Not gonna say too much here. I want to send a big shout out (and thank you) to roosterteethfanatic for deciding to add my story to their "Best of RWBY Fanfiction" community. Welp, I'll talk to you all more at the end of the chapter.
Onto the story!
Fires Far: IV
Hundreds of thousands- no, millions of Ashen Knights filled the multitude of areas throughout all of Lordran, ranging from the ancient Darkroot Garden to the fiery depths of the Demon Ruins.
In each area where the Ashen Knights gathered, one of Grandahl's followers stood with their chime raised. Each casting a dark orb above their head, soon each had raised high up into the air. The orbs rapidly grew before only stopping once they had reached the size of a fully grown dragon. Then, a vertical tare ripped down each orb before widening somewhat to form a giant Humanity sprite.
To some it might have looked like a giant floating dragons' eye.
Tens of thousands of the knights filled both all of Anor Londo and the Ashen Lord's castle. Each and every one of them carried a Black Knight's shield and sword as they all stood still and silent as they waited for their Lord to speak.
Abell stood outside at the outermost balcony that was behind his throne room, with both Aulnor and Alonne standing slightly behind him, one on either side. The sky remained grey as the wind carried the clouds.
Besides the wind, there was not one sound made throughout the entire city. Even the crows had ceased their cries as they too waited for him to speak.
Grandahl, sitting in his wheelchair behind Abell, raised his chime high into the air and muttered an incantation that Abell didn't understand. A small dark orb formed above the older man's head, but soon began to rise and grow in size as it ascended high above the castle's highest tower.
Once the "eye" had formed, Grandahl said with a worn out voice, "My Lord, you may now begin your speech anytime you wish to. Just speak into the Dark Soul and your voice will be heard throughout all the land."
Grandahl had lowered his chime and slowly wheeled himself further away to allow his Lord space.
Abell walked forward a few steps until he was at the guard railing of the balcony. Placing each hand onto the railing, Abell looked out towards his kingdom.
He was met with the countless helms of the men and women who would follow him to hell and back without question. Taking both hands off the railing, Abell raised his right hand.
The soul soon manifested itself into his palm and continued to burn on like a fire without him feeling any of the pain.
Taking a deep breath, Abell spoke into the Dark Soul.
"My brother and sister Undead…"
…
It was time for breakfast at Beacon, and Tyrell was currently sitting with his friends as they all were enjoying their meals.
They were all indulging themselves in conversations that involved various topics that even Tyrell found himself listening to/adding his own thoughts. He was in a particularly joyous mood today when he had been spared from the nightmares that have been plaguing his mind for the past few days. He had finally gotten himself a peaceful sleep and felt well rested.
During the middle of a conversation between Yang and Blake about the upcoming dance, Nora asked Tyrell something.
"So what are you going to wear?" Nora piped up, energetic as always, as she looked at Tyrell while shoving pancakes into her mouth. A few eyes were drawn to the new professor as Nora patiently waited for his answer.
The Sentinel gave the bubbly girl a confused look as he took a bite out of his hash browns.
"Wear?" He asked, still with a full mouth.
Nora giggled a little as she answered, "To the dance ya big knucklehead."
Tyrell, in all honesty, hadn't even really thought about the dance after his talk with Ozpin and meeting the general. In fact, he couldn't recall if he had ever been to a dance before the curse had claimed him and his memories.
Swallowing his food and the Sentinel answered unsure, "Would this suffice as proper attire to the dance?"
After saying this, Tyrell motioned his hand towards himself to indicate that he meant his armor. Silence fell upon the table as the others conversations ceased and everyone was now looking at him, all giving him an odd look.
Suddenly, laughter burst out around the whole table. Even Ren and Blake began chuckling at the thought of Tyrell dancing in his full combat gear.
Nora began to slam her fist onto the wooden table repeatedly as she continued to laugh.
"Y-you can't be serious." Yang managed to choke out in-between breaths of air once everyone had started to calm down. "Are you?" She asked with only a half-smile on her face as Tyrell sent her a small glare as the laughter had died down.
"I think he might be." Jaune whispered to Pyrrha and she nodded slightly to show him that she agreed. Tyrell looked at the two and they both quickly faced opposite directions to avoid his stare.
"Well… I didn't exactly bring a large selection of clothing for myself when I made my trip. The only cloths that I brought are the ones that you see now and a light brown leather tunic and pants." Tyrell said as he now felt somewhat, not all that much though, embarrassed at his lack of distinct clothing. "Between the two, my armor is the most flattering."
It was a joke that got some of the others to laugh a little and a smile found its way onto his lips as he then looked at them all and asked, "What do any of you propose I do then?"
"You could always go shopping for new cloths." Weiss offered as the rest of the girls nodded in agreement.
"Shopping?" Tyrell said with a raised brow.
"You know, when you go out to the mall to buy all types of things." Ruby said with glee. A look of realization struck her as she quickly added, "Oh I know! After classes today, we can all head out to Vale and shop!" Her voice pitched a little higher when she said the word 'shop.'
"Yeah, and while we're there we can show you more of Vale." Yang added in agreement.
"It's not a bad idea." Blake said with a small smile towards her team and their friends.
Slamming her hand down on top of the table yet again, Nora pointed her finger at the Sentinel and said, "Then it's settled. We'll all go to Vale tonight, and hopefully get into a giant fight with a robot like RW-" Nora was abruptly cut off as Pyrrha covered the girl's mouth with a hand.
"We'll all meet at the air docks before dinner then?" Pyrrha asked in confirmation as she got nods from the others. "Tonight then." She added as she removed her hand from Nora's mouth.
Tyrell didn't know what a "robot" was, but he didn't question it as he wished to finish his breakfast, but not before seeing the looks of pure dread from the other two males at the table.
…
Tyrell was surprised at how fast the day had gone by as the last class just ended with the ring of the bell.
Tyrell was happy that he hadn't had to participate in any combat exercises for Glynda's last class, but instead just helping her grade papers instead. He wanted to have as much energy as possible if the looks that both Jaune and Ren had at the mention of shopping were anything to go off of.
He just needed to help Glynda finish grading the rest of these papers and then he would head over towards the air docks. It was rather silent between the two as a few minutes passed by without a single word muttered.
Deciding to strike up a conversation, Tyrell said, "Many of your students seem to be improving with both their combat and tactical skills."
"Indeed." Was all Glynda said as she continued grading papers.
"Yes well… they should all become fine warriors one day." Tyrell was trying, but the woman seemed to refuse to meet him halfway. Thinking of something else to talk about, Tyrell said, "Would you care to tell me more about the dance occurring tomorrow night?"
"It is a dance, were people break out into various movements to the rhythm of various music. Sometimes with a partner, with a group of people, or… alone." Glynda explained bluntly, but Tyrell had picked up how she had paused at the end.
"I would imagine that at a dance, one would in fact… dance." Tyrell tried to laugh but it had come out weak as Glynda looked at him for a small moment before returning to grading papers.
Taking a small sigh Tyrell tried again, "Where I came from, we didn't have dances." This had slowed Glynda's pen down a bit in the midst of grading. Soon the pen had come to a stop as Glynda had ceased grading the paper that she had. Now giving all her attention to the knight.
"You've never been to a dance before?" The question came out before Glynda could stop it, but it was too late as Tyrell let out a small, hollow laugh.
"I'm afraid so. We were always fighting to survive to the next day that we never had time to relax and enjoy the things that life had to offer. It was always battle, death, and bloodshed, but never the peace that we needed to live under our certain circumstances. So no, I have yet to go to a dance." Tyrell said with more spite than he meant to as his heart started to feel heavy.
His tone didn't affect her thankfully as she said, "I'm sorry that you and your people had to live under such harsh conditions." A small twinge of pity had formed in her eyes that Tyrell couldn't help but feel somewhat disgusted at. But he wouldn't say anything or make anything of it.
'I can't take my anger out on her, or anyone of this world. They don't deserve it; they didn't have to live through life as one of the many branded Undead. They know nothing and that is for the best.' Tyrell thought as he quickly apologized for his tone towards her just now.
"Think nothing of it. I cannot begin to understand what it is like to live in a village, let alone one so far away." Glynda dismissed as a silence gripped the two yet again.
Soon the silence was broken as Glynda asked in a slight whisper, "Can I trust you to keep a secret?"
Tyrell was caught off guard at the question, but recovered quickly and said, "On my oath as a knight, I will keep any secret you wish to bestow upon me." He said it a little dramatically, but that was intended as a small smile graced her lips.
She leaned in closer and in doing so, Tyrell did as well. She whispered in such a low voice that he strained to hear her as she whispered, "I've never danced a day in my life."
One might have been caught off guard at this news, especially him considering those that were once afflicted with the curse had most likely never danced before, but for some reason Tyrell felt better at hearing this tiny bit of news.
Both leaned back into their chairs as a smile now appeared on Tyrell's face.
"I trust that I can trust you with that particular piece of information, Tyrell." Glynda said as it was her first time just calling him by his name, dropping the 'Sir'. She still held her small smile as she said it as well.
Tyrell's smile widened more as he said, "Have no fear, Ms. Goodwitch. Your secret is safe with me." He assured as he made the gesture to 'lock his lips' and threw away the imaginary key.
Checking the time, Tyrell bid his farewells to Glynda before getting ready to leave. But before he could go Glynda said, "Two things before you go Tyrell." Once the knight had given her his full attention she continued, "First, only during classes are you to call me Ms. Goodwitch. Any other time you may address me by my name, and I will in turn do the same."
She paused for a few moments, a look of thought appearing over her features. Not wanting to be late to the air docks, but also not wanting to leave before Glynda finished, he said, "And the second?"
Glynda avoided his eyes and a tad bit of pink entered her cheeks as she hesitantly said, "If you wish to do so… then tomorrow during lunch would you like to come to my classroom and we could both practice dancing together?"
This had definitely caught the Sentinel off guard as he just starred at her with a surprised expression on his face.
Smiling and taking a bow he said, "I would be honored, Glynda. I will see you here tomorrow at noon."
With that Tyrell walked out of the room leaving a surprised, but soon relieved, Glynda behind.
…
"I forgot how much I hated riding in one of these metal beasts." Tyrell spat the word as he held onto the bottom-half his chair harder as the Bullhead shook slightly after hitting some minor turbulence.
"Well, at least you're not throwing up your lunch like Vomit boy over there." Yang, sitting across from Tyrell, said with a smirk while gesturing in Jaune's direction. The poor boy was indeed puking his guts out into a bin as Pyrrha rubbed his back in hopes to make him feel better.
Letting out a small chuckle, Tyrell then responded, "I suppose your right Yang."
They had entered the Bullhead a while ago and would soon be reaching Vale. From what the others had told him, and from his first experience there, it is the largest and most populated city in the whole kingdom. Not to mention the most popular as well.
"Have any others from your village ever left to visit any of the kingdoms Tyrell?" Said knight looked to his left to see that it was Ren who had asked the question. The normally stoic boy had a mainly neutral expression on his face, but there was a hint of curiosity as well within his eyes.
The question caused a downcast expression to cross Tyrell's face as he recalled Ozpin's news about the council's decision regarding his 'village' and people.
However, he quickly forced himself to smile as to not worry his friend and honestly answered, "No, none have left the village to venture to the other kingdoms. I am the first, and most likely will be the only one for a long time."
His answer seemed to satisfy the eastern boy as Ren turned away from his professor to address Nora who had been starting to make a racket over something about "selling Ursa skins to a man in a chicken suit."
It unsettled Tyrell at the thought of a fully grown man trying to fit a chicken's body around his own. He shuddered at the thought.
"You okay?" A feminine voice asked as Tyrell recognized it to be Ruby, who was also seated across from him to the right of Yang.
"I am fine Ruby. Thank you for your concern, but something seems to be bothering you." Tyrell inquired as he had noticed that the usually spirited young girl looked rather downcast about something.
She tried waving it off with her hand as if there was a fly in front of her and responded, "No, nothings the matter, it's just…" The rest of her sentence came out as a whisper that Tyrell could not hear in the least. Thus prompting him to ask, "May you repeat that?"
Yang, who had just been in conversation with Blake, draped an arm around her little sister and brought the reaper's head against her right bosom before answering for her. "Rubes is just worried about not getting a date for the dance tomorrow that's all! I mean, if any guy looked at my little sis in a weird way, they would find themselves in the infirmary with their family jewels either crushed, or stolen."
The sweetness in her voice, along with the innocent grin on her face sent a shiver down Tyrell's (along with every other male on the Bullhead) spine. Ruby managed to get herself free from her sister's grip as she quickly stammered out a response.
"Y-yang! That's n-not what I was w-worried about!" Her face grew almost as crimson in color as her hood, but Tyrell made no comment on it.
Getting over the strange chill from Yang's threat to mostly any male, Tyrell then asked, "Then what has you so worried Ruby?"
Almost everyone's eyes, bar Jaune's, were upon the crimson hooded girl as she turned even a darker shade of red from all the sudden attention on her. "W-well… I-" She didn't finish however as the Bullhead shuddered and fell silent again as a disembodied voice said, "Destination reached. Welcome to the City of Vale."
…
Either the Sentinel hadn't noticed before, or the decorations were recently added, as Tyrell and his friends walked throughout Vale. Multicolored decorations lined the streets and large signs that read "WELCOME TO VALE!" were posted all around.
"All of these decorations and signs welcoming visitors, what's the occasion?" Tyrell asked as they walked past a store selling different cakes and pastries.
Weiss took it upon herself to answer as she proudly stated, "The Vytal Festival of course!"
"Here we go again." Yang mumbled to her partner, along with a roll of her eyes.
"What does this festival include?" Tyrell asked as he was still in confusion, but curious as well. This time Weiss turned herself to face him with a raised brow and a look of confusion. Tyrell only shrugged his shoulders in response which caused the heiress to face away from him and continue walking.
Recalling where her new professor was from, Weiss sighed and explained. "Well, seeing as you are from far outside the kingdom, I guess you wouldn't know what the festival is. The Vytal Festival is an international event of Remnant held every two years. When the time draws closer for the festival to take place, one of the kingdoms is chosen to open their borders to the rest of the world."
"This allows citizens from every corner of Remnant to come visit the hosting kingdom so they can indulge in one another's cultures. It takes up a considerable amount of planning and organization to set up." Weiss finished her explanation just as they were nearing their destination, a rather large building with types of clothes that the Sentinel had never seen before on display.
"It's also the time where students from all over get to duke it out in the tournament!" Yang said with excitement edged into her voice.
"Oh? And I take it that all of you will be competing this year I presume?" Tyrell said with a small chuckle as Yang flashed him a quick 'You know it' type of grin.
"It's going to be so awesome! Team JNPR will get to show the world what we're really made of! Oh, and the best part, we get to break our opponents legs!" Nora squealed at the last line, a somewhat sadistic smile plastered across her face, and began to bounce with excitement.
"Nora, I think that may be against the rules." Ren said while placing a hand on the bouncing girl's shoulder to calm her down which she immediately did.
This time Pyrrha spoke up and said, "Ren's right Nora. We can't exactly go into the tournament and begin breaking bones… on purpose at least." Tyrell began to really wonder how much fighting potential these students possessed if they could break limbs even through Aura.
Jaune looked like he was about to throw up again, so Tyrell placed a hand on the boy's shoulder as a sign of comfort as he said, "I'm… sure it's not that bad."
However, Nora and Yang spoke up in union as they both said at the same time, "Oh, it's bad." Tyrell looked at the two heavy hitters of each team with a small glare before saying, "Not helpful."
"Well here we are." Ruby announced as they all walked into the clothing store. Tyrell was taken aback at the almost endless expanse of clothing that seemed to cover the entire store.
"By the old lords." Tyrell muttered in astonishment as he tried to wrap his head around the ridiculous amount of clothing that layed before him. "How much clothing does one building need?!" They all looked at him as if he had grown a second head; well the girls did whereas both Ren and Jaune nodded their heads slightly to agree with him.
After a few moments of uneasy silence Weiss cleared her throat before saying, "Well… shall we get started?" Shaking his head to clear his mind, Tyrell put on a confident smile to show that he was ready to begin. He had faced far greater obstacles when he was an Undead, and he was ready to face this one head on.
Ren and Jaune prayed for the poor knight, for he did not know what hell he was about to enter.
…
"I'd say that went rather well." Pyrrha chirped up as the group took their leave from the clothing store, and were on their way back to the Bullhead that would take them all back to Beacon.
"Yeah, it was fun to get out and get some shopping done." Ruby said as the holographic street lamps began to activate as the sun had set for yet another day in Vale and the shattered moon began to rise.
"I agree, but we were there for a little longer than we should have." Blake brought up as she looked up at the starry night sky up above. "That was loads of fun! We need to do that again soon! Wouldn't you agree Ty?" Nora had asked while facing herself backwards to look at the knight while she continued to walk.
'So much…' The knight thought. He had a deadpan expression on his face. Remnant seemed to have its own nightmares that were not all shaped in the form of the Grimm it appeared.
"Uhh… Ty?" Nora said with a raised brow. He didn't even change his expression when the pink girl began prodding his face with her index finger. She only stopped when Ren had come to his aid by gently grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand away from their teacher.
"Leave him alone for tonight Nora, please?" Ren said in a tired, but gentle, tone before thinking, 'I believe that the man has suffered enough for one night.'
'So much… too much…' His thoughts continued.
Tyrell alone was carrying more than ten bags full of clothes, five hanging off each arm, which the girls had handpicked during their 'small shopping spree.' A chill went down his spine as he shuddered to think what might have awaited him if they had more time.
They were almost to the Bullheads when Yang had an idea. "Hey guys, why don't we have some more fun before we head back to Beacon?" Everyone stopped walking as they all waited for what Yang exactly meant by 'fun.'
"Your definition of fun is much different from our own I'm sure." Weiss said with skepticism lacing her voice. "Besides, it's starting to get late and we have homework that needs to be completed."
"Getting late?" Yang repeated, "The nights just getting started! Come on guys, don't tell me that your all gonna leave."
"Sorry Yang, but Weiss is right." Blake gave her partner an apologetic look as the brawler sent Blake her imitation of one of Ruby's puppy dog eyes. It had no effect.
"I agree with both of you. We should all head back to Beacon so we can get a well deserved rest for tomorrow." Pyrrha added in her two cents. "And you should as well Jaune." The blonde knight tried his own version of Ruby's puppy dog eyes on his partner, but they couldn't breach the steel mask that Pyrrha had put up against such tactics.
Sighing in defeat, Jaune begrudgingly said, "Fine. We'll talk to you guys later then." With that the group leaving for Beacon departed.
In the end only Yang, Ruby (cause she wanted to hang out with Yang), Nora (since she had nothing better to do and wanted to have fun), Ren (because he had to keep an eye on Nora so she wouldn't get into trouble), and Tyrell decided to stick around in Vale for a little longer.
"So what did you have in mind Yang?" Ruby asked her older sister about what she had planned for them to do.
"Well, an old friend of mine runs a club in the shadier side of downtown Vale. He'll let us in without any problems." Yang finished by cracking her knuckles and a grin on her face.
…
"Why aren't you letting us in without any problems?!" Yang demanded of Junior. Normally Junior stayed inside, but he knew better than to induce the wrath of the "Little Light Dragon" of Beacon. So he decided to come outside his establishment to prevent, or at least reduce, the amount of damages that she might (will) cause.
"Look Blondie, you and your friends are okay to come in," 'Only because I don't want bodily harm to come across myself, the twins, or my men- actually just me and the twins.' "It's your silver armored clad friend here that isn't allowed in." Junior said as he pointed in Tyrell's direction.
The knight could hear some strange muffled noises coming from behind the two large doors that the man, known as Junior apparently, was standing in front of to prevent them access.
"Why though?" This time Ruby asked. Junior looked at her for a brief moment before turning his attention back onto Yang. Tyrell too was curious as to why he was not being permitted entrance to this man's 'club.'
"Look, I can't tell you the reason-" Junior didn't finish as Yang interrupted him by saying, "One."
"One?" Junior asked and just then Yang said, "Two." This time Junior looked to the rest of them and asked, "Why's she counting?"
"It's how long you have to give her what she wants before she decides to trash your club mister." Ruby answered simply enough as Junior's eyes widened with horror. "You have until three by the way."
"Thr-" Yang had almost finished the last digit when Junior cut her off by raising his hands and shouting, "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you why. Just please don't ruin my establishment… again." The man seemed to be begging somewhat, and it caused Tyrell to wonder what Yang had done exactly to hold this much power over someone much older than herself.
"Good boy. Now let's talk about this inside shall we?" It was more of a command rather than a question, but Yang just decided to walk in without Junior's permission anyways. Tyrell and the others followed after the brawler inside.
After a brief walk they all were now inside Junior's club and the noise that assaulted his ears was almost as torturous as the shopping had been.
A symphony of roars from the Hellkite Drake along with the screams of the ghosts of New Londo would have been much more pleasant to the ear rather than the 'music' (that is if it can even be called that) being played throughout the club. Tyrell had to cover his ears as he considered it too loud compared to how quiet it was just a few moments ago outside.
The design of the club was rather underwhelming as it had a color scheme consisting of only three colors: red, white, and black. Machines on the ceiling were constantly flashing bright white lights in multiple areas. For what purpose they served was above the Sentinel.
Towards the left of the spacious club was the only thing closest to something that he recognized. Jutting up from the floor was a long, smoothed black island with a red countertop running along the wall of the establishment. There was a space spanning the same length of the island where bartenders would normally work. Built into the wall itself were shelves fully stocked with glass bottles containing variously colored wines.
Some of the abandoned buildings in Lordran had a similar design, but more worn down and abandoned long ago.
The man, Junior, was currently leading them to the bar. After they all had taken a seat on rather comfortable stools, Tyrell placed his bags of new clothing on either side of him.
"Talk." Was all Yang had to say to get the man to begin his explanation. The man taking his place on the opposite side of the island and pouring himself a drink.
"What I'm about to tell you all doesn't leave this club. Got it?" Junior said as he got a nod from each of them. Junior knew that spilling the secrets of his clients (old or new) was not a smart move, especially to someone from Beacon, but he'd rather not have to spend the next few months to pay off any damages caused by Blondie.
"Torchwick was in here earlier." Junior started. He could see all the students' eyes grow wide in surprise at the news that "Vale's number one criminal" had came back to Junior's establishment. "I know you kids have been the ones foiling his plans ever since that dock incident appeared on the news a few months back. Like that Atlas Paladin chase down the highway, once I saw it on the news I had a feeling that you were involved somehow."
"We didn't come here to chat about the past Junior." Yang warned, but she also wanted to keep that information on the low, at least from the teachers, since they had started their own mission to stop the Fang and Torchwick. "Now tell us why Roman being here would prevent my friend here from coming in."
"Tell us or I'll break your legs!" Nora shouted as Junior gave her a 'What?' kind oflook.
"Nora, sit." Ren commanded calmly and the bubbly girl listened. Focusing their attention back onto Junior he continued.
"When Torchwick came in earlier, I thought that he either wanted to strike up another deal or he came back to repay me for the men that he lost me." Taking a quick sigh Junior continued, "Obviously, the latter wasn't why he came here."
"So what deal did you two make?" This time Ren asked as Junior sent the boy a small glare, but Junior answered.
"Funny thing was, he didn't. He didn't make any type of deal. Hell he just walked in with a few new faces and ordered a few drinks was all." Junior said.
This seemed to have drawn both Yang's and Ruby's attention as Yang asked, "New faces?"
"Yeah, a girl, short, wore a pink and white jacket with brown pants and grey boots. Her hair was pink, white, and brown and her eyes each had a different colored iris from what I saw. There were two others that really stood out though." The man took a short drink from his shot glass that he recently poured before continuing, all of them listening intently.
Yang immediately recognized that the girl was most likely the same one that had helped Roman escape after they had trashed his Paladin the other night. She kept quiet though to allow Junior to finish.
"The first one was actually rather short, the girl stood at least a head taller than him, but what he was wearing was what caught my attention. The dude looked like he was dressed up as a mummy for Halloween, covering up his entire body in dark bandages, and both his hands and feet had really long claws growing out from them. At first I thought he was a Faunus, but when he got closer I noticed that the claws reflected the light, so I knew they were made of metal."
"The last part about the first guy was the mask he wore. I was surprised that he knew where he was even walking at all. It looked like the top half of a Nevermore's beak was placed on his head!"
"What about the last one? The third member of Roman's party." Yang asked while hiding the curiosity in her voice, but her eyes betrayed her as all of them were curious.
Junior visibly shivered a little as he recalled the last member of Roman's entourage from earlier. "In all honesty, he scarred me far worse than Roman ever did."
"He stood taller than me, at least by a few inches." This came as a shock to a few of them since Junior was a rather tall man and for anyone to be even taller was an intimidating thought. "He wasn't any skin and bones either; it was all muscle it seemed underneath that black armor."
'Black armor? Is it possible that Abell had chosen an assassin already?' Tyrell thought as his Lord did say that he would have the assassin arrive before the rest of them did, and along with an escort as well…
Tyrell was brought out of his thoughts as Junior then said, "He was covered from head to toe in that armor, much like your friend here." Well that explained at least why Junior didn't want to let Tyrell in. Worried that he was related to this black armored man.
"He also carried two things on him, a matching colored shield and a fucking huge sword strapped to his back!" Both Nora's and Yang's eyes briefly flashed at the thought of how strong this guy must be, and it got them excited.
"Funny thing about his armor though were the two spikes that sat on top of his helmet, if he had came closer then I might have called them horns." Junior said.
"Was there anything else that you could describe about this man Junior?" This time Tyrell had asked the question which caused everyone to turn to regard him now.
"Yeah, just one more thing about him." Junior took a small gulp of his wine before continuing. "His visor, or eyes, I don't know exactly. They glowed like a fire…"
That was all Tyrell needed to hear as he stood up and grabbed his bags before saying, "I just remembered that there are a few things that I must prepare for next week's lesson with Doctor Oobleck. You'll have to show me the rest of Vale another night students. I will see you all back at Beacon and a good night to you Junior."
With that said he quickly walked away from the bar and made his way out of the club. He had to contact his Lord and talk to him about a few things regarding the movement and where they stood with Cinder now that they will be arriving.
'The assassin is here, and so is their escort it seems. The movement starts tomorrow.'
…
Earlier in the day…
Roman's day had started out pretty good; well as good as it can be while being a fully fledged criminal and working with a terrorist group run by animals.
He had just gotten up from a nap and was about to start his day when Neo, the only partner that he could trust at the time, walked into his office.
A slightly uncomfortable look on her face as she shut the door.
"Neo? What are you doing here now? Weren't you supposed to meet with me tomorrow?" The famed criminal asked of the mute girl.
The only response he got was the small girl pointing outside his office's entrance and a 'We got a situation' kind of look on her face.
"What are the animals fighting over now?" Roman complained, but he became more alert when Neo began to look somewhat concerned over whatever was happening. Concerned enough to deserve his attention. "Fine, fine, I'm going."
Taking a cigar out and lighting it, Roman left his office and was being lead by Neo towards their (his) problem. Shouting could be heard as they drew closer to the source and threats of shooting were being called out.
After rounding a 'borrowed' container of SDC Dust, Roman saw a small crowd of White Fang grunts all huddled around someone. The only reason Roman knew that it was a person was that the figure in black armor was pretty freaking hard to miss.
'Are those horns? Ughh. Another animal that I have to tolerate. Joy.' He thought to himself with a disgusted look.
The man stood over each of the gathered grunts by at least a head up, but as Roman got closer the man seemed to just get taller.
"Out of my way." Roman, not so gently, pushed a few of the grunts out of his and Neo's way with the rest parting for them once they saw who it was. Upon closer inspection, he got a better look for the guy.
He was fully armored in what appeared to be some weird, emo demon armor. Markings that Roman's never seen before covered almost every inch of his armor save for the helmet.
A large greatsword was attached to the guy's back and a shield was strapped to his left arm, both matching his armor.
'At least he has a taste for fashion.' Roman thought approvingly as he himself designed and then stole his custom made outfit.
Now that he was standing face to face to the guy, or rather face to chest plate, Roman had to look up at him to see his eyes.
Which were glowing like some sort of dark fire from hell that hid itself within those eyes. The glow illuminated the helmet's visor which only added to his intimidating appearance.
Just from looks alone, Roman could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up a bit. Closing his eyes and taking a huge inhale from his cigar, Roman put on his game face. "As much as I like to see new faces, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." It wasn't the demonic demon voice that Roman had been expecting, but rather slightly higher pitched than an average man and spoken softly.
"Pardon?" Roman asked as he continued to look into the glowing visor of the giant of a man.
"Down here you oblivious idiot." The same voice and this time Roman followed the source to the appearance of a second figure. Standing right next to the man in armor, just barely taller than said man's waist, was who Roman might have mistaken as a kid dressing up for Halloween if they met on the streets.
He mainly wore what looked like dark grey bandages covering his entire body, Roman also spotted a few knives and daggers tucked away beneath one of the bandages. What caught the criminals attention as well were the claws that grew from his hands and feet.
A closer look revealed them to be made out of steel, the same as his helmet which caused Roman to ask, "How many fingers am I holding up?" Holding out his right hand and placing up three fingers, Roman awaited his answer.
Neo made what sounded like a (very) quiet sigh as she just shook her head and gave him one of her 'Really?' looks. "What?" Was all he had to say on the matter.
The shorter man said in the same voice, "How many am I holding up?" He proceeded to flip Roman off which caused the criminal to snicker and say, "Looks like we got ourselves a smartass here. Now as I said before, get out." His tone turned serious and that cued the grunts to draw their weapons which only consisted of swords, axes, and a few pistols.
"We have orders from our Lord to talk to a Ms. Fall. Who are you, her water boy?" A few snickers were heard from behind the infamous criminal, but Neo took care of it by simply flashing one of her sadistic grins at the assembled grunts. Silence fell between their ranks and the mute girl focused her attention back onto the two new comers.
"Heh heh, looks like we got ourselves a real jokester here as well." Leaning in close to the squirt, Roman whispered loud enough for the two in front of him and Neo to hear.
"Listen here pint-size, I'm feeling a little generous today so I'll give you and giganto here two choices. You can leave now and head back to whatever hole you two crawled out of, or I can have you both killed right here and now. So what do 'ya say?" Roman put on a mock smile as he waited for them to decide.
He really didn't care which they chose, but unless he heard from Cinder otherwise then he had no reason to let these guys see her.
"What I say is that you either take us to Ms. Fall now, or there will be dire consequences to be paid." The runt said in a serious tone that didn't faze Roman in the least. Although, the fact that he had the nerve to stand up to him did tick Roman off just a tad bit.
"Ooohhh I'm so scarred. Guys do me a favor and kill these two for me? Thanks." With that Roman began to walk away with Neo trailing behind.
After they both had cleared the pack of grunts, the White Fang members began to slowly draw themselves closer towards the two intruders with murderous intent in their eyes.
Taking a long sigh, Alan mumbled to his 'escort', "I guess we'll be fighting our way to Ms. Fall then. Oh the things our Lord has us do." The Old Guard nodded his head once and drew his Black Knight Greatsword in one fluid motion while taking a combat stance. Already eyeing one of the grunts wielding an axe.
"Oh yes, the things we do indeed." Alan said in a slightly sadistic tone as the White Fang grunts saw a red flash on the left side of his helmet through the tiny eye slit that allowed him to see.
He then pulled out his favorite weapon, a jagged blade from one of the ghosts of the New Londo ruins, while setting himself into a low crouch, intent on covering the walls of this building in his enemy's blood.
…
"Thirteen men dead Torchwick! Another nine critically wounded! How do you explain yourself?!" Adam shouted out into the face of the criminal that he was barely able to restrain himself from killing the man on the spot.
Cinder closed her eyes in frustration, growing tired of having to deal with both Adam and Roman.
She had needed to come back to her warehouse to check up on a few things, mainly Roman, and to see if Abell's help had arrived. However, they did not make her plans any easier (yet) by their killing spree happening not even a half-hour ago.
She had gotten here as soon as she could, to really only keep Adam from cutting Roman's head off since she still needed him alive for the upcoming Breach operation.
Alan and his escort stood in front of her inside Roman's office covered in blood, not all of it their own. A few bullet holes covering their bodies, but to Cinder's interest there didn't appear to be a single blade mark on either of them.
Roman sent both a glare as blood continued to drip onto his carpet.
Turning back to regard the very pissed off Faunus in front of him. "How was I supposed to know that they were here for Cinder?" Roman tried to feign innocent, but everyone gathered in the room saw through it like glass.
"I specifically remember telling you that we were sent here by our Lord to aid Ms. Fall in her plans, whatever they may be." Alan brought up which caused both Adam and Cinder to look at the criminal, one with a deadpan expression and the other with killing intent.
Holding both hands up in front of him Roman said, "Fine, fine. So they told me that they were here for you, but how was I to know when you don't exactly fill me in on almost, oh I don't know, anything?" Cinder's eyes glowed as her aura flared, not in anger, but a show of warning. Roman grew a little nervous at seeing that stare and tugged at his collar.
"Like I told you before Roman, you'll know what you need when you need to know. Now both of you out." Cinder looked at Roman then at Adam to tell them that she was referring to them. Roman, annoyed with being left in the dark again, and being thrown out of his own office,walked out of the room. Closely followed by Adam who murmured to the criminal, "I'm not through with you yet."
After the door had shut closed Cinder said, "So which of you is going to be helping me tomorrow night?"
"That will be me madam." Alan gave her a slight bow of the head to show who had been speaking. "Alan of Astora. I spent my entire life on honing my skills as a thief and an assassin; I have successfully assassinated six nobles and four high lords before I came into my Lord's service."
"Go on." Was all she said. So far she was not convinced that this runt of a man might provide any use to her for her stealth operation to infiltrate the CCT tomorrow night.
For all she knew, this man could just be spilling lies to her. And if that were the case, then Abell would need to send her a new assassin, because this one would be nothing but ashes under her feet.
"Throughout my travels and serving my Lord, I had also come across a few rare rings that I'm sure you'll find interesting Ms. Fall." She couldn't help but feel that the man was smiling underneath his helmet as he pulled out two small rings from a hidden pocket on his person.
"Rings?" She dared to ask. Even going so far as to raise one of her brows in confusion.
The first ring was mainly silver in color, but the dark emerald gem in the middle of the ring reflected off the light in the room. Covering the emerald gem was a silver dragon wrapping in on itself. "This ring allows oneself to remain completely silent; any sounds emitted by them are as silent as death."
Cinder remained quiet as he demonstrated the ring by placing it on his right index finger, he started to clap his clawed hands together she heard not even the faintest of sounds. Much to her interest.
'Interesting. But could a Faunus perhaps hear him?' she thought to herself as Alan removed the first ring and spoke again.
"That ring is very useful for sneaking up on one's enemies. Now for the other." Alan then showed her a ring that had a gold grip and a sphere of pure white sat atop it.
When Cinder studied it further she saw what looked like actual fog swirling inside the ring. When Alan put it on he basically vanished right before her very eyes, her only form of shock/surprise was a few blinks of her eyes.
When she saw a shift in the air she was just barely able to see Alan's form, but after a minute of looking at him she could make him out. Alan removed the ring and asked, "Do you find my skills useful to serve your agenda?"
Oh yes. With those two rings, and his combative skills as an assassin, Cinder would have no trouble with infiltrating the CCT tower.
It's not that she couldn't complete the task on her own, but it pays to have a little extra insurance in case things take a turn in the wrong direction.
'A distraction will be nice.' She thought.
"You and I will be departing back to Beacon tonight. You will wait where I order you to stay and remain hidden until I call upon you. I will have one of my associates come and retrieve you and put you into position. Understand?" Cinder expected nothing other than a yes, but there was still one complication that she had ignored until now.
"As for your… escort, he shall remain here and answer to Roman. However, he is to listen to my orders and mine alone." She then took her eyes off Alan and placed them onto the towering figure before her.
He had intrigued her far more than the assassin, even after she was shown the rings, and it was not for his weapon or armor. What glowed within his visor was what intrigued her. When she looked into his visor, he looked back.
'Disciplined, alert, loyal, and showing no fear. One bred for chaos and killing.' Cinder thought as she looked deeper and deeper into that raging black flame that came from the man's eyes.
As if sensing that this might cause an issue, Alan quickly said, "We serve our Lord, and he has instructed us to follow your orders until the task is done. My escort will remain here until our Lord arrives tomorrow."
"He will remain here until I say otherwise." Cinder challenged.
"Unless our Lord orders him to stay under your command, then I'm afraid that will not be happening. Lucky for you, Ms. Fall, our Lord will be arriving to this location personally to greet you in person." Alan stated with a certain joy that Cinder couldn't quite place.
"Good. Inform him that I will be waiting for him here if you can. I will summon you within a few hours Alan to leave for Beacon. Now leave." With that both Alan and his escort walked out of Roman's office.
On their way through the warehouse they came across the bloodbath that had transpired not too long ago. Severed limbs and mutilated bodies had littered the ground along with a very large pool of crimson blood mixing together giving the floor a new crimson color.
A few White Fang grunts were beginning to clean up the scene when they saw them approaching.
Fear filled the air as both walked through the blood and gore as if everything were fine with the world. The grunts were pale in the face as they rounded a corner of a SDC Dust container where they ran into Roman and his partner Neo.
Alan was somewhat glad to see the black eye that had formed around Roman's left eye, probably courteously of that horned man that had been yelling at Roman.
"Hey you two, I was thinking that we shouldn't let first impressions judge how we'll be working together in the future." Roman said with a (fake) smile on his face.
"Did you not send your men on us to kill us?" Alan asked as Roman shrugged before saying, "First off, their animals, not men. And second, I want to make it up to you two for that little incident. So how about I treat you and 'tall, dark, and scary' here to a nice little tour of Vale huh?"
"I assume that we have nothing better to do at the moment, but I will be departing soon with Ms. Fall for this Beacon. My escort will remain behind and answer to you." Alan informed the criminal who seemed surprised by the news.
The assassin knew that the criminal had an ulterior motive from this 'show of kindness', but Alan and his escort could handle themselves if Roman tried anything during their tour.
"Well now, how about we talk about this after a few drinks. I know a great bar in town." The criminal said as he lead Alan, his escort, and Neo to Junior's club.
…
Murmurs broke out throughout the gather knights in each location, some questioning, others confused, and some even angered.
"All of you calm down." Abell ordered and like that the murmurs died down until it was silent once again in Lordran.
"I call us all Undead since that is what we will always be known as. We are no longer just normal humans anymore, as we were all forever changed by the Darksign. But, do not take this in a sour tone, for we were all made stronger for it in the end, and now we all stand under one banner."
It was then that the giant Humanity sprite widened itself on its left and right sides. Inside the black sprite a white, hollowed out circle appeared in the middle. Small wisps of white fire burned on the ring of the white circle before being swallowed up by the black sprite.
Many of the Undead gathered tensed up upon seeing the Darksign, for it was the bane of their existence that forced them away from their previous lives. Memories of family and friends taken away from whom they had lost to the accursed brand forever.
"I chose the Darksign as our banner to remind us, of who we are now, not who we once were. Some of you may not accept it now, or ever, but we all are a family. A family who takes care of one another and will die for one another if it comes to it. I would place my life down if it meant to save you all if it ever came to that."
Taking a quick breath Abell continued, "The Age of Fire had long since passed, and the Age of Man, our age, was supposed to come afterwards. However, that never came to be when Gwyn, the Sinner, had placed his fears of humanity above all else."
"He was the one who sacrificed himself to his dying flame to prevent our age from coming. He was the one who placed our land into an endless loop of Light and Dark. He was the one who branded all of humanity with the Darksign!" Abell shouted and roars of agreement could be heard from all around.
"If there was one good thing that had come from Gwyn's sin, it was that the Darksign forced us to adapt to our new lives and become stronger. Not only did we all become much more powerful through our very souls, but, we also became stronger as a race as well."
Taking yet another breath, this one deeper, Abell continued, "Our age did come after all in the end, but thanks to the Sinner and his fears, our world had been destined to slowly decay and die. But it is also my fault that I had pushed our world over the edge into oblivion." Murmurs emerged again, but they were only ones of questioning this time.
"With the endless loop of both Light and Dark caused by the Sinner, our world grew more and more fragile over the centuries. It was I who had shattered it in the end. I will make no excuses for myself as I was fooled by the primordial serphant, Darkstalker Kaathe, and his lies and half-truths that I believed throughout my journey. I cannot expect any of your forgiveness, but if it means anything to you all, I am truly sorry for my decisions."
The murmurs had gone silent again, and Abell was about to continue when a multitude of shouts of protest rang out through Lordran.
He was only able to make out a few of the shouts over the roar of the gathered crowd, but from what he could make out he had heard, "Hold your tongue my Lord, for it is not your fault!"
Another, "Only a fool would think they have not done the right thing! Ending the Sinner's loop!"
One stuck out to him, perhaps the only comment that had reached to his heart.
"We are all family; there is no need for apologies or forgiveness!"
Abell was honestly and utterly left speechless at how loyal and devoted each and every one of his knights was to him and their comrades.
After a few minutes had passed and the shouts had died down, Abell took a pleased sigh and said, "What I am about to tell all of you is my plan to save us all from this dying world."
It was as if each individual knight held his or her own breath to keep any noise from escaping as they all listened intensely for their Lord to speak.
"The Dark Soul has shown me many things since I had come into possession of it. This soul holds powers that predate even the primordial serphants if one were to guess. But who would have thought that it could take one to another world."
Abell had to give his knights credit for not bursting out into a storm of questions. "Yes, I have recently sent one of the Knights of Omen, The Sentinel, to a new world. This world is full of life from what the Sentinel had informed me of. It also appears that this world also has its own version of the Light and Dark from his reports."
"The Dark of this world is nothing similar to what any of us have experienced in our Undead life I'm sure. They are known as the creatures of Grimm. From what research that the Sentinel has gathered on these creatures is still little, but useful. The only thing that truly sets these creatures apart from the ones that used to roam throughout Lordran is that these Grimm are soulless."
Still no reaction from the gathered knights, but Abell continued regardless. "Now the Light of this world will come to a surprise to you all as it was for me when the Sentinel reported it to me."
Taking a deep breath before saying, "The Light of this world is… humans." That broke the silence that held the Ashen Knights for so long as they burst into questions, but Abell had shouted, "Silence!"
They grew quite again, but murmurs were being shared between individuals and their neighbors.
"Believe me when I say that I did not believe the Sentinel at first, but when he had shown me proof that I could not refuse, I had no choice." Abell would not tell them of his conversations with Cinder when she had stolen the sprite from Tyrell that night.
"This is the reason why we have been getting prepared to move the entire kingdom over the last week. However, I am not going to force any of you to leave. That is why I have decided to give you all a choice in the matter."
"If you wish to follow me into this new world, then hold out your hand in front of you. Those of you, who wish to stay in Lordran, do not."
There were none who had not held their hand out in front of them as a black Humanity sprite filled the palm of each Ashen Knight throughout all of Lordran.
"I give you all a piece of the Dark Soul as a sign of your bravery and loyalty to your Lord. Now, lift your sprite up into the air and crush it with your hand. That of you with second thoughts, now is the time to back down."
Each individual that Abell could see had raised their hand carrying the Humanity sprite into the air. For a moment, no one had crushed their sprite, and it had looked like the black and white flames could burn all of Anor Londo, but soon one of the sprites had gone out.
Crushed by the hand of its owner. Soon two more had followed, and then ten more, soon each and every individual sprite had gone out until none remained.
"Tomorrow, my Knights of Ash, we march to Remnant. To light the fires far."
"To light the fires far!" His knights, unified, shouted back. Abell couldn't help but smile as he turned around and walked back into his throne room with Alonne, Aulnor, and Grandahl trailing behind.
However, a new surprise had popped into his mind as a second voice spoke in his mind. This one different from the other.
'You… you damned them. You've damned them all. Why?' Is sounded like it was indisbelief. It spoke in a much higher tone than the other, almost childlike. That was when the previous voice decided to speak up, as if the two were having a conversation outside his mind.
'Because, bodies will be needed for when our Lord arrives.'
Hey everyone. I kind of left you all high and dry there for a while there didn't I. I'm sorry about that, but school, work, and Fallout have been keeping me busy/distracted.
So I've been watching Volume three, and I have to say that I do like Qrow's weapon, but I will be sticking with the good old Scythe/Rifle since that thing (to me) is cool but a little too OP.
I have to admit a few things here before I shut up until the next chapter though. First, I honestly hated writing that scene with the group going to Vale, but I needed to 1) Make an excuse for Tyrell to go to Vale to get a tux, because Ren already gave his to Jaune lol. 2) Start to get both teams a few new enemies to look out for.
Next, if I were to ever do a rewrite of this story, I would have spaced out the beginning a little bit better. I would have had the dance occur after a few weeks have passed, and build up Tyrell's relationship with both teams during that time. So that's why I decided to have a few timeskips in the future. A heads up, the first one will be happening after the dance, so be ready for that.
One last thing about this chapter (and a rewrite of the story as a whole) I also wasn't too sure how I felt about Glynda asking Tyrell if he would want to practice dancing with her the day of the freaking dance (god am I dumb). In the end I left it in there, but like I said before, in a rewrite of the story I would have the timing of events spaced out better and relationships built up slower.
Okay, sorry if this AN turned into a rant, but I had to get that stuff off my chest. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter regardless and I will talk to you all in the next chapter.