The tension in the air at the Schnee beach house was thick and suffocating as Sienna Khan strode into the room. Raven stiffened while the faunus paused briefly to lock eyes with her, though she didn't bother to bring her hand down to the hilt of her blade. She knew exactly what would happen if she dared to try it… and Sienna's confident smirk and little noise of satisfaction before the woman started walking again was confirmation enough in Raven's mind that the two of them had an understanding. The small group of teens watched Sienna walk slowly deeper into the house, taking in the surroundings before unlatching her cloak and tossing it onto the couch as she passed. Just as Raven remembered, Sienna was wrapped in chains, her kunai and meteor hammer intermingled with the links.
"Cozy… as a place built with the blood of our people should be. Not worth the sacrifice, otherwise," Sienna said airily as she strode into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. "I am surprised to see another faunus here willingly. Unless, of course, you're the… help."
"Don't take that tone with me," Kali threatened as she bristled. "You might be able to bend metal, but I doubt you can bend fucking bullets in midair."
"Would you like to find out?"
"Don't test her," Roman said quietly, his face pale. "Raven, can y-"
"Open a portal, while I'm an appreciable distance away?" Sienna finished as she took out a carton of orange juice and set it on the counter before locking eyes with Roman. "I've heard all about your Semblance, Branwen. Congratulations on finally mastering something so… basic. Do you think they can all get through such a doorway before I can take aim and throw a blade?"
"We're not running," Raven said firmly as she clenched a fist. "And I'm not taking that from you, Master. You were always cold, but never this… vindictive. Why are you here? Why would you be so petty as to take my mask?"
"Petty?" Sienna asked, an uncharacteristic malice in her voice as she looked over her shoulder, her hand holding one of the overhead cabinets open in search for a glass. "You killed your own father, and believe you have the right to hide your face after that? To seal away the scars he gave you in combat?"
"I did what I had to do," Raven spat, taking a step closer to her former mentor. "I won't let anyone, including you, tell me what I did was wrong."
"Nor will I," Sienna replied as she pulled down a glass and shut the cabinet. "I took your mask to force you to wear those scars with pride."
"…she's not angry with you," Taiyang said softly to Raven. "She's… entirely neutral, so far as I can tell…"
"What the fuck is this?" Roman dared to ask. "What, you're on our side, now?"
"You presume too much," Sienna answered before taking a long, slow pull from her glass of orange juice, eyes on Raven the entire time. "I taught you better than to hide anything other than your intentions in combat. Wearing your flaws and scars with pride emboldens you. Hiding them weakens you… and you've made new, powerful enemies. You stray from the path."
"My path is my own to carve," Raven asserted. "That's what you taught me. You left your home to pursue Those Above All, against all advice from your family. Now, I'm aligning myself with your enemies and following in your footsteps, the same way you did when you left Kuo Kuana."
"…you want to run that by me again?" Kali asked, looking surprised and somewhat annoyed.
"Not now," Raven said.
"A bold claim," Sienna offered before taking another sip. "You know my prior motivations only on a surface level, and you're entirely in the dark about them now. You say you've allied yourself with my enemies… yet you know so little about who they truly are. You're referring to Ozpin, ignorant of the fact that Salem now sits atop the mountaintop, manipulating the rest of my order and pulling the strings of the clan."
"…what?" Raven asked. "Salem? She's…"
"Running Those Above All," Sienna confirmed. "After Arowana's untimely, yet deserved death, she arrived and laid siege to the temple. Kestral lies dead, and Shrike put himself at great risk to update me on the situation while I was out here shadowing you and Qrow. My objective has changed, of my own volition. I am no longer among the Watchers. I am no one's pawn."
Another silence broke out within the beach house. Roman was the first to say something as he walked into the kitchen, seemingly unbothered as he headed for the fridge.
"Well, if you're happy that Arowana's dead and against Salem, then we might as well be allies standing ag-"
Roman barely had time to register what was going on as Sienna speedily set down her glass and grabbed his arm, whipping him around before slamming his chest and chin down onto the countertop. The woman held his arm up in a painful lock as she ground his cheek into the marble surface with her upper arm.
"Don't hurt him!" Kali threatened as she drew her lugers and two pairs of ethereal arms emerged from her back. "Try melting down midair bullets with your arms full you fu-"
"Everyone, calm down!" Raven ordered as she finally drew her sword and angled it down toward the ground beside herself. "Let him go! He's a dumbass, but he's not a threat!"
"…ouch," Roman said, his cheek squished against the counter. "I just wanted some juice…"
"Keep your distance," Sienna warned as she unhanded the boy and shoved him to the side. "While Arowana lost sight of our purpose, and Salem is a far greater threat than Ozpin… I have no love for him, or any of you. There will be no alliance until I know precisely where the Branwens stand, and only when the power to take action is within my reach."
"So, what, you're going to test us?" Kali asked, keeping her guns trained on Sienna as the elder feline went back to her orange juice. "Make sure we're worthy?"
"I see no need," Sienna answered without breaking eye contact with Kali. "I can see that you're not there yet from here."
"Was she always this insulting?" Roman asked as he dusted off his clothing with his hands.
"…it's a form of tough love," Raven answered. "Or at least, that's what I always told myself, since love was in short supply on the mountaintop. So… you're not here to kill me?"
"I was," Sienna confirmed. "Things change. Situations evolve. You are now an asset, if our aims truly align."
"I am no one's pawn," Raven threw back at Sienna, earning a barely perceptible smirk.
"That remains to be seen. What are you doing all the way out here, so far from… 'home'?"
"Vacation," Raven answered, keeping her best poker face on. "Part of my new path includes not working myself to death. My friends taught me that."
"…she's been struggling to relax, has she not?" Sienna asked, shifting her piercing gaze toward Taiyang. "You seem the type almost completely incapable of lying."
Taiyang opened his mouth to answer, though his nerves got the better of him.
"…your hesitance tells me all I need to know," Sienna accused as she shifted her focus back to Raven. "Have you changed at all, or simply acted upon the convictions you always had but lacked the power to enact?"
"What are you here for?" Raven asked with a tired sigh. "If you're not going to train my friends, and you're not going to give me a chance to explain why I'm allied with Ozpin, then what's your endgame? Just popping in to say 'hi'?"
"More like lording it over because she thinks she's better than us," Roman snarked.
Sienna cast her eyes to where Roman stood… only, not quite. Her condescending glance was off by enough to suggest that something was amiss as she stared at a previously unoccupied stretch of wall where a second Roman stood. Roman was the first to pick up on what was going on, and his eyes widened as he looked around the room for his target.
"Don't…!"
Before anyone else had a chance to react, Cerise was flying across the room, her arm folded in across herself as she held a dagger in a reverse grip. Just as she cleared the counter and was about to collide with Sienna, the faunus drew a kunai of her own and spun back, holding up the tool to catch Cerise's blade. The barkeep shattered into innumerable shards of some phantasmal material before appearing behind Sienna and slashing out with her dagger. The attack barely missed Sienna's neck as she dodged out of the way in another spin and flipped her kunai into a reverse grip to mirror Cerise's own. A clash of blades ensued, followed by a punch from Cerise that Sienna easily slapped away before throwing a throat strike with the ridge of her hand. Cerise ducked beneath the blow and went for a headbutt and downward stab together, hoping to score at least a single hit.
Cerise soon found her arm wrapped within a heavy chain as her forehead collided with Sienna's. The constricting links clenched hard enough to make her drop her dagger, sending the steel clattering to the floor. Cerise reeled backward, her eyes squinted as the impact backfired… only for her to receive an assist from Roman. The boy threw a punch squarely into Sienna's jaw with a meaty thwack and was met with a hard kick to the stomach for his efforts. Cerise once again shattered and reappeared behind Roman to catch him as he stumbled backward, sending them both into the wall. A pair of blasts rang out in the enclosed space as Kali finally fired at Sienna, her target clear of obstruction.
An odd crackling noise echoed within the room as Sienna held her palm out, the bullets melting down to slag and dripping onto the countertop in steaming heaps before they reached her.
"Holy shit…"
Despite her minor injury, Sienna looked more curious than angry as she glanced between the teens and the new arrival. Cerise whispered something to Roman, though none of the others caught what was said bar the former Watcher. She narrowed her eyes at the pair before once again staring at Raven with a judgmental look on her face.
"…ultimately ineffective, and several of you could have been killed in the attempt… but you had ample time to utilize your Semblance and escape. Why are you still here?"
"I have another friend up in the lookout tower," Raven explained as she tightened her grip upon Omen. "No one gets left behind… literally, or otherwise. If you won't train them… I will."
Finally, Sienna seemed to relax as she watched Cerise escort Roman around the counter and back to the group of friends. The woman shook her head and picked up her abandoned glass, draining the rest of the contents before closing her eyes.
"…I have reasons not to get involved with you further, Raven… and seeing all this only strengthens the argument to keep my distance. That being said, your 'new path' does intrigue me, if only to see where this all goes. Still, a piece is missing, large enough to prevent entertaining such a thought. Qrow."
"He's… busy," Raven said vaguely. "Busy being on vacation, at the moment. Hasn't he suffered enough that this can wait and he can get a little time in the sun?"
"It can," Sienna acknowledged. "I need to collect my thoughts, and potentially just… observe a while longer. This could end several ways, but the next step is speaking to the two of you about your next moves. Alone."
"Then for now, I want to speak to my friends. Alone," Raven emphasized. "Leave us, come back tomorrow, and we'll have it out."
"As you wish," Sienna answered before straightening up and moving to swipe her cloak from the couch. "I'll return tomorrow evening. Discuss amongst yourselves where your loyalties lie."
Sienna moved back to the base of the staircase, stopping between the collected hunters. Without a word, she kneeled down to the puddle of gold that had fused itself to the tile and touched a hand to the lumpy mass. With a creaky, straining sort of noise, Reel Talk reformed nearly as it had been before, rising up into Sienna's grip before she silently handed it to Taiyang.
"Thanks…" the boy said hesitantly. "I… did kinda need that…"
"Inform them of what's going on, if you haven't already," Sienna suggested, ignoring Taiyang.
"I will," Raven assured as she watched Sienna stride out the door as if nothing had gone awry. "…I think I need to lie down…"
"I don't think I've been breathing this entire time," Taiyang commiserated. "She's… terrifying."
"Just a touch," Cerise chimed in with a small wave toward the others. "Hi, I'm Cerise, by the way. Fox caught me up on the situation, and I honestly couldn't tell if you all wanted me to stab her or not. Gonna be honest, I'm not positive I could've anyway…"
"She melted bullets," Kali said, still dumbstruck. "I think the best move would be not to get on her bad side."
"Does she have a good one?" Roman asked. "That's a serious question."
"…I don't know," Raven answered. "I feel like I don't know anything anymore…"
Author's Note:
A new villain (?) arrives on the scene…
-RD
