Forenote: Where not obvious, pronunciations for team names are included after they are first mentioned in brackets and italics. E.G. Team RWBY (ruby), Team JNPR (juniper).
Chapter 1
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, persons who I may have unintentionally left out of the above and for whom I will be the subject of an angry blog post if I forget to mention them, welcome to the Vytal tournament! I'll be your commentator and host for this grand display of heroics and skill, Violet Veronique!"
Cheering sounded from the floating coliseum, the crowd ready for the spectacle they had come for.
"And joining me... well this is a special treat for us all. An Ace Huntress, who has earned the titles 'Flaming Fury,' 'One-Punch-Girl' and... 'Stupid Blondie who thinks she's so tough... oh no, please not the face, not the face!' I am of course talking about the one, the only, Yang Xiao Long!"
Yang chuckled as she was handed the microphone, "Thank you Violet, it's great to be here. Though you didn't have to list off my titles like that... but to the guy who gave me the last one: If you ever want to have reconstructive surgery again, just you dare touch my wife's butt again!"
Nervous laughter rose from the audience. Yang smirked, "Relax, it's a joke... next time he's ending up in the morgue."
"Erm... okay, well without any further ado, let's get down to what we're all here for. Our first match of the day: Team BLNC (blanc) from Atlas, versus Team AHCL (acre) from Beacon!" Violet quickly pulled back to the commentary.
"I've been looking forward to this one," Yang said.
"Your son's in team AHCL, right?"
"Yup, and my niece, and my step-daughter."
"Quite the coincidence."
Yang raised an eyebrow, "You can believe in coincidences, I'll just believe in the universal force that is Oz."
"Er... fair enough I suppose." Violet sighed a little, away from the microphone. She wanted to say she was not paid enough for this, but she had actually received a sizeable bonus, on the condition she did not cause any upset with the special guest. "So, let's begin the introductions, as our teams come onto the pitch. Team BLNC are one of our more distinguished teams. They seeded fourth in the last tournament, and are no doubt aiming to up their position this year."
The four members of Team BLNC stepped out onto the field, each taking regimented orderly steps. The leader, one Beryl Cyclos, stepped a pace in front of her team-mates. She stood tall and proud, her rapier tapping against her side as she walked
"Be ready people! This is team AHCL we're dealing with, the children of some of the finest hunters of our parent's generation."
"What might we be faced with?" he partner, Lorenz Lief, a young man in green, bearing a broadsword at his side.
"They say the have the strength of dragons at their disposal," Nele Eins put in, a girl in white, carrying a spear on her back.
"And the fury of a mountain lion" said Crystal Cove, a young lady with a rifle on her back.
"I've even heard rumours they can see your moves before you make them," Beryl said, quietly. "But we can win! No matter how great, no matter how powerful..."
"Lance shut up!"
"Just because you know I'll win."
"Would you two stop being so childish?"
"Aw~ Argent, let them have their fun."
"Don't encourage them Claudia." Argent Rose-Schnee sighed. Today was not going according to plan and it was only nine thirty. "Look, Hari, Lance, stop arguing. You can settle this in the fight."
Lance laughed, "Okay, okay Cous."
"I have a name you know," Argent replied.
"And you're also my cousin."
"Lance, stop winding Argent up," Hari said.
"Yeah, she's pretty delicate," Claudia put in, smiling at her friends. "You should treat your cousin like a gentleman would."
"There's my boy!" Yang's voice boomed over the speakers. "The handsome one in red. The blonde one. Ain't he just the most awesome, just like his father!"
"Mum! You promised not to embarrass me!"
Lance sighed, putting his right hand through his short blonde hair. He had grown up to be a tall young man, heavy on the muscle with rough but handsome looks and the vague beginnings of a dark blonde beard on his chin. He carried a spear on his back, folded in quarters and connected together by lengths of chain, and on his left arm was a heavy gauntlet with a dragon's head as the design, the teeth of the dragon closing over his hand. He wore a dark red short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, with heavy brown boots. Brown eyes were clenched shut in despair.
"There, there Lance," Hari patted her step-brother on the back. "I'm here to help you endure it."
Hari Belladonna was a tall, lean faunus girl. Her hair, once black when a child, had lightened as she grew up, turning a dark shade of brown by her teenage years, with her two cat-like ears peeking up from atop her head. She wore heavy brown gloves, which overlapped with the long sleeves of her black top, lain over a brown t-shirt, with grey trousers completing her outfit alongside a pair of hefty boots. A rifle hung on her back, with a few cartridges of dust ammunition attached to the strap which carried the gun.
Golden eyes glanced up to the commentators, as a thin little smile adorned her thin little face. "Though, I can't promise too much."
"Oh come on, she's only doing it because she loves you so much," Claudia said with a giggle.
Claudia Krios, the only one of the team not related to the rest, was a slight girl. Neither tall nor short, she was clothed in a grey blouse and black combat trousers. Her long chestnut hair was held in a high ponytail by a dark purple ribbon, and on her head sat a gold band, with a single amethyst encrusted in the front. On her back, attached to her belt, were two gleaming knives.
"If you're all done messing around, I believe we have a battle to win," Argent said, sighing deeply.
The leader of Team AHCL was short. There was no other way to put it. Born to two women who were both vertically challenged, it was no surprise that she stood a few inches shorter than her team-mates. She was dressed in a white fencing tabard with pale pink lining, emblazoned with her Mothers's silver Schnee snowflake on the left shoulder and her Mum's red Rose emblem on her right. Beneath, she wore white trousers and heeled boots. Her silver eyes swept over the opposition, her silver hair, tied in a fish-tail braid her Mum had taught her many years before, coming to rest in the square of her back.
By her side was a sword in a large, mechanical sheath. The sheath was clearly far larger than the one-handed blade, with several parts which looked as though they could move.
"Contestants, get ready, the match is about to begin!" Violet's voice brought the attention of all the participants to her. The two teams lined up, as the random generator whirred, readying for the arena set-up.
"Miss Schnee, it's an honour to face you," Beryl bowed to Argent.
"Then honour me by using my name," Argent replied, stormy silver eyes glaring at the girl down her nose. "It begins with an 'R,' is that enough of a clue?"
"And here I was trying to be friendly..." Beryl drew her rapier. "But be as you will."
Argent merely gave her a 'humph' as she drew her sword, a slightly wide, double-edged, curved sabre.
"Wow, she's getting to you Argent," Lance chuckled as his spear snapped into form.
"Just be ready Lance," Argent replied curtly.
Lance laughed as Hari and Claudia readied their weapons. The randomisers fixed on the four quarters of the arena: a wood, a ruined building, a beach with water and a small hill.
"Fight!" Violet shouted over the speakers.
"Now Lance!" Argent shouted.
"Let's set this off with a bang!" Lance bellowed, his brown eyes flickering red, and the temperature in the arena rising suddenly.
"What's he doing?" Violet asked, glancing at Yang.
"Well, you see, aside from his dashing good looks, immense strength and bountiful charisma, Lance inherited one other thing from me."
"Which is?"
"He's really..." Yang put a finger to her lips seductively, "...hot."
"Doesn't that come under 'dashing good looks?'"
Yang smirked as flames burst into the air of the arena. "Not exactly."
Fire swirled around Lance's form, rushing over his figure, rising and spreading out, forming two flaming wings from his back. His eyes now a deep red, and flames flickering off his form, he smirked at his opponents. "You ever fought a dragon?"
Team BLNC glanced nervously between each other.
"I didn't think so," Lance continued, before leaping into the air, his flaming wings keeping him aloft. "Now is the moment where you're allowed to shit yourselves."
He swooped down towards the opposing team, who dispersed swiftly, Crystal opening fire on the boy, whose flaming wings intercepted the shots. As he landed, he swung his spear, a ball of flame soaring towards Lorenz, who ducked aside and rushed at Lance with his broadsword. Blade and spear met, and red eyes glared down at Lorenz.
Crystal, realising her shots would only hinder her team-mate, turned her rifle towards Hari. Hari pulled out her own gun, both girls opening fire, with Hari taking cover in the rocks of the hilly area, while Crystal hid behind a tree.
Beryl, seeing the gunfight, shouted to crystal "Get her in melee!"
Crystal nodded, rushing out from her hiding place. To Hari, her target's position seemed to shift suddenly and repeatedly, then there were two of her, then four, then eight.
"Crystal's showing off her semblance I see, or do I?" Violet commentated, "Her ability to bend light to her will is making it hard to tell."
Hari flicked a switch on her gun, making it reconfigure slightly, the barrel widening and the magazine shifting round, loading the entirety of the magazine into the gun at once.
Hari stood up, leaving cover, and squeezed the trigger, her shotgun blasting the eight versions of Crystal converging on her with flames.
Sweeping through the flames and ash, a glaive in her hand carving through the smoke, Crystal rushed at Hari, swinging at the faunus girl. Suddenly, her target was not there, and the glaive swung through thin air. A moment later, Crystal felt a blow to her back of her head and staggered forwards. Behind her, Hari spun around and kicked her opponent square in the back, sending Crystal tumbling.
"That's my girl! You show 'em Hari!" Yang called out over the speakers.
"What did she do?" Violet stared at the faunus girl who, with her gun safely stowed on her back, now took a martial stance, hands and feet ready to strike.
"Well, Hari's a mountain lion faunus. Cougars are renowned for their agility and ability to move through mountains as though they were teleporting. Of course, most of them aren't literally teleporting."
Hari watched her opponent carefully, waiting for the right moment, then, as Crystal swung again, Hari blinked out of existence, materialising behind Crystal and planting two fingers on a pressure-point in the girl's neck, before sweeping the stunned girl's legs out from under her.
"Crystal!" Nele shouted, before catching a glance of glinting metal, ducking aside moments before Claudia's knife cut her.
"Pay attention will you? You're fighting me!" Claudia swung with her other knife, which Nele deflected with her spear. "Hm..." Claudia's eye flicked to her knives briefly, "I choose this future!"
She lunged with her right hand, snaking her arm around the spear that rose to meet her, driving the knife into Nele's shoulder. The girl's aura kept her safe, but she was pushed back. "How...?"
Claudia smirked and tossed her weapons into the air, watching them spin for a moment, before leaping up and grabbing them, each back-handed. "And now, I choose this one!"
Claudia spun in the air as she came down towards Nele, slamming one knife into the haft of the spear, then swinging the other down. She flung herself over Nele, flipping and landing on her feet. Nele staggered from the blow and turned herself to face Claudia. "What the Hell? How can you do that?"
Claudia smiled, then levelled her knife at Nele, eyes again flicking down to the shining steel in her hands, "I see you... there!" Once again, she lunged forward.
Beryl stared around her team, watching the furious fights unfolding. They had been taken by surprise and lost any kind of innate advantage from the start. She looked for the last foe, spotting Argent standing calmly where she had been the entire match, watching the others battle it out.
Beryl glared, then rushed at Argent, who stayed standing stock still. 'Why's she doing that? Could it be I'm running into a trap?' Beryl glanced around as she ran, looking for the trap. She could not see anything, what was it?
Her sword was suddenly knocked to one side, bringing her attention back to Argent, who had swiftly lunged forward, swiping with her sabre. "The trap was that there was no trap," she said with a smile, slashing again at Beryl, who ducked back, bringing her sword forward once more to defend. She was expecting a straight sword-fight, so when Argent stepped back and raised her off-hand, Beryl was immediately on-guard.
Argent smiled a haughty smile, "And again, you fall for it."
Beryl gasped, 'What does she mean? There's no trap, but...'
Suddenly, a glyph appeared beneath Beryl's feet, glowing purple as Argent raised her sword, a small rotating chamber, running down the cross-guard, set to the same purple colour. "Seriously, learn to read a bluff."
Lightning rose from the glyph, engulfing the place Beryl had been just a moment before. Beryl rushed in again, not wanting to give Argent even more control of the duel's tempo. As she neared, she saw Argent sheath her sword. 'What now?'
A flick of a button, and the mechanical sheath started whirring, unfolding and revealing its true form. Argent grasped the long handle which extended up to where the blade of her sword now formed the blade of a scythe. Taking a stance, Argent whispered "It's over."
A golden glow surrounded Argent, as the small chamber in her scythe spun to golden time dust. Beryl could barely see the blur of silver which cleaved her down. It took three strikes, all landing within a second, for Beryl to tumble over. Mid-fall, as she tumbled upside-down, she saw Argent's scythe reconfigure once more.
Argent now held a long-barrelled rifle. She took aim, grasping the rifle tightly in both hand as the dust canister spun once more, landing on dark red force dust. Two glyphs, the same dark red colour as the dust, appeared along the barrel of the gun, a few red petals blowing in the wind around them as the glyphs appeared. A single shot rang out, catapulted by the force dust straight into the falling Beryl, who was flung at high speed into the nearby ruin. Her aura dropped to red on the screens all around the arena, and a buzzer sounded.
"And Beryl Cyclos is out!"
Beryl pulled herself up a little, staring up at the girl who had defeated her. "I... lost…?"
Argent glared down at her, "My name is Argent Rose-Schnee. You had better remember that in future." Argent's weapon reconfigured into a sheath and she drew the sword before turning to the rest of the fight. "Guys! Firestorm!"
The other three team members grinned. Hari was the first to move, teleporting away from Crystal, making the girl give chase. Hari teleported swiftly, always watching her opponent, always blinking away just at the last moment.
Claudia flipped back, over and over, coming to rest a little way from Nele. Spinning one knife through the air as she landed, her eyes going to the blade for the merest moment, she chuckled, "Doesn't matter which future I choose... nice."
Nele saw a chance and rushed at Claudia, who ducked as the spear was about to reach her, slamming her knives together around the head of the spear, driving the point down into the ground. At the same time, she flipped up, kicking into Nele's back and sending her flying forwards.
Lance and Lorenz were trading blows in the middle of the arena, with sparks flying from the meeting of metal as much as from the blazing fire. Lance knocked aside a blow with his dragon gauntlet, then swung a low blow with his spear, making Lorenz side-step straight to where Nele was stumbling. He caught his team-mate and they both glared at Lance, who flapped his wings and flew backwards.
Crystal ran over to her team, Hari having teleported away. "What now?"
"Beryl's down... we have to..." Lorenz began.
"You have to lose, that's all," Lance confidently declared from above.
Lance was hovering above, his spear hung low. His left hand was raised, and the mouth of the dragon gauntlet had opened. From the bestial mouth was pointing the head of a cannon. The glow of dust shimmered within the barrel.
"Okay, quick thing, I would really advise shitting yourselves about now," Lance grinned as he unleashed the blast.
Energy burst from the barrel of the cannon, a single ball of light bursting upon the ground just in front of the three targets. A blinding flash filled the arena, Lance using his flaming wings to shield his gaze. As he unfurled the wings to view his handiwork, a buzzer sounded and a bell rang.
"All remaining members of team BLNC have been eliminated. Team AHCL wins!"
Cheers from the Valite members of the audience sounded loudly as Lance allowed his wings to carry him slowly to the ground and his team members joined him as the flames flickered away. Lance blinked and his eyes had returned to their normal brown, all trace of the crimson fire having vanished.
"Nice shot!" Claudia said cheerfully, sheathing her knives as she approached.
Hari materialised behind Lance, "Good to see you doing you job bro."
Lance chuckled and grabbed his step-sister in a one-armed hug, "Don't you just know it."
"Ow! Lance, your gauntlet's still hot!"
"Oh, sorry..."
Argent sighed as she approached, but smiled nonetheless, "Okay, okay, that's enough. Let's get going, or do you guys want to miss the whole festival?"
"Ah… yeah… I promised Eirwen I'd meet her. No time to waste!" Lance released his sister and started hurrying in the direction of the exit. "Come on ladies!"
"Aw~ ain't it the cutest how he acts about his girlfriend?" Hari giggled as the girls followed their team-mate.
"You never let up on him, do you?" Argent asked.
"Neither do you."
"I make sure he and certain other relatives of mine do as they should," Argent replied, pointedly glaring at Hari.
"You're like, my step-cousin! You aren't really responsible for me, right?"
"I still have to make sure you behave, or Aunt Blake would be terribly upset. Speaking of whom..." Argent looked up in the stands, where a familiar black-haired faunus and three of her four children, a mid-teenage boy and two much younger girls, were sitting, waving at the girls.
Hari smiled as she noticed, waving back "Hey Mama! Did you see all that?" Blake smiled in response and gave a thumbs-up.
As her cousin was occupied, Argent felt a buzz of her scroll. Pulling it out, she saw it was a message from 'Mother'.
"Hi Argent
I saw the fight. You did an excellent job out there.
Ruby and I will be a little later than we thought, but should be with you by lunchtime tomorrow. If you have your next match before we see you, good luck for that. See you tomorrow.
Love
Mother
P.S. Ruby gives her love too."
Argent smiled as she and her friends stepped out of the arena and she finished reading the message. She heard the words as though her mother were saying them in the gentle voice only she and her mum ever got to hear. The most powerful woman in Remnant always worked extra hard to be the best mother in Remnant too, and Argent appreciated it so very much.
Claudia smiled at her friend's expression, allowing Argent the undisturbed moment. Argent really was a mother's girl. It was one of the cutest parts of the silver-haired girl.
The girls followed an excited Lance out to an airship to take them from the flying area down to the festival below.
"So AHCL won then?"
"Yes, just as expected."
"Just as well," a black-haired girl leaned back in her chair. It was a dusky, dusty room, with little in the way of decoration. Just a desk a chair and a girl, in her late teens, leaning back with a scroll in hand.
"What would you have done if they didn't?"
"Eh, I'd have worked something out." The woman idly scratched the back of her head, "It might not have been as good, but… practicality triumphs."
"Whatever you say Onyx."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing. So what do you want me to do?"
"Just keep an eye out for what's going on. Anything you can find out, especially about my dear family, will be useful."
"Sure, I'll keep watch. Though, are you really sure you want to do it here? I mean, surrounded by about half of the world's huntsmen?"
"It won't be a problem." Onyx casually twisted her hair around her finger as she spoke. "Anything else?"
"No."
"Very well, I'll see you in a few days then. Goodbye George."
"See you round."
The call cut and Onyx lazily tapped on her scroll, opening up footage of the match AHCL had just fought. She smiled as she watched Lance take flight and fire upon team BLNC.
"This is going to be entertaining..." she mused.
A/N: So how many of you thought you'd never see me publish anything again? Just a reminder: Eternity never ends.
So after a very long time, I'm back. Most of this has actually been written since before I finished Falling Dusk, but due to me never having enough time to do anything much (or feeling too exhausted when I do have time), I put this on hold. But now I'm back with a vengeance.
Funny story actually, the reason I decided to finally finish this chapter and start writing again was a single review I got on Pink Like Posies a few days ago. It was anonymous and reads as follows:
"Ruby being gay is dumb and unoriginal
You didn't spend anytime on her wearing the dress
And you suck"
I don't know what they're talking about with the dress (I mean, I sort of do, but it makes no real sense). 'Ruby being gay' is kinda a prerequisite for White Rose (yeah, sure she could be bi or something, I know...), which the story is marked as. Neither of those bothered me at all, that's someone being stupid. But there's one thing that irritated me. 'You suck'. My friends would all tell you that the best way of making me put effort into something is to tell me I'm bad at it when I disagree with you. So thank you anonymous person, you have inspired me to actually get my ass in gear and prove you wrong.
Nothing make me happier than proving arseholes wrong. Don't get me wrong, criticise away, I'm happy for you to do it, I want you to do it, but if you're rude or stupid about it, well... be prepared for some suitably amusing vengeance.
That said, I'm popular enough to attract hate! This is, like, totally amazing!
For those wondering, while this story is set in the same continuity as Falling Dusk, there is absolutely no need to read FD first. I will keep all references to it minimal, and re-explain anything necessary.
So, important things: I'm going to be updating this on a two-week cycle... probably. We'll see how it goes. If I finish the next chapter in a week, well then you guys have a chapter a week sooner. But yeah, this A/N is long enough already, so I'll discuss other things some other time.
'Til Eternity Ends
E.D.