Accompanied by two Knight-130s androids with their automatic weapons held at attention, an Atlesian Captain slowly approached state-run orphanage in the southern part of the Kingdom of Atlas, and with him were two eight-year-old twins, a boy, and a girl. Both were shivering, and were wrapped in blankets to shield themselves from the brisk winter night. He stopped and knocked on the door, then looked down at the pair as he waited in silence.
The boy was looking back up at him with uncertainty in his eyes, while the girl huddled protectively over her brother. The door slowly opened to reveal a woman who greeted them with a smile, and gasped as she realized who the Captain was. She then quickly opened the door wider for the Captain as well as the children, and hastily ushered them into another room. He turned back and crouched down so that he was at the same height as the two children.
"You'll be safe here, alright?" He told them with a smile in the hopes that it would get them to brighten up, but their only response was to hang their heads. The boy began to cry to himself silently while the sister slowly wrapped her blanket around his shoulder and tried to comfort him. The Captain's smile faded upon seeing this, and he looked away to spare himself from having to look at their crestfallen faces. When the receptionist had returned, she nodded her head then pulled him away for a few moments, but before he left, he turned back to the kids and waved a hand to signal for them to wait where they were.
The twins sat down on some chairs that were set up in a row next to the entrance of the orphanage's foyer. The sister hugged her little brother again and slowly petted him in an attempt to make him stop crying as he looked up at her with tears still rolling down his cheeks, then leaned into her embrace. Keeping him hidden in the blankets that she had wrapped him in, she looked up to see the Captain signing something on a Scroll, then a physical copy on a sheaf of paper pinned to a clipboard.
"Where did you find these two, sir?" the receptionist asked him as quietly as she could but was unaware that the sister could hear her.
"There were calls about two children hiding in the alleyways along Westvale Street in Mendak," he said quietly, still looking down as he finished writing down a few more signatures.
"At first they were ignored," he said as he flipped pages, scanning over the paperwork idly, "but after a few more calls came in over the next couple of days, I was sent in to investigate," he turned and looked back to the two kids, to see that the boy had fallen asleep in his sister's arms while she stared back at him. "I found them picking through some garbage cans, looking for food."
As he spoke, another man entered the room from a different doorway, and the Captain stood and saluted. The other man, whom the children would later learn was a Major, saluted back, then offered his hand to the Captain.
"Davros," he said, his arm outstretched.
"Ironwood," said the Captain as he reached out to shake Davros's hand.
"Sir. I brought you two new ones." Ironwood said as he stood straight, turning his head to look at the two children, and saw that the girl staring back at them. The man slowly approached, towering over them, but the girl instead clutched her brother close to her, and narrowed her eyes defensively at the stranger, this Major Davros.
"This one seems ready to fight, and that can either work for her, or against her," he said with a grin before turning back around to walk back to the receptionist's desk.
"They have been through enough, sir. I humbly ask that you please go easy on them," Ironwood replied with his hands behind his back, and still standing straight, but had his eyes narrowed at the man.
"You know what kind of place this is, Ironwood. We do not coddle the children, and we certainly do not play favorites," he responded and attempted to look down upon Captain Ironwood. After a few moments of silence, Ironwood nodded, then turned to leave the institution, and just as he was about to open the door, he stopped to look back at the children, then squatted beside them.
"Everything will be fine. I promise."
0-RWBY-0
"We didn't know what happened. Maybe it was something that we did, or perhaps our parents just couldn't take care of us anymore. All we know is that they left us in some alley, and Ironwood, now 'General' Ironwood, found us and brought us to one of the many orphanages in southern Atlas, outside the city of Mendak," Vaughn explained to Haiiden and Zed while Cecilia still sat silently and stared down at her bandaged hand with an almost glazed expression, as if she was lost in her memories as she examined the faint patch of red upon her bandaged palm.
Zed was leaning against the wall next to Haiiden's bed with his arms crossed in front of him and nodded as Vaughn paused in recounting of the twins' story. Haiiden was leaning forward in his seat with his elbows on his knees and stared into nothingness, with his eyes narrowed as he tried to visualize the people and places that Vaughn described, and found that many of them matched some of the images in his mind that was infused into him when his Semblance was activated.
"Interesting that a man like Ironwood would even take the time to help children, let alone escort them to an orphanage," he said with a bit of bitterness in his voice, which made Vaughn slightly confused and tilted his head at the comment.
"It wasn't what you would ordinarily consider an orphanage, sir; the rules governing these kinds of institutions in Atlas are– they're different than the ones here in Vale," Vaughn continued bitterly, but Haiiden looked up with a curious look at him, which had replaced his angry expression.
"Different? How?" Haiiden asked him as he shifted in position and turned his body to face the twin.
"As you may well know, the Atlesian military is the largest and strongest in all of Remnant. However, they didn't get that way strictly through volunteerism, especially after the Faunus War, where many children were left orphaned." Zed froze in place and held his breath as he looked to Vaughn inquisitively.
"Currently, only fifty percent of the Altasian military are volunteers. Another 20 or 25 percent of them are conscripts. As for the remaining members, well, let's just say that the state has control of all the orphanages in Atlas, and they think of it as a 'long-term investment'. If the kids don't get adopted by a family before they reach the age of twelve, the appropriate age, they are automatically drafted into the military of Atlas," Vaughn sighed to himself and blinked before a sarcastic smirk appeared on his face.
"Well, I am sure you can guess what happened next."
0-RWBY-0
"Quick! Come see this!" exclaimed one girl to her friend who was sitting down and playing with her dolls in one of the girls' sleeping chambers. She quickly looked back then hid them between her mattress and bed frame then ran to join her companion, who was waiting for her at the top of the staircase. They both ran down quickly to see that other children were running in the general direction of the building's gymnasium. Upon reaching its entrance, they were blocked by a group of children and young tweens; the two began to push their way through the throng of murmuring and screaming orphans. They continued to press against the crowd until they finally reached the center, where everyone was gathered in a large circle around another, a small group of kids.
"Another fight?" one asked the other, but sounds of cheering and as well as angry remarks almost drowned out her question. The other girl just shrugged and watched what was going on in the middle of the gathering; from where she was standing, she could see that in the middle of the floor was a young boy who was holding his stomach and lying on his side, while two tweens were holding a girl by her arms as an older tween named Rickard was hitting her. One jab to her stomach, then another to her cheek and one blow after another, but she kept forcing herself up with her head held high.
"Come on Cecil, we were just having a bit of fun with your brother," Rickard said with a laugh as his buddies sneered at the remark, and tightened their grip on Cecilia's arms. Rickard then went in for another jab to her stomach, which made her reel forward with a grunt, but she forced herself up and continued to look up at her aggressor with defiance. The boy just smirked at her and turned to face Vaughn, who was still on the floor, clutching at his stomach.
"Seriously Vaughn, your sister can't always come to your rescue every time we do this," he laughed down at him and then turned back to Cecilia while still smirking.
"Tell me, Cecil: how does it feel to always be mistaken for a boy?" he asked with another laugh, which was then joined by half of the other kids who were watching. Due to the dress code, most of the girls in the home had to cut their hair, but it wasn't too short, and only went just past their ears. She continued to look down at Rickard with a slight grin of her own.
"I don't know. You tell me," she responded acidly, at which point the room then filled with laughter at the insult. The smirk slowly disappeared from his face as he looked around at the crowd, then gritted his teeth angrily and moved in for another punch to her stomach, at which she slumped as the two boys held her up. After she got up again, he went in for another strike, this time aimed for her cheek, but she managed to lean back and narrowly dodged it. She jumped up, using her pinned arms as leverage, then with both feet she kicked him away, and as she landed she brought both feet crashing down on the ankle of one of the boys, who was holding her right arm.
A loud snap could be heard as her foot inflicted a compound fracture of his ankle, the bone protruding through his skin, and blood seeping through the tent the bone made in his pant leg, which made the boy, Stephan, shriek in pain, then, as he had loosened his grip upon her arm in his surprise, she brought her elbow up to ram it on the bridge of his nose, breaking it as well. He lost his grip on her arm completely and she shook it free, then shoved him away; then the boy still holding her other arm, named Topher, tugged at her, at which point Cecilia rammed her fist on to the bridge of his nose, shattering it as well, which forced him to let go of her. As Topher staggered away while clutching at his face, she stepped forward and placed her foot behind his leg, then grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him forward so that he tripped over it, crashing to the ground, then rolled on his side, clutching his wrist in pain.
Had these children been taught to spread their Auras, none of these injuries would have happened, as the field the Aura created would have protected them, but Cecilia was a one-woman wrecking ball, and the boys had gone much too far in their bullying of her brother today, and she was determined to teach them a very painful, and very permanent lesson.
As she gloated, Cecilia was caught off guard and forced into a spin as a hit connected to her left cheek from the bigger boy. As she regained her footing, she noticed Stephan had gotten shakily to his feet, despite his broken ankle and, hopping on one leg, he then jumped on to Cecilia's back. She could feel warm blood spattering the back of her neck as she tried to shake him off, but he got a firm hold around her neck, so she decided to jump back and fall down on her enemy. The bodies slammed to the floor with a loud "thud", which rang throughout gymnasium, and the wind was knocked out of her enemy, and the loud snap she heard as he slammed into the ground. She then brought her elbow down upon his already broken nose, spraying blood everywhere, and left him an unconscious heap as she got to her feet.
Once she was standing again, Topher ran up to throw a right hook, but she caught him by the wrist and spun her body into his, whipping her head back on to his brow, splitting open his scalp. As he reeled back, Cecilia then spun again, this time underneath his right arm and twisted it to keep him braced in his current position, which obviously dislocated his shoulder, and he howled in pain. She kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over and knocking the wind out of him, then as soon as her foot landed on the floor, she brought her other knee up to his already bloody brow. She let go of his arm, then grabbed hold of his hair and pulled him back over her knee, bringing her elbow down on to his neck, then using her other hand to grab his shirt, she flipped him over and brought her knee up to the back of his neck. The collected children winced and chattered amongst themselves at this excruciating display of violence against Stephan and Topher. Some turned away for a moment.
She pulled Topher back up and pushed him towards Rickard, watching as he caught his comrade in his arms, and the body was limp as he was barely conscious. Letting Topher fall to the floor, Cecilia's aggressor looked up to see her running towards him, and was too late to act as she attempted to tackle him to the ground. She pushed him back as she wrapped her arms around his torso and tried to lift him up and off the ground, but every time his feet left the floor he would then twist in her arms, allowing him to plant his feet back down on the floor as she lost her grip on him. When he finally was able to get a firm footing on the polished hardwood, he brought his elbow down on to Cecilia's spine, which forced her to fall onto one knee. He then leaned forward over her to try and wrap his arms around her waist but Cecilia jumped back up and whipped her head up into his.
He reeled back from the blow, and she went in for a right hook to follow it up, but he slapped it away and slammed both of his palms against her ears. She staggered back as her eyesight blurred, and she was disoriented. She was forced back even more as he struck her in the face with his closed fist, and then a jab to her diaphragm. She had the wind knocked out of her for a moment, then desperately gasped for breath; she instinctively brought her arms up to cover the sides of her head while keeping a low profile, then twisted her body to block every incoming hit, and doubled over in anticipation of a body blow. He tried to go for another hit to her face, but was blocked again; out of frustration, he tried to grab Cecilia by the hair.
She surprised him by grabbing his wrist, then spun towards his body and struck him in the face with her elbow. She spun around and then slammed her other elbow into his stomach, and then kicked her foot into his knee, which made him collapse against her as he cried out in pain. She spun to her right, gaining enough energy to kick his other foot, which caused him to lose his balance completely, and forced him into the air. Finally, with her free hand she grasped Rickard by the throat and slammed him down on to his back, splitting his scalp; blood began to pool under his head as he lay motionless. The crowd of children gasped as they watched in horror, and others shouted rude comments while a few more cheered. Cecilia smiled at her victory but it was short lived as she turned around to see her brother slowly getting back up on his knees.
"Vaughn!" she shouted and tried to run to help him but was stopped when someone grabbed her by the arm. Her instincts kicked in and she turned to meet the new threat with a raised fist but stopped immediately as she stared in fear when she realized who it was.
"That is enough!" yelled the man who was in charge of the orphanage, Major Davros.
0-RWBY-0
"So they take care of you, and in return, they train you to fight for the Atlesian military?" Zed asked with his eyes widened in understanding, then shook his head in disbelief and wiped his nose with his thumb.
"Yeah, unless you were lucky enough to be adopted before the age of twelve, but people want cute little kids. Not tweens trained in hand-to-hand combat, and kids who get bruises on a daily basis," Vaughn pointed out while standing with his hands behind his back.
"The Major who was in charge of the orphanage would say that there was no favoritism under his command, however, everyone knew that this was a lie. He would choose those whom he believed to be the best candidates for any experimental military programs or any well-known military families. He had it in for my sister, and to this day we have no idea why. He would often try to break her, but she always held strong, which made her have to fight that much harder for us both, and this made life even more difficult for us."
Zed nodded slowly, then frowned as he empathized with the twins, while Haiiden also had a sullen look about him; he remembered the training he was given by Ozpin and Glynda as well as the other teachers in the academy as he grew up. However, the difference here was that he was nurtured by people who cared, while Vaughn and Cecilia only had one another to depend on.
0-RWBY-0
"Stephan Merlot. Broken nose, two cracked ribs, concussion, and a compound fracture of the tibia, twelve stitches. Rickard Adams. Fractured skull, swelling of the cerebral cortex, concussion, seventeen stitches. And your masterpiece, Topher Greene. Broken wrist, broken nose, dislocated shoulder, concussion, twenty-nine stitches, and the piece de resistance, a fracture of the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. Doctor Maynard says he's going to be in a motorized wheelchair and at least partially paralyzed from the neck down for at least a year, if not forever." Major Davros read from a clipboard as he pushed Cecilia along in front of him by the collar of her shirt as they approached his office.
"Wait! What about Vaughn?" Cecilia cried out as she turned around to face the Major after being bodily thrown into his office.
"Who cares? And don't worry about him! You should worry about yourself right now!" he growled at her, and stomped past, then swung around his desk and sat down. He took a pen and began to scribble onto a form while gritting his teeth.
"Worry about myself? I'm fine! It's my brother who is in the medical ward because of those bastards!" she exclaimed with a stomp of her foot and balled her tiny hands into fists. The Major noticed this aggressive posture then pushed himself out of his seat, then approached Cecilia and slapped her hard across the face with the palm of his hand. She looked back after turning her head to face him, her hand covering her cheek with a shocked expression on her face before raising her chin in defiance.
"Because of you, three of our best are in the ward as well! Two of them may not even recover!" He retorted while still looking down at her, and his hands were formed into fists as well as he raised his visage to glare at her. She shook her head as he spoke, and smiled back at him.
"Those were your best? I took them out easily," she said as she stepped forward him with a hint of cockiness in the step. His eyes widened and his knuckles whitened as he tightened his fists.
"They were our top candidates to send over to the military families. Of course, you won't know what that would mean since no one would want to take in an arrogant, recalcitrant little punk like YOU," he spat with a smirk. "I groom soldiers for the military, and what do I have to show for it? Three of my best candidates are in the ward, as well as one failure, and it's all because of one headstrong quim," he turned back to walk around his desk, and sat down quietly with his hand over his eyes, rubbing them with his index finger and thumb. After a moment, he picked his pen back up again and began to scribble on some paper forms again."It's almost that time of year again. During the next few months, military families will come from all over the country to this institution, in the hopes that they will take a good child," Cecilia shifted in her position and swallowed at the thought, and wished that she and her brother could be taken, or at least that Vaughn would.
"Don't worry, no one will take you or your brother. Nobody wants a weakling, nor a girl who doesn't follow orders," he said as if he saw her nervousness, or perhaps he was just being cruel.
"Vaughn is not weak! He was just outnumbered!" she cried out at him and gritted her teeth. He ignored her as his Scroll pinged, and noticed that he had just received a message; he looked down for a moment to read what it had to say.
"Come, we are going to check on the three you've landed in the ward; we can also check on your brother if we have enough time."
With the Major accompanying her, Cecilia slowly peeked into the medical ward of the orphanage and scanned the room hoping to spot her brother. At first, she couldn't see him, so she stepped in slowly and began to walk past the rows of beds. A nurse touched her on the shoulder and slowly guided her to Vaughn's bed, and she saw that he had a black blindfold over his eyes, and she gritted her teeth to keep herself from crying as she slowly took his hand, but there was no response.
"What's wrong with him?" she demanded in a raised voice, but the nurse only hushed her and pulled her away from her brother when she attempted to remove the cloth from his eyes.
"Sis?" Vaughn quietly asked with a quiver in his voice as he woke up and began to reach out for her. Cecilia tried not to make any sound that would indicate concern, but couldn't help but breathe in quickly as she reached out to hold her brother's hand.
"Sis, I'm sorry. I did my best against the two of them but then Rickard came in and blindsided me," he explained while holding her hand, but didn't turn to face her.
The nurse took the opportunity to speak up as she consulted his chart. "The injuries he had received have damaged his eyes; he has detached retinas and damage to his optic nerves. He was complaining of blurry vision as well as black spots while we treated him, so we brought in Doctor Maynard to check up on him," she turned to the Major and showed him a couple graphs on her Scroll, showing films of his skull with a fracture on one side as well as a graph of his brain.
"This is a serious situation that will take some time to fix, and although we might not be able to fully mend his sight, we can at least save him from going blind," the nurse explained to the Major while he looked down to see that Cecilia let out a sigh of relief. "A private hospital would be able to cure him, but with our resources, we can only do so much."
0-RWBY-0
Over the next couple of months, the doors to the orphanage had been opened to families, as well as military recruiters to enter the institution.
"Remember, I want you on your best behavior when they arrive," she remembered Major Davros telling her with a hushed voice, which was mixed with a growl. She stood straight beside her brother, who had finally been released from the ward but had to squint just to be able to see properly. Doctor Maynard had requested glasses for him, but as a Doctor contracted by the military, he still had to follow orders, especially when the Major had denied the request. He then asked to stay and keep a close eye on the boy, in case complications were to arise, which the Major reluctantly granted, but only after the Doctor added that it would give him an opportunity to personally oversee Topher Greene's physical therapy and rehabilitation. The rows of children stood straight and greeted the visitors with a salute, with the tallest standing in the back while the shorter ones stood in front.
Cecilia stood with a growing feeling in her chest, like what she imagined it felt like to ride a roller coaster, while she watched anxiously as each family approached and walked past her and Vaughn. She felt almost defeated when the last of the families left but still felt happy for those who were taken, as they were the lucky ones. However, this was only the start on this particular day, as an inspecting officer came to check on the Major's progress since it was also that time of year where the "draftees" who had come of age would be taken by the military. Finally, it was also a chance to check on the children's training, as he visited each institution. They rounded up all the older children from the orphanage, and set them up in the gymnasium, with the inspecting officer, a Captain, sitting on a chair to the side; he watched as the children were gathered at the center. Cecilia turned to notice another man was accompanied by another officer and saw that he didn't wear grey like the inspector or the Major, but instead, wore blue. Her mind snapped back to the Major as he whistled and watched as he approached the center of the gym, then stood before everyone.
"Ok privates, you know what time of year it is, and you know that I will be your worst enemy for the next few days!" he yelled out to the crowd while keeping his hands behind his back. He then began to pace back and forth as he quickly scanned the children's faces as he passed them by.
"You will do exactly as I say! Remember: you are soldiers! You follow orders! You know what that means? You are dogs!" he yelled out again but this time with a smirk. "Do you understand?"
"Sir yes, sir!" The children exclaimed in unison and clicked their heels together as they stood straight and at attention.
"Good!" He then pulled his hand from behind his back and raised it in the air to reveal a piece of metal in his hand.
"I am also feeling especially generous today, so when one of you dogs does something right, you will get a nice reward!" He then pressed his thumb against the metal to make a clicking sound that made Vaughn's head shoot up. The Major noticed this, however, and smirked at him as he stepped forward to point at Vaughn.
"I see someone already likes it!" He yelled out, then motioned for him to step forward; Vaughn swallowed nervously as he walked out of formation. The Major then turned his head to motion for another to step forward, and it was Stephan, one of the tweens who had beaten him up a couple months before, the lackey of Rickard's who hadn't ended up in a motorized wheelchair, that is. As he stepped forward, he had a smirk on his face while looking down at Vaughn, and with his hands on his sides.
"Let's make this a little more exciting though, shall we?" he then motioned for Rickard to come up as well as Cecilia, and as they approached, some of the staff handed a wooden rod to each child. Vaughn and Cecilia stood side by side while holding their weapons and watched as the older tween approached to the center and stood beside his comrade.
"Sir, I advise you to let Vaughn sit this one out, as he still hasn't fully recovered," Doctor Maynard whispered to the Major while he inputs something into his Scroll. The Major was smiling as the kids stood ready, and rolled his eyes at the Doctor's request. Watching with a grin as each contestant stood in front of him with their weapons ready to attack, then whistled to signal the start of the match.
The two boys rushed in on the twins, so Cecilia decided to fight head-on and likewise rushed in, while Vaughn hesitated at first, but then proceeded to back her up. Cecilia swung, and it connected with her opponents' rods, Rickard pushed her away and countered with a swing, which she parried. As she deflected the attack, she spun and swung low for her Stephan's legs, but missed as he jumped over her rod, and ran towards Vaughn. Vaughn braced himself by holding his rod with one hand on each end as his opponent wound up for a strike and swung at him heavily. The gym rang as the wooden rods clashed together, and the force of the attack made Vaughn stagger to his right. As he tried to regain his footing, he heard his opponent's rod cut through the air, ducking just as it passed over Vaughn's head, bringing up his rod and ramming the end of it into his Stephan's stomach.
"Good!" The inspector called out and clicked on the metal piece again, which then made Vaughn pause for a moment as he saw that his vision was clear again. During his distraction, Stephan regained his breath and struck Vaughn in the back of the head, which forced him down on to his knees as Doctor Maynard winced and shook his head. Stephan then kicked him in the ribs, which forced him to fall on to his back while the older child stood over him.
"Sir, I can't stress this enough: if you let this continue there is a chance that Vaughn may go blind!" Doctor Maynard exclaimed, and upon hearing this, Cecilia turned away from Rickard to see that her brother was on the floor, but was slowly picking himself up. He blinked a few times as his sight slowly became dark but somehow was still able to see.
0-RWBY-0
"Oh yeah, so that's when you first discovered your Semblance, huh?" Zed asked with a grin that was similar to the one he had when he saw Vaughn fight against Sky. Haiiden couldn't help but show off a similar grin and looked back up at Vaughn.
"Echolocation. We still don't know much about Semblances, but mine was later discovered to be one of the passive ones; it's always on, in other words. I often wonder how long it would have taken me to discover my Semblance if my eyesight hadn't gone bad." As he spoke, Vaughn brought his hand up to his face and on his glove were two pieces of metal, one on the index finger and another on the thumb. He snapped them together and a loud "CLICK" could be heard throughout the room.
0-RWBY-0
Vaughn slowly got up, but was frozen as he was still confused as to what he was seeing, everything seemed dark, yet he still saw everything with crisp detail. Cecilia smiled as he got up but it quickly disappeared as she noticed his glazed stare. Just as she was about to run over to help, Rickard got back up and swung his rod, ramming it behind her knee. The Major clicked again and Vaughn saw a wave resonate in his vision, watching it pass by objects and mapping the room around him. He then fell to the floor again thanks to another hit to his head, but this time his vision remained unaffected and still saw the wave echo across the room with a ringing in his mind. Rickard then took his rod and placed it over Cecilia's neck then began to pull her up to hold her in place, so she could watch helplessly as Stephan took him apart. Stephan ignored Vaughn for now, then proceeded to approach Cecilia, and jammed the end of his rod into her stomach.
"As usual Cecil, you're on your own, no thanks to your pathetic brother," she tried to regain her breath, and kept her eyes narrowed at him, but Rickard blinked, and then looked past Stephan. Vaughn took a deep breath and stood up; as the ringing began to subside, he used whatever he was able to see and turned toward his sister.
"I see this mutt still has some fight in him," Major Davros exclaimed, and shrugged as he clicked again, while Vaughn watched as another wave mapped the room around him. Snapping his attention back to the Stephan, who had just finished winding back and swung down at Vaughn; the boy countered by bringing up his rod with both hands. As the rods connected, Vaughn guided the attack and moved Stephan's rod out of the way before stepping forward to butt the end of his rod into Stephan's stomach. Enraged, Rickard pushed Cecilia away and moved to help his comrade, but Cecilia stepped forward as well to swing under Stephan's legs. He complemented his sister's attack by swinging his rod down; the strike brought Stephan crashing to the floor, and Cecilia turned to counter Rickard by blocking his desperate strike. It left him wide open, she brought her rod up to his face and jammed the end of it into his right eye socket as hard as she could, eliciting a shriek from him as he dropped his rod and covered his face, protectively. Vaughn, for his part, jumped in and cracked his rod against the back of Rickard's neck as hard as he could, breaking it in two, which sent the tween sprawling to the floor, unconscious.
With both opponents down, Cecilia smiled at her little brother, who was now looking around him with a blank expression and noticed his breath quickening. She reached out to grab at him and was pulled away by the Major.
"That's enough," he said with a growl and signaled the end of the match. "Pathetic."
"Major," they both heard and turned to face the officer in blue, who was now standing and looking down at him. "Let go of the child."
"Yes, sir." The Major's eyes widened as he looked back between Cecilia and his superior, and slowly let go of her arm. She quickly turned to run back to Vaughn and held him by both arms while he tried to move them up to hold her as well.
"Sis, I can't see!" she swallowed and shifted in position as she turned to Doctor Maynard, who had already ordered stretchers for the fighters. They quickly put the two tweens onto theirs first, with Rickard, who had regained consciousness, groaning as he held his hand over his ruined eye, with blood trickling from between his fingers. Then they helped guide Vaughn on to his stretcher, while another nurse offered to take Cecilia as well, but she refused and watched as they pulled her brother away. As they exited the gymnasium, she noticed the officer in blue as he watched them cart her brother off, and turned back to make eye contact with Cecilia before walking away.
0-RWBY-0
Vaughn sat silently as he heard the groans of the two tweens as they were being treated, as well as whispers. He tried to guess as to what they were talking about, but it was apparent that they were talking about him since he could clearly hear his name being mentioned several times. The calm was then broken as someone barged in to the ward and stomped up to Vaughn's bed, and he listened as the footfalls came closer, before stopping right in front him. Vaughn could hear heavy breathing as if someone was trying to keep their anger bottled up, which was then drowned out by another set of footfalls, but this time, they sounded a little more urgent.
"Sir, I beg of you, let me treat him now! If we don't, his condition will become permanent!" The voice belonged to Doctor Maynard, Vaughn was certain.
"Oh, you may treat him, just not right now. Let that be his punishment," he heard the all-too-familiar voice of the Major.
"Punishment?" Vaughn heard as he noticed a third voice enter into the conversation, but this one he did not recognize.
"Pray tell, Major Davros, what has he done that was so terrible as to deserve this 'punishment?'" There was no response, but instead, Vaughn heard feet shuffling nervously, which he thought was weird since he had never heard it so clearly before.
"Doctor, belay the Major's order and do what you must; but YOU Major, meet with me in your office IMMEDIATELY."
"Y-yes, sir," Major Davros's voice sounded cowed.
Cecilia sat in her bed that night, as she waited for Vaughn to return from the ward. Watching as some of the younger kids were playing with their toys that they kept hidden, while some of the older teens began to pack up since they were being conscripted into the military. There were many kids in the orphanage, and other than the assemblies such as the one she had just been a part of, the most she had seen at one time was roughly fifty, although it was rumored that the institution housed over three hundred in the various wings. It was sheer luck that any of them were ever taken by a family.
She sat and huddled close to herself at the thought while keeping her arms wrapped around her legs. There was a knock on the door, which she ignored, but then heard someone call out her name. Turning her head to see that it was the receptionist motioning for her to follow. As she approached, she noticed a big smile on her face as she guided Cecilia to the Major's office. She hesitated at first but as she entered, she raised her brow to not see the Major sitting at the desk, but inspecting Captain, as well the officer in blue, both of whom stood in front of the desk.
"Cecilia?" the man in blue asked with a soft voice that seemed to lull her into a sense of comfort and she slowly approached the voice. She quickly looked back at the Captain, who at first was looking down at her, then smiled softly.
"I take it you don't know who this is, huh?" the Captain asked her while motioning a hand towards the other man. She quickly looked him up and down then crossed her arms.
"Should I know?" she responded while trying to wear a mask of confidence. The man chuckled and looked back to the Captain, who replied with a raised brow and a smile.
"What a strong child," The officer in blue said to himself as he looked back down at Cecilia then leaned forward to match her height. "I am Colonel Anatoliy Sceryei."
Cecilia continued to stare, as she didn't know what the point of this conversation was.
The Captain smiled again. "He has requested to take you and your brother to become part of his family."
0-RWBY-0
Cecilia hid her face in her hands again, to which Vaughn quickly responded by putting a hand on her shoulder. Haiiden and Zed watched with frozen expressions as they fully assimilated the brutality of the orphanage that the two had been raised in. Haiiden then pondered to himself as to what he had witnessed when Cecilia touched him, and how Vaughn's story seemed to conflate with the images he had seen.
"I don't want to continue this story anymore," She said quietly while wiping away a tear from her eye; then Zed proceeded to push himself away from the wall that he was leaning on.
"Come on, then. Let Vaughn continue the story with Haiiden. We can go get something to eat in the meantime." He approached Cecilia and offered a hand to her, she looked at it for a few seconds and pushed herself off the bed. Zed just tilted his head and shrugged at her then proceeded to walk out of the dorm, with Cecilia following behind him.
0-RWBY-0
Vaughn tried to hide his feelings, a mixture of fear and excitement, as he sat as quietly and calmly as he could; little by little, Doctor Cera unraveled the bandages from his eyes.
"Is it off yet?" Vaughn asked calmly, prepared for the worst if the treatment didn't work. Through delicate nano-surgery at a private hospital, Vaughn's retinas had been fully reattached, and the nanites had at least partially repaired the damage to his optic nerve. It was a procedure that had cost the Colonel a small fortune, but he had managed to convince the Atlesian military to at least subsidize the medical care Vaughn was receiving.
"The bandage is still on, Vaughn, don't worry," the Doctor said with a chuckle as he continued to unroll the gauze, and Vaughn could see more and more light as each layer was removed. As they pulled off the last of the bandage, Vaughn squinted as the natural light beamed against his face.
"It's still blurry," He said with disappointment, and as he looked around the room, the Doctor stepped aside and pulled out a pair of glasses, then proceeded to gently place them over his eyes. As the image became completely clear, he saw Colonel Sceryei, his new father, standing in front of his bed with his arms crossed and looking down at him with a lopsided smile. He then turned his head to see that Cecilia was sitting next to him and beamed when she saw that her brother recognized her.
"This is the best that I can do to help you, Vaughn. I'm sorry." Doctor Cera said to him with his Scroll in hand, while looking down with a disappointed expression.
"It's alright Doctor, you did your best and we know there's only so much medical science can do in these cases," Colonel Sceryei responded.
Thank you, Doctor," Vaughn looked up then began to sway a little as the glasses made him a little dizzy.
"You'll get used to it in time. Doctor Maynard did a very good job of repairing what he could and caring for you, despite the quality of care available to you in the orphanage," Doctor Cera smiled and looked to Colonel Sceryei for confirmation, who responded with a nod, and the Doctor left the room. As he was leaving, Vaughn quietly watched and as he left through the doorway, he looked back at the nightstand next to him to see that The Doctor had left behind the bandage. He stared at it for a bit and quietly picked it up in his hand, then proceeded to remove his glasses. He stared down at the cloth for a bit before slowly putting it over his eyes and looked around, noticing small waves as sounds echoed, from birds chirping, to Doctor Cera's distant steps.
"You have an interesting ability, Vaughn, something that can be refined and used to your advantage. Blinded, yet never truly blind." He said with a smirk on his face as he thought of the possibilities, but it slowly disappeared as he noticed Cecilia looking up at him. "You are safe with me, I promise."
"S-Someone s-said t-that to us once," she said with a stutter and narrowed her eyes, but not at him, as she stared off into empty space, she thought of Captain Ironwood.
"I'm sorry," he said to her as he crouched in front of her, her eyes widening as she swallowed nervously, but stood straighter in an attempt to hide it.
"I won't leave you like your parents, and I won't treat you like dogs like the military. I will do my best to protect you, we are a team now, a family, and I will stick with you until the end."
0-RWBY-0
"With that promise, everything seemed to be alright, and for the first time in years, I saw my sister smile. Not a smile that expressed cockiness or sarcasm, but a genuine smile of happiness; with that promise, I decided to make one of my own. I promised my sister that I would become a better fighter, and if I ever made a mistake, I gave her permission to smack me around until I had learned my lesson since it was because of my weakness that she'd had to suffer, and was forced to fight for us both."
Haiiden smiled to himself as he remembered the first time he met the twins, and how she hit Vaughn after he had mistakenly pointed a gun at her, but it only lasted for so long as it faded slowly.
"We often asked the Colonel why he had adopted us, and he would always change the subject, or otherwise dodge the question. Eventually, he gave us a simple answer: he had been fighting all his life and had never married. As it turned out, Colonel Sceryei was a former Huntsman who then went and joined the military; they allowed him special dispensation due to his Huntsman background, gave him autonomous control of his activities, and his choice of missions. He wanted to leave behind a legacy, through us, as he really had nothing else to offer but his skills. Not surprisingly, my sister and I liked the arrangement, since it was like we were a family. I mean, hell, we were a family! He had adopted us, after all.
He then began to train us over the next few years, and in the meantime, we also discovered Cecilia's Semblance: her ability to manipulate moisture anywhere, even in the air, as you well know from your unfortunate match with her today; she would commonly use ice to trap her enemies. The cold, blue flame emanating from her sword is the physical manifestation of her Aura, as well as her Semblance.
We would often do mock-up missions while making up strategies as well as call signs, and other times we would actually go out into the field for practice. We would fight the Grimm, which in reality, was just an old habit from the Colonel's old Huntsman days. We hadn't forgotten about Doctor Maynard, however, and we would often visit him when Colonel Sceryei would be called out on a mission. Turns out Doctor Maynard had been working on a side project and was eventually hired by Colonel Ironwood for research pertaining to Aura.
When we turned sixteen, he thought we were ready for our first real mission, and explained that the military had requested a team to be sent in as a vanguard against the White Fang that had taken up a base outside of the Kingdoms, in the ruins of Mantle. As much as Colonel Sceryei hated to have anything to do with the current Human/Faunus conflict, he was unable to refuse, as they considered the group terrorists, rather than a movement."
0-RWBY-0
After being dropped off by a Bullhead, Colonel Sceryei looked down at his wrist to see a holographic projection of the area surrounding them. He then turned to Cecilia and Vaughn for confirmation, both of whom responded with a silent nod. He raised his hand to his ear and with two fingers he pressed a button on his comm.
"This is Grey Six. Team Grey is ready to proceed to the objective. Over," he said into the earpiece, which finished with a crackle before someone else responded on the channel.
"Roger that. Scimitar will be following behind you shortly. Over."
"Remember, Scimitar: this is MY mission, so you follow MY orders. If you can help it, try to spare as many as you can. Over."
"This is Scimitar Six. Roger that, Grey Six. I will inform Team Scimitar that you request harsh trigger discipline. Out." The comm then went out with a final crackle of static as they all went radio silent.
After reaching the White Fang compound and dispatching most of their forces on the surface with non-lethal takedowns, they proceeded inside, and located tunnels which were pointed out in the building schematics that they had reviewed during their mission briefing. Colonel Sceryei- Grey Six- then cut the power, and the entire building went dark as they proceeded into the tunnels with night vision goggles, with the exception of Vaughn, who relied on his Semblance for his sight in the dark. They continued slowly, with Vaughn's rifle raised in hand, and Cecilia's claymore in hers, moving slowly through the darkness so as not to make noise, but their footsteps still echoed softly through the tunnels. Then suddenly, flashes could be seen illuminating the caverns as gunfire was rained upon them from further down the shaft. They reacted quickly and took cover behind sandbags set up in staggered but regular intervals along the way. Colonel Sceryei then exhaled through his nose out of frustration and turned to Vaughn.
"Do your magic, son."
Vaughn closed his eyes and snapped his fingers, the rough metal pads on the tips of his gloves making a clicking sound, and watched it echo in his mind. The echo exposed doorways that presumably led to rooms along the sides of the tunnel, as well as a group of White Fang soldiers kneeling behind sandbags in the far distance.
"I count ten hunkered down, sir. About two hundred yards," he said while keeping his eyes closed. Cecilia cautiously looked out of her hiding spot, and down the tunnel, but couldn't see anyone.
"How well do these work down here?" she asked, referring to her night vision goggles.
"Well, assuming it's similar to the Faunus's night vision, in passive monochromatic, we can only see so much as long as there is light. Since we are underground with the power cut off, I doubt there will be any kind of light, and since it is dark out, there won't be much natural light, either." He peeked over his cover to try to bait them but was disappointed as none of them shot at him.
"As good as the Faunus' night vision is, it still has its limitations, but we have an advantage," he said. "Switch from passive monochrome to active infrared imaging."
Cecilia twisted a knob on the side of her goggles by two positions. "Short-Wave Active Infrared Imaging activated, sir. I see- uh, I see a thermal bloom at extreme range, but I can't make them out in detail. They must be just outside the effective range of the active infrared."
He nodded towards Vaughn as the Colonel did the same. Vaughn nodded back, and leaned out from behind cover and began to fire back at the soldiers. Taking out three in the initial burst, hitting each of them in their shoulders; he could see as they fell and writhed in pain as the sound of the gunshots continued to ring throughout the tunnels. Cecilia then stood and swung her sword, forming a wall of ice fifty yards ahead of them, then, at the Colonel's order, all three rushed in to take cover. As they reached another set of sandbags, more gunshots could be heard as the soldiers opened fire on the wall. Each hit weakened it, before the wall shattered, but turned to water in midair and harmlessly rained down on them.
"Careful when you use it now," the Colonel said. "I fear that if you still don't know how to direct your power, you could end up encasing us," Colonel Sceryei said to Cecilia, who responded with a nod and frowned.
"Good job though. At least we got close enough to see them now on active infrared."
"Which means they might be able to see us, too," Vaughn pointed out to him, then clicked his finger pads again to get another view of his surroundings; he noticed a set of rooms on the sides that extended out behind the soldiers. He then pointed to the door with his finger, to which Cecilia and Sceryei both nodded, and Vaughn got up to unleash some cover fire. Even in the darkness, and at extreme range, his shots were precise, incapacitating two more soldiers before they could react, while the others got down behind cover further up the tunnel. After a few seconds, Cecilia and Colonel Sceryei both jumped out quickly and kept along the right of the tunnel before entering the room. Vaughn kept firing down the tunnel to distract the soldiers as Cecilia made her way down the set of rooms and ducked through another door behind the soldiers.
Noticing that she was dry again, she swung her sword with a smirk as ice engulfed the remaining soldiers; she watched as they screamed in panic while they tried to break free. Vaughn snapped his fingers with the click again echoing down the tunnels, then reached Cecilia and saw her wave as he took up a position not far from her. He broke cover and ran towards her while vaulting over the different tiers of sandbags that had been set up by the White Fang. As he jumped the final bit of cover to meet with his sister, he quickly pointed his gun up at her and she just managed to dodge out of the way as he fired. She looked at Vaughn with a mortified expression on her face, but then turned around as she heard a gun drop to the floor, and saw that there was still a conscious White Fang soldier. She rolled her eyes and sighed in relief as she approached the soldier, and rammed the cross-guard of her claymore into his head. Turning back to Vaughn with a harsh stare, she punched him in the head, making him reel back and hold his cheek as he turned back to face her.
"Warn me next time, Vaughn!" she yelled out at him, her voice echoing through the tunnels and startling her at the unexpected noise. Then they both looked back at each other and laughed before they continued on to meet with Colonel Sceryei. They both entered the door to the control center of the base, seeing bodies scattered throughout the room as Grey Six had been forced to kill those who wouldn't surrender. However, there was a row of restrained White Fang soldiers lined up on their knees, their hands bound with zip-ties. As they watched, Grey Six forced another one down by kicking him in the back of his knees. He looked up to see Vaughn and Cecilia and sighed as he saw that they were alright. He motioned for Vaughn to follow him, and he responded with a nod while Cecilia stood guard over the captives with her sword on her shoulders and her arms draped over it.
Gunshots echoed throughout the base, so much so that Cecilia couldn't tell which way they were coming from, Vaughn's and Colonel Sceryei's direction or from behind in the tunnels. She brought up her sword defensively and waited to see if anyone came through the doorway, only to see lights flashing through as Atlesian soldiers came pouring in. They quickly filled the room, with some passing Cecilia and through the doorway that Vaughn and Sceryei had entered, while the rest stayed behind and had their guns trained on the captives.
"Lower your weapons. They are no longer a threat," she ordered with a growl.
"Just being cautious," someone out of sight said with a laugh and Cecilia looked up with a surprise and a hint of fear. From the doorway leading into the tunnels, a Lieutenant just slightly older than Cecilia emerged and upon closer inspection, Cecilia realized who it was.
"Long time no see, Cecil," he said with a smirk while looking at Cecilia but then his expression changed as he continued to look at her.
"Or should I say, Cecilia. My, my, you have grown more feminine since the last time I saw you."
She kept her eyes narrowed on his and from time to time her gaze would switch between him and his soldiers, as they still had their weapons trained on her captives.
"Don't make me repeat myself: stand down!" she barked at them, with some of the soldiers shifting in position while others stood firm, as the Lieutenant kept looking at her with a smirk.
"You are in no position to order me around; you don't rank me, and you're not in my chain of command," he said as he spread his arms out and looked around as he motioned towards the men that were with him.
"Besides, these animals can still be dangerous," he said again as he crouched next to one of the captives who looked up and growled at him.
"See? They all have some fight in them, like rabid dogs, they will fight even when cornered," he said as he stood up while raising his hand in the air slowly; Cecilia tried to rush him but was held back by two soldiers.
"For the White Fang!" cried out one of the Faunus soldiers just before the Lieutenant swung his hand down and the entire room filled with sounds of automatic gunfire. Cecilia watched with horror, her breath stuttering as she fell onto her knees, and the man approached her slowly. He chuckled and crouched again, this time placing a hand on her chin while lifting her face up to meet with his, then pointed a finger to his eye, noticing that it had been replaced with a bionic prosthetic.
"I haven't forgotten about this, you know," Scimitar Six- Lieutenant Rickard Adams- told her in a hushed voice, then he got back up and pulled a pistol from his hip and pointed it at her head.
"We can always tell command that the captives broke free and killed you, so we had to put them down," the soldiers around him stood silently while some started to back away from him; without warning, a gunshot rang loudly through the room.
As Cecilia opened her eyes, she saw that Rickard was holding his bloody hand in front of him as he gritted his teeth in pain, and turned to see that Vaughn was standing at the other doorway with his rifle pointed right at him. Just behind him, Colonel Sceryei stomped through the door and stopped behind Cecilia and was shocked to see the row of dead White Fang soldiers. Cecilia swallowed back and took her claymore, then stood up and plunged it suddenly into Rickard's chest. Vaughn stood for a moment, shocked, but then snapped back to attention as he saw the Atlesian soldiers raising their weapons and trained them on Cecilia.
"You really don't want to do that, men," Colonel Sceryei barked as he looked around at them, as Lieutenant Rickard Adams gurgled, and blood poured from his mouth. He collapsed to the ground, convulsing as he died. Some looked back to one another and shifted in position, while others immediately lowered their weapons, then the rest followed suit.
Rickard gasped for air through the foam of blood and put a hand on Cecilia's shoulder as he took another choking breath, then looked back up at her.
"As soldiers, you are held to a much higher standard of honor. I will tolerate small transgressions, but not the murder of unarmed and bound prisoners. The punishment for the crime of ordering this atrocity is death, under my authority," Colonel Sceryei said in a booming voice, however, the room was dead silent, so the effect was jarring. Cecilia slowly pulled the sword out of Rickard's chest and watched the light leave his eyes as he finally expired. The expression on his face was one of terror and sorrow. And regret.
"We are done here," Colonel Sceryei said before a crackle on the comm interrupted him and he put his fingers to his ear.
"Scimitar Six! Grey Six! This is Command. We have detected a large group of Grimm converging on your position, get out of there, now!"
"This is Grey Six. Scimitar Six is dead; I am assuming command of his men. Order understood and acknowledged, Command." Colonel Sceryei replied on to the comm calmly, while waving a finger in a circle in the air to order the men to round up and leave. "We're finished here, anyway. Out."
0-RWBY-0
Cecilia was quietly playing with her food, just pushing pieces back and forth on to the sides of the plate. Zed continued to eat loudly while looking down at his plate with his a furrowed brow as he thought to himself. As he finished the last scraps of his meal, he looked up at Cecilia with his arms crossed as he continued chewing. She looked up at him, then back down at her plate, and then back up at him as she noticed that he was looking at her. He continued to stare at her with his arms crossed and she lowered her gaze and set aside her fork.
"I'm sorry, Zed." She said quietly while refusing to look up at him.
"I am not the one you should be apologizing to," he told her and leaned back in his seat as he gazed down at her. She opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself then looked away and sighed.
"I understood your problem at first, but you took it way too far by bringing Vaughn into this. You ended up forcing my hand, and causing an even greater divide in the team," he said while raising his voice at her, which made her cringe and back away in her seat. He took a deep breath when he saw this and tried to calm himself down, but ended up rolling his eyes.
"Haiiden is not your enemy, okay? He is not your mom, nor your dad, and he is not the Major, either," he told her, trying to be sympathetic to her, but also showing loyalty to his friend. Her head immediately shot up with her eyes flashing the usual "Cecilia" stare, before it turned back to an expression of sadness.
"You think that's why I'm mad at him?" She asked, almost rhetorically.
"You feel like he abandoned you as your parents did, so I assume that's why you're angry."
She furrowed her brow at him, before exhaling and calming down, then looked away from him. She put her hand over her mouth as she took in a deep breath through her nose and turned back to Zed. "Zed, you misunderstand."
0-RWBY-0
Teams Scimitar and Grey lost eight soldiers on their way out of the tunnels as the Grimm dug through the ground and broke through the tunnel walls. They met on the surface and lost a few more, only having a handful of soldiers who were now uncoordinated as they fired wildly and out of fear, while Vaughn and Cecilia covered each other's backs, with Vaughn making calculated shots and trying his best to divert the attention of the other Grimm to cover the remaining soldiers. Colonel Sceryei emerged from the tunnels while carrying a soldier over his shoulder as the tunnel exploded, and dust blew out from the shaft like a Dust cartridge from the barrel of a gun. He quickly dropped the soldier as a lone Beowolf managed to get out, only for the Colonel to catch it by the mouth and split its skull in half. Just at that moment, a Nevermore crashed in through the walls of the building and crushed another soldier as it landed.
Colonel Sceryei looked back and saw that Cecilia and Vaughn were fighting harder now as the endless onslaught of Grimm continued to come. The fatigue was taking its toll as Cecilia's swings started to become wide and slow, with some Grimm even dodging her strikes, while Vaughn's normally calculated and deadly accuracy was waning, his shots going wide and missing their targets. The Nevermore let out a piercing shriek as it stood in front of Colonel Sceryei with Cecilia and Vaughn turning to face the creature.
"My son, my daughter! Go! Now!" He yelled out to the both of them and waved his arm for them to run. Cecilia shifted in place and hesitated at first, unsure of whether or not to back him or to just leave him there. Colonel Sceryei dodged an incoming attack and swatted at the Nevermore's beak, then turned back to the twins.
"I'll be fine, children, just go! Protect the men!"
Cecilia took in a deep breath and nodded, running with her brother as he threw a vial filled with red dust that exploded upon contact with the wall, creating a hole just big enough for them all to escape. Cecilia jumped through first, while Vaughn stayed behind and covered the retreat of the remaining soldiers; as Vaughn waited his turn to go through the opening, he watched as Colonel Sceryei fought the Nevermore. As the last soldier jumped through, Vaughn shot a Boarbatusk as it leaped to attack the Colonel, before jumping through himself. He landed on the ground and began to slide down the face of a snow-covered mountain, regaining his footing, then continued down the mountain to meet up with the rest of the group. As he caught up, he looked back to see some of the Grimm had begun to follow them, so he turned his body around and slid in the snow as his rifle reconfigured into sniper mode, and shot the first one. With each shot, the recoil gave him more inertia to continue skiing down the mountain, but all of a sudden the base at the top of the mountain exploded. Cecilia immediately looked back as most of the soldiers ran past her, while some stayed by her side to fire upon incoming Grimm.
She watched as the base collapsed into a fiery rubble but noticed that the explosion had loosened the ice and snow at the top of the mountain, which formed into an avalanche. Vaughn and the soldiers that stayed with Cecilia looked on in horror as they noticed the wave of ice and snow rushing towards them. Some of the Grimm that turned to look at the incoming snow was swept away, while others continued on their one-way track to get to the soldiers, oblivious to what was happening. Vaughn started to run towards his sister as she began to run towards the soldiers that had already made their way farther down the hill in an attempt to stop them.
"Halt! I'm assuming command as acting Lieutenant, and I've got an idea!" She yelled out to them, stopping them in their tracks, but they started to backpedal away as they noticed the avalanche coming closer. She stopped next to them and turned around to face the top of the mountain as well as the incoming ice and snow. She pulled out her claymore and waved it in front of her, putting her hand on the hilt and slowly running her hand down the blade, summoning its icy blue flame.
"What are you doing?" Vaughn yelled out after her as the incoming snow and ice got louder and closer. She continued to look ahead of her with a grin as her blade was lowered. Vaughn slid to a stop right next to the group and saw that Cecilia was the only one wearing a face of confidence as the soldiers slowly backed away. Vaughn watched as Cecilia gripped her sword tightly, then saw its ethereal glow as Cecilia lifted her blade and thrust it in front of her, creating a cone of thick ice which blocked the avalanche. The soldiers didn't know what they were looking at first, and were still backing away nervously but stopped as they saw the snow and ice fly overhead. They were saved.
0-RWBY-0
After the avalanche passed, Cecilia and Vaughn, as well as the remaining soldiers were picked up by Bullhead and were taken back to base. Their return wasn't a friendly one, however. As they landed, Cecilia was immediately arrested for killing Scimitar Six. After a couple of weeks, due to the testimonies of Vaughn, as well as a couple of the surviving soldiers, coupled with the recordings from their helmet cameras, Cecilia was then released.
"You don't have the authority to just execute someone at a whim on the battlefield. Drumhead trials and summary executions were banned centuries ago; things have to go through legal channels at the Judge Advocate General's Office as well as a military tribunal led by JAG officers," said their CO with a sigh and he looked down at some pre-signed paperwork.
"Although from the evidence presented, we do understand your choice to kill Lieutenant Adams, but again, you don't get to make that kind of decision on the fly. So it's because of that, that we must issue some kind of disciplinary action, and in this case, it's going to be a 'dishonorable discharge.' For both of you," he finished as he signed the papers and handed them to Vaughn and Cecilia. She sat shocked when Vaughn received his and looked up with her brow furrowed.
"But why Vaughn? He didn't kill Rickard."
"LIEUTENANT Adams, acting Lieutenant. Vaughn was part of your team at the time and shot Adams in the hand. The same punishment will apply to Colonel Anatoliy Sceryei, though his punishment will be slightly more severe, due to his being your leader, and sanctioning your actions. Colonel Sceryei will be reduced two steps in rank- to Captain- and issued a dishonorable discharge posthumously, of course," he finished and waved for them to leave. Cecilia tried to respond, but a hand on her shoulder- Vaughn's- stopped her, and she could only tighten her fists. After a few seconds, she let out a sigh and walked out.
Once outside, in the crisp winter air, they walked in silence for several minutes. Vaughn finally broke the silence. "So, what now?" he asked as they left Division HQ in Atlas with their duffle bags draped over their shoulders.
"I don't know. I guess it's just how it's always been: you and me against the world." She didn't look up to her brother when she responded but instead continued to walk ahead. They were about to walk past an alleyway when two figures appeared from inside, which startled both Vaughn and Cecilia and forced them to pull out their weapons in case the pair were a threat.
"That won't be necessary; I am not your enemy, but a friend," said a man with a coffee cup in hand, while a woman stood behind him.
"Sceryei, I presume?" The twins looked back to each other then back at the man with raised brows.
"That was our adopted father's name," Cecilia said with surprise.
"And now it's yours. He had sent me a message pertaining to you both in the case of his death or disappearance," the man explained to them with a lopsided grin.
"I have been told of your skills, and I have a special offer for you both."
0-RWBY-0
"You misunderstand, sir," Vaughn said to Haiiden as he sat with his palms open and his hands outstretched, and with a confused look on his face.
"My sister is not mad at you because you remind her of the parents that abandoned us, or the Major," Haiiden's eyes darted from side to side as he thought to himself while lowering his hands to his knees.
"She was mad at you because-," Vaughn paused a moment, at a loss for words. He sat for a moment, thinking to himself before he took in a deep breath.
"Remember what Headmaster Ozpin said when he first made us a team?" Vaughn asked.
"Yes, that we would all be together for the next four years," Haiiden replied.
"Yes, but most importantly to my sister especially, was that we are now a family," Vaughn finished, a look of pain in his eyes as he tilted his head at Haiiden, as he hoped that his Captain understood what he was trying to say. Haiiden sat silently, then laid down on his bed with his hands on his stomach and stared at the ceiling.
"I- I left because I wanted to do well in my own way," Haiiden defended.
"We all do," Vaughn retorted, and the room fell into silence.
"Do you hate me too?" he asked after several minutes passed.
"No sir or at least hate wouldn't be the word I would choose. More like disappointment, but with a smidgen of understanding," he continued, then began to pull the glove off of his right hand and presented it to Haiiden, who then looked back at it and froze.
"I see," said Zed as Cecilia finished. Keeping his arms crossed as he looked away from her while he thought back to what she explained to him. Cecilia stared at him with her hands in front of her on the table while students began to slowly vacate the dining hall as it got close to the time for them to return to their dorms. Zed sat and stared for a while longer before suddenly brandishing a smile and stood up again.
"Well, he's back now, and that's what matters. He can still be the man that you thought of him," Zed said with his trademark grin, while Cecilia looked up at him in surprise, which then turned in to a smile as she thought his confidence was humorous. He motioned his head to the side to suggest going back to their dorm, at which Cecilia then got up and walked beside him with a bit more energy in each step. As they reached their dorm, Zed quickly stopped Cecilia before she entered.
"I don't want any more problems from here on, okay?" He asked her softly, as he thought the time for aggression and hostility was over, and he hoped that they could all go back to being friends. She scoffed and looked back at him with a smile, then whipped her hair away from her face to reveal her expression to him. He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded at her, but then noticed something behind her.
"Go on, I'll be back in a few seconds," he said to himself with a hint of uncertainty as he inched closer to see a girl further down the corridor. Cecilia's smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of confusion, but she just shrugged it off and went inside. As Zed approached cautiously, he begged to himself in his mind that what he wasn't seeing what seemed to be. As he got closer, he noted the black hair, the black and white blouse and the black bow that only added to his fear. Then she turned around and made eye contact with Zed, which only served to confirm his fear, as they recognized each other and her yellow eyes widened, expressing the same fear he felt before she ran away.
"W-wait!" he reached out and yelled after her as he began to give chase. Watching her hair flow as she turned the corner, and as he reached it she had disappeared.
"It can't be," Zed said with a shiver.