Volume 1

Chapter 31

366

Part 3

January 18th, 3BFB

Kuchinashi, Mistral, Remnant

The Skillful

Looking back, I never really thought of it this way at the time, but The Skillful Tavern was in many ways to the city of Kuchinashi, what the Xiong Family's Bear's Den was to the city of Vale. Though it did not serve as a gang hideout the way The Bear's Den did for The Xiong Family, it was still an excellent place for mercenaries and fixers to connect, while also being an excellent venue for young people to have a date night, or just hang out in order to be cool… Assuming, of course, that the shady reputation of the place wasn't enough to scare you away, and that you also possessed a Hunter's License, legitimately obtained or otherwise. And as you've likely figured out by this point in my tale, I was not the type to be turned away by a little bit of danger, especially when the two previously mentioned factors made The Skillful such an excellent place to spend some of my free time.

However, with that being said, I had yet to visit the establishment as a mercenary; with my winning a local tournament and thus becoming a contestant in the MRCT, my face and, much more importantly, my equipment and combat style, were now recognizable. I was by no means a true celebrity, not yet, but I had definitely placed myself squarely on the radar of anyone who followed the MRCT. While it would go on to open several doors for me in the shady underworld of that city, it also meant I had to take precautions. Say that I had taken a job and used Cloudburst; if there were witnesses, the uniqueness of my weapon ensemble would make it all too easy to put two and two together and identify Caerulean Enfield, up and coming MRCT contestant, as a criminal. I did still have the as-of-then unnamed gauntlets which I had created shortly after joining Cinder's gang, which were a little less unique and thus allowed for plausible deniability if I ever had cause to use them in my public persona, but I had no idea how well integrated the criminal databases of Atlas, Vale, and Mistral may or may not have been. There was no telling whether or not anyone in Mistral might think to note the similarities between any theoretical crimes I committed in Mistral with those I had already committed in Vale: mainly, our assault on The Bear's Den, and the murders of Ronald Springfield and Summer Rose at Fairbrook. As to the former, it was highly doubtful that it was even recorded by the authorities in Vale, likely being written off as a turf war between the local gangs, but the Fairbrook Incident was different; Summer had been one of, if not the most famous Huntress in the world, and accompanied by none other than Winter Schnee, whom we had allowed to live in order to report the tale. It was a foregone conclusion that a description of both my disguised self and my gauntlets existed in the records of both Atlas and Vale, which is why I had designed new weapons afterwards, and why I could not at this point in the tale take a chance and use the old ones for criminal activities. I was unique among the gang for choosing to change my style after that event, the others calling me paranoid… but considering that you never thought to place me at Fairbrook, I would hazard to guess that my caution paid it's dividends. Said caution meant that I would have to stay on the up and up for a while, and what better way to do that than by doing what the cool people do and hanging out at a trendy bar?

The phrase 'hanging out,' however, might not have been a very apt description of how Lee was spending his time in The Skillful on this particular occasion. No, it would be much more appropriate to say he was 'moping around' in this instance. Alone at a table in the corner, slouched over his half empty drink, which he was dragging his finger along the rim of and not even paying attention to his surroundings? In a place (in)famous for attracting trouble? Yes, it would be a fair bet to say that Lee had a lot on his mind, much of it unpleasant.

'How did it come to this?' An outside observer might ask. After all, Lee was, at the moment, a bit of a local celebrity; winning one of the qualifiers for the MRCT will do that, especially with how handily Lee had dispatched some of his opponents. With that dose of fame, one might expect someone as young as Lee to feel as if he was on top of the world. So for him to be expressing the exact opposite? It had those who recognized him gossiping. And considering The Skillful was a Huntsman-only bar? Everyone recognized him.

"Do you think he was mad that the tournament was too easy? Jerk!"

"I hear he was accused of cheating somehow!"

"Don't be stupid, it's impossible to cheat. They do drug tests, you know!"

"Well… maybe he bribed the tester!"

"What? How- Why do I even bother with you?"

Had Lee heard the last part of that particular conversation, it might have succeeded in pulling him out of his slump enough to make him laugh out loud. But no, so lost was he in his own thoughts, that he hadn't even heard it.

"Maybe his -hic- girlfriend dumped -hic- him?"

"Puh-lease, like, any girl who'd dump him right now would have to be, like, a frosty be-atch! Like, have you seen those muscles?"

"Yeah, and maybe that's why! You saw how tiny that girl was? Maybe it's a, hehehe, compatibility issue, if you know what I mean."

"Oooooookay, that's enough booze for you two! Fucking bimbos… Barman! Some water for my friends, please!"

It was probably for the best that Lee didn't happen to hear that particular snippet of conversation, or he might have seriously considered introducing one of its' participants face to his fist.

"Somebody has to have died."

"Yeah, but who? When he gave that interview after the tournament, he mentioned that he's an orphan and lives with his tutor. He may not have mentioned who it was, but somebody good enough to train him would surely be famous enough to have been on the news if they died, right?"

"You know that not everyone with that kind of talent likes to advertise it, or else most of us wouldn't be here."

"Okay, fair, but that kid's mentor has to be good for him to already move the way he does. Maybe they aren't the type for the limelight, but don't you think someone like that would at least be known of around here?"

Oh, how close that last pair was to the truth, on all accounts. While they were correct to assume that someone had died, what nobody knew, and what absolutely nobody in their right minds could possibly even guess, was that Lee was currently mourning his own death. The current day marked the one year anniversary of his arrival on Remnant, if one were to count from the day that he regained consciousness in that apartment over in Vale. One year to the day that he learned that his old life on Earth had ended, and who could even begin to guess what his family and friends back home must have thought had happened to him… Given the change of physical appearance he had been subjected to, Lee could only assume that he'd left a physical body behind, and he could only hope that had been enough to give his loved ones some form of closure. He felt it would be much more preferable to the alternative in which he had simply disappeared, which would definitely raise a few more unresolved questions about the incident, in addition to those he already had. Chief among those being: "Why me?" As far as Lee was aware, there should not have been anything to truly set him apart from anybody else. Sure, he believed himself to be smarter than the average person, and probably a fair bit luckier too, even before The Event…

With a sigh, Lee shut down that line of thought. He doubted he would ever know just what had happened, and why it had happened to him, so he wouldn't waste time on it, not if he could help it. Not when he had so many other things to think about. Though Cinder was a relentless taskmaster, keeping Lee and the rest of the gang busy for pretty much the whole year he had been a part of her faction, she was not quite a slave driver, as odd as it might seem to those who were acquainted with her. Lee did have time to think about things that weren't immediately important to his training or assimilation into Remnant, so of course one of the biggest recurring topics that would occur during his downtime would be the method (and reasons) for his transplant from Earth to Remnant. He was not really interested in whether Remnant was an alternate dimension reality of Earth, a postapocalyptic version of it, or perhaps it's own world existing in the same universe as Earth. Even in the last case, the odds of ever returning to his original world would be so infinitely small that it would be much simpler to just say they were equal to zero; he would not be returning to Earth, and over the past year, he had started to make peace with that. He would still like to know how and, more importantly, why he was here, but his assimilation into Cinder's gang had gone a long way towards making Remnant feel more like home than Earth ever had. Lee actually was happy most of the time… But, he supposed, it would likely be several years before he stopped mourning his past life.

'Didn't you just tell yourself you weren't gonna waste time thinking about that? Shit, kid, you gonna be like this all night?'

And cue the single biggest regret Lee had about his life on Remnant. Whether or not her voice in his head was real (evidence was steering Lee to believe that it was), Lee was leaning towards it being real. Which, once again, led to some rather pressing questions about why he was even on Remnant…

'Seriously, kid, stop moping. You'll find out why you're here when the time is right; in the meantime, just keep living your life. The gods, or God, or whoever, or whatever you believe in, wouldn't have put you in Cinder's path like that if you weren't meant to join her. And if that's the case, it can only mean that you were meant to kill me. Sucks for me, having to be stuck in your head, but there's gotta be a reason for that too, right? You.. we will figure that out as we go along, alright? So quit acting like it's all your damn fault; I'm not gonna say you're blameless, but it's not like you had much choice in that situation.'

Lee couldn't help but scoff into his glass at that conclusion. 'That doesn't make it any less wrong. Or myself any less of a bad person. Regardless of the circumstances, I still chose to go along with it, despite knowing the odds were high that it would turn out the way it did.'

'And here I was, worried that you actually were that naive. Good, you've learned something.'

'Just because I've learned to stand by the decisions I've made doesn't mean I'm not allowed to regret the circumstances which led me to those decisions. Killing you robbed Remnant of one of its symbols of hope, so I think I'm allowed to regret your death more than any of the others I've had a hand in since I've been here.'

'You really are too good at rationalizing things… Whatever, kid, you do you. But seriously, you've been moping long enough. You came here for a purpose, so get to it, will ya? I'm actually kind of excited for this too.'

With a roll of his eyes, Lee stood up, and quickly drained the last of his drink, before making his way over towards his target. 'I just want you to know that if this doesn't go well, it is entirely your fault.' A moment passed, and, with no reply coming from the voice in his head, Lee could only chuckle. Hopefully, this would go as smoothly as he had envisioned it…

5 minutes later, Lee was in place to begin, and he could not help but feel nervous as he gazed out into the crowded tavern. 'Really, kid? Stage fright? Wouldn't have thought you were the type.'

'You live in my head! You know what I was like before!'

'Yeah, and I know that this totally doesn't suit the person you are now! Now stop being a whiny little bitch and get this show started!'

Lee had to stop and take a deep breath; while Summer's tactful brand of encouragement certainly succeeded in chasing away the nervousness, he needed to be in a calm state of mind in order to deliver the upcoming performance properly. It took him an awkward moment, with the tavern's patrons waiting with rapidly growing disinterest, but their wait was, he hoped, well worth it, when his hands descended, and the piano's first chord reverberated softly through the venue...

But only for the briefest beat, as one finger of his left hand sustained the bass note while the other began to tap out a melody. Bunnn, dun, dun, duhduhduhduh dunnn, dun, dundun dunnn… The 8 note cell, played twice with a slight variation, formed a motif, which, when itself played twice with a different variation the second time, created the musical phrase which would, in the original version of the song, form the percussive back beat. But even as a piano melody, it served its purpose in setting the tone and tempo for the song, heads beginning to bob in time to it even as Lee's right hand descended to play the melody which would actually get stuck in everyone's heads after that night.

"Woah… who would have thought that someone who fights so well could play like this?"

"Still, just what even is this?"

"Hehe, maybe that's how he gets around the compatibility problem!"

"Shut up and listen, you bimbos!"

Though he could not actually hear that particular conversation, the incredulous grins and the group's voice of reason slapping her hand over both of the loud mouths, well, mouths, was expressive enough for Lee to gauge the crowd's reaction as he continued to play. It was certainly a confidence booster, which caused Lee to relax and begin to express himself more during the performance… which, along with his dynamic changes becoming more pronounced, led to the entertainment value of his performance skyrocketing. The music did not, perhaps, sound as lively as it would have on its original instrumentation, given that Lee was using a grand piano to mimic both a synthesizer, which was itself imitating an electric bass as well as an electric guitar, and an electronic drum set, as well as actual vocal-

'You do know you could have solved that by singing the lyrics yourself, right?'

Stuck in the middle of smiling and waving at the crowd after the end of the performace, Lee could not outwardly react, other than to pause briefly before resuming with clenched teeth. It was with a healthy dose of sarcasm that Lee mentally responded to Summer's shade: 'Yes, because my dulcet tones would have gone so well with that arrangement…'

Immediately after that remark, Lee was struck with the image of Summer, lying with her back on the piano, laughing uproariously at him, hands clenched over her stomach and legs kicking freely in the air, absolutely no effort being made to contain her mirth. Indeed, one could surmise (which Lee absolutely did, of course) that Summer was intentionally doing the opposite, making sure that Lee was fully aware just how hilarious she found that remark. 'But Lee! You could absolutely hit that pitch if you tried!'

Lee, on the other hand, was not amused. 'Yeah, yeah,' Lee grumbled beneath his facade as he finally found an opportunity to leave the piano bench, after acknowledging the applause of the rest of the tavern's occupants. 'Hyuck it up. At least I know I'll grow out of that. Stupid incomplete puberty...' Of course, that comment just set Summer off even more, causing Summer, who seemed to have teleported from the bench to be walking just in front of him and to the side. It was the perfect position for her to be somewhat in his peripheral vision, keeping him from becoming too distracted, but still very much noticeable with how obnoxious she was being, laughing super exaggeratedly like she was some sort of cartoon or anime character, even as she dodged and weaved around people and obstacles (unnecessarily, given that Summer only existed inside Lee's own consciousness, despite himself being one hundred percent convinced that she was real).

Lee was, thankfully, given a clear path to the front door as he was leaving, with no curious Huntsman, legitimate or otherwise, looking to socialize; perhaps it was the subtle indications of his less than stellar mood, or perhaps it was simply because nobody there was going to demean themselves by acting like a fangirl (with two obvious, drunken exceptions). Regardless, Lee was thankful for the space, because he was not in the mood to socialize. He knew he would eventually need to come back and do so; while his fledgling reputation would serve to pique the interest of some of the fixers who frequented the place, he would still need to actually meet them in order to pick up some work. That, however, would have to be a mission for another day. In the meantime, all he wanted to do was go home and maybe spend some time with-

A small weight slamming into and then latching onto his side immediately after he walked out the door had his head snapping over to look, and find himself greeted with a familiar head of brown and pink hair. "Neo. Hey…"

A moment later, Lee found himself holding his hand to a smarting cheek, as he faced down a glaring Neo. Though he knew the girl wouldn't actually say as much, the glare and her body language combined were more than enough to convey: 'Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? You better have a good explanation, buster!'

Lee knew better than to explain just what he had been doing; given that Neo had ambushed him outside the door, she had to have heard his performance, or at least the end of it. No, Lee was pretty sure she wanted to know why he hadn't informed her of his whereabouts; he likely would have reacted the same, minus the slap, so he wasn't even mad about it. That said, he also knew how he would have reacted to having that information, and that was of course why he had chosen not to disclose it. "Sorry, but I just really needed to be alone for a bit…"

It was a credit to Neo's temper that Lee didn't find himself with a matching hand print. That said, he found that he almost would have preferred it, as opposed to the look of hurt that had now taken over the anger. "Come on, you of all people should know how that is. What did you do before you met me?"

It was, perhaps, a low blow, for Lee to reference Neo's past, but he hoped that she would forgive him for it, as it was the easiest, quickest way for him to explain his current state of mind to her. She would merely need to think about it for a moment to spot the many similarities. There were differences; Cinder, for all her faults, was nowhere near as abusive a guardian as Jimmy or neglectful as Carmel, and Summer was a completely foreign entity to Lee, compared to Neo originally having been the subconscious manifestation of both her own repressed personality and her Semblance. But those differences weren't enough to negate the plentitude of similarities to their circumstances, which formed a large part of just why the duo were usually pretty good at figuring out what the other was thinking. And indeed, Neo did figure this out, because the look of hurt slowly faded away, leaving naught but care and concern in its place.

"I'll be fine, love, I took care of most of my moping for the day while I was here. Buy you a milkshake on the way home to make up for it?" A pause, a faux-considering look from Neo as she pretended to consider it, before she nodded imperiously. A finger was held into the air, however, before she used it to beckon Lee down to her level. Wary, but mostly amused, Lee obliged her, crouching down beside her… only to be seized by the lapel and pulled down more quickly. What little indignation Lee might have felt at the brash action, however, was quickly mollified when soft lips briefly made contact with his own… only for the indignation to return when, with a single smooth motion, Neo launched herself up onto his shoulders. Apparently, his peace offering was accepted, but on the condition that he carry her home.

"Sheesh… you really are lucky that you're small, you know that? Spoiled brat…"

It would take a specially dense type of person to believe that Lee truly meant his half hearted insult, grumbled with a smile as he began walking, or that a smiling Neo was offended by it. No, she merely patted the top of his head with gentle affection, the action more than enough to convey the message: 'You love me anyway. :P' The few people on the street certainly knew it was purely affection, if the guffaws that followed the duo were any indication, and though it would have annoyed Lee just a few minutes prior, he found that the laughter only served to help his rapidly recovering mood. Sure, he had, in the space of year, become a bad person who did some horrible things, and the fact that he had so quickly become okay with that still managed to cause him concern on occasion, but at least the company was good. With Neo by his side, Lee felt like he could do anything…

A/N 1: The song Lee plays on the piano is Bad Apple, from the Touhou franchise. If you've never heard it before, I highly recommend you change that, the song is an absolute bop! For the piano version that Lee is imitating, search for the cover by MyReminiscence over on YouTube.

A/N 2: And that's a wrap for Volume 1! At least as is; I totally need to reboot, retcon, or otherwise explain a few things before moving forward with Volume 2, mostly thanks to Roman Holiday. The most relevant one at this moment however, regards the way Neo's Semblance, Overactive Imagination, actually works. The easiest way to do it is probably to just move forward and have it work mostly the way it does in canon from now on; the biggest impact this is going to have is that Neo will no longer be able to use telepathy. Easy to ignore most of the telepathy that has occurred thus far; all of her previous lines can have been either spoken, typed, implied with facial expressions and body language, or some combination of all of the above, depending on what makes the most sense for each instance, though that does leave the one part during the fight against Summer that is not so easily explained. This will just have to be a retcon, which may or may not receive an in-universe explanation earlier (the explanation is planned, I just don't know whether I'll actually use it). Her teleportation, on the other hand, can be explained as part of her ability to project. Since she does project solid illusions and can apparently increase or decrease her size too (she can successfully disguise herself as taller people, with the illusion's boundaries appearing to be her own body), it makes a certain kind of sense that she could also project her own mass to somewhere else. Taking that into account, however, it costs quite a bit more aura to teleport than it does to make and hold an illusion, which would be why she uses it sparingly… Or, it can turn out to be faked with illusions. We'll see how it goes, and if it turns out that it is faked (which I do believe to be likely), I'll use that in-universe explanation that I mentioned above, though it likely will not come up for quite a while.

The next biggest change is going to be just when current events are happening on the time line; I had initially stated that the events of the first chapter occur approximately 3 years before the beginning of Volume 1. However, in order to accommodate some extra events I need to add to account for Roman Holiday while remaining reasonably canon compliant (despite the setting clearly being AU), I'll be changing the timeline so that it now occurs approximately 4 years before Volume 1, one year earlier. Character ages for Lee and Neo will not change (still 17, 18 by the time of this chapter), while Emerald and Mercury are now only 15 at the start, 16 by the time of this chapter (they must remain young enough to reasonably impersonate first years at the academies. Lee and Neo won't.) This does change a few details, the biggest of which is going to be just how quickly Lee gives in to the temptation to initiate a relationship with Emerald (which is in turn, as I write this A/N, leading me ever closer to doing a rewrite of some of the earlier chapters). Of lesser importance, this change also creates a slight problem with Interlude 3: Challenger Approaching, as it is told through Pyrrha's point of view, and does not make sense if she has yet to win a championship, at least as told, but she will remain the narrator for that part of the story; instead of the champion, she is just another challenger, albeit one who happens to be well connected enough to know who to scout.

Let's see… there's also the matter of the Xiong bodyguards being Malachites, which is fixed easily enough by just changing their names. Consider that retconned. Speaking of changed names, that of Junior's father, also retconned to be Hei, or 'Senior.'