I've neglected this story for way too long. And what's sad is how this chapter's been done since October and only needed minor edits. Unfortunately, I forgot to update. And when I remembered that I needed to, I put it off for a long time. Terrible. I'm sorry.
But enough apologizing. Late or not, at least it's out now. Enjoy it, if you can.
Many years ago, on the streets of Vale…
"Homura, he took a left!" Madoka cried. "I'm going around!
"I'll cut off his escape routes!" Homura dropped an ice bomb at the entrance to the alley the con-artist slipped into. The mixture of dust contained within the can created a large wall of ice that blocked the path.
Madoka weaved through a steady stream of pedestrians going the opposite direction in pursuit of a man who was allegedly a con-artist. Above her was Homura, jumping from roof to roof, supporting Madoka from afar.
"Stop right there!" Madoka's voice ordered from below. The archer took aim, ready to incapacitate the man, but was then forced to dodge out of the way when the con-artist suddenly shot something out of his cane. Was it an explosive projectile?
Not taking the risk, Homura channeled her aura into Tempest Hourglass and slowed time to a crawl, quickly throwing a dampener bomb containing a mixture of water and wind dust variants that decreased the force or outright prevented explosions. Once the grenade was thrown, Homura crossed her fingers and released her time spell.
A colorless mist rapidly exited the dust bomb, causing the con-artist's projectile to fizzle out as it passed through. It landed harmlessly on the pavement.
Not even affording herself a sigh of relief, Homura leapt to another rooftop and tossed a second ice bomb in the direction the con-artist was running. With another path blocked, he turned back, only to be faced with Madoka, taking aim.
"Well, little lady, congratulations," the con-artist said. "You have me cornered and at your mercy. I have to say, your little bomb throwing friend up on the roof did a good job."
Homura frowned. The way he spoke was confident and casual, somewhat unfitting of the situation. Either he was really good at bluffing or he wasn't really scared of them despite openly stating that he was cornered. While the former was not a problem, the possibility of the latter was quite concerning.
"Sadly, neither of us will be getting what we want today. You won't be getting your bounty, and I..." He paused to pull a large dust crystal out of his long coat. "I will not be walking away without a scratch."
By the time Homura realized what he was doing, it was already too late.
The con-artist threw the dust crystal onto the ground in front of him and aimed his cane directly at it. What followed after was a bright flash of a small explosion, after which, the very violent and inexplicable disappearance of the guy they were chasing. There was no corpse so obviously the man didn't die.
"He was so close!" Madoka puffed her cheeks and stomped her foot in frustration.
Homura dropped down to where Madoka was standing. "Something tells me that we haven't seen the last of that Torchwick guy." She sighed. "Come on, Miss Kaname. Failure or not, we still need to report back to Beacon."
Madoka sighed as well. "Alright. Let's go," she said glumly.
Present day, in the mountains southwest of Atlas…
"Whoa!" Kyouko cried as the Ursa she was fighting violently caught fire and burned to a smoldering ash. She jumped away and turned to Homura. "Oi! Leave some for me!"
While Kyouko ran through the forest floor, Homura followed above her, providing support fire as she soared overhead. Of course, to Kyouko, it seemed more like Homura was stealing her kills. Nothing could be done about that. The lancer could think what she wanted.
A pack of eight Beowolves entered the clearing and charged for Kyouko, some veering to the left or right to get a full surround.
"Kyouko, watch your six!" Homura ordered, tossing a root bomb at the approaching pack. Thorny vines erupted from the can, wrapping around the Grimm before planting themselves into the ground. The Beowolves were immobilized and incapacitated.
"Whoa!" Kyouko said in wonder. Taking advantage of the situation, she lashed at them until the black wolves were nothing more than corpses dissolving on the ground.
Homura de-materialized her wings and dropped to the ground. The impact with the ground was sufficiently cushioned by her aura.
"How the hell did you do that?" When the lancer got a quizzical stare in reply, she then added, "The vines. How'd you make a bomb that makes vines?"
"I used a mixture of water and earth dust variants, a type of dust used in agriculture, and some seeds. It resulted in a dust-bomb that wrapped targets in vines." Homura did not explain further than that. "In any case, we have subdued their immediate number."
"Eh? Finally. It was like every Grimm within a mile was attracted to us the moment we were dropped here." Kyouko turned to Homura who had dropped from the tree tops. "Hey, you don't have any emotional baggage about this place, do you? Like a loved one dying here or something? Because, if you do, I might've picked the wrong person to go hunting with me..."
Homura closed her eyes. "No," she answered plainly.
Homura could understand why Kyouko was concerned. Creatures of Grimm were attracted to negative emotion. Sadness, anger, hate, and other such things acted like a signal flare to nearby Grimm. Similarly, positive emotion repelled them. Between Kyouko and Homura, the negative emotions far outweighed the positives, regardless of whether Kyouko knew or not.
Homura was very easily the reason the Grimm were all lured to their location. While she did answer no to Kyouko's question, it was the truth. She had no baggage concerning the forest they were in. Rather, Kyouko just asked the wrong question.
Kyouko took a seat against a tree, taking a breather after that long engagement. "I've sorta been wondering this for a while," she began as she kicked her feet up. She looked to Homura with an inquisitive look. "Why don't you use your arrows? They were your weapon of choice back when we did that sentry mission, but ever since, you haven't been using them."
"I have a number of tools suitable for this mission. It just happens that my bombs are the most efficient at dispatching the enemies we'll be fighting."
Kyouko shugged. "Wake me up in fifteen minutes. We can move to the next sector after my nap." She closed her eyes.
Homura raised an eyebrow. "Is this really the best place to sleep? It's too open."
"Get off my back woman. We killed everything within a mile and our fight wasn't long enough to attract Grimm from farther away. Let me sleep."
Homura rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll wake you early if I detect any hostiles."
Meanwhile, in the Atlas Hospital Ward...
"I'm sorry, but the technology has not reached that point yet. Even with the most advance prosthetic on the market, you won't be able to achieve the same level of dexterity required to use your weapon."
Sayaka and Hitomi were with Kyousuke when the doctor gave them the news. Kyousuke was outraged. He spent seven years of his life training in and mastering the use of Elsa Maria - one of those years devoted to designing and constructing her. The thought that he'd never be able to play her again left him absolutely furious.
Sayaka watched in silence as the boy raged. Hitomi watched with her. It was painful to see him so angry. It was more painful to see him be restrained by the nurses when he attacked the doctor. He'd surely regret doing that...
Sayaka grit her teeth and left the room. Outside, she punched the wall next to the door. "Dammit, Kyousuke!" She felt a twinge of discomfort as her aura mitigated the damage to her knuckles. At times, she wished she could just turn it off so the numbness of physical pain could distract her from her feelings.
"I know. This frustrates me too." Hitomi emerged from the room. "Him attacking medical personnel doesn't help."
"It's things like this that make me wonder if he even deserved to be saved."
Hitomi sighed. "Don't say that. You know this is hard for him."
Sayaka turned to Hitomi with a cold look. Hitomi was, of course, used to glares from the fencer so it didn't faze her. And was the case for all the other times it happened, Sayaka's expression softened and she was forced to look away.
"Besides, can you honestly say you wouldn't regret it if you didn't save him?" Hitomi gave her a sad smile.
Sayaka pursed her lips. "No," she admitted with reluctance. She slowly leaned into the wall. "Ah, what am I even doing, Hitomi?"
Hitomi stepped towards Sayaka and pulled her into a hug. "You're coping. We all are. No matter how many tantrums Kyousuke throws, he'll eventually get over it. Just give him some time."
"Time... I guess that's what we all need..."
The two remained like that for a few minutes but eventually Sayaka wriggled out of the embrace. She took one step away from Hitomi and sighed. "I won't have free time for the next two weeks."
Hitomi met Sayaka's gaze for a moment before averting her eyes. "Training with the Commander?"
"Yeah," Sayaka answered in confirmation. "We're going on a little trip. I won't be able to visit Kyousuke." She gave Hitomi a pleading look. "Please tell me you'll still visit him? I don't think he'll make it through this by himself."
"Of course I will. We're family, Sayaka. I won't abandon him. You know that."
"Yeah, I do. I just worry sometimes." Sayaka smiled sadly. "Our flight leaves Monday morning."
Hitomi sighed. "Well, we have one day to prepare. Tell me what time. I want to see you off."
Sayaka scratched her cheek. "I'll need to ask Commander Schnee for that. When she told me about this, she just said to wake up before dawn."
Hitomi nodded. "Well, you have my contact ID. Just send me a message when you find out."
"I'm sorry for springing this up on you all of a sudden. I didn't really expect it either."
Hitomi gave her a small smile. "Nothing to worry about. I'm glad you told me about it rather than simply disappearing without a word. I'll see you around?"
Sayaka returned the smile. "I'll see you around." With that, she walked away.
Later that evening, in the mountains southwest of Atlas...
"This sector's clear," Homura noted as she walked into a clearing. "We're making good progress."
"Yeah," Kyouko grumbled in response as she followed behind. "Though I feel kinda useless with you around."
The ghost of a smile crept into Homura's lips as she turned back to the lancer. "You did fine." Kyouko merely rolled her eyes at the subtle hint of cheekiness in Homura's words.
In the hours since the two began their mission, they had slain roughly nine hundred individual creatures of Grimm, clearing nearly twenty square miles of the infested forest.
Homura's bomb supply had dipped below her threshold of confidence so she used them sparingly in the more recent engagements. Of course, she still had plenty - it was just that switching to firearms would be more economical for the time being. This initially pleased Kyouko as it meant she'd have more to kill without all the explosions dispatching Grimm in large groups. Unfortunately, Homura was equally as efficient with guns, shooting with the speed and accuracy of a machine designed specifically to kill things. Kyouko had arguably less targets without the dust-bombs than she did with.
Still, as Mami had told her around two weeks ago, Homura was the infamous Angel of Death. As much as it frustrated Kyouko, she was not surprised that Homura's kill count far exceeded her own. Sure, she didn't believe it at first but now, after seeing the Angel in action, it was pretty much a hundred percent confirmed in Kyouko's eyes.
Homura pulled out a thermos from the large disk-shaped device on her belt and took a few sips of what Kyouko assumed was tea or coffee. The archer then tossed the thermos at her which the lancer was quick to catch. Shooting a nod of gratitude Homura's way, Kyouko drank as well. The heat of the tea - for yes, it was indeed tea - was soothing, bringing some much needed warmth to her limbs.
"We can take a break for now," Homura said, pulling out another thermos. "Make sure to return that when you're done with it."
With the given moment of respite, Kyouko poked her spear into the ground and leaned against a tree. Looking towards the sky through the leaves, she could see the gentle glow of the moon. The usual broken fragments were nowhere to be seen and instead she could see it in it full beauty. The mist of a sigh escaped her breath as she watched.
On the other side of the clearing, Homura sat on a particularly large tree root, sipping her tea. Kyouko tilted her head curiously at her before opening her pack. "Oi, Hom." She threw a bar of chocolate which Homura easily caught. "Just returning a favor," Kyouko explained.
Homura regarded Kyouko and the candy bar with an odd smile. It wasn't that she didn't look grateful but that smile just looked... conflicted? Pained, maybe? Kyouko couldn't put a finger on what it was but there was certainly something off about that smile. "Thank you," Homura said, her voice low yet audible in the night silence.
Kyouko wondered a moment whether or not to ask what was wrong but decided not to. Homura was quiet and mysterious for a reason. Kyouko wasn't quite willing to find out that reason. Not yet at least.
End of chapter...
So, this might come as a surprise but those minor edits did come at a cost. I deleted a few lines and added new dialogue so some of the events in the next two chapters will have to be rearranged.
Unrelated to this chapter, but it's relevant
I feel really disillusioned with RWBY. While I haven't been watching the show, I've been following the reactions of fans on reddit and tumblr. Based on the gifs and videos I've seen of the show as of volume 4, none of the aspects of the show I used to love are present anymore. I may be completely off with my conjecture here and I'll only really be sure on my thoughts on the show when I watch volume 4 in it's entirety. Suffice it to say, there is a chance that I just stop writing for RWBY all together.
That does not mean I'll stop writing this story. I wanna see this through to the end. Anyway, it's probably far off enough from canon that it doesn't matter what happens in the show. Honestly, at this point, it can be blatantly wrong canon-wise and I wouldn't care. This story is it's own thing now and will continue to be it's own thing until it's over.
Anyway, enough of that. Happy new year everyone. We are all one step closer to the inevitable heat-death of the universe. Cheers, mates. Until next chapter.