I do not own RWBY. Property belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions LLC.
A/N: Still reeling on the season finale from RWBY and the only way to heal my wounds is to write it off (Literally!)
Edit (10/17/2016): chapter is revised for grammar and consistency
The moonlight reflects off the swampy waters in Mistral like a blurry mirror, as fireflies light the landscape one bug at a time. The sound of crickets and croaking frogs puts a damper on the silence in the swamp. A frog rises out of the water and immediately spots a fly for its meal. The frog targets the lone insect, its tongue ready to grab it, but a 10-year-old boy grabs the amphibian out of the water and it misses its opportunity for a meal.
The boy jovially laughs as he spins around with the frog like a prize catch. He then stares into the murky water and sees his reflection. Going down on his knees, he drops his smile and observes himself with a neutral expression. The boy's face is small and frail, with oval, cobalt eyes and a short and stout nose. His stature is also small and his physique leaned toward the skinny side. His medium-length wavy hair reflects a grey hue under the moonlight and as a breeze tousles the ends, tickling his cheeks, he immediately smiles at his own reflection. He gently drops the frog back into the swamp, and it swims for its life as it drifts further away from the rapscallion.
He lies down on the grass, gazing at the stars and smiles. Oh boy I can't wait for her to come home, He thought happily.
He lifts his arms above his head and lets his head rest on his hands. Closing his eyes and he sighs deeply in content, when suddenly he hears a rustle coming right next to him.
"Amber, is that you?!" The young boy exclaims, but all he heard was a small titter. He moves towards the shrubbery painstakingly. For all he could know it could be Grimm. Or a chipmunk. Maybe even Amber! After all, she is going to meet him in the swamps at this hour. The rustling from the bushes becomes erratic as he moves towards it. As he is inches from the bushes, a figure stands up suddenly from out of them:
"Boo!" The boo causes him to scream loudly as he falls back, causing him to land on his rear end with a loud thud. The figure that appeared before him was a young girl with a tan complexion and brown hair that is tied conservatively behind her back. Her eyes are also brown and round, sharing tones similar to the earth. She is the same height as the scrappy young boy. She smiles then suddenly opens her mouth in surprise as she sees the boy on the ground groaning like there's no tomorrow. "I'm sorry, Cobalt!" The girl said with a remorseful tone, "I didn't know you would freak out like that."
Cobalt dusts his rear end as he stands up and smiles. The girl smiles and her face makes the young boy feel mesmerized. He blushes out of embarrassment and smiles nervously. He stutters uncontrollably, trying to speak, but it's as if he is taken over by whatever aura young Amber is projecting. She slowly stands up and reaches for the young lad.
His skin crawls as her hand slowly creeps toward him. His eagerness and curiosity turn to fear and dread and his smile turns upside down. He knows what is going to happen next. Then contact! Her hand touches his chest and the cold touch from Amber paralyzes him. It's as though he is frozen from the inside out from her touch.
"Tag, you're it!" Amber yells at him. She runs away to avoid being "it." Startled It takes him a moment to recover before he begins to chase her past the marshes toward the village.
Upon entering he stops at a nearby bakery in the marketplace. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, kneeling on one knee he touches the ground with his right hand. The clamor around the bakery becomes non-existent as he is absorbed in a muted version of the world. His heartbeat softens as he hones in on his target. Out of the darkness he senses a red pulsing aura running around the marketplace. I got you now, He thinks confidently. He opens his eyes as the red aura pulsates to mark his target. He runs inside the bakery, dodging and weaving past the racks of freshly baked goods to avoid any damage, but he grabs a small sweet roll off one of the racks and swallows it on one gulp.
He spots an open window and leaps out of the bakery. The red aura fades as he sees Amber near him.
"I got you now, Amber!" He says confidently, "I got-" Then a gust of wind knocks over a crate of produce right next to her pursuer. Sliding under the boxes he avoids disaster. Amber is using the wind as her Semblance to go further away from him! "Hey that's not fair!" He complained.
"Says the person who tried to track me." Amber rebuts. She got me beat there, He thinks cautiously. The narrow streets of the village become broader as their game continues, and soon they're headed towards a lone mansion. The cobblestone roads become dirt roads as the chase begins to wind down, but the determined young boy doesn't give up. Spotting a nearby light post, he leaps on it and launches himself by pushing against it with both his legs. He jettisons closer to Amber and tries to touch her. He is so close to tagging Amber.
He lunges at his target, reaching his arm out to tag her, his goal is just inches away. But he passes her. He calculated incorrectly and utters: "Oh no..."
He crashes onto a nearby chicken coop; chickens fly out of the coop as a result of the collision. Covered in egg yolks and egg shells he sighs in discontent. Amber stops in front of her battered pursuer. She giggles and smiles. She knows he lost that game of tag hard. He smiles back in embarrassment, knowing all his hard work was all for naught. She reaches her arm out and he grabs it to pick himself up.
"That's an A for effort, Cobalt." Amber said, "But you didn't tag me in the end."
"Yeah...but I'll get you next..." Cobalt is interrupted when an old man gasps in horror at the damaged chicken coop.
"Hey! You'll pay for all of...oh..." The old man looks at the yolk covered boy. His anger turns into concern. "Young Cobalt?" The young boy brushes off the hay on his shoulders. "Please be more careful out there when you're playing, young sir." The boy nods in response. He didn't realize that he was near his parents' home.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Finch. I'll be in my quarters right away." He says with guilt as they depart for home. The old man nods, and as they leave he starts cleaning the coop, grumbling in discontent.
After a quick bath, both Amber and Cobalt go up on the clay roof of the house. Amber sits by the edge of the roof while he lies down, rocking back and forth like a see saw, Amber watches the young boy deep in thought. She can tell that his gaze into the stars is different than what he usually does. This time he must be really thinking about something. After a moment he rises and smiles at her.
"Do you ever think about becoming a huntress?" The boy asks quizzically.
"That's a silly question to ask," Amber replies, "of course I want to be a huntress! Why are you asking?"
"Just wondering." He said.
"You know what would be even cooler?" Amber asks. He nods in agreement. "Being a Maiden. Grandma would always tell the story of the four maidens. Spring is too upbeat. Summer is too cheerful. Winter is too…well…dead. Fall is just right!" She says excitedly, but the cheerful moment is gone too soon as Cobalt suddenly falls to his knees and coughs harshly. "Are you okay, Cobalt?!" She stares at the young boy who is hyperventilating and still coughing violently.
As his fit continues his cobalt eyes slowly become red and his grey hair turns black. His skin turns pale, like ash from a fireplace, and suddenly a small metal object protrudes out of his forearms. Amber gasps in horror and jumps off of the roof and lands skillfully on the ground. She screams in terror as she sees her friend turn into a monster. She runs inside the house and sees Cobalt's mustachioed father and her father in the den.
"Mr. Coronas! Cobalt is sick!" Amber yells in fright. Tears run down her face because of what she saw. She describes the red eyes and black hair and, most especially, she tells them of the metal objects on his forearm. Dread builds at her words and Cobalt's father puts his hand on his mouth before he runs out of the house. The other two follow shortly after, seeing Mr. Coronas as he swiftly leaps on top of the roof.
Mr. Coronas sees his son coughing violently and lifts him up in his arms. Cobalt's eyes become normal as he softly utters: "Papa…"
"Yes, Cobalt?" His father asks quickly. Then his eyes turn red once again and the metal objects become blades. The blades go through his father's torso like a hot knife through butter. Red spots appear through his father's shirt. He then pushes him off the roof and lands on top of his father with a loud thud.
Amber's father immediately embraces her in a protective manner. Shocked and terrified, they slowly move back as the possessed boy begins to advance slowly towards them. However, something stirs within the boy and causes him to pause. Taking a glance towards the motionless form on the ground, Cobalt's eyes become normal as he registers his father's lifeless body on the ground, and the blades on his forearms starts withdraw back to his body.
He moves to his father's side and shakes him to see if he is still alive. His hands become green from his Aura as his father's stab wounds begins to heal. "Please Papa. Don't die on me. Please!" The young boy starts shaking his father's body more urgently, but he's still not breathing.
Amber's father tries to pull him away, from his father. but he flails madly as he tries to break free from his clutches. He stomps on the man's foot, causing his grip to loosen, and rushes back to his father.
Down on his knees, he sobs uncontrollably. Cobalt feels lost and helpless, unaware of the actions he has done to result in his father's condition. He starts to heal him once more, and after a long moment Cobalt feels his father's chest rise after healing him. The open wounds fill up with new muscle, bone and skin and he sighs in relief.
Amber starts to approach him, but her father stops her by blocking her path. "Is there anything we can do?" Amber asks.
"I don't know. But-"
"There must be something, dad!" Amber interrupts him. He sighs in defeat, knowing that what his daughter says is true. Something must be done.
He slowly approaches young Cobalt who is deeply shocked of what just happened. "Cobalt?" He asks cautiously. The boy turns around quickly, face filled with tears and despair. The man's frown turns into a smile. "Let's bring your father to the house and let him sleep it off okay?" The boy nods in agreement. Amber then quickly reaches her arm out and Cobalt grabs it to pick himself up. Her father carries the boy's father back to the house as Amber and Cobalt follows suit.
Cobalt lost his joy since his incident. Fearing that his father's life would be in danger, he moves away from his parent's home to Amber's home years later. But that didn't make things any easier for the lad. Amber is still there to take care of him, but all he could do is stare. No smile. No laughter. Just a blank stare. Every time they eat dinner together with Amber's mother and father, Cobalt just twirls his fork and spoon. While her family laughs about how their day was going, Cobalt sits and waits for the shenanigans to end. His smile is erased replacing it with a line on his lip. He sighs and leaves the table to head to his quarters. He closes the door softly and lies on his bed. He still can't get over the fact that his father was almost killed. Whatever is inside him caused all of this.
One night, in his teenage years, his anger and frustration manifests itself and suddenly he turns to that monstrosity from his youth. His eyes turns red and his skin turns grey. His hair turns black and the blades slowly protrude from his arms. He yells savagely as if he becomes beastly.
Amber is the first one to hear the yell and darts from her room to Cobalt's. She sees him in his ghastly form and is in horror as she sees her friend turn again. Instead of using her Semblance to take him down, she rushed to embrace him. She locks Cobalt's arms as she embraces him. She takes the risk of killing herself to save him. She whispers in his ear words of support and comfort. Cobalt flails madly trying to release Amber from this embrace.
"Everything will be okay. It's not your fault. No one blames you for your father's injuries." Her voice made the boy stop screaming. Then he sniffles and slowly sobs as they both go down on their knees. He slowly turns back to his human form as his eyes turn to its cobalt hue, his hair grey, and the blades withdraw back to his skin.
"I don't want to be like this." Cobalt said morosely. "I want to just...end it all! No hurt, no fear. Just silence!"
"No. I don't want you to die." Amber said. "You need help. And Beacon Academy will do that."
"What will Beacon do?" Cobalt asked cautiously. "I'm not even sure if I'm combat ready."
"I don't know. But you're more than combat ready. Our parents are hunters, you know?" Amber said confidently, "Why do you think that we play tag all the time when our dad's talk the night away? For fun? Well yeah, but they are training us to be Hunters."
Cobalt considers her words. He knows that other than suicide her idea might just work, with the right amount of risk. "If it helps me from turning into that monstrosity I might as well give it a shot." Cobalt says as he wipes away his tears. She smiles knowing she saved him from certain doom.
It is from this moment, with this decision, that Cobalt's life would change forever.
A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated! Chapter 2 is on the way.