Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
CHAPTER 7
Ruby and Clayton had asked the rest of Team SPGL if they would be so kind as to give them their room for the night. Halcyone rolled her eyes, and walked off to go work on the new car she'd got her hands on. True to their word, everyone had pitched in to buy Halcyone a new project car, and it still needed work before it was road worthy. Siniy shrugged as he strolled down the hall. He had plans as it was, so he'd let his leader enjoy the night before potentially having to fight a match the next day. Pale forced air through his pressed together lips, but left all the same. He could respect that his partner had needs… Speaking of needs. Penny had called him.
Making his way out to the courtyard in front of Beacon, Pale found Penny standing in the moonlight, looking up at the shattered heavenly body. "Moon looks nice tonight." Pale said as he approached her from behind.
Penny turned to him and smiled. "Salutations Pale." She said, wrapping him in a hug, one that was immediately reciprocated.
"Darlin." Pale said, kissing the top of her head, before she broke the hug. "You said you wanted to see me?" Pale asked. The smiling android nodded.
"Follow me." Penny said, as she took her boyfriend by the hand and led him across campus. On the edge of the school's property, there was a small overgrown flower garden. Laid out in it's center was a blanket, and some pillows.
"I've… Atlas has lots of light pollution… And I was never allowed outside at night. In Vale the stars are much more visible, and I have some freedoms here not afforded when I'm at home. I've always wanted to just sit under them. I've heard some have names, but I do not know which ones they would be." Penny said, as she sat down on the blanket, patting a spot for Pale to sit next to her on. Taking up her offer, Pale sat on the blanket, and laid down, placing his hat in the grass beside them.
Pale smiled to himself. "Why's she so damn cute?" He asked in thought. Penny laid down next to him, and the sniper pointed out to her the many stars and constellations, giving each a story, and a purpose. Penny listened intently, and asked a few questions about each star, and after a moment, pointed to a bright white orb in the sky, much too bright to be a distant star, and too small to be a moon. "That's Aphrodite." Pale said.
"It is very bright." Penny said.
"It's a planet. The one next to ours… Named after a beautiful woman from ancient times, who's love was so vast she sparked a war between two suitors who quarreled over her, as they each loved her too much to let her go to the other man." Pale said, earning a gasp from Penny.
"Can there really be such a thing as too much love?" Penny asked. Pale shrugged.
"I'm not sure… It was an old and altered story peddled mostly by the Mistral elites as to why they shouldn't allow emotion… Crock of bull if you ask me." Pale said, before kissing the top of Penny's head. "I don't think I could ever love you enough." Pale whispered.
Siniy found Weiss sitting in their little secluded spot on the far edge of the fair grounds, resting against the same tree the two had occupied the day prior. Taking off his bag, kit vest, and helmet, Siniy, gently laying down beside her, closing his eyes as he felt small fingers begin running through his hair. They slowed, and stopped before they could reach his bear ears. "It's alright… You can touch them. It's not like they aren't a part of me." Siniy said. Weiss hesitated for a moment, before she gently reached behind his ears like should would a dog's, and ran her fingers over them. A contented sigh escaped Siniy's lips.
The entirety of the situation was surreal. From hiding out on the edge of the fairgrounds just to display affection, to feeling as if she didn't deserve the permission to touch his ears. Thinking back to what Winter said, Weiss closed her eyes for a moment. It would take time, effort, and more than a few bottles of aspirin to overcome the headache she would have, no doubt as a result of all the changes that would occur if she decided to go public about her relationship with a faunus… But if she could have moments like this. Ones where she felt not only loved, but loving. It would be worth it.
Leaning over Siniy, she planted an upside down kiss on his forehead. The two opened their eyes for a moment, before Siniy craned his neck to return the gesture in kind… And in turn, Weiss, after a momentary pause, the combination of nerves and feeling a comfortable warmth all the sudden, kissed her giant boyfriend on the lips… The two's first, in the sense neither had kissed another person. After the brief contact, Weiss pulled away and the two looked into each other's eyes before the heiress dove back in for more. "So this is a Valien Kiss?" Weiss thought, as she felt her tongue begin to slip past his lips.
Black Rattler stood perfectly still, overlooking the Emerald Forest. His helmet and hat were removed for the night… Nobody would be able to see him without it on the cliffside. He let out a breath, though anyone who saw him wouldn't be able to tell he was doing so. Cinder had tried giving him a task… As if she could control him… She wanted him to destroy the dust engines that held amity aloft… After her little presentation that was. It would be easy. He could plant a bomb and detonate it in the same second without getting caught or hurt, but it was… Wrong… And that was a word Black seldom used to describe anything. With his semblance Black had done a little bit of investigating. Using his abilities, the man had come to learn of who Cinder Fall really was, and what her true motives were, what it was she wanted... She wasn't trying to take Vale with the White Fang's help, she was content to destroy it, in the pursuit of more vile goals. He'd stolen her scrole for just a minute, and with it, found that Cinder was not the grand mastermind she appered to be.
The world was a much smaller place before he got his semblance… That wasn't entirely true. "There's just less in it." Black said, looking up at the moon… he blinked and for that moment he was gone… "Boring, not very stable either." Shifting his attention to Aphrodite, he blinked again, and scoffed… "Acid rain." In the distance he saw the fourth rock from their sun up in the night sky, Aries. He blinked, only to shrug. "Dusty."
Looking down at the grass beneath his boots, Black sighed. He wasn't privy to all knowledge, surely that was crazy to assume anything could be, but he'd been to places and seen things in his 64 years of life… Cinder's boss was not a woman he remembered fondly… 10 years wasn't nearly enough time to forget their one and only meeting. And now he found himself working under her nose… And now he was in the perfect position to strike back at her after all that time. Smirking to himself, Black imagined the look The Witch would have on her face if she knew he was within her reach. Black's eyes darted to the right, as he heard gentle footsteps approaching him.
Blake had gone for a walk. There was a lot on her mind… Over the past few weeks since the beginning of the tournament she'd felt more and more uncomfortable around her partner… Well, everyone of her friends really. But Yang especially, and even more so when Halcyone was around her. The two were very intimate, and though Yang always looked embarrassed about it, whenever Halcyone publicly displayed affection, the blond brawler always accepted the kisses or love nips the hyena girl gave her. It was infuriatingly hot, and Blake hated the fact she felt that way. Not because she took issue with liking girls, she herself had a huge crush on her friend Ilia when she first met her. Blake's biggest reason for hating her feelings was that her desire felt so… Greedy. She wanted what they had. Both of them. A seemingly loving and equal relationship with a gorgeous and caring partner, something she'd never been afforded… Yeah there was Sun… But… Blake was more partial to effeminate features… And Adam just so happened to be a bit of a twink, which was nice and all, until the reality of what their relationship was caught up to her… The worst part was, she thought at the very least Yang had an interest in her. The first dance they shared at the ball a month prior was very intimate, and Yang was the one who made the offer.
Blake just couldn't bring herself to be open about her emotions like her friends would be. That wasn't who she was. How was that conversation supposed to start anyway? "Hey, partner and my best friend, would you and your girlfriend mind if I tagged along in your relationship." Blake thought sarcastically. As if. That opener was worse than even her most mindlessly smutty erotic literature. And that was with the most open people she knew. Blake honestly couldn't think of anyone who'd have her after what she'd done in her life.
Sighing to herself as she held her arms to her chest, accepting that she would be forever alone, Blake continued walking, only to find she wandered to the edge of the school grounds by the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. She paused for a moment when she saw that there was a man garbed in black there.
"Evening." He said, arms locked behind his back, head unmoving, preventing Blake from seeing his face. Initially she mistook the black hair on top of his head to be a hood, until she noticed a few gray strands. Blake nodded as she approached, unsure of what to say to the elderly gentleman, as she turned to look at the night sky.
"It's a nice night." Blake said, attempting to appear less troubled. The man hummed, attention still planted on the stars. He recognized her. Blake Belladonna. One of the few people Black was keeping a watchful eye on. Previous connection to Adam Tarus, and a friend with Ruby Rose… A priority of Black's… It was entirely possible the young faunus would be a good place to get his foot in the door as it were.
"Have you ever looked up to the stars and wondered… Whether or not we're alone?" Black asked. Keeping his face forwards. "If the gods ever decided to give life to another planet… To another star…?" Blake looked up at the man, and just shrugged. Astronomy wasn't her best subject, she hardly knew more than the fact the moon and sun went around Remnant, and that was about par for the course. Even in Atlas the study of space was limited. "Space… Wasn't something I really got into." Blake said, the elderly man huffed.
"Not something the entire planet got into either… Still, maybe one day." Black said, taking a deep breath. "One day the rest of you can see it."
Blake's ears perked up as she caught the odd phrasing. "The rest of us?" Blake asked.
The elderly man chuckled. "Maybe only a few… I can't describe what the view is like… It makes everything seem so... insignificant. Our tiny little ball of water and stone… Perhaps the gods will someday see it as more than that…" Blake was now simply confused by the man's words.
She turned to look at him, and asked one question. "Who are you?"
The stranger turned to face her, and a breath caught in her throat. The entire left side of the man's jaw was a mangled mess, as if it had been ripped away, exposing his teeth underneath, and his eyes… White pupils… surrounded by silver irises.
"Name's Rot Schrodinger." And just as Blake blinked, he'd disappeared, but his voice seemed to linger. "Tell Ruby Rose, I said hello." Blake shoved the encounter as far back into her mind as she could. Who… Whatever that was, she did not need to be associated with it. Chalking it up to a recent lack of sleep, Blake went back to her dorm room, and tried to get some rest.
Yang and Mercury were selected to fight that evening… And everything went according to plan… Cinder watched as Emerald tricked the blond into striking Mercury after the match was over. The boy's knee twisted at an unnatural angle, and he faked a cry of pain. The colosseum security personnel and AK-200's moved in to surround the bimbo, and Emerald was allowed through to try and help her partner. Cinder's smile vanished when she noticed unwanted guests arriving on the scene.
Halcyone dug the muzzle of Road Rage into one of the two human guards pointing their guns at Yang. "Drop it mate." Halcyone said, as the AK to the right turned their gun to her. Siniy put himself between the AK and Halcyone, arms crossed. The second human guard pointed their rifle at Siniy, only for a shotgun to be racked, and pressed into his back. In turn the AK to his right pointed it's rifle into Clayton's back, and per it's programing held it's fire when a revolver was felt prodding the back of it's head. Before the next AK in the circle could turn, Pale had jerked his arm and pointed his sleeve gun at the AK to his right. The three remaining AK's in the circle all tried to determine who to target, as Halcyone took the pistol off of the soldier she held at gunpoint, and pointed it at the AK to her left. There were now only two AK's that could not be accounted for… Well… That was until Ruby zeroed Crescent Rose on one of the unoccupied droids, while her sister gazed at the last one.
"Looks like we got a bit of a standoff." Pale said, pulling back the hammers on both his revolvers. This entire situation was well beyond what either of the two soldiers were trained for.
"Stand down kids." The soldier Clayton was closest to said.
"Not gonna' happen ya' wanka'." Halcyone said.
"What's going on?" Yang asked, as an AK flicked it's weapon from semi to full auto.
"Haven't you all caused enough of a scene?" The soldier in front of Halcyone said.
"Way I see it, you're the cunt pointing a gun at my missus." Halcyone said.
"She attacked Mr. Black after the match was over." The soldier said, as the boy in question was taken away on a litter.
"He attacked me!" Yang yelled, rounding on the soldier.
"That's enough Miss. We all saw you hit him." The soldier reaffirmed. Clayton dug the muzzle of Kingslayer deeper into the soldier's back.
"And, that's some reason for her to get shot?" Clayton asked.
"Children, if you don't stand down right now, all of you will be facing charges of assaulting Atlesian military personnel, and obstruction of justice." The left soldier said.
"Atlesian military personnel are given no such protections in Vale, and there is no justice to obstruct. Amity is considered international territory. You have no authority here as it would be the VPD who makes any arrests while Amity is in Vale's airspace." Clayton said. "He's right, you know." Siniy said flatly.
The two soldiers looked between each other, just as a platoon's worth of AK-200's came from the entrances of the stage to back them up. "We said, stand down."
Authors note.
Well shit. We got a silver eyed warrior in the fic now. Granted, I tried avoiding the trope of a SEW being one of the main characters, and when coming up with supporting characters and bad guys, Rot Schrodinger was a longstanding draft based on this.
watch?v=Inerf4ggoaU
Like damn that's intimidating.
There may be more silver eyes later on, but that's for another day.
So what's Rot's story? A gunslinger, a crime lord, a man out for money, working with people who should want him dead, and what's with his face and eyes? Silver irises and white pupils? How about that semblance?
Also did anybody catch that bit about the sun? :)
In any case, I wanted to end this with a much bigger fuss than originally was shown. Team SPGL has shown that they will full send do some very illigal things for friends, Ruby too, as Yang is one of the two people she's close to. Here is no different. Yang broke a dudes leg, a bunch of soldiers pull guns on her (Like come on, that's entirelly unwarrented,) and so Clayton and co. go to try and mediate.