Wanna know a fun little piece of trivia? I didn't choose the 58 to 70 trillion Lien for Jacques' dust-related annual profits randomly. I first looked at how much the energy industry generated on Earth. Then I looked at Vale's map. You know that little river on the map that you can see running from the sea to Beacon? That's the huge one the ships bringing the students to Beacon in Volume 1 were flying above of. From there I deduced that Vale wasn't just a city, but a huge urban jungle the size of a country. So keeping in mind that the four main cities on Remnant were that big, I decided to assume a population half that of Earth that lived on Remnant, most of which concentrated on said main cities (except for Vacuo were the population is more spread out, but that doesn't matter here). Hey, if all of Earth could fit into Texas then half of Earth's population could fit into four countries.
Anyway, my point is: I basically took the profit produced by the energy industry, cut it by half, and then made that Jacques' profit. I don't remember where I found the numbers, though, so I can retrace my steps to make sure I got an accurate one, but whatever.
Then I realised I messed up. Dust isn't just energy, it's also ammunition. This would raise the value of dust and make him even richer.
But hey, better to severely lowball how rich he is instead of severely highballing it, right? So I left the number as it was.
AK632612: I liked the little description of what you foresee, gave me a good chuckle. Unfortunately, Gemini will only be able to wish that his life would look like that. The happy times aren't going to last forever.
Reader 451: I laughed a bit harder than I should have when writing them too.
Epex8201: Gemini is actually avoiding being whopped, but only because Roman and Neo have no idea that 1) he went to the Schnee manor, and 2) that his little skirmish against the White Fang involved Adam Taurus, one of the most dangerous fighter the White Fang have. They'd be way angrier if they knew.
Kolomte'49: On the point of canon... The moral authority of the original creator always supercedes the legal authority of legal properties. So because Monty is now dead, anything that contradict the first two Volume and the World of Remnant's episodes cannot be canon because it would contradict the canon set by Monty, and only, only the original creator of a story can declare something already established to be non-canon anymore. So any retcon that RT introduced after Monty's passing technically makes the volumes that they made non-canon.
Example: Monty had already hinted at Ozpin being older than he seemed, which in insight was obviously referring to Oz being an immortal reincarnating wizard. The video of World of Remnant about aura, ends by saying that with enough mastery of aura, one could become more than a man, while showing Ozpin. It seems highly likely that Ozpin was originally planned to be reincarnating his soul because of a specific aura technique only him knew. This would mean that RT's Ozpin, who reincarnates because of a curse from the God of Light, Isn't part of Monty's canon. Meaning that Volumes 6+ cannot be canon to Volume 1-2. Volume 5 can arguably get away with being canon on this aspect by arguing that Ozpin could have been lying about the gods to avoid being blamed for the whole 'eating souls to keep himself alive' thing.
Hell, I was being too generous when I said that Volume 3 was canon. Monty had to fight Kerry and Miles and insist to have the post credit scene with Yang and Raven. The first thing RT did after Monty died was to retcon it and say it never happened. Volume 3 cannot be canon because it directly goes against the wishes and established canon of the original creator. RIP Monty, he was a good man who deserved better friends.
Everything I just explained, the RWBY fans basically have already picked up on it with a joke I've seen quite a few times during the last few years: ''Only the current Volume is canon.'' Said joke is, obviously, mocking the various retcon and logical impossibilities RT has introduced into the show. Because I have, of course, barely scratched the surface. I'm going to stop ranting on this subject for now because otherwise it's going to be longer than the actual chapter.
Anyway, for the rest of your comment: Yeah, poor Whitley last chapter was really busy trying to clean up after her sister, eh? In Winter's defense, one could argue that with her own training, she only had the time to help one sibling, or that by the time Whitley was old enough to start freeing himself from their father's influence, she was already at Atlas Academy full time, and thus, that him being abandoned and alone was mostly on Weiss. Of course, Weiss herself was but a child stuck in a difficult familial environment, so even then most of the fault really would be on the adults, Jacques and Willow.
I'm afraid you lost your bet. That's not the reason why Weiss was acting like that. Weiss here is just as disconnected as the rest of Atlas' elites, true, but because she hates said 'elites', her bias are different. She's biased against the snobs present there, not against the 'little people' so to speak. Where she's disconnected from reality is that she doesn't properly understand the difference between old money and new money. So when Gemini told her he was new money, he thought she would understand that he wasn't part of Atlas' high society, but instead, she basically heard ''I, even though my personality wasn't influenced by this social environment while growing up, still sook it because I am a naturally greedy and snobbish asshole. It's all on me, not on my upbringing at all. Just like your father.'' That's right, Weiss turned so hostile against Gemini because she was projecting her daddy issues and thought he was the exact same as Jacques. Of course, Gemini doesn't know this, so it wasn't explained in the scene and he was left having to make his own deductions on why she acted like that. If anyone was fooled into misunderstanding the reasons for Weiss' reaction, then I nailed the 'unreliable narator' thing.
As for Jacques and Ironwood, I have plans for them. Let's just say I have plans for them and you all will hear of Jacques again in a few chapters. As for Ironwood... The whole 'turn evil' thing that happened in the show was due to his semblance, Mettle. Except that the second his aura broke, it couldn't aliment his semblance anymore so he should have snapped out of it. Since he didn't, they basically retconned him mid-season. Forget 'only the current volume is canon', at this point it's 'only the current episode is canon'. The Ironwood who become a tyrant literally cannot exist in the same universe as the Ironwood who had his aura broken by Ruby and co. I'm going to give him a different semblance in my fic, because no way in hell am I writing a story where someone with the superpower of giving himself mental illness would ever be anywhere near a position of power. That's just too stupid.
For Adam's headache, There's nothing mysterious about it, I made it pretty clear that it was due to him not sleeping enough. Headache are a symptom of a lack of sleep, and Blake and him literally discuss it. Of course, said lack of sleep and headache were the only reason Gemini managed to get away from him. He has no idea how lucky he was that Adam wasn't at the top of his game.
As for Blake... eh eh eh. Wait and see, wait and see.
Personally, my least favorite members of Team RWBY (as people, not as characters) were Blake and Yang, Weiss was alright after the initial dispute with Ruby and her talk with Port. As characters, though, they had good qualities to balance their flaws. Like Yang, sure she was a thug who starts fight and assaults people (which is why I don't like her as a person), but she was fun to watch and had a big sister/motherly side (which wasn't explored enough in my opinion, but there's a reason why some fics write her as the 'team mom') to her.
Disclaimer: RWBY is the creation of Monty Oum and currently the legal property of Rooster Teeth.
Hope you enjoy the chapter.
To say the Albain brothers were surprised at the state in which Adam and his men returned would be an understatement.
The last time they had communicated with him, he had confirmed that everything was doing well and that they were ready to bring the dust for extraction. Only for him and his men (and not even all of them) to show up an hour later banged up and without any dust.
Miss Belladonna didn't even have her weapon anymore, and it was a huntsman-grade one.
Not having the time for questions, Corsac and Fennec priorised evacuating Adam and his team from Atlas. Thankfully, transport for both Adam's team and the team operating in Mantle were already prepared, so that didn't take too long. Once in the cargo airship they had secured, on their way to Mistral, they listened to his report. From what they could tell, the fault didn't lie with Adam. He handled it well, but who could have predicted that their attacker would blow himself up to escape? Who did that?
It was a shame that the explosion attracted Atlas' police and that 5 of their brothers and sisters were imprisoned, but considering the position they found themselves in, it could be said that it was thanks to Adam's leadership that only 5 of them were captured.
Adam became silent, having just finished his report, and waited for the two Albains to speak.
They mulled over the information they were given, before Corsac spoke.
"And we have no lead as to your attacker's identity?"
"..." That was something Adam had been thinking about since they eluded the police. "Actually, we might have one."
"Oh? Please, do speak, brother Adam." Fennec said.
If he was honest with himself, Adam was a little creeped out by these two's habit of calling every Faunus 'brother' and 'sister'. Using the words from time to time was one thing, but they used it so much that they kind of sounded like cult leaders. That more and more amongst the White Fang copied that habits didn't help. But regardless of his doubts, the Albains brothers proved to be a great asset for the Faunus.
"Right before he pressed the detonator, he mentionned a 'Killer Queen'. I think it might be the codename of an accomplice who had been placing the explosives while he distracted us."
"That... seems plausible, yes." Corsac agreed. "Unfortunately, it doesn't bring any bells. Can you think of anyone working under such a codename, brother?"
Fennec shook his head. "No, brother. Neither mercenary nor atlesian military agent."
"It's not just the codename, though. One of my men reported that our mystery foe asked him if he knew where a certain 'Waldo' was and appeared pleased that he didn't know what he was talking about. I believe he referred to his ally by name at that moment, a mistake that given his young age, and thus, inexperience, would make sense."
"Ah, yes. Very astute, we will have to reward our brother for bringing this detail to our attention." Corsac said, pleased at the information. "You may go, brother Adam."
Adam nodded and left the room, satisfied with the knowledge that this night's opponent will eventually be tracked down and regret messing with the White Fang.
With a name, they could find this unknow partner much more easily, and once they found the partner, their mystery foe will be in arm reach. Plus, since the name wasn't color related, it could be inferred that there was roughly 9 chance out of 10 that this Waldo was 30 years or older.
And once they found him, they'll have a lead to the teenager who blew up their dust.
On his way out, Adam saw Ilia waiting outside the room, who seemed worried about something. That girl's been acting strange since she recuperated from that flashbang.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked, tone making her jump. Blake always did tell him his tone was a bit too harsh when he talked to others. Oops?
"N-no, I'm fine." She sure didn't look like it. "I just wanted to talk to brothers Corsac and Fennec."
"Ah. Alright." He nodded before leaving.
"Come, enter." Corsac's voice came from inside the room, in response to Ilia knocking.
As she entered the room, they welcomed her with a warm smile.
"You seems troubled, sister Ilia. Can we help you?" Fennec said with a soft voice.
"Yes. I... The one who attacked us, we're not going to let him get away with this, right?"
"Of course not," Corsac spoke, "as we just talked with captain Taurus, we have a lead to follow. A team will be dispatched to track him down."
"Please, can I be put on that team?"
Corsac and Fennec exchanged a look.
Ilia had shown potential for covert operations so it might be a good idea to put her on a mission like that, but the two Albain could tell there was something more than just righting the wrong done to the White Fang this night.
"Sister Ilia, has something happened when you fought him?" Fennec asked.
Ilia Amitola might have only joined the White Fang recently, but the Albain brothers have been nothing but welcoming and they helped her greatly to acclimate to her new lifestyle, as they'd done with many other newcomers. She held them in high regard, feeling a lot of gratitude and trust for their helpful guidance, thanks to which the White Fang truly felt like a second family to her and the other members.
So if there was anyone she felt comfortable sharing the horribles thing that bigoted human accused the White Fang of, it was them. She knew she could count on them to help her take his head and put it on a spike, giving him the death he deserved.
"Yes... He claimed the White Fang murdered Faunus."
They exchanged another look, a worried one, after she told them of the human's slander.
"Fennec, I think we could uses some tea. Sister Ilia, please, sit. Tell us every details."
So Ilia told them everything about the human's claim that the explosion that killed her parent was caused by the Faunus' protectors for some bullish reason of 'making new recruits'. As if that made any sense.
"How dreadful that even a human child would hate the Faunus so much that's he'd invent such claims." Corsac said. "Tell me, sister Ilia, have you shared this with anyone yet?"
She shook her head. "No. It just, hit too close to home, I guess. It felt too personal to share with the others." Who else could she turn to to talk about it? Blake? Sure, they got along well, but they'd only know each others since a handful of months.
It was then that Fennec came back with the tea, which Ilia welcomed with relief as the tea helped her calm her nerves.
"Thanks."
"It's a pleasure." Fennec sat down at his brother's side, maintaining his usual kind smile.
"And... about being part of the team tracking him down?" Ilia asked a bit hesitantly, to which Corsac gave an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, sister Ilia," he said, "but I'm afraid you are somewhat compromised."
"What!" Ilia exclaimed, rising from her chair, her hands on the table and her skin turning purple. "I'm not compromised, I'm loyal!"
The two Albains' smiles turned amused at her reaction, before Corsac spoke again as her breath became shallower.
"I meant emotionally compromised, sister Ilia."
"...Oh. That's, uh, right." She sat back down, skin turning pink out of embarrasement. "So I really can't be on that mission, then?"
Corsac shook his head. "I'm afraid not."
"As much as you wish to do so, it is better that you do not take part in it." Fennec said. "We all must make necessary sacrifices for the Faunus. For now, your sacrifice is to rest, sister Ilia."
"Alright." Ilia nodded grudgingly before getting up and walked toward the door. Before she could reach it, however, she stumbled, feeling dizzy. She let out a weak cry as she fell on the floor.
Finding it hard to breath, she realised that she had been poisoned. 'This... this can't be happening...' She thought.
Mustering what little strength she had left, she turned toward the Albain brothers. It wasn't hard to understand that the poison was in the tea.
"W-why?"
"We truly are sorry, sister Ilia." Corsac said, feigning sorrow. "The humans are our ennemies, and our people will have no rest, no shelter to truly call our own, until the Faunus takes their rightful place above the inferior lineages of Mankind. Unfortunately, most amongst our siblings have forgotten this, tricking themselves into thinking the current situation is acceptable. We did what we needed to remind them, to push our people to take arms to reclaim what is rightfully ours. A necessary sacrifice."
Ilia's eyes widened. They were talking about...
"Unfortunately, a seed has been planted in your mind, sister Ilia, and we cannot afford the risk that it may grow, or that you may talk of this to anyone else. You are compromised. But do not worry, our brethen will rise, so just take your final rest." Fennec's word was the last thing she heard before everything went black.
'I can't believe...'
/-/
"...you went and did something like this!" My father yelled, his face reddened by anger.
The flight home was done in silence. My sister shut down every attempt to talk with an angry glare. Once we were back in Vale and she brought me to our father and told him about my encounter with the White Fang and he became as furious as she was.
I guess I shouldn't say anything about going to the Schnee manor then.
"What were you thinking, picking a fight with terrorists?"
I was thinking that weakening Salem's futur pawn was a must. Of course, I couldn't say that out loud, so I just looked at my feet as he scolded me, not knowing what to say.
I had never seen him this angry before.
He stared at me, still furious, and announced my punishment. "You're grounded."
"Wait, grounded?" I raised my head in a panic. I expected consequences, but being grounded meant... "I can't be grounded, I have a business to take care of. All of my work is going to crash!"
"And you could have lost your life!" He yelled. "If destroying your first business is necessary for you to learn not to do this again, then it's worth destroying! Seriously, how could you do something that stupid!?"
I winced and looked down again.
I could see his point, but I still needed to pay Onyx to train Jaune. I had also planned to buy a personal airship. Walking all the way to Mistral, or any other kingdom, if I needed to wasn't an idea I fancied.
I needed funds to back the fight against Salem's agents. More important than that, I needed those funds to developped the technologies to replace dust so Humanity could get to space.
I'd rather not take such a step backward, but how could I convinced my father of settling for another punition... Wait a minute.
I looked at my father, frowning. "But aren't you doing dangerous things all the time as well? You could easily turn legitimate and stop all of your criminal activities, yet you still continue despite the risks involved."
"Oh please, you can't seriously think that stealing dust from merchants is in anyway as dangerous as attacking literal terrorists." He said with an eyeroll.
"Well, no, but being pursued by the police for all of your life isn't exactly safe either, without talking about the risks inherents to being involved in the criminal in the first place... And my point is more that I don't see why you're taking that risk when you clearly don't need to."
Dad looked at me with a raised eyebrow, saying nothing but clearly still pissed.
"...Also, I've been wondering about that for a while. Figured I might as well bring it up now instead of forgetting to ask about it."
He took off his hat and rubbed his hair, sighing. "Uh, well I guess it's about time I show you. Alright, I have a... business trip scheduled later this week. You'll be coming with us."
Wait, really? I guess I'll be getting answers on that then. Not that it was helping me with my grounding problem, but it seemed to be the end of that discussion for now.
/-/
Four days later, we embarked in my father's cargo ship. A cargo ship owned under an alias, of course. Meet Mr Honest, a simple merchant who never broke the law even once in his life and who was definitely not Roman Torchwick. With a wig, coloured eye contacts and a bit of very discreet make-up to change how his face looked like, he was pretty much unrecognizable.
The ship's passenger consisted of my father, sis, Maroon and myself. What I found suspicious was that I looked at the amount of dust we were bringing along and I strongly suspected we wouldn't be making much of a profit, what with the insanely high tariff for dust exportation outside of Vale. The only place that merchants didn't get taxed on their exit of the kingdom when selling dust was to Patch, but we were going to Sumire.
There were a few thing I could deduce from that, but since my father brought me on this trip for the express purpose of teaching me how and why he operated as he did, I decided to be lazy and wait for the answer to fall on my lap.
This did have the inconvenience of leaving me bored while I sat in my seat, or it would have if it didn't leave me free to talk to my sister on our way to Sumire. My father was the one piloting the ship, and he didn't need her help for that.
"Hey sis... Uh, I was wondering... Why do you dislike my friend?"
She blinked, not expecting me to bring up the subject, before she took out her scroll an started typing.
A ping came from my own scroll soon after. Strange, sis usually communicated by either body language or sign language, whether said 'sign' language was actual sign language or her using her semblance to make fake sign post with stuff written on it. The only times she bothered to write what she wanted to say was when she wanted to make sure there'd be a reminder, proof, that she had said so.
'That Ruby girl is nice and sweet. That's exactly the problem.' I raised a brow when I read her text. I couldn't say I understood her logic.
"What do you mean?"
'She's too much of a goody two-shoes, she'll turn against you the second she learns you're related to criminals.'
That... Alright, so that was what she meant. I was doubtful of her conclusion, though, as in canon Ruby was really quick to accept Blake despite the whole terrorism thing. The argument that Blake was an 'ex-terrorist' didn't hold, simply because she wasn't. She'd be an ex-terrorist after she served a sentence for her past crimes, canon Blake was a terrorist hiding from the law, a fugitive.
Of course, that meant that in canon, Ruby, Yang and Weiss were guilty of terrorism by complicity since the moment they learned of Blake's past and decided to keep it secret, but that was another can of worm entirely.
My point was that I knew that Ruby could be willing to turn a blind eye to someone being affiliated with law breakers or being a criminal themselves if said someone was a friend of her.
In that way, Ruby was far less of a 'goody two-shoes' than my sister assumed her to be. It'll be fine. Of course, that was based on knowledge of a different timeline, so there wasn't much I could say to counter sis' point. All I could do was tell Ruby the truth and let her decision speak by itself. I'll do that soon.
"I guess we'll see."
Soon after, an alarm went off from the cockpit.
"Tch." I heard from my father before he used the ship's speakers. "Maroon, we have Nevermores chasing us. You know what to do."
We were counting on Maroon for protection... I was a bit curious to know how she'd do that, she wasn't exactly the strongest person I knew. So I got up and went down the ladder, joining her as the ship's cargo door opened and gave us a clear view of a Giant Nevermore, of a size similar to the one team RWBY slew in their initiation, leading a huge swarm of smaller ones.
...Yep, we were all dead.
"Hey Gem, did you come to see me in action? That's great, I'll show you just how awesome of a huntress I am." Maroon smiled.
I threw another look at the airborne Grimm, before looking at the arrows in her quiver. She had what, 30 arrows maximum? That was nowhere near enough to deal with that many Grimm.
"How are you going to beat them? There's more Grimm than you have arrow."
She giggled. "Oh, silly kid, I'll only need one."
How? Even with her semblance, she couldn't kill all of them by herself.
The Giant Nevermore screeched as it got closer to our ship, now being in Marron's range. She notched an arrow and aimed at it, the arrow glowing a brownish-red as she poured her aura into it. She fired, and when her arrow left the bow, it grew several time its size, effectively turning into a ballista bolt.
That was her semblance. By pouring a significant amount of her aura in an object, said object will multiply in size as soon as she stopped touching it, conserving any momentum it had. It took a fair bit of aura, so she was only able to use it 8 times in a row, but for those 8 shots, she was basically a mobile living siege weapon.
But even a ballista wouldn't be able to kill a Nevermore of that size in one hit, even with a clear view of the target. The bone-like armor on its head was just too sturdy. Surely Maroon knew this, yet she still fired without hesitation.
As it turned out, it was I who misunderstood what she was going for. Something I realised as I watched the oversized arrow hit not the head of the Giant Nevermore, but its wing. It tore through the limb, forming a huge tear into it. It didn't kill it, but with a damaged wing, it was unable to generate lift and fell to the ground, so even if it lived it didn't have the ability to pursue us anymore after it fell down to the ground in an angry scream.
"Alright, but what about the others?" The rest of the nevermores were still flying toward us, even if they weren't as fast as the giant one.
"Nah, don't worry. They're too small so they don't have the wingspan to fly fast enough too catch up. See? I'm not a professional huntress for nothing." She boasted as the bird Grimm were slowly distanced and became smaller and smaller on the horizon. "Come on, we only have a little over an hour before we reach Sumire."
/-/
Sumire was a city of roughly 120 thousands people, built atop a few hills and surrounded by thick stone walls. The inhabitants dug out the ground around the wall, forming a moat that filled itself with water thanks to the river flowing close to the hills being redirected into it. Those were pretty solid defenses, with anti-air turrets taking care of the flying Grimm that wouldn't care about the walls and the moat. The city was basically impregnable, hence why it was one of the very rare cities older than the Great War, and it would continue to stand.
As long as it had dust for their weapons, that was.
We landed next to a few warehouses. My father took off his disguise before opening the ship's exit and walked out in plain daylight with sis, Maroon and myself to meet an old man in a suit accompanied by a huntsman, as if he wasn't a wanted criminal.
"Why, hello Mr Robson. How has life been treating your city?" Mr Robson snorted at my father's greeting.
"You know perfectly well that the Grimm have been causing trouble lately. That's why we're meeting ahead of schedule. I... I hope you have enough dust to sell?" Mr Robson said, seemingly worried that calling upon my father early might not have left him enough time to gather as much dust as usual.
Enough dust? For the city? There were only a few crates in the airship.
Father grinned, "Well I do have some dust in that ship of mine, but it's all regulated by Vale. I doubt you'd be interested. As for the unregulated dust... I just happened to have been pretty lucky lately, so it all depends on how much room the Grimm left in your warehouses."
"Good, good. But before we go, I see you've brought a new face with you, one that looks quite close to yours. I'll assume he can be trusted if you've brought him along, but it is quite rude to not make the introduction."
"Ah, yes, forgive my manners." Father said, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Gemini, meet Keppel Robson, mayor of Sumire, and Taureas, his huntsman bodyguard. Mr Robson, Mr Taureas, meet Gemini Torchwick, my son."
I guessed there wasn't much point to hide that I was his son if they've already noticed the resemblence.
Mr Robson looked to be in his sixties, with his gray hair and wrinkles. He had a walking cane made of wood, the high quality kind of wood. I couldn't tell you what exact tree it was made from, I didn't know much about trees apart that they broke when a Boarbatusk rammed into them, but it looked fancy. He was definitely a civilian, he lacked the muscles of a fighter and was even a little hunched.
Mr Taureas, on the other hand, had a similar built to Hazel despite being middle-aged. His hair already grayed out and reached down a little below his shoulder blades, styled with a braid on the left side of his face. With his thick beard and leather armor lined with fur (bear, I think?), he looked like an old viking from Earth, if one ignored the curved bull horns on the side of his head. He had to be a pretty good huntsman if he survived to that age. His weapon was a two-handed battle axe, with one side of the head being an axe blade and the other a hammer. It seemed to have a mechanism to incorporate dust into it, but I couldn't tell in which manner he used it without seeing him in action. Either way, it looked like a weapon that could take down the initiation Deathstalker without him needing help, he probably could break its armor without using the Grimm's stinger against itself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Robson, Mr Taureas."
"So polite, he must take after his mother." Mr Robson said with good cheer.
"Ah, just like your son, Mr Robson." My father laughed. "But I think we should get to business. Busy as you are, I doubt we have all day."
"No, we don't. Please, follow us." Mr Robson and his bodyguard then led us inside one of the warehouse close to us. Sis stayed with our ship as security.
The ware house we entered was already on the large side, but it looked even bigger inside due to how empty it was. It only had two container of dust, despite having enough room for a dozen. One of the two container was even half empty.
"Sheesh, you weren't kidding when you said the Grimm went through your dust faster than usual." Father said.
"Yes, the Grimm have been... concerningly active since last years. More than I've seen them be in my lifetime." Mr Robson said with a grim nod. "We will need to purchase more dust from you in the future, especially if this keep up. If you've brought enough dust to fill this warehouse, we've already prepared the money. Same price as usual."
"Good, I'll get to work then."
Father moved in front of an empty space, right next to one of the containers, and stretched out his hand. His red-orange aura spread out in front of him, taking a rectangle shape of a similar size to the dust container. When his aura retreated back into him, it left behind another container like the others.
That was my father's semblance, Deep Pocket. It was a pocket dimension like I had, except his hammerspace was less limited than mine. Which made sense since for me it's was but one aspect of my semblance, while it was his whole semblance. Where I was limited by 'inventory slots', he was only limited by how much aura he had. The bigger something was, the more aura it took for him to put into his semblance or take it out.
He repeated the process seven more times, before announcing that he had to wait a few hours for his aura to replenish before he could finish the job.
So we left for the time being and he took me with him for a walk until we found a spot with a nice view over the city and the forest surrounding it, a ledge atop the hill. One of the wall's cannon shot a stray Griffon in the air, but we paid it no mind as it was common out of the four kingdoms. There wasn't a single day out there where a cannon didn't shoot a Grimm.
"Do you see that fort in the forest?" My father asked me, pointing at a small fort further away from the city, vines growing along it's walls. He lighted a cigar, though thankfully the wind blew the smoke away from me.
"Yes, I see it."
"Most Grimm incursions comes from that direction, so that fort was build as a vanguard against them, to stop them from reaching the city. When the last king decided to replace the army and let huntsmen, mercenaries, take care of fighting the Grimm, the city was left with only its militia to ward off the Grimm, so the stronghold eventually fell."
"The city didn't hire huntsmen?"
"Of course they did. But huntsmen comes, do the job they're paid for, and then walk away to find another job. Rare are those willing to be tied down to one place by a long term contract. Those who do tends to be the ones with more limited work opportunities. In other words, they're often on the less competent side, like Maroon. So while huntsmen are really good at killing Grimm, the king's army was way better at holding territories."
"Shouldn't they have reclaimed the fort afterward, though? It's not like the Grimm would have stayed there in large numbers once there was nobody left." I said, to which he shrugged.
"They tried, but every parties they sent came back a few members short. Well, those that came back, anyway. Something about a ghost haunting the place. Personally, I think it more likely that some deranged serial killer might be hunting people who goes there and scare them away from 'his territory'." He took another puff. "But anyway, what matters is that the citizen fortified the city even more after the fort fell. They'll be fine as long as they can get enough dust. That's where the problem starts."
Yes, the city was buying dust from my father, an infamous criminal. I would be surprised if they did this despite being able to get dust by other means. But why would they have so much trouble obtaining dust?
That's when it clicked together. "The taxes Vale imposes on merchants selling dust outside of the kingdom..."
Father snapped his fingers, grinning. "Yup. The council doesn't like having competitors, and every city outside of the kingdom's jurisdiction is competition since the king dismantled the army in favor of unaffiliated mercenaries." Right, it was because of this that the kingdom was unable of extending its authority outside of the valley, making all other settlement outside of it de facto independant, no matter what the council claimed. Well, almost all, Patch and Marino were the only two exception due to how close they were. "So the council overtaxes dust exports to them as a way of limiting their growth, preventing another kingdom from rising right next to them. But it works too well and leaves them defenceless against the Grimm, which the council see as a good thing."
"And that's where you come in, selling them stolen dust at a fraction of the market price." Since he hadn't actually bought that dust, he still made far more profit than legitimate merchants would have... And they would make so little compared to selling in Vale that they didn't bother coming to the outside settlements in the first place, so he didn't have much competition from them.
Did this mean that when Team RWBY got him arrested in the canon timeline, they condemned this city and the others that depended on the smuggled dust? No, that was assuming too much. For one, there was no guarantee that his activities in the canon timeline were the same as in this one. But even if it was, then Sumire would have stopped receiving dust from him when Cinder forced him to work for her, as she would have taken all the dust he stole. So even if these cities depended on him, that would have been on Cinder's head, not Team RWBY.
"Yes, black market dust is the only one they can afford. More than that, it's the only one they have the opportunity to buy in the first place."
"... Do you sell them dust because they'd die without it or because you make lots of Lien out of it?" I suspected the latter, to be honest.
"You're a smart kid, Gemini." My father grinned and ruffled my hair.
I swatted his hand away. He knew I hated that.
"But yeah," he continued, "the Lien certainly is a big motivator, but there's more to it than just that. I grew up in the streets and had to fend for myself, that's how I started to steal. By the time I was old enough to get a real job, the idea of working for someone else was just too distateful. That, and it would have meant playing under the council's rule and I never liked those old geezers, they're so corrupt they makes me look clean. My activities keeping hundred of thousands of people alive is a nice bonus that makes breaking the law easy on the conscience, though. Either way, even if I wanted to 'turn my life around' and go legal, the council wouldn't allow it."
"Uh? How come?" There were plenty of precedents for the state hiring someone in exchange for turning a blind eye to their past crimes.
"Well, unlike most criminals who've been recruited in the system, I didn't just commit crimes in Vale, I'm also helping three settlements the council wants gone. The only way they'd accept to give me a pardon would be if I 'repaired' my past crimes and gave them something incriminating that would justify them drafting the militia to wipe these cities off the map. I may not care much about others outside our little family, but genociding entire cities is a little too much for me."
I nodded slowly, understanding his points. I had to agree that it wasn't worth it and everyone was better off with my father continuing his activities.
Well, everyone but the people he robbed of their dust and the council. It wasn't a white and black situation.
"Also, councilman Vanille hates my guts. So making friends with the council is a burned bridge already." He said, finishing his sentence with a cough.
"Why? What did you do to piss him off that much?"
"That's... not really something I should be the one talking about. Ask Neo, but don't insist if she refuses to answer." A moment of silence. "But do try not to attract his attention, he will try to screw you over." He said, his eyes not quite meeting mine.
"Okay. For reference's sake, how much of a threat is he?" I didn't know much about the guy. I thought I saw his name pop up once or twice in the news, but I didn't pay that much attention.
"He's affiliated with John Blackland."
...Well, fuck. That guy was on the list of 'people to avoid' father gave to sis and I.
Vale's political scene was divided between a few factions. Each trying to win the various districts' elections for the position of councilman, for a total of five seats up for grab, the sixth one being automatically attributed to the headmaster of Beacon Academy. Patch, despite being under Vale's jurisdiction, had no council position representing them, taxation without representation.
But none of that mattered because no matter who won the elections and took the council seat, the ones who really controlled Vale were the oligarchic families. The last king of Vale, Ozias, may have abolished the nobility's titles along with the monarchy, but it changed nothing to their wealth and their influence. Quite to the contrary, as without a king above them to keep them in check, nothing was there to stop them from seizing control of the kingdom from the shadows.
The council obeyed them, no matter who was elected. Or rather, only those who were in their pocket were allowed to run for the position.
The only faction not part of this farce were the King's Knight. They, despite King Ozias officially discontinuing it in favor of huntsmen, had preserved Vale's knightly traditions, and wished to reinstate the monarchy. They had no political power, however, as they couldn't make a monarchy without a monarch and King Ozias left no heir. There were descendants of previous kings, but with their blood diluted amongst the populace, it meant that if that was enough to qualify for a claim to the throne, then all of Vale would be a candidate. The only way Vale was getting a king again was if a god came down and gave divine right to rule to someone. As things were, I was pretty sure the majority of the population didn't even know these knights were still around and kicking.
The Blackland were one of the oldest families of the Vale's nobility. So old that they could trace their lineage back to the first King's knights and had been a Dukedom for 6 centuries out of Vale's 8 centuries history. Now, on Remnant, these people had to be worried about the Grimm breaching the walls as much as the citizens revolting, so they didn't get quite as tyrannical as Earth's oligarchs, but they could get just as corrupt. If they thought someone was a threat to their power, that someone might very well end up being suicided.
It was them, the Blackland and 11 other families, who ruled Vale in all but name since King Ozias' death. Their power and influence only limited, but still above what any ordinary citizen could imagine, by Jacques' gigantic grip on the economy, a foreigner to Vale.
Needless to say, if this Vanille guy was Blackland's puppet, then I was staying as uninvolved with him as I possibly could.
A nation was either ruled by one family in the open, this being a monarchy, or was ruled by several families working with each others in the shadow, an oligarchy. Any nation that wasn't a monarchy was, or would inevitably become, an oligarchy, no matter what kind of political system it pretended to be.
In other words: The democratization of Remnant and its consequences have been a disaster for the four kingdoms.
"Alright, got it." I said. I had no interest in messing with them anyway, my current objectives of screwing Cinder over and kickstarting a space program weren't related to Vale's political scene. Or at least I hoped so.
"I hope you do." Father said. We looked over the city in silence for a few minutes, before he let out a deep sigh. "About your punishment, I've been thinking about it and... Well, you still need to go out and kill Grimm to get stronger, and having you stay weak is a no-no, so I've decided to lighten your punishment a bit."
"Really? But you said-"
"I know what I said! But I was angry and I've had time to think more calmly about it since then. You're not grounded anymore, but I have conditions. First, we'll be installing a tracker app on your scroll and you're not allowed to go anywhere without it. Second, you're not allowed to go outside of Patch without my permission."
"The city, or the island?" I asked. What? It needed clarification.
My father thought about it for a moment before answering. "The city. You're only allowed to go outside of it to hunt Grimm, and I want you to send me a text to tell me when you're going out and when you get back. No need to wait for an answer for these, but I want it done for the sake of being done and having it on record. Thirdly, you're forbidden from visiting your little huntress-in-training friend for the next two months."
"What? But-"
"No but!" He cut me off. "You went and picked a fight with literal terrorists. I shouldn't even go this easy on you."
But I was going to tell my friend that she had super anti-Grimm laser eyes. How could I do that if I wasn't allowed to see her?
... For some reason, I doubted he'd find the argument convincing.
"Alright, no complaint here... Hey dad, can I go to the VRL before going back to Patch?"
"Hmm? Sure, at least that's one place where you can't get into trouble." He agreed, before stubbing off his cigar and throwing it into a nearby trashcan. "Plus, we might as well let Dr Grey give you a medical check up before you go back to Patch, since you're already in Vale, so you're not going back to Patch for another two or three days. Come on, now. We still have a few hours to kill before I have to finish my job here. How do you feel about some ice cream?"
Ah, yes. Dr Grey, a shady medical expert on my father's payroll. Outside of working as a private doctor for our family and the people working for my father, he basically stayed holed up in his lab and praticed making cybernetic prosthetics or atificial organs.
"Sounds good. Oh, dad, before I forget to ask, who was my mother?"
He froze on the spot, before looking me in the eyes and saying with a clear voice: "Son, before I tell you, you must keep in mind that what I did back then isn't an exemple to emulate..."
/-/
"Hey, is it true that you're friend with Qrow's nieces?" Maroon asked me during our way back to Vale.
"Eh? Wait, you know Qrow?" I said, only for her to laugh at my surprise.
"Of course I know him. Everyone who frequent Vale's bar know the guy, he's the best drinking buddy anyone could wish for."
... Honestly? I didn't even know how I didn't see that one coming.
/-/
I waited for the night to come, staying hidden until the VRL was empty before moving.
I knew most of this building like the back of my hand, having passed so much of my childhood reading here. Thanks to this, I knew where the security cameras' blind spots where. I also knew the employees didn't look at the footage unless they suspected foul play, which was to say never. This was a library after all, what kind of weirdo would break in there?
... Oh, right. That was me.
Anywaaaay, using the camera's blind spot would mark me as familiar with the area, so my strategy here was to ignore them and walk in plain view. To counter the risk of being identified, I wore large, baggy clothes and a hooded cloak to hide my figure and a mask and scarf to hide my face, leaving no part of me visible and hiding my figure. I also kept my back slouched and walked with a limp. Any inspector would see that it was faked, but that wasn't important. What really mattered was to hide my normal gait so I couldn't be identified.
I sure wasn't going to try hiding my identity while wearing a form-fitting catsuit that showed off my figure, what kind of idiot would do that? That'd just be asking to be identified afterward.
/-/
In Salem's castle, Cinder was walking in one of the halls when she stopped and looked around, suddenly paranoid. Was Augur stalking her again?
She swore if she woke up to find his face above her again, staring at her, she was going to burn the creep's face off. Salem's second favorite abomination or not.
/-/
I lockpicked the door leading to the restricted section.
King Ozias may have opened the library to the public, but while the books where available to anyone, a section of the building, containing records and various historical documents, were still only accessible by the council's permission only. Information that they didn't want the general populace to know, yet still needed to have access to it themselves and still needed somewhere to store it.
There were lots of records kept in there, so much that it could take me months to find what I wanted if I searched blindly. Thankfully, there were several index made to help find records pertaining to specific information. The one that interested me where the index of the old noble families.
After all, one of the prime responsabilities of the royalty and nobility was to protect the kingdom from the Grimm, so that family was bound to have been given such responsabilities, right?
Opening the index, I looked through the family names listed.
The name Arc did catch my attention at the beginning of the list, but that wasn't the name I was searching for. Although, that they were Marquesses was a cool little trivia, I supposed.
Let's see... N... O... P... Q... R! Then O... Ah, there it was, Rose.
No competent king whose kingdom was surrounded by the Grimm would ignore a family with a built-in anti-Grimm power, after all. And just like how the militarily competent would be given nobility titles by the king, so would silver-eyed warriors, who were 'destined to lead the life of a warrior', be noticed by their monarch.
Uh, the Rose family ws only Viscount? That was a bit strange, I assumed that they would have been important enough to have a higher rank.
Whatever, thanks to this I now knew where in the restricted section information pertaining to the Rose was stored. Hopefully, it would contain records of their use of silver-eyes.
I made my way there, I was propably going to need a few hours of reading through ancient documents before finding what I wanted. Thankfully, I was a fast reader.
They were also sorted in chronological order, which meant I could increase my chances of finding something if I focused on the dates where the Grimm caused great trouble, notably when they attacked the kingdom in masses or that a particularly strong one made its way into the valley. That was when there would be increased chance that one of Ruby's ancestors needed to use their eyes in front of people, thus the best chance of finding records of it.
Going through the papers, I raised an eyebrow at what I found.
What the hell was I reading?
According to what I had in front of my eyes, there had been several times through Vale's history when a knight of the Rose family betrayed the kingdom.
One of these traitor even lead an open rebellion to try and take the throne for himself. A rebellion which I remembered reading about in history books, though said books only mentionned his first name and that he was a knight. There was no mention of his family name or of his silver eyes. It happened almost four centuries ago.
Apparently, the Rose family, before the Great war, had a traitor come from them every three generations, on average. Two of them were even executed for 'conspiracy with Grimm cultists', although it happened long ago and there was no other details on these events that the dates they happened and the motive of execution, so who knew how true it was.
... Given what I was reading, I suspected that some of these 'traitors' accross the centuries might not actually have been traitors, but were framed. In fact, if I read between the lines, it was sometimes difficult to tell which treason was, let's say, 'genuine' or which was provoked by other noble families trying to harm them behing the King's back.
Either way, there was often an individual whose name started with 'Oz' involved in these events. Sometimes said Oz would be aligned with the kingdom against the Rose, sometimes he would have been an ally of the Rose against another noble family, sometimes he'd be working with criminals or ennemies of the crown to assassinate a Rose.
Well, as surprising as it was, none of that directly mattered today, maybe. But it did explain why the Rose family had such a low ranking amongst the nobility. Kings gave and took away titles based not only on abilities, but also on who they believed they could trust. Having traitors comes so regularly from the same family wouldn't be conductive to trust them, and I suspected that if their eyes weren't so important, and if the non-traitor Rose didn't help expose other clans who were traitors (those were usually the Rose working with 'Oz'), they would have been completely stripped from their nobility status.
On the bright side, after I continued to shift through the records, I found written reports of silver eyes being used. Only took another two hours to find them.
Finally, I took a picture with my scroll. I could just take the papers, but I only needed the information on it, so I should avoid taking anything out of here. Not only was it evidence of my tresspassing, but I had nothing to gain from bringing the physical paper itself.
Oh! What was this? It looked like I just found military reports concerning the Rose knights' deployments during the Great War. They took part in several battles against Mistral's samurais while- No, stop it. This wasn't the place to nerd about history.
Still, I couldn't help but wonder, if the Rose family numbered around thirty, which was typical for nobility, at the end of the Great War... Then how was it that only a few generations after, there was only Ruby left?
Looking at the post Great War record's, I discovered that in the decade following the war, almost all of the Rose had either fallen to various accidents or had died during solo missions. Right, because noble families sometimes just died out in convenient 'accidents'. The whole thing stunk of assassinations, but who and why, I couldn't tell with these records.
No, wait, the 'who' was clearly the rest of the nobility, just impossible to pinpoint exactly which families it came from. The 'why' was obvious. The power of the silver-eyes made it easy for a Rose to become a heroic figure for the people and become popular. Too popular, to the point of threatening the power and plans of the other clans. Of course the rest of the nobility would want to get rid of them.
With Salem who might or might not be involved as well, obviously.
There was one survivor, who died soon after anyway, believed at the time to have left no child behind. Only for an orphan with silver eyes to turn up later and be confirmed as that last survivor's son. That son, in turn, was later also thought to have died childless, only for a grown-up Summer Rose to show up at the Vytal tournament one day and for those in the know to notice her eyes and soon after discover that she was that man's daughter, her father having died when she was a toddler.
And now, Ruby lost her mom when she was a toddler herself, and according to these records, Summer was the last of her line... I must say, I wasn't a big fan of that pattern. Especially what it implied about my only friend's future.
But for now, I had what I originally came for and I knew that Ruby was going to be safe in the near future, so it was time to go.
Cinder took priority. Then, if this all turned out to not be a string of unfortunate coincidences and Ruby did actually have an ennemy in Vale's old nobility... If anyone wanted to kill her, they'd have to walk over my dead body first.
/-/
A week later, I was back in Patch and resumed my training and my work. But as I came to the shop, I found a familiar woman waiting for me at the entrance. Uh oh, maybe I should have expected this?
"You know, you really caused me lots of trouble back then. I still can't believe how long it took to explain to the other reporters that no, I didn't have a son and that they were tricked." Lisa Lavender greeted me. "So, given your last name, I assume you're Torchwick's son. I didn't know he was a father, to think he managed to hide you for this long."
"... How exactly did you find me?"
She smiled. "You look a lot like your father and I managed to get a look at the guest list. When I read your name, it wasn't hard to connect the dots, after that, well, you work here under your real name so a few day of research was enough for me to find you."
"Ugh, any chance another journalist will managed to find me?" I said, unable to stop a grimace from forming on my face.
"Unlikely. I mean, it's not impossible, but only a handful of us journalists successfully bribed a member of the Schnee's staff to look at the guest list and I'm the only one familiar enough with your father to notice how alike your faces are with only a glance. They also lost interest in you after I made it clear I didn't know you and you calling me your 'step-mom' was only a trick to get them off of you. Speaking of which, why did you choose that to distract them instead of something else? You know that if I hadn't managed to convince them, it could have lead to my contact with your father being discovered? That would have been bad for all of us." She gave me a disapproving look, against which I looked away.
"Sorry, that's the first thing that came to mind to make them go away." She was right, I messed up. If my face and name ended in the news, Adam or Blake might recognize me and I'd have the White Fang on my tail. Dad was right to be angry, I had been completely careless. "But even if they lost interest in 'the kid who called you step-mom', wouldn't my last name on that list attract their interest too?" Was there going to be an article about someone with the Torchwick last name having been at the Schnee's party?
"No, you're lucky that all the other journalists who saw the list were Atlesians. They won't care about a valean thief, they likely won't even recognize the name."
Ah, that made sense. My father was well know in Vale, but not so much in the other kingdoms. He was hardly the only dust thief in Vale after all.
Also, Atlesians were kind of infamous for not knowing much about Remnant outside of their kingdom. Like, it happened sometimes that Valeans laughed at Atlesian tourists who were surprised that people in Vale 'talked Atlesian'.
Mantle was a Valean colony. There wasn't an 'Atlesian language', it didn't exist. Atlesians talked Valean.
"Although," Miss Lavender continued, "one day there's definitely going to be valean reporters who will notice you and write about you. You might want to put yourself in the public's eyes on your own terms before that happens."
Ah, so that was why she was here. She wanted a scoop.
"... Tell you what, I'm not ready for that yet, but let's exchange contact informations. I'll call you when I'll have something for you."
"Wonderful. It was a pleasure meeting you, Gemini."
"The pleasure was mine, Miss Lavender."
We then parted ways after adding each others on our scrolls' contact list.
Let's see, I had:
Roman Torchwick (Father)
Neopolitan Torchwick (Neo)
Periwinkle (Perry)
Ruby Rose (Ruby)
Lisa Lavender (Miss Lavender)
Wow, five people! My social circle was huge compared to what I had in my last life.
Was that how it felt to be extroverted?
Later in the day, I received a text from Ruby.
'hi Gem wanna hang out?'
I wished.
'Can't. I'm grounded for two month.'
'two months? what did you do?'
'Oh, nothing much, blew up a terrorist hideout. Just a Tuesday.'
'you did what?'
/-/
WICKED CHIBI: Christmas edition
During the night of December 24th to the 25th, Chibi Torchwick and Chibi Neo were climbing on the roof of a house.
"Ah, Non-Descript Winter Holidays, my favorite time of the year." Chibi Torchwick said, while walking along the top of the house's angled roof toward the chimney. "Most of these well-off snobs in the Upper District are out celebrating the holidays with their families. You know what this means, right Neo?"
Chibi Neo made a cute smile and took out a post sign that said: "Fun times for thieves!"
"Yessss." Chibi Torchwick said while rubbing his hands in greed. "These empty, unsupervised homes are filled with valuables, just begging to be stolen and pawned off. We're going to make lots of Lien tonight, Neo."
Chibi Neo turned her sign post around to show the other side of it. "Lots of Lien = Lots of Ice Cream."
Chibi Torchwick deadpanned and deflated at the sight of what was written. "I mean, yeah, amongst other thing." He straightened himself. "Anyway, I'm going to enter this house by going through the chimney, in the meantime, I need you to stay here and lookout in case the people living here unexpectedly come back."
"Oki-doki!" Said Chibi Neo's next sign post as Chibi Torchwick jumped into the chimney.
But instead of going all the way down, he got stuck with only his chibi head above the chimney.
"That's weird." Chibi Torchwick said in concerned, as Chibi Neo looked at him with a wide-eyed, surprised expression on her face. "Wait, there's someone else in the chimney pushing meeEEEEEEEE..." He ended his sentence with a scream as he was thrown into the air under Chibi Neo's scared eyes.
Chibi Torchwick landed on the same roof. Thankfully, if a little painfully.
"Ho ho ho!" They both heard as an unknown chibi, dressed in a strange red costume and sporting a rather impressive beard, climbed out of the chimney.
"W-who are you?" Chibi Torchwick asked.
"I am Santa Claus, ho ho ho!" Chibi Santa introduced himself, "I travel the world on this wonderful and miraculous night of Christmas to give gift to those who have been good during the year."
Chibi Torchwick's eyes lightened up. "Gift!? I love receiving gift! Can I get Lien, please? I've always had a passion for it since childhood." He said, leaning toward Chibi Santa with his hands joined together.
"What's Christmas?" Chibi Neo's sign post said, but went ignored.
"No oh oh! Gifts are for those on the Nice List, and you, Roman Torchwick, are definitely on the Naughty List." Chibi Santa said.
"Mmh, might as well." Chibi Torchwick said, his hand holding his chin as he thought about it. "Can you imagine what being on the Nice List would have done to my reputation? It'd be a nightmare!"
Then Chibi Santa took out a big lump of coal and put it in Chibi Torchwick's hands.
"Those on the Naughty List gets coal." Chibi Santa said.
"Oof! What am I even supposed to do with this?" Chibi Torchwick asked.
"Not my problem." Chibi Santa said, turning toward Chibi Neo. "Now-"
"Please, spare me!" Chibi Neo's sign post said.
"Ho ho ho! Do not worry, Miss Neo, the lists only take into account what you've done in this current year. And since his year, you haven't participated in Roman's crime, this night put aside, and you've mostly just been hanging out with your little brother and watching over him... Add helping a huntress-in-training gets stronger and you've just barely made it on the Nice List for the first time in your life. Congratulation!." Chibi Santa said, handing a wrapped gift to Chibi Neo.
Chibi Neo unwrapped the gift, only to reveal a tub of neapolitan ice cream. She gave a skeptical look at Chibi Santa. Because sure, she always liked ice cream, but that was kind of cheap for a gift coming from a magic man that visited every home in the world in a single night.
"Ho ho ho! Do not look so disappointed, young Neo." Chibi Santa said. "This is a magic tub of neapolitan ice cream. Every time you put the lid back on, the ice cream inside will refills. It also keep the ice cream from melting inside the tub, no matter how hot the temperature is." Chibi Santa explained.
Chibi Neo now had the biggest smile she ever had in her life as she made another shign post.
"Thank you Mr Santa!" It said.
"It was my pleasure, have a Merry Christmas, you two." Chibi Santa said, as he jumped on his magic sleigh that suddenly came out of nowhere and flew away.
Chibi Neo started to eat her ice cream, as Chibi Torchwick looked at his coal, pensive.
"Neo, be honest with me, how much do you think I can sell this for?" Chibi Torchwick said.
*Insert scene transition with Chibi Santa's sleigh being pulled by reindeers across the screen.*
Two Chibi Beowolves were fleeing on through the woods. Suddenly, Chibi Gemini jumped from outside the scene to land with his sword inside one of the Chibi Grimm, who fell dead.
"Larry! No, not you!" The still living Chibi Beowolf screamed in despair as Chibi Gemini continued to stab Larry's corpse before his horrified eyes.
"Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab, eh eh. Stab." Chibi Gemini giggled with sadistic glee as he mutilated the already dead Grimm, until a familiar laugh interrupted him.
"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, young Gemini." Chibi Santa greeted as his sleigh stopped next to Chibi Gemini.
"Santa Claus!?" Chibi Gemini exclaimed, astonished at seeing him here. "But how? I thought you were on Earth?"
"I was. But my own elves cancelled me for being an old white man so I had to find work elsewhere." Chibi Santa explained. "That's why I'm working on Remnant now."
"Really? Well, it's great to meet you in person, Mr Santa." Chibi Gemini said. "I've been a big fan of yours since the day I learned you punched a heretic."
"Ah, yes, Arius. Good times." Chibi Santa nodded to himself, nostalgic. "Anyway, you've been a good lad this year. This means you get a gift."
Chibi Santa then threw a magic powder that spread all across Patch. As it touched the Chibi Beowolf, a red santa hat appeared on its head.
"All Grimm on Patch will now wear a santa hat until the end of December 25th at midnight. As long as they wear it, they will be unable to harm a Human, or Faunus, and will yield three times as much exp. points for your semblance as usual." Chibi Santa explained.
"Really? That's wonderful, truly a Christmas miracle. Thank you, Santa!" Chibi Gemini said.
"Ho ho ho! Do not thank me, young Gemini. Thank our Lord Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!" Chibi Santa said, as he flew away on his sleigh.
"I will!" Chibi Gemini said, before turning back to the Chibi Beowolf with the santa hat, who gulped in fear at the way Chibi Gemini looked at him.
*Insert scene transition with tap water being turned into beer mid-fall and Chibi Qrow drinking from it.*
"So," Chibi Qrow started, barely able to contain his excitement, "you're telling me this Jesus god has the power to turn water into wine?"
"Yes he does." Chibi Santa told him. "But that's really not what his teachings were abo-"
"This is the best god ever, I'm converting!" Chibi Qrow declared.
A god who turned the poison that was water into alcohol, what's not to love?
*Insert scene transition with Santa shadow boxing while walking through the screen.*
Deep in the Land of Darkness, where the Sun never shone and the sky was a perpetual dark red, The Dread Queen of the Grimm awaited outside her castle, knowing that soon, her arch-nemesis would come.
No, not Ozpin, but a being far more irritating.
"Ho ho ho!" Chibi Santa arrived with his usual laugh.
"There you are, you jolly, rotund old man!" Chibi Salem screamed in anger.
"Hello to you too, Salem!" Chibi Santa greeted back. "You been bad this year. Again. You know what being on the Naughty List means."
"Screw you, Santa! Look at this." Chibi Salem said, pointing at a huge mountain of coal next to the giant crystal her Evernight castle was carved into. It was about as high as said crystal. "Seriously, what the hell am I supposed to do with that much coal?"
"Not my problem. My job is just to deliver it." Chibi Santa said.
"I can't even burn it, there's so much of it now that trying to burn it would make the smell stuck to the whole castle for who know how many centuries." Chibi Salem continued to complain. "That castle is where I keep my subordinates, I can't keep them on my side if I force them to tolerate such a smell the entire time they are here."
"Speaking of your subordinates, I'll be putting their coal there too. Makes things easier for me." Chibi Santa said.
"No." Chibi Salem growled, her magic whirling aroung her arms. "You will leave no coal here this year. You will leave now, or stay here forever as a corpse."
In a flash, Chibi Santa close the distance between them and clocked her in the face. Chibi Salem lost consciousness before she could fire her spell.
When she came back to her, Chibi Santa had already finished dumping the coal on the coal mountain and was flying away.
"And Merry Christmas, you ho ho hoe." Were the last words she heard from Chibi Santa until next year.
I would like to humbly thanks Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman. In this era where the population is so divided by politic, they've managed to create something that united us, right in time for Christmas too. A true miracle of Christmas indeed.
Of course, they didn't do it on purpose, but hey, it's not the intention that counts, right?
Oh, and RIP Larry.
Ilia': ''What about me? Why am I dead so soon in the story? It's not fair!''
Oh, yeah, and RIP Ilia too. I kinda liked her character, but her death will kickstart an important White Fang subplot. Hey, at least Ilia has Larry to keep her company, right?
Don't worry, she's not the only character that's gonna die. I have a list.
So, anyway, I have a bad new and a good new. The bad new is that I'm out of prewritten chapters, so I can't guarantee the next chapter will be done by in two weeks. And since I'm somewhat of a slow writer, it can takes me like 1 to 3 months to write one, so the rythmn of chapter publication is going to be much slower from now on. (Seriously, how do Coeur Al'Aran manages to write 5 chapter per week? That appear inhuman to me.) The good new is, next chapter is pretty well advanced and already has 16 000 words written. Although 7 000 of these words are Ruby and Gemini... Well, you can probably guess what they'll be doing next chapter by the title alone.
That's why it's so big, so that any reader who doesn't like Yu-Gi-Oh have the option to skip it and still have as much to read as with previous chapters.
Next chapter, It's time to d-d-d-d-duel, will be out... when it will be finished. I'm reasonably certain I can finish it this month, but no promises.
Until then, I'll be waiting for your reviews. I love reading them, it always bring my mood up. Help motivates me to write, too.
Merry Christmas. (And yes, you get the Christmas chibi omake here instead of next chapter precisely because I wasn't certain I could finish the next in time before next year.)