Edge of Life
Chapter Seven
Things Past
Headmaster Ozpin was silent, his cane held firmly in his withered hands as he stood as still as a statue. The clean chemically sterile smell of the medical wing of Beacon assaulted his nose, but the aged man paid it no mind; his thoughts were consumed by listening to the resident doctor of Beacon ranting wildly about the condition of one of their newest students.
One Solus Superstes to be exact.
"I didn't even realize the human body was capable of withstanding such trauma," the grey-haired doctor muttered as he looked over his notes, a deep crease in his brow. "Deathstalker poisoning is deadly without immediate medical assistance, and this kid survives over an hour without any help…" the white coat clad man began pacing, hardly even aware that Ozpin was in the room.
"And that's not even counting the skin damage he had! All the skin on his upper right arm was gone, cooked right off the muscle! If you can even call it muscle anyway, everything in his upper right arm is completely artificial! And judging by X-rays, the bone must have been torn entirely in two! Ozpin, this student had his arm ripped off! And that's only his relatively recent injuries! That scar over his eye defiantly needed surgery, the X-rays also revealed that he has a metal plate on that side of his face, just to hold the skull together!" The gray-haired doctor ranted, his voice slowly getting higher in pitch and tone.
"But that's not all! His ribs have been reinforced after having been broken on multiple different occasions! And his knees have little to no cartilage, meaning he has severe arthritis." The chart was long since abandoned by this point, dropped in favor of the man waving his hands around in frustration.
"The boy also has a pacemaker! A pacemaker at seventeen years old I swear kids these days are just plain stupid. The arteries of his heart were damaged enough to warrant a pacemaker… this kid shouldn't be fighting. Especially considering that his lungs are damaged, quite badly too! I'd say he only has about 40% of his natural lung capacity available to him, doesn't help that he smokes either-"
"Doctor." Ozpin interrupted in a totally level tone of voice, his features relaxed as he held his warm mug of coffee. "I understand what you are trying to say, but can you please tell me one thing?"
The doctor looked slightly miffed but nodded anyway.
"How old are some of these scars?" The headmaster asked. If he knew that… then he might be able to determine who exactly the boy was.
The doctor was silent for a moment, his eyes wandering over the shirtless form of Solus as he lay unconscious. "At a guess? The oldest would be the huge scar on his chest, I would say that it could be anywhere from 5 to 10 years old."
"Thank you, doctor," Ozpin said idly, his mind hard at work to connect the dots. "I won't bother you any further, you may return to your duties."
With that Ozpin strode quietly out of the infirmary, his mind buzzing with the possibilities; thoughts delving ever deeper into the mystery of who 'Solus Superstes' actually was.
They had already been sorted into teams, one team consisted of Pyrrha, Ren, Nora and Weiss, led by Pyrrha. Team PRWN or Prawn for short. The other team was: Ruby, Solus, Yang and Blake, led by Ruby. Team RSYB or Rose bud for short.
It was their first day at Beacon, the fiasco in the Emerald forest notwithstanding when team RSYB was called up to the head masters office. Ruby was the first one to get going, being concerned about Solus, and she forced Blake and Yang to move as well, despite the fact that neither girl was particularly eager to see their new teammate.
Ruby and Pyrrha were worried about Solus, Ruby for obvious reasons; but for some reason, Pyrrha also seemed quite concerned. Yang couldn't make heads or tails of the man, he go's around acting like he doesn't like anyone and hates everything; but then he saves Ruby from the Deathstalker. Getting injured in the process, then to top it all of he go's and kills the Nevermore that they were fighting, potentially saving their lives. the blonde girl wasn't sure whether she should hate him or like him.
Blake herself didn't really know Solus, but he was on their team, and he killed the Grimm. So he couldn't be all bad right? Regardless of that, she was now stuck on a team with him, so she was mildly concerned about his health.
When RSYB minus the S arrived at Ozpin's office, they were let in without having to knock. The door just swung open to reveal Ozpin standing calmly in the center of a large clock themed circular room, gears and cogs churned under foot with gentle motion; creating a gentle ambiance that seemed to flood the room with calmness.
"Ah, girls," The aged headmaster greeted gently, his hands firmly grasping his cane and coffee mug respectively, "please, take a seat." He gestured to a couch near his desk.
When they all sat down Ruby was the first to speak, her voice soft but slightly pleading. "Professor is Solus ok? When is he gonna get up? How long will he be-"
Ozpin held up his hand, and immediately the red girl was silenced, "Mr. Superstes will be fine, I expect he will wake soon, but his health is not what I asked all you here to speak about, tell me what do you girls know about him?"
A moment of absolute silence, each girl was startled by the sudden question. But Ruby was the first to answer, her voice quiet and quivering slightly. "H-his arm was torn off…"
Yang and Blake looked startled, their expressions showing shock and disbelief. Yang opened her mouth to say something, but Ozpin cut her off. "The man called Solus Superstes as only existed for about 6 months, that, coupled with other bits of information I have uncovered about him have led to quite the mystery, I don't even know his real age, but I can guess at some past alias' he may have used"
The girls looked at him expectantly, their expressions showing how hungry they were for more information.
"I assume you girls are familiar with the story of the Lonely Wanderer?" Yang and Blake nodded but Ruby looked lost. "Umm… sorry professor never heard of him."
"Well let me explain then, after the Vacuo massacre there were reports of many lost and forgotten people who wandered Remnant, all without much reason to live. But one among them stuck out, that one was a young man around 15 years old with a heavy scar on his face, he wore an eye patch. The story goes that the young man wandered from through the decimated towns looking for something in particular, what it is no-one knows; but in his search, he found many survivors; and helped them survive long enough for rescue to arrive. But he continued to look for over a year, the last reported sighting of him was last year, no confirmed sightings have occurred since. The Lonely Wanderer just vanished into thin air, poof, gone, not a trace of him to be seen ever again."
They all knew what Ozpin was saying when he spoke of the Vacuo Massacre, who didn't know? An entire kingdom had been almost wiped out in some freak accident involving a new experimental new dust reactor overloaded and had exploded. The reactor itself needed huge vents otherwise it would just be a big bomb, those vents led to most of the towns and villages' in the kingdom of Vacuo, someone, no one knows who had redirected the explosion from the main city of Vacuo; through the vents into the towns, the towns were utterly destroyed, overall casualties were estimated around 60 000 people killed, and only a measly 500 survivors. If the explosion had happened in the city then only the 50 000 permanent residents would have died; but the entire kingdom would have fallen, meaning most if not all would have died, really it was a lose, lose situation.
"Sir, are you saying that Solus is the Lonely Wanderer?" Blake questioned, not quite believing what she was hearing.
"If you don't believe me, see for yourselves." As he finished saying this, a holographic screen flickered into life beside him. On the screen was a single picture, it was dated two years ago, the image was a youngish looking teenager 15 or 16 years old, he had blond hair and blue… eye, one side of his face was covered in a thick scar that looked very fresh, so fresh in fact that it was still red and swollen around the edges; blood leaking from broken stitches.
The most gripping part, however, was the eye that remained, it held none of the life or innocence that youth had, no, it was the eye of someone who was just so tired of life and its unfairness; the boy's body belied the age and weight that his eye held.
But this was undoubtedly a picture of a younger Solus.
"As you can see, this is without a doubt Solus at a younger age, this is also the only known picture of the lonely wanderer. This image is strictly controlled by the kingdoms, the wanderer is a heavily sought after man. He survived in the glass deserts of Vacuo for over a year with little to no help, and every council wants to know how." The headmaster spoke as he slowly began pacing the room, his shoes tapping against the see through floor. "Before this, I loose track of who he is and what he did for a few years. But the earliest age I can find someone matching the right description is when a child of no more than 10 is leaving a heavily armed military facility in Mistral."
The picture on the screen changed, now there was an image of a heavily injured child with blonde hair, and two blue eyes lugging a large sack away from a structure in the background. There was a sword equipped on the kids belt, but that part of the image was hazy and unfocused. The kid himself was bleeding heavily from what looked like several gunshot wounds all over his body. "This picture was taken just moments after an important military testing complex was attacked and several items stolen, including years worth of weapons data and designs."
The girls were gaping in silence at this all this information, how could a 10-year-old child have done that? It's insane! "Sir… why are you telling us this?" asked Yang, her mind whirling.
"You need to be aware of who he is and what he's done. But you also need to know this; to survive the things I suspect Solus has, he has had to drown his conscience, his morals, his very soul in a pool of hatred and pain… but that's not who he is. He has the power to be a great force for good in this world, but not without the right help."
There was a moment of silence then Blake spoke, her yellow eyes locked onto the pacing headmaster. "If what you say is true professor… then how do you know that he will be good? He could just as easily become a criminal."
The aged man hummed his agreement, a slight nod of his head to acknowledge the faunus girl's opinion. "When you get to my age you pick up a few things miss Belladonna." He paused, seeming to mull something over for a second before continuing. "Over a great deal of time, I have learned to observe the souls and auras of others. When I look at all of you I see a bright, pure, uncorrupted aura. When I look at Solus I see a blackened, tattered, shriveled thing. You may ask how that is possible, how can someone damage their soul so? When one person kills another in cold blood with no remorse, no regret, it kills them inside, just a little. To do such damage Solus would have killed many. But right in the very center of his scorched soul; right at his very core is a glowing pure incorruptible light, that, I believe is his conscience. buried beneath years pain and hatred, but still there. I think you three might be able to uncover it."
A stray tear leaked down Ruby's face, but she and the other girls held their composure.
"Now, girls," the silver-haired man began as he made his way towards the door. "I do believe he will be waking up right about now, so if you would like to follow me to the infirmary."
A groan came from Solus, as he awakened, his eye slowly flickered open, he took a few glances around him. Clean white walls boxed him in, he was on a bed at the beginning of a row.
A hospital of some sort. His mind supplied as he slowly awoke.
That's about when Solus realized that he wasn't wearing his hoodie anymore, he was shirtless. He also had thick bandages around his right arm, well, enough of that. He thought as he gently removed the white wrappings, cautious note to disturb the wound any more than he had too.
He was about half way through getting rid of them when he accidently bumped the arm, violent pain shot out all over his arm and shoulder; it felt like the muscles were damaged, "shit." He gasped through the pain. "I need to replace the muscle."
"Not a common phrase for one to say Mr. Superstes, care to elaborate?" Ozpin asked as he strode confidently into the infirmary. Three girls trailing behind him, each of them cringed in sympathy upon seeing the myriad of brutal scars that crisscrossed the merc's battered body; but each girl quickly hid their pity and put more neutral looks on their faces.
"Solus! You're ok!" Ruby declared happily as she dashed out from behind the gray-haired professor, and straight into Solus for a hug. Or she would have gotten a hug if Solus hadn't caught her with his good hand before she could reach him, she flailed in his iron grip for just a moment before giving up on hugging him; and instead started rambling about how glad she was that he was ok.
Does she ever stop talking?
"Ozpin" Solus interrupted Ruby, but the girl didn't seem to mind all that much. "I need to get my arm fixed, about a week should do it." he tried to get up, but in doing so he jostled his wounded arm, and he let out a violent hiss of pain as an agonizing burning feeling burned the inside of the arm. On the outside, it looked the same as before initiation, just like a band around the upper arm; but on the inside, it felt like there was something… alien in his arm, like something wasn't meant to be there. The fake muscles weren't responding correctly to his brain signals, hell, some of the muscle was just not responding at all, it was just a lump of broken machinery.
"Solus are you ok?!" Ruby asked with worry in her silver eyes, eager to help her partner.
Dumb girl thinks I need help? I'll show her...
Solus was on the verge of making some snarky comment when he looked into her eyes. What he saw was concern, not concern out of him not being able to complete a job, not concern for him failing to get her money or the like, no. It was actual concern for him as a person. Solus hadn't seen such concern since Kira-
No. Solus cut his own thoughts. Not her, never again.
And again Solus was overcome with a strong sense of familiarity with Ruby, like this overwhelming feeling that he should know who she is. Like he'd met her before.
"Helloooooo? Anybody in there? Solus?" Yang asked the zoned out mercenary, staring at his glazed blue eye.
"Wh-? I'm fine!" he snapped when reality came crashing back, thoughts of the past once again banished to the back of his mind.
Seeing the incoming argument, Blake decided to introduce herself. "Hello Solus, we didn't get a chance to speak before, my name is Blake." Her amber eyes were held steady on his own blue orb, carefully concealing the pity she felt for the scarred man before her. She wouldn't demean him like that.
Solus's gaze leveled on the girl, she looked vaguely familiar to him somehow. "Yes, yes nice to meet you, are you to be part of what is no doubt going to be the most irritating team in history?" he spat in a very sarcastic tone of voice.
"Oh? And what makes us irritating? What did we ever do to you?" she retorted.
What did we ever do to you? a small voice whispered in his mind. Something was telling Solus he knew the girl from somewhere, that he'd met her before, but that couldn't be possible, most people he met he killed, or at least tried to k- oh.
Oh.
Fort Independence, the little black haired girl with cat ears, about to kill her with a blast. Yup, Solus had defiantly met her before, and he had likely killed her whole family, all her friends too. Oh, and crush her people's hopes and dreams. How awkward
How very awkward.
A/N
That would be terribly awkward, wouldn't it?
So, Ozpin is looking into Jaune's past, that can't end well for anyone; but what can you do. Also, intense stuff there with the whole 'Lonely Wanderer' stuff, can you guess what he was looking for?
The Vacuo massacre will play a huge role in the story, so I suggest you read carefully whenever the subject comes up. Also just some friendly advice, with most aspects of this story, don't take anything at face value. Read between the lines, just because one character says something, doesn't mean it has to be true.
So I've had a few people guess about why Solus hates the Schnee family, so far no-one has guessed correctly, but this chapter should give you all a major clue.
In the meantime let's take a look at the reviews:
Schwarz Glaciem:
Thanks for reviewing.
No, Solus had no association with the Schnee family when he still went by the name Jaune Arc. And the same applies for the rest of the Arc family. Nice try, though.
Paladin73:
Thanks for reviewing.
Perhaps I was a little harsh in my words to you last chapter…. But regardless of that, I will overlook any past transgressions provided you don't repeat them.
And about the stuff with the arm and eye being slightly disturbing… well… that stuff is fairly tame compared to what comes later…
And you've read the battle of fort Independence, would you really want that man to lead? Solus leads with only the objective in mind, he will let as many of his troops/followers die as he feels is required just so he can get to the objective. Ruby, on the other hand, leads with the thoughts and feelings of her subordinates in mind, she would never sacrifice someone under her command just to reach the objective faster.
I also got a PM from someone who's name I'll not mention, saying: "Did solus kill everyone at fort independence on the orders of the Schnee family but they denied any involvement in it and left him to take all the blame? Or they refused to pay him for it? And that is why he hates the Schnee's?"
And that too is completely wrong, the Schnee family had nothing to do with fort Independence. And at the time Solus (or Argentum Mortem as he was called) frankly didn't care what people thought of him so long as he still had a steady amount of bounty's to complete.
So the Schnee challenge as I've taken to calling it is still going. Please give it a try.
EDIT: 26/7/2016 Just fixing things...
Please leave a review.
