I wrote this back in June, but instead of putting this in EXTRAS like I was originally going to do, I want to put it here before the start AN.
Somewhere, in a field of beautiful green grass during a beautiful sunny day. Unknown time.
Blake and AJ were lying on their backs, looking up at the clouds. Neko was lying in the grass as well, catching up on his sleep.
"What does that one look like to you?" Blake asked him.
"Like a cloud." He deadpanned and she chuckled. "It kind of looks like a mushroom, I guess." He answered with a smile.
"I thought so too."
"That one?" He asked, pointing to another cloud.
"A fish!" She exclaimed excitedly with sparkles in her eyes, making him burst out laughing.
A breeze came by and they both closed their eyes to enjoy the feeling of the wind on their faces and in their hair. She let go of his hand and got up to lie on him, so he wrapped his arms around her and they both closed their eyes again.
He didn't know how much time passed before Yang finally interrupted their moment. "Sorry we're late!"
He noticed Blake stir and look him in the eyes for a moment, then she kissed him before rolling off of him and back to his left side.
"Hey guys!" AJ said and lazily waved at them.
"Remind me again, why are we here?" Weiss asked, annoyed.
"We needed a break from everything!" Ruby answered as she lied down on AJ's right and looked up at the clouds as well.
"So AJ and I found this spot for us." Blake finished.
"So just forget about anything like school work or Grimm. Just enjoy the breeze and the clouds." AJ said with a smile as he wrapped his left arm around Blake and put his right arm behind his head as he stared up again at the white clouds that dotted the blue sky.
"Good thing it isn't too hot out right now, cause there's no trees anywhere!" Yang pointed out as she looked around before lying to Blake's left. "I mean really, it's always hot wherever I am, but you know what I mean." She said with a smirk.
"Come on Weiss! Sit down!" Ruby requested as she patted the ground to her right. Weiss tried to make it look like she only begrudgingly listened to her partner, but they knew her well and knew that she really had no problem with it.
"I wish Jaune and his team could have come with us though…" Ruby said solemnly.
"As much as I would have liked for them to come with us, Nora would have ruined the moment." AJ said. "Besides, they were too busy to join us."
"I know…" Ruby said with the same tone but cheered up as she looked up at the clouds again. "Hey! That one looks like a strawberry!" She said excitedly, getting a laugh from the other four.
"Hey, Ruby, it's rude to point." AJ fake scolded.
Ruby giggled at the joke while Yang's response was to point dramatically at him.
"*Incredibly overdramatic gasp* How dare you!?" He cried out before they all laughed.
They lied there for a long time, looking up at clouds and making silly jokes.
He looked around at them at one point, when they were all laughing and smiling, even Weiss. Neko had also woken up awhile ago and Ruby and Blake took turns petting him. He was really happy right now, seeing the team all together and just… happy… happy and nothing else. No troubles, no White Fang, no Grimm, no school, just lying here and laughing.
He sat up, getting their attention. "You know, I…" He found himself tearing up and he had to blink away his tears before they came out and take a moment to slow his breathing.
"What?" Yang asked as she sat up.
Blake noticed he was crying. "What's wrong?" She asked with concern as she sat up and checked on him. Ruby and Weiss sat up as well. Neko got on his shoulder and rubbed his face against his cheek.
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Neko asked.
"Nothing." He said with a smile as his tears went away. "As I was saying… I'm really glad I came to Remnant, and got to meet you guys." And his tears started to come back, but he still smiled as he looked at all four of them one at a time. "Not just cause of meeting Blake, but I'm really glad I got to meet you all, even you, Weiss."
"You make it sound like you're leaving or something…" Ruby said, worried.
"Oh I'm not leaving yet, and I hope I never have to." He said, not losing his smile until he looked down at the ground, and his tears actually began to fall down his cheeks. "I just thought… you guys should know… how thankful I am… for getting to have friends like you guys…"
Blake quickly sat on his lap and hugged him to try and comfort him. "And I am so very thankful that you came to Remnant so I could meet you, AJ." She said softly. "And I'm also very glad that I got to be a part of this team and meet you all."
"Now you're talking like you're leaving!" Ruby complained. "We still have years of school left!"
"I'm sorry, I'm just really emotional right now." Blake apologized.
"I don't even know why I'm so emotional. Damn it! I shouldn't be crying over this!" AJ berated himself when he suddenly felt Ruby hug his side.
"Stop it! You're gonna make me cry too!" Ruby whined into his shoulder.
"I think we all need a hug, a group hug!" Yang said as she got behind AJ and wrapped them all in a hug, a hug that Neko quickly got out of before he was crushed, by sitting on AJ's head.
Ruby giggled happily. "Yay! Group hug!" She removed her face from AJ's shoulder and looked at her partner. "Come on, Weiss! Group hug!"
Weiss looked conflicted for a moment. "Grrr… Fine!" She conceded and joined in the hug, though she quickly smiled, if only slightly, showing that she was enjoying herself.
"I'm just… so glad that I met you all and that this is my home now. I really really appreciate everything you all have done for me. I just wanted you guys to know that." He said with a smile. The warmth felt nice, but "Guys… you're kind of squishing me…" He complained, but they all simply laughed when he said that. 'I will never leave you guys, and… I'll keep you all safe, so I won't lose you, so no one has to lose anyone…' "That's a promise." He accidentally whispered.
"Hmm?" Blake asked curiously.
"Nothing." He said while smiling with his eyes closed.
I would just like to say, one last time, thank you Monty Oum. When people like you create something, a nearly infinite number of things soon come into existence because of it. With every story that someone creates, fanfictions, art, animations, games, etc. are all made after it. Because of the story of RWBY, so many other little or not-so-little stories have been created.
Though my stories may never be liked by many no matter how passionate I am about it, that's not what matters. What matters is all these stories are created, that people let out their creative side, and hopefully had fun doing it. What matters is that someone enjoys the story, or drawing, or whatever. So many moments happen in each story, fluffy moments, scary ones, dramatic ones, sad ones, happy ones. Just because of one story that Monty has started, so many moments come into existence. Moments in my fics, moments in more well-known fics that I will never read… People may find themselves changing as they write these stories or draw fanart, I know I've changed since I started writing all this… and that never would have happened if Monty hadn't started RWBY.
That goes with everything that is created. Anime, TV shows, youtube channels, songs, video games… when these things are created, it grows quickly. Fanart is drawn, fanfics are written, songs are made, emotions are felt, not just from the source product, but everything that follows it because of the fans of that thing.
Every story must come to an end at some point, but that doesn't mean the fans will stop. More stories will be created afterwards for hopefully a long time to come.
I would never have written anything like this if it hadn't been for you, Monty. The authors of well-known fics, the authors of lesser known fics like mine, the people who make incredible fanart, would never have done these things, would never have been changed by the things they've done, if RWBY hadn't been created. (And remember, that's just the RWBY fandom, don't forget every fandom of every other thing that exists!)
So thank you, Monty, and may you always rest in peace.
…
Well, now that I've left a few more words of wisdom for you all…
I hope you all enjoy Book Three of Fate!
The Plus One of RWBY Ch.12
A cloaked figure walked down a street in Vale. It was night and their hood made it impossible to see their face. They turned left and walked down an alley. At the end of the alley was a door, with a tall bulky man standing guard next to it. The sound of loud music was coming through the door, it was muffled, but it was clearly club music. The figure walked right up to the door, but was stopped when the guard stepped silently in front of him.
"You can't just walk in here." The guard said with a gruff voice.
"Sorry, am I not on the list?" The cloaked figure asked jokingly.
"Everyone that's on the list is already inside, so no, you're not." The guard said with a slightly threatening tone.
AJ pulled down his hood. "Official Huntsman business."
"I'm gonna need to see some evidence to support your claim." The guard requested.
AJ glared up at very tall guard with red eyes and barely contained anger. "I don't have time for this… There is evidence of a criminal that snuck into your list, now let me in."
"Alright, alright. Calm down." The guard requested calmly. "Just let me see some ID and you can go right in and do what you need to do. Just try not to destroy the place or I might not get paid."
AJ reached behind him for his Scroll, and then punched the guard in the chest, sending him into the door and knocking the door down, letting the sound of dubstep come through loud and clear. "No promises." He said with a smirk as he stepped in. The dubstep was so loud that no one seemed to notice him.
The door he just broke through opened up to a straight path that went along the entire back wall of the club, though you could make a right turn that led into the closed off room where the DJ was at. The whole path along the back wall looked over the dance floor, if you just looked right, which was the lowest point of the club. Between the path and the dance floor was a large seating area that looks similar to the arrangement of the classrooms in Beacon.
There was a small crowd on the dance floor as well as people spread out through the sitting area, either eating, drinking, talking with each other, or watching the people dancing. At the very end of the path was a small bar, but that was hardly enough, so there was also another small bar in the right corner of the sitting area, almost directly below the DJ's room. The DJ was currently in his room, looking down at the dancers. Lights were flashing, music was blaring, and the new visitor hated every second of it.
He turned and opened the door to the DJ's room before walking in and shutting it behind him. The sounds of the club were almost completely shut out here, which he found to be a positive thing. Records were all over the place, half of them not even in a proper container. He walked up to the DJ and went to grab him by the shoulder.
"What exactly are you doing here?" The DJ asked casually before turning towards him. "Hey I know you!"
"You do?" AJ asked curiously.
The DJ wore a pale button up shirt with a popped up collar, a pale green headset around his neck, green goggles which were currently raised up to his forehead rather than over his eyes, standard blue jeans which were being held up by a light green belt, and pale sneakers. His light green hair was spikey and all over the place. He also had a green wrist band that said "DJ" on it in pale green text.
"Yeah! I have really good memory!" The wacky-haired DJ explained. "I remember you walking down the street one day with a bunch of colorful girls, though you seemed really attached to one in particular." He started and walked over to a corner of the room and started sifting through the records on the nearby table. "I remember hearing them calling you 'AJ', I remember what you looked like, I remember getting a base understanding of your personality from what you said and how you acted."
"Were you following us or something?" AJ asked.
"No, I was just walking through the crowds of people on another average day and your group just happened to walk by. Like I said," He pointed at his head. "Good memory."
"Hmm." AJ hummed in acknowledgement.
"So, I have three questions for you." The DJ started.
"What am I doing here?" AJ guessed.
"No, I already know the answer to that one I think." The DJ answered. "First one. Did you notice any guards when you walked in here?" He asked as he walked back over to the records that were currently playing.
AJ looked to the side in thought for a second. "No. I found that weird, but didn't really care enough to think about it."
"That's because the guard here is in a room cut off from the rest of the club." He reached under the table the records were on and pulled out a small red button. "And they only come out when I press this button."
AJ gave him a suspicious glare.
"Next question. What is your name?" The DJ asked.
Rather than a confused look, 'AJ' smiled in amusement. "Aren't you a smart one." He commented.
"You have his face, and his clothing, but your eyes are red, your hair is black, your sheathe is the wrong colors, your cloak is blood red and not brown, and you don't even have a symbol on the back of your shirt. Sure, that could just be a decision that he had made, to change the colors of almost everything he wore… but the look in your eyes isn't the same, you just want to watch the world burn. So I'll ask again… What is your name?"
"Well, I guess I'll humor you. I'm AJ's double… Tiaman." (Tea-ah-min)
"Tiaman, that sounds familiar." The DJ said to himself. "Like you changed a word a bit."
"Tiamanicus, the Demon Prince of Deception." Tiaman answered. "He doesn't actually exist, but I am a demon so I thought I would give myself a name like his. I think it fits me, don't you think?"
"I guess it does." The DJ agreed with a bit of a smirk. 'A demon? Well, if that's true, that would explain why I feel so uneasy in his presence.'
"Care to tell me your name?" Tiaman asked.
The DJ shrugged. "Eh. Just call me Derek."
"Derek? That's it?" The demon asked, surprised.
"I never really cared for my real name." The DJ explained with another shrug.
Tiaman began walking towards him as he unsheathed his sword. "The final question." Tiaman paused. The DJ pointed at the various records scattered around the room. "What song do you want to have playing when you die?" He asked with a confident smile.
Tiaman's smirk grew at the young DJ's confidence. "Have anything that isn't dubstep or shit like that?"
The DJ totally lost his smile and rolled his eyes. "Of course, you're one of those people. *Sigh* Yeah, I have one song that isn't dubstep. If you don't like it, too bad." He picked up the record on the floor that was titled "Not dubstep" and started playing it.
(Play "Paint it Black" by "The Rolling Stones")
"Dang, this song is old! I forgot I even had this till now!" The DJ commented before turning to Tiaman just in time to limbo in order to avoid being tackled. The demon went over his head and crashed through the window, landing roughly on the dance floor.
The DJ jumped out of the window and landed before Tiaman, red button in hand. He then pressed the button, causing the whole metal container that the button was on to shift. The metal shrunk and spread outward till it took the shape of a metal staff. Suddenly the glass windows of his private room shattered as four records came flying out. The records flew to the DJ, two of them stuck into one side of the staff parallel to it, while the other two stuck into the other side of the staff. He pressed the red button on the center of the staff again, and the sound of four chainsaws revving up was heard as all four record disks started spinning rapidly.
The DJ smiled excitedly before charging at Tiaman. The demon simply smirked back as his black Aura appeared as a mist around him before he jumped over his opponent. He spun around and clashed his sword with the spinning records at the end of Derek's staff. Black Aura started flowing from his sword as he tried to hold his ground but soon found himself thrown off by the spinning disks. Derek pushed his advantage and began rapidly swinging his staff as Tiaman backed up to avoid getting hit. Derek brought one end of his staff down vertically, and Tiaman jumped back just as the spinning disks dug into the dance floor.
Tiaman tried to kick the staff into the air, but Derek held tight, so he simply kicked the staff again, causing the DJ to slide backwards. He quickly fired a red Energy blast out of his hand, but the blast was destroyed by a single swing of the double record disks on one of the ends of the DJ's staff. Tiaman fired another few blasts and each one was rendered harmless.
Derek smirked before twirling his staff above his head, then pressing the button on it once again. The disks one both sides fused together with the one next to it before the records were coated in a bright green energy. With a swing of his staff, a disk of green energy launched away from the records and flew at his cloak wearing opponent. Tiaman dodged two of the green disks before he began firing Energy blasts back at the DJ. The green and red attacks canceled each other out as they collided between them.
Suddenly the DJ jumped out through the smoke and swung down at Tiaman with the disks on one side split apart and spinning one again. The demon jumped back from the attack, but Derek quickly swung the other half of the staff upward, launching an energy disk right into Tiaman's chest, knocking him down. Tiaman waited till the DJ got closer before firing two Energy blasts into his chest simultaneously. As the DJ staggered away, Tiaman got up and swung his sword vertically at his opponent's chest. Derek raised the pole of his staff and blocked the blade, so the demon simply punched his staff, causing him to slide across the dance floor.
'Damn, he's strong!' The DJ thought before fusing the records on both sides of his staff again. He ran at Tiaman before jumping into the air and spinning around, sending out a barrage of energy disks. The demon's black Aura flared up more before he started dashing around and dodging all the disks. The records once again split up and started spinning again, and when Tiaman raised his sword to block the spinning disks, his sword bounced off. Derek saw his opening and once again fused the records on one side of his staff. This time he swung the fused disks right into Tiaman's gut before the energy disk that was launched out carried Tiaman away and into a wall where the disk exploded.
The DJ prepared another energy disk as he watched the dust cloud intently. 'Is that it? Is he done?' Suddenly the dust cloud was blown away by the large amount of black mist that was emanating from the demon as he smiled evilly.
"Alright! You've had your fun, but now you've pissed me off!" Tiaman shouted angrily before jumping back onto the dance floor.
Derek actually looked a bit worried at this point as he pressed the button on his staff once again. The multitude of record disks lying around in his room suddenly shot out of said room and floated in the air. All of them suddenly shot at Tiaman's back at the same time, and the demon simply smirked. He suddenly appeared behind the DJ. "Now DIE!" Tiaman shouted before driving his elbow into his opponent's back, sending him flying into the cloud of disks that was intended for Tiaman. He flew right through the cloud of sharp disks, which tore him up before he slammed face first into the wall and collapsed on the floor.
(The music ends)
Tiaman squinted at his opponent's body. "Is he not dead!? Pfft! Wow! No wonder you're the only guard this place has! You actually aren't half bad!" He looked around and saw the club was empty. "Well, I was going to use this as a secret base, but all the people that ran away will probably call the police and make that impossible." A black glow came from his eyes. "I guess I'll just punish you for that." He raised his sword and swung downward.
He stopped his own sword before the killing blow could be dealt. He raised an eyebrow in confusion at what he was sensing and turned around. There he saw a woman wearing purple clothing that could hardly be called clothing, it left very little to the imagination. Her hair was purple and her eyes were red. She sauntered towards him with a seductive smile.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Tiaman asked seriously.
"Me? Oh I'm nobody really. I'm just some nameless succubus, hardly worth your time." The woman answered. "And yet, I have a mission that pertains to you." She said as she ran one of her nails along his cheek.
He stepped away from her. "Which is?"
"Well, since you are a new demon, I am supposed to tell you how things work with us." The succubus started. "Also, the arch demons find this angel boy to be a bother and want him dead. I was sent here because I am weaker than most demons and am therefore less likely to be detected by the angels. They will never know that I came here and killed that boy."
Tiaman's red eyes suddenly widened in anger before he grabbed the woman by the throat. "Listen here, slut!" A purple glow appeared on the arm he was using to hold her up. "I'm going to kill him myself, you hear me!?" The succubus began to panic and vainly struggle to try and get out of his grasp as she gasped for air. "I won't take help from anyone! If you get in my way or try to kill him yourself I will-" Suddenly a purple glow appeared in her hand before she slapped his arm with that hand. The purple glow seemed to fade into him and the purple glow around his arm disappeared before he released her. "What did you just do to me!?" He asked angrily.
The succubus did not answer at first as she rubbed her throat and tried to slow her breathing. "Th-The angels have a lock on their powers so they don't kill each other… us demons, we all have a lock on ourselves so we can't steal each other's power just by touching them." She answered.
Tiaman closed his hand into a tight fist. "So that's why I felt like I was getting stronger as I was choking you." He realized. "That's why I feel stronger right now! Heh. I should be strong enough to kill him without your help now, you can go."
"You know I'm not going to leave." The succubus pointed out as she regained her smile.
"You know I could kill you now, right?" Tiaman said threateningly.
"You know any one arch demon could tear you apart with little effort, don't you?" The succubus asked cockily. "They wouldn't be happy if you killed me when they sent me here to help you."
"I don't need help!" AJ's double said angrily.
"Why isn't he dead yet then?" The woman asked.
"After my grand appearance before him, I ran into the wilds. I figured that they would send people to hunt me down and try to kill me. They did, but AJ wasn't one of them." Tiaman answered.
"Exactly. Instead of going after you, he has almost certainly been training to be able to beat you. Who knows how much stronger he is by now!" The succubus pointed out.
"And what do you think I've been doing while I was hiding in the forests and killing the people that were hunting me down?" Tiaman asked with a smirk. "I'm stronger too. I guarantee you I have improved more than he has."
"So, what are you going to do now?" The succubus asked.
"Find somewhere to lay low." He answered before starting to walk away. He stopped and looked at the DJ. "Consider yourself lucky that you get to live."
Meanwhile, in the RWBY dorm.
"Whoa! That is so cool!" Ruby exclaimed with stars in her eyes.
The girls of RWBY were gathered around their plus one, who was currently holding a mini snowstorm in his hand. Though, rather than snowflakes, the storm was made of tiny glyphs.
"Ok, I'll admit, that's pretty… cool." Yan commented with a bit of a smirk.
There was silence.
"Was that even supposed to be a pun?" AJ asked with a disappointed tone before chuckling.
"What? It looks like snow!" Yang whined defensively.
"It sure does!" Ruby commented.
"Is that of any use in combat though?" Blake asked curiously.
"Unfortunately, no." AJ answered. "It's just something I can do now that I'm better with my glyphs."
Weiss, the only one not smiling from seeing the mini blizzard, spoke up. "It's not fair! You can do things with glyphs that I can't do at all!" She whined.
AJ smiled calmly before waving his hand and letting the mini glyphs blow away. "Weiss, you can do plenty more things that I can't do with glyphs. They're your Semblance after all." He said as he stood up.
"Yes but you have to understand that makes it even more irritating that I can't do what you can do with glyphs!" Weiss pointed out.
"All I can do is make really small versions of the solid wall glyphs, it's not anything that special." AJ pointed out.
"But you can make a glyph without even moving, why can't I do that?" Weiss demanded.
"Weiss, I thought we were over you being a perfectionist? You can't do everything with glyphs, so what? You're still the best glyph user around." AJ pointed out.
"Yeah! Besides, when you two use your glyphs together, you're unstoppable! Go White Glyphs!" Ruby cheered.
"Why did you just make the combos that I'm in start with 'white'? White Shadow, White Flash, White Glyphs, White Roses." AJ listed off. "I think Pure White Roses sounds better, by the way."
"Well, I don't really want to have any of the combo names be more than two words." Ruby answered hesitantly. "And the reason they all start with white is because you always have your white Aura flowing off you! I also randomly decided I wanted there to be a theme with the combos you're in. I thought about using those white feathers you give off for the names, Feathered Roses and stuff like that, but most of those names weren't as good." She explained.
"AJ" Weiss started with an annoyed tone, getting his attention. "It's not about you doing things that I can't, it just really annoys me that you're stronger than me and you just have no idea what it feels like to know someone is better than you!"
AJ stopped smiling before turning back around towards Blake's bed. "Weiss, you're forgetting where I'm from." He sat back down. "Back on Earth, I was just some weakling. It felt like everyone was better than me at just about everything."
"That isn't true anymore though, AJ." Blake pointed out. "You're very strong now. You're one of the strongest people I've ever met."
"I'm still worried though." He said with concern. "When I play video games, I do my best to make sure I am more than prepared for an encounter. If I can, I get far above the needed level or gear to make sure I can win without worrying. But all I have now are new techniques! I'm really not that much stronger!" He held his head in his hands. "I don't know for certain that I can beat him!"
They all looked at each other in confusion for a moment before Blake's eyes widened in realization. "You mean that evil version of you?" She asked.
"Yes." He answered, not looking up.
"Hey, come on big guy! We've got your back!" Yang said with confidence.
"You aren't alone." Blake pointed out softly. "You won't be alone when you fight him either."
"But I'm not sure you guys can help." He argued, looking up at Blake. "Not only that, I don't want any of you to get hurt."
"Nope!" Ruby said suddenly, making him look at her. "If you fought alone, you would be the one getting hurt, and we won't let that happen without a fight." She said strongly.
"Basically, you're not getting rid of us. When you fight that guy, we will be there to help you." Yang said.
He smiled at them. "Thank you." He said with a nod.
"We're a team you know, we take care of each other." Weiss pointed out.
"Right, of course." He said with another nod.
Yang picked AJ up and put him in a headlock. "And no one takes care of their teammates better than our protective little angel boy, huh?" She then proceeded to noogie him.
"Agh! Please don't noogie the Faunus!" AJ said in a voice that he and Yang knew well.
"Yang, let go of him." Blake requested with a slightly threatening tone.
She let him out of the headlock before they both gave a mischievous look to the rest of their team.
"Oh no." Weiss said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please don't."
"If you steal Ruby's cookies…" Yang started, looking at AJ.
"You're gonna have a bad time." AJ finished. "If you try to steal Blake's favorite book…"
"You're gonna have a bad time." Yang finished.
""And if you piss either of us off…"" They stood shoulder to shoulder. ""You're gonna, have, a bad, time!"" They both shouted before they high fived and nearly fell over laughing.
"There is something wrong with you two…" Weiss deadpanned.
"Sure, we're insane, but the best people are!" AJ countered with a smile. "Besides, if you had played the game, you would be making references too!"
"No I wouldn't!" Weiss countered.
AJ's smile faltered. "Now that I think about it, you're probably right..." He said sheepishly.
Everyone but Weiss chuckled at the look on his face.
So, I'm gonna do something unusual for me, once again, and that is I'm gonna stop right here. Normally I go till 10000 words and then stop the chapter around there, but for some reason I feel like I should stop here. Not the biggest introduction to book 3, I know. I really just need to get out of my habit of always doing 10000 word chapters when I could have stopped earlier.
Besides, there is another universe to keep track of here. Maybe we'll go there next chapter? Maybe we won't cause I actually have no idea how to start that chapter yet? WE. WILL. SEE.
Don't forget to follow and/or fav if you're willing, and have a great week everyone!