We are back here pretty soon aren't we?
Well, give thanks to this chapter being open of my more anticipated to write since starting this story. In truth, this chapter is part of the reason I wanted to write this story in the first place. There is a lot that goes on in this chapter and many things that will result from what begins here as well.
Thank you everyone for the support you've been showing for this story. It is really picking up a lot of people and part of that comes from you great readers in that others see the amount of follows and faves this story has despite being as short as it is and checking it out. I hope to interest a lot more and that we all get to enjoy this together.
Now, on with the show!
A blade swung down from his right, Kura caught it with his kama and parried the strike as he twisted and aimed for his opponent's side with his other kama. It was stopped just before impact by his opponent's own second weapon, who swiftly changed their grip and thrust forward with the handle, aimed for his throat. Bending backwards, he redirected his momentum with a half flap of his wings and twisted around the back of his foe.
With both his weapons free, he whipped around and aimed his kama at their neck before they could turn. Freezing as the blades appeared around their throat, after a moment his opponent dropped their bokkens and raised their hands in defeat. With some mild frustration he heard:
"I can never get used to those crazy maneuvers you pull off with your wings, Kura! No normal person would be able to twist around like that!"
Turning around Cinder's fiery amber eyes gleamed as she glared with mock hatred at him; her pout amused Kura as he placed his weapons back in their holsters. He ruffled her hair goodnaturedly as he responded:
"No opponent a huntress fights will be 'normal', Cin. You need to be ready to account for that. And hey, think of it as you actually put me in a situation where I needed to use my wings. That's a fair improvement from where you were a month ago."
She pondered his words for the moment, then decided to smile up at him. He was glad that she was looking past the defeat, though he knew she'd still be frustrated about it. With how different his fighting style was from Rhodes', he had thoroughly defeated Cinder many times in a row without much difficulty during the first couple days of sparring. Her pride had taken a hefty blow from the experience, but he found that she was determined to improve.
It only took into the second week for him to notice that, while it took her some time, Cinder absorbed combat knowledge like a sponge. Just by fighting him with some loose consistency she had subtly altered her style to account for his much more fluid movement, compared to Rhodes'. He could just imagine how much she'd grow if she got into one of the huntsmen academies, from all the different styles she'd encounter. Kura knew that she'd be a frightening force to face one-on-one after a year or two in that environment.
Looking down at the training swords on the ground, he admitted to her: "When you get more confident in your aura control, your semblance will be a frightening thing. As an opponent, I'm lucky that it only affects inanimate objects. Superheating things with that scorching caress of yours is a scary thing to imagine if it worked on people. There are few that I've heard of that are so fierce."
Cinder's gaze turned worried: "Is my semblance that scary?"
He shook his head to assure her: "Not at all, it's just a primarily offensive semblance, those tend to be dangerous in general. In fact, as an ally, there are few people I can think of with a more useful semblance to have as part of a team. You were born with a powerful ability, Cinder."
With one last ruffle to her hair, Kura bent down and retrieved the bokkens he had disarmed from her. In standing up though, he saw that her smile had faded and she instead rubbed one of her arms in a sign of embarrassment. He waited a moment for her to say anything, but as she glanced at him shyly he decided to not linger and put up the training swords for the night. It was as he finished placing them away that he heard Cinder ask:
"D-do you have to go so soon? Couldn't you stay a little longer?"
Looking back, he found that she hadn't moved from where he had left her, she wasn't even glancing over to him. Frowning, Kura walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder: "Hey, what's wrong? You haven't been so nervous around me since the first week I arrived. You know you can talk to me if you need to. I'm not going to turn away from you."
Her head still turned away, he caught a whisper: "But you're still going to have to go."
Confusion fell over Kura for a moment, he went to ask her what she meant by her statement but froze as he realized a fact of their situation:
I've already been here over a month already. Rhodes said he'd only be able support me here for a couple months at best. I've been so focused on what I've been doing with Cinder that the time has just sorta slipped by. Has she really been keeping track that closely? No, it probably came to mind considering what tomorrow is for her.
He tried to think of what to say or do, but only came up blank. As he started to internally panic, he could only think of what Sienna used to do to him when something like this happened.
SMACK. "OWW! What was that for!?" Cinder cried out in pain and shock, clutching the back of her head Kura had just slapped.
Keeping a calm demeanor, he simply replied: "Trying to knock some sense into a little girl that's worrying over something that doesn't matter." When his answer was met with further confusion he pulled her into a hug and continued: "Cin, you're not going to be left alone. Even if I have to sneak into this place every night, I'm not going to abandon you. Rhodes can't always be around, and realistically I can't either, but we both want better for you than... this, and we'll do all we can to help you."
Cinder just breathed against him as she was too afraid to do more, but as he started to pull away she took a step following that, to maintain their closeness. Kura couldn't help but smirk at her own little ways of asking for affection, and with it came a thought. Putting his hands on her shoulders he gently pulled her away from him; amber eyes gazing up at him sadly as he did so.
Kura didn't let that last as he asked her a question with a slight smirk: "Do you want your birthday present early?"
For a couple moments she just blinked owlishly at him, but as the words finally started to process he saw her face light up, both in shock and happiness. She could barely hold herself still as she nodded fervently with a wide smile. Smiling back, Kura ordered: "Alright then, close your eyes and you're not allowed to open them until I say."
With a quick nod, Cinder stood still and closed her eyes; though he could still see her lips twitch upwards as she tried to keep a serious expression. Taking a small breath, he reached behind himself and grasped one of the smaller feathers near the base of his wing. With a quick, painful jolt he freed the feather of choice and with a suppressed groan held it in front of himself. Using his other hand he carefully guided Cinder to hold hers out in front of her, and as she eagerly vibrated in anticipation he carefully laid the feather in her palms.
As she felt the sensation of something touching her skin, Cinder froze. Kura watched for a moment as her mind tried to work out what he just done, and when he had enough he told her the words she was eagerly awaiting: "Open them."
Nervously, Cinder cracked open her eyelids and cautiously peered down at her hands. She saw the feather there and her mind whirled as she tried to derive meaning from the tiny thing. When her mind came back with nothing, she looked up to her gift-giver for answers.
With a small laugh, Kura gave a nod: "Yes, that's exactly what you think it is. It's one of my feathers, but it might be worth more to you than anyone else I could give one to; because with it comes a secret."
Cinder's hands carefully grasped the gift as she held it close to her, her voice almost pleading for answers as she asked: "What kind of secret?"
It had weighed on his mind from near the moment he had started to observe her treatment. Some means of easing her burden, to make her life just a bit more bearable. This particular solution had come to mind fairly early, but it also meant he needed to risk something he hadn't been ready to; until a few days ago when he decided on what her gift would be that is.
Slowly flaring his wings, Kura gave a cryptic response: "Of what kind of faunus I am."
With a shiver he let the lightning flow from his spine into the quills of his feathers as arcs danced across them, growing steadily until his entire wingspan hummed with energy. His primaries turned white as he showed her just what scale of power he was capable of. Cinder took a step back at the display yet her eyes held no fear, only awe; it made Kura happy to see that he didn't scare her. Still, he was only half done.
He felt his aura surge as it reacted to his command, then he felt his body contort. Kura's wings curled around his frame, surrounding him in a cocoon of energy as he brought his semblance to bear. His senses were put in limbo for a fraction of a second as he felt the change occur, before they snapped back into the appropriate places to fit his new form. With the metamorphosis complete, which in reality took little more than a second, he unwrapped his wings and gazed down at Cinder as he tucked his wings to his sides. From Cinder's perspective Kura's transformation was a mix of beauty and astounding power, but when his wings revealed him once more her breath was taken away.
Standing before her was a ginormous falcon, bristling with even more energy than before. She could hear the arcs as they leapt across his plumage, see the raw plasma that filled every empty space as feathers shifted with each breath, and saw the pure bluish-white energy that consumed where his eye would have been, leaving nothing but a glowing orb that still she could tell he watched her through. He shifted and Cinder felt her body freeze as he leaned forward towards her.
Slowly she watched his head dip lower and nearer, as she was well within range to reach out and touch him, yet she didn't dare for an instinctual fear of the raw power coming from him. He closed the distance steadily until pausing a breath away from his beak reaching her clasped hands; with a small nod he silently asked her to open them. She did so slowly, the feather she had been given revealed in pristine condition.
Watching with a sense of giddy excitement and nervousness, Cinder felt a familiar jolt run through her. She made to scream out of reflex of what she expected to feel, but the pain never came. It took her a moment to realize that from Kura's beak came an arc of energy directly into her palms. The bristle through her skin and body was uncomfortable but nowhere near what she felt when her owner wanted to punish her; it was upon this revelation that she noticed what was truly happening.
The arc of energy that Kura was feeding her was first filling the feather that lay in her hands, making the magnitude that she experienced far less than what she imagined would be the case if she was not holding the precious gift. After only a couple moments more, the sensation faded and Kura retracted his head. Returning to his imposing stature he surprised her in actually saying: "I believe that should explain the value of my gift."
In another flash of light, Kura was once more human as he gave Cinder an easy smile. To her credit, Cinder considered her reaction fairly subdued to what she had just been shown…
"YOU CAN SHAPESHIFT!?" She rushed up to him as she started buzzing around with a stream of questions that fell from her lips: "Is that you're semblance!? Is that why you can generate electricity!? How long can you stay like that!? You aren't actually a bird that turns into a person, right!? Can you turn into anything else!? What—mmhmmmhmm."
Kura grabbed her with both hands to keep her in place for a moment before covering her mouth and shushing her. Red flared to her cheeks as she seemed to realize what she had just done, but he just calmly looked past it to instead give her an answer to her questions: "Yes that transformation is my semblance, but no it isn't the reason I can produce lightning. Let's sit down, it will take a moment to explain."
Cinder gave a small nod and Kura released her to walk to a nearby wall. Nervously, she followed and sat down beside him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as she watched him intently, waiting to hear more about the fantastical thing she had just been shown. Stilling his own rapidly beating heart, Kura began:
"I'm not a normal faunus, that much I think you have realized, these wings of mine… are those of a thunderbird. If that fact alone didn't make me strange enough, my semblance manifested in that I can transform completely into the supposedly mythical creature whose power I possess. I could already generate energy and store it in my body, larger amounts in my wings, but when I transform the rate at which I can generate and the amount I can store grows to levels I don't really know the limits of. I've never needed to transform for more than a couple minutes, so I really couldn't say for how long I could remain that way. Just the fact my semblance works like this is basically mythical in its own way. Transformative semblances aren't supposed to allow someone to literally restructure their body in this way. If people knew about either that I'm mythical or what my semblance actually is, I'd either be an outcast or a science project, if not both if I were discovered here in Atlas."
Cinder listened intently, and as he finished silence fell for a few moments until finally she asked: "This feather you gave me… I won't be shocked anymore if I hold onto it?"
He turned to her for a moment, yet her gaze was locked on the small feather still in her hands. With a slight shrug, he answered: "Yes and no. You'll definitely still feel it, but I did my best to simulate how it'd be when you get 'disciplined' from now on when I let that bit of energy flow into you before. My feathers maintain most of their properties even when no longer a part of me, only the control I'm able to exert is lost. For you, it should at least make it bearable to be shocked; I'd practice acting a bit so that no one catches on that it isn't so painf—!"
The breath was forced from his lungs as Cinder dove at his chest; he could hear her sniffle as she held tight to him. He was surprised but after a moment he just put his arms around her in kind as she sobbed her happy tears. They stayed that way for several minutes, Kura wasn't even sure when she had stopped crying as they enjoyed the closeness of each other. Reluctantly, Cinder finally pulled away and said to him in a whisper: "You don't know how much this means to me. I-I wish you could stay longer, but that wouldn't be good for either of us. Thank you, Kura, I'll always treasure this."
They seperated and rose from the wall they had been leaning against. As Kura proceeded to leave he stopped for a moment and turned back to a somber Cinder and told her: "Goodnight Cinder, and happy birthday."
She blinked for a moment before she broke into a bright smile, still holding her hands against her chest where she held the most precious gift she had ever received.
Tonight had gone exceptionally poorly.
Kura fumed in his room, completely livid with a particular huntsman he had watched make a spectacular error in judgement. Now he was waiting for said huntsman to return; since he had left him and Cinder alone as to not ruin her birthday. He had started to tap his foot impatiently a while ago as he composed what he was going to say in his mind, and with a sound of the door's lock sliding he sat up to meet Rhodes as he came in.
The huntsman strode in while humming a soft tune, locking the door behind him before freezing as Kura cleared his throat to get the man's attention. He turned slowly and frowned at seeing the scowl on Kura's face. Unfolding his wings, Kura spoke: "What were you thinking, Rhodes?"
Observing him for a moment, the man asked in turn: "This is about the sword, isn't it?"
Rising with a rush, Kura flared his wings slightly: "Of course I'm on about the sword! It's like you're trying to tempt fate into putting her into a terrible situation! You know just as well as I do what will happen to her if that weapon is found in her room!"
"You're overreacting." Rhodes attempted to assure him. "You act as though her 'family' pays attention to her in any way. They haven't paid her the slightest notice for nearly the whole five years she's been here. She'll hide it away just like the training swords and everything will be fine."
The words did little to placate Kura: "If she was found with the training swords she would most likely only suffer some scornful laughter from those 'sisters' of hers and maybe a disciplining shock if she admitted to wanting to be a huntress; but it will be far far worse if she is found with that sword."
Rhodes scoffed: "You're paranoid. She only has a couple years until she can join the academy. The blade will stay hidden, she'll continue to train, and all will be well. You'll see."
Kura walked up to the huntsman: "She's gotten better around us, but you know she's prone to anger. Can you say for certain that she wouldn't do something foolish if she were found with that sword, Rhodes? Especially towards the people she despises most?"
Rhodes' confidence wavered for a moment, but with a small shake of his head he seemed to reassure himself: "I've been training her for years. She can keep her cool when she needs to. Are you sure you're not the one who doesn't believe in her?"
"I believe in her plenty, but that doesn't blind me to the fact that every facet of this was a horrible idea." Kura coldly answered. "She's still a child in most respects, Rhodes. I was stripped of that innocence over the last few years, and it's made me very aware of those who still have the luxury of possessing it. However, that innocence acts equally as a double-edged sword which can and will cause terrible things if she is forced into a situation she isn't ready for."
Frowning, Rhodes stepped closer: "She was ready to kill those three when she was ten years old! Stole that same sword I gave to her and was going to use it for her revenge. I stopped her and gave her another option, to instead train and become a huntress. I've watched her grow and endure far more than anyone else would be able to bear. Since I gave her that option I have never seen nor heard of another so driven to making their dream a reality. So I'm more than confident that nothing will happen even if that sword were to be found."
Closing the distance, with less than a step between them, Kura replied softly: "This will only create a risk for her; if she is found possessing that weapon then it will serve only as the catalyst for disaster. If that happens, you know whose side I'll be taking."
The huntsman met his gaze for a few silent moments, but finally simply turned away and told Kura: "Get some sleep. Everything will work out, you'll see."
"I pray you are right about this one, Rhodes." Kura answered, before silently thinking to himself: But I'm still going to prepare for the worst, even if that means making you my enemy, huntsman.
The first few days that followed were filled with anxiety for Kura. He'd carefully keep watch through the day in inconspicuous locations throughout the hotel, never taking his eyes off the door that led to the storage room at the back of the lobby. It exhausted him physically and mentally, even causing him to decline to spar one evening; it had been a regretful moment as he saw the sadness and concern on Cinder's face when he had told her such.
However, one week turned into two and neared three when Kura finally started to calm himself and allow things to return relatively to normal. Training resumed and things passed peacefully for the next month. Kura spoke to Rhodes about his stay in the hotel, but the older man had told him not to worry about it. That 'I'll keep you here for as long as Cinder improves in her training', and he had proven true to his word. Though, as a result, the frequency of long missions grew for the huntsman and he'd often be absent for large portions of the week.
The toll this had on Rhodes was evident: his hair was starting to dull and grey and the crows' feet at his eyes were more defined. Just last week he had returned with a fresh scar to mar his face, but after the initial worry she felt, Cinder found it cool and had hung off every word of how he had received the mark; but Kura knew there was more to it. It was a sign that he had been in a situation where his aura had broken and still been wounded; the scar on his face was simply the most visible one he had earned.
It was not uncommon for huntsmen and huntresses to only operate professionally for a short number of years, usually no more than ten to fifteen; however, that wasn't true of Rhodes. With some luck and careful listening, Kura had overheard a few patrons of the hotel discussing Rhodes early into his stay. Apparently the man had been working as a huntsman for close to thirty years, part of that he suspected was his involvement with Cinder. Staying around a hotel like this for as many years as he had probably prevented him from earning enough to turn to teaching at a combat school or one of the academies in his later years.
Especially in now supporting him, Kura knew the huntsman was pushing himself beyond his usual means. It wasn't a sustainable situation, and he would need to think of some way to help or the prospect of Rhodes not returning one day after leaving for a mission was an increasingly likely expectation. In fact, Rhodes had left at the beginning of the week and was meant to already have returned.
This wasn't the first time the huntsman had been late in returning from a mission as of late, so Kura wasn't over worried. Though in that thought, if he didn't at least hear from Rhodes in the next couple days he planned to fear for the worst; but honestly had no idea what that would actually mean for him should it occur. To keep his mind in more positive places, he instead chose to focus on continuing his silent vigil from the upper floors down to the lobby. While it was true his paranoia about the sword being found had diminished, he found that his keeping an eye on things had just become a habit out of a fear that otherwise he wouldn't be there for Cinder when she needed him.
Tonight was a quiet evening, the lobby lay barren of people except for the matron who remained at the reception desk. It wasn't overly odd considering the time of year, he knew from previous nights that she'd return to her room with her daughters just after midnight so long as things remained as they were currently. That was often the point where he'd go visit Cinder or retire for the night himself; tonight likely being the latter.
Looking at the grand clock above the matron's head, that would only be another half hour. A yawn escaped him as he wandered around the hallway over to the rear of the hotel to where he could lean on the railing looking down without much likelihood of him being spotted. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he tucked his wings behind himself and let them rest for a moment. Realistically, he was taking a stupid risk by doing so, but the satisfaction he felt at being able to silently flaunt it over the matron that he had continued to fool her for a few months now was just too sweet to not indulge in.
Haha, if you only knew you had been serving a faunus for this long in your business. Kura thought to himself as he passively observed the lobby. Oh how I'd imagine the anger and self-inflicted shame that you'd feel. All the hatred, bigotry, and senseless discord all from having just a single additional characteristic, it truly does baffle me how it could have come about. Then I see people like you and am reminded that the reason for it really is pointless. Jealousy, self-perceived inferiority, inflated superiority that needed a target; people will find whatever reason they need in order to secure themselves. If it weren't the faunus, I'm sure people would find some other reason to squabble amongst themselves.
Swinging himself casually onto the railing, Kura rested with his back against a support as he lounged on top of the railing as he continued to ponder to himself: It makes one wonder what the world would be like if the grimm were a more organized force. They assume a role of simply being part of the natural order of the world, similar to other wild animals. If not for their instinctual compulsion to seek out and attack people, that's really all they would be; just other animals. To imagine if they could be a coordinated force rather than a natural disaster, I doubt there would be enough leisure in most people's lives to concern themselves with such a trivial thing as discrimination.
With a blink Kura came to a realization and shook his head at himself: Heh, if someone heard that line of thinking they'd probably get the impression that I'd want the grimm to organize and declare war on the kingdoms; now that would likely feel like the end of days. It almost makes one want to be grateful that the injustice seen in the world is because of not needing to fear the grimm in such a way. That the only people egotistical enough to bother with discriminating would be those like you and your daught— well, speak of the devils and they shall… what's going on down there?
Kura straightened himself as he gazed down to the lobby. The two blonde tramps the matron called daughters slid to a stop in front of their mother as they had come out from— Oh don't tell me!
Silencing his breathing, Kura strained his hearing to catch the exact words he feared: "Mom, come quick! We found something! It's Cinder, she has a weapon!"
He watched as the woman responded immediately and started to stride towards the storage area door with her daughters at her heels. Kura's gaze snapped to his room that happened to be on the other side of the establishment, where he had left his weapons. His thoughts warred inside himself to go and fetch them before rushing to Cinder's aid, but he feared that even such a quick thing would cause events to spiral out of his control. So with his mind set, he instead leaned forward and dropped down to the first floor lobby; buffering his fall by opening his wings so he wouldn't alert them that they were about to be followed.
I told him! Kura cursed in his mind. I warned him exactly of this scenario! Damn it Rhodes! If she tries to hurt her, then I'll do what I must to save Cinder; consequences be damned!
… even it has to be from herself.
Kura felt the trepidation in him rise as he approached the door to the storage area where he could already hear muffled voices yelling at each other:
"You will tell me who you stole this from, you insolent little girl!"
Cinder's voice was strained as she growled back: "Jump… into… a pool… of GRIMM!"
He had no reason to hesitate and calmly walked into the storage room; his wings wrapped around himself. The daughters were standing just a step inside and turned when they heard the door open behind them, both shocked and then confused as the one with curls stuttered out:
"You!? What are you doi—!?"
Ignoring them, Kura walked just past them until he felt one of their hands touch his wings. Freezing for a moment, he focused on his aura before flinging his wings open with great force. He caught both of the girls by surprise and he heard them gasp as they were batted away and the subsequent thuds as they slammed into the wall behind them. Sparing the briefest of glances backwards, he saw them slump to the floor unconscious; with a not low chance he had just given them concussions.
His actions did not go unnoticed as he turned his attention to the other two that were in the room with him. Cinder lay hunched over on her knees as she was shocked, a grimace on her face as it had not ceased even as the matron's attention was no longer on her, but her eyes caught his and he could see the relief she felt at seeing him there for her. In contrast, the matron's cold glare turned dismissive as she noticed his wings.
Somehow the woman had gotten a hold of the sword from Cinder, and upon seeing him held it towards Cinder's neck: "Stay where you are, beast." She glanced down at Cinder who glared up at her, before returning back to Kura, her lips curling into a cruel smile as her mind came to its own conclusions: "This is all starting to make sense now. I should have called that huntsman's bluff the day he appeared with you. You've indeed kept yourself from being an eyesore so I dismissed dealing with you, but I see now that I should have pressed the issue.
"You're one of those White Fang terrorists aren't you? You brainwashed this susceptible brat into helping you and even gave her a weapon. I bet I just narrowly thwarted your plans to have her gut me in my sleep with my daughters. Take out a majorly influential business woman who helps keep you animals in your place!
"And now you wanted to stop me so you can keep her as a useful sympathetic pawn to your horrible schemes! Well if you want her in one piece then you'll do exactly as I say!"
Her voice had risen octave by octave until she had been screeching at him by the end of her diatribe; yet Kura had remained with the same unflinching passivity through it all. With a single step he made her flinch back, before she steadied herself and brought the blade closer to Cinder's head.
"Do not move! Another step and this little whore dies!"
Kura's eyes had dulled from their bright cyan as he glared at the woman, reminding her of a savage storm as they pierced through her very soul. Until they softened as he changed his gaze down to the girl she was holding hostage, his voice caring but firm as he directed his words to her 'daughter':
"Cin, you've done enough. You don't need to pretend any longer."
The matron failed to understand his meaning but she knew that he had just given the girl beside her a command. She felt a force on the weapon in her hand and her attention snapped down to see that her hostage had just grabbed the sword by the back of the blade, and before she could stop her, Cinder twisted it from her grasp and rose.
Finding herself at the point of the blade, the matron staggered backwards and frantically mashed the trigger for Cinder's collar screaming: "How!? You should be a twitching sack of bones right now! Why are you standing!?"
Cinder simply raised her other hand and showed the feather that now sparked with energy that it had been fed from the collar. Stepping forward, hand securely grasping the feather once more, Cinder raised her voice even as it trembled from the electricity continuing to flow through her: "You were right, I was nothing without you. But because of him I became someone! And it is because of you that I'm capable of THIS!"
With a cry, Cinder charged forward with the sword raised and when in range swung down with deadly intent; only to be prevented by a wall of feathers interjecting at the last moment. She couldn't prevent her blow if she had tried but Kura's aura tanked the strike, even as it flickered from the strain, and came off no worse for wear.
Appearing to move with practiced ease, Kura's wing curled around himself as he twisted and stepped in front of Cinder, skillfully relieving her of the sword and moving her back so she was well behind him as he took her place in holding her stepmother at swordpoint. The action greatly confused Cinder, but as she went to raise her voice she noticed that she could no longer feel any electricity flowing through her.
Her hand shot up to her neck and found that indeed that the choker was gone. After a brief moment she discovered its whereabouts as she noticed sparks flying from Kura's other hand that was at his side; in disarming her he had also saved her from enduring further pain. There was scarring around her neck that she could feel now with the choker gone, but with it came intense relief that she would never need to feel like that again.
But things were not over with yet.
The matron staggered backwards until her back collided with the wall behind her as she continued to desperately press the trigger for the collar that was now in Kura's grasp. Yet all she witnessed was how his feathers began to dance with arcs of energy all their own as they spread to their full imposing length while he stepped towards her. Her body couldn't help but shiver involuntarily at the soulless regard he fixed her with; however, the thing that terrified her most was the steel in his voice as he addressed her:
"Oren Glass… unsanitary living conditions, malnourishment, sleep deprivation, purposeful malpractice, inhumane torture, use as a hostage, forced and unethical child labor, and to top it all off, all committed towards the person you legally bound yourself as the guardian of. About the only thing missing is murder. I nearly would want to say that Jacques fucking Schnee treats faunus better than you have cared for your supposed 'daughter'!"
At his words the woman before him began to laugh, softly at first but it soon became a screeching cackle: "HAHAHA! You dumb animal! Is that what this is about!? That rag of a girl!? What!? Do you plan to hand me over to authorities for all the 'crimes' I've committed!?"
"No."
His simple answer silenced her like she had just been struck. Her manic grin fell slowly, turning into one of gaping horror as she continued to stare into Kura's unflinching glare. Her daughters groaned and slowly raised their heads as the crackle of energy filled the air from Kura's wings. His primaries glowed white as he continually filled them with energy, and occasionally an arc would jump from his feathers and strike the ground or ceiling with a whip-like crack.
Seeing her daughters had regained consciousness, the matron screamed to them: "Get up! Get up right now and help me!"
Terror filled their eyes as both caught sight of Kura and felt the sheer power in the air that came from his wings. At their mother's cry Kura spared a glance in their direction, and what they saw made them scream. His eyes glowed with the same bluish-white energy that coursed through his wings and gave him the appearance of an angel of lightning; or in their own thoughts, a demon of thunder.
They moved on pure instinct, and it drove them straight to the only exit they knew would lead them away from the specter of death. With screams that Kura knew would surely alert someone, he watched them leave with little care as he returned his glowing gaze back to the one who had earned it. Behind him Cinder could only smile at how the two whores of stepsisters had fled, and her chest tightened in anticipation at what was to happen next.
Knowing he couldn't take much longer, Kura addressed the woman that had returned to cowering before him at seeing how she was abandoned by her own flesh and blood:
"I've both been shown and seen first-hand how many terrible things people are capable of inflicting on others. Some of it can be attributed to simply not understanding the other side, but what you've done... you can give no excuse."
Kura heard the door to the room slam open, signaling someone's arrival, but steeled himself in his mind as he added one last sentence:
"Your actions are irredeemable, and I will ensure that you can never do the same to another."
Raising the blade in his hand, he let it act as a conduit to the grand sum of energy he had accumulated as it flowed back through him and into the sword. It felt almost like commanding a storm to surge at the wave of a baton that was the piece of steel in his grasp. Complete with a clap of deafening thunder, the energy discharged as a bolt towards the woman he sentenced to receive it.
A scream tried to leave her lips but they were seared shut the moment the mass of lightning reached its target. The blinding light from the bolt mostly concealed the havoc wrought in the moments it took the energy to flow, but the aftermath was plain for all to witness.
Fragments of cloth burned against blackened skin, charred in places down to the bone. The putrid smell of burnt flesh filled the air from the lifeless corpse that used to be the matron. Seeing the emaciated pile of char that now lay slumped against the wall, no reasonable person would have imagined it used to be a woman just seconds before. Around him, the others present in the room stared with fear and awe respectively at what Kura had just done; but for him, he just looked on with sobriety at once more using his power in such a way.
Kura looked down at the sword in his grasp: If this is how I must use it to save those dear to me, then so be it.
Noticing a reflection in the blade, Kura turned to see Rhodes staring at him. The huntsman's gaze was conflicted, moving between him, Cinder, and the corpse he had just seen immolated before his eyes. From behind him, Kura could hear Cinder speak up in a happy tone:
"We can go now! The three of us, we can go somewhere and be happy! We—"
Kura cut her off, tossing the shock collar at the feet of the corpse: "They found the sword, Rhodes. I warned you what side I would take... and I'm sorry, for what you have to do now."
Cinder stared between them in confusion, which quickly turned to disbelief as she heard Rhodes respond with:
"You took it too far, but I think I know why…" He paused as his gaze drifted to Cinder, before returning to Kura as he drew his maces from their holsters on his back. With a sad look he added: "I don't want to do this."
Kura shift the blade to his other hand and corrected his stance as he answered simply with:
"I know."
Silence lasted for all but a moment before the two charged each other. Kura used his speed to force Rhodes to defend against his strike and dictate the start of the battle. Blocked as he predicted, Kura twisted away from second mace and went to deliver a kick to the huntsman's side. With his other mace freed from deflecting Kura's strike with the sword, Rhodes used the handle to negate Kura's kick, causing Kura in return to use the moment of his failed attack to spin back the other way and force some space between them.
Jumping high, Kura spun as he was going to deliver a flying kick aimed for Rhode's head and the huntsman raised his weapons to block. Then, in a flurry of feathers, Kura opened his wings and negated his momentum to freeze in the air before his blow was to connect. With a flap of his wings, Kura twisted his body and instead thrust straight forward with another kick aimed for Rhodes' head.
With no time to move his weapons, the huntsman was forced to bend backwards and flipped to force distance between them once again; he was by far the more experienced fighter, but his breathing was already turning ragged. Noticing this, Kura rushed forward and attempted to lunge with the blade in his hands. Forced to bring his weapons up to deflect the blade upwards, Rhodes kneed Kura in the stomach before pushing him back.
Even as his aura flickered, Kura's gaze was strong as he raised his head; bringing his other hand forward and revealing he had stolen the second sword Rhodes had been keeping at his waist. Rhodes looked down with some surprise to see his sword was indeed missing, and now both he and his opponent were wielding twin weapons.
Kura hid his upper body with his wings and charged, jumping as he was in range of Rhodes, the huntsman crossing his weapons in front of himself and waited to react. Like before Kura opened his wings to stop his momentum and brought one of the swords down at his opponent's head. The telegraphed move was easily prevented by Rhodes raising his crossed maces, but a split second later he remembered Kura was no longer armed with just one.
He clenched his teeth as he saw the other blade aimed at his abdomen and focused his semblance to protect the area. His iron skin quickly spread and the blade clinked against his now metal abs, but instead of frustration, Rhodes noticed a grin on Kura's face.
Energy arced over Kura's wings and flowed down his arm, coursing through the blade and directly into Rhodes who yelled as he felt the surge of lightning force his muscles to convulse. Staggering back, Rhodes panted as he aura flickered briefly before breaking; yet still he straightened and exhaled calmly.
Cinder called out to them both: "Please! Stop this! Why are you two fighting!? We just need to run away from here!"
Gritting his teeth, Kura pointed a sword in her direction: "Cin, stay back! He's a huntsman, and I just murdered someone. This was always how it was going to play out if that sword he gave you was ever found." He shouted rhetorically to the man across from him: "Didn't I tell you that, Rhodes!?"
Rhodes simply raised his weapons and gave one instruction: "Keep out of this, Cinder. He's made his choice."
Kura was put on the defensive for once as Rhodes rushed forward and his maces shifted slightly. Put on his back foot, Kura thrust forward to stop the charge but Rhodes brought up his weapons and caught the blade in the gap of the mechanized flanges of his mace. As Rhodes raised the other, Kura brought his own second blade down and forced the mace to bind against it. Locked in a tug-o-war to see who would give first, Kura saw Rhodes grin as he pressed a trigger on the grips of his maces.
The red glow at the end was Kura's only warning as he covered himself with his wings before tanking multiple dust rounds point-blank to his aura. Rhodes roared as he barraged the young faunus, before the rounds in his weapons ran dry, and as the dust settled he saw the flicker of a navy aura break before him as Kura's wings dropped slack. The huntsman saw fire still in the cyan eyes across from him, but he had no reason to linger.
Rhodes twisted his weapons and forcefully disarmed the swords in Kura's hands and flung them away to either side of the room. A fist came towards his head, but he brought his knee up and caught Kura in the gut; taking all power from the fist which scraped his chin. Still holding his weapon, Rhodes just used his fist to punch Kura and knock him back.
Stumbling from the blow, Kura collapsed with his back against an old trunk as he gasped. His skull throbbed from the punch to the head, and winced as he felt a trickle of blood flow down over his left eye. He was, for all intents and purposes, thoroughly beaten; but he couldn't just give up either. Just like Rhodes had told Cinder, he had made his choice.
Growling, he forced as much lightning through his wings as he could manage, even though it wasn't even enough to turn the tips of his primaries white; but the suddenness of it was enough to surprise the huntsman who had lowered his weapons.
Stuttering, Rhodes stared wide-eyed: "H-how!? I thought I saw your— RAAAAH!"
But the huntsman didn't hesitate long enough for Kura to build up a substantial charge as he raised one of his maces and swung for Kura's head; most definitely with deadly force.
Yet just before it reached him, the two heard a voice cry out: "YOU CAN'T!"
In a blur, Rhodes felt a burning in his core; followed by blinding pain. His weapons fell from his hands, clattering to the ground as he looked down to find the cause. From his stomach all he could see was the blade of one of the swords he had disarmed from Kura protruding, he followed it up to its hilt to see it held by the last person he hoped to find.
His eyes moved up until they found a set of amber ones staring back at him with tears streaming from them uncontrollably. Cinder cried as she looked at the man that was the closest thing to a father she had ever had.
She expected anger, hurt, betrayal, disbelief, but all she saw from the huntsman was a smile and eyes full of understanding. He coughed, which made Cinder flinch and the sword in his stomach twist, making him groan in agony. But Rhodes fought through it as he raised his hand and slowly brought it towards Cinder. Her eyes grew wide with fear and she shut them as the hand grew close.
Then, in the darkness, she felt a familiar sensation atop her head. Eyes opening slowly, Cinder discovered just what Rhodes was doing; patting her on the head. The light already looked to be fading in his eyes as he said to her:
"So that's how it is."
The hand slipped off her and Rhodes collapsed, sliding off the end of the swords and falling backward where the open wound began to spill his blood unbidden. Cinder watched as the crimson liquid began to pool under him as she felt her knees weaken and she collapsed down while staring at the weapon stained with the man's blood that remained in her hands; her mind oblivious to all but what she just did.
Kura had watched everything with both shock and regret, having failed to keep Cinder uninvolved. He struggled to his feet as Rhodes collapsed and made his way over to the man's side. Staring down, he saw that Rhodes was still shallowly breathing and his tired eyes found Kura's. Taking as deep a breath as he could manage, the dying huntsman rasped out:
"Look after her, her fate is tied to yours now…"
With a smile, Rhodes' eyes dulled until there was no light left behind them.
As he felt a tear escape his eyes, Kura gave a nod; not trusting his own voice in that moment. With a wince of pain from the injuries he had sustained, he turned to find that Cinder was still staring down at the sword in her hands. Though he wanted to be respectful, there were more pressing things to deal with as he knew time was running out.
Placing a hand on her shoulder, Cinder's head snapped up to him as tears continued to stream down her face. She hiccuped as she tried to explain to him: "H-he was going to… I couldn't let… but I didn't want to… then he… then I. Kura, what did I just do!?"
He carefully hauled her to her feet, taking the sword from her hands and tossing it away. He held her head against his shoulder as he answered her: "You saved my life, Cinder. Now you need to let me return the favor."
Cinder wanted to cry, to drown her sorrows into the chest of the boy that she had been forced to choose; but Kura pulled away and forced her to look into his eyes.
Wiping away her tears with his thumbs, his cyan eyes capture her amber ones with their intensity. Letting her focus only on him as he said to her:
"We have to go now... together."
WRW
Ahhhh, it feels so great to have this out of the way. Don't you agree, Y-are... are you crying?
Yonder
It is sooooo good~ Wahaaa~!
WRW
You've seen canon! And my planning doc! You knew this was going to happen!
Yonder
It's the journey, man! And this was so much better than canon!
WRW
Well, alright then. I guess we'll have to wait for the reviews to see if the readers agree with you.
I hope that everyone enjoyed this as much as I did, and apparently how much Yon did too. Next release will be over on my other story Fallen Snow, which will also be a really big chapter for the story, so I hope you guys check it out if you haven't already; then I'll be back to this.
Until then, stay awesome everyone, WRW and Yonder out.