Chapter 4
Maybe
"You are destined for great things, Mister Walker. Your father said so when I first met him many years ago." Elder Owyn Lyons, Leader of the Capital Wastelands Brotherhood of Steel Chapter.
Royce eventually did find Weiss outside in the gardens. Panting the Lone Wanderer caught his breath as the Schnee heiress turned to him in surprise. Royce wanted to say something but sucked in another deep breath. It was a bit chilly outside but Royce was more than used to it. It was a lot colder at night back in DC, thanks to the nuclear fallout.
"What!?" Weiss said annoyed.
"W-Hold...on..." Royce raised a hand while catching his breath. After a few more breaths he said. "You run real fast."
"That wasn't why you ran after me is it?" Weiss asked him. "Look, you don't have to say sorry." Royce blinked.
"...Huh?" Royce was ready to. It was probably his fault Weis ran off in the first place. He had never seen her look so troubled before. In class she was usually the one who answered everything confidently. She was a little too smug for her own good but she did try to be a lot more friendly with other folks except for him but he tried to take it in stride.
"It's just..." She looked uncomfortable. "I...I'm not really used to people calling me pretty and meaning it." Royce didn't know how Weiss could look so nervous about something and yet look so appealing at the same time. Then again she always did make sure she looked her best every day.
"Ah, well. In any case I should still apologize." Royce said scratching the back of his head nervously. "I didn't mean to offend you or cause any awkwardness. I just...well, I really did mean the compliment." Jesus no wonder I'm single.
"W-Well...Thank you." Weiss said graciously. Royce let out a breath that he had been holding.
"So...I think we should head back." Royce suggested. "It is kind of cold out here."
"Right," Weiss agreed. "It is a bit chilly."
/
The next morning was...unpleasant. Sure Royce knew what rain was but he had yet to see it. Judging from the clouds though it looked like it was going to be a particularly nasty storm coming in. But despite the storm coming in it wasn't the rain he was dreading.
It was the gossip because ever since Weiss and Royce entered the dorm together after a stroll, Ruby and Yang bombarded them both with questions. Royce simply endured quietly while Weiss argued with both sisters. Blake didn't say anything but the looks she gave them both were piercing. She wasn't mad or anything but merely...curious.
"So lover boy." Yang elbowed Royce in the side. "I heard you and Weiss had a little midnight stroll out in the grounds." Her grin was cheeky.
"We just talked." Royce answered looking embarrassed. "And it wasn't even midnight!"
"Sure, sure." Yang's grin was mischievous. Royce rolled his eyes.
"Come on, I was the one in the wrong anyway." He told her. "I never meant to make things so awkward with Weiss."
"Well, you're lucky." Yang said. "Because if you were here when school first started...Hoo boy, she would have been a lot worse."
"I'm sure she was...Ah hell, I don't like the look of those clouds." Royce looked at the gathering storm grey clouds. "We'd better head back inside."
"Pshaw, I'm sure we'll make it." Yang said confidently. "It won't be that bad." Royce shrugged with her assessment of the weather.
Well, to be fair, they did make it to class. The problem was a section of the school was powered down due to thunderstorms. So they had to stay for a long while in the dining hall while the technicians got to work on restoring power.
"Professor Port's lessons are...argh!" Weiss complained again as she dropped her books on the table. "All he does is monologue! I learned more about the Grimm from the posters on his chalkboard than from any of his stupid stories!" She slammed down her books again creating a small shockwave across the table. Royce blinked in mild surprise as he put a line of ink down the side of his paper before shrugging and continued to work on the rough draft of the essay that Port assigned them all.
"Wait...you're actually doing Professor Poop's essay?" Ruby looked over Royce's shoulders in curiosity. Royce was already working on his rough draft.
"Yeah," Royce said trying not to chuckle at Ruby's nickname for the old professor with an impressive moustache. "I mean sure he monologues a lot but I have learned quite a bit from him you know?"
"True," Blake commented. "You always stay for a bit after his class." She gestured to the large book next to Royce's pack. Grimm Anatomy and Physiology, 5th Edition it said on the spine. "That and I swear I've seen you read that beast twice."
Royce chuckled. "I've flipped through it once or twice Blake, I'm not that crazy to read through the whole thing."
"You probably could." Yang dared him.
"I'd rather not." Royce said as he continued writing. That was when Ruby's scroll beeped and she took it out. Her brow furrowed.
"Hey guys?" She said and her teammates looked to her. "I think Professor Ozpin wants to see us."
"What for?" Weiss asked curiously.
"Didn't say..." Ruby answered showing them all the message. "Other than we have to go right now."
"Well, that's ominous." Royce commented as he stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Wonder what's going on."
/
"A few hours ago the Chief of the Vale Police Department has contacted me with a request to find two missing persons in the Forever Fall. They were last seen entering the hiking trail and have not been seen since the end of school today." Ozpin told all the members of Team RWBY. The scroll on his desk showed a picture of a young couple who had apparently gone hiking and managed to get themselves lost. "Your task is to find them and bring them back to Beacon, however should there be...difficulties I am permitting you to use force if necessary."
Ozpin looked at all five of them with a calm air. "Any questions?"
Royce raised his hand. "And if we find that they're dead?" he asked seriously. Ruby turned to him shocked that he could ask such a thing. Weiss and Yang were also in the same state while Blake just gave him a cautious glance. Ozpin blinked but the seriousness of the question was apparent to him. Again Royce Walker was a surprising student.
"I certainly hope they aren't deceased but if you are unfortunate in that regard, please contact me immediately. I shall arrange for Vale's police forces to recover the corpses." Ozpin answered gravely. "Good luck and may your endeavors end successfully Team RWBY."
/
"Royce! How could you say such a thing!" Ruby scolded the taller young man as he slung his rifle over his shoulder. "They're not dead yet!"
"They might be," Royce said as he checked the Blackhawk's cylinder. Satisfied that all six chambers were filled with High Explosive Rounds he holstered the revolver. "But all the same I hope we find them alive. I'm just...considering the option is all."
"I hate to say it but he's right." Weiss said with a grimace. "We're going to have to be prepared for something like that Ruby."
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine Ruby!" Yang tried to assure her sister then looked at Royce. The Lone Wanderer shrugged but he understood why Yang was kind of upset with him back at the office. She loved her little sister, Royce knew that. But someday Ruby was going to have to look out for herself and learn that the world wasn't always fair.
/
They left just as the storm ended. It was going to be quite a long night. Royce took point, his Pip-Boy light shining the way. They had three hours of searching and it was best not to waste it by getting sidetracked.
If the Forever Fall was creepy during the day, then it was even more creepier during the night. The moon's light made everything look eerie. The leaves shone a pale red and the only sounds seemed to be the hoot of an owl. Royce hated the place. Every shadow seemed to move it was like being back in Point Lookout, where walking around in the dark was asking to get killed. The Grimm weren't going to be as active at night though...apart from Deathstalker scorpions. Great, giant scorpions in the dark while looking for two hikers lost in the woods. This sounded like an awesome assignment.
Royce shook his head of such things when Blake tapped his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"Just...apprehensive." Royce said as they kept going. "I hate this place." His voice was angry and underneath that anger was fear. Blake was surprised. Royce didn't seem the type to admit his fear easily.
"You're afraid of the dark?" She asked.
"This place brings back a lot of bad memories." Royce answered grimly. "Memories of a place that I really don't like."
"What was it like?" Blake pressed.
"You don't go out at night." Royce started panning the area with his assault rifle. "You don't underestimate Point Lookout. That place is evil." There was a certainty in his tone that Blake didn't like so she kept silent. Point Lookout...even the name sounded disturbing.
That was when she saw something glow briefly in the bushes.
"Stop." She drew Gambol Shroud and held it to the side as Royce immediately crouched, chambered a round and aimed the Xuanlong at whatever she had seen. Everyone tensed up. Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose as she took a shot at whatever it was. The shot echoed through the forest making everyone tense up even more as they each looked around for any sign of the Grimm coming for them. Somehow there was no sign of any of them coming at them. Royce decided to pin that on his luck although he didn't push it.
"Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed as Royce swore up and down under his breath. Yang walked over and brought out a backpack. It was covered in mud. And there was a large hole where a round from Crescent Rose punched right through it.
"Sorry..." Ruby scratched the back of her head looking sheepish.
"Well, we found something." Yang commented. "Can we not panic because if we find these two they're going to be pretty angry that we put a hole in it." She shouldered the pack.
"Don't panic next time Ruby, jeez." Weiss grumbled as she continued forward. "You might-" She gave a screech as she tripped over something and splashed into the mud. Royce hauled her up, wincing as Weiss began a tirade of cursing Ozpin, the roots of the tree and mud in general. She had mud all over the front of her outfit. The Lone Wanderer winced, yeah that is going to take a while to clean up.
Royce sighed as he looked back at the tree. "Guys..." He said softly. "We might be here a lot longer."
The tree's bark had some bloodstains on it. That was worrying. Royce checked them, dry. Whatever happened here must have occurred a few hours ago.
"That's not good." Yang muttered looking concerned as she held Ruby to her side, she looked pale. "Ruby? You think we should keep going?"
"Y-Yeah." Ruby cleared her head. She was better than this, she was going to be a Huntress for Pete's sake. "Yeah, we should. Professor Ozpin's counting on us right? Royce, you see where it leads? We're headed for the hiking path."
Royce checked the bloodstains to see if they were headed anywhere. He had a hunch and decided to act on it. You can never go wrong with gut instinct and in the Wasteland it was good to listen to. "This way." He gestured to the north-west. He took point again. Team RWBY headed towards the north western direction and sure enough found the hiking path. The couple had gone missing around here but it was going to be a difficult search thanks to the rain from the earlier storm.
"Right, hiking trail." Ruby said as she looked to the left and to the right. "Any ideas guys?"
"Let's keep looking." Blake suggested. They searched the general area before following the trail. There was nothing yet and apart from the owls hooting the forest of Forever Fall seemed quiet. Royce kept his head on a swivel as he looked for any sign of hikers.
He stopped, raised his fist and crouched. "Contact!" he said as he took aim.
The young man walking towards them looked pale, his white shirt stained with blood. He looked at team RWBY. "Who are you guys?" His eyes were blank and empty. The man looked terrible. Royce slung his rifle and helped the guy sit down. He consulted his scroll briefly and saw the resemblance of the guy on the picture. Yep this was one of the hikers. So where was the other one? Tucking his scroll back into his rucksack he continued checking for injuries and found that the guy had huge gashes in his side and was the source of the bleeding. Royce began doing some first aid. Thanks to dear old Dad he could do decent first aid and had studied that exclusively ever since he left the Vault. It was kind of funny how he could kill just as easily as he could heal.
"Easy there sir," Ruby said gently. "We're hunters, we're here to help."
"My...My girlfriend, Angie...I-I don't..." The man's voice was blank, and he seemed to have a hard time breathing. "She...She got..." Tears started to fall. "She's...dead...T-There was nothing I c-could do. The...The Grimm got to her..."
"It's going to be okay sir, come on." Ruby contacted Ozpin on the scroll.
/
They walked back down to the beginning of the path where police cruisers and an ambulance was waiting for them. They left the hiker to the EMTs' care. Royce checked the time and saw that it was kind of late, almost midnight in fact. He was a bit tired. He walked over to the rest of Team RWBY and sat down next to Ruby who looked a little depressed.
"Cheer up Ruby," Yang said gently. "We still saved one person."
"We should have saved both of them." Ruby mumbled. "Why couldn't we? Aren't we supposed to be better than this?"
"Ruby," Royce said firmly. "You can't save everyone. But the one thing that matters is that you tried. Sometimes...Our best isn't enough. We're not superhuman, no matter how much we wish to be. Don't beat yourself up so much."
"Royce is right Ruby." Blake walked over to give Ruby a quick hug.
"Excuse me, you're all from beacon aren't you?" A police officer had walked over. He was a middle aged man with dark brown hair and red eyes. "Sorry, I'm Sergeant Tennstedt of the VPD."
"We're Team RWBY of Beacon. How may we help you officer?" Weiss asked politely.
"Right, well. I just want to thank you for the help." Sergeant Tennstedt said gratefully. He looked back at the ambulance and sighed. "Truth be told...this is the seventh case that has happened over the past few months. Hikers going into Forever Fall tend to well, disappear. I just want the headmaster to know that the Grimm might be involved."
"Roger, we'll tell him." Ruby said and turned to her team. "Think we can head back to the academy now? The airship should be waiting for us."
"Can we?" Weiss looked at the mud stains on her once pristine white outfit. "I want to get out of these clothes."
/
The next day...
Royce covered his mouth as he yawned. Breakfast consisted of a biscuit, pancakes and several strips of bacon. As he took his usual place beside Yang, he then saw that Nora had once again stacked pancakes a mile high and proceeded to devour the fucking things at light speed. Ren was watching her in case she started choking. Royce shook his head before turning to his own breakfast.
"Nora...I think you should slow down on the pancakes..." Jaune said. All he got was something that sounded like om nom nom from Nora. "Uh...Nora?"
"Don't bother Jaune." Royce told him. "She's in the Zone." He managed to get a chuckle from Ren.
"I really still do not understand how she eats so fast." Pyrrha watched with fascination.
"It's normal." Ren assured them all then went back to his own breakfast.
Royce finished his biscuit then failed to keep the yawn in. He covered his mouth as Ruby started giggling.
"So did you guys find who you were looking for?" Jaune asked the question they were all waiting for.
"Two hikers went missing." Royce answered for Ruby. "We found one. The other is...dead. The Grimm killed her. We didn't bother to try finding the body."
Even Nora had nothing to say to that. Jaune had winced when Royce answered. He didn't want that to happen but it was best that they got it out of the way.
"How...How did it happen?" Pyrrha asked after a long pause.
"Well, to be fair they did follow the path." Blake said. "But the Grimm were active in the area they were in. They got ambushed by a pair of Ursa." Team RWBY all got the full story from Professor Ozpin who had been in contact with Sergeant Tennstedt of the VPD. And as a result of the copy of the report the Forever Fall was closed to all except the Hunters and Huntresses of Vale and those who were currently enrolled at Beacon. Ozpin himself had gone down to Vale to make the recommendation to the Mayor and City Council. The news announcement about the hikers had come over the tubes a couple of hours before the morning rush.
Glynda Goodwitch herself had made the announcement in the assembly hall that missions would be planned for the first years.
"Poor guy had to leave his girlfriend behind." Royce took over from there. "She bled out too fast for him to save her."
"Oh my..." Pyrrha said looking sad. "Such a tragic thing."
"Well, what can ya do?" Yang commented raising her fork in the air. "You were right after all Royce, you can't save anyone. You just gotta do your best."
/
"Royce! Royce where-oh..."
Royce looked up from his book as he saw Weiss approaching from the side. Classes had just ended and Royce decided to get some studying done before heading back inside. It was late afternoon but because of the breeze it was a rather pleasant day. It was the weekend too and hopefully the weather would stay this way.
"You need something Weiss?" Royce asked closing his book with a loud thump.
"Oh no, just wondering what you were up to." Weiss answered sitting down in front of him. "Hey, wait a minute..." She heard music coming out of the strange device strapped to Royce's forearm. "Is that a music player?"
Royce looked at his battered old Pip Boy. "Oh this? It's a Pip Boy 3000, back home where I came from I got this when I turned ten." Sid Phillip's Boogie Man came on and Royce grinned. It was his favorite tune, he asked Three Dog if he could record some songs on the Pip Boy and spent a full day doing so. In return he did fix the disk jockey's toaster. Apparently Three Dog had been serious when he asked for the Lone Wanderer to fix said toaster.
"Pip...Boy?" Weiss asked. "What exactly does it do? Is it a scroll?"
Royce shrugged his shoulders. "Sort of...I mean it does have a map...if the stupid thing actually worked. It lets me keep notes, monitors my health, tells me what's coming at me, all sorts of useful things really." He didn't mention that it kept track of how many people and creatures he'd killed. Last time he checked the tab the body count numbered in triple digits. Even more so since he took back Project Purity with the Brotherhood.
"Oh...well, that is rather interesting." Weiss peered at the screen. It showed a cheerful looking man in a jumpsuit. Underneath it said Royce's full name. Royce Adam Walker. He didn't sleep with the thing on did he? It looked...bolted onto his arm. She asked him.
Royce answered by slipping his pinkie finger in an unseen slot. The Pip Boy beeped once and he pulled it off his forearm. "Man that feels weird." He muttered shaking his left arm. "It's like being naked."
Weiss looked at the Pip Boy with intrigue. She then handed it back. "Humph, it's heavy." She said. "And...well, tacky. Can't you at least paint it a different color?"
"What and get shot at for my trouble? Nah." Royce said with a grim smile. "Back home, I heard someone needed one of these."
"For what?"
"Opening something, so they cut the guy's arm off." Royce shrugged. "It...wasn't pretty."
"Jeez, where do you live? Some kind of barbaric wasteland?" Weiss asked looking disgusted. "What kind of man hacks another person's arm off?"
He realized that the raider had stopped screaming and that he had been the one making the noise over the sound of the ripper's chain-blade. It was the sound of bloodcurdling, homicidal rage. Royce turned around and fired the Novasurge twice at the fleeing raiders. One was vaporized. The other lost a leg at the knee. More screams erupted as the Wanderer tore the raider apart with his bare hands.
The memory faded as Royce smiled sadly. "The worst kind." He said then looked at the time. "Well, I'm done with what I had to do. Are you sure there wasn't anything you needed Weiss?"
Weiss blinked. Royce tended to do change moods at the drop of a hat and truth be told it kind of scared her. She won't push yet, because if she did she really didn't to know what was underneath the "mask" Royce wore all the time.
She shook her head. "Oh right! It's the weekend tomorrow!" She exclaimed.
By her side, Royce groaned. The first weekend he had at the City of Vale involved him carrying the metric ton of items that Weiss had purchased. Which compounded with Ruby's and Yang's. At least Blake had the decency to only buy a few books...
"Yeah...it is," Royce said smiling while dreading what was probably going to happen in the city of Vale. "Do you have any plans?"
"Hmm...Well I thought we could continue our little tour of the industrial district," Weiss said. "Unless you'd prefer not to."
"Oh." Last Weekend Royce and Weiss toured the city, with Weiss enthusiastically telling him all about what to see and what to do in Vale. It was very informative. Until Yang decided to drag him off to some club that had loud music and dancing. To her amusement Yang found out that Royce was not very good at dancing, in particular he was not much of a club guy at all as he stood there awkwardly while a few girls flirted with him.
It was a...different experience to be sure.
/
City of Vale, the next day...
Regardless of his feelings on the matter of carrying things, Royce was nevertheless still awed with the sights of the city. Decked out in his combat armor Royce felt the breeze as he sat on the bench outside the store. He didn't even bother reading the store's name. And truth be told, his arms were sore. Sore enough for him not to care.
The City of Vale was definitely not like DC. Instead of ruins and Super Mutants it instead harbored humans and the buildings had a certain charm, like the pictures of Pre-War cities like New York or San Francisco. It was all in all very pleasant. And hard to adjust or understand. The Wanderer was used to the gunfire and chaos of DC, where you were most likely targeted by Super Mutants the moment you exited the Metro Tunnels. He was used to ruined streets, ruined buildings and the haunting reminder of Pre-War times. He was used to the ramblings of a madman who had access to the speakers. He was used to the smell of raw sewage and rotting corpses of those who were unlucky enough to catch the mutants' attentions. He was used to waiting for battles to subside. Once, on the steps of the Capitol Building he had done exactly that. He watched as Talon Company and the Super Mutants fought it out until they were both weak enough for him to take down from a distance.
He was not used to the human beings that walked the streets casually talking about their next pay check or the new movie that was coming out next weekend. He was not used to Weiss telling him about the history of the City of Vale or Yang dragging him into the nearest club where the music was loud and people were dancing suggestively. He was not used to the sunny skies and the smell of a spring breeze. He was not used to peace. The Wasteland had made sure of that. It saddened him.
Royce suddenly jumped to his feet, reaching for his trench knife when Ruby tapped him on the shoulder.
"Whoa!"
Ruby backed off as Royce surprised her by instantly getting to his feet. Knife in hand, his breathing turned hard before he realized where he was and sheathed his knife. The look in his eyes was the most concerning. They were dilated.
"Ruby." Royce muttered trying to calm himself down. "Don't scare me like that."
"S-Sorry," Ruby said. "What was that about?"
"I...I don't like it when people sneak up on me like that." Royce admitted uncomfortable with telling Ruby this. "Sorry, it's-it's not your fault. You didn't know."
"It's fine!" Ruby chirped smiling. And just like that she bounced back from concern to smiling. Royce didn't understand how she did it. But it was welcome nonetheless. "I really didn't mean to scare you. But...Yang said to meet up at the fast food joint down the street."
"Crap..." Royce glanced at the stuff he had to drag over there. "Might as well get this over with." He collected the myriad shopping bags sitting on the bench next to him. With a giggle, Ruby got some bags off his arms and carried them with her. Ruby was very friendly. Royce didn't mind her being chatty at all. That and she knew quite a bit about weaponry in Remnant so it was a surprising and interesting mix. Ruby Rose was a strange, upbeat girl with a good heart.
"So...why a scythe?" Royce asked Ruby on her choice of weapon. It didn't seem too practical to him but the moment she showed off what she could do with Crescent Rose, the unholy fusion of a sniper rifle and a scythe, he was both impressed and scared.
"Cause it looks cool!" Ruby's response was enthusiastic. Royce fought hard not to chuckle. "That and my uncle's been teaching me for most of my life so, yeah!"
"I see..." Royce wondered what kind of person Ruby's uncle was.
"What about you Royce?" She asked curiously.
"Me?" Royce looked down at her.
"Pyrrha says you wanted to be a doctor." Ruby said.
"Ah yeah I did. It's a long story..." Royce answered quietly. "But my dad was one, he was a good man before he passed away," Huffing he adjusted one of the bags that was currently digging into his shoulders. "But..." His eyes narrowed as they got closer to the meeting place. He saw Weiss, Yang and Blake along with a large group of boys that did not look very friendly. Weiss was displeased and the words she exchanged with the big guy in the lead were not nice at all. One of his friends stepped forward to touch her. Weiss slapped that hand away.
"They've got it covered." Ruby said as the pair watched Yang drop one of the boys, a guy with a bad haircut, with a sucker punch that would have made any street brawer proud. That was enough to make the ruffians think twice.
Royce calmly walked over with Ruby in tow.
/
"Hey Royce!" Yang waved cheerfully as though she didn't just knock a guy unconscious. Her grin grew wider as she spotted Ruby with him, both carrying their stuff. "We're just having a chat."
"Yeah I know," Royce said as he put down the bags of stuff. He then turned to look at the gang of ruffians. "Friends of yours?"
"We just met," Blake answered calmly. The ruffians looked at Royce warily. Beacon Academy students were usually allowed to go into the City on weekends. Now that Team RWBY was together, most of the wannabe gangbangers were terrified to realize that they were dealing with Hunters.
"Hey Johnny?" The youngest one yelped. "I...think we should leave."
Johnny, the big guy in charge, shook his head angrily.
"Hey, back off." He told the bastard in the dark green combat armor. The Wanderer just regarded him with a raised eye brow then turned to the blonde girl.
"How's the food here?" He asked casually.
Yang smiled. "Always with the food, huh Royce? Well, it ain't so bad. I hear they've got the best fries here."
"Uh guys?" Ruby waved towards the gangbangers who were looking quite angry.
Johnny pushed Royce's shoulder. "Hey asshole, fuck off! We got here first-" He never did finish that sentence.
Johnny was rejected by Beacon Academy on accounts of his criminal background. His gang consisted of other rejects and since then they've been causing quite a lot of trouble in the City of Vale. He was quite big and broad, reaching a height of about six feet and his broad muscular build was the result of numerous brawls across the streets.
He never stood a chance.
Royce Walker turned and punched Johnny Olin in the face with a brute haymaker, putting his entire body weight into the punch. The gangbanger flew backwards and hit the cement spread eagle. He was out cold. Weiss and Ruby winced in sympathy. Blake watched impassively as Yang gave a respectful nod. Royce glared coldly at the unconscious brawler before turning his attention to the others. They took one look at Royce before running off.
The Lone Wanderer turned back to his teammates. "Right, sorry about that." He said dusting his hands off.