The First Meeting in a Long Time.
( Grimmage!au was inspired by @yingfortheking tumblr doesn’t let me tag you?)
A young girl stood sweating in the forge of a small and humble home, a village calmly went on with its daily tasks as the hammer gripped tightly in her hand hit hot iron again, and again, each time sending a flurry of sparks up to her face. Despite being young and of small stature, her body was muscular due to the hardy chore that is keeping the forge alight, of hammering hard iron into the beautiful shape of a sword. Her face was darkened with the soot of the fire, speckles of clean flesh shone through as sparks would singe away the ashen mask. Her eyes a beautiful silver, a material she has never had the privilege to mold into anything, one that her father assures her she’ll have one day. Her hair, that was once a beautiful red, just as her mother’s, is now as black as a starless midnight, a void of soot and ash that sits atop her head which no amount of washing has been able to help. Small streaks of red poke through, a testament of her mother’s might.
The girl wipes sweat from her brow, staring down at the red-hot metal resting on the heavy anvil she’s spent so much time around. The hot iron sitting upon was the first project she was entrusted by her father without any aid from him. She sat with worry about the deadline, fearing what would happen should the blade not be ready by the time they came to retrieve it. Her mind was so riddled with doubt and insecurities that she hadn’t noticed the footsteps of someone stepping up right behind her.
“Hail,” A voice broke through the deafening worry in the girl’s head, “Is this the best blacksmith of all Remnant I see?”
The young smith whipped around, her mind a cluttered mess as she recognizes both the voice and the young woman it belongs to. Standing before her was a tall blonde woman, taller than the smithy but not by much. Her hair was draped over her shoulder in the fashion of royalty, it’s pure golden color untouched by ash. Her eyes shone a loving and deep violet as she looked onto the soot-covered girl. Her body rippled with muscles newly gained since her departure from their home so many years ago, along with the proof of strength came proof of battle. Her manner dress was revealing, a strange change from her younger self, throughout the skin shown lied scars, deep and true, some looking nearly fatal. An arm hung outstretched, ushering the younger in for an embrace, while the other rested easily, its hand gripping the pommel of a sword.
“Is...is that truly you,” The smithy questioned, though she knew the answer, it’s been years since Yang had left their home on a fool’s journey, they had even long since thought her dead.
“Yes, Ruby,” The smile on her face was even more proof of her identity, and having run out of patience she steps forward and wraps her arms around her younger sister, “It is me. I’ve returned.”
Ruby’s eyes welled up with tears as she stood motionlessly in the warm embrace of her older sister. She had thought she’d never again feel her warmth and kindness, yet here it was. Right beside her. Ruby had always joked with her older sister that the forge itself held no candle to the warmth Yang could create with her presence alone, and after all these years she realizes it was no jest. The forge behind her back felt cold in comparison.
“The fire’s dying Ruby.”
Ruby’s eyes shot open in a panic, “Oh no! Do you still remember how to relight it?”
“Of course,” Yang smiled, hurrying over to the side and grabbing a shovel, taking up a load of charcoal that Ruby wouldn’t even equal with three loads worth, “It’ll be quicker with the two of us anyway.”
“Just wait until mother and father see you’ve returned,” Ruby’s face was as cheerful as could be as she heaved again and again on the billows, rushing a blast of air to the dying embers of the forge, “They’ll be so glad to see you’re alive!”
“Hmm,” Yang’s smile dropped from her face, “I wonder about that.”
In no time at all the sisters reignited the forge and gave it life it hasn’t seen in some time. Ruby carefully placed the now cooled iron she was hammering back in. The two sisters were speaking as though nothing had changed, speaking secrets and laughing about old memories. Ruby told Yang of how she took on the forge after she left, and how their father spent day and night teaching the younger everything she needed to know in order to catch up to the level Yang was.
“So,” Yang grinned, sitting casually on a wide log within the forge, “You think you’ve bested me?”
“In the art of metalwork,” Ruby smirked, her chin held high, “Yes.”
“Well,” Yang smiled, standing tall and drawing her sword, “What of combat?”
“She has no reason to know,” a new voice interupted the girls, both looking over with expressions of worry, “And it’s a skill you had no reason to learn.”
The girls look on in silence as a tall man with short blonde hair and a grizzled beard to match walks towards them, carrying three heavy logs over each shoulder. He lays them down beside the home, and then turns his attention to the forge, walking forward with a furious twitch upon his face, his eyes pointing daggers at Yang. Yang could only watch as he stopped inches away from her, leaning down to glare eye to eye.
“F-Father,” Ruby tried to plead but halted as he rose his hand to silence her, then returned his eyes to Yang.
“Six years. You had abandoned this home. This family. This forge. For six years,” His voice grew as he spoke, reaching thunderous volumes, “And you have the audacity to come back?!”
Yang swallows her fear, looking to her father’s eyes and nods, “Yes. I do.”
Taiyang stood up straight, glaring down at Yang who remains motionless. He raises his fist in preparation to strike and lunges downwards to her. Ruby shouts out and covers her eyes in fear, she has seen her father go blow to blow with bandits twice his size, not to mention the creatures of Grimm that he has been tasked with protecting the town below from. She couldn’t imagine what the outcome would be should this hit connect with her sister. Yang, on the other hand, sat motionless but brave, her eyes remained open and she did not flinch at the strike. Taiyang’s fist stopped abruptly a mere hair away from Yang’s nose, the power from the punch alone was enough to send a breeze through Yang’s hair.
“Hmm,” Taiyang’s face melted into a smile, and from his fist flicked a finger, lightly tapping a confused Yang’s nose, “I knew one day you would be strong. I am proud to have you back Yang.”
“Father,” Yang’s face trembled into tears as she jumps up into his arms, struggling to fight back sobs as he happily embraces his daughter, “I’m so sorry father. I’m so sorry.”
“Nonsense,” Taiyang smiled, softly brushing Yang’s golden hair with his hand, “You are safe. You are back. We can be a family again.”
“Aye,” the three turn their heads to another new voice joining from behind them, a rush of feathers billows through the air blocking the view of the source, when they clear a woman clad in red armor stands before them, a mask resembling the face of those demon Grimm covering her face, “Happiness all around no?”
Ruby trembled at the sight of this woman, collapsing off her perch and scrambling backward in a horrified panic as she watched the woman step forward towards them. Ruby’s mind was filled with terror as the stranger’s attention turned from Taiyang and Yang to her, her body instantly froze up and refused to move despite every fiber of her being screaming in agony to run.
“Hmph,” The stranger scoffed, obviously disgusted, “How could you spawn another...and have it be so frail...so weak.”
“Enough Raven,” Taiyang stepped between her and the trembling Ruby, “Both my daughters are strong in their own way. Why are you here.”
“That’s,” Yang’s voice broke out as she stepped past them and stood beside Raven, “My fault.”
“I see,” Taiyang narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching in anger, “I should have never told you about your mother. This is why you left six years ago, isn’t it? To find her. And you. You trained her didn’t you.”
“I didn’t want to at first,” Raven rested a hand on her sword, Ruby’s fear slowly went away as she noticed the strange and complex design of the scabbard, “Though her strength proved her my child. Her Light, however, proved her yours.”
Taiyang’s face flew into a panic, he lunged forward to Yang and gripped ahold of her, much to both her own and Ruby’s shock. His eyes frantically scanned over Yang, taking in the scars of battle she’s gained in her absence.
“Yang,” Taiyang spoke, his words drifting away as though lost at sea, “Did you...did you activate your Light?”
“No,” Raven butted in, “I did it for her.”
“You monster,” Taiyang growled and flung a fist to Raven, who effortlessly caught it, the clash of energy from the strike sent a gust of wind through the surroundings, sending Ruby even further into fear, causing her to hide behind the forge, “YOU KNOW WHAT THE COUNCIL DOES TO THOSE WHO USE THE LIGHT.”
“And,” Raven’s unimpressed voice sounded through Taiyang’s skull like a horn played at the ear, his expression exploding with rage as he prepares to bring up his other fist, Ruby’s eyes widen in amazement as a strange fire forms around her father.
“Taiyang,” Another voice breaks through the oncoming chaos, this one coming from the door to the home, everyone’s attention turns to a beautiful woman with long red hair, her body draped in a pure white cloak, “Enough my dear.”
“We were never wed, you and I,” Taiyang ripped his hand from Raven’s grip and walked towards the home, his back to both her and his daughter, “You gifted me with a daughter, and left.”
“Yang,” the woman’s eyes kindly rested upon her long lost child, “You’ve grown so much. I am so proud of you.”
“Thank you moth-,” Yang bows her head, stopping her words awkwardly as she feels Raven’s eyes glaring down to her beneath the mask, “Summer...”
“You,” Taiyang turns and points a finger, “You refer to your mother by her title and not-”
“You and I both know she’s following that rule my dear,” Summer smiles and steps down from the doorway, ushering Ruby to come to her side.
Ruby rushes from behind the forge to her mother’s side, letting herself be enveloped by the cloak and clings tightly to her mother’s leg. The amount of information that was all put out on the table was nearly too much for her to bear. Her head was beginning to hurt and she felt faint. Was Yang not her sister at all? Who is this new woman and why does she have such an aura of power about her that it’s terrifying? Why was her father so angry about Yang’s Light being activated? What even is Light?
“I recognize you,” Raven’s voice brought Ruby back to reality, “The Great White Huntress.”
“And you,” Summer smiles, her kindness strong even in the face of such powerful opposition, “The Great Red Huntress. How’s your brother? The Great Black Hunter, if I remember correctly.”
“Alive,” Raven snarled, “Presumably.”
“Well,” Taiyang spoke out, “What a rare occasion that three of the four Great Hunters meet.”
“Dad,” Yang questioned, quickly being silenced by Raven.
“The Great Yellow Hunter. Strongest man of Remnant. Arguably.”
“I prefer Gold,” Taiyang’s eye twitches, “Yellow is hardly proper.”
Ruby’s head was beginning to hurt again, she had heard the legends of the four Great Hunters from the people in town, but she believed they were just fairy tales. The fact that they were very much real, and two of them happened to be her parents was too much for her to handle. How could she, a simple blacksmith in training be the daughter of two of the most powerful figures in the folktales. She thought it impossible, her father was a blacksmith, nothing more. Her mother a healer, an alchemist, bringing salves and potions to restore people’s health is all she did. She had never even seen her mother fight, and her father fought just as any man does.
Except, Ruby’s eyes widen with the realization, Except he’s the only one in the village who can go toe to toe with the Grimm.
“Taiyang,” Raven slowly pulls her sword from its sheath, the blade a deep red, “I recognize that mark upon your wife. You dare lecture me on the Council’s punishment of using the Light when you harbor a Witch?”
“Mother?”
“Shh, my dear,” Summer looks down and whispers a response to Ruby, her eyes as kind and jovial as ever, helping Ruby relax, “You will never see harm as long as I stand, okay?”
“Okay...”
Raven steps forward, holding her blade out to Taiyang’s neck, who remains unflinching, “You know the punishment of that don’t you?”
“And you,” Tai and Raven turn their attention to Summer, whose eye is alight with power, her face calm and ready for battle, “You know the punishment for becoming one, do you not?”
Raven stood in silence as Taiyang flipped his attention in a panic between the two, stepping back away from Raven as she sighs. Slowly she sheathes her blade and reaches up to her mask, and carefully removes it from her face, her eyes closed. Yang holds out her hands and takes the mask from her mother silently, though she turns to look to Ruby and gives a reassuring nod, promising that everything will be okay. Ruby looked on and watched in amazement as she saw what was behind such a horrifying mask. Before them stood a woman around the age of her father, beautiful, with deep red eyes and hair that rivaled Yang’s in length, but rather than the golden color Yang adorned, her’s was as black as soot, more so similar to Ruby’s own hair.
“Very well,” Raven speaks, her eyes opening, one of them lighting ablaze with power, “We are on even grounds it seems. The Council will just as quickly do away with me as they would you.”
“You’ve both the power,” Taiyang shook in his boots, neither Ruby nor Yang have ever seen this man grasped with fear as he was now, he knew they could never understand the gravity of the situation they’re in currently, and as he speaks he performs a silent prayer in the back of his head, “The power of Maidens?”
“Yes, though that has no correlation to why I’m here, though I suppose it could help,” Raven closed her eyes and took her mask back from Yang and fitted it to her face, after a moment of silence she continued, “I need your help Tai. I need the Gold Hunter, and the White will only boost our chances.”
“Why should I help you,” Taiyang shook his head, overpowering both his anger and feelings of sadness, “You abandoned Yang, you caused her to abandon her home for six years. We feared she was dead.”
“You should hold more respect for our daughter,” Raven snapped, Yang’s face seemingly shocked at the compliment, “She’s as strong as you’d expect. Though I wish sometimes she was less like you.”
“Hmph,” Tai turned his head, looking to Summer, who responded with a nod, after a long silence he turns to answer, “I’ll hear you out. You’re welcome to stay for supper. Do not expect me to say yes.”
Yang rushed forward towards Summer and her sister after hearing the approval, grabbing hold of Ruby who jumped towards her. Yang laughs, teasing her about being too fearful as the younger protested. Summer smiled and gave Yang a hug, her face wearing a sad smile as she whispers into her ear. Yang slowly wipes her eyes and nods, a look of strong determination on her face. Taiyang watches as the three of them enter the house, Summer holding a gentle hand on their backs. When the door shuts behind them, he feels a hand press down on his shoulder.
“Tai, I don’t expect you to say yes,” Raven spoke quietly, “I expect you to see that there’s truly no choice but to say yes. There are dark days ahead of us, all of us. All of Remnant. And we need to stop it.”
“I’ve given up the life of a Hunter,” his eyes drop to the ground as his brain floods with sad memories.
“Well,” Raven steps past him, walking towards the home, “Your hand is being forced to play. I’ll tell you everything I know about the situation. About her.”
