A/N: Been a bit, hasn't it?
I'll understand if some of you need to catch up.
This heat wave is killing me, but we had a particularly persistent chap asking me to update this, so here we are.
My health has been...better. Between back and breathing problems I'm feeling the pains of being old. I still refuse to take those bloody muscle relaxers. Not a chance.
With my fifteen year anniversary on this site finally here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.
And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.
Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.
Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.
In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!
To clarify, currently in the Emerald Forest we have:
Naruto, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora, Illia, Mercury, Emerald, Cinder, Winter, Coco, Jaune, and of course Pyrrha. Then we have two others who shan't be named...yet. You'll be seeing them this chapter or the next, depending ont he state of him hands.
Team names are going to be HELL for me. Really could use some help on that front...
Really, I mean that. Its driving me mad~!
"The things we do for family."
~?
Do you Believe in Destiny?
"Bad! Bad birdie! VERY BAD BIRDIE!"
Ruby both yelped and simultaneously flared her semblance in the same instant, vanishing in a swarm of red rose petals as a massive beak perforated the space she'd just occupied. She flitted her way onto another branch, only for a hail of razor sharp feathers to force her to flee once more. No time for a witty comeback or a snappy retort. She had to fly, flee, get the hell out of dodge before she got hen-pecked to death!
Oh gods, that was an awful pun. Yang must never know.
The very second she reappeared, the giant nevermore shrieked pecked down at her again, determined to skewer her where she stood.
"Kaaaaaw~!"
Atop her head, the little nevermore crowed its appreciation.
Ruby barely had time to glare at it before its mother tried to kill her again. "You're not helping!"
The larger nevermore heard her and swooped down for another pass. Swooping was bad! Swooping was very bad!
And then Naruto was quite suddenly there, interposing himself between her and the beast with eerie ease. He caught hold of the bird's snapping beak in both hands and jerked it aside. Strong as he was, he couldn't quite stop it; nor the momentum behind it. His feet bit into the dirt, forming a fierce furrow behind him as he found himself pushed back.
"Go!"
He cast an annoyed look up at the bird, planted his feet, grit his teeth, and wrestled it down to the ground. From there he rammed a clawed fist into the side of its head to crack its mask. An act of dominance like that was usually enough to quell a rowdy grim back home. Give 'em a good smack, talk em down, and everything was usually good, ya know?
Not this one.
Rather than back down like any sane creature, the mother Nevermore went berserk and flailed its wings, buffeting him with a storm of black feathers and razor barbs. More than a few slammed into Naruto; who had to release the bird's beak to defend himself; the moment he did, momentum seized him and rocketed backwards through the trees. That wouldn't kill him she knew, but it would definitely slow him down...
Slowly, ponderously, the giant bird pivoted to face her once more. Its bead red eyes alighted upon its young, still nestled her head.
Ruby tugged at it, to no avail. The bird wouldn't budge.
Its mother bridled, wings tucked in at its side...
Ruby swore softly. "Ah, crapbaskets."
Then it went for her again.
"Not a nice birdie!" She flung herself forward with a yelp, tumbling to safety as a giant beak barreled through the brush behind her. "Angry birdie!"
The Nevermore barreled in behind her, smashing trees down in its wake. This would've been so much easier if she could just transform, just use her Grimm form and stomp it down, but she couldn't. She did not dare. She absolutely didn't dare. Ozpin might have his connections and any footage of such would never see the light of day in the Emerald Forest, but if someone saw her...
.
..
...nope, couldn't risk it.
Besides, Not all Grimm were the same. She knew that, she really did; some were born broken, others lost their minds over time. Some had grown so old they were downright human in their mannerisms, though this was a fact known to few outside the Grimmlands. Emotions had a way of blinding people as much as they did Grimm.
This one certainly was!
A flicker of motion heralded Naruto's running return a her side. "Just let the bloody bird go!"
"I did!" Ruby flailed her hands, trying and failing to extricate the roosting nevermore from her hair. "It won't let go of meeeee!"
Was this a test of some sort from Salem? Naruto's mom would do something like that...would she? She heard a gunshot echo in the forest, followed by a yelp. That...didn't sound good. She wanted to run that way and investigate but it just wasn't possible with ten tons of black death bearing down on them. Still, however scary this Nevermore was, it was a mother. She wasn't about to kill it if she didn't hav eto. Sure, she wasn't on best terms with her OWN mother right now, buuuuut-
"Ruby! Break right!"
Her head whipped Naruto's way. "Why me?!"
Her partner didn't answer; he'd spied a particularly large tree ahead and now he was racing toward it.
"Distract the bird for a second!"
"Again, why me?!"
Rather than retort, Naruto flared his chakra and ran up it. Sure enough the Nevermore barreled along, heedless of his presence. It only had eyes for her and no one else. That didn't preclude it from smashing down any tree in its path and it did much the same to this one. But The second it hit his tree he kicked off and vaulted backwards. A graceful arc carried him up and over, one Ruby barely saw. Silver eyes widened as she realized what he intended.
His heel snapped up...then slammed down in a thunderclap.
"Skreeeee?!"
The Nevermore never stood a chance; focused on her as it was, it utterly failed to notice Naruto until he crashed down like a falling star. He struck mama bird's back and she went down with a startled cry, beak buried in the dirt. Naturally, it tried to rise. Naruto alighted on its back and dug his boot into its neck.
This time, Mama Bird went down and stayed down with a startled croak.
"Listen, you." he growled down at it. "I've had about all I can stand of your shenanigans today." he looked over his shoulder at her. Ruby!"
She scrambled his way, skidding to a halt well within reach. Strong hands seized the playful Nevermore in her hair and painstakingly coaxed its claws free from her dark locks. He was surprisingly...gentle about it, gentler than she'd thought he'd be. She'd half expected him to rip it right out, hair be damned.
"Gotcha." he growled at the hatchling. "You've caused us no end of trouble today, then!" Hoisting his prize high, he thrust it at the dazed Nevermore underfoot. "Here's your baby bird, now stop chasing us or I will EAT you both!"
The nevermore croaked weakly and tried to peck at him.
Naruto tilted his head, blue eyes boiling red and pressed down. "Come again?"
It stopped struggling.
Just like that, his face softened. "Good girl. Now fly away with your baby like a good birdie."
The Mama Nevermore didn't need to be told twice; it coaxed the little one onto its back, rose to its full towering height, and beat at the ground with its wings. Wind buffeted them both, blasting at their hair as it struggled to takeoff. Injured though it was, the massive creature soon took flight. In a matter of moments it was gone from sight.
Once it was, Naruto pivoted to face her, face carved from stone. "What have we learned?
Ruby felt her heart do a little backflip in her chest. "Um...?"
"Ruby."
"Meep." his glare made her want to shrink down to nothing. "Don't run off...?"
His head tilted a little more, eyes still red. "And?"
"Stop and think?"
"Yes." he flicked her forehead. "If you'd stood still and let me get the bird off you, we could've saved ourselves a great deal of trouble."
Ouch. She resisted the urge to wriggle away and hide. "M'sorry...
"Don't be sorry." he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Be better." when next they opened, they'd returned to their usual true blue. "I know you can be."
"So," she squirmed a little under his gaze "...still partners?"
The ghost of a smile tugged at whiskered cheeks. "Well, we did make eye contact. That hasn't changed."
Her eyes widened, tears stinging at the edge of her vision. "You mean...?"
"Yeah," he offered her his hand. "Put 'er there."
Her body struck his at speed in a flurry of crimson petals, her head striking his chest in a flying tackle he couldn't possibly escape from. Naruto didn't even try, bless him. He simply stood there and weathered her. in bemused silence. Her happy heart performed little dance of sheer glee. Said dance intensified tenfold when he patted her head with one hand, idly holding her close with the other. Victory was hers. She'd one-upped Weiss and the rest, and that made today sweeter than any cookie. Now they just had to find two more people and they'd have their very own team. Then they'd they were set!
The ground trembled underfoot, cutting her celebration short.
Naruto made an annoyed noise and reluctantly, she tugged her head from his chest.
A raging pillar of fire roared into the sky to pierce the clouds, followed by dark, exultant laughter.
"Shoot me, will you?!" an all too familiar voice crowed in the distance. "You'll burn for that, all of you! BURN!"
"Who in the heck...?"
Naruto winced. "That...would be Cinder."
Ruby winced. "Should we help?"
Naw, she's got this.
She almost argued otherwise; then imagined having her as a teammate.
Because that could only go well, right?
Nope! Walking the other way!
(.0.0.0.)
Winter clicked her tongue at the immolated corpses before her. "Did you have to burn them all, Cinder?"
"Why, yes." Her fellow Maiden preened. "Yes, I did. It was a need I couldn't deny.
A muscle jumped in the back of her jaw. "Such a bitch...
Cinder twitched. "Care to say that again?"
"I'm sorry, are you hard of hearing?" Ice shimmered at her fingertips. "I said you're being a bitch."
Fire met ice.
(.0.0.0.)
"Nora, no."
"But Yaaaang! Explosions!"
"We are NOT walking towards that!"
(.0.0.0.)
Illia heard the laughter and winced.
Nope. Not getting involved with those two powerhouses.
She took Blake by the shoulders and steered her in the opposite direction.
(.0.0.0.)
"You killed them."
"Yup."
"All of them?"
"Sure did.
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose and stifled a long-suffering sigh. "That one is LITERALLY still breathing."
"Is he?" Mercury craned his neck toward the nearest fallen soldier. "Ooops. Must've missed one."
A quick stomp down put paid to his words and the man expired with a wet gurgle.
Emerald slapped her face. "Sorry. You know how he gets."
Mercury shrugged halfheartedly. "Sorry, not sorry."
She was not forming a team with these two.
NEVER! Absolutely not!
(.0.0.0.)
James wasn't hard to find.
Perhaps that was a bit of an untruth on Ozpin's part; while his soldiers certainly weren't making any effort to conceal themselves here in the Emerald Forest, the man in question had yet to emerge from hiding. He'd taken down at least three now, and each remained tight-lipped as to his location. At first he'd thought they had been schooled not to speak, or that they simply didn't know.
The truth was far uglier; he'd cut out their tongues. Not all of them perhaps, but every infantryman he'd encountered seemed to suffer from the same fate.
It was infuriating.
James had ever loved to lead from the front.
Naturally, that meant he had to be luring somewhere nearby. So where was he...?
Another soldier lunged out the undergrowth at him, brandishing a baton and screaming wordlessly. Ozpin broke his neck with a casual backhand and kept walking, leaving the poor fool to slump bonelessly behind him.
Let the Grimm have him. He had no time for this.
He took no pleasure in what must be done; whatever had befallen James, whatever he had become; it now fell to him to stop this madness. It no longer mattered if he was being controlled by some outside force, or if this was his own volition. The deed was done.
Itwas his hope that he wouldn't have to kill him, but that hope seemed to be in vain. He had been a good soldier, a capable commander, a friend, even. All that had changed today. In attacking the Emerald Forest -during initiation no less!- he'd hadn't just burned any bridges between them. He'd torched them. And for what?! A senseless unprovoked attack that would draw ire and attract Grimm the world over?
Gods forbid if the media outlets got wind of this. Lisa Lavender would have a field day. He could just imagine the headline now:
"Atlas attacks Beacon students! More at seven!"
He refused to allow such a thing to pass.
Salem could not be stopped. Not anymore. Not in the conventional sense of the word. Coexistence was the only way for anyone -for Remnant!- to possibly survive now. He understood that now. If he could control that coexistence, make certain it was a slow and seamless one, they might even find peace. Would that he had learned that lesson before! He could have saved them so many lives. But James could not learn that lesson. He was incapable of change, a man made for war and nothing else. He would fight on until his last breath
A glint of metal between the trees caught his eye.
'Ah, there we are.' A mobile forward operating post. 'How traditional of you, James.'
He approached at a slow stride and hardened his heart. The first soldier trained their weapons on him. He stove in their skull with a lazy backward swing. Another burst round the corner and lost their head. Quite literally in fact; he smacked it clean off their shoulders. A third came barreling in and he moved to meet them-
Something clicked underfoot.
Ozpin looked down.
'Oh.'
Then his world went up in smoke.
Aura crackled angrily as he warded a hand before his face, warding off a cough. Ears ringing, eyes stinging, he stumbled cursed himself for the slip. Mines. Of course James had planted mines, the rat bastard. For him, this was war. He shouldn't have expected any less from a General of Atlas.
"Come now, James. Let us put an end to this."
He certainly expected him to barrel through the fire and the flames, guns blazing.
Poor, poor man. He'd looked even worse than he'd feared. Haggard and burned, a wild look in his eye. Why...it almost seemed red.
How very curious. Ah, but the oaf was speaking to him now, and he must attend.
"You traitor! You're just the same as me! Don't you see what you've done?!
"Traitor, you say?" Ozpin walked -stalked!- out of the inferno, green scarf smoldering away from his shoulders. "Me?" Shattered spectacles crunched underfoot. He kept walking in spite of his wounds, slow steps carrying him forward. "The same as you?" He ripped his cane free from a nearby tree as he strode past, sending green trailing through the air. "Perhaps you're right. In your eyes, I am undoubtedly a traitor. However, I, at least, didn't sell my soul."
Then he moved.
It was simple. Effortless, even. Almost, sad really.
A quick riposte swept one gun from his hand, then the other.
Ironwood jolted as a hand closed around his throat. Rasped, as he choked.
Ozpin sighed. "I'm sorry, James. I never wanted this fate for you. But this is the way it must be. I'm afraid I have to break you now...
A/N: Aaaand scene.
Sorry, couldn't help myself, there.
I really do need help with the Team names here; I'm afraid I've hit a wall and won't be able to update otherwise.
Time and feedback will determine if this remains a proper story. In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~! I can't afford to waste energy on something no on likes, not with my health as is. As ever, the Ember Rule remains in effect. If folks don't like this tale, poof, away it goes. No updates. Can't write without feedback. That's no joke. Well, this was a blast to write, but I wish I could've made this longer. All this work and no play is making me sad, I have so little time to write these days...
Soooooo in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review, Would You Kindly?
Reviews keeps this sickly man alive. Without them, I'll just vanish into the void. Poof. Gone.
No preview this time around. Got a few surprises in store...
(Future!Previews)
All hell broke loose.
It was madness incarnate, a massacre of
"Can a team have five members...?"
Nora shrugged happily.
"Works for me!"
"You're cracked!"
Naruto laughed as he rode the Deathstalker into the ground. "Not my fault! This thing's crazy!"
Yang looked up. Frowned.
"She's riding a nevermore. WHY IS MY SISTER RIDING A NEVERMORE?!"
"How many people have you killed?"
"I can either go with ""Enough!" or "You couldn't fathom the amount of dead men behind me. Go on, soldier boy. Take your pick.
"That's your team?!"
Mercury crashed backward, metal legs flailing in the air as he cackled.
James considered the soldiers arrayed before him. "Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."
And the figure behind him smiled.
Jaune tilted his head. "Uh, Pyrrha?"
"Yes, Jaune?"
"Don't you think they're a little weird...?"
Nora hitched up her skirt.
"Oi! Knock that off. We'll get caught."
"And? That's half the fun! C'mon, live a little...
R&R~!