Anywhere

Winter opened her eyes and blinked as she looked around. What? Hadn’t they just been in her apartment? Suddenly everything was a forest. Hues of green she’d only see in paintings and clothes before stretched around her. Blues, pinks, purples, and reds swayed in a gentle breeze that stirred her loose hair. What…What was this? This couldn’t be real, right? Nowhere in the world could truly look like this. It only existed in the realms of fantasy, whims of the mind in created art. “Actually, Winter, this…is where the tribe lives.” That voice… Summer Rose? She turned her gaze immediately to a woman who barely came to her shoulder. Bright grey but hesitant eyes met hers. This was the woman that could see through Qrow as if he were nothing? The AI that had been driving her insane over the past and a half? She looked like, well— “A child. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got that enough when I was alive.” The dry, deadpan reply came accompanied by hands on her hips and sharpened eyes. Winter’s breath caught in her chest and she stepped back. “I-I’m sorry.” Oh Holy Father, she’d done it now. She’d insulted one of the most powerful Huntresses in history. Certainly something would happen. She couldn’t walk away from such a personal insult thrown out so casually. Summer’s stance relaxed and a small smile came to her face. Her hands slipped easily into the urban camouflage cargo pants, white cloak swallowing her body whole. “Sorry, Winter. Just like you’re triggered by anger, I’m triggered by being called a child. But I still should’ve reacted better. If anyone should apologise, it’s me.” “No, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have thought it in the first place.” Stupid little girl. Assuming things based on looks. She really ought to have known better. People always assumed she liaisoned with the general or or Gelé bought her position, not her own efforts. Looks meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. But people had to care about hem. That included her. Especially her unfortunately. Summer gave her a disbelieving look before looking at Dove. The woman emerged from a nearby bush with a familiar bird on her fist. Kiyay flew over and Winter blinked. “What? Where are we?” Now that the mini-crisis was over… What the hell was going on? Where were they? Had Dove knocked her out and they moved her via Raven’s Semblance? But surely, nowhere in the world existed like this… “We’re inside your mind, my dear child.” Winter’s eyebrows shot up at Dove’s words. Her accent was gone? Her own mind? What nonsense was thisnow? Certainly this was beyond advanced aura… “Yes and no.” Her gaze jumped to Summer again. If this was inside of her own mind, then how— “It’s a combination of Dove’s aura and my Semblance. And two ance those questions before you even form them: yes, I’m dead. I’m a ghost. Yes those are real. We can explain how it works later. It’s more logical than you’d initially believe. But, no, you weren’t imagining me in a dream after having interacted with my AI so much. I’m too crazy for anybody to dream up.” The woman grinned a bit before Winter let out a breath. This just kept getting more and more irrational by the hour. First advanced aura, now ghosts…apparently. Did they really expect her to buy thissuperstitious nonsense? Religion was a farce, another way to control the populace. Especially women. Yes, aura was the physical manifestation of the soul, but gods? There was no proof— “How about we save the theology for later? We’ve already dawdled enough.” Winter nodded faintly at Summer’s words. Yes, she’d held them up long enough. “Yes, quite. Let’s proceed.” They’d wasted enough of Dove’s time. Anymore than this was too much. Dove smiled pleasantly and held her hand out to her. “Let’s go, dear. I have a lot to show you. Summer’s just here to help aide the process. She won’t impede on us too much. Her ability to convey emotions and show images were too important to pass up.” Winter nodded hesitantly before taking Dove’s hand with her free one. “It’ll be okay, Winter. Huchi would never harm anybody without reason.” Her head snapped to Kiyay, eyes wide. Aura breeds could speak, but she shouldn’t be able to understand him yet! How?! “We’re in the realm of pure aura. It transcends all language. That’s why you don’t hear my accent.” Dove offered a warm smile and Winter nodded tentatively. That seemed to make…some sort of sense. Qrow could read her thoughts but still… He spoke Atlassian on a truly native level… He even made a lot of the same mistakes non-upper-class people did. “Now what’s going to happen here will be me showing you a selection of memories of my baby bird growing up. Hopefully showing you his formative years will show you how and why he ended up the way he did.” That…sounded reasonable but how reliable was it? Memory was a fickle thing and Gelé made her question hers more than once over the years. Thankfully, she trusted hers most of the time. She could just be a stupid, silly little girl a lot of the time. “Very well.” What else what she supposed to say? Doubt the woman to her face? Turn her away? She hadopted to help by giving Qrow the birds and dog… A hand on her arm made her look down and Summer smiled at her. “You’re right; memory is fallible. But that’s not the point of this exercise. Actions may be wrong. Words may be misremembered. But that’s okay. The point of this is just to get at the essenceof Qrow while he grew up. Does that make this a bit more palatable?” The essence, huh? That did make it a bit easier to accept. Sort of like Semblances were usually something very core to their user but not a full expression of who they were. To just get an idea… A small rectangular hut came into view and Dove caught Winter’s eye. “Are you ready? We’re going to start now. You’ll be seeing everything through my eyes.” Winter let out a long, slow breath. “I suppose.” She really didn’t have much of a choice in general. All of this had been decided forher as much else in life had been…

♀

She breathed heavily as she looked down at the two precious bundles in her arms. Soft black fuzz dappled their heads. Twins. The ear piercing cries mattered not to her. Warmth like she never knew swelled in her chest. Bright like the rising sun through the sacred window every morning. Hot as the hearth that burned before her. Deeper than the lake they made their home. And freer than the divine falcons they flew every autumn and winter. Had her own mother felt this on the day of her birth? Did all women experience this? What a blessing from Kamuy Fuchi… Hopefully their ancestress and the rest of the kamuy would guard the precious lives from harm… But dark cloud gathers on the horizon should her husband stick to his plans… May the kamuy show him the correct way…

♀

Winter inhaled, the air crashing through her like a cold shower. What… What was… How could any feeling be thatintense? She loved her sister but that… Her head spun. People made no sense. How could anybody feel something so intensely? Why would they? And to wantchildren… Why? It was nothing but a way to tie women to their husbands, to trap them in abusive situations… How could anybody experience such joy over a birth? The soft yet familiar chittering helped bring her down. Soft feathers ran along her chin. “Just focus. It’ll be okay.” His voice rang sweet in her ears. Yes, focus. She’d be fine if she focused. How could she have let herself be overtaken so easily? Stupid, silly little girl. It’d just come back to bite her in the ass if she let it. Emotions were for the weak. As the world calmed down, she found herself in the same hut, two hearths burning in the center. Dove sat at the head. She sat to the woman’s left. Smoky scent filled the air. The smoke escaped from a vent to one side of the roof. What…was this place? It was so primitive. “This is where I live with my tribe, dear.” Dove’s voice made her look up and she blinked. People lived like this? No grocery stores? No running water? No electricity? But this was all surely false. Nowhere could look like the outside did. “It does, Winter. Atlas is cold with evergreen forests to my understanding. It has life, but not like here.” “You’re right there. But the more southern tundras can be quite beautiful during the warmer seasons. Assuming Jimmy’s not let you out that far, huh?” Summer folded her arms behind her head and Winter shook hers. “No. I’ve never been too far from a military base. The general is worried about the Grimm…” With the fear and despair she felt so constantly, she’d be a beacon for them. She’d seen the evergreen forests on some training missions. But they were foreboding places. Being out there too long spooked her which meant the Grimm came. The best place for her really was the general’s side for now. She’d get there eventually, but not anytime soon. All she could do was survive day by day. Especially right now. “If you can forgive my bluntness, how do you live like this? No nothing…” It really made no sense. How could somebody live like this? Of course, her cheeks reddened and she looked away. She must have sounded so spoiled. Accepting people living in apartments had been hard enough. They’d looked at her while she struggled to find her own quarters when starting boot. They must have been looking down their noses at her. The Schnee heiress and all of her condescending privilege. And now she was doing that here. Stupid, stupid, stupid. “Please, for—” Dove’s raised hand stopped her dread, chest frozen. Oh she’d done nit now. She’d offended the woman at the very least. “I’ll answer your question with another. Can you imagine living any other way than you do now?” What kind of preposterous— Of course she couldn’t. She knew Mantaline Faunus could live four families to a home, two to an apartment often. But she couldn’t imagine living like that. She’d always had somemodicum of privacy. To not have any or even her basic needs provided for… She couldn’t fathom it. The look on Dove’s face made her blink. Oh. Oh. “Just as I can’t imagine my life any different, your people can’t imagine yours…” That…did make sense. Adapting to apartment living in close quarters with the general had been hard enough. Let alone the occasional field mission when she had nothing…much like Dove and her people… Oh. “That’s right. We’ve lived this way for generations beyond count. We can’t imagine another way of life. I had to live as you did for a time and hated it. I imagine you’d have a similar reaction if you had to live as we do for an extended period.” “I imagine so,” she agreed. She sounded like a broken record to herself, but it was true. She could at least begin to understand a little. It still felt like the outside was a fantasy, though. How could anywhere be so vibrantly green? It didn’t make any sense to her. Then again, it wasn’t like Gelé had bothered to teach her much about the natural world in the first place… “Now that you’re a bit calmer, do you think you’ll be up to discussing what I shared?” There was no point in delaying the inevitable. All of this was the point of the meeting. “What questions do you have about it?” She hesitated. Would her extremely limited world view upset the woman? She hadn’t lost her patience yet but it felt like a matter of time. Her blue gaze drifted down. “I… How were the emotions so intense? I…don’t understand.” Might as well not fight it. Just get it over with. If the woman got angry, she’d just have to face the consequence. She was never one to evade them. Dove was silent for several moments, obviously considering her next words carefully. “What are emotions to you? That may be the best place to start?” What? Why? That was a stupid question! But she’d humor the older woman if nothing else. “Weakness. To show any is to be weak. They’ll be inevitably used against you.” What else would they be? They’d only ever been that. Even loving her sister was dangerous. Gelé would find a way to use that against her if he could. Thankfully that hadn’t come to pass. Not yet, at least. There was always a chance should he discover it. And when he did, it’d all come crashing down. He’d find a way to ruin her. All she could do was hang on for a few years. Weiss would be at Beacon. And she could take him down so hard that useless clip on of his would strangle him. Dove and Summer exchanged a glance before Summer nodded. “For most people, that isn’t the case. Emotions are something to be celebrated. People are free to exist simply as they do. They don’t have to spend every microsecond worrying about how they feel?” Winter raised an eyebrow. Really? That sounded like a fantasy of the utmost absurdity. They were only ever punished in Atlas. “I…see.” She really didn’t. It made literally no sense. Nothing about this had even the smallest modicum of logic. Emotions were illogical and had to be contained. No other management method existed. “Dear, have you wondered how Qrow has done all he has?” That got Winter’s attention centered on Dove again. Advanced aura did make somesort of sense…even if she didn’t like being an open book like this. Semblances could evolve. So it was logical normal aura could too. But how? Qrow hadn’t really explained it. “No. How does it work?” She was curious but it hadn’t been on her list of worries…and she wouldn’t have believed him anyway. Men just couldn’t be trusted. Not that women were muchbetter but… “Have you ever felt your aura before?” Dove smiled sweetly. Winter raised her eyebrow again. What sort of question was that? “Of course I have. When I activate and deactivate it, when it breaks, and when I use my Semblance.” Seriously, what weresome of these questions? So simple and demeaning. Did this woman take her for an idiot? The only reason she wasn’t flying off the handle was respect. The woman had taken time to come here. She could at least humor her absurd questions until she made some sort of point. Summer shook her head. “What she means is have you ever felt how your aura flows through your body. Have you ever felt that sort of oneness with yourself?” She shook her own head in response. No. Why would she? Aura served its purpose. Why bother with it farther? Not that she would know how in the first place. “How about I let you?” The tiny woman’s hand extended. “Why? There’s no point.” All of this was so absurd. She accepted advanced aura, but this was nonsense. She’d obviously never attain the skillset. “Just humor me for a minute. Please.” “Fine.” Winter placed her hand in Summer’s and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. An awareness like she had never felt entered her. There were no words to possibly try to describe it. Everything yet nothing. Energy swirling in every part of her. From her heart to the smallest strand of hair on her fingers. She simply…was. Yet… She looked down, jolting. The light blue of her aura permeated her body. But dark recesses littered her. Her wrists, halfway up her thighs, and more. But mostly around her heart. The aura seated there glowed brighter than anywhere else. However, a dark sphere surrounded it. Barely any aura could make its way through. “What is…?” What was happening? What wasthis? It made no— Aura blockages. That was what Qrow had mentioned. That was how he read her. Was this a visual representation of that? But what were the dark gashes across her aura? And why was her heart so marred? Summer dropped her hand and nodded. “We’re trying to avoid reading your thoughts and aura here, but it’s just easier to respond this time. “Yes, that’s how Grade Nine works, though on a smaller scale. Aura reacts to all thoughts and emotions. It creates small blockages in real time. So it’s not really mind reading so much as it’s truly aura reading. “As for those dark patches…they’re trauma-induced blockages. Either one very traumatic experience or extended trauma causes them. Like your wrists are trauma related to your parents and so on. “And your heart… Well, that was the aura spark or the very seat of the soul. The scarring there is representative of how distrustful you are in general—of people, the world, men—and your emotions and yourself. It was almost pitch black because of how much trauma you’ve sustained.” For the first time in years, tears came to Winter’s eyes and she covered her face. She knew Gelé had damaged her as had Atlas. But to that extent? Qrow and Coco had informed her about PTSD and C-PTSD. To know it went so deep into her soul… Just how wretched wasthis place? Oh Holy Father and if this had happened to her, what sort of damage would it do to Weiss? Her sweet, gentle, sensitive baby sister… She absorbed negativity and criticism like a sponge… Oh Holy Father, why? How long Winter sat there, she wasn’t sure. It felt like an eternity. She’d known she was damaged goods before but this was… She wanted to curl up and die. She’d never felt like a whole person before. But this just reinforced that. She was nothing but a job. Her only use in life was freeing and supporting her sister. Aside from that, she was and never would be anything. There was no hope for her. She was marred by Atlas—mind, body, and soul. Invisible scars but scars all the same. She didn’t matter and never had. Gelé had really made sure to tie her to him forever… She could never come back from this. A hand on her shoulder made her peek between her like the stupid, silly little girl she was. A soft smile from Summer greeted her. Free hand extended. Hesitantly, she put her hand in the other woman’s and lowered her head to her shoulder. And, for the first time in her life, openly wept in front of others.