RWBY: MRRN
Volume 4, Chapter 8: Gifts from Atlas
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.
Math and Pyrrha had been waiting with great excitement ever since the family gathering, where Gormen revealed that they would receive items to help with their injuries and forge new weapons. They were already spending time together coming up with new designs and names for their weapons.
Since Math still had his retractable shield gauntlet, Dionach, he only needed to forge a new weapon. Depending on the materials they received, Math had two designs in mind. The first was a recreation of Claiomh Solais, with a retractable blade to show shotgun barrels. The second, in the case that he didn't have materials for a shotgun feature as before, would include different modifications to the blade. The mods included Dust Edges, allowing the edges of the blade to be infused with Dust, and making the blade able to be thrown without the need of his Semblance. Regardless, the new weapon would be named Moralltach.
Pyrrha's new design included a double-headed spear that could be split into two xiphoses. As for ranged attacks, if she had the materials, she'd add a rifle feature as with her old weapon that was destroyed when she fought Cinder. If not, then she'd make the spearheads able to be shot from the shaft like a javelin. The new weapon's name would be Dikaio.
Ever since the family gathering, Safirlas's outbursts had happened much less, but she still wasn't open to counseling. She was afraid of revisiting the horrors of that terrible night, the night when the world descended into chaos.
All three of them were hesitant to think about the horrors they endured during the Fall of Beacon. Mathdon was still haunted by his near-death at the hands of Nachtfel, who had brutalized and maimed his body, leaving him unable to use his arm for months. Safirlas too was haunted by the deaths of her teammates, haunted that she survived while they all died one by one at the hands of the same devil who maimed her brother.
Pyrrha arguably had it worst. Feeling guilt for Penny's accidental death, Ozpin forcing the Maiden powers onto her when she refused, and being crippled and nearly dying at Cinder's hands all weighed heavily on the champion of Mistral. She was often afraid to go to sleep at night alone out of fear that she'd relive the same nightmare all over again.
"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours."
It wasn't Cinder's either and that quote made Pyrrha's blood boil with rage. She had maimed and murdered an innocent girl to take the Fall Maiden's power for herself. She had created so much senseless destruction so she could take what she felt she was entitled to. Cinder was a monster with no regard for anyone but herself.
"Pyrrha?" Math asked. "Are you okay?" Pyrrha didn't respond immediately as she thought of what to say to her beloved.
"Math…was I wrong that night?" she asked him.
"What do you mean?" Math asked for clarification. Pyrrha looked at Math with eyes filled with regret, guilt and pain, which prompted him to hug her and hold her close to him.
"Should I have accepted the Maiden's powers? Should I fought against Cinder? I think about it almost every day, thinking that…maybe if I had accepted those powers, perhaps I could've saved Beacon." Pyrrha returned the embrace and buried her face into Math's shoulder. The swordsman planted a gentle kiss on her forehead and started stroking her hair.
After learning what had happened, Math was conflicted on how to feel about Pyrrha taking on Cinder alone. On the one hand, Pyrrha was right: if Cinder had been left unchallenged, she could've turned her attention to Vale and cause even more destruction than before. No one knew what happened to Cinder, but it was presumed that she had been forced to retreat due to the injury Pyrrha inflicted on her.
On the other hand, Cinder was too powerful for Pyrrha to have handled alone, despite her being one of Beacon's strongest first-years. She came very close to being killed and if Pyrrha died that night…Math couldn't fathom how he'd feel if he had lost the woman he had fallen in love with.
"Pyrrha, to be truthful, Beacon may still have fallen if you had taken the Maiden powers willfully," Math answered. "As for…fighting Cinder…I understand why you did it, but I wish you hadn't done it alone."
She was grateful for Math's understanding, but she felt she had to do it alone. One of her teammates was unconscious and she didn't want to risk their safety against a foe she knew would most likely kill them. As for her teammates' reactions, they weren't the happiest with her.
A day after Pyrrha woke up, she had been embraced by Nora, Ren and Jaune, who had all survived the Fall of Beacon. While these three were happy to see their teammate alive, they still had questions that needed answering. Due to Pyrrha's injured heel, they met at the Kendrick house and were talking on the back porch.
"What was that?" Jaune questioned Pyrrha. "And why did you take on Cinder alone? We could've helped."
Pyrrha was very hesitant to tell them about the truth about what happened. As Ozpin said, very few people knew about the Maidens being real. What could happen if she told them the truth about what Ozpin had asked of her and Math during the Vytal Tournament?
There was no way they'd leave without an explanation, especially since they had seen it firsthand. They had seen it happen for themselves and they wanted to know the truth. After taking several moments to consider what to do, Pyrrha ultimately decided to tell them the truth of what happened.
"During the Vytal Tournament, Ozpin asked Math and I for help," Pyrrha started. "Do any of you know of the story of the Four Seasons?"
"You mean the Four Maidens?" Ren asked. "Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Almost everyone knows that story."
"They're real," Pyrrha answered. "That girl in the capsule…she was the Fall Maiden. Ozpin asked me to take her power before someone else could."
"Hold on," Jaune replied. "Ozpin asked you…to accept a Maiden's power or whatever it was?"
"Yes," Pyrrha responded. "I thought about it for a while, but in the end, I couldn't. If I went into that machine, I could've come out someone completely different. The only way I could inherit her powers was…was by absorbing her Aura."
Now it was starting to make sense to Jaune, Nora and Ren. No doubt Ozpin had requested she and Math keep this information under strict lock and key, to tell no one about what they had been asked. But there was still one question in need of answering: why Ozpin forced her into the machine.
"Ozpin…he forced you in there," Jaune brought up. "Why?" Pyrrha sighed.
"I couldn't accept the Maiden powers," she answered. "I couldn't lose any of you. Jaune, Nora, Ren, RWBY…Math. When I told him I refused, that's when he forced me into the capsule."
"That bastard!" Jaune barked angrily. "How could he do something like that?"
"But why did you face Cinder alone?" Nora asked Pyrrha. "We could've helped you."
"Ren was unconscious," Pyrrha responded. "I…I didn't want to risk you getting killed. But I feared that if Cinder had been left unchallenged, she would've turned her attention to Vale. I had to stop her."
"You almost died," Ren brought up. "You would've died for nothing, Pyrrha. I'm sorry, but that's the truth; you would've been killed for nothing."
Killed for nothing. Pyrrha could understand what Ren was saying, but she disagreed with him. As she said, if Cinder had been left unchallenged, she could've wrought more destruction, more death than what had already been done. She had to be stopped before she could kill more people.
"Ren…sometimes, all we can do is fight," Pyrrha stated. "When everything's at stake, we must do everything we can."
When winter came around, her teammates left with Ruby for Haven. They had come by the house and said goodbye to her beforehand. Unsure if she'd ever return to being a Huntress, Pyrrha entrusted her circlet and hoplon to Jaune to upgrade his weapon, Crocea Mors.
"Math, Pyrrha!" Corcra called out to them when they were back in Math's room. The two of them hurried to the living room where Corcra placed a large box on the table. It had the Atlas symbol on the side, meaning their gifts from Atlas had arrived at last. Math and Pyrrha opened the box to find an assortment of materials inside.
On one side were two metallic casts, one for an ankle and the other for an arm which looked like an armband. A short list of instructions could be seen underneath the metallic casts, showing how they were activated.
On the other side of the box were three boxes of various metals, each box holding one different metal each. Math and Pyrrha inspected the metals closely and, as Gormen ensured, these were definitely rare and hard for junior Huntsmen to get their hands on. They didn't know how Gormen got Ilias Airgead to provide these materials to them, but they were not about to complain.
"Oh, we owe Uncle Gormen big time for this," Math spoke.
"That you do," Corcra replied. "I'd suggest you send thank you cards in the mail as soon as possible."
"We will, Mrs. Kendrick," Pyrrha assured.
The two warriors took the braces out of the box and read the instructions, which were luckily very simple. What caught their attention unfortunately was under one of the instructions read "Warning: Activating devices on injured area will cause temporary pain. It could last for about one or two minutes. If it persists longer than that, then do not use."
"Let's give it a shot," Math insisted. Neither of them were looking forward to the pain they were warned about when they turn on their devices. Each of them took their casts and placed them over their injured limbs, Math's on his arm and Pyrrha's on her heel. The casts were surprisingly comfortable to put on due to the soft leather layer under the metal.
"On the count of three," Math suggested, to which Pyrrha agreed.
One, two, three. Both Math and Pyrrha turned on their casts and, as warned, they felt piercing pain in their limbs where they had injured. It was very excruciating, but if they could continue training as warriors, then they were willing to endure it for a short time. After about a minute, the pain finally passed.
Pyrrha then tested hers out by walking without crutches. She stumbled a bit, but after several steps, she started walking normally well. She kept walking down the hallway, through the kitchen, into Math's room, everywhere she could as she relished in the feeling of being able to walk again without the need for crutches.
As for Math, he walked over to the table and used his injured arm to pick up a piece of metal. Five seconds, then ten seconds, then twenty seconds, and then a minute went by and nothing happened. Math was able to use his arm once again without difficulty.
The two young warriors were overjoyed at the feeling of being able to use their limbs again. With the casts that had been given to them, their injuries would no longer hinder them. The two of them were quickly overcome with relief and happiness at the gifts they had received.
-0-
Anrydd and Robin made their way to the local weaponsmith to have Sharp Shot fixed. Normally, Robin would've fixed it himself, but even with his echolocation, he suspected he'd have a lot of trouble doing so. He'd really need someone else to take care of it since he also had an upgrade in mind.
"I think this upgrade will work out nice," Anrydd commented. "A double-sword staff-like weapon would certainly fit you."
"That's why I chose it," Robin replied. "In the meantime, I'll focus on working on my Semblance. I'm only scratching the surface right now; who knows what I'll be able to do-" He suddenly stopped as he picked up a lot of vibrations far ahead of where he and his dad where.
"What is it?" Anrydd asked his son.
"Humanity First," Robin growled. "I really wish my bow was in good condition."
"I don't think it's them," Anrydd replied.
Robin paid closer attention to what they were chanting. Instead of 'Blame the Faunus!', 'Down with the Faunus!', or 'Kill the Faunus!', these were much more positive chants. He was hearing 'Stop the killing! Stop the hate! Stop the destruction!', which meant it was undoubtedly a different group ahead of them.
"I think you're right," Robin replied. "They're not chanting anti-Faunus statements. I wonder who they are?" The group came around the corner, holding signs that endorsed equality, peace and justice instead of hate and murder. They started making their way towards the two Kendricks, but since they weren't Humanity First, they didn't feel the need to be prepared for a fight.
"Good afternoon," a man greeted. Robin couldn't see him, but he had black hair, blue eyes, and dark skin. He was wearing formal attire with a tie, dress shirt and slacks with dress shoes. He gave off a very friendly, yet wise presence, one filled with compassion and love.
"Hello," Anrydd responded. "You must be Raye King."
"Raye King?" Robin asked. "Aren't you the activist leading that group promoting peace and understanding? What's it called?"
"It's called The March To End Hate and Violence, son," Raye answered. "We've been opposing the Humanity First movement for months now. We've even managed to convince some of them to abandon that hate group."
"That's definitely great to hear," Robin answered. "The Humanity First movement is getting out of control. They're doing whatever they can to spread anti-Faunus propaganda. Have you run into them?"
"Several times," Raye answered. "They call us 'traitors', 'animal lovers', 'apathetic to the victims of the Fall of Beacon', 'self-righteous bigots'…the list goes on. Many of them are so blinded by their hatred that they see any opposition to them as treason against the human race."
"Who's their leader?" Anrydd questioned. "And why hasn't he been arrested yet?"
"From what we've heard, each Kingdom has their own leader," Raye informed. "Luckily, so do we. The leader's name for Vale's Humanity First is a man named Xander Smoke."
"Xander Smoke is leading the Humanity First movement here in Vale!?" Anrydd barked. "How is that criminal not behind bars!?"
Robin had heard about Xander Smoke, who had been arrested several times in the past five years for assault, sexual harassment, arson and destruction of property. He was serving a twenty year sentence at Vale State Prison before he broke out during the Fall of Beacon. Now he was leading the Humanity First movement and encouraging violence against anyone who stood in their way.
"I've gone to the police, Huntsmen and military about it," Raye informed. "But they can't find him anywhere. To make matters worse, he's claiming that he was wrongfully arrested every time and is painting himself as a hero."
"Sounds like Nachtfel," Robin snarked.
People like them with hypocrites of the worst sort. They accused others of being corrupt, evil and traitors all the while being blind to their own atrocities. The Humanity First movement painted Raye King and his followers as traitors and bigots, but they weren't the ones murdering Faunus who had nothing to do with the Fall of Beacon.
"We're holding a peaceful rally at the Vale National Stadium two months from now," Raye informed, handing Anrydd a flier. "We're hoping to gather as many people as possible to cause more positivity and stop the Humanity First movement in Vale."
"We'll see what we can do about attending," Anrydd replied. "But do you think the Humanity First movement will try to disrupt it?"
"Undoubtedly," Raye responded. "Those people are so blinded by hatred that they take anything we do as a challenge to their 'righteous cause'."
Righteous cause. What a load of garbage. Just like the Iron Knights, the Humanity First movement wasn't a group of freedom fighters or avengers of the Beacon victims. They were criminals, murderers, hypocrites, and arsonists. They were determined to do whatever they could to spread their hatred and labelled anyone who refused to join them as a traitor.
"Stay safe," Raye told them as he started leading his peaceful protest again.
They definitely needed people like Raye King during this chaotic and dark time, people like him who would stand up to bind hatred and prejudice. His courage and wisdom would inspire others to join his cause and fight against hatred instead of promoting it.
"Think we should attend the rally?" Robin asked his dad.
"I think we need to," Anrydd responded. "Not just to show support, but in case Humanity First tries to disrupt it. If they do, I have no doubt it'd be in a violent manner."
"Maybe we should tell the others," Robin suggested. "I could find Nasser and ask if he'd be willing to come."
"Do you know where he is?" Anrydd asked. "And what about Ruo-Jian? Do you think he'd be willing to come?"
"Well, he plans on visiting Vale sometime," Robin informed. "So I think he'd be convinced to go. As for Nasser, I know the shelter where he's staying; Math told me several months back."
"Shelter?"
"Yeah. Their home was destroyed during the Fall of Beacon and they've had to live in a shelter ever since. Nasser's been doing work with the local Huntsmen to earn money for his family."
"Then hopefully he'll be able to," Anrydd insisted. "Now let's head on over to the weaponsmith and get your weapon upgraded."
"Sounds good to me," Robin replied with a cocky smirk, something he hadn't had on his face for a very long time.
"Don't get cocky," Anrydd chuckled as the two kept walking to the weaponsmith shop.
-0-
Nasser smoked yet another cigarette in front of the shelter he was staying, hoping to take the edge off from everything that was troubling him. He still hadn't earned enough money to get his family a new home, even with Ritsika working in a nearby kitchen for pay.
"Nasser," Ritsika addressed her son as she was taking her break, evident by the work clothes she was wearing. "We'd have more money if you stopped buying cigarettes." The knife wielder sighed and took the cigarette out of his mouth.
"I've tried thinking about how I can be moved by faith instead of anger, but I don't see how," Nasser informed his mother. "I mean, look around. Things have gone to hell and people are only making it worse by butchering Faunus and blaming the Huntsmen for the Fall of Beacon. I seriously don't get it." Ritsika walked over to her son and sat beside him.
"Well, all these years have shown me how," she replied. "We both know how bad things got. It felt like one tragedy after another. First, we lost your father in Vacuo, then Cassim stole the money for our family and then he…"
She had already been told of what Cassim tried to do the day he died. He had tried to sell out his family so he could be back on his way to getting money. What happened to Cassim that made him so filled with greed and a desire for materialistic pleasures?
It broke her heart to see how far her eldest child had fallen to satisfy his greed. Cassim had always wanted more than a life in Vacuo, but she never once imagined he'd betray his entire family just to do so.
"Many times, Nasser, I wanted to give up," Ritsika told her son. "There were many times when I thought…I thought…"
"You thought…?" Nasser asked. "Mom?"
"I thought about just…ending it all," she replied. Nasser didn't catch onto what she meant immediately, but when he did, he was shocked beyond words.
"Mom, you…you considered killing yourself?" he gasped. "But…"
"Why?" she responded. "Because everything was just coming down. I was working as much as I could to keep us fed and clothed, but we were always stuck in that apartment." Tears started to form in her eyes, filled with regret for considering a choice that would've left Nasser and Ezther all alone.
"I would've done it because I couldn't see a way out of the pain I was in," she started. "I couldn't find a way out…that's when I had to hold on the most. That's when I needed faith the most because I wanted to believe that eventually, we'd find a way out of all this. Faith has to be tested to be truly strong…and mine was undoubtedly tested for years."
Nasser put his arm around his mom's shoulders, thinking she'd break down in tears. He had never suspected that his mom ever thought about taking her own life, but he could easily understand what made it easy to want to give into it. As she said, their lives had seemed like nothing but a string of tragedies. The death of her husband, Cassim's betrayal twice, feeling that all their efforts were for nothing…it had come close to breaking her.
"What stopped you?" Nasser asked.
"What stopped me?" Ritsika replied. "Several things, but the first and most foremost was that I couldn't leave you and Ezther all alone. I couldn't do that to you, not after everything that had happened."
"Mom…" Nasser replied with great sympathy, understanding more of what his mother meant.
"Faith keeps us from falling into despair," she explained. "It keeps us from believing that there's no hope at all. It helps to remember that there are some good things in our lives, even if we don't see them right away. It gives us the strength to go on, especially in times like these."
"Hey, you!" a male voice called out. Nasser looked to his left to see a tall man with gray hair, brown eyes and appeared like an arrogant and dangerous person. He quickly insisted that Ritsika get inside the shelter, to which she did while Nas placed his hand on one of his knives.
"Who are you?" Nasser questioned as the tall man walked up to him.
"I heard you harassed some of my people a while back," the man brought up.
"You mean Humanity First?" Nasser asked, raising an eyebrow. "They were trying to kill a woman and her child. I protected them from your 'people'."
"It's not a crime to kill an animal," the man responded. "These Faunus need to pay for what they've done and you're getting in the way."
"Oh, shut the hell up!" Nasser barked. "Many of these Faunus had nothing to do with the Fall of Beacon. They were just as much victims as we were. You're just looking for a reason to butcher them."
"You clearly don't know anything," the man condescended. "If you knew the whole history behind this, you'd be with us, not against us."
"Do NOT condescend to me," Nasser threatened. "And who are you anyway, you self-righteous prick?"
"I'm Xander Smoke, the leader of Humanity First here in Vale," he introduced, "And I'm here to warn you: do not harass my people ever again…or we will come for you and your family."
He was silenced by Nasser pulling his knife out and pressing it against Xander's throat. The two of them stood there with great tension, giving each other the death glare.
"Two things," Nasser growled. "First, if you don't want me to 'harass' your guys, then stop threatening and killing Faunus. Second, if you come ANYWHERE near my family, I will KILL you." Xander grabbed the knife and pushed it away from his neck.
"That is NOT how this works," he stated. "We're getting justice for the people who died at Beacon and you're standing in the way of that. You will stop harassing my guys or I promise you-"
"And I promise you!" Nasser interrupted with a snarl, pressing the tip of his knife against Xander's chin. "You hurt my family and I WILL KILL you. Now get the hell out of here." Xander scoffed, acting as if Nasser's anger towards him was unwarranted. The knife wielder frowned with great rage and contempt for the Humanity First leader in front of him.
"You're just a bunch of criminals looking to hurt and kill whoever you please," Nasser told him. "You don't want justice, you want violence. You want to do whatever you want without suffering the consequences."
"I don't have to listen to your bullcrap," Xander dismissed. "But I mean it: don't harass my people or we will come for you and your family."
Nasser was sorely tempted to kill this man right here and now, but he was unarmed and it would undoubtedly be ruled as murder. Then again, he was making threats towards him and his family for sticking up for the Faunus. Before a decision could be made whether to end his life or not, Xander walked away while giving Nasser the middle finger.
"You pissant!" Nasser called out to Xander Smoke. That man was proof that Humanity First's mission was in the end nothing but racism, hatred and violence. All they wanted was to cause needless destruction and death.
"Who was that?" Ritsika asked her son after Xander was out of sight.
"Xander Smoke, leader of Humanity First here in Vale," Nasser replied. "I protected a Faunus from some of his 'people' a while back and he came here to threaten me into leaving them alone. Typical of them; okay for them to harass us, but Gods forbid anyone harass them."
"Be careful around them," Ritsika insisted. "They are violent people."
"I know they are," Nasser replied. "But someone has to stand up to them. Luckily, I've heard about someone who is, a man named Raye King."
"I've heard about him," Ritsika brought up. "I heard he's holding a rally soon to promote positivity and equality."
That's definitely something they needed right now. Raye King's movement to promote positivity, peace and understanding between human and Faunus could do much to help the people of Vale during these dark times.
However, he was also certain that the Humanity First group would try and do something to disrupt their activities. Even worse, they may target Raye King; at best, they'd hurt him or at worst, they'd kill him.
"I'm going to that rally," Nasser declared. "If Xander tries anything, someone needs to be there to stop him."
"Ezther and I are going too," Ritsika informed her son. "We all need to show support for true equality and peace between us."
While he didn't have a full understanding yet, Nasser was coming to see his mother's point of view. Faith gave people many things; strength, hope, love, and the desire to go on, despite when everything seems lost. Raye King was giving that to people so they could endure the terrible Fall of Beacon while resisting the hate and violence of Humanity First.
Perhaps Nasser had underestimated the basis of what his mother told him. Perhaps if he had been motivated by faith instead of anger, he might've come out a much different person.