RWBYKnights: Volume 1 [Old Version]

Chapter 14: The Stray

Yelena sat on a chair, surrounded by shelves of books, she looked at her father, who silently was on his chair, the two staring at each other. At the door front, a sign explained that the shop was closed for the day.

"So... do you mind telling me what trouble you caused?" Yelena sighed as Patriot followed her, and without any warning, the man crossed his arms.

"Alex is alive."

"WHAT?!"

~~~

Weiss skipped excitedly as the other three followed her, beside them, the docks of Beacon City filled with ships.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" She chirped, with the two sisters looking at each other, Blake was still glued on her book, somehow able to not hit any passerby on the street.

"You seem awfully cheery today ice princess..." Yang chuckled as the girl in white sighed.

"What's with everyone calling me ice princess?" She asked as she spun around, with Yang trying not to cough out a laugh.

"Uhhhh, hello! I'd like to call you ice queen but there's already a very obvious choice for that title. Also, your personality is ehhhh..." Yang trailed off as she changed the subject.

"Why exactly are we here anyway?" She asked, with Weiss quickly forgetting the goldilocks woman's remark, her smile grew back once more as she leaned on the railing.

"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" She dances around the road in joy, with Ruby thinking her partner has officially lost it. She began looking around, quickly noticing a burned down store.

"Whoa..." Ruby muttered as she began walking slowly towards it, with the rest following soon after, they all looked at it now, with two detectives on the scene.

"What... what happened here..." Ash covered the entire face of the building, even spreading halfway past the road, the students could tell something crazy had happened.

"Yet another dust shop just exploded in fire. Marks the 8th time this happened throughout the city. Owners are starting to close down stores for fear of being targeted next!" One of the detectives commented, with Weiss noticing two footprints behind the security tape and also barricaded by more security tapes, one of these footprints looked like a Beowulf, while the other was small enough the 4 could only imagine it to be of a child's...

"Did a grimm attack happen?" Blake asked, motioning towards the larger footprint.

"No, it was a dust robbery. It just so happened a huntsman was nearby, not enough to stop the robber, but he did provide some crucial details..." The second detective said as Ruby began piecing the details of what both men had said.

"But... who would need all that dust?" She asked, knowing full well that a single dust shop was enough to full small armies of huntsmen.

"Beats me, could be the White Fang with some new set of clothes for all I care..." The detective muttered, with Wiess crossing her arms.

"The White Fang! Awful degenerates." She commented, with Blake shooting her a glare, the two were about to argue as Weiss noticed the glare. Yet was stopped as a voice called out, bringing their attention to the voice.

"It was not the White Fang." Turning to look, it was a Faunus child, as she seemingly appeared beside the 4 unnoticed, Ruby yelped in surprise as she backed off to her sister. The child herself just looked at the 4, with bear ears that sprouted out of her silver hair, the 2 parties only stared at each other awkwardly.

"Well... what makes you say so? Unless you want payment for information. What do you want? Honey?" Weiss quipped as Blake nudged the girl.

"Hey!" Weiss said as Blake crossed her arms and folded her book.

"She's just a kid," Blake said as Weiss sighed, with the other two also thinking that Weiss may have gone overboard this time. But their bickering was cut short as the child only nodded.

"I get that a lot..." She said as she shuffled her legs, with Blake apologizing on behalf of Weiss.

"But how can we trust her? She is a kid after all" Weiss asked, taking another look at the child. 

"Because it is not them," Blake said as Weiss raised her brow, "They are a collection of misguided Faunus."

"That would want to exterminate humanity off the face of the world."

Then they are very misguided..." Blake objected, "It also does not explain why would they need vast quantities of dust." 

"Umm... Blake's right, the police never caught that Torchwick guy in the first place... maybe it was him?" Ruby said, resting a hand on Blake's shoulder and calming her down, their questions were quickly answered as someone else joins the 5, Yelena.

"The kid's right, it's neither the White Fang or that Torchwick criminal." The white rabbit said as the group turned opposite to the young girl.

"And your evidence?" Weiss objected, still firmly accusing the White Fang, Yelena could see the growing anger of Blake, as she only shook her head.

"My father was the one who tried stopping the thief, no white fang emblem, or a white mask." She said walking through the group. Weiss could feel something cold radiating from the rabbit, it felt as if she was hiding something, but dared not continue. Yelena on her part gave some candy to the kid, rubbing her head as she smiled.

"Thank you, you can go now." The kid smiled as she walked away, with Yelena turning to face the 4.

"Well... it still doesn't change that those White Fang are a bunch of scums. Those Faunus only knows how to steal and kill!" Even if Yelena knew Weiss was also referring to the White Fang when she said 'Faunus', she could feel her anger boiling with Blake, as she too was once part of something like the White Fang... A group with a belief she believed in, only to be turned into a twisted parody of itself, the Reunion...

"That's not necessarily true..." Yang muttered as a commotion was heard back at the harbour, with the group now focusing their attention on a yellow-haired man with a monkey's tail...

~~~

"That's impossible... Does he not recognize you?" Before meeting the 4, Yelena questioned the validity of her father's words.

"He attacked me with his weapons. It may not even be Alex under the mask... but his gear, that's Alex's," Patriot said as Yelena thought about it, she shook the thought of her comrade dying in this world and his gear being stolen.

"It can't be, it's obviously him. You even said the way he fought was his!" Yelena stood up, with her father acknowledging her remark.

"Then what do we do? Alex or not, the Police are incapable of contending him with what his gear can do." Patriot said, remembering the skilful display of the hooded man compared to the police, the two thought about it.

"With dust shops closing, that man has to have changed his target if he still needed the dust... but where?" Silence took over the discussion as Patriot soon remembered his walk that oversaw the docks of Vale...

"The port! There could be shipments of dust due to the incoming festival." Yelena spoke her father's mind, with the Wendigo nodding.

"Then let's catch him! Be it Alex or not." The two agreed as they began their planning...

~~~Author's Notes~~~

I always found how Skullshatter became a reunion leader pretty weird. Like Patriot is a 200-year-old superhuman, Frostnova is really good with Arts and has her own squad, W is an accomplished Mercenary who hunts angels solely for their guns, Tal was the one who organized Reunion, and Mephisto and Faust are just really good at their jobs, with the former of the two able to control the infected with his Oripathy. Also, Crownslayer has some backstory that I don't want to get into but she is also pretty special.

Skullshatter is the only outlier as he's literally just a kid. Sure his father knows how to use the systems of the moving city, but in terms of battle experience, he doesn't have one. So to combat that I'm just going to say his gear was really, really good that it rivals that of W's weaponry or Faust's crossbow turrets.