Child of Omens: Ruination

Chapter 8: Lost in One's Darkness

Pain. All he felt was unimaginable pain. It was as if every fiber of his body was being pulled apart from one muscle strand at a time. But in all reality, they were. Ozpin watched as Glynda continued to use her semblance to torture Hawk. Waving his hand, she stops as Hawk slowly breathes, his body still screaming in pain.

Qrow: "We've been at this for 3 hours, kiddo."

Hawk: "What....you getting....sleepy." He says between labored breathes, his lungs crying out with each breath he takes.

Ozpin: "It doesn't have to be this way, Hawk. Just tell us what Raven wants, and the torture stops." There was a long pause as Hawk floated in the air with his eyes closed.

Hawk(mental): "Dante? Did you find it?"

Dante(mental): "Yeah, around a couple of feet underneath the main tower. I sense the same type of energy as a maiden. That's gotta be where he keeps his treasured stuff."

Ozpin: "It seems he's passed out from exhaustion. Drop him, Miss Goodwitch." She nods as she lets go of her hold of him, his body dropping to the floor. "See to it that his team is properly informed of his absence. Qrow, take him to a holding cell."

Qrow walks to Hawk's body, grabbing his arm as he tries to pick him up but stops as he feels a slight tingling near his chest. His eyes go wide as he sees the electrified hand placed against his chest. Then, releasing the energy, Qrow goes flying into the sidewall across the room. Unable to react to stop him, Hawk wraps his hand around Ozpin's neck as he transforms into his black-armor form.

Hawk: "STOP! Try anything, and I remove his head from his body and kill you next!" Then, in his right hand, a blade made of fire and appears. "Now, here's how I'M going to do this. I know about the vault beneath the school, the vault where you keep your little maiden. You come after my team or me, I kill the maiden, you try and move her, and I kill her. Do we understand each other?" Ozpin nods. 

Hawk dropping him, moves and heads towards the elevator, pressing the button to head down. As the door closes, he transforms back into his human form and collapses on the wall.

Dante(mental): "Holy shit! Are you alright?! Don't do shit like that. Your body wasn't prepared for that. Doing shit like that can cause severe to even permanent damage."

Hawk(mental): "I'm sorry, Dante. I needed a moment where I could get the drop on them."

Dante(mental): "It's all good, kid. Just don't do that kind of stuff again, okay? You had me scared half to...well, you know what I mean."

Hawk(mental): "It looks like we'll be limping back to the dorm."

Dante(mental): "Don't worry about it. I gotcha, kiddo." Hawk feels a warmness flowing through his body as the pain goes away. "Now, this ain't a quick fix. It'll just numb the pain, and you'll need some serious sleep and try not to over-exert yourself while your demonic energy patches you up."

Hawk exits the elevator as he makes his way back towards his team's dorm room. Reaching the door, he prepares to open it but is stopped when he hears the voice of Yang.

Yang: "Hey Hawk! Got a minute to chat?" She's wearing her pajamas, Hawk realizing it's around nighttime. "Geez. You don't look so good. You all right?"

Hawk: "Yeah, I just went through some pretty intense training, and my body is a little bit sore. Nothing to worry about. What do you need?"

Yang: "Well, I wanted to talk to you about...well, what happened at the ceremony earlier."

Hawk: "Hmm. Go on."

Yang: "Well, I wanted to know if, well...since your a Branwen and I know my uncle Qrow doesn't have any kids if you know my mother?"

Hawk: "And who is your mother?"

Yang: "Raven. She's my mom. She left when I was only still a child."

Dante(mental): "That's why she looks like her!"

Hawk: "Uh..well yes. I do know her. She leads the Branwen tribe. Did you want to know anything else?"

Yang: "Well, does everyone in the Branwen tribe use the same last name?"

Dante(mental): "Look, kid, I know you don't like it when I go "Morality Mode" but if you want to build strong relationships, you gotta be honest with people. That means being honest with more than just your team but with people who are family, even if you just met them."

Hawk: "*sigh* No Yang. We all don't have the same last name. The reason I used the last name was that it was given to me. By your mother, I'm her son." Shock covers Yang's face as she takes a few steps back.

Yang: "But that means that she did...but she was with my...you." Her last word was laced with venom and hatred. "You're the reason she abandoned me. Left me and my dad. All to raise you."

Dante(mental): "Oh shit. This back-fired." Hawk quickly had to dodge a punch from Yang.

Hawk: "Yang, please, calm down. It's not like that."

Yang: Tears coming from her eyes. "Really? Then tell me, Hawk. Tell me why she chose you over me? Tell me what I did wrong?...Tell me why she didn't love me?" Collapsing onto the floor, tears streaming down her face.

Hawk: Kneeling, he pulls her into a hug. "I don't have the answers to those questions, Yang. All I can say is that...I'm sorry."

Yang sinks into his hug as she cries into his shoulder, holding her tightly as she let out all of her grief and pain. After several minutes her crying finally stops as the two of them get up.

Yang: "I'm sorry I blamed you for what she did. I never got to meet her, and when I heard your name, I thought maybe I could learn about her from someone close. But I had no idea what you were to her. I'm sorry, bro." Pulling him into another hug as he pats her on the back.

Dante(mental): "Aww. Look at you two getting along. Man, imagine if shit like this went unresolved. She might've tried to kill you."

Hawk: "Well, I got to head to bed, Yang. Goodnight." Waving as he opened the door to his team's room.

Yang: "Night." Heading back to her team's room.

As Hawk enters the room, he sees that the rest of his team has already gone to bed. Nora is sleeping in a somewhat awkward position, snoring loudly. Ren is somehow able to sleep through while sleeping in the bed next to Nora's, Pyrrha as well is sleeping without any problem. As he makes his way to his bed, he sees a glass of warm milk with a note taped to the side.

"Sweet Dreams, Hawk." -Pyrrha

Smiling, he drinks the milk before climbing into the bed as the numbness leaves his body, and the pain returns but slowly fades as he drifts off into sleep.