High up in the darkened skies above, as the cries of Grifins and Nevermores shook the entire kingdom of Vale, the large Wyvern took off with a strong push of its wings that sent it forward and gliding through the air.
Its gigantic body shifted underneath the force of its wings, its weight unnaturally balanced as it pushed downward with its bloody red wings to send itself flying forward a little bit faster and harder.
The left wing rose just slightly as the right lowered downward, its whole body turning to the side as it preformed an entire a hundred and eighty degree turn to face where it had taken off from at the start of its flight.
The Grimm dragon flapped its wings down again, an uproar of wind being caused from its actions. It took off forward, flying faster and faster as it flapped its wings once more.
With a piercing battle cry, it suddenly drove straight into the top of Beacon tower, colliding with glass and metal. What was once the walls to Professor Ozpin's office was now either in ruins on its floor or in shatters and falling down towards the ground below.
Elise had seen the whole thing and even stopped to watch the terrifying sight. She had no words to even explain the scene she had just witnessed. Not only was that the largest Grimm she had ever seen, but it seemed very intelligent. It struck the building at its week points between the windows. It was like the Wyvern knew exactly what it was doing.
"Oh my Oum..." Was all she could think of saying as she watched the dragon perch on the side of the destroyed building. Madness. This was complete and utter madness. She would have continued to stare, but she was snapped out of her daze as a sharp stabbing pain shot through her side.
She groaned deeply, shaking her head as she slowly started to walk again. She was still so badly hurt and her body was still screaming in so much pain. She knew it wasn't that much farther, she could even see a line of airships preparing to leave the academy with several upon several hundred people in need of evacuation, but it still felt like forever away.
By the time Elise stumbled up towards an airship, many of them were already jammed packed full. She made her way to the entrance hatch, waving off a few soldiers who asked if she was alright, and stepped inside with shaky legs and a body that could barely support itself.
As fate would have it, when she collapsed onto the ground and leaned against the wall, just as her head titled back and she blinked, her vision caught the sight of a boy who was as large as her father. Her eyebrows raised slowly as her head shifted slightly. There, on the other side of the ship, through the mass of panicked and injured people, Cheyenne was sitting on the ground, beaten and bruised, with Kris laying her head on the brunet's lap. Her stomach was bandaged up, showing a slowly forming red blotch. Next to them stood Prac, his arms crossed as he glared towards the ground.
It took all the strength Elise had left to once again stand and push herself through the swarm of people. Halfway in the middle of the crowed, she could have sworn she was going to collapse. The only thing that kept her going was the fact she didn't want the last encounter with her friends to be the fight they had.
Brushing some of Kris' red hair out of her eyes, Cheyenne was breathing softly as she watched the younger girl. She then saw a pair of boots and brown pants step in front of her. She blinked once, slowly raising her head before her eyes widened. "Elise..."
The farm girl gave a faint smile, one that quickly vanished as she dropped Kagami's sword and hoodie, collapsing onto the ground with a grunt.
Kris slowly opened her eyes, shifting slightly as she looked over. Her breathing was deep and heavy, but going at a slow pace. She blinked a few times, her green eyes adjusting to the light before her vision cleared up to show Elise curled up on the ground in front of her. "E-Elise...?"
She chuckled softly back, half smiling. "Hey, shortie..."
The red head groaned softly, narrowing her eyes. "Meat head..." She grumbled, shifting around a little more. There was a moment of silence between the two before she gulped, biting her lip as her eyes started to tear up. "I was worried... you idiot... your aura completely vanished and... we're basically in the middle of a war..."
Elise chuckled a little more, groaning as she rolled onto her back and took several deep breaths. "Says the one bleeding from the stomach..."
"At least my nose is bleeding like hell..." She flashed a grin over in her direction.
"Well... at least my jacket isn't filled with who knows how many holes..." She smiled back.
With a soft chuckle, Kris rolled her eyes. "Least my jacket ain't shredded like cheese..."
"Yeah... okay..." Elise sighed softly, glancing down at the jacket her father had given her. Thanks to those arrows, it was now shredded all over. She sighed again, curling up some.
Silence fell across them once again, only to be broken this time by Cheyenne. "Well..." The Faunus sighed, leaning her head back some. "Where's Kagami at, Elise? She looked pretty banged up before going to search for you..."
"She's..." Elise trailed off, shutting her eyes before she took a deep breath. "She's not dead... but I don't know where she is... she sorta... fell of the cliff saving me..."
"So she's dead?" Prac spoke up, still glaring at the ground.
"No... no, I didn't say that..." She looked up at him. "She's not dead... she can't be... she's somewhere out there... and we'll find her-" She was cut off by Prac snapping at her.
"If she fell off a cliff, that means she's dead!" He roared, tossing his arms to his sides. "You can't just go on a wild chase after her! You have to accept the fact she's dead!"
Elise gulped some, averting her eyes from him. "She's not dead... she's too stubborn to die..."
He scoffed, his muscles flexing as he looked away. "Dumb ass."
"Prac!" Cheyenne gritted her teeth some. "Enough. Elise knows Kagami better than any of us... the least we could do is hear us out."
"For what?" He looked over at her, eyes narrowing. "False hope in believing someone you love isn't really gone?"
"Prac, listen..." She trailed off, wincing as he shouted.
"Shut up!" He snapped. "You don't get to have a say in this! The hell do you even know about losing someone!?"
Cheyenne gulped, slowly looking down and shutting her eyes.
Kris growled softly, moving only slightly. "Don't yell at her... I can still kick your ass if I wanted to..."
Prac snarled back, glaring down at her. "You can shut up too."
It took several seconds for Elise's mind to process what had happened. After a bit, it finally hit her. She slowly looked towards Cheyenne, gulping. "His... his brothers and Maya... were killed...?"
"Maya." Prac head suddenly shot up, his eyes wide. With Fid and Fif's death, he had completely forgotten about her.
Seeing the panic in his eyes, Cheyenne sighed again, gulping heavily. "Don't worry, Prac... she's still alive..."
"What do you mean? Where is she!?" He turned to face her, eyes wide.
Silence fell across the four of them once again, this time it lasted for well over a minute before Elise spoke up. "So that woman wasn't lying when she said she was with her...?"
"With who?" Prac snapped his head towards her.
"What woman...?" Cheyenne spoke softly. "Valentine?"
She gave a slow nod back, looking down at Kagami's hoodie before pulling it close. "If she's the one who hurt her... then yes..."
"Someone explain now!" Prac suddenly demand.
Cheyenne went silent again before slowly looking up. "You might want to sit down..."
Though she didn't want to, Cheyenne began to explain the slow realization of her twin's true alignments in the battle of good vs evil. Everything from after all of MACE fighting to the very end when Maya ran off into the woods. She apologized several times, saying she should have told him, told him and his brothers what she had been doing, but she was far too afraid too. In her mind, she felt responsible for the two youngest Varken brothers deaths. She might have stopped it if she had told someone. And Prac's response to this didn't help much either.
"You knew... a-and you didn't tell me..." Prac's voice was shaky and small. Then, he growled. "Did you not think I deserved to know!?" His heart suddenly became conflicted unlike any heart before. For the past year, ever since he saw Maya. There had always been something special about her that he adored. But now, now she was the reason his brothers were dead.
With built up rage bubbling, he twisted around on his heels and without so much as another word, he stormed away with enough force fo push anyone out of the way.
"Pr-Prac..." Cheyenne half whimpered, trailing off.
Kris sighed, reaching over to slowly grab her hand. "Don't worry... I don't blame you..."
"I would have probably done the same thing... we have all just had a long day..." Elise mumbled.
The Faunus sniffed softly, reaching up to rub her eyes. "Thanks guys... my sister... she just needs some help and guidance..."
"And we'll do that..." Kris muttered.
Once again, neither of them found the worss to speak. Eventually, the airship began to take off as Elise slowly rolled over onto her stomach. "Hey... Kris..."
"Yeah...?" The red head groaned softly.
"I'm sorry... about accusing you..." She glanced up at Cheyenne. "And I'm really sorry about accusing you... I should have known how much it would hurt you by saying you were apart of the White Fang still..."
"And... I'm sorry for a lot..." Kris muttered quietly with a gulp. She bit her lip, shutting her eyes. "Honestly... hunting isn't bad as long as there is a good reason behind it... like those who kill for sport... that's not good... but... the way you and your family use every last peice of the animal and actually need it to eat... I can accept that... it happens in nature all the time..."
Elise smiled softly, clutching Kagami's hoodie tight. "I've accepted you don't eat meat... I'm just happy you accepted I do..."
Cheyenne's vision blurred a bit before she reached up and brushed tears away. "Are you sure... Kagami is still alive...?" She bit her lip.
"Yeah..." Elise nodded softly and then smiled a little more. "And she's sorry about everything too..."
In a dark and damp cave, Kagami slowly started to stir awake. She was freezing cold, her entire body soaking wet as her hair stuck to her face. Her cold limbs didn't help the pain she felt either. Slowly, she opened her eyes, groaning softly as the veiw of a fire came into her vision. She slowly scooted closer towards it, breathing in and out deeply.
She glanced outside the gave, groaning even more as she saw the sun rising in the horizon filled eith trees. "What... the hell... happened...?" She groaned, rolling onto her back. The last thing she remember was shoving a pinked haired woman off a cliff, having her hit her as she fell, and then striking water and going uconcious. She couldn't even comprehend how she was here. Or alive.
After several minutes of laying on her back, she reached up, rubbing her face before she slowly sat up and stood. It took her a few moments to gain her balance. She shook her head softly, stepping out of the cave with half shut eyes into the light.
Taking in a deep breath of air, she partially smiled and looked outwards towards several trees. Hearing footsteps, her head snapped in the other direction. That was when she saw her. The woman with pink hair stepping out of the woods with an armful of firewood.
Before she even had a chance to look up, Kagami was suddenly on op of her, despite the pain. "You must have a lot of nerve!" She snapped, firewood flying everywhere. With on hand o her neck, Kagami brought her other arm back and clenched a tight fist.
Then, she heard a whimper as the woman slowly opened one eye. "Pl-Please... I-I know what she did... but please..."
Kagami would have normally fallen through with her punch, but the fact this woman's eyes were different threw her off. They were blue and filled with pain and suffering. It wasn't thw golden ones she remembered from falling off that cliff that was seeking death.
"Who... are you...?" She spoke softly.
She gulped some, slowly shifting away from her before sitting up. "I-I... I'm Val, Val N. Tina... the person who was harming your friend... and hurt you... that was Valentine." She gulped again. "The impact of the water must of made her lose control, which means I get my body back, and you were sinking so I dragged you out of the water and broght you here and..." She took a shaky breath. "I-I'm sorry... I-I understand if you want to try and kill me... I get that... it's just... it's complicated..."
"There's two souls inside you, isn't there?" Kagami asked.
"N-Not exactly. It's more of..." She trailed off, gulping again.
"Tell me..." She groaned, slowly standing back up. She stumbled some, heading towards the cave. "But by the fire..."
"H-Here..." Val jumped to her feet, helping Kagami back inside. When she set her down, she sat down across from her. There was a long pause before oshe gulped and looked up. "You can't get mad... or scared and freak out, okay?"
"Sure thing..." She nodded, laying down on the ground.
Val took a deep breath, looking around before she looked into the fire, the flames dancing in her blue eyes. "There is a sadistic Grimm inside my body... and an evil witch lady put it here... and she has magic and wants more..."
Kagami blinked once before giving a small shrug. "Okay. So there is essentially two beigs fighting for control of your body... and the one that hurt me and my friend and all those other people are a Grimm..."
"U-Uh... y-yeah." She raised her eyebrows. "You're taking this surprisingly well..."
"Well see..." She shrugged again. "There is magic inside me... and you're clearly not the same person... your eyes explain that..."
"Uh... kay..." Now with an extremely confused look on her face, she shook her head and looked away. "O-Okay..."
"Say..." Kagami took a deep breath, about to fall asleep. "You want some help getting that Grimm out of you...?"
Val looked back, her blue eyes wide. "W-Wait... you'd really help me...?"
Kagami gave a small shrug, smiling back. "Sure... you're not the monster... the thing inside you is... so... do you want help...?"
"Y-Yes..." She sniffed, feeling tears blur her vision. She reached up, rubbing her eyes. No one ever offered her help before and no one ever dared even question ot take into observation that she and Valentine were different. "I would love help..." She trailed off, looking down. She just didn't know how to accept it. "But... but first... I'm going to set up a smoke signal... so someone can find you... I can't be seen... you may see a difference, but everyone else doesn't..."
"Alright..." She shut her eyes, starting to drift off. "I'll get that demon out of you, Val..."
"Th-Thanks... Kagami..." She muttered back.
Not even questioning how she knew her name, the girl with jade hair drifted off into some still needed sleep. Later on that day, she groaned to the sound of footsteps. As her eyes opened, her vision unblurred, showing in the opening of the cave three outlined figures.
Elise took a deep breath, smiling at the sight of her leader. With the wind blowing loose strands of her hair around, she stuck her hands in the hoodie pocket of Kagami's hoodie which she was now wearing. On her left, Cheyenne couldn't help but smile just as much as Elise and on her right, Kris stood with bandages around her stomach, fresh and clean bandages and a green t-shirt. She looked back, calling out to her sister, Jess, that they had found her.
Elise took a step forward, entering the cave. "You know," She flashed a grin. "I really like this hoodie."
Kagami gave a soft chuckle, shaking her head as she shut her eyes. "I need some tea..."