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Chapter 01: Blind Fury
Prompt – Dust/Semblance
Ship – Fox Alistair x Yang Xiao Long
Fox Alistair had a vastly different interpretation of the world around him to most people, his Semblance showed him his surroundings as a constant stream of rippling sound waves and glowing shapes with blurry indistinct edges indicating heat signatures as his thermal imaging and echolocation were superimposed on top of one another in place of sight. Currently his path was illuminated by the central heating of the corridor he was strolling down giving him a clear idea of where the walls were combined by the reverberations of his own footsteps which he made a conscious effort to quieten as he approached his destination. Fox was currently supposed to be in a history lecture taught by Professor Oobleck along with Coco and Yatsuhashi, he'd managed to get himself excused from the lesson by claiming that he was feeling unwell and though he couldn't see the details of her face he could practically feel Coco's eyes boring into the back of his skull as he left. A small smirk crossed his face at the though, only to be swiftly replaced by a frown as he reached the entrance to what could best be described as a hybrid between a lecture hall and a colosseum that Professor Goodwitch presided over when teaching combat classes. Opening the door he slipped into the classroom as silently as he could, diverting his attention away from the cacophony currently taking place in the arena itself and searching for one of two people; apparently he had not been as stealthy as he had liked as one of them had found him first
"Fox what are you doing here?" Velvet Scarlatina demanded, her voice irate yet timid, as if torn between fight and flight at all times.
"Just thought I'd come and see how you're doing, Oobleck was waffling" Fox murmured, trying to form his usual customary smirk. Velvet quickly scanned the classroom and saw that Goodwitch's attention was firmly on whoever was sparring, as was the rest of the class's
"Come on there's some empty seats back here" she grabbed his wrist and gently guided him into one of the vacant spots in the dimly lit back of the room where they would hopefully avoid detection; Fox was normally incensed by any attempts to physically manoeuvrer him around but for the members of Team CFVY he made an exception, none of them babied him because of his disability. He made himself comfortable, sliding off his jacket and loosening his tie, he supposed it made sense to do that before finding the other person he was looking for. Cracking his knuckles in anticipation he scanned the crowd, searching for a heat signature that matched up with what he knew about the leader of Velvet's tormentors whilst trying to ignore whatever insanity was occurring in the ring despite the incessant flashes and waves that cascaded across his vision from that direction
"I know why you're really here Fox" Velvet told him bluntly in a harsh and accusatory whisper, arms folded across her chest and rabbit ears drooping forwards. He made no effort to deny it, Velvet was too good of a friend to lie to
"Yeah I came to meet the infamous Team CRDL and drag their leader kicking and screaming into that ring where I will proceed to break his back in so many places he can have his head up his ass literally as well as figuratively" he didn't need to see her face to know that the Rabbit Faunus was blinking in stunned silence at the sheer ferocity of his snarled threats
"Damn it Fox I asked you to let me deal with it my own way"
"Which is apparently by pretending nothing's wrong. Damn it Velvet they grabbed your ears, they assaulted you in public and nobody helped….this has to stop" Fox had been angry at the start of the school year when the first titbits of gossip about someone named Cardin made their way back to him, the whole team had been furious; since then Fox's temper had been allowed to fester until it reached its' current state.
"Please Fox" Velvet whispered "Please don't attack him, I'm not like them. I'm not like the White Fang" Fox was caught off guard by the intensity of her whispered plea
"Nobody thinks that-"
"Everybody thinks that" Velvet was having a hard time keeping her voice down, her own rarely seen temper rising close to the surface "They just push us and push us and the second we loose our temper we're just another violent Faunus that's probably in the Fang" That floored him, the scarred fighter was left speechless. Having spent his entire life being taught to never hit first but always hit back and his own personal experiences with bullying he thought he had a firm understanding of his friends' situation, apparently not
"I'm sorry"
"It's fine" Velvet sighed, rabbit ears drooping low enough to obscure her face "Let's just watch the match, I was never much of a fan of the tournaments but Pyrrha Nikos really is an artist" upon hearing that Fox grinned and focused his Semblance towards the arena itself. He was instantly stunned. Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl of Mistral was indeed every bit the prodigy the media made her out to be, graceful and powerful, each shot deflected by Akuo and slash with Milo causing the air to ripple and Fox's Semblance to be able to pick out the detailing on her armour for a brief moment at a time if her cared to.
He didn't care to.
His attention was wholly diverted from Pyrrha by her opponent, he'd never seen a heat signature like it before. Every fibre of her being seemed to be illuminated from within making her stand out in stark detail against the vague and ever shifting backdrop of the noisy classroom. The tall girl with the hair and eyes that somehow glowed even brighter than the rest of her and had shotguns mounted on her forearms in much the same way as his own blades appeared as though she was made of the light of a thousand small suns. Fox's jaw was hanging open for an amount of time he was unable to discern before Velvet nudged him
"You're staring….which is something I never thought I'd say to you" Velvet's hands shot to her mouth "I didn't mean it like that-" Fox silenced her with a dismissive wave of the hand and a smirk
"It's fine, you know the jokes don't bother me" and they didn't, he fondly recalled actually being able to feel Coco's embarrassed blush when, early in their first year he'd noted that he may not be able to see, but he could still hear her fake Rolex ticking.
"So Pyrrha put on that much of a show?" Velvet asked, Fox gave her an incredulous look
"Nikos?" he shook his head while indicating to the being made of light she was admittedly getting the better of "Who is she? She's amazing" His only was reward was the sound of Velvet giggling at him.
Team RWBY had awoken unusually early that Saturday and Ruby, in an effort to be the best team leader she could had suggested that they spend the morning either training or studying. Weiss had been in favour of studying while the caped girl herself had naturally been in favour of a more practical approach to self improvement. Blake had been ambivalent, leaving Yang to cast the deciding vote; which had predictably led them to the canteen in search of a suitably large breakfast for the gruelling workout the blonde brawler assured her still fledgeling team that she was going to put herself through, even if they didn't want to match her. A claim that Ruby vehemently denied the whole way towards the training facilities situated in one of the basement floors, above the forges that weapons maintenance classes were held in.
"PREPARE TO DIE!" the roared challenge from training room echoed down the corridor, stunning Team RWBY into silence
"Sounds like some of the older students are sparring" Blake noted
"They sound like utter brutes" Weiss huffed
"WE'VE GOTTA GO SEE! THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME!" Ruby bounced on the balls of her feet and Yang couldn't help but laugh, her sister was trying so hard to be a mature leader, but she was still the same Ruby who asked Professor Goodwitch for her autograph
"Come on, I'm itching to give someone a massage and a facial anyway" she grinned at their nonplussed expressions before delivering the punchline "The spar treatment" she made it to the entrance with a chorus of groans behind her.
Entering she saw that myriad weight benches, treadmills, punchbags and other appliances usually found in a gym, each of them being designed to withstand being used by an individual with an unlocked Aura were sitting mostly unused while a small crowd gathered around one of the sparring rings in the centre of the room.
"I'm gonna warm up" Blake murmured as she passed Yang, apparently having little to no interest in the fight currently taking place despite the cheers of the small audience. Looking around she saw that Ruby was standing on a weight bench to peer over peoples' heads, Weiss eventually gave up on trying to reprimand her for it and followed suit. Arms folding her chest and an expression that the heiress would doubtlessly deny was a pout on her face. Yang made her way over and joined them
"Coco Adel is a master of her chosen style, plebeian as kick boxing is" Weiss huffed as she made room for the blonde "But her team-mate fights like a savage, no form no technique-"
"And Coco can't land a hit on him" Yang interrupted as she watched the vaguely familiar second year face against his much more recognisable team leader. Everyone who'd been in Beacon longer than five minutes knew of Coco Adel and it seemed that the legends were true, she really could fight without her beret being knocked out of place.
"But look at it! there's no sense to it!" Weiss seemed thoroughly disturbed by someone being so successful without a rigid plan
"Which means he can't be predicted" Yang countered, allowing herself to become thoroughly engrossed in the spectacle as the young man, whom she noticed had an impressive collection of scars, weaved under a series of punches in much the same way that she would have only to change approaches seemingly on a whim as he sidestepped and crouched low, sweeping Coco's legs out from under her and carrying his momentum through enough to perform a single handed handstand and kicking the fashionista in the back of the head while inverted; sending both her and her beret to the ground separately.
"Okay. Playtime's over" Coco breathed out as she returned to her feet, seemingly so far beyond rage that she had come out the other side and achieved enlightenment. Her opponent launching himself into the air and performing a double somersault before landing for no reason other than to show off if the cocky grin he was wearing was any indication
"Coco's about to copy him" Yang mumbled
"Huh?" Ruby looked confused
"Don't encourage her" Weiss muttered, Yang smiled brightly and finger-gunned
"She's gonna flip!" her amethyst eyes turned back to the match at hand before homing in on a very familiar mane of tied back deep red hair.
"I'm gonna go and ask Pyrrha for a rematch" she informed Weiss and Ruby, making the decision in a split second. She hopped off of the weight bench that the trio were stood on and began making her way through the crowd, making her way towards Team JNPR who were all in their usual combat gear which suggested that Pyrrha was going to face off against one of her own team, in public. Hit by a sudden idea Yang crept close behind them, leaning close to Pyrrha's ear while the Mistrali prizefighter watched the second year students with rapt attention, clutching Akuo closely
"So who's getting whooped for eating all the Pumpkin Pete's?" she asked right in Pyrrha's ear. She knew that Pyrrha, despite her public image as an untouchable and unflappable warrior, was actually easily flustered and startled outside of the arena. She was not disappointed, Pyrrha jumped out of her skin and Akuo was flung forwards wreathed in the darkness of her Semblance. There was a collective gasp from the crowd and Yang herself was left with her mouth hanging open; the shield hurtled towards Coco who was currently in the midst of a failed attempt to grapple with her opponent; said opponent detected the incoming projectile and in a single fluid motion moved himself between it and Coco, one hand firmly on her shoulder while the other shot out impossibly fast and snatched Akuo from the air before turning to see who had thrown it.
"Did he just catch that without looking?" Jaune mouthed in amazement
"Sorry" Pyrrha mumbled from behind her hands, looking as though she wished the ground would swallow her. These facts were lost on Yang however as she was getting her first proper look at the man Coco had been sparring with. His sleeveless vest displayed broad shoulders and muscular arms criss-crossed with the aforementioned scars and his coppery hair hung in front of a high cheek-boned face, framing narrow eyes whose pupils and irises seemed to blend into the whites due to their unnatural paleness.
"Okay which one you decided you just had to know what Gucci boots taste like?" Coco spat as she made to get around him. Yang's mind screeched to a halt as she realised two things in rapid succession. The first being that she had inadvertently caused Pyrrha to throw a weapon at a blind man and she most definitely owed them both an apology. The second was a very straight forward notion that she mouthed out almost silently, momentarily forgetting her surroundings
"Oh my gosh he's hot"
Fox sat on the roof of Beacon academy wearing the calm smile of someone who was truly at peace, someone who didn't know him would have said that he was utterly oblivious to the thunderstorm currently taking place despite the rain buffeting him and the irregular dull booms of thunder. Those people were vastly mistaken, the heat of lightning bolts illuminated the sky around them in his thermal imaging and the sound of the rain showed every detail of every surface. Fox Alistair wasn't just aware of the storm, the storm made him aware of everything. Taking a deep breath he allowed himself to absorb the breathtaking influx of information whilst pulling the coat that Velvet had insisted he wear a little tighter, the next flash of lightning allowed his senses to extend out towards the clifftops that loomed above the Emerald Forest
"Wow" he couldn't help the gasp that escaped him, storms like this sometimes overwhelmed him but he found himself sitting on the highest point he could reach every single time; enjoying a view that the same peers who pitied him for his blindness would never be able to comprehend. After a while another sound reached his ears; cursing, or rather a continuous stream of words that shared meanings with the obscenities Coco blasted the subjects of her ire with but weren't considered offensive in of themselves. Fox chuckled to himself as he recognised it as the tirade of someone who had younger siblings that they couldn't curse in front of.
Focusing his attention towards the sound below he felt his heart rate quicken at the sight of her, Velvet shared several lessons with the first years due to circumstances outside of her control and had told him that the young woman he'd found himself subconsciously homing in on was named Yang. Currently she was wheeling a motorbike along the avenue leading towards the academy itself, its' engine still cooling though currently not as warm as its' owner. Yang's Aura it seemed was a fire that could not be doused. Fox unzipped his coat as an idea hit him, followed by the sudden surge of bravery he needed to carry it out. Deciding to take the quickest possible way down in case he missed her he prepared his Aura and casually jumped off of the roof, landing in a crouch and steadying himself with one hand
"Super hero landings are apparently really bad for your knees" an amused voice informed him and Fox's breath caught in his chest for a moment as he realised she sounded as beautiful as she looked.
"I'll take it into consideration, can't be worse than initiation though" he mused as he rose to his feet
"Oh my gosh it's you" Yang gasped causing Fox to raise an eyebrow "I am so sorry about making Pyrrha jump and throw her shield at you"
"Oh that was you?" Fox laughed, that particular bit of gossip had gotten around Beacon in record time which may have been why Team CRDL seemed particularly uneasy when Fox made a point of sitting next to Velvet at lunch and staring directly at them, listening to their pulses skyrocket.
"Honestly" he shrugged "I was just coming to see if you need a hand, I could hear you having bike problems"
"You heard that?" Yang seemed somewhat embarrassed
"I heard the words heck and golly quite a few times" Yang actually let out a wordless groan at that, Fox gave her a reassuring smile "Older sibling, have to watch your mouth. Trust me I get it"
"You're the oldest too?" Yang asked
"Yep, Sabaku Alistair. Twelve years old and a little nightmare….I'd show you a picture but I don't have any on my Scroll, not much use to me" he shrugged before slipping the coat off of his shoulders and making the offer he'd come down here for "Wanna borrow this? I know it's a bit late now but it's still a pretty long walk to the garage" the parking facilities of the academy were indeed situated to the rear of the campus, presumably in an effort to make the front as photogenic as possible for recruitment posters.
"Thank you" Yang took the proffered coat gratefully and unless Fox was very much mistaken her cheeks had started to heat up, was she blushing?
"So" Yang continued "How come you're hanging out on the roof in this?" she indicated to the deluge around them
"Because my Semblance is a combination of thermal imaging and echolocation, in weather like this I can actually make out the details of things instead of just blurry outlines" there were a few seconds where Yang was silently processing information and Fox silently hoped that being told about his condition hadn't unnerved her
"So, you like what you see?" that was not the answer Fox was expecting and it took him aback, focusing his Semblance on Yang left him speechless. Outside of combat the fiery light of her Aura was muted somewhat, instead resembling a near infinite amount of fireflies. In the rain he could make out every detail of her, currently she was brushing rain slicked hair out of her eyes and treating him to a playful smile
"I….erm….yes" he managed to admit, surprised when Yang's cheeks heated once more, she was definitely blushing
"Come on smooth talker" she made to walk past him and Fox made to give her a hand moving her bike until she paused
"Hey I've just hand an idea, your Semblance works on heat and sound right?" she asked, Fox nodded unsure of where she was going with this. Yang took a deep breath, seemingly bracing herself for something
"Okay, I'm from Patch and there's actually always a big fireworks display on around this time of year; my family used to go every year when I was a kid. I was wondering if you might want to come?" Fox nearly choked on thin air upon hearing that, there was no way he'd heard her correctly. After a brief moment he realised that Yang was still waiting for an answer
"It sounds like you're asking me on a date?" a broad smile crept across his face and Yang found her eyes drawn to his scarred lips "If you are it would be my pleasure"
"Then it's a date"
Authors Notes:
Okay so the appeal for this ship was basically something I wrote in my story "The Downward Spiral" as a throwaway comment in a conversation between Team CFVY.
Fox's Semblance (In my stories until/unless canon confirms otherwise) is that he can see heat and sound (I've described Fox as daredevil with a knife fetish before).
Yang's Aura (Her Semblance isn't actually related to fire but that's how it manifests itself visually, like Ruby's Semblance having nothing to do with rose petals) gives her a body temperature above most peoples', come on we all share the headcanon that Yang is basically a portable heater.
The logical conclusion from those to facts is that when Yang walks into a room Fox notices, because he physically can't not notice her.
So to summarise:
Fox using the central heating of a building to find his way around, I don't even know where that idea came from but I'm going to keep using it.
I also refuse to believe that at least one member of Team CFVY didn't have to be restrained from choking the life out of Team CRDL.
"Nobody thinks that-" "Everybody thinks that" Did I accidentally twist a knife in some feelings there? Oops.
Imagine Fox and Coco roasting each other, seriously imagine Fox going full Toph Beifong.
Ruby Rose asked Goodwitch for an autograph. You know damn well that if there was ever a sparring match, hell an actual fight happening between the older students she'd want to see it.
"The spar treatment" seriously, thinking up puns is the most rewarding part of writing Yang.
I know Weiss comes off a bit bitchy in this but remember that this is still early Vol.1 Weiss.
I always imagine Fox having a fighting style kinda similar to Tyrian's, albeit with less reach due to him lacking a tail and as far as we can tell any ranged weapons.
The Yang making Pyrrha jump thing was half plot convenience and half based on Chibi. Headcanon that outside of an arena or battlefield Pyrrha lets her guard down enough to be easily startled and/or flustered: accepted.
You know in Captain America: Winter Soldier, when Bucky catches the shield? Yeah that's what I imagine Fox doing with Akuo.
Come on, as much of a Bumblebee shipper as I am; Yang was the one checking out the guys the night before initiation (Also who was she checking out? Team CRDL? Really Yang, really?) she would have no problem with admitting someone of any gender was hot.
I was actually going to have the conversation about Fox's sister go on a little more but it didn't serve any real purpose. I might have her show up in another story (She was basically going to be Toph, her Semblance making her able to feel vibrations in the ground)
Firework display date sounds pretty cute overall, and with Fox's Semblance it's actually pretty thoughtful.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.