The Index Office and the child Distortion stared each other down.
The scene was quite bizarre in Ruby's opinion. Bizarre as in bizarre enough not to look out of place in a Saturday morning cartoon. Imagined this, a group of well-dressed Hunters with their weapons ready for action against a small child with eyes made from uncut diamonds wearing a very exaggerated Atlesian Military uniform. Ruby would questioned the scriptwriter if the Hunters weren't confident in fighting the small child, but get this, they were actually apprehensive.
The child appeared to be harmless on the surface, but they knew it was nothing but harmless—Index Office won't be deployed if that was the case. While they could assume the child was relatively weak compared to the experienced Hunters, the environmental hazard combined with the banning of Aura immediately launched the danger level up to the stratosphere. The Hunters were not aware how many hits they needed for the thing to go down, while the thing was assured victory with just a single strong hit and the Hunters' Aura would do the rest of the job. Pretty ironic right?
Its hands raised and the office readied to spring into action. Those pale hands made a clap and the Hunters expected something coming from the ground or the wall. Nothing happened. Another clap and they readied themselves again. Nothing happened. More claps... and the child Distortion just stood there clapping at the Hunters with its creepy smile as if they had given him a wonderful show.
This of course confused the Hunters. What games was this Distortion playing at? Was it baiting for them to attack first? Well, they could go with that but the Index Office preferred to be attacked first, and if someone was baiting to be attacked, 9 out of 10 it was a trap. So they chose to wait until the clapping was done, and then wait some more. The Distortion just tilted its head while keeping the same smile on. Alright, the first move was on them.
But before that, "John, talk to it."
He shrugged and complied with his leader, "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?!"
The office resisted the urge to palm their face.
The Distortion responded to the question with a laugh, a very happy laugh without an ounce of worry. It then went along with the joke, answering Johnathan with accent not uncommon in Deep Mistral, "Yes! Yes! Understand!"
Hearing that, Johnathan smiled in excitement, "Why you clap?!" And continued using the same accent as the Distortion.
"You awesome!"
"Awesome how?!"
"You no cover in shiny stones!"
"What the hell is this?" Ruby asked herself. She expected a heated battle with her life as a bet, not... not whatever the hell was this! Her finger was twitching for the trigger and a glance to her senior revealed her to be in the same state as Ruby. She asked in whisper, "Senior... it looks rational."
Ermessia had a half smile-half frown on her face, "About that... Distortion has an inherent urge to kill anything that is not their kin. If that urge is not gone, you are considered mad by The Council's standard." She paused for a second, as if to think about something, "The five recorded sane Distortions could erase the urge and transformed between their original self and Distortion state at will. So complete mastery is required before being considered sane."
"Huh..." Ruby just nodded along, accepting the logic presented. Hey, if humanity survived this long then The Councils must have done something correct. Back to the banter between the Distortion and Senior John.
"You strong?!"
"Yes! We strong!"
"More strong than previous?!"
"YES!"
Ermessia had enough of the banter, "Xiao, firecracker."
After the order was issued, Johnathan stopped his giddiness and went outright serious immediately with sword and shield ready in position. Senior Xiao went forward swinging her right arm and the Dust chamber opened, scattering red Dust to the air. Her left arm followed with creating a spark that resulted in a chain reaction igniting all of the Dust. Using the distraction, Ruby and Ermessia went to the side and firing their respective weapon.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Caught off guard, the first few shots claimed their target. One to the head, destroying a fifth of its head; one to the torso, spraying black blood to the snow below; one to the leg, crippling it into uselessness. The rest were dodge with flipping and flailing like a madman.
The office of course, capitalized on that. They advanced through the smoke residue. John and Xiao with sword and fist in pre attack motion assisted by Ruby and Ermessia with their covering fire.
Ruby felt, at that moment, that everything went well for her first mission. She even got first hand experience as to how the Index Office operated, "Hus, this went to well." Alas, everything rarely went well in this world.
The Distortion managed to right itself at the last moment, before a pair of majestic white wings burst from its back. The wings immediately sprang forward and parried the two seniors, forcing them to retreat. Ruby and her leader fired aggressively at the protective wings, shot after shot impacting the wings until the guns were empty.
To their dismay, the wings remained strong, only having black spots on the place they were shot. Seeing this, Index Office regrouped into their formation once more, waiting for the next opportunity.
The wings slowly parted away, revealing the Distortion that gave them trouble today. Their eyes widen when they saw the Distortion stood tall, taller than Xiao. That thing was no more a simple child. It had legs once, now they were talons. It had hands once, now they were claws. Truly, now they were fighting the true Distortion.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is FUN!" With that maniacal laugh filled to the brim with mirth, the Distortion locked eyes with the office, "You guys are stronger than the guys before. The guys with hoodie only lasted a few second, pushing their Aura and became the black pillars over there. The soldier guys lasted longer, just because they used guns and not Aura, still became crystals. You guys injure me this bad and make me use my wings and claws, with no AURA! Truly, all of you are talented!"
The Distortion spread its majestic wings, the wingspan reaching five meters, almost as wide as the corridor they were in, leaving only a meter on each side. Its arms open wide, regarding them with sheer confidence, "My name is Eno, and I command you KNEEL!"
Apostle
Eno, Scourge of The Crystal
The situation progressed into something trickier from there. One of the option in fighting a singular enemy was to surround it, but with that wingspan, going around its back became riskier. A single well-placed smack of those wings would be enough to send them into the blizzard.
She reviewed the office once more. Based on the previous clash, their optimal solution would be to play a battle of attrition. Senior John and Senior Xiao would prod around its defense while Senior Ermessia and herself pelted the Distortion with lead.
They could actually rush the thing, but that option only available with Aura.
"What should we do?" She glanced at Ermessia, "Do you have a plan, Senior?"
The first one to act was Senior Ermessia. Her left hand went in between both vanguard, getting their attention. She clenched and unclenched it twice before turning it sideway and motioning forward. "Huh? What?" The two seniors got the message and prepared accordingly.
A vial of hard-light and burn Dust appeared in Johnathan's and Xiao's palms respectively. The blond senior coated his shield with his Dust and Xiao ignited it with a spark. He now had a Dust shield. As for Xiao, her vial was held in her hand. "Huh? What? What?" Ruby glanced at Ermessia for clarification, only to see her loading different shells into her gun.
Fortunately, Ruby got the clarification she needed in the form of a whisper, "Ruby, since you have Harbinger, go stabby stabby when you see a chance."
Ruby of course wanted more info, but she did understand the fact that the less she knew the better she'd perform, especially since Ruby herself haven't got in tune with the office. In essence, the simpler the better. Harbinger returned to its sword configuration.
"Are you done with your planning?" It asked, still with the haughty tone.
Ermessia cocked her gun, "If you think Hunter is all about Aura, then think again."
And the vanguards moved.
The wings curled again, enveloping the thing in its warm and protective barrier. It focused solely on the vanguards, confident in the snowy wings to keep it safe.
Oh how colossally wrong it was.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
Four shots, all true to their targets, the fleshy joints of the wings.
"AAAHHH!" The Distortion recoiled in pain as black blood gushed out from the damaged joints. Now this was where the vanguards came in. Johnathan rammed his shield onto the wings, and with all his Auraless might, casted the wings upwards, fully exposing the main body. Xiao then threw the vial straight at its face, breaking upon impact. And with another well-placed shot BANG a small explosion occurred right on its face.
A screeched of pain was heard and the claws came descending upon Xiao. However, the Distortion forgot the existence of Johnathan, and thus the descending attacks were received properly by the might of his white shield. Xiao retreated, letting Johnathan tank the wild blows. He weathered them like a champion, unflinching, indestructible. Truly, the potential of the living even without their Aura.
Xiao threw another vial to the raging Distortion. Same as before, Ermessia shot it and another explosion ensued, stopping its wild flailing.
"An opening!" And Ruby lunged.
"GAAAAAAAA!"
The extended Harbinger claimed the Distortion's left side of its head, staggering it backwards and bellowing curses to the Rose maiden. Not stopping there, Harbinger was pulled back and Ruby moved.
"Johnathan! Shield!" Understanding the plan, he brought his shield up so that Ruby could use it as a springboard and ascended. High in the sky, Harbinger became the fearsome warscythe it was known for throughout its lifetime.
Low on the ground, the vanguards advanced towards the staggered abomination.
On the back of the formation, Ermessia aimed her shotgun.
Far from the battle, the crow of bad luck observed in the name of Ozpin.
This would be the end. The Distortion shall Die.
"Cursed Hunters!" White energy formed below the Distortion and then spikes of ice grew outward.
The vanguards, surprised yet still composed, retreated and shielded themselves. Yet the spikes grew even more, akin to roots, they spread around the Hunters. With no time to dodge, the spikes shot at their legs and torso as they grunted in pain, immobilizing the Hunters.
In the air, Ruby saw clearly how it formed. From the white snow it grew to a tree, and soon would impale her right through the heart and guts. She would be dead instantly.
Her reflex kicked in, coursing Aura throughout her body, Ruby blurred into roses and reappeared on the snowy ground five meters behind the Distortion. Her eyes opened and saw an opportunity, the exposed back. Harbinger ready, Ruby braced herself for another lunge.
Something was wrong however.
There was this small discomfort on her entire body. Baffled by the development, she looked down. Only to discover spikes of crystal growing from her body.
"Oh," and the pain finally registered, "GAAH!"
The young Hunter crumbled to the snow, screaming the entire time. She would do anything—clawing over the crystal growths and skin—she would do anything to stop this pain of a billion needles.
A looming dread befell her and her instinct as a Hunter flared. She rolled to the side, avoiding a leg that crushed the space where her head used to be. She was safe, but not for long as she registered another flare of pain from her right arm. She pulled the pained arm with a jerk and brought it to her face in order to assess whatever damage it received. But how could she assessed her arm when there was no arm to assess?
She watched in muted horror. Her right arm, now only a stump, being slowly covered with the black crystals. There was no pain for her to feel, only shock of the loss of limp. Her left hand reached for it, just to confirm if it was reality. She saw her left hand clearly caressing the stump, usually warm, but now only the cold of the crystal she felt.
Two identical talons appeared in her vision and she slowly looked up.
She found a large figure looking down upon her. Its pristine uniform shredded beyond recognition, its majestic wings had lost their luster, and its face contorted into something borne of nightmare. Its brain exposed to the chill air, even Ruby could see the muscles that connected the eyes to the brain. Its entire lips were long gone, revealing rows of snow white teeth, yet somehow Ruby could feel the frown from them. But the most terrifying thing of it, it was regenerating, very slowly. But if she squinted, the regeneration process was clear as day.
"Cursed Hunters."
A claw was raised, ready to judge her life.
She was fixated to it. That would be her death and that was it. Ruby Rose, died in her first mission. Swallowed by a distortion and will be forgotten. A pathetic end to a pathetic existence.
BANG
"Eh?"
After her arm was amputated, Ruby's brain had been in a state of overdrive where she perceived everything in slower motion. One time she was looking at a face of a nightmare. In the next second, that face exploded, and she saw all of the excruciating details of it. It began from its temple, the skull being penetrated and scattering shards of bone to the air. Next, the brain matter churned before it too scattered in the air. Then the blood, it sprayed everywhere and its black. That wasn't the most terrifying aspect of it, no. That thing, even without a head, was still alive.
After that show of gore, another thing entered her vision. A burning gauntlet slammed into the side of the Distortion, sending it flying away from her field of view.
That burning gauntlet belonged to Xiao who now stood in front of her protectively. Her Aura shone with the grace of the setting sun. Orange sky was everywhere, a natural work of art. That orangeness radiated from her very being, blanketing the area in warmness of one's home yet at the same time bearing the power of the sun.
It awed her, yet also terrified her, "Sis... your body." Black crystals were steadily growing on her and Ruby was sure it would consume her big sis any time now.
Ruby's concern fell on deaf ears. Xiao was too focus on the Distortion, everything else was secondary, even her own body. "You insolent bird!" For a split second, Ruby saw a dragon with red and golden scales in the place of Xiao, "You dare touch the treasure of a dragon!?"
The Distortion, still picking itself up, answered her with his haughty tone, "Idiot! Your Aura will kill you soon!"
Xiao did not look concerned, she was livid, her raw anger radiated from her eyes, "Let's see about that, shall we?"
Ruby knew she was fast, hell her Semblance literally used the concept of acceleration, but she couldn't deny that the speed of sister Xiao was astonishing. The grace of orange increased in volume and sister Xiao lunged. Going for a right straight but was met with icy arm. Left jab, same result. Right jab—a feint, and a left straight impacted its torso. She followed up with a right uppercut, unbalancing the Distortion, finished up by a left chop. CRUNCH And fully pulverizing its head.
Her right arm reared back with her palm facing forward and violent flames hungry to devour.
The Dragon surged.
Jīn Ní, The Force of A Wildfire.
A large explosion of fire raged upon the snow white bird, a punishment for daring to provoke a dragon, resulting in the bird sailing away with unrelenting fire tirelessly ravaged the flesh of the bird. Miraculously, it was still alive even after all those punishments.
On a closer look, the bird was in a very miserable state. Despite its tenacity to stand once more, its flesh was charred, revealing the bones underneath. Its wings were nowhere to be found, already been devoured by the flames. Even in that kind of state, it still maintained a stance. But without a head, Xiao believed it could only rely on its base instinct to counterattack.
Fortunately, one small important detail stood out. Inside the visible chest cavity was a white crystal bathed in ethereal white glow; that was the core of the Distortion, meaning this place would go down once it was destroyed.
Good.
Xiao moved once more, but alas, the evenfall could not hold itself forever.
Orangeness of the setting sun dimmed, letting the moon finally took its rightful sky. Xiao Steel, once a majestic sun now reduced to a mere shiny stone. Her arms, torso, and legs—where it was once a healthy human body, now overgrown with crystals. Her head was still free to the wind, yet no matter what she did, her body refused to move. Her wail reverberated through the raging blizzard. She was this close to ending the bird!
"Xiao, that's enough."
Xiao's head snapped to the side. Skaha 'Ermessia' Deles. Her friend. Her family. Marched forward with confidence present in her gait. Her shotgun was nowhere to be found, only a sword of obsidian rested in her right hand. Her favored sword, Durendal was its name.
"Ermes... are you going to use it?"
Her left foot forward, she two handed Durendal and brought it to the side of her face with tip pointing to the white crystal, the Ox stance. "No. If I do that, I believe I will return to Dust just after the first two sings, not enough to kill that thing. We don't want that, right?"
The Knight lunged, and the White Bird empowered by the blizzard responded in kind.
What happened next was a battle between a graceful knight and a barbarian berserker. The graceful swings of the Yin against the barbaric strikes of the Yang. It was a battle of equal, but deep down, Xiao knew that her friend won't last forever. The Knight must use small bursts of Aura just to keep up with the Bird. Xiao knew, Ermessia knew; if a miracle did not grace them, this place would be their grave.
"A wonderful view, yeah?" John's voice came from her right. The blond man carrying Ruby and Harbinger before setting them down gently on the snow. Despite his grievous injury and crystal growth, he was still able to move with the heavy load in the form of Ruby and Harbinger. A metal flask then appeared on his left hand, which he presented to her, "Hippocras?"
Xiao considered for a moment, "You know what, hit me." With his help, she downed the alcoholic beverage. The sweetened and spiced wine melted her tongue and warmed her throat, "Ahh, just what I needed."
He offered the beverage to Ruby, and with some hesitation, finally drank it. Satisfied, John gulped the entire thing before laying down on the snow with a bright smile.
"Caw." The small crow of Ozpin approached them and they watched the little fellow landed besides the hilt of Harbinger. Its red eyes gazed at them one by one, and somehow all of them felt the crow saying 'You've done enough' through its eyes. It let another small caw before cheering silently for Ermessia's victory together with them.
Somehow, this situation felt peaceful. Despite the raging battle happening in front of their eyes, they did not feel an oppressing dread, only calm acceptance.
In this blizzard they gather, facing Death with no fear.
Peaceful be they rest.
"You know guys," Johnathan slowly sat up, regarding his family, "I am satisfied with my life. I found a new family here and become an accomplished Hunter. Pretty much all my dreams have been fulfilled, well except getting married. So uh... in case we die, I want to share my secret with you. Like what my father said, to die without regret. And don't worry, chief already know about this."
A photo appeared from his right glove. He offered it to Ruby and she used her remaining hand to grab it and see the picture herself, "What?" Her confusion was palpable with her tone and widening eyes, "How?"
He retrieved the photo and showed it to Xiao and she too widened her eyes. On a glance, it was a normal photo of a big family. A father and mother, seven daughters, and one son—definitely John. But there was one small detail that only the Hunter community would recognize. Hanging on the wall was the same sword and shield Johnathan carried, but with extra detail. There were two golden arcs painted on the shield. That was definitely the crest of the extinct Arc bloodline. Yet, there was an Arc showing his family photo in front of her.
Xiao chuckled, "You know John, I suspected you to be an Arc, but the Council hasn't make a move on you, so I dropped the suspicion."
Ruby exclaimed, "Yeah! How do you avoid The Council?"
Johnathan smiled, "You see, we Arcs have a tradition to act like a proper descendant of Jason D'Arc The Golden. To us, acts not befitting of a royal knight are considered sinful. Thus, while painful at first, I discarded our tradition, and The Council never bats an eye on me. Father wanted us to survive no matter what, and if discarding our long lasting tradition enabled us to survive, we would do it in a heartbeat. And I'm not the only survivor either, my eldest sister is in Argus and the remaining two are somewhere in Vacuo."
Ruby still had question, "Is your name truly Johnathan Amsel? Like, normally people change their name when trying to disappear right?"
"Yep. Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Jaune Arc, and I'm happy to be in this family."
"Hahah, nice to meet you Jaune. I'm Xiao Steel, your new big sister."
"I see... I am Ruby Rose, nice to meet you too, brother."
They shared another laugh before returning their attention back to the battle. It was still raging on but the crystals growing on Ermessia were becoming visible to them. It was only a matter of time before she succumbed to the crystals.
"It's not fair," Ruby began, earning their attention. "My life was full of misery before this. My mom died in the Grimmland, my uncle died in a joint operation with the Ace Ops, my father drowns himself in dangerous missions every day, and my team disbanded." She looked up and gazed at their glorious leader, "But today I became a member of this family. We may only know each other for less than four hours but I felt the most alive in those scant hours."
Her eyes shedding tears... and shedding Silver.
"!"
"It's not fair!"
The Silver was waking.
"I want to protect you all!"
The Silver was willing.
"I want to live with you all!"
The Silver was overflowing!
The young maiden named Ruby Rose was covered in her own Silver energy. She didn't know what happened to her, but she knew one thing with clarity.
Harbinger returned to her hands.
She aimed.
And pulled the trigger.
A column of white light surged toward her enemy. The White Bird not even aware of it, just an intense light and its body destroyed.
And Ermessia, with her remaining strength, brought Durendal down unto the core.
All they saw was white.
Apostle Slain
The fox-man named Mysta Kosaka, Captain of VSS's Distortion Alert and Ready Contingent (DARC) 2nd Company, was not having a good day. You see, he was chatting—definitely not flirting—with this one cute underling of his when suddenly an emergency happened right in the middle of New Glenn's metro route. So here he was, just finishing a lengthy discussion with the metro's manager while his lieutenants dealt with the Distortion. Speaking of his lieutenants, one of them was approaching him.
Fortunately, he bore more positive news than negatives. The Distortion was dealt with, that was good, and the passengers were not even harmed! What a miracle! Alright, onto the negatives. They lost one squad and half of Bleak Office. More paperwork, fuck. Then there was the office who cleared the shit. Three members of Index Office were sent into Vale's University Hospital... straight into emergency... The fifth ranked office in the Kingdom of Vale was sent into emergency. Oh Great Kitsune of Mount Takeshi, grant this man strength.
"Corry, remind me to visit the hospital the day after tomorrow. That should be enough time for Miss Deles to partially recover."
"Actually Sir, she's waiting for you in your car."
Mysta stopped in his track and just stared at his lieutenant as if he wore a clown suit to work today, "Excuse me?"
"Yes Sir, she is waiting in your car."
"No no. Not that. You said three Index members were sent to the emergency."
"Yes Sir. The Index Office has a new member."
Mysta blinked, "Since when?"
"Since today Sir."
Oh, that explained a lot. That woman finally got another member to her office after being a three-man office for four years straight! Why only recruit now!? Oh yeah, she told the reason on one of their drinking nights, her office members must be approved by Sir Emmanuel Ozpin, and that man only approved one after four years! What the fuck? But in all seriousness, Index Office really went with quality over quantity. Emerald Office, the first rank in Vale, has 30 members. Index Office, rank five, reached their spot with three members. Those who didn't actively monitored the ranking would be in for a surprise when finding out the fifth best only had three members before today.
"Alright... so she's in my car?"
"Yes Sir."
He sighed before quickly finishing up whatever business he had with this problem. After that, he went straight to his car and onto the driver seat. There was no one besides him. He checked his rear mirror and found the chief of the Index Office sleeping on his back seat with her jacket covering her face.
Okay, how to wake her? Try reloading a gun? She might took that as a sign of danger and broke the door in reflex. Small nudge? Nope, he ain't doing that. Starting the car? That might worked. So he started the car, and she jolted awake.
"Hey Ermes, you're finally awake."
She looked around, surprised visible on her face, before locking eyes with him before it clicked. "Ah... yes. I fell asleep."
Mysta gave her an eye roll, "Alright, I won't question how you bust in but I want to know why you're here. I don't have that much time to spare."
"Awwww, can't I see the face of my dear friend? You know, stress relief." Blank cyan eyes stared at her, "Alright alright, have fun a little will ya?" She reclined onto the seat, still with her smile, "But in all seriousness, I do want to see you. Get a sense of normalcy after my entire office went to the hospital you know. Other than that... got any interesting news?"
Mysta sighed, this was usual for them, but still... "I do have several... the Schnee Sisters are coming in two weeks."
She jumped in surprised. Yes, she actually jumped and hit the ceiling, "Goddammit... Old Oz gonna run my office ragged again."
Mysta resumed, "Not just that, The Council will mark this incident as a terrorist attack from the White Fang."
...silence.
It took Ermessia another second to understand what he just said, "They will tell that to the public?!"
"Hey, I don't like it too alright. But when I was in the middle of the meeting, a Councilor Guard arrived, pulled me out, and explained all that bullshit. And this isn't your regular Councilor Guard, it's one of the Lazulite Twins."
Both of her gloved hands met her face and she groaned into them, a very miserable groan. Mysta checked his watch, "Dammit." He asked Ermessia, "Straight to the hospital or detouring for food? I need to be elsewhere." She raised one finger, "Hospital it is."
Mysta sighed again. This was an exhausting day for the both of them, and it would be more hectic in two weeks. They would bail somewhere else if it was possible, but remembering whom they worked for, getting roped to the center of a problem would be their daily occurrence. He just had to pray to the Great Kitsune to grant them strength in weathering the coming ordeals.
A.N.
Boi, that was fun to write. So yeah, Ruby almost died in her first mission and only survived using the power of her Silver Sharingan! Basically luck, just like RWBY's mission in Mountain Glenn. Like, they should have sustained heavy damage after that train crash with or without Weiss' ice dome.
As you can see, a lot has been changed regarding the distribution of power in the kingdoms. And of course, that will result in new characters, original or from other media, to appear here. So please bear with that.
Also, I hope you enjoy the story and please tell me your thoughts in the review if you want.
P.S. I'll be honest with you guys here. Ermessia is my first OC who has a portrait of her own courtesy of my friend. So I really want her to appear in stories that I write whether her role be small or big. In this story, It will be big of course.
P.S.S. This Ermessia is different than her original version.
