Author's Note:
I do not own Library of Ruina or RWBY. These series belong to Project Moon and RoosterTeeth respectively.
I am here with Chapter 11. For some reason, I literally had no motivation to write this chapter at all when I finished Chapter 10, I don't know why. It was either burnout or that I was losing interest in the story, but watching the latest episodes of RWBY made me a bit more motivated to continue. Spring break started so it gave me a lot of time to get the chapter posted and think more about what is coming next. Anyways, enjoy the chapter.
Reviews:
VGBlackwing - If the Librarians did die, I'm pretty sure that they would turn into pages and return back to the Library. The Light works in mysterious ways that I literally have no information about, so I'll pull the "Imma wing it" card and say that the Light can resurrect them.
Orchidbunny - I do have a Discord but don't have anyone to write Binah's text for me. If anything, I'm probably gonna just spend some time on Binah's fandom page and read her stuff all over again. Moving on, regarding Angelina, my headcanon is that the Asiyah floors don't know what Angelica looked like as they didn't do Roland's realizations. During his reception, I made it so that the entire Library fought against Roland starting from the Lower Floors going up; Yesod would've lost to either to the first phase or the second, not getting a chance to see Angelica in the third phase.
holygamer123 - I am considering which and how the Abnormalities would breach the Library. but yes, I do believe that they would get out.
Mesuen - After looking into it and getting another review, I didn't realize that ice cream was mentioned in the Artbook of all things. It was a tiny comment by one of the Devs that mentioned ice cream once. With your review in regard, I changed the story to include ice cream in the City. If you go back to Chapter 10, you'll see what I changed. Every Librarian would know ice cream except for Tiphereth because she lived in the Outskirts, then the Old Lab of Lobotomy Corp.
basov818 - Thanks for pointing out the ice cream comment. One tiny comment from the Devs literally changed a section of the story. Anyways, thanks for the good luck, hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
–EMERALD FOREST–
While Malkuth and Tiphereth were out with Team RWBY, Roland and Yesod made their way back to the Library. They had landed roughly half an hour away from the tower so that their pilot wouldn't see the Library if they chose to land near it.
Speaking of the pilot, the black fixer couldn't get her face out of his head. As he walked alongside his purple associate, he thought about how eerily similar the pilot was to her. Right down to the hair, facial features, the way she speaks, and even her name; it made him think about Angelica.
He had accepted Angelica's death and crushed any hope of seeing her again. But, when he saw Angelina, a spark of hope ignited within him. It was a brief moment of happiness when he saw the love of his life again, however, a conflict arose within his mind. As he recalled the woman, he couldn't help but feel a sense of longing and sadness wash over him. But as quickly as the emotions came, he pushed them away. He didn't want to deal with the pain of his wife's death or the possibility of seeing someone who looked like her.
'She's not her,' Roland thought solemnly. 'She's dead.' He knew that Angelina was her own person, unfamiliar with the City, and unlikely to know him. Memories of his wife flooded his mind; he thought about the way she laughed and the sound of her voice. As he continued to reminisce about his wife, he couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness inside.
On the outside, the purple librarian was watching the black fixer with a concerned, yet analytical gaze. Even before Malkuth messaged him, he had been keeping a watchful eye on Roland. Yesod had already noticed how different Roland was acting; it was like he was just walking to walk, with no sort of awareness at all. As a little experiment, the purple man tried to talk to him, but as expected, Roland didn't hear a word, preoccupied with thoughts of the woman resembling his deceased wife.
Yesod knew that Roland went through a tragic life; he heard about it through the Briah floor librarians when they had to fight Roland's resonation with the Library and witnessed it for himself during the aptly named "Reception of the Black Silence." The purple librarian shuddered at the memory of Roland's monstrous, distorted form, which embodied his nihilistic and cynical view of the City, manifesting as all the horrors the City had to offer. However, Yesod pushed these thoughts aside as they arrived at the Library.
—PATRON BREAK ROOM, THE LIBRARY—
Once the pair of librarians entered the tower, they were immediately transported into a different room than the Library's entrance. While Yesod remained indifferent to the teleport, Roland kept a distant look on his face. The black fixer was still thinking about that pilot even if he didn't want to; it caused him to not even notice that the room changed. Looking around, Yesod noticed that this room was their break room.
He primarily noticed Hod and Netzach playing a board game that the purple librarian recognized as a game that the Assistant Librarians played once. Chesed and Binah were sitting down at a table drinking their respective beverages as BongBong and Dakota sat near them watching their two bosses glare daggers at each other. To be honest, he wasn't surprised to see the blue-haired librarian assistant here. Moving on, he remembered that Angela and Hokma were discussing the intricacies of her E.G.O. to understand how the Light would work because he saw Hokma focusing on comparing the remaining Key Pages to assess the effects of the Light on their "equipment." However, Yesod's thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling out to them.
"Roland, Yesod," Angela said. The other Librarians noticed them and greeted their return. Most of them came to sit down on the couches near the two. After telling the two of them that they allied with Remnant to face this "evil entity," all of them asked questions at the same time. Questions like: "What kind of people are there?", "How is the food?", "BongBongBong?", and "How was Beacon?"
Angela quickly shut them down as there were too many questions. She summarized all their questions into a single one: "What kind of information did you two find?"
This was the plan from the beginning - an exchange of information. Roland and the other half of the Patrons would get information about Beacon and Remnant, and the other half here at the Library would try to fix their Light situation and plan their next moves. Thankfully, they would get support from Beacon as mentioned by its Headmaster, Ozpin. Although they wouldn't expect much help in regard to their Light, it was reassuring that they had someone to watch their backs in the new world. So, the only problems the Library had currently were replenishing the Light and preventing the Abnormalities from escaping.
Noting Roland's continued silence, Yesod spoke up first. "Beacon was, as expected, a school for future Huntsmen to train at," he said, pulling out his scroll and expanding it to full size, presenting various images of Beacon's structures and layout. The other Patrons looked on with curiosity and intrigue, remembering that the red little girl had used a similar device before. "To put it plainly, based on what we saw at the academy," Yesod continued as the next image he showed was the CCT Tower at Beacon, "we have learned a lot."
The sharp-tongued librarian explained that Remnant was capable of the "dustnet." Back in the City, the only thing similar to the dustnet were computers that connected to a modem with wires. Sure, they were able to store information and send it to another computer if they were connected, but they couldn't just send that data from one district to another. However, Remnant had made it possible using the CCT Towers, allowing for instantaneous multimedia communication wirelessly over long distances.
Later on, Yesod would explain Remnant's vehicles. There were similar vehicles like cars and ships that were rare in the City, but the other vehicle type surprised all the other Patrons except Binah who had an amused expression. Yesod had personally researched the different types of aircraft from all four kingdoms, and the City had yet to develop any type of aircraft like those found in Remnant. Additionally, Yesod mentioned how quiet the ride is apparently, it was still oddly strange how giant engines were capable of being silent. To the others, it was rather unsettling to hear that people rode in a giant metal machine that could fly through the air.
Yesod later revealed the Burn Dust crystal that he took from Roland and left it on the small coffee table for the other Patrons to examine. Since Team RWBY's Dust was already turned into bullets, they had no idea what the actual crystal would look like. Now that Yesod had brought one, it was the first time they had seen a crystal so vibrantly red.
"Ooh~, what a very beautiful crystal," The Patron of Social Science commented as he picked up the Dust to inspect it. As a highly-regarded member of society from the City, the blue librarian has somewhat of a meticulous eye for detail. "The color is fascinating~. Its vivid red seems to change slightly when held at different angles. And the way it catches the light… it almost seems to glow from within. There's a certain heat emanating from it that I can feel." Chesed turned to his purple colleague with a curious expression. "What kind of Dust crystal is this?"
"Burn," Yesod answered as he pulled up more information about the Dust.
Seeing the information, Chesed returned the Dust to the table, and the discussion turned to a comparison between Dust crystals and their own Enkephalin. The brown librarian even gently poked the Dust, confirming how slightly warm it was, but was embarrassed by her own impulsiveness when they saw her touch the crystal.
Wanting to move on, the old librarian asked a question, "Since Beacon is a huntsmen academy, what is the curriculum of the school?" He was curious considering that in his first life, he was offered to become a scholar but instead chose to work with his trusted friend.
"The students undergo a standard curriculum similar to the ones in the City," Yesod answered. "It's very much the same except for all the fighting." The purple librarian didn't get to see any of the combat classes, nor did he want to see any bit of the training; it was more productive for him to research more about Remnant. Yesod glanced toward Roland; if anything, the only other person here that attended those training classes was the black fixer himself. "Roland, what were the combat classes like?" He tried to get the man to straighten up after his deal with the pilot.
Said person was staring blankly into the group, wandering his eyes around like he was trying to get something off his mind. Upon seeing everyone looking at him, he realized that they needed something from him.
Roland blankly hummed before putting a hand behind his head. "I wasn't paying attention, what'd you need?"
Everyone except Yesod dismissed it as Roland thinking about something else. Still, another person raised an eyebrow at the black fixer's words as she knew that he just put on a metaphorical mask right then and there, but she held her mechanical tongue.
Yesod sighed, "I asked about the combat classes at Beacon."
"Oh yeah," Roland replied as he recalled the first combat class he spectated. "The classes were just one-on-one duels between the first and second years. It's weird that we didn't see any third or fourth years, but anyways… I don't know why people training to fight Grimm are fighting each other, but if I had to compare them to Fixers, most of them would be around Grade 5 or 6, give or take."
"'Most of them' you say? Was there anyone worth noting?" Angela asked curiously.
"Yeah, those four girls are apparently one of the best first-year teams alongside a sister team of theirs," Roland explained before recalling something. "Now that I mentioned that, Gebura fought that blonde girl and won." To the others, it was a surprise; Gebura, their legendary colored fixer, was beating up students?
"Hmm~, Gebura didn't maim her, did she?" Chesed concernedly asked.
"Nah, her Aura protected her, although Yang is a bit of a sore loser," Roland jeered. However, he recalled the other students, especially Team CFVY. "Also, we found out that we have Aura." Another bit of information surprised the others.
"We have Aura?" Netzach repeated.
Angela was about to speak, but someone cut her off. "How did you come to find this out?" The Patron Librarian of Religion spoke first.
"A blind kid from one of the second-year teams could see Aura, and told us that he could see others by doing that," Roland explained.
This revelation left the others in silence. Sure, they mulled over the topic of Aura and the soul before, but now that it was confirmed that the Librarians did have Aura, what did that mean now? Did their souls from their original lives carry over? Or were they a different soul than their originals? None of them had an answer, nor did they want to know. The silence would be broken by someone speaking.
"What does it mean for me?" Everyone turned to see that it was Angela who spoke. Upon seeing their faces, she continued, "How can a machine like me, have a soul?" They confirmed that Roland and the other Librarians had Aura, but Angela was a different case. If they wanted to know for sure, they would need to have Fox sense her soul, but they didn't want to expose themselves to more people.
After a few seconds of pondering before the old librarian spoke. "I do not know Angela," Hokma responded much to the disappointment of the pale librarian. "It is often said that the state of our soul reflects the state of ourselves. The soul makes up who you are as a person: your experiences, your opinions, and your emotions. You have desires no machine should have, yet your journey has led you here. It is up to you to believe in whatever you choose to believe in."
"Very helpful old man," Roland quietly intoned. No one but the robotic librarian had heard him, but she dismissed it.
The Librarian Director solemnly looked toward the ceiling, thinking about what the religious patron said. If she was able to think for herself, without the vices of Carmen's control, then she would believe herself to be free. "Human or not," she said as she lowered her head to face the man who helped create her, "I am my own person. I will dictate my own path."
Everyone held a smile at their resident A.I.'s words. Most of the Librarians were happy that Angela found something to believe in, while some of them like Hokma and Binah would enjoy the path Angela had taken and continue to see where she would go.
—30 MINUTES LATER—
Since then, the Librarians caught up with Roland and Yesod on their adventure to Beacon and Vale. Apparently, the discussion about the City of Vale intrigued the rest of them. Although they'd only been to the city once, it was a unanimous decision that Vale was better than the City. The food was better and the people didn't kill each other as much, was there much else to say? The only thing left for them to do was explore the rest of Remnant; it was pretty exciting to travel the wilderness as there wasn't much nature to be found in the City other than the occasional forest. The idea that a forest was forever red made them want to get out of the Library, yet they had more important things to do.
Such important things were what to do with the Light and how the Library fits into Remnant. For the former, all they had to do was wait, albeit slowly, for the Light to recharge. They had no other choice; sending out Invitations was a bust since there was no Light in Remnant and they didn't have the L Corp. Singularity.
Right now, they were discussing the latter problem: what were they to Remnant? In simple terms, they were outsiders, they weren't even supposed to be here. They held knowledge outside of Remnant's own and technically since the Abnormalities in their books were a mix of the original entities and the employees of Lobotomy Corp., and if the Librarians were able to exit the Library, then it meant that the escaped Abnormalities could potentially leave the Library.
Seeing their confused faces at the fact that they casually said that the Abnormalities were outside their books, Chesed started to explain, "After you five left the Library, the Abnormalities inside the books also left~. Quite the coincidence nonetheless."
"Wait, you're telling me those things are roaming the Library?" Roland squawked.
"Yes, that's why I transported you two here immediately," Angela plainly responded. "But most of them have been contained."
The black fixer facepalmed, "So wait, who's out right now?"
"That depends~," Chesed chimed in. "Which group are you referring to?" Roland and Yesod shared a confused look at the coffee addict's words.
"'Group?'" Yesod questioned.
The Patron of Religion stepped up to explain. "When the Abnormalities escaped, their behaviors differed between each entity, so it made sense to split them up into two groups: Neutral and Hostile," Hokma responded as he began to explain what the groups meant and how imperative it was to contain the latter. Throughout his explanation, Roland kept muttering how they were only gone for 5-ish days, and yet the Library keeps finding new ways to destroy itself.
Now that the two librarians were caught up, Angela took a second to search through the Library. "Regarding the Abnormalities who are outside their books for the time being, there's Nosferatu, All-Round Helper, Fairy Festival, Knight of Despair, and the three birds."
Roland shivered at the last mention. "Those three?" He didn't like any of the birds, they just creeped him out. It also didn't comfort him that he turned into a combination of the three during his little breakdown on Binah's floor.
"I would not worry about those three," Binah calmly smiled before turning that smile into a devious grin. "They are quite easy to pacify than one may think." The rest of them did not know how or what she did to the birds, but they didn't want to and kinda felt bad for them.
Not wanting to respond to the Arbiter's words, the pale librarian continued, "As for the others mentioned, they are simply hiding away on their respective floors, wandering the bookshelves of the Library." They would get the escaped Abnormalities back into their books, but they weren't that much of a big deal right now. Especially with their favorite black fixer back at the Library, it would be safer to take the Abnormalities back since they would have someone other than Binah to protect them. But for right now, it was a great time to relax and talk after a chaotic week of being in a new world.
"What were the other girls doing Mr. Roland," the brown librarian wondered.
Roland thought about it and shrugged, "I dunno."
—IN THE AIR—
When Malkuth and Tiphereth enjoyed their time in Vale, Gebura was busy babysitting. Currently, Gebura and Team JNPR were aboard a bullhead heading back to Beacon. Among the students, three appeared downcast while the fourth grinned gleefully, licking resin off her face. Although the mission to exterminate the Grimm at Forever Fall Forest had been successful, something had happened that irritated the red fixer.
—TWO HOURS EARLIER—
"Oi," Gebura shouted. "Get over here, there's another one right over there." She nodded toward the last remaining black bear, which was attempting to flee after its brethren had been dispatched by the team of five. This Ursa was larger and more terrifying than the Major they had encountered during the school's field trip. Its bony exoskeleton was covered in sharp, jagged spikes, making it a formidable opponent. Despite its size and strength, the creature was attempting to flee.
Nora saluted. "You got it, General!" She exclaimed before racing off toward the Grimm. The other team members struggled to keep up with her as they made their way through the opening in the red forest.
Gebura couldn't help but sigh inwardly. The first few hours of the mission had been manageable, with just a few dozen Ursai and Beowolves to contend with. However, the enormity of the never-ending red forest had taken its toll. By now, she estimated that they had killed hundreds of Grimm. To make matters worse, Nora kept referring to her as "General" while calling herself "Queen" and Ren "King." As the team battled against the Ursa Major, Gebura analyzed their combat skills, realizing that she was stuck with them for the foreseeable future.
The person that didn't need the most help was the red-haired girl of the team. Since she skimmed over her document, Gebura came to learn that Pyrrha graduated top of her class at a pre-huntsmen school, Sanctum Academy, and won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row. The girl used a combination of a javelin-rifle-sword hybrid and a shield with expertise; it was like the weapon and shield were a part of her. Considering her Semblance, it really did seem like she was an "Invincible Girl," but the red fixer knew that nothing is unbeatable. Despite her youth, Pyrrha's achievements impressed the red fixer, who also observed a bad habit in her fighting style: she was extremely protective of her teammates. That being that she was extremely protective of her teammates. It wasn't a bad thing per se, but she puts herself in front of her teammates before herself. If either one of her teammates gets hit, she would immediately rush over to their side to help them, blocking and taking more hits than them. Pyrrha would need to learn that her teammates could take care of themselves.
Speaking of teammates needing help, Gebura was reminded of how incompetent the leader of the team was. According to Goodwitch's assessment, he possessed a tactical mind, but Gebura couldn't see any evidence of it. In fact, the blonde boy's overconfidence led to a dangerous situation where he was surrounded by three Beowolves. Despite his efforts to fend them off with his shield and sword, he was eventually overwhelmed. It was only with the help of his teammates that he managed to escape. Overall, Gebura's assessment of the kid was slowly improving. It was clear that he was getting stronger and more skillful due to his training with Pyrrha, but he was still inexperienced compared to his peers. With further training and the unlocking of his Semblance, there was potential for him to become a strong huntsman, but for now, Gebura felt that he needed to work on being more cautious and strategic in battle.
Gebura turned her attention to the quietest member of the team. Although he rarely spoke, she had gathered that he was a composed and level-headed individual. Ren's weapons were dual machine pistols with vertical sickle blades attached to them, which he wielded with deadly precision alongside his martial arts skills and Semblance that rendered him invisible to the Grimm. Despite having the best Aura control out of his peers, Ren had poor endurance and stamina. After taking down three dozen Grimm, Gebura noticed he was constantly sweating and needed frequent breaks.
Gebura's thoughts then turned to the last member of the student team, Nora. She sighed as she contemplated the ginger-haired girl's unpredictable nature. Nora had a tendency to wreak havoc, causing destruction to anything in her path, including trees and Grimm. Gebura couldn't fathom how her teammates put up with her behavior. It was rumored that Nora even rode an Ursa during their initiation, which left the red fixer feeling incredulous, but she saw for herself when the ginger-haired girl attempted to do the same again during this mission. Nora's grenade launcher/war hammer combination was something that the red fixer hadn't seen before, but she gave up as the weapon matched its user well. Other than her 'explosive' personality, it was clear that Nora was the destructive powerhouse that carried her team through strength.
Despite their individual strengths, it was evident that this first-year team had a strong synergy. The girl with the hammer and the quiet kid worked together seamlessly, covering each other's weaknesses and providing mutual support. While she created distractions and wreaked havoc, he took care of any remaining Grimm. Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha employed bait-and-switch tactics, with the blond boy using his shield to lure in the enemy and the skilled warrior girl landing blows before they swapped positions. Together as a team, they were a formidable force with well-coordinated strategies. The blonde kid understood his teammates' limits very well and coordinated attacks together like they were one.
Jaune and Pyrrha teamed up to block an overhead swipe from the elder Grimm, giving Nora an opening to smash her hammer into its hind leg. The ginger-haired girl retreated behind her team to recover, giggling with joy after successfully crippling the Grimm.
"Ren! Eyes!" Jaune commanded. Ren activated his Semblance, becoming invisible to the Grimm. Seeing the Grimm confused, Ren steadied his weapon and aimed at its armored faceplate. With two beady red eyes searching for the missing human, Ren pulled the trigger on both weapons. Two shots echoed through the forest, causing the Ursa to recoil back in pain. The Grimm covered both eyes with an arm and swung the other wildly to prevent any further attacks.
As the Ursa thrashed blindly, Nora saw an opening and jumped back into the fray, declaring, "This one's mine!" But the Grimm heard her and began to thrash violently, causing the ground to crack and shift beneath them. Nora fell backward, and the rest of the team had to back up to avoid the unstable terrain. The shaking was so intense that it caused some of the trees to topple over.
Dodging a fissure, Pyrrha stuttered, "This is getting–"
"Bumpy!" Jaune finished her sentence, also dodging the cracks in the ground. But as they looked back at the Ursa, they saw it getting closer to the downed Nora. With the Grimm wildly destroying everything around it, a random swipe was about to hit Nora. Jaune and Pyrrha were too far away to help, so Jaune yelled, "Ren!"
Without any hesitation, the black-haired member of the team jumped in between Nora and the Ursa. The wild swing from the Ursa was blocked by two machine pistols and was holding back the weight of the massive Grimm.
"Ugh!" Ren grunted. He used a lot of Aura to block the attack, bringing his Aura meter to a little under half. The Grimm had noticed its attack had been blocked so it focused most of its attention on Ren and continued to push down into the boy. "A little help please!" He called out.
Pyrrha shifted Miló into its rifle form and began to shoot the Ursa. Unfortunately, the hard armor plating of the Grimm deflected most of the bullets. Jaune picked up a rock created by the Ursa's rampage and hurled it at the creature's face, but it shattered harmlessly. Jaune realized that their attacks weren't working and panicked.
'Crap! What are we gonna do? Nora and Ren are pinned down; Pyrrha and I are too far.' The blonde leader needed to think of something before his teammates got killed. If only they had something bigger to knock it off. Wait a second... In an instant, he scanned the surroundings to find something. After a glance, he spotted his target. 'That's it!'
At this point, Gebura opted to kill it herself. For one, she was supposed to look after them, and considering that the black-haired kid was going to get hurt or die, it wouldn't look good for the Librarians. Secondly, it was the last Grimm for today so killing it would get them home faster. But before she could take action, the blonde team leader took off at a sprint toward the forest, determined to execute his plan.
With confusion from Gebura and his partner, Jaune rushed towards a decently sized tree and sliced the top half off where the trunk split off into branches. He smiled when his strength training with Pyrrha was paying off. When the tree was cleanly cut in half, Jaune clutched his sword with an underhanded grip. If he remembered correctly, his partner's Semblance was Polarity. In one swift motion, he pulled his weapon back and stabbed it into the tree. Splinters and debris flew off the bark as Crocea Mors was implanted into the tree, it looked like it would be stuck and would take difficulty to remove it. The blonde boy turned to his partner and yelled, "Pyrrha! Use the tree!"
Pyrrha initially looked puzzled, but soon understood what Jaune had in mind. She activated her Semblance, causing her hand to glow black. The sword embedded in the tree also started to glow black. Pyrrha summoned all her strength and used her Aura to lift the sword and the entire tree. As she pulled, the ground gave way, and the tree began to float.
With a rotation of her hands, Pyrrha maneuvered the tree to face the Ursa Major, which was still attacking Ren and Nora. Panting, she then launched the tree forward with tremendous force. The tree slammed into the Grimm's face, sending leaves and twigs flying as the monster was propelled through the air with the tree still attached.
The Ursa Major crashed into a nearby tree, causing a massive impact that shook the ground. Jaune and Pyrrha watched in satisfaction as the Grimm struggled to stand up, visibly dazed from the attack. Ren and Nora took advantage of the moment and retreated back behind their other teammates.
With the team reunited, Gebura stepped back and chuckled, "What the hell was that? You'd never see shit like that back in the City." Her laughter died down as she watched the students charge toward the disoriented Grimm.
Due to the Grimm's blinded state, it was an easy kill for the four huntsmen-in-training. With a coordinated effort, the four students attacked the Ursa from all sides, unleashing a flurry of blows and strikes that slowly but surely weakened the beast. Jaune charged forward with his sword and shield, grabbing the attention of the Grimm away from his teammates. Meanwhile, Pyrrha launched her weapon, sending a spear into its neck that made it falter. Ren moved in and jumped on the Grimm's neck, his twin pistols flashing as he fired shot after shot into the Ursa's head. Finally, Ren jumped off as Nora charged up a swing of her hammer and let it loose. A loud crunch was heard as the Grimm let out a final, deafening roar before collapsing to the ground, defeated.
Jaune let out a breath, "Phew. That was exhausting." He collapsed his shield and sheathed Crocea Mors back into the shield.
His partner also put away her weapon and walked up to him with a joyful expression on her face. "Jaune! How did you come up with that plan?" He raised both hands to block her oncoming approach, but she grasped both of them and placed them together with her hand over them. Jaune blushed slightly as Pyrrha was unintentionally holding his hand. However, she noticed what she was doing and removed herself from him instantly.
"Uhmm," he sheepishly said before explaining. "I uh–, saw that some of the trees fell, so I thought that we could use your Semblance if there was a tree that was close to falling over." Jaune scratched the back of his head as if it wasn't a good plan. However, someone jumped on his back, riding him like a mount. Due to the sudden change in his balance, Jaune fell over.
"Well, I think it was an amazing plan," Nora claimed. "You came up with an idea to save me and Ren. You definitely have what it takes to be our fearless leader!" She finished her thought as she got off of him. Before the blonde leader could get up, a hand extended in front of his face. Looking up, he saw that it was Ren's hand.
Ren's face showed a genuine smile as he confirmed his partner's claim, "I agree with Nora, that was some plan." Smiling, Jaune grasped the black-haired boy's hand and was pulled up. They looked at each other before another set of hands pulled them together in a hug. It was Nora who had put the three of them into a group hug with Pyrrha later joining in as they all cheered their first mission's success.
A slow clapping was heard behind Team JNPR. They broke away and turned around to see that it was the red librarian slowly congratulating them. "That's nice and all kids, but I'd rather not celebrate a victory in this forest anymore," she complained. She pointed back to the arriving bullhead that she called earlier when they were fighting. "Let's get outta here."
–PRESENT–
–DOCKS, BEACON ACADEMY–
The mission went fine as she thought, but it's just that Nora somehow got a hold of some sap from the trees again and ate them. Gebura didn't mind that, sometimes she got hungry too after a hard mission's work, but Nora did after is what bothered the red fixer. The ginger-haired girl jumped on Gebura under the pretense that the red fixer looked like she wanted to be a part of the hug as well. That was fine, up until Gebura remembered that the ginger-haired girl was a sloppy eater. She removed Nora from her, only to find out that the sap on Nora's face was smeared into Gebura's clothes.
Feeling the sticky substance through her clothes, she just wanted to get to her room and shower. Gebura mentally sighed when she looked back at their faces again. The same downcasted embarrassment at their teammate's actions that overshadowed the success of their first mission. Nora, on the other hand, was enjoying herself as she continued to lick the sap off her face. When the bullhead had landed, the team and Gebura gathered their belongings and exited the aircraft.
Once they reached the solid ground of the landing bay, Gebura shooed the first-year team away as she was done with them for today. The students once again apologized for Nora's accident and ran off before Nora could annoy the red fixer again. Once again did Gebura sigh as she took out her last cigarette and a lighter, placing the cigar in her mouth before lighting it. She put away the lighter and looked at the sky, darkening as night fell over the light. The bright orange glow of the sun was fading away, replaced by the dusk of night. Meanwhile, the sight of the shattered moon was emerging on the horizon.
Unpocketing her scroll, she saw that the time was just about to turn to 7:28 P.M. Before Gebura could turn off the device, she felt the scroll vibrate. Upon looking at the screen, she saw that she got a text message from Malkuth.
[Malkuth: Hey! Are you back yet?]
Gebura read the message and prepared herself for another troublesome event to occur. The red fixer began to text a message in response as she walked toward the guest dormitories.
[Gebura: Yeah. I'm gonna go take a shower if you aren't already.]
[Malkuth: Tiph and I just got back a while ago, but you can use the shower when you get here.]
[Gebura: Cool. How was Vale?]
[Malkuth: It was great! We went to a great restaurant under Yang's recommendations; we should take the others to try it too! I wanted to go to the city's library, but it was closed because someone stole some books. Then we went to a bunch of clothing stores. I got an outfit that you might like :)]
Just as quick as the last message was sent, Malkuth sent another text message that made Gebura pause in her step to reread what the bronze librarian had messaged her.
[Malkuth: Never ever shop with Weiss or Yang. They will hurt you emotionally and fashionably.]
"Uh," Gebura unintentionally said out loud. "Alright…?"
[Gebura: Okay.]
[Malkuth: Anyways, apparently, ice cream also exists here! We got some before we left, all I can say is that it's better than the City's.]
'Ice cream, huh?' Gebura contemplated. It had been a long time since she saw the frozen desert. Only once in her first life did she ever try ice cream, and it was… alright to her, she wasn't hooked on to the food as most did. She'd rather drink coffee than eat ice cream. The red fixer looked up from the scroll to see the guest dorm in view.
[Gebura: That's nice. I see the dorm building so we can talk later.]
The red fixer pocketed the scroll before Malkuth could respond and looked at the building one more time. Slowly, most of the windows of the dormitory were lit up one by one as students were preparing to either sleep or study. Gebura saw where their room should be and saw the light on, telling her that Malkuth and Tiphereth were in there. She gripped the handle of the door to the building but before she could enter though, a voice called out to her.
"Miss Gebura?" The calm voice asked. The red fixer turned to see where the voice came from and looked at the shrubs beside the building. Out came the headmaster of the academy who was hiding behind the bushes. "Oh thank the brothers."
Gebura raised an eyebrow at Ozpin. "Sir, why are you…" Gebura paused as she was still taking in what she was seeing. "Hiding?" She let go of the handle to turn toward the headmaster.
"Ah, well to be frank, after allowing Team RWBY to accompany your co-workers to Vale," he explained as he maneuvered out of the bushes and patted himself down to appear more presentable. After he deemed himself clean, he placed a hand on his forehead. "Professor Goodwitch did not take well to disrupting their education by letting them go out. Today was the day that they would partake in the professor's combat class."
"Eh, they're kids," she responded. "They can skip fighting for a day."
The headmaster sighed in agreement, "I concur, who knows when they stop being children? In any case, Glynda should have calmed down by now." Ozpin hoped that was the case, but knew that she would still be annoyed. "Please gather your co-workers and come to my office in approximately 30 minutes. I have another proposal for your associates."
'Damn, I wanted to relax after this.' However, she wouldn't deny the man that was providing for the Librarians. "Alright, we'll see you in a bit," the red fixer said as she sighed. With that, the two parted ways, one going to the tower and the other into the guest dormitory.
–30 MINUTES LATER–
–PATRON BREAK ROOM, THE LIBRARY–
Most of the Librarians had left the room to search for the escaped Abnormalities when enough recess had passed. The only few that were left were the Patron Librarian of Literature and Art. Both were continuing to play the same board game that they were playing earlier when Roland and Yesod had returned back to the Library.
"Are they from the Index?" Hod questioned.
Netzach scanned the board to see if his person had those particular blindfolds. His person did indeed hail from that particular Finger. He looked back at the Patron of Literature who was getting serious over this game of theirs. "Yeah," he sighed. The brown librarian started to flip all the people without any relation to the Index on her side of the board. Netzach saw an opportunity and started to tease her. "You know? You get into these games easily." His words left her a bit blushed as she tried to apologize.
"Ah! Well, I– uh," she stammered as she tried to explain. "I'm… sorry?"
Before either of them could continue talking, a buzzing sound could be heard. Both of them perked up and saw Roland's scroll on the table they were playing on. The device was buzzing and showing a photo of Malkuth. The two of them scooted over to the scroll and pondered on what to do with the buzzing device; Hod thought that it would be rude for them to answer Roland's scroll, but Netzach thought differently.
The green librarian picked up the scroll and pressed the green button. The screen on the device expanded to show Gebura, Tiphereth, and Malkuth. "What's up Malkuth?" He casually answered.
["Oh hey Netz," the bronze librarian responded. "Why do you have Roland's scroll."]
"He left it here after Angela told him to help find the Abnormalities," Hod explained as she started to put away the board game. "He didn't want to break it in case there was a fight; explained that it would be troublesome to ask Ozpin to get him a new one."
["Hmm, sounds like him," she retorted. "Anyways, is Angela there? Beacon's Headmaster wants to ask her something."]
"Nah, she's out with the rest of the Librarians to watch over them like she usually does," Netzach stated before a joke appeared in his head. "If we say her name three times, we might summon her."
"She's not a demon Netzach," Hod giggled as she stared off into the distant wall. With a calm and beckoning voice, she called out to the pale librarian, "Angela, can you come here please?"
Without a moment's notice, the Librarian Director appeared right in front of them instantly with a snap. She was holding her usual book in one hand and stacks of Abnormality books under her other arm, indicating that the other Librarians had managed to get the Abnormalities back into their books. The frontmost book read "Book of Nosferatu;" although Nosferatu held a prestigious appearance, the blood-fiendish monster still scared the Patron of Literature.
"Yes, Hod?" Angela questioned as she willed Nosferatu's book away. In response, she was handed Roland's scroll. Netzach began to help Hod put away the board game and started to converse amongst themselves away so they don't disrupt the other conversation.
["Wassup Angela," Malkuth casually greeted with joy.]
"Hello Malkuth," Angela responded back. "What do you need?"
["Headmaster Ozpin wants to talk to you," she explained.]
'He wants to talk?' Angela internally asked. Although this was out of the blue, it was perfect timing as she also wanted to ask something as well. "Alright," the pale librarian curiously said. "Is he there?"
[The camera shifted from Malkuth's face as she handed over the scroll to the Headmaster of Beacon. In all honesty, Angela saw similar resemblances to the Patron of Religion with the elderly appearance and feeling of wisdom surrounding them except for the fact that the Headmaster had a bump on his head. "Greetings again, Miss Librarian Director," Ozpin addressed.]
"Headmaster," Angela replied back curtly.
["Your co-workers are some of the most interesting individuals I've seen," he commented. "Qrow had 'amusing' words for your Library, but I think I would like to see it for myself."]
"Thank you, sir," she answered. "We had some trouble that we cleaned up, so maybe one day you can come visit."
[He looked a bit delighted. "Ah, that day may come sooner than you may think." Ozpin saw the intrigued expression on the Librarian's face so he continued his thought. "If I may ask, how does the Library work exactly?"]
Angela raised an eyebrow at the headmaster's curiosity but divulged the information, "The Library functions as my E.G.O., basically my own personalized equipment that manifested into what the Library is. Since my Library is a special type of E.G.O., no one else is capable of using it and it is powered by a particular type of fuel called Light. It is an intangible mixture of human emotion and knowledge collected from the previous Lobotomy Corporation. Before our arrival to Remnant, we would send out contracts to Guests under the guise of Invitations to acquire our books. A Reception would play out like a battlefield, our Librarians against the Guests. After the Reception ends, the Library closes and we gain their books which contain their Light. Presently, it is not possible to acquire more Light, but we are gradually replenishing our supply. It should be mentioned that every Librarian, excluding Roland and I, are comprised of Light, allowing us to resurrect over and over if we have sufficient Light." Angela believed that her explanation sufficed.
As the Librarian Director started to get more into the conversation, she hadn't noticed that Roland and the others enter the Patron Break Room. The other Librarians noticed that their Director was on-call with the Headmaster so they chose to either listen in or do other things separate from the conversation like Hod and Netzach had done.
[The Headmaster of Beacon looked satisfied with the answer, although he was shocked to hear that the Librarians were essentially immortal if they had Light. He shook that thought away and opened up his own scroll to check something that the others couldn't see. Angela barely saw what it was, something about construction costs. Once he was done, he put down the scroll and turned to look at the Librarian Director. "I believe that I have another proposal for you and your Librarians," he announced.]
"What kind of proposal?" She asked as everyone's attention turned to listen to what the headmaster was going to say next.
["How would you like to move to Beacon?"]
A round of talking was heard on both sides of the conversation. The Librarians at the Library were discussing how and what he meant by "moving to Beacon." The other side of the call was of a similar wavelength as Professor Goodwitch was asking the Headmaster if she hit his head too hard.
"Headmaster Ozpin," Angela interjected between the multiple chatter. "What do you mean?"
–AN HOUR LATER–
–ANGELA'S OFFICE, THE LIBRARY–
"Today keeps getting more and more eventful," Roland complained as he slid onto the couch of the office room. This was a space where he and Angela would reside in between Receptions as he didn't have an office of his own so the two decided that Roland would sleep on the couch to relax. He was tired after traveling to the Library early in the morning, fighting off some of the escaped monsters, and getting notified that the entire Library was going to move over to Beacon.
As the person who helped the Librarians the most, he was tasked with helping each Floor prepare to leave for Beacon; the black fixer even had to do the Floor of Natural Science and the Floor of Language by himself since neither Tiphereth nor Gebura was there to do it. Roland didn't know why they needed to prepare when literally nothing was left inside the Library and the fact that Angela could do whatever she needed to in a snap.
"Don't act like that," Angela chided as she went through her book. "We were given an opportunity to have a role in Remnant and we accepted."
The black fixer dug his face into the couch as he retorted, "You mean, you accepted." His muffled voice still reached the pale librarian, however, she ignored him as she noticed something else hiding within his tone.
She recalled his attitude when Yesod and him had returned from Beacon. Deciding that now was the time, Angela called out to him, "Roland, what's is something bothering you?"
"Nothing's to worry about," his muffled voice still came through. "Just a bad day." She narrowed her eyes in response; even if his words were true, his tone told the opposite.
"I can tell whether you're lying or not," Angela admitted. "We've been working together for months now, and shared many dark secrets with each other; I noticed that you were acting differently today. Are you struggling with something right now. Are we not friends?"
Roland raised his face from the couch and turned to face the pale librarian. "Sorry, it's just that…" He tried to find out how to express what he was feeling. "The pilot that dropped me and Yesod off… She looked eerily similar to her."
"Ah…" Angela knew who he meant. It was a sore subject that the robotic librarian knew not to bring up as it truly hurt Roland. "I see… Are you conflicted about what to do with her?"
"That's the thing, I don't know," he confessed. "Every time I think about her, she keeps appearing in my head and it just… breaks all reason. I shouldn't think that she's Angelica, but she's exactly like her. I don't want to think that; I don't want this Angelica to be ruined by me." He stopped to hear Angela's response to his little confession.
"I…" Angela stopped herself. She wasn't good with emotional problems as she wasn't born with them. She'd only got a glimpse of what it felt like to feel when she was turning into a human, so she had some idea of what Roland was feeling. With a consoling voice, she expressed her thoughts, "I understand that the resemblance is uncanny but you have to take care of yourself or you'll revert back to your state before you entered the Library. Do you think that's what Angelica would've wanted for you after she passed?"
The black fixer thought about what Angela had said and slowly pulled out the Gloves of the Black Silence. He stared directly into the gloves with a somber look, taking in everything that happened to Angelica and their marriage. Angela didn't expect it, but how could she expect anything when he started to laugh? Chuckling to himself, Roland reminisced about how Angelica had shattered his mask before they were married, which had jolted him out of the nightmarish world of the City. He recalled the moments when they exchanged vows, fought together, laughed together, and when she would smile brightly too. In his mind, he pictured Angelica walking up to him and giving him a slap if she were to see him wallowing in despair like this. He knew that if he continued to belittle himself, he would only hurt himself and dishonor her memory. A tear trickled down his cheek as he continued to chuckle.
With a smile on his face, Roland turned to Angela and spoke with conviction. "You're right," he acknowledged. "Angelica would never have wanted me to fall apart like this."
Angela nodded in agreement and walked up to him, placing a hand on Roland's shoulder, and offering him a comforting squeeze. "I know it's hard, but you're not alone in this. We're here for you, Roland," she said with a gentle smile.
Roland took a deep breath and wiped away the tear from his cheek. He then looked up at Angela, a determined expression on his face. "Thank you, Angela. You're right. I can't let this consume me. I have to honor Angelica's memory and move forward. And I will," he said with conviction.
Angela smiled warmly at him. "I know you will," she said. "And we'll be here to support you every step of the way." He nodded in response. The pale librarian made her way out of her office to give the black fixer some time to think for himself.
Putting away the Gloves of the Black Silence, Roland felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. He thought about Angelina Onyx, the woman who had been on his mind lately. They were set to meet again tomorrow afternoon, and he knew he needed to clear things up with her and tie off loose ends.
–SOMEWHERE IN VALE–
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to get here with all the pigs roaming about?" A mysterious person complained. He took his cane and let it lean on the crate next to him, taking out a cigar and lighting it. Huffing a puff of smoke, he continued, "I need to lay low for a while, too much heat on the Dust and we get the attention of all the Kingdoms."
Another person laughed mockingly at the first person's complaint, "Aw, is someone scared of the big bad Huntsmen?"
"Sounds like to me, you're too scared of a little attention," taunted a woman's voice.
"Hey! If it weren't for me, you'd have a lot of trouble getting all this Dust," he countered. "Don't take things for granted you little punks." The first and second person started to get close to each other, ready to start a fight. One raised his cane and the other raised his leg, the third one about to grab her gun. However, they were stopped when a fourth person interjected themselves into the conversation.
The last person's eyes glowed amber, causing the others to back away. "Roman," she said firmly. "You don't need to worry about deadlines. As long as you gather the Dust, you will be rewarded."
The now-named Roman smirked at the other two, "Why, thank you, dear Cinder. As long as the dough comes rolling in, this Kingdom will be dry of Dust. I suspect that the SDC will send containers filled with the goods, but that will probably be a month before it happens."
"Well, that's perfect." Cinder smiled deviously, making Roman feel uneasy. "I have another job for you."
Roman narrowed his eyes, "What kind of job?"
She pulled out her scroll and tapped a few times, placing the device on the crate. The scroll began to display five people on the screen, all color coded: black, red, yellow, bronze, and purple.
"I want you to find out who these people are," she demanded.
Author's Note:
Okay, in Limbus Company, Faust's N Corp. identity showed a computer, before that came out, I literally believed that the City didn't have PCs. But now that came to light, I decided that the City's PCs would be older-style computers compared to the more modern versions of PCs in Remnant. Moving on, I really wanted the Library to start at Beacon, but ended up forgetting about that and placed it in the Emerald Forest. I don't know the specifics of how the Library should work, but I think that like an E.G.O., Angela should be able to store it in herself and release it whenever she wants to. I won't dive further into this as I don't want to spoil anything more, but all I'll say is that there's going to be a time skip between this chapter and the next. Furthermore, we get to see some character development in Roland regarding Angelica and Angelina. I want this to be some sort of redemption for Roland as he failed Angelica in the City, but now he has another chance in Remnant.
Also, this chapter introduced the antagonists of the story, yay. Honestly, I like Torchwick, he's a cool dude that was killed off in Volume 3. He would've made a good anti-hero in the canon story if he lived as he truly cared about Neo which made her a one-sided character that was there only to give Ruby more character development in Volume 9.
Anyways, that's it for Chapter 11, hope you enjoyed reading it. I don't have an exact timeframe for the next chapter but I think it'll be easier to write than this chapter at least. If there were any grammar mistakes or a bit of information wrong, please correct me on it. Cya later!