Darkness Falls
Adventures in Vale
"Beacon Academy will be your home until the end of the Vytal Festival." a young professor wearing an off-shoulder crimson top and dark purple skirt with brown leather pleated tassets on either side and a translucent dusty-rose colored material that reached her lower calves, explained to the large group of students following her. Her long, blonde pigtails bounced against her back with every step. She spun on the heels of her black, knee-high stiletto boots, "Now, I expect all of you to treat the staff at Beacon, as well as its students and the students from Shade and Atlas with the same respect you show me and your fellow students. Remember, you all are representing Haven Academy." She narrowed her silver eyes at the group in white and grey uniforms. "I hear of any signs of disrespect; you'll be on the next ship back to Mistral."
"Yes ma'am." the students chorused, tensing slightly at their professor's tone.
"Very well said, Professor Schade." came the calm voice of Beacon's headmaster; a middle-aged man with silver hair, thin brown eyes and tinted glasses. A few steps behind was a woman with blonde hair in a tight bun. He stood beside the Haven professor, "Welcome to Beacon." he addressed the students, "Miss Goodwitch will show you to your dormitories and go over your class schedules."
"Come this way, students." the green-eyed woman, Glynda Goodwitch, motioned for the Haven group to follow as she walked towards the corner of the building.
Selena chuckled, planting her hand on her hip as she faced Ozpin, "I was just on my way to come see ya, Oz."
"Well, then let's go to my office." the headmaster offered, stepping aside to let the younger woman into the building first. "How've you been, Selena?" he asked as they entered the elevator. "Haven still treating you well?"
"Yes indeed." the blonde smiled, leaning against the wall. "Been 'Professor of Year' two years running and nominated for a third time."
On the other side of campus near the mess hall, Sun Wukong and his best friend, Neptune Vasilias, talked amongst themselves. "Dude, I'm tellin' ya, she's definitely been holding back in sparring classes." the monkey Faunus grinned. "She was all over the place, Dust explosions everywhere, graceful yet feisty, aw man." he sighed heavily, planting his palm over his chest, blue eyes twinkling.
"Dude, you've got it so bad." Neptune shook his head, lightly jabbing his teammate's arm.
"I know! I can't help it." Sun agreed. "I truly think I'm...in... love." He trailed off when his eyes landed on the girl he'd been talking about for the past half-hour. She came around the opposite corner of the mess hall building, her cat ears twitching as the breeze blew by.
Koalina Belladonna, or Koa for short, walked arm-in-arm with her teammate and partner, Nova Solaris. Both girls wore their uniform skirts and shoes, but with different color socks and tops. Their conversation stopped when they spotted their male classmates by the mess hall entrance. "Hey Sun. Neptune." Nova greeted, tucking some of her fiery red hair behind her ear. "What's up?"
"Oh nothin, just getting a feel for the campus, ya know?" Sun chuckled, folding his hands behind his head, glancing to Koa. "How 'bout you girls?"
"Same." the cat-eared girl shrugged. "I was gonna introduce Nova to my sister and her team."
"What a coincidence, I was gonna introduce Neptune to them too." Sun beamed.
"They sound pretty cool to me." Neptune noted, his hands in the pockets of his red jacket.
Just before they could open the mess hall doors, they flew open as various students fled the scene. The four Haven students were confused and stepped inside, seeing tables stacked at the far end with the members of Team JNPR standing ready for battle, and opposing them were the four girls of Team RWBY.
"What in the name of the Gods?" Koa's ears twitched.
"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" Ruby shouted, crushing a milk carton in her hand. "It will be delicious!" her three teammates raised their fists in agreement and cheered. And a combat-level food fight ensued.
As they walked out of Beacon Tower, both Ozpin and Selena saw Glynda stomping her way to the mess hall and heard the faint yells of various students screaming "food fight.". The headmaster and visiting professor exchanged a confused glance and followed after Glynda.
The mess hall doors flew open, jolting the four student spectators from Haven who watched the epic food fight between Teams RWBY and JNPR. Glynda raised her weapon and used her Semblance to put the cafeteria back in order. "Children, please." she sighed, adjusting her glasses. "Do not play with your food."
Ozpin and Selena entered the mess hall a few seconds later, "Oh, 'sup Prof. S." Sun greeted, flashing the peace sign.
Selena stood with her arms folded over her chest, "Please tell me none of you had something to do with this." she sighed, looking to her four students.
Neptune, who had a few grape soda stains on his jacket, held up his hands in defense, "We absolutely had no part in this."
"Yeah, it had started when we walked in." Nova added, pulling some pasta out of her hair.
"Okay, come on, I'll show you guys where the dorms are so you can get cleaned up." Selena glanced to Ozpin and Glynda and gave a nod before leading the foursome out of the building. She cast one more glance over her shoulder, a small smile crossing her lips as she saw Yang and Ruby in their fit of laughter, "Nice to see thay haven't changed too much." she thought.
A few days later...
Beacon students and the exchange students from the academies of Atlas, Haven, and Vacuo piled into the lecture hall, taking seats with their respective classmates. As the bell rang to begin class, Selena Schade stepped out off the office, wearing a slightly longer black and grey checkered skirt with her crimson off-shoulder top, black knee-high boots, and the dusty-rose colored fabric tied around her waist. "Hello everyone." she greeted with a smile. "For those who don't know me, my name is Selena Schade, and I'll be taking over as your History of Remnant professor for the remainder of the semester."
Applause and cheers erupted from the lower left corner of the seats, where the students of Haven currently sat. Selena held up her hand and the cheering stopped. "Thanks guys." she rolled her eyes and chuckled. "So, before we get started let me introduce myself." she cleared her throat and crossed her ankles, "I was born in late October in a small village in the Anima Forest, which was destroyed by Bandits and Grimm long ago. I was raised on the road by a Huntsman who found me in the village ruins, and a chance encounter actually led me here to Beacon, where I completed some independent studies and became an honorary member of senior team until I earned my Huntress License."
In one of the lower right seats, Ruby Rose glanced up from her notebook and her eyes went wide when she got a better look at the female professor at the front of the lecture hall. "Whoa." she gasped under her breath.
"What?" asked her older sister, Yang.
"Her eyes." Ruby whispered back as Selena moved behind the desk. "She's got silver eyes too."
"Now..." the professor cleared her throat, "...with the Vytal Tournament approaching, we're going to be going over the history of this tournament and what led to it in the first place." She punched a few keys on her scroll and brought up a power point to go along with her lecture. "So, we're going to start with the events that led to the Great War."
The bell rang to dismiss class at the end of the hour and the students grabbed their things and filed towards the exit. Selena's eyes landed on Ruby and her team as they quickly ran out of the lecture hall, whispering amongst themselves.
Team Rwby went over their game plan for the evening, putting the final touches on her new civilian looks. Ruby jumped off her bed, nearly landing on Weiss as she did so, earning chuckles from Blake and Yang. "Everyone remember their roles?" the young leader asked, smoothing out her red cape.
"You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies." Weiss stated matter-of-factly, one hand on her hip and the other curled near her shoulder. "Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."
"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members." Blake informed, folding her hands behind her back. "If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning."
"I've got an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale." Yang grinned, crossing her gauntlet-clad arms over her chest. "Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard." a smirk crossed the blonde's lips.
"Great!" Ruby pumped her fist. "We'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we found. Let's do this!"
"Yeah." agreed a male voice from outside the window. The four girls jumped back when they saw Sun hanging by his tail on the tree outside their room. Sitting on the same branch with her back against the trunk was Koalina, who waved at the four with a smile.
"Koa? Sun?" Blake blinked in surprise.
"How'd you guys get up there?" Yang asked.
"Uh, Faunus." Koa shrugged her shoulders, standing up. "It comes kinda natural to some." She jumped from the branch to the windowsill and then jumped onto the floor. Sun made a more dramatic entrance by flipping from the branch straight into the room. "So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"
"We are going to investigate the situation." Blake corrected, motioning to her teammates. "As a team."
"Sorry." Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "We don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to."
Sun brushed off the younger girl's comment. "That's dumb." he scoffed. "We should always get friends involved. That's why I brought Neptune." He gestured over his shoulder, where his partner was currently pressed against the building, standing on the ledge.
"And, my friend Nova's getting her bike." Koa added, standing next to her twin while the rest of the Huntress team looked out the window.
"'Sup?" the blue haired teen flashed a smile.
"How'd you even get up here?" Ruby quirked an eyebrow.
"I have my ways." he replied nonchalantly, although his legs were shaking. "Seriously, though, can I come in?" he asked nervously. "We're like, really high up right now."
Once everyone was inside the dorm, Ruby made a few alterations to the plan; her and Weiss would go to the CCT, Sun and Koa would go with Blake to the White Fang rally, while Neptune and Yang would meet up with Nova and head to meet Yang's shady friend.
Nova, with Neptune on the back, followed Yang through the shady warehouse district of Vale, both girls driving their motorcycles Hotrod and Bumblebee. Yang skidded to a halt by a curb opposite a nightclub, removing her helmet and shaking out her hair. She glanced back and saw Nova park her bike behind hers, stomping down the kickstand. "C'mon, my friend's right in here." the purple eyed female motioned, sauntering across the street.
Nova brushed her bangs aside, tapping the side of her studded black belt, her red-brown eyes following the blonde's movement. "I'm likin this chick more and more." she chuckled with a small smile, hopping off her bike.
"Yeah." Neptune breathed out in agreement, smoothing out his hair and following the two girls into the club.
Meanwhile, in the same area Blake, Koa, and Sun managed to locate the White Fang rally. Blake removed her bow, displaying the cat-ear trait she shared with her twin. The trio walked in and were handed white eye masks and directed to a large room in the warehouse.
Sun looked down at the mask in his hand, "I don't get it. If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"The masks are a symbol." Blake answered. "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."
"Still, Grimm masks." the monkey Faunus shuddered. "A little dark, don't ya think?"
Blake and Koa shared a look, and the older Belladonna walked ahead. Koa's ears fell against her hair and she clenched her shaking hand into a fist. She felt a larger hand on hers and saw Sun by her side, smiling a small, yet dopey, smile.
"Well, the guy who proposed the masks was a dark soul too." she sighed, removing her hand from his and slipping the mask over her amber colored eyes. "Also, nix the grin. White Fang members are not cheery whatsoever." She reached out and buttoned his shirt before turning on her heels and following her sister.
Sun's tail swayed back and forth behind him, he put the mask on and followed the two girls into the room where current White Fang members and new recruits were standing. A tall, muscular White Fang member paced back and forth across the stage. "Thank you all for coming." he addressed the crowd, his voice thick with an accent. "For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you, he..."
As the Lieutenant kept talking, Roman Torchwick walked up on the stage, much to the protest of the Faunus in the room. "What's a human doing here?!" a female deer Faunus accused.
"Glad you asked, 'Deerie'." the criminal snickered. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans are the worst." he points to himself with his cane. "Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed."
"So, is he going somewhere with this?" Sun leaned down to whisper in Koa's ear. She responded by elbowing him in the side and putting a finger to her mouth, while Roman kept rambling on about his partnership with the White Fang.
"...Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around." Roman continued. "No offense to any rodents in the room." He snapped his fingers and the curtain behind him fell, revealing a stolen Atlesian Paladin-290, with a red painted White Fang mark on the shoulder.
"That's a big robot." Sun gulped.
"How the hell did he get that?" Koa gasped under her breath.
"As some of you may have heard, this right here, is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world." Roman went on. "And thanks to my "employer", we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, "hit the shelves"."
"This isn't good." Blake noted, glancing to her sister.
"Damn right." Koa agreed. "They could do serious damage to all the Kingdoms with those things."
"Will all new recruits, please come forward!" ordered the muscular White Fang Lieutenant. The cheering crowd of new recruits moved forward, bumping into the undercover trio. The three of them slowly moving with the crowd drew attention to Torchwick.
"He sees us." Sun whispered to the two girls.
The twins looked around, spotting a junction box on the far wall, both their lips curling into a smile. "He can't see in the dark." the younger Belladonna chuckled.
Blake pulled Gambol Shroud from the sheath on her back and shot the box, cutting the lights to the building. In the ensuing chaos, the trio jumped out the window and ran down the street. Roman piloted the mech and followed them.
While jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Blake contacted her teammates via scroll.
Blake, Koa, and Sun leapt over more rooftops, including one a few feet away from the nightclub where Yang, Nova, and Neptune just exited. They saw the Paladin run down the road chasing the trio.
"Okay, overcompensation much?" Nova snorted, revving her bike's engine.
Yang cracked a smirk, "I'll say." she chuckled. Both girls turned their bikes around and followed the oversized mech as it made its way on the highway. "We've got to slow it down somehow."
"Neptune." Nova glanced at her friend on the back of her bike. "Think you can handle it?"
The blue-haired male cracked a smirk, "Please." he pulled his gun from his back, finger on the trigger.
Reading the mech's sensors, Roman charged through a multitude of cars sending them flying towards his pursuers. Yang and Nova swerved their bikes to avoid being hit, causing Neptune to flail about. "Nove, I can't get a clear shot if you do that." he scolded.
"Do you want to be hit by a flying car?" the redhead snapped. After a few seconds of silence, she added, "Didn't think so." and revved her bike, speeding up to keep up with Yang.
Once he was steadied, Neptune pulled his goggles down and charged his weapon, firing several bolts of blue electricity at the Paladin, causing Roman to grimace from the force of the attacks. Switching strategies, Neptune flipped the gun, switching it to it's bladed form, and stabbed the back of the Paladin, gripping the shaft to avoid falling off.
Hearing his screams, Sun and Koa stopped on the hood of a moving car, turning back to help their classmate. "Neptune, hang on!" Sun called out to his partner. He closed his eyes and clapped his palms together, forming two golden copies of himself, which charged head-first towards the Paladin, exploding into light upon contact.
Sun and Koa exchanged a glance and pulled out their weapons. Sun spun his staff above his head, leaping over cars to help his teammate. Koa followed close behind, firing Fire Dust bullets at the large mech in Silence Fury's gun mode.
Fed up with the teenagers, Roman twisted the mech, throwing Neptune off, sending him crashing into Sun mid-air. "Shit." Koa cursed, squeezing a second trigger on her weapon, transforming it into it's glaive mode. "Nova!"
"Gotcha!" her partner called back, setting her scroll on her bike's screen, engaging the Auto Pilot, and grabbing the twin swords sheathed on her lower back and slamming them together, forming a large compound bow. She pulled a green tipped arrow from the small pouch between her sheaths, locking them into place. Waiting until Sun and Neptune were in her sights, she fired the arrow, which tore through the collar of Neptune's jacket, pinning him to a concrete pillar on the other side of the highway, vines wrapping around him.
At the same time, Koa aimed her glaive towards Sun and launched it, the blonde Faunus grabbing the pole as it flew past him and landed in the concrete beside his partner. Nova took back control of her bike and jumped the highway guardrail, with Koa jumping on the back as she did so, and landing on the road beneath the two boys.
"Thanks girls." Sun chuckled, swinging from the weapon and pulling it from the stone, landing in front of the female pair. "Your weapon, milady." he held the glaive out for Koa to take.
"You're still weird, Sun." the cat-eared Faunus chuckled, taking her weapon back.
"Now, can someone help me down from here?!" Neptune exclaimed, still wrapped in vines and dangling above his classmates.
Koalina spun the Dust cartridge at the base of her weapon's blade, which began to faintly glow red. With a single swipe, a small stream of fire flew from the tip, scorching the vines which released Neptune. "Thank you." he cleared his throat, brushing himself off.
"So, should we try to find Yang and the others and help?" Nova questioned after a few minutes of silence.
"Nah, they'll be fine." Sun assured, bracing his staff over his shoulder. "After that chase, I'm feelin kinda hungry. I think there's a noodle place near here."
That was met with simple shrugs and hums of agreement from the other three.
A/N: Finally, my RWBY fic is off the ground. This is an idea I've had for a while now and just finished the outlining process. The first few chapters will cover Volume 2 and combine at least two episodes. This story is the first in the series as a whole and will cover Volume's 2 & 3. I will focus more on my OC's from Haven, but they'll interact with Team RWBY and other main characters as the series goes on. All in all, Darkness Falls, will follow the cannon of Volumes 2 & 3, with some alterations here and there. It'll slowly diverge a bit as the series progress. Just a few little notes to help you guys understand my OCs a bit better (for their profiles, see the first chapter)
-Koalina is Blake's younger twin sister (stated numerous times in this chapter) only she openly displays her ears while Blake does not. For a better visual of her weapon, the glaive form resembles the weapon used by Sailor Saturn in the Sailor Moon anime, while the gun form looks similar to Gambol Shroud's gun form. Both sisters were in the White Fang together and parted ways at the end of the "Black" trailer.
-Nova Solaris is part of Koa's team from Haven and also her partner, and best friend. However, Nova and the rest of the team do not know about Koa's past involvement with the White Fang (that is something that will come up in the Volume 3 finale).
-Selena Schade has a past with a certain Beacon alumni team and hints will be dropped throughout the story, see if you guys can catch those. And yes, she does have silver eyes like Ruby.
I will post pictures on my DeviantArt account soon of my RWBY original characters. Till then, reviews are greatly appreciated. I will also post this story to AO3, once I figure it out.
~Cyber