Forgotten Remnants

6

Shirou held his breath as Raven stepped through the portal. It didn't help. He felt his whole body shudder and sweat beaded on his brow in reaction to traveling through it.
They had searched for the green-eyed girl for hours and they'd seen several with the right eye color, but none were her. Raven had also insisted on buying him clothes. Which was nice, except he didn't really have a tent or anything to store the clothes in. Maybe he could squeeze them into her wardrobe?
He put his bundle together and started to head for the tent flap, he'd need to at least wash them to get rid of the new clothes smell.
He got most of the way there before Raven plucked him from the ground. He was going to have to get used to that, she seemed pretty fond of it.
"You can't go out," she said with a huff. "Qrow is definitely still around, if you go out he'll see you, and he'll probably try and kidnap you."
Shirou blinked. "Will he go away if I throw swords at him?"
"No," she said flatly, plopping him down on a cushion with surprising gentleness, she usually tossed him and let him figure out the landing. "He's a strong fighter, and as much as he annoys me, I don't want my brother skewered. You'll just have to stay in here for a few days, he'll give up eventually."
He blinked and looked up at her. "So…what will I do?"
She sat down next to him with a sigh. "About?"
"I mean…here, what will I do? If I can't go out hunting and cleaning…how will I pay back my debt?" he said slowly, his brows furrowing down in thought. "I still don't know how much I owe you so I can use your Semblance."
She blinked, twice, then sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're pretty relentless aren't you ki-Shirou?"
"I…don't think so?" he asked slowly.
Raven sighed and plopped her hand down on the top of his head, gripped it lightly, and moved it back it forth gently.
Was she trying to pat his head? Because if so her technique was rather lacking.
"Whatever k-Shirou, a few day's break won't make a difference." she said.
"That's not true," he denied. "Every little bit counts, you said so yourself."
Her hand stopped moving his head back and forth and flicked him on the forehead. "Then I'm ordering you to take a break."
He opened his mouth to protest, and she flicked his forehead again.
He frowned, and opened his mouth again, only to be flicked, again.
"Stop that!" he said, bringing a hand to his beleaguered brow.
"Stop trying to talk me into letting you out," she said primly. "You're staying inside this tent until I tell you otherwise, and that's final."
Shirou frowned and stared at the table.
Raven snorted. "No need to pout."
"I'm not pouting," he said, pouting.
Raven snorted and went to the tent flap. "Hey Vernal!" she screamed into the camp. "Bring me some tea! And bring me a notebook and a pencil!"
She walked back and sat next to him. Belatedly, Vernal came in holding a tray, her eyes landed on the two of them and Shirou saw them harden in annoyance for an instant.
"Here is the tea," she said, putting the tray down on the table, then set a notebook and pencil down next to it.
"Vernal," Raven said, "you forgot something."
Vernal frowned. "I did?"
"Yes," Raven said with a small, cold smile. "You forgot to bring Shirou a cup."
Vernal tensed.
"I'll be teaching him to read," Vernal flinched. "So I have no doubt he'll get thirsty…I think you should apologize," Raven continued in a sing-song tone. "After all, one should apologize for making mistakes."
Shirou opened his mouth, only for Raven to flick him on the forehead again. He felt his eyes water, she struck the exact same spot every time.
"I'm. Sorry." Vernal spat out between grit teeth, her face so red it would put a sunset to shame.
"Good!" Raven said, beaming. "It's good to see that you are able to understand when you've made a mistake. Run along now, and don't forget to bring him a cup."
Vernal strode out, her back ramrod straight, red to the tips of her ears.
"I think she hates me now," Shirou said neutrally.
"Probably," Raven said, pouring herself a cup of tea. "But she was getting too full of herself for being my adjutant, she'd need to be humbled sooner or later, it's better that it happened now."
Shirou blinked and tilted his head while looking at Raven. He had to admit, maybe she did make a good leader?
Vernal strode back in, holding a small ceramic cup in a white-knuckled grip.
"Here," she said tersely.
Shirou was about to take hold of the cup, only for Raven to take his wrist in a firm grip.
"Manners," Raven chided, giving Vernal a disapproving look.
Vernal's face turned red again, the young woman took a deep breath, and when she spoke her voice was clear of any emotion. "My apologies for my mistake and terseness, I hope you can forgive me. Here is your cup."
Raven let go of his wrist, and Shirou extended his hand to take the cup. As soon as it was secure in his grip, she turned on her heel and strode out. Her back irradiating anger.
Raven wordlessly filled his cup.
"Okay," she said, opening the notebook to the first page and scribbling quickly. "I hope you're a good student because I am certainly not a good teacher. Here are the letters of the alphabet…"
Over the next few hours, Raven went over the letters, the sounds they made, and the beginning rules of the written language, as well as making him write out the letters for practice. She jumped from topic to topic with neither rhyme nor reason, and more than once descended into a strange tangent.
Shirou became particularly self-conscious when Raven, tired of leaning to the side to monitor his work, or of him leaning over her legs to pay attention to what she wrote, decided to pluck him by the scruff of the neck and plopped him down on her lap.
Still, he did learn quite a lot over the next few days. Only a little of which had anything to do with reading.
=][=
It took Raven three long weeks to decide it was safe for Shirou to leave her tent.
Which was good. Because he was about ready to explode. His stamina wasn't good enough to do physical training for the entirety of the day. And there were only so many hours that could be poured into practicing reading, particularly when he was alone.
Still, the very instant she declared it safe he ran out and went hunting. Waving back at Raven's shouted, "Don't waste time hunting grimm!"
He came back late in the day, having murderedas many grimm as he could. Since he didn't technically hunt grimm, he didn't disobey her.
In the morning he trained and hunted, and tested his skills by killing as many grimm as he could. In the afternoon and early evening he'd cook, clean, repair, and sew. And in the evenings he brushed Raven's hair, drank tea with her and learned whatever she felt like teaching him. Raven would take him with him to watch over her daughter, and every couple of weeks, she'd take him to one of the continents, to a town or city, so he could look for the green-eyed girl.
One particularly bright morning, he came back to the camp from his hunting, dragging a deer carcass. As he walked through the camp's gates, he was met with the warriors of the tribe as they were leaving.
"Ah Shirou, good," he turned toward the sound of Raven's voice, and saw her holding her corvid helmet under her left arm. She smirked at him. "I was starting to worry we'd have to leave without you."
Shirou blinked. "Leave? Where are we going?"
She wordlessly took hold of the carcass, and tossed it off to the side one-handed. "Come on, we're going on a raid. And you're coming with us."
Shirou blinked, twice.
"No need to be nervous!" Raven said, completely misreading his reticence with a smack on the back. "I've seen you train. I bet you're a better fighter than most of these louts!"
"But…Raven, I…I mean." he mumbled.
"Don't worry, you won't be fighting, you're just going as our cook." she said, grabbing his head and tossing it gently about. "You're eventually going to be one of the raiding force, it'll be a good experience for you. Besides, Vernal will look after you."
Well that made things even more awkward. He turned to Vernal, who was of course glaring at him, and cast about for something to say.
"Hey Vernal," he began slowly. "Why are you only wearing one pant leg rolled up?"
Vernal's icy blue eyes blinked in confusion, before looking down at her legs. Her right pant leg was indeed rolled up almost to her hip, showing off the garter strap that held up a thick leather stocking, while her left pant leg was tucked into the other leather stocking that came up to her thigh. Her face immediately colored.
"B-Because it's more tactically advantageous this way!" she snapped.
"I…Really?" Shirou asked. "Because…well…any holster you tie to your leg would go just as well over pant le-"
"Shut up!" she screeched.
"See?" Raven said with a barked laugh. "Getting along already. Now come on."
Shirou followed the warriors of the tribe. There were boasts and bets about who would steal the most, who would beat up the most uppity townsmen and whether or not 'Raven's pet' would be of any use.
Shirou for his own part merely walked, he wasn't particularly close with anyone in the tribe other than Raven. And she would be busy keeping the other warriors in line. He went off several times to forage for wild berries and vegetables, Vernal following, muttering vindictively.
That night, when the warriors of the tribe set up camp. Shirou looked through the supplies they'd brought and had to settle for making a simple stew. They'd brought a lot of canned food of different kinds, but it was all so heavily salted…ugh. Still, he did what he could, using his strengthening ability on the ingredients on a whim. Surprisingly, it made the food taste richer, so he labeled that experiment a success.
He loaded up bowls for himself, Vernal, and Raven. And carefully walked to where Raven was holding a quiet conversation with Vernal, sitting on a nearby tree stump.
"-at we won't have enough time to rans…Ah, Shirou." Raven cut herself off as she saw him approach, Vernal glared at him over her shoulder.
Shirou blinked and said. "I made dinner."
"Right," Raven said, and picked up a bowl from the wooden tray he was carrying.
She took one spoonful and paused, staring down at the food. Then silently continued shoveling the stew into her mouth.
Vernal was alternating glaring at her bowl and him.
"How did you make all the slop we brought taste good?" Raven asked as she absently dipped some hard bread into her bowl.
"I cooked it?" Shirou asked, wondering if he should mention pushing his Aura into the ingredients.
"Well, you did good." Raven said, grabbed the top of his head and tossed it about gently. Shirou felt a strange warmth bloom in his chest, he decided he liked that feeling and resolved himself to try harder to make meals tasty.
"Thanks for the food," Vernal ground out.
Shirou looked at his own bowl and realized he'd forgotten to eat. He gulped his food down, took their bowls, and went to wash them. Just within the edge of hearing he heard Raven take up the conversation they'd dropped.
"If the wind blows in a bad way, the fire will hinder us a lot more than it might hinder the town." Raven muttered, causing Shirou to stiffen.
"We have more people for this raid," Vernal retorted. "But we have seriously dropped in quality, without Joey, Greene, and Violet, we are a lot more vulnerable now than we were on the last raid."
Shirou forced himself to walk forward. Shaking his head vigorously.
"Tribe first," he muttered to himself. "Need to think about tribe first."
=][=
It took a couple of days to reach the town they were attacking. But once there, the tribe hid in the woods, waiting for the cover of darkness. They had surprisingly strong discipline as there was very little talking or noise.
Shirou's stomach was twisting itself up into knots his breath coming in short quick pants. Every instinct in him screamed to warn the town, to let them know they were under threat.
But if he warned the town. The tribe would be in danger, if the tribe was in danger, Raven would be in danger. And if Raven was in danger, she might be hurt. If she got hurt, he'd not be able to use her Semblance. If he couldn't use Raven's Semblance, finding the green-eyed girl would be more difficult.
The logic only made him feel worse.
"Why are you panicking?" Vernal whispered snappishly. "We're not even going to get to participate in the raid."
Shirou looked up at her, and concentrated very hard on not vomiting. "I…It's just…"
"Whatever." Vernal said, rolling her eyes.
A flare was shot into the air, the signal for the attack.
Only Vernal's far-away scream and air whistling past his ears made him realized he was moving. Jumping from tree to tree and root to root on his way to the town. He made it to the town wall and climbed over it in seconds, then dropped into the town beyond. He rushed into an alley, and froze.
What good was it to be in the town? He still couldn't act.
That's where the gunshots and screaming started. He felt his body lock up, pushed and pulled by opposite urges.
He had to protect the town's people.
He had to please Raven.
The world was spinning, his lunch was a solid block of poison in his stomach, the night was too bright, his blood thundered in his ears as his breaths came in ever quickening lung-filling wheezes. He was leaning against something and it wasn't very steady. Focusing his eyes was a herculean effort but he managed. The none-too-steady thing he was leaning against was the floor which rocked back and forth sickeningly.
Static filled his sight and hearing. It felt as if something inside him was cracking. Something that would shatter if bent any farther. So he did the only thing he could, and fled.
=][=
Shirou came to with a start. Looking around, he saw that night had well and truly fallen, how had he come to be here?
He couldn't remember, he remembered…
Something in his chest hurt. He decided not to try and remember what it was he forgot. He blinked when he realized he could smell burning wood and hear cries for water.
He stood on unsteady legs. And marveled that the world was no longer roiling. Someone's house was on fire, maybe he could help by joining a bucket line.
And that's when he heard an animalistic howl. Screams followed soon after.
He was off as if fired from a cannon. It didn't take him long to run into the first grimm as it leapt at an old man. It died skewered to the floor by a claymore. Shirou didn't so much as slow down.
But it wasn't enough.
He flooded his body with energy until the entirety of his being screamed in agony, forcing himself to go faster.
But it wasn't enough.
Wherever he strode, grimm died. Big and small, in land or air, grimm died pinned to the ground, to the sides of buildings, beheaded, bifurcated, pincushioned, burst open, torn apart.
But it wasn't enough.
The quaint streets and buildings around him flickered. Wood houses with tile roofs becoming tall buildings of steel and asphalt before turning back. The smoke went from a gray acrid haze, to an oppressive black wall that seemed to want to claw its way down his throat.
"I'm sorry!" he said to a burnt skeleton that reached a clawed hand out to him, its eyes having boiled and burst in its sockets.
"I'm sorry!" he pleaded to a corpse that had been crushed under boiling concrete.
But it wasn't enough. They condemned him, with disgust and scorn they condemned him. Demanding he die with them, reviling him for forgetting about them.
"You swore!" they raged at him. "You swore!"
And he had no answer for them. So he did the only thing he could do, and killed grimm.