Team SAFF: A RWBY Story

Character Short: Evelynn Shade

Growing up in the harsh world of Remnant, survival was never easy for my family. It was just me, my younger sister Anna, and our mother. I remember the constant struggle, the ever-present fear of what the next day would bring. We lived in a small, rundown apartment in Vale, the kind of place where the walls were thin, and hope was even thinner.

My mother did her best to protect us, to keep us safe from the dangers that lurked around every corner. But it was never enough. She would leave us for days at a time, disappearing into the night with no explanation, only to return battered and bruised. I used to ask her where she went, why she always came back looking like she'd fought a battle. But she never answered, just smiled at me with tired eyes and said it was for our own good.

I think, deep down, I knew the truth. She was doing whatever she could to put food on the table, to keep a roof over our heads. But the price she paid... it was written all over her face. And every time she came back, I could see a little more of her spirit had been chipped away, a little more of her hope lost to the darkness she faced.

Then there was that one night. The night everything changed. I was only twelve, but I remember it like it was yesterday. My mother had come home late, her clothes torn, her face swollen from another fight. But this time, she wasn't alone. I heard them before I saw them—heavy footsteps, low voices, the sound of something breaking. My mother had been followed.

The intruders burst into our apartment, their eyes filled with malice, their intentions clear. They wanted to hurt her. To hurt us. My mother tried to fight them off, but she was too weak, too broken. They overpowered her easily, throwing her to the ground. I watched in horror as they raised their weapons, ready to finish her off.

But something inside me snapped. I couldn't just stand there and watch as my mother was taken from me. In that moment of desperation, I discovered my Semblance. It was like a switch had been flipped, and suddenly I felt a power surge through me that I had never felt before. My eyes—amber, like molten gold—glowed with an unnatural light, and I focused all of my will on the intruders.

"Leave," I whispered, my voice steady despite the fear coursing through me. "Leave, and forget you ever knew us."

To my shock, they obeyed. Their faces went blank, their eyes glazed over, and they turned and walked out of the apartment as if nothing had happened. They left, just like that. And when I looked at my mother, I saw the mix of fear and awe in her eyes.

That was the night I discovered my Semblance. The ability to hypnotize, to bend the will of others to my own. It was a gift, a power that could protect us... or destroy us.

At first, my mother saw it as a blessing. She praised me for saving her, for saving Anna. But it didn't take long for her to realize the potential of what I could do. She started using me—using my gift to steal, to cheat, to manipulate others. She made me hypnotize shopkeepers into giving us goods for free, made me trick wealthy men into handing over their money. It was wrong. I knew it was wrong. But I was a child, and she was my mother. I couldn't say no.

As the years went on, I became more and more resentful of what my mother was turning me into. I wasn't just her daughter anymore—I was a tool, a weapon she could wield to get whatever she wanted. And the more she used me, the more I saw the darkness inside her growing. The bruises she came home with weren't from fights anymore—they were from the people she'd wronged, people who were starting to catch on to what she was doing.

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. I was sixteen when I made the hardest decision of my life. I turned my own mother into the Vale police. I used my Semblance one last time, making her confess to all the crimes she'd committed, all the people she'd hurt. She was arrested, admitted to a facility where they could help her. I told myself it was for her own good, that she needed to be stopped before she dragged us both down into the darkness. But it didn't make it any easier.

Anna was placed into my care after that. She was only eight, and I promised myself I would protect her, that I would never let her go through what I did. I worked hard to give her a normal life, to keep her safe from the shadows that had haunted our family for so long.

As the years passed, I focused on honing my abilities, learning to control my Semblance instead of letting it control me. And when I turned eighteen, I received an acceptance letter from Beacon Academy. It was my chance to start over, to use my gift for something good. But leaving Anna behind... that was the hardest part.

On the day I left for Beacon, Anna hugged me tightly, tears in her eyes. She was proud of me, she said. She believed in me. And that was all I needed to hear.

When I arrived at Beacon, I was nervous, unsure of what to expect. But then I met my team leader, Bleu Falls. There was something about her—something that made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could find a new family here. A new purpose.

And so, my journey began. A journey to become a Huntress, to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. To atone for the sins of my past and to forge a future where I could finally be free.

But the shadows of my past are never far behind, always lurking, always waiting. And I know that one day, I'll have to face them again. But when that day comes, I'll be ready.