The Lady In Red (1)

"Fiction is the truth inside the lie." – Stephen King

Chapter 10: The Lady In Red (1)

Today was going to be one of the worst days of my life and I AM considering this statement through before saying this.

After getting Raven tied up and kept her in the living room couch for the rest of the night, breakfast turned out to be quite the unusual affair as expected. The children were confused, Raven eyeing cautiously the dark-haired beauty with red eyes, knowing full well that the empty holster she was still donning could have held the very blade that had hurt me.

This reached me when he tugged my sleeve and asked if she was the 'bandit woman' that had attacked me, which I, with incredibly, answered with a 'yes'. Pink eyes drilled on the unfazed Branwen and Nora merely narrowed her eyes, blue orbs contemplating some retribution and…

Whip

It came in the most unexpected way. As I went to open the door to Sienna as per usual habit, I heard the distinct sound of something quick hitting something else. I then heard the sound of Raven falling with her chair on the ground thankfully still tied-up and a snarl directed at the smug-looking Valkyrie.

The orange-haired girl was holding a small wet towel and the trembling on the bandit's left leg suggested that the suffering party was her shin. I was almost pitying her at this point, a 'proud warrior' being belittled by a child no older than 7 and unable to retaliate because of situations.

The tiger faunus joined us in the living room, stared at the fallen woman and then she looked at me with a quizzical look. I sighed and moved to carefully pick Raven off the floor and back up.

"Thank you, husband."

I grimaced at the nickname I've been suffering for a whole night, having to keep guard over the non-sleeping Raven as she continued to talk during the whole time. We were both tired by that 'clash' and I wouldn't be shy to get some hours of sleep after she is safely taken away by the rest of team STRQ.

What would happen to her after that wasn't my concern as for now I preferred to keep away from the 'main plot' until I got enough resources and the possibility of going nuclear on Salem and whoever could be considered dangerous for the world. Much Punisher? Frank Castle got things done well and quickly back in the Marvelverse.

Maybe I will not pull a One-Man Army with how I suck in most of combat-related things, but I sure was going to go full Vietnam when the fortuitous case would arrive. It was a 'when', not an 'if'.

Anyway, after getting the two kids going for school, Sienna and I faced the surprisingly calm-looking Branwen. Woman was still sporting the dark bags under her eyes after the small all nighter she had wanted to pull on both of us and no, I know the innuendos coming from some of my sentences, she was tied on the couch and my brain was dying as I kept sitting on a very sturdy chair of wood.

"So she thinks you are… married?" I nodded at the Faunus' attempt to summarize the reasoning of the dangerous woman. "After she literally stabbed you in the arm, almost sawing it off?"

"That is correct-"

"We are married by the tribe's rules." She rebuked with a serious tone.

"Rules that are enacted within the tribe, not outside of it." I snapped back as my mind was connecting this situation to a very curious group of stories I had read in the past.

The shotgun-wedding, I didn't dislike them. At least I didn't until things just escalated quickly and they stopped without updating and… my brain hurt. Like seriously why would someone forsake me to this!?

"If this is about the children, I can assure you that I will treat them as my heirs and train them personally-"

"Wait, what?!" Okay, timeout! What was that? Raven Branwen ready to 'sacrifice' her freedom for the sake of respecting some tribal rules? This was an AU or a divergence, wasn't it?

I mean, aren't we meant to NOT be in RWBY to start with?

"The girl seems to have more potential, but I think the boy was holding back and-"

"The answer is still no and- Seriously, you aren't going to be near my kids, Branwen."

My tone turned fiery and my logic was fading a little. As someone that love my family to the utmost, to know that someone that had ditched her own daughter and her family for the sake of not dealing with Ozpin wanted to speak of 'treating children' well in front of me was something that didn't sit well in my chest.

Sienna gave me a confused look and I decided to explain. "So how long since you have seen your little daughter, Raven. Bet she doesn't even call you 'mother' at this point."

Surprising me even more she snarled at the baiting, as if she truly 'cared' for her child.

She did care at some extent for Ms. Xiao Long, but I guess my proximity to her rendered contacting my student quite difficult, if not impossible.

Always at fault here and there, shouldn't that be telling something?

I think it means I would murder for some coffee.

Goddammit, Ozpin!

"You don't know-" "OH, I DO!" I shouted louder than her, bringing the shotgun mere inches from her face. "I know what you did and why you did that, but the fact you left you own blood behind is disgusting! You are her mother and the girl will always think that she could be the real fault from your departure-"

"But I am not!-"

"And how do you think she would know that? Even if Summer and Taiyang tell her that, she will always have that doubt until she finds you and gets the truth out of you, the easy way or the painful one."

Raven grew quiet for a moment, then she tried to fight back. "She will be too soft-"

"With the need of protecting her family, she will be a powerful huntress by the time she leaves Beacon, certainly stronger than you."

Through the shocked expression I could spot a glint of pride at the words, knowing that part of her motherly feelings were there. A very small bit around the prideful character she had built on herself. "And I suggest one last thing, Branwen." I decided to conclude this altogether. "I will make sure your team will reach Menagerie the quickest possible and get you off my hands."

She squirmed in the ropes but those were too many and too tight for her to break through, aura-enchanted strength or not.

"Sienna." The woman turned to look at me, looking quite taken by my brief moment of anger. "Could you contact Chieftain Lavana? I don't wish this development to be learned out as a personal surprise than one of his trusted guards reporting in."

She nodded quickly and went for her radio to call out her superior but as she did so I remember another thing. "Also if you could get two extra guards. I need someone to keep her monitored while I am work-"

"I am not going to hurt you!" The Branwen tried and failed to impress that notion, her blush failing to take into notice what 'hurt' was and was not. Seriously, could this get any better?

Yep, I was trying to jinx some good situation now as this was certainly grating on my poor mind and I needed to go and do what I liked the most. Die from boredom on some paperwork and do my effing job at the Bank.

Normality, I needed some good normality in my life.

The school in Kuo Kuana was a large complex of territory and a single large building housing the institution that educated the local children of Menagerie. Subjects were mostly practical, to address the need of manpower to have a workforce available to keep the small nation going and scientific subjects like Math, Science and Technical Drawing were not worth much in the overall grade system.

Yet small little girl that was Ilia Amitola was not deterred from pursuing her happy hobby. Drawing was something that sent her away from the unpleasant situation back home and gave her a world to create.

Sure, her parents were mostly out in trying to get some stable job at Menagerie, the situation regarding job hiring was a complicated thing altogether, but that didn't deprive her from the cold that would reach her little boy once she returned home and… found no one waiting for her.

It was the usual, but it still left her bitter. But to what in particular? Bitter at life, or at something more concrete and closer? Her simple mind could grasp this and… she 'escaped' from Menagerie with her own stories and characters, getting best endings that let her float in the sky for more than just a moment.

Yet school restricted this as she had to study and learn to become… smarter and… capable of getting a proper future prepared by herself and for herself only.

It was… cynical. Yes, that was the word she had read from her current vocabulary, the one she was using to write down her newest story. Stories of fantasy, stories of reality, stories of wrong and right.

Writing and drawing were her tools to color her bleak day and… things changed when she met Lie Ren. The boy was human, something rare in the reality she had lived filled by only faunus children, and he was someone that she could talk with without getting all flustered and confused about.

A good individual to speak to but… he seemed to be always sad. Not terribly sad, he showed some happiness here and there but he would stop a moment during pauses from lessons to stare at his desk, contemplating about something she knew nothing about.

He had a cousin, Nora, which was a female human completely the opposite of Ren. Overly-friendly, spending most of her time socializing and 'driving' the class to her. It was amusing, just like some of the protagonists she had drafted from her unrealistic concepts and yet… she was there and existed.

A curious development that led Ilia to ask from the boy more about them and why they were in Menagerie, ending up to get some answers and more. The two 'siblings' were from Mistral, from a settlement that had been attacked by the Grimm and forced them to flee.

Their current caretaker and legal guardian, John Bukharin, took them in and managed to get them to where the White Fang had settled for few days before returning from a mass protest campaign. Fast-forward, they were enrolled to the school and started to study in her classroom.

Their story was impressive, something that seemed to have come out from a book and… she liked it. To think that someone that lived the rare tale of uncommon was… awe-inducing.

Then she learned that their 'parent' was also good with writing. It was something that Ren muttered when the girl had told him about her drawings and written stories, alluding to the fact this Mr. Bukharin had indeed gone and made a hobby about it before settling in Kuo Kuana.

This little discovery meant a lot for the young chameleon faunus and soon she planned a way to help her parents. She was sure her drawings and stories were worth of something and, if she managed to get an expert to the case… maybe she could help her family.

It was a complex plan that required some timing and proper study of her 'target'. The man worked for the local bank and went to work just after the beginning of school, leaving it only two-to-three hours after the end of the school. This gave her a window of opportunity of few hours to truly act and…

It happened. Another day at school passed, enjoying the chats with Ren and staring as Nora went to make some funny jokes and plays with fellow classmates. Writing notes, listening to the lessons and… the bell rang.

Her smile widened as she took her old school bag and almost skipped through the hallway to leave the classroom. Without wasting much time, Ilia ventured through the streets of the capital she had explored very little, but still managed to recognize after so long she went in those places.

The walk was uneventful and she paused few times when there were large crowds blocking the passage. Soon she found herself staring at the building where John Bukharin worked in. Several men wearing suits went in and out, looking professional and formal with their stances and walking.

Her minuscule frame and her simple dress a sore spot in the sea of gray, black and dark-blue. She moved decisively, going forward and toward the large counted deep in the room, the cartel above hit with 'Receptionist' written on it suggesting that the person assigned there could help her.

She reached it and stared up as a young woman with lynx ears turned at her with a small smile. "Hello there, little one. Are you there with your parents?"

Ilia was tempted to not reply to the stranger but… she had to ask questions to someone. "No."

"Oh? Then are you here for some 'work'?"

The girl frowned at the strange tone at the end of the question and she decided to speak about her business. "I-I am here to speak with Mr. Bukharin."

The older faunus blinked in surprise. "You mean John Bukharin?"

A nod and the woman frowned. "Can you tell me how do you know him?"

Ilia nodded. "I am friend with Ren."

The receptionist seemed to hum in, her eyes half-closed in concentration before she realized what the girl was talking about. "You mean his adoptive son?"

Another nod. "And why would you need his help? Something happened to Ren?"

"No." She replied quickly, her patience thinning dangerously at this point. She needed to talk to him, nothing else, and yet the woman was annoying her with so many questions. "I need to show him my writing."

The lynx faunus nodded slowly. "Your… writing?"

"I need to talk to him." She finally pressed and the older female sighed.

"I will see to find him and… hopefully he will have some good explanation for this." She reached for her phone and called a number Ilia couldn't she from where she was. The woman waited a moment before the caller picked up.

"Bukharin, there is a classmate of your son Ren wanting to speak with you."

…

"No, she said nothing had happened to him and that she wanted to show you her writing and- Yes, understood."

The call ended and the girl looked hopefully at the woman- "He said he is coming soon."

Eyes glowed in glee at this. That meant that she was one step closer to help her family!

Few moments later a slightly tall human paced out of one of the various hallways and walked towards the receptionist's counter. His eyes fell on her and widened in surprise and recognition.

"I think you are… Ilia, right?" She nodded surprised. "Ren spoke well of you. Said that you like to draw and-" "A-And write." She blinked before looking down, her outburst caused by her excitement. "S-Sorry."

"No problem, kid. Just tell me what you needed to tell me." The girl didn't spoke. Instead she pulled several papers out of her school bag and extended those at the curious man. "I- I want to publish this."

… "Uh?"

While Ilia Amitola had been one of the most recent character integrated to the Volumes, her backstory wasn't completely evolved. Only some points were mentioned, like the fact her parents would have to work in Atlas' mine for years to get their girl to study well in the upper citadel, that they would die because of a cave-in and ushered the girl in the aggressive faction of the White Fang.

Not much was expanded on the fact that, even through money mattered a 50% of the tuition, Atlas' schools wanted intelligent children in their classroom. Intelligent enough to study quickly topics and ace exams without problems.

Considering this simple notion, I don't think it would be difficult to explain that, this little two-years old 'book' was by far the best thing I had read from someone her age… ever. While grammar was still lacking and some punctuation needed some changing, the massive story created there was…

Incredibly good. I wouldn't call it a grand masterpiece, but I would be an utter moron to not see the good deal of descriptions and characterizations used in there. Childish in some aspect, but never too much 'on the face' and… I liked it.

The story of Fantasy, which surprisingly was nothing like the ones from the 'real world', was something that could seriously sell big-time with the proper editor and… I closed the book as I glanced at the patiently waiting child.

The fact that she had also drawn her own illustrations of some of the scenes of the story further showed the powerful potential hiding in her. An interesting detail of her character that the authors could have been kind enough to add to the plot.

The surprise was pleasant sure, but the delivery was a little too shocking to be good. Still I nodded at her and she smiled widely at my reaction.

"This work will require some corrections but… I think it could sell… a lot."

"R-Really?" I nodded again and placed it on the table, pushing it on the opposite side, where the child was sitting.

"I know that it might sound incredible but… what you did here is possibly the… craziest thing I have ever seen. The attention to the details and the loyalty to keep some characters keep their personalities without any major change-inducing events is truly great."

Her eyes watered and I groaned as I was going to see another child cry in front of me.

"Still this is going to take a lot of time as I need to find the editor willing and free to produce this, without any scamming contract between the lines."

"T-That is… good for me."

"And I will also have to tell your parents." She stiffened a little, surely trying to not bring her father and mother on this situation but… I bet they will be proud at what their daughter had achieved.

Ready or not, Remnant, you are getting your own version of… Stephen King. Only she is a child and incredibly shy.