A/N: I felt just a little bit of ship teasing there, didn't you?
Note on regeneration, the Arcs are still able to choke to death, and if something completely eradicates their brain without leaving behind a single cell, a single speck of ash to regenerate from, a single molecule, they won't be able to regenerate.
So, I don't own RWBY. Let's start the show!
Vale- a beautiful port city, with skyscrapers dotting the sky and cars running through the streets. Today, however, it was different- the car were back home, and all the citizens were running around. Banners were being hung up, flyers were being passed around, and everyone was in a festive mood. Boats where coming in around from various places. This was the season of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Currently, team AVLN was doing some shopping in downtown Vale. All of them had several bags, although Ren and Vert, who was currently in charge, were carrying around... seventy percent of them? Nora was skipping ahead of the group, carrying four bags in her hands, two of which were filled entirely of sweets, and had two lollipops sticking out of her mouth. Pyrrha was carrying five bags filled with clothes, sparring armor, whetstones, and a few X-Ray and Vav collector's edition comics. Ren and Vert however were instead delegated to carrying one bag of Dust each, a bag of short-range communicators, and eleven bags filled entirely with women's clothing.
D**n women, using up all of that money to buy all these clothes. Why couldn't we just buy only the necessities?
I don't know about you, well actually I do, but I LIKE shopping for women's clothes!
You also apparently like getting hit by women for trying to recommend clothes to them. Remember that set of underwear you got for Ruby last week?
It was like the first match we had since coming to this school all over again- except that Yang could actually be made MADDER! That was like looking at Oni on steroids…
Bah! A false fighter like him? Stop playing those stupid games Jaune. Instead of playing all the time, you should be TRAINING. The tournament is upon us, after all!
In several weeks, various people from across the globe will be watching us compete, Jaune. A healthy amount of our time should be used for training. However, Vermillion, do realize that time should also be spent resting.
"Hey! My wallet! Where'd all my money go?"
"I had 80 lien in there!"
Hearing some commotion behind them, Pyrrha and Nora turned around to see several civilians dumping their wallets upside down, rifling through them, or on the ground complaining about something. Nora went over to one of them, and asked
"Hiya there! Need help with something?"
"All the money in my wallet's gone! I had 200 lien in there!"
"My money's gone too!"
"Someone must have stolen it!"
"Don't worry about it! Nora Valkyrie and her faithful posse are on the case! C'mon, guys, let's look for the guy that took their wallets and break his legs!" Ren gave a sigh, and tiredly called out to his childhood friend,
"Nora, we will not break anyone's legs. We'll just look for the culprit and turn them in." Nora just ignored him and rushed around, trying to look for tracks. As Ren tried to catch her and stop her from doing something dangerous, stupid, or most likely both, Pyrrha just eyed her partner, fully aware of his particular tendencies. For example, his tendency to put his hands in other people's pockets. And thievery like this is not something Pyrrha Nikos condones. Putting on her best smile, Pyrrha politely asked Vert,
"Blanc, how much money do you have on you right now?"
Vert, being a bit absent-minded right now, answered back
"4,000 lien."
Putting on the pressure some more, Pyrrha asked another question.
"And how much did you have when we started shopping?"
"1,500 lien."
…
…
…
*faceshieldbash* Everyone, our resident con man.
"Oh, Blanc?"
"Yes Pyrrha?"
"Do you have anything to say to these kind people before I do?"
"Uhhh…"
Suddenly, a light bulb appears over his head, and Vert adopts a eureka expression on his face. Putting his hands around his mouth, he yells,
"Ren! Nora! LastonetoourdormhastocookpancakesforteamsRWBYandAVLNwithoutenjoyingasinglebite! Okay, b!+(h at me later Pyrrha, bye!"
Having said his piece, Vert took off down the street. After several seconds of processing what he just said, Nora got hyped.
"PANCAKES! Sorry guys, but you can eat my dust!"
With that, Nora took off down the street. The people who lost their lien temporarily forgotten by Pyrrha and Ren, Pyrrha also ran down the street intent on getting her share of the delicious fluffy treats. That, and she really sucked at cooking. She didn't want to poison her friends! Oh, and she also went to b!+(h at Vert later. Ren just sighed. He was used to making pancakes for their teams, and he wasn't allowed to have eggs anyways. Slowly walking, he followed the rest of his team down the street.
Of course, the little contest was more or less a distraction for him to get out off of Pyrrha's back. Still, he didn't want to be hungry while everyone else ate delicious pancakes in front of him. So he kept on running, having made it onto the rooftops, and jumping across the gaps.
I hope Pyrrha doesn't remember… I don't want whatever punishment she OR Ms. Goodwitch has for us!
Come on, we can take it like men!
Punishment, huh? I'd take some punishment from either of them.
Are we sure he's pervertism, not stupidity?
Idiocy and pervertedness often go hand in hand, as Se-leva has demonstrated over the years. So does idiocy and greed.
What's that supposed to mean?
Do we have to explain what happened just moments before?
Before he could think up a response, Vert accidentally bumped into someone else running on the rooftops.
"Whoah!"
"Whoops!"
They each sent the other one sprawling. As the recovered and rubbed their aching heads, they took a good look at each other. The young man in front of Vert appeared to be the same age as him. He was blond, with an open jacket that exposed his muscular physique. He was also wearing red wrist bracers, blue cargo pants, and a small necklace. Oh, and he also had a golden monkey tail waving back and forth behind him.
"Heh, sorry dude. Didn't see you there for a moment."
"Ah, no worries man. So, judging from your expression, who're you running from?"
"Ah, just some cops. Stowed away on a ship. You?"
"My partner. Found out I was picking at a couple pockets."
"Oooh, that's gotta be rough. Oh, hey, I see a couple women running this way. Any chance one of them's your partner?"
"Very likely. Also, I think I see two Valean detectives climbing up that ladder over there."
"Guess we better rush. See ya later!"
"You too! Try not to get caught!"
With that, Vert continued on his merry way of jumping rooftops while the monkey Faunus he just passed hopped down from the building they were on, landing into the alleyways of Vale. Since they ran away from each other, they didn't notice that the other person was taking out a wallet from their pocket and…
…
…
"$#!+#013 STOLE MY WALLET!"
Well, whatcha know- two thieves that stole each other's wallets. A perfect match, if I do say so myself.
Hopefully he didn't steal my second wallet. Otherwise, I'd have t-
*whimper*
Hush, listen…
As the six of them stopped, they could hear a sound they've heard so much before. Looking down, their suspicions confirmed, as they saw a small, weeping girl, covered in rags and dirt, hunched over in the fetal position. All they could see from her was her pale skin, mint-green hair, and a dirty, white dress. Her sobs were interrupted when all of a sudden some random person with green eyes and mostly white hair dropped down from above. Immediately, she took her hands and covered her face.
Awww, she's like a puppy.
Ped.
NO I'M NOT!
Tsun ped.
F**K OFF!
Whilst these two were arguing, Vert went over to the girl and knelt down so that he could be at her eye level.
"Hey, little girl? Where're your parents?" She didn't make any noise, nor did she make any movement aside from her body trembling. *sigh* "So I guess you're an orphan?" She actually moved her head this time, giving a nod. Vert gave another sigh- judging from the buildings around him, they were near the docks. The nearest orphanage was directly on the other side of the large city- it would take up much of the time, time which could be used for not being the last one at their dorm. That is, if any of the Arcs wanted to. The orphanage was rather run-down, courtesy of the current owner, who the Arcs have met. Lazy and nasty, the owner often cared little for the charges, often just acting nice whenever an adult arrives so that she could keep a job which she obviously doesn't want.
She's also very creepy looking. She looks like a fat witch! At least her skin isn't green… or the orphanage made of candy.
For that remark, you get a sigh. *sigh*
Vert was the Arc that went into the city the most. As such, he managed to score a large amount of money, along with several contacts to pay. Lucky for the girl, as he had a very special place for contact for her. "Hey, if you can walk, then follow me." The girl tensed up. Vert stood up and reached out his hand. "Don't worry, I promise not to look at your face or to harm you." She still seemed unconvinced. Another sigh escapes Vert's lips. "Look, my full name is Blanc Vermillion Souci Jaune Vert Bleu Se-leva Arc. And on my name and my family's name, I swear I won't harm you, nor will the people I'm about to hand you to. Do you trust me now?" She didn't answer. Instead, she just stood up, and reached out her hand to grasp his. She still kept her face covered using her other arm- more specifically, the area around the eyes. This allowed Vert to see an ugly bruise on her right cheek, and a fresh cut on her left. Smiling, Vert took her and started walking in the direction of the docks.
Another one…
Can we find the people who did this to her and the others? Because my fists are itching right now.
The next time it becomes your turn while we're in Vale, you can scratch them. I don't even care anymore about the lawsuits.
I will accept this, just as long as they can live.
As Vert made his way over to the docks, he also took out his scroll. With one hand, he unlocked it, and dialed a number. Putting it to his ear, Vert waited for the person on the other end to pick up the phone.
*click* "Like, what's up?" A rather bored voice answered.
"Hey, M and M! I need you guys to open up the warehouse for me- found another one. That okay with you two?"
"Well, we're not at the bar, so, like, yeah. I'll get the door." A different voice replied. Over onto their left, a warehouse opened up. This one was the same as the others, except for the white and red double crescents painted on the sides and the fact that it seemed to be twice as big as the other warehouses. As it did, Vert led the girl over to it. The girl peeked through her fingers, and gasped at what she saw.
It was filled to the brim with kids, the oldest of whom looked to be around twelve. They were all just talking, and some of them were running inside. Over to the left, she could see several mats placed on the floor with kids in it. The kids on the left had bandages placed on them, with men wearing lab coats communicating with them. Towards the back left, closest towards the sea, there was a series of computers and game consoles, likely for the kids to play with. On the other side, the back right, there were several shower curtains and toilet stalls. On the far right, were two large SmartBoards, kids sitting in front of them, and what looked to be a teacher in the middle of a lesson, as evidenced by the video that was currently playing. Behind them, on the right wall, was an electronic map of the world with three glowing dots on them- two of them were yellow, and placed on Vale and somewhere in Mistral. The other one was green, and was slowly moving its way over to the dot in Vale. And in the middle of the room was a large intrusion of water, most likely meant for a ship to get through to the inside. It was relatively medium sized, as it took up about one- fourth of the large warehouse.
As the girl was gawking at the sight of all the kids, one of them looked in their direction. With a war cry of,
"Big Brothers are back!"
A horde of kids rushed their way over to where they were. The girl, a bit frightened, hid behind Vert, who simply kneeled down. As the group of kids came closer, he became bombarded with a large amount of questions.
And rather than actually typing those, this lazy *$$ will just leave them to your imagination.
Don't talk bad about the author like that!
Let's just move on.
He signaled to the kids to become quieter. As he did, he stood up. Turning slightly to his side, he proclaimed out loud,
"Hey, boys and girls of all ages! How're ya doing, eh? Well, we have someone new to join you guys. C'mon, try and say hi."
Still covering her eyes, she just poked one half of her face out from behind Vert's leg, showing a sliver of teal behind her fingers. Up close, she could see a real diverse amount of kids here, from all walks of life- some that looked like they were from the hot Vacuoan desert, others from the cold north of Atlas. Among them, she could see that almost half were Faunus. Orphaned toad Faunus, hawk Faunus, cow Faunus, snake Faunus, etc. Working up the courage, she walked out from behind Vert, no longer covering her face, revealing her bruise, her cut, and some green reptilian scales surrounding her eyes. All she could say out in front of the fifty or so kids laid out in front of her was, just like Vert predicted, a simple
"H-h-h-h-h-h-hi."
"Well, that's the spirit. You can go and play with all these kids, all orphans just like you, later. Right now, we need a doctor to check you out. Hey, can a Doc come over here!" One of the people in the lab coats came quickly, a woman with pink hair, took a look at the girl he was with, and nodded. Taking her hand, the doctor maneuvered her over to the apparent medical station, all while the girl was being asked questions from her fellow children, mostly the other reptile Faunus, but also by the human kids too, all of which seemed to abandon Vert in favor of trying to warm the new girl up to the place. Vert looked on, and then two voices from behind him spoke up.
"Like, another one?"
"Why, just the two ladies I wanted to see!" Turning around, he saw two attractive women, a pair of twins. One was dressed in red, the other was dressed in white. The one in red had short black hair, some black fur hanging off her shoulders, and had red gloves with same nasty looking claws on them. The one in white had long black hair, a small silver chain at her waist, and white heels with some rather sharp blades on them. "M and M, how're ya doing? Junior still mad about his bar, even though it's been a few months now?"
"Of course he is. Like, he gets tense whenever any blonde shows up." Spoke the red twin.
"Like, never mind that. Blanc, like, our payment for the new girl?" Spoke the white twin.
"Yeah, yeah, here's your 2,000 lien each."
Glad that yellow turd had the decency to fill this wallet of his.
He seemed quite agile, like Blake. He'd probably be hard to hit. But his muscles were no small matter- he could probably deal some strong hits himself.
"Hey, Melanie? Militia? Thanks again for agreeing to help me with this project of mine. You guys and Junior." Seeing that he was about to get sentimental again, the white twin, Melanie, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Like, it's no big deal. All of us here are the same- we were all either, like, cast out,
"Like, ran away from abuse,
"And, like, probably doing way better than that orphanage on the other side of town."
"At least those guys can, like, advertise in the open. Our thing isn't really legal much."
"Yeah…" Vert stopped, and a bunch of memories rushed into his shared brain. A bunch of memories, the very same memories that brought this project on.
Over at the med station, the girl asked the doctor treating her wounds about the odd person at the gate of the warehouse.
"So, you want to know more about him, huh? That over there is Blanc Arc, or more specifically Blanc Vert Arc. I don't know much of the details, but something happened when Blanc was ten. That event caused his mind to be split up into six different personalities. Vert is one of them. That's why the kids all said Big Brothers. When he was younger, Vert and the other personalities were like all of you. Rummaging through trash cans for scraps of food, sleeping on a pile of newspapers. Vert and the others lived the life of an orphan for two years after their escape before they were finally found again by his family. During those two years, Vert's greed for money intensified greater than his other greeds- after all, he almost died several times because he couldn't pay enough lien. The only reason he was here right now was because he tried to pick-pocket some random passerby, only for it to be his father. Since then, he's held a special place in his heart for orphans everywhere.
One day, he came to realize that the Kingdom of Vale hasn't really done much for orphans. Managing to scrounge up some money, Vert and the other personalities of his managed to start a project with those two twins over there he's talking to. That project was this one, titled by them as Operation: Gamera." Like any curious child, the small girl asked the pink-haired doctor,
"Gamera?"
"Yeah, Gamera. Apparently, it's some myth from Mistral about a giant turtle, nicknamed 'Friend to all Children'."
"So, when will the ship be back?" Vert posed this question to the twin sisters. This was part of the Arcs'- ship the orphans off to the same Mistralian port city his aunt lives at. There, his aunt also runs an orphanage, but this one is legal like the city of Vale's crappy one. Except, it wasn't crappy, and was rather large, due to the fact that being an orphan was sadly common in Mistral.
"Like, in two weeks." Replied Mitia. This was another part of the Arcs' project- shipping the kids he found over to Mistral. However, these kids are technically illegal, as they require a necessary license to be an orphanage in Vale. Considering the types of illegal things Junior does at his bar that police are still wary about, trying to get a license to operate with his name attached to yours would be rejected. Since what they're doing isn't legal, and using an aircraft would attract attention, Bleu figured out for the rest of them that smuggling them into Mistral via container was the best option. Since ships took so long, the Arcs steadily added things to the warehouse they were using to store orphans to improve it, culminating in the warehouse as seen today.
"Don't worry, you guys'll be able to, like, play with the kids for a while."
"Once again, thank you both an- crap!"
"What?"
"It's already evening! I need to make it to Beacon quick! Crap, I stayed and chatted for a bit too long. I need to go, everyone! Sorry about this! I'll see you all tomorrow!"
My pancakes…
NOOO! Our fluffy goodness!
Hopefully we aren't last. Out of all of us, only I and Jaune can cook.
Rushing off, Vert could only hear a chorus of
"Bye Big Bros! Good night!"
If he looked back, he would see all of them waving their hands, even the shyest one- a small girls with a green and white color scheme.
"Please make it, please make it!" Blanc Arc was currently sprinting down the hall as Jaune, determined not to lose the race he had set up between him and his team. He wanted some pancakes too! Sure, he could cook them, but eating alone isn't his style. He made it to team AVLN's room, and threw open the door. Smiling sweetly at him was Pyrrha, Nora, and not Ren. "Whew, made it!"
"Actually, Blanc, Ren's inside the shower. Sorry, but it looks like you'll have to make pancakes."
In disbelief, Jaune looked around the room, but his fear was confirmed when he noticed steam going out from underneath the bathroom door.
"Sorry, fearless leader! This s what happens when you steal- you get your pancakes taken away from you."
Before he could drop to his knees in depression, he heard a voice angrily calling out from team RWBY's dorm room,
"WELL MAYBE WE WERE TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!" Then, silence for but a split second. A window being opened was heard, followed by a frantic cry from Ruby Rose herself.
A/N: Well, we know where this is going. Almost.
Note about Vert, just know that there's something lost when telling someone a story about a person's past without actually viewing the memories themselves. He'll get more development time, promise. So will the others.
1st volume's almost over guys, and I'm thinking of starting up a new fic to write after we finish up at the docs far away from Operation: Gamera. There's a poll over on my profile (profile needs work), and your choices are:
Legacy Fist (title pending, something to do with legacy): Street Fighter cross RWBY, this crossover fic has one of the main characters from RWBY and JNPR have the blood of both Goutetsu, sensei of Akuma and Gouken, who was the sensei of Ryu and Ken, and Master freaking Bison himself.
Wings of Change: A Faunus AU starring Jaune. I'm not sure how many of them feature his faunus legacy to include eagles, but this'll definitely be on that list.
Jaune Arc, Monster Hun- err, Summoner: All in the title. One of those fics where we get to see the story of a character long before Beacon.
Amado Ore: A Cyborg AU where the main character is one of the members of RWBY or JNPR, but has robot parts for most of their body.
If you are a guest, just leave a review that has which one you want in it. I'll tally them up later.
So, how was it? Please review or PM me any questions, comments, concerns and I will see you later!