AN: So I kind of lied. Hopefully you guys like this first chapter
AN2: Why the fuck was this deleted on FF and AO3? I get FF because the site is buggy but AO3?
"What am I doing with my life?" Yang muttered to herself, sitting on a park bench in Vale. The beautiful, broken moon hung in the sky, casting a soft light over her. It had been a few days since the incident at the docks. She knew there would be consequences, but she hadn't expected a talk with Doctor Oobleck to be one of them. Sure, she knew one of those conversations was bound to happen, but she wasn't prepared for how much she'd hate what it revealed about her. She expected—maybe—to have a breakdown at some point. But rethinking everything now? That wasn't in her playbook.
In hindsight, she knew what happened at the docks had been pretty dumb, but she just didn't understand why they all had to go to a counselor for a talk. Why did it feel like she was being singled out? It made her think… Why did her reason have to be selfish, and why did she have to feel so guilty about it? She knew it was selfish, but she was still trying to save people, wasn't she? That had to count for something… right?
Yang wanted to get up and walk again, but her body just didn't move as she kept thinking. Normally, she would go to the gym during one of her free periods to let off steam or just talk to her friends, but everything reminded her of how much she felt like trash. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn't realized a man had sat next to her.
The soft click of a lighter snapped her out of her thoughts. Yang lazily looked to her left and was surprised to see a lit cigarette between two gloved fingers. She finally looked at the man directly, immediately noticing the seemingly neutral expression on his face. "You seem like you need a smoke. C'mon, it's blueberry-flavored."
Yang scowled a little but hesitantly took the supposedly strange-flavored cigarette. She took a closer look and was surprised to notice it was wrapped in blue paper with a black pattern resembling train tracks. She wasn't unfamiliar with cigarettes and had actually smoked once or twice before, but she had never seen this brand. Nevertheless, she brought it to her mouth and was surprised again at how strong the flavor was.
"Yeah, I had the same reaction when I first tasted one. Don't worry, it's supposed to be calming. Now tell me, lass, why are you sulking all alone in a park? It's close to midnight. Shouldn't you be at home?" the man asked. Yang noted the cross pendant around his neck and the strange white and blue uniform he was wearing. Honestly, she thought he was a huntsman. Not that it didn't make the question weird.
"And why would I tell you that, you old man?" Yang retorted, making the man sigh as if he expected that answer. It made her feel a bit guilty, but for the most part, she just waited for him to leave or give her a reason to use her hands. He, however, didn't seem to get mad; he just looked at her with eyes filled with pity.
"Lass, you bring down the mood in all of Vale, and I hate seeing hunters like you add to the Grimm magnet that is this wretched kingdom. Aura makes Grimm flock to you even more, love," the man said nonchalantly. His speech pattern got a laugh out of Yang; it kind of distantly reminded her of that upperclassman… Velvet was her name, right? It relieved some tension from the air for her, yet now she was left only with questions about the man next to her.
"Hunters like you? I thought you were a huntsman with what you're wearing," she said, her eyes obviously trailing over his entire body. His peaked cap was a blueberry blue with black accents that hurt her head to stare at.
"Just a simple conductor. I'm in Vale because someone needed help with the train from Beacon to Patch. The name is Atan Moore, by the way," the man said, waving at Yang. Yang was a bit confused by his words.
"There's a train between Beacon and Patch? I've lived all my life on Patch, and from what I know, we only have a bullhead dock and a harbor," Yang said, suspicion clear in her voice as she eyed the man in front of her. "I'm Yang, by the way—Yang Xiao Long," she added, still wary. Atan, unfazed, just fished a set of keys and a badge out of his pocket and held them up.
"Here's my badge and keys to the train." He held them up just long enough for her to read the company's name. It was strange. The badge was a silver heart with a black-painted metal chain wrapping around it. On one end of the chain was a tiny key, and on the other end, it wrapped around the heart again, changing to look more like train tracks.
"Elysium Railways? Strange name," Yang said as she took her scroll out of her pocket to check the time but froze. She knew it was late, but it was nearly 2 a.m. She needed to get to Beacon since she honestly didn't want any of her team on her case, but she knew bullheads probably wouldn't be flying at this hour. "Crap, I am going to have to walk."
"Eh? Missed a bullhead, did you, lass?" From seeing her worried expression, Atan got the hint and chuckled a bit, which earned another sigh from Yang. "Tell you what. I've got to go run security on my train, and while it does take a big loop, it will get you to Beacon earlier than using your legs."
Yang begrudgingly considered the proposal and, even more begrudgingly, nodded to accept the offer. Yet as she did, she flipped the tracker on her scroll on. If she was even later than normal, at least her team would know her rough location. "Fine. You better not try anything. I'm not in the mood for games or funny business."
Atan seemingly missed what she did and got up from the bench, prompting Yang to do the same and put her scroll away before taking another hit from the blueberry cigarette. She was still surprised by how strong yet strangely good the taste was. "I could get you a box if you want, lass."
"Nah, let's keep it at one. It's good, but I'm already in a lot of trouble lately. I don't want to add a nicotine addiction to that list of troubles," she laughed in response as they kept walking. Yang was a bit surprised, however, by how far they were going and how much farther they were getting from Beacon. "Are we really going the right—"
"We're here"
As Atan called, Yang froze and looked at him, only to see him walking down some stairs. Since it was just her and Atan, she decided to take a leap, jumping down all the way and rolling to lessen the damage her aura had to absorb. With a grin, she turned and said, "Keep up, old man!"
Atan rolled his eyes and kept walking down the stairs normally, sighing as he heard Yang's voice echo through the underground station. Each of his steps on the stairs made a loud noise that soon drowned out Yang's voice before he took the lead again. On each side of the tunnel were a few shops and several escalators going up and down into deeper tunnels. "We are currently at the central side. We need to be at platform 9, so it's still a bit of walking, but for a huntress, I guess this is just a stroll."
"Well, you do have to be somewhat fit to even get close to the Beacon Initiation, but did you just say platform 9?" It sounded strange to her. How did she not know that Vale had a train station with either just 9 platforms or even more? It just felt too big to have missed.
Atan didn't answer her and just kept walking until they got to an escalator going down, marked by a glowing sign with 8B and 9B. Yang shrugged and followed the conductor deeper into the ground until they reached a giant tunnel.
Yang shook her head. She honestly found that if she had to fight Torchwick it would probably in one of these underground stations. Finally she stopped in front of what she would probably call a monster of a vehicle. larg and angular as the locomotive while big blocky train cars were attached to the back of it "Lass, here we are. The train that I call mine: the 800 Series."
"This looks much better than I expected. I don't see the turrets, but they'll probably pop out when we're out of the walls and ceiling, right?" Yang asked, with Atan just shrugging as he waved her into the dark train. With a sigh, she realized she wouldn't get an answer, so she decided to just follow him.
Sadly, if they hadn't been so hasty, they might have noticed a pale man a few doors down enter the train. In one hand, he held a newspaper while the other hand gripped the door, the metal warping under the pressure before he grabbed the other side and pushed the metal back into place. His open mouth closed before turning into a smile as he walked deeper into the train and took his seat.
AN: I lied about 2 things. The 2 one-shots I was supposed to make were so bad so I am postponing them for later. The second thing is stepping away from RWBY. I just can't let this series go
I know this idea will sound like crack when we get to the later chapters but I really like it so I am gonna roll with this for as long as possible. No other stories will be updated except Grimm Reminder getting some chapter rewrites and chapter fusions. There will be at least 1 chapter a month and I say AT LEAST. There is most likely gonna be 2 or 3 but 1 on the minimum. See you around people