Random Christmas Interlude
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might."
It took Robin a minute to even realize it was snowing. His mind was so singularly focused on the task he had set for himself it didn't register until he felt the chill biting at his fingers. Like little insect pinpricks against his rapidly cooling extremities, the winter chill doing its work despite his gloves. Still, he kept a white knuckle grip upon the axe he had kindly requisitioned from the quartermaster. Aura should have kept him from the adverse effects of the weather, but he… he didn't even have the energy to flip that mental switch right now. Instead, he relied on the angry emotional warmth in his core to stave off the cold.
What was he even doing out here, a sane person might ask. It's simple. He was finding the biggest fucking pine tree in the Emerald Forest, cutting it down, dragging it back to Beacon, and having a Christmas tree, even if it killed him. Which, knowing his luck and this fucking world, it just might. The snow crunched under his boots as he kept moving forward. All he had to do was find a nice big pine tree. It shouldn't be difficult.
A shadow flashed in the corner of his vision, and Robin turned to face it. He gripped his axe tighter only to find… a deer. Why was he so paranoid? The teachers cleared the forest when initiation was over anyway. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that something or someone was watching him. No use jumping at shadows; he had a job to do.
He continued marching on, deeper and deeper into the forest. Until finally he came to it. It was an almost empty, snowy clearing save for one large pine tree planted right in the center of it. That was the one; he knew it. Probably fourteen feet tall, just from eyeballing it.
He stepped toward it, lowering the axe from his shoulder into his hands. He wasn't exactly a professional lumberjack, but how hard could it be? Just keep swinging till the tree falls over. His muscles sang as he swung the axe. How long had it been since he did something physical that wasn't drawing on aura? It must have been weeks by this point. It felt nice.
One swing, and then a second, and a third. All he could do was keep swinging until it finally gave. He stopped keeping count of his swings, instead just slowly falling into a rhythm until finally, it started creaking and then started to fall.
A tug pulled at the back of his mind as he saw shadows flash in the corner of his vision again. A breath passed as he felt his aura start to flood into his limbs and core. Just in time to be tackled to the ground by some beast, claws trying to tear open his skin, only to find no purchase, instead just tearing cloth.
His axe fell out of his grip during the initial charge. All he could do was direct more and more aura to flood into his arms and hands as he punched forward with enough force to crack its ribs and send it bouncing off of him.
Robin could only look at the beast for a moment as it stood mere steps away on two massive goat-like legs. Its upper body was covered in pitch-black fur, and he could see some strange growth on it's back that almost resembled a basket, but of flesh and bone. The worst thing was its face, a crude mockery of a human one in bestial form, with glowing red pits for eyes. Time seemed to slow, if only for a moment, as Robin stared at its almost dead-looking eyes. Finally, it moved, beginning to scamper away faster than he could ever hope to keep up.
Robin slowly let out a sigh. He could just walk back with the tree, leave the creature to whatever next poor bastard stumbled across it. However, just as he was considering it, his eyes picked up something lying in the snow. Bone, which he could only assume, fell from the creature's pack. Except it was far too small to be an adult's bones. They looked small and fragile but were most definitely human, which left only one conclusion for his mind to come to.
He took another breath as he reached down the ground and picked up his axe. Dove's constant mantra echoed in his head. Do the right thing. Along with it, the faint smell of ozone filled the air around him. Finding the beast would have been impossible under normal circumstances; it left nothing to track and ran off too quickly to follow. Nothing except… faint imprints in the snow. Call it a Christmas miracle.
His feet carried him forward after the tracks the monster had left behind, and while he did, he could only try and think of what it was. It was a Grimm, obviously, but not one he had ever seen or read about. In fact, the only thing he could think that it resembled was… fucking Krampus. Did they even have any common weaknesses? All he knew was that they stole children or something, which wasn't strictly kosher.
His musing was interrupted as he spotted what must have been the creature's lair. It looked like an almost completely normal cave. The entrance was half caved in, but rocks held the entrance open, and he had a job to do. Part of him dimly recognized he should at least let his team know something was going on in case he got stuck or worse. So he pulled out his scroll and shot a message off to the team group chat.
"Be back late, saving Christmas real quick." With his foolproof explanation sent off, he clicked off his scroll just as he saw a quick reply from Cardin.
"What the fuck is a Christmas." The little heathen texted. Oh well, he'll just have to educate him on the wonders of Christmas later.
Robin began his descent into the cave, and it became rapidly clear it wasn't just some empty cave. The walls were lined with pitch-black veins of what he could only assume was coal—left unmined due to dust having long supplanted coal. He let his aura flow into his body again, lighting the cave in a blue glow as he walked further down.
He heard it before he saw it—the crunch of bones and the stamp of its hooves against the stone below. The creature's red eyes stood out from the darkness, and with the light of his aura, he could barely make out the bones on the ground around it as it seemed to try to fashion them together into some crude tools.
It lashed out first, throwing the sharpened chunks of bone at him; he was forced to bring his arm up to shield his eyes from the projectiles, most of which simply bounced off his aura or missed. However, the creature took advantage of it and lunged at him. This time, he could make out the litany of scars across its maw and face as he narrowly stepped to the side, avoiding being bowled over.
"You're old, ain't ya?" He found himself saying. "Hell, I bet you think you're clever. But let me tell you something."
He spread his arms, almost taunting the creature, daring it to charge at him again. It growled at him as it reached toward the ground, picking up more bones and snapping them into crude projectiles.
"We got a tradition where I come from. Good people. Those who do right by their fellow man make the world a better place. People who are worth living. Those people get presents." He felt a grin coming across his face, all teeth.
The creature's only response was to surge forward, tossing the sharpened bones at him like spears; aura flooded into his legs as he narrowly avoided them this time, preparing to meet its charge head-on.
The two clashed in the middle of the dark cave as Robin brought his axe up just in time to ward off the creature's claws from piercing into his aura. The beast pushed against him, and his heels slammed into the ground. The snow on his shoes grew slick, compromising his foot, but he continued to speak.
"Those who are bad, those who make life a living hell to deal with?" His back was pressed against the soot black walls, the handle of the axe beginning to splinter on the pressure. He needed some room. With what little room he had, he reared his head back and then slammed it forward, his forehead cracking against its face, sending it reeling.
As fast as his arm could move, he reached for his revolver. "They get coal, and guess what where we are." He aimed at the volatile coal seam in the back of the cave, coal dust having been tossed up by the fight, and pulled the trigger. The bullet sailed past the beast and slammed into the vein. The impact sent sparks flying, which was all the coal dust needed to ignite.
"Ho ho, hold yourself together in hell, you piece of shit!" His grin grew as the fire lit up the cave, consuming himself and the creature.
-2-
Hours later, Robin sat in Beacon's first-year common room. He was covered in soot, his clothes torn and burnt, but most importantly, in the corner sat a Christmas tree. It wasn't perfect and leaned slightly to the right, but it was better than nothing. The usually dust-powered fireplace roared as coal was used to fuel it. Across the room were shoddy decorations and snacks. In his hand was a cup of hot chocolate, and for just a moment, almost everything was right with the world. Though… it was missing something. He hummed while he fished his scroll out of his pocket and sent a message off to all of his classmates. Something, something school exploding, something, something white fang, emergency meeting in the common room.
It didn't take long for Cardin, Sky, along with teams RWBY and JNPR to run into the common room, in varying states of alert and ready to fight. He gave them a cheery wave as they rushed in, and an awkward silence reigned for a moment as he sipped his hot cocoa.
It was Blake who broke the silence. "So… where's the emergency?"
"Oh, that," Robin said as if he was just remembering that he sent it. "There isn't one; I lied to get you all here. Merry Christmas!"
Cardin vaguely gestured at him. "Then why do you look like that."
"I saved Christmas by fighting a Grimm in a coal pit," Robin said.
"What in the fuck is a Christmas," The orange hair boy replied.
"It's a holiday where I'm from, all about gift giving and spreading cheer. I'm too broke to give gifts, so I've settled on the latter." Robin said. "Are you cheered yet?"
Another long, awkward silence reigned until Sky started snickering, which spread into a full-blown laugh. It spread across the group as they slowly relaxed, and spread out among the common room.
"Oh yeah. Weiss, I do have something for you." Robin said as he fished a small lump of coal from the ground and tossed it at Weiss, who fumbled catching it and was forced to scoop it up from the ground.
"Coal?" She questioned slowly. "Like coal from the ground?"
"Where else would you get it from?" He asked.
"Never mind that why would I want coal?" She asked rhetorically.
Unfortunately for her, Robin replied anyway, giving a shrug and a grin. "I dunno."
"I can't even use it as fuel for anything. Dust is so much cleaner any-"
Robin tuned her out as he took another sip of his hot cocoa.
Merry Christmas.
AN: Not exactly the return y'all were expecting I know, prolly were expecting an actual chapter not a random, prolly poorly written, Christmas interlude. But it's what I give you, like the worlds worst santa. Jokes aside, I hope y'all enjoy, have a wonderful day, and have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
