Edge of Life

Chapter Three

Mondays

Solus Superstes hates a lot of things, but Mondays were just about one the worst things in the world for him. Solus wasn't a very lucky person, but on Mondays, it seems that all the gods share a good joke at his expense. All of the bad things that happen in Solus life happen on Mondays, the incident with Torchwick (which he wasn't paid for) happened on a Monday. The Monday before that Solus had almost been killed by an army of angry gangsters for killing their boss, Roman had been with him at the time and that just made it worse. Many, many, many Mondays ago Solus' life had been ruined by a bunch of overgrown pigeons and mongrel beasts.

Yes, Solus hated Mondays.

So bright and early Monday morning when Ozpin sent a message to Solus' borrowed scroll giving instructions on when to arrive at Beacon. To the merc's great disdain it also stated that a large airship would be ferrying new students from Vale to the school. Solus was not going to put himself in one of those metal death traps, they either exploded or made him feel ill; sometimes both.

So that left the mercenary with 2 other options: 1 to try and climb the vertical cliffs that Beacon was almost completely surrounded by, or 2 was to trek deep into the Emerald forest, and get to Beacon from behind. As the sea of trees almost completely surrounded the rocky landscape of the school, with only one narrow path as a walkway into the school proper.

So that's how Solus found himself walking through the Emerald forest, with a steadily growing trail of Grimm corpses behind him. Solus was just nearing the tree line for what appeared to be a large clearing when he heard the sounds of battle in the large gap in the trees.

When the merc poked his head out he saw a slightly portly man with a large axe…gun…thing killing of a few Beowolves, he looked quite merry about it as well.

Might as well go see what's happening…

So Solus cautiously made his way towards the jolly-looking man, when he stepped into the clearing he noticed that in the distance there was a stone ruin with crumbling arches and moss. It seemed that the ruin was the destination of the grey-haired man, as he was slowly trotting off towards it, or he was until he noticed Solus walking towards him.

"You there! My good fellow, these woods are dangerous! I would advise you to head back the way you came." The moustached man said boomed with a boisterous voice.

Solus sneered. "I'd advise you not to take me lightly old man, and besides, I'm here on my way to attend Beacon Academy, which I presume you are a professor of?" He didn't like the man, he seemed far too cheerful.

"Why yes, I am my boy! But I must ask, what on Remnant are you doing in this forest? All students are to arrive at the school via airship!"

Dear god is he always like this?

Solus grumbled, his eye narrowing slightly."Airships and my stomach don't really agree, those steel death traps also have a tendency to explode when I'm in them."

The large man chuckled deeply, his belly wobbling very slightly. "I'm sensing a story there my boy! But I fear that it must wait until another time; why don't you walk with me? I'm in the forest to deliver some relics for initiation tomorrow, after that, I would be delighted if you would accompany me to the school. Oh! Forgive my manners, my name is professor Peter Port, lad what's yours?"

Kill me now...

"Solus Superstes."


2 hours later.

Solus panted raggedly as he gripped the cliff face. Fucking Grimm, fucking Peter Port...

Solus hated Mondays, he really did.

Everything had been going fairly well with that Peter Port fellow, the elder man had tried to make small talk for a few minutes and Solus had stoutly refused to answer any of the questions the man had. But then the professor decided to regale Solus with a tale of a past adventure. And then another, then another then another.

In the end, Solus had gotten so fed up with hearing about the man's exploits with Grimm and women, that he had run off the moment a swarm of Beowolves and Ursa minors attacked, making it seem that they were just separated during the combat.

He had been so tempted to kill the other man, even just to spare others from what was obviously a well-practiced form of mental torture.

But Solus got the distinct impression that Ozpin would be less than pleased if he tried to murder someone before School had even properly started. So instead of his original plan of walking into Beacon from the back of the school, Solus had been forced to scale the sheer cliffs surrounding the school lest he run into the chatty teacher again.

If I see him again I can't be held responsible for what I'd do to him…

To climb said sheer cliffs, Solus was using his boot knives and the hidden blades that were usually attached to his wrists, this left Solus quite agitated because he would have to sharpen the blades when he got into the school. And how awkward is that going to be? Solus just casually sitting in the corner somewhere, sharpening weapons that had been used to maim murder and destroy, and he would probably be doing this in a room full of bored teenagers. Yippee.

Just as Solus was finishing that glum thought, he final managed to pull himself over the top of the cliff, with a very dignified flop on the grass to catch his breath and to retract the knives that glinted dangerously in the sunlight.

When Solus finally got his arse into gear and started moving he noted that the huge personnel carrier ships had already dropped off the other students and that he was probably late already, oh well the mercenary thought lightly.

Soon Solus was walking along the stone path when he came across a young girl looking quite dejected laying on the ground. But Solus didn't care, why would he waste his time with some freak laying on the ground? He had better things to do. Yes, he was aware that it was the other girl from outside the club, the one that had refused his money; he just didn't care.

However as he was walking past his eye strayed to the girl's face for just a moment and suddenly all of his thought process' ground to a halt. He'd seen her before somewhere, not when he'd glanced at her in passing back at the club, no this was something else… almost everything about her appearance screamed familiar to him. But memories of a time long past didn't come rushing to the surface, so she still remained a mystery to Solus.

Where have I seen a face like that before?

Without even realising it he reached down to offer the girl a hand up, which she gracefully accepted. Why did I do that?

"So…" he started while still wracking his mind to figure out who she is and why he helped her up."How's your friend Blondie?" I don't really care, just tell me your name so I can work out who you are.

"W-what are you talking about…? Oh, Yang! How did you know she cracked her jaw?" the short gothic looking girl asked.

Solus raised an eyebrow underneath his hood, not that she saw it though. "I was the one who cracked it for her, and the one who paid for her hospital bill I believe." And you still treated me like dirt.

The girl gaped for a moment. "Y-your that guy! How…? Why are you at Beacon?! Surely you're not a teacher here!"

Imagine that… me as a teacher...

"I'm here as a student girl, speaking of; shouldn't we be going somewhere? I do believe we have an initiation to complete." With that, Solus wandered off to find where everything was happening. I'll work out who she is later, I'm too tired to deal with this crap right now.

"Wha- but- I… where are you going?! Take me with you!" the flustered girl cried out before dashing after him.

Fuck my life…


Solus was calmly standing in the corner of the huge room that housed all the prospective first-year students, he had ditched the other girl earlier; she just wouldn't stop talking.

A loud voice rang out, breaking his thought process. "Hey, Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!"

Normally Solus wouldn't care, but the girl that just called out was waving her hands wildly to the girl Solus had helped earlier. So her name is Ruby… I don't recognize the name; so who the hell is she? Why does she look so familiar?

Solus was broken out of his thoughts when his eye landed on the two girls talking. Once again he couldn't shake the feeling that he knew the redhead, so he slowly moved closer until he could hear what they were saying; seeing if he could get more information.

"Yang! T-that guy is here!" Ruby 'whispered' loudly to the other girl.

"What guy sis? Did some guy hurt you? I'll kill 'em!" Yang's eyes flashed scarlet for just a moment before going back to lilac.

You can try.

"No, no! It's the guy who hurt you! You know, the one from the club!"

Yang's eyes widened just for a fraction of a second before narrowing dangerously, heat radiating off her form.

Solus saw her anger, but he also knew the signs of fear. It wasn't much, certainly not enough for her to actually do anything about it; but the fear was there. She was scared of him… Delightful.

Solus was tired of just listening, he wasn't exactly the most patient of people so he quickly stepped into the girl's line of sight and began speaking: "Did I hear someone talking about me? Speak of the devil and he shall appear you know." He did so enjoy messing with people.

Yang took a very small step backwards in slight surprise at his sudden appearance, her eyes strobed red for a moment before she quickly composed herself; glaring daggers at the scarred man. "You!" She snarled. "Stay away from my sister!"

Solus opened his mouth to reply but a white haired girl came up behind him and cut him off by yelling at Ruby. "You!" She near shouted as she wagged a finger towards the red head. "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

Ruby went to reply, but Solus beat her to it. "Schnee!" He literally spat the word out as if it was poison. "Why don't you go crawl into whatever hole you and your pathetic family came from, and die." With that final word Solus stalked off, bashing into Weiss' shoulder along the way.

Calm… even if a disgusting Schnee is here I can't do anything about it… perhaps given time she could lead me to her father- NO! I won't be like that… never again.

Solus didn't see it but Weiss was shaking with anger, her small hands tightened into fists as she glared venomously at his retreating form.

"So umm..." Yang said slowly, not entirely sure what the hell happened. "That was a thing…"

Before any kind reply was said, a light cough was heard from the stage in the room. "I'll… keep this brief." The suit-clad Ozpin started as he stood on the stage, his eyes peeking over his small glasses. "You have travelled here today in the search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people... But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume that knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can carry you so far, it is up to you to take the first step."

Off to the side of the room Solus was feeling extremely uncomfortable, because the entire time that the professor was speaking, he was looking directly the bounty hunter. And not once did he blink or waver, he just kept staring.

Very subtle you old bastard.

A blonde woman with glass's and a tattered purple cape took the stage. Vaguely Solus recognized her, some powerful huntress. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow you initiation begins, be ready. You are dismissed."

An entire night stuck in a room full of bored teens… I hate my life…


"I'm just saying that maybe you and that guy could start over and all, I know he hurt you Yang, but you said there were scars on his face? Maybe he was just afraid or confused or something." The PJ-clad Ruby spoke to her older sister as they laid on the ballroom floor.

The sisters were currently talking about the mysterious guy whom they had yet to learn the name of. Ruby was all in favour of making peace and being friends, but that plan currently had two major problems: 1: Ruby was about as socially gifted as a rock, and 2: Yang was being rather… stubborn.

"God Ruby! We should just stay away from him, the guy is a total jerk." The elder sister replied, her purple eyes narrowed at the mere thought of it.

Ruby was going to reply, but she saw the man in question walk into the room and settle himself into a corner. He still had his sword strapped to his back, and he was still wearing his hoodie and cargo pants. And he was taking deep swigs out of a metal flask not dissimilar to what her uncle Qrow used.

"Look Yang! There he is, come with me and introduce yourself! Try to be his friend." Without even waiting for a reply from the elder girl, Ruby dragged her of to the subject of interest.

"Ruby! I don't think-!" Yang tried to say but was cut off when Ruby cheerfully began talking to the man.

"Hey there!" the younger girl called out to the mercenary. "Whatcha doin? Me and Yang here thought you looked a little lonely, so here we are!" she finished with a large toothy smile.

"Nothing" came the grunted reply.

"Oookay…. so um… what weapons do you have?" to her credit Ruby was really trying hard to be nice and social, but she just wasn't very good at it.

She's not very good at this, is she? But that does remind me to sharpen my hidden blades. The scarred man thought idly, basically ignoring the girls before him.

"Go away brat, I need to sharpen my weapons." With that he flicked his left wrist so his hidden blade came out, he then proceeded to slowly drag a small stone he pulled from his belt over the blade.

"O-oh okay…" Ruby said slowly as she moved away, dejected by her failure and his harsh words. "We'll just… go then…"

That made Yang angry; no-one spoke to her sister like that! This guy was going to get a piece of her mind. "Hey!" Yang growled, waving her finger in his face. "Don't talk to her like that you creep!"

All she got was a grunt in reply. Yang stuck her finger upwards, a sneer crossing her face before she walked off muttering expletives under her breath.

When the blonde got to where Ruby was she started complaining and cursing the as of yet unnamed man, but before she got too far into in Ruby spoke. "Yang! Be nice to him, I don't think he's a very happy person, he's probably depressed or something. You told me about the terrible scar on his face! And look at his hand! Look at it!"

If only to humour the younger girl Yang looked over to the hands in question. His right hand was fine, no issues there. But his left hand? It looked like it had been put in a wood chipper repeatedly and then left without any medical attention. Even with the fingerless gloves that he was wearing it was obvious that he was lacking a pinkie finger, and the remaining fingers looked like they'd been broken several times and they were all sitting at odd angles.

Yang cringed just looking at it, sure she didn't like the guy one bit, but that looked... horrifyingly painful.

"We should try to be his friends, I mean what's the worst that could happen?" With that last closing statement, Ruby flopped onto the ground and fell asleep.

A/N

And that's chapter 3

Oh, Ruby surely you know that utter those words are basically inviting trouble.

Now, before you all post a review saying how much you hate the way a portrayed Yang think carefully about their original fight. Solus beat her in three blows. And it took about 30 seconds, only about 5 seconds of that time was spent fighting and not talking. Yang is the kind of person who's always been able to put up some kind of fight, even if she lost in the end, for example; when she was at signal I'm sure she was beaten by trainers there, but it still could have been classified as a fight. Not an utter beating like Solus gave her.

Don't get me wrong, the only reason Solus beat her so easily is because she was tired and because of his semblance, the fight would have dragged on much longer if he didn't use it or if she hadn't been tired. But Yang doesn't know that. As far as she knows this guy comes along and beats her with minimal effort after a few drinks. That's bound to incite a little fear… and a lot of anger.

Ok, moving on.

It was mostly just filler in that chapter I know, but it sets things up for later chapters.

Speaking of later chapters, next chapter you're gonna get more information on Solus' past, not all of it, just a bit.

Reviews:

Paladin73:

Remember me mentioning the whole "no spoilers" thing back in chapter one? Yeah? Good so don't continue to do what you're doing.

He still has one eye.

He hates the position Ozpin has put him in, and Solus won't let such an insult pass without ramifications.

Teams were that way for a very good reason.

No more spoilers.

Guest:

Thanks for reviewing.

harems are tricky things, rarely written believably, and almost always ignore basic human emotions. I'll put it simply, humans are incredibly selfish creatures, and typically don't like sharing mundane things like food or water with each other. And as such would more than likely outright refuse to share a loved one. As my dear mother tells me: "sharing is shit".


EDIT: 12/7/2016 Just correcting a few things, trying to bring the early chapters up to the same standard as the later ones.

Anyway, leave a review!