Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on multiple existing anime/manga series. The characters and settings used in this story belong to their respective owners and creators, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and is not intended to infringe upon any existing intellectual property. I do not own any of the original works that inspired this fanfiction, and I fully support the original creators and their works.
I'm also exceedingly rarely chilling in JaxWolf4's (Author of Nah, I'd Adapt and Zenin Days) Discord Server. It's a chaotic lobotomy mess. Not for the faint of heart.
Here's the link:
Disc: HrPrTeam
Ahem.
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
-Story Start-
It was the morning of the next day, following the near-failure of the valley reclamation plan.
A bullhead flew overhead, surveying the valley from above - within it stood three young huntsmen, a fourth-year beacon student, and two licensed huntsmen scrutinizing the surroundings with a more advanced communication device on hand.
"What's the situation?" Ozpin's voice curtly rang out, slight static emanating and making his tone hard to decipher.
Jade's lips parted as he opened his mouth to say something, pausing for a moment. "The valley, well..."
"Something the matter?"
One of the older huntsmen supplied, "It's safe to say there are no Grimm around, none at all, excluding small nevermores flying about."
"Nothing hiding in the forest's flora?" Ozpin inquired simply.
Jade spat out, slightly astounded, "That's just the bloody thing. There is no forest anymore. The forests have turned into an open plain."
"..." Ozpin remained silent; his lack of words made his deliberation excruciatingly loud.
It was a considerably large valley, stretching for a dozen kilometers.
Lush forests and flora covered every inch, with a few small clearings for roads, structures, watchtowers, and living quarters adjacent to the numerous mineral-rich mines that were stationed there.
Now?
The three huntsmen's eyes met with a forest turned into rubble; only buildings were carefully avoided, but the roads were cluttered with debris and remnants of trees.
Most absurd, there were some holes, large and small, sprinkled around the valley, as if someone had dug through and pulled out a sizeable terrestrial Grimm.
"Lots of clean-up will be necessary, Sir." The other older huntsman reported, whilst Ozpin kept silent.
"...That won't be an issue, great work." Ozpin's calm tone reverberated, but it held an almost disturbing edge to it.
"Sir, I know we emphasized this in our report, but Andrite is unstable. However, he is undoubtedly effective. Unless treated, I recommend withholding his further deployment or deploying him alone... I wish I could send you an image right now of what I'm seeing, but it's this ridiculous. Not to offend, but there's no way he's Human."
"I am aware, I will take care of measures regarding Mr. Andrite. As for what happened here, I can only ask you to keep what you saw to yourselves and relay it to your subordinates. I won't be asking for a recording or an image of the damage to be brought to me; I'll see to it myself when I have the time." Ozpin ordered, with a to-the-point tone.
Jade scratched his helm, but he rarely questions authority. "Roger, boss."
The oldest of the huntsmen didn't quite have Jade's knack for subduing curiosity, "Ozpin, sir. Andrite's capabilities are fairly well-known already. Secrecy only delays the inevitable. Why does it matter whether we keep it between us or not?"
"Because I wish to respect the boy's wishes. And I am not keen on getting hounded by the public on why I am not deploying Mister Andrite, much less now that his mental stability is in question. Telling the public I am not deploying him because of his mental instability would ease the issue, but that would be utterly disgraceful, and I wouldn't dare bring such public scrutiny upon him. My lowered public viewing be damned."
He sharply stated. "We are not desperate, I'd rather not resort to such means, and neither should you consider otherwise. Business as usual."
Ozpin sighed, "I am not expecting everyone to keep their mouth shut, but I am doing my best to safeguard my students, regardless of who and what they are capable of."
With that, he voiced out. "I'm being this transparent because I trust you three. Is that satisfactory enough for you?"
The three huntsmen, especially the smug Jade, gave the two older skeptics a look of 'I told you so' and nodded in unison. "It is, sir."
Although he spoke in a very concise and measured tone, they couldn't help but feel an almost... unsettled subtext in his words.
Not from them, but rather... the results.
Shouldn't he be satisfied with this?
-----------------------------
Alex didn't dream often.
In fact, the only times he did dream, at least as of late, were induced by his mentor in the ways of the sword within Avalon.
Speaking of which, he could hear that man's voice.
For some odd reason, Alex's eyes were fogged - his vision blurry, and he couldn't quite move a muscle.
He felt... unlike his lucid self when he usually was in the Utopia.
"Do you recognize them?" A question left Merlin's lips, that bell-like, joyous tone of his echoing across the ethereal flower fields of Avalon.
He could barely scrutinize Merlin, looking into the distance as he asked that question.
For an instant, Alex felt like it was the usual gibberish or enigmatic words the man liked to spout to torment him for his own amusement.
Yet, a hint of gravity lingered in his words, one Alex couldn't mistake.
An uncanny thing it was to witness from the smiling and playful Magus of Flowers.
Alex attempted to open his lips to answer, or more so, ask.
'What the hell are you saying? Who is "them"?'
He thought of it like so, absentmindedly, yet his lips had not heeded his commands; no question nor answer was given to Merlin's question.
...
The question was asked once more. "Do you recognize them?"
And no answer was given; it was a strange, completely absurd few seconds.
Merlin turned around, lowering his gaze to look at Alex, though he couldn't quite understand what he was expecting or looking at due to the strange murkiness in his dreamlike sight.
...
"Do you recognize them?"
No answer came, and Merlin turned around once more.
His vision was narrow, and he couldn't move a muscle, so another theory came to mind:
'Is he even talking to me?'
And before he could speculate any further... it all turned white.
-----------------------------
His eyelids slowly fluttered open, the sound of his name being called stirring him from his slumber.
He was where he expected to find himself. "Didn't think I'd fall asleep." He murmured absentmindedly.
A dream or a memory, he couldn't discern which it was, but knowing Merlin... he's trying to tell him something.
'Or mess with me.' He grumbled internally.
[What's with the immediate hostility?]
'Quiet.'
The beeping of a heart monitor, a sterile ceiling, and a few beds holding injured huntsmen, one in particular that he had sat beside.
His eyes gravitated towards the source of the sound, the one who had called his name, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of the pink-haired, one-armed Calla.
She looked pale and incredibly tired, yet she spoke first. "If you've... come to apologize... don't." Her words were slow, yet unexpectedly firm despite almost dying.
Alex's lips lowered to a frown as he met her brown eyes with a nod, "Even so, I have to. You lost an arm because of me; it could have been avoided."
"But I... Am not dead because of you." Her lips slowly lifted to form an effortful smile.
"Maybe, even so, the fact of the matter is that I messed up... when I make a mistake it's much more... costly."
"...Why?"
Alex's eyebrow raised, genuinely perplexed by her missing the obvious answer.
She sighed, "Andrite, spare me the apologetics. I'm a fourth-year Beacon Student, not a civilian. In this business..." She gathered her breath as she smiled even more brightly as she raised her left arm and pointed at the empty, bandaged socket of her missing one, "This? Is considered lucky."
"You will learn, as I have, that the cup is always half-full... Okay?"
Alex's lips curled up to form a small, regretful smile. "I'm not going to offer anything ridiculous, but... is there any way I can repay you and the others for the damage I have done?"
For a moment, her eyes widened in utter confusion as she looked at the young huntsman before she shook her head good-naturedly, "Leave that to Ozpin. Huntsmen are compensated handsomely for on-field injuries, and if it's someone as high-up as myself, enduring up to my 4th year, I might even get a prosthetic! ...Not anything fancy though, just something to let me live my life, ya know?"
Then, suddenly, her eyes sharpened as she looked at his ashamed visage.
The air had turned downright suffocating around them, as an almost expectant weight settled on Alex's shoulder. "But you do owe me something extra."
He froze for a second, but nodded. He expected this much, "If it's not too much trouble. What is it?"
Her voice grew cold, final, and almost commanding.
"Get help."
Nodding, his response came immediately, "I was intending on doing that. I will, promise."
The atmosphere had softened at his answer as she leaned into her hospital bed, sighing in pure agony. "Urgh..."
"Are you okay?"
"No! I pissed myself... back there! A huntress at least wants to go out with a bang, with some pride! You... scared the shit out of me!" For a moment, she reminded him of her good friend Jade with the sudden slur.
Nevertheless, "Yeah... sorry."
"Apology accepted, now get out of my sight, Andrite. Put some respect on our names and don't be so wishy-washy. Remember who we are. You owe no one else any other apology, got that? If they demand one, they aren't real huntsmen."
Alex's eyes widened momentarily in understanding as he nodded in gratitude. "Yeah. I'll keep that in mind, thanks." With that said, he rose up and turned around to head towards the door to leave, his steps light on the ground as he paused for a moment, turning around towards her.
Not only her, but the rest of the injured he was responsible for, particularly the more severe ones. "Once I figure out a way to heal, I'll compensate you guys for any permanent damage." He stated simply, explaining nothing as his eyes glided past the rest of them.
"Learn your damn lesson and take a hike, Andrite!" One of them barked out, waving him off, believing none of his words.
Alex didn't quite care, as he nodded and made his exit, patting his pocket to make sure a certain piece of paper with names was in its place.
-----------------------------
[You cannot remove Avalon, Master.]
'You're still going on with your shameless bullshit?'
[Avalon is the only thing guarding you from certain consequences, Master?]
'Not hiding things now, are we? Then I just take it back once I'm done healing others.'
[Do as you wish, Alexander.] The system relented quickly; the tone was eerily cold.
'What are you playing at-'
And, as if to draw attention away from that very point, a notification rang in Alex's mind as he found himself in the hospital's hallway.
[PING!]
[Sub Quest - "Ambush Disaster - Prevented!" Complete!]
[Issuing Rewards...]
[Static Rewards - 4,000 Untraceable Lien sent to Alex Andrite's Bank.]
[Calculating Performance...]
[Rough Estimate... 8/10!]
[Performance-Based Rewards - 10,000 Lien sent to Alex Andrite's Bank & 1 Gacha Coupon.]
[Relationship...]
Ah, it always disgusted him how it all... 'measured' these very real things.
The more that time passes by, the more disorienting this thing has become for him; the vile nature of it never ceases to disturb him.
With an impatient sigh, the rest went ignored, as he strode casually and headed to his next destination - a bullhead home outside the hospital.
While CFVY is still stuck dealing with the finishing touches and logistics of the mission, he had been immediately recalled by Ozpin.
"...Can't blame him. He's been nice enough to let me linger here despite everything." Alex felt like he owed yet another favor to the man.
And was not going to complain about any of the special treatment he was getting, with a bullhead sent just for him.
He hummed, "At least I can make it to the funeral..." Though he didn't sound all too positive about that.
But sometimes, you have to do troublesome things for those close to you... He didn't dislike that.
To Be Continued!
-Author Note Start-
A bit on the shorter side, but I don't want to linger on consequences TOO much. There's just a bit more on that front next chapter as we move on to more important things.
Anywho, hope you've enjoyed the chapter and it was up to your satisfaction. As for a question, how much OC's will I actually keep out of the ones I introduce? Unless they are a farmer or something, if I've gone as far as to give them a name, I'll probably reuse them later.
Sounding kinda like the System rn, ngl.
See ya later, my lovelies!
Next chapter within 24-48 hours!