Hey, D211 (I changed my username for personal reasons, don't ask), I just wanted to let you know a little bit about my schedule. I possibly won't be making any new chapters during the weekend, but still a slim chance. My days for making fanfiction are the weekdays. Also, I am having some trouble. You see, I am having a bit of trouble deciding whether to pair Sasuke with Weiss or Ruby, so I was hoping that you could put a vote in on your reviews. I am still getting used to this site and I don't know if there is a poll setting or not. Anywho, enough talking, let's get to reading!
In a field, by a fallen tree, layed a man, a man who had the power to burn anything with unquenchable fire just by staring at them with his eyes. And right now, blood seeped out through those eyes
Suddenly, a man in white appeared, and 9 black sphere's floated close behind his back in a circle
Hagoromo looked down at the boy disappointed
"Oh, Sasuke, when you were sent here, I didn't expect you to try to push yourself too far so soon," Hagoromo said, then sighed, before reaching out his hand and putting it on Sasuke's head, "I will heal your wounds, but your blindness may stay for awhile."
Suddenly, a green light came from the Sage's hand and radiated over Sasuke's eyes, which immediately stopped bleeding
Hagoromo stands back up and says, "Oh Sasuke, do be more careful next time. Oh, and you were looking for this I believe."
Hagoromo then pulls out a storage scroll, and puts it under Sasuke's hand.
Hagoromo stands up, "Next time before you dash off from a house, make sure you have all of your belongings," then he frowned, then said, "Sasuke, please act with more caution. Next time, I might not ba able to help you."
Then the Sage suddenly disappeared
/
"What in the heck was that!?" Jaune shouted as they saw the horde of grimm suddenly erupt into black flames. Team JNR, Oscar, Ruby, and Qrow had just reached the walls only to see the army erupt into black flames
"How come that fire is black!? Why is it colored black?!" Nora shouted in slight panic
"Who even has the ability to do this?" Ren asked out loud
Suddenly, they saw the flames act as if it had a mind of its own, and they watched as they saw it engulf a large part of the horde.
"Hey, seems like those little black fluffs of death are on our side, talk about luck," Qrow observed
Oscar looked to his left and his right, and he saw soldiers, hunters, bandits, women, children watching the black growing bonfire. And their expression were varied
Some were scared, others pleased or relieved, but most of them were cheering the flame on.
"Do you know anything that could be doing this?" Oscar asked Ozpin
"No, despite my centuries of experience, skill, and knowledge, I've never seen anything like this," Ozpin replied in a rather worried tone, "Whoever did this is very powerful, and could very well do on Qrow's list."
Suddenly, Oscar heard cries of despair, and he looked to see that the flames had stopped advancing
"What! It stopped? It stopped!?" Ruby shouted, then looked at Qrow and Oscar, "What are we going to do?"
Qrow looked at his niece, then looked at the flames, then back at Ruby and said, "What we can."
"INCOMING LANCERS! UP HIGH!" Oscar heard someone shout, and he looked upward to see a huge, bee-like grimm with big pincer-like jaws spread wide, ready to feast on a few soldiers who were caught off guard
"BLAM!"
A bullet went flying and lodged itself into the lancers head, and it sputtered before falling onto the wall, then it slipped off and crashed into the far ground below before dissipating
Oscar turned around to see that Qrow's Harbinger turned into gun mode, and Qrow then snapped it back into sword mode
Oscar nodded at Qrow and then turned back to the black flames, which still hadn't moved
Oscar looked at the soldiers on his left and said, "Hey! Whoever's controlling those flames may be having some difficulties, so we've gotta take out some of those grimm!"
One of them happened to be a captain, and he stood up and shouted, "You heard the kid! Lets take some of those Grimm down! Open fire!"
Suddenly all Oscar could hear were gunshots and machine gun fire
The walls kept up a steady barrage of gunfire, and multiple grimm that happened to have not been caught in flames were gunned down.
Suddenly, the flames jumped up like a giant wave, and completely covered the entire remaining horde.
Oscar and company watched as the grimm were burned in the unquenchable black flames
"Hey! We need to get those fires out!" Qrow shouted to the rest of the wall, and the who heard him nodded and ran off, but a few minutes later returned with buckets of water and large fire hoses. They then opened the gates and proceeded to put the flames out, but something went wrong when they started dousing the flames
"Hey! Nothing's happening!" A man shouted in panic
"It won't go out!"
"Oh god, we're all gonna die!"
"Oh dear, we're in a bit of a spot now," Ozpin said
"Okay, this is a nice bit of misfortune at a very bad time," Qrow said, chuckling nervously
Suddenly, like a light switch, the flames just…vanished.
No, not vanished. More like they just faded away, living behind thousands of burnt corpses that vaporized into thin air.
Oscar looked around and looked at the others' faces.
Ruby was confused, Nora's was excited, Jaune was relieved, Qrow was drinking liquor, and Ren was, well, calm
Ruby suddenly veered around towards Qrow and asked, "Hey, has anyone seen Sasuke in any of this?"
/
Ruby started panicking
Where WAS Sasuke?
Did he see the flames?
Where was he?!
Ruby suddenly cocked her head back and shouted, "Sasuke! Where are you!?"
As if on cue, Ruby heard someone shout, "Hey! Over here! I found someone!?"
Ruby used her Semblance and dashed towards the voice in a burst of rose petals and was there in a flash
When Ruby got there, what she saw horrified her
Sasuke was on the ground, his skin pale and a small pool of blood was around his head, and she could see some fresh red liquid that stained his face that started from his eyes to the bottom of his cheek, sorta like…he had been crying blood?
Ruby, "Sasuke! Sasuke, are you alright!?"
She rushed to his side, when the man who had found him put his arm out, blocking her path
"He's lost a lot of blood, so you need to back up or you moving him could end up causing him to bleed out again," the man said
Suddenly Qrow, Oscar, and JNR rushed forward, and saw Sasuke and Ruby
Jaune looked at the two and asked, "What the heck happened to him?"
Ruby looked at him, the look in her eyes telling him that she didn't know
Ruby looked back at Sasuke, worried whether he would survive this or not
/
It had been a few weeks since they found Sasuke, who was now recovering in the hospital. The Doctor had said that his eye's and eye socket had both been severely damaged, and that there was a possibility that he would never see again. He still hadn't woke up
Back at home, Oscar had been doing some solitary training
Oscar swung his cane while shouting in effort, tired from training
Oscar started panting, barely holding himself up on his feet.
"You're really getting better, huh?" Oscar heard someone say
He turned to the side to see Ruby, standing in the doorway
"Are you hungry?" she asked, "It's almost lunchtime."
Oscar stood back up straight, and rubbed the back of his head and said, "Uh, yeah. That sounds good. I was about to call it a day anyway."
"So, you've never fought before?" Ruby asked curiously
"Just the occasional small Grimm," Oscar replied, "nothing like this though."
"Wow," Ruby said, "You look like a natural."
Oscar looked down at the cane he was holding and said, "It's strange, I've only had this cane for a few weeks, but when I hold it, it feels like I've had it for a lifetime. Longer, even."
And then shook his head slightly and said, "I sound like a crazy person."
"Uh, I mean, yeah, just a little," Ruby said with a shrug, but then her tone changed to excited, "But at this pace, you'll be combat ready in no time!"
Suddenly, her expression changed to a sad look
"Uh," Oscar started, confused, but he didn't know what to say. She was probably worried about Sasuke, despite the fact that they barely knew him.
"We'll, uh, I'll see you upstairs," Ruby said, but before he could go, Oscar asked her,
"How do you handle all this?
Ruby turned around and replied, "What do you mean?"
Oscar steeled himself, before he admitted, "I'm scared. I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life, than I ever thought possible."
He then walked over to a nearby shelf that had swords, and other weapons on it
"I always knew that I wanted to be more than a farmhand," Oscar said, "But this?"
He set the cane down on the shelf
"Who would ask for this?" Oscar asked
A lone tear dropped from his cheek and onto the floor, before he went and opened his backpack and put the cane into it after turning it back into it's more compact form
Ruby walked over to Oscar, and said, "We all went to Beacon because we wanted to help people. But you're right. None of us asked for this either. We just have to press on and-"
She was cut off when Oscar turned around and said in a raised voice, "How can you be so confident!? People tried to kill you! The world is about to go to war all over again! How are you even okay with any of this!?"
Ruby had a shocked expression, but then she looked down
"When Beacon fell, I lost two of my friends. Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos. I didn't know them for very long, but that doesn't change the fact that they were two of the most kind-hearted people that I have ever met." She said as she walked away and looked outside the open door
"But that didn't save them," Ruby continued, "Pyrrha thought that if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone, then it was a chance worth taking. And because of that, she died fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win. And Penny was killed just to make a statement."
While she was talking, Oscar had put on his backpack, but after she finished talking, Oscar said, "I'm sorry."
"I am scared, but not just for me," Ruby then turned back around and faced Oscar and said, "What happened at Beacon showed that Salem didn't care if you're standing against her or not. She'll kill anybody and that scares me most of all. Pyrrha, Penny. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt. That I didn't think about them ever since the day I lost them."
She then turned back to the open door
"That I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too, no matter how dangerous. So that's what I choose to do," Ruby then looked into the night sky and said, "To keep moving forward."
Oscar walked and stopped next to her, and for a moment, they both looked at the night sky.
Ruby broke the silence and put her hand on Oscar's shoulder, and said, "C'mon, if we don't hurry, Nora's gonna eat everything. It wouldn't be the first time" As she started towards the stairs, but then stopped.
"Hey Oscar," Ruby said, "This isn't gonna be easy, but the fact that you're even trying says a lot about you. You're braver than you think." Then she went upstairs.
"She really is remarkable, isn't she?" Ozpin asked
"Yeah, she must've been one of the huntresses at Beacon, huh?" Oscar replied
Ozpin chuckled, before saying, "In some ways, yes, but in others, no. She has her quiks, her faults, just like everyone else. But she also possesses something unquantifiable, a spark that can inspire others even in the darkest of times."
"This must be really hard on her too," Oscar said
"It most assuredly is," Ozpin replied
/
Ruby walked up the stairs, having finished her talk with Oscar. She felt a weight in her heart, as if she was grieving.
The memories of Penny and Pyrrha flashed into her mind. Penny, being slashed apart by her own blades when Pyrrha used her semblance to deflect them. Pyrrha, being shot through her heart by Cinder.
Ruby suddenly clutched her heart, and it beated faster. Her chest hurt. Suddenly, she felt a teardrop slide down her cheek and drop onto the floor.
She immediately wiped her face before going on.
She went to the dining room where team JNR were getting ready to eat, and a table was set with some bowls of ramen.
Nora was all but just about to go berserk on her plate when she saw Ruby's saddened face.
"Hey, you ok?" Nora asked
Ruby nodded and said, "Oscar's coming up in a second." Then she looked around and noticed that Uncle Qrow was gone.
"Hey, where's Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked
"He said that he needed to run an errand, but personally, I think he just went to refill his liquor flask," Jaune said.
This actually earned a chuckle from Ruby
Suddenly, she felt her pocket vibrate, and she pulled out her scroll.
There was a message from Uncle Qrow that said, "Sasuke is awake."
/
The only thing Sasuke could see when he woke up was nothing but blurry, white lights.
He blinked, once, then twice, then three times when his vision suddenly cleared. Well, half of it anyway.
Sasuke closed his left eye. He could see clearly out of it, although it was blurry around the edges.
Sasuke closed his right eye and opened his left. Nothing. He was completely blind on his left.
Sasuke sat up, only for a sharp but brief pain in his head to spike up.
"Huh, looks like you're finally awake," Sasuke heard someone say.
Sasuke looked to his left to see Qrow standing in the doorway
Sasuke gave him a blunt look, "You're not exactly the first person I wanted to see."
"Didn't think you would," Qrow replied, then walked in and took a seat
Suddenly, Sasuke heard a whooshing sound, and he looked at the door again to see Ruby, rose petals floating around her that eventually disappeared in a few seconds
"Sasuke! What happened to you! Are you alright!" Ruby half asked-half shouted before rushing to the side of his bed blubbering more questions
Sasuke sighed and said, "Can you please not get into my personal space?"
Ruby smiled embarrassed and blushed before backing up. Then Oscar, and team JNR showed up.
Nora was just like Ruby, blubbering nonsense, but she didn't get into his space, while the other three simply stood there and studied Sasuke
"Alright, enough, you guys are basically suffocating the guy," Qrow said after Ruby and Nora basically fired off 5 questions per second.
They both stopped talking and took a seat, then stared expectantly at Sasuke.
"Did you happen to see the black flames that incinerated that huge group of Grimm?" Ruby asked curiously
"Yes, mainly because I created them," Sasuke said.
He could literally hear everyone's jaws hit the floor
"Wait, what!" Qrow asked, a dumbfounded look on his face
"You created them?" Oscar asked
"Yes, it is one of the abilities that I have gained from my Mangekyou," Sasuke said
Jaune put his hands up and said, "Wait, I'm confused, what is a Mangekyou again, and why is your left eye blank?"
Sasuke blinked before saying, "My Sharingan can evolve into a Mangekyou, a more powerful version of my Sharingan, and it gives me three new abilities. You saw two of them, my Amaterasu, which gives me the ability to create black flames, and my Kagutsuchi, the ability to manipulate the black flames that I create."
"So what is your third one?" Ren asked
"You will see that in time, if I am forced to use it," Sasuke said
"But what does that have to do with your left eye?" Oscar asked
Sasuke continued, "With the power of the Mangekyou comes drawbacks. If I use any of the three abilities, it will often drain my aura, but if I am not careful, it can blind my eyes. Back when I destroyed the grimm, I overused my Kagutsuchi, which is in my left eye. Now does that explain why my left eye is blank?"
The hunters looked at Sasuke with fear, awe, shock, and curiosity
Ozpin took over Oscar, and said, "A Semblance of your kind has never been seen before. Only a Maiden could ever do something like that, and even then, the flames wouldn't be black. And by the way, do you happen to know what a Maiden is?"
Sasuke nodded
Hagoromo had talked a little about Remnant and told him the legend of the Maidens before he sent him into Remnant. Sasuke knew their power, and He knew that he was perfectly capable of taking them down even if two of them were to fight against him.
Ozpin had a quizzical look, and then asked, "Sasuke, I've been meaning to ask you, but with what little days we have left, would you happen to help me train these four, including Oscar?"
Sasuke gave him a confusing look, and said, "What do you mean with what little time? How long have I been out?"
"You've been out for 3 weeks," Qrow said, "Which doesn't give a lot of time to train, so if you agree, we're gonna have to hustle."
Sasuke furrowed his brow
3 weeks!?
"Well, I sorta thought you would be a little hungry after being asleep for 3 weeks, so I brought some snacks for you," Ruby said before holding up a sandwich and an apple.
"Hmm, thoughtful," Sasuke said, graciously taking the sandwich.
When Ruby held out the apple, suddenly, the world changed.
Sasuke was no longer looking at Ruby, but a young, 13 year-old pink haired girl. Sasuke remembered that time after Orouchimaru invaded Konoha during the Chunin exams, and Sasuke was recovering in the hospital due to his battle with the one tailed Jinchuuriki, Gaara of the Sand. Sakura visited him and gave him an apple. And Sasuke had been questioning his growth, and in his blind rage, he slapped the apple out of her hand.
That was also the turning point when Sasuke started down the dark path. He had challenged Naruto to a fight, and it ended in a draw, but Sasuke was still questioning his growth.
It was then that Sasuke went to Orochimaru, he went to him for power.
Would he end up doing it again? Would history repeat itself?
Sasuke quickly snapped out of it and took the apple from Ruby's hand
No. He will not go back down the dark path. Not again. For Sakura and Naruto's sake. He will protect Remnant.
Qrow got up from his seat, and asked, "So, yes or no?"
Sasuke looked up at the man, and said, "Yes."
Qrow nodded and said, "Good, now excuse me, I need to go look for someone. And maybe get a drink."
Qrow then walked out.
/
A couple hours later and Sasuke had been discharged from the hospital. Sasuke had been out for 3 weeks, which gave plenty of time for his body to replenish his Chakra reserves. They had gotten home, and Sasuke wanted to train to see how much he had recovered. His left eye couldn't be helped, and his right eye became blurry if he went 7 seconds without blinking.
Sasuke stood in the backyard, and leaned on the railguard, taking in the mountain scenery before he started training.
After watching the moon for a bit, he went to the middle of the courtyard.
Sasuke looked at his hands and said, "I can't believe I'm using this."
He then crossed his two fingers and said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Jutsu)"
A plume of smoke burst, and when it dissipated, an exact clone of Sasuke appeared.
Sasuke got into a defensive stance, and said, "You know what to do."
/
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Team JNR, and RUby were cooking up a meal fit for a family of eight. It was nighttime, but they were told that some guests would come.
Nora had been chopping up carrots, and Jaune was setting up the table
Ren and Ruby stood by the stove with a big pot.
"Alright, the first batch is about done," Ren said
"Awesome! Now we just need Qrow and we'll be all set!" Ruby replied
Nora had swallowed a carrot that she ate, and said, "Do you really think he is bringing that many people? This is a lot of food."
She then popped another carrot slice into her mouth
"Uh, I don't know, but I think we need all the help we can get," Ruby said
"Speaking of help, where's Sasuke?" Jaune asked
"He said something about testing his 'Visual Prowess'." Ren said, "If anything, he is trying to assess his condition through training."
"I'm back!" They heard Qrow say as they heard the front door shut
"Be right there!" Ruby shouted back
"You're going to overcook that," Ren said to Ruby
"No I'm not, shut up!" Ruby replied
"Hey, uh, Ruby," Qrow said form the dining room
"I'm coming!" Ruby replied when suddenly the pan that she was cooking in bursted in black smoke
She looked at Ren who had a 'I told you so' look
Ruby grabbed a serving tray and said, "Fine, you take over."
As Ruby walked to the living room she said, "So we didn't know how many people were coming so we just cooked all of it."
Then she looked up and saw her sister, Yang, and her teammate, Weiss
Ruby dropped the tray, which smashed onto the floor
"Yang?"
Yang walked forward
"Yang, I..I'm so sorry, I should have stayed, and I should have talked to you more," Then the tears started pouring down her cheeks, "I just…I wasn't sure if you wanted me around-"
The blond pulled her in for a tight hug, catching Ruby off guard
"I love you," Yang said
Ruby sobbed, and replied, "I love you too."
/
Sasuke ducked as his clone threw a spin kick that was meant to hit him in his face, then Sasuke countered with an uppercut.
The clone jumped back to avoid the attack, and Sasuke lunged forward and threw three fast jabs, all of which the clone dodged, before attempting to sweep Sasuke out from his legs, and Sasuke hopped up, and spinned downward and attacked with a strong ax-kick.
The clone rolled to the left, and Sasuke's foot smashed into the stone ground, leaving a spider web of cracks.
The clone then was about to rush forward when Sasuke deactivate's his Sharingan and held up his hand, and said, "That's enough."
The clone stopped, nodded, then exploded in a plume of smoke.
Sasuke went inside, and walked towards the kitchen. The table was set, the food on the stove and hot, but no one was there. Sasuke looked around before he heard sobbing.
He went to the living room to see Team JNR, Oscar, and Qrow looking rather teary-eyed at Ruby who was hugging two female strangers, one with white hair, another with blonde hair
Sasuke looked around before asking, "Who are these people?"
The blonde haired girl looked up and saw Sasuke, then glared before looking to Ruby and saying, "Hey, Ruby, who's this guy?"