RexHeller's Plot Bunny Thread

[Cmmdfugal]

REX LIVES

stomp stomp

still this is an interesting idea with one of the flatter characters with decent potential get something

 

[Krazyfan1]

? @Lazurman, a friend of mine, had an idea to do an SI as Adam Taurus

Click to shrink...

Ah, thats what that was.
I was worried it was going to be one of the Bad kinds of Adam fics.

 

[Dark Lord Potato]

Missed you Rex

 

[RexHeller]

Double the Glory​

"Aaah Fuck!" I woke up feeling freezing cold concrete burning against my skin. Naturally I jumped up, away from the cold. The odd thing was that I stayed there.

"I… I'm flying?" Or floating, at least. I hung in the air, gravity's tug on my body doing nothing to actually push me back down. I looked down in amazement, staring at the two feet of empty air between my feet and the ground.

It, uh, took a little bit of looking past something to see that though. I was naked, and I wound up staring at my body a bit too. Perfect skin with just a bit of a tan, large breasts and curvy hips, a decent bit of muscle tone and no body hair. I was a teenager and not a porn star, at least I was pretty sure, but it was clear that my body was something I took care of.

Which led to even more confusion about how I'd woken up alone, naked, in a creepy rundown basement, with no memories before that point. It felt like that needed some terrible decision making in order for it to happen, probably a lot of drugs of some kind or trusting the wrong people. But I was in good health, no signs of addiction that I could tell and I certainly didn't feel like an idiot.

I wasn't going to get answers just floating around though. Looking around in the dark, I saw a ratty old blanket or something bundled up in the corner, next to some other junk. It looked, and smelled, disgusting but at least it was something I could cover up with. The odd thing was that, when I went to pick it up, I didn't actually touch it. The corner I pinched just floated between my finger and thumb, a millimeter of empty air or so on either side of it. Curious, I wrapped myself up in it, grateful there weren't any rats or bugs living in it, and the same thing happened. It settled around my shoulders but never actually touched me, like I had some invisible shield between me and it.

So I could fly, had some sort of forcefield and was reacting to this whole situation bizarrely calmly. I mean, yeah, I was a little freaked out, but I wasn't running around screaming or breaking down in the corner, both reasonable reactions to getting kidnapped or whatever had happened to me. So was I a superhero? And If I wasn't, could I become one? That'd be cool.

With nothing else keeping me in the basement, I floated up the stairs to search for more clues. The rest of the house turned out to be just as rundown as the basement. Boarded-up windows, a thick layer of dust everywhere, the overwhelming scent of mildew. The place was well and truly abandoned.

I did manage to find two useful things though. The first was a mirror in the main hallway. It was broken in one corner and covered in dust, but after I wiped it clear with my blanket, it let me get a good look at myself. Pretty face, bright blue eyes and a waterfall of shiny blonde hair that went down almost to my ass. Of all the bodies to wake up in with amnesia, I'd lucked the fuck out.

The second useful thing was an old rotary phone on the kitchen counter. I wasn't expecting it to work but gave it a try anyway. "Nine… One… One…" I held the phone up to my ear and almost dropped it in surprise when I got an actual dial tone. A moment later, I got an answer.

"This is Brockton Bay Emergency Services. What's your emergency?" The woman on the other end said, her voice just barely avoiding sounding bored.

I tried to remember if I'd heard of Brockton Bay before. I got a vague sense of remembering… something? But that was it. Ignoring that for now, I moved on to more pressing matters. "Hello? So, this may sound a little strange, but I just woke up in the basement of an abandoned house. I'm naked and I don't have any memories from before I woke up."

There was a slight pause before she continued on, maintaining some professional attitude. "Are you injured at all? Is there anyone else in the building?"

"I'm not hurt and no, I don't think there's anyone else here." I answered.
"Do you know where you are? Do you have an address?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't stepped outside yet. I tried phoning first."

"Alright, stay on the line while we trace your call." There was a bit of silence as she presumably set that up. "Is there anything you remember? What's your name?"

My name? I scrunched my face up as I tried to think. I moved my lips, trying to sound it out. Something that began with a V? "Veronica? Maybe?"

"Alright, Veronica, we have your location. Someone will be there to pick you up shortly."

True to the operator lady's word, pretty soon someone was knocking the door. "This is the Brockton Bay Police. Can you hear me in there?"

I landed and walked to the door, my force field protecting my feet. I wasn't sure what the local reaction to super powers was and I didn't want to get shot for being a witch or something. "Yes, I can hear you. The door's boarded up though."

"Alright, back away from the door, we'll break it down."

I did as they said and a lot of banging later, sunlight was streaming in through the broken door, framing two police officers.

"Alright Miss, you're safe now. Can you-" One of them started to say before cutting himself off when I stepped closer. Both of them stared at me with clear shock and confusion in their eyes.

I looked down, but my blanket was still covering up my body. "Is there something on my face?"

The older officer looked over at his partner. "We need to call the PRT."

Well that wasn't ominous at all.

+++++

Turns out the PRT were some sort of law enforcement agency above the local police on the jurisdiction ladder, like the FBI or something. I could tell by the fact that, instead of a dinky little precinct building, they got an entire ten floor modern skyscraper for their headquarters. Also, their field agents were decked out in SWAT gear and were wearing those totally black full head helmets bad guy mooks work in PG-13 action movies so they could get shot in the head without showing any blood spraying out. So that wasn't imposing at all.

At least they'd given me some actual clothes before sticking me in an interrogation, I'm sorry, interview room for several hours. No idea why it was merch though. Seriously, even the underwear had some logo I didn't recognize on them.

Anyway, the room they'd stuck me in. It wasn't quite like the drab, gray concrete box with a metal table and swinging light you saw in the movies, but it was still the same concept. One light fixture, one door, one table in the middle of the room and two chairs. They even had the big one way mirror. So what if the seats had padding and the walls were painted.

I'd talked to several people since they'd brought me in here, presumably going up a rung on the ladder of responsibility each time. I'd repeated all I knew each time, all while I was trying to figure out what the big deal was. The police had recognized me on sight and most of the questions I was asked were about trying to remember who I was. So maybe I was some celebrity, either local or big name? But that didn't explain why the regular cops couldn't handle it. Was I the daughter of someone important, some politician maybe? Left alone with my thoughts, my theories got stranger and stranger.

I was in the middle of theorizing that I was some sort of infamous serial killer pulling some sort of scam on everyone, including myself, when the door opened again. There was an agent, yes, but there was also a surprise for me.

She seemed to be about my age, although shorter and terribly worn out. She had curly brown hair, a bunch of adorable freckles dotting across her nose and deep bags under her eyes. She looked tired, exhausted even, and she was small enough she looked like she was drowning in her white and red robes. She looked like a healer right out of a MMORPG, completely with 'I am so done with this' attitude.

"Oh hey, you're cute." I gave her a flirty grin as she walked in the door. "What's someone as adorable as you doing hanging around with cops? You a bad girl?"

Her eyes went wide as she froze, her face turning bright pink. I couldn't ask for a better reaction.

"Oh, I know, they dunno what to do with me, so they're throwing a virgin sacrifice at me." I leaned onto the table and gave her some bedroom eyes. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that."

She made a sound like a tea kettle going off and fled the room, pushing past the agent escorting her. I gave the agent a shrug. "Did I say something wrong?"

The agent just shrugged and left, leaving me alone in the room again. I sighed and slumped in my chair. I definitely came on too strong but who could blame me, I was bored and she was adorable.

Luckily, I wasn't left alone forever again between visits. Instead, I picked up some yelling outside which started quiet and getting louder. Then the door burst open and another teenager flew into the room. Actually flew, her feet not touching the ground. She was wearing casual clothes, hoodies and jeans, but it was her face that drew my attention. Blue eyes, long blonde hair, she was definitely beautiful. But I didn't try flirting again. There was just something about her face that bugged me. And then I remembered back in that abandoned house, looking in the mirror. She made my face. Or, more likely, I had hers.

I slowly floated up out of my chair as well, instinctively moving closer to her. We both floated there, mirroring each other. "I'm beginning to see what the problem is."

---

AN: So I wrote this, shared it on discord and a friend made fan art. For a single chapter! Amazing. So I guess I'm gonna be pursuing this thing for awhile.

 

[Dromeosaur]

This looks amazing. I love the idea!

 

[RexHeller]

The fan art in question. I am so freaking happy.

 

[Katillno]

Does mc also have a clone of the fragile one or something? I say a clone or something because I don't think best shard can actually support a second connection.

 

[Pyro Hawk]

Oh man that first interaction with Amy is going to... It is going to cause very hilarious developments in the Dallon family. Especially as this 'Might as well be Vickie' very much wasn't raised as Amy's sister despite having Vickie's body and powers. So in some ways, you absolutely allow to to side-step that whole 'she is my sister' complication. On the other hand, all the new complications you cause...

 

[RexHeller]

Rex​

Winslow sucked. You could tell just by looking at it. Run down, old, busted building. Zero maintenance on the sidewalks or parking lot, cracks in the pavement everywhere. Students hanging out outside, skipping class with impunity. Gang tags and graffiti painted on the walls. Really, it shouldn't have been surprising that anyone could just walk inside, student or not, without being stopped. Pretty different from the high class prep school I used to attend.

My hands were shaking. God, I wanted a cigarette. Thankfully I couldn't afford to waste cash on them anymore but health benefits or not, I still wanted one.

I'd showed up in the middle of the day, around lunch and luckily enough my timing was on point. I made my way through the crowds, searching for my target. I had a general description but I hadn't seen her before with my own eyes, so I was kinda rolling the dice here on whether I'd find the right person before the school bell rang.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one searching for her and she tended to attract unwanted attention. When I heard shrewish, teenage giggling, I pressed forward and investigated. What I found was one tall girl with glasses, long black hair and a miserable disposition surrounded on all sides by a gang of much better dressed teenage girls, led by a red head, a black girl and a girl trying way too hard to seem cute.

Jackpot.

I pushed my way through the crowd, ignoring attempts to push me back and cries of offense. It was easy enough, I simply moved through the weakest links in the net of bullying the bitches three had weaved. The weak willed, the hanger ons, the girls who secretly felt bad about it. There were more than the leaders probably thought. Eventually I reached the inner circle.

"I mean, you can't even-" The red-head started up some new random insult. I didn't care to hear the rest of it.

"Shut up." I cut her off, walking into the small gap between the trio and the girl I was here for: Taylor Hebert.

"What? Who the fuck-" The red-head, Emma, looked at me with surprise turning to anger.

"No, shut up and fuck off." I cut her off again, looking at her with an expression of bored disgust.

"Hey, who-" The small one, Madison, started up and immediately shut up with a whimper when I turned my glare on her.

Sophia, the black girl, grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me off center as she tried to intimidate me. "You looking to pick a fight, jackass?"

"Yeah, actually. I'm pissed off and looking for trouble." I grinned at her, grabbed her wrist and pushed in just the right way to force her fingers to release me. She cried out in pain and I pushed her back into the crowd. "And you're not as strong as you think you are, Little Sophy."

Sophia flinched at that, showing real, genuine fear for just a second. I saw it, I don't think most of their followers did, but Emma also saw it. And that was enough to shake her. She flipped her hair, trying to remain composed. "Pft, whatever, if you want to play white knight, go ahead. She isn't worth it."

Emma walked away and so did everyone else. Sophia glared at me, Madison kept her head down and the rest of the girls were whispering between themselves.

Once they were gone, I practically collapsed, falling back to lean against the wall to the left of Taylor. My hands were shaking bad and it was a while before I could breathe a sigh of relief. "God, I need a cigarette."

"Why did you do that?"

I looked over and found Taylor looking at me with suspicion. I sighed again and ran a hand through my hair. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna say something stupid about how what they were doing just wasn't right or whatever. I mean, fuck them, they're bitches, but I do have an actual reason."

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a letter and handed it over to her. "I just need you to act as a messenger. Can you get this to Lisa for me?"

Taylor's jaw dropped and I really hoped that the faint buzzing I heard was all in my head. "Wait, how do you-"

Before she could finish her question, I pulled out the same strategy I used on Emma and cut her off. This time I was more polite though. I wrapped one arm around her shoulder, pulled a cheap, disposable instant camera out of my pocket and took a selfie of the two of us. I didn't even bother waiting for it to finish developing before I pushed that into Taylor's hand too. "Here, this way she'll know it's really me."

Job done, I started to walk away. I didn't run but I did try to get out of there as fast as possible before the shock wore off and she drowned me in one biblical plague's worth of insects.

I was a little surprised when they called out to me instead of attacking. "H-Hey, wait, who are you?"

I looked over my shoulder and smiled at her. "The name's Rex. I'm her brother."

 

[Evil Atlas]

Well that's a new angle. Color me intrigued!

 

[Zeuseus]

Ooh, that's gonna put the cat amongst the pigeons

 

[RexHeller]

Double The Glory Part 2​

We spent several long seconds staring at each other. Of course, I couldn't compare myself against the other girl in exacting detail, I didn't have a mirror to check myself with, but I wouldn't be surprised if the only difference between us was the length of our hair. It was weird for me, so I couldn't imagine how odd it was for her, who presumably was more used to our face than I was.

Eventually I couldn't take it. "So which do you think, long lost evil twin or escaped clone?"

That broke her out of the stunned trance we were in. Instead, she just blinked at me in confusion. "What?"

"I still have no idea who I am or what I'm doing here, so which do you think I am? Oh, actually, maybe I'm you from an alternate universe."

"What?" she repeated, before shaking her head and fixing me with an angry glare that was slightly less murderous than the expression she burst in with. "No, don't- Don't fucking confuse me! What the hell did you say to my sister?!"

"Sister?" This time it was my turn to blink in confusion.

Luckily, things were cleared up when the cutie with the freckles from earlier came back into the room and grabbed my maybe-twin's hand, pulling her back down to the floor. "Victoria! Please, she didn't- she just-" she babbled, struggling a touch thanks to how awkward this shit was.

"Uh, excuse me." I landed as well and took a step forward but stopped when Twinsie snapped her head up to glare at me. I ran a hand through my hair nervously. "Uh, sorry for flirting with you; that must have been super uncomfortable for you. I kinda understand why you ran out of the room now."
Freckles turned adorably pink again, while Twinsie looked between the two of us, confusion slowly transitioning into understanding until she just burst out laughing. "R-Really Amy? I thought she threatened your life or something!"

"I got flustered! Shut up!" Freckles smacked Twinsie's arm, which only got Twinsie laughing harder.

"Ahem." Freckles' PRT agent escort politely coughed, getting everyone's attention. "If everyone's on the same page now, perhaps we can get on with what Panacea is here to do?"

The three of us nodded, although Twinsie was still snickering, and the agent started explaining. "Veronica, this is Amy Dallon, also known as Panacea. Her power allows her to heal people, as well as get a full diagnosis of their body with a touch. We brought her in to quickly examine you, is that alright? As you can see, you're nearly identical to Glory Girl here and we need to figure out why that is."

"I don't mind." I shrugged. "But I thought superheroes were supposed to have secret identities?"

As Panacea stepped closer to me, Victoria spoke up. "We're kind of an exception. Just our family though."

"Do I have permission to heal you?" Amy asked as she reached out, the words sounding automatic, like she'd said them thousands of times before.

"Yeah, of course." I agreed, dropping my force field and taking her hand.

Amy's eyes opened in shock for just a second, before she tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Wha… Okay, that's interesting."

"Interesting how?" The agent asked, no nonsense.

"Well, I can confirm that she's exactly identical to Victoria down to her DNA, with two exceptions. Obviously, her hair is longer, but her Corona Pollentia and Gemma are placed differently, with slightly different shapes. They're very close, but they're not quite the same."

The agent made a note of that. "Alright, anything else we should know?"

"W-well, I'm not sure how important this is, but…" Amy blushed, her answer coming out slightly more hesitantly now. "So, over the course of your life, you pick up little imperfections from old wounds. Scars, tiny fractures in your bones and so on. Veronica, was it? Veronica doesn't have any of those, it's like she's brand new. But, uh, so is Victoria, because I've been, uh, taking care of those."

"Right." The agent says slowly, while Victoria gave Amy a look I couldn't read. The agent finished her notes before turning to me again. "Right, well, we're done with Amy and all the interviews for now. You're still considered a potential danger though, so-"

"Wait, what?" Victoria demanded, surprising me with the sense of offense in her voice. Was she getting defensive on my behalf? Why, I just met her and, honestly, I should weird her the fuck out.

"Make sense." I shrugged, cutting in before an argument could start. "Nobody knows where I came from, least of all me. There could be some trigger buried in my brain, waiting to make me go all Manchurian agent. It's a weird situation."

"I didn't see anything like that in your brain." Amy hedged.

I looked at her in surprise. "You can see brainwashing?"

"P-Probably?" she answered, unsure.

"Anyway." The agent cut in harshly. "You're free to explore the building, provided you stay out of restricted areas and have an official escort wherever you go."

"Oh, hey, we can do that! Do we count?" Victoria asked, excited enough to start floating again while I looked on in bemusement.

"I… I'll ask." The agent pulled out a radio and passed on the question. A moment later she nodded. "Yes, that works fine. Especially since you'll be able to restrain her if Veronica does turn out to be a danger."

"Awesome, let's go!" Victoria shouted, flying out the door without a second thought.

I looked over at Amy. "Is she like this all the time?"

Amy snorted. "Sometimes she's worse."

I was about to respond with something snarky when Victoria zoomed back into the interview room and grabbed both our wrists. "What're you guys hanging around for? C'mon, I bet Ronnie's starving," she said as she pulled us away.

+++++

The PRT's cafeteria was… well, it was a cafeteria. Not a terrible one but there's only so much you can do with a cafeteria. I did manage to snag three chicken wraps though. Victoria was right, I was starving.

We sat down, Victoria and Amy on one side of the table, myself on the other. Thankfully, Victoria picked out a table in the corner rather than in the middle of the room. We were already getting enough stares as it was. Well, Victoria and I were getting stares but Amy looked as uncomfortable about it as I felt. Victoria didn't seem to notice.

As I tore into the first wrap, Victoria started asking questions. "So? What's your story? Where'd you come from?"

I swallowed before answering. The wrap wasn't bad, a little bland and I was sure hunger was making it taste better. I'd probably be sick of them by the time I finished. "Dunno. I woke up in the basement of some abandoned house in town. Didn't remember anything, not even my name, so I called the cops and here we are. If these PRT guys have figured out anything since then, they haven't told me."

"That must have been pretty scary, waking up all alone like that." Victoria said, giving me a sympathetic look.

"Not really? I figured out I had super powers pretty quick and I just… No memories, right? So even though I knew something was probably not right, I didn't have anything to compare it to, you know?"

Victoria didn't look like she got it, judging by how she frowned. Amy was the one with the next question. "You said you didn't remember your name. Did the PRT call you Veronica?"

I shook my head as I swallowed another bite. "Naw, the cops asked for my name on the phone. I thought maybe it started with a V, so I just guessed."

"Hn." Amy grunted, giving me a suspicious look. I just shrugged again and kept eating. Fair was fair and I was suspicious as fuck. Maybe I should have been annoyed or defensive or upset about how I was being treated, but it was clear to me that I was an intruder, an anomaly. Due caution and all that.

Although, there was one exception and I was curious about that. I shoved the last of the first wrap into my mouth and swallowed before turning to Victoria. "So why're you so cool with me, like, existing? Like I said, for all you know I'm some sort of evil clone here to pull a kill and replace. Aren't you getting uncanny valley feels from me?"

"I mean…" Victoria bobbed her head back and forth, pursing her lips. "A little? This is definitely very weird and I'm still getting used to it. But you don't feel like a threat to me. And, you know, if you're not secretly evil, then this is really cool. Right Amy?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready for two Victorias." Amy mumbled, before blushing for some reason.

I snickered and there was this weird echo. I looked over at Victoria and found her looking back at me with a similar expression of surprise on her face as was on mine. "Okay, that's weird."

She nodded. "Agreed. Avoid doing it again?"

"I can certainly try, that was just freaky," I said as I picked up my next wrap. "Anyway, think you can bring me up to speed on the whole super powers thing? I got no idea how this is supposed to work."

Victoria's eyes lit up with joy and I immediately regretted my decision. Amy groaned and slumped onto the table as Victoria launched into an explanation of parahumans and their powers. I just ate and observed. Victoria was bright, cheerful, and apparently quite the nerd despite her/our looks, at least when it came to parahumans. Amy, meanwhile, was sarcastic when she cut in and grumpy when she didn't. They made quite the pair and it was clear to me that they really were sisters, no matter how different they looked from each other.

"Oh, wait!" Victoria paused in the middle of explaining how brain tumors gave you powers as an idea came to her. "Amy said your Corona Pollentia and Gemma were different from mine, right? We should figure out how that affected your powers. Wait here, I'll go see if we can get you into power testing."
Victoria literally took off, flying out of the room. She got some shouts to watch it from the agents around but most just shrugged their shoulders and went back to eating. I guessed they were used to her already.

After watching her go, I turned back to Amy. I felt some urge to make up for the sudden silence without Victoria around, but Amy's expression made it clear she wasn't that interested in talking. I got to eating my third wrap and after a moment, she pulled out her phone.

"Victoria! Amy. I didn't know you were coming in today. Why didn't you text me?"

I choked slightly as someone suddenly sat down next to me, far too close. Especially since he was wearing a bright, shiny suit of metal armor. Looking him over, it looked like a high tech version of a knight's armor. Unfortunately, it totally covered his face, meaning I had no idea who this was or what he was thinking.

Armor Boy tilted his head to the side, looking at me in confusion. I assumed. Again, I couldn't exactly tell thanks to the helmet. "Vicky? You okay? If I did something wrong, please tell me."

Seriously, who was this guy? Victoria's friend? Boyfriend? Creepy stalker? Unable to deal, I looked across the table and begged. "Amy, help!"

All I got from her was a satisfied grin. That traitor. Sure, maybe we hadn't known each other long and maybe I deserved a little payback for the flirting thing, but still. Traitor!

Armor Boy just looked between the two of us. "Uh, did I mess up or-"

"I'm back! And-" Aaaand there was Victoria, running back over to us. Guess she'd gotten a reprimand for flying. But she froze when she saw Armor Boy sitting too close to me. "Gallant? What are you doing?" She asked in a tone that promised he'd fucked up.

Armor Boy, or Gallant apparently, whipped his head back and forth between Victoria and me. "W-Wait, what? Who-?"

"I'm Veronica, Vicky's evil twin. 'Sup."

Gallant scooted away from me and I managed to breathe a little easier. Victoria relaxed as well, although she still seemed ticked off as she sat down beside Amy again. "You're not allowed to introduce yourself like that."

"Even if it's probably true?"

"You're not evil."

"Am I at least annoying?"

"Right now you are!"

I cackled and Victoria groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Gallant, meet Veronica, who's apparently a brat when she gets going. Veronica, this is Gallant. I'm publicly dating his civilian ID, so don't get any ideas."

"Ew, boys." I stuck my tongue out before cheekily popping the last of my last wrap into my mouth.

"Veronica, I'd like to apologize if I made you uncomfortable." Wow, Gallant really lived up to his name. That actually sounded pretty damn noble. Not my type, at least I didn't think so, but not hard to see how a girl could fall for the literal knight in shining armor. "However, I'm still rather confused. Could I get an explanation, please?"

I opened my mouth but Victoria beat me to an explanation. I guess she didn't trust me to not give him the wrong idea. Which I wouldn't. At least if he could tell I could when I was joking.

Once Victoria was done, Gallant offered me a handshake. "Well, I for one also believe in your good intentions, Veronica. I look forward to working with you in the future."

Oh wow. He was just painfully earnest, wasn't he. Just sitting next to him, I was getting second hand embarrassment. How could he say things like that with a straight face? Well, maybe he was smirking under that helmet but somehow I didn't think so.
"Yeah, you too." I awkwardly shook his hand. "Not sure when the suits will actually let me out of here, but I can't wait to get out there and kick some butt."

"Heck yeah!" Victoria agreed. "Look out Brockton Bay, now there's gonna be two Glory Girls!"

"Yeah, no, I'm not calling myself that."

 

[Rowknan]

Very fun. God, I can only imagine how freaky it would be for your partner to have an evil twin out of nowhere.

 

[Fisherman]

Very fun. God, I can only imagine how freaky it would be for your partner to have an evil twin out of nowhere.

Click to shrink...

It depends. Is it competent evil twin? Are they the same gender? Do they have same mental issues? Physical ones?

 

[RexHeller]

Collaborative Effort​

"Owww." Addison woke up groaning. The pain in his head was fading quickly, but when he tried to remember what he'd just been dreaming, what he'd seen, it got worse. So he gave up, ignoring the memories of something huge and intricate and infinite and beautiful. He had better things to worry about, like the three other voices moaning in pain (or in one case, swearing about it), and that prompted him to open his eyes.

Sitting on his right was a guy maybe a year older than him, with hair dyed blue and the sort of face that would fit right in with a teen boy band. Perfect skin, perfect teeth, Addison could feel the muscle tone on the bicep touching his own. On his left, a brunette girl with soft gentle features, dressed plainly but those plain clothes suited her well. She was a girl next door sort of beauty. Both of them were far, far too close, pressing up against his body, while another girl lay across their laps. She was beautiful too, or perhaps better to say she was hot and given the way she dressed, she knew it. A tight top and short skirt showed off her curves and beautiful, chocolate skin.

Addison desperately tried to remember exactly how he wound up in this situation, surrounded on all sides by three beautiful specimens of humanity around his own age, despite the pounding in his head. He had been attending a publicity thing that both the Protectorate and New Wave were there for, some new store opening up on the Boardwalk. Addison hadn't cared that much about the details, just that Dauntless, his dad, was going to be there, so of course Addison had come to show some support.

But then the shouting and gunfire had started and the screaming right after. Most of the crowd had panicked, running out into the cape fight but Addison had retreated into the back of the store. Him and three other teenagers. They'd hidden around a corner, in the nook the bathrooms and backroom doors were. They'd taken cover, shared names, someone had asked how long it would take and then-

"The grenade!" Addison shouted, looking at where it had fallen, only to find it still there. The other teens did the same and suddenly all of them were pushing themselves back into the corner, wrapping themselves around each other in fear as they cowered. Some part of him didn't really mind that much, despite the risk of imminent death.

They held their collective breath for several seconds, while the sounds of combat continued outside the store front. Eventually, the black girl in their laps, Aisha if Addison remembered correctly, spoke up. "Uh, shouldn't it have exploded by now?"

"Maybe it's a dud?" The girl on his left, who said her name was Charlotte, suggested, voice barely a frightened whisper.

"...I'm gonna get rid of it." Aisha declared, spurring Addison and the other boy, Eric, to grab her tighter, stopping her from getting up. She struggled but they managed to hold her down and keep her safe. "What's the big deal?" She shouted.

"Don't touch it!" Eric shouted.
"Even if an explosive doesn't go off initially, it could still explode at any moment. Especially if moved." Addison explained, repeating the safety information his dad had drilled into his head.

"Then what do we do?" Aisha demanded. "I'm not just gonna sit around waiting to die!"

"That door." Charlotte suggested, pointing past Addison and Eric to the unmarked door beside them. "We can take cover in there, right?"

"Sounds good." Eric nodded. "Everyone move slowly, we don't want to set off the grenade."

The four of them did indeed slowly get to their feet, helping each other up. Addison noticed that nobody actually let go after that, forming a chain of holding hands. Again, despite the risk of death only a few feet away, Addison found himself not minding much as his heart hammered in his chest for reasons other than fear.

Turns out all it took was a cape attack for him to get to hold hands with a pretty girl. Not just one but two even.

It took the group several slow, agonizing seconds to move two feet to the door, scared that even breathing too loud would set off the grenade and blow them all up. But then Eric, who was in the front, reached the door and tried the handle. "Fuck! It's locked. Maybe we can try the bathrooms?" They were several feet further.

"Hold on, let me handle this." Aisha hip checked the boy out of the way and let go of his and Addison's hands to grab a key she had hanging around her neck, a key Addison didn't remember being there before. Maybe he'd just missed it in the excitement? In any case, she slammed the key into the lock and threw the door open, letting the group rush into the store room.

Except it wasn't a store room or broom closet or anything one would expect to find in the back of a store. Instead, they tumbled over each other into an octagonal room with pure white walls, floor and ceiling. Despite no sign of any sort of light source, the room was brightly lit. The only color came from the four doors, evenly spaced around the room. One was blue, one was gold, one was black and the one they'd just come through, which was purple. There was also a stereotypical wooden chest, like the kind pirates buried treasure in, except painted black. Naturally, it was sitting next to the black door.

"W-What is this place?" Charlotte whispered, voicing what all of them were thinking as they looked around in surprise and awe.

Well, not all of them. Eric slammed the door closed. And then he pulled back and slammed it again. Then he rammed his shoulder against it. "Fuck! It won't close completely."

"What do you mean, it won't close?" Aisha asked, going back and kicking it. It didn't do anything. Addison looked closer and he could still see the outside through a thin line where it wouldn't close.

"Just… step away from the door. Nobody stand right in front of it." Addison suggested slowly, trying to calm everyone down before they started beating on the purple door again. He switched topics too. "Aisha, what is this place?"

She rolled her eyes as she leaned on the wall next to the purple door. "You think I know? I just happened to notice that weird key around my neck when we stood up. Something just… told me it'd work."

Huh, it sounded like Aisha had just gotten powers. Eric thought the same and started congratulating Aisha. Convenient for them but Addison hadn't heard a power that just gave you an item. Oh, no, wait, there was Miss Militia, she got a gun, but a gun and a key were pretty different…

Addison relaxed as he tried to think, slouching slightly and putting his hands in his pockets. His step-mom had told him it was a bad habit but she wasn't there to tell him not to and- "Huh?"

Addison felt something in his pocket, something he didn't recognize. Pulling out, he found a golden key, shaped strangely, all right angles, not like any key he'd seen before. He held it up for the others to see. "Uh, guys? Look what I found in my pocket."
"Hey, that looks like mine, 'cept gold!" Aisha said eagerly, confirming what Addison expected. Charlotte and Eric immediately checked their pockets as well. Charlotte pulled a black key out of her hoodie and Eric pulled a blue one out of his jeans.

"How come yours was hanging around your neck though?" Addison asked Aisha.

"Pft, you think this outfit has pockets? This skirt is purely for show." Aisha twisted her hips, making her short skirt twirl and making Addison look away, a heavy blush on his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Eric and even Charlotte had similar reactions.

"So we each have a key and we each have a door…" Charlotte hummed with interest and tried her black door. It didn't budge. "No key hole either. So, I think that means we can all access this room independently."

"Like a pocket dimension?" Addison suggested.

"I've never heard of a shared power though," Aisha said, pouting slightly. Annoyed she had to share, maybe?

"Well…" Eric said slowly and they all turned to look at him. "Okay, so my cousin's the cape geek, not me, but apparently, if several people trigger and get their powers at the same time, their powers kinda get mixed up with each other or something. This might be similar. Did… did you guys have that vision too?"

"Stars that turned like gears…" Charlotte mumbled and everyone winced at the memories. That seemed as accurate as could be to Addison for what they'd seen.

"Okay, but why'd she get a box?" Aisha asked, pointing at Charlotte and the wooden chest by her door.

"I'm curious too." Charlotte agreed without taking offense and she went over to open it up. Kneeling by the box, she started to dig through it. "Looks like a lot of wire, some levers and square plates, some wrenches with different color handles for some reason, some sort of lens and instructions?"

Something about that pinged Addison's curiosity and he looked over Charlotte's shoulder. "Huh, those don't seem to match any sort of electrical cable I know of but it's clearly pretty heavy duty. Might do in a pinch but I'd rather use something lighter to keep the weight down.It definitely is too large for most computational systems and… Why do I know how to repair fighter jets?"

"Uh, what?" Eric asked, with the others looking confused as well.

"Fighter jets," Addison repeated. Seeing those wires had filled his head with air brakes and jet systems, hydraulics and missile racks. He shook his head, trying to dismiss all the random bits and pieces of knowledge that sprung up. "I'm not interested in planes, never was, but for some reason I'm sure if you put a busted jet in front of me, I'm sure I could fix it."

"So… you're a jet tinker now?" Charlotte asked, confused.

"I don't think that's-" Eric started but he was cut off by Aisha laughing loudly.

"I can make swords!" she declared, a huge grin on her face. "I mean, I know how to make boring stuff like nails or plows or shoves too but I know how to make swords! And spears and axes! This is awesome!"

Addison knew he was the quiet type. He took his time to think things out and he preferred watching people to interacting with them. So while Charlotte was reading her instructions and Aisha was cheerfully going off about how she could go medieval on people's asses now, Addison noticed the pinched look of stress on Eric's face.
Eric even flinches slightly when Charlotte makes a suggestion. "So, we're joining the Wards, right?"

Surprisingly, Aisha groans. "Uugh, do we have to?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Charlotte responds, confused. "Don't tell me you want to join a gang instead."

"Fuck no!" Aisha shouts. "I mean, besides the fact that only the Merchants would take me and fuck that, I just… I don't like people telling me what to do. 'Specially some jackass adult who doesn't actually know me. There are four of us, why not just make our own team?"

"No offense, but a wiring kit and being able to fix planes doesn't exactly translate to fighting crime," Eric said and Addison could just tell that Aisha was about to fire back. Time to cut that off.

"Hey," he said, getting everyone's attention. Not something he particularly enjoyed but oh well. "We can probably table this until later. I don't hear any fighting outside anymore. We can probably leave now."

"Fucking finally!" Aisha headed for the door, followed by Charlotte. Addison grabbed Eric's shoulder before he could do the same though.

Eric gave him a frustrated look. "What?"

"Sorry." Maybe this was a bad idea. "Just… you know it doesn't make sense, right? That we'd all get something and you wouldn't? Even if you can't tell right now, you have a power. It probably just activates automatically or something."

Eric blinked in surprise, then smiled brilliantly, melting Addison's insides. "...Thanks."

Fuck, he already almost died and got super powers today. Finding out he was gay too was a little bit too much.

The boys then caught up with the others, only to find Aisha peeking out the door with Charlotte crowding behind her, holding her hand. The sight of that sparked some complicated emotion in Addison, which he did his best to ignore. Instead, he asked "What's going on?"

"The grenade's still there and Charlotte won't let me leave because of it." Aisha explained. Right, in all the excitement, Addison had forgotten.

Before the could figure out what to do, someone on the outside started shouting. "Eric? Eric! Where are you?" Through the cracked open door, Addison could see a girl in a white and red body suit, floating towards them. Laserdream, one of the New Wave members that showed up for the event.

"Hiding in the, uh, supply closet, Sis! There's a dud grenade right fucking there!" Eric shouted out from right behind Addison. Addison hadn't noticed just how close the four of them had gotten, pressing up against one another again as everyone tried to peek outside. Was this normal? He usually didn't like touching other people…

"Oh, shit! Alright, I'll get rid of this. Be right back!" Laserdream surrounded the grenade in a red forcefield and flew off with it.

"Your big sister is Laserdream!?" Aisha excitedly squeed once she was gone. "Dude, what's it like having a cape as your older sibling?"

"Annoying. You got a big sister, big brother? Now imagine if they could fly." Eric explained, getting Aisha to scowl, before he started pushing on the others. "Anyway, come on, let's get out of here. Unless you wanna explain all this crap to my family."

As they tumbled out of the pocket dimension and Aisha retrieved her key, Charlotte asked. "You're not going to tell your family? They're all parahumans too, right?"

"Yeah, probably. Eventually." Eric scratched his neck. "I just figured you guys would want some time to figure stuff out first."

Anymore of that conversation was silenced when Laserdream flew back in at high speed and pulled Eric into a hug, their parents soon following. As they reunited and Eric's family repeatedly asked him if he was okay (to Eric's clear annoyance,) the other authorities re-entered the building to make sure everyone was fine. Including his dad, who couldn't do anything more than nod at Addison. It hurt, comparing that to the Pelhams extremely public display of familial affection, but he had powers now. Hopefully he'd be able to hug his dad in costume soon too.

---

AN: God help me, but I was tempted to write a Celestial Forge fic again. I adjusted the rules and my own expectations this time so it probably won't result in burn out but I'm still traumatized, so I dunno if I'll keep going. Anyway, everyone here is a canon character, just some are kinda obscure. No OCs here.

 

[Zeuseus]

Charlotte is the girl from Winslow who ends up being one of Warlord Skitter's minions the rest are prwtty obvious i think.

 

[RexHeller]

Prologue: Damn, These Kids are Kinda Fucked Up, Huh?

It wasn't hard to sneak out of the camp at night. Pretty much all the adults got drunk and either fucked, fought or just passed out in their own puke. Even the guards never paid that much attention during the night shift. They were bandits, not soldiers, who prided themselves on 'living free'. Military level discipline wasn't something you'd find here.

I didn't go far past the wooden walls keeping us safe from the Grimm. Just until I found a spot where I could stare up at the stars and think without being dragged back into camp. I had so much to think about now, it felt like my head might burst. It used to be so simple. Training every day, learning how to fight, how to kill, until the day I was old enough to join the raids. I looked forward to it, to the day when I'd kill people and take their stuff for the clan. Training was hard but everyone said I'd do great things for the clan one day. That I had talent, that I'd lead the clan to greatness. That no one would be able to stand against the clan. Live for the clan, kill for the clan, die for the clan, everything for the clan. I never realized that everything for the clan meant nothing for me.

Not until a blow to the head a few days ago rattled something loose. At first I tried to ignore the images, the moments that flashed in my head. I didn't recognize them, they were impossible, and I dismissed them as nothing but my concussion making my brain all weird. But they didn't go away and eventually the flashes provided an answer. Reincarnation. Isekai. Self Inserts. It was a popular concept for stories in my old life and it explained what was happening to me, why I kept flashing back to a boring life on 'Earth', where I was a man and I did nothing worthwhile until I died. A life so boring it literally drove me to despair, both back then and just remembering it.

If that'd been all, I'd have ignored the memories and given up. But even if my old life didn't do anything exciting, he certainly knew a lot of exciting stories and thought exciting thoughts. Thoughts that I couldn't ignore, stories that told me just how wrong my new life was. Things kept echoing in my head, words that resonated with me, that made my heart ache with what they meant.

With great power, there must also come great responsibility.

Hope, help and compassion for all.

Life is beautiful. And it is precious. And it must be protected.

Believe in the me that believes in you!

Luminous beings are we.

Though our body's weak and breakable, the spirit is indomitable!

You too can become a hero.

Love can ignite the stars.

And somehow, most importantly.

I adore you.

Something wet splattered against my clenched fists. I stared at the wetness on the back of my hands in confusion. It wasn't raining, so where did the raindrops come from? And why was my throat so tight? My nose was running and my chest hurt, like there was a hole instead of my heart. Was I sick?

"Sis?" A familiar voice called out, trying to be quiet and loud at the same time. I looked up and saw a kid, five years old, with messy black hair and red eyes, the same as mine. My twin brother, out looking for me, despite the black eye and the bruises I knew hid under his clothes. Somehow, that just made my chest ache more.

My brother's eyes widened in fear and I was confused. None of the adults were out here, about to hit him for not being as good as me, so what was he afraid of. "Sis!" He called out, rushing forward and tackling me. I felt so weak, I didn't even attempt to dodge, I just flinched, until I realized he was hugging me.

"Sis, what's wrong? Are you hurt? You're crying!"

Crying? Me? No, no, that was impossible. I was Raven Branwen. I didn't cry. I wasn't weak. I didn't…

But I knew how that ended. I remembered watching how that story went. I remembered hating Raven, the cowardly bitch who ran away in fear, abandoned her responsibilities, lied to herself and others, clung to strength that didn't mean anything and hurt those she was supposed to protect. I didn't want to be her. I didn't want to be cruel. I didn't want to be a bad mom. I didn't want to be alone.

An ugly, raw sound tore itself out of my throat, tears streaming down my face and I hugged Qrow back, crushing him in my arms. I clung to him, chest heaving, throat aching as I cried and cried. He didn't let go, he didn't complain, he didn't call me weak. He held me close and rubbed my back and he was there.

Eventually I ran out of tears, my throat was too raw to scream and I slumped against Qrow, exhausted. It was that moment that I realized he was all that mattered right now. The adults of the clan who beat us and called it training, the other kids who stole and lied and tried to tear us down in their jealousy, none of them were important. Only Qrow really cared about me, only Qrow would protect me, only Qrow loved me. So I'd do the same for him. No more chasing praise that didn't mean anything, no more bragging about how strong I was, no more ignoring my brother.

Qrow was the first to break the silence. "R-Raven, are you okay? What happened?"

"I…" Gods, how to explain it all without sounding crazy. "I can't take it anymore, Qrow? I can't pretend this is good anymore. I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't wanna kill people, I don't want to watch you get beat everyday. I need out. I can't… I can't…"

My breath caught, I choked, trying to cry more tears that wouldn't come.

"Then let's go!" Qrow said eagerly, jumping to his feet, grabbing my hands and trying to pull me up. "Let's run away, right now! Everyone's distracted, we can just leave!"

"N-No, we can't-" I shuddered.

Qrow's smile dropped. "B-but you said…"

I took a deep, shaky breath and explained. "W-we wouldn't get anywhere, Qrow. We're still kids, strong kids, but the Grimm would tear us apart, especially with how miserable I am right now. We'd need food, weapons and you know the clan would hunt us down if we stole from them. We… we need to wait. There'll be an opportunity in the future, I know it. We just need to wait."

"A-Are you sure?" Qrow sat back down, his hands on mine. "You said you couldn't take it anymore. C-can you really just… wait?"

Oh Qrow. My brother, my sweet, stupid brother. He was the one who had to endure fists and kicks and getting called a burden, a curse. And he was worried if I could keep going? I nodded and pulled him into another hug. "I can endure. Of course I can, as long as you're here with me. Qrow… you're my blessing."

"Raven…" He looked at me, tears of his own threatening to fall. Then he sniffed, wiped his nose and forced a grin. "Okay! Just rely on me!"

"Only if you rely on me too," I whispered and let him go. I shifted to sit beside him, taking his hand in mine.

And so we sat, looking up at the moon, silently sharing dreams of a better future.

+++++

I really wished that the tent Qrow and I shared had a proper door I could slam. Angrily pulling the front flap up and ducking inside just didn't have the same catharsis.

Still, it was better than the communal children's tent the brats under ten years old all slept in. At least now I could throw down my sword, scream in frustration and childishly stomp my foot in frustration in private. I refused to be judged. I was thirteen, my emotions were overwhelming at the best of times. After what I'd just had to watch, it was a marvel I'd made it all the way back to camp and our tent without breaking down.

I wanted to scream again. I wanted to let out all my pain and frustration and confusion, just like that night with Qrow so many years ago. But I had to bottle it up and cry in silence. Tents weren't well known for being soundproof after all and while one scream could be dismissed as a victory cry, multiple sobbing screams of anguish would be harder to explain away.

So I stood there, my entire body trembling in impotent rage, nails digging painfully into my palms, teeth biting down on my lip hard enough to draw blood, suffering in silence.

Then I heard the tent flap lift and get dropped behind me. It was Qrow. Everyone else knew I'd murder anyone who stepped into the tent we shared and he'd help. But unlike every other time we retreated into our private sanctum, he didn't pull me into a hug. He didn't rub my back or make a dumb joke to lift the mood. It broke our habits built up over years but he didn't comfort me at all and I didn't comfort him. He just stood there, silent. Waiting for my judgment.

Eventually I couldn't take it. I spun around, grabbed his shirt and jerked him in so we were inches apart. "Why?" I snarled in rage, tears streaming down my face.

He wouldn't meet my eyes. I shook him.

"Why, Qrow?!" I demanded as harshly as I could while still whispering. Even in my rage, I knew we couldn't be overheard by the rest of the clan. "Why did you do it!?"

Still he wouldn't answer. He just stared past my fists at the floor.

"She had a kid, damnit!" I sobbed and wished I had a solid wall I could throw him against.

I knew, logically, there wasn't much difference between he'd done today and what we'd both done a dozen times before. This wasn't the first raid we'd gone on. We'd killed plenty of guards and militia men before. Qrow and I were good, damn good. Sticking a crappy rifle in a villager's hands and giving them a few hours of training a week wasn't going to increase their chances of survival against us that much. Barely any change at all. But it still felt different. They could fight back, they could hurt us if we got sloppy. It was a one in a million chance but maybe they could kill us. I could pretend at least.

The same couldn't be said for a weak, terrified housewife holding a kitchen knife, begging us to leave her child alone.

I had so many nightmares these days. The time Qrow got beat unconscious and I had to watch. My first time fighting a Grimm, when those massive jaws were coming down on my head and I smelled the smell of death. The cold, empty eyes of the first man I'd ever killed.

I was sure that they'd all be replaced by a new haunting scene every night for the rest of my life. Pure desperation, the crack of a gunshot, and then a little girl, shaking a corpse, blood on her hands, begging for Mommy to wake up.

And my brother had been the one to pull the trigger.

"Tell me why, damnit!" I wanted to roar at the top of my lungs but I couldn't.

Finally, Qrow looked up, eyes bloodshot, holding back his tears like he always did. Like I was only allowed to cry if he wasn't. His voice was hollow, broken. "I did it so you wouldn't have to."

I choked. Suddenly I couldn't breathe. Qrow took that ugly noise of hurt as some sort of request to explain. As if I didn't already understand perfectly.

"She had a knife and I know she couldn't have hurt you if she tried, but Pitch was right there and if you didn't, then he would have… What he would do to you for 'failing to destroy all resistance'... I didn't think, I just-" Qrow's voice was shaky and raw, until he choked trauma of his own.

I cried. I cried for that poor woman, her life cut brutally short. I cried for the little girl, a witness to her own mother's murder. And I cried for my brother, my weak, stupid, noble little brother who would do anything to protect me, even damn his own soul.

My grip on his shirt loosened, just for a second, before I changed my mind and pulled him in, closing the little distance between us. I mashed my lips against his. It hurt, I used too much force, we both were crying and we both stank of sweat, dirt and blood. He was my brother. It was wrong, all wrong…

But he still wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back. And that made it perfect.

We broke apart far too soon. Qrow stared at me, mouth agape, but it was only in confusion. He didn't look at me in disgust, he didn't push me away and flee the way I feared he would. He just asked me a question. "Raven, what…?"

"I-I'm not good with words." I explained haltingly, each word coming slowly, proving my point. "I don't know what to say, I-I can't magically make this better. I can't help you. All I can do… is show you how much I love you."

We kissed again, slower this time. Gentler but more awkward. We were scared and unsure and in so much pain. But he held me and I melted into his grasp and it was still perfect.

"Raven…"

"Qrow…"

We whispered each other's names, voices needy and we fell down into my bed roll. What came next was uncomfortable, awkward, painful in parts. Neither of us had any real idea of what we were doing and we were both aware that it was so very wrong. Siblings weren't meant to do this.

It was perfect too.

++++

The chieftain's tent was much larger and more impressive than the rest of the clan's. A status symbol, some sort of power play? I always just thought of it as a waste of resources. It wasn't like we were receiving visiting dignitaries we had to impress, which is usually what the leader's big house was meant to do.

Still, the tent was bigger and filled with more stuff. Which meant that Pitch Branwen had more stuff to smash in his frustrated rage rather than smashing clansmen. Before he'd become chieftain, that had been his favorite way to vent. Not that I cared if he broke the bones of other assholes. It was just that, while Qrow was now too important and valuable as a member of the raiding parties, that hadn't always been the case.

Qrow and I were standing outside the chieftain's tent, listening to the snarls of rage and the sounds of destruction coming from inside. We both wore deliberately bored expressions. Couldn't have any signs of untreated childhood trauma pop up where everyone could see, now could we. But better to act cold and unimpressed, like the murder weapons the tribe had tried to shape us into.

"Think he's gonna chill out anytime soon?" I asked blithely.

"Naw, big man's pissed this time. And I mean pissed." Qrow shrugged, his tone just as bored. "He's gonna be at this for a while."

"Mm. You'd think he'd at least pause his tantrum until we were gone." I played along. "I mean, he called us here and is making us wait? Rude."

"Yeah, well when you're chief, you'll get to be rude too."

I had to suppress a shudder at the thought of me being chief. Or rather, of that nightmare woman who taunted my dreams, wearing that mask and talking about how I'll wind up just like her. "Would there even be a point? I think Pitch's gonna smash all the good shit before I get my turn."

Qrow opened his mouth but before we could continue the byplay, things quieted down in the tent and a moment later, the door flap was pulled aside. "Get. In." A monstrously deep voice gave the order.

We shared a quick glance at each other before we both shrugged and walked inside.
My memories of the show I was now living in were blurry, faded with time. I didn't even remember the name of it anymore. But I remembered the people it was about. I'd made sure to. I'd probably have to deal with them at some point. So I vaguely remembered two massive men, one a villain with a bone to pick with the Oz guy and the other the dad of one of the main girls. Mountains of muscle who towered over the people around them.

Pitch would have made them look small.

I swear the ground shook as he stepped away from the entrance and sat cross legged in the middle of the tent. It put us at eye level with him.

We waited for him to say something. And waited. And waited. Fucking power play. I opened my mouth to break the silence, before Qrow could do it instead and 'protect me' from the punishment for speaking out of turn. "Sir, y-"

"Sir, you wanted to see us?" Qrow spoke up first anyway. Damnit, I'd forgotten about his new semblance. I'd been assuming he'd get a bad luck aura all this time, just like the show. I had no idea what he'd done to unlock seeing the fucking future as a semblance instead.

"Shut up." Pitch snapped but shockingly, that was it. No shouting about disrespect, no punishment duties handed out, no punches or choking. Instead, he just snarled and slammed his fist into the ground next to him, leaving a small crater.

"I just got a report. The supply run got wiped out. By another fucking Huntress!" He suddenly shouted.

Neither Qrow or I flinched. That sort of response had been beaten out of us awhile ago.

"That's more than half our people taken out." Pitch continued, snarling. "Five months ago we could raid multiple towns at once, split up the work. Now we can't even step out of camp without someone getting taken out. Godsdamn Huntresses. We used to be feared, respected. Who the fuck do they think they are? Go to a fancy school, learn some prancy fancy fucking flips and suddenly they can take out my guys? Like that kinda show of crap makes a difference in a real fight."

I opened my mouth before I could stop myself. "Cl-"

"Clearly it does." Qrow sniped my snark out from under me. I punched at his shoulder but he shifted out of the way. Fucking Foresight, couldn't even mess with my brother properly since he got that semblance.

"Would you two fucking wastes of space shut the fuck up!" Pitch roared, his fingers clenching like he was snapping invisible necks. "This is fucking serious! We need to figure out how to kill these fucking bitches!"

We both stayed silent as Pitch recovered control, barrel chest heaving as he breathed deeply. I could feel the wind shift in the tent with every breath, it was like being trapped with a dragon. No need to push our luck, we were lucky he was restraining as it was.

Eventually, he continued. "That's where you two brats come in. You're going to go attend one of these fancy Huntsmen schools, learn their tricks and turn them against them when you come back. These are your transcripts, fake of course. We already sent them to Beacon digitally."

We took the papers he pulled out. As I looked over them and snorted in amusement at how average our supposed test scores were, Qrow spoke up. "Sir, why not Haven academy? It's closer and-"

"That's exactly why you're not going, moron!" Pitch angrily interrupted him. "If you went to Haven, everyone'd recognize the Branwen name. You'd get arrested in second!"

I flipped back to the first page, checked and snorted. "Oh my shit, you actually used our real names. You couldn't come up with something fake?"

Pitch blinked in confusion, which only made me choke down more laughter. He genuinely hadn't thought of that. Unfortunately, he covered his embarrassment with anger, just like always. He stood back up and loomed over us. We could probably take him working together, but it wouldn't be a fun fight. Plus, having a violent psychopath twice your size both in height and width glaring down at you was pretty scary, no matter how confident you were as a killer. "Let me be clear. This is not a reward, this is not a promotion. If I had literally anyone else, I'd pick them over you two fucking assholes, but considering everyone else seventeen years old is either dead or in jail, I don't have a fucking choice. So let me be clear: do not fuck this up! Or I'll kill you myself. Now get the fuck out!"

Dismissed by the boss, we turned to leave. We walked out of the tent, through the camp and past all the other bandits in the clan, all in stoic silence. It was only once we were back in our tent, in our private place, that I let the absolute biggest smile spread across my face. I was grinning so hard it hurt as I spun around, wrapped my arms around Qrow and literally jumped for joy. I wanted to break into triumphant laughter or shout in victory at the top of my lungs but tents still weren't soundproof.

Qrow hugged me back and actually swung me around the tent, grinning just as much as I was. He even started to laugh, so I shut him up with a kiss before anyone outside could hear it. A purely tactical decision that had absolutely nothing to do with how much better Qrow had gotten at kissing over the past four years.

Eventually we collapsed into bed, dizzy from the spinning, the lack of air and the sheer strangeness of actually being happy for once. We lay there for several minutes, just basking in each other and the feeling of hope. Qrow stroked my back, I muffled my joyful giggles into his shoulder. It was great.

Qrow was the first one to break the silence. "Did you know this was coming?"

"Me?" I gave him a bemused look. "You're the one who can see the future."

"Yeah but…" Qrow blushed a little (adorable!) and sighed. "You always were the one saying we needed to wait for a better opportunity to escape. I mean, fuck, I was starting to think that maybe you didn't actually want to leave, that you had some sort of fucked up masochism going on, making you stay. But then this drops in our laps. We don't even have to escape, they're sending us away!"

"To another continent!" I whisper-shouted back in joy.

"To fucking Beacon!" He did the same. And then he kissed me again. Probably because I'd been about to start laughing out loud and he needed to shut me up. Purely tactical kissing, that was it. Promise.

Eventually we broke apart again, breath coming in pants, feeling each other's heartbeats though our chests pressed together. Qrow looked me in the eyes, his voice solemn. "We really are leaving."

"Yeah." I nodded, just as serious. "And we are never coming back."

---

Bonus points to anyone who can name where all the inspiring quotes are from. Except the last one, you can skip it. It's something my boyfriend says to me.

 

[Lazurman]

(I'm the boyfriend!)

 

[Shadowdrakon]

Damn. That was really sweet, a little spicy, and to borrow a word: perfect. I really enjoyed it and I hope you feel like continuing this story!


Now let's see how many of these I know.

With great power, there must also come great responsibility.

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Spider-man!

Hope, help and compassion for all.

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No idea

Life is beautiful. And it is precious. And it must be protected.

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Nope

Believe in the me that believes in you!

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Gurren Lagann, I think.

Luminous beings are we.

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Sounds familiar.

Though our body's weak and breakable, the spirit is indomitable!

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Also no

You too can become a hero.

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BNHA? Maybe?

Love can ignite the stars.

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It can!

I adore you.

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Aww.

Clearly I am bad at quotes. '^_^

 

[Neph Champion]

"Luminous beings are we." and "Love can ignite the stars." are both Star Wars quotes. The first is Yoda from Empire and the second is from the Revenge of the Sith Novel.

 

[10moorem II]

Life is beautiful. And it is precious. And it must be protected. This quote is from RWBY.

 

[RexHeller]

Y'all are correct so far.

 

[Dark Lord Potato]

Though our body's weak and breakable, the spirit is indomitable!

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I think this is a line from a RWBY song?

 

[Lazurman]

Hey. Hey @RexHeller.

I love you. I adore you. And I'm very proud of how much you've been writing lately.

Just felt like sayin' it.

 

[RexHeller]

I think this is a line from a RWBY song?

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Yep!

Hey. Hey @RexHeller.

I love you. I adore you. And I'm very proud of how much you've been writing lately.

Just felt like sayin' it.

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Thanks Love.