Beacon Academy, Vale.
Beacon Academy Headmaster Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. Currently, he was in his office, pulling out old news articles from his holographic screen while remembering the events that had transpired at the council summit. He covered his mouth, caging in a yawn before rubbed his eyes and resuming where he left off.
"Having trouble sleeping?" Ozpin peered his eyes from his holographic screen to see his colleague, Glynda Goodwitch, by the door. He stretched both arms upward while rolling his shoulders in a circular motion afterward. His colleague then strolled into his office, in a mannerly fashion. "How did the council summit go?"
"The same old," He replied, "discussing alternative methods on how to deal with him, how much damage he caused this year, his last known coordinates, etc. Just like the last twelve meetings we held."
"You seem more dejected this time." Goodwitch noticed her superior's mouth was frowning more than usual.
"You wouldn't believe who I just met at the summit." Curiosity sparked inside Glynda.
"Who was it? Ironwood?" She attempted to guess the 'mysterious' person as the headmaster shook his head in response.
"It wasn't James, though he did attend this meeting." He replied, "Think of the last person you expect at the council summit meeting."
Goodwitch took only a few seconds to ponder before realizing who it was.
"You don't mean him, do you?" She inquired, trying to deny the cold fact.
"I wished it wasn't him, but unfortunately, it was him." Ozpin stared into his coffee mug. "It was during our prime minister's turn to elaborate his plan when, all of a sudden, we started hearing gunshots from outside the room..."
From there, Ozpin told Goodwitch everything about what exactly happened during the council summit. From Ironwood discussing collateral damages to him killing off all the guards with black spears to him having five other versions of himself to him telling everyone in the room about his master plan. Afterward, Ozpin took a deep breath before taking a sip from his mug, leaving his colleague in awe and terror.
"I can't believe it." she admitted, "Five more...? And to challenge him in a battle between four hunters and huntresses? That's insane, that's out of the question! What do you suppose we should do about this dire situation?"
"There's nothing we can do." Ozpin pressed the off switch on his desk, closing and shutting down his holographic screens. "We just have to play by his rules now."
"What about our prime minister?" Glynda asked, "Doesn't he have a solution?"
Ozpin shook his head, "No, but he is going to make a public announcement in a few weeks with the other prime ministers as collaboration."
"What about the students?" Goodwitch asked again, "Should we tell them?"
"We tell them nothing yet." The headmaster told her, "Let them enjoy themselves before being told about the current situation."
Taking one more sip from his mug, Ozpin spun around and glanced through the window. "This generation's students will be starting school soon. For now, let us teach them what we know."
Even innocent foolish children will grow up in the face of pain until their thoughts and beliefs are the same as their doubts."
~Nagato Uzumaki
Pain Throughout Remnants: Announcement
A few weeks later.
Beacon Adacemy, Vale.
"And so," Professor Port exaggerated his story about the time he managed to take down an adult King Taijitu with the help of trained hunters, "after taking out both of the head's fangs and piercing a few vital areas, we let the beast chase us for awhile and…wah wah, wah wah wah..."
Just by being in his class alone, most students were either sleeping or secretly on their scrolls. Particularly, one of his students, Yang Xiao Long, was seriously bored out of her mind and extremely tired too. Every since word that came out from her professor's mouth sounded like if he was speaking through a trumpet.
She glanced over to her teammates; Weiss was just as bored as her, leaning her head on her knuckles while pretending to listen, Blake secretly stared down at her scroll, and her young sister, Ruby, had already been knocked out cold by Professor Port's lecture. The blonde brawler then glanced over to Team JNPR who, in fact, were doing a much better job focusing in class than her own team. Pyrrha and Ren were jotting down notes, Jaune shared the same fate as her sister and collapsed into deep sleep, and Nora was staring into space before noticing Yang examining at her team and waving back at her.
"When will this class end?" Yang wondered, "It feels like hours already."
The huntress's eyelids began to droop as her head slowly fall forward. Quickly, Yang pulls her head back up, fully widening her eyes open in the process.
"No! I can't lose now! Just a few more minutes..." The blonde brawler remembered the bet with Nora.
In case if you didn't know, Nora came up with an idea to steal, I mean, 'earn' a quick lien from Yang. Right before class started, the hyper huntress came up to the blonde huntress and asked her if she wanted to make a quick 50 lien. Ruby, being the innocent student that she is, warned Yang not to place money on a bet as their father told them that betting with lien is also a fast way to blow through lien. But Yang was a bit full of herself and accepted Nora's challenge despite her younger sister telling her no and not having a single clue as to what the bet was. It turns out all Yang has to do is to stay awake for the entirety of Professor Port's lecture and without going on her scroll to pass the time.
What Yang didn't know was that today was Professor Port's story time of DOOM. Doom because, without your scroll, you are royally fucked.
"Why did I even accepted this bet?!" She pondered to herself, realizing that she might have stroked out her ego a bit too much.
When things couldn't get worse for Yang, her weight suddenly became heavy; her head slowly faced away from the chalkboard and stared down at her lap. Then her eyelids began to droop as Yang tried to force them wide open. Basically, she was having an inner battle between her mind and her avarice.
"Yang, this is your mind." Yang's mind suddenly developed a conscious and started speaking to her, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Stop."
"Yang, this is your greed." Yang's greed entered in her... mind, brain? "Don't listen to her. We're this close to that 50 Lien."
"Yang, I'm here too." For some reason, the blonde huntress could hear Nora's voice invading her thoughts. "I'm hanging out with your mind and greed. They seem really friendly. Maybe I should add them on FaceScroll. Also, I win. You fell asleep."
"WHAT!" Yang immediately woke up from her sleep, startling her teammates from whatever they were doing before. Except Ruby.
"And that's what I said too!" Professor Port praised the blonde huntress for 'paying attention' to his 'amazing' stories. "I told him, 'Isn't that a bit risky?' And he told me..."
It took the brawler a couple of seconds to realized that she passed out during her professor's lectures.
"And after that intense firefight with the King Taijitu, I and my team returned home to treat the poison in our system. We had protected our families and our town from further Grimm attacks that day. Those were the good old days. Anyhow, I apologize for digressing." Port finished his 'extraordinary' story as he is completely unaware that nearly everyone in his class is either in a 'bored coma' or not giving a shit. "Now then, who can answer this simple question: What is the fastest way to take down a King Taijitu without waking it up?"
Two hands shot up first. Not surprisingly, they were from Pyrrha and Ren who endured the professor's lectures. Literally ignoring their existence, Professor Port picked Ruby who just woke up from her slumber. "Ah, Miss Rose. Thank you for listening to my youthful days in class."
"Wu-wu-what?" Ruby muttered, not realizing that she was picked upon.
Somewhere in the beginning of Port's story, the youngest huntress passed out. Now just waking up, her name gets called out by Professor Port to answer his question.
"So would you be so kind as to share your answer to the class?" The professor asked as she sweat-dropped.
Ruby glanced over to her friends for any answers, but Weiss ignored her, Blake simply shrugged her shoulders, and Yang looks like she seen a ghost.
"Well uh…" Ruby was more than nervous about answering his question, "can you repeat the question?"
Surprisingly, Port gave her a friendly-yet-mature smile. "Ah yes, the question. It is my most sincere apology for speaking too fast. To be honest, I've been rather conversing with Professor Oobleck a lot lately and I picked up some of his speech patterns. You can say that I'm quite the speedster myself."
He then chuckled himself with no student laughing at his corny remarks. "Now then, the question: What is the fastest way to take down a King Taijitu without waking it up?"
"Ah, crap-baskets." Ruby cursed herself.
Even though she's been fighting Grimm now for also half-a-year now, she doesn't know how to kill them without them waking up. Looking back up at Professor Port, who was waiting for an answer, she stuttered.
"Well uh… the best way to take down a King Taijitu without waking it up is to… uh…"
Luckily, the school bell rang before Ruby could give him a vague answer. Immediately, the students who were passed out woke up and began heading to the dining hall.
"Well look at the time," Port said, "it's already lunchtime. Now before you leave, I've assigned you all an essay on 'The Functions of a Nevermore' that is due before the weekend!"
Gathering their textbooks, the four huntresses picked up their homework by the professor's desk before heading to lunch. Yang was a bit apprehensive when she was speed-walking with her teammates; she just lost a bet with Nora and is trying to avoid her as of now. Heck, she even had an unnoticeable gleam in her eyes when Yang glanced over her left shoulder.
"OHMYOUM!" Yang freaked out, bumping into Weiss in the process.
"Get off me, Yang!" The ice princess shoved the blonde brawler off her.
"Heyyyyyy Yang!" Nora said with a dastardly smile, "You lost our bet, you fell asleep!"
"What are you talking about? What bet?" Yang tried to deny the existence of their bet this morning, "We didn't agree to anything on a bet."
But Nora didn't take no for an answer. Instead, she pulled out her scroll and shoved it in Yang's face.
"Nuh-uh, I secretly recorded our agreement this morning. Here, take a look!"
Nora played the audio on her scroll as the recording started:
Nora: Hey Yang, 50 lien says I can stay awake through the entire class.
Yang: Oh, it is on!
With legitimate prove that Yang did, in fact, agree to Nora's bet, the blonde brawler sighed in defeat as she reached into her pocket, pulled out 50 lien, and handed her money over to Nora. The hyperactive huntress snatched her rewards before heading back with her teammates to show them her victory.
Yang, on the other hand, was dejected after losing to Nora. Like if she lost all meaning to life. Such melodrama, poor girl. Ruby, noticing that her sister was down, tried to give her some comfort.
"Yang, forget about it." Ruby patting her on the shoulder, "You'll win the next time, I'm sure of it."
"There is no next time..." Yang muttered.
"There will always be next time." Ruby corrected her older sister, "Maybe food can cheer you up!"
"Nom."
"Nom."
"Nom."
"Will you quit it?! It's becoming a nuisance already!" Weiss scolded the two sisters as Ruby was shooting pieces of grapes into Yang's mouth, causing her to make that obnoxious sound when she caught one.
"C'mon Weiss, it's just a lil' something to cheer up Yang," Ruby argued before tossing another one into her older sister's mouth.
"At least keep it to a minimum," Weiss ordered her two teammates, "this is a highly respected academy where professional hunters and huntress graduate from. Not a school for immature students."
Both Ruby and Yang giggled to themselves at what Weiss define as 'highly respected'. Both of them also earned a 'what' from the ice princess.
"Not a school for immature students, yeah right." Yang joked around, "And you're not guilty of anything. Oh wait, what about the time you started that food fight with Team JNPR?"
"That was your fault! You instigated that fight!" Weiss retorted, "All of us had to stay behind after lunch to clean up the mess that we made and I had to pick off bits and pieces of food lodged in my battle-dress that day!"
"Only the second part was true." The blonder huntress noted, "When Nora hurled that pie directly into your face, you went nuts and picked up a swordfish and started the food fight."
Anger and embarrassment flared inside Weiss. She was about do something extremely reckless when luckily, Ruby took charged and quickly defused the tensions between her two teammates.
"Alright girls, that's enough. We don't want another lunch duties from Ms. Goodwitch again, now do we?"
"No, we don't." Weiss huffed, turning her head sideways like a Tsundere.
"Same here." Yang formed a sheepish smile on her mouth.
With both the ice princess and the blonde brawler cooled down, the cat-faunus let out a sigh of relief. There was a lot going on her mind. Roman Torchwick, Adam Taurus, White Fang, etc. All of them were around and about, most likely plotting the destruction of the human race. With these unhealthy thoughts lingering in her mind, Blake pulled out a book that she was currently reading. Make-Out Paradise was a recent 'mature' novel that revolved around a passionate love between a man and a woman. While their sales rivals that of Ninja of Love, the author remains an enigma.
After eating their lunches, the four huntresses headed towards the library where Ruby derived a scheme to take back the 50 lien from Nora.
"Uh Rubes, I don't think it's gonna work," Yang openly admitted, "Not saying that you're terrible at the game, but Nora is very unpredictable. Heck, even I lost to her once due to her play-style."
Despite Yang's warnings, Ruby gave her sister a confident smile. "No worries, sis. I've been honing my skills and strategies since last time."
Only for Yang to sweat-drop. "That was a few days ago..."
"I know that, but you have to trust me on this." Ruby admitted, "It's completely foolproof!"
"Shhh!" The librarian shushed the young huntress before sitting back behind her counter.
"Sorry..." The leader of Team RWBY sheepishly apologized; her face gleamed with red.
Ruby then resumed her conversation with Yang in a more quiet, controlled tone. "I can win back your lien, but I need your help in order for my plan to work. So, pretty please?"
She even resorted to using her puppy dog eyes to woo over Yang into joining a 2v2 match of 'Remnant: The Game'.
Eventually, Yang admitted defeat. "Alright Rubes, I'm in. But what do with the other 50 lien?"
"The better question is: What happens if you lose?" Weiss poked her head in the conversation, "I chose to lend you 50 lien out of the kindness of my heart. So you better win this. If not, hell hath no fury on your soul."
The Schnee heiress was more than vexed when her teammate needed 50 lien from her. To her, it felt like if she was just throwing money away. The cat-faunus, on the other hand, merely shook her head in disappointment. In her headset, her teammates should have just let Nora keep the lien instead. But, she kept her opinions to herself as she turned over to the next page of her book. Minutes passed by and eventually, Team JNPR entered the library. After seeing Team RWBY were already there, they came to sit with them.
Nora, after receiving Ruby's text, had sparks of lighting in her eyes. Enormous amounts of confident and determination brimmed within the hyperactive huntress. 200 lien in a single day? She could buy a lot of things like Dust or clothing or Ren plushies...
Wait, what?
Ren disapproved Nora's avarice. Truth be told, he didn't want to play Remnant: The Game. Instead, he wanted to spend most of his time studying for his classes. But Nora needed a partner for this game of 2v2. And Pyrrha was too busy helping Jaune with his studies. In addition, she knew he didn't have much homework, to begin with, giving Nora another reason why Ren should be her partner.
"Okay then, with the two of you acting as our opponents," Ruby spoke in a levity tone, "I'll let both of you have the honors of going first."
Yang, aghast, whispered in Ruby's ear. "Sis, are you crazy?! They're obviously gonna to pick Altas and Mistral!"
Ruby replied softly. "I betting on it, but we still have a chance of beating them. I have a plan, remember?"
Pondering to herself, the blonde huntress decided to place her trust in her younger sister. As predicted by Yang, Nora picked Mistral while Ren claimed Altas, leaving Ruby and Yang with Vale and Vacuo left. Ruby chose Vale while Yang was left with Vacuo.
The two teams sat on opposite sides, eyes glaring with hot-blooded youthful passion and competitive ambitious flowing through their souls. With the exception of Ren of course. Even with Yang putting on her try-hard mode, she still worried over the outcome of this match. In her mind, Ruby was just a rookie and Yang was the expert. Nora was the god. Yang had no clue as to what Ren was. Their odds against two challengers were around 1-100.
Well then," Nora said as they started the game,"Get your game on!"
The librarian poked her head from her counter and shushed the group for being loud again.
"Sorry." Nora sheepishly apologized to the librarian as she sat behind the counter. The time for talk is over.
Watching the intense match of Remnant: The Game between Ruby and Nora, Yang went over the series of turns that had led up to this moment.
In the early game, all four players were focusing on building up their military's strength; only Nora was able to get hers faster. Once the hyperactive huntress managed to build up a sizable force, she made a beeline toward Vale. However if Nora had scouted for traps, she wouldn't have fallen victim to Ruby's Mud-Arena where her invading forces were left unusable for one turn. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ruby's Wall Snipers quickly decimated the invading Mistral Soldiers.
At the same time, Ren sent his robotic forces to attack Vacuo. Unlike his partner, he scouted and avoid/destroyed all of Yang's defending forces and traps. But this is what she wanted him to do. Unannounced to him, Yang lured in most of his cybernetic army into the heart of Vacuo just to ambush the invading soldiers with her own forces that were well equipped with E.M.P. Dust Rifles. Ren's entire army was crushed in one fell swoop.
Nora couldn't even help her partner out as she was too busy defending Mistral from invading Grimm. To make matters worse for the two, Ruby activated Psi-emitter causing Grimm to invade the declining kingdom of Atlas. Together with Vacuo's forces and the help of the invading Grimm, the kingdom of Atlas fell to its knees. Ren then surrendered his remaining forces and gave Yang complete control over Atlas.
The two huntress cheered as they could see victory in arm's reach. Only Ruby noticed the tear in Nora's eyes after witnessing her partner eliminated from the game. Ren, on the other hand, looked blasé and fatigued after surrendering. Like if he wanted to study his notes from the beginning or something. Before he left to go study with Pyrrha and Jaune, he leaned in and whispered something into Nora's ear. Ruby and Yang have no clue what Ren said, but whatever he said, it turned Nora's frown upside down. And that meant terrible things. Very terrible things. Like 'if your Asian parents found out that you got a B+ on your report card' terrible.
"This isn't good…" Ruby muttered, startled at Nora's capricious mood change.
"Oh my Oum… we are so fucked." Yang thought to herself after literally see lightning coursing through Nora's body.
"Heh…" Nora chuckled. "Heh... heh... hehehehehehe..."
The two sisters backed a bit from their seats. For me, I would literally move as far away from the hyperactive, psychotic huntress that is Nora Valkyrie. I don't know about you guys, though. Anyway, getting back to the story, Yang swore she saw a flash of cyan and yellow in Nora's left eye for a split second. After a brief second, Nora let out a Yandere laughter, cackling like an obsessive, 'I'll gut you like a fish if you take my Senpai away from me' girl.
"Quiet!" the librarian shushed Nora, regardless if she was being psychotic.
"Sorry." Nora sheepishly apologized, dropping her crazy laugh.
After the librarian disappeared behind her desk, Nora glared at the two sisters with a look that pierced their souls.
"You're gonna have a bad time."
Nora quickly made her move. She activated Resourceful Raider, stealing Psi-emitter from Ruby's discarded pile. This happened so fast that even Ruby had to ask what just happen. And from there, it went downhill for the two sisters.
Nora activated Psi-emitter, placing the device near Yang's kingdom. Doing so caused nearly all of the Grimm to invade Vacuo. This prompted Ruby to send her forces to help backup Vacuo's defenses and Yang to withdraw her Vacuo Warriors from Atlas. With Atlas defenseless, Nora played Malware causing the cybernetic army to turn on Vacuo and Vale. Yang cursed herself for easily losing Atlas after conquering it a few turns ago.
To determine the hyperactive huntress's playstyle, Yang activated Spyware forcing Nora to reveal what she has in her hand. In her deck, she has Death Run, Great Nevermore, Sandstorm, Revolution, and Shadow Puppets.
"Damn, Death Run and Revolution too?! This isn't gonna end pretty."
As predicted, Nora used Sandstorm on the kingdom of Vacuo. Even though it didn't effect Yang's Vacuo Warriors, it did disable Vale's army for one turn. Taking advantage of their disadvantage, Nora played Death Run. Rolling a six, her Mistral's Bombers took out all Vacuo's and Vale's armies that were on the battlefield. Yang was devastated after losing most of her forces, but for some reason, Ruby looked calm and collected even after losing her forces. Because Nora took out all of her enemy's ground army, she gets to roll again and rolled a five. Yang then watched in horror as Vacuo was brought to its knees in one fell swoop.
After Yang surrendered her kingdom over to Nora, she watched and prayed to Ruby that she does not lose to Nora. It was Nora's turn as she simply A-moved all of her forces to Vale. Ruby activated Shield Barrier to slow and weaken Nora's army, but that proved to be ineffective. The red caped huntress then witnessed the hyperactive huntress's cold demeanor turn into a smirk of victory. Even her voice changed into this cold, merciless person that almost sounds like a killer cyborg alien from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
"You are surrounded, your army decimated. Make peace with yourself and your lien now, for this is your final turn. But know that I, Nora Valkyrie, am not completely without mercy. I will grant you an honorable defeat. Prepare to hand me my winnings when you end your turn."
Chills ran down Ruby's spine after hearing Nora's cruel and heartless speech. Almost as if she was playing against a cyborg in disguise and that its program was to destroy her and Yang at this game.
"This is bad." Yang bit her fingernails at the situation.
She examined the current status of the game, noting that her sister has barely any forces to defend her wall.
"Rubes, what are you planning?"
Meanwhile, in Ruby's mind, she was laying out her options. She has no offense units and was currently siege by Nora's forces. In her hand was Smugglers of Wind Path, Resourceful Raider, and Rebel Army. A few seconds passed and she made her move.
The young huntress activated Smugglers of the Wind Path, stealing both Giant Nevermore and Revolution from her opponent's hand. Ruby then used Giant Nevermore, rolling a ten and destroying half of Nora's army. Revolution and Rebel Army was played onto the field, turning Mistral's soldiers and citizens alike against her tyrannic reign. Nora dropped her cold intentions and began to full-on-panic, seeing how portions of her army had turned against her. Ruby ended her turn with a confident smile on her face, know full well Nora would soon surrender to her. Nora did not as she would let Ruby A-move her way to victory.
As the victor goes to Ruby, Yang hugged her sister, unknowingly crushing her in the process.
"YOU DID IT YOU DID IT YOU DID IT!"
"SHUSH! This is a library!" The librarian was beyond vexed when the students can't be quiet for a few minutes.
"Sorry..." Yang apologized, not realizing that she hugged the breath out of her sister.
"Yang, you're squishing me!"
As soon as Yang heard Ruby gasping for air, she quickly dropped her.
"Sorry Rubes, I got too excited." Yang sheepish apologized as Ruby replied between breaths of air.
"Please. Don't. Do. That. Again."
Nora clapped her hands, applauding the young huntress for that good game. "Wow Ruby, you really improved your skills from last time."
Ruby became a bit bashful after being praised. "Well 'uh' thanks. I mean 'yeah', I've honed my skills since last time."
Yang glomped her sister from behind, surprising her in the process. "I know! My lil' sis beat you. Now then, I would like to have my lien back as well as an addition 50 more, please."
Nora's lips frowned after being reminded about the bet match. She handed Yang 200 lien for her winnings as the blonde huntress cuddled her 200 lien. Nora can only pout after losing her lien.
"Nora, don't underestimate your enemies next time." Ren scolded his hyperactive childhood friend/teammate, "Just because Ruby waged 100 lien doesn't mean you have to do the same. That's how gamblers lose all their money."
"Now come over here and study with us. You still have homework from history class." Nora smiled returned as she sat next with her friend/teammate and opened her textbook.
Meanwhile, Yang handed back Weiss's 100 lien and gave Ruby 50 lien.
"Thanks, Rubes for getting back my lien."
"No problem. So, are you up for one more?"
"Is it a bet match?" Yang asked.
Ruby shook her head. "Nope."
Fueled with determination, Yang willingly said 'hell yeah' as the two started a new match. But before they could even start it, the intercom tuned on as Professor Ozpin's voice came on.
"Excuse this interruption, all hunters and huntress and staff members, please head to the amphitheater. Again, all hunters, huntress, and staff members head to the amphitheater. Thank you."
Immediately, all students in the library finished what they were doing and headed straight to the amphitheater. Team JNPR packed their notes and other class related things as well as Team RWBY. Ruby folded and put away Remnant: The Game as the eight students left the library and headed straight to the amphitheater.
"So does anyone know what this is all about?" The leader of Team JNPR, Jaune Arc asked, "Why Professor Ozpin called everyone to the amphitheater during lunch-time?"
"We're just on the same page as you are." His teammate, Pyrrha Nikos, replied, "But if I were to guess, I would say they're planning to build an addition building to the academy, probably a new lecture hall."
"Or maybe it has to do with the Beacon Dance?" Ruby jumped in on the conversation.
"It can't be about the dance," Weiss shut down Ruby's theory, "it has to be something very important that Professor Ozpin himself would announce."
"So what do you think it is then?" Ruby inquired her frosty teammate.
Weiss took a few seconds to ponder before responding. "I believe that it has something to do with adding newer classes and that they're going to hire professional hunters to teach those classes."
"While I, personally, think it's about the Vytal Festival," Yang suggested. "The school already has enough classes as it is, so I don't think it's going to happen any time soon."
Blake sighed as she shook her head. "I really don't know or care about what Professor Ozpin has to say, I just a bad feeling about this."
Soon enough, both teams entered the amphitheater where it was heavily packed with students muttering to each other about what was going to happen. There were almost no available chairs for the two teams to sit on, but luckily thanks to Ren's keen eyesight, there was eight available chairs that were in middle of the amphitheater. Sliding by a few students and a few 'pardons', the two teams took their seats. And just like that, Ozpin stepped onto the stage.
As soon as the hunters and huntress quiet down, he then spoke to them. "Thank you all for coming. My sincere apologies for notifying on such a short notice."
Professor Port and Professor Oobleck rolled their eyes at Ozpin's apology for this sudden announcement. "I have summoned you all here is because a few minutes ago, I received a call from our prime minister."
A lot of students whispered amongst themselves after hearing that the Vale prime minister had just contacted their academy.
"He told me to turn on the news for all of you as he and the other prime ministers are going to broadcast live all over Remnant." Ozpin finished his announcement as he turned his head to the side and nodded at the technician.
He then walked to the side as the technician pressed a few buttons on the control panel, causing the giant projection screen to drop from the ceiling and an embedded scroll to project the broadcast onto the screen. All students looked up at the projected screen as a face appeared. It was a full profile of the Vale prime minister who was displayed on the screen. At the same time, the prime ministers of Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo broadcast their own addresses to their respective kingdom.
Vale Capital, Vale.
"People of Vale, this is your prime minister speaking." His face looked stern at all of his broadcast. "As all of you are well aware, we, including the other three kingdoms, are facing a dangerous, malicious, cruel, and heartless monster. A monster who is more powerful than the Grimm threat itself. A monster who obliterated three cities of Remnant: Augustgrad, Chorus, and Providence. All destroyed in a blink of an eye. A monster you all well know as 'Pain'."
The public audience gasped and muttered to themselves.
"Nevertheless, do not fret. We can not allow this 'Pain' to bully us any longer. I and the other prime ministers feel the same way and I'm fully sure you do too. And because of this, we share the same intention on the removal of 'Pain'."
The Vale prime minister pressed a few buttons on the podium as the other three prime minister's face appeared on the giant screen behind the Vale prime minister, including his own face as he was broadcasting live. And vice-versa for the other prime ministers.
Atlas Capital, Atlas.
"...we shall discuss to you our future plans about this 'Pain' as well as the future of Remnant. What this monster is doing now is simply wrong and immoral!" The Atlas prime minister continued.
"This is what I thought through my own and that is that."
The Atlas prime minister winced at the cold, monotonous voice before checking behind him. The screen showed himself staring at the screen before the camera-bot zoomed out and pointed at the sky.
From the live footage, there was a man who was standing in the air. A man who was referred by many as the Devil, the monster, the god, the wicked, the living embodiment of evil itself, etc. The man who is known as Pain.
The god descended downward from the sky and landed on the podium as the Atlas prime minister fled from the mere sight of him before the Atlas security team surrounded the god, aiming their rifles true to their target. Pain merely folded his arms and the Atlas security team were blasted into the air, instantly incapacitated the Atlas Soldiers.
The four kingdoms of Remnant watched in anxiety, eager and terrify as to what he is about to say. Pain looked directly at the camera-bot, who was recording him, and spoke in a formal manner.
"People of Remnant, this is god speaking."
Beacon Academy, Vale.
Controversy sparked throughout Remnant as most of them jeered at Pain, shouting out horrible names.
"He's a fuckin' monster!"
"Heartless Freak!"
"A fucking Tyrant!"
"The Devil himself!"
"Vile beast!
"Silence!" Professor Goodwitch silenced the angry mob of students with a threatening tone.
"...continue your animosity. You'll only quicken your death..."
Immediately, everyone who was watching this broadcast silenced themselves. But their hatred towards him did not quell, just kept to a low.
Atlas Capital, Atlas.
Once the crowd was absolutely quiet, Pain continued.
"With beings taught with only hatred, it seems you people are quite intelligent."
Some members of the crowd took that as an insult.
"You must be exceedingly curious as to what brings my presence here." The crowd only glared daggers towards him, "As expected. But before explaining anything, allow me to discuss this world's history and my history with you as a way to better comprehend one another."
Beacon Academy, Vale.
"Another history lesson? Not this again." Nora complained.
"Nora, this is important." Ren reminded his teammate/partner, "This broadcast will be recorded in our history."
"But it's sooooo boring!" Nora whined.
"Nora." Like being a mother to a child, the hunter scolded the hyperactive huntress.
"Okay..." She gave in, "But it doesn't mean I'll enjoy it."
Pain continued his speech, regardless of the two student's conversation.
"...many years ago, humanity fought themselves in countless battles over countless reasons, one being individualism. As with time, the war came to an end and in its aftermath was the formation of the four kingdoms..."
Menagerie.
"...but, even after the war was over, there still was conflict. The Faunus Rights Revolution..."
In their home, Ghira Belladonna and Kali Belladonna watched the live broadcast with dread filling them to the brim. Blake's father still remembers what his grandfather had to endure from those humans.
There weren't the only ones watching the news; everyone on the island of Menagerie was watching too. Even White Fang's Menagerie branch tuned into the news.
Mount Glenn, Vale.
"...humanity wanted to cage faunus like feral animals and because of their actions, faunus retaliate in return causing war to break out once more..."
Members of White Fang's Vale branch stopped what it is they were doing and joined their fellow members at the television set. A lot of them were dipped in remorse, remembering their late ancestors fighting for freedom from that horrible, bloody war. Even after they had won, faunus are still facing prejudice and racism.
"What the hell's going on?!" Their supplier, Roman Torchwick, demanded to know, "Get back to work!"
The faunus ignored the thief, ticking him off even further.
"Get your lazy asses off the T.V. and get back..." Roman literally dropped the cigar from his lips after capturing an image of Pain on the television.
Meanwhile, in another room, Adam Taurus watched the news from his scroll, puffed out air from his nose. He remembered what faunus had to endure from humans and he hated them since. This live broadcast only resurfaced his rage.
Junior's Club, Vale.
"...too many people died in this world..."
Hei 'Junior' Xiong was wiping an already polished beer mug while watching the live broadcast. His eyes fixed onto the hanging flat screen television. His bodyguards, Melanie and Miltiades, were watching the news too; downing a shot of alcohol.
The ice-pack on his head slipped, but Junior caught it in the nick of time before adjusting it back on top.
Patch, Vale.
"...all that anger and despair brought forth Grimm to this rotten world..."
In a particular tavern, the same news was being broadcasted on the television and their scrolls. While everyone in the tavern was glued onto the live broadcast of Pain, a certain hunter was instead drowning himself with beer.
"Another..." Mumbled Qrow Branwen who was half drunk and half asleep.
Too bad nobody paid attention to his drunken rambles.
Meanwhile, at Signal Academy, Taiyang Xiao Long and the other teachers watched the live broadcast with their students. They were in their own amphitheater after their dean summoned them here. The father of Ruby and Yang swallowed in anxiety from the fear of Pain.
Kuroyuri, Mistral.
"...to those who are intrigued about my origin, I hail from a different world. A world where war and violence were everyday solutions..."
Raven Branwen, the leader of her tribe, scowled at the live footage of Pain's speech. To relief her frustration, she stabbed the tree next to her and began peeling of bark.
General Ironwood's Airship, Vale.
"...a world where bigger nations forced smaller clans to wage war against each other and profited from it..."
James Ironwood glared at the holographic broadcast of Pain's speech with disgust plastered on his face. Along with the Atlas General were the Atlesian pilots and engineers that took a pause in their works to stare at the holographic projector.
Only a single Atlesian Knight was bold enough to ask General Ironwood, "SHOULD WE ENGAGE PAIN, GENERAL IRONWOOD?"
"Not yet." He told the machine soldier, "I need to see this to the end. Wait for Pain to end his speech, then engage him. Relay that order to all of our soldiers."
"YES SIR, GENERAL."
Outskirts of Atlas Capital, Atlas.
"...each time they fought, many lands including my own were ravaged and lay to waste..."
Three Capital-Class Airships approached ever-so-closer towards the Capital of Atlas where Pain was broadcasting his speech live. One of these Atlesian Airships was Specialist Schnee's Flagship.
Special Operative Winter Schnee sat on her command chair, getting impatient by the second.
"How much longer?" She inquired one of her pilots.
"E.T.A. five minutes." The pilot answered, "We'll be at the destination in no time, ma'am."
"Deploy all available fighters once we have reached the coordinates." Specialist Schnee ordered her forces, "It has been too long and I can not wait any further. Pain will perish this day."
Suddenly, one of the Atlesian Knight chirped up, "SPECIALIST SCHNEE. WE RECEIVED A CALL FROM GENERAL IRONWOOD."
"Patch him through."
The Atlesian engineer then pressed a button as the holographic screen was changed from Pain's profile to Ironwood's profile.
"General Ironwood, we have let this monster roam Remnant from more than a decade. I am not stopping the fleet." Winter argued.
"Winter, I'm not ordering you to halt your fleet." James explained, "But I am ordering you to wait for him to end his speech."
"Why?" She questioned her general, "What does this monster have to speak for?!"
"Just hear him out. That is an order."
"Yes sir." her voice was dipped in bitterness.
Schnee Dust Company HQ, Atlas.
"...all that pain forced me to grow up and doing so made me realize the truth. That even innocent, foolish little children will grow up in the face of pain, until their thoughts and beliefs are the same as adults..."
Jacques Schnee stared the broadcast, completely unease to do almost anything but watch. And occasionally, drinking his coffee. He was alone in his office, previously reading some paperwork until his intercom beeped.
"Uh sir, your 1:00 appointment just arrived. Should I send him in?"
The C.E.O. was shaken from his gaze and answered his intercom, "No... tell him to come in tomorrow."
"Yes, sir. Anything else, sir?"
"Cancel all of my existing appointments and reschedule them for tomorrow." He didn't feel like doing anything for the rest of today, but only to watch Pain's broadcast.
"Yes, sir."
Unknown Location, ?
"...however I, mired in endless pain, have matured and become just more than a man..."
The high leader of White Fang, Sienna Khan, watched the live broadcast in the dark with a few growls escaping her mouth.
Salem's Castle, ?
"...I've grown from a man… to a god. And since I'm god, all my words and thoughts have become absolute. It's not your fault if you don't know what I'm saying. You're just mortals who can't grasp the ideology of a god..."
"Oh yeah?! Well, how about I shove my stinger up your ass!" Tyrian shouted at the holographic projection of Pain's speech.
"You moronic animal, can't you speak some form of intelligence?" Dr. Watts scolded the scorpion faunus for his obnoxious behavior.
"Or you can just bite me, Professor Wats!"
"You insolent pest, it's Doctor Watts!"
"Enough." Salem silenced the room with a soft yet controlling voice, "Tyrian, please be more considerate towards your colleges and quiet down. Arthur, control your arrogant personality of you. At times, it proves to be a nuisance."
"Okay..." Tyrian piped down.
"Fine, I guess I'll try to control my rude behavior." Dr. Watts admitted.
Just like a mother, Salem was able to defuse the tensions between her subordinates. Only Hazel was the one who didn't speak during the live broadcast.
"Now then, what can you tell me about this man?"
"Only that he's a fool." Dr. Watts commented, "And the world is a bigger fool if they fear him."
"Yeah, he's all talk and no bite!" Tyrian noted, "Three cities in twelve years? HA! I could destroy cities four times than he could ever dream of!"
"But he could prove to be a threat." Hazel finally spoke up.
"Yes, the world fears him." Salem spoke while the audio was still playing in the background, "But there is a reason why they fear him."
"And that would be?" The doctor asked.
"Even though the world hardly recognize who I am, there are a few others like Ozpin who acknowledge my existence." Salem admitted, "To Pain, however, is entirely different. The world acknowledges his existence and yet they do not understand who he is or his origins."
"Until now." Hazel spoke up, "He said that he was from a different world."
"And that what makes him terrifying to all of Remnant." The witch noted, "He is an outsider. Someone who is not from this realm. Someone who could just as easily jeopardize my goal. If I'm to destroy humanity, I must make them fear me."
"You're not afraid of Pain, are you?" The scorpion faunus asked.
"No my dear Tyrian. I am Salem. The monsters fear me."
Beacon Academy, Vale.
"...but at last, I'm going to put an end to this hate-filled world. This will be my sacred deed..."
"I wonder what he means by that." Peter Port muttered.
"I'm not sure myself," Bartholomew Oobleck admitted, "but whatever it might be, it could shape Remnant's future entirely."
"...years ago, I found a way to tame the feral beasts of Remnant to my will. You refer to them as 'Grimm'..."
Patch, Vale.
"...I will use these beasts to create an army of Grimm. An army of such magnitude that can destroy an entire kingdom. It will be the most powerful force ever conceived..."
The rambunctious nature of the tavern caused the sleeping Qrow to be abruptly woken up. "What the hell..."
The hunter glanced around and saw what the commotion was all about.
"Pain." His voice was dipped in venom and alcohol.
Haven Academy, Mistral.
"...just think, hundreds of thousands of people will die slowly. And all of mankind will quake in terror. All of humanity, all of the kingdoms will know what pain truly is..."
The headmaster of Haven Academy, Professor Lionheart, was disgusted how this monster considered himself as a 'god'. If anything, Remnant should fear Salem not Pain.
Beacon Academy, Vale.
"...however, there is a way to stop all of this from happening. A year from now, four of this world's best warriors will travel to the Dauntless Isles. From there, they will have to fight for the future of this world..."
Immediately, everyone in the amphitheater was losing their minds.
"Holy shit! He wants us to fight him?!"
"Is he insane?!"
"We're going to lose!"
"Oh fuck, we're all going to die!"
"Silence!" Professor Goodwitch again silenced the terrified crowd of students with a threatening tone.
"...I am not lying. If they were to fail, I will march upon your cities leaving nothing, but remnants of what was a kingdom..."
Atlas Capital, Atlas.
"This world is like a child, you see. It is still in the process of maturing, and on a path to stability." Pain continued. "Pain will force the world to grow up, just like it forced me to grow up. In order for the world to develop, learn to think and walk on its own, it needs a help of a god's hand..."
Pain suddenly stopped his speech to take a looked up to the skies as a humongous shadow engulfed him and the audience. The looming shadow belonged to the three Atlesian Airships that overshadowed the broadcast.
"Launch all fighters." Winter ordered.
An Atlesian pilot nodded as he pressed a few buttons, launching all active Atlesian fighters from the three Airship. Back on the ground, the audience were startled by the sudden appearance of the Atlesian Airships. Some even fled the scene. Pain, on the other hand, was not impressed and he didn't retreat. Instead, as the fighters came flying down at the podium, the god simply waved his hand.
"Shinra Tensei."
Instantaneously, all the fighters crashed into each other without even reaching him. This resulted in a chain explosion where all the Atlesian fighters were destroyed by Pain with ease. On Winter's Flagship, everyone was somewhat shocked by the awe destruction of their fighters. Not giving them a chance to react, Pain waved his hand down.
"Banshō Ten'in."
With a powerful force, all three Atlesian Airships slowly came crashing down from the skies. Smokes and small explosions erupted from the Airships as they descend downward towards the Capital. The camera-bot broadcasted this live event to the rest of Remnant as they get to watch three Airships crash into the Capital of Atlas. Pain watched the people scramble for safety, fleeing for their lives as three Capital-Class Airships approached ever-so-closer towards the Capital of Atlas. Well, 'were crashing down' is the more appropriate word for 'approached'.
With his work here complete, Pain disappeared in a puff a smoke leaving the viewers very terrified as they watched people running for their lives from the falling Airships. Back on the Winter's Flagship, everything was in chaos. The controls were on the fritz as the alarm blared out deafening sounds. Not to mention turbulence too.
"Everyone, remain calm!" Winter attempted to restore order to her panicking crew.
"WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS, SPECIALIST SCHNEE?" Her personal Atlesian Knight asked.
Winter pondered for a bit before ordering out, "Everyone, to the escape pods! This ship has fallen!"
Beacon Academy, Vale.
In Team RWBY's dorm later that night, the huntresses, excluding Ruby, were doing their nightly routine before heading to sleep. Weiss was polishing her 'Myrtenaster' on her bed, Blake was reading her novel below her, and Yang was on her scroll in bed. Even though they acted like if this was a regular school night, they were pretty uneasy. Pain's speech to Remnant shook everyone up so badly that Professor Goodwitch had to step in; what happened next wasn't pretty.
While cleaning her 'Myrtenaster', the ice princess's mind began to drift in thought. The only thing she could think of was Pain.
She loathed Pain. Just everything about him made her angry and scared at the same time. She was only five when she witnessed Pain murdered her grandfather without any remorse, forcing her father to take over as heir to Schnee Dust Company at an early age. Caught up with work and dealing with White Fang at the same time, Weiss never had a good childhood as her father became cold and distant towards his own family. Another reason was those deranged cultists that worshiped Pain. They called themselves the Order of Pain.
She could remember that night like if it was yesterday.
A few years ago.
Atlas Capital, Atlas.
"...and once you arrive home, work on your studies, understand young lady?" Weiss's father coldly told her, as Weiss nodded over the scroll.
"Understood, father."
She had a bit of aversion left in her mouth after the two agreed on neutral terms. Jacques spoke again without spraining a single muscle on his face.
"I will see you in the next two weeks from now."
"Father, if I may." Weiss wanted to ask her father something before he disconnected from the video-cam.
"What is it."
"Can I enlist in Atlas Academy?" Weiss asked her father, as her goal was to become a huntress and join the Atlesian Military's Special Operatives Unit like her older sister. And maybe one day, take control of her father's company.
"I'm still thinking about it. Goodbye."
Jacques then disconnected from the video-cam. The young Schnee wanted to throw her scroll on the floor of the limousine to vent out her frustration, but instead took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Why can't father realize that I'm more than a priceless family figure?" Weiss mentally asked herself, not paying attention to her surroundings whatsoever.
The limousine came to a stop when a homeless person, strolling a cart filled with his belongings, crossed the road. His face was hidden with a hoodie. The chauffeur honked at the old man, telling him to hurry up. What the driver didn't realize was that he was carrying a fully loaded automatic handgun.
The homeless man then fired a few rounds at the chauffeur who succumbed after a few shots. Weiss let out a scream of terror as she just witnessed her chauffeur's death before her eyes. Her bodyguards, who were with her, got out from the limo, pulled out their handguns and returned fire at him. The homeless man was incapacitated from only a single shot to his shoulder. Out of nowhere, a large number of robe people came out from the dark alleyway and attacked the two bodyguards, overwhelming them with numbers. Weiss watched in horror as her bodyguards were repeatedly stabbed to death by these robed men.
Not soon after, the window next to the heiress shattered after someone smashed it with a brick. A number of hands reached through the broken window and attempted to grab the young Schnee by her hair. Weiss cried in pain as the robed people tugged her hair tightly. She tried to get away from the wave of hands, but unfortunately, she was successfully pulled out from limousine and forced onto her knees. One of the robed men pulled back her snow hair, forcing her to see the man who will be her executioner.
What happened next horrified Weiss so much that she still remembered his face even to this day. One of the hooded men pulled back his hood, revealing to be a middle-age Gray Wolf-faunus who wore a judge's wig. He had a deep scar that sketched across his mouth.
"Weiss Schnee!" The faunus spoke with an English accent, "You have been charged with the countless death of faunus who have slaved away in your father's mines! How do you plead?"
Weiss grew a tick-mark on her forehead. "What is this?! This is not even a real court case! You're just going to kill me, you uncultured swine!"
Even though she kneeling down and her arms pinned behind her back, the heiress did not appreciate it when a total stranger tries to play judge on her. They're just going to declare her guilty anyway. However, the wolf-faunus did not appreciate her for calling him a swine as he slapped her because of that.
"I am no filthy pig!" He shouted, completely ignoring the 'Hey!' from one of the pig-faunus cult members. "I am a Canis Lupus. A hard working Canis Lupus. However, that was robbed from me by that gluttony swine you call as a father!"
Again, completely ignoring the vexed pig-faunus in the background. Poor guy.
"Now, I and other like myself will rob him of something most precious to him. You!" From his cultist robes, he pulled out a knife. "You will offer your blood to our glorious god!"
The two robed men behind Weiss shifted their weight, making sure that she wouldn't escape her sacrifice.
"I want this bitch to suffer the same way her family has made us suffer. Today, my fellow members, this offering will most please our lord and savior, Pain."
"Hail Pain!"
"Our one true god!"
"Oum is dead!"
Members of this cult began cheering his name into the night sky. Weiss, on the other hand, was disgusted by how these people see Pain as a god.
Weiss cried for help as the two men behind her pulled back her hair, causing Weiss to stare directly at the horrifying, insane cult leader wolf-faunus. He raised his knife into a stabbing position, pointing the weapon at her stomach.
"I won't kill now, but you will die a slow painful death. Lord Pain demands your wails of misery to be as long as possible."
But before he could stab Weiss, an ice beam directly hit his back, freezing him entirely. The cultist members looked at where the ice beam came from and saw Atlas Military's Special Operatives Unit, Winter Schnee.
And accompanying her was a squad of Atlesian Knights. She retracted her sword back and blew on the ice mist from her sword. Now, the cultist was truly frightened even though they are facing only a small portion of the Atlas military. Blowing off their assassination, they began to panic and fled the scene.
"Don't let them escape, capture all of them." Winter pointed her sword at the cult members, ordering the Atlesian Knights to hunt and capture the fleeing cult members.
As soon as the knights nodded and left to hunt down the cult members, Winter walks up to her younger sister and extended her hand.
"Need a hand?"
Weiss grabbed her older sister's hand, hugged her sister once she got up. Winter hugged Weiss back while patting her younger sister's shoulder.
"Don't fret, I'm here now."
Present time.
Beacon Academy, Vale.
Determined to never be pushed down by anyone again, she trained herself to become a huntress with the help of private instructors, hired by Winter and her butler, Klein. Overtime, Weiss learned how to hone her skills as a huntress and eventually enroll into a hunter's academy. Only to learn that she will be sent to Beacon Academy, much to her dismay.
Deep inside her soul held her true intentions. One day, she will step up and kill Pain. And then take control over her father's company.
Blake Belladonna was trying to read her novel, but she couldn't get into it for some reason. Maybe after Pain's entire speech about destroying the four kingdoms, it boggled her mind so much that she couldn't focus on anything.
The only thing she could think of was that incident that drove her friend, Adam Taurus, into darkness.
Years ago.
An hour from Chorus, Mistral.
The truck ride was unusually quiet. A few hours ago, members of Vale's White Fang had just robbed toys from a Schnee-funded toy factory in Vale. Why? Well, they were trying to help the faunus orphanages in Mistral as they were in need of toys for the children to play with during Christmas (or whatever the holiday is in Remnant). And since faunus racism was still a thing, those orphanages were treated less than shit.
And so, Adam and his faction opted to deliver top quality toys to the faunus orphans. Right now, they were on their way to meet up with Mistral's White Fang to deliver presents as well as food supplies and clothing. Their mission was a complete success; they were able to steal enough toys for the orphans to get one of their own.
While White Fang was celebrated their success, only one wasn't feeling the holiday mood.
Blake sat right next to the door, dejected and ignoring her faunus colleagues that were riding with her. She hugged her knees close to her, sulking quietly to herself. Her moments of privacy was later interrupted when she hear a familiar voice, calling her name.
"Blake, what's wrong?"
The cat-faunus looked up and saw her friend standing in front of her with his annoying, yet amenity smile.
"Why are you moping around instead of celebrating?" He asked, "It is the most wonderful time of the year."
"Sorry, I just pondering about if we have enough food and supplies for the orphanages." She lied.
Adam immediately knew something was bothering his feline friend, "Blakey, I can tell when you're lying."
"W-whut? I'm not lying." She denied it, "That's the truth."
"Blakey, is there anything bothering you? Something you need to talk about?" He sat down right next to her.
"Adam, I'm fine. Can you just let it be?"
"No, I am not leaving until you tell me what's wrong."
Blake turned away from Adam without saying another word. The bull-faunus then placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Blake, do you why I joined White Fang?"
No response.
"Well, I joined White Fang to make a difference. I took an oath to protect faunus-kind from those racist humans and find a general understanding with humans who want to end faunus-discrimination. But that wasn't the only case."
The feline-faunus twitched her ear.
"I also took an oath to understand my fellow kind. To know what is it like in their shoes. Or paws. I know this sounds very corny, but the point is, I don't want anyone of us to keep secrets. Here in White Fang, we're here for you. No matter if you leave White Fang or not, we'll still treat you with respect."
"Adam..." Unwinding up after Adam's short speech, Blake decided to speak out her feelings. "It's about the robbery…"
Adam looked confused, "What about it? We managed to pull it off with no casualties on both sides and high amount of grade-A toys stolen. What's there to be sad about?"
After hearing Adam boasted about how successful the robbery was, Blake only sank in her arms.
"Crap." Blake heard Adam muttered to himself as he apologized, "Blake, I'm so sorry if I offended you in any way. I shouldn't have talked about it when you're clearly down."
The feline-faunus sniffed. "It's fine, I just don't want to talk about it."
"Blake, talk to me. What's causing you so much pain?"
"It's…" She was having a hard time trying to spill it, "It's that... I killed a human, okay?!"
Blake sighed in relief after getting it all out of her head but also felt guilt along with it. Tears began forming in her eyes as she tried to cover them with the palm of her hands.
"There was a casualty during the robbery. I killed a human being! A living being! He wouldn't stop and I begged him, but he wouldn't stop! I never ever wanted to kill him, but he left me with no choice! Adam, he was going to kill me! Oum, I hate myself! I hate that I had to kill! I'm just a heartless monster who took a life from a human! I'm no better than the humans! And I don't deserve to be in White Fang anymore!"
"Blake."
"What?!"
Adam hugged the crying Blake, causing her to cry even more.
"Blake, it's okay. Just let it out." He told her. "Cry on my shoulders if you have to, just let it out."
The sobbing cat-faunus wailed loudly, unaware of her surroundings. She just cried.
"It hurts..."
"I know."
After an awkward crying session, Blake began to feel a bit better from Adam's warm comfort. When she pulled back her head, her eyes met Adam's, who was smiling like if it was nothing.
"Are you feeling a little bit better now?" Blake nodded as Adam's grin widen, "Good to hear!"
"Sir!" White Fang member came up to Adam with terror frozen on his face.
"Tukson, what seems to be the problem?" Adam asked.
"You might want to come outside."
Years ago.
Chorus, Mistral.
The members of the Vale branch were staring in terror at the cliff view of the city. Smoke and rubble are what remained of Chorus. A few of them dropped to the ground, mourning over the death of their loved ones. The rest bit their teeth, mourning discreetly.
"Tukson." The wolverine-faunus turned his head, "What happened? Who was responsible?"
Instead of responding, Tukson handed Adam his scroll with a video on it. Without a delay, he pushed the play button.
"If you're watching this video, Adam," The White Fang member recorded, "it's too late. Pain just resurfaced and is currently standing over Chorus. You know what that means."
In the footage, the White Fang base began to shake abruptly causing a few to fall on their faces. Then, a multitude of screams echoed the building as the faunus on camera turned to see where the screams came from, not before screaming himself. The video ends there.
Adam hands back the scroll to Tukson before dropping to his knees and letting out a big cry.
"RAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
Present time.
Beacon Academy, Vale.
After the destruction of Chorus, White Fang had lost nearly their Mistral branch. Some of them were very close to Adam. Ever since that incident, Blake watched Adam slowly fell from grace. He became distant from Blake yet still calls her friend, he started to resort to violence during heists, he even used torture methods on humans to 'extract intel' as he would usually say. Finally, the day where Adam fell into darkness was the day she left White Fang. The train heist left its mark in her memory.
Yang was browsing on her scroll, trying to forget Pain's speech to the world. But no matter what, she can't escape it as Pain's speech was all over the web. Thousands of news articles on Pain flooded her screen, much to the annoyance of Yang.
"Enough with Pain already! I just want to see the latest hot news on Gavin Free and the Achieve Men." Her mind was filled with dirty thoughts on the young boy band, especially her celebrity crush.
"Hey, girls." Ruby had just come out from the bathroom, "Wow, it's so quiet in here."
Weiss glared at her team leader, "Ruby, it's 10:40. Of course, it's going to be quiet in here."
"Oh, sorry." Ruby sweatdropped. "I was just trying to lighten up the mood."
"Rubes, I know you're trying to cheer us up after that dreadful speech," Yang told her, "but it's really late now and we're all going to sleep."
Weiss nodded, "Yeah I need some beauty sleep if I'm ever going to endure another one of Port's lectures."
Putting away her rapier, the snow princess went to bed.
"Well, thanks for being very cheerful." Blake gave her team leader a small smile before setting her novel on the book stand and going to sleep.
Yang was the second to last one to go to sleep as she yawned. "Get to bed soon, sis. I'm already tired."
Ruby nodded, but a sudden realization exploded in her head. "Ah, nuts!"
"What's wrong?" Even when the blonde brute was tired, she was concerned for her younger sister.
Ruby replied, "I left my textbooks back at the library!"
"You better hurry, the library is closing soon." Yang reminded Ruby as the young huntress dashed out her dorm room to recover her books.
After convincing the librarian to hold the door for her, Ruby speed-walked inside because this was a library and quickly found her textbooks. She grabbed her books and speed-walked toward the exit. After thanking the librarian, who was more than vexed at this point, Ruby dashed back to her dorm where she accidentally crashed into another student on the way. The two students fell down on the floor as Ruby dropped her books.
"Oh my Oum! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you coming." Ruby apologized to the student, pushing herself up and extending her arm to the student.
"It's fine." The student managed to get up on his own.
Ruby was very perplexed at the student. For starters, he was facing the opposite way when he was talking to her.
"Uh… I'm right here." Ruby tried her best not to be rude to her newly 'encountered' peer.
"Oh, I didn't notice where you were," The student replied with his back facing Ruby, "So where you are?"
"I'm standing right behind you." Ruby answered the student as he turned to face her.
It was then that she realized why the student was acting so strange; he was completely blind. Examining his appearance, the student wore a long black robe with a red line running down the center along with a gray leather armor that covered only his midsection with a pouch attached to it. He had pale skin and straight red hair that covered his right eye and the headband that covered both of his eyes. He also had a relatively large sword attached to his back.
"Thanks." The blind student said. "I'll help you with those books."
The student bent down and started to search for the textbooks that Ruby dropped with his hands.
"No no no." Ruby stopped the student from helping her as he stood up, "It's fine, I can carry my own books."
Ruby picked up her textbooks from the ground. "Well, I gotta go, it's really late and I need to get up early for class tomorrow."
But before she headed back to her room, she remembered something, "Wait! We've never introduced. I'm Ruby. What's yours?"
"Nagato."
Edit (1/28/17): Holy fuck that was a long rework.
1. Edit some paragraphs.
2. Corrected grammar problems.
3. Added new content.
After reading Hawk Plight by The Obsidian Pen, I decided to make some trivia.
1. Pain's speech is what Pain told Jiraiya in the English Dub. I thought it could fit in with the chapter.
2. Originally, I planned for you guys to decide if Nagato has a team. Then after reading some RWBY fanfics, I realized that it's more easy to write Nagato alone than him in a team.
3. The reason it took so long to publish the chapter is because this is almost like two chapters in one. (Started at 2-19-16 and ended at 3-25-16)
PM if you want to ask me a question on the story.
Edit (3-26-16): This isn't Nagato's real body. It's a corpse that looks like him. I will explain it next chapter.
Beacon Academy, Vale.
"I've grown from a man to a god-a god-a god. I've grown-to a god."
Mercury Black was fiddling around with the video timeline. His female associate, Emerald Sustrai, was not amused.
"You idiot. Stop fiddling around with the video. It's annoying."
He looked at her with a deadpan before playing the video with dubstep. (Thank god, we don't have to endure that god-damn robot music that some old guy caught his kid listening to.)
"She's right, you know."
Immediately, Emerald stopped whatever she was doing and paid attention to her superior, Cinder Fall. Mercury didn't care anyway but did pause the video.
"We can't have our covers blown." The amber-eyed woman noted.
"Hmm." Mercury tossed his scroll on his bed.
"Uh, boss?" The dark-skinned girl asked, "About the speech."
"What about it?"
"Well, uh, you know what he said, right?"
"Yes, I know. You and I watched the entire broadcast while Mercury..."
The son of Marcus black shrugged his shoulders.
"...was on his scroll the entire time. But regardless, I'm not afraid of what he says."
"Why is that?" Emerald asked.
"Once I obtain the other half," Cinder's hand ignites a miniature fireball, "it won't matter anymore."