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RWBY: Ghosts of the Past: Vol 2
An RWBY Fanfiction
Story by DenZatz and Gamera Obscura
Written by DenZatz
Edited by Gamera Obscura
A game marks the end of Beacon's break between semesters and HAVC returns to continue their education. However, dark forces likewise continue to scheme all around them and Haiiden is now troubled by visions from his past that makes him question his motives. (2)
"Come on, sir! Get up!" Cecilia screamed as she took Haiiden by the sleeve of his coat and pulled him up off the ground. "I thought you would have gotten it through your thick skull by now!"
Haiiden gritted his teeth and shook his head angrily as he began to dust himself off. "Give me a break! I was blindsided, alright?"
"You got blindsided," she repeated with disbelief as she kept her stare, then ducked as Raine flew over her head before falling to the ground with a thud. "And you call yourself a leader!"
"Cecilia- jeez! Calm down!" Coco interjected as she tried to stop the two teammates from bickering; while the sounds of bone and sinew clashing against each other could be heard all around them, as their teammates and enemies alike were knocked to the ground. Cecilia was already preparing to throw a punch, in an attempt to "wake up" her leader, but then took a deep breath and stopped herself. Instead, she gave Haiiden a cold stare while she watched him quickly dust himself off. Then, suddenly, something struck him in the cheek, which made him stagger back slightly, as the object that struck him landed in his hands. He stared at it for a split, and then a sudden realization hit him like a freight train.
"Oh, shi-."
Before he could even finish his thought, that freight train- in this case a body- slammed into him and plowed him back into the ground with a gut-wrenching impact. He shook his head as he tried to dismiss the ringing in his ears, his mind still dazed after having landed with such force. He looked up to see who it was that had brought him down, and the first thing he saw was a pair of breasts crushed against his chest. He turned red and looked up further to see that it was Celise, and she was giving him a rather unsettling grin.
"My eyes are up here, big boy," she said with a slight wink as they made eye contact before she ground her hips into his seductively and bit her lower lip. "Come here often?" She chuckled to herself as she pushed herself off of him before turning back to walk over to her team; her hair whipping to the left as she turned her body.
"Shut up," Haiiden said in reply as he got back up again; once more, he turned to Cecilia to see that she had a rather perturbed expression, before turning to walk back to their team, some of which were just getting back up and getting together in a huddle to discuss strategies. He began to pick up the pace to catch up with Cecilia, and they both began to walk together.
"We can still win this if you stop making mistakes, and actually act like a leader," she growled. Her fists tightened as she continued to stalk towards their team, which was comprised of Yatsuhashi, Coco, Raine, and Nadira, in addition to Haiiden and Cecilia.
"Maybe if you let me act like a leader, then maybe we can win," Haiiden replied and rolled his eyes; which Cecilia noticed but decided to ignore it as they finally reached the team, most of whom were reluctant to look up at the two comrades as they shouted back and forth angrily at each other.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded, and stalked over to Haiiden; trying to make herself seem taller than him, although he had several inches on her.
"It means that this entire time, YOU have been to coming up with the plans and strategies, most of which SUCK!" Haiiden yelled back as he noticed Cecilia had started to raise her voice and he began to make himself look taller as well in an attempt to outdo her.
"Well, I was in the military! I think I would know about—" she attempted to retort.
"Well, we're not in the military, are we?" Haiiden countered, and this left Cecilia speechless. She still kept her angered gaze but sputtered as she tried to come up with a coherent argument.
"But in battle-"
"This isn't a battle! This is a damn game!" Haiiden finished as he threw the object at her and it bounced off her head; she stood stone silent, her eyes widened as she eyed her leader and for a moment, Haiiden could feel a stab of fear in his heart. All of a sudden, a snicker from behind Cecilia broke the silence, and she turned to see Coco covering her mouth as she tried to hide her amusement. A soft thud could be heard several yards away as the object that had struck her in the head- a round ball about the size of a cantaloupe- landed gently on the green grass of Beacon's courtyard. For a moment she stood silently before she chuckled to herself as well. After a moment, everyone in the group burst into laughter, while Cecilia covered her mouth and looked away. When the laughs turned into sighs, she shook her head at Haiiden and smiled at him.
"I can't believe you just did that," she said to him with a look of disbelief on her face.
"Believe it!" he replied with an evil grin, and the laughter resumed.
It had been a week since Haiiden had come back from the break that he had requested. He had spent most of the two days working to fix his childhood home, applying a new paint job, as well as having replaced the shingles on top of the roof; even though the first day was rather rough since he was alone with his thoughts, thoughts of his mother, he had managed to find some semblance of inner peace. The remainder of his time he had spent hunting food, cleaning, cooking, and eating it, and feeding the leftovers and remains to the mother fox and her kits. He left his home late at night the second day, and the Academy's VTOL was already waiting there to pick him up, as per the schedule that he had given to the female Faunus pilot.
He was already tired after a long day of work, and didn't stick around long enough with his fellow students that milled around the grounds and in the halls of their dormitory to strike up any conversations after he had returned to the school. He mostly waved in greeting with a smile as he lumbered down the hallways towards his dorm room. When he realized that he was nearing his team's dorm, he made a conscious effort to silence his footsteps, as he expected his teammates to be asleep by now. However, when he opened the door and peered inside, he saw the beaming faces of the twins staring back at him through the crack of the door. Then all of the sudden, Zed jumped into view, startling Haiiden as his mind was still muddled, and catching him by surprise; his body was drained, and his ability to react to the sudden appearance was slow. Instead, instinct kicked in and he immediately jumped back before he lost all footing and fell over against the wall opposite his door, and slid down and onto the carpet. The door was opened further as Zed stepped out and shook his head at Haiiden's display of clumsiness.
"Get up, mate," he said with a slight chuckle in his voice, as he bent down and extended an arm to his friend. Haiiden was still a little dazed after the scare and stared at his friend for a few moments before he raised his arm to grab onto Zed's. As their hands locked together, Zed immediately pulled him up off the floor and put an arm around his neck; both of them walked back into their dorm once Zed had reached down to pick up the bag. As they entered the room, Haiiden looked on with a perplexed expression and wondered why they hadn't gone to bed. The smile on Cecilia and Vaughn grew wider, as if they knew what he was thinking.
"We were waiting for you to come back, sir," Vaughn said, as he stood up and saluted the return of their leader. Haiiden returned the salute with one of his own, but it was sloppy, and it was clear that he didn't take it as seriously; he only wanted to humor Vaughn's military mannerisms, but was too tired to do it properly. His gaze then turned to Cecilia, and he was surprised to see a soft smile on her face. Not one displaying any cockiness or arrogance, just a smile that she has often kept reserved for private moments with her brother, Vaughn. She stood up, and took a moment to move her hair from her right eye, exposing her entire face as she too, saluted their team Captain.
"Welcome back, sir. Did you enjoy your R&R?" she asked.
"Yeah. With all that's happened this year, a break was necessary," he replied and tried his best to force himself through his fatigue, as he looked up at his teammate. "I hope you guys were able to hold down the fort for a bit."
"We managed, sir," she said and placed both hands behind her, and stood at attention. "Some people have been asking about you, especially CFVY, who were worried that you had left again."
"Well, I did promise that I would come back," Haiiden responded, but now his attention was focused solely on the bed.
"They will be glad to hear it, sir," she said, her smile wavering a little as she began to notice that her leader was now eyeing the bed. She seemed disappointed at first, but stepped aside to allow him to move past her.
Haiiden chuckled. "Thank you Cecilia, it's good to see you again," he said as he walked around her. She hid a smile as he stepped to his bed, trying her best to hide it from the rest of her team; but then something crossed her mind, as if she had just remembered something important that she'd forgotten.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, and grabbed a key from her nightstand as she moved over to the desk near the door. She opened the ornate wooden box that her father had left her on the corner of the table, and pulled out the photograph that Haiiden had given to her before he left. It had been a little insurance payment that was meant to guarantee that he would return. He took the photo, and the thoughts that he had banished the day before, began to invade his mind again. The smile that he wore turned into a frown as he stared at the picture. It showed a woman who wore all white, and her breastplate shone as it reflected the light from the summer sun. Her armor had intricate cloth designs to make her seem more angelic, with frills on the neck, where some cloth pieces overlapped each other. She kept her hands together in front of her, and was staring into the camera. She had sad eyes that seemed to convey that she had seen a lot, and had an air of wisdom about her.
"Thought you might want that back," she said with a smile, but it disappeared when he looked up at her after having scanned the photograph. "Everything alright, sir?"
"Yeah, I mean-" he replied and began to sway on his bed as the fatigue began to take its toll. "I think its best that we all get some rest. We've still got the rest of this semester to finish."
"Yes, sir!" the twins responded in unison before the both dressed down and climbed onto their beds. Zed, however, chuckled to himself before he looked back to Haiiden and gave a wink.
HAVC, CNBR, and CFVY had decided to enjoy a weekend to themselves instead of studying, and Zed had eventually suggested a game of "Miyoki", a sport that was often played in the North. He took some time to explain the rules, however Velvet already knew how to play, considering she was from the North as well, and had watched games with her family on the "telly", but had never played it herself, as she considered it to be a "man's game". After explaining the rules of the game, everyone agreed to try it out, and got together in Beacon's courtyard. Zed and Haiiden were the team Captains, and Haiiden decided to let Zed pick first.
"Getting a little competitive, are we, Cecilia?" Coco joked.
"Yeah, I guess I am. Losing is not an option for me," Cecilia replied before looking back to Haiiden.
"Ok, 'Captain'. You have control of the game, how would you go about doing this?" Cecilia said with a smirk and crossed her arms as she and Haiiden joined with the rest of the group; they all huddled together so that the opposing team, which was comprised of Zed, Vaughn, Byeli, Velvet, Fox, and Celise, would not be able to hear them.
"I knew I shouldn't have let Zed pick first. I should have known he would have gone with the more agile students on his team; they've got all the Faunus," he remarked as he peeked over his team and at Zed, who was looking back at him with a grin.
"They got all of us covered, whatever we try; they always manage to counter us," Coco joined in and looked over to each of her teammates, although Raine had been in the game, he hadn't been pulling his own weight, and Nadira didn't add any input as she was mostly silent.
"Then we need to make it so that they can't cover all of us," Haiiden responded and everyone looked at him with a perplexed expression. Even he didn't know how it would work, but it seemed most logical in his head. "We need to make it so that most of them are focusing on one of us; leaving a large enough hole for the others to get past them."
"How are we going to do that?" Cecilia asked, which left Haiiden gritting his teeth and shaking his head.
"We need someone who can take on multiple people at once," he said as he rubbed his chin; looking to each team member until his gaze fell upon Yatsuhashi. He was rather large for his age. For any age, really, given the fact that he was over seven feet tall. Then something hit Haiiden.
"Yatsuhashi, how many do you think it would take to bring you down?" Haiiden asked; for a moment Yatsuhashi scanned the other team, though they were fast and agile, they were not the strongest physically. Fox and Celise, maybe, but not the Faunus, and certainly not Velvet or Byeli. However, the plan did sound plausible, since they would need multiple people to bring him down.
"Two or three, four at best." Yatsuhashi replied.
"Ok, Yatsuhashi is going run the ball. Some of us will protect him while some of us run ahead, and once they're wide open, Yatsu will throw the ball," Haiiden continued.
"Okay, got it; who's going defense and who is offense?" Coco asked.
"Coco and Cecilia will defend. We don't want too many defenders to allow them to cluster together. Anyone who's uncovered should run ahead to the Terminus Zone," he continued, but not before turning to Raine. "I'm gonna need you to be on your best game out there Raine."
"Seriously? Raine?" Cecilia asked, with a hint of disbelief in her voice before she turned to Raine and scanned him with a quirked brow.
"I've seen this guy in action," Haiiden replied while pointing a thumb at Raine, "When he puts his mind to it, he can move."
"Do I have to?" Raine groaned.
"Raine, I swear, if you give us your 'A' game today, I will buy you as much food as you can eat. You pick the restaurant," Haiiden bargained, and for a moment Raine's expression changed from that of laziness to a greedy look. For once he was working his mind as he thought about this offer.
"Got it," he replied, smiling.
"Alright, birds and blokes, let's see how this works," Haiiden concluded in a playful send-up of Zed's Northern slang, and the team all put their hands on top of one another's before dispersing; Haiiden was carrying the ball with a grin and squeezed it as he walked with his team to the scrimmage line. Zed's team was already waiting for them, some of the stretching, while Celise feigned a yawn as she waited.
"You get downed one more time, mate, and possession of the ball goes to us," Zed said coyly, trying to taunt the opposing team.
"Trust me, we are not going down this time," Haiiden retorted.
"Doesn't matter. One more point and we win," Zed countered with a grin, and crouched down as both sides got ready. "Remember everyone: ignore Yatsuhashi; he's slow, so we don't have to worry about him as much."
Haiiden couldn't help but feel that he had to laugh at this, however, he held it in; he turned to Yatsuhashi, who was already staring Zed down with a blank expression. Haiiden held the ball in the middle of the scrimmage line, a grin growing on his face as he continued to glare at Zed.
"Fifth toss! Play!" Haiiden yelled out and immediately yanked the ball back from the scrimmage line, then lobbed it to Yatsuhashi, who caught it easily. Upon noticing this, the grin on Zed's face disappeared, especially upon seeing Yatsuhashi run in his direction, coupled with the fact that he had the ball. He was running straight at Zed, with the ball cradled in his arm, and his shoulder poised to plow through Zed.
"Hey now Yatsu, I was just kidding!" Zed yelled out as he jumped out of Yatsuhashi's way. No one on Zed's team knew what to do for a moment, instead looking on with a confused expression. Especially since Zed had told his team that no one should go for Yatsuhashi, but Yatsu had the ball now, and they debated whether or not to get him. After a few moments of shouting to one another, everyone on Zed's team began to charge at Yatsuhashi. Byeli was only able to hug his leg to slow him down, with Vaughn trying to take him down, but Yatsuhashi remained strong and trudged through. Zed watched with a perplexed expression, and finally spotted Haiiden and Raine both running for the flag, with Raine running the fastest, as he had reached the flag which marked the Terminus Zone- which was really just Raine's jacket on a stick- and he had reached it twice as fast as Haiiden.
"Hey, hey! Stop them!" Zed yelled and pointed at Haiiden and Raine and although Raine had already passed her, Celise decided to go for Haiiden. With a grin she ran at full speed, and to prepare himself for her attack, he lowered himself, and waited for her to match his stance to tackle him; with a grin, Haiiden jumped over her and made her miss. She slammed into the ground, while Haiiden landed safely and continued to run forward. Zed, out of frustration, threw his hands up and went in to tackleYatsuhashi. Upon seeing Zed and Fox charging at him, and Zed's eyes orange now, he then realized that he had to throw the ball. He was just about to throw it to Haiiden, but he saw that Celise had gotten up and was already closing the distance between them; instead, he threw it to Raine just before Zed and Fox were able to take him down with Byeli's help. The ball flew true and his team was able to score a point as Raine caught the ball.
"I can't believe that worked," Cecilia said under her breath as she caught up with Haiiden and Raine. Then Celise came and tackled Haiiden again, for fun but also out of frustration since he had dodged her first tackle. He groaned as he got back up, while the rest of the team joined up with him.
"Not bad," Celise pointed out before she turned back to walk back to her team.
"Not bad at all," Zed added and grinned at Haiiden, with his hands at his hips. "But we still got this game."
"We'll see, bloody git" Haiiden said, mocking Zed's Northern accent again, and kept the ball on him for now, as he huddled with his team again to discuss another strategy. "Ok, now here comes the hard part. We need to somehow keep them in a close group; we can't let them spread out too far."
"That'll be virtually impossible. We aren't exactly the fastest," Coco pointed out, again referring to the other team and how half of them were comprised of Faunus. Which left Haiiden in a situation where he had to further elaborate the plan, but he had no idea how.
"We will just have to wing it, but one thing is for certain: they can't get past us," Haiiden finished and everyone nodded their heads in agreement, although they were a little reserved, as this wasn't exactly a plan. The team then spread out and got ready to start running, but waited for Nadira to kick the ball, signaling the start of the next round. She threw it in the air, allowing her enough time to wind up for a kick, prepared just as it came down and kicked it with such force that it caused the air around it to be displaced, which made a spherical shockwave on impact as she cried out.
"First toss! Play!" Zed was the first to move, but he started to backpedal when he noticed how far the ball was going to go. He calculated where it was going to be, and jumped, just barely catching it and the speed of the ball threw off his landing; almost causing him to fall over when he touched down, but once he regained his footing, he turned to gain some energy and tossed the ball over to Vaughn. He turned and caught the ball as he began to run for the flag, with Haiiden's team running at him.
He saw that his sister was grinning at him as she began to charge him, moving faster than the rest of her team as she began to get ahead of them.
"Wait, Cecilia!" Haiiden yelled, hoping to keep the team together but she ignored her Captain's orders; she was having too much fun. She charged forward in an attempt to tackle him down, however, just as she jumped at him, he came to a quick stop and kicked to the right; making her miss, but she quickly rolled on the ground and used her momentum to spring to her feet again, charging at him once more.
At that moment, he realized that he couldn't get far until she got to him, his only choice was to throw it to the nearest teammate, which was Velvet. He threw it just before Cecilia managed to tackle him down, the ball flew true as Velvet caught the it, and continued to run. Then, using her Faunus agility, she dodged to the left as Nadira tried to grab her, her fingers just grazed Velvet's shirt, but not enough to get a grip. Velvet looked back with a smile but it quickly disappeared as she skidded to a halt in front of Coco.
"I don't want to hurt you, little lady," Coco told her as she looked hung her head low while looking up from the top of her sunglasses, and her hands on her hips. Just as she finished her warning, she tackled her friend to the ground; both then shared a laugh as Coco pulled Velvet back up, and then she quickly dusted her off before they both rejoined their teams.
"Nice one, Coco," Haiiden congratulated her, and the team huddled again. "We've just got to keep doing that; do not let anyone get past you."
Just as he finished, Haiiden looked back up to see what Zed was doing, and saw that they were spreading apart; which would then leave a gap in their own defenses, as they would have to spread out as well in order to cover them, and with half of the team being Faunus, their agility would help them immensely in this case.
"Damn, Yatsu, stay back for a bit. Intercept anyone who gets past us," Haiiden told Yatsuhashi, who then responded with a nod.
"Won't that leave an opening, sir?" Cecilia asked, cringing at the idea, but she was even more disgusted at the idea of losing.
"I'll deal with two of them, you guys cover the rest as best you can, and it would leave them with only two options. We will try to fake them out," Haiiden reassured her; she took a moment to think about this, finally looked perplexed, but nodded as it did seem to make some lick of sense. The team then put their hands in the middle and broke apart as they took up their positions.
"You got lucky," Zed yelled out with a grin, in an attempt to taunt his friend.
"Yeah? We'll see about that," Haiiden replied; he wasn't one for witty retorts.
"Second toss! Play!" Zed yelled again, this time back pedaling to give himself some room to concentrate. Scanning the field to see who would be open, Velvet was being blocked by Cecilia, Fox was being blocked by Nadira, and Raine was chasing after Vaughn, who had just gotten past him; however, he didn't want to throw it to Vaughn since Raine was closing in and didn't want to risk an interception. Haiiden was blocking Celise from advancing, who was tossing out some rather raunchy comments. Then he noticed that Byeli was running unopposed, and he took this opportunity to throw, just before Coco slammed into him.
"Ball's going for you, Byeli!" he yelled from the ground as Coco got off of him. Byeli quickly turned and winked as well as giving her half of a high five, running backwards as she eyed the ball that was flying towards her.
"Hmmm, this is quite the physical sport, huh, big boy?" Celise taunted Haiiden, which made him feel slightly uncomfortable and he raised his hands in the air in reply. She shook her head in response at this gesture, and it made her grin grow wider; then her attention switched to the left as she saw Byeli run past them. "Well then, we got this."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Haiiden replied and looked back at Byeli. For a moment, Celise looked at her as well, only when she continued to scan her surroundings, as well as take in what Haiiden said, did she realize what was happening.
"Byeli! Stop!" Celise yelled out, however, it was too late, as Byeli caught the ball and turned around; and ran right into Yatsuhashi.
"Meep!" Byeli let out a squeak as Yatsuhashi looked down at her, at first with a blank expression, then a smile crept onto his face, as he bent down and grabbed the little fox Faunus by the waist and slung her over his shoulder.
"Celise! Help!" Byeli yelled out, but her pleas for help were not genuine, and she was laughing as Yatsuhashi began to run back the way she came while carrying her over his shoulder.
"Throw the ball, girl!" Celise yelled out, feeling competitive and not wanting to lose; giving chase as she began to try and intercept Yatsuhashi but remembering how it took at least three people to bring him down, so instead, she decided to catch up and run behind him. "Give it here!"
Byeli placed a hand on Yatsuhashi's back, allowing to push herself off a little before throwing the ball to Celise. However, Haiiden came out of nowhere and snatched the ball just as it left her hand and he started to run for the flag. This surprised Celise, and she began to feel a little frustrated as she rolled up her sleeves and threw her chain at Haiiden. The chain wrapped around his leg and tripped him; she then began to pull him towards her until a loud voice stopped her.
"Celise! The rules were, no weapons!" Zed yelled out and waved for everyone to stop the game. Haiiden looked back at his ankle, and back at Celise, who was clearly frustrated at this point and let go of his leg. However, as he got back up, he noticed Zed's expression began to soften. For a moment, there was silence in the courtyard, both teams scanned each other's members, all of them wondering the same thing; what stopped them though, was the question of who was going to make the first move. After her gaze shifted between Zed and Haiiden, Cecilia then kicked off the ground and began to sprint for her coat on the sidelines, near a clutch of spectators; she picked up the Scroll that was inside and input a code. At that moment, a loud roaring could be heard and that was the signal for everyone to start reaching for their own Scrolls, and likewise, each input a code into their Scrolls.
The sky was filled with roaring, as they all had just launched their personal lockers, and they were being propelled towards the current positions of the teams. Before long, the roaring ceased, and instead was replaced by a whistling as the rockets fell to the ground; the earth shook as the lockers littered the courtyard and the doors blasted open, revealing all of their weapons as each student ran towards their respective lockers; each pulling out their weapons and spare armor.
"Game on!" Zed yelled, as the game resumed, but this time, with each player's full fighting ability being leveraged.
Beacon Historians called it the "First Battle for Beacon of 926". It all started with a single chain, and before anyone knew it, everyone was armed, with the Miyoki ball forgotten in the middle of the courtyard. Yatsuhashi was the first to strike, as he swung his sword in a wide arc over Byeli's head, which left a giant crater beneath him, Raine's jacket billowing in the like a flag in the chilly morning breeze, and half the opposing team was knocked off their feet from the shockwave. Vaughn fired his rifle, his non-lethal rounds poised to bring down the Eastern giant with their tranquilizing poison. The huge man managed to deflect most of the shots, but as Vaughn continued to fire, he knew he wouldn't be able to deflect the next volley. At that moment, Coco jumped in front her teammate, and helped to deflect the incoming shots with her handbag. Raine was knocked into the air, and he could be seen flying over her head, with Coco barely noticing as she fought.
Cecilia, for her part, rushed forward and swung her claymore, using her Semblance to make her sword appear to be on fire with an ethereal blue flame. The flame expressed a blue mist, which encased Zed in ice, but within seconds, Byeli rushed in to help her Miyoki teammate, and broke the ice with her staff. Zed, once freed, rallied his teammates as they got to their feet, and team which was comprised of all the Faunus members on the battlefield, were poised to make quick work of the enemy. Both teams rushed towards each other, some winding up to attack, while others were merely going to feign an attack to try and trick their opponents. Gunshots rang out, and the clashing of swords and metal split the air as the battle got fully underway. Spectators came out from the various buildings and dormitories to watch the spectacle, as the seemingly innocent game had turned into a pitched battle that left utter carnage in its wake. Before long, Haiiden was perched on top of a locker, which had been impaled on the ground of the courtyard, and pointed his sword at Zed.
"Zed!" He yelled out with a smile, as he singled out his friend amongst all the other potential targets.
"Haiiden!" Zed responded and brought his leg back, ready to kick the ground and propel himself forward to meet his friend in mortal combat. However, they would quickly realize that there was a storm brewing from among the group of spectators. As much as scholars disagree on who was winning the battle at this point, they universally agree on one major point, the turning point in this brief war: it all started to go very, very wrong with what historians have agreed to call "The Nora Incident".
"Nora!" The two heard, stopping just a few feet from each other as the cheerful voice had frozen them in place; they realized with dawning horror what the utterance of that name meant for them and their teammates. At that moment, the ground shook, and the two friends were blown off their feet and fell onto their backs amidst the soft grass as a rocket propelled grenade knocked them back and to the ground.
Nora Valkyrie, the constantly energetic and vivacious young girl from team JNPR, had jumped into the fray and left her team watching from the sidelines, part of the growing throng of students and instructors that were rapidly gathering.
Anyone who knew anything about Nora could have predicted what was going to happen next. The little lady was incensed as she eyed Haiiden and then Zed as they rushed to their feet, her hammer draped over her shoulders.
"You guys didn't invite me to play?" She cried out and stomped her foot on the ground with a growl, but then the incensed look turned into a grin as she picked up the ball and threw it towards Yatsuhashi. Out of instinct, he caught the object without thinking, but after he had processed what it was that was in his hands, he looked up with a note of panic on his face, as Nora then morphed her hammer into a grenade launcher. "Run!"
Staring down the barrel of Nora's grenade launcher, Yatsuhashi swallowed and lumbered down the field, the ground shook with each stomp of his foot and got faster as he realized that Nora was aiming for him and quickly fired. The grenade, which was the size and shape of a soda can with and was adorned with a pink heart on its front, lanced through the air and left a crater the size of an automobile in the ground behind him. Yatsuhashi almost tripped, then decided that carrying the ball was too much trouble, and threw it to Zed without giving it a second thought. Zed caught it with a wavering grin, which immediately disappeared as he realized that he had become Nora's new target. He debated with himself whether or not to run, but flinched as she fixed her aim on him. His only choice now was to make a break for the Terminus Zone, and he decided to run for the goal post in a zigzag pattern, knowing that if he could get the point, his team would win, Nora notwithstanding.
As he continued to run, he dodged more of her incoming shots, three of them, in fact, as his agility allowed him to zip out of the way as he heard the rocket propelled grenades approaching, one of which he had to jump over as it almost connected with his body, before deciding that this level of risk was no longer worth it; out of desperation, he threw the ball over to Cecilia, who was in the midst of swinging her sword downward at Celise, when the ball impaled itself onto the tip of her blade and deflated. She screamed in panic as she realized what it meant to have the ball, and immediately began to try and remove it by swinging her claymore to shake it loose as she bolted down the field towards her opposing team's Terminus Zone.
Despite the constant grenade fire, each team was still trying to score a goal. In her haste, however, Cecilia accidentally activated her Semblance again, and that had the unfortunate side effect of freezing the ball to the end of her blade, which made her shriek in helplessness as she threw her free arm in the air while uttering a series of oaths which onlookers, as well as historians, have been loathe to ever repeat.
Upon seeing Cecilia's helplessness, Nora changed her grenade launcher into her hammer and struck it into the ground, the head embedding itself and finally, as she stepped up onto its base, she pulled the trigger, which caused the head to discharge a grenade; the force of the explosion launched her into the air and she flew towards Cecilia, who accepted her fate and welcomed her death. With a cheery smile, Nora wound up her strike, and slammed the hammer into Cecilia's chest, knocking her back a few meters. Her sword, however, was spinning in the air, and as Cecilia lost contact with her sword, the ice melted and the ball slid off; right into Nora's hands.
"Ha! I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora announced in a sing-song chant as she watched her "subjects" groan while they got up off the ground. Some of them wobbled as they stood up and immediately fell over again, still dazed from the carnage bought upon them by Nora. Carnage, which many "Norologists" would study for many, many decades to come. Haiiden and Zed sat back to back, both of them wheezing and struggling to regain their breath, while Haiiden eyed Nora from a distance.
"Yes, your highness!" Haiiden shouted back, and was about to laugh, if only his sides didn't hurt from exhaustion. Nora was about to bow, until Glynda came, stalking up behind her with an annoyed expression, which switched to anger as she surveyed the damage to the school grounds; she had been notified by frightened spectators as they ran for the sanctuary of the school as things spun completely out of control on the pitch. Nora backed away slowly, whistling all the while with her grenade launcher hidden behind her back in the hopes that she wouldn't be suspected, as Glynda then whipped out her riding crop and began to use her magic to quickly erase the damage; in a matter of seconds, she had fully restored the courtyard, and made it look as if the destruction never happened. Even the ball was repaired and re-inflated. She gave one last glance at each group of students before turning to walk away. Everyone began to get back up slowly, the grogginess having left most of them, but they still felt dazed and forgetful as to who was in the lead before Nora's intervention; this issue has left many historians to argue who it was that ultimately won the battle, and the game, as The Battle for Beacon of 926 drew infamously to a close.
"Well. That was... entertaining," Pyrrha declared as she stopped in front of Haiiden, bending down and offering a hand to him. Haiiden shook his head as he thought to himself, the utter destruction brought about by this cheerful girl, and then all of it being erased by Glynda, made him wonder what exactly had just happened. When he finally managed to snap back into reality, he noticed the hand that had been offered to him, and let out a hearty laugh as he took the hand, and was pulled up. It had been the first time that Pyrrha had spoken to him since he had revealed that he had dropped out of Beacon the previous year. Perhaps she had been disappointed with him, and was left with her thoughts as she tried to process this revelation, but upon seeing how the relationship between Cecilia and him had improved, she decided to let go of her disappointment, even if he hadn't given an adequate answer as to why he had left in the first place.
Before long, the four teams, JNPR, CNBR, CFVY, and HAVC, got together, and made their way to the school's dining hall to discuss the events of the game.
Cinder walked quietly down the streets of Mistral's white district, along with Neopolitan, more commonly known as just "Neo", as they passed by bystanders who were unaware of who they were, and the plans they had set in motion. Neo spun her parasol over her shoulder before holding it over Cinder to block the afternoon sun from shining too brightly on her. Cinder grinned for a moment before they both turned into an alleyway and walked down the length of it, stopping in the middle, just outside of earshot of anyone from either side.
The two waited for a while, until seeing another pair approaching them from the opposite end of the alley: two teenagers, a female with light green hair and dark skin that wore a olive and white covering for her breasts, white pants with brown leather chaps, and little else, and a male with grey hair, dark clothing, and black metal boots. The unlikely pair walked nonchalantly towards them; upon confirming it was the two that she was waiting for, Cinder nodded towards Neo, who in turn lowered her head and bowed, before disappearing into thin air as she teleported away.
"Glad you two know how to arrive for an appointment on time," Cinder remarked, a hint of annoyance in her voice, but she had a smile on her face which made the two oblivious to her displeasure.
"I'm assuming that someone else isn't?" the grey-haired boy named "Mercury," asked, while the green haired girl, named "Emerald" slapped him on the shoulder.
"As usual. He goes by his own time schedule, but at least I still have some form of control over him. He obeys me, lest I burn him to ashes where he stands," Cinder said. At that moment, a distortion in the air appeared as Neo returned, with Ash in tow, and as usual, he was wearing a sick grin as he came into view. It was a grin that even made Emerald slightly nauseated.
"You came in just at the right time, Neo," Ash commented as he eyed the pink and brown-haired girl from top to bottom, even though he has already met her, he still couldn't help but feel admiration for her, especially from the stories he'd heard about her. He even admired her heterochromia, with one brown eye and one pink eye, which matched her pink and brown hair, both of which made her unique. "Someone made a slight mistake; if you hadn't come in and taken me when you did, well, let's say there would have been another trail for someone to come upon to find me."
"So are you trying to get caught, or-" Emerald asked, concerned for their plans in the event that he really was apprehended, and annoyed that he would even joke about it so casually.
"It adds to the excitement," said a now bored Ash, while holding a notebook in one hand, which he handed to Cinder.
"A notebook? Really?" Mercury scoffed as he found it amusing that anyone nowadays would use a physical medium for when it came to writing.
"I was joking about being tracked. There is always so much killing to do. What's a little more?" Ash responded, as he watched Cinder scan the contents of the notebook; she took a few moments with each page before turning it to the next one. "Using a Scroll to hold information is risky, you can be tracked- or hacked- easily."
Cinder was still in the conversation, however, she only responded with a nod as she continued to read the writing in the book. Inside was a list of names and strategic locations, as well as notes that Ash had written as he followed clues and leads for a particular person he had been hunting; but she had always managed to evade him.
"The targets that I requested; are they in here as well?" Cinder asked as she looked up at Ash from the corner of her eyes.
"Of course. Both of the new additions are here in Mistral as we speak," Ash responded and pointed to the names on the following page; even though Cinder had already seen them, but just wanted to make sure. She shut the notebook closed with a light clap and handed it to her subordinates, Mercury and Emerald.
"What's in here?" Mercury asked, and Emerald slapped him on the shoulder again for asking such a stupid question. However, it didn't matter to Cinder, and she instead decided to humor him a little.
"It's a list that Ash has been working on; assassination targets, strategic locations, as well as people that Ash considers 'loose ends'. Now, you two have your targets, the first two on the list on the most recent page marked under "Mistral", as well as your roles for the next phase of the plan. Remember: once we reach Vale, you will keep your hands clean. I don't want us to get caught early on and ruin everything we have been planning for years," Cinder commanded and the two nodded their heads in acknowledgment before they turned to walk away, but not before shooting a glance back at each other with a grin. Cinder continued to watch as the two left, but as they disappeared from view, Cinder turned her attention to Ash.
"Remember Ash, the Umbra may trust you, but I do not. Lie low," she warned, her Aura physically manifested and engulfed her body to further elaborate her warning.
"My target is much larger than the small fry that you are interested in, which was why I gave my list to you instead," Ash replied, nonchalantly, and he was just about to leave before he stopped and turned to Neo. "Oh! And before I go..."
Ash held out his hand, to which Cinder stretched out her palm and Ash overturned his hand and a chip fell into her hand.
"A gift, from our friend back in Atlas," Ash grinned and proceded to walk past Cinder, who was now grinning herself.
"Mind if I snag a lift?" Ash asked Neo.
For a moment, her smile wavered as she turned to Cinder for permission, which Cinder gave with a slight nod before Neo grabbed Ash by the sleeve.
"Make sure that you and Torchwick both do what you are told to do, there will be no more setbacks," Cinder commanded and Neo responded with a curtsy before teleporting away again.
Cinder sighed as she stepped out of the alley, considering her own assassination target as she walked towards the city's lavender district.
Zed decided to turn in early for the day; the game had left him slightly sore, but the fun he had had made it more than worth it. He turned the corner and began to ascend a flight of stairs in his dormitory as he thought to himself for a bit. He thought of the fun they had all enjoyed, but also thought of Blake, as well as Roman. At that moment, he began to hear another set of footfalls, these ones descending the stairs, and at first, he paid no mind, at least until he saw the familiar blur of black pass by him. They both ignored each other at first, but the descending footsteps then stopped and Zed realized that he should stop as well.
"Zed," Blake whispered, which got his attention, but he didn't turn around to face her. Once she realized what he was doing, she decided to turn her back to him as well. "In case either of us ever found anything on Roman, Adam, or the White Fang, I think it would be wise to let each other know."
Zed kept his gaze straight ahead as he processed what it was that she was suggesting. He was still wary of his surroundings, as Blake's appearance had made him wonder if there were any more White Fang in Vale. There probably were, he knew, but he didn't want to draw any attention to himself, and associating with Blake for now made him fear that he would draw unwanted scrutiny. However, for old time's sake, he decided to humor her, and to hear her out.
"Okay, I'll let you know if I find out anything," Zed responded and was practically dying to just leave before they were seen together, then he heard Blake shuffle behind him, so he turned to face her and saw that she was holding out a piece of black chalk in her hand. He hesitantly took it, and for a moment, he took his time to examine the chalk in between his finger and thumb.
"It's a piece of chalk, Zed," Blake said, as she misinterpreted his reaction for confusion.
"I know what it is," Zed said with a scoff and looked up at her with a perplexed look. "What is this for?"
"In case either of us want to talk, we should have a way to signal it; when I want to talk, during the night, I'll write a 'Z' on your door, and you write a 'B' on mine if you want to call a meeting," she continued. "Check your door each morning then you leave. When a mark is left, that night, once the dining hall is closed after dinner, we will instead meet in the library. Pick a desk or table with an empty seat behind you; we can sit back to back and talk, like we just did on the stairs. My door is across the hall from Team JNPR."
Zed nodded in acknowledgement, and stuffed the chalk into his pocket and turned to walk back up the stairs. Just as he started to move again, he heard the second pair of footsteps, likewise, begin to descend as well.
(Three days later)
Emerald had been stalking her target in Mistral for the past few days now, as she observed his schedule and took notes of anything that she could use to better coordinate an elaborate plan to kill him. She and Mercury normally worked as a team, but she was the more calculating one of the pair, whereas Mercury preferred to just run in, guns blazing. As she continued to observe her target, she concluded that he was a scumbag; every day, after work, he would waste his ill gotten gain at a club, and drowned himself in alcohol and draxx, a popular and expensive street drug, and just generally being an unrepentant womanizer.
However, the most interesting part that she noticed was his money; his day job wouldn't allow him to spend so much on drugs and booze or the women that he would bring home with him. He had a dirty little secret that she was in on, as this man that she was stalking was a middleman named "Martin Rouge", who had been working with Roman in Mistral. He would help with shipments of Dust as well as other important deals, such as providing them with some weapons and explosives, as well as access to logistical support. However, it has been discovered that in some orders, there were some details missing, and further investigation revealed that Martin had been stealing from them, skimming money on the side to pay for his lifestyle.
This had been his last mistake.
Now Mercury, on the other hand, didn't stalk his target like his comrade Emerald did. Instead he just wasted time on his own for a bit, seeing the opportunity to have some fun before having to go back to meet with her at the time that they both agreed to rendezvous. He went to random shops, looked around for a bit, maybe beat up some random people that would pass by when he was bored. Today was different, as it was the last day to kill his target. He already knew where the man was, his target, Oliver Brunn never changed locations. Brunn was a mercenary fixer and a broker of information; a man who would find work for the hired guns he knew, as well as to learn information about various groups and their activities, and then sell it. He didn't make money by being find.
For a while, he had been selling information to Cinder's comrades, as well as farming out work from them in exchange for a finder's fee, but then he stumbled upon information that had gotten him curious about Cinder, Mercury and Emerald. Too curious, in fact, for his own good. He made his way to the shady part of town, stopping by a small grey building with a staircase that led down to the building's cellar and he stepped inside.
For a moment, at the beginning, Emerald had thought that Martin would at least be hard to track, that he would at hide his activities well, but the illusions of grandeur that was a side effect of the draxx had left him feeling invulnerable and dulled his sense of caution. Roman didn't want to confront him personally, fearing that if Martin knew that his life was in danger, that he would run straight to the authorities; so instead, he requested that they let Martin continue with his little games, and take him out when he least expected it, so as not to arouse any suspicions.
This left Martin believing that he was getting away with stealing from them. Emerald then concluded that this was all that she needed for this investigation, and she went into the club after him. The club was trashy, it was generally not well kept and there were scummy people everywhere, men and women alike, although the club did seem to be quieter than usual today. Which was good for Emerald, as it meant fewer witnesses, however, she knew it would be best to take him somewhere secluded in order to finish him off; and she knew precisely how to do that.
She approached him slowly, his back was to her and he didn't notice her at first as she sat down a couple seats down the bar to his right. He seemed a little bored as Emerald began to examine him, and why wouldn't he be bored? The club was quiet, which meant no action for him tonight. As Martin began to scan his surroundings again, his gaze then passed over Emerald, who felt that he was looking at her, but didn't turn to face him. Instead, she waited for him to make the first move; with a grin, he took a swig from his drink, then pressed a glowing purple ampule to the inside of his wrist and injected himself with a hefty dose of draxx, which among other things, was an aphrodisiac. He then approached her with a slight wobble in his step.
"Hey little lady, haven't seen you here before," Martin said as he placed an elbow on the bar next to her in an attempt to look suave, but also to brace himself so that he wouldn't fall over.
"Nope, first time here in such a big city," Emerald responded with reservation which Martin mistook as her being shy, when it was really just her feeling annoyed.
"You look too young to be in a place like this," he slurred.
"I'm eighteen. Just don't tell the bartender," she said coyly.
"Music to my ears. Well, since you're new to Mistral, I can show you the sights if you want; you won't regret it," Martin continued, and Emerald responded by flashing a fake smile at him.
"Kid, what are you doing here?" Brunn asked nervously as he saw Mercury come into his place, while Mercury stopped in front of the door with his arms crossed in front of him as he stared at Brunn. "You realize how risky it is to be seen with my clients? I'm meeting with a group of mercenaries in less than an hour!"
"You do good work, Brunn, really, sometimes I think you do your job too well," Mercury replied, ignoring what Brunn had said and he stalked forward towards him.
"Kid, if you wanted to compliment me, fine, but don't come here." With the wave of his hand, Brunn motioned his bodyguard to deal with Mercury, even though he worked for his clients, and valued them, his security and identity was far more important.
"Oooh, scary," Mercury remarked as he eyed the bodyguard from head to toe. He looked pretty dumb, but his size was nothing to mess with, at least, not something to mess with if you were weak, but Mercury was not weak. Just as the bodyguard reached out to grab him, Mercury snagged his wrist and twisted his arm in an awkward angle; the bones in his arm could be heard breaking, as Mercury added more pressure to it, before finally finishing him by sweeping his foot underneath the bodyguard and kicking him up again to prop him in the air, and finally, bringing his foot back down onto his chest. His ribs and sternum broke and punctured his heart. Brunn looked on in horror as Mercury killed his bodyguard without working up a sweat, then Mercury fixed the cuffs on his sleeves as if nothing had happened.
"You dug too deep, Brunn. Cinder can't have you potentially selling information about us to our enemies," Mercury said, before he charged at Brunn.
Emerald was always told to use any means necessary to complete her objectives, unless it jeopardized the plan in any way. "Any means" being the key phrase, although she never went too far in order to kill her targets. She found it best to make herself feel as unthreatening as possible, to make her targets drop their guard, and there were even times that she would befriend her victims before killing them, but that required time, and time was not something she had in abundance tonight. She instead had to play along just long enough for him to lower his defenses. Martin had brought her back to his place, and she could tell by the grin on his face that he felt that he was going to get lucky, as evidenced by the passionate kissing that ensued once they had gotten into the back of the cab on the way back to Rouge's apartment.
Despite his intentions and expectations, "lucky" was not the word she would have chosen in this case, for either of them. She scanned the room around her, and it was just as bad as the club, which made her further realize how much of a sleaze Martin really was. With the money he had been skimming from his clients, he could have lived a truly affluent lifestyle, but all his money had been disappearing into his wrist and up his arm. She then heard the door behind her click as it closed and he locked the door as he closed it.
"Here we are, baby," he sloshed through his drunken stupor and stepped towards her to try and grab her, but she dodged out of the way just as he was about to touch her. She felt nothing but disgust for this man, how he could be stupid enough to think that a woman as fit and beautiful as she was would be so easy, and then her mind reverted back to what her objective was. To what she, Cinder, Ash, and Mercury were fighting for.
"What'sh wrong missh?" he asked.
"It's- it's nothing. I just like to play around a little," she said, and at that moment she took him by surprise as she grabbed his hand and placed it between her deeply tanned breasts.
"You feel that? That heat?" She asked, with a fake smile to further lure him in and to lull him into a false sense of security. He gave off a smile and nodded his head in silent reply. "There are some who say that there is a fire burning in all of us."
Martin knew this sounded familiar, like he had heard the phrase somewhere before, but he couldn't quite figure it out where, however, he banished the thought as he continued to stare at Emerald and began to flex his fingers over her supple skin. Emerald then chuckled slightly, leaning forward and kissed him softly on the lips before brushing her own across his cheek and to his ear, which she licked at playfully and whispered:
"And Cinder and Ash say that it's time for your fire to be snuffed out," she concluded, and at that moment Martin realized where he had heard this phrase before. His eyes widened in horror upon mention of those two names but his facial expression froze as Emerald plunged a knife into the base of his skull. His eyes begged her silently as his body slid to the floor, and Emerald watched in revulsion as his eyes finally rolled back into his head, his face forever frozen in terror at the moment of his death.
Brunn was middle aged, but he was not a pushover; he had prior experience in the military, specifically in the intelligence division, which explained how he was able to get information so easily, either from his experience, or the contacts that he still communicated with. He pulled out a serrated knife and tried to swipe at Mercury, who casually stepped out of the way, and then yawned when he was in the clear.
"Are you sure you left the military? Seems like you were kicked out for being such a failure," Mercury said as he tried to taunt Martin, which worked as Martin yelled out and tried to slash at him again; this time, Mercury backed away and kicked his wrist out of the way, then spun to his right to gain momentum and kicked his heel into the floor, his toe pointed at Brunn, which triggered a Dust gun embedded into his metal boots. A white blast of dust fired from the toe of the boot, but the shot went wide, missing Brunn entirely and blasting a hole in the ceiling that showered both of them with plaster and lathing. Brunn had ducked out of the way and landed on a table; Mercury felt that he should have finished it with that blast, and could have fired again, sure to hit a stationary target this time, but he was bored lately, and he wanted to see how far he could go with this fight.
He waited with his hands on his hips as he watched Brunn get up from off the table as he wiped some blood from his mouth. He spat on the floor and suddenly lunged out again, but was surprised when Mercury had dropped down and spun on his hands before he kicked Brunn once more; this time the force of the kick launched him in the air and Brunn fell onto his back. His age had finally gotten the best of him, and as he struggled to get off the floor, Mercury then stomped down onto his neck; keeping him pinned to the floor. As Brunn looked up at Mercury, he was choking and gagging as he tried to swallow as much air as he could, but still held a defiant look. Mercury was a little amused by this, but noticed the time on the clock on the wall and he realized he had to make this quick.
He began to add pressure the Brunn's neck, and a sickening crunch could be heard as he slowly began to crush his windpipe, which made Brunn start to clutch at his ankle. Before long, Mercury then twisted his foot, and a snap could be heard as he broke Brunn's neck. Mercury took a deep breath, realizing that this was the fun that he had been looking for, and he turned to walk out the door; leaving Brunn's body lying awkwardly on the floor, and his neck at an unnatural angle.
Emerald waited silently in the alleyway for her comrade, still feeling dirty for what she had to do to get Martin in a secluded place, although she didn't really regret killing him, only kissing him; she wiped her lips again in disgust, the smell of alcohol and the copper taste of a draxx addict's saliva still on her breath. Then Emerald saw Mercury at the end of the alleyway; he approached, then stopped right in front of her. They looked at each other for a few long moments, scanning each other's facial features before Mercury pulled out the notebook, and crossed out the two names from off the page.
"So, have you been able to check out the rest of that book?" Emerald asked, as they walked out the alleyway and into the streets of Mistral.
"Yeah, most of which has been crossed out. That man has been doing some work," Mercury responded.
"'That man' creeps me out," Emerald said, wincing at the thought of his greasy hair and sooty, slovenly appearance.
"Really? I like him, he has the right amount of crazy," Mercury remarked as he continued to scan through the first few pages of the notebook, names crossed off, which made him assume that these were targets or locations of interest that had been dealt with already.
Every step he took, a little squish could be heard as he stepped into a puddle of blood, blood which belonged to the many guards that had watched over the building that he had just entered. As usual, he walked with a grin on his face, as Ash reveled in the carnage that he had left in his wake; that wasn't the only reason that he was smiling, however. No, for he was hunting a very special target tonight, a target which made him feel alive again, and made him remember that the last time he felt this way was when he killed Snyegh.
However, he felt a sense of calm swell in him when he thought of that name, and for a moment he began to hum as he continued to walk down the blood-soaked floor in search of his target. His most dangerous game. However, the tune that he was humming could only be described as dreamlike.
(AN: Not much is known about Emerald, other than that she is an assassin for Cinder, but is also a "master thief", as Mercury calls her. I decided to express some creative freedom and have her be a "Black Widow" type of assassin.