3,663A/N: EDIT: Not a lot of feedback for this chapter, it seems...ah, well...I tried...T_T
Working an unexpected shift today -no days off this week!- so here we are. A quick update, a teaser if you will, a taste of things to come!
Just wanted to say, I appreciate you all! More feedback means faster updates! It's especially important, in these, trying times, with the main site notifications down. Every word counts and i appreciate you all! All these reviews really keep me inspired! Looking forward to hearing from you~!
This makes more than SEVENTEEN chapters for this story in THREE MONTHS. Hope you enjoyed them; I'm utterly exhausted. I wanted, and still want this to be good story, not a simple "Naruto bangs a, b, c, d, yadda yadda yadda." His actions have consequences; his words and will shape the world around him; I wanted every chapter to reflect that. Hopefully, I succeeded.
RWBY's fate may be up in the air for now with Viz Media, but we fanfiction writers are out here trying to keep the light alive, as it were. So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than little 'ol me, made solely for entertainment and the sake of laughter.
Seriously, I own nothing. You all know that well by now, I'm sure~! Slight spoilers from RWBY's Roman Holiday ahead...
Aurelia and Honey Wine are both from RWBY ROMAN HOLIDAY though we don't get much detail on the former.
Naturally, I had to improvise.
And the lovely Land of the Lustrous makes an appearance once more! As well as references to the now-infamous "knight" from the ESO trailer.
You all know that tanky breton bastard well...
Here we go~!
"You rat bastard!"
"Language! There are children present."
"Oh, yeah? Well, how about this?! Fuck you!"
"Hmm. Fair point. Allow me to offer you a rebuttal!"
"Cut the fancy talk! Whaddya mean a rebuttaaaaargh?! My leg!"
~?
Interview the Girls
"Something must be done, James."
General James Ironwood pinched the bridge of his nose to stifle a mounting migraine.
When that did not succeed -because really, why would it?- he heaved a sigh and popped a couple painkillers instead.
"And what would you have me do, Ozpin? "he leaned forward, idly wishing he could reach through the screen and give his fellow headmaster a good hard shake, perhaps a slap up the head and a kick in the arse besides. "Clap him in irons? For what crime? We can't be seen arresting the headmaster of another academy, certainly not this one, let alone so close to the Vytal Festival."
The immortal wizard opened his mouth to reply, but he wasn't having it and talked right over him beforehand.
"And what then, hmm?" Planting one hand under his chin, Ironwood leaned against it ans tilted his head a fraction of a degree to the right, the better to convey his displeasure toward his old comrade. "For the sake of your argument, lets say I do as you ask; clap this "Headmaster of Hell" in irons, imprison him inside one of my battleships. How do you think that'll go over with the people of Anima, nevermind the city itself? Mistral has quite literally adopted the namesake of its school by this point, its become a haven for Faunus of every type and stripe. If I so much as glance toward that man, the SDC will go mad."
The screen flickered with static for but a moment, allow Ozpin's image to resolve itself once more. "What have they to do with this?"
"Everything." He began drumming the fingers of his free hand against his own desk, the steady cadence soothed his rising temper, if only slightly. "You know what I'm talking about, Oz."
A quick blink, brief and befuddled. "...I'm afraid I don't follow."
James snorted and bit back a mirthless laugh.
Was he that obtuse, or willfully blind?
Really, he shouldn't be surprised. Oz ever focused on the big picture; it was all too easy to allow the smaller details to slip through the cracks.
Not James Ironwood.
No, never him.
Nope.
For once, Mettle actually proved itself useful; in that his semblance allowed him to take several steps back and consider the matter rationally from afar. Without hesitation, without emotion, without second-guessing himself to oblivion as other leaders might. And, rationally speaking, his semblance told him that it was a horrifically bad idea to mess with Naruto Uzumaki right now, if only because of the sheer frozen hellfire Willow Schnee would rain down on his head.
What was the saying again? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, lest it bite you? That was the one.
"Miss Schnee isn't a part of our circle," Ozpin prattled on, blind to the byplay as he often was. "I hardly see why she would care for the fate of a single Faunus-
"She's in bed with the man." he scoffed, talking over him. "Do you really think she'd stand idly by if I tried to arrest him on trumped up charges?
Ozpin reared back behind his desk, briefly nonplussed. "Their romance has not been confirmed."
Hadn't it? Willow chartered a flight to Mistral nearly every other week for "business" and always took her children with her. She practically owned a summer home there. He should know. As general of Atlas it was his sworn duty to protect and safeguard the citizens of his kingdom. Her comings and goings had been noticed, not just by him but the Atlesian media as a whole.
Rumors ran rife these days and speculation with them; they'd never been able to connect the two, if only because Haven's Headmaster and the SDC president were seldom seen together.
Ohhh, there had been interviews and business meetings and public dinners, all perfectly palatable for the public, but never any overt signs of romance.
But he knew. The signs were there, for those who cared to look. And he knew Willow well, no matter what the rumors might say.
She'd been a proud student of Atlas once. Dauntless. Defiant. Determined.
Before Nicholas died.
Before the SDC's downturn.
Before Jacques got his rotten claws into her.
Jacques Schnee, who even now couldn't be found year after leaving the company to his wife and going into "exile" deep in the wilds of Mistral. There was something amiss there, but he hadn't cared to look into it at the time; if only because Willow was infinitely easier to work with than her ex-husband.
No, insofar as he was concerned, the woman was practically a saint.
Since seizing control of the SDC from its insipid shareholders, Willow had not only introduced a number of reforms that not only had the Faunus raving with glee, but doubled the wages of every worker company wide, then offset the costs of said wages by handily uncovering a great many dust deposits in Mistral. Much to his surprise, the Schnee Dust Corporation was given practically free reign when Mistral's ruling council din't put up a fight. Profitable trade deals soon followed, enriching both kingdoms yet further and solidifying the bond between them.
All this, stemming from that fateful day when when Jacques brought his family to Mistral.
Had Willow met Naruto way back when? Before he was Headmaster? Had they struck up a rapport?
Sometimes he wondered if they'd secretly conspired to have Jacques removed; forced the foul cretin to choose between death or exile.
So very close to the truth and yet so far.
Shaking his head, he refocused upon the matter at hand, just in time to catch the tail end of whatever Ozpin had been saying.
-doesn't matter whether Haven's headmaster is or isn't a faunus, nevermind his pillow partners." the notable lack of good grammar only further betrayed his anxiety, "I have good reason to believe he has captured Team STRQ...!"
Ironwood arched an brow.
...what remains of it." Oz amended, doubtlessly recalling the unfortunate absence of a certain broody bird. "Regardless, he's due for a visit. The man is a loose cannon, a rogue trader, bartering in lives, and I fear what may become of him if left unchecked."
"Do you have any proof that he's taken them?"
"I know that he has Qrow." It wasn't enough to see Ozpin's grimace, he could feel it in the man's voice. Summer and Taiyang went haring after him when I wasn't looking. Neither of them are returning my calls."
Concerning, but not surprising. "What, exactly, are you asking of me, here?"
"Only that you stand with me and Theodore when we meet him; that you help us present a united front."
"And when will that be?" he dared to ask. "Not during the festival, I hope."
"Shortly before the festivities commence."
He blew out a sigh. "Oz...
"Do not test me on this, James."
Ironwood groaned into his hands.
The Vytal Festival was fast approaching.
Who knew what dastardly deeds the Headmaster of Hell might be planning?
(.0.0.0.)
Sit up straight.
"Miss Aurelia, was it?"
Don't fidget.
"You have excellent credentials."
Smile.
"You taught at Signal, I understand? Isn't that on patch?"
She forced herself to nod, clamp down on her rising anxiety, and endure the next barrage of questions with what she hoped appeared to be admirable aplomb. She mustn't panic here; panic was the enemy, and panic would tear everything down for her as it had once, so very long ago. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, and she wasn't about to louse it up by putting her foot in her mouth, or, gods forbid, being her usual clumsy self.
At glance, the "Headmaster of Hell" really didn't look all that terrifying. Naruto Uzumaki wasn't a young man, but neither did he look old, either. He might well be in the prime of his life for all she knew. His blue eyes were bright and calm, his smile cheerful, often dimpling his whiskered cheeks, hands prone to flying about whenever he grew excited, or running through his wild blond hair when he grew embarrassed. His suit was also very red, just as she'd been told, and those black trousers were really rather-gah, no! Focus!
All in all he seemed pleasant and affable, not at all the terrifying specter she'd heard tell of.
This was the man who'd singlehandedly beaten back a Grimm incursion in the heart of Mistral, the man everyone in the city was raving over.
The man, who, if she were lucky, just might hire her.
She hoped she looked prim and proper enough herself; she'd chosen a conservative creme-colored blouse for today's interview, pairing nicely with her tan skin, caramel-gold eyes and long dark hair, while contrasting with her long blue skirt, stockings, and thesedamn high heels. Aurelia loathed skirts with the burning passion of a thousand suns and had never been overtly fond of heels to begin, but she was prepared to suffer through them just this once, if it meant acquiring this job.
Anything was better than staying in Vale; anything was better than Signal after her failure.
Blood. Broken bones. A shrill scream, haunting her dreams.
"Why didn't you save me?!"
That awful Ursa...!
It didn't matter that she'd protected fifteen other students, that the courts had absolved her of "guilt", that she hadn't been charged. Nothing could absolve her of her own misery. Even three years later, she blamed herself to this day, still saw her death in her dreams.
"She should still be with us. Mercy was always so capable, perhaps I put too much faith in her to take care of herself while I got the others to safety."
As if a mere statement absolved her in the death of a fifteen-year-old girl. A child. Her fault. All her fault...!
The girl's parents had cursed and spat at her, swearing revenge, vowing to ruin her.
She'd resigned her position soon thereafter, gone back to Vacuo, and drowned herself in drink. Lost herself in a bottle, with no intention of ever coming up for air.
The headmaster of Shade offered her a role and she politely turned him down. A man from Beacon had sought her out for the same reason. She'd spat in his face. There had even been a Specialist from Atlas, a gorgeous tall woman whose name she couldn't quite recall, with biceps the size of her head but she too had been denied...after a raucous, drunken night.
Elm.
Yes, that was the name.
Their one-night-stand was one of her few fond memories.
And then she'd heard of him.
A warrior. A faunus. A madman who taught his students, his children, to be all that they could be, who threw them at Grimm regularly and yet hadn't suffered a single death in his entire tenure. She'd seen him on the television. Heard his speeches on the radio. Even in Vacuo, they'd whispered about him. She'd ignored them at first, but as time went on and tales of his deeds grew, so too did she find herself curious. Of course it helped that Mistral had never tried to headhunt her-or seduce her-and in time, she sobered up, packed her bags, and went for a visit.
Now, seeing him in the flesh, she knew why.
It wasn't just his height-most everyone towered over her, she hated being short-but the way he carried himself.
He was a hero, no, practically a GOD-
"Miss Aurelia?"
She blinked, realizing she'd been asked a question, and subsequently blanked. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"I said, I'm sorry about what happened to your student." those whiskered cheeks of his creased in sadness and sorrow. "It must've been difficult."
...yes." she tucked her head into her chin. "It was. It still is."
His face softened in understanding. "I understand you have a semblance."
"Yes!" She latched onto the new subject with naked relief. "I can control the properties of my hair, mold them to my will."
A blond brow rose in mild curiosity. "Would you mind demonstrating for me?"
He didn't mean the paired shields at her hip, but her semblance.
Alright. That much, she could do.
Gingerly, she reached out with her long hair to pick up nearby bottle of water on the table. A simple twist opened it to which she lifted it to her lips to drank, draining it completely. From there, she lifted a dark strand for emphasis, making one strand hard as steel, and slashed across the now empty plastic, cutting it in twine. Determined to prove herself, she then creating a web of deadly spikes with the other and brought them down on the severed halves, lifted them again, and deposited them neatly in a nearby bin.
"I can also create other things...
On a whim she conjured the likeness of six serpents with her dark tresses, each with sharp fangs ready to bite, more than powerful enough to tear chunks out of a Grimm.
Naruto leaned forward in his chair with a look of almost boyish wonder; it made him seem younger, somehow. "Amazing. Doesn't that drain your aura?"
"A little." Heat crept up the back of her neck and she let her hair fall to cover it. "My semblance hasn't evolved yet."
Haven's headmaster sat up with an almost reluctant sigh. "...no wonder they called you Gorgon."
Because her eyes glowed when she used her semblance. Yes, yes, she was well aware of her moniker and not overly fond of it, but there was nothing she could do about it. These were the gifts that she'd been given, the hand that she'd been dealt, and she must live with it.
"I once knew somebody who could manipulate his hair in a similar fashion," Naruto said suddenly, apropos of nothing, "Though not quite like yours. Jiraiya would've liked you, I think."
Aurelia perked up. "Someone with a semblance like mine? Does he live nearby? Is he-
Naruto's face closed down. "He died."
A tiny, despairing whine escaped Aurelia's mouth.
'Foot meet mouth! Clutz, thy name is Aurelia! Somebody kill me!'
Squirming where she sat, she bowed her head in contrition. "M'sorry...
"Don't be." she saw his hand wave in her peripheral vision. "Say, how do you feel about adoption?"
Aurelia squeaked, caught flatfooted by the sudden inquiry. "Adoption?!
"You're a good person." he shrugged a shoulder. "Bort and Phos might like you." quick as flash, he changed gears on her again, leaving her reeling. "That said, I'm prepared to offer you a position here in Sanctum. Perhaps in Haven three years from now, if you acquit yourself well. Will you accept?
Her heart fluttered furiously in her chest. "Just like that?!"
For some reason that amused him.
"Just like that," He reaffirmed with a chuckle, it was a soft, pleasing sound that warmed her blood and made her well...warm. "I've already hired a recently reformed criminal. Her name was Honey Wine. If she can be redeemed, so can you."
Her soul squirmed with guilt.
"I recently hired a knight as well. An honest-to-goodness bastard in full plate, two-handed greatsword and everything. Bacaro Volorus, his name was." he chuckled at some joke he didn't understand. "Don't even know where he came from; he just walked out the forest one day and asked for a position. He barely even talks, but the kids adore him. My point is, if I can hire a knight with no teaching experience whatsoever, I can certainly hire someone like you, who actually knows what she's doing.
"But I lost a student."
"Fair." His head tilted. "Will you do so again?"
Never!" she sprang to her feet incensed. "I'd sooner die!"
"Great. He thumped a fist down on the desk. "We've all lost someone, or something. Loss makes us stronger. Your student wouldn't want you to suffer, let alone wallow in your guilt. Haven't you suffered enough these last three years?
Wait, how did he know that? Oh, bugger. Had he looked into her before reaching out for an interview?
Aurelia fidgeted, knees rubbing together as she awaited his judgement.
Naruto thumbed his chin. "Still, if you don't want it-
"No!" she practically threw herself at his feet, hands clasped before her. "I do! Take me!"
The weight of her words caught up to her a moment later.
Her face went red like roses, then scarlet besides.
Naruto's brow shot into her hair.
Oh gods...!
"I...um...well!" the short woman sprang to her feet, flailing for an excuse. "I didn't mean...well, not that I wouldn't, but...!"
Thankfully his door crashed open, sparing her from further humiliation.
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto never grew tired of that look in their eyes.
The awe. The surprise. The shock.
It felt...good.
He was doing good work here, real work. Making a difference. A man could get drunk on that. But he couldn't allow himself to be distracted here; not when there was so much to do. It had been a hectic month since the Grimm invasion and so much to do in the aftermath; teachers to vet, transfer students to welcome and headmasters to prepare for. He was rather looking forward to that last one.
Ozpin-sorry, Ozma-was sure to come knocking sooner or later. Good. He had some choice words for his fellow pseudo-immortal. They wouldn't be kind ones. You had hundreds, if not thousands of years to deal with Salem, and you waste them doing what? Containment? Keep away?
The moment Salem figured out the Maidens, the vaults should've been uprooted, the relics moved, their power reabsorbed. Or maybe he couldn't do that. One could argue that this wasn't his fight -it most assuredly was not!- but he wasn't above getting his hands dirty if it came down to it.
Already he'd stripped Salem of all her lieutenants -though he admittedly had his suspicions about that mention of Hazel back at the orphanage- setting back her plans decades. Monsters did as monsters do, after all.
Some had even started to call him by a far more worrying title. The Emperor of Mistral.
No, no, no! No Emperor here! No such heresy!
Ahh, if only he didn't have a school to run. Well, schools if one counted Sanctum and the younger school he was trying to kickstart down at the House of the Hearth.
He wouldn't trade this for the world.
But he would trade the very embarrassed young woman before him for literally anyone else at the moment. Poor Aurelia had gone and said something she shouldn't, and now she looked like she wanted nothing more than to bolt.
Mercifully, someone knocked his door down first.
He didn't even have a chance to speak before a hurricane of gold and red came barreling into his office.
"Uncle Naruto! Yang's being meeeeaaaaan!
"Hey! I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Like heck you did!"
"You started it!"
"Did nooot!"
"Did too!"
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth
Looking back to Aurelia, he maintained his Headmaster facade and granted her a quick nod.
"Pardon me for a moment."
Ignoring the shouting match that followed, he ducked down, snatched the perpetrators up by the scruffs of their necks and dangled them in the air like a pair of naughty kittens. A pair of lilac eyes stared back at him from one side, and stark silver the other.
"Hello, Yang. And Ruby." he inclined his head toward his de facto niece. "Who started it this time?"
Yang kicked her legs sullenly. "Ruby did!"
He chortled softly, sensing the lie. "Did she, now?"
The little reaper kicked her legs and shook her head. "Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!"
A blond brow rose.
Yang huffed. "She pulled my hair!
"Only because you were being a meanie!"
Mustn't laugh. "And how, pray tell, was Yang being a "meanie" this time?
"She said I'm weak!"
Yang flailed, to no avail. "Oi! I said you're weaker than me. A lotta kids are!
Ruby puffed out her cheeks and sniffled."You were still mean!"
Ah, sisters. Always testing their limits. And these two had years to make up for. "Make up right now, both of you, and I'll take you out for weapon parts tomorrow."
Yang grumbled, but Ruby capitulated suspiciously quickly. "M'kay...whose that?"
"That," he indicated his newly-hired associate, "Would be miss Aurelia. She'll be teaching at Sanctum starting tomorrow.
Said would-be teacher dared a nervous wave, but he could see the strong emotions brimming beneath her bosom.
She'd make a good teacher, this one. And a good mother besides. She just didn't know it yet.
Yang perked up, every bit Raven's daughter. "She looks strong. Is she special?
Naruto beamed at her. "She's extraordinary."
A/N: Aaaaand scene.
There we go, another sad soul saved. Never liked what happened to the poor girl in the book.
We'll get to see the rest of the gang next chapter and all of the merry MADNESS that is about to ensue~!
Hope you enjoyed it. That said, would you like another early update this week? By that, I mean Friday or Saturday hopefully. Perhaps even earlier?
Do let me know; feedback is important, especially with the app and site occasionally glitching out en masse .I really need to hear from you here, give the site issues.
RWBY may have been canned by Warner Bros. but we fanfiction writers are out here trying to keep the light alive, as it were. So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter!
That's no joke! I can't write without feedback. Guess that makes me weak...T_T
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews!
Potential ones at that.
Also, references.
And as ever:
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
SPOILERS AWAIT THEE~!
YE BE WARNED~!
(Previews)
Cinnabar heard the laughter.
She was poison.
She always had been, always was, always would be, for as long as she could remember. She couldn't be touched, couldn't draw near.
The door creaked open.
Stay back!
I don't want to dirty anything more than I already have. I don't want to be seen. It's shameful. I don't want to fight...then you won't have to.
"What do you know?!" she glared at him. Someone like you, beloved by all they couldn't possibly now what it feels like to be lonely.
Honestly, he tuted softly like an amused parent. Everyone's making this mistake. Its your semblance. You control it. Not the other way around.
Don't doubt yourself. Doubt kills. That's who are you, who you've always been, who you always will be. Sometimes we make the wrong choices to get to the right place.
No! I'm poisonous! You can't touch me-
You can't possibly adopt everyone.
I am running effectively running two academies in Mistral. Sanctum, where children learn what it is to be a Hunter and Haven where they BECOME Hunters.
Is this going somewhere?
The point, dear girl, is that I consider each of them my children. You're hardly the most difficult case that's come to me. I know someone who sprouts claws from his knuckles, a girl capable of wiping minds, and a boy who literally cannot open his eyes without incinerating someone. Then there's this rather surly gargoyle girl -fairly certain she's a faunus- who seems convinced that I'm out to kill her, to say nothing another student with six arms who enjoys kicking temari balls around. Oh, and my daughter flings lightning bolts when she's angry.
Her head was spinning. "And your point...?
"My point is, a bit of poison won't bother me.
She hiccuped once.
She melted into him.
Cinnabar.
Cinna, then. He patted her head. "Welcome to Sanctum."
Listen up, Students of Sanctum! A weapon is the soul of every Huntsman and Huntress, and so it must match them. Not solely in outward appearance, but their nature. Some weapons are rigid and thin, others large and powerful, others flowing like water. When crafting a weapon we beat the blade to remove the impurities from the steel, and thus harder the harder it is, but too pure and it becomes brittle. We must leave something of how it was made.
Some might say any and all impurities must be removed. Perhaps, yet an impurity in the right place strengthen's one's weapon. Soft steel in the center, hard steel for the edge. Place the two together and you can have greatness. But what is a weapon? It is a line. On one side of that line is life, and the other, death. The edge you forge here today will cut the between the two. Now then...
He stepped back and gestured to the forge.
...craft your weapons."
"You don't treat your savior like a slave."
"But he is supposed to save me , serve me and..."
"You see, that's where you got it all mixed up...HE ISN'T.
EDIT: Equalizer references are entertaining, as always~! A shame I can't bring the main man himself into this story...
We all end up where we're supposed to be. Some of us just take a little longer to get there. Which means your man on the left, he's got his finger on the trigger but she's a foot too close, which renders your man on my right dead already. He just doesn't know it yet. I feel sorry for his family. Nine seconds. That's what you have to decide your fate. Nine seconds.
His smile split his face as he began to count down.
Eight...Seven...
"You keep…calling me the good guy."
"I'm not the good guy."
"I'm the bad guy!"
Pickerel raised his gun and blew smoke from the barrel. "I bet all that aura makes you feel like a big man, don't it? I did too, until I fought a bastard that cut right through it. Y'see, there's just one problem with aura. Most people I know, they have to consciously keep it active. I wonder if you can manage that?
One of his attackers fell with a bloody gurgle.
A grin split his face. "I guess not."
Then he was among them.
Guns blazed in the dark.
The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet.. is Fear. It's funny then, that as common as fear is. We so easily underestimate its power Fear of growing close to someone. A subsequent fear of loss, a fear of failure. And as more people depend on you. Those fears can take on greater power.
But fear itself isn't worthy of concern; it is who we become while in its clutches.
Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them?
Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start?
..I suppose we all find out sooner or later.
"Team SLVR." he greeted them at a glance. "Shiro Wan, Lin Fucshia, Victor Farrow, Rory Andrews. By all means, come in! He granted each of them a smile. "How are you settling in?
Team HCIN, welcome. Heather Shields, Nova Carillo, Ivy Altham, Inigo Nash. Tell me, how do you feel about entering the Vytal Festival?"
Team CBLT. Carmine Escalados, Bertilak Celadon, Lali Choi and Caroline Teale. I take it you're here to enter the Vytal Festival?
Two monsters circled one another.
"So, you thought you had all the pieces right where you wanted them."
"There are so many moves I've yet to play."
"You should've stayed away."
EDIT: Hey, thanks for reading!
Feels good to write another chapter for this. Hope you enjoyed it!
So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard! Your reviews matter!
Hope you have a great day~!
R ~!