Hey, I'm back. Just a heads up, i might have gotten the order of some events mixed up, but i'm doing my best while not having seen the early episodes in like a year or 2. In addition, i've intentionally moved a few events around. So sorry, but please don't hate.
"It's the Fang, they're up to something. Something big."
A growl rumbled out of Cyris's throat as his eyes hardened. "Those idiots. I warned them to tone it down when i left. Any idea what they're doing?"
Blake was taken aback by the sudden harsh look in her old friends' eyes, and an old memory surfaced.
5 years ago:
12-year-old Blake was wandering the sleeping area of a WF base, looking for where her tent had been placed. She'd just returned from a week-long scouting mission and was exhausted.
Suddenly, the emergency meeting alarm was ringing. Grabbing Gambol Shroud, Blake rushed to the leadership tent, where Adam and another few higher-ranking members were waiting. By the look in their eyes, it wasn't good.
"We lost contact with Vacuoan branch 7 last night at around 2100." the local branch leader began. "Vacuoan branch 3 went to investigate their last transmission, which was unintelligible except for a few words. I will play that clip now."
~~~ * "-E'S GONE NUTS! SEND HELP!" *BOOOOOMMM* "CYRIS! NO! PLEASE!" *SHUNK* ~~~ The recording cut out and the leader stepped back up.
"When VB3 arrived, they found a bloodbath. VB7 was completely annihilated. Their branch leader was found tied to a pole with a note pinned to his chest. It read: 'we are not to be the oppressors. We are the voice of the oppressed. I will not stand with you any longer. I still fight for equality, but in the footsteps of the old man. Do not follow the example of these men, who take the lives of the innocent. Not if you wish to live. Leave me to live in peace. And I will leave you be.' We found out that there was one member of VB7 missing from the carnage: their combat trainer, Cyris Cerluene. When we tried to contact him, he declined the calls. This and the recording led us to believe he was the one behind the loss of VB7.
"If anyone happens to find Cyris Cerluene, he is to be brought before High Leader Khan. Be careful. We don't know what his state of mind is like right now. That is all."
Present day:
A gentle shake on her shoulder brought Blake out of the memory to see the cold, hard eyes Cyris had had were back to the way they were before she spoke up. Kind and concerned.
"Are you ok, Blake? Really?"
"Y-yeah. Sorry. Just, you mentioning your departure... brought up some bad memories."
Cyris sighed raggedly. "That day haunts me too. I-I didn't want to kill them, but they crossed the line when they dragged a human family, a mother, father and 5 kids into camp and started torturing them to death, starting with the kids, forcing the parents to watch. The whole of the branch was watching and... and laughing. I couldn't take it anymore. They were all beyond saving at that point. So, I did what I had to to save innocent lives. I was able to save all but the eldest child, and got them to safety, but to do it, I-I had to make sure I wasn't followed."
Blake was in tears at this point, as was Cyris. They were sitting on a bench in a secluded part of the courtyard, and as Cyris told her his side of the story, Blake saw him in a whole new light. Here was a young man, almost broken inside, but putting a strong face and doing what he had to do to protect the lives of those who couldn't defend themselves, no matter their race or the cost to himself.
The two of them sat there for another minute or two to regain their composure. When he could speak evenly again, Cyris looked over to Blake and asked again, "Any idea what the Fang is up to?"
Blake shook her head. "We, me and my team, that is, only know a few things. They are working with the criminal Roman Torchwick, who's behind all the recent dust robberies. So far, we've tracked their activities to where we think they are planning to hit a shipment of Dust at the docks next week. We are planning to stop them, if possible. If I can convince my team, would you come with?"
Cyris thought about it for a minute, then a grin appeared on his face like he had a mischievous idea. "Yeah, but I want to bring Jaune and Pyrrha, and possibly Ren and Nora. The first two are non-negotiable if you want me, because I need to see how they fare in this type of combat. Besides, friends are here to help, right? I know that JNPR is concerned about your health from the way they acted when you almost collapsed. But you ask your team first, before I propose it to JNPR."
"I'm sure Ruby won't mind, and I know Yang's been wanting to see you fight. Weiss might object, but I think I can convince her. I may have to hint at your background a little, but I won't outright tell them. I'll let you know first thing tomorrow."
"Tell them whatever, I trust you, Blake." Cyris said with a gentle smile.
With that, Blake stood up, a little shakily, and headed off to her dorm to see her team while Cyris stood up and turned towards Dr. Oobleck's office to meet up with JNPR. They left assured that their scrolls had no malicious programs on them.
Team RWBY dorm - later
"Why would you tell a stranger our plans? What if he were to let it slip to the White Fang and they were ready for us?" Weiss was, as expected, not very cooperative, though she wasn't being derogatory with her questions, at least. Ruby and Yang were more accepting, especially Yang, who got along well with Cyris.
"I can guarantee he won't tell the Fang, Weiss. There's bad blood there. If the Fang found out he was here, they would likely start attempting to track him down and kill him."
"What do you mean by that, Blake?" Yang asked, a concerned look crossing her face.
"Cyris, like me, was once one of the WF. He left the White Fang, though in a very different set of circumstances. He saved a human family that was being tortured to death for sport. He- he k-killed- an entire branch of the Fang, for what they were doing, brutally, and since then, they've had a hit out for him."
This shocked the rest of Team RWBY, who had trouble connecting the cheerful, friendly Cyris they knew with a person who had slaughtered a whole branch of a terrorist organization. To save innocent people, he put his life, and future, on the line.
Having heard that, Weiss thought for a minute more before finally agreeing to bring Cyris and Team JNPR along on their investigation of the docks.
The teams and their +1 held a strategy meeting the night before the freighter was supposed to arrive. Considering the history between the supposed perps and Cyris, it was agreed that he would be stationed off site as a Quick Reaction Force should something go down in an unexpected manner, observing the situation with his Pesquisa. Team RWBY would be situated around the docks, in hidden locations around the shipment. JNPR would be just outside the docks, and Jaune would be aiding Cyris with watching for incoming thieves using Pesquisa, while NPR were using Night Vision Goggles.
The night of the freighters' arrival, all the cargo had been unloaded and was just sitting on the docks, as though the workers didn't care whether it was unguarded or not, despite the recent thefts. The group of 1 regular hunter and 8 trainees were arrayed around the docks in their planned positions, waiting for whatever was coming.
Additionally, for the first time outside of Beacon, Jaune was wearing his new combat outfit. Ulquiorra's original fighting style was much more agile that the one Jaune used with Crocea Mors, and Jaune's previous armor would have only slowed him down, now that he had his Hierro.
Jaune's outfit was obviously taking cues from Ulquiorra's outfit from before the collapse. He wore a white, open jacket, not quite as long as Ulquiorra's, a grey V-neck shirt, a black sash with a green stripe on it, and a pair of jeans with combat boots.
Nora hadn't even been watching long enough to be bored of it when Cyris, and Jaune shortly after, picked up a group of aura signatures approaching rapidly at a high altitude from the direction of the industrial district of Vale. Jaune, who wasn't as used to using his Pesquisa, could sense them fine, but Cyris could sense 2 auras that stood out against the rest, both much, much stronger than the rest.
Right away, he knew that this was going to go south, and so he called the group, letting them know what he sensed. "There's a massive presence in two of the bullheads, and Tier's sure one of them has to be a contractor, from a Shinigami. I'm headed your way now!"
Without even waiting for a reply, Cyris leapt from the roof of the 5-story building he stood on, shoving off thin air using a blast of Aura from his feet and a Sonido step to launch towards the docks, even as the encroaching bullheads shot past him.
Falling back into positions to launch surprise attacks on whoever was coming, Team RWBY and Team JNPR were still preparing their weapons when the first members of the Fang dropped from their bullheads and began setting up a perimeter around a few shipping containers of dust.
A moment passed while the White Fang members began to secure equipment to the first crate to attach it to their bullhead, but before they could finish the process, they found themselves under attack. From the west came Yang, while Ruby sniped from the same direction. Blake and Weiss charged from the South, ice bolts from Weiss's glyphs leading the way. Ren and Nora attacked from the East, while Jaune and Pyrrha closed in from the North.
But, as Cyris feared, the Fang soldiers were not without powerful backup. Two figures leapt from the bullhead that dropped off a lesser number of grunts, and immediately joined the fray.
The first figure to land was undoubtedly Roman Torchwick, the orange hair, bowler hat and cane immediately identifying him.
The second figure, looked very plain. She was of average height, dressed in a white tailcoat, which let her tiger's tail sway behind her, with a brown shirt and black pants. Her stark white, shoulder length hair almost seemed to glow in the dark of the night. Her sapphire eyes were slightly squinted behind half-moon glasses. Her weapon was what looked like a shorter than usual katana, a wakizashi, to Ruby's trained eye.
As the grunts began fighting back against the hunter trainees, Roman noticed Ruby sniping from atop a cluster of containers, expertly covering her sister's back.
Roman immediately began to taunt her as she came down to the battlefield. "Why hello, Red, isn't it past your bedtime?"
Yang, however, was not planning on letting the criminal near her sister, (again), and charged him, lunging forward while thrusting her fists back and firing off her shotgun gauntlets to propel herself towards Roman. Ruby took her place dealing with the grunts of the White Fang, Crescent Rose carving streaks of crimson light through the night as Ruby sent her opponents flying.
While grunts closed in and kept Weiss, Blake, Nora and Ren from interfering, the white haired faunus woman seemed to carefully survey the scene, as if trying to understand what was going on. But before she could appear to draw a conclusion, she came face-to-face with Pyrrha and Jaune. After a moment of facing each other down, the woman spoke.
"So, what business does an Arrancar have here?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at Jaune, seemingly ignoring Pyrrha.
"Jaune," Ulquiorra's spoke up softly in his mind, "it is likely this is the Shinigami presence Cyris sensed. Be wary of this one."
"I could ask the same question. What business does a Shinigami have hooking up with terrorists? I thought you all were the ones who protected innocent souls by default."
If she was affected by Jaunes' words, Pyrrha couldn't tell it outwardly, especially due to the darkness of the night surrounding them. But Jaune, who had activated his Pesquisa, sensed a tensing of the aura around the woman's arms and head, and realized he had upset her. Quickly, he shifted so his hand was on the hilt of Murcielago, prompting Pyrrha to ready her weapons. Calmly, the Shinigami drew forth her wakizashi, pointing the blade at Jaune.
"Hmm. I guess you aren't as smart as you look, or you would know not to aggravate me." the woman spoke slowly and clearly. "You Humans treat Faunus like scum, so in a sense, you're right. I am protecting. I'm protecting the innocent souls whom you all so callously oppress. State your name, Arrancar, so I'll know who it is I fight. I am Kanna."
"I'm Jaune. I'll ask this only once. Take your people, leave the dust, and get out of here. We don't have to fight. I-"
"Ikorose (Shoot to kill), Shinso."
With his Pesquisa active, Jaune sensed aura flowing rapidly down Kanna's arm to her Zanpakuto. Acting on instinct, Jaune lunged off to his left, as the small blade suddenly grew to enormous length, almost faster than one could track with their eyes.
Immediately after his dodge, Jaune transitioned to his "first fighting form" as he had nicknamed it. His appearance began to change as he used more of Ulquiorra's power, much like how it did during his spar with Cardin. Once again, his eyes became green with slits for pupils. Longer hair that darkened to a brownish black, teal tear-mark lines beneath his eyes. And in his new outfit, one could see the hollow hole appear in his chest.
From there, Jaune tried to close the distance to Kanna with a Sonido, only to be startled as her sword was no longer lengthened, and his slash was met with an expert parry from the shorter sword. Pyrrha tried to assist, transforming Milo into a rifle and firing a few shots, all of which were deflected by Kanna as she shoved Jaune back and brought Shinso around in a deft series of blocks.
Now Jaune came darting back in, circling around Kanna with a quick Sonido, before slashing at her back. However, he was quickly sent flying backwards as Kanna pointed a single finger from her off-hand over her shoulder and said "Hadou #1: Sho (Thrust)."
A forceful pulse of energy launched Jaune backwards, right as Cyris appeared, his weapon in twin dagger form, and he launched a series of strikes, each hand seemingly working independently of the other. Unfortunately, Kanna immediately recognized Cyris, hissing out, "Traitor!" through gritted teeth, and stepping up her attacks.
Where Kanna had been mostly toying with Jaune and Pyrrha with her swordsmanship, now she truly went on the offensive against Cyris. Pushing Pyrrha and Jaune out of her mind, Kanna zeroed in on the latecomer, and re-tried the technique she used against Jaune at the start of the fight. Once again, she used Sho to gain some distance from her opponent, only this time she used the Hado on the ground between her and Cyris, the recoil launching herself backwards. She then pointed Shinso at Cyris, foregoing the spoken command, and extended the blade at near undectable speeds.
But, like Jaune, Cyris had his Pesquisa active, and was able to, with his greater experience in both physical and spiritual fighting, deflect Kanna's blade rather than evade it, knocking the blade just to the left of his head and using a Sonido to close the gap. While doing so, He brought the right-handed dagger up and triggered its transformative ability, turning it into its half of the trident mirna noḱ, although this was more of a bident in this form.
The primary change was that the thick, heavy handle of the dagger became a staff, extending at a speed that would catch most unaware, while the outer prong of the trident extended away from the staff, catching the extended Shinso and almost tearing it from Kanna's grip.
Neither Cyris nor Jaune felt like using a T2 skill, as the explosive force of the Cero or Bala might ignite the dust in the storage containers around them. Thus, the four combatants, Jaune, Pyrrha, Cyris and Kanna, continued with a back-and-forth engagement, with neither group holding the upper hand.
Suddenly, a medium sized explosion flared upwards into the night, as Roman shot the hooks off of a shipping container that was hanging from a crane, almost dropping it on his current opponents, Yang and Weiss. In response, Weiss created 2 pillars of ice, catching the container, while erecting a dome of the same type over the two of them, shielding the pair from the explosion that resulted from the contents being rattled around.
What was unexpected, however, was for a body to thud against the dome the very instant that the glare of the explosion faded away. The shouting outside changed as well. Rather than the cries of battle, confusion and panic seemed to dominate the area before quickly dwindling away as more bodies thudded against the concrete of the docks. Within 30 seconds this portion of the docks was silent, and Weiss quickly brought down the ice dome to see what had happened.
Yang's eyes immediately looked around for Ruby, who she found standing on top of a nearby shipping container, looking utterly... baffled? Blake was standing not too far from the dome, her bladed sheath still poised to strike, and staring at the unconscious figure of Roman Torchwick in disbelief where he was slumped against the floor where the edge of the dome used to be. Ren and Nora were just coming around the corner of a crate, Nora dragging a pair of groaning grunts, both seemingly unaware of exactly what was going on outside the fight they just left. Sprawled across this section of the docks were no fewer than 25 WF grunts, all unconscious, but otherwise seemingly uninjured.
The cause of the grunts defeat stood over the most recently knocked out grunt, calmly sheathing his sword on his hip, before leaning down and carefully checking the pulse of the knocked-out grunt at his feet.
As he leaned down, his face moved out of the shadows enough that the team could see him a little better. A spiky mess of jet black hair framed his face, which was set into a serious expression as he checked on the condition of the grunt at his feet. He wore a white vest over what looked like a dark grey shirt, both sleeveless showing off an impressive set of muscles. Denim pants led down to sturdy combat boots. Black fingerless gloves covered his hands. All-in-all he appeared to be in possibly his late 30's.
"Must've hit this one a little harder than I thought." Blake heard him mutter. "But no permanent harm done. Now to see about the last one."
At that, the strange man seemed to flicker and disappear from their sight, only Ruby able to realize that he had not actually teleported, but run off so fast that even the speedster of RWBY could barely spot him starting to move before he was out of sight. As one, the six hunters-in-training looked at each other and said "Uhhhhh… what?"
In the Shinigami-Arrancar-Champion fight, Cyris and Jaune were Holding the line against Kanna, as Pyrrha had been caught off-guard by a sudden thrust from Shinso. With the extending blade being entirely unpredictable to one without Pesquisa, she was sent flying into a piece of moving equipment on the docks, rendering her unconscious.
The stalemate ended, however, with the introduction of the unknown individual from RWBY+Renora's area of battle flashing in and slashing down with his sword at Kanna's back right as she made to thrust at Cyris. Kanna's years of battle experience combined with her Faunus hearing, and she aborted her attack in time to spin around to block the slash with not even a split-second to spare.
"I'm not sure who you are, Miss, but you'd best be gone." The man said, his voice smooth, calming, even. "Vale's finest are almost here, and while I don't particularly feel like letting you get away, I get the feeling it would be more paperwork than it is worth to explain you. I also don't feel like handcuffs will be sufficient to keep you from harming the officers, something I will not permit. Even though Shinigami such as you don't tend to listen to the words of those like us, 3-on-1 is surely unlikely to go in your favor, no?"
Kanna, realizing what this strange man was saying, snarled, her eyes narrowing as she backed off from her opponents. "You'll get yours, traitorous bastard! You humans, too!" She spat on the ground at Cyris' feet before vanishing into the night as sirens began to fill the air.
Cyris sighed, collapsing mirna noḱ into two daggers before stowing them away. "Always has to be a dramatic entrance with you, huh, Keiji?" He asked, looking ruefully at the newcomer.
"Only as much as it always turns into a fight with you, Cyris." Keiji replied calmly, a small pleasant smile on his face. "Come, let's go ensure that the prisoners are secured. With as many of the White Fang knocked out as there are, the police should be inclined to be quite lenient with you all conducting unauthorized activities in their jurisdiction, no?"
"You got it, Keiji. But before we do that, I need to introduce you to someone." Cyris motioned Jaune forward from where he had been keeping his distance. "This is Jaune Arc. He recently awakened his contract with Ulquiorra. Jaune, this is Keiji Ritchie, contractor to the 7th Espada of our generation, Zommari Rereaux."
Jaune reached out a hand, which Keiji took in a firm grip. "A pleasure to meet you Mr. Arc. I'll be happy to talk more once we wrap things up here with regards to tonight's events, yes?"
"Yeah, sure." Jaune smiled nervously. "I think that… would be a good idea."
Quickly, the two more experienced Arrancars moved to see to the detainment of the unconscious White Fang grunts, while Jaune rushed over to where Pyrrha was just starting to come back to consciousness.
"Ugh, Jaune? What? Oh, my head…" Pyrrha groaned as she tried to sit up, one hand grabbing her head.
"It's OK, Pyrrha. The fight is over. The Police are here and everyone else is getting things sorted out."
Gathering herself, and with Jaune's support, Pyrrha got to her feet and together the partners made their way back to the rest of the group.
They stopped in shock, however when they spotted none other than Glynda Goodwitch standing in front of the rest of the group, (other than Cyris, who was standing… beside her…?) and one thought ran through the pairs' minds.
"Uh oh."
Sigh. After so long, I am finally back with the 7th chapter of The Black Wings of Remnant. Of the two characters introduced in this chapter, Kanna and Keiji, Kanna Sanada is a personal creation of my own, while Keiji Ritchie is another of the Donated OC's, this one coming from prbenjamin. Thank you greatly, pr! Reading back over the character profile for Keiji is actually what got me out of my writing funk and solved my conundrum about how to progress past a part of this fight scene I was stuck on. So it is definitely not too far-fetched to say we have you to thank, at least partly, for this chapter.
Also, yes, Kanna is contracted to Gin Ichimaru, who I affectionately refer to as Sneaky Snek Boi. Don't question my stupidity. You'll be here all day.
(edit 3/20/22: i referred to Gin as Sneaky Snek Boy at first... i changed it just now b/c of a review from Zoran Dawn-Eclipse. i'm ashamed i didn't think to put it as Boi at first. and here i though i was a halfway-decent memer)
I hope you all enjoy this chapter, please review if possible. Gajeel out!