A/N: Yo, hey everyone. I'm back from the temporary hiatus with a new chapter, and I'm happy with it. Not much to say here, other than that the end A/N will have some story information, for those who asked and those who didn't. Enjoy.
"You must always strive to be mindful, to be aware, to be vigilant, so that you may remain ever abated from the all-consuming darkness. You would not be the first."
It was a bright and sunny day in the bustling city centre of Vale, and Emerald couldn't be more sick of it.
It wasn't the people, it wasn't the noise, it wasn't even the fact that she was technically working. It was her partner, who just wouldn't shut up.
"I knew you were lost." The silver-haired pale teen said, looking at his green-haired dark teen partner.
"Mercury, I will seriously pay you to shut up." Emerald replied, waving a brown wallet in her partner's face.
"That isn't your money." He replied succinctly, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"But it can be yours for five minutes of silence." Emerald offered, waving the proffered lien-stuffed leather in his face.
"Hmmm…" Mercury thought, pretending to consider the offer. "No deal."
"Fine." Emerald said, turning and tossing the now empty wallet over her shoulder.
"Whatever, you want me." Mercury said, following his partner as they walked down the pavement adjacent to the street.
Vale was busy, the morning air tinged with the ever-so-slight scent of dust. Fire dust, from what the two could tell. It was a familiar smell.
"So, how much further?" Mercury asked, already bored.
"A few blocks." Emerald responded.
"Ugh… this place is so dull." Mercury complained.
"Eh, I kinda like it. Tall buildings, diverse culture…" Emerald began, but was interrupted by her partner.
"And nice dopey people who are easy to pickpocket." He said.
Emerald stopped walking to look at her partner. "That's every city."
"Ooh, Emerald! Master Thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!" Mercury mocked, voice high and falsetto.
Emerald glared at him and groaned, anger evident in her voice, before walking away.
"Ugh, you're no fun today." Mercury said, following her.
The two walked down the streets for a few minutes, before they arrived at a small store off a main street.
The bell dinged as the two stepped through, Mercury splitting off to take a look at one of the stands, Emerald proceeding straight up to the counter.
"Be right there!" The two heard the cheerful call from behind a set of doors, just behind the counter. The man, whose voice it was, backed through the doors, hands full with two stacks of books, which he promptly set down.
"Welcome to 'Tukson's Book Trade', home to every book under the sun. How may I…" Tukson greeted the two, before uttering an almost inaudible gasp. He hesitated.
"How may I help you?" He repeated, more confidently.
"Just browsing." Mercury said, from near the front of the small store. He shut the cover on a book to accentuate his words.
"Actually, I was wondering if you have any copies of 'The Thief and The Butcher'?" Emerald asked, leaning against the counter top.
"Yes we do." Came the curt response from the burly store owner.
"That's great." Emerald said excitedly.
"Would you… like a copy?" Tukson asked, somewhat thrown off guard.
"No, just wondering." Emerald replied, as Mercury slammed another book shut. "Oh, oh! What about 'Violet's Garden'? In paperback?" She then asked.
"He's got it. Hardback too." Mercury said, pulling a book from the shelf, opening it.
"Ooh, options are nice." Emerald said, putting a finger up to her chin.
"Eh, no pictures." Mercury said, slamming the cover closed. "Got any comic books?"
"Near the front." Tukson said, nodding to the front window.
"Oh, no, wait! What about… 'Third Crusade'?" Emerald asked.
"Um… I… don't believe we carry that one." Tukson said, visibly unnerved.
"Oh." Mercury said, slamming another book closed.
"What was this place called again?" Emerald asked.
"Tukson's Book Trade." Tukson said.
"And you're Tukson?" Emerald asked.
"That's right." Tukson replied.
"So I take it you're the one who came up with the catchphrase?" She asked, looking at the larger man.
"Yes." Tukson answered succinctly.
"And, what was it again?" Mercury asked.
"Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." Tukson said.
"Except the 'Third Crusade'." Mercury said.
"It's just a catchphrase." Tukson replied.
"It's false advertising!" Mercury exclaimed.
"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson." Emerald said, as Mercury began to slowly dim the front of the store. "I hear you're planning on leaving. Heading all the way to Vacuo." The front of the store progressively got darker as the second switch was flicked. "Your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that." The third and final switch was flicked, and all the windows at the front of the store were now completely opaque. "And neither are we… You know who we are, don't you?" Emerald asked.
"Yes." Tukson said.
"And you know why we're here?" Emerald asked.
"Yes." Tukson repeated.
"So… are you going to fight back?" Emerald asked.
"Yes!" Tukson exclaimed, as he unsheathed the claws, his faunus trait, as he leapt onto the countertop.
Tukson leaped off the countertop at Emerald, slashing with his claws. He wasn't fast enough, however, and she sidestepped out of the way. He looked on in surprise, as Mercury quickly stepped forward and wound up for a kick.
The sound of a shotgun slug exiting a barrel was met with the sound of a meaty thunk as Mercury's shotgun-greaves met Tukson's face. A lack of aura meant that Tukson would not be getting back up.
The door dinged as the two walked out, comic book in Mercury's hand.
"What's with that?" Emerald asked the silver mercenary.
"I like the pictures." Came the response.
"Whatcha doin?" Yang asked, sliding along the bench in the cafeteria, bumping up against Blake.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just… going over some notes from last semester." Blake responded, quickly closing her book.
Yang quickly leant back to catch a grape in her mouth. "Lame." She replied.
Nora laughed as Yang caught a second grape in her mouth.
Both teams WBY and JNPR were surprised when Ruby finally appeared, slamming a massive white binder down onto the table.
"Sisters… Friends… Weiss." Ruby began, a faint exclamation of 'Hey!' not interrupting her. "Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."
"This ought to be good." Yang said, as she caught another grape in her mouth.
"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had… ever!" Ruby continued, undeterred.
"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss asked accusingly.
"I am not a crook." Ruby replied, hands forming peace signs in Remnant's least convincing act ever.
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked, looking at her younger leader.
"I'm talking about kicking this semester off with a bang!" Ruby exclaimed, pointing at Blake.
"I always kick my semesters off with a Yang! Eh? Am I right guys?" Yang said, before being smacked in the face with an apple by a booing Nora.
"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But, classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today." Ruby said, completely ignoring her sister's terrible pun.
"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store." Weiss said, whilst Yang threw an apple back at Nora, missing and hitting someone else on the other side of the cafeteria.
"I don't know, I might sit this one out." Blake said.
"Sit out or not, I think that however we start this last day we should do it as a team." Weiss said.
"I for one think that-" Weiss began to say, but was rather rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of a pie smacking the heiress in the face.
"Heh heh. Oops?" Nora offered, whilst simultaneously pointing at Ren, who sat next to the girl, hands on his face. Pyrrha and Jaune sat in line next to Ren, wearing various expressions of shock and abject horror, subjectively.
Team FLIT was walking to the cafeteria for a late breakfast, ready for the coming day. Flare led the way, his partner alongside him, with Tera and Iren holding the rear.
"Man, that's harsh." Said a blue-haired teen in a red jacket, as he and his presumed friend walked just ahead of FLIT.
"I know, we were fighting side by side. She was super fast and I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross, but it was awesome." Said his friend, the blond monkey-tailed faunus.
"Nice!" The blue-haired one complimented.
"Right? And the best part is, she's a Faunus. But that's a secret, okay?" The blond said.
It was then that Flare realised exactly who the faunus was talking about. So this was Sun Wukong.
"Got it." Said the blue-haired one.
"And not a, 'I'm gonna go tell Scarlet the second Sun turns his back secret', I'm talking secret secret." Sun said, leaning close to his friend.
"Whoa, chill out man, I got it." He said, before he repeated himself in a much quieter tone. "I got it."
"You better. I just don't want to screw this up, you know. These guys are the coolest! No offense to you guys." Sun said, as the two passed one of the windows to the cafeteria.
Flare noticed something odd on the window, but shrugged it off.
"None taken." The other one responded.
"They're just in here. I'm really excited for you to meet them. So be cool, okay? You're gonna be cool, right?" Sun asked his friend.
"Dude." His friend replied, as he quickly stopped and posed.
"Good point." Sun agreed.
The two entered the door to the cafeteria, and FLIT soon followed them in, only to see them standing in the doorway.
The more odd sight was the swarms of people charging out of the cafeteria, followed by the screams of people.
"FOOD FIGHT!" Shouted one student as he bolted out the door, knocking past Tera.
The next loudest noise was Nora cackling from atop a stack of tables almost twenty feet high.
"The fuck!?" Tera exclaimed, surprise evident on her face.
"Should we… help?" Lillith asked, looking to her teammates.
Iren grunted in response, his typical way of deferring to Flare.
"I have absolutely no idea." Flare responded, completely out of his comfort zone. "But sure, why not." He said, smiling.
"Is your new arm waterproof?" Iren asked his leader.
"Thanks to the general of Atlas, yes it is. This should be a good test for it, honestly. How do we split it? Two on two, or all on them?" Flare asked.
"I say two on two, all of us might be a little unfair." Lillith said, with a smile, as Tera and Iren nodded agreement with the smallest teammate's suggestion.
"Partners versus Partners, then. Which team?" Flare asked, as Nora shouted in the distance.
"We'll take RWBY if you take JNPR." Iren replied.
"Copy. Good luck." Flare said, before he and Lillith quickly ran off.
"Yo, Ruby! We're with you, Flare and Lillith are helping JNPR!" Tera called out, and received a thumbs up from Yang. Ruby nodded, before standing one leg on the table.
"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be… DELICIOUS!" Ruby shouted as she crushed a carton of milk in her hand.
Weiss, Blake, Yang, Tera and Iren all cheered along with their leader-slash-impromptu-leader as they began arming themselves with various delicatessen.
"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" They heard Nora scream as she jumped down off of her perch, and JNPR opened fire, throwing and kicking a volley of watermelons at their opponents.
"Yang, turkeys!" Shouted Ruby, directing Yang towards the stack of rather large turkeys that sat on one of the tables.
With a quick punch Yang donned the turkey-based gauntlets, and began to systematically take out each watermelon with a turkey-armed punch. Once cleared of melon-based projectiles, Blake and Tera joined the fray, Blake picking up two baguettes, and Tera splitting her baguette into two.
Yang punched the air twice, and fired both turkeys at Pyrrha and Jaune, who dodged and got hit respectively.
With Jaune now stumbling back, and Pyrrha in a less-defended position, Blake and Tera moved in for the attack.
A moment of dramatic tensity occurred when Pyrrha and Blake locked baguettes, each straining against the other's stale loaves.
Tera chose this moment to intervene, to give Blake the advantage in the fight, but was swiftly removed from play by a blow from Lillith, armed with two croissants in place of her usual half-chakrams.
Blake and Pyrrha began to strike out at each other as the two engaged in a yeast-based melee, and Tera wished she could help. However, out of Tera and Lillith, Lillith was the better in a melee, her croissants proving to be staler than ever thought possible.
The two locked bread-based weapons, and quickly set about attempting to disarm the other, trading blows and dodging strikes.
Blake, on the other hand, hadn't fared so well against the Mistralian champion fighter. Having been knocked back by a charging strike from the redhead, the ravenette was sent flying, only to be replaced by Yang, who in turn was sent flying backwards from a series of baguette spears.
Ruby quickly followed behind her sister, surfing across the remaining tables atop a metal food tray. A flip and smack with the tray sent the baguette projectile back at it's thrower, and Pyrrha had to quickly roll out of the way of the loaf.
Ruby, now having closed the gap between the two, quickly leaped up, using the tray like a combined springboard-slash-weapon as she pressed against Pyrrha, who threw up a hasty block, and flipped, tray and Pyrrha being sent flying back.
Nora and Ren took the initiative, quickly stepping in to engage the red-cloaked team leader. Ruby backflipped, and revealed her partner, Weiss, behind her. Weiss engaged, spraying a massive burst of ketchup across the floor. Ren, unprepared for the condiment-based attack, slipped, and was sent skidding into a nearby stack of tables at a comical velocity, not only sending the entire stack of tables flying high into the air, but also creating an unexpectedly bowling-esq strike sound.
Nora, with the advantage of a place to put her feet, quickly leaped into the air past the flailing Ren, who had been sent backwards from the impact. She landed on one of the tables and used it as a springboard to leap higher, grabbing a pole from the wall, wrenching it from place. She landed, and pierced a watermelon with the end of the pole, turning it into a makeshift hammer.
Nora pressed her charge against the unarmed Weiss, only to have Ruby dash in front and take the blow. Weiss rolled to the side as Ruby was launched across the cafeteria into the hands of Iren, who was sat, waiting.
Weiss quickly exited her roll, and picked up the nearest weapon, which was, for some reason was a swordfish, of all the extravagant foods, and quickly twirled the swordfish-sword into place, using her semblance to launch herself towards Nora. The strike connected, and Nora flipped backwards from the impact, barely managing to maintain her footing as she slid backwards.
Nora charged back in, and the two traded strikes as they redirected each other's blows. With a spin, Nora twirled her hammer in a horizontal spin, before landing a heavy strike, and Weiss flew backwards, the power sending Weiss all the way across the cafeteria, as she smashed into one of the pillars at the back, the impact cracking the stone.
Ruby quickly leaped in and caught Weiss, getting her clear of the debris.
"Weiss! Weiss! Don't leave me! Nooo!" Ruby cried out as Weiss slumped in her arms.
Yang and Iren chose this moment to enter the fray, Yang charging forward, rearming with more turkeys. Iren split off, his large baguette in hand, heading to assist Tera, who was still engaged with Lillith.
Ren flipped over a table, grabbing two leeks as his chosen armament. Yang pushed forwards, and the two engaged, Yang hitting Ren's block with a kick. The two continued into a flurry of blocks and strikes, before Yang struck with an uppercut, launching Ren into the air. Ren flipped in the air, and used the newly gained height to fling his leeks at Yang. Yang quickly dodged them, as they somehow thudded into the concrete floor. She leaped up, and quickly reached a higher point than Ren, before she struck, launching Ren into the ground at incredible speed, cracking the concrete and scattering tables with his impact.
Yang landed, and Nora engaged, charging forward with a hammer blow that Yang had to dodge backwards to avoid. A spinning strike from Nora was dodged by Yang, who jumped backwards again, on the defensive. The two quickly charged each other, and they swung at each other.
Yang was just too slow as Nora's makeshift melon-hammer hit, the strike launching Yang through the cafeteria roof, the rubble raining down atop of Blake, who quickly flipped backwards out of the way.
Blake, whilst flipping, grabbed a string of sausages, and quickly began to twirl them. She whipped them forwards at Nora, who was struck in the chest, and sent flying backwards, past the still ongoing combat of Tera and Lillith.
Tera was tired. She'd being going blow for blow with her teammate for a while now, and the smaller girl was showing no signs of slowing down. Even with Tera using her semblance, she'd needed Iren to step in whilst she recovered.
She nodded to Iren, and the two pressed the attack against the purple-haired girl, who began to lose ground steadily under the combined assault of Iren's powerful strikes and Tera's pinpoint blows.
Nora, having recovered from the sausage whip strike Blake had delivered, began to throw the scattered drink cans at her opponents like sugary grenades. Having been thoroughly shaken, and their secret ingredient activating on contact with the ground, the cans began to promptly explode on impact, giving Blake a reason to dodge around, avoiding the aluminium explosives.
Pyrrha, having recovered, noticed Nora's plot, and quickly began to manifest her semblance, the cans shuddering and shaking as she magnetically lifted them, and began to fling them at her opponents. Blake, Tera and Iren were forced to dodge as Lillith quickly disengaged, the cans flying over her and impacting against the three.
The endless swarm of sugary explosives sent Blake, Tera and Iren against the wall of the cafeteria, and they stayed suspended for a few seconds, the impacts seemingly unending.
After a few seconds, the stream of explosives stopped, and the three hit the ground behind a very determined Ruby.
The red-cloaked girl bent over into a runner's start, and screamed in determination as she took off, a massive wake of powdered concrete and cutlery being sucked behind her as she ran, the air being bent by her passing at such a high speed.
The airborne grenade-cans were sucked up as well, the now vortex of rubble, plates, cutlery and various foods all being carried along towards the rear wall, where Ruby's opponents stood, slack-jawed at their impending defeat.
With a flourish and a cry of determination, Ruby bundled up into a spinning red blur, trailing rose petals along with her barrage.
Suddenly Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora and Lillith were swept up into the vortex as Ruby passed by, and they suddenly impacted against the far wall. Ruby stopped, hitting the metaphorical brakes, and the simple force of her stop cracked the rear wall, before she flipped into the air to avoid the incoming barrage. The five impacted, and soon after so did the rest of the vortex.
They were battered by the contents of Ruby's makeshift assault, and they soon fell, unsticking from the wall and leaving five people-shaped marks on the now multi-coloured wall.
Ruby hit the ground, cloak flurrying in the wake of her destructive attack, and looked behind her. She only saw five marks, and she swore she knew Flare was a part of the enemy team. There should've been six people lying crumpled at the wall.
The sudden crackling of lightning shocked Ruby, mentally speaking, as she spun around to see Flare standing not too far from her. Behind him were two sharp grooves in the concrete. He had two leeks in his hands, and they were somehow crackling with electrical energy.
"Ooh, this is gonna be some serious payback, Ruby." He said, as he smirked mock-menacingly.
Ruby gasped, but quickly got into the hand-to-hand stance Yang had taught her once. Without a weapon, Ruby was at Flare's vegetable-based mercy, and she knew it, but if she could hold off for a few seconds…
Flare twirled the lightning-leeks in his hands as he bent low. He sprung, and his first strike was quickly dodged by a hyper-agile Ruby. He frowned. Flare was fast, but no one held a candle to Ruby.
But she had worn herself out with that previous attack. She couldn't hold that pace forever, and Flare had tactically left the others to fight. A sound strategy for a food fight. He leaped again, and Ruby dodged again, but this time he noticed she was slowing down.
He dispelled the electrical energy that coated the leeks, and he threw one, the vegetable twirling through the air gracefully. It was aimed at her left shoulder for a very specific reason, as he quickly leaped right.
As expected, Ruby took the path of least resistance, dodging to the right, straight into the path of Flare's blow. He impacted, and sent Ruby flying, but he quickly joined her.
It wasn't expected, and it wasn't even a physical blow. Instead, he hadn't reacted to the strange sound he'd heard. It had to have been one of Weiss' glyphs, and this suspicion was confirmed when he flipped around, glancing at the remains of their impromptu battlefield. He stuck his landing, sliding across the ground. Weiss, weak as she was, was still able enough to conjure glyphs. With only one leek to his armament, he calmly waited.
Weiss was the last standing, and she was considerably weaker than Flare. The only thing that concerned Flare was that she was still far better armed than him, a swordfish being considerably more powerful than a leek. Well, sharper at least.
Weiss made the first move, using a tilted glyph to launch herself at Flare, who parried the swordfish with an easy push. Weiss, now off balance and still maintaining her momentum, stumbled, straight into Flare's arm. With a heave, he lifted and slammed the white-haired girl into the ground.
Suddenly, Flare heard a set of double doors slam open, and he turned, noticing all the furniture, coated in a thin veneer of purple energy, begin to float across the room.
The furniture settled back into place, the broken pillar fixed itself and the hole in the ceiling reassembled itself back into a proper ceiling.
"Children, please. Do not play with your food!" Exclaimed the angry professor Goodwitch, to the now mostly awake and aware group of first and second year students, who all looked around sheepishly, save Nora and Yang, the former unleashing a mighty belch, and the latter creating another hole in the ceiling as she finally returned from her impromptu space program.
Goodwitch growled, but was calmed down by a firm, reassuring hand on her back from Ozpin.
"Let it go." Ozpin said.
Glynda sighed. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."
"And they will be, but right now they are still students. So why not let them play the part?" Ozpin said, as he began to walk off.
"After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever."
Emerald and Mercury had just arrived back at the warehouse that they had been using as their operational headquarters for quite some time, even before the two had arrived in Vale.
"Oh, look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce." Roman Torchwick said, as the snazzily dressed thief wrapped his arms around Emerald and Mercury, who attempted to shake him off.
"Spare us the thought of you procreating." Emerald said as she shivered in disgust.
Roman pulled away from the two, before turning to address them. "That was a joke. And this… just might tell me where you two have been all day." He held up a sheet of paper, the address to Tukson's Book Trade written clearly on it.
"What!?" Emerald exclaimed, checking her pockets to see if what Roman was holding was the real slip of paper.
"I'm a professional, sweetheart, pay attention, maybe you'll learn something." Torchwick said, as he checked the paper. "Why do you have this address?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emerald replied smugly.
"Yeah, I would. Now where have you been all day?" Roman asked, already annoyed.
"Cleaning up your problems. Well, one of them at least." Mercury said, as he stepped up to Roman.
"I had that under control." Roman said, frustration leaking into his voice.
"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise." Mercury rebutted smugly.
"Listen, you little punk. If it were up to me, I would take you and your little street rat friend here and-" Roman let the frustration out, as he began to threaten the two, only to be interrupted by a sultry voice.
"Do what, Roman?" The sultry voice said, and Roman, along with Emerald and Mercury, quickly located the source of the voice.
Up on the upper catwalks stood a woman, pale, almost porcelain, skin contrasting against the deep red of her mini-dress, her shoulders bare. Even as she looked down on the three, her amber eyes glowed, her black hair covering one of them.
It wasn't just her eyes that glowed. From where she was stood it appeared that the entirety of her glowed, a fiery orange.
The platform she was standing on began to descend, bringing her down to their level.
"I'd, uh… not kill them?" Roman half-asked, laughing nervously.
"Cinder!" Emerald greeted excitedly.
"I thought I made it clear that you were to eliminate the would-be runaway." Cinder said, ignoring Emerald's approach, walking straight past, her dark glass high-heels clicking on the concrete floor.
"I was going to-" Roman began, but was quickly interrupted by Emerald.
"He was going to escape to Vacuo! Mercury and I took it upon ourselves to kill the rat." Emerald said.
"I think he was some kind of cat, actually." Mercury mused.
"What, like a Puma?" Emerald asked her partner.
"Yeah, there we go." Mercury replied.
"Quiet. Did I not specifically instruct you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?" Cinder questioned them. Roman, with the attention drawn off of him, laughed quietly.
"I just thought-" Emerald began to speak.
"Don't think... Obey." Cinder admonished.
"Yes ma'am. It won't happen again." Emerald said, head down.
"And you. Why wasn't this job done sooner?" Cinder asked the thief, who was suddenly no longer enjoying the misfortune of others.
"Uh..? Eh..? EH..? Sorry if I've been busy stealing every speck of Dust in the Kingdom!" Roman cried out, gesturing to the shipping crates that littered the warehouse.
"You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask." Mercury said, his partner laughing at the joke.
"Look around, kid. I've got this town running scared! Police camping out at every corner, Dust prices through the roof, and we're sitting pretty on an old warehouse with more Dust crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with! Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grand master plan, it might actually make my next string of robberies go a little smoother!" Roman cried out, monologuing.
"Oh, Roman. Have a little faith. You'll know what you need when you need to know." Cinder said, placing her hand on her Torchwick's face. "Besides, we're done with Dust."
"O-okay, what now?" Roman asked, thrown off.
"We're moving. Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight." Cinder replied, as she began to walk away.
"Coordinates?" Roman asked.
"We're proceeding to phase two." Cinder said, looking back at Roman as Emerald and Mercury began to follow her.
Roman, thrown off guard, pulled a cigar out of his pocket. He reached for his other pocket, grabbing for his lighter, only not to find it there. He looked up, and noticed Emerald, her tongue stuck out at the master thief as she flicked the lighter on.
Roman sighed.
Flare awoke with a gasp, panting silently as he shot bolt-upright in his bed, sweat shining in the moonlight.
It was the phantom pains again. His arm ached, and he quickly got out of bed. He snuck out of the room, doing his best not to wake up the rest of his team.
"Vier, you got anything for me?" Flare subvocalized, as he walked into the kitchen.
"That depends on what it is that you want to know, Guardian." Vier said through the internal link.
"Well, first things first. White Fang news?" Flare asked, as he set about fixing himself a coffee, dipping into his personal supply of earthen coffee, something he'd yet to find a suitable replacement for.
"Well, nothing so far. I've picked up a few mentions of recruitment, but there are no definitive details. I will continue to monitor all communications." Vier replied, as Flare took his mug, sitting in one of the desk chairs.
"Hmm. Anything about those ruins?" Flare asked, as he sipped at the rich coffee.
"Now that, Guardian, has been a treasure trove of constant communication. Most of the communications are encrypted, due to the origin of the communications being from the Atlesian Military. They encrypt most of their data under what they call a 'Grade 4 Encryption', which is as effective as the Golden Age's least effective encryption, in comparison." Vier said, as Flare downed the rest of his coffee.
Flare materialised his helmet in it's place on his head.
"Well, it seems we have a general to visit."
Well, that was a good introductory chapter, at least it was in my opinion. A few things to talk about here.
Firstly, for everyone who has been leaving reviews, thank you so much, your reviews are much appreciated. To Anon, who said not to give Flare a prosthetic, you should probably read on below. Also anyone else should too.
Secondly, and this is rather important. I couldn't really think of a good way to explain this in the story without cramming exposition down your throats, so this is probably the best way without distracting from the story.
Flare, and by extension, all guardians, are not invincible. Think of it as a Destiny AU, because, to be frank, immortality is kinda shitty to write. I'm not at the point where I could conceivably write a convincing story where the main character was invincible, so the next best thing is for everyone to be at risk of death. And don't think I'm not willing to kill off characters, I am.
So, to summarise, Flare and other Guardians are not invincible, they were merely reincarnated by the Ghosts in order to fight again. Maybe I'll come up with a feasible in-story explanation at a later date, but for now this will have to do.
Thirdly, as always I do appreciate it when you review. I will do my best to answer any questions there, and any criticism is always appreciated.
As always, see you next chapter
~AFatFlyingWhale