RWBY Sharingan Chapter 73: One Step Behind (Patreon)

Perched upon a branch, Raven overlooked the battle Talon had rushed back to.

Grimm being cut down and tossed about by his semblance. The drained huntsmen being dragged away by his blades or some piece of equipment they were wearing. And Talon himself up above, moving throughout the whole thing faster than others, sped past those he helped before any could get a word out to him.

This place, a checkpoint settlement she recalled passing through here and there on missions years ago, may not have been one of the major cities but it’s fall wouldn’t go unfelt by Mistral, places like it important to the four kingdoms and how they did things.

Its destruction would do none of them any favors.

Efficient as those eyes of his always allowed him to be, his blades cutting the Grimm down in droves, he was in rush. Something other than that Grimm and its twisted presence was making him hasty.

Pulling her gaze down from him, she sorted through all the fighting, finding Qrow among those handling what few Grimm Talon hadn’t already cut down.

With a flap of her wings she sent off, swooping low through the mess of battle and landing on Qrow’s shoulder as the curved blade of his sword turned scythe bisected a small group of Grimm.

He glanced at her.

“That student of yours-” He left it at that, facing the red headed huntsman that been fighting alongside him and yelling out orders at times, their shield lowering slightly but still at the ready. With so many Grimm on the ground, some so densely packed together they looked like bloodied clumps of darkness, there was no telling if any were smart enough to choose to play dead among the fading shadows and go for a surprise attack. “-why isn’t he a huntsman yet? He’s got all the right stuff to jump ahead. Not to mention that semblance.”

“He does things at his own pace.” Qrow said, gesturing towards the forest line she and Talon had come from. “I’ll scout the direction they were coming from; make sure we don’t have any nasty surprises coming our way.”

“Right. I’ll oversee things here and make sure we aren’t attracting another horde.”

A nod exchanged, the two took off in opposite direction, the redhead gather others as he retreated towards the city while Qrow headed up towards the forest.

“I’m guessing the kid didn’t just run into some ordinary Grimm.” Qrow muttered. “Don’t bother changing back. Tyrian was here. Probably had something to do with all this.”

That explained the hastiness.

First those black flames, rushing the protection of these people, and chasing down one of her people.

He was being too reckless.

XOXO

There hadn’t been any rain in the area recently.

Picking out the freshest set of prints in the stone turned dirt trail that led towards Mistral was easy enough with the Sharingan but deciding with one of them truly stood out hadn’t been as easy. Plenty had reasons to travel on their own by foot, lone huntsman or any other kind of fighter making up that majority. With skirmishes breaking things up here and there, spreading the tracks beyond the trail at times, it was tedious to try and find anything strange among them.

But tedious paid off for once.

One set of boot tracks, the one I was currently following, hadn’t been forced off the trail but had intentionally turned off it, loose dirt from their underside and disturbed greenery marking their path up nearby mountains. Stone mixed in with that grass as the climb evened out, too far out for someone just looking for an out of the way spot to camp for the night.

And the tracks stopped.

I stepped up beside some of the tracks at the edge of the mountain, eyeing them towards the center of the flattened area where stone had been cracked and patches of grass completely crushed.

Watching the town then taking off on an airship.

My curled fist tightened.

Back then, even with my knowledge of his semblance I’d been held back by my own body. Now, I wouldn’t have needed much aura to take him. His semblance, his tail, his unorthodox fighting; none of it would be a problem.

But it felt like he was taunting me, staying just one step ahead as if to say, so what? If he kept just out of reach none of it would matter.

I should’ve come here first.

Mom and Qrow landed on either side of me, the former already dropping a hand to her weapon while the latter cracked his neck.

“If these are his tracks, he took off in an airship.” I said, letting my fist unfurl.

“I’ll let Lionheart know to keep a closer eye on any air travel around the city.” Qrow said, pulling out his scroll. “As soon as I can get a signal.” He added.

“Let’s hope he can manage that.” Mom said with a snort.

“You’re not really in a position to get on his case.” Qrow retorted.

Mom grunted before drawing her blade, a portal cut into existence. “You went through the trouble of protecting that place. Go back to it and get some rest.” She said, looking my way. “Pushing any further would be foolish.”

She only stepped through it after a nod from me.

“She’s not wrong.” Qrow said as the portal closed. “What’d you find out there anyway, some kind of old apathy?”

If only. I still couldn’t make sense of whatever that thing was, but I’d tell Qrow everything I could about it. Maybe Ozpin would actually be able to make better sense of it and, if nothing else, provide some kind of insight into what it was doing.

On the off chance we encountered anything like that again, the more information we had the better.

XOXO

“My man!” I held back a sigh as yet another glass was held out to me but took it anyways, raising and clicking it to the glass of the huntsman that brought it to me. “Cheers!” Within seconds he downed the entire glass he brought for himself before, thankfully, heading off to some other part of the bar after clasping my shoulder.

The pace was packed, all kinds of cheers filling it. Huntsmen and huntresses made up the vast majority, some from the caravan and just as many resident defenders of the city, all brought together to celebrate surviving that battle despite a good few being killed out there.

I turned back to the bar, looking down into the bronze colored liquid.

All these people were calling me some kind of hero and the whole time I’d been sitting through this, I’d only been thinking about how things would’ve gone if I’d focused on Tyrian. Qrow could always transform, or, if he chose to be stubborn, kicked through a portal. Cinder wasn’t an idiot. She would’ve left with Emerald and Mercury before they were overwhelmed.

I could’ve had Tyrian and no one important would’ve died.

Placing the glass down with a sigh, I slid it further down the bar, the few huntresses and huntsmen that’d been taking my drinks since all this started not hesitating to grab hold of it.

“Probably for the best, kid.” Qrow, in the stool to my left, said, messing with the flask he always kept on him. “Don’t want to end up an alcoholic like me.”

“When’s the last time you even got drunk?”

“It’s not about time.” Qrow said, leaning back. “It’s the way you think. These guys might be able to call it night and forget about all the drinking once they’re done but it won’t be that easy for me.” A heavy sigh left him, his shoulder dropping further. “I probably shouldn’t be touching this stuff at all. Stopping at one is hard enough.”

I raised a brow. “You haven’t even had any yet.”

“Got to be prepared in case you decide to do something stupid.”

I grunted, turning around, stepping out of my stool and finally leaving the place behind. I’d only stuck around for Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury but they’d already headed off ahead of me, dead tired after a whole night spent awake. The rising sun and many lights lit up the stony streets, plenty of people beginning to go about their day like that attack never happened.

For as long as I knew him, I never would’ve called Uncle Qrow an alcoholic, but he knew more about that stuff than me.

I found an isolated bench out of the way that faced the wall where most of the defense hadn’t taken place, dropping myself on it and watching as teams of people continued their work on it, having started as soon as all the Grimm had faded away. The more altruistic and able bodied huntsmen volunteered to join the guard up there just in case any follow up happened.

I should probably just head back to where we were all staying for the day but-

“Excuse me.” Dropping my gaze down from the wall, I found a familiar red head making her way to me.

I didn’t really have the energy for this.

“What’s up?” I said, sitting myself up and forcing away any sign of a frown.

“Is what my dad said true?” Pyrrha asked, stopping in front of me, far more eager compared to our last short conversation.

“That depends. What’d he say?”

A very child friendly retelling of the battle that happened followed, plenty of questions about my semblance and what else I could do following, her dark green eyes alight with excitement.

“Whoa.” Rather than answering her questions I raised a hand and bent my fingers as if beckoning her forward, the hood of the jacket she wore flying over her head. I gave her a few more examples of it, honestly a little surprised by how excited she seemed about the whole thing.

She was Yang’s age but looked just amazed as she and Ruby had been when I used my semblance to entertain the two in their younger days. Yang had grown out of finding it all the interesting pretty quickly.

That interest Pyrrha had in huntsmen must be stronger than most.

“Make sure to win the tournament, alright?” Pyrrha said when she was finally satisfied with what she saw of Glynda’s semblance.

“How did you know I’d be in that?”

“I heard my dad say he was going to bet a lot of lien on you but he never wins his bets.”  Pyrrha said. “Don’t tell him I told you that.” With wave and a smile she took off, heading to Aero and her mother who’d been waiting on her a few buildings down.

I leaned back, dropping my smile as I adjusted my shades.

Pyrrha was the same age as Yang and here I was thinking about how I should’ve just let them all fend for themselves. She was a kid and her mother wasn’t a fighter so the two would’ve been priority choice for the limited evacuation that been prepped but what difference would that have made?

Plenty of kids no different than Ruby and Yang would’ve been left behind and killed had those walls been breached. But knowing that was never enough to get rid of the temptation.

No matter how hard I tried I was never going to be anything like Summer.

XOXO

(A/N: Our buddy Talon is approaching important stuff for him. Less room for him to be nonchalant and focusing on others when he has his own unresolved inner conflict to deal with. Bro's going to be getting character development whether he wants it or not soon enough; lets just hope that development goes in the right direction.

A quick look back while editing and, while I only met as a way to show Qrow's own development towards it as well as how open he is with Talon about it, their very brief conversation about brother's alcoholism can absolutely be applied to Talon. Do truly heroic stuff doesn't come naturally to him since strangers aren't at the top of his concerns but hey, he's still doing it.

Now if only he wasn't comparing himself to Summer whenever he did make that choice or using her as his main reasoning.

Either way, this one is a little late. Really feeling like I took for granted when my routine generally relied on myself and no one else but thats how it be sometimes. Hopefully I have my whole problem solved soon but either way, I won't let it stop me from hitting my three chapters a week. I'll still try and get another one out sunday but I won't guarantee it.

Thanks to all those who wished me luck and I still hope you're all better off than me.

Oh and on a side note, after I solve my car issues, I'm intending on commissioning an artist for this story which is something you all here actually made possible for me to even consider. I've never commissioned an artist so I'm not sure on the costs but for now I'm thinking an image for each arc kind of like volume covers. So I'll be looking into getting one for his childhood arc and this mistral arc when its concluded.

If you happen to know any artists that take commissions, feel free to recommend them to me. I'll check them out.