Changes
By: QTG27
Co-authored by: Jebedante
Disclaimer: We don't own RWBY, but we do own the four OCs currently in this fic. Who you won't meet yet. Except for one.
A/N: Don't get used to these, most A/Ns will be at the end of chapters. I felt I should give you fair warning that some elements of ch1 and ch2 may seem rushed. We did our best to prevent it but with RWBY being where it is when this was written, we have a distinct lack of knowledge of any time before Beacon, the setting for Ch1 and 2. If you fell its rushed we ask you at least try till chapter 3 where we hit canon and it becomes slightly easier. Thank you if you read this.
Cayn jerked awake. He was coated in a thick layer of sweat and an even thicker layer of clothing. He was barely even twelve, but he looked thirteen. The woman sitting on a log next to him could tell he was still panicking.
"Woah, woah!" she exclaimed rushing over to him, "you might be in shock."
Cayn looked up at her without raising his head any more than he already had. He slowly lied back down and tried to relax. He noticed what he then noticed what he was lying on.
It was a log.
The woman had been nice enough to fold up her vest and let him use it as a pillow. She also put a purple cape over him in a rather ineffective attempt to keep him warm; it was still appreciated though.
"Do you remember what happened?" the woman asked sitting back down.
He remembered. No matter how much he wished he didn't.
A man came running into town coated in blood screaming "They're coming! Oh my God! They're coming! We couldn't stop them!" Cayn had been in the front yard of his house messing around. He was the first to see the man. He had run over to his father inside the house.
"Dad! Dad! Something's happened!" his father had been sitting in the dining room talking to Cayn's mother. "One of the soldiers, he's hurt! He says they're coming!"
His father's eyes widened in horror. He jumped out of his seat and grabbed his sword from above the fireplace. "Go to the basement. Lock the door." He ran outside the house.
Cayn's mother grabbed Cayn by the shoulder and ran over to the basement. "Inside, quickly!" As he ran down the stairs she went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife as well as a poker from the fireplace. She quickly ran inside and locked the door.
"Take this Cayn." she handed him the poker. "Get away from the door."
"Do you think it's the Grimm?"
"I don't know."
Almost in answer to that a black wolf-like creature busted through the door. Cayn's mom stabbed forward with her knife and dug deep into the side of the monster. The monster recoiled in pain taking the knife with it. Cayn's mother's eyes shone with fear as the monster lunged again. This time it got her. She shrieked in agony. Cayn turned a ghostly white before lifting the poker over his head with shaking hands and charging.
He brought the poker crashing down on the creature's skull plate. It recoiled in pain but Cayn kept swinging, lost to the fear and confusion. The poker dug into the creature's head and Cayn had to work to dig it out, but he kept swinging. After several minutes, long after the creature had died, he finally stopped.
He did not want to, but some kind of morbid curiosity forced to look at his mother's face. It was gone; replaced with a mass of torn and mangled flesh. Cayn felt nauseas and could barely stand. He remembered puking and stumbling outside to see a blond woman in a white blouse, purple and black cape, and black skirt before passed out in the front yard. Before the world faded to black he caught a glimpse of his father, lying in a pool of red next to him.
"I remember." Cayn responded after a minute.
"How are you holding up?"
"Depends," Cayn said "Will breaking down bring them back." She was silent. "I see… then I'm fine."
The woman nodded, albeit hesitantly. She was clearly trying to be motherly, but couldn't figure out what to do or say. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch."
"Cayn."
Five Years Later
"Cayn! Wake up!" a woman's voice cried from downstairs.
"You don't have to yell at me! I do have an alarm clock!" Cayn shouted down the stairs from his bed.
"That you never remember to set!"
"I always remember to set it!" He hadn't remembered to set it.
"Liar!" Glynda yelled from the kitchen. She was wearing the same thing she wore when they met. Her job as a huntress kept her from trying out new things, so she had seven copies of the same outfit.
Cayn quickly got ready and donned his new outfit. He now rocked a nearly all-black outfit: black boots, long black coat with a blue inside that reached down to his ankles a collar that circled around his mouth. His symbol, a white hammer and anvil over a four-sided cyan gem, lay on the front left side of the collar and again, slightly larger on his back. Under the coat he wore black cargo pants and midnight blue segmented armor with muted cyan highlighting the edges.
All in all, his tall, lean yet muscular frame, silver hair, royal purple eyes and dark attire gave Cayn an imposing appearance. Imposing is probably an understatement, at 6'3" Cayn was downright scary looking. And he knew it too, he just didn't care. Scary suited him just fine.
He finally came downstairs and into the kitchen. Glynda was sitting at the table eating breakfast, having already gotten dressed for the day.
"It's about time." Glynda remarked staring at him. "You ready for your first day at Signal?"
"I think so." Cayn sat down at the table across from Glynda. He took a slice from the rather large pile of toast in between them. He quickly ate several slices before getting up to leave.
"Cayn." Glynda called out to him as he was leaving the room, "good luck."
"Thanks Aunt Glynda." Cayn smiled, "Enjoy your new job at Beacon."
Glynda smiled as Cayn left.
Cayn had a surprisingly good time at Signal. Ever since he was a kid he had been talented. He loved to train and fight. He was apparently a "prodigy." Unfortunately, while his natural ability in the art of combat had made him the top of his class, it also pushed away his slightly resentful peers. His rather lonely nature didn't help his social situation much either. He was one of those kids who by the end of the school year would only know the names of maybe ten of his classmates, and even then only by overhearing their names one place or another.
By the time the first week had rolled by Cayn still hadn't made any friends. He had tried, to humor his aunt, but never really knew what to say so in the end just kept to himself. There was this one cool kid in his history class; however, she seemed pretty nice. Maybe I can try talking to her. He thought, No, she's probably either resentful like the others or-
"What's up?" a young woman's rather chipper voice said next to him.
Cayn looked over. It was her, the girl from History. The first thing he noticed about her is her rather striking blonde hair, worn long and messy, yet still stylish. She wore black shorts and a brown jacket over a white blouse that you could only see the top of from where the jacket opened up in the front.
Cayn, somewhat startled, said the first thing that came to his head, "Nothin'". Nailed it, Cayn.
"So how are you liking Signal?" The girl asked completely ignoring his awful response.
"It's good." I might actually be getting better at this. …No, that's a lie. "The training room's definitely bigger than my old one."
"Probably. Where'd you train?"
"My backyard."
The girl laughed. It was a hearty, cheerful laugh that may have seemed odd from anyone else, but it fit her just fine. Cayn soon found himself laughing as well, caught up in its joyful contagiousness.
"My name's Yang, by the way."
"Cayn."
"Cayn? Ooh. I like, it has a super-villain ring to it."
"It's because I am a super-villain. You remember how our history teacher couldn't find his pencils."
"Did you steal them?" Yang asked teasingly.
"No," Cayn said with a smile, "Why would I do such a thing?"
Yang laughed. "Hey, do you want to come sit with me and my friends? Kids in long coats sitting alone don't tend to always end well."
Cayn smiled. "Sure. That'd be fun." Definitely nailed it.
A/N:
Q: Well, there you have the first chapter.
JD: We hope that you don't want to gouge your eyes out while reading this.
Q: Yes, well… that's true, if dark. Anyway, this fic will be mostly canon with some twists/alterations. It is important to note that while Ruby and the girls will still play a major role, this does focus on another team of four. Though these four will be interacting with both RWBY and JNPR (and probably whatever Velvet's team ends up being).
JD: And we are students so we are busy often, don't expect daily uploads. The length of this is unknown at this time, and we are riding by the seat of our pants.
Q: At the same time uploads shouldn't be too sparse, as I at least, enjoy writing this. The length is due to the fact that it is currently mid-march of 2014, which means we are between Volumes 1 and 2 of RWBY. We don't know if anything we write will end up conflicting with canon, something I don't wish to do. This is kind of a project for me to work on my ability to create stories as I am working on pursuing a career in Game Design. We'll do our best to not step on any toes but we're new to fanfiction (both as writers, and JD doesn't read them as far as I know) and are learning as we go. It would help immensely if you were to review or send us messages letting us know if we got something wrong or if something seems off and we'll either attempt to fix it or tell you why it is. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I should also point out that while ch1 and ch2 are rather short ch3 is much longer, as the chapters after should be as well. Thank you for your time.
Q and JD out.
(EDIT 03/29/2014)
I completely forgot to mention that if anyone has suggestions for original arcs, an OC, or anything else I may mention in future chapters let me know. Preferably through PM, though doing so in a review is fine. One last thing, I don't feel like wasting space putting in the OC form I created (mostly because its format doesn't translate properly to this site) so if you have an idea for n OC, tell me so and we'll work out how I'll get it to you. For know I'm looking for villains, as you will come to see, Cayn is a little overpowered at first, and we need to give him a decent fight. If you could work some kind of lightning or thunder based semblance/theme that would be great, but its not required.
Well, that's everything.
Q, out.