Disclaimer: I own nothing about RWBY except my OC's... Dammit
Chapter one: Who am I?
My head hurts, like really really badly. Opening my eyes only seemed to make it worse, the ears on top of my head flattened in reaction to my splitting headache. Okay, OW, come on, focus on something other than the pain... Where am I? The taupe ceiling was cracked and filthy, the paint was chipped and there was a large water mark in one corner, clearly whomever was responsible (if anyone was) for this building's upkeep either wasn't bothering, or didn't have the money for maintenance.
The headache started to fade and I managed to focus enough to notice where I was lying, an old, dirty bed with slightly yellowed sheets, I raised my hands up in front of my face, my right hand was pale skinned, with slender fingers and a developed callous on the pad of the index finger, however when I moved my left hand I heard a tiny mechanical whirr, and was presented with the sight of five mechanical fingers attached to a metal palm, and a metal plated forearm with servos, pistons and gears just visible under the plating. What the hell? I sat up fast, which made me a little dizzy at first, and checked, yep, my entire left arm was a robotic prosthetic, a really good one to boot. How did that get there? I don't even remember losing my arm in the first place. As soon as that thought hit my spine went ramrod straight, and my eyes must have widened to the size of five Lien coins. forget not remembering my arm, I couldn't seem to remember ANYTHING! Prior to waking up a few minutes ago my mind was a blank slate. I didn't know how I'd gotten there, I had no idea how I'd ended up with a mechanical arm, I couldn't tell you my age, or even my NAME!
I started hyperventilating and frantically started searching myself for some form of identification, my jeans pockets were empty of everything but lint, the pockets of the blue and yellow jacket, which I wore with the sleeves rolled up to mid biceps contained a single slip of paper on which was printed a series of numbers, which I put back in the jacket pocket, since I hadn't the slightest clue what it meant, oh, and another thing I'd just noticed, at my waist was a gun belt, a pair of boxy pistols hung from the belt, one was white with black accents and the other was all blue, but otherwise they seemed identical, engraved in the grip of each pistol was a single word, likely their respective names, the white and black gun was Death and it's blue companion had the word Duty inscribed in it's grip.
On impulse I drew both pistols from their housing, they felt natural in my hands, as if I'd been using them for years, I probably had, though I couldn't remember any of it. My mechanical hand came as something of a surprise, not only did it respond to my mental commands just as quickly as my natural arm I could "feel" Death settled against my mechanical palm, it wasn't the same as the sensations of my flesh and blood hand, but I had a sort of "awareness" of the weight and shape of the pistol gripped in my metallic fist. Freaky.
As I examined the guns and my arm more closely I felt a slight pressure at my temples, then blue ghostly figures appeared out of nowhere, it was as if the weapons and prosthetic had deconstructed themselves and the parts hung in the air, though neither gun nor robot arm did anything of the sort in reality, instead, I realized I was seeing a spectral copy of each part involved in the creation of each object and... yes, I also saw how each one fit together, and if what I saw was the truth then... ah! There we go. one the side of each pistol grip there was a small switch, pointing Duty away from myself and holstering Death I flipped the switch, with a soft snick a collapsed, ten inch blade extended out from directly under the barrel of the gun. Flipping the switch back to it's previous position retracted the blade. After holstering my blue pistol I finally stood and took a good look around the room, it was just as much of a mess as the bed and ceiling suggested it would be, dust and filth was everywhere, there was a black painted wooden dresser, which was tipped over due to the fact that one of it's legs had evidently snapped off at some point, hanging on the wall behind it was a dirty, cracked mirror, which I approached, I wanted to see my reflection. Yes, my memory loss was so bad that I don't even know what I look like, yeah, I know that's almost more freaky than not knowing your own name, not quite there, but almost.
I looked young, seventeen or eighteen at most, a little above six feet tall, with a messy, tangled mop of blue hair and grey eyes with dark circles under them, set into a rectangular face, a two inch long scar passed right by the corner of my right eye, and sticking up from my mess of blue hair was a pair of tawny lion's ears, all in all I didn't look half bad, oddly sleep deprived since I'd just woken up, but that was just one more mystery to add to the mounting pile.
Having satisfied my curiosity about the room I'd come to in, and honestly wanting to get out of the filthy place, I rolled down my sleeves and walked out the door and down the stairs directly to my left, until I stepped out into the daylight, by the position of the sun it was approximately 9:45 AM and... how exactly did I know that? I had no idea, I was starting to sense a theme though, and it was beginning to annoy me, A LOT. I must have been standing on what was apparently a sidewalk too long because the next thing I knew a hand touched my arm, I acted on blind instinct, turning and drawing Duty in the same motion, I wasn't even aware that I'd extended Duty's blade until I heard a clang and came to my senses, only for someone to sweep my feet out from under me. The next second I was lying on the pavement looking up at a wickedly sharp yellow and red sword tip, about one inch from my left eye, and behind that a tall girl who seemed about my age, with long red hair in a waist length ponytail, hard emerald eyes glaring down at me and her heeled boot pressing the wrist of my right arm into the ground, effectively pinning Duty to the concrete sidewalk... Oh... Shit.
Keeping my eyes on the red head, which wasn't really a hardship, she was gorgeous. NO, bad hormones! Down! No cookie for you! I mentally scolded myself, though the swordswoman chose that moment to speak. "Well? Are you planning to explain yourself or do I have to I turn you over to the police?"
No matter what anyone might tell you otherwise I was NOT blushing, not at the embarrassment of the moment, and DEFINITELY not in reaction to this girl's voice, which even when darkened by anger and suspicion was as lovely as she was... Screw you hormones, you freaking morons.
"I-I'm sorry, you caught me off guard, so I just... reacted, I wasn't thinking." I managed to keep my voice relatively even, though as small tremor got though at the start of my sentence.
Some of the coldness leeched out of the red head's eyes, though her frown didn't soften, and her sword arm didn't waver, I flipped the switch to retract Duty's blade, then I turned my hand as much as my captor's boot would allow and dropped the pistol to the ground. I took a better look at my red haired captor, she wore an elastic red miniskirt with some kind of red drape hung from her belt down nearly the entire length of her left leg, both legs were covered in what seemed to be bronze leg armor, her slender, curvy, and well endowed figure was squeezed into a tight leather and metal tube top, her arms were sheathed in maroon gloves, and her left forearm was enclosed in a grooved bronze bracer, and a round shield hung off her back, an ornate headpiece nestled in her scarlet hair made out of a single band of bronze that circled her head, dipping to just above her neck, and swooping over her ears, two thin chains hung from the headdress falling just barely under each ear before reattaching to the band of bronze.
Red didn't seem convinced by my apology, I sighed. "Look, Miss whoever you are, could I get up please? I promise I won't attack you or run, not that either would do me much good, you are clearly faster than I am, seriously, how does anyone get that fast?!"
Red blinked her gemlike green eyes. "You... You don't recognize me?"
Yeah... I don't recognize ME completely, there's no way I know you. Out loud I said. "No, should I? I mean, have we met before?"
"No... I don't think so, but I'm pretty well known, so it's always a pleasant surprise when someone hasn't heard about me, I'm Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos."
"Nope still not ringing any bells." I shook my head as Pyrrha stepped off of my wrist and lifted her sword away from my eye. After I'd holstered Duty I sat up and rubbed life back into my now throbbing wrist.
Pyrrha had to angle her head slightly upwards when I stood to my full height. "So... what's your name?" Pyrrha asked.
I let out a small mirthless laugh before responding. "I'd love to tell you the answer to that question, but first I'd have to know what it is."
"What do you mean you don't know your own name?"
"Exactly what I said, I'm an amnesiac, I have no idea who I am, where I am, or how I got here, though I don't seem to have lost any skills I learned before losing my memory, which apparently includes battlefield instincts, sorry again about that by the way." As I was apologizing I gestured with my left arm, and Pyrrha noticed the robotic hand poking out of the sleeve of my coat.
"What's that?"
What was wha... Oh! I pulled my left sleeve up to reveal my metal forearm. "My entire left arm is like this, and no, I don't know how I got this either."
"I believe you, but this is a highly advanced mechanical prosthetic, there shouldn't be very many people who got one, much less a full arm replacement, the serial number should be recorded somewhere, and it should be able to give you your name."
A bolt of excitement shot down my spine and I burst into a wide grin. Then I stared hard at my mechanical arm, once again the blue phantom parts spread out from the prosthesis, however this time I was searching each piece individually, and there on the inside of one of the forearm plates was... something, I couldn't tell exactly what, just some raised bumps, my Semblance wasn't detailed enough to get any sort of clear picture, so I located the metal plate on my actual prosthesis.
"Um, Pyrrha, do you happen to have a screwdriver on you?"
The redhead shook her head. "No, though I do have something better."
"What?"
"My Semblance." Pyrrha hovered her hand over my mechanical arm and it started glowing black, the metal screws holding the targeted plate began unscrewing themselves. I looked at Pyrrha in wonder, which caused her to fidget uncomfortably, and cast around for a different topic of conversation. "Um, so, how did you know which plate has the serial number?"
"If I look at a machine long enough I start seeing floating blue doubles of all the machine's individual parts and I see how they fit together, as well as their general purpose, though I've only tried it with my arm and my guns, it should theoretically work on just about anything mechanical."
Pyrrha nodded. "Your Semblance, kind of like my Polarity, or magnetism manipulation, except yours allows you to perform in-depth examinations of machines without needing to even touch them."
"What is a Semblance, anyway?"
Pyrrha blinked incredulously for a second before murmuring. "Right, amnesiac... A Semblance is the outward expression of your aura, which the semi physical embodiment of your soul, your Semblance is a special power that is for the most part unique to you, while your aura basically functions as a force field with some physical and sensory enhancements, everyone with Hunter training has their aura unlocked, judging by your weapons, reflexes and the fact that not only do you have an active aura you also have access to your Semblance it certainly seems as if you have at least some Huntsman training, or something similar."
"Interesting..." I mumbled, and it was, but I was focused on a single goal, I lifted the metal plate off my prosthesis and turned it over to find... A series of deep scratches, the serial number had been filed off. What... Thefuck... The serial number on my arm had been the biggest clue to my identity yet, and it was gone. I was barely aware of Pyrrha lifting the plate out of my limp hand and replace it on my arm, though oddly enough I "felt" when she screwed it back in, it was like an itch at the back of my brain, a strange pressure on a part of me that logically shouldn't be transmitting any sensation at all.
Pyrrha looked at me oddly for several seconds, the staring was starting to make me a little uncomfortable. "U-um, Pyrrha?"
"If you haven't lost your learned skills I think we might be able to get at least a clue about you."
I was intrigued. "I'm listening..."
"Well... since the only things we know about you are that you're a Faunus with a robotic limb, and that you have at least some experience in combat, you should spar with someone, even if it doesn't help you remember anything it can help give you an idea of your combat abilities, which could really only be helpful."
I shrugged, I didn't have anything better to do. "Why not, though I assume you don't mean to pick a fight in the middle of the street."
"There's a gym in the area that I go to to train while I'm in Vale, it's out of the way enough that the photographers haven't found it yet."
That caught my attention. "Photographers?"
Pyrrha's eyes narrowed and a red flush bloomed on her cheeks. "That's the polite term for them, the more accurate term would be paparazzi, or maybe just vultures, I won a major combat tournament four years in a row, so now they all want pictures of 'The Invincible Girl' for their headlines, it's exhausting, and half the reason why I'm out of the tournament circuit."
"What's the other half?" I asked.
"I want to use my skills to help people rather than just to compete, in two weeks time I'm going to start attending Beacon to become a Huntress."
That... seemed very fitting for her, for some reason, though I had only met this girl less than half an hour ago the thought of her standing on the front lines of the fight against the Grimm suited her... huh... I just remembered what the Grimm are. Sure, it was frustrating, I knew about the soulless monsters that had haunted Humanity and the Faunus since the start of recorded history, but my own history was still totally unknown, but at least I was remembering something, maybe this plan of Pyrrha's might work. A smile started inching it's way across my face, my lion ears stood straight up.
"Alright, let's try it."
Pyrrha led the way down three streets before we reached the gym, A Hunter's Paradise. The outside of the building was shabby, just like every other building in this part of the city we were in, which was called Vale, according to Pyrrha, it was the capital and namesake of one of the four Kingdoms that people had managed to form and hold against the Grimm over the millennia, the other three were Vacuo, Mistral (which is where Pyrrha was from), and Atlas.
The inside of the gym wasn't fancy but it was well maintained, which was why there were no windows facing the street, too many pieces of relatively expensive, if outdated, gym equipment that would be prime targets for robbery, it was clear that the place didn't have much money, but it was just as clear that the owner took pride in their job.
"Pyrrha! I was wondering if you'd show up today, it's good to see ya kid." I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of a boisterous male voice, I whirled to see a huge swarthy man with boar tusks sticking out of his mouth.
"Jumpy one aren't you boy?" The boar Faunus chuckled, though his eyes reflected sympathy, like he understood why a young Faunus like myself would be skittish around strangers, hell, I understood his reasoning, and I'm an amnesiac. That's kind of depressing actually, even though I could remember a sum total of nothing about my life I still knew that I and nearly every other Faunus had experienced racism and hatred at the hands of Humans.
I realized that he probably expected me to answer him. "I suppose so, Sir."
""None of that 'Sir' business. My name's Rusty, owner and manager of this fine establishment."
"I'd love to tell you my name, but I don't remember it, or anything else for that matter. Pyrrha's trying to help me remember my past."
Rusty's eyes narrowed. "Really, I don't think I've ever seen someone like you then, so what are you and Pyrrha doing here?"
It was Pyrrha who answered. "He's shown signs of previous combat training, so I was hoping if we sparred we might be able to jog a couple memories loose, and even if it doesn't work we can help him relearn how to fight."
Rusty seemed to be mulling it over. "Alright, I suppose it's worth a try at least, you can use the training ring. Good luck you two."
The training ring was about ten feet in diameter, and Pyrrha and I stood at opposite ends of the ring, our weapons were still holstered, Pyrrha's sword and shield were fastened to her back, and my guns were still in their holsters, taking the opportunity I took a look at Pyrrha's weapons with my Semblance, the shield was just a shield, but the sword could become a spear or a rifle, I would have to watch out for that.
"Alright you two, we're doing this tournament style: no fatal attacks, no hits below the belt, a combatant loses when his or her aura gets below twelve percent, or if he or she is knocked out of the ring, start on my mark." Rusty stood to the side of the ring as he barked out the rules of our spar. "Ready... fight."
My hands blurred as I drew Death and Duty in one motion and started firing at Pyrrha, who, far from being caught off guard had called her weapons to her hands with her Polarity. The shield seemed to slot into the grooves on her bracer, while her weapon, still in sword form was grasped in her free hand, before I'd even started shooting the Invincible Girl was moving, her raised shield caught several bullets as she dashed straight for me. I extended the blades on both guns and met her charge. I brought up Death's blade up to turn aside a sword slash and spun on one foot, returning the slash with Duty, Pyrrha's shield rang as it took the hit, I completed my spin and lashed out with my foot, Pyrrha's own booted foot struck behind her, our kicks clashed and rebounded, I retracted Death's blade and unloaded two shots at Pyrrha's back, only for the famed fighter to drop into a backwards roll, then spring up and elbow me in the face. I staggered back from the impact but I caught myself quickly and bent backward, allowing Pyrrha's blade to pass within a couple inches of my eyes, I fired a shot into her midsection that impacted off her aura.
As Pyrrha flinched from the hit I lurched forward from my backbend, ducking low I charged in a shallow leftward arc toward my opponent, who shifted her weapon into its spear mode. I stabbed forward with Duty, Pyrrha turned aside the thrust with her spear, I didn't resist, instead I used my momentum to elbow Pyrrha in the face, the blow caught her on the cheekbone and snapped her head back, though even dazed Pyrrha's instincts took over and she forced me back with a broad slash of her spear. I jumped back and away from Pyrrha's spear blade and retracted Duty's blade, then I started firing from both guns. Pyrrha recovered just in time to dive out of the way of my barrage, before she could get up I aimed Death and Duty at her prone form, the redhead curled her legs underneath herself and took cover behind her shield, over the edge of one of the shields two indents on the side of the shield, or what would technically be the top now, the barrel of a rifle poked out and it was my turn to dive out of the way of Pyrrha's return fire, as soon as I stopped shooting Pyrrha sprang to her feet.
I rolled out of the way of three more rifle shots, then I flipped back onto my feet and barely managed to avoid taking a full hit from Pyrrha's rifle, instead the bullet bounced off the aura on my right shoulder, I extended both blades and channeled my aura to my feet, crossing the short distance between us in an eyeblink. Pyrrha met my attack with sword and shield, our blades locked for a moment and we grinned at each other, the thrill of finding a worthwhile challenge was coursing through both of us, sweat coated us both and we were starting to breath harder. "I guess we don't have to worry about re-teaching me how to fight." I quipped.
"I guess not, but do you remember anything?"
"Just some fighting and aura control techniques."
"Then I guess we'll just keep going." Pyrrha's eyes were burning emerald with the excitement of someone finally faced with a challenge to their abilities.
We disengaged and stood there for a couple seconds, evaluating each other. Pyrrha really was incredible, I couldn't find a single weakness in her stance. I realized she hadn't used her Semblance yet, there was no way I was going to win this fight, magnetism was a game breaking power, especially since one of my arms was made of metal, I was only a little bit behind her in terms of actual skill, but that Semblance of hers blew my useful but non-threatening Semblance out of the water. "Azure, when you're in a situation where you cannot win, don't be afraid to run, you are no use to anyone dead." I froze, the voice that had spoken inside my head had definitely not been mine, it was older, deeper and harsher... I'd remembered something!
My distraction cost me a devastating hit to the side that knocked me off my feet and out of the ring.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha looked mortified with herself, trust her to apologize for hitting someone during a sparring match, I chuckled.
"I'm fine, it was my fault for getting distracted, though good news is your plan worked, I remembered something!"
Rusty decided to chip in. "That's great kid, though it would have been nice to tell us that before Pyrrha kicked you into next week. So what did you remember?"
"I remembered my first name." I felt like singing, or at least jumping up and shouting with joy, since I was pretty sure I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.
Pyrrha, however didn't let me bask in the moment, she was impatient. "Well? What is it?!"
From my spot on the floor of A Hunter's Paradise I sent a lopsided grin up at Pyrrha and Rusty. "Azure, my name is Azure."
(Author's note: I am very easily distracted. Anyway please read, review, and hopefully enjoy!)
