RWBY: Return of Knightmares Past
Chapter 15
Not Quiet the Yellow Brick Road
Enjoy everyone!
XXXX
"Pay more attention, you two." Grumbled an older man with greying red hair to a couple of twin boys behind his back. In addition to greying red hair, the man wore a tattered brown cloak that protected his body well enough, but even then, he chose to wear black leather pants and black boots. To the world, he was nothing special, but to the pair of twins, he was their world, especially after their mom died.
However, it was obvious to the outside world that the small family was dirt poor if the rags the pair of boys wore were any indication. This was something the father was trying to imprint on his young sons, who looked to be around 10ish and had the same red hair. The world was unfair and they had to either work or cheat their way through life.
Currently, the pair were shadowing the man as he hunted their quarry. An Alpha Beringel. Normally, such a strong Grimm was out of the league of thief types, but the old man had learned many tricks throughout his life. Sure, he would get smashed into paste if he even tried to fight it face to face. Not to mention these creatures traveled in packs and were great at ambush hunting.
Now, that same tactic was being used against it. The boys were amazed that their father managed to separate the leader of the pack from the minions. After that, the man used the forest to their advantage, causing accidents to happen. Those accidents damaged the beast to the point parts of it was crippled and it was dragging itself along the ground as they made their way to it. It eyed them weakly as they made their way to its downed form.
"In this world, the strong survive and the weak die. But ever the weak can outwit the strong and bring them to their knees." The man replied as he took a mere pistol and shot it point-blank, breaking through the already broken armor. The creature soon disappeared in the black mist all Grimm were known for.
XXX
A few hours later, the three made their way to a small building in one of Mistral's seeder sides of the city. This building was known to hold one of the many crime lords that were within the city. However, the older man chose to deal with this group because they were on the verge to collapse.
Walking through the door, the room silenced as soon as the criminals saw them. The leader, a man with a crooked smile and missing teeth and a sickle in his hand, grinned at the older man with kids trailing him. "You back so soon old man? What? You actually considering my offer to trade for those brats?"
The older red head's eyes gained a hard edge that shut the leader up. "The job is done, here is proof." He chucked a scroll at the crime lord, who just chuckled, knowing said scroll was pilfered off someone else. Watching the video, the man growled at the job actually being done.
"Ever the old cheat," the crime lord grunted before a smirk overtook his ugly features. "But that the is reason I won't pay you. I figured you would have died and left me those brats. So, you have two choices old man, leave now or stay and die."
The older man's visage betrayed nothing except the hard edge to his eyes. He saw the armed men that the crime lord had at his disposal, despite the group's verge of destruction. He knew they were all stronger than him and with their sick looks at his children, he knew they wanted him to attack so they could acquire new blood. In the end, the old man grunted and told the boys they were leaving, much to the Crime Lord's and the twin's anger.
The children expected their father to pull a dirty trick and win while the leader of these bandits glowered at the loss of potential new blood. Neither party said anything though as the small family filed out of the building.
An hour later, when the small family was far enough away from prying eyes and ears, they made their way into a broken alleyway were a couple of street rats squatted, paying the small family no mind and vice versa.
"What the hell dad, I figured you were have fought more for your hard work!" One of the twins growled out.
The old man smiled softly, "That is another lesson I must impart to you and your brother, Romulus. Failure, as hard work won't always pan out. Yes, I could have fought then and I would have died to those idiots. Instead, I chose you and life."
"But we still left empty-handed." The other boy grumbled while noticing a small girl fall in the alleyway and cry out, with no one but their father going over to pick her up.
"You known me for how long, Remus? You should know I always have a back up plan." The older man replied as helped the girl up and giving her an apple that flashed into his hand, making her blink before snatching it away. Turning back to his boys, their jaws dropped when they saw his hands full of gold sacks, one of which he handed to the small group of kids, before they ran off with tears in their eyes. "My semblance, Snatch, makes for a great backup plan, all it takes is one touch."
Both boys nearly fainted in excitement. "Never count the weak out, my sons, because we know how to lie, steal, cheat, and survive."
XXX
Taiyang had barely made it past the mailbox, when he heard the sound of large wings flapping, before they switched with something landing not too far behind him. He turned around and froze when he saw, who it was that just appeared.
"Beg pardon, is this by chance the Xiao-Long residence?" Naruto asked as he slowly approached, the package for Yang under one arm. Traveling around Remnant just to find the island of Patch…almost in the middle of nowhere had taken some time. He had been checking up on a few side projects here and there and he was pretty sure he passed over a certain bandit camp on his way here. He was sure he gave them quite the fright, but he didn't care. Those guys were assholes and the only one that had his respect was their leader.
"Perhaps," Taiyang said guardedly, "Although why should I answer someone who's a little too spry to be dead."
"Fair enough," Naruto said with a small sigh, "However, the fact remains I am alive right now."
"Ruby's description of your death was too graphic to be her mind playing tricks," Taiyang responded, "How is it possible for you to be alive after all of that."
"That's THE question I'm going to have to answer multiple times," Naruto replied with a resigned smirk, "And for some expediency, I wish to share that answer with both you, sir, and Yang."
"Do you honestly believe I'll let you in?" Tai demanded without raising his voice.
"I wish to atone for my parts in hurting Yang," Naruto said firmly, looking the man in the eye, "If she never wants to see me again, after all the talking is done, I will respect her wishes."
Taiyang could see the sincerity in the young man's eyes and heaved a heavy sigh of his own, before saying, "Given you protected my daughter before the Fall happened, I will concede to letting you in, but do not expect any help from me."
"I never needed a shield," Naruto replied with humor in his voice, "Nor am I going to use you as one; well… not today at least."
Taiyang snorted in amusement before he entered the house first; while Naruto trailed slightly as he pulled out his scroll and selected one of the only two recordings of the song that Yang sang at the dance. The reason there were only two, was because he busted his butt to ensure it because it held a lot of meaning to both him and Jaune. This was something only Teams RWBY, AGES, and JNPR knew about.
Naruto walked in carefully as the song played, he saw Yang looking in his direction, eyes wide, before locking onto and following him until he stopped. When the song ended, Naruto smiled gently after a small throat clear and said, "I'm not going to make excuses, nor am I going to expect forgiveness; in fact, I would well and truly understand you wanting to take a swing at me again. Since you are very well vindicated to."
Yang said nothing as she slowly made her way over to him, her body shaking slightly. When she was about a foot away, her blazing glare went up to his eyes as the shaking stilled.
"Want a repeat of the one from the Vytal Festival?" Yang asked without any emotion in her voice.
"I'm going to be honest; I was counting on Weiss to go first, then you and then Winter." Naruto said with a ghost of levity in his voice.
"Why am I second?" Yang asked.
"Because Weiss has been the closest to me since we were womb-mates." Naruto replied, the humor in his voice escalating, Yang could not stop a small laugh from escaping as the red glow of her eyes flickered, "Plus, you overtook Winter in those rankings shortly after and I quote 'Just know, this isn't over, this conversation nor this relationship'."
"I'll be interested to hear about that tidbit later," Taiyang interjected making the two glance at him, "But you owe me a certain answer. Ruby saw you die, but how is it you are alive?"
"I'll start with saying that Ruby was telling the truth in that I did die that day," Naruto explained causing the father and daughter to pale slightly, "But a beneficial little detail I deliberately omitted during my chat with Port and Oobleck is that, unless all four of the current Terminus Knightmares are killed near-simultaneously; we are effectively immortal. So, since the others were still alive, my coming back from the beyond was guaranteed."
"While I'm grateful for that," said Yang her eyes narrowing as the anger seeped back in, "That still does not excuse you from the fact you hurt a lot of people with that stunt."
"Thank you for reminding me to say sorry to Ruby next, along with a kiss of gratitude," Naruto said glibly with a smile making the father and daughter glare at him in-sync, "What? Ruby saved my butt before my regeneration really kicked in, when she arrived."
"What do you mean by that?" Asked Tai-Yang
"In certain circles, in the shadow war I mentioned during my reveal, there is a certain someone that can bring the Knightmares to heel back on the enemy's side," Naruto said looking a bit disturbed and almost frightened, "If the person who killed me had managed to get me transported to that person, I would not be here talking to you. Instead, I'd be a slave-hunting down the other three to bring them back. Thankfully that didn't happen and they are following procedures."
"Procedures?" Said Yang questioningly.
"After all four of us show up, we scatter to the winds," Naruto said seriously, "The Knightmares originally did so after successfully hunting down a maiden or three; but after the silver eyes gave us the avenues for freedom, it was so that person can never catch us in one place. And currently Famine is hanging around team RNJR, while Pestilence and Death on their way to Menagerie."
"Who's team RNJR?" Asked Yang now looking worried, "And why are two of them heading to Blake's home?"
"Ruby's temporary team with Jaune, Ren and Nora," Naruto replied relaxed, "And the reason Death and Pest are together, was and is a just in case, I'm compromised or had fallen into the enemy's hands."
"How do you know that and what do mean by just in case?" Tai asked.
"A checks-n-balances feature made by the Queen," Naruto explained, "It so no one Knightmare is overpowered and to force us into working as a group. The way it works is I'm an anti-army specialist capable of suppressing the army generating Pestilence, while Pestilence can overwhelm Famine, Famine can stall out Death to win, and Death can fabricate a scenario to assassinate me. As for how I know, it is due to my War Omniscience."
"War Omniscience?"
"I have a permanently active real-time awareness of everything that's remotely related to war itself; strategies, tactics, troops, weapons, etc," Naruto said, "Nothing war-related can escape my knowing, but because the omniscience is centered like that, I can be blindsided under a lot of different circumstances."
"That's a lot to take in," said Yang before finally noticing the package Naruto was carrying, "What's that?"
"You heard of Ironwood's initiative to honor and help those who fought during the Fall of Beacon," Naruto replied opening up the box for Yang to see the arm, "This is for you and something I intercepted; part of my atonement package."
"What did you do to it?" Asked Yang
"Nothing too drastic," Naruto hedged slightly, "I used SHIVA as a base to make the arm a little more… "natural"…. And made it immune to the power any future War Knightmares."
"Is that all?"
"I was figuring, with your consent especially, of adding an internal support system," Naruto said slowly, "However the application needs to be a touch invasive…."
"So I'll be less human after you're done?" Yang demanded in a low voice, her head lowering, Tai gearing himself up to act, until Naruto gently lifted her chin with both hands to look into her misting eyes.
"You will not be less human," Naruto said gently, "Quite the opposite, you'll be super."
"Superhuman, huh?" Yang said quietly, "Sounds much better."
"And like I said, it's with your consent," Naruto responded, "So it's your choice, I will respect what you wish. Much like how I told your father, if you don't wish to see me again, I will respect that as well."
"And who said I don't wish to see you again?" Asked Yang sounding haughty, grabbing Naruto's collar with her only hand and brought his face into kissing distance, "You came back like you promised, and I stand by what I said, this relationship is not over."
"To which, I'm still waiting for an answer on." Tai interjected arms crossed as Naruto and Yang looked in his direction. The two teens gained a nervous look, especially when Tai began to emit a dark aura and the patented father stare.
"Well dad, you proved just now I couldn't tell you as I feared for my boyfriend's life." Yang said, making said boyfriend sweat drop and her father to fall on his ass in shock. "Ruby is right, you have a scary overprotective streak."
"But you're my daughters!" Tai cried at no one respecting his awesome dadness. "I must protect you from all things!"
"Like my arm?" Yang deadpanned, making the older man wince. "Shit happens dad and while I am trying to mentally get over this, that was something you couldn't have protected me from. As for Naruto being my boyfriend, I have always made my intentions known around boys and some girls."
"I thought you were joking!" Tai cried with his dad tears running, hoping it would get through to her.
It did not.
"Nope!" Yang chirped a little too happy for his tastes. "He is the guy for me."
"In that case," Tai mumbled before he stalked over to the Schnee and produced the most menacing aura he could muster. "I heard from Qrow about what you did to that pretty boy afraid of water. If you hurt Yang in any way, I will find a way to make you did, ten times as worse. You got that."
"Crystal," Naruto replied good-naturedly, not that affected. However, a mischievous grin crossed his lips. "While we are on that subject, I doubt you have the chops to do that, Mr. Dad. I've got a great deal of hardcore pranking experience over you."
"Is that a threat?" Tai asked, keeping his threatening aura up, making Yang's eyes go wide.
"It is a promise." Naruto smiled.
Suddenly the aura was gone and Tai slapped Naruto on the back with a large smile. "Kid, I like you! Why don't you stay for dinner?"
"That would be nice, thank you for the offer," Naruto replied with a smile still in place.
Yang watched the two walk off and said, "What just happened?"
XXX
"Wha?' Ruby asked as she was shaken awake by Ebony, whom she used a as pillow with her legs. Both Ebony and Nora were giving her concerned looks.
"You were having a nightmare. Are you ok?" Nora asked, who despite being the loud girl that she is, still gave the red riding hood like girl a soft smile.
Recalling the nightmare, Ruby shivered a bit. She kept seeing Naruto dying in front of her and Pyrrha nearly doing the same. Her sleep since the attack, hasn't been all that great. Not to mention her thoughts on how Yang was doing. "I…I'll be fine." Ruby mumbled. She certainly wasn't fine as the trauma of the attack was still affecting her.
"I know you will." Nora replied cheerfully, almost as if she had dealt with something like this before and was speaking from experience.
"All it takes is just one step at a time." Ebony added.
That depressing thought was interrupted by the cheerful voice of Pyrrha over Jaune's scroll saying goodbye for now. "Pyrrha said hi and to try and cheer up, Ruby." Jaune replied as he went to sit down next to her with Ren not far behind.
Ruby smiled halfheartedly at Jaune's remark. She also noted that while they were on the trip, Jaune had finally changed clothes. Instead of his hoodie with the logo of a certain cereal logo on it, he had traded that for a blue gambeson with black sleeves to go under his armor. Speaking of which, Pyrrha had donated parts of her own armor to upgrade his own at a local blacksmith. His armor, shield, and sword now sported gold accents. Her reasoning was that in a way, she was watching his back, while she was not physically there. Besides, she had better armor being made for her back home. It was just too bad none of them could convince the boy into adding a gun attachment to his weapon or shield. He felt that his Smite attacks were good enough.
In fact, all of them had bought better clothes while on the road. Ren and Nora took more from their Mistral heritage while Ruby herself gained more frills and some padded armor in case a Grimm got a cheap shot on her.
They were interrupt, when a loud boom came from the nearby train station and they rushed over to see the place completely engulfed in flames, not to mention the tracks themselves had melted and twisted. If they looked closer, they saw that the further away from town, the tracks looked worse. It seemed that taking a train to the capital with Haven Academy was not an option anymore.
That didn't matter at the moment as checking for survivors took precedence over anything else.
XXX
"I am surprised to see you two here." Naruto replied casually with a slight smile, while Yang sat next him; both had just come into the kitchen after hearing laughter, to find Port and Oobleck having a riot with Tai, over the man's school days. Oobleck was stunned speechless upon seeing him, which lasted all of 5 seconds before he went off on an amusing amount of tangents.
"We needed a break from the efforts to retake Beacon." Port replied tiredly once he had gotten over his shock before a smirk cross his face. "The explosion of the Wyvern on top of Beacon tower helped us greatly in that and why we were able to get some time off. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"News to me." Naruto replied as he took a drink while Yang stared at him wide-eyed.
"I didn't know about that!" Yang got out after a moment of gawking. "How did that happen?"
"It seemed that Cardin Winchester got a few bombs from his father and took it upon himself to ease our burden," Port replied, still eyeing Naruto. "Young Velvet reported that she helped him, but I find it odd considering that his father said that he gave his son just enough to remove the beast from the tower…not completely blow it and a good portion of the tower away"
"Oum damn!" Tai shouted in shock along with his daughter.
"Must have been some powerful bombs." Naruto replied calmly with a smirk.
"Cut the crap young man." Oobleck started again in a harsh tone before a relieved smile overtook his features. "Just accept the praise. Cardin let it slip, but we promised to keep it secret."
"Especially after Velvet smacked him over the head rather harshly." Port belted out in laughter.
Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Even in a war, that guy still manages to make trouble for me."
"People like him will still mess up a lot until they make things right." Tai offered with a small smile. "Just give him time."
"Speaking of time, it is good to see you finally up and about Miss…no, Yang." Port praised the blond-haired girl.
Yang looked uncomfortable at hearing this. "I had to get used to my new normal…I am still trying to get past what happened and the pain it caused."
"I would have thought you'd have gotten a new arm by now. General Ironwood had made it clear that he wanted to help those who defended Beacon and lost something important, that they would indeed be helped." Dr. Oobleck pointed out, forcing Port to grimace at his friend's lack of tact in that area.
"Actually…" Yang started before smiling at her boyfriend softly. "Naruto had gotten a hold of it, and just felt like adding a few of his own touches to it."
"Then why haven't you tried it on yet." Port asked, but even he could see the fear reflect in his former pupil's eyes.
"Because…I am scared." Yang admitted, while Naruto looked at her sadly, but understood. "As I said, this," referring to her stump, "Is my new normal. I don't know if I'll ever get back to the new normal everyone wants me to get to. I mean, that jackass did take a part of me away and now my boyfriend is offering to help me. Honestly before he came back, I was just going to accept all this. I am just afraid, what if I won't be like my old self."
"And your fear doesn't have to stop you from becoming who you want to be." Tai offered his daughter. "You are Yang Xiao Long, my sunny little dragon. You can do whatever you put your mind to. So, whenever you are ready to stop moping, I and your boyfriend will be there for you. Oum, that boyfriend part is something I am really going to have to get used to."
Port chuckled, "That you will my friend. They remind me of another couple I used to know." Port winked at Tai who gagged at the implications. However, he just turned to Yang and continued. "Yang, Fear, is like any other emotion. It comes and goes; it is all in how you handle it. Why even I wrestle with that emotion from time to time."
"I don't know…but you, really?" Yang asked, still unsure. She felt she was on the verge of pushing past her fear, but how was Port fearful? He was an old dude who blew out hot air whenever he got the chance.
"He's afraid of mice." Oobleck whispered.
"They bring on disease, famine!" Port screamed out in a panic, making Naruto chuckled as he was sure Famine herself could attest to that. Naruto and Yang glanced at each other before they burst out laughing, especially when Port went off on a tangent about mouse tails.
Naruto did pause and smile as he watched Yang laugh at the absurdity of Port and his fear of mice. He was happy she was starting to feel better and just needed that extra push of brevity to see her spirits soar. Taking her remaining hand in his, he said "Your dad is right, you can power through this and be whatever you want to be. If you wanna come back big, we would be one hell of a team too."
Yang blushed hard at this while Tai growled at the blatant flirting in front of him. "You sure you want someone broken like me?"
"Of course," Naruto replied with a winning smile. "I am here to pick up the pieces and make you whole again." He brought out his scroll and started playing a tune as he cleared his throat, confusing Tai at the action. However, Port and Oobleck got up and joined the man where he stood.
"We're in for a show." Port whispered.
"Show?" Tai asked nervously.
"Ah, it is your first time…pay attention." Oobleck whispered but had a smile on his face.
(Please play 'One Hell of a Team' by Amalee and Divide Music. Youtube)
"You stitch your dreams, but they'll never hold. You're falling by the wayside. Falling by the wayside. Down you go." Naruto sang, referring to how Yang had been feeling ever since she lost her arm to Adam. Soon, he got up and held out his hand for her to take. "There is so much you could be. Endless possibilities. Shake my hand, don't be naïve."
As Yang took his hand, if a bit hesitantly, Naruto did notice that but didn't let it bother him, he just gave her a disarming smile as he twirled her in place, getting a laugh from her. "Now you can trust me. I see potential in your future, we can agree. I have credentials that you don't, your want is a need. So if you'd like to try and help us, baby, redeem. Can't you hear it in my voice?"
"I don't understand what's in it for you?" Yang sang along, slighting suspicious.
"There's no motive, I just wanna make your dreams come true." Naruto sang as they danced in the kitchen. Tai saw this and was torn between shed a tear or the throttling the boy for putting moves on his daughter. Thankfully, Port and Oobleck held him back.
"So why does my heart tell me not to trust, you're only bad news." Yang sang with a bit of a laugh as she knew Naruto was really trying to help her.
"Well, maybe you should smile, you're never fully dressed, it's your debut!" Naruto sand with wiggling his eyebrow, making her laugh a bit more. "Now hang the banners, welcome all those on the outside."
Yang's eye started to regain more of her old spark and she belt out, "I'll show compassion and they'll see their future's in sight!"
"Yeah, nothing can go wrong, our deal is sealed airtight." Naruto sang before giving her a peck on the lips, getting a smirk from Yang when she heard Oobleck and Port really having to hold back her dad now!
They both grinned at each other before they both sang out, "If you wanna feel alive, we could set the world alight! There is so much you could be if only you'd join me, we make one hell of a team! You are wicked like a torturous dream! Like a sweet calamity! There is so much you could be if only you'd join me, we make one hell of a team!"
For a moment, Yang let go of his hand as some of her depression was starting to seep back into the forefront of her mind. Especially when she grabbed at her stump. "You're really quite persuasive. A killer salesman, you try but you cannot hide. Your inner demon, I know my dreams are hopeful, but they're not stupid, you treat me like a child. Lost in delusion." But it was through her own depression that she saw something reflected in Naruto's eyes. Something familiar. "But I see you, all of you, clearer than I ever have. Stone cold, with no soul, loneliness your only friend. Get it in your head, you're never gonna change me." She sang the last part, testing him and was happy when he took hold of her hand again.
"No, I only wanna set you free." Naruto sang softly, confirming for her that he looked out for others more than himself. That is where she came in, she'd have to be the one to watch his back and heart.
The two grinned before kissing again just to mess with her dad. "If you wanna feel alive, we could set the world alight! There is so much you could be if only you'd join me, we make one hell of a team! You are wicked like a torturous dream! Like a sweet calamity! There is so much you could be if only you'd join me, we make one hell of a team!"
However, her depression wasn't done with her as when she got a look at herself in one of the kitchen windows and saw how she looked, she frowned a bit. "I'm not who you see. I know my destiny and that girl you see, will stay a dream."
"You're stuck somewhere between and you're fraying at the seams and the girl you wanna be. Will stay a dream." Naruto replied softly as even she could see her depression was getting to her and as they held a gaze between each other, Yang saw that he was indeed being sincere and knew deep down that she didn't want to live like this anymore. Soon, that spark in her eyes became a full-on rage fire again.
"NO!" She declared as her hair stood on end and glowed in golden light as her eye went red for just a moment. She was not going to wallow her own self pity anymore! She had her father and boyfriend to help her get back on her feet! "If you wanna feel alive, we could set the world alight! There is so much you could be if only you'd join me, we make one hell of a team! You are wicked like a torturous dream! Like a sweet calamity! There is so much you could be if only you'd join me, we make one hell of a team!"
"We WILL make one hell of a team!" Yang declared before she kissed him again before stalking off to get that arm he brought her.
XXX
Port and Oobleck would have left…or should have, but the curiosity of how Naruto was going to help Yang was too much for them to pass up. Then there was Tai, he was a ball of nerves as it were and was very grateful two familiar faces stayed late into the evening to witness this with him.
Yang was currently seated on the couch; her top and jacket, replaced with a modest sports bra, the new prosthetic arm now attached, simply hanging and unmoving. Naruto was sitting next to it, working on a tablet with a holographic keyboard attachment.
A few dozen keystrokes later and a white light covered the prosthetic, then began traveling across her back, and then enveloping her other arm, making her give him a questioning look.
Naruto slightly grinned, forgetting the current appearance of his Knightmare form, if only for a small period of time, "I need a model for your new arm's final touches."
Yang was initially alarmed as her normal arm started tingling, and then the sensation crossed her back. She defiantly wasn't prepared for the tingling to transform into a warm and pleasant sensation that seeped throughout her body. To Tai and the teachers, they saw her aura light up in white and then a blazing gold, as if her semblance had flared to life on its own.
After a few more moments, the light show died down and Yang now had a pink fleshy arm again, making them all raise an eyebrow at that. Did he just cover it with fake skin? However, when Naruto took hold of her new hand, she gained a shocked look before she started to tear up with a brilliant smile directed his way.
"…I can feel that!" Yang cried out, making the witness's jaws drop.
Naruto nodded and he smiled back at her softly, "Of course, it is now a real arm Yang; the modifications I made were for just this, and a few extras for some flare."
"Thank you!" Yang cried as the feeling of having her arm was causing great amounts of joy to flow through her.
Tai himself teared up a bit at seeing the pure joy on his daughter's face but he was curious as to what else Naruto did. "What kind of extras?"
"One example is some excess of the materials that the arm was composed of, were made into a nanoscopic reinforcing mesh," Naruto explained, "Basically she now has tougher bones and a layer of armor under her skin; which not only will help Yang tank more damage, but she can now deal out more damage without causing major injury. Plus, there's a nice little surprise equipped to it."
"What sort of surprise?" Yang asked incredulously
"I'll let you know in a bit," Naruto replied as he handed her, her shotgun gauntlets, Ember Celica, "Now for the next part."
As soon as Yang put on the weapons and activated them, a strange sensation ran up both of her arms. The gauntlets reconfigured before everyone's eyes, becoming slightly sleeker in places as if to accommodate some other things. Then what looked like small hard-light dust plates appeared, from the middle of Yang's biceps down in an overlapping scale-like pattern and ending in sharp fingertips. The plates had the same gold coloration as Ember Celica, making them seem to blend with the gauntlets as they fitted around and on them; making the weapons noticeably more armored and likely dangerous to anything on the receiving end.
"Aside from some security features that can keep your weapons from being taken; that surprise I mentioned," Naruto said after letting Yang admire it for a couple of minutes, "It's a perfected SHIVA that I managed to finish, with some help from uncle Pietro. Now you can fight, to protect yourself and others, better than ever."
Yang just stared at her boyfriend for a moment as she let it all sink in. She got her arm back in all sense of the word. All because he wanted to help her. He went beyond what she thought this was going to be. He gave her the power to be herself again, and more. She was already in love with him before but this cemented the fact for her. She closed any distance there was between then them and gave him a kiss that was filled with her all love. Then she hugged him for all he was worth and it was a lot to her. "Thank you!"
"Anything for you, Yang." Naruto replied softly as he just held her in the hug.
By now, Tai was actually full-on crying in the background as he was happy for his daughter. He wasn't expecting her boyfriend to go so far for her, but he did. And Tai was just held in Port's embrace as he was happy for the father-daughter duo. Oobleck couldn't be bothered with semantics like that as he was ranting and raving on how this was a medical breakthrough and how Naruto could help a lot of people this way.
Of course, the two teens ignored all this as Naruto got Yang's attention again. "We've got some time to kill, in which, your dad and I will get you back into fighting shape."
XXX
Out on the sea route to Menagerie, the Captain of his ship chuckled at the group of people he had been observing the last few days since they started their trip. They were a small group of four Faunus and they seemed happy, yet guarded. He was happy that they were in good spirits and honestly, he would have made sure they stayed that way, much like any guest.
Honestly, as old as he was, he still did not understand the prejudice that Faunus had to deal with. They had animal features, so what? Were they that dangerous to be around than any other human? He didn't think so. Both 'species' as it were, had their good and their bad eggs. It was not fair to treat them any differently. He would just continue treating them like any other person he knew.
"I do hope you are enjoying the cruise." He said with a smile to the two feline types. "I know these types of cruises can be boring, so I am glad you have someone to share your time with."
The male of the two felines, Sid, smiled at the older man. "Thank you, sir. I will say it has been a bit boring but after what happened at Beacon, we'll take boring."
"Fair enough young ones, shame what happened there but given the look in your eyes, I can see that you were there." The captain replied, seeing the two Faunus start to look slightly uncomfortable. "Don't worry, I won't pry, but I will say that you two will have some great stories in the future. All Huntsmen and Huntress usually do."
"You are quite perceptive." Blake pointed out, starting to feel comfortable with the older man.
"HA!" The captain couldn't help but bellow out some laughter. "Young Lady, you don't get to be my age without picking up on a few things here and there. Like how you two seem to be more than friends or at least on the verge of something." At seeing their 'deer in the headlights look he bellowed out another laugh. Young people were so entertaining. "I'll just tell you what I told that other young couple at the front of the deck, just be safe." He ended his speech with a wink that got Blake stuttering and Sid to blink owlishly. Perceptive indeed.
That was when Sid saw that Blake took off her bow and let it fly into the wind. Since they were going to Menagerie, home of the Faunus, she no longer felt the need to hide what she was. Sid smiled at her for that action, which he found his being returned. Had he still been in Mistral, he wasn't sure if he would be the same person he was now. Proud, yet afraid of his Faunus heritage, much like Blake and much like her, hiding his tail. It was just something you learned along the way and maybe Blake was on that path. He couldn't explain it, but him with his tail, it just clicked one day.
"I won't be needing this anymore." Blake replied with some determination in her eyes.
"You really didn't need it in the first place, but I get it." Sid replied as he put an arm around her shoulder so they can look out onto the ocean.
Blake smiled as she leaned into him. The captain was right about one thing, they would be a couple if either of them said anything. Blake had a feeling he wanted to tell her something before they went that far in their relationship. What it could be, she had a small inkling but wanted him to say it.
They both froze up a bit when they saw the dark fin of a Grimm pop up from the water. "We should go tell Gwen and Sun about that, just in case." Blake replied.
"Oh yeah."
XXX
It turned out that walking was team RNJR's only option at this point. They had been walking for some time and Ruby was getting tired of it. Whoever messed up the train tracks knew what they were doing in the long run. Cutting off access to other cities and towns, but they weren't sure why just yet.
"What's your theory?" Ruby asked of Ren as Ebony played tune on her guitar in boredom. As for Jaune and Nora, they chatted ahead of them. Oddly enough, it was about what they preferred in breakfast food, between Pancakes and French Toast.
"About the tracks?" Ren asked, "It could just be a freak accident, the Grimm could be organizing, or the people we are trying to stop are hoping to destabilize this continent. If that last one is true, then they have a lot of work to do."
"Why is that?" Ruby asked.
"The people have been through a lot." Ren started. "We have our capital where the Kingdom rules from and the Academy, but there is a large criminal element they have to contend with. Bandits and Crime Lords run part of the show and the Kingdom doesn't do much about it as they have an uneasy truce. I am sure you remember Sid speaking about Speakeasies. They were once just places where the younger crowd could do whatever they wanted; like drink alcohol for the first time. Simple stuff like that; now those are True Neutral Zones."
"And Sid did mention to me about a pretty infamous crime family as well, so our enemies have their work cut out for them as that gang ain't stupid." Ebony offered.
"Wow, that's a lot to handle." Ruby admitted, making Ren nod, but their conversation was put on the back burner for the moment when Jaune and Nora paused in their own conversation and warned them of a small town ahead that looked to have been attacked.
XXX
The town they found may have been attacked at one point, but it looked more like time and nature had overtaken this place. Still, the group searched but found no traces of human life. Thankfully, Nora found a clue to ease their consciousness a bit.
"Oniyuri? I have never heard of that town before." Nora stated, confusion playing across her face.
Jaune and Ruby agreed, this was not a place they knew of. "I have," Ren replied with a sigh. "Think of this place, as one of Mistral's own Mountain Glenns. Many thought that little towns like this away from how the Kingdom was run were going to be the future. My parents being among those that agreed."
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
"What always happens, Grimm or Bandit attacks." Ren replied. "Bandits are something most can handle, but that one Grimm…."
"One?" Ruby asked in disbelief.
By this point, Ren was shaking in anger as memories replayed in his mind, but he reminded himself to calm down. "Yeah, one. Like I said, Ruby, the People of Mistral are survivors."
After that, the group continued on their trek to Mistral. It would be during that time that Ruby grew curious about Ebony's guitar weapon. The beautiful woman not only let her take and look and gush over it, she began to teach Ruby how to play guitar. They had nothing better to do than walk the whole way anyway.
XXX
Gwyn frowned as she took aim at the creature that rose from the depths of the ocean. How Naruto was able to kill one of these beasts in a berserker state was beyond her. This beast being that of the many Sea Fei Longs that roam the sea. They maliciously attack sea vessels that pass by as they were very aggressive. This ship just ran through a bit of bad luck in being attacked just as Blake and Sid warned them of such a thing.
"Sun, annoy it for me." Gwyn demanded with a smirk. They both knew his personality and how it could be used in battle.
"Sid, cover me!" Blake herself ordered as she used Gamble Shroud to swing both her and Sun up to the beast's face.
"Yes Ma'am!" both boys replied with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Sid found he was at a disadvantage in his fight and worked alongside the crew of the ship to help take down this beast. Sure, he could have had Blake also swing him up there, but covering with shield bullets and cannon fire was great from ground support while Gwyn pelted the beast from above.
Gwyn, for her part, was amused at how well their makeshift team was working. She observed how Blake would swing Sun out of the way of cannon fire or if the beast took a moment to shake them off. Seeing her shot, she blasted one of its eyes out of existence, causing it to squirm in pain and agony. As it did, it damaged itself further by hitting many of the jagged outcroppings of rocks coming from the ocean. It gave her an idea of how they could beat it…that is until it revealed its wings. Even then, the beast flailed around.
"It can still work." Gwyn told herself as he flew down to Sid and said, "When I give the signal, fire off those Pile Bunkers at its head." He looked uneasy, probably from still being on the boat, but nodded.
"Blake, Sun, drive it into the think of those outcrops!" the two smirked at her, already seeing her plan from their bird's eye views. Sun landed on the head of the beast and activated his Semblance, creating light clones of himself to start messing with the beast's wings. Blake swung up and around to the beast's good eye before destroying it completely, causing a scream of pain as it again lost its sight, this time for good.
Now Sid understood what was going on. He watched as Sun steered the beast as best, he could until it was near a rather dangerous outcropping that even their ship wouldn't head towards. For this next part, he had to leave the boat and hop from one outcropping of rock to the next just to keep up. Sun steered the beast to just before it was going to hit the rocks before Blake swung him to safety. After that, four powerful shots were heard. One from Gwyn sending off a charge shot, one from the boat's largest cannon, and two from his pile bunkers that expedited the beast's trip into oblivion as the four shots quickly pummeled the beast's head through the outcropping…or more like the jagged edges went through its head, killing it instantly.
Seeing their handy work, the captain of the ship chuckled to himself. "They make a good team; no doubt they will have many stories should we meet again."
XXX
"So now we can talk about her?" Yang asked just as Naruto returned, Naruto and Tai had been working hard with Yang's physical therapy, and Naruto had just excused himself to go get some drinks for a break. While he was gone, Tai commented on Yang sharing her mother's resilience.
Tai hesitated for a moment and then nodded, "I didn't want you to be so much like her. Raven's always struggled with walls that just can't be slammed through headfirst, such as settling down. Her natural tendency to simply beeline for the simplest solution just ended up hurting team STRQ and the family."
"Then why bother having me, if she couldn't love me?" Asked Yang.
Tai replied while shaking his head, "She loved you Yang, but she also loved her tribe. I had fought to keep you, I ultimately won, but Raven left us both behind."
Naruto placed a hand on Yang's shoulder just as she was about to say something, and an empathetic look helped quell some of Yang's anger.
"Look, with me, you had something of a normal life, I wanted it for Raven as well," Said Tai, "But she kept rejecting me at every turn."
"Then why didn't you go with her instead?" Asked Yang
"And become a bandit as well? Raise you around thugs and criminals?" Tai asked back, "I loved your mother, I had learned to look beyond her past; I was hoping to drag Raven out of that mess, not get dragged in myself. I sure as hell was not going to get my own flesh and blood involved."
"Think about it this way, Yang," Naruto interjected, cutting off Yang before she could lash out, "if you had gone with Raven, would you have known your own father? Ruby? Qrow? Your past and current friends? Or even me?"
"Raven offered a tribe, Yang," said Tai softly, yet firmly, "I offered a home. And I will always stand by, that I was pretty damn sure, I made the right call."
He was shocked though when Yang enveloped him and Naruto in a bone-crushing hug whispering thank you.
XXX
"So, this is Menagerie." Gwyn said quietly as the group of four Faunus left the ship and into the market square, she also noted aloud, "I'm a touched surprised, there are not many people packing the market. From what I understand there is not much livable land."
"It's currently the hot season," Blake explained, "Most opt to spend their time in the shade and will only venture out for what they need."
"The heat's really not that bad," Sun commented and Gwyn nodded, since they both grew up in the desert, "In fact, the weather is perfectly pleasant."
"It is pretty nice," said Blake, "But monsoon season, can be pretty nasty; the most anyone can do during that time is hunker down and hope their homes don't get swept away," Blake's voice then took on a bitter tone, "This place would be a tropical paradise, if not for the bad weather in the spring and an inhospitable desert outside the walls."
As the group of four were cresting a hill that overlooks the city, Sid vaguely noticed some whispering and pointing, which oddly seemed aimed at him.
At the top of the hill, Blake then spotted her house and commented, "Seems my parents finally put in that expansion they wanted, my home looks bigger than I remember."
"You mentioned you were coming back to your home to also make sure they were ok. Do you still feel like they are in danger somehow?" Asked Sid.
Blake glanced at him before replying with, "It is a long shot, but there are White Fang here. New and Old. But part of me is wondering if, it is still my home. It's been a few years since I've seen..."
Sid placed a hand on Blake's shoulder and gently said, "Have faith."
"Alright, so which one is your house, can we see if from here?" Sun asked.
"Not hard to miss," Blake replied with a coy smile and pointed to arguably the largest private home that was straight down the hill, waiting to see her friends' reactions. Gwyn, she expected to be level-headed and opted to treat her the same once she got a good look at the place. Sun's jaws dropped, before exclaiming, "Wait, WHAT?!" She was more curious about how Sid was taking it, he had mentioned despite his struggling acting career, his family was well-off regardless.
Her mind came back to reality as the large door of her house came into view. She hesitated for a moment and on Sun's question, she let the knocker fall, creating what sounded like a large boom that echoed through the home. With that sound, came the guilt. She hadn't left on good terms as she sided with the more violent side of the White Fang for a time. She never even said goodbye…would they even accept her back?
When the door finally opened after several nerve-wracking moments, it revealed the soft but tired face of her mother, Kali Belladonna. She looked just as beautiful and easygoing as she remembered. "Blake?" the woman asked in shock, somehow not believing her eyes.
"Hi…mom." Blake replied, unsure what to do next.
Her action though was taken from her as while the older cat Faunus stared in disbelief, she still enveloped her daughter in a tight hug, shaking the whole time. "My baby girl." She cried softly, forcing Blake to start tearing up as well that she was still accepted as she hugged back.
"Kali? Who is it?" A rough male voice said from inside. The voice soon reveal itself to belong to Ghira Belladonna, who also stared in shock at the scene before him before giving off a warm smile and a few relieved tears. "I am glad to see you home safe. Come inside, all of you, and have a seat at the table."
XXX
Somehow, her father always got what he wanted and it mattered not what anyone in their family said. Jacques Schnee always managed to connive his way through everyone. That was how he got her to sing for all of his rich 'friends' at the gala they were attending. Well, her and her little brother. Their mother, Willow, chose not to attend on the fact she absolutely hated the man and was dealing with her feelings about her son 'dying' again.
As she listened to her father prattle on about how he was the good guy in the Faunus debate, she repressed the urge to roll her eyes. These people were barely listening to what was being said like their minds were elsewhere. She hated these parties if they could be called that. All it was, was people showing off their wealth and talked dirty about everyone but themselves. Hell, they barely paid attention to the song she sang for all of them. She basically told them that her dad was a controlling dick head and they clapped like the lemmings they were!
She needed to get away from them, or at the very least, her father, before she went mad. But he caught her hand as she turned to leave, no doubt to berate her that they must look united as a father. Funny that. "Sweetheart, where are you going?" He asked softly, but there was an edge to it.
"I am…just a little thirsty," Weiss replied while eyeing the art piece that beheld Beacon Academy in all her glory.
"Sweetheart, we have people for that." Jacques scoffed a bit as he raised his hand to flag someone down but Weiss stopped him.
"What? No, I can get it, will be right back, I promise." Weiss replied a bit put off that he had to get someone for her. She was perfectly capable to helping herself and that meant getting away from him for just a little bit.
Jacquez seemed to glare at her for not living up to her station and disobeying him yet again. But he let her go for the time being as he switched back to his conversation with the guests. At least he had Whitley on his side.
Trying to drown out the noise, Weiss walked over to the beautiful painting of Beacon before it was destroyed. It brought as a sense of calm as she remembered her time there. With her team and with her brother. It felt so long ago and she already missed it. No, she missed her brother and their freedom there.
"It's beautiful." A teen around her age said and Weiss resisted once again to roll her eyes. As if the noise wasn't enough, she has to idiot talking to her. She knew what he wanted the moment she laid eyes on him for second before looking back to the painting. Most guys at these galas didn't even know why they were here. They were looking to pick up women and if they were lucky, get a power play. "You two match." Smooth…right.
"Yes, it is a lovely painting." Weiss replied while holding back her anger and ignored the feeling that someone else felt anger as well.
"So…" the man replied awkwardly as he leaned on the railing separating them from the painting. "That was me breaking the ice. How am I doing so far?"
Weiss couldn't help but huff as her anger was starting to get the better of her. "You are leaving a lot to be desired."
"Well, I have always appreciated honestly. Henry Marigold." The potential suitor said, not giving up and trying to introduce himself.
"Weiss Schnee." Weiss replied without any interest at all. She had done this so many times that to even introduce herself, was meaningless. They wouldn't remember.
"I know! I saw your performance! Obviously!" Henry replied a bit too excitedly for her tastes as he shook her offer hand. Shake may have been the wrong word though as in high society, they don't shake hands with women. They delicately take the woman's hand for a moment and maybe kiss it. It was…lame now that she thought about it. "You were wonderful and I promise I am not just saying that because your pretty. Honestly, remember?"
Oh, was he still there, prattling on? Wow, he was persistent! He did not take a hint well.
"So, are you thinking about buying it?" Henry pressed on anyways as he referred to the large painting of Beacon before them. A small part of her wondered if he made the painting but that feeling was quickly shaken off. He wasn't the artsy type.
"No, I don't think so," Weiss replied.
"Yeah, kind of pricey for a painting." Henry admitted with a bit of snark.
"It is to raise money." Weiss replied a bit forcefully. After all, Beacon was attacked and this was what the Gala was even for!
"Oh really? For what?" Wrong thing to say!
"For what?" Weiss parroted in disbelief.
"Heh, I'll admit, I only come to these things for the food and drinks." Henry admitted as he took a drink from a passing by waiter and trying to sound suave, he smirked, "And the extraordinary company, of course. So, what, is it another Mantle fundraiser or something?"
"Get out." Weiss replied with clenched teeth. This boy had royally pissed her off. His callous nature was too much!
"Heh, what?"
"Get out or I will have security escort you out."
"But I didn't even do anything." Henry replied a bit mad and confused that the pretty girl was telling him to get lost.
"LEAVE!"
"Whatever." He said as he shambled off to enjoy other company. Just because Weiss blew him off, didn't mean there weren't others that would enjoy his charm.
As he left, Weiss tried to relax once again but it was hard as she had become hyper aware of her surroundings. Grimm Training helped with that and it was becoming increasingly difficult to enjoy herself as the roar of the crowd found her. One guy was screaming at the waiter staff that they got his order wrong and throwing a tantrum while others just complained about their daily life as if they had it hard up here on Atlas.
The straw that broke the camel's back though was when she overheard vale and Beacon being bad-mouthed! Turning, she saw some pretty blond sharing her opinion of Vale to some guy barely listening her in the first place. Probably some random dude like henry looking to score tonight as he absentmindedly nodded along.
"It was a long time coming if you ask me." The blond stated as if something were obvious.
"Honey!" the man replied, slightly embarrassed. Ok, maybe the blond and the well-suited man were an item or something. Not that it mattered to Weiss at this moment.
"What?" The woman giggled, undeterred. "You said the same thing last night. If they are so arrogant to think they could get by without proper kingdom defense then I say good riddance!"
"SHUT UP!" Weiss screamed out, making the entire gala go silent as they looked at her in shock. Going to one of these was a mistake! Their callous natures and holier than thou attitudes pissed her off to no end. They reminded her of…herself for a little while. When Naruto had died the first time was starting to let this life get to her. Naruto had always done his best to keep her grounded and now she knew why. These people only cared for themselves and their money! That was their world and she had seen what the real world was like. They were all blind!
"Weiss?" Jacques inquired, worried his daughter was going to cause a scene.
"You don't have a clue! None of you do!" Weiss raged out.
"Excuse me?" The blond asked incredulously. That tone usually demanded an apology but she would get none this night!
"You're all just standing around talking about nothing! Worrying about your hair, your money, your stupid problem that doesn't mean anything!" Weiss screamed, letting out all her pent-up emotions thus far. Not even her father could stop her now, not for lack of trying, mind you.
"Weiss, that is enough! You are embarrassing the family!" Jacques urged as he grabbed hold of her arm in rage, actually hurting her with his grip.
"Let go of me." Weiss yelled back, pulling her away to freedom as she had worked herself into a frenzy and when he did let do, she fell pretty hard and on instinct, let loose a glyph that her family was famous for. However, it wasn't any old glyph, it was a summon!
Oh…crap. Weiss thought when she got a good look at what she had created. A boarbatusk and like her emotions, it ran wild and charged the blond woman that she let out her pent-up rage at. This…wasn't going to end well.
Just as Weiss regained herself, she knew that she was going to be in so much trouble for this! She had to stop her summon before it was too late!
BAM!
She was saved from having to make any moves as the woman was saved from being gored by the fake Grimm by Ironwood, who had been attending the gala. One-shot was all it took.
Ironwood was about to say something, as he stowed his weapon and the summons body disappeared, but was cut off by someone slow clapping. A young man dressed in a red suit approached Weiss, still slow clapping.
"Bravo Weiss, Bravo," the man said with a teasing grin; Weiss's eyes growing wide at the man's voice, one she knew all too well. Since virtually, no one has ever heard it in their lives, "Not quite to your usual standard, but you certainly took no prisoners."
"Naruto?" Was Weiss's only response, before she felt her bond with the twin she thought lost again flare-up, as said twin pulled the mask that changed his face off, causing many to gasp and mutter. Some in shock while others calculating on how this could be.
"Indeed, my dear sister," Naruto replied, in Gaara's voice, "Loved your dual performances, although I have to rate the second at a four-point five out of five."
"And why do I have such an arbitrary score?" Weiss sassed back, eyes misty and a sarcastic smile. His presence in this place was soothing.
"I have several complicated metrics that are far from arbitrary," Naruto replied sounding affronted, "Several points that were deducted, were because of; letting a huntress such as yourself get thrown off balance, the major loss of composure, and the unconscious summoning."
"So," Jacques' voice cut the air as the man strolled imperiously over to the twin, "Once again, you waltz on back from the dead."
Naruto casually moved to a wine server and picked up a glass with a gentle, beatific smile that put the young lady at ease, before he moved between Jacques and Weiss, saying, "Quite literally, this time, in fact."
Jacques blinked as another round of gasps swept through the room and his dumbfounded response was, "Pardon?"
"Do I truly have to spell it out?" Naruto asked incredulously, taking a sip, "For a whole month since the day that Beacon fell, Weiss did not lie to you, I was quite literally dead; but I bounced back. Gotta say though, immolation is the greatest way to go out."
"How is that possible?" Asked Weiss, a sentiment mirrored by many.
"Unless a certain condition is met," Naruto responded jokingly, "Old age is the only thing the Terminus Knightmares are not death-proof to."
"And that condition being?" Jacques asked flatly, knowing a likely response.
"And why, pray tell, would I disclose that kind of info in front of you?" Naruto responded with a hint of mocking in his voice, "I would prefer my ignorant enemies focused on me."
"Why though?" Ironwood asked after getting close enough, a look of relief plastered on his face at Naruto once again being alive and well.
"Because my power as a Knightmare is easily both the most tempting and deterring, as demonstrated on the Day of the Fall," Naruto responded casually, "Tempting because I'm the only visible Knightmare and I'm a deterrent because of how dangerous I can be to any idiot with a death wish."
"But that visibility leaves you with exploitable weaknesses," Jacques replied, with barely disguised smugness, "Ones that disreputable types without scruples won't hesitate on."
"Thank you for admitting you are that type of individual," Naruto returned, "and I have accounted for such things after I regained my wits, so I'm not worried about home."
"I am no such thing and, I might add, there are still others," Jacques countered, "Such as your teammates, wherever they are."
"Please," Naruto replied, his voice gaining a high-class inflection, with a good, noticeable trace of snark, "I have enough dirt and skeletons to legally allow the military to put you in front of a firing squad."
"Oh really?" Jacques challenged, "How so?"
"Remember that remote data center you 'graciously' donated?" Naruto asked, getting a confused nod in response, "Well, its functions and purpose were half true."
Jacques stared for a few confused seconds before his eyes narrowed, "I should have known, this is like when you swindled me into footing the bill on that bastardized version of the Xoral."
"The movie that served as the base was already a bastardization," Naruto shot back with a harsh laugh in his voice, "That marvelous performance was basically a fan fiction of how it should have gone while still getting the original book's message across. You are only irate about my restoration of the story's villain and the few aesthetic liberties I used in relation."
"In which you blatantly made the villain's image into my own," remarked Jacques, "Made worse by stripping out the redeeming qualities."
"I think you meant, I axed that cartoonish absolution from accountability, that the movie gave," Naruto responded with a smirk, "And restored to the villain, his agency. The two things that have kept you poorly affirming to yourself and others that 'you're not the bad guy'."
"You do not want to challenge me boy." Jacques growled lowly, attempting to tower over his eldest son.
"You do not want to challenge me," Naruto said coolly, "Because aside from that data center, I have another avenue to scorch your stain and corruption from everything with the Schnee name on it."
"Such as?" Jacques said neutrally but had a condescending look that spoke of his belief Naruto was bluffing.
"A complete original copy of Grandfather Nicholes' Will found in that secret archive I once mentioned," Naruto answered now matching Jacques towering posture, "One that I verified with the more honest and neutral family lawyers. In it were quite a few clauses and some protocols you overlooked, enough of which I can use at my leisure to kick you out of the Schnee family and company… without repercussions. A generous soul, grandfather may have been, but a fool he was not; nor did he seem to have been fooled by you."
"Then why have you not used such things?" Jacques asked not backing down, only for a moderate amount of rope to appear at his feet.
"Because I do not mistake correctly applied restraint and discipline for weakness," Naruto answered, "I'm enjoying you dancing like a foolish monkey in the palm of my hand, vainly trying to outwit a superior opponent. That and I'm waiting for you to hang yourself, thus the rope."
"And how do you suppose I will do that?" Jacques demanded in a neutral voice.
"The broad stroke I have in mind?" Naruto responded, "Treason; although that is low-hanging fruit if applied to you."
"T-t-treason!?" Jacques sputtered, "Why I'd never-!"
"You have yet to cross that line," Naruto cut in, now advancing appearing to now tower over Jacques, "But when you do, that means our little war game is, in an uninspiring fashion, over and boring. The moment that happens I'm going to get bored, followed by putting you out of the Schnee family's misery, swiftly and efficiently."
"I refuse to bow to this inane mind game," Jacques countered, a hint of desperation tinging his voice, "You claim to have such methods-."
"I'm giving you a courteous forewarning," Naruto cut him off, a perfectly-recreated Rasengan inches from Jacques's head, "Your days of being a cancerous, parasitic stain on the Schnee name are numbered. Right here, right now, this is me with the power; power, I can easily abuse to snuff you out like a candle," with a flick the sphere was gone and Naruto walked away from a mildly shivering Jacques, "But I won't; so I'll settle with you panicking over everything you can lose. Now, come come, Weiss, we must be going."
"To where?" Asked Weiss.
"First home, so our mother can chastise me, as well as give her a gift," Naruto said as he placed his now empty glass onto a chain of glyphs that skipped it neatly and gently onto another serving tray of empty glasses, "Then onto Mistral for something important. We are going to make a slight detour along the way, in picking up Yang from a bandit camp."
"Why are you saying that chastisement part, like you are expecting it?" Asked Weiss, following to walk beside Naruto, before something else registered to her, "Wait… what's Yang doing at a bandit camp?!"
"While I was lightly in contact with mother during my four years on the lam after becoming a Knightmare; she told me in no uncertain terms that if I ever played the deadman card again, I will not be forgiven until she verbally lets me have it," Naruto answered with a resigned, wry chuckle, "As for Yang, she has not yet arrived at that camp, I just want to get there ahead of Yang so all three of us can arrive in Mistral together."
"By chance, is this the same bandit camp you mentioned winding up in after regaining your sanity?" Weiss asked as the twins exited the room.
"… maybe…." Naruto answered, with an amused coy tone.
XXX
Qrow was confused…for many reasons actually. One was the text from Tai that now Yang was off on her own in search of her mother again. HOW? WHY?! Two, he got another text from someone he didn't know, saying that they'd be meeting soon. Ok WHO? And three, there was some nut laughing his way through the forest!
What were they so happy for? To finally met other people on the road? Surely, they weren't here for him as he kept himself relatively hidden while killing off all Grimm that dared to attack Ruby and her friends. So that meant the crazy laughing man was here for one of the kids. Great, now he'd have to step in. But maybe not right away, he wanted to see how they handled themselves as he had a feeling he knew who this laughing was coming from. He needed to be ready.
XXX
Team RNJR and Ebony had just made it to another broken town that once again held no people. Was the Kingdom of Mistral full of broken cities or something? Judging from the lack of reaction from both Nora and Ren, Ruby sadly assumed so.
However, this time felt different, even for Ruby as there was absolutely no sound. They were in a dead city, there was usually barely any sound except for the small animals that usually took refuge there. Now there was no sound even from the surrounding forests.
The scene put all of them on edge, even more so when Ren stopped them suddenly as he listened as carefully as he could before taking out his weapons, prompting them all to do so just in case. Was it a Grimm or something else? She doubted it was a Grimm as even they made grumbling noises. Most of the time anyway.
That is when they heard the sound of footsteps and manic laughing coming toward them. The person gave no other warning than that as he jumped over the walls of the city before lunging at their faces with a maniacal gleam in his eyes as he tried slashing at them with the short blades jutting from his wrists.
First, he knocked Ren away into a pile of bushes and raise dirt. Ruby tried to counter this man but he was too fast for even her as he made odd lunges and unorthodox moves that she wasn't sure where he would end up next. And he kept on laughing!
After digging into her aura rather harshly, a sadistic smirk on his face as he did so, he used his own momentum to jump onto Jaune's shield and seemed to take an odd interest in him. They were pretty sure that was a bad thing seeing as he was tearing them apart at the moment.
Nora tried to help her teammate, but he flung himself into her, which resulted in Jaune flying back into Ebony and knocking then both down, before spring boarding off her face and into one of the decaying buildings, creating a dust storm as he crashed into it. As the dust cleared, they finally got a better look at this maniac that popped up from nowhere and tap-danced on their faces.
He was a pale man that did not any muscle, but they were rather lean so to be able to pull off the body twisting maneuvers he just showed off. He wore a white sleeveless jacket with leather belts strapped to it, along with white pants. Over that he had a dark brown duster coat that he kept open along with his jacket underneath, exposing his bare chest, which is crisscrossed with prominent scars. It showed he like to get dirty and didn't mind getting hurt to achieve his goals, whatever they may be. His arms were covered with cream-colored bandages and leather vambraces. He also wore leather boots covering his entire shin with knee guards.
His golden eyes stared at them above with his ever-present deranged smile. He dared them to do something, but to his boredom, they began to talk.
"We are not looking for a fight!" Jaune yelled as he help Ebony back up, not unsteadying why this man just attacked them all for no reason.
"Who are you?" Ren probed.
Fine, they wanted to talk? He could do that too, but he was sure it would just confuse and rile them up all the more so. EXCITING! Letting himself fall to the ground and land with a roll to show off he said, "Who I am matters not to you." He said pointing to Ren and then Nora. "Or you." He pointed to Jaune and his face twisted more in glee than any of them were comfortable. "You do interest me though, but I am nor her for you…yet." He pointed to Ebony with a sadistic smirk, "I will say you'd be a perfect victim, but I don't matter at all to you." Finally, he pointed to Ruby and nearly let out his hysterics. "No, I only matter to you!"
"ME?! What for?" Ruby asked, very put off by this man and his obvious insanity, especially when he finally let go and just crackled at her.
"You haven't the slightest clue, do you?! OH! How exciting this must be!"
"Pretty sure we never met someone like you." Ruby snarked. "Now what do you what?"
"OH, The little rose has thorns! How cute." The man replied cheekily. "Why, I am here to whisk you away with me."
"Well, what if she doesn't want to go with you?" Ebony growled protectively as she stood between them now and had her axe at the ready, Jaune, Ren, and Nora soon doing the same.
The man seemed confused for a moment before shrugging nonchalantly, "Then I'll just take her anyway."
"We are not going to let you do that." Jaune declared.
The man seemed to savor that line as he breathed as if it meant the world to him. As if he loved the very concept of strife itself. "GOOD!" He whispered out as bloodlust overtook his face. For a moment, nothing happened as he let the look unnerve them even more before using pure speed, he got into between all of them to strike at Jaune's exposed neck. Only for Ren to shoot him away, but the man just black flipped away like it didn't matter.
Ruby took a swipe at him but he swerved around it before completely ignoring her and jumping at Nora across the field, but Ruby managed to save her with a lightning bullet, which she tanked like a boss before recovering and landing a strength enhance hit to the underside of his chin. This action seemed to stun for a moment and that was all Jaune needed as he sent a smite his way, knocking him back even further as he crashed into another building.
"I love this unpredictability!" the man suddenly scream in what sounded like pleasure, as he actually got off on that last attack on his person. He took off his overcoat to get serious and revealed that he was a scorpion Faunus, which surprised the group.
"A Faunus?" Ren asked a bit shocked.
Not Ruby was annoyed more than before. "What is this about, the White Fang? Roman Torchwick?"
Oh great, these brats ruined his fun by talking again and it annoyed him that they thought he was that low on the totem pole as it were. "Bah, plastic soldiers and pawns! Don't lump me in with those losers. No, my heart and body belong only to our goddess!"
Oh great, some insane religious zealot? But that sounded like this man was wrapped around the finger of one of their powerful enemies. Most likely, "Cinder…" Ruby growled out only to frown when the man before them lost his smile.
It was only for a second but they saw a slight dip in his smile as rage filled his eyes. "ONLY IN HER WILDEST DREAMS!" He roared in what sounded like anger and glee as he dove at them once more, running through their Auras at a dangerous rate until one of them broke from his many attacks in his blitz. Unfortunately, that someone was Ruby as she fell on her back from a powerful kick to the stomach that knocked her on the ground hard.
He was about to stab into her with his venomous tail but was stopped at the very last second by a familiar face with his sword still on his back. "Hey." The voice of Qrow replied softly as the man behind him just laughed at being blocked, prolonging this battle and his excitement.
However, that chaos factor that he so enjoyed wasn't done with him as a blast of lightning knocked him away from the group temporarily. "Don't hog all the fun now." Ebony chuckled darkly as she recovered from the man's assault and seemed to have an unstable aura about her.
XXXX
Hope you all have fun! The Xoral is the Lorax...in case no one caught that. As for my back, the swelling has gone down by a lot and I can do stuff finally. Yay!
Review, please!