Authors Notes
Edit: Correcctions and clarifications. Plus expanded a bit.
Chapter 27: Just Somebody
"Listen to me, o Huntsmen and Huntresses, listen to my call. Seven hundred and nineteen battles... wait, really? Seven hundred and nineteen? Wow. This class is, like, super-efficient. Ahem, right, sorry. Seven hundred and nineteen battles have ravaged the field upon which I stand today. Countless heroes and villains, the likes of which Remnant has never produced and will never produce again, rose and fell in this stage. Their cries for justice, for vengeance, never to be heard again.
"Today, that changes. Today, a new champion arises from the ashes of these valiant soldiers of fortune. From these unsung heroes of times gone by. Today, a Valkyrie rises to topple the tyrannical and unrepentant establishment that dismantles the faith of the people. The faith that tomorrow can be better than today.
So, I implore you, o Hunters, rise from your graves and cheer. Cheer for me, the Liberator of the oppressed. Cheer for me, a victim, just like you. Cheer for me, who today challenges the azure demon who fell many before. Cheer for me, the Valkyrie of Hope!"
…
"Go, Nora," a bored voice not emoted from the crowd.
"Thanks, Renny!" Nora waved towards the benches.
"Fascinating… speech, Miss Valkyrie," Glynda said slowly, with clearly conflicted feelings. "That was very… no, inspiring is not the word. You know what, I'll think of something by the time final grades are posted. Are you ready? These last two minutes have been way longer than the entirety of the semester and I'm, ready to end them just want it all to end. I'm sure many share my sentiment."
"Oh, sure thing, Miss Goodwitch! Nora chirped, taking a battle stance. "I was born ready. Literally."
"Are you ready, Mister Volt?"
A yawn served as the initial answer
"I'm as ready," – another yawn – "as I'll ever be," GV managed to enunciate between massive yawns. He rubbed one of his eyes. "Sorry, spent the entire night preparing the pranks the Kaleidoscopes have been playing on the teachers all day."
And what glorious pranks they were. A story for another day, surely.
"…Should I worry?" Glynda eyed GV critically. The… bombast behind Mister Volt's pranks has not gone unnoticed by the faculty. They tend to glow neon blue.
"Nah. I'm smarter than that," GV said sensibly. "I figured this fight would be an excellent punchline to the semester, so no need to go the extra mile."
Goodwitch observed GV from head to toe. "I see." And she did. Mister Volt was slouching. He was not in his blue crop-top fueled combat gear. He wore baggy jeans, a white t-shirt a size too big, a casual green trench coat, flip-flops, and wearing his normal glasses rather than his contacts. He wasn't even carrying his gun. Whatever he was planning, it was out of the ordinary.
If Valkyrie noticed, she didn't give any indication of it. And it was entirely possible she didn't notice. The girl was over the moon fantasizing about defeating Volt. Glynda couldn't blame her. He was undefeated so far, having bested Miss Xiao Long (a second time), Mister Kamizono, and Miss Nikos. Those were the only students Glynda thought could match Volt in a straight, zero gimmicks fight. The only others with a gimmicky chance were Miss Rios with her water Semblance (she didn't capitalize on that by virtue of not knowing how water reacts with Volt's Semblance and sensibly assuming she would provide a convenient conductor. Volt simply electrocuted her), Miss Schnee with her Water Dust (nobody except apparently Roman Torchwick uses Water Dust in battle and Volt simply electrocuted her), and Miss Kamizono (for whatever reason Mister Volt hesitated when fighting her. Mytyl called him on it and proceeded to get electrocuted when Volt snapped out of his funk). And naturally, Miss Valkyrie herself, who cannot be electrocuted. Period.
The fight with Pyrrha had been particularly intense and Glynda intentionally delayed it towards the end of the semester. But it wasn't intense in execution. It was intense in that everyone was looking forwards to the two titans duking it out and see who was left standing after the dust settled.
Volt dismantled Nikos. Methodically. He likely researched the girl, probably asking the Kamizono twins for advice on how to deal with the champion's Semblance and how to abuse her armor to the fullest. He didn't use metal, so that was already a point against Miss Nikos. And when the boy started using his Semblance to keep Pyrrha from using Polarity on herself lest she was confronted with an angry ball of electricity rushing to her at high speed, that was when she realized Volt didn't rest in his laurels and did his homework. Turns out turning yourself into a magnet is a bad idea against a ball of electrons. Who knew? Glynda surely didn't. She was not above admitting her students surprised her every now and then.
The fight ended the second Miss Nikos tried to block a dart with her shield. In her defense, it worked. It worked exactly as Mister Volt anticipated, with a second, hidden dart rebounding into Miss Nikos proper. And then she was electrocuted. Turns out one of his most expensive ammunitions is rigged to ricochet a second dart to the closest source of energy that isn't whatever the first impacted, Aura included. It was a bit of an underhanded way to win and wouldn't work a second time, but Pyrrha took the lost with superb grace and was already anticipating her rematch during the Vytal Festival. And so, the reign of the Invincible Girl ends. Not with a bang, but with a whisper. And Miss Nikos made sure to voice how grand that was.
So now they were in the last fight of the semester. The Unelectro-cute-able – as Miss Xiao Long once suggested and Valkyrie persistently insisted it was pronounced ever since – versus the Electrocutioner. Surely a match for the ages the likes Miss Valkyrie will make sure bards waxed poems about. Glynda wondered what Volt had planned for this.
"Very well. Nora Valkyrie versus Gun Volt." Glynda eyed each student a last time.
"Begin!"
Nora wasted no time dashing recklessly towards her victim.
"I forfeit."
Nora wasted no time faceplanting into the floor.
Glynda blinked. As far as strategies went… that was pretty good, actually. Why bother with a fight you know you cannot win? There were times and places for making a last stand, but a first-year combat classes where the only difference would be being in first place with a 36-0 score and tying for first place with a 35-1 score was as far away as possible from those times and those places.
"NO!" Nora screeched. "This is not fair. This was my moment. My time to shine. My chance to make history! I will not be denied!"
"Stop being a sore winner, Valkyrie." Glynda said as she finished updating the scores in her tablet.
"But… but… why." Nora was on the verge of tears.
"This might be a forfeit, but there are things to be learned from this. Miss Valkyrie, next time, don't spend months hounding your opponent and reminding them how you're going to brutalize them. We mostly deal with Grimm but it's not rare for Hunters to be called in to assist with criminals. You wouldn't spend weeks reminding the criminal how you're going to arrest them, right?" Glynda stopped and looked at Nora. "Right?"
"Eeeeeh... yes?"
Glynda narrowed her eyes even further. 'Note to self: Force Valkyrie into second year Criminal Psychology course.'
"Mister Volt… I know the reason you forfeited, but would you care to elaborate for the class's benefit?"
GV shrugged. "Nora's Semblance is a hard counter to mine. More so than Marina's." A loud, ear-rupturing, feminine "WHAT!?" was heard from benches. GV ignored it. "So, rather than waste our time in a fight that, on the grand schemes of things, means so little, I decided to move on with my life."
"The irreverence towards Miss Valkyrie was a little too on-the-nose, but otherwise well put, Mister Volt. That said, for the next semester, look into how to fight Miss Valkyrie. Not all disadvantageous fights can be run from."
"If I have to fight him next semester, let me pummel him really quick now. Just a bit!" The neon-blue haired girl begged.
Glynda ignored her. "That would be all for Combat class this semester. You all did wonderfully. Your grades will be forwarded to you when they're ready. The display outside the class will have your rankings for our little tournament. Remember the correlation between your ranking and grades is minimal at best. Enjoy your break and see you next semester."
-o-
Yang erupted out of Combat class and into the hallway.
"We are FREE, bitches!"
"Language!" Weiss chided.
"Suck it, Schnee. This requires a victory tune. P-Money, you're on melody. Morpho-Babe, vocals. I'm on beats!"
Yang started beatboxing fiercely.
"Hm hm hmmm, hm hm hmm…" Pyrrha followed Yang's lead with her humming.
"~Come at me / And you'll see / I'm more than meet the eyes~" Mytyl sang along.
"This is way to clean not to be rehearsed," Weiss looked at the performing trio with apprehension.
"Come on, let's see our score!" Ruby pushed Weiss forward. The rest followed, with the singing trio bringing up the rear.
The first years congregated around the display, eager to see their rankings. Sure, they could have just kept tally and calculate it themselves, but where is the fun in that?
"~You think that / You'll break me / You're gonna find in time~"
Catching the trio's music number, Sky, who finished looking at the leaderboard, just had to ask. "What's up with them?"
"They figured the end of the semester merits a theme song," Kohaku responded, looking at the scores herself. "Not last or next to last. We rock, Jaune!"
"Woo!"
"~You're standing too close to a flame that's burning / Hotter than the sun in the middle of July~"
"Mytyl has an amazing singing voice," Dove observed.
"Yeah, yeah, that's nice. How did you guys do?" Marina asked CRDL while she looked for her name.
"Cardin top 10, Russel and I top 20, and Dove top 25. Not too shabby-HEY!"
Sky was pushed aside by the musical trio. Mytyl didn't stop singing despite obstructing the view.
"~Sending out your army, but you still can't win / Listen up, silly boy, 'cause I'm gonna tell you whyyyyyyy!"
Abruptly, Yang raised a fist and ordered a pause. Pyrrha and Mytyl followed the blonde's lead and leaned into the leaderboard.
-o-
01. 35-01 Pyrrha Nikos
01. 35-01 Gun Volt
03. 33-03 Copen Kamizono
03. 33-03 Yang Xiao Long
05. 29-07 Nora Valkyrie
06. 28-08 Blake Belladonna
06. 28-08 Ruby Rose
06. 28-08 Weiss Schnee
06. 28-08 Cardin Winchester
10. 26-10 Rain Gail
11. 25-11 Sky Lark
12. 24-12 Lie Ren
13. 23-13 Mytyl Kamizono
14. 22-14 Marina Rios
15. 21-15 Russel Thrush
22. 18-18 Dove Bronzewing
22. 18-18 Blitz Tide
35. 10-26 Kohaku Mino
36. 09-27 Jaune Arc
…
-o-
"~I BURN! CAN'T HOLD ME NOW! AND YOU'RE NOT STOPPING ME!~"
Yang, Pyrrha, and Mytyl continued their celebrations, forming a circle, hugging each other, jumping, and singing/humming/beatboxing. And with good reason. Two tied for first place and third place while the third being top 15 despite her relative lack of training was a hell of a score.
"Wait… did Xiao Long… did she compose a theme song about herself?" Cardin asked, registering the, quite frankly, blatant meaning behind the song the trio were playing.
"By. The. Gods. You're right!" Ruby said with increasing mortification. The song IS an anthem to her sister.
"Well... you have to admire her ego?" Marina tried to defend her classmate.
"That's one way to put it." Kohaku listened in disbelief.
"That's incredibly narcissistic," Weiss criticized.
"Didn't you compose Mirror Mirror?" Copen asked Weiss with an arched brow.
Weiss flushed."m-my song is a lament, not an anthem!"
"Actually," the students surrounding the still celebrating trio turned towards the source of the mechanical voice. Specifically, Lumen, "Yang commissioned the song to Mytyl, so Mytyl wrote it."
Then, Mytyl started rapping.
"~Hotter than the sun / Feel my fire / Pyromaniac: my desire~"
"Well, this got weird quickly," one of the students, a girl named Rain, said, "Anyone hungry?"
"Please," Cardin begged.
"I thought nobody would ask," GV agreed.
"I kinda wanna watch how weird this can get," Russel confessed.
"Didn't she curse just now?" Kohaku asked.
"Did she?" Ruby asked. "I wasn't paying attention. Was blocking it out."
The group gave one last look at the trio.
"~Seems you fucks will never learn / Now sit back and watch me burn~"
"Aaaannnndd, Mytyl saying 'Fuck' while rapping is as weird as this'll get." Copen declared before leading the way towards the cafeteria.
-o-
Ozpin didn't tend to indulge in alcoholic beverages. Not out of any particular distaste for the substance. Sometimes he needed the particular brand of kick alcohol brought with it that coffee or chocolate were ill‑suited to handle. He already went through his drunken phase and, while a novel experience, he wasn't keen on reacquainting himself with it any time soon. For this reason, he limited his consumption to social events, the odd evening with the likes of people like James or Qrow, and upon the reception of spectacularly bad news.
This, unfortunately, was one of the latter. So, he pulled out a glass and liberally pour some of the amber liquid he kept in a cabinet close by.
"Easy on the scotch, Oz. We need you and your liver alive."
Oz offered a small quirk of his lips to the screen of his console, but nothing more. Was it improper to show amusement when faced with such a tragedy? Perhaps. But after so many years, a certain degree of desensitization was to be expected. Ozpin was sure the people whose opinion he cared about would forgive him.
And besides, the notion of alcohol being the thing to finally do him in was laughable in its own right. Hysterical, if he opted to be honest.
"If I die due to alcohol, Qrow, I'll name you as the next Headmaster of Beacon."
The man behind the screen winced. "Please don't. Now would be a horrible time for my luck to act out."
"We both know that's not going to happen, Qrow."
The scruffy Huntsman allowed a sincere smile. "It won't." His features grew somber as he returned to the topic at hand. "I've been keeping in contact with James. Or to be more precise, the Ice Queen. Being General of Atlas means you tend to delegate, I guess. Despite Atlas's brightest, things are not looking good."
Ozpin drank from his glass, pondering if it was worth it to try their luck in Vale. Not really. If he had to choose between the medical care in Vale or Atlas, it wasn't even a competition.
Qrow sighed. "I'll level with you, Oz. I'm not confident on Amber's chances. It's been months, but I'm not seeing any progress. We managed to stop whatever was being done to her midway, but it wasn't pretty. I'm not medical expert and she's not clinically dead, but…"
No more words were needed. He had hoped James and his resources could pull a miracle, but it wasn't looking like it. It was time to consider their other options…
In the meantime, there were other matters to attend to.
"Switching topic… you are forcing my hands a bit here, Qrow. I do not appreciate it."
Qrow maintained eye contact through the video call. "Good. Maybe you'll stop dragging your feet. I already told you this and I bet James will bring up the matter next time you see him in regard to Winter, but we need more people, Oz. The people who did this to Amber? We fought them and they were not schoolkids. They were Hunter-trained to a professional level. We cannot continue like this. We need more allies. You, the other Headmasters, Glynda, and I are not enough."
"It is a bad-"
"-idea to have more people in the know, increase critical points, yada-yada, so on, so forth," Qrow said irreverently. Ozpin frowned. "Been there, heard that, disagreed with it. We're not telling you to tell the whole world. Just to pick a few trusted individuals and let them in. James and I are even putting forth candidates. Hell, didn't you just listen to me? Jimmy is already skirting the line by making Winter his point of contact. You did it for STRQ, I fail to see why you cannot do the same."
"I did it for STRQ," Ozpin admitted, "and Summer is dead, Taiyang left before he did anything, and Raven now leads a bandit camp somewhere in Mistral. Truly one of my brightest decisions."
Qrow dragged a hand through his face. "Let's table this for now. I'll double team you with Jimmy next time."
Ozpin sent Qrow an unamused scowl.
"On a lighter note, how are Ruby and Yang doing?"
Ozpin shelved the previous topic, happy to indulge a doting uncle in his curiosity. "Above expectation. Top percentile of class. Solid grades all around; all As and Bs. Top 10 in Combat class, with Miss Xiao Long in a two-way tie for rank second-slash-third after a two-way tie in rank one. Miss Rose is in a four-way tie in rank six."
Qrow let out a low whistle. "Not bad. And outside academics? How have they adapted to Beacon?"
"Other than the one-time Miss Xiao Long was involved in setting Vale's dockyard on fire?" – Qrow winced at that – "They have adapted well enough. Their team befriended two others. They are as mischievous as you can expect from a bunch of Beacon kids. Also, both your nieces are already accounted for in the teacher's shipping pool."
"Don't you think it weird to bet on kid's dating life."
Ozpin dismissed Qrow's observation. "Legally adults. And technically not actual bets. Besides, are you telling me you don't do the same thing in Signal? Worst I would argue. We are passive observer. I recall you and Tai talking about sitting kids with crushes together in team projects."
"…" Qrow's silence was incriminating enough. "Do I dare to ask?"
"They have a couple. But Miss Rose with a former White Fang CO and Miss Xiao Long with the heir to a megacorporation are currently at the top."
"…I was a bandit back in my days, so I won't even question it."
"Wise decision."
"Any big names I should look out for in their group of friends?"
"A couple, too. The current heiress to the SDC, Pyrrha Nikos, the scion of the Arc family, Kohaku Mino, and the Kamizono twins are the ones I think you might be particularly interested in."
"None of those sounds like a former White Fang CO." Qrow pointed out.
"You wouldn't be interested in him." Ozpin explained. Peeking at the clock, he added, "I have some other business to attend to. Thanks for the report, Qrow. Keep me updated."
"Will do. Take care, Oz."
"Likewise, friend."
-o-
Yang spit the juice she was drinking upon reading her uncle's message. She couldn't help the reddening of her face as she constantly flickered her eyes between the offending message and Copen.
"Everything ok, Yang" Ruby asked, fork in hand and looking up from her food, in response to her sister's odd behavior.
It was then that Yang realized she was the center of attention. "Y-yeah. Just... taken off guard."
Ruby's scroll rang. Fishing for it, Ruby read the message she received and scrunched her face in confusion.
"Uncle?" Yang asked, suspecting who the sender was.
Ruby was surprised by Yang's guess. "Yeah. But it's weird. It just says that mom was also fond of wolves."
The hidden meaning was not lost to Yang, who let out a low, extended whine.
It was, however, lost on everybody else.
"You like wolves?" GV asked, looking up from the neon-blue eggs and ham he was eating. In fact, all the food in the cafeteria shared the obnoxious color. They were assured everything was safe and it still tasted right-ish, so the students let it go. All except Nora, who was poking at the offending meal suspiciously, and Kohaku and Sun, who took a look at the food and figured now was as good a time as any to look into flights to Vacuo.
"I guess so?" Ruby said, unsure of her answer. "I suppose they're fine. And I've been compared to a wolf back in Signal. Maybe that's what he's referring to?"
"You do own a Beowolf sleeping mask and a Beowolf tank top," GV pointed out.
Ruby blinked. "I do…"
"You also mentioned having a couple of Beowolves figurines back at home."
The realization dawned upon Ruby, as her confusion slowly turned into a grin. "Huh… you're right. I guess I do like wolves!"
That was a reasonable enough conclusion. Happy with solving that mystery, Ruby and GV went back to enjoying their meal. Yang offered a small prayer thanking the gods for both Ruby's and GV's density.
"Kamizono!" a voice yelled towards the group.
"Yes! You can have my autograph!" Mytyl jumped to the chance with absolute elation. Then reality caught up. "Wait, that's not right."
"You know," Coco walked towards the girl, "when I said your teams haven't done anything crazy like setting Vale's dockyard on fire, it wasn't a dare!"
"Hi Coco!" Mytyl waved at her fellow team leader. She also waved behind her. "Hi Fox. Hi Velvet. Hi Yatsu."
"What do you have to say in your defense?" Coco challenged.
"Wasn't me," Mytyl shrugged as she sat down, "it was all GV's and Blake's fault."
"Guilty as charged," Blake droned.
"Neon-blue sirloin?" GV offered.
"We'll… think about it." Coco scrunched her noise. Nobody would blame Team CFVY for their hesitance towards the oddly colored food. "But seriously, I come back to find out you set Vale on fire. This year's icky freshmen are extra icky. What are your plans for the break, anyways?"
"Most us are staying in Vale." Mytyl informed. "Ruby was telling us about camping in Patch the next weekend."
"Great!" Coco exclaimed. "The second years are planning a get together over the break. And we thought we would invite our cute little, wittle, sister teams."
"Actually," Pyrrha informed, "RWPY identifies itself as a brother of Team ARGT."
Coco blinked. "You team is entirely female."
Ruby picked a neon-blue strawberry and took a bite. "I fail to see how that's relevant to our team's gender identity." She looked at the off-colored not-berry. "Not sure if this is a strawberry that tastes like a blueberry, or a blueberry that tastes like a strawberry."
"Weren't you taught not to eat suspicious berries?" Coco asked.
"Did you know that strawberries are not actually berries?"
Coco stared Ruby down. "Riveting." She turned to the rest of the freshmen. "Just keep an eye on your scrolls for further information. Anyways, have fun over your break!"
"Don't be strangers," Velvet happily said, waving a goodbye while following the retreating Coco. Fox and Yatsuhashi gave their own goodbyes.
Once Team CFVY was out of sight, Nora pushed her plate as far away as she could. "Well, I had enough of this."
GV shot her a childish and owlish look. "You don't like neon-blue eggs and ham? They bring you no harm."
"I'm NOT doing this," Nora snapped. "Ren and I must get ready for our Magical Culinary Journey, name and trademark pending."
"I thought you loved pancakes. Was that a mistake?" GV commented innocently.
"I do. I do love pancakes. That's not a mistake. However, I do not like them or care when they match my hair." She blinked. Then narrowed her eyes. "I'll get you next semester, Mister. And stop rhyming!"
GV nodded. "Duly noted. Mytyl, make sure what I just said is properly quoted."
"Quaking in fear, Nora flee showing us her rear," Mytyl nodded sagely.
Ren sighed and stood up. "Nora, didn't you listen to Miss Goodwitch? Stop poking the hornet nest, lest they dampen your best." He blinked, then hastily added. "Let's get our stuff ready."
With the Mistrali not-quite-couple departure, the group opted to also take their leave and make the last preparations for the break.
While Mytyl and Copen had no plans of going to Atlas, they also had no plans of staying in Beacon, opting to book a hotel. The prospects of room service, in-suite commodities, and being in Vale proper were too enticing to pass. Weiss agreed and decided to do the same.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us, GV? It's really not a bother," Mytyl asked her partner. She really didn't mind covering the expenses and Kohaku decided to visit Burrow, dragging Sun with her.
"It's ok," GV assured her, "I don't mind staying in Beacon and it's not like I cannot go to Vale if you guys want to hang out or something. Besides, Blake and Jaune are staying. I won't be alone."
"Ooooh," Yang started to playfully elbow Blake. "Two, blue-eyed, blond studs all for yourself. Aren't you lucky?"
Blake turned a page from her book. "I have no idea what you're suggesting. Also, Pyrrha will be there."
"Hello."
"You know what they say. The more, the merrier." Yang eyebrows waggled.
Ruby, the dictionary image of innocence, pondered. "Maybe I should join them."
"Come again?" Yang asked startled.
"The more, the merrier," GV echoed.
"Stop that!" Yang warned.
"GV, Jaune, Blake, be gentle. This all 'hanging out together' is new to me," Ruby, still the dictionary image of innocence, expressed meekly.
"Nobody is going to be gentle! Ruby, cover your ears!"
"Fine," Blake whined, "we'll be rough."
"I'm told I'm very good at doing rough," Pyrrha quipped.
"NO!"
"Sweet!" Ruby cheered.
"You're grounded, little miss. Copen, sympathize with me and help me out."
"Can I join?" Mytyl asked excitedly.
"Aaaannddd, just like that, I'm out." Copen made a hasty retreat.
"I'll go with you!" Weiss hurried after the escaping boy.
"COPEN! WEISS! DON'T LEAVE ME!"
"It's ok if you don't want to join us, Yang," Ruby, still innocent and still smiling saccharinely, comforted her sister. "I'll make sure to take LOTS of pictures so you can live vicariously through them."
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
-o-
Roman was a dead man. Intellectually, he recognized as much. But his body just hadn't gotten on with the program. So, in the meantime, he smoked and drank. Viciously.
He was currently sitting behind the desk of what he liked to call his office. It was temporary – a guy like him couldn't afford a permanent place to call an office – but every time he got around to call a room 'his office', he liked to decorate it and give it some personality. He had class and the place from where he commanded his criminal empire needed to reflect that.
But class didn't keep psychotic pyromaniacs from hunting him and putting him down like a dog. He tried hiding from Cinder once. And only once. She had not been amused and made it clear that the only reason she tolerated it once was because she had been expecting it.
That didn't mean Roman hadn't put in place one last act of defiance in place. He couldn't run, but Neo could, as long as he wasn't weighing her down. She instructed his partner to make herself scarce. Let Cinder tie the loose end that was him and maybe she would forget Neo ever existed.
Of course, that didn't mean Neo had run. He threw suspicious looks at the one corner of the room that stubbornly remained free of litter.
The disaster at the docks had to be enough to make him not only dispensable, but an outright liability. It just had to. Never in his life he thought a heist like that could go down in flames in such a grandiose manner. Just what the hell was Beacon feeding these kids?
A knock on the door brought him out of his musings.
"Boss, you have a… visitor."
Roman mentally cursed. That pause right before 'visitor' could only mean on thing. Roman was a dead man and his body was just realizing it. Well, no reason to delay the inevitable.
Not wanting to see his own demise, Roman turn his chair to face the wall behind his desk. He took one last puff of his cigar.
"Come in."
The door creaked open. The familiar gait of the Bitch's glass heels reached his ears. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable fireball to burn his head off. Maybe he could accelerate the process.
"Think of the She-Devil, and she shall appear!"
There, that should incense Cinder enough to make it, if not less painful, faster.
However, the fireball meant to claim his life never manifested. Instead, snickering reached his ears.
'Wait a second. Cinder doesn't do snickering.'
Maybe he interpreted the pause wrong and this wasn't Cinder. Maybe he still had a few more minutes before his untimely death. Maybe he could do one last act of random kindness and save this unfortunate girl from the inferno that was fast approaching.
He turned to meet the source of the snickering.
And was met with intense, golden eyes burning a, not literal thankfully, hole into his skull.
'Nope. Definitely Cinder. And she's not happy.'
And yet, the snickering evolved into giggling. Odd.
Roman leaned a bit to look behind Cinder, where the source of mirth was apparently hiding. Indeed, behind Cinder's frame was a brown-haired woman, Roman would say in her mid-twenties, attempting, and failing, to hold her laughter. The sight should have relaxed Roman by how innocent it was.
Except Cinder wasn't murdering this girl and that put Roman on edge.
"Hehe, 'She-Devil'. I don't know, Cindy. You call him a buffoon, but he seems pretty sharp. Has you figured to a T."
Roman tried. He really, REALLY tried. But he couldn't help it.
He mouthed "Cindy?" at Cinder, inquisitively.
"Don't," Cinder venomously warned the thief. "You failed a very simple mission, Roman. Spectacularly."
He did. But 'simple' wouldn't be the word he would use to describe everything that transpired. "I am sure you could do better, 'Cindy', but I, for once, recognize my limitations. And ten Beacon students, with one of them capable of downing five Bullheads in one go, is way beyond my skills."
"He has a point," the brunette said. Now that Roman paid closer attention, her attire was almost military in nature, but with that clear slant that indicated nothing quite as official. For once, the skirt was too short. A red armband on her left arm with the White Fang's snarling wolf emblazoned on it revealed her allegiances. A similar one rested on her right, with a symbol he didn't recognize.
That she could speak with Cinder so casually spoke of either a shared past, hidden strength of her own, or she worked for someone that could protect her from Cinder. Roman was inclined to believe the latter; those green eyes betrayed a sharp intellect and spoke of hyper-competency. The kind of eyes he would kill to see on a henchman.
"I looked into your escapade at the docks. If my suspicions are true… how did you survive, Mister Torchwick?" the girl asked. Roman was right. Now that her eyes were focused on him, he could clearly see the diligence and efficiency behind them.
"Would you believe me if I said Water Dust?"
Cinder scoffed. "Really? Water Dust? Who uses Water-"
"You have the devil's own luck, Roman. And I don't mean Cindy's luck."
Being told that being alive was a fluke didn't put Roman at ease at all. In fact, it puts things into perspective. Where did his life went so wrong? Surely, he wasn't that close to dying against Beacon brats, right?
"Who is she, anyways?" Roman asked.
"She, dear Roman, is the aid you requested to deal with the White Fang. You say the Vale branch is in a sorry state for a terrorist organization, so I brought you an empathetic human to… guide them on the right path."
Cinder was acting… friendly. Too friendly. Too politically correct. Skepticism creeped into Roman. "You're kidding. You brought me a human to deal with those a-"
It happened fast. And unexpectedly. That was the only thought Roman could coherently compose in the second it took. One second, he was about to say 'animals'. The next, he had a gun in his mouth, Neo had jumped in from her corner, sword unsheathed, ready to protect him. And emerald-green eyes were evaluating how much would be lost if she disposed of thrash like him. Neo's blade wasn't even registering in those eyes. Why would it? Neo legitimately tried to stab the woman but was stopped by green aura. In the time it would take to kill him, there was nothing his partner in crime could do.
Cinder tutted. "How crass, Roman." She didn't bother to disguise the satisfaction she was feeling. She laid the bait and he bit. "You should know better than to speak ill of the faunus in front of Vacuo's White Fang's second‑in‑command."
'Shit.' Roman looked at the girl threatening to blow his brains out in a new light.
"Oh, and when I said empathetic? I mean it literally. That's her Semblance. I would highly suggest you clear your pretty, orange head from ill-thoughts about the faunus, too."
'Holy shit.'
"He doesn't really mean those words," the girl stated, pulling the gun out of his mouth. "But use them again and I don't care what Cinder needs with you. Understood?"
Roman nodded. Crystal clear. A look towards Neo had his partner retracting Hush from the brunette's neck.
"That was entertaining." Cinder sauntered towards the cabinet where Roman hopefully kept a decent bottle of wine. She found none. He drank it all. "But I still need an explanation as to why we lost an entire shipment of Dust."
"Let it go, Cindy," the brunette said. Cinder expression of surprise was only rivaled by his own. "If Roman's account is factual and my own sources are correct, when I said Roman has the devil's luck, I meant that it's a small miracle he is not a burnt corpse in a morgue somewhere."
Roman gulped.
"Hiding something from me, 'Niki'? Cinder asked curiously and dangerously, the pet name said with derision, mimicking how this 'Niki' said 'Cindy'.
"Nothing quite drastic, I assure you," 'Niki' placated Cinder. "Let's just say that my promotion to second‑in‑command is a relatively new development."
…
"And exactly how dangerous was the development before you?" To Roman's surprise, Cinder sounded cautious.
The brunette thought for a few seconds before responding. "Protégé levels of dangerous. To someone like you? More potential than outright danger. But if he's hiding in Beacon, I cannot imagine he has gotten any weaker."
Potential. She called that potential. Roman was way over his head.
"Don't worry, Cindy," the empath assured the psychopath, "you worry about your plans and I'll worry about our little, wayward wolf."
Cinder nodded. She turned to Roman. "We move to phase two soon. Gather as much Dust as you can until then. She will provide you with the details. You are still in charge, Roman. But when she speaks, you listen."
Cinder left without saying another word, leaving Roman, Neo, and their new ally to their own device.
"We should probably clean this room," said new ally expressed, looking at the dump that was Roman's current office. "Or burn this building and get a new one."
Roman grunted. He was surprised he was alive to see another day.
"Ahhh, you're relieved," she cooed. "Because Cindy didn't kill you? Cute."
Right. Empath.
"Can I hope for 'Cindy' to actually be a big teddy bear beneath all that repressed sexual frustration of hers?"
The brunette stifled a laugh. "Oh no, Cinder is a bitch. You need history with her to get to call her 'Cindy' like I do. History and someone with enough pull to prevent Cinder from incinerating you on the spot. It is a bit fun to rile her up like that."
"Figures…" Roman scoffed. "Can I assume 'Niki' is a similar pet name?" He received a nod as an answer. "And may I know the illustrious name of my new ally?"
"I don't suppose I can convince you to call me Niki too, right?"
Roman scrunched his face in disgust. "No offense, but I rather not use any pet name or term of endearment that comes out of Cinder's mouth. Goes against the spirit of having one."
Roman's new partner chuckled. "None taken. You can be quite charming when you're not spouting racial slurs, Roman. I think I'll make it my pet project to make a decent human being out of you."
That was laughable. A decent human being out of a criminal? What's next? Magic is real? The Gods exist?
"Laugh all you want, Roman, but you'll soon realize I'm an excellent people's person."
The brunette extended a hand towards Roman.
"If it doesn't make you hurl, just call me Moniqa."
Author's Notes
Oh shit! You have no idea how excited I was about writing that very last sentence. That single sentence represents a shift on how this story will developed down the line. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This chapter marks the end of Volume 1. The next five chapters deal with what the characters do during their two-week break between Volume 1 and 2. The first two chapters follow Kohaku and the following three Mytyl and the Vale gang. They are mostly about worldbuilding and character exploration. You could, strictly speaking, call them filler, with the exception of the fifth chapter. Hopefully the characters interactions can carry this break.
Anyhow, let's do a rundown.
Assume ASG spoilers
Nora vs GV: That was anticlimactic and I'm sure will bother more than one reader. Make no mistake. GV was going to lose that fight. He simply doesn't have anything in his arsenal that can beat Nora. Nora is, simply put, better rounded than GV. That's one of the things about GV. He is smart. He can be resourceful. But ultimately, he leans too heavily on his Semblance and, when that's ripped away from him, he finds himself in trouble. Not dissimilar to how Overheating in the games normally means you have to sit there prettily, dodging until you regain your powers.
GV vs Pyrrha: In my original ideas, I planned touching upon a couple of fights in Combat Class, this being one of them. I underestimated how much fluff can waste time, both writing it and reading it. So, I scratched the plan. However, I still wanted to brush upon this. I had no explicit details on how the fight would develop, but I knew that GV would have won and his Azure Striker would have interacted with Pyrrha's Polarity similar to how magnets affect GV in the games. The use of Vasuki, GV's ricocheting Bolt, was introduced as a way to end the summary quickly by giving GV a one-time trick to bypass Pyrrha's defense; similar to what he did to Yang with Orochi.
Top 4: Just for reference, these are my notes on the top 4 first year:
Pyrrha lost to GV
GV lost to Nora
Copen lost to Pyrrha, GV, and Mytyl
Yang lost to Pyrrha, GV, and Copen
Everyone else score was chosen more or less randomly.
OCs: Ok, let's go on a bit of a soliloquy here.
This chapter name drops a lot of OCs for single lines of dialogue. My opinion on OCs is complicated. I have read some fics were I fell in love with the OCs, but I'm always a bit hesitant when approaching OCs. I read fanfic to get more from the characters I already love, but on the other hand some of my favorite characters in fanfic are OCs.
In this fic, the only one I've been using with any semblance of consistency is Marina as a showcase that not everyone hates CRDL's guts. Some of them get fairly well with the team of bullies. But she's the only member of the OC Team MRNN that I have shown. Sometimes I feel like showing the others, but the "ugh, OCs" side of the coin ends up winning that flip. And I feel it makes it worse since Marina now is a one-woman team. I honestly would prefer if RWBY gave us a wider cast to use, but that isn't the case. They don't even have to be notable. Naruto has a stupidly large selection of background characters that you can leverage by virtue of them having a unique design in their one-off appearance. Or minor characters that are touched upon once and that's it. I mentioned Matsuri in a previous A/N.
Harry Potter does the same thing. This is what allows a lot of those Slytherin!Harry fics to half work. The fuck is an Astoria Greengrass? I have no fucking clue. Maybe some kind of weed. But she has a cool name, a face, is not Pansy, and that's all the reasons I need to ship Slytherin!Harry with her. I'd argue that's partly the reason HP is a fanfic trove. The world feels live in, by people with names, ambitions, dreams, motivations, etc. Even if they don't really have them. Just having a name and a house/job description in a well-built world does wonder!
Funnily enough, RWBY has several examples of this kind of characters. Perry, Deery, and most of Robyn's Happy Huntresses come to mind. Hell, Velvet is arguably originally this.
Despite my conflicted feelings, when I created the leaderboard, I added all the OCs first year I've used so far, as well as named dropped Team Argentum (RWPY's sibling team. The leader appeared in Chapter 16).
Much later I need to deal with a new set of OCs, but by then I realized something neat I can do that simply didn't occurred to me.
Mytyl singing 'I Burn': I think it is accepted enough that Mirror Mirror is, pseudo-canonically, a song composed and sung by Weiss. It is canon in this fic, at the very least. Music is very important for both RWBY and ASG. In RWBY it is a tool to explore the characters, while in ASG it's a plot device that conveniently ties into both the game's marketing, musical identity, sense of style. Not to mention there are at least five characters whose identity revolves around music. These reasons are why I wanted to do something silly: have Mytyl be the composer, and singer, of "I Burn" in this fic's canon. I can see Yang being silly/narcissistic enough to commission a song praising herself and Mytyl onboard to compose and sing it. Pyrrha is just glad to be included.
Dr. Seuss: I'm not good at rhyming.
Just Moniqa: Here it is. The WHAM line of this chapter. The entirety of the chapter was an excuse to introduce the character of Moniqa. Also, to low key make a Doki Doki Literature Club Easter egg. And a "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye Easter egg
I toyed with the idea to just referring to her as Niki for a while before revealing her real name. But I decided against it because it was going to be obvious to any ASG fan who she is, and the reveal would be lost to RWBY-only fans, if there's any in here.
What's important about Moniqa is not who she is, but what she represents. Up to this point, ASG characters outside of KVKC + the pods were either in the background (Dr. Kamizono, Kohaku's muppets), had minor roles (Nori's scroll messages, Blade), or are not characters (Sumeragi).
Moniqa is the first ASG character that will actively participate in the plot outside KVKC. She is a floodgate. With her here, you can expect the ASG elements of this fic to start taking more prominence.
With that out of the way, let's explore a couple of my decisions when incorporating her
Moniqa's gun: Similar to Mytyl and Kohaku, Moniqa is not a fighter in the original games. I upgraded her a bit to fit her role. The Grimm do not care about races, after all. There's concept art that shows her with a gun, so I gave her that much. I won't reveal much else. I will say this: her gun has a name, so she has the spirit of a Huntress. It's a bit of a stretch, but you can, theoretically, trace the name back to her ASG character.
Moniqa in the White Fang: Similar to GV, I placed her in the White Fang due to her role as a terrorist in the ASG games. And on that same note, just like she is a human in a pro-Adept organization in the games, in here she is a human in a pro-faunus organization.
Moniqa's Semblance: Being a human, she lacks a Septima in the original games. So, she needed the good ol' Copen treatment. What was her most defining feature other than being an exposition fairy? I already mentioned it: she is a human fighting for Adepts' rights. That requires non-trivial levels of empathy. Hence, her Semblance: Empathy. She is capable of "understanding" people. She is, quite literally, unnaturally good at empathizing with them, putting herself in their shoes. It's part of the reason she is a White Fang. She can literally feel the emotional pain of the faunus. She is completely capable of differentiating her own feelings from those of others and ignore acting upon the artificial emotions, but they still leave a strong impression.
Moniqa and Cinder: I initially toyed with the idea of Moniqa and Cinder knowing each other before they became Moniqa and Cinder, so to speak. I axed this idea. They do know each other, but more as a professional relationship than a personal one. That said, Moniqa still used her Semblance on Cinder, so she knows more about our (un)favorite pyromaniac and what makes her tick than Cinder cares to admit. It makes Moniqa more willing to act casually towards Cinder, who can only endure it for one reason or another.
Review
PikaKnight: You were asking for GV villains, so here's an unlikely villain. XD
I kind of expected dialogue to be my forte. Back in high school, I tended to prefer plays over prose and when reading fanfic I sometimes skim over paragraphs to jump to the next bit of dialogue.
Early in this story, especially Volume 1, I follow the dreaded Stations of Canons pretty closely. Partly because "first fic, wanna play it safe" mentality, partly because I like seeing the ripple effect, which I cannot see if I go off the deep end from the get-go. The fic will diverge as time goes on, as the *ahem* butterfly effect goes into full swing. But Volume 3 is quite some distance away.