Here we go again!
Thorfaxdragonkin: Oh no, this character is my own. Not that pulling influences is bad, it's what every fanfic writer does, but Shiroi has more tricks up his sleeve than any of the beings on that list (though in terms of power he'd still be less than them, excluding the necromorph, maybe). And Ruby just makes people smile, like puppies or babies. She's just so damn innocent!
Well, not much to say on this one. Hope you enjoy!
It was only about five minutes before the pair moved again. Shiroi had been fighting continuously since the beginning of the test, so he was a bit exhausted, but that didn't stop him from moving. He had a lot of willpower and had fought much longer in the past. The major problem was the fact that his leg had a fairly large hole in it, making it hard to walk. As a temporary measure he'd bound it with material from his jeans, but all that did was stop the bleeding. He still required Ruby's assistance to walk properly, so they were significantly slower than planned.
In the course of their walk they encountered a somewhat strange sight. The Schnee heiress was pacing around a clearing, occasionally walking off in one direction only to return moments later. When the pair entered the clearing (because Shiroi couldn't have moved through the thicker brush around it) she finally noticed them.
Her pale blue eyes grew wide as she saw two of the people she least wanted to be around. "Oh no. This is not happening. Oum, what have I done to deserve this?"
This caused Shiroi's face, which had softened a bit while walking with his new. . . friend? Yeah, his friend. Anyway, his face became the former impassive mask he usually wore. Ruby was a safe person, but this girl was a stranger, which was equivalent to a potential enemy in his mind.
"What's that mean?" Ruby asked, pouting at the treatment Weiss was showing them.
"It may mean that I seem to be stuck with a happy-go-lucky child," she quipped. "And that man on your shoulder is a danger to the both of us. I suggest you leave him while he's injured, rather than risk him putting a knife in one of our backs."
Ruby was visibly offended while Shiroi's expression was unreadable. "What? How could I leave Shiro behind! He's so cool!"
The boy on her shoulder furrowed his brows and gave the red-hooded girl a questioning look. "Shiro?"
"The 'i' at the end is kind of hard to say, so I dropped it. You don't like it?"
He shrugged as well as he could in his current state. "As I've said, what you call me isn't very concerning. Besides, all you did was turn the word from an adjective to a noun. The meaning stays the same."
"Alright, Shiro it is then!" Ruby threw up her fist to punctuate the exclamation. Weiss was just looking between the two with clear suspicion on her face. Noticing, the renamed Shiro spoke up.
"I have no reason to hurt you, Weiss Schnee, unless you attack me first. Even then, I'm injured. What harm can I do at the moment?" He knew he could easily kill the girl if he wanted, even in this state, but he would much rather she believe him to be harmless. It made the whole situation easier. Besides, rules were rules: he was her partner now, along with Ruby.
"Humph!" the heiress returned. "I suppose you have a point. Just don't slow me down too much, brute."
With that she began walking off in a random direction. "Shiro," Ruby asked. "Didn't you say the temple was to the northwest of here?"
"I did."
"And what direction did she just go?"
"Due south, I think."
Ruby set her partner down against a tree and waited. About thirty seconds later the girl in white reentered the clearing, visibly annoyed. Grunting, Shiro took the initiative by limping in the correct direction, and Ruby immediately followed and ducked under his arm so as to support him. Weiss charged ahead of them, "taking control" of the group.
It took the group about another twenty-five minutes to reach the clearing which contained the temple. They would have been there sooner if there hadn't been a large pack of Beowolves in the way, which the pair had epicly failed to take out. When they arrived, however, they were not greeted with the most casual of scenes. Currently, there was an Ursa lying on the ground, a Giant Nevermore was circling in the sky, and Pyrrha was being chased by a Deathstalker of considerable size. Also present were Blake and Yang, as well as two others whom Shiro and Ruby had yet to really meet, though they had seen the people in passing. Oh, and Jaune was stuck in a tree, so there was that.
"Just what is happening here?" Weiss demanded from the nearest people, who just so happened to be Blake and Yang.
"Honestly? I don't even know anymore," Blake answered. Yang realized her sister was behind the snotty princess, and ran to hug her. Of course, this caused Shiro to be dropped to the ground, which forced him to hold his injured leg in pain.
"Ruby! I'm so glad you're safe!"
"Yang. . . crushing," Ruby managed to get out. The blonde seemed to understand as she hastily backed off.
"So, your partner is Weiss, huh? That's cool."
Ruby groaned at the pun before expanding. "Actually, Shiro's my partner too. That triple partner thing, remember?"
"Wait, Shiro? You mean. . ." It was at this point when she first registered the feral-looking teen lying on the ground. "Oh no. This is not happening. Ruby, you are not teaming up with this psycho, no matter what Ozpin said."
This sparked the most violent reaction Ruby had displayed yet. "Why does everyone think so badly of him? Yeah, he's a little weird, but so am I! I watched him fight off a huge pack of Grimm, alone and injured. I heard him laugh, saw him in pain. He's a person, Yang, and he's my partner now!"
Everyone (besides Pyrrha who was slightly preoccupied and Nora who was. . . well Nora) openly gaped at the young girl's outburst. Ruby had a slight temper on her, yeah. But this? This was a new one even to Yang, and they were sisters Oum damn it.
Shiro, after hearing her words, propped himself up on one of the temple's pillars. "Thanks, Ruby, I appreciate that. But you're wrong. I do feel pain and fear, and even a few positive emotions from time to time. But I'm not like you. Emotions make me no less of a monster."
Now everyone was just confused. He could call himself a monster, even after Ruby defended him? That was very weird. They didn't have much time to dwell, however, as a familiar redhead was blown away from the scorpion Grimm and landed in front of them. Yang was the first to snap out of the collective surprise, and of course she used the opportunity for a bit of gallows humor.
"Well, the gang's all here. Now we can die together!"
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby exclaimed. She opened Crescent Rose and shot off toward the Deathstalker, but her slashing charge did next to nothing against the creature's armored shell. "Don't worry, totally fine," she assured them. Recovering from her own failed attack, she fired a few shots but they had no noticeable effect. The red-themed girl ultimately gave up and began running back to the group.
It was not to be, however, as the Nevermore rained down a hail of black feathers onto the battlefield. As it turned out, Ruby had covered quite a large amount of distance with her dash, and now her cloak was pinned down on one of the feathers. Yang attempted to reach her, but she was too far away and the Deathstalker Ruby was retreating from was right on top of her. It seemed to the group as if Ruby would be skewered.
There was a flash of white, crossing the distance between the group and Ruby in a mere moment. The next thing anyone knew, Weiss was standing next to Ruby and the Deathstalker had a claw and its stinger stuck in a wall of ice.
"You are so childish," was the only thing Ruby heard. She had been preparing for the coming blow, eyes closed and arms raised. She recognised the voice and opened her eyes to confirm that, yes, Weiss was in front of her. "and dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit. . . difficult, but if we're going to make this partnership work, we're going to have to work together as partners should. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be. . . nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby explained. "I want you to know I can do this."
"You're fine." Weiss walked off as Ruby let out a sigh of relief and unhooked her cloak from the feather.
Once the whole group returned, they came together to form a plan of action.
"Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we gonna do?" Jaune raised a valid concern.
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Out target's right in front of us," Weiss countered. If they didn't have to fight, they shouldn't.
"No go," Ruby denied. "Shiro's injured. He may be able to walk and fight to some extent, but there's no way he can outrun the Deathstalker." Everyone reluctantly nodded. Yang, Weiss, and Pyrrha had somewhat lower views on the boy, and Jaune was outright scared of him, but they all agreed that he shouldn't be left for dead out here.
"Instead, we should split into two teams. Blake, Yang, you two come with me and Weiss to take out the Nevermore," she continued. "Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, and Ren. You four stay here and hold off the Deathstalker. You don't have to kill it, but keep it occupied until we can come back. Then we'll finish it together. I'm leaving Shiro's safety in your hands."
Everyone nodded. The plan, while not ideal, was solid. Nobody else had anything better, anyway. The four girls retreated to the edge of the woods, and the giant bird Grimm followed. So far, so good. The remaining five readied themselves for combat, Shiro included. He was injured, not disabled. So long as he didn't have to dodge and weave, he'd be able to inflict some damage.
The Deathstalker finally broke free from the ice prison, and began charging at the four fresh warriors. Jaune did what he could to direct the others while they pelted it with bullets and aimed for weak points, but their lighter ammo was having little effect. Even Nora's grenades did little more than stagger it. That's when he noticed Shiro pelting the creature with something other than Dust ammo. Whatever he was doing, it was leaving small pits in the bone armor. He signalled a retreat, and all of the fighters drew back to Shiro's position by the temple.
"What are you using, Shiro?" Jaune asked. He was answered when a spike came out of the younger boy's finger.
"My Semblance is manipulation of bone. I can make weapons out of my skeleton and re-absorb bone I touch." That last part was of particular interest to the blonde knight-wannabe.
"Any bone you touch?" Nora was still pelting the Grimm to keep it from approaching quickly, so she didn't hear it, but Pyrrha and Ren frowned at their friend's question, having no idea what he was getting at.
"Well, I've done it to animal skeletons, so in theory." Shiro wasn't sure where this was going either, but he could see that the other boy had an idea.
"So if you got in contact with the Deathstalker's armor, do you think that would work?"
The two listeners were shocked. That plan was beyond reckless, but it just might work. Shiro nodded. Honestly, he's never tried absorbing another Grimm's armor, but he was a Grimm and he could absorb his own separated bones. So the idea itself was founded.
"Alright, we'll try to lure it over here. Be ready to take that armor off as soon as it's within reach." He nodded his head toward Nora, who was almost out of grenades, and all three mobile fighters rushed out. Nora was thankful for the reprieve and turned her weapon into its hammer form. The team used slashes to direct the bug's attention toward them, before moving back and allowing another member to do the same. It was simple and very effective.
They were slowing delivering the Deathstalker to Shiro, who had created thick bone armor all over his body. He didn't need mobility right now, so what he built resembled platemail, though the helmet was nothing more than a hood of bone. A full mask always gave people an image of what he really was, so he'd rather not do that when he was around people. Ruby was one thing, but the others were still untrustable.
As soon as they were close enough to Shiro, the distraction team sprinted a few yards behind him. They were close enough to react and go in for the kill, but far enough to escape if something went south. The Deathstalker had its side to the armored boy, and he touched it as soon as he could reach. It tried to knock him away with a claw, but he sent branching spikes of bone into the earth to root him in place. He was practically immovable right now.
As his skin made contact with the white covering of the scorpion, the bone became fluid and was drained into his body, reinforcing his own bones far beyond their current density. This only made his armor stronger as this massive creature of Grimm tried to crush him and stab him. His armor was just too thick, much like the Staker's had been a minute before. Soon, the last of the bone armor was absorbed, leaving the body of the creature undefended. The claws and tail were still armored, since those plates weren't connected, but it didn't matter. Shots rained down on the black-fleshed being as Jaune's squad concentrated their fire on its weak points, such as the eyes.
Shiro, however, wasn't content. This thing had tried to kill Ruby. For some reason, that invoked an emotion he rarely, if ever, felt anymore. Anger. He got annoyed to the point where it was almost his default state, but he couldn't recall the last time it could be described as true anger. He was angry that this scum of a Grimm had even attempted that. It deserved to die, and he wanted to be the one to kill it. So he prepared his favorite move, except this time he had a slightly different image in his mind. Rather than a simple drill, he would make the experience incredibly painful. Well, he wasn't sure if this thing felt pain, but he wanted to imagine so.
The others held their fire as they saw Shiro going in for the kill. And what they saw was slightly repulsive. His palm slammed into the Deahtstaker's side, and the others saw bones bloom from the creature's body. There were petals coming out of it. White, hard, deadly petals. And they were dyed red, bloody red. Shiro had sent his own, now super compact, bone into the Grimm. And it had exploded in a mess of red blood and black mist.
Shiro withdrew his hand and absorbed all of the bone, excluding that which was used to make the rose itself. That would stay. "A white rose," he muttered, "dyed in blood. Interesting." The others approached him with a mix of awe and concern.
"Not that it wasn't effective, but don't you think that may have been a bit too. . ." Ren attempted.
"Brutal?" Pyrrha suggested, earning her nods from Ren and Jaune.
Shiro shrugged off their concern, feeling oddly satisfied by what he'd done. "Honestly, I have no clue as to whether these lower forms of Grimm even feel pain, nor would I usually care. In this case, however, I hope it did. That would make it worth the effort."
And the character development takes simultaneous leaps and wrong turns! He gains some ability to care about others, but oh boy does he not know where society draws the line. BTW, Grimm blood is indeed red if the Giant Nevermore in Volume 3 is any example. There is a clear blood spurt when Ren stabs it in the eye. Well, bye for now.