A/N: Welp! Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice recently released as of the time I'm writing this note, and I'm now playing it religiously. Seriously, I didn't think it was possible for me to enjoy a From Software game this much since I'm so bad at them, but by god, this one is just the perfect balance of making you feel powerful and helpless at the same time. It's truly a thing to behold.
Also, OH MY GOD WE'RE AT 600+ REVIEWS! YES! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Anyhow, that's enough of me going on about videogames. I know what you're all here for. Enjoy the chapter!
Note: This chapter may contain some underage drinking depending on where you live. Please know that I do not condone the act and do not mean to encourage it. I'm simply using it to set up cultural difference between countries. Thank you for understanding.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or My Hero Academia. They belong to Monty Oum, Kohei Horikoshi, and their respective publishing companies. Please support the official releases.
I do not own the cover image.
Chapter 49: Lonely Lullaby, Lonely Warrior
It had been a few days since Izuku had last seen Qrow. He'd taken the man's advice, and hadn't told anyone of the rather tense conversation the two had with Raven, nor did he speak of Qrow's presence. It was weighing on him even more now, all the secrets and lies that he hated having to both tell and keep. How long would he be able to keep this up? Could he keep this up? Should he?
Keeping One for All a secret was one thing. That he could do. That he could live with. But this? It felt like it was tantamount to betrayal, keeping this from the others. They deserved to know. But they would be put in further danger. But they needed to understand why they were going to Mistral.
Yang deserves to know about her mom!
And then she'd ask what else he knew. And he wouldn't be able to lie to her. Not deliberately.
"Izuku?" he heard the girl in question ask as he was once again distracted from his internal monologue. "You're spacing out again."
"Ah! Sorry. Just a bit tired," the green-haired inheritor quickly answered, scratching the back of his head as Yang nodded and turned back to the path ahead of them, though he did notice a bit of doubt in her eyes before she did so. Crap. He was really starting to worry people now, wasn't he?
"Exactly how long did you think this trip was going to be, Ruby?" Ren asked the rose-themed reaper, who promptly turned rather sheepish and a bit embarrassed.
"Erm... maybe... a few weeks?" she answered with a hesitant shrug.
"... Ruby, it took us that long just to get to Anima's western shores," Jaune pointed out, his eyes remaining fixed to the map in front of him.
"It also took us that same amount of time to get as close as we have to Pyrrha's home city," Shoto continued.
"Okay! Look, Yang and I grew up in a small area! This is probably the furthest away from home I've been in my entire life. I guess I... wasn't as prepared as I should've been. It still feels pretty surreal," Ruby admitted.
"Well, it's definitely been a learning experience," Yang said as she tried her hand at lightening the mood. "Besides, we've been getting by just fine. And I don't think any of us were quite prepared for how long this trip was going to be."
"Fair," Nora said absentmindedly.
"So, what's the next town called?" Izuku asked Jaune.
"Oh! Erm... it's... huh? That's weird," he said, putting himself closer to the map, stopping in his tracks and causing the group to stop with him.
"What is it?" Izuku asked as he moved closer, peaking over the blonde knight's shoulder and getting a good look at their map of Anima.
"There's a marker, but there isn't a name," Jaune said as he pointed to the place in question. Sure enough, there was a beady black dot marking their next destination, yet there was no name listed. What was that place then? A ruin? Had it been abandoned?
Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku could see Ren visibly flinch at their conversation. He knew that the guy was from this part of Anima, but he seemed to have a personal connection to this specific type of geography. As though he'd navigated it long ago, and was stepping back into it for the first time in years. It honestly caused Izuku some concern for his magenta-eyed friend.
"Well, let's play it by ear and see what happens when we get there," Shoto said as they continued on in relative silence. Nora babbled on about grenades, Jaune muttered to himself about paths and routes, while Shoto kept a silent vigil at their front and Ruby and Yang decided to chat about nothing at all. This left Izuku alone with his own thoughts as he continued to mull over the pros and cons of telling the group what he knew.
As it turned out, they didn't have to wait much longer. Only three minutes since their conversation, they came across stone wall stained by water and grout, with moss creeping at the edges and old tiling coming loose and crumbling away. It was genuinely harrowing. And the buildings beyond that hadn't even been finished, with clay and drywall crumbling from their frames, wooden beams holding sturdy, but potentially rotting from termites and exposure to the elements.
"Hey... those buildings are damaged!" Nora exclaimed, drawing Maginhild from her back and causing most of the group to draw their weapons in turn and ready themselves for a fight. Everyone except Ren and Izuku.
"Hold on!" Izuku said as he explained his reasoning. "This place looks like it's been abandoned for a long time. Look at the staining and the moss," he gestured to the walls, pointing to a place in the wall that had been damaged with a large indent as he continued, "And that damage looks like it's been smoothed over by the elements. There's no way this was recent. This place was probably abandoned years ago."
As he finished his explanation, everyone slowly put their weapons away, a few of the sighing in relief while Nora smacked herself in the forehead as she chided herself. "Sorry. Guess I jumped the gun again, huh?"
"You weren't wrong to react the way you did," Shoto said as he reassured the bubbly grenadier, Izuku giving a nod just behind him in agreement. "But some forethought would be wiser if we come across something like this again."
"... alright!" Nora responded, though her cheer sounded somewhat forced, and they continued on into the quiet town.
To call it a ghost town would be an understatement. To say it was a ruin would only be somewhat accurate. Either way, it was a peculiarly haunting place. It was long in the literal sense, designed with a wide cobblestone road running through the center and a vast array of buildings with varying heights and similar designs. In the center of the road was a single sign made of smooth stone with an old wooden frame, whatever was carved onto it having been covered up by the vines that had started to overgrow much of the area.
When they reached the sign, Nora brushed aside the foliage to read what had been written on the sign, though it was far from normally legible, sounding out, "O... ni... yur... i? Oniyuri. That... sounds familiar."
"... wait. Yuri?" Yang wondered aloud. "As in... guys, I think we might be at the first stop on the Yuri Trail."
"She's right. Look," Jaune said as he laid the map on the ground, pointing to their approximate location. "Even though the trail officially starts around here," he pointed to a place a few miles east, "it technically starts here," he then pointed back to their position, "and this place is only a day away from Athens, so we'll probably just have to come back through here at least once. Unless we can't take the other route."
"... Ren? You've been pretty quiet," Shoto asked as he looked to the magenta-eyed boy, who looked wistfully on at the abandoned townscape of Oniyuri, a strange sadness in his eyes.
"... I know this place well," Ren said as he walked towards one of the taller building frames. "I suppose you could call it Anima's 'Moutain Glenn.' If it had never been finished."
"... wait if that's true, then..." Izuku said as the gears began to turn in his brain, piecing everything together from what little Ren and Nora had let slip about their pasts. The fact that they were orphans, that they were both from Anima, that they'd stuck by each other since they were very young, and...
"... oh Oum..."
"Yeah. I'm guessing most of you know the story?" Ren asked, the only ones not knowing much about what he was speaking of being Ruby and Shoto, the former because she was quite young and the latter because he'd always been kept quite busy during those times.
"Well, the short version is, certain people within Mistral's upper class were... unhappy with how the kingdom was being run at the time. It was shortly after the Faunus War, and Mistral was beginning to strike its old laws on faunus labor from the books. Some of the upper class wanted the laws to remain as they were, wouldn't move for any reason, no matter how logical. Others fought against them in the courts, and despite the fact that they were horribly outnumbered there, they had the support of the people, and eventually made faunus' equal citizens, though both the sentiment and the new laws were never enough to stop discrimination completely. It never is.
"But before that, there were those who became sick of all the arguments and petty scheming, on both sides of the equation. They'd had enough, and decided to pool their resources, and leave that world behind. Build a new place where they could be who they wanted to be, do what they wanted to do, without living up to the expectations and responsibilities placed upon them by both their peers and their own ancestors. The hope was that the Yuri settlements would one day become their own cities. Maybe even a kingdom, in their own right. A lot of people thought it would be the future of Anima."
Ren stopped as he looked down at the cobblestone road, turning back to the group as he continued, "And now all that's left is nothing but ghost towns of old hopes and broken dreams," and he looked back up, tears threatening to spill over from the corners of his eyes as he continued, "Nothing but regrets."
"... but... how did... what happened?" Ruby asked, though she was hesitant to do so.
Ren remained silent as he walked over to a smoothly cut, low stone wall, barely coming up to just below his waist, brushing aside the dust to reveal a deep claw mark that had been smoothed over from the years of weather and neglect. "... what always happens."
His eyes then briefly flashed to the left before flickering back to the claw mark, shaking his head as he turned around and said, "C'mon. We need to get moving."
And the other began to follow in a solemn silence, Izuku remaining behind just long enough to check what Ren had been looking at. Indented into the cobble, enough that the ground beneath it could actually be seen, was a massive, intimidating hoofprint. It looked twice the size of a horse's hoof, though it held the same shape, and it was old. As old as the town itself. It couldn't be anything but a Grimm.
But, even as he noted the presence of such a thing, it was old, and something that Ren was not likely to want to speak about. So, he turned and followed after the group, never shaking the feeling that someone was watching them. Someone who wasn't Qrow.
(meanwhile, the Schnee Concert Hall, Tenya's POV)
Weiss's singing was something of a local legend among the high class of Atlas. Apparently, her voice was so soothing and borderline hypnotic that one could sometimes see images of an entirely different time and place: that was simply how beautiful it was to listen to.
Tenya had not yet had the pleasure of listening to one of her songs, but with all this excitement about her performing he would admit he was quite curious. Even if she was doing it for a shady campaign of her father's, noble though it may have been on the surface.
He sat in the same high-rise seating as Jacque at the man's request, sitting right next to Whitely and Mrs. Adel, a woman who bore a striking resemblance to her daughter, the only differences being the crow's feet at the edge of her eyes and other lines of age that were beginning to show themselves, in addition to her sense of fashion, a formal halter neck dress of a deep violet, complementing the glass of white wine she held in her hand. Momo sat the furthest to the right, her hair done in its signature style as she waited for the performance to begin.
Surprisingly, Whitley didn't seem all that bothered by his presence, something he noticed was far different than the reaction of Mrs. Adel, who only gave him a passing glance before huffing to herself while trying to keep him out of her line of vision. It was strange, given that his only interactions with the boy had been brief, and yet he seemed far more tolerable than his father. At least the boy wasn't constantly trying to use him as a pawn in a game of status and fake goodwill. As far as he knew, at least. Best to see where things were taken.
Endeavor sat to Jacque's right, his flaming bread and mustache seeming to have dimmed to the point that it wasn't distracting. The man hardly even looked as though he were present. There was a loneliness in his eyes, something that Tenya never expected from a man of his position. He had what he'd always wanted. He was finally at the top. Why would he be even remotely upset?
Of course, those thoughts were silenced as the lights over the audience began to dim, attention turning to the stage as Weiss stepped on, the crowd silencing itself as she did so. And... oh... she'd gone back to her unaligned ponytail. He didn't have to turn to know that Jacque disapproved of that choice of hairstyle, but it appeared as though the girl in question didn't care in the slightest. But, for the moment, she had a song to sing.
It began with the slow, melancholic tones of a piano, while the white-haired heiress' eyes remained shut as she breathed in and out, steadying herself for the performance as the crowd watched with bated breath and wondering eyes. Momo smiled ever so briefly to herself, likely knowing just which song Weiss was going to perform, something that had been kept a surprise to everyone else, including him.
And then, she began. "Mirror... can you hear me? Do I... reach you?"
Images of pondering and tension entered Tenya's mind.
"Are you... even listening? Can I... get through?"
A flash to looking at the back of his elder brother. Another led him to practicing, failing, falling. Over and over.
"There's a part of me that's desperate for changes... tired of being treated like a pawn..."
A flash to Beacon, and of his teammates. His friends. And a flash to Jacque, a smug smile disguised as a look of compassion.
"But there's part of me that stares back from inside the mirror... part of me that's scared I might be wrong..."
Then, he was taken back to his hospital bed, when he first learned of his paralysis. And the hopelessness that set in thereafter.
"That I can't... be... strong..."
His doubt over his abilities. His helplessness to the hands of Serpent Saw. And again, his legs.
And then, a long high note, filled with melancholy, that drew everyone in the hall closer into the performance. It felt almost like a cry in the form of song. And then, it grew higher, built in emotion and hope as the instruments behind her accompanied the journey upward.
"I've been afraid... never standing on my own... I let you be the keeper of my pride!"
An image of his teammates outpacing him, struggling to keep up with their pace. His previous weapon, Pride, shattering under Serpent Saw's foot.
"Believed you when you told me I was nothing on my own..."
An image of Serpent Saw's malice, laced with only a grain of pity to be born human.
"Listen when I say... I swear it here today..."
Thoth, offering him a hand up. His therapy, months of grueling work just to get the most basic of basic movement back.
"I will not surrender, this life... is... mine!"
And then, him standing in a field of open grass, the wind on his face and the sun high in the sky. On his own two restored feet.
That was where the song ended. The applause was almost instantaneous, the crowd erupting to a buzzing center of praise as Weiss bowed to them, and looked straight towards where they were.
Jacque was disapproving, but he made no move to vocalize his mood, and Mrs. Adel and Endeavor gave polite applause, though it did seem as though the latter had been reminded of something, and it was currently occupying his thoughts. Momo clapped at a slow pace, but the smile on her face and in her eyes was undeniable. She was truly happy for her friend, and Tenya couldn't help but be happy with her. Were he able to fully handle his own weight at that moment, he would've gladly stood with her.
Whitely, on the other hand, gave polite applause and a slight smirk that reminded him a bit too much of Jacque's, but there was something in his eyes that said he felt far prouder of his elder sister than he allowed himself to show. A question to ponder another time.
For the moment... they had the after party to attend.
(meanwhile, the Schnee Banquet Hall, Tenya's POV)
Tenya had come to dislike these sorts of things with a certain... ferocity that could not yet be put into the words of any language known to either man or faunus. It mostly came from a time where he and his brother had been forced to attend banquet after banquet after banquet- he detested banquets.
The food was sparse and often unsatisfying, the drinks, from what he'd heard from his mother, were often never strong enough, and the people were either boring enough to snore to or slippery enough to never get a proper read on.
Luckily, no one seemed to be approaching him at all. A rather unusual but not unwelcome change of pace for this kind of event, as far as he was concerned. It gave him a chance to observe the room and see who was talking to whom, and what deals might take place. Deals of all kinds and degrees of legality could take place at these events, even charities.
"Tenya Iida?" he heard someone ask him. As he glanced his head to the side, he saw the headmaster of Atlas' own Hunter Academy standing beside him with a genuine smile across his exhausted and somewhat disheveled face. There was a faded but preset shadow on his chin and cheeks, and the light lines beneath his eyes were now heavier, more noticeable. Otherwise, he looked to be in relatively good health, though he certainly looked as though he could do with some sleep.
"Yes. How are you faring, General?" the spectacled boy asked back.
"Please, call me James. I've honestly grown a bit tired of the title. It's been... hectic, to say the least. What with the resistance Jacque has been putting up, it's been difficult to get much done. And what refugees have found their way to Atlas... haven't been treated well. I've been doing everything in my power to make things easier, but it's unfortunately less than I'd like. I hope that I'll eventually be able to give them greater chances, maybe even ensure employment, but for now all I can really do is give them a roof over their heads and half-decent food. It's not much, but it's better than nothing."
Tenya gave a solemn nod to that. There was quite the flood of people after Vale fell to the Grimm, and while most of them made their way through Anima to Mistral, causing some overpopulation concerns within the city and more than a few less than desirable responses, there were those who thought it might've been better to make their way to Solitas rather than the far eastern kingdom. Of course, there was the fact that not all people here were all that welcoming to outsiders, especially faunus, but it might've been better than how things were going down in Mistral.
"But enough of the negatives. Things have started to look up. There are a few plans in place that may help us ensure some stability to those who made it all the way here. Anyways... how have you been? The last time I saw you and your team was at the tournament," Ironwood asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"I've been well. Or as well as I can be," Tenya said. "There was a rough adjustment period, but I've gotten a lot more comfortable since then. Though I cannot say the same of others. That... will take a very long time to get used to."
"True. Those like us aren't exactly looked upon kindly," Ironwood said as he nimbly moved and flexed the fingers of his gloved right hand. Hadn't he lost most of the right side of his body? That had been before his instatement as general too, hadn't it? What kind of uphill climb did he go through to become such an esteemed person?
"Yes. Before, it was something that I had to accept was part of a culture I could never hope to understand entirely. Having lived it now... how did you do it? How did you deal with all the whispers and jabs behind your back?" Tenya asked with genuine curiosity. He had his own ways of dealing with people, and while they worked well enough, it would do well for him to expand his horizons at least a little bit.
"If you want my advice for how to deal with people... never forget what you are. Or who. Embrace it. Wear it with pride, like armor. If you can do that, it can never be used to hurt you," he said with eloquence that Tenya honestly hadn't been expecting from the man. It also seemed to be personal advice, and it likely was, having gone through something just as harrowing and perspective shifting as he had.
But that was where their conversation lulled and ended in a comfortable silence, the chatter of the other guests filling it as the party continued on without their input.
(meanwhile, the same hall, Momo's POV)
A sigh escaped Momo's lips as she lifted another glass of champagne from a server's tray. Or what she assumed was champagne. If it was, it would be her last of the night. Just because the drinking age in Atlas was seventeen didn't mean she was about to splurge and get blackout drunk. She and Shoto had already done that once to celebrate his going to Beacon, and while nothing too compromising happened between them, it was not an experience she'd like to relive anytime soon.
"Phew. I finally managed to slip away," Weiss said as she came to her friend's side, breathing a sigh of relief as her eyes suddenly snapped to another passing tray of champagne, from which she expertly plucked a nearby glass like an expert. Surprising, seeing as, to Momo's knowledge, the white-haired heiress had never so much as touched an alcoholic drink in her entire life.
"Are you entirely sure drinking that is wise? I'd have personally started you off with something a bit less strong. Like hard cider. Oum, I miss hard cider," Momo warned Weiss as she briefly reminisced about her favorite alcohol.
"I'm eighteen. I'm going to start drinking some time. Why not now?" she responded before lifting the glass to her lips, only to recoil slightly once she had a proper taste. "Oh... oh wow... I was not prepared for that."
"Like I said, should've started with something less strong," Momo said as she downed her entire flute of champagne in one go. Yep. That was it for the night. Any more and she wouldn't be able to keep her composure. "And don't worry about it too much. Alcohol is an acquired taste. To be honest, I used to hate it. Now... well, it's a bit of comfort to have a glass or two, every few weeks or so."
"... I suppose," Weiss said as she stared towards one of the paintings on display. When Momo turned to see it, she couldn't help but feel guilty for the girl. It was a perfect painting of the entryway to Beacon as it had always been before the attack: the tower standing proud in the center of the school, the arches of symmetrical stone, autumn leaves of maroonish orange hanging from the branches of the oak trees, and the path that welcomed all who wished to learn. Momo had never seen the place in person. She wished she could've.
"Hello there," Momo heard from her left, giving the boy a passing glance before turning back to the painting in question. "You're Momo Yaoyorozu, right?"
"... and to whom am I speaking?" she replied, turning fully to the person in question, getting a good look at him in the process. He had light brown eyes and dull-blue hair in an undercut hairstyle, with the long unshaved hair swept to his left and hanging ever so slightly in front of his face. He wore a maroon dress shirt and black tie with a black vest decorated with a marigold flower design, silver buttons, and a breast pocket that contained a red handkerchief. He also wore a pair of black pants and gray dress shoes. His black belt was worn over his vest and had a silver chain connected to the front of it, with the other end trailing into his left pocket. On his index and ring fingers on each hand, he wore plain silver rings.
"Henry. Marigold," he said with a tinge of pride.
Is he... no, it couldn't be the same Merigold. His hair color is far different, and he acts too... full of himself.
"So... are you going to buy it?"
"Hm?" she asked as she was brought out of her thoughts.
"The painting."
"... no."
"Yeah. It is pretty expensive for a painting."
"... do you even know what it's for? Or why this event is happening in the first place?"
"Not really. I came for the entertainment. And the extraordinary company," Henry said as he swiped a champagne flute from a server's tray, only for his wrist to be grasped by another, firmly, and a pair of emerald green eyes to stare him down. The woman then gestured sharply towards the door with her thumb, to which Henry gave nervous sigh before making his way out of the hall, downing the entire glass as he did so.
The woman then sighed and tilted her head downwards as she apologized. "I'm sorry for my nephew. He can be... very insensitive."
"No need for that. He was the one being rude, not you," Momo said, taking a moment to give the woman a bit of a closer look. Her hair was a bright, rosy red, though not quite light enough to be overly distracting, and was tied back in a low knot that trailed down her back, her face holding a small but welcoming smile and vivid green eyes so bright that for a second or two Momo thought they might've been glowing. The dress she wore had no upper support, leaving her upper back and some of her cleavage exposed, colored a very dark, greener shade of teal that ran down to her ankles, with pearls embedded symmetrically throughout the upper hem and wavy floral designs in white near the bottom hem, a pair of dark green pumps completing her outfit.
"I know, but he still shouldn't have done that," the woman said, offering her hand as she introduced herself. "I'm Triss. Triss Merigold."
.
..
…
"... oh..." Momo whispered to herself in shock. "As in... Merigold the Fearless? Iron Merigold?"
"Yup. That's me," she said with a silly wave. "I didn't want to make a big deal out of being here, so I'd appreciate it if you could keep this on the down low," she asked with a sheepish smile and a hushed tone.
"But... oh wow, this is a big deal," Momo said as she shifted some of her weight onto one of the nearby posts, causing Triss to look somewhat uncomfortable. "Sorry! It's just... I'm not exactly used to meeting one of my heroes."
"It's certainly not an everyday occurrence. To be honest, were this taking place just a few years ago, I'd have gladly come bursting through the halls, give this place a surge in potential donors. Now... well, fame is a double-edged sword, after all. All the interviews, the events, the fighting... it got to be tiring. Very tiring. After a while, my husband and I just wanted to get away from it all. He was never as famous as I was, but he was still bothered by what attention he did receive. Even though it did get him high-paying hunts. So... yeah," she explained. "Sorry for the tangent. Went way off topic, huh?"
Momo immediately shook her head no, not wanting to disappoint one of her idols. Even if she was right about her own tangent. After a few seconds of silence between them, Momo found her nerve and asked Triss a question that had been eating at her for a while now.
"So, I've been meaning to ask... what do you do now?"
"Hm? Oh, I run a healer's shop. Helping people was one of the things I enjoyed the most as a huntress. Geralt agreed. Actually put up his swords, something I thought he'd never do. We're not that active anymore, but we try to support hunters however and whenever we can. Which is why..." Triss said as she glanced about the room, pausing as though she were briefly thinking of something before saying with a cheeky grin, "I've decided to purchase everything here at top price. Discreetly, of course."
"That's... that's a lot of Lien," Momo whispered. Even my family would be cautious of making a purchase like this.
Triss simply turned back to the confused girl, stating, "True though that is, I've always had plenty of money to spare, even now that I'm running the shop. Geralt and I always helped what charities existed to assist as many hunters as we could, but this'll do much more good for Vale than sitting around, twiddling our thumbs while we wait for clearer communications to get back up."
"... that's very kind of you," Momo replied. As Triss regained her sheepish look and was about to retort and try to keep herself humble, until they heard the Schnee heiress cry out in anger.
"HOW DARE YOU!"
The crowd around them was silent. No one moved. Weiss's eyes were glued to a particular blonde woman near the middle of the room, her irises burning with blazing blue fury. Literally; were her eyes glowing any brighter Momo would've sworn that they'd been set ablaze.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAPPENED THERE?! ANYTHING AT ALL?!"
"I said-"
"DON'T START WITH THAT CRAP AGAIN! PEOPLE ARE DEAD, GRIMM ARE RUNNING FREE, MY FRIEND DIED AND I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK AS THOUGH THEY DESERVED A FATE LIKE THAT, YOU IGNORANT BITCH!"
Then, suddenly, Jacque came from Weiss's left in an attempt to silence his daughter, only succeeding in knocking her to the ground. As she made contact with the floor, however, a glyph appeared near where her left hand had landed, and expanded to larger proportions as, almost materializing out of thin air, appeared a white form. It was low, semi-rotund, but looked both very muscular and very dangerous. It was the same as a Boarbatusk, with a phantom-like white body and blue markings running throughout it, and a distinctly beast-like howl erupting from its maw.
And then, it stared down the woman that Weiss had just cursed out, and then suddenly charged with all the speed of its originator, causing the woman to back away in pure terror as she cried out for help when suddenly-
BLAM!
CRACK!
FOOM!
FLASH!
As quickly as it had begun, it was suddenly over. Off to the side of the room, Ironwood had drawn and fired his revolver, and Tenya had done the same, brandishing a Desert Eagle model pistol in his left hand, with Endeavor in the far corner holding his arm towards where the now vanished summon had once been, lowering it since the threat had been eliminated, and Triss herself standing in front of Momo, her hands set ablaze, as she lowered the blazing shield she had barely managed to place in front of the woman before the summoned beast had managed to lay into her.
As Triss exhaled, putting out her hands and rubbing her forehead to dull what seemed to be a headache, and Momo recovered from the shock to assisted her friend from the ground, the same blonde woman stood up and pointed straight at Weiss, yelling out, "Arrest her!"
Everyone was silent as Weiss was helped back to her feet and Ironwood approached them, making sure that Weiss was alright before turning to that same woman and saying, "Why? She seems to be one of the only people here with any sense."
"But-"
"Mam. Please leave before this gets any worse for you," Triss said in a cold and authoritative tone, a far cry from her earlier humble and warm voice that seemed to reassure Momo just by hearing it.
And so, with great reluctance, the woman and her husband relented and made their way out of the hall. With a heavy sigh, Ironwood once more put his weapon into his jacket, turned to Jacque and traded glares for a brief moment before exiting the room entirely, leaving the man free to slowly turn back to his daughter, his eyes filled with a cold fury not unlike the one present in Weiss's earlier. But this fury, while so strikingly similar, couldn't have been any more different.
And through it all, clenching his own fist behind his back, Whitley watched, waited, and hoped for the best. It was all he could do right now. Conceal your feelings. Don't let them show. You know what happens when he sees them.
But still, he struggled to keep himself from doing something rash. From making things worse. Like he always did.
(meanwhile, Oniyuri, Izuku's POV)
The crack in the rubble wasn't the first sign that something was off, but it was more obvious than the other signs, and got the attention of the others. The green haired inheritor reached over his shoulder and took Tempest from his back, gripping it tightly in both hands as everyone else in turn drew their weapons and readied themselves for a fight.
And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow begin to darken the cobblestone road beside him, giving him just enough time to barely step to the side before a giant fist was plowed into the ground. As he skidded to a halt, Tempest readied at his side, he saw that this person's flesh seemed to have escaped the confines of their skin, a writhing mass of sinew and muscle connected to this person's shoulder.
"You dodged. Good," the man said in a deep voice, his face completely covered thanks to the assistance of a white mask lined with small holes and a black cloak that shrouded most of his body. "It wouldn't be any fun if you just stood there and gave it to me."
It was also at this time that another man leapt over the stone archway with an unnatural rage, glaring at Izuku's cloaked attacker as the others tried to move in to help him, saying, "You imbecile! You were meant to wait for my command!" he then popped out his wrist-mounted guns and trained them onto the group, causing them to scatter as he fired at them with reckless abandon.
Ren and Ruby fired back with their own weapons, causing the two to separate and Izuku to leap after the cloaked one, seeing an opportunity to attack in his off-balance landing. Tempest's blade met the man's again enlarged arm as he responded, "I take no orders from you. We were told to take those two out, I decided to take 'em out. And the green one looked like he'd be a good fight. Besides..."
"I WANT TO SEE HIM BLEED!"
And with the rebound of his backswing, Izuku was thrown back from the cloaked man, planting his blade into the ground to slow his momentum and regain his footing, taking a stance with Tempest in a backhanded grip and glaring at the cloaked man with glowing green eyes, his markings beginning to glow from One for All's gradual flow, sparks flying off of him and making their way to the ground beneath.
"Izuku! Are you okay?!" he heard Yang call out to him as the rest of the group kept their eyes on the man in the trench coat, his guns still pointed at the group as their tense standoff continued.
"I'm fine! Stay back!" he quickly responded.
"Oh, how touching. It's sweet how you don't want them to get involved," the cloaked man said as he lowered his hood, revealing his lightly tanned skin and blonde hair, though he left his mask on. "But that sentiment isn't going to protect them forever. You-"
"Shut your damn mouth, you imbecile! Do you have no sense when to hold back?! Or how to employ proper intimidation?!" the trench coat wearing man berated his partner.
"Who cares about that? If they bleed, they bleed, and then they die, simple as that," the cloaked man said, pulling his arms back as the slowly enlarged and burst with pink flesh.
"We aren't here to kill them, you fool! I will not disappoint our goddess!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Jaune asked, Lancelot's torso appearing above him with his sword clutched in both hands.
"Oh, worry not, dear little hunters," the man said as he lowered his guns and took a bow, his voice shifting to a more joyous and coy tone that seemed far colder than anything else they'd heard from him thus far. No one made a move to attack, sensing that he hadn't dropped his guard in even the slightest. "My name is Tyrian. This man beside me currently has not named himself, much to my own chagrin. But we don't matter to... you... or you... or even you..." he said as he slowly pointed towards every member of the group, stopping as he rested his eyes on Jaune, and quickly flickered to Yang as a more menacing smile spread across his lips. "... well. You two are quite interesting, I'll admit. Alas, we're not here for either of you today.
"No, we only matter to you," he pointed directly at Ruby, and shifted his other hand towards him. "And you. The Silver Eyed Warrior...
"... and the Ninth Inheritor."
A/N: And that's where we're leaving it for the moment! Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I've had quite the busy few weeks, and what with everything that's been happening updates might be a bit slow from this point on. I'll try to keep things on schedule, but please be patient. Thank you for understanding. And now:
Review Responses:
Guest: Thank you!
God-King Ghidora: I tried my best to implement it, but I couldn't find one in time. It does tie into the fact that Blake definitely isn't a people person though.
Midgardsormr Jr: I tried. That's really all I can say for that particular joke. You'll just have to wait and see about that!
Kaiser Dragon: Luckily, you are not, and thank god for that. And I always wanted to see how those two would interact. This'll be fun.
Kin Ceasar Jr: …
*flips through far-future arc notes*
… you'll have to wait a while for that to come into the picture. *slams notes shut* A long while. And yes, they're going to talk eventually, but not now.
Odin's Eye: Doing my best!
Enku (1): Well, we still don't know much about Neo and Roman in the canon, so I'll hold out some hope for them. I am happy with what I did manage to do though.
Thunder Dragon: I'm happy to entertain! You'll find out... eventually!
DD Lore Nerd: Glad to see you're interested!
Enku (2): Now I want to watch the Lion King again. SO MANY CATCHY SONGS!
Mecha Manda: That won't be all it is, but that will play some part in it.
KongKing94: Not quite, but close.
Leviathan's Heir: In this version, he's a 'rage,' or Red, Berserker. You'll see how this stuff is explained as we go further along. Thanks again to Odin Eye for help with the Berserker Research!
Guest: I... honestly don't know. I've been pretty busy, both with this story and with my life in general, so it could be a pretty long while before I get to any of those ideas, if I ever manage to get to them at all. I'm only human, and I unfortunately have my limits.
PokBloxStories: Hope you've enjoyed it up to this point!
Black Fang: I'll get on that as soon as I can!
Next Chapter: Apr. 26th
Seeya in the next one!