Volume 3 Chapter 4: A Day Off
AN: Holy crap, I'm on a roll with these!
EDIT: Less of a roll than I thought, apparently.
More information in the second Author's Note regarding the future of this fic.
(Perspective: Kassidy)
Come on… just a little bit further. Almost, almost… work, damn you! Wait, got it!
It took three tries for Kassidy to get the Scroll to open the dorm room door, removing the infernal oaken barrier separating her from her bed. Something made some noise to her right, but she ignored it as she shambled on. Everything. Hurt. So much. Her sheath was unbuckled and allowed to fall in the middle of the floor. Her belt and its holstered equipment soon followed before she plummeted, face-first, into the blessed softness that was her pillow.
She tensed back up when something grabbed her legs and lifted them but stilled when they were simply deposited on her bed with the upper half of her body. "Man, you didn't even make it to the bed? What even happened to you, K?"
Oh, that's right. Yang said she wanted some time to herself this morning. Stayed in the dorm. Kassidy tried to force her face up from the pillow but gave up with a groan when she found the effort too taxing. Instead, she had to settle for grumbling, "I'm pretty sure I hate your uncle now, too."
Yang hissed in sympathy as she worked Kassidy's boots off. "Ooh, yeah. I probably shoulda warned you that his training can get pretty brutal. Here, I've got a better idea."
"No, my pillow…" Kassidy moaned when Yang picked her up, removing its holy comfort from her visage as Kassidy was maneuvered around like she weighed nothing. Which, given what Yang benches these days, she probably did in comparison.
"Pretty sure you'll like this better," Yang countered. Kassidy was about to whine about how she was probably wrong, though she decided to bite her tongue when Yang laid her out in her arms, effectively leaving Kassidy using Yang as a giant pillow. Kassidy hummed in pleasure as she grabbed at the arm snaking around her waist… but then gasped as something started scratching at the base of her ears. "Damn, Uncle Qrow really did a number on you, didn't he?" Yang wondered aloud. "If he's beating you up this badly, you should probably take it easy the rest of the day. You still need to be able to help me kick some ass tomorrow, after all."
A day off sounded magical. Unfortunately, Qrow seemed to have had other plans whenever they broke up his four-hour long child abuse session. "He wants me back in the gym at two for more training."
Yang's left arm tightened slightly around her midsection. "Yeah, I'm thinking that's a 'no'. You can't be fighting tomorrow if he lays you out again." Kassidy's hair danced and ears flicked under both her girlfriend's ministrations, and the breath she huffed out. Yang surprised her with a chuckle, before saying, "Don't worry about the big bad bird, K. Your knight in shining armor is here to keep you safe."
"My hero," Kassidy drawled. She found herself unable to muster up the energy to care about much other than the pure bliss that Yang's nails were delivering to the base of her Faunus ears, and given that the only two people in the room were them she also couldn't find herself caring about how… well, about how she was basically getting pet like a house cat. It felt too good. Her traitorous thoughts started churning on themselves soon enough, though, and it wasn't long before she started reflecting on the previous evening. "Are you okay, Yang?" Kassidy eventually asked. "About last night, I mean."
The fingers running along her scalp slowed and quickly stilled, much to her consternation. Yang sighed and replied, "No, I'm not." She only allowed the pause to last briefly as she quickly added, "Don't worry about it. I just… need to figure a couple things out. Need to ask Uncle Qrow a few questions, definitely."
"Sure you'll get any answers from him?" Kassidy asked. "Far as I can tell, he's pretty crazy. Hell, far as I can tell, your dad's the only sane one in the family."
"Oh?" Yang challenged.
Kassidy started counting on her fingers. "Your mom's a grade A bitch and possibly a psychopath. Your uncle's the one person I've met that could actually give me a run for my money in the kind of drinking problems I used to have. Your sister's possibly ADHD, definitely hyperactive, and there is no way her obsession with either weapons or cookies is healthy."
"And what about me, K?" Yang asked, grin turning predatory. "Don't you think your dearest Yang is normal?"
Kassidy simply smirked in reply. "Hon, you thought dating me was a good idea. You haven't the faintest idea what normal is."
Yang started snorting in laughter as she quickly lost the battle to her amusement. It took her a bit to settle down, but eventually managed to say, "Well, I like ya anyway. Can't have things getting too boring around here."
A thought striking Kassidy prompted her to reach for her Scroll, only to remember that she'd dumped it in the middle of the room. When Yang asked what she was looking for, she answered, "My Scroll. Wanted to see if a couple people I'd been keeping an eye on fought in the tournament today, and how they did."
"Good thing I've got mine, then," Yang muttered as she pulled hers off the nightstand. "Who're you looking for?"
"Emerald and Mercury," Kassidy stated. "There's something about those two…"
"Yeah?" Yang prompted.
Kassidy shook her head as she tried to find the words she wanted. "They're not like most students. They're experienced."
She could feel Yang shrug behind her. "Plenty of people have experience outside of the schools."
"Experience like what I have," Kassidy stressed. "It's in the way the walk, and I noticed when I went over the team fights last round. They keep looking over their shoulders, keep primed and ready for something regardless of where they are."
"So they're paranoid," Yang reasoned. "Huh, what do you know? They just got finished… and they beat Coco and Yatsu? Damn, now I want to see this."
Kassidy said nothing, merely watching the replay of the match. She couldn't help but feel a certain weight pool in her stomach as she watched the fight drag on. As the match ended, she couldn't help but let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "I," she began, "am glad we didn't face them."
She heard Yang scoff behind her. "C'mon, K. Sure, they took out Coco and Yatsu, but we wouldn't have fallen for any of that."
"It's not just that," Kassidy denied. Backing the replay up, she pointed to the green and gray pair backing into the field. "Look at how they fight. How many of our classmates would back up into a field of grass to break line of sight?" Taking a slightly sarcastic tone, Kassidy continued, "I mean, it's just grass. What kind of protection can grass provide?"
She turned around to face her girlfriend just in time to catch Yang frowning. "That's not exactly the most obscure thing they can do."
"We don't think so. Mostly because that's how I've had to fight all my life, and I've exposed you to my weirdness already. But for Hunters and Huntresses who've spent nearly their entire combat training in a sanitized combat ring, completely free of any obstacles or obstructions?" Yang's brows furrowed, allowing Kassidy time to continue, "And look at how they fight even after they split up. Mercury's tearing the two of them to shreds, not once does Emerald interfere… and Mercury doesn't hesitate. Without a word, they already know exactly how this fight's going to happen."
"So they work well together," Yang shrugged.
Kassidy shook her head. "They don't just 'work well' together. I can tell already; they've been working together for years. And they're supposed to be first years? Yeah, they knew each other before school." Humming in thought, she added, "They'd probably give us a run for our money in the teamwork department, and we're no slouches there."
Yang continued arguing. "That doesn't mean they're better than us."
"They probably are," Kassidy pointed out. She froze the frame on Mercury's face. "Look at him. He's toying with Yatsu. It's the same way Cardin looked whenever he was fighting Jaune our first few weeks here: he's patiently amused. Mercury found Yatsu fighting him funny." Yang opened her mouth, but Kassidy cut her off by freezing on Emerald's face while she was in the trees. "And look at Emerald. She's staring down someone with a goddamn machine gun, the woman that's ranked number one among the second years, and she's bored. Emerald was bored while fighting Coco."
"But that's –" Yang cut herself off as she stared at Kassidy's face. Kassidy started feeling a little uneasy at the sudden attention, but was fortunately saved further scrutiny when her girlfriend breathed out, "This isn't just about the Vytal Festival, is it?"
Kassidy shrugged slowly. "I'm… not sure. It's probably nothing. But… but something about those two seem similar. Like they're familiar to what I – what I used to do. I don't like it."
Yang sighed heavily, tossing her Scroll to the side. "You're looking into this too much, K." Kassidy started stammering in denial, but Yang put a finger to her girlfriend's lips. "Tell me, what seems more likely: that Mercury and Emerald are part of some grand conspiracy and want nothing more than to see us and everything we care about destroyed… or that they just had some experience and some time training together before they got partnered up at Haven?"
Kassidy opened her mouth, then closed it. "Like I said," she eventually admitted, "it's probably nothing."
Yang took both of Kassidy's hands into her own, and began, "It is nothing. Come on, repeat after me." Kassidy groaned at their far too familiar song and dance, but Yang was having none of it. "Repeat after me: I don't need to look into things too much."
Sighing, Kassidy decided to get it over with. "I don't need to look into things too much."
"The world is not out to get me."
"The world is not out to get me."
"Everything will work out alright."
"Everything will work out alright."
"Yang is the greatest person in the world."
Kassidy couldn't help but smirk as she answered, "Ruby is the greatest person in the world."
Yang gasped in faux betrayal. "You fiend!" she softly screeched.
"I can get Bob to agree with me, if you'd like," Kassidy added as her grin stretched to shit eating proportions.
"Speaking of Bob," Yang suddenly asked, "where is he? He's been real quiet all morning."
"I sent him to borrow an android and get to the workshop to get a project of mine done," Kassidy admitted. "Now that he's got… upgraded logic processes, he needs practice with critical thinking. So I gave him a problem and told him to solve it."
"Ooh!" Yang said. "Care to spill the beans?"
Kassidy shrugged, wincing at the soreness she still felt from Qrow's unholy beatdown. "It's nothing much, honestly. I doubt I'll be able to use it for anything." Actually, that's a lie. I just really, really hope I never have to use the grenade he's making for me.
Yang must've noticed her wince. "Well, I've got nothing this morning, and I'm still kinda tired. Think a nap will help you recover from Uncle Qrow's training?"
More alone time with Yang? Yes please. Kassidy couldn't help the smile as she allowed, "That… sounds like a wonderful idea."
"You'll never beat me, old man!" Ruby cried.
Qrow countered, "You're nothing but talk, kid!"
"You can do it, Ruby!" Yang cut in from the side.
Kassidy felt the need to participate in the peanut gallery also as she watched the video game battle to the death. "Avenge me!" she cried.
As soon as she had finished the words, unfortunately, Qrow's character decapitated Ruby's amidst the announcer declaring, "Soaring Ninja wins! Total annihilation!"
"By the way," Qrow interjected, just as Ruby's mounting horror caused her face to sink into her controller, "don't ever call me old."
"My turn!" Yang declared, shoving Ruby away so hard she actually slid into Kassidy's desk. Kassidy, feeling much improved after a good few hour cat nap (Wait… goddamnit, Yang. I blame you for this), snickered before she decided to offer Ruby a hand up from her sprawled out position on the bed.
Qrow started up a new game with his other niece and wondered, "Now, where was I?"
Ruby ignored Kassidy's hand up, instead darting over to the pair seated on the floor and answering, "You were telling us about your last mission!"
"Right, right," Qrow affirmed with a nod. "I've come across a small village in the swamps west of Mistral. Right off the bat, I knew something wasn't right."
Kassidy couldn't help but scrunch her face up in disgust. "Ugh… how come you were in a swamp of all places?"
"I needed information," Qrow explained. "Tired from battling Grimm along the way, I decided to start my search at the town's inn. The place was crawling with low lives and thugs… and even a few Huntsmen who I can only assume had been hired by less than reputable people for less than respectable jobs. And that's when it happened."
"What happened?" Yang asked – no, demanded.
"I was defeated," Qrow admitted.
"What?!" Kassidy exclaimed, the statement causing her to bolt up in her bed far more interested in the story than the already respectable attention she was paying it earlier. Qrow Branwen, losing a fight? Sure, it probably happened at some point, reality didn't really make for a good environment for people to have a perfect record after all. Still, Yang and Ruby's uncle was easily one of the five most powerful people she's ever met. What the hell was at that inn that kicked his ass?
Qrow continued on as if she hadn't said a thing. "I was defeated," he repeated, "…by the mere sight of the innkeeper's skirt length!"
"You are the worst!" Yang yelled just as her character succumbed as well. Ruby and Qrow started laughing at Yang's reaction.
Or maybe they were laughing at Kassidy's reaction, as she stared at Qrow before letting out a soft, flat, "Seriously?"
"Hey," Qrow challenged, "never underestimate the power of the skirt."
Yang, having seemingly already gotten over her humiliating defeat, sighed theatrically. "It's too late, Uncle Qrow, I can never get her to wear one." Suddenly turning a lecherous grin across the room, she hedged, "Unless…"
Kassidy opened her mouth to instantly deny it, only to think about it. After all, she'd already done it once, much as she really wish she hadn't and had no desire to do it again. Eventually, she managed to get out, "I wouldn't count on it."
"That's not a no!" Yang cheered, pumping her fists into the air. Kassidy sighed and rolled her eyes. The things I do for you, Yang.
Qrow chuckled at the scene, then offered his eldest niece, "Best two out of three?"
Yang seemed about to jump all over it, but paused as she turned yet another look on Kassidy and boy was Kassidy starting to dread getting watched today. Offering the controller, Yang asked, "You want a turn, K?"
Kassidy chuckled and shook her head. "You do remember how the one time you did talk me into playing this, I lost to the tutorial AI, right? This'll be a solid 'pass' from me, I'd rather keep my dignity intact."
"So, Uncle Qrow," Ruby began as the two seated on the floor started the game up again, "did you get in trouble with Ozpin?"
"Nah," Qrow denied, "Me and Oz go way back. We're cool."
Yang scoffed. "Yeah, cool for an old guy."
"Not. Funny," Qrow growled.
Ruby took the time to ask another question, "Hey, so, what are you doing here, anyway? I thought Dad had told us that you'd be on a mission for, like… ever."
Qrow simply smirked as he replied. "Well, a professional Huntsman like myself is expected to get results as soon as possible."
"Yeah, I get that," Ruby bragged. "I mean, we're pretty much pros too."
"Oh really?" he challenged.
"Pssh, yeah, read the news sometime," Yang answered. "We totally saved Vale while you were gone."
Kassidy couldn't help but feel a small bubble of pride rise up at the reminder. She'd – no, they, had managed to figure out what the terrorists were doing. And they had actually stopped it. They… they'd won. With no casualties (herself notwithstanding) and a remarkably small amount of property damage, given the situation.
"Funny," Qrow commented. "Because I heard that Vale suffered a Grimm attack after you almost managed to stop a train." Kassidy's face fell as quickly as her bubble of pride did. "But they don't hand out medals for 'almost'."
"They do, and they're called silver!" Ruby challenged.
Yang opened her mouth to speak, but Kassidy beat her to the punch. "There were extraneous circumstances surrounding the fight we had at Mountain Glenn," Kassidy seethed, rising to her feet in the meanwhile. "We did the best we could with the situation at hand."
"Oh?" Qrow challenged again. "And just what were those extraneous circumstances?"
"Unstable terrain had split our team up," Kassidy began counting. "Said unstable terrain also isolated one of our team, knocking Yang unconscious in enemy territory and causing her to get captured. Needing to fight through a small army to get to the train in the first place. Needing to initiate a hostage rescue while on the train and knee-deep in terrorists that wanted nothing more than to decorate the tunnels with our splattered corpses. Finding out that the train had been sabotaged and no longer possessed a braking system. Being chased by an unholy horde of Grimm hundreds strong." Pausing long enough to ensure the point had gotten across, Kassidy didn't see Yang's and Ruby's faces fall as all the joviality of the easy afternoon fled. Instead, she stared down Qrow and asked, "Would you like for me to continue?"
Qrow scoffed before counting on his own fingers. "Unstable terrain is the name of the game, genius. Or are you seriously trying to tell me that all your surviving years ago was in a perfectly sanitized, dry, stable area?" When Kassidy kept up her unamused glare, he continued, "Much as she won't appreciate me saying this, Yang should've been paying more attention to the area around her."
"She was," Kassidy all but growled at Qrow. "She saved me from falling into a sinkhole that had just opened up, and that was back before I had my Aura. If she hadn't taken that fall instead of me, I'd probably be crippled at the absolute minimum."
"And where the hell was your attention that you didn't notice the concrete under your feet was loose and unsteady?" Qrow's words made Kassidy pause. It was true, that hadn't been the first time she'd had to deal with treacherous buildings, and in the past, she'd always been supremely careful and been able to avoid any falls. Qrow took her silence as an opportunity to continue counting, "Not to mention: did you really need to fight all the mooks down there that were clearly only there to distract you and keep you busy long enough for them to make a clean getaway?"
Kassidy fell back onto her bed as cold regret pooled into her gut. No, they hadn't needed to. Kassidy could've picked her way around the White Fang barricade easily, and while her companions weren't as well versed in stealth as she was, surely she could've led them along the way, right? But… Kassidy sighed and closed her eyes as she recalled that fateful early morning. She didn't think of that. She'd nearly gotten Yang killed, and Ruby killed, and Weiss killed, and god knows how many people killed because she didn't think of that. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She'd just seen terrorists, the utter bastards that had dared to lay a hand on her Yang and hold her hostage and she'd kill each one of them with her bare hands and make sure they'd –
"Hey! Remnant to Kassidy, you there?" Qrow's voice saved her from that train of thought. Kassidy blinked, hoping against hope that the light sheen, the beginnings of tears had gone unnoticed. Her hopes were dashed when Yang put the controller down and crossed the room, joining Kassidy on their bed and grabbing her hand. "So," Qrow began, "would you like for me to continue?"
Kassidy could only shake her head, not trusting her voice. Yang seemed quicker than normal to put herself into the conversation, probably to change the subject. "Well, we took down Roman Torchwick," she offered. "He won't be bothering anyone again, and crime's been down ever since. That's basically a bounty mission."
"Sure, you may be acting like Huntresses," Qrow admitted, "but you're not thinking like one. You really think four girls and their friends can end all crime in a Kingdom?"
Ruby nervously poked her fingers together. "Well, I mean, I did until you said that."
"Depends on the circumstances," Kassidy offered, trying to keep her voice slow and steady. "Roman Torchwick had his hands in absolutely everything and was basically the kingpin for organized crime in Vale. Add that to the damage I'd been doing to his operation beforehand…"
"Violence hasn't dropped since Roman got killed," Qrow reminisced, completely ignoring Kassidy. "It stopped. Completely. No White Fang activity anywhere around the city. You cut off the head of a King Taijitu, but now the second head's calling the shots." Sighing, he added, "That's what Ironwood can't get through that thick metal head of his."
The three girls traded glances before Yang slowly asked, "You know the general?"
"Hey, I know everybody to some extent," Qrow bragged. "Remember, you're talking to a member of the coolest team to ever graduate Beacon." Pulling out a picture with Taiyang, Raven, Qrow, and who Kassidy could only guess was Summer Rose, Qrow held it in the open for a little bit before sighing. "Team Stark. That's when I met your parents. We were pretty well known back in the day."
"Well known for crummy fashion sense." Ruby teased.
Qrow took offense to that. "Hey, we looked good!" While he was talking, his hand wandered until the picture ended up right in front of Yang, who was staring at it with open interest. Kassidy squeezed her hand right as Qrow continued, "And I have a number of inappropriate stories that'll back that up." Suddenly noticing where the picture had gone, he suddenly yanked it out of Yang's face. "But," he announced, "I'll save those for when you're older."
"Ugh, gross!" Ruby exclaimed. Kassidy rolled her eyes at the sight.
"Anyway," Qrow announced, "I'm too old to be hanging out with a bunch of kids. You're gonna cramp my style." Getting to his feet, he made his way to the open dorm room door… before pausing and looking back. "Just remember that you've got a long way to go. And don't think for a second that graduating means you're done. Every day out there is worth a week in this place."
"The real world isn't a nice one," Kassidy reminisced quietly, though not quietly enough to catch everyone's attention.
"But you three?" Qrow continued. "You're gonna go far. But only if you keep learning. If you never stop moving forward."
The room remained silent for a short bit after Qrow had left. Yang and Kassidy squeezed each other's' hands in support, but Kassidy kept silent in her thoughts.
Yes, she would keep moving forward. It's what she's done for years. And with her team alongside her, with dear friends she's made at Beacon, she wouldn't be moving forward alone, either.
AN 2: Alright, so, let's get a couple things out of the way real quickly.
First off, I kinda missed announcing, but FlouriteFlower gave Team Rookie its 500th review. To Flourite, I bequeath… a boot to the head. And another for Jenny and the wimp.
But as huge as 500 reviews is, what I think is even larger is one hundred thousand views. 100,000 reads of the chapters I've put out. I just… wow.
I had never imagined my ramblings here growing as large as it has. If you sort the RWBY fanfiction offerings by Yang/OC stories, Team Rookie (RWKY) is currently the 7th largest story in terms of favorites, the 6th largest in terms of follows (briefly in 5th place earlier this week!), and we are #1 in the number of reviews a Yang/OC story has gotten. The community we've established here in incredible, and I thank each and every one of you for the incredible success this story's had.
That being said, the first iteration of Team Rookie is winding down. There are only eleven (11) more chapters after this one (!), including a two-part epilogue. After that…? Well, I've had numerous people asking, so here's the rough road map for the RWKY-verse.
First up, immediately following the conclusion of this story, is going to be… a prequel? Not exactly. It'll be running concurrent with Volume 1, and it'll follow our dear villains in Mistral. I've got some great ideas for it, I've been reaching out to people to make sure my concepts are sound, so even though it has little to do with Kassidy's friends I hope you all enjoy RWKY: Mistral's Red Devils.
After that, we get to our Volume 4/Volume 5 content. Do not fear, I am not copy-pasting the RT V4/V5 here, there are going to be many big changes, as will be evident when this arc of the story reaches its conclusion. Needless to say, I think you'll all thoroughly enjoy RWKY: The Black Talon.
Beyond that? I'm… still working on that. Needless to say, I've got plans for Atlas as well, but nothing's finalized and I'm still coming up with a storyline.
As you can imagine, I've been busy here, not just with writing but with planning. I think you'll all enjoy what I've got cooking, and I can't wait to go on this crazy adventure with the rest of you.
And now, onto your Reviewer Responses!
FlouriteFlower: Semblance is a key spoiler, so unfortunately no hints from me. Glad to hear you and so many others are enjoying this story so much! Here's to hoping I can keep up the quality!
DIYEyal: Glad to hear you enjoyed Qrow. Got Skyrim, will look into. Thanks for the insight into working life, I'll be sure to take your advice to heart. Kassidy being the Fall Maiden? While that's something I'd like to see too, we'll just have to see how the story writes itself, don't we? And yes, half the time the story keeps taking random directions that I'm not sure how we got there.
SerketLily: Kassidy being the Fall Maiden is a possibility brought up by readers a long time ago, and a couple have been continually curious so this was in large part a way to address them. I agree with Glynda as well: great idea, but Kass needs a day off.
ThornedRose367: While I'll admit that General Erec… err, Ironwood is certainly being a grade-A asshole, try looking at it from his perspective. He hears rumors from the powers that be that a young woman is exceedingly dangerous, to the point of endangering the public. He comes to figure out what's going on, hears about the White Fang, tries to stop the White Fang, but gets railroaded at every opportunity by the subject of the Council's fears going all vigilante and shooting (and occasionally exploding) the places up. Combine that with her tendencies to treat rules like suggestions and her annoying habit of "playing" with his computerized army's cybersecurity? Yeah, he's more than a little worried about her I'd say.
MorgothII: Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much! I must admit, I've never heard the term "cake-ass" used as an adjective before, but I hope it's good! Here's to hoping I can continue entertaining!
Ultimatrix bearer: Well… I actually haven't read any of those. I'll do my best to avoid doing that, though. You, my friend, keep being awesome as well.
Tykene: Bruises and verbal lectures confirmed. Yeah, I'm definitely working on getting chapters out faster now. Here's to hoping I can keep the quality up to what you and everyone else expects out of me!
