Her fingers clack, clack, clack, clack against the keyboard.
A settlement is asking for another huntsman team. Students are asking to be sent out beyond the city walls. Store owners are asking for additional security. The huntress assigned to a fringe-settlement was injured last week and will need support. A huntsman is asking to be transferred to a location closer to their family. Spreadsheets and forums and files and requests and assignments and reports and proposals and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and…
Such is the week leading up to the event known all throughout Remnant as the 'Blood Moon'. Countless times she's weathered the storm, and yet the monthly occurrence still never fails to truly make her feel the weight of her age.
With a sigh, Glynda Goodwitch removes her glasses, closes her eyes, and leans back into her chair. A quiet moment of peace amidst the storm.
Then, there's a knock at the door. She almost doesn't even want to open her eyes. But she does, for such is her duty.
As expected there he is, leaning against the door frame, his eye burning an all too familiar scarlet and a steaming teacup in hand. "Hey."
"I thought I told you I don't want to see you using that power on campus." She frowns, returning her glasses to their place.
The Demon Fox only shrugs, strolls over and sets the cup in front of her. "Here."
A skeptic brow is all she allows. "What is this?"
"A bribe." He says without shame, then pointing to his glowing red eye. "Yeah, I can't really turn this off right now so I'm going to need you to run interference. And by that, I mean telling sneeze to buzz off if she comes by."
She stares at the cup of tea for a second, still not entirely sure it isn't poisoned, and looks at him. To the burning red eye. "You are a Jinchuuriki."
"No, I'm a sea lion." He replies with a roll of said eye. "Guess I don't need to explain why this time of the month is a problem for me?"
"Is this going to be a continuing problem, going forward?"
"Just this month. I got… careless. Being here."
A pause. She stares at him, into him, trying to get a read. Any evidence. Any hints that it may be a ruse. But his face is as unreadable as a mask, and she relents. Because he's right. It'll raise all sorts of uncomfortable questions, having him go to class like that.
"… Very well. I'll inform the relevant faculty that you will not be attending class for the next few days. But you are to stay within this tower. Are we clear?"
"Hn."
He grunts, shoves his hand in his pocket and heads for the door. She stares at the back behind which stand untold thousands of dead men, women and children. Men, women and children she had sworn to protect. Men, women and children whom she had personally trained, all sworn to the same purpose. She can even remember some of their faces. And on the darkest of nights, it is their faces and what has become of them that haunts her dreams.
It is the cruelest joke of the world, that he is able to walk these same halls they did without a care. Laughing and smiling with those very same students he would have slaughtered and forgotten had things gone a little differently. Simply because he is too powerful to be allowed to roam free. Because they can't risk that woman swaying him to her will. A simple truth of the secret war that has raged on since time untold.
So, it is all she can do to simply avoid him. To keep their interactions to an absolute minimum as to avoid lashing out. In truth, she had even felt a small, shameful hope the Schnee girl would follow through with her request to transfer teams. If only to keep him further away from sight and mind.
And yet, with that back now here before her, she can see how small it is. He's not even a man, in so many ways. A murderer, yes. A monster, without a doubt. That, her heart cannot deny, no matter how much her mind tries to bring it to accept Ozpin's decision. For all of the blood and suffering he has wrought, he is a monster. Yet still a child. A child with the blood of thousands upon his hands.
But still, a child.
The conversation she had with Ozpin last week drifts to the forefront of her thoughts. And before he can exit the room, she calls out to him.
"Uzumaki."
A pause. The crimson eye turns back to her. "What?"
"Who gave you that name?"
He scoffs.
"You think I know who my parents are?"
The crimson-eyed boy leaves without another word.
…
…
"I don't know… I guess I just can't understand why he doesn't trust Professor Ozpin so much."
"Huh… that is kind of weird…"
They follow behind at the back of the group, just far away enough for their conversation not to be heard. Ruby and Jaune but two among many, the various team leaders and captains of Beacon Academy all move through the streets of Vale, led by none other than renown huntress, Professor Glynda Goodwitch herself.
"I mean, he's got a pretty bad working relationship with… you know." Jaune says with a nod towards the huntress at the head of their group. "Maybe it's just cuz he's her boss?"
"No… I don't think it's like that. It feels like he'd even trust Professor Goodwitch more than-"
"Ms. Rose, Mr. Arc, your attention up front, if you would." The veteran huntress's voice slaps them both across the face and calls them to attention. She stands at a crossroads, over a seemingly innocuous sewer grate.
"This is a critical junction in the city. Here, the underground systems run all throughout the city of Vale and extend beyond to the surrounding areas. Typically, this is not an issue. The constructed barriers and automated and natural defenses tend to deal swiftly with any straggling grimm that manages to wander into the tunnel system. However, during this time the flood of grimm acts very much like that. A flood, leaking and seeping through every crack it can find."
Professor Goodwitch sweeps over the students with her gaze. "It is very likely one or more of you and your teams will be assigned to guard this point alongside a registered huntsman or huntress. I cannot stress enough how important it is that these points be held. Many of you are from outside the city and this will be your first time experiencing the Blood Moon in Vale. Look all around you."
The students do just that. They see buildings. Building and buildings and buildings, as far as the eye can see.
"What do you see?" Professor Goodwitch asks.
There's a pause. The upperclassmen are unwilling to answer. The underclassmen are unsure how to answer. Eventually, one student raises their hand, and Professor Goodwitch gives them a nod.
"Uh… buildings."
"Correct. Buildings and buildings, all full of civilians who outnumber you, a hundred to one. Civilians who know exactly what is coming and fear for themselves and for their loved ones. They will be relocated to underground shelters for the period of the Blood Moon, but that fear will remain. And I do not think I need to tell you exactly what this fear does during this time."
The students look to each other, those buildings suddenly seeming that much more ominous. A reminder of what they're fighting for. Of what will happen should they fall.
"For many of you, the coming night will be like nothing you have ever experienced. Now, I am aware there has been a video circulating of the freshman initiation. For those who have seen this video… or experienced it for yourselves…"
Professor Goodwitch stares through the group of students, pinpointing Ruby and Jaune again, both standing that much straighter as they feel the huntress's gaze on them.
"On the night of the Blood Moon, expect nothing less."
Murmurs. Whispers. Mostly from the underclassmen, though some from the seniors.
"… So, does that mean that clip was actually real? That whiskered kid's the real deal?" one of the upper-class men asks. "Can't wait to see him in action."
After a moment, Professor Goodwitch answers. "…Unfortunately, he will not be participating, as he is still recovering from his injuries."
Ruby and Jaune glance at each other. A certain leader of a certain all-male team scoffs.
"Recovering? Hah, I bet he's just scared."
"Scared? Aren't you the team he thrashed single-handedly? Figuratively and literally speaking?" One of the upperclassmen chuckles, a stylish girl with brown hair, a beret and sunglasses. "Sounds like we could still use him out here, injured or not."
"… Regardless, Uz-… Naruto has made his decision and I have given my approval, both as his instructor and team leader. He will not be participating in the defense of the city."
…
"It's good that you've been acclimating. I'm happy to hear that."
The woman on the other end of the screen gives her a smile. Shoulder-length white hair tied back into a neat bun. A face so much like hers and not at the same time. Older. Harder. More weathered, more refined, but with a certain softness reserved just for her.
Winter Schnee. The eldest daughter of the Schnee family. Atlassian Special Ops. And her big sister.
"This will be your first time on the front lines during a Blood Moon. Remember your training and be sure to follow your superior's orders. You'll get through this."
Weiss nods. Her big sister has always been such a worrier. Ever since that day. "I'll be fine, Winter. There are plenty capable huntsmen and huntresses who will still be in the city alongside us."
The response is silent, yet she hears it in her mind all the same. 'There were plenty capable huntsmen and huntresses in the manor with you that night too'. Still, it goes unsaid and unacknowledged. Because for the past three years, it has never failed to be a sore point between them and even if it is only across a screen, the Schnee sisters are plenty happy to have a chance to speak with one another again.
She switches gears. "Have you gotten my letters? I know there's a fair delay delivering between Vale and Atlas and you've been busy with your assignment but-."
"I have. I had a chance to return to Atlas a few days ago." A faint chuckle. "There was quite a bit of overflow at my inbox. Twenty-seven letters? It hasn't even been a full month since you left for Beacon, has it?"
"I may have gotten a bit carried away." Weiss flushes a little with embarrassment and averts her gaze. Winter smiles.
"I do appreciate the effort. It was an entertaining read… though, perhaps next time, spare some of the details?"
"Of course. I'll… try to keep it to the important bits from now on."
"Hopefully not only. Your experience has been quite… different compared my own training at Atlas Academy. It's interesting to read about the way operations are handled in Vale with my experiences in Atlas."
The smile drops. The warmth fades behind the strict presentation of the woman who taught her everything she knows about swordplay, aura and their family semblance.
"Now, what is this I hear about the Schnee Heiress being seen in the company of a faunus boy at lunchtime on the daily?"
Weiss groans. She knew this was coming.
"Are you dating? Is he your boyfriend?"
Weiss groans even louder.
"No, no. God no! He's just…! Okay, first? Not dating. Not my boyfriend. And not a faunus. He's just…"
She takes a second to find the right word. She doesn't find it. "You know that person I keep mentioning in my letters?"
Winter perks a brow. She reaches off to the side, retrieves one of said letters and reads, "The 'perverse, degenerate, ungrateful, unappreciative, unmotivated, uncooperative, irksome, boob-brained moron' partnered with Glynda Goodwitch?"
"That's the one."
"It does beg the question, if you find him so unpleasant, then why do you keep subjecting yourself to him? That's the sense I got from the letters at least. Or is he the one approaching you?"
"No. I…" Weiss curls up a bit in the chair and sighs. "I was hoping to get him to agree to switch teams with me. But that didn't exactly pan out."
"Then… you have no more reason to continue to meet with him."
"Hardly. If it weren't for me, I doubt that bum would even bother going to class."
And she still owes him. At least until that arm of his finishes growing back. But that, she doesn't say out loud.
"… Fortunately, a friend in the Department of Civil Influence brought the story to my attention before it made headlines. General Ironwood was gracious enough to allow me an abuse of his authority to get it pulled." Winter says to her faint relief. "If you still intend to inherit the company, you need to remember to tread carefully, Weiss. People are always watching. Even if you are a continent away, that man still has his means of making your life difficult."
"I know. It's just… even if it's harder, I'd rather do things my way. Not his."
"…" The slightest hints of a smile tug at Winter's lips before it is quickly put away. "I've done what I can from my end, but people are still talking. It's only a matter of time before it reaches his ears as well. So, be prepared. Don't let him use this to manipulate you."
"I won't. Thank you, Winter."
"…"
"…"
"… So, he's not your boyfriend?"
"Winter!"
…
Too long.
Too short.
Too much weight.
Not enough weight.
The balance in the blade is wrong.
There's too much weight in the hilt.
There's a chip on the edge.
There's rust on the blade.
There's a dent on the back.
Blake lets out a weary sigh as she rummages through the spare weapons in Beacon Academy's armory.
It's been an ordeal trying to obtain a replacement for Gambol Shroud in the weeks since initiation. She can't go through the official channels. While they're the most efficient and reliable sources, they also require registration and identification. Two things a runaway faunus like her isn't quite so keen to give up.
So, that leaves the unofficial channels. Time. Cost. Quality. There, you get to pick one, maybe two if you're lucky.
She has only so much of the first two and can't afford to compromise the third. Thus, this night has her going through the spare weapons in Beacon Academy's armory, like some stray scrounging for scraps in a dumpster.
Isn't that a depressing thought?
Blake sighs as she picks up another weapon and begins to look it over.
"Hello there. A lien for your troubles?"
The voice comes as a surprise, in part because last she heard, the effects of his not-sleeping schedule had finally caught up to him, and in part because she hadn't heard him coming.
At all.
"Naruto." She turns to behold the younger, whiskered boy in the dress-shirt and pants that has become his usual outfit and… sunglasses. "How are you? We heard from Professor Goodwitch that you weren't feeling well." Then of course. "Why are you wearing sunglasses?"
"Can you keep a secret?" A pause. Before she can respond, "Yeah, you can keep a secret. Fair's fair, I suppose." He lifts the sunglasses to reveal a single glowing red eye set in black. It's more than a little unnerving, to say the least.
"Why… is your eye doing that?"
"Why are you hiding your cat ears?"
Touché.
"Let's just say I'm a were-grimm and leave it at that." He lowers his sunglasses. "I turn evil under the Blood Moon. My weaknesses are silver, ramen, boobs and catgirls."
Blake gives him a dry look. "I… don't know if that's slightly racist, or just plain perverted."
Naruto just shrugs. "Anyway, here."
He reaches behind and takes out an envelope. Blake perks a brow.
"What's this?" she takes it and asks.
"Some backup." Naruto grabs a rather plain short sword from the walls and takes a few swings, the blade singing through the air in his grip. "I take it the witch spoiled that I'm not gonna be participating in the Blood Moon but yeah. I'm sitting this one out. So, I made those for you guys. To help pick up some of my slack. And because I fully expect things to go terribly wrong, as they tend to do whenever I'm in the immediate vicinity."
He returns the short sword to its rack. Blake opens the envelope to find four more within, each with a letter scribbled on the outside. R. W. B. Y.
"There're instructions inside. Good luck."
"What are-?"
She looks up. And he's gone.
…
"So, whiskers made these for us?"
Laying on her bed, Yang holds up the envelope labeled with a messy 'Y'. She rolls over to look at her teammate, leaning against their shelf. "How was he? He doing okay?"
"He was…" Blake pauses a moment to find the right way to put it.
"The idiot's still not sleeping, is he?" Weiss scoffs from her bed.
"Hey, don't call him an idiot." Yang frowns. "If you don't want your seal, then give it to me."
"… I never said I didn't want it…" Weiss grumbles.
"Seals?" Seated on the floor, Ruby opens her envelope. Sure enough, inside is a length of paper with ink marked over one side and a folded piece of paper. "Are these those exploding thingies?"
Blake takes out her own. "Maybe…"
"No…" Yang squints at her seal. "I don't think these are explosive tags… pretty sure I've seen this one before…"
Ruby gives her sister a look. "You mean from your porn books?"
"They're smut, not porn, okay? There's a difference."
"He said he put instructions inside." Blake fishes out the second piece of paper from her envelop. She reads, one eyebrow slowly making its way up as she does.
Each of Team RWBY's member's follow suit.
'Don't go too crazy. This isn't going to be a regular thing, okay?' Yang reads, mildly confused. She takes a moment to appreciate the messily drawn, little whiskered frowny-face drawn to the side, and then glances at the seal again, a faint itch in the back of her brain. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Then, it clicks.
She grins.
"'Emergency only? Do not use unless things are FUBAR'." Ruby reads. She tilts her head. "…'Seriously, I will punish you'?"
Weiss just glares at her letter, a mixture of disbelief and discontent souring her expression like a mouthful of lemon. Without a word, she stands and goes to the door.
"Where are you going, Weiss?" Ruby asks.
"… I'm going to go make sure this 'seal' actually works."
"What do you mean?"
Their leader's question goes unanswered as the snooty heiress leaves the room. Blake digs through her things for a moment before retrieving a small white bundle of cloth, unfurling it and taking the broken sword handle within.
"… It seems like he made each one unique for us, individually." Blake rolls up the sleeve of her bedtime yukata, takes a second seal from the envelope and wraps it around her upper arm. Next, she takes the broken remains of her weapon from the cloth and wraps the first seal around the handle.
She holds the bladeless and broken hilt forward. She tightens her grip.
And a shadowy purple flame erupts upwards from the seal, the black outline of a blade left in its wake.
The shadowy replica of Gambol Shroud pulses faintly in her grip. She flicks her wrist and the weapon, shadowed blade, broken hilt and all, disappears. Another flick. The shadowed weapon reappears in her hand.
Then, she brings up her other hand, and a shadow clone of the weapon appears in her offhand. She observes the second weapon with a raised brow.
"… Okay, that's pretty co-."
"Oh. My. GOD! THAT'S SOOOO~ COOL!"
A few rose petals pelt Blake's face as Ruby appears right in front of her with stars in her eyes, gushing over the new weapons. Yang smiles, slips the seal away and prepares to bed down for the night.
Then, Ruby appears at the side of her bed. "Hey Yang! Yang! Yang!"
"What, what, what?"
"What's your seal do?!"
"You'll see~." Yang smirks, pulls her blanket over her and rolls over.
"Awww, come on… why's mine the only 'emergency only' one?"
Ruby drops down, picks up her seal and sits on the floor with a huff. That's about when Weiss walks back into the room, silently seething.
"Hey Weiss! What's your seal do?!"
"… I don't want to talk about it." The heiress grumbles, going to prepare to sleep.
Confused by her partner's annoyance, Ruby tilts her head. Pretty sure she knows exactly what touched the snooty heiress's nerve, Yang chuckles. She grabs her scroll to send a message.
Hey 3 ty 4 the seals (^_^)
A moment. Then: d(=_= )
The night passes uneventfully for Team RWBY.
…
POP
"How unfortunate." The priest brushes some steaming black gunk from his robe, again in a dank, underground chamber. At his side, the row of plain men and women with emblemed robes and ready weapons, all do the same, wiping themselves with various degrees of disgust. "At this rate, we're going to miss our deadline."
The inhuman acolyte doesn't react, a still-breathing statue with a bit of black blood dribbling down the side of his brow.
The red-haired woman growls, brushing some mud from her face. "The fuck do you expect me to do about it? The compatibility's shit. And it's not even, like, a square-peg round-hole kind of thing either. You Kingdom piss-ants are about as tough as cheap-dust station bathroom toilet paper."
"Now, that's just rude. Would you like a fruit snack?"
"Fuck off."
"How dare you speak to his holiness that way?!" one of the acolytes sneers.
"How dare you open your fucking mouth, you pointless red shirt? Get back in line before I rip your tongue out through your asshole."
He does just that, grumbling about 'Savage elementals…'
Then, the acolyte moves.
He shifts, eyes trained on the entrance of the room.
Footsteps. An edge slicing through the air. A faint thump. Only he hears the approach.
"Someone is coming."
The followers take a defensive position around the priest. The acolyte steps in front. The red-haired woman only crosses her arms, off to the side.
The footsteps arrive around the corner. The intruder steps into the room.
One burning gold eye observes the occupants.
"Well… isn't this interesting?"
A female voice like poisoned honey fills the chamber.
Blood drips from the edge of a scimitar of black glass.
Two of the followers open fire.
Gold flares.
A wall of roaring flame erupts between them, light, heat and force carving across the chamber. The priest winces slightly. The acolyte doesn't even flinch. A few of the followers lose their footing and fall, the rest stumbling back from the wall of fire.
Then, over the cackle of the flames, two screams. One released from a man who falls with an opened back, and the other choked from the throat of a woman now with a curved tip of black glass protruding from her chest. Gold flares again. And those two screams become many as the air ignites, engulfing all but one of the followers in bright, searing flames.
And as the screams slowly die out, as the smell of charcoal and broiled flesh fill the chamber, her smile never waivers.
The last follower trembles, his mouth left hanging open in a silent scream of horror at the charcoaled bodies around him. The acolyte steps between the intruder and the priest.
The priest smiles.
"Now, that was very rude." The woman with the burning eye steps forward, releasing her weapon and body impaled upon it. "You're a difficult man to track down, Father Giwlud."
"I'm so sorry, my child. Of course, you must understand. A man of my position simply cannot make himself so readily available, as without a doubt there are those who would take advantage of such opportunities in bad faith. Please, accept my apology. Have a fruit snack."
The priest places a hand on the acolyte's shoulder. The acolyte looks to the priest for a moment, then reaches into his robe and retrieves a small, blue plastic packet.
The woman takes the fruit snack, eyes it for a moment and watches with amusement as a flame promptly incinerates the plastic packet.
The priest frowns.
"It's not good to waste nutrients like that." He scolds. "I always make sure to keep some near me. In case of emergencies. Still, it's not good to be wasteful."
"I guess we simply have different meal standards." The woman with the burning eye observes the chunks of shadowy flesh and the black mud they ooze onto the floor of the chamber. "I take it your experiments aren't going quite as planned?"
The priest stares for a moment. He returns the smile to his lips. "Why, whatever do you mean?
Glass heels pace the border of the ritual's remains. Burning gold observes a piece of still-twitching meat. "Let's not waste our breath here, father. We both know what you're doing here."
"Well, let's make sure we are both on the same page, then. I am trying to save my followers by cleansing them of the Original Sin. And you?"
With amusement, the burning gaze shifts from the remains to the priest. "Original sin?"
"Indeed! For we are, all of us, empty vessels! Made incomplete, fractured and not-whole, mere remnants of humanity at its pinnacle!" the priest spreads his arms, voice echoing in the chamber. "These 'experiments' are not failures! Nay, they are the holy fire by which the unworthy are cleansed!"
He clasps his hands together, head bowed as if in prayer. "It is only by joining together with our mortal enemies, the grimm, that we may elevate ourselves beyond humanity and to the divine! Life and destruction, Light and Darkness, the aspects of both Brothers, the Elder and the Younger, hand in hand."
"Alas, we are all imperfect and flawed creatures." The priest brings a hand to his chest. "Those with hearts filled with sin cannot accept the Children of the Younger into their bodies. The result is this… unfortunate scene before you."
He motions to a chunk of darkened meat.
"Nevertheless, he lived and died in faith. I am sure his soul is at peace with the brothers."
"'Hearts filled with sin'…?" the woman with the burning eye chuckles to herself. "What… pointless grandeur. No, the answer is much more straightforward."
She looks to the red-haired woman trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible against the wall.
"Your seal master is more of a seal novice."
No cursing, no angry retort. Just a cautious glare and a tight frown. Then, "… Just because I've got red hair doesn't mean I'm a damned Uzumaki."
A faint chuckle. "That's okay, though. Sometimes what you need isn't the touch of a seal master…"
Burning gold turns to the follower. She raises a hand.
"… Just a little bit of magic."
And the follower screams, falling to his knees and clutching his face as flames burn across his eyes and brow. Flesh melts. Liquids boil. The fire chars to the bone and then fades, the burned man collapsing into sobbing, wheezing ball on the floor.
The woman with the burning eye smiles.
"There. You should find his body to be more… agreeable now."
"Hmmm~." The priest looks to the burned man with a smile, utterly unconcerned by the gruesome scene surrounding him. "You never answered my question, miss. What are you doing here? Why do you help us?"
"Chaos is a ladder. There are parties who would, of course, stand to gain should the defense this month go… less than expected."
Burning gold turns to the priest.
"I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor, Father Giwlud."
With that, the woman with the burning eye vanishes into a crackle of flame.
A beat passes in silence. The acolyte speaks.
"Father, she… was like us."
The priest's smile only grows. "Go fetch the 'special materials' we imported from the Land of Wind for me if you would. Let's see how… authentic this young lady's magic truly is."
"… Of course."
The acolyte bows and leaves the room.
The priest leers hungrily at the sigil charred into the burned man's brow, a third eye overlaid with a four-pointed cross, nine marks spanning from temple to temple.
And the red-haired woman stares at the still-smoking bodies littering the ground, the memory of another monster with eyes of burning gold flashing through her mind.
"… I gotta get out of this fucking city."
…
A few days later…
Tonight's the night.
A sea of stars looms over Remnant, tiny pinpricks of light scattered throughout an endless scroll of dark. It's hard to get this kind of view in the city, the ambient lights and sounds of life an ever-present distraction. But out here, this far from Vale? Compared to the hustle and bustle of the city, Beacon Academy is quiet as a grave, the night of the hunters' greatest trial well upon them.
And as the 'heroes' of humanity set out in its defense, Naruto lounges atop the witch's tower, looking down as his phone buzzes.
"Got a tip… think I know where that cult leader you've been looking for is hiding out…?" Naruto reads. He sighs. "That's some pretty shitty timing you've got there, Junior."
With one last glance at the starry night sky, he heads back inside.
Used up scrolls and balls of crinkled up paper litter his desk and the area around it. A trash heap of parchment, and four lone sheets removed from the pile of discard. The fruits of his last few days and nights of labor.
Summoning.
Binding.
Amplification.
Reconstruction of concept.
Four corners of the sprawling lattice of seals he's managed to coax out. That last one was a bitch and a half too. Even now he's not got his head entirely wrapped around it, but he's confident enough to move forward. Naruto settles back into the chair with a sigh. He rubs his eye, a long shadow stretched under a glowing crimson iris.
One more night. One more night, and then he can get some rest.
He's heard the rumors of what happens to those who have lost their humanity when they sleep under the red moon. It's why he's always made sure to keep the beginning of his cycle of not-sleep and passing-out right around that time of the month. He's never experienced it for himself, but he's heard. And, right now, that's the last thing he wants or needs.
So, awake and occupied, that's how he's got to keep himself. If only to be safe. If only, if only, if only.
He takes out his scroll and glances at the time.
9:31. Most of the student teams will have left by now. Including them.
He hopes they stay safe.
Then again, that's not really fair. To them, and to everyone else. They signed up for it, after all. To face the danger, head on. And if not them, then it'll be someone else. Someone maybe less capable, and without the backup he gave them.
But, he's never really had any illusions about being a good person. So, he hopes anyway.
If not _, then someone else. If not _, then someone else. If not _, then someone else.
10:16. He finishes his fifth cup of coffee. Needing to go to the bathroom is keeping him up more than the caffeine.
…
A sudden sensation of falling. Inky blackness. The howling of wind. His thoughts come slow, as though his brain is filled with warm honey, and his reaction even slower. But, his eye snaps open and he manages to catch himself with a slam, the desk only a few inches from his face.
Naruto sits back with a groan. He stretches and checks the time.
11:12.
He goes to get another cup of coffee.
…
…
The summoning draws the soul back from the pure world, using the piece of the intended target's DNA as an anchor…
With the soul in place, that's when Reconstruction of Concept comes into play. The…
…
… The seal then creates a container of the subject in their prime. But how? It works this way, even if the target died of old age. If it brought them back into their form at the time of their death, that'd make sense but…
…
…
… I have to be missing something. There has to be another step. But where…?
…
…
…
… what defines a soul? A history imprinted… into…
…
…
…
…
… ff…
…
…
…
…
… fuck…
…
All across Remnant, the sky goes dark.
From Sanus to Anima. From Menagerie to Soshima. Night or day, the light begins to fade. The stars blink out, one by one. The sun dims, eclipsed by a veil of shadow. Darkness descends on the world of Remnant.
…
In their prisons, the Nine wake.
And they see through eyes not their own, as they have for hundreds of years.
…
In the realm between, the brothers stir from their endless slumber.
In the realm between, the sisters cry out from their eternal nightmare.
And they continue to dream, as they have for thousands of years.
…
In the land of shadows, the witch sits upon her tower.
In the land of light, the wizard stands in the streets.
And they look up to the sky, as they have for time beyond time.
…
In her eternal prison above the sky, the Mother screams out in rage.
And her fury is lost to the void of space as crimson shadows bath the land abandoned by the gods in red…
AN: Shorter chapter, but next week things kick off. Y'all excited?
Really appreciated the responses I got last week from asking what parts of the chapters you liked/disliked. So, I'll ask for that again with this chapter, and maybe take it apart it a bit to address somethings people might be interested in.
Also: For that one person confused about whether Naruto actually submitted his choice, basically he selected his choice but never hit confirm. I meant to directly respond to you in a message but I can't find the specific review anymore so hopefully you see this.
The quick interaction between Naruto and Glynda I did expand a bit because some people are more interested in getting their dynamic. Hopefully, it should be a bit more understandable why that hasn't been happening as much so far. There's reluctance on both sides and they both have other things going on.
A quick scene with Jaune and Ruby to set up a bit of what I have planned. Addressing a bit of Naruto's paranoia. I don't think there's anything particularly worth addressing here.
Weiss and Winter. Part of this is hinting at her past, a little of a shot at myself because yes, I know we're 27 chapters in and things are dragging a bit, believe me I'm aware. Also, considering how annoying the internet has been lately in bombarding me with ads about the random-ass shit celebrities have been seen doing that I really don't care about, I figured it'd be worth touching on a bit the fact that Weiss has been seen out in public in date-like scenarios with a person who very much looks like a faunus on the outside.
The next part is addressing that Blake still was pretty much without a weapon. Giving RWBY some shiny toys to use for the next couple chapters. I know there was someone who said they weren't a fan of Yang kind of being casually passive aggressive towards Weiss, but I do feel like it's one of those things that are just going to simmer under the surface until something forces it out in the open.
Last but not least, Naruto finally gets his sleep but probably in the last place/way he'd want to. A bit of a dive into the details of the Edo Tensei. And the Long Night begins. A peek at some of the background lore that's resulted from me mashing these two universes together.
Well, pretty superficial but I hope people do enjoy a few notes about my thought process in writing this chapter. Finally, I know there are some people who are annoyed by how Naruto seems content to just let Ozpin decide his future... there's a reason for that. Stay tuned. It's one of those things I can't really explain without giving you an explicit peek behind the curtain, but I hope you're still willing to enjoy the show nevertheless.
Well, that's it for this week. As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you next week.