Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. I only own the storyline and my OC's. Written for my good friend Kyle.
Humanity is a despicable existence. So easy to control. So easy to break. They will turn on each other at a moments notice. They are vain creatures, for in their eyes everything else are made up of insignificant and inferior beings. They look upon each other with disdain, even more so with the faunus. Humans are truly despicable beings.
That's why I have every right to hate them. They took everything from me. They took my home. The took my family. They took my life, too, making me live in these disgusting allies. But in the end, there was one thing they couldn't take. They couldn't take who I am.
That's why I don't burn with hatred and the urge to kill and oppress them like they've done to us. It's because I still remember the one who was kind to me and offered me a home. I would like to say I accepted and grew up happy, living together with that person and having a good life. But I can't.
I have to say that was the lowest point in my life. My life had been destroyed and I had ran away from what was once my home, now a pile of wreckage. I was eight at the time. I ran for a long time, without a destination or a plan. I avoided contact with other people, resorted to stealing to stay alive. I have no idea how long I was like that, but I know I wasn't able to continue forever.
I collapsed in the street, weak and dying. I remember thinking to myself, why don't any of these people notice me? Am I really so insignificant that you would just walk by as I'm dying?
My heart died right there. Broken, I dragged myself into the shadows of an ally and laid against the wall and waited for my body to finally fail for good. I have no doubt that I would have, too, if it weren't for her.
Red was the first person in what felt like forever who showed me kindness. She was walking with her uncle, a man with stubble on his chin and black hair as messy as a mop on his head. She noticed my unconscious body and pointed it out to her uncle. I was told later that she begged him with tears in her eyes, but Red denied it with fire.
When I came to, I was lying in a bed in an unknown house, a plate of food and a glass of water sitting just out of reach on the bedside table. I tried to grab it, but my body was too weak and I let my arm fall limp onto the mattress.
"You're awake." A voice said from the doorway. I turned my head to see a tall man in white shirt and black jeans. A torn up red cape hung from shoulders, fluttering occasionally from a breeze coming through the open window. "Good to know we didn't pick you off the street for nothing."
A fleeting thought of climbing out the window and making a run for it flashed through my head, but I soon gave up with that thought since it was beyond my capabilities to grab the food. "Why... am I..." I tried to ask, but I was silenced by a cup of water. It was then I came to meet the second half of the "we".
The little girl wore a small, miniature cape like the man's along with equally red shorts and a black shirt. I didn't notice her originally because she was so small, the top of her head a couple of inches down from the top of the bed. She had gotten up onto a stool to give me water, pushing the cup up into my face. I tried to sit up and take it but my arms refused to support my meager weight. The man in the doorway came over and helped sit me up and put the water glass to my lips, allowing me to drink my fill before he put the glass back on the table.
My throat now wet, I tried to use my voice again. "Why are you... Helping me?" I asked the man. It hurt to speak.
"You shouldn't ask me. It was my niece here who saw you." The man said, pointing to the little girl. "I wouldn't have found you if it weren't for her."
I turned to look at the little girl. Two small hands gripped the edge of the bed to support her tiny frame to a point that she could see him. She still stood on the stool but had her hood up, so all I could really see were her silver eyes. Those silver eyes stared curiously out of her hood at me, or rather, my ears.
"Why?" I asked weakly. My stomach growled and I doubled over in pain. The next thing I knew those tiny hands of hers were pushing a plate of eggs as far as she could onto the bed. I still remember the taste eleven years later. They tasted like trash, but it was the best trash I ever tasted.
I had carefully picked up one of the pieces and put it into my mouth, tears streaming down my face in what felt like forever. "Why?" I asked again. "Why do you people help me?"
"Because you needed help." The girl said brightly. She removed her hood, revealing her black hair with red tips and pale skin. "When I grow up, I want to be a huntress and help lots of people!" I couldn't see any signs of doubt or deceit in her eyes. Even when I was young I knew she was different from those I met so far. And it frightened me.
I ate my food and they left, little Red's uncle ushering her out and claiming I needed rest. And that was the last I saw of the little girl I owe my life to.
I slept most of the day with one eye open, not fully sure if I should trust these humans. I wanted to believe them, I even believed what little Red told me. But that didn't stop me from running. After the others in the house fell asleep, I took the pillow case off of its pillow and snuck into the kitchen and filled it with food and bottles of water. I left a note on the table. All it said was sorry. I then slipped out the window in the room they gave me, making sure to close it behind me before I disappeared into the night.
It's been eleven years since my encounter with little Red, and a lot has changed. I've cut down on the stealing and I don't openly oppose humans anymore. I've grouped together with others who've found themselves stuck on the streets and left with nothing like me. We've all been attending combat school for different reasons. Some want to fight. Others come for the food. A few go to use the showers. All together there's eight of us who live on the street and go to combat school, close friends in our own right. Some of us even live together. They ended up finding a rotting old building and we all turned it into our home base, a meeting ground where we come when we want company. Some smart mouth in our group called it the trash house and the name stuck, mainly because we all liked the name. And just like it name implies, it is always trashed.
I'm not one of the three residents of the trash house, but you can find me rather easily. I spend a lot of time on the rooftop. Most people rarely look up, so I have a personal highway all over Vale. It's also a convenient way to keep what little things I have hidden and out of reach. Nobody noticed when I built my own camp up here, complete with tent and storage! I just have to remember to hide them when the sun comes up.
I know what you're all thinking. Oh, poor guy. He's homeless. And the rest of you are like, ayeeee, assassino! Do you have hidden blades? To answer your question, I have never actually played assassins creed (I live on the roof and rely on school and dumpster diving for food, what part of this looks like I have money?) but I do have hidden blades, just not those kind. As you know, everyone in combat school has their own weapons. Mine are light metal bracers that cover half my forearms and my hands, save the fingers. I have a dagger strapped to the bottom of each one out of sight to everyone.
Before I go on, I should probably tell you what I look like. Give you a face with my voice. My name is Kyle, last name long forgot. I stand five foot six, I have dark grey hair and grey wolf ears. I have dark blue eyes and I'm barely more than a skeleton due to lack of proper food. Okay, good? Then enough about me. Let me give a brief introduction to my group.
First we have Lucas, one of the two humans in our group. He and his sister ran from home for there own reasons, we never pried too hard. He's average size, just a bit bigger than me. He's devoted to looking out for his sister, maybe a bit overprotective at times. Otherwise he's perfectly friendly. They live in the trash house.
His sister Sarah is an outgoing person. She is also one of only one of us who knows proper first aid. Her unusual purple eyes give her an exotic look. She stands at five foot two, but looks can be deceiving. One time a guy grabbed her ass and she pretty much put him through a wall.
The final resident of the trash house is Lucas's girlfriend Nix. She's a cat faunus, and a pretty one at that. She has raven hair and light brown eyes, plus a tall slender figure. We gave her the nickname shadow walker since she has this unnerving ability to simply disappear into the darkness. Don't let that make you think she rely's on stealth though. In combat practice she is a blur of dark leather armor and daggers. Served my ass good, she did.
Next comes the uncatchable partners in crime, Kaze and Brian. These two are some of the finest thieves you can come by. They excel at everything from a simple pickpocket to shoplifting enough to feed all of us. Their the oldest ones among us, they also attend Beacon so we rarely see them. Then again, we know their still there because we will occasionally find extra lien in our pockets. They seem to especially like doing this to ever attentive Nix, who it bugs beyond no end because she doesn't notice them. I guess you just don't mess with ferret faunus.
Then we come to our rule stickler, Connor. The guy should be dead by all honesty, since he refuses to break the law. We cut a deal with him a while back. We swipe parts for him so he can continue to tinker with our weapons (when we're not hiding them from him. Who knew there was something as too creative) and he'd eat the food we bring him. Kind of a lopsided deal if you ask me, but I can't argue with it. He's so good when we found him he was making things out of bits of metal he'd find and selling them for a profit. We still don't understand why he's homeless, but we look after him since he's one of our own.
and lastly we have Bruce. Kid's never been quite the same since we snuck into a movie theater to watch batman. Being the youngest, you'd expect it to be our responsibility to look after him. Instead, I wake up in the middle of the night to find him beating up a guy for robbing a convenient store across the street. Still haven't gotten around to asking Connor to stop supplying him with batarangs. It's still kind of funny to see your low level crook getting beaten up by a fourteen year old batman.
And there you have it. Our dysfunctional gang of homeless people carrying around weapons. We're unseen and not cared about, but we're used to it. So yes, humans took a lot from me. But one gave me a life nobody else has. This school year, half of us are going to apply for beacon academy. Nix, for her future career. Sarah, to train her aura. Lucas will follow his sister anywhere she goes. And me. In a few more years, she will be old enough to become a huntress. And I will be waiting with an apology for running away, and to thank her for all she's done to me.
See you soon, little Red.
Hey guys, it's the author. Just an intro to start with today. Hope you guys stick around for the story, I have a lot planned for the times to come. Change of plans. Combining chps 1 and 2 because it makes more sense.
The four of us passed our entrance exams with flying colors, our future in beacon secured by the time we left school. It's not like we had anything at home to do anyway, so studying was easy. The six of us are currently sitting in the trash house, stolen soda sitting on the table as we celebrate our departure for the next day. We made sure not to tell Connor the soda was stolen.
All in all, the party wasn't bad. Kaze and Brian dropped by earlier but left early, claiming they had an eventful night planned before they returned to beacon. And here is where our story begins.
I sat on a torn up old cushion and watched Nix and Sarah play a rather heated match of chess, me and Lucas each having wagered our unopened soda on the winner.
"Ooh, nice move." Nix complimented as Sarah took her rook with one of her bishops, putting her in check. "To bad this game is mine." Nix brought her king over a space, clearing a clean line of sight from her queen to Sarah's King, still in the back row. Sarah didn't have any pieces to block, so she lost the game and I lost my soda.
"And thank ye, moon." Lucas said, downing my drink in a few seconds.
"Eh, a bet's a bet. No reason not to pay." I said, grabbing another drink. "The last Pepsi is yours. At least, until you learn I put laxatives in it."
Lucas spit out his drink, covering Connor's hair in soda. "What? It was unopened, how did you...?" Multiple people laughed at his incredulous expression.
"I lied." I told him, a very wolffish grin plastered to my face as I took a sip from my own soda. "But at least I was right about you losing the last of the Pepsi."
Lucas checked his soda can. Sure enough, it was empty. He sighed in defeat and tossed it into a stolen garbage can in the corner. "Even when you lose you win, huh? Is that even fair?"
"Wasn't supposed to be fair." Nix told him, taking a seat next to him on the half demolished couch. "It was funny." She giggled as Lucas's face started to go red in embarrassment. Sarah imitated him, pretending to projectile vomit on the table. Bruce passed Connor a towel with his monkey tail. Connor thanked him, drying off his white rabbit ears with it. Lucas's rifle laid disassembled on the table in front of him along with multiple odd tools and some dust.
"At least you didn't get it in the parts." Connor told Lucas.
"I'll make it up to you with some more parts when I get to beacon." Lucas said. "Or I could convince Kaze to steal some carrot cake."
"No stolen goods." Connor told him, taking a sip of his stolen soda. "However, I could use a new dust dispenser for my weapon. The one I have looks like we dug it out of a garage can."
We laughed. "We did dig it out of a garbage can." I reminded him.
"Exactly." He replied. His hands were a blur as he reassembled the rifle, handing it back to the owner. "Here's your gun. It's now equipped with a quick release for faster reload speed and I readjusted the firing mechanism. It won't shoot as fast as before, but it should be a bit more accurate with the barrel mod." He then turned to me and extended his hand. "I'll be doing yours next Kyle. Hand them over."
I hesitated, putting my left hand on my right bracer. I had grown used to the feel of the worn leather on my palm that kept the plate of metal on the back of my hand attached. I guess in a way their kind of like a gauntlet since it's built like a sleeve. "Why don't you do Nix next?" I suggested.
"Because I already modified her daggers." Connor replied. "Come on, let me see them. You never let me tinker with them and I'm dying to see what they do!"
"You should give up." Bruce said. He removed his bracers and put them on the table, swearing when the sharp blades sprung out the back and nearly cut him. "You haven't seen him fight yet. Putting any sort of special effect on those would just hinder him."
"What do you mean by that?" Connor asked, reaching for the bracers and taking them apart. "Yup, the springs are broken give me a minute and it will be fixed." He tinkered for a minute and replaced the broken parts. "So anyway, back to what I was saying. Let me see your gear. If not modify it, repair it."
I sighed, knowing I wasn't getting out of this. I reached into the space between my bracers and my arms and in one quick motion drew my twin seven inch single edged tantÅ knives, spun them as I raised my hands high into the air, and buried their tips into the table. The action took just over a second to complete, causing Connor to jump back in surprise. "As you can see, they don't need any work." The different colored handles waved in the air as the daggers swayed slightly.
Connor tenderly grabbed one of the daggers and pulled it out, examining the blade with an expert eye. "Where did you get this?" He asked, bouncing the weapon in his hand to test its weight.
"My parents dead bodies." I replied, the room suddenly falling silent. None of us really talked about the past, always taking the here and now as the most important time. Your past didn't feed you, after all. So this was the first any of them heard of my past. I snatched the weapon out of the air before it could fall back into Connor's hand and pulled the other one out of the table. "The red one was my mothers. The blue one was my fathers. Neither one has been, or will be, used since their deaths. Not unless their used on my true enemies, just like they taught me."
The room was quite, no one asking who his true enemy was. Finally Bruce spoke up. "Where did the gauntlets come from?"
"Not from any bodies, I can assure you that." I said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. "I made these myself. And before you ask, they do nothing Connor. Their just armor."
"Overly simple for this day and age." Lucas commented. He had grabbed another soda, making sure to have Nix smell check it for laxatives before drinking.
"True." I admitted. "But I generally don't want to kill my opponent. I reserve my knives for the Grimm." I noted a sigh of relief come from several of the people in the room and laughed. "What? You thought I was out for vengeance or something? Come on guys, I couldn't hurt a fly."
"What about those guys who openly oppose us?" Sarah asked, an amused glimmer in her eye. "You know, the guys who dressed like dog catchers and tried to attack us? The ones you
put in the hospital?"
"Hey! Those guys struck first, I was defending my family." I defended, causing a laugh to rise in the group.
"I don't think the doctors would agree." Sarah said. "Besides, you looked like you enjoyed yourself."
"Did not." I lied. The truth was I enjoyed it immensely, serving back their offense against us ten fold. I may or may not have stolen their shoes too. What? I only said I cut down on stealing, not stopped completely.
"And I like sea food." Nix said in a mock believing tone.
"Wait, you don't like sea food?" Bruce said. Nix nodded. "But you're a cat! How could you not like sea food?"
Nix shrugged. "I just never liked fish. That's it." The conversation drifted to everyone's preferred food before they it somehow switched to how Grimm would taste. I made a mental note to not eat anything these guys cook for me.
I yawned and checked my watch, realizing with a start that it was getting rather late. I excused myself from the party and left, claiming I had to get some sleep before we left for beacon. I took a deep breath, enjoying the brisk night air before ascended to the roof tops. I felt the pleasing sensation of the muscles in my hands and forearms flexed and strained. They grew more hairy, a coat of dark grey fur growing in a few seconds on my skin. My muscles bulged, my palms growing more rugged and firm. My finger nails extended and became more pointed, becoming sharp enough to pierce the metal bulkhead of an airship.
I crouched low and jumped as high as I could before digging my claws between the bricks and launching myself higher into the air, catching the ledge and pulling myself up. My hands quickly reverted to their normal state, the dull hunger in my stomach sharpening from using my semblance. It was an unfortunate side affect of using my semblance, causing me to burn through my calories at an alarming rate. Since I can only count on one meal a day I rarely use it, but I'm expecting three good meals from here on out. An upside, I'll never gain weight!
I made my way through the city to the docks where the airships would be arriving come morning, snagging an apple on the way to dull the blade of hunger in my stomach. After picking a spot where I was sure that the whine of the engines of the airships would wake me I set up camp and fell asleep, dreaming of curling up under a thick red cover.
I woke up shortly after eight to the low whine of the first airship, quickly jumping into a scramble to pack up and hide my stuff into my bag before they spotted me. I quickly sent a message to Lucas to wake the others before I slung my bag over my shoulder and descended to the ground in a nearby alleyway and made my way to the landing zone. The others joined me twenty minutes later with Bruce in tow.
"Where's Connor?" I asked, noticing the snow hare's absence.
"I don't know. He left shortly after you." Lucas said. He had his deep blue rifle Tiger's Eye slung over his shoulder and a hand on the strap. It was currently in its sniper form.
Next to him stood Nix in full combat attire of black leather vest and pants, three knives on each shoulder, two on each side behind her, three rows of four throwing daggers on each side of her front, and a set of five throwing knives on each leg. How she remembered what each set of knives did always escaped me, but she was down right impressive in a fight.
In contrast, Sarah looked as harmless as a new born in her school uniform as she skipped along in front of the couple. She handed me a bag of cookies with a smile before going to a random air ship and disappearing into the crowd. Lucas chased after her. Nix and I followed, me tracking Sarah's scent (or more accurately trying to, it was hard with the large crowd.) and eventually guessed my way onto the right ship. Twenty minutes later the last call summoned the last stragglers and we took to the air. Turns out, Lucas got onto the wrong ship. We found this out when we passed one of the other two ships and we saw him pressed against the glass. We made sure to make faces at him when he noticed us before disappearing into the mass of people on the ship with us. He call us a few minutes later but the call was quickly ended when someone emptied the contents of their stomach onto his scroll.
The girls disappeared halfway through the trip to the bathroom and left me by the holographic television or whatever it was. I'm sure Connor could tell me just what it was but I wasn't up to the half hour lecture that always followed. An image of some kind of outlaw came on screen, the board he was holding labeled him as Roman Torchwick. I personally thought he looked pretty good but I wouldn't trust him more than I would trust a ferret.
The news channel was cut off as a hologram of a human woman appeared. I didn't hear what she said since the girls came out of the bathroom at that moment and some guy in metal armor tried to grab Sarah's butt. She didn't send him through a wall this time, but she did leave quite the fist imprint on his breastplate and cracked the window with his body. I let out a low whistle, impressed that the guy was even conscious after that hit. I almost felt bad for the guy, but I felt that he deserved it for even trying.
Our airship landed second after Lucas's. I accompanied the girls part of the way until I smelled the foul odor of vomit and made up some excuse of needing to use the bathroom and took off towards the school at a hurried pace. I was almost to the door when an explosion went off behind me, causing me to turn around to see a small mushroom cloud in the middle of the courtyard. Oh, such glorious destruction. And I'm not caught in it again, yay!
"Looks like I don't need to be with Connor to blow up anymore." I said to myself, laughing at the thought. I wandered into the crowd of other inmates or (students as society calls them), lost my wallet, then realized I don't have a wallet.
I eventually got back together with the trash house family and received another bag of cookies. I could tell they were homemade, but when I asked when she got access to an oven to make them she just brushed it off. "Is our princess joining the ranks of us criminals now?" I teased. I was silenced when miss overly friendly gave me a cold death glare. I had to remember, is she really the kindest of all of us?
"Don't insult me, peasant." Sarah said, raising her chin to look down on me. "I earned my royalty amongst thieves with as much of the art of shadows as you."
"In other words, you were too damn adorable for us not to spoil you." I said nonchalantly.
"Pretty much." She said brightly, a childish grin spreading on her face. We went quite as Ozpin took to the stage, called us wasted potential, and something something something. I stopped paying attention when I noticed something entertaining happening with a blonde beauty, a white haired rich looking girl, and what seemed like a dark haired girl. I could only see the top of her hair, but by the sound of her voice I could tell she was a girl. What was so amusing about the situation? The small girl had no idea that the white haired girl was behind her, giving off the aura of a predator about to kill its prey. I could almost hear the sound of the jaws theme song playing.
Sure enough, when the girl made her presence known the little girl jumped into her sisters arms. It was then my blood went cold and my body froze. "Th-that hood..." I stuttered. It couldn't be. I still had a few years to grow into something worth being proud of, something worth saving. Why did she have to show up when I'm still a thieving street rat? If I meet her now, my carefully thought out plan would be ruined! Plus, I may have fleas.
"hellooooo- remnant to Kyle. Are you okay in there? We can't read your vitals on the monitor anymore." I was brought back to the real world by Lucas waving a hand in front of my face. I shook my head vigorously and stumbled forward and breaking my trance. "Thank Oum, he's broken out of the stone! Come on you furry lump, dinners starting."
"Wh-what? Where is everyone?" I asked dumbly, suddenly finding myself in a much emptier room than I remembered.
"At dinner, you moron. Let's go, I'm starving." I followed Lucas into the cafeteria, letting him guide me through the line and to the table where the girls were. They where digging in to their meals like savage wolves. I found this ironic because I was the only wolf out of the four of us and I was to busy picking at my food to eat it.
Sarah was the first to notice that I hadn't eaten anything. "Bro, I think the puppy's sick." She told Lucas, bringing his attention to me.
The thought of snapping back with not being a puppy crossed my mind for a second, but I couldn't get the my mouth to work. I glanced in the direction of little red, still so small and young. I started to wonder if she was actually my age and if I screwed up my planning.
Lucas followed my gaze and a wicked grin growing on his face. "Eh, the big bad wolf likes little red riding hood huh? Or are you more of a pedobear?"
"I'm not a pedaphile!" I snapped back, my fire coming back to me.
"Hey,hey,hey, calm down bud. Your fur is showing." Lucas said defensively, sidling a few inches away from his friend who had shot up almost three inches in just a few seconds. My body shrank back to its normal proportions.
I grunted and turned back to my food, eating it with vigor for once. "It's not like I like her, I don't even know her." A half said, half growled. "I just owe her a large debt and have nothing to show for it."
"Oh? How much?" Nix asked. Her face was that of a con artist figuring out how much to extort from a victim.
"Over a decade's worth of living and breathing." I responded, shutting her up. I sighed, knowing that they will get the wrong idea or something down the road. "When I was but a boy, I lost my home. There's nothing special about this though, we all lost that. But my case I burned out from running and collapsed. I would have died in the street if it weren't for a little girl in a red hood. She took me home and cared for me, bringing me back to life. Her uncle said I was free to stay as long as I wanted and little red was eager over that too. But in the end I betrayed them, running from their kindness like a brat. I got up in the middle of the night when they were asleep and raided their food, disappearing into the night without so much as a thank you."
"So you think you owe that girl a debt." Nix summarized. "Come on man. You're Kyle, part of our group of merry men. You don't owe anyone nothing."
"If someone took you in, saved your life, and offered you a new one, would you take it?" I asked her. She paused, trying to decide to stick with her guns or admit he was right. "Not just anyone would do that. Especially not a human for a faunus. So yeah, I owe her." I turned back to my food before mumbling quietly. "I just wanted to be something before I had to confront her again."
"Kyle, you are something." Lucas said. "You might not believe it yourself, but look around you. It takes something special to get into beacon. It also takes being different to not only survive our life style, but thrive. And what about your fighting style, your semblance? Your not normal, not by a long shot. If you're not something already, then you never will be."
I didn't want to admit it, but Lucas was right. I've already set myself apart from the masses just by being here. There was no reason to still see myself on the level of a poor kid crawling in the dirt. Wait, am I being tricked into feeling good about myself?
My thought process was interrupted as a random cooked chicken came flying out of nowhere. I moved out of instinct, swatting the bird out of the air faster than the eye could track. The chicken changed directions ninety degrees and flew down the table, taking out a lot of people's drinks in the process. My eyes locked onto the one who sent the chicken flying, a rather energetic girl in pink who couldn't have been on fire if you just added a little more energy. A guy in green seemed to be trying to keep her in check, but by how little his efforts seemed to work he could probably use some help. As long as it's not me, that is.
"Well, this looks like it's going to be an interesting year." Sarah said, examining the destruction.
"Eh. What else would we expect?" I replied, returning to my meal. "You arm teenagers with deadly weapons and dust, train them to kill, and release them on the world. What could possibly go wrong?"
The answer? Everything.
Hey guys, it's the author. Well, that was fun. We saw some interesting events in this one. We got a peek at Kyle's semblance for starters. We also got a view of little Red herself. Oh, I'm dying to get to the next part and reveal more. But I'm willing to bet that it won't be for a while that you will get the full picture. Here, I'll give you a hint. How many of you know of Fenris Wolf?
Until next time, see you in the emerald forest!