Yang was ever so surprised when Horsa asked her to meet him out in the park late at night. There were enough stories of people disappearing in that situation that Yang should have refused, or at least possessed more caution than a fly around wine, but it was Horsa, and she knew he wouldn't do anything shady.
Which was why she was surprised to find him sitting in a chair, looking ever too big for even the small metal table and chairs, with a sack from inside the city. It was from a place called Luigi's, which was all Yang knew about it, but Horsa seemed ever so proud.
"What's this?" Yang asked, before grinning at him, "A date, for to-date?" She grinned at her own pun. She was a comedic genius.
"I am told that is how you express affection for each other, giving food and telling stories. How pathetic you people are, that you only do this for affection where we do this for fun." Horsa scoffed, and gestured to the large bag. He pulled out seven subs, and handed her another three.
"What's this… the food I mean." Yang corrected herself.
"It is "Luigi's Subs", they proclaim on their walls to produce the best subs in the world. I thought the small building was unfit for building submarines, but I did ask. They lied, but offered me three sandwiches as penance. I let them keep their hands." Horsa laughed, pulling his knife out of his boot. He gestured to the tree, where Wortikur stepped out and walked over to the park entrance, seeming to keep watch.
"How generous." Yang laughed, as she opened up her sub. It had ham, bacon, lettuce tomato an orange and white sauce.
"Now I am told that this is the time for stories. What tails of Glory would interest a fair maiden as you." Horsa laughed as he tore his sandwich in half with his teeth. He had gotten a meatball sub, and the red dribbled down his side of the table onto parts of his fur pants and chestpiece.
Yang rolled her eyes, another story about him, "How about I tell you a story."
"Speak then, I would like to know more about you, if I am to court you." Horsa remarked, getting a bit of a blush from Yang. Their dating hadn't really seemed all that serious, and it was very chaste for the barbaric folk the Saxons were often described as. He looked genuinely eager to hear her, which almost made Yang want to return the opportunity. Now she was worried that her story would sound pretty lame.
"I was watching Ruby, we.. I was about eleven, Ruby was about seven. We were supposed to be at the house, and I was sitting at home while Ruby was playing with a stick and doll. I was bored out of my mind." Yang smiled a little, a bit embarrassed but he probably wouldn't get it, "So I said lets go for a walk, that we could use some sunlight. It was winter by the way."
"Ah, a good time for kindling, and hearth play." Horsa nodded, eating more of his meatball sub.
Yang didn't even care to ask what that meant. She just continued on, "Yeah, I walked out in the middle of a snow storm, with my baby sister in tow. Really smart."
"Bah, you explored, and lived to tell about it. You'd be a great wanderer." Horsa laughed supportively, as if Yang was proud of this moment. Then again, she realized that she should have probably chosen a story that was happier and less draining.
"I went out into the cold, and I almost died… we both did." Yang grumbled, sighing to herself before rubbing her eyes. Why couldn't he take her story seriously. She asked that, but then noticed his posture, sitting upright, while watching her intently.
Yang continued along, now feeling self-conscious about what she was going to say, "There were grim, Beowolves. I was Eleven, I wasn't even remotely capable of dealing with them. I almost got my baby sister killed."
"But you didn't." Horsa stated simply, shrugging sat her very traumatic story.
"But I almost did. If I had just been ok with sitting at home, we would have been fine. Something saved us, and I didn't realize what until after she stopped… My mom came to save me. One time, in my entire life, she came to save me… and didn't even say a word."
"She did good." Horsa stated plainly, opening his second sandwich, "When I was Eleven, I strangled my first wolf, grabbed it by its throat and stabbed it. My father threw me into that pit, and told me to survive. Your mother seemed to care a lot more about seeing you through."
"You never really talk about your father." Yang remarked, surrendering the conversation. Obviously he had a lot to talk about, and at this point, Yang didn't get the reaction she wanted.
"I haven't much to say about him that has not already been said." Horsa grumbled, showing a strange level of emotion which Yang had not really seen from him except last year and a small event over the summer.
And yet, his answer frustrated her because she didn't have any clue about what he just said. "What do you mean. We don't talk about your dad at all. I think Ruby and Jaune doubted you even had a dad. Like you were just some lab grown super soldier or something gone wrong." Yang laughed a bit at that thought, and tried her best to emphasize that she was joking.
Horsa sighed, which was very odd, but he spoke plainly, just dropped a massive dump on the emotional table, "My Father is Grosse Konigundrr Johan."
"…Ok." Yang mumbled, so he was some… then it hit.
"Wait, like the thousand year old emperor?" Yang laughed nervously, shifting where she sat, and took another small bite. She didn't exactly want to call him a liar, but this sounded like some saga-crap that they would make up to make themselves sound cooler. The Saxons were big on looking important.
"Yes, though he is actually older. His reign was a thousand years, or approaching it… or something. I have not seen home in a long time." Horsa sighed, before smiling, "But I carve my name in these new lands."
"Y-You are related to the most important person in your entire culture's history, and you didn't lead with that?" Yang exclaimed, surprised most definitely by this assertion.
"When you lead with that, you aren't yourself anymore." Horsa snapped, making yang clench up in a fight or flight stance. He seemed to notice her state, and raised a hand, "I apologize." He then let out another, softer sigh.
Yang waited a moment as he finished his third sandwich, before asking, "What do you mean, 'you aren't yourself anymore'? You're still Horsa, a rough, tough, good time."
"I become the son of Johan. My deeds are simply added to his legend. No one will remember me, only that I came from him. How can anyone compare to such a legend, how can I carve my name into history, if all I do is because of him." Horsa sighed with a snarl, and for once, Yang saw an existential dread inside of him. an overwhelming feeling. And she realized that must be how Ruby felt, being thrown out of her depth, and put into a college are barely getting through her second year of high school, being compared to Yang, and vice versa.
Yang then thought for a moment, and realized-, "How old are you?!"
"I will reach my 123 year this year." Horsa stated plaining, "Quite young for a great conquerer, no?" he stroked the hairs on his face.
Yang's eyes widened, before playfully scoffing, "Groomer."
Horsa didn't seem to understand, and frowned, "I don't groom my beard. I have better things to do with my time."
Yang laughed, slightly charmed by the lack of understanding of the world. Her laughs, however, took every bit of energy to perform. Maybe it was time to save some fun for tomorrow, "Hey, I'm going to bed… I had… fun." She smiled a bit, slightly lying because he didn't act the way she wanted him to, but at the same time, she should have known he wouldn't. He's Horsa, the Pale Horse, apparently the first one as well.
"Be blessed in your return." Horsa stated in Saxon, or he said something similar, but that was what Yang kind of translated.
"As you." Yang replied in Saxon, before seeing his slightly chuckle. She'd definitely have to look at her text book once again.
The Morning came with a vibrant light, and the sounds of classes and physics experiments. Strangely enough, they had to learn how Remnant curved the motions of asteroids.
"Planets have strength to them, they draw things close, as do suns." Dougal explained, gesturing to the professor, who was just as easily surprised as the rest of them, "These suns bend time, in their attractions, this is why curving vessels around suns creates issues with star-travel."
Horsa sat at his desk area, and Ruby could see the nod of approval he gave the pastor.
Ruby leaned over to Weiss, "He likes that. He gave Dougal a big nod, huge even."
Professor Oobleck straightened his back out and gave his approval, "Yes, of course. I was not referring to gravitational pull of the Sun, but this does raise some important questions. Your statement about the gravitational acceleration is spectacularly accurate, and surprising considering the current technological understandings of the Saxon kingdom."
The Saxons looked at each other, and chuckled at that. The bell suddenly rang, letting them know that their time with the professor was up. He did, however, leave them with the dreaded homework, "Now, your homework is a 3 page essay, covering the concepts of Chapters 10 through 13, and addressing the concepts which most interest you." Professor oobleck proclaimed as though he just announced a Vacuan pizza party.
That didn't matter, because the next class was the Combat class, or rather, the "Preparing for the vital tournament under the guise of a class room" period. Glynda stood at the center of the room, and went over the nuances of stances, and how opponents fight, and how fights are decided. There was an understanding of the rules of the tournaments that was already beaten over their heads, and now magnified by slamming rule books and precedents over the students with what felt like a thousand class periods now.
Glynda clearly took pride in this competition, which was not something that Blake shared. Weiss, on the other hand, was almost too invested in the contest to even provide coherent thoughts. She kept rambling small little notes, technicalities, things that would be only legible if her thoughts were put to paper.
This did not disturb Blake as much as the White Fang's corruption of ideals. Which still kept her up at night. She knew people were starting to notice, the little words here and there, the glances and exchanges of looks. Still, while they were busy focusing on the pointless things of life, like school dances and boys, no offense to Yang.
Still, when Glynda called up Pyrrha to face down Cardin and his friend, She felt like it was the perfect opportunity to catch up on at least an hour of sleep.
Weiss on the other hand, was all too happy to watch as Pyrrha gracefully dove, seeming to avoid each weapon with minimal energy, gracefully closing the distance with the perfect degree between her and Cardin's weapon. She was truly amazing, and that reminded Weiss that she could have had the most competent partner in the world.
Cardin rose after being kicked in the chest, while his friend/groupie ran at Pyrrha, swinging his sword downward in a fierce slash, which Pyrrha avoided perfectly with her timing, before stepping in and swinging her spear to smack him across the face.
Horsa watched carefully. Her movements were always wrong, and her foes' were no better. They seemed to slow down right as they were about to hit. He snarled. He hated this. If this was a show fight, not even dignified practice.
Pyrrha swung her spear, turning it into a sword and running at Cardin, who just barely rose to his feet. He raised his mace defensively, perfectly moving to block Pyrrha's coming attack. Horsa's eyes saw it, the way his mace betrayed him. Had the fool forsaken the weapon's spirit? Had he not bound his weapon, had he not bonded them? No, she was a witch… semblance user, her abilities were odd, and dangerous. No matter. Her manipulations would only lead to her death when the real fighting came.
There was only the briefest gap which she could exploit, and she did so. The Saxons all noticed, but Yang could only tell they were upset by the fight ahead. Sheesh, they loved fighting, but she was starting to wonder if they only liked bloody fights. It didn't really matter, because Cardin got a lovely trip out of the ring, and Glynda stepped in.
"And that, would be the end of a match at the Vital Festival. Remember to pace yourselves, because exhaustion is as much of a problem, or an enemy-" She included those words to try and resonate with the Saxons, as though they were foreign to the idea, "-as the actual teams that you will run into, now, would anyone else like to practice before we dismiss."
Horsa watched on carefully, while Yang reclined back. As far as she was concerned, Pyrrha burned away the competition. No one would want to try and top that.
"I'd like a go." One of the Silver haired new students stated, raising his hand politely.
Horsa's eyes scanned the figure, while Blake forced her eyes open. Her late nights have taken their toll on her concentration.
Weiss was surprised when Glynda's question: "And who would you like to spar with?" was met with a sarcastic: "How about…." He scanned the room, before pointing back at Pyrrha, "Her."
"I'm sorry, I believe I made this clear at the start of class, but she has just finished a fight-" Glynda began, preparing to smack the fool down like Weiss thought he deserved. Ruby, on the other hand, was all too happy to see everyone's moves.
Pyrrha started to interject, "It's quite alri-" She interrupted with the sound of a heavy chair being pushed back.
"I'll fight him." Horsa's words rose over the room, quieting even the silence itself. His own team mate of HNDW gazed back at him, Noryc smirking, as though he would finally see some blood spilled. Dougal and Wortikur, however, were less enthusiastic. Weiss just could not understand what got into Horsa, but he made no attempt to hide his displeasure towards the challenger.
"Wow, love the enthusiasm big guy, but I didn't ask to fight you." The silver haired young man argued smugly.
"But I have asked to fight you. and I should, my bones are aching from sitting around. I need a good stretch." Horsa scoffed, still not hiding his contempt for the new student.
Glynda intervened, "Young Saxon, he did not ask to fight you, please wait your turn-"
"But he did ask for a fight, from an exhausted foe. No honor, no sport in that." Horsa snarled, leaping onto his desk with a surprising agility, and jumping down from row to row, earning scowls and scoffs along each desk with paper being pushed and crumpled by his shoes.
Horsa paid no mind, in his classic fashion. Yang almost admired him for that lack of caring. Yet, she was also a little worried. This felt a little like bullying with the strangest of hatreds that Horsa expressed towards this new guy who did nothing to any of them. Heck, the guy looked kind of nice in a "bad boy" kind of way.
"Come on, this isn't fair, you're covered in armor, which leaves a big question in my head. Do you guys sleep in that armor?" The grey haired opponent joked about.
Horsa didn't even humor him. Yang was genuinely worried that Horsa was about to kill a young man right in front of them, and get himself expelled… if such a thing was possible.
Horsa answered the challenge by raising reaching back and pulling pieces of his armor until it went slack, and picking it up, before throwing it over his left shoulder with his right hand. The metal and fur crackled as they struck the ground.
"I mean, you still have a spear made for war." The challenger sounded really nervous.
Ruby wanted to intervene. There was no reason for Horsa to be so mean. He was just being a bully. She stood up, before Wiess pulled her down, "Trust him, This guy wanted to attack the Pyrrha Nikos when she was tired."
Pyrrha, the poor girl, was watching from the corner of the shadows of the arena, ready to jump in the moment things went south.
Horsa removed his spear, and placed it in front of the middle section's bottom row, before adding, "If you touch my weapon, I will rip your throat out." Horsa growled at the group sitting down there.
"Need I remind you that this is a sparring match, not a duel to the death, young Saxon." Glynda commanded, her eyes stern on Horsa, with the weight of her authority being directed at Horsa. Team RWBY all sighed collectively, because they knew exactly how much her authority meant to Horsa.
"Do not Lecture me, you child." Horsa scoffed at her, before glaring at Mercury, "Do your duty, and call the fight." He balled his fists, "I trust you have no qualms fighting me bare chested and bare handed, you half of a man."
Mercury used his whole strength to stop himself from reacting. How did he know?
"Enough, there is no need for insults." Glynda commanded, raising her hand, before sighing as Horsa took to the other side of the circle, ready to fight. His mouth began to drool in anger, as though he were getting enraged each second that he was here, ready to tear Mercury limb from lime… at least that was what Mercucry was fifty-fifty sure.
Horsa's stance was very grounded, as though he was ready to spring at the first moment of the fight.
"Very well…. Begin." Glynda called out, simply wanting this to be over.
Mercury used his limited knowledge of Saxons to know that waiting for them to attack was-
He dove out of the way as Horsa stuck the ground in… a surprisingly relaxed force, seeing as it didn't crack under the weight of his punch.
Mercury then stepped forward to throw a kick, only for his foot to be smacked away By Horsa's hand. In that moment, his mechanical legs felt funny. Different, weaker. Only enough that someone who had been using them for years now would have noticed, but they were.
Yang saw the silver haired challenger, Mercury, look a little shocked. Horsa was probably way out of his league. If he really was over a hundred years old, then Horsa was probably present for several real battles, and that was enough to make him leagues above most of them.
Mercury panicked a bit as this predator in front of him grinned. His shorter beard let more of his teeth show, and it only seemed more unnerving. Mercury had so many bad feelings about this guy. He should deal with him before he became any more of an issue.
Horsa charged Mercury with a punch to the face. It was pulled at the end, but it still hurt, seeming to break past the aura barrier to bloody his nose a bit before his body fixed itself, "Gah." Mercury cried out. Since when could someone punch that hard?
Horsa was primed and ready to run at Mercury again. Yang smirked and reclined back, "He won't kill him." She stated, with the most weak of confidence in her soul, but she was Yang Xaio Long, and wouldn't dare show it. She just pretended to know the seven foot tall murder machine down there.
Mercury ducked and rolled out of the way. He was very reluctant to use his legs. He just had a terrible feeling that if he did, he would be dead meat. And when you lived on your own, doing dangerous work for a while, you learned to trust your instinct. The main problem, was that his legs were his main source of weapons. What was he going to do?
Horsa growled at the Silver haired opponent, "Come now, show me some courage, fight like your life depends on it!" Horsa barked in Saxon, before running straight at Mercury again.
Mercury saw only one opportunity, and he took it. Mercury raised his leg and shot it out as the bare-chested Saxon lunged forward-. His foot was caught, grabbed.
Mercury Saw Horsa's right hand, clutching his foot. He gave the order to pull the foot back. It did not respond. His entire lower half was barely functional, and moving at a lul, even slower and weaker every microsecond. Mercury started to panic, as Horsa's arm began to shake. Was he getting ready to crush his foot?
Horsa's other hand struck Mercury's face, knocking him to the ground as Glynda called the fight, "That's enough! Young Mercury, can you stand?" She asked, concerned.
Mercury's legs wouldn't respond, best to play it off, "I'm a little tired… Good hit."
"You should expect no less." Horsa growled at him, before moving away, his arm still shaking ever so slightly, that most would not notice. Mercury examined him in that second, but he seemed to move so quickly to deny Mercury the sight. Was that unnatural?
Mercury knew his legs were disabled. Not damaged, disabled. The batteries were dead.
"Can you stand, I need to know." Glynda lowered down as two students ran up to Mercury.
Ruby stood up and ran down to look at the poor challenger, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" She cried out.
"I'm good, I'm good." Mercury had to get up. The last thing they needed was to be found out because someone checked his legs. He used his entire core muscles to pulled himself into a sitting position.
Glynda breathed a sigh of relief as Horsa passed team RWBY. There was a fuming anger surrounding him. Not that he made any effort to hide it, and Both Blake and Yang were pretty sure he would have only been happy if he had killed the poor guy. Which opened the door to all sorts of questions, yet again asking why he was so aggressive towards this one guy. It wasn't a power play, it wasn't like he was throwing his weight around. He wanted to hurt this guy.
Yang decided to investigate, and by investigate, she meant interrogate, because hiding was not Horsa's favorite thing to deal with, and he didn't really keep secrets, which meant this would probably be that this guy bumped into him wrong or something.
So Yang followed him, and when it was just the two of them, she asked, forward and upright, "Ok Rage-machine, what was that?"
"Rage-Machine?" Horsa asked, scowling with a snarl, which was a lot easier to read since his beard was reduced now to some long hairs around his face.
"Yep, I figured if you're going to be angry all the time, I might as well call you it, now: What'd he take from you?" Yang demanded, eyeing him down.
"You can trust that I have good reason to hate him, but to explain is… not possible. I refuse." Horsa stated firmly, with his face scrunched but also tired.
"Oh well I'm sure…" Yang stopped, Horsa was actually keeping a secret. Did she an alternative plan? Yes, it was simple: He wont ever not tell her anything, so there was no need. "What? Come on, you can tell me. Did he say something funny, did he bump you wrong, come on."
"He angers me, and I can not explain why." Horsa growled, before glaring at her, and proclaiming, "I will say no more, do not ask further." Horsa seemed guarded for a simple grudge match. Now Yang really had to know what was going on.
But her request was ended immediately by Horsa, and they went their separate ways. She arrived back at her dorm, only to find Blake marching out of the room, clutching her head. Yang almost stopped her, but couldn't even grab her arm before she stormed off.
Yang turned back into her dorm, and saw Ruby, looking ever so down in the dumps. Her big sister senses were tingling, and she walked in to see what she could do to help.
…
The Ancient awoke, breathing heavily over the burning village. His rib cage was stabbed, injured, broken. He looked down and saw the blade. A child… A child had injured him. The child was dead at his feet… his feet. His shame… he had killed a child, a warrior child, but a child none-the-less…
The Ancient… He was so old… this boy was so young. He looked down at the brown hairs of the small boy, his neck split open, and this universe slows their regeneration. It was the boy or him…. right. No…no..
The Ancient screamed in rage as he rose. The Oathsworn ran over to him, to tend to his wounds.
*-/
Alright, this chapter is finally complete.
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