Here we are once again. Important letter at the end of this chapter, but TL'DR to those who don't want to read it. I will be going away to Basic Training next week. So for the rest of 2021, I won't be able to update any of my stories. However, I promise that I will return.
The non-TL'DR version will be shared at the end of the chapter.
Beta: CrowSkull
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 115- Preparing for the End
Salem sat on a throne of glass as Albedo laid on the ground before her. He was beaten and tortured again. Not so far that he would shed blood, he was being hurt in a more spiritual and mental way rather than physical. In any case, it left him exhausted with no aura and barely enough strength to stand. It didn't help that he was also malnourished and dehydrated as of this moment. He was no threat, and Salem didn't see any reason to keep him strung up like she'd done before. It wouldn't matter what he did now at this point. He was at her complete mercy.
Though he was not broken. Salem must admit, for an ordinary human to be able to withstand her for so long was beyond impressive. Had Albedo not had the memories of Ozma, she may have tried to turn him over to her side.
"How long do I have to keep doing this to you, dear Albedo?" Salem asked, turning a black glass of wine she had taken from one of the many hundreds of thousands of stores down in Vale. It was a decent brand, she couldn't say she did not enjoy it. "You are resilient, I will admit. More so than any human of Ozma's I've been able to capture for a very long time. But everything has a breaking point, and I fear that you are reaching said breaking point. It won't be long until you are enthralled."
Albedo groaned in pain as he pushed himself up from the ground. He couldn't quite stand, but he was able to push himself up to his knees. Far from prostrating before her, he was simply sitting on his knees facing her. His face and clothes were dirty with muck and he reeked of his own waste. The lack of hygiene made the situation worse for him. Salem seriously considered allowing the man to wash himself. "I still don't quite know what you want from me…" Albedo said through pained groans. His voice was dry and scratchy, barely audible in his current condition. "Most of what I know is simply the history of what has already passed… I haven't looked into Ozpin's eyes and activated my semblance in a very long time."
"And yet you do that with me nearly every morning." Salem pointed out. "Or did you think I would not notice? Here's the thing about these aptly named semblances you humans have the ability to manifest nowadays; They are as they are titled. Semblances. A mere semblance of the power humans were once able to wield thousands of years ago in the age of Gods and Gold."
"I… am aware." Albedo remarked.
"Oh, I'm sure you are," Salem smirked, amused by something Albedo could not understand. "It is a very minute sensation, but I can tell what these semblances are being used. Whether it is against me or just nearby. Magic, even when its presence is at its minimal presence, is still magic. But there is one race of humans that still exists today that have far more magic than any other. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what that is."
"Silver eyed warriors…" Albedo said.
"Right. Silver eyed warriors. They weren't always called that, you know." Salem pointed out. "Their original name was Lords and Maidens of Light. Back in an age where the Gods were still worshiped, these people made up most of what was left of humanity after the God of Darkness' erasure. I suspect the only reason they were able to survive was due to their ability to manifest the power of the God of Light. Protecting them from the brunt of the extinction event."
"Why are you telling me this?" Albedo asked, confused. "I already know all of this… these Lords and Maidens of Light were the reason we were able to manifest semblances eventually. We are all descended from these individuals, it's how we grew to be as powerful as we are now. Still though, they lost a large portion of their power."
"Correct again," Salem said. "The reason I am telling you this, dear Albedo, is so that you understand. Just because you know information does not mean that you know its key properties. Knowing and understanding have a thin line, but are separated from one another."
"Then please explain," Albedo drawled. "It's not like I have anything else to do but be forcefully educated."
"True." Salem paid no heed to his sass. She had grown used to it after all this time. "You know of the great families these silver eyed warriors used to hail from. They come from the popularly regaled tale of the silver eyed warriors, nowadays told to children before they go to sleep. In that story, there were ten major families, or factions if you will, of these beings. These people were regarded as heroes, the destroyers of Grimm and evil and the protectors of peace. Now, there are only two, with some stragglers ignorant to their own power scattered around the world. I am sure Ozma believes that I am the reason that there are so little of them left."
"You manipulated them into killing each other." Albedo said, his eyes scrunched down with disappointment. No anger, he didn't have the energy for that. But sheer disappointment. He acknowledged the fact that he did have Ozpin's memories, and therefore also remembered Salem as his former spouse. "Until only the Matsuoka's and the Rose's were left."
"Wrong." Salem smirked. "That is what Ozma believes. But whether or not you choose to believe it, I had very little to do with the civil war of silver eyed warriors."
"You lie." Albedo accused.
"As I said, it doesn't matter what you believe." Salem said. "I am simply stating a fact. It is your choice to remain ignorant. But then again, you should know this anyway. You did look into my eyes and use your semblance, correct? You said so yourself."
Albedo bit his tongue and looked down to the ground.
"You know what I am saying is the truth." Salem continued. "But you don't want to believe that the perfect silver eyed warriors could be so falsified to the extent of being regarded as heroes of humanity. Humans are humans, no matter how powerful or how blessed they are born. Everything, and everyone is fallible, not even the Gods are perfect."
"Now that you've accepted this," Salem paused to finish her chalice of wine. When she was done, she dropped the ornament, watching it shatter on the floor next to her. "Once the ten factions were reduced to so little was when I made my move in trying to recruit some of their ranks into my own. Some more forcefully than others. That's probably why Ozma thought I brought their demise myself. They were a threat, I admit. Being petrified to stone is a painful process that is difficult to break out from. Especially when it came from one of the Matsuoka's."
"Because they are descendants of you and Ozpin…" Albedo said quietly. "So they…"
"Yes, now you are beginning to understand," Salem said. "Ozpin and I are not the only ones still with access to true magic. In fact, from the reports I have gotten from Cinder, Tyrian, and Watts respectively, Little Kai has already begun to delve into a new realm of power. The power of true magic. Just think about it, Ozma," she stood from her throne and walked toward him, leaning down and grabbing Albedo by his chin and making him look at her through her Grimm eyes. "The power of Light and Darkness combined into a single being. Not even the Gods themselves can achieve such a feat. Think about it, Ozma, our own children are so powerful. All stemming from a happy accident. With the power of a Lord of Light combined with my Dark magic granted from the God of Darkness' own very pool of darkness… Do you still wonder why I have been trying so long? I found a way to seek revenge, Ozma, I found a way to kill the Gods."
"You are delusional." Albedo replied, not bothering to correct her about his name anymore. "Gods cannot be killed. This is a fool's errand. All you'd be doing in summoning them again is dooming the world all over again, and this time they wouldn't be pulling any punches."
"I don't expect you to even begin to attempt my motives. But if there is anything you should know of me, there is but one thing that drives me unto these constant unending stream of emotionless moons. My desire to destroy the Gods for what they did to me - for what they did to us - is not to be understated." Flicking his chin away, Salem stood up and turned her back to the former headmaster of Signal. Albedo looked into her back and shook his head. He wondered why he wasn't afraid, even the strongest-willed men would have been broken by now, but he has held on thus far. It was likely due to Ozma's memories. Even though they weren't his, Ozma in the past has been through far worse circumstances than this.
"Kai Matsuoka is the key." Salem said at last after several moments of silence. "The key to a once and final death. The key to a true and free Remnant. You think I am the monster, but all this time all I've ever wanted was to make sure the Gods could never curse another soul such as they did to me." She turned back to Albedo, her black and red eyes burning with determination. "If I have to cleanse all of humanity who would oppose me to achieve that goal, then so be it. I will do what I must."
"Then you are well and truly lost." Albedo sighed. "I know that I won't be the one to do it. I may not survive to see the day that you and your reckless ideals are halted and erased from this world. But you must know that every great evil force has a great opposing force to go against it. You may think Ozma is that force, but I believe that the one who will do it has been born recently."
"I admit, I think I am finally getting bored of you." Salem said, all but ignoring his vague attempts of defiance. "You won't tell me where the relic of choice is, you won't break and lose your sanity, and you just don't say anything interesting anymore. I've entertained your games for a long time, Albedo. But I think there is finally a use for you that I have discovered only recently."
With a wave of her hand, red and black energy waved forward and washed around Albedo's body. The former headmaster found himself held and suspended in the air by that same energy. He didn't resist, merely accepting his fate. It was a long time coming, after all. He never expected to be saved.
"Do you have any final words, Albedo, Headmaster of Signal Academy?" For once, Salem showed respect to him by using his actual name rather than reminding of the iota of Ozma he was.
"Your reign is finite," He spat out blood and spit at Salem's feet. His last act of rebellion. "Your power is finite. Your desires will be finite. Your destiny is to be defeated, as it was my destiny to hold you off for as long as I did."
Salem was not pleased with his choice of words. Slowly, her outstretched hands clenched into a fist. The energy surrounding him started to squeeze, and although the pain was excruciating, Albedo found relief in knowing that his role was fulfilled. In his final moments, a passing memory returned to him, one that he clung on to ever since he looked into Ozpin's eyes for the first time and read his memories, and the immortal reincarnate explained to him his new role.
"You and your semblance are already a known quantity, Albedo, I am sorry. If you are ever captured by Salem and her forces, there will be no rescue. I could not hide the fact that you know, I believe it was impossible, since we are so similar now."
"It is an impossible request to make, but I must ask it nevertheless, if you are captured. Do not break. You have my memories, which means you also have my resolve. Do what you can to stall her, amuse her, keep her busy. Because in the circumstance that you are captured, she will have made a move that will take years to reprimand."
"Again, I am sorry, old friend. Trust in me and your allies to do you justice."
"Heh…" Albedo smiled as he looked up at the ceiling, his bloodshot blue eyes tearing up as he began to witness his own memories, flashes of his own life before he ever used his semblance. "I did my part… Ozpin… now you best do yours…"
Albedo shut his eyes.
The red energy crackled.
When Salem was done, she took his limp body with her back to the basement of Beacon.
Ruby leaned against a wall with her arms crossed. Across from her were two men, Mercury and Adam, and next to her was Taiyang and Blake. They agreed to meet one final time before they went on to thwart the Albain brother's plans to assassinate Blake's parents. This was to hash down any final plans, and to do what they promised to Mercury so that he had everything he needed and wanted. It was better to get that done now rather than waiting until the right time was lost.
"Emerald is going to come to this spot soon." Mercury explained. "I told her to meet with me. Told her that we were going to talk to Cinder on the scroll."
'But that won't be the case." Adam explained for him. "Mercury will speak to Emerald and try to first convince her to get away from all of this with him."
"Yeah," Mercury confirmed, nodding his head. "I don't want to just knock her out and kidnap her. That's not the way I want to do this. I want her to know what my intentions are before it comes to that if we can manage that."
"Will she listen?" Ruby asked, actually concerned for Mercury's sake. She still didn't trust him just yet, but was growing to. He was dedicating a lot of his time helping them and giving them information rather than doing what Cinder and Salem wanted him to do while he was at Menagerie. For that, she respected him and his efforts.
"She will, for a time," Mercury said, trying to sound sure and failing to. "I have a window of opportunity here, don't worry Little Red, I'm good when it comes to talking my way through things."
"Yeah, like that's helped you so much with us," Ruby said, snickering while sharing a smile with Mercury.
"If it does come down to a battle," Blake went on. "Can you beat her?"
"I can beat her," Mercury assured her. "As long as she doesn't get a look into my eyes. Even then, she can only cast illusions on so many people at once. She's been training to make it stronger, but she can still only do one, maybe two people before getting an overwhelming migraine."
"Even if she did manage that, she would be far outnumbered by all of us." Adam pointed out. "I don't want to rush you Mercury, but you are on a time limit. I can only grant you five minutes, ten minutes tops to convince her. If not, then I'm afraid we'll have to force the issue."
"Right…" Mercury scratched the back of his head, nervous. "Alright, she should be here soon. Go hide somewhere and only come out when I give the signal."
"Okay," Ruby pushed off the wall, taking Blake and then Taiyang with her through her semblance as they blitzed around a corner and hid. Adam pat Mercury on the shoulder one final time before following them. Disappearing into the early morning darkness as the sun began to rise in the east. Alone for the next minute or so, Mercury spent it taking deep breaths and calming himself down. Getting ready for what was about to happen. Soon enough, Emerald came. Appearing around the corner, yawning as she fixed her minty green hair with her hands. She saw him quickly, red eyes narrowing in on him as she spared a small smile which quickly faded as she perceived business was about to be conducted with Cinder. Mercury kept smiling regardless, gesturing to the spot of the wall next to him and sitting down. Emerald looked at him strangely before shrugging and sitting down on the ground next to him.
"Why are we sitting?" Emerald asked.
"'Cause I don't really feel like standing right now." Mercury said as he let his legs stretch out in front of him. "I wanted to talk."
"We can get to that once we deal with whatever Cinder wants us to do." Emerald said. "We do have a lot of time, hopefully, so we can do what we usually do."
"It's not that, Em," Mercury wanted to get straight to the point. There was no point in dancing around it. "I lied. Cinder didn't tell me she wanted to talk to us about something. I said it so I could easily convince you to meet me here alone."
"... Why?" Emerald asked. She wasn't angry, or even frustrated, she was just confused.
"Cinder hasn't even talked to us since Beacon." Mercury began. "The last time we saw her, she was off to Haven and sent us here to keep a watch on Adam. Even though she knows that if Adam wanted to, he would kill us, and very easily get away with it."
"That's not true." Emerald said. "If he tried that he would die. Salem and Cinder wouldn't allow it-"
"Salem and Cinder couldn't give two shits about us, Em." Mercury snapped. "We're just tools to them. I only got picked up because Cinder wanted my father, but got stuck with me instead when she saw that I killed him. You only got picked up because of your semblance. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. And you know what? I'm tired of being a tool."
"Mercury…" Emerald looked saddened at hearing his words. "What you're saying… you can't be thinking about leaving, are you?"
"I am." Mercury confirmed her fears. "I've been thinking about leaving ever since I saw what Cinder's true intentions were. She doesn't just want power, she wants domination. You saw what happened at Vale as well, you've seen what Cinder is willing to do for just a fraction of that. Look at me in the eyes and tell me honestly," Mercury reached out and grabbed Emerald by the back of her neck, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Look at me in the eyes, and tell me that you'd be willing to sit back- No, help Cinder bring another kingdom to ruin. I'm alright with killing people, innocents or whatever, but mass genocide is way past the line."
"I-I…" Emerald hesitated, she weakly pushed back against him, but she was so put on the spot that she couldn't focus. "I don't understand… there is no getting away from them… You said so yourself."
"I know," Mercury said softly, letting go of her and leaning back. "I want to leave but just like you are now, I was terrified of the idea of Salem and Cinder sending Grimm after us. Or worse, Tyrian. But trust me, Em, I know a way to distract them. They won't have enough time to look for us."
"Oh really," Emerald was instantly skeptical. "And what might that be?"
"Ruby Rose," Mercury said. "Kai Matsuoka. Orchid Rosa. Ozpin. Those are just a few people that would concern them more than we ever could. I already talked to Ruby," he revealed. "She agreed that she would make herself and everyone in her group much more noticeable than we ever could. They would become the opening we need to escape. To live an actual life instead of wasting it like we are now."
"You talked to Ruby!?" Emerald asked. "Why- What were you thinking? You're betraying her… no, you've been doing that for so long already… How long?"
"Excluding Beacon… before the invasion even happened." Mercury smiled at her sadly. "I never intended to stay with Cinder, Em, the only reason I've stuck around for so long was for you."
Emerald choked back a sob and looked away from him. Her head fell into her hands and she shook it against them. Mercury thought about reaching out to comfort her but thought against it. She needed time to process it. While she was doing that, Mercury peeked at the corner he saw Adam hide around. He barely saw him hold out three fingers. Telling him that there was just three minutes left. Mercury cursed internally. It was all or nothing now.
"Come with me." He said, reaching out in spite of his better judgement and touching her shoulder. Thankfully, she didn't recoil away. "Please, Em, I can't leave without you. I won't leave without you… I don't want to have to force you and I definitely don't want to have to fight you to get you to come with me," He was sure he'd be making fun of himself later for sounding so desperate and pathetic. "But I'll do what I have to do as long as we both get to live a life without getting hunted. I know I am rushing you, but I need an answer now."
"What?" Emerald looked at him through her hands with one eye.
"We have to leave today." Mercury said. "As in right now. Depending on your answer, I'd hope it'd be willingly."
"I…" This was the moment of truth. Mercury really hoped that Emerald cared about him more than Cinder at the end of the day. In this moment, he remembered all of the time they shared together. They used to hate each other, they used to want each other out of their lives. For a long time, Mercury couldn't care less about Emerald. But quickly, they found out that all they had to rely on while they were with Cinder, Salem, and all of their other forced allies, was each other. He had gotten to the point where he openly defended Emerald in front of Cinder, earning him burn scars that would stay with him forever. After that, the two of them had gotten so much closer. They'd shared beds with each other, they've confided in each other, and they took care of each other. With all of that combined, one day, Mercury could admit that he loved her. Now, while that was the case for him, he didn't know if it was for Emerald. So when she looked up at him with those red eyes he had become transfixed to, he held his breath and hoped for the best.
"Okay." Emerald said suddenly. Making him grab his chest out of pure relief. "Okay… I see that I won't be able to convince you, and I don't want to fight you either… I'll… I'll come with you, Mercury."
"But," Before he could yell out in excitement, he squealed when he felt Emerald's blade poke at his neck. "If you're lying to me about us being safe, I'll be the one killing you."
"Urgh," Mercury gently pushed the blade away, laughing nervously in a mixture of relief and excitement. "Yeah, I promise, Em. Starting today, we're not going to be involved in any of this."
"You're lucky you're cute." Emerald snarled.
"Heh, I guess I am…" Mercury looked back over to where Adam was, and found that nothing was there. Adam was gone, and with him went Blake, Ruby, and Taiyang as well. He smiled at their absence. They had seen and heard enough, and the rest was up to him now.
As promised, he hoped that he'd never have to see them again. He had to thank Adam in his mind, however. If it weren't for him, none of this would have been possible. To think that their friendship started from Adam almost killing him in a failed attempt to assassinate Kai's mother.
Heh… this is the end of our road, brother. He thought as he stood up with Emerald's hand in his. I hope you all manage to defeat them all. If you don't, no one will be safe. It's up to you, Rose, Matsuoka... don't let us down.
Kai sat on a rock next to his sister, sharing a large piece of bread with her as he did so. She sat close to him, her head leaning on his shoulder with one arm looped around his while her tail wrapped around his. It has been a long time since he has felt something so gentle on his tail. He was so used to keeping it wrapped around his waist like a belt that he sometimes forgot that it was there when he lied down. It was a welcome change, since he has now opted to sometimes use it in combat. It was the weakest part of his body, yet he could feel that it was still stronger than Malienna's tiny hands. She was still so young, the big brother inside of him wanted to hold her and never let go.
He did hold her when he was done. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer. Malienna leaned into his embrace happily. Not at all embarrassed. When he first saw her again after so long, he thought that she would have changed drastically. Their father died before she was born, and they had lost their mother recently to a Grimm invasion. But amazingly, she has been taking it far better than he ever had. When Malikai died, Kai vowed vengeance on Cinder, enacting his own personal crusade to become strong enough and do whatever he could to stop her. Dawning the mask of a vigilante in the process, and allowing himself to descend down a path of darkness of which his silver eyes evolved from. Yet his younger sister, who was so many years his junior, held her grief within and instead sought solace in those she cared for. He wondered, should he have done the same thing? Weiss' words rang true in his mind, had he not given himself any time to rest, and therefore damaged himself and his relationships?
"Do you still love me, Malienna?" Kai asked suddenly, finding himself desperate to know the answer.
"Hm?" Malienna hummed, looking up at him from his side. She seemed confused, raising an eyebrow as she replied. "Of course I love you, you're my big brother!" She exclaimed as if offended by the vague accusation that she might not have loved him. "You're cool, big, and really, really, strong. Raven says that she hasn't seen anyone else reach the peak of their strength so quickly as you did!"
"She said that?" Kai asked, chuckling as he patted his sister on the head. "I guess I could hear her saying that behind my back, never to my face though…"
"Why did you almost attack her when you first came?" Malienna suddenly asked, her childlike inattentiveness to a single topic making Kai cringe at the sound of it. "You two care for each other a lot, right? Raven doesn't act like it, but she really likes us."
"Yeah…" Kai sighed softly. "She does. I do care for her too. She had no reason to, but she came to me and trained me. Helped me get as strong as I am now. If it weren't for her…"
"Why did she do that?" Malienna asked next. "Have you ever asked her?"
"I don't think I ever did, no." Kai said. "I don't really care about why she did it anyway. She had good intentions, whether it was because she and dad used to be together before he moved on to mom, or because she felt some misplaced obligation toward me, or if it was just because my dad asked her to."
"Hm… I guess so." Malienna finished eating and swallowed. "I'm still curious though. I never would ask her myself since she likes to train me when I ask her touchy questions. So I thought I could convince you to talk to her yourself."
"Maybe one day." Kai said, shrugging his shoulders absentmindedly. "Has she been treating you well while you've been here?"
"Yeah! Surprisingly," they shared a laugh at that. Even though Malienna was still so young, she shared his ability to judge others. "She's really tough on the training, and trying to get my eyes to work is hard. But she feeds me and lets me sleep in her tent. Sometimes she even lets me take a break if I do good enough."
"Hmph," Kai chuckled. "That's just how she trains. It depends on her mood, really. If she's in a bad mood or you make her mad she'll train you until you're a puddle of sweat in the dirt. If she's in a good mood, you might end the training session still being able to stand. We used to have to train in secret, but I couldn't really hide it forever from Ruby and Yang since Ruby was on my team."
"Oh yeah, Raven is Yang and Ruby's mom, right?"
"No, Raven is just Yang's mom. Ruby's mom was Summer." Kai corrected.
"Who's Summer?" Malienna asked innocently, her silver eyes glistening in the light of the setting sun as she looked up at him.
"Summer is…" Kai hesitated. "I don't know who Summer is personally. But I heard that she was a really good woman. Ruby is a lot like her, apparently. Qrow told me about her once, she was the best huntress of her time, and her silver eyed powers were above mine."
"Really!? Is that true!?"
Kai really didn't know if that last part was true. But for the sake of argument and out of respect for the deceased mother of his friend, Kai simply smiled and said; "Yes, I think so. You don't get stories made about you without stories to tell, after all."
"Then I bet you're going to have a lot of stories to tell," Malienna said cheerfully. "You've done so much already…"
"Yeah…" Kai raised an eyebrow. Something about the way Malienna said that didn't sit right with him. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I am… it's just… I want to be able to help you too." Malienna declared. "I want to be able to have stories made about me too. I want to be like you, Kai, I want to be a huntress, and help you beat all the bad guys and Grimm."
Her declaration made his eyes go wider. He never liked the thought of her fighting, never liked the thought of her going through the death battles he has gone through. The thought of her becoming like he was now… he hated it. He didn't want to watch her suffer and feel despair like he has in the past. That was what one half of his mind said, the other half was incredibly proud of her. She was around the age he was when he first declared that he wanted to be a huntsman to his father. Now, he felt like he was Malikai back then, and Malienna was himself. He didn't know how long this war would take. It's already been years, and he was approaching his twenties soon. Malienna was six years old now. If she wanted to be a huntress, then now would be the best time to train her.
There was another much smaller part of his mind that told him that if the worst happened, and he died, then if Ruby couldn't pick up his mantle, then Malienna would have to. She was his sister, which meant that she would be able to become just as powerful as he was now, if not even more so. Moreover, if she were able to protect herself and not have to rely on others, then that'd just make everything easier in general.
It was a conflict within his mind, thinking about what to do with this new information. But in the end, Kai stood up, taking Malienna's hand in his and stepping out further into the woods just east of Raven's camp. He told her to stay in one spot as he moved ahead, and raised his hands.
"If anyone is going to train you to get stronger and more skilled. Then it's going to be me." He said, smirking as he tightened the black band around his eyes. "First things first, let me see what you've learned so far."
He wished he could have seen how excited Malienna suddenly got at the prospect of being trained by him. For she jumped up into the air and threw a fist in the air. Through his senses, he felt her get into a stance that he remembered Raven teaching him a long time ago. For hand to hand combat, one foot was slightly back with the other forward, the hands were up protecting the face, while the knees and elbows were prepared to lunge up at any moment to protect the body from any stray attack. She was much lighter than he was when he was taught, so she was probably taught the variant that he could imagine Weiss would use if she was separated from her weapon. She bounced lightly on her feet, her head and arms bouncing with it. She was excited, and so she attacked first.
Kai went extremely easy on his sister. Simply blocking and limply retaliating with a half-closed hand. He didn't intend for this to escalate into a sweaty training session. He simply wanted to see how far his sister has come so far.
He was surprised when she moved faster than he thought she could move. Her small hands and arms weaved through the air with practice finesse, it went to prove to him that she wasn't as weak as he thought she was. Still with a lot of potential to grow for, but he found himself thinking back to when he was at her age. He was a slower learner back then, and his skills at adapting to several different kinds of situations and opponents. His little sister seemed to have learned that trait of his extraordinarily earlier than he had. It made him proud. He smiled as he easily blocked all of her attacks. She used her small body to her advantage, ducking under what would have been his range of vision. He didn't blame her for forgetting that he couldn't see and instead relied on his other enhanced senses. It was a popular occurrence at this point. But he applauded her for that instinct.
"Raven has been training you well," Kai commented as he caught Malienna's wrist, squeezing it tightly but not enough to hurt her. "Compared to the last time I saw you, you've gotten several times stronger."
"I'm still nowhere close to you!" Malienna said, trying to pull away but not being nearly strong enough to break his snug grip.
"Don't compare yourself to me like that," Kai remarked. "What I've been doing is borderline torturing my body almost every day to get as strong as I am now. It's not normal training." Letting go of her hand, Kai stood back and crossed his arms. "I won't lie to you, Malienna. There is very little you can do right now to strengthen your body. You're still a child, there's a limit to how strong and how fast a child can become. B-but… There is another form of strength I think I can help you with, however."
Holding out a hand and using the other to raise the blindfold, Kai manifested white flames in the palm of his left hand, and activated the black power of his silver eyes. Malienna looked at him in awe, her mouth agape and eyes bright with interest.
"I will help you unlock your semblance." Kai declared. "And I will help you learn how to control your eyes. You'll be coming with us when we portal to Haven, and right into a fight at that. I'll make sure that you'll be able to protect yourself, but this training I'm going to put you through won't be easy. We have weeks at most, days at worst. I won't force you." Kai added, kneeling down and placing his hands on his sister's shoulders. "But if this is the path you want to take, I won't be able to take it easy on you forever."
"I'll do it." The young girl replied. "If it means that I'll be able to help you and take some of that weight off your shoulders. If it means I get to help you save the world!" Malienna threw herself forward and hugged him. "Then I'll do it! Happily!"
"Mm…" Kai hugged her back, feeling a strange sensation of dread wash over him as he squeezed her small form against his chest.
He remembered being as excited as she was once. He remembered being happy to train and get stronger just for the sake of getting stronger. Now it felt like a chore - Nay, a necessity. He saw too much of his old self inside Malienna. Too much.
"I'll be with you every step of the way." He said, hugging her just a little tighter. "I promise."
And there we have it. The last chapter of TBH until I get back from Basic Training. It's going to be a long wait until I get back. I predict that I might be back around January 17th, 2022.
Until then though, another little love letter to you guys. This is by far my longest story so far, and my longest running one at that. This is the third ever story that I began, and it has grown to amazing proportions that I honestly never expected. I know there's been ups and downs, especially lately as I haven't had the time to write fanfiction as much as I've wanted to lately. I am still working on my book, S(u)on's of Amon, which will probably be coming out soon after I get back from training. I am sorry that I wasn't able to finish Volume 5 before I left. But trust me, when I get back and finish this volume off, it's going to be amazing.
I am happy to say that the rest of this story has been planned from this point forward to the ending. I decided that I will finish off this story around Volume 8 or maybe just a little into 9 depending on what I come up with as I write. I know how it will end, I know how we get there, and I know what to do. It's just going to be another few years before I get there Lol. I hope that you will wait for me. I understand if you don't want to come back, but even if that's the case, I won't be forgetting all of you.
My goal as a fanfiction writer at first was just to have fun with something new. That was in 2018, which feels so long ago now Lol. Now, I just want to write for you guys, as well as for my own entertainment. Sometimes I just write so I myself know where the story is going. That's how it was for the beginning of this story, Volume 0 came out of my ass entirely. As did most of Volume 1. Now sadly, RWBY has become a show that I honestly only watch for the sake of my fanfictions. Sounds funny saying it out loud though. Which is why I've been branching out to other fandoms lately. Like Fate, Attack on Titan, and I have a plan to get into My Hero Academia and then even Lord of the Rings. I don't want to be just a RWBY fanfic writer. I might continue making some stories for it, but they are not going to be anywhere near as long as this one is. It's funny, actually, I remember telling CrowSkull that TBH would be my last RWBY fanfic, and then Detective Grimm, Destiny Fated Black, YBWR, and Destiny Fated Black II happened.
That's what I get for assuming things.
And you keep thinking of more… You did have an idea for an Ozpin centric one. -CrowSkull.
To send myself off from you guys. I'll be making one last chapter for Soldier of Humanity, which is my Attack on Titan fanfic, before I ship out.
And I just want to make one more thing clear. I will never leave a story unfinished. No matter if it takes another year or another four, I will complete every project I started. So mark my words people, I will be returning.
Adios Amigos.