All for One, One for All
Part 2: Heroes United
Chapter 5: Old Memories
After the big speech by Ozpin, most of which Solis had a hard time listening to, the other professor who he didn't really care that much about ushered the first-years to the ballroom. While everyone else got settled down and/or explored the campus, Solis sat down and reminisced on the pain he'd endured over the past 18 years.
Within 5 minutes of sitting down on the wooden bench, memories of Aurora came flooding his mind. He remembered the time when she had some nightmare and woke up on one of his restless nights; he'd managed to get her to tell him about it, made her relax, and she'd asked if she could sleep with him that night. Then there was the time when he was hit so hard he fell upstairs, which ended up with him running into her and causing the both of them to tumble back downstairs; neither which one of them was able to stop laughing for five straight minutes. He could still feel the places she'd touched him during one of the several balls they went to for undercover assignments. He remembered her smile, her smooth voice, her ivory skin, and her beautiful blue eyes.
Her death was the one that brought him back to reality. He saw the blood pouring out of her body, the tears stinging her cut face, the jagged spikes tearing through her abdomen, and the heartbreaking things she said before she breathed her last.
"Solis," she'd said, "please don't forget me. And for the love of God, don't ever lose yourself. I don't want to see you with me just yet."
To this day, he never forgot his best friend. He remembered her every day since her death, and kept going just for her. He never stopped hunting the Dark Huntsmen either, as it seemed to be the only thing that sedated his fury.
Memories of death, pain, and fear haunted his dreams, and the crimes he'd stopped replayed in his mind as if he were never there. The bloodshed kept him awake at nights. The one thing that haunted him the most, though, was the day he lost everything and gave up the lighter part of his Aura.
"What's up," a high-pitched masculine voice brought him out of his memories. He turned to see a blond boy wearing an armored hoodie and blue jeans covered with armor plates.
"Oh," Solis muttered. "Hey, Jaune."
"I know something's wrong, Solis," Jaune muttered before clearing his throat. "What is it?"
"I, uh… I'd rather not talk about it."
"It's about my sister, isn't it," he asked. Solis raised an eyebrow. "My twin sister was a Grimlock, you know. Her name was Aurora. Killed a couple of years ago in an avalanche; some terrorists gave these 'Dark Huntsmen' guys some RPG's and pretty much blew the whole place to Hell and back. I hear you were a good friend of hers."
"Yeah, I was." Solis paused, running over what Jaune said. "Wait, how do you know about that?"
"It's classified intel," Jaune informed him, but proceeded to pull out some form of datapad. "But you deserve to see this. It'll help explain some things. If you have any issues understanding, you and I would be on the same page."
He activated the datapad and played the video pre-downloaded on the device. A man in digital camouflage with the insignia of a first lieutenant appeared on the screen. His hair was cropped short, and he stood in front of a strange flag with five stars and stripes.
"Greetings, Mr. Arc," the man said. "I am First Lieutenant James Kiser, founder of the Delta Force Mars Internal Project. The Mars Internal Project, or MIP for short, is an international project designed to put soldiers among citizens in the Kingdoms, namely Vale and Vacuo. You were the best in class, yet we decided to put you in Beacon to give you proper leadership skills and the opportunity to unlock your currently-locked Aura."
The video changed to a camera feed of Jaune, dressed in a digital camouflage combat uniform, in combat with a massive drone. The machine swatted Jaune into a wall, which Jaune arose from with moderate difficulty. The blond wiped his bleeding mouth and unleashed some sort of anger; his eye color inverted and he grew some sort of glowing tentacles which Solis assumed were supposed to be wings. Jaune held up a hand, which was immediately engulfed in fire, and sent out a red-hot wave of fire at the machine; two seconds later, Jaune let up, revealing a puddle of bubbling metal and plastics.
"That was your strange power, Captain," the LT continued. "You have the power of a mythical being called a 'Centurion', the son of a Fallen Angel and a normal Human or Faunus. You naturally have a bad temper, so we tried to give you a way to control your 'Centurion State'. If you're watching this, it means that the memory serum we gave you affects long-term memories instead of short-term memories and your temperament. This video was created to help you remember what you were involved in.
"Two years ago, we received intel that terrorists had given Fallen or Dark Huntsmen military-grade weapons. You were assigned to retrieve those weapons before they could be used, but we sent you out too late. The weapons were used to take out a Grimlock living and training facility, leaving numerous casualties including your sister Aurora. You managed to take down the weapons providers while an enraged Grimlock known as Solis Occasum took out the Dark Huntsmen. If he is nearby, please show him this video as well.
"You were sent to Beacon with four weapons: a Magnum-22 pistol with Dust, rubber, and steel bullets; an MK-48 assault rifle with Dust, rubber, and steel bullets; a sword designed to ignite with Roman Fire hot enough to melt steel; and a shield designed to act as sheath and secondary blade. The sword and shield can combine and transform into two weapons: a riot shield capable of stopping a bunker buster; and a Riot Cannon capable of firing steel bullets at 550 rpm, Dust rounds at 450 rpm, and Riot Shells at semi-auto. These Riot Shells can pierce through tank armor, as well as act like a small pack of C4.
"Take care, Captain, and good luck." The video ended, leaving Jaune still somewhat perplexed. Solis was a bit confused, but mostly in awe that Jaune had actual military experience.
"Well, that sure explains why you went all crazy back there," Solis commented. Jaune nodded before scratching the base of his neck. "OH, that reminds me! Have you heard of that green guy? The one that grows the more he gets mad? He tries to control it in the comics, and remains 'always angry'. Try doing that, it's a good idea. It'll control that 'Sentry' deal you've got going."
"Centurion," corrected Thor from somewhere in the ballroom. "And by the way: I TOLD YOU SO!" Thor ran away giggling like a schoolgirl, leaving Solis scratching his head in confusion and Jaune holding his head, shaking uncontrollably. Jaune couldn't stop laughing at this 'Dwarf' fellow simply because of his fan-girly actions.
By the time Ventus came in, he was sweating and laughing with Ruby. They had just finished a race of some sort, and Ruby seemed to be the victor.
"Someday, Rose," Ventus huffed as he wiped his brow with his shirt. "I'll manage to keep up with you someday." This led Ruby to cackle as if he'd just told her some crumby joke.
"Not any time soon, Tempest," she taunted. He rolled his eyes at this remark and made his way to his small area. He grabbed a towel, his sleepwear, and everything he would need to take a shower, then proceeded to the bathrooms/showers. Not thirty seconds later, he came back out looking as if he'd just taken a quick swim in soapy water and rinsed himself off. Jaune, Solis, and Thor, who were all in the same area, just stared at Ventus as he waltzed out wearing a gray air force shirt, sky blue shorts, and drying his hair with a towel.
"Dear Lord," Solis muttered in awe. "How long was that, thirty seconds?" Jaune checked a stopwatch he pulled from his duffel bag and nodded. "Yeah, thirty seconds. No one showers that fast, how'd you do it?"
"Jaune knows," Ventus said simply. "Gotta go fast, right?"
Jaune nodded. The guys took turns taking showers, Solis first, then Thor and finally Jaune. Solis came out wearing black shorts and a towel draped across his right shoulder. Thor walked out wearing his shirt decorated with a demonic-looking Leprechaun with a guitar and the title "Irish Metal" on it, a pair of baggy-looking cargo shorts, and his towel wrapped around his arm as if hiding a tattoo. Jaune exited the stall wearing a white t-shirt and army camo pants, towel draped across his shoulders.
They spent the next thirty minutes cleaning their weapons. Thor detached the 4-foot handle from his Battle-axe Warhammer hybrid and started cleaning the inside, re-polarizing two magnets at the far end of the handle in the process. Solis disassembled his shotgun and cleaned every part, putting it back together with care, and twirled it around in the air with a strange pride. Jaune took apart the Magnum, cleaned the parts, reassembled it, and slipped a clip full of Dust rounds into the weapon; he then started working on his sword and shield. Ventus, with no need to clean his whips, just refilled the Dust canisters in the hilt of the weapons and rewound them. He then crossed them over his shoulders and sat down, resting against a pillar in the ballroom.
Ventus was able to see everything from his vantage point. Ruby was writing something down and not really paying any mind to anyone or anything. Her sister Yang was eyeing Solis's rifle with curiosity and envy, starting to drool a little when he twirled it in the air and caught it with one hand; she blushed when he caught her staring and drooling, and he did not seem amused in the slightest. There was a dark-haired girl reading a book in the corner, a silver-haired girl putting on some last-minute makeup before shut-eye, and a tall brown-haired girl was watching Thor with longing eyes. It made Ventus wonder who that girl was before she walked over to Thor and gave him a bear hug.
"Hey, Thor," she said with a slightly Russian accent. He blushed and whispered something in her ear.
"Who's this," Solis asked Thor, gesturing to the girl.
"Oh, this lass," Thor asked. "This is Nadiya, a long-time friend of mine."
"What, are you two related or something," came another question from Solis, whose reward was an elbow to the ribcage from Jaune. "What?! It's a legitimate question."
"Well," Nadiya chuckled, cheeks turning a faint rose red. "I guess you could say that."
"Brother and sister?"
"Not exactly," Thor answered. "I'm Thor Lochlannach, she's Nadiya Luchnik."
"Cousins?"
"We only met about ten years ago," Nadiya mentioned.
"Labor camp," Thor added. "She was an old-school mercenary, I was just a POW."
"Distant relatives," Solis suggested.
"I'm half Dwarf, she's a Russian Elf," Thor almost snapped. Jaune and Ventus raised an eyebrow.
"Really distant relatives?" Ventus groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, as did Thor. Nadiya rolled her eyes and pulled out her necklace which Ventus had failed to notice before under her dark dress-like pajamas. The necklace had on it a gold plaque and a ring; the plaque had engravings in some strange languages with weird accents and symbols, neither of which Ventus was very fluent in. In fact, it all looked blurred to him.
"What's it say," Ventus asked, squinting to make out any visible English.
"I believe it reads 'From Russia to Northland, Love is Boundless' in Russian," Jaune read. "And 'From Now to the End of Time it Stands' in Gaelic. It seems to be an Elven engagement necklace. The ring is forged with gold, silver, and a small trace of Dwarven Steel. It seems to me that she's been engaged to someone."
Thor pulled out a necklace of his own with the same plaque and ring on it. The writing was the same on both plaques.
"Well, I'll be damned," Solis commented. Ventus was indefinitely confused, scrunching his eyebrows as if to try to read the languages.
"What's it mean," Ventus asked, making Jaune and Solis turn to him as if he'd lost his mind. Thor and Nadiya looked at one another like they were concerned for the Wind Mage. "No seriously, I can't read English well, much less stick-people languages."
"Dyslexic, I'm guessing," Nadiya suggested.
"And I'm not bilingual, but yes I am dyslexic. But… why? And how'd you know that?"
"Tell you later, lad," Thor said. "Back to the dominant question, we're technically engaged in modern cultures but already married in our respective cultures. It's complicated, but all-in-all we're together forever in a sense."
"Aww," came two voices outside of the group. Turning to see, Jaune and Ventus noted that they were Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, swooning over the idea that two lovers came to the same school together.
"Wait a sec," Ruby pondered aloud. "How are you two already engaged? You just started training at Beacon." Solis pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"Because her parents forced us to," Thor said with minor hesitation.
"Really," Nadiya challenged. "I thought it was your parents who forced us?"
"Well, mine were gone, but I suppose they did work through your parents. Besides, we did agree to it eventually." Nadiya giggled.
"That, we did," she agreed.
"I'm so confused," Ruby complained, whimpering as she held her head in both hands and rocking side to side.
"Thor's 22 years old," Solis explained, "and I think Nadiya's about 21, maybe 22—." He was interrupted by Nadiya appearing behind him and kicking him in the spine.
"It's impolite to ask a woman her age, even less so to guess at it. Nevertheless, you're right—I'm about to turn 22."
"You two sure don't look it," Yang mentioned.
"Thor's a Dwarf, she's an Elf. Their lives are double that of a normal Human's, thus their bodies age slower than ours do. How else would they look so young?"
"Well… yeah, I've got nothing."
Yang and Ruby left a bit later after some discussion, proceeding to get into a catfight between each other. Weiss Schnee got involved and things got loud. Even after the lights went out they were still arguing.
In order to go to sleep, Ventus put his earbuds in his ears and turned on some rock music. Thor and Nadiya slept together, cuddled up together by one of the pillars in the ballroom. Solis stayed awake, remembering Jaune's sister and swearing revenge for her death over and over.
Jaune, on the other hand, was getting annoyed by the sisters and heiress's ironic arguing over sleep-deprivation. Taking his Magnum and replacing the magazine with blanks, he stood up and marched over to where the girls were. He raised the pistol to the ceiling and fired several rounds, scaring the young women and startling several people trying to sleep.
"If you want some sleep," Jaune said in a calm manner, "then I suggest you stop arguing and get to bed. If you want to argue all night, there's plenty of space outside where you can shout to your hearts' content. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but your argument about sleep-deprivation is ironic in a sense, no?"
The girls were silent.
"So how about we either take this elsewhere, save it for later, or drop it entirely."
"Well you're one to talk," Weiss scoffed. Jaune wasn't having it tonight.
"Listen here, princess," said the darker side of him as Jaune's Centurion side took over. This time, Jaune was doing his best to remember everything it did. "Either you shut up or I'll duct tape your trap shut. Sound like a plan? Good, I'm glad."
The Centurion State left Jaune, keeping him standing while reverting back to normal.
"Now get to bed before my dark side comes back and forces you to sleep with chloroform," Jaune warned, remembering not only everything that just happened but all the things he did in his Centurion State in the first place.
"Seems like the formula is wearing off," muttered Sentinel, the nickname the Centurion side gave itself while he was speaking with Jaune; no one but Jaune could see or hear Sentinel as their conversations were generally hosted in Jaune's mind. "Remembering anything?"
"Yeah," Jaune responded to Sentinel alone, just as they did before the formula incident. "It's all coming back to me."
"What about everything else?"
"I guess it'll come back soon enough. I remember having some friends in the middle of training. No names, a couple of faces. I even remember where some were sent."
"Well, let's hope we won't need to call them any time soon. I remember that one of the closer ones gave you his Scroll frequency. He, in turn, has contact with all the other members of his 'squad'. I'll let you know where it is when you need it."
"Alright, cool. What about you, Sentinel; you remember anything?"
"Other than what we need and you still being single? Not really."
"…okay then, good to know."
"Let's get some rest right quick. We'll need it for initiation tomorrow."
End
A/N: Sorry for the hiatus. Been on vacation and some other things. I don't know how I feel about the 'Centurion' thing, so you readers are going to have to tell me how you like it. In terms of the 'Gaelic Dwarf/Russian Elf' deal, I'm actually writing an eBook around those two (and not involving RWBY, just the future). Now, if you fellas will excuse me, I'll go and finish ending my hiatus. See y'all around. Texas, out.