So, we've got another chapter again... sorry for the massive wait, I've just had stuff on over the last few days, mostly designing a space station for two days straight with three hours of sleep... Coffee became my new best friend after those two days
Now that I have some time to think over everything this story has been over the last couple of months I've written this, I honestly can't believe how far I've come, mostly as a writer and partly how much I've enjoyed writing this... I can't thank all of you for the support you've showed and the encouragement
If any of you are scared or slightly pissed that I didn't pay attention to your review in relation to weapon names or OC's, FEAR NOT! I shall be adding them later in the story... I just don't know when... THIS IS NOT THE END, I definitely will be making a second arc for the story that'll be more focused on the Titanfall side of things rather than the RWBY aspects, but I'll make sure all the best parts are still there... I just have to tie off all the loose ends in this arc.
As an added note, I don't like having the base Titanfall pic as the pic for this fanfic so if any of you godly people out there could make a pic that was unique to this fic and send it to me, I shall forever hail you as the highest divine (Even higher than RNJesus)
Naughtbeast
Chapter 40:
Yang Xiao Long hated a lot of things in life… people who touched her hair, people who looked at her the wrong way, her mother… and mostly Cardin… but the one thing she hated the most was funerals… one of which she was forced to sit at right about now. It wasn't exactly for one person specifically being that it was a funeral for all those that died during the attack on Beacon, although for her it was for three people she knew very well. Pyrrha, Demon and Tempest were all lost during the battle and she had given up all hope of them ever coming back given that it had been literally a month since she had last seen any of them.
She sat in the front row of the assembled crowd, a measly couple of hundred people who were either students or people who knew those who passed. A black single-piece dress went down to her ankles as well as flat shoes, both of which her father insisted she wear, while her hair was tied back in a ponytail so it wasn't in its usual mess. Qrow and Tiayang were sitting on either side of her while she waited for it to end, both of them offering her brief condolences when the emotion got to her too much, Kira, Josh, Markus and Jaeger sitting off to the side as well.
As the mayor of Vale gave a lengthy speech about the losses faced at the battle, Yang's thought's shifted to her team-mates… or more specifically why they had left. Ruby, Rosaline and the remnants of JNPR she could understand, heading off on foot to Mistral in search of Cinder and more importantly, Salem, although it was the other members that completely enraged her. Blake, she hadn't even seen after the confusion at the Vale evacuation, Yang not having a clue in the slightest at where she had gone. Weiss was another problem, in that she had been taken by her father in a private airship and as far as Yang could tell, the Ice Queen hadn't put up even the slightest of fights against his decision.
She had stayed behinds in the hope that the either one of the three would show up at some point but the funeral was a massive slap in the face against those hopes… the final nail in the coffin as it were. Kira, Josh, Markus and Jaeger had stayed behind for the pure point that they had nowhere to go. They weren't particularly fond of travelling long distances just to seek revenge and saw it would be better if they helped with the re-taking of Beacon, helping the staff of the academy in Grimm clearance… although that was going badly to say the best.
The 'clearance crew', as just about everyone called it, had barely managed to make it within the old borders of the academy thanks to the colossal amounts of Grimm that were flocking to the academy and using it as a large roost of sorts, so much so that not even the remaining Altesian fleet could get any of their Vulture dropships (not actual name but I thought it's pretty cool) into the air without getting swarmed by a Nevermore in a second.
She thought back to the last time she had spoken to Tempest, being told by him that he was covering their retreat… so then why didn't he make it back on the last ship out? How could he have left her like Blake and never came back? Pyrrha she knew well enough why she hadn't made it back, Ruby filling her in on the grim details of how she had found her after the fight with Cinder. Demon, however, she still couldn't work out how she had felt. Qrow told her that he had saved Ruby and stayed behind from the last ship to try and take down the dragon, something she wouldn't have even dreamed even in her most bull-headed of states, yet she had definitely watched as something took down the colossal Grimm.
The fact had also been settled by the arrival of a battered Sid in his personal Titan, Josh checking the remote uplink the Titan had with Demon's armour only to receive a message that told to a broken connection with the armour… Josh's reaction being all she needed to see to know there wasn't anything she could do. Josh had given the Titan to Ruby, knowing that they would need it the most on their journey while Josh kept Vanessa, the two managing to smooth things out despite their previous spite as a final wish for Demon.
She was torn from her thoughts by Qrow as he nudged her in the side, gesturing to the mayor as he was almost finished his address.
"… so with a heavy heart, I ask that anyone who would like to place a wreath or message at the base of the monument come forward now…" he said, gesturing to the large metal statue behind him. She reluctantly stood up, as her uncle and her father, then joined the back of the formed que. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Josh with a concerned look on his face. He was wearing one of Qrow's old suits and he had definitely changed over the last months. He had a small amount of facial hair around his chin and he had a small exoskeletal brace on his left arm, compliments of Markus, something he had to have thanks to an injury during the escape when he had a Nevermore fire a feather through Vanessa's unshielded cockpit and slashed right up his forearm and breaking his bones.
"It's ok Yang, we're all hit pretty hard by this…" he said, trying to comfort the blonde as she suddenly realised that she was crying, the slow drips of tears falling from her cheeks.
"Don't worry…" she choked through a tight throat, returning a forced smile, knowing that Josh would see through it instantly.
"I've been to far too many funerals during my time in the Militia and I know exactly how you feel… the sense of loss, of never-ending regret… the constant thinking of how you could have changed it. I can give you advice about it right now and it's that you should never blame yourself for anything… what happened can't be changed"
"But I just let him stay there without doing anything!" she sobbed, trying not to break down in a full-blown mess right there and then.
"He made his choice… he was probably doing it to protect you and to make sure that you weren't killed yourself" Josh replied, having a small smile as he remembered the first time he went to a funeral.
"How could he though… I could have helped!" she tried to argue, Josh having none of that and putting a finger on her lips to stop her rant.
"Trust me, I've heard it a million times before and I know for one you couldn't have helped… he's been trained to call for help only when everything hasn't gone FUBAR, so it's probably likely that he was already dying when he called you… the simple fact was that he didn't want you to see him die"
Yang recoiled a small bit in recognition as she realised a simple fact for the first time since thinking about it… Adam. He was the reason Tempest stayed behind… had he been the one to kill him? She knew Tempest well enough to know he wouldn't run from a fight, yet when she had talked to him over the mics, he had sounded well enough, almost as if he hadn't even fought at all. So just why was it that he had stayed behind?
She deftly felt herself being pulled along by her arm and saw her father dragging her over to the monument.
"What's up firecracker, you don't really seem to be at all in the game recently?" he asked, Yang almost being annoyed at how concerned he was.
"Just been thinking…" she replied, breaking her thought train and focusing on the monument. It was a giant slab of dark grey granite, roughly as large as a car, and across the entire slab were names etched in with a lighter shade so they were easy to read. She didn't have anything on her to give other than a small rose that she had put behind her ear so she took it out and walked over to where the people she knew were. The names were divided into civilians, regular law enforcement and military personal, and finally the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training that died. Every name was given equal value, none being larger than another, although it was easy to see that the last section was the smallest, only having around thirty names in total out of the near-hundred that adorned the monument.
She slowly made her way over, moving past those that were already kneeling close to the names of their loved ones, until she finally spied the names she was looking for. On the monument were the names of her friends, by some miracle being beside one another, each reminding her to the true reason why she was here. Pyrrha Nikos, Tempest Lucran and finally… her head tilted in confusion as she saw what she assumed was mean to be Demon. All it read was 'Hawk'… no last name, no other indicator to who he was… just a name that no-one except a select few knew.
A brief flicker of rage crossed her, until she saw a name that she knew for a fact shouldn't be there. The very last name on the entire list… was Ozpin. She considered questioning Qrow right there and then but held it in while she gave her last thoughts to her friends and brother.
She placed her rose next to a wreath for another student, stepped back and bowed to show her respect, taking a deep breath and then walking off to go sit back down. She saw Josh place a small coin, assuming that it had some kind of significance, Kira placed a large bullet casing, being told prior that it was the casing of the bullet he had used to save Rosaline in the forest, Markus gave a small bone charm that he had produced from around his neck that definitely didn't look like the tooth of something that was from Remnant… although it was Jaeger who honestly surprised her.
He took a large piece of steel, Yang wondering just how he had managed to hide it within his suit so well, with knife-etched drawings scrawled over it, a scene of a battlefield depicted with surprising accuracy with a few words written beneath. It showed what she assumed to be an old warrior standing upon a hill surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of what she could only describe as creatures worse than Grimm, making them look like teddy bears compared to what was shown… yet the main figure didn't at all seem phased in the slightest, holding his sword defiantly against the literal tide of creatures. The words beneath read "even the might of the bear cannot stand against that of a hungry wolf pack… you fought for all those you cared about and that is all we asked of you", a small signature 'Teufel'.
She didn't really know Jaeger for being the sentimental type, considering he spent more time perfecting his hair, although now she found a new respect for the sniper as he showed what she could see as actual caring for a friend. The three pilots and grunt moved off to the side and the rest of the procession filed through, it being a couple more minutes before everyone had finished, then the Mayor officially closed the ceremony, nervous and hushed chatter beginning in the crowd of mourners. Yang immediately turned to Qrow, speaking in a low whisper so no one else could hear.
"What was Ozpin doing up on there!" she accused, her Uncle almost shocked at how angry she sounded.
"Trust me kid, it's better that way" Qrow replied, taking a large swig from his flask, relishing the taste as he was made to refrain from drinking during the funeral, compliments of a promice from Tiayang to break his legs.
"How is it better!"
"Right now, Salem thinks he's dead, something which stops her from searching for him and gives him a certain 'cloak of protection' if you can think of it like that… we're far better off with him dead than alive" Qrow explained, smiling to himself as he realised what he had just said.
"So what now? What is he even doing that's so important that he needs to be dead just to do it!" Yang questioned, toning back her anger and focusing more on getting straight answers. Qrow sighed a bit and took another swig, licking his lips and then began replying.
"He's going after two people who are very hard to find… one who isn't found unless she wants to be and another who doesn't even know he's being chased down. Without Salem's informants definitively searching for Ozzy, he can at least get a few leads before anyone gets suspicious
"Who are they?"
"All I can tell you is that one is a boy who hasn't even been to a major town in his life and the other… is your mother"
Yang's eyes went impossibly wide and she struggled to not lash out at Qrow right there and then.
"So why aren't I going with Ozpin to find her!"
"It's for your own good" Qrow countered, taking another swig as he felt the pressure rise.
"How could it possibly be for my own good!" she growled, drawing the attention of a few people around her, mainly her father.
"What's going on here?" Tiayang asked, a good-hearted smile showing despite the mood.
"I'm just giving your firecracker some life-lessons" Qrow lied, eyeing Yang and seeing a look that said 'this conversation isn't over'. "So what's going to happen with you two now?"
"I was thinking of taking Yang to another academy to continue her training if that's alright with her" Tiayang offered, not really getting an answer from Yang as she just stared off into the distance "Oh, and before I forget about it, there's two guys looking for you over near the monument" he mentioned, addressing Yang.
Said Huntress in training shrugged and left without saying anything, walking back over to the monument seeing a couple of people still looking over the names, although she could definitely see the two people her father was talking about… although as she walked over, she caught the final parts of a conversation that definitely sparked her interest.
"… It's definitely weird being at your own funeral"
[Location unknown on Remnant – un-inhabited wasteland – designation: Salem's domain]
At the moment that the memorial was taking place in Vale, another meeting of sorts was being attended in a large mansion stuck in the centre of a Grimm-infested wasteland, many thousands of kilometres from any form of civilisation (Sounds like the new Luigi's mansion storyline), although now, six beings were conversing in what was normally a land ruled by the soul-less.
"So I ask you one final time" came the punctual and crisp voice of Salem as she addressed one of her four most high-up lackeys, the anger evident in her stature and vocals "Is… Ozpin… dead"
The recipient of her tirade recoiled slightly from the sheer force of the address, although the painful thing was that she couldn't vocalise her thoughts effectively, thanks largely to the burning of her voice box… and the amount of fear running through her veins at the current moment. Cinder produced a small amount of rasping into her attendant's ear, Emerald, although she was silenced by a deathly glare from Salem.
"From your own mouth…" she said simply, giving a look that was all Cinder needed to see she would die if she didn't answer. With much difficulty she rasped out a barely audible 'yes' which brought a small smile to the woman's lips.
"And the boy?"
Cinder tilted her head in confusion, not quite understanding why Salem wanted to know about some boy when it was obviously that girl Ruby who had caused her the most pain. Salem's smile faded when she saw Cinder's confusion, taking the opportunity to remove her ignorance.
"The boy, that one that calls himself Demon? I asked for his removal!" she explained, seeing Cinder's expression quickly shift from confusion to fear. "So you forgot?" Salem spoke, filling in the details for her, Cinder gulping as she trembled in fear.
"I do believe that Cinder has failed us once again" spoke another member of the assembled party, a tall male with a ridiculous moustache that could give Port's a run for its money, his posture and poise giving off an air of nobility and martial training.
"I must agree with you on that part" Salem began, noting how Cinder shrunk back into her chair once she heard that "although it is a problem that can be easily fixed"
"Do I get to kill someone else!" perked up the liveliest of those assembled a man who squatted on his chair and looked like he took enough drugs to put a small pharmacy out of business.
"No, although I do believe I have a new task for Hazel to complete rather than what we had already planned"
Said man brisked up, only being partially focused on what was happening and not paying much attention to Cinder's plight.
"Kill a Huntsman in training who has as much combat training as that Arc boy? I'm almost insulted..." he grumbled. Cinder seemed to say something, although only a small whisper came out, so she used Emerald to convey the message again.
"She says that the White Fang saw him protecting that Ruby girl on the top of Beacon tower and our spies never saw him at the evacuation…" Emerald spoke hesitantly.
"So, for all we know he could already be dead" Hazel put in, getting slightly annoyed at Cinder.
"There was no living person after that… thing… killed the dragon" Salem explained with disgust, "If anyone was there, I would have known and have them killed"
"So I'm following a ghost…" Hazel said to no one in particular "well, it wouldn't be the hardest thing I've done for you"
"Additionally, if you fail, we can use the red one as bait" Watts offered, "which means no killing"
Tyrian's exuberant smile faded when he heard he couldn't kill her, but his enthusiasm was retained anyway as he thought of new strategies to torture her… they said she needed to be alive, they never mentioned what state she could be in. Hazel stood and began to leave for the door, Salem not needing to bother asking where he was going, only to make him remember one thing.
"Hazel… we need him dead… if he lives then our entire plan is in ruins"
Hazel just huffed in affirmation and made his way out of the mansion, his mind already beginning to think of where to start… although something already began plaguing his mind that made him wonder.
How could this kid really be so much trouble…? I mean, it's not as if he's anything special…
