Chapter 1:
Fall
Eight finalists stood upon the center stage of the massive flying Amity Colosseum. The final round in the Vytal Festival Tournament was about to begin. The crowd, seated stories high above the field of combat, was cheering on in excited anticipation. These eight Huntsman and Huntresses-in-training were the very best warriors the four academies of Remnant had to offer. And it was time to see who was the best of the best of the best truly was.
Yang Xiao Long smiled and put her hand on her hip in a confident pose. She was one of the eight finalists. Each battle there had been hard-fought and hard-won, but Yang had made it this far in the tournament thanks to her and her teammates' efforts. Now it was her turn to carry them and Beacon Academy all the way to the top. Victory and world-fame awaited at the finish line, and Yang was so close she could nearly taste it.
But I'm not doing this for the glory. I'm just here for the thrill of the fight!
The stadium's intercom system came on, cutting through the deafening noise of the stadium. Professor Port, one of Yang's teachers at Beacon Academy, got on the mic. He spoke across the airwaves to everyone who had come all the way to Vale for the Vytal Festival and to everyone tuning in around the world.
"Barty, why don't you explain the rules!"
"Ah, it's quite simple Peter." His colleague Dr. Oobleck explained to the audience. "Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place."
"Much like any good hunt," Port replied. "There will be zero time to prepare."
"Ah, yes, yes. Now let's see who our first match will be!"
Spectators and competitors looked up at the huge screens at the top of the colosseum. Twin pictures of each finalist rolled like the reels on a slot machine as the upcoming match was chosen at random. Everyone watching held their breath, waiting to see who would be selected. The spinning reels began to slow, eventually coming to a halt with a chime and revealing the first fight of the tournament finals.
Two portraits stood on screen, both finalists standing before the symbol of their respective kingdoms. One from Vale, one from Mistral.
"Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" Port announced.
She almost couldn't believe it, even when staring up at her own picture. Yang was going to be the in the first match of the finals. And she would be fighting against an acquaintance of hers. Mercury was one of the exchange students from Haven Academy, and their paths had crossed on more than one occasion in the days leading up to the Vytal Festival. They had even fought together during the Grimm invasion started by criminal-mastermind Roman Torchwick not that long ago.
"Break a leg, sis!" Yang heard her little sister Ruby shout from the stands where the rest of team RWBY sat to watch their teammate.
"Would all other combatants please leave the stage." Port said to the other six finalists.
As the others filed out, Yang passed her good friend and classmate from team JNPR, Pyrrha Nikos. Pyrrha hadn't been looking so hot when they had entered the stadium, like something was bothering her. Yang felt a little concerned, despite the bright smile she showed to the crowd. Yang wondered if she was just nervous about being in the finals, or if she was having romantic troubles with JNPR's clueless leader Jaune Arc. Again.
Poor Pyrrha. Jaune's about as dense as lead when it comes to girls. What's it going to take for that goofball to figure out that she's head-over-heels for him? I wonder if we should drop the bomb on him and get the ball rolling.
These idle concerns faded away with the fight ahead of her about to begin. Yang passed her other friend Sun Wukong, who gave her a smile for good luck as he walked by.
As Yang and Mercury approached each other, the center platform of the colosseum floor rose and hovered in mid-air. A circular light rig was suspended above them, with several spotlights coming on and bringing attention to center stage. The crowd continued to cheer, pumped and buzzing with excitement. The fight was about to begin.
"You better not go easy on me." Yang said to her opponent, with no small amount of friendly competitiveness in her voice.
Mercury huffed. "You wish."
The brief exchange reminded Yang of a conversation she had with Emerald, one of Mercury's teammates, at the festival grounds just a few days prior.
"If Merc and I see you down the line," Emerald had said. "Don't think we'll go easy on ya'."
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
And here they were, ready to duel and see who would come out the victor.
This is gonna' be fun! Bring it on, silver-boots!
The two young warriors squared off, putting their hands up and preparing to trade blows. Yang stared Mercury down, looking straight into in his grey eyes and daring him to give it everything he had. He returned her glare in kind. This wouldn't be a sparring match in Professor Goodwitch's class. This would be a no-holds-barred fight to the finish. And there could be only one to come out on top.
"Three." Port started the countdown.
"Two."
"One."
"Fight!"
They were off. Yang pulled back her fist to throw the opening punch, and Mercury twisted around to meet her attack with a powerful straight-on kick. Their Auras collided as the two shots connected, producing a shockwave that sent them both back a step. Mercury recovered first and rushed back in for another offensive.
The fight was short but intense. It was vicious hand-to-hand-to-foot combat, with some of their strikes shattering the tile at their feet. She used her Ember Celica as both a ranged and melee weapon, firing off crimson Dust shells from a distance and up-close. Mercury's boots flashed silver as he returned each and every salvo in similar fashion.
At one point, Yang had her opponent reeling back and managed to knock him off the platform. If he had hit the floor below, he would have lost the match. But Mercury came right back over the edge, riding a powerful blast from his boots. He landed in front of her and launched a counter-attack, putting Yang on the defensive. Mercury kicked her away, and followed with a blast from his boot.
Yang dodged the silver orb of death with a roll to the side, and came up to see Mercury kicking upward in all directions, firing his boots into the sky. Countless silver comets swirled above them like a dome of shooting-stars. Mercury countered a punch from Yang as she tried to get inside his guard, kicking her up into the air before sending her back down with another combo kick. Every one of the shooting-stars became meteors, falling on Yang as she hit the floor.
When the barrage from the heavens was finally over, Yang looked up through the fallout to see Mercury walking away, smugly dusting himself off as if he had already won the fight. That didn't just make her mad. It made her absolutely furious.
Yang stood and let her Semblance kick in, taking all her anger and the energy she had absorbed from the blows and converting into her own raw power. Fire erupted from her body in a literal inferno of pure rage, her eyes turned from their natural lilac to bright crimson. As Mercury turned around, Yang pounded her armored fists together and rushed to meet him.
Focused on nothing else, Yang forgot she was being spectated by an audience that spanned the entire world. Her brain filtered out the colosseum, the crowds, even the mere thought of defeat. All she could see was Mercury's mildly surprised face through her glowing blond bangs. The entire world condensed into singular, all-encompassing combat, allowing nothing else to penetrate her consciousness.
Her mind had reached the stage just short of kill.
She attacked her briefly stunned opponent, not relenting for even a moment. As he tried to muster a defensive round-house kick, Yang ducked under and got inside his reach. She delivered an unstoppable flurry of body-blows, throwing punch after punch, augmented by her Semblance. Mercury reeled back and was unable to resist, his Aura taking the onslaught before one final uppercut made it shimmer and break. He was knocked up into the air, and brought back down as Yang delivered the final blow right to his face.
Mercury skidded away across the ground as the buzzer sounded. He laid there, cradling his chest with one arm, and down for the count. A knock out.
The fight was over. Yang had won.
"What a way to kick off the finals!" Port exclaimed over the intercom.
Yang exhaled, feeling her rage come down and her eyes return to normal. Then she smiled victoriously, raising his fist to the sky in triumph. She looked up at one of the screens, seeing her Aura meter just one point away from the limit while Mercury's was at dead zero. A narrow victory, but a victory nonetheless. The platform descended back to the stadium floor. The crowd roared on even louder, congratulating the victor and a fight well-fought.
I did it! I won! I hope Dad's watching.
"Yeah! You did it sis!" Ruby yelled from the sidelines.
"Way to go Yang!" Their teammate Blake followed, softly clapping.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Yang looked down at her defeated opponent. Mercury had managed to kneel, but was hunched over and trying to catch his breath.
"Better luck next time." Yang said as she turned to walk away.
"There's not going to be a next time, blondie."
She turned around to find Mercury, somehow able to move again, sailing through the air with a leg extended toward her. The fight was over, he had lost fair and square, but he was still intent to attack anyway.
Yang, still riding off the adrenaline high, immediately moved to intercept. She didn't think, she didn't stop herself from counter-attacking, didn't have the thought to simply step out of the way. She couldn't stop hard-wired reflex. Her brain was still in combat mode, and her body moved by pure reflex and instinct. Primal, animal action overrode everything else. Yang's mind had crossed the threshold, unable to process anything beyond a single command.
Kill or be killed.
Yang reached out, grabbed his leg, and pushed it away to the side. Then she raised her free hand, drawing back to throw a punch straight into her attacker's exposed torso. No redirection, no maneuver to take him down to the ground. Only lethal response.
Kill.
Her gauntlet connected, firing a shell right into Mercury's chest. Without any Aura left to protect the body, the round tore through the ribcage and the vital organs and tissues nestled inside. A plume of blood exploded like a geyser from his back, leaving no doubt of what internal damage was caused. His eyes went wide with agonizing pain, then darkened as life faded from him.
Mercury Black fell, dead before his body hit the floor.
Once again, the world outside faded from Yang's conscious mind. Everyone in the stadium, everyone on the face of Remnant, had seen what had really occurred in that moment. It was caught on camera, broadcasted for the entire world to see. To them, the onlookers, the audience, the tragedy was clear as day. They booed and cried out, terrified of the bloody reality before their eyes.
The shock, the horror, of what she had done had not registered yet in Yang's mind. She didn't even see the dead body lying in a pool of blood before her. There was only the cool, internal assessment of what had happened. It wasn't even conscious thinking, only happening at the deepest levels of her warrior's subconscious.
He attacked me, so I attacked back.
I'm alive. He's dead.
Suddenly, Yang found herself surrounded. Two Atlas soldiers and six Atlesian Knight combat drones flanked her on all sides, rifles raised and aimed at center mass.
"Huh?" Yang looked around, confused.
"Yang Xiao Long," One of the human soldiers shouted to her. "Stand down!"
"What!? Why!?" Yang said, still not comprehending what she had done.
She heard hurried footsteps approaching.
"Mercury!"
Emerald ran to the body of her teammate, her partner, her friend. She held his corpse, now lifeless and still, in her arms. Then she looked at his killer, his murderer, with just barely checked and restrained anger.
But Yang still had no idea what had happened. Why everyone was so afraid and upset. It was only when she looked up at the screen that she saw what had transpired to the outside world.
She saw herself walk by Mercury, who was just then standing, not moving to attack or do anything aggressive whatsoever. Then she saw herself casually turn, and then put a round in the unmoving man's chest. No attack, no preamble, no indication of a sudden turn. Just a girl turning around and killing a fellow student right then and there.
Then reality, delayed for long enough, came crashing down on her.
But that's not… That didn't… What have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE!?
Yang looked away from the gut-wrenching sight, only to find one that chilled her heart cold. She looked to her teammates in the stands. Ruby, Blake, Weiss. All three stood, horrified, uncomprehending what they were staring at. Who they were staring at. And it wasn't just them. Sun's team, Pyrrha's team, all of Yang's friends and classmates. Their eyes were all asking the same question. Every single one.
Even her little sister's.
"Who is she?"
Unable to meet their gaze, and unable to look around for anyone who might believe her, Yang looked down to her own two hands.
Her right hand, the one she had used to deliver that fatal punch, was covered in blood. Mercury's blood. Her leather glove was soaked through, and flecks of red stained the yellow surface and barrel of Ember Celica. There was blood on her jacket, her belt, her bare chest where her cleavage was exposed.
Blood.
Blood that she had spilled.
With her own hands.
Somewhere in the shadows of Remnant, someone watched the live feed from Amity Colosseum. But rather than recoil with shock and revulsion, he stared straight on, completely unfazed by the grisly sight that would make most men wretch. He had seen far worse.
So, she has it in her after all.
He picked up his Scroll and dialed a number, putting the device to his ear and listening to the tone.
"Begin the test." The young man said as soon as the receiver picked up.
"Yes sir." They replied.
He thumbed the end-call button without another word. Everything was proceeding as planned. In a few hours, Remnant as the world knew it would change forever. This tragic little incident during the Vytal Festival tournament was actually inconsequential to his ultimate objective. He only watched out of an appreciation of the fighting arts and a dark, morbid curiosity cultivated by years spent away from the light of so-called "peace".
Oh, I'm sure she'll say she was attacked first. She was raised in a comfy home, to a loving father and a surrogate mother who cared for her every day. It always starts as self-defense. But let's see which path she'll choose now. The path of light, or the path of dark.
Let's see if you and I are truly the same, Yang Xiao Long.
Yes, everything was going according to plan. All it took was a small push for a person to become a killer. One small event was all a war needed to begin. And soon enough, the man in the shadows would have his revenge on a peaceful world that had cast him out long ago.