Trial by Fire
In a world so cold, is it wrong to wish for the warmth of family and precious loved ones? I thought not. If all your family is gone, what do you feel? Do you still wish for warmth? If you do, then you are more of a man than I. instead of turning towards a friend or a comrade, I walked alone. The Kid-Soldier that disappeared. I wanted nothing more than to be alone. People covet this thing called dust. People use it for their special abilities and fighting styles. I have a lot that I simply do not use. Why use something that I do not need? Someone found out I had a lot. Especially of a special Black Dust. They came, they didn't leave. My name, is Digitalis Rose. They call me The Forlorn. This is where my story begins.
"Rumor is that a God guards this Black Dust. You think it's true?" a bull Faunus asked a Goat Faunus. They were both wearing similar outfits. Black full body under armor, white chest plate, grey face mask, and carrying a gun. The only difference it seemed that the only difference is the style in their horns. They turned around startled as a new figure seemed to melt out of the ship they came in. he was wearing a bowl hat. White suit, orange hair, and a cane at his side. His voice bordered on cocky and arrogant.
"It doesn't matter. It's said that this 'God' is a Faunus. If it is, then the only issue we have is trying to get him on our side." I scoffed as I heard them say this they seemed to have heard me but not seen me. I don't blame them. I was wearing all black and had even my Zanbato covered. They looked around for the sound of my voice and I had to roll my eyes. I was practically right in front of them.
"What exactly do you want on this mountain? I may be inclined to help if I knew your reasoning as well." I said in a low monotone voice. They looked visibly shaken. The man with the cane began to speak and he was as respectful as he could be.
"We are here to collect a few rare dust crystals. We plan to use them to obtain Faunus rights among the humans. We would also like to ask for you for your assistance." He began as respectfully as he could and ended with a bow. The two with him did the same.
"You are no Faunus. Why should I help someone who lies to his comrades? The only thing that I hate more than liars and the white fang, is betrayers." They stiffened at the mention of the White Fang. "So it seems that you are members of the white fang. That despicable group took everything from me. Allow me to show you what I mean." I walked out of the shadow and showed them my masked face. I took it off and showed them the brutal scars on my face. The entire left side of my face was covered in scars. My left eye wasn't even usable. The lid just stayed closed naturally. My eyes were originally a deep purple color. Reminiscent of my late sister. Now they were a startling shade of yellow, almost amber color. My once red and blonde hair was down to my shoulders. My black hair was down to my thighs in a spiky fashion. In my hair were two long wolf ears. Tipped with purple fur. I wasn't overly muscular, but I wasn't malnourished in the slightest. Under my black ankle length cloak I wore a simple armor. A long sleeve black shirt tucked into my pants. Combat boots with steel toes, and my actual armor was a deep metallic black. An entire torso piece that turned into plates of armor as they passed my waist. Shoulder armor that went from mid forearm to three inches above my shoulders. All plate like armor. Same with my thighs. The outside of them was the same plate like armor that wrapped all the way around the outside of my thighs. My mask was a Japanese porcelain depiction of the Great Ookami no Kasai. The wolf of fire. Out of my tailbone came nine long black tails, tipped with the same deep purple as my ears. On my back, held on by a simple dust technique, was a six foot long Zanbato type sword. A two foot wide, five and a half foot long blade, with sharp serrations along the back of the semi curved blade. A large hole was cut into the blade, big enough for a head to fit through, and cut it off. The blade was famous for cutting people's heads off. The Executioner's Blade. Only one person ever used that sword. The legendary child soldier. The original Rose prodigy. Digitalis the Forlorn. The gears began to turn in the cocky man's head. He began thinking of a plan, which was obvious. I didn't expect what he said though.
"Wait! You are Digitalis, the Forlorn, right? Went AWOL after the White Fang killed your sisters right? What if I told you your sisters were alive? I have proof right here in my pocket." He began to reach into his pocket and pulled out a Scroll. A digital device used to record things, call people, and many other functions. He began to play a video of a young girl with an overly large scythe, a red ensemble and rose petals adorning her figure as she took out a large nevermore. Behind here were three girls on pillars. One with blonde hair, purple eyes, and mildly revealing clothes. Another who was obviously a Faunus, wearing a white shirt vest and shorts, with a Ninjato strapped to her back. The last was a white haired girl in a white and red battle dress with a rapier attached to her waist. She had the Schnee family crest on her back. The blond and the scythe girl were the ones with my attention though. They were the spitting image of what my sisters would have looked like.
"They are going to Beacon Academy. The young one is Ruby rose. The blonde is Yang Xiao Long. I assume they are the ones you have been looking for?" he said hopefully. I looked at him with a single burning amber eye, and spoke something that will forever haunt him.
"For your sake, they better be the real deal. Or I will find you, and your head will be the next casualty of my sword." I turned around and began to walk away. "The item you seek doesn't exist. It is the only reason I came to this mountain. To find it and fix everything." I said as I vanished. In truth it did exist, there was an abundance of it. But I Hate the White Fang. The experiments, the fights, the torture. They took everything from me. Or so I thought.
I made my way back to my camp, to begin packing up. I don't need to dawdle on my way. An extremely efficient method to moving I found was to use a special transponder that when activated sealed an infinite amount of anything into it. Quite the nifty little device. Was no bigger than my hand, and was simple enough to activate. Press a button and you had it. I used one such device now to seal all of the Dust in the area. My camp was simple, millions of pounds of dust, a small log to sleep on, and me. That's it.
For the first time in three years, I left the exile I put myself in. destination, Beacon Academy.
***Some time later***
Boarding the bullhead was easy, well, as easy as it is when you're a missing War Hero. My mask firmly attached to my face to distort my voice, and my cloak's hood over my head. I looked as menacing as I did when I was in the war. Nobody came near me and that was fine with me. Three hours of flying in this bulkhead and I was tired of it. Luckily we arrived at the entrance to the academy in a few minutes of my impatience. Stepping off of the bullhead was a challenging endeavor. Simply for the fact it was as Saturday and classes weren't in session. Everybody was going to or from their destination, or relaxing, and some even sparring, in the yard. Everything halted as soon as I stepped off. The Aura I put off was a different Aura then they knew no doubt. It was times like this I was glad for my mask. It hides my face, intimidates people, and does a very good job of keeping the fangirls away. I hate those vile creatures. I'd rather face a pack of rabid ElderWolves. At least they kill you more humanly. I walked into the court yard and was stopped by a group of four, cocky young individuals.
"You. I demand to know your reason for coming to this lustrous school unannounced and so suspiciously. If your reasoning is not satisfactory, then I will have to detain you." He pulled out a mace and I took the moment to observe him. He was six foot two, had on modified armor from the War, and had a light brown hair color. His mace was anything but special. The other three were nothing more than twigs. Skinny wannabe punk twigs. Didn't even have their weapons on them. I rolled my eyes and spoke for the first time since I left my camp in the mountains.
"I am here to see the headmaster of this Academy. He has information I need. Should you get in my way you will understand why I am the most feared Hunter to ever come out of the war." I said in my monotone voice. But with my mask, it was more like a guttural, demonic voice, coming from the mask. He shivered a little bit and I took some pleasure in that. He raised his mace and charged me. I sidestepped instantly and brought my knee up to connect with his torso immediately dropping him to the ground afterwards. "Know your opponent before charging in wildly, if you were on the field, many would have gutted you where you now lay. Take my advice to heart; you do not have the ability to face me. As you are, it would take a simple swing and you would be added to my list. Remember the name Digitalis." I said lowly as steam came out of the mouth of my mask. The jaw started working on the mask again now that said that. The mask had a jaw that was attached to the outside to move when I spoke. The sound it made was like metal grinding on metal. My right eye began to glow through the mask and it gave an ethereal glow to it. He slumped into unconsciousness soon after. Looking at him, I shook my head. That was pathetic. Starting to walk away, a Huntress came to the front gate, one that I knew briefly. Glynda Goodwitch. The star female of my graduating year. Granted I was at least half her age, but hey, I was the original prodigy. She looked at the boy behind me and them at me. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw me. She backed up and told everyone to get to their dorms. She motioned for me to follow her and I did. Through the school and up stairs. We ended the walk arriving at a door with moving time gears in it. She was about to knock but I pushed passed her and opened the door. Sitting there in the headmaster's chair, was Ozpin. He was my commander during the war. From the look on his face, he didn't know I was alive.
"D-d-di-gi-tal-is…you're alive….?" He questioned, stuttering the entire way. I walked up to him and slammed my hands on his desk hard enough to leave imprints.
"I was told by an untrustworthy person, some very valuable information. Why do I believe the man you might ask? Because he told me to save his own skin. He knew who I was and told me something that quite shocked me. My sisters, are alive? Now, pray tell why wasn't I or anyone notified immediately?" I growled out. My composure being thrown out the window as soon as the words were said. My Aura began to pulse and become visible. A black haze began to cover the floor. He sighed and I saw a tear run down his face. He pulled a file from his coat and I took it immediately. Almost out of habit than anything. I opened it and saw a picture of what I used to look like. Over everything was a large black stamp with the letters spelling something I didn't believe.
Digitalis Rose Deceased
The file was almost destroyed, the papers in it, covered in tear marks, and all was wrinkled, as if it had been read thoroughly every night.
"So that's why. You all thought I was dead." I said in a monotone voice. It was entirely believable. The casualty rate in a war is never pretty, and most bodies never found. Grim usually got their hands on them. "You cried over my death, didn't you?" I asked in a softer voice. He nodded as if he was about to cry more.
"I tried everything I could to find you. I spent three months looking for you. But at the end I had no choice but to give up. Your family needed to know. Your Uncle was heartbroken, and your sisters, they were so innocent. First your parents, and then you. They broke. Ruby was just starting combat school and Yang was a few years in already. Yang became obsessed with training, and ruby became obsessed with making weapons. Your Uncle Qrow and I, we tried to do what we could to help them but, it didn't work. They excelled that's not a doubt, but Ruby just entered my school and she is only a year younger than you. At fifteen she entered this school. She aims to be stronger than you so she could avenge you. She won't say it to anybody, but you can see it in her eyes. To this day, she hurts over your death." By then he was openly weeping. My right eye was watering and widened in disbelief. They just, broke…
"Tell me where they are right now. I don't give a damn about what they are doing, I will go to them. My sisters….they are all I have left. I thought they were gone. Those bastards told me they killed them. Only two members ever cared and they wept for me, because they knew they meant the world to me. Through the pain, the torture, the experiments, I was hoping they were wrong. That my sisters were still alive. They brought me a red cloak and a lock of yellow hair and I lost it. I killed them all. Every one of those bastards. But what do I find, that the ones I killed, weren't even a tenth, of the entire force they have. The white fang took everything from me." You could tell I was crying. It wasn't hard. Ozpin looked appalled at what he heard.
"Digitalis, take off your mask, please." He said in a choked voice. I did as I was asked and took it off. My hood came with it and my wolf ears were shown to the world. My one eye glowing slightly with tears, and my scars trailing deeply down my face. He looked shocked at the change and cried harder. My tails came out from behind me and began waving lazily through the air around me.
"What did they do to you?!" Ozpin all but yelled. I told him everything. They wanted a super soldier. A way to turn humans into Faunus. They wanted Revenge.
I put my mask back on and calmed myself. "Where are my sisters?" he began pulling up location feeds and found them in my old training ground. They were doing physical training with another girl while another stood by and was rather bossy and snobby. The black haired girl caught my attention as she began to argue with the white haired girl. The symbol on her back was the same one on the girl who helped me keep my sanity with the White Fang. The other was a red rose over a white symbol. Blake Belladonna and Adam Taurus. She stormed off after her argument with the white haired girl, and I walked out of the room, to find her. Ozpin was aware that I was alive, and soon I would see my sisters. But first a certain cat needed help. I walked down the hallways planning to head her off when I heard a sort of commotion. It was loud yelling. Not anything I wasn't used to, but it was against Faunus. I peeked around a corner and hoped I was wrong. Blake was getting beaten on by the group of boys that I thrashed earlier. She refused to fight back and it got really bad. She had several slashes and puncture marks on her person. Her clothes were ripped to shreds and barely covering her modesty and yet she still refused to retaliate.
I had enough as soon as I heard someone mention rape. I walked slowly towards them, not making a single sound. I was right behind them and they still didn't know it. I started to growl deep in my throat. But, with my voice distortion on my mask, it sounded like a demon growling. They were in the process of taking her clothes off when they froze. They turned slowly towards me and nearly fainted. My Aura was visible as a black miasma steaming off me. My hands were balled so tight that they were as white as bone. They ran like a bat out of hell.
"I will find you, and when I do, you will realize just how much of a monster I still am." I said in a cold voice. It echoed down the halls and through the school. I turned back to Blake and realized her shirt was open and she was still conscious but unable to move. I growled again and she looked at me like I was evil.
"Are you gonna try something like that now too? Are you gonna throw a punch at a defenseless Faunus?" I growled again and began to take off my cloak. I spoke to her before I covered her with it.
"You helped me keep my sanity, you and the bull. Even when you thought I was dead, you said you would find my sisters, and see they found peace. It is my turn now, to help you." I said as her eyes widened. I covered her with my cloak and wrapped my tails around her as I carried her to keep her warm. I carried her to her dorm room where I heard a loud commotion and a metallic grinding sound. I opened the door and saw a pretty sight. My younger sister, with her scythe at the white haired girl's neck.
"I am a very kind person until you speak badly about my brother. Then I will kill you without hesitation. I could live with the fact that you hate traitors. In fact so do I. But my brother is not a traitor. He died in the war as a hero. I will be damned if I let you tarnish his name. Blake didn't deserve the lashing you gave her, nor did I deserve the comments about my ability to lead. And I definitely didn't deserve to have my brother bad mouthed by some princess whose worst trouble is the fact that her daddy doesn't love her." She said in a quiet, cold voice. I made my presence known then.
"An inspirational speech. However I am in need of assistance, little Rosebud." She stiffened at the nickname and slowly turned to me. Her eyes widened to unimaginable levels. Even the white haired girl looked at me in horror.
"Brother, how are…..how are you alive? Ozpin told me you were gone. Even Blake told me." She said in disbelief.
I walked Blake over to her bed and began to pull her sheets up as I took my cloak, only to keep her modesty. I began to put my cloak on and explain everything to my little sister.
"I was never killed in The Last Battle. I was taken by the White fang. I was experimented on and tortured for years. Blake and one other are the only reason I am still sane. The white fang wanted to create a super soldier. They were just beginning the revolt back then and needed a test subject. I was a known Faunus lover considering my girlfriend was one, my entire unit was one, and I often spared innocent Faunus. They got me while I was down and took me. Two years later after some of the worst torture any one could go through, a little girl and an older boy came into my cell to hide. I looked at the two and saw fear of whatever was chasing them a man entered and claimed he was gonna rape the girl and kill the boy because they were not strong enough. No one realized what room they were in." I took a breath and wet my lips to continue. By that time Ruby had tears coming out of her eyes and Blake had her head down as if ashamed. The white haired girl just stood there awkwardly.
"I got up from my bounds and quietly came behind him. I used a chain to strangle the poor bastard. The girl and the boy were still scared but not of the man. Of me. I didn't blame them. I would be too. A disfigured man kill the one about to take everything from you. Not pretty. I walked back to the bed I was bounded to and laid down. The boy and the girl were still scared until I told them to get out before they were caught with me. The girl got bold and asked me why I was locked up if I wasn't a bad man. I told her that I was a prisoner, that I was here because I was an evil bastard who deserved every bit I pain I got. You know what she said?" I looked at my sister with a curious look under my mask and my head tilted.
"I said that if you were truly evil than you wouldn't have saved me and Adam." Blake spoke up. She couldn't move anything but she had tears coming down her face anyways.
"That's right Kitten, and that was the start of a beautiful friendship. I told them about my two sisters, how they were so determined to be a hero like there big brother, and she wanted to meet them. I heard the door to my cell open again and told the kids to hide. They hid under my bed and heard every word. The new leader himself told me how he brutally killed my sisters, raped my mother and killed her. I was so broken, I knew my mother was out there somewhere protecting us from the shadows, but her, and my beautiful sisters, I couldn't take it. I tried repeatedly to end it all. Each time I failed and it was back to square one. The two kids helped me after they found out I had tried to kill myself so many times. They were with me until the experiment went wrong. They thought I died and they ran away. For all intensive purposes, I did die. My heart stopped for a full minute before starting again. And when it did, I killed everyone. My semblance activated and burned everything. I was in hiding for the next few years until a curious man and two White Fang approached looking for Black Dust. They were scared when the found out the Forlorn was still alive, and tried to get in my graces by telling me that my sisters were alive. I came here afterwards to see for myself." I finished with a soft voice. Blake had tears in her eyes at remembering it all, while Ruby was crying openly and running towards me to hug me. That's when Yang walked in.
"Oh Ruby, I knew you would find a boyfriend if you really tried. He even has a huge ass sword and severe armor that looks a little too much like bro's….." she began with a smile and ended with a frown.
"Hello, Spitfire. I see you took your training seriously. Would you mind taking a shower, it stinks now." I said with mirth to my voice and she fainted right then and there.