The Energy of Aura

by Phoenix4Lord

An exploration into the life of Pericles Polendina: A reincarnated soul who believes in Ironwood's dogma and hopes to be a guiding light for a better Remnant. He plans to do this, all while protecting his retired Huntress mother, genius father, robot sister, and everyone else that just barely tolerates him. Welcome to The Energy of-*Crash* "Dammit Tortuga! What did you break?"

1. Prologue: Chapter 1: Mr and Mrs Polend

AN: So, I've been having trouble with some writers block on my other stories, so I decided switch over to this since it was flowing easier.

A fair warning, this story will include: Blood, Death, Violence, Gore, Swearing, Heresy, Blasphemy, and depictions of racial prejudice (Faunus).

I hope that you enjoy this story, and even if you don't, please feel encouraged to leave a review. It helps me become a better writer.

This story was inspired by the idea of how someone might truly react to being reborn as a child. What sort of advantages would they have? What disadvantages? Conflicts? Compromises?

I have no idea where this story will go, so if you have ideas that you think might fit, feel free to write them in the reviews.

Disclaimer: RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth, and "That Old Black Magic" belongs to Harald Arlen and Johnny Mercer

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Text Legend:

§Singing§

"Speaking"

"Shouting"

'Speculating'

"Sarcasm/Sass or Stressed Speaking"

*Sounds*

Stressed Script

[Stenographic]

Storytelling/Scene

---

Prologue: Chapter 1: Mr. and Mrs. Polendina

~58 A.W. (After the War), less than a month old and 24 years before the Red Trailer~

§That old black magic has me in its spell§

He awoke to the sound of music playing on an old radio.

§That old black magic that you weave so well§

'Where am I?' He thought as he attempted to turn his head but found it restricted.

§Those icy finger up and down my spine§

Cold nipped at his exposed face as he realized that he was wrapped in some sort of cloth.

§The same old witchcraft when your eyes meet mine§

His eyes locked onto his surroundings; a darkened city street slowly being draped in snow. He saw a billboard in the corner of his vision, a young man stood proudly, almost regally on the poster, wearing some sort of military uniform, with eyes staring back at him. "Support Your Nation! Join the Military and Protect your Kingdom!" was written in bold font across the image.

§That same old tingle that I feel inside§

He had the odd feeling that he recognized the man on the poster, but he couldn't fathom why.

§And then that elevator starts its ride§

A faint humming noise drew his attention towards a nearby large black tube. He could see a faint light coming from it that rapidly rose upwards into the sky. As his vision trialed after it he watched as other tubes joined it until there was at least twelve of them converging together high above him. They all led up to what appeared to be a floating rock in the sky, and while it was too dark to make out any detail, he could have sword he saw the lights to an upside-down city gazing back at him.

§And down and down, I go§

His gaze swept back down at the sound of movement nearby. Looking over he realized that he was lying on a doorstep, and the door to said doorstep was opening.

§'Round and 'round, I go§

A man who couldn't be older than forty stepped into the doorway, while he had rich brown hair and a vibrant olive skin, his most striking feature was his scholarly eyes. He turned left and right, his gaze sweeping the empty streets.

"I could've sworn I saw someone out here." The man mumbled to himself as he slowly scratched his beard.

§Like a leaf that's caught in the tide§

The radio was louder now that the door was open, its noise drifting over from one of the tables in the home, yet soon static overtook it and the song cut out.

A soft spike of wind blew through the street, and soon it seized a scrap of paper that he only now realized was lying on his chest. It caught the man in the doorway's gaze as it drifted upwards into his line of sight, before slowing descending back onto the prone form of the one who was lost.

The man's eyes widened as he took in the form of the person lying on his doorstep. He quickly darted his vision across the silent roads once more, searching for something it seemed.

Indecision played across his features before finally he reached down and gently took the person into his arms. "I don't know why someone left you on my doorstep child," He spoke with such gentle ease "but I think I should bring you inside before you catch a cold, hmm?"

...

Pietro Polendina didn't know what to think at the moment.

He had been sitting down by his fireplace listening to the radio when he had gotten a brief glimpse of a figure at his doorstep through the window on his left. Perplexed, he had risen from the armchair he had reclined himself in and went to investigate.

However, upon opening the door he saw no one there, only the empty streets greeted him. Yet, his vision was pulled by the fluttering white piece of paper that danced hypnotically in the air before him. He followed its movement as it slowly settled down upon a bundle of cloth at his feet.

A bundle with an infant swaddled inside of it.

He immediately looked back to the street, searching for the child's parents, however there was no one other than him and the child. Not knowing what else to do, he swiftly, but cautiously brought the baby into his arms as he reentered his home, looking out at the street once more before shutting the door behind him.

Keeping the infant safely tucked in his arms, he slowly walked back into his sitting room. Stopping by the radio that now only crackled with bursts of static, he softly flipped the switch on the side of it, leaving the only noise in the room to be the muted shifting of the wind outside, and the man's own footsteps as he once more sat down in his armchair.

He once more looked upon the note on the babes chest, then with trepidatious fingers he grasped it in his hand. Turning it over, he unfolded and slowly read it.

To the reader of this note,

I find myself in a situation I could have never imagined in all the years that I have lived.

A situation in which I have made a difficult decision that will define not only the rest of my life, but also the entire life of the person I love the most.

I can only hope that it is the correct one, but I may never have the opportunity to find out.

I am hunted and being around me is not safe. When I learned that I was with child, I knew in my Soul that if I kept them that they would be relegated to a life on the run, a life unable to form connections beyond myself, and a life that may include them watching my demise.

Or even worse, myself watching theirs.

I cannot force you to look after my son, nor can I even make you sympathize with my situation.

I can only hope that I have chosen the right person who has the compassion to help a child who had no choice in his parentage, and no choice in his abandonment.

Because that's what I'm doing isn't it?

As much as I try to tell myself that its to keep him safe, I still know deep down that I am abandoning him.

I will forever be haunted by this act.

Please, I beg you with all my being, at least make sure that my son finds his way to a good home, if not your own.

It is what I desire most in this life, and what I will hope will have occurred in my next.

-A mother who couldn't be a mother

Pietro let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

Gently setting the note down upon the table beside him, he turned back to the package in his arms.

Hardened blue eyes, like glacial ice stared up at him. Framed by a light olive face with rosy cheeks and nose from the cold, it was set in a look a vapid wonder, a fitting expression for one so young in such a new environment.

Pietro stared at the child and the child stared back.

The scientist thought for a moment as he stared into the baby's blue eyes... Periclesian blue to be specific, jeweled and icy in appearance, but with noble bearing.

There was perfect silence before he spoke.

"Pericles, Pericles Polendina."

---

~73 A.W. (Present Day), 15 years-old, and 9 years before the Red Trailer~

"Polendina!" A voice shouted, waking Pericles from his sleep deprivation induced daze.

"W-what?" The young boy's head turned on a swivel as he searched for the source of the disturbance to his musings.

Eventually he found it in the form of his mentor glowering down over him.

"Ah, I see that you've finally found it fit to deign us mortals with your acknowledgement, especially after I've been shouting your name for the past five minutes." The man scorned.

Pericles huffed and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, sure Arthur. I'm the one that needs to keep their ego in check, right." The teen agreed dubiously. "By the way, who was it again that sent me an email at three in the morning, that he needed me to run over thirty tests and then run calculations on the results of said tests, before he got there the following day, because he forgot to do the tests himself yesterday?"

Arthur Watts snorted at his protégé's sass, "Yes, well while I'm suspicious of the accuracy of said tests and calculations seeing as they were done by the son of a charlatan and disappointed that you still fail to use the military's time code, I do appreciate your punctuality in the endeavor."

"Ignoring your uncouth comment about the aforementioned charlatan, who is currently the head of the Research and Development division of the Atlesian military and therefore your boss, I must say that I do ponder whether you will ever fully grasp the elegant Vytalian language. Despite your supposed vast intellect, you seem to struggle with certain literary pursuits." Pericles continued as he slipped into the voice he and Arthur used for their games of wit.

Arthur raised a curious eyebrow, "Now, my ignorant and untrained protégé, I must inquire as to what you are referring to when you make such outlandish claims, such as me struggling as much as you do with the literary arts?"

"Oh," Pericles answered with faux surprise, "while I doubt that I am as incapable as you are when it comes to such intellectual objects of exploration, seeing as one of us is illiterate and based on the fact that the report I spent all night writing is sitting on the table over there, it isn't me; I am referring to your inability to utilize the common phrase of 'Thank you' in any form of speech."

Arthur glowered at him, "And what, pray tell, gave you the notion that I am illiterate?"

"Well I put it together seeing as you have me write up all of your reports. I do wonder if you ever did try to learn to read, You know, I've heard that picture books are quite helpful for young children learning to read and write. Perhaps you should attempt to purchase some, I bet you'll love "The Ugly Duckling", it might even help you with your self-image problem."

"M-My what?!" The older scientist sputtered.

Before Arthur could come up with a retort, Pericles looked behind him and with widened eyes entered a salute, "General Ironwood, sir!"

Arthur spun around to salute the general as well, but when he turned, there was no one there. Spinning back round to face his disciple, Arthur found that the previously occupied office chair was now empty, and his head quickly darted over to the now rapidly closing door of the lab.

"Damn Brat!" Arthur swore, however there was a hint of pride in his voice.

"He's finally stolen my trick." Arthur mused under his breath, thinking back to the time he had pulled the same stunt on Pericles upon their first meeting.

...

Pericles softly laughed to himself as he walked away from the lab, however fate decided to screw with him a bit that day.

"Must you antagonize him so much?" A voice dryly scolded from behind him.

Spinning on his heel, Pericles faced and saluted an actually there Ironwood this time, "General Ironwood, sir!"

"At ease and good morning, Assistant Researcher Polendina, would you care to explain why you are already departing from the lab when it is only 0900 hours in the morning?"

Pericles always despised that title he heard nearly every day, Assistant Researcher Polendina. While he was far more academically advanced then almost every other researcher there and had the diplomas and degrees to prove it, due to his young age he was unable to advance to a rank beyond Assistant Researcher, despite the fact that he also at points did the job of someone far higher ranked than he was, without receiving the position for it, and had been there longer than several higher ranked researchers.

The general had attempted to make a change to the outdated rules of the department that restricted certain promotions behind an age requirement, however Pericles' own father had vetoed it believing that his son shouldn't receive special treatment.

Nepotism could be a great boon for a child born of a military parent, but only if it was in a corrupt military. Otherwise you got the other end of the stick and were held to an even higher standard than everyone else.

"I am currently departing general due to the fact that I have been in the lab for the past nine hours and have yet to eat any meal today nor sleep since 0700 yesterday, I felt that it would be in the best interest of my health and my work if I returned home to eat and rest, sir." Pericles answered as respectfully as possible.

"Is there a reason you choose to abstain from eating and sleeping, along with starting your shift in the lab so early today?" The general inquired curious.

"Yes sir, Lead Researcher Watts instructed me to carry out a series of tests before he arrived here this morning"

"Had you forgotten to complete these instructions in a timely manner prior to now? And, would you care to answer my earlier question?" Ironwood kept his face impassive.

"No sir, I was only given the instructions by Lead Scientist Watts at 0300 this morning sir, which lead to a minor disagreement about his practice of relegating last minute work to me. It will not happen again sir." Pericles explained, trying to avoid a reprimand.

"Yes, I could hear that minor disagreement from the other hall. Do not worry Pericles, I will have a talk with Watts about this, believe me that you are not the first researcher who has complained about this behavior of his." Ironwood promised.

"Thank you, sir." Pericles honestly stated.

"Of course, you have the rest of the day off to recuperate for tomorrow," Ironwood said with a small smile adorning his face "but I will have to inform your mother that you still weren't asleep by 0300." His grin took on a more teasing look.

Pericles sighed despondently "Yes sir."

James Ironwood gently clapped his hand upon Pericles' shoulder, "Dismissed, and good luck when you get home."

Pericles groaned, "Can't I just hide out here then? Its not like I'm going to be getting any rest, if she's going to be scolding me."

"Sorry nephew, but I made a promise to her that the only way she would let me bring you into the military was if I gave her frequent updates on your behavior and health." The general's smiling expression did not match his supposedly empathetic words.

---

~61 A.W. (Past), 3 years-old and 21 years before the Red Trailer~

Nephew.

A term that Pericles didn't believe he would ever receive from somehow as powerful as General James Ironwood, but then again, he didn't really think he'd be reincarnated into the world of Remnant.

Being adopted by Pietro Polendina of all people certainly wasn't on the agenda either, but he eventually came to welcome it and truly see Pietro as a father.

Reverting from being a freshman in college to a freshly born person was admittedly jarring, but he had done his best to roll with the punches.

When he was three, the opportunity to meet the general finally arrived. Pericles had used his infantile appearance and begging to convince his father to take him with him to the Atlesian Research and Development facility when he went to work one day.

Once there, his father took him on a tour through the whole lab, showing him all the machines and projects that were being worked on by the department. All of it fascinated Pericles greatly, as while some of it was on level or even a little older than what he was used to on Earth, there was countless others that he couldn't have dreamed of being made.

So much new technology and research that he would one day be able to play around with.

It was when Ironwood was making his afternoon rounds (An unofficial task that the general had directed for himself), in order to check on the various departments throughout the Atlesian Military complex, that he entered Pietro's office.

"Dr. Polendina, I hope you are doing well. I was stopping by to ask if your team cou-" James Ironwood abruptly stopped speaking upon realizing that the person he was speaking to was slumped over his chair.

Worried, the general swiftly marched around the desk to check the scientist's pulse, finding one, he gave a sigh of relief, but he was still confused.

A voice behind him spoke up, "Don't worry, my dad is fine. I got an ear infection and since my mom was out, he had to take me to the doctor really late last night, so he didn't get much sleep."

Turning to the sound of the voice, Ironwood saw no one there until he felt a tapping on his pantleg.

Looking down he was met with the small form of a child, who he harbored couldn't be older than five. The child itself was currently dressed in a hooded onesie designed to look like a Beowulf.

Pericles held up a mitten covered hand to the general, "I'm Pericles Polendina sir, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Ironwood in a shocked tranced crouched down to be able to shake the toddlers hand, "General James Ironwood," he replied "You said that you're the doctor's son, right?"

"That's correct sir, I believe you needed help with something, could I be of assistance?" The child entered a standard military pose, feet slightly apart and hands clasped behind his back. It looked frankly adorable with Pericles wearing the onesie.

James Ironwood was still trying to process how the toddler was speaking far more eloquently than one ever should, and his instinct that they were only five years old was developing cracks. "Well, I had heard the doctor mention that he had a son, but I'm glad to meet you young man, do you mind telling me how old you are?"

"I am three years old sir, now if I had to guess you are probably here to ask about the progress on the development of the model 80 Atlesian Knights, which I am happy to inform you have will have a proper prototype within the next month, give or take a few weeks." As Pericles spoke, he walked over to his father's desk and after a bit of hopping was able to grab a piece of paper off of it.

Then he walked back over to the general and offered the paper to him. "This, General, is the report my father compiled on the team's recent tests of the prototype, he meant to give it to you, but he fell asleep before he could. Is there anything else I can help you with sir?"

The general stood stunned as he slowly grasped the report handed to him, paying it little mind. 'Who is this kid? Ozpin, are you playing some sort of trick on me? Why didn't I hear about your death?' Ironwood decided to test his theory. "So Pericles, I bet your fath-or actually you I guess, read storybooks before bed, do you have any favorites, perhaps "The Four Maidens"?"

Pericles had half a mind to respond, "The Wizard of Oz", but settled on answering honestly, "While I do read, most of it is spent with learning Vacish currently, rather than storybooks."

James thought for a moment and took a brief glance at the clock on the wall, "I have some errands to run around the academy, would you care to come with me so that we can continue to talk?"

"Of course, I'd be delighted general." Pericles enthusiastically agreed. He was excited to be able to spend time with and learn from the General, because he knew from the show that no matter what it came to he would do his best to protect the people of Atlas. Pericles, despite what others said, believed that the General was right in the end.

Ironwood wrote a quick note on a piece of paper and placed it where Pietro could see it upon waking up, "Shall we?" he asked, turning to Pericles.

"After you General." Pericles answered as he gestured to the door.

...

Pericles and James ended up talking for several hours as the young boy found wonder in all of the facets of Atlesian politics that James educated him on, while the General discovered an unbiased yet understanding individual to discuss the way that Atlas ran itself, without dealing with the political baggage that came with most people.

They would end up having many talks like this over the years and neither of them would claim to know who mentioned uncle or nephew first, but one day it happened, and it just stuck.

And the officers on duty that day would swear to their friends for the rest of their lives that they saw the General explaining how Atlas worked its way out of the economic downshift that occurred when it came to rule over Mantle, to a toddler in a Grimm onesie.

---

~73 A.W. (Present Day), 15 years-old, and 9 years before the Red Trailer~

Pericles slowly crept through the halls of the house, being as careful as possible with each floorboard he stepped upon, daring it to squeak or make any noise.

Eventually he made it to the kitchen.

Where his mother was already sitting waiting for him.

"Well...?" She asked as her hand lazily swayed a spoon through a cup of tea sat on the breakfast table.

Pericles took a breath to formulate his thoughts, "Arthur had-

"The General already called." his mother interrupted, "Why were you still awake at three in the morning?"

...

"I was in the shop working on my project again, and I lost track of time." Pericles answered abashedly.

Maria rolled her mechanical eyes, a feature her son had added upon her request. "Just like your father, you get caught up in your own little world when you're with your machines."

"Well that's why you fell in love with him, right, his quirks?" Pericles tried to salvage the situation.

"I fell in love with your father for his good hair, now that's all grey." She claimed.

"You're no spring-chicken either mother." Pericles informed.

The Grimm Reaper laughed, "No, I guess I'm not anymore. Still, no matter the age, your father is still quite the handsome devi-"

"Please stop, I don't need to hear about your thoughts on dad." Pericles begged his mother.

She laughed once more before hopping off the stool she sat upon and making her way over to her son. Standing at 5'4",the mother had to crane her neck significantly to look upwards at her son, who was an above average 6'6" even for Remnants extremely tall standards; he stood only half an inch below the general himself. Maria herself was quite a bit taller than how she appeared in the show, and Pericles attributed it to her continuing to be active later in life when training him, and the fact that she didn't hunch her back like she would have had she been alone.

Raising her cane, Maria Polendina (Formerly Calavera) poked the end of it into Pericles' chest, "If there is one thing I'm not too old for young man, its being your mother. You need to take care of yourself." She spoke warmly to her son, before tacking a little more on the end "Besides, if there is one thing someone is too old for, it's you having your mother make you soup when your sick. So you better stop staying up so much or you'll catch a cold and be all on your own, no help from me anymore. You hear me young man?"

Pericles laughed heartily at his mother's antics, "Yes mom, thank you. I'll take care of myself." He bent down to hug her as he spoke.

"Good, also you are grounded from working on your project for the rest of the week." Maria ordered.

"Aw c'mon mom. I think I've almost finished it now." Pericles complained.

"No buts," The retired huntress claimed, "now go set the table and sit down while I make lunch, I have some leftover Pierogi dough from this morning since I was hoping to make them for breakfast for you and your father before that mustached pendejo decided to be a bother once more."

Pericles chuckled as he always did when his mother got worked up enough to start swearing in Vacish about Arthur's mannerisms. Out of everyone involved, she was the most against the scientist's appointment as Pericles' mentor.

However there was no other option. There were only three Lead Researchers at the time that Pericles could as an Associate Researcher be promoted to an Assistant Researcher to work under. Sure, in some rare cases exceptions were made for especially talented Associate Researchers to apprentice under a Senior Researcher instead of a Lead, but Pericles' father had shut down the idea immediately as another case of him receiving special treatment.

The Senior Researchers were out, as at the time they all already had an assistant, and only Lead Researchers were allowed to take on multiple.

As such, the only options available were the Senior Researchers and the Lead Researchers Dr. Arthur Watts, Dr. Abigale Ogarkov, and his father Dr. Pietro Polendina, who while also being the Chief Researcher and head of the department, still qualified as a Lead Researcher.

Dr. Abigale Ogarkov was out because not only did she already have four Assistant Researchers working under her, but she was also planning on retiring after she finished mentoring the scientists learning from her now, taking another assistant would delay that by at least another year to year and a half, time she wanted to spend with her grandchildren and husband seeing as she was 76.

His father was out because Pietro considered it another opportunity for nepotism to occur, and that Pericles would be seen as benefitting from his father's position.

That only left Dr. Arthur Watts to be his mentor. To be perfectly honest, Pericles wasn't that enticed to apprentice under the man he knew would one day be responsible for countless deaths. Though he did respect him for roasting the ever loving fuck out of Cinder when she was whining about failing again.

Either way he learned under him all the same and had been his sole apprentice for nearly three years now. While it was a little rough at the start the two scientists eventually found themselves in a good rhythm with one another, seeing as they were both highly egotistical when it came to knowledge in their respective fields. While Pericles was more of a biological engineer, Arthur was a wizard with any form of programming or computer system, and as a result they usually ended up deferring to one another for their own respective fields.

That's not to say that they didn't have their verbal spats, but it was usually all in good fun between the two, and to Pericles' immense horror he actually found himself enjoying working under Watts' tutelage.

They were both schemers and in it for the long game.

As Pericles watched his mother bring over a plate of Polish, or on Remnant: Eastern Mantlean Perogies, he thought back to the scheme he was most proud of.

---

~62 A.W. (Past), 4 years-old and 20 years before the Red Trailer~

Pericles had been reading up on the CCTS from his father's scroll for information on the location of various future cast members.

He found nothing on the main cast as most weren't born yet, but he did discover the locations of some of the secondary characters.

-Ozpin was already Headmaster of Beacon Academy.

-Team STRQ had just graduated from Beacon Academy two years back.

-Nicholas Schnee's health was showing signs of declining and Jacques Gelé was scheduled to marry Willow Schnee before the year was out.

-A settlement in Mistral by the name of Kuroyuri had recently been founded.

There were other snippets that he found, but those were the main ones that caught his attention.

With stubby child fingers, Pericles quickly went onto Scrollifer, a social media site popular in Mistral.

Then, using a burner email he quickly made an account, tricked the site into thinking he was located in Kuroyuri, and made a post about how he saw a large pack of Goliath Grimm moving nearby. He couldn't actually mention the Nuckeleavee since from his brief research, none had ever been seen before.

Hoping that his plan would work, Pericles quickly deleted the account, the email, and any of the recent activity on the scroll. He would end up repeating this with different Grimm for four more years before he finally found results.

It came in the form of a news report about the fall of Kuroyuri due to a yet undocumented type of Grimm. The report would go on to explain that nearly all the citizens had been evacuated safely as a team of Huntsmen who were investigating reports of Beringel activity in the area were able to aid the people.

Pericles was so distracted with deleting his trail that he didn't even notice someone was at the door until the third knock.

Making his way over with a stool, he stood on it on his tippy toes in order to reach and open the doorknob.

Standing in the doorway was a late middle-aged woman with dark black hair with streaks of gray through it, she smiled gently down at the boy, the lenses of her mechanical eyes dilating slightly.

"Hello there child, I'm sorry but I think I must have mixed up the address, your parents wouldn't happen to be home, would they?"

It took all of Pericles' self-control not to freak out, he silently nodded before dashing off to grab his father.

A few moments later he had guided his dad to the still open front door, where Maria Calavera stood.

"Ah Maria, I was wondering when you would show up for your appointment. How have those eyes been treating you." Pietro happy exclaimed as he walked over and hugged the shorter, but not as short as she would become, woman.

"They're fine Pietro, just a little bit of glitching from time to time, but do you mind telling me who that is?" The huntress asked as she gestured to Pericles.

"Oh, uh that's Pericles, my son." Pietro explained, motioning for Pericles to come up and introduce himself. "Pericles, this is one of my friends and clients, Maria Calavera."

Maria offered a hand; however Pericles walked past it and hugged her, however his head only went up to her knees, "I know you; dad talks about you all the time."

"Does he now?" Maria asked chuckling as she patted the toddlers back before turning to look back at Pietro, "Should your missus be worried about me stealing you away? Though I must say I'm surprised that you settled down, I thought you were married to your machines Pietro." Maria jokingly commented.

"No, dad's not married." Pericles explained, "I'm just adopted."

"Oh..." Maria looked over to Pietro and moved her prosthetic in a manner akin to raising an eyebrow, "I'm surprised you told him at such a young age?"

The doctor merely chuckled as he lifted Pericles off of the floor and into his arms, "I didn't, he's just so smart he put it together himself."

"Really now? Well adopted or not he certainly takes after you Pietro." Maria said warmly as she smiled at them.

'Wait a fucking minute!' Pericles mentally shouted as pieces started to click, 'Dad talks about her a ton, even when she only visits every ten or so years, she compliments him all the time in the show and is doing so now, and...' Pericles looked up from where he was cradled in his father's arms, his dad's cheeks were tinted brighter than usual, he was blushing, 'holy shit! They totally have a thing for each other.'

As Pietro and Maria continued talking as he led her inside, Pericles' head was on a rapid swivel as he looked back and forth between the two of them and planned.

He didn't even realize when his father had set him down to free his hands so he could work on Maria's prosthetics.

By the time Pietro had finished adjusting Maria's eyes, Pericles had finished developing his plan. Putting on a face of the most childlike innocence he could muster he walked over to the two adults who were shamelessly flirting with one another.

"Dad?" Pericles asked, drawing his father's attention away from Maria.

"Yes, my boy?" Pietro asked his son.

"Is she going to be my new mommy?" The boy inquired with bright eyes.

At once both Maria's and Pietro's faces took on a red hue, and while Maria spun around to hide her face, Pietro began to sputter and try to respond to his son. "P-Pericles, what are you-no she's... she is just a friend of mine."

"But she's pretty and you're always smiling when you talk about her." Pericles tried to justify.

Pericles was stood to the side which allowed him to see a warm smile grow on Maria's face.

Pietro tried once more to keep it together as he talked to his child, "I-uh, Pericles there's more to it than that, people date and need to get to know each other before anything like that will occur."

"But she's nice and keeps flirting with you." Pericles said, causing Maria to flip up the hood of her cloak to hide her face.

"Pericles! How do you know what that word means, where did you learn that?" Pietro asked aghast.

"General Ironwood told me about it after I saw him talking weirdly with a blonde lady wearing glasses." Pericles explained.

'Sorry Ironwood, you're going to have to take one for the team.' Pericles mentally apologized for throwing Ironwood under the bus.

Pietro took a deep breath to calm down before crouching to be level with his son, "Pericles, while Maria is a lovely woman, she is quite busy and I'm certain that she doesn't have the tim-"

The Grimm Reaper Interrupted "I'm actually staying for a few days." She spoke rapidly and her cheeks were a rosy hue. When no one said anything, she continued further, "I wanted to stay just in case the prosthetics started acting up after the adjustment. It happened last time but I was already on a flight back to Vacuo before I realized it. So I haven't actually purchased a ticket to leave yet."

There were a few seconds of silence.

"There's a North Vacuoan Empanada place a few blocks away." Pietro finally informed.

...

It was about two years later that the two held a small ceremony among friends.

A grinning Pericles was the ring-bearer.

---

~73 A.W. (Present Day), 15 years-old, and 9 years before the Red Trailer~

After Pericles finished his meal, he helped his mother clean up in the kitchen. Humming an old Vacuoan tune alongside her as the water from the sink cascaded across the cutlery, they were cleaning.

"Hey mom, I'm still feeling up for a bit of training before a turn in for the rest of the day, is that alright with you?" Pericles asked.

"Alright child, but I don't know how you expect to get any proper training in with how sleep deprived you are." His mother answered.

"Eh, just call it training for extreme circumstances. What if I am in a situation where it's too dangerous to fall asleep without risking being attacked by Grimm when I let my guard down, and now I have to fight my way out after going a day without sleep?" Pericles said trying to justify it.

Maria sighed, "You and your imagination."

...

"Alright, your goal is to avoid getting hit for as long as possible. You may use your weapon for propulsion and defense, but keep direct attacks to a minimum, got it?" Maria explained standing about thirty feet away from Pericles.

"Got it, mom." Pericles answered, readying his weapon, Ice-Sickle.

Ice-Sickle, a name that his mother had found extremely amusing when he had told her of it but had grown tired of after he continued to make puns when fighting with it.

These puns included, but we're not limited to: "You're gonna need some ice for that.", "That was ice cold.", and "Burn in hail".

Ice-Sickle itself was inspired by Maria's weapon.

It stood in its inactive state as a bog-wood walking staff with metal extremities; the top end was tipped with a light blue skull, while the bottom ended in an ice pick that stabbed into the ground below.

When activated, two scythe blades would extend outward from the staff, each three feet long, or half the total height of the scythe. Their only difference was that while the upper one extended to the left, the bottom extended to the right.

The main difference between Pericles' and his mother's weapon was revealed upon splitting the two ends apart. As unlike his mother's, his weapon was never fully separated. Instead, a system of woven steel thread was revealed, having been stored in the hollowed out bottom portion of the staff. The thread itself was only a quarter inch in diameter and as such a large amount of it could be stored within the hollowed out section, and it was crafted with Dust Steel, which was Mistralian origin stronger variant of steel that involved the use of Fire Dust in its creation and therefore a great deal more expensive. Overall, there was enough so that the two halves could be separated up to fifty feet from each other before the cordage ran out.

A larger amount could have been stored if Pericles hadn't utilized half of the empty space to implement a retraction device with low and high torque modes, along with a spring-loaded launching device to give the weapon extra force when the parts split.

He had done this instead of the Gravity Dust as he wanted to be able to use the weapon as a form of grappling hook, and Gravity Dust wasn't strong enough to do so unless he wanted to make the whole weapon out of it.

That of course left the top end of the weapon yet unutilized which he modified with Atlesian technology to be a much more compact, yet no less powerful, A Dust-Grade M110-A1 Marksman Rifle.

Weapons had three grades in Atlas: Civilian (Weapons of little damage output and generally poor quality, therefore allowed to be owned by private citizens), Military (Weapons of considerable damage output and on average decent quality, only accessible by members of the Atlesian forces), and Dust-Grade (Commonly referred to as Huntsman-Grade in other kingdoms, they were weapons of such strength that they would often end up injuring the user if they did not have access to Aura and were the only ones considered to be strong enough or built for the use of Dust based ammunition. So it came as no surprise that they were regulated to only being used by Huntsmen Cadet members of the Atlesian military, or people of equal or higher rank, with an active Aura).

Thankfully, Assistant Researcher was considered the equivalent rank to a Huntsman Cadet in Atlas Academy, and Pericles was allowed to utilize the rifle.

Though Pericles doubted that when Ironwood merged the military and Huntsman academy and designated the equivalent ranks that the general predicted that a researcher would use their rank in such a way.

Ironwood hadn't said anything though, so Pericles was happy with how it turned out.

"On my mark." Maria announced wielding Life in her left hand and Death in her right.

Before Pericles could even acknowledge what his mother said, she was already moving.

Rapidly bringing his staff up to block the scythe flying directly towards his face, Pericles shifted his stance so that his right side was turned to his approaching opponent.

Maria had already activated the Gravity Dust in the scythe before her son had even completed blocking it. The weapon flew back and entered her waiting hand as she finished a spin that sent the other scythe towards her son.

Pericles clicked the launch button on the side of Ice-Sickle, catapulting one end into the oncoming blade which both of them far off to the side. At the same time he brought up his left hand holding the other half in a reverse grip to catch the downward strike from his mother's other scythe.

Maria sent a kick towards the outside edge of her son's knee causing him to jump back to dodge it, and thus releasing Life from where it was locked by Sickle. Thus she had already followed up the movement by bringing Life forward in a horizontal swing as she simultaneously activated the Gravity Dust in it.

Pericles stepped back with his right foot allowing Life to swing past his chest as he turned on the high speed retraction on Sickle while sending a low sweeping cut towards the Grimm Reaper's feet.

At once both of them jumped ever so slightly above the ground while bringing their upper bodies downward, as Death rocketed from behind Maria's head and came over both of their heads as it flew by propelled by its momentum. At the same time Ice slid under both of their feet as the cord rapidly retracted it back Sickle as it slid by before coming back into its nook in the other weapon as Pericles' and Maria's feet landed on the icy flats of Solitas that surrounded Mantle's walls.

Pericles flipped backward and kicked his foot upward as he did so, knocking away his mother's second blade as it attempted to return to its partner.

As Pericles finished his motion, Death finally returned back to its master and the two opponents stood ten feet apart.

The fight went on.

...

It was a little less than four minutes after the fight began when Maria was able to catch her son off guard and hook her foot behind the back of Pericles' leg and trip him onto the ice below.

Huff* *Huff* Pericles panted as he lay on the permafrost beneath him. Once he caught his breath he spoke, "How'd I do?"

"Terrible." Maria answered without hesitation. She spun her scythes in her hand as the blade retracted, then offered one end for Pericles to grab onto as he pulled himself up.

Pericles stretched his sore muscles before walking over and putting on his skis. Soon his mother hopped onto his back, and he skied both of them back to the walls of Mantle.

The small amount of Fire Dust in the front gave him a near perfectly smooth surface to slide across, while the Ice Dust in the back added grip holds for him to get greater push off from.

Pericles slowed to a stop before the walls, took off his skis, and brought out his scroll with his military ID displayed. Meanwhile Maria hopped off her son's back and began walking beside him to the checkpoint.

Moving past the several disgruntled Schnee Dust mine workers, Pericles entered a separate line with his mother where a quick flash of his credentials had both of them back into Mantle's walls.

Walking at a sedentary pace through the streets of Mantle, Pericles was a little caught off guard as a group of passing soldiers saluted him, until he remembered that he was still in his uniform.

Making their way to Pietro's shop, mother and son walked inside just as the final member of their family talked to one of his clients.

"-Remember to use alcohol wipes to clean it. Don't want any water inside the circuitry, you understand?" Pietro explained as a gecko Faunus tested out a prosthetic leg by slowly walking around the room.

The man's face was lit up with childlike giddiness as he got used to his new limb. "Wow, it feels like I've always had it. Thank you doctor!"

"No problem young man, you be careful now and let me know if it ever starts acting up." Pietro responded happily as he escorted the man out the door.

Pericles knew that the man probably ended up only at most paying for the materials that went into the leg. His father was never looking to make a profit when he helped the people of Mantle and would oftentimes end up paying out of his own pocket to produce the materials for them.

If Pietro wanted to, he could have been one of the richest men in Altas, but instead he chose to help the people of Mantle. That's not to say of course that he was poor. No, being the Chief Researcher of the Atlesian Military, the equivalent of a two star general with the same pay as one, in a nation with a bigger military budget than the U.S.A, meant that Pietro was quite well off. That was not even factoring that he lived extremely modestly and received a hefty annual sum from his patents.

Pericles smiled fondly but didn't greet his father as he walked beyond the customer area of the shop into the workshop.

It took all his self-control to not start tinkering with his project as he passed by the various high-tech machines and in progress works of invention.

Making it to the staircase in the back, he climbed the steps until he opened the door to the 2nd floor of the house.

The Polendina home was four stories in total

The basement was a garage and storage area with platforms that raised into the workshop area on the floor above.

The first floor consisted of the customer/treatment area, more storage, a small sitting room, and the workshop.

The second floor was the kitchen, dining area, and the living room.

The third and final floor was Pericles' room along with his parents' room.

Grabbing a bag of pretzels from the kitchen, Pericles made his way up to his room.

The room itself was relatively clean, ignoring the occasional military report or scrapped project shoved into a corner. Pericles knew it was probably a slight security risk, but he couldn't be bothered to deal with it today.

Setting down at his desk, Pericles' eyes subconsciously trailed over the plaques on the wall behind his monitor.

Degrees from his education at the Atlesian Military University.

---

~70 A.W. (Past), 12 years-old, and 12 years before the Red Trailer~

In his last life Pericles knew he was pretty smart, not Einstein or Madame Curie levels, but still in the rough upper echelons of intelligence. Now though, he was reborn as a baby, and as such had access to the know-how of a University of Virginia college student, with the learning capability of a child.

Children have the greatest capacity of anyone for learning as there still rapidly developing brains are churning out new neural pathways faster than you can say synapse. As such, Pericles was proud to say that he used this ability in conjunction with his previous knowledge in order to not only learn Mistralian, Vacish, Mantlease, and Valean, but also get four degrees.

-Doctorate in Medical Auralogy, which is mostly understanding Aura's effects on health and how to provide medical treatment to an individual with an unlocked Aura.

-Doctorate in Theoretical Auralogy, which is basically theories and experiments into discovering the origins and limits of Aura, and if it truly was the manifestation of a Soul.

-Doctorate in Auralogical Engineering, which is the use of Aura with robotics such as powering a machine with Aura, or attempting to recharge a person's Aura via machine, and so on.

-Masters in Biomedical Engineering, which pretty much includes all the robots and technology developed for medicinal practice.

He had worked hard to receive his Bachelors in all four fields, and it was only his mother's guidance that talked him down to only attempting a Masters in three instead of all four, though he had later gone back and gotten his Masters in Biomedical Engineering anyways. However, once he had obtained a Master in the three Aura degrees, his mother once more had to step in to direct him to only go for a Doctorate one at a time, thankfully luck was on his side at the time.

It had taken months of work to convince Arthur to let him into Project: LUX. Even among the department it was very hush-hush, but Pericles had heard that the project team was having some difficulty predicting the way the Aura would react outside of a biological environment, along with finding a way to better transfer it.

Reminding his mentor that he had gotten multiple degrees in theorizing about such phenomenon along with convincing a couple of the researchers on the project to vouch for him eventually got him added onto it.

It was upon his addition that he discovered what the project really was.

The researchers were attempting to invent a way to take Aura extracted from an individual and store it in a man-made device, so that it could be kept and transferred with ease. In other words, they wanted to make Aura batteries.

Now technically, Aura batteries had already been invented, or rather discovered. During the Great War, the horrible practice of using animals that had their Aura unlocked as Aura banks was widely implemented by the Atlesian military. The soldiers would basically transport around livestock, then extract their Aura with archaic portable devices that then injected it into themselves. Not only did this usually kill the animal, but it was known to be extremely crude and therefore painful for the animal.

Oh wait, did he say animals? He meant what the Atlesian military referred to as animals at the time, AKA enslaved Faunus.

Yeah, Atlas was still reaping the repercussions for that from the international community to this day.

As such, any form of Human, Faunus, or animal (Actual animal this time) testing was strictly forbidden without direct permission from a member of the Atlesian Council.

Therefore, the team was attempting to create a battery that didn't include sentients, and were therefore experimenting with things like algae, bacteria, and amino acids that were suspended in a tube filled with liquids.

It was due to both Pericles's knowledge of Aura from study and his outside knowledge of the world of Remnant that led him and the team behind him to the successful path of experimentation.

Aura, Pericles theorized, was just the remnant of mankind's ability to harness magic, or perhaps a small consolation prize from the God of Light after his brother took away their magic, either way it was from The Brother Gods. This, along with the fact that many ancient graveyards and burial sites for warriors or people with activated Aura, were found to have high concentrations of Dust nearby, sparked his idea of utilizing spent Dust crystals as batteries.

Of course, that first involved finding a way to stabilize them, as Dust crystals rapidly decayed within seconds of the Crystal being spent, the structure dissolving until it became an incohesive dust (Actual dust this time). People had attempted in the past to see if it was possible to manufacture the crystals, but to no avail.

Eventually it was discovered by one of the other researchers that keeping the empty crystal suspended in a vacuum allowed it to survive longer, the greater the vacuum, the longer it lasts. Eventually resulting in the researchers coining the term 'Dust Rust', which while not the most imaginative of names, still got the point across.

This though came with the added issue of the team having to not only find a way to allow for a prolonged connection between the donor and the crystal (seeing as short bursts could likely result in injury to the donor's Aura), but also to do so through a vacuum.

With the materials engineer taking the lead for this step of the project, they eventually were able to develop a secure enough system that allowed for the more refined Aura cabling that Pericles had developed alongside another researcher, to be fed into the vacuum chamber without damaging the integrity of the seal, nor resulting in the entire thing blowing up if the Aura reacted badly to the materials used, or the vacuum itself.

Finally, they had developed the device enough that they were able to inject Aura into it without the entire thing combusting or the Dust crystal dissolving due to outside contamination.

They had added a Fire Dust crystal to the chamber and remotely activated it, allowing it to burn out and leave the empty crystal behind. Surprisingly enough the Fire Dust crystal was the safest to use for the project as all others like Wind or Water would leave behind contaminants that would result in Dust Rust, while crystals of Gravity and Sonic Dust would severely damage the delicate internal components to the machine through their waves.

No one had been expecting much from this attempt, as they had gotten to this point on many prior only for something in the system to break and result in a chain of failures throughout the device.

However, by what some of them would one day claim to be a blessing from The Brothers themselves, after one of the researchers who was acting as the donor sent a gentle pulse into the system, the Dust crystal began to vibrate and shake as it usually did before a seal ruptured, however this time it eventually slowed down, and the crystal began to glow ever so slightly.

From then on, the tests seemed to fly by, finding the limits of the amount of Aura that could be injected, how long it lasted in the crystal, could they siphon Aura back away from the crystal, and most of all, what did it even do when activated?

They found their answer in the form of a remarkably familiar shield like holographic projection that emitted from the crystal upon being activated.

It was only after one of the other scientists suggested a name for it did Pericles truly realize what had happened.

The researcher correctly stated that the technology they had, had the potential to be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands and as such they should not only try and keep it as secretive as possible, but also a faux name in order to hide what it really was.

The young woman had proposed the name Hard-Light Dust.

Overtime with more rigorous testing done, small samples of Hard-Light Dust, which they found to become stable even out of a Vacuum when it had Aura contained within it, was transferred to different departments and research facilities throughout Atlas, its origins were hidden from everyone not directly on the research team, and only members of the research team with specific permission from the general or Chief Researcher were allowed to produce any of it.

Its applications were numerous in the medical, technological, and weapons fields as more and more devices were built to implement the Dust.

And that is how Pericles was able to receive a doctorate in three different fields, all with the same thesis. Though he did have to find a professor at the Atlesian Military University with a high enough clearance level to even read it, and even then, much of it was heavily censored.

All of this before his 13th birthday.

---

~73 A.W. (Present Day), 15 years-old, and 9 years before the Red Trailer~

Turning back to his monitor, Pericles booted up what he knew to be one of the most high-tech computers in all of Remnant. It was made with bits of extra equipment from various projects under the Atlesian military.

...and he used it to play Cookie Clicker.

Among other things of course.

None the less, Pericles quickly went onto the CCTSnet and completed a couple of quick searches on various players in the coming game.

-Arthur Arc, mayor of Camelot, Vale, had passed away of a heart-attack.

-A serial-killer scorpion Faunus had recently escaped from an East Vacuoan prison.

-Ghira Belladonna had stepped down as the high-leader of the White Fang, Faunus-Rights organization.

-Team ROAR of Beacon Academy, led by Hazel Rainart had been declared MIA (Missing-In-Action).

Done with his most recent check-up on the cast, Pericles got up from his chair and threw his now empty bag of pretzels into the waste bin.

Walking over to his bed, Pericles let out a tired groan before flopping face-first into the bed and falling asleep.

---

~73 A.W. (The Next Day), 15 years-old, and 9 years before the Red Trailer~

*Bzzt! Bzzt!*

The shaking of his Scroll finally awoke Pericles.

Running one hand across his face and through his hair, the other fumbled around his bed in search of the infernal device.

Finally grasping it he brought it to his face only to wince in annoyance at the bright light.

Eventually his eyes adjusted enough for him to see that he had slept for twelve hours straight, and it was now 0600 the following day.

He read the notification displayed on the screen.

[Email From: ; Subject: Project Paladin ; Copied To: and ]

Dong his best to blink away his sleepiness, Pericles opened the email.

[To Lead Researcher: Dr. Arthur Watts and Staff Researcher: Dr. Pericles Polendina

11/14/ 73 at 0600

Subject: Project Paladin

Due to a decision by the Atlesian Council, budgeting for the Atlesian Military has been cut and all departments will see considerable cutbacks in funding.

In this instance project Paladin, alongside others, have been officially scrapped and all members of the project are ordered to perform their regular duties and aid with other projects within the department, as assigned by the Chief Researcher: Dr. Pietro Polendina.

The decision came as a result of a vote between Lead Researchers: Dr. Pietro Polendina, Dr. Diana Gail, and Dr. Arthur Watts.

-General: James Ironwood]

Pericles sat in shock as the last dredges of sleep left him.

He broke out of his funk by his Scroll beginning to ring.

*Click*

"Hello?" Pericles asked, his voice a little scratchy from just waking up.

"Did you know?" It was Arthur.

"The email? No, my dad hasn't said shit about this, not a word. What the Fuck happened?!" Pericles did his best to keep his shouting low enough that his mother wouldn't hear it on the floor below, he knew his father would have already left for Atlas by now.

"What happened," Arthur gritted out, "Is that your father voted for our project to be the one getting the axe- and Gail, who is still delusional enough to think she can get with Pietro eventually, immediately agreed with him!"

"Fuck!" Pericles swore. "This is horseshit, we wouldn't even need to scrap any projects in the department if dad's project wasn't taking three times the budget as every other project combined."

"Exactly, yet he still uses his position to give his project more funding, do you even know what it is? I've spent months trying to get even a hint of what the project is about, but nothing! The security on this is even higher than for project: LUX." Arthur said.

"No idea, I've tried asking him, but not only does he not let me work on projects with him, now I'm not even allowed to know what he's working on." Pericles answered.

The line was silent as both participants thought about the situation.

"I'm coming in early." Pericles informed.

"I'll see you there." Arthur answered and the line went dead.

Pericles had nearly missed it, but Arthur had called it 'their' project.

For all his complaints, Pericles could say that he was happy to have Arthur as his mentor.

...

"Arthur." Pericles called out in greeting with a nod, simultaneously taking off his jacket that he wore during the Bullhead ride trip up to the floating city.

"Pericles." Watts nodded back, he was holding a paper in his hand, and he passed it to Pericles as the young researcher came close.

It was basically a carbon copy of the email they had just read.

"I found one posted on my desk when I arrived, and this one was on yours. I've been assigned to work on the project for updating Atlas' Hard-Light Dust shields, and you have been assigned to your father's project." Arthur explained.

"Huh, my dad really must've hit his head if he's trying to assign an Assistant Researcher to a separate project to the researcher he is learning under." Pericles said, mirthlessly.

Arthur was strangely silent.

"Arthur..?" Pericles looked up from the document, confused about his mentor's silence.

Arthur finally spoke, "One good thing did come do this. I was able to convince the General in order to override your father's denial of your promotion."

Pericles' jaw dropped, "You mean...?" He thought back to the email he had received that morning and realized that he had been addressed as a Researcher.

"Congratulations Staff Researcher Dr. Pericles Polendina, it has been an honor being your mentor." Arthur said sincerely as he offered his hand, containing a new patch, one three gears in a triangular pattern.

The Atlesian Military utilized the kingdom's symbol for its military rankings. Each gear was an increase in rank for a Researcher, while each spear was an increase for a member of the Navy, a bar for an individual in the Army, Dust Crystal for an enlisted in the Huntsman Academy, and a winged-bar for the Air-force.

Pericles grabbed it in a trance.

"Now, go on down to lab 17A. I doubt you'd want to be late for your first assignment, Staff Researcher." Arthur advised kindly.

"I-um, wait, what about the Paladin prototype?" Pericles stumbled to speak.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of putting all the equipment away." Arthur directed.

"O-kay." Pericles was caught off guard, and slowly began to turn away before his mind caught up.

The Paladin Incident

It had been years since he woke up in Remnant, but in this moment, he could remember reading about Arthur's lore like it was yesterday.

The Paladin Incident: The event that Arthur Watts had used to fake his death before he joined Salem's forces.

Pericles turned back to Arthur, "Maybe we can come back to the project someday, you and I."

Arthur hesitated "Perhaps..."

Pericles stood there for a moment, before working up the courage.

The young man walked over and brought his mentor into a hug. "Thank you, Arthur. I wouldn't be the person I am today without your guidance."

Arthur stood there frozen as his former assistant embraced him.

Finally, Pericles released the older man, turned, and left lab 3B.

...

Pericles entered the lab access code that was included in his reassignment document and the doors to lab 17A opened.

Inside the room was a mess of activity as different researchers of varying ranks moved around the large lab.

Pericles spotted his father and walked over.

"-about the memory capacity issue sir?" A young woman with panda ears asked the Chief Researcher.

"Not to worry Amanda, I talked to the General and he has given us permission to use a Model MSDSD storage component for the project." Pietro happily answered.

'What the fuck?! An MSDSD, no wonder our budget is so thin.' Pericles mentally exclaimed.

An MSDSD or Micro-Sonic-Dust Storage Drive, is the most advanced storage device ever invented. It used microscopic pieces of Sonic Dust as flash memory chips. The device could store a Petabyte of information, otherwise known as a million Gigabytes.

It was the same thing used on the capital ship of the Atlesian Navy to store all of the information for the airship's central computer.

From what Pericles had read, the finished MSDSD cost around 100,000,000 Lien.

"Chief Researcher Dr. Pietro Polendina." Pericles greeted his father as the other researcher left.

"Ah Pericles, there you are. You can talk with Jason to help him work out how to wire the Aura cables for the project." Pietro happily informed before turning back to tinkering with the device on the table before him.

Pericles waited for his father to continue speaking, when it became apparent that he wasn't the young man spoke up. "Anything else...?" He led, hoping that his father would catch the hint.

Pietro turned back to his son with a perplexed expression marring his face, soon though, his eyes lit up in recognition, "Of course, I haven't even given you an overview of the project. Come, let me show you."

For the second time that day Pericles felt his jaw drop, as his father clearly didn't get it. No, "Congratulations on being promoted!"; no, "I'm sorry for defunding your project without warning you."; not even a "Hey son, I'm glad to finally be working on a project with you."

Then again, the only reason that they hadn't worked on a project in the past had been Pietro own objections to the idea. Considering it once more as a gross overstep of the boundary between home-life and work.

Pericles didn't even think his father saw his hurt face, as the older man had already turned and started walking through the lab, assuming that Pericles was following behind.

Huffing to himself, Pericles began to follow behind his father as the man prattled on about the project.

"-which gives us the name for the project: A Person Emulating Neural Networked Youth. Otherwise known as P.E.N.N.Y." Pericles nearly faceplanted as he stumbled upon catching the end of his father's speech.

Pericles watched with vapid attention as his father walked over to a monitor displaying a complex interface.

Pietro pressed a button and picked up the microphone sitting on the desk, "Hello Penny, can you hear me?"

A second later a distinctly hollow, yet disturbingly familiar voice answered from the computer's speaker, "Voice Recognition Protocol; ID: 001 - Dr. Pietro Polendina. Evaluating Response: Salutations father, yes my audio input device is functioning with normal capacity."

Pietro laughed, "That's wonderful Penny. I wanted you to meet my son, Pericles." Pietro turned to his son, "Go on, say hi to her." The doctor instructed.

Pericles did his best to put aside his funk while he grabbed the mic from his father, "Hello Penny, my name is Dr. Pericles Polendina, I'm the new researcher who will be working on this project."

"Voice Recognition Protocol; No ID Recognized; Creating New ID; Id: 047 - Dr. Pericles Polendina, Created. Searching Database; Match Identified: Atlesian Staff Researcher Dr. Pericles J. Polendina, 5 Years of active service, registered Aura user, Familial Connection Recognized. Evaluating Response: Salutations Pericles, I am Penny, an artificial life form and your new sister, it is an honor to meet you brother."

"It's nice to meet you as well Penny. I hope to talk with you more over the course of this project." Part of Pericles meant it, but the other part could tell by her hollow voice that she didn't yet have a soul.

"Goodbye father, brother." Penny's empty voice answered as Pericles and Pietro stepped away.

"Well, I really must get back to working. Jason is just over there." Pietro pointed to an older man with greying blonde hair, before walking away.

Pericles stood there attempting to process his father's dismissal before setting his jaw and getting to work.

...

Pericles left an hour before his father. Researchers worked on the basis of a set amount of 40 hours per week on the projects that they were assigned to, and most usually arrived around 0700-0800 and left around 1500-1600.

Of course, they were also expected to show results, so they often worked overtime or at their own home.

However, Pericles couldn't care less about that today, so the minute it was 1400 he clocked out and left the lab.

Making his way to Lab 3B on the opposite side of the area designated to the Research Department, Pericles felt his body tense as he noticed that it was taped off. Even blocked off, he could clearly see smoke and damaged apparatuses through the glass door.

A soldier standing before the doorway saluted as he approached, "Staff Researcher, sir."

Pericles was about to correct her on the address, before realizing that he was in fact a Researcher now, as displayed by the patch on his shoulder. He had used his lunch break to stop by the onsite seamstress to get it added to his uniform.

Pericles saluted back, "Private, at ease. Would you care to inform me why you are guarding this lab?"

The private had placed her arms behind her back in a traditional military pose as she answered, "Orders from Lead Researcher Gail that no one may enter until she gives clearance to do so, as part of an investigation into the incident, sir."

Pericles did his best to ignore the clear discomfort the soldier felt from addressing someone half her age as a superior officer, "Thank you, Private-" He quickly read the name on her uniform, "-Donaldson, you may return to your post."

Pericles kept his expression cool as he marched away and out of the compound. Hopping on one of the military Bullheads down to Mantle, Pericles tried to keep his mind blank in order to not blow a fuse in public.

If there was one thing that Pericles struggled with, it was keeping his emotions under control. He hypothesized that it had something to do with his regressive aging, along with having to deal with puberty for a second time. Plus, he knew from his research that Aura was said to heighten mood swings and emotional outbursts, so that probably had an effect as well.

Shucking off the white overcoat of his uniform on the coat in the workshop, Pericles stepped out of his boots and walked into the family room.

His mother's voice echoed from the kitchen, "Your home early, child. Something come up at work?"

Pericles hesitated, "Uh-yeah, you could say that."

Maria's next words told him that she had noticed his odd behavior, "Well, whatever it is, if you need advice, just ask."

"You got it mom." The young researcher answered as he made his way to his room.

...

The whole family sat in the dining room as they ate dinner.

Maria looked towards her son, who had been sporting an annoyed frown ever since he sat down.

"Did anything interesting happen today, Pericles?" The mother asked, hoping to get her son talking.

Pericles, fed-up with his father, responded, "I don't know, maybe ask dad if anything interesting happened today."

Pietro felt a little confused at his son's tone but answered the day's events for his wife none the less, "Well, we got clearance to use some new equipment for the project, and Pericles got moved onto it as well."

Before Maria could respond, Pericles began speaking once more, "-And why exactly, did I get moved onto your project?"

Pietro looked a bit uncomfortable, "W-well, you've told me in the past that you wanted to work on a project with me."

"Yes." Pericles agreed, "In the past I asked to do so. However you saw that as me getting preferential treatment and refused. So I became Watt's apprentice and worked on projects with him. The most recent of which was scrapped entirely, because another project needed more funding."

"Pericles-" Pietro tried to speak, but his son cut him off.

"A project we had spent Months on! We had just gotten the Hard-Light Dust shields functioning on it. Yet, even when I live in the same house, I received No Warning that it was being cut." Pericles had started rising out of his chair as he spoke.

"It was Watt's project, I thought you wouldn't care." Pietro tried to explain.

"Our project, Watts agreed that it was both his and mines. Since unlike you, Watts actually respects my position." Pericles accused.

Pietro was angry now, but he kept his voice steady. "I have done no such thing. Plus, when has Watts ever been respectful? He's nothing but a man-child." The older man denied.

"Yes, you have!" Pericles confirmed, "Do you know how often I have to overhear other researchers gossiping about how ashamed of me you must be, or people asking what I did to get in trouble with you? They all see how you flippantly disregard me for promotions or opportunities."

"Because I don't want everyone to see you as someone who only got where they were, because of special treatment." Pietro explained, standing to face his son.

"Great, well now they see me as some delinquent that always causes problems for his father. Meanwhile, Watts actually stood up for me and not only congratulated me on getting promoted, but he was also the one to convince Ironwood to do so. On the other hand, you haven't said a Light Damned Word about it to me!" Pericles spat.

"Because I didn't agree with it! You are only fifteen. You, are not ready for more responsibility!" Pietro justified.

"Oh, I'm not ready, am I? Great! So instead of teaching me to be more responsible, you just made yourself a new kid who will! Well, have fun with your Fucking Robot daughter, caus-" Pericles' rant was interrupted.

"That's Enough!" Maria snapped.

Pericles breathed heavily as he caught his breath, glaring down at his father.

The son turned and stomped off to the stairway to the workshop.

*Slam!* The door loudly shut behind him.

...

Throwing on a hoodie and boots, Pericles grabbed his earbuds before walking out the side-door of the house.

Pericles turned on his playlist and tried to calm down. He knew he was being irrationally angry, but he felt that it had been a long time coming.

He wasn't sure how long he had been walking, but as night fell and Hail To The King finished playing, Pericles watched as the heating turned on throughout the city.

Stopping in an alleyway, Pericles noticed that one of the heating implements was malfunctioning. Thankful for the distraction from his thoughts, he bent down and started working on repairing it.

He had pried the cover off and was midway through tightening up one of the connections in the device, when a voice interrupted his work and his music.

"Y'know, I hear that tampering with heating units can net you up to half a year in a cell." A woman slyly remarked behind him.

*Sigh* Finishing his repair and popping the cover back on, Pericles turned around and gave a tired response, "Hey Tortuga."

Navy Captain: Tortuga Thatcher stood at 6"10' and dwarfed Pericles in height. The turtle Faunus was wearing her Captain's uniform as she walked over to meet her friend.

"So, what happened?" Tortuga asked, as she leaned up against the alley wall, using her poofy and curly dark-green hair as a cushion for her head.

"Nothing." Pericles denied as he leaned against the opposite wall.

"Bullshit, you've been crying." Tortuga countered.

Startled, Pericles wiped his hand over his eyes, finding them wet, he quickly used the back of his hand to clear them, "Shit!"

"Need me to beat someone up for you?" Tortuga asked.

"No," Pericles felt his shoulder sag, "I'm just a bit overwhelmed. My project got shut down, Watts was in an accident, and now I've gotten in a fight with my father."

Tortuga sucked in a breath, her pale face wincing, "Yeah, I heard about that. Good news is, apparently he's going to make a full recovery, but it might be a bit before he's back on his feet."

"It just su-Wait! What'd you say? Recovery?" Pericles quickly straightened up and looked towards his friend.

"I stopped by the infirmary after I popped my shoulder out of its socket, and I saw him there. You should've seen him; he was so grouchy that his mustache had been burned in the accident-oh shit! Wait, you didn't think he was dead, did you?" Tortuga stopped midway, realizing the shocked and relieved expression on Pericles' face.

"I had stopped by the lab, and all I saw was the damage, and no Watts, my mind went to the worst conclusion." Pericles explained.

"Huh, well good news then, he lived. Honestly, I think the guy is too stubborn to die." The Captain joked.

A comfortable silence fell over the two.

"Wanna get a drink." Tortuga offered.

"I'm fifteen." Pericles reminded.

"Technically you're thirty-five." Tortuga corrected, as the only one who knew Pericles' secret.

---

~71 A.W. (Past), 13 years-old, and 11 years before the Red Trailer~

Pericles was in a bad mood as he stayed after to clean up the mess Arthur had left in their office.

*tap* *tap*

Looking up, he saw a young woman tapping on the glass door of his and Arthur's office. Motioning for her to enter, he noticed that she had a dark green turtle tail, matching in color to her hair.

"Well I'll be, the eggheads really did hire a child." She spoke with slight astonishment.

Glowering at the woman as he sat down, Pericles spoke, "A pleasure to meet you as well. Now, are you here for any other reason than to state the obvious?"

"Yeah, your boss built this thing, and it ain't working no more." She tossed a framework device onto the desk.

Pericles rolled his eyes, picked it up, and looked it over. It was covered in various harnesses and straps, seemingly designed to be attached directly to a person. "Beyond the fact that I have no idea what this is, or what its even supposed to do when it functions properly, have you ever charged this thing?"

The woman scoffed, "Of course I have."

Raising an eyebrow, the boy grabbed the battery on the object and turned it towards her. A bright red flashing light, next to an unlit battery symbol greeted her.

"Well, not recently." She amended. "But even when it is charged, it still has problems."

Pericles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Look, I know nothing about this thing. Is it all possible that you can just wait till Arthur is back tomorrow morning?"

"No can do, I'm heading out on a mission at 0600 and I need this thing." Tortuga answered.

"Fuuuuuhhhhhck." Pericles groaned while slamming the back of his head into the chair.

Taking a breath to calm himself, Pericles spun around in the chair and yanked open the file cabinet behind him. Atlas was the most technologically advanced kingdom, but they still keep lots of physical records in case of a cyber-attack. "Name?" Pericles asked.

"Uh-what?" Tortuga spoke a little taken back.

"Your name, what is it?" Pericles repeated.

"Oh, Navy Lieutenant : Tortuga Thatch, tomorrow I will be leaving to be stationed at Fort Iotak in Argus, Mistral." Tortuga answered.

Pericles didn't need her life story, but he didn't bother saying anything. Finally grabbing the right file, Pericles began reading over the dossier.

As it turns out, the device in question was a hydraulic brace system for Tortuga's semblance. Her Semblance, Build-Up, causes one of her limbs to freeze in place when she winds up for an attack. The longer that she keeps it still, the more Aura can be injected into the muscles for extremely powerful attacks. The problem was that after a certain point the strike would become so powerful that her bones would break as a result.

The brace was designed to help distribute the force of the impact across her whole arm and upper body, in the hopes of mitigating the chance of her bones fracturing.

"Okay, I'm going to guess that the problem is that you still receive a significant amount of backlash when using your semblance?" Pericles asked.

"Yep, I just got the cast off this morning." Tortuga informed.

Pericles leaned back in the chair and thought out loud for a moment, "Hmmm... Well, I can't add anymore bracing without significantly hindering your movement or being so heavy as to you being unable to swim with it."

Tortuga stood their awkwardly as Pericles pondered.

"Perhaps... No not that, but the other might work. Hey, how good is your Aura control?" Pericles questioned.

"Oh, um my semblance makes it so that good control is important if I don't want to hurt myself. So, I'd say pretty good." The lieutenant answered.

"Great, I'd recommend learning Subcutaneous Aura Enhancement, which should help alleviate the issue, possibly to the point of no longer needing the brace at all." Pericles suggested.

"Subcu-what?" Tortuga asked.

"Subcutaneous Aura Enhancement is an advanced form of Aura use that adds another step to the standard Aura Protection technique. Basically once you have pulled forth your Aura from your soul to your skin, you then push it back internally into your muscles and bones. Though you have to be careful to not push it back into your soul." He explained.

"Oh, so like my Semblance then, except push it into my bones as well?" Tortuga inquired.

"Yes. Now, if that's all, I wish you well and good luck on your deployment." Pericles agreed as he began to pack up his stuff to leave.

"Wait!" Tortuga stopped him, "I'm leaving tomorrow, how are you going to teach me to do this Aura technique thing?"

Pericles rose an eyebrow, "I'm not."

"Then how am I supposed to learn it?" Tortuga asked.

"I don't know, find an Aura specialist." He recommended.

"Wait, why can't you just teach me?" She pressed.

"Beyond the fact I have a job here and I can't just up and leave. I barely know you." Pericles answered

"So if you stationed at Argus as well, you would help?" She asked.

"Not without a damn good incentive." Pericles said.

"Well what do you want?" She offered.

"Clearance from General Ironwood to use Hard-Light Dust for an independent project." He jokingly answered.

"So if got you transferred and Ironwoods permission, you'd help me?" Tortuga clarified.

"Sure," He said sarcastically, "if you can somehow do that, I'll be the best Light-Dammed Aura instructor you could imagine."

"Great, I'll meet you in the transport vehicle at 0600." Tortuga informed as she walked away.

...

"I can't wait to find out which Comm system is yours so that next time I'm repairing it, I can shove it up a Grimm's ass first." Pericles, who had refused to speak for the flight so far, finally talked.

Much to Pericles' aggravation, that only seemed to make Tortuga smile, "Would you look at that, it can talk. Can you say mommy?"

"Tch, sure I can. I fucked your mommy last night." Pericles responded.

"Hahaha! You're alright kid, this is going to be a fun trip." Tortuga laughed from the pilots seat of the Bullhead.

"How the Fuck, did you get Ironwood to agree to this?" Pericles asked.

At 0300 that morning, he had received an email informing him that he had permission to use a minimal amount of Hard-Light Dust for his personal project, and for the next year, he was being stationed at Fort Iotak in Argus, Mistral.

Of course, his mother had been shocked and was worried about him leaving. Soon however, she was giving him advice on how to annoy Brigadier General: Cordovin as much as possible.

Pietro on the other hand saw it as an opportunity for his son to expand his knowledge of the world and was wholeheartedly on board with General Ironwood's decision.

"Well, the General owed me a favor after I helped him out with something, so I just cashed it in." Tortuga said nonchalantly.

"What exactly did you help him out with?" Pericles asked, suspicious.

"Advice." She responded.

"Can you be more specific?" He inquired.

"Classified." Tortuga answered with a smirk.

Pericles sighed, "This is going to suck, isn't it?" He said rhetorically.

"Oh come on, we're going to have a great time you and I!" Tortuga answered nonetheless and threw her arm over Pericles shoulder.

---

AN: Next chapter we will be exploring Pericles and Tortuga's time in Argus and what Pericles' project actually is!

I hope you enjoyed it, and that you will leave a review. Have a wonderful week!