358Alright, so... This is my first fic. I decided to start writing something both because I wanted to praticed my writing skills and because I had a few plot bunnies in my head. This is the work of a complete amateur, but I hope you'll have fun reading it anyway.
I went with a self-insert, gamer fic because I figured that taking a 'bad' premise and trying to do something good with it would make for a good creative writing challenge. That being said, I'm hoping to see some improvement in my writing skills as the chapters goes by.
What else? Oh, right. Disclaimer: RWBY is the legal property of Rooster Teeth. It doesn't belong to me, I'm just playing around with it.
I turned another corner. I had no idea where this place was, even less how I ended here, but I had been wandering the halls of this old, decrepit, castle for the better part of the last hour.
Or I thought so, at least. Time perception could get spotty without a watch. Or a sun.
That I could see inside without a single source of light doesn't help. In fact, not knowing where the light come from just put me on edge. Where were the laws of physics gone? By all rights, it should be pitch black in there.
There was something wrong with this place.
I was trying to find the stairs, hoping I would find my way to an exit, but I think I was walking in circle.
Looking at a piece of furniture on my left, I was pretty certain that I recognized the spot of mold close to it's feet, along with the cracks in the stones.
Yeah, this was definitely the third time I passed here.
Kekekekekeke
I jolted when I heard the laugher, unsure if I had heard right.
Unwilling to take the chance, I hid behind the commode. Unfortunately, there was no better place to hide. But even if it only hide me for a handful of seconds, it would still give me a slight advantage and that was probably all I could get right now.
Kekekekekeke
This time, the laugher was louder. Or rather, closer, confirming it was coming toward me.
I leant forward, just by a little bit, to peek down the hall.
I didn't see anything, but the laugher... someone should have been there. Did I misjudge the distance? Maybe. I don't know enough about architecture to know how the halls of a castle would affect sounds.
Kekekekeke
I jolted out of my hiding place in a panic. The sound came directly from behind me, where the wall was. I looked back in horror at the wall.
A huge, cheschire-like, grin had appeared on the wall and others were forming around it. In a second, it was not on the wall the they were appearing, but in the air, floating around me and surrounding me.
Some of the smiles had human teeth, some had sharp, carnivorous theeth, some had the teeth of herbivore and others only had gums. There were somes, too, who were not even smiles, but the space visibly curving into the shape of one.
Oh, so I guessed that was how I ended here, eldritch abomination. I supposed this was the part where I lose my mind. Because let's be honest, there was absolutely nothing I could do to defend myself from that.
Kekekekekekekeke
"Fear not, little man," The entity's voice echoed everywhere around me, giving no hints of which 'mouths' it came from. That is, if it even had a point of origin. "For I have not come to end you, but rather to offer you a deal."
Oh, goody. What good news it was. I might actually survive this. Because that didn't sound ominous as fuck. Nope. Not at all. It wasn't like there were a shit ton of stories about not making deals with some devil-like figures. I knew how these ended.
Nevermind my sanity, this thing was going to take my soul. Well, no thanks. I'm keeping it. No deal. Find someone else. Please.
Kekekekeke
"Now, now, don't make that face. Or at least, wait to hear what the deal is." It said.
I let out a defeated sigh. It's not like I could shut this thing up.
"What is it, then? And who, or what, are you?" I asked, daring to hope I would get some sort of information on this... entity. At worst, it just refuse to tell me what would be my end of the deal and I refuse like I'm already planning to.
"Oh, of course, where are my manners? You may call me 'Cackler'. I don't actually have a name you see, but most... peoples... I interact with refers to me with similar terms. Like the 'Mad Cackler', the 'Laughing God', 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH', the 'Giggling demon' or, my favourite, 'That One Smiley Maniac'." 'Cackler' introduced himself...
Yeah I was dead. It was nice to live. Or not, but it was the thought that counted, right?
Kekekekeke
"Keke. Now, for the deal itself," It said, bringing us back to our sheeps. "I am offering to you the opportunity of a lifetime: To be reincarnated in another world!"
My mind went blank for a second, before the Cackler's word, and their implication, sank in.
Another world? What did it meant by that? A parallel version of Earth, another planet, or another universe entirely? Likely the latter, since we're talking about an eldritch abomination. I doubt it would use the term 'world' if it was in the same universe.
So it means the multiverse is real? I felt a jolt of excitement at that. The possibilities...
Wait, the Cackler didn't just confirm a multiverse, but also reincarnation, which meant souls were real too. That was... Man, so many people would kill to get this kind of proof.
Then the epiphany hit me, this whole thing about being reincarnated in another world, I've seen this before...
"You're isekai'ing me?!" I exclaimed loudly, almost shouting.
Kekekekeke
That it simply laughed didn't fill me with confidence.
"Wait, is it going to be along the lines of Re:Zero? Because if I'm fated to suffer half as much as Subaru, no thank you."
Kekekekeke
"Do not worry, it is not. In fact, I have already taken steps to ensure you would have the time and opportunities necessary to survive. I do want you to stay alive as long as you can, after all." The Cackler said.
I hated that I couldn't tell if it was a good or a bad thing. So far, the Cackler hadn't revealed what it gained from this deal.
"...You still haven't told me what my part of the deal is. What do you want from me, exactly?"
The grins grew wider.
Kekekekeke
"There is a tournament that has attracted my interest. Unfortunately, it is closed to beings of my nature; That is why I want you to be one of my representatives."
One of? My eyes narrowed as I thought about the information.
"I'm not the only one you will reincarnate, then. How many of us will there be? And how dangerous is this tournament going to be?" I asked.
"Growing interested, aren't we? You excluded, there will be three other participants to fight at your side. Plus, when I told you that I had ensured that you would survive, that applied to the others as well. So while the tournament is going to be moderately dangerous, you four will likely end up overprepared for it. I am not betting this opportunity on luck."
So basically the deal was: I fight for him in his tournament thing and in exchange I get; reincarnated in a new world that hopefully had more opportunity to build a good life for myself, a fusion of Chtulhu and the cheschire cat tipping things in my favor and three allies to get out of any eventual mess this Cackler put us in should it be lying. That is, assuming it didn't lie about there being three other contractees.
That was... a little too uncertain to my taste, but assuming that it was only partially a lie, not so bad that staying on Earth would be a better alternative. With nothing to strive for in this life, getting isekai'd sounded really good.
...Alright, then.
"Fine, I accept your deal." I begrudgingly said. I didn't trust this Cackler thing, but it wasn't like there was much waiting for me in that empty void of a life.
"Excellent, this is going to be so much fun!"
That was the last thing I heard before everything went black.
Unbeknowst to both I and the Cackler, however, was that a moment before it reincarnated me, in the library of this castle, a dreadful book appeared out of nowhere and fell to the ground.
And it would stay there for the years to come.
/-/
9 months later
"I'm telling you," Roman insisted, "it can't be mine!"
The brothel matron stared at the young thief, unimpressed. "We took a DNA test on the baby, you're the only match in the entire city, it's yours." She said.
"Bu- but, I used protection!"
"And it broke. Should've inspected the condom before using it, idiot."
"I did!"
The matron snorted. "I have a proof the the contrary right here in my arms."
"But... I'm too young to be a father..." Roman whispered to himself, the sentence not meant to be heard, his shoulder slumped.
Unfortunately for him, the matron did hear him, her eyes narrowed. "You'd have to be of age to enter my building, you ARE at least eighteen, right?"
"...Yes, but-" He totally didn't get a fake I.D. to get into a brothel.
"Then take your brat and get out of my sight!" The matron interrupted the young thief and shoved the baby in his arms. "The mother died during the birth, so you're on your own, stupid brat. She named him Gemini, by the way."
The matron went back inside the brothel, slammed the door behind her and left Roman with his newly born son.
The not yet infamous thief looked at the sleeping baby in his arms and sighed. "How am I even supposed to take care of you..."
And thus started the new life of Roman Torchwick, sixteen years old teenage single dad.
/-/
Twelve years later.
'Today's the day.' I though as I got out of bed.
It's my twelfth birthday; which means dad's finally going to awaken my aura.
I couldn't wait to discover my semblance. Will I have super speed? Shoot lasers out of my eyes? Be intangible?
I wished I'd know already, but it couldn't be helped. Aura reserves tended to be lower when unlocked before puberty, a quick power boost in exchange of being forever crippled was a bad deal all around.
I quickly dressed before running to the kitchen, only to find it empty. I looked at the clock; 6:44. Dad usually wakes up around 10 o'clock because of his 'night activities'.
'I was so excited that I woke up too early.' I thought with a chuckle.
Oh well, guess I'll take my time eating breakfast on my own... And replace my shirt before anyone notice it's inverted. Big sis Neo had enough teasing material as it is.
So I took breakfast and wasted the rest of my time playing Kung Fu Ninja Ultimate Slayer Death Battle. The names was a mouthful, but the game was genuinely good. It'll keep me busy for the next three hours.
Around one hour and a half later, I was bored. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep my mind off of my soon to-be awakened aura.
"Good morning, I hope I didn't make you wait too long." Dad said, suppressing a yawn.
"Nope, it's fine! You're up early, are we going to unlock my aura now?" I asked dad, not bothering to hide my excitement.
"That's why I woke up early; Neo is already making coffee in the kitchen. I'll unlock your aura after that and teach you the basics of using it." Dad said.
"More waiting?" I whined. It was childish, but I couldn't help it.
Thankfully, dad didn't seem too bothered by my reaction. "Eh, don't worry, you can open your others gifts in the meantime." Dad said.
"But big sis always gives me a knife." I said. I already had eleven of those.
"I know," Dad sighed, shaking his head, "I talked to her about it." He said.
We went to the kitchen and surprise, surprise, big sis' gift was... a knife.
Dad slapped his face. "For f... fudge's sake, Neo, we talked about this." Dad said, glaring at big sis.
'You can never have too much stabbing tools on you.' Big sis signed, before sticking her tongue out.
He responded by sticking his own tongue out. Real mature, dad.
I looked at the high quality combat knife in my hand. This one was multicolored, it kind of glowed too. Like a rainbow. I grinned.
"Thanks big sis, I'll call this one Stabulous." I said.
It was a perfect name.
Dad didn't seemd to agree, given the 'look what you have done' glare he was giving big sis. She beamed.
Yay, big sis was proud of my naming skill.
"Whatever." Dad surrendered, taking another cup of coffee.
My second gift, this one from dad, held more promise since he actually bothered to search for something that'd interest me. Given the shape and weight of the gift, it was probably a book. Good, I liked books. I quickly unwrapped it.
'How to use aura for dummies' the title says.
I grinned. I was going to read this thing front to back. And back to front. And front to back again.
"Thank dad, I love it!" I said.
I opened the book and started reading.
"...Gem?...Gem! Did you forgot about your aura?" Dad called to me.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry!" I said before closing my book, posing it on the table and walking next to dad.
Dad kneeled down in front of me and put his hand on my shoulder.
"For it is through freedom that we stay alive, through this we survive where all others falls. Infinite in potential and defiant in front of the law, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, set thee free." Dad's hand slipped off my shoulder and he almost fell on the floor as his words resonated deep inside me.
"That's... a lot more aura than I expected, lucky you." He said, his voice straining a bit from the exhaustion of unlocking my aura.
I barely registered his words, though, because as a green light envelopped my body, the memories of a past life bursted in my mind.
I held my head in my hands, screaming in pain.
Said screams turned into screams of terror, as I remembered a particular set of memories.
A train blowing up a hole to bring Grimm into Vale.
A ginger robot girl ripped apart.
A woman in red and her minions attacking a young woman, who defended herself with magic.
A red hooded girl decapitating a giant Nevermore on top of a cliff.
A masked guy cutting off a blonde girl's arm.
A redhead reduced to cinders on top of a destroyed tower. The girl with the red hood.
A bright light.
A dragon's roar.
Vale on fire, Grimm in the streets, atlesian machines shootting down civilians.
Dad, devoured alive by a griffon.
"Gemini!? Gemini!" Dad shouted, lightly shaking my shoulder to get my attention. "Hey now, it's okay. Just breathe, alright?" He said in a softer voice.
Big sis came closer and rested her hand on my back, her lips set in a thin line.
I hugged my father and surrogate sister, quietly sobbing.
"What happened?" Dad asked me once I calmed down. "You started screaming your lungs off and chunks of your aura flew away... Did you discover your semblance already?"
"I don't- I'm not sure," I said. "I- I saw things, but I can barely make sense of them."
"Alright, you look pretty shaken up. Do you need time to gather your thought? You can use the bathroom to refresh yourself too." Dad offered.
I nodded and dad brought me to the bathroom.
Here, the first thing I did was to open the sink and splash my face with water.
For a moment, I didn't dare looking in the mirror, anxious at what I might see. Would I see myself, or the phantom image of a past, far away, life?
Who even was I?
I was Gemini. Was I not?
I had been Gemini for twelve years. I thought that was all of it, but what came before...
When I finally had the courage to look at the mirror, I ran a hand through my loose strands of orange hair. I looked in the reflection of my ocean blue eyes and saw my pale skin as well.
I breathed in relief as I saw Gemini's reflection, my reflection.
I was Gemini A. Torchwick and nobody else.
But I supposed I could, had to, make use of the knowledge from what came before.
Then letters appeared on the mirror.
Welcome to the Game
...Whut?
Tap anywhere to continue
...Alright? I tapped on the surface of the mirror and the letters morphed into a video game menu.
An error has occurred!
The 'Gamer's Mind: Immunity to mental effects' and 'The Gamer's Mind: Immunity to emotion' interfere with each other. Please choose one to erase:
Immunity to mental effects
Immunity to emotions
Gamer's Mind... Like in the webtoon? That was my semblance?
This error was new though, as was the wording of the skill. 'Immunity to emotions' instead of 'allows peaceful state of mind'?. This must work differently from Jihan's power.
Of course, between having my mind protected from external interferences and having my emotions, an essential part of one's identity, tampered with, my choice was quickly made.
I tapped on 'Immunity to emotions'.
'Immunity to emotions' has been erased
You may now proceed
The words then shifted to show a game menu.
Character sheet
Message(1)
Close Menu
This menu seemed... lacking. There was just not much to it. I mean, only three options?
My eyes trailed toward the message option.
I... had a message?
I tapped on the word, confused as to where this message could come from.
Congratulation!
If you are reading this message, it means you have lived long enough to awaken both your aura and with it, your memories of your past life. Since your continued survival is in my best interest and you have quite the complicated semblance, I have decided to analyse the program it formed and give you a sort of tutorial lesson to explain the basics. Let's start with the effects of your various statistics.
Ah, I remembered now. The eldritch horror and the deal it offered me. I wasn't going to complain about having some explanations about something.
Strength: Make all your muscles bigger, harder, and stronger. Upgrading this stat will boost your ability to hit harder, lift weight and move faster. Note: If your Strength is too high compared to your Constitution, using your muscles might snap your bones.
...I had the power to snap my own bones? Best semblance ever.
Yes, that was sarcasm.
Constitution: Strengthen your bones and make your oxygen distribution more efficient, allowing you to take hit better and have more stamina, along with better overall health.
I frowned at the description. That stat didn't seems as useful as Strength, being mostly a requirement to use the former stat to its full potential. Well, that and avoiding catching a cold.
Wait, never mind, more stamina is going to be a necessity to survive a fight that last for long periods of time. Like an endless swarm of grimm... I was going to need that.
Dexterity: Upgrade your muscles memory, raising your Skills.
Skills? Did they all depend on this single stat? That'd be broken.
Agility: Enhance your reflexes and your ligaments' elasticity, allowing you to dodge better.
Eheheh, I had always loved dodge tanking in video games.
Intelligence: Simply put, it's your I.Q.. DO NOT PUT POINTS INTO THIS STAT. Upgrading your stats work by modifying your body, but the brain is a complex and fragile organ. The modification of your neurons is highly likely to result in either death or a vegetative state.
...That sounded... horrible. Guess I'll do with what I had and focus on the others stats.
That is all for the stats. Others thing you need to know is that your semblance appear to have simulated a collectible quest...
I groaned, collectible quests were the worst, no matter what game they were in. I never completed even one of those. Screw your 100 feathers, Assassin's Creed.
...by sending pieces of your souls all over Remnant. Unfortunately, since your semblance is created by said soul, it means that your semblance is incomplete. You will need to find your fragments to recover many important options of your 'Game'.
Good luck.
The Cackler
PS: Even though these fragments cannot be touched by most people, they should still be visible for everyone. If one appear in public place, you might hear about it. Keep your ears open.
Thank God! If this made it easier to find them, I sure wasn't going to complain.
God knew I didn't want to think about a freaking collectible quest though. I'll take care of it later.
Right now, I was going to check the fun part of my video game semblance; the stats.
I tapped on the mirror and my semblance went back to the main menu, where I tapped the Character Sheet option. The main menu faded away to let place to four other options.
Stats
Perks
Skills
Return
I tapped the stats option, because why would I start with anything other than the basics?
Given the training I received from dad and Neo so far, I was expecting my stats to be oriented toward Dexterity and Agility.
Name: Gemini Alexandrite Torchwick
Level: 16
Exp: 462/1600
Age: 12
Sex: Male
Aura: 5000/5000
Stamina: 440/440
Strength: 14(34)
Constitution: 14(34)
Dexterity: 28(48)
Agility: 28
Intelligence: 128
Skill Points: 3
Return
That's... okay, assuming the parenthesis indicated a boosted stat, why did I already have a 20 buff on three different stats? And I started at level 16? Not 1? I hadn't even started using my semblance.
I pondered for a moment, before deciding that there was probably an answer somewhere else in my semblance. There was a Perk option on the previous menu after all.
I tapped the return option and then choose the Perks option.
Aura:
A physical manifestation of one's soul. Your soul has now taken upon itself to keep your body alive by strengthening, healing and directly protecting you.
Give Aura bar
Give Aura Armor skill
Give +20 Strength
Give +20 Constitution
Aura made the body stronger? Was this canon? Because this didn't feel like it was canon. When was it mentioned? Was I just an idiot and I missed?
...Was that how everyone was able to make such ridiculously high jumps?
I jumped, deciding to test it by myself. I went over a good meter upward, almost smashing my head in the roof. I would have if I'd have been a head or two taller. In insight, I should have waited outside to do that.
But, yes. Aura did make huntsmen and huntresses stronger, guess that explained how Ruby could lift her scythe... I didn't know how much Crescent Rose weighted, but 'more than I could lift' sounded about right.
Human:
A primate species of builders and tool makers, human have survived many hardships through an exceptional intelligence, fine motor control and record stamina. But can they triumph against the creature of Grimm?
Give extremely high Intelligence
Give the Perk: Opposable Thumb
Give the Perk: Stalker
The game took racial traits into account, then. I was not entirely certain why having thumbs is noteworthy enough to be a Perk but I guessed the stalker one is about persistence hunting.
Opposable Thumb:
The ultimate superpower! You can pick up sandwiches! And swords! But the sandwich is probably more useful.
Give +20 Dexterity
What.
I really didn't know how to react to this Perk.
...Move along then, I guess.
Stalker:
Beware the human! You are the ultimate stalker. A bipedal posture and efficient cooling system makes you one of the rare persistence hunter species in the world.
Give +100 Stamina
Double Stamina regeneration speed
Divide Heat Stamina reduction malus by 3
Yep! Totally called that one out.
Next!
Gamer's Body:
You can now live as a video game character. Your soul take it upon itself to give your body whatever it need to stay alive, eliminating the need for sleep and food.
Give Immunity to sleep
Give Immunity to hunger
Oh. I guessed that settled my semblance to be different than Jihan's gamer ability. This is a very different Gamer's Body.
Then again, it should have been expected, his was generated from the world while mine come from my single human soul.
Nevertheless, I very much liked this Perk. It will cut down the cost of living by a lot and allow me more time to farm exp.
And now, the problem child of the Perks.
Gamer's Mind:
You now have the mind of a player. Your soul has erected Firewalls to protect your mind and has disconnected your mind from your emotions.
Give Immunity to Mental Effects and Attacks
Give Immunity to Mental Exhaustion
Give [Error: File Not Found]
Ooooh, right! Mental exhaustion was a thing. Even if my body wouldn't get tired and need sleep, if my mind required rest, my immunity to sleep would have killed me.
Good semblance. Thanks for thinking about that, I liked living.
Now that I'd read the Perks, a lot about my stats make sense. My bonus stats in Strength and Constitution come from aura, while the bonus in Dexterity, and the high Intelligence, are racial characteristics.
Still didn't explain why I started at level 16. Maybe it was because I had previous training from my family?
Meh, I'll think about it later. I still had another thing to see in the menu.
I tapped on the mirror to return to the menu and choose Skills.
Stealth
Sword Proficiency
Knife Proficiency
Cane Proficiency
Hand-to-hand Proficiency
Pickpocket
Lock picking
So my Skills were things that dad and Neo teached me. It seemed like a lot, but to be fair, knives are pretty fast to learn, and my main weapon is a sword cane so I kind of use my cane like it was a sword.
The keywords here were 'kind of'. Of course there were differences.
Stealth, pick pocketing and lock picking were things they teached me long before they started to train me for combat. Because teaching a young kid how to move without being noticed was safer than teaching him to use weapons.
...Wait. If using weapons are skills, did that meant I couldn't learn how to use new weapons the normal way?
That wasn't good. Dad was planning to teach me how to use guns in the next few months. If I needed skill points or something like that, then did training served any purpose? It probably didn't.
I didn't see any option to use skill points. Was it because I didn't have any or because... no. Please God, no! Don't tell me the ability to use skill points was with one of the soul fragments.
If that was the case, I was going to be stuck at only close range combat for a long while.
I sighed.
At least I just had to raise one stat to become better at what I could already do... Here's hoping I'll be ready for Cinder when the time come.
...
...
Oh, who was I kidding? I was going to suffer so freaking much.
That means it was going to scheme.
/-/
When I exited the bathroom, big sis was leaning lazily on a chair and dad was on his scroll, talking to one of his men. I only caught the end of the conversation, though.
''Right, thanks for the info, Perry. Call me if you find anything interesting.'' Dad closed his scroll and turned his attention to me. ''How are you doing?'' He asked me.
''Better, I even discovered my semblance.'' I answered with a smile to both his surprise and bis sis'.
''Already?'' Dad said. ''It took me month to discover mine, talk about unfair.''
''So what is it and how do it work?'' He asked.
I described my semblance as best as I could, telling them about how it worked. I told them everything about the stats, perks, skills and how I could only get stronger by killing things. Preferably Grimm.
I... I didn't find a way to warn them about the future.
How was I supposed to explain that? Maybe if I kept my semblance a secret I could have said my semblance was seeing visions of the future.
But that would have backfired as soon as they noticed that I stopped getting stronger by training, or that I didn't need to eat anymore, or that I can't sleep, or... Yeah, that was a bad idea for quite a few reasons.
I told them about the soul fragments, though.
''And these... soul fragments could be anywhere from Vale to the grimmlands?''
I nodded.
Dad winced at the idea. ''Yeah, we aren't going there.''
Fair enough, not dying sounds really nice. I liked living.
I just hoped one of the fragments didn't end up at Salem's place, whatever that castle was called, that'd suck.
''By any chance, do these fragments look like glowing and floating green crystals?'' Dad asked me.
How?
I nodded, bewildered as to how he knew that. I hadn't described them yet.
Dad smirked. "That was what Perry called for. He was passing in front of the VRL when a glowing green crystal appeared in front of the building. Since it appeared at the same time I unlocked your aura and it shared the same color, I took an educated guess."
The VRL, Vale's Royal Library. It was funded by the king of Vale (not the one of the Great War, the one before that) who boasted of having the biggest library in the world.
Then the emperor of Mistral got all offended and built a bigger library. Then Vale renovated their library to make it bigger. Then Mistral renovated their own. Then Vale again. And Mistral again. And Vale again. And so on until king Ozias (the one of the Great War, sheesh, I wonder just who it was) was coronated and put an end to this glorified dick contest. He also opened it to the public, because it was only accessible to the nobility before that.
Of course, the settlers on Mantle laughed at the two kingdoms stupid enough to waste so much resources. Only for Atlas to make an even bigger library a few decades after the Great War. And the council of Atlas boasted about it.
Yes, I was a history nerd. Being the son of the most infamous thief of the kingdom was surprisingly not helpful in making friends so I kind of was left on my own and I developed an interest in reading books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Also, history was fun. Fight me.
"Since it's in Vale, we might as well go and get it." Dad said. "It should give us a better idea of what your semblance can do."
Being one of the most infamous criminal of the kingdom, dad obviously couldn't walk outside without someone recognizing him and calling the police. Thankfully, sis' semblance was as polyvalent as it was powerful. Her transparent shards of glass covered us, erasing us from everyone else's sight.
It made our way to the VRB as uneventful as it could be and we quickly arrived at the way-bigger-than-necessary building.
But we weren't the only ones interested in the glowing crystal. There were vans and cameras set up around the soul fragment, along with a team of cops keeping people away from the unknow (for them) phenomena.
The media beat us there. They worked fast.
Dad grinned as he looked at the silver haired reporter in front of the camera.
"Well, well, looks like little Lavender is already on the case." Dad said.
"You know her?" I asked.
"She's a relatively new reporter, only started around two years ago. She's a smart little thing too, good at snooping around; she actually managed to find me after a heist. We negotiated an arrangement, where she gets exclusive interview from me and I, if needed, get free intel on various subjects. If you need information, or to get a story out, you know who to call."
I frowned. "Is she not going to be angry though? We're pretty much going to ruin her scoop."
"Eh, it'll be fine." He shrugged. "Besides getting into an argument with her is always fun."
"What could possibly be fun in that?" I asked, incredulous.
Adults were weird.
"It's more the making up part that's fun." Dad grinned. "You'll get it when you'll be older. Let's go."
He walked toward the soul fragment and Neo and I followed suit, though not before making a gagging gesture.
What was that ab... oh. I... should have caught on that sooner. So dad and Lavender slept together.
Does that make her my stepmom? Probably not, I didn't think they were officially in a relationship given their respective places in society. It was more likely to be a casual thing.
Anyway, being invisible, we passed the news' crew and the policemen without incidence. I touched the crystal and watched my soul go from it to my hand, moving like curls of smoke. The crystal, left behind, was now transparent. Empty.
Ten seconds. That was how long it took for the soul fragment to come back to me. Is it the same for all fragments or does it vary? I'll see with the next one.
There were gasps in the crow when I took back the piece of my soul. Lavender, still in front of the cameras, interrupted her previous speech to talk about how the srange crystal of unknow origin disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. The murmurs of the crowds, along with the policemen communicating with their superior, confirmed that I was now the only one who could see the crystal.
A hand landed on my shoulder. "Looks like it's time to go." Dad said. "Make sure to bring that thing with you, there might be some use for it."
"You can see it?" I asked, surprised.
"No, but I can see your are still holding something. Come now, we have to hurry."
Indeed, one of the policemen was coming to inspect the place. We might be invisible, but it'd be bad if he bumped into us. So we passed around the police, and everyone else around, and discreetly made our way away from the library.
"Now," Dad said once we were sitting in a cafe a few streets away from the library's commotion. "Did it make any difference?"
The cafe we were now at was owned by dad. Well, not officially owned, the cafe 'The fair' officially belonged to Aquilain, one's of dad's men. Which amounted to it belonging to dad. The three of us were sitting at one of the private table, on the second floor, so nobody but Aquilain knew we were here. Big sis' can't just maintain her semblance forever after all, so we needed a place to talk were she didn't have to keep us invisible.
I mean, dad and I talked. Big sis is mostly just eating ice cream and listening.
"I need a mirror to check if something happened with my semblance." I answered.
Big sis waved her hand and a small mirror like surface appeared on my side of the table.
"Thanks, sis." I said, to which she answered with a thumb up.
I looked into the mirror and my semblance manifested after a few seconds.
Congratulation! You have found 1 Soul Fragment.
Your max Aura went up by 500. You can now use the 'Archive' functionality.
The menu appeared right after I read the message, showing a new option.
Character Sheet
Stats
Perks
Archive
Message
Close Menu
"I have an Archive option now, not sure what it does." I said. I tapped Archive and the Main Menu switched to another one.
Images
Musics
Videos
...Okay? To check what these contain, I had to choose one. So... err... music? I tapped the mirror again and classical music started playing.
If my memory was right, that was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I vaguely remembered having listened to it a little before the Cackler came to me.
I hoped they wouldn't notice the music playing literally didn't exist on Remnant. "It looks like the Archive contain many musics, images and videos. Nothing really useful..."
Dad thought for a bit. "At least that's one part of your soul back. Let's hope the next one do more." He said, before drinking the last of his coffee. "We're finished here. Neo." He threw a look at sis' semblance, the message clear as water.
Sis nodded with a smile, but her face quickly turned into a frown. She made another mirror, this one bearing a message.
'I can't make it disappear.' It said.
What? But sis had complete control of the mirrors she make.
Dad frowned too. "Have you tried moving it?'
The message changed. 'Doesn't work either.'
Dad sighed when he realized the problem. "Gem, close your semblance."
Oh. My eyes widened as I understood what he did. I went back to the main menu and tapped Close Menu. Then sis made both of her semblance's mirrors disappear without problem.
If opened on another's semblance, the Game hijacks their's until it was closed?
"Gemini," Dad said, his voice and face both neutral. This meant he was serious and I absolutely must listen to him. "do not, ever, use your semblance using someone's else as a medium. There is too much that could go wrong. Understood?"
"Yes dad." I didn't hesitate to agree, since souls aren't something to be careless with.
Then dad's scroll rang.
It was Perry, reporting another green crystal. This time at the Two Brother's church.
We went without delay.
/-/
Tick... Tack... Tick... Tack...
The cogs and gears ticked at the top of Beacon's tower. There, Ozpin waged his war against humanity's greatest ennemy. No, not the Grimm. Nor even Salem.
For no other ennemy has deprived humanity of so much of its time and ressources.
None other has inflicted such mental torture on the minds of men, nor has exhausted the most determined of them. And despite that, still force itself to be an integral part of any sort of organising, forcing the poor, tortured souls of men to come back again and again to their suffering. So wicked, even the god of darkness could never have come up with something so horrendous and evil.
Paperwork was indeed the worst thing ever invented.
Ozpin put aside the last pile of papers. The paperwork of a huntsman academy may represent a daunting task for many, but eternal life had at least the merit of giving him the skills to be done quickly with the chore.
Still, who would have thought that waging a war against the immortal queen of the grimm would means passing most of his time doing paperwork. In all of his lives, it was always the one thing that made him miss the battlefield.
'For the next few days, I'm leaving my workload to Glynda.' Ozpin thought. What? Cut him some slack, he's been doing paperwork since the last few millennia. He was so sick of it.
Ozpin rested his back on his chair and let out a tired sigh.
He was about to get up and get a cup of hot chocolate when a glowing crystal the size of his fist popped into existence right on his desk.
Of course, having millenia upon millenia of experience in aura and its ways meant that he, unlike the rest of Vale and its inhabitant, recognized the immaterial material for what it was.
A soul.
Ozma grabbed the soul and as soon as he touched it, he knew this was but a mere fragment of a much bigger soul.
He could try to look into the soul's memory, but while it was rather easy to differentiate between his own memories and those that are not, it was much more complicated to sort new memories apart from those of his long line of host. That would take him a few years to get anything from it.
For now, Ozpin must content himself to merely analyzing this strange soul. The orderly inner structure... the not quite right pulsion of aura it gave off. Feeling the cristallized aura left him with two certainties.
First, he could easily recognize whoever it belonged to with but a simple touch. Secondly...
This aberration wasn't, couldn't be, a human's soul.
So... be honest with me. How bad is it?
I guess a single chapter is not much to go on, but still, I welcome any constructive criticism and opinions.
Two little thing I wanted to address, though. 1: I went with Gemini's memories being unlocked with his aura as an excuse to not start too far away from the beginning of canon. The whole 'aura reserves being lower if unlocked before 12' is literally just an excuse to start the fic at that age. I hope taking this liberty with how aura works doesn't bother too much. Either way, it's not going to be relevant to the rest of the fic.
2: Yes, I know, the part with the multi-colored knife is bad and not even funny except to little kids. I cringe when reading it too, but I figured that I might as well leave it there since it shows that Gemini is a kid. I'm totally not leaving it there because I've been writing this chapter for three years and I was never going to finish it if I insisted on it being perfect.
Anyway, I've written a few chapters already and I'll be posting a chapter every two weeks until I run out of those I have in reserve, at which point they'll be out when they'll be finished. Don't worry, I can write a chapter in one or two months now.
Next chapter will be out 5th September.
In the meantime, I'll be waiting for your feedback.