Helghast Emergence War, Vacuo Southern Theater...

Black clouds darkened a once open sky, a burning forest around a village in despair showed through the blackness in a furious red glow, as if apocalyptic devastation was upon the poor Vacuoan village. One would say in a way that was not far from the truth, in an unexpected show of might, the wrath of a nation, one of near Godlike power had been unleashed without so much as a forewarning to the utter annihilation it would wreak.

Then again, who'd think any less of Helghast nation?

Civilians scrambled left and right in the hellish chaos, doing their very best to avoid the indiscriminate muzzle flashes coming from the foresty inferno as infantry followed behind tanks with mounted flamethrowers, the Vacuoan militia could do very little against the vastly superior weapons held in the hands of a professional army that showed no restraint in their fighting.

Their rules of war, their rules of engagement were simply brushed aside by the Helghast infantry that advanced ever so slowly like a taunting dagger being shoved through at a snail's pace, taking great care in holding down the unwilling subject of their anger, taking pleasure in their despair and torment.

Buildings crumbled as flames ravaged their wooden structures, wood turned to ash and steel turned into liquid, rolling treads tore up the brick walkways, gardens ignited into bonfires for but a whisper, leaving only blackened hard soil in their wake. Homes were burned, school houses torn asunder, people lied mangled.

Hope was grasping on by a thread.

A Helghast trooper planted his foot on a militia man's back as he tried to crawl, the Human breathed raggedly as the added weight strained his ribs against brick and stone, his spine and tendons whined as they were being pushed to a breaking point.

"Please," The Human whimpered with a trembling lip, burning tears rolling down his soot covered cheeks as a light trail of mucus poured onto his lip, "please!"

The Helghast regarded the brown-haired Human with a snort, it was pathetic that a warrior was begging like this, moving the barrel of his assault rifle by an inch he grinned as the man's pupils dilated in stark fear, with a small squeeze of the trigger the Human's face ceased to be anything worth looking at.

Militia men started retreating as tank cannons roared, their cover becoming little more than smoldering craters, some had the fool hardly belief in that they were interested in taking prisoners, they just died with without a means to go down with honor, instead they died begging and mewling for non-existent mercy believing that the Helghast had some sort of definition of the word in the first place.

Some Helghast troopers had forced several injured Militia men against a wall, fresh wounds along their shoulders and arms bled liberally as they leaned against the wall, ash covered faces stared forward with despair as they saw what remained of their once proud prosperous village light up in hungry all-consuming flames, the fires burned as angrily as the eye pieces of their merciless executioners.

However, they were unable to get a shot off as a pink blur passed behind the Helghast and in a flash their heads fell from their shoulders, blood squirted like sprinklers from the sudden decapitation, covering the stunned Militia men as a small surge of hope made its way into their hearts and minds at their new reinforcements.

The Huntsmen arrived.

Their savior stood flicking blood off of her katana, standing just slightly shorter than the rest of them with a bit more youthful features than the weathered ragtag soldiers wearing a bright red and pink Hitatare robe with armor upon her shoulders, "Go! We'll keep you guys covered!"

Needing no other word from the young Huntress the Militia men ran as fast as they could with what remained of fleeing townsfolk, whatever bravery they had before being no longer present in the wake of utter annihilation at the hands of the Helghast invaders.

She could not blame them, if not for her training the sights and sounds of the battle would've most certainly sent the young Huntress fleeing from the battlefield, the Grimm could not have been any more destructive as the Helghast but they were at least predictable whereas the Helghast had a very Humanlike intelligence capable of far worst atrocities than the near mindless dark monsters.

Soft brown eyes took in the smoldering corpses of buildings meant for commerce and livelihood crumble under their own weight, dozens of corpses littered the street; Militia, men, women… children, unarmed, posing no threat at all to the monstrous beasts in gas masks.

Tears of anger, pain, sheer outrage wanted to pour out in a stinging fury, but with a few deep breathes the young woman's breathing was brought back into line, her hands gripped the katana tightly as a fireteam of Helghast spotted her, they raised their arms, but hesitated behind their sights for a second before leveling their front sight posts.

Behind the young Huntress stood a dozen more Huntsmen with swords, shields, spears, bows, and even a warhammer. They stood firm with righteous fury, poised to reap vengeance down upon the villainous Helghast forces for their trespasses against the people of Vacuo, for their senseless slaughter of unarmed defenseless civilians with no restraint.

Without so much of a battlecry the woman dashed forward bisecting an officer at his waist, slashing through the upper receiver of a rifle into the eye pieces of a reacting trooper following through in a single strike decapitating the man behind the first trooper as if his neck was made of butter.

Several arrows struck into two Heavy Troopers, sending the men backwards with two arrows planted in their eyepieces to make sure they stayed down. The man with a warhammer leapt unto a tank and smashed its cannon into an unusable angle, effectively disabling it, from a satchel he pulled out a Dust grenade, he kicked open the hatch and threw the grenade in, swiftly he jumped off as the tank exploded.

A Helghast trooper was bashed with a shield, being flung into a tree that crumbled from his force, no doubt killing him in the process, the shield and sword wielding Huntsman charged forward with four others that used his same equipment, their shields repelled a hailstorm of bullets as they closed the distance with another Helghast fireteam.

They broke formation after smashing into the riflemen, in swift motions they broke bones, rendered limbs from bodies and crushed gas masked faces with hits from the edges of their hearth shields. One impaled a Helghast with his sword, angling his wrist upwards the sword cut right through the collarbone and was brought right back down dividing the Helghast's head and neck down the middle.

A Spearman stabbed a Helghast through his heart, another Helghast flanked with a knife aimed for the Kidneys but he did not anticipate the Huntsman pressing a button that allowed his weapon to split apart with a near invisible thin fiber wire being the thing that connected the spearhead and shaft, the trooper had the misfortune of stepping right into the wire, the Huntsman raised his weapon slightly getting the Helghast's head caught between the wire and tugged hard, decapitating the trooper with ease. Pressing the button again and the spearhead retracted back to the spear with its previous host being flung to the ground.

During the battle three tanks had fell back towards the original entry from the forest and fire several rounds into the fray. One of the sword and shield using Huntsman was flung into a building from a direct round but fell to his knees as his blue Aura flared, several Helghast flew in pieces as a round struck them after the initial Huntsmen targets dashed away.

Though they had killed some Helghast they were still horribly outnumbered and outgunned, the fact made evident as Helghast troopers flanked from the sides and forced the Huntsmen to go on the retreat into a roofless building, surrounded by a now more serious force of Helghast, flames and rounds keeping them in the ravaged building.

It however made no sense to the young Huntress Swordswoman, the Helghast could have overran them by now but they were just herding them into the building.

"Camellia!" One of the young male swordsmen called wearing a Sallet helmet, "Why aren't they rushing us?"

Almost at the drop of a dime the gunfire stopped and an eerily silence had set in, the young Huntsmen and Huntresses peaked out slowly to see the Helghast soldiers had surrounded them, all of them in a low rest position, the tanks looked poised to bombard the building yet their commanders stood halfway out of the hatches.

Camellia's heart thumped in her chest violently as her eyes scanned the stoic soldiers that threatened to end their existence, her head snapped towards several of them parting from their formation as the tallest Helghast she had ever seen walk past them with his hands behind his back, a meek officer followed after the titanic man with fearful body language, as soon as they passed the soldiers filled the gap once more.

His uniform and armor was unique to the Huntsmen and Huntresses, they had never seen someone looking so ornate yet powerful from the Helghast until now, questions buzzed in their minds as the man stood not more than twenty feet from their building.

The large Helghast cocked his head at the battlefield, from burning buildings to the corpses on the ground. Strangely enough he knelt next to the corpse of a woman with no doubt what remained of a child she had held in her arms while being gunned down by Helghast weapons.

His large gloved hand moved the dead woman's cowl, Camellia saw him lift her slightly to see the child, gently he set the woman down over her child, his fingers lingering on her head for a few seconds before he stood back up to his full height. Surprisingly to the Vacuoan Huntsmen and Huntresses he suddenly grabbed the Officer and forced him down to the ground, making him look at the woman and child.

She shivered as his serpentlike voice hissed loud enough for everyone to hear, "I specifically said no civilians Reinhal, yet what do we have here?"

"S-sir-" The Helghast Officer choked pulling at the massive hand holding him.

"Were they given the day to evacuate their non-combatants!?" The Helghast demanded lifting his own man into the air with one arm.

The Officer was unable to reply as he choked in the tall man's grip, his legs trembling rapidly, his hands scratching at the gloved hand in desperation, "You dare not follow my orders to the letter, besmirch my name with the blood of non-combatants? War is for warriors, warriors follow orders!"

A loud crack was heard and the Officer's limbs fell limp, his head cocked to the left, the large Helghast growled lowly dropping the corpse to the ground, he turned his back to the Huntsmen and spoke to the Helghast soldiers, "I am beyond disappointed! We are not goddamn savages! We are the warriors of Helghan! We fight with honor and courage! There is no honor killing people that cannot fight back and most certainly no courage, YOU WILL FOLLOW MY EVERY ORDER OR I WILL CALL FOR AN OBLITERATION!"

Cameilla's eyes widened at the Helghast man, he was threatening the whole force for defying his orders on civilian casualties, he went as far as to berate them in front of their enemies with the ever-looming threat of "obliteration", whatever that meant to them in the context he used.

She didn't know what was scarier, the army itself, the man, or the fact that they all bowed their heads to him with their left arms stuck out in a salute.

"DO YOU GET ME!?" He demanded in a roar.

"YES, COLONEL RADEC, WE GET YOU SIR!" They replied raising their heads back to eye level.

"Colonel Radec?" Cameilla tested to herself, the name was unknown to her, yet she gathered that this man was no measly push over. His uniform was the most unique one that she had ever seen, the way he carried himself was full of confidence and strength, his voice sent a shiver down her spine, her hair stood up on the back of her neck, whenever he shouted it was like thunder clapping in a furious applause.

Her breath hitched as he snapped right back around, it seemed as through his eyepieces were burning through her like two hot red coals.

"I would like to formally apologize on behalf my men for this…" He looked around the village then down at the unarmed corpses, "massive tragedy. It was my intention to allow your leaders to evacuate your people, and allow us warriors to meet on the battlefield, with honor. Evidently I should have given the message out myself."

The Huntsmen were frozen, in fear, in confusion, reality seems to have left them, their software was currently not processing the information being given to it as it seemed one of the strangest things has happened to them. Their enemy, just apologized to them, for doing what they expected from them, strange times it seems.

"Allow me to formally introduce myself," Pressing his fingers against the side of his mask it opened up slightly showing the upper half of his face, "I am Colonel Mael Radec, my leader, my Autarch, has tasked me with taking over your Kingdom. This is a task I will complete for him."

Cameilla glared at the man, whipping up the bravest face she had, "We will stop you."

The Colonel eyed the Huntress, looking her up and down, "Is that so, woman?"

Her grip tightened around her sheathed katana, barely pushing it off of the scabbard in a threatening gesture, one which earned her the attention of every front sight post surrounding her, but the Huntress stood firm, holding the Colonel's stare.

Radec raised his hand to his men, "Lower your damn weapons. Very well then, I propose a deal. For compensation for the loss of life here, you can leave with peace, only if you can kill me of course."

The Huntress saw his eyes narrow, if she could guess it, he had a confident grin on his face. He wants them to fight him, but could they really take this man on? Was his word worth anything? Take away the army surrounding them it would be twelve Huntsmen and Huntresses versus one physically and psychology imposing man they knew nothing about.

While they are Huntsmen and Huntresses they are far from veterans, most of them like herself just graduated so they could join the war effort. Though he claimed to fight by himself the fact that he was not only a colonel but one the Autarch tasked with taking Vacuo made her weigh the pros and cons of the fight.

Pro, they outnumbered him. Con, they didn't know anything about him. Pro, they could cut the head off of the snake. Con, they could die. Pro, they'd die if they didn't fight him, they might at least do something good with their deaths and slow him down or at least injure him.

Two sword and shield using Huntsmen flanked her sides, three archers took positions along broken concrete barriers with arrows notched, swords and spearmen went out further to try and cover Radec in a crescent formation, to prevent him from escaping the fight if it didn't go his way.

The tall Huntsman with the Warhammer leapt out from behind the group in an overhead strike, with the intention to end the fight as quickly as possible with a debilitating strike meant to kill the Colonel, yet the Helghast dashed out of the fatal strikes range at the last moment, taking advantage of the over exerted Huntsmen with a swift knee into his face, sending the large man flying back thirty feet, sliding to a halt right before Cameilla.

Her eyes widened as the man's Aura flickered in static fluctuations, the strike Radec delivered nearly killed the Huntsman in one hit. The Colonel stood as he did before with his hands behind his back, a thick air seemed to gather around the man, his smugness was evident from the way he stood with a relatively calm demeanor.

Three arrows screamed flying at him, yet in a flash of movements that made Cameilla's heart skip several beats out of pure horror, he caught each arrow, almost like he anticipated where they were going, then in swift almost blink of the eye he threw each arrow back at the respective archers, striking all of them in their chests, taking large chunks of Aura.

"Come now!" He bellowed holding his arms out, "tell me you can do better than that!"

One of the shieldmen charged with a broadsword raised, he roared slashing in a wild frenzy at the Helghast Colonel, a lesser man would've caught one or two strikes, yet Radec was backpedaling ever so slowly, showing great restraint and skill whilst humiliating and exhausting the desperate warrior in front of him.

Though the good Colonel tired of the charade. Like lighting he grabbed the knight by his sword arm with his right hand and struck with his left fist right into the solar plexus of the warrior, taking the wind from his lungs, in a swift motion he snapped the man's arm in half at his now dented armored joint.

He let the knight fall to his knees screaming in silent breathless agony, on the verge of unconsciousness, he balled both fists and slammed them both into the knight's back, pulverizing his ribs into shards of bone, tearing apart his insides in an extreme show of strength. Roughly he grabbed the limp knight by the nape of his neck and tossed him in the air with minimal strength, punching him right in his armored face as he dropped down.

Violently the knight's corpse smashed into the devastated building, breaking chunks of the structure but falling limp onto the ground, a fist shaped dent on his bloody masked forehead.

Fear, fear unlike any other crept through the Huntsmen, the Colonel was so much stronger than they anticipated, strong enough to where Auras broke after a few hits, he was just unnatural to them, were they dealing with a man or a God?

He cracked his knuckles in two thunderous booms, his red lenses seemed to glow brighter, the Helghast soldiers and armor began to back up slowly, their fears of Radec striking them on accident was evident, whatever he had planned would apparently massive amounts of devastation in the attack's wake.

The Warhammer wielding Huntsman propped himself up with the help of his Warhammer's shaft, he readied his weapon, raising it in a weaker stance than that he had held before he was struck by the Helghast Colonel, his face was contorted in pan but he still held his guard now that he better understands just what he was exactly going up against.

"If you will not face me on your own accord," Radec growled as his stance took a far more aggressive stance, sliding his right foot backwards grinding through blackened soil, his shoulders set leaning on his left, oddly though, the most unnerving thing thus far was that he seemed to flicker like a video with terrible reception, "then don't mind if I take the lead!"

Before Cameilla could even release a breath the large Helghast phased out of existence and reappeared punching through the Warhammer wielding Huntsman, said Huntsmen barely had a chance to gasp as Radec disappeared again, leaving a large hole right where the Huntsman's heart was.

The Colonel reappeared between the archers and delivered a devastating kick from behind a man that snapped him like a match, an elbow connected with the face of a second archer, snapping his neck and shattering his face into a spray of blood and bone dust, the third received no mercy as a large fist smashed own on his helmeted head. His head had been compressed into his shoulders in an unnatural way as the man's collar bone turned into fragments underneath straining, tearing skin.

A swordsman was lucky enough to just barely avoid getting struck by a blow from the teleporting terror, he managed to get a few slices to the air out before the end came in the form of the Colonel uppercutting him into the air, only the Helghast caught the man by the foot and used him to smash the shield of the last sword and shield user, the strike was enough to stagger the man and left him open for the Helghast to strike his heel into the man's sternum, killing him as his heart simply caved in from the incredible pressure.

Two more swordsmen dashed from opposite sides on Radec's flanks, trying their best to catch him in a pinch, but to their misfortune he raised his armed forearms and their blades broke like flimsy glass, his hands grabbed them both by the throat and in a quick flick of his wrists snapped both of their necks.

Camellia steeled herself as the glowing red eyepieces locked onto her and the spearman, she unsheathed her katana keeping her eyes leveled on the body language of the Colonel, he didn't fool her when he relaxed his posture akin to how he initially addressed them, though she noted that it seemed to be far more antagonistic, almost like he was glaring at them with his whole body.

"I hope you two will provide a better challenge, otherwise I'd start believing the stories of you Huntsmen are greatly exaggerated." He mocked with both hands behind his back, taking one cautious step every third second as time dragged on, daring them to take the first step.

The Spearman shot his retractable spearhead at Colonel Radec, as the Helghast man dodged it the Spearman swung the shaft of his weapon to the right which made the cord shift down the line as well, the trick was to try and get the Helghast caught in the line like the previous men he decapitated and hopefully put an end to the massive demonic man.

However, the Colonel reacted fast enough and grabbed the line and tugged with enough strength to bring the Spearman sailing towards with wide terrified eyes, eyes that promptly ceased to exist as a size seventeen boot collided with his face, clotheslining the man's body and compressing his face into his own head as bone turned to dust.

"I have the feeling I'm not dealing with true Huntsmen," Mael Radec said with immense dissatisfaction, "you are too young to be what I was looking for, your Auras, weak, your forms are all sloppy! Truly disappointing. No honor at all, shameful."

Camellia felt burning hatred building up inside of her soul, his army destroys a village, murder dozens of innocent good people, he personally murders all of her friends, and yet, he has the audacity to lecture her about honor!? About not being good enough to face him!

Gritting her teeth, Camellia readied herself as the Colonel looked her up and down.

"They must be desperate," The Colonel reasoned, "sending premature Huntsmen and women out to fight me. I'm tempted just to let you go. War is no place for a woman."

Camellia glared hotly at Colonel Radec, though she was offended by what he said she was not going to allow herself to be distracted by this monster, she was no longer going to let him intimidate her, death was no longer something she feared, it was just a fact now, and if she was going to die then she will at least cut him and prove him wrong.

Radec chuckled dryly balling his fists, "I admire your stubborn silence, but let's get this over with."

Time slowed down as Camellia's breath grew heavy, utilizing her Huntress training she concentrated on her Aura and activated her Semblance, this time the Helghast was moving fast enough for her to react to as he dashed forward with the intent of crushing her with an overhead strike with his right arm.

The Huntress grunted as the immense force from Radec's hit sent her sliding back on her heels, Radec stared in shock as someone was finally able to block his attack without being seriously injured, he pushed off the girl's sword and took a more objective look at her.

"Hmmmm, it seems you actually have some fire in you," The look in her eyes was far different from the other Huntsmen, they weren't as focused, as violent, as downright dangerous as this woman's eyes were at this very moment, "finally, an actual warrior."

Camellia did not respond as she continued to glare at the Helghast Colonel, she positioned herself in a defensive stance, she would not play into his hands so easily, he'd have to come to her if he wanted to fight. The Colonel seemed to notice this and for the first time he drew an actual weapon, a very large combat knife, possibly a machete fashioned to look like a massive Bowie knife.

"Let's make this more personal." Radec said as he launched himself at Camellia with his knife in a reversed grip, blades met in a shockwave as Aura colors manifested, bright pink versus dark grey, Camellia gritted her teeth as she pressed her sword against Radec's knife with all her strength, it seemed that even the Helghast Colonel was putting effort into pushing the smaller back with her feet slowly sliding back against the blackened soil.

Camellia ducked underneath the larger man with her blade following through, initially bouncing off of the armored breastplate of the Helghast but when it reconnected a gash was made in Radec's uniform, he hissed as his left hand pressed against the flesh wound, looking back at the woman he could see his blood on her blade.

This pleased him, he removed his left hand from his side and looked at it, "You managed to draw blood. I haven't seen my own blood in years."

"You'll be seeing more of it soon." She spat back maintaining her stance and focus.

A legitimate chuckle escaped the man, "I'm beginning to like you, but unfortunately for you, I don't have time for this anymore, there's a war for me to win."

Camellia raised her blade blocking an overhead strike, she blocked left, right, parried and nearly took off Radec's head with a swing but a punch to her exposed right flank sent her backwards into a wall. She spat blood as her hand went down to her ribs, two had been broken, if she hadn't flared her Aura in time the attack would've no doubt collapsed her lung and ended the fight.

Though she was feeling the effects of the Helghast attacks and the exhaustion from the fight she was not ready to give up yet, switching from her dominant right handed grip she held her blade in a reversed left handed one, though not as strong on this side she still had more of a chance of staying alive this way.

"I must apologize again, my lady," Radec said allowing his mask's visor to lift up again, "it appears I have underestimated your will to survive, or your will to spite me. Very rarely has anyone stuck around this long."

"Oh, for the love of- will you just shut up and get on with it!" She growled with a trickle of blood rolling down her chin, "Your passive aggressive taunting is getting old!"

Radec squinted at her with an amused look, "I'm not normally this talkative."

Swiftly he closed the distance and struck her sword, sending her through the wall she initially hit from his previous attack. This time however her sword slipped from her grip, she bounced off the ground and slammed down hard onto the ground, there were defiantly broken bones now as her left leg seemed to scream at her in stinging pain, her Aura was now faintly keeping her conscious as the Helghast Colonel knelt down next to her looking down with his shinning red eyepieces, she didn't bother trying to move as lying still already hurts like hell.

"There is no shame in death." He said as Camellia's eyes flickered, she could barely groan as her mind slipped into unconsciousness, her body shutting down as extensive trauma began to take its toll.

Before her life ended though Radec placed his hand on her head and transferred enough of his own Aura to her where she wouldn't die, but also wouldn't be able to recover any time soon, "However I've decided that today is not your day. This isn't over, Huntress. Far from over."


Present day…

As the day began to set for the Empire of Helghan the Headmaster of its most prestigious academy stood in parade rest, his eyes set upon the distant oceans of faraway lands where his son was now visiting in the name of "peace", such a word should've been struck from Helghan's lexicons, they were a warrior people and should stay that way.

Yet, the war was in the past, they won, if you could call what they had victory. Sure, Helghan was now wealthier than it had ever been, their nation at an unprecedented strength, its sons spared, but at what cost? The progress they made across those lands was all for naught, they kept few territories outside of Helghan's immediate vicinity, the Faunus nation was more or less a buffer state against Helghan, grand plans of colonies, wasted.

'All for the gesture of "goodwill",' He thought bitterly, 'for establishing relationships with utter rats like Jacques Schnee, with runts of Kingdoms ripe with corruption and utter inefficiency, such an utter waste! A waste of time, a waste of resources-'

The Colonel turned his back to the ocean view and wandered over to the other side of his office, gently turning the head of an eagle statue to the left, causing a secret room to open up behind his eloquent leather office chair. He followed a row of lights that lit up with every step, allowing himself the lax walk down the hall, with reverence he pressed the button allowing his mask visor to lift up, his green eyes looking pitifully at a display of his…collection.

Upon both walls hung the weapons, armor, and family badges of well over three dozen Huntsmen, trophies he acquired from his campaign across the foreign exotic lands of Remnant, the closest weapons being from his first kills. Along the same walls however were weapons and full model uniforms of the Helghast military.

"A waste of warriors." He whispered as his gloved fingers slid across the displays; friend, foe, Helghast, Human, Faunus, all equal on the field of battle, Death, their judge, jury, executioner. The last sacred thing in the world he'd often think, a place where poor and rich, Helghast and non-Helghast could meet and truly show superiority through skill and strength, where men could become Gods-

But even this was corrupted, as he was on the verge of taking Vacuo with his mighty army they were ordered to halt and turn back, a deal had been struct. His men that lied dead in the dirt, the men and women of the enemy that lied dead in the dirt, all died for a mere compromise that saw the victor getting scraps of what it initially wanted, compromising so that the elites of both sides could get what they wanted out of the whole bloody affair.

He owed Visari everything, without him, he'd be nothing. This being the case, even the Autarch could enrage his most loyal Hound; the men Radec led did not die for trade deals, they did not die for back room deals between silverspoon sucking bastards to make a quick buck off of their suffering… and from the suffering of the warriors they faced.

The past though bloody and wrong had set the foundations for this new Helghan, this new world, the Helghast people prospered but they would never know the true stories of these men and women, neither would the people of the Kingdoms, none would know of whatever backroom deal that was made to ensure peace, surely there was one truth.

But what is truth? What is rumor? What is absolute?

The noble intentions behind the start of the war, for vengeance, for the ability to reclaim what was once lost…all swept aside, for men in fancy suits to play their games. Whatever game was being played right now with the life of his son- its masters should know that if anything bad happens to him, the Hound of Visari will break his leash.

And if need be, bite the hand that once fed him.


Beacon Academy…

"So, this is the room?" Antoine asked to himself as he triple checked his Scroll, establishing a link with the room's locking mechanism, "Ah, it is."

The skinny Helghast pushed opened the door, he waved Sobieski and Gruber over as they were coming back from the locker room bay area, "Found it."

"They got some really white washrooms." Gruber said shaking his head, rubbing his eyes underneath his goggles, "Too damn bright, nearly lost Sobieski in there."

As the three Helghast entered the room they immediately made themselves acquainted with the soft mattresses, groaning as their time out at sea was not the most enjoyable one, tight cramped metal quarters with rigid metal beds that a thin mattress could only do so much to lessen the discomfort that the ships held.

Navy men must be masochists to want to live in this kind of environment.

Antoine Stahl was the first one to get up from his comfortable bed, "I'll be back guys, I want to see their library."

"Tell Radec to get his bitchass back here when you see him, he has got to see the focking bathrooms the have here, no one has drawn any dicks on the stalls, it's disgraceful!" Sobieski said as three black sharpies fell out of his pockets, "We need to change that!"

Antoine gave the white clothed Helghast a blank stare as he slowly closed the door, "Yeah. I'll do that."

Aside from Cobar's asinine request the high class Helghast teen followed the map his little Scroll had brought up, blistfully unaware that the ever so eager teams RWBY and JNPR were coming around from the opposite corner of the hall just as he turned on one that lead towards the library.

"It says that they should be down here." Ruby said as she read the door numbers.

"So, who's gonna knock on the door?" Jaune asked as he kept a relatively safe distance from the door itself.

Ruby spared no mind as she hit her knuckles against the door, "Hello?"

JNPR and the rest of her team deadpanned on the short scythe wielders boldness and apparent lack of fear for disturbing the Helghast visitors, Yang stood behind her sister with the intention of protecting her if they for some reason become violent and pick her as the first target of their rage.

"Who the fock could that be?" Came a thick metallic voice from behind the door.

"How should I know?"

"Answer it."

"Why do I have to do it?"

"I said so, that's why Gruber."

"Fine, snow cone looking bitch."

"Fock you, you ape-looking fock."

"Bitch I'll pile drive you! Oh, that's right, three inches shorter, can't do it!"

"The bigger they are, the bigger the lump will be when I beat your shit in!"

"Ah fuck you Sobieski." The second less metallic voice said as he got closer to the door.

Once the door opened the teams were stunned that a bear it seemed was wearing people's clothes, initially he looked over them before he realized that they were mostly shorter than him, "Oh…what do you tiny Humans want?"

Ruby stood speechless as she felt déjà vu, it was like she was five years old all over again, the boy or man in front of her was without a doubt well over seven feet tall, he was also built like a statue, which only added onto how small she felt looking up at him, "H-h-hi. I'm Ruby Rose…w-welcome to Beacon."

"Oh." The Helghast said as his crimson eye pieces concentrated on her, "Sergeant Eli Gruber."

"Who's at the door?" Sobieski called from his bed.

"Ruby Rose," Gruber called back, "and friends."

"Who- ah to hell with it." The Helghast soldier said as he walked into view, "What do you want?"

For a moment both teams went inhumanely pale, the color just seemed to drain from them as their eyes laid eyes upon what they assumed to be the infamous White Death. Jaune nearly fainted as he held onto Pyrrha's shoulder in a vicelike grip, Nora hid behind Ren as the stoic ninja himself tremble just slightly. Blake's cat ears stood perfectly still as her pupils dilated out of pure horror.

Colonel Tendon Cobar was a name every Faunus was taught to fear, he was responsible with the devastation of Fort Castle after the Faunus initially captured it from the Human armies, it was said that he and General Metric personally over saw the torturing of Faunus prisoners by removing their extra sensory organs by hand.

"Sobieski, come on, you're scaring them!" Eli said elbowing the white clothed Helghast in his gut.

"How is that my fault? I haven't said ten words to them!" Sobieski complained with irritation in his voice, "I'm Lieutenant Sobieski Cobar, Colonel Tendon Cobar's son."

The teams released a collectively held breath as they now knew that the boy standing in front of him was not in fact the infamous White Death, just his son…SON!?

Sobieski crossed his arms glaring down at the Humans in front of him, "Are you just going to stand there or do you something worth wasting our time?"

"We uh, you see our friend Weiss is a friend or your friend uhhh… what was his name?" Ruby asked glancing back at her sister.

"Koza?" Gruber said, "Koza Radec, yeah he left us earlier to try and find your friend. Our other teammate Antoine Stahl just left to go find your library."

"Oh, okay." Ruby said awkwardly, "Well, we just wanted to say hi, and wondered if you guys wanted to hangout or something, maybe even have a party or something?"

"Then that'll have to wait," Sobieski said unfolding his arms, "we got to set up an environment where we can breathe without our masks then go to sleep because fock boats."

"Language!" Yang said covering Ruby's ears.

"Oh, sod off you puny-" Eli blocked Sobieski from advancing towards Yang and possibly starting something.

"He's a bit cranky, travel and all, nice to meet you all bye!" The massive Helghast said as he closed the door shut.

Jaune released another held breath, laughing nervously, "Man, I-I thought he was- and he'd get in a fight with Yang."

"Hmph," Yang crossed her arms aggressively, "I would've taught him a thing or two about manners."

"Yaaaang, we're trying to be nice." Ruby said cautiously.

The blonde girl tried glaring through the door, "Yeah, well that guy has already pissed me off."

"Well, it's been fun and all guys bit we're gonna go back to the dorm, having a heart attack is trying work." Jaune said rubbing the back of his neck.

Ruby nodded, "Sounds like a good idea, where are you going Blake?"

The raven-haired Faunus in disguise looked over her shoulder, "I'm going to see if this Stahl is as much of a jerk as Sobieski."


Unknown corridor…

The Heiress suppressed a giggle as Koza's peppered her collar bone with kisses, her breath hitched as she felt his ungloved hand daringly trailed up her leg, stopping halfway up her thigh, "Koz~"

"Hmmm, yes my lady?" He asked with a low husky growl in her ear.

"Someone might see us." She gasped as he undid her ponytail, tangling his fingers in her silky white hair.

"You should just wear it down," He whispered kissing behind her ear, making the Heiress shiver pleasantly, "you look prettier like this. Like you're free."

"I know, but my team and your team are going to start getting curious." She said looking down both corridor entrances.

The Helghast sighed lifting the Heiress out of his lap, setting her back down on her feet, though when she turned around he reached down and gave her butt a firm smack. Weiss jumped up into the air with her hands covering her butt, she turned and gave Koza an icy glare.

"Koza!" She growled rubbing her sore butt.

He however was unphased by the glare and pecked her nose, making the Heiress instinctively rub her nose, "Father gives better glares."

Weiss crossed her arms and gave him another 'hmph!', "How is he these days?"

Koza groaned rolling his eyes, "He keeps on pressuring me into learning about the duties of being Headmaster for when I'm supposed to take over for him, boy was he upset when he heard I was coming over here."

"Really?" She asked seemingly surprised that Mael Radec could get upset at anything.

"Yeah, he tried to talk me out of going but the Autarch himself picked me, how could say no to Visari?" Koza reasoned, he sighed leaning against a wall, "He was really upset because my mother's death anniversary is coming up."

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that Koza." Weiss said grabbing his right hand with both of her hands.

"It's alright, I mean, I never got to meet her. Apparently, she died of a plague that was around before I was even one years old, Father however takes it really hard, he locks himself up in his office for hours."

"Awwww," The Heiress pressed her forehead against Koza's for a few moments, gently she kissed him on the cheek and squeezed his hand, "I'm sure he is still proud of you for doing this though."

"Yeah, he tried using this newfound fame to set me up with several different noble women before I left." The Helghast teen said coyly with a smirk.

The Heiress puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms, tapping her foot expectantly on the ground, "Yeah, how did that go."

Koza put his hands behind his back against the wall, "Hmmm, yes. They were pretty."

"Uhuh."

"Some even had hair that reached down their backs, and it was real hair."

Weiss narrowed her eyes, "Uhuh."

"But, alas they just weren't for me."

"And why is that? Surely their families were rich?" Weiss asked with interest.

"True, true. But they weren't the girl I promised to run away with many years ago." Koza said tugging Weiss closer by her belt, "I promised this one little cutie that when we'd grow up I'd save her from a cold castle, marry her, and build her a warm home."

A genuine smile crossed the Heiress's face remembering the promise, "And just who was this little cutie?"

Koza's green eyes met Weiss's icy blue, craning his neck down just slightly their lips met again, showing that a promise once made as children was not one so easily forgotten, instead, one that both still wanted to see come to fruition.

Unfortunately, they knew that they could not stay in this corridor forever, their teams would most certainly start looking for them soon, so after resituating a gas mask and pony tail they took care in making sure that they stood an appropriate distance away from each other, taking upon their usual veneers of highborn status.

Though they did share one last affectionate look between themselves before setting off to go find the dormitory.


Beacon library…

"I like this place already." Antoine said as his sight was graced with volumes upon volumes, shelf upon shelf of literary knowledge. He was ever thankful that he took classes on the main language the Kingdoms read, he highly doubted anything was written in Helghast penmanship.

Yet, where should he start? Art? History? Chemistry? Perhaps biological science instead, Colonel Kratek often pointed out that biological science is what separated the Helghast from the other two races, in fact it was something Antoine took profound interest in.

No one on Helghan can deny they evolved from Humans, yet no one could claim Faunus heritage, their race simply didn't adapt well to Helghan or old prejudices helped rid Helghan of their people all together in the chaotic years of the founding of Helghan and Visari's Dynasty, this only increased his interest in the foreign race, not much information was present in Helghan's libraries.

This one however must be different.

Antoine wandered around the towering bookcases with a wild grin on his face, feeling giddy as a child alone in a candy shop, the Helghast National Library was massive, truly it was, but this library was far welcoming, less stuffy, bright with attractive odd colors, if he hadn't known any better he'd say he was high on narcotics.

This place was oddly liberating, no doubt they had texts that were not censored or forbidden like in Helghan, his own father's private illegal collection would surely pale in comparison to this holy land of knowledge, but the only downside was that he was now having trouble finding the books he wanted.

"Hmmm," Shelf after shelf was a section of knowledge that he was not looking for, "blast."

Just as he went for another shelf he bumped into someone, knocking their books down to the floor.

"Oh dear, I'm very sorry!" He said as a bundle of nerves welled in his chest, not even the first day and he manages to make to bumble into a Kingdomer, possibly starting a confrontation that the ravenous Kingdom news agencies would no doubt try use as another means to paint the Helghast exchange students in an already not so flattering light.

"It's my fault I wasn't looking!" Came the panicked reply of the woman he bumped into.

As he knelt down to help pick her books up he felt something touch his hair, he looked up while brushing his hair and stared with absolute shock as his eyes spotted two long bunny ears, he followed the ears down to the long brown hair they sprouted from and finally to the lady he had bumped into.

Antoine's jaw dropped open as he made the startling realization of just what he bumped into, a Faunus, an honest to God Faunus.

"You're a Faunus!"

"You're a Helghast!"

Both stared at each other as if they grew two heads spontaneously, luckily though Antoine was able to gather his supposed superior intellect and started to form some complex sentences before things got even more awkward and stuck out his hand.

"Uh-I'm Antoine Stahl, from the-uh- exchange program." Nailed it.

"Velvet, Velvet Scartalantia. I'm a second-year student."

The Rabbit Faunus sat there awkwardly as Antoine stared up at her ears with fascination, a tinge of red covered her cheeks as her ears twitched involuntarily.

It had seemed he figured out what he was doing, "Oh! Excuse me for my rudeness-I- so many Helghast these days just think your people are a myth, no one has any up to date books on the Faunus, let alone actually meet one."

"Well, that's okay I guess, please don't stare though." She said rubbing her right ear.

Realizing where they were Antoine started picking her books up, "Um, this is kind of out of nowhere but can you tell me where the biology books are and or books on your people?"

Velvet blinked rapidly but nodded standing back up, "Uh, sure, why are you interested in the Faunus?"

"Well, heh, you see not many texts exist about the Faunus in Helghan, and like I said earlier not many people believe the Faunus even exist. I'm basically the only Helghast so far that's researching the Faunus."

"I see, but why though?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

Antoine pursed his lips trying to guess if the lady in front of him would be offended by his answer, there was no use in lying as it wasn't a skill of his, "A while back in history class when I was learning about the Helghast colonists I read that the Faunus weren't able to evolve like the Human colonists, I and my teacher Colonel Kratek have been trying to figure out why and how can we try creating a Faunus subspecies of Helghast."

Velvet furrowed her eyebrows, the Helghast actually wanted Faunus citizens?

"The whole point of it is to create a greater race of Helghast, to show that our peoples can coexist and evolve eventually into something greater than just three races. Of course, there are some Helghast not too hot on the idea." Antoine admitted, seemingly bummed out that there were Helghast opposed to the grand plan to create a super race.

"There would also be Humans and Faunus opposed to that too," She said bittersweetly, "but it sounds like you have good intensions."

"Oh," A tinge of blush burn on the Stahl Industries heir, "well, thank you."

"Velvet, where are you?" Antoine heard a feminine voice call out.

"Over here Coco." Velvet said surprising Antoine.

A woman clad in a pseudo yet very stylish military uniform came around the corner of a bookshelf, "Oh hey, who- is that one of the Helghast exchange students?"

"Uh, hi, Antoine Stahl." He said sticking his hand out again.

Coco dipped her sunglasses down meeting his grip, if not adding extra force to it, "Coco Adel, Velvet's team leader. Nice threads."

Antoine frowned for a second at the slang, "Threads? You mean my clothes?"

The fashionista rolled her eyes, "Yes, its uh, it's nice. Kinda dark."

The Helghast boy shrugged his shoulders, "Helghan, not a colorful place."

"Hey Coco," Velvet asked, "I was going to show Antoine some books he is looking for, wanna come with us?"

Coco shrugged her shoulders pushing her sunglasses back up, "Eh, sure. It's not every day you meet someone from the Helghast Empire."

"Good, this way." Velvet said leading Antoine towards the books he was looking for, however completely unaware of the feline eyes that were watching and had been listening to the whole conversation.

'He seems very different from his friends.' Blake thought as she lowkey started tailing the odd trio, 'Not big like the other two and most certainly not as aggressive or rude, interesting.'


Here we are, yet again folks, Helghan's Reach straight outta nowhere with a flash to the past with the man, the myth, the fucking Helghast War God, senpai, Colonel Mael Radec using his superior everything to beat a bunch of lowly young Huntsmen to death, at that point he was around forty three years old and a veteran of the Helghast Emergence War where he was hailed as a hero, they simply had no chance except for Camellia Bloom, we will go back to the past, Samurai Jack, every now and again just to see the war itself. As you read Weiss and Koza have been in love for awhile, but seeing as it would be a Helghast crime punishable by death to have relations with a non-Helghast and seeing on how Weiss would be ostracized and disowned by her family and society their whole relationship is underwraps.

Now, off topic here, I have never read Tokyo Ghoul and only saw one episode on Toonami, I don't care if a ship is with straights or gays but bullying a writer and telling him to kill himself for not following a ship is just fucking horrible, the man works his fingers to the bone to provide entertainment only to be bullied by supposed fans, disgraceful, you don't have to, but I'm gonna send Sui Ishida something nice with a Twitter account because it isn't fair on what's happening to him, do it if you want to, I'm just getting this off of my chest.

Have a nice day, Doomsdayguy12345 out!