An: Here you go, my loyal readers. As promised, the sequel to Remnant of a Rose. I hope you'll enjoy this just as much as the previous installment.
But first off, there is a rule that I want to be strictly followed for guest reviewers. I don't make it a habit to reply to guest reviews so if the review is only asking a question instead of commenting on the story, it will be deleted. If you really want me to answer your inquiries, then please make your own account so I could answer them as long as they're not spoilers to the plot.
With that said, here's the first chapter of Rise of an Iron Rose, continuing where Remnant of a Rose left off.
Chapter 1
A blond unintentional heartthrob, an acoholic scythe-wielding Huntsman and a Light-imbued immortal warrior that also happened to be an android walked into a bar.
This sounded like the beginning of a bad joke but this was simply a description of what was currently happening for Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen and Prometheus-23. It was quite a surreal sight to behold and even the first two mentioned were a little weirded out by the latter. Considering the fact that Remnant was at war with an alien race prior to their having met the Guardian, this was pretty much par for the course.
Fortunately, they didn't attract too much attention since the bar and the surrounding area was relatively abandoned. The bar also happened to be mostly intact so a majority of its stock was still in perfectly good condition.
Striding past the scattered tables and chairs, Qrow slid over the counter and he began to look through the bar's inventory of booze while Taiyang and Prometheus took their seats by the bar.
"Jackpot," the grey-haired Huntsmen smirked victoriously as he pulled out a bottle of top quality Mistralian scotch, "Been a while since I had the good stuff."
"Should a Huntsman like you be looting?" the Exo Titan inquired as he watched the drunkard remove the cork of the bottle with his teeth.
He wasn't really one to talk since he too enjoyed finding worthwhile loot on the field like his fellow Guardians but to be fair, the original owners of those loot were long gone by then while the owner of this establishment could be very much alive at the moment.
"The way I see it, it's only a matter of time before some poor scmucks clean this place out dry while the military's too busy to even care or stop them," the male Branwen reasoned as he sniffed the contents of the bottle to test the authenticity of its aroma. One whiff felt like it made his nose hairs shrivel up so he knew for sure that this scotch was legit, "It doesn't matter if we get to the good stuff first as long as we don't go overboard with the looting."
"Normally, I would disagree with you, Qrow," the elder Xiao Long spoke up as he got a shot glass and snatched the scotch from his partner's hand before pouring himself a shot, "But it's been a long day and it doesn't look like it's about to end anytime soon."
Having said his piece, Tai downed the shot in one go and immediately regretted as he went into a coughing fit from the burn that the drink left in his throat.
"Yeah, pretty good stuff, isn't?" Qrow grinned as he poured himself a shot of his own, "Say what you want about Mistral but they know how to make pretty good booze."
"Well, I'm not one to indulge in libations but I did kill a godlike entity earlier so I suppose I can make an exception this time," Prometheus shrugged before he too helped himself to a shot of scotch.
The two Huntsmen stared at the Exo in disbelief as he sipped the alcohol with no hesitation. They were half expecting the mechanical Guardian to suddenly short circuit only to be just fine to their amazement.
"I'm not really an expert when it comes to alcoholic beverages but I can certainly understand what you mean," Prometheus mused as he eyed the glass of scotch in his hand before he noticed that the other two were staring at him, "What?"
"How the hell are you still functioning?" Taiyang asked incredulousy while Qrow simply opted to down another shot.
Prometheus was confused by what the blonde man said so the brawler thought it was best to clarify it for him.
"I mean how are you able to drink that? Last I check, robots can't exactly eat or drink like people without experiencing some problems," he said before quickly adding, "Not that I don't consider you as people, that is."
The Xiao Long patriarch was still having problems wrapping his head around the concept of a fully sentient android that was also capable of generating an Aura but since this particular android literally saved his cajones, he was willing to acknowledge the Guardian just like any other individual.
"Oh yes, I forgot that you're unfamiliar with Exos, which is what my kind are called by the way," Prometheus hummed in consideration, "We Exos are in fact quite capable of consumption like organics do and we also come equipped with all the standard five senses so we are not that detatched from non-synthetic lifeforms."
"There's even a subroutine that forces us to act drunk if we take in enough alcohol in our systems," the Exo Titan added as he took another sip from his scotch.
"The geeks that made ya really covered their bases, huh?" the scythe-wielder noted, having already finished the bottle of scotch before pulling out another one of the same brand from under the bar.
"Exos also do not suffer from hangovers so we could indulge ourselves as much as we want."
"Lucky bastard," Qrow mumbled from under his breath. He was feeling very envious of these Exo guys if they could experience all of the joys of being drunk without the bane of his existence, which was getting a hangover.
"But as I have previously stated, I am not much of a drinker."
"How about we change that?" the Black Reaper stated as he raised his glass while Taiyang did the same with his own glass, "To getting shitfaced drunk."
Shrugging his broad shoulders, Prometheus-23 clinked his glass and reluctantly chorused, "To getting shitfaced drunk."
The Titan had been told that he needed more male friends on more than one occasion and he heard that getting drunk with fellow males was a good way to make lifelong companions out of them so this could help him bond with the former teammates from Summer's previous life. It was also a chance to learn what Summer was like before she was resurrected.
Then again, it was Cayde-6 who gave him that advice so it might not be fully credible.
Thinking of the Hunter Vanguard also reminded Prometheus that his fellow Exo was the one with the most authority of the Guardians currently stationed on this planet so he was the most suitable to meet with the leaders of Remnant.
Even though the Exo Hunter earned his position fair and square, he was not anyone's first choice for a diplomatic mission nor was he their second choice. He was the third choice at best.
And right now, he was supposed to convince the Councils of Remnant to form a good relations with the Last City of Earth because Lord Shaxx was definitely not going to do it. Unlike the Crucible Master, Cayde actually had more experience with politics than the old Titan.
It still didn't alleviate Prometheus' worries though. There was a reason why Summer Rose was quite (as eloquently quoted by Lux Sylphid) 'the no-good, trouble-making little shit that you just want to throttle'. It was because Cayde rarely did anything to quell the young Hunter's many eccentricities and there was even several occasions where he openly encouraged them, which spurred her on.
It was a severe understatement to say that Cayde-6 was a bad example for an impressionable young Guardian like Summer to emulate.
Well, Prometheus now had a perfectly good reason to intoxicate himself on alcohol at least. That was something, right?
00000
Contrarily to what most Guardians believed, Cayde was actually taking things seriously as regards to establishing close ties to Remnant. There was still one loose end that he had to tie up before meeting with the Councils of Remnant.
And that was a certain young Hunter talking animatedly with two teenaged girls. The younger girl was dressed in red and black while the elder wore mostly yellow garbs. In case anyone didn't know who he was referring to, he was talking about Summer Rose.
"I'm gonna go meet with the head honchos," the Hunter Vanguard informed his protégé, Summer Rose after her reunion with her daughters (still felt weird to say), "Can I trust you to stay out of trouble for the next few hours?"
The White Rose took on a look of deep contemplation as her mental gears grinded against each other to produce the best answer.
"Define trouble?" she asked in a tone that left no doubt that she was completely serious with her question.
"…Right, should've expected that," Cayde sighed in exasperation as he searched through his pouches, "Time for plan B."
The horned Exo took out an apple-sized ball of red yarn and held it out before him. Summer and Ruby stilled at the sight of the small mundane item as their silver eyes stared at him with rapt attention.
"Here's a ball of yarn," he redundantly added before tossing the aforementioned object over his shoulder, "Go nuts."
Cayde was not surprised by the swirl of white rose petals that drifted towards the direction he threw the ball of yarn but he was taken aback by the red rose petals that drifted towards the same direction as its white counterpart.
"Hey, let go! It's mine!"
"No, I saw it first!"
"Like heck you did!"
With blank faces, Yang Xiao Long and Cayde-6 turned to see mother and daughter wrestling each other in a bid to get the ball of yarn, not caring what or who got caught up in their quarrel as their bodies rolled around the courtyard. Several benches and even some people were knocked aside as the two members of the Rose family duked it out.
"I'm not one to talk but you should probably stop this before it gets any worse," the blonde-haired girl said to the Hunter Vanguard as Ruby latched onto her mother's head like a barnacle, pulling the white hood over the Guardian's face.
"This…did not go how I thought it would," he admitted with a wince as Summer's flailing arms accidently socked an innocent bystander in the face and knocked them out cold, "But I'm not dumb enough to get caught up in that fiasco."
While the White Rose managed to flip the younger girl of off her, the horned Exo saw Lux Sylphid stomping her way over to them. The Warlock looked more pissed off than usual and he idly wondered what was the reason.
"Hey Lux! Get over here!" Cayde called out to the female Awoken as the bout between Ruby and Summer had devolved into a slapping fight. The Warlock turned to face the Hunter Vanguard as she was about to shout back profanities at him but the words never left her mouth when she saw the White Rose and her smaller red counterpart on all fours, pulling on the ball of yarn with their teeth like two dogs fighting over a juicy bone.
"What the freak?" Lux muttered under her breath, staring in disbelief as what appeared to be two Summer Roses fighting over a ball of yarn.
"Take care of this before it gets out hand," Cayde said as he patted the Awoken on the shoulder and left her to the wolves.
One of the things that a good leader should know was delegation. It was about making the right person do the right job or in Cayde's case, making someone else do what you didn't want to do yourself.
00000
Remnant was currently facing major revolution.
There was several signs of this being the case but not many could see the signs for what they were. The people were too focused on the fragile peace that they so desperately clung to.
The evolution of the White Fang from a peaceful organization to a terrorist cell, the attack on the now deceased Fall Maiden and the increased frequency of Grimm attacks were the signs that irrevocable change was about to happen.
But what really was the straw that broke the camel's back was the return of Summer Rose and the alien invasion that she sought to save them from.
Now with the threat of the Vex thwarted, there was still more change to come.
This was what Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy believed and the sentient android with a fully authentic Aura that stood before him served to further cement this belief.
"Tell me, Professor Ozpin," Cayde-6's light blue optics stared into the silver-haired man's brown eyes as if he could see the secrets that laid behind them, "What is your favorite fairytale?"
00000
AN:
Kinda short but this chapter is more like a prologue. We'll get to the real meat of the story in the next chapters.