I am so sorry for the long wait, but now it is here! The next part of The Archer Huntress! Here, we finally have a small development for our main character. How did it happen? Read and find out. With that, enjoy~
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. I do own most of the OCs in this story.
*OPENING*
(The shattered moon of Remnant shines in the sky as the view pans down to a cliffside, where the members of team RWBY stand behind a closed-eyed Natalie. Her eyes open, glaring at the camera.)
I… will change the world! Your tears will change real my soul!
(The title reveals itself one word at a time, while the background slowly goes from black to white as Beacon Academy is shown overhead.)
From out of the flowing air, it rocks the world-
(Natalie kneels in front of the grave of her family, standing up with a vengeful look on her face as she grasps her bow.)
The time limit is drawing near… What to do?
(She steps away from there to in front of the statue in Beacon Academy, looking up at it, and then hearing team Ruby calling out to her, and she turns to see her and the rest of team RWBY.)
Shout! Deep, jet-black eyes,
(Dark sits in a dark corner part of Vale's alleyway, standing up and placing his White Fang mask on.)
Ahh, bearing a lasting grudge.
(John taking off his White Fang mask to look up at the sky, seeing the ghostly images of his friends of team TROJ)
A soaring hero of darkness; Enkindled!
(Screen shows Cinder, Emerald and Mercury stand in front of a swarm of various Grimm, to Torchwick and Neo stand in front of a bunch of his subordinates, to Adam standing in front of the White Fang, his mask glowing red. Natalie's eyes appear, flaring up in hatred.)
Change the world, strong my heart! Whatever controls me, I'll pierce through it!
(Team RWBY display their skills with their weapon against members of the White Fang.)
Praise is our my reward, and set off my burning aesthetic!
(Team JNPR fight against a swarm of Grimm, displaying their strength in combat.)
Without showing my tears, I still swear to protect you.
(John and Dark square off against one another, glaring at each other as they readied their weapons. Natalie turns away from Professor Goodwitch and Ozpin, and walks towards Adam, with her sword ready. They then engage in combat.)
Now let loose and realize!
(She stands in the middle of Team RWBY, JNPR, and John, within a fiery field, readying bow, and she charges in with a angry battlecry.)
(Off in the distance, a figure watches the anger-induced battle go on, and a smile forms on the figure's face. Team RWBY prepares their weapons one at a time, followed by team JNPR, then Jackson, then team the list of enemies.)
Now we are!
(Natalie glares at the screen as it zooms quickly away from her, revealing herself and the heroes in front of Beacon Academy again.)
Natalie arrived at the White Fang's camp. Hiding in the trees, she couldn't believe the amount of people that were sent to destroy Kalas.
"Adam really doesn't like peace between the two races, does he," she stated rather than questioned. In the base, there were hundreds of White Fang members, all prepared for tomorrow. She took a deep breath and noticed that Adam wasn't present and Dark was somewhere within the group. "Well now, time to get started." She took out an arrow and aimed. The arrow was released and an explosion had occurred at the center of camp.
"What the-?! What the hell happened?!"
"An explosion?!"
"Did someone drop some Fire Dust?!"
Kohaku released another arrow, this time shocking whoever was near its landing spot.
"Now what?!"
A White Fang member spotted their assailant. "Hey! Someone's up in that tree!" Another arrow was released, freezing him and those near him.
"White Fang! You have failed our world!" Natalie claimed in her fake voice. Changing her bow to sword mode, she leapt down and charged into the fray. One by one, she was killing off any White Fang member, without giving any of them the chance to even pick up a weapon. In the midst of the one-sided brawl, she picked up a sword lying on the ground and fought harder against the human-hating faunus.
She sensed something coning at her at high speed and raised both weapons just in time to block a strike from Dark.
"I was wondering when you'd show up," she said, pushing Dark off of her. "I believe we have unfinished business!" She then began an all-out assault on the fox faunus. "Tell me! Why does your scent smell familiar?! Where did you come from?! Why are you with the White Fang?! Answer me now!"
Rather than answer, Dark kept quiet and blocked all hits. He then made a counterattack, knocking Natalie's borrowed sword out of her hand. That didn't stop her from continuing her advance, however.
While they were fighting, some of the White Fang members picked up their weapons and charged, not at Natalie, but towards Kalas. Their attempts had been put to a halt, when Team RWBY and John entered the scene.
"Someone called for a group of Huntsmen?" the rabbit faunus joked. "Ladies, let's hit it!" With a nod, the five went in and took down the other White Fang members while Natalie was busy dealing with Dark.
The two eventually distanced each other and swapped their weapons into long-range attacks; Natalie's blade into her bow and Dark's katana into a shotgun. As Dark fired shots after shot, Natalie shot arrow after arrow, cancelling each hit. She then ran closer to him at top speed and delivered a hard knuckle sandwich. The punch was enough to force him back and remove his hood, but he still had a mask concealing his face.
"If you won't answer any of those questions, at least answer this! What you will do to Kalas, are you going to repeat what happened to my home?!" Natalie demanded.
Dark stayed silent. After a few seconds his ears twitched. Natalie senses picked up on something big.
Suddenly, huge footsteps were heard from a distance. This caused everyone to cease their fighting.
"What was that?" Yang asked.
"It sounds... like footsteps," Ruby said. "Big ones too."
Blake's eyes widened slightly. "Not just big footsteps. Lots of little ones too."
"No doubt company's coming. But what kind?" John wondered.
Weiss noticed smirks on the White Fang's faces. "Why are they smiling like that?"
Natalie had a horrible feeling about what was to come. She turned to the downed Dark. "You. What did you unleash?"
Dark simply jumped and disappeared into the woods. Moments later, Grimm appeared in hordes, charging through the White Fang's base.
"Grimm?!" Yang gasped.
"And so many!" John added.
While they were distracted, the rest of the White Fang went on ahead to Kalas.
"Hey! The White Fang are getting away!" Weiss warned.
"Then we'll split up! Yang, you and I will hold off the Grimm! Weiss, Blake, John, stop them!" Ruby instructed. With that, the group split up in their teams and went on with their duties.
Natalie just stared at the oncoming Grimm before her, wide eyes. Seeing the amount charging in as they did brought memories she never wanted to remember.
*FLASHBACK*
Grimms were in Harmonia, killing off any and all villagers. Many tried to fight back or hide, only to die. The White Fang were there only to increase the destruction. Natalie's brother was dead by her side. Her little sister practically devoured.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
As Ruby and Yang were going to kill a Grimm, Natalie, snapped out of her memory lane, killed it and a few others near them instead.
"Hey! We go-"
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Yang was cut off when the wolf faunus let out a loud war cry. Even the Grimm stopped their advance at her shout.
Natalie shot forward to the horde and took down any and all Grimm in her way, just as easily as she did against the White Fang.
"Whoa! What's going on with Nathan?!" Ruby gasped in shock.
"You don't think... he's having a blast in the past, do you?" Yang guessed. "Because that's what it looks like to me."
As Natalie killed the Grimm, she kept having flashes of the past of her deceased siblings then to the day of the destruction. The memories made her even more feral, attacking more fierce than ever, like a wild animal.
'I will not... ever let... another village... become like mine!' she thought, cutting down a King Taijitu to pieces.
"He singlehandedly cut down a King Taijitu?!" Yang asked, as she and her sister hugged each other in fear.
"Not only that, she isn't letting a single Grimm pass her!" Ruby squeaked.
It was true; so far, no Grimm was heading their way because of Natalie cutting them all down. She then leapt into the air, hitching a ride on a Griffon and cutting down the airborne Grimm. After destroying a handful, she looked down and saw some Beowolves heading towards Ruby and Yang, both who were still staring at her in fear.
"You idiots!" she shouted, redirecting the Griffon over to the two girls.
Ruby and Yang both paled at the sight of a man-eating Grimm heading towards them. Ruby looked down and saw more incoming.
"Beowolves!" she cried out.
Yang looked down and saw the group of monsters heading their way. Both snapped out of their fears and prepared for a counter... when the Griffon Natalie rode fell on top of them, destroying them. The archer Huntress herself landed before the two.
"If you two are just going to stand around, then you might as well leave!" she told them. "As I thought you are nothing but nuisance!" Without giving them a chance to say anything, Natalie left to take down the Grimm again.
"Natalie's right. We have a mission to finish!" Ruby said to her sister.
"Much as I hate him, we have to work together on this one!" Yang agreed.
With that, they both joined in on the fight.
Some time later, the area was empty of Grimm. Blake and Weiss returned and gave a helping hand. Or at least, as much help as they can provide, considering Natalie was taking down the Grimm left and right, to their amazement.
"That should be all of them," the cat faunus said, observing the area.
Weiss approached Natalie with a glare. "You! Who do you think you are, taking down an army of Grimm on your own?!"
"I think I'm around a bunch of Huntress wannabes who thinks that it's nothing but a game!" Natalie roared, scaring the four girls. "And if you dare ask me why I accuse you as such, why not ask your leader and her bimbo of a sister?! Two who are suppose to give me a bit of backup in the first place, only to stand around and wait for death to come! Not only that but you, Belladonna! You only became a Huntress to hide from your past! And you, Weiss Schnee, think the world revolves around you! Wake up! You can never run from the past and the world is a much bigger place than you think!"
"Hey! You don't have to be that harsh!" Blake shouted.
"Yeah! And Ruby and Yang did no such thing! Right, girls?!" The two sisters kept silent at the heiress' question, much to the latter and their faunus member's confusion. "Yang? Ruby?"
Yang decided to be the one to say something. "We did just stand there. But that was because-!"
"NO EXCUSES!" The girls jumped at Natalie's shout. "If you're going to stand around instead of fighting, use your occupation as an escape from your past, or act like a drama queen, you have no right to be called Huntresses!" The four looked down in shame. "Now come on. The mission is-" Natalie tensed up all of a sudden and faced a random direction in her battle position.
Blake also tensed up a bit, her faunus heritage catching something. "Something's coming," she warned. At that warning, Team RWBY went back-to-back, weapon in their hand.
Suddenly, trees were being taken down before Natalie. The team faced the source and out of the woods was a huge lizard Grimm, one that looked like a black chameleon in white armor. The sight of it caused Natalie to freeze up, as a certain memory of a certain day started to play in her head. Watching those very memories caused her to tremble and mute out everything around her.
The chameleon Grimm charged forward. Everyone moved out of the way except Natalie. It swiped her, knocking her back to her senses and crashing her into a bunch of trees.
"Nathan!" Ruby called in worry.
"And he lectured us about being true Huntresses!" Weiss said.
"Not the right time for that, Weiss," Yang told her.
Blake noticed the Grimm making an advance toward Natalie. "We have to help her now!"
"Weiss!" the team leader called.
Catching on to her plan, the heiress summoned out a glyph below Ruby and Blake. The two Huntress shot themselves forward at full speed, stopping its advance. While they were keeping it company, Yang and Weiss ran over to Natalie. The archer weakly tried to sit up from the hard impact.
"Hey! Are you okay?!" Yang asked.
"I'm fine," she replied, holding her right shoulder.
"You are not fine! And last I remember, didn't you say something about how your semblance prevents even you from using your own aura in battle? You should sit this one out and-!" Before Weiss could say anymore, as Natalie got back up, her hood was removed and her mask dropped from her face, revealing who and what she truly is. Not only that, tears were also seen on her left arm and lower right pant leg. "No way..."
"You're a girl and a faunus?!" Yang gasped in shock. "And... your arm and leg..."
"You don't say." Natalie spoke, trying to deal with the pain. "I can't believe... they're doing it again..."
Because she was practically muttering it, Yang and Weiss didn't know what she said. "Can... you repeat that?" Weiss asked.
"I refuse... To let another village be like mine!" With a burst of speed, Natalie charged at the chameleon Grimm, much to the heiress and the brawler's shock.
Ruby and Blake both blocked a hit from the Grimm, but the creature of darkness grabbed one of them with its armored tail.
"Blake!" Ruby called in worry, only to be caught in its free hand.
Her faunus teammate struggled to escape from the chameleon's tight grip, arms bound to her sides. She was making no progress as her opponent licked its mouth, no doubt wanting to eat her whole. Blake saw that and struggled to get out even more. It shot its tongue out at her... only to hit something else.
"I refuse..." Natalie said, blocking the tongue with her sword while holding onto the Grimm's tail.
"N-... Nathan?" Blake questioned.
"I refuse... to lose another!" Turning on the flames of her sword, the chameleon recoiled at the flames, releasing Ruby from its grip. Natalie then slashed at its tail, freeing Blake.
"Wait you're... you're a girl?!" Ruby asked in shock.
"And what if I am?!" Natalie snapped. "Forget it. I've a Grimm to kill!" She charged at the said monster and hit it hard, pushing it back some.
At this point, Team RWBY regrouped and watched as Natalie fought against the Grimm.
"Jackie wasn't kidding," Yang said, referring to John's nickname.
"Guess that tragedy really did change her. So far as to make her hide her own true identity just to get revenge on the White Fang," Weiss agreed.
"Not only that. Look into her eyes. Those are eyes of someone who lost something important to them. This attack reminded her of what she lost," Blake added.
Ruby tightened her grip on Crescent Rose. "Well then, we'll have to make her see that she isn't really alone," she said. "She may not be able to return what she lost, but the least she can do is protect what she has now. And live life to the fullest. Remember what Professor Ozpin told us?"
*FLASHBACK, BEFORE THEY LEFT*
"There's a reason why I want Nathan with you," Ozpin said to them. "You know how dark he is. And out of everyone in this school, I believe you four can help bring her back to the light."
"But how?" Ruby asked.
"I think you know how."
*END OF FLASHBACK*
"We promised Ozpin we would bring her back, and that's what we're going to do!" Ruby declared. "Now come on! We have a Grimm to kill and a teammate to help!" With that, the group nodded in agreement to her idea and followed her to the fight.
Back to the said battle, the chameleon Grimm proved to be quite a challenge for Natalie to take on alone, more than the normal lizard Grimm back when she was a child. Especially since, compared to that time, the Grimm she's fighting now is covered in bony armor. Cutting it down was difficult even with her blade covered in flames.
The creature of darkness knocked her into a tree and pinned her to it, slowing crushing her to death.
"I... will not... die!" she breathed, trying to push the claw off of her. The monster wasn't making it at all easy for her to do that as it added its own weight to crush her. Not to mention she took a massive amount of damage from its first strike on her.
It was suddenly sent away by a punch to the face. Natalie landed on the ground, panting heavily. She looked up and saw Team RWBY in battle position, protecting her from the Grimm.
"I never asked for your help!" she shouted.
"Yeah? Well we're helping you anyway," Ruby said. "You can't take him on alone, especially not in your condition. You may have worked solo more than once, but just this once, let us to help you!"
"Why would you want to help me?!"
"Because we see you as a friend!" Natalie was taken aback by her answer. "You may think you don't need friends, but that's where you're wrong! Especially at a time like this! You don't have to be alone anymore. At least give us a chance to prove ourselves to you."
The wolf faunus looked at the young teen and her teammates in the eyes. To her shock, their eyes were filled with determination. No, not just determination; the eyes they had were the same as her brother's when he wanted to be a great Hunter. And he succeeded in doing so.
"... Give me three minutes," she spoke.
"What was that?" Blake asked.
"Buy me three minutes. I'll make an arrow that can kill that thing in a flash. Think you can do it?"
They all smiled at the request.
"You got it!" Yang answered for them. They all turned back to the chameleon Grimm and saw it standing back up. Team RWBY charged at the heavily armored monster and Natalie took out some viles of Dust from her pouch, as well as a number of other things from her cloak's inner pockets.
'That bony armor is extremely thick. For an armor that thick, I need a really strong and really sharp metal for the arrowhead. With how thick its tongue is, it's impossible to shoot it in the mouth. Not only that, but I also need a light shaft for a great amount of speed,' she thought. Natalie looked at her items and saw she was lacking the two materials for the arrow. 'None of these shafts or arrowheads can work. And I can't go back to the village. Those girls won't last that long.' She then looked at her prosthetic arm and leg.
"At a time like this..." Natalie grabbed her sword and turned off the flames. She cut the right pant leg off and detached her fake leg. The archer then dismantled it, taking some of the parts to make a substitute arrow.
"What the-?!" Natalie looked up at Weiss' gasp and, to her shock, the Grimm wasn't there. "It disappeared!"
At the heiress words, the wolf faunus quickly swapped her sword to bow mode and took an arrow, prepared to fire. A footstep was heard and, just when she was about to face the spot and fire, a gunfire was heard and the Grimm was apparently hit, for it made itself visible and shook its head, no doubt to recover form the headshot. She looked to the source and saw Blake with her weapon in gun form.
"We got it! Keep making that arrow!" she told her.
Nodding, Natalie continued her work.
Exactly three minutes passed and Natalie finished the arrow.
"Keep him still!" she shouted, taking aim.
Team RWBY did as told and did what they could to keep the Grimm from moving.
'Of all places, when I attacked it, its weak point is... over there!' Getting a perfect aim at where she wanted to hit, the archer Huntress released the arrow and hit the Grimm right in its chest. The moment it struck, icicle spears came out from the other side.
"Move away! Now!" At Natalie's warning, Team RWBY distanced themselves from the armored chameleon. To their shock, seconds later, it was getting shocked for some reason and its body was slowly glowing red, almost as though it was going to explode. "Take cover!" Again at Natalie's warning, the four hid behind some trees, as the wolf faunus threw an arrow on the ground before her, putting up an ice wall. Moments later, an explosion occurred from the Grimm.
The girls stayed behind their hiding spot for some time, waiting for the force of the blast to die down. Once they felt it was safe to move out of their hiding spot, the five took a peek from where they hid and saw the Grimm in pieces, slowly disintegrating.
"Whoa... You actually did it," Weiss said.
"You stupid or something, ice queen?" Natalie asked. Before Weiss could even glare in response, the wolf faunus said, "'We' did it."
Hearing her correct their teammate like that made Team RWBY look at her in shock, wondering if they heard right. A smile formed on their faces as they approached their guide.
"Yeah we did it!" Yang agreed.
"And with that, adding the White Fang tied up and being watched by Jackie, our mission is most likely complete!" Ruby cheered.
"That's good," Natalie nodded. For some reason, she felt somewhat tired. "Now then... Let's go... back..." Rather then getting up, the archer fell on her side, much to the other girls' shock and worry.
"Nathan?! What's wrong?!" Blake asked, as they ran by her side.
Natalie didn't realize it until now, but she felt herself clutching her side. She looked down and saw something sharp coming out of her side, blood seeping out of the wound.
"You're hurt!" Ruby exclaimed. "We have to get you back to the village! Fast!"
"Don't worry about it. My aura can... heal it." Natalie tried to get up, but she just fell back down. She saw the four teens lips moving but could barely hear a word they're saying and slowly blacked out.