One's Own Darkness
While Ozpin was being interrogated by Glynda, Qrow and Raven were walking silently through Beacon. Qrow had his flask out but every time he went for a drink, he paused. Looking over to his sister as they both stopped at the fountain in Beacon's courtyard, he asked the most pressing question on his mind.
"So you banged Salem..?" Qrow asked seriously and groaned when Raven's first response was to slap his flask to the ground.
"Of course that's your first question. In my past life I did. I didn't want to rush into anything with her when we reunited in this life" Raven admitted while Qrow picked up his now spilt flask of bourbon.
"Right. So you're not working with her?" Qrow asked, despite the exasperated look Raven gave him.
"I'm not helping her destroy the Kingdoms, no. I told you all back there. I'm finding a different way. If Ozpin was right about the waters then I also have to free her of its influence too. I haven't felt anything like that. I did lose myself in anger at... something and my body changed but there are no voices in my head. Maybe it's different for me. An amplification of my negative emotions, perhaps" Raven mused as Qrow rubbed his eyes with a groan.
"You need to promise me that won't happen near the kids, Raven. I don't know if we could stop you if you were out of control" Qrow replied in a dead serious tone.
"I'd never allow it to. Being around the kids I feel far away from all those negative feelings anyway. But enough about me. Let's get a drink before we return" Qrow replied with a hum and a nod as brother and sister went to a local and quiet bar.
Taking seats, they ordered their drinks. Qrow could definitely tell Raven was going to talk about something he'd rather not and finished off his flask in a hurry.
"Well, spit it out. You're only this quiet with me when you wanna ask me something you know I don't wanna talk about. So, what is it?" Qrow spoke up after two minutes of silence.
"Tai. He isn't.. Ruby's Fath-" Qrow interrupted her by hitting the table with his flask.
His face was contorted in a grimace and he was gripping his flask hard. He took a good look at his hands and took a deep breath before speaking up again.
"Guess it wouldn't be fair to keep this secret after what you told me" Qrow muttered silently.
"Brother" Raven put her hand on his forearm and looked him in the eyes.
"Even I haven't told you everything about my past life. If this is truly a secret you want to keep, then I won't ask again" Qrow slowly nodded as Raven slowly released his arm.
"No. I do eventually want to know more about you and what you lived through. So I could at least tell you this. You know Summer and I dated once we graduated. You were with Tai.. It seemed perfect. Well, after you left, Tai was heartbroken but he had us to help him take care of Yang. Summer was pregnant and, honestly things were looking up for me, you could say. But, one day while we were watching baby Yang, my semblance kicked in and one of the house's beams fell on Summer. I almost.. I almost killed Yang and Ruby.." Qrow silently muttered before downing his drink.
"So you kept a distance from them, didn't you? You took mission after mission from Ozpin and broke up with Summer because you were terrified of hurting them with your semblance. But Summer wouldn't just give up on you.." Raven stared at her brother as he sighed.
"No.. Made it seem like I wasn't in love with her anymore. That I cheated and.. Yeah.. I hurt her but not as much as being around her and the kids would hurt her" Qrow shoved the empty glass away from him and responded.
"I'm sorry" Raven lowered her head as Qrow raised his brow.
"You had nothing to do with-"
"No. I could have- 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 been there for you. For that, I'm sorry.." Qrow slowly began to smile, though it was a smile laced with acceptance and resignation.
"I forgave you when you came back to us and explained everything. Now, let's forget all that for now and just enjoy the drinks" Qrow raised his empty glass, calling over the waitress for refills.
"As long as we don't get too drunk" Raven shrugged and joined him, getting more drinks.
-Mistrali wilds-
Esdeath had been wandering the untamed parts of Remnant and she had been wasting no time. Occasionally she would stop by small towns that weren't destroyed by the Grimm but more often than not, they had been destroyed by bandits. Something that greatly puzzled the Ex-General. One would think the Bandit tribes of Mistral would try to occupy said towns and use their population for themselves. But all Esdeath had been seeing lately were settlements filled with bodies. All of them dying to guns and blades.
Ducking down and observing the corpses of a woman and her child, Esdeath coldly snorted and beheaded a stray prowling Beringel, who had been lured in by the carnage.
"No bandits are this bloodthirsty. Something else is going on here" Esdeath muttered and put out the flames scattered across the village with her Teigu.
"On top of that, I've only seen a scant few Huntsmen out here in the wilds. I thought they were dispatched from that city.." Wondering aloud, Esdeath wandered through the village and came upon a bloodsoaked house that surely belonged to the Mayor, due to its sheer size and placement in the center of town.
Walking in, she was hit with the overbearing stench of blood. There were over a dozen bodies inside. All of them were mutilated. Esdeath's eyes widened, though not because of the bodies. She was quite used to the sight and smell already. It was the words scrawled out in blood on the wall, behind a few bodies.
"Branwen" Esdeath hummed as she took in the sight.
~The Branwen tribe? I've been looking for them. But why do this and then sign their name? Notoriety? They'll be hunted far more fiercely than the other tribes~ Esdeath then came to a realization and promptly froze the entire village as she exited the Mayor's house.
As she walked past the ruined village walls, the now frozen village crumbled away into an unrecognizable pile of rubble.
"Hmph.. trying to ruin Raven's reputation? I'll have to torture some information out of them once I find them, it seems" Esdeath sadistically smiled as she continued on her way, thrilled at the prospect of hunting down the Branwen tribe.
-A day later, Patch-
Raven woke up sometime at noon in her room with a headache and dry throat. Groaning, she slid off her bed and walked out of her room, seeing her Brother face first in the living room, being poked by a giggling Yang and Ruby. Hearing Qrow's groan managed to put a smile on her face while she grabbed a glass of water and proceeded to chug it down.
"....What did we end up doing after the twelfth drink..?" Raven asked herself, though Qrow seemed to groan out a reply.
"Yo- Urgh.. You sent that picture of me in a cat onesie Summer made me to everyone in Beacon.." Qrow rubbed his temples and sat up.
"Oh. Well that's not so-" Qrow interrupted her as he raised his index finger.
"You printed over three hundred copies and threw them all over the school.." Raven slowly nodded, seeing Qrow wasn't finished yet.
"The onesie in question? You know it had that butt flap right? Yeah, the picture showed everything.." Qrow sighed as he ran his hands down his face.
"So my Brother's bare a-butt in an embarrassing onesie is all over Beacon right now?" Raven asked with a growing smirk.
"YES, IT IS. THANKS, RAE" Qrow huffed in annoyance.
"I've been getting very angry texts from Glynda since four in the morning too.." Qrow muttered while Ruby and Yang were laughing at him.
"Payback for the picture you showed Esdeath" Raven shrugged and walked outside to the backyard.
Her smirk vanished as she looked over and saw Kimblee leaning against a tree. Taking an uneasy sigh, she walked over to him with an expectant glare.
"Relax. I'm not here to send you over. I'm here because the situation regarding that world and myself is complicated" Kimblee half smirked at her reaction to him.
"Complicated how?" Raven kept her eyes on him and asked.
"I can't simply teleport you there. I'd be destroyed. To get there, you have to use your semblance" Kimblee stated, grabbing an apple from the tree behind him.
"I can only use my semblance on those I bond with, Kimblee. I don't have any bonds on that world" Raven folded her arms and stated.
"Thanks to that nice little dip, you can. That pool of darkness bears quite the resemblance to a few things in other worlds, you see. In the world I'm having you enter it is called 'Angra Mainyu' or 'All the World's Evils'. A black, muddy water that is inside the Grail. I want you to obtain it for me in its completed form" Kimblee watched Raven's expression harden.
"This will help me kill the Brother Gods?" She asked, seeing Kimblee's toothy grin.
"Yes. It will all make sense, trust me. The world won't reject you due to how similar your own dip in the black water is to Angra Mainyu. Harness that ocean of negative feelings inside you and activate your semblance. Once you arrive there, you'll be able to return to and from there with ease" Kimblee informed her, starting to eat the apple in his hand and wait for Raven.
"I'd prefer that, actually. That way I don't need to be away from my kids and Salem for too long. Alright, I'm trying now" Raven unsheathed her odachi, Omen and closed her eyes, focusing.
After a minute, her aura flared. Red and black flames lightly licking at her skin as she opened her eyes and cut a portal in the air. The portal not being its usual crimson, was now black. Kimblee walked over and nodded with a smirk, gesturing her to go in.
"Ladies first" Raven ignored his snarky tone and walked inside.
The trip was instantaneous as they both walked through. Though something seemed wrong. Where there was supposed to be a modern city, there was what looked like Heaven on one side and an Abyss on the other. A bit away from them was a woman clad in dark armor and a visor with a soul pressuring aura of darkness wielding a sword. Her hair a dull blonde of such length that it stopped above her butt.
Raising her brow, Raven looked at Kimblee, whose expression was completely blank. His thoughts halting as he tried to understand what was going on. Raven also noticed a Blonde woman clad in light with an oddly punchable face. Humming to herself, she met the woman in black's gaze. Keeping various other thoughts to herself, she only really had one thought that trumped the others.
~Hm.. She's pretty~ Raven mused for a second then turned back to Kimblee.
"We're not getting involved here. Not the right place either. Come" Kimblee returned back through the portal, pulling Raven back in right as it closed.
Ending up back in Patch, Raven breathed a little easier and turned to Kimblee, who sported a serious expression.
"Never go back there. Not sure what will happen to you but it's safe to say it's not good. Try again" Kimblee said in finality as Raven slowly nodded.
"Mn. It was a little hard to breathe there anyway" Raven then focused once again.
~That's because your soul is absurdly powerful. Though why..? You'll understand later~ Kimblee shrugged and watched as she focused inside her.
[A/N: Shoutout to Lilith Zenon, whose fic "Take Eldritch surveys! Noted!" was cameo'd here. Hope you don't mind! Thanks for reading~]
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