This is a sequel to A Knight, A Champion, A Rose, and if you like this chapter (though you might be confused) I suggest that you read the first story. To those of you who know exactly what you're getting into, I give you this...
It amazed Ren. It really did. Even after all these years, he could still draw his finger across the burnt wood of the dilapidated village and paint his digit black. Then again, that was only one thing that fascinated the tranquil black haired boy.
The scarlet trees of autumn surrounding the ashen ruins glowed with such beauty in the morning sunlight, almost forgetful that once they were witness to the bloodshed of undeserving lives. Nay, not almost, totally, life had continued as per usual for the local fauna, humanity but a passing figment of news to the stream of time and nature. This irony of the serenity in the woods surrounding this once terrible yet common tragedy brought a smirk to his face. If he couldn't change the past, then there was no point in wallowing in it, and any good that could be gleamed from it was worth it.
In the midst of his contemplation, the birds chirping happily in the background silenced, and from the concealment of the dark bark of the trees came charging a smaller deathstalker. Ren casually turned to see it's approach, saw it, then sighed. It being the day before the new year at Beacon starts, the boy figured he could warm himself up, ready himself for the new term, and decided so that he would take care of business without his Storm Flowers; a self-imposed challenge.
A minute later, Ren walked away from a headless corpse.
A tear rolled down Pyrrha's cheek, for this would be the second time she would have to leave her father all by himself again. The tall aged man laid still asleep on the couch with their family photo album clutched in his arms, the raising beams of morning sun yet to reach his face through the blinds of the living room. Before leaving, she leaned over and laid a gentle kiss on his forehead, gave a whisper of goodbye, and left a note on the counter. She felt it was only appropriate for such care, for the equally gentle man had raised her, in her opinion, as well as he could've given their circumstances.
Walking down her front lawn path as she wiped away her sniffles and tears, she gave a smile to the nostalgia she felt as she past the little makeshift arena of sandbags and fence posts where her grandfather trained her initially as a kid. She looked up and around herself to the other houses hidden in the hills and trees, chuckling as she remembered all the times she and her grandfather accidentally shot one of the neighbors houses, and then her grandpa would make her apologize for what he more than not did himself.
She made her way to the main road at the bottom of the hill, an archway of green trees that had not yet gotten the message that fall was coming marking the bus stop. She packed fairly lightly, half her stuff being already at Beacon, she only needed a single duffle bag for her gear and travel clothes. Pyrrha dropped said duffle bag in front of the metal post with the bus stop times on it and sat down on the rotting wooden bench, a small ember of excitement for the new year igniting within her chest. Among other things, she would finally get to see Jaune again.
The village's help wanted board was nearly void of odd jobs thanks to Nora and Ren, the former standing in front said board proudly. Up to this point, they had found lost items, killed pesky Grimm, helped build things, collected wood, made runs, babysat kids, and even cooked for parties. The only jobs left on the board were jobs needing skills the ginger was sure she and her childhood friends weren't suited for, one being tax filing, another plumbing, and a final one revolving around writing up computer programs. Ren might've been able to do the tax filing, but there wasn't any time left anyways before they best leave for Beacon, no time except to enjoy their last morning in their village.
The valkyrie skipped away from the wood peg board and wandered around the small busy town, balancing herself along roadside rocks as she greeted the passing pedestrians who knew her so well. Balancing was strange for the girl however, not in the way that it was difficult, no, it was still easy as she hopped rock to rock, but the change in her outfit had changed the weight distribution and therefore changed the setup she had gotten so used to. Her mother had lengthened her skirt and added white shorts similar to Yang's getup to mature Nora's look, while her father made taller boots with steel bottoms to give more protection. In the spirit of things, Nora made herself silver gray elbow armor that wrapped around her lonesome white sleeves, with soft rubber on the inside of the metal to absorb more of the force from her increasingly heavy blows.
She wasn't the only one arming up however, as just in her village alone the effects of yesteryear's events had shown their mark as a call to increase military participation ended up culling young adults away from home and into service, an increase of taxes to afford military training and arming, and every gunmaker and armor smith one could find were backed up with custom orders. Just a couple years before, Nora would skip around her usual path and maybe see a single patrol of soldiers or rather a team of Hunters, but now there were droves of new recruits out and about on their training runs.
No matter though, she thought, once Ren makes it back from his walk, the two of them would finally make their trek back into Vale and to Beacon, where then they will hopefully get some fun missions to flex their muscles.
Jaune had it down to formula. He would count his winnings in plain sight, facing the bartender, then some too-drunk brawler would come up from behind and plant Jaune's face into the countertop. Jaune pretended that this man's sneak attack stunned him. While the disheveled and messy looking boy stumbled about for a couple seconds, the other man would punch him a couple times, and the neck-long blond hair would hide Jaune's calculating eyes. Jaune fell, and the men in the bar who had lost in their fight to the boy would cheer on the challenger, said challenger shaking their arms in triumph to his peers, unaware of the boy as he stood up to tackle the challenger. The onlookers cheered even louder and threw more lien onto the betting table as Jaune wrestled the larger man. They broke away, putting only about three feet between them. The man blinked, and in that moment Jaune kicked out his shin, bringing him to his knee, then elbowed him one way, then round house punched him the other, knocking the challenger out. The bar erupted into a maelstrom of both happy cheers and angry cheers, some winners and some losers.
Jaune collected his winnings and took a shot of free mystery liquor from the jolly bartender and stumbled out into the bright sunny streets with people patting him on the back on the way out. Even at high noon, this one pub Jaune had found would always be filled to the brim with restless men ready to pay to see a fight, and in being so lively was a hot spot for Jaune to earn some cash.
He walked away from the busy store front, dropping his tired and hurt act as made his way to his tent underneath a freeway overpass, his Huntsmen gear still safe and sound in it's hiding spot behind a dead bush. For the two months of summer vacation, the boy had made his wallet fat through performing with the guitar Pyrrha got for him and of course, pub brawls, for the coming year to pay the annual fee of housing, classes, and of course, the inevitable paying for his team's outings and dinners. As sacrifice though, he had spent the last two months living practically homeless, his hair long, his face hidden away by a light beard, and his clothes dirty. He saw it as good training.
But it was done now. He packed up his tent into his bag along with his Huntsmen gear, his money, and made pilgrimage to Beacon, the thought of a hot shower glistening in his mind right up there with a proper bed and human interaction beyond scamming middle aged men to pay for one-sided fights.
Her baby was perfect once again. Yang opened the garage door and rolled out her oldster super bike, the 8 speed 715' 1000cc turbo charged Bumblebee, the East Vacuo's Motors Company's pride and joy, nearly 30 years old and still popular among bikers for it's free rotation brakes, turbo air intake, all terrain fat tires, black steel tube chassis that just won't quit, and 50 miles to a gallon, a generous number for a bike of it's grade and cost. Her father's gift to her from his youth, she made sure it was completely restored after getting wrecked the year previous after the freeway incident with Roman's Atlesian Paladin shenanigans.
The engine roared like a tiger when she rolled the throttle, music to her ears. The heavy man who owned the small garage complex, Joe Hazel, let out a equally loud laugh of accomplishment, proud of his hand in fixing the bike. His brother, the Squad Leader of the First Squad of Vale's First Division, Cpt. Hazel Sharpshooter Class, patted his brother's back in delight as the purr of the motor got his heart running too.
Yang strapped on her helmet and stylishly flicked out her aviators for dramatic effect, putting them on only after making a pun about how 'it looks like this bumblebee... is buzzin'.' She motioned with her hand forward and a bored Neptune who arrived a day too early mounted onto the back of the bike, the two brunette men left in the garage waving goodbye as the two youngsters soared off onto the early afternoon streets of Vale.
Yang sped onto the on-ramp for Beacon, only recently discovering that there was a long round about way to get from Beacon to Vale and back that was only practical if one drove fast enough, which she did, and was combat ready enough to fight any Grimm that may reside on the road, which she was. The freeway lead to a exit from town that lead to a abandoned road that winded through the woods up all the rear of Beacon, somewhere she had never been till she discovered the road on a map, and through inquiry found out that it was behind Beacon that the older students kept their vehicles, the few of them that did anyways.
It was there that was her destination, and as she illegally passed by cars at a 120 miles per hour, the police scanners reading her license plate and upon identifying her as a huntress in training, dropped interest in her and continued watch over their respectful areas.
Blake was cranky as she woke from her nap. Sun's wild sand dune driving did not lend itself to smooth sailing, it was too hot, and the stress of cutting the time close left both of them on edge. If Sun kept up the pace, they would most likely catch their airship from Vacuo to Vale by 5', but if he flipped their dune buggy again, not only would they miss it, but Blake would probably kill Sun too.
She laid back in her seat, letting out a heavy sigh. Sun was babbling on about something or another, but Blake had little interest, putting more thought into buckling her boot back up. She had given up on her old outfit and took to wearing her intruder set more often ever since Weiss pointed out that the vest accentuated her breast and her tights left little to the imagination, greatly embarrassing the feline. Only problem was, the jacket was a little too thick for her time in the summer time desert of Vacuo, so she had kept that packed away too, leaving only her pants, boots, and tank top.
The wind rushing past them was nice though, still hot, but nice. She had all of her gear and her jacket packed up in her neat little black bag by her feat, and it was a nice enough scene where she could hold onto the handles of the roll cage and relax as Sun tore through sand and conversation topics. She didn't have to worry about making decisions, about setting goals, or worry about anything really, she just had to wait while she headed somewhere, and as such, she let the dune buggy rock her back to sleep.
They had an agreement. Penny wouldn't talk, Weiss wouldn't be mean to her. They got along on these terms as well as one could get along with Weiss while she was at home. The two of them practically ran out the front door of the Schnee mansion, ran free of the cold stone training halls and empty dining rooms, free from the name sake icy personality of Mr. Schnee, and ran onto the personal airship already loaded with dust and equipment and heading to Beacon.
On the small and speedy airship, Weiss separated herself from Penny and hid inside the bathroom. She pulled out her makeup kit and rolled up her flared out sleeves, frowning as she counted another two faint scars along her right arm. Using her expertise in blending and application of mascara, she hid the multitude of scars well enough that only someone looking for imperfections would be able to tell. She pulled up her skirt and did the same with her legs and thighs, happy to see there were no new additions from the summer this time, only the old ones.
Once she was done with that, she packed up her kit and looked in the mirror one last time before going, sadly noting that her hair had gone whiter, even if it was a indistinguishable amount, a amount she could tell, and so too her eyes had gone ever so slightly grayer. She left the bathroom before it upset her too much.
Penny sat with her tool box quietly and sorry looking, careful not to disturb Weiss's calm by existing too intrusively. The duelist told the robot girl she could relax, as they had already left the house and that there would be no more worry for a while. Penny listened, and so smiled at Weiss, asking her if she was excited to be going back to Beacon.
Weiss told Penny to stay quiet at least, but answered her question anyways as she peered out the window into the cold sunset. The duelist said she was in fact excited to be going back, but said the destination could be anywhere, and she would still be glad to go, as long as it wasn't home.
Ruby found very few pictures in the attic, and cursed her parents for being such lousy lazy picture takers with only a handful of photographs to remind them of past moments. She had in hand a couple however with her mother in them, hidden away at the bottom of a dusty box upstairs. One had the whole family plus a bored Qrow moving into their current house out on the island outside Vale, Taiyang jokingly kicking down the door incase there were Grimm waiting inside. Summer was holding both Yang and herself, Ruby, and was covered from view, but her white cloak was impossible to not recognize. It was anybodies guess however who took the picture though.
The other picture was of Taiyang and Summer sleeping together on the couch in front of the tv, looking oh so peaceful, oh so natural, what with Taiyang in his underwear and a torn plaid shirt and untrimmed beard covered in drool, and Summer wrapped three times over in a blanket on top of him with her messy black hair covering her face. Yang must've taken that picture.
Ruby understood why then Yang gave her that family diner photo last St. David's Day, as that must've been the only one Yang could find where Summer's face was uncovered and unfiltered.
"Thanks Yang," Ruby whispered to herself with a smile.
She put the two photos back into the box and dropped the lid, sending dust flying everywhere. She stood with haste and rubbed her face violently. She sneezed several times and couldn't see out of her one good eye which hurt terribly. Once her sneezing fit was over and snot was flowing freely from her nose, she tried to get the dust out from under her eye lid, but found it was a vain attempt. She blinked furiously and rolled her head around to find a more comfortable position, but found nothing to alleviate the irritation and lack of vision she was experiencing. Ruby stumbled around until she found the stairs leading down, and fell through, making a large enough racket on the way down to attract the attention of her dad.
He came running in, a worried look on his face. "Ruby what was that- oh! What's wrong Ruby? What's the matter?" he asked, seeing tears run down from her one eye.
She cried "I got something in my eye" as she pawed around to find the doorway and rubbed at her face in vain.
The distant man tried and confiding in the girl, "It's okay, you can tell me whats wrong..."
She reached into a doorway with her outstretched arm and walked head first into the doorframe, repeating herself, "No! I got dust in my eye, take me to a sink!"
He lead her hand to the kitchen sink where she spent the next ten minutes rinsing her eye out with warm water while Taiyang took to reading in his study again, drifting off to some lost melancholy. Finally, her eyelids were clean enough where she could at least see for a moment before needing to blink repeatedly again.
This issue brought up a worry for Ruby: If she only had the one eye, and all it took was for some debris to completely blind her or put her into a sneezing fit long enough for her enemy to take advantage of her, then she was setting herself up for failure.
She pondered solutions, when fairly quickly it seemed obvious for what she needed to do. She had the night before she had to leave for Beacon in the morning, so she figured it was enough time to make herself some accessories.
Several hours later, she walked into Taiyang's study, nothing different about her in particular apart from the wicked looking black gas mask covering the lower half of her face and the left side of a old fashioned pilot's goggles covering her good eye.
The gas mask amplified every breath from Ruby, every breath in sounding like a vacuum while every out sounded like a sigh of exhaustion. "What do ya think?" she asked her father, her voice muffled by the mask.
He looked up in a daze at his daughter, simply humming "hmmm" before going back to his business.
She sighed in disappointment. She didn't really expect him to react much as she and Yang knew him well enough by now to know how withdrawn he had become. The small girl opened her mask and lifted her goggle, finding her way to her old bed and turning herself in for the night. She had hoped to spend some quality time with Taiyang, but her two months were gone, and nothing she had been willing to do caught his attention. At least though, she thought, returning to Beacon would end her Summer sadness.
-End Chapter 1-
A couple things, what do you guys think of the cover art? I decided to make my own that went beyond silhouettes but credit goes to the person (I don't know who) who made the base of the picture that I went off of. To those wondering or those on a mobile phone, Ruby is wearing the single goggle and a open gas mask, ya know, just because. Another thing, I want to know what you guys are reading for, I mean, nothing so existential, I just mean like what is it in the story or style that has kept you interested, be it the love triangle, the other characters, or whatever, because when I look on it I realize I'm all over the place. Last thing, I know I said I'd release this on Sunday, but I made the chapter early and finished the cover art pretty quickly, so I got impatient.