Author's Notes
Thank you all who reviewed and gave me your reaction to the big WTF moment last chapter. But some of you I think might be mistaking characters for OCs. The only OC I have done as of yet was the Tech-Priest in Nora's story. Everyone else is from somewhere.
And congratulations to Pacer287 for figuring out who Karma is. AC will be staring in this story as pretty much the next generation of Assassinorum Agents, I might do a spin off centering around just them but for now… it will just be Karma.
Also Lecia is Lucius the Eternal gender swapped. She might not be that Canon but I'm taking a lot of liberty with many of characters, like with Lecia she is what Lucius was like before he was turned and then a bit of flirty thrown in for the after corrupted. But again, so far I have only done one OC… if you think I have done another then point them out and if they are I'm wrong but if they are not them I will reply with who they are in Canon.
And a quick note for this chapter, there is a lot of shipping-esc stuff. But do keep in mind that the only pairings I have completely decided on is Ruby/Corvus, and Jaune/Pyrrha. Everyone else is up in the air and might change. Next chapter will have action.
And I now have a Beta. Thank you Ollanius Pious for Beta-ing this story.
"Come on! I know you can better than this!" Angron shouted at the first year Aspirants. They had all returned from their holiday and Angron was going to make sure these whelps hadn't gone to soft. "This should be easy!"
"You expect us to pull a boulder!" One of the Aspirants cried out as he tried to push on the ropes that were attached to his boulder. The rest of the class trying hard to do the same… none of them doing much.
"Yes… yes I do." Angron said with a smug frown as he pushed the whining Aspirant to the ground and to the rope from him. The class watched in horror and awe as their Instructor pulled the massive boulder with little effort. "See… Astartes are strong. Even if you join one of the wimpy Legions, you still need to be able to do at least this." They then watched as Angron picked up the boulder and then threw it past the starting line. "Now get back to work, I ain't here to babysit you! I'm here to turn you all into killing machines." He said this but there was a bit of a disconnect as Angron returned to his lawn chair and lemonade.
"Oh come on! You really are going to taunt us like that!" Leman yelled to his older brother who just sipped from his cold drink. "And why does she not have to do this crap?!" Leman pointed to Ruby who was awkwardly sitting next to Angron.
"She is two years younger and is yet to develop the muscle required to do stuff like this." Angron answered before taking another sip. "The Gene-Seed will eventually get her up to speed."
"My ass she's too young! She'd make as much progress as the rest of us!" Leman said motioning to the rest of the class that had yet to pull even past the starting line.
"Are you suggesting favoritism?"
"Nope." Leman quickly snapped back before returning to his wonderful job of pulling a boulder. No one was stupid enough to ever suggest that, doing so guaranteed Angron to be particularly vindictive towards you.
Meanwhile Ruby was sitting back unsure about what was going on. On one hand… she didn't like being treated differently because of her younger age. And on the other… she really did not want to pull a boulder across the training field. Not only that but sitting next to one of the most terrifying men most people would ever see wasn't something she would normally enjoy.
But despite what most people thought about him, Ruby didn't find him all that scary. He could be scary but not all the time. He was the man that was supposed to turn their bodies into superhuman Astartes. He had to be hard and tough on them. And she had heard how he helped her sister on her free time. Instructor Angron was just tough, and sometimes mean but he did care about them… but that was Ruby's opinion. It was an optimistic one but it was hers.
Angron and Ruby continued to watch the rest of the class struggle with their task. Only a few people were about to move their boulder past the chalk line. Angron then proceeded to yell at them for a full ten minutes before dismissing them to the showers.
"Bunch of little shit heads." Angron grumbled to himself as he watched the crowd of tired and slightly angry Aspirants mass to the showers. Angron quickly picked out Aspirant Corax, his hands on his head as his morning migraine hit him. Angron chuckled at that, he was happy that the boy was able to use his power to keep his secret daughter away from preying eyes. There was the very small part of him that knew she would need to eventually take part in the coed showers as there was a real point to them. But that side was smashed down by the rest of him that wanted to skin any boy that so much as looked in her direction. Not just skin alive… but many more painful things that as a narrator and dude, I can't begin to describe. The Red Angel then spotted the last two hold outs of the coed showers rule. "You two finally gonna to do it." The way Angron said the words Do It caused the exact reaction he wanted. With both of them turning around sputtering denials to that accusation. Angron chuckled and then pointed to the showers door. They both quickly realized their misinterpreting of his words and both Jaune and Pyrrha turned very red.
Angron had his little bit of fun and left the two to their indecision over if they were ready to see each other naked. Angron didn't see the big point of it, he had flipped through Bile's notes on the bodies of the class, purely to find material to use for mocking purposes, and neither of those two had anything to be ashamed of… in fact both would cause a bit amount of jealousy from their peers.
"Angron." The Red Angel was snapped out of his musings at the sound of his boss addressing him.
"Headmaster Ozpin." Angron turned around to see the man standing behind him. Angron was no where near as good at sensing people around him as some others but he at least liked to think he could tell when someone was behind him.
"Could you please explain why we are having to inspect the foundation of the castle for cracks."
"I didn't do it." Angron defended himself, even though it was a complete lie.
"Roboute already told me of your confrontation."
"Fucking traitor!" Angron mentally raged. "I will speak to my father and get him to pay for any damages." Angron said hoping that Ozpin would drop the whole thing.
"Angron… you can't keep running from your past, however recent it feels." The only reason why Angron wasn't twisting the man's neck for bringing this topic up was the fact Ozpin had likely many contingency plans in the case of his death. Many of which would involve Angron if it was Angron that did him in.
"We are not talking about this…" Angron said before he tried to storm off only for the walls to close off leaving him no escape. "Oh yeah… forgot you control this place like it was your own body." Angron eyed the Headmaster's cane, an artifact that allowed the user mental control of Beacon. Ozpin just gave back his trademarked blank stare, as if nothing was wrong.
"The only reason why I have yet to tell Ruby of your connection to her…" In a flash a wall formed out of the floor to block the punch Angron intended for Ozpin. The Red Angel's fist was at least successful in breaking through the solid wall. "… is because I feel that it is your secret to tell. But I still believe that you should tell her."
"Tell her what, oh hey you've only know me for three months but I'm actually your dad and the guy you thought was your dad was just the man your mother married because she pitied him."
"Now you know that last part isn't the complete truth." Ozpin scolded.
"Nope… I stand by that statement."
"Well then we are going to have agree to disagree on that. But you need to tell her. Keeping this secret will not protect her from those who know. They will use this against you and use it to control her. She already is in enough danger." Angron glared at the headmaster, he knew what Ozpin said was true, but that didn't mean he was right.
"I'm not telling her. I'll tell you what I told Rob, she is better off without me." With that he kicked down the wall that had been preventing his escape, the fact he broke his leg to do was worth not talking about this anymore.
"Why are you smiling?" Megan asked her brother, it was the kind of smile that she hated because it always came with news that made her hate her own gender.
"I'm taking two chicks to the dance!" Leman said with thumps up and a huge grin one second and then the next he was slammed down into the table by a shift hit to the head by Megan's book.
"You really disgust me." Megan groaned as she tried to relieve a bit of the building stress.
"Leman's questionable attitude aside, he does bring up an important point. Plans for the upcoming dance." Blake pointed out but not exactly sure why given that she had no date. She hadn't really given much thought to dating after the mess that was Adam.
"Yeah! It's going to be great." Yang said clearly excited for the upcoming event.
"So you have a date?" Megan said not taking her eye off her book.
"Well no but you don't need a date to have fun." At that comment Fulgrim gasped.
"How could say something so heartless, a school dance is for those young and in love. A time for memories to be made and joy to be shared." Fulgrim continued to talk but was promptly ignored.
"So Yang is single, I'm all set…" Leman dodged the large book this time. "… and Weiss is going with Garviel…"
"Hey, who told you that?" Weiss demanded, a slight a minor reddening across her face.
"Bjorn."
"And how did he find out?"
"Lecia told him. You see lass, we Wulfen dudes have an effect on you ladies. You tend to spill ya guts… and drop your pants…" It was at that comment that Megan dropped her very heavy book on Leman's lap, sending the Wulfen to the floor in pain.
"Okay… now that that has been rectified. Congratulations Weiss for getting a date for the dance." Megan said then turned to team JNPR who was now all in attendance at the table. Jaune and Pyrrha no longer banished. Megan and the rest of the friends gave them a look that said I assume you two are going together. Their reaction was predictable, Megan knew the soon to be couple had yet to officially declare themselves together, the dance was simply the perfect opportunity.
"What about you?" Yang asked Megan, the one eyed girl simply pointed to Ren who nodded in confirmation. "You two?! Really?"
"Hold it, it's more like we are using each other. We don't want to deal with people asking us so we're going together but not together."
"Oh…" Yang groaned slightly before looking to Nora.
"Ollanius says no dating until I get my grades up." Nora pouted.
"So that leaves…" Megan grinned as she turned to her partner and Ruby. Ruby playing with her fingers and trying to be as small as she could while Corvus was just eating his breakfast ignoring them all. "Well?" Megan asked and Corvus sighed… he knew they weren't going to let this go. So he set down his fork and knife and after cracking his neck and breathing in deep, he was ready.
"Schools dances are nothing but society's way of shaming anyone that is not part of the status quo of pairing off two by two. It encourages the stereotype that a guy needs to be able to catch a girl and that girls' identities are tried to what man they have. Women do not need men and men do not need to conquer women. A school dance is nothing more than symbol of archaic practices filled travesty and I will not support it!" Corvus ended his speech with a slam on the table before returning to his breakfast.
"Ah huh… it has nothing to do with the fact you are a lazy bastard that couldn't ever hope to work up the effort to ask anyone out?" Megan asked, she knew the answer to that and the smirk she had on her face showed that fact.
"That too but mostly the thing about gender roles I said before. Plus I'm not going to be here that night, I'm heading into Vale to pack up my stuff."
"Why would you need to do that?"
"Because I made a deal with Ozpin, he said if I kept my grades up above a C- then he would put me on a program for less than well off Aspirants. The program sets me up with a nice condo out in the decent part of the middle hive. You took me to your place so I couldn't move my stuff during the holidays so I have to do it on the night of the dance."
"I didn't know you had a place, I just thought you were homeless." Yang prodded much to Corvus' ire.
"I am not homeless."
"You slept on our couch until we came here."
"I live in the lower hive of Vale. I was in Patch for… reasons. But did you really expect me to head back to Vale. It was only three days anyways."
"You think you're going to be able to move everything in one night." Blake said trying to move the conversion back to more friendly grounds.
"Doubt it… believe it or not I have a ton of stuff. Any help would be nice but you all are going to the dance…
"I'm not." Ruby interrupted, a small piece of her that was the confident growing young woman had seen a chance and was going take no matter what the rest of her normally shy and awkward self said.
"Oh… if you could help that would be great." Corvus said not seeing anything beyond the surface of the statement.
Later that night.
"I'm not doing it." Taldeer stated firmly.
"You are the only one, everyone else is on assignment." Ozpin pointed out.
"I'm not doing it… I have plans."
"Plans that are personal, plans that can be changed." Ozpin countered.
"So, I'm suppose to drop my plans just to watch one first year move from the lower hive to the middle?" This whole business with Aspirant Corax confused the Eldar Instructor. First off, she had never heard of this program that the Aspirant was befitting from. Next was the Headmaster's interest in him, Ruby Rose was one thing, but admitting Corvus Corax into Beacon was strange. It is true that he holds a very powerful Semblance but everything else about him was completely unremarkable.
"Yes." Ozpin answered simply. "By the way, Master Malcador asked me to pass along a message to you, he would prefer that did not send those type of photos to the temple as he currently training the next generation and they are still young and impressionable." Ozpin smiled at the rare sight of a Eldar flustered and embarrassed.
"What?! I don't know you're talking about." Taldeer defend herself while on the inside very much dreading the idea of some snot nosed kids obtaining those photos.
"Thankfully only three boys had access to them before being caught by some of girls at the temple… I'm told the beating they received was Angron level severe." That made Taldeer so much more content, it also continued to prove her personal belief that the females of the human race were far superior to the males… but then again there were always exceptions to the rule. "And I currently am in possession of those photos… I have yet to look at them by the way."
"Thank you… you better not be lying."
"I'm not… but… these photos might end up in Bile's medical files… what happens when he finds them is beyond my control." Ozpin calmly threatened. Taldeer's face paled at the thought of Fabius having anything like on her.
"Fine! I'll watch the kid and make sure he's okay."
"Are you sure that you don't want to come to the dance?" Yang asked her sister as she continued to brash out her hair, it took forever to keep it looking good but when it was all finished it just reminded Yang why she kept it this way. Blake had already left and so now it was just Ruby, Yang and Weiss who was waiting for her date.
"And have to wear those stupid heels, no way." Ruby replied as she kicked her feet off her bed. Unlike the rest of team RWBY, Ruby was still in her normal clothes while the rest had changed or was currently changing into their dresses. "Besides, Corvus needs help and as his friend I will help him." Ruby said proudly.
"Are you sure that's all?" Yang slyly prodded her sister.
"Yeah… what else is there?" Ruby innocently countered, a small part of her knew what Yang meant though.
"Oh nothing…" Yang trailed off before finishing her brushing. "There, all done. And now…" Right then there was a knock at the door.
"That's probably is Garviel." Weiss said with a smile that slightly irked the dateless member of the team. Whether Weiss noticed this or not was apparent as she opened the door for her date. Garviel was about the tallest Aspirant in their year, only Cardin when he was alive and Bjorn matched him. His face was still young but was already growing into the handsome man he likely would grow up to be. His attire was well suited to the night, not too formal but dashing enough.
"Weiss." Garviel said as he nodded to his date, it was apparently all they were going to get. Weiss had been warned that he was a man of few words and she was fine with that, having been around boys that never shut up about themselves made Garviel's quiet nature a nice change of pace.
"I will see you all later tonight…" Weiss said to her team before starting her way out with her date but…
"Wait!" Ruby yelled out before dashing over to Weiss' date. "As Weiss' partner it is my duty to make sure that she is treated with respect and care she deserves." Ruby said up to the taller Aspirant, she was trying her best impression of her and Yang's dad when Yang went out on a date back in Patch. "Mr. Garviel, do you promise to be a utmost gentleman to my partner?" The rest of team RWBY looked on the display in minor shock while Garviel lightly chuckled.
"You have a excellent partner Weiss, Yes Ms. Rose I promise to treat Weiss with as only a true gentleman would." Garviel said with a slight bow.
"Good, you may leave now." Ruby said as she motioned for Weiss to join Garviel. Weiss was unsure to be happy that her partner cared so much, embarrassed for what she just did, or mad that Ruby butted in. In the end Weiss chose the first option as that had the least amount of extra thought.
"Thank you Ruby." Weiss said this but her tone suggested that she was not assumed by the antics of her partner. The two began walking off to the dance, Ruby and Yang watching them until they turned the hallway corner. Once they did so Yang began laughing.
"Good job Ruby!" Yang laughed. "That was so awesome! I swear I was having flash backs to Dad staring down my dates." Yang took a deep breath before continuing. "Seriously where did that come from sis?"
"I don't know… I just wanted to make sure that Weiss was happy. She is my partner, don't you want to make sure that Blake is happy?" That had Yang stopping completely in her laughter. It was true that Yang wanted Blake to be happy, the Astartes brotherhood pact was damn effective in making partners grow closer. So Yang did care about Blake, but she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about being single when everyone was making such a big deal about dating. Corvus was starting to sound less crazy about the whole thing. "Yang? You okay?" Ruby asked as she moved up to her sister.
"Oh… yeah… just thinking." Yang said before returning to her carefree personality. "Well I think I'm all ready." Yang said before checking herself one last time and then began heading to the door. But the second she opened the door she was met with the cold evil eyes of madness itself.
"Hey Yang." Corvus said as his eye twitched due to the hard glare Yang was giving his pet Nevermore.
"Hi Corvus…" Yang said, her eyes never leaving the Grimm on the boy's shoulder. She had spent far to much time on her hair to let Deliverance ruin it.
"You look nice."
"Oh… thank you." Yang said a little shocked.
"Yup, great job objectifying yourself to nothing more than a piece of meat for the masses to judge and gawk at." Corvus said knowing what he just did.
"Yeah… you're still Corvus alright." Yang grumbled as Corvus walked past her and into the RWBY dorm.
"Hey Corvus, I'm all set to help you move." Ruby announced as she jumped into the air.
"Yay…" Corvus said with not nearly as much enthusiasm as Ruby.
"You better make sure my sister doesn't get mugged or something." Yang said slightly serous.
"It's not like we're going to the Under-Hive, and I live in a… well there aren't that many muggings." Corvus admitted. "The local gangs don't mess with you so long as you pay protection and they do a decent job at keeping the local addicts confined to just a few Hab-Blocks. And people know me so I doubt they would mess with Ruby as long as she's with me. And when we get jumped I can just make us disappear." Ruby and Yang both stared at Corvus, both just got a small window into what Corvus life was like before Beacon, and it both made them slightly more understanding of him and also very saddening. The way he talked about it so casually like how he didn't even seem concerned about say when they would get jumped instead of if… the sisters now felt genuinely concerned for Corvus and happy that he was now leaving such a dangerous place. Corvus then noticed the stares the two girls were giving him though he didn't understood what the meant. "What?"
"Oh, nothing just surprised." Yang covered before remembering her plans for the night. "You two be safe and Corvus if you make a move on Ruby I will hunt you down to the ends of Remnant." That last part had been said so fast as Yang exited the room that the neither Corvus or Ruby were able to respond.
"Why does she have to say things like that?" Corvus grumbled not noticing the blush that Ruby had under her hood. "Whatever… we should get going before it gets too late." Corvus said still oblivious to red faced girl behind him.
"Okay everyone shut up!" Flint said before discharging a round of his bolt pistol. The Great Hall went completely quiet at that. "Good, now first before we get this dance started. A round of applause for the Vytal Dance decoration committee." Flint motioned to the five Aspirants standing at the front of the crowd, Fulgrim being in front of them and wearing a very smug smile on his face. Flint waited for the clapping to end before continuing. "Second, if I hear of any… disreputable behavior then the culprits will be getting a nice beating delivered by yours truly. Thirdly… I want you all to remember that Astartes do anything better than mortal men… including partying!" Flint chuckled before letting the band start playing. The crowd of teens gave a slight pity laugh before starting their fun.
"That was awful." Angron said as Flint stepped off the stage.
"Well I couldn't leave them on beatings could I? This is a dance after all." Flint retorted, he maybe a Commissar but he was for all intents and purposes a retired one. When one gets to a certain age as a Commissar you have really three options when it comes to post tour life. And these are the options to those that didn't get famous like Cain.
First you could teach the next generation of Commissars, not nearly as well paid as his current job and you were still expected to do a little field work no wand then when you would take ready cadets for their first battlefield missions.
Second you could become a Politician. Troops might hate Commissars but the common people love them. Made getting into the political world very easy as Commissars were easy to put into mid level positions. People higher up got a hard working and loyal worker and got to look good for bringing in a Commissar. Those same people had a tendency to forget that Commissars are loyal to the Imperium and not individual people and so if you tried to bribe a former Commissar you were gambling with your life as not all of them lost the Right of Execution.
And lastly you could become a Commissar to a Legion. It was a new position, created by Primarch Yarrick. With the betrayal of the Word Bears Legion and the founding of the Armageddon Steel Legion, it was obvious that there needed to be a way to prevent this from happening again. So the newly appointed Primarch Yarrick set up a new position a legion Commissar. While the Champlain would keep the Astartes in the legion to the standards of the Legion and keep the moral high. It was decided that outsider should be the one to watch for corruption in the ranks.
But Flint lucked out, he got the most prized job any Commissar could ever dream of. Nannying a bunch of teenagers that were being trained to be absolute killing machines. Not only was it thee best paying job out there but it was safe and quiet for the most part. And you still served the Imperium in a meaningful way. By making sure that the stupid and useless don't become the Emperor's Finest.
And right now he was chaperoning the next generation of the Emperor's Finest while they danced and did things that were considered normal for people their age. It was thought to be important that the Aspirants have moments like these, to give them some doses of normalcy so that they might better connect with the mortal men of the Imperium. So far the theory had proven sound, ever since the schools had started doing these doses of normalcy the out coming generations of Astartes that received them had a dramatic difference in complaints against their behavior as opposed to the older generations.
"I would have…" Angron's grumblings brought Flint out of his thoughts.
"That's because you are a wet blanket of unimaginable proportions." Gebren Silver chuckled as he joined his fellow chaperons.
"And that's coming from a former Iron Hands." Flint pointed out much to Angron's annoyance. The Athletic Instructor continued to grumble while Flint gazed over the crowd of teens. He made a mental check list of the those that he needed to watch out for. "Jehudiel is hanging out by the refreshments… but his partner is with him so she should be able to keep him from spiking the punch. Ivory is… I will need to raid their room later, because I am sure that is what I think it is. Leman is… good Emperor that boy is going to get himself Fixed one of these days and I'm sure his sister will be the one to do it. Ame is currently dancing and staying away from Ansiel so that's good." Flint took off his cap and ran his hand through his hair. It had yet to start to gray not that he cared. He wasn't in keeping up his appearance, the scars and fatigue that shown on his face had made that prospect pointless.
"Years starting to get on you?" Flint looked to his side and saw Vice-Headmistress Goodwitch standing next to him.
"Not at all, I will be kicking these kids around for years to come Vice-Headmistress Goodwitch."
"Flint, we've known each other for years, you can address me by first name you know."
"That's just not how my mind works, you're my superior and as such I must address you accordingly." She then gave a small sigh, Flint was stupid but his Commissar training was far to ingrained for him to act on the invitation.
Megan watched as her friends and Weiss danced in the middle of the Great Hall. The dress she had chosen to wear was lacking in any way to smuggle in a book so she was stuck without something to do. If had known that this was going to be as boring as it was she would have joined Corvus and Ruby.
"I think our plan worked out a little too well." Megan quietly laughed as she turned to her date.
"Agreed." Ren sighed.
"Fucking damn it!" Corvus yelled before he finally lost his patience and kicked the door to his condo down. "That's better." Corvus sighed as he walked in, Deliverance flying off his shoulder and onto its perch.
"Um… don't you think your landlord is going to get mad at you for that?" Ruby asked as she walked in after Corvus. His condo was not exactly what she was expecting, or more like it was exactly what she had been hoping it wasn't. It was dirty and filled junk from old take out boxes to clothes that looked like they hadn't been worn in years. But not only that, the building itself was a wreak, holes in the walls, lighting that flickered on and off, a smell that Ruby was sure was some kind of mold, and from the look on the sink she was sure that the water was far from clean. Ruby was increasingly worrying for her friend for the state in which he lived in before he attended Beacon. It made her almost glad that he spent so much time locked up instead of here in this filth.
"Nah… I could care less what that bastard thinks. I'm getting out of this dump and into the middle hive." The Hives of Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and Cadia were all built as sky high man made mountains of buildings. There was the outer city that was house in the first walls separating the Hives from wilderness. It was this area that could be referred to a suburban area but it was more like a strange fusion between urban and suburban. Then there was the lower hive, it was here that much of the population of the Hive lived and worked, crime was around and plain view in the worst areas of the lower Hive but these weren't that prevalent. Most of the lower hive contained the working class of the Imperium, hard working people that worked the factories. The next was middle hive, it was here that the middle class of the Imperium lived, the families of the Guard, merchants, employees of the corporations and the Administratum, and various other areas beyond the blue collar work of the lower hive. Then there were the Spires of the Upper Hive, were nobility and the wealthy live. A playground for those that money is no issue.
But then there was also the Under-Hive. This was the name given to the subterranean city that lived under the Hive. Here lived the outcasts of the Imperial Population. It was a lawless place were the only rule was how much firepower you had mattered. You had a bigger gun then the other guy, it meant you were right in everything and he was wrong.
"I'm sure it will be great for you when we get out of Beacon for the spring." Unlike most schools Astartes school vacations are only a single month and start at the opposite season the school year began. Beacon starts in the fall so they got April off.
"Oh yeah, it will also be great with the money this program will be giving me too. No more stealing meals, I can actually buy food on a regular basis." Again… Ruby's heart just cracked a little more. Less that he wasn't able to eat every day but it was how he saw it as a normal thing for him. Most people she knew simply expected that they would eat everyday but for Corvus it was really big news.
"Is it like this for everyone in the lower hive?" Ruby thought to herself as she looked over the piles of junk that littered Corvus' so to be former home.
Yang watched from the sidelines as she watched her class and the upper classes dance and mingle. It was nice to see everyone like this, normally everyone was either studying or training. Neither were very socially encouraging environments. But somehow people still made friends beyond their teams, and even more so within their teams.
Yang then suddenly heard the sound of hard slap nearby. She turned her head to see Leman on the ground and the two girls he had brought leaving, both of them look quite pissed off.
"Well I lost that bet, he didn't last as long as thought he would have." Yang sighed at the sounds of Leman getting up and running after the girls. She knew that it would not end well for the Wulfen.
Yang then returned to her observing of the student body. Normally she was the life of a party, but there had been very little opportunity her Yang. This dance wasn't the kind of party that she could enjoyed on her own. Again she was finding herself agreeing with Corvus, things like this really did make you feel like crap if you didn't have someone with you.
Yang looked over to Weiss who was enjoying a dance with Garviel. The two of them looked like they were having a good time, they lacked a certain spark that told Yang that it was very likely that they would enjoy this time and then be done. Nice memories but nothing more. Not at all like Jaune and Pyrrha. Yang smiled as she watched the pair dance, they certainly had that spark that was clear to everyone.
Yang's smile dropped when she noticed that she couldn't find her partner. She had seen Blake at the start of the dance but then she was gone. Not on the dance floor or anywhere else around the Great Hall. Yang moved through the mass of people to the entrance while scanning the tops of people's heads looking for the bow of her partner. Finding that she couldn't find Blake Yang left the Great Hall. Yang left the dance in search of her Faunas partner. Yang looked around the grounds of Beacon but couldn't find Blake anywhere.
"Got'ch!" On reflex Yang turned around and punched the source of the sound. Punching the very hard face of Grunto, Beacon's all-purpose Ork. "ARH! You little git!"
"Hey, you were the one that snuck up on me."
"You'ze suppose to be in da Hall, not out here." Grunto grumbled as he rubbed his face.
"I'm looking for my friend okay."
"I keeps tellin' you'ze all to stay in da hall, that's what da Boss said."
"Well my friend isn't in the Hall." Yang said trying to use the Ork's logic against him. Can Orks have logic… hm… yeah… ork logic.
"Oh! Then letz find dem then…" the ork leaned in close to Yang. "So youz can go back in da Hall." Yang winced at the smell of the Ork's breath.
"Yes… so we can go back in da Hall." Yang replied back as she followed the Ork.
Leman was wandering around the grounds looking for his lady friends. He didn't do anything that bad… just merely suggested the possibly of a three-way. But apparently the two girls more only going along with Leman's two date idea to try and out do the other and get Leman all to himself. So when he suggested his idea to them it made them realize that Leman wasn't likely to choose just one of them. So now he was trying to either of them and he would stick to that one.
"Maybe Megan is right… this whole idea is kinda turning to shit." Leman grumbled before looking around, his Wulfen night vision letting him notice that there was someone out on the Valkyrie pads. It looked like a girl, sitting on the ledge letting her legs hang off the side. Leman couldn't tell if it was one of his girls but it was the first girl he had found. As he walked up the ramp to the pad he noticed the familiar bow of the secret Faunus. "Ehy… what'ch doing out er?" Leman said as he approached Blake.
"Nothing much… where'd your dates go?"
"They kinda dumped me. It's cool though… plenty more ladies want a piece of me." Leman said like he was trying to play off the whole thing.
"I'm sure they are…" Blake said as she returned to her sight. The Hive City of Vale was off in the distance. The lights of the massive mountain of buildings shown through the night like a its very own beacon.
"Hey… why the long face kitty cat." Leman said as he joined Blake. She slightly glared at him for the name but she didn't really care. no one else was around and Leman was just being Leman.
"It's nothing… just seeing all these couples…"
"Made you think of him?" Leman finished for Blake. "Egh… your better off without that bastard."
"I seem to remember the last time we were talking about this we ended up close to fighting."
"I said I was sorry."
"After Yang tracked you down and forced you to."
"I would have done it on my own… at some point." Leman tried but even knew that it just wasn't in his nature to feel remorse for such things. "You really have a… forceful partner you know that right?"
"Yeah I know…" Blake smiled at the decently accurate description of her partner. Yang was nothing Blake, she was loud and full of life, cheery and slightly naive. But Blake couldn't help but admire her, she was so confident in everything she did, and she always tried to pull Blake out of her less then best days, when something had reminded Blake of Adam or the White Fang. Yang would drag the Faunus out of the black hole she would often throw herself in.
Blake hen looked over to Leman. He would also do that from time to time. Sure he would often refocus her depression into anger for something he said or did but whether he did this on purpose she didn't know. It was the same for many of her friends, they all helped in their own ways. Helping her grow beyond the last few years in the White Fang. But it had been mostly Yang and to a lesser extent Leman.
But then she noticed he was squinting at her, as if trying to figure something out.
"What?" Blake asked unprepared for what he was about to say as she had just come out of thinking highly of the Wulfen.
"I think you looked better when I was drunk…" That had snapped Blake out of her praising him. Blake promptly slapped him, thankfully back into the pad instead of off the side of the cliff and stood up to leave the rude boy in a huff. "Damn… was channeling my inner Dorn."
Blake stormed off, her mind filled if swearing and curses at Leman. It wasn't so much that he insulted her, well it was that very much but not as much as the fact he had made her feel like he cared before being the inconsiderate jackass he was. Some small part of Blake knew that Leman's lack of social graces was because he was literally raised by wolves but that part of her was quiet right now.
"Dar' youz are!" Blake heard before being yanked up in the air. "Youz not supposed to bes outside." The Beacon Ork grunted into Blake's face.
"Hey put her down." Blake looked over and saw Yang standing behind her. Grunto grumbled a bit before genteelly dropping Blake down to the ground.
"Now youz two goes back to da Hall." While it sounded like a order, the Ork's face made Blake think it was more like a question.
"Yes we will, now you get back to interrupting moments between couples." Yang half joked, the Ork just did a small chuckle like it would enjoy doing that very much. Yang took Blake's hand and the two quickly ran off to the entrance of the Great Hall. "There, now…" Yang said before turning to her partner. "Where were you?!"
"Oh…" Blake was a little shocked but Yang's worry. "… I just felt this wasn't very fun all by myself so I snuck out to enjoy the view." Blake nodded to the Hive City of vale off in the distance.
"Really? I mean I get it. I was thinking the same thing. As much as I hate to say it… but Corvus was right. Unless you have a date this whole thing makes you feel like crap."
"Wow… admitting Corvus is right, that's big for you." Blake jokingly jabbed her partner.
"Yeah yeah… so what do say we ditch this scene and watch shitty movies in our dorm."
"That sounds really great actually." Blake decided to leave out the whole thing with Leman considering Yang was likely to throw him off the cliff for what he said.
"And that's the last of it." Corvus said as he threw the last of what was in the useless junk pile out the window and on to some passerby. He then looked over to the pile that was filled with junk that he still needed. Ruby was currently working on packing everything up into boxes.
"Um… Corvus… do you really need thirty jars of bottle caps?" Ruby asked as she tried to figure out how to fit said jars into one box.
"Yes! Bottle caps are great for distracting people and making them leave to go off and investigate." Corvus replied. "Now let's hurry and get this stuff down to the moving van." Corvus said as he picked up one of the packed boxes.
"Hello? You in here little birdy?" Both Corvus and Ruby looked to the front door where three men now were walking into the apartment. The smaller middle man was the one who was speaking. By his ears, Ruby guessed he was a Eldar, but he lacked the grace Instructor Taldeer had. The other two looked to be nothing more than Thug one and two.
"Del'un." Corvus addressed the Eldar. "Get out, I'm leaving so you are even less than a thought to me at this point." Corvus waved the three men to the door telling them to leave. But this just made the gang leader chuckle.
"Leave? You can't leave. We have a deal. You don't pay protection money and you do favors for us. Helping the community and stuff like that." Ruby could easily tell that what the Eldar said was far from the truth. But it worried her that her friend might have had to even worse things than she already suspected.
"Tch…" Corvus dug in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "See here, I have a new deal with Beacon. The kind that make me above you. If the Arbites come, they won't be arresting me for kicking your ass." Corvus said as he showed off his Beacon ID. The Eldar's smug smile left his face and was replaced with a look of disgust.
"You! An Astartes? Ha, not likely little birdy. You just tryin' out a new way out of your commitments…" The Eldar looked over to Ruby. "I could forgive you… for the girl." One of the brutes of meat began moving toward Ruby. Ruby was about to show these jerks that she wasn't some helpless girl but a Astartes in training. But Corvus stopped her by stepping between her and the thug.
"Not even a single change in the warp you are touching her."
"Now now Corvus, I need something to recoup my losses. You've been gone these months and I rely on the income you provide. I know sevreal customers who are very in to the young look. I can even give you a percent of the profit… its nothing you haven't done before." At that Corvus had a knife to Del'un's neck.
"Give me a reason why I shouldn't finish you right now." Corvus growled out.
"Because you know that you're going to be right back here one day. And on that day you will need me more than I need you." Corvus mind was going at hundred times faster than a normal person's. He was thinking over the facts, that was what he did when he felt he was at a crossroad. Fact, he was becoming a Astartes. Fact he would not be arrested for murder for killing Del'un and his thugs. Fact, Del'un was a underboss favored by the local Don. Fact, Del'un had information on Corvus that Corvus would prefer not be known by people he had come to care about. Fact, Ruby was right here and he didn't want her to see him kill in cold blood. Corvus dropped the knife and settled for a fist to the eye instead.
"Fuckin' Mon-keigh! You will regret that." If there was one thing all Eldar shared was a love of a unblemished face. And the black eye Corvus had just given him marred the Eldar's face quite clearly. "I don't care who you think you are but I will find you and I will return this insult tenfold." Del'un said before he walked out of the apartment with his thugs behind him. Corvus and Ruby watched and waited a bit before speaking again.
"Um… Corvus…" Ruby started.
"Sorry… I was hoping that everyone was still a little distracted by the holidays to really notice us." Corvus said as he returned to boxing up his stuff, a little faster than he was before. Ruby walked over to the former criminal and lowered next to him.
"Corvus… you don't need to say anything. I know you have had a hard life… but I know you are a good person."
"No I'm not!" Corvus yelled not looking up to Ruby. "I'm not… there is a reason Ozpin needed to make a special case for me. I doubt he had any problem getting the Astartes to accepting you early but for me… I'm sure he had to pull so many strings to have them even look at me let alone accept me. I've done things that landed me in jail for a reason."
"But you accepted to come to Beacon. You wanted to be better than what you thought you were."
"I joined because I was sick of prison food and people trying to shank me on daily basis." Corvus bluntly replied. "Ruby… you want to know what I was thinking when I first saw Roman and those goons enter that shop… I was wondering if I could join them." That made Ruby pause still.
"Even so… I still think you are a good person. You help everyone and all you talk about is what is wrong with the Imperium, you know what is wrong… that's the first step in changing it. I don't think you're a bad person… even if you think so."
"Summer?" Angron felt… strange. Like some phantom reminder of the past had reached out to him. "No… it was nothing." Angron shook the feeling off and continued to glare at the dancing student body daring them to go further than they were allowed.
Taldeer watched the two Aspirants from the scope of her Vindicare sniper from the window of the apartment complex across the street. She had watched the altercation between Aspirant Corax and the piece of trash that dare call itself one of her kin.
"He handled it well." Taldeer said as she pulled the sniper off from the ledge. The kids would be fine form here on out. She knew that she wasn't needed at all. Angron may be a rage addicted bastard but he knew how to train these Aspirants to the fullest. But this still felt off to Taldeer, why was Ozpin taking such a big interest in Corvus Corax.
She continued to watch the two teens after they finished their packing. She couldn't tell the state of the boy from his facial features but the girl seemed… not happy but a mixed of pleased and concerned. They both finished placing boxes in the moving van and after closing it up the girl got in. Corvus however went back inside, after a few minutes he came back running out the doors and jumped into the moving van. Soon a Beastman, that Taldeer knew from the dossier on Corvus was his landlord, came running out yelling at the boy.
Codex-Astartes for the Common Man
By Roboute Guilliman
Based off the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman
Chapter Thirty Six, The Eye Of Terror
Surrounded by all sides by raising spiked mountains. The crater that is the known to the Imperium as the Eye of Terror is a land of corruption and evil. Contained only by the Iron Cage mountain rage and the Hive-City of Cadia guardian the only path out of the land. Grimm constantly venture out of the madding place in search of strife to sow. the lands around the base of the Iron Cage Mountains are blasted craters created by artillery shells from Cadia.
The only truly safe way out and into the lands of the Eye is the Gate of Cadia. a small empty space between the jagged spikes of rock that keep the rest of the Eye barred from the world. It is here that the Imperium fights off the massive Black Floods of Grimm that are launched by the Daemon Princes of the Grimm Gods.
The Eye was formed from the birth of the Great Grimm God Malal in the first moments of the Long Night. And it is now a sea of darkness. a place filled with the madding powers of the Grimm. A place that no sane man could ever venture into and come out uncorrupted.
(Think Mordor but Chaos and Grimm)
Author Notes
I am posting a poll to decided which of the following pairing I should do. Blake/Yang, Blake/Leman, or…. Blake/Yang/Leman.
Reviews
Darkerpaths – Thank you, and sorry for more shipping but this ended up being longer than I thought it would. Next chapter will be action.
Mr. Green37 – PM
Pacer287 – Thank you, and finally someone recognized Karma. Internet cookies for you.
Trickster3696 – thank you, and no… ruby will not be involved with the BA at all.
Nemris – thank you, and Sevatar is the first captain of the Night Lords and will be something of a mentor to Weiss… but Night Lords style.
Ollanius Pious – PM (new Beta yay)
