Embrace of Light and Dark

by Knight of Crows

Chapter 43.

Cassiel POV

So Ghira's and Kali's reactions were pretty amusing. Both tried to explain that Sienna would never agree to speak with a human, certainly not in her home, but I had something that would catch her attention. Both recognized Adam's weapons once I unwrapped it. Ghira wanted to know why I wanted to meet with Sienna, but the only response he got from me was that I would salvage the situation. He told me it might take a few days, but I can wait while I recover.

I rejoined them at the table and listened as they tried reconnecting with Blake. Hearing her recount some of the events at Beacon before it fell, it was actually pretty funny hearing it from the outside. There was a time we were told to switch weapons for a day and I got Ruby's scythe, I knew it had a lot of kick, but I didn't think it would send me 20 ft back, I thought Ruby was combining it with her Semblance each time. Or when Coco and her team dropped Dust bombs on Cardin and his team while they were taking a dump for tormenting Velvet, what Blake didn't know was I set their beds on fire that night while they were sleeping, stole all the porn mags (and burned them), stole all the soap and shampoo, and the toilet paper for good measure. I also wrote "WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW???" on all the walls and the mirror. Good times.

The Belladonnas had a few extra sheets and an extra mattress, kind of surprising that there isn't a guest bedroom or an extra bed in a large home like this. Kali set it up herself while I helped with a few chores around the house, I needed something to do. Ghira doesn't like the idea of me sleeping in the same room as Blake, but I shut that down by saying this to him:

"I need something to lean on to get around because I'm in that much pain all over, I'm 14 while your daughter's probably turning 18 in less than 6 months, I'm not exactly comfortable with what you're thinking for reasons I won't get into, and last I checked, I'm too young to give consent, at least where I'm from. What the hell am I going to do when she's the one who for all intents and purposes would be bending ME over and making me HER bitch???"

Kali heard that and I heard her fall over on the floor, laughing for over a minute. I don't know if Blake heard that or if she reacted to it, but Ghira was at a loss for words. He tried, he tried longer than Kali laughed, but he had nothing, so he just walked away. After everyone settled down, I still needed something to pass the time, so I looked through my scroll to see if there was something to watch or play. There weren't any that really interested me, just cheap knock offs of Street Fighter, Duck Hunt, Diablo, and Warcraft, so I just stuck with chess for a bit before finding something to read and seeing if I can use magic again. I can use Cure at least, I'll try other spells tomorrow. A few chapters into the book, Kali passed by me, I paid her no mind as I continued reading until she brought over a cup of water and a medicine bottle.

"What's this for?" I asked her.

"You said you were 'in pain all over' a few hours ago, I thought you might want something to help with that before you go to sleep." She asked as she sat down. I looked out the window and saw it was night time.

"It's been that long already?" I reached for the water, it hurt a bit, but I was still able to get it and the pain killers. I set the book down. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me, think of it as me thanking you for bringing my baby girl home." She smiled.

"She asked me if I would come, I don't think I could have said 'no' to her at least, probably not the rest of the team either."

"I see..."

"Speaking of Blake, where is she? I haven't seen her since Fennec and Corsac left."

"She's up with her father right now, anything you need to talk to her about?"

"Not really, just want to ask her if she can help me practice my Semblance tomorrow. Before you say anything, using it requires nothing from me physically, I'll still be able to use it safely. Thank you for this," I gestured to the bottle. "and letting me stay." I said as I slowly got up and started walking to the stairs.

"It's the least we can do for you." She said as she took the bottle and the cup back to the kitchen. I had to go out onto the balcony and turn towards Ghira's study, I was about to knock, but what I heard made me wish I had in that moment instead of leaning against the wall and eavesdropping.

"Why?" Blake asked.

"Hmm?"

"Why would you say that?" I must have missed something.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong? What did I say?" He said softly. These walls are not very thick if I don't have to put my ear to them or the door to hear what's going on.

"How can you still love me after what I did?" I still have a similar question for my family, Blake.

"Blake..." I heard movement in the room. "Your mother and I will always love you."

"You were right." Blake sounds like she's on the verge of tears. "I shouted at you and yelled at you. But you were right. I called you cowards."

"It's okay." He tried to soothe her.

"I should have left the White Fang with you and mom. I should have listened to you and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Blake, it's fine. We never held anything against you, and I never feared you would fail. The only thing I ever feared was that you would fall down the wrong path, and I am so proud to see that you haven't."

"But I did, I was-"

"And you pulled yourself out. You came back. There aren't many who possess that kind of strength. And even fewer that have the courage to face their demons again. Vale, Mountain Glenn, Beacon. You confronted the White Fang time after time."

"I didn't do it alone."

"No, you didn't. There is no shame in that, you should be proud to have such friends." I stopped listening here. I might not lose any sleep over the pain, but this? The things I would give to hear my family say something similar to me. I couldn't hold back my own tears, I flew away not wanting to be seen like this. I'll never know if they would still love me, heaven is out of my reach, they can't possibly be in hell, purgatory and the void are definitely out, and to top it off... I'm scared of what they would say if they saw me now, if they knew what I've done. I can spit in Death's face and tell him to fuck off, but I know I wouldn't even be able to look at them with out running away. I flew a short distance and sat on top of a tree as I tried to recompose myself, one thing caught my eye, and made me go from wanting to cry my heart out in solitude to wanting to murder someone.

Really bad idea for them. If it weren't for the mask, I wouldn't have noticed, they were also holding their scroll out. White Fang stalker? I flew down to them before shooting them, but they dodged and kept jumping from tree to tree before running across some rooftops. They stopped and turned to face me, their skin changed to a normal color, making it easier to see everything I needed of her. A chameleon Faunus then? Whatever, now that I can see her more easily, I won't be missing. I stayed above her as she used her lightning Dust augmented whip-sword, but airborne targets tend to be harder to hit, even moreso when they return fire with a weapon that has an effective range further than her whip. I stayed inches out of her reach and kept dodging to make her think I might barely be in range. After a few "close calls", her skin turned red anf her hair turned yellow, she was becoming more vicious. Deciding enough was enough, I finally did something else.

"Aero." She was lauched into the air, I used a few of the wingblades to defend myself as I shot her wrist, causing her to lose the scroll, then her mask, revealing a few freckles and grey colored eyes. I'm feeling a little drained, but at least the magic didn't misfire or hurt me instead. I slammed Lionheart into her, her aura already breaking as she fell to the ground while I retrieved the still airborne scroll. Ilia was the name I got from it. She still got up and tried to fight.

"You're lucky that I'm not taking that chance despite being in a VERY bad mood, Ilia." I showed her the scroll before grazing the shoulder of the arm holding the weapon. "If you're the same Ilia, then Blake wouldn't be too happy about you dying, certainly not to me. I will be taking this though, it looks too important to leave in the hands of another murderous psychopath!" I flew back, looking through the files. With Adam out of the picture, his underlings are trying to pick up the pieces. It seems he was also plotting to overthrow Sienna, good to know... Very... Good to know. I landed outside of Ghira's study and knocked.

"One moment." I barely heard him say, there's probably still someone else in there, Blake most likely. "Come in." I slid open the door panel, Blake was in here still. "Cassiel? Do you need something?" Ghira asked. I handed him Ilia's scroll.

"I hate it that every time I'm right, it's about something bad, you'll see as soon as you look through this." I turned to Blake. "I met Ilia by the way, she was spying on us, that's her scroll I just handed your father. Now if you'll excuse me, it's too late for this, goodnight!" I left and went straight to bed. That fight, if you can even call it that, didn't exactly help with my mood. All I could do was try and fail to calm myself down. I don't know how long I was crying, long enough I suppose.

"Cassiel?" When did the door open? How long has Blake been there? "Are you okay?"

"*sniffle* I'm fine..." My voice cracked. Not doing a good job of hiding this. "Need something?" That's better.

"Cassiel, take off the mask." She demanded.

"What for?"

"Take it off."

"*sigh* No hiding it, is there?" I did what she wanted, she sat down on the mattress and wrapped her arms around me as I lost control again. Her ears shifted forward seeing me like this.

"What happened?" She asked softly.

"*sniffle* I heard some- some of wh- what Ghira said to you... The thi- things I'd give to he- hear my fam- family say that to- to me after what I- I became! Ever- everything I've d- done! And I do- I can't regret an- any of it! The last ti- time I heard any of- of them, something im- imitated their vo- voices, and it hurt! It hu- hurt so much what th- they said!" She hugged me tighter and laid my head on her shoulder as I felt something wet land on my head.

"I'm right here, just let it out." The floodgates opened, I don't remember anything else before I fell asleep besides me crying.

Author's Note:

I did trail off from Ghira's original dialogue at the end, I thought the original didn't really apply here since she didn't exactly leave like in the show.

Comments

[Mitril]

Will Sienna Khan use her semblance, not on Cassiel but generally in a fight?
Maybe Cassiel will help her fight traitors and see her in action

The more damage she's done, the stronger and faster she becomes, or something like that
A reverse Yang in a way

[Knight of Crows]

10141962
Idk, she might, depending on how I think it would/ should play out.

[Jak_12321]

I like how you made him open up, he may be mentally older but he is only 14 years old and he finally showed it. the way you do storytelling is absolutely amazing.