Managed to get this out before Smash Ultimate released. *pumps fist*
Still crying about how there's no playable Golden Sun character. *retracts fist*
I also have a question/proposition that may or may not interest a few of you. Details at the end of second AN.
. . .
. . .
The world, and by extension, life, can be a fickle thing. There are many instances when the world can flip someone on their heads for seemingly no particular reason. Some may pass this off as nothing more than a case of bad luck. Others call it chance. Or coincidence. Some may even call it fate.
A common example would be a student mustering up his or her courage to confess their feelings to whomever that they have feelings towards, only to be rejected. Said rejection may cause the student's outlook on life to solidify to the point they develop a self-deprecating sense of humor and believe that youth is simply an illusion created by hypocrites, for hypocrites are born from the ashes of past failures.
…That last line was most definitely not said by an apathetic man with the eyes of a dead fish.
Another example would be if the parents of a family suddenly decided that it was time to move to a different city. That'd flip the world of their children on their heads, forcing them into a, usually uncomfortable, spot of having to get themselves settled in an unfamiliar area. There are some that are not adept at dealing with new faces, and for those select people, having to make new acquaintances can be a nightmare.
A third would be if, one day, a person would discover that they have a son and daughter that they never knew about. Add in the fact that they're from the future and it gets even more strange.
A fourth example would be dying, ending up in the afterlife, and discovering that not only are there alternate and parallel worlds to the very world that one used to live in, but that there are hundreds of thousands of different universes as well, not including any alternates or parallels.
There were worlds where legends would be summoned to fight in a seven-way death match for a wish-granting relic. Worlds where well-known characters from completely different universes would smash each other out of a fighting stage. Worlds where a supersoldier and his holographic companion journeyed across the system, landed on a planet-sized ring in the middle of nowhere-space, killed an army of an alien covenant, fought off a flood of an infectious scourge, and blew up the ring to prevent the infection from spreading and also preventing the ring from wiping the galaxy of all sentient life.
Granted, the examples three and four are a bit over the top, the latter even more so, but the point remains.
There are also other times in which the world can flip one on their head. Quite literally. As in putting one in a position where they are standing upright with their head on the ground and feet in the air. Which was the exact position that Robin found himself in the middle of the night.
A shadow ripped in front of him and Death appeared with a shit-eating smirk on her face.
"Thrown off the couch on the first night, huh? Thought you would've lasted a few days at least, Robin."
Robin would've flipped her an arcane gesture with a single finger if his body would move. "Blame your apprentice for sleepwalking off the bed and to the couch, then hurling me across the room after applying your stupid 'death breath' to petrify my body."
"Sounds like your fault for being caught unawares."
"I was sleeping. In my own house. Where a guest and friend attacked me."
"Expect the unexpected."
"That is not only figuratively impossible but also contradictory. Now can you de-petrify me?"
Death folded her arms underneath her ample chest. "Mm… Only if you accept a job."
"I'd much rather wait for this to wear off naturally," Robin immediately answered. "Shouldn't take any longer than a few hours."
Death's eyes flashed dangerously and the temperature in the room dropped drastically. "I'll make it last for much longer than a few hours," she threatened. "Snow can only make the petrification last a short while. I can make it last indefinitely."
Robin bit back a sigh as he looked…down? Up? They both had their eyes angled downwards from their respective positions yet Robin was upside down, so… He gave her an annoyed look.
"Can I at least know what the job entails?"
"Nope."
This time, he truly did sigh. It was going to be a long day.
. . .
A gentle breeze passed through the docks and turned the book's page. With a slight frown marring her face, Blake flipped the thin sheet of paper back to where it was originally and continued to read her book. There was another breeze that threatened to turn the page again and her frown deepened.
Perhaps it wasn't the best time to read a book on a windy day near the end of autumn. With a small sigh, she closed her book and stood from her bench.
"Leaving already? Pity, I was starting to enjoy your company."
Blake looked around and saw a blue-haired man in a tropical shirt sitting by the riverbed with a fishing rod in hand. Despite being more than underdressed for this chilly weather, the man didn't seem to mind the cold in the slightest.
"It's cold," she simply replied. As if to further emphasize her point, she pulled her coat tighter around her. "And I don't see how you were enjoying my company if we weren't even talking."
The man regarded her with an amused look. "Never said anything about talking, just about company. Fishing is nice and all, don't get me wrong, but it's always nice to have someone next to you. Well…" His grin turned into a grimace. "Except for that stupid red archer and obnoxious goldie…"
Blake had no idea who "that stupid red archer and obnoxious goldie" were. Not that it really mattered.
"…Hey."
"Hm? What's up?"
"It's illegal to fish here."
The man wore a splendid poker-face for a full five seconds before sighing deeply. "Course it is. Damn." He reeled in his line and rested it on his shoulder and tossed her a grin. "I'll see you around, missy! If you ever wanna find me again, just look for the fishing spots and I'll be there."
Blake took out her scroll as the blue-haired man walked away. There was a new message in her team's group chat.
Yang: Hey B wya?
It took her a moment to remember what the letters stood for. Curse social norms and their shortened and complicated ways of sending messages. Bringing up her keyboard, she typed out her response and hit 'Send'.
Blake: I'm at the river pier.
Yang: K~~ :DDD
Yang: R and I r done shopping
Yang: Meet Shepherd by 4
Yang: ?
Yang: Yes?
Yang: Yes?
Yang: Yes?
By the tuna gods, her partner was -
Yang: Yes?
- worse than her sister at times.
Yang: Yes?
Weiss: Yang, I swear to whatever higher being that may or may not exist in this world, I will encase your scroll in ice if you continue to blow up my scroll with messages!
There was a brief moment of silence. Then her scroll buzzed again.
Ruby: Yes?
Weiss: THAT DOES IT, YANG XIAO LONG!
Yang: LOLOLOL
Yang: Might wanna check the sender name Weissy :DD
Another pause.
Weiss: I'm not apologizing.
Yang: LOL
Ruby: Meet u 2 there!
Blake: Ok.
Weiss: Wait a minute. You said to meet at A Shepherd's Rest by 4, right?
Ruby: Yup yup :)
Weiss: It's 3:56, you dolt!
Ruby: Weellllll… Me and Yang r here already
Ruby: :P
Yang: Tik tok Weiss!
Weiss: You two are insufferable.
Yang: U kno u luv us.
Blake was sure she imagined it, but she could've sworn she heard her white-haired teammate's scream echo through the streets. Luckily for her, A Shepherd's Rest wasn't too far from where she was. The cafe was located by the southern end of Vale's commercial district, which was just north of where Beacon's river split the commercial and residential districts.
It took her no longer than ten minutes to reach the cafe. Yang and Ruby were standing outside, both of them playing one of the many mobile games that they downloaded onto their scrolls.
"Hey." Blake greeted the sisters with a small wave.
"Hiya!" "Sup!"
After returning the greeting, the sisters went back to their game and Blake patiently waited. She knew them well enough that they wouldn't really focus on their surroundings when absorbed in whatever it was that they were playing. A quick glance at the screen and she recognized it. What was the game called again? It had something to do with the color blue and lines. Or lanes.
"Fuaaahh~" Ruby exhaled deeply as she lowered her scroll. There was a large "S" and the word "Perfect" displayed on the screen, both in a golden font. "Sorry, Blake. It's just that there's an event going on right now and I really want the limited unit that drops from the boss."
"I see." Blake did, in fact, not see.
"YES!" Yang suddenly pumped her fist into the air. "Got her to drop!"
"What!? No way!" Ruby whined.
"Yes way, my dear little sis," Yang gleefully said, showing both her sister and Blake her screen. There was a blonde woman in a white naval officer's outfit in front of a yellow and lime colored background. "And that's proof!"
The team leader visibly deflated and groaned. "You always have better luck with RNG than me. You got the sisters from 3-4 in like ten runs too!"
'Are-En-Gee?' Blake's brow furrowed at the strange terminology.
"Are you kidding me? You got all the craftable units in under twenty cubes!" Yang tapped her screen a few times and opened up an entirely different page. "I only have Washington after using over a hundred cubes! And besides, you can get Carolina from the event exchange."
"But you know my luck with the exchange shops! I only ever get the grand prize item in the last set, just like the event CE's in Fate!"
"But you're at least guaranteed to get them as long as you deplete the box. The same can't be said for pulling or building units! That's all luck and desire sensor and RNG!"
Before Blake got even more lost than she already was, she ushered her teammates inside to escape the soon-to-be-winter's chill. The three of them sat down in their usual window seat and Ruby began rubbing her hands together to warm them up.
"Why were you two outside anyway?" Blake curiously asked. "If you were cold, you could've just gone inside."
"We wanted to wait for you and Weiss," Ruby brightly said. "It wouldn't be fair if you two were outside while we were inside a warm shop."
"As much as I appreciate the thought, you could catch a cold by doing that," Blake said in a tone that was both stern and kind. "It rained pretty heavily overnight, remember? Humid and cold don't go well with your body."
"The girl's right, y'know," a new voice said from the front of the table. "No amount of Aura can protect you from an illness."
Blake looked up. She blinked once. Twice. Three times.
"You…You're not Robin…" Ruby slowly said.
"Good eyes," the woman-that-wasn't-Robin cheekily replied.
She was beautiful, no doubt about that, but her beauty seemed…different. Ethereal, even. Almost as if the dice were rolled perfectly and in the woman's favor during her birth.
"Robin is currently out for the most of the day. Shouldn't return until sometime past midnight," the woman said, idly playing with a few strands of her black hair. "Since he can't really be in two places at once, I decided to…do him a favor." A quiet laugh escaped her lips as if she just said a joke. "Unfortunately, he didn't have an outfit for me to wear while running his store, so I had to wear one of his shirts. How's it look? Modified it a bit to suit my tastes."
Blake couldn't stop her eyes from taking in the woman's figure, which seemed to be accentuated by the modified version of Robin's work shirt. The top few buttons were loose, revealing a teasing amount of cleavage of her large bust, and the outfit's darker colors coupled with her black hair made her ivory-colored eyes all the more striking.
In short, she had a body that both men and women would kill for, if not for different reasons.
"Heh, I'll take your faces and open mouths as an answer," the woman grinned. "You must be Blake, Ruby, and Yang, while that white one that just entered the store is Weiss. Am I correct?"
Weiss froze in her tracks as she noticed the stranger. "Beg pardon?"
"Am I correct?" the woman repeated.
"Yes, you are. Who are you, if I might ask?"
"Oh, that's right, I never introduced myself!" The woman plopped a fist into her palm in a comical fashion. "I'm an old acquaintance of Robin. A friend, you could say, even if he doesn't want to admit it. As for my name? Well…you may call me 'Thana'."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Thana," Weiss said.
"And a pleasure to meet you as well, Team RWBY." Thana held back another laugh. "Robin has told me a bit about you four, including your usual orders from the past month. Would you like the same things?"
The four of them nodded and Thana snapped her fingers. One hot chocolate, cappuccino, mocha, and a tea appeared in front of the respective drinkers along with a Sweet's Thief for each of them.
"Woah. Was not expecting that," Yang muttered.
"That was like what Robin does!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Oh please, don't lump my skill set with his," Thana scoffed, placing a hand on her hip. "Our abilities aren't even remotely similar."
"Speaking of Robin, where is he?" Blake asked, taking a sip of her tea. It was good, yes, but not as good as Robin's. She didn't know what it was exactly, but there was a minor difference in the taste.
Thana raised an amused eyebrow at Blake as she shifted her body weight onto one leg. "Well, sorry that I haven't mastered the art of crafting drinks as he has."
Blake nearly spat out her drink. How did she know what she was thinking?
"Your face says it all. And to answer your question, he's…"
. . .
""It's only a new Grimm," she said. "It shouldn't too hard to kill," she said. "You should be used to fighting dragons now," she said."
Robin pushed off a few boulders that attempted to bury him alive. Standing up with a pained groan, he brushed the dust off his clothes as he stared at the monstrous being in front of him. A pair of malicious red eyes glared back.
"I don't care if this Grimm is only a fraction of Grima's size. I don't care if I fought that dragon god and killed it. I killed its avatar by exploiting its fatal weakness because I just so happened to be its Heart. I never fought the actual thing," he grumbled, warily eyeing the dragon Grimm's movements. "I don't care if I got my ass kicked around by other dragons in other worlds. Dragons are never fun to fight, Death!"
The draconic Grimm roared and black flames began gathering in its maw.
"That was a compliment, you overgrown lizard! I'm saying you're a pain in the ass to kill!"
Then a torrent of flames washed over him.
. . .
"…He's just hunting down a couple of Grimm. Not too big of a deal," Thana answered. "Well, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I've things to do. Call me if you need anything, okay~?"
"Oh, right. He used to be a Huntsman, right?" Yang put her elbows on the table as Thana walked away to another pair of customers. "He's always running this place and never really looked like he used to be one. He's always more goofy than serious."
Weiss nodded as she set down her cup. "Were it not for Pyrrha telling us herself that Robin managed to single-handedly beat her entire team at once, I would not have believed it. Then again, he did say that he was part of the militia group in the past."
"Why do you think he stopped being one? I mean, Huntsmen are heroes, right?"
"It could be for a variety of reasons, Ruby," Weiss said. "Some Huntsmen retire because of injuries. Some because of age. Some because they simply get tired of fighting."
. . .
"I swear I'm getting too old for this." Robin rolled his shoulders and there were a few cracks that sounded from the middle of his ribcage. "…Case in point. I try to loosen my shoulders and end up cracking my chest. Lovely."
A little ways in front of him, the dragon was slowly rising from a new crater in the ground, courtesy of Robin. Stubborn bastard.
. . .
"Pretty sure we can rule out that second one and maybe the third. He looks like he's…what, mid-twenties-ish?" Yang guessed, twiddling her spoon in her hand. "Unless he's much older than he looks, I don't think that'd be the reason."
"Then an injury? Though I guess that would be kinda hard to check," Ruby said.
Blake frowned as she disagreed. "I don't think so. If he retired from an injury, then why would he have asked JNPR for a duel? I can't imagine a four-against-one fight would be easy, especially if Ren and Pyrrha are on the same team."
"What do you think then?" Yang asked.
There was a brief flash of memory of a train and leaving someone behind. She shook her head to clear the memory before speaking.
"…I don't know," Blake half-lied. Speaking her mind would only bring the group's mood down. Instead, she decided to steer the topic of conversation away from depressing topics. "Going back to what Thana said earlier, what sort of Grimm do you think Robin's fighting?"
"Who knows? Could be a pack of Beowolves or Ursai," Weiss nonchalantly said.
"No way. He has to be fighting something BIG!" Ruby threw her arms into the air to exaggerate her point. "He beat JNPR without even being hit once! He has to be fighting a really big Grimm!"
. . .
Thunder rolled through the clouds and a large bolt of lightning descended from the sky. The entire mountainside lit up in a brilliant flash of gold and the dragon Grimm's roar of pain sent shockwaves through the air.
"Son of a manakete's piss! Why. Won't. You. Die?!"
Bolts of lightning crashed onto the dragon with each word. After taking in a deep breath, he pooled mana into his hands and more lightning began crackling between his fingers. His mana reserves took a dip as he weaved the Spellcraft into a golden spear that was nearly three meters in length. The very edges were tinged with a darker, purple energy.
After taking a second to aim, Robin hurled the lightning spear at the Grimm, causing the mountainside to light up once more.
. . .
Yang laughed at her younger sister's antics. "Maybe he's fighting a Nevermore or two, Alpha or Ultra ranked. Y'know, with his team."
"Team?"
"Yeah, like us." Yang nodded. "Every school has their students graduate in teams of four, right? So I'm pretty sure Robin called up his team for this hunt."
"Oooh! What do you think they're like?" Ruby squealed. Blake could practically see stars in her eyes. "What kind of weapons do you think they use? Do you think they'd let me see them? Do you think Robin will introduce us to them? What do you think they're like?"
"You asked the same question twice, Rubes."
. . .
Robin watched as the dragon buckled in the air, throwing off its unwanted passenger. There was the familiar tug on his core as he warped across the mountainside, catching his falling teammate and warping safely back onto the earth.
"Ahahaha, that was fun! Thanks for the catch, Robin!"
And then Snow was off again, shooting across the ground like a white bullet and towards the now-grounded dragon.
A headache started to form in his head, and it wasn't due to the Grimm.
. . .
"You think Thana's - uh…actually, scratch that. She wouldn't be here if she was a member of Robin's team."
"I know I said that he could be with his team, but maybe Robin flies solo. Eh~?"
Out of the four members seated at the table, only one started laughing. The other three did the opposite.
"Ignoring the terrible pun, there could be a chance that Robin hunts solo, despite its numerous disadvantages," Weiss said. "There are teams that have members slowly start to settle down and start a family. The ones that don't usually continue to hunt the Grimm, and Robin may be one of them."
"Oh, would the four of you relax?" Thana suddenly drawled from next to them, startling the seated members. "Robin has a buddy with him and they'll be fine. The two of them fought worse things than the Grimm on their hunt in the past, both as a team and solo. If you want proof, does 'Hundred Heads' ring any bells?"
"Hundred Heads…?" Weiss' eyes narrowed before widening in recognition. "Isn't that the name for Ladon? The Grimm that wiped out the town of Bellshore?"
"Ladon?" Ruby's brow furrowed in confusion. "What's a Ladon?"
"I'm honestly not surprised that you haven't heard of it," Blake said. "It's a unique type of Grimm; a dragon with a hundred heads. It was only seen once years ago, which was when it destroyed the town of Bellshore to nothing."
"Wait a sec. Bellshore? As in Bellshore's Fall?" Yang asked.
Blake nodded. "The one and the same."
"I heard about that. They say that it was one of the most devastating Grimm attacks," Yang grimaced.
"And that's not wrong. Within a single hour, Ladon was able to wipe out the entire population there, including the two veteran Huntsmen teams that were stationed in the town. By the time four teams arrived in response to their SOS, it was too late. The fight with Ladon lasted for three days with five more teams coming in as reinforcements, and at the end, Ladon was only wounded enough to retreat."
"It was also one of the worst hunts in Remnant," Weiss added as Blake finished speaking. "Four SOS response teams, five backup teams, and two that were originally stationed there. That's forty-four veteran Huntsmen that fought Ladon and only eight of them returned alive. Six more died within the week due to its venom." She grimly shook her head. "Two survivors out of forty-four. A survival rate of 4.54% repeated."
"Wait a sec!" Yang slammed her hands onto the table. "Thana, you said that Robin fought Ladon, right?"
Thana shrugged. "I insinuated it, never specifically said it. But yes, he was one of the first response teams to the SOS."
All four members of RWBY fell silent as they all came to the same conclusion.
"Robin is one of the two survivors…" Ruby depressingly said.
"…And the other?" Yang asked after a bit of hesitation.
Weiss shook her head. "The two survivors wished to remain anonymous, which is perfectly understandable. The only ones who know the names of the Huntsmen that participated in Bellshore's Fall are the families of the deceased." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, how old is Robin?"
"Truly a secret admirer," Yang teased.
"Not that, you dolt," Weiss immediately said. "You said that Robin looks no older than his mid-twenties, yet Bellshore's Fall was ten years ago. For simplicity's sake, let's say Robin is twenty-five. That means he was just about Ruby's age during that time!"
"Oh, that?" Thana started laughing to herself. "Robin is older than he looks. If you want to know his age, you'll have to get it out of him, not me. I'll just say that it has to do with his…genetics."
"I…see…" Weiss muttered. Then her eyes widened for the second time in the span of a minute. "So that's why his tactics book had so much information on Ladon! I thought Robin somehow managed to track down one of the survivors for an interview!"
"Tactics book?" Blake raised a questioning eyebrow. Not even a second later, she managed to put two-and-two together and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of course. 'A Shepherd's Rest'. 'A Shepherd's Guide'. How did I not realize it before…"
"That's the same reaction that I had," Weiss smiled.
"The writing style is almost the same too," Blake mumbled. "The same sense of self-questioning humor, nearly identical sentence structures, and similar use of imagery. I can't believe it took me this long to notice."
"To be fair, A Shepherd's Guide and the Divine and Fell are on opposite ends of the genre spectrum," Weiss reasonably said. "Had Robin not given me his journal, I don't think I would've figured it out, even if the Shepherd was a cafe owner."
"Uhh…" Yang and her sister looked positively confused. "What are you two talking about?"
Blake shared a quick smirk with Weiss.
"I do believe we should teach the uninitiated. What say you, Blake?"
"Yes. I believe we should, Weiss."
Although Blake didn't know it, a predatory grin formed on her face at that exact moment for reasons unknown.
. . .
There was a series of beeping noises from the screen. With a long sigh, Ozpin tapped the 'Answer' button, and a holographic image of a man in a white, military suit popped up on the screen.
"Ozpin."
"James."
"Have you seen the images and the video that I sent you?" James asked.
"If you're talking about the ones attached to the file you just sent me, then no. It is quite impossible for me to check the images if you call me immediately after sending them. However…" Ozpin opened the aforementioned files. "…what, exactly, am I looking at?"
The images were mostly of a mountainside in various conditions. The first showed the mountain in what Ozpin assumed to be its original state, for the rest of the photos showed the same mountain, only there were a few craters in it. The last image displayed a much smaller mountain, and once he began playing the attached video, he quickly realized that it was…
"What you're looking at is Mt. Frey, or what remains of it," James said.
"…When was this? What happened?" Ozpin asked.
"Last night."
Ozpin tore his eyes away from the images to look at headmaster of Atlas Academy. "You mean to tell me that the top half of a mountain vanished overnight? A mountain that is located in the Dark Zone and out of reach of all but the most skilled Huntsmen?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying, and there hasn't been a request to enter the Dark Zone in almost a year. As for what happened, the video explains it, though I was hoping that you'd know what those two dots were that fought the dragon-type Grimm."
As he continued to watch, Ozpin focused on two dots, one white and one black, that were pushing back a draconic Grimm that was easily the size of Beacon Academy. Golden streaks of light were fired off from the black dot while the white one moved at such a speed that Ozpin was staring at a white line at times. This continued for a little while until there was a bright flash from the darker dot and the feed suddenly cut off.
"That flash you saw at the end destroyed all of our cameras in the vicinity," James said while rubbing his brow. "All of our visual sources within a radius of five klicks gone in an instant."
"You know as much as I do on the dots, I'm afraid," Ozpin half-lied.
In truth, he had an inkling as to what the dots were. At least, the white one. There was only one person that Ozpin knew that wore white and could move around at such a speed, but then again, she's been dead for over a decade.
As for the black dot that seemed to throw lightning and created a flash that destroyed the last video camera and most likely erased the top portion of Mt. Frey? That was the bigger problem.
His first guess was Salem, though it was very unlikely. Her powers were immeasurable, but she'd have no reason to fight a Grimm, especially not one that large and powerful.
His second guess was Robin, but that held as much weight as a fart in the wind. But at the same time, it was very easily the most reasonable guess. Though Robin never talked about his abilities nor did he put them on display, Ozpin knew a few things about him with certainty.
The first was that he was an absolute anomaly. Appearing out of nowhere without any background or DNA matches. No Aura nor Semblance yet his abilities said otherwise. He had seen Robin use his Spellcraft for trivial and everyday tasks, but never on a grander scale. Who's to say that if he could warp from a cup of coffee from behind the counter and into his hand, he couldn't warp other larger things, such as a dragon and a mountainside?
The second was that he was seemingly ageless, as he participated in the fight against Ladon ten years ago, yet he had the looks of a man only a few years out of a Huntsman academy. Not to mention he looked the same as he did back then.
Worked for, or alongside, someone else. In his exact words, Robin participated in Ladon's fight because "that insane woman forced - I mean, I'm doing someone a favor". Then he vanished alongside his mysterious companion -
Ozpin froze. Robin's companion back then was a white-robed woman who always wore a blank mask over her face. There was a white dot that fought alongside the darker dot in the video, and if the woman in white was the same, then the black dot was Robin. And if the white dot in the video moved very much like her, then…
No. He shook his head. Summer had been dead for a long time. He had finally come to terms with it over a drink with Robin less than a week's time ago. Robin even confirmed that Summer and the masked woman were two different people. And unless he was a fantastic liar, one unlike any that Ozpin had seen in his entire life, then the cafe owner was not lying when he said he only heard of Summer Rose one time.
Plus, the masked woman wielded a double-ended spear that was able to shift into twinblade connected by a chain, as evident by her fight against Ladon. Summer, on the other hand, wielded two chain scythes with a half-moon blade. It never had a sword or a spear function, despite how similarly they wielded the twin weapons.
"Ozpin!"
Ozpin blinked. He must've been lost in his thoughts again. "Yes, James?"
"I asked if you truly knew nothing," James sighed. "This isn't just a matter of simple security anymore. If two people were able to defeat a dragon-type Grimm within mere hours, then they are a danger to us all!"
"Potential danger," Ozpin reasoned. "We have no need to fear them if they are on our side."
"There is no guarantee that they will be on our side."
"There's no guarantee that they won't be against us either, James. Keep an open mind. If you approach every unknown variable with the intent to subdue them, they are not going to want to help you. However, if you approach said unknown peacefully and without aggression, giving them the benefit of the doubt, then they will be far more willing to listen to your cause."
If the phrase, "glaring daggers", was to be taken literally, Ozpin was sure that he'd be saying, "Et tu, James?", but alas, it was not literal. And since Ozpin wasn't dying from sharp objects, all James could do from behind his screen was defeatedly sigh.
"The Vytal Festival is almost upon us," Ozpin offhandedly said. "How soon can I expect you?"
"If everything runs smoothly, then next week, earliest," James tiredly sighed.
Ozpin raised a curious eyebrow. "You seem to be quite vexed. Might I ask what it is?"
"Winter."
"Ah." That one name explained a great deal.
"Despite her attempts to hide it, she is quite eager to see, not only her younger sister, but her old mentor again."
"Mentor? I was under the assumption that Winter Schnee did not have a specified teacher."
"Unofficial mentor. She'll never admit it out loud, but she holds him in high regards."
"Hm. Ever the enigma," Ozpin chuckled, putting two and two together. "He has no background yet he has a history here."
James nodded as he pulled up a screen next to him. "Agreed. No DNA matches, no blood family, no official records of existence prior to Bellshore's Fall. If it wasn't for his participation in our recent large-scale Grimm exterminations, I would've had him detained the second he mysteriously appeared in the Specialists' barracks years ago, especially since he incapacitated most of my Specialists. If he were to be one of my Specialists and train everyone else up to his level, perhaps - " He suddenly paused as his face morphed into one of realization. "Ozpin…you don't think that the black dot in the video is…"
Ozpin said nothing as he took a sip of his coffee, causing the general to grumble under his breath. Taking out his scroll, he tapped a few buttons.
"I need to make a call."
. . .
Somewhere else on Remnant, far from A Shepherd's Rest, the author of two certain series of books staggered backward by a few steps. The stunt he just pulled was one of Space's techniques, and as every technique that he learned from the immortals from the After, the toll on his body was unlike any other.
"Son of a mother, I'm drained." With a tired groan, Robin plopped down onto a pile of rubble. "I swear on the number of immortal beings in the After, were it not for Death possessing the abilities that she does, I'd never take a job from her again."
"Ahahaha, come on, Robin!" Snow gave him a bright grin and sat down beside him. "It wasn't too bad, was it? Ladon was a lot more difficult than this dragon. Then again, magic-ing away this place was a little overkill, in my opinion."
As if to emphasize her point, she nudged the dragon Grimm's claw that was on the ground. Its main body was gone entirely, with the only proof of its existence being the disintegrating claw.
"True, but Ladon was nowhere near as annoying. All it had was its hundred heads and venom. As long as you avoided its bites, you were safe. This stupid dragon here, on the other hand…" Robin shot a fireball at the detached claw and set it aflame, brightening the darkness of the night. "…was infinitely more tedious. Anything that can fly is annoying. If it wasn't for Space teaching me how to use her favorite move, then this would've dragged on for much longer."
A devious smirk appeared on Snow's lips. "Soooo…you're saying you're annoying? Seeing how you can use Flight Spellcraft to fly?"
Robin was silent for a stunned second. Then his hand reached up and gripped the top of Snow's skull and began applying pressure. "You cheeky little brat."
"Atatatatatata! That hurts!" Snow whined and smacked his hand away. "And "cheeky little brat"?! I'm older than you!"
"Only physically," Robin grinned. "I'm still older than you mentally by quite a few years, little Snow."
"No fair! Just because you 'died' first!"
He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Are you really complaining about the fact that you lived your first life longer than I did?"
"Wha - no no no!" Snow frantically waved her hands in front of her. "That's not what I meant and you know it!"
"Then perhaps you should try rephrasing that sentence into something closer to what you intended on saying," he sagely said.
"Hmph!" Snow crossed her arms and childishly pouted. "You only say that because you're an author."
"In other words, I'm smarter than you."
"This and that are two completely different things! And smarter than me? As if!" She smugly puffed out her chest. "Who was the one that graduated as the third highest on the student rankings at Beacon during their original life while also completely revamping their curriculum for the better? Who was the one that coordinated the attack on the Debellators back on Aeiros eight years ago and won by the time you arrived?"
"Third highest? I do believe bragging rights only go to those in first."
A dust of pink appeared on her cheeks. "I was third only because of the academic part, okay? I was first in combat!"
"Sure sure," Robin laughed, causing Snow to puff out her cheeks. "And to be fair, I never attended Beacon because I grew up in a different world and universe. And if you're going to play that card, who was the tactician that led an army that was two hundred thousand strong against an army of a million on a foreign land during his first life? And was victorious with over seventy percent of the army still alive?"
"W-Well, my daughter was - "
"I assure you that you do not want to enter daughter territory." Robin cut her off with a proud smile on his face. "In case you were planning listing off your daughter's accomplishments, allow me to go first. My daughter, Morgan, was able to create a completely new branch of Spellcraft on her own, which revolved around the concept of space. With only a few months of fiddling with it, she was able to create a pocket dimension to use as a storage that was available at anytime, anywhere.
"Not only that, a little after I was able to use her newly discovered Spacialcraft to teleport around by using the Spellcraft on myself and transporting my body to a different location, she was able to recreate the same effect with only a fraction of the mana cost. Instead of teleporting our body across distances, she was able to bend space itself to, simply put, shorten the distance between Point A to Point B."
"But that's different! Morgan delved into a subject that she was already well-versed in due to her family history!"
"Oh, and you're saying that your daughter wasn't? Growing up with a family of Huntsmen could do a lot for a child."
"So does growing up with a nerd father who spent so much his free time with his head stuck in a book that his daughter picked up that habit!"
"Would you like to be the pot or the kettle in this situation? Books were to me as weapons were to you."
"I swear on my irritating brother's life, the two of you somehow manage to act like an old, married couple while also acting as two competing parents that are flirting."
Death was suddenly standing in front of the two of them with her arms crossed beneath her chest. Rather, it wasn't that Death suddenly appeared before them, per se, but Robin and Snow were instantly teleported against their volition to Robin's lounge, right in front of Death.
"If I didn't know the two of you personally, I'd have thought you two to be some sort of divorced couple."
Robin rolled his eyes as he glanced over at the clock as he sat down in his circular chair. Half past the twenty-second hour. "I'm happily married already, thank you very much. I'm not looking to remarry anytime soon. No offense, Snow. You're a lovely woman. Perhaps in a different timeline."
"None taken," Snow nonchalantly replied.
"You're awfully loyal to a woman that you might never see again," Death noted. "Not saying it's a bad thing, but I brought you back nearly twenty-eight years ago, Robin. Anything could have happened in that time."
"Twenty-eight years ago in our time. And I'm not talking about twenty-eight years on Remnant, but I'm talking about the way time works for us." Robin gestured at the three of them. "And besides, what would time matter if I could simply find that gate that Time and Space told me that they placed on every world."
"Hmm. Good luck with that," Death said. "The two of them don't exactly make their gates obvious to find, especially Space. The majority of her gates aren't on land. She said that her gates should be "a challenge to find" and placed some in the depths of the sea, some in lakes of lava, and some in the damned sky. Depends on the world, honestly."
"Uwaaahhh, that sounds annoying," Snow said. "Scratch that - that just sounds tedious."
"That's a bit of an understatement," Death agreed. "Robin, searching for either one of their gates could take decades to find. Centuries, even."
"Guess I'm lucky then. Time isn't something that I need worry about," Robin said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Not only am I willingly unaging, I can ask either Space or Time to send me back to around the time I 'died'. Besides - "
*Bzzt*
Robin's scroll vibrated in his pocket. His brow furrowed when he saw the caller ID.
"What in the world did you do to attract the attention Mister Sternface?"
"Mister Sternface?" Robin laughed. "That's good. I'm using it if you don't mind."
"Oh, you should hear Qrow's nicknames for Sternface," Snow grinned. "Most of them are more insults than nicknames, but there are a few that are pretty good. Like SUHA."
"Sooha?"
Snow shook her head. "No, not Sooha. SUHA! You know, S-U-H-A! Stands for "stick-up-his-""
"You should really answer SUHA's call," Death interjected, not bothering to hide the amused look she had on her face.
"Right." Robin tapped the answer button and angled his screen away from Snow and Death. "Hello?"
"Robin, it's me."
"Who?"
"James."
"James who."
Snow had a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as James' eyes narrowed in irritation.
"James Ironwood."
"Ooohhhh! Mister Sternface!"
"HA!" A short burst of laughter managed to escape Snow's lips, stopped only by Death, who quickly clamped her mouth over her apprentice's mouth.
"Mister what? And is someone else there?"
"Just a couple of guests, don't mind them," Robin casually replied with a grin. "So, what can I do for you, Mister Sternface?"
Mister Sternface's eyes narrowed even further but made no further indication of hearing the nickname for him. "Where are you at this moment?"
"Home."
"Where?"
"In…Vale's commercial district?" Robin answered as if it was a trick question. "Where else would my home be?"
"I see." James nodded once before he leaned forward a little, ignoring Robin's question. Through the screen, it just looked as if he brought his scroll closer to his face. "And did you leave your house at all today?"
"Can't say I have any recollection of walking out of my house today," Robin answered. He glanced over James shoulder and saw the familiar visage of a certain coffee addict. "Oh, and by the way, tell Four-Eyes behind you that I send him my regards and that I'm going to force-feed him stale coffee."
Not even the ever-stoic James Ironwood was able to keep a straight face upon seeing Ozpin's look of horror and confusion.
"Robin, why?" Ozpin cried out. The fact that his voice managed to carry over from his end of the call, through James scroll, and out of Robin's was a testament to the quality of the scrolls themselves.
"In short, I made a promise to myself on that night you sent me those two videos. The promise was that if the messages were something stupid, I was going to force-feed you stale coffee. I'm merely holding up my end of the bargain."
"Of a promise that you made with yourself? About me? Without my consent?"
"I fail to see how that's my problem."
"It is most definitely entirely your problem if you made a one-sided promise with you being the only - "
"Anyhow, James." Robin cut him off and looked back at the general. "Is there anything else that you wish to ask of me? Any further answers that you were looking for?"
There was a brief pause. "Actually, yes. In almost every instance of a large-scale Grimm extermination, you made an appearance with another; a person in a white robe and always in a blank mask."
"Oh crap, you can see her?"
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing," Robin quickly said.
"No, it is not 'nothing'," James glowered. "What did you mean by - "
"Oh, would you look at that? It looks like it's I-said-nothing-o'clock and I must now take my leave. Have a pleasant evening, Mister Sternface, Mister Four-Eyes."
"Robin, don't you dare - "
That was as far as James got before Robin ended the call. His scroll vibrated again with the caller ID once again being the general, but he ignored it and tossed the device away after putting it on silent mode.
"It's not good to lie, Robin," Snow frowned.
Robin placed a hand over his heart in mock pain. "Me? Lie? Never!"
"You never stepped out of your house today?"
"I said that I don't have any recollection of 'walking out of my house today', Snow, not that I never left my house. And it's not a lie since Death over here decided to teleport us across Remnant from my room. Wording matters."
"Then what was that about them being able to see me?" Snow asked. "I'm not some ethereal being, you know. Everyone can see me just fine. Like how everyone can see you."
"Oh, I'm well aware. Bellshore's Fall is known for having only two survivors, the two being you and me," Robin laughed. "I just said that just to throw them off and to mess with them. Best if they don't figure out who you were in your original life. You are dead in this world, after all. It's also the reason why you picked up a new weapon."
Snow let out a long and tired sigh. "Yeah, I know." Then her face brightened as she unslung her swords from her back. "And technically, this isn't a new weapon. I had two ideas for weapons to use as a Huntress, but I was only allowed to craft one at the time. And since that one kinda…you know…broke, I thought I'd make and use my second weapon idea."
"And because I told you that if you wanted to act as one of my Reapers in Remnant, you'd have to get a weapon that was different from your previous one," Death added. "I offered you a scythe since I use one, as does your old teammate and your daughter, but you declined."
"Yeah, because my design is a LOT cooler than some simple scythe!" Snow huffed, causing Death to glare at her in indignation. " I mean, look at White Fury! Right now, it's twin swords connected by a chain at the pommels, but by doing this - " She pressed the pommels of her swords against each other and twisted the handles. There was an audible click before the swords' hilts moved down the length of the blade, stopping roughly six inches before the tip. " - it becomes a double-ended spear! How cool is that! While a scythe is just a curved blade attached to a stick."
"To be fair, almost every weapon is like that…" Robin muttered.
"No, not all weapons are like that!"
"A knife is just a sharp piece of metal attached to a small stick. A sword is a knife but a bigger piece of metal. A spear is a knife but just with a really long stick for the handle."
Snow crossed her arms underneath her chest. "There are many things wrongs with what you said just now."
"A gun is just a knife too."
The look she had on her face was one that Robin wished he took a photo of.
"Explain," Snow demanded.
"Very well, if you insist. If you think about it, the entire gun itself is just a really fancy handle for a knife. While it was originally longer, the grip just bent at some one-hundred-degree angle and was hollowed out, creating the barrel of the "gun". The blade was broken down into much smaller pieces, called "bullets", and stuffed into a container that fits into the knife's grip."
"There are so many things wrong with what you just said."
"And a rocket launcher isn't much different either. It's just a really big and hollow knife handle that fires off a strangely shaped blade that holds Dust inside," Robin sagely said. "And those laser-beam swords that are used in the movie "Sun Wars"? It's just a knife that has a really small blade that moves up and down a set length at a blinding speed. The bright colors of blue, green, purple, and red are from the neon paint that all of the knife blades have, along with some special effects."
Snow was now holding her head in her hands. "No. Just…no… That's… That's not how…"
"I think you broke her, Robin," Death noted with mild amusement on her face. "Impressive. Normally, the roles would be reversed."
"I did no such thing. All I did was give an answer to her wish for an explanation. It is not my fault that her mind was unable to withstand such brilliance and wisdom."
"Disregarding your stupidity and idiocy - "
"Brilliance and wisdom," he corrected.
"Stupidity and idiocy," Death slowly repeated. Her eyes flashed dangerously and Robin kept his silence. "Robin wasn't entirely wrong in keeping you out of the picture, Snow. You died years ago, and while you may not have been entirely famous, you still had a large effect on everyone you met. Suddenly coming back to life now... I can't say it'll have the best repercussions, but the end call isn't up to him. If you want to reveal yourself and your identity to Remnant, that's your choice. I stationed you as the Reaper of this world."
"If Snow's the Reaper, then what am I?" Robin curiously asked.
"An extra." "An annoyance."
The two women shared a pleased look with each other.
"Ouch. The two of you strike me deep in the heart," the extra annoyance drawled, placing a hand over his chest in mock pain.
"Suck it up, you extra," Snow grinned before looking at Death with a melancholic face. "I know that I died and I know of the repercussions that could potentially happen if I miraculously come back to life. But my family…"
Robin completely understood. If he was in her position, alive but unable to freely interact with his family, a family that believes he's been dead for years, he would be torn.
"Might I suggest a solution to this problem?" he offered. "The Vytal Festival is not far away from now. It's a time where everyone gathers to celebrate the many cultures of Remnant. Who's to say that a culture where one has a celebration to commemorate the dead does not exist? To remember those who have passed?"
Death raised an impressed eyebrow. "Huh, would you look at that. You actually can have good ideas from time to time."
"I take offense to that."
"It was meant to offend you."
"Go jump off the Edge in the After."
"Did that. Still here. Besides, your idea still poses the problem of her coming back to Remnant. Things could get worse for her family if word gets out to those that killed her in the first place."
He nonchalantly waved his hand. "That won't be a problem if she simply visits for a short while. Snow could tell her family that she's been on a long-term job, which isn't exactly a lie, and that she could only visit once every blue moon. Keep the reunion small, short, and sweet, omit a few details on what she actually does and her death, and there shouldn't be any problems."
"Robin, that's brilliant!" Snow grinned brightly and tackled him in a hug. "Thank you so much!"
Robin was unable to breathe due to the arms that were crushing his lungs. Thankfully, Snow released him and placed her arms on her hips in a classic superhero pose.
"It's decided! During the Vytal Festival, after my daughters inevitably win the tournament, I shall announce myself to my family! Summer Rose shall be deceased no more!"
. . .
. . .
Yup. Summer Rose is alive. Well, not really alive alive, but alive enough.
I'm pretty sure the most difficult part of writing this chapter was the text messaging part at the start. It's been years, and I mean literal years, that I forgot how to "text" like…to not write and type properly/formally. I had to constantly "correct" myself by getting rid of commas, periods, shortening words into a single letter (you|u, are|r), and use "LOL". It was painful to purposefully type incorrectly and misspell words.
I suppose that's why some people told me that I, and I quote, "sound so serious when I text," and whatnot. And old. They said I sound old. I'm nowhere near the age of being old!
…I say they're lying.
In (somewhat) seriousness, me forgetting how to "text" isn't a lie. If I do use abbreviations, it'll be far and few in between. Curse of being a writer, I suppose.
And Robin's words to Snow/Summer, "Perhaps in a different timeline." Perhaps indeed.
Maybe.
Uh, easter egg part area. And some trivia.
- 8man from Oregairu.
- Halo CE, Smash Bros, and Fate's Holy Grail War.
- Fisher Cu and his two "friends".
- FGO and AL.
- Death's alias, Thana, is derived from Thanatos, the Greek God of Death.
- Ladon is a dragon with 100 heads from Greek mythology. Guardian of the Hesperides, slain by Heracles.
- Summer's weapon is based off of Dishwasher1910's artwork. || Link (remove spaces): dishwasher1910 / art / RWBY - Summer - Rose - 573679739
- Snow's weapon (spear/twin-sword hybrid) and mask is a shameless reference / self-advert to another story of mine, "Her Favorite Story".
- Sun Wars || Star Wars.
. . .
As for the thing I talked about in the beginning A.N.? I'm actually a little low on ideas for A Shepherd's Rest. Not empty, per se, but low enough that I only have ideas for two, maybe three, more chapters at this current time. And so, I turn to all of you, my readers/followers/favoriters/whatever you call yourselves. My question/proposition (experimental) is:
|| Would you rather have me shoot out slightly slower-ish updates as I gather thoughts and ideas for Shepherd? (notice how this chapter took a little longer than the previous iterations of ~1 chapter/month) ||
Or
|| Would you guys rather have me collect some ideas/prompts from you, the readers, and weave a story chapter out of what you send me and have potentially faster updates? (I say "potentially" because of many reasons. To reference the beginning of this chapter, life can be a fickle thing) ||
Once again, this is all experimental and still very much up in the air. I ask this because it's you readers that get the most enjoyment out of this. You guys know what you want, while I only think that I know what you want. If you guys decide on the second option of me taking ideas from you readers, I'll start taking ideas starting from the next chapter (Ch8) onwards. If not, then that'll be it. Simple as that.
I've been thinking of doing something like this ever since typing out Chapter 5 of Shepherd, specifically, after realizing that A Shepherd's Rest was at the top of follows and favorites on the RWBYxFE section (still boggles my mind). As like a "Hey, you guys really like this story for some odd reason that I can't understand, so why not tell me what you want" sort of deal.
So, yeah. That's my questionable proposition. Strawpoll is up in my profile underneath A Shepherd's Rest's synopsis (it's finally up properly!). It'll be up for…I'd like to say one or two weeks? It'll be up for some amount of time, so vote if you want to, don't vote if you don't want to. We'll see how it goes.
If you read this far, many thanks. I may not know if you got here, but I appreciate it nonetheless. I shall see you in the coming chapters.
