Sorrowful Red

I, Silva Branwen, am sharpening my glave as the Branwen tribe readies itself for a raid. As the tribe was abuzz with energy and tension, I felt my mind wander about what I was supposed to do this time around. I am in the vanguard this time around, which means aside from Huntsmen/Huntresses and guards, there will be ordinary people caught in the crossfire this time. While I was only a bit bothered by killing thugs and other bandits, killing civilians is another matter entirely. As I was plagued with doubt, anxiety, and worry, Raven drew the tribe's limited attention span.

" Branwen tribe! Are you ready?!"

The tribe cheered in excitement and bloodlust while I kept quiet, and I noticed Vernal was feeling similar to me as she stood near Raven. Raven had a neutral expression as she told the tribe the plan of attack.

" The settlement we are attacking is underdefended and has supplies we need for this upcoming winter, so they make a prime target!"

The tribe cheered once more in deafening roars of excitement, and Raven raised her hand to silence the bandits as she told them what to do.

" We are going to strike them fast and hard! Leave no survivors! The weak die, the strong live!"

As the tribe chanted the last part of Raven's sentence with vigor, it made it stick out that I didn't choose this lifestyle. It chose me. This rather late realization helped me decide what I was going to do in this raid. I wasn't going to take the lifes of simple folk trying to get by outside the cities and their walls, but the guards and Huntsmen are another matter. If they try to kill me, I will respond in kind without mercy. As my grim resolution filled me, Raven opened multiple portals and ordered the tribe.

" CHARGE!"

The tribe ran to the portals like madmen while I walked to the nearest one feeling morbid and reluctant but went through anyway. The sight of a village already on fire made a bitter lump form in my belly as I knew I couldn't continue doing this and that I needed to leave the tribe. The sooner, the better. As I watched the majority of villagers run away and the defenders try and stop the bandit tribe from reaching them. Most of the defenders were being made short work by the tribe's superior numbers, and as the fires spread, I stood by and did nothing.

I felt a sense of crisis I haven't felt in a long time, as I ask myself. Do I standby and do nothing, or do I join the tribe in the raid? There is no third option for me right now; I am too weak to do anything else, and it frustrates me to no end. I gripped my glave tightly at my loss at what to do right now as I can't oppose the tribe just yet. My inner turmoil continues throughout the raid.

***

Meanwhile, Vernal and Raven look over the tribe as the raid continues from atop a tower in the center of the settlement. Raven watched over everything passively, but Vernal was horrified by what she was seeing. She covered her mouth to prevent a scream from escaping her lips as her eyes widened at the horrors a bandit raid brings. Raven noticed Vernal's reaction and curtly told her.

" The weak die, the strong live, Vernal. This is how things are and how they have always been. If you fail to become strong, you will die weak, and now you have a choice Vernal."

The Spring Maiden looked at the bandit chief as she was told.

" You can either become strong here and live with the tribe or die weak at the hands of Salem's forces alone. Make your choice!"

Raven's ultimatium shook Vernal at her core, and while the Spring Maiden's turmoil warred inside her, the bandit chief pointed at a Huntsmen sniping at tribe members from a distance and told Vernal.

" Deal with him or leave now with nothing but the clothes on your back and Salem's forces on your tail!"

Vernal wanted to refuse and leave, but she recalled how the Grimm Queen dealt with her family while she was hidden away at Haven Academy. She made her choice and swallowed her saliva, and used Wind Magic to probe herself to the Huntsman despite her reluctance.

***

Bron Hawks was a fairly average Huntsman that graduated from Haven that was specialized in marksmanship with his basic sniper rifle and two precision pistols holstered behind him. He found a decent spot to snipe at the filthy bandits that attacked the humble settlement he was guarding. It was a nice place, til now, that is; Bron kept trying to take down as many bandits as he could to give the guards a chance to protect the villagers and get them out of here before the Grimm showed up to make everything worse. As he reloaded his sniper rifle, he found himself blasted away by a powerful gust of wind.

Bron remembered his training and fell in a way that allowed him to recover his balance quickly. He saw Vernal hover above him with magic in her eyes as she conjured a bolt of lightning at him. Bron barely evaded but managed to get a pot shot at Vernal with his sniper rifle, but she shrugged off with her Aura and continued to rain lightning and wind on the Huntsman. Bron tossed aside his rifle for his pistols and circled the Spring Maiden while constantly firing on her rapidly. Vernal, while still feeling reluctant, kept on trying to knock out the Huntsman that was doing his duty.

Bron racked his mind as to how Vernal was doing all this but decided it didn't matter. He is a Huntsman, and he needs to take her down to help the villagers. Bron and Vernal continued to play a game of cat and mouse, with the Spring Maiden still not wanting to hurt anybody and the Huntsman doing his duty to the best of his abilities. The two of them soon grew tired after intensively fighting each other for almost an hour. Vernal exhausted her magic and Aura because she still subconsciously held back, and Bron used up most of his ammo and had a small pool of Aura to start with but was now running on almost empty.

As Bron gasped for air, he cursed Vernal.

" Bandit B*tch!"

He threw his now empty pistols at her, which caught the Spring Maiden off guard. Bron then charged at her with his backup knife in hand and tackled her to the ground. He mounted her and cursed in a fury at the lives lost, the lives he knew personally, as he stabbed at her. Vernal feebly puts her arms up to protect herself and, while in a panic at her current situation, forgets about magic and Aura, with her mind addled with fear. Bron roared as he tried to stab Vernal in rage and sorrow.

" YOU WORTHLESS BANDIT SCUM!"

As Vernal came face to face with a person's malice directed purely at her for the first time, she lost her wits and acted instinctively by guarding her face with her arms. The remainder of Vernal's Aura finally broke, and she reeled back in pain at the cuts made to her. Bron then lifted his knife high and plunged it into her chest. Vernal coughed out the blood pooling in her mouth, and before Bron could deliver another blow, he was decapitated by Raven.

Raven watched most of the fight from the sidelines as there were only a few Huntsman/Huntresses in this settlement, and the tribe could overwhelm them with numbers easily if they weren't stupid. The bandit chief kicked away the headless corpse and kneeled down to Vernal. The Spring Maiden reached for her in desperation and cried out as blood filled her lungs and mouth.

" I don't want to die..."

Raven just looked at her passively and told her.

" Vernal, you could have easily ended that fight before it started, but you held back; why?"

" I-."

Vernal coughed out blood before she could finish her sentence, and Raven told her

" I know why. You. Are. Weak!"

Raven looked at Vernal, fed up and exasperated, then told her harshly.

" You have enemies that would want nothing more than to torment you before you die, and yet you still don't want to hurt anybody!"

Raven sighed, looking tired, and gave the Spring Maiden a choice.

" Vernal, you know the people after you, and you have lost everything to them in this shadow war of theirs, so let me give you a choice. Die here and be free of your fears and burdens or continue living in suffering; it's your choice."

As Vernal bled out, she thought and honestly wanted to give up everything. Ever since she became the Spring Maiden, her life has been filled with nothing but pain and loss at the hands of her newfound enemies and so-called allies. Vernal then thought of one person and called out to Raven.

" Sil... va... call Silva..."

Raven looked at Vernal with a complicated look, then sighed and opened a portal to Silva.

" Very well..."

***

I, Silva Branwen, looked at the destruction caused by the bandits and Grimm. Burned down buildings, corpses everywhere, and bandits trying to loot everything they could. I felt sick to my stomach at what I was seeing and hated the fact I had a hand in it, even if I just stood by as it happened. I felt disgusted at the bandits sneaking off with a few corpses of handsome men and beautiful women that were still in decent condition. I knew what they were doing, but I ignored it because, in the end, what would change?

All I would get in return was nothing but a brief moment of self-gratification, then the ire of the tribe. I was also disgusted by my own inaction, I may not be a hero by any measure, but I don't have a heart of stone either. I hated my weakness now more than ever; how could I expect to change the future I knew of if I couldn't change my present. I gripped my glave tightly until an annoyance showed up, Shay D. Mann. He swaggered up to me with a confident look and asked as he put his arm around me.

" So, how are you? You little dumb animal."

" Piss off, Shay!"

I growled at him as I was not in the mood for his antics. But he just chattered away.

" You know nothing gets the blood pumping like a good old raid, especially down there, if you know what I mean. So how about I help you unwind, for a price of course, because there are still some live ones the boys and me-."

He did not finish his sentence as I sent him flying, and he crashed into one of the burned-down buildings and was buried under the rubble. I honestly felt slightly better after hitting that idiot, but my turmoil still swirls within me as I juggled right, wrong, practicality, and my personal feelings. I sighed as my emotional state was a mess, but then a portal opened in front of me. Great, what does Raven want now?

I sighed again and went through the portal to find Raven standing over Vernal in a pool of blood. I felt despair and sorrow at the sight and ran over and then kneeled next to her as I tried to stop the bleeding. Vernal grabbed my paw as I tried to apply pressure to her wound to stem the bleeding and said to me, with blood filling her mouth.

" Sorry... Silva... I couldn't... change..."

" Shut up, Vernal! Everything is going to be fine; you will see!"

I didn't want her to die, not in a million years; her pacifism might annoy me, but that's because I know it will get her killed if she doesn't change. She is one of the nicest, sweetest people I have ever gotten to know in either of my lives! I felt hot tears fill my eyes as I bellowed at Raven.

" DO SOMETHING! GET THE MEDICS HERE!"

Raven just sighed in reply and told me.

" Vernal has made her choice."

Raven walked away with her back turned, and before I could tell her to come back, Vernal called out to me.

" Silva... don't be... angry with... Raven..."

Vernal coughed up blood as it started to rain, and she gripped my paw as she said.

" Silva, thank you... I regret... I won't get to see you... become a man... but let me give you... a gift for being there for... me..."

Vernal's eyes lit up with magic as I felt something flow within me, her Aura and something else. The magic in her eyes faded as she told me what she did.

" Silva... my Semblance... is... yours... thank you and Raven for..."

Vernal's sentence died on her lips as her life left her, and sorrow took hold of me. Tears escaped my eyes as it rained down on me, and I roared out my grief and pain. My human wailing soon turned bestial as I literally roared at the heavens, and in my anguish, something within me clicked in place. A sharp whine filled my ears as a black sphere of energy appeared above, and my Aura rapidly drained from me. The sphere did not grow larger, but it became more powerful, more compressed; I knew because it came from me.

It's my Semblance as I made the sphere as strong as I could by deleting my Aura. I soon reached my limit and fired. The Sphere erupted and died, the sky above me black as I felt the force of the blast I created in my sorrow. As I felt my consciousness fade, I saw a hole that I tore through the clouds with my Semblance, it was a small one, but it was there. I didn't feel any better, and darkness took me.