Legends.
Stories gathered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains. Forgetting so easily that we are remnants. Byproducts of a forgotten past.
Man born from dust was strong, wise and resourceful. But he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness, creatures of destruction... The creatures of Grimm. Set their sights on man and all of his creations.
These forces clashed. And it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence into the void.
However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change. And in time, man's passion, resourcefulness and ingenuity lead them to the tools that would help even the odds.
This power was appropriately named:
Dust
Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness. And in the shadows, absence came strenght, civilization, and most importantly... Life.
But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die...
And when they're gone...
soon,
Darkness will return.
Within the streets of Vale. The people stepped aside as a group of suspicious looking men lead by a man in white walked by. Making their way towards the dust shop that happens to be open this late at night.
"Watch it kid." one of the men in black suits said after a lime haired teen brushed against his shoulder.
The teen made no reply and only glanced at the group of men with one brow raised. He gave them a questioning look before he nonchalantly made his way inside a cafeteria. Dragging with him is his weapon in a form of a hammer.
So you may prepare your guardians. Build your monuments to a so-called free world.
But take heed... There will be no victory in strenght.
Or perhaps, victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten. Things that require smaller, more honest soul.
. . .
. . .
"Here you go sir. One extra large mixed fruit smoothie with extra cream and three cherry toppings. Just for you." The shop owner said with a pleasant smile as she noticed that her customer's eyes sparkled in delight.
A lime haired teen, peeping his eyes over the counter. Humming as he stared at his order. If he were to have a tail, then it would've wagged vigoriously out of excitement.
"Finally..." He said, grabbing the cold drink into his hands. Embracing the cold temperature into his skin. Which brought him relief. Before he could even satiate his excitement, he fished his hand into his right pocket. Almost forgetting about his payment. "Here you go!"
The shop owner giggled. "I can see that you've really made the effort to earning this much lien, huh?"
"Freelancing ain't easy. But I worked my way through." He pumped his fist, feeling ever so proud of himself to the point that there were little tears coming out of his eyes. To which made the shop owner smile wryly.
"Anyways. Thank you." He said as he began to take his leave.
"Take care~" The shop owner said, waving her hand gently.
Taking a step into the streets of Vale. The male kept looking at the drink in his hands as if it was his prized possession he won at a lottery.
He studied every detail of his drink. It's color, it's design, and it's smell.
Heavens, it was no doubt pleasant.
Before his lips would be pressed against the straw. He paused in the middle of it as he noticed a commotion up ahead.
A man in a black suit was thrown out of the window of a local dust shop. Shattering it's glass window in the process.
Upon a closer inspection. He could see the source of the man's pain. A girl, clad in red, got up with her weapon in hand. A large scythe it seems, spinning it around before stabbing the blunt end of the scythe into the ground.
He swore he could hear faint music. Though, only for a moment.
A group of men went outside of the shop to confront the girl. Looking closely, the lime haired male noticed that they were the same people he bumped into just not too long ago. The same white suited man who lead the group stood before the young teenage girl.
Just a moment later. A fight started. The girl swung her blade with ease as she strikes at her enemies. The men made their effort to strike as well, but they were only met by a boot on the chest and a scythe onto their noses.
There was even one man seen flying away.
He also noticed that the scythe was wielded like some sort of rifle as gun fire can be heard.
The male watched as this scuffle played itself out, still his lips had yet made any contact with the straw, but after showing no interest of getting involved into the commotion in front of him. He merely shrugged his shoulders and was starting to walk away, the only thing in his mind right now was to drink his precious smoothie...
. . .
...that is... until a stray bullet made it's way to the cup. Penetrating the base, causing all of it's contents inside to be spilled onto the ground.
The male noticed this and he could only watch in horror. His hardwork, all of the money he had earned. All gone the instant the cup was empty. Leaving only the cherries and a hole punctured by a rapid flying bullet.
"N- No!" He yelled. His hands were shaking as he stared at the puddle of what once was his bought beverage.
He felt distressed. He was about to cry. But then his hands clenched as instead, he felt anger. His head quickly shifted to whence the bullet came and his eyes landed on his suspect.
The girl with the scythe.
It was no doubt her.
"Well, Red. I guess we can all say it's been an eventful evening." The man in white suit spoke to the girl. Dropping his cigar onto the ground before stomping it with his cane.
"And as much as I'd love to stick around... I'm afraid this is where we part ways." A bright red light fired off from the bottom of the cane and came screeching towards the girl in red. She managed to dodge by lunging upwards.
A large crater was left behind in the wake of the white suited man's attack. Said man was seen making his escape by climbing up the ladders of the building, heading towards the roof top.
Before the girl would make her pursuit...
"HEY!" She halted when she heard someone shout so loudly. The voice came echoing through the streets.
That was then the girl met the figure of a male. Clad in green. Fists balled up as he stared daggers towards the girl. Though, the latter was confused. Not knowing if he was talking to her or not. But after pointing to herself came the response of the angered teenager.
"You..." He growled, slowly making his way towards the girl, his glare seemed to unwaver.
"May I help you..?" Though confused, the girl asks the question.
"I believe your bullet came flying towards an unwanted direction!?" He yelled, in his hands, showed her the cup with the bullet hole that is not hard to notice. it was rather evident.
He crushed the cup afterwards and threw it to the side. Continuing his approach. "Do you have any idea how much lien I spent on that smoothie!? I spent an entire week with my freelancing job just to earn enough money! All of it taken away from me by your wreckless fighting!"
"Um... I.. uhh..." The girl let out, unsure of what to say. Her eyes trailed off to where the robber went to. "I- I'm sorry, I'll pay for that later!-" She was about to leave and continue to chase after the suited man. But the other teenager thought otherwise.
The girl made an abrupt halt, as a small form lighting came striking down her path. Which shocked her.
"Hey!" She yelled and looked back at the male in disbelief, and noticed that he was now carrying two sets of pistols, with one pointing towards her. That one seems to be powered by lightning dust.
"Oh no. I'm not letting you off that easily..." The lime haired teenager said threateningly. "It's either you'll pay now, or i'll just have to take vengeance by marking your face black!"
The girl was still in disbelief after hearing his reason. "I don't have time for this..." she sighed. She tried to make another attempt to escape by taking one step away from him, but the male did not seem to relent, Taking a step in her way.
She sighed once more. If this is how he wants to play, then so be it. "Alright then." She spoke, readying her scythe as she made her stance. "I'll make this quick."
The male twirled his weapons with his fingers before pointing both towards his target, still with his unrelenting glare.
Making no remarks on the lime haired male's part. He made his move by firing shots from his pistols. Each fired bolts of lightning and... icicles?
Quick to react, the girl in red blocked the attack by spinning her blade. Side stepping away, she dashed forward in attempt to strike her perpetrator. Slashing him using the back end of her scythe, however, the male managed to move out of the way. Continuing to fire with his icicle bullets.
The girl swiftly dodged each shot from left to right. Hopping towards the side of the pole before launching herself towards her target with the use of her semblance. Rose petals trailed behind her.
He managed to dodge again. However, the girl managed to strike one of his pistol. Leaving him only with his lightning powered one. "What the heck!?" He cursed. Clicking his tongue.
Before he makes an attempt to attack. His right cheek was met by painful impact. The scythe wielder, using the back of her scythe, striked the male. Launching him meters away from her.
Taking this chance, she proceeds to escape. Not wanting to waste her time on him.
"H- Hey! I'm not done with you yet! Get back here!" He shouted. Scurrying off of the pavement. He tried to shoot the girl with his other pistol. Only for it to not function. It only made faint sparks each time he pulled the trigger. "Damn it! Again?!"
With his two firearms broken. He pulled out an extra gear with him. Which was a rope cannon. He began to chase after the girl, who was making her way up the metal ladders.
A short distance away from him. He equipped the rope cannon onto his wrist. Aiming it towards his target, he fired. Launching a long rope right upwards, before successfully latching on to the girl's boot.
This caught her by surprise as she looked down. Her eyes met the grinning face of the teenage male.
Pulling her leg, causing her to fall off of the ladder. Looking back down once more, he noticed that the teenage boy was wielding another weapon, a hammer to be precise. Ready to swing his weapon in attempt to hit the girl's right on the face.
Knowing what's gonna happen. Fortunately, the girl was quick enough to react to this situation as she turned and used her scythe to counter her enemy's incoming attack.
But upon their weapons clashed. The impact emitted an explosion of fire. Causing the girl to be knocked off a few meters away from the male. He grinned afterwards in triumph.
Grunting, the girl managed to land on her feet. Though winced in pain after taking in the impact of the attack. In mere moments, she got to her stance once again as she narrowed her eyes towards the male. Who came approaching her, hammer in hand.
"Like I said... I'm not letting you off that easily." The male said as he dashed forward to attack, swinging his weapon towards his target constantly, whom dodged each attack rather with ease.
The girl countered once again. Blocking the attacks, hitting the base area this time to prevent any impact from the hammer.
This caused the male to flinch. Though expecting that counter, it still surprised him. He made another attempt to swing his weapon. But in his attempt, the girl simply dodged by jumping and then landing on his weapon with one foot.
Surprised by this, before he could even have time to react. The girl knocked him back a few feet by the swing of her weapon.
Grunting and wincing in pain. He glared back at the girl, gritting his teeth. "W- Why you...!" He growled, running forward for another attack.
The girl in red, suddenly launched herself forward in swift speed. Leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. Seeing this coming at a dangerous speed right towards him. He tried to counter, but failed as the girl was quick enough to disable his attempt of offense with constant hits of her weapon.
He managed to side step away from the flurry of attacks. Another attempt to attack his enemy. Though, she wasn't in front of him anymore as she was now suddenly behind him.
Her scythe now had turned into a rifle, she began firing out shots towards him.
Widening his eyes, he managed to dodge few of the bullets by moving out of the way while the rest, he had to block with his hammer. "Ookay... she's fast..." he muttered a comment, narrowing his eyes towards the girl who suddenly attacked again.
The only thing he could see was a red blur rushing towards him, and the same trail of rose petals left behind by it.
A hit towards the chest, then to the back, then to his hip. The girl was moving swiftly which gave him a hard time to actually keep up. This annoyed him in all honesty.
Seeing as the girl planted herself against the nearby pole and then launching herself towards him again. He readied his weapon once more, pressing the switch at the bottom of the base, causing the head of the hammer to emit faint electricity.
Seeing her now approaching at a close range, he swung his weapon, timing it right to hit the girl straight to the face. He smiled in truimph, anticipating to see the girl in utter defeat.
However, that wouldn't happen. Before his hammer could even land a hit onto the girl's face. Instead, it landed on a purple glyph that suddenly appeared in between the two. Shocking them both, while the male took it literally as upon the impact he made with his hammer. A shock of lightning emitted out of his weapon. In his misfortune, he got electrocuted in the process.
Comical smoke came flying out of his mouth before falling lifelessly onto the ground. "owwwwww..."
"Uhh..." The girl in red seems confused at what just happened. Before turning her head to notice a blonde woman with purple cape.
After the events that transpired within the streets of Vale. The two teenagers were taken to an interrogation room to question about their actions they caused this evening.
The girl clad in red had her eyes facing downwards. Seemingly scared at the situation she's in. This sentiment can be shared by the male right beside her. Though, he was trying his best to hide it.
If only he wasn't sweating nervously.
"great... just great..." He cursed to himself. Puffing his cheeks as he crossed his arms. His eyes looked over to their interrogator. A blonde woman, wearing a purple cape and is carrying what seems to be a riding crop.
"I hope you two realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly. " The blonde woman chastised. "You put yourselves and others in great danger."
"They started it!" The girl said in defense.
"Yeah, she started it." The male beside her pointed his finger.
"Excuse me!?" The girl replied in disbelief. "You literally attacked me for no good reason!"
"Excuse me as well, little-miss riding-hood! I worked blood, sweat and tears just to earn that much lien!" The male retorted.
"I said I was sorry! I was going to pay for it!" The girl defended.
"As if i'm going to believe you!"
"You do know that it is within immaturity to think like that." The blonde woman before them spoke. A nonchalant but firm gaze directed towards them. The teenage boy didn't respond and simply looked the other direction.
The blonde woman sighed. "Regardless, your wreckless clash could've caused inconveniences towards the local towns people. What would've happened if they got caught in between your silly little acts?"
The two teenagers remained silent with nothing much to add nor to say in order to defend themselves. The woman pushed her glasses up, holding a tablet-like device in her hands as she walked towards the table. "If it were up to me, I'd send you both straight home... with a pat on the back..."
The two teenagers seemed to look relieved to hear that. . .
. . .
"and a slap on the wrist."
"Eek!" Their relief scattered away in mere moments as the woman reeled up her riding crop and slammed it on the table. Causing the two to reel back from their seats in reaction to that loud whip.
"...what's with that riding crop? You some sort of horse back rider as well?" The teenage boy asks out of nowhere. To which in return, earns him a glare from the woman because of his nonsensical question. This caused him to flinch from his seat. Regretting to ask that question. "O- Oh..! Haha! Fancy table... shiny~~" he patted the table in front of him, acting innocently, but failed cause' of his nervous expression.
The woman sighed. Before continuing what she was about to say. "But... There is someone here who would like to meet you."
Both teenagers looked confused. Wondering who would want to see them. The thought was then to be answered when a middle-aged looking bespectacled man walked through the door behind the blonde woman. Holding a plate of cookies on his right hand while a mug of coffee on his left.
He had a gentle gaze as he analyzed the two teens before him.
"Ruby Rose." He spoke. Referring to the girl in red. The look in his eyes suggest that he knew a lot about her.
The girl named Ruby seemed to look a bit nervous as the man walked closer to her. Leaning a bit forward, he looked at her eyes. "you... have silver eyes."
"uhm..." Ruby responded, clearly dumbfounded and had no idea what to properly respond to that.
After examining Ruby Rose. The man looked over to the other teenager right beside her. "And you... Ceres Evergreen." He smiled at the boy, whom in return just smiled wryly. "You have jade eyes."
"and you have ugly glasses." the teenager outright responded. To which resulted the man to chuckle in response.
"First things first. Where did you two learn how to fight like that?" The man showed them a video of them fighting through the scroll the woman in blonde was holding. The video shows the events with the thugs and the fight between Ceres and Ruby.
Ruby arched a brow upon that question but answered. Though rather nervously. "S- Signal academy."
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" The man says with an intrigued expression.
"Well, one teacher in particular." Ruby answered, feeling slightly at ease towards them now.
"Hm, i see." The bespectacled man then turned to the other teenager. "How about you?"
"Oh uh..." Ceres replied, a little nervous to answer the question. But he still did so in the end. "Signal Academy..."
"huh? we go to the same school?" Ruby asked with a raised brow as she turned to him.
"Got a problem with that?" Ceres scoffed. Meanwhile, Ruby looked at him. Closely examining his features before leaning back. A Look of realization on her face.
"Ohh! I remember you!" She said aloud. "You're that guy who blew a hole up through the roof!"
"...is... that what I am known for..?" The male asked. Left eye twitching.
"But... you went to that school, yet you seem to be terrible at fighting." The girl bluntly says.
"I'm still training, Okay!?" Ceres exclaimed in defense whilst feeling irked towards the girl.
"Hmm.. interesting." The man before them then placed the plate of cookies right at their table.
Ruby looked hesitant at first when she moved her hand towards the cookie. Before grabbing one piece and shoving it into her mouth. Then right after she to continued eat one cookie after another. Not slowing down while looking seemingly blissful.
While she was busy eating. Ceres went to reach out his hand to grab a cookie, but was slapped away by Ruby.
"...first my drink, and now you're not sharing me a single piece of cookie?" The male muttered. Feeling more irked.
The man before them looked amused by their antics before he looked back to Ruby, who's still busy chowing down on the cookies. "I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that caliber... A dusty, old crow." He said, tilted his head, his expression recalling nostalgia...
"Mm! Dahsh Muh Onkul!" Ruby responded with her mouth still stuffed with cookies.
"Has your mother ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full?" Ceres responded with a look of distaste.
Swallowing the cookies, coughing, Ruby wiped her mouth. "Sorry." She apologized, before continuing. "Anyways. That's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal! I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing-"
" was... that a pun? " Ceres thought. Before Ruby began to do some funny gestures in order to further describe her progress in training.
"And you." He turned to Ceres. Whom stiffened in his seat. The man picked up something from behind him. Surprisingly, it was Ceres's pair of pistols. They were in a broken state, unfortunately. "Tell me, were you the one who designed this?"
"Uhm... Y- Yeah?" Ceres responded.
"And this one as well?" He pulled out a hammer. The same one Ceres used earlier in his fight against Ruby.
"Yeah- Wait... H- How did you get that!?"
"Answering that question would be unnecessary. What I am trying to say here is that you're weapons have a pretty unique design. I won't say it's original, but I can see you've put some thought into making these." He examined the weapons further, and noticed some small containers. "Powered by dusts, I see?"
"Well, the thing is... I love how dusts have their own unique properties and function and I wanted to try something with it by creating some weapons powered by certain dusts. Like my Hammer boomstick for example. It's both powered by fire and lightning and it creates a very powerful impact."
Ceres then slumped. "The main problem is... my weapons just does not survive two minutes or less within battle... They either explode, shatter, or just malfunction..."
"Though your weapons are cool. What you said just now, kinda sucks." Ruby commented with an amused expression.
"I don't need your second opinion... please..." Ceres scoffed with an irked face.
"So I've noticed." The man stated with a smile on his face. A smile that says something that no one but himself can know. Placing the mug down, he looked to Ruby. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"If I hadn't known who this guy is. then I would've seen him as some sort of predator... " Ceres thought.
"I want to become a huntress." Ruby stated, leaning in her seat.
"You want to slay monsters?"
"Yeah!" Ruby said, smiling proudly. "I only have two more years of training left at signal and then I'm going to apply at beacon."
"Seriously..?" Ceres muttered. Despite him applying for the same academy. He found Ruby's reason that to be somewhat bland to him.
"You see, my sister's starting there this year and she's trying to become a huntress, and i'm trying to become a huntress because i wanna help people."
"My parents always taught us to help others, so i thought hey! i might as well make a career out of it! Hehe... I mean the police are alright but huntsman and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and... really gosh, you know?!"
The man and the woman beside him stare at her with one seem to look unfazed and the other unamused. Meanwhile, Ceres felt both.
"Listen Riding hood. If your only motivation to becoming a huntress is from a random fairy tale book or some stuff related to that, then you should go get some reality check." Ceres spoke, crossing his arms.
"Well someone seems to have a different opinion." Ruby replied, seemingly unamused.
"Obviously." Ceres said. "All I am trying to say is that becoming a huntsmen slash huntress is a serious job and is something you shouldn't see as a gateway to fullfil your childish dreams."
suddenly, Ruby slammed her hand against the table. "Are you saying my dreams are childish!?"
"It obviously is!" Ceres shot back. Not batting an eye. Ruby simply stared him down.
"Then let me hear if yours is better!"
Ceres simply leaned back upon the question. His lips slightly quivered. "um.."
"Well?!"
"I... want to get better... And I want to see where and how far I will go." Ceres answered. "I may fail so many times with what I do... but i want to keep going... And maybe becoming a huntsmen will help me."
Ruby went silent after that. Not sure of what to say. "Interesting." The man simply said. The blonde woman beside him simply raised a brow.
"forget what I said..." The teenage male said with an embarrassed face.
"Do you know who I am?" The bespectacled man asks with a friendly glance.
"You're professor Ozpin, You're the headmaster of beacon." Ruby answered as if she was anticipating that question.
"I don't think there's anyone out there who doesn't know who you are." Ceres replied.
"Hello." The man now named Ozpin said with a smile.
"Nice to meet you." Ruby replied with a nod.
"Would you like to go to my school?" Ozpin asks the silver-eyed girl. To which she never immediately responds.
"More than anything."
Ozpin looked towards the blonde beside him, whom simply rolled her eyes before he looked back to Ruby. "Well, okay."
By that point, Ruby's eyes widened. Even more, she broke off into a big grin as she felt excited. "Y- You're inviting me to Beacon!? Are you serious!?"
"Yes." Ozpin reitirated.
"Oh my gosh!" Ruby jumped for joy. Almost kicking Ceres off of his seat. Though luckily, he managed to keep his balance. "I can't wait to tell everyone! They'll be surprised to hear this!"
Smiling. The man looked over to Ceres. "And as for you. I would ask you the same thing."
"H- Huh? What?" Ceres let out.
"Would you like to go to Beacon as well? It would be a great opportunity for you. And I assure you that you'll improve and reach greater heights."
"M- Me? Going... to... Beacon...?"
. . .
"Really?! The Ozpin invited YOU to his school?!" An adult male with a darkish green hair said in utter surprise. Slamming his hands against the wooden counter and almost made the cups nearby fall off.
"I don't like how you phrased that..." The younger male spoke. Ceres Evergreen. He had apparently announced to his brother Alder about his invitation to Beacon. And one thing is for sure is that his brother was even more surprised than he is.
"That's a great opportunity for you lil' champ! The school of all schools! The Beacon academy! I just can't believe it!"
"Yeah, I can't believe it myself either... but here we are.." Ceres replied, leaning his back against the counter as he sat at one of the stools. "But in all honesty. To think, me out of all people, got invited to that school makes me wonder if I am sort of special. I mean, the headmaster is literally the one who told me to go!"
"I mean, if the Ozpin says so. Then you should just trust him. And hey, you might as well end up becomin' the bees knees!"
"W- What? You're totally exaggerating this! I don't want to be the bee's knees, alright? If anything, i just want to go through this like how i normally would... a guy with normal knees, if that makes any sense... wait.. am I even making any sense?! And... what the heck is bee's knees supposed to mean!?"
Alder placed a hand on top of his little brother's shoulder. Giving him a reassuring smile. "it means that you're special. Even if you don't think so, to me, you are."
"That's... kind of corny.." Ceres huffed.
"Oh shut it, you." Alder chuckled. Ruffling Ceres's hair, much to the latters dislike.
"Geez..." The younger male pouted. Tilting his head to a different direction.
It's kind of unbelievable that someone like him... a someone who constantly fails at doing something, is being accepted at an academy that specializes in huntsmen training.
He accepted the invitation because, of course. No one would turn down an invitation like this. And it is also an opportunity for him to improve at what he's doing.
And for once. He wants to end his streak of failure.
A/N:
Good day/evening! I would like to formally celebrate RWBYC for debutting as my first RWBY fanfiction in the fantasy side of my AU. The Katsuverse!
I hope you like this one i dished out. If you have any criticisms or would like to point out some mistakes i've made here and there, then please kindly do so. It would be highly appreciated.
And as always. The nonsensical toxic criticisms are always not welcome and will always be thrown out of the sewers.
That's all for today!
Be sure to look forward to other updates!