A Wicked Game

by RandomPeon

When stuck into a rigged game, the best option was to not play and change the game. Now reincarnated as Torchwick's son, I faced a cruel game in which the other player, Salem, couldn't lose. Thus, time to play a different game. First fic, SI, partial Yu-Gi-Oh crossover, because the mc can't help himself.

15. Schnace Attorney

I had a stroke of genius. I realised that the hallucinations Gemini had last chapter felt kind of like Chibi Omakes, as such, I hereby canonise by WOG the Chibi Omake as hallucinations Gemini had in that room. Including the future ones.

Yes, I know that future ones are likely to contain information that Gemini would have no way of knowing, meaning it wouldn't makes sense for him to have seen it, but who cares about that? I'M just saying they're canon for the lols, even if it's going to have literally zero impact of the story.

Now, Ilia.

… Ilia? Ilia!

Where is this girl? Looks like I'm by myself for this chapter.

Lambda38. Yes, poor Gem. And this is going to get so much worse in a few chapters.

By the way, I answered the rest of your review in PM, but I don't know if you've seen it. Just telling you in case you didn't.

AK632612. Eh, an actual court appearance isn't a guarantee. Despite what the oligarchs of Vale tries to make it seems like, this isn't a clash of legality, but of power. Gemini is safe as long as he's out of the oligarchs' hands. But yes, you guessed right that it's Jacques' lawyer who'll be the ones to get him out.

Reader 451. Hooman Square Facility? I had never heard of it before, but oh boy, did I hit the mark. I didn't even take a look at any equivalent there might have been irl. All I did was think 'what would the police do and act like if a governement was the same as a criminal organisation and the police nothing more than its thugs in the street?'

It was purely speculative, yet… The Hooman Square Facility is a police interrogation warehouse in Chicago where the Chicago police disappeared over 7 185 people over the course of 11 years. The actions of the police toward those who were held there include, as a non-exhaustive list, forbidding them access to a phone call for a relative or a lawyer (only 68 were allowed contact with their attorneys, and only because they had people enquiring for them. Most of the victims were alone and had basically no family or friends to ask where they were), pressuring the prisoners to become informants for the police, keeping them awake, keeping the prisoners in cages, taking the cash of the arrestees for themselves, keeping the prisoners awake for extended period of times (a form of torture), pressuring confession out of them to convict them of blatantly false accusations… the list goes on. As far as I could find, most arrestees were either released after several days or were sent to prison, but there were also many who went in there and were never seen again afterward (so… straight up murder.)

Yeah, all in all, uncomfortably close to chapter 14. And here I was worried I was too on the nose with how evil I made the valean law enforcement…

Disclaimer: RWBY is the legal property of Rooster Teeth, no matter how much I wish I could buy it from them. Yu-Gi-Oh is the legal property of Shueisha.

Disclaimer: Okay, so I'm pretty sure I was skirting the line before, but I suspect this chapter contains a scene that is too much for a T-rated fic. If anyone think that this fic should be rated M because of the violence, don't hesitate to say so. Even if it will make the fic less visible.

As a reminder; T is for some violence, minor coarse langage and minor suggestive themes.

---

''What is happening here?'' Lord Drace asked as he walked out of the building, not particularly happy at being interrupted.

''The SDC is here, sir.'' One of the soldiers of the Red Leaves PMC said.

''I can see that much, yes.'' Lord Dacre said, before turning to a man accompagnied by two cops. ''And you?''

''Agent Surgeon, from the VSS.'' The man, who was the same one who had interrogated Gemini Torchwick and had him threw into the room two days ago, answered. ''I was tasked with coming today and getting a 'confession' from the boy, for his trial and subsequent execution. Unfortunately, it seems there are some complications.'' He hoped the SDC lawyers present here and the SDC private forces with them could be convinced to leave. It'd be a shamed if he had brought his… working tools and ended up not even using them.

Lord Dacre then looked at the three lawyers and their guards and sighed. ''And what does the SDC wants with us? As far as I'm aware, nothing here is of your concern, Mr…''

''We are here to represent Gemini Torchwick as his defense attorneys in his trial. I am Blue Rocket, from Jacques Schnee's personal lawyer team.'' One of the lawyer introduced himself. A tall man whose magenta hair was combed into a foot-long pompadour. ''My wife, Red Rocket.'' He gestured to the woman next to him, with chin-length periwinkle hair and breasts bigger than her head.

Now, if only the facility's guards could look up.

''And this is our colleage, Black Cath.'' Blue Rocket finished. Black Cath himself was a slender, 25 year old young man with amber eyes, shoulder-length, wavy black hair, and a black cat tail.

Odd, for a man of Jacques' reputation to have a Faunus lawyer to his service. Then again Lord Dacre never cared whether said reputation was accurate or not, so as far as he knew, it very well could be false.

''Lord Dacre Pulvis, a pleasure.'' Lord Dacre said, completely devoid of sincerity. ''Now, can we get to the part where you tell us why you think you can meddle in a valean case?''

Red smirked. ''Is it really a valean case if the accused is Atlesian?''

''What? Last I checked the child was Valean.'' Lord Dacre said with a raised eyebrow.

Agent Surgeon moved next to him and whispered in his ear. ''Actually, Gemini Torchwick's citizenship has been scrubbed off the records, so that the rights of a valean citizen wouldn't apply to him.''

Oh, that was just… Were his colleagues so afraid of a 'second Jacques' that they'd been hasty to the point of being careless? Well, he supposed it didn't matter too much. If it wasn't that, Jacques' lawyer would have just found another excuse.

''Still, I doubt he would have been able to go through the Atlesian naturalization procedure, not while he was imprisoned here.'' Lord Dacre pointed out. ''He may not be Valean, but he is certainly not Atlesian either.''

Mrs Rocket bursted into laughter, the movement of her chest attracting the eyes of the guards. ''Ah, but you seems to have forgotten a law that all four kingdoms have. A councilman may grant nationality to a stateless individual, bypassing the usual process.''

Lord Dacre nodded, he expected as much from the moment the VSS agent told him of Gemini's new nationless status. In fact, he already knew how this conversation would end, and it wasn't in the valean oligarchy's victory. ''True, but that isn't something that can be forced on the concerned individual. You can't give atlesian nationality to someone who didn't ask for it, not if they weren't born in Atlas.''

''True, but we can make the offer, and that is why we must meet the twerp. He has a right to refuse it, hence why atlesian law demands he hear the proposition. As an ally of Atlas, it would be improper of Vale to be uncooperative.'' Mr Rocket said, the promise of international conflict left unsaid, but not unheard. ''Also, if these gentlemen does not stop oggling my wife, we will sue them for sexual harassment.''

That got them to avert their eyes. Good, maybe they'll stay focused now.

So either Vale recognized Gemini as an Atlesian, or they had to let the lawyers inside and let them make contact with the kid. If they refused, then they might be looking at an international scandal.

And if the kid accepted being given atlesian citizenship, then Atlas could demand he be judged by an Atlesian court. His colleagues might be able to simply make the kid disappear without anyone being the wiser as long as this was strictly an internal affair, but if Atlas turned this into an international trial… Well, all they had to do was to use their own medias to bring attention to the case, and the illegitimacy of Vale on this case would be exposed for all to see.

Of course, the oligarchs would just put the blame on the councillors and would remain untouched, but this was still their loss. Although that all suited Lord Dacre just fine. He didn't care about this 'dustless electricity', but he needed the child to live so he could lead him to the Lamp.

As long as he tried his best to keep these guys out, then his colleagues and himself had nothing to reproach him.

''I suppose we have no choice but to let you through, then.'' Lord Dacre conceded. ''If you have proof of an atlesian councillor having made an offer of citizenship to Gemini, that is.''

Mrs Rocket took out a piece of paper and showed it to him. ''Here, signed by General Ironwood himself.''

Lord Dacre's eyes widened. First Jacques, and now Ironwood? How did a mere street rat managed to find such support? What, was Ozpin going to show up next and proclaim his protection for the kid?

''That sounds great, guess you'll let these guys pass, then?'' A gruffy voice came out of nowhere, making everyone here turns their head toward the newcomer, who now had the guns of both the SDC and Vale pointed at him.

''Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?'' Agent Surgeon asked, his hand on his own firearm.

''Qrow Branwen, huntsman. Good ol' Ozpin sent me, he wants the kid to live.'' Qrow Branwen said, before taking a big gulp out of his flask, making a show of not caring about the weapons pointed at him.

Oh, for-. ''Fine! But only the lawyers can go inside, the rest of you stays here.''

/-/

''Mr Gemini's dad, look! That's my uncle Qrow!'' Ruby said, looking at the people talking down there.

''Yes, I see that.'' Ro- Mr Gemini's dad said. He had to take back what he said about having nobody here being able to take on Dacre now, because Qrow Branwen would be able to pull it off.

''Do I shoot him?''

''No! Why would you shoot your own uncle?''

Ruby giggled at Mr Gemini's dad's reaction.

Although, was it her imagination, or did she really saw a bird turn into her uncle?

/-/

I rubbed my head, finally feeling my headache fading away. How much time had I passed in total darkness? 12 hours? 16?

The door opened, letting three people enter. I blinked at the suits they wore, pure white, with the Schnee symbol on them.

''Prepare for corruption!'' The woman of the group said, spreading her arm in a wide arc as she posed.

''Make it our objection!'' A man whose hair extended way too much forward said, also posing like his partner while the third one, a cat faunus, stayed in retreat.

''To protect our client from litigation!''

''To align the jury with our incentivisation!''

''To slander truth and love out of court!''

''To keep our boss' grip on his earnings report!''

''Scummy!''

''Defense!''

''Cheaters!''

''SDC, winning all lawsuits with infinite Lien!'' They said at the same time, before looking at the cat faunus accompagnying them, who had remained silent so far.

''Make a plea deal, or we'll be mean.'' The faunus finally said, pressured into it by their expecting stares. It wasn't enough, and they started wiggling their eyebrows at him. ''Nya.'' He added, flatly.

… No, seriously, was I high? I wasn't joking, I was genuinely worried that I had been drugged without my knowledge.

''And you three are…'' I said.

''We are Jacques Schnee's personal lawyers.'' The woman said.

The magenta haired man set a white suitcase on the table, in front of me. He opened it to reveal a laptop, who's screen lit up, showing the Schnee snowflake symbol on a light blue background. He tapped on a few button, and activated a live chat program.

''Ahh, Gemini Torchwick, the boy of the hour.'' Jacques Schnee greeted me from the other side of the screen. ''You know, when I said I had a feeling I'd hear from you again, I didn't expect it to be quite so soon, nor for something as grandiose as for having invented a method of dustless energy production.''

Was this what this was all about? The oligarchs of Vale, or at least some of them, decided to make me disappear and steal my patent for hydroelectricity? What a bunch of short-sighted morons.

Actually building the dams required for hydroelectricity took a lot of both Lien and time. Not just for the material and the engineers, but for actually taking the steps to start the construction. I didn't have the time to deal with this myself, not when I'd soon have to deal with Cinder. That was why I was planning to sell the patent for several trillions, then use it to finance research facilities on nuclear energy after I was done with Cinder and forcing Salem to put her plans on hold due to losing her would-be Maiden.

Sure, the tech was worth a lot of money. Even more than on Earth, since it would be second of only two methods of generating energy on Remnant, but I only wanted the Lien I needed to research nuclear, since that was the big prize that was going to take us to the stars. 50 trillion Lien would have been several times enough for the research, even if I failed to get further fundings afterward, but it would still have been so low that anyone who knew what they were talking about would have considered me to have been scammed for selling it so low. I was planning to sell the patent at 100 trillion, which was still on the cheap side, mind you.

No, I wasn't worried about nuclear waste. That was only an issue for a people stuck on one planet. Remnant already had the technology to travel in space, only needing an energy source that worked outside of the planet in order to be able to spread their wings.

If the oligarchs wanted it so much, I'd have actually sold it to them, as I wouldn't be able to pursue nuclear energy while setting up the hydroelectric dams.

''Hello, Mr Schnee. I'm afraid you didn't catch me at my best right now.'' I said.

''I can see that.'' Jacques said. ''Thankfully for you, I have a proposition for you. One which you can't refuse, thanks to our oligarchs 'friends' from Vale.''

''Let me guess, you help me out of here, and in exchange, you want the patent?''

Jacques snorted. ''In a way, but not quite. Mr Cath, if you may?''

The cat faunus handed me a paper before stepping back.

My eyes widened as I read the contract in my hands.

''This… this is…'' I couldn't believe it.

''A marriage contract.'' Jacques said, confirming I was indeed reading what I thought I was reading.

''But why!? All you want is the patent, isn't it? Why would you even need this contract? I'm willing to sell it to you at a cheap price in exchange for your help.'' I tried to reason, not wanting to be married to Weiss.

''Oh, I don't need the contract to have your hydroelectricity, I need it to secure everything you will make in the future.'' Jacques said. ''After all, if you've managed to completely flip the economic landscape at only 14, then I can't even imagine what you'll do in the years to come. But whatever it is that you will accomplish, it will be to the SDC's profit.''

''… So that's the price you ask for in exchange for your help. I suppose I should have expected a man like you to drive a hard bargain.''

''What can I say? I play for keep.'' Jacques smirked. ''But don't put all of the blame on me. It's also the only way I can save you from the valean elites' grip. Being fianced to my youngest daughter will make you an atlesian citizen, giving us the legitimacy to demand you be tried in Atlas, where both the judge and the jury will be in my pocket, rather than theirs.''

Right, this was about the only way I wouldn't be executed.

Even on Earth, the presumption of innocence, 'innocent until proven otherwise', was something that started with the Roman Empire, under the form of 'Proof lies on him who asserts, not on him who denies'. Before that, it was the opposite, as it was again after the Empire fell. (Well, Islamic law also ran on the presumption of innocence, but outside of them, in Europe, it disappeared until the 12th century, when the Roman laws were rediscovered and the Catholic Church started to influence the european kingdoms into taking the presumption of innocence back into their legal systems.)

But the default of Mankind had always been to assume that an accused person to be guilty unless there was proof of the contrary. The Mankind of Remnant didn't escape that, especially since a kingdom ran of stability, not justice. The populace was never pleased when they felt justice hadn't been served, and negative feelings brought the Grimm. It didn't matter as much that the accused was actually guilty, than it did that the population believed they were. I suspected it was pretty common for an innocent to be executed so that the state could declared a case to be solved successfully.

And of course, prisons weren't happy places, so having too many prisoner meant an increase in Grimm attacks. This resulted in two things. 1: A kingdom with no death penalty on Remnant was a pipe dream. No way would a kingdom keeping all of its criminal alive was ever going to not be wiped out by the Grimm. 2: The 'prisons' on Remnant were actually outposts right outside of the kingdom, with the prisoners being used as meatshield between the kingdom and the Grimms. Slave collars were puts on the prisoners to prevent them from running away, as the collars fried them to death if they tried to escape.

This guaranteed that I'd be declared guilty in court even if the Valean oligarchs decided to be nice (yeah, right) and not force the judge and jury to give the result they wanted. And that execution was unavoidable.

The only way someone could survive being brought to court was if they had the Lien to pay off the official. Justice was for the wealthy only, even more so than on Earth.

Well, not quite. Huntsmen had a fair (debatable) bit of leeway too. A civilian who pulled half of the stunts Team RWBY did in canon would have been either executed or sent to one of those 'outpost prison'. (Not that a civilian would have been able to pull those off in the first place, but you get what I meant.)

''So I don't have much of a choice, uh?'' I thought out loud.

''Not really, no.''

''Alright, but I have a few conditions of my own before I accept.''

''You aren't in any position to make demands.'' Jacques pointed out.

''Don't worry, I'm not going to ask for much, just two little things to sweeten the deal for me.'' I insisted, causing him to sigh in annoyance.

''Alright then, what is it that you want?''

''There is a group of people in Vale who maintained the knightly traditions of the kingdom, the King's knights. I want you to get them to knight me.''

''I can do that easily, yes. But why?'' Jacques asked, the confusion obvious in his eyes.

''So I can have bragging rights. That's it. That's totally not part of a secret master plan that I won't share with anyone.'' I said, convincingly.

''… Is that master plan going to make me lose profit in the long run?''

I hesitated on what to say, for a moment. ''Sorry, but I'm not talking about this. Not here.'' I said, throwing a look at the security camera in the corner of the room. ''But suffice to say, there'll be rewards aplenty.''

''Hmm. Very well, I'll grant you this favor. But you will tell me what your end goal is, once you'll be in Atlas. Now, what is your second request?''

''I want a few days to rest, to recuperate from my stay here, before you make me go all the way to Atlas.''

''Deal.'' Jacques said without hesitation. ''It will take a few days to gather the judge and jury in Atlas anyway, so that makes no difference to me.''

''Then we've got a deal. Congratulation.''

And with this, I signed the contract, irregardless of my own feelings about it.

Jacques smirked, knowing he was the great winner of this debacle. ''You made the right decision. Welcome to the family, son.''

/-/

''Mr Gemini's dad, Look! It's Gem!'' Ruby exclaimed, as she look at her friend being brought out of the facility by the three Schnee lawyers. ''Do I-''

''No, you can't shoot him!'' Mr Gemini's dad said. ''We were here to save him in the first place!''

''… I wasn't going to ask that.'' Ruby said, her eyes not meeting his as he gave her a look that clearly said he didn't believe her. ''Okay, I was going to ask that, but only as a joke. I wouldn't really shoot him.'' Not oustide of a spar, at least.

She looked at Gem again. He looked terrible. His face was haggard, and he walked with his shoulders slouched, as if he was drained of energy. It must have been rough for him in there.

Then her eyes lowered to his naked torso. 'Well, that part of him looks pretty fine.' She thought, not noticing that she was licking her lips a little as she looked at his abs. Gem should go shirtless more often.

''Ouch!'' She exclaimed as Mr Gemini's dad flicked her on the head.

''Wait until I'm gone before you start lusting after my son.'' He said.

''I wasn't lusting!'' She said, before blushing in response to Mr Gemini's dad and Neo's deadpan stares.

This was all Yang's fault!

/-/

I lied on the couch of the Xiao-Long-Rose house, my head on my sister's lap as she slowly stroked my head.

''So, what do we do, now?'' Yang asked, as both Neo and Ruby were fussing over me and Flax stood awkwardly next to us.

The guy probably felt very out of place.

I sighed, before answering Yang's question. ''Right now, nothing. I just want to relax a little. But after that, I have an appointment in two days, and then I have to go to Atlas.''

''Right, because of- of…'' Ruby started.

''Because of the marriage contract.'' I finished. Ruby winced at my words. ''I'm not happy about it either, but on the bright side, I'm a minor, so Jacques has to wait until I'm 18 for the actual wedding to happen. Until then, I'm officially Weiss Schnee's fiance, but that gives me a few years to find a way to get out of it.''

''Eh, get out of it?'' Ruby said, surprised to hear that.

''Of course. You didn't really think I intend to marry Weiss, right? I met the girl before, she's just so mean.'' I said.

Ruby relaxed a little at my words, seemingly glad I confirmed I wanted out of that contract. I supposed nobody wanted to see their best friend stuck in a loveless marriage.

''The contract contains one way by which it can be invalidated. In case of adultery, the contract is broken, so all I technically needs to be free from it is to find a girlfriend.''

''I'm hearing a 'but'.'' Yang said, killing Ruby' growing happy smile before her little sister could say anything.

''There is a but. The adultery clause stipulates that the offending party will have to financially compensate the offended party. It's a lot of Lien, and with the interests, I'd be Jacques' debt slave for the rest of my life. Worse, it wouldn't even end with my death, since debts are inherited as well. This means that any children of mine, and their children after them, will be stuck as his debt slave as well.'' I explained.

''So it's hopeless?'' Ruby asked, looking like she was on the verge of tears. I didn't like seeing Ruby being sad,

''Not quite. There's always the possibility that Weiss might fall in love with someone, then I'd not only get out of that contract, but Jacques would be the one who would need to pay me for it.'' Unless he found a way to weasel out of paying, which he probably would. Even if he didn't, 'enough money to keept me indebted for life' was barely more than small change for him. ''Or we could just burn Atlas to the ground. Jacques can't enforce Atlas' laws on me if there's no Atlas left.''

''… Let's not commit genocide please.'' Ruby said, as much as she wasn't a fan of the situation, that was just not a solution to their current problem.

''Yeah, let's not.'' I agreed. I too prefered to find a morally acceptable solution.

''Should we really be talking about you getting out of the contract in front of nin-nin?'' Yang said, pointing to the ninja in the room.

'Mr Cath', who had reintroduced himself as 'Bakeneko' (I absolutely didn't believe it was his real name), was sitting on his knees a bit away from us, with his back to the wall of the room and his hands kept on his legs, unmoving except for the cat tail behind him. He wore a navy blue kimono shirt over a long sleeved undershirt of the same color. His pants, tabi shoes, elbow and shin guards were also navy blue as well. The only visible weapon on him was a ninjato on his back, but I had no doubt that he had a few others hidden on him. The upper half of his face was hidden by a white cat mask with red markings, similar in style to Japan kitsune masks.

The guy had followed me since the day I signed that contract, with orders to ensure my protection.

Because yes, Jacques apparently had ninjas on his payroll. Go figure.

''Meh.'' I shrugged. ''Jacques already know I don't want to be wed to his daughter. Why do you think he made the penalty for doing so so heavy? Let 'Bakeneko' report what I said today if he wants to, it changes nothing.''

''Right, so we're just going to continue ignoring nin-nin then?'' Yang said. ''Alright… So, what's this appointment thing you talked about?''

''It's a surprise.'' I said with a smirk. ''Don't worry, I promise I'll come visit and show you the result before I go to Atlas.''

''Will you be gone to Atlas for long?'' Ruby asked, the sadness in her voice and on her face obvious.

''Jacques will have to let me come back to Vale, since I have my own projects to continue. I should be gone for a week or two at most.'' I was only going to Atlas to have a private talk with Jacques and to meet Weiss on an official 'date'.

I had a few issues in Vale, since the people running Illusion Industry were pretty miffed at having one of their shops destroyed by the police and the employees murdered. They couldn't do anything against the state, so part of their anger was redirected at me. I was going to have to deal with that if I wanted Yu-Gi-Oh to continue. But that would have to wait until I came back from Atlas. More important than cards, however, was not missing Cinder's attack on Amber. I hoped I'd come back in time for that.

I sat on the couch, facing Ruby in front of me before giving her a hug. ''We'll be alright. Whatever the future decides to throw at us, we can handle it.''

… I liked Ruby. And I meant like like. If it wasn't for the betrothal contract with Weiss, I'd be tempted to confess right now, but it'd just make things worst, wouldn't it? It'd be wiser to wait until I managed to cancel the contract.

Ah, well, either way, she probably didn't feel the same anyway.

''Right, and how do we handle this future, exactly? Everything's aleady going sideways.'' Yang asked as her little sister's face reddened as I held her.

''For you and Ruby, you don't have to have any concern other than becoming as strong as you can.'' I said. ''So I hope you two won't slack off while I deal with some business of mine.''

''Pfft! As if, I'm Yang 'Kickass' Xiao-Long, I don't do 'slacking-off', and neither does my cute little baby sis.'' Yang declared, ruffling Ruby's hair.

''Yang!'' Ruby cried out in frustation, pushing her big sister's hand away before turning to me with a grin. ''Yeah, don't worry Gem, I'll get this thing with my semblance down before you know it.''

''Good. Oh, and Flax, you're coming with me to Atlas.''

''Wait, what? Why?'' Flax asked, shocked. ''I don't want to go live in Atlas!''

''I mean, I'm not forcing you, but you have a golden opportunity to emigrate to Atlas. I'd advise you take it, rather than stay in a kingdom where the ones in power just tried to have you killed and have a vested interest in making sure you wouldn't be able to speak a word of it.''

''… Please, don't leave without me.''

/-/

'Now, time to get that business done with.' I thought, as I walked through the door of the King's Knights' headquarters.

After spending three days to rest and hang out at Ruby's home (couldn't relax in Patch or Vale), I felt much better, and was now ready to face the world once again.

The headquarters of what was left of Vale's knight weren't much, a far cry from what they had a century ago, merely a three room building, with a sparring area in the courtyard next to a small garden. I would only see one of those room today.

As soon as I entered, I was the subject of the knights' cold stares. There were only twenty of them, far less than the dozen of thousands the kingdom used to have, but I still felt a little intimidated.

Their chairs were placed on the sides of the room, creating an alley for me to walk toward an elderly woman standing on the other side of the room. The woman kept her grayed hair styled in a side plait and wore a white dress coat. She also had a broadsword sword at her hips and, like everyone else here, a leather shoulder guard with a white cavalier shoulder cape, whose interior of satin lining and the exterior was made of ultrasuede and bore the crest of the Kingdom of Vale, two green axes over a green laurel wreath.

''Kneel.'' The woman said when I approached her.

I knelt in front of her, lowering my head, and she drew her basket-hilted sword.

''In the name of Vale's eight centuries-long traditions, I, Dame Nimue Patch, bestow upon thee, Gemini Torchwick, the title of Knight.'' She said, tapping my shoulders with her blade. ''Now rise, Sir Gemini.''

I obeyed and rose to my feet. Then, two other knights came in, one holding a broadsword and the other holding the cape of the order. Dame Nimue carefully took the sheated blade in her hands.

''This sword is proof of your new title. Take great care of it, even if you do not have to use it.'' She said, handing it to me.

It was going to stay stored somewhere safe for a few years anyway, as it was fitted for an adult and thus would remains too big for me to fight with until I became an adult.

Now the turn of the cape, she continued. ''This cape is another proof of it as well, and unlike the sword, you actually need to wear it on you to be recognized as a knight.''

I attached the leather spaulder, the leather starp ran over my black blazer and the cape covered my left arm.

I had to put actual effort to not gush out loud. I was an actual knight now. This was so cool!

Oh, and I had ditched the top hat. I initally thought it completed my outfit nicely, but it kept falling off everytime I started being a little acrobatic when fighting (so… pretty much always), it was getting annoying. So now my hair, which I left loose and only bothered to sweep backwards with my hands, was left uncovered,

''This is all wrong!'' A kid around my age yelled. Most people here were adults, except for a handful of people. This one, the youngest, was the only one to not have a cape. He had blond hair and white eyes, and was clad from head to toes in a very light gray leather armor.

Another youth, looking a lot like the first one, but older and with black eyes, and wearing the order's cape over a dark green turtleneck, grabbed him by the ear and pulled him back down on his chair.

''Gains, be quiet.'' The older teen said. I noticed the mechashift halberd on his back, and I was familiar enough with Ruby's weapon to identify the shaft of that guys' weapon to be a similar sniper rifle.

''But you know I'm right, brother.'' Gains insisted instead of stayed sit. ''Everyone here worked hard to be worthy of the title of knight. But this bastard just got a foreigner to force us to give it to him. There's no way he can be considered a legitimate knight.''

I wasn't. I also didn't care, I had the sword and the cape. I could call myself a knight, deal with it.

''I can't accept that. I challenge you!'' Gains continued. ''If I win, you give up your title and never come back.''

Eh? Why would I accept that? ''I refuse.''

''Eh?'' Gains made a confused noise, unknowingly echoing my own reaction. ''What, because you're a coward on top of being a corrupt weasel?''

''Why would he accept?'' Another youth sitting close to them said. That one had wide crimson eyes and light blue hair styled in a short quiff. He was equipped with a red-colored steel armor and wore his cape threw back behind his shoulder, rather than let it cover his arm. He had two swords with red hilts, which wouldn't have been that strange if he didn't also have a shield. What, did the guy had a semblance that grew some sort of third arm made of aura or something? ''You're asking him to put something on the line while not offering anything yourself, nobody in their right mind would go along with such a proposition.''

''Then-''

''I'm going to stop you right there.'' I interrupted Gains. ''There's nothing you can offer that would convince me to bet my newly acquired knighthood.''

''Tch.'' Gains made a frustated sound. ''A spar with no stake then, I'll show you the difference between someone who work hard to become a knight and a fake like you.''

''Sure, why not?'' With any luck, he'll leave me alone after that.

I didn't miss how the adults in the room didn't protest his improper attitude, though, implying that they agreed with his opinion of me.

/-/

''This is an official spar between Sir Gemini Torchwick and Gains Boro.'' A giant of a man, standing at roughly 2,4 meters (8 feet for those who only knew freedom units), said. He had brown eyes and hair, and entire body was encased in plate armor, with a simple warhammer on his back. His armor, combined with his height, made him feel like a moving mountain of steel. He had the knight's cape as well, of course. ''The spar ends when one of the combattants either surrenders, or have their aura lowered to 30%. Are both of you ready?''

''Sure, why not?'' I said, lazily leaning on my cane.

Gains scowled. ''Would it kill you to look like you cared about this?''

A shrug of my shoulders was my only response. I didn't care about this.

''Tch. I'm ready.'' Gains said, glaring at me as he bumped his fists together. His weapons were two metal gauntlet gloves covering everything up to his entire forearm.

''Then, at your mark. 1… 2… 3… Go!''

As soon as Sir knight (I didn't catch his name) announced the start of the fight, Gains activated his aura.

I recoiled in surprise as he immediately started to shine from all of his body, his light gray, almost white aura, projecting light all around him. Then he punched the ground, causing a shockwave to spread around him as the soil cracked.

It disturbed my footing, which he exploited before I could find it back by charging me and punching me in the guts.

The punch hurt like hell and I was thrown backward, my back smashing into the brick wall surrounding the courtyard and breaking it. Groaning in pain, I pushed the bricks off of me and got up.

What the hell was up with this guy!? I had only ever seen this kind of strength from Yang, when her aura was in the red.

Then, Gains extended his right palm toward me, showing that the middle of his palm had a glowing circle pulsing with the purple light of gravity dust. Uh oh.

I felt the direction of gravity shift as I suddenly flew (or was it 'fell'?) toward the pugilist.

He was prepared to punch me when I would be in range, but I extended my foot, using the momentum he so graciously gave me to kick him in the face before he could give me another punch, which worked thanks to my leg having longer reach than his arms.

The kick made him fall backward, but he landed on his hands and manoeuvred himself back on his feet.

As he was about to attack me again, I held my hands to form a 'T' shape. ''Time-out!'' I said in a loud, clear voice.

''Wha-'' Gains blinked, his mouth gaping in disbelief. ''You can't just interrupt the fight like that, especially when it barely started!''

''Yeah, sorry about that, but I have to ask for something.'' I apologized, before turning toward the giant overseer. ''Out of sheer curiosity, how much aura did his first attack take out of me?''

''Uh… About 20%.'' The giant (seriously, not kidding, this guy was taller than even Junior) said, surprising everyone.

''How do you even manage to hit so hard?'' I asked Gains, shocked. That hit alone would have put Ruby's aura under 30%. That was insane.

''What do you mean, 'how do you hit so hard?' How do you have so much aura? Most people would have had theirs break already!'' Gains yelled, looking at me like I was a freak. Hey, I wasn't the one glowing like a light bulb and hitting like a truck.

What? Was that guy another super saiyan expy?

''I don't know!'' I answered honestly. ''All I know is that the amount of aura one has has a mild correlation with how much aura the parents have, so it can't have come from my father. Maybe my mother, but I never knew her.''

''Oh…'' Now he looked somewhat uncomfortable. ''I'm sorry to hear that?'' He said.

''Eh, don't sweat it.'' I shrugged. ''Life gives me the cards it gives me. It's up to me to play them right, even if the hand I was given kinda sucks. But enough about little me, I'd appreciate an answer from you too.''

''Right, err…'' He coughed in his hand. ''My semblance; Solar Cycle. It's a passive thing that always activates when my aura is up, the higher the Sun is in the sky, the stronger I am. It does nothing during the night, though.''

Oh? Interesting. Meanwhile, my semblance prevented me from sleeping, allowing me to live during the night as well as during the day. Just as I was a 'warrior of the night', he was a 'warrior of the day'. No wonder he didn't like me.

Also, I took back the super saiyan comment. He absorbed power from the Sun. He was superman!

Or Gawain from fate. That probably fit better, with the whole knighthood thing. Hang on, was Gawain's power varying according to the Sun something Fate came up with, or was it part of the actual arthurian legends? I didn't remember.

Either way, his semblance was a strength boost like Yang's, but unlike Yang, he had the boost without having lost aura. Yang could use her semblance during the night, though, so I wasn't sure which was better.

Wait. ''Isn't it around 12 o'clock?''

''11:59, actually.'' Gains' brother said in a flat voice.

Gains grinned. ''That's right! The Sun is at around its zenith, which mean I am at my strongest. Ready to get your butt handed to you?''

''Alright then. Time to throw hands.'' I sighed, before returning to my fighting stance, holding my cane in front of me.

His gloves glowed purple again and he jumped into the air, far higher than he should have been able to.

'So he used the gravity dust to lower his weight.' I realised, as I watched him rise into the air, looking like a reverse shooting star.

Then there was another purple glow, and he fell downward. Crap, he just augmented his weight to make more damage on landing.

I quickly got out of the way and jumped at the last moment before he touch the ground, avoiding losing my balance due to the shockwave.

It was more than a shockwave. The ground gave in under him, causing a crater to appear as the soil was thrown in the air around him. I tried to close in and strike him with a thrust of my cane, but he turned around and backhanded my weapon away, the strength behind his fist yanking it out of my hands.

He followed by attempting to punch me several time. He was fast, but I managed to dodge all of his fist, before I landed a kick in his ribs.

I saw the hurt on his face, showing that he felt it, but he wasted no time to pull himself back together and immediately grabbed my leg with his arm, before punching the inside of my thigh.

It was painful. I still felt my leg's bone breaking in half, even if my aura prevented the damage to my body from actually happening. Crying out in pain, I reflexively slapped the sides of his head, causing his ears to ring and disorienting him.

Then, when it caused him to let go of me, I grabbed his head and kneed him in the face, throwing him into the ground, which I followed by dropping an axe kick on his head.

He dodged the axe kick, however, sliding to the side and, with both hands on the ground, kicked me in the chest.

My back landed in the dirt on the sides of the crater we were fighting in. This gave me the perfect opportunity to grab a fistful of dirt, which I threw in his face when he charged at me.

''Aaargh!'' He recoiled, trying to clear his eyes. I wasn't going to let him.

I threw a quick jab at his throat, further disabilitating him, and followed with a fist in his guts and then an uppercut.

I was going to punch him again while he was down, but then his gravity dust flared again and I felt a wall of gravitational force slamming into me, getting me off of him.

What the heck was that? Pain's Shinra Tensei? Because it sure felt how I thought it'd feels like.

Gravity dust was quickly getting at the top of the things I wished were in my skillset.

Gains and I both got ourselves back on our feet. He looked like he still had some trouble with his vision, but I was also pretty sure I was only one punch away from losing.

Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pounding, I guess.

I ran toward him, and he reacted with a punch, but thankfully, I managed to slip past his punch and grab him by the arm and the collar to judo throw him before he could react. Still holding him by the arm, I punched him three times in the face before he grabbed me with his other arm and pulled me down to headbutt me.

Ouch.

''Stop!'' Our giant referee said. ''Gemini's aura is at 19%. Gains won the match.''

''Ugh,'' Gains didn't look very happy with his victory. ''I can't believe you managed to give me this much trouble. I'd have beaten you easily if it wasn't for your cheap tricks.''

Of course he would have. Why did he think I used them?

''Someone without honor like you shouldn't wear the cape, much less call himself a knight.'' He continued.

I raised an eyebrow. ''I suppose you have a point, now that I've received the title of knight, I should strive to act like one. Very well, from now on, I'll act with honor, just like you. Including challenging people to fights I believe they have no chance of winning.''

Gains' eyes widened. ''Are you accusing me of being dishonorable!?'' He said, angry.

''I don't know. Do you believe it is honorable to challenge someone for the sole purpose of utterly and completely humiliating them?'' Not that I was feeling humiliated, having put up a decent fight, but that was certainly his intent.

''Ah! I cannot approve of how you obtained your title, but that was well said, young man.'' The giant knight said with a laugh. ''Indeed, one's reason for fighting is more important than one's methods. A lesson I hope you'll take to heart, young Gains. As for you, Sir Gemini, I hope your future actions will not bring shame upon our group. Now, get out of that crater, you two. We need to fix this hole.''

After we climbed our way out the hole Gains made in the ground, Dame Nimue used some earth dust to close it and return to how it was before the spar. Earth dust couldn't replace bricks, though, so they'd have to fix the wall later.

Four of the knights present approached me, Gains' brother and the others who were sitting around him when he tried to shut his little brother up, two of which had remained silent.

''I am Sir Asparain Boro,'' Gains' older brother introduced himself. ''I would like to apologise for my little brother's reckless attitude.'' He said, as Gains grumbled under his breath.

''It is no troube. And who are your friends?'' I said.

''I'm Sir Carmin Troyes. My father, Sir Gale Troyes, was the one who officiated your spar with Gains.'' The young man with light blue hair said, offering me a handshake, which I took.

I took a look at Sir Gale, who went back to the sides of the courtyard, where the other adults where. He was talking to a woman with long light blue hair, eyes of the same color, and wearing an expensive, renaissance-looking aqua dress, with the order's broadsword at her hips. Carmin's mother, I'd wager given the resemblance. None of them had his red eyes, though. Maybe the genes for those skipped a generation? At any rate, while he didn't seems to have much of his father's feature, he sure had part of his height, reaching 214 cm, or 7 feet.

''It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Carmin.'' I said.

''And I'm Sir Thistle Ironedge. You did pretty well against Gains, not many of his age are able to keep up with him that well. Not at this time of the day, anyway.'' The third one said.

The slender young man had grayish magenta eyes and hair, the sides and top of his wavy locks brushed back, and wore a green scale armor. Curiously, he didn't have a wea- wait, no. This was Remnant, his weapon was obviously the lute on his back. I almost forgot which world I was in.

He had the knight's cape as well, of course.

''Thanks. I still can barely believe how hard he hit.'' I said.

''Don't say that as if I was the weird one, Mr Insane amount of aura!'' Gains snapped, before looking away with a blush as the others looked at him. ''I- I mean, strength-enhancing semblances aren't exactly an unknow thing. Having that much aura, though?''

Was it? I know I hadn't met anyone who even had half of what I had, but didn't Jaune have a lot too? I figured I had a similar amount as he did, so there couldn't be just the two of us, right? Albeit rare, there had to be other people like that.

Ignoring Gains, the last one of the group advanced toward me, shoving his face way too close to mine to stare at me in the eyes.

He wasn't quite as tall as Carmin, but he still stood just short of two meters at 195 cm. He had green eyes, and his blood red hair had two bangs framing the sides of his face, with the rest tied in a loose ponytail that was barely long enough to reach the middle of his shoulders. He had the cape of the knights and a red tabard showing his symbol on the front, a black Grimm dragon skull. Below the tabard, his body was encased in full plate armor.

Then there was his weapon, a flamberg zweihander with a red dust blade longer than his body. Normally, a weapon of this size would weight too much to be used as a sword and would instead be used more like a sword-shaped polearm, but between the bonus strength aura passively granted and dust blades being lighter than steel, his sword would be much easier to use than an Earthling would expect by looking at it.

''Errr…'' I wasn't sure what to say.

He gave a small grin, a spark of interest in his eyes, before speaking. ''You're an interesting one, you know? Most people here are involved in knighthood because their families have always been. Rare are those who bother with us all on their own.''

''Okay? And you are?'' I asked, an eyebrow raised.

''Ah, sorry, I almost forgot my manners.'' He said, before taking a step back and putting his. ''Allow me to introduce myself: I am Sir Medraut II Orkney, leader of Team MACT (Malachite), whose members are the gentlemen you see before you, and futur king of the Vale.''

… There was a lot to unpack there.

''Eh? Team MACT? Medraut II? Orkney? Future king? I'm sorry, I think I need a few explanation?''

''Ask away. As my futur subject, it will be my pleasure to answer any questions of yours.'' He said with an easy smile.

''Team MACT? You are a huntsmen-in-training?'' I asked first. ''I was under the impression that the King's Knight weren't a big fan of how modern society replaced knights with what are basically highly educated and glorified mercenaries.''

''We aren't. But even without a king, it is still our duty as knights to defend the kingdom and its people from the Grimm!'' Medraut declared. ''Unfortunately, a huntsman licence is required to take a mission. Do I have to talk about how dumb it is? Needing a licence to go after the common ennemy of everyone. Imagine trying to save someone from a Beowolf and that someone goes 'Oi mate! Ya got a loicense to kill that Grimm?' Anyway, that's why everyone in our order is also a huntsman on top of being knights, because bureaucracy is a bloody useless mess. Sir Asparain, Sir Carmin, Sir Thistle and myself are currently in our third year at Beacon Academy.''

I gave an uneasy chuckle.

The law technically didn't forbid anyone from fighting Grimm, but that was what it did in pratice, I supposed. Anybody could just pick up a weapon and go kill a Grimm if they wanted. If by killing a Grimm, you happened to fulfill a mission, then so be it. But without a huntsman licence, you couldn't access the huntsman mission board that the academies and cities keep constantly updated, and if you didn't register as taking the mission, you didn't get the pay. So without the huntsman license, the activity of fighting the Grimm just wasn't economically sustainable, since the pay was needed for a huntsman to fund his next mission.

Also, third years? So next year, the year the canon events would start, they would be fourth year.

''Right… So, Medraut? That's a name I recognize. Just like I recognize the name of Orkney.'' I said, observing how his face cringed slightly when I said I recognized his family.

''My mother… My mother is the current head of the Orkney family, which owns several businesses in Vale, like Orkney Furnitures. I… am not on good terms with the rest of my family, as my mother disapproves of my presence here, as well as my goals, as well as… Well, you probably get the picture.'' He said, rubbing neck. ''As for my name, you might have seen it from the history books, yes. I was named after one of my ancestors, King Medraut Vale, fifth monarch of the kingdom.''

I remembered reading about this king, yes. Vale wasn't always united, the valley's territory used to be fragmented between a few kingdoms, until the Unification War, led first by the second king and finished by the third, led into a peace treaty which was sealed by marrying princesses and princes of the four different royal families together, merging them into one family in a two generation process, the fruit of it being King Medraut, who carried the blood of all four in his veins. King Medraut was also known for his enslavement of the barbarian tribes that regularly attacked the southern wall that kept them, and the Grimm, out of the valley. No surprises there, tribal peoples had always been hostile toward sedentary civilisations. Earth or Remnant, it seemed human nature remained the same.

Well, I said 'human', but the tribes were a mix of human and faunus tribes. They were hostile towards each others as much as they were against the kingdom too. And I didn't only mean that the human tribes and the faunus tribes fought each others, two different human tribes or two different faunus tribes would also kill each others just as well.

Believe it or not, King Medraut's decision to enslave the attacking tribes was considered to be humanitarian and merciful, especially back then. Before that, the kingdom's reaction to being attacked by a tribe, which happened several times a year, was to kill them all. I mean, if someone was trying to kill you, then killing them was fair, but chasing them and genociding the entire tribe was a step beyong killing in self-defense. The problem was that not doing so always resulted in the tribes producing new warriors that would attack the kingdom again, so killing or enslaving them all were the only two options that made the attacks stop.

Oh, and while this resulted in the slaves being a mix of both humans and faunus, people tended to marry amongst people of the same social class and the offspring of a human and a faunus made a faunus, so a few generations later, faunus and slaves had become almost synonymous. Nowadays, faunus considered King Medraut to be a racist slaver and unworthy of praises, while valean humans saw him as a heroic warrior who protected the kingdom and put an end to a lot of bloodshed.

… Considering that the barbarian tribes were the aggressors here, I was going to have to give that one to the Valeans. Especially since the tribes also kept captured valean peasants as slaves too, so the faunus' ancestors really didn't have the moral high ground over the humans' ancestors.

But that wasn't the only bit that caught my attention. Wasn't Medraut an old variant of freaking Mordred'sname!?Were these guys actually important characters that followed RWBY's inspiration from fairy tales and various other old stories? Holy crapbasket, they did! I just got into a fist fight with a guy based on Gawain!

As for the Orkney themselves, they owned several furnitures and common goods shops and the factories that produced them. They also owned the OBS, Orkney Broadcasting Station, a media corporation that most people called 'Orkney's BS'. They were a 'rival' of the VNN (Vale News Network), another news company owned by the Donwald. Pretend ennemies who were actually allies behind the scenes and ran the same scripts and narratives on their respective news anyway.

''I see. And if the order manages to reinstates the monarchy, you want to claim the throne for yourself.'' I said. ''But such a distant relation to the royal line isn't anywhere near enough, unless you have a closer one.''

''I do have a closer one.'' Sir Medraut said, grinning. ''My great-grandmother married a second degree cousin of King Ozias himself, giving me a 6th degree relation to the throne.''

Ah, I understood why he seemed confidant in his chances now. He was a close enough relative to the royal family that he could be considered part of it, if barely. Considering King Ozias never had children and his closest cousins died in mysterious accidents (cough, assasinations, cough), then it was about as close as one could get anymore.

''Still, you aren't the only one to be able to claim as such, so that wouldn't be… I see, I suppose that's another reason to work as a huntsman.'' I realised.

''That's right, I'll make my name known to the citizens of the Vale. My feats of arms will back and strengthen my claim by blood, letting them know that I will be a king they can count on.'' Sir Medraut said, putting his fist on his chest. ''With this, I should be able to stand above other potential canditates.''

That made a lot of sense. On Earth, supporting a claim to rule with feats of arms wasn't a desirable outcome because it would only be possible in the case of a societal collapse, where a nation would collapse into several warring factions with the leader of the winning team possibly claiming kinghood, meaning that the 'feats of arms' would consist of killing a lot of people, which would make it kinda hard for the newly self-crowned king to be popular with the people and seen as legitimate, especially in an age of information where the population would be fully aware of how many people were killed.

But Remnant had no shortage of Grimm, and those were acceptable, nay, encouraged target, making feats of arms an actual option.

To be honest, I had a similar plan myself. I intended to push for Jaune forward as a candidate. As an Arc, he was distantly related to the royal line as well, though not as closely as Sir Medraut. With feats of arms as well to make the idea of him being king more palatable, I felt it would have definitely been possible to install him as king, and being less related to royalty than other candidates didn't matter when I was planning to have his rule being divinely ordained. Feats of arms were only the icing of the cake in my plan.

I helped Ruby master her eyes early to counter Cinder, but it was going to serve another, grandeur purpose as well. It would be hard for any dissident to argue against a literal 'angel' granting divine right to rule and naming someone king.

Sir Medraut was a better candidate, on paper, but I didn't know if I could trust him, so I would keep him in mind as a plan B. With Jaune, I knew enough about his character to know he wouldn't use the atomic bomb, so I could trust a kingdom lead by him to use nuclear energy to power spaceships instead of turning Remnant into a nuclear wasteland. I didn't know if Sir Medraut would misuse the technology or not.

Plan C, formerly B, was to install Ruby herself as Goddess-queen of Vale. It would technically be the best option when considering it in a purely pratical mindset, since the claim of divine rule would be at its strongest, but I was reluctant to make Ruby suffer such a burden. The whole 'goddess' thing alone was already going to weigh on her shoulders more than I would have liked, but we could always make her public appearances, at least the ones to cement an angel being real and active, under an alias and a disguise, allowing her to keep a normal life outside of that. That wouldn't be possible if she was made queen.

Plan D, formerly C, was to have the 'angel' ordain me as king, a plan that I was as enthused about as I was with doing it to Ruby. That was my last option, only if all others were exhausted and I had given up finding someone else I could trust with the power of the atom. I hadn't forgotten the parabole of the sword of Damocles, and that wasn't how I wanted to live.

''Sir Gemini?'' Sir Medraut called out to me.

''Hn? Oh, sorry, I seem to have fallen deep in thought.'' I apologised. ''If you're going for feats of arms, then I assume you'll be wanting first place in the next Vytal Tournament?''

''That's right!'' He confirmed with enthusiasm. ''There's no better opportunity to put oneself in the public's eye.''

''I see… And you believe you have a chance, even with how strong the competition is going to be?'' I asked.

''Of course I do! I'm strong, and so are my teammates.'' Sir Medraut saud without hesitation. ''There's this first year team, who'll be second years by the time of the tournament, whom we expect a challenge from, but we're still expecting to win against them.''

''You forgot the invincible girl.'' Sir Asparain sighed. ''She's strong enough to beat any of us, despite that she'll only be a first year.''

''Ah, right. She'll be there too.'' Sir Medraut said, though he didn't look too worried about her. ''But I doubt she's strong enough to beat all four of us at the same time, and Haven Academy has been falling behind as of late, so it's likely the rest of her team won't be able to keep up against us.''

''So you're hoping to quickly dispatch her team to overwhelm her afterward.'' I myself had a similar idea. Although unlike them, I knew Pyrrha wouldn't go to Haven, but to Beacon. I also knew that there were going to be a bunch of crazy strong first years next year.

My exact plan as to how Pyrrha could be defeated in the Vytal tournament would have to wait until I see what team she'll be on. There was no guarantee that the canon teams would forms.

Of course, I wasn't going to take part in that tournament, being too young to be a student and having no silver eyes to get Ozpin to recruit me early, but to further my plans, either Ruby or Jaune being the winner would help by a lot.

But concerning Sir Medraut and his teammates… I hadn't seen any of them in the show, so that could mean a number of things. Maybe they lost offscreen, or maybe something had happened to them offscreen, or maybe this was some kind of alternate universes and they straight up didn't exist in the show's universe. I guess I would never know.

''More like we're hoping for her to catch a cold or something right before the tournament and be forced to not compete.'' Sir Asparain said, looking so enthusiastic at the idea of fighting Pyrrha.

''Don't be so negative, Sir Asparain.'' Sir Carmin's mother said as she approached us. ''We want Sir Medraut and the rest of you to be recognized as competant, not have people consider you the winners because the one they think is better than you happened to not be there. We're putting a lot of hope into you four, don't squander that.''

''… Yes, of course. My apologies, Dame Llyn.'' Sir Asparain said with a nod.

Dame Llyn nodded back, before giving me a stern look. ''… Sir Gemini, while Gains was… lacking in decorum, it is true that using Jacques' wealth and influence to force our hand is unacceptable. But while you might have forced us to knight you, and the title is yours now, we will not support you in whatever endeavor you will pursue. I must ask you to leave and never appear before us again.''

Yeah, I expected something like that.

What I didn't expect was what Sir Medraut said next.

''Actually, I'd like for Sir Gemini to be an ally of ours, for him to work with me.''

''What!?'' Everyone exclaimed, me included.

''Are you- Wait, no. What bought this on?'' I asked, tripping on my words a little.

Sir Medraut looked me in the eyes, grinning widely. ''Why not? I've got a good feeling about you.''

His teammates looked a little doubtful, although they still seemed like they were ready to follow his lead, but Gains looked like he wanted to yell about how I had no business here again, only keeping his mouth shut because we already went through that.

Dame Llyn, on her part, looked like she sucked on a lemon.

''Yes, yes, I know, Dame Llyn.'' Sir Medraut continued. ''But there's so few of us now, and this guy sought us out on his own. Surely, we should at least take this into consideration, since we need all the allies we can get.''

Dame Llyn sighed. ''I understand your logic, Sir Medraut, I really do. But this boy was raised in a family whose hands are raised against the kingdom of Vale, and he is now officially an atlesian citizen. What makes you believe he could hold our cause to heart? That he has any loyalty to our kingdom?''

''Nevertheless, I believe you might be misjudging him and that it would be wise to keep him in my contacts.'' Sir Medraut insisted. ''So? What do you say, Sir Gemini?''

''Hmm… Well, to be honest, I have a few others canditates in mind, and I am not yet convinced that I can trust you to be king. No offence meant, I simply do not know you enough. But I suppose I can add your name to my list and that it wouldn't hurt to keep contact.'' I answered.

''You have a list of candidates?'' Sir Medraut asked, surprised. ''Who could they be?''

''I'm afraid I'm going to keep that information to myself, at least for now.''

''Fair enough.'' Sir Medraut said. ''I'm glad you're at least open to work with us in the future. May I ask what objectives you're currently after?''

Well, he did share his own short-term ambition, so that was a fair thing to ask.

''I want to make society less dependent on dust, not much point in restauring the monarchy if we are going to go back to the stone age barely a few decades after.'' I admitted before smirking. ''Since Jacques has been so kind as to grant me access to the SDC's ressources, I plan to use those to hasten that objective.''

Sir Medraut returned my smirk at my words. ''I suppose I cannot deny that our reliance on a quickly disappearing ressource is quite the problem. While it is a shame that a foreign company will be the primary beneficiary of whatever you will bring to the table, I must admit that it is indeed better than completely losing the kingdom and returning to the stage of nomadic tribes.

''It can't be helped, what with Jacques imposing himself upon me, but I hope our future cooperation will be a fruitful one, Sir Medraut.'' I said.

''So do I, Sir Gemini, so do I.'' He said as we shook hands.

Being knighted turned out to have much more interesting opportunities than I had initially expected.

/-/

I parried the thug's sword, before kicking him in the nuts and profiting of the opening to strike him on the side of his head, knocking him out.

Then my aura took several bullets on my back, before the shooters where interrupted by Neo and Bakeneko. Unlike me, these two didn't hesitate to kill the gangsters.

Around thirty of these guys attacked me on our way back, right in the middle of the street.

Another thug, this one a woman, came at me, attempting to smash my skull with a mace. I dodge the blow and slipped behind her, before using my cane to strangle her. Of course, I wouldn't be able to strangle her properly without using my hands, but it allowed me to exert control over her, and I used that leverage to use her as human shield to block another salve of bullets.

Her aura cracked, before the last three bullets passed through and embedded themselves in her body. She wasn't going to live long.

As the ones who shot her down attempted to reload their guns, I lunged at them to attack in close combat. There, they were easily dispatched, even more so when Neo and Bakeneko joined in to finish them off. The last few attempted to run away, but Neo and the ninja accompanying us were merciless.

The threat having been taken care off, I took a deep breath.

''Anyone has any idea who these guys were?'' I said, hoping to distract my mind away from the dead bodies and the blood.

My sister approached the body of one of the few ones still alive, the ones I had disabled myself, and crouched next to it, looking over the neck of the gangster, where he had a triskelion tattoo.

''They're a gang controlled by the Vanille.'' Neo wrote in the air in front of me.

Jimmy and Carmel Vanille. I had asked about them after my talk with my father, but I dropped the subject because she didn't want to talk about it. But now…

''Sis, I think it's time I learn what's the deal with the Vanille, now that they're targeting me.''

My sister nodded, having a look of hesitation before the letters in the air shifted. ''They're my biological parents.''

I stared at the words folating in front of me, having not expected that. Neo was the daughter of a councilman? How did something like this not came up in canon? Or was I in some alternate world that was more different than I thought?

''I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is neither the time nor the place for what should be a very private family talk.'' Bakeneko said. ''We should go.''

His word was emphasized by the sound of police sirens approaching the scene of the fight. Neo and him quickly killed the survivors I had left, taking barely any time to stab their throats, before my big sis used her semblance to hide us from other's sight.

Distracted by trying to avoid looking at the corpses, I failed to consider what the look of grim determination on my sister's face could have meant.

In insight, if I had realised what she intended to do, I'd have tried to talk her out of it.

/-/

Later that night, Jimmy Vanille was fuming alone in the Vanille Estate's living room, sitting on his luxurious armchair.

This was unbelievable! Not only had that damned Jacques come in to save the brat, when they had him in the palm of their hands, but then the men his wife and he sent to murder him failed. Why was killing a mere child so hard?

And the worst part was that the Lords and Ladies of Vale had given up on framing Gemini, knowing the false accusations wouldn't stick in atlesian court and that continuing on that path would backfire on all of them.

But he wouldn't give up, as long as he lived, he would make sure to make Roman suffer the lost of his son, in retribution for the thief having taken his eldest daughter.

Suddenly, the lights of his home went out.

A power outage? Great, because the annoyance was just what he needed right now.

Then, he heard the room's window break, and saw a diminutive figure with a parasol standing in the dark as the wind blowed inside.

He could barely see anything, but he thought he could distinguish part of the figure's hair to be lighter than the other half. Was this who he thought it was?

''Neo?'' Was this really her? After all these years? Either way, he tensed, not believing she was going to be friendly. ''I don't suppose you've come back to become the good daughter you should have been?''

Neo remained still for a moment, before slowly walking towards her genitor.

She could have made him understand why exactly she was here for, that she was angry for the attempt on her little brother's life, but she couldn't speak and Jimmy wouldn't be able to read in the darkness. So she decided to not bother with the effort, and simply threw the brown bag she brought with her on his lap. It was heavy.

''What is this?'' He asked, trying to ignore the foreboding feeling forming in his stomach.

She merely waved her hand toward the bag, inviting him to open it.

He did so… and stared into the empty eyes of his wife's decapitated head.

''C- Carmel!?'' Gods, he was next, wasn't he? ''This was your own mo-''

He was cut off by Hush's blade slicing his throat open, and Neo turned around, leaving him to die as she set fire to the house. She didn't want to suffer hearing his last words.

Carmel Vanille wasn't her mother. Jimmy Vanille wasn't her father.

As far as she was concerned, Roman and Gemini were her only family.

/-/

Trivia Vanille woke up to the fire alarm, the twelve year old's mind immediately going into panic mode.

She stepped out of bed and grabbed Cherry, her newborn little brother that was crying in response to the alarm's sound. He was the cutest thing ever, with his tuff of pink hair, and it was her duty as his big sister to keep him safe.

With the 5 month old baby in her arms, she ran outside of their bedroom. She couldn't see the fire yet, but she could smell it, and see the smoke.

Holding her baby brother to her chest, she ran toward the closest exit out of the house, the flame quickly spreading and engulging her home.

But as she was coming close to saving their lives, she ended up in front of a girl she didn't recognise.

''W- Who are you? What are you doing here?'' Trivia asked.

The stranger didn't answer, and merely took a step toward her.

Trivia took a step back, quivering in fear as the flames licked the walls around them.

Then, her eyes widened in horror as she saw a blade come out of the stranger's parasol.

She turned around in an attempt to flee, but Neo was so much faster than a mere child. Trivia could only take a few steps before Neo was upon her and slashed her heels.

''AH!'' The girl screamed in pain as she fell to the ground and dropped the baby, who cried from the painful landing.

With her clipped heels, she couldn't hope to escape anymore and could only watch and cry as the stranger walked around her to stand next to Cherry.

''Not him, please spare him. He's just a baby.'' Trivia begged in tears. What had they done to deserve this?

Neo, her face cold and unmoving, stared at the injured girl in front of her, before raising a leg and stomping on Cherry's head, crushing his skull with her high-heels.

The sight broke Trivia, but whatever she might have said next, she would never have the opportunity to say it, as Hush pierced through her eye and reached the brain, silencing her forever.

Neo murdered the children because her objective was to completely and utterly end the Vanille's line, but she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the act of killing, an act she so rarely got to indulge in. Killing Grimm just didn't do it.

And now, Neo was the last individual on Remnant carrying the blood of Jimmy and Carmel Vanille. While she wasn't planning to die anytime soon, she certainly intended to die childless.

That way, nothing of the Vanille will be left.

/-/

''Glad to see you, twerp.'' Mrs Rocket said. ''I have great news for you.''

''It's Sir twerp for you, Mrs Rocket.'' I corrected her, which caused her and her husband to laugh.

''Glad to see you, Sir twerp.'' She said.

I nodded. ''Better, what's the news?''

''The accusations levied against you have been retracted. You are officially innocent of the charges of-'' Mr Rocket took a deep breath. ''-high treason, terrorism, conspiracy, arms trafficking, drug distribution, sexual assault, homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, tax evasion, arson, child porn possession, bribery, money laundering, kidnapping, insurance fraud, burglary, pyramid scheme, extortion, stalking, statutory rape, disorderly conduct, embezzlement, identity theft, vandalism, indecent exposure, wire fraud, drunk driving, perjury, credit card fraud, public intoxication, shoplifting, harassment… did I forget one?''

''Yes, you forgot littering.'' Mrs Rocket said.

''Right, and littering. Systemic corruption saves the day once again!'' Mr Rocket declared, referring to how my court case, if it had happened, would have turned into a contest of who could bribe the judge and jury the most. Which was Jacques. It was always going to be Jacques. There was a reason why his personal lawyers were so unabashedly open about the corruption they partook in.

… Jesus Christ! They really tried to pin every single possible crime under the Sun on my ass.

They could have at least tried to make it seems credible. That was even less subtle than the most corrupt politicians on Earth were about their own bullshit.

''… Anything else?'' I asked.

''Yes, the valean oligarchs have also decided to offer you money in exchange for your silence.'' Mr Rocket said.

''They're bribing me?'' I asked, raising an eyebrow.

''They called it 'settling out of court'.'' Mrs Rocket snorted. ''But yes, bribing. It's a pretty considerable sum too.''

Well, trying to retaliate against them would have had negative consequences on me too. That would have forced all sides to go scorched earth on each other, a situation where nobody won and everyone lost. So, since I wouldn't have done that anyway, thanks for the free cash?

''We depart for Atlas tomorrow, I hope you're ready.'' She continued

I nodded.

I was more than ready, I had prepared something that would send Jacques over the moon.

---

So… Yeah, the scene where Neo murder her biological family, including the two kids. That's the scene I suspect may be too much for a T-rated story.

I hope nobody forgot that despite being Gemini's family, Roman and Neo are very much villains. And as such, are capable of committing pretty evil acts. If you did, you can consider this to be a colorful reminder.

And now, there were several OC introduced there. First, Jacques' lawyers. My first plans were going to be of making them silly one off characters that would appear only once in the story to get Gemini out of the oligarch's hands and deliver him into Jacques'. I wanted them to openly flaunt being corrupt to show they could get away with literally shouting on top of every roof that they cheated and bribed their way to victory. That's how much Lien they have to fund their victories in court. Both Jessie and James have been genderbent because they crossdressed a lot in the anime and every character in RWBY that's based on a character that crossdressed is the opposite gender of the original character.

I didn't originally plan to base them on Team Rocket, but I was struggling with their names and design so to avoid wasting precious time, I just went for it. 'Bakeneko' was going to be introduced next chapter, but I used the opportunity of needing a a cat to complete the 'Team Rocket' lawyer group, so I had the ninja pretend to be part of the lawyer team as an added opportunity to introduce him earlier.

Proper introduction of the ninja will still come next chapter, though.

And now, the knights of the Vale. Where the oligarchs represents the dark side of nobility, the morally bankrupt monsters that grabs power no matter what and thrives when the king is either evil himself or absent, the knights introduced in this chapter represents the positive side of the nobility. The side that cannot and never thrives without a righteous king in charge.

They are all based on arthurian characters.

Nimue Patch: Lady of the lake. Not much of a rôle, only common point with the lady of the lake is that she's the one who give the sword that symbolise the status of knight to Gemini, similar to how the lady of the lake is the one who give Excalibur (Excalibur: ''Yes?'' / No, not you) to Arthur.

Gale Troyes: Galehaut, the half giant knight who used to be an enemy of Arthur, but switched side to Arthur's when he saw Lancelot and immediately fell for him. This isn't a modern interpretation either, medieval people back then were already 'yeah, Galehaut is totally gay for Lancelot'.

Hence, Llyn Troyes: Lancelot of the lake. I was going to make him and Gale a gay couple, based on Galehaut's infatuation for him, but then I remembered the story of Lancelot disguising himself as a woman and beating up a bunch of knights while wearing a dress, and well, he thus got the team JNPR treatment of rule 63. It does make the next character easier to put in the story, since, last I checked, two men making a baby was a kinda difficult affair.

Carmin Troyes: Galahad, Lancelot's son. Carmin is a shade of red, based on the color of Galahad's coat of arms. Gala had (I'm a comedic genius, now laugh) two swords, one called Sword with the Red Hilt, and the Sword of the Strange Hangings. So I gave him two swords with red hilts, one called Floating and the other called Hanging (but that's for when Beacon starts.)

Gains Boro: Gawain. Yeah, it turns out that Gawain's strength rising and waning with the Sun is a thing in the actual arthurian legends. I thought that was something Fate came up with. Gainsboro is a shade of light gray. It didn't come up in the fic, but I named his gravity gauntlet Gringolet, the name of Gawain's horse.

Asparain Boro: Agravain. A mix of Asparagus and Agravain. Asparagus is a desaturated dark green. He didn't seems to have much of a characteristic in the legends beyong becoming progressively more of a caricature of evil as the centuries passed, so I just made him a bit pessimistic and gave him a semblance that makes a singular targets temporarily hate him, he can basically aggro anyone. Again, didn't have an opportunity to make it come up here, probably gonna be used in the Vytal tournament.

Thistle Ironedge: Tristan. Thistle is a grayish magenta. Tristan was apparently said to be a good musician, so his weapon is a lute. Why not? This is RWBY, if a thermos or a suitcase can be weapons…

Medraut: Unfortunately, these characters are based on the original arthurian legends, not on their Fate iterations. That means he's male, so no Moedred. Every day without Moedred is a sad day. So yeah, Mordred. Just because he was a bad guy in the original legends doesn't means the character based on him is evil too. Last I checked, Belle didn't have a terrorist background. And Goldilocks… Actually, now that I think about it, barging in a complete stranger's house and going through their stuff while they're not here is kinda something I can see Yang doing.

… Anyway, just like original Mordred, Medraut's ambition is to become king. And just like og Mordred, Medraut can be considered a traitor. But he's a traitor in the sense that he betrayed the Orkney family… by having decent morals? Hey, betraying good guys is something someone evil would do, so someone who would betray bad guys could be good, right?

I'm sorry for introducing so many ocs. But I swear that when canon will start, the focus will center on the canon characters. All ocs that appeared so far are either secondary or tiertary characters or an antagonist.

Next chapter, chapter 16, will be called 'Dating Sim: Tsundere route'.

Chapter 16 is Gemini in Atlas. Then 17 is back to Vale, hopefully, then chapter 18 is the one that kickoff the first major arc of the story.

C'mon, we're getting so close, I can smell it.

Ilia: ''Boss, I'm done.''

Gah! Ilia, where were you?

Ilia: ''What do you mean, 'where was I'? I was trying to fix the holes in the 'The Hood & The Hoodlums', like you told me to.''

Oh, right. Well, good job! Now I need you to find a ship name for GeminixWeiss.

Ilia: ''Absolutely not! If you're going to write about Gemini and Weiss smooching faces, I'm out. I'm not reading about a Schnee living a love story.''

If I didn't know better, I'd almost suspect you don't like the Schnee.

Ilia: ''I don't like them. Any story that contains a happy Schnee is a bad story.''

Uh, that's weird. I can't imagine why you'd dislike them so.

Anyway, see ya all next time. Again, do you think I've pushed the rating into M territory?

Oh, and yes, Jacques lied to Gemini when he said the marriage was needed to be able to save him. Hid the information that he already had Atlesian citizenship.