First try at a RWBY fic. OC centric, but will not be OP. I hope to give him meaningful development, and a background that ties well into the plot of RWBY. The main cast will also feature.
Chapter 1
Vale's Winter winds tore through its dimly lit streets; a piercing howl echoing into the night. A young man leant against the cold concrete wall of an old nightclub, taking a final drag of his cigarette before letting it fall to the ground and stomping it out - his hands in the pockets of his long grey woollen coat.
"Aci. Your smoke break ended half an hour ago." The voice of Melanie Malachite cut through the relaxed atmosphere like a bullet from his left. She stood with her arms crossed, her faux fur coat bunching at her waist.
"Boss-man let me go early. Get off my back." He returned with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"That's bullshit! How come I never finish early?." Melanie exclaimed, irritated, gesturing with her hands wildly.
"Well, maybe it has something to do with that 'boyfriend' of yours. Have you seen the death stares Hei gives him?" Acier replied in a dull tone, emerald eyes fixed on pools of lime as he ran a hand through his short ashen hair.
"Meh. He's staying as long as he keeps buying me expensive stuff." She replied shamelessly, lighting a cigarette of her own.
"How mercenary. You know he's ex-VDF, right? You should stop stringing along people with high explosive certs, before the club gets blown to bits." He deadpanned with one eye closed.
"What the fuck? Are you serious?" Melanie looked genuinely shocked.
"He has a unit patch tattooed on the back of his neck. Looked like a Valean engineering company."
"Shit." She cursed, exhaling a plume of smoke.
A long silence followed as Melanie looked to the side with furrowed brows, and Acier was all too content to look up at the starless night sky in wordless contemplation.
"Heard back from your application yet?" Melanie finally asked.
"A letter from Beacon came today. I was gonna wait until we closed up so I could open it with you guys." He explained.
"...idiot." She breathed out softly.
Their conversation was interrupted by one of the bouncers pulling them aside - his red glasses concealing brown orbs tinged with concern.
"We've got a situation - a girl at the bar is getting a little aggressive - looks huntsman trained, too." The large man informed them.
Exchanging a glance with his co-worker, Acier gave a nod in response as he made his way in through the back-door, Melanie following close behind. The familiar beat of electronic music permeated the neon-lit corridors as they pushed their way towards the main floor.
To the side of the dance floor, he spotted Junior behind the bar, talking to some blonde girl. Acier couldn't make out what they were saying from this far away with the music blaring, he shared a look with Melanie again.
"Let me take the lead, I'll go in first, you come after. I'll do the talking. Back me up if things get violent.." He asked, waiting to see Melanie nod before making his way over to the bar.
"-so you do know something! Tell me or it ain't gonna be pretty for you Junior." The blonde said with gritted teeth as she leaned over the bar, not breaking eye contact.
"Hey boss! Get me a double-vodka?" Acier chirped with faux-happiness as he took the stool to the girl's right, and he saw Melanie taking the seat far to her left. He also spotted Miltia watching intently from the bar on the other side of the floor.
Xiong took the out and went to fetch a bottle from the other side of the bar. He glanced to the problem girl to find angry red eyes staring back. Her blonde hair was carefully curled and her cropped pilot jacket made her powerful frame appear even wider.
"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?" The girl spat out with poorly concealed anger as she turned to face him.
Up close, he spotted two large bracelets - no - now that he saw them, they seemed more like gauntlets. A huntress? No, too young… but…
"In the middle of threatening my boss?" There was no trace of a cheerful expression on his face now.
'I'm right in her ideal range if she tries something. I need to create distance if she gets aggressive.' He thought, hand coming to rest on the handle of the weapon concealed under his coat.
"He's holding out on me!" She shouted. If the blonde was put off by the new information or the sudden tone shift, she didn't show it.
"What makes you think he knows anything?" He raised a brow.
"I just know, okay? I saw the look on his face!" she shouted, her face inches from his own, face contorted into a snarl.
"What are you so desperate to find out anyway?" Acier breathed out with a disappointed sigh.
"Have you seen this woman?" She withdrew a photo from her jacket, before shoving it in his face.
The woman in the picture wore Mistrali style clothing with a red and black motif, and bore a striking resemblance to the girl in front of him - yes her hair was a little wilder, but those red eyes were very distinct. In excellent shape, but looked to be pushing 30 years old.
"That your mother?" He said after a few seconds of studying the photograph.
She narrowed her eyes.
"No, I haven't." He sighed.
"Well, your *boss*, clearly has!" She gestured to the man in question, who looked to be expertly avoiding eye contact with the duo as he slid over a drink.
"You a huntress-in-training?" Acier made a shot in the dark as he caught his order and downed it.
"What's it to you?" She replied tersely, a little off balance now.
"The man clearly doesn't want to talk to you right now. And you can't exactly threaten him with this many witnesses." He reasoned.
The grin she gave him almost cracked his composure.
"You won't get anything that way." He stated firmly, before sweetening the deal "Look, if you give me your scroll number, I'll message you if I find anything out."
She paused for a moment, before her red eyes turned a deep lilac and she sighed deeply..
"You know, your pickup game needs some work." She said with some mirth.
"Har har." He replied, pulling out his scroll. "You got a name?"
"It's Yang." The newly identified girl relented. "And you?"
"Acier." He stated, giving her his scroll.
She raised a brow at him as she punched in her number.
"It's old Valean." He , having heard it all before.
"Well, Acier, it's been great." She spoke sweetly as she returned his scroll. "But this is where we part ways." She stood up from her stool and made to walk off, before turning around purposefully.
"Make good on that promise. Or I'll be back." Yang snarled, her eyes flickering red before she turned back and continued walking out.
"Aren't you a regular lady-killer?" Melanie grinned from opposite him, having shifted to Yang's seat as she went out of earshot.
"More like killed-by-lady. Crazy bitch…" He glanced toward the dance floor, to see the doormen ushering everyone out.
His musing was interrupted by the slam of a bottle on the table. Grimm-bar amber ale…
"On the house. Honestly, I was expecting a fight - I'm glad you saved us the trouble." Hei Xiong grunted as he readjusted the collar of his shirt.
"What was that about anyway? Stuff like that is your bread and butter, and you seem to know something." Acier asked inquisitively as he popped the cap on his bottle.
Junior's eyes darkened as he paused for a few seconds, before giving his response.
"Kid. Steer clear of that one. She's trouble."
Acier maintained eye contact for a bit before breaking and sighing into the counter.
"Sounds like a real piece of work." He heard Miltia's voice from behind him as she moved to take the seat to his right..
"You see the look she gave Aci on the way out? What a psycho…" Melanie vented.
Taking a gulp of his drink, Acier saw Junior produce a letter from behind the bar and place it in front of him.
Everyone looked to him in anticipation as he held up the envelope with the Beacon emblem on the front - the beat of his heart quickened imperceptibly. With careful movements, he broke the seal and pulled the contents out.
"Dear Mr. Acier Ferreux" He read.
"It is with great confidence that we, Beacon Academy…" Acier continued, pausing for effect.
"have accepted your application." He finished
"Hell yeah!" Melanie shouted, slapping him on the back a little too hard. Miltia merely smiled at him. He took another swig from the bottle.
"Can't say I was ever in doubt. I've seen you hand the girls their asses in sparring." Junior deadpanned.
"Gh-!" The two sisters made an undignified sound in unison. Acier giggled a bit.
"I'd offer you another drink but… you still have two weeks before you finish school."
"Two more weeks of kicking everyone's ass at Spectral." He smirked, "… except Dove and Sky, I guess." Those two were strong in their own right - last he heard, they were planning to go to Beacon too, same as him.
"There's still plenty to learn." Hei advised sternly, "Don't slack off now."
"Yeah, Aci, no slacking off!" Melanie parroted, making Miltia giggle.
"Alright, alright…" Acier placated, finishing his drink, "I'm going to bed." Though it was a Saturday, staying up much past 3am was going to hurt his sleep cycle for the week. His decision made, he got up from his stool.
"Me too. It's been a long day..." Miltia sighed, making to follow him.
"Losers!" Melanie shouted to them as they walked up the stairs, before getting a dirty look from the Xiong leader.
They made their way to the first floor walking side-by-side in silence. As they ducked into a corridor, Miltia spoke.
"You handled that well. The situation back there." She looked straight at him.
Acier studied her face for a moment, before responding.
"It wasn't too bad. I just hope she doesn't come back." He stated honestly.
"...I guess I just thought you were shy." Miltia surprised him.
"Why's that?" Acier inquired with raised brows.
"I mean, you have friends, but sometimes it feels like it's only because of circumstance. I just thought you were bad with people."
"..." He stayed silent, searching for her intention.
"But that's not the case, is it? I've known you for six years, but sometimes, it feels like I don't know you at all..." She spoke, looking at the floor.
"..."
"You never really got over what happened, did you?" She spoke softly, staring into his soul with a blank look.
Acier's expression soured immediately, as he went to open the door to his room.
"Goodnight, Miltia." He said coldly, shutting the door.
"Goodnight…" she whispered, her face tinged with sadness, wishing she had said nothing at all.
Acier lit up a cigarette before crawling into his bed. He lay there for a while, an indescribable emptiness pooling in his stomach as he stared blankly at the ceiling.
His dreams that night were filled with fire and blood.
Somewhere else in Vale…
"Rejected?" Jaune stared at the letter in shock, heartbroken.
They must have found out about his forged transcripts… oh man, that probably means he's been blacklisted from every huntsman academy for life!
Oh crap, crap crap! He'll never be a huntsman now!
Jaune's head was in his hands as he despaired alone, his whole world turned upside down.
He couldn't go back to Ansel. He knew it deep in his soul, he couldn't face his family after having run off and made nothing of himself. It would only show them that they were right!
He knew what had to be done. He would stay in Vale, and carve out a living for himself until he could figure something out…
Yeah, that sounded good.
Spectral - A huntsman prep academy located in central Vale. Felt like there was a signal-processing theme going with "Beacon" and "Signal", and I thought it felt right when I heard it in my signals lecture.
As you can see, Jaune is not coming to Beacon. I still intend for him to be part of the story, however.