Never Change

Chapter 42

He was sitting cross legged in Raven's tent, with the bandit queen herself, discussing the plans for tomorrow, when Qrow, Tai, and their group would appear, and when Cinder's group would appear.

They had had a rather turbulent stay at Raven's little bandit camp so far.

"What about it?" Raven replied curtly.

"Who was the other woman?" Percy ignored the hint to stop pushing. He couldn't give two shits about her implied hints, especially from that of a bandit queen.

Raven was silent.

Percy raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. She didn't.

A light breeze blew through the area, causing the tent's flaps to gently crash against one another.

"... someone from my past," she finally chose to answer.

How utterly vague. Befitting of someone who seemed to be hiding from Salem.

Percy sighed loudly. Just as expected, the noise drew Raven's irritated gaze, and she narrowed her red eyes at him.

"Some secrets are meant to be kept for themselves."

Her cold, closed off voice told Percy that she did not want to talk about it. But he didn't care. He could have been more accommodating, empathetic, but he wasn't.

"And some are meant to be displayed so that your allies may have all the information they need at their hands. To build teamwork, camaraderie. It would be a display of trust, Raven," he instead chose to respond carefully.

"Tch," Raven scoffed, "Camaraderie? Teamwork? Trust? Don't make me laugh."

It was surprising to Percy how arrogant she was, especially after how he had just defeated her.

"I thought you were Apollyon. A supposed god, revered by all of the sheep that are civilians. There is no need for camaraderie," she sneered, "When all you have to do is fight them off for the tribe, so that the Spring Maiden doesn't fall into Salem's hands. Is that too much for your simple mind to comprehend?"

Percy was unamused.

"Tch. Bullshit," he scoffed, "You, the Spring Maiden, are scared of Salem. And you want my group to fight them off based purely on the incentive of not allowing the relic and/or yourself into her hands. That's hardly enough."

"Oh? I wouldn't be so sure about that," Raven shot him an amused smirk, "You've come here, haven't you?"

"Only because it was enroute to Mistral for me. I acquiesced to Qrow's request because it was interesting, and was of a mild concern to me. Nothing more, nothing less," Percy responded.

"So you're going to leave the Spring Maiden in Salem's hands?" Raven raised an eyebrow, daring him to go further into this game of chicken, this game of bluffing.

"I just might. I'll leave Winter, Weiss, and Penny here to at least give you some defense. If you can't fight off Salem's minions, I see no reason to save you anyway."

With that, he stood up from the cushion, and turned his back to her, leaving the tent. When his hand touched the tent flap, though, she finally called out.

"Where are you going?"

There seemed to be a hint of panic in Raven's voice, but Percy ignored it in favor of answering her question.

"To Mistral with the bullhead and the two assassins. Like I said, you can have the others to defend you."

Out of the corner of his eye, Percy could see Raven bite her lip, a certain uncertainty in her eyes.