RWBY: LIFE AND DEATH - CHAPTER 4

[Umber Khan - 10 YEARS OLD]

That night still haunted me, whenever I was not thinking of something, whenever I was alone, I would find myself in that room, staring at the lifeless body of my parents, but I had to be strong, for Sienna, for myself, so I kept a happy attitude around my sister, around others, pushing those memories as far away from me as possible.

A lot of things changed that night, for me, and for Sienna, after a few hours of pure grieve, we ran, and never looked back, deep down we wanted to give our parents a proper burial but we had no time, we couldn’t afford to lose any, we were lucky to even made it home alive, to risk more than that would’ve ended on disaster.

So we ran, and never looked back, from that day forward it was all us, the first few months we had it rough, stealing, and such to survive, but for us, right now there was no such thing as too low, it was do or die, so we did, everything that was needed to survive.

Until an organization offered us shelter, a Faunus organization known as the White Fang, I remembered their name, and part of what they represented on the series, although right now they were pacifists, looking to help others in need, so we accepted, a steady supply of food, and a place to sleep without having to have a knife under your pillow sounded like heaven, at least to us.

In there, we learned a lot of things, like how to fight, how to unlock our Aura, and more importantly how to use it. These weren’t things they taught to everyone, but we wanted to learn, and we insisted, so they taught us.

Their motto was, learn how to fight to avoid fighting, we knew best, we knew sometimes things were unavoidable, but to a certain degree we respected their beliefs, I think it was a year in, on my sixth birthday when Sienna discovered her semblance. Grudge, Her Semblance was strange but unique and would activate on foes that had their Aura weakened or broken, making her stronger, faster, and more vicious when going in for the kill; it was a skill designed to finish fallen foes.

As for me, well… It took me a while, five years to be precise to unlock my Semblance, and it was called The Twelve Labors, and it works as follows, when my aura is depleted to a level where it can no longer sustain its natural reactive protection, it will suddenly surge back to full capacity.

This Semblance offers me Twelve Stacks of Aura that are called labors, and while many will think I have twelve times as much Aura, I can only draw Aura from my current Labor, but as soon as it is depleted, my Semblance will immediately substitute it with the next Labor, refilling my Aura.

This, in turn, makes it virtually impossible for enemies to inflict too much damage rapidly enough to penetrate my protection before my Aura is depleted. For my Semblance will immediately switch to the next labor, to meet the pace of the damage. Basically, it would take a truly horrendous attack to break through multiple Labors, and a verifiable cataclysm to deplete all of them at once.

Depleted Labors recover overtime at a normal rate, but only after the current Labor I am using, has finished replenishing.

My Semblance was quite unique, from what I could gather and only a few individuals knew of it, and this brings us to the current time. I am Ten, and I am a member of the White Fang, the one that deals with evacuating and defending others. Sienna is more into politics than I am.

“How are you doing today?” Sienna, my fifteen-year-old sister inquired, taking a seat on her bed.

I looked at her, and with a smile, I said, “I’m good, not many riots this month, so haven’t had the need to kick some butt,”

At that, Sienna snorted, “Well, it sure has been peaceful lately,” she sighed, “Are you sure you don’t want to join my team?”

I shook my head, “I’m not a politics guy Sienna, I like what I do,”

“Yeah, the big bad cat of the White Fang,” Sienna chuckled, “Most don’t believe you are ten, I mean… you are taller than me, and most teenagers in my group.” Not that it was a big accomplishment, but she was right, I was tall, and by the looks of it I was going to be taller than I was in my past life.

“Why would I lie about my age?” I chuckled.

“No idea,” Sienna shrugged, “I guess it’s because you are so mature, and unlike the kids of your age, you are already working for the White Fang,”

“Well, I like having money,” I smirked.

“Hm, well shucks I like that too,” Sienna laughed, tackling me with a hug.

“Sienna! I am cooking!” I complained, but my purrs gave her all the info she needed, so she continued hugging.

“Don’t ever think just because you are taller than me, I will stop being your big sister mister!” Sienna giggled, purring as she did so.

“How could I EVER forget, you call me kitten in front of everyone!” I chuckled.

“Well… you are,” Sienna grinned, her purring growing louder and louder.

“I refuse to acknowledge that,” I huffed, my own purring growing louder and louder, fucking cat/human physiology! Stop giving away my emotions! I want to look badass!

Sniffing the air, I caught sight of something, something that I had tried to avoid, my noodles were burning, “Your food is burning,” NO SHIT SHERLOCK.

“You think?!” I replied.

“Yes, yes,” Sienna nodded, “It smells like it, what a sloppy chef, burning food… zero stars for sure,” this is why I hated my week of cooking, this is why.

“I wonder why that is?” I chuckled, throwing her into her bed, “Now, please behave or I won’t share my noodles with you tonight,”

“You would leave your poor sister without food!?” Sienna gasped dramatically.

“I would,” I nodded.

“Harsh, but fair,” Sienna chuckled.