Author's Note:
I do not own Library of Ruina or RWBY. These series belong to Project Moon and RoosterTeeth respectively.
Welcome back to this little project of mine! Man, it's been a good summer break, but school's coming back and I need to prep for that so another chapter might now come out any time soon. Welp, onto the chapter. This time is just solely around the Librarians and Beacon, nothing too fancy, but I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations. This is probably the most amount of character dialogue I had to write, talking is hard yall. The dialogue took up most of the time writing this and a few bits of writer's block, but I pushed past it! God, I hope I did the characters some justice or I'mma go rot in a Warp Train. Anyways, if you have some complaints about certain parts, let me know so I can adjust or fix it, but either way, have fun!
Reviews:
Argorok - Believe me, I have written plans for all of them. Some of them might be better than others, but that's because I made these plans at 5 in the morning and didn't bother to change them.
The Dark Hour - Oh, you'll see.
Emm - Haven't thought of "Jay" distorting. That gives me some ideas.
Unzealots - Oh, no worries. Just a little spoiler, only a few are going to side with Salem. I'm not going to say who, but a few are. The others are up in the air.
JaphetSkie - Yeah, after what happened during the Blue Reverb Raid, I won't blame Roland.
TetSuoRai - My apologies. Like I said in my A/N, I wanted to try something different than my usual style of writing. I agree with what you say though, info dumps aren't fun to read nor are the double timeslips, it made sense in my head, but it's confusing. Sorry.
Scifive - Thanks, man!
Spaghetti Anon - The funny clown man is based. Hopefully, I can do him justice.
NikolaiVermil - Hey, you're fantastic. Thank you for supporting this. I didn't expect this to get a lot of peeps, just did this without thinking and here we are. As for your question: Yes. The other Reverb members are going to appear, but I'm still in the process of figuring out where to place them. I have their "new" names, but not how they fit.
–TUKSON'S BOOKSTORE, VALE–
The owner of the store, Tukson, was sorting through some books on his counter. He was dressed in a burgundy and black short-sleeved quarter-zip shirt with a visible white undershirt, giving him a casual style. Tukson kept his hair neatly cut and had noticeable sideburns, as well as muscular and hairy arms. For some reason, his sideburns were darker than his hair. However, Tukson mostly kept to himself, maintaining a friendly and nice facade.
It had been almost a year since he left. He knew he would never be forgiven for what he did, and he had no intention of seeking forgiveness. All he wanted now was to stay out of the fight. Sighing, he picked up some books, planning to restock the store after it was raided by those strange, colorful people who took a bunch of books.
Then, Tukson started to hum while thinking to himself. 'I wonder what Ms. Belladonna is up to…' However, he was interrupted by the sound of the store's bell, signaling the arrival of a customer.
"Be right there!" he shouted to them, secretly hoping this would be one of the last customers he'd have to deal with; he just needed a little more cash.
He entered through the double doors at the back of his store, carrying two stacks of books. Without facing the customers, he greeted them warmly, "Welcome to 'Tukson's Book Trade,' home to every book under the sun!" Setting the books down, he looked directly at them. "How may I help you?"
Instantly, he recognized the people in front of him: green hair, dark skin, and red eyes. The other person at the back was all gray and black. They were the ones who had tried to recruit Adam and the White Fang, although there was another person there that he didn't recognize. From the figure, he could tell that she was at least a woman, but the tattered black and red trench coat made it difficult to discern her identity. It also seemed like darkness shrouded her face, but that didn't matter right now.
Seeing them, he knew what was about to happen. "How may I help you?" Tukson asked nonchalantly, silently begging them to leave him alone. However, he felt an intense glare coming from the unknown woman before darkness took over.
–DINING HALL, BEACON ACADEMY–
"Oi, Malkuth. Stop hogging all the syrup," Roland shouted across the table.
In response, the bronze librarian stuck her tongue out at him. The black fixer growled as he took a bite out of his dry waffles. The entire cafeteria's pancake supply was gone due to one person, so he had to settle for the pancake's counterpart. Roland didn't mind waffles; they were crispier, and he could fill the pockets with syrup if he had any!
"It's too early in the morning for this," Roland complained as he sipped his coffee. Then, he stared at his sad, no-syrup waffles. He was going to take another bite but noticed Malkuth placed the syrup bottle on the table after she dumped half of it onto hers. Smirking, he waited for her to eat, and once she did, he leaned over the table to grab it.
However, before he could reach it, a kick to his shin made him jerk up. Looking up, he saw Malkuth's smug face gazing at him.
"Oops, sorry. You can wait your turn," Malkuth taunted.
Roland gritted his teeth. She had already covered her waffles thrice over, and everyone else didn't get waffles, so it was just Malkuth and him who got some. He would get his syrup, and he wanted it now.
The black fixer was going to strike again, but the bronze librarian smirked, anticipating his attack. He reached out once again, but she used her tray to shift the bottle's position. Without skipping a beat, he readjusted his aim and grasped the bottle. But before he could retract his hand, Malkuth gripped his wrist, not letting him go. Both of them glared into each other's eyes, daring each other to let go first.
"Children, please. Do not play at the table," a voice near them commanded. "You are setting a terrible example." The owner's voice immediately made them freeze, and they sat up straight. Both of them put on worried expressions and turned to look at the person speaking to them.
"Err, sorry Ms. Binah," Roland apologized as he sweated.
Malkuth responded in a similar fashion, "Sorry." She gave Roland the bottle of syrup so they wouldn't fight over it anymore.
Next to them, Chesed and Hod let out little chuckles as they watched the scene unfold. The blue librarian was drinking some coffee as usual, while the brown librarian was eating oatmeal. Binah, seeing how the two offenders became meek, smiled and took a sip of her tea.
Ever since the encounter with Roman Torchwick at the docks in Vale, not much had changed. Torchwick continued to steal Dust from the city, and security kept ramping up. However, the mood of the city was changing. Things were getting worse; the constant patrols of police and huntsmen kept civilians worried and fearful, which, in turn, attracted more Grimm. Extermination missions around Vale were increasing, but not at a worrying rate. However, if this continued, it might lead to a large-scale assault.
Back at Beacon, things were mostly the same. Classes went on, students trained, and teamwork was improved. The battle at the docks had shaken the student body, but it also encouraged them to do better. Roland's little extra training sessions became a little too crowded for his liking. Additionally, with the first floor of the Library newly opened, the Librarians rarely got peace and quiet. All of this continued until the end of the first semester of the year, allowing both students and staff members to earn a month-long break.
In that month, most of the students left for their homes to rest, but some, like Blake, Weiss, Nora, and Ren, stayed behind for different reasons. However, just because almost all the students weren't gone didn't mean that things would be calmer. In the first week after the break started, somehow Nora managed to set a fire in the dining hall's kitchen, literally blow up a bathroom, make a mess of the school's infirmary, and do all of that in a single day.
It was later found that all the stress from Nora had built up throughout the first semester, and Ren became sick once the break started. To help him, the ginger-haired girl decided to cure him herself without any help, to show him that she is dependable. Needless to say, she achieved the opposite. Later, she enlisted Roland's help to make some soup and give Ren the correct medicine. Luckily, it was the most troublesome event that happened throughout the break.
Since the break lasted a few weeks, it gave enough time for Angela to bring back almost all the Patron Librarians, sans Hokma. The older librarian's floor was almost done and would be complete in less than a week. And because they were going up to the Library, that meant that the only floors left were Religion and General Works. Yesterday, Binah and her floor were begrudgingly the newest additions to Beacon. Ozpin, who is normally calm and somewhat perceptive, felt unnerved by the Arbiter's presence. Even if they saw her through a scroll, actually being with her in the same room sent a shiver down his spine. Disregarding Hokma's absence, almost everyone had returned to the academy because the second semester was going to start tomorrow.
"So, what's everybody gonna do today?" asked Roland as he stabbed his waffle with a fork.
"Mmm, maybe explore the city now that I have a chance to," Chesed replied. "A different world's coffee must taste different, wouldn't you say so?"
Binah put her tea down, also answering, "It is still a shame that you willingly put that unpleasant taste of bitterness on your tongue. Perhaps this world can agree that tea is more suitable for refined palates."
"Surely, the people of Remnant can say that coffee is the king of all drinks," Chesed chuckled playfully.
Roland, Hod, and Malkuth watched the two of them talk to each other in a calm discussion, though to others, it might have felt like a passive-aggressive argument. The two drink enthusiasts would eventually glare at each other until one of them broke away, each claiming victory in turn.
"So…" the black fixer directed his question to the other two librarians. "What're you girls gonna do?"
"Dunno, probably go bug Yesod," Malkuth bluntly responded. "He's in the Library with Tiph, so it'll be fun to mess around with both of them."
Hod shifted in her seat, "Um, I-I might go with you. I've got nothing else to do today."
"Alright," Roland said in acknowledgment. "I might go see if any of the kids want some training before the semester starts. I swear, those kids are going to be the end of me someday."
"They're not that bad," Hod said, raising her hands in a gesture of reassurance. "They're good kids. At least, they get to have better lives than what we had."
Roland glanced over at Team RWBY and Team JNPR. The two teams were sitting next to each other, discussing and enjoying themselves from what he saw. It was a blessing that not every world was like theirs, and now that they were here, he guessed they could also indulge in that peacefulness while it lasted.
"Yeah, I see what you mea–" Roland was cut off when an apple hit him in the back of the head. He turned around and saw that it was Yang who threw it. "Hey!" he shouted, then heard giggling. He turned to face Hod. "I'm not seeing what you mean anymore," he calmly said. She, Chesed, and Malkuth started to chuckle as well, with Binah smiling.
As if things took a turn for the worse, a crowd of "oohs" rang throughout the dining hall, and then food started to fly. The main culprits of flying food were the tables where Team RWBY and Team JNPR were sitting. Once most of the students had left the cafeteria, every single one of the Librarians present had similar thoughts.
'Wow… what a waste of food.'
–FIVE MINUTES LATER–
"That was probably the most entertaining food fight I've ever seen in my life," Malkuth debated.
Roland shrugged, "Eh, I've seen better."
The entire dining hall was covered in either soda or food. It was not a pretty sight. Most of the tables were destroyed or piled up; you couldn't step anywhere without food getting on your shoes, and there was a giant hole in the ceiling from when Yang was launched by Nora's makeshift watermelon hammer.
It goes without saying that most of the Librarians were also affected by the fight. Roland and Chesed took most of the damage, while Hod and Malkuth were relatively clean, with some bits of food on them. As for their resident Arbiter, she used her cheating Singularities to protect herself from anything that got too close. The others deadpanned when a turkey slid off Binah's clothes, not even leaving a stain or mark.
The food fight was decided when Ruby used her Semblance to create a tornado of food and destroyed Team JNPR in a single attack. As Malkuth put it, the red-hooded girl used the power of 'friendship' in that last attack.
Needless to say, the entire commotion eventually garnered the attention of Professor Goodwitch in the form of her busting through the doors with a growl on her face. There were two other people there as well; Roland knew one of them, Sun, but didn't recognize the guy splashed in purple soda. Moving on, when Goodwitch actually showed up, the Librarians let out a sigh of relief, knowing that her presence would restore peace to the dining hall. Using her riding crop as a wand, she employed her Semblance to reorganize everything back to its original state.
"Children, please. Do not play with your food," she scolded them.
In reaction to this, Team JNPR stood on one side of a table, while Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were on the other side. The students calmed down and stared at each other with big smiles on their faces. There was a few seconds of silence until Nora burped, very loudly, which startled everyone.
"Oh, a happy ending~" Chesed chuckled.
Malkuth nodded, "It was fun to see a good fight that involved no bloodshed," although it was hard to tell whether or not the red stains were food or not.
"Although, I still think that this was a waste of food," Hod pointed out. "If Ms. Gebura were here, she would be terribly angry."
"Ahh, she would be pretty mad," Roland agreed. Then he looked at the group of students, realizing something. "Though, is there someone missing?"
"Oh?" Malkuth questioned. "Yeah, you're right. Where's Yang?"
Instantly, they heard something crumbling. Looking up, they saw a bit of the ceiling fall with a familiar blonde person. Screaming as she fell, Yang landed back first onto a table. The ground shook as dust flew into the air.
"Ask and you shall receive~"
Dazed and confused, the blonde girl was muttering nonsense, causing all the students to giggle at what happened. It was a funny unexpected moment after all that chaos. Meanwhile, their nonchalant attitude made their blonde professor growl. Before she could act on anything, Ozpin walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Let it go," he asked.
Sighing, Glynda let it go and calmed her demeanor. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world," she remarks.
"And they will be, but right now they're still children," he said as they watched Yang pick herself back up, with all her friends laughing with her. "So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever."
As she watched the Beacon Headmaster walk away, she noticed Roland heading her way. Just like her students, the Librarians were also dirtied by all sorts of food, except for the black and gold librarian. All of them, except for the black fixer, left the dining hall, presumably to clean themselves.
"So, I'll assume you did nothing to prevent the situation from escalating?" she spoke in a slightly scolding tone.
"C'mon, professor," Roland pleaded. "Like what Ozzy said, let the kids have their fun. Most people from my home never got to have a decent childhood. I, for one, didn't have the chance to make any friends when I was younger."
Professor Goodwitch sighed, absorbing his words before a smile graced her face. "You need to stop spending so much time with Qrow. His attitude is rubbing off on you."
"Who's to say this isn't how I've always been?" Roland countered with a smile of his own. "Besides, he's a good friend of mine and Netz. He can hold his drinks like a champ."
"Just be careful of falling pots, then," she warned playfully. "I don't want to see him inadvertently hurting another one of his friends with his Semblance. The last time he tried to befriend someone, they had to go to the hospital because they slipped on some stairs and fell into a container full of Burn Dust. Burns all over his body."
Disturbing imagery, but the black fixer had seen worse. "Even without Qrow around, I'll probably still end up in that situation. My luck's already bad enough," Roland joked as both of them left the building.
Shaking her head, Professor Goodwitch started to walk toward the Beacon Tower. But before she could leave, she turned around and looked at the black fixer. "Oh, and remind me to dock your pay for not trying to stop the students," she spoke with a smug tone.
Roland's smiling face cracked and faltered upon hearing those words. He didn't say anything to protest as it would probably backfire on him. He didn't care how much he would lose, as long as he got paid, but it would hurt to see the current number be less. Once the professor was out of sight, he had only one thing to say.
"Damnit."
Then, a buzzing sound rang from his pockets.
–30 MINUTES BEFORE–
–FLOOR OF TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES, THE LIBRARY–
In the recently built Library, most students had already explored the new attraction in the days before. Bigger than its predecessor, it took days, if not weeks, just to explore a single floor. Blake and Weiss had spent a good portion of their break exploring the Library, and they had a good grasp of the layout, but that was only a few of the floors. The vastness of the upgraded Beacon library was welcomed, but it also raised questions.
On the outside, the Library building was just a bit less than half the size of the CCT. However, once inside, it was unanimous that the building was significantly larger than the entire campus. For first-time visitors, the wide-open space was staggering to behold. Even though visitors were confined to specific locations on each floor, the seemingly infinite expanse stretched across the place. Many visitors tried to reach the edge of the space but found themselves unable to exit the area they were placed in.
Almost everyone was told that the difference between the outside and inside of the Library was due to Beacon's experimental technology using an anonymous user's Semblance. However, this explanation left many people with more questions about the specifics of the new tech. Instead, they were met with vague and fluffed-up answers, which somewhat discouraged further inquiries.
Even though this was all brand new to everyone else, it was all different for the Librarians. For one, Angela had added a moving platform that went up and down the floors for convenience, essentially an elevator, which was met with cheers from the Librarians who appreciated the chance to let their feet rest.
A second improvement was that the lounges of each floor would be expanded to hold many people – it was just simply their lounges but bigger. While the rooms were bigger, the bookshelves became smaller, making it easier to sort through the books. Yesod and Tiphereth had recommended this change, as most of the stored books were about the people of the City and the City itself, and leaking that information would be unwise. Additionally, the old Beacon library's books weren't enough to fill the larger shelves, so making them smaller was a practical solution.
The last change was the receptionist's desk at the entrance of the Library. It was added to help guide lost visitors in the right direction. The desk not only served a practical purpose but also enhanced the aesthetics of the area, replacing the previous hallway that led to a wall of light.
"–ere… Is that every single last one of them?" the yellow-haired librarian questioned.
The purple-haired librarian scanned the table. "I believe so," he answered.
Here, on the Floor of Technology, these two wanted to double-check their Key Pages to see which ones they had left. Tiph and Yesod were early risers and got breakfast before everyone else, so they decided to do something productive. After all, their only job now was to be librarians.
Although Hokma had already gone through the Key Pages, the purple-haired librarian felt the need to sort them himself. It was well known to the others that Yesod preferred neatness and order above everything. The yellow librarian just tagged along since she had nothing else to do anyway.
They could've conducted more experiments using Dust or Aura, but considering Roman Torchwick's theft and that Aura was already a widely researched topic, they didn't want to waste Dust anymore. What they could learn was already documented by professionals in Remnant.
When they asked Angela, who was already there before them, if they could sort through the Key Pages, she said she could do it herself. However, once she got a call from the headmaster to go to his office, she had no choice but to let them do it. It was very convenient for them because they had nothing else to do, and no one would bother them since they were in Yesod's office.
"Now… how should we sort them?" Tiph asked. "I'd say based on their rarity."
"Agreed. Perhaps it would be better if they were also grouped by their affiliations. It would be easier to know which individuals we are missing from their groups," proposed Yesod. Without haste, he began to sort the Key Pages into their respective organizations.
Tiph frowned, "But there are some useless pages over here that belong to just some random fixers from some random office." Trying to compile every office and fixer they had into separate yet neat piles would eventually be maddening. "I don't understand how the Hana Association did this for decades," she sighed, but she started to sort the Key Pages as well.
–SOMETIME LATER–
Minute by minute, the neat stack of paper started to lower and lower. From the lowest-ranked rats to the powerful Blue Reverberation members, multiple stacks of increasing Key Pages were formed. There were at least two stacks for each organization: one for prominent members and one for basic grunts, which required a lot of space. Most of the table that the two were using was almost covered in stacks of paper, so they had to push another table to fit them all. Some random books were scattered on the floor, but they would pick them up later after they were done.
"Let's see…" Tiphereth mused, her eyes scanning the pages before her. "Regarding the Key Pages where we have all of the prominent individuals, we have the Kurokumo, the Fourth Pack of R. Corp., and the Zwei."
Yesod frowned a bit when he heard that. All of them were decent Key Pages, but that was less than he had anticipated. A lot of the fighting back in the City had drained too much of the Library's Light. Thankfully, it seemed that none of the Librarians vanished like the missing Key Pages.
"... and the Fixers that were Grade 3 or above that disappeared were Ms. Cecil, Mr. Chun, Mr. Miris, Mr. Salvador, Ms. Martina, and all of the Hana Association members… Most of them were high-tier pages as well, what a waste," Tiphereth fumed. "I don't even want to list out how many Urban Nightmares and below disappeared."
Yesod nodded in agreement, "Indeed. For now, at least we know which Key Pages are left. If the time ever comes down to it, we'll have to play our roles once again."
"But, it'll be nice knowing that we're fighting for the good side," Tiphereth shrugged. "The Grimm and this… entity that controls them are the only real threats to Remnant."
Yesod sighed, their eyes fixated on the yellow librarian, contemplating her words. "The entity Headmaster Ozpin spoke of is a bit suspicious to me," the purple librarian commented. At his fellow librarian's curious gaze, he continued. "The headmaster explained to us what this evil entity is. It controls the Grimm and creates them, yet there is not a single research that proves this statement. I doubt the headmaster could be incorrect in this claim, but even if it were true, why would he not disclose it to the public?"
"Maybe he doesn't want people to worry about the entity?" Tiphereth guessed. "The fact that something controlling the Grimm is bound to spread fear, causing the Grimm to go haywire. It'd be unwise to make the public panic."
Yesod paused to think about it for a moment. Everything the headmaster had done in the past was bugging the purple librarian. Although Ozpin was in his mid-40s, the white-haired man spoke in a manner as if he was older than he seemed. He held knowledge that almost everyone except him knew and that he had a lot of connections. This man was around their age, some mentally and some physically. Something didn't seem right with the professor, but Yesod would keep a keen eye on his motives.
However, his thoughts were drowned out when a few knocks came at the door. Yesod looked toward his yellow-haired companion as if asking if she was expecting company, but she looked just as curious as he was. It would be rude to leave someone hanging after they alerted their presence, so the purple librarian called out to the person outside the door.
"Come in." Then, the door opened slightly, revealing long white hair. The owner of the hair also revealed herself to be Angelina, who then opened the door fully and walked in.
"Sorry for intruding," the pilot apologized as she closed the door behind her. Once the two librarians welcomed her, she asked them something. "Do you know where Roland is?"
"He might be with the others in the dining hall," the blonde librarian answered.
"Ah, thank you, Ms. Tiphereth." Upon hearing that, the librarian smiled. She liked hearing her call her "miss." From the first time they met, Tiphereth enjoyed the respect Angelina gave her, and Angelina knew that the blonde appreciated it, so she didn't stop. The blonde librarian had to admit, the white-haired woman who resembled the black fixer's deceased wife was indeed very pretty.
"What did you need from Roland?" Yesod asked, curiously.
The pilot blushed a little bit and looked away from the man. "Uhm, I wanted to know more about your guys' home. Ever since I heard about it, I've been asking him for more details. He says that he was well-known and that most of the people respected him. It sounds like a nice place," she explained. It was apparent to the two that Angelina had a fondness for Roland, so they gave her blank stares.
However, that wasn't the reason why they deadpanned. When she said that it was a nice place, the two librarians knew that the black fixer was spewing lie after lie to make himself look good. The only truth that was said was that he was well-known for a terrible reason.
"What did he tell you specifically?" Tiphereth questioned with a somewhat concerned tone.
The white-haired pilot put a finger on her chin, making a thinking gesture. "Uhm, he and Angela said that the place was called the Black Forest. And that the people of the 'City' were protected by the Three Bird Guardians from the Grimm," she recalled, before she started to talk about a bunch of things that he told her. She asked if they were true, so the two librarians had to clean up the mess the black fixer made.
–5 MINUTES LATER–
Once the conversation was done, the two librarians were mentally exhausted from trying to deceive the woman. Tiphereth contemplated just straight up telling her the truth, but considered Roland's image in her mind. On the other hand, Yesod remained neutral about it, telling her that Roland is just an idiot who likes to exaggerate some things, so she should take them less seriously. After spouting some half-truths, Angelina concluded their conversation.
"So that's why Roland hates pianos. He was almost crushed by one? That's pretty unlucky… and also lucky at the same time," she mused, before checking the time on her scroll. "Welp, I gotta go. Sorry for interrupting your work."
"Yeah, stay safe," Tiphereth responded.
"Okay, I'll be going now. Maybe I could run into Roland?" She muttered as she started to walk toward the door.
Yesod, however, noticed that she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking. But before he could even speak, the pilot tripped over a stack of books and fell forward. The sudden fall caused one of the Key Pages to slip from the table and land directly on Angelina. A bright light engulfed the room, and once it faded, the Librarians were left surprised.
Clad in a sleek black suit, complete with a white dress shirt, black tie, and polished black shoes, Angelina emerged from the light. A black long coat draped over her shoulders, with her long white hair flowing on top of it. On her wrists, a pair of orange bracelets were seen wrapped around them. Angelina was left confused and shocked at her new appearance and started to look all over herself.
"Wha–what happened!?" She worryingly yelled. "What was that light!? Why are my clothes different!?"
Everything became worse when she started to shake her arms. The movement caused the orange bracelets on her wrists to expand and grow. Steam and orange electricity started to emit from the rings, and in the end, Angelina was left with giant gauntlets on her arms. The weapons were mainly black with a silver piston on the back of each gauntlet, and orange lights colored the internal parts.
"What is this!?" The pilot yelled, scared by the fact that she was now equipped with a weapon that grew from her arms. Angelina tried to remove the gauntlets, but without any hands, she couldn't do anything, so she swung wildly to get rid of them. However, the piston on the back of one of the gauntlets extended, and she inadvertently let out a punch. The piston immediately retracted, and an orange trail of energy emitted from the front of the gauntlet, following the arch of the pilot's punch.
The only thing she accomplished was punching a stack of books. The books fell, and one of them was slammed into the wall. When the sound of the book hitting the wall reached Angelina's ears, she stopped and stood there shocked.
As she was trembling with shock, the two librarians helped her calm down and explained what happened to her. They told her that it was something from their home and that it was something she wasn't supposed to see. Once Angelina had indeed stopped yelling, both of them realized what had just happened. They hadn't even considered the possibility because they had assumed that it wouldn't work since they weren't from the City.
A person from Remnant had just equipped a Key Page.
–HOURS LATER–
–FLOOR OF HISTORY ARENA, THE LIBRARY–
Just as the Beacon Headmaster was telling the Librarian Director about a friend he wanted to introduce to her, news of the event in the Library reached Angela and Ozpin's ears through calls from Yesod and Tiphereth. They were informed about the white-haired pilot's incident, and Roland and the other Patron Librarians were quickly notified. After gathering together, Ozpin asked Angela if she had witnessed what happened, but she explained that she couldn't see anything from outside the Library.
The news of Angelina equipping Cane Office's Bada had made the two leaders quite curious. It seemed like people from Remnant could equip the Library's Key Pages, but it was different for the Librarians and Aura. According to Team CFVY's Fox Alister, the Librarians do indeed have Aura, so they wanted to test it.
In an experiment to unlock the Librarians' Aura, Roland offered himself in case something went wrong. However, the experiments were somewhat fruitless; they weren't able to unlock any of the Librarians' Aura for some reason. It would be close to unlocking, but just before it could fully unlock, the awakening process is always interrupted by something. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they were from a different world.
Although they couldn't figure out why they couldn't unlock their Auras, Ozpin was interested in exploring the potential benefits of using the Key Pages.
"Uhh, professor?" a meek voice called out.
Ozpin sipped his drink, glancing toward the person who said his name. "Yes, Ms. Rose?"
"Why are we here?" She gestured to her team and Team JNPR, who were also confused. Professor Goodwitch was also here as well because she wanted to make sure her students were safe.
They were called to Malkuth's floor without any explanation as they didn't want anyone else to know about this. The floor's arena also served as a private area that nobody else could enter without Angela's permission. They didn't want people to be lost in the Library after all.
"Well, our dear friends of the Library want to perform an experiment of sorts," he explained.
"Why us?" Weiss asked. However, at that moment, the Librarians funneled out from a random hallway. In came most of the Librarians barring Gebura, Binah, and Netzach; they said that they weren't interested in this – one was probably sleeping, one drinking beer, and the other tea. Angela led the group of Librarians, carrying that large book of hers.
"Uhhh… what kind of experiment is this?" Pyrrha asked, concerned.
The history librarian waved her hand, reassuring the students, "Don't worry. You're not gonna get hurt…" Then she adopted a thoughtful expression. "Probably." That left the kids a bit worried about what's to come.
One by one, the students were asked to go up to Angela and pick up a piece of paper from her. Angela said that she picked Key Pages best suited to them. Complying, they did so, as well as placing their weapons down somewhere else. Albeit, confused as to what this was about, Team JNPR had never seen such high-quality paper before, but Team RWBY had recognized what they were.
"Aren't these the Key Pages the Librarians use?" Blake questioned.
Her leader commented, "Oh yeah! Malkuth and the mean purple-haired girl suddenly wore these cool-looking outfits that shot out fire from their fists. Or when Gebura transformed into that beautiful armor? Are we gonna wear one of those?!" She bounced up and down in excitement, something that her other teammates did not do. Weiss, in particular, looked somewhat curious.
"Still, I don't see why you needed us?"
"That's because you guys are going to be our guinea pigs," Roland jokingly answered the white-haired girl with a little chuckle. "That, and you know our little secret."
"G-Guinea pigs?" Jaune stuttered.
"Headmaster Ozpin wanted to see if you guys could gain any experience using the Key Pages considering they're used for combat. Maybe you could learn a thing or two," Tiphereth commented. "Just be thankful that you all are even getting some help."
"Sure sure, now tell us how we can use them!" Ruby begged. It was easy to guess why she was this excited: she really wanted to see what cool weapon the person she got had.
Chesed, the nominated person to explain what they were going to do, walked forward toward the students. He also had a Key Page to demonstrate the procedure.
"Alright, children~" The blue-haired librarian spoke calmly. "First, you have to remember: these pages contain the history of the person you are equipping. Although it may be weaker compared to their original, these Key Pages brought us to the top of the City~." He let them take that in for a few seconds before continuing. "When you borrow their power, you will feel as if you are a different person because all their experience and skills will be available to you~."
As the students nodded in confirmation, Chesed proceeded to demonstrate how to use a Key Page, using himself as an example. In a dazzling flash of light, his usual blue librarian uniform transformed into a stylish ensemble: a gray collared shirt layered with a darker gray jacket, paired with black formal pants, shoes, and gloves. The most striking feature was the four tentacle arms gracefully attached to his back. Each appendage boasted three sharp claws, except for the bottom-right one, and emitted a soft purple glow, presumably the source of their power.
Once the light fully faded, he continued talking, "As you can see~, I am using Mr. Bono's page. He is a person who was cybernetically augmented to have these extra arms. Normally, I don't have four tentacles~. But as you can see." He started to whip the tentacles around himself in a scarily accurate way and even used them to lift himself into the air and start moving around. "I can use them just as naturally~."
"Wooah!" Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Nora breathed out loud.
The other students, along with the two professors, stood in absolute fascination at the spectacle before them. While Remnant was no stranger to impressive prosthetics, the idea of controlling multiple artificial limbs simultaneously was beyond their technological capabilities. The mental strain alone would be overwhelming for most humans. After witnessing Chesed return to his original form, the group was left deep in thought.
Ozpin and Glynda couldn't help but imagine how much a certain general, had he been present, would pay for such knowledge. His interest in such advanced technology was almost an obsession.
Yang and Pyrrha, both battle enthusiasts, envisioned the thrill of facing a multi-armed opponent. The prospect of adapting their fighting strategies to counter such an adversary intrigued them.
Blake and Ren contemplated practical applications for having more than two arms. One saw the convenience of multitasking while reading, while the other wanted more arms to just make sure a specific person doesn't go out of hand.
Jaune and Weiss tried to find reasons why having extra arms might be beneficial but ultimately concluded that the added weight would be too cumbersome for Weiss's delicate frame and Jaune's lack of combat experience.
Meanwhile, Nora and Ruby simply reveled in the idea of having tentacles for arms, seeing it as the epitome of coolness.
Amidst all that, Malkuth couldn't contain her excitement. "Let's get started! I want to see their reactions!" she exclaimed, eagerly awaiting the moment when the students would use the Key Pages and discover how cool some of them were.
Hod chuckled in response. "Malkuth, let's give them some time to process everything," she suggested.
"Alright, alright." She was still excited.
–MINUTES LATER–
–TEAM RWBY–
After a brief discussion, it was decided that the two teams would split up to expedite the process. Team RWBY would go with Ozpin, Chesed, Yesod, and Malkuth, while Team JNPR would be with Glynda, Tiphereth, Hod, and Angela.
"Alright, let's do this at the same time!" Ruby exclaimed, capturing her team's attention with the Key Pages in their hands, all of them sensing something emanating from within the pages. Three of them were purple, and the last one was golden, though the colors probably didn't relate to what they were feeling. "Ready? 3, 2, 1, let's do it!"
With Ruby's call, all four girls were enveloped in a blinding light. The onlookers had to shield their eyes, except for those already accustomed to the Key Pages' radiant glow. As the light subsided, everyone was left astonished by the transformation the girls had undergone.
"Is this…?" Blake's voice carried surprise, muffled slightly by a piece of clothing. "A skirt?"
The raven-haired girl donned a black jacket with striking red stripes at the hem, sleeves, and collar, partially obscuring her face. A red skirt, black leggings, and ankle boots with red stripes and steel trim completed her outfit. Belts and buttons adorned her clothing, adding a touch of uniqueness. She wielded a sleek black katana with a crimson handle, while a similar wakizashi rested securely on her back. Though reminiscent of her usual attire, this outfit had a fresh twist with the added red and the stylish skirt.
Meanwhile, Yang, Blake's partner, sported the same outfit that Yesod and Tiphereth had seen Angelina wear earlier.
"A suit, huh?" Yang sighed. She had always appreciated the freedom and attention her regular attire allowed. It allowed her to move without hindrance and flaunt her figure. The blonde girl examined her new ensemble, discovering something intriguing. "Oooh, these bracelets look nice!"
Yang reached for one of the bracelets, but as she touched it, she felt a button click. In response, the gauntlets on her arms extended once again, emitting the familiar steam and mechanical sounds.
"Ooo! Me likey!"
Weiss, however, was preoccupied with the monocle perched on her nose. "Glasses!? Me!?" The white-haired girl was taken aback; none of her family members wore glasses. In her mind, it would be a detriment to the Schnee name if the family heiress needed vision correction.
Unlike her usual white and blue dress, Weiss now sported more subdued colors. Her outfit consisted of a dark green blazer, a white shirt, a brown buttoned suit, a lime-green tie, dark gray pants, and black dress shoes. In her hands, she held an elegantly designed rapier, different from her usual weapon but strangely familiar. The blade had gray hues with gold accents and a hilt adorned with a diamond-like design. Despite the variance in size and weight, the weapon felt strangely natural in her grasp.
Lastly, the team leader, Ruby, was enamored with the Key Page she received. Though her typical red and black outfit was now absent, she now wore a captivating blue and gold cape with a beautiful swirl pattern. Underneath, a jacket with a similar design peeked through, complemented by a large, white cravat around her neck. Her black pants featured golden trims and elegant swirls, with shoes to match the ensemble.
Though she wasn't initially thrilled about the color scheme, Ruby's excitement was palpable when she saw the—
"A SCYTHE! OHHHHH! HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THIS!" Ruby shrieked in delight upon spotting the weapon. The handle of the massive weapon was dark blue and slender, seemingly delicate yet deceptively powerful. The blade itself was white with an enchanting blue design accentuated by elegant gold lines. The scythe perfectly matched the outfit it came with. "It's soooooo light! Yet powerful! I can feel how amazing this weapon is!"
As the black and red-haired girl continued to marvel at the scythe, someone on the other side of the room couldn't bear to hear or watch. He let out a heavy sigh and approached the pale-haired librarian, who immediately noticed his presence.
"Hey, Angela." With a solemn expression, he addressed her. "I'm going to step out for a bit, if that's okay."
Angela, the A.I., sensed his unease and nodded in understanding. "Of course, take all the time you need." She knew that recent events weighed heavily on him. It had only been a short while since they had fought each other to the death, with Roland ultimately being the one to defeat him. Despite his feelings toward Argalia, the fact remained that they were brothers-in-law. Without uttering another word, he turned and left, seeking solace elsewhere. Now that he was here in Remnant, he had no one else to talk to about her.
Back with the team of girls, they were checking each other out. Mostly talking about how different they all looked, even the headmaster got close and started to talk with them, fascinated by the girls' new appearance. The Librarians started to discuss with each other regarding Angela's choices, noting what it was like when their assistant librarians equipped Key Pages for the first time or when an agent equipped an E.G.O. suit.
Among the girls, Blake confessed that she found skirts surprisingly comfortable, which got Ruby and Weiss to give each other a low five. However, the faunus noted that she felt a little fatigued, but said that she would power through it. Yang, now more at ease in the suit, admired how badass she looked, although she wasn't fond of the cape as it felt more like Ruby's style. Nonetheless, she contemplated getting a suit for herself. Weiss, on the other hand, disliked the dull colors of her outfit but found the weapon enchanting. As for Ruby, she had noticed a constant noise coming from a device on her ear. It emitted white noise and played some random conversations as if there was a crowd around her; she would've gotten rid of the device, but she was somewhat calmed by the noise it generated. On the other hand, Ruby wasted no time in testing out the scythe's feel.
To her disappointment, however, she didn't sense anything particularly special about the scythe. There weren't any guns on it, after all. The blue librarian had mentioned that the Key Pages came with the muscle memory of the original owner, but Ruby couldn't perceive any notable changes.
"Hey, Mr. Chesed?" Ruby inquired, seeking clarification. Upon his hum of acknowledgment, she continued, "You mentioned that we would be able to use the skills and experience of the Key Pages, but what skills can this person," she paused to remember the name of the Key Page, "Argalia, use?"
Chesed, along with Yesod and Malkuth, froze upon hearing that name. Memories flooded their minds – a relentless battle against Argalia's Blue Reverberation Ensemble, a struggle that determined the fate of the world. The Distortion version of the Ensemble was the toughest battle they had fought before. It took a week before it all ended. Both sides sought to change the world, but their methods were ultimately divergent. In the end, the Library won and left the City.
"Mr. Chesed?"
Apologizing for his brief flashback, Chesed replied, "Sorry~. That name brought back some memories."
"Why?" Ruby questioned, noticing the other Librarians with a similar expression. She was curious as to why this 'Argalia' person bothered them.
"Argalia was the Blue Reverberation," Yesod answered.
"Really!?" Ruby shouted in genuine excitement. She started to twirl around the cape and look at the weapon even more. "That's cool! I'm literally wearing the clothes and holding the weapon of a Color Fixer! This is the best day ever!"
'Thank One Sin Roland isn't here,' Malkuth thought as she put on a forced smile. "I think we should move on," she quickly changed the subject.
"If I recall correctly… Ah, I have an idea~. Headmaster Ozpin, would you happen to have a ranged weapon of sorts?" Chesed asked as Ozpin complied by walking toward the pile of weapons both teams had left there. "And Ms. Rose, could you move over there and turn around?~" Chesed pointed to a spot that was nowhere near them, sparking curiosity among the students. His fellow Librarians knew what he was going to do.
Excited to witness the outcome, Ruby dashed across the arena using what she assumed was her Semblance - but to her surprise, it wasn't. Instead of transforming into a flurry of rose petals or leaving a trail behind, she became a streak of blue light, moving at an astonishing speed comparable to her usual Semblance. Stopping abruptly, she couldn't believe what had just happened.
"I… uh? What!?"
"Woah, what happened to Ruby's Semblance?" Yang blurted out in amazement.
Yang went to go check up on her sister, worrying that something happened to her. Even without inspection, Ruby calmly said that she was alright. Letting out a sigh of worry, she returned back to Chesed with a hand scratching the back of her head.
"Sorry," she apologized. "It's just that we just realized that we have no Aura and you shot at her."
Chesed shook his head in disagreement, "No no, this was mainly my fault~, I should've told you what I was going to do." Then, he bowed in front of the girl. "Forgive me for trying to endanger your sister."
Yang hadn't expected him to bow so she was a little taken aback.
"Uh, yeah, sure," she sighed.
Nodding his head, Chesed yelled to Ruby that he was going to shoot some more and that she would cut all the bullets down. A little hesitant, but the black and red-haired girl gave him confirmation. After hearing the clicks from Ren's empty weapon, Ruby was surprised at how easily she was cutting down these bullets. Usually, she would spin her scythe in a circle to block them, but never slice them. Honestly, it was fun to do this; she felt like a cool hero.
Once they were done showing a bit about how the Key Page's muscle memory worked for the user, Chesed returned the pistol back to Ozpin, who put it away for now. "From what we know, Argalia was known to slice bullets mid-air, giving the impression that guns don't work on him. So keep in mind that the Key Page version of Argalia isn't as good as the original. You could still get shot if you hadn't reacted in time."
"Woah…" Ruby let out. She could've actually been hurt.
"Although, with your skill in wielding a scythe, it's quite possible that you enhanced the Key Page's effectiveness better than when any of us had used it before," he explained.
Ruby blushed under the praise. Then, she dashed back to the group, happy that she got to see a beautiful weapon and do something she thought she wouldn't be able to do consistently. It was at that moment that Chesed told her teammates about their Key Pages and how they worked.
Dante's Page, the Key Page Weiss was using, allowed her to exploit her enemies' weaknesses. She had a keen sense of identifying a person's weakness and attacking that weak point with such precision. Even the toughest of Librarians were caught off-guard when Dante and her Seven Associate members had critically injured them and they were killed. In response to hearing whose Key Page she was using, Weiss found disgust in exploiting a person's weakness, but acknowledged that an enemy's weakness is still a weakness they could use.
Blake was using the Key Page of Tenma, a Grade 4 fixer from the Shi Association. The Librarians explained to her that Tenma and her fellow co-workers fell in the Library when they were extremely exhausted before entering. Even though they were weakened and tired, they put up a fight and somehow beat an entire floor before being turned into books on the next floor. Tenma's Key Page worked like a speedy attacker, relying on speed and hard-hitting attacks much like how Blake normally fights.
The last member, Yang, was wearing Cane Office's Bada's Page. A Grade 2 fixer that wielded immense strength using those gauntlets. Although most of his attacks weren't flashy like how Yang likes it, they made up for it in terms of raw power. Much like Yang, Bada was the frontline combatant of the Cane Office and solely took on any enemies that came their way. Although, the gauntlets required some punching before they were fully charged for maximum power.
–MEANWHILE–
–TEAM JNPR–
While Team RWBY decided to equip their Key Pages all at once, their sister team decided to take it slow. It was decided because the Librarians agreed to go one by one when they saw what Key Page Nora held and were worried about the consequences that could follow.
"C'mon fearless leader, you scared of a tiny page?!" Nora cried.
It had taken Jaune a bit to equip the page. Despite Pyrrha's offer to go first, the blonde boy denied her request, insisting that, as the team leader, it was his responsibility to go first and make sure nothing bad happens to them when they equip the pages. Glynda silently agreed that a team leader should put the lives of his team before his, but the safety of the entirety of the team, including the leader, should come first.
"Nora, from what the blue guy said."
"His name is Chesed," Ren corrected.
"It just seems like cheating to instantly learn somebody else's moves," Jaune complained. The blonde boy spent months just learning how to use a sword and his Aura. And now? He was given something that could immediately discredit all his hard work. Sure he wanted to use it, but worried that he was just going to ride off of somebody else's legacy again.
Before anyone else could refute that, Hod stepped in and explained something to Jaune.
"Key Pages aren't some sort of instant learning cheat card that you believe it is," the brown-haired librarian explained. "Before the Library existed, I really never learned how to fight before. During then, I really didn't help out all that much… the Key Pages weren't much help either. I was still too scared to even fight our Guests. When you de-equip a Key Page, you can remember that you did the move, but can't replicate it as easily as you did when you have the page equipped."
"If you use the same Key Page, the easier it becomes to use?" Ren mused.
Angela nodded, "Precisely, at some point, the Librarians were able to use skills and abilities other Key Pages had because they got used to it. Even if one Key Page had the ability to use fire, an individual could use it on another Key Page if they had sufficient experience made thanks to the Light."
The response left Jaune's head spinning with contemplation. "So, it's like a game? The Key Pages act as armor with specific skill requirements, and you can't use skills from another page until you 'level up' by gaining experience?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night," Tiphereth groaned.
Jaune sheepishly lowered his head in embarrassment. "Sorry," he muttered.
Once that was over, he looked at his Key Page. The golden outline of the page matched his own hair. He felt a similar wavelength as he stared deeper into the piece of paper. A feeling of powerless, yet determined. He grasped that feeling a bit more, allowing light to shine over his body.
When it faded, he was donning a striking appearance. Although Jaune was now wearing a black turtleneck, beige blazer, navy-blue pants, and black gloves, he looked like a knight-like figure. Incomplete armor bore orange stains resembling burning flames. His right arm gained protection with an orange pauldron, while an angelic wing adorned his left side, also tinged with a fiery hue. In his armored hand held a giant greatsword with intricate orange veins similar to his armor and wing.
Raising up the fiery greatsword, Jaune looked at it with awe and wonder. He was in awe that he felt like he could protect anyone with this power, and he wondered who this Key Page belonged to. After all, it only read 'Unstable Page of the Crying Children.' Not very much a name. Whoever or whatever this Key Page belonged to, he couldn't help but respect the person who wielded this.
"Oh my gosh!" Nora yelled in excitement. "Look at him! He's literally on fire!"
"A knight of justice," Ren commented.
Pyrrha didn't say anything. She slowly walked up to Jaune, curiosity and concern in her eyes. The red-haired girl noticed how warm it felt next to Jaune. Even if his appearance displayed how cool he looked, his eyes looked like the opposite.
"Jaune?" She calmly spoke. "How're you feeling?"
The blonde boy looks at her before turning away to look somewhere off into the distance. In his mind, he couldn't really put it into words. It was like he felt empty, but full at the same time. He felt like he was a coward, but courageous to fight. Contradictions filled his mind, but he sighed as he turned back to look at his partner.
"I'm alright, it's somewhat comfortable," he managed to say. "But it feels like something's missing."
"Well, it's 'unstable' after all," Tiphereth reminded him. At his confused look, she continued. "Philip tried to manifest his E.G.O., but it became incomplete and resulted in what you're wearing right now. The hollow shell of a broken man."
He looked down and examined himself. The armor itself was crumbling apart and there were a lot of exposed areas that weren't armored. The incompleteness of the Key Page probably played a role in how it was affecting his mental state. However, he could probably bear with it for some minutes.
After getting some knowledge of how the now-named, Philip, fought, Jaune went to go test his moves with Pyrrha to see how well it stacks up with her. Professor Goodwitch also decided to follow both of them so she could inspect how Philip's page would change Jaune's performance. In the meantime, it was Ren's turn to equip the Key Page. Relative to the Key Page Jaune was using, Angela commented on how tame this page was compared to Philip's.
After a bright light, the black-haired boy was wearing a dark gray dress shirt paired with a black tie. Additionally, he was sporting two black belts going across his chest, all topped off by a long black trench coat. Completing his ensemble, Ren was wearing black fingerless gloves on his hands, and a discreet earpiece in his right ear. For his lower half, he had black trousers with two black straps on his left leg, a black belt, and mid-calf black boots adorned with laces. In his hands, he was holding a handgun and a serrated machete – something that he was familiar with considering his own weapon was just an automatic pistol with a blade attached to the bottom of it.
When he read the name of the Key Page, he had expected something similar to where he was from. Liwei sounded Mistralian so he was suspecting thought of home. All that did was put the boy in a sour mood.
"WOW RENNY!" Nora hopped around him. "You look like a secret agent or something! Look! You even got an earpiece, you definitely have to be a spy!"
"He looks like he could star in a movie," Hod commented, seeing the ginger-haired girl super excited.
With that, the sour mood disappeared. A smile, instead, appeared on his face as he faced his childhood friend. As she kept ranting about all the spy movies they had watched together and all the scenarios she made plans for, Ren closed his eyes and spoke.
"Yeah. You're right."
At this point, Jaune and Pyrrha had enough sparring. Professor Goodwitch had gotten some decent data to compare Jaune right now to Jaune before. To say the least, it just seemed like the blonde boy fought more confidently and skillfully than before. It seemed like the owner of the Key Page was at least skilled in using the sword and could put up a decent fight excluding all the fire coming out from the armor and sword. In addition, they also got a glance at what Key Pages Team RWBY was using, and they looked amazing. Except for Blake, all of them looked totally different from what they were used to.
"Dang Ren," Jaune said as he looked at his fellow teammate. "You're looking pretty sharp. You're rocking the suit and tie."
"Thanks." Pyrrha giggled at Ren's response. It was a typical Ren response.
Glynda opened up the scroll in her hands. As she check the time, a frown appeared on her face. Despite how exciting this all was, there wasn't a lot of time left for this. Ozpin was going to be in an important meeting tomorrow and it was getting late.
"We should hasten the experiment," Glynda spoke up with urgency. "Tomorrow is a weekday and the students should be ready to prepare for their second semester. So, Pyrrha, could you equip the Key Page, please?"
"We should. The Library is going to be busy tomorrow," Angela mentioned. Hod and Tiphereth also agreed by nodding their heads.
With that, Pyrrha held out the Key Page. The name of the page was a very beautiful name, so she could presume that this was a woman. When Pyrrha grasped the page, she found herself in a black suit covered by a gold-lined red overcoat held onto her shoulders. On the right side of her coat, there was a very intricate gold badge with a symbol in the middle of it. She had no idea what the symbol represented, but she could tell that this person was part of a faction of some sort. Strapped around herself, Pyrrha saw a belt of grenades and a strap to the weapon. The weapon, itself, was similar to her own, but without any transforming parts: a simple rifle with a bayonet attached to the front of it.
The red-haired girl looked at her blonde leader, wanting to see his reaction. Needless to say, he was mesmerized by her. A smile crept onto her face as her other teammates started to talk about her appearance. Most of it was how well it fit her.
"Katriel, huh?" Tiphereth mused.
"Did you know her?" Pyrrha asked.
"Not really. My floor was the one receiving her and her Thumb buddies," Tiphereth responded. "But all we know is that she's a slave to the Thumb and that she really likes the hierarchy system they got. She'll probably talk your head off about how order and ranking is the number one thing, but since she was ordered to cut off her own tongue, she won't be spouting anything anymore."
At the sudden information, the members of Team JNPR and Professor Goodwitch just gagged a little bit. Cutting off one's tongue is one thing, but telling your subordinate to do so is crazy. While most of them were shocked, only Nora became saddened because that meant that this Katriel person wouldn't enjoy food a lot more.
"That's… horrible."
"Indeed, Ms. Nikos," Glynda responded as Hod nodded in agreement.
"The horrors of the City run deep. I'm just thankful we got out of the shithole," Tiphereth huffed.
"Language, young lady," the professor reprimanded.
"You're not my mom," the librarian bit back.
Both blondes glared at each other till they noticed everybody else watching them. While Hod actively tried to mediate between them, Pyrrha and Jaune also wanted to help but felt intimidated, Ren tried to stop Nora from placing bets, but all the while Angela remained impassive. Eventually, they sighed and stopped their pointless argument, facing away from each other.
"Um, Ms. Valkyrie," Hod spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention. "I think it's time for your turn." She said that with a forced laugh, indicating that they should just move on.
Said girl jumped up with the page in hand. Mid-air, she equipped the Key Page. As the Light took over Nora's body, worried, the Librarians except Angela dragged everybody else away from the landing zone. They didn't want them to get squished as a giant object fell from the sky and slammed into the ground. When the rest of Team JNPR and Professor Goodwitch laid their eyes on Nora. Their mouths were left hanging.
"Oh my…" Pyrrha muttered, but couldn't say the last word.
"Brothers," Jaune finished for her.
"This is going to be a disaster," Ren groaned.
The blonde professor looked at the Librarians. "Please tell me you can remove it from her." In response, Angela simply nodded, giving Glynda a sigh of relief.
"HA HA HAAA!" Nora laughed maniacally. "LOOK AT MY MAJESTIC FORM!"
Begrudgingly for everyone, Nora was now wearing a giant suit of armor that dwarfed everyone. The armor was painted in a very dull color with orange outlines, giving it a rather comical appearance. Only Nora's head popped out from the front of the oversized suit. A symbol right under her head showed an image of a rhino on it. Behind her, there was an orange cape flowing all the way down to her knees. In her hands, she held a large, long hammer that matched the coloring of her armor. One side of the hammer had two pointed edges, while the other side was blunt.
Because of all her yelling, and the loud noise caused by her slamming into the ground, everybody else was rushing over to see what was happening. Before they even got there, Chesed, Yesod, and Malkuth could already tell who was wearing that suit. Team RWBY, on the other hand, was freaked out that Nora was wearing a suit of armor. While Glynda was worried about all of this, Ozpin was very interested in the armor; however, both of them knew that a certain general would definitely be willing to sell his soul to get one of these.
"Woah! Is that Nora in there?!" Yang shouted.
"Why yes! My tiny friend!" Nora yelled. She started to strike a pose. "It is I, the glorious Destroyer of Kneecaps! HA HA HAA!"
"YOU'RE SO COOL!" Ruby jumped up in excitement, her blue cape flowing behind her as she zoomed around Nora.
"How is she even fitting in that?!" Weiss blurted out, baffled by how huge she became.
"Maybe it's the armor that's just huge?" Blake guessed.
"Yup~, that's correct," Chesed answered.
"Wait, that doesn't make any sense at all," the heiress said as she rubbed her forehead. "Her arms are not that long, and she shouldn't be able to even lift an arm or walk!"
Instead of Chesed responding, Angela cut in, "The Light bends itself to suit the user's needs. It is simply a projection of what the person looked like, while the Light gives them all their skills. Thus, they are unburdened by their appearance. If for example, a Key Page's owner were made entirely of metal, the user's body would accommodate the metal body and become one with the metal. Although somewhat unpleasant, it is not uncomfortable."
"What she said," Malkuth added. Then she went up to the professors and whispered, "Yeah, no. It sucks." Both professors deadpanned.
–SOMETIME LATER–
Both teams started to talk about each other's outfits, somewhat amazed by the diversity and uniqueness the City had to offer. If they couldn't travel to the City, they could at least see how the people dressed there, even if the clothes were from Fixers. The ones complimented the most were Jaune and Nora, solely from the fact that they were the ones wearing actual armor and therefore looked cool according to Ruby. The others were just wearing suits with some of them having an overcoat around them. Although they were talking, they had actually produced some moves that their Key Pages had remembered.
While some of the students like Ren, Weiss, and Pyrrha had normal weapons, they still found valuable lessons from the Key Pages. For instance, Dante's Page taught Weiss to target vital body parts, making her attacks more effective, and Pyrrha learned a more efficient reloading technique. Yang managed to bring up a barrier and Jaune managed to use the fire on his armor to engulf his sword. Whenever Ruby or Blake swung their weapons, trails of their respective colors flowed behind them, leaving a mesmerizing visual spectacle, especially when Ruby unleashed her scythe in a flurry of motion. However, standing close to Nora during training proved to be a mistake; she discovered that her suit harnessed electricity to power her moves, enabling her to release waves of energy from her hammer. Needless to say, everyone advised her against trying that again. Overall, even if they would lose the muscle memory of the Key Pages, it served as a great guide to test different styles of fighting.
It wasn't long till people got even more excited. Both Yang and Nora asked if they could fight, making Ruby and most of the other students want to test out the Key Pages. However, it was denied by both professors. They were denied for two reasons: they would be fighting without Aura, which was too dangerous and they could get hurt; and the other reason was that it was too late for a fight. Although Ozpin would've indulged both teams, he was getting a bit tired and was running out of hot cocoa. He just said that they could do this at another time if they do good in their classes, and that got them to behave quickly.
When they accepted, all of them started to emit a bright light as Angela removed the Key Pages from their bodies. Once the light faded, the students were left in their original outfits and left the Floor of History to go to their dormitories with the adults following them to their own. Since they were on the first floor, it wasn't a long walk until they left the Library. By then, Ozpin, Glynda, Angela, and Chesed remained behind the rest of the group.
"I don't pity the hard work you professors put in~" Chesed complimented as he took a sip of his coffee.
Glynda sighed, "Those kids destroyed half the cafeteria and they wanted to have a mock fight here? The semester barely hasn't started yet I worry what's going to happen tomorrow."
"Don't think like that Glynda," Ozpin said. "Today has been an exciting day for most of us. We got to see a bit more about the City. It was fun if I must say so, wouldn't you agree?"
"Sure," the blonde professor sighed again. She started to pick up her own pace, surely she just wanted to go to her room already. Before she left their view, she turned around. "Ms. Angela, make sure you come to Ozpin's office around in the afternoon for the meeting. You'll want to make a good impression." And with that, she disappeared around the corner.
"Somebody important~?" Chesed asked.
"The General of Atlas."
"Oh?" The blue librarian said in surprise. "Hopefully, he doesn't act like the ones back in the City~."
"You've met military? Personally?" Ozpin curiously questioned. He knew that Chesed was of some wealthy background, but didn't know it extended far enough to know a general.
"Oh yeah~, they wanted some funding, but ultimately, I decided to join Lobotomy Corporation," he answered with some remorse, but quickly put on a smile. "Anyhoo, I'm fine with the way things have turned out. In this world, we can start anew. We can actually help people~."
Angela huffed, but smiled, "You're still quite the loser, Chesed."
"Thank you, Angela~," he said as he started to break off from the two. "Goodnight, you two."
As both of them replied back, Chesed disappeared from their sight, leaving the two leaders. They started to go back and forth about the City and Remnant respectively, seemingly about the Singularities and hidden lore in Remnant. Eventually, they had to separate so that they could rest for the day and wake up.
Randomly, the pale librarian looked around the place.
"Where did Roland go?" She questioned herself. He supposedly left the Library and hasn't shown up at all even though he said that he was 'going to step out for a bit.' Sighing, she guess that he went to go do something else.
–LATER IN THE NIGHT–
–ABANDONED WAREHOUSE, VALE–
Dozens of White Fang members are unloading several crates from a bullhead. Some are rolling carts carrying the crates while some are directing others. On one side of the warehouse, a certain bowler-hatted thief and a brown-coated man were inspecting a map of Vale. On the map were X and O marks all over the city with some writing detailing on each section of the city.
"Roman," Jay spoke. "How much more Dust do we need? This is getting out of hand."
"Chillax, Jay, I know what I'm doing," Roman scoffed. He knew that all this Dust was for something, he just didn't know.
Jay raised an eyebrow. "Sure."
"Nevermind that, we got guests." Roman gestured to the left of himself.
When both of them turned, they saw Emerald and Mercury walking up to them. Jay recalled the first time he had gotten… acquainted with them. Overall, they were just the worst type of people. Disregarding human life, always causing some kind of trouble, and acting haughty in front of others. Needless to say, Jay disliked these two.
"Oh, look! She sent the kids again!" Roman joked as he walked up to them, circling around them. He put his arms around the two, pulling them closer to him. "This is turning out just like the divorce."
The green-haired girl shivered in disgust as she imagined Roman Torchwick's kids. "Spare us the thought of you procreating," she bluntly said.
"That was a joke. And this…" Roman displayed the piece of paper he snatched from her. "Just might tell me where you two have been all day."
"What?" Emerald checked her pockets, finding nothing there. "Agh…"
"I'm a professional, sweetheart. Pay attention, maybe you'll learn something," he insulted her as he took a look at the paper. "Why do you have this address?" He said that with a serious tone and stared directly at them.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emerald pointed at Roman.
"Yeah, I would." He pointed back at her. "Now where have you been all day?"
Mercury walked up to him, pointing as well. "Cleaning up your problems. One of them, at least," he mocked.
"We had that under control," Roman stressed.
"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise," Mercury countered. At this time, Jay decided to speak up.
"Actually, we were going to let Tucson leave in case he tries to meet up with other White Fang deserters. Now that you killed him, I'm sure the others are going to hide even more."
Scoffing, Mercury dismissed the idea, "I'm sure that plan would've worked. It's just better to kill him and be over it."
"Listen, you little punk." Roman pointed at him. "If it were up to me, then I would take you and your little street rat friend here and…"
"Do what, Roman?"
Up above them, on a catwalk, stood two women. One of them was clothed in a red dress while the other was in a black and red trench coat with the bottom frayed. The one who spoke, the red-dressed one, got onto an elevator that brought her down. The other one stood on the catwalk, watching the scene from above.
As the elevator brought her down, Roman laughed nervously. "I'd, uh... not kill them?"
Cinder Fall. A person capable of extreme firepower, no pun intended. From what Jay saw when they first met, he had been weary of this person. Her Semblance was like no other and peerless. He had seen Semblances like hers, but none came close to what Cinder could do. She was boastful about this ability, always showing off that she was the most powerful person in the room.
According to Roman, Ms. Fall was better at finding people than himself. So Cinder and Jay had struck a deal with each other. Jay would help Cinder out in this plan of hers while Cinder would 'send' someone to go find his siblings. Jay didn't like it, but he bit his tongue and accepted it.
Unlike Cinder's personality, her companion that was left on the catwalk was the complete opposite. Since she had rarely spoke, he had never gotten wind of her name, but her title was the one that stuck out the most: The Blood Huntress. Her reputation stemmed from the fact that her Semblance allowed her to manipulate her own blood and someone else's to a certain degree.
In the past, she was a well-respected huntress, loved by most people even if people never knew her real name. However, at some point, she murdered her husband and disappeared. After that, people of significant importance started to be found killed in random places. Some were famous huntsmen, some were popular Faunus-rights activists, and most of them were wealthy politicians. When it was investigated, all of the evidence pointed back to the Blood Huntress.
When Jay first saw her, he felt something tingle inside him. He didn't know what it was either, but it couldn't be anything like hatred. He didn't know. The only other time he couldn't understand anything was with his memory problems. Flashbacks of a city he never went to, memories of people he never met, recollections of events that never happened. He did manage to recall using his Semblance inside a train of sorts, but the rest of it was mostly a blur.
Jaye would snap out of his thoughts when Emerald excitedly shouted, "Cinder!" The damn girl was always so docile around Cinder, it wasn't funny.
"I thought I made it clear," she began to scold as she walked up to Roman. Emerald also walked up to her, holding out her hands as if she wanted a hug. However, Cinder brushed past her, ignoring her, "that you would eliminate the would-be runaway." Roman smirked when he saw the green-haired brat's expression falter, but quickly replaced it with a serious expression as Cinder approached.
"I was going to…" He started to explain himself, but Emerald cut him off.
"He was going to escape to Vacuo!" The gray-haired boy walked up to his partner. "Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat."
"I think he was some sort of cat, actually," Mercury clarified.
"What? Like a puma?"
"Yeah, there ya go."
"Quiet," Cinder commanded. Both Mercury and Emerald turned to face her. "Did I not specifically instruct you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?
While she kept talking, Roman kept making mocking gestures like pointing at them and slicing his throat all the while laughing.
"I just thought…" Emerald tried to explain herself.
"Don't think... obey."
While Emerald looked downward, Mercury kept a straight face at Roman. Seemingly wanting to kick the shit out of him. However, Emerald apologized.
"Yes ma'am. It won't happen again."
Now that Cinder was satisfied, she turned her attention to Roman. "And you. Why wasn't this job done sooner?" She demanded an answer.
"Uh…?" He pointed to his right. "Eh…?" Then to the left. "Eh…?" Then back to the right. "EHHHHH!" He lifted his arms so as to point behind himself. Everywhere you looked, there was a container or a crate of Dust.
Even Jay had to facepalm at that question. It was quite clear that this entire warehouse wasn't filled with Dust in a week. This took months of work and she had expected them to do other things.
"Sorry if I've been busy stealing every speck of Dust in the Kingdom!" Roman complained.
"You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask," Mercury sarcastically spoke, which caused Emerald to laugh.
"Look around, kid. I've got this town running scared! Police camping out at every corner, Dust prices through the roof, and we're sitting pretty on an old warehouse with more Dust crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with!" Roman said with wonder. "Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grand master plan, it might actually make my next string of robberies go a little smoother!"
"Yes, please enlighten us on what the hell we are doing," Jay calmly spoke.
"Oh, Roman, Jay." She approached both of them. "Have a little faith." In the creepiest way possible, Cinder placed her hand on Torchwick's chin. "You'll both know what you both need when you both need to know it."
Jay expected this. Cinder wasn't the type of person to be caring for her pawns. Meanwhile, Roman glared at her, hoping to intimidate her, but it backfired as her eyes and Dust-lined clothing started to glow. In response, Roman grunted and turned his eyes away.
"Besides, we're done with Dust," she stated as she started to walk away.
Roman looked taken aback as he spoke, "O-okay, then what now?"
"We're moving. Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight."
"Coordinates?" Jaye and Roman said at the same time.
"Jinx," Mercury commented before getting an elbow to the stomach courtesy of Emerald.
Cinder looked at the two, making them straighten themselves up and stay quiet. Then she turned to Roman. "We're proceeding to phase two," she announced as she started to walk away again.
Emerald and Mercury grinned at each other before moving to follow Cinder. The green-haired girl looked particularly pleased about something, but Jay didn't care. However, someone did care when he put a cigar in his mouth and tried to find his lighter, but couldn't.
Roman looked up to see Emerald holding his lighter with the flame lit. She stuck her tongue out at him before closing the lighter and pocketing it. The thief grumbled as he mutter something about that being his favorite one before he got messages on his scroll. Roman left to go see whatever the hell 'phase two' is, leaving Jay alone.
Before he could do anything, something dropped right behind him. Jay knew what it was, or rather, who it was. He knew that he was most likely not a target, but he still kept his back to the other person.
"We need to have a talk," the Blood Huntress spoke.
Author's Note:
Well, this chapter was pretty long, and that's only because I hadn't expected the Key Pages to take up almost 2/3 of the entire chapter. I wanted to implement a fight between Team RWBY and Team JNPR using their Key Pages, but that would've been a lot to write. That's why I'll push the fight to next time when they get to use Key Pages since they got a feel for what the Key Pages could do. Also, if you see some discrepancies in the chapter, that's because I tried to add in extra stuff or tried to change a few things, like how the Key Pages were meant to be tested in one of the training rooms, but switched to Malkuth's floor for privacy.
The next chapter might be about Ironwood's appearance and my boy Netzach. He hasn't gotten a lot of screentime and I think it's been long overdue since he made an appearance. What the chapter might be about? I have no idea, remember, I'm just making this stuff up off the top of my head.
Anyways, thanks for reading! Also, if you see a mistake or something wrong, just tell me and I'll be sure to correct them when I can. Hope you enjoy more from me! Cya!