I'm seeing in some reviews interpretations of Saint-14 that I feel aren't truthful to his entire character.
To ksgrip: I am pretty sure you are referring to the Saint-14 that we see in the Corridors of Time mission, because he is a lot more in line with what you say there imo.
To Guest: Maybe I'm missing something in the lore? I read on Ishtar Collective most of the pieces that mention him and I'm pretty sure he is a bit more nuanced than what you're describing. Hell, in some of the newer lore entries ("Searching" in the latest book) the Speaker thinks he has the right temperament to be the new Speaker (although the Speaker we do know is a bit of an egotistical asshole, so take that as you will), and I assume he is quite a bit smarter than the stereotyped Titan, being Vanguard and all.
About VEIST, there's not much lore on the weapon foundries, so I just assumed they were the same as Hakke, SUROS, Omolon and the like. I'll probably edit it out for one of the Sundial weapons.
A few days pass...
Saint's head swivels side-to-side as he absorbs the miserableness of this White Fang camp. At this point, it's comical levels of bad.
The Last City was never this…dull, was it? He wonders. Everyone walks around like they're corpses, doing their menial tasks without a word to each other. On Earth, people would be yelling expletives at each other, laughing at some quip or joke or discussing among themselves what the next move would be.
He huffs and pings Ilia with his tablet device, hoping to reach her. A ding from the device a second later.
Sorry, a bit busy right now, I'll get back to you asap, the message reads. He exhales in slight annoyance but doesn't pay too much mind. She does seem to be quite an active member of the Fang.
Speaking of which, what he overheard earlier is still fresh in his mind. He doesn't quite understand the relationship between Faunus and humans. Is it something like humans and Exo?
Ilia does have some serious explaining to do.
Saint hears some metal banging on metal in the distance, then a loud swear. He turns towards the source and makes his way there, taking a second or so to process the voice as Anna's. He brushes past a few soldiers loudly grumbling at their crooked and worn weapons.
Anna is sitting on a small stool that is a size too small for her, hammering away at a sword. A metal arm carrying what looks to be a torch burns away over the metal, only getting it hot and not melting. Surrounding everything is a sort of scanner comprised of a floating camera. A module attaches to the camera, but its purpose is unknown.
He taps her on the shoulder.
"Leave your weapon on the-oh, it's…it's you." Anna turns to him and wipes the sweat off of her brow. "Hey Saint, you need anything?"
"Do you need help?" he asks, looking at her very rudimentary setup. So very different from the weapon foundries he has toured. He remembers liking the Häkke factory the most. "It seems you are struggling."
"Yeah, the damn torch doesn't burn hot enough, I ordered a new one months back but the shipment didn't come yet." She groans and takes off her gloves, tossing them to the table beside her workstation. "And you know what's the stupid thing? It gets them at melting temperature but doesn't actually melt it. Can you believe that?"
Saint snorts and smirks. "I might be able to help."
"You got a new torch for me?" Anna asks, her eyes turning hopeful.
"One that can work for an hour or so." He cracks his knuckles. "You might want to back away, I haven't done this in a while."
She takes a few steps backward. "I don't know what you're planning on doing but-"
Saint channels the Solar Light inside him and then his entire body ignites into flames. He burns brightly and hums in satisfaction. "I still have it…" he mumbles, then points with his free hand towards the sword inside the mold. "This sword here?"
Anna has backed away another five steps. "Um, yeah! Go for it!" she says, giving him a nervous smile and a thumbs up.
Saint looks at the well-used and dinged up weapon. He makes sure it's snug inside, then begins hitting it with his hammer. As expected, his Light is hot enough to melt the metal, allowing it to flow into its ideal, pristine form.
"Whoa." Anna steps forward a bit. "You can do that?"
"Yes," Saint says. "Now let's get to work, I can't stay like this forever."
She nods, puts her goggles and slides her hands into her thick goggles. Her first action is to bring out another broken weapon: A rifle with a few parts already disassembled. The scanner whirs to life when it detects the new object. A blue beam sweeps over the weapon and the module attached prints a new cast.
Anna quickly slots the pieces inside their respective places, then nods to Saint. He nods back and starts hammering.
The two continue working on weapons. Anna gives him the weapons, and he hammers them back into the desired form.
By then, a pile of weaponry has formed without any tags. The White Fang soldiers complain as they sort through it. Saint turning his head to look at them shuts them up.
Once Saint's Light dies down, the hammer disappears, and the camp grows darker. Anna exhales and takes off her gloves again, wiping her hands and forehead with a cloth towel.
"Well I'll be damned, I never thought that you were the torch, heh." She grins at him and lightly punches him on the shoulder. "Just a bag of tricks, aren't you?"
"Only for those who are worthy of it," Saint replies, stretching the fingers that held the hammer. "Have the White Fang treated you well?"
Anna takes a moment to think about the question. "I would say so, they're the only family I have since…well, since my actual one left to work at the SDC."
"SDC?"
"Schnee Dust Company?"
Saint slowly nods. Perhaps they are like a weapon foundry?
"They treated Faunus like slaves," Anna scoffs. "My family's naiveté is what killed them, but I can't blame them for having hope that life would get better in Mantle."
Hope. He's quite intimate with the concept of it. Hope is what drove him to help build the Last City under the Traveler's shadow. He hoped that maybe someday it would be as big as The Guardian showed him. He smiles at the feeling but also understands that it can be dangerous, poisonously so.
The colonists that were with him on the mission to reclaim Mercury. They were hopeful, with extravagant dreams for the future. The Fallen killed them mercilessly. The House of Rain followed them from the Cosmodrome.
He is still angry at himself for being so foolish and not anticipating it. He sometimes wishes to go back in time and save them.
"…Saint?" Anna's voice breaks him out of his train of thought. "Everything alright?"
"Hm?" He looks away from the floor. "Oh, sorry, I was thinking about the past." He exhales.
"Something you need to talk about?"
He shakes his head. "No need, there are more important things to deal with, no time for sobbing at the past." It's the mentality that has kept him going throughout his entire life. That, and the occasional quiet moments where he could observe pigeons in one of the Last City's few parks.
The device at his waist vibrates. He takes it out and swipes on the glass screen to bring up the message from Ilia.
Need your help tonight, be in Kuo Kuana around the Belladonna household. I'll keep you updated. Saint ponders for a moment at what Ilia could be hoping to achieve having him patrol the village at night.
He hums. "I will see you later, Anna," he says, a small smile forming under his helmet.
"Before you go," she says while rummaging inside a box that clinks a lot. "Here, have this." She tosses him a small pistol that fits inside his palm.
"…A pistol?"
"I don't have any more use for it, but it's valuable. Keep it safe for me."
"You're surely not serious." He inspects the weapon closely, every little ding and mark on it shines when lit by the fire.
"I am, though. Keep it, maybe it can help out." She softly smiles and closes his palm over it. "Consider it thanks for helping me out."
He tucks the weapon away. "I will remember it."
Anna smirks. "I'll see you around."
/
Mercury.
Saint-14 awakens on harsh dirt. He looks at his palm, a burned and scarred metal returning his gaze. His breath hitches, and he looks around. Gunfire and blue pulses from Fallen weaponry. His Ward of Dawn surrounds him, and it takes all of his power to maintain it. Some rounds impact it, but they get absorbed.
Outside, there are settlers in space suits fighting the Fallen. They desperately bob and weave out of cover as the enemy encroaches, surrounding them. He reaches his hand out to one of them.
"Come into the Ward! It will protect you!" He tries to say, but his voice bounces from the walls of his Ward. They continue fighting as if he hadn't said anything.
No, no, no! He has to stop this! To protect them!
He tries to leave the construct of Light, but it blocks him. He can't escape. He tries shooting it, nothing. He tries punching, still nothing. It stands tall, insulting him and mocking him for being so powerful.
Damn his Light!
He lets out an anguished cry as he crumbles to his knees. "No…" he weakly says. He's trapped inside his own creation that's meant to protect others.
A man falls with a pained cry as a Vandal gores him from behind with its Arc spear.
"No!" There is a loud siren, originating from the Fallen Ketch in the distance. "Please, let me protect you! Take cover, please!" Saint tries to reach the other settlers, but they too don't hear him.
"Let me out! Damned purple dome!" He yells in anger as his fists find renewed purpose with the walls of his Ward.
The Fallen Spider Tank barks and a few fighters clumped together would die.
The artillery strike takes out the rest, leaving only him and his damned Ward of Dawn holding strong.
In the distance, the crackle of Arc.
Another Guardian would massacre the House of Rain. She would do what he couldn't.
He doesn't know if he should be grateful, or if he should have died with the expedition group.
/
Nighttime…
Saint wakes up with a shock, his breathing short and painful. His artificial heart pounds against his armor, and it takes at least five minutes to relax it.
He groans in frustration, another nightmare of that damned expedition on Mercury. It serves as a daily reminder of what he's trying to stop. He can't bear the thought of seeing another person dying under his protection again.
His device vibrates.
Right, I have to get to Kuo Kuana, he thinks.
Saint stands up and summons Perfect Paradox onto his back. His steps exiting the camp are tense and fast. It takes a few minutes to reach the streets of Kuo Kuana.
He keeps his eyes peeled, and walks down the big sandstone paths that connect the village. Sometimes, his mind wanders to the big and presumably fluffy palm trees that surround him. The urge to stop and touch them has to be suppressed more than once.
Focus…Ilia might need my help, he thinks.
He hears some giggling between two houses and goes over to check it, just in case. A few teenagers grouped up and having fun, it seems. What they are doing is unknown but presumably of no major concern. The only thing that's obvious is that they are having fun. They all stop once one notices him and then stare all together.
Better to leave them be, no point in yelling at them this late in the night, it would do more bad than good.
Saint is appreciative that children here can do such things without fearing for their lives. He personally doesn't care about what they do, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.
He remembers Osiris ranting about how they have the attention-span of pigeons. He also remembers scolding his friend for insulting pigeons like that. The memory makes him smile.
He walks past the group, pretending not to notice and stretches his fingers.
A ping from Ilia. A red outline in the trees around the Belladonna household appears on his HUD.
Need help! the message reads. A sigh escapes his lips and he starts jogging, following the silhouette of his partner.
/
A few minutes earlier.
If Blake could vocalize how angry she is at Sun right now, her parents would have disowned her for such language. Her hand balled into a tight fist, she glares at the blonde-haired monkey-Faunus. She doesn't want any of this! She doesn't want to take the fight back home, why can't he understand that?
"Your mom said White Fang members don't wear masks in Menagerie, but I saw one at the market yesterday, with that huge guy in the mohawk helmet!" He takes out his Scroll. "I even got a picture!"
"Sun-"
"Look, I'm trying to help-"
"I don't want your help!" Blake slaps the device out of his hands, into the trees that surround her family's home. They then both glare at each other with gritted teeth.
There is a thump in the distance. The two of them look at the source of the suspicious sound and are able to make out a dark silhouette inside the palm trees. Blake can see the white mask that covers the top half of the spy's face. She gasps, and then they react by jumping away.
"A freaking ninja-"
"A spy!" Blake says as she chases after them. She hears Sun say something to her mother before also pursuing.
Her chase takes her into the thick palm trees of Menagerie, the ones that take up most of the free space on Kuo Kuana. She navigates them expertly, keeping track of the spy who also seems to also on the same level. She feels like a child again, jumping through trees in a game of tag, or something childish like that.
Sun comes from above and fails to grab a hold of the spy, instead of landing on a branch, his fall cushioned by leaves.
"Hey, wait up!" he says.
"Don't let her out of your sight!"
The spy makes their way outside of the forestry, and into the main village. They run down the roofs of homes. They slide down a roof, then reemerge and hop onto the next, this one flatter. They slide under valve pipes and stand at the other side. The black silhouette disappears, revealing a woman underneath it.
She raises her long and pointy weapon that looks like a whip, but most likely also a gun. She hesitates, and slashes at the pipes, letting out steam that blinds Blake for a moment, but it fades away.
"Why are you watching me?" Blake demands. The spy grits their teeth and turns to Sun.
"Give it up! I'm not above hitting a girl you know-woah!" The whip extends and nearly hits Sun.
"I won't allow anyone to be hit!" A heavily accented voice says from behind Blake, and she hears the clacking of boots behind her. She turns around. It's that Saint-14 guy from earlier. "Please, I don't want to hurt any of you."
"Then tell your friend to stop spying on us!" She rushes the spy, who has her Scroll in her hand.
"Ilia, we have to leave, this isn't a good fight to start," Saint says.
Ilia? Blake hesitates and as a result, gets kicked on her stomach. Sun tackles the woman and holds her down. The Scroll in her hand drops and the device tumbles away to the edge of the roof.
Saint still hasn't done anything so far. Blake shoots a quick look behind her before going after the dropped Scroll.
"Grab the Scroll!" Sun says. "Seems someone thinks it's important-" he gets headbutted and gets thrown off of the woman's body.
Saint snarls and throws a purple grenade to his feet. The monkey-Faunus backs away but seems to have been caught in the blast radius.
Blake goes after the scroll, and the spy rushes her with a look that screams murder. Her mask is also cracked, revealing half of her face.
"Ilia, stop!" Saint steps between them and puts his arm up to stop her.
"What are you doing!?" She says. "Get off!" She pushes his hand down and hops over. The rest of her mask crumbles, revealing her full visage. She raises her weapon in its gun form.
"Ilia." Blake grimaces and steps forward aggressively.
"You…shouldn't have come back," Ilia replies, her skin changing to green, and her hair blue. It quickly switches to red and beige. She lashes out at Sun, striking him in the chest and creating a red hole in his chest. He tumbles to the floor with a pained cry.
"Ilia!" Saint cries out, his voice fluctuating in anger. "We are leaving, no one else gets hurt!"
Ilia snarls and slashes at the ground, forming a massive cloud of dust, and a second later, the two of them are gone.
Blake rushes to Sun's body.
"Sun! Oh no, no!"
/
Such senseless violence! What was Ilia thinking!? Saint thinks as he walks with Ilia in tow. To say that he is angry with her is an understatement. He understands what's troubling her but he didn't know that she would take it out on fellow Faunus.
"Why did you stop me?" She asks, sounding angry. "She had my Scroll!"
"So? You were going to harm her," Saint replies, as calmly as possible. He hates this type of violence, it's unnecessary and only creates more violence. "She has the right to know that you've been spying on her."
She snarls and punches the plate of armor over his stomach, not making an impact. "She wasn't supposed to come back!"
"This is a home for all Faunus, is it not?"
"Listen to me, Saint! She betrayed the White Fang by abandoning us to go study at Beacon!" She takes a moment to breathe. "You don't know the conflict between us, and you have no right to interfere!"
"Except I do," he crosses his arms and stops walking. "I don't care about your politics. I am here to stop innocent people from getting hurt, and if we're not able to achieve that, then I might as well say goodbye."
"Saint, come on don't be like that!" Ilia grits her teeth and turns to Saint, glaring at him "She's not innocent!"
"What about the other you lashed out at?"
She stays quiet.
"Ilia, answer the question."
"…He was cooperating," she replies, her voice wavering and low. "I had to send a message!"
"That's a coward's move. Eliksni strategy." His hand tightens at the mention of the Fallen.
"What, is that how things work with you!? Can't get your hands dirty!?" Ilia is practically taunting him right now, or it feels like she is. "You and I both know that this is necessary!"
Saint turns away from her and shuts his eyes, sighing.
"Do you take me as a coward, because I don't want to hurt an innocent person?" He says, lowly, his own rage boiling. "Are you fighting for Faunus' rights or trying to control them?"
There is a pause and a spike of tension in the air.
"Well?" He scoffs. "Ilia, I have killed enough things to end a war, you aren't one to lecture me about getting hands dirty." He stops for a second, to think of what he says next. "I have decimated entire armies by myself, and don't think for one second that you are immune to it."
"But-"
"Enough!" He swipes his hand horizontally while snapping his body to Ilia's direction. "Go back to camp, please. I need time to think."
She looks like she wants to retort, but only exhales through her nose. "Alright."
Saint-14 doesn't hurt friends. He tries to remember a word that has slipped his mind, but it describes what Ilia is attempting in Menagerie.
Ah yes. A coup.
I don't think Guardians have ever really dealt with personal betrayal before, so this would be a bit interesting to write. Also, I don't think Saint-14 would meet the full RWBY cast until maybe end of Season 5, since I don't think it would be believable for him to leave Menagerie until then.
Edit: Fixed grammar, added some dialogue at the end.
Edit 2: Tried using Hemingway and Grammarly to reduce the long-winded sentences, let me know how it works out!.