Poll on my profile. Take a look if you can. Take note that I'm only going to go for the MHW xover option if an OVERWHELMING majority of you want that instead of the sequel for some reason.
Apologies in advance since this is so short (it is a bonus mini-chapter though, so it's short to begin with), but the review response will probably make this chapter seem much longer than it actually is at a glance.
Ch 48.5 - Break the Chains!
A/N: Yes, the title is a socialist reference. More specifically to the battle cry of the anarcho-syndicalists in the Hearts of Iron IV mod Kaiserreich. Kinda appropriate considering what this chapter covers. Anyways, at the time of chapter 48, I didn't want to write about the encounter between Weiss and her dad, but I still needed to cover it since things changed. So it was relegated to a recollection from Roman Torchwick. Now, a few months later, I decided to write it out. I originally planned to make this a flashback in Of Embers and Aura, but I figured it would do fine as a surprise, stand-alone bonus chapter in From Ashes to Dust. Enjoy!
P.S. This is NOT continuous with the rest of the story. This happened at some point between the end of Ch 47 and Roman's POV in Ch 48.
Next bonus chapter is at 512 reviews.
Review Response:
Alduin1298: Oh that was a good chapter. I forgot that Tyrian was still slinking around but it would make sense for him to try and kill Patches, Roman, and Neo for not doing what Salem says. I can definitely see Roman still being alive due to Tyrian probably making him suffer for disobeying "the goddess". I just wonder how Tyrian is going to react to Vyliria, and maybe Patches if he shows up in time, especially with the arsenal Vyliria has in both physical weapons and her spells.
My response: Like I've said before, Chekhov's gun. If I mention something, that's because I intend to use it. It may not be used for another 20 chapters, or may not crop up again until book three, but I WILL use it at some point.
That said, anything about that fight falls under the realm of spoilers.
GiantPsychoGecko: Ah a fellow New Yorker! Aside from the flooding basement is your home intact? I recall after hurricane sandy I saw a whole ass house had been floated onto my street from across the marina. While the storm last night wasn't anywhere near that there was still a tornado watch and a flash flood warning, though I suppose you already knew about the latter. Have my well wishes and good tidings!
(additionally in PM because he forgot to put it in the review): I look forward to Vyliria's reunion with Patches. Given how she's spoken of him and the other npcs previously, I would've thought she'd be happy to hear atleast one of them survived, but her dialogue in chapter 49 says to me that terms between the two are complicated at best. So I'm anticipating eagerly what you do with such an event.
My response: I mean, I LITERALLY got flash-flooded, and the whole time I had an ear peeled because there was a tornado advisory in Queens and a tornado WARNING in the Bronx and Manhattan and I was terrified that I'd have to drop everything at a second's notice and hide in the puddle under my desk (never-mind the lightning that struck a block away from my house and left after-images in my retinas for 10 minutes and had my ears ringing from the boom.)
Well, thanks to my being in the basement as stuff kicked off, I managed to minimize property damage at the expense of personal exhaustion. Might have to buy a new rug or three, because when the water was coming in I had a choice to save the rugs or decade-old books on bottom bookshelves and I didn't hesitate to choose the literature, but 15 hours after the fact, everything's finally under control, and all that's left is to thoroughly clean the basement when the folks get home and then spend another two hours moving everything BACK. That said, the garage flooded a good six inches (and it's a double garage with room for two cars, a bunch of storage shelves in the back, and then some, so that was probably a couple gallons of water in there), and I had to wade in ankle-deep water multiple times in my water-tight winter boots in order to get some old towels on top of the shelves in there. If my cell wasn't almost dead when it started, and if I wasn't afraid of unplugging it because there was a real chance the power would go out, I would have absolutely taken some photos and video. It was nuts. At one point I got so sweaty I had to go into the garage again to get some paper towels off the top shelf to wipe myself down because I was starting to drip sweat at an absurd rate, then I had to go upstairs and drink 5 glasses of water to rehydrate. And I didn't have to use the bathroom until this morning, so my body literally absorbed all that water to make up for what I lost from sweat. Five glasses worth of sweat... By the time I clocked out at 1am, after an hour of crisis mode and another 2 of using towels to soak up water and then wring them out in the downstairs shower, I was literally swaying on my feet and had to stop and go to bed because I genuinely thought I was going to pass out in the still-wet basement.
Let me tell you, that adrenaline rush hits like something else. Adrenaline might be a natural drug produced in your own body, but that just means you can naturally get high off of it, and dear Gwyn, that feels amazing. Of course, then the crash came, and that's when I nearly conked out in the middle of soaking up water with an already-wet towel. I'm still exhausted, but as long as I don't have to leave the house for anything major I think I'll be fine for today.
They came to an understanding in the Ringed City, and had a chat after he went to the Purging Monument, and parted on... amicable terms.
Still, they aren't exactly friends, but definitely aren't enemies either.
ScreamingStuka: Very interesting how Pyrrha gets the Wyverns soul transposed weapon, and how it mirrors how she uses he semblance.
Makes sense how a weapon with THREE configurations could be deemed less durable, same way Mass Effect guns are usually compared to those of other verses ie Halo. Sure it may fold down for easy storage, but can you beat a Xeno to death with it and keep using it? probs not.
Poor patches getting blind sided by Tyrian, but I know it's gonna bite him in the ass when Patches comes back and boots him like a soccer ball.
And tragic backstory Neo. Right in the feels. I'm now imagining Vyliria asking Roman if the position of "Magic Siegbrau Aunt" is available. Story time at Juniors! could be a way for Vyliria to make a bit of cash, retellings of her tales across Lothric.
Awesome chapter as always. Eagerly await what comes next!
My response: Like I said, it was a complete fluke that the weapon ended up with that ability. I did not have that in mind when I was writing, and it only occurred to me to do that after I remembered, that I had the Wyvern re-absorb the Grimm it spawned. That was actually exactly what I had in mind, lol! Patches does have a spare horsehoof ring. Glad you're enjoying it!
IL0VPINKUWU (ch 18): What's up with the lack of apparent focus points? I haven't seen anyone grow tired from using spells save for that one time that Vyliria used soothing sunlight. Is this to say that no one has reached their limit with spells or that focus points aren't an apparent thing in the series.
Which kinda leads to my next question, if Vyliria has FP, how big is the difference between the amount she has and the amount everyone else has?
Which is loosely tied to my next question, does she actually 'level up' through the fire keeper and, if so, how has that affected the strength she has.
Sorry for the questions.
My response: I made an executive decision early on that focus points felt too "gamey." I decided to basically equate spell stamina to the natural stamina a person has, so that they couldn't really get exhausted from using magic until they reached the point of physical exhaustion as well. Basically, you have to wear yourself out completely to deplete your spell-casting capabilities as well. There are some exceptions to this. Casting spells that are too advanced for you wears you out significantly faster, as does casting miracles that you don't have enough faith in its patron deity for. I established that Vyliria isn't good with healing miracles to begin with, so while she can pull off soothing sunlight in a pinch, it takes a lot out of her to do it, and after her faith in Gwyn was shaken by learning the truth about his role in how f**ked up the world was in the Age of Fire, she can't actually manage to cast sunlight spear at all, even if she does have the spell.
Ultimately, I'm deliberately playing fast and loose with spells, because leaving how exactly a person handles casting them and how much they can do so lets me write a more entertaining story, and by avoiding things that feel too much like game mechanics, I don't ruin the immersion.
As for Vyliria's spells, I did say that her in-game character was around level 350, and while that has no bearing on the actual story, it should serve as a baseline for an idea of the combat capability she brings to the table.
In Dark Souls, as the world breaks down each time the First Flame starts to fade, the undead of the world end up using souls as a currency. Firekeepers work by channelling the souls an undead absorbs into strengthening the undead's soul and body directly. Vyliria's absorbed a LOT of souls since her first death, and has managed to hold onto most of them long enough to get to the nearest firekeeper and spend them. Why do you think she's the only character that I've had who uses spells from more than one school of magic? There are a LOT of souls packed into that unkindled.
Questions are fine. I'm happy to answer them.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Souls or RWBY. Dark Souls belongs to From Software and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I only own my own OC.
(Weiss)
It was a few days after the attack on Beacon when Father arrived. They'd all been in temporary lodgings in the city proper while professional huntsmen were making final sweeps to ensure Beacon was completely cleared of Grimm, before they'd be allowed back to their dorms. Team RWBY was watching its leader work on the newest facet of her semblance when the limousine pulled up. Of course Jacques Schnee would be willing to throw however much lien it took to get the limo he used in Atlas shipped all the way to Vale for a twenty minute drive from the airport. The vehicle came to a stop, and two company bodyguards exited the vehicle before opening the door for Father. The man stepped out, disdain clearly plastered on his face, pulling out his scroll to check an address as Weiss froze on the spot, her team taking notice of that and not him. Apparently satisfied, Father placed the device in a pocket before looking up, blue eyes scanning before finding his youngest daughter. Like Wiess, he was fair-skinned with white, slicked-back hair. He had a large, thick white mustache on his upper lip. He was dressed in a pure white double-breasted blazer with a red handkerchief in the breast pocket, below which was a light-blue dress shirt, vest and a white clip-on tie, printed with the Schnee emblem. His silver-colored wedding ring was on his right hand.
"Weiss!" he began in a sickeningly sweet tone, and the heiress had to fight back the urge to shiver. "I'm so glad you're safe!" His smile didn't reach his eyes, and Weiss could hear Yang growl from behind her, while in the corner of her eye she saw Blake stiffen, faced with the man whose actions had started the White Fang down the path they were on today. "You've done such an exemplary job in defending Beacon Academy, even fighting a Grimm wyvern, truly showing the values our family embodies." Weiss felt ill, and noticed Blake's fists clench. For all her teammate had done in trying to put violence as a means to combat racism behind her, being confronted by Father was evidently sorely testing her, not that Weiss could blame Blake.
"It was nothing, Father," Weiss said diplomatically. "I was just doing my duty as a huntress."
"Yes yes, about that," he began flippantly, "I was hoping that you'd have long since become disabused with the notion, but evidently this kingdom has knocked all the sense from you. You've recklessly endangered yourself repeatedly, and evidently forgotten the sorts of people who you should be associating with," he continued, throwing a pointed glance at the cat ears atop Blake's head. "A Belladonna? After what they've done to our family, and the law-abiding citizens of the world? Quite frankly I'm surprised that Vale hasn't already locked the animal up for her crimes."
"Excuse me?!" Blake all but shrieked at him, rage plastered across her face. Yang stepped up, deploying Ember Celicia, as Father's guards raised pulse rifles.
"Who the hell do you think you are-" Father cut Yang off.
"Someone who will ensure you never see the light of day without prison bars in the way again if you so much as lay a hand on me," he said, smugness plastered across his face. Yang looked a few seconds from going in pyromancy blazing regardless, but managed to rein in her temper and step back to a position next to Weiss.
Weiss, as much as she'd honestly like to use her own spellcraft on the man for his insults, tried to defuse the situation. "What do you want, Father?"
"So ungrateful," Father scathingly remarked, "I'm here to take you back to Atlas, of course. Obviously this kingdom isn't capable of defending itself, and no daughter of mine will be allowed to stay under such threat from the Grimm."
An epiphany occurred to Weiss at that moment. The man in front of her was the embodiment of everything wrong with Atlas. He was the man who'd ruined the company her grandfather had made, and who'd made her childhood a nightmare she'd nearly died to escape from. But now, when faced with this terror that haunted her nightmares, she realized she wasn't afraid of him anymore. Her short time at Beacon had given her more than Father ever had (not to mention that a Grimm wyvern, terrorists, and a homicidal Fall Maiden were much more terrifying foes to face than a morally bankrupt CEO). She wasn't going to be his pawn. She wasn't going to let him take everything she'd gained here away. She wouldn't let him take her away from her friends. "Weiss? You're a good person. And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying through their teeth." Vyliria was right then. And sometimes, all it took to be a good person was to stand up to a bad one, however much they wished they didn't have to. And Weiss was ready to prove the Irithyllian right now as well.
"No."
The silence that followed was as deafening as the time Vyliria had fired a soul stream directly overhead during the Breach. Jacques Schnee narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard that right. Would you care to repeat that, Weiss?"
She swallowed, and took a breath. "I… am not going back with you to Atlas. I am going to stay with my friends, and continue to work towards becoming a huntress."
"You seem to think you have a choice," Jacques said. Aggravation made its way into his facial expression, rapidly giving way to anger. "You don't."
"Actually, she does," Ruby finally spoke up. "Her birthday was May eighteenth, so she's eighteen now. Which means that since she's an adult in Atlas you can't legally force her to go with you if she doesn't want to!" she finished with an optimistic smugness that Weiss knew only Ruby could display.
A wicked grin spread across the CEO's face. "Unless of course, she's mentally unsound. And clearly, the attack on Beacon has caused her undue stress, so I need to bring her home so she can receive professional help."
"Because any court of law is gonna believe that!" Yang shot out.
"Which courts? The Atlesian courts where a case like this would occur?" Jacques began. Weiss felt a pit open in her stomach. "The courts who are so generously funded by the SDC? The courts that would have the best lawyers that money can buy serving me? Because I think those courts would be quite inclined to share my point of view." Weiss' heart was hammering in her chest. She couldn't breathe. He was going to take everything from her anyways, and she'd never get to be free again, she'd never get to see her friends, she'd never get to-
"Excuse me?" a new voice asked, as polite as humanly possible. Magic hummed as the Moonlight Greatsword was leveled at Jacques and his guards shifted their aim to Vyliria Avalon. "I'm terribly sorry to butt in on a family matter, but you seem to be causing my dear friend Weiss an egregious amount of undue stress, so I'm afraid that I'll have to kindly ask you to fuck the Izalith off, you pretentious prick," Vyliria finished with clear rage in her tone as she positioned herself between Weiss and Jacques. The rest of the Irithyllian's team waiting nearby for the moment, though their hands never strayed far from their weapons.
"You-" he began, stepping back with terror in his eyes even as he pretended to be in control of the situation, but the unkindled was having none of it.
"Yeah," Vyliria cut him off. "I fear neither you nor your money, so you may as well save your breath on the threats, arsehole."
Jacques was evidently so enraged by the insult that he failed to notice what was going on behind him, as Weiss saw a VNN news van pulling over down the block, and then Weiss struggled to not have her eyes bug out as she saw the most famous reporter in Vale within as the doors to the vehicle opened. She had a knee-length black skirt and a black vest above a lavender shirt, fair skin, golden brown eyes, and white, somewhat purple hued hair. Lisa Lavender and a cameraman quietly exited the van, the reporter doing a very brief intro while they were still out of earshot before making their way closer as fast as they silently could. What he didn't miss was the whine of an Atlesian military bullhead touching down in front of him, the street starting to fill up as several Atlesian soldiers fanned out, shortly followed by Winter Schnee and General Ironwood.
"Oh. Winter," Jacques all but spat. "What a pleasant surprise," he said with a tone indicating it was anything but.
"I came as soon as I heard you were in Vale, Jacques," she replied with vitriol. "And it would appear that I was right in my assumption as to why you would come here."
"Well, excuse me for being concerned about my daughter's mental health!" he shot back.
"It would be strange that you'd be concerned about Weiss' mental health, sir," Pyrrha suddenly cut into the conversation, her expression and tone a practiced one that she'd used many times in her career. "As her close friend, I can assure you that in all of my interactions with her, both before and after the attack on Beacon, she's been perfectly sound of mind."
"You know," Blake added, "I don't think that the word of Pyrrha Nikos is something that you can buy your way past in court," she snidely remarked.
"General Ironwood," Jacques attempted to circumvent the growing group opposing him, "surely you'll help me. I'm merely doing what's best for my daughter!"
James Ironwood took a single impassive glance towards the CEO, before shifting his gaze to Weiss. "Miss Schnee," he began calmly, the ghost of a grin gracing his face. "Would you dispute your father's claim that your mental health is suspect? It is of course your right to do so under Atlesian law."
Emboldened by the support around her, Weiss confidently replied, "I most certainly would, General Ironwood."
"Then you wouldn't object to receiving a mental screening from an unbiased mental health specialist onboard the Bulwark, would you? A military specialist who has spent years learning to identify and treat mental trauma caused by battle would surely be able to verify your claims, after all."
The look on Jacques face as the realization sunk in was priceless, his jaw actually dropping. Weiss sorely regretted not taking a picture of his facial expression… so of course a click caused her to turn just in time to witness Vyliria sending her scroll back to her storage, having evidently done just that. She made a mental note to request the photo be sent to her own scroll at a later time. "Of course, General. I wouldn't object to that at all."
"And besides," the Irithyllian spoke up, "If Weiss doesn't want to go, I'll make sure she isn't leaving, and it's not like you could even kill me to stop me," she blatantly threatened, just to add the icing to the cake.
Jacques jaw clenched, and it seemed it took everything he had not to go on an explosive tirade. But then his eyes widened, and his expression settled. "Very well. It seems that too many people are conspiring against me to do the right thing. Though they can stack the courts against me, it's plainly obvious that Weiss needs mental aid. And I just can't be so heartless as to burden her with the duties of being heiress to the SDC while she's thus afflicted." Weiss' eyes widened. No, he isn't- "Therefore, effective immediately, I designate my son Whitely as the heir to the company."
There were a few seconds of silence, as Weiss felt her hopes and dreams fall into a pit, before Vyliria bluntly called out, "I don't suppose you'd all be willing to just let me kill him, and then fabricate a story about him suffering a horrible accident before news of that gets public, would you?"
"Sorry Miss, but even though that was heartless enough that even I would be willing to look the other way, this broadcast is live, so that's a bust," Lisa Lavender finally announced her presence.
Even as Jacques spluttered in shock and mounting horror as he realized that this was being seen across Vale, Vyliria replied, undeterred. "Damn. Well, it was worth a shot to ask regardless."
At those words, Weiss felt that yawning chasm inside her suddenly fill with anger, and with nothing left to lose, emboldened by the fact that she was live and what she said next would be heard regardless of who her father paid, she lashed out to spite him. "Fine! See if I care, Jacques! See if I care about the opinions of a selfish, greedy, racist pig! Because I don't! Because my friends care about me more than the man who admitted he only married my mom for the company and the money on my tenth birthday party ever did!" She took a breath, and went for the kill. "And maybe I don't want to inherit the company, after you've dragged its name through the mud. Maybe I don't want to inherit the desecrated corpse of my grandfather's legacy! And I certainly don't want to inherit a company that brands faunus!"
"How dare you accuse your own father of abiding such an abhorrent-"
"I fought Adam Taurus, you know," Ruby butt in. "He had a brand across his eye. A brand that read "SDC". I might still think everything he's done was wrong, but even I can't blame him for the path he went down."
"And I saw it quite clearly when he was trying to kill us, besides the fact that I knew he'd been branded years before I first met him. Which was the better half of a decade ago," Blake added.
"As if the word of an terrorist is worth anything in a-"
"Oh fuck you!" the faunus shouted back as she flipped the man off, clearly having had enough with him. Yang took a step forwards, cracking her knuckles, and the CEO took a step back when he realized neither Ironwood nor the other soldiers were moving to interfere.
"They never retrieved the body from Beacon! You can't prove anything!" Jacques tried changing the subject.
"Actually," Vyliria said, "despite the fact that the White Fang evidently collected his corpse before the authorities could, when I removed the greatarrow I killed him with from the body, I turned it around briefly to take a look. Normally, my religious covenant would have me sever his ear as proof of his death, but after I saw his face, I decided I could make an exception. Of course, that didn't stop me from taking a photo, just in case something like this occurred. Being paranoid tends to pay off more often than not for me." She called her scroll back to hand in a flicker of embers, and walked over to Lisa. "You might want to issue a viewer discretion warning. I don't think any children need to see this."
Lisa did just that, while Vyliria pulled the photo up and held it before the camera. "If the General wants to check the photo to ensure its authenticity, he's welcome to do so." Ironwood nodded, deftly catching the electronic device when Vyliria tossed it to him. "There's no password. I don't need one, since no one can steal it from my storage."
Weiss turned her gaze back to Jacques, only to see him (and his guards) gone, as the limo began to drive away. Winter was the first person to speak, saying, "I never thought I'd see the day he was so soundly thwarted that he'd outright flee. Color me impressed."
"I have my moments," Vyliria replied with a smug tone while Lisa ended her broadcast in the background, "Such as a few minutes prior, when I used my personal line to Ironwood to ask him to inform Winter that her father was here and most likely about to make Weiss quite miserable. Or how right after that I, asked Pyrrha to get in touch with the closest news agency and ask them to send someone over for a live interview. Sorry about having Pyrrha lie about that, by the way."
"I'm sorry as well," the Mistralian offered.
"You know," Lisa said, "given the scoop I just got, I can forgive that, no problem."
Weiss stepped up to Vyliria. "Thank you," she said, wrapping a suddenly surprised Irithyllian in a hug.
The unkindled returned the gesture. "I promised to protect my friends. That includes you."
"Yeah!" Ruby shouted. "Team RWBY's staying together! Group hug!"
"Wait!" Vyliria exclaimed, only to get bowled over as she and Weiss were suddenly dogpiled by seven other people, even as the adults watched on with bemusement.
"You dolt!" Weiss shouted at Ruby as she was crushed directly by her partner. That said, she didn't hesitate for a second in hugging her back, and she certainly couldn't keep a beaming smile off her face.
()
A/N: Oh boy, that took me two hours to write.
Don't really know why, but it felt weird to look up Weiss's canonical birthday date.
Also, leave it to Vyliria to straight up not give a fuck and outright ask if she can stab a corporate CEO to death, despite knowing she's live on national television.
Anyways, enjoy this more lighthearted scene before we dive into the last fight between now and the sequel.
Also, an idea just popped into my head: Friday Night Funkin, but Boyfriend is Ruby and Girlfriend is Penny, who's vibing on the stereo, as the Red Reaper duels Arthur Watts in a rap battle to defeat his virus. Or literally any of the villains in the show, really. Like, picture Ruby rap battling Adam to an FNF version of Lionize, or something else on that level of absurdity. That'd be funny AF.
Thanks to Kuie Jin, for giving the ship name Murder of Sin for Vyliria x Qrow. That's getting added to the list. And I will always be open to suggestions for the list as well.
(remove any spaces and underscores, replace any (slash) a "/" or ".", because FFN is annoying like that)
www_. deviant_art (slash) vyliria
http_s : _(slash)(slash)www.p_a tre_on.c om (slash) joecola