Paleblood Lullaby
I don't own RWBY, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Fallout New Vegas. I am going to try to update one project each month this year to get back into the swing of things.
Weiss awoke and coughed out ash, not moving from her current position. The sunlight above burned her eyes. She paused. She couldn't recall there being sunlight in all of her undead existence. Not any true sunlight, at least. There was snow everywhere, yet this was not the world of the Painted Aria. She had died in that forsaken realm enough times to know it from anywhere else.
Still, there remained the question of where she was and how she had gotten here. The last she recalled, she had been there as the First Flame was permitted to finally fade out, the Fire Keeper by her...
The Fire Keeper!
"You're awake, Ashen One," the Fire Keeper greeted, the blue eyes she'd been given locked onto Weiss's own, pulling her to her feet.
"Where are we, Ciel?" she asked slowly.
"In a new Age of Fire," the Fire Keeper replied, "It appears that my vision was correct, Ashen One. The Age of Darkness gave way to an Age of Fire, which gave way to an Age of Darkness, which gave way to this new Age of Fire."
"The cycle has been restored," Weiss sighed in relief, wrapping her Fire Keeper in a hug before pausing, "But why are we here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, myself," a woman's voice asked, causing Weiss to turn and see several women dressed in fairly colorful attire, the leader of which was a purple-eyed woman who extended her hand for either of them to take, "Who are you two, why are you dressed like that, and what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"
Ruby snapped up with a start, gasping as she did so, only to pause as she realized she was not in Yharnam, nor was she in the Hunter's Dream. She looked around, confused by everything, only to pause as she saw Crescent Rose on the chair beside her. She had no idea what was going on, but she had her weapon.
"Salutations, Good Hunter!" a familiar voice greeted cheerfully, causing her to turn to see the Plain Doll standing on the side of her bed opposite Crescent Rose, "You have awakened at last!"
"Penny," she smiled fondly, watching her brighten at the name she gave her, "Where exactly are we?"
"I have no idea!" Penny replied, "We appear to be in a home in a land with bright sunlight. A man who appears to be some manner of Hunter transported you here under my supervision."
"A Hunter?" Ruby asked in interest.
"A Huntsman," came the reply from the door, revealing a blond-haired man in short pants with one pauldron on her shoulder, "My name is Taiyang Xiao Long. You seem a little young to be a Huntress, but that weapon of yours is way too well-made and meticulously designed for it to not be yours. Who are you? Where did you come from?"
"My name's Ruby Rose, and she's Penny. I was in Yharnam," she answered honestly, "I think I may have passed on during a hunt, yet I was apparently not sent to the Dream."
"Yharnam?" he asked in confusion, "Like, Yharnam 'Yharnam?' The city from the legends of the Age of Darkness?"
"Legends?" she repeated, "What do you mean?"
"There isn't a Yharnam in Solitas, East or West Sanus, or even the island of Menagerie," he explained, "At least, not anywhere but in myths and legends."
There was the sound of a bed creaking in the next room.
"That would be my other unexpected guest," he noted, getting up out of his seat, "My best friend found her half-buried in the woods and brought her here. Let me know if you need anything."
Courier Six rubbed her head as she rose, the currently cool metal of her hand helping with the mild headache she felt as a cheerful blonde man who seemed vaguely familiar entered.
"You seem to be alright, all things considered, kiddo," he greeted, "Whoever shot you probably thought that two to the head would be the end of it, but it looks like you're the type who's too stubborn to die. My name's Taiyang Xiao-Long, and I'm a Huntsman and combat medic. I was able to patch you up, even fixed up your forehead so no one could ever tell that you took two rounds to the face and one to the back. I'd like to give you a cognition test, if you don't mind."
"Sure thing," she replied.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Yang," she replied, "But most people call me 'Courier,' or 'Courier Six. I work with the Anima Express. You saved me?"
"My friend pulled you out of the grave," he replied honestly, "I just patched you up and fixed your head. Any idea why those guys decided to shoot you?"
"I was delivering a package," Yang said slowly, trying to concentrate, before suddenly opening her eyes with a glare, "They took my package!"
"And shot you in the head," he reminded her, handing her a mirror, "Considering the state half your face was in, I think I did a good job."
Yang examined her reflection before handing the mirror back, "You did a really good job. If not for the fact that I can remember what it felt like, I wouldn't be able to tell which side got shot. Speaking of, I don't suppose you got a good look at the lowdown punks that who stole my package? The one that shot me was a redhead with a stupid mask on his face. The other two had fox ears and a fox tail."
"Like I said, Qrow saw them, not me," he shrugged, "I'd tell you to wait around for him, but he left after dropping you off and I haven't seen him in the days since. I'd suggest you get in contact with Junior. He runs a bar in Vale proper."
"I'm familiar with the place," Yang smirked.
"That does bring me to one question I have, though," he mused, "What's an Anima Express Courier doing all the way out in Patch?"
"Making my way to Solitas," she replied freely, "I was supposed to deliver a package to the big guy in Atlas. They stopped me as I was passing through."
"So, you went across the world to deliver a package you could have delivered by literally any other route?" he asked.
She blinked before suddenly detaching the hand of her mechanical arm, removing part of the gauntlet, and shaking it irritably, slamming it into the nearby nightstand. "Darn thing's acting up, it seems. I set it to the fastest route to Atlas and it sends me on a wild goose chase?"
"One sec," he requested, before heading out of the room. After a moment, he came back with what looked like a mechanical vambrace.
"I knew my old Pipboy was still working!" he cheered, "Here. I don't use it anymore. I was going to pass it on to my kid when she got older but... her mom had different plans. I haven't seen either of them since."
"I can't take this..." Yang said slowly, not wanting to take something so precious.
"You'll put it to better use than I've had for it," he assured her, "We've also got a shed where you can fix up your gauntlets while you're here. Qrow probably won't mind his tools being moved around a bit."
"Can we make use of it as well?" a girl in a ragged red hood requeted as she entered the room, holding the hands of a girl in an elegant green dress and bonnet.
"You have a weapon?" he asked the green girl. Yang couldn't fault him for that. She dressed like a porcelain doll and her prosthetic hands looked like cosmetics that had never seen a day's work.
"In a sense," she nodded, smiling enigmatically.
"Feel free," he replied freely, "Always best to be prepared for anything Remnant throws at you."
"I have to admit, your story's managed to throw me for a bit of a loop," Robyn Hill noted, "I almost wouldn't believe you if not for my Semblance showing me you're telling me the truth and your friend in the dress telling the same story without even being in the same room as you. So, why were you lying in the snow a few miles away from any civilization?"
"I can only guess that we woke up where we'd died when the last light faded," Weiss concluded, "But I couldn't say why. May I speak with my Fire Keeper?"
"Feel free," she shrugged, "You're not prisoners or anything. She's the last door on the right on the other end of the hall."
"Thank you," she nodded, before following Robyn's directions.
"Ashen One," Ciel greeted, "We must go to the castle of the Beacon. There, we will find others to aid us in guarding this current Age of Fire."
"Is it in danger?" Weiss asked.
"Not in the sense that it will end," Ciel replied, "But there is a threat of a beast from the end of a previous Age of Fire."
"Then let's get moving," Weiss said.
"I wouldn't recommend going out like that," May, Robyn's lieutenant chimed in, "Most people don't wear rusting armor or robes like that anymore. We've got some spare clothes lying around. Pick out what you like. Don't want to be getting too much attention, do you?"
"It would be best if we blend in," Weiss mused, "Alright. Come on, Ciel. We need to blend in to travel without any issue."
"Of course, Ashen One," Ciel agreed.
"And you'll need to call me by my name," Weiss added, "We can't draw unwanted attention to ourselves."
Yang watched in fascination as Ruby eviscerated a pack of Beowolves. They were near a train station that had been abandoned after bidding farewell to Taiyang, and found themselves beset by Grimm. Yang had been about to attack with her modified gauntlet and arm, but the cloaked girl had said to leave them to her, and she now understood why. She was horrifying with her scythe, as if she knew nothing but tearing into large beasts with her wickedly sharp scythe, the occasional gunshot punctuating the dance of death she was showing.
"She is magnificent, is she not?" Penny asked, gazing at the brutal display with a fondness that Yang would not have associated with someone watching Grimm be butchered. "My Good Hunter had combined the Burial Blade with her gun to create the Crescent Rose."
"Why do you call her that?" Yang asked curiously, "Your Good Hunter?"
"Because that is what she is," Penny replied as Ruby dispatched the last of the Grimm, "She is the Good Hunter. I am the Plain Doll. I was made to serve, and she was chosen to hunt. It was she who named me."
Before Yang could question that, the front of a clearly damaged train passed the station, at which point a black-haired young woman in a bow landed on a tree branch, then jumped to the ground, only pausing at the sight of them.
"Heading our way?" Yang asked.
"That depends," she replied, "Are you headed further into Vale?"
"We are," Yang nodded, extending her hand, "Courier Six. That's Penny and the one heading our way in the red hood is Ruby."
"Blake Belladonna," she replied, before her bow twitched slightly, her posture somewhat nervous before she nodded to herself, "So you're heading to Beacon?"
"Same area," Yang acknowledged, "Why don't you stick with us? Better to be running with a group than solo."
"That would be nice," Blake mused, "It would be good to have some company, at least for a while..."
