Edited as of (7/22/18)
PB: Da-Awesom-One
A/N: Just a quick note to make reading this easier. Each section is a moment in Joel's life important or not, each line break representing months or even years of time apart. - Mojo
MEMORIES OF AMBR - A
-Joel Ambrose-
"Joel!?... Joel, I know you're in there!" I jumped at the sound of my Uncle Lucas calling out to me from the entrance of the dark little burrow I'd barricaded myself in beneath a gnarled oak tree, sniffling to myself as I rubbed at my nose fiercely, the action irritating a few of the fresh bruises those bullies had covered me with earlier, making me wince despite my best efforts. "Come on out, we need to talk!"
"You just want to yell at me like Mommy did!" I called back angrily, before realizing I'd just given away my position, clapping a hand over my mouth, and burying my face back in my knees. "Go away!"
"See, Dad? Told you he'd be in there." That was Robyn's voice, the traitor. She wasn't supposed to tell anybody about this spot, especially not any grown-ups!
'But she's gonna be a grown-up soon, too.' It's all anyone talked about anymore. How she'd just gotten her Aura unlocked, how she was going to go to Aegis soon, be a Huntress like Mommy, and kill all the monsters.
'I wish I was older... Then maybe I'd be bigger.' I thought glumly, eyes burning again as a fresh stab of pain shook me.
"He always hides here, even when we're just playing around."
"Do not!" I shouted, crawling out through the small hole into the fading sunlight and leafy floor.
Uncle Lucas was standing there, one arm propped against the tree trunk, and the other massaging the back of his head, looking me, and the state I was in, over with a worried grimace. It was the same I'd seen on Mommy's face when she'd noticed the marks on me. Robyn was at his side, the twelve-year-old looking immensely proud of herself, light blonde hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, a braid running through her long bangs to fall over one ear culminating in a shimmering blue bead.
'Oh no!'
I tried to scramble back inside my safe haven, but my uncle was far too quick for me, plucking up my small frame by the back of my shirt one-handed like I weighed nothing at all, hauling me around opposite him and the tree, my arms crossing petulantly as soon as my feet hit the ground again. 'I HATE BEING SMALL!'
"Oh, no you don't! We need to get some of those looked at," he said slowly, gingerly scraping the edge of one of the large bruises on my cheek with a callused finger, noting the tenseness in my face. "They look like they hurt quite a bit, too."
"I'm fine. Honest, it doesn't hurt!" I said quickly. Too quickly, I realized, as his eyes narrowed sharply. Robyn snuck behind me to clap a hand to my back, smile gone, only to be replaced by a look just like her father's. "Ow!" I leapt away from her, tensing as my eyes burned, threatening to shed more tears.
Rather than try to continue her little assault, however, the girl just looked... sad, looking me over like this was all her fault. I didn't like it. If anything, it just made this all worse. "I'm sorry, Joel. For all of this. If I hadn't let those jerks get to me..."
"You're a certainly stubborn one, I'll give you that. Thomas' influence, no doubt."
Uncle Lucas ran a hand down his face as Robyn did her best to tend to my injuries, running her hands over the worst of the bruising, her face screwed up in the effort.
"By her blood, it's small wonder your mother was livid. What were you thinking, boy, starting something with Aegis students? You're five! If your cousin hadn't been there to make them stop...!"
"Dad, calm down. He gets it," his daughter chided him, looking guilty. "Look, it was my fault. You and Aunt Patrice should be mad at me, not him, so...!"
"No!" I cut her off, shaking my head angrily in defiance, my tiny fists clenched as I looked up into my uncle's stern face. "It's those bullies' fault! They were yelling at her! Calling Mommy and you cows for helping Dad!"
"'...Cows?'" he raised eyebrows confused. "Why in the world would they...?"
Robyn shook her head, laughing, but not happily. "Cowards, Dad. They were calling you and Aunt Patrice cowards for helping Uncle Thomas with his police stuff," she corrected, me nodding my head along, the word sounding right. "Pmuuto vuumc!" It was odd hearing Robyn using the Old Tongue, just like Mommy and Uncle Lucas did. Of course, she was a Huntress now, too...
"It sounded mean, so I asked them to stop. And when they laughed..." I stopped mid-sentence, frowning as I remembered what that larger boy had said right before I got him in the eye with a jab, just like I'd seen them do in the training matches Grandpa sometimes allowed me to attend with him. Right when his Aura was down, too. "A-and they called me a useless w-weakling!" The others had cheated then, kicking at me while I couldn't do anything to fight back. The mere memory caused another knot in my chest as I scratched at my eyes. "...A-are they right?"
"Joel..." The tall man put a hand on my shoulder firmly, crouching down so his kind violet-colored eyes were equal height to mine as he thought on what to say. "Your parents and I... We're trying our best to change things around the city, especially the outskirts. To make it so Huntsmen and Huntresses will focus more on what happens inside the walls, and not just on the Grimm. Like the Caagan... the police do. Catching bad people."
"A-and they think that's a bad thing?" I asked, nodding my head as I looked in the direction of Aegis, the ancient stone and steel fortress that had stood proudly tall in the center of Bastion for generations as the city and its many tiered districts had grown up around it; the one constant in a time of change. It was the training grounds for some of the greatest Hunters the Frontier had ever seen.
'At least that's what Grandpa says.'
Uncle Lucas' face fell somewhat, though he did his best to keep the warm smile on his face. I still caught it, though. Mommy always said I was good at talking to others. "Empa... something," she said. "A lot of important people believe that Huntsmen should stay focused on fighting the Grimm, as they always have been. That those wanting to do any less are afraid of the beasts, or, well, cowards."
But that didn't make any sense. From what I'd heard other grown-ups saying, he and Mommy had hunted down lots of Grimm before. Big ones, too. Enough to get those fancy medals to wear, anyway. How could they be "cowards," then?
"And as for you being a weakling..."
"A weakling wouldn't have stood up to a bunch of older kids twice his size, and asked them to shut up!" Robyn giggled, ruffling my dark hair as I tried to fight her off with little success. "My little hero. Always trying to look out for his big cousin, isn't he? So brave."
I didn't show it, still rubbing at my hair, but I felt an enormous swell of pride at those words. 'I'll grow up big and strong, like Grandpa and Uncle! Hunt all the monsters, and save people!' It didn't matter what people said when they thought I couldn't hear. I'd show them all!
"Heroic, but foolhardy." Her father shot her a glare that had her blushing scarlet before putting his attention back on me, crossing his arms. "You ran into a fight without thinking ahead, which, while brave, could've ended with you getting hurt a lot worse. You're too young to be worrying about what people say about you or anyone else." He faltered, coughing into his fist when he saw my lip quivering, eyes shining brightly. "But with a bit of time anda lot practice... I think we might just make a true hero out of you, yet. A smart one," he added quickly at a wry look from his daughter. "When you're older, of course."
'She's getting to be a lot like Auntie Rachael,' I thought idly, looking between the two, beaming broadly, especially when the Huntsman stuck me up on his shoulders, letting me reach out to pull at a couple of the lower hanging branches.
"Hear that, Joel? It's going to take a lot of work," Robyn said teasingly, skipping along next to us, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "You're not gonna give up if things get hard, are you?"
"Never! Not ever!" I said firmly in my best serious voice, accidentally pulling on a branch too roughly, sending a deluge of sap covered leaves raining down on us. The teenager let out a little shriek and ran as she tried to use her Aura to avoid the worst of it. Meanwhile, my uncle and I laughed as we chased after her.
'A hero... Yeah. That's what I want to be.'
"...murdered them both!" I flinched as Uncle Lucas' voice echoed through the door frame, pained and angry. "They were on their side, supporting those... those animals!" I shivered at the sheer venom in his voice. The fury...
'Shouldn't I be mad, too?'
The thought echoed through my skull, tears threatening to fall for the hundredth time since Mom had told me about the attack on the White Fang Equality Rally. How Aunt Rachael and Robyn had been caught in the middle of it. Jake had been crying in his room alone for days, not being old enough to really understand what was going on, but feeling the atmosphere around the house. Around the whole city.
It had been sudden and unprovoked. According to what it said on the Scrolls, some Faunus had suddenly turned violent in the middle of the excitement, and explosives had gone off, killing both Faunus and anti-Faunus protesters alike. The perpetrator was found to be a Faunus attempting to work his way towards those government officials attending, only to have it go off by accident after being stopped by police.
Robyn had talked about the setup for weeks every time they came over for dinner, saying how she was working alongside Faunus students at Aegis to set it all up, as well as the White Fang's representatives at the school. Uncle Lucas had always seemed so concerned, but Mom, Dad, and Aunt Rachael had been absolutely thrilled. I'd heard about it secondhand from a nice Faunus girl in my class who I ate lunch with during breaks whose parents were members that had said they were going. She hadn't come to class since the attack, either...
'I wonder if she ever made it home?...' I didn't know. I had never even thought to ask.
"Lucas, calm down!" That was Mom. I could hear her moving around in the room. "You'll wake the boys."
"Don't ask me to be calm about this, Patty!" he roared again. Thankfully, I'd made sure to close the door behind me when I'd left the room, so Jake should still be asleep, hopefully. "Those bastards, those... animals killed my wife! Killed my little girl! Tysh ed, she was on their side! She was their friend!"
"No one expected that the White Fang had dissenters, Lucas. Even the Faunus were surprised! Everyone's confused, it caught us all off guard." That was Dad now. His voice was leveled, just like when he was chiding me or Jake on something. "But even still, we can't fly off the handle here, or it'll just make things worse."
"Wor... Worse!? How could things possibly be worse!? If your superiors had been open to working with us, if we could've had more than a token force from Aegis supervising...!"
Was it their fault?... If the town's Seekers had only worked with the Huntsmen... 'Why would this happen at all? Why would Faunus be angry with what the White Fang was doing?'
"My men did their best. Most of them are beat cops drummed up from Academy washouts, or even folks without their Auras unlocked!" Dad's voice was rising now defensively, calmness forgotten. "They aren't equipped to handle terrorists!... I'm sorry. I lost friends, too, Lucas. I know I can't possibly understand..."
"You're right! You can't understand how I'm feeling, Tom! Neither can your father! I'm intent on stopping these bastards by whatever means it takes, because this is only the beginning! They will do this again, and someone needs to be there to stop them!"
"Lucas, you don't know that!" Mom cried.
"Do you think it was just them!? This will only encourage those dissenters in the Kingdoms and Menagerie! What happens if the dissenters take control!? It's only a matter of time, then!" he argued ferociously. "Somebody has to stop them before they become dangerous! Someone who can do what needs to be done! Justice and vengeance, both!"
The door next to me crashed open, with my uncle, face unshaven, hair and clothing disheveled, on the other side, his hand going to the sword at his hip. I leapt back in fright, but he relaxed once he saw it was me. It was still enough to freeze me in place, my eyes wide as his Aura burned away at the sight of me.
"U-Uncle...?" I shivered, but tried to stand up tall.
The man looked on me sadly, eyes darkening before striding towards the front door. The tears finally fell down my cheeks unbidden as my mother's arms wrapped around me tightly while we watched him leave.
"So that's really them?... The survivors?"
I stood up straighter, tugging at the light black dress shirt I wore before the two small plots as the whispers started. A young woman sobbed by my side silently, clutching a bouquet of flowers in her hands left over from her father's service.
"That big one's the Ambrose heir. He killed one of the animals behind the attack."
Why? Why couldn't they just shut up!?
"The killer died just from him touching him... Keep your distance."
"This... This doesn't feel real..." Natalie said between gasps, having forgone her glasses, eyes tinged red from the night before. "Any of it... It couldn't. I-it just can't..."
I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer, keeping a tight rein on my Aura as I felt another painful jolt run along my spine, while the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It was getting better now, slowly. I turned up the volume of the music going in the single bud I kept in my ear, drawing a few stray looks, but it was almost a necessity. The beat helped me take hold of my Aura more easily.
'A silly trick they teach kids after unlocking their Aura.'
It had been a few days since... since the attack. Since the Fang.
'Since everything fell apart... Since I... Oh, Gods...'
The doctors said it would improve with time as my body and Aura acclimated to the power my Semblance exerted. It still didn't help that I felt the searing fire run through my veins with every move as they burned white hot, keeping me up at night whenever memories of what had happened didn't. The aching numbness spread through my muscles... Those effects might improve, but will likely never fade completely. So for now, the music stayed.
Jake was doing his best to remedy that for me with a more permanent solution, of course. The project seemed to be his own way of coping, penned up in that room as he was. He could move now, somewhat, but until a prosthetic was fitted, he would be stuck in bed. That was not even mentioning the burns that, even with constant 'round-the-clock Aura and Dust-based treatments, still pained him.
'What am I doing complaining about pains?... At least I can hide mine... At least I can walk...' He couldn't come to the funeral. Not like he was complaining. He didn't want to be put on a spotlight for the city to gawk over.
Grandfather had presided over the service, before moving back to his duties. He only had a few weak words of comfort, the white-haired giant of a man speaking somberly of bravery, sacrifice, endurance, honor...
'There wasn't any 'honor' in what happened... Just murder...'
It wasn't honorable that there had barely been anything left of my father to burn, or that my mother had to die saving her youngest boy's life. A few days after the fact, I still thought about the Faunus I killed. I could see his face as my hands went for his throat. The burning sensation of my Semblance - Conduction was an accurate name for it - had come to life, finally, after lying dormant for so long.
'Justice.'
"A random act of terror and intimidation" was what they called it. I knew exactly what it was. A bunch of hypocrite murderers speaking out for equality, who used force to get what they wanted, even from their own people. 'Even most Faunus want nothing to do with them anymore.' Nothing had changed for the better with this attack. There was only more people mistrusting and mistreating what few Faunus had deigned to remain in the Silver City, which would only mean more enmity, and would have more acts of violence resulting in new fighters on either side. 'And people I cared about dead, either way...'
So wrapped up in my thoughts was I, that I didn't even realize the whispers had all but silenced as footsteps plodded I the grass behind me.
"...Nephew."
I jumped at the sound of the familiar voice behind me, startling Natalie as I spun around, and catching sight of a man I hadn't seen in years. A man most people had thought dead. Lucas Violette had changed. He had the same face, if cleaner than the last time I'd seen it, with a good deal of more grey in his slicked back brown hair, and was wearing a dark suit fitting for the occasion. His old Huntsman's badge was emblazoned in silver across the chest of his dark coat, marking his status for all to see.
"It's been a long time..."
'I thought he was gone... I thought he he was dead!'
"...Uncle..." I replied to the greeting, eyes narrowing darkly. Even those words had been more for Natalie's benefit, her reddened eyes looking between the two of us in confusion. "...Are you here for the service? You just missed Grandfather."
"Boy, I didn't come here to..."
"Obviously," I snarled, surprising myself at the anger present in my tone. Many of the other guests who'd been listening in flinched away sharply. "Six years... You were gone for six years... Mom was inconsolable; she thought you'd thrown yourself at the Grimm... We even held something for you." I pointed towards another section down the row, where Robyn and Aunt Rachael had lain for years. "And now... now that all of this happened... you choose now to come back!?"
Someone to blame. That's what I wanted. Someone I could pin this all on, now that that bastard was dead. The anger refused to leave me, boiling to a rage threatening to spill over. 'If he'd been there... He could've done something! He could've saved them!' It was an unfair belief with no proof or reason, but I felt myself latch onto it desperately as I glared the man who'd been almost like a second father growing up. Remembering him storming out into the night, never to return.
"I've been busy, Joel. Too busy," he said in a measured tone, eyes glancing towards my arm, where I knew sparks must've been dancing. The crowd was alert as those Huntsmen that had remained behind tensed up, the more posh ones going for those fancy swords at their belts.
'Let them come!' A part of me balked at that thought, another part exalted...
"The White Fang has only grown stronger in the years I've been gone. As I predicted, the dissenters took over. I warned your parents when I left that this might happ...!"
I interrupted him with a snarl of fury as I lashed out, hand leaping towards his face, sparks just tickling his skin... My back hit the soft ground before I'd even registered what was happening, my eyes widening as years of instinct put me back on hands and knees, only to meet the tip of a thin saber that he had kept compressed in his coat sleeves, the weapon ejecting in his hand, battle ready in an instant.
"Leave us!" he said to the crowd, many of them hesitating, unsure of how to respond. "Mayja!" he roared this time, voice dripping with authority that sent the guests scrambling away with mortified looks and whispers, those Aegis-trained few giving the older Huntsman a short bow before moving to join in the retreat. "...Calm yourself, boy."
"Don't you DARE! Don't you dare imply that this is their own fault!" My fingers dug into the soil, body burning with barely-contained energy.
"...I see your tendency for throwing yourself headlong into trouble hasn't improved," he noted, not even seeming to have heard me, keeping a wary eye on Natalie as she moved to go to my side. "Rampant and impulsive. A fitting Semblance, though it's been pushed too far too quickly. Your body hasn't had the time to fully acclimate. Your hair..."
"Shut up!" I tried to lunge again, but an Aura-fueled boot slammed down on my back, keeping me pinned. The barrier managed to repel the worst my Semblance could offer as I slowly tired myself out. "J-just... Just shut up!"
Weak... Weak... WEAK! We were all too weak. Even Mom hadn't been able to stop what had happened. She was just another casualty for "equality."
"Sir, please!" Natalie ran up to the man, silvery Aura flashing as she tried to push him off me. But the man was like a wall, solid and unmoving, his eyes bearing down on me. "He's just...!"
"I know exactly what he's feeling, Miss Corbell. What both of you are feeling... Now, let me talk to my nephew," he ordered again, pushing her aside as if she were weightless, and sending her tripping over her dress to the ground next to me, before looking upon me again.
"The anger and the loss... It's a feeling that those beasts use to intimidate others." He stepped off me, letting me jump to my feet. I pulled Natalie up with me, shielding her with one arm. "Like I said, Joel, I've been busy. Busy trying to find a way to put an end to this type of suffering, and stop the White Fang for good... One that I can say I've certainly found. But don't misread my intentions, Joel. I came here to mourn for the fallen. Despite how things ended before... I still cared greatly for your parents. For your father and your mother; my sister..."
He glanced over to the plots behind us, and for a moment, I saw genuine grief overcome them. As soon as it arrived, however, it were gone, replaced with the stoic determination he had when he arrived. "However, I also came here for you. I want to make you an offer... Before I begin, allow me to make myself perfectly clear. The path I'm about to show you will be painful. If you agree, you will be tested brutally, perhaps fatally so. But if you make your way through it, you will be stronger than anyone. You will gain the tools to prevent what happened to you from happening the others... The power to save them all, even if they'll spit on you for it."
"What?... What are you...?"
"A hero, Joel..." he clarified, extending a gloved hand, his sword braced in the other at his side. "I'm asking you if you're ready to become a Hero of Remnant. One that will do what must be done."
My eyes stared into his own, briefly looking back down at the short sword at his side, before looking back to him. "...What are you going on on about?"
My uncle seemed to have noticed my eyes falling on his weapon, and quietly compressed his saber again, putting it in his sleeve. "Come. Let us talk elsewhere. You can bring Miss Corbell with you, if you'd like," he urged, gesturing me to follow with the outstretched hand. "Tell me, have either of you ever heard of the Humanity's Hands Front?"
'Of all the stupid, idiotic, suicidal...!' my mind screamed as I slid through the mud just in time to avoid the sweep of a massive clawed hand aiming to tear my chest open. As it was, I still had to grit my teeth hard to avoid crying out as I felt one of the sharpened razors scrape my Aura and the skin beneath. 'Trying to play the hero again. Why can't you just grow up, and...!?'
"Hey, watch out!"
The warning snapped me back to harsh reality as the Alpha Beowolf let out a snarling bark, and attempted to bat me away with an arching backhand that would have taken my head off my shoulders if I hadn't ducked underneath the blow. With its chest exposed and presenting such an inviting target, I angled the shimmering blade to my shoulder, leaping forward with a rage-fueled cry of my own, and straight into its guard in a cutting thrust. With a sizzling hiss, Dust-treated silver parted fur, flesh, and bone as the single-edged sword tore a deep furrow in the beast's side. The Alpha let loose a gurgling howl before slumping to the ground to dissolve in the heavy rain as I took in a deep steadying breath to calm my emotions, and the inevitable burn as my Semblance reacted in kind.
Taking an Alpha nearly single-handed... It was hard to believe that only a month ago such a thing would have been something to celebrate. Something to praise, and admire. An honor... Of course, there was no time to sit there and feel good about myself. Not when the rest of the monster's pack was still alive, and already nipping at my heels.
Spinning on my heel, I ducked, cutting a neat line in the stomach of another Beowolf before it could get around me, finishing it off with a quick upward stab to the throat, this one's body dissolving before it even hit the ground.
No nonsense, no unnecessary flourish. The Trappers had taught me that. To eliminate the target.
My hand strayed to my hip on reflex as another target caught my eye, pausing when I remembered the heavy pistol was no longer holstered there. My teeth gritted in silent fury at that. It had been a necessity, though, if a painful one to swallow. The scar on my thigh tingled, a reminder of what had happened during basic training when the electricity of my Semblance had cooked off the Dust ammunition within the weapon.
"You're pretty good, big guy!" I glanced over in the direction of the praising voice, and the current cause of my predicament, who was currently twisting around with a knife in one white-knuckled hand, and a raised pistol clutched in the other, sighting down at some oncoming Ursa. "There's too many!"
"We need to break for the ridgeline!" I gestured to the sloping wall of stone and mud that made up the natural barricade pinning us in with the Grimm, with more and more piling in from the surrounding wilderness beyond.
My fellow recruit, Elizabeth Briar, nodded. She was an Atlesian civilian recruit picked up from one of the HHF orphanages still in operation, who had joined up with the Red Hand militia only shortly before Natalie and myself had, and had been assigned to the same barracks during processing. We hadn't talked much about our lives before all this. Really, we just spoke about the standard complaints over what we were being expected to do, making jokes; a way of lightening the dour aspect of our ordeal. I'd actually started to think of the raven-haired girl as a friend, even though Natalie had never liked her, stating as much during our brief moments alone. Something about her feeling off, she said...
'Maybe she's just jealous? It's not like I'm... FOCUS, IDIOT!'
I'd been shocked to see her as a Trapper volunteer the first day during muster. The girl quite honestly looked even more unfit than Natalie herself, who at least had the benefit of a brief education at Aegis, and was used to the rigors. For someone who had had their Aura unlocked only a few weeks ago, however, I was astonished at the ease she'd picked up the skills drilled into us by the Drill Instructors, if you could call those sick, sadistic bastards "Instructors" at all. Evidently, for all her skill, however, she was still a novice, and was unused to operating in the field alongside the Creatures of Grimm, her emotions drawing them like a beacon.
The assignment had been simple enough: navigate several kilometers from one end of a forest, more a marsh than anything else - somewhere in Mistral, if I had to guess - to a predetermined pickup by the allotted time, or else we would be walking back to base on our own two feet instead of riding in relative comfort on a Bullhead. We were pretty much on our own, dozens of Trapper hopefuls armed with nothing more than the weapons we'd chosen in training, and light grey fatigues that clashed horribly with the surrounding environment of reds and browns.
I did my best to ignore the obvious similarities to Aegis' own initiation exam, and my uncle's likely hand in it. That train of thought only brought up painful memories, when my mind would be better served focusing on the fighting. Easy enough to rectify as I swept the foot out from under a Creep, sending the scaled reptile to the ground before I slammed my hand down, and sent a pulse of electricity coursing through its nervous system, frying synapses to ash.
It had been going well. Compared to navigating the towering Grimm-infested forests surrounding Bastion, which would invariably shift and change every few months, as the ground itself was wracked with quakes and other natural and unnatural phenomena, meeting up with Nat and making our way through this glorified swamp had been utter child's play. It had taken most of the day, but sure enough, we were so close. The waiting ship had been practically in sight...
I'd heard the gunfire, along with the howls as the monsters had fallen upon someone obviously attempting to follow our trail. I had been the first to recognize Briar's shouts of alarm and cries for aid. Nat had been against it, as we weren't supposed to help others, and reasoned that it was likely already too late, besides. Of course, I had neglected to remind her I'd been the one who'd dealt with most of what Grimm we'd encountered... Pretty much all of them, in fact, but even still...
Her recriminating words sprang to mind as I shouldered Elizabeth out of the way of an oncoming Boarbatusk looking to catch her unawares. The spinning beast crashed against my guard like a truck, and threw me to the ground, wheezing as the air was knocked from my lungs. Thankfully, my comrade had seen her chance, sprinting forward to jab the Grimm while it lay on its back, squealing helplessly as it tried to right itself.
"Good job," I told her breathlessly as I took her offered hand, allowing her to pull me to my feet as more rallied in the pig's place. Something about the girl's Aura seemed to draw me in, and made me feel braver than I felt. I had to protect her... "Come on!" I half pulled, half dragged her by the wrist to the muddy sloping incline.
Neither of us had the Aura left in us to jump, so we climbed on our hands and knees. Using my sword as an anchor, I stabbed it into the ground while the Grimm prowled below us, mere feet away.
Many leapt and snapped at Liz's retreating form. "Ambrose!?"
With a herculean effort - which I'd held back, seeing as I had to keep one arm on the girl to keep her from falling back into the ravine, and the other clutched tightly around the hilt of the blade, despite the freezing rain threatening to have us slip with every heart-stopping step - I dragged us up, barely inches from the edge along the top when I dug the silver sword in deep, and lifted my squirming passenger to safety. The recruit was barely able to hoist herself over the lip.
"I-I think I'm good... Yeah, it's clear! Holy..."
"Hoist me up!" I called back frantically, feeling my feet begin to slip under the incessant downpour, my limbs shaking from fatigue "They'll be up here any second!"
She appeared over the edge of the lip, hair slick across her face as she held an arm out towards me. Relief shot through me as my arm rose to take hold of hers, when I saw a flicker of something I wasn't quite expecting in her brilliant green eyes... Cold logic, and triumph. I realized it too late, the spell of whatever she'd done to cloud my senses lifting the moment she snatched my sword away from my rain-soaked grip, and shoved me backwards in one fluid motion.
"Thanks for the distraction, big guy. No hard feelings!"
A sense of weightlessness took hold of me, along with the distinct pang of disbelief as my last sight of the girl was her wide smirk and a blown kiss before she was gone, leaving me to slide helplessly back into the ravine, towards the waiting maw of almost a dozen Grimm. I landed hard in a flailing mess, managing to set the Grimm back a few paces with a few electrical discharges to keep them from pouncing on me all at once, though, of course, this meant I was badly bruised and cringing from a searing pain in my shoulder as my arm caught something on the way down.
I remembered her face, burning it into my mind as I coughed and spluttered, spitting mud and sludge from my mouth as I gazed up at the milling Grimm. I noted the glint of something metallic stabbed into the mud behind an Ursa's lumbering figure. The traitor had left me her knife. How nice of her... I felt my fist clench, my hair standing on end, even amidst the rain as steam began to billow off me in waves from the sudden heat, the searing burn giving me focus.
She'd left me a weapon. One I'd be sure to return next time I saw her.
I swore to that.
"Again!" Virgil's voice called out as I propped myself up on my hands and knees, trying to keep a grip on my weapon, chest aching painfully from the sudden vicious strike that had sent me flying across the training room. The blind man's wooden sword was already brought to bear yet again, its wielder seemingly unfazed by the hours-long training session. "Or have you finally decided to prove me right, weakling!?" My eyes flashed brilliantly as I drew upon my Aura, jumping to my feet, and lunging back at him, sword held high, only to be struck down by a sweep to my unguarded shin, sending me writhing to the floor as I felt the limb give way with a snap. "Pathetic..."
"Go to hell!" I seethed through gritted teeth, trying to draw on my training, focusing on something pure; something to ease the pain as I let it fade from mind.
'Helping Dad cook. Mom congratulating me after my first tournament win. Listening to music. Robyn saying I was a hero that day...'
"Damn it!" The pain receded, but slowly. Any attempt at actually moving the appendage was near excruciating.
All the while the Trapper apprentice watched on dispassionately from behind that damn face mask of his, unseeing eyes likely examining the extent of the injury, before letting loose an angry sigh. "We'll stop here for now. Heal that leg. I suggest you do it quickly. We start again in thirty minutes, regardless of whether or not you can stand."
Every day for weeks, this "training" had progressed since Lucas had introduced me to his sociopath of a student, telling him to "teach" me to fight.
"I know how to fight!" I'd managed to growl back at him, before the blind man had promptly shown me otherwise, my uncle making it clear that I was to either learn what Virgil had to teach me, leave, or die trying.
'All great options, you old bastard.'
"You have a real charming personality, you know that!?" I spat back at him as I poured Aura into my leg, sensing the grin behind his mask as he sat cross legged before me. "Enjoying this, are you!?"
"Not really," he said in that distorted voice of his, pulling a small booklet from a pouch at his belt, opening it to a bookmarked page as he began to run his hands, which I saw were burnt, along its surface. "Watching you play at being a warrior, even as you spit on your uncle's generosity. No. I don't enjoy this."
"'Generosity!?'" I laughed, choking on it as a fresh wave of agony shot through my limb while my Aura reset the bone back in place. "That's a funny word for it. Admit it, you probably asked for someone to kick around just so you can show off for him."
"...You really don't get it, do you?" The apprentice shook his head, somehow managing to look baffled, even through that mask, the distortion in his voice echoing through the room to my ears. I was still not used to their new sharpness. "I'm not here to torture you, Ambrose. I'm here to teach you in a way he can't himself, and to help make sure that you survive long enough to get your vengeance, or whatever reason it is you're here."
"I never asked to be coddled, if that's what this is!" My head shot up, glaring at the boy as my uncle's face seared across my mind, letting the pain loose for a brief moment. "I told him I wanted to be treated like everyone else when he brought me here!"
"I quite agree, but he was rather insistent I do this for him. He even made it my last task before I become a full-fledged operative. Told me privately to make sure you survived," he spoke calmly with a nod, flipping a page in his book, though I could sense raw fury in the motion, his body taut. "And I want you to know just how much that disgusts me. That a man I respect so much could have such a weakness to exploit. That he would willingly debase himself for your sake, before his own student." I gripped my leg, more than prepared to defend myself if it came down to it, hand sparking slightly as my eyes followed the Trapper's movements as best I could. "So if you ever feel like I'm being a little too rough with you, realize it is for a purpose. To take advantage of that weakness, just as he taught me to."
"Bit of a vindictive son of a bitch, aren't you?"
He chuckled, the sound practically demonic in my ears as he motioned back to my leg. "Likely. Now hurry along. I'd rather have you fall to my sword than a useless limb."
'If this is a student, I can't wait to see what working with an actual Trapper's going to be like.' I shuddered, chilled by the very thought as I resumed my focus, a strange warmth in the back of my mind knowing that I had someone looking out for me. In his own way, at least. It felt nice.
"...A-and then he says 'But I had pants on when I came in here!'" Fortuna Marigold acted out to the roaring laughter of all present, sweeping her hat off her head with an elaborate bow before doing a neat flip off the table into the wooden chair next to me, propping her feet up, cackling madly when I put my head in my hands. "C'mon, kid, live a little!"
"Remind me why we're here again?" I mumbled into my thickly-gloved hands, head almost splitting now from all the noise despite the stupid furry hat the old harpy had me wearing as a disguise.
'Enhanced senses. 'Worth the pain for their benefits in combat.' Yeah, right.'
The dark-skinned woman took another draft, gesturing with her foot towards the back of the room, where a lounge bedecked in colorful curtains and furnishings made up our current setup. It looked rural in the extreme, rough-looking types cheering and laughing as barmaids ran, trying to avoid groping hands. Sitting in the center of it all was a thin man who might have once been handsome, if not for a few scars across his face, wearing rich clothes modified for combat. There was heavy-looking sword sitting across the low table in front of him, which acted as our confirmation.
'Huntsman. Rogue, probably, if he's in a place like this.' More noticeable, however, was the young woman sitting at his side in a colorful, low-cut blouse and skirt to show off her assets. Curly blue hair framed her face as she laughed along with something he'd said, pouring him another drink. Her green eyes caught mine briefly, before winking flirtatiously, setting my face on fire.
"Is that...!?"
"Yep. Good, isn't she?" My teacher's smile widened, amber eye flashing as she shoved my face down into the wood. "Now stop staring, or you'll tip him off. Our friend over there's known for being a bit jumpy. That's why he works through intermediaries within the White Fang, selling shipment routes he's supposed to be guarding." I had to choke down a snarl at that. He was supposed to be a Huntsman, sworn to protect people, and here he was drinking while selling out whatever poor sods were running those shipments almost literally to the wolves. "Lizzie there's been infiltrating their camp for a week now. Passed herself off as a Huntsman enthusiast looking for a 'master...'" Briar laughed, faking a blush as one of the man's hands probed a bit too far up her skirt. "...And it just so happens that he and his followers were taking on 'recruits.'"
It was strange, seeing her like this. I'd almost forgotten how well she could play people. Any other time, and that old bastard would've lost the hand, and a large part of me wanted to be the one to take it. '...Why the hell do I suddenly care so much?'
"Later, she's gonna lead our lucky target upstairs for a little fun with her friend... You." She smirked at my expression, pouring herself another glass. "Catch him off-guard alive. We'll need his sources; all of them. After that... You don't need me to spell it out for you, right?" I nodded, running a finger along the new dispensers at my belt, peering out of the corner of my eye at the Trapper.
According to my uncle - "the Commander," I mentally corrected myself - she used to be a well-known Huntress and bounty hunter. The best, in his very telling opinion. She certainly didn't act like it, dragging me to a bar in our hideout, and essentially ordering me to drink until I was on the floor, unable to remember a thing.
'We'd talked. Something about my family...' I shook my head out, looking towards Briar again while passing it off as reaching for my drink.
Realizing I was to be assigned to a Trapper already mentoring someone was annoying enough. It was more evidence of the old man's favoritism. Learning that my fellow student was Elizabeth Briar - the same woman who'd tried to stab me in the back in training, and the one I'd put on the floor for attacking Natalie all those months before - had just been icing on the godsdamn cake.
"Like what you see?" I jumped as she clapped a hand on my back, a small spark leaping out from my hand to rattle the glass. "Careful with that one. I'm thinking she's more woman than you could handle."
"Wasn't looking..." I rubbed at my hand, somewhat displeased at the charred black burn mark on the underside. "Besides, I'm seeing someone." I gritted my teeth as that was met with another cackling laugh. "I'm serious!"
"I know. You told me all about her the first night." She wiped at her eyes, teetering dangerously on the back two legs of her chair. "I'm teasing you. Gods, I knew you and old Grouchy were related, but I didn't think his dour attitude would be genetic."
''Old Grouchy?''
"You treat everyone like this?" I asked, sort of doubting my uncle these days would even hesitate before removing her head from her shoulders if she tried half the stuff she'd attempted on me since I'd started training under her.
She nodded her head, spinning a finger wistfully as she tapped her foot along to a tune the band on stage was playing. Horribly off-tune, of course. "Used to do it all the time with my Fennec, teasing him about girls until he went off like a little firecracker. Think he'd be about your age by now, actually. Maybe a bit older."
"Then why aren't you off bothering...?" I started, before realizing the tone in her voice, having missed it initially by being distracted by the relaxed atmosphere. I cut myself off quickly, and put my head down to avoid looking her way. "O-oh... I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean..."
"I know you didn't, kid..." she said slowly, a sad smile on her face as she reached into the coat pocket over her heart, drawing out an old photograph with burned edges, before passing it to me. I took it, glancing down at a younger Fortuna, her hair shorter and still possessing both eyes, standing next to a man and young adolescent. They looked so alike, they could only have been father and son, as both possessed a pair of fox-like ears atop their head. "Surprising, I know. Lizzie had the same look on her face when I showed her. He was my master's son, and I was his mother's student. It just sort of happened."
"...W-why?" I stuttered, passing the photo back with trembling hands. "Why are you even here?"
"'Cause I hate the White Fang with more passion than most would deem safe to be around," she said, the first shred of anger I'd ever seen her reveal crossing her face. "Folks that don't take too kindly to a man and his half-breed son supporting a wife that's hunting them." A section of her glass began to melt, while another froze over in a series of splitting cracks. "I used to think of them as a job; just some Faunus that lost their way. Now, I know better. And they get to know very intimately how much they fucked with the wrong bitch." She finally seemed to notice the glass, shifting it out of sight before anyone could see it with a little sleight of hand. The perfect excuse for another.
'She really puts it away.'
"This can really be a shit job, sometimes."
"Then why do it? The heroics?"
If she'd been laughing before, then that sentence really got her going. I actually had to reach out and grab her chair to keep it from toppling over as the Huntress-turned-Trapper rubbed at her good eye. "'Heroics!?' Leave that shit to the Huntsmen! I do this shit job, my boy, because we're bad people. No point in getting around that." She gestured to herself, me, and then to Briar, who was currently sucking face with our target, acting the scared yet determined consort. "Bad people who just so happen to be really, really good at tracking and taking down other bad people so the public gets to sleep at night. Speaking of which..." She motioned to the private area where our Huntsman friend had Liz in his arms, making his way towards the stairs to the cheering applause of his boys, "looks like you're up, big guy. I'll hold down the fort and get drinks when we're done."
I sighed, getting up from my seat to follow after the pair, doing my best to move unnoticed in the roaring crowd as the woman's words rang in my head.
'I wonder what Mom, Dad, Robyn, and everyone else would say if they could see me now?...' I mused, stopping in front of a door, where I could already hear exaggerated moans and rustling of fabric, before reaching out to knock. ''Bad people hunting bad people...' Cute.'
"Okay, I've heard of using the object of your anger as a focus before, but this?... This is just getting to be a little much," Briar commented over the intercom, sounding more than a little amused at the sight of me throwing knife after knife into the targets spaced along the live fire training room floor, and dangling from the ceiling, all of them having the same picture taped over the face. "Think you might have a problem."
"Shut it, argh... will you!?" I shot back venomously as I weaved, leapt, and darted between pieces of cover, narrowly avoiding Dust rounds and other nasty surprises as I rolled over a stone barricade, sending a silver bar flying with enough force to tear the last rubber dummy's head from its shoulders, and plant it in the wall directly behind it. As the exercise went on, my Aura shifted and roiled around me like a miniature thunderstorm. With a loud earsplitting siren, everything suddenly ceased, leaving me amidst the carnage as my former partner strode in from the sliding double doors, along with the techs designated to clean it up for the next run. Making her way over the sparking fallen drone, she picked up a photograph from its face, sweeping a dyed lock of hair behind one ear as the rest threatened to fall into her eyes.
"You mind!?" I tried to snatch the photo, but she was too fast, leaping out of my reach with her lightly freckled face grinning widely.
"Just looking," she taunted, peering down at the photograph with a raised brow, looking as if she was suppressing a laugh, and failing. "This was seriously the best photo you could find? Honestly?"
"The best of his 'face' we had on record, anyway." I swept around her, plucking the photo from her grasp, and peering down at it. The picture wasn't too high-res, originating from a security camera. Still, it showed the face of the masked Faunus with canine ears, wearing a dark blue trench coat over a black kevlar vest and t-shirt, with black pants and boots and a scarf, who was leaning upwards to flip off the camera with his bandaged hand, while a terrified-looking Red Hand trooper was caught in a headlock under one arm. "Nothing even close to having him unmasked." I crumpled it, using my Conduction to burn the offending image to cinders in my grasp. "The godsdamnedDead Wind... Not even bothering to be subtle, is he?" I asked, letting the ashes fly.
"Your call sign's the 'Immortal.' Like you have any right to judge on subtlety?" She pressed herself up against my back, raising herself up on a stray stone as she shoved an arm over my shoulder, already clutching another photo. "Shame about the mask. Least he's got a decent body, though. 'The man who kicked Ambrose's ass' has a nice ring to it."
I spun around, but she'd already flipped out of reach, falling back against a metal barrier, looking pleased with herself.
Just what I needed. To be messed with after weeks of humiliating downtime recovering from that utter failure of a mission. My first real command operation, and I come back off that mountain half dead, with a good deal of my men lost or worse. The Commander hadn't looked very favorably on that, no sir. High-level blacklist bounty or not, I should have come back with a head, or not at all, in his book. What made it even worse was that I'd grabbed a Scroll as soon as I could feel my fingers again, and started searching down every lead I could about the masked bastard, only to find ghosts and dummy accounts under obvious aliases practically slapping me in the face. Thinking about it now, I could've gotten Natalie involved, but things had been icy as of late.
'Just seeing her around the base these days is bad enough...'
"So did you actually have something for me?" I looked over at the young woman, wrenching a knife from a nearby dummy. "Or did you just come to gloat? Because if you're looking for a reaction..."
"I do, actually." She pulled out her Scroll as an official briefing flashed to life on the screen. "Guess who gets to play bodyguard for some rich kid?"
"...What the...!?" I gaped at her Scroll's screen, my silver weapon clattering to the ground with a ringing *clang* as I read it.
"I'd like to go over the chorus again. I faltered on the second note a tad too harshly."
"I thought it sounded just fine, actually,"I suggested idly to the fuming heiress and her rather offended-looking voice coach.
'Forgive me for actually trying to give a compliment...' I was not even sure why I was even speaking... Oh yeah. Right. The three hours of hearing the same damn song over and over again. Not that it was bad, by any margin.
"Maybe you could draw out the end a little bit to get that building effect, but otherwise..."
"Excuse me, did I ask for your opinion?" Weiss Schnee said to herself, not even bothering to look towards the doorway where I'd been standing since we'd arrived, her icy blue eyes still on the sheet before her. "No. No, I don't think I did."
'Wow, you arrogant, spoiled, stuck-up little...!'
"...Of course, Miss Schnee. My mistake."I bowed my head respectfully before I could finish the thought, an act I knew would get to her more than anything else I could possibly say. The reason why was beyond me, but hey, I took what I could get. "Please do carry on. It's such a lovely tune."
The tutor looked ready to add his own insults to the mix, but thought better of it, seeming to remember I was only obligated to ensure the safety of his student, not jumped-up peons with a big mouth and a vulnerable neck.
He made the intelligent move to instead focus back on Weiss. "Maybe we should carry on, Milady? You're so close to having it perfectly, as to be expected of someone with your credentials, of course."
She huffed, actually giving me a nasty glare this time before clearing her throat and starting again. She actually took my advice, though she'd never admit it to herself or anyone else.
It had been like this for weeks, with me plodding along with the heiresses' air-tight schedule. Waking up at six in the morning, sharp, spending an hour and a half to get ready for the public eye, and another half to get to her tutor for morning lessons. 'Which, for the most part, I use as a way to catch up on my already-terrible sleeping schedule.' Not that learning about complex business models and the theories of Dust control could ever be considered 'boring,' of course.
Four long, dragging hours later, and we're in the halls of a personal training facility for lessons in swordsmanship, with the aspiring Huntress throwing herself up against this week's newest instructor. By the time dinner rolled along, I would always be surprised that Weiss could stand, let alone present herself favorably to the public whenever the family "ate out." Other times, we'd be alone in the enormous palace-like mansion, while Daddy never came home, running late with business, or whatever it was he told the staff to relay to her that day.
'And sadly enough, those are the lucky days.'
Whenever the Schnee patriarch was home, he'd have these updates on his daughter's performance, dressing the girl down right in front of me over the smallest error, whether it be her music, or issues mastering her Semblance, comparing her to her sister studying at Atlas Academy while my comrade watched over her little brother. What was worse was that he would ask for my input on matters from her performance in combat to her looks, as if wanting a second opinion. I'd tried to respond honestly with a little bit of actual praise most of the time, only to have him twist my words around and make them biting.
'Guy's prolific at this.'
From that point, it was patrolling the grounds as the heiress slept before I could rest myself. The worst parts were having to walk by her door some nights, when my ears could pick up the muffled sobs she tried to hide. Her will could rival any Trappers I'd met, only breaking down once in a private moment aboard her personal airship, where I'd done my best to comfort her awkwardly as she cried into my chest. It didn't last long, though, and soon she was her icy self, quickly reapplying her makeup, and eliminating any trace of weakness that might be exploited by a lucky camera for some tabloid.
'It was strange. I would've done anything I could to leave the Schnee's service - short of murder, and only just that - if it would mean distancing myself of that... No. I can't even call that place a 'home.' But in the end, I'd always wondered just what I might've done if the heiress had asked me to during those moments when her true self broke through. Could I have helped her? Saved her?'
'That regret would hang with me long after I left Atlas, and much longer after that...'
I stepped out from the dark passage, shielding my face from the glare of the new day's sun just barely cresting the horizon, enjoying the first rays of natural light I'd seen in months, and the first breaths of fresh air after that cell...
"Move it, scumbag!" I was shocked out of my little daze by Mr. Mohawk, the asshole guardsman shoving me forward towards the armored truck with the butte of his rifle, the chains binding my arms and legs almost sending me to the tarmac.
'That would've been bad. First day at Beacon, and with half of my teeth missing.'
"I said move!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going! I'm going!" I shambled forward as his fellows flanked me, rifles on me at all times, looking for just the barest excuse to blow me away.
'Okay, I get it. Trapper. Still, I'm saying this is a little excessive, even for me.'
"Don't see what's your hurry, though. It's not like you could have any hot date planned with that mug..."
"What was that!?" he bristled, raising his rifle higher to his shoulder, barrel aimed squarely a my head.
"It's an insult. I'm saying something bad about you. C'mon, this can't be the first time it's happened, surely?" My little brother could be an insufferable know-it-all prick at times, but godsdamn if he didn't know how to take a chance when he saw it. Years of growing up around him had taught me well. "I'm still all for an airship, you know. Could use the chance to stretch my legs."
I felt giddy, for some reason. Excited. 'It's just more school... No.' It was more than that. I could feel it.
The cigar-chewing sergeant locked me securely into my seat on the truck, moving to sit beside me before looking at me askance. "Smiling a bit much, aren't we?"
"Why not?" I shrugged, leaning back in the most comfortable position I could find, preparing myself for the long haul as I took one last look at the horizon. "I just think it's going to be a good day, is all."
-END
-OC Voice Cast Introduced this Chapter-
Young Joel Ambrose - Luci Christian
Robyn Violette - Ashley Johnson
-Primer-
Pmuuto vuumc - Bloody fools
Tysh ed - Damn it
Caagan - Seekers
Mayja - Leave
A/N: One down three to go, hope y'all enjoyed the first of my little memory segments cause some of these bits were a little tough, especially kid Joel, never wrote from a child perspective before. The hope is these little breaks in the story show off a little of what the characters have gone through and how they are today while still being somewhat entertaining. Main goal is to also get some wiggle room from the show as I see how things go through more than likely there's going to be just as many OC actions away from the storyline as I can manage. It is fanfiction after all.
Next up is Max's which is going to be…well I'm going to try and be fair to each of these and hopefully they each get close to the amount of time this chapter did, Joel was sort of my main so I had a lot to write for him, guy's been places. Also would you rather have them in one chunk of four or would you guys prefer a more spaced out release for these?
Anyway I hope you enjoyed, the White Fang Joel was raging about is a fun OC from The White Mask I've mentioned before courtesy of The Baz who's very likely to come back at some point in this fic, still working out details for the when and why but I felt guilty for his absence. Said it before and I'll say it again check that story out seeing as its badass and from a personal view the authors been more than willing to share thoughts and OCs in the past to help me out.
Shameless promoting aside I hope to have another chapter out soon but my breaks almost over and I'll likely be swamped with stuff for the next few weeks come February with thesis stuff so I might have to take a rain check especially on this update every few days thing I've had going through damn I'll miss that. Anyway thanks again for all the support and new follows and favs and I hope you have a good day wherever you might be. – Mojo
