Rogue Huntsman

Storm

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You think you're strong. You think you can push through but you're limited. You're held back by the fabric of this world and the next. You're restrained by those who made you, those who keep you. You play by the rules. You play the game built for you and those around you, a game designed to contain you, to trap you.

You don't play to win. No one plays to win in a game of agony and grief. You don't play to move forward, you don't pursue a destiny ahead of you, you don't reach for any star above you, you don't play to beat those around you or play to compete to avoid getting left behind.

You play to survive.

Strength takes you to places you can reach. Intellect lets you know how to get there. Wisdom tells you if you can make the journey. And freedom gives you the will to take the leap.

Yet, no one is willing to accept the risk.

Fear drills into the flesh of man. Deceit tears wounds for anxiety and naivety to take hold. Guilt carves paths for resentment and doubt to fester. Danger questions the very fabric of your being and ties you down in places too dark to see.

You're left in a pit of sorrow to rot away in the filth of your cowardice.

How many lives, how many generations, does it take to save a life? How many times has a life been saved in vain? How many moments have gone by, passing with the final breath of life, where death took hold of one before you?

Too many to count.

We're born, we fight, we die.

We are machines in a world of barely organized chaos. Things go our way only for something else to breach and fall to ruins. Expansions breed death and desolation, containment breeds resentment and fear, negativity brings destruction.

The world is in a constant cycle of death and creation. When one thing gets destroyed, another is created.

And yet, powers that think themselves ahead of the game still bask in the light of their own self-derived hope. They think themselves lucky, alive, important.

No one is important in a world like this, in a world like Remnant.

Grimm hold a presence stronger than any other over our heads. They are the reason why we develop, we evolve, why we strive to live on. They are the reason we die.

That is precisely why we slaughtered every last one of them that stepped through the line of trees of this burning valley.

"That's…" Ruby gasped, falling softly to her knees as her partner in white gave her a soft pat on the shoulder, "The last of them…"

"Forgive me Ruby, I was out of line earlier when I questioned your ability…" The heiress spoke meekly, like she actually cared. Maybe she did.

"It's alright," Ruby waved her hand tiredly, lungs still aching for oxygen while her muscles struggled to contract like they should, "So, we're good?"

Weiss had to give that question some thought, "I think so, but we need to work on a few things to start to get along."

Despite Ruby's minor whining squeal of annoyance, she seemed content.

Good. I'd rather have the heiress hate a guy like me than waste her energy despising her own partner. If she did that, she'd get one of them killed.

I let my aura flare for a moment as I walked past those who fought in the tight circle we held and made my way to my partner. The light in her eyes died as quickly as the light receded from the trees, and in the next moment, she collapsed limply into the grass in front of her as those shining irises closed behind pale lids.

She held that fire for 43 minutes.

"I told you not to push yourself," I muttered, lowering down to a knee before slipping my arms softly beneath the bend of her knees and around her upper back. The tips of her boots dangled as I stood, hanging over my arm as the rest of her body nestled against my chest in my grasp. Her head lulled against my upper arm and heart, convincing me it wouldn't move around unnecessarily.

She wasn't a princess, far from it, nor was she a bride.

Yet, I carried her all the same. She was always proud of her weight. Now I knew why. She was lighter than a feather.

We made it back to Beacon in 15.

I got called to the principal's office. At least, that's what it was degraded to. Nothing more than a trip built to reinforce the unsaid rules of the school.

"Mr. Ezdeil, would you care to explain the havoc you raised out there in the Emerald Forest today?" A woman, blonde and looking too young for her age, addressed me. She stood beside Ozpin, the headmaster, owner of Beacon Academy, in his tall chair behind a desk as large as his ego.

Or, would even that be too small?

"The grimm populous of the surrounding area was getting out of hand. I'm sure you took notice of this, sir." Politeness gets the everyday man killed. No, I'm not being polite. My intentions were far from kissing this man's cane.

This is bartering for time.

"I was well aware of the substantial increase in grimm within the woods surrounding my school." Ozpin, or so his assistant calls him so informally, stood from his chair and clasped the only two hands he had behind his back.

His cane rested against his desk.

He wasn't hindered in the slightest.

"However, no student should take it upon themselves to take care of that threat. We have faculty here and professors willing to take an hour out of their day to handle the task safely." Ozpin spoke with a voice as level as his aged eyes, yet he appeared far younger than he spoke. His hair had long since silvered, or, has it always been silver to begin with…

Ozpin was a man of a thousand years. He's live far longer than I. That much was certain.

"We worked as a unit to eradicate the grimm threat. No danger was imposed on any student I requested the help from, and those within the forest were protected by a shield of heat my partner placed around them." I had a little more care in my words than usual, but not much, enough to honey them just far enough to be tolerable.

This man was the key to finding my father's killer.

I continued, "They worked at my side willingly, though, I was the orchestrator of everything."

It was actually Jaune. He did it all. Let him take the fall. It was 100% Jaune's fault.

Poor bastard, can't even take credit for something he didn't do.

"That is precisely why this is an issue!" Glynda nearly placed her palm solidly on the desk out of some kind of reactional urge. I was glad she didn't.

She'd break it.

"You coerced them into fighting a number of threats beyond their skill levels. The initiation is designed to test the students. It gathers data we need in order to properly gauge where they're potential lies." Her voice, for some reason, began to lessen and lighten in tone, as if she were trying to make her intentions softer to justify her would be actions, "What would've happened if one of them didn't make it?"

"One student already fell to grimm during your initiation, he was the partner to a young kitsune," I informed but little came of it.

"That's to be expected," The old man sighed, turning on his heal and moving over to the vast window at his flank. It spanned in segments across the entire rounding wall of this tower, reaching around to the elevator at its opposite side, "Our standards are high for this school. But it seems that few can still slip between our methods of acceptance."

Jaune did it too. That much was obvious.

The roof consisted of barely muffled grinding gears, ticking away as the ageless face I saw in the reflection of the window regarded me out of the corner of his eye. The floor was nothing more than black marble.

"By my understanding, though," Ozpin spoke slowly, with purpose and thought behind his words, something I didn't like or know where it was headed, "You saved that girl's life."

"Blake saved that girl's life with the aid of a girl named Yang, I took no part in her care," I responded as evenly as I was addressed. It was honesty.

I couldn't tell what his reaction was to it.

"You spotted her across a battlefield and requested someone to attend to her," Ozpin stated.

Glynda held up a stern hand, "Perhaps ordered is the correct term, actually."

"The intent was the same, Glynda. He meant to save her." Ozpin turned around now, addressing me with the exact same look he gave me when I first walked in here. Emotionless intrigue with a tiny touch of cleverness.

I abide by few rules in life. One of which is to always be the smartest one in the room.

We were in agreement.

Ozpin placed his fingers on his smooth, clean desk, and leaned forward, "Are you interested in how she's doing?"

"That would be beyond my care," I replied. It wasn't something I should bother with.

"You should care," Ozpin began to smile, his white teeth glinting for merely a moment in the second they actually revealed themselves, before he reached into his pocket and withdrew a slightly chipped black pawn, "I believe you were the one who gave me this so kindly?"

Glynda had to stifle a cough.

"That would be correct," I said. I knew where he was going with this… and I definitely didn't like it.

"Her name is Kitsuki Aeolus. She was never able to obtain an artifact like the rest due to extraneous circumstances regarding her late partner, and now, she's in need of a team," He slowly placed the pawn on its base in front of him, then slid it across the surface of his desk, "Your move, Mr. Ezdeil."

"Teams are announced later tonight, so do make your decision now while we have your attention," Glynda added.

"With all due respect," If I had any to give, "Kitsuki should be put on a team where she'll find some amount of acceptance. I doubt she-"

"I'm sure you'll accept her with open arms," Ozpin interrupted me, his smile growing.

He… he cut me off.

I'll kill him.

"Then what of her partner? Will she have none?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the challenge Ozpin so graciously left just within my reach.

"I'm sure someone will show up eventually. Until then, you will be the leader of a team of three." The headmaster finally pushed himself back, standing straight once again, "Now, Mr. Ezdeil, would that be advantageous to you?"

I narrowed my eyes further, digging the tips of my fingers into the palms of my hands as I stood still and tense.

It wasn't worth it. The less we interact with one another, the better. But… something told me we would be engaging more often than just once. I saw it in his eyes.

It had no intention of going away.

"It would," I replied reluctantly.

I was going to ruin a small girl's future, wasn't I…

"Excellent. Then you are now aware of your team's composition. Feel free to show up to the ceremony tonight for the pairings," Ozpin said with a professional, almost patented wittiness, "Of course, you have no obligation to go, now that you have the information you need. You will still be announced, however, so it may affect your reputation if you refuse to step on stage."

This man, how much did he know? I've never met him before… he was too aware for his own good.

"I'll think about it," I responded, turning to leave.

"Your team name is ELA, do remember that." Ozpin addressed me one final time before I walked away, my boots clicking dully against the hard ebony floor before all of it disappeared behind golden elevator doors.

I'm not going to that ceremony.

"She's so cute sleeping like this," Anoel brushed her knuckles lightly along one of Kitsuki's bandaged arms, "Like a fluffy little bundle of adorableness."

Blake did a decent job bandaging up the kitsune, and Yang was careful when transporting her to the infirmary wing of Beacon Academy. We were in a singular unit, one of the rooms with only one bed, a couple chairs, and a window.

Ano sat at the girl's side, holding the girl's hand in her own as the girl slept and tried to recover from her wounds.

A gentle flame extended from where their hands clasped together, running up and inside the bandages of the girl's arms before flickering further up her skin and over the rest of her body. With it came a deep breath, silently rushing through the girl's mouth as he face scrunched up for a moment and her ears folded against her head.

As the flame subsided, her breathing returned to normal.

It wasn't irregular.

"I've been healing her in intervals, so most of her shallow wounds should be closed and healed by now. It's the deeper ones I'm worried about." Anoel said softly, brushing a lock of white hair off of Kitsuki's sleeping face as my partner turned toward me, "She won't be able to fight for a little while."

"That's fine. I can handle the combat," It was hardly ever any effort to begin with, "I'd prefer it that she focused on recovery beyond anything else. It'll help her settle into her probable uselessness."

Anoel narrowed her eyes at me, her nose scrunching up only slightly, "She's sixteen, Niro. But I can sense something in her… something I have as well. I can't tell exactly what the properties of it consist of, but I felt my own resonate with it."

I've had no reason in the last few hours to extend my senses to the girl lying in the bed in front of me, but if what Ano was saying held any merit… then it was worth the few seconds that it took.

"She has an affinity fragment." I noticed, "And a strong one."

"Mhmm." Anoel hummed with a small nod, "I don't know which element, though."

"I would suspect fire, maybe white flame, but that's just stupid," I said, watching as the girl breathed and listened as her breath failed to even slightly rattle my eardrums. It was as pitch-less as it was silent.

She had no voice. Something damaged her vocal cords and her voice box.

She was mute.

"I think white fire would be cool to see." Anoel admitted, "My own flame can take on the shade of gold, which is rather beautiful if you look at it." She trailed off, losing herself once again in a caring gaze between herself and the girl's face in front of her.

Sometimes… she was a little too motherly for her age.

"Do you look at my flames, Niro?" Ano asked quietly, almost suddenly.

What the hell does was that supposed to mean?

"I do." It was hard not to when they build enough atmospheric pressure to sweep aside the majority of the clouds in the sky and draw up a drafting wind strong enough to start upward turning tornadoes.

"What do you think of them?" Ano asked, turning a pair of humorous silver eyes back to me.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and took my lime green irises elsewhere, glancing out the nearest window instead. There was only one in the room, anyway, "They're warm."

I heard Anoel hum for a few more moments, and without me seeing it, her eyes transitioned into a soft orange for a few seconds before becoming a shining gold, "I'm happy you like touching my flames, Niro."

"That wasn't the intent," I muttered.

She didn't care.

Kitsuki woke up half an hour later. She wasn't surprised to see either of us, but she was afraid to be in the presence of one of us.

So I left the room.

None of us had anything to unpack.

I smelled a faint rain running over the eastern mountains of Sanus, high ridges protecting the valley of Vale and its forests. It carried no salt with it, so it didn't come from the southern ocean, so it must have come from the eastern shores.

A storm was coming.

Our room was bare and white, the only materials we were supplied were bedding for the mattresses and our choice of color schemes if we didn't bring our own. I chose black, fitting myself with a fully black bed with a pillowcase and comforter designed with something akin to simple gray patterns.

Anoel chose colors that looked like a Fall Maiden hacked up her most recent art project. It was a nice setup, and the colors blended together nicer than my own. And mine were black. She was the fashion, it seemed, of our team. Her bed was gold, orange, yellow, and red, not in that order. I don't see a need to explain it further. I just know that it looked better than mine.

Kitsuki's was the opposite of my own, her main color was the choice of frost white and her patterns across her pillow case and blanket were black and light blue, though, mostly black. She had a little trouble getting everything situated. It wasn't her injuries, no, Anoel healed those up perfectly. It was the fact that she was short and her arm span was lacking, so Ano had to help her get her sheets on.

The fourth bed remained barren.

"Where are you from?" Anoel asked, sitting on her bed as she propped herself up against her pillow. Her question was addressed to the small kitsune, getting a small jump out of her but otherwise leaving her just a little on edge.

I didn't blame her.

Kituski's golden-orange eyes glanced toward me for a moment before shying away, looking more toward the floor than anything else as she held her hands up near her chest.

She then used her fingers to flash out a couple signs which strung together into the known language of mutes and applied specialists who translate meaningless statements.

She was using sign language.

"Mistral." She signed out effortlessly.

She's been voiceless for most of her life, I could tell. But, she wasn't born voiceless…

"Which class were you? Were you high society, living the good life of culture and trade? Or, were you… the other?" Ano asked.

Kitsuki quietly sat on the edge of her white bed before taking a moment to respond, "I grew up in an orphanage with the lower class. It wasn't much of an orphanage, though, since we were self-run and self-funded."

I get it.

She was part of a small team of misfits on the streets. Each member stole to get by and fought tooth and nail against other thieves for even the smallest fortunes they could get their hands on. Life must've been unpredictable.

But not impossible.

Mistral was the home to the largest black market in the world, and with it, came the thieves and the crooks.

And the assassins.

Was she a thief… or an assassin? Or, was she neither…

Or both.

"Aww, well listen, life here is going to be good for you. I'll be here for you whenever you need it, Niro will too, though to a lesser extent. We're all in this together now, and we'll be sure to get you through as many years as we can." Ano said softly, giving the girl a warm smile.

Kitsuki nodded slightly, running a nervous hand down behind her to pull her bundle of three tails across her lap. Anoel's eyes never left them now that they were in view.

There was a dull illumination from outside in the darkening sky, before a crack of thunder sounded in the distance. Kitsuki flinched faintly, ears quickly folding against her head as she huddled into the depths of her scarf and tails.

"Where are you from?" The kitsune signed out, looking to both Ano and, surprisingly, me.

"Hmm," Ano hummed, lightly tapping her chin as she looked back at me for a few seconds, "Niro's from a lot of different places. But, he grew up in Vacuo and moved out of the city in his earlier years. He eventually ended up in Vale, where he found me."

She purposefully left herself out of the mix and all details pertaining to why I moved around so much. It wasn't hard to talk about, not anymore. I never knew my mother. She died when I was born. My father took every year after that to blame me for it. He never left me, though.

He was too sentimental for that.

He wasn't wrong. I was born with a semblance that was permanently activated upon my entrance to the world. It's stayed active ever since and was likely the cause of my mother's death. Very few are born with passive semblances, let alone those with such adverse effects as my own.

But some are, and most live unnaturally short lives.

My semblance caused every ensuing encounter with anyone human or creature to be rather… gruesome. My power directly draws on certain essences around me, certain energies. My 'curse' is always directly affecting those I'm in the proximity of.

Like some sort of damnation or abomination in human skin. That's what I was born into, that's what I am. That's how others see me.

The lingering effects of that proximity are mostly negative. They were at their peak in my youngest years, spawning some unsavory stories I'd rather keep unknown.

Everyone I've ever met, no matter what, have grown to hate me. I've come to expect it… because it has yet to change. At all.

Over the years, my father began to tolerate me. The old man finally got a grip on his own grief and desired to raise me as his son, if I could even call myself that at this point. After moving out of any cities we happened to stay in, developments began to take place.

After I turned ten, my semblance finally stabilized part of its passive proximity effect enough to not continuously exude itself like a miniature sun. Unfortunately, there was no way to deactivate it in its entirety.

I was stuck with it.

I can reduce the negative effects of it on others, but all effects are still there. My personality developed from there, basically embracing my semblance as it was. It's who I am, after all. I hate everything... because they'll always hate me back.

It's a cycle I can't break.

I'm a walking grimm magnet who pisses off everyone I talk to. I'm subject to this permanently and continuously with every moment of my existence.

Which got several people killed in the past.

Those mishaps brought on the greatest of disgust for me. I stopped caring after a while. My passiveness to fighting off and neglecting the presence of grimm stemmed from the years that followed. After that, I basically began to accept the world as it is. Corrupt, helpless, and dying.

There is, of course, one person I've met in my life who was essentially immune to the negative draws on my passive. Don't ask me how, or why, or if that was even possible. Clearly, it was, given her existence.

Her name's Anoel, the only person who hasn't grown to think negatively of me. As long as I can keep her alive, then the world will be a better place.

No matter how many times it tries to doom itself to darkness.

I wonder if Kitsuki will resent me too.

There was another strike of lightning and crash of thunder, louder now. Kitsuki was starting to look uneasy.

"Why were you out there today?" Anoel asked, flicking the tip of her hat up to let Kitsuki see more of her face.

The Kitsune's hands were shaking but remained as still as she could make them. She gave Ano a tilted, confused gaze, but there was still that underlying discomfort she started showing not too long ago. It was clear she didn't understand the question.

"Everyone gets asked that every now and then," Ano sighed, bending her leg up and one over the other, letting one socked foot bounce now every once in a while as she arched it outward, "Why do you want to be a huntress?"

The girl's eyes widened for a moment as she clasped her hands together, looking down now as she let her thoughts collect themselves.

Her shoulders were tense, almost folded in now on herself, as her eyes occasionally flicked to the window.

She was playing the part of thinking. But I saw past that, Ano and I both did. She didn't need to think about that question, the answer was too obvious to her.

"I don't know."

She was lying.

Anoel nodded all the same, "Well, we all have our reasons. Niro never wanted to be a huntsman. Actually, he wanted to be a baker."

Drop that happy tone and eat a knife.

Kitsuki cracked a smile at Anoel's comment, "Really?"

"It's true! The guy can bake! And really well, too. I've eaten his goods. Did you know he's a magnificent cook?" Ano went on with a smile, bobbing her heel up and down now as she chuckled lightly.

Kitsuki slowly shook her head, golden-orange eyes regarding me now with more curiosity than fear or discomfort.

Ano was breaking through to her.

"I taught him a bunch of stuff, but he learned most of his culinary and baking skills from someone named Arex on the west side of Vale. Niro may look all scary and intimidating, and act the part too, but always remember that he has that silly side to him as well."

I would've made a retort. I would've said a lot of things these past few minutes. But I didn't.

The situation was delicate. Something Anoel specialized in. So, I let her handle it. I turned my gaze to the window just in time to see a bright flash of white.

Then thunder.

I don't think I've ever seen a kitsune jump so high.

No wait, scratch that, I think I remember one occasion.

The sound from the sky outside shrieked through the wall of our dorm room like a gunshot in the rain. Its concussive blast tore through our hair like pressurized waves of a hurricane's tail, completely hammered the walls of the room with its sharp boom.

Anoel and I watched as Kitsuki disappeared into the blanket on her bed, curling up into the only protective position she knew of before grabbing her ears and holding them against her head. Her tails wrapped protectively around her entire body, trying hard not to shake as much as her physical body shuddered beneath the covers.

Another crack of thunder shook the room, and the lump on Kitsuki's bed jumped.

"Oh…" Anoel came to the conclusion I had seven minutes ago before she got up slowly, slipping her feet to the floor and looking back at me over her shoulder, "I think our kitsune's afraid of-"

Her words were cut off from another sharp blast of thunder.

It was getting worse.

Ano's eyes fell, her grip on her sheets tightening ever so slightly, before she got up and pushed her bed to seal it against Kitsuki's, leaving mine alone on my side of the room. Kitsuki jumped again beneath the covers, and if she could squeal, I'm sure it would've been muffled by the blanket.

I watched as Anoel crawled back onto her bed and across its surface, working her way over to Kitsuki's blanket before sitting down next to it as gently as she could.

It was hardly worth the effort. The girl was scared out of her mind.

I wonder if it was related to anything…

It wasn't long before Anoel slipped into Kitsuki's blanket as well, trying her best to comfort the girl as the storm took its wrath out on a few trees. One of them cracked down the middle from a bright strike of lightning.

Kitsuki clung to Anoel beneath the covers.

This was getting annoying.

I got up from my bed and cast a gaze to the two beneath the covers, letting another crack of lightning illuminate the room before I disappeared out the door.

Even storms grew worse around me. A simple drizzle turned into a torrential downpour, a quiet distant storm grew into a raging tempest, the universe saw me as its chew toy.

A chew toy that it thinks it can mess with.

Well, let me tell you something…

My boots tapped numbly up the stairwell before I kicked open the door at its peak, nearly ripping it from its hinges as a heavy spray of water and wind flooded into the open frame. I made my way out onto our dorm's roof and slammed the door shut behind me.

Whatever power out there who's having their fun messing with my life, take this as an example of your stupidity.

I walked out to the center of the roof and flexed my hand, weaponized glove pulling taught against my skin as lightning shattered across the sky above me. Three bolts shot down, riding the energy waves before crashing into me as I raised my glove into the air.

Ahrulian crackled with bright green energy as my eyes erupted in dashing sparks of light. My trench coat kicked back in the sudden blast of wind generated from the storm manifesting and crashing down upon me.

Bolt after bolt sent plasma through my skin, slamming into me with enough energy to power Atlas's military armada four times over. Ahrulian absorbed it all as a catalyst and a conduit for my semblance.

I growled, slamming my fingers into a fist and entering a low crouch, "Don't you know it's impolite to scare a little girl?"

My palm slammed into the roof of Beacon's dorms, shattering it completely with my aura as I surged into the air. Lime green light burst from where I stood, flooding the cracks that broke across the building and pulled them back together, sealing the damage as if the structural failure had never happened in the first place.

Wind and rain dispersed after I jumped, rushing away from me in a spanning dome of silence as I tore upward, my trench coat trailing loudly behind me as I entered the heart of the storm.

Howling gales and highly energized lightning tried to tear away at me, flashing within the dark clouds around me as lights shot across the plumes of blackness. My energy was stronger. I drew my hand through the air, bright strands of light trailing behind it as I split the air with a smoldering blaze of green, before slamming my gloved hand into my chest and shattered the night sky in my own green light.

Shining, lime green lightning broke through the clouds, jamming into and splitting everything it touched at it crawled through the storm's entire covering, only stopping at the very edges of the clouds in the sky and snapping the air beyond its borders…

Before the entire expanse of the tempestuous storm broke to pieces and dispersed completely, leaving behind a cloudless night sky.

I fell back to Remnant in a blaze of annoyance.

I was done with this.

So, Niro just dispersed a raging storm. How 'bout that…

Anyway, readers, meet Kitsuki. Kitsuki, wave to the readers *waves*.

Whelp, I'm definitely still getting used to this style of writing. I hope it was at least enjoyable. There was a bit of a 'Now You See Me' reference, which was a movie based around magicians. If you can spot it, then good.

I like how Ozpin is progressing, don't you? He's fun.

Niro's fun to write for. Like, really fun to write for. I'm highly enjoying this. And no, I wasn't kidding when I said he can cook and bake. Anoel's intel is as good as it gets, and it's never wrong.

Anyway, any guesses on Niro's semblance? I've given you his weapon, basically. It's called Ahrulian. I wonder if any of you can guess why I named it that. You can assume its uses, but you've only been shown two functions so far.

Lord Adhes – "sooo...self-regeneration?" Heh, that's just a byproduct of his semblance. So, no.

AxelLord20 – "If I'm correct then he's using his aura to make strings out of them, and is able to weave them into different shapes." Well, that's a function of his weapon you have there. But, no, that's not his semblance.

I wanted to make those comments known to you so that you know where the information lies right now. No one has guessed his semblance yet. The only person to have gotten even remotely close was a guy named andy, and I had to force-feed him hints.

Then I basically just straight up told him what it was just to see the look on his face (tone in his words). It was worth it.

Let's see if anyone can get close with what Niro's semblance actually is.

For now, Favorite and Follow.

I look forward to seeing REVIEWS for this. You'll be introduced to a LOT of concepts of mine. Feel free to give me your thoughts.

Cya XP