A Cosmic Journey

Chapter 26: Cross the Stream

Chapter Date: 03/16/2020

A/N: I, am, alive! It's Monday again, and by the gods have the past seven days been shocking. Thanks to all those who wished me well during my brief work break, but rest easy in knowing that it was not health-related. I hope everyone out there has been keeping safe with the coronavirus spreading around like it is. If you're reading fanfics like this one chances are you might be less inclined to do a whole lot of travelling, but still best to stay safe if possible. It occurred to me while writing this chapter that it's interesting, and perhaps unfortunate, that Kouzai's firearm Corona was named as such months before all this started happening. Nonetheless, logic hasn't stopped some of the hysterics from being worried that the alcoholic drink Corona will give them the virus, so rest assured when I say that a fictional object will not be thing that gets you infected.

"I'm sorry, what now?"

The past few weeks since our first weekend excursion into Vale had been pleasant, to say the least. After time to settle into a groove, the daily schedule of classes, sparring, free training and general relaxation gradually became familiar. Working with Melanie and Miltia on shoring up their bookwork and combat training progressed far more thanks to the aid of teams JNPR and CFVY, which only made the team of second-years closer with our group. Attempts by Jaune, Ruby, Coco and I to involve RWBY had been met with either frosty dismissal, indifference or simmering grudges. Not even the prospect of hanging out with esteemed second-years was enough for Weiss to brave the chaos that was our group, though she made valiant efforts towards speaking with CFVY when separated from our teams. Ruby and I prayed that Coco's persistent friendliness would melt the Ice Queen's exterior, which would put another point in favor of ending hostilities between the teams.

Speaking of hostilities, the dreaded Jaundice arc from Volume 1 had been thankfully avoided, due to a combination of Jaune being quite frankly terrifying to fight, as well as Cardin finding a new target for his ire: me. Thanks to my spars over the weeks with Sky, Russel and then Dove, the three members of CRDL had lost in matches after I'd found, exploited and then explained their weaknesses. My lack of smugness in victory seemed to allow for their grudging appreciation, but those feelings fell short when it came to their leader. In a typical display of masculinity, Cardin somehow thought that I was 'stealing' his team away from him in an effort to 'show him up outside the ring, since I was obviously weaker than him'. All present rolled their eyes at his words, but the fight records backed him up, with his matches finishing far faster than mine. Cardin had already made blatant requests to Goodwitch to fight me, but the Headmistress fortunately stuck hard and fast to her prohibition on fight requests. Even more fortunately, she'd then set him up against Amber in the ring, and I was witness to the gulf of power between an average first-year student and a Maiden.

It was fifteen wonderful seconds of gloriousness.

Unfortunately, however, both Cardin and I were running out of opponents we hadn't fought yet, so I knew it was just a matter of time. And even more unfortunately, I was in no position to get any mercy from Goodwitch, as my stance on tactics and weaponry seemed to be whittling her down to her last straw. I'd considered trying to ask Amber for help on that front, but such thoughts were put on hold given Goodwitch's most recent announcement.

"Parents…weekend?" I turned to look at my team and JNPR, the bewilderment clear on my face. "Since when was this a thing?"

"Umm, for a while now, man," Jaune replied. "Haven't you been aware of the other announcements about it for the past couple weeks?"

'If by aware you're referring to my in-class anti-Cinder brainstorming sessions, then yes, I'm totally aware.' I looked towards Ilia and the twins. "Did you three remember?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean much to us," Melanie scoffed, before gesturing to herself and Miltia. "Better for everyone if our parents, biological or otherwise, don't show up on Beacon's grounds. As for Ilia-"

"My parents are no longer with me," Ilia finished, and I winced at her flat tone. "As for you, you don't remember much about your life, so no one to invite. Making us a team who the announcements don't apply to."

"But you can bet that we're all gonna be involved anyways, with or without parents. Well, at least Kouzai is." We all glanced at Nora, who shrugged matter-of-factly. "What? I overheard Ruby and Yang talking about how their family's coming, and considering all the glowing reviews Yang's likely given about you…"

'Qrow. Raven. Tai. Oooooohhhhhhh, hell…' I paled with each successive name, fast approaching Weiss' skin tone. 'This is it, this is how I die…'

"When do the parents start coming?" I asked with the air of a man inquiring how long he had to live. "And more importantly, Melanie, Miltia, you think Junior will let me borrow his bomb shelter this weekend?"

"There's no way it'll be that bad, you big baby." Melanie paused as she caught Nora and Ren wincing. "Ohh…so it is that bad…"

"Yang's mom singlehandedly beat Nora, Ren and I simultaneously less than four years ago. She could probably still do it now." My frank statement along with Nora and Ren nodding had the twins and Ilia openmouthed as we headed for the cafeteria. "Yang's dad and uncle are just as strong as her mom, so imagine three of them."

"…Junior can probably have it ready by the time you get there." Miltia shakily brought out her scroll, but I shook my head and waved her hand down.

"That was more of a joke than anything, Miltia. If Yang's family is searching for me for any reason, they'll find me in short order. Plus, if they find out I'm hiding in Junior's, it's not going to be a fun time for me and Junior. The Branwens are kind of master trackers." I rubbed my face in exasperation. "Best to just face the music and hope Ruby vouching for me is enough to not get atomized."

"What are the chances that you'd potentially earn the ire of one of the most powerful families on Remnant?" Ilia questioned. I slumped over my tray of food.

'Very good, if my interfering in the plot of RWBY and ownership of Luna are anything to go by.' A response on the tip of my tongue, the words were lost as I heard raucous laughter coming from a few tables away. Along with a familiar cry of pain.

"Oow, that hurts!"

I turned towards what I knew would be Velvet, along with Cardin and the rest of his team. The red-haired boy had his hands yanking on Velvet's ear just like in canon, with Velvet wincing in pain.

'Time to make fools of people.' Reacting automatically, I started making my way over towards the ruckus, holding my tray of food with one hand and reaching towards Luna's sheath with my other. 'And, you know, myself.'

Channeling my Aura towards Luna, I stepped forward and watched as a piece of fruit fell from one of the nearby tables as I did, rolling under my foot and upsetting my balance. Tipping forward, I let myself launch towards Cardin and Velvet, hands flinging outward as I did. One hand grabbed Cardin's wrist and gently pried his fingers off Velvet's ear, while the other hand slammed a tray full of food into Cardin's face. My momentum carrying me into the fellow team leader, Cardin's surprise upset his balance as he fell backwards, the food that hadn't met his face splatting against the table as his back hit the surface.

The cafeteria had gone silent as I slowly picked myself up off the ground, made a show of looking around at the stunned faces, and picked up the errant fruit before handing it back to it's gobsmacked owner. "Do be careful, we wouldn't want any accident-prone people like me to get injured now, would we?"

SLAM

"RRRAAAAGH!" Cardin chucked the lunch tray off his face, wiping a hand to clear his vision before cruel blue eyes centered on me. "HIGURE! YOU ASSHOLE, YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!"

"Actually, I was coming over to not-so-gently remove your hand from Velvet, but tripping on fruit was just an unfortunate accident." I glanced at a shocked Velvet and subtly nodded, before looking back at Cardin with an air of disappointment. "What? Do you think I'd waste my food just to make you look bad?"

"FUCK THE RULES, I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR FACE INTO THE TILE!" Cardin bull-rushed towards me, swinging a meaty fist towards my face. Tracking his movements with Chronometry, I blocked with my armored arm as I drew Luna from its sheath, thrusting the blade towards Cardin's exposed neck. The bully froze just as I also stopped my attack, the knife's tip mere centimeters from pricking his Aura. Cardin's adam's apple moved as he swallowed. "Y-you've done it now. No weapons allowed outside of classes and free training-"

"Except if they're easily transportable and carry no Dust function," I recited the relevant part of Beacon's rule back to him, before smirking. "After all, can you imagine trying to balance that overcompensating mace of yours in Oobleck's class without accidentally setting off that Fire Dust crystal?"

"Mr. Higure…Mr. Winchester…I trust you have a good explanation for this situation?"

Both Cardin and I froze, and I turned to look at the irate expression of Beacon's Headmistress. Arms crossed and with her crop already in hand, her glare promised a swift and painful death.

I blurted out the first feasible excuse. "Self-defense? He came to attack me, and I reacted accordingly to end the fight without harm? Cardin here doesn't have a mark on him."

Goodwitch's only response was to raise an eyebrow, her eyes shifting to look at the mess of food caked on Cardin's hair, face, clothes and armor.

"I tripped…" Goodwitch's glare intensified five-fold, and it occurred to me how weak of an excuse it sounded like.

"I-it's true, professor! He tripped on fruit when walking towards Cardin and I…" Velvet trailed off as Goodwitch turned to look at her, and I watched the gears turn in her head as Goodwitch glanced between Cardin, Velvet and I, and finally at the knife in my hand.

"…See to it that there is no further reason to cause such incidents again." Goodwitch's statement might as well have been directed to the student populace at large, from how everyone nodded fervently at her chilled words. With a flick of her crop, the food on Cardin's body and the table was gathered and deposited in a garbage can, before Goodwitch turned to face Cardin and I. "And Mr. Higure? You cannot be the smartest individual in the room all the time."

As Goodwitch departed, and the icy chill of death gradually faded, the cafeteria slowly came back to life while Cardin glared at me. "Don't think this is over for a second. I don't care what Goodwitch has to say-"

"Hey, doesn't the rest of Team CFVY have their lunch break right about now?" I looked past Cardin at Velvet, who nodded slowly. Cardin's face reddened with anger and embarrassment at being ignored, but before he could act again, the rest of his team had approached and was pulling him away.

"C'mon man, let's get out of here before Coco shows up," Dove stated nervously.

"Neither of them are worth it," Russel tried reassuring his leader, to no avail. Sky for the most part remained silent, but glanced back at me and nodded once as they half-walked, half-dragged their leader out of the cafeteria.

"Just you wait, Higure! I'll pay you back in the ring!" Cardin shouted from the doorway, before he and his team disappeared from sight. Sighing, I approached a bewildered Velvet, whose expression shifted to one of embarrassed gratitude and annoyance.

"You didn't need to help, you know." Velvet stood up and began walking with me back to KMMI and JNPR's table.

"We'll agree to disagree on that count, but the bottom line is that I wanted to," I replied, before glancing around. "Though, if it helps, I'd like it if Coco didn't find out about this little incident, for both mine and Cardin's sakes. For distinctly different reasons though."

"That, I do agree with." Velvet sighed as we drew close to the table. Already, the expressions from those present ran the gamut, with Pyrrha and Jaune looking on with pride, Ren and Ilia with satisfaction, and Nora and the twins with shit-eating grins. "The last thing we need is for Coco to jump on this news."

"What's this about little old me now? Don't tell me the two of you are hiding sordid secrets from me!" Freakishly strong arms grasped Velvet and I by the shoulders, as my sunglasses-wearing companion appeared from behind with a wide grin. "So, what'd I miss?"

"Ah, let me tell you all about it!" Nora cackled as both Velvet and I sighed.

'Well, bad luck comes back around eventually…'

… … …

"Alright Yang, let's get this over with," I called out as I approached the brawler, with Yang turning to face me with a look of faux surprise.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Yang lied through her teeth, quite awfully so. "I'm just here waiting for my family to arrive. I don't know what you need to be here for."

"Despite your…negative perception of me, I trust that you believe me intelligent enough to notice what you think of me," I replied dryly. "I also happen to know some of the people coming to visit you today, and if you complained to them about me half as much as you do to anyone at Beacon, something tells me that they'll want to pay me a visit. Better that I'm out in the open than inside anywhere breakable and valuable to me."

"Y'know, kid has a point."

Hearing a voice behind me without any other signs of a presence, my first instinct was to duck and pivot around, which let me avoid the tanned arm that shot over my head. Before I could get my bearings, an arm bearing tattoos blurred towards my left side. Bending my arm and focusing my Aura, I felt the impact against my armored limb as I was launched off my feet. Throwing out my right arm to handspring off the ground, I righted myself and landed upright, skidding a few feet as I observed my attacker.

Brown cargo shorts and a leather vest were joined by seemingly mismatched accessories like a spaulder, vambrace and glove accompanying a red bandana. Slightly-grayed blond hair appeared tussled on the man's head, with a soul patch as facial hair. Crinkled ocean-blue eyes and an easygoing smile gave an aura of amusement, aided by the man's tattooed arms resting behind his head.

"Not bad, Kouzai Higure. I can see why Qrow talks about you like he does." Taiyang jerked his head behind him, and I looked past him to see that Qrow had somehow arrived without a fuss, likely during the brief exchange by Taiyang and I. The veteran scythe-wielder, looking happier and cleaner than I'd last seen him, was getting tackled by both Ruby and Yang.

"I'm surprised that he talks about me at all, given the nature of our conversations together," I admitted, pitching my voice so that Qrow could hear. "I'm also surprised he didn't join you in the surprise beatdown just now."

"Nah, that comes later, kid. Enjoy your freedom while you can," Qrow joked, before glancing at Taiyang and nodding.

"Girls, I'll just be a minute. I'm gonna have a chat with Kouzai here." Tai winked at me out of sight of Team RWBY, and I relaxed knowing that I wasn't seriously about to have a fight with another member of Team STRQ. On the other hand, Weiss, Blake and Yang looked frankly ecstatic, while Ruby glanced worriedly between them, Tai, Qrow and I as we walked towards the gardens.

"So Mr. Xiao Long, I take it this conversation isn't on how Qrow will be adopting me, cause I gotta say, that man is a long ways away from being capable of parenthood," I joked at Qrow's expense as Taiyang chuckled. "Plus, I think your children would simultaneously explode, Yang from anger and Ruby from excitement."

"Okay first, call me Tai. I'd like to think I'm still in great shape to avoid being addressed like an old man. And you'd be surprised when it comes to Qrow. Being with Winter for as long as he has, has let him straighten up a bit. I understand I've got you and a couple of your friends to partially thank for that." I nodded silently, letting him spread the credit and likely blame amongst Nora, Ren and I. "On the matter of my girls and their opinions of you though, you're pretty spot-on. At first though, Ruby's perception of you wasn't great, and had both of them held grudges against you, this conversation would've likely been a lot more violent. Thanks to Ruby and Qrow filling me in though, I recognize that it's mostly just Yang being overprotective after that incident with Roman Torchwick."

"Err, yeah, I'm sorry about all of that. I wasn't exactly sure how explicit I should be with the whole 'look after them' request from Qrow, and I really didn't want to deal with being in an interrogation room with Professor Goodwitch." I winced, before another thought occurred to me. "Though…there is another reason why Yang happens to be mad with me, and it's definitely more of a sore topic. Does she…I mean, her mother…"

Tai seemed to grasp what I was fumbling with, looking somewhat apologetic. "Yeah, I'll be the first to admit the Branwens can be a little…complicated when it comes to their expression of emotions, and definitely little heavy-handed in their actions. I'd like to apologize for what my wife put you and your friends through years back. If it helps, she's…mellowed out a bit since then, for lack of a better word." Tai seemed to be contemplating something. "Raven's…been around since then, and has made efforts towards being part of the family again. But it's not a perfect system, and far from a happy ending, and with her absences, Yang can be a little emotional when it comes to finding out more about her."

I nodded. "I gathered as much from what Qrow mentioned a couple years back, along with what Ruby and Yang have mentioned. Speaking of which, I'm guessing those 'absences' are why she didn't accompany you and Qrow here today?"

"Something like that," Tai replied, and I had to try my hardest to act casual when a rustle came from the tree above, and a red-eyed raven landed amongst the branches. "In any event, I guess I wanted to have this talk just to assure you that neither Qrow nor I have any sort of bad blood with you, be it because of Raven, Qrow, Yang or Ruby. I'm not positive on what Raven thinks, but I believe that she's just as thankful as Qrow and I that you're looking after Yang and Ruby. Given recent developments on Remnant, knowing that our girls are protected even just a little bit more helps us rest easier at night."

"I made a promise with Qrow, and I intend to honor it. Plus, I can see this spark within Ruby and Yang, a light to their souls that shows how special they are." I paled when I realized how that might sound to their dad. "I mean, special as in gifted, and not anything to be construed as romantic interest! Really!"

"Snrkk…heh heh…HA HA HA!" Tai doubled over in laughter, and I sagged in relief that I wasn't about to be flattened. Straightening up, Tai wheezed for a second. "Whew, Raven wasn't kidding when she said that your life is kind of a mess when it comes to romance."

"…Should I be concerned that Raven Branwen of all people is keeping tabs on my love life? Because I'm very concerned at the moment…"

"Eh, Raven was always nosier than she showed through that cold exterior of hers. Just think of it as showing interest in people that intrigue or amuse her." Tai shrugged, and I could only agree with his inability to accurately gauge Raven. Then Tai turned to look at me apologetically again, pulling out a slip of paper and handing it to me. "On that note though, I am sorry about this…"

"Sorry about what, exactly?" I took the paper, unfolding it to read the neat scrawl written.

Consider this thanks, or maybe payback. Not sure which. Either way, I'd start running.

"OI! KOUZAI!"

'Oh, you have got to be shitting me…' Hearing the thrum that accompanied Kindred Link, I turned away from Tai to glance behind me at a figure I hadn't seen in nearly four years.

"Oh…hey…Vernal…"

The bandit smirked. "Ready for our rematch?"

… … …

… … …

"Why do I always get stuck with the crappy parts?"

Mercury lounged against the wall of an office building, taking a break from watching the Atlesian Embassy and SDC branch office nearby.

Even when the initial plan had been put together, it was him that had to take the fall during the Vytal Tournament and get the stuffing intentionally beat out of him. Then the entire ambush was botched by Ozpin's former proteges and even the Specter. And now that the new plan was coming together, who was it that got stuck with surveilling Atlas buildings, instead of Vacuo or Mistral ones? Hell, that ice-cream midget got away with keeping an eye on weapon stores and ice cream parlors! What kind of 'defenders of humanity' stopped for a quick soft-serve?

"Immature brats, the lot of them," Mercury growled, before smirking. They'd all get a dose of reality though, once Cinder's plan came together. Thoughts of her obsession with the Fall Maiden and the Specter aside, her eye for tactics and manipulation was just as strong as ever.

Mercury leaned off the wall and brushed off his back, before resuming his patrol around the area, his mood souring quickly.

On the one hand, he had the most important buildings to cover, and if anyone showed up he'd have his hands full. On the other hand, if he managed to come up empty, Cinder would likely fry him on the spot.

"Just my luck…what's a guy gotta do to-OOF!" Mercury turned the corner and bounced off a colorful wall, landing on his still-human backside. Wait…colorful…wall? His eyes trailed up.

"Wait a sec…who the hell are you?"

A/N: A bit short for my tastes, but all the sudden news and changes to my schedule these days are kicking my ass. I wanted to make sure to have something decent out for the readers at least, and adjustments to the pacing of the rest of the volume can always be made. Thanks for bearing with me, and be sure to stay safe until next week! Remember, even if you may not be feeling sick, it's better to practice caution and prevent anyone else from potentially catching anything.

Gabe2000: It's not within my writing repertoire to introduce characters just to kill them off to showcase the villains' skills. That being said, who knows how the course of events may have been shifted, and that's not even factoring in that Volume 1 still isn't over yet, so we'll see.

AlexFalTon: Yeah, the casual weekend in Vale was a bit of fluff that I didn't realize how fun it'd be write, so stuff like that will definitely be appearing more. As for potential ships, there are many intervening forces, Destiny being not the least of them, that prevent something like that from happening. We've still got a ways to go, and a whole lot of buildup, before anything might possibly get to that point.

HoldMyFOOF: Oh, Kouzai regrets many things about what he does, and this one's just getting thrown on the pile. Part and parcel of it all though is taking the good with the bad about his actions though.

Raidentensho: There are precious few things that Kouzai has planned for that have not blown up in his face in some way or another, to the point where it seems to be a bit of an implicit expectation for him. As for alternative colors, all I can say is that the show makes it too dang easy to get away with wearing just one set of colors all the time, haha.

Oblivious IJ: The thought that Kouzai had was more of a paranoid musing than anything else, one that he dismissed from his simultaneous hangover and complete lack of sleep. In any event, when travelling with a group of that many notable individuals, it's pretty much resignation at that point that if someone wants to keep an eye on you, there's very little you can do to prevent that.

R26: Apologies for the missed chapters, as juggling classes with work and this makes for a tight schedule. I think catching up shouldn't be an issue come spring break though, so I'll keep an eye out. As for Kouzai, I first resent the implication of being at all similar to Edgy D, save for choice of clothing color. In terms of Kouzai's outfit, it's a set of aviators, sleeveless turtleneck, cargo pants, belt with pouches, segmented armor plates on his left arm, and combat boots. And yes, all of it is in black.

The Ancient Irish Viking: It's no issue, and I think it might work out better and let the readers get to the chapter quicker. No writer is without room for improvement.

The Keeper of Worlds: Glad to see the story's been enjoyable, and here's to hoping I continue to deliver to all who are interested. Feel free to give any thoughts, ideas or constructive criticism if it happens across your mind while reading.

-SE

Next Chapter Date: 03/23/2020