Raven Returns (Rewrite)
Raven Returns
Four heroes stood in the gloomy throne room. Outside, it was perpetual night, casting the rocky chamber in a mire of darkness banished only by the candles burning in the sconces on the walls.
The chamber was bare, empty, as though it had been stripped clean in advance of their coming.
But that would have required someone to know that they were coming, and that was not a prospect that Raven wished to entertain.
Yet now that she had called it into being with a thought, she found she could not banish it.
Team STRQ stood at one end of the long room, and if they had weapons, then their weapons were ready: Omen and Harbinger were drawn in the hands of Raven and Qrow, Summer gripped Vargcrist tightly in both hands, Tai had his fists drawn back to strike. Because, at the other end of the room, standing before a simple wooden chair, was their enemy: the enemy, Salem herself. She was uglier than Raven had expected; for an adversary who could not be killed, she looked an awful lot like a corpse already.
She looked more like something Raven would expect to see floating on the surface of a lake a few days after her drowning than someone — or something — who threatened the existence of the world itself, and the lives of Raven’s friends what was more.
She looked … she looked neither worried nor surprised to see them.
"So," Salem said, her tone casual, almost idle. "Ozpin has finally decided to strike at me. And he has chosen the four of you to do it.” She smiled, a rather ugly smile. “You must be quite the talents."
"We made it this far, didn't we?" Qrow said.
Salem laughed, a bitter sound that grated upon Raven’s ears. "And yet you never stopped to ask yourselves if it wasn't perhaps a little too easy to reach this place, the very heart of my sanctum? A handful of beowolves, a single beringel outside the door? Did you think that was all the strength at my command? And here I thought Ozpin looked for brains as well as brawn in his servants."
Raven scowled. It had been easy getting in here, but no one had wanted to say that it had felt too easy because they had all wanted it to be that easy; they had all wanted this to be done quickly and simply so that they could get out of this place as quickly as possible.
She found to her frustration that her hands were trembling. She gritted her teeth and growled, "What are you saying?"
Salem’s smile had been ugly before, but it became uglier still the more pronounced her smugness became. "I'm saying that if you had been devoured on your way up here, we wouldn't be able to have this little chat, would we?"
She snapped her fingers once, and immediately, a great howl of grimm arose from beyond the chamber: the beowolves and the ursai roared, the beringels howled as they beat their chest, the nevermores shrieked, and the manticores bellowed.
It wasn't just a small number of grimm out there; it was a horde, a great host that had lain in weight for them, and Team STRQ had walked right into the trap.
Raven cursed mentally, damning Oz for putting them up to this, for putting the idea into Summer’s head. He had encouraged them to stick their heads in a beowolf’s mouth, and now, the jaws were closing.
Of the four of them, only Summer did not look afraid. Summer never seemed afraid. Her face could be kind, or it could be courageous, or it could even be angry sometimes, but Raven had never seen her afraid.
Summer took a step forward ahead of the others. "You may have an army of grimm outside, but they're out there, and we're in here … with you."
Salem looked no more fazed by that realisation than Summer seemed afraid of Salem’s grimm beyond. "You are very brave to come here. You are all so very brave. How does Ozpin acquire the loyalty of such as you? Not with the truth, surely. What has he told you about me? What has he told you about himself?"
"Enough," Summer said.
"Enough that you are willing to be his sacrifices?" Salem said. "Enough that you came here to fail and fall at his behest? And while with child too, Raven. You must be a true believer or very callous to risk the life inside you thus."
Raven gasped. How had she known that? How could Salem possibly know that? Raven had only found out a few days ago, she'd only told Tai yesterday — she had been planning to keep it a secret until after the mission because she knew that Tai and Qrow would make a fuss about her staying behind, which they had, but Summer had worked out that Raven was pregnant from the signs and insisted that telling the father was the right thing to do, and it was hard to say no to Summer Rose when she was lecturing you on right and wrong.
"I know many things," Salem replied. "For I was blessed with the power of knowledge ere magic faded from the world." She smirked. "I know you, Raven of the Branwen tribe; I see into your very heart. Deep down, you know exactly how this story ends."
"No," Raven whispered, shaking her head.
"In this world, only the strong survive, and your comrades are too weak to stand the storm."
"Raven, don't listen to her," Summer said. "Together we can—"
"Die one and all and merrily together? Yes, you can," Salem said. "Or at least you could. But even now, there is still time. Time to turn away. Time to walk away. Time to leave these fools to their fate."
Raven's breathing came in short, sharp bursts. It was true: in this world, only the strong survived, and only those who were willing to do whatever it took in defiance of all law and morality would prosper; that was the way of the world that Raven and Qrow had learnt upon the knee of their father, the chieftain of their tribe. In this world, only the strong survived, and the ruthless thrived, and Raven had marked Summer and Taiyang as weak from the moment she met them.
But then, as the days and months at Beacon had drawn on, Raven had begun to wonder if their father had been mistaken, if there were not other kinds of strength than a willingness to do anything to anyone to get ahead, strength like Summer had, a strength that came from loyalty and kindness and a heart full of courage.
A strength that came from standing together with those who believed you could be better than you were before.
Two roads. Two worlds and she between them both, walking between the candle and the dark, wielding shadow on behalf of light. That was her life, that was her role upon this team: Summer was their leader, but Raven was their protector. Raven, ruthless Raven, keen-eyed and clear-sighted Raven, strong Raven, Raven unburdened by Summer’s naivete or Tai’s civilised scruples could do what had to be done for the good of the team. Raven could be their strength where they were weak, just as they could be hers.
So she had lived, through Beacon and beyond, but now…
But now…
Raven felt, had felt for some time now, as if she were stood at a fork in the road where she would have to choose which path to take: the path of the Branwen tribe, the path of strength, the path where the strong survived and the weak left to perish; or she could take the path of Summer's friendship and Tai's love, of four hearts that beat as one, of comrades working together to overcome their weaknesses. Two paths she could not walk together, two worlds she could not straddle forever, and now Salem told her—
"Raven, snap out of it!"
Summer's words cut through the fog of Raven's self-doubt like a searchlight. Her voice was like a bugle rallying men to arms, drowning out the noises of the grimm without.
"That's enough," Summer declared. "You may think you know us, but you don't. You may say that you let us get this far, but I say we came this far together, because we're a team, a team that's already done incredible things, things that people said couldn't be done, but we did it anyway because we worked together. You may think that you know us, but you have no idea how strong our bond is. It's the ties that bind us that have got us this far, and it's those ties that will defeat you!" Summer began to roar as the brilliant silver light began to shine forth from her eyes, first in shining silver wings and then, as Summer's cry became louder still, loaded with that mixture of anger and pain that made witnessing her power both an awe-inspiring and a horrifying experience, the shining light engulfed the entire room, blinding Raven and her teammates.
It was the light that no evil could withstand. The light at the heart of Oz's plan. Although they might not be able to kill Salem, it was hoped that Summer's eyes could still trap her in stone for a few hundred years at least.
Yang stared. Raven was sitting in Ruby’s room. Raven was reading Ruby’s book. Raven was … Raven was right there.
She had no idea what colour her eyes were right now. She had no idea how she felt right now.
This was not the first time that Raven had appeared to them like this, but somehow … somehow, the fact that she was not just on the school grounds but in Ruby’s room, it … it felt different. Worse, maybe, but maybe … maybe not.
After all, this was…
Yang didn’t know how she felt. She wanted this, and yet at the same time, something drove her to take a step forward, protectively shielding Ruby with her body.
Raven’s eyebrows rose. “There’s no need for that,” she said in a tone of gentle reproach. She got up off the bed, putting the book down upon the red blanket. “Do you really think so ill of me that you believe that I would hurt Ruby? Summer’s girl? Your sister?”
“I don’t know you,” Yang said. “Remember?”
A look that was almost guilty — perhaps it was guilty; Yang didn’t know Raven well enough to read her face — fell over Raven.
“No,” she murmured. “I suppose you don’t. I acknowledge that that is my fault, but nevertheless … have I given you cause in our interactions to make you think that I would do Ruby harm?”
“No,” Ruby said, stepping around Yang. “No, you haven’t. But … what are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” Raven said. “Since I didn’t know how long Sunset would be out of town with the dolt and the little princess, I thought that I should take this chance for us to talk. Eventually, I got so bored of waiting that I decided to make myself a little supper.” She put the sandwich down upon the little desk that ran along the wall of the dorm room. “The cheese had a note on it saying it belonged to someone called ‘Bon Bon’; I’ve never been very good at paying attention to notes like that.”
“Yang,” Nora said. “Who is this, do you know her?”
For the first time, Raven appeared to notice Ren and Nora’s presence behind Yang and Ruby. She cast her red eyes over them dismissively. “Close the door on your way out.”
“Excuse me?” replied Ren sharply.
Raven turned to face them. “This is a private conversation between myself, my … between myself and Summer’s children. Your presence is neither required nor wanted.”
Nora growled. “Well, what if we don’t want to leave them alone with you?”
Raven was a tall woman. Taller than Yang, taller than Pyrrha, she towered over Nora. She began to step lightly across the room, one hand straying idly towards the hilt of her sword.
“It’s okay,” Yang said quickly. “Nora, Ren … give us a minute, okay?”
“What?” Nora exclaimed. “But Yang—”
“The answer to your question is that I do know her,” Yang said quickly, if also quietly. “She is … she’s my mother. We’re going to be okay alone, I promise.”
“I … I don’t like this,” Nora said.
I’m not sure that I like it either, but it’s for the best, Yang thought. As much as she was unsure how she felt about Raven’s dramatic appearance, she wasn’t afraid of physical harm from her.
On the other hand, she couldn’t say what Raven might do to Ren or Nora if they forced the issue.
“If you’re sure about this,” Ren murmured.
“Ren!” Nora cried.
“It’s Yang’s mother,” Ren reminded her. “If Yang and Ruby are comfortable with this, then … then we should do as she says.”
Ren ushered Nora out of the room. On Ren’s own face, there was a frown, somewhere between hostility and confusion; it was still on his face as he cast one last look at Yang before he closed the door.
He closed the door and left them alone with Raven.
“There was no need to be like that,” Yang said.
“What I have to say is for you, not them,” Raven said, turning away from Yang and Ruby. She walked back towards Pyrrha’s bed and, with one hand, reached out to brush her fingertips against the cover of The Song of Olivia. “Whose book is this?”
“It’s mine,” Ruby said, her voice trembling a little.
Raven looked at her. “Yours? How did Tai come by an antique like this?”
“It was given to me,” Ruby replied. “By a friend.”
“A generous friend,” Raven murmured. “You know that this is very valuable? Copies of this vintage are rare indeed; they can sell for—”
“It’s not for sale,” Ruby said firmly.
The corner of Raven’s lip turned upwards. “I assumed that it must belong to your Mistralian princess friend—”
“Her name is Pyrrha,” Ruby declared.
Raven gave a nod, or perhaps a bow of her head; it was hard to tell. “Pyrrha, then. Either way, her family has the history and the money that I could believe they had something like this.”
“And if it had been Pyrrha’s?” asked Yang.
“Then I would have taken it and sold it for a fine price,” Raven said bluntly. “But, as it is yours, Ruby…” — she pushed it across the duvet — “it’s safe. What do you think of it?”
“It’s … it’s a lovely story,” Ruby said. “I think it’s beautiful.”
“Even the part where Olivia gets herself and her followers killed out of pride?” Raven asked.
“The hero doesn’t have to be perfect for the story to be a good one,” Ruby pointed out.
“No,” Raven conceded. “No, I suppose she doesn’t. One might even argue that if the hero were perfect, it would be a rather boring story.”
“Please tell me you didn’t come here to talk about stories,” Yang growled.
“No, I came here because I’m very disappointed in the both of you,” Raven declared. “I’m here because despite my warnings and my instructions, you have been lazy and complacent and, in your case, Ruby, deceitful. And so I am forced to come here and tell Yang the truth—”
“I know the truth,” Yang said.
“No, you don’t,” Raven said emphatically. “You have no idea—”
“Salem,” Yang said. “Immortal, unkillable, mistress of the grimm. Relics. Gods. Am I missing anything?”
Raven was silent as her eyebrows rose. Her smile was slight, but at the same time unmistakable.
“How…?” Ruby murmured. “How do you know that?”
“Not because you told me,” Yang said, unable to prevent just a touch of bitterness from entering her voice.
Ruby cringed, clasping her hands together. “I … I was going to,” she offered, weakly. “Professor Ozpin … he made me promise not to tell.”
“Typical Oz,” Raven growled. “I’m disappointed in you, Ruby. Summer would be disappointed in you, lying and keeping secrets from your sister like this.”
“Don’t talk to Ruby like that and don’t talk about what Mom would have thought about all this!” Yang snapped. “I can be mad at Ruby; you don’t get to be mad, and you don’t get to take the moral high ground when you left!”
She could feel the flames of wrath begin to burn, her hair igniting; she could imagine it turning pale, even as her eyes turned red.
Raven raised one hand. “You … are right, of course. I have no right to chide or lecture. I apologise, and henceforth will keep my … judgement to myself. I did not come here to fight, after all.”
“How … Yang, how did you find out, about Salem and everything else?” asked Ruby.
Yang closed her eyes. “Sunset told me,” she said. “In the hospital, after you woke up and we had that fight.”
“Sunset,” Ruby murmured. “She … she didn’t tell me that. Neither did you.”
“What would have been the point?” Yang asked.
“We … we could have talked about it,” Ruby offered.
Yang couldn’t resist a snort. “If you’d wanted to talk about it, you could have told me yourself,” she pointed out.
“Professor Ozpin—”
“You don’t have to do everything that Professor Ozpin tells you!” Yang snapped.
Ruby flinched. “I mean, I … I kinda do. That’s what it means to work for someone.”
Yang stared at Ruby. She glared at Ruby. Then a little laugh, a little sighing laugh in which exasperation mingled with amusement, escaped her lips. “Okay, you’ve got me there, Rubes.”
“I’m sorry,” Ruby murmured. “I should have insisted to Professor Ozpin that you could be trusted, that you weren’t like Raven—”
“Excuse me?” Raven asked.
Ruby let out a little squeak of alarm. “I mean, um—”
“Ozpin didn’t want me to know any of this because he’s afraid I’ll do what you did and run away,” Yang said.
“Is that all you think I am?” Raven asked. “A deserter? Someone who ran away?”
“Isn’t that what you are?” replied Yang.
Raven sat down on Pyrrha’s bed and gestured to Jaune’s bed opposite. “Sit down,” she demanded.
Yang and Ruby exchanged glances. They hesitated for a moment, before Ruby took a tentative step forwards. Of course, once she had done that, then Yang had very little choice left but to follow, and they both ended up sitting down upon Jaune’s bed, opposite and facing Raven.
Raven was silent for a moment, looking at the two girls but saying nothing, her red eyes switching from Yang to Ruby and then back again.
“I told you not to trust Ozpin,” she said. “I told you, both of you. I warned you, I told you to keep reading—”
“We did,” Ruby said.
“Not enough!” Raven said sharply. “And here you are, eating out of the palm of Ozpin’s hand.”
“I’m defending humanity,” Ruby declared.
Raven almost smiled. “You sound like your mother when you say things like that.”
“I take that a compliment.”
“You should,” Raven replied. “It was intended as such, for the most part, although … you should also ask yourself where your mother is now. Following Ozpin led her to an early grave; it pains me to see you walking the exact same road.”
“Well it wouldn’t pain Mom!” Ruby cried. “Because Mom understood that—”
“Summer understood nothing!” Raven snapped. “Nothing at all; she was … naïve and foolish and…” She made a sort of choking sound. “And brave. She was so very brave. Too brave, by far. A surfeit of courage and a lack of sense is a deadly combination.”
“Is that what you think you did?” Yang asked. “The sensible thing?”
“This isn’t about me,” Raven replied.
“Isn’t it?” replied Yang. “I think that this is all about you.”
Raven did not answer. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on Ruby. “Why?” she asked.
Ruby blinked. “Why … what?”
“Why fight?” Raven asked. “Why give yourself over to Ozpin’s service, why risk your life knowing what you’re up against, knowing that final victory is impossible?”
“To protect the world,” Ruby said, “to protect all the people who live in it.”
“'The people,'” Raven repeated. “The people,” she said, loading the word with contempt. “And who are these people, whose lives are worth the sacrifice of Summer Rose, of Summer’s child? What are the people worth, that Summer should die and you should walk so bravely to your death for their sake and their protection?”
“They’re…” Ruby hesitated for a moment. “They’re … people.”
“Racist people,” Raven said. “Venal people. Cruel people. People who would not, themselves, lift a finger to help anyone else, let alone risk their lives for them. People who mistreat those weaker than them — and almost all people mistreat those weaker than themselves; it is the way of the world. For this is a cruel world. A world where only the strong survive unless they have the protection of those who are stronger than them. A world where … a world that consumes the good, the excellent, like Summer, and leaves behind the callous, the cowardly, the indolent; there are dead dogs lying by the side of the road that are worth more than ‘people.’ A thousand people, a thousand thousand people were not worth Summer’s life!” Raven closed her eyes and bowed her head, and her whole body shuddered. “And they are not worth yours.”
Ruby was silent for a moment. Yang looked at her and was surprised to see not the expected condemnation in Ruby’s eyes, not indignation at how Raven could say such a thing. Instead … instead, in the water that gathered before Ruby’s eyes of silver as though she might cry, Yang saw pity.
“I disagree,” Ruby said, her voice soft and a little hoarse. “And I’m sorry that you feel the way that you do. I can’t imagine what made you feel that way.”
“No,” Raven murmured. “You cannot.” She looked up. “I have seen more of the world than you,” she declared. “Even when I was younger, when Summer and I and Tai and Qrow were young, I had seen more of the world than she had—”
“Mom had seen plenty,” Ruby replied. “She grew up outside the kingdoms, she almost got mugged on her first day in Vale—”
“Wait,” Yang said, “she did?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell you about it later—”
“How do you know that?” Yang demanded. “Why don’t I know that? It’s bad enough that you didn’t tell me about Salem, but now you’re keeping secrets about Mom, too?”
“Did Ozpin tell you that story?” Raven asked.
Ruby nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, he did.”
“When?” Yang asked, forcefully.
“On the day that Jaune and Pyrrha left for Jaune’s home,” Ruby admitted.
“You talked about Mom, and … and you didn’t—”
“We talked a lot about Salem,” Ruby explained. “And I didn’t … know that you knew about that.”
“How much did he tell you?” asked Raven.
“He told me about where Mom came from,” Ruby said. “How she got to Vale. How you guys all formed Team Stark.”
“Yes,” Raven murmured. “Team Stark.” She glanced over her shoulder towards Ruby’s bed and the wall beyond. “I had ample chance to look around, and I see that you found the marks we made on the wall.”
“Yeah,” Ruby said. “We made our own. I hope that’s okay.”
Raven raised one eyebrow. “You hope that’s okay?” She blinked. “You seem to have mistaken me for someone involved with this school.”
“Well, I didn’t want you to think that we were trying to steal your thunder,” Ruby murmured.
Raven stared at her.
“Okay, that sounded stupid, didn’t it?” Ruby asked.
Raven gave a slight nod of her head.
Ruby groaned slightly.
“If it helps, I thought that it was…” Raven trailed off. “I shouldn’t really use this word for the sake of my reputation, but it was … rather sweet. Unless you meant to signal your intent to surpass us, in which case … I would have wished you luck, had the circumstances been better.”
“Professor Ozpin told me that he wished he’d made you the leader of the team,” Ruby informed her.
“Oz said what?” Raven demanded.
“He said—”
“I heard you the first time,” Raven said sharply. She fell silent for a few seconds, actually for more than a few seconds, Ruby counted in her head up to about ten before Raven spoke again. “That old … damn him.”
“You don’t sound too happy about it,” Yang observed.
“It is an insult to Summer,” Raven declared. “Who was a fine leader by the way, and don’t let Ozpin or anyone else tell you otherwise. She was … I could not have led the team, I did not have that skill, that way of winning hearts that Summer had, I could not have led by inspiration as she did. Summer was … Summer was our only leader. The only one who could have been our leader.” She paused again, before she asked. “Did he say why?”
“Because Mom was … because you were more cautious than Mom was,” Ruby said. “Because you wanted to keep everyone safe.”
“Oh, now he pretends to care for the safety of those who serve him, who die for him,” Raven said. “And yet he would still throw you into the same flames which consumed Summer? Hypocritical old bastard.”
“I think,” Ruby ventured, “that it’s because he has to throw us into the fire that he wishes that he’d chosen someone … someone more like you to be the leader of the team that … that went into the fire. That … that’s why he made Sunset our team leader, instead of me.”
“He said that?” Yang asked.
“I asked him,” Ruby explained. “I asked him why he hadn’t made me a team leader, when he’d made Mom one.”
“Does it bother you?” asked Raven. “Do you covet the honour? Do you resent Sunset for possessing it? I’d offer to give you a second bite at the apple, but if Sunset is cautious and will keep you alive, then perhaps it is better that she, too, stay alive.”
“I don’t want you to kill her!” Ruby exclaimed. “Why … why would you even say something like that? What kind of person offers to … to murder someone so that I could step into their shoes?”
“You’re the only one who said anything about murder,” Raven pointed out.
“I…” Ruby abruptly realised that Raven had been right. “Well … well what did you mean, then?”
“What else did Ozpin tell you?” asked Raven, changing the subject.
Yang noticed that Raven had not answered Ruby’s question, but didn’t care to point it out. She, too, wanted to know what else had passed between Ruby and the headmaster.”
“He told me about Ozpin’s Stand,” Ruby said. “And he told me about how he asked the four of you to come and serve him, the same way that he asked us. And he told me … he told me that the four of you tried to turn Salem to stone.”
“What?” Yang gasped. “You … but I thought Salem couldn’t be killed.”
“That was why the plan wasn’t to kill her,” Raven explained. “But to petrify her, using Summer’s silver eyes to … the exact ‘what’ of what was meant to happen to Salem was up in the air, whether she would be transformed into stone or simply encased in stone, either way, she’d be alive but trapped, paralysed, unable to move, speak, act, do anything. Summer’s eyes, your eyes, Ruby, have that power, you see, not just to destroy grimm—”
“But to turn them into stone,” Ruby said. “But … but it didn’t work on Salem, did it?”
“No,” Raven said, with a sigh. “No, it didn’t.”
The silver light faded, and darkness thinly dispersed by candle light returned to dominate the chamber. Summer was on her hands and knees, gasping, panting for breath. That almost never happened to her anymore, Raven thought as she knelt down beside her; normally, Summer could use the eyes without exhausting herself; she must have really hit Salem with everything she had.
The laughter from the other end of the room told her that it hadn't been enough.
"Is that all there is?" Salem asked in a tongue thick with mockery. "Was that your plan? Is there nothing else?"
No one replied. Qrow and Tai were staring at Salem in horror, while Raven's eyes flickered between the two ends of the room. One side stood the demon, strong and tall and unaffected by the power that Raven had seen turn grimm to stone or worse by hordes and multitudes. On the other side knelt Summer, sweet Summer, smiling Summer, kind Summer, kneeling, beaten and crushed before the power of their enemy.
This was a world where only the strong survived.
"That's not possible," Tai whispered.
Summer's eyes were closed, and in between gasping breaths, she winced in pain. "I'm sorry," she whimpered, though so softly that Raven couldn't be certain that anyone heard but her.
"Such a gift you have, Summer," Salem said. "I marvel at it anew each time I witness it." She snapped her fingers once again. "Save the silver eyed warrior. Kill the others."
The howling and the roaring and the shrieking of the grimm without rose to new heights of volume and intensity; Raven could hear footsteps pounding down the corridor outside as the beringels bellowed in their bloodlust.
Raven grabbed Summer's arm and draped it over her shoulder. "I'm guessing you're not up to another flash?"
Summer could barely keep hold of her weapon. It hung useless in her trembling. "I’m afraid not. Sorry."
"It's okay," Raven said. "It’s all going to be okay. I've got you.” Oz had got them into this, Summer had led them into this, but she, Raven, would get them out again. That was what she did: she kept them alive. And she already had a plan. “Qrow, get back to the Bullhead."
"What?" Qrow said. "I can't just—”
"Get back to the Bullhead," Raven snapped, impatient with his denseness. Wasn’t it obvious what she intended? "We'll follow."
Realisation dawned upon his face. About time. "Right. I'll be as fast as I can."
"You'd better," Raven muttered. "Tai, make a hole." Salem seemed content to leave it to her grimm to prevent their escape. She watched them from the back of the room as though she were grading their efforts. Like Ozpin — a surge of anger shot through Raven at the thought of him — she used others as her weapons without sullying her own hands with combat. They could only hope that it would stay that way.
The doors behind them burst open to reveal a half-dozen beringels, and more a little further behind. But Qrow was already moving, shooting the first one twice in the face with Harbinger before he leapt. A beringel grabbed for him, massive fingers closing around where his midriff would have been, but the red-eyed crow that he had become merely slipped through the monster's grip and flew away. Tai took advantage of the distraction of the grimm to throw it over his shoulder and punch it so hard that its head disintegrated.
Arms, a host of arms as long as serpents, devoid of visible bodies, emerged from out of the floor to reach with two-fingered hands for Raven and Summer. Raven slashed at them with her sword as she inched towards the door, following the path that Taiyang was clearing through the beringels.
Raven could only hope that Qrow's bad luck didn't make things even worse for them, for surely, they had had enough bad luck today already.
“My semblance allows me to create portals,” Raven said. “I, and others, can use them to move between locations—”
“Is that how you keep showing up here?” Yang asked.
“It is,” Raven said. “I can open a portal to anyone I care about, and so, I can find you.”
Yang wasn’t sure if she ought to be touched by that or not.
She was kind of touched by it. Kind of.
“That’s … nice,” she murmured. “It would have been nicer if you’d stuck around, but still … that’s nice.”
“If I had stuck around, then Ruby wouldn’t be here, would she?” Raven pointed out.
Yang didn’t reply. Ruby said, “So you used a portal to get out?”
“I sent Qrow on ahead to get to our airship, then used a portal to get Summer, Tai, and myself back there too,” Raven explained. “Then we managed to make it to Ironwood’s warship waiting for us offshore.” She paused for a moment. “Summer hit Salem with her very best shot, and Salem … Salem didn’t even flinch. Summer gave it everything she had, everything. And it didn’t matter. It didn’t do a thing.”
“So?” Ruby asked.
“So?” Raven repeated. “So … so what? Haven’t you been listening?”
“Yes,” Ruby said. “I have. And I know that … well, I don’t know, but I guess that it was hard for you, disappointing—”
“'Disappointing' is putting it mildly,” Raven said. “I thought … I thought this would work. We all thought that it would work: Summer, Oz, but I blame myself the most because I—”
“Was the protector,” Ruby murmured. “You’re the one who should have seen it coming.”
“I’m the one who should have seen Oz’s plan for the nonsense it was,” Raven said. “Instead … instead, I let myself get swept up in the grandeur of it all, let myself get carried away by Summer’s enthusiasm … no, not Summer’s enthusiasm; I can’t blame her for this, not when … I let myself get swept up in the idea that we could end the war, that I wouldn’t have to watch it consume the people that I cared about, that we could live … happily ever after.”
“I’m sorry,” Ruby said. “I really am sorry.”
Raven blinked. “From you,” she said, “from Summer’s girl, I can … I can almost believe that.”
“But just because it didn’t work doesn’t mean you had to leave,” Ruby insisted. “You could have stayed, you could have fought, you could have—”
“Watched Summer die?” Raven asked. “Watched Tai die?” She shook her head. “There are many kinds of courage, Ruby Rose, and courage on the battlefield is only one of them. Summer … Summer had every kind of courage, but I … I have less than she did.”
“Raven, please!”
“Don’t try and stop me, Summer; I’ve made up my mind.”
“I’m not trying to stop you,” Summer cried. “I’m asking you, please, reconsider.” She paused. “Don’t do this.”
Raven turned back, looking at her through the trees. It was winter now, and the trees themselves were leafless, barren, their branches like arms, their twigs like twisted fingers reaching out. A light covering of snow lay on the ground, and it crunched beneath Raven’s feet as she walked a couple of steps back towards Summer.
“What should I do else?” Raven asked.
“What you’ve always done,” Summer replied, her voice soft and yet carrying through the night. “Fight with us.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“At the end of the day, everything we do as huntresses boils down to that one simple fact.”
“Nothing about this fight is simple!” Raven yelled. “It never was, and it certainly hasn’t been since we got back from … from facing her.”
Summer was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Raven stared at her for a moment. “This … you’ve got nothing to apologise for.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t; Ozpin—”
“Ozpin asked if I thought I could do it, and I told him that I could,” Summer insisted. “I should have … I should never have gotten your hopes up, any of you, including Professor Ozpin.” She paused. “There never was much hope. Just a fool’s hope. I shouldn’t have made you think otherwise.”
“That’s not on you.”
“You’re hard on Professor Ozpin.”
“Professor Ozpin is the reason we’re in this situation.”
“Salem would still be out there, whether we knew it or not,” Summer reminded her. “Isn’t it better that we know?”
“What’s the point when we can’t do anything with what we know?” Raven shot back. “If knowledge brings nothing but fear and dread, then I would sooner live in ignorance with the rest of the befuddled multitude. But that’s not possible anymore, is it?”
“No,” Summer said, shaking her head. “No, that … that’s all gone now. All that’s left to decide is what we’re going to do with what we know.”
Raven closed her eyes. “I am not a coward,” she said, not sounding entirely convincing upon that point.
“I know,” Summer said. “I’ve never said otherwise.”
“I am … I would give my life for you, for Tai, even for Qrow, for all that he drives me insane sometimes,” Raven said. She wiped at her eyes with the fingers of one hand. “But you … when you ask me to stay and fight, you’re asking me to watch you die. And that … I don’t have that kind of courage. I can’t protect you from this if you insist on putting yourselves in harm’s way, and if I can’t protect you … I’m sorry, Summer, I can’t do this. I can’t watch you do this. I love you too much. I’m sorry.”
Summer was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry too,” she whispered. “Where … where will you go?”
“Back to the tribe,” Raven said. “It’s not much … in fact, it’s pretty awful, I must admit, but … but it’s the only place I have.” She turned away, but glanced back at Summer nevertheless. “Take care of Tai and Yang.”
“You … you’re not taking—”
“The Branwen tribe is no place for a baby,” Raven said. “Better that she should stay here, with her father who loves her and…”
Summer hesitated. “And…”
“I have stolen,” Raven said. “I have killed men, I have stood by and watched others kill men, but the act that haunts my conscience … will probably be this, once I have gone and done it, but right now, the act that haunts my conscience most is that I came between you and Tai. I knew you liked him. I thought it was absurd the way that you didn’t do anything about it; you just stood there and looked at his back with those big eyes of yours, but I … I should have left well enough alone, I shouldn’t have—”
“Shouldn’t have said yes when he asked you out?” Summer asked. “Shouldn’t have fallen in love with him? Tai … Tai didn’t belong to me, and … and the fact that he saw you instead of me is … is not your fault.”
“You won’t have me to compete with anymore,” Raven said.
“I don’t want you to go!” Summer cried. “I want you to stay, with Tai, with Yang, with me.”
“To what end?” Raven demanded.
“To our happiness,” Summer said. “While we have it.”
Raven turned her back on her. “I’m sorry, Summer,” she said, “but that’s not enough to hold me. Not… not when set against the pain of when that happiness eventually ends. Goodbye.”
“Death is the end of this road,” Raven declared. “Death or flight, like myself, or your father.”
“Dad hasn’t run away,” Yang said.
“Yes,” Raven said, “he has. I don’t begrudge him that — in fact, I think he made the right decision to stay and take care of you both — but he isn’t better than me for flying to a cottage instead of … it doesn’t make him better than me.” She paused for a moment. “There will come a time, a time that may come much sooner than you imagine, when it will hit your friends like a truck: just what you’ve gotten yourself into, just how hopeless it is, how pointless it is—”
“It isn’t pointless!” Ruby declared.
“Can you guarantee that they’ll see it the same way?” Raven asked. “Sunset, Pyrrha … the other one?”
“Jaune.”
“Jaune, yes, thank you,” Raven said. “Can you really say for certain that they will all agree with you, that their wills won’t falter, that they won’t look at one another and think that they would rather live their lives than give them in this endless futile war?”
“No,” Ruby said firmly. “I mean yes, I mean … I mean they won’t…” Ruby trailed off.
If she wasn’t certain, if she couldn’t defy Raven’s predictions absolutely, then … then Yang couldn’t blame her for that. Sunset had denied that she would do what Raven had, she had promised that she wasn’t going to run, but then she’d disappeared for a bit. And yes, she’d come back a few days later with an explanation about a solo mission and Equestrian magic and apparently two Atlesian students had been with her to prove that it wasn’t a gigantic pile of BS that she’d just made up to explain running away and then growing a conscience, but still … Yang was grateful to Sunset for telling her the truth when Ruby wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean she trusted her.
And as for Jaune and Pyrrha … they were so sweet, it was rotting Yang’s teeth, but if they were to decide that they would rather spend their lives together than give them in this war, then Yang didn’t think she’d be able to blame them.
She didn’t think Ruby would be able to blame them either.
“I don’t know what my friends will do,” Ruby said. “And I can’t control them. I can only decide what I can do. And I’ve decided that I’m going to fight this fight as best I can for as long as I can, like Mom.”
“Even to your end?” Raven asked.
“If that’s what it takes,” Ruby whispered.
Raven sighed. “Ozpin is not worthy of the courage of those who serve him,” she declared.
“Professor Ozpin is defending humanity,” Ruby said. “What could be more worthy than that?”
“He could inform his warriors of everything, instead of dispensing knowledge according to his own designs,” Raven said. “Yang, you asked me if you had left anything out, and you had, the Four Maidens—”
The dorm room door opened violently, slamming into the wall with a thunderous crack.
Professor Goodwitch strode through the open doorway, her cape swaying side to side behind her, her riding crop gripped tightly in her hand.
Her green eyes blazed as she glared at Raven.
Her voice, when she spoke, was clipped and sharp. “Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long,” she said. “Get behind me, immediately.”
Yang looked at her. Behind her, in the doorway, she could see Ren and Nora peering in.
She guessed that they had called Professor Goodwitch after Raven kicked them out.
Thanks for caring, guys, even if I’m not sure how grateful I am right now.
“Professor—” Ruby began.
“Now!” Professor Goodwitch snapped.
Yang and Ruby scrambled over the bed, putting it between themselves and Raven, before making their way behind Professor Goodwitch; while they might not agree that Raven was dangerous to them, they didn’t want to get on Professor Goodwitch’s bad side when she was in a mood like this.
Raven got to her feet, walking away from Yang and Ruby. “Glynda,” she said softly.
“In this place, Miss Branwen, you call me Professor,” Professor Goodwitch said.
Raven smirked. “People don’t talk to me like that very often these days, Professor,” she said. “It’s … a little refreshing. Should we be expecting Oz to join us?”
“Professor Ozpin feels sorry for you,” Professor Goodwitch said. “He feels guilty—”
“And so he should,” Raven replied.
“I, on the other hand, do not,” Professor Goodwitch said. “And I am quite capable of evicting you from the grounds.”
“I’m not the arrogant first-year student who thought that she could take you on, Professor,” Raven said.
“Try me, Miss Branwen, and I will show you how much you still have to learn,” Professor Goodwitch said.
Raven chuckled. “Then it’s lucky for me that I didn’t come here to fight, isn’t it, Professor?” She walked to the window and opened it. She glanced back at Yang. “Ruby’s choice doesn’t have to be yours, Yang,” she said. “You don’t have to get involved, especially when you’re not wanted. You can still do what’s best for yourself.”
“And what about my family?” Yang demanded.
“What kind of family keeps the truth about your mother from you?” Raven asked.
Ruby opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Raven had leapt out of the window.
Nora gasped.
“She’ll be alright,” Professor Goodwitch said. “Unfortunately. She will also be gone from here by now.” She turned around. “Miss Valkyrie, Mister Ren, will you give me a moment with Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose?”
“But—” Nora began.
“I am grateful to you for informing me of the presence of that reprobate,” Professor Goodwitch said, “but there are some things that must be discussed privately.”
Nora groaned and muttered something about ‘again,’ but they did close the door.
Professor Goodwitch clasped her riding crop behind her back. Her voice was softer as she said, “Miss Xiao Long … I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you. I’m sorry that I have to ask this, but—”
“It’s alright, Professor,” Yang said. “She didn’t tell me anything that I didn’t already know.”
Professor Goodwitch stared at her, eyes narrowing.
Yang stared right back. “That’s right, Professor,” she said. “I know.”
Professor Goodwitch’s chest rose and fell. “I see,” she murmured. “I think that you had better come to my office, Miss Xiao Long.”
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Once again, fuck you Raven.
Geez, I think you somehow managed to make Raven even more unlikable than she was in the show. Great chapter.
Raven is so short-sighted and stupid that I - I don't even know where to begin. Good riddance.
Raven blames the world and especially Ozpin for losing Summer, but in the end she forgets that Summer, Crow and Tai chose to do what they did without being brainwashed out of their own free will. They decided to fight the impossible fight, despite the gnawing feeling, in the back of their heads, that it could be all for nothing. Raven behaves like a child who lashes out at everything and everyone who still believes that the world can change, because she simply gave up.
I wonder how Sunset will approach this situation. She was pretty much ready to sacrifice all of Vale for her friends without a second thought, so she isn't above sabotaging Ozpin's fight either, should it endanger them too much. I don't think that she ends up like Raven, but Sunset is certainly ambitious enough to follow her own agenda, no matter what other parties want.
Part of me wonders if Raven will try her sepal with Sunset Shimmer someday. Sunset has seen the gritter side of things, and might be more open to at least seeing Raven's side. Granted, I know she would never consider it, being a bandit, but I'm sure she would see how people would make the choice she did. Even to the point of seeing herself taking that side, if things had ended up different.
I still wonder where Remnant Sunset is. Part of me thought/theorized she's one of Sienna Khans personal guards. But I think if that was the case, a reaction would have been shown by now.
For the future, I wonder if Merlot will get his hands on some of Sunset's DNA. Hair or the like. I wonder if that will show that Sunset is not the Faunus she seems to be.
I think the difference between Raven and her former teammates is that Raven seems to have let the weight of everything break her. She had a chance to see the world differently through Summer and Taiyang, and for a time she did. But Ozpin's secret futile war against Salem made her revert. Yang I think, was the real star of this chapter. Seeing her struggle with her own actions and personality and desperately try to reconcile them so she can still consider herself different from her mother. Her desire to prove Raven wrong and stand by Ruby's side, while also sharing (to an extent) Raven's distrust of all the secrecy that comes from Ozpin's inner circle.
What is Raven on, Salem is a bombshell
Wow I think Raven has a severe case of PTSD
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Adam's not going to be doing much of anything anymore, you should reread the Mountain Glen arc of this story.
The difference between Raven and Sunset is that Sunset believes that friendship and harmony can do magic, because her culture tells her this is so.
She didn't quite believe it. Now that she has friends she will cling to that belief, something Raven never could.
Still, if she is told this story, about how trapping the BBEG in stone was the plan. Well, she knows of six artifacts that can do just that to something much, much more powerful than Salem. Sunset already expressed worry she might try to Twi. This might really make it happen.
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...right. forgot. I'll edit...
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Adam is dead
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already corrected my lapse of memory.
Wow.
Qrow's missing out on a lot.
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Qrow comes back
Orow: AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN USE THE SEND BUTTON !? WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED THAT THE ENEMY HAS INFILTRATED BEACON ? WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED THAT RUBY IS NOW IN THE KNOW ? WHY WAS I NOT RECALED BACK TO BEACON SOONER !?
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Both his neices know about the greater fight, they've had a few run ins with Cinder, Raven of all people shows up to tell them about Team STRQ's story, Raven *apparently* has the Spring Maiden, there was a major attack on Vale that SAPR helped to foil, Ruby activated her silver eyes and they're also about to head out to stop Dr. Merlot.
Annnnd their team leader is a magical pony.
Crap crap crap crap crap crap. Silver Eyes can't be the Elements of Harmony and Salem can't be Discord. I guess we need the real Elements of Harmony.
“Bail”
Hehe.
Also, man fuck Raven! In volume 5 i put up with her and was like “i get it but god damn women!”
Raven is quite the shameful hypocrite. She accuses Ozpin of withholding need-to-know information when recruiting people, of being unworthy of service. And Raven assumes herself to be his moral superior in these regards while simultaneously doing exactly the same thing? Such as proclaiming that people are not worth defending because they are wretched people… when she is fully aware (and proudly so) that she perfectly fits the very definition she outlines?
Tai didn’t run away or desert. He retired peacefully to raise his family, and is still an instructor at Signal Academy. Which is far better than Raven’s idea of going back to a tribe that attacks innocent and defenseless people.
What irony. Raven’s very definition of weak means that the very people her tribe rapes, pillages and murders (at her command) are incapable of oppressing others. To take what she wants from those who have so little and then justifies it by waving around the badge of her power. She’s no different than Jacques Schnee.
Ruby should just tell Yang everything. Don't keep secrets!
I enjoyed the rewrite version of this. Raven's semblance also explains how they escaped. Though I still think Salem let them run.
Not only do I feel like Sunset and Raven could sit down and have a pleasant time talking over tea... or alcohol. You know, whatever.
Also I can't help but view both of them as the emotional kin of
Because there is something deeply Sunset and Raven about the sentence "The forces of Good and Happiness... and their driver'.