Chapter 3: Strife Descends
(One month before Death arrived)
POV Blake Belladonna
They were about a day out from Argus now, which was the previous target for their protests, with them now heading to Mistral. She had been basically born into the White Fang and had a deeply ingrained desire to make things better for the faunus in this unfair world called Remnant. Presently, Blake had decided to sneak out of the camp to get away from a boy that was bothering her. Adam had been calling for her to be partnered up with him, though so far her father had not done so. Blake still was not sure what to think of the older boy.
While she was contemplating, she heard the sound of gunshots and she looked towards the sound, spotting something small falling from the sky, The person seemed to be shooting at the ground to slow down his descent, but he couldn't stop it completely
A loud crashing was heard from where the person crashed into the ground, and Blake ran towards it, concerned for whoever that was. Naturally, since humans couldn't fly, she assumed he was a faunus.
When she got to the crater, though, what she found looked like a dark-skinned human boy, about the same age as her, wearing metal armor. His body seemed to be unharmed, but he was still unconscious, with a pair of guns that looked much too large for him on either side of him.
The most bizarre part was the footprints, which looked much larger and deeper then they should have been based on the boys size. This odd boy was none other then Strife, and the large guns that had fallen to his sides were Mercy and Redemption.
Blake jogged over to Strife and knelt beside him "Are you alright?" she asked innocently, but the boy did not respond.
"Blake, get away from that human!" an older red-haired boy that was known to Blake jogged towards them.
"Adam, he wont hurt me, so get lost." Blake ordered.
"No, if I leave you and then you get hurt I wont be able to be your partner." Adam insisted. "You can't trust humans, Blake.
"GET LOST ADAM!" Blake ordered angrily when the bull faunus started coming nearer to her, and nearer to the sleeping boy.
"It's okay, Blake. I'll save you and put down this nasty human." Adam reassured Blake while drawing his katana.
"You can't!" Blake protested "He's innocent!"
"No human is innocent. They are all monsters." Adam said to Blake confidently "Now step aside Bla..." Adam was interrupted in his speech by Redemption returning in an instant to it's owners hand and shooting at Adam before he could dodge or block the bullet.
Strife's aim was always incredible, and now was no exception. The bullet struck the unprepared Adam in his wrist, forcing him to drop his Katana. "Leave." Strife ordered weakly, while still holding Redemption steady, now pointing it at Adam's heart.
Strife had no interest in killing the little brat, but he wasn't going to wait around and let some brat kill him either.
Blake, or course, was frightened, seeing that Strife had woken up and fired between her legs "Please, don't provoke him Adam." Blake asked.
"I'll only give one warning shot." Strife warned Adam "Next bullet goes in your heart."
At that, Adam cried and ran away, cradling his crippled wrist. There wasn't much left of his hand that had previously held his katana..
Blake relaxed as Adam fled, then turned around to face the boy and saw a pair of unusual glowing yellow eyes "I'm sorry about that guy." Blake smiled at Strife "My name is Blake. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just exhausted after using my Anarchy form" Strife insisted "My name is Strife." he slowly sat up and had his weapons disappear "Do you live near here?" Strife asked her.
Blake shook her head "We're camped near here, but don't live here." Blake insisted "Can you walk? I can bring you to the camp" she offered.
"I can't walk right now, but that's not a big deal." Strife insisted "Mayhem, come to me."
Purple mist started to gather nearby them "You have nothing to fear. Mayhem is my horse. He wont hurt you." he reassured Blake.
"Oooo, horsey's are so beautiful." Blake insisted and waited eagerly for the horse to appear.
When the horse jumped out of the mist and appeared before them, it was neither beautiful nor majestic.
Mayhem's armor/barding looked like bone, though with a light green tint to it as well as an unknown purple metal. The few parts of it's body that could be seen were black, , as were it's tail, mane, mane and eyes. Black-purple mist gathered near Mayhem's feet, and his nostrils exhaled fog.
"Hello horsey. I'm Blake" the three-year old cat faunus said to Mayhem innocently, not seeming afraid at all.
Mercy and Redemption disappeared since they were not needed at the moment, and Mayhem crouched to let Strife climb onto him. Once he was on the saddle, he helped Blake onto the saddle behind him as well "Okay Blake, which way to your camp?"
Blake pointed towards the camp "That way."
Strife clicked his tongue and Mayhem rose to his feet and Strife guided the peculiar horse in the direction of the camp. Blake kept her little arms firmly around Strife so that she wouldn't fall off, but seemed really happy.
Halfway to the camp, they met some faunus, including Ghira and Kali Belladonna. "Blake, are you alright?" Ghira asked with worry.
"Daddy, I made a new friend, but Adam said he wanted to kill him. He defended himself. Adam was the one that was very bad." Blake declared to her father "Daddy, isn't this horsey amazing?"
The others thought it looked terrifying, but didn't say that out loud. "What are you, young man?" Ghira asked Strife with confusion.
"I am Strife, and it is as your daughter says. I defended myself from that Adam guy." he was still annoyed by that little shit. "My species is called Nephilim. You'll have to pardon me since I don't know where I am or why I was sent here. The charred council wasn't supposed to awaken us horsemen until the apocalypse. Since Heaven and Hell do not appear to be waging war here, and since I've received no instructions from the council, I am at a loss regarding what I am supposed to do. I can only hope that my brothers or my sister have a better idea of what's going on for now. My siblings and I are collectively known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
"That title sounds so cool." Blake said excitedly, having no idea what Apocalypse meant, but Ghira did.
Even if he was not religious, there had been various religions that had popped up over Remnants long history, and many of them even prophesied about various kinds of Apocalypses, but Ghira had never believed any of them. Yet, seeing this strange boy and the terrifying pressure he and his horse exuded, he couldn't help but believe the boy was telling the truth.
"Like I said, I seem to have been awakened early. No apocalypse is upon you yet." Strife reassured Ghira and the others.
Ghira felt a bit better, but the idea that any Apocalypse might be real was still terrifying.
"What is Apoc-lips?" Blake asked Strife innocently.
"Such an innocent girl" Strife chuckled in amusement "It's not something you need to worry about. It'll probably never happen in your lifetime." he reached back behind him and patted Blake on top of her head, then clicked his tongue again, getting Mayhem to Crouch "I've recovered enough to walk now, I think."
Blake nodded in understanding and climbed off of Mayhem, followed by Strife Climbing off as well "Mayhem, I'll be alright for now, so go have a good rest until I need you again."
The strange horse neighed and sank into the ground surrounded by black-purple mist until it was gone completely. Blake took Strife's hand and pulled him over to her father "This sky-boy is my new friend, daddy. Please be nice to him."
Ghira nodded, deciding to accept his daughters request, not wanting this apparent 'Horseman of the Apocalypse' to be an enemy. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Strife." Ghira finally said to him "How old are you?"
"My memories are messed up, but...I think I am three years old..." Strife told Ghira and shrugged "I may have been suspended in time for hundreds of thousands of years, or even billions of years, for all I know. But I think I should be three years old if you don't count while I was frozen."
Kali approached Strife and Blake and knelt "Hello Strife. I am Kali Belladonna, Blake's mother."
"Hello Miss Kali." Strife greeted her.
"Regarding Adam..." Kali seemed a bit hesitant, but decided she had to ask this question "We're struggling to get his bleeding to stop."
"We Horsemen serve the Charred Council, the Charred Council oversee the balance of good and evil and tries to protect weaker races from the ambitions of Heaven and Hell. My guns reflect that mission with their unique properties. Mercy is made to battle with angels in mind, as they commonly have a distinct lack of mercy towards other races. The angel that is shot with mercy will have difficulty recovering from it without developing a merciful heart towards other races. Redemption is the opposite, built with demons in mind. It has the same affect as Mercy, but towards those with an irredeemably evil heart as demons are by their very nature. I shot him with the second gun, Redemption. The reason his bleeding is not stopping is likely due to his heart being irredeemably evil and cruel like a demon at his core, or that he revels in his dark thoughts and does not desire redemption from them, meaning he's on the road towards becoming irredeemably evil with no desire to turn off of it.. If not for that, the curse would not trigger."
Kali looked shocked, wondering how any child can truly be irredeemably evil when he first said that, but when he added the part about reveling in their dark emotions with no desire to change, that made a bit more sense
Strife sighed "I can release him from Redemptions curse, but understand that he is apparently not someone you can trust if the curse truly is in affect on him. And if he bothers me again, I'll kill him immediately. The only reason he's alive now is because I didn't want to make Blake see something like that, otherwise I'd have defended myself with lethal force as I prefer to not leave potential threats around that can come back and bite me or those around me later."
Kali nodded in acceptance, and also gratitude, because she did not want Blake to see something like that as well.
"Strife made redemption appear in his hand and brought the side of the barrel to his forehead a moment before making the gun disappear again "The curse has been lifted, so you should be able to heal him now."
"He's lost a lot of Blood, though, so we will still have to head back to Argus tomorrow." Ghira acknowledged to Strife "He'll need proper treatment that we can't provide here, and the journey to Mistral is too long." he glanced towards the White fang members that had come with him and Kali "Lets return to camp and prepare for the trip back in the morning."
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POV Strife
The next evening, as they were entering Argus, Strife had agreed to meet up with them at an inn they suggested, and he decided to look around this new town for the first time. He could easily pass for human as long as he restrained his eyes from glowing, so Ghira was confident that no one would bother him.
As he explored the town alone, Strife was quite impressed by how advanced the culture and the technology were. He really liked what he was seeing, but since it was getting late, he eventually decided he should head to the inn Ghira told him about.
He spotted and walked towards a girl that looked to be about four years older then him, with black hair and orange-yellow eyes, intending to ask her, but before he could speak, Strife recognized a sadness in her eyes "Are you sad about something?" he asked empathetically.
The girl, who thought she'd hid her grief well, was surprised when a younger boy asked her about it "Oh. My mom d...died a while back, and dad started seeing a new woman, but she gives me a bad feeling."
"I'm sorry." Strife apologized and placed a hand gently on the girls shoulder to comfort her. Even though he was only three, and she was seven, the height difference was not so dramatic that he couldn't reach that high, given that he was tall for his age, even among Nephilim who were on average quite a bit taller then humans "My name is Strife."
The girl managed to smile at the younger boy attempting to comfort her "Cinder...My name is Cinder Fall"
The girl, Cinder, ended up walking Strife to the inn, and he listened to her complaints and fears on the way, deciding to investigate things a bit the next day. After all, Blake and the White Fang were not leaving until the day after tomorrow at the earliest, so he had time to do that much.
Cinder had unknowingly given him plenty of information to at least begin an investigation, though with so little there was no guarantee that he'd find anything. Even so, he meant to try, at least.
With no contact and no instructions from the Charred Council, he could only do what he thought was best, and helping the White Fang, and now this Cinder both seemed worthwhile, at least until he had orders that took him elsewhere.
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The next morning, Strife went to the Salon where Madonna Tremaine, Cinder's fathers new fiancé, was going to get her hair done. Thanks to Cinder's description, Strife had no trouble stealthily waiting for her to come back out, after which he followed her.
Strife had always been the stealthy one among him and his siblings, and he had the added benefit of being even smaller now, though he hadn't realized it yet due to his fragmented memory.
Regardless, with immense finesse, Strife blended in to his surroundings and followed the woman around town for most of the day, with him not seeing her do anything suspicious. He was about to give up and head back to the inn when on her way 'home', she suddenly turned into an alley and met a Scorpion faunus.
Concentrating on his hearing and dulling his other senses, he tuned out all other sounds and eavesdropped on them.
"Yes, of course I've got it. My Queen has high expectations for you." the faunus insisted while presenting her with a bottle containing a light purple liquid "One drop a day is enough. It'll look like your husband is falling ill, and by the time he dies, the poison will not be detectable."
"Tyrian, right?" Madonna asked the faunus "While the help is appreciated, I can't help but wonder what this Queen of yours wants to gain from this."
"The Queen desires one thing in exchange, but the repayment she desires is not something that will harm you, not one little bit." Tyrian insisted "The Queen see's potential in young Cinder, but to bend her to the Queen's will, she must first be broken. She must lose her father and her home, and she must lose it to you, rather then the Queen. She must be honed to hate the world and have no choice but to turn to my Queen."
Madonna chuckled "You're right. I'd already planned to get rid of that brat anyway" she tucked the bottle of poison into her pocket and started to leave.
Strife inwardly sighed as his senses returned to normal and he followed Madonna to Cinder's house, which was rather nice. He had thought about going after the faunus, but if she went home and gave Cinder's father the poison he'd regret it, so he decided to just confront her immediately.
While Madonna was entering the front door, Strife jumped up through an open window in the second floor and entered into Cinder's room.
Cinder, who had been laying on her bed, above the covers, sat upright and was about to call out in alarm until she recognized Strife "Strife, what are you doing here?"
"After what you said last night, I decided to follow your soon-to-be step-mother today." Strife admitted to Cinder "You were right. She plans to kill your father, but it's part of something much larger. You seem to be the final target for those hidden behind your step-mother-to-be."
Cinder looked concerned "Please, tell me you can prove it." the tone of her voice was desperate.
"I can prove that she has the poison on her person right now, so lets see your father and catch her red-handed." Strife suggested. It was regrettable that he was unable to identify this mysterious 'Queen' that the scorpion faunus who was apparently named Tyrian mentioned, but he was confident that he could at least save Cinder's father.
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POV Cinder
Cinder was relieved that her step-sisters had stayed over at a friends place tonight, so they were not able to run interference and stop her from approaching her father. At Strife's suggestion, they did not go downstairs immediately, instead they called the Argus police and she reported an attempted murder.
Only when the police showed up did Cinder and Strife head downstairs to open the door. she made a shhhh gesture with one finger and whispered to the male and female officer about catching the poisoner red-handed.
The two police officers were surprised, but Cinder gestured for them to follow and they went to the kitchen where Madonna was preparing three plates of food, but she frowned when she saw the officers "What can I do for you officers today?"
"The secret pocket in your waist sash, give the poison in it to these officers." Strife demanded to Madonna. With his keen nose he could smell the poison still in it, as well as on one of the plates of food "The plate with no macaroni and cheese on it, is that your fathers? Does he have a problem with dairy?"
"He's lactose intolerant, yes." Cinder verified.
"Then the poison should also be on that plate." Strife pointed out for the officers benefit since he could already smell the truth with his nose "I saw her in an alley meeting with a scorpion faunus that she called Tyrian, colluding to murder her fiancé. One drop a day, he said, and within a few months, her fiancé, who by that time would be her husband, would die, and the poison would be untraceable. It would be as though he fell ill and died naturally. This Tyrian said he wanted to completely destroy Cinder's life and take everything away from her and get her desperate enough to serve someone he called his queen." he testified.
Madonna was shocked "Officers, you can't believe this nonsense. This is the cruel imagination of a child." she denied it.
"The easy way to verify it is to hand over your Sash." Strife pointed out smugly "If you are not guilty, if I am lying, then they will not find a secret pocking in it containing a vial of, if I am not mistaken, diluted scorpion faunus poison"
Strife did not know how powerful the poison was, except that Tyrian was confident in it's lethality. He still didn't know much about aura, so how could he know that Tyrian could use his aura to enhance the potency of his poison to the point where it could even kill huntsmen and huntresses who had unlocked aura. What chance did a normal man have against such a poison?
"Ma'am, the kid has a point. Will you let us check your Sash, or do we have to bring you in for questioning until we can get a warrant?" The female officer was the first to speak up, surprising her partner who had been hesitant about what they should do.
"I've done nothing wrong. I'm in my own house. You have no right!" Madonna frantically protested.
"Nope." Cinder insisted "You've been staying here less then a week, and it's still not your legal address. This place belongs to my dad and I, and as a legal resident, I'm asking them to remove you from the house, and I'm asking them to collect evidence of your crimes."
Strife smiled at Cinder, who managed to do just as he'd instructed her at just the right moment. Cinder's words were enough to convince the officers to move, with the male grabbing Madonna suddenly and handcuffing her. She tried to grab for the poison to crush the bottle, but it was too sturdy to crush that fast for someone who hadn't awakened their aura.
While the male officer dragged Madonna out to the patrol car, the female officer remained behind to supervise the scene and called for a crime scene examination crew as per procedure. She only needed to collect one plate, but it had to be handled in a certain manner to keep the case as strong as possible.
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Around two hours later, they got the warrant and retrieved the bottle of poison from Madonna's Sash. They had already retrieved the meal that was supposed to be for Cinder's father and preliminary tests had come back positive for poison, though it still needed to be compared to the poison that Madonna possessed.
Strife, however, already knew the answer since he did not doubt his nose.
Jett Fall, Cinder's father, was devastated when he came home and learned what had happened They had a long talk regarding what Tyrian had planned for Cinder, and Strife convinced him that Cinder was not safe in Argus anymore.
It turned out that Jett had an Aunt in Vale, and since Strife was already heading to Mistral the next day, he offered to have Cinder travel with him and the White Fang at least as far as Mistral, where she could catch a flight to Vale.
There was a very sad goodbye between the father and daughter duo, before Strife brought Cinder to meet Ghira and explained the situation. Ghira had no issue with escorting little Cinder to Mistral, as they were heading their anyway. The next morning, the White Fang, along with Strife and Cinder, departed from Argus.
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Name : Strife
Age : 3
Race : Nephilim
Transformation : Anarchy Form
Summon : Mayhem
Semblance : None
Level : 75
Health : 1150/1150
Wrath : 1250/1250
Aura : None
Strength : 145
Defense : 160
Arcane : 210
Resistance : 165
Unique Properties : Senses Consolidation (Weaken most of ones senses to draw out the potential of the remaining sense to the maximum), Supreme Stealth (When activated, someone can look straight at him without seeing him at all. Though he cannot fight in this state, he can stealthily move around and enter a more favorable position to attack from once deactivated)
Primary Weapon : Mercy and Redemption
Secondary Weapon :
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Splendora_Gaming
Splendora_Gaming before anyone complains about Death being lower level then his siblings, that's because of his systempreventing him from being overwritten by Death the way that the others were.
The same system will make it much easier for Death to grow stronger and to even continue growing stronger well after the others reach their peaks, which will be around Ozpin's level.
Also, Death has an aura and semblance, while in their present state they can't get these things, and even when they can, they wont be able to keep up with Death by that point.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone