Main theme: Can't Trust Anybody Now by Jeff Williams
Arc Theme: Deep Stone Crypt from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
Theme: Perseverance from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
Adam Taurus was not in a good mood.
Some would say that he was hardly ever in a good mood, but that wasn't true. He did know the feeling of happiness in his life, such as freeing oppressed Faunus from the shackles of their human slavers, bloodying the human race for their crimes against all of Faunus-kind, and being with the woman who rightfully belonged to him, Blake Belladonna.
Those had brought him the best of memories.
Specifically the last one.
But now... Now... Now, his lover had left him behind.
Blake.
Blake- His partner, his soulmate, his destined-to-be one and only- Had dared to defy him, and had run away from him, as if he was trash- Less than trash in fact.
When he had returned from that mission (Alone), He had personally beheaded three officers who had asked him where she was, and almost killed Ilia before stopping himself.
Not that she knew he had tried to, of course.
Now, he was sitting alone in his officer, continuously polishing his red blade, Wilt, with a cloth, the blood on his sword long since washed off as he continued to polish and polish and polish. The radio next to him had gone off with the voice of a gruff, recently promoted, officer calling out to him, saying that someone had entered the camp, but Adam didn't care enough about it to listen. He didn't care who it was- Wherever it be that annoying thief, the fire-whore, or her fellow human slaves and pets- He just wanted to be left alone.
Right now, he would kill anyone who entered his office, wherever they had good reason to do so or not.
So, when a human woman stepped through the door and closed it behind her-
A woman of average height, with hair bunched together in a ponytail, turned black with hair dye- He couldn't tell the colour underneath it- And with green contacts over her eyes that hid the colour underneath them, wearing a white shirt underneath a long-sleeved black vest, with blackish-blue jeans and black boots, obviously meant to keep her identity hidden by all means.
-He severed her head from her body with a single swipe.
The woman's head dropped and bounced onto the floor, rolling to the side and coming still as blood poured out from the exit wounds on both the head and the body.
But said body did not drop to the floor. It stayed perfectly still, standing tall and not flinching at all at her death.
And then it began to move.
The blood that had poured out from both wounds began to fly back into the body's neck-stump like a waterfall in reverse, filling the body with red once more as the body leant downwards and picked up the severed head on the floor, said head flicking its eyes around as if it was still alive, before landing on Adam...
And shooting him a wry smile.
The body brought the head to its severed neck, and suddenly, the veins and arteries from both head and body leeched outwards towards each other like worms, tying themselves together into knots as the head attached itself to the body, the skin threading itself together like fabric in a sickening series of squelches and cracks as bone was melded together and blood began to pour back through the veins. The head hadn't been put on correctly- Slightly tilted to the side- And the body began to push it into its correct position, twisting itself around as the gelatinous flesh around the neck solidified, and then set the head straight.
And all Adam did was watch this bloody, horrific display in morbid curiosity.
The woman's head finished wedding itself back to her body, and after a few moments, with no trace of any of her wound and supposed death before, she tilted her freshly-reattached head to the side, and smiled.
"Adam Taurus... I want to make you an offer."
Everything can be traced back to its beginnings, from the many, to the four, to the one, and then to the none.
In the beginning, there was nothingness. There was not even nothing, for nothing can be filled with something. Instead, there was just absence. Emptiness. A void where existence was not even a thought.
Then, there was something.
The first god.
The Grand Dragon, known as Orion.
And from her was birthed the empty universe, and the Pantheon of Gods.
The three siblings, known as Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, otherwise known as the Brother of Light, the Brother of Dark, and the Sister of Existence.
For eons, they ruled over the new nothingness that was the universe, a swirling emptiness that they made their throne. But in this emptiness, the three siblings found themselves yearning for somethingness, but the Grand Dragon, Orion, lived for the nothingness, and wanted no more.
And so began the God War, a long conflict between the three siblings and their mother, with their clashes, impacts and ripostes spawning the very fabric of existence around them as they waged their war against each other.
Eventually, the three siblings were able to slay their mother, but at a terrible price: Their sister, the Sister of Existence was slain herself, and from her death came the final birth of reality itself, of time and space itself.
And with Orion's death, her body curled onto itself, and formed the world itself.
The remnants of her corpse would become Remnant itself.
And on this new world, the Two Brothers would create the yin and the yang of Remnant. The God of Light would create mankind, and bless them with the 4 greatest gifts.
Creation.
Knowledge.
Choice.
Destruction.
The God of Darkness, meanwhile, would create the Creatures of Grimm, to serve as an eternal whetstone for mankind to sharpen their blades with, to prove their worth to the gods, so that when their time to pass on came, they would ascend to Heaven as righteous warriors, earning their place in the kingdom that was awaiting them.
And so, with the world of Remnant crafted and moulded from the corpse of their mother, the Brother Gods would leave Remnant to allow mankind to flourish and survive on its own, shattering its moon as they went, so that man might remember the struggles that they have faced, and surely will face in the times to come.
Or so the story of the Brother Gods goes.
Ruby was never sure about religions, to be honest. She had been told that her mother was deeply religious, and believed in the fait of the Brother Gods, as did Uncle Qrow, even if he never let it show, but truth be told, she had never gotten into religion herself. She could understand why so many people would find it so attractive, but she had never really given it much thought.
In truth, she had never really known what to believe about gods. She supposed that she was agnostic, in that regard, seeing as she had never been sure about what to believe in when it came to the divine (Like so many people nowadays on Remnant).
She looked up at the Church of the Two Gods in front of her, its tall grey cathedral walls of brick and stone, and colourful glass windows displaying images of divine scenes from the Book of the Two Gods- Of serpentine dragons in gold and purple, of ancient men against beast of darkness, and of man and beast coming together as one.
(That last window had shatter points and cracks in the stained shards of glass, obviously from cans and beer bottles being thrown against it.)
Looking away from the grand grey cathedral, Ruby tilted her head upwards to see the candy-blue sky ahead of her, punctuated by the glowing yellow dot swimming in its centre, before walking down the street, past the colourful houses and buildings around her, and in the shopping centre of the city that she had long since named her home-away-from-home.
Vale.
The city of Vale was one of the four kingdoms of Remnant, and had stood for around a thousand years as a beacon of hope against the Creatures of Grimm, and the despair that they brought with them.
The city market and shopping centre within the commercial district was a testament to this, centuries of culture and history mixing together as shops and stalls opened themselves to the world to sell fruits and foods and books and knickknacks and whatnot, humans and Faunus, men and women, young and old commingling together as they carried bags and goods in their arms, passing through the colourful stands and the shop windows filled with dummies and fruit baskets as they talked and laughed and played underneath the blue sky and the bright sun, now beginning to crest towards the horizon.
She walked through it all, her cape fluttering behind her as she moved, scanning her eyes from side to side as she spied the shop that she wished to go to, and-
There it was, in the far corner of the street opposite her.
Winry's Mechanics and Forge.
Her favourite weapon shop in all of Vale.
Flashing her I.D. to the card reader at the entrance (Confirming her to be a Huntress-in-training, meaning that she was allowed to carry weapons like her Crescent Rose), The door unlocked itself and opened, and she stepped inside to spot the mechanic working at the counter, being a tallish, tomboy-like woman with blonde hair tied into a ponytail by a red bandana, dark blue eyes, a black tube top with a bare midriff, light-purple mechanic trousers- With the rest of her mechanic outfit tied around her waist, black sandals, and beige gloves, with her stomach, shoulders, and arms exposed to reveal her muscles and abs underneath.
The girl shot Ruby a smile and a wave, wrench in hand as she chirp, "Hey there, Rubsters! Good to see my favourite customer's still alive and kicking! Crescent Rose still working well for you?"
Ruby laughed in turn, "No, Winry, I don't need anymore parts," she sighed, "Not now, at least, and that's a shame. I've got, like, a bazillion new upgrades that I've got in mind for my baby, but my dad won't let me get anymore parts for it! Apparently it costs too much money! He says that he could take out another house thanks to all of the money I've been spending on maintaining my baby!"
"Yeesh, if that's the case, then I can't say I blame the poor guy," the older mechanic muttered as she causally tossed her wrench into the air, then caught it in her hand, before adding, "But still, that's a damned shame! I always liked you buying my parts."
"Because you always make a profit off of it?"
"A huge profit! And not just that: You're probably the only other person in Vale who know what the hell I'm talking about on any other day. Like, who else around here knows the difference between the ML-15 and an ML-15LE rifles?"
"I know, right? It's so annoying, and- Oh! That reminds me, did you get the parts for the 774-Firecracker sniper that I wanted to-"
"Rubsters... Your dad."
"Ah! R-Right," Ruby nodded, "I just- Ugh. Augh. I can't... Spoil... My baby!" with an exaggerated swing, she pulled her Crescent Rose from her back, and cradled it to her face, "My beautiful baby girl is in need of upgrades, and I can't get them for her! She's gonna be so naked without them!"
"Why not just-"
"Even if I wanted to go behind his back about it- Which would be dishonest, mind you!- My dad checks all our bank invoices. He'd know if I was buying parts behind his back."
"Aw poop, there goes my plan," Winry sighed, before, with a smile, she gestured to a wall filled with sniper parts, "But yeah, I did get the Firecracker parts. They're up on the rack over there. Just remember what your dad said, m'kay?"
"'Look, don't touch, don't buy," Ruby let out a dramatic sigh, "Okay then..." and then giggled as she went to look at the fresh new sniper parts on the wall, running her eyes across the muzzle pieces, scopes, barrels and buttstocks.
Winry was correct, in that she was one of the few people in Vale that Ruby could naturally talk to, especially considering that, as a weapon designer and mechanic, she shared her biggest passion: Weapons, in what they did and how they functioned.
Ruby's dad, Taiyang, had met her when looking for a sponsor and business partner at the time when he was starting up his business, Xiao-Long Securities, within Vale. He had needed someone to help maintain his employee's gear, and Winry had been the right person for the job, given that since before she met her husband (Who had the coolest metal arm that Ruby had ever seen) Around the time that she had met Tai, she had been running the shop completely on her own, not helped by her grandmother's passing.
Ruby had been incredibly shy at first, even with her dad and uncle's prompting to talk with her, but the two of them had really hit it off when they both learnt how fanatical the other was about weapons. Since then, Ruby had taken to coming to Winry's workshop as much as she could, safe in the comfort that she could come here without being mocked for her passion.
("Hey look, it's daddy's girl."
"Oh yeah, the annoying brat. I heard she fucks herself with her weapon because she knows that she'll never someone who'd want to do it for her."
"Hahah, yeah, I hear that."
"Guys, shut up, She'll hear you."
"So what? What's she going to do? Cry to her blonde sugar daddy as she sucks him off to get better grades? Yeah right."
"Just leave the freak alone, people. She's got enough company with her imaginary friends over there."
Sticks and stones may break her bones, but words would wound her soul.)
Looking over the sniper parts hung onto the wall, see tilted her head to the side as she spotted the scope of an ELT-20A Pulse Cannon, before Winry called out to her, "Oh, if you want, you can go help out your fellow cape-head in the back!"
Ruby blinked, and looked at her, "'Cape-head'?"
{CRASH}
{CLANG}
{CLATTER CLATTER}
"Ow! Sorry!"
Ruby blinked owlishly, and then looked through an open doorway in the wall nearby. A shelf had collapsed onto the floor, and from the sounds of it, someone had tripped over themselves and was picking themselves up.
"Yeah, you might want to give him a helping hand," Winry sighed to herself, "He's a bit-"
{CRASH}
{CLANG}
{CLATTER CLATTER}
"Ah! I'll pay for that! Sorry, I-I'll pay for that, I-"
{CRASH}
{CLANG}
{CLATTER CLATTER}
"Dammit!"
"-Clumsy," Winry sighed again, "He's a bit... Clumsy."
Ruby blinked, and-
"So he's a bit like you."
Ruby whirled her head around to Winry, "Hey!"
"Hey you too."
{CRASH}
{CLANG}
{CLATTER CLATTER}
"No, stay up there dammit!" the voice from the room opposite called out to themselves. From the sounds of it, they were trying to put everything that had fallen off of the shelves back where they once were, "Why won't you-"
{CRASH}
{CLANG}
{CLATTER CLATTER}
"WHY!?"
Another clutter of metal and parts, and the speaker suddenly fell to the floor, in view of the doorway, as they brushed off a white metal shelf that had fallen on top of them.
"Ahhhhh, I'll pay for this! Wait, no, I got this, I just-" they- He- Pushed the shelf off of himself, and began to put the weapon parts that he had knocked over back onto said shelf, "I just- I just need to put these here, and..."
He paused, and then looked to the two women staring at him.
"...I'm sorry."
Winry blinked, "Those cost a lot of money, kid."
"I know."
"I'm going to need to see your credit card before you go."
"I know."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"You're not going to ban me, are you?"
"Maybe."
"Oh... I'm sorry."
"I know," Winry just nodded as she looked to Ruby, "He's looking for possible armour pieces, but has no idea what he's doing. Since you're pretty much my unpaid assistant on any other day, you mind giving him a helping hand? I would myself, but someone needs to man the counter."
"..."
"Rubes?"
Ruby just remained quiet, soaking in this new person's appearance, as well as what came with him.
It was a blue-eyed, blond-haired boy- Much like Winry herself- Wearing an armoured chestplate, white spaulders and rerebraces on his arms, gloved fingers with metal pads on the backs of them, and a black, hoodless, short-sleeved jumper with a long-sleeved orange shirt underneath it. Down his legs he wore ripped jeans that were held up by two differently-shaded brown belts, and black sneakers on his feet. Homemade brown shoulder and kneepads, made of leather and held together by cords, protected his shoulders and knees, and a white bandana seemed to be holding parts of his jeans together.
But that wasn't what caught her attention.
What caught her attention was the white cloak that he wore over himself, with a golden rose emblem- Identical to her own- Stitched onto its back.
"Aaaaand... There we go!"
"I'm sorry," Jaune apologised again for the umpteenth time.
"I know," 'Winry' (As she had announced herself) Said as she returned his credit card to him, "You said that for like, the umpteenth time already,"
"I'm so-" Jaune caught himself, and blushed awkwardly, "I mean, I'm so-"
"It's okay, kid," she waved him off, "It's all paid for now, and it's not like those bits were that expensive."
"Really?"
"No, they were extremely expensive. You've now been bankrupted."
"Ah! No, wait, I'm-"
"Kidding," Winry raised her hands, "Joking. I'm joking. I was making a joke."
"Oh... So, it doesn't-"
"It doesn't actually cost a lot. It's not actually that expensive. Those were all cheap parts."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. I was just being sarcastic."
"Ah... So-"
"Hey, it's okay kid, really," Winry said as she patted him on the shoulder, "You don't need to apologise."
"I... I feel like I need to."
"Well, you've apologised enough to settle it," Winry nodded, "Let's just say that the matter's dealt with now, okay."
"Ah... Okay then, I-" Jaune caught himself, "Thanks... I don't... I don't know what to say, now."
He was telling the truth when he said that. He didn't know what to say. Hell, he didn't know what to do in this instant. He had only come in here because he wanted to try out the Huntsman-in-training identification on his scroll that had been sent to him when his (Faked) Transcripts had been accepted-
(He was honestly expecting it to not work, given that he was using faked transcripts, and by extension, fake I.D. as well. Still, it had worked perfectly.)
-And because he wasn't sure if the armour that he had been wearing was enough to protect himself against... Well, whatever being a Huntsman would entail.
When he had entered Vale, he had half-expected to stand out like a sore thumb, what with his white cloak and armour covering him, but actually, it had been the exact opposite: He felt utterly naked compared to everyone else around him.
For a few minutes, when he had come across a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses- With their rainbow-coloured outfits and extravagant, extremely convoluted and complicated weapons- He thought that they were cosplayers, or taking part in a fashion show, or something along those lines. But when they had called out to him, asking if he was going to be going to Beacon for initiation the following day, he realised that they were indeed Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training.
("Um... Is it... Is it like... An unwritten rule that all Huntsman outfits have to be extravagant and ridiculously flashy?"
"As an official Huntress-in-training, I can confirm that it is indeed an unwritten rule.")
It was then that Jaune realised how naked he was compared to them. His outfit wasn't flashy at all!
And his weapon... Compared to the likes of a minigun that turned into a purse, a camera that create hardlight weapons, bladed gauntlets with guns in them, and a really, really big sword that looked like it was taller than Jaune himself... Well, he felt like absolutely nothing compared to them, and from what they said, they were only a year older than him.
So yeah, he needed to get some new weapons and gear in order to keep up with them, pronto.
He knew that Beacon was supposed to teach him all of this stuff before he graduated, but he wanted to be at least somewhat prepared before he went in.
The biggest problem to that however, as he had been looking around this Winry woman's shop, was that... Well...
He had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for.
Like, seriously, how was he supposed to make his sword better as a weapon? Should he get a gun? He'd never shot one before, and he sure as hell wasn't interested in the idea of it flying out of his hand as soon as he fired it, or said gun smacking him in the face from the recoil. Should he get some sword bits to make his sword more swordy? Yeah, he wasn't even going to bother pretending that he understood any of what that might entail. He'd probably stab himself before he ever got the chance to stab a bad guy.
Dammit, what the heck was he supposed to do? He had no idea what he was even looking for-
{THUD}
"AUGH! OW!" Jaune went as he almost collapsed to the ground, keeping himself up on his feet by gripping onto the counter next to him and letting out a pained, "Ow..." at the sudden missile that had collided with him at the speed of a bullet, only to turn his cloaked head to behind himself, and seeing-
"Owwie…"
-A small girl with black-to-red hair, dressed in an equally black and red gothic getup, with a red hood and a red folded weapon strapped to her back (The same girl, alongside Winry, that had been watching him fail continuously), Nursing her head with one hand, whilst also pushing herself off him with the other.
The red hooded girl looked down at him, and then went, "...Er, hi?"
"He- Ow! Hello", he painfully said back, rubbing his back with one hand and pushing himself upwards proper with the other.
"...Ah! Oh god!" the red hooded girl went (After being distracted by the rose emblem on his back for a few moments) As she jumped off him and clamped her hands together, "I am so sorry I have no idea what I am doing well actually I do because you reminded me of someone but then I ended up slamming into you with the force of a God-Grimm and you're almost fell onto the floor and I'm rambling and-"
"Ruby", Winry called out to the smaller girl, "Use your words."
"Oh god, sorry! I'm so so sorry!" the girl now identified as 'Ruby' went, as she pulled off a comical salute with a shaking smile, and went, "I'm Ruby Rose! Nice to meet you!"
Jaune looked at her and tilted his head to the side in confusion. He had never had someone so eager to meet him before, which was certainly an alien feeling if there ever was any-
(He had a lot of people crash into him, though. Well, not a lot of people, per say, but his sisters were affectionate people, so he had long since gotten used to people slamming themselves against him to say hello. Of course, this wasn't always true as first-
FIRST
FIRST
FIRST
He hit the side of his head. Shut up. Seriously.)
-But what was even more alien about it was... Well, that it was a girl of all people taking her time to say hello to him. The only girls that had ever done that to him were his family members (Of which he hadn't had for long, so it was still a relatively new experience), So to say that he was completely unsure as to what to say right now would be the accurate statement.
For a single second, he spared a glance over to Winry, who just looked at him with that familiar expression of 'Please just let her have this'. It was the same kind of expression that his sisters would give people whenever he tried to talk to them. It seemed like this mechanic woman was rather familiar with this younger girl.
So, with that, he awkwardly held out his hand to 'Ruby Rose', let her take it, and began to shake it vigorously as he then went, "Er, um, h-hi, I'm- I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc."
"Er, hi, I'm Ruby Rose! Nice to meet you!"
"Er, okay, and I'm- Er, I'm Jaune Arc."
"I'm Ruby Rose! Nice to meet you!"
"Y-You said that three times!"
Yeah, well, you, er, you said it twice!"
"Yeah but you still said it three times."
"D-Did I?"
"Er, yeah, yep. Yes, yes you- You did. Yes you did."
"Oh, er, cool! Wait, no, not cool. Is it cool? I don't know if it's cool."
"I don't know either."
"If it's cool?"
"Nope."
"Cool?"
"Er…"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
SMOOTH
Winry slapped her palm to her face, "Only you could possibly find someone as socially awkward as you, Ruby..."
"Wiiiiiiiiiinry!" Ruby whined to the girl before letting go of Jaune's hand and saying, "Please don't tease me in front of-"
"Your new friend?" she smiled.
"Staaarrreee…"
"Easy, girl", Winry smiled, before looking over to Jaune and saying, "This here is Ruby Rose, an old friend of mine, and my favourite customer, seeing as she comes in here all the time and is as much of a geek for guns as I am."
"I love weapons! Not just guns!" Ruby shot back with, before looking back to Jaune and catching herself, "I mean... I know my stuff, but I wouldn't... Call myself... A-A geek or something..."
"...Er... Okay?" Jaune hesitantly added in.
"...Yeah, we're not going to get anywhere if you guys just stand around awkwardly like that," Winry sighed (Once more) To the both of them, putting her hand to her head and (Almost) Smiling fondly.
Jaune and Ruby blushed at her remark, both growing increasingly uncomfortable with the awkward silence around them.
"Um..." Ruby muttered once again, pressing her pointer fingers together as she looked up at him, "You know... I know, um, I do know a lot about weapons though, and I... Maybe I can..."
Winry tilted her head to the side and leant her arms on the counter, "Aw, look at you, Rubsters! Going out and making friends on your own! I'm so proud of you!"
Ruby whirled her head over to the older woman, "Wha- Winry! Why would you-"
"In fact, who am I to hold you guys up from getting to know each other?"
"Er, what?"
Winry ignored the red-to-black haired girl, and tilted her head over to Jaune, "Hey kid- Jaune, right? It's obvious that you're new here, and you're not sure what to get, so how about this: You go off to Beacon- 'Cause I assume that you're starting there in the new term tomorrow- Get yourself set into the new year, and once you've figured out what you want to be specifically as a Huntsman, and the gear that you'll need as well, and then you come back here. I'll write your name up to remember you when you do make it back here."
"Er, I-"
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
"-Sure, okay then..."
"Er, Winry-"
"And you," Winry pointed one of her hands to Ruby, "Congratulations, you've just made a new friend!"
"Um-"
"So why are you spending the day with your new friend cooped up in here?"
Ruby blinked, "Huh?"
Suddenly whirling herself from behind the counter, and then positioning herself right next to them, Winry grabbed both Jaune and Ruby by the shoulder, and-
{SHOVE}
"Ow!"
"Hey!"
-Began to push them towards the door, "C'mon, c'mon! You're both burning daylight, and you're spending it in here! Go go go, spend some time with your new friend, make some memories! Happy memories! Fun friendship memories!"
"Ah, Winry!" Ruby began to complain as she and Jaune were shoved towards the doorway out of the shop, "You are being- Ow!- Really pushy about this, and I mean that in a very literal way!"
"Ruby," Winry's voice became calm, sisterly. Almost motherly, in fact, "This is the first time that I've ever seen you so eager to talk to somebody else other than me, your dad, or your sister. I'm not going to let you waste it."
Ruby frowned at her, but was stopped as Winry pushed them both towards the exit, and-
"Now go and make some treasured memories!"
"What the-"
"Yah!"
-Gave them one last shove through the door and out into the street, the two of them looking behind themselves to see-
{SLAM}
-The door slamming shut behind them, keeping them out of the shop once more.
Jaune looked to Ruby.
Ruby looked to Jaune.
"...Are we... Are we friends now?"
"Er... I guess we are."
Winry put her hands to her hips as she looked through the shutters in the window, watching both Ruby and her new friend- Jaune Arc- Walking down the street next to each other, not talking to each other yet, but at least not denying the other's company.
Sighing to herself, Winry walked around to the back of the counter and pulled out her scroll, dialling in a number, and pressing it to her ear.
The scroll rang, and rang, and rang, until it eventually connected.
"Hey there. It's me, Winry."
…
"Yeah, he's in Vale."
…
"With her? With Ruby? Yeah, he is."
…
"Why do they want them to be together, anyways?"
…
"That doesn't-"
…
"Look, I just... I just don't want them to get hurt, you know?"
…
"I don't want them to get hurt. I don't care how many times I have to say it. I don't want them hurt in the slightest because of my actions."
…
"I know that being a Huntsman means that they'll be harmed eventually, but I don't want them to be-"
…
"You can say that, but..."
…
"I know."
…
"Look, I just... Just don't hurt them, okay?"
…
"I thought you lot were all about your promises."
…
"'Can't make promises on behalf of your masters'? That's... Whatever."
…
"Sure thing..."
…
"Yeah..."
…
"Mmhm…"
…
"Got it... Talk to you later, Saph."
Winry hung up, sighed, and looked out of the window, spotting a figure in black on top of a building nearby, looking through the scope of a sniper rifle at the two cloaked children below, before quickly picking himself up and moving out of her sight.
Everything was changing...
And both Ruby and Jaune would be that which brought it upon them all.
Reviewer response time:
ReDestrobo: Can't do anything about Cardin at the moment, mate, but I'm glad that you're enjoying this so far!
Dumbass0: Yes, this long review did indeed quench my need for gratification! For now! Keheheheh! In all seriousness, thanks a bunch for the long review! You've made some good points, and I hope that I will be able to implement them properly into the story to come!
Xealchim: They're not dead, you know... Not yet, at least.
Guest: Baobhan in her hacker glasses: "I'm in!"
Aside from the obvious change to Jaune's outfit, I've also decided to take a few more artistic liberties with his Volume One appearance as well.
Also, yes, Winry is based off of the character of the same name from Fullmetal Alchemist.
But yeah, here's the proper beginning to the Cult of Silver reboot! I hope that you all enjoy it! I will admit, this chapter doesn't have a lot of meat to it, and a lot of it's dialogue and descriptions was brought over and incorporated from the original draft of the story- Because I felt like they could work really well with some retooling and rewording, so I just decided why not- So I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as high quality as it could've been.
But don't worry. I'll make sure that the next chapter is much meatier than the next one.
Unlike most RWBY stories, we're not going to immediately start with Ruby's encounter with Roman in From Dust Till Dawn. We're going to spend a little bit more time beforehand in setting up the world, establishing some worldbuilding, and exploring the central divergences from canon RWBY.
I feel like the canon series should've spent more of its time in the beginning episodes exploring and establishing the world that the characters live in. As much as I might like the current RWBY canon, despite its flaws, I do feel that it should be doing better to explore the worldbuilding of its setting. It does this well in the books of After the Fall and Before the Dawn, but in the central RWBY show, it should be doing this better.
Anyways, in case you couldn't tell, when compared to the original story, the Cult of Silver is going to be a lot more... Subtle than it originally was. The one thing that I can tell you about them, is that they're like Cinder in terms of planning, especially in the early volumes, but they don't have her ego to go along with it.
It might not seem like much, but in the long run, it is going to be a major difference between the two of them.
Anyways, with all of that said and done, leave a review, follow and favourite, and I shall see you all next time!
Titanmaster117 out!
