[AN: Long-a.s.s chapter. Excuses and clarifications are at the end.]Third Person POV
*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*
The cacophony of clashing steel echoed around the forest.
2 figures of men, one a human and the other a faunus, can be seen exchanging attacks with movements akin to dancing. IF parrying and blocking counts as attacks.
They"ve been fighting for about 10 minutes right now and both were wondering, where the h.e.l.l are the reinforcements?!
The human had long unkempt white hair that almost looks like it"s transparent; an aqua blue eye to his left socket and a beautiful ruby red in his right eye socket. He had a rather slim yet tall figure accompanied with a rather dashing face that looked rather feminine. He wore a white tank top, blue plaid b.u.t.ton shirt, black jeans, and white tennis shoes. Despite the rather "commoner-esque" look, Reagan still looks amazing. He currently had sweat pouring down his tired and annoyed face, which can be seen by his slightly droopy eyes, and him being slightly overwhelmed by a kid that"s around his early teens. This is Reagan Schnee, the "defective Schnee".
(AN: Think of Karna from Nasuverse, except a complete personality and wardrobe switch.)
*CLANG*
They were locked into a struggle, with their blades releasing sparks from the grinding.
Reagan: "Heyyyy there, buddy. You know, we can talk this out. Going mano e mano ain"t exactly a fitting action right now. We can —"
???: "Silence, you murderer!"
The young faunus had red hair and a bull"s horns as his faunus trait. He wore the standard white and black WF uniform with the new logo printed on the back, except he didn"t pull the hoodie over his head. He also wears a mask that covers above his nose, which looks like the mask of a grimm. The boy used a custom-made katana instead of the standard issue weaponry, which symbolizes his rank being higher than the goons Reagan faced earlier. The blade of the katana was dyed red like a rose, while the sheath also had a trigger mechanism.
The boy deflected Reagan"s sword using his sheathed katana and landed a solid hit in his gut using the sheath"s firing mechanism to launch the sword.
*THWACK*
Reagan: "Ow!"
Alas, half of the supposed damage was shirked off by Reagan via redirecting some of the damage by twisting his body sideways; a perfect usage of his semblance to "slow down" time and a.n.a.lyzing the information gathered in battle.
Reagan"s semblance works perfectly as a radar. It gathers the data of the terrain within a maximum range of 500 meters. The data"s scope is the minute details ranging from the terrain and other beings, with or without a soul. The mental and physical strain increase as the details gathered gets more and more complex. Reagan usually uses very detailed information gathering for scouting purposes in one direction.
In battles though, he shrinks the scope to within at least 10 meters. That way, he could gather the information faster, and the strain for details wouldn"t be that taxing. Usually though, he forgoes the colors, only perceiving the information white outlined black figures for less strain and a faster brain processing speed. Hence, the "slowing down" of time.
Incidentally, he unlocked his semblance through the shameful act of trying to see his sister Winter naked in the bathtub when he was 15. It was due to the shocking disappointment he got when Winter discovered the hidden camera that he hid that the semblance manifested. He later got beat up by her though, along with a scolding from an adorable 5-year old Weiss. He totally did not think of gentlemanly thoughts of what he would do with her once she was all grown up in the duration of the scolding. Nope. Not at all.
Because of him not having the Schnee family semblance though, his situation got... even tougher, both in public and private. His supposed "teammates", most of the servants in the house, his father obviously, heck even the little f*ck Whitney possessed quite the disdain for him. If only the little brother didn"t get seduced by political and monetary power, Reagan would"ve had a bro-con disease too.
...
???: "You beasts in man"s clothing! You think that faunus are only animals, and yet mankind is the true monsters! You lie, you cheat, you r*pe, you murder, without any conscience!"
Reagan: "Whoah whoah whoah! hold your horses there buddy, you think only humans do that? What kind of narrow-minded bulls.h.i.t do the current white fang cram into their recruits? Or is someone not taking their anti-delusional pills? Cause you look like you"re chuunier than me."
???: "STOP MOCKING ME AND THE FANG!"
*CLANG*
Reagan mumbled,
Reagan: "I only mocked you though..."
The young faunus flared up in rage once again.
???: "ALL YOUR KIND HAS DONE TO THE FAUNUS PEOPLE IS TO ENSLAVE AND LOOK DOWN UPON US! YOU CAN JUST BRING YOUR FOOLISH TREAT! ESPECIALLY SCHNEES LIKE YOU! I BET THAT LITTLE GIRL ABUSES MY KIND JUST AS MUCH AS YOU, a.s.sHOLE!!!"
The moment that the faunus said that, he could feel sudden chills running up from his spine. Gazing at Reagan"s face, the boy could see his handsome face—another one of Reagan"s few redeeming factors—turning into one that is awfully frightening.
Reagan: "Okay, THAT"S IT! You may diss that piece of s.h.i.t dubbed as my dad, maybe even the rest of the human race and even lil" ol me, but never. I mean NEVER. EVER. f.u.c.kING BAD MOUTH MY SISTERS YOU LITTLE s.h.i.t!!!
Fueled by the rage of his own reverse scale being touched, Reagan stepped up his game, fighting back with vigor as he launched his own swings powered by brute force and a skillful display in the usage of sword/sub-machine gun weapon he was forced to use by the military, appropriately dubbed as Winterfall. (HA HA Game Of Thrones Reference, now scram!)
Reagan lamented his agreement of using this mech-shift weapon, as he abandoned his "beloved" mother"s heirloom spear, Vasavi Shakti. The long shaft, the thick head, the unbelievable sharpness paired with the powerful Dust beams powered directly by a Dust crystal that shoots from the tip!
*Cough* *Cough* The weapon description is totally not a d*ck joke!
"Hate the owner, not the tool, as they said." He thought. The mother might be irresponsible, but the spear is innocent.
...
The faunus grunted, as he slowly got pushed back. Reagan hacked and slashed with ruthlessness, as he fought fiercer than ever!
The faunus retaliated, striving to compete against the enemy in front of him that seemingly turned from a diplomatic psycho to full-on demon.
Unfortunately for him, Reagan was going all out in his attacks. Shooting off some lightning dust bullets in between strikes, Reagan kept pressuring the faunus, till an opening was finally shown. Of course, Reagan would take the chance to kill this b.l.o.o.d.y heathen. He stabbed towards the faunus" side, intending to gut him like a fish.
Indignance was overwhelming the young faunus, as he unconsciously pulled out an unknown force within his soul, as his hair glowed an even bloodier shade of red and released a flying red blade of aura towards Reagan.
Reagan panicked from the unexpected emergence of his semblance, as he hastily blocked it with his sword.
*BANG*
A loud bang resounded, as the faunus" semblance clashed with Winterfall. The weapon creaked, as it fell from the might of the young faunus" semblance. Clicking his tongue, Reagan twisted his body at the last second so at least only an arm would be cut off if his aura can"t handle the damage.
Luckily, the force of the semblance weakened greatly once it broke through the sword and hit his left arm, with the damage enough only to lower his aura reserves by 10%. Not too hurtful, but still damaging at least, especially since he only has less than half of his full amount left after the attack.
Reagan: "f.u.c.k! How cheatsy is that bulls.h.i.t semblance?!"
Using his semblance to "a.n.a.lyze" how his semblance works, he managed to find out that he can reflect the damage he acc.u.mulates through his weapon. Even if the a.n.a.lysis proves that his semblance is a cheat of its own, Reagan won"t admit it since he thinks that its only good use is for detailed voyeurism from a safe distance that won"t leave any pieces of evidence.
Believing from his sole philosophy of using a stick if stones won"t work, Reagan threw away the remains of the -according to him- sorry excuse of a generic weapon. "Durable metal, they said. Stronger utilization of dust, they said. Such bulls.h.i.t! My spear can do all of that 10x more!" thought.
Activating his "domain", Reagan started to overload his brain in hopes of vanquishing this heathen. Luckily, the boy still can"t use his semblance properly since someone who just found their semblance can"t use it well if they don"t practice how to use it.
Little by little, Reagan pushed back the faunus, nearing a certain spot. Once Reagan ascertained that his sheath can reach his target, he then proceeded to whack diagonally from below.
The boy panicked, as he almost slipped from stepping on a stone. He hastily defended from the attack, as he backpedaled for balance.
Taking the chance, Reagan aimed even lower, as he flung some dirt right at the boy"s face. The dirt accurately penetrated through the eyehole, as well as going in through the nose.
The young faunus panicked even more, as he coughed involuntarily from the dirt. Unconsciously, the young faunus removed his mask to remove the dirt from his face as he jumped away from a raging Reagan, accidentally tripping because of his own legs.
The young faunus realized his mistake, as he wore his mask back to where it was supposed to be before facing Reagan again. He was perplexed, as the Schnee had a sympathetic look. Reagan sighed with exhaustion as his rage simmered down, but not completely.
Reagan: "A b.a.s.t.a.r.d got to you, huh. You"re trying to hide the SDC mark in your left eye because you don"t want others to pity you. You also want to use this as a way of striking fear to humans, just like the "monsters" they mockingly labeled you as. Am I right?"
The boy was surprised, as Reagan managed to guess his intention for using the grimm motif mask.
Oh, how scary his guessing ability is.
???: "... Stop with that empathetic bulls.h.i.t. Do you even know what it feels like to be "branded"?!"
Reagan: "Being branded mentally hurts more than your physical one, but if I have to answer, then yes. If you don"t mind, can I tell my story first before we continue our deathmatch? I pretty much know I"m not walking out of here alive, so might as well do something."
Even if he thought of the woman"s words as bulls.h.i.t earlier, with this fight, he could see himself ACTUALLY dying. The boy might not have that much experience in combat, but his skill in the way of the sword is much higher than Reagan"s. Not to mention his cheat of a semblance. Especially since fighting isn"t really his forte, even with his talent in spearmanship and his very helpful semblance, and what little combat experience, he is at most at the skill level of a decent 1st-year student in the academy with swordsmanship. After all, he slacks off in using the "elegant" weapons of Schnee, since he still wants to learn spearmanship.
Of course, only he thinks this. The real reason is because of the repercussions of overusing his semblance.
Surviving that might be doable, but the faunus still doesn"t have full control of his semblance, scratch that, does he even know how to manually activate semblance? Once he realizes how to activate it, that would be the icing on the cake. Not to mention, Reagan is dead tired. The "spell" that venomous vixen applied to Reagan only relieved some of his fatigue, coupled with the fact that he is overusing his semblance as well as the need to be fully focused, it"s surprising his head didn"t melt into mush; the only damage he received "miraculously" is some popped veins, and little trickles of blood dripping out of his eyes, ears, and mouth.
By miraculous, I mean having painfully slow torture until he dies of internal bleeding. It"s happening right now as we speak.
...
The boy was dumbfounded at how nonchalant he was to his impending death. He scowled but cautiously backed away and slid down a tree, as he tensely waited for Reagan to tell his story.
Reagan gave a thankful smile, as he also backed away from the faunus to rest on a tree directly across him. He then put on a bitter smile from remembering his life as he ma.s.saged his tired b.l.o.o.d.y eyes before starting.
Reagan: " In the beginning, I actually lived peacefully with my mother in the forest in a small house; somewhat near a small village in the areas below Atlas. You could say that I was pretty content with my life. We always played around with our breakfast, even if it were simple stuff. After eating, I would drag mom with me to the nearby river carrying laundry, where I play with my friends. She would chat with the other villagers, while we swim around buck naked. Sometimes though, I would see her just staring at nothing, and when I asked what"s wrong, she would always say nothing. She would be sad whenever married couples were showing some PDA; while every time I see the other kids bond with their dads, I would get jealous. Whenever I asked mom about mine though, she would only smile and say "It"s not the time yet". But it all changed 14 years ago."
Reagan wore a smile at the start, that slowly turned upside down, along with his momentary happiness as he narrated on. The faunus relaxed slightly, as he saw Reagan"s body slowly break down. He could see that he would die any minute now, and he would croak without a sword stabbed in his body. He talked about killing Reagan, but deep inside he was still reluctant to take away the life of another being, even if they"re a disgusting human. "So why not humor him?", he thought.
Reagan: " The village that day had a tense atmosphere. I was out on an errand at that time, going to the nearby uncle"s shop that sells daily necessities. After buying the laundry soap I was told to buy, I noticed some of the adults with fearful expressions looking at the direction of my house. Thinking the worst, I ran as quickly as I could back to the house. Instead of using the regular road that we paid to be smoothened, I cut through the forest using a small animal trail that is full of small yet sharp branches. I didn"t register the stinging pain at that time, because my mother"s safety was my priority. Eventually, I arrived in front of our house panting. What I saw there was a bullhead, a whole squad of atlas soldiers surrounding a man and a woman as bodyguards, and my mom. I don"t know what I was thinking then, but instead of rushing in I sneaked my way near them."
Reagan paused, as he felt coughed hard. He managed to hold it in as he continued.
Reagan: "Mother looked both uneasy and relieved at the same time, as the woman glared at her silently. In the middle of this is the man with a fake smile on his poker face. He was persuading mom to come with him to his house under the pretense of being a servant. He said that they could be family again. Mom, of course, argued that he already has a family, to which Willow for some reason, joined in persuading mother. After a few minutes of non-stop insisting, mom relented hesitantly. She then looked to where I was hiding, which scared the c.r.a.p out of me. Since I was noticed, I came out of hiding and quickly hid behind her. She introduced the couple to me, as Jacques and Willow Schnee; and the most surprising thing about it is, that this man was actually my dad. Even though mom introduced him to be my father, I was still quite suspicious. He had a woman beside him after all. I- *cough* *cough* *cough*…This is taking too long huh? I should speed it up before I croak."
With a depressing chuckle, Reagan let out a heavy sigh before grunting from pain. He held his side as his expression twisted to one of excruciating pain. Instead of a cry of pain, he let out a self-mocking laugh.
Reagan: "I guess even death wants me to hurry up, hehe. Anyways, long story short, he took us to his mansion in the city above. The servants who greeted us thought we were relatives because us 4 had white hair, but they immediately wore poker faces when we were introduced as new additions to the workforce. Not bragging but I was quite the intelligent kid even if I was still 5 years old back then. I noticed their hidden contempt that shined from their eyes. Because of said emotion, we had somewhat of a rough start that pretty much worsened day after day. My only solace was that little Winter back then was quite friendly to me. So, I hanged in there, bottling up my indignance from her cheerfulness along with mother"s presence. But mother though, she couldn"t take it. Once Weiss was born 5 years later, she quietly disappeared like a ghost. The night before that though, she told me that she was going far away from there, and the place she was going to was much more dangerous. She told me to stay and get strong before I could try to look for her; that I would understand her when the time comes. She consoled me, thinking that I was crying because I was sad. What I felt from her words though, was a sense of betrayal and hatred. When she left, my life got even harder. That douchebag of a dad would torture me with insults and useless burdens. "The wh.o.r.e"s son", "incompetent wretch", "defective genes" "the Schnee failure". Heh, he wasn"t even a Schnee and he did it all to stroke his ego, and to vent some of his frustrations because my "wh.o.r.e" of a mom ran away from being "daddy"s mistress". Heh, how laughable, isn"t it? My mom ran away to save her own hide, and yet left her own son to suffer from an egomaniac sociopath."
At this point, Reagan"s voice was shaky and weak.
Reagan: "My only anchor to life, was my sisters. They became my idols of sorts. Hehe, my devotion was so extreme, that you can just laugh it off as me becoming interested in incestuous relationships with my half-siblings due to extreme love. That"s why I lashed out earlier. Anyways, it seems that my side has finally found their way here."
Finished with his story, Reagan let out a satisfied sigh. The boy was alert, as he suddenly glared at him. Some racket could be heard a bit far away from their current location. Reagan felt some souls fumbling around; with 1 is in a tree watching a pair of souls that are currently in a locked in a fight. the faunus boy noticed of course, because of his enhanced hearing.
Reagan: "Sure, I might have stalled, but it"s not like I was gonna keep you here. Go, before this issue gets even more chaotic, you should run away as far as possible, away from Atlas if need be."
The bull was silent as he stared at him, before walking away.
???: "Adam. Adam Taurus. If we could meet in another life, maybe we could be friends. The minimum wage kind. Simple and hard, but peaceful. You are a sinful man, but you still had a hard life. If there are any G.o.ds out there, I pray that you find your own peace."
Reagan chuckled, as he rested.
Reagan: "Reagan. Reagan Sch—… no. Reagan Surya."
Adam no longer lingered, as he quickly dashed away after nodding by jumping from tree to tree to hide his tracks.
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Reagan: "Smart kid."
He mumbled. Reagan then decided that he would at least hold on to say goodbye to his loved ones before having his soul collected by that witch.
Just when the faunus named Adam left, the witch teleported back. She stared at him with a thin sly smile.
???: "I can"t believe that a little bit of illusion would work. I guess even if you have the Surya blood flowing into you, your semblance still can"t see through even the most basic of illusions. Makes you wonder how you didn"t receive the inherent semblance from both branches of the family~"
She then mocked a shocked expression, as if she truly thought that she dun goofed.
Reagan: "Wait... Surya blood? Branches? You! What do you know about the Surya family?! *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough*"
???: "Oops, my tongue slipped~ Calm down, you know? A wise person like you would know that I wouldn"t slip my tongue yet again~ But I will say this though, you are defective as a Schnee, and as a Surya~ Anyways, there are more pressing questions you know? Like the reinforcements~"
Reagan: "…There aren"t any reinforcements?"
He weakly said. So, "all those soul signatures were fake?" he thought as his complexion paled to the point that he looked like he already died. "This woman is a monster", he thought.
He forgot the fact that he could begrudgingly beg the woman to heal him, before offering his own subservience.
???: "I just led them around, while I gave you guys some auditory and soul illusions—"
She shrugged nonchalantly.
???: "Though, your willpower is strong enough to last this long with internal injuries that severe, quite impressive. Anyways, you won"t survive once they arrive. Ah, the 3 souls in battle, those ones are real."
She then neared him and crouched, touching his pants all over as she searched his pockets.
Reagan: "Hey hey... I thought you were a devoted wife?"
He joked before coughing violently. The woman only rolled her eyes as she flipped the bird at him, before fishing out his scroll. She scrolled(get it) around the menu, till she found the camera app.
???: "Here. Relay your final words for them. The least I could do for you before I take away your soul~"
Reagan was really dumbfounded. How calm must one be to be nonchalant about taking souls?
Reagan: "The woman must be bats.h.i.t crazy to be this calm. Is she an old hag that survived the great war or something?"
The existence of souls itself is absurd. Aura might supposedly be the power of the soul, but such a metaphysical concept isn"t something that can be easily proven.
Even if he was an atheist, Reagan could at least now begrudgingly believe the existence of mythological beings and concepts like souls. After all, there was a succubus-like hag in front of him that could use magic.
???: "Oi. I kind of feel like you were dissing me in your head. You want me to make you suffer first and directly take your soul?"
Reagan sweated as he forgot about the rules when dealing with women. Never ever think and talk about a woman"s age, weight, being ugly and not noticing anything new in their look(yes, even if 1cm was cut off of their long hair, they sometimes would whine like a "nice girl". Like that would be noticeable). That"s suicide!
Reagan: " *cough* *cough* *cough* *wheeze* *cough* *cough* *deep breaths*"
???: " *sigh*. Here, let me video your dying message."
Reagan gave her a depressed smile, as he coughed out blood once again.
Reagan: "…Thank you. I"m ready, I guess."
She nodded. She was about to start recording, when a mighty ball of fire was speeding through the sky, with its trajectory directly falling into their current location.
She had a look of annoyance, before aiming her left hand at the fireball.
???: "Ferrum Venti."
A green circle full of intricate runes surrounding a symbol for wind (what Reagan presumes as a magic circle) suddenly appeared midair.
*WHOOSH*
The wind picked up as a barely visible blade of wind whooshed out of the circle that flew as fast as lightning intercepted the fireball, cutting it in half. Reagan could have sworn that he heard a dying pig squeal but didn"t bother thinking about it since a magic spell is way more interesting than that.
The woman gave Reagan a cheeky grin, with him giving her a twitching smile in return.
He took a deep breath to calm himself and gave her a thumbs up to let her know that he"s ready. She gave him a thumbs up too, as she finally started recording. He gave another deep breath before he finally started to speak his last words while internally swearing to himself,
Reagan: " I promise, even if I have to do a hostile takeover over her a.s.sociate"s body, I will find a way to spend time with you again, my adorable sisters."
....
....
....
*an hour ago*
Winter"s POV
Rescuing your own little sister for your first field mission a.s.signed directly by the school"s headmaster is quite nerve-wracking. But, even if this isn"t about my sister, I still need to do this if I want to be part of the military, especially if I earn the trust of the general.
After going through a series of stressful fights whilst acting like bait, we finally withdrew from the battlefield because the VIP herself delivered herself to us. Seeing her panic, I got gooseb.u.mps as I felt that something bad must have happened.
Weiss: "Sister! Big brother is in trouble! Some White Fang members caught up to us and he had me leave him behind!"
This is indeed troubling. That overprotective stepbrother of mine just brought me more work!
Winter: "Excuse me, but I need to save an imbecile. Follow after our trail once you go finish the battle. My apologies sister, but I need you to lead the way!"
Weiss: "It"s fine!"
Ignoring my "teammates" and the military "companions" father "lent" to us, I ushered the tired Weiss to hurry.
...
...
...
Because of how tired Weiss is, I had to carry her on my back and had her point out directions.
Eventually, we neared where he supposedly blocked off a troop of White Fang members. The bad feeling I"ve been having is getting worse. Cold sweat was flowing from my brows.
What I"m scared about isn"t about his safety, rather, it"s about Reagan"s insanity.
I know he loves me more than a sister, but he restrains himself exactly because of that. He doesn"t want to take the next step since he seems scared that I only treat him as a brother. Not only that, he"s scared that I would leave him like his mother did, thinking like it was because he was not worthy and the balance in our harmonious relationship would be destroyed.
That"s why he is overprotective and sensitive about us, to the point of madness.
Who knows what he would do to those White Fang members, and murder isn"t an impossibility; it"s actually a high possibility.
The blind devotion is this frightening, but it does give me a sense of security. I just hope that he would get over this, he might be my brother from another mother, but it doesn"t mean that I don"t love him as a woman, even if his thick head won"t get through it(Partly my fault though, I"m stubborn and in his words, a tsundere). Because even with his perverse att.i.tude, he and Weiss are the only ones who treat me like family in the household. I promised him that I would gain influence in the military so I can protect Weiss from father too.
....
....
....
Eventually, we discovered the White Fang members Reagan fought with, at least, the cold leftover sh.e.l.ls with no life at all. I had to half-force Weiss to close her eyes and use a hand to block her nose beforehand once I smelt blood.
This is exactly what I was afraid of.
I went past the bodies, trying to follow the sounds of battle that seemed to echo everywhere. My feet are already sore from the continuous strain, especially with this kind of terrain where we face grimm, man, faunus, and even the wilderness itself.
*GROWL*
Dashing past a tree, I encountered an extraordinary wild boar.
It was over 2 meters in height, and a meter wide. The skin looked red, while the spiky body hair is a mixture of stark white and b.l.o.o.d.y red in a pattern of flames. The tusks were long at around 14 inches and 4 inches wide, with some blood stains that looked like it came from the dead deer near it. Its bloodshot red eyes showed a sign of intelligence, as it huffed arrogantly and prepared to charge.
I felt gooseb.u.mps being stared at by an abnormal pig that let out an aura of danger that is as dangerous as an arma gigas.
Thinking that we were scared because of it, the boar charged at us with gloating oinks.
letting out a huff of my own, I summoned a pair of frost beowulves to keep it company.
Winter: "Weiss, I need you to stay in that tree until I say so, got it?"
She gave me a nod and a cheer.
Weiss: "Show it who"s boss, sister!"
Smiling a bit, I let her down near the tree, and use ice Dust to elevate her. Once she held on to a thick branch, I let the ice down and looked back at the fight after hearing the cries of a beowulf.
To my surprise, the boar has managed to finish off both of the ice-clad wolves in the short amount of time I helped Weiss, as shining blue dust remains from where they once stood.
What I saw made me even tenser. The boar was cloaked in flames, and it didn"t look like it was hurt. The flames were dancing wildly that surrounded the boar"s body like Aura.
Winter: "A wild animal with a semblance?!"
As all living beings possess aura, theoretically, even a wild animal can acquire a semblance of their own. As they say, theory and practice are 2 different things.
The flaming pig gloated with its arrogant demeanor as it charged right for me.
I used my semblance to make platforms as I jumped over the boar. I put up a strong barrier in front of it as I shot rounds of ice using Dust.
The boar smashed into the barrier as the ice hit its b.u.t.t. Astonishingly, it did not deal heavy damage, but it did successfully douse some of the fire using the melted ice and it earned me some of its ire as a bonus.
The fire around its lower half flickered lightly, before reigniting.
It turned around to face me with its mouth wide open. With a mighty oink, it fired out a ball of fire out of its mouth.
I doubt it would do much damage to my aura reserve, but I avoided the speeding fireball and summoned a boarbatusk. I applied time dilation glyphs on me and the ice construct to increase our speed. While I went from the side, I pressed the trigger between the hilt and the guard to let out my second sword as I held it in a reverse grip.
I let it clash head-on with the provoked swine to slow it down as I sped off to its side with my swords.
Both collided as my summon disintegrated from existence while the boar was dazed. Taking the chance, I used glyphs to drench the boar with water made from Dust and to apply electricity on my swords. I slashed its side with both weapons at the same time, slicing off a part of its tough hide as the electricity travel throughout its body, shocking it. Since it was a bit dazed, I continued to hack at it 4 times before retreating as its flames blazed with strength around its body.
The boar was fuming in anger, as it was also plagued with pain and fatigue. Looks like the semblance is taking a lot out of its stamina. It"s a good thing that the boar doesn"t seem to know how to use aura even instinctively as it only used it to power its magical semblance. It"s a good thing that even if this thing can think, it doesn"t even use its brain.
As if fireb.a.l.l.s and being cloaked in flames weren"t enough, the boar decided to copy the boarbatusk"s attack method.
It rolled in its place like that blue hedgehog Reagan was laughing at the other day before reducing our distance to 3 feet! (AN: Yes, new Sanic is very new Nicolas Cage meme)
I panicked as I hastily put up a slanted barrier to make a pseudo ramp. The nincomp.o.o.p flew upwards in an arc, flying out to the distance.
Winter: "…"
Weiss: "…"
Dead Deer: "…"
I was too dumbfounded. Would this work on boarbatusks then? Quite a marvelous discovery…
Winter: "Weiss! I"m sorry, I"ll get you down now."
Enough distractions!
I use ice dust to make a slide, to which Weiss happily slid down on.
Weiss: "Wheee!"
I giggled at her childishness, something that was rarely seen this past few days. I can"t blame her though. It was only recently did Weiss and mother know that father married her only for the company. As soon as she heard it, mother cut herself off from the outside world and decided to spend her days drinking her sorrows away in her room. She even went to the point of not acknowledging the existences of us, her daughters. The negativity spread, as the whole mansion seemed lifeless as father started to treat all of us as tools, at least, he was more brazen about the matter.
Winter: "Come on, Weiss. Let"s find that idiot."
Weiss" enthusiasm immediately flips, as you can find a deep concern and fear in her expression. I imagine that I also have that kind of look since my bad feeling has worsened courtesy of the gooseb.u.mps I"m feeling.
…
…
Third Person POV
A few minutes have pa.s.sed as the siblings made their way to their dying stepbrother. Meanwhile, the "filming" over at his current location has just finished. Reagan"s fresh corpse had a peaceful smile with its eyes closed leaning on a tree. If it weren"t for the messy blood bile that flowed out of his mouth, the picture would have been something peaceful. But alas, the ideals cannot be always implemented in reality.
The mysterious woman sighed, as she stopped filming. She placed the scroll in Reagan"s hands that were set down in his stomach. She stared at him unmoving.
???: "I wish things weren"t supposed to be this way… but you can"t easily change the fate of another without a sacrifice."
She uttered with a low voice.
???: "We had to let your mother rampage to her heart"s content once she heard about the divination. It"s just… we had to use your soul along with that nuthead to stabilize Aurum"s. I know you can"t hear this though *depressed chuckle* but still, I"m sorry."
She removed her mask, revealing luminous green eyes that can draw in attention as if they"ve been invited to a free buffet of s.e.xy goodness and a cute b.u.t.ton nose that contrasts her seducer"s look. Overall, the woman is a beauty that is nearly G.o.dly.
She bowed at the corpse to show her sincerity, letting her pink hair flow freely.
After a few seconds, she straightened up and donned her mask again, as she pulled out a runic talisman and a small white ceramic vase with wood-like veins painted over it, out of a deep circular abyss that suddenly appeared within an arm"s reach.
She took a moment to inspect the talisman and vase, before dousing the paper with a pinkish black energy coming from within her body, her raw, untransformed mana while pointing it at the fresh corpse.
The paper seemed to burn, as it released gold particles that flowed into Reagan"s dead body. As if he had squirrels in his pants, his body shook like an actor doing his best to convulse like a possessed person. The golden particles seem to have taken over his body, as it slumped down to the ground with his skin turning gold.
Taking notice of a bluish-gold gaseous form escaping the body, she patiently uncapped the cover put on the vase while pouring in some of her mana as well. The vase seemed like a vacuum h.e.l.lbent on sucking in dirt, as the blue wispy form desperately tried to escape from the swirling suction of impending doom.
The woman applied some more mana as the wisp slowly but surely got sucked inside. Eventually, it did so, as the woman sealed the vase. She applied mana in her fingertips before drawing some runes midair that flew to the cover and transformed into purple chains that snaked around the vase like a, well, snake.
For good measure, she pulled out a gold talisman with red runes and applied it to the cover"s top. It shimmered as the paper vanished and the runes integrated itself on the cover.
Letting out the breath that she unconsciously held in, she put away the vase into her robe before kneeling and fixing up Reagan"s body back to its position. She stood up and dusted away some dirt that stuck to her knees, before finally remembering about the illusion field she set up.
She summoned a magic circle as tall as her body while chanting some incoherent words under her breath. A moment pa.s.sed, as an invisible curtain was removed from the area. Along with the curtain, a whisper seemed to have been carried over to Winter, who was still going circles around the forest. She froze, as she hurriedly turned towards a direction and ventured on with a confused Weiss.
???: "That should do it. Honestly, that mad scientist should have been the one who went through this. I don"t want to face her if I somehow botched the process, which fortunately didn"t."
Realizing that the siblings might be nearing, she summoned a portal using another purple talisman and escaped from the area.
…
…
…
After walking past through a number of bushes, Winter, followed by Weiss, instinctively knew that the clearing right in front of her lies the location of her brother. She felt her right arm, as her gooseb.u.mps worsened along with her dread and denial so much, that it affected the young Weiss that obediently walked behind her. It"s a miracle as to how they haven"t encountered grimm throughout their expedition, much less now that her negative emotions have spiked.
Taking a moment to calm herself down, she steeled herself to face whatever she might witness, even if it may be extremely unpleasant.
Weiss: "…!"
Winter: "*hic*…no…no*hic*…no...NOOOOO!"
What lay in front of them, was an unforgettable moment that would be forever etched deep within their minds, scaring them even after their eventual reunion.
Winter felt lost and confused, as her sense of denial got even stronger. She walked over to the corpse mindlessly like a corpse, as she kneeled down, and shook it tightly.
Winter: "*hic*…idiot…pervert…wake up…hey, wake up! *hic* d.a.m.n it, wake up! How am I supposed to answer you if you die like this?!"
Regret.
That was what she felt mostly as she embraced the corpse weeping. Winter wasn"t the only one who felt sad, however.
Weiss: "Big brother…Reagan? Hey, come on… do-don"t just sleep there, you dunce! …*hic*…don"t…just…"
Winter pulled over the shaking Weiss, as they both wept and wept from the sadness over their beloved brother"s pa.s.sing.
…
…
…
* Le time skip, provided to you by a grieving pair of siblings in a private room located inside the atlas military airship*
…
…
A few days went by after the operation.
According to what was "leaked" to the public, the rescue mission was a resounding success, and at the same time a failure.
The mission"s objective, the extraction of the VIP Weiss Schnee, was achieved. This was followed by the destruction of a White Fang encampment, and the "arrest" of several of its faunus members.
The mission didn"t come without a cost, however.
"Unfortunately", the male heir of the Schnee Dust Company, has perished along with 4 other soldiers in the fight for his sister"s safety.
The upper cla.s.s "n.o.bles" of atlas though, smell a juicy conspiracy. After all, it isn"t a secret to them that Jacques Schnee hates his lazy son. Rumors of Jacques purposely letting the White Fang kidnap his own daughter so that he can conspire in killing Reagan fluttered about in their circles. Of course, once the man himself heard of this, he let out a bemused chuckle before announcing his "sorrow" for his child"s death and expresses displeasure towards the rumors through a press conference.
Jacques: "I am quite angry at the accusations! Reagan is MY firstborn, and we are currently mourning his death, AND I DO NOT WANT PEOPLE TO THINK OF THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO SLANDER THE NAME OF SCHNEE!"
He spoke with such intensity and sorrow, that even the senior reporters were swayed by his acting. With this, the accusations died down, at least on the surface. Hearing these words coming out of Jacques himself, Willow couldn"t help but snort in anger, before downing another gla.s.s of Whiskey. If you take a closer look though, a small tear could be seen flowing down her face which also revealed sadness.
Meanwhile, Winter and Weiss didn"t even bother coming out of Reagan"s room as they wept and wept, ignoring his scroll as if scared of what he might say. This continued until the day after the burial. Surprisingly, it was Weiss who forced herself to snap out of it, even if it took a lot of her own mental strength to resist the urge of crying again.
Weiss: "Winter…*sniff*…let"s open his scroll."
Winter only stared at Weiss dumbly with her depressed and haggard face, which was a result of continuously crying all the time. Her ice-cold beauty was gone from the constant sleepless nights. She frowned, before giving Weiss a small, self-deprecating smile.
Winter: "*sniff* We"ve put it off for far too long…I"m sorry Weiss, but can you be the one who opens it."
She spoke out with a shaking hoa.r.s.e voice. Weiss slowly nodded, as she slid to the bed"s side and brought out Reagan"s scroll from the drawer right next to it. She sat near Winter and looked at her for confirmation. Winter stiffly nodded. Taking a deep breath, Weiss stopped herself from shaking as she turned the scroll on and navigated to the gallery.
A few seconds pa.s.sed before she found the latest, and probably last, entry within the gallery, a video. She hesitated for a moment, before tapping at the file and allowing it to play.
=====================================================================
The video showed a disheveled Reagan, with blood coming out from every orifice in his head, his clothes b.l.o.o.d.y and tattered. Even in death, he still gives them the best smile that he could ever muster. He took a deep breath, before speaking.
Reagan: "Winter, Weiss, by the time that you have seen this, I"m already dead."
Weiss couldn"t help but sniffle and struggle to keep the tears from flowing in vain at the opening statement.
Reagan: "To keep it short, you see, I might have taken a deal with the devil. A succubus even."
The pair could hear some snickering as the view shook slightly. Reagan frowned a bit, before continuing.
Reagan: "So, I might not be totally gone? At least, not in soul. She said that I must be merged with the soul of her a.s.sociate. I know, I know, it"s quite delusional, isn"t it? But it"s true. Now, I just ne-*cough* *cough* *cough*, dang it…by the way, do I become a separate consciousness? Like, is there a chance that I may or may not get a new body with my personality intact?"
The girls were surprised at the information given, but they were both shocked and hopeful at the answer given to his question, even if they had their doubts.
???: "It"s possible. Actually, we"re already researching a way for making artificial bodies that could host a soul. It should take only a few years to finish, so you can just enjoy being a nanny~"
A feminine voice answered Reagan who looked upset, but he seems to relent the insanity of the topic as he showed the woman a pitying look. It seems that she glared at him since he visibly flinched.
Reagan: "Not cute at all…anyways, as we just confirmed, I might get a new body within a few years, so, I need you guys to hold on and live without your brother for a bit, okay?"
At this point, his voice seemed weaker, as his skin grew even paler from blood loss.
Reagan: "Weiss, I need you to become a good girl. Don"t be biased because of race nor status. I know I"m dying because of a battle with them, but remember, not every faunus is "evil". Heck, humans might have more evil people than them. Jacques is the primary example. Anyways, be a good little sister and become strong enough and be independent from the family. The Atlas Academy isn"t a good choice for that, so I suggest Beacon Academy."
He paused for a bit, likely catching his breath.
Reagan: "Winter, continue the plan without me. You need to take care of Weiss. It"s okay if she wants to work harder in training, but you should both know the meaning of rest, okay? Don"t burn your body out Winter, you"ll lose your beauty~"
Reagan: "Long story short, don"t overexert yourselves and never lose your way and your beliefs."
At that, Reagan concluded with a sigh before muttering with almost no strength left, a sign that he"s a few seconds away from death.
Reagan: "That should be enough…miss…if you know my mother…punch her in the gut. Real hard. That"s…my…fi…nal…."
As if a toy out of batteries, his head hung down from his neck with a slight smile.
=====================================================================
Weiss: "…"
Winter: "…"
The pair of sisters were quietly in tears as they swore to achieve their goals and hope for the best that the information, they got was true. That their brother Reagan isn"t truly dead and may return in the future.
Winter: "This time… no more hesitation. I"d marry you right on the spot if need be."
Weiss: "I need to make big brother proud…"
A flame of conviction filled their hearts, as they each swore to themselves.
================================================================
Authors Note:
Before the excuse rant, I need to inform and instruct you guys to just think of Qrow as Raven"s younger brother by a few years in my fanfic. Just go with Qrow being talented and recruited at the age of 13 since he grew up fast. For good measure, Reagan pa.s.sed away at 19, while Winter is currently 18 years old and Qrow is early-mid 20s. I made some edits on the ages from the previous and now(?) chapter. BTW, papa Qrow won"t get Winter, but a different woman.
Anyways...
So...
I kind of forgot that cla.s.s was close, and I got swamped with some formalities. As I am currently in Grade 12,(Philippine senior high, right before College) school became more stressful. We have a whole period just for making research work since that seems to be the main focus of the schools to prepare us for the thesis works and such. Also, I kinda almost legitimately lost interest in writing(again). But fear not, for I bring forth another promise that may or may not be empty. I"m lessening the word counts to 1500+, and I will try to work on CIR, as well as my new idea(which is a bad idea in a sense).
Anyways, please comment on your thoughts and maybe just some casual ones. it will help me to be kept motivated to write~