Gamer4 in. Welcome to a preview for my upcoming story, Return to Vale. This story initially began as simply Vale, in which I recounted a story told to me in the titular town. Shortly afterwards, I did my own delving into the case, and from it, wrote a prequel- Vale, Le Morte d'Arc. Return to Vale will, of course, be the final chapter, but due to its nature, I'd like to lead people in a bit through these trailers. For our purposes here, understand primarily that this is a world that has strayed far from its original purpose- in a way far subtler than canon Evangelion, but no less fundamental, things are wrong in this world, allowing for the odd merging of worlds such as RWBY, Persona, and Evangelion to occur. With this knowledge, please enjoy.
Return to Vale
Red Trailer
The first thing Asuka Langley Soryu noticed about the inside of the club was the loud, thumping music, being played on stage by an odd assortment of individuals- a young man in a red jacket, a dark-skinned man with wolf ears protruding from his head, a young woman in blue, and a taller, thinner woman in yellow. The man in red was singing at the head currently, a song she didn't recognize, or care to.
"Red like roses
Fills my dreams and leads me to the place you rest!"
He seemed to pause, allowing for an instrumental segue. Still, Asuka wasn't here for them- she was here for the woman at the bar- short, with long dark hair and incredibly large earrings. Her eyes narrowed as she crossed the dance floor and slid up next to her.
"A screwdriver," she ordered as she turned to the woman in question. "No ice."
The woman took her sweet time noticing Asuka's presence, and looked down her nose when she finally did. "And who might you be?"
"Asuka," she introduced herself without flourish. "Asuka Langley Soryu. I'm here on behalf of our mutual friend, Shinji Ikari."
The woman paused, tilting her head. "Who?"
Asuka's eyes flashed with rage. She'd felt jealousy before- it had been an all-too-common feeling early on in her relationship with the boy from Vale, particularly where Wondergirl Rei Ayanami was involved- not here. Here, before this woman, she felt only a deep-seated, boiling hatred.
She reached out and grabbed the woman's head, smashing it against the countertop. She shrieked in pain, but Asuka didn't care- after what this woman had done, she deserved no pity.
"You don't even remember his name, do you?" she hissed, jerking one of the woman's arms behind her in what must be a very painful grip- she whimpered again. "His face- you never saw what it looked like after what you did to him..."
"Let... let me go!" It was likely intended to come off as an order, but came out more as a whimpering plea.
Asuka glanced around- they were starting to draw attention. She made a split-second decision, and did, indeed, let the woman go. She staggered out into the middle of the floor, where several guards were taking interest in their case.
"Well? Didn't you see what she did? Grab her!"
Asuka snorted derisively as she drew closer- one of the goons stepped in front of her. "Oh, I didn't do anything- it was all just a misunderstanding, RIGHT?!"
On stage, the man in red was singing again.
"White is cold and always yearning,
Burdened by a royal test!"
That hateful woman's eyes widened in horror as the truth finally clicked home- that was the expression Asuka had been waiting to see. "You... you...!"
"Black, the beast,
Descends from shadows..."
"Me," Asuka snarled, and shoved one of the guards aside into another patron.
"Yellow beauty burns...
Gold."
Within seconds, an all-out brawl had commenced- bouncers and drunkards and panicked clubbers, every man for themself in this sudden madhouse. Asuka, however, was only looking for one person in particular through the chaos.
Even the band was affected- in his shock, the man in red fumbled the microphone- it was picked up by the woman in blue. A silent exchange occurred between them, she shrugged, and they shifted their song.
"Mirror, tell me something,
Tell me who's the loneliest of all!
Fear of what's inside me-
Tell me, could a heart be turned to stone?"
Unperturbed by the madness below, they kept playing as Asuka struggled towards her target- until she was cut off by two men glaring down at her- one black, the other white.
"So, Trevor, what do you think about this little bitch?"
"I think it's time we teach her some respect," smirked Trevor, cracking his knuckles.
Almost as if sensing what was going on below, the band shifted again- the blue woman handed the microphone to the dark-skinned wolf faunus, who smirked.
"Born with no life,
Into subjugation!
Treated like a
Worthless animal!"
Asuka almost wanted to laugh- theset wo men had clearly never engaged in a real fight in their lives- she could tell from their wild, floundering moves. They were barely presenting a challenge- though they at least had staying power, credit where it was due.
"Stripped of all rights,
Just a lesser being!
Crushed by cruel
Ruthless human rule!"
Even double-teaming her, they were really just buying some extra time for themselves. She'd been trained in various martial arts all her life- it was nice to have some practice, if nothing else.
But fall they did- she drop-kicked one and sent the other flying into the faunus on the stage- he dropped the mic, but before it could touch the floor, it was picked up by the final member of the band- the tall, think woman in yellow. She smirked around the rest, who seemed to shrug as they started up their final song for the night.
Asuka paid this no mind- she had located her target once more- cowering behind a counter, the woman she'd come here for in the first place. "Stand and fight, you coward," she spat.
The woman looked around, grabbing a bottle for a weapon.
Asuka almost laughed.
"Come face me,
And you'll see,
I'm more than meets the eye!
You think that
You'll beat me?
I invite you to try,
But you're standing too close to a flame that's burning
Hotter than the sun in the middle of July!
Send out all your armies, but you still can't win,
Listen up, silly girl, 'cause I'm gonna tell you why!"
If Asuka noticed that they were practically cheering her on at this point, she didn't show it- she was rushing towards her opponent, disarming her and throwing her over her shoulder in one swift move.
"I burn!
Can't stop me now-
You've got nothing that holds me!
Swing all you want,
Like a fever, I'll take you down!"
Asuka grabbed the woman and threw her through the front window, where she lay, totally robbed of consciousness.
Asuka leapt out after her, but before she could do anything more, she was caught off guard by a soft voice from nearby. "...Asuka?"
Asuka froze, turning to see the young man she'd been doing all this for in the first place, in his usual black pants and white pressed shirt. "Ah... Shinji..."
"What are you doing?" he asked, eyes wide.
Asuka paused. "It's... a long story..."
The sound of police sirens met their ears. "I'll tell you later- let's go!"
"Asuka- wait!"
He didn't have time to protest before she seized his arm and tore off into the night, dragging him along.
XXXX
To be continued
in
Return to Vale
Gamer4 out.