Volume 1 - Part 3 L'Etranger
The wall loomed large above the village, but for once in all these years, its people were happy, celebrating a new future. Drinking and dancing covered the town. There was only about 200 or so left, but today was joyus. 3 of the survivors sat next to a tree just below the gray, metallic wall. A faunus played the guitar, playing old songs his father had taught him around a fire of hopeful life.
"So you two, I know you're 13 and young Private Gerovit over her is 10, but what do you plan on doing once you're over the wall?" The faunus asked with one last strum of the Guitar, setting it down at his feet.
"I want to join the hunter academy with you!" The youngest of the three exclaimed, his drab world filled with joy for once. The faunus smiled back at him.
"You've got time to train up until then, plus your brother can help you make a weapon, I've taught him how to tinker with machinery to make some kickass weapons, The faunus said with a chuckle, reaching for his back pocket and handing a cigarette to the 13 year old and himself. "I can't wait to see what you'll do with Perun, it's got lots of potential," the Faunus wisecracked to the smoking boy. For a few moments the pair smoked, and only stopped when the faunus checked his cracked watch and exclaimed "Looks like it's almost time to cross over, grab your stuff, a new future awaits!". As the 13 year old boy threw away his cigarette and grabbed his gray messenger bag the faunus asked him a question "Hey when we get over the wall do you want my guitar…".
…
"Cyril? You want that guitar?" Julie asked a daydreaming Cyril, staring at an old wooden guitar through a shop window. Cyril shook his head a little as he left his daydream.
"No, I'm fine. Let's keep going," He said, a little discombobulated with a straight face.
"I get that either of us haven't been to some place as nice as the Vale, but seriously, you stopped at a photoshop, and antique watch shop for 15 minutes each! You have to stop dropping everything when you see something new," Julie said, dragging Cyril by his hand forward through the clean, beautiful streets. The pair had come down to Vale to get some things ready for the Vytal Festival celebrations, but also for leisure, specifically to go to a cafe which Julie had specifically requested.
"How about that one, you can see into the harbor from there?" Julie asked, pointing all the way down the street at a decadent cafe across from the harbor quay. After a few seconds of her smile piercing into his soul, Cyril's face softened and he smiled back.
"Sure, that'd be… lovely," Cyril replied, looking down at himself. As Julie darted off, he looked at his hands. For once he was in public with his right glove off, the crude robotics unveiled. He stopped for a second.
"Cmon!" Julie yelled as she continued walking to the cafe with pace. Cyril looked up, broken out of his thought, and followed her to the cafe.
The pair sat down in opulent white chairs and enjoyed some coffee and pastries while watching the ships in the harbor. The two felt very out of place, Julie resembling an excited toddler, and Cyril resembling a man stranded on an alien planet. Though one could say they had grown accustomed to the aurora of misfits placed around them. It was nice, these few months since coming to Beacon had given Cyril time to relax for once in his life, and the time there had given Julie someone to confide in.
Cyril found the black coffee he ordered nice, but Julie needed creamer to drink it after she tried it too. When it came to the pastries though Julie enjoyed annihilating most of them while Cyril only tried a small plate of tiramisu, which he enjoyed to his surprise. After taking his last bite of cake he checked his cracked watch and the two finished up their snack.
After enjoying their drinks and pastries the partners paid and left to explore the streets before they'd go back to the dorm. In Uktaria before the Vytal Festival it was common for there to be a curry stew to commemorate the fallen and their fight for Uktaria, typically made by veterans and their families. They made curry as it was the soldier's meal during the war, and was seen as good luck to survive the future struggles in life. After the meal two gifts are exchanged between groups of two, one personally significant gift like a photo, the other a more typical gift like a new hatchet or boots. This was to anchor two people closer, through both emotion and duty. When Cyril told Julie about it she was immediately onboard and excited. As the pair passed back into Beacon they were met by Headmaster Ozpin sitting on a bench next to the statue who's inspiration for writing had faded.
"Ah, Ms. D'Aubigny and Mr. Gerovit, it's good to see you two," Ozpin greeted in his strange voice, standing up.
"Hello Headmaster, How are you today?" Julie replied politely and with a smile, though, Cyril looked with suspicion towards Ozpin without a smile.
"I'm very good, thank you. I'd just like to say you have exceeded my expectations for a team of two. I know it may be an unwelcome change at first next semester to have a full team of 4, but I believe it is for the better. Who knows what you could achieve with a group of 4, especially considering both your combat scores are in the top quarter of your class," Ozpin said with joy peering through his typical demeanor.
"Thank you headmaster," Julie replied, her joy clearly being barely controlled in her voice, and Cyril, admittedly a little confused. Ozpin bid the two farewell and began to walk away, but he remembered something and stopped before walking back towards Cyril and handing him a letter.
"This came in for you today, I must say I'm surprised anyone here would receive physical mail. I'll leave you two back to yourselves," Ozpin mentioned, as he handed off the letter before walking back into the school.
During the walk back to their dorms, while following Julie, Cyril opened the letter and it read "Dear Son, Your brother has come to visit you down by the docks, do be a dear and hurry up, I left you a present across the street between the cafes for the first night Uktari Vytal, Love Your Mother,". He felt frustrated, and a little guilty. He wanted to spend the night with Julie but now that wasn't going to happen.
Once the two made it back to their dorm Cyril got to work on the curry stew. With Julie's help he cut up carrots, and potatoes into little chunks, excluding onions which he always wished he could as a kid. When Cyril told Julie this she laughed for a few moments before saying something about how she was the kid not him. Next up was a small piece of meat he cut up, this time without Julie's help, before putting all the diced ingredients into a bowl. He then took a large pot and a single freestanding electric cooking stove they'd bought earlier that day and sent back to Beacon, and after heating up the pot he put the ingredients in the pot to fry for a few minutes. After the ingredients had browned slightly he covered the meat and vegetables in water and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. He then dumped some of his spice bricks he'd made the day before and mixed the curry up all together creating a delicious, brown stew. After a quick prayer to the fallen, the two dug in, and went in for seconds, then thirds.
"That was really good," Julie said, relaxed and happy from the meal.
"We're not done yet, you forget the gifts?" Cyril groaned happily, as he got up from his chair on the right side of the room. He walked to his bed on the far right wall of the dorm, bent down grabbing under it, pulling out a belt with a sheath and new rapier. Holding it out to the now excited Julie sitting on a chair on the room's right, she took it without a second thought.
"Thank you so much Cyril!" She exclaimed, ogling at the craftsmanship and unsheathing the sword and holding it in her hand.
"It's pretty strong and should never snap, so you'll never have to worry when you parry strikes from now on," Cyril explained, as Julie twirled the blade around in her hand. "You can use your lightning fast reflexes against more opponents better now, and for the second gift, here," Cyril added while reaching from his back pocket to grab a patch of a white anchor. "It was family tradition to join the Uktari Marines, ever since my great grandfather joined during the Great War. This was one of my father's patches," Cyril continued on.
"Thank you Cyril, it means a lot that you'd give this to me," Julie replied with a big smile. "My gift should be here by now," She announced grandly as she opened the door to the dorm and reached around to grab the old wooden guitar from the shop. "I remember you talking about your friend Belmen and how he taught you to play guitar, and the way you were looking at this one from earlier I thought it'd make the perfect gift," She said joyfully as she handed the old wooden guitar to Cyril, it feeling natural in his hands. "I didn't really have anything personal to give so I'm s…" Julie tried to say a little disappointed.
"This is more than ok Julie," Cyril Interrupted, beginning to play a song, a simple yet sorrowful ballad. Julie couldn't help but watch as he played, the song's lonesome tune striking her deep within her heart. Cyril strummed away the song, his eyes beginning to water with every strum. As the song came to an end he said to himself "Rest brother," whilst holding back tears. Silence filled the room for a few minutes, Cyril struggling to handle the emotions he felt.
"What was that song called?" Julie asked tenderly, breaking the silence.
"He was a good marine. It was the first song Belmen taught me," Cyril said, holding back tears.
After a few more moments Julie spoke "I think it was beautiful,". Cyril looked up, his crimson eyes stained even more red before looking back down. Quietly Cyril put down the guitar thinking for a few seconds before standing and going to grab his bag trying to avoid eye contact. As he stood there, for the first time in months he hesitated. Even through all the trials since the Forever Fall he had stopped hesitating, his mind finally made.
"I didn't want to tell you, but I have something I've got to do tonight. I'll see you tomorrow morning," Cyril whispered, disappointed in himself, the anguish in his voice clear, before quickly leaving the dorm room in a pathetic display. As Cyril walked out the door Julie's stomach dropped and sat in silence for minutes after he'd left.
As he walked out the door, Cyril winced. He hated having to leave but he also hated that he felt this way. His mind was wrecked, his simplistic thinking finally challenged. When he opened the door out of the dorm building he saw the azure sky had died and the yellow sky had risen. From then on his movements were calculated and cautious to keep others from even seeing him
As Cyril descended through Beacon down to Vale the yellow sky fell too, and a sky of black had replaced it. Upon descending into the alley the letter described, he spotted a medium sized box with an eagle's claw. It was the right place. He opened the box to find an Uktari Marine uniform, shaped explosive charge, a worn black bandana, and a box of cigarettes. Cyril switched out of his typical outfit, and into the gray military uniform from the box, though he kept on the same boots. He felt as if he'd walked into someone else's skin whilst putting on the uniform, and considering it had the patch of someone ranked corporal it made sense. He grabbed his belt and bandolier from his bag and put them on, Perun and his revolver resting on his hip. He shoved his old clothes into his bag with the carton of cigarettes before putting the shaped charge in his back pocket and leaving the bag in the alley. After all that had been done he inched forward in the alley to look into an empty cafe window to see himself. He felt like an imposter as he looked deep into its glass. Staring into the reflection he tied a black bandana from the box around the lower half of his mouth. He felt conflicted but as he stared, his resolve hardened and his mind cleared. After a second he turned and moved to the front gate of the dock with a furrowed brow.
The front gate was guarded by two men, one to the left and one to the could also see more on patrol in the dock proper. He wondered what other tech they had back there, but he kicked all thought out of his mind once more and prepared to strike.
"Maaaan, I gotta thank this burglar personally, I hated being out beyond the kingdoms at mines, but man Vale is nice," The leftmost soldier said sarcastically leaning against a chain link fence.
"Yeah, he's a life save… what's that?" The rightmost guard nervously asked, seeing Cyril standing on the street in front of them. The rightmost guard stopped leaning against the wall of the security booth and put his hand on his gun. With menace, Perun was drawn, arching like a hungry beast finally seeing a meal. Its glow illuminating Cyril's face through the darkness of the night. A moment passed and as the guard's hearts skipped beat Cyril struck the leftmost down so fast the other couldn't react to the bullet that destroyed his head, alerting the dock of Cyril's presence.
Alarms began to blare and soldiers scrambled. This dock was small and was practically just a long wide street with three that intersected it and containers in between before a special space reserved for dust sat all by its lonesome at the end of the dock.
From the right side of the first street came 6 soldiers, Their guns all pointed at Cyril. The first one from the left fell first when he opened fire and Cyril deflected all of his rounds back at him. Now the rabbit was out of the hat so to speak, and after they watched their fellow comrade fall to the ground the group opened fire. Cyril shot the farthest left man while dodging through the bullets, and managed to reload before getting perpendicular to all of them, next to the left center soldier. With one shot the four remaining men's existence was whipped from the face of Remnant. Cyril Surged forward, His momentum not stopped and was met by more resistance in the form of a heavy trooper on the second of the two streets. Without a second thought Cyril sliced his way through the heavy trooper's minigun fire. Once at point blank range Cyril jumped on the trooper, punching through his armored visor leaving the man falling backwards to the ground, with permanent, disabling, brain damage. Once his feet hit the ground Cyril took off and was met by one last measure by the dock's defenders in the form of a prototype mech. Though Cyril with no hesitation jumped up and as Perun lit up he sliced right through the mech's right arm, overloading it's circuits with electricity, blowing the experimental tech to smithereens. Finally at the home stretch he maneuvered into the center of the Dust containers. Cyril grabbed the shaped charge from his back pocket, after a few seconds of looking at it he shook his head and stuck it on the container. Taking one last look he sped off again for the exit. Though it wouldn't last long as his run to the exit would be met by a strange man and his escort of about 8 men in grimm masks.
"Well, well, it looks like there are other saboteurs in Vale. Listen pal I'll let it slide this time as long as you give me the dust, sound fair?" The strange man said, in an overconfident and lackadaisical manner.
Cyril simply stared back for a few seconds before touching off the shaped charges. As the containers blew up in a violent explosion Cyril sprinted towards the man punching him in the face with his right hand, leaving it crooked, and dismembering any of his bodyguards that got close. Cyril ran through to the alley where he had left his bag and made himself lost in the uncharacteristically dirty alleys of Vale until he was certain that no one could be following him. Taking a moment to rest, he opened up his bag and switched out of the uniform back into his normal gray shirt and khaki pants. Though he did keep one thing on, the black bandana, which he tied around his arm, a token of a past friend.
Using the same caution as before he treaded lightly back through the city, avoiding those swarming the scene. After what seemed like a lifetime he made it back into Beacon, and to his dorm. Creaking open the door he saw Julie sleeping peacefully, a rare sight that made Cyril smile. He felt strange, a way he never had returning from battle. He shoved his bag under his bed and quietly changed into his sleepwear of shorts and the striped undershirt. Crawling into bed he felt tired but accomplished and… safe? He wasn't sure but before any thoughts could cross his mind he fell back under the siren's call of sleep.
…
"Put me down Cyril, I'm not going to make it," A faunus said with pain in his voice as he bled from his gunshot wounds. Two boys had carried the man along the wall through the wastes for 20 minutes after shooting gallery had began, leaving the three the only remaining.
As the boys put the faunus down he groaned and said to the oldest "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you boys, I'm such a failure ain't I,". The faunus laughed, coughing up blood. "Climb the wall, escape, there probably isn't anyone up there because they all went to the village. Go before the grimm come!" He ordered with extreme emotion to the oldest. Slowly the faunus's heavy breaths slowed and came to nothing.
"Rest brother," The oldest boy softly said. After a moment of silence he took off the faunus' watch and black bandana around his arm before looking slowly up to see the green bountiful beauty above.
Author's Notes: Two brief things to cap off Volume 1, Cyril's semblance is being able to withstand extreme voltages of electricity, and pass them on via touch. It's similar to Nora's but I came up with Cyril's character and its ties to Slavic Mythology before I learned what her's was. And lastly here's the equivalent of what the song Cyril played would sound like /RTW3aT5PdNM