What Once Was Lost

by HiroNinja

Memories. Stories scattered throughout the mind. Something so fragile that once lost, is not so easily returned. Waking up in a world he doesn't know with a past that he can't even remember, will he be able to survive the dangers of Remnant while trying to reclaim that which he treasures most? (Unverified Hiatus/Rewrite)

10. Chapter 10: New Faces New Craters

Disclaimer:
I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. Otherwise there would be more robots.

Chapter 10: New Faces; New Craters

'Okay, maybe I should have thought this landing strategy through while I had the chance...' The air whipped mercilessly against my face as I began to plummet back towards the ground. Squinting my eyes, I looked around and watched as several students managed to come up with their own method of landing. Glyphs, weapons, skill, and even just pure strength were all used to deter everyone's 'ker-splat probability'. Except for Jaune... He had a bit of help. Lucky goofball.

Making up a plan as I went along, I unsheathed my knife and fumbled around in my pocket for a Dust canister. 'Please be the right one! Please!'

Luckily, I was able to grasp and pull out one of my red canisters. Fire Dust. 'Yes!' I slammed the orb into the empty handle as I closed in on the forest. 'I sure hope this works!' I swung my arm and pointed the tip of the blade downwards, activating the power within. The green streaks in the metal glowed red before sending out a plume of flames that began to soften my descent. The heat licked at my face and clothes as it engulfed the air around me. It was working! Smiling, I forced out more Dust and felt my momentum lessen greatly. That is, until the Dust ran out. With my reverse thrust gone I began to pick up speed again and started to panic.

"No! Nonono!" I tried to push more flames out of my weapon, but the flames only lasted for a moment before going out, and then stopped altogether. "Dust, dammit!" I cried. There was no time to load a new canister. Moments before I passed the treeline, I curled to my left and hoped for the best.

=||-{([O])}-||=

Elsewhere in the forest, Ruby Rose came to a landing in a crouch. Only one thing was buzzing through her mind at this point. 'Gotta find Yang!' Looking up the young girl began sprinting through the trees repeating herself. 'Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang, gotta find-'

"Yang?! YAAAANG?!" she screamed. Her eyes darted from tree to tree, desperately searching for her sister. 'Oh, this is bad. This is really bad... What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first. There's always Jaune! He's nice. He's funny! ...I don't think he's very good in a fight though. Ooh! What about Blake?! So mysterious... so calm... Plus she likes books! ...then again I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a conversation with her. Wait, what about Hiro? He's a great guy. He helps people! ...he kind of talks about a lot of weird things though.'

Ruby shook her head, 'Okay... who else do I know in this school? There's Yang, Jaune, Blake, Hiro, aaaaand...'

Time slowed down as Ruby skids to a halt before looking up at none other than Weiss Schnee, turning to face her.

...

Ruby smiled. 'This could work I guess.'

=||-{([O])}-||=

"Owwwww..."

I slowly and shakily made my way to my feet, dropping my bag in the small dirt crater I had created. Luckily I had slowed my fall enough that my biomech arm and leg were able to absorb the impact, but the pain was still very much a factor in my left side. I took a few dizzying steps as I tried to relieve the feeling of vertigo from my system. Once I regained my senses I looked down at my arm and almost threw up. 'That's DEFINITELY not normal!'

My red jacket was tattered and torn, leaving my left arm exposed, but what I saw underneath was not skin. The peach color that was once my left forearm was replaced with a blue and white steel color. Blue streaks of light flashed up and down the length of my arm before slowly becoming solid. I began to hyperventilate as I watched my skin slowly reattach over the exposed biometal, knitting together like some sort of microfiber. The pain I felt from the impact came back en masse throughout the entire process. Eventually my skin was completely stitched up and looked as though nothing had happened. I could only assume my leg had done the same thing, as my pants also had tears in it revealing the 'skin' underneath.

My panic was short lived, however, as a low growl was heard from behind. I quickly turned and immediately dodged to the side as a dark figure charged at me from a nearby bush. Rolling to my feet, I found what appeared to be some kind of Grimm turning back towards me. It was almost like a wild boar, but with some kind of armored plating covering its body. 'Except for its belly...' I shook my head, 'now is not the time to be psychic!'

I reached for my knife, but to my dismay I realized that it was not there. 'Shit! I must have dropped it when I fell from the sky.' The beast charged again, I didn't have time to search for my fallen weapon. I swiftly side-stepped around the Grimm once again and made for my bag. I reached inside and quickly retrieved the gun I had been carrying from the robbery. Returning to my feet I turned as the boar tried again to take me down. I dodged once more, but the Grimm had learned better. At the last second it swung its tusks in my direction and slammed into my shin. My human shin.

I fell flat on my back from the strike, immediately leaning up on my left arm to take aim at the creature as it continued on. My aim wasn't great, and any shots that managed to hit seemed to ricochet off of its armor. As I fired away it did something unexpected: it curled up and started rolling in place. After a moment it rocketed towards me, deflecting the shots being fired at it as it did so. I once again threw myself to the side and rolled to my feet, the wind from the enemy's attack whipping at me. If I had a heart, it would be pounding right now.

I turned to face my assailant as it began to curve its way back around towards me. I needed to come up with a plan fast.

An Idea came to me, and it was crazy, but with no other options in mind it was better than trying to dodge the attacks until I took a hit. I clenched the gun in my right hand and began to run directly at the Grimm as it began its path of destruction towards me again. "Come and get me you piece of shit!" I called out, coming to a stop and planting my feet firmly on the ground. 'Dust, I hope this works...'

The boar approached at a high speed, ready to annihilate its prey in this one strike. Just as the beast was about to land its finishing blow, I dropped my right knee, stuck my left leg out and shielded my face with my left arm, creating a diagonal ramp out of my body. The boar hit my makeshift ramp, sending a sharp pain throughout my body. After a few seconds of grinding against my biomech shield, its momentum caught up with it as it was launched upwards into the air helplessly. Ignoring the pain coming from just about everywhere, I raised the gun. Time slowed down as I took aim at the Grimm, waiting for a shot at its exposed belly before rapidly pulling the trigger again and again.

Time righted itself as the defeated enemy fell to the floor in a heap, defeated. I struggled for breath as smoke began to emit from its decaying form. Stumbling over I collapsed next to my bag and downed the bottle of water I had inside. I could feel my entire body trying to fix itself as I sat there. I looked at my right shin, blood dripping from the open gash caused by the boar, 'Well some of my body...'

=||-{([O])}-||=

Romulus watched as the other boy recovered from his fight. His quick thinking and luck saved his life, but his overall skill was severely lacking. Maybe being on a team with him wouldn't be so bad. He frowned, 'I can't afford a pack-mate who cannot hold his own weight in battle.' He thought to himself. With a flick of his tail he had turned and began to walk away, passing by his recent defeats: the smoking remains of four more Boarbatusks. 'Perhaps I should scout out the other students before I make my choice.'

A distant sound caused his ears to twitch, pointing him the direction of another possible pack-mate. He turned his gaze back towards Hiro's location, silently wishing him good luck before dashing off through the forest.

=||-{([O])}-||=

After some searching around I was able to find my knife embedded in the dirt nearby. Removing my jacket, I cut off a portion that was still somewhat clean and bandaged my bloody shin, stuffing the rest of it into my bag. Re-sheathing my knife I gripped the gun in my right hand, opting to stay out of range of Grimm for the time being. I gathered my bearings for a moment before making my way towards the northern end of the forest.

Time passed slowly as I made my way through the forest, dodging around the sounds of Grimm in wider-than-needed arcs. As I heard another growl in the distance I began to plan my next arc, that is until I heard the sound of explosions in the same direction. I looked in the direction of the sounds, then to the direction of my next arc, towards safety.

...

'Curse my heroic mentality...' I turned and quickly made a beeline towards the sound of conflict. Breaking through yet another clearing, I watched as Yang completely wrecked an attacking Grimm with a flurry of explosive punches and jabs. Once it had fallen, she turned to a second, "What?! YOU WANT SOME TOO?!" She screamed. The Bear-like Grimm roared in response before collapsing from an attack from behind. Another girl stood there, dressed mainly in a black and white clothing that, similarly to Yang's, exposed a bit of her midriff. I was about to make my presence known when I spotted a third Grimm approaching the two girls from the bushes. Instinctively I raised my gun and fired a barrage of shots at the enemy, staggering it and alerting the others of my location.

"Hiro?!" Yang called, surprised. I continued to fire at the Grimm as I made my way towards them, most of my shots hitting the larger target. Once I was sure it had stopped moving I lowered my weapon, turning my attention to the blonde brawler.

"Yang." I nodded, "It's nice to see some friendly faces out here."

She looked me over, a mix of surprise and shock on her face. "What happened to you?" She asked.

I let out a long sigh before answering, "It's a long story..." I looked between the two of them for a moment. "I guess you two are partners then?"

They shared a glance at each other before Yang answered, "Yeah... I guess we are." The lack of enthusiasm in her voice was apparent.

I smiled and extended my hand to her partner. "I'm Hiro. Nice to meet you, Blake."

The awkward silence could be heard all the way back at Beacon. It took a set of skeptically-confused looks and a moment for me to realize what I had said.

"How do you know my name?" Blake took a step towards me, her expression was inquisitive, yet menacing.

I gulped, taking a step back in response. "W-Would you believe psychic powers?" I chuckled nervously.

"No. Answer the question." She took another step, receiving another backstep on my end.

"I-I just do! I don't know how to explain it…well, not normally, anyways…."

"Try me."

Yang put a hand on Blake's shoulder, intervening. "Ease up. He's only trying to help." Blake's eyes stared daggers into mine. Eventually she averted her gaze.

"Fine. But I still want an answer." She concluded.

I nodded quickly, "And I'll give you one as soon as I find it."

Neither of them spoke to me much after that. We slowly made our way through the forest towards the temple, only fighting a few stray Grimm along the way. Yang and Blake did most of the front work while I fired shots from afar. Soon we reached a small hill on the edge of the forest overlooking a large field, on the opposite side was a circular stone structure that looked far beyond the need of repair.

Yang was the first to say anything, "Think this is it?"

She was met only by a look from Blake that questioned her seriousness. Blake began her walk down the hill as Yang and I shared a glance before following behind.

As we walked I couldn't shake the feeling that we had been here before, yet nothing seemed familiar. I also took note that I had yet to find a partner before finding the temple. "Yang." I jogged up next to the brawler as she turned her head towards me.

"What's up, hot shot?" She asked with a smile.

I did my best not to be fazed by that remark, but I was certain my face was a bit warmer for a couple seconds. "N-Nothing," I stuttered. "I was just wondering if you've run into anyone else that may need a partner. I'm still on my own so far."

Yang shook her head, "No, you two are the only ones I've seen so far since the start."

"So you haven't run into Ruby yet either? I hope she's doing okay" With the amount of monsters roaming the forest, I at least hoped that she wasn't on her own.

"Oh, she'll be fine. She can take care of herself." She turned her head back to me with a questioning look, "So, how did you REALLY know about Blake? You're not actually psychic, are you?"

"I don't feel psychic..." I sighed. "If I was, I probably wouldn't be in this mess." I shook my head, 'This probably isn't a conversation I should be having right now. I don't have any answers for myself, let alone someone else.' "Let's finish the initiation, I don't want to spend any more time in this forest than I have to."

"Okay, fine." Yang replied, punching me in the shoulder playfully. "But you owe me an answer, and you'd better expect me to collect on my dues."

I gulped and rubbed my bruised shoulder as we caught up with Blake who was eyeing the scattered relics.

'...wait, are those-'

"Chess pieces?" Blake questioned.
"Some of them are missing." Said Yang, "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

Blake inspected a few of the pieces, eventually resting her eyes on the black king piece. "Well, I guess we should pick one."

While the girls decided on which piece to take, I tossed my bag on the ground and walked along the row of gold colored pieces. I was fairly certain that I had played chess before, given that I knew the names of the pieces, but it must have been before my amnesia. Eventually I settled on the white bishop before walking back to the center where Yang and Blake were standing.
"That wasn't too hard!"
Yang exclaimed happily, flipping their white knight chess piece between her fingers.
Blake smiled, "Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find."

"Speak for yourself." I said, crossing my arms, "If I didn't run into you guys I probably would have passed this place by mistake."

Yang grinned mischievously, leaning towards me, "Sounds like you owe the two of us a thank you then." She said with a wink.

I took a step back and held my bishop in between us, "Stand back! I have a chess piece!" I yelled, causing Yang to laugh as Blake rolled her eyes.

"AIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"

A loud shriek pierced the forest air, the three of us turning towards the source in unison.

"Some girl is in trouble!" Yang exclaimed, her eyes darting around the tree line.

"Hmm..." I wasn't so sure. That shriek was as girly as they come, but something itched at my brain about it. I turned to Blake to ask what she thought but was met by the upward gaze of her eyes. I followed them up and cursed under my breath.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Yang continued. Neither of us answered, as we stared at the red dot soaring towards us in the air.

"Heads uuuuuuuu-!"
Yang turned her head towards the sound of her sister entering our airspace at top speed. Just as she was about to live up to her nickname 'Crater Face', Jaune 'Vomit Boy' Arc collided with the girl from out of the trees, knocking her off course and sending them both into a tree near the ruins.

I cringed at the sight of their rough landing, remembering how badly I scraped myself up when I landed at the start of the initiation. The three of us on the ground were dumbstruck to say the least. Blake was the first to say anything.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?"
Yang was as confused as we were as she tried to make sense of what happened. Her own sister just fell from the sky. "I..."
Before she could continue, several crashing noises emanated from the forest ahead of us. Out of the mass of trees lumbered another Grimm, this one was similar to the ones we had run into earlier. The beast's claws were swiping wildly when a pink blast of energy impacted into its back, sending it crashing to the ground along with its rather hyperactive looking rider.
"YEEEE-HAAAAW! ...Awwww, it's broken." The joyous cries of the orange haired girl were replaced with sadness which was immediately replaced by intrigue as she began to look over the carcass of the decaying monster.

Her pink and white outfit was complete with a skirt and shoes to match. An outline of a heart was fitted below her collar and she seemed to be wearing strips of metal that seemed to function more for support than actual defense.

"Nora! Please..." From behind the beauty atop her beast came another student dressed in a green and black tunic-style top with white pants. He hunched over next to what I guess would be his teammate and took many deep breaths. "Don't ever do that again." I returned my gaze back to-

'...wait, where did she go?'

"Oooohh..." I jumped reflexively as I realized that the girl had made her way over to the line of relics almost instantaneously. From the looks of Yang and Blake, they were equally as surprised. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"Nora!" With the call from the tunic boy, Nora stopped dancing with the rook still firmly seated on her head.

Giving a cheerful salute she dropped the relic down into her hand. "Coming, Ren!" She sang, before skipping back over towards her friend.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake
asked.

"I..." Yang looked even more confused at the situation. Who could really blame her though, this whole situation was giving me a headache. Unfortunately, Yang was interrupted once more as a screech is heard from the right side of the treeline as yet another figure bursts through the shrubbery with the mother of all scorpions hot on her heels. I was almost certain that her long red hair would be caught by the large Grimm as it uprooted entire trees in its chase after her, giant claws snapping at her back.

"Are you feeling okay?" I didn't respond at first. I wasn't even sure who had asked me the question, but I assumed it was Yang. My hand was clenched against my head in an attempt to null the dizziness. 'Somethings not right...' I thought.

I closed my eyes and struggled to stay on my feet. "I-I'll be fine." I stammered. I wasn't sure whether she believed me or not, but I didn't want her worrying about me on top of everything that was happening.

I leaned up against one of the nearby stone pedestals for support and rubbed my eyes, voices rang out around me all the while.

"Jaune!"

"Pyrrha!"
"Whoa!"

"Ruby!"

"Ruby?!"

"Yang!"

"Nora!"

=||-{([O])}-||=

"Hiro... Hiro!"

I slowly opened my eyes with a yawn. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I looked over towards the voice. I was being carried along on their back as far as I could tell, but I couldn't quite make out the scenery around us.

"Hey are you awake yet?"

I tried to speak up but found myself unable to, so I responded with a nod of my head.

She giggled as she walked along, "Wake up lazy butt, were almost home. You remember what day it is right?"

A shake of my head was all I could manage.

A sigh, "It's Thursday. Tell me you didn't forget?" The voice was familiar, but I could feel my heavy eyelids forcing themselves shut with each step she took. As I brought my head down I could feel the motion of her shaking her head.

"I guess you're really worn out, huh? Alright, fine." She said before taking a deep breath.

At first, I was almost certain she was going to yell at me to get me to wake up. Then she started humming. The song had been sung to me before, and it gave me a warm feeling of happiness as my eyes finally closed. The sound of the song filled my head as I slowly let sleep engulf me.

=||-{([O])}-||=

"GRRRRR- I can't take it anymore!"

The ensuing explosion shook me from my daze. Looking around I found myself back at the base of the ruins in the dirt. 'I was... dreaming?' Finding my balance, I brought myself to my feet and tried to shake off the remains of my nausea. Beside me, I could hear the final fuse snap inside Yangs head as she erupted into a fire of anger and confusion

"Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"

Two seconds was all it took for me to finally return to my senses and spot something that Yang would not want to see.

Ruby was the first to say something. "Umm... Yang?" The young girl tugged on her sister's arm and pointed to the sky.

I let out a grumble before adding, "Yang... Next time ask for more than two seconds..."

"How could you leave me?!" Cried Weiss. The heiress had somehow managed to cling to the side of another large Grimm. A large FLYING Grimm. From the look of things, she didn't seem to be doing so well.

"I said, 'Jump'." muttered Ruby.

"She's gonna fall."
"She'll be fine..."
"She's falling."
I glanced back and forth between the group of students, realizing that no one was really making a move to help her. Turning back towards Weiss I hesitated for only a moment before cursing under my breath and charging off to where she was likely to land.

Positioning myself underneath I made ready to catch her, shifting most of my weight to my left in order to absorb the impact. When I looked up, what I saw nearly made me regret my decision. Apparently Jaune had also had a similar idea and had hastily jumped out to save the heiress, but due to his poor planning they were now both falling right where I stood.

"This is gonna h-"

SLAM

I felt the air force its way out of my lungs as the shock of the impact sent me sprawling onto my back. Jaune had landed face-down across my stomach moments before Weiss landed square on his back, crushing both of us.
"My heroes..." She said mockingly from atop the pile..
"My back..."
"My luck…" Jaune and I moaned. Weiss eventually stood up and brushed off whatever dirt had happened to get on her outfit before turning back to us. Jaune rolled off of me onto the dirt allowing the two of us to find our breath.

I placed a hand over my head and rubbed my eyes, "Jaune... "

"Yes, Hiro?"

"Let's both agree never to do that again."

Jaune lifted his fist towards me, remaining on the floor. "Agreed."

I smiled and raised my hand to meet his as we fist-bumped in agreement. Weiss just shook her head in disappointment as we brought ourselves to our feet. I tried to stand up straight but doing so caused pain to spring across my chest. I held my arm across my abdomen in reflex to try and null the pain. 'That one's definitely going to sting for a while...' Jaune's weapon must have slammed into my ribs when he fell, most likely leaving a mark under my black shirt. I shoved the pain out of my mind as I made my way back towards the group just before the last student, the one with long red hair, was knocked across the field to land in front of us.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang commented.
Ruby glared at the giant scorpion before replying, "Not if I can help it!" Before anyone could stop the quick-footed girl she had already taken off at a sprint with a battle cry.
"Ruby, wait!" Called out Yang, a worried expression on her face.
Ruby, still screaming, fired Crescent Rose, propelling herself forward at the oncoming Grimm, colliding with its outstretched claw that threw her backwards into the dirt.
Ruby slowly returned to her feet looking back at us with faux confidence. "D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!"
A growl is heard from the scorpion as Ruby fired her weapon at it, the shot pinging off of its armour. Sheathing her scythe Ruby started to run back towards us.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted before running towards her sister.

"Yang!" Ignoring my likely-to-be-fractured ribs, I took off after her, doing my best not to fall behind. Not only had the scorpion begun to chase after Ruby, but the bird had returned as well. With a flap of its wings, the air was filled with sharpened feathers that swiftly embedded themselves in the ground, one of them snagging onto Ruby's hood and stopping her in her tracks. The feathers didn't stop there, however, as I watched the barrage slowly make it's way towards Yangs and my position.

"Yang, move!" I shoved Yang down to my right as I felt a stinging sensation strike my left arm.

"Hiro! Are you okay?!"

I covered the open gash in my fake skin before she could see it, "I'll be fine, we need to help Ruby."

We both stood and turned our attention to Yang's sister who was struggling with her cloak. Yang grabbed a nearby feather trying to remove it from our path, but it was ineffective. The shafts embedded themselves too deep to be removed. "Ruby, get out of there!"
"I'm trying!" Came her worried reply.

I watched helplessly as the Death Stalker approached, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and prepared to strike.
Yang reached out in vain, "Ruby!"

A white blur raced past the two of us through the gaps in the feathers and reached the stinger in seconds, creating a spire of ice just as the creature was about to pierce through her.
I stood there dumbfounded at what I had witnessed. Ruby's savior was none other than- "Weiss?"

"I can't believe she saved her..." Yang stood hesitantly for a moment before making her way around the field of feathers towards Ruby and wrapping her in a hug.

Knowing they were okay I decided to slowly make my way back towards the ruins. I could feel a familiar burning sensation in my arm as it started to reform under the cover of my right hand. It had completely sealed by the time I made it back, leaving me with the pain in my ribs from before.

=||-{([O])}-||=

I'm still a bit out of sorts but I figured I should put up the actual chapter I promised.

I know that I'm following the main story a lot, but the initiation is a pretty important part of the plot and removing it entirely in exchange for more of my own ideas would be a bit counterproductive since Hiro had to go through this test. I didn't change too much but once this is out of the way I'll be able to spread my creative wings and add all of what I've came up with for this story. The next chapter will be a bit shorter but will be out by next week for sure so I can start to speed up the production while I can.

Speaking of which~
I haven't just been writing Hiro's story, I've also been drafting up some ideas for other Fanfictions (RWBY and non-RWBY related) and wanted to know if you guys would be interested in me posting them. If they go over well I might consider doing multiple stories at once, whether this will enhance or disrupt upload speed of 'What Once Was Lost' is uncertain, but I will leave it up to you to decide.

Stay Gold