Burgun leaned back on his fold-up lawn chair set up inside a Mistrali hotel, he breathed in the tobacco before puffing out some smoke, the cigarette hanging off the side of his mouth as he mindlessly browsed through channel after channel on the television. It's all re-runs of the same Mistrali soap opera over and over again. The door to the hotel swung open as his sister Sharon shambled in, dropping her oversized pickaxe as she collapsed onto the lawn chair next to his.
"Hand me a cig," Sharon asked tiredly, Burgun threw the pack at her to which she caught, lighting it up, she dropped the lighter down on floor in between the two lawn chairs, "Anything good on the telly?" Burgun shook his head, handing the remote over to Sharon as she now browsed through the channels.
"You found what you're looking for yet?" Burgun asked light-heartedly as he breathed out another lungful of smoke, "Is Summer still alive or nah?" Burgun clicked his tongue when Sharon shook her head, "Aw man, I liked her."
"Me too, but you don't see me whining about it," Sharon snapped back, stopping on a channel showing some kind of nature documentary or something, Burgun scratched his stubble, "She's probably dead 'cause of that old fuck in Beacon," Sharon scoffed, "I was so happy when that place blew up, did you know that?"
"Yeah, sure, like I wasn't next to you when it happened," Burgun smirked, "How're the Branwens? They're still alive?" Sharon nodded, waving her hand dismissively as she plucked the cigarette out of her mouth, reaching towards the floor to grab a pair of scissors.
"Yep," she cut off the filter of the cigarette before placing it back in her mouth, breathing in another lungful of tobacco, "One's gone off the grid and the other's is an alcoholic," Burgun snorted at this, "Oh how the mighty have fallen, eh?" Sharon nudged Burgun with a grin on her face.
"Yeah, yeah, knock it off," he slapped away her elbow, turning back to the nature documentary, "Y'know… it's been like… how many years now?" Sharon raised up ten fingers, "Yeah, like a decade went by after you met with Summer that one time in Patch," Burgun grabbed his cigarette and stared at it, watching as the paper outside burn away to reveal a dusting of ash, "So I assume that now is go time for our plan?"
"You mean my plan?" Burgun chuckled as Sharon pointed at herself, "Don't try to take away my effort, I did most of the work!" she laughed, leaning back on her chair, "But yeah, this is gonna be the time that we get this shit done."
"Hmm," Burgun hummed, tapping his cigarette over the ashtray that was laid on the floor before placing it back in his mouth, "So we're gonna go in and get that big fuck-off lamp right?" Sharon grinned, nodding, "Sweet."
"Can't believe we're the only ones doing this," Sharon shook her head, extinguishing her cigarette as she dropped it into the ashtray, "With all the other people with silver eyes out there, you'd think they'd be more proactive," Burgun chuckled, "I mean… outside of Summer and her child now I guess, what few of us left aren't even doing anything!"
"What about that Calavera woman?" Burgun raised an eyebrow, "She's one of us right?"
Sharon shook her head, "Nah, her eyes got plucked out," she sighed, "Sometimes I feel like we're the only warriors left on this damn planet," Sharon sneered, "Summer and her kid decided to go work for that clown atop his tower… Poppy ran to Atlas and changed her appearance, even got a new identity and everything… and Bluebell just straight up disappeared!" she scoffed, "Let's see here, out of the five remaining Silver-Eyed Warriors on Remnant that we know of; one of them is a kid, another one is living a civilian lifestyle, and the last one dropped off the face of Remnant!"
"Did Ozpin know about them?" Sharon shook her head.
"Nope, he only knew about the Rose family 'cause Summer enrolled, he probably knows about us too because Summer can't be trusted to keep her mouth shut," Sharon checked her fingernails, "He knows about the silver eyes of course, just not who has it, like Poppy or Bluebell," she then grinned, "But worry not dear brother, for I, Sharon Rose, have made sure that that old bastard can't bother us again."
Burgun shook his head at his sister's eccentric personality, "Uh huh, by hunting down and killing a bunch of Huntsmen who worked for Ozpin all within a week? Real heroic there sis, real classy too," Sharon sneered, punching Burgun on the shoulder, "But I thought Bluebell contacted you a while back, what happened?"
"You mean that brief call two years back?" Sharon scoffed, "Dunno, he didn't say anything, just some vague bullshit about Salem," Burgun nodded, she continued, "D'you know that that old bitch got her own entourage now?" Sharon cackled, "I can't wait to meet them later."
"Assuming that they're still alive after Vale that is," Burgun pointed out, breathing out some smoke as he held the cigarette between two fingers, "Apparently, some guy named 'Courrier' ran in and saved the whole operation," Sharon smirked as Burgun dropped his own cigarette into the ashtray, "The media went wild too, called him a 'hero' and everything."
"Bah, that sounds like some hokey-pokey bullshit," Sharon snorted, grabbing another cig and cutting off the filter, "…Is it? I don't check the news often."
"You need to do because things are wild right now," Burgun grabbed the remote out of her hand and changed to a news channel, "Tch it's still showing last week's news… Scratch that, you need to read the newspapers," he held the pack of cigarettes up to eye-level as he scrutinized the object, taking out another cigarette and lighting it before handing the lighter to Sharon, "That 'Courrier' guy is running Vacuo city right now, crazy right?"
"Talk about an understatement!" Sharon punched him in the shoulder, he chuckled, "But that doesn't really concern us… at least right now."
"Uh huh," Burgun threw the pack of cigarettes towards Sharon, "What'd you think of the cigs?"
"Tastes like ass, the paper's low-quality too," Sharon grabbed the pack and looked at the branding, "Why d'you pick a cheap pack? You know I don't like cheap cigs."
"You never like anything I pick," she laughed, "All the bougie shit sold out like hours ago, this was the only thing left," Burgun sighed, "Y'know, in hindsight, maybe I should've bought them earlier…"
"No shit, detective," Sharon breathed out some smoke, "…this is nice though, just sitting here, smoking cigs to pass the time, it's really peaceful."
Burgun's Scroll began ringing as he picked it up, answering the call, "What? Uh huh… okay, I'll stop," he dropped the Scroll back on the bed before turning to Sharon, "The neighbours called, they want us to stop smoking."
"Why?"
"They can smell the smoke from their room," Burgun deadpans, "And I did say neighbours, we didn't book out the entire hotel floor y'know."
"Do they not have vents? Why're they complaining?" Sharon scoffed, taking another hit from her cig before extinguishing it on the ashtray, "Y'know, I'm real tempted to get that 'Coyote Tobacco' shit from Vacuo…"
"Ha! Good luck with that," Burgun dropped his cig too, "Atlas' trying to negotiate something with Vacuo to drop the trade embargo, but so far? No dice," he leaned back on his lawn chair, the metal creaking a bit as he dropped his full weight on the backrest, "The only way you're gonna get your hands on them is either in Atlas, Mantle, or going to Vacuo directly. And seeing how the people are over there? Hell no!"
"Damn…" Sharon sighed, "But all the cigs and cigars in Mistral are ass!"
"You got that right, but unless Atlas does something to sway Vacuo… we're shit outta luck!" Burgun switched the channels back to the soap opera, "...wow this is depressing."
"What is?"
"Us, y'know, just sitting here, not working, not eating, just smoking…" Burgun breathed in the smell of smoke, "It's like we're trying to forget something…"
The two siblings sat in silence for a few minutes before both of the bursted out laughing, "As if!" Sharon hooked an arm around Burgun, "Listen Burgun, after we're done with all this shit involving Salem and Ozpin and all that magical bullshit, you and I are going to live our best lives got it?"
"Fuck yeah," Burgun laughed, "Maybe I'll move back to Patch, always nice to come home now and then," he rubbed his stubble, "Yeah… I'll probably move back to Patch."
"So uninspired! You gotta think big! Real big!" Sharon exaggerated using her hands for emphasis, "Think about it, if Salem doesn't die then Ozpin wouldn't too!"
"Ah! You're right about that, yeah we can probably show Ozpin that we did all the work and that he should reward us with something!" he said excitedly, "I am so smart sometimes…"
Silence. Sharon smirked at this, "…y'know Burgun, you act really stupid sometimes too. Never change."
"What? What's wrong with my logic?" she just laughed, drawing away as she leaned back on her own lawn chair, looking smugly at the telly as if she didn't just insult his intelligence, "Hey!" Burgun sighed before turning back to the telly.
The soap opera was pretty par for the course, overdramatic acting and insane plot lines made it pretty enjoyable to watch, albeit a bit mind numbing sometimes… He didn't know how long he just sat there, watching TV as time passes outside…
"Heheh," Burgun glanced at Sharon as she grabbed her oversized pickaxe, "Welp, looks like I have to go Burgun, something just came up," she quickly jumped out of her lawn chair and grabbed her Scroll, "I'll call you when I'm inside Haven, so just sit your ass here and smoke some cigs while I'm gone."
"You know I can't do that, we'll be kicked out if I do." Burgun said back as Sharon teleported out of the hotel room, he sighed, sitting in the lawn chair and watching the soap opera for a while before getting out and grabbing a broom, sweeping up the mess of rose petals on the ground before dumping them in the trash.
So inconsiderate.
Meanwhile, next door, Qrow lay on the bed while team RNJRY were busy playing board games in HIS room. Despite the fact that they all have their separate rooms… well, separate might be wrong since Qrow didn't have that kind of money. Ren and Nora stayed together; Ruby and Yang did too, so that left Jaune and him. So Qrow reluctantly allowed Jaune to sleep in HIS room.
The kids reacted… well enough to the story; he told them everything that he knew about the maidens and magic, even about the silver eyes too. They were shocked for a while… until Ruby pulled out her board game and the atmosphere changed immediately. Sometimes, Qrow questions why he worked with kids at all.
Everything was going fine and dandy, although Qrow wished he could've picked another hotel to stay in… unfortunately, his lack of funds and Mistral's aggressive prices towards foreigners shot down that idea. This place was far from perfect, hell, he had to call the front desk to get the neighbours to stop smoking so damn much! He could smell the cigarettes through the walls!
"Alright kids, wrap up the games," Qrow sat up from his bed as the overgrown children playing board games groaned, "It's late, I'm tired, and we have a really long day tomorrow."
"Tell us who that woman was! 'Cause you seem to know her," Yang asked as she packed away the board game before handing it over to Ruby so that she can put it in her backpack, "So give us the deets!"
"Yeah! That was weird," Ruby said, closing her backpack and leaning her back on the bedframe, "She said that she knows me? And that she wasn't interested in Yang which was pretty rude!"
"And what's with her name?" Jaune scratched his head.
"Yeah! Is it like your aunt or something?" Nora asked Ruby, leaning dangerous close to her while Ren held her back, "Or your grandma? Or your other mom? Or your third mom? Or your fourth-" "That's enough."
"None of that actually," Qrow spoke up, sighing as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Sharon… She's like… imagine like a really distant cousin of your mom," Ruby and Yang both nodded, "Like really distant… like from the centre of Atlas to Vacuo city kind of distant."
"I didn't know her well or at all actually. When me and Raven, that's your other 'mom' by the way, got to Beacon, we saw Summer talking to two people before she boarded the bullhead," Qrow scratched his head, trying to remember everything, "They looked like her siblings so I didn't pay much attention to it. It was only after when Summer told me who they were, that I know for sure."
"Sharon and Burgun Rose didn't appear on any data registry or list of citizens, they are a complete unknown, who might as well not exist," Qrow sighed, rubbing his forehead, "Ozpin tried tracking them down but… well, let's say some real bad things happened that caused him to stop the search."
"Outside from you and your mother," he pointed at Ruby, "They're the only other people with silver eyes that Ozpin and I know of."
"So when you said it was a rare trait… you meant it?" Qrow nodded grimly.
"Correct, that means there are only three Silver-Eyed Warriors left on Remnant… and two of them are working against us."
Ozpin mulled over the situation as his host, a boy named Oscar Pine, sat on a train heading towards the city. He had a lot of time to think about what happened; everything with Courrier to the attack on Vale… all of it was too sudden, and too convenient…
"Oh look, newspapers," Oscar plucked a roll off the stand as he flipped the paper open, Ozpin read through the headlines, his surprise being picked up by Oscar, "Huh? What's wrong?"
'Courrier…' Ozpin's voice played out mentally for Oscar to hear, it sounded like frustration as a tinge of anger seeped through his normally calm demeanour, 'Becoming leader of a 'New Vacuan Republic'? That can't be…'
"Vacuo has a new leader?" Oscar asked him quietly, "That's… interesting, I guess, but I don't see anything wrong with it…"
'No, this is good for Vacuo, what I'm worried about is the person leading the charge,' Ozpin replied, 'Courrier is not to be trusted, if he ever speaks to you or try to get you to do something, don't. Not until you know what you're getting yourself into…'
"Oh, uh… okay," Oscar scanned through the papers, flipping to different pages as Ozpin also read along. Oscar placed the paper back on the stand before leaning back on his seat, trying to get himself comfortable while he waited for the vehicle to reach the city.
Ozpin thought about plans to defeat Salem, since the time is now or never. Seeing as how she had already attacked Vale, what's stopping her from doing the same to other kingdoms? To combat Salem and her Grimm, he needed Ruby, since she is a Silver- Eyed Warrior, and the maidens…
Silver eyes… Rose… Sharon Rose. Ozpin furrowed his imaginary brows as he remembered her and her brother Burgun. He was disappointed when they didn't follow Summer to enrol in Beacon, and was further disappointed when they outright refused to help him in his endeavours. Turns out, their parents had told them everything regarding Ozpin and Salem, seeing as how they are descendants of the Rose family of Silver-Eyed Warriors after all.
Ozpin had continued to search for them, even after they vanished a long time ago. Much to his horror however, he had to call off the search after twenty-six of his Huntsmen were killed while out in the field, each one having a message attached to their corpses, stating that they did not want to be found.
He grits his imaginary teeth, with so few Silver-Eyed Warriors left on Remnant, with only three left that he knows of in current day, it was incredibly frustrating to know that two of them were working against him for their own agenda, whatever that might be…
Ozpin calmed down a bit, this was years ago, and worrying about something like this would only do more harm than good. Besides, what are the chances of them being in Mistral anyways?
…
Then again, what are the chances of someone like Courrier somehow developing his own political group to take over another kingdom? Pretty damn low. Yet it still happened didn't it?
Vick Bluebell worked as a teacher in Haven Academy, his silver eyes hidden by brown contact lenses as he pushed up his thick-rimmed glasses. He was unassuming, utterly generic, and completely forgettable, exactly the persona that he wanted to portray.
His family had placed an importance on these silver eyes, but Bluebell was never one for that prophecy stuff, so he got out as quickly as he could. He hid them behind sunglasses and later contacts, mostly out of paranoia that somebody would want his eyes for themselves. Throughout the years, he built up a respectable reputation for himself, a fairly mediocre Huntsman with little to no public presence, now residing within Haven as a professor for an elective that no one wants to take.
In fact, it was Headmaster Leonardo that had given him the job, Bluebell thanked the man profusely before going off to be the best teacher that he could be! If there were students for him to teach that is, throughout his two years at Haven, his class has been graced with exactly five students, all of whom quit after the first year.
He didn't like the students that much, but he tolerated them. This was more than what they thought of him, unfortunately. Still, they're kids; they'll learn to grow to become better people eventually!
This was great! He enjoyed this job immensely. He dropped down on his bed inside of his dorm with a smile, placing his glasses on the nightstand next to the bed as he breathed out slowly, decompressing into his bed. Finally, the stress of being a teacher is over! Albeit temporarily for the next six to eight hours.
Bluebell went to sleep with a pleasant smile on his face and complete optimism for the future.
Surely nothing bad will happen. Surely.
…
Maybe calling Sharon and telling her about Salem's group was a bad idea, still, Bluebell wasn't worried. Besides, the Rose siblings lived in Patch! What reason would they have to come to Mistral? It just doesn't make sense.
Sharon and her piece of shit of a brother better not come find him, Bluebell might be a mediocre Huntsman, but he can still fight damn it! Thankfully he called them without telling them where he is right now, for all they know, he could be in Vacuo singing kumbaya with the leader of the New Vacuan Republic!
Hahaha! Ha… haha…
He should've changed his last name like Poppy did.
Fuck.
Gran Turismo Sport might not be a good racing game when compared to its predecessors, but it does have a bitchin' soundtrack so I'll give it a pass.
'Pink Martini - Sympathique' might be the best song I've heard in a long time. So much so that I named this chapter after it.
Anyways, if you want me to make this shit better then feel free to review, I don't care what kind, just make sure its constructive. I can take it (maybe).
Okay, maybe I was being a little stupid in the previous Author's Note, they're not 'evil' per se, just antagonistic. They have their own agendas, Sharon and Burgun wants to take care of Salem like Ozpin but they go about it in a more violent and reckless manner. Contrasting that of Ozpin's careful planning.
Also there's only a handful of Silver-Eyed Warriors left on Remnant, and 'Warriors' don't even apply to a couple of them. And by a handful, I mean 5 (including Ruby). Maria doesn't count, she doesn't have eyes anymore.
Thanks for reading! No, serious, thanks!
EDIT: For the two people that got a glimpse at this chapter an hour earlier, you didn't see nothing ya hear?