Hey there. Indonesiansugaraddict reporting for duty. I finally managed to upload this thing to . My internet is kinda like moon cycle these days. Sometimes it blocked and sometimes it doesn't. It has got "phases". Anyway, this is my first published fanfiction ever. I actually never knew RWBY before my friend recommended it to me though. I just watched RWBY a few days ago and I gotta say, that show is REALLY GOOD. Long story short, after I told my friend that RWBY is good, he asked me to write a fanfiction of it. I usually write fanfiction only if my friend requested it or during narrative writing exam in my school and usually I was kinda stubborn about not publishing it since I don't think my writing is good enough. Nevertheless, my friend managed to persuade me so here it is. I'll probably publish chapter 2 regardless of reader's comments. I will be attending Anime Festival Asia Indonesia this weekend so chapter 2 might be a bit late. If you have a question about the character or anything, you can ask me during the event. I will either be wearing a dark blue striped shirt, a dark blue t-shirt with star patterns or a light blue shirt with naval stuff printed on it (I will be attending the event for 3 whole days, hence the selection of clothes). On a side note, if any of you notice the symbol on the protagonist coat and know something about it, then congrats. You probably are in the same school batch as me or a junior who were involved in our batch naming and yearbook (I doubt the latter). Comments are appreciated. I apologize beforehand for any grammar mistakes, they are unintended. English is not my first language after all. Cheers.
Chapter 1
Putting her headphones on, Ruby browsed the row of magazines in a dust shop she frequently visited after hunting Grimms. The shop, "From Dust Till Dawn", is quite famous for its wide selection of products as well as the old shopkeeper who is patient enough to let Ruby browse magazines almost every day without even buying them. Picking up a magazine from the neat shelves, she flipped over the pages until she stumbled upon the weapon upgrades section. Drooling over the upgrades which she always wanted for her Crescent Rose, she only sighed as she gazed upon the ridiculously-priced parts which she never will get by accepting meager liens from Grimms-hunting jobs. And never mind the parts, the liens I got are already spent on bullets and daily necessities, Ruby silently thought as she flipped through the pages, hoping that there will be a generous-paying job in the ads section.
The old shopkeeper was just wiping down the little speck of dust on the counter when one of his favorite customers walked in. The young man walked in silently, as if to not disturb the silence of the store itself, the only thing announcing his arrival is the bells latched upon the door. He wore a black overcoat and pants adorned with gold linings as well as a dark gray combat boots layered with steel plates and black fingerless gloves. His dark overcoat is stitched with a giant silver symbol of roman numeral V placed in the center of a golden stitched pentagon. His weapon, a mixture of black with gold linings combat knife-shaped sword as big as himself with a gatling gun barrel attached to the blunt edge of his sword, was strapped onto his back. He took a deep breath, savoring the smell of wood the shop is made up of, as he gazed slowly around the shop. He lightly ruffled his black scraggly hair, shaved at the side, as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, covering his red and gold eyes behind the dark plastic frames.
"Hey Draven, how goes the hunting?" the old shopkeeper cheerily asked the young man, apparently alleviated from the boredom of manning the cashier.
"It was entertaining to say the least, Gramps. Wasn't much of a hassle nor was it a walk in the park. Anyway, I noticed your shop is quite empty. What's the occasion?" Draven set his sight across the shop, noticing another customer clad in a mixture of black and red blouse with a hood covering her head.
"Apparently there has been a series of Dust theft all across Vale by God-Knows-Who and for God-Knows-What and that pretty much compromised the trust on customers all around Vale and the rest is history," the old shopkeeper sighed as he frown upon the sad state of economy.
Draven felt sorry for the old man. He already took a liking to the old man and he is going to be sad if the store were to close down since it's the only store that has all the uncommon things he usually needed.
"Sorry to hear that. I hope that this Dust theft will stop soon. Anyway Gramps, I need some .45-70 bullets as well as fire and lightning Dusts. Oh, and about my requests…"
"Got it right here, as per your request. All natural, grown and harvested in Vacuo," the old shopkeeper said as he pulled out a large sack of coffee beans, undoubtedly the highest quality based on their smell.
"Thanks Gramps. Oh, and do you have some flour, sugar, eggs and chocolate chips?" Draven asked the old shopkeeper as he listed some of the things he is going to need to bake his favorite snack.
"Behind the local's produce section, bottom shelf"
"Thanks", Draven thanked the old man as he makes his way through the store, passing the other customer in the magazines corner.
He paused from time to time, picking up some stuff he needs for his apartment such as Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallows Flakes. He only ate the cereal because of the overdose amount of sugar in it and he never plan to change it anytime soon. After all, being hyperactive has its own perks during Grimm hunting. As he arrived at the local goods section and picked up the rest of the groceries, a loud crash of glass breaking can be heard from the front of the shop. He stopped what he was doing and strained his ears, trying to discern what happened. Another loud sound of glass crashing followed soon after, accompanied by muffled barks of orders. Sensing irregularities in the air, Draven silently put down his groceries, making his way to the counter, being silent as much as possible. He spotted some goons dressed up in suits filling up Dust jars with Dust from the Dust Dispensers attached to the wall beside the counter. As he gazed around the shop, his sight practically stopped at the man threatening the old shopkeeper. The man has a sideway orange hair covered with a bowler hat and he wears a white suit, complimented by the cane he is waving to direct his subordinates.
"Roman… Torchwick…" Draven slowly mumbles, his voice deep and emotionless, as a sudden slide of memory appeared in his head, a picture of him holding a mangled dead body. The next thing he knew, he already pulled up his sword, covered in black aura. Some of the goons spotted him, slowly making their way to Draven who slowly strides to Roman like a possessed man. Spotting some of the goons making their way towards him, Draven just make a quick sideway swipe with his sword. In the next second, the upper body parts of the goons, still complete with their arms and head, were separated from their lower counterpart, making their way to the floor as Draven continued his slow but steady stride, each steps echoed in the silent store. Roman, noticing the lack of presence of his subordinates, looked away from the old shopkeeper as he slowly set his sight on a young man dressed in black and gold carrying the similar-colored weapon, covered in nasty streak of blood on its edge. Looking at the floor, Roman can only sigh and grumble at the same time.
"Look kid, I'm trying to make a living here so why don't you quit your heroic act before I take your head off as a trophy?" Roman slowly shooed Draven, a hint of irritation in his voice, using his cane, waving it around back and forth.
"Age affecting your memory already, Roman? Remember this?" Draven slowly pulls down his glasses, showing off his heterochromic eyes, the golden one's pupil slowly turning into almost a slit.
A sudden realization coming upon him, Roman slowly chuckled and sneered.
"Well, I'll be damned. It's the freak's best friend. How's he doing? Oh wait, I remembered. I blew his brain to bits", Roman taunted Draven as he let out a full-blown laughter.
Draven growled in response and with a speed unseen able by normal eyes, he swung down his sword when suddenly a goon was flying through the air, crashing into a glass window and was thrown out of the store in the process.
Draven's sword paused in mid-air, giving Roman took the chance to shoot Draven using the hidden rifle in his cane and run out of the store. Pulling up his giant sword to block the shot in the nick of time, Draven was blown away by the force, not even scathed a bit and slowly get up as a hand slowly reached up to him.
"Are you alright?" the other customer, apparently a pretty young girl, offered her right hand to him. Now that Draven took a good look at her, he had to admit that she is pretty cute. Her silver eyes practically captivated him. Her short black hair is tinged with red streaks and though her figure slightly differs than that of girls her age, there are still rooms for growth. She wore a black blouse with red-trimmed skirt, as well as a red cloak. She had cross pins pinning her cloak to her shirt. Around her waist was a belt of .50 cartridges judging from its size in individual loops with a magazine pouch. She also had white rose-shaped belt buckle on her belt. Her left hand hold an oversized red scythe that is apparently modified so much that Draven had to wonder if she can actually wield the thing.
"No thanks to you", Draven slapped the girl's hand away and pulled himself up.
"Sorry…" Ruby muttered with a low voice as she put her right hand away slowly, a streak of guilt painted on her face.
Draven, realizing that he was blaming his own inability to stop Roman at her, cursed himself silently as he tried to think up an apology.
Coming up with nothing, Draven decided to just run out of the store without a word, giving chase to Roman. Ruby, hesitating for a second, gave chase to Roman as well, trailing behind Draven.
They both give chase to Roman, the latter climbing up the stairs of a building where a gyrocopter is waiting for him. When Ruby and Draven caught up to him, he already boarded the gyrocopter.
"End of the line, Red, Freak", Roman shouted as he throw over a fire Dust crystal and shoot it using his cane. Draven realized that his sword won't be able to guard against a dust crystal explosion. An image of Ruby tattered body flashed into his mind. Without even considering about it, he decided to stand in front of Ruby and hugged her, determined to protect her from the explosion. But the pain never came. Instead, a purple glyph, the biggest one Draven has ever seen so far, is taking the full brunt of the explosion. The caster, a rectangular glasses-wearing lady with light blonde hair styled in a bun wearing purple cape and white long-sleeved shirt that exuded part of her chest, complimented by her long black skirt with buttons running up in a vertical pattern on it, waved her wand and let out bursts of purple energy beams to attack the gyrocopter. Shaken up by the beams hitting the gyrocopter, Roman ran to the pilot seat while informing the pilot of the presence of a huntress. When a girl with a flame-patterned dress emerged, it took all of Draven's willpower to not let go of Ruby and jump up to the helicopter to run his sword through her.
"Cinder", Draven hissed that one word with venom and malice in his voice as if the word itself is taboo.
The Huntress tried to attack the gyrocopter once again only to be foiled by the girl in flame-patterned dress. The gyrocopter eventually got away as they make their way through the dark sky. Draven can only curse as he watch the gyrocopter fading away in the distance, a look of hate evident in his face which slowly contorted into that of extreme malice.
Ruby, her face covered by dark fabric, can only be surprised by the sudden action of Draven hugging her, apparently trying to protect her from the blast from Roman's attack. Given the cold shoulder earlier, Ruby just can't think of a reason why he would protect her. Running out of oxygen, she struggled to move her head in order to catch some air, sniffing Draven's clothes in the process. Hmmm, he smelled like chocolate-chips cookies and wait, strawberries?! , Ruby sniffed the coat even more vigorously, getting an awkward cough from its owner in response. Ruby, realizing what she had just done, blushed as red as a tomato and pushed Zack away from her.
"Sorry to interrupt your quality time, but I need both of you to come with me", the lady stated flatly, cutting the tension away from the awkward situation with her sharp and clear voice.
Draven had to go to the police station with the girl whose name he hadn't bothered to even know and the lady.
"I hope that you realize that your actions will not be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger."
"They started it!" she replied. Draven stood in the far corner of the room, happy to not be the one reprimanded.
"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home. With a pat on the back…" She then noticed Ruby's smile, "…and a slap on the wrist." She flicked her wand, which Ruby avoided with a second difference.
"But… there is someone here who would like to meet you."
The interrogation room was suddenly opened and a man entered. He was a middle-aged man with scraggly light gray hair and brown eyes. He wore shaded spectacles which hanged on the bridge of his nose and a green scarf with a cross pinned on it. He wore a black suit over a black buttoned vest, complete with a green shirt underneath. The man also wore dark green long pants, complimented by a pair of black dress shoes. Draven observed that the man carried a cup of coffee in a pristine white mug emblazoned with the Beacon Academy emblem as well as a plate of cookies.
"Ruby Rose…" he said.
The man slowly leaned in to inspect finer details of Ruby's face.
"You… have silver eyes", the man said in a-matter-of-factly voice, keeping his face emotionless.
"Umm…" she stuttered, not sure of how to reply to that statement.
"So! Where did you learn to do this?" the man asked, gesturing the tablet held by the lady with his head, showing Ruby fighting the goons.
Apparently this chick isn't all look… impressive…
"S-Signal Academy", Ruby replied with uncertainty in her voice.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" the man asked.
"Well, one teacher in particular."
"I see…"
The man put the plate of cookies on the table in front of Ruby. Hesitatingly, she picked one up and ate it, eyeing any sparked reaction from either of her interrogators. Seeing none, she devoured the rest of the cookies in a matter of second.
That girl sure has an appetite for sugary things, Draven silently observed Ruby who practically was ingesting the chocolate-chip cookies like a high-powered vacuum cleaner.
"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty, old crow if I were to recall…" the man said while sipping his coffee.
"Mmmm! Thash muh unkul!" Ruby struggled to speak with her mouth full of cookies to no avail, sounding more like a caveman with each syllables. The man shot her a look of irritation as if reprimanding her to finish chewing before speaking. Wiping the crumbles of cookies on her mouth with her hand, she looked up, embarrassed.
"Sorry. That's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now, I'm all like – Hoowaaah! Witchaaa!" Ruby showed some karate moves and sounds as she sat down.
"So I've noticed" the man proceeded to sit down opposite Ruby as he put his mug down, leaning in closer to her.
"And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?" The man asked Ruby.
"Well… I want to be a huntress"
"You want to slay monsters?"
"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then, I'm going to apply at Beacon!" Ruby replied enthusiastically and with it her speech going faster.
"You see, my sister is starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, "Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!" She explained, giggling while going at it.
"I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really gosh you know!" Ruby's enthusiasm practically shot over the roof at the last part, giving her interrogators a maniacal grin. They just stared at her.
"Do you know who I am?" the man asked Ruby.
"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon"
Smiling, Ozpin said, "Hello."
"Nice to meet you", Ruby replied back.
"You want to come to my school?"
"More than anything" Ruby said those words with her deepest desire bared out.
Ozpin glanced at the lady, earning him her disapproval with a "Hmmph". Ozpin returned her attention back to Ruby.
"Well okay." Ruby smiled from ear to ear, earning her another chuckle from Ozpin.
"Well, now that everything is said and done, can I please ask you to step out of the room, Ms. Rose? I need to have a "private" chat with Mr. Moore over there", Ozpin beckoned Draven to move from his rooted spot in the far end of the room. Ruby gave Draven an apologetic look as she stood up from her seat and left the room, leaving only Ozpin and his female colleague as well as Draven who now sat on the chair Ruby sat on earlier, opposite of Ozpin.
"Now then Mr. Moore. Or should I call you Draven?"
"Either's fine. So what do you want from me? Surely you will not let me go scot-free just like Ruby was", Draven said with a stern voice, giving Ozpin a hostile look.
Instead, Ozpin signaled his female colleague and she operated the tablet in her hand, showing a mug-shot of Roman Torchwick.
"What do you know about this guy, Roman Torchwick?" Ozpin asked Draven, getting serious and business-like.
Draven stayed silent, his face emotionless.
"You know silence isn't going to help your case. So I will repeat it once again. What do you know about Roman Torchwick?" Ozpin asked again, picking his words carefully.
Draven opted to stay silent again, giving Ozpin another blank face.
"…Glynda, would you kindly?" Ozpin asked her female colleague with a hint of irritation in his voice.
Glynda operated the tablet in her hands and this time played a video recording of an interrogation. The video showed a younger version of Draven with a bruised and battered face, bandages covering his left eye.
"So Mr. Moore… what happened back there in the house?" a deep, gruff voice asked the younger Draven in the recording.
"…" the younger Draven stayed silent, similar to his older counterpart, shooting a look of hate to his interrogator.
The interrogator, apparently not satisfied, asked again with deeper voice, "Did you kill your elder brother?"
This earned him a kick to the face, predictable by the video showing the younger Draven moved from his seat and running up the table, kicking his interrogator's face in the process indicated by the wet sound of a crunch and a man screaming something about his face. Then the video abruptly ended there.
Ozpin, apparently having more prepared as he gave a hand signal to Glynda, stared at Draven's face which was streaked with hatred now.
The second video was played by Glynda. It was a news report about a murder of a Faunus, displaying Draven's picture with the tagline, "The Murderer, An Adopted Human Child."
The video never reached its conclusion as a bolt of dark energy suddenly enveloped the tablet. The tablet was levitated into the air and crushed seemingly from all side. First into a hulking mass of metal and glass, then ball-shaped scraps and lastly nothingness as it seemed to fade away into the thin air.
Glynda, taken aback by the phenomenon, can only raise and point her wand at Draven's face in defense, manifesting a purple glyph as she did so.
"Glynda, put your weapon down", Ozpin said to her female colleague.
"But, Ozpin, we both saw what he just did to my Scroll! Do you honestly believe we can put our guard do-?!"
"I said, put your weapon down Glynda. Are my words not clear enough to you?" Ozpin asked her female colleague once again, his voice stern and commanding.
"…Yes sir", Glynda slowly put her hands down, dispelling the glyph she prepared earlier.
Ozpin mouthed a silent thank you to Glynda as he directed his attention back to Draven whose face now exhibited contempt beyond words could explain.
If only looks could kill, Ozpin silently thought as he quietly observed Draven's reaction.
"Well, I believe I have got your attention now, Mr. Moore. So, what do you know about Roman Torchwick?" Ozpin calmly asked as he leaned closer.
Vayne, hesitating at first, slowly pulled his glasses down.
"He was one of the reasons why I look like this", Draven showed Ozpin and Glynda his heterochromatic eyes, the red eye normal while the golden eye's pupil slowly turned into a slit, giving out an impression of an animal.
Putting two and two together, Ozpin asked Draven, "Did they switch one of your eyes with your adopter's eye?"
"…" Draven answered with a silence once again, showing his reluctance to answer the touchy subject.
"… Very well then. I suppose you will answer that in due time" Ozpin replied, sighing as he did so.
Glynda tapped Ozpin's shoulder, gaining his attention. She whispered something to his ear, undiscernible from where Draven was sitting. Suddenly, Ozpin smiled before focusing his attention back to Draven. Draven didn't like his smile one bit. He looked like he was scheming something.
"Mr. Moore, if I may, I want to offer you a chance to join my Academy" Ozpin said, keeping his smile plastered on his face
"Beacon? And why would I want to enter your school?" Draven asked, taken aback by the sudden offer.
"Are you aware that our academy trained only the best Huntsmen and Huntresses? That, and we will accept everyone based on their skills? I know that you were quite famous as a Grimm-hunter these last few years but unfortunately, you are wanted by the police now since you killed those goons back there. Miss Rose only knocked them unconscious, so she wasn't charged with anything. Granted, it was self-defense, but it is still a crime. You will probably be sent to jail for 20 years at most" Ozpin stated as-a-matter-of-factly.
"If you join my academy, I will make sure that your crime record will be a clean slate, provided you won't be causing any ruckus in the future", Ozpin continued before sipping his coffee.
"…I don't have a say in this, do I?"
"Not unless you want to spend some time in jail" Ozpin calmly replied, offering Draven an alternative that sounded less pleasant than the other.
Draven sighed.
"Fine, when can I start?"
"Excellent. The last batch of students will be boarding the airship to Beacon tomorrow at exactly 10 am. You better not be late."
Ozpin took a last sip from his coffee mug as he exited the room with Glynda, the latter giving Draven a glare before leaving the room.