CW: Extreme injuries, depiction of infected wounds.
"Little Kite, wake up."
Raven's cold voice startles Cinder awake, and the girl straightens up atop Raven's shoulders, her nose twitching as the acrid, awful smell of smoke hits it. Cinder feels the blood drain from her face, and she gazes upon what must have once been a prosperous fishing village. Now, it is no more, the walls of the village lie in ruins and shattered wood, and many of the houses have been put to flame. Cinder can see very little still standing, and the fetid warmth of the air and stench of burning flesh fills the environment with a potent Miasma.
Raven staggers, and Cinder, losing her balance, falls from the woman's back, landing on the balls of her feet and staggering backward, her caretaker falling to one knee in the snow and coughing heavily.
Cinder is running as soon as she gets her balance back, darting to Raven's side as the woman coughs, hard. When she pulls her glove away, Cinder can see dark ichor drip from her palm down onto the snow, dying it a dark shade of red mixed with black.
"Raven!"
The girl practically screams, searching her surroundings as Raven finally leans down, panting and hacking as her lungs spasm in her chest. She tries to reassure Cinder, but her arm is so weak that it slides from the girl's coat and is hastily used to prop herself up, another fit shaking her body like a leaf.
Cinder casts her eyes everywhere, past the bodies, past the decay, the death, and the dying embers. Until her eyes meet with a house that seems to have escaped the worst of the destruction. The girl dashes for it, using her training to the fullest. She covers the distance in seconds that feel like minutes, and using the little remains of her spear, slams the door open.
Cinder doesn't care when the spear splinters around her grip, she doesn't care when she nearly trips over something in the room, doesn't care when the bile rises in her throat at the realization of the body, hastily covered by a tarp. The only thing that matters is Raven right now, and Cinder has to find something, anything she can use!
The house is squat, square, a large, central room, occupied by a single person, perhaps two, Cinder notes the kitchen, located around the central hearth, and the bed placed close to the fireplace, heaped high with thick, insulating blankets. She doesn't have time to be picky, and thus, tears out into the snow once more, running for Raven's position.
Raven is even worse, now, the woman's strength seems to have fled her utterly, and Cinder is staring at her as she retches and vomits blood from her mouth, tears of the same crimson pouring from her eyes.
"L-li-little, ki-kit-kite."
Her voice is so weak that it almost shatters Cinder's mind from hearing it, and the girl moves without thinking. She slings Raven's arm up and over her shoulder, and she begins to haul Raven towards the house.
The weight is almost backbreaking, Cinder struggles and strains desperately, she is stronger than she was, and a good diet and serious exercise have helped, but Cinder is not strong enough to haul Raven singlehandedly.
Which makes it excellent when her body, catching up to her desperate need, floods her with adrenaline. Cinder grits her teeth and strains, tugging and hauling Raven forwards, desperately trying to get her to the house.
She makes it all of 60 feet before her arms scream in pain so badly that she's forced to drop Raven. The woman flopping to the ground in a manner that is so disturbingly lifeless that Cinder almost sobs, her eyes pricking with tears. She cannot survive on her own, Raven has to survive, Raven has to live, she has to. It's Cinder's only hope for getting out of this awful place.
Her mind moves rapidly, considering how she can get the woman into bed, into the cabin, into the warmth, and out of the cold.
Cinder strips off her thick overcoat, laying it over Raven's badly damaged outerwear, she turns her gaze to the gates of the village, maybe… she can't pick up or carry Raven, but she could drag her.
Cinder's eyes narrow and she runs back to Raven's side, the girl leans down to the massive, heavy sheathe at the woman's side, and she puts her tiny hands on it, and begins to detach it from Raven's belt.
It says something to Cinder's panicking mind that Raven can't even sum up the effort to stop her as she pulls the sheathe from the other woman's belt. It says something even worse that she collapses into the coat, shivering and shaking as soon as Cinder throws it over her.
Cinder doesn't have time to speculate. The cold is setting in, and night is falling. By the sun's current position, Cinder has less than 10 minutes to get Raven inside, and herself, or they will both die.
The girl twists the scabbard, divesting it of dozens of the blades of dust, she grimaces and winces, but quickly pulls a steel blade from within it. Her hands clench tightly, the burns tracing her arms hurting something horrific, but she wraps the blade in a blanket and her gloves, hoping that the razor edge is dull enough near the handle that it won't cut her hands off when she tries to cut through a section of the collapsed wall.
It's a wooden, twig construction, overlapping layers of pitch layered wood and wax poured over the whole thing to make it waterproof. Cinder inspects it carefully, the outer layers are marked with claw marks and teeth, beowulf, cut their way in. Luckily for her, they severed more than a few pieces large enough for her purposes.
Cinder raises the blade, almost overbalancing as the telescoping blade extends to its maximum reach and range. For a moment, her brain is mildly distracted with why Raven uses such an unwieldy weapon.
"Not the time, Cinder!"
Then, she drops the sword down, holding it tight as the razor edge shears through the outer wall, lopping off a lump of log that is just about the size of Cinder herself. She inspects the pitch and wax covered lump of wood, it will have to do, she needs one more.
The girl drags the sheathe and the swords, along with the log section back to Raven's prone, shivering form, a quick check of the horizon revealed she'd taken too long. They had minutes at best.
Cinder turns frantically, inspecting the surroundings, the girl's eyes land on a shattered spear, and the sigh of pure relief that bursts from her chest at that sight is audible. She moves fast, darting to the spear, shimmying out of her undercoat and lashing, frantically wrapping the coat and torn fabric from Raven's own coat around the log and the spear.
It won't hold up, but that's fine. Cinder just needs it to hold up long enough for her to get to the house.
Adrenaline rushing through her, Cinder rolls the shivering woman onto her impromptu sled, and then, muscles tense, she wraps her chilled fingers around the front of the sled and begins to haul it with every fibre of her body.
For one, single, heartstopping moment, Raven and the sled don't move, and then Cinder's pulling harder and harder, and Raven's finally sliding across the snow as Cinder hauls her towards the cabin. The dusk is beginning to fall in earnest now, and Cinder can see her breath freezing over, she shivers. She's down to just her tunic, and that's not enough for this tundra, she knows this. But it's either that or let Raven die.
She will not let Raven die.
So Cinder grits her teeth and pushes her straining muscles further, even further, and she keeps going until she's dragging Raven up the stoop of the cabin, dragging her until the fabric tears so badly that Cinder can't use the sled anymore.
The girl hauls her guardian into the house, desperately struggling to get her into the bed. Raven twitches in pain, she's still sobbing, her tears colored the pink of Madame's favorite wines. Cinder realizes its blood, and the girl thinks back to the limited, faint knowledge of medicine she's able to know.
She flushes brilliantly, she'll have to strip Raven, and rebandage the wounds on the woman with fresh bandages.
First… fire.
Cinder turns to the hearth, and lets out a deep, relieved breath. A stack of fresh firewood sits next to the central hearth, embers faintly lick at the dying remains of a prior fire.
It takes all Cinder can to not just throw logs into the fireplace, but… no. This is an emergency.
Cinder looks at her arms, and then around the cabin. She'll have to use the semblance again, she'll have to get it done.
She doesn't have a choice anymore.
The girl heaps a pair of thick, central logs into the fire, and then, she raises her arm and drags one of the fire mits over to it. Concentrating, Cinder reaches into her chest and pulls on that string of power, she pulls it out as the emotions of worry and relief mix.
A pulse, and a fire is crackling in the hearth as the heat leaves her. Cinder sits down, catching her breath and turning her gaze to look at Raven. She'd love to take pride in not burning herself with her semblance, but the worst is yet to come.
She's going to have to dress Raven's wounds.
She's going to need boiling water, and the winterfruits.
Cinder forces her exhausted body to move, forces herself to run, and she darts first to the form of Raven, quick to check her over, then towards the door, only to stop cold as she looks outside.
A full blizzard has descended over the small village, and Cinder knows that to go outside would be utter suicide. The temperatures are so cold she can see icicles forming in real time as darkness sets in around the cabin. Her eyes temper back, turning away from outside and looking back to Raven, who shivers under the blankets and coats.
Cinder grits her teeth, moving to the hearth and stove, and she rummages about in the cabinets, searching carefully and as quietly as she can for a pot.
She finds what she's looking for under the stove, hauling out an enormous stock pot. She searches carefully, looking over the room and taking stock of her options. The room is wide and open, barrels of something, possibly water in one corner, this place was well stocked for the winter, and that's a lucky, very lucky thing. Cinder can't delay, however, and forces her aching, screaming arms and legs to move, she has to get Raven treated, has to get her bandaged and into a spot where she can heal.
So… she rushes to the barrels, the first one is immediately irrelevant, full of some kind of oil, likely used for the lamps around the home. Not applicable here, Cinder instead moving to the second of three, this one contains flour, a thick cloud of the stuff hits her nose and lungs, and she coughs for a moment.
Was there no water? Did she have to tempt fate by opening that door to the blizzard outside? How long would it take for it to melt? For her to recover enough to warm up?
Her stomach growled, and Cinder shoved hunger away as she hesitantly lifted the lid on the third barrel.
Relief. Crystal clear, deep blue in the low light, water stares back at her, and Cinder hauls the stock pot up and into the barrel. Water splashes onto her tunic, but Cinder can't focus on that, instead, she drags herself to the hearth, the heavy thunking of the pot dragging on the ground behind her.
The stove of the cabin is wood powered, linked to the central hearth, and Cinder, luckily, doesn't have to figure out how it works, its identical to the one in her room. She throws the pot onto the stove and moves towards the boxes and the like that lie in the room. Medical supplies are carried by Raven, but Cinder isn't sure how much of them survived from the attacks on both of them. She'll have to make do, for the moment.
She thinks back, trying to remember what little she knows of how to treat wounds, and searching the cabin at the same time. Boxes are tumbled over, fabric and clothing strewn across the floor as Cinder looks through everything. She cannot think about Raven's shuddering, indistinct breaths, nor can she think about how the woman was crying blood, she's terrified, but… has to keep pushing.
More boxes tumble down, and then, finally, Cinder spots a faint blue fabric container, emblazoned prominently is the caduceus staff of Atlas Medical. She sighs from relief, hauling it towards the fire and the light, and unzipping it.
Bandages, cloth, jars of unknown fluid, and syrettes and syringes. Enough for her purposes.
Cinder grabs the bandages first, and only then realizes that her hands are covered in blood and dirt from earlier. While boiling the water will fix that issue, she can't treat Raven using her hands at the moment. So, instead, she searches the kit once more, and that kit doesn't fail to provide. Sanitizers and cleaning cloths are torn open and used, and Cinder grits her teeth and closes her tear filled eyes at the sting of antiseptic on open burns. Then, her hands are wrapping her forearms and hands in bandages as quickly as she can.
Every minute burned, every second, Cinder is trying but she's not fast enough, until her eyes land on a small packet inside of the medical kit.
Antivenom.
The packet is empty, but Cinder notes that the kit itself is very new, too many sealed products… could this have been from Amber? Did she carry things to trade? If so… the antitoxin had to be around here somewhere.
Her brain works a mile a minute, even as she finishes bandaging her arms and moves to attend to Raven. Still, where was that antitoxin? Where had it been placed?
Her hand draws the knife, and she rolls Raven over onto her back, then she starts her work.
Cutting away strips of fabric from Raven's torso, she winces and stifles a hiss as she sees just how bad Raven is.
Her upper chest is covered in bruises and light lacerations, so much so that Raven's natural light complexion has darkened to a purple, as she shallowly breathes, Cinder notes, with horrified fascination, the way one of her ribs shifts visibly to one side with each rise and fall.
She has to stifle her throat, feeling bile rise up at the horrified look at the woman's bones. Raven's left arm is clearly broken, limply flopping around, and Cinder can't fix that, she can bandage the woman's wounds, and suspend the arm somewhere in the hopes it won't get worse. But the ribs are beyond her ability to heal, beyond her ability to fix.
She wipes Raven's face off with a clean cloth, and startles when the woman draws in a ragged breath, she continues to cut the cloth off, until Raven is fully exposed, and shivering.
Cinder rolls out a thick, fluffy, dry towel from the pile of fabrics, its not quite as long as Raven, but as Cinder begins to clean the woman's wounds, being as gentle as she can, even as Raven releases an awful, animal moan when the girl's fingers lightly grace over the shattered rib's location.
She has to keep going, has to keep it up.
She pushes and pushes and Raven screams as her unbroken arm is trapped beneath her for a moment, her eyes opening blearily and unfocused as she looks at Cinder.
"Sum-Summer?"
Raven's staring at Cinder as she hurriedly works, her voice so feeble and faint that the young girl doesn't process what she's just heard for a moment, until… it sinks in, and suddenly Cinder is staring at Raven as the older woman cups her cheek and sobs.
"I-I'm-I'm sorry…"
Her apology falls on Cinder's head, and the girl takes an astonishing measure of comfort in the way Raven's hurt hand rests against her cheek, but then, she coughs, and Cinder remembers she has a job to do.
Out comes the knife, and it begins to cut away fabric that comes away from Raven's back stained with blood and dark ichor. Cinder starts bandaging the wounds on her back, stifling another horrified gasp as she peels away the deep stab wound's exit bandages.
Tyrian had punctured clean through the left side of Raven, and while it's clear that her aura has done most of the heavy lifting, it still has Cinder staggering to a broken bucket in one corner.
She evacuates her guts, and her mind tries to curse her out, there's a brief moment where she thinks that Madame never had to do anything like this, Clove and Iris might eventually, but only out in the wilds.
But her will is strong. If she does not move, Raven will die. She has a task, and so, feeling nauseous and staggering, she returns to the wounded woman, and begins to wrap and address the deep lacerations from tree bark on the woman's back.
On more than one occasion, Cinder has to pull pieces of bark, sticky with sap from Raven's wounds, then pour rubbing alcohol onto her bandages before she presses them into the wounds.
It takes hours.
But she makes it work.
Cinder isn't sure what time it is when she finishes. She isn't sure of much, beyond the fact that Raven looks like a mummy out of halloween, every limb covered in white bandages, and it is only then, as Cinder advances to the icebox, opening it, that she genuinely sobs from pure relief.
Even as she'd treated Raven, a part of Cinder had known that if she didn't get some antivenom into the woman, she would die. That poison had run rampant through her body, and Cinder had begun to resolve herself, to accept that she would die here.
Until she opened the ice box, storing food and meat, and found a trio of small, syringe laden packages.
All three were antivenom, all three had different symbols, and Cinder thinks back to the fight against Tyrian, no fangs, she discarded the snake vial. No spider-like features, the spider one went back into the ice box a moment later.
The tail was a scorpion's tail.
Her shaking fingers tore open the packaging, and she shakily approached Raven's still form.
With a push of her thumb, the injector goes down. The liquid, pale yellow, vanishes into Raven's body.
Now… Cinder just has to wait.
She reflects, hours into the night, as another log is heaped onto the small fire, that the worst part is the waiting, Cinder glares. She's staring at the fire, the tiredness seeping into her bones. Unable to rest until daylight, when the storm will break and they are no longer in danger of freezing to death.
Why… why is she so certain Raven will make it? The woman is in a bad way, and while wiping away the blood streaming from her eyes and mouth and nose had been at the very least something to do. She'd stopped bleeding 30 minutes previously. Is that a good sign? Or did she just not have enough blood remaining to bleed it? That sounded terrible to Cinder, and the girl hauled herself up and moved to check on Raven after a moment.
The woman is breathing deeply, much more deeply now, and her aura rapidly flickers on and off as Cinder approaches her, small popping and crackling noises jumping from her prone form to Cinder's fingers when she touches her.
The sparks feel almost like Raven does, to Cinder. She's stormy, composed and concentrated, but… warm under it.
The woman's breathing has recovered, it's shallow but quite a relief for Cinder as the woman turns to one side and exhales comfortably.
Raven is sleeping soundly, and that's enough for Cinder at this moment, that's enough for her for the rest of the night. The girl makes it back to the fire, just in time to heap a few more logs onto it, and then, she stares into those beautiful orange flames and she thinks.
Raven survived. She survived. They'd beaten the odds. She'd continue to do so as long as she could, and nothing would stop her from that.
Raven would have to survive. It was that simple, so Cinder would make her survive. She'd force the woman to keep going as long as she could, and if she couldn't?
Then Cinder would just have to carry her.
The girl stayed awake, she kept her vigil until the early rays of dawn reached her, one final check revealed that Raven was still sleeping peacefully, and Cinder curls up on the floor in front of the fireplace, she's found more blankets in her many hours awake, and now covers and wraps herself utterly in them.
In that warm cocoon, Cinder passed out and dreamed of a better world.
She floated on a flowerbed, the petals caressing her toes and the like, the soft brushes against the soles of her feet and skin.
She sets herself down, staring across the field, staring at Raven, who's turned away from her. Here, Raven is healed, here she is whole and complete, and here she is turning to Cinder and opening her arms, and Cinder is running and jumping and landing in her arms and she is safe and warm, and the world is right again.
Cinder stirs in the late afternoon, based on the position of the sun, a quick, wary inspection of the cabin revealed Raven's presence, the woman rolling over briefly, then muttering something, before going back to sleep.
Cinder feels her lips quirk up, an approximation of a smile earnestly breaking her face into a grin.
The first thing she does when she rolls from her bed is check her bandages, her skin, especially on her arms, was badly burned from her semblance. She'll need to change them, preferably with clean water. Luckily, the pot from last night has plenty left, so as the brisk air firms up Cinder's muscles and pushes her to move, she focuses all her efforts on getting boiling water first, then inspecting the pile of clothes she left haphazardly spread across the floor before she passed out last night.
The water boils away while Cinder idly hums and stretches out the fabric on several winter coats and long underwear pairs. They smell of sweat and Raven and herself, and… lots of blood, but they're wearable and dry.
They'll have to work, for now.
The girl waits until the water's been boiled, then soaks a fresh roll of bandage from the medical kit in the boiled water until she's sure anything nasty's been boiled away.
Then she peels back the bandages and wrinkles her nose as the stench of pus hits her.
The hastily applied bandages weren't great, and she was paying for her hubris now.
Cinder looks at the medical kit, hurting fingers prying a small vial marked "antiseptic" from within a pocket, she flinches, knowing how much it is about to sting, but knowing that she has no choice.
Swiftly, she holds her mouth shut and squeezes a small flow of antiseptic onto her right arm, then has to breathe in and out heavily as the fluid stings and painfully scourges her wounds clean of the infections that had been already prepared to run rampant.
One arm down. One more to go.
She flips the hand holding the antiseptic, and repeats the process, once again gritting her teeth and bearing the pain as it rushes through her.
Then, she's wrapping her burns in bandages and then a layer of gauze to hold the bandages in place should she be moving. Cinder makes certain to tie them off just like how Raven showed her for the climbing. She knows other knots, but if this one can hold her entire body weight on it, she should be completely fine to use it here.
Her hypothesis is proven correct soon after, as she stretches and feels every single arm muscle tense and threatens to lock up. She pulled muscles and hurt herself trying to haul Raven into the cabin yesterday.
Cinder winces, beginning to stretch out her arms, piece by piece, the routine that Raven had seen her observing, then taught her how to do is a relaxation one, but Cinder's not getting too much immediate relief.
Her silent motions are suddenly interrupted, as a weak, gruff voice interrupts.
"That's not quite the best way to do it."
She turns, eyes wide, and sees Raven sitting up in bed, staring at her with something resembling a bemused half-smile on her face.
"RAVEN!"
Cinder's worries, her doubts, everything falls away, Raven is alive! She's awake! She's talking!
The girl hits the older woman like a missile, and then she's sobbing and Raven is gently picking up her chin and making her look up at the beautiful maiden, there's a truly sad expression in those crimson eyes as that same, weak voice speaks once more.
"I made a promise to get you to safety, I can't leave you yet."
Cinder is too busy crying into the blankets that cover Raven's form to do much else than nod and blubber out, her speech almost incomprehensible.
"I'msorryIdidn'tknowwhattodoandhadtostripyouandcutyourclothesandtreatyourwoundsI'msorryI'msorryI'msorrypleasedon'tbemadtheylookedexpensive!"
The babbling is only interrupted when Raven gently pries the girl's head up and forces her to look up at her once more.
"Little kite… clothing can be replaced. I need to rest, do we have food?"
Cinder nods, pointing towards the small kitchen boxes and cabinets, and Raven's stomach growls loudly as the woman looks to Cinder.
"Our packs?"
The girl flinches, her eyes flying to anywhere but looking at Raven. It takes her a moment, but Raven's steady gaze eventually coaxes an answer from her.
"Outside… had to get you into the warmth."
Raven nods. Then speaks once more.
"Time to fetch them, they have food that I'll need to recover. Have you thought to scavenge the other houses?"
Cinder shakes her head, instead, she purses her lips and then steps back.
"I… was going to bury the bodies."
Raven's head snaps up, carefully studying Cinder as the woman sees her in a new light, there's something hardened and serious in that gaze.
"You're serious."
Cinder's feet shift back and forth, she gets a vague sense that Raven has never truly had a cause or desire for such a thing.
"Why?"
The question is hard, sharp, like one of the blades of Raven's sword.
"I… They died so we can live. The smoke from the village masked our fire… and the supplies they would use are now ours… it… feels wrong to leave them there when they're the reason you're still here."
Cinder points to the medical kit, lying open on the table behind her, indicating the seal on it.
Raven considers and deliberates for a moment. These people didn't mean anything to her, but… they meant something to Cinder. She'd condone it, with a few concessions.
"Very well, you may do this if, and only if, you are extremely careful. Mask your tracks, dispose of the bodies, then cover the resting places with snow."
"In the shape of the fallen?"
Raven nods once. Cinder had seen what the plan was to be, and she would obey. The older woman rolled onto her back and tried to ignore the sapping, stabbing pains in her muscles. She'd been injected with an antivenom, and it was even now working its way through her system, purging the venom's remaining traces and allowing her aura to actually work on putting her back together.
It hurt like a motherfucker, but she'd live. All thanks to the girl she'd rescued.
A part of Raven smiles at that, Cinder had pulled herself together, used what Raven had taught her and she'd made it work. She'd ensured Raven's survival.
A part of the woman long buried grinned within her. She owed a debt to someone, she owed a debt to someone that she could never repay.
Summer's ever-present grin flashed through her mind; Was this all part of her plan, then? Had she intended Raven to end up with an adorable ragamuffin like her own Yang and Summer's Ruby? Had she intended to force her to learn what she'd been missing out on?
The woman looks up, briefly, as the door of the small cabin opens and then slams shut. Cinder has left, and now… more than she has been in the past week, Raven is alone. She turns to one side, her hand moving to her chest, to the biting touch of cold silver lying against her skin. The beads of sterling are beautiful and continuously remind her of Summer's existence. She can remember the woman picking the metal out, then spending time in the forge to make the set for both of them.
In many ways, they had been precious to each other, precious to Taiyang as well. He'd never wanted anything negative to befall her, and even as she'd explained why she'd left Yang behind, why she'd chosen to introduce herself as the girl's aunt, rather than her mother…
Her heart shatters.
It's not a subtle thing, it's an ugly, breaking, crashing, cracking noise in Raven's chest, and her mind flashes to Summer, with that ever-present smile on her face, tinged with forlorn sadness as she brought the warehouse down on herself and Tyrian…
Raven startles when drips of warmth start down her cheeks, down her face, it takes her a moment to realize she's crying, that she's wondering why she's started until it hits her all at once that Summer's dead and someone is going to have to tell Qrow, someone's going to have to tell Taiyang and Yang and everyone else…
And she's the only one who can.
Raven breaks down, tears openly falling from her eyes as she sobs, the wracking motions twisting her muscles as her nose begins to run. She is glad Cinder isn't here, she doesn't know what it would do to the girl to see her in such an awful state. What it would do… what does it matter, anyway?
Summer is dead. Or gone, buried beneath tons of rubble in Atlas. She's gone and her killer's escaped.
Raven's body doesn't want to move, her brain refuses to accept the truth she knows, Summer has died. She was slain in combat, and now she is alone, she is alone in the world, without Taiyang or Qrow or anyone to rely on except a wisp of a girl of barely 11 summers.
Cinder needs her, Raven knows this, at some level, she knows this. The girl will die without her intervention to ensure she arrives safely back in Mistral or Vale. For that matter, where is Raven even trying to take the girl? Vale? To Tai and Yang and Ruby? Could she do that? Dump a girl on the man while he had 2 of his own?
No.
Something within her refuses even the thought of giving up Cinder. The girl was a born fighter and survivor. Even with second-degree burns on her arms, she'd bandaged herself and moved on to her tasks for the day. She was strong, strong like Summer had been, but Cinder didn't hide that yet. She would, in time. Her shyness was slowly giving way to a confidence that would rival Summer's, one day.
Raven flinches, her mind slowly realizing.
She said she had no one, but that wasn't strictly true, Yang and Ruby, and Taiyang himself, and Qrow would know. They'd support her, but… Cinder, her little kite, truly had no one in the world. Truly no one else, the girl wasn't descended from Madame's line, with all the differences between them, she was something unique.
How could Raven deny her little kite? How could she even remotely think that she'd just abandon her? After she owed her such a debt?
Her mind warred with itself.
Fact. She was the Spring Maiden. The forces that sent Tyrian after her, would send more.
Fact. Cinder had no one and nothing, while a formidable survivor, the girl would die out in the wilderness.
Fact. Yang was her daughter by blood. Ruby her daughter by creed. And Cinder her daughter by deed.
Fact. Summer was dead or gone. Raven didn't know which was worse.
Fact. Amber's tenure under Ozpin had been one that had slowly drained away who she was.
Fact. She couldn't go to Ozpin, nor could Taiyang.
What was the alternative? Retreat to the tribe?
Her mind thinks it over. It's a healthy possibility. The tribe would take her in, especially with new blood in the form of Cinder, she might have to establish herself as a leader first, but she could very well do so.
That… seemed like it could, or even would be for the best, right?
Something kept eating at her, and Raven worried about it, but for whatever reason, she couldn't narrow down exactly why the thought of returning to the tribe was something she felt wasn't appropriate for her to do.
Something about it just felt… wrong, in a fashion that Raven could not narrow down. It was where she'd been raised, it was where some would argue she belonged even, so… why didn't she feel comfortable committing to the tribe?
But her thoughts, her reverie, and the mourning of Summer were interrupted as Cinder entered back into the small cabin. Smoke poured from the girl for a moment, and she patted herself clear of snow before entering. Behind her, she dragged in Raven's pack, followed by her own, then set about busily within the small kitchen of the cabin.
"Bodies have been burned or dragged from their spots. I haven't scavenged the other houses yet, but I don't think we'll starve."
Cinder exited for a moment, and then, as Raven watched, the girl dragged the corpse of a rather large deer into view. A clean, fletched arrow stuck from its neck, and Raven could see her joy, written clear across her face even before she spoke.
"I got it on my first shot! Took the bow from the walls! But he just wandered towards the gates! One arrow!"
Her excitement bubbles into Raven herself, and the woman finds herself smiling indulgently at her little kite. The girl is prancing, and Raven's smile, while fleeting, sends very clear joy rippling through the girl. A faint, strange feeling burns in Raven's chest at that, the independence, sheer determination, and power on display within the girl shocks Raven. For a moment, the woman feels as though she's staring down at Summer, staring at the girl with the split lip, staring up at her after she kicked out Raven's shoulder and broke her wrist, staring at that ever-present, smug grin as the girl offered Raven a hand up.
Then it passes, and Cinder is the one speaking.
"-I think I can get a stew started, probably not as good as yours, but it'll feed us! Do… do you know how to clean that deer?"
Raven smiles a bit at that, the exuberance and genuine nature of the girl replacing the trauma for just a moment.
"Well, you'll need a knife, I should have one large enough in my bag, make sure it's not covered in dust, I think we've both had a bit too much experience with that recently."
Cinder nods once, moving to Raven's snow-covered backpack.
"You'll need to do this outside on the snow. Moving carefully with the blade-"
Cinder listens obediently, she'd seen the tear tracks running down Raven's face, the slightly discolored skin giving away the fact that the woman had been crying. Cinder knows she's mourning Summer… and while she herself is sad… she can't imagine how Raven feels in this moment.
So… instead, Cinder resolves that if she can't help the other woman get through her grief, then… she can be useful and ensure survival for both of them.
By the time Raven's finished explaining, and Cinder herself is done cutting and gutting the deer, the sun has begun to slip below the horizon, and night is rapidly falling. The girl retires into the house, hauling chunks and chunks of meat into the freezing boxes around the perimeter of the cabin, then taking enough for the stew into the house.
Raven is awake, watching, and stretching her legs, slowly and carefully, when Cinder walks into the room. Her injuries are healing fast, days of rest quickly stacking up as her aura worked at a fever pace to repair the damage. As her little kite moves to the kitchen, Raven thinks about the future, she's been doing little of that, recently. Too much survival at all costs. A part of her winces that the smoke from the destroyed village will likely only cover their tracks for a week at most if that.
But for now? She won't tell Cinder any of that, her little kite deserves one night of pure, innocent rest.
It says something that Raven's thoughts move to what she plans to do with the girl, then. Cinder has proven to be largely self-sufficient, at least for food and the like. She does not believe that dropping her onto Taiyang is right, let alone the pure fact that having to see him again makes her lip curl.
No. But Yang is there, right?
Yang is there.
Her daughter.
Her blood and flesh.
Believing that Aunt Raven and Summer are heading home soon.
An impossible choice stretches out in front of her, stretches out in front of Raven.
She could return, could attempt such a thing. Could try to tell the truth, as she'd promised Summer, all those days ago.
She owed her that much.
But could she raise Cinder there?
Taiyang would be destroyed by the news of Summer's death. She knew that all too well, she'd seen it happen when they were in their second year at Beacon. When the girl he'd been dating didn't return from a mission. When she'd come home as her weapon, after an alpha beowulf had lured the team from their defensive target, then picked them off one by one.
She'd seen the aftermath, crippling depression, and rage that didn't end. She'd seen the resulting damage when Taiyang's semblance had activated and he'd blown a quarter of a training room's shields out with a single punch. She'd seen him suffer for months, for almost a year, before Summer and she had caught him alone and made up for it.
The road had been long, their grief hadn't gone away. She'd liked Violet, in passing, but her team would have made for genuine friends she would have kept.
Now they lay, all but 2 members, dead in contested territory, torn to shreds save for a broken, delicate shattering of a human being.
She'd heard the man had ended up becoming a criminal, and idly, a part of her wondered if he'd ever had some success with the venture. The woman had disappeared soon after, apparently lost to the violence of Vale's seedy underbelly. Raven wondered if Carmel had ever truly settled down, or if she'd just let her brokenness spread until it consumed her.
Perhaps a thought for another day, as her lips curled in disgust.
Carmel had been strong, and then the loss of her team had broken her utterly. The woman was a pathetic excuse for someone Raven had once respected. She'd snapped, declaring that nothing mattered beyond her goals. Whatever those manifested into.
Last Raven had heard, she'd wandered to some stuffy preparatory academy.
Either way, a derisive snort came easily to the Branwen as she turned her head to face Cinder, across from her. The girl was in the kitchen and had a look on her face that spoke of a deep question. Something she wasn't sure that Raven would respond favorably to.
She was still scared. Still terrified.
Raven hated that, she knew she was intimidating, and it was something that she loved about Summer, the infuriating brunette had never been scared of her.
Now, more than ever, she wished that she was here. Because then she could make sense of this girl's reluctance to speak plainly, even when Raven had so clearly proven that she wasn't about to harm her.
What a strange feeling.
This tightness in her chest was unfamiliar, as Cinder finally asked her question.
"When… when can I get another weapon?"
Raven's up, or at least, trying to get up, before her little kite rushes to her and places hands that are far, far firmer than they should be, had it been so long?
"Please… stay down, rest. You're beaten up and if you die I'm next!"
Cinder calls to her, directly, so quickly that Raven finds it impossible to move, or well, it's not impossible. But she doesn't want to shove her little Kite forwards or displace her, as the girl moves and steps back.
"I scavenged a bow from the village… but my spear is gone, and… the villager's weapons aren't even slightly as good as what you use."
Raven barks a laugh that has her entire stomach shattering with pain. Of course, a villager's spear would be inferior to Omen. Summer godsdamned Rose forged it. The best weapon tinkerer in the world.
Cinder shrinks away, and Raven finds a pit in her stomach opening wide in her abdomen as the girl's eyes start to glimmer.
"No… I didn't mean it like that. Just… these spears are blunt, dustless-headed weapons. Why would they compare to Omen?"
Cinder's eyes widen.
"Omen…?"
Raven draws the weapon from her side, showing the beautiful if marred hilt to the girl.
"Omen is my blade, it was forged by Summer Rose, the best weaponsmith to ever come from Beacon's vaunted halls and vaults. She made it to be superior to everything save for Dawning Rose, Taiyang's gauntlets, and even Harbinger, although my idiot brother never let her near his scythe."
Raven smiled at the memory. Before she turned to Cinder.
"If you want a blade to match Omen, we'll have to track my idiot brother down, and then we will make you a weapon befitting such a lofty ideal. Until then, well… let me fix that."
Raven opened her mind and stretched out her hands.
This time it felt different as the flames ignited upon her eyes. It didn't hurt in the way it did when she used Spring's power for combat, it didn't feel like the rush of a chorus of indistinct voices. Raven focused on a specific memory, the face of Summer Rose, sparks reflecting off her eyes, as the forge hammer came up and down, the slight singes on her eyebrows denoting her earlier failures, equally as much as the pile of discarded hilts and blades.
She remembers watching as Taiyang infused his semblance into the alloys made to reinforce the hilt, she remembers watching the liquid metal ripple as pure kinetic energy forced the alloy into a stronger, more flexible, and masterful alloy than the normal steel.
She remembers the fires of the forge reflecting off of his blue eyes, the slight smirk on his face as he looks at her with open, naked warmth and unabashed love that has her, the great Raven fucking Branwen, blushing like a damned schoolgirl.
She should have killed him where he stood.
Now he's laughing at her side-turned face, and Summer's joining in, the heavy work gloves covering her hands and shielding her from the sparks, but not her face, never her face.
Raven knows why she refuses, even if she doesn't understand it.
"Weapons have souls, Rae, and I need to sing yours into shape, I need her to willingly take my hand or else she won't be ready for her form~!"
She inclined her head at the piles of broken hilts and blades.
Raven knew they had to be exhausted, this was the fourth day that Summer and Tai and she had been in the forges, and they were burning the midnight oil, long after the rest of Beacon had gone to sleep, after even Qrow had chickened out of helping, chasing after Victoria Gold in the senior class again.
Raven wondered if she'd only break his arm this time. Or if he'd come back with barely hidden hickeys snared on his neck like two times ago.
She snorts with laughter, and Tai smiles that heart-meltingly bright smile, his lips fully quirking up. He wasn't okay, she could see it in his eyes. But Summer and… her own closeness to him had been helping him recover.
The memory doesn't fade out of existence, like the other times she's used her powers, and she opens her eyes as she hears Cinder breathe in sharply.
This time, the blade is a sword, styled after Omen, but shorter, better suited for a child, black and blue lines of her power run through the cyan, pierced blade, and it is ice cold to the touch. Raven extends a hand, offering the weapon to Cinder, who takes it and startles.
For Cinder, being passed a weapon that for all intents and purposes looked like something out of a literal fairytale hadn't been a recent thought in her life, and yet… as she held the weapon in one hand, she could feel the raging currents of… something within the blade.
She only holds it for a moment, and yet she feels a part of her hunger fade into fear first, then terror. This is power, and it is dangerous in such a manner that she feels as though the weapon would be fully capable of killing her where she sat if she mishandled it. A fear that is proved immediately correct as tendrils of literal lightning run through the blade, shocking the air around them like striking vipers.
And yet… a part of her feels… almost right holding it. It is not the power, she can tell, but the blade is… not incorrect. The curved weapon is clearly a step in the right direction, but Cinder isn't sure what form her weapon should take… yet.
"I will summon one for you at the beginning of each day. They do not last long, perhaps 8 or so hours. But they will be a suitable replacement for a mediocre at best spear."
Cinder relinquished the blade to Raven without being asked, a current of fear burning in her eyes as Raven looked at her, and the older woman grasped her arm firmly.
"Do not pour your semblance into this blade. It will destabilize the powers within it."
Cinder nods, eyes wide, as Raven's power dissipates the weapon into pale blue motes of dust.
"This will last until we reach Argus, and then… I will see about getting you trained and certified for a true weapon. Alright?"
Cinder nodded, her cheeks dusted faintly with a pink blush as Raven reaches out and ruffles her hair. The hardened warrior, the hardened monster slayer, and the protector loses her mask in that moment. Her voice, faint and barely there, whispers, right into Cinder's ears.
"You're… so much like her. I'm sorry Cinder. I'm sorry I failed to protect Summer. I'm sorry I put you through what I've put you through."
Raven pulls Cinder closer, and places one hand on the girls chest, and the other on her forehead.
Cinder feels something tingle, ever so briefly.
"You… no. Not yet."
Then the hands leave, and Raven smiles sadly.
"When you can land a hit on me in training… I'll unlock your aura."
Cinder looks at the woman, disbelieving.
Raven only nods, and Cinder feels the licking embers in her chest burst into fire.
Raven wanted her to prove herself? Then she'd be the best-damned huntress to ever live. Surpassing even Raven if she so had to!
A/N: Enjoy a more mellow chapter beyond Cinder learning very quickly that she's going to need to be better~! We're going to be picking up the pace soon, but we'll get one more low-key chapter before that happens!~
Next Chapter: July 24th