A/N: It's going to be a long night...I have a lot to type.

Sarah: Then you might want to get started.

Soap: I am, I am...

Bucky: Yeah! Hurry up would ya!

Soap: You're not even in the story yet...OUT till you come in.

Bucky: ...Fine...

Soap: *sighs* OK. Let's get started.

Edit: The actual story will start on "Ch 5: whom we love". So if you don't want to read back story, just skip to that chapter.

Chapter 3 (back story part 2): that really matters

The next week, as Sarah had said she would do, consisted mainly of unarmed combat training both with and without semblances.

After the first week, she offered to teach me more advanced techniques, but that I would need to design and build a weapon before she would be able to.

While I did already have my Deagle, it wasn't exactly the best weapon for a close range fight. Not to mention that it had been a while since I had used anything else; so, I got to work.

Originally, the design I had in mind was a simple as Sarah's metal pipes, however, that quickly changed after a few more hours to flesh out the design; two Guard-less katanas that could be combined to make a bow staff or could change into a sort of bladed whip.

After I finished building them, I looked back over my Deagle and decided to keep it as a long range option of attack. Unfortunately, though, it would need a serious upgrade and I already had the specific upgrades in mind.

After I finished upgrading my sidearm, it had a faster cycling rate, a faster action, and a faster slide and hammer. I also changed out the ammo from the high damage, Red, or Fire, Dust rounds to Ice Dust rounds to complement my semblance; which were smoke powers. If it wasn't for the element, my semblance would be exactly the same as Sarah's.

(While not a complete rip-off of inFAMOUS: Second Sun, just use that image as a basis of Soap's semblance. A more detailed explanation of their semblances will be at bottom A/N)

The fact that my semblance was essentially the same as Sarah's was a bit of an oddity. Your aura and Semblance were supposed a direct manifestation of your soul and no two people were the same; so it's impossible for two people to have the same semblance.

The only explanation that we could come up with for this was that it was a result of a combination of two different factors: the fact that Sarah's aura had been unlocked from such an early age; and the method through which my aura was unlocked, with the assistance of another's aura.

This method of unlocking aura was very rare today. If one were to go back in time 20 years, you would find that the technique of unlocking aura through another's was almost a common practice; but if you looked today, it was almost nonexistent.

For what reason, I could not say; nonetheless though, I was grateful that she knew the rare and ancient method.

A day or two after my weapons were complete, and I got a feel for how they handled; Sarah began my training with them.

It was during one of these training sessions that an old friend of mine decided to show his face.

After we were done with training for the day, Sarah and I were headed back to our room to hit the shower when we heard a knock at the front door.

I scratched my head as I made my way to the door with Sarah, trying to figure out who could possibly be knocking at our door.

As far as I knew, there was only one person, other than Sarah and I, that knew where the church was and the last I heard, he was on an airship on it's way to Atlas, and that was 11 years ago.

"Who could that be Soap?" Sarah asked me.

"To be honest, I have no idea." I replied.

Just then, a familiar voice called out from the other side of the door, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Upon hearing the voice, I looked out the window, "It couldn't be! Holy Shit! It is!" I opened the door to reveal Andeus "Bucky" McGillicudy trying to hold onto multiple bags; the same person that was kind enough to give me a ride to Vale 11 years ago.

"Hey man, it's been a while." Bucky said, finally getting a hold on all of his bags.

"Yes it has." I said a little bitterly as I remembered the events that followed Bucky dropping me off. "What are you doing here?"

"Two reasons. One, you owe me; two, I need a roof over my head."

"What do I owe you fo...oh yeah." I said as I realized what he was referring to.

11 years ago, Bucky gave me several thousand Lien to help with the purchase of whatever home I chose to buy.

"Yep, and right now, the best way to pay me back would be giving me a place to stay."

After thinking it over for a few seconds, I sighed and agreed, "Fine. Down the hall to the left, through the 4th door on the right is an empty room. I'll show ya." I grabbed on of his bags and began walking towards the door that I just described.

"Hey Soap?" I heard Sarah say from behind me.

"Yeah Sarah?" I replied.

"I'm going to go take a shower. I'll see you at dinner." She said as she turned around.

"Alright, see ya then." I said, flashing a smile her way.

Turning around, I motioned for Bucky to follow me.

Once we were almost at, what would be, his room, Bucky decided to break the silence.

"Ok, listen. I don't like bad blood, so I'm going to say right here and now that I'm sorry for what I did all those years ago; I feel terrible about it. I promise I won't be doing it ever ever again. Please forgive me." He said, somewhat beggingly.

I smiled, the bitter facade I had put on for the past couple minutes worked. "Bro, I forgave you 10 years ago. No harsh feelings."

He looked slightly surprised, but continued, "If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions for ya."

"Ask away."

"Who was that girl you were talking to back in the lobby?" Bucky asked.

"That was Sarah, my girlfriend." I said nonchalantly.

"NO WAY! YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!" Bucky yelled instantly upon hearing the news.

Even though I couldn't hear a thing in my left ear, I nodded my head yes.

"Cool. Also, she called you 'Soap'?" Bucky asked, somewhat confused.

I laughed a little once I had partial hearing again.

When I first met Bucky, I didn't go by Soap. I first started using 'Soap' as my name shortly before I became a bounty hunter.

"Yep, that's my name. Why do you ask?"

"That's not the name you used to introduce yourself to me 11 years ago." Bucky said.

I smiled, "I know, but it's my name now; and here's a question for you Bucky, do you actually remember what my real name is?"

Bucky scratched his head, "Uhh..."

I laughed again at this, "I didn't think so. And please do me a favor; if at some point in the future you do remember my real name, don't tell anyone. It is the only link left that could link me to a lifestyle that's been long forgotten; a link that I do not want to exist. If you can do that for me, I would be eternally grateful." I said seriously.

"No problem...Soap." He said trying my 'new' name out. After thinking about it for a little, he spoke again, "So, you do anything else in the past 11 years?"

"I did, but remind me to tell you about it later. I have to go make dinner." I said, turning around to leave.

I was stopped by a hand as I reached the door, "No no. Let me cook. You have done enough for me already, this would be the least I can do to repay you. Plus I make a good meal." Bucky said already on his way out the door; I followed close behind.

"You can cook?" I asked raising an eyebrow. I honestly wasn't sure whether or not to believe him.

"You better believe it!" Bucky said as he stopped at an intersection.

I shrugged, "Alright. The kitchen's down that hallway," I pointed, "first door on the right."

"Sweet, see you at dinner." Bucky said, on his way to the kitchen.

"See ya." I said, rolling my eyes.

(A/N: On to more back story. Oh, just so you know; that entire section with Bucky was 100% not planned and look how good that turned out!)

"Nothing really happened after Bucky joined us. Sarah finished training me in combat, something that I actually surpassed her in skill, and began training Bucky. With my help of course. During the down time, Sarah and I taught each other tricks that we had learned over the years in the field and I also taught Sarah what I knew about technology which she - surprisingly enough, well at least to me anyways - took up with great ease.

"After that, Sarah, Bucky, and myself, grabbed bounties together. After a year of persistent pestering from Bucky, he finally convinced me to take Sarah out on a proper date. I'll admit, at the time I was a little annoyed, however; looking back on the events now, some 26 years later, I'm glad he did.

"The reason; if he hadn't, one of your favorite babysitters wouldn't have been around to watch you. Can you guess who it was John? I'll give you a hint, you used to call her 'Auntie Hawky'...

~Sam

When she woke up, it was in a place that was not her home.

The young hawk fanus wondered where she was and why she was there.

Looking around, she let out a yawn and stretched her body, including her 10 foot long wings.

'An alley, What the heck happened? Everything's fuzzy. OK, one thing at a time; name, Sam Krestfield; age, 14. I remember now; I ran...away from my home. Why did I think running away was a good idea? Oh yeah...to escape...from my...parents.' She shuddered at the thought.

'It's been three weeks; by now they probably think I'm dead. How fitting, I almost am.' She thought to herself as her stomach let out a growl.

~Soap

"You see that Sarah?" I said as I stared down an alleyway.

"See what?" She asked, trying to look past me.

"I just saw something move in the alley." I said as I slowly started making my way towards it.

"You wanna check it out?" She asked aloud. Quietly she added, "I know you won't leave it alone otherwise."

"Yeah, we might want to." I replied, not bothering to acknowledge that last part.

As I made my way down the alleyway, I found my self in front of a young faunas with white hawk wings leaning against a wall with a somewhat dazed and confused look on her face. The girl couldn't have been more than 14 years old.

Eventually the faunas realized that we had somehow snuck up on her and looked at us.

Sarah and I looked at each other and then back to the faunas against the wall. She was visibly shaking and looked as if she hadn't eaten in days. It occurred to me that looked about ready to bolt in us; probably because we managed to catch her off guard.

Soon enough she spoke, "Who are you?" Her voice wasn't as high as Sarah's, which surprised me since she was younger than her, but it was still higher than mine.

After I thought for a moment, I spoke, "Well...we go by many names. However, our favorites have to be Sarah," I pointed at her, "and Soap." I pointed to myself.

She looked at me disbelievingly.

"What?" I asked her once I saw the expression her face held.

"Is your name really Soap?"

"Yes." I replied.

She shrugged, "Cool, my name's Sam Krestfield."

"Krestfield? Like the shipping company?" Sarah asked somewhat suspiciously.

Krestfield Shipping Company is possibly the single most dominant freighter company on all of Remnant. I knew that this in and of itself was nothing special, the company just managed to get itself known before others were established, however, what made the company special was the fact that the founders, and current owners, of the company were faunas. Sitting on the ground, in an alleyway, in front of me, was the oldest daughter of said owners.

"Yeah, those are my parents." Sam responded looking away from us.

As she did, I could see that she did so with a look of shame.

"Really? Then why are you here, in an alleyway, looking like you're about to stave to death?" I asked.

Things weren't adding up, why would the daughter of such a highly praised company be out on the streets looking like she was about to keel over from starvation?

She laughed weakly, "Because, one, I ran, and two, I am about to starve to death."

I was slightly alarmed when she said this.

Quietly through our bond, I spoke to Sarah, "Hey Sarah, can you go get her something to eat? I would rather her not die before we had the chance to talk to her."

"Sure." Sarah replied back. She activated her semblance and disappeared.

"Please don't tell my parents where I am, I know that there's a large reward for find-"

"Hey, no worries. I'm not going to turn you in to your parents. You said that you ran; that fact alone tells me that you had a reason for leaving. People that live in the comfort of luxury don't just leave it behind for no good reason, however, I won't pry. To be honest though, I guess you could say that running is something that we have in common. As for the reward, I am already set for life." I said, cutting her off.

In my head, I heard Sarah say, "Food incoming."

Just then, she reappeared beside me with a bacon wrapped cheeseburger and a water bottle in her hands which she promptly handed to Sam who took it with delight.

Sam practically inhaled the meal.

"In case you were wondering; one of the reasons why I ran was that I wanted to experience adventure." She said when she finished her food.

I heard this and looked at Sarah smiling. I didn't need to tell her anything, the smile on my face told her everything she needed to know.

Smiling back, Sarah said, "I'll go get the car."

I tossed her the keys. "Send Bucky a message about our recent events."

Sarah caught them out of the air and nodded before she activated her semblance and disappeared from sight.

I turned back to Sam, "You wanted to find adventure?" I asked her as I extended a hand to her to help her off the ground.

Once she was standing, she answered him politely, "Yeah, I did."

"Did you find it?" I asked her with a knowing smile.

She shook her head, "No. All I found was starvation and death that was staring me in the face."

"Then I have an offer for you." Her head perked up when she heard me. I continued, "I can give you a new life, a clean slate and a new identity, and you can experience adventure just as you said you wanted; or, you can stay here and die a slow and rather unpleasant death from starvation while knowing that you stared adventure in the face and didn't bite."

Without giving the offer a second's thought, she responded, "Option one."

"Are you sure-" I started to say.

"Of course. Why wouldn't-"

"-because the two conditions are: One, You have to stay here in Vale with Sarah and I, and two, you will never be able to go back on your word. The decision that you make right here, right now is final." I finished.

She thought for a second before responding with 100% certainty in her voice, "I am sure."

I held out my hand and she looked at it with a confused expression on her face. "Where I come from, shaking hands was a way of sealing deals." I said.

"Ohhh." She said as she took my hand firmly and shook it.

"Alright then, let's get you back to the church for some real rest and a shower. No offense, but you stink." I said, waving my hand in front of my nose.

She opened her mouth to protest my statement, but stopped as she got a whiff of herself, "I was going to argue, but now I can't do anything but agree with you on that."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my car pull up next to the alleyway in the street.

"Let's get going. Our ride is here." I said as I started towards it. Sam followed me close behind.

After we exited the alleyway, I heard Sam whistle in amazement behind me as she looked my car over.

"Damn, that's a sick car." She said as moved closer to get a better look at it. "That's a 1968 Camaro SS with a 396 engine bored .30 over, right?"

I nodded in response, "Mmhhm. Looks like you know a bit about cars."

"Plus everything's original except the fan."

Ok, now I was impressed, " Ok, I take my statement back; you really know your stuff about cars."

"And guns. When I lived with my parents, I had a lot of spare time on my hands. So I took an interest in guns and cars. I am quite proficient in making, repairing, upgrading and customizing them. This is supposed to be the rarest car on the planet, where'd you get it?" Sam asked, genuinely curious.

"I got it from a mechanic named Morgoth Osmogad; he's got a shop in downtown Vale. Interesting guy that's for sure. Ready to go?" I asked her.

Sam wasn't moving and was still staring at my car; so I tried a different tactic, "I'll let you tinker with it after we get you cleaned up. Deal?"

"Seriously?" Sam asked surprised.

"Why not? I've got four of them." I said nonchalantly.

No response. I looked over at Sam and realized that I probably shouldn't have said that.

Sam was frozen in amazement.

"Sa...Sam? Sam, you ok? Sam?" I tried to snap her out her trance but failed to do so.

I sighed heavily as I turned to Sarah to ask for help.

"I think you broke her!" Sarah said, laughing at my mistake.

"I can see that Sarah. Can you help me get her in the back?"

"Nope. Your mistake, your consequences." She said, still laughing at me.

I sighed heavily as I picked her up.

After I managed to wrangle her into the back of the car, I sat down in the passenger seat. "Thanks for the help Sarah." I said sarcastically.

"Anytime." Sarah said, laughing harder than ever.

"Just drive." I said, crossing my arms and frowning.

~Sam (3rd Person)

After Soap and co. got to the church and found a way to snap Sam out of her trance, which ended up involving a bucket of ice water, they directed her to the nearest shower and told her to take her time. Something that she was glad to do.

Finally cleaned up for the first time in over three weeks, Sam made her way to the room that Soap had said was now her's.

Upon entering her room, she spotted a set of white colored clothes, that matched what Soap and Sarah wore, on her bed waiting for her to put them on.

After putting said clothes on and taking a look at herself in the mirror; she silently wished in her mind that it was a different color scheme.

After specifying what colors she wanted in her mind; see blinked and saw that the clothes were the colors she wanted.

(I honestly couldn't think of anyway for her to change her clothes' colors, at least not practically. If you want to argue it, then the reason will be that Soap is a super genius and Sam's clothes is made of nanotechnology and can change to her will.)

Not believing what she just saw, she went to find Soap and Sarah.

After wondering the halls of the church for a little, she found her way to the kitchen.

When she entered and spotted a man leaning over a stove, preparing a plate of food. Since she didn't know where she could find Soap and Sarah, she tugged his apron to get his attention.

Bucky was, indeed, preparing a plate of food; but not for himself.

As he was about to turn around, he felt a tug on his apron. When he turned around, he found himself looking at the face of a hawk fanus.

She was around five foot two, had purple eyes, dull red hair, and couldn't be any older than 14. Her clothes were an exact replica of Soap and Sarah's outfit; minus the colors, which were green, black, and yellow. On her back were a pair of 12 foot long, white hawk wings.

Since she matched the description that Sarah had sent him, he assumed that she was Sam. He spoke, "Oh hey, perfect timing. I was just about to bring some food down to your room. You're Sam right? I'm Andeus McGillicudy, but call me Bucky." He extended his hand to her which she grabbed and shook.

"Yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you." Sam replied.

While she ate, Sam and Bucky talked about various things. Eventually though they got onto the topic of Soap and Sarah. Bucky told her about the tragic pasts that haunted Soap and Sarah. He also explained how Soap obtained the church, how Soap and Sarah met each other, and how he, Bucky, fit into their story.

Once Sam was done with the meal that had been prepared for her, she thanked him for the food and asked where she might find Soap and Sarah.

Bucky replied that he had last seen them entering the sanctuary.

After she received directions to the sanctuary, she thanked him again and headed towards the sanctuary.

As she neared the sanctuary, she began to hear something that she had never heard before in her life. Music.

She found Sarah siting at a giant black device (piano) that some of the noise was coming from; the rest of the noise was coming from a strange looking device (guitar) that Soap was holding.

Since she didn't want to interrupt anything, she sat down on the steps leading up to the stage and listened to them.

*Cue Closer to Love by Mat Kearney*

Halfway through the song, Soap glanced up from his guitar and saw Sam sitting on the steps watching them.

He motioned for her to join them and she did.

Up on stage, he motioned for her to sit down beside Sarah.

He then handed her a piece of paper with words on it and told her to sing along.

Sam had no clue what he meant, so Soap clarified himself. He told her to say the words on the paper when Sarah said them and to match the pitch of Sarah's voice as well.

She did as she was told, and as it turns out, Sam was a decent singer.

After the music lesson, Soap set aside his guitar and spoke, "I said that I would give you a new identity and the adventure that you've always wanted. Well, here you go." Soap handed her a scroll and motioned for her to hand him her old one.

As soon as Soap had his hands on the scroll, he started to disassemble it. When he finally got to what he was looking for, he took out a small data chip. "In case you're wondering, what I just took out was a tracking chip. It's standard in every scroll and only actually tracks you when you use it or get a message or a call. You can have it back now, just don't make any calls; on that one anyways."

Sam looked at him with a confused expression. "Why?" She asked.

"Because, Sam Krestfield is 'officially' dead; you are now Sam Krest. There's your new identity; as for the adventure, your training starts tomorrow."

"Training? Training for what?" Sam asked.

"Combat training."

Sam just gave him another confused look.

Soap facepalmed himself, "I didn't tell her what we do for a living, did I?"

Sarah shook her head.

Soap sighed, "Sarah, Bucky, and myself are bounty hunters. In a couple of weeks, I intend on taking you with us to claim a bounty."

Sam was completely fine with the prospect of learning becoming a bounty hunter, "As long as I get to design my own weapons, I'm cool with it."

"Good. Now get some sleep, you're going to need it. Good night." Soap said as he activated his semblance and disappeared, taking Sarah with him.

A/N: And with that, we are almost done with my team's back story's. Only one more to go.

Sam: Thank you for taking me in, and thanks for telling me about music.

Soap: No problem. I need to go to bed though, *yawns* typing all of that out was tiring. See you guys next time.

Now for that explanation I promised.

Soap's semblance is smoke and fire. Sarah's semblance is electricity or lightning, depending on how you want to look at it. Their semblances allow them to teleport, engulf themselves with their semblance, combine their semblances with their weapons, create throwable elemental grenades and fly; but all of these come with a cost to their aura with teleportation and flying using the most and using grenades and engulfing themselves/their weapon with their weapon using the least. Slowing down the teleporting process allows them to teleport pieces of themselves elsewhere, however doing so uses more aura than just teleporting all of themselves.

Thanks to the 'World of Remnant' video on aura which was included on the Blue-Ray copy of RWBY: Volume 2, we know that Semblances are "the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user." (rwby,wikia,com/wiki/Semblance) Each individual has their own semblance unique to themselves and only themselves. This is true in my universe as well but because of the special circumstances that Soap's aura was unlocked, this will be explored more in depth later on in the story, his semblance is effectively the same as Sarah's. The only thing difference being the element.

In regards to semblance usage, "...overuse of one's semblance for prolonged periods may adversely affect its user...". In other words, the longer someone uses their semblance, the more their aura is used. That part is cannon. All of this is true in my AU. However, in my story, activating your semblance doesn't drain your aura unless you do something with it; an example of doing something would be Weiss using a glyph or Soap teleporting himself somewhere.

Edit: 3-27-2015; The more I add of the narrator-esq sections in italics, the more I realize how much it's starting to sound like the beginning of Halo 3.