Christ it's been a while since i even touched this one.
To be brutally honest, I was a little swamped on how to continue this one. Do I go keep things simple and stick with the staple 'Canon but with X added' plot or rock the boat and try and mix things up a bit?
You'll have to read this chapter to find out, here's hoping you're not disappointed.
Chapter 6: Divergence.
Normally my return to Grillby's would be a relatively quiet affair since Undyne tended to work late, not out of a desire to avoid me, but because she honestly enjoyed her job.
And in all honesty, how could she not, considering she went from what was essentially a slave to having a small army of loyal minions to mould into her image?
As such, most of my evenings were usually spent finishing up whatever meagre homework I was assigned before throwing myself into practicing my magic under the supervision of Gaster. If I had time afterwards, I'd take a walk around the village to cool my head, maybe even hang out with Yang, though admittedly I'd avoided doing the latter since the funeral.
However, as luck would have it, today was one of the few days Undyne had the evening free, mostly because the rest of the Guard needed a break from her sheer awesomeness in order to be able to do their damn jobs, the feckless pansies.
Now make no mistake, as much as I mock them for not being able to keep up with Undyne, that in no way meant I was anywhere near as suicidal as to believe I could complete one of her personalised workouts without collapsing in a pool of my own blood, sweat and vomit.
To put things into perspective, the only difference between Undyne's personalised drills and the infamous Hell Week that Navy Seal aspirants have to endure before they can even stand a chance of being considered for Further Training is that Undyne couldn't afford to use live explosives every day.
In all honesty, seeing the Town Guard suffer as they did only deepened my respect for those brave enough to enlist back home. After all, unlike the people of Remnant, mere Earthlings didn't have the benefit of Aura to help recover from the absolute bullshit their instructors put them through.
Getting back on track, despite having the evening off, Undyne wasn't the type of woman to sit on her ass when she could be doing something productive, which unfortunately for yours truly meant personally overseeing my After-School Training Regimen (Patent Pending).
You might be wondering why the hell she was trying to train me up so young, when even the most long-standing Huntsmen Families typically waited until the kids were at least aged ten. The answer, as many of you have likely guessed, was the by now infamous Boarbatusk Incident.
Suffice to say, like most doting parents, the idea that her charge had gotten within spitting distance of a Creature of Grimm had rustled Undyne's Jimmies rather spectacularly, especially given how she'd been the one to lead the scouting party to clear the woods earlier that very day.
And so, despite reassurances from Summer and strict orders from the town Doctor to the contrary, Undyne had taken it upon herself to ensure that the next time I found myself face-to-face with a Grimm, be it a lowly Creep or an Ursa Major, I wouldn't need to rely on anyone else to save my ass.
Now as some as you might have guessed from how over the top she could get both in-game and via the numerous memes about her, Undyne's personal workout regiments tended to lean less towards Military Drills and more something Saitama does as a cool down after his usual daily routine.
However, as 'Plus Ultra' as she tended to be when it came to…well, everything really, there was only so much she could do when training a prepubescent, particularly one who was still, at least outwardly, recovering from a broken arm.
And so, after gathering intel from various sources, and a lot of fact-checking with Summer, Taiyang and Qrow, Undyne finally managed to revise her 'basic workout routine' into something that would suffice long after my cast officially came off, up until I hit the double digits and could train for real.
Of course, it should be noted that Earth and Remnant have different understandings of the word 'Basic', which is understandable, given how the average earthling never had to worry about having his face ripped off by soulless monsters that can sense your emotions from across the continent.
Truth be told, from what little I've seen, you'd be better off comparing a basic Remnant Warm-up routine to something Saitama would do when he was first starting out, back before his hair started falling out to be more precise.
Thankfully for my self-esteem, none of the victims of Undyne's training had yet to show any signs of early onset male pattern baldness. That said, even holding back to accommodate for my injury, the sheer intensity of her workouts typically left me incapable of hauling my ass to bed afterwards.
Normally I'd try and take advantage of my 'condition' to get out of doing the full routine, or make a half-assed attempt at meeting her demands until she finally conceded and left me to my own devices, but today her workout provided the perfect excuse for me to avoid thinking about Yang.
Don't mistake me, I wasn't angry with the blonde for punching me back there. After all, not everyone had the benefit of thirty-plus years of emotional development to keep their emotions in check, and Yang had always been the emotional type, especially when it came to those close to her.
And as arrogant as it might sound, I was fairly certain that nothing anyone could say would make Yang feel any worse for punching me than she already felt. If anything, the only reason she hadn't stopped by to apologise already was because she'd most likely slipped off with Ruby to find Raven.
And before you ask, yes, the idea of the girls just wandering off into the Grimm infested woods did send a shiver down my spine. And yes, the fact I knowingly let them go off on their own would probably keep me up at night for some time despite knowing full well how this would all turn out.
It was simply a fact: Yang would drag Ruby out into the woods in search of Raven, where they would get attacked by Grimm only for Qrow to swoop in to save the day, causing Ruby to become obsessed with his fighting style and Yang to develop her mama-bear tendencies and possibly her Semblance.
In other words, there was no need for me to get involved. Hell, knowing my luck, anything I did from this point on would only make the situation worse. Better to just sit back, finish my training and wait for Yang to swallow her pride and apologise the next day at school.
What? Don't look at me like that, of course Yang was going to apologise for punching me. She might be stubborn but she's not Tsundere, and there's no way she wouldn't jump at the chance to make-up after Taiyang & Qrow rake her over proverbial hot coals for endangering Ruby like she did.
In the meantime, I was better of pushing myself to improve my physical and magical abilities, and as much as it pained me to admit it, if there was one thing Undyne was good at, besides kicking ass, it was training people up so that they could kick almost as much ass as she could.
Grillby's Backyard, evening...
"Y'know Sans, I'm starting to think the sword isn't for you." Undyne grimaced, her wooden practice sword resting lazily over her shoulder as she watched me catch my breath on the grass "Don't get me wrong, you're just a kid, you've room to grow, but it just doesn't seem to be clicking with you."
"I'm better with a sword than I was with the staff." I countered between gasps for air, wincing at the memory of that particular comedy of errors. Admittedly Undyne had been a little too earnest in her desire to teach me her preferred form of combat, but the fact remained I lacked the dexterity for it.
"Nonsense, you just need to focus on your co-ordination." Undyne countered, refusing to accept the possibility that her ward would be incapable of at least handling a spear "Now come on, back on your feet and start your drills, I'm not letting you go till sundown."
"Yes Ma'am." I groaned, rolling onto my feet with the ease of long practice, assuming the basic one-handed sword stance that had been all but pounded into my skull by this point before beginning the set of basic drills I was expected to clear until Undyne deemed me fit enough for sparring.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of said drills involved mastering the 'correct' way to hold a sword one-handed, as well as maintaining the proper stance and footwork as I swung, which let me tell you is not only a lot harder than it sounds, but also, by no stretch of the imagination, exceedingly monotonous.
Don't let those training montages fool you, it takes more than a snazzy song and a cheering section to learn how to swing a sword properly, it takes hours of dedication and honest, back-breaking work to simply be deemed 'passable'.
'People seriously don't give Jaune enough credit.' I marvelled, subconsciously correcting my stance in accordance with Undyne's instructions. Sure, by the time they reached Atlas the CRWBY had improved in leaps and bounds, but out of them all Jaune's level of growth was simply unnatural.
Think about it, the guy was the proverbial 'Blank Slate' when he debuted. Not only did he lack the combat training to even qualify for the right to even attempt the entrance exam, but the Aura needed to protect him had Pyrrha not made up for his lack of a valid landing strategy.
Hell, forget having his Aura unlocked, the Dork Knight hadn't even known what Aura was, though to be fair, that was only to be expected, given how unwise it was to have too many people with their Aura unlocked running around outside the safety of the Kingdom's walls.
Add to that the fact his weapons were considered veritable antiques, dating all the way back to the Great War no less, and by all rights his quest to become a Huntsman should have ended with his remains being scrapped off the forest floor and shipped back to his family in a match box.
And yet, despite all odds, and admittedly thanks to plot armour, the Dork Knight managed to not only rise above his shortcomings, but had improved himself to the point that, by the time they arrived in Atlas, he'd become an irreplaceable member of the CRWBY as their default Healing Tank.
'Paragon til' Death indeed.' I couldn't help but muse, a small smile forming as I tried to shake the image of the Dork Knight standing in full Paladin armour out of my head 'Will it be enough to protect him from Real Thirsty Moms tho?'
"Hm?' I paused in confusion as I lowered my sword, the reason for my sudden break in concentration being Undyne, or rather, the distinct absence of the monocular fish Faunus', a quick examination of the yard revealing that not only was she missing, but someone was apparently strangling a cat.
'Never a dull moment…' I mused, lugging the practice sword over my shoulder as I made my way to the front of the inn, figuring that Undyne would likely be found at the source of the noise, and sure enough upon rounding the corner I found my caretaker conversing with a highly incensed woman.
Or rather, I found Undyne glaring silently at said woman as she continued to screech at her like a banshee, since it was clear, even at-a-glance, that the stranger was doing all the noise making while Undyne weathered it in begrudging silence.
I could tell she wasn't one of the bar's regulars, which wasn't all that odd, given how most of the patrons tended to be men, but there was something about the square of her jaw that struck a chord in my memory.
"That's him!" the woman suddenly exclaimed, having apparently caught sight of me coming up behind Undyne, pointing a pudgy finger at my face like she was a God, passing down judgement from on high "That's the little beast who broke my baby's nose!"
Undyne POV...
"Allegedly." Undyne countered, her expression eerily calm as she continued to hold the woman's gaze until she withdrew her finger "Sans, take five and come over here." She called out, her tone brooking no argument despite never taking her eyes off the fuming woman.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that most of the locals in Patch saw Undyne as something of a badass. Between her (self-taught!) combat skills, kick-ass semblance and sheer unbreakable will, she stood as a role model not only for many aspiring Huntresses, but Faunus in general.
However, as badass as she was, that didn't mean she was above admitting her faults, and if there was any one area she would confess to lacking in expertise (aside from romance cause frig that mushy crap!) it would be the proper way to raise a child.
Admittedly, when she'd first stumbled across Sans all those years ago, she hadn't really put much thought into what to do with the kid. All she knew was that she'd be damned to abandon a baby in an SDC facility that was about to be blown sky high, regardless of what species it was.
Sure, a part of her felt scummy for running off with someone's baby, but what was she supposed to do? Leave him lying there in a pool of blood (thankfully not his own) and run the risk of him catching some disease, or worse, being caught up in the explosion?
Hell. No. Undyne wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, she had the missing eye to prove it, but she wasn't about to sink so low as to abandon a helpless child just because he'd been lucky to be born without any additional appendages to screw him over.
With that said, she did what she did best, namely buckle down and made the most of the situation, taking advantage of the presence of her fellow escapees to help care for the runt during their early years on the run.
In the end, however, the kid had wound up growing on her, to the point that, despite being presented with several opportunities to foist him off on sympathetic families, she'd stubbornly refused, coming up with all manner of excuses to keep him by her side.
'Good thing too…otherwise we'd probably still be wandering the wilds.' She mused, recalling how it had been Sans' illness that had led to her confrontation with a certain Dusty Old Qrow, which in turn led to them finding a permanent home to finally settle down.
The problem, however, was that even someone as inexperienced as Undyne could tell that Sans Dunkel wasn't your ordinary, run of the mill kid. Even setting aside his unusual maturity, there was something about the blue-eyed albino that just seemed…off, like a round peg in a square hole.
He did his chores without having to be told, hell he even helped out around the house without having to be asked, something Grillby's daughter Fuku frequently took advantage of in order to get out of her own chores where possible.
At school he was considered something of a model student by most of his teachers, with the notable exception of the Gym Coach, who apparently considered him to be the bane of his existence for reasons Undyne could totally understand, as the kid always managed to find ways to cheat his way out of doing anything beyond basic exercises.
That being said, despite his unusually maturity, aversion to physical labour and laidback, devil-may-care attitude, Sans was generally considered by many to be a polite, well-mannered young man, so much so that he managed to alienate himself from his peers due to their mother's comparisons to him.
Either way, as odd as he could be from time to time, it was clear he never meant any harm, and so Undyne saw no reason to intervene provided his grades didn't suffer, and thus far Sans had somehow managed to ace most of his exams despite rarely, if ever participating in class if he could avoid it.
Personally, Undyne liked to think it was just the kid having a damn good memory, Brothers only knew how much he liked to read, though that didn't stop her from attending a meeting with his more… sceptical professors the first time it happened, due to their suspicions of him cheating.
Needless to say, after a few choice words, most of which couldn't be repeated in polite conversation, they soon withdrew those accusations and the matter was summarily dropped. And as an added bonus, Undyne never had to attend any future PTA meetings!
As amusing as that encounter had been, however, the fact remained that Sans' unusual maturity meant there were few opportunities for Undyne to really shine as a 'parent'. If anything, she liked to see herself more as an elder sister figure than a 'Mom'.
'Especially not compared to Summer…' she sighed, ear-fins drooping as she remembered the late huntress, who so far as Undyne was concerned had been living proof that one could still be a badass after having kids, a sentiment shared by pretty much everyone in Patch.
Summer Rose was, in so many words, the living embodiment of what it meant to be both a Huntress and a mother, so much so that not even Undyne, who typically went out of her way to avoid the other parents where she could, felt next-to-no embarrassment whenever asking her for tips on raising Sans.
With that in mind, you can probably imagine the sheer impact her death had not only on her family, but the entirety of Patch. While Undyne hadn't known her as long as everyone else, the hole she left in their lives was so profound the Faunus found herself grieving alongside people she'd rather avoid.
Case in point, the banshee that was currently getting in her face about something Sans had apparently done to her 'baby boy', whom Undyne was fairly certain was the ringleader of the brats that kept trying, and failing to harass Sans at school.
With that in mind, you'd think Undyne would've cut the woman off long before now, citing that anything Sans' had done to the boy had been earned several times over, were it not for the fact that Sans' normally didn't dirty his hands like this, preferring to sit back and let Yang deal with the brats.
Now if it were anyone else Undyne would've totally teased them form relying on a girl to protect them from bullies, but having personally overseen his training she knew for a fact that Sans could handle himself just fine if pushed into a corner.
No, the reason Sans allowed Yang to deal with his would-be tormentors, aside from simply not giving a flying fuck what they thought of him, was because it was the only way for the Little Sun Dragon to roughhouse with the boys anymore until she was old enough to begin Huntress training.
'Assuming Taiyang even allows her to after what happened…' she noted, recalling the last time she saw the poor man, struggling to keep her features' neutral as Sans walked up beside her "Sans, did something happen on your way back from school that you'd like to tell me?"
Sans POV...
"Nothing much." I confessed with a dismissive shrug, watching with interest as the woman seemed to swell up like a balloon, her face turning an interesting shade of puce "The usual couple of assholes tried to pick a fight, but I managed to talk them down."
"Is that so?" Undyne mused, clearly unsurprised by this turn of events, as this wasn't the first time such an incident had been brought to her attention, though admittedly this was the first without Taiyang & Summer present "I figured something like this would happen once Yang came back."
"That blonde hooligan had nothing to do with it!" the woman spat, only to backpedal in the face of the frosty glare I levelled at her, her eyes widening as she gestured to my cast-covered arm "See! Look at his cast, it's covered in Mars' blood!"
'Wait, Fugly's name is Mars?' I gaped, honestly shocked to my core at the brass ovaries this woman must have to name her missing-link of a crotch-spawn after the Roman God of War 'Unless he's supposed to represent the chocolate bar, I just don't see the resemblance.'
"So what you're telling me…" Undyne pressed "is that Sans, who hasn't had his Aura unlocked I might add, not only managed to punch out your son, who if I recall is at least a foot taller and several pounds heavier, but that he did so with his arm still in a cast?"
I couldn't help but smirk as I watched the woman's features shift as she tried to mentally shift gears. After all, it was a well-documented fact that I was the smallest boy among the current generation, and that aside from the Boarbatusk incident, I typically avoided trouble, unlike the rest of my peers.
Indeed, the Boarbatusk incident and my general good behaviour had actually garnered me a bit of a positive reputation with the adults of Patch, so much so that one of the many reasons my peers sought me out to fight was because they were sick and tired of being found lacking in comparison.
"D-Don't you take that tone with me!" the woman tried to rally, though whether it was out of honest stupidity or stubborn pride I couldn't tell "I have witnesses that can confirm it! Mars' little friends saw the whole thing!"
"So what I'm hearing is that you're confirming that your son and his friends ganged up on Sans again?" Undyne pressed, her grin decidedly shark-like as she seemed to loom over the suddenly paling woman "I was given to understand they had been warned against such. Several times in fact."
In actuality, the one who had been lectured had been Yang, who had been cautioned against doing 'lasting damage' and 'acting more like a lady', the latter of which was completely ignored because in this day and age the only one who could question a Huntress' femininity (and survive) was herself.
"Sounds to me like your son is not only a coward that can't handle fights on his own, but the kind to go running for his mama when things don't go his way." Undyne continued, grinning toothily at the woman, who recoiled as if visibly slapped.
"If that's the case, I'd be more than willing to whip his ass into shape." Undyne proposed, somehow managing to tower over the woman as she continued to smile "Maybe make something decent out of him before he's supposed to fend off the Grimm."
"Y-You keep away from my son you FREAK!" the woman all but shrieked, backing away hurriedly before pointing at me in passing "And tell your freak son to keep his distance, or I'll have you both run out of town!"
"You and what army?" Undyne scoffed, both of us knowing full well that Patch couldn't afford to lose her, especially given the current state of affairs following Summer' death, the Faunus turning to regard me with her good eye "So what actually happened?"
"He insulted Summer." I answered simply, not particularly wanting to recount the entire affair since even mentioning it made my knuckles itch something awful, opting instead to glare at the woman until she was out of sight.
"That so?" Undyne mused, her expression unreadable as she regarded me with her good eye, the two of us standing in silence for what felt like minutes before she reached down to ruffle my hair with her free hand "Good boy.
'Am I a dog that's learned a cute trick?' I couldn't help but wonder, more than used to Undyne's rather blunt manner of praise after all this time, the two of us quickly turning our attentions back to the routines, spending the rest of the afternoon on swordsmanship until the sun began to set.
Patch Forest, Sundown...
'Maybe this wasn't such a great idea…' Yang conceded, the Little Sun Dragon biting her lip in concern as she glanced up the at the darkening sky, watching the sun slowly dip further and further below the treeline.
Like many a child of Patch, Yang had been weaned on stories that warned against staying out after dark or wandering too deep into the woods. However, as the daughter of Huntsmen, it was kind of hard for those lessons to sink in when her parents made a living fighting the very monsters in them.
To put things into perspective, not even the Boarbatusk incident had been enough to keep Yang from venturing into the woods around patch, though admittedly she did make a note of remaining within sight of the nearest human structure, or at the very least avoid areas marked off by the Town Watch.
'Have to remember to thank Uncle Qrow for teaching me the signs.' She mused, reaching up to brush her fingers over a symbol carved into the trunk of a nearby tree. To anyone else it probably would've meant nothing, but to those who knew it was a marker telling the quickest way back home.
Except…it wasn't truly 'home' anymore, was it? Home was supposed to be where you felt safe, where the people who loved you would always be waiting with open arms and a kind smile, ready to shelter you from the evils of the world, to accept you no matter what your flaws.
As much as she tried to deny it, Yang just couldn't see that definition applying to her house anymore. Time was the Xiao-Long-Rose household would've been brimming with life, laughter and love, providing all who crossed the doorway with a welcome respite against the harsh world outside.
Such days were long gone now. Ever since the Funeral, ever since her mom…since Summer Rose, had left them behind, that warm, loving atmosphere had been replaced with a hollow emptiness that threatened to smother what little life remained within the walls of the structure.
Initially, Yang had done her best to try and keep her family together, to remind them they still had each other, to assure them that everything would be okay. To step up to fill the gaping void left in their hearts by Summer Rose's death.
It wasn't too bad at first, as she was used to taking care of Ruby whenever her parents had to leave them on their own for whatever reason. Thankfully, as much as it broke her heart, it seemed the little Rosebud was too young to fully comprehend that Mommy wasn't coming home anytime soon.
But then her dad stopped going to work, outright refusing to leave the room he once shared with Summer for days at a time unless it was to drown his sorrows in booze, Yang unable to do anything but watch as her goofy, doting dad became a broken shell of his former self.
And yet she'd soldiered on, doing her best to care for Ruby whilst trying to reach out to her dad, only for her efforts to either be outright ignored or callously brushed aside. One time he'd even hurled a bottle at her, though from his drunken ranting it was clear he'd mistaken her for someone else.
Needless to say, it didn't take long for Yang to reach her breaking point, the Little Sun Dragon finally breaking down and calling Uncle Qrow for help after she almost lashed out at Ruby for breaking a glass at the dinner table.
Now as much as Qrow liked to play the role of a cool aloof uncle to contrast her dad's overprotective nature, that didn't mean he couldn't be serious when the time called for it. Drinking issues aside, even Summer had nothing but praise for her uncle's skills as a Huntsman.
Needless to say, it really was a testament to how far her dad had fallen when Qrow Branwen, notorious for always having a flask of the strongest alcohol he could find about his person at all times, had taken one look at the situation and decided to hold an intervention.
It didn't end well.
To this day she could still recall the clashing of bone and sinew, the shattering of glass and the splintering of wood as her father tore into her uncle whilst screaming bloody murder, calling the man every name under the sun while blaming him for Summer's death.
Suffice to say, blows were exchanged, feelings were hurt, and the end result was Taiyang making a sullen effort to get his act together and seek counselling, during which times Qrow would occasionally pop in to check on the girls, otherwise the two men actively avoided one another.
It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but at the very least it took most of the responsibility of caring for the house off Yang's shoulders, and it really did seem like the counselling sessions were doing her dad wonders…at the very least he remembered he had daughters to care for.
Of course, the biggest change to come out of that clusterfuck had to be the revelation that Summer Rose was not, in fact, Yang's biological mother. A fact Yang probably would've gone her whole life without knowing if she hadn't stumbled across The Photo while cleaning up after the fight.
Needless to say, given the woman's resemblance to Yang and Qrow, it didn't take long for Yang to start putting the pieces together, though nothing could've really prepared her for the revelations she received when she confronted her uncle with the photo while her dad was off at counselling.
Suffice to say, this wasn't the first time her father's life had been uprooted following the 'loss' of a loved one. If anything, this time was worse, as he couldn't just pack up his belongings and make a fresh start where he wouldn't be reminded of his lost love without abandoning his daughters too.
While Qrow had remained cagey on the exact specifics behind her mother abandoning them, outright forbidding her from asking her dad about it until he'd 'gotten his head straight', he did confirm that not only was she alive, but she apparently had a means of checking up on them from time to time.
To Yang, that meant the woman had to be somewhere relatively nearby, close enough to Patch that she could keep an eye on her family, yet far enough away that the odds of them ever-crossing paths was nigh impossible.
Which leads her back to her current predicament, standing in the middle of the woods, debating whether she should turn back for now and face a lecture from her dad and uncle, or press onwards in the hopes of finding her elusive mother.
It went without saying that, having already gone through one near-death experience courtesy of an 'infant' Boarbatusk, she wasn't exactly in a hurry to become acquainted with any of the more exotic, nocturnal Grimm that made the shadows their home.
And it wasn't as if there was anything stopping her from trying again tomorrow, right? All she'd have to do is wait for her father to either leave the house or drink himself into a stupor and she'd be free to set out whenever she wanted.
A groan from the wagon drew her attention to the slumbering form of Ruby, Yang's features softening as she watched the little rosebud curl into a ball beneath Summer's old cloak, having long-since fallen asleep during their long trek through the woods.
"So you're going to drag her into the woods filled with Grimm on the off chance this woman you think is your mother can magically fix everything?"
"Stupid jerk…" she grumbled, honestly not sure if she meant Sans or herself, a shiver racing down her spine as she recalled the expectant look in his eyes as she reared back to slap him across the face, almost as if he knew it was coming but egged her on anyway "What would you have done…hm?"
Out of the corner of here eye she spotted another mark carved into a tree, one that she knew all too well, as it was the identical to the ones her dad carved into the trees near their home so she and her friends could find their way back in the event they got lost playing around in them.
Now obviously her father would never have permitted her to come out this far without supervision, if at all, so the fact she had stumbled across one of his guideposts pointing deeper into the woods meant this was clearly not meant for her, but rather for anyone seeking shelter.
'There's no way we'll make it back to town before it gets dark.' She reasoned, her brows furrowing in determination as she pressed on deeper into the woods, heedless of the crowing of a raven overhead 'Just hang on a little more...I'll fix everything, you'll see!'
Grillby's, the following morning...
"Is it just me or is it a little dead in here?" I wondered aloud as I toyed with my porridge the following morning, glancing around the unusually barren interior of Grillby's in a futile bid to ignore my muscles as they voiced their complaints with yesterday's events "Seriously, what time is it anyway?"
"It's already after nine." Fuku called out from the kitchen, where she was already fast at work manning the stove until Grillby came back, having seemingly stepped out earlier to get something from the grocery store "Don't worry so much, things are usually pretty slow in the mornings."
"Not on a weekend." I reminded her, giving up on the porridge with a grunt as my jaw ached from where Yang clocked me the other day "Normally the Night Watch would've already finished their third round of coffee by now…hell I don't think any of our regulars showed up today."
"Fine by me. Just means there's less for me to clean up." Fuku chirped, humming a little tune to herself as she turned back to the stove, prompting me to scoff and slide off my stool, abandoning my half-eaten bowl in favour of making my way to the washroom to freshen up.
There appears to be a commotion outside.
"Whatever it is, Undyne can handle it." I grunted as I finished washing up, glancing out the window just in time to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a rugby scrum in the town square…a scrum composed entirely of members of the Town Watch, all struggling to hold down a familiar figure.
"Wait a sec…is that…Taiyang?" I wondered, blinking at the sight of the elder Sun Dragon as he struggled to throw off the growing mountain of people piling on top of him, the fact he was even struggling at all a testament to how far he'd fallen because of Summer's death "The hell is going on here?"
"Yang and Ruby have gone missing." Grillby replied as he stepped back into the tavern with a bag of groceries held in his arms "Apparently they slipped out while Taiyang was at his counselling session. He's been tearing the whole village apart looking for them."
"Yikes." I grimaced, though internally I breathed a sigh of relief, since it seemed things were still well on track "I'm guessing that explains where all the regulars are." I mused "Shouldn't take too long for them to turn up, not with Qrow tearing the woods apart looking for them."
You know that scene where someone says the wrong thing and everything just stops? No sound, no movement, just a sea of eyes turning to stare at the poor bastard as they wonder just what the hell they said?
That was the scene I currently found myself, turning round only to be met with a concerned looking Fuku and a grim-faced Grillby, the bartender setting his bag of groceries on the bar before getting down on one knee to look me in the eye, placing a solemn hand on my shoulder.
"Sans…Qrow left for Anima on a mission two days ago. Yang and Ruby have been missing since LAST NIGHT."
And we'll leave things there for now.
Well then all you naysayers who derided me for 'sticking too close to canon', are ya happy now?
But in all honesty, this was actually kind refreshing to write. Of all the ideas i was able to brainstorm with a good friend of mine, this is the one which eventually spoke out to me.
So yeah, Yang and Ruby went out in the woods in search of a missing Mama Bird. Only this time, they didn't have their Drunken Guardian Angel watching over them.
How will this little wrinkle affect things?