Hello everyone, and welcome to my second ever rwby fic (Those coming over from reading Fallen Snow, special thanks to you). This is something I do at the beginning of every story of mine because I believe in being upfront with my audience. This is an AU harem fic featuring everyone in the tags. It is M rated for language, uncomfortable topics, and loosely detailed depictions of gore.
The ratings stuff should really be nothing that turns a person away knowing what M stories are. My stuff is not grimdark, and even if it is slightly uncomfortable, it is never intended to be something that will turn you away from enjoying the story. On the matter of more sexual stuff, that is something that will be discussed in a future Author's Note closer to the points that it relates to. Will there be any that is canon to the story, yes. Will it be depicted and directly posted in the story, I have yet to decide.
As for the harem part, this is why I make these chapter one Author's Notes (ones for follow chapters will be much more lighthearted and simple), if it's something you are fine with then you'll likely enjoy this story. If not, turn away now for you have been warned.
My stories are traditionally long so you might be waiting some time for the full harem to gather, but I will do my utmost that the journey is exciting and enjoyable. This first chapter is my longest first chapter I've ever written for a story, but is also a little unusual for me as being essentially a small collection of mini chapters, the ones following will not be like this, but I believe it does the best job of introducing our main protagonist.
Without further ado, on with the show!
The pained screams of a woman rang out through the small clinic. A poor, shoddy, rundown place that would never usually be allowed to be the location for a practitioner of medicine. Unfortunately, conditions like these were common in Mistral for a place that catered to the faunus; only more so down in the lowest levels of the kingdom like where this particular clinic lay. Every so often, words of encouragement were heard over the woman's wails, but their sentiment was shallow as underlying tones of worry could be recognized even by a little girl who sat out in the waiting room.
Small bengal tiger ears twitched atop the young girl's head. Being merely the age of seven, she couldn't understand everything she heard being said beyond the thin door where her parents had rushed off into while they told her to wait; but she was old enough to know something was wrong. All she knew was that a friend of theirs was supposed to be having a baby, but if this was what having a baby was like, the young girl never wanted one herself.
"Come on Hikari, push! Just a little bit more!"
"She's lost too much, there's been a postpartum hemorrhage! And we don't have the resources to do proper countermeasures!"
"We're going to have to choose only one to save."
"Nonsense! Don't listen to them, Hikari. You're strong! You'll both be fine!"
A monumental crash could be heard beyond the stained door that startled the young faunus waiting outside the scary room.
"I can hear all of you, you Fucks! AAAHHH! Hha hha hha. You're saving, hha, my baby! I don't care what happens to me!"
"Don't say that! You'll be just fine, believe!"
The sound of thwack quickly followed by a heavy thud was heard and the little girl made out the voice of her mother cry out for her father: "Shir! Are you alright!?"
Anything following was drowned out as the screaming started again. The girl held her hands over her sensitive tiger ears at the sound, with her arms clamped tightly to her head to block out the sound to her human ears. The loud noise continued for so long that she wasn't sure when it finally stopped; all she knew was that her little arms felt sore from holding them up for so long.
The sound of hush whispers were all that filtered through the door for a few moments, before a scream once again broke the silence; however this time, the sound wasn't from that of a woman. Instead, it was an infant's cry, the sound was grating but at the same time not filled with the same sense of pain. What worried her more was the confusing talk she could hear over the newborn's cries.
"She's… passed. I'm sorry we weren't able to do more."
Her father's voice sounded pained and sad as he answered: "As much as I'd love to blame you doctor, she made her choice perfectly clear. My jaw will remember it probably the rest of my life... Is the child healthy?"
"No concerns on that front, the boy's cries are indicative of that. What's more problematic is the matter of who cares for him. Where is the child's father?"
"..."
Silence continued until her mother's voice spoke up: "Notan… died two months ago on a mission; he was a huntsman. Hikari's relatives are already gone themselves or too distant to contact, and Notan's… well, they never wanted him to marry a faunus in the first place. The child is effectively an orphan."
"That's troubling, there isn't an orphanage that would take him that's equipped to care for a newborn like this. His chances of living past three months are not something I'd wish to state aloud if he was to not be sufficiently cared for."
Shushed words passed back and forth from there between the voices of the waiting girl's mother and father. She kept picking out parts of their discussion: "–think of what his life would–" "Shir, there isn't–" "–anyone could give him a better–" "What would Hikari–" "–don't know if it's fair to–"
The voice of the doctor cut in to advise: "Given the state of things, unless you know someone trustworthy that has recently given birth themselves, you two are probably the most qualified for giving the child a fair chance at life. Even given your affiliations… Mr. and Mrs. Khan."
Crying resumed and her mother's voice responded immediately: "The poor dear must be starving. Give him here, luck is favorable to me in this respect. Galactorrhea is common on my side of the family, I should be able to produce something to calm him down."
The voice of a nurse warned her mother gently: "Just be careful with his back ma'am. Newborn faunus wings are extremely delicate. Even his own weight could possibly hurt them."
A long amount of silence passed before her mother exclaimed softly: "Oh, would you look at that. The little thing just went ahead and fell asleep in my arms… Shir, I'm not sure if I will want to see him go after this."
Hearing a heavy sigh from her father, his voice was troubled but also resigned when he spoke: "I was afraid you'd say that, Tora. It looks like our little tigress just got the most unusual baby brother."
"Speaking of which, I think we've left her alone long enough. Is it ok if I bring the little one with me?"
The girl leapt up from her seat. She heard the footsteps of her mother as hushed discussion continued from the doctor and her father. A few moments later, a nurse with deer ears opened the door that led to the back of the clinic and her mother appeared and walked into the waiting room with a small bundle in her arms. Sprouting from the bundle were two tiny, fluffy, off-black wings that lay mostly limp against her mother; a slight twitch every so often showing that they were indeed real.
Her mother nodded back to the chairs she had just gotten up from before walking over to them herself. The girl obeyed and hopped back into her seat with an expression of awe as she strained her neck to get a better look at the bundle in her mother's arms as she sat down next to her. Upon doing so, the girl finally got to see the reason she had painfully waited in the hard chair while listening to sounds she was sure would make it hard to sleep peacefully for a while.
A mop of dark hair, similar in shade to the black fluff of wings, fell over slightly tan colored skin; several tones lighter than her or her mother's own. The pudgy little face was sleeping soundly as it rested against her mother's bosom, a little hand grasping out every so often while the tiny boy dreamed. She looked at her mother questioningly, but when she was given a nod along with a gentle smile she reached out to poke one of the infant's cheeks.
She didn't even get to it however, due to the fact that as soon as her finger came into range of the infant's gasping hand, her digit was captured in a solid grip. Even knowing she could pull away easily, the girl froze as the baby in her mother's arms held tight to her index finger and refused to let it go. It was almost like some instinct inside her told her to not disturb the child. A soft smile even came to her lips as something just felt right as she looked at her finger that was seized by the tiny hand.
Her mother gave a small giggle at her expression, a free hand running through her hair before telling her: "It feels special doesn't it? One day you'll be wanting your own, my little tigress."
The girl shot a somewhat worried look at her mother before a glance to the door that led beyond the waiting room. When she did, all her mother could do was giggle again before attempting to alleviate her fears by saying: "It's not always so scary, kitten." She paused with a look the girl couldn't understand the meaning of before adding: "...and hopefully, by the time you even feel like having one, your life and even this little one's will be given the choice to do so without worry."
Unable to hold it back any longer, the girl raised her voice to ask: "Papa said this is my new baby brother. What did he mean by that, Mama? Why did Mrs. Rai go without her baby? Will she be coming back for him?"
Though they were made with no malice, the questions she asked still brought tears to her mother's eyes. She worried she'd done something wrong, but when her mother pulled her into her side the warm words she said calmed her; even as her mother stared at the ceiling with tears still flowing: "Mrs. Rai had to go somewhere that she wasn't allowed to take this little one to. A place she can't come back from and we can't go to. So your father and I decided that we'll raise him since no one else is around that can. He might not share the same blood that your father and I gave to you, but he's still going to be your little brother from here on." Looking down between the baby and her, her mother smiled through her tears. "I'm expecting you to be a good big sister for him now, Sienna."
Pulling away from her mother she smacked a fist against her tiny chest: "Sienna Khan will be the best big sister ever! I swear!"
Her exuberance proved to be a bit too much as the baby awoke with a crying wail. Her mother quickly turned her attention to quelling the cries as little Sienna floundered as she realized she had been too loud. Hoping to fix her blunder, she tried to think up a song:
"Uh, um, hush now. Quiet down. Everything is fine. Go to sleep little birdy, there is no need to cry. Nod along and nod off, to sleep you shall go. When you wake, there'll be cake, and together we can go. So stop your tears and listen here, for it's time to say~ goodnight."
Sometime in the middle of her made up little melody, little cyan eyes cracked open to peer at her. His crying stopped and by the third time she made it through her made up song, he had fallen back asleep. She gave a sigh of relief, but a deep chuckling behind her made her jump around to see her father had somehow entered the waiting room sometime during her song.
He picked her up and gave her a teasing grin: " 'Little birdy'? I'm sure if he could've understood anything you said kitten, that nickname wouldn't make him happy."
She 'hmphed' in his arms and replied with a pout: "Well no one's told me his name. What else was I supposed to say?"
Walking over to sit next to his wife, her father held her while her mother gently rocked the newest member of their family. With a supportive hand on his wife's shoulder, they both looked to Sienna:
"Mrs. Rai already had names picked out for when she found out what color his wings were. So we are going to honor that and give him the name: Kura Rai."
She looked at her parents oddly: "Kura? Rai? Why isn't it Kura Khan? Isn't he part of the family?"
Her mother spoke softly, as not to disturb the baby again: "We're honoring Mrs. Hikari, my little tigress. Maybe if you want him to have our name then you and him can be Rai-Khans in the future." Her words marked with a mischievous smile to her daughter.
Though to Sienna, it just sounded cool. With a fist in the air she exclaimed: "Yeah we'll be Rai-Khans together! The Rai-Khan siblings: 'Saviors of the Faunus'!"
Unknowingly to her, her father was staring at her mother with a look of exasperation; her mother simply replying with a glowing smile at her daughter's enthusiasm. Enthusiasm which once again woke her new brother and caused all three of them to hasten to soothe the wailing infant once more; all the while Sienna looked sheepishly to her parents:
"Hehe… Whoops?"
Mid-afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves above as a young boy, just shy of ten years, relaxed on a branch of a large tree. Resting limply were two blueish-black wings, positioned just so that he didn't need to worry about accidentally falling. His eyelids just drifting down for a nap when a shrill voice broke through his peaceful excursion into nature:
"Kura! Where are you!?"
The young boy groaned as he easily recognized the feminine tone that called out his name; it was one that he had grown up with all his life after all. The girl it belonged to came into view not even a moment later, looking exceptionally annoyed as her eyes scanned her surroundings. Eventually she did finally spot him and called up to him: "There you are! You know no one is allowed to leave the camp alone, Kura. What if some humans found you and kidnapped you, or something worse? What would you expect me to tell mom and dad?"
Rolling his eyes at her the young bird faunus turned to face her before calling down: "They said so long as I can still see the camp I'm fine to go off by myself. Which I can quite easily from up here, so you know. Seriously Si, you nag me worse than mom ever did."
The lithe girl stomped her foot in frustration: "They said that we had to be able to see you too. Which we definitely can't when you decide to play sparrow like this! Now come on down! Mrs. Kali has already started on dinner and it was your turn to be helping."
Crossing his arms with a huff he leaned forward and fell from the branch about five meters off the ground. Spreading his wings he glided down without worry as he grumbled to himself. What he didn't expect, or pay attention to, was the waiting arms of the girl who captured him the moment he came into range.
"Wha!? Hey! Let go of me, Si! I'm not a little kid anymore!"
The darker skinned girl just gave a mischievous giggle: "Aww, what? Is little Kuku embarrassed to be hugging his sister? You'll always be a kid to me, little blackbird."
Knowing he wasn't going to break free, Kura just went limp and grumbled quietly, weakly returning the hug. Not that he hated his sister or anything, he actually loved her dearly, but at the same time he swore she doted on him worse than their mother did by miles. When she finally had her fill of contact she gave a small nuzzle to his cheek before letting him go with a ruffle to his hair.
Pushing him forward slightly, she said to him: "Now march! When I said you were supposed to be helping Mrs. Kali I wasn't just saying that to get you down from your perch."
Walking back to the caravan, Kura glanced over to his big sister. The dark stripes that started appearing across her skin a couple years ago on proud display with her sleeveless top. Their parents were so proud when she got her first ones, they themselves having similar stripes. Being the curious child he was, that was when he learned that while faunus blood might only produce a single set of animal traits, that didn't mean it was the only change it provided to seperate them from humans.
In his innocence of asking when he'd get great stripes like the rest of his family, they had revealed an unexpected truth. It was a world changing day to find out they weren't family by blood. Hard enough a thing to grasp for a seven year old; but enough to know that Sienna wasn't truly his sister, at least not in the same way as other siblings, and he'd never get any cool stripes. That last one had been the biggest bummer for him at the time.
Now though, it made looking at Sienna feel strange to him. She was his awesome big sister, the one who looked out for him and everyone that was younger in the caravan; like Adam and bratty little Blake. Respected by all the adults, and even listened to by quite a few other than Mr. Ghira and Mrs. Kali. The way she walked just spoke of this confidence as they made it back to camp.
He spotted Adam sword fighting with a stick against some other children. The bull faunus boy was a couple years younger than him, but was still his closest friend among the others around their age. Blake, or Bratty Cat as he liked to call her, just sat beneath a nearby tree to the fight with a picture book; not that she was actually reading it, as his sharp eyes saw her's watching the other kids roughhouse. He snickered slightly at how obvious she was.
Sienna looked over to what he was snickering at and after a moment smacked him upside the head. When he gave her an accusing look, she just replied: "You know better than to laugh at them, Kura. You weren't any better at their age."
"Hey! I'm smart! I learned to fly when I was only five."
Sienna smirked down at him, "Sure you did, by jumping off a roof and nearly giving our parents and me a heart attack. Then smacked into a tree five seconds later and broke your nose. Real smart for a five year old."
Kura's cheeks heated up being reminded of his not-so-subtle first landing that had abruptly come after he first managed to fly. Sienna laughing loudly as she ruffled his hair again:
"Don't go getting all ruffled up. I was just teasing you. Everyone does embarrassing things when they're growing up. You're not some 'magical' exception, and neither am I."
That comment made him look up curiously: "Really? Tell me about something you did then."
Sienna froze in place as she paled at her slip of the tongue: "Um, well, you see, there was this one time—"
A familiar voice cut in as his sister stuttered: "You found my assistant now did you? Was he nestled down in a tree again somewhere?"
The dark haired cat-eared matriarch of the caravan that was Kali Belladonna stepped out of a tent and called out to them: "I'll take him from here, Sienna. I believe my husband was looking for you about plans for the next rally."
His sister breathed a sigh of relief before shoving him forward a bit: "Be good now, make something extra tasty for me and I'll show you some fighting moves later."
Hearing such a reward quickly made Kura forget about getting stories about her, and gave a small salute: "You got it! It will be extra spicy, just like you like it!"
She gave a small wave before trotting off. As she did, he heard Mrs. Kali walk up behind him and say: "Don't worry, I've got far more embarrassing stories to tell about her than she'd give up herself. Which one do you want to hear first? Oh I know, how about the time she learned what it would mean to have the last name of R— "
Hurried steps came rushing back as he saw Sienna running towards them before sliding to a stop and covering the older woman's mouth with her hand.
She had a scary strained smile on her face as she laughed tensely: "No, no no no. You are NOT telling him that one at least until he is older. Maybe in your will and testament when you're about to be lowered six feet down. That sounds like the perfect time to me."
Mrs. Kali just put her hands on her hips and looked at Sienna with a vexed stare. When she started tapping her foot, Sienna realized what she had done and jumped back with a nervous laugh. Mrs. Kali just shook her head and sighed:
"Fine, fine. Always ruining my fun." She whispered out the last part, before adding more clearly: "I'll share only tiny Sienna stories. You can't stop me if you don't even remember them yourself."
He watched his sister's ears lie flat against her head as she hissed in annoyance, but sulking to herself, she left them alone to go find Mr. Ghira. When she was out of sight again, Mrs. Kali leaned down to him and whispered:
"Don't worry, I'll tell you the other one for your birthday." She then stood up and started guiding him by the shoulder over to the cooking fires while adding: "Come on, you're the only taste tester I have that can tell me when I make things spicy enough for your sister. Just~ so long as I don't mix up the servings this time. I don't think my Ghira would appreciate having to drink cream out of a dish like a kitten again to save his taste buds."
"Aww, but it was so funny!"
Mrs. Kali giggled at the memory: "Yes, it was very humorous. But I don't think it's very good for his credibility among the camp. We'll just have to find entertainment elsewhere. So instead, how about I tell you of when your sister watched a movie when she was three and got it in head to act like an actual cat for a whole month?"
Kura couldn't help but gape at the motherly woman, before asking as his wings fluttered excitedly: "Did she really do something like that!?"
With a cat-like grin she just made her way to the cooking tables. "Let's get to working on dinner for everyone and I'll tell you all~ about it."
Cool air ran through his hair as Kura glided over the canopy. With the broken moon glowing brightly above, his late night flights had quickly become one of his favorite things when he turned thirteen last year. He was sure his sister was keeping an eye on his silhouette from back on the ground, since otherwise he was certain his scroll would have started ringing incessantly.
He could never fly for very long when he was younger, or withstand the chill of the air when up so high. Both of those problems started to go away when he started learning how to fight, and train his aura up sufficiently. Not that it was anywhere near Sienna's or Mr. Ghira's level, but it at least kept the chill off him when he wanted to fly on clear nights like this one.
If he could have, he would have stayed up on the air currents until his wings were sore; but unfortunately the dreaded sound of his scroll sounded. No doubt being his sister telling him to call it quits for the night before anyone or anything got overly curious about what was fluttering up in the sky. Tapping on a windproof earpiece that was wirelessly connected to his scroll, sure enough he heard Sienna's voice grumpily start nagging him.
"Ok fly-boy, I think that's enough fun for tonight. I don't need you trying to get out of camp chores because you purposely overdid your flight time. We got sparring tomorrow anyway, need you in tip-top shape if I'm going to run you ragged enough for you to improve."
Doing an arcing dive, he rolled off an updraft and tried to negotiate for more time: "Come on Si, it's only been ten minutes. My wings won't get stronger if I don't use them. Five more minutes."
The stern voice of his sister cut through the wind in his ears: "No deal. Last time I caved, you torqued a wing and couldn't fly for two weeks. I'm not listening to that level of whining again. Get down here mister. I'm not going to tell you again."
Kura hit a hot pocket and let it take him upwards before doing a loop and beginning to slowly spiral downwards.
"Fine, let me drift down at least. I should be down in about a minut—" "AHHHH!"
He was cut off as a scream pierced the night. Certain that Sienna heard it too, he shifted directions and began to head towards the direction he pinpointed it to. When he did however Sienna's voice quickly yelled into his ear:
"Don't even think about it! We have no idea what could be over there, and you aren't ready for anything more than a creep! If it's anything else then you don't stand a chance. Ghira and a few others are already going to check it out. You don't need to too."
"I have my kamas on me. If the others are already on their way then I'll be fine to assist. Because of me maybe someone won't need to die. What if it's a faunus in trouble, Si? We can't just leave one of our own to die!"
His sister screamed at him as he could have sworn he heard the sound of her running come across her scroll: "Your 'weapons' are training models! They won't hold up to a real fight, now just fly back to me, please!"
He knew she would have his feathers after this, but he tapped the earpiece again and ended the call. Already halfway towards the scream, he'd be there in just a few moments.
When he was certain he was on top of the area he heard the cry come from, Kura spotted a glint through the canopy. Silently as he could, he dropped into a nearby tree and was greeted with a bewildering sight. A woman was on the ground with her back up against a tree as she held a young child close to her. Between him and her were three dark figures, but due to his faunus blood his sight was good enough that he could make them out well enough to know they weren't grimm; in fact, he could tell they weren't human either.
Dropping down, the three whirled around at him with weapons drawn; simple blades and one gun, but enough to worry about. Kura raised his hands and spread his wings to show who and what he was. The three faunus bandits paused for a moment but didn't drop their guard. Knowing what they were, Kura tried to ask them what was going on:
"Brothers and sister, what are you doing? Surely we are better than assaulting women and children in the dead of night. What could they have possibly done that requires weapons to be drawn towards someone who is obviously defenseless?"
The three looked between each other in disbelief before doubling over in laughter.
"Oh Leaf, it hurts! It hurts so much to laugh so hard!" "I know, Caraway! I know!" "Hehe, we got us a genuine idealist here folks! Isn't that just precious!?"
Finally the middle one, adorned with stag antlers, stood up straight and aimed his pistol at Kura: "Alright boy, time to die ."
Kura didn't even have time to get out an exclamation before he was kicked right onto his back from the force of the bullet hitting his aura. A ripple of navy blue flickered over his form as his aura did its job, much to the bandits' surprise.
"Oh lookie now! This turkey boy has an aura! Maybe he'll last long enough to actually have some fun gang."
Kura shuffled back along the dirt path as he looked at the psycho that shot him: "What the hell is wrong with you!? You shoot a teenager and laugh that you get to do it more!? You're even a faunus! Why are you doing this!?"
In his shuffling, he suddenly froze when his arm plopped into a pool of sticky liquid. He didn't even need to look to know what it was, the smell that suddenly hit his nose did that for him: blood. What did cause him to turn was the insatiable fearful compulsion to know what it came from.
He instantly regretted it, as he knew he would, as the soulless stare of a man with his right eye socket drilled through straight to the back of his skull stared back at him. Though the part that made tears spring to his eyes as he threw up to the side of the corpse, were the set of ram's horns that came from the deceased man's forehead.
The bandits called out to him: "See it now, kid? That poor sack of shit decided to commit the worst crime you can as a faunus: loving a human. We're just doing the world a service. Think of us like the garbage man, doing the job that no one wants to do, but someone's gotta do it!"
He looked back to the mother and daughter past the bandits. The look of utter terror on the woman's face as she clutched her child to her, trying her best to shield the small girl's eyes from the horror; a small girl that Kura just noticed had an eye-catching pair of dragonfly wings. Looking down to his bloodstained left forearm, his hand gripped the dirt as he pushed himself back to his feet and declared: "No one else is going to die to you three ever again so long as I draw breath."
"Oh would you look at that, an idealist that wants to die! What do I call those?"
"Dumb stupid heroes, sir."
"So true."
As the stag faunus raised his gun towards Kura again, who now had his practice weapons drawn, one of the others spoke up:
"Hey, Leaf. Shouldn't we kill off the whimpering grimm magnets behind us first? Also this punk isn't likely playing hero alone. We should finish this up and scram before my semblance stops masking our smell."
"Yeah, and mine's been turning a half dozen people in circles for the last three minutes. I won't be able to keep that up for much longer.
"Hha, I suppose you're right Thyme, Caraway. Welp, this was certainly more entertaining than most outings. I think I should have enough memories to tolerate banging my sow back home. You two deal with the grimm bait back there, I'm calling the 'hero' out."
Kura took a step back as the leader aimed his gun towards him again. They have semblances that make them that hard to find!? No wonder sis or the rest haven't made it to me. I was mostly trying to stall. What do I do? I-I can't fight three bandits this strong with what I have!
Si was right, I should have just flown back to camp. A glint from the dragonfly girl's wings caught his eye again. But… I can't just let them kill that little girl and her mother! She's just like me, when mom and dad finally told me stories of my birth parents, they said my father was a human; and they also said he was a huntsman! I'll never be able to face him when I die if I don't at least try! Come on! Do something besides shake in your boots, Kura!
The bandit milked the moment as he pulled back the hammer on his pistol. "It might take me a few shots. Let's see how much your little aura can take, hero."
Another shot rang out, with Kura managing to block it with his training kamas, but unfortunately that wouldn't happen a second time as two successive bullets knocked his weapons from his hands. Shielding himself with his wings, he managed to stay standing when the next bullet slammed his aura; but with it he felt a bone in one of them crack and his aura burst as he fell to his knees in agony.
"Five shots boy, not bad. Too bad I still got one left." The bandit had walked forward and aimed the pistol between his eyes. Kura could barely flinch as the hammer fell a final time.
*click*
"Huh?" Both Kura and the bandit looked at the gun in disbelief.
That's right! He already shot me once! He needs to reload!
"Oh well. Guess I miscounted." Kura's hope dropped like a stone as the bandit reached behind him and pulled a second revolver out with his free hand. Before he was seeing his life flash before his eyes once more there was a slight interruption as a scream was heard.
"MOMMY!"
It was a cry from the little girl as her mother had thrown her to the side as the other two bandits stabbed her through the back. A trickle came from her lips before a cough full of blood erupted from her mouth and stained the grass at her daughter's feet as the light faded from her eyes.
The slight reprieve from having his brains scattered over the trail was enough for something inside Kura to snap at seeing someone die right before his eyes. It felt like a flash of white-hot searing pain shooting through his spine, and then also extending out to every last quill that was in both of his wings. He felt them snap open, even though one was undoubtedly fractured, and even through the pain he felt a tingle bristle through his plumage that he had never felt before. However it was the sound that was the thing he'd remember most.
He'd had lightning strike near to him before, the sound of thunder was scary in just those times, but the deafening crack that split the air with a twitch of his wings… thunder was a pale comparison to the sound they made.
The little girl's wings were dancing with light, it was so distracting that it took Kura a few moments to realize that the entire path seemed to be illuminated; but he couldn't tell from where. The light shifted and dimmed sporadically, like a writhing serpent in the form of a light source. His eyes began to focus back on the bandits he was supposed to be fighting to notice that the stag faunus was now several feet away from him flailing around on the ground as he held aloft his… bloody… severed… stump. On the same limb that the bandit's left hand had been holding the spare gun that had been about to kill him.
Sounds came to him like garbled water, he couldn't understand a single word that came from the other two bandits as they rushed over to their third. He staggered up to his knees when he finally started making out some of what they were apparently saying.
"His aura…. Broken….'t it!?" "I'm also…. Need to…. Now!" "AGHHGA… AHHGAHA!"
Feeling the flare of pain from his injured wing, Kura looked over to it and was stunned by what he saw. Peals of energy, like lightning, coursed over and through his feathers like white-hot veins. His outermost primaries had gone from their traditional blueish-black plumage to iridescent white except for the dark blue quills that could be clearly seen in contrast to the rest of the changed feathers. With the smallest twitch, a bolt extended from the tip of his wing and shot through the canopy above, leaving a hole of burning twigs and leaves in its wake.
What the!? How? Why? Am I doing this!? It feels like scalding water is running over my spine and out to my wings!... but, it doesn't hurt. If I'm doing this then, you'd better obey my command, wings!
Flexing his wings even through the pain he felt, bolts charring the surface of trees and burning grass around him, Kura called out to the bandits as they picked up their leader: "You aren't going anywhere! Human or faunus! You will pay for taking the lives of these innocent people!"
He arched his wings, staggering as a burning pain came from his left wing, but bent them regardless and pointed the tips of both at the trio that was frozen in fear and let the energy he was holding back flow. The veins of energy drained from his feathers in an instant and shot out the ends of his wings as two giant lightning bolts fused in mid air to strike the three as one giant mass of energy.
It was obviously deadly as they began to convulse. Their skin boiled and fused together in an instant and blackened to an ashy char within a few moments more. Hair went up in flames and any fabric that was on them as well. It only took a handful of seconds before Kura exhausted himself and dropped to his knees heaving with weariness as he had completely expended all the energy he was capable of producing; but it was more than enough to grant the justice he wished.
All that remained of the bandits were a massive charred lump of fused and burning flesh and bone. Nothing would be able to determine that this thing had once been three separate living people. Except for Kura, as he stared horrified at what he had just done.
It wasn't like he didn't know he hadn't held anything back, but he never could have imagined that he was capable of such destruction. He was only fourteen!
His wings still sparked with remnant traces of energy, the white glow in his primaries having slowly faded back to their original color. With a breeze blowing by, he felt a rush of dizziness and felt his consciousness rapidly begin to fade as he fell backwards. His blackout was suddenly halted when in his freefall to the ground was prevented by someone who started to cry out his name.
"Kura! Kura I swear if you aren't— ouch!- if you aren't ok I'm going to ground you until you are old and grey!"
Being carefully moved to a sitting position his eyes focused on the figure next to him to see that Sienna had finally made it to him; she looked very enraged though. When something hot and wet hit his cheek however he realized she was crying as she gently cradled him on the ground.
He managed a smile which she gave a breath of relief at, but she quickly shook her head and proceeded to scold him: "You are so extremely reckless! This was exactly why I told you to fly back, they had some kind of semblances that kept messing with our sense of direction and I couldn't follow your scent either. You could have died if you didn't unlock your semblance when you did, and you even burned yourself out because you weren't used to it. You moronic little brother! I'm going to be making you do drills for the rest of the—"
Kura interrupted her as he remembered he wasn't alone: "Si, where's-cgh-the girl?"
"The wha?" She looked back baffled, before looking at their surroundings and her head stopping when she noticed something. "Oh… wow. I didn't pay attention to anything other than the burst of light that let us find you and when I saw you falling I guess catching you was all I could focus on. Don't worry, Ghira is taking care of it. The others… the others are cleaning up things. Again, just be glad you finally have your semblance. I'll be working you to the bone from here on. Got that?"
Weakly shaking his head, Kura managed to say one last thing before passing out: "Si, my aura broke before this."
Falling fully limp in her arms, Sienna just started in disbelief at the boy as his words began to sink in. Her eyes drifted down to his wings which still lightly sparked, a realization dawning on her as she put the pieces together in her mind; one that she was still not believing because of the absurdity of the chances.
Ghira walked up to them with the now unconscious little girl that Kura had saved. Looking down to Sienna, he was worried when she met him with a wide-eyed stare. But soon he would share the same look once he heard the next words that left her mouth:
"His wings… his trait… they're mythical."
Kura paced back and forth in front of his sister's desk: "It isn't right, Sienna!"
It had been her's for a week now since Ghira had appointed her as his second in command of the White Fang. When calls for greater measures were asked for on mass, Ghira just wasn't suited with the disposition to answer. So he took her up as his right hand to show that their people had a voice from all sides when decisions were being made.
That's not what bothered the thunderbird faunus.
No, what Kura had issue with was the operation she had called him into her office to discuss. A heist on a SDC warehouse that a sympathiser agreed to let them raid. Being taught tactics and combat rigorously over the last three years by the very woman in front of him, he knew better than to believe she only wanted to punish a company that abused their kind.
"Arson!? This isn't the kind of fight we should be engaging in! Does Ghira even know about this, Si?" His feathers bristled with energy at his heightened emotions. "The raid is one thing, but if we burn it down then we are putting dozens out of a place to work; and you know as well as I do that the SDC isn't going to pay proper furlow, if they don't just lay them off entirely to cut costs!"
Sienna gazed at him passively as he met her golden eyes with ones of ireful cyan. She gave a dispassionate sigh before leaning back and crossing her legs.
"Think of the big picture, Kura. If the Schnees are stupid enough to do that, then they just makes it all the easier to give our cause legitamasy to fight for proper rights. One warehouse and a few jobs that will be back in a couple months time are a miniscule price to pay for that. Plus we gain all the resources we can carry. It's an all sides win for the White Fang."
He slammed his fist down, the wood creaking from the strain: "That's not the point, Sienna! The operation itself has too many flaws! We get in, I fry the cameras, and we empty the place before I cause an 'electrical' fire and the place goes up in flames!? What about resistance!? This place has at least some personnelle at all times, I'm not going to be able to keep track of everyone, and we only have minimal time if anyone is able to tip off the authorities. If I set the place ablaze and we've left guards or employees unconscious, they, will, die!"
"Then don't let that happen. Ghira and I quite openly disagree on the lengths we should go to for accomplishing our goals, but I've never once disagreed on that we should avoid death where it is possible. You're going to be in charge. You may only be seventeen, but you are an icon to our people. If you say something, the others will obey."
"It only takes one person to panic or get angry and take someone down against my orders. They won't report something like that to me as we're rushing to get out after I set the blaze! Then that blood is on my hands if in the news tomorrow I see a report that someone died due to the operation I led! I'm not taking that risk, Si!"
Standing up, Sienna slammed her own hands down: "Then we would find out who fucked up and string them up to show what happens when orders are disobeyed!"
Kura groaned as he went back to pacing: "We aren't some military organization, Sienna! Most faunus have never even held more than a steak knife before joining up. We can't expect everyone to act like trained professionals. I'm a rare exception considering the training you and the others, but mostly you, put me through after discovering what I am."
Sienna walked around her desk and stopped Kura's worried pacing by placing her hands on his shoulders. They were about the same height now, with still a year or two of growth to be had, she knew that he'd edge her out eventually when he became a legal adult. Still, for now, she could look him dead in eye and attempt to assuage his concerns.
"I trust you. I believe in you. You're one of our guiding lights that will show the faunus the way forward."
Kura scoffed as he brushed her hands off and turned his back to her: "And you say you aren't like Ghira."
Sienna bristled at that: "Excuse me!? What was that young man!?"
He whirled around and flared his wings slightly: "Ghira thinks and thinks so much about every little thing that he almost never acts. You only look at your goals and don't consider some of the things that need to be when you do act. But one thing you both are fantastic at is wrapping people up with inspiring words. Guiding lights? Icons? What's that supposed to mean about me, Si!?"
His wings started to spark as he took a step forward: "Am I our innocence like Blake? Meant to show the world that we aren't all bad? Or maybe I'm like Adam. Here to show the world all the unjust pain that we've endured. No, I think we both agree I'm neither of those. So what am I Sienna? The proof humans and faunus can live together? I mean, considering I'm a mythical faunus that only appears every hundred years between a human and faunus couple. I must be just perfect to show the world we can coexist. Except… I'm the White Fang's most closely guarded secret! So if I'm none of the above Sienna, then what kind of 'guiding light' or 'icon' am I!?"
His wings were fully flared now due to his rant, filling almost the entire span of the room, with his primaries glowing white with energy. Sienna knew that while he was mostly just throwing a tantrum, she still needed to handle him with care in this state. So she went with the honest truth.
"You're our power, Kura."
His anger dropped like a stone and turned to a mix of complicated emotions, and with it the energy filling his wings disappeared. All he could manage out as his wings drooped was: "What?"
Sienna raised her chin proudly and declared: "You're the force we need to show the humans that the faunus deserved to be respected and feared for our retaliation. We keep your power hidden because otherwise you'd forever have a target on your back, especially considering someone with your mythic nature won't appear again for another almost eighty years at best. There are stories of mythic faunus being hunted down and their body parts used in twisted occult rituals by moronic humans. We can't risk such a thing until our position in the world is recognized and respected. I'm not risking our strongest force to be a small show of unity to a world that isn't even willing to consider such a thing."
Striding past him, she continued: "This office of mine is grand. Even you can spread your wings out and not feel cramped. We have this because of our efforts. But it is such a small thing for a single faunus to have. I want a world where any faunus, from any kingdom— that has the proper drive— can achieve having something like this because of their accomplishments! Something I fear… will never become reality in our lifetime without the power you hold. I know you understand, Kura. Without your power, the faunus will never be seen as worthy of respect."
"... is that all I am to you?"
Sienna turned around in confusion: "Kura?"
His wings had drooped to the floor, as his shoulders heaved. In the silence Sienna easily heard the sniffle he tried to stiffel. She went to put a hand on his shoulder but he spun around and slapped it away.
"So I'm just some weapon for you to point at the humans!?" He yelled as he backed away from her; tears streaming down his cheeks. "That's it, isn't it!? Ever since you found out I was a thunderbird faunus you stepped up my training, restricted my privileges, and always had someone supervise me whenever you couldn't be around! It all makes sense now! You don't even see me as family anymore, do you!? I'm just your tool so that the faunus have a better life!"
Sienna tried to reason with him: "Kura, you're being ridiculous. You're more than just some tool or weapon—"
"SHUT IT!" He screamed at her, his wings lighting up with energy once more. "I see now what you've become! You're not even worth being called my sister anymore! If all I am to you is some mythical weapon to use, then I'll become just that: a myth!"
"Kura!" Sienna yelled out, but she was forced to bring up her arms and aura as Kura zapped her with a bolt of energy. She could tell he was holding back, but it was enough to force her back so he could flee out the room.
She growled at his absolutely childish outburst, but halfway marching to the door to follow him and attempt to talk sense into him, she stopped. With a heavy sigh she thought to herself: He's far too worked up right now to listen to anything I say. If I do something now it will only drive him farther away from me. He'll probably just go outside and fly around to cool off. I'll have someone keep an eye out so I can be there when he gets back.
Opening her scroll, Sienna did just that before walking back around the other side of her desk and sitting back down to think through adjustments to the raid they had plans for tonight since Kura obviously wouldn't be around and willing to help. With another sigh, she couldn't help but ponder: Are things always going to be this difficult when leading a group?
…
...
…
"What do you mean he hasn't come back yet!?"
"We're sorry ma'am, but there's been no sign of him having returned."
"It's been thirty-six hours! Where could he be!? Have you checked with communications to see if they can pinpoint his location via gps!?"
"We… have ma'am. He's since disabled tracking, but we have a good idea of where he appeared to be heading. However... you aren't going to be happy about what they said."
"So long as it's not the Schnee mansion, I'll take anything! Now stop jerking me in circles and tell me where my brother is!"
"It's not likely the Schnee manor, Ms. Khan… but it is on the same continent."
…
"M-Ms. Khan?"
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
Sienna crushed her scroll and threw the debris so hard that it embedded its remains in the far wall of her office.
"Atlas? Atlas!? You went to fucking ATLAS!?" She raged to herself while even flipping her desk. Breaking several more things as she rampaged through her own office.
"When I get my hands on you I'm going to wring your stupid chicken neck! You self-absorbed, asinine, foolish…worry-inducing...snf...a-absolute—" Sienna's fury burned itself out. Collapsing to her knees she sniffled out one last word before the tears started to fall: "... idiot."
Thank you everyone who made it through to the end. I hope you enjoyed!
Yes, the main character is a mythical faunus, it is the primary reason I say this is an AU. I have been told by a few people in the fandom when I was mentioning this idea that those stories are not looked well upon because of the main character being OP. To which I had a very simple reply "Sounds like bad/inexperienced writers to me, I'm doing it anyway."
Kura will not be OP, even his impressive burst of power when he first showed it off wasn't usual. It was more like the floodgates being opened for the first time. It would take a lot more effort to do the same thing he did here in chapter 1.
So you are aware, the ending of this chapter takes place about five years before the start of canon. Very relevant for plot purposes, and also a bit of a hint of what to expect in the next chapter (think you can guess what I'm talking about?)
Also, I've made a DA account that has concept art of Kura for everyone to enjoy. With more art to be posted in the coming months. Search for WinterRuneWolf and you'll have no problems finding it.
If I've caught your interest be sure to follow to know when I update. Loved it? Let me know with a fav! And either way, drop a review to let me know what you thought of everything. I am very grateful for everyone who does and I'll be sure to respond if you have a question for me in your comments.
Stay awesome everyone, and I hope to see you in the next chapter. WRW out.