I'd been reincarnated.
A katana, the blade a blood red, sliced through the air, little more than a blur no matter how hard I tried to keep track of it.
It'd taken a long time to come to terms with that. Literal years. Being stuck as a helpless baby had given me plenty of time to think, panic, and brood but none of the agency I needed to truly do anything. Nothing aside from listen and watch those around me.
I stood from the steps of the backyard's porch.
The swings didn't stop, only blurring further as the weapon's wielder carried out the exercise, sweat building along her furrowed brow. Her long jet black locks trailed behind her movements, lengthy bangs somehow swaying about without hindering her sight. As I stepped up to her, leaves and dirt crunching beneath my feet, she slowed her final swing, the katana pointed past me and at the steps.
"Sit down." She ordered, keen on prioritizing her training over me. Nothing new coming from her, most of our interactions brought about the efforts of the father of my new life.
Unexpected for a mother. A decent one anyways.
Not at all a surprise coming from Raven Branwen.
Under any other circumstances I might've been thrilled about being reincarnated. That outcome sounded a hell of a lot better than, well, hell or whatever place of eternal damnation the religions in my original life warned about.
Anyone who knew anything about this land, Remnant, especially those who watched beyond the third volume of the show it came from, would know that I was Fucked.
Capital F, Fucked.
A world full of Grimm, monsters whose entire purpose involved killing humans and destroying anything they created, was bad enough. But fucking Salem? The future of this world, assuming that it followed the show, was bleak as bleak got. And that was without bringing up the twin gods that wiped out the entire world once before.
Still, there were certain upsides to my situation.
"Can you unlock my aura?" I asked.
She raised a brow. "To what? Play huntsman?"
"I want to be strong. Strong enough to protect myself." Strange words to come from a four year-old, I'm sure. Most my age were probably gushing over the idea of huntsmen and huntresses, head full of heroic fantasies. Summer always tried to get those sorts of reactions from me, telling grandiose stories about their missions whenever she came by.
Cool as that sounded, and make no mistake it sounded cool as shit, I wasn't in a position to entertain such naïve ideas.
Raven's brow rose further, the woman silently starring down at me.
I also didn't have time for her to start playing good considerate mother either. Not that there was much chance of that happening.
"I want to be like you." I added for good measure. A bit manipulative perhaps but I couldn't say I felt all that bad about it. Shitty of a mother as she was, she was still a mother. That had to tug at her heartstrings.
"Is that right?" A faint exhale left her, katana dropped to her side as she stepped up to me. Her hand landed on my head, the mess of black hair up there already gradually growing to match hers. It shouldn't have felt so strange to have one's mother so close to them, but I could count the number of times this woman touched me on one hand.
Okay, that was a massive exaggeration, but the point still stood. Her looming presence provided none of the comfort a mother's should, only setting me on edge. It felt more like having a distant acquaintance or coworker cross unspoken boundaries.
"Are you sure about that?" She questioned, that low tone of hers just as concerning.
I kept all that bottled up, eyes locked with hers. "Yes."
"Good."
The almost caring hand on my head turned to a tight grasp.
Pain exploded across my stomach, a sharp gasp leaving me as I was left breathless. Her knee, firmly planted in my grunt, pulled back, my hands instantly shooting to clench at my stomach in a futile effort to lessen the throbbing pain. My legs shaky and numbing, gave out, her hold the only thing keeping me up.
She released me, my side hitting the dirt.
"If you can't handle that, there no point in you having aura." She said, cold as ever as she stepped back, swings picked back up.
Damn bitch! All sorts of obscenities ran through my mind as I curled up, tears building up and blurring my vision.
She could easily use her aura to unlock mine, no pain or struggle required on my part. She hadn't even been my first choice when it came to that, Tai, Qrow, and Summer all telling me to wait until I was older. They threw out different excuses ranging from it being dangerous for a child if they couldn't control it or that I should be older before making that choice.
That sort of babying might've been responsible, but I didn't need responsible.
I pulled one of my arms away from my throbbing gut. Then peeled away the other, forcing myself onto my forearms and knees as I craned my head back to look up at Raven, her whole form no more than a blur of colors.
That distant coldness, borderline cruelty after this, was what I needed.
Raven Branwen, whether she was the exact same flawed parent depicted in the show or not, was my best chance at gathering strength as soon as possible.
I dropped my gaze down, gritting my teeth as I shifted from my elbows to my hands.
God it would be so easy to drop back down. So damn easy. My body was screaming for it, the pain tempting me to give in. Easy was what I was used to after all. Gaming away the weekends, kicking back to scroll through the latest manga on some random site, and doing the bare minimum at work and in class.
That was my norm. What I should be doing now.
But in that life death was reduced to afterthought, technology making life as comfortable as possible with enough money. The same went for the kingdoms of Remnant.
Except this world was full of monsters and an immortal fucking psychopath.
My hands curled, grasping fistfuls of dirt and grass as my teeth grounded together, a dull pain coming from both. I ignored all of it, managing my way to a shaky stand despite how numb my legs were.
Raven stopped her swings, katana dropped to her side once more as she looked down at me.
"Come here." She ordered.
Of course she wouldn't make any of this easy.
I blinked away budding tears and took a slow step forward. Then another. And another.
There had hardly been any distance between us, but the slow trudge felt as though it took a lifetime, the pain in my gut worsening with each step. Relief flooded me the moment I stopped at her feet. It drained right out of me when her hand landed on the top of my head.
She was going to hit me again, wasn't she?
Raven dropped to a kneel. Her hand stroked my hair, making it down to my face where it settled against my cheek, thumb wiping away what remained of yet to spill tears. The most motherly thing she'd done without input from someone else.
What a-
Warmth flooded me. The pain fell to the back of my mind, fading away as a sense of weightlessness took hold. I wouldn't have called the life I lived before this straight laced but I'd never bothered with things like alcohol or drugs. Never saw the point when there were so many other things that came with zero risk to keep me entertained. But this right now, this relaxing floatiness taking hold had to line up with the effects of one of those things.
My body went from feeling like it'd been put through hell to feeling good. No, great!
Even Raven's hand, still pressed against my cheek, felt like a source of comfort.
"You'll be strong." She said. "I'll make sure of it."
In my previous life she would've been a shit mother, no wiggle room to argue her out of that title. But in a world as dangerous as this, she might just be the perfect mother for this situation.
I needed her at the very least.
XOXO
"I leave for one hour and look at him! He's covered in bruises, Raven!"
"He asked for it."
"Gods, listen to yourself! He's four! Four!"
Seated on the living room couch, I rubbed the back of my left wrist, examining the bruise on it. Only minutes ago, it'd been far more swollen and an uglier color, but it already appeared to be on track to disappear before the day was over. To huntsmen this must've been like watching paint dry but to me?
There was nothing more fascinating than watching my newly acquired aura at work.
However, this was only the first step in a hopeless journey. With any luck I'd end up with a semblance somewhere along the way on that journey but there was no guarantee there.
Eventually I dropped my numb arm to peek over the couch. Tai and Raven were in the kitchen that doubled as the dining room of their modest cozy home, arguing. Well Tai was arguing. Raven sat at the opposite end of the wooden dining table to him, staring at Tai as though every word that came from his mouth was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard.
Arguments, sadly enough, were the norm between the two. I typically stayed far away from them since I was always doing my best to stay out of their way whenever Tai wasn't dotting over me. Unlike Raven, he was the ideal parent, going above and beyond for anything concerning me.
The fact that he was yelling said plenty. Even if this world was full of monsters, the beating I'd been on the receiving end of after Raven unlocked my aura wasn't normal.
For once, however, my actions did play a part in this whole thing.
"Dad." I said. His attention snapped to me, glare softening into pure concern. "Mom's right. I asked her to train me."
"Talon-" Tai stopped short and made his way over, rounding the couch. He kneeled in front of me and placed his hands on my shoulders, careful to avoid the bruises marking them. "Talon, I…Even if you had fun training with your mom, this isn't, well-"
I didn't envy the man's situation. How do you explain to a child, a four year old at that, that what their mother did would and should be considered abuse? I had no idea.
"Is there any point in arguing?" I asked. "You're always saying that its dangerous for a child to have aura they can't control. I already have it now so shouldn't mom just keep training me?"
"That's-" Tai stopped short again. Great of a father as he was, it'd always been clear that he didn't always know how to deal with me. My fault really. I could only do so much to act my age and opted to veer on the quiet side most of this life. Quiet enough that Tai had taken me to the hospital several times years ago just to be sure nothing was wrong with me.
Thankfully, if my presence didn't mess things up, he should have the proper children a father as good as him deserved sooner or later.
A sigh escaped him. "You've always been too smart for your own good." He muttered. "You're right, you should be trained but that doesn't mean she has to be the one to-"
"I want to train with mom." I quickly interrupted him, dropping my tone as I carried on. "Its…it's the first thing she's wanted to do with me."
A heavier sigh left Tai, his frown deepening.
It was true but still manipulative and, unlike with Raven, I actually felt bad about doing something like this to Tai. But again, desperate times, desperate measures. I needed someone who wouldn't baby me and Raven was the only person who fit that criteria. Passing that up just to appease Tai wasn't an option.
"You heard the boy." Raven called out from the table. "I'm training him no matter what you say so drop it."
Tai looked between us, struggling to say anything.
What could he say, when this was the first time mother and son teamed up against him, the latter implying that he just wanted to spend more time with her? Stop what might be the first bit of genuine bonding between us? Give up and let his son get beat by that same cruel mother?
Yeah, the more I thought about things from his perspective, the worse I felt for him.
Eventually, after a gentle hug, Tai headed up the stairs likely planning on calling up Qrow or Summer for advice.
I peeked over the couch again. Raven remained at the table, a subtle sigh leaving her. Despite how she was, she wasn't happy about the argument either.
"You're mean." I still couldn't help the childish insult. Even if she didn't intend on it, the way she acted didn't help her relationship with Tai.
A faint exhale flared her nose, Raven getting up to head out the back door, no doubt to continue the training routine I'd interrupted. I got up to follow.
Even if I was dead on my feet I might as well watch.
I didn't have a solid plan to follow yet, but I wouldn't waste any of these years.