Chapter one: Tired
I just want to watch the whole world burn
Lost a million times and I won't learn
Show me someone innocent
I'll show you there's no proof
I may be gone but I'm no fool
The terrible, awful smell that downtown Vale gave off was almost overpowered by the cigarette clamped between my teeth. But in my defense, the cool rainy night did little to help the situation.
Though the necessity that had driven me here was a powerful one, the filthy sidewalk and grimy puddles that threatened to scum up my boots had sowed my journey with the seeds of doubt. Hopping over the corpse of a dead animal, too rotted to tell what kind, I grumbled to myself as I often did.
The topics of my grumbling changed as I walked, or more accurately stomped, through the streets. The price of Dust rising by the hour, the cops busting my balls for stupid and meaningless crap, the fucker who tried to pick my pocket earlier this week. On days like this, the whole damn world seemed to displease me.
My steady pace slowed to a crawl before I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. I looked to my right, into the dark window of a convenience store that had long since closed and gazed at my reflection.
A scrawny teenaged vagrant stared back at me, his hair was shaggy unkempt, his thin angular face clean-shaven but with a slightly unhealthy hollowness to it and purple piercing eyes that held a hatred for the world in them that was almost unmatched.
His clothes consisted of a pair of raggedy jeans, a t-shirt with an old band logo on it and a jean jacket littered with sewn-up tears. The boots on his feet had long since wrinkled with age and the sock underneath, although not visible, hand holes in both of their soles.
I shook my head and turned away from the window, pressing onward to my destination that was now in sight.
The bell jingled as I entered 'From Dust Till Dawn'. The store was warmly lit and well-stocked, with an impressive array of dust ranging from common to mixed variants.
The old man who owned the store looked up and gave me a warm, genuine smile. Something I was still not quite used to.
"Nicholas my friend, what can I do for you?" He asked enthusiastically.
My jaw stiffened and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Half a pound of shock Dust." I said in a clipped voice. "And for the last time, I'm not your friend."
His overly friendly disposition was due to a perceived debt he felt he owed to me. A few months earlier, I saw his daughter's unconscious body being dragged into an ally by a man and I, being the level-headed and rational individual that I am, proceeded to beat him to a pulp with a pipe.
Once the girl awakened she called her father and once he arrived however the old man proclaimed that I was a hero and anything I wanted in the store was now half off till the day I died. No amount of explaining could convince him that I didn't need his pity discount, so I just took the deal kept him at arms distance.
In less than a minute the old man handed me a cylindrical metal canister filled with shock Dust and I gave him the 500 lien. I snatch my Dust, gave him a gruff goodbye and turned to leave the store.
I was immediately greeted with the sight of six of the dumbest dressed Faunus I had ever seen walking into the store. Each one was clad from head to toe in awfully mismatched black clothing that looked like it had been pilfered from a lost and found. Their faces were covered with matching white bandannas and they carried an assortment of improvised weapons ranging from crowbars to a machete.
Needless to say, I didn't even try to hold back my laughter.
"Holy shit, what art school did you guys blow in from?" I taunted.
"Move along you little freak! Buy some better clothes while you're at it!" One of them snapped.
"Says the person who dressed from the bargain bin at a thrift store" I giggled back.
"I don't know what you want but please leave my store." The old man pleaded.
"Shut up you bigot!" one of them yelled.
"What?" The man asked.
"You fired a Faunus single mother!" said another.
"No...it wasn't like that, I...I couldn't afford to pay her." He stammered.
"Geez, that's all it takes to incur a mob these days?" I asked. Instantly every eye turned to me.
"Piss off filthy humie." the one nearest to me growled as he swung his machete.
I blocked the blade with my forearm, stumbling back from the force of the blow. I looked to my arm and saw while the cut in my skin had healed nearly instantaneously, my prized, black, jean jacket wasn't so lucky.
"This is my favorite jacket you cunt!" I scowled, snatching the Dust canister from the bag and clenching it in my fist. Within a moment, raw power surged through my fingertips and up my arm, crackling and tingling into my chest where it spread as a stinging warmth. Suddenly, I was wide awake and alert, my eyes were buzzing, I tasted burning aluminum foil in the back of my throat and although I couldn't see it I knew my eyes were glowing purple.
"I'm gonna do what your parents never had the balls to do." I smirked as the hooligans begin to slowly retreat.
I thrust my palm in their direction, arcs of spiraling energy sending the gang convulsing to the floor. One of them crawled out of the door and ran away while the rest grabbed their weapons and foolishly rushed me.
I narrowly dodged a pipe and punched the offending jackass in the stomach, sending him flying across the room. I grab the next one's arm mid-swing and punch their elbow, bending their arm backward, before kicking in their kneecap and returning them to the floor. I roundhouse kicked the next guy in the face, before turning back and smashing my fist through the other man's jaw with a satisfying crunch. Finally, I grab the machete wielders head, then calmly proceed to slam his head against the shopkeeper's countertop until he stopped struggling.
I dropped the leader and looked at my handiwork for a second, before turning around and seeing a girl in a red hooded cape with headphones hanging around her neck staring at me with an open mouth.
"That...was...awesome, you were all like kazapp, kerpow, wazam!" She dances around mimicking me shooting lightning and punching."Are you a Hunter? You have to be a Hunter to know how to fight like that! Oh my god, can I have your autograph?! This is so exciting!" She squeals dancing around like a teenage girl that has just met her music idol.
I really need a fucking cigarette. I thought, pinching the bridge of my nose as she continues to bounce around and jabber endlessly.
"Ok first of all who the fuck are you." I sigh.
"Oh, I'm Ruby Rose! nice to meet you Mr.?" She states extending her hand.
"Nick, just Nick," I answer firmly as I push her hand away.
"And secondly, hate to break it to you but I'm..." I started to say before the door opened, and a woman walked in. I recognized her instantly from the Salem war documentaries; Glenda Goodwitch. She stood menacingly in the doorway, staring at Ruby and I.
"I'm...uh...I'm...not a hunter." I finished as I started mentally calculating how fucked I was
"What?!" Ruby yelled as she stared at me in disbelief.
I had been sitting on a grimy bench in the bland hallway outside the Vale PD interrogation room for what seemed like an eternity. Staring at the white wall gotten old a while ago, so when I was sure no one was watching, and quickly yanked out my packet of cigarettes and lit one with a spark from my finger.
Suddenly the door banged open and Ruby rushed out, looking pleased with herself. She noticed me and quickly ran over as I stood up.
"Nick you won't believe it, I got into Beacon! Oh, everyone will be so proud, can you believe it?" She squealed with annoying levels of enthusiasm.
"Okay...nice?" I shrugged at her.
"Thanks, and good luck in there!" she says as she sprinted down the hall. Mrs. Goodwitch walked out of the room and looked at me, scorn in her eyes. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell of cigarette smoke and looks pointedly at the 'no smoking' sign before jerking her head for me to go into the room.
I stubbed my cig out and walked in to see Professor Ozpin sitting across from me at an empty table, save for a police file and an empty plate.
"Am I being detained?" I asked as I sat down.
"No." He answered.
"Then I want a lawyer." I said
"That would be unnecessary Nicholas, or as Ruby calls you, just Nick." He states as he eyes me strangely.
"So why am I here?" I asked.
"You are a mysterious man, Mr. Nicholas," He mused, looking at a police file. "You claim to be 18 years old, the police have to take your word for it because you have no birth certificate, no parents we know of and no school records whatsoever. You've been arrested 3 times, once for public intoxication, once for fighting in public and once for petty theft. You have a reflex ten times that of an average human, can easily score 280 on any standard IQ test and had a psychoanalyst described you as, lacking foresight, empathy and the concept of consequences."
"Ok...and?" I shrugged.
"Well I'd like to offer you a place at Beacon Academy, orientation is in a week and classes start the day after that, we will provide–"
"Whoa whoa whoa, first Ruby, now me? Why are you accepting a child and a bum into a prestigious academy?" I asked, shocked.
"Well, Miss Rose is several years ahead of her classmates at Signal and you, well..." he reaches inside his pocket, takes out his scroll and pulls up a video. He shows me security camera footage of me beating up the morons at the Dust store.
"There are few kids who can fend off against six armed attackers with their bare hands Nick." He smiled at me, his smile yet to reach his eyes.
"Alright, so I can fight. so what?" I sighed, exasperated.
"Well, the way it stands you can either accept my offer or we leave you to the police." He suggested, causing my eyes to widen.
"But I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Six accounts of aggravated assault is nothing?" He answered innocently.
"You're fucking blackmailing me." I stated, dumbstruck.
He smiled mindlessly up at me, tapping his foot on the floor.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Nicholas." He said.
I leaned forward, pressing my hands into my eyes and groaning.
"Quit smiling you fucking fossil!"
A/N: The beginning of the worst story no one ever wanted told is here! Feel free to follow favorite and review, it's half the reason I keep at this shit up. See ya in the next chapter!