Welcome back everyone! We are back in business! I had an enjoyable holiday and I'm finally getting back into writing. So let's not waste any more time and get this party started.
Chapter 12: No More Killing
The theatre, still empty and quiet, until suddenly the being known as 'Ethan' flashed in with a grin on his face, though it was hard to see with his hood on.
"Ok time to bring my guest's back" said Ethan who then took a breath and concentrated to summon his other worldly energy into his right hand. A faint glow came from his hand and with a final look of determination snapped his fingers.
A blinding flash lit up the room and suddenly the once empty chairs were filled with people.
The group of people who had previously occupied the theatre and were gone for the holidays all appeared in the seats provided.
Ruby who at startled immediately recognised her surroundings. "We're back, I can't believe it, we're actually back!"
Her excited exclamation got the attention of the other occupants and after seeing that they were indeed back relaxed a little.
"It would seem that our host kept his word and retrieved us after the holidays have ended" calmly said professor Ozpin to his co-workers while sipping his coffee.
"Ahem, Well I hope you all had a pleasant holiday and I must say, it's really good to see you all again." Said Ethan with a smile that was barely noticeable due to the hooded jacket he wore.
"Now that you're all back we can continue with the viewing"
With a snap of his fingers, Ethan made the once dark screen light up and the first image everyone saw was Ren being hugged by Roman who was thought to be dead.
"I can't believe he survived, he was shot and left for dead" said Yang with disbelief at seeing that the criminal was alive after being shot and not possessing aura to protect and heal him.
"He must have been extremely lucky; someone must have found him or he would have surely died but we can speculate later, lets watch and see what happens" replied Blake in monotone with the rest of her friends nodding in agreement.
(on screen)
After hugging Ren, Roman pulled back and took in his appearance and was surprised and impressed at how much better Ren was looking with new clothes and no collar on his neck.
"You're looking smart Ren, much better than Lefty here" he complimented while insulting his henchman who wore one of the hats Ren bought.
"We've missed you around here. Must've really scared you, that accident, all that shooting. Yeah me too."
"Look at me. I've been laid up for a month" gestured Roman to his arm that was in a cast.
"But I'm back and I'm ready to roll. You ready to roll?" asked Roman in excitement but Ren didn't answer and instead asked a question that took everyone including Roman by surprise.
"Did you know my mom?" he asked desperately.
"Your mum?" questioned the crime boss.
"Why would I know your mum? I found you in the street. Lying on the pavement, you were half dead, you couldn't even talk, you were just laying there and no wanted you. Except me." explained Roman as if he found the cure for cancer.
Ren just remained silent as he listened to the story.
"I've told you this before, remember?" questioned Roman but got no reply so he tried a different tactic.
He opened a draw by his desk that filled with photographs of all the prostitutes he slept with and after rummaging he found one that he was looking for.
"Remember this? It was our first collaboration that was" he said while show Ren a photo of him when he was about 11 years' old and he was in the process of punching a man that presumably owed money to Roman.
(off screen)
The students and professors were all feeling mixtures of disgust, anger. The disgust was from seeing the sheer number of women Roman paid for sex. The anger came from the photo of the younger Ren being forced to beat a man to a pulp at such a young age which suggested that Roman had already begun his mental conditioning of turning the young boy into an attack dog.
"He couldn't have been more than 10 or 11 years' old, and that monster of a man turned him into something that he's not, how could a person do that to another and a child no less!?" an angry Glynda exclaimed to her colleagues.
"I share your anger, believe me I do Glynda, all we can do is hope that Roman gets brought to justice" spoke Ozpin who was clutching his coffee mug so tightly cracks could be seen forming but he relaxed his grip before he shattered the mug and spilling his precious coffee everywhere.
Ren, who was currently sitting with Nora in his arms was doing his best to keep his childhood friend calm because he knew that she would explode in anger after seeing the photo.
"Nora, I know you want to blast that version of Roman to oblivion but you need to keep calm and try not to destroy anything, remember what happened last time?"
She indeed remembered how she was tied up and wisely kept her cool and relaxed into her boyfriend's arms.
Jaune and Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief, they could not deal with a rampaging Nora right now and both mentally thanked Ren for being able to keep her calm.
Seeing that Nora was calmed, everyone resumed viewing the show.
(on screen)
While Ren was examining the photograph Roman decided to get some answers on why his usually silent dog was suddenly so curious.
"Ren, what's with this sudden fascination with the past? Have you been talking to people?" he asked with a dark edge in his voice.
Shaking his head slowly and submissively "No" answered Ren while keeping his head down.
Satisfied with the answer, Roman continued, "You want some good advice from your uncle Roman, eh? Don't dwell on the past. Look to the future. The past is behind you and the future is ahead of you. Like a glittering mountain of gold."
"You want to know what your future is Ren?"
(off screen)
"His future is being nowhere near you!" thundered Nora.
"Yeah! Just you wait, Ren will get away from you and you'll never hurt him again." Agreed Ruby while Weiss could only sigh at her partner but smiled non the less, she truly missed her even though she'd never say it out loud.
(on screen)
After giving Ren different clothes that were loose and more comfortable to move in the crime boss and his underlings along with Ren left the hideout and drove to an undisclosed location where they were greeted by Jacque Schnee who led them to what appeared to be an un underground fighting pit, with guest cheering on a fighter who was currently beating his opponent in a brutal manner.
"I'm thrilled you're here. We've been waiting for you" an excited Jacque said as he welcomed his guests.
"Has our friend been practicing on you?" asked Jacque after noticing the cast on Roman's arm.
Waving him off "Had an accident" he replied.
Nodding in acceptance "Right this way. So how's our boy?"
"Better" answered Roman with a smile.
"I hope so because he certainly has his work cut out for him tonight." Explained Jacque while gesturing to the fighter in the pit who just finished beating his opponent to a bloody pulp.
"We are expecting a bit of a show this time."
"We've got it all worked out. Haven't we Ren?" he asked but Ren just stared at the pit with trepidation while listening to the crowed cheer and scream for the fighter to kill the other man.
Getting Ren's attention back to him, Roman began giving his instructions.
"Give these people a show and play with him a bit, make it seem that there might be chance you could lose. Got it?"
Just he finished, Jacque exclaimed, "To the death!" signalling the start of the death match.
"Right down you go" ordered Roman after taking off the new collar from Ren's neck but the young man just remained motionless.
(off screen)
"If he is forced to fight now he'll be killed!" a worried Jaune shouted.
"What do you mean?" asked Ruby
Jaune then elaborated as had gotten everyone's attention.
"What I mean is Ren has spent a lot of time without the collar and thanks to Nora he no longer feels the urge to fight when it's removed. His whole outlook has changed and if he gets thrown into that pit he may refuse to hurt anyone even if they attack him."
With his explanation done Jaune retook his seat while team RWBY especially Weiss could only stare in amazement at the blonde knight analysis.
"Mr Arc is correct in his assessment" stated professor Ozpin which got looks from everyone.
"While I could elaborate further I think it would be best if we witnessed it ourselves"
Everyone nodded in agreement at that and turned their attention back to the screen.
(on screen)
"What's wrong with you?" questioned Roman at seeing his attack dog not moving from his spot.
"I don't want to hurt people anymore" replied Ren.
Astonished by the answer Roman had to confirm what he just heard.
"Excuse me? Ren that's what you do, you hurt people." He angrily exclaimed.
"Not anymore" countered Ren.
Now angry and frustrated, the crime boss decided to try and bribe the boy.
"Listen, I'll make you a deal, you go down there tonight and do your job I promise, tomorrow I'll by you the nicest piano in the whole city. How's that?"
"I don't want to hurt people anymore" insisted Ren.
"Then you're dead!" shouted Roman, having enough of his defiance Roman moved and shove Ren off the balcony and into the fighting pit where his opponent waited, eager for his next victim.
(off screen)
"Ren!" was everyone's scream and thought as they witnessed their friend get tossed into the lion's den and could only hope and pray he came out alive.
(on screen)
After being shoved off the balcony Ren managed to backflip and land on his feet but was immediately kicked in the back by the other fighter which sent him flying towards the wall. Luckily he quickly brought his legs forward and pushed against the wall, stopping his momentum and making fall to the ground.
Seeing his opponent on the ground the pit fighter rushed forward and began attacking with a barrage of sharp strong kicks that Ren was barely able to dodge and block.
One of the pit fighter's low kicks managed to land on Ren's thigh which sent him to the ground and just as he moved to capitalise, Ren was suddenly on his feet and dodged the follow up punch which made the fighter collide with the wall. Ren instinctively punched his opponent twice in the stomach but quickly stopped his final punch from hitting the man's face.
"Go get him tiger!" screamed Roman from the top of the pit with the other guest's screaming in agreement for Ren to attack.
"Come on! Come on! Ren, come!"
But his instructions fell on deaf ears as Ren continued to either block, dodge or just push his opponent away without causing any harm which was beginning to frustrate the pit fighter and the crowd.
"What's going on?" questioned Jacque, after watching the so called death match but not seeing anyone dead yet was going to be bad for business and he needed to correct it, fast.
"Well you said you wanted it be more of an entertainment" replied Roman as they watched the two fighters, but only one was trying to land a fatal blow while the other just slipped out of reach.
Not convinced, "He's not even fighting back" countered the white haired man.
Deciding to force Ren to fight, Roman walked over the weapon trolley and picked up a hatched and tossed to Ren's feet. Ren froze at seeing the weapon at his feet and looked at his opponent who was now cautious of approaching and stayed a few feet away in a ready stance in case the boy picked it up and attacked.
(off screen)
Everyone was watching intently as their friend's counterpart avoided all the attacks but their worry grew as thee weapon was thrown into the pit and they all wondered if Ren's 'other' would use it to fight.
"My calculations show that Ren's chances of winning would increase drastically if he made use of that hatchet, he would only need to land one decisive blow and he would be victorious" said Penny.
"While that may be true, it is clear Mr Lie Ren does not want to harm his opponent. I believe that he feels he would not be able to stop himself completely once he starts and would lose himself in his anger and rage again" explained Winter to the android who contemplated what she was told.
General Ironwood decided to add, "I agree with specialist Schnee's theory but I also believe that he will either be forced to fight back or die. Remember he has been conditioned for years to be as vicious as possible when he fights and with how things are going now he might instinctively begin to attack back."
"If he starts fighting back then all that work Nora and Ozpin put into helping him let go of his past would be for nothing" a worried Pyrrha said and was immediately reassured by Jaune, Ren and Nora that Ren's on screen counterpart would be alright.
(on screen)
Ren was still just staring at the hatchet his feet but his attention was then drawn to his 'master'.
"Use it! Ren, use it!"
But he would not use it and while he was distracted the pit fighter rushed forward and picked up the deadly weapon himself.
He began swinging the blade in an attempt to either decapitate or disembowel the young man. All Ren could do was use his superior acrobatic skills to dodge the sharp edge of the hatchet but his shirt got torn a little but his skin remained free of cuts.
Back on the balcony the crowd was getting restless and upset that there was no bloodshed and were starting to boo and leave.
Noticing this made Jacque Shnee lose a bit of his cool, "We seem to have a problem here" he said with frustration clear in his voice.
"What?" asked Roman.
Elaborating, "These people came to see a fight, not a bloody game of tag. Do you mind if I get a little creative with the format?"
"It's your show"
Jacque suddenly gave a signal and three more pit fighter's, two men and a woman dropped into the pit and immediately started attacking the lone boy.
(off screen)
"This bad. This is very bad. If he doesn't do something, he'll be killed by those four" a worried Ruby said as she and teammates watched as their friend was being overwhelmed by the pit fighters.
"He's more than capable of beating them all with no problem but because of his refusal to hurt them his chance of surviving are slim" said Weiss who then winced with everyone else as they watched Ren get pummelled by the fighters and was finally kicked to the ground hard which seemed to knock him out.
"Come on Renny, you can do this, you've been through much worse than four bozos' in a pit. Come on get up!" screamed Nora.
"Yeah! Get up and show them who's boss!" agreed Yang while fist bumping the air.
"Guy's he can't hear you, so please keep it down" pleaded Blake while rubbing her cat ears.
"Sorry/My bad" apologised the two loud girls sheepishly.
"Hey look, he's getting up" said Jaune, happy that he's friend was not seriously injured.
Everyone was smiling as the watched on screen Ren stumble to his feet but their smiles fell from their faces as they saw the once kind and gentle eyes be replaced by the haunting viciousness of the attack dog he tried so hard rid himself of.
"Oh no, this can't be good" said Qrow who had been silent the whole time but decided to speak after witnessing the young man's regression into what he once was.
"Please be ok" pleaded Nora softly to her boyfriend who wasted no time and hugged her tightly and turned to the screen to see what would become of his counterpart.
(on screen)
After slowly getting to his feet, Ren no longer felt the need to hold back. All his instincts were screaming to fight back and as much as wanted to deny it, he wanted to hurt them back just as they hurt him.
The main pit fighter, seeing the boy get up ran forward and performed a jumping kick but Ren, who heard him coming jumped and dodged but also landed his own kick to the man's chest which sent him to ground gasping for air.
The woman came next and grabbed his shoulders and tried to land heavy knee strikes to his stomach but Ren blocked them all before wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the floor, only to body slam her to the ground and begin to rain vicious blows to her face.
The other two fighter's tried to help but were quickly pushed away by strong blows to their midsections. After landing a final blow to the woman, Ren rushed towards the first fighter who tried to defend himself but was forced against the wall and this time Ren didn't hold back his punches as he landed blow after blow to the man's ribs and face.
On the balcony the crowd who were first angry, cheered in excitement as they watched the once docile boy brutally attack the other fighter's.
Seeing the change in tide, Jacque moved to the weapon trolley and grabbed a sledgehammer and screamed, "WEAPONS!" before he and his assistance tossed a variety of weapons into the pit.
The no recovered woman, picked up a battle axe, the dark skinned fighter retrieved two spiked batons and the third fighter kicked a spear into his hands.
The main pit fighter went to pick up the sledgehammer but was kneed in the face by Ren before he could.
The man with the batons tried to slash and stab Ren but just nimbly dodged all the attacks before moving in close to grab the man's collar and land three blows to his face while grunting with each punch. He quickly kicked the man away to roll and dodge a slash from the spear wielding fighter. The man advanced and began to rapidly stab at Ren who avoided the deadly point by a hairs breath before the spear penetrated his shirt but he luckily turned his torso so the blade missed his body completely. While the spear was still stuck in his shirt, Ren began to punch his opponent in the torso until he released the weapon.
Now armed with a weapon of his own, Ren used the spear to block and parry the attacks from the axe wielding girl and the man with the batons simultaneously. He eventually managed to knock the both to the ground with the shaft of the spear but was quickly on the defensive as the first pit fighter had picked up the sledgehammer and attacked with heavy blows that Ren tried to defend against.
The heavy hammer quickly bent the shaft of the spear and Ren was backed into a corner with the fighter giving a war cry and swung the hammer towards his head. Ren quickly ducked the blow with the hammer hitting the wall instead and while crouched he stabbed the spear head through the man's shoe, into his foot. The pit fighter gave a cry of pain and fell to the floor clutching his bleeding foot.
No armed with a sledgehammer, Ren made quick work of the rest of the fighter's by breaking the woman's knee, crushing the one man's shoulders and as he moved to the final man who tripped and fell to the floor. Ren raised the hammer high and with a rage filled cry brought it down, hard.
The fighter who fell was shivering as he stared at the hammer that had missed his head by less than an inch, he looked up confused at the young man who no longer had the murderous look in his eye's but now looked as if he was disgusted with himself for causing so much harm to others.
Ren, who managed to come to his senses before killing the man turned his attention the first pit fighter who was still clutching his foot in pain. He knew he was supposed to kill him but he would not do it, he was not a dog anymore.
"Kill him!" came the shout from Roman who was happy to see his dog beat all the fighter's, now if he just killed the first fighter he would be rich.
"Come on! Kill him!" he shouted but Ren just stared back, not even flinching.
"Fuck it!" thundered Roman before drawing his pistol and without mercy emptied his clip into the defenceless fighter who died immediately.
Everything was quiet, as the people could only stare in shock of the sudden murder that just took place.
Ren immediately felt rage course through him and screamed in anger
"NO MORE KILLING!"
(Screen darkens)
"He just killed him! He was defenceless and that bastard just killed him!" screamed Yang in anger after witnessing the murder.
Everyone else were also feeling the same anger that Yang was expressing but knowing that there was nothing they could do made them keep their anger to themselves.
"I can't believe I became that…that thing again. He was absolutely brutal but he managed to snap out of it in the end" said Ren who was happy his 'other' stop himself from killing the defenceless man but was just as angry at Roman for shooting and killing someone who was already beaten.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, especially since it's your first viewing since returning" apologised their host sincerely.
"Hmm how bout I make it up to you" said Ethan who then gathered energy into his palm and with a deep breath snapped his fingers.
A flash lit up the room and a new figure could be seen. It was a muscular blonde haired man wearing cargo shorts, he had a tattoo on his arm and at his feet was a corgi.
"What the heck!? Where the hell am I?" questioned the blond man but was tackled to the ground by two missiles screaming "DAD".
The now revealed Taiyang Xiolong could only stare in at his daughters who were hugging him to death but immediately wrapped his arms around them.
"What happened girls? Did someone kidnap us? I swear if they hurt in any way I'll make them wish for death!"
"No dad, were fine but I think you need to sit down for this one"
END.
Authors note: I am back, FINALLY! I am so sorry it took this long to update but I had MANY things going on and just couldn't find the time to update. I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting but I am back! Ok now that that's out of the way I'd like to thank you all for liking my story it really means a lot. One of my reviewers commented that he was not a fan of the Bumbleby ship and that I shouldn't hate him for it.
I'm going to make this clear, if you don't like a certain ship I won't judge you, we all have our own opinions and just because I like the Bumbleby ship does not mean I dislike all other ships. But I'm also not going get into any shipping wars with anyone, if you're here just to butt heads with someone who does not agree with your opinions on what FICTIONAL characters should be together then please leave this story and go bother someone else.
On that note a 'Guest' reviewer commented that it's people like me that's what's wrong with fandom just because I'm excited that Bumbleby might become canon. I bet if it was any other ship then he/she would not have said that, but I digress I'm not going to argue about this, I'm gonna enjoy the rest of my day and hope to see you all next chapter. Ja Ne !
