HELLO AGAIN! I'm back with an all new chapter and I can't wait to hear what you think about it! Also, I'd like to thank the people who favorite, followed, and reviewed! It means a lot to me to hear what others thought of my story!
Disclaimer: In the first chapter.
From Dust till Dawn
'Ugh…this was taking forever' Natsu thought to himself as he continued stocking dust into their proper tubes. The poor lad had been hard at work ever since Ruby and Yang had left the store a couple of hours ago. Wiping a couple sweat beads from his forehead, Natsu quickly looked around to see his boss was quietly taking his own nap at the front counter. 'Wow…and he calls me lazy. Well, actually gesture that I'm lazy seeing as how the old kook refuses to so much as utter a single letter.' Shaking his head in slight annoyance mixed with bemusement, the dragon slayer moved to the back of the store to sit on the few boxes he had left to stock. He raised his head to look at the clock and saw that it was getting late. The clock said it was past 7 o' clock and there was still no sign of Ruby. A sick feeling spread through Natsu as he felt what kind of trouble the poor girl could have run into on the way here. She was so naïve as to what the real world was like…she still believed in fairy tales after all. Natsu quickly shook his head to dispel these negative thoughts and remembered that she too was a Hunteress-in-training and she always carried Crescent Rose around with her wherever she went…even into the bathroom at times.
Suddenly, a slight chime echoed throughout the store, waking up the old man from his nap and saw the little hooded girl had returned to the store. The old man rubbed his eyes as he shook the tiredness from his eyes and went back to manning the cash register before the salmon-haired boy said anything otherwise. Sadly…
"Hey, boss, enjoy the nap?" Natsu asked with a grin. The old man lowered his head in dejection at having being caught red-handed and dejectedly returned to his office. The dragon slayer chuckled as he saw Ruby skipping towards him. "Sup, Rubes, bring anything to eat? Because I'm super starving right now!"
"What?! I thought you would have something to eat! Oh man, I had to rush through dinner just so I could meet you here…even though Dad thinks I'm asleep in my room right now." Ruby whispered.
"Ruby, you don't have to whisper you know. Your dad isn't here…" The dragon slayer deadpanned.
The hooded girl quickly looked all around her, as if she was on the lookout for any one suspicious in the area. She could have sworn she saw some strange looking business men on her way towards the store, but had just ignored it. After all, her dad would never hire business men to spy on her…or would he? Ruby widened her eyes as she held on to Natsu in terror. "Don't let the evil business men take me, Natsu! They'll just try to sell me cheap merchandise that I'll never use…even though I probably really want it!" She yelled, shaking the poor lad back and forth.
After the shaking ceased, Natsu slowly raised his fist and lightly bonked Ruby on the head, eliciting a small murmur of pain from her. "Never…do that…again." Natsu muttered, his motion sickness riling up.
"Ow….ok sorry, you big meanie." Ruby muttered, hoping that he wouldn't hear that last part. He did, but he let it slide. Rolling his eyes, Natsu grabbed a magazine from the rack beside them and handed it to her. The hooded girl grabbed the magazine and looked at the title and widened her eyes in childish glee. "OH MY GOSH! The new Lethal Weapons magazine! Ooooooo I've wanted to subscribe to them forever, but Dad never lets me do it! He says that a girl like me shouldn't be focusing on things like weapons and focus on things like…dolls and makeup and other girl things…blegh." The silver-eyed girl gagged, poking her finger in front of her open mouth in a disgusted fashion. Natsu chuckled as he watched friend put on her headphones and continue shuffling trough the numerous weapons that lie inside of the pages. Sure, her dad was right, and a normal girl shouldn't have a very clear obsession with weapons designed to kill or maim…but Ruby was no normal girl. And Natsu loved her for that. After all, Natsu was no normal individual himself so a kindred spirit was definitely a plus in the world.
Leaving Ruby to her obsession, he rubbed her head affectionately, to which she lightly slapped his hand away (even though she secretly loved when he did that) and went on to man to the cash register before his boss did his own version of "yelling at him." On his trek to the register, several men in black suits with orange shirts underneath, black fedoras, black wing-tips, and orange shades walked through the door. One of them walked over to the glass case in the front of the shop and touched his gloved hand on top of the glass. As Natsu went behind the counter to wait for the man to speak, that same man suddenly stepped aside as a different guy took his place. This man had slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner traced his visible left eye and he wore a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories included a small gray scarf, black gloves with buckled sleeves, and a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band. Raising his eyebrow at the man's strange fashion sense, Natsu asked, "Can I help you gents with anything? Or are you just looking for a time machine because I don't know if those clothes fit this time period."
The orange-haired man chuckled as he pulled out the cigar that was in his mouth. "Funny. Quite the comedic act you've got there. Granted, I don't think I should be taking fashion advice from someone with pink hair. Just doesn't make any sense, right?" He snarked, causing several of the man's cronies to chuckle.
Eye slightly twitching, Natsu laughed off the insult and forced a grin on his face. 'I really hate customers.' "Aha…funny. Very funny. So, are we just gonna swap jokes or are we going to get down to business?"
The man looked at him as he lightly tapped some cinders out of his smoking cigar onto the glass case, effectively ruining the neatness of it and all of Natsu's hardwork that led to it being so clean. "Yes…down to business. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" He asked with a grin, while one of the men behind him pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Natsu's head.
Unflinching, Natsu stared blankly at the men and asked, "Yeah not much. I told my boss that it's pretty pointless to stay open this late, but…you wanna know what he told me? He told me, 'Sooner or later, someone is going to walk into this place because every Dust shop, excluding us, is closed because none of them or as dedicated to their customer base as we'll be.' Granted, the old kook doesn't really talk so it took me a HELL of a long time to decipher just what the hell he was talking about, but I think that was the gist of it. And know, here I am with our "loyal customers" and one of them is pointing a gun directly at my face. Can you see why I think the old man is crazy or what?" He grinned with a shrug. "So, just take the cash if you want, just know…that for every Lien or piece of Dust you steal…I'm gonna take break a bone in each of your bodies, understand?" A demonic growl uttered from the salmon-haired boy.
Moving his head slightly aback from this sudden outburst. The man chuckled, "Well you could certainly try…but then I would have to kill each and every person in this store, which include your boss…and that sweet little girl just behind you." Moving his head to signal one of his cronies to get the girl, he stared back at the salmon-haired boy who for some reason was still glaring at him with an unflinching stare. 'What the hell is wrong with this kid? Doesn't he know who I am? Ah…of course, that's why.' Nodding to himself, the man asked, "You have no idea who I am do you?"
Unbeknownst to that man, the same crony who was sent to apprehend the young girl grabbed the girl and turned her around. Ruby looked behind her to see…one of the evil business men her father must have sent to spy on her. Suddenly, the man pulled a handgun in front of her and told her to put her hands up. Ok…either her dad had suddenly gone from super protective to MANIC INSANE protective in the time that she had snuck out of her house, or a more likely option… "Are you… robbing me?" She asked.
Back with the orange-haired man and Natsu, the man had informed him that he was a respected crime lord by the name of Roman Torchwick. Signaling his men to grab the Dust layered throughout the shop, he continued staring at the boy to watch for the same look of fear everyone got on their face when he uttered his name. Surely deep inside of that boy was a storm of fear and cowardice beginning to form and strengthen. It was only a matter of time before he saw that look and…
"I'm sorry who?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.
Roman lightly dropped his jaw as he took a step back from this crazy exclamation. "E-Excuse me! I'm Roman Torchwick. You know, evil crime lord?"
"Nope."
"Leader of a syndicate fraught with hardened criminals and…"
"Nu-uh."
"A major player in the Dust-trafficking business?"
"No."
"5 time winner of the best dressed crime lord of Remnant?"
"Oh, you're that Roman Torchwick?!"
"YES! I'm…"
"Sorry, never heard of ya."
Gritting his teeth in frustration at the boy's slight grin, he slammed a gray case on top of the glass case and growled, "Dust. Burn. Uncut. NOW!"
Rolling his eyes, Natsu moved forward and stared straight into the eyes of this supposedly feared crime lord and whispered, "Make me."
Torchwick quietly gripped his cane and was about to let loose shot after shot on this ignorant, infuriating boy before he saw one of his crony's fly through the front window and lay unconscious on the street. His eyes widened in light shock, he saw that same little red-hooded girl suddenly slam her legs into another one of his men through the now broken window. "COME ON, RUBY! THAT'S COMING OUTTA MY PAYCHECK!" Natsu yelled, sprinting outside the store and stopped beside her.
"Hehe whoops. My bad. I could pay for it if you want…but all my money is in pennies." She said, rubbing her head embarrassedly. Touching a button on the side of her weapon, it suddenly began to expand into the form of a scythe with a hook-like, double-pronged, jagged blade at the end of its shaft. Turning her head to smile back at the formally dressed criminals, she suddenly glared at them and twirled her scythe around her body and slammed the sharp tip into the street, effectively breaking it apart. A loud song was blasting from her headphones as she stared at them and touched it to turn it off.
Glaring at the two new thorns in his side, " Okay…get them." Torchwick said in a tone that stated the obvious to his henchmen. The rest of his men swarmed outside and readied their sharp red swords as they charged straight for the two.
"Great…well, I did need some exercise for those cookies we ate earlier I guess." Natsu muttered to himself.
"Yeah, let's kick their butts!" Ruby yelled, pulling herself upwards and spinning herself around from her scythe; slamming her feet against one of the henchmen and causing him to slam onto the sidewalk.
"Hey, no hogging!" The dragon slayer shouted back, igniting his hands with furious flames. Shooting himself forward, Natsu ducked left as he avoided a swing from the crony's sword and swerved right to avoid another one. Ducking down and spinning his legs to trip the black-suit crony, "Fire Dragon's Spinning Claw!" He yelled, forcing the henchmen to be swung off of his feet and then suddenly punched straight in the gut by another flaming fist onto the ground. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" The fire mage bellowed, slamming the criminal hard onto street, effectively cracking it from his superior strength.
Seeing two more henchmen try to surround her, Ruby quickly spun herself and clicked the trigger of her scythe; shooting her forward and slamming her dull point of her scythe onto one of the men which caused him to fly upwards into the air and crash through one of the other building's windows. She then proceeded to slam the scythe down onto the other criminal, slamming him into the ground with a roar of pain.
Sighing to himself, Roman slowly walked outside to see the outright defeat his so called "bodyguards" had suffered. "Well…you were all absolutely worth every cent. Truly you were" He said sarcastically, glaring down onto his defeated men. Torchwick then turned his head upwards to stare at the two that had effectively defeated his henchmen and gave them a mock applause for their efforts. "Well, Red, Pinkie, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening…" He said, dropping his cigar and stomping it with his cane. "…and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." Torchwick growled, raising his cane, which had suddenly propped up a scope, and fired.
Natsu quickly jumped towards Ruby and barricaded her from the incoming shot before it could touch her, which forced them to be pushed back onto the street. They both groaned as their bodies slammed onto the street and Natsu looked down to see that Ruby was indeed alright. "Ok…that kinda stung." Natsu muttered, lightly grimacing from the shot he had just endured.
Ruby quickly got her bearings together and realized that she wasn't shot…but Natsu was! Moving out of Natsu's grip, she moved behind him to see that a gunshot wound had broken through Natsu's back and clapped her hand to her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh! N-Natsu, are you ok?! Please tell you'll be ok!" She yelled, zipping around to look at Natsu's face. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to be in tremendous pain, but he still had a light grimace on his face.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, Ruby. Just don't lose sight of him." The dragon slayer mumbled, willing his body in the hopes that he would heal faster.
"B-But you've been shot! I need to take you to a hospital!" The hooded girl cried, wrapping Natsu's arm around her shoulder and pushed them upwards.
Suddenly, Natsu escaped from her grasp and moved away from her. "I'll be okay! Just…hey look! There he is!" He yelled, pointing towards Roman Torchwick who was climbing a ladder across the street. "Okay, stay here. I'll go-"
"No! You're hurt! I'll go get him and take him down before he escapes." Ruby shouted, turning towards the building where Torchwick was escaping to. She turned her head to see Natsu's boss look out from the broken window and yelled to him, "Take care of, Natsu! He's been shot! I'm going after the guy that robbed you!" After yelling at him, Ruby willed herself forward and took off towards the building.
Natsu widened his eyes as he saw one of his closest friends run to fight all by herself. No…no he couldn't lose her. Not only would he never forgive himself if something happened to her, but neither would Yang. Running towards the building, Natsu grabbed the ladder and quickly began climbing it.
Torchwick quickly hopped over the low wall that the ladder was attached to and continued sprinting away towards the edge of the building. Unfortunately for him, a certain red-hooded nuisance had returned…
"Hey!" Ruby yelled, readying her weapon just in case he tried to attack.
"Persistent…aren't you?" Torchwick chuckled to himself, staring downwards as he saw that his ride had appeared. A large gust of wind suddenly blew across the top of the building. The cause of it being a humongous cargo plane that now stopped in front of the building. It lowered itself for Torchwick to hop in, to which he did so gladly. As he stood upright in the plane, Roman turned around to look back at Ruby. "End of the line, Red. Give Pinkie my regards, will you?" He chuckled, gripping a red chunk of Dust and threw it in front of Ruby. Grinning to himself, he raised his cane and fired in the hopes of eliminating the small girl in one small explosion, but…
"Why don't you tell me yourself, you pretentious prick!" A growl emanated atop the building as Natsu hopped in front of Ruby and kicked the piece of Dust upwards towards the ship. The piece of dust sailed closer towards the ship as the shot that Torchwick had fired hit it, causing it to explode closer to the ship and damage it.
"N-Natsu?! What are you doing here?! You just go shot! You shou-" Ruby's eyes suddenly widened as she looked down to see that the gunshot wound that had been earlier inflicted onto Natsu had…disappeared? But…that was impossible. She saw the gunshot wound with her own eyes…and it now was gone. "H-How…"
"Hehe…I've always been a fast healer, Ruby. Guess I'm just lucky, huh?" Natsu chuckled, looking back at Ruby with a wink.
As the airship got its bearings back, Torchwick growled as he stared back at the two nuisances and prepared to fire another shot at them until the plane was suddenly hit by an unknown force. The plane was pushed backwards slightly as it tried once again to regain its bearings. "Oh what now?!" The orange-haired criminal yelled to himself. He looked down at the building to see someone new to the pair of nuisances.
Appearing in front of Natsu and Ruby, a woman who appeared to be a middle-aged woman that had very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were bright green and she wore thin ovular glasses. She had dangling teal earrings that matched the hanging pendant on her collar. She also wore a white long-sleeved, pleated top that had a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body was covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings. She wore black boots with brown heels, and a cape that was purple inside and black on the outside. The cut of the cape seemed to be stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads on the back.
"Well…she came out of nowhere." Natsu mumbled to himself in shock.
Ruby herself though just stood in awe at seeing this amazing women project what looked like a purple energy shield right in front of them.
Pushing her glasses closer to her eyes, the woman raised her riding crop and fired several more purple energy shots that rained atop the cargo plane. Inside the plane, Torchwick stumbled around and tried to get a grip on something until the plane finally settled down again. He then quickly poked his head inside the captain's quarters and yelled, "We got a Huntress!" to his dark-haired female companion dressed in red in the captain's chair. The dark-haired woman then got off of the chair and switched places with Torchwick, who took over the controls of the plane. Outside the plane, the blonde Huntress imbued her riding crop with purple energy and shot it forward; creating a storm cloud on top of the cargo plane as it made its escape. Shards of ice then rained down from above onto the cargo plane, penetrating the hull of it.
"AWESOME!" Natsu and Ruby yelled together.
Her top half shrouded by darkness, the dark-haired woman walked forward to the open door of the plane and summoned flames to her body. Raising her hand forwards, she shot several fire blasts towards the Huntress.
"OOOOO Flames! I call dibs!" The dragon slayer yelled as he sprinted in front of the blonde Huntress.
"What are you doing?!" She shouted at the salmon-haired boy, while Natsu just ignored her, and caught the flames in mid-air, eliciting a look of shock from the Huntress, and unbeknownst to the others, from the dark-haired female as well.
"Mmmmmm haven't eaten a flame in what feels like forever! Bottoms up!" Natsu said, happily eating the flames that were so graciously given to him by that strange female with the red high heels.
Torchwick looked down to see that the same boy he shot was now alive and well and eating the flames that his companion had conjured up. "Great! That damn pink-haired boy can tank a gunshot and eat fire?! What's next, he can fly?!"
The dark-haired woman's eyes suddenly widened as she heard the mention of pink-hair come from her criminal partner's mouth. She didn't notice till now…but that boy's hair…it was…pink! 'Could it be? Is it…really him?' Smirking to herself inside the shroud of darkness, she quietly laughed to herself. Oh…this all just got very interesting now. But before she could have her fun…they had to escape. Moving her hand downwards, she summoned a fire explosion beneath the Huntress and the pink-haired boy. Hopefully it would kill the Huntress…but the boy would certainly live…he better.
Widening his eyes in shock, Natsu quickly pushed him and the blonde woman out of the way to avoid the explosion. Landing atop her, he failed to notice where he had placed his…hand. "Phew, glad we avoided…ah crap." The dragon slayer squeaked, seeing his hand lightly gripping their blonde savior's breast.
Gritting her teeth in rage, the blonde Huntress kicked the boy off of him, eliciting a cry of pain from Natsu. Quickly willing the falling debris that was caused by the explosion, she then shoved all the pieces together to create spinning arrow and shot it towards the cargo plane. Unfortunately, the dark-haired woman quickly destroyed it via her fire blasts, forcing the debris to dissipate in mid-air. Signaling Torchwick to fly them out of there, he did just that with a grin of triumph. Seeing their enemies get away, and a chance to impress their savior, Ruby began firing Crescent Rose at the plane, but were all easily deflected by the woman in red. Finally, the dark-haired woman swung her hand in a small arc, creating several orange circles the two in the hopes of killing them via explosions. Unfortunately, Natsu chose that time to get up and push the two out of the way again. Before the door closed, the woman in red gave one last look of longing towards the boy with pink-hair.
'We'll meet again…and when we do I promise I'll save you from their grasp on you…'
After, the cargo plane quickly took off before the Huntress could have any hopes of stopping them again. As she saw the cargo plane depart, the blonde Huntress glared upwards at it. Ruby stared in admiration at the blonde woman who had come to their aid and walked up to her. "You're a Huntress!" She said, gripping her hands into fists and looked up at her. "Can I have your autograph?"
The blonde woman stared down at the little girl and moved her eyes to glare at the pink-haired simpleton. "Well…surely you two deserve some reward, right?"
"YES!" Ruby shrieked in glee, jumping up and down.'
Natsu on the other hand just rubbed his head awkwardly as he heard the weird tone in the woman's voice. 'I'm not going to like this reward, am I?'
"Yup…knew I was gonna hate this 'reward!'" Natsu grumbled, sitting back in his seat in what looked like an interrogation room. After this "kind" woman offered to give the two of them a reward for their good deeds, instead of say, escorting them to a pile of money, woman, or what he would have chosen in a heartbeat…FOOD! Nope, instead of any of that, him and Ruby were escorted to a police interrogation room for trying to take back what was stolen. So the heroes…were being blamed for this whole ordeal.
Oh the irony…
The dragon slayer looked to his left to see poor Ruby slouching in dejection at a woman who was part of her ideal group, Huntresses, scorn her for trying to do the right thing.
…was this a fucked up system or what?
"I hope you realize what your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, you two. You two put yourselves and others in great danger." The Huntress said, walking back and forth behind them.
"They started it!" Ruby yelled back in justification for her actions.
"She's got a point." Natsu replied, pointing at Ruby while looking at the ceiling in boredom. Man…this woman had been droning on for what seemed like hours.
The blonde Huntress nodded from behind them and proceeded to walk in front of the table they were sitting at while pulling out a Scroll. "Well, if it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back…"
Ruby smiled as she had finally heard for what seemed like a genuine compliment from the Huntress and grabbed Natsu's arm in glee. Natsu on the other hand just stared blankly at the wall as he waited for the upcoming 'but.' 3…2…1…
"…And a slap on the wrist!" The blonde woman said, slapping her riding crop on top of the table, startling poor Ruby.
"Hey, watch where you point that masochist whacker!" Natsu yelled, eliciting a small glare from the blonde Huntress. 'Heh…guess she hasn't forgiven me for the accidental grope yet…'
Coughing into a close fist to regain herself, the blonde woman continued. "But…there is someone here who would like to meet the two of you."
"Thank goodness! Maybe this someone will actually give us an actual thank you instead of…well you know, throwing the actual people who were trying to help in an interrogation room!" Natsu retorted with a sarcastic tone, closing his arms around his chest.
Ignoring that sarcastic comment, the blonde woman moved aside to allow a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes. He had a light complexion and sharp facial features. He wore shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck. His outfit mainly consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green shirt. Beneath him, he wore black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. In his hands, the man was carrying a plate of what looked like chocolate chip cookies and a mug. "Ruby Rose…What a pleasure to meet you." The man said with a smile, leaning forward to get a closer look at Ruby's face. "You…have silver eyes." He muttered to himself, while Ruby just stared awkwardly at him.
'Creeper status…' "Yes…she also has black hair with red highlights and pale skin. And….gasp! She's…a girl!" Natsu whispered, making a fake surprised face while covering his mouth in faux shock. The man turned from looking at Ruby and gave him questioning smile. "Oh sorry…I thought we were just naming obvious things about her." He chuckled to himself, while elbowing Ruby lightly, causing her to giggle and slap him lightly on the shoulder.
"Ah…please excuse my rudeness, Natsu Dragneel. It's also a pleasure to meet you as well." The man apologized, leaning forward again, but this time to look intently at Natsu's face.
The dragon slayer however wasn't having any of that. "Whoa whoa, creeper man! Let me stop you right there. I don't have silver eyes if that's what you're looking for so you can just…not get so close to me." Natsu said tersely, moving his seat back a bit.
"How dare you! Have some respect for-" The blonde Huntress began to yell before she was stopped by the silver-haired man.
"Now now, Glynda, let's not be so hasty. Natsu just enjoys his personal space. There's nothing wrong with that. Please forgive me for that, but I believe that the eyes are a gateway into a person's own soul…and you…have a very old soul it looks like." The man uttered, taking a sip from his mug without breaking eye contact with Natsu.
Natsu stared back with somewhat widened eyes. "Ok…how do you know my name? Hell, how do you know either of our names?" He asked standoffishly. This man…was getting far too close for his liking.
The man stared back at the boy and grabbed the Scroll that Glynda was holding. "Why I merely just checked the database of known residents in Patch. Ruby Rose…and you."
Ok…there was something wrong. He knew for a fact that he wasn't on any databases…he made sure of that. This man was lying…but he couldn't just ask him in front of Ruby. Gulping down all the rage and questions that were coming upwards, Natsu stayed silent. The man took that in stride and continued on, "So! I was just curious as to where did the two of you learn to do this?" The man motioned to the Scroll playing a video of Ruby and Natsu handling the henchmen outside of the shop.
"S-Signal Academy." Ruby said quietly.
"…Trade secret." Natsu muttered.
The man raised his eyebrow at that, but decided to focus instead on the young girl. "They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one teacher in particular." Ruby replied.
Nodding his head lightly, the man placed the plate of cookies on top of the table.
Ruby, lightly licking her lips, slowly grabbed a cookie from the plate and placed it into her mouth…and then another…and then another…and another…and another…until she offered Natsu one who declined. Shrugging her shoulders, she kept on munching.
"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow." The man said, looking upwards as if he was remembering a particular man.
Natsu froze as he heard that name.
"Mmmm! Thash muh unkul!" Ruby exclaimed with a full mouth. The man looked at her strangely and she quickly realized what had happened and swallowed the rest of the cookies in her mouth. "Hehe…sorry, that's my Uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal! I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now I'm all like—Hooowaaaah! Wicthaaaa!" The cloaked girl shouted, busting out karate chops.
The man chuckled as he saw this, "So, I've noticed." He then turned his eye slightly to the left to see that the same pink-haired boy who seemed so adamant to be heard…now lay silent….at the mention of a name. Choosing to excuse that, but pocketing it for later, he continued, "And what is an adorable little girl such as yourself doing at a girl designed to train warriors?"
"Well…I want to be a Huntress." Ruby said with the utmost longing.
"You want to slay monsters?" The man asked.
"Yeah. I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply at Beacon! You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to be a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress because I wanna help people, and Natsu doesn't want to, but I REALLY want him to be one because I secretly kinda sorta…WHOOPS too much information!" Ruby stopped herself quickly and checked to see if Natsu had heard him. Luckily he seemed to be in his own world like he usually would be and took a tremendous sigh of relief. "Hehe…anyways my parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!' Hehe I mean the police are alright, but Huntsman and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, gosh, you know!" She squealed in girlish glee.
Glynda just stared at the girl with strange look. 'Truly, this girl is a strange one…'
The man however had been smiling the whole time he listened to her. The point of the boy however peaked his interest a bit, but chalked that up to the swarming hormones that every young teen felt. "Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster of Beacon." Ruby smiled.
Ozpin chuckled at that. "Hello."
Ruby chuckled back. "Nice to meet you." Noticing Natsu had been silent for quite some time, elbowed him lightly.
Natsu shot upwards slightly, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. Noticing the strange looks he was getting from the three, he tried to play it off. "U-Uh…yeah. That sounds like…very cool."
Ruby shook her head at her friend. "Were you even listening? This is Professor Ozpin! You know, Headmaster at Beacon?"
Natsu just shook his head. "No…but I know that now."
Ozpin laughed at that. "So, Ruby, you want to come to my school?"
"More than anything." Ruby nodded.
Smiling, Ozpin looked at Glynda to see her thoughts on the subject. "Hmmph." She responded, knowing that no matter what she said, he would just do what he thought was best.
"Well okay." Ozpin shrugged, causing Ruby to squeal in excitement and jump out of her seat to do a little jig. Chuckling to himself, Ozpin then turned his head towards the pink-haired boy. "And what about you? Would you be so interested as to join my school?"
Ruby then stopped her little dance routine and squealed again. "OH MY GOSH! Yes! Please join with me, Natsu! It'll be so much more fun with you, me, and Yang together! That way, I'll have to make less friends because I'll have you two! Please, if you lov-err! I mean, if you're my f-friend, then you'll join! PPPPPPPLEEEEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!" Ruby exclaimed, pounding her lightly onto Natsu's shoulder.
"No." Natsu replied.
"What?! Why not!" Ruby said in shock. How could someone possibly refuse a chance to join one of the most exclusive Hunter and Huntress academies?!
"Ruby…being a hero is your thing. It's not mine. I just want to go home every day…and just live a normal life." The dragon slayer muttered, inwardly knowing that wasn't what he really wanted. But he had to want it…otherwise, everything would just end the same.
Ozpin closed his eyes and nodded as he heard this. "I presume by home, you mean that small cottage in the middle of the outskirts of Patch, correct?" He asked, eliciting a look of bewilderment from Natsu. Ignoring that, he went on, "My boy, one can only be alone for so long…until the loneliness eats at them and they become bitter. Believe me when I say, I don't want that to happen to you. If being a hero is the problem, then I'll tell you this, no one is born a hero. No, they're made. At my academy we build young people into defenders of the world for if we don't…then we'd lose everything and everyone we love." His eyes staring deep into Natsu's own, showing a strange sort of…kinship and understanding?
Natsu's eyes widened at hearing that. 'Everyone I care about…gone? Ruby…Yang…no. No, I can't! I won't lose them! Not too any Grimm or asshole with a gun or anyone!' Turmoil swirled inside of Natsu as he felt the pain of knowing what he was about to do. If he agreed…then he'd be opening himself up to all the pain…and agony that he had faced before. But if he didn't agree…he'd lose two of his closest friends. He couldn't do that…no way! Even if he would lose them….in the end…he'd take that then losing them to some…monster. Inhaling deeply and finally exhaling with great agony, Natsu replied, "Ok…I'll do it."
'Ok…I immediately regret this!' Natsu thought to himself as the plane that proceeded to take him and the rest of the Hunters and Huntresses in training towards Beacon shifted again. His motion sickness taking a hold and caused him to kneel down onto a wall near him. Yang quickly hopped over to him and gave him a pat on the back. "Hey, pal, cheer up! Come on, not only are you going to Beacon with two adorable, beautiful women, but now you get to punch stuff and people will pay you for it! Isn't that amazing!" Yang cheered.
"Y-Yeah…super a-amazing. I just…wished we didn't have to fly there. Ugh…" Natsu moaned, gripping his stomach.
"Oh don't be such a baby! You don't see anyone else-"
"Ugh…coming through. I think I'm going to…BLEGH!" A blonde-haired boy with white armor yelled as he barfed inside the ship, causing numerous people to flock to the other side of the ship.
Natsu then gave Yang a 'See?' look to which she responded with a small shrug. Finally finding them again through the crowd, Ruby ran towards the only two friends she had on the plane. Seeing her, Yang grabbed Ruby in a tight hug and pulled her towards Natsu so they could share a group hug. Feeling Yang's strength sap the air out of their lungs, Natsu and Ruby muttered, "Please stop…"
"Ooooo sorry!" Yang said as she pulled them out of the hug. "Sorry, I'm just so pumped that we're all going to Beacon together! It's a wet dream come true!" Yang cheered, until she realized what she said and covered her mouth.
"Wait what?" Natsu asked, giving a bewildered look towards Yang.
"I think she said it's a we-" Ruby said until she was interrupted by Yang covering Ruby's mouth.
"AAAAA nothing! Hehe I said it's a dream come true! Hehe…" The busty Huntress laughed, trying to play off her embarrassing comment.
"Yeah…a dream." Natsu muttered. 'Or a nightmare…'
Escaping from her sister's clutches, Ruby slowly walked forwards towards the window and gasped at the view. "Wow…look, you can see Signal from up here!" She exclaimed happily. "I guess home isn't too far after all."
Yang then began slowly walking to her while Natsu followed via a slow crawl. The blonde Huntress then clapped her arm against Ruby's shoulder and gave her a smile. "Beacon's our home now."
Slowly getting up, Natsu threw himself in the middle of Ruby and Yang (to the delight of the both of them) and groaned. "Hooray…we get to spend the next four years of our lives…learning. Blegh…do me a favor, kill me."
"Oh stop being so overdramatic. C'mon it'll be fun!" Yang said, leaning her head into Natsu's ear. "Especially for the two of us." She whispered seductively in his ear. Since they bumped up the departure date, neither of them could go celebrate like they could. Although, the brochure did promise a week of no school after the teams were chosen so the students could fully acclimate themselves before classes started. And that…was the perfect time to start!
"…nope just kill me now. Go on, throw me from the plane right now. Let me feel the sweet embrace of death…" Natsu bemoaned, eliciting a low growl from Yang.
'Stupid…fucking…idiot! One of these days…I think I may actually kill him, but first things first…gotta convey my damn feelings to him accurately!' Yang growled to herself as she stared outside the ship and at Beacon. Well…if all those high school movies told her anything…here was the perfect place for love blossom…as long as said object of her affections wasn't too damn dense about it! Trying to change the subject, Yang said, "Well, I wonder who we're gonna meet."
"Well, I just hope they're better than Vomit boy." Ruby muttered.
"Hey! It's a serious condition!" Natsu groaned.
"N-No! I meant the blonde-haired boy that vomited in the plane! I swear!" The cloaked girl defended herself. She then looked down to see… "Oh, Yang, gross, you have puke on your shoe!"
"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross…." Yang continued repeating as she ran to the bathroom to clean off the disgusting puke on her shoe. 'Oh Vomit Boy! You're gonna pay!'
"Get away from me! Get away from me!" Ruby yelled, using Natsu as a human shield.
"Hey! Don't use me to defend yourself!" The dragon slayer shouted.
AAAAAAAAAND THAT'S A WRAP! OOOOOOO BOY! I am having so much fun writing this story! I can't wait till I can get to the other characters too! But…that'll have to wait for another time! YEAH, RWBY IS AMAZING!
Now, some people have asked me who is in the harem: Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Cinder, Emerald, Neo (maybe, gonna have to really try with her!) As for Pyrrha though, that's up to all of you! I've set up a poll as to who you want me to pair her up with! As for Coco and Velvet as well…I'm thinking about it, but we'll see. Now I'm sure are going to have trouble with the evil women in this harem, but I'm going to try my best to give them personalities outside of "Ooooooo I'm bad! I crave destruction and blah blah blah." No…I'll try to make them more complex characters don't worry.
Anyways, I just want to thank the people who have favorite, followed, and reviewed again! It means a lot to me that people are liking this story! Now, if you enjoyed this chapter, then please favorite, follow, and REVIEW!