AN:Welcome, one and all, to the rewrite of A Grey-Haired Boy. The one with an actual plot and earned fluff, hopefully.
Vale, shopping district.
Amidst the buildings and city blocks of one of the four Kingdoms' capitals, a team of four young women from a certain academy walked together on a trip to the grocery shop. It was proving to be a normal day in the city of Vale, with the two of the four chasing each-other after one with red highlights and short hair took a picture of another with white hair without said white-haired one's permission.
These four young women were team RWBY. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao-Long. Ruby and Weiss were colored as their namesakes implied, even in the weirdly alien language that Weiss was named in. Blake and Yang, meanwhile, were a bit more strangely named, but they still hinted at colors, much like the Color-Naming Rule of the world of Remnant had requested.
Yang watched with a grin as an angry Weiss chased Ruby, who held a scroll in one hand and laughed jovially. Blake, meanwhile, read a book as they walked, murmuring, "Seems like they're never going to change..." barely audibly enough for Yang to hear. The blonde snickered, grinning ear-to-ear still as she crossed her arms under her fairly well-developed chest.
She replied, "I really hope they don't. It's fun to see Weiss Cream be like that."
Blake chuckled, pushing a strand of her black hair out of her auburn eyes. She stowed her book in her bag as they walked. She told Yang, "You know, you really should get Ruby to settle down. Schnees aren't known to be particularly patient with... Anyone, really," with a little worry. Yang let out another snort and waved it off, fairly aware of how abrasive Schnees supposedly were. Even with that in mind, Weiss had somewhat started opening up to them as of late, after a talk with Prof Port, apparently.
"Eh, Ruby's fine. Weiss'll start liking her," The blonde then quipped.
The black-haired, bow-wearing girl shrugged, unsure if the way Yang saw things was possible. Weiss was a Schnee after all. It wasn't like them to easily 'warm up' to anyone, she thought as they kept walking. She sighed, watching the two become a little rowdier, then said to Yang, "Catch up with us when you can," before booking it. Yang, to her credit, had turned toward Blake just as she'd stepped off. She was 'window shopping' (ogling) some of the cakes at a candy store and mentally cursing the fact she couldn't eat any due to her training when Blake had run off.
She rolled her eyes, grinning, and was about to take off running to join the girls in the grocery store. Was. The cracking thunder of several trash bins being knocked over in the alley next to her. Her heart had also nearly jumped out of her chest at that sound. She swiveled about to it, preparing to grab her shotgun bracelets, Ember Celica, out of her bag to meet a possible assailant. Or just punch their lights out if they were a bum.
A bum, they were not, though. Yang stared, eyes wide and mouth agape, at a man clad in a speckled forest camouflage gear set. A helmet, body armor, the uniform shirt and pants. The only things not bearing the camouflage pattern were his gun, which was a matte black, thick-looking machine gun with a box and belt feed system and the two extra boxes he hauled on his side, plus the sidearm in a holster on his thigh.
Hunched over and on all fours, the man breathed raggedly, dark-green fumes pouring through a balaclava-style mask near the mouth. His tinted goggles seemed to fog up for a moment as he slowly craned his head up. He swallowed, coughed and gagged... And while Yang would've normally made a joke in any situation where someone looked as drunk as this guy seemed to be, something in her gut told her those fumes weren't from alcohol.
She asked him warily, "You okay, man...?"
He breathed and tried to speak, but couldn't. One hand lifted off the floor and waved toward her, showing her to stay away. As he gagged again, he undid his helmet's strap and tossed it aside, then took his mask off and retched on the floor, a coagulated mess. He shook his head and wiped his mouth, then covered his nose with his hands and took a canteen off his belt, downing half the contents in four chugs.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he poured the rest of the drink on his face, emptying all of it. Water wet his face, hair and his clothes, but he didn't seem to give much of a damn about it. Yang, meanwhile, paused to stare at him. A hint of surprise played on her face, her heart fluttering. The young man before her, a generally handsome guy with dark-green eyes and a tired-looking, sunken face that still retained some of the traits of normalcy from before whatever Conflict he faced, stared.
Yang had to clear her mind and ask again, "Dude, you okay? Do you need an ambulance?"
He shook his head, breathing heavily. He slowly staggered to his feet, staring at the blonde ahead of him with what seemed to be a hint of concern. He narrowed his eyes to focus them, then narrowed his lips upon seeing Yang. She wasn't sure what that meant, so she wasn't sure if she should feel offended or not. She also noted the scars. Scars on his face and neck, barely hidden by his uniform.
The blonde definitely thought well about calling an ambulance then and there. She told him, "You got some scars..."
He hummed and lifted up the goggles he had on him, looking into their reflective lenses. Her an his gloved hand over the scars, then sighed and nodded, folding the glasses. He told her, "Don't worry... They don't hurt..." as he still seemed to be processing his existence. Yang had seen confused people before. She thought she had, in fact, but he seemed like a whole new type of brass. The two then locked eyes as he asked, "Where am I...?" with a hint more wariness in his movements and words.
Yang swallowed, suddenly feeling her throat dry up. She answered as calmly as she could, "Vale... Uh..." Only for confusion to strike. Wait a minute, how wouldn't he know, she thought to herself. Quickly, she asked him, "How'd you even wind up here, dude? And how do you not know? Did you fall out of the sky or something...?" only to watch him tense up a little. She felt her heart drop at that, then sighed in relief as she saw him relax.
"Never heard of Vale..." He replied, "Some new small country that popped out of the Collapse, then?"
"What-" Yang blanked, then shook her head, "No. Vale's a kingdom, my guy..." and paused as she read out the tag on the center of his uniform's strange carrier vest. She squinted, then asked, "What's your name, bee-tee-dubs?" with a smile. He looked at himself, checked the tag and almost pointed at it, but Yang, in her ever-present quest to be a welcoming friend to a newcomer, said, "Nah, I mean your full."
"... Victor Toma," He replied after a moment of hesitation, "Corporal..."
Yang smirked, "A soldier with an Old Vernacular name! Well, ain't ya a treat?"
"Old Vernac-..." He blinked, then sighed, "Right... And you are?"
"Oh, right. Hi, I'm Yang. Yang Xiao-Long. Pleasure to meet'cha, Victor," She smiled. Whatever distrust Victor had shown until just now through his stoic expression had vanished, his face softening. He still looked concerned and somewhat distrustful, but at least she seemed to be getting through to him. She smiled proudly at that, then said, "Sooo... Cool gear."
Vic looked at himself again, checked his stuff, then nodded, "Thanks... Standard issue for machine gunners," only to turn around and walk over to grab his helmet from wherever he'd thrown it. He lifted it off the ground, slid his mask back onto his face, then his glasses and, finally, his helmet. He locked the clips that kept the helmet on his head together, then turned to Yang, hands cradling the massive belt-fed machine gun.
Yang had made out several extra details. Two extra magazines for the strange black, blocky pistol he had, both in smaller pouches on his holster, plus several extra pouches on his vest that contained, not ammunition, but rather simple items like food, a radio that was connected to a flexible microphone system attached to his helmet and a fairly large backpack. That and a flag on his shoulder. Blue, gold and red.
Meanwhile, Victor asked her, "... I don't suppose you folks have a Romanian or American Embassy in this kingdom, do you?" then scoffed as he saw the confusion. He told her, "I guess I should have figured... Sorry for the stupid question," only to sling his MG behind him. He stepped forward, his gear rattling, then asked, "Leadership, then. A King, or some sort of commander of the local military I can talk to, somewhere I can request asylum until allied forces find me..."
He seemed determined to find some way out. So if Yang were to hazard a guess, that flag on his shoulder wasn't some form of expressing his own belief of art or something, rather the flag of his homeland. She told him, "Well, no King. We only kept the name of Kingdom around as a commemoration of the King that led us through our Great War. We're run by an elected Council."
"Huh..." Vic blinked, "Alright... So, leadership...?"
"Yeah, we have that. I'm not friends with anyone from the Council, though, so best I got is our headmas-"
"Yaaaaang!" Ruby called out as she ran toward her, lifting her Scroll up, "We got a message from the Headmaster that we oughta look for someone weird that just came... In..." And her stride seemed to break, the girl slowing to a walk while she stared at the new guy, while said new guy grew tense again. Yang showed him to calm down, raising her hands in front of her face.
"Vic, chill... That's my sister..." Yang told him as she stepped to his side. She paused and murmured to herself, "Wait, how'd the Headmaster know about you...?" while the gunner looked to her and simply gave a nod. He hadn't even gone for a weapon. Was probably just surprised someone was so casually calling out to hi-Yang almost felt the air knocked out of her lungs as Ruby charged forward with one of her standard 'weapon geek has seen new gun, must investigate' screeches.
The trail of petals she left when she dashed forward via her Semblance seemed to confound Vic. Until Ruby was face-to-face with him, smiling broadly and letting out something that barely resembled a sentence, "YOURGEARISSOCOOLWHEREDYOUGETITFROMHIIMRUBYNICETOMEETYOU!" that was. He took a step back and Yang noticed his hand almost mechanically hovering over his pistol. Though the man was sane enough to stop himself, Yang could only wonder what would lead to such a reaction.
"Hi, Ruby...? I'm Victor..." He said, to his credit sounding less confused than the blonde would've been in a similar situation. He told the giddy little girl with gradient hair, "I was assigned my gear and... Thank you? Nice to meet you too..." before casting a sideways glance toward Yang that screamed a silent 'help me'. Yang snickered at the sight, content to let it play out for a bit more.
"Ooo! What even is it? And what's this!? This is a new handgun! I've also never seen this type of backpack before! Looks new! And the Camo! I'd bet it'd blend in great here!" Ruby beamed, poking the strange machine gun Vic held close. She was pretty much a blur as she danced around Vic, a rose petal landing on his shoulder. The soldier's shoulders sagged. He lifted his left hand and brushed off the petal, waited for Ruby to stop dashing around. When she did, he nodded.
Gently putting his hand on his machine gun, he said, "This is my PKM and my handgun is a Glock 17. I'll tell you more when I'm somewhere safe, since I assume your headmaster sent a message about me..." only to lift his hands away from his weapons. Ruby beamed and nodded.
"Yang!"
"Ruby!"
Two extra female voices had called out to them. Blake and Weiss, respectively. Vic seemed to tense a little less this time than when Ruby had called out for them. Blake, being agile and fast as she was, was first to reach them. Weiss arrived a second later, her eyes widening. She spoke, "A soldier," with just slight concern. Yang snorted. Knowing Weiss, she was probably tired of'em after living in a country full of troops.
He tilted his head forward in greeting and seemed to decide introducing himself first was a good idea, telling Blake and Weiss, "Corporal Victor Toma. A pleasure, miss...?"
"Weiss Schnee," She replied, a bit guarded, "A pleasure to meet you, too, Corporal..."
"Blake Belladonna. Hey, Victor," The more mysterious of the pair and her color opposite replied, arms crossed. She looked at Yang and asked her, "Hope you haven't been doing the stupid thing of bothering a soldier, Yang," which got a snort out of Ruby and a shake of the head and hidden smile out of Weiss. Yang, meanwhile, glared a couple of daggers at her combat partner.
"No, she was just... Helping me get my bearings after I dropped in," Vic replied. He seemed to be pondering every word he was saying. The four girls looked at each-other, then at the soldier, to which he told them, "Let's just... Go out to meet your Headmaster, then. Best to have me moved out of the line of sight of random civvies, lest they start worrying why a machine gunner's... Just out and about."
"Right," Ruby nodded, "This way, please!"
As they walked, Vic seemed to see Weiss was examining him. He asked, "Something the matter, miss Schnee?"
"No," Weiss replied, then admitted rather worriedly, "It's just... Strange to see someone prepared for combat within the area of operations they find themselves in. The Kingdom of Atlas has been working on the idea of camouflage uniforms like yours for combat duties outside of Solitas..." only to note the confusion in the man's movements and even his slightly widened eyes.
Weiss looked to Yang, who explained, "I don't... Think he's from around our neck of the woods, Weiss."
"He should still know of the Kingdoms..." Weiss blanked, then looked to Victor and asked, "Did you hit your head on the way over?"
Nominally, Yang would have expected a soldier to be a bit more brash and annoyed at that. Victor, however, replied with a calm, "I think I've hit more than my head, miss Schnee, so if you don't mind explaining to a Corporal what's up and down on this planet, I'd appreciate being briefed on the way over..." before pausing. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, then murmured something to himself in another language, a hint of annoyance in his voice, then asked, "What's the name of this planet...?"
All four girls looked at him as if he'd just said the stupidest thing in the world. Yang told him, "R-Remnant... Why, what planet did you think this was...?"
He sighed deeply, put his goggles back on and answered, "I'll explain everything later," as they walked toward some sort of LZ. He paused as he saw a bulky, fat vehicle with thin wings and VTOL capabilities sat there on its landing gear. Ruby smiled, while Yang crossed her arms and looked to the Soldier. He narrowed his lips and partially begged, "Please, tell me we're not flying in that..."
"In a Bullhead? It's completely safe, my man," Yang snorted, then patted him on the shoulder. The man seemed to sit there for a moment, pondering all the life choices that led him to this moment as team RWBY boarded the vehicle. When he saw how calmly, team RWBY got in, however, he couldn't exactly deny it. Putting one foot in front of the other, the man clambered aboard, hefting his gear with a huff. He took his backpack and MG off and set them in a seat beside him, as he sat opposite team RWBY.
The doors, which were fairly bulky, closed, for which he seemed to take a moment and thank whatever deity he believed in. Yang chuckled, leaning her head on her hand and watching him take his helmet, mask and goggles off again. He licked his lips, checked his canteen to see it was empty, then leaned back into his seat. Yang whistled to him as she rummaged through the two massive grocery bags Weiss, Blake and Rubes had brought in, then tossed him a bottle of water.
He caught it and nodded, "Thanks," then uncapped it and took a swig, averting his gaze from those of the team. Yang, however, kept watching him with a grin. Blake, being a smart girl, noticed this and gently elbowed the blonde in her ribs, which caused her to turn toward her partner with a raised brow. Blake snorted at that and smirked, before tilting her head toward Vic.
Yang shook her head. It wasn't like that. Sure, the dude was cute, but she barely met him. And Yang had made that mistake only once before. Never again, she thought to herself as she turned back to watch the soldier. Still, the scars just did something for the blonde. There was a certain air of a badass in there. Something that'd draw any girl, like a little air of danger.
However, once again, Yang was a smart girl.
She hoped.
As the aircraft flew over the city of Vale, the group was exchanging small-talk, with Victor seemingly staying out of it. He gently slid his hand underneath the collar of his shirt and pulled out a necklace with two metal plates attached to it:Dog Tags, all four girls soon realized. On a necklace beside it was a cross with details the girls couldn't make out from where they were sat.
The soldier sighed, slid the necklaces back under his shirt and leaned forward, before calling out, "So, miss Schnee... Briefings, please?"
"Ah, yes, apologies," Weiss nodded, then leaned forward, "Atlas, the Kingdom I hail from, bears the greatest military on Remnant at the moment, with a full active roster of tens of thousands of soldiers, supplemented by hundreds of thousands of active humanoid bipedal drones and heavy armor and airpower. We're the premier military force on Remnant, as I said and, as Yang has mentioned, I have had dealings with the military myself, due to my stature. I don't assume you've heard of the Schnee Dust Company, what with asking about our planet?"
"No, ma'am," Vic replied respectfully, "Take it that's a big company here?"
"Fairly large," Weiss replied, "My father runs the company and I'm slated to be the Heiress," she then said with a rather... Annoyed tone about it. Notably, Vic seemed to have picked up on the little change in tone, but didn't comment on it, letting Weiss continue with, "And Dust? Do you know what that is?" only to get a shake of the head. She sighed, then told him, "Either you've certainly hit your head, or you are as alien to Remnant as can be, Corporal Toma. Take no offense, but... Oh, well, to Dust. It's the mineral that powers all that you see around you. It comes in elemental types and subtypes. Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Gravity-"
"Hold on," Vic raised his hand, "Gravity."
"Yes. We use it for antigrav hover technology," Weiss shot back. That seemed to garner ever the smallest smile from the man, which caused Yang to choke a little, seeing as she was chowing down on something. Weiss raised a brow toward her brawler teammate, then looked back at Vic and continued, "Alas, we use it to power everything from our vehicles to our weapons."
"Interesting," He replied, calm, "Gotta see some of it myself..."
"What about ya, Vic?" Ruby smiled, causing him to pause. Ruby quickly clarified, "What's... Like... Your world? Since you mentioned planets, I figured it'd be nice if we could hear some part of your story, heh..." only to pause. She blanked, then quickly waved her hands around like a scared kid, "O-only the parts you wanna talk about, sure! You got us all a lil' curious, right, girls?"
"Well, certainly, but-" Weiss started, worried.
Yang snorted, "Oh, you betcha."
"Sure," Blake nodded, "I'm a little curious."
The soldier seemed to know when he was overwhelmed, though Weiss had apparently wanted to stop them. He decided it best to tell a little. He opened his mouth to speak, but the Pilot told them, "We're on approach to Beacon now, ladies! Headmaster's request is that you head straight for him with the new guy!" as she began turning the aircraft gently.
Vic seemed surprised when he saw the vast expanse of Beacon Academy. A small city in its own right, the learning institution looked like it could house thousands of students and it probably did. What kind of Academy it was, Yang saw him try to figure it out. She called to him, "Beacon Academy. It's a school for training Huntsmen. We fight big, dark monsters here. Stuff like in fairytales."
The soldier blanked for a moment. When he regained his capability to think, he seemed to choose not to comment. As the aircraft descended, the four young women led him toward the gleaming, emerald-shining and massive central clocktower, amidst hundreds of students that barely spared him a glance, being heavily armed themselves. Vic, however, didn't care for the students, as it seemed.
A parked six-wheeler MRAP, armored and painted dark-green. It had a turret with a large, bulky, box machine gun sat on top, barrel pointed at the sky. A pair of soldiers stood guard, one manning the anti-materiel MG. One of the soldiers, who looked like he was hauling a rocket launcher tube, a strange wood and metal construct with two grips, a trigger in the front grip and sights, turned toward Victor. And Victor noticed him, too.
The two men stood for a moment, staring at each-other, before Vic approached, eyes wide. The rifleman, carrying a strange-looking rifle as an extra protection, swiveled about on his feet, then ran toward the Machine Gunner, laughing heartily. Vic burst into a sprint, calling out in an unknown language, "Nenorocitu' dracu, cum dumnezeii mă-tii mai trăiești!" as he smiled at the sight.
The two men met in the middle, slamming into each-other and bumping heads. Vic grabbed his forehead and swore up a storm, realizing after the impact that he had no helmet, unlike his buddy. The rocketeer said, "Oai, omule, n-aveai cascheta! N-am văzut! Da' măcar acu știi sigur că ai cap tare, heh..." sounding almost apologetic as he checked Vic over. Vic waved it off, much to his credit.
"E ok... How the fuck are you alive, Avram...?" The Romanian started, grabbing him by his vest, "I saw you get domed..."
"Fucked if I know, Vic..." He shook his head, smiling, then looked over to the girls and grinned, giving the concerned young women a whistle and telling them, "Relax! His noggin's gon' be alright!" with a heavy accent. Yang thought her fear was assuaged enough as she and the girls approached, grinning. The rocketeer told them, "I think we're the reason your headmaster let you know to look out for Vic."
"That makes sense," Yang chuckled awkwardly.
"Speaking of," Avram turned to Vic, "Sarge and the others are upstairs. Should be coming down any minute now."
Indeed, doors slid open, revealing twenty more soldiers, all led by a fairly tall woman with brown, military female standard hair that flowed out from underneath a service cap. Her helmet was clipped to her vest and she was talking to a silver-haired man with dark yellow eyes, clad in a green suit. Beside her, a dirty blonde with her hair cut short and green eyes.
Both women paused, with the latter calling out, "Frate!" as she charged forward. She wrapped him in a hug, then backed off and threw a punch into his chest, much to his surprise. She spoke to him, "Where the fuck have you been, man?! You scared the living shit out of us when you didn't appear on board the Warhound! Especially after the clusterfuck with Ichkeria..."
"I know, sis," He smiled, then patted her on the shoulder, "Sorry..."
The woman sighed deeply, then nodded and put a hand on his shoulder, too, "It's alright, bro..." only to pause as he saw the four girls behind him. She grinned, "Really, man? Multiple chicks?"
Vic rolled his eyes, then said to the girls(one of which was blushing. Yang. It was Yang.) "This is my sister, Vicky."
"Vic and Vicky?" Ruby chuckled, as did the rest of her team.
"Our family wasn't exactly bright fuckin' spots in terms of giving the twin kids names. Rather obviously," Vicky, the female twin who looked a little like her bro, joked, arms crossed to her chest and pressing down on a rifle with a scope and a long barrel. The Sergeant beside them gave them slaps over the head, while the rest of the platoon let out a short laugh. Vicky looked over to the Headmaster and said, "Sarge's right... Best to get us home, sir."
The Headmaster nodded, then turned to team RWBY, smiled, said to them, "Thank you for bringing Corporal Toma over, ladies... Sergeant Danila, if you and your men will follow me, we'll get you to your accommodations while you decide whether to accept Beacon's proposal or not. All while providing a quick briefing to your newly recovered corporal," and started leading the soldiers forward.
From KFOR, to Afghan and to a whole other clusterfuck...