A/N: Hey gamers, it's ya boi PixelKind. Back at it again with another chapter of Harry Potter and the, uh… (checks notes) ...Looming Specter of Colonialism?
Expect the divergences to come hard and fast: the AU tag isn't on as a joke.
BRING a WAND to a KNIFE-GUN FIGHT
[ACT 1]: Bucket List
[CHAPTER 2]: Prologue x10 Combo (Part 1)
In Which Paths Are Changed And Seeds Are Planted
The Beast of Extinction let loose a deafening roar as it approached the Warrior of Man, heedless of the dark ichor of its brethren that painted her weapon black. It knew no fear, no caution, no wariness of overwhelming strength. Nothing but raw, targeted aggression.
And this aggression, it acted on. It curled up into a ball and rolled towards the Warrior, quickly gaining speed and turning its own bone plating into a devastating instrument of destruction while fully covering any potential weak spots it could have had.
This was the ultimate attack of the Grimm known as the Boarbatusk; a move that could bowl over any Huntsman who took it, and outright kill anyone else.
Nora Valkyrie simply grinned and spun into a devastating uppercut with her weapon. The silver warhammer Magnhild met the Boarbatusk's charge and, with a cry of "Fore!" from its wielder, launched the Grimm cleanly into the air.
The short redhead set the head of her hammer down on the ground and shielded her eyes with her offhand, tracking the arc of the Grimm through the air. It crashed into the ground with a distant 'crunch.'
"Dude," said one of the raggedy-looking fighters nearby, "that had to be at least 50 yards. Someone go pace that out before the body dissolves."
"Yeah, sure, go pay attention to the dead one," complained a white-haired fighter fending off a Beowolf. "Not like we have a job to do or anything."
"Here," said Nora, "I'll kill that, you go pace that out. I wanna know how far it was, too. I think my high score was, what, 60?"
"It was 58 and a quarter," corrected a voice from the trees above them.
The two Nomads looked up as a half-dissolved Nevermore fell through the branches to the forest floor, followed silently by a young man with a streak of pink in otherwise black hair. He idly pointed a weapon towards them and released a precise burst of automatic fire, felling the Beowolf their attention had strayed from.
Nora nodded to herself, heedless of the carnage. "You're so smart, Renny! I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Plenty, I'm sure," Lie Ren responded blandly. "I pretty much exclusively ask you to not do things."
The white-haired fighter kicked the dissolving Boarbatusk idly. "60 and a half," she called out. "You definitely beat the Tribe's record!"
Nora pumped Magnhild in the air and let out a victorious whoop.
Ren patted her back. "New record, excellent work." He turned back to the group of fighters. "By my estimations, it should be about time we head back to camp?"
A beefy redhead squinted up at the sky for a moment. "Yeah, that looks about right." He let out a piercing whistle. "ALL RIGHT, TRIBESMEN, THAT'S IT FOR NOW! HOW ABOUT WE GO SEE WHAT THE COOKS WHIPPED UP FOR US TODAY, YEAH?"
Cheers rang out from the forest around them, as dozens of fighters relaxed and made their way back to camp. Men, women, faunus, humans… all clad in ragged clothes and cobbled-together gear. A more ragtag group of individuals, you couldn't find anywhere on Remnant.
Here, Ren and Nora weren't 'those homeless orphans,' they were another pair of weapons against the Grimm. Perhaps not true Tribesmen, but accepted all the same. That's just how it was with the Nomads; if you could pull your own weight, there was a place at the table for you.
And so two of them followed the crowd of warriors through the trees and into a gate in a rough wooden wall. The smell of smoke and cooked meat wafted through the air, guiding them past a throng of patchwork tents, and into the clearing in the center of the encampment. Much of the tribe was already there, clustered about rows of boars roasting over fire.
The food and drink was plenty, and Tribesmen sang and laughed around the roughly hewn tables scattered throughout the clearing. They'd only been there two weeks, but to Ren and Nora? The Camp of the Khan Tribe already felt like home.
"...and then I hooked Crescent Rose around the Beowolf and shot at another one, so I got two in one move! I've been working on that since Dad started complaining about how much ammo I waste-"
"Uh, Ruby?" cut in Yang. "That's great and all, but… are you going to follow me into the cop car?"
Her sister blinked, then looked around. Yang had been bundled into the backseat of a police cruiser, and Ruby herself was halfway in the door. "Huh," wondered the younger girl, "When did that happen?"
Yang gave her an unimpressed look, hands cuffed behind her back. "The entire time you were talking, Rubes. You really have to work on that situational awareness."
Ruby let out a low whine and pulled her hood down over her head. "But- but you're my ride! But I don't wanna be arrested! But Dad will kill both of us if I go home alone! What do I do?"
"Tell ya what," Yang said as she shifted in her seat to point her pocket at Ruby. "Bumblebee's key is in there, get her and walk her to the station. This should all be cleared up by the time you get there."
Ruby fished the key out of the pocket and darted back quickly. "I'll be there before you know it!"
Yang rolled her eyes. "Make sure she doesn't get dinged or anything. If she needs a new paint job that's coming out of your allowance!"
"I'll protect her with my life!" came the reply, just as the officer finally shut the car door.
Yang Xiao-Long leaned back across the seat and sighed. This was going to be a fun one to explain to Dad.
The roar of the crowd was barely audible in the small room Pyrrha Nikos found herself waiting in; eyes fixed on the small screen in the corner that showed the match currently going on.
Whoever won that fight would be her opponent in the finals.
A small part of her mind kept track of the combatants (spear user tends towards focused flurries of jabs, axe user prefers to block with the side of the blade), but most of her focus was dedicated to preparation of a more physical nature.
Her heartbeat was steady; a tad bit faster than what would be considered 'normal', but under control nonetheless. She held up her arms and twitched each finger rhythmically; each joint bent smooth, quick, and without complaint. Her wrists were in full working order, as were her elbows and shoulders. Her neck gave a mildly satisfying crick when she twisted it, so she did it three more times; until it went as smooth as everything else.
She worked her way down to her legs and, once satisfied, she closed her eyes.
A deep breath filled her lungs to the fullest, and she held this for a moment before releasing it slowly. A slight unsteadiness to her exhale had her repeating the process twice.
A slight, deliberate smile graced her face; as self-aware as she currently was, it could be nothing but deliberate. Her Aura hummed with confidence; she was ready to fight.
A quiet knock on the door had her tilting her head. "Come in!"
A tall man in a navy blue suit stepped into the room. "Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, and she reached for her weapons. "I don't think you're supposed to be in here."
"Oh, it would take a brave security guard indeed to tell me I can't go somewhere," he laughed, gesturing towards an insignia on his suit. A bronze trident, wrapped in silver chains. The symbol of one of the three ruling Families of Mistral.
Pyrrha sighed and leaned back against the small table in the room. "And what does the Vasilias Family want with me?"
He grinned. "Well, first we'd like to commend you on your flawless record for the fourth year straight."
She raised an eyebrow. "Before the finals?"
"Oh, your opponent forfeit. You're officially the champion. Congratulations, etc."
Pyrrha frowned. "That's a shame. I was looking forward to that fight."
"Your last one before you go to Haven Academy, yes?" The man pulled a chair from the table and seated himself.
She nodded silently.
"Well, here's the thing, Miss Nikos. I'm here to offer you a deal." He placed a small briefcase on the table. "We have a number of places where we could use a fighter of your caliber, and are willing to, ah… invest in your growth, so to speak."
Pyrrha stared at him flatly. "With all due respect, I intend to become a Huntress."
"Well, of course," agreed the man easily. "And an agreement with us would open many doors for you on that front as well. I will be frank with you: we have people in Haven. We can arrange your placement on one of our teams, get you the resources you need, and ensure our other talents understand you're… on the same side, as it won't have to work for us quite yet, just with us."
The operative word there being 'yet', Pyrrha noted. Were she to take this man's 'deal', she'd be bound to the Vasilias Family politically and financially.
"And rest assured," he continued, "we are very generous to those who work with us." He gently pushed the briefcase across the table to her.
"Is that so," commented Pyrrha blandly, not even glancing at it.
"Well," the man rose from his seat. "You don't need to decide right away. You can keep that either way, and, ah…" He reached into his pocket and set down a business card. "Feel free to call me when you've made your decision."
He paused at the door for a moment, before turning back and smiling. "We hope to hear from you soon."
And then, he was gone.
She waited a moment, just to be sure, before letting out a deep sigh. This… this wasn't why she fought. She didn't want to be famous, or rich, or influential… She wanted to fight. But…
She idly opened the briefcase, and wasn't quite surprised when she saw it was full to the brim with Lien. That was just how things were done in Mistral, really.
And honestly? Joining the Vasilias Family was the logical choice. The correct choice. Most people wouldn't even think about it. To catch the eye of one of the Big Three? That was probably why half the people at these tournaments even went.
But when Pyrrha thought about spending her days at the beck and call of a Family, about just standing places and looking intimidating, about living the rest of her life as the bodyguard for some aristocrat's idiot son, the only thing she felt was mildly ill.
And to go to Haven, having spurned the offer of the Vasilias Family… would likely put a target on her back for all of its allies. Not that she wasn't used to being the one to beat, but the Families weren't quite known for fair play.
What she wanted to do- what she really wanted to do, was to get away from the whole mess. The tangled web of politics, the omnipresent reach of the Families…
To get away from that, she'd have to leave Mistral.
The realization itself didn't quite surprise her. What surprised her was how absolutely okay she was with that option. What surprised her was the revelation that it really was an option. She was an adult, she had money from the tournaments, she could leave, and nobody could stop her.
The briefcase closed with a snap, latches securing themselves with a touch of her Semblance.
And yeah, it was a little scary. There were so many people that were going to be upset at her… the Families, her fans, even her parents.
A vicious grin split her face, almost against her will. The case dangled from her fingertips as she slipped out the door, a spring in her step that had been thought long-lost. One look at her face had the crowd of competitors quietly make way for her.
They saw the briefcase. They thought they knew what it meant.
'Pyrrha Nikos,' they whispered, 'finally acting like a Champion. Finally getting the memo, finally playing the game.' The rumors only made her grin sharper.
Because the last time Pyrrha had felt this kind of nervous? That would have been her first tournament circuit. And, well…
Everyone knew how that fight had gone.
SDC drones littered the length of the train segment; broken and sparking on the floor. There had been more than usual, but still not enough to stop them.
Their foes defeated, Blake Belladonna and Adam Taurus approached the last compartment on the train.
The one that held what they had come for.
An arc of crimson steel sliced through the lock, leaving the door to swing open.
A crowd of dirty, bruised bodies– both human and faunus– shied away from the entrance. Away from the light. But the shadows in the compartment weren't quite enough to hide that there were far more people within than there should have been. That each and every one of them was chained to the walls. That there was no real way to feed them while they were in there.
According to the shipping schedules, they'd been in there for at least 24 hours already.
Blake glanced at Adam, at the cold raw fury in his single blue eye.
She put a hand on his shoulder, then stepped into the compartment herself. "It's alright. We're here to rescue you. You're safe with us."
The medics they'd brought with them filed in after her, spreading out to break shackles and treat injuries. As their lights brightened the room, threw into relief the atrocities these people were subjected to, her grip on her weapon tightened.
Adam gently bumped into her. "Come. We still have to keep watch; there might be more security left on the front of the train."
She nodded and followed him back out. The crimson leaves of Forever Fall rushed by as they stood watch.
A moment passed.
"Are you okay?" asked Adam.
"Yeah, I'm…" Blake trailed off. "No. I'm not okay. I'm furious."
"Good."
Blake turned on him. "Good? You call this good? For every train of Nomads we rescue, there's two dozen that we can't afford to attack! And those are just the ones in transit! How is this good, Adam?"
"I didn't mean the situation was good," he defended. "I meant it's good that you're angry. It means you haven't given up."
Blake stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm just- I wish we could actually stop this. I wish we could march up to Atlas and make the SDC stop this. I wish we were strong enough. I wish I was strong enough."
Adam smirked. "Your wish is my command." And he held out a piece of paper.
She took it and frowned. "Adam? What is this?"
"An invitation to Beacon Academy's Initiation. You said you wanted to be stronger, didn't you?"
Her eyes widened. "But- But I'm needed here! I can fight, I can help the raids, I can take care of the people we rescue, I can-"
Adam held up a hand. "You can make it into Beacon, you can get stronger, and then you can come back and make up for all the work you missed out on in a tenth of the time."
She looked back down at the paper. "That's four years, Adam."
He turned away from her. "I'll wait for you."
Her lip wobbled. "I don't want to go."
"I don't want you to go either," he admitted, still facing away. "I want you to stay with me forever. I want to run away from all this and live a peaceful life, far away from the Kingdoms and the SDC. But you would hate me for that; I would hate me for that. So we have to do what's right, instead of what we want."
One of the medics approached. "Sir? That's everyone off the train. We're the last ones left."
Adam nodded. "She'll be staying; this train heads to Vale." He turned back to Blake. "Get off before the wall and go around to a different entrance. Everything you'll need should be in your pack. I'll take care of your things while you're out."
She stared at him. "You planned this, didn't you? I was never going back to camp today."
Adam nodded. "I couldn't risk you convincing me to have you stay. I'm depending on you, Blake. We'll need your strength when you return."
She blinked away tears and nodded resolutely. "Yeah. Got it."
He walked up to the edge of the train, and looked back. "Good luck," he said quietly.
And before she could say anything in response, he stepped off the train and disappeared.
Ruby Rose slowed to a stop as a very suspicious group of men rushed out of a store, carrying very suspicious stacks of containers, and loading them into a very suspiciously nondescript vehicle.
The most suspicious person of them all, a man in a white coat and a bowler hat, eyed her suspiciously. "What're you lookin at, kid? Ain't it past your bedtime? Scram."
Ruby glanced over to the shop; the windows were broken, and someone she presumed to be the shopkeep could be made out to be cowering behind the counter. She kicked out Bumblebee's stand and propped it up on the sidewalk, carefully keeping her cloak out of the way of the weapon on the back of her belt. "I, um…" she trailed off, before doubling down. "I don't think you're supposed to be doing that?"
The man rolled his eyes. "See, here's the thing, Red. I don't think it's any of your business. So do us both a favor and just keep walking." He twirled his cane in his hand, somehow making the gesture seem threatening.
Oh! That's who this was! That famous thief, uuuuuh, Rowan Torchbug? Anyways, she remembered because that guy's weapon was supposed to be his cane! And this guy had a cane! The point was; he was probably a bad guy, and he had Aura. Which was good.
Because Ruby didn't have to hold back if he had Aura.
A whirl of crimson steel had her weapon, her beautiful darling, her Magnum Opus, Crescent Rose herself, unfolded and displaying her full glory. A custom high-impact sniper scythe twice as long as Ruby was tall- not that Ruby was short, mind you, the love of her life was just big, because she had to be big, don't you dare say over-engineered she just has big bones.
Anyways. Crescent Rose was deployed, and pointed at Torchbug, and ready to fire if he made any funny moves.
He just stared at her, nonplussed. "Is that supposed to scare me? Because I've been more afraid of an empty freezer than I am of you right now."
Hmmmm. There went plan A. Not that she'd had any plans, but the first thing she'd tried failed, so she had to think of something else to do. She could always just actually fight him, but that's what Yang had literally just done, and she also literally got arrested, so…
Oh, no, Ruby was totally gonna get arrested over this.
Oh well. All in the name of… Justice? Was that the right concept to dedicate this to?
Anyways. She pulled the trigger. Wow, that thief guy was fast, he deflected the bullet into… into… into the shop.
The shop she was just now noticing was a Dust Shop.
Oh no.
Wait- wasn't the shopkeep still in there?
Oh, no.
Ruby leapt into a red blur, eyes charting her course as she cleared the broken window.
The first reactions lit as she cleared the counter. She dropped her Semblance; Uncle Qrow's lessons on exactly how much force an unenhanced human spine can handle popped into the front of her mind.
It's not about speed, it's about acceleration.
The shopkeeper was scooped into her arms. An arc of electricity jumped to the Fire Dust containers.
Ruby flared her Aura.
A wave of hot air slammed into her, and she rode it.
Back up over the counter, back out the window. Rose petals whirled through the air, even as the heat singed their edges.
Once clear of the store she juked laterally, pulling herself and the shopkeeper out of the explosion's reach.
She skidded to a stop as the blast bathed a wide section of the street in fire.
The flames died down, and a van drove past her. A small object shot out and stuck into the sidewalk in front of her. It was… a card? With a wide Jack-O-Lantern grin on it. She picked it up and flipped it over.
My bad.
- Roman Torchwick
Ruby stared down at it in confusion, then shrugged. Even if the criminals weren't stopped, the civilian was saved. Justice had been served.
She turned back to Yang's bike and froze.
The motorcycle had been left directly across the street from the shop. It's bright yellow paint job was scratched up and covered in soot, the fine leather seat was lightly charred, and the tires were… ominously misshapen.
She was so dead.
A/N: So there's Nora, Yang, Pyrrha, Blake, and Ruby. Lots of changes from canon, starring actual worldbuilding for Mistral and Adam not being cringe.
I thought it'd be fun to show where everyone's starting because of how AU this is. And, uh. Remind me to never do this again. It took forever to write and the sequence isn't even over. I decided to cut it when I noticed my word count was already ~3.5k and I was only halfway done.
You'll get the other 5 of the x10 combo next chapter, but this should give you a good taste of what's to come. Divergences out the wazoo, almost all of which are meaningful. I really liked the idea of tribes like Raven's just, being a thing. People who don't want to live in the Kingdoms banding together. Not necessarily bandits, as much as they'll all be painted with the same brush. Just people working together to survive.
