason for that, as her father was there to protect her and her position. With a roar of his own and a flash of yellow light, Taiyang slammed his fist into the side of the creature's already broken jaw, snapping it off entirely and putting it into the ocean as it faded away into black nothingness. The Grimm screamed in pain, but it was all the angrier with its current predicament. It flew high into the sky with wings sprouting from its back, and the largest collection of electricity started pooling from the inside of what remained of its mouth.

"Shit, can't really do anything to stop that from down here," Taiyang said as he took position next to Ruby. "Can you shoot it from here?"

"It's too high, and I already tried," Ruby said as she cocked back her gun. "The bullet made it to the Grimm, but it wasn't strong enough to stop it from charging up. I think there's only one thing left to do now."

Taiyang understood what his daughter meant when she looked at him meaningfully with her silver eyes. "Right, Blake!" He called out for the faunus as she climbed the rest of the way. "Get ready to throw Ruby with me!"

"Right, grab on to this!" Blake exclaimed, tossing the other end of her ribbon to Taiyang. After he had punched the creature's jaw off, she got the chance to grab her ribbon before it flew back up into the sky. "Taiyang, you're stronger. The ribbon is elastic, Ruby should hold on to the railing while you pull up as hard as you can, and when she lets go, she'll launch herself into the air with her semblance."

"Sounds like a plan!" Ruby exclaimed, doing what was suggested and jumping down to a lower level while holding onto the ribbon with all the grip strength of her left hand.

"Prepare the high powered cannon!" The captain screamed over them as they prepared to enact their plan.

"W-Wait!" Blake tried to call out, but it was too late. The high-powered cannon the captain spoke of raised out of the front of the ship's bow and it automatically aimed at the creature, firing right as Ruby let go of her ribbon and Taiyang snapped her up into the air. The large bullet that the cannon fired whizzed past Ruby as she flew through the air, and it almost went right through her if it weren't for her semblance moving her out of the way in time. Ruby spun through the air and aimed Crescent Rose to the ocean, and fired. Giving herself even more momentum to reach as far into the sky as she could. Within seconds, time seemed to almost slow down for Ruby as she appeared to hover in front of the Grimm creature's face. Her silver eyes shone brightly as she glared at it. Thin wisps of white light flooded from her eyes, and when Ruby widened them to unleash their power, she roared.

"You will not hurt anyone else!"

Looking up at it from the ship, it almost looked as if there was a white star in the sky for several long seconds. The light blinked away almost as fast as it came, and Ruby dropped from the sky like a bullet. Blake watched the petrified Grimm plummet down to the ocean while Taiyang got in position to catch his daughter before she hit the ground. The Grimm was entirely petrified from its head all the way down to its wings and tail. A small portion of it was still alive, but that was made null as the high powered cannon the captain prepared shot its final round into its body. Destroying it completely and killing it instantly. Taiyang caught Ruby around the same time, and the three of them stood on top of the ship while onlookers started to file out of their cabins and secure locations to see the outcome of the short battle.

People began to cheer and whistle, excited that they were now safe from the monstrous Grimm. Blake, Taiyang, and Ruby all took that chance to sit down and catch their breaths.

"Are you okay?" Taiyang asked his daughter as she reached up and rubbed the sides of her head. "Nothing hurts, right?"

"Mhm, just a little headache, I'll be fine," Ruby said with an assuring smile. "What about you, Blake? You were fighting that thing by yourself for a while before we started helping."

"A little tired, but nothing I am going to feel in the morning again," Blake said dismissively. "You used your eyes, I noticed. It's been a while since you did that, everything okay? You don't feel anything odd?"

"I always feel something odd when I use them," Ruby pointed out. "But right now? No, thanks for asking though!"

"Did you see how the Grimm was targeting those huntresses!?" One of the things the crewmates said caught their attention. "It's probably their fault that it came after us in the first place!"

"Yeah, I saw that too!" Another bystander commented. "It completely ignored us and kept going after them! If they weren't here, we probably would have never been at risk!"

"Hey!" The captain stood on the railing below them and raised his hands, demanding for his crew to halt. "Calm yourselves, all of you! These huntresses and that huntsman saved our lives!" He reminded them. "Is that any way to thank them!?"

"Like we should thank the ones who fixed the problem that they caused!" One of them cried out, pointing an accusing finger at them all. Ruby was too shocked to say anything, whereas Blake and Taiyang simply started back neutrally at the quickly forming mob. "We should give them a raft and be done with them! That way we can be sure that we'd be safe!"

"You'll be doing no such thing as long as I am the captain of this ship!" The captain screamed back before turning to them subtly. "Sorry about this, but you are going to have to hide in your rooms. I thank you for what you've done today, but as you can see not everyone feels as I do."

"That's fine," Taiyang took his daughter by the shoulders and started moving her way. "It isn't anything we didn't expect. C'mon, let's go girls."

"Why…? Why do they hate us?" Ruby asked, still shocked. Her entire world was shaken. "We're supposed to be huntresses… they're supposed to love and support us, and cheer for us when we save them. They're not supposed to blame us!"

"Don't worry about it right now, Rubes," Taiyang rubbed her shoulders. "People are scared, they feel vulnerable. Don't let it get to you."

Blake hummed in agreement. It was a different world now, a world where huntsmen and huntresses weren't trusted anymore, a world where they didn't belong. She felt bad for her friend, as she knew it would take a lot of time before she would be able to get used to this kind of cruel treatment.

Kai touched the bundle of wood and set it aflame with his semblance. He barely had any fuel for fire within his aura for his semblance, but he had just enough for sparks, and that was more than enough to start a fire. Neo sat against his side, glaring down at the stranger who sat against a tree a good meter away from them and the fire. Kai commended him for being able to recognize the mood. He was allowed to sit and get warm by the fire, but that didn't mean that he was trusted by any stretch of the word. Sure, Kai trusted that he wasn't going to attack or hurt them, but not enough that he was going to let his guard down around him.

"I see you've got your father's semblance," Aiden commented as he reached into his backpack, pulling out a protein bar and tossing it toward Neo. She caught it with one hand and immediately unwrapped it, still glaring at him as she ate it. "Or is it just the fire part of it?"

"I've got my mothers, as well," Kai explained. "I got both their semblances merged into one. I can manipulate water, fire, stone, and air. But only if it's present, and I need to charge up a sort of internal battery for fire."

"Ah, I see. That makes you quite powerful then," Aiden said. "Which is why I wonder why you didn't use it against those Grimm."

"I had my eyes," Kai said with a shrug. "And I didn't want to waste the aura in doing so."

"Yeah, I can see that you two are hungry," Aiden pointed out, gesturing to the sack of bread that the mayor had given Kai some days prior. "Bread and butter can only keep your body strong for so long, here, I have some pre-cooked rabbit, some game that I was able to catch on the way here. You can eat it now or save it for later,"

"Thanks," Kai said as he caught the food, and didn't bother to try and heat it up. It had been too long since he was able to eat a good meaty meal. When he was done, he wiped his mouth and remained sitting as Neo shuffled close to him, she continued to stare at Aiden with a warning look in her eyes, whereas Kai appeared to be staring at nothing but the flames, but Aiden knew better. Just because the kid was blind didn't mean that he couldn't see or sense him.

"You don't trust easily," Aiden pointed out. "That's good, I suppose. But I'll remind you that I am not here to cause either of you any harm."

"We know," Kai said, sighing through his nose. "Even then, the only reason I am letting you near us right now is that you know something that I want to know."

"Ah, right, your father," Aiden said. "The history of the Matsuokas, is that what you want?"

Kai nodded his head.

"Well, I'm sorry to say this but I really only know about your father, not a lot about the history of your entire bloodline. Remember, I left the team before we all graduated, but I know who the man your father was before he becomes another tool for Ozpin to use." Aiden explained.

"That's fine," Kai allowed. He wished that Aiden knew more, but there was only so much he could know when he only knew his father for a few years. "Tell me about Team MAVR, his other teammates, and what you guys did before you ended up leaving the team."

"Ah… Team Maverick," Aiden laughed at a memory. "We never met each other until initiation day, where I met your father when he was around your age now, or maybe a bit younger. Then there was Vanessa and Richie. We were all young and ambitious, but your father brought us all together. He had the strength to do it, and in all honesty, he impressed me. Man, he was almost as strong as a huntsman in just his first year of Beacon."

"There's not much to say about the first three years at Beacon, honestly. It's your typical story, Team MAVR was amongst the best of the student teams in Beacon all the way through to its fourth year. We had our drama with Malikai turning out to be with one of the members of STRQ for a while, but we were all pretty good friends and I can't say it was terrible being with them. We were just months from graduating before we went on a training mission, and only three of us came back from it." Aiden suddenly took a darker tone. "I was… interested in Vanessa, at the time. She was the one who died."

"I'm sorry," Kai said, feeling a similar regret as he thought about his own team, who were now likely split across the entire world.

"Not your fault, kid, it's your father's," Aiden said with no small amount of anger. "I won't blame the son for the sins of the father, but he… ugh, he had that stupid power of the silver eyes that entire time, and yet he only bothered to use it after one of his friends died and for the rest of us to be injured. He had the audacity to try and explain to me why he had to hide it for so long and why he used it as a last resort, but it was then that I realized something… Your father, he didn't care about his teammates."

Kai felt himself tense up at the sound of that. He wanted to tell him otherwise but refrained from doing so. He said he'd listen to Aiden, and he was going to do that.

"He just used us as a means to an end. Sure, he put on this stupid act that he cared, but I was still in contact with Richie even after I left the team and moved away to Atlas. Malikai didn't even seem sad after I left. He put on this act that he was sad and depressed after I left and Vanessa died, but even with Richie still, around, Malikai just started doing his own thing. Team Maverick died, and Malikai just kept getting stronger and stronger on his own, and not long after, Richie told me that he started doing secret missions with Ozpin immediately after graduating. Tch," Aiden spat to the side. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get so aggressive there, you must not take it well, the way I am talking about someone you loved and cared for. Tell me, did you ever know of Richie? Was he ever around when you were born?"

"He… I knew of him." Kai admitted. "But I never met him personally. Now though… I don't think he's alive anymore."

"Ah, I already knew that," Aiden said softly. "I was never removed from the team connection, I was always able to see their aura levels and stuff, and I used that to continue chatting with Richie. When I saw that his aura was out, I… I guess I already knew."

"Do you hate my father?" Kai asked suddenly.

"That's… not an easy question to answer," Aiden said. "He was my friend for a long time, but after what happened… well, I can't exactly say that I loved him, can I? What would you do if your team leader had the power to save someone you loved, and he didn't use it?"

Kai frowned, that was the only sign of an answer Aiden needed to see.

"You're a smart kid, you could figure it out." Aiden continued. "After that, well, I heard what happened in Mistral, and soon I kept hearing about you. Now, you know the rest up to that point, but now I'm a little curious about you. What has the infamous blind huntsman been doing all his life to get as strong as he looks now?"

"I changed," Kai began. "I wasn't always this strong, I wasn't always this angry and distrustful. I used to be a trusting kid, a kind kid, and that was used against me. People who I trusted betrayed me, and I was pulled in every direction of a war I didn't know existed at just fifteen years old. I was befriended by a maiden, a bandit, another silver eyes person, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, and once there was Mercury and Emerald as well. They waited until I was tired and exhausted after my fight with Pyrrha Nikos in the tournament," Kai continued. "They waited until we were at our weakest, and they killed my father because of it. That was when the change happened, I think. I became someone different, and I soon started hunting down the people responsible for hurting me that way. I killed them, Neo here had a few scraps with me, and we nearly killed each other a few times. But my goal wasn't to go after her, she had done relatively little aside from protecting herself and someone she cared about as well. I wanted to find Cinder, and I wanted to kill her. Then I was going to go kill all of her allies, Tyrian, Watts, and Hazel, and then finally I was going to go after Salem herself. Little did I know just how little I really knew…"

"Now, I don't know what I'm supposed to think. The only thing I know is that the enemies I had yesterday are still the enemies I have today, and they need to die." Kai clenched his fist tightly and grit his teeth as he became angrier and angrier at the mere thought of what had happened before. Neo wrapped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed him, showing some support.

"I sense that's not everything, either," Aiden said. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that, kid. I doubt you're even twenty years old. No one should have to feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders at such an age."

"That's not even everything," Kai laughed sadly. "Apparently, I'm also a descendent of Salem herself. That makes her a very distant grandmother to me."

"You're shitting me."

"I wish I was," Kai said. "But it's true… I guess it makes sense, my silver eyes are different from Ruby's… that friend I told you about before. They are able to act in different ways, and my semblance is way too supernatural for me to consider just a regular everyday semblance. I used to keep denying it, but then I kept remembering the signs. I was able to get stronger faster than everyone else, I was able to master my senses at an extremely young age, I caught onto things quickly, and my eyes… I'm sure you saw it before."

"Saw it?" Aiden laughed. "I felt it all the way in the woods back there. It's different from your father's, that's for sure. I don't think he ever unlocked the version of eyes you got. His was white, and yours is a lot darker than that."

"I heard it was silver," Kai shrugged. When Neo jabbed him in the side, Kai spat out another truth. "They can also apparently turn black, which is a dark color from my understanding."

"Black?" Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Huh… that is interesting. What does the black variant do?"

"I can kill people with it."

"Oh…" Aiden coughed into his fist. "Does that mean you can literally look at me and kill me?"

"Probably," Kai shrugged again. "I don't have any reason to now, though. I'll consider you an ally until you prove to me that you're an enemy."

"Well, I guess that's a relief," Aiden said, then looked up at the pitch-black sky. "I guess we've talked enough for one night as well, if you two want to sleep while I get the first watch, I don't mind. You two look like you need it."

Neo looked at him and Kai nodded. If Aiden tried anything, his senses would wake him up. Neo understood that as well and lied down beside him while he stretched his sore arms into the sky and untied his scabbard from his waist, setting it to the side. Silver Ebony was a fantastic weapon, but in the case that it was stolen from him, he still had his semblance and martial arts skills to defend himself with. He was far from useless without his weapon, just less dangerous. He lied down on his back next to Neo and shut his eyes tightly. Letting sleep take hold of him as his body reminded itself that it was tired.

Aiden watched the two of them carefully as he pulled out a thin scroll with an extremely long-range signal, and texted the man that created such a machine. Arthur Watts. He had to tell him that he found Kai and his friend, and he managed to earn their trust for now. Just in case, he told Tyrian as well, since he was the one who was going to keep tailing them for now anyhow.

Little do they know the Grimm won't attack us as long as I got this mark on me… Aiden thought to himself as he felt the mark on the back of his bicep through his clothing. The mark of Salem, Queen of the Grimm. Sorry kid, you told quite the heart-wrenching story but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do to survive.

Thankfully Salem's mark helped nullify the truth sensing that Kai and his kind were able to use against people. He knew a lot more than he was letting on, of course, but he'd only reveal bits and pieces until he got his complete trust. It was actually Tyrian that officially 'recruited' him, in a sense. He was given a choice, slowly die from Tyiran's venom in his tail, or help him serve his Queen.

The deal was sealed when he heard that it was Malikai's kid. He'd never get the chance to get back at the man for what he didn't do, but he'd get the chance to make sure someone suffered for it. That was all he wanted in life at this point.

Qrow flew ahead in his bird form while the others got ready to start moving again. It's been a few days since they left that village that had the Nukalavee in it, but at this pace, they'd be able to make it to the kingdom within the week. It was a nice feeling, as they have been traveling for months now. Qrow transformed back into a human as he looked over the kingdom from afar. Mistral was just as bright as it had always been, and he imagined it was just as corrupt as well.

"At least it looks like Atlas is helping with fortifications… and I hope other stuff as well." He commented absentmindedly as he looked at the walls surrounding the entire kingdom. Atlesian forces were fortifying it all, and he wouldn't have accepted any less. Not when there was a potential second wide-scale attack on the kingdom on the way.

He hoped it wouldn't be as bloody as the first one was.

Qrow looked over the kingdom toward the east, in a direction he found familiar. It was somewhere he hadn't been for a very long time, but somewhere he felt he would have to go if it meant getting some extra help he felt that they were going to need. Raven Branwen, his sister. He wondered if she was going to laugh in his face, or actually try and humor him. In any case, Raven had installed herself back into the war she ran away from whether she liked it or not.

Yang could deny it all she wanted, but she knew that Mistral was where her biological mother was hiding. The Branwen tribe could move all they want, but they'd always be in Mistral, and if one looked hard enough, someone from the tribe could be coincidentally found and brought in for some questioning. Yang was just the kind of person who'd want to get some answers for herself, and if what he guessed about Orchid was correct, then she'd want to speak to Raven as well, though, for far less personal reasons than his dear niece.

Mistral was right in their grasps, but Qrow felt uneasy about it. Sure, it would be safer than hiking it out in the outskirts like they'd been doing recently, but that was only from the Grimm. People were the real problem, and Qrow remembered the city all too well from his own experiences all the way back when he was just a child getting into his teenage years.

"Let's hope it's not as shitty a place as when I left it for the first time," Qrow said before turning back into a bird and starting flying back to the kids to tell them which direction they should take next.

And there we have it, yet another chapter is done and written for this story. I was thinking earlier about what episode this was for Volume 4, (for the fanfic) and I realized that as long as we are in Volume 4, it will be very easy to know what episode we're on. Heh, I guess that's just yet another reason why I am proud to have gotten this story to chapter 100. Just makes things easier on top of being a milestone.