RWBY: Grey Chapter 8
"Ms. Schnee, I'm going to recommend you not squeeze that vial so tightly." Mrs. Greymoor's voice echoed from the other side of the room. Weiss' fingers closed around the vial a little more tightly, a natural reaction, as her mind immediately focused on the advice, but hadn't had time to comprehend it. The vial shattered in her hand, scattering broken glass across the floor, and leaving a deep gash in her finger. "Ow!" She yelped. Diana shook her head. "Oh dear... come here." She said. Weiss did as she said, sprinting while trying to keep her blood from dripping on her clothes.
Diana pulled out a tiny, corked bottle filled with a pure white Dust. She unsealed it then spread some along her finger. As Weiss neared her she snatched her wrist, then ran her Dust-coated finger along the wound. Weiss' eyes widened in wonder as the cut closed almost instantly. "The wonderful thing about Dust... is that no matter how violent a purpose it is turned to, it can always be used to help others." She said.
"Thank you, Mrs. Greymoor." Weiss said with a smile. "How does that stuff work?" She asked. The woman gave a soft smile. "Don't thank me... thank my firstborn son, who's your age... he designed the concept. Oh and it works by prematurely activating proteolytic enzymes that are essential for healing." She said. "Really? You talk about him a lot... but I've never met him. When are you going to bring him here?" She asked. Diana had brought her children into the headquarters multiple times, but they were all three years younger.
Diana's eyes averted Weiss' gaze. "He... left a few years back... he's a brilliant young man, and he could be anything he really wished to, but instead decided to help common people with his own two hands." She said. "Are you sad that he's gone?" Weiss asked. "Well it's always a sad thing to watch your child leave... but I couldn't be more proud of his choice... he took the selfless path... and put the interest of the people above his own desires." She grinned at Weiss. "When you run this company in the years to come, you'll have to make that choice too."
Weiss' eyes fluttered open to the sound of the surgery room door opening. Mrs. Greymoor stepped out with a rather large smile on her face, one so large in fact that it was easily visible underneath her sterile face mask. She sat down next to Weiss, who despite seeing the smile, was rather concerned about the well-being of her fallen teammate. "Is he goi-" She began, but was interrupted by the other woman raising her finger. She sighed, then pulled the mask away from her face. "He's doing just fine, dear." She said.
Weiss gave a heavy sigh of her own. "I can't believe he's your son!" She said. "Okay, okay, calm down." She laughed. "Although I will admit that it was rather fortuitous that you met my son. Thank you for bringing him to me... even if it was just to help him. I haven't heard from him, let alone seen him, for almost a decade." She said. Weiss nodded vigorously. "I'm happy for you. So... what exactly happened?" She asked.
Diana turned slightly to the door she had entered through. "Well... I've no doubt that he has explained to you that he's a Human... and he is, was... now. This is despite being born to a Faunus mother. Now... the only way that that would be possible is if he were born to a different woman... and believe me, I can account firsthand that he wasn't." She stopped, seemingly gathering her thoughts. "I saw the bullet wounds on his back, are those recent?" She asked.
Weiss nodded, as did she. "Well... one of the bullets ricocheted off of his spine, that would normally kill someone, but he's a Royal, so it's not really shocking that he survived." She said. "What's a... Royal?" Weiss asked. "Hush, that's something personal to my son, so you should ask him." She said. But you're the one who brought it up... "Now... the body grows when it heals... and he, because of his lack of Faunus alleles, couldn't regrow things normally... so, if my theory is correct... his body forced itself to take on recessive Faunus alleles to enable the damage to be repaired." She said.
"That... doesn't make much sense." Weiss commented. "His body could heal surface damage rather easily... but because his gene sequence was... technically incomplete... he couldn't heal intense sub-dermal damage... I think those bullet wounds were the first case of serious internal injury Yuri's ever faced, at least he doesn't have scars from other injuries that I can see." She said. "Oh... as I was saying, because of his incomplete gene sequence, his body had to force the recessive Faunus alleles that had no effect on his development to become dominant ones that... and that caused his body to begin development of Faunus qualities. Also, just so you know, the Human part of the brain that determines personality isn't the same as the Faunus part." She finished.
"Okay, so his body... needed to heal... but didn't have the means to do so... so it forced itself to adapt those means into himself, by forcing himself to become Faunus?" She asked. Diana nodded. "I know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but he did technically have recessive Faunus alleles, so I suppose that his body killed off some of its Human alleles, and that brought forth a change that should have happened at birth." She said. "This should have happened in the womb, and it's surprising that it didn't, considering that his twin sister was born with both qualities." She mused, seemingly to no one.
"Yuri had a-" "Drake." She said. Weiss looked at her confusedly. "Drake?" She asked. "That's the name he was born with, Drake Greymoor." She said. "Then why does he... call himself... Yuri Kallen?" Weiss mused. "Is that what he's calling himself? That's cute. Yuri is his Father's Great-Grandfather's first name. Kallen is my Mother's Maiden name." She said. "But why those names though?" She pressed.
Diana thought for a moment. "Well he never met his Great-Great-Grandfather, but he did read the old man's journal a lot. As for my mother, they were very close... although he hasn't spoken to any of us in years... I'm sure he's checked on her from time to time." She said. Her eyes lit up. "Oh, that reminds me. He's changed quite a bit, physically." She said. "What do you mean?" Weiss asked.
As if on cue, the door slammed open. Weiss' eyes widened in shock at the incredible changes that Yuri had in fact, undergone. He's so tall. And he was, he originally stood at only five-foot-ten. Looking at him, it was nearly impossible to tell how tall he had become. His face's features had sharpened, almost all of them, his face was definitely the same... it just seemed... slightly more refined. His muscle structure had doubled, no, tripled, and his chest, arms, and legs had become enormous. His hair had lengthened significantly, and it now drifted softly at his shoulders. His eyes didn't seem to have changed much, although his pupils had become more slanted, almost canine. They darted around, as though they were struggling to comprehend the situation.
"What... happened to my body?" He asked. Weiss' eyes widened even further. His voice had deepened significantly. "Why do I feel so tall?" He asked. "Because now you are, my dear son. You were roughly five-ten when your friend here had you brought in, now... I'd say that... you stand at around... six-foot-eleven." She said. Weiss looked him over, then determined that she agreed with Mrs. Greymoor's estimation. His now bulky body shuddered. "I feel... so bulky." He said. "Well... that should, and I'm stressing should, be an extreme form... try... suppressing your energy. Specifically your Royalty." She advised.
His eyes darted to Weiss, who shrugged. "I don't know what that is, only that you are one." She countered. He pursed his lips, then nodded, pressing his hands together. A small black sphere formed in between his palms and it fluxed between a large and small, then dissipated. His body shuddered violently, then another sphere burst from his body, enveloping him. It seemed solid, and was so incredibly opaque that Weiss had difficulty telling exactly where its edges were. It stayed there for a moment, then it dissipated again. He was... seemingly back to normal, well, mostly.
His height was two, maybe three inches greater than it was when Weiss had first met him. Even still, it definitely was a more normal sight than before. His hair had receded as well, back to its own original state. His face had kept its changes, and was more fitting on his now smaller frame. "That's better." His voice was still quite husky, but once again more fitting for him. He turned to his mother, and she stood up, before they both threw their arms around one another. "Nine years, nine years, and you didn't even call... you're one hell of son, aren't you?" She asked playfully.
"Sorry mother, I've missed you... and everyone, the family... Dad... even her." He said, the smile on his face wry and tight, but definitely happy. "Are we bothering you at work? Would it be better for me to come back later or-" Diana put her finger to his lips, cutting off his words. "Hush, boy. I called your father, and he's bringing your brothers and sisters with him here." She said. Yuri's widened in shock and his mouth twisted into an excited smile.
They sat in the room, and waited for around for about 15 minutes. Then the elevator down the hall gave a soft ring, and as the doors slid open, a man who was undoubtedly Yuri's father, along with 4 young teens, two boys and two girls, all the same age, who were also undoubtedly his siblings, although he hadn't seem them in so long, it was hard to tell to which was which. One of the girls shrieked and sprinted down the hall, then leapt into Yuri's arms. "Big Brother!" She screamed.
Yuri's eyes widened at the girls excitement. "Anna! Baby sister it's been too long." His gaze shot to each of the other children. "Bree, Melo, Hyde! Come here." He said. Now certain as to who he was, they all followed the example of their sister, running down the hall and literally tackling the laughing young man to the ground.
Yuri and the children began chasing each other down the hallway, with their father following them behind. Weiss turned to Diana. "You said something previously about his personality, what were you getting to?" She asked. "Well... look I'm not a psychiatrist, but the Human and Faunus brains use different sections to house the personalities. I'm only speculating, but I still think you should be warned." She said. "Alright, warn me." Weiss requested.
"His human side is a more... reserved person, obviously he has the ability to be loud and boisterous, but it's not in his nature to get extremely angry. But... his Faunus is new, and if it takes over as a personality, it will be quite a different experience. He will be violent, hypersexual, aggressive, and most of all, very persuasive." She said. "Okay, thank you for the warning." Weiss said. "Wait. That's not the warning." Diana started. Weiss who had turned her head to try to find Yuri in the large hall, turned back. "If... Drake, tries to come on to you, sexually... I hate to tell you this, but you need to let him."
Weiss' eyes widened further. Mrs. Greymoor put her hand up. "I know, that's a strange thing to say, but we've been her for roughly three hours, and you two got here at around five. So I figured that I should run some diagnostics on my son. What I found is both encouraging and worrying. Yuri's brain will have these personalities for about three or four days, then, if my data is correct, they'll likely combine together, since the brain doesn't function well with multiple personalities." She said.
Her own gaze drifted down the hall, to the younger children, then to her husband, then to Yuri. "Drake's new personality is... well, it understands things, but it's knowledge... it will still have to learn reactions from others. If you reject Drake, or interact with him negatively while he's in that personality, it'll create an imbalance of anger in his new mind, and when they merge, it will severely effect his mental state." She said. Weiss gave an exasperated sigh, then nodded. "Alright, it'll only be for a few days, right?" She asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, I don't see it in Yuri's nature to do anything too crazy, so I wouldn't worry about him trying to rape you, thoughts like that don't seem like they'll... fester in his mind." She said. Although she was a Faunus, Weiss had always trusted her implicitly, mostly due to the fact that she hadn't been wrong before, so... despite a gnawing worry in the back of her mind, she agreed. Yuri had yet to seem like a cold-hearted person in her eyes... and something about him made her... trust him. She shook the negative thoughts from her mind, then called out to Yuri. "Hey! I think it's time we get back, we still need to study!" She shouted after him down the hall.
His head perked up from where he had been bent down, tickling two of his siblings. He lifted himself up, then nodded. "Well, little ones, I suppose I'll have to come visit you all later." He said, despite the protest of his brothers and sisters. He turned to his father. "You wouldn't mind me stopping by every once in a while, right?" His father nodded. "Of course, you're our son, and you're always welcome." He said. Diana stood up, then rummaged through her coat. She pulled out her own Scroll. "I believe Ms. Schnee used your Scroll to contact me, so I'll just send you our address and other info." She said.
Yuri agreed, and after a few moments of consoling one of his sisters who had burst into tears at the thought of Yuri leaving, and promising her he would return soon, he and Weiss left the building. He looked around for a moment after they left the main entrance. "Are we in Atlas?" He asked. He turned around, and was given another shock upon seeing the Schnee logo on the front of the building. "Did we come to the Headquarters?" He asked before Weiss could answer his first question. "Yes, and yes. I was going to take you to a regular hospital, but your mother advised against it, as she didn't know what was wrong at the time, and needed to have a proper period do diagnose you, so I brought you here, where she works." She said.
"I see, that makes sense." He said, as they stepped onto the waiting airship. It took off and Yuri stumbled a bit, with Weiss taking his arm to steady him. "You feeling okay?" She asked. He nodded. "I suppose that large amounts of spontaneous growth messes with your equilibrium." He laughed. She sighed, and she continued holding his arm. They stood silently as the ship swept through the air over the earth below.
Eventually, the airship landed at Beacon, and they stepped off onto the landing platform. To Yuri's surprise, Yang was waiting, and she seemed rather shaken. Upon seeing Yuri, her face twisted into a multitude of expression, first came shock, then worry, and finally relief. She jumped onto Yuri and kissed him angrily. She pulled away after a moment, and grabbed him by his collar. Her eyes scanned him heavily for a moment. "You got taller, and you look a bit different too." She noted. He nodded. "I have, although I have yet to see what I look like exactly. So... since you can see me, is the change good or bad?" He asked. "Neutral, you were good-looking before, and you're still good looking now." She said bluntly. He nodded. Her thoughts derailed for a moment, but she seemed to put herself back on track after some deliberation.
"Weiss told me what happened, why didn't you call me?" She asked. He looked at her for a second, then gave her a confused look. "I was unconscious." He said calmly. She blinked, then blinked again, then a third time. "Oh yeah, I suppose I should have understood that when Weiss told me." She said with a rather heavy blush. "Alright, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She said jovially. "And you are, so I'm happy. I'll see you two back in the dorm. Just try to be quiet, Ruby's already gone to bed." She said.
Yuri turned to Weiss after Yang began walking away. "This is the second time that you've come to my aid after I've collapsed." He said. He bowed slightly. "I appreciate your assistance in both cases." He finished. His eyes grew dull, and he pressed his hand to his forehead, giving a rather pained groan. "Hey are you al-" She didn't finish, finding it exceptionally hard to form words with Yuri's lips pressed against hers. His tongue dipped between her teeth, and she almost pulled away, but instead did something that surprised even her. She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. They stayed locked against one another for what felt to her like a blissful eternity. But even still, he eventually pulled away, despite her attempt to keep him close.
His eyes were confused, but even more worrying to her, they were scared, hurt. She reached out, but he pulled back, now more uncertain of himself than anything else. "I overheard you and my mother." He said. "I'll be back in a few days, while my personalities battle it out. I need to do this alone." He said. Confused, Weiss expressed concern for him. "Are you sure you don't need someone with you?" She asked. "Did you enjoy that kiss?" He asked. She thought about it for a moment, then gave slight nod. He pulled her face to his and kissed her again, this time much more forcefully, completely frazzling her mind. It took her nearly thirty seconds to regain her composure, but by that point, he was already gone. He sure likes to leave us all behind. Oh well, at least he has his Scroll.
I wonder, what will his personality be like when it's all over and done with?