"Titans. Living continents who lifted mankind out of the Cloud Sea in time immemorial.
"However, in addition to mankind, many monsters emerged from the Clouds in order to hunt their prey.
"Mankind struggled against the creatures of the deep and the wilds to survive, and many more perished.
"Eventually, however, the Titans took pity on their denizens, and birthed forth a new race to protect and empower them: The Blades.
"Blades bestowed powerful tools upon a select few, known as Drivers, and helped repel the beasts that beset mankind. And so began a newfound era of peace and harmony."
"Or rather, it would have, if those feeble-minded men hadn't immediately turned against each other as soon as they no longer had to worry about survival."
"That is correct, child.
"Mankind soon enslaved the Blades, and reduced the once-mighty Titans to beasts of burden, all in pursuit of gaining dominion over the world, fighting over a mere Remnant of what once was.
"And so, they continued to fight.
"Over Titans.
"Over Blades.
"Eventually, they took their war to the sacred World Tree itself, in pursuit of the Legendary Aegis.
"And they soon discovered that they had awoken a power they could not hope to control.
"But even now, they have failed to realize that victory does not lay in strength."
"Perhaps, but with the power we command…
"Who could possibly oppose us?"
Blades and Roses
Act 1: A Most Unusual Girl
Part 1: A Simple Salvager
A girl in a red and black diving suit sank deeper and deeper into into the Cloud Sea, hanging onto a hook as she activated her helmet's headlights to examine the sunken ship.
"There should be something right, about… AHA!" The headlights illuminated a crate. "Well, don't mind if I do!" She released the hook and fired her suit's wrist-mounted anchor at the wreckage closest to the crate. She activated the "retract" feature.
As the anchor was already lodged into the ship, the girl was instead pulled closer to her target. The second she landed on the ship, she deployed the retractable spikes in her boots and detached her anchor from the ship.
"Looks like the light scared off the monsters," the girl remarked as she approached the crate, "Good, undersea combat is a headache!"
The girl attached a disk to the crate, which inflated a balloon and lifted the crate from the wreckage. The girl retracted the spikes and floated up alongside the crate. As soon as she was at the correct altitude, she attached the crate to the crane and pressed a button on her helmet.
"Yang! Ember! Do you copy?"
It was a sunny day on the surface of the Cloud Sea as the black and yellow Titan floated on its surface, humming to itself as its two passengers walked about the houseboat on its back.
"So, Ember," one of the inhabitants, a purple-eyed blond in jeans, cowgirl boots, and a leather jacket said as she opened the fridge in the houseboat's kitchen, "Did you remember to fix Ruby's 'practice scythe' before we left?"
"… I brought the cutting part, if that helps?" a yellow, feathery, short humanoid with wings growing out of her back and a glowing, blue, heart-shaped crystal in her chest replied as she held up a sword cobbled together from scrap metal.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" a voice said over the radio that laid forgotten on the table.
"… Seriously Ember?" Yang groaned, "You know that Ruby wanted to get some more practice in with the scythe ever since she started programming Crescent's combat protocols!"
"Sorry Yang!" Ember replied, "I was about to, but then Harbinger invited me over to try some of Vess' new rice balls, and you know I can't turn her down!"
"Yang, I swear if you forgot to turn on the radio again…"
"Did you at least save some for me and Ruby?" Yang asked.
"Ehehehehe… About that…"
"YANG XIAO LONG! EMBER CELICA! Don't you DARE make me climb up there manually if you value your shins!"
Yang and Ember jumped, and the taller of the two ran over to pick up the radio.
"Sorry about that Rubes," Yang said into the radio, "Ember just messed something up, so I had to-"
"Just get me up here before I get swallowed by a fish monster AGAIN!" Ruby ordered, "Once is one time too many!"
"Okay, I'm on it!" Yang tossed the radio to Ember, "I'll go man the crank, you make sure 'the cutting part' is ready in case she pulled up lunch as well."
"Yessir!" the bird-like creature replied with a salute as Yang dashed onto the salvage deck.
.
It only took about a minute to hoist Ruby and her haul out of the Cloud Sea.
"Hey Rubes!" Yang replied, "Find anything useful?"
"I dunno," Ruby answered as the crane swiveled to position her and the crate over the salvage deck, "Haven't opened the box yet." The salvager hopped off the crate as Yang lowered it onto the deck.
"Welcome back, Ruby!" Ember announced as she dashed out of the house part of the houseboat, "Are we gonna open the crate here, or should we wait until we get back to the Guild?"
Ruby removed her diving helmet and tossed it to Yang.
"I think I'll get a drink of water," Ruby replied as she walked past Yang and the bird-like humanoid, "Then we'll crack this thing open and set a course for STRQ!"
"… What if some krabbles decided to nest in this box?" Yang asked.
"I don't know," Ruby answered as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle, "There's a reason I wanted the best Driver and Blade in the entire STRQ Mercenary Guild right here with me in case something went wrong!"
Yang and Ember beamed.
"But since Uncle Qrow and Harbinger couldn't come, I think you two will suffice."
Yang and Ember drooped.
"… Are you sure you're not secretly an Ice Blade?" Ember asked, "Because that was cold!"
"Who left the radio unattended again?" Ruby asked as she uncapped the water bottle.
"… Yang's the one who was tall enough to put it on the table," Ember deflected as Ruby started gulping down water.
"And who was it who forgot to fix Ruby's scythe again?" Yang questioned.
"Well, wasn't it Bumblebee's job to remind me?" Ember asked.
The Titan in question chimed in in a long-dead language.
"Oh, lets see you throw me off without knocking the entire houseboat off your back!" Ember shot back as Ruby re-capped the water bottle and picked up a crowbar.
"Just forget it," she chimed in as she stepped between Yang and Ember, "Let's just see what the ancients left for us!" She jammed the crowbar into the side of the crate and pushed. "We can sell off whatever I. Don't. Need!" The side of the crate was torn free as Ruby fell flat on her face. "Ow…" The girl pushed herself to her feet and dusted herself off as she walked around to look in the crate. "Now, let's see what we- YEEP!" Ruby jumped back from the blue claw that jabbed at her, as a blue, crustacean monster skittered out of the crate towards her.
"A crustip!" Yang shouted as she threw her arms to her sides, yellow gauntlets expanding to cover her fists and forearms in a burst of golden flame as Ember jumped back, "Don't worry Rubes, Ember and I can handle thi-"
"No! You might damage the haul!" Ruby interrupted as she hopped out of the way of another pinch, "Just give me my combat scythe and we'll be good to go!"
"… About that…" Yang noted as Ember chuckled nervously.
"… Did you guys seriously leave my weapon at home?"
"I brought the cutting part!" Ember Celica chimed in as she held up what appeared to be a sword made entirely out of garbage.
Ruby and the crustip both shot Ember unamused looks.
"You know what, I should still be able to perform my sword arts using that 'cutting part'," she decided, "Now c'mon! We're having boiled crustip for lunch!"
Ember Celica tossed the 'cutting part' to Ruby, who brandished it like a sword as she charged the lobster-like monster.
The crustip chittered and snapped its claws at the salvager, who swatted one away with her "cutting part", which she then jabbed at a gap in the monster's exoskeleton.
"Seriously, Ruby," Yang remarked as Ruby jumped ontop of the creature and fired her anchor at the back of its neck, "It'll be much quicker if I-"
"I have it under control!" Ruby interrupted as she jumped off the crustip's back and landed behind it, tugging on her anchor's tether as she retracted it.
The crustip squealed and pulled against Ruby's tether.
"C'mon you overly aggressive seafood, we've got three stomachs to fill on this titan!"
Bumblebee squealed.
"We fed you before I dove!" Ruby snapped back as she struck the crustip's back with her weapon, dislodging her anchor.
The crustip spun around and delivered a punch to Ruby's gut with one of its claws.
"Gah!" Ruby was knocked on her back as it crawled over her, raising and opening its other claw.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted as fiery jets shot out from her gauntlets.
Ruby brandished her weapon, and slashed it straight through the limb the crustip's open claw was attached to, causing it to drop uselessly onto the salvage deck.
The crustip shrieked in pain as it waved its other arm around.
"Take this!" Ruby shouted as she threw all her weight into the monster's underbelly, knocking it onto its back. She pointed her wrist-mounted anchor launcher at the crustip and fired, lodging the anchor in its underbelly between all the legs.
The crustip squealed in pain as Ruby kicked off the deck and activated the retraction feature.
Ruby let out a battle cry as she pointed the tip of her weapon at the crustacean creature's underbelly.
Crick!
The crustip let out one final hiss of pain, before finally going limp as Ruby pulled the "cutting part" out of its vitals.
"Okay, now you can help me pull this thing apart," Ruby stated as she hopped off the monster's corpse, "Ember, looks like you're gonna be putting your cooking skills to the test."
"Oh goody!" Ember announced with a happy dance, grinning from "ear" to "ear", "I finally get to do something fun!" Yang, meanwhile, let out a sigh of relief, her gauntlets folding into bracelets as she dropped to her knees.
"Damn it Rubes," she stated, "You about gave me a heart attack!"
"You worry too much!" Ruby cheerfully replied, "Seriously though, I cannot pull this thing apart on my own!"
Ruby closed the door to the cargo hold.
"Salvage secured!" she announced.
"Good, because Ember just finished preparing the crustip!" Yang replied, as she motioned to the table, "Grab a seat and I'll get you a plate!" Yang had hung her jacket up on the wall, revealing the yellow tank top she had been wearing underneath it.
"Let me get out of my diving suit first!" Ruby shouted back. She dashed up the stairs, into Yang's guest room, pulled herself out of her diving suit, threw on her combat gear (complete with cape and combat skirt), washed and dried off her hands, and dashed down into the kitchen to take her seat.
"Here," Yang said as she placed a plate with a grilled crustip claw and a couple of its legs in front of Ruby, "Since you cut this one off in your battle, I figured you'd earned it."
"Thanks sis!" Ruby replied as Yang took her own seat on the other side of the table, Ember hopping up to sit in the blond brawler's lap. "So, how's sailing Remnant been?"
"Oh it's been pretty great!" Yang remarked as she took a crustip leg, letting Ember take a piece of food off her plate, "I've been to all kinds of cool places! Even got to visit a town inside a Titan! Haven't been to Menagerie or Solitas yet, but still! Just uh… Be careful when exploring the fields outside Vale… They've got a giant red primate there who could probably destroy my houseboat just by stepping on it."
"… Yang tried to fight it and got launched clear into the Cloud Sea!" Ember remarked, "It took her until nightfall to swim back."
"Shut up Ember…" Yang grumbled as she took a bite out of her crustip leg.
"Didya meet anyone new?" Ruby asked.
"… Well, there was this one Driver…" Yang replied with a doofy grin, "We didn't really get to work together for long, but she's absolutely the kind of person who could take me in a fight!"
"… Given the 'Invincible Girl' poster hanging over your bed, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Ruby deadpanned.
"To bad she had a boyfriend," Ember chimed in.
"… Ouch…" Ruby winced.
"It probably wouldn't have worked out anyway," Yang remarked.
"What makes you so sure of that?" Ruby asked.
Yang put her food down and sighed.
"Girls like us have to be careful with who we trust," she stated, "Say too much to the wrong person, and you vanish without a trace."
Ruby winced.
"Yeah…" she remarked, "Suddenly remembering why I prefer machines to people most of the time…" The silver-eyed girl glanced out her window, to the World Tree that pierced the heavens.
"Do you think the legends are true?"
"Huh?"/"Hmm?"
"About the land on top of Yggdrasil," Ruby elaborated, "Do you think it really exists?"
"I don't know," Yang replied, "I'm not sure if I want it to be true, actually."
"Why not?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, I'm with her," Ember chimed in, "Who wouldn't want a magical land where there are no problems to exist?"
"Because that 'magical land' would be inhabited by two nigh-omnipotent beings who could wipe out the world with a thought," Yang stated bluntly.
"… But they didn't do that in the legend," Ruby remarked.
"No, but I'm not too inclined to trust anyone so fallible with so much unchecked power," Yang replied, "Take it from me, the people in power aren't always gonna have your best interest at heart, so don't let the pedestal they put themselves on blind you to their faults." The blond girl sighed. "I learned that lesson the hard way."
Ember hopped up and hugged her Driver as Ruby finished eating her lunch.
"I don't think we'll be able to finish this crustip by ourselves," Ruby observed as she pushed her plate away and rose to her feet.
"Yeah… I'm already filling up," Yang remarked, "Still though, it was a hearty meal for a salvager, a Driver, and a scatterbrained Blade."
"HEY!" Ember piped up.
"We should probably be heading back to the Guild anyway," Ruby stated as she glanced out the window, "I'd like to get some work done on Crescent Rose before it gets too late."
"That's probably a good idea," Yang agreed, "Alright, Ember, I'm gonna deploy the port thruster, you deploy the starboard thruster, and Rubes can man the crow's nest."
"Shouldn't we let Bumblebee know?" Ember asked. Yang rolled her eyes, walked over to a window, opened it, and stuck her head out.
"HEY! WE'RE HEADING BACK TO THE GUILD YA BIG TURTLE!" she shouted, "RUBY'S GONNA BE IN THE CROW'S NEST! SO DON'T DIVE UNDER THE CLOUDS LIKE YA DID LAST WEEK!"
Ruby rolled her eyes and walked over to the stairway as Yang and Bumblebee bickered with each other in two completely different languages, somehow understanding each other perfectly.
Two propellers were lowered into the Cloud Sea as Ruby stood in the Crow's Nest, binoculars in her right hand, radio in her left.
"Alright Bumblebee, set a course for the STRQ Mercenary Guild!" Ruby shouted, "Full speed ahead!"
Bumblebee cut through the clouds like a Chroma Katana through a rampaging Ardun's underbelly as Ruby pointed ahead, in spite of the fact that Ruby was standing behind the Titan's head and as such was completely unhelpful in that regard.
"Hey! Ruby, is everything okay up there?" Yang asked over the radio, "Ember and I are ready to go if you see anything dangerous."
"Don't worry, everything's fine!" Ruby replied into the radio as she scanned the surface of the Cloud Sea through her binoculars, "I don't think we'll have any pro-" A mournful wail filled the air. "WOAH!"
"Ruby? What's wrong!?" Yang questioned. Ruby glanced over the starboard side, and felt her heart sank as the reality of the situation sank in.
It was a Titan, an old one from the looks of the dead plants on its back, struggling to stay on the surface of the Cloud Sea. It moaned and wailed, its glowing core slowly flickering out as it tried to breach the surface, only for the light to fade from both its eyes and its core as it hit the clouds, and sank into the depths one final time.
"… Another Titan just sank," Ruby replied.
"Again?" Yang questioned, "This is… Oh gods, were there any people on there?"
"Judging by the lack of boats and emergency flares, and the fact that all I saw on it were a bunch of dead trees, I think the people jumped ship ages ago," Ruby replied, "But still, even if it was an island-class Titan, it didn't look to be that much worse off than the Vacuan Titan. And the second a continent-class Titan dies…"
"… Don't worry about that Ruby," Yang said over the radio, "If you spend every waking moment worrying about the things you can't change, you won't have any energy left to do something about the things you can!"
"… How far are we from the Guild?" Ruby asked.
"We're still a few Titanpedes away," Yang replied, "I can take over if you need to lie down! And Ember's very warm and huggable!"
"…"
"Ruby?"
"Just… Come up here and swap posts with me," Ruby replied, "I'm gonna need a clear head when I get to work on Crescent."
Ruby stared out Yang's guest room's window as she hugged Ember like a teddy bear, across the Cloud Sea, to Yggdrasil's silhouette towering over the horizon to pierce the heavens.
Just what are you?
a/n: So... This was inspired by Chuggaaconroy's Xenoblade 2 LP. I've had this idea since he got to Torigoth, when I realized the Xenoblade 2 and RWBY both have:
1. A cat girl who left a terrorist organization when her boss (a masked swordsman) crossed a moral line should couldn't agree with.
2. A redhead in red armor who crushes on a dorky swordsman who has no idea what he's doing.
3. A wholesome robot girl who I would die for.
4. A male character who starts out pretty toxic but gradually becomes a better person over the course of the adventure.
5. Villains working from the shadows to divide humanity.
6. A [MASSIVE SPOILERS] who [MASSIVE SPOILERS] because [MASSIVE SPOILERS].
7. A suicidal character with a martyr complex (albeit handled in a MUCH less offensive manner than Penny's arc).
Admittedly, I won't be using that many characters from Xenoblade 2 (thus why I'm not categorizing this as a crossover), but I will be using Xenoblade 2 monsters in place of Grimm.
All in all, I hope you enjoyed this.
And yes, Yang lives in a houseboat that's built onto the back of a giant turtle monster. Because shut-up.