I'M BA-AAACK!
*insert Undisputed Era entrance music*
Wolves of Remnant
Chapter 12
Glynda's heels clicked as she walked down the halls of Beacon Academy, her crop in one hand, her scroll tablet cradled in her other arm. She had received a message from Dr. Oobleck regarding the task she had given him, and seeing as Teams RWBY and JNPR were out for the day, and there had been no reports as to the whereabouts of Ms. Belladonna, she decided to pay him a visit. She had given him her copies of Arc's journal in the hope that he could decipher it even slightly. At the mention of his coffee payment, he eagerly accepted the task.
That had been over a month and a half ago, and he had sent her no updates until now.
She found the eccentric history professor in his office, which was more of a mess than usual, which was saying something. He had seemingly created a sort of nest on his desk, consisting of large texts, scattered papers, and a cork board behind it covered in symbols that seemed to match what she had seen in the journal.
"Barty?" she asked hesitantly.
Oobleck spun around in his chair to face her, his hair mussed, his face sallow, and dark rings visible even behind his comically thick glasses.
"Ah, Glynda! Good of you to come so quickly! I only sent you the message a few minutes ago." He replied with a manic smile before going back to his work.
"You sent it to me yesterday…"
"Details. Come, come, you must see this."
"You said you had something for me." Glynda said as she made her way to the desk, careful not to step on any papers. She knew how much Barty liked his mess the way it was.
"Very much so! Please, take a seat. Coffee?"
"No, thank you." she replied, using her Semblance to levitate a stack of books and papers off one of the chairs set before the desk and let them hang in the air while she sat down. She really did love her Semblance sometimes. "So, what have you found?"
"Something amazing." Oobleck said with genuine joy. "The text in this book is double-layered, you see."
Glynda's face scrunched up in confusion. "How do you mean?"
Oobleck sat down and placed the copied pages of the journal before him. "These runes," pointed at the text, "what do you make of them?"
"My best guess would be Solitas." She shrugged. "Linguistics isn't really my forte, but I believe James told me about the old tongue once or twice when we were younger."
"And you would correct in your guess." Oobleck nodded, "However, you would be off by at least a few centuries. These runes predate the foundation of any of the Kingdoms. They are definitely Solitan, I have confirmed that, but the language itself is dead. I have confirmed that no individual on this world speaks this tongue. And that's just the first layer. Thankfully, these runes are part of an alphabet, which allowed me to translate them to the Common Tongue." He flipped to the first page of the journal. "Here is the original text of page one, and this," he pulled a sheet of paper from the cork board, "Is the translation."
"In what way?" Glynda said irritably, "It's just looks like more gibberish."
"Correct again, but only because it's yet another dead language!"
"Which one?"
"The original one. The First Language."
Glynda's look was disbelieving. "Barty, if you had nothing for me, you should have just said so in your message." She slammed the paper back on the table. "The First Language is a legend, a myth, nothing more."
"Isn't that exactly what we all said about Salem and the Maidens?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow. Glynda glared at him, but did not reply. "Myths are not stories that are untrue. Rather, they are tales that don't fit neatly into the historical record, which serve as the foundation to a culture. We both thought the same about the Maidens until Ozpin brought us in on it, and then he told us of Salem when Qrow brought Amber to us nearly dead. If I have learned anything by working for that man, it is that legends just might have the slightest kernel of truth to them.
"The legends say that the First Language was the basis for all other languages on Remnant, but was perverted over the millennia to where it is no longer recognizable. These past weeks, I have spent every moment of my free time translating every page of this book as best I can. Additionally, I have studied my translations and found patterns and commonalities with various languages and dialects from across Remnant and her history. Progress has been made, Glynda, and more is to come. We need only be patient and diligent."
Glynda gave Oobleck a hard look before closing hers eyes and sighing. "Very well, Barty. It would be hypocritical of me to not practice what we preach, but I must stress how important this is. I have a feeling about Mr. Arc that I can't quite place, and I really do not like that. If anything can be gleaned from his dream journal, I want to know it. I can arrange another delivery of your favorite blend if it will speed things up."
"Oh, no need for that, Glynda." Oobleck smiled as he turned back to the cork board. "You have given me a true challenge of my abilities. That is payment enough."
XX
"I think I may have messed up on my timing." Jaune said as he looked from the darkened sky to his Scroll, which read 9:47 at night.
After finishing their patrol along the river shortly after noon, they reported their findings to Ruby and went about their date, deciding it to be officially one about halfway through lunch. Afterwards, they decided to make a day of it. They went to the park for a walk, took a break at a café, and decided to top it off with a movie they had both wanted to see before heading back to Beacon, and likely suffering through an interrogation at the hands of Nora.
"Maybe just a little." Pyrrha agreed with a wince. "It was still a good movie, though."
"Oh, no doubt." Jaune eagerly agreed. "I never pegged you to be a fan of Kaiju movies, Pyr."
"Even champions are allowed a few guilty pleasures." She said primly as they walked along the waterfront. "Truth be told though, I became a fan at a young age, thanks to my father. I also liked that there was no romantic subplot either. I cant help but hate those." They walked in silence for a while, walking past a dock before Pyrrha stopped, making Jaune turn to face her. "So, does this make us, like, together-together?"
Jaune's mouth opened to answer, only for it to close as he frowned.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, worried, "Jaune, what's wrong?"
"Blonde monkey tail…" he muttered before taking off past her. They ran to the gate of the docks, only to find it hanging open slightly.
"Something's not right." Jaune whispered. "Where are the guards?"
"Look!" Pyrrha whispered, pointing ahead of him. He followed her finger, to see a boy with platinum blonde hair, a white shirt, blue cargo shorts and a monkey tail climbing up a drain pipe up onto the roof of one of the warehouses within the complex.
"I need to contact Ruby. We might have found Blake." Jaune said as he pulled out his Scroll and typed up a message for Ruby.
"What's our next move?" Pyrrha asked, strapping Akoúo̱ to her wrist.
"Scouting." Jaune replied, putting his Scroll away. "We'll take a look around and try to find a way up on that roof."
"With Blake's hearing, there's no way she won't hear us coming."
"I'm working on that." Jaune replied as he slowly pushed open the gate to the dock. It was small, in his opinion; a singular wharf next to a storage area maybe a hundred or so feet long, which was currently covered in containers bearing the snowflake emblem of the SDC, and a single large warehouse. He guessed it must be some kind of private SDC-owned dock. Seeing no way up on the side of the warehouse facing the containers, Jaune decided to circle around to the back with Pyrrha following his lead, both with their weapons drawn.
They had reached the rear of the warehouse, when a strange scent crossed Jaune's path, his fist shooting up as signal for a halt. He inhaled deeply and took in the scent: ice cream mixed in with blood and nicotine-laced smoke. The scent came from his right, among a collection of unused containers and he leveled his sword at them.
"I know you're there." he called out, "Show yourself."
There was a shattering of glass and a girl appeared before them, leaning against one of the containers. A very familiar girl to Jaune.
"I know you…" he said, lowering his sword somewhat. "You're with that Greco guy who helped me get into Beacon, but I can't quite place the name…"
The girl made a dramatic gesture as if she had been stabbed in the chest, before simply signing the letters N, E, O in Common Sign Language.
"Neo! Fuck, that's right. Sorry." He looked around suspiciously. "I take it Greco's around here somewhere as well?"
"His name is Roman actually."
"Hm, noted." Jaune hummed.
"Uh, Jaune? Can you actually understand her?" Pyrrha asked, a little annoyed at being left out entirely.
"Oh, yeah. I took CSL back in- Wait a minute. Roman? As in Roman Torchwick?" Neo smiled smugly and nodded. "Aw, crapbaskets." Neo nodded again.
From the other side of the warehouse, they saw a Bullhead pull up and land near the containers. They could faintly hear Roman shouting orders.
"So, you're after the Dust then." Jaune asked, tightening his grip on Crocea Mors and his Axe. Neo nodded. "Why? Creating a Dust shortage doesn't seem good for business on your end, so what's the real end game?"
Neo shrugged. "Boss hasn't old me just yet. All I know is I'm supposed to keep this job running smoothly."
"And that makes us a problem, doesn't it?" Pyrrha piped up.
"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?" They heard Blake yell from the other side of the warehouse.
Jaune sighed, hanging his arms and head. "Dammit, Blake."
"Welp, that's my cue." Neo signed before she charged Jaune, her parasol aiming for his throat.
He didn't think much of it, and merely shifted into a guard. Then he saw the blade extend from the tip of the umbrella. His eyes widened, sensing that the end was near. The tried to get out of the way, to block the hit, but saw that not only was he too slow, but Neo was too close, and growing closer by the microsecond.
Suddenly, he felt the entire world shift as his body was hurled out of the way of Neo's thrust. He landed a few feet away from the ice cream-themed girl and looked up. Pyrrha stood where she had been, her hands glowing black. Right, her Semblance. She must have seen the attack coming and used it to push him out of the way.
"Thanks, Pyr. I owe you another one." He grunted as he climbed to his feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked with worry, while Neo tried to puzzle together what had happened.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The pair walked around to face Neo side-by-side, while the little mute just stared at them. "This one's a trickster, we need to be careful."
Pyrrha looked to him. "Maneuver 6?" she asked.
Jaune considered the proposal for a moment. "Maneuver 6." He agreed, tapping her left thigh with his sword. "Go!"
They raced at Neo, Pyrrha taking the lead, her shield raised and xyphos at the ready to strike. Neo kicked off her shield to gain distance, but Pyrrha closed the distance and bombarded her with slashes from Milo. She waited for Neo to counter, blocked the blow from her parasol, and twisted away to the left. Neo was prepared to turn and follow, but found Crocea Mors slashing down at her head. She parried, but then the axe came in from the side, chainsaw blades roaring and a fine mist forming around the head.
Her eyes widened slightly, and she bent backwards into a flip, her Aura channeled into her foot as she kicked the head up and away from her as she went. Jaune grinned as he regrouped with Pyrrha.
"Tricky little bugger." He said, half-frustrated, half-amused.
Neo scowled as she shattered the small amount of ice that had formed on the tip of her boot, her entire form shattering with her.
"Shit." Jaune growled, taking up a guard, back to back with Pyrrha. He inhaled, but Neo's scent was hard to pinpoint. It was mingling with Pyrrha's scent and the smell of gunfire coming from the other side of the docks. Jaune frowned. If he could smell gun smoke from Blake's fight, that means they were downwind of it-
Jaune's thoughts were interrupted as he felt a blow to the back of his head that forced him forwards, away from Pyrrha.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried, hearing her partner get hurt behind her, only to feel a sharp blow to her lower back force her forwards as well. They turned to Neo standing where they had been, a smug smile on her face.
"Did you kick me in the neck?!" he asked, surprised.
Neo's grin disappeared as she pointed at her foot, then rubbed her thumb against her index and middle fingers.
"Who the fuck wears expensive clothes in a fi- " Jaune was suddenly of reminded of Coco. "Oh, fuck it. Let's go!" he charged Neo and unleashed a barrage of attacks against her. Neo parried what she could, and dodged everything else. Jaune quickly realized she wasn't holding anything back this time. Even when Pyrrha got involved, Neo barely missed a beat.
She flipped away after a combined assault from Jaune and Pyrrha and stood about five feet away, her parasol deployed and resting on one shoulder.
"Okay, so at what point, did we lose control here?" Pyrrha asked, panting.
"I don't think we ever had it, Pyr." Jaune replied. And that was all he could say before he felt a knee impact with his chin, followed by an Aura-infused kick to his chest that sent him flying backwards into a container. He landed with such force that the container actually bent inward, leaving him hanging unconscious in a metal harness.
And Pyrrha saw red.
XX
"Awaken…"
Jaune groaned. "Five more minutes, Dad."
"Awaken, my son. Awaken… Wolf King."
Jaune's eyes shot open at the title, sleep all but forgotten to him. He found himself in a snowy plain, laying on his back, his nudity not even registering. He looked up and saw a golden light hovering above him. He was beginning to feel that he recognized the voice.
"It is time, my son. Remember who you are."
Jaune shook his head, confused. "I am Jaune Arc, son of Joseph and Suzie, twin of Joan."
The light came down to his level and resolved into the form of a man with long black hair in shining golden armor. He took Jaune's head in his hands and closed his eyes.
He opened them to reveal they were shining pure white. "Remember!"
Images flooded Jaune's mind, all of them he recognized as his dreams, but he now understood all of them. The Siege of Dulan, The Night of the Wolf, the Allaxes Nebula, The Battle of Trisolian. The Burning of Prospero. Jaune screamed as the memories flooded into him, grasping his head and squatting in pain.
"Now, who are you?" the figure asked when the screams ceased.
Panting, Jaune rose, though he kept his head down.
"I… am Jaune Arc, son of Joseph and Suzie, twin of Joan." He looked up at the golden figure with burning eyes. "I am the Wolf King Leman Russ reborn, Primarch of the VI Legion Astartes, son of the Emperor of Mankind, and His Executioner."
XX
Neo smiled smugly at the beaten girl before her. She knew she was Pyrrha Nikos, of course, knew from the moment she saw that long, fiery hair, and she knew the girl would be a hell of a good fight. And she had been at the start, especially when she double-teamed with her partner. But, Neo knew that kind of fight wasn't sustainable, so she did the only sensible thing and got rid of the easiest target possible, Jaune.
Apparently, the Invincible Girl took exception to that, and resumed her assault, but this time, she was different. She was more ferocious, her eyes wide with rage and Neo could swear she saw tears running down her cheeks. Obviously, this also meant that she had abandoned technique all together. True, Neo had been caught off guard at first, but she soon found her rhythm again, and began her usual tactic of evasion and counter-attacking. The girl let her Aura take the hits, preferring to use her shield as an extra weapon rather than what it was designed for, and that ultimately sealed her fate, and led to her on her hands and knees before the mute girl. She was considering the pros and cons of taking her out right there, when she heard a dull growling coming from Roman's former client.
Looking over, she saw the boy was practically glowing with white Aura. His fists wrapped tight around his weapons, he wrenched his arms free from the metal container until he was on his feet again. A chill went up Neo's spine just looking at him, and she gave him her full attention, keeping her parasol in a loose guard.
"You really fucked up now." She heard him growl, and was stunned when he looked at her with a feral look in his eyes. "Nobody messes with my girlfriend!"
XX
Channeling his Aura into his legs, Jaune launched himself at Neo, his weapons brought around for a massive assault against this fool who dared harm his mate (Wait a minute, mate? He meant girlfriend. Wait, girlfriend?!) He almost moved faster than Neo could track, and the girl barely had time to bring her parasol up to defend herself before Crocea Mors slashed down at her, Helwinter shortly behind. Helwinter, yes, that was a perfect name for his new weapon.
The fury of his initial attack weakened her arms, leaving evasion as her only hope of staying alive. He slashed and hacked at her, but for every move he made, she dodged until finally she kicked off his blade to gain some distance.
He growled and took up a feral attack stance, readying himself for another round.
"Neo!" a voice called from above. Looking up, the pair saw Roman Torchwick hanging out of an airship, holding his cane by the end with the hook aimed at them.
Suddenly, the hook fired towards them, a line of thick wire attached to it. Without missing a beat, Neo flipped her parasol and caught the hook with her own, allowing herself to be carried away by the ship.
Jaune ran after her, stopping where she had stood mere moments before.
"Chicken shit!" he yelled at her. Neo responded by flipping him off as Roman pulled her into the back of the ship. As he watched his quarry fly off, he put his weapons away and snarled- at least until he heard a groan behind him.
"Pyrrha!" he yelled, snapping out of his rage and turning to his partner. Slowly, he helped her to her feet and made sure she was okay.
"Jaune, are you- mmm!" she was cut off when Jaune pulled her into a passionate kiss, one hand on her cheek, the other at the small of her back. Pyrrha's eyes closed as she leaned into the kiss and her arms snaked around his neck.
"Hey!" a voice interrupted their bliss and the couple broke apart to see Yang and Weiss at the corner of the warehouse.
"You two done over there or should we give you some more time?" Yang said with a shit-eating grin.
"Go find Blake!" he called out to them, "We'll be right there."
Weiss huffed as she pulled a giggling Yang away by the back of her jacket. Jaune and Pyrrha looked into each other's eyes, both of them blushing.
"Now, we're together-together." He said, making Pyrrha chuckle.
XX
The Void, Above the World of Remnant
That Same Evening
Logan Grimnar stood on the bridge of his flagship, looking out over the world below. It had been over an hour since every ship in the fleet near-simultaneously dropped back into real space, and he was waiting for his astropaths to confirm his suspicions. Until then, he simply busied himself studying what he could of the world below.
It was not unlike many worlds he had seen in his centuries in the Rout; four continental landmasses set in a planet spanning blue ocean, a mix of greens, tans, greys and white. If anything, from what he could see, the moon appeared to be the most interesting feature of the planet, was it's shattered moon. He had seen broken moons before, but those always had some form of life on them, mining it for some kind of resource. This satellite was completely absent of any form of technology, which in itself was somewhat telling of the planet's technological level.
"My Lord." Grimnar turned to see the captain of his ship standing at attention, "The reports are in from across the fleet. All Navigators report the same thing. The trail ends here, my lord."
"I suspected as much." Logan nodded. "Summon the Wolf Lords and the High Priests. We must discuss a plan of action as soon as possible."
"Yes, my Lord." The captain saluted crisply and hurried off.
Grimnar allowed himself a smile. They had done it! for ten thousand years, the Wolves had searched the length and breadth of the Imperium in search of their father, and now he limited it to but a single frontier world. It would take time to search the entire world for a single man, but he knew they had time to spend. All the time in the world…
Haaaaahhh, it's good to be back. I am, however, sad that it took me putting RWBY Watches on an indefinite hiatus to make it more possible to do this, and even now, I'm worried about the Arkos stuff. Romance in general has never been of real interest to me. Honestly, whenever I see a romance scene in a tv show, or a movie, or a novel, I just roll my eyes and suppress a groan.
But here, I want to at least try my hand at it. It feels rushed, I know, but I promise I have a plan. Of sorts.