I made Nova in Code Vein and posted screenshots on my twitter, so if you want a really accurate idea of what Nova looks like then go check it out. I know it's a pretty cheesy cop-out, to use a game's expansive character creation to re-create my OCs but I like the idea. I'm still eventually going to try to draw them but I have a ton of work to do.
I might try to make the rest of Team ASHN at some point.
Chapter 41: From The Ashes, We Rise
The sky was dark and red, as though all familiar sources of light had been blackened out by a force of unknown origin. The land was barren and desolate, its rocky terrain baring nothing but sand and dirt amidst a seemingly endless vast expanse of monochromatic earth. The only saving grace were the few pools of black liquid, like tar, that spotted the landscape. Sitting neatly in the middle was a grand castle, entirely Gothic in design, with large ornate windows, and doors so antique it suggested the building was erected long before the land became desolate. Perhaps it hinted to a time when the land thrived, before Grimm that seemed to erupt almost out of thin air, rising from the pools like horrid manifestations of darkness that they were.
Inside the castle, in a grand room lined with fine glass windows, around a table fit for only one purpose. The members of the room ranged in all shapes and forms. A tall skinny man, with a mustache and grey hair, Arthur Watts. A blue-haired boy who stood out amongst the crowd, his bright blue hair a welcome colour amidst the otherwise gothic room, Gale Rogue. A large burly man stood in his chair, wearing a green tunic and sported wild-looking hair and eyes, Hazel.
Alongside him were two almost identical-looking men, except one was a lot younger. Both lanky and sported crazy looks in their eyes, Thorian and Tyrian Callows. Lastly, three young faces, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, and the large figure of Onyx. Cinder was the oddest looking of them all, with an eyepatch over her left eye, and a scar running across her face. She would converse through Emerald since, if her appearance went along with her state, she suffered a vocal injury.
There could be only one term to describe a gathering of the most dangerous individuals on Remnant. A war council.
As if to complete the combination, the door to the room opened and a tall, pale figure passed through. Her skin whiter than snow, her eyes, black like the shadows of Grimm, her irises, red like the brightest colour of blood. At a glance, she looked human, but anyone with more than two seconds of looking could tell that she was more akin to a Grimm than anything else.
She calmly walked to the front of the table and gestured for everyone to sit.
"Now that we've all gathered ourselves here… I believe it's time to analyze our progress…" The woman said, her voice commanding and smug.
"Yes, ma'am... The raid on Beacon was a grand success, Cinder has become the Fall Maiden, chaos has been sewn amongst the four kingdoms…" Gale began his report.
"And most importantly, dear old Ozpin is dead…" Salem smiled darkly. "And… what of those… Dragons?" she turned to Onyx who had been sitting folding his arms.
The bear-man smirked, "I personally saw to it that the boy was… dealt with… if you catch my meaning…" Onyx chuckled a throaty laugh.
"And his sister?" she asked again narrowing her eyes.
Onyx looked away, "I was… unable to get to her before we were interrupted by, the girl with Silver Eyes…"
Salem grimaced, "Ah yes… that brat who damaged our dear Cinder…" she said gesturing to the girl, who just nodded in fury due to her inability to speak.
"She may cause a problem…"
"I agree… why not send us out? Hunt her down and kill her?" Tyrian asked looking between Salem and his brother.
Salem shook her head, "No… I want her… alive if possible… she may be of some use, take your brother and hunt them down…"
"With pleasure, my queen…" both brothers said in harmony as they bowed.
Salem nodded, "Good… Hazel, you and Onyx rally with the White Fang, begin planning the capture of the Relic at Haven… even with Lionheart on our side… I suspect we might encounter resistance."
"Understood ma'am," Hazel said nodding in confirmation.
"Cinder… you and your team are to hunt down the Spring Maiden, my spies tell me she's with Raven Branwen… the woman won't be easy to crack… but if you can't get her on our side then wager her tribe's lives, they're your bargaining chip…"
"Uhh, yes ma'am, w-we understand…" Emerald said nervously, having to speak for Cinder.
-On A Boat Heading for Menagerie-
The air was still, save for the occasional gentle breeze that blew through due to the movement of the small passenger vessel. The encroaching night sky was illuminated by the light of the evening sun as it set it's last few hours before the dark.
Blake stood leaning over the rails of the ship, her bow gone, as per the change in apparel. Standing in a white coat and top that exposed her mid-riff, accompanied by long black pants. Despite the welcome change in wardrove, that usually lifted one's spirits, Blake was sulking.
She'd run away again, leaving her friends, the group of people she'd called family behind. Her mind was confused and scared. Danger followed her wherever she went, she put her friends in the middle of it, because of her Yang got hurt. She was weak, and a coward, and she was a fool to think that things would have turned out differently.
"In the end… all I do is drag everyone else down with me…" She muttered out loud, paying no mind to those who heard.
"Really? Because the way I see it, you're just blaming yourself for things you had no control over," A male voice said startling her out of her musings.
The cat-Faunus turned around to see the smiling face of none other than Sun Wukong.
"SUN?!" She yelled in disbelief. "…Did you follow me?"
Sun tried to play it off, "What? Pfft no… I was just heading to Menagerie, same as you!"
Blake shot him an unimpressed look, "Mhm, Sun you're a Faunus but you're from Vacuo…"
"Ugh, alright fine… After the fall of Beacon I saw you take off on your own, without saying anything to anyone, and… I thought at that moment, you looked like you needed a friend." He explained smiling as though nothing in the world was wrong.
"You… dropped one of your only chances of getting back home… because you thought I needed help? What about your team?" Blake asked again in utter disbelief at his rationale.
Sun chuckled, "Meh, I told Neptune I was heading here, they'll be fine…"
Suddenly an alarm blared on the ship, "What's going on?" Sun asked looking around as crew members began scampering in all directions, getting to stations and securing crates.
"All able fighters to battle stations! We have Grimm!" The captain called out over the announcement system.
"Grimm what?!" Blake was started as the entire ship lurched forward, a dark figure moving through the waters.
The two teens watched in horror as a massive dragon-like Grimm reared its head out from the water, rising like a towering pillar of death. Unlike the Wyvern at Beacon, this dragon was slender and sported smaller appendages. It was more akin to a serpent.
Blake and Sun jumped back as the Grimm abruptly rose out of the water entirely and spread massive wings from its back, flying high into the air and launching a blast of wind at the ship, almost sending it toppling over.
They held on for dear life until the boat finally stabilized again.
"Holy shit, what the hell is that thing?!" Sun said incredulously.
"A Grimm, haven't you seen one before?" Blake answered him sarcastically.
"I know that! But… this thing is unlike any species I've ever seen!"
"Aye laddie! Ever since that thing that happened at Beacon, more and more crazy Grimm have started to show up," A voice said appearing next to them. It was the captain, he was light-skinned and sported a white head of hair and beard.
"What're we going to do captain?" One of the crew members said turning to him.
"We've never seen something this big… but we'll give 'er a fight nonetheless!"
With that Blake sprang into action, leaping off the front of the ship and using her clone to launch her further into the air until she was within range to latch Gambol Shroud onto the beast's neck. She swung around it's back and fired off a few shots but its scales were too thick.
Enraged, the beast began flying around at brisk speeds, dragging the poor cat Faunus with it. Blake detached and scrambled back onto the boat the moment it drew closer.
"How the fuck are we supposed to kill that thing?!" Blake screamed, "Its scales are so damn tough!"
"Woah there kitty, you got a license for those claws?" Sun asked referring to her potty mouth. She just rolled her eyes at him.
"ENGAGE CANNONS!" The captain yelled as the beast drew up on the front of the ship once more. A large, dust-powered cannon drew up from the deck and fired at the beast, but it was too slippery and dodged easily.
It drew back into the air and reared its head, charging up a blast of what looked to be lightning at the ship.
"Not today monster breath!" Sun said as he summoned his clones. The light-clones hopped onto the back of the creature's head and tugged on its whiskers, forcing its head back and canceling the lightning discharge.
Sun then jumped up there with the clones and began trying to veer the dragon's blast direction away from the ship.
"SUN! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!" Blake yelled questioning his insane actions.
"Oh, you know… just HANGING OUT!" He yelled the last part as the dragon began to buck and shake in an attempt to toss the monkey-Faunus off its head.
Blake made an exasperated sigh when she saw him get flung off, heading directly for a nearby rocky outcropping. She made a desperate dash to the island, barely making it in time to catch the falling boy, bridal style.
"My hero!" Sun said with a cheerful smile.
"Ugh…" Blake rolled her eyes and dropped him.
Once they were back on the boat, the Captain called out to them, "Hey! Huntsmen, if you can clip its wings, then we can take 'em!"
Sun shot Blake a look, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I'm not sure I want to be…"
Sun summoned his clones and sent them off into the air, using them initially to launch himself up. Blake made a running start and launched herself off the rail, flung by a clone, then wrapped and thrown by a second, into a third, until she approached Sun himself, who'd just attained maximum altitude.
He opened his arms expectantly, but Blake had other plans as she soared above him, coming down and leaping off his shoulders, sending her eye enough above the Dragon for her point of impact to be undodgeable.
The dragon made a few desperate attempts to shoot lightning at her but she dodged them all, bringing Gambol shroud down and slicing right through its leathery wings, effectively eliminating its flight capabilities.
The dragon made a mad dash around, crashing through several rocks and small islands in an attempt to destroy its attackers but it was in vain, as the moment it stopped moving, the ship's main cannon fired one massive blast that roasted its head to a smoking crater.
"That… was… fucking exhausting…" Sun said as he heaved his lungs out on the deck of the ship.
"Yeah…" Blake said eyeing him. He caught her look.
"We can talk about what I'm doing here … when we get to Menagerie, which should be pretty soon…" he answered the unvoiced question.
Menagerie was, breathtaking to say the least. White sandy beaches, tropical climate, green vegetation, and Faunus as far as the eye could see.
"I've never seen this many Faunus in one place!" Sun said marveling at the number of people. Usually, Faunus were few and far between in other towns, Vale and Vacuo had the most equally distributed Faunus to Human population out of the Four Kingdoms, and even that was stretching it.
"This is the one place everyone can feel safe, regardless of who, or what they are," Blake said proudly as they moved through the coastline marketplace.
"Is it always this… cramped?" Sun said looking at the closely packed population.
"Well… when you take all the Faunus in the world and dump them on an island that's two-thirds desert, then yeah… it tends to be a bit cramped…"
"You guys have desert?! What's wrong with that? A little desert never hurt anybody!" Sun said turning to her.
"The deserts here aren't like the ones back at Vacuo, they're crawling with dangerous Grimm and its practically uninhabitable…"
"Oh…" he deflated. The two reached the summit of the hill they were on and were now overlooking the entirety of the village. "I take it all back… this place is… beautiful… why would anyone wanna leave?"
"That's not the point Sun," Blake said getting a little angry now. "They gave us a small island and stuffed us here, and told us to shut up and make do. It will always be a reminder that we're… second class citizens…"
"Personally… I love it here, how I do miss this place…" A female voice said making the two teens whip their heads around. Behind them were two hooded figures, a short one, around five feet five inches tall, and a taller one, around five-feet nine inches, both female.
At first, Blake was confused about why some random cloaked lady was talking to her until the two figures got closer, and they tipped their heads so Blake could see their faces.
"Elain? Luna?!" She asked in disbelief.
-Somewhere in the Emerald Forest-
Nova awoke with a start, beads of cold sweat dripping down his forehead as he tried to sit up. The floor was hard and cold, with little moisture. He glanced around to find he was in a cave, it was barren save for the overhanging moss. The smell of burning wood and roasting fish permeated his nostrils.
"Oh, look who's finally awake," A male voice said causing the dragon to turn around. Behind him, in the darkness of the cave was a burning campfire, a few sticks of what looked to be river trout were roasting over the fire.
Nova was instantly on guard.
"Hmph, stop being so tense, is that how you show gratitude to the person who saved your life?" the man said again, and this time Nova could recognize the voice.
"A-Adam?" he asked hesitantly.
"The one and only," Adam said now coming into the light, standing above Nova. His mask was gone, leaving his scarred face in the open. "Here, you might want to toss these on…" he threw Nova a set of clothes, which caused the young dragon to glance down and realize he was wearing nothing but bandages over his chest, normally it wouldn't be a problem except he was actually a she.
"Hurry up… it's difficult to converse like this…" Adam said with a faint blush on his cheeks. Nova turned red and quickly donned the black shirt.
"W-What happened?" Nova asked, looking over his body, and to his surprise, his arm, that he thought was gone, was wrapped up tightly in bandages, still attached to him. "H-How…"
"I found you lying in a pool of your own blood, with your arm missing. Four broken ribs and I'm pretty sure knees weren't supposed to bend the way they were… At first, I didn't recognize you, thought some random girl was still alive in this place, I only figured it out when I heard you swearing vehemently."
Nova quirked his eyebrow, "Really? My swearing is what tipped you off?"
Adam chuckled, "Well there was that, and the Agniseki on your body…"
"The what?"
"The Agniseki, it's what our ancestors called the Fragment of Fire, that stone that was bonded to you," Adam explained.
Nova's eyes went wide and instantly began searching his person for the stone, only to come up empty. "Where is it?! What've you done with it?!" he was furious, glaring at Adam.
"Woah there… calm down, I've done nothing with your stone… in fact, it was the only thing that kept you alive. I healed you using this," He held out a small vial of blue liquid, "Rapid healing nano-machines, good for first aid, but it couldn't save the mortally wounded."
"Yeah you were crying in your sleep for days," A new voice said as the person entered through the mouth of the cave. It was Bell, carrying more fish.
"You! You're here too?" Nova said in disbelief.
"Yup," she said popping the 'p'. "I was the one taking care of yer bandages and stuff, so your decency as a woman is still preserved… if you even care about those things…"
Nova smiled embarrassed, "Ah… thanks?"
"You're welcome, and I fixed your little fancy bracelet for you… well fix is a relative term, techs too advanced to properly fix with what little I have but… it should hold out until you find a replacement or whatever… no idea what it does though…" she pointed to Nova's armlet.
The young dragon breathed a sigh of relief, "Ah thanks…" he pressed the button on the underside of the armlet, and a flash of orange overtook him as his body morphed back into that of a male.
"This feels better, now… um… how did you… fix my arm?" Nova said pointing to his left arm that was wrapped up in the sling.
Adam and Bell shared a glance, "We didn't…" he responded.
"What then how…"
"Just… unwrap it and find out I guess…"
Nova did as he was told and gently undid the sling, then unwrapped the bandages to reveal the most peculiar sight.
His left arm, all the way up to his elbow where it'd been removed, was almost like a new appendage.
The arm was fiery orange, much like his scales, except it was more of a leathery type of skin. There were small yellow markings, like lines that ran from the elbow down to the tips of his fingers. On the top of the hand, between his wrist and knuckles, sat the Agniseki, embedded deep into the hand with its smooth surface, and dragon symbol showing.
His fingers felt sharper and were more pointed. Upon trying to draw his claws out, the fingers themselves morphed into long pointed claws, that looked more like lethal daggers than actual claws.
"What the hell…?" he marveled as he turned his hand over to analyze it.
"As I said before, that stone is the only reason you're alive. While you were dying of your injuries, it latched onto your body and began fueling your aura. At first, we thought it was just healing you but, imagine our surprise when it actually regrew your limb and then fused with the arm. The Agniseki is now part of you… what that means I am unsure…" Adam explained.
"You called it, Agniseki... how did you come across that name?" the dragon looked to the older man with interest.
Adam folded his arms, "Onyx had a library, he was obsessed with the stones. Most of the text is in a language I can't even read, but one of the translated texts mentions the names of Fragments of Wind and Fire, the Aeroseki and Agniseki."
Nova studied him, "It didn't perhaps clue you in as to what happened to the Aeroseki or whatever? Any information on the other Fragments perhaps?"
"Sadly, no. As I said, I didn't know how to read the untranslated text... the only person who could translate it was your Flint, and by extension, Onyx."
Nova's eyes went wide, "You've met my dad? Where is he?!" he got up vigorously and clutched on to Adam's shoulders, his claws digging into the red-haired man's skin as he shook him.
Bell watched in amusement as the dragon fell back down in a heap, flinching in pain from his injuries. "Your father is being held our base in Vacuo, I wasn't supposed to give out that information but..."
"Vacuo?! I WAS RIGHT!" Nova fist-pumped, while the other two's sweatdropped.
Nova retracted his claws and turned to them, a serious look on his face, "So… why save me? What're you playing at?" he asked eyeing them. They weren't ones to just save someone on a whim.
Adam and Bell shared glances again, Adam sighed and threw him a piece of metal. Nova caught it and turned it over in his fingers. It was a small thin piece of electrical tubing, not thicker than a straw and no longer than a bottlecap. It had wires sticking out of the ends and what looked to be biological nerve connectors.
"That was in our necks," Adam said turning his head and showing Nova the nape of his neck, where there was a long scar.
"What's this got to do with me?" He asked.
"During our fight at Beacon, your scythe clipped the back of my neck when my aura was down, in just the right spot to destroy this thing. When I woke up there was a searing pain and I felt something under my skin, so naturally, I dug it out on my own accord…"
Nova paled at Adam's lack of self-care.
"This… thing, whatever it was… was controlling our minds. It fed us into blind loyalty like the brain produces serotonin, and whenever we had thoughts of rebellion it fed us into blind rage. Onyx, put these in here when he made us go through what he called enhancements…" Adam explained.
"The rest of us in Team BLDE, we all had them implanted I think, he made us take these awful surgeries where we'd sometimes even get whole limbs replaced for mechanical ones…" Bell said gesturing to her right arm, and then her left eye.
Nova shuddered. To make his comrades go through such horrible procedures, for his ambition. Onyx truly was the epitome of all evil.
"Wait, if you're here, doesn't that mean the rest of those guys are here too? BLDE?" Nova asked, looking around nervously, not wanting to meet Edan again.
Bell's face fell, "No… Edan, Dune, Lyme… they're dead…"
"Dead? How?" Nova asked wide-eyed.
"Onyx turned on us…" Adam explained.
"He said we outlived our usefulness to him… that we were tools without purpose… loose ends he needed to tie up…" Bell continued for him. "Us, and that Torchwick fellow, but… he burned wit the rest of them…"
Nova gaped, treating his allies as tools, betrayal. To think such a person existed, it made Grimm look like saints.
"That's horrible…" Nova mouthed, barely able to wrap his head around it all.
"Yeah well… you did try to warn us…" Adam said rubbing the back of his neck.
"So… what're you going to do now?" Nova asked.
"We can't go back to Onyx… but the Four Kingdoms see us as criminals… we're not sure what to do…" Bell answered honestly.
Nova looked at the pair. What he saw before him weren't terrorists with cruel hearts and black souls. No, what he saw were two Faunus who fell down the wrong path and were manipulated by cruel leaders. Unfairly enslaved and turned into weapons of war.
Nova sighed, "I have a suggestion, but I'm not sure you'll like it…"
"Shoot your shot, not like we have any better options…" Bell responded.
"Well… you could return to Menagerie. The White Fang faction under the leadership of Sienna Khan, they're still more or less uninfluenced by Onyx… you could try to convince her of his danger. Get her on our side, and turn over a new leaf for the White Fang… away from all this bloodshed and violence…" Nova explained his plan to them. This was his original idea, he was going to head to Menagerie himself and do it, but now that things have gone awry, all he wanted to do was get back to Ruby and the others.
Adam choked on air and began coughing, "E-Excuse me?!" he pounded his chest to settle cough.
"That's ludicrous!" Bell input.
"Not really… you still have the support of a lot of Faunus, if you reason with her then I'm sure you'll succeed…"
Adam sighed, "Your plan is insane… but it's viable…"
Bell blinked in surprise, "Adam you can't be serious…" his face was dead serious. She facepalmed. "We're doomed…"
-Mistral Forest, en route to Haven-
"I'm telling you we should call the team RNNJRH(Ranger), it makes sense," Ren said as he debated with Nora over the team name.
"Yeah but MNRNJR, sounds cooler (Moon Ranger)," Nora explained.
"That may be, but we're helping Ruby with her objective so that makes her the leader…" Ren countered.
"Guys!" Jaune half yelled, half-whispered. "We need to focus!"
At that moment the ground shook with the thunderous sound of heavy stomping. Trees were batted aside as Ruby flew out from the green canopy, firing shots of Crescent Rose in rapid succession, at what appeared to be a massive Grimm, clad in rock.
"ALRIGHT MOVE!" Jaune instructed and they all got into position. Nora and Ren stood atop a tree branch as Nora fired off shots from her grenade launcher
Ren dashed into the air and fired off a few rounds from his machine pistols but they were ineffective, so he tried blade attacks, which just bounced right off.
"Its hide is too thick!" Ren yelled as he dropped onto the ground.
Ruby continuously used her semblance pathing through the air, firing of anti-tank rounds in hopes to pierce its hide.
Hex roped around the side with Nitro and tried to hook its legs with her chains. The creature just moved the rocks around to avoid the binds.
Nitro began charging his fist, and while it was distracted, he came blitzing out of nowhere and smashing into its right leg.
"HELL YES!" he said in triumph only to be blindsided by a floating rock that then made its way to re-create the leg.
"FUCKING HELL THAT'S SO UNFAIR!" he yelled in protest, rubbing the back of his head.
"We need to draw its attention away from Ruby!" Ren instructed as the red reaper stood on the ground firing off at it. She swapped clips to lighting dust and stunned its arm, to little effect.
Stupid Ruby, lighting doesn't work on rocks! She cursed in her mind.
The creature slammed the lightning fist onto the ground sending the tear flying backward into a heap.
"We… need to come up with a better plan…" Jaune muttered as he had fallen on his face.
Nora readied her hammer and charged at the creature, with one mighty swing she blew its arm away. She would have celebrated her victory had the beast not use the rocks as ammunition to fire them at her. She destroyed one but was unprepared for the second volley. Thankfully Ruby in her speed managed to rescue her. Nitro used his semblance to knock them both aside before any more rocks could come crashing in their direction.
"Oi, one of you is really heavy…" Nitro groaned as he got out of the dogpile. "I think it's Nora…"
She responded with a resounding slam of her hammer on his head, "Never tell a girl she's fat!"
"I never said you were…" he returned to which she just hit him again.
"Okay, so one arm down… now what… fuck…" Jaune cursed as the arm that had been exploded, was now replaced by a giant Grimm arm. The spectral arm sleeved itself into a nearby tree.
"HIS ARM IS A TREE! ITS ARM IS A TREE!" Jaune yelled out as he ran for his life.
"Big mistake!" Ruby yelled out as she swapped to fire dust rounds and shot at the appendage. The tree caught on fire and began burning. "Yes!"
"NO! BIG MISTAKE!" Jaune screamed again as the creature now turned and brandished the flaming log as a weapon.
"Not again…" Ruby groaned as they made a break for cover. It felt like everything she was doing was just wrong… it worked out in her head but in reality, it just backfired, literally.
If only Nova were here… he'd know what do … he'd probably blow that thing to pile of ashes, or break it with his semblance… she almost began sulking at the remembrance of her boyfriend, unconsciously clinging on to the dragon tooth that hung around her neck.
Hex spotted this and felt sympathy for the young girl, "Ruby… I know, we all wish he were here to… but he's not, so right now we need to focus, what's our game plan?"
Ruby shook herself out of her stupor, "Yeah you're right…"
"It's protecting its face, I think its face is the weak point!" Ren said as he observed their fighting.
"We can't get to its face if its limbs keep getting in the way…" Nora pointed out.
"And we can't break its limbs because they keep coming back…" Hex pointed out.
Jaune began thinking, "What if we… knock out all its limbs at once, it'll give us a moment to get to its face!"
Nitro smirked, "Good idea blondie," he turned to Hex, "Got any thermal paste in that bag of yours?"
Hex pulled off her pack and began rummaging, then held out a few globs of grey paste, "Just enough for one shot."
The red-headed boy smirked, "That's all we need…"
Once they reformed positions, Hex used her chain to swing across the clearing and slapped the paste onto the creature's legs. While it was focused on her, Nitro charged up his gauntlets and aimed.
"I think its time this naughty Grimm get, grounded!" he yelled as he shot out at full blast, slamming his arms into the thermal paste blowing out its legs.
At that moment Ruby shot Nora with a charge of electricity, fueling her semblance. Together they made a petal burst dash for the creature's chest, and with a mighty swing of Mjolnir, the arms were blown off and in that split second, the Grimm disappeared from the center of the rock mass and dashed outward. All that was left was a hollow pile of smoldering rock.
"It's getting away!" Jaune yelled as he saw the Geist skulking its way back into the forest.
"I got this…" Ruby said and aimed with her sniper. At an impossible angle, one could swear the bullet curved as it shot right through the Grimm's mask, killing it instantly.
That night, the team set up camp after passing through a village. Jaune got a few upgrades to his armour and sword.
"What're the chances the airship at the next town is up and running?" Nitro asked as he poked the campfire.
Hex grimaced, "The village chief before said they haven't heard from Shion Village in a while, knowing our luck, I'd say it's pretty much negative…"
"I'm really starting to hate it when you give me the odds…" Nitro said shooting her a look of disdain.
The purplette just shrugged, "Hey, you asked…."
"Guys, come on, we need to rest while we can," Jaune said as he took up a spot on the ground next to them.
Ruby sat clutching the dragon's tooth, staring longingly into the fire. Her forlorn expression made the rest of them feel a pang of sadness as well.
"Hey… Ruby are you okay?" Nora asked looking concerned.
She blinked and tore her eyes away from the fire, though she still clutched her pendant, "Yeah… I'm fine… why?"
Nora, Ren, and Hex just gave each other knowing looks, "It's just that earlier, you froze up in the fight… you need to talk to us, it'll help you feel better…" Hex said placing a hand on her shoulder.
Ruby sighed and leaned on the hand, "Sorry guys, it's just… I can't help but think about him… wonder what it would be like if he were here with us right now… I just… miss him so much…"
"We miss him too," Hex said but Ruby interrupted her right after.
"I just… I feel like everything I'm doing is wrong like I can't be a leader without him…"
"Ruby, I may not have known Nova as you did, but I do know you. You're just as good as a leader as he was, don't sell yourself short…" Jaune said getting up from his cot.
"He used to tell me that all the time, he would go on and on saying, 'Ruby you're a leader with unbelievable potential' or something like that…,"
"Well I for one wish he was here to, so I could thank him personally…" Jaune returned, staring at the campfire as if the flames were a manifestation of their friend. "If it weren't for him, Pyrrha wouldn't be alive right now… so more than anything, I just wish I could have at least thanked him…"
Ruby laughed, "You know, he'd say to take your thanks and stuff it back where it came from because he was just doing his job of protecting a friend…" she mused staring at the fire as well.
"Yeah, that sounds like something he'd say," Niro snorted with a smile.
"Well enough of that, we need to get some sleep, tomorrow's a long day of more hiking…" Hex said as she tucked into her sleeping bag.
The rest of them just groaned in response.
-White Fang HQ Vacuo-
A tall white-haired man in a lab coat sat at his desk, stacks of paper, blueprints, and balls of paper were strewn about the flat top in disarray. His eyes were tired and almost lifeless, yet if one was observant, they could see that beyond it all he had a fire burning inside him, a refusal to give in.
Bortz Flint Flareheart, commonly referred to as Flint, since it was awkward to call him Bortz, ran his hand through his messy head of hair before dragging it down his face. "Some top engineer I am, White Fang has me cooking up all these weapons, and for what? Just to load more projects on to me..." he muttered to himself. He'd been trying to delay his work as long as possible but his excuses for stalling had run dry, Onyx was growing more impatient by the day...
His lab was highly advanced, isolated from the main base facility where he worked at the relay command of some Remus Stein, one of Onyx's favourite lap dogs. He didn't want to work for this madman, far from it, but he had no choice. The White Fang held his wife captive and threatened to kill her if he didn't work. He hadn't even seen his children in nine years, Onyx told him that he had people monitoring them, and if he ever stepped out of line then his children as well were as good as dead. There was no evidence to prove the White Fang High Commander was telling the truth, but as a father, he was not even remotely willing to risk it.
Despite being was was essentially a slave worker, he was treated somewhat humanely, perhaps a result of being the primary brains of their weapons research, he was at least given meals and a sizeable lab with basic commodities, including a small television.
Sighing to himself he flicked on the tv, it had been a long time since he'd observed the outside world.
"In today's news, we finally have a report of the events that happened in Vale," the news reporter said, now Flint was interested. "Suitably titled, The Fall of Beacon, what was originally the final round of the Vytal Tournament Festival quickly turned 'Grimm' as thousands of the beasts flooded the Kingdom after audiences witnessed the 'death' of a student. From that point on, the audio and video feeds were taken control of by a third party, and stirred the negative emotions of the viewers, driving what seemed to be the worst Grimm invasion in the last century. Atlas robotic soldiers were remotely hacked and turned on the people, killing women, children, men, none were spared."
Flint felt his stomach turn, "Holy shit Onyx... what the fuck have you done..." though his words blamed Onyx, he to felt responsible as by his hand did the White Fang have the tools to carry out their mission. Even though the news didn't mention them, the entire fleet of White Fang ships missing on that day, it wasn't hard to piece it together.
"There were numerous casualties during the invasion, survivors recount the last moments of Beacon as they held a last-minute defence line for the citizens. Among the confirmed dead was Beacon's own Headmaster, Ozpin," the reporter continued.
The engineer gasped, "Well I'll be damned... they fucking got to you Oz... they actually got to you... how long until your next re-incarnation, old friend?" he spoke aloud to no one in particular.
"Adding to the deaths of notable figures, Nova Alexandrite Flareheart," Flint felt his heart stop, and his body shaking. The reports must be a mistake... right?
"The prince of the Flareheart Royal Family, who the entire world thought was dead, had re-appeared as a student of Beacon. His time was however tragically cut short as he was killed in action during the fight. His sister, Luna Sapphire Flareheart, and mother Elain Flareheart, among the list of persons considered missing." the screen then shifted to display clips of their battles in the arena, the interviews of Nova, and Flint couldn't deny, no matter how much he wanted to, that the persons before him, were, in fact, his family.
The sound of the tv, long forgotten as Flint let his scroll drop the floor, his heart shattering like smashed glass. The family he'd been working so hard to see again... were gone...
He hoped to god that this was a bad dream, but no matter where he looked, what he did, he was faced with the earth-shattering reality. All this work he'd done, all those weapons he'd produced... they were for nothing...
He was so lost in his own world he did not see the door to his lab open, and Onyx stepped inside.
"Flint, how goes the..." his words faltered when he saw the news report. "Fuck, I knew we should've stifled your access to this stuff..." he saw the faded look on Flint's face. The fire of life had died in his eyes and the man was naught but an empty shell.
Onyx sighed, "I was afraid it would come to this... so now you know that your family is no longer in our grasp..."
"Tell me..." Flint said, his tired eyes staring at the large man, "How did Nova die...?"
Onyx's flat look turned to a sinister smile, "The fool made an attempt to save his friend's life, and at that moment I cut him down... with the very blade you forged..."
Flint felt all the blood leave his veins, "YOU MONSTER! I'LL KILL YOU!" Flint launched himself at Onyx, but the bear Faunus just laughed and caught him mid-air by the throat.
"I'm not a monster... I'm just a thorough businessman... you on the other hand... you created Draco Belthor yourself, you forged the weapon that cut down your own son... the weapon that slaughtered the rest of your family... you're the real monster here..." Onyx said glaring into Flint's eyes.
Flint felt the fury drain from him, perhaps it was the grief or the guilt, but he accepted Onyx's words. It was true, he forged the sword, he created the weapon that killed them... he was the cause of this... he needed to repent for his sins...
"Well, I think it's needless to say if you don't continue working for us... then we will have no choice but to kill you..." Onyx threatened.
Flint paid him no heed, "With them gone... I have nothing else to live for," with one swift motion Flint kicked his shoe against Onyx's belt and lifted a knife that was strapped to the larger man's belt.
"WHAT ARE YOU...!" Onyx roared but halted when Flint unsheathed the knife and plunged it into his own heart. Blood began to pour from the wound as all life left the older man's body, Onyx watched in shock as Flint fell limp on the floor, blood pooling beneath him.
"Nova, Luna, Elain... I'm coming to meet you..." Flint said as his voice died out, staring up at the sky.
Once Onyx overcame his shock he roared with laughter. "RAHAHAHA! Flint you madman! I didn't think you had the guts to do it!" he walked over and pulled out the knife, blood spewing out of the wound. In the last breaths of consciousness that were in Flint's eyes, Onyx leaned down and looked at him.
"If you wanted to die... then you should have gone for your head..." he chuckled before channeling his power and forcing a mass of black into the open wound. The bleeding stopped, keeping Flint within an inch of his life. "Well now... you're no good to me like this..."
He pulled out his scroll and dialed, "Remus... yes, prepare the extraction chamber, I think it's time we test out your little prototype..."
If you are interested, the name of the Fragment of Fire, Agniseki, derives from the combination of Agni- the Sanskrit word for fire, and shortened form of the word Houseki- the Japanese term for a gem or precious stone. Aeroseki is self-explanatory. following the same concept.
