Note: I don't claim ownership of either Dark Souls or RWBY
Chosen Undead
The Chosen Undead gained awareness to the sight of a young child running around giddily, poking him in the head with a stick before zipping backwards in a shower of petals. Why would a knight of his prowess sit still to this insult?
'Bear with it a little longer; it's her birthday, after all.' The youngest of Ruby's family, herself, had turned 10 the second the sun had started to rise, or so he was told. The young girl had immediately rushed to him after the realisation had struck and blasted him with the knowledge. And so, he sat there as the child slowly tired herself out.
"Ummm, Mister Miles?" The knight turned to look at the child, observing the torn expression on her face as she looked at him, eyes practically glowing with an untold question.
"Yes, m'lady?" She fidgeted nervously.
"Could you... Could you teach me how to fight Grimm?" He was taken aback, almost missing her next words.
"I want to be a huntress like my mum and you're really strong, mister Miles."
"Why don't you ask your dad or your uncle?
They're hunters, aren't they?" Yes, the Undead had noticed Velka's sign investigating the area, searching for traces as he vanished from sight; his persistency was extremely annoying to the Undead, hypocritical as it may be.
Ruby pouted. "But Uncle Qrow is out all the time and Dad is helping Yang train for her test."
"Test?" A look of exasperation in response to the knight's head tilting ever so slightly was all he needed to know.
"I told you this last time! When I'm 17, I can take the test to enter Beacon Academy! Then, I can become a hero!" He froze before swiftly relaxing, avoiding the child's suspicion.
"I can't teach you. I am truly sorry, m'lady."
"But why?" He sighed inwardly.
"Because I can't train a hero. I can't teach you anything that hunters wouldn't know. And, choosing a teacher is different from making friends. You can only have one." He smiled beneath his helmet, recalling his first teacher; the one who has shaped his path.
"Then I want you to be that teacher, mister Miles!" He shook his head immediately.
"I can't. Tell me, who do you look up to, Ruby?" A smile beamed.
"You, of course!"
"..." Tapping incessantly, steel clanged as gauntlet and greaves connected. Eventually, he spoke again,
"You must have someone who can teach you better than I could. Tell me how you're preparing to be a huntress." Annoyed at this change in subject yet young enough to be fooled, she couldn't stop herself from speaking about her plans.
'So she wants to use a 'gun scythe' and she goes to a combat school named Signal Academy. She's taught by her Uncle who also uses a scythe but has no sparring partner.'
"Ask your Uncle to teach you more. You already have an instructor who can help you; why ask for more?" He looked at her only to find a fire within her, similar yet not identical to that of the Anastasia. Warm, kind yet resolute in their purpose.
"Because I want you as my teacher! You're my hero, after all!" Deathly silence overtook him as he noticeably shook, hands curled into fists.
"Stop with the hero!" He took a cold breath as Ruby recoiled, alleviating his boiling wrath. The next words he spoke were as a cold as winter.
"I am no hero, m'lady. But, if you insist on pursuing this... this hopeless errand, then I can show you. I can show you the price of being a hero." Ruby, young as she was, didn't understand the connotations of his words and so accepted, thoughts racing behind her eyes.
"Yes, please. This is the first time I get to see mister Miles without armour!" He wordlessly acknowledged her words, lifting his hands and clasping them to the sides of his helmet. Undoing the latches, he prepared to lift it off his head.
"Are you sure, young lady? After this, there will be no going back."
"Yes, I'm sure. I trust you, mister Miles. I trust you." He lifted the helmet, placing it on his lap before facing the young Rose, undead nature on display.
Ruby
She sat there, horror contorting her face as she looked at her hero, her saviour, in all his macabre glory. He was scary. He was hideous. He was a monster. Her hero, was a monster. She threw up to her side, regurgitating her breakfast.
Dead skin clung to decayed, wrinkled flesh, messy black hair without moisture sitting atop his head as he stared at her with two eyeless eyeholes. To add to her horror, flies seemed to fly out of the sockets, flying out into the air or into his armour. She couldn't bear to imagine the rest of his body, still, thankfully, hidden beneath the surcoat that he wore. Without turning back, she had vanished in a torrent of petals, heading home, all the while thinking of two words.
'Hero, monster'
Chosen Undead
He placed the helmet back on his head, redoing the latches. A sigh escaped from his lips as he stared up at the sun.
'Well, at least that should dishearten her from me. Hopefully, it'll stop her from being a huntress altogether.' He thought of his journeys, his pains, his sorrows.
'I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, much less a child.' And so he sat there, reminiscing his own fateful story, as the sun circled lazily over him, towards a dissilusioned child with a diminished spark. Diminished, but not snuffed. Diminished, but still there, still enduring. For now.
Qrow
The door was unlocked. He stepped into Ruby's room, approaching the curled shape of said child as her father stood at the door. She had been subdued for three days now, her usual self snuffed out.
'What the hell is wrong with her? She isn't sick, so did that Knight do anything to her?' Oh, he knew of her meeting with the Undead a few days prior, leading him to believe that he was at least partially to blame.
"Ruby, are you awake?" A stir from the bed was all he needed to know. He placed a hand on her.
"What happened?" Those two words immediately made her turn to her uncle, looking at him with teary eyes. He hugged her instinctively, unable to bear his honorary niece like this as she slowly spilled out her story.
"Do you, do you ever feel scared, Uncle Qrow?" The man in question just smiled a melancholy smile.
"All the time, pipsqueak. All the time. It never goes away, you know. But the thing you should think about is not how to stop it, but how to deal with it." She gripped him tighter.
"I'm scared, I'm scared of Miles. He's a monster! His face... His face..."
"You know how I feel about this unknown knight of yours, but no matter what, he is the one who saved you; for that, I'm immediately grateful." Tai walked up to his daughter, ruffling her hair as Qrow let go of his niece. When she didn't speak, he lifted part of his shirt, revealing a short, jagged scar engraved into his side.
"I got this from a manticore, once upon a time. I would've died there if it wasn't for your mother. She was like an angel, protecting me as I sat there, wounded. She was one of the reasons I strived to be a better hunter; she's also the one who influenced you to become one too." Ruby looked up at him, eyes glistening in the dark with unshed tears.
"From what you've said, this knight is someone who's faced the cost of being an hunter; of saving people. He still helped you, didn't he? He saved you when we," he gestured to himself and Qrow, "weren't there. It doesn't matter what he looks like; that makes him a good person in my eyes. I'm sure your uncle Qrow would agree." He shot a look at Qrow, silently begging him to agree with him. Sighing inwardly, he nodded.
'I really shouldn't be doing this.'
"No matter what he says or does to stop you from being a huntress, no matter how much he hates being a 'hero', he can't change the fact that you believe in him." She nodded, the fire in her eyes slowly returning. She started to climb out of bed before her dad gently pushed her back down.
"But I need to apologize to him!"
"That can wait until tomorrow, young lady!" He spoke a bit softer now. "Both you and him must be tired; how about you talk to him in the morning."
Chosen Undead
SLAM*
In the clearing, a sword was slammed into the ground, blade coiled like a serpent. Fire erupted from the blade, falling into the pile of wood underneath like rain. He sat down to the calm embrace of the fire, letting it bathe his armour in light as he prepared.
In his hand was a piece of humanity, the sprite darting slowly, accepting it's fate. Crushing it in his hand, he could feel it being absorbed into him, an addicting feeling that made him crave him for more. A drug. A drug of Gwyn's accursed creation. Quickly shaking the feeling off, he threw his armoured hand into the fire, grasping the coiled blade like a lifeline. Instantaneously, information flooded his brain.
'And in the dark, Gwyn used fire to shield Humanity, for Humanity, fueled by Humanity. Kindle Bonfire.' An inferno ripped into him, digging out the vestige of humanity he had consumed prior and hurling it into the flames. As the fire grew in power, he carefully filled his flask with the molten fire, inexplicably increasing its capacity.
'More, more, more. GIVE ME MORE! MORE HUMANITY!'
"No!" Retrieving the blade, the Chosen Undead drowned the urge to feed more humanity to the flames.
'Even with Gwyn gone, the flame still yearns for humanity. Maybe it was never his in the first place? Or one of his creations has outlived him.' With that thought, a happier Undead dug into his box, retrieving a simple stave from its contents. Sitting there, he readied his magic.
Throughout the night, flashes of blue could be seen across the island of Patch.
Ruby
She had rushed out immediately after waking, breakfast forgotten as she found a hiding place to quickly copy down what was written in the parchment her hero had given to her on their first meeting.
'A flick there, a curve there. And, done!' Just as she finished the last stroke, the paper was engulfed in a brilliant golden light, grasping onto her before she disappeared into the parchment, leaving a blank page on her wake.
She dropped from the sky, feet first. *CRASH* Falling into a mess of limbs, she tried to process what had happened, from teleportation to magic paper.
"What are you doing here?" Turning, she saw her hero stand there, confusion evident by the slight tilt of his head. Quickly brushing herself off, she got up. Without warning, she jumped him, embracing him in a hug.
"I'm sorry for running away from you yesterday, mister Miles," she looked him in the eyes (helmet?), resolution guiding her words. "But I'm not scared of you."
"You aren't scared of me, young lady? Are you sure?" A red glow emanated from under his visor, glowering at her with a barely contained bloodlust. Ruby, for her part, stood strong, even if, well.
'Why am I cold all of a sudden? And why are his eyes glowing red?'
"No, I'm not. I know you're a good person, mister Miles. You saved me, right?" He nodded, the red receding ever so slightly.
"Well, that means you're a good person, like mum was. Like I want to be. If I want to protect people, I need to be a huntress, like my mum, even if I get hurt."
"You've seen what happens to heroes; are you still sure you want to be a huntress?" A nod.
"I want to be able to help others and defeat monsters, even the one that hurt you, mister Miles." A melancholy smile that was evident once he took of his helmet and clasped it to his side.
"I'm sorry, m'lady, but my monster is something I have to fight alone." He sighed, analysing her eyes thoroughly. Whilst there was still a flicker of fear every now and then, it was different from the day before. Now, there was a hardened resolve, strengthened by his actions. "If you truly want to be a huntress, and you truly want me to be your teacher, I can play the part." She nodded in excitement, happiness flowing through her veins like an electric shock.
"However, you must get permission from your guardian first. Is that understood?" A nod. "Good. Now, off you go. If you go that way," he pointed east, "you will reach your home. If your father agrees to this excursion of yours, then head west, by the sea. I will find you." Without turning back, she had vanished in a torrent of petals, heading home, yet this time was different. Instead of horror clutching at her, threatening, foreboding, nightmare-inducing, she felt excitement, joy; success.
Taiyang
"You want to be taught by this knight?" Ruby nodded, to his dismay. The shock he had felt when she hadn't shown up for breakfast was miniscule in the face of this revelation.
"Uncle Qrow has promised to teach you!"
"But he's never here! How is he supposed to teach me when he's always gone?"
'How do I deal with this?'
"You get taught in the academy everything you need to know!"
"But I don't get to learn outside of school!" She lowered her voice slightly. "How am I supposed to be a good huntress like mum if I can't learn everything I can?"
'But, right now, you're the one who needs protecting.'
"You can learn but only in a safe environment!" His tone dropped. "What if you get hurt?" She smiled.
"I won't be hurt, dad. Last time, Miles beat a bunch of Grimm without even a scratch!"
'Last time? I'll ask her afterwards.' Suddenly, he had an idea that would appease both him and his daughter.
"How about I go with you?" She thought about it.
"But he said he doesn't want to meet anyone else..."
"I'll convince him, don't worry. Send him a message first." She instinctively pulled her scroll out of her pocket before putting it back, much to his confusion.
"He doesn't have a scroll."
"What?"
"He didn't know what a scroll was when I first met him; I'd need to meet him in person." He mused for but a moment before coming up with a solution.
"Then I'll stay nearby, how about that?" She thought about it before nodding.
"Let's go, then!"
Chosen Undead
Voices. Then, a voice.
"Miles, where are you?" He got up, putting his helmet on. If he were to teach, he had to be prepared. Tapping the wall with his gloved index finger, the illusion dispersed, revealing his iron clad figure instead of the sheer rock face present mere moments before.
"Over here, miss Rose." His monotonous tone drew her attention and she immediately appeared in a burst of petals, panting ever so slightly.
'Her stamina will need to be improved before she can learn anything beyond a beginner's abilities.'
"I know you said that I can't bring anyone else, mister Miles, but my dad didn't trust me going here all by myself and you don't have a scroll that I could message." He sighed for the hundredth time, carefully scanning the area for any traps. After declaring the area safe, he turned back to her.
"He's up there, right?" He pointed up, towards the hill overlooking the shrouded forest. She nodded, pointing to her scroll as well.
"He said to tell him if anything goes wrong and when it's time to go." He nodded, immediately taking a liking to the man.
'He understands the basics of safety; he's just like him.' Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he returned to the conversation at hand.
"It shouldn't take long today; currently, you have too many flaws for me to teach you effectively." She looked at him, eyes brimming with protest and determination.
"But!-" He held up a hand.
"Let me finish." He unsheathed the sword at his side before passing it to her. It was a basic, run of the mill straight sword, perfect for a beginner such as her. "You may wish to use a scythe as your main weapon but without the stamina or strength, it will be a hindrance." He put his hands up, stanced like a fighter, weaponless. "Now then, young lady, try to hit me."
She rushed at him, sword held two handed, swinging wildly. Within the span of a second, he had side-stepped the first swing, ducked under the second and parried the third, leatherbound hand catching the flat side of the blade before forcing it out of her hands.
"The next lesson will be tomorrow, at noon. By that time, I will have prepared instructions on what you must do to improve. For now," he picked up the sword before giving it to her. "Start preparing by sparring against someone, preferably someone experienced."
"Why can't you do it then?" He chuckled lightly, amused at the suggestion. He instinctively ruffle her hair, inciting a squeak from the child.
"If we were to fight, you wouldn't learn anything of value. Eventually, when you've learned how to use your scythe well, we can have a spar, if you so wish." He made a shooing motion. "Now, you need to get going; you don't want to worry your fathe know, do you?" She waved a goodbye before hurrying off, scroll in hand. Moments later, he collapsed to the ground, fatigue building up.
"How did you do it, Paladin? How did you teach so well, so perfectly?" An image flashed within his mind, of a corpse in armour, burning on bone. He recoiled instantly. "Maybe you felt just as exhausted after each of our lessons." He smiled at the thought, getting up. After all, if he were to teach properly, he would need the skills to back it up. Drawing his claymore, his iron clad form strode menacingly towards the forest, the sounds of his soon-to-be-prey ringing like bells in his rotten ears.
Five Years Later