#sienna umberon
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90% off all office supplies at your nearest White Fang hideout! Everything must go! Act now while supplies last!
The latest chapter of my RWBY OC fic Flames of Change. Make sure to see the pinned post for the chapter list in order.
Dash Ospreay belongs to me.
Sienna Umberon belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby and @wetsliceofbread
Although he had lost track, Dash was fairly certain it had been a few days since he had last seen Sienna. Or at least it was a few sleep cycles since then. But, between the days and nights blending together from inside his hellish prison cell, and his body demanding rest from a combination of pain, exhaustion, and boredom, there was no guarantee he was right. When she eventually did return, she looked more irritable than usual. Which was saying something. Dash watched as the other White Fang troops did their best to stay clear out of her way. The ones that were forced to interact with her received their orders with complete compliance, no questions and words kept to a minimum besides a succinct "Yes ma'am." Every time her gaze found Dash out of the corner of her eye, her scowl intensified. Dash had no clue why. He knew Sienna well enough to know something was bothering her, but trying to pinpoint what would've been sheer guess-work.
"I'll be in my office. If you bother me, it better be real important," Sienna told the soldiers before retreating behind her office door. It was down the hallway but in plain view from where the caged heir sat. Another unknown amount of time passed. Time might as well have had no meaning to Dash at this point. It was long enough for him to wonder if having Sienna around was better or worse for him compared to the revolving door of faceless Fang cronies. Despite the time, he couldn't come up with an answer before a loud thud from the other side of the door derailed his train of thought. Staggered, stumbling stomps grew louder and closer until the door swung open. Sienna wobbled in place in the doorway with a goofy grin until the door bounced back from its hinges and thwacked her in the shoulder.
"Owww motherfucker!" she cursed at the door before giving it a big two-handed push. The door came back at her again so she inelegantly dodged, nearly tripping over her own two feet in the process. "Fuckin' feet always failing me," she mumbled to herself. Somehow managing to stay upright, she entered Dash's room and her grin curled into something more mischievous. He noticed after light investigation the half finished bottle of whiskey in her hand.
"Helloooooo," she cooed at Dash with a playfully evil undertone before, to Dash's surprise, unlocking the cell door. However, the shock was short-lived once he laid eyes on the chain leash and collar wrapped around her other hand. "I'll be taking the toy into my office. I'll make sure he's fed," she called out to any Fang member within earshot. Dash tried to tilt his head and move away to make it difficult. But, one harsh grab by the chin from Sienna was correction enough so she could snap the collar on with ease.
"But Sienna, ma'am," a particularly nervous looking new recruit spoke up, instantly drawing Sienna's death stare. "Er, Commander, uh.." Sienna's eyes burned two holes through him. "H-High Leader Taurus said the prisoner is to remain in his cell at all times."
"High Leader Taurus can suck my fat cock!" Sienna exclaimed, leaving the rookie perplexed on multiple levels. "The prisoner knows to not even dare try to escape on me. Isn't that right, Spicy?" Dash sighed instead of rolling his eyes at the name. It was one of many used to irk him at Beacon. A quick yank on the leash curtailed him though and brought him closer to Sienna's side.
"Watch the lungs, red. I heard that," she said. A brief moment of PTSD powerlessness gripped Dash and caused him to break into a cold sweat. Sienna then began leading the way, with Dash lagging behind, outside his normal confinement and into a new one. Thankfully the walk was short. In Dash's mind, the less people that saw him like this the better. Even though Sienna was already too much. "Ya know if you ever make it out of here, you're gonna have a serious pet play kink thanks to me." Her loud, uncontrollable laughter was like nails on a chalkboard to Dash. As he trudged along behind her, Sienna kept flicking the end of her tail so it brushed against Dash's face enough to tickle him. Well that's one to be told to pick up the pace. With his hands cuffed and unable to turn his head, the only way he could avoid the relentless tail tickling was to speed up. Sienna snickered again, this time punctuated by a snort.
Once inside her office, Dash took a survey around as Sienna locked the door behind them. A beautifully crafted dark oak desk sat as the master centerpiece to the room. On one side of the desk sat a messy stack of almost late paperwork with her mask on top of it as a paperweight. Her claws were hung up on a display stand behind her chair. As Dash wondered how Sienna swindled a stylish place like this, Sienna forced him down into a sitting position where he stood. She hooked his bindings to a pipe running along the wall, leaving him very little wiggle room. But, it was still a nice step up from the blanketed shelf he had been sleeping on.
"I don't think you'll need that. It's more for in case someone knocks," she told him while knelt down. Once he was secured, Sienna got up and sauntered toward a counter on the left to begin preparing the inmate his dinner. She had been the one who set his eating schedule during his time here, but it was the first time he watched her actually make it. Or rather he watched what wasn't obscured by her body or the insane amount of fluff on her tail. After a couple moments of eyeing her as she casually went about her business while fighting her drunkenness, she sat down a hot meal in front of Dash - in a doggy bowl. Dash glared at his warden.
"Gotta be able to eat without hands somehow. Now quit giving me that look and be a good puppy." Her words dripped with an infuriating amount of mocking impishness. Dash didn't want to give her the satisfaction of being even more of her obedient dog. He left his food untouched. It was a strategy he had already tried to employ against his captors. It hadn't proven very effective though, and every time he would eventually crack and give his body the scraps it had been begging for. "Suit yourself. Only hurting you."
Sienna turned back toward her desk, whipping her tail into Dash's face one more time in the process. Jumping into her comfortable office chair, she kicked her feet up onto the desk before leaning too far back and nearly falling backwards. She did recover, albeit clumsily. Dash sat in disbelief that this one of the White Fang's fiercest and most capable, the one who stormed into Atlas and got out with him. "So," she went on, "I heard your daddy's little speech." Dash grumbled as his eyes fell away from her and toward a wall. "In the damn near month - fuck has it been that long already? - guess how many times your dad has contacted us personally. Or how many times he's tried to break you out by force."
"You already know the answer," he finally mumbled after a minute of Sienna patiently waiting. He really didn't want to say it. He had already heard it once.
"Yeahhhhh. But I wanna hear you say it," she said. Still, no reply. "Come onnnn, I'll give you a drink if you answer." Sienna waggled the whiskey bottle she had just taken another swig out of. Only silence followed. But, Sienna's stubbornness was only amplified without her sobriety. Dash was learning quickly that there was nothing more frustrating than a happy in-your-face kind of drunk to deal with when you can't leave. "I know you know the answer. You're gonna hate it."
"I get it! It's zero, alright?!" Dash snapped.
"Ayyyyy," Sienna said. "Strawberry shortcake want a drink?" Again with the names. If he didn't like them at Beacon, he fully detested them now. Somehow, the grin that always accompanied them was even more annoying now than it was then. Shrugging him off, Sienna started to rummage through the obscene amount of drawers in her desk. "So much shit in here," she muttered to herself.
"Where is Dawn?" Dash asked.
"She's fine. A different crew is looking after her. I've been keeping in touch with them. They're ones you can trust," she said before her head popped over the desk again with an unopened bag of pens. As she tore into it with her teeth, she met Dash cocking an unsure and faithless eyebrow. Sienna rolled her eyes. "She's got coloring books to keep her busy, and her own personal grunt to make sure she always has crayons. She's broken a few throwing them back at him, just for him to give her more ammo. Poor bastard doesn't know what to do." Dash smiled slightly. It was the first warmth he felt inside in a long time knowing that Dawn was being so strong. He knew she was tough. The smile faded, however, when the first pen was thrown in his direction, even though it sailed over his head.
"Damn!" Sienna remarked. "So when are you gonna learn your daddy doesn't care about you?"
"That's not true," Dash said lowly. Sienna lobbed another pen, this time nailing Dash right on the forehead. He flinched at first, but couldn't turn his head away, before growling and kicking towards Sienna. But he was a mile away, and he only kicked the air before the chains tugged him back to his spot.
"Bullseye!" Sienna laughed. "But it's true. He's too worried about his precious profits to pay the ransom and get his own kids back. He’s either too dumb to realize you’re being held hostage by a group who have wanted you dead for years, or he just doesn’t care."
“If he gives in to the White Fang’s demands, no matter what they are, money or whatever, then they win. Not to mention it can’t be easy coming to the table to negotiate with a side that only wants you killed.”
“Man, he’s got you brainwashed real good,” Sienna said while shaking her head. Her mismatched eyes looked down at Dash, simultaneously stunned and expectantly disappointed that this was his line of thinking even in the situation he’s stuck in. It still didn’t stop the next pen from raining down and getting him right in the nose. “But hey, that last part’s fair. I think everybody wearing these masks want nothing more than his death certificate. Myself included.”
“Yeah, I bet you wanna be the one to personally do it,” Dash grimaced as the next pen tomahawked at him clipped him in the ear. “And are the pens really fucking necessary?? Quit it!” This time at least he kept the thrashing to a minimum so the collar didn’t painfully remind him of his place.
“Still got that hot head. Don’t think anyone will ever beat that out of you,” Sienna said. Dash eyes glanced upward in thought for a moment before he nodded in concession. “And yeah, I’d say the pens are necessary. Let’s see. The first one was for when we first met and you called me a ‘punkass faunus wastelander’. The next one was for the time you tried to pin the argument on ‘faunus like me’ when thirteen people died in an accident at one of your factories. And the one I'm about to throw is for the time you tried to pick a fight with Riley just cause she stood up for me! Actually-". With each accusation, Dash shrunk and shriveled more and more in his place before the sounds of more drawers opening and closing brought his attention forward again. Coming back up, Sienna was reloaded, this time with a box of paper clips. With one heated up in the palm of her hand via her semblance, she chucked it at him. He made no effort to try and dodge, letting it burn where it hit him.
"And to answer your other thing. I want him dead, yeah, but I don't wanna be the one to do it. I don't kill if I can help it," she continued.
"How noble of you. Want a medal? Want me to rub your feet?" Dash scoffed.
"Ohoho," Sienna chuckled, "you even think about touching my feet and I'll make an exception and ship you back to your dad in more pieces than IKEA furniture." Stopping mid-breath, Dash was briefly paralyzed. He wasn't sure if it was a bluff to call her out on. But it sounded like the most real threat she's delivered yet. Guess she wasn't the type to get foot rubs from Riley. Sienna laughed loudly and took one of the last swigs the bottle had left. Slowly, Dash exhaled and let his arms drop. Once the laughter ceased, Sienna caught her breath. "You should be thanking me, ya know."
"Thanking you? For what?? The privilege of being an insane fox's plaything? Or that you don't have anything bigger to throw!" Dash said incredulously almost like his tone was instinct. Another searing office supply smacked him in the forehead, only further proving his points.
"Ooooo maybe I could find some ball bearings, that's an idea for next time. But I'm serious. You should be grateful. I'm the only reason you're alive."
"Uh-huhhhh. You're totally my savior and not the reason I'm in this hell to begin with, right?"
"Think about it, Spicy. You think that hit at the party only happened cause of me? You’ve been on the hit list for a long time, and that party gave them the golden opportunity. They were gonna crash that mansion and come after you anyways. And all the people guarding you while I was gone, you think they have the patience to deal with some trust fund kids? If they had their way, they woulda offed you and Dawn and sent back your corpses in exchange for the ransom money.” A cold snap rocketed up Dash’s spine. It was partially for his safety, but mainly due to the image of his little sister meeting her end like this. It was an image he couldn’t erase. “So I told them I knew you, knew you too damn well, and they offered me the job in a heartbeat. I took it, cause yeah, I wanted to get back at you for all your cocky prick bullshit and for all the times you defended your dad. But also cause… I didn’t wanna see you dead. Same goes for your sister.” Dash squinted at the fox faunus like he was trying to peer through some mirage. “So yeah, think about that next time you wanna call me trash or whatever. I’ll be expecting some more obedience from my pet.”
“So what’s the endgame?” Dash questioned, dismissing Sienna’s cackling and cutting to the point, all the while suppressing a groan.
“It was supposed to be have your sperm donor fork over the ransom and get you two back home safe, but he hasn’t gone for it yet. So now I don’t know.” There was a momentary pause, Dash studying Sienna as she offhandedly fidgeted with a clip.
“And what about you?” he spoke up, causing her fox ears to flick slightly in confusion. “How do you see this ending for yourself?”
“Probably when everybody we went to school with come to put me six feet under,” she said. Her response was quick and seemed to carry no care on the surface, but Dash noticed her entire demeanor shift. Her ears lowered. She sat more leaned forward in her chair. She dropped her makeshift fidget spinner. She instantly sobered up.
"What does that mean?" Dash asked.
"It doesn't matter how it ends for me," she replied, not really answering Dash about where their friends from school came from or how they fit into this.
"Sienna what do they have-"
"Oh for fuck's sake you still just talk way too much! After all this you still can't keep your mouth shut! I said it doesn't matter so drop it!" Sienna swiped her bottle just for her growl to magnify when she realized only the last drops of her bourbon were left. Tossing it aside on her desk, her right hand wrapped around her left forearm, leaving a glowing red mark. Dash took note of her manner. It mirrored the mood she was in when she first arrived today. There had to have been something more to it under the aggressive exterior. Was it stress? Worry? Fear? Sienna wouldn't reveal that even to her most trusted friends, much less him. Whatever it was, it didn't stop the next scalding paper clip from coming at him with renewed vigor, although her aim was wayward. Dash released a heavy sigh. Something in his mind was clearly weighing him down, something he had no idea how to begin to articulate it. What were the words to say here?
"I'm sorry, Sienna." Sienna's ears shot straight up and she stopped mid-windup of her next throw.
"What?" Sienna had no idea that those words were even in the Ospreays' vocabularies. Was that the first time Dash had admitted guilt about anything? It was like a baby saying his first words. It was awkward and lacked confidence. But, she couldn't dwell on it too long. The clip in her hand started to melt and burn her fingers, prompting her to fling it against the wall. "Fuck!"
“What’s the look for?” Now it was Dash’s turn to be befuddled.
“The fuck? Where’d that come from?” Sienna furrowed her brows, convinced he was joking. She almost wanted to lob another pen at him for the audacity of lying to her face like that. Or to make sure he was real and not some alcohol-fueled hallucination.
“For all the shit at Beacon. I’m sorry,” he repeated. He sounded genuinely sincere, but that made it all the more baffling and unbelievable to Sienna. “Believe me or not, I don’t care. You’re not getting it out of me again.” Now that was the Dash she was more than accustomed to. That braggadocio that gave him a very punchable existence. She folded her arms and intently glared at the trapped heir. After an excruciatingly long moment, Sienna unsteadily rose from her chair. Still struggling with coordination, she made her way to the counter without faceplanting into the floor and withdrew a fork from one of the cabinets. Dash’s electric eyes widened in panic.
“Whoa whoa hey hey now what are you planning on doing with that?? Let’s not be rash here, we can be more civilized about this,” Dash said with a nervously petrified fake chuckle. Sienna didn’t answer and kept approaching. He tugged hard on his restraints as the instinct to put his hands up and block his face kicked in. He fruitlessly tried to scoot away before closing his eyes and awaiting the pain of a fiery utensil meeting his skin. However, he kept waiting. And waiting. Until his arms were suddenly able to fall to his sides in their natural position. Unsure how or why he wasn’t bleeding, on fire, or both yet, Dash opened one eye to see his bowl of food placed in front of him now complete with a fork to eat it with. Then, his gaze raised upward to Sienna towering over him, twirling the key to his binds.
“Eat.” The command was stern, frighteningly so. It was still coming from the woman who held the fate of his life in her hands, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Dash rubbed his wrists, hesitating to break eye contact until his grumbling stomach won out. The food was still warm. It was nothing fancy, but every bite he took felt like heaven. The subsequent bites after the first one came quicker after the previous as his body cried in gratitude. After a moment, Sienna dropped down to one knee in front of him. “You know. You can help us.”
"You expect me to help the White Fang?" Dash said with a mouth full of food before swallowing. "The info I've given up already isn't enough."
"You can do more. Give us more, do what we ask, and do it all without having me to beat you into submission, and it might just be your ticket out of here. And our ticket to end all the pain your family"s caused."
"And condemn my father to death?"
"He's doing the same to you right now."
"I can't do that to my own flesh and blood, Sienna. How do you expect me to sleep well at night doing that?"
"Uuuuuugh," she groaned. "Definitely getting something bigger to throw at you next time." Before Dash could escalate the argument any further, something he had a talent for doing, a knock on the door cut them both short. Dash froze before his next bite, petrified if someone heard them or saw him somehow. But, Sienna just groaned louder. "Now whaaaaat?" Rising once more, she went to the door and opened it up just enough for her to stand in the doorway. She blocked any vision of Dash from the outside, and vice versa. But, Dash could still hear a Fang official's voice.
"Commander Umberon."
"Yup, that's me."
"We have received intel that significant progress is being made in repairing Vale's CCT tower. The crew working on it is supposedly close to a major breakthrough in restoring communications." Dash perked up at the mention of at the current state of his old home, but luckily it went unseen. “We need those comms to remain offline so we can continue to operate with less secrecy as we have been. We are sending Tango Squadron to make sure our great strides will not be halted, but they could use an extra bit of firepower. And since you are so familiar with Beacon Academy, the High Leader suggested you.”
“Tango Squadron, huh?” Sienna said before pausing to think. Not like she was pondering not doing it, it was just taking a moment for her buzzed mind to catch up with the rest of her. “Yeah, I’m in.” As she was being relayed all of the important mission details, most notably that this was happening tomorrow night, she nodded rakishly through it all. “Yeah, yeah, got it. And hey tell one of the grunts sitting on their asses to get me some more booze, would ya?” Dash couldn’t see the response, only the door shutting and Sienna spinning to face him once more with a smirk.
“Did you hear that? I get to visit our old stomping grounds! This should be fun! Oh and don’t worry,” she said while crouching next to Dash. She caressed then pinched Dash’s cheek with enough power in her semblance to cause a light sting. With his hands now free, he was able to swat at her arm and push it away. “I’ll be back for you much sooner than my last trip. Then we can continue our little conversation.”
#rwby#rwby oc#rwby fanfiction#writblr#flames of change#dash ospreay#sienna umberon#wf!sienna#oc#rwby fanfic
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Ignition Chapter 2: New Kids on the Block
The opening race! Who will come out on top? Who is this mystery driver coming from the crowd? Find out on this episode of Dragonba- er, I mean, Ignition!
Riley Currant and Sienna Umberon belong to @gruntnuker-rwby
Sapphire’s heart was about to beat out of her chest. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. If they didn’t have to be ready on the pedals, her legs would’ve been bouncing with anticipation. Her eyes were transfixed on the skunk hybrid in front of her motioning for cars to line up. And behind that skunk hybrid, an empty city street under the lights of downtown ready for its players to take center stage. This was it. The crescendo, the beat drop that couldn’t even be rivaled by the ones she heard so frequently in clubs. It was exactly what Sapphire lived for.
The moment Royce’s arms dropped, Sapphire got her sweet release. A fleeting moment, but one she cherished nonetheless, as her suspense released into dopamine and adrenaline. Likewise, her Ford Focus RS felt that same rush as its 4-cylinder engine burst off the line. As Royce quickly disappeared out of view, she then shifted her priority to the car outside her passenger side window. The black Monte Carlo of Jynx Fushon was just beginning to poke its nose as they climbed through the gears. The 350 small block motor underneath the Chevy’s hood was putting each horsepower it produced to good use. As they continued down the initial straight, Sapphire’s rear view filled with the headlights of a Golf that was forced to fall in line after a poor start. And while she couldn’t see it, she knew that the RX-8 was fiercely keeping pace on the other side of Jynx. Sapphire kept her nose underneath the muscle car to hold onto the inside line for turn 1. But, Jynx didn’t drift up the track like she expected, instead remaining gripped to the street and keeping the two side by side. Now, Victoria was behind both of them, trying to pick a lane to apply pressure from.
Before they reached the next set of corners - a quick left-right flick one block over onto Odessa Avenue - Jynx's power started to pull him ahead. Sapphire groaned softly at the sight of taillights. Before Victoria could take advantage and follow Jynx past her, however, Sapphire sent her Focus through the cityscape chicane. The nimble hatchback had a much happier time going through the turns than her competitors. The gap to the Monte Carlo closed just as quickly as it formed. But, with Jynx on the apex, there was no opportunity for Sapphire to use her advantage and make a pass.
Facing the drivers next was a fast turn onto Summerwood Boulevard. Just outside the line of cones demarcating the track, a girl was sat in the back of a silver and black Chevrolet El Camino, with her phone out to record the action. First, she directed her camera on the lead as Sapphire tried to use the outside line to go the long way around, but to no avail. Then, she swiftly switched to Victoria defending a charging Cato. Just as she thought her filming job was done, though, the sound of an incoming V8 engine whipped her aim back to the street. As the Mustang flew through the turn past the girl, gaining ground on the others, she reached for a radio hooked to a belt loop on her denim shorts.
Back at the parking garage, everyone was abuzz with speculation at this new arrival. Questions kept arising like heat from the blacktop after a burnout, with no answers to appease them. Emotions ranged from bewilderment to concern to outrage. Who was this crowd missile? Why were they here? Were they looking for someone in particular? Everyone was looking to Royce for an explanation, but she had none to give.
“Yo boss, you’re seeing this right?” Royce’s radio hummed to life. “Whats going on? Who is that?”
“Harley, you’re like the 18th person to ask me that in the past two minutes. I have no idea,” she said back into the radio. The stress and frustration in her voice was a struggle to keep hidden. Meanwhile, the other three West Coast All-Stars were stuck watching the action from the sidelines. Solomon’s tablet displayed Sapphire’s onboard feed and the video Harley just messaged him.
“C’mon, Sapph. Get around his ass!” Auburn yelled at the screen like a sports fan watching their hometown team.
“If she stays close and keeps biding her time, she’ll be fine. He’ll make a mistake long before she will. She’s got this,” Dash said.
“You guys are more worried about the race than the fact that there’s an intruder in it?” Solomon asked his teammates. He tried to keep his anxiety at bay and sound cool, but it still crept into his voice enough for his friends to recognize it. For his troubles, he received a hearty pat on the shoulder from Auburn. It took some effort to fake not feeling Auburn’s strength.
“She’s a big girl. She can handle it,” she said.
“That Mustang’s got no chance of catching up. Just some reject looking to cut the line and pull a fast one. So no, I’m not worried,” Dash added again with unwavering conviction.
“You should be.”
The trio all turned around to follow the trail of an unknown female voice. Stood behind them was the same biker Sapphire had taken a picture of before the race began. She faced them all with arms crossed over her black and red Icon biker jacket. Then, a pair of skeleton gloved hands moved to unfasten the helmet. The face revealed underneath had maroon shoulder length locks and red eyes that were staring down the All-Stars. The three of them exchanged glances and shrugs.
“Uhm, do we know you?” Auburn questioned.
“No, but you will,” the biker said.
“Ugh. The amount of corny ass lines I’ve heard from rookie nobodies,” Dash muttered while rolling his eyes so loudly it was a miracle the whole meet didn’t see it. The biker certainly took notice at his lack of care in keeping his words down.
“Watch your mouth, red. Name’s Riley Currant. I’m the leader of Garage 21,” she said icily at Dash.
“Never heard of it,” he scoffed.
“We’ve been going across the country beating the best each scene has to offer. New York, Chicago, Seattle. And now we’re finally at our last stop. LA, the origin of hot rodding and drag racing.”
“So, the Mustang. They’re with you?” Solomon asked the newcomer softly.
“Yup. That’s my babe. It was her idea.”
“Hmph. So you’re on a cute little road trip. Big deal. Why does that mean you get to just jump into a race you had no business even knowing about?” Dash said. Riley took one step toward him. She was the same height as Dash, so looking into his eyes as a smirk grew more and more across her lips was just that much easier. Dash furrowed his brow in turn.
“To get your attention,” she said. “We aren’t waiting. We wanna put the best teams on notice. And not gonna lie, when I heard you pull up in a Ferrari that sounded stock, I almost didn’t believe it was you.”
“How do you know about us?” Solomon jumped in again, inadvertently cutting his leader off before he could fire back with a comment defending his Italian baby.
“We got more reach than we thought,” Auburn nudged Solomon with her elbow, chuckling pridefully.
“Did you think we were gonna go into this blind? Besides, your influencer friend made it really easy to keep track of who’s who in this scene,” Riley said. Having heard bits and pieces of the conversation, Royce had joined the group at this point. She was eyeing the stranger cautiously, still demanding answers.
“Well if you’re as experienced as you say you are, then you should know this shit isn’t free to play. Barging in like this isn’t exactly how street racing works, sweetheart,” Dash said. With the grin still plastered on her face and without breaking eye contact, she withdrew a sizeable stack of cash from her pocket. She waved it in Dash’s face a little, prompting a swipe to knock it out of her hands that was too slow.
“You’re the organizer, right?” Riley addressed Royce. She nodded, still looking unsure as RIley handed her the wad of money. “We’re not looking for free rides. We’re just looking to make a name for ourselves. Just as we’ve done at every place we’ve stopped so far.”
“Oh you did that. But that’s not always a good thing,” Dash said, his words still armed defensively like daggers.
“Very ironic coming from you, silver spoon,” Riley said while desperately trying not to just laugh in his face. Meanwhile, Royce had been quietly counting the money during their back and forth. She had enough to cover her usual entrance fee plus a little extra. She stepped in between the two bickering redheads, waving them both off to shush them.
“She’s clear with me as far as money goes. Although next time, I’ll just text you when we get together,” Royce said. She stuffed the cash into her jacket pocket and in its place she pulled out a vape pen. One hit, a puff of smoke, the taste and scent of blueberry taking over. Her stress levels were finally coming down some. “Save me the anxiety, ok?”
The distance between Sapphire in second and Victoria in third had grown. It essentially split the race into two smaller battles. Cato was finding it difficult to get out of last. The RX-8 was doing good work keeping him behind, especially through the turns. If there was one benefit of being in the back, at least his attention could remain solely fixed on what’s in front of him. No reason to be glancing at his mirrors. Not like there was going to be a surprise fifth racer to defend from.
Wait, what?
Much to his surprise, a pair of Ford Mustang headlights were rapidly growing in his mirrors. By the time he noticed, it was too late to stop the charging blue oval. It breezed past him with enough straight line speed to make a defense almost impossible anyways. Now, the Mazda was next in their sights. As they neared, Victoria was unsure if she should even spend the energy on the tresspasser. She doesn’t count as an actual participant, right? But in the end, racer instinct kicked in. Nothing gets past. She threw a hard block on the Mustang. But, it could only stop their advance briefly.
Back at the front, Sapphire was starting to get antsy. In her world, there were a lot more fun ways to get pinned down than being stuck in second place. But, that Monte Carlo was proving to be a nuisance to pass. In racing, catching someone is one thing, but getting around them was a whole different thing entirely. And if Sapphire didn’t know that before, she was certainly being reminded of that now.
If she was feeling any kind of annoyance at her situation, however, she wasn’t showing it. Nothing was gonna shake her. She took a deep breath and instead of reaching for her shifter, she tapped the screen to the right of the steering wheel. On it was the radio tab left with the same playlist she boomed down the highway earlier on pause. The EDM made its return known with one subtle press of the play button. Jynx cocked an eyebrow at the mirrors he had been fixated on upon hearing the music.
Sapphire was all over his rear end. She first looked left. Then, she cut all the way to the right lane. Each move she took was countered by the Chevy, but the margin of error was shrinking. Every one of his safeguarding measures cut it closer and closer, looking more and more shaky. They began to approach a long right-hander that took them past the library, which had long been closed for the night. The turn tightened up on exit, meaning any passing here was going to be mere inches from ending in disaster. Upon entering the corner, Jynx’s car slid up just a little, leaving a gap just big enough to fit a Focus through. And right as the song’s buildup section was coming to an end-
“Got him!” The beat drop. Her eyes electrified. Her smile couldn’t be contained. She stomped on the gas pedal and gunned it toward the opening. It was a wild move, one that caused Jynx to stare outside his driver side window in near disbelief. She practically threw the car to his inside, but never once made any contact with the Monte Carlo. He was forced to listen to that beat drop as it passed him by. With that, Sapphire was now in the lead.
With the race well into its closing stages, Jynx had little time to waste in shifting to the offensive. He tried to put the power down on out the corner but Sapphire took his preferred racing line away. This halted his momentum for the moment, causing Jynx to growl under his breath. He barely had time to squint into a concentrated death stare at Sapphire before a glow from behind caught his eye.
“Heh, guess you don’t wanna lose that bet after all, Victoria,” Jynx said to himself. But, as the shine dimmed down and the front end came into focus, the invading Mustang made its presence known. “What the fuck? Who’re you??” he said louder in bewilderment. A blue car stuck behind him was a sight he welcomed, but with Sapphire in front of him, then..who was this? Likewise, Sapphire saw the fellow Ford slotted in line from behind Jynx.
“Party crasher, huh?” she said. Her voice did not express the surprise her eyes gave off at seeing this uninvited guest. There was no concern in her words, unlike her other competitors. There was no panic, no anger. Only a new thrill of someone new. “Ok, newbie. Better not miss your shot.”
As the now 3-way battle for the lead rushed toward the final turn, a left that would put them on a one-way track back to the parking garage, the Mustang suddenly darted out of Jynx’s slipstream and to his inside. Jynx moved down to try and squeeze them out of room, trying to force them to back out of it. But, the Mustang wouldn’t budge. With an impressive display of fearlessness, they kept on the throttle and turned Jynx’s move against him, practically powering him aside. The Chevy wiggled, forcing Jynx to give up the position as he had to let off the gas and recollect his car. With second now secured, all that was left was a last sprint to the finish line and a sporty blue hatchback. However, the battle for second cost both Jynx and the Ford too much time. Sapphire was able to streak across the finish line in first, securing another victory for the All-Stars.
“Yeah, baby! Yes!” Sapphire shouted in triumph. She eased on the brakes and gently brought the car back down to a leisurely, more speed limit friendly pace. The turn around and casual stroll back to the rest of her team was like a the drive to victory lane for her. And her teammates were the #1 fans to shower her with congratulations.
“That’s how it’s done!” Auburn said while pumping her fist. Sapphire gave her a quick nod of thanks as she got out the car. But, any further celebrating was cut short as her interest was peaked in something else - the mystery Mustang that had now pulled alongside her. Peering over the roof, she waited for the driver to reveal themselves. Her anticipation was first met by a pair of fox ears, both marked with several piercings, most notably one with a pentagram on it on the left ear. That was followed by long brown hair done in dreads with the sides shaved. And as she turned around to face the All-Stars, a pair of heterochromatic eyes, one a glimmering gold and the other an icy, metallic blue, peered back at her. Piercings dotted her face as well, including her nose, lips, and brow. The lighthearted smile she gave was a stark contrast to Sapphire’s confusion.
“Damn, you know if I had an even start I woulda had you!” Her voice was a bit deeper in pitch than an average female voice. Her words carried no kind of regret whatsoever for the race she had just broken into. As she stepped out away from the cars and toward LA’s established top racers, she revealed a busty chest hidden under a comfortable T-shirt and jacket.
“How’s the cheesy quote go? It doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile?” Sapphire said. She flashed her trademark heartwarming smile, almost as if to the other girl’s nonchalance. She recognized the game being played. Auburn joined her side, staring down the fellow fox hybrid with equal parts defensiveness and curiosity. She seemed like someone Auburn could roll with. “Sooo who are you exactly?” Sapphire inquired.
“Oh, right! Name’s Sienna Umberon. Your favorite menace to society aannnnd-”. As she left her sentence on a cliffhanger, she made a gesture to the rear of her car. On the rear bumper, there was a sticker that said- “Fastest Fox in Town,” she finished. Auburn’s ears twitched slightly.
“Wanna try that last part again?” she said, desperately trying yet still failing to keep her anger internal. Any interest she had in making a new hybrid friend had dissipated into the faintest scowl across her lips.
“What do you drive?” Sienna implored, almost in a tone of voice that was dying to egg Auburn on.
“Challenger Hellcat.”
“She’s our Hellfox,” Sapphire added.
“Hellfox, huh?” Sienna said. As the redhead Riley now joined her, arm wrapped around her shoulders, Sienna looked up in thought for a moment. “Where do I know that from? Oh yeah! You from Detroit by chance?” Auburn nodded. The Motor City was her hometown, born and raised, and where she first cut her teeth as a street racer. “Yeah, heard about you a lot when we passed through. Seem like the real deal. You had all the records up there.”
“Damn right,” Auburn said with a surge of confidence at the reminder of her hometown accolades. However, as she processed that last sentence again, that confidence quickly left her chest. Her fox ears shot straight up, and her face twisted with shock and outrage. “Wait. Had?!?”
“The sticker doesn’t lie,” Sienna tapped the front bumper teasingly like she was knocking on a door. “Riley and I built this thing to hurt Hellcats’ feelings.”
“I don’t know where you come off trying to step up to us like this. You snuck into a race just to have a shot at the champs, and guess what. You lost. So if you want another shot like that, work your way up the right way, then we’ll talk, ok? Back of the line,” Dash came in at last.
“Ooooooo, someone’s worried my degenerate ass is gonna whoop your ass,” Sienna said to him, her tail swaying as her sarcastically saccharine words were only interrupted by a snort of laughter.
“Worried? About you? Only thing I’m worried about with you is you trying to steal my watch.” His unflinching anger and commitment to the tough guy approach only caused Sienna to laugh louder.
“Yeah, this was the first impression I got from him too,” Riley said, joining in the laughter at Dash’s expense but much quieter.
“The first impression should be I’m above whatever hole you crawl out of that you call a home. If that makes you hate me, then I guess you can hate,” Dash said. Suddenly, Sienna broke away from Riley and marched forward towards the elite. The giggling was now gone. In its place were eyes of fire and a clenched fist poised to knock out the former shortstop.
“I refuse to be lectured about ‘the right way’ by someone like you! You wanna talk shit to my Riley, then I’ll show you some hate!” But, an icy hand from behind promptly found her shoulder and stopped her in her tracks.
“Babe. Not here,” Riley said. Her calming touch instantly caused Sienna to untense her muscles. It was always a certain level of soothing to her, even when she didn’t want to be soothed. However, the blaze in her mismatching eyes did not fade one bit. After a moment of neither of them backing down, Sapphire also stuck a hand between them to aid in defusing the situation.
“We should go, guys. Things are winding down, and we don’t need to risk police catching the afterparty,” she said. Even as Dash and Sienna both took a step away from each other, the two refused to break the staring contest for another couple uneasy moments. So, Sapphire kept going, “It was fun getting to race you. Hope we get to do it again more evenly next time. And welcome to LA.”
“Yeah. Welcome,” Dash said with biting mockery.
“Oh don’t worry. You’ll be seeing a lot of us soon enough,” Riley said. The two factions separated to their camps and began to disembark from the meet. As they drove off into the southern California night, the cast of characters returned backstage after another performance. No doubt that the next act had been altered by this meeting.
#writing#writblr#ignition#dash ospreay#auburn vulpes#solomon roxos#sapphire hyacinth#riley currant#sienna umberon#royce fiala#harley onyx#jynx fushon
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Home Turf
After what she would call a productive few weeks, Sienna returns home. And besides the barrage of memories, she’s faced with faces both familiar and new.
A loooooong overdue follow-up to the post-fall of Beacon storyline I started years ago at this point. Major shoutout to all of my friends who allow me to use their characters and show me more patience than I probably deserve. Thank you for being a big reason I write. Hope you enjoy, and read Home Invasion and Back to the Streets before this if you haven’t! (check the main blog)
Auburn Vulpes (mention of Dash Ospreay) belongs to me
Sienna Umberon and Amber Himmel (mention of Riley Currant) belong to @gruntnuker-rwby
Mention of Alex Umberon belongs to @wetsliceofbread
Rin Aozora (mentions of Hikari Izumi) belong to @solar-moon-byul
The desert sand and unchecked factory activity in the air overwhelmed Sienna’s senses with familiarity. She was too accustomed to hearing the alleyways bustling with the usual gang deal that was just waiting to break down. She could vividly remember her brother trying to get her out of those situations. But even with Alex trying to pacify her flames, he couldn’t stop her from learning the streets’ tricks and trades. A smile crept across her face as she remembered using some of those tricks at Beacon, especially on Dash. His arrogance was always just begging for a taste of comeuppance. The only difference was that it was usually Riley that had to cool her flames. The smile quickly faded.
“Like they’d take me back now…”
Sienna stood in front of a corner store, leaning on the wall with head down and arms folded. Her White Fang mask was in her pocket, a plain black hoodie doing the job of hiding her identity instead. After the raid on the Ospreay facility at Izolim, the higher ups granted her some time in Vacuo for what she justified as “scouting purposes”. In reality, she wanted to take the time to get out of the White Fang uniform and take in her old home for the first time in what felt like forever.
To her left was the Sunshine Estates, a suburban neighborhood built by foriegn dust companies to house their workforce. But, as the natural resources were drained, and the “investors” pulled out, it had been long left abandoned - apart from the gangs that were willing to bribe the guards for access. Downtown was on her right, with Shade Academy towering over everything as the only source of control in the kingdom. Nothing was there to stop the flooding memories. The nights in the JASR dorm she spent keeping the girls awake until 3 AM sharing stories. Seeing them for the last time the night Beacon fell. Standing over a bruised and bloodied Ospreay backed by her squadron. Happiness, sorrow, pride. It rushed her all at once.
Sienna knew she was flawed. Just like Vacuo. But that’s what made Vacuo so special. It made it home. A home that would accept her. A home where if you could survive, you are welcome. She could take comfort in that at least. It’s the place that taught her how to handle anything thrown at her. Including a man almost knocking her off her feet as he raced down the street in a crazed rush.
“The fuck is the hurry?” she said to herself, glaring his direction upon jolting back to reality. Two more ran past, one on each side of her. Both were faunus females who looked like they were in hot pursuit of the man. She zeroed in on the one of the left: wavy brown locks whipping in the wind, fox ears, black leather jacket, chain dangling from her right hand. Sienna’s eyes widened.
“Again? Damn, Bubblegum, what the hell?” Auburn’s voice was an exasperated sigh at reading yet another headline of White Fang activity. Seeing her team leader’s family name as the center of critical media reports was nothing new to her. It almost always solicited from him the same rant of how he was innocent, powerless to stop his company’s ways. Auburn always tried to distance herself from his talk, not wanting to create more friction within their team than their clashing personalities already caused. But for the first time, the news reports about Dash brought sympathy out of Auburn rather than rage.
“I never wanted this. Maybe it coulda been different if I had stood with you. Like I’m supposed to.”
“Hey, I’m... really sorry about your friend. He might’ve been an ass but that’s just not right.”
The voice didn’t serve to snap Auburn out of her haze, but instead to easefully goad her out of it with a genuinely caring tone. She turned around to face the speaker: a husky faunus that stood a few inches taller than her with a mess of black and white hair tied into a ponytail. Heterochromatic eyes looked at Auburn with as much concern as they could offer.
“Thanks, Rin,” Auburn said softly.
“The White Fang have always been too shady to be trusted, and now everyone knows. You know I got your back. Us faunus gotta stick together right?” Auburn let out a chuckle.
“Yeah, you’re definitely a good fit for the Leash.” Rin proudly straightened her jacket and fixed the collar around her neck before giving her new “boss” a silly smile and a thumbs up.
“I’m just surprised that you and the others let me join. Must be weird considering we had really just met,” Rin said on a more serious note despite maintaining her smile.
“We don’t turn anyone that’s willing to help. They were especially on board after I told them about what you did at Vytal.” It felt like everyone at the Amity Colosseum knew about Rin Aozora.
It was only because of Sapphire that they had met in the first place. After facing off against Haven’s Team SPHR in the first round of the tournament, she couldn’t resist the opportunity to meet such a beautifully named team. She eventually turned her focus to getting to know their team leader Shiina, leaving Auburn to meet two of its other members, Rin and Hikari. Off the bat, she could tell the two were an inseparable duo. One would pick up and play with the other’s little habits and quirks. Their communication was the best it could be, especially considering Hikari was mute.
While Hikari was off taking pictures of the arena, Auburn got to know the girl under the husky ears a bit better. How she met Shiina before their time at Haven. How comfortable she was having spent the whole day with a group of faunus. And most importantly, the lengths she’d take to protect Hikari. Which became to evident to Auburn very quickly.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Say something!” The loud, burly voice snapped both of them to see Hikari backed into a corner, shying away from someone harassing her. Auburn never quite learned the exact details, or anything else the bully said. She only watched and served as unnecessary backup as Rin marched forward, turned the guy around by his shoulders, and nailed him with a rattling uppercut that sent him crashing into a concessions stand. Most of the crowd erupted into cheers, but Auburn was the first to congratulate Rin with her signature rock horns.
After the dust had settled at the Battle of Beacon, Auburn’s teammates were split up. Sapphire was seperated during the battle, Dash was forced by his family to retreat back to Atlas, and Solomon was placed on a team tasked with repairing the CCT. She stayed on campus as long as she could, even refusing the local huntsmen when they tried relocating her to the Vale refugee site. But, nothing could keep even part of her team together. She hated the idea of admitting defeat, but with nothing and no one left for her at Beacon, the only logical place Auburn felt she could go was home. However, the moment she decided on getting a plane ticket back to Vacuo, she found Rin. She told the SPHR member about her plans, and Rin almost immediately asked to join her, to Auburn’s shock. Rin wanted to see new places, and she figured what better time than now. So, Auburn took her in and brought her into the Leash.
“Hey Snowdog,” Auburn said. “I never did ask. Why didn’t Hikari come with you?” Rin’s expression almost instantly sombered and her eyes darted down to her feet.
“Hikari… always thought she was holding me back. She always thought because she was mute she was always a problem, a burden.” Rin’s eyes downcast to her scroll. She was met with a picture of her and Hikari at the top of Haven Tower, the moonlight illuminating their warm embrace. “When I offered to cover her plane ticket and everything, she still refused. She was so scared she even tried to break up with me. I flat out didn’t allow that.”
“So long distance? Must be hard, even with normally functioning comms,” Auburn said. “My nerd’s working his wizardry I’m sure.”
“I’ve been trying to learn as much sign language as I can. That way she doesn’t have to spend so much time writing down her words and showing me.”
“Wow. I’m so sorry,” Auburn said with ears flattened. She wasn’t even certain why she was apologizing. She just knew in her heart that Rin would not let her relationship disappear, all but confirmed by the husky faunus’ gung-ho thumbs up. Before the Leash duo could share any more, their attention was brought to a cry coming from around the corner. One peek to its origin saw a man waving a stack of lien over a small boy, the latter clutching his squirrel tail to his chest.
“C’mon, whattya need this for? Rats just scrounge for food, don’t they?” the man gruffly guffawed.
“Hey!” Rin yelled, wasting little time in making their presence known. “I know I’m new here but if you’re scared of a little squirrel I don’t think Vacuo is the place for you”
“Really? This again, Lucky? Didn’t learn your lesson last time?” Auburn chimed in.
“Oh shit!” Without any hesitation, the crook called Lucky bolted down the street. Both Auburn and Rin quickly gave chase, their loud footsteps terrifying the crook into not looking back. He tried to use everything on the sidewalk as an obstacle, throwing newspaper stands, trash cans, even people in their way. But, right as she hurdled a trash can, Auburn found her opening. Pulling her chain whip off of her waist, she cracked it at his legs. It wrapped around one of his ankles and tripped him, forcing him to crash hard into the pavement. Auburn quickly pounced on him and wrenched his arms behind his back until he dropped the lien. That allowed Rin to scoop it up and run off to return it to the boy.
“Fuck, the cops really should start thanking me. You assholes never make it easy,” she said while making her way through the small crowd that had formed. Suddenly, the last person she passed grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and pulled her into an alleyway. As soon as they were out of sight from the street and Auburn could fully realize what was happening, she broke free and elbowed her assailant in the stomach. She spun around with a punch aimed at the head, but the hooded figure ducked.
“Easy, easy, Hellfox,” she said in a instantly recognizable voice that caused Auburn to freeze in her tracks. The hood lowered to reveal the same pierced fox ears and bright blue and green hair that joined Auburn in so many escapades at Beacon.
“Sienna?!”
“Miss me?” She could barely say any more before Auburn wrapped her into a bonecrushing hug. Despite her fellow faunus’ strength, Sienna handled the vice grip well and hugged back. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft.”
“Shut up,” Auburn said back upon stepping back and meeting Sienna’s audacity with a light glare. “I get a pass since I haven’t seen my partner in crime for so long. Jade told me you went missing after Beacon, what happened?”
“I did. I… needed some time alone. Take care of things y’know? I would’ve told them, but… it was just too hard. I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye to them. I doubt they even wanna see me.” Her eyes darted down and her ears flattened, but only briefly before Auburn’s fiery response brought her focus back up.
“Bullshit they miss you! They just want you to come home! Wait, that means you haven’t seen them yet?” A slight shock hit Sienna before she softly shook her head. “Then why are you here with me? C’mon let’s get Team JASR back to kicking ass as a unit!” Auburn had no idea where to find Jade, Amber, or Riley. But, it didn’t stop her from grabbing Sienna’s by the wrist in an attempt to lead her to no set destination. However, Sienna didn’t budge.
“We can’t!” she said sharply. Caught off guard, Auburn let go of her.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because-” she started before her eyes peered over Auburn’s shoulder to see someone approaching. “Because of something I’d rather say in private.”
“Huh?” Auburn said, turning around to see Rin returning. Unsure of who Auburn was talking to, she stayed back, leaning on one of the walls near the entrance of the alleyway. “Rin’s a friend, anything you gotta say will be safe with her.”
“If you’re a friend of Auburn, then you’re chill with me,” Rin said, giving the leader of the Leash a thumbs up. Sienna wouldn’t even meet them with eye contact.
“Fine,” Sienna said. A certain gravity loomed in her voice, followed by a long pause. Not used to this coming from Sienna, Auburn’s curiosity and worry simultaneously grew. “Auburn, what do you think of the White Fang?”
“Are you serious?” The brunette fox faunus was slightly taken aback. Given the weird behavior, she didn’t expect it to culminate into that question. She even lightly laughed it off, not taking Sienna seriously. “I think they need to give me my Ospreay back. No one’s allowed to mess with him but me.”
“Oh. So you’re ok with all these atrocities he’s committed to the faunus.”
That knocked the smiles right off of both Auburn and Rin. Sienna finally looked up again, and her eyes held no jokes to be found. Her ears twitched. Rin stepped up until the point where Auburn extended an arm to keep her back.
“He’s not the one calling shots at the head of the company,” Auburn said.
“Yet he just stood by and let it happen! Not even a word on trying to change anything!”
“He can’t exactly say stuff like that when he’s under his dad.”
“And was Daddy stopping him from talking to us at Beacon? Tell me. Did he ever mention a word to you about wanting to change anything?” Auburn’s crimson eyes glanced downward, the pained expression on her face evident of the truth she did not want to admit. “That’s what I thought. He’s just as guilty as the rest o-”
“What’s your point? You really gonna side with the terrorist organization that’s making us all look bad?” Rin interjected. Sienna’s ears perked up before she turned fully to the husky faunus. She eyed her up and down and her expression of indignation quickly gave way to a grin creeping across her lips. It was like a hunter first spotting their prey.
“You. I remember you. From the Vytal Festival. That was awesome,” Sienna chuckled. It did nothing to calm Rin. “You’re a Vytal legend in my book, and you didn’t even have to win your match. That’s impressive. But you of all people should know why I fight.” She dug into her hoodie and finally revealed her ornately crafted White Fang mask, a Woodland Recon mask modeled after an ursa. “You know why I struggle more than anyone. Lemme ask you this. Your girl, where is she right now?” Rin’s ears lowered and her previously icy glare softened.
“Rin,” Auburn spoke up with rising concern. “You know Hikari wouldn’t want you to do this.”
"So you don’t know. You’re separated. You understand where I’m coming from then. And what about you, Auburn?" Sienna snapped her attention toward her fellow fox-eared brawler. "You're one of the, if not the strongest Beacon had to offer. You know it, and I know it! But you also know they're never gonna give you the opportunity to prove it. Not as long as people like Ospreay are in your way."
"I can make my own opportunities," Auburn firmly said. But, before she could go on, Rin stepped forward. Trancelike, she approached Sienna, contemplative to the point of not listening. It took a moment for her gaze to leave her feet and focus on the Fang lieutenant. Then, she slowly extended her hand. Sienna smirked.
“Faunus like you and me, we gotta stick together, right?”
"I knew you'd see what I see. Don't worry, both you and your girlfriend are both welcome with us." However, when Sienna went for the handshake to finalize the deal, Rin's outstretched hand turned into a middle finger right in Sienna's face. Just like that, Rin thieved the smirk off of Sienna. The burst of laughter from Auburn was the only thing masking Sienna's growl.
"So much for sticking together," she grumbled to herself. Before the laughter had even stopped, Sienna suddenly clocked Rin with a hard punch, causing her to stagger back a couple steps. Where Sienna's fighting capabilities and strength had improved since Beacon, her notorious temper did not. Auburn quickly got between them, perhaps for the first time in her life trying to stop a brawl as opposed to instigating it. Rin stared down the former JASR member while holding her jaw. Then, with one quick jolt of her arms, two elbow blades that ran up the length of her arms emerged. Sienna responded in kind by extending her claws.
"Boss. You're not gonna defend this shit, are you?" Rin said to Auburn. Without a word or a moment’s hesitation, Auburn spun on her heel to nail Sienna with the same treatment she gave Rin. Sienna fell to one knee, but was only kept down very briefly. She snarled as Auburn continued.
"That answer your question? You wanna play Fang Sienna? I'll treat you like Fang. And when I'm done, I'm dragging you back to your team to show them you've lost your mind."
"NO!" Sienna lunged for Auburn with her claws right as the Leash leader was reaching for her chain whip once more. Realizing she wasn't going to arm herself in time, Auburn ducked the strike and went to aim a counterpunch at Sienna's stomach. But, Sienna was too quick. A second slash forced Auburn back. Then, the barrage of punches started to come in. Auburn put up her hands in a defensive boxer stance. It could only do so much to defend herself from Sienna’s fiery claws though, her aura was left to absorb the rest of the damage.
Rin took her chance to launch forward and get in Sienna’s face. The first swing had her blade missing Sienna’s chin by only a mere few inches. The next punch connected to the fire-wielder’s gut. Then, Rin began to start raining in punches of her own. A few connected, most didn’t, but they all kept Sienna on the back foot. Then, with her back pressed to the steel of a dumpster, Sienna quickly pounced back. A wayward miss from Rin caused her to be just off-kilter enough for her to slide between the husky faunus’ legs, slashing both knees as she did so. Rin dropped off her feet right into a knee strike from Sienna that caught her right in the nose.
However, before a fiery claw could follow up, something yanked Sienna back by the wrist. Auburn’s chain had found its way wrapped around it, giving Rin access to nail a strike to grant her some breathing room. Sienna caught Rin’s next punch with her left hand, then caught one from Auburn she saw coming with her peripheral version with her right. With a primal scream, a ball of flame suddenly burst from Sienna briefly engulfing all three girls. It seemed to do just as much damage to Sienna as it did her opponents. But, she was still first to her feet, catching her breath as she eyed Rin laid out on the ground with her aura flickering.
“You two are only proving my point. You’re both so strong and capable. Imagine what we could do if we-”. A war cry from Auburn interrupted her. She turned around just in time for the Hellfox to pick her up and drive her into a spear tackle. They both ended up crashing through the door of the abandoned warehouse next to. The old door splintered and easily gave way as both the fox bruisers landed on a layer of dust coating the floor that had sat undisturbed for years. Auburn barely had a chance to even roll over and gather her surroundings. Sienna was first to her feet again and sprinted over to aim a penalty kick at Auburn’s head. Eyes wide, she rolled out of the way at the last second.
“Cheap shot! And that’s coming from me!” Auburn remarked, still on one knee with whip in hand.
“Says the girl who sucker punched me,” Sienna snapped back. Auburn again flung her whip into action, this time wrapping it around Sienna’s waist. Forcing Sienna to her, she grabbed her and tried to throw her over her shoulders for a suplex. Sienna was able to tuck and rotate her body enough so her head and neck only absorbed some of the damage. Auburn’s next attack was intercepted with a fist of flame, causing her to growl and wince. Sienna shoved her back with her semblance active.
“Commander, where are you?!” Sienna’s ears shot straight up when her earpiece echoed to life.
“Ambushed! I’m in the old Arashi warehouse!”
“Roger. Sending backup your way!” the voice responded.
“Negative! Prepare an evac. We need to get outta here before we attract more attention. Meet me on the roof!”
“Roger that.” Sienna wasted no time in going for the stairs that led her to a series of catwalks once used to survey the manufacturing floor of this building. By this point, Rin had gathered the strength to give chase once more. She locked eyes on Sienna. Then, she detached both of her blades and clasped them together to form a crossbow. As the weapon whirred with transformation noises and loaded, she icily aimed down sights and fired. An arrow caught a direct hit to Sienna’s calf, causing her to stumble to the floor.
“Auuuugh!” she cried in both pain and frustration. Rin fired another couple of bolts. One whizzed past over her shoulder, another pinged off the railing. But, this holdup gave Auburn enough time to catch up. She swept Sienna off her feet again with a constricting bearhug. She desperately tried to kick and squirm free, but Auburn’s chain was around her neck. Auburn wrestled her to her knees as Sienna grabbed at Auburn’s whip with both hands. Her destination, the fire exit that led to the roof, was a tantalizingly close. It was only a straight run of a few dozen yards.
“Do you have any idea how worried Riley and Jade and Amber are? Do you have any idea how much I’ve worried for you?! We all thought you could’ve been dead!” Auburn cinched in her chokehold tighter as her emotions boiled over. Rin had joined her, standing behind as backup.
“They can think I’m dead. I might as well be,” Sienna said amidst her strain.
“Cut the crap, Sienna,” Auburn fired back.
“This world wouldn’t let me be with Riley! Be with any of them! You heard the things your precious team leader Bubblegum said to me and her at Beacon. So I’m fighting for a world that will. And taking some pleasure at getting back at that little shit Ospreay for how she treated her.” Auburn’s eyes of crimson suddenly widened with flared anger. Even though she was first to start a fight, even she had never felt a rage-induced adrenaline rush like this. Everything around them began to cloud.
“What?”
Sienna scoffed.
“How do you think the Ospreay raid was so successful? They had to have someone that knew the target well. Too well.” Auburn sat there incredulously. She didn’t say anything. “Need me to spell it out for you? I led that mission. I took him prisoner. And I’m making sure he repays the favor for how he treated Riley.” While this was going on, unbeknownst to Auburn thanks to her haze, Sienna’s semblance was kicked into high gear. Auburn’s chain was beginning to melt and twist and warp under Sienna’s grasp.
“Auburn!” Rin’s voice brought Auburn harshly back to reality where she focused in on two armed men clad in White Fang armor bust through the fire exit door. Rin had her crossbow aimed at the two soldiers in return. Then, Auburn’s weapon finally gave way, breaking into several mangled pieces. Sienna elbowed her captor then slashed at her, allowing her to make a break for freedom. The two cronies gave her cover with a hail of gunfire. Acting quickly, instead of pursuing Sienna, she activated her own semblance, Kinetic Armor. An energy overshield formed around her as she rushed to Rin to serve as a bulletproof shield for her. All of the bullets ricocheted off of her, but it kept both her and Rin pinned down long enough for Sienna to disappear into the stairwell. They both chased after her and the other Fang members, but once they reached the roof, there was no sign of anyone. All there was upon first survey was the Vacuo sky beginning to tinge orange for sunset.
“Dammit!” Auburn cursed. She went to the edge of the rooftop and looked down to the street below. The only potential clue left for her was a black SUV speeding southbound. After a moment, she felt a hand touch her shoulder, the same calming hand from earlier.
“Thanks, Auburn. You really saved my tail back there. I really don’t know what to say,” Rin said.
“Don’t gotta say anything. That’s just what faunus sticking together looks like, right?” The pair of newly made partners exchanged smiles then firmly clasped their hands together. It was almost therapeutic to Auburn. A sign of loyalty. Something she valued above all else, something that was in short supply. She was glad to have picked her friends correctly in Rin. Speaking of friends-
“Auburn?”
A familiar voice coming from the street. One that brought Auburn the same wave of nostalgia Sienna’s did, despite this one being much softer spoken than the other fox’s. She peered down to see a girl with bright orange hair with a cat shaped backpack slung over one shoulder. Another friend she had missed from Beacon in another member of Team JASR, Amber Himmel.
“Amber!” Auburn called out.
“What are you doing up there?” Auburn’s ears instantly slicked back.
“Amber…” she repeated, this time her voice carrying a weight of disappointment in it. Like it was weighed down by something on her mind she didn’t want to share.
“What’s going on?” Amber said one more time.
“We need to talk.”
#rwby#rwby fanfiction#rwby fanfic#oc#auburn vulpes#sienna umberon#rin aozora#amber himmel#flames of change
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Down in the Second Period
Number 21 of the Devils, 5 minutes for fighting
Chapter 11 of my RWBY oc fic Flames of Change. Check out the pinned post for the full chapter list if you need to start from the beginning, and hope you wingers and web scrollers enjoy!
Auburn Vulpes belongs to me
Team JASR belong to @gruntnuker-rwby
Rin Aozora belongs to @solar-moon-byul
Shadow Stalvinge belongs to @shdwsprtn11
Riley sat in her locker with head down, focusing on twirling a puck between her fingers. The passing by of teammates discussing gameplans hardly fazed her. It was second intermission in front of a packed house tonight, even though a sizable chunk of the crowd were just looking for a brief escape from Vacuo's desert heat. Regardless, it made it all the more frustrating for the goaltender that with 20 minutes left to play her team was facing a 3-1 deficit. The offense was struggling to find a consistent rhythm, so she kicked herself a little harder for giving up a pair of goals she thought she should've easily had covered. But she'd never allow herself to be pulled out of the game. They'd have to rip her away from her position kicking and screaming.
“Hey goaltender.” The voice coming from the doorway that followed a knock Riley was too zoned in to hear brought her eyes upward for the first time in minutes. Sienna stood there, ears down a little. Her usual grin was present, but a bit more muted with a soft tenderness that replaced her loud brashness. Riley smiled back in turn, but it was fleeting.
“Hey she can't be in here! Team personnel only! We don't need distractions!” one of the team's defensemen Aurora growled at the fox-tailed punk. Sienna scowled and stuck out her tongue. Making sure to stare at Aurora the whole time she willfully ignored her, Sienna stepped inside and sat right next to Riley. The heat naturally radiating from Sienna made Riley want to curl up next to her like under the covers on the rare cold night, but she fought the urge.
“God is she always such a bitch?” Sienna asked, semi-hushed.
“She just wants us all to stay focused,” Riley answered in defense before finishing her thought in a mumble. “She and I both know I really need it right now.” Sienna frowned. She knew better than anyone how chill Riley was under pressure. Ice in the veins, especially when it was game time. But she could tell today was different. Riley was bothered, but she couldn’t figure out why. One of Sienna’s hands came to rest on Riley’s thigh, rubbing gentle circles on it.
“Hey, chin up. 3-1 is the worst lead in hockey, right? You got this. And if you don’t, then I’ll just fight the other goalie. If he tries to chirp you, I’ll just get him with a pipe wrench to the kneecap.” The casual madness brought a more long-lasting smile to Riley’s face, which in turn broadened Sienna’s own smile. It did way more to help than vague platitudes of optimism ever could. Just Sienna being Sienna. What could make her happier? She wrapped an arm around Riley’s shoulders for a supportive side hug, and Riley nodded with renewed determination. “Whatever happens, Riley, you know we’re in it together.”
“Hey, sorry we’re late.”
Riley sat on a bench with head down, focusing on twirling a puck between her fingers. The passing by of teammates discussing gameplans hardly fazed her. It was just past dusk, but she could still feel herself being pelted by Vacuo’s desert heat. She paid it as much mind as she did with Auburn and Rin’s arrival. In fact, despite everyone’s wear, the only one who seemed to mind was the approaching husky faunus, slick with sweat after the run there with her jacket tied around her waist. Auburn waved a hand toward Riley’s face after her apology drew no reaction, but again the redhead sat silent. Jade filled the uncomfortable void from behind her.
“Glad you made it.” Amber accompanied her with a soft wave hello. While not as low as Riley, it was obvious neither of them were in top spirits either. They probably spent the past day racked with emotion, and none of them good. But it also appeared to make the three of them equally determined. Auburn gave a nod before turning to face a building across the street.
“This is the place?” she said. The building she eyed was a small and unassuming brick fixture. Nothing about it from the outside screamed it was run by the so-called “force of revolution” White Fang. Though that was probably by design. But, Auburn's dad was sure it was the place, and she knew better than to doubt him. “So what's the plan? We just head in there and bust some asses till someone gives us something useful?” Her right fist met her left palm as she went on.
“Is everything just a bar fight to you? Not only are you gonna ruin an actual soup kitchen, but you're also gonna throw us in a situation where we don't know what to expect,” Riley finally spoke, doing very little to conceal her irritation. Jade placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her, even though she was just as displeased with Auburn's “plan”.
“Hasn't stopped us before,” Auburn mumbled under her breath with a shrug. Riley shook her head before looking up and meeting the green eyes of her team leader.
“What's the plan?” she asked her. Jade recoiled her hand back in surprise. She was always surprised when they asked her, like it was still a shock she was an actual team leader. Despite internally wondering if she should ask someone else, her team always looked to her and trusted her to lead nevertheless.
“The White Fang have these kitchens all over Remnant. It was an initiative the Belladonnas pushed for during the previous regime. I remember there being one in Vale where I grew up. While it was primarily for faunus, they'd give a human a free meal too if they looked down on their luck enough.” She rubbed down the back of her neck until her fingers curled around the ends of her hair. Amber reached a hand out to her, but quickly drew it back when she continued. “Now I doubt they'd be so tolerant. Only a faunus is gonna be our ticket inside.”
“Problem with that,” Rin interjected. “Auburn and I just fought with some Fang guys. What if we get recognized?”
“Not to mention everyone on these streets is gonna know my face by now. It'd look suspect if I just strolled in asking for food,” Auburn added. She was right. With how notorious the leader of the Leash was, no Fang mask could hide her from the dusty, maze-like streets of her hometown. Before Jade’s brainstorming could go far though, someone crashing into her from behind nearly took her off her feet. A scaled reptilian faunus trucked through her before turning back with a scowl like it was her fault. While he was in normal street clothing, the hoodie marked with the red claw marks of the White Fang insignia made it clear who he was with. No mask required.
“Ugh move it stupid human! I’m already late enough!” he said nastily, only slowing down just enough to scold Jade. Auburn’s crimson eyes flared with the trademark rage that usually came before a quick and decisive combination of punches. But before she could pick her fight, Jade acted first. Her face didn’t express anger; it expressed the light bulb above her head going off. In a flash, she drew her weapon: two bladed pistols bound together by chain. She wrapped the chain around the mouthy faunus’ throat, effectively clotheslining him onto the dirt below. Jade followed up with a blow to the temple to render him unconscious, all before the other four girls could even question what she was thinking.
“Help me with this,�� Jade said, strained as she began to try and drag the man’s body into a more secluded alleyway. Riley was first to snap out of the stupor and spring up to help her. Rin looked around in hopes they weren’t attracting too much unwanted attention. Not that most Vacuoan citizens cared enough to rat them out to someone that was supposed to stop them. Meanwhile, Auburn was just jealous Jade stole her KO. Once out of sight, Jade fished around through his hoodie pocket and found the missing piece to his ensemble - his Fang mask. The man probably wished he was wearing it. At least it’d cover the nasty bruise under one of his shut eyes. Jade held up the mask to her friends. “I think we just found our ticket inside. The girls then understood. Handing it over to Amber, she then started pulling the hoodie off of him with Riley’s assistance, all while Rin and Auburn stood guard.
“We’ll make sure to keep an eye on you while you’re in there,” she told Rin.
“Wait what? Me?? Why am I the one going in there? You’re the one always showing off how well you know Vacuo,” Rin said, flabbergasted.
“Yeah that’s the problem. Like I said, this whole kingdom is gonna recognize me, and they know I’m not gonna go anywhere near a Fang establishment. Besides you’ve been here long enough. You got this.” But before she could offer any more objection, Riley threw the hoodie at the husky girl. In her mind, they had already wasted enough time. She unfurled it so the Fang emblem across the chest was glaring back at her. Even as just a disguise, it felt… wrong. It felt like something she was grateful Shiina and Hikari weren’t here to see. But, she dismissed those thoughts and put it on, covering up the chain L logo of the Leash on her tank top. She grimaced slightly at that awful heat. How could the others be so used to this weather they can wear leather jackets or hockey jerseys? Then, Amber outstretched a gloved hand and gave her the mask. It was nothing more than a monotone standard grunt mask, but now it was outfitted with a radio piece Amber had retrieved from her backpack.
“Damn, you did that really fast. You must be a tech wiz. I gotta call you next time I’m having computer problems,” Rin said with a soft smile. Her cadence was rocked with nerves she was trying to play off. If anything, the compliment and attempt at humor was to ease her own tension more than anything. But it backfired when all it drew was a shy nod from Amber. Again, Rin couldn’t figure out this girl’s deal.
“Let's go,” Riley said to get them back on track. Rin slid the mask on and tried to readjust her vision through only the tiny slits it provided. With one last pat on the back from Auburn - one Rin didn't see coming - she unsteadily made her way down the alley toward the back entrance of the kitchen. After struggling to find the handle, she let herself inside. Hopefully there would be an actual Fang agent back here where she could get some answers from. So long as she didn't fall on her face in front of them. Outside, Amber tapped her scroll a few times and synced up to the radio she gave Rin.
“Hey Snowdog, ya got me?” Auburn asked into the phone.
“How the hell do they see out of these things?!” Rin came back in a vexed whisper. All she could do was carefully stagger down the hallway toward a faint commotion. It grew louder and louder until upon opening the next door, then the noise blasted her in the face. A cacophony of shuffling plates and volunteers barking for what food needs to be made next. Rin scanned around, overwhelmed without the slightest clue of where to go or who to go to. That was until a panther faunus that was doing most of the directing pointed Rin out.
“You're late!” she said. It took Rin too long of a pause to register she was talking to her not to be awkward. She was just praying she wasn't in trouble after ten seconds of being there.
“Um y-yeah, sorry. Got caught up in a… sandstorm.”
“Doesn't matter, you're here now, we're down on workers and need you serving. And ditch the mask while you're inside,” the panther replied, practically pushing Rin along. Between not listening to her excuse and being allowed to stuff the mask away into her pocket, Rin was at least a little relieved. She was brought behind the counter, behind several different serving options. Spaghetti and meat sauce, chicken noodle soup, bread rolls, a plate of brownies for dessert. She didn't have long to get situated, however, before her first patron greeted her with a soft “how do you do, sweetie?” She was a short, elderly badger faunus whose white hair and face weathered with wrinkles told she had been through hard times. But, her smile was a genuineness Rin had hardly seen before. She reminded Rin of a grandparent who always looked forward to sharing stories of an exciting long time ago to the grandkids. Rin smiled back before filling her outstretched bowl with soup.
“Thank you so much, my dear. I don't know what I would do without you guys’ efforts here,” she said.
“Hey. It's like I always say. Us faunus gotta stick together,” Rin said. It was something she had said plenty of times in her life, but they lacked her usual gung-ho vigor. It just didn't feel right. It didn't make sense. To be wearing this hoodie, to have this mask, and see not shock or horror or outrage, but gratitude. And as she served more people, that continued. Endless gratitude. Full hearts to go along with full bellies. People giving thanks amidst endless swearing that “the scumbag rich in that floating city would never do this” and that’s what it makes it special. Rin couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride, no matter how sick or twisted it could be when viewed under certain lights. She was doing something right, but for the wrong team. Eventually, the dinner rush died down and that same panther dismissed Rin and the other workers so they could get plates of their own. While scanning for a place to sit, a ram-horned woman in the same hoodie Rin was in tapped her on the shoulder. She had been working next to Rin all night, but it was the first time she spoke to her.
“You seem lost. Come sit with me and a couple friends.” Rin nodded and followed the girl, whose striking blue curls made her easy to spot. They ended up next to a pair of faunus clad in Fang garb of their own. There was a girl with panda ears chatting away with a silver-haired man with a goat tail, along with a couple patrons that blew in from the street next to them.
“Ooooooh I haven’t seen you before. You must be new,” the panda faunus leered at Rin, who barely had the chance to set her tray down.
“Um yeah. I just signed up a week or two ago now,” Rin said, trying to play natural.
“We’ve been getting a lot of new faces around here lately,” the goat faunus said. “Seems like the recent publicity spike is inspiring the next generation. That Ospreay raid was a hit.” Rin fidgeted in her chair a little. The thought of people being “inspired” by such headlines wasn’t one that sat easy with her. At least it took the focus off of her, and meant she could dodge questions for at least a few more moments. She knew she was here for info, and now was her chance.
“What did you all think about that raid?” When no one immediately responded, Rin’s ears shot straight up. Did she mess up already? “I-I mean, you’re right it’s what got me to join. Seeing the Fang do that, that was just something else, man.” The Fang trio exchanged glances before each of them had a smirk grow on their faces until the point of laughter. It sounded triumphant, well-pleased, much more so than the shaky chuckle Rin mustered up to join in.
“Those capitalist bastards finally, finally got a taste of what they deserve,” the goat said, reclining away from his almost empty food tray.
“So many faunus have suffered just in the name of making their bottom line a few pennies bigger,” the ram spoke next, her tone carrying a more solemn weight to it. “So many lives destroyed, condemned to the lowest rungs of the ladder.
“A friend of mine worked in one of Ospreay’s factories as a kid, like age 9 or 10. She lost both her parents in an explosion there, and it caused her to get dust particles infused in her eye. She’s blind in that eye now. Know what the supervisors told her? Get back to work, you’re wasting company time.” Rin couldn’t find anything to say. Nothing she could say could make it any less appalling. Nothing could justify it, not to her, and even heartbreakingly less so for the four girls listening from outside. They all sat in uncomfortable silence. Jade pulled her hood over her head. Amber looked like she wanted to plug her ears. But no one was it feeling it worse than Auburn. The empire her team leader was set to inherit, the one he spent most of their time at Beacon flaunting. It was no secret this is what it was built on. It led to many fights between herself and Dash, shouting matches their neighbors JASR could attest to. But despite Dash’s seemingly endless shtick of playing the victim, despite all the yelling at his stubborn brick head, she kept coming back to that phone conversation at Amity. Him standing up to his father for her.
“Personally, I think they shoulda killed Tone’s brats already. I don’t get this whole ransom play. The only way they’ll understand us is through fear. Eye for an eye,” the goat said resentfully. Auburn stared at Amber’s scroll like she was ready to smash it. She marched forward, ready to vent into it loud enough for everyone to hear through Rin’s earpiece. But thinking quickly, Jade clasped a hand over her mouth.
“So they’re still alive. Alright,” said Rin. Auburn pulled Jade off of her and, after a staredown, her shoulders relaxed. She was happy to hear they were alive. Jade was happy Auburn kept her mouth shut. The next few minutes passed uneventfully, just casual back and forth among friends that Rin couldn't add anything of substance to. She was too deep into reflection of what they said about Atlas’ cruelty anyways, right up until they began rising from their chairs. It was nearing closing time, and most of the cleanup was done.
“So new girl. If you don't have any plans, you're welcome to come with us. We're heading to the Estates to watch the Underground fights tonight,” the ram offered. Rin froze as she stalled in search for an answer from the whispering voices secretly in her ear.
“What's that?” Amber said.
“A fight club that goes on at the Sunshine Estates every week. Bounced around in ownership a bit recently but still always a reliable show. Or a way to make cash, if you can win,” Auburn said. None of them needed to question how she knew all this.
“I don't know, guys. Maybe we should call her back. The longer she's there the more likely she gets figured out,” Jade stated.
“No! She's hardly learned anything yet! We need to see if we can get any lead on Sienna,” Riley retorted in defiance to her leader.
“Uh hey. You in or what?” the ram asked again.
“Uhhhhhh yeahhhh. Yeah I'm in.” After a moment of just stammering, Rin took it upon herself to make the judgment call. She wasn't too worried about being caught. But she couldn't shake a sneaking suspicion in the back of her mind Jade had a point. Despite that, the crew was on their way to the Estates, excitedly led by the panda faunus. Rin brought up the rear. Meanwhile, Amber and the others were being confronted by the soft but growing hum of static.
“Guys, this radio isn't built for long distances. I didn't expect her to be moving,” Amber said. Auburn motioned for them all to follow as she assuredly started leading her own trek. They followed behind the Fang pack by about a block, keeping their distance but still close enough to see Rin lagging behind. She was trying to find an opportunity to radio back to them, but there was no way to do it inconspicuously.
“We need more. Get anything you can, please,” Riley pressed despite the husky's attempts at contact. Her ears lowered, though they snapped back up when the ram girl slowed up to wait for her. She wrapped an arm around her to bring her forward, questioning what was on her mind.
“Sorry, I just… can’t get what you guys said at dinner out of my head. All the crap about the Ospreays. I gotta know, since that’s why I’m here, how do I get missions like that?”
“Pay your dues, work your way up, and show undying devotion, and trust me you’ll get noticed,” the ram smiled at Rin’s eagerness. “Besides that, I really don’t know specifics. The big missions like that are kept completely under wraps. Those probably never leave Mistral HQ. But I did hear a rumor that the person who led that mission is from Vacuo. Granted, I also head they were picked because they knew an Ospreay, but still means there’s hope for you.” Riley deflated, to the point where she almost slowed to a stop. Jade had to make sure she kept walking. Her mind raced too much to focus on keeping her legs moving.
“Could that be… Sienna? No, there’s no way. The Sienna I know wouldn’t do that. She might not have liked Dash, but… No, it has to be someone else.” Jade swallowed hard, while Amber kept herself glued to the screen. It unfortunately lined up with what Auburn had told them. Even more unfortunately, they never had the chance to share that news with Riley. Even if they wanted to, after last night, how could they tell her that? A short jaunt later, they arrived at the former gated community the Sunshine Estates. Inside the small checkpoint building at the entrance was a lone guard, the last one of his kind appointed by Vacuo public officials to keep loiterers and trespassers out. Those same officials, however, had very little power to stop his pockets from getting fatter from all the bribes he was accepting. The truth was every crew in the city had him under their payroll, and that included the White Fang. They passed by, only receiving a downward head nod for their troubles. Then, it was the girls’ turn, with Auburn still leading. The man stood up from his post and directly in the middle of the path inside.
“Auburn,” he spoke directly with a gravelly voice. Auburn smirked, her tail swishing. She seemed entertained more than anything by his attempt at intimidation. His size difference to the average person would have most thinking twice. But Auburn wasn’t most.
“Heya, Blaze. Glad to see the new owners kept you around. How’s the bank account looking these days?” The guard gave a small nod in acknowledgement that business was good, but he didn’t budge. “Look, I already got a date here to see the fights, but if you wanted to join, you just had to ask.” She pointed to Riley on her right at the word “date”, drawing an eye roll from the hockey star turned huntress.
“You know the drill. No weapons,” he said firmly. Riley stepped forward, almost instinctively squaring up to push her way through. She was already tired of wasting time they didn’t have. Auburn’s hand meeting her chest stopped her. “Hm. I see why you picked her as a date.”
“What can I say, she has a thing for abrasive fox faunus. So, this ‘no weapons’ thing. You told the same thing to your Fang buddies up there?” The man kept his ground and gave no answer. Auburn did the same. No one moved a muscle, apart from slight trembling from Amber. Leaning over slightly, she could see the submachine gun he always kept stashed under the desk of his office. With a sigh, she yielded and withdrew a stack of lien from her jacket, the same lien she had won from pool earlier in the day. This finally granted them access to join the growing audience.
Between two of the buildings led them to a packed courtyard. It once housed a playground and blacktop basketball court in view from plenty of rooms from their balconies to watch their children as they played. But today, it held a makeshift ring encased by a sea of rowdier growing spectators, and those same balconies served as viewing platforms for tonight’s main event. A lot of them of the ones watching from above were doing so behind White Fang masks, here to support one of their own. Auburn stretched to her tippy toes to look over the heads in the crowd, first spotting a wolverine clawed faunus in a specialized Fang mask of his own. In the other corner sat a familiar eagle faunus; Shadow was staring bullet holes into his opponent. Auburn figured he needed to make up for his losses. She found no sign of Rin though. Meanwhile, Amber had ducked away under a balcony along a graffiti coated wall.
“It’s too loud, I can hardly hear!” she shouted to the rest of her party. As if on cue, the problem got worse as chants of “Kick his ass!” broke out after ring introductions ended and the fight got under way.
“I lost her. Anybody know where she is?” Auburn said. Riley, using her height to her advantage, tapped her and pointed to the other side of the crowd, . They saw Rin, too busy taking in her first experience to do any investigating. She watched as Shadow ate a punch to the cheek before firing back a retaliatory shot. After a moment of playing with settings, Amber got the audio to come in a bit clearer, though it was still a struggle to put the noise aside.
“There's so many people! Are these fights always this packed?” Rin said.
“No, it seems like every crew in Vacuo is here tonight,” the ram said back before hollering in response to a vicious looking left jab from the dark-haired eagle faunus.
“What do we think of these other crews? Are they cool or?” Rin asked again.
“Depends on if they're smart enough to realize the White Fang is out of their league and stay out of our way,” the goat faunus said from behind them. “Some are, but then you get the few that wanna play big shot. Like the Leash.” Rin went rigid. She tugged on the bottom of her hoodie a little, just to make sure the Leash shirt underneath stayed hidden. “I swear the chick that runs them is dumb as hell. Likes to think she runs this city. She beat the shit out of me cause I was wearing Fang colors in her daddy's little bar. I'd love to kick that bitch's ass back to that excuse of a huntsman school she went to.” He had hardly finished what he was saying before Auburn started pushing her way through the crowd. Her blood was scalding hot. Amber tried to call out to her, but she either couldn’t hear or didn’t want to hear. All she saw was red.
“Auburn! Uhm guys?!” Jade and Riley, who had their backs to them to watch the fight, both spun around and instantly noticed the missing fox. Riley cursed loudly and started trying to chase her down. But it was in vain with how much of a head start Auburn got. The goat faunus felt a tap on the back. He turned around. Directly into a teeth rattling uppercut from Auburn that sent him flying into the rest of the Fang, Rin included. It also had the side effect of grabbing the attention of the section of people around them. And the attention of some of the Fang-affiliated onlookers above.
“You lookin’ for me? You wanna talk shit? Well here I am,” Auburn yelled.
“Auburn?!” Rin said impulsively before catching herself. Her tail tucked between her legs. Oh shit…
“Where the hell did you come from?!” the goat said, holding his jaw on unsteady footing. “How did you- wait, you know her??” He, the ram, and the panda, who were all squaring up ro defend themselves, all turned around to face Rin. Rin backed up protectively until her back bumped into someone else in the crowd. Rin shot a look for Auburn’s way hoping she had some kind of a plan of attack. No escaping now. The Fang member looking down from behind her had no intention of letting get that far as he drew his rifle and aimed down sights at the back if Auburn’s head. Jade and Riley saw this too. Jade drew her pistols, but had no clear shot. So instead, Riley took a puck from her pocket that was glowing red in the center. Pulling out her stick, she lined up her shot like it was a goal before tossing it to herself and smacking it at the bottom of the balcony. If the iconic sound of stick meeting puck didn’t alert everyone, the resulting explosion destroying the balcony sure did. Everyone turned around and collectively gasped.
“Thats the plan. Fuck it, bar fight!” Auburn called to Rin. Confusion reigned for a moment before panic set in. Some blitzed for the exits. Others began fighting amongst themselves. It was a full brawl, with Auburn at the center of it. The panda girl growled and brought out a collapsable bamboo styled bo staff, pointing it right at Rin’s throat. Rin flicked her wrists, snapping her arm blades out as she stood side by side with her Leash sister. The goat angrily charged Auburn with a few sloppy haymakers. She easily dodged and shoved him into another brawler, who turned around and decked the haphazard goat back toward Auburn. Drawing her new chain, she wrapped it around his wrist and used that momentum against him by kicking him away in the back.
The ram faunus paired off with Rin, unable to put her visibly distraught feelings into any words when she clashed with Rin’s blades. So she instead made her emotions clear with a hard headbutt to Rin, causing her to stumble back to. Back to a pole that once held a basketball hoop, Rin’s eyes widened before barely sidestepping a punch aimed at her nose. The ram’s knuckles met unforgiving steel, allowing Rin to kick her aside for the moment. Two more onrushing Fang members armed with swords were coming at her next, so she decided it was time to try out her upgrade. Her blades detached into two boomerangs. She threw them at the two assailants, with the left one sweeping one guy’s legs, while the right one initially missed only to nail the other guy in the back of the head on its return course. Rin caught them and they locked back onto her arms.
“Ditched the crossbow?” Auburn called out.
“I wanted to leave the sniping to… someone else,” she said. The panda faunus came at them with a war cry but Riley intercepted her, hooking the blade of her scythe on her staff. Auburn could feel the frost from the cold shoulder and supplementing unfriendly glare. Auburn wrinkled her nose a little, before a kick to the gut put her on her back. The wolverine faunus that was once one half of the show’s main event had climbed out of the ring to aid his Fang brethren. He had been trying to keep one eye on his opponent, but Shadow had mysteriously disappeared, faded from his peripheral vision into a dark corner. However, as the wolverine tried to stand over Auburn, Shadow materialized from the unlit shade along the building and cinched in a tight sleeper hold. As Auburn dusted herself off and got to her feet, the two exchanged a nod before she left Shadow to collect his winnings. Meanwhile, Jade was trying to keep the marksmen up top busy by firing pot shots at them. But, she saw two more on the ground charging toward Amber.
“Amber! Agh!” She groaned as a bullet struck her in the shoulder, her aura flickering green around her body, absorbing most of the blow. Amber froze in the middle of scrambling to pull something out of her bag. Right as the two goons got close, she brandished a handful of knives between her fingers. She yelped and chucked them at the attackers, but they all missed. They laughed in Amber’s face before one of them backhanded her, dropping her to her hands and knees. They taunted over her, until she raised a gloved hand that began to glow with orange circuitry-like webbing, and the knives retracted back to her, striking the goons in the back like hail.
The ram honed in on Rin again, but this time Auburn stepped in. Suddenly her chain split in two, each half locking onto a metal bracer on her fists. One hand wrapped its chain around the ram’s horn. She widened her stance and held serve, so Auburn used it as leverage to propel herself to her, nailing her with a superman-esque punch. The goat and the panda, now reunited, tried to coordinate a combined attack that would isolate Auburn. Riley knelt down, though, and activated her semblance. With a wave of her hand, the ground they ran on suddenly became a 20 foot long sheet of ice. As they slipped in place, concentrating all their effort in just staying upright, Riley deployed skates from her boots. With no grip, neither of them stood a chance. Slash after slash, she dashed back and forth like it was a practice drill, unleashing more punishment with every swing of her scythe. With both down for the count, Riley skated over to the goat. She towered over him with a terrifying glare.
“I’m done with games tonight. If you don’t recognize the name Sienna Umberon then you better point me to someone who does,” she bellowed. The pained goat faunus tried to a menacing scowl, but it fell flat. He tried to frantically move away, but the ice just kept him slipping in place.
“Wh-who?” was all he could croak out in genuine bewilderment. Riley lifted her skate so the blade was lined up right between his widened eyes. His thrashing intensified, but he still couldn’t get away. Auburn and Rin looked equally shocked.
“Hey whoa!”
“Riley!”
SLAM! She brought the skate down. After a moment of expecting to see the heavenly glow of the pearly gates, the goat opened his eyes to see her foot a mere few inches from his left ear. Riley turned and glared again at Auburn specifically, before a swift kick to the side of the head knocked the White Fang member out cold. She knelt down and started rummaging through his pockets, drawing confused glances from the rest of her team looking on. After grabbing his phone, she walked away and past Auburn. Again, the shoulder made Atlas feel like the desert.
“Did you really think I was gonna kill him?” she said icily. When Amber approached, she handed her the phone so she could store it away in her backpack. “Now let’s go. We need to get out of here.” The sirens they could hear advancing only served to prove Riley more correct. All the girls broke into a full sprint. Out the courtyard, out the Estates, past the armed guard who was too busy preparing for his own police troubles to care about them. Using Auburn’s extensive knowledge of the city’s layout, they kept to the back streets, making sure to steer clear of any main roads. Their pace did not waver all the way to a hideout Auburn knew would be empty and secure enough to lay low for a bit. They barely made it in the door before the toll of the run caught up with them. Amber was bent over, huffing heavily. Jade was still holding her shoulder where she got shot. Rin stripped off the hoodie and threw it at the wall in disgust before laying on the ground.
“Well. Coulda gone worse,” Auburn said, still somewhat chipper. Riley, still using her stick to steady herself as she caught her breath, slowly, frightening slowly, brought her eyes up so Auburn couldn’t deny the seething frozen fury in them. Auburn’s head tilted slightly.
“That’s all you have to say? ‘Coulda gone worse?’ Tonight was a disaster! We didn’t even learn anything about Sienna yet!” Riley said with an unnerving amount of rising anger.
“Eh we weren’t getting anything else from those foot soldiers anyways.”
“So that just means blow our cover? All you wanted to do since the night started was pick a fight. You were itching to do it, and it’s the only reason you thought tonight went ok. Cause you got what you wanted!”
“That’s not true!” Auburn fired back, showing her teeth. “I learned my team leader is still alive, and probably in Mistral.”
“A massive continent half the world away. Good job, Auburn, you sure found him.”
“What the fuck is your deal? We got what we could tonight.” By this point, the two had inched closer and closer so they were in each other’s faces. Jade tried to squeeze between them with her shoulder, focusing on keeping Riley back. But Auburn wanted none of it. “Nah Jade if she wants to keep acting stupid then let her find out what happens.”
“You really think I’m supposed to be calm about this? I haven’t seen the woman I love in months. I didn’t even know if she was alive! Now that I know she is, why should I stop? You just think I have to always be the calm one because I’m not as ‘chaotic’ as her.”
“Well you weren’t dumb enough to join the White Fang so.” Riley immediately slammed Auburn with a right hook to the chin. It was fueled by rage-driven instinct, one she had broken out a few times before when she was prepared to visit the penalty box. Jade jumped in further, as did Rin, who sprung up and hooked Auburn’s arms to prevent her from fighting back. She was too stunned to do so yet, but Rin knew it was coming.
“Why aren’t you more worried about her?! You two were best friends at Beacon! You were closer to her than you were to Dash, but now he’s your only concern? I heard all the arguments you two had at school, but now you’re all buddy-buddy with him? He’s been missing for weeks, but now you decided you’re motivated enough to do something about it?”
“We fought together. He stood up for me. And he didn’t abandon us!” Auburn’s voice was a nasty growl, as she still held her bottom jaw.
“He finally got you to believe his victim playing routine?”
“You saying he deserves this?!”
“No!” Riley snapped before pausing. She came down a little, the adrenaline subsiding momentarily with a deep breath. “I’m not. But don’t act like he’s our only priority.”
“Like you’re not doing it with Sienna? Sorry I have more sympathy for the kidnapping victim than the woman who carried it out herself!” She shook her head and looked away in refusal. She thought Auburn was just trying to provoke her more. Half her mind wanted to shove Jade aside and hit her again for saying such a thing. “I heard it straight from Sienna’s mouth. Just ask Jade and Amber.”
“Enough!” Jade screamed, her voice rippling. The argument finally ground to a halt, at least for the present second. She sighed. “Okay look, we’re all tired, and we’re all missing people. Why don’t we just rest so cooler heads can prevail tomorrow.”
“You’re right. But Auburn’s right too,” Rin spoke up.. “That’s not an excuse to let our emotions get the best of us. Like you said, we’re all missing people.”
“Amber’s been missing Sol for all this time, you don’t see her fuckin’ going on a rampage about it!” Auburn said.
“That hasn’t stopped me from trying though.” Amber’s voice was still soft, and her body language was reserved. Her eyes were cast downward. “Every day I work to get comms fixed again just so I can see his face. It’s selfish, but I’m doing it cause I miss him. I love him…” She was desperately trying not to cry at this point. “He made me feel like I didn’t need to be so shy at the world. But so does JASR. Sienna is a big part of that. She thought she could face anything, so when I was with her I thought I could too.”
“When I came to Beacon,” Jade stepped in to alleviate some of the pressure off of Amber’s shoulders, “all I had was my weapon and the clothes on my back. I didn’t know anyone, so when I got picked to lead a team, and that team put their confidence in me, I swore to give them my everything. Cause they were all I had.” She stopped as if to correct herself. “My friends are all I have. And that does include Dash. I stood up for him, I thought there was good deep down in him, and I still do. I want them both back.”
“See though, you can have these feeling and not be a cheap shotting bitch about it,” Auburn reiterated, never breaking eye contact with Riley.
“There you go just assuming I’m always the chill one. You realize I was always by her side right? I loved her fun mischief because it made Sienna Sienna. I never stopped her,” Riley said, calmer than before, but not by much.
“If you did maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation right now!” The silence that followed Auburn was as deafening as a grenade. They could hear a pin drop. Everyone in the room turned to Riley, but she met none of them. Her head fell downward, her face now hidden to Auburn under her jewel-toned hair. Her fists were clenched to the point where her knuckles changed colors.
“So it’s my fault…”
“Riley you know I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just-”. Riley didn’t think she deserved the luxury of being heard out. She had decided whatever Vacuo police presence was outside was more favorable than being here any longer. She stormed out the door without another word. Amber looked back just enough to see the crestfallen tears on her cheeks before she rushed after her teammate. Lastly, Jade’s eyes pierced the fox faunus harder than bullets from her pistols before making her exit. Rin turned to Auburn. She wanted to ask Auburn if they should go after them. She wanted to hug Auburn or pat her back or tell her to lie down. But she knew Auburn wouldn’t accept any of the above. So, she stood there, statuesque, left alone to wonder where their friend group from Beacon, the same one that thought they could take on the world and all the grimm in it, fell apart so badly.
#rwby#oc#rwby fanfic#rwby fanfiction#rwby oc#wf!sienna#flames of change#sienna umberon#auburn vulpes#jade meadows#riley currant#amber himmel#rin aozora#shadow stalvinge#team jasr#jasr
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Just My Luck
Sometimes you hit the jackpot, sometimes the jackpot hits you. Literally.
The decade mark! Chapter 10 of Flames of Change, my RWBY OC fic is here! If you wanna read up to this point, check the pinned post for the chapter list and as always, hope you web wanderers enjoy. Catch ya!
Leo Vega and Alex Umberon belong to @wetsliceofbread
Sienna Umberon belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby
“Come to Mistral and awaken to whole new worlds.” A slogan every Mistrali was more than accustomed to, whether they wanted to be or not. It was plastered on every travel brochure or stapled to the end of every commercial from their tourism department. On one hand, it wasn't exactly fake advertising. Being home to a wide variety of diverse cultures and huge swaths of untouched natural beauty made it an ideal vacation spot for many. The perfect blend of traditional and modern. But on the other hand, it left the door open for more “unsavory” types to make themselves home in. With such a vast kingdom to look after, it was easy for certain criminal groups and black markets to slip under the watchful eye of Mistral's central government, so long as they knew where to go. Criminal hot spots that pop up scattered through the dense forest. Like Kuchinashi.
Being the largest settlement for hundreds of miles and strategically placed on a key trade route, Kuchinashi attracted plenty of activity from the surrounding villages and tribes. Some came for highly rated restaurants, some for the closest taste of nightlife at their disposal. But others in what were called the “lower classes” were there for other reasons. Drug smugglers, assassins for hire, anyone evading the law. Throughout the labyrinth of streets and alleyways, particular establishments thrived in spite of - or because of - the street gangs that constantly crop up. As evident by the line of people trying to plead their cases to the imposing bouncer at the entrance, Orion Kuchinashi was one of those places. A group of humans employed every trick of flattery and bribery to the bear faunus guarding the door, but he stood there, stone faced and undeterred. He denied them access to one of the most electric scenes the whole continent had to offer. Great drinks, live music, an always populated dance floor. And for anyone hoping the gods favor them enough to luck into a quick buck, a gambling den hidden tucked away in one of the club's dark corners. Mysteriously enough, the phrase “the house always wins” seemed to always cosmically reign true at Orion. But at one poker table tonight, someone was defying the odds among the lost souls swearing that one more round was all they needed to get their money back.
It wasn't the monkey faunus with the graying beard, although he was merrily laughing and drinking away through his diminishing funds. It wasn't the red headed wolf faunus girl clacking one of her remaining stacks of chips in her hand behind a pair of sunglasses. It wasn't the butch hyena girl that was gripping her cards tighter with each passing hand that didn't go her way. It was all the lion faunus on the dealer's left coolly leaning back in his chair. Even just sitting down, anyone with eyes could tell his beyond impressive stature, especially as he stretched his arms to rest them behind his head. With his jacket hung on the chair he was in, his muscles were on full display from under the white tank top he was wearing, including a tribal tattoo stretched around his bicep. Pushing his wavy brown locks aside, his golden eyes honed in on his next two cards. A queen and a six. He stroked his goatee in thought before glancing away toward the sea of people on the dance floor. The rippling waves of energy could be felt from their table, until the slight buzz of the dealer’s wasp wings snapped the lion back into the game. Her practiced porcelain smile cracked just enough to show her impatience and annoyance hidden underneath. The lion gave her a wink that would swoon anyone regardless of sexuality before tossing in a couple chips to play the round out. After a swig of his drink, the monkey slapped his thigh with a hearty guffaw before calling the ante as well. The lion cocked an eyebrow, the other players groaned, and the dealer inched just a bit closer to the end of her rope.
“No need for the sour look, sweetheart! It’s not like the Kinshika can’t afford it!” The dealer’s professionalism never wavered, as she turned her focus to the next gambler in line.
“The who?” the lion asked without much thought. His relaxed tone certainly didn’t match the reaction he got from the rest of the table. Glares from the wolf and the hyena that would’ve pierced most into backing off. But, he just met them with a shrug. “What? I’m not from around here, just passing through.”
“Yeah like that ain’t obvious,” the wolf grumbled to herself. Again, the lion paid no mind. Right now, he let his growing stacks of poker chips do all the talking for him. But, the monkey took his opportunity to take center stage once more.
“They’re the blood and the poison of Kuchinashi! A parasitic pillar of the community! They’ve been around way longer than the neon signs have glowed through the fog around this town.”
“Get off the damn soapbox, old timer! This ain’t fuckin’ story time with the grandkids,” the hyena growled before tossing her cards away in a frustrated fold. But the lion leaned forward in his chair. He was no closer to having his question answered. The only thing he was able to decipher from that was that this monkey faunus has some flair for the dramatic. He gestured for him to go on.
“Ya see, my boy, in Kuchinashi, a new street gang shows up here at least once a week. They’re all flashes in the pan though, some punks in way over their heads, maybe some Haven dropout trying to become a hitman for hire.” He made a theatrical shooing motion with his hand, accidentally almost flinging his cards in the process. Maybe the hyena was right, he’s not sober enough for exaggeration. “But not the Kinshika Family. They’ve been around for generations. Ever since Old Man Kinshika was just a low level nobody hustling these streets himself!”
“So they’re a gang,” the lion chimed in. “Take it they’re a big deal around here?” The monkey let out a “ha!” that came directly from his belly.
“So big of a deal that when the White Fang came into the area, they didn’t wanna mess with them. They knew better than to challenge the Kinshika, so they entered a pact together. The Family’s been a loyal subsidiary ever since.” It was like the monkey was spinning a yarn to buddies he had drunk with countless times before, not some strangers competing for his money at a poker table. The lion nodded.
“Interesting. Lemme guess, they're tied with this place?”
“They own this place, boy! Now that Old Man Kinshika is exactly that, an old man, he enjoys the lap of luxury and leaves the hard part of running the empire to his lieutenants. And the kids he wants to inherit it all one day. His grandson, Kenzo, runs this place now. But between you and me, I think he's enjoying the jet set nightclub lifestyle a bit too much. This place is a staple of the Kinshika's cash flow, you know. If he was to fumble it, well..”
“Your move, sir,” the dealer interrupted sternly, trying to put a sudden stop to him airing her boss’ business in the open. He folded his hand and hushed to take another sip of his liquor. The other two players were just relieved he finally shut his trap. This left the lion with the wolf, the latter of which upping her bet to try and raise the stakes. By this point, another six and queen had entered the field of the play. The lion didn't flinch. Not until a third six was revealed as the final card. Full house. Jackpot. The deadpan facade behind the sunglasses dropped as the wolf faunus scowled. Meanwhile the lion went in the opposite direction, finally letting a smirk of smug elation loose. As he leaned back again, he still seemed split between the poker game and the dance floor, where a commotion was arising at the front door. A group of men clad in cheaper looking suit jackets and White Fang masks were demanding all the attention as they stepped inside. Perhaps they didn't want to upstage High Leader Taurus by stealing his style. Out from in between two large bodyguards ambled a younger looking man with a pair of deer antlers protruding from slicked back blonde hair. He was the only one in the group whose jacket actually looked designed and not some ridiculously cheap knockoff.
“That’s him. Kenzo Kinshika,” the monkey said while drunkenly elbowing the lion. The lion intently watched as his boys dispersed to a booth and began cracking their way into a couple bottles of champagne to entertain their “lady friends”. On the house’s tab of course. One bodyguard made his way to the bathroom, but Kenzo stayed put and surveyed the sights, the sounds, everything that made this his kingdom. The look in his eyes made it clear he was looking for a woman to score for himself tonight, even as the bruising tiger faunus guard that still flanked him began to carve a path through the masses to lead Kenzo upstairs to his office. But instead, that woman found him. The golden prince was intercepted by what he could only describe as his perfect wet dream come true. Her blonde hair cascaded flawlessly down her shoulders, with purple highlights shining in the club’s strobe lighting. The towering platform boots she was still somehow grooving in lifted her to accentuate every single gorgeous curve from under her dress. A pair of fox ears flicked playfully on her head while her tail wrapped around Kenzo’s waist. To have this fall into Kenzo’s lap, not even have to hunt for the finest catch in the club to
“Looks like he’s the only guy luckier than me in the building tonight,” the lion chuckled before rising from his chair. “Getting too crowded for my tastes so imma cash out.”
“Sir, you can’t cash out yet, you’ve paid for another hour. You’ll lose your deposit if you choose to leave,” the dealer told him. She made a move to try and block him, but it was like a sedan meeting an 18-wheeler with how much he dwarfed her. The only move he made toward the casino employee was another core rattling smirk as he continued putting on his jacket.
“Then let them fight for my pot. Looks like they need it more than me.” With that, he turned to leave, flashing all the poker participants a peace sign over his shoulder on the way out. They were all left befuddled, and he even caught a mumble of “What was that about” as he departed. Soon enough, even his 6’5 body disappeared from their views amongst the dancing mob. He passed by right by the antlered club owner and what he was hoping would be his escort for the evening before heading into the same bathroom.
“Yeah I own this place,” he could hear Kenzo briefly over the twenty other conversations fighting against the music. The stunning fox’s eyes lit up with excitement as she wrapped one arm around his shoulder before trailing it down his side. Her other hand reached for a hand fan she had on her - where she stashed it was a mystery Kenzo was dying to solve.
“Really? Like that’s so fun! Ummmm what would you say is the best part about it?” she said while fanning herself, covering her mouth in the process but her eyes peered sharply over it. She had the exact kind of trill voice he was imagining. Complete bimbo. He smirked.
“Getting to meet smokeshows like you. What’s your name, cutie?” he said.
“I’m Alex!” the fox replied with a bubbly giggle. All it did was begin revving Kenzo’e engine into even higher gear.
“Well, Alex, glad you walked into Kenzo Kinshika’s club?” She giggled again, mouth still covered to make it look even more adorably innocent. Interrupting for a moment, the guard tapped his boss on the shoulder, motioning that they need to leave. But Kenzo shooed his hand away, and Alex took him by both his hands, wrapping her tail around his waist to keep him dancing. Reaching a hand around, Kenzo firmly grabbed her ass, pulling her close to the point where they were rubbing against each other. There was no resistance from Alex, the only thing she had to resist was the urge to hum by biting her bottom lip. After allowing this for a few more minutes, again the bodyguard intervened. Kenzo again shot him a glare. He wanted to ask who do you think you are, wanted to assert that he was the heir to everything around here. But, his father and grandfather wouldn’t appreciate any infighting amongst their ranks. So, he turned to Alex.
“Lemme get you a drink. I got some special top shelf collection up in my office.” Alex eagerly nodded and took his hand, so he could lead the way, even though the guard led them both. Up a flight of stairs and down a hallway later, he brought them to a fine wooden door. The pair of lustbirds were too distracted with both eyes and both hands on each other to notice the guard attempt to signal to a “Frankie” via his earpiece once, then twice. When it appeared as if he got no answer, he tried to turn to Kenzo but the door was inadvertently shut in his face. With that, he just had to assume Frankie was with the other boys downstairs and couldn’t hear him. The music could cover anything. He had no choice but to assume his post at the door. Inside, the office was dimly lit, almost as if to set the mood, with what lighting being offered centered around a lamp on his desk. A baseball bat autographed by some former pro that his dad got for him rested on a stand behind his desk next to a bottle of high grade vodka. Pouring two drinks mixed with some soda he kept in his mini fridge, he slid one of the glasses over to his date. By the time he sat down in his overly comfy yet overpriced chair, the blonde bombshell had slammed her drink down in once guzzle. Kenzo was petrified with aroused shock.
“Wow. You don’t beat around the bush, do you?” Alex shook her head seductively, which only amplified Kenzo’s racing heartbeat. “Good. Then why don’t we quit wasting time and get right to it then?” Clearly undoing his pants, with one hand, he points below the desk. The fox licked her lips. First putting one gargantuan heel on the desk then the other, she slowly crawled on all fours on the desk toward him. Every move, every sway of her tail or sashay of her hips, in Kenzo’s mind she was begging for this. She wrapped one hand around his tie and pulled him so their faces were mere centimeters apart. Warm breath trickled down his neck as Alex’s lips parted. His heart nearly thumped out of his chest with anticipation.
“I’ve been told I’m the best fucks around.” Kenzo paused slightly. Her voice suddenly lost that bimbo quality. She spoke more confidently, and her pitch dropped. She didn’t sound as feminine as before, just enough to fuzz the gender radar, not helped by his two heads now thinking in opposite directions. “My ass is just that damn good. Even with the pole pretending to be a hole. Leo could tell you that. Isn’t that right, babe?” Kenzo’s shock magnified at seeing a massive silhouette emerging from a dark corner in the room. How the hell he didn’t notice a lion faunus that size was beyond him.
“Damn right, babe,” the lion called Leo spoke up. When his body finally broke through f its paralysis and caught up with his brain, Kenzo made a panicked reach for the bat. Alex yanked him by the makeshift leash around his neck to put a stop to that, and pulled him right so the cold steel of a dagger tip from one of this now retracted fans met his throat. Hearing the commotion, the bodyguard burst through the door. While radioing for backup and hoping the Kinshika Family guys were still sober enough to assist, he wasted no time in facing Leo and nailing him with the hardest punch he could muster right to his chin. It would’ve had any normal rowdy patron coughing up teeth for days. But Leo didn’t budge. It was like punching granite.
“Yeahhh that doesnt work on him. Wanna show him what you did to his poor friend in the bathroom, Leo?” Alex said. Leo grinned right into the tiger’s face, who had barely even move his fist away from Leo. Fingers adorned with silver modified brass knuckles stretched in ready as his knuckles cracked. A surprise ear clap discombobulated the tiger enough to get some space. He covered up, but Leo delivered a shot to the gut so hard it lifted him off the ground. Then a straight shot between the tiger’s arms to the nose. Then a second. Then a third. Reeling, the tiger bounced off the bookcase behind him directly into a forearm smash. Punch to the right temple. Then the left. Then one to the left ear. The unrelenting berserker teed off until an uppercut took him off his feet. He was unconscious before his face even met the floor. At this point, Kenzo tried to make a mad dash out the open door for freedom, but Alex was far too quick, flipping out of his chair and leaving him on his back facing up at a wall of a lion faunus. Leo picked him up by the collar.
“Y-you’re fuckin’ crazy! What is your deal?” Kenzo shouted, trying to cling to any shred of that authority and swagger he sauntered into Orion with.
“Awww is someone mad they fell for the surprise sausage? Don’t worry baby I have a cage that can basically make it disappear and I can bend over and moan like the rest of them,” Alex said with that same bimbo giggle to taunt him. While he wouldn’t admit it, Kenzo was more angry at the betrayal of Alex being the most convincing femboy in all of Remnant more than anything that happened to one of his own men. Still, he scowled nonetheless.
“You fucking freak! Let go of me or I’ll have every thug in Kuchinashi on my payroll to kill you!” Leo lifted him, pressing him over his head as if he weighed as much as a feather, before slamming him hard onto his back. In the moment he spent winded on the floor, Alex stomped one of these heels onto his chest.
“Ooooh shouldn’t have said the f-word in front of him. You’re right though. I am one freaky bitch. But only he’s allowed to say it.” The heel pressed harder onto Kenzo’s sternum, causing him to writhe even harder. He wanted to pull at Alex’s ankle, but the shadow being cast by his looming “babe” - and what he just did to his personal security - convinced him otherwise. “Relax, all I need is some info and I’ll be out your hair and you can enjoy your drink and do whatever boring vanilla guys do in their spare time. The name Sienna Umberon. Ring any bells?” Kenzo shook his head in bewilderment. That question was almost as startling as Alex’s ruse. Almost.
“W-what are you talking about? Y-you guys are mad! If you’re huntsmen, you don’t act like any other ones I’ve seen before!” Kenzo yelled. Leo motioned for Alex to step aside before kneeling down on the deer’s chest, driving the air out of him. He grabbed him by the antlers like a pair of handlebars and forced him to face Alex. Alex sighed, though the playful, toying look never faded. This only irritated Kinshika further. “Don’t you know who my family is? You can’t do this!”
“My gods, you are a stereotype. Is every rich heir of something remotely important just a stuck up prick? Can’t take anything besides the stick up your ass?” Alex laughed.
“He couldn’t even take my pinky,” Leo let out a low, satisfying growl. Depending on who you were, it would either scare someone down to their bones or turn them on in ways they never would’ve pictured. Kenzo was definitely the first one, which caused Leo’s grin to only grow. “Maybe we should ask the Old Man instead.”
“Fuck you!” Kenzo barked with the might of a chihuahua.
“Hey, back on track here,” Alex said while snapping his fingers at him. “We know a lot of White Fang activity is centered in Mistral. Kuchinashi is a major hub, and allegedly these are your streets. So you should know some of what the Fang is doing. So I’ll ask again, and this time you’re gonna answer. Sienna Umberon. What do you know?”
“How would I know anything? I hardly pay attention in those meeting with the White Fang brass anyways. They don’t really concern me,” he finally answered after a moment to ponder.
“What, figured daddy would take care of it all so you wouldn’t have to listen?” Leo grumbled at the pompousness, especially at Kenzo’s shrug. He couldn’t deny it. “What about the raid on the Ospreay estate?”
“H-how would I know anything about that? That’s a whole continent away! Not to mention it’s a bit above my pay grade.”
“Then who do I need to speak to, your manager?” Alex chimed in, hands on his hips. Kenzo raised his arms over his head in lack of understanding of what Alex wanted from him. Alex wasn’t sure either. But he knew he wanted more than this.
“Look, all the Kinshika Family does for the White Fang is disrupt the trader caravans in the area. They loan us some manpower in exchange for a cut of whatever we raid for them. And for the agreement to leave our turf to us.” Alex’s ears flattened. Arms folded and head down, he tapped his foot on the ground. It wasn’t even close to what he was hoping to hear, but it was at least something. He felt like that described the past few months to a tee. Reaching into his boot, he with drew a small piece of paper. It was still neatly folded, and on the front in flowery penmanship written in purple ink was one lone word: “Sienna”. He knelt down next to Kenzo and held the letter out, glaring at him until he unsteadily accepted it between his fingers before Alex let go.
“See to it that this gets to Miss Umberon by whatever channel you gotta go through. Whatever chain of command you need to go up, you make sure it gets there every step of the way.”
“What do I look like, a fuckin’ mailman? I’m not doing that!” Kenzo scoffed. Leo wrenched on his antlers once more, forcing the golden deer back into submission.
“You’re gonna do it, because otherwise we’re coming back. And we’ll bring more huntsmen. And if we were able to get to you by ourselves, do you really wanna test your luck against more? Even if you do win, it’ll still be a massive headache that I’m sure your granddad doesn’t wanna deal with. Double so for the Fang.” Kenzo’s eyes darted away in begrudging acceptance of the fox faunus’ point. “So unless you really want that blowjob, I doubt you really wanna see us again.” Kenzo’s muscles flared with renewed rage at the reminder of why he was stuck in this situation in the first place. He was supposed to have a cherry picked one night stand over a couple drinks, not a night being held hostage.
“You think you’ll even make out this building tonight? I’ll have every one of my men try and take you down,” Kenzo reaffirmed.
“Who’s gonna tell them, you?” Alex let out a sultry snicker. “Gonna do that from the dream world?” Kenzo didn’t even have time to question before the last thing he saw, five furious knuckles from Leo quickly bearing down upon him, knocked him out like a light. Standing up, Leo dusted himself off and shook his hand a little.
“I mean I wouldn’t have blamed him if he said yes. It is the best blowjob I’ve ever had,” said Leo, smirking at his shorter partner. Shying up a little, Alex couldn’t contain his blush, before nudging Leo and looking away. It did nothing to disrupt the lion’s balance. “And there it is. You almost coulda fooled me with the dominant act you were pulling off.”
“Ugh, that does not feel natural. Really not my style, but douchebags like him make it easy.” Alex adjusted his dress before both of his daggers opened up into fans once more. One stayed out in front of him while the other was at his side. He slowly creaked the door open and peeked down the hallway. There wasn’t a soul in sight. “Now let’s get outta here before anyone sobers up enough to question where their boss is.” Out the door, then down the hallway, then sneaking their way into a fire escape staircase. It was eerily quiet all the way downstairs apart from the muffled booming bass that was doing its fair share of masking their exit. The back door shot open followed by an outstretched clenched fist with its knuckles glowing red from fire dust. But, the only thing there for Leo to see was an empty back lot aside from a couple of raccoons rummaging a dumpster for a late night snack. As he stepped out, the glow from hus knuckle dusters dissipated, and the crisp air and cooling rain met his skin. Alex followed suit, checking for any security cameras on the building, but the only one he could spot was out of commission. With ease, Leo lifted his boyfriend over the fence scaling the chain link behind him as silently as possible. The two checked both directions before seamlessly blending in with the other foot traffic on the street.
“Let’s head back to the inn. We’ll probably have till tomorrow morning before anyone figures out what happened to Kinshika. If he has enough wits to remember us, he’ll probably have a bounty on our heads. We can’t stay in Kuchinashi any longer, so we’ll head out at dawn and check out those trader caravans he was talking about.” He avoided looking up to make eye contact, the rain was annoying enough. He was growing jealous of the pedestrians passing by with umbrellas. Leo, however, seemed unbothered by the rain.
“Alex,” Leo said in more of a concerned sigh straight from the heart than a statement. It drew Alex directly to notice. He reached for Leo’s hand and held it tight. “You really sure about this?”
“Huh? Yeah, we’re huntsmen. The people who depend on those goods need our help. It’s what we signed up for, isn’t it?” Alex responded with a question of his own, confused as to why Leo was asking to begin with.
“You’re not doing this to be a huntsman, though.” There it was. Alex’s tail instantly tucked and he brought his hand back. How was he gonna defend himself this time? “I’m… I’m just worried about you babe. You’ve been letting this chase after your sister consume you. Don’t get me wrong it’s been great getting to help the villages out here and do actual huntsman jobs, but… it’s been a lot. Basically ever since we last saw her before the fall it’s been nonstop.”
“I know she’s out there somewhere. I know it. That bitch is too stubborn to die,” Alex said adamantly. Leo nodded. He knew Sienna too well to disagree with that. But while it registered, it did little to sway him.
“It’s been months now and we don’t even have actual proof she joined the White Fang.”
“Trust me, she’s got a track record. No one knows that flammable idiot better than me. You weren’t there when we were in the Fang as kids.” The desperation was beginning to seep through his words, emotion overcoming him more and more. “I’d never go back. I can’t stand what they’ve become today. But her…”
“Do you really think running roughshod on some of the Fang’s most notable just to hand deliver them these notes is the way to do it? Do you think they’d even make it to Sienna and not just get thrown away?”
“I-I just need one of them to get to her! If she reads one of those notes then maybe it’ll convince her… Leo, you just have to trust me on this one, please.” Again, Leo sighed. He stopped his walk to fully face the younger Umberon twin by only a few minutes, running his fingers through his rain soaked hair. If the pleading puppy dog eyes could convince Leo to buy him a new outfit, then surely they would work for something that was much more meaningful. Leo moved a hand to one of Alex’s fox ears and gave it a gentle rub, causing him to push into his hand with a slight hum.
“I’m still with you. Always will be. I just worry about you. I love you, you asshat.” Launching into a hug, Alex rested his head on the lion faunus’ chest as he caught him. No matter where they were, it was Alex’s safest place.
“I love you too. And thank you so much.” The rain suddenly didn’t bother Alex anymore. The cold couldn’t reach him now. But still, it was his turn to sigh heavily. “I do miss Beacon though. When life was easier. When our only worry was what to wear. Sometimes I wonder if we shoulda kept going with our Onlyfans. We were making mad money off of it.”
“I would’ve been chill with the pornstar lifestyle,” Leo laughed. “But you’re right. This is what we signed for, what we trained for at school. Helping these people has been satisfying as hell.” Scooping up Alex with one arm under his butt, he brought him to face level so they could finally look in each other’s eyes. Each of them found an ocean of relief in the other’s gaze, which was felt in the fleeting but passionate kiss that came next. Leo smiled. “Now c’mon, let’s get out this rain. We got a nice shower and a warm bed calling our names.” Alex kept his arms firmly around his partner so he could be carried the whole way back. The only time either of them harshed the soothing peace they found in one another the whole way back was from Alex.
“Hey Leo.”
“Yeah?”
“You know when we find Sienna I’m gonna slap the fuck out of her right? She pissed off her own kryptonite and I hope she knows it.”
“That’s what twins do.”
Somewhere, stealthily jetting through the night skies high above Remnant, Sienna sat on a transport cruising back to headquarters. The mission report to turn in was complete. The celebrations of a successful mission at Beacon had long since ended. Dusty was laid out on a bench across from her asleep, and Karma was finally beginning to doze off next to him after pacing away her energy. But Sienna still sat awake. The memories Solomon forced to spin back into her head resembled more of a tornado than a washing machine’s spin cycle. Leaning over, she withdrew a piece of paper from her back pocket. It was given to her by some other captain she had never encountered before or since. It was still neatly folded, and on the front in flowery penmanship written in purple ink was one lone word: “Sienna”. Exhaling a deep breath, she unfolded it and read the very brief message for what felt like the two dozenth time.
“Please reconsider. We love you.” -Alex
“Sorry Alex. You’ve just never gotten it. You may never forgive me, but I’ll never forgive every motherfucker we grew up with for what they did to us. This is the only way it’ll change, and if one us has the balls to do it, it might as well be me.”
#oc#rwby#rwby oc#rwby fanfic#rwby fanfiction#flames of change#sienna umberon#leo vega#alex umberon#wf!sienna
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Flashback
Target: Beacon Academy
Operatives: Sienna Umberon, Dustin Millaray, Karma Gylden
ETA: 5 minutes
Merry Christmas, dryads and degenerates! Have a day late present from ya boi Sagey! Chapter 9 of my RWBY oc fic Flames of Change! As always check the pinned post on this blog for the chapter list. Thanks for reading and hope ya enjoy!
Solomon Roxos belongs to me.
Sienna Umberon belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby
Tango Squadron (Dusty, Karma, T) belong to @wetsliceofbread
"Captain, everyone’s in position. Awaiting your word."
It was the second time the voice coming from the headset buzzed into Sienna’s ears. The first time was unsuccessful in snapping her back into reality. Her eyes were firmly honed in on the Vale CCT tower sitting motionless in the dead of night. Vale authorities had sent a team in order to establish a safe zone, basically whatever huntsmen that hadn’t abandoned Beacon Academy as a lost cause they could scrape together, along with a limited amount of soldiers provided by Atlas. With the Vale relay tower out of commission, even communication within the same kingdom was spotty at best, and anyone outside the major hubs were completely in the dark. That’s why officials viewed this mission as imperative. After a long and grueling fight against the grimm that still seemingly had no end, they were actually able to procure enough ground to begin making progress in restoring global communications. But, the safe zone’s existence was extremely fragile. The smallest push could erase months of forward advancement.
And that’s why Sienna was here. The White Fang had received intel of this progress, so High Leader Taurus sent her and a team of their own to undo all of it. No one better to lead a strike team into Beacon Academy - or more accurately, its ruins - than a former student. And no one better to spark a little mayhem than Sienna Umberon.
But as she sat perched on a tree branch, mentally tracking the route of every patrolling guard on every level of the tower that she had vision of for the twentieth time, her mind began to wander. Back to the times when she called these walls home. To her first days when she was giddy with excitement telling Jade to tuck and roll before being launched careening through the sky and into the Emerald Forest. The time Sienna started an all-out pillow fight war between Team JASR and their next door neighbors Team DASH that ended up spreading to the entire dorm thanks to her brother spreading the word about it. The time her and Amber devised a plan to sneak away with all the cookie dough when the team decided to bake cookies. All the nights she spent talking with Riley until 5 AM whether they had class the next morning or not. When she met that redhead in that same forest and they grabbed that chess piece together, Sienna had no idea this was going to be someone she poured her aspirations, her passions, her fears to. It was a level of vulnerable she didn’t think she would ever allow for herself, and for every step Riley did the same and let her barriers down in kind.
Then she also remembered the last time she saw them, the last day any student attending Beacon knew normal. She was split up from her teammates after the catastrophe at Amity Colosseum. The voice that spoke through the arena loudspeakers and through every broadcast of the tournament echoed in Sienna’s mind over and over and over again. It was at that moment she knew what needed to be done. She could see Jade, Amber, and Riley from afar, from a rooftop looking down to the street as they had just finished defending a group of civilians from a pack of grimm. Or at least, she made out their vague, blob-like shapes through the tears filling her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye. Goodbyes were too hard.
“Hey. You good?” This time it didn’t come from Sienna’s earpiece but instead from directly below her, albeit barely. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her grimm mask and gave it one long survey, running her thumb over it before putting it on. Now focused on the tower once more, through the slits in her mask she saw not her old home but instead only her objective. She dropped to the ground and finally acknowledged the voice that called to her, even though she had to look up to the stratosphere to do so. The liger-tailed faunus leaning casually on the tree before her stood at a whopping 7’1, leaving Sienna face to chest with him. His black hair was done in a half up half down ponytail, and his skin had a reddish tone to it. His name was Dusty Millaray, and while usually he was the leader of a three-man force known as Tango Squadron, tonight he relaxedly turned the reigns over to Sienna.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” Sienna answered. Gotta focus. “Where’s Karma?” As soon as she was mentioned, a cheetah faunus raced to stand in between them, her speed semblance giving her a blink and you miss it arrival. Her athletic build stood a few inches taller than Sienna, but still a foot shorter than the imposing Dusty. Tail swaying slightly, she moved to make sure the bun that kept her dyed blonde hair in place was still in good shape. Her light tan skin was freckled all over, growing more spot like the closer they got to her tail. Karma Gylden knew how to make an entrance.
“Sorry! I was just scouting the other side of the building. More of the same,” she said, hardly out of breath from her run. Dusty smirked and took the opportunity to check out his partner in crime in more ways than one. Sienna shot them both a look. C'mon guys, not now. Stay focused.
“They look a bunch of losers that got stuck with the graveyard shift and don’t wanna be here.” Sienna pressed two fingers to her earpiece as the voice from the radio came in again. The third and final member of the squad, the fennec faunus only known as “T”, was not on site with their fellow Fang teammates. Instead they were far away currently tapping into whatever surveillance system the tower had left to offer.
“Then tell me what these losers are armed with,” Sienna asked.
“Basic model 42s. Not even the new 44s. Guess Atlas cheaped out on them.” Sienna smirked to herself. She was hoping for at least a little challenge, but she would take way too easy all the same. “I have no visual of the top floor though. The nest has no internal feed. Appears to be off the grid.”
“That's where I need to get to. All the fun shit to break is up there. Are they working on it right now?”
“I think I saw a couple of engineers enter the building from the other side,” Karma answered.
“They’ve been working on this 24/7,” Dusty said while finally getting off of the tree. He cracked each of his knuckles with a sly grin growing across his face. “Lucky them.”
“You know the rule. No deaths. Got it?” Sienna said. Dusty raised his hands in innocence. He might’ve been the leader normally, but he knew better than to challenge Sienna. He had heard the stories. He secretly thanked his lucky stars he wasn’t under her command normally.
“I don’t get why,” T chimed in. “Those wastes of oxygen wouldn’t even think twice about killing one of us. Yet we’re the animals.”
“Maybe you didn’t get the memo, T. But tonight, I’m in charge. Which means you operate by my rules. We’re gonna prove just how we’re better than them by not being them. Otherwise you can drag your ass out your little VPN powered bunker and fight with us. So no deaths. Got it?!” The fiery symbol of chaos had to fight back the urge to take the radio and char it beyond recognition, only appeased by T giving it a quiet but firm “Sorry Captain.” Sienna gave them all an approving nod before facing the tower once more. One last check of each guard’s path, memorizing ever detail she could. “You guys are gonna be my way in. Now raise some hell. Break everything you can, steal what you think is useful.”
“Let’s go babe,” Dusty said to the cheetah faunus. Using the trees and the darkness of night for cover, they began to circle their way to the front entrance of the tower. There, they could spot two sets of guards, one flanking each side of the front door, while the others were slowly circling the perimeter. As Dusty crouched down to somehow hide in the bushes, he could hear the two guards’ conversation as they listlessly sauntered toward him.
“Like you gotta be fucking kidding me, right? You know who doesn’t have to patrol in the middle of the night?”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
“Watkins. Watkins is probably back in his bunk fucking sleeping right now with his stupid fucking head laid on a pillow while I’m out here stuck with-”. The soldier’s complaining was cut off by the realization that has partner had stopped a couple steps back. He was frozen, rigid, like he couldn’t shake the feeling something was watching them. Looming over them. Like something was casting a massive shadow over them despite there being no sunlight. Then, a deep unfamiliar voice came from the void to confirm his suspicions.
“That’s rough, buddy. Someone need a nap?” The two guards spun around to see a wall dressed in a White Fang uniform. They both barely had time to let out a panicked “what the fuck” and scramble for their weapons before Dusty grabbed both their heads and cracked them together. Both of them instantly dropped to the floor, unmoving. The two guards posted at the door screamed out at the Fang operative and pointed their weapons at him. But in a golden flash, Karma blurred past them, throwing off their aim. She began racing past them back and forth, each time delivering a blow at highway speed, all while the other had nothing to even aim at. Once the first one finally doubled over and fell, she kicked the gun out of the second’s one hands and jammed the butt of it directly into his nose. Dusty rejoined her, offhandedly stepping over one of the incapacitated Atlesian soldiers while making his way to the door. He took one look at the security keypad to the left of the door before inputting his own code five knuckles at once. The now cracked screen emitted a distressed whirring sound before the doors parted ways. He gestured for Karma to take the lead.
As Sienna caught eye of the guards on the second floor turn away from their lookout post as word of an unknown commotion reached them, she pounced on the moment she had been itching for. She made a beeline for the tower. Grabbing the grappling hook on her hip, she shot it upward so it hooked the upper floor railing. The soldiers in that corridor suddenly hushed at hearing the distinct clank of the hook meeting the metal railing. Right as one of them leaned over to aim at whatever was below, Sienna pulled herself up and delivered two boots to his face. His partner unholstered his pistol and fired several panicked and erratic shots at her, none come close to hitting. She took advantage of his frenzy by charging him with claws out and slashing at his chest three times. Out the corner of her eye, she noticed the first soldier staggering back to his feet. So, she grabbed the second soldier arm and violently whipped him into the first one, knocking him back on all fours. A swift punt to the head ensured that both were out cold. Hands on her hips, she surveyed the damage she caused with a prideful smirk.
“Beacon didn’t have to teach me that one. That’s all Vacuo,” Sienna said to herself. The smirk immediately faded. The last thing she needed to do right now was bring up home. Reaching down to one of the guard’s bodies, she swiped a keycard from his pocket. Once she pressed it to the door, it uttered an affirmative beep before opening up and granting her access inside.
“Now where are those elevators?” she thought to herself. She began sprinting down the maze of hallways in hope for her ticket to the top floor. After a few more turns, one backtrack from a dead end that led to a supply closet, and another guard that received a fiery claw mark across his faces for his troubles, Sienna slowed to a stop at a corner upon hearing voices. She pinpointed two more guards standing in front of the elevators, one nodding while receiving a transmission. They both turned around and queued the elevator, so the moment it opened, Sienna rushed toward it. She ended up catching the doors with her foot at the last second. She stepped in between the guards with a confident smirk, unphased by the commands they were shouting or the weapons they were pointing at her as the doors shut. By the time they opened again, only Sienna sauntered out, as the others were reduced to heaps on the floor.
The way to the main control room was very brief by this point. Each side of the hallway was scattered with machines both new and old. Sienna couldn’t tell which ones were useful, so she dragged her flaming claws through all of them, nonchalantly leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. A storm of sparks and smoke followed her as her tail whipped with evil satisfaction. Once she was faced with the door to the control room, she pressed her keycard once more, but this time she was met with a red light and an “ACCESS DENIED”. She growled before just grabbing the lock with a flaming paw. Her grip remained tight out of rage and annoyance, even though the uncontrollable flames were doing damage to her hand, until the lock melted away.
“Shitty lock you got there,” she muttered to herself while shaking her hand and slowly creeping inside. In front of her were several screens that were lit but nothing on them, the center one much bigger than the others. Terminals, both functioning and broken, lined the walls. A lone chair faced the center screen, one that Sienna dismissed as empty at first until she noticed a pair of feet on the floor. It was all she could see from the figure in the chair. She readied her claws and stalked her way forward. Hard to finish repairs with your engineer nerds out of commission. However, just when she got into striking distance, all of the screens went dark. She froze and backed off slightly in confusion. Then, the large center monitor came to life again, displaying something she couldn’t believe. It was displaying… her.
The video panned out first to show Beacon Academy coated in a blanket of freshly fallen snow. Sienna remembered this; it lived on in stories and legend as the Great Beacon Snow Day. It was the first time she had ever seen snow, which was apparent when she watched herself on the screen pounce head first into a snow pile. The camera turned to catch her team leader Jade laughing at her antics before lightly trying to dig her out. Then the focus was on Dash, a lot healthier than last she saw him in his cell, bundled up in a jacket with arms crossed. The film was just in time catching him getting pelted with a pair of snowballs. He yelled out and started to pack up some snow in his hands to retaliate at the two cackling culprits, Auburn and Sapphire. The camera then spun around once more to reveal DASH’s last teammate, Solomon, was the one filming. He was currently laid under a tree, with Amber curled up comfortably by his side.
Sienna looked on in silence as her younger self exploded out of the snow bank, blowing past Jade in the process. She was in as much of a full sprint as the terrain would let her, which looked about as graceful as one would expect from Sienna’s first time handling ice, toward a certain redhead in a hockey sweater. Riley was on a frozen lake practicing her maneuvering on skates until Sienna took her down into the whiteout once more. The screen cut to black. The jarring contrast was lost on Sienna. In her mind, the video was still playing on loop. Tears began escaping from under her mask. No. Not now. I can’t think of this now…
The lights in the room flipped on, causing Sienna to first cover her eyes before quickly wiping her cheeks before the figure could see. She knew exactly who it was, even before they tossed a familiar purple pair of Technomancer brand headphones on the table beside them. She still refused to accept it. But she wasn’t given much choice when the chair spun around, leaving her facing with the one who filmed the video, Solomon Roxos. His black hair was just as messy as it was when last she saw him at Beacon. His signature hoodie, however, had been traded away for some uniform looking polo shirt. He silently rose from his seat. The glare from his glasses gave way to piercing blue eyes. Sienna was desperately searching for signs of his usual timidity in his body language, but could find none.
“So,” Sienna said to finally break the silence. “Looks like you got an upgrade. Guess Beacon had plans for you after all.” She awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. It took effort to maintain eye contact. It took even more effort to not burn a handprint on her neck or singe her hair. Why did you have to show up now?!
“Beacon had plans for all of us. You just ignored yours,” Solomon said back, the soft-spoken shyness that charmed Amber seeming like a distant memory. Sienna’s ears flattened.
“Yeah sure, if you believe that. Nobody’s had plans for me from the day I was born,” she said at about half normal volume. If Solomon heard, he didn’t show any kind of impression he did.
“Regardless, if you’re here to kill me, you might want to be quick about it. Otherwise, you got about-”. He pulled his attention down to his coveted supercharged scroll that was fastened to his left forearm as it always was. With a couple presses and swipes, the monitors behind him illuminated again, this time with camera footage from the downstairs lobby. They could see Dusty tormenting a poor scientist by slamming his head so hard into his desk, he fell backwards out of his office chair out cold. The monitor directly next to it came on next with footage of three huntsmen running towards the tower. Each of them were a faunus; one girl with black and purple cat ears and tail, one girl with cow horns on her head, and one guy with owl feathers mixed into his hair. They looked like students, same as Solomon and Sienna both were, but they were all armed and ready to fight. “Let’s say five minutes before backup arrives. And I want an explanation.”
“You’re so confident that those scabs are gonna get past us? Arrogance is just not you, Sol,” she said in a condemning growl before raising a finger to her earpiece. “D, K, heads up you’re about to have company!”
“What?! Where from?” Karma answered.
“Huntsmen! Three hostiles coming via the north entrance!” T answered for her. As they started to give information on what they’re dealing with, Solomon once again began to work on his tablet.
“That’s enough out of you.” The voices of Sienna’s comrades were suddenly drowned out with a static that was twice as loud in Sienna’s ears than it actually was thanks to her growing rage. She really wished she didn’t know Solomon. Then his introverted self wouldn’t bother trying to talk to her. “Now start talking, Captain Umberon.” Her fists were clenched and the tip of her tail was sparking. All it would take is one punch to shut him up so she could finish her mission. So she could leave this school and not have to worry about it. So she could push it to a back corner of her mind to remain untouched. But, even though it’s something she’s had to do her whole life, she couldn’t swing. She sighed. Why couldn’t these memories just stay away?
“The night Beacon fell. Do… do you remember what that voice that came across the Vytal Festival broadcast said?” Solomon paused for a moment, trying to decipher what “voice” she was referring to before an image of every screen barring the one on his arm lighting up red with a black chess piece.
“The hacker?” he asked softly. “Not really. I didn’t really pay attention. It sounded like some vague firestarting revolution rhetoric.
“Yeah of course you’d think that,” she again mumbled. Solomon was tired of this act from Sienna already. “I thought you of all people would at least be listening. You were always better at that crap in school than me.”
“You really don’t agree with the hacker, d-”
“And what if I fucking did, huh?!” Sienna interrupted as she began to show her teeth again. She was tightly gripping a wrench she took from atop the computer next to her. “Our leaders cling to their status quo just so they can hang onto their precious positions of power with both hands! But this status quo is one that punishes me for something beyond my control. It’s cursed me and many others like me to have to live at the bottom rung of the ladder just because I was born with these stupid fucking things!” She swatted at her fox ears, a slight clang sound coming from one of her piercings. “They say they do this in the name of peace. But is this what peace looks like for me? For the faunus? All the discrimination, the poverty, the shit conditions. Because if this is what “peace” looks like in their system, then their system needs to be fucking broken!”
“You’re right. There’s a lot of injustice in the world, especially towards you. I don’t disagree. But you were already doing the right thing in trying to fix it. Being a huntress is the correct steps in being the change you want to see in the world.”
“You just don’t get it.” Sienna was already adamantly shaking her head before he had even finished. “You never will get it. You’ll never know what it’s like to be in my shoes. You’ll never know it’s like to turn to the White Fang at twelve years old because it’s the only way you can think of to support your brother. They’ve backed me when the rest of the world kicked me while I was down!”
“And what about Alex, hm? Does he approve of this? Since you sound so confident,” Solomon said, perking up at the mention of her brother. Sienna’s knuckles wrapped tight around the wrench before she used it to smash the computer monitor next to her. Finally something she could take out her frustration on. She began going down the row, one after the other, breaking everything in the way. Solomon went on. “And what about your teammates? Your friends? You think they don’t back you? Do you know how much they’d go to hell and back for you?” This got Sienna to stop in her tracks. Her masked gaze was fixated on her boots.
“They’re probably over me by now. Doubt they’d even look back to see me again. I know I didn’t look back for them…” she said.
“So that’s it. Leave your friends behind for a terrorist organization targeting innocent tolerant humans. What about Sapphire? Or me?”
“Tolerant?” Sienna scoffed loudly before it morphed into a full on laugh. “That’s what you call yourself? How many times did you just sit and watch your little tablet while your team leader berated me almost on the daily! You had every chance in the world to ‘do what was right’. And guess what. You didn’t.” Now it was Solomon’s turn to glance downward at the floor. He rubbed his arm. Finally, there’s the Sol I know. “How is someone like me supposed to start a family and raise a child and have them face the world in this kind of state?”
“And what about Riley?” he said.
“Do. NOT. Mention her name.” Sienna didn’t need to hear any more from the tech expert. It was already wracking enough that Sienna had to see her face, her smile, her gorgeous maroon hair, happy from time that they spent together. Squinting at her, Solomon saw exactly what he wanted to see from her. Reluctance. Regret.
“You think she’d start a family with you now?” He went to the wound again. It resulted in an extremely hot wrench being tomahawked at his face. He had to full on duck to dodge it before it crashed into a keyboard behind him.
“SHUT UP!” Sienna had heard enough. She ripped off the mask and glared at Solomon with eyes incensed with fury. Her claws came out and she rushed Beacon’s former resident hacker. Solomon was able to sidestep the first blow, but another one came just as quickly. He was barely able to block this one with his scroll, the claws scraping and sparking off of its bulletproof casing. Solomon was never comfortable in close hand to hand combat. He needed time and space in order to get a grasp of his surroundings. Auburn had worked hard training him to get better, but it was never to a level of excellence, merely competence. So Sienna’s signature blitzing style denying him time to even think was his kryptonite. He took a hard punch to the solar plexus that briefly winded him, before Sienna followed up with a big slash to his face. Knocking him to the floor, the shot sent his glasses flying off his face into shattered pieces.
“I said not to mention her,” Sienna sternly said, standing over him with a boot firmly planted onto his chest. He struggled as hard as he could to get her off, but it was like stone. Sienna could spot he was leaking blood from a cut under his left eye. “Not a day goes by when I don’t regret leaving her. But, I need to take my fate into my own hands for the first time in my life. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that isn’t taken away from me too.” Suddenly, the earpiece began stirring to life again, as words began to make their way through the flood of static. It was only a few sparse words, then a few more filled in the blanks, until finally a whole warning.
“Boss! We lost sight of one of them! You might have one coming up to you!” Dusty’s voice came in, ragged from the fight he had been in the whole time. No sooner than when Sienna’s ears flicked with the news did she hear rapidly approaching footsteps to the door. Just as her hold on Solomon loosened, a transforming sound brought her attention to underneath her. Solomon’s tablet had turned into a machine gun, aimed right at the Fang leader. She was able to dodge from the single gunshot fired.
“Fall back! We got what we came here for!” she said to the radio, just hoping her transmission would make it out as she dashed to a window.
“Run away. Just like you did before,” Solomon said shakily as he weakly rolled over to watch her make her exit. Right as the doors were pried open, and that same cat faunus Sienna saw from the security footage came in to Solomon’s aid, Sienna made her exit. She grabbed her mask and busted through the window before using the grappling hook to swing her way safely down to the trees below. The cat faunus never caught a sight of her. With the canopy of trees as more than sufficient cover, she was able to put considerable distance between herself and the campus before eventually reuniting with Dusty and Karma about half a mile away.
“Woooo! Love me a good fight! That bird knew how to throw down!” Dusty said with a laugh. Arms waving like he was just getting warmed up, he sounded more like he just had a fun experience on vacation more than having to fight his way out of a White Fang mission.
“Yeah, and T is gonna love all these toys I found for him!” Karma replied just as gleefully, motioning to a bag slung over her shoulder. She seemed completely unbothered by the run she took to get here. Unlike Sienna, who was doubled over heaving in an attempt to catch her breath. “What about you, Sienna?” the cheetah asked. She didn’t reply at first, only beginning to lead the team back to their transport out of here. “Sienna?” she asked again.
“Mission was a success. We wrecked shop. They aren’t fixing that anytime soon. Good job, guys.” The pair both smirked, with Karma resting her head on Dusty’s shoulder as he pulled her close. “You too, T.”
“Thanks for the souvenirs, K. Can’t wait to see what the kingdoms keep locked away in their basements,” T said over the radio. The celebrations were hardly over though before Sienna started leading the walk to their transport back to base a couple miles away. The other two White Fang soldiers mentally noted she remained mostly quiet. Her eyes were cast downward. Her tone before notably lacked any distinct excitement; it was very straightforward. Any attempt of making small talk only solicited one word answers if it didn’t fall on deaf ears entirely. In fact, she only opened her mouth unprompted once, a question directed at Karma.
“Karma. The prisoner. She’s been doing ok?”
“The girl? Yeah she’s fine. Keeps complaining she wants to go home but we’ve been taking care of her, just like you ordered. I make sure she’s fed and still has her sketch books. She’s even opened up to me a little, way more than Dusty or T.” Dusty shrugged like he couldn’t have cared less; his mission was keep her alive and that’s all there was to it. Sienna nodded softly, arms stuffed in her pockets all the way to their rendezvous point. It was going to be a long, long trip back to base.
#rwby#oc#rwby fanfiction#flames of change#wf!sienna#sienna umberon#solomon roxos#rwby oc#rwby fanfic#dusty millaray#karma gylden#flames of change t
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Sapphire: why is Sienna smiling?
Sienna: what, I can't just be happy?
Riley: Dash fell down the stairs
Dash: she fucking pushed me
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Memory Lane
Dash has had nothing but time on his hands to think. Was it his arrogance that got him here? Did he deserve this? Is there even a way out for him and Dawn at this point?
The next installment of my RWBY oc fic Flames of Change as we continue to go through Sienna's time in the White Fang. Make sure to read up on Home Invasion, Always Forward, Back to the Streets, and Home Turf!
Team DASH belong to me.
Sienna Umberon belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby and @wetsliceofbread
“You fought excellently. It’s a shame that substandard school doesn’t let you pick your teammates. Then you wouldn’t have that faunus street punk holding you back.”
In an instant, the warmth of pride escalated into a blood boiling rage. The satisfied smile disappeared, the shoulders that were back hunched forward slightly as his muscles tensed. Dash’s grip on his phone tightened. He wished he had the strength to snap the phone in two. At least then the conversation would be over.
To qualify for the Vytal Festival was already a great feat. But to actually lead your team to victory in it was on entirely another level. All of the training, everything they had learned, all led up to this one tournament. So to see Team DASH’s names in lights, victorious over Haven Academy’s Team SPHR in their first round matchup, it was a feeling that for Dash even superceded his best baseball accolades. Before coming to Beacon, all he had heard from “friends” of the family was how he should reconsider and how he had not just one but two already set paths waiting for him at home. This was vindication. A confirmation that leaving Atlas for Vale - and leaving both baseball and his family “legacy” - was the path for him. He knew those doubters were all watching now.
However, he also knew everyone was still watching when his team was eliminated in the duos round. Despite some stellar teamwork, he and Auburn were ultimately defeated by another team representing Haven. He walked off the floor of the Amity Arena, keeping his head down from the thousands in attendance watching on, though most were focused on the winners’ celebrations. If baseball ingrained one thing in Dash, it was that no athlete wanted to settle for anything less than first place. As team leader, he felt like he owed that to his team. He mentally dissected every move like it was a baseball film study. Every positioning error, every slight pivot that left him open for a mere second, every potential mistake. And as he glanced over his shoulder to see Auburn with her fox ears slicked back and a slight scowl on her face, he could tell she was doing the same.
Sapphire was the first to greet them upon entering the locker room. She barely let them through the doorway before wrapping them both in a tight hug, not caring about the sweat they had just worked up. Both felt compelled to return the favor, although with varying degrees of enthusiasm. After several moments and a shower of compliments, she finally let them free.
“I am so proud of you guys! You were even more awesome in that round than our first one!” she said. She stepped back, making way for Solomon, with his hood down and his signature beloved headphones around his neck.
“That performance was nothing to be ashamed of. As close as it gets,” he said. While he lacked Sapphire’s raw upbeat energy, his message was just as genuine. Neither the Atlesian redhead nor the Vacuoan brunette were moved.
“Shouldn’t have been close at all,” Auburn finally spoke up, her voice barely more than a low growl. Her arms were folded across her chest as she removed her fingerless gloves. Her eyes remained pointed downward to the floor. “If I didn’t lunge to go all in, I wouldn’t have left us both wide open. It’s my fault!” She beamed one of the gloves at the stack of lockers to her left. It collided with one of the doors with a soft yet distinct clank sound.
“You had him on the ropes, Auburn. If you didn’t take that chance, he might not have given it to you again,” Solomon calmly replied.
“It was sloppy! Been fighting my whole life and I go out and make a rookie mistake when everyone’s watching?!” Auburn’s arms lowered to her sides with fists clenched so hard they were shaking. “Fucking my fault I left Ospreay in a 1v2!”
“No.” Dash’s stern interjection snapped all three of his teammates’ attention to him. He met all of their looks with one of firm assurance. “We win and lose as a team. As your leader, I accept responsibility. There was a lot I coulda done bet-”
“Oh spare me the clichè crap you know that bullshit isn’t gonna make me feel better right now!” Auburn interrupted.
“Hey don’t take this out on me I’m trying to-”
Dash was interrupted again but this by a soft, chiming ringtone emanating from his pocket. It was a sharp contrast to Auburn's impassioned flare. A feeling of dread began welling up inside his chest nonetheless. He really didn't want to have to hear from him. Not right now. When he fished the phone out of his pocket, his feelings only worsened as he read only one word on the caller ID, the last word he wanted to see: Dad. That meant Dash had to brace for whatever speech about letting down the Ospreay name awaited from the other side of the call. On the third ring, he felt the slight solace of Sapphire's hand on his shoulder, as she couldn't help her curiosity and had looked over his shoulder to see who was calling. With a deep breath, Dash swiped to accept.
"Hello?"
"Son! That was a brilliant performance! Mom and I are so proud of you!" The voice of his father caused him to jolt a little in surprise. A welcome surprise, at least. It was one that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the room. Solomon and Sapphire exchanged perplexed glances before turning back to their leader to keep reading his body language.
"Wow, thanks Dad," Dash responded. "If I had been a bit more patient out there, we would've had it won." But, his dad continued on almost as if he did not want to hear it.
“You fought excellently. It’s a shame that substandard school doesn’t let you pick your teammates. Then you wouldn’t have that faunus street punk holding you back.”
And there it was. The regret of answering the call was washing over. But, this was worse. He was prepared for his dad critiquing him. He had been used to that most of his life. But his friends?
"What?" was all Dash could muster to say.
"Such a shame, really. A true testament of how good of a leader you are, though. I saw your first round fight. Between that wastelander and that techie who didn't want to fight, I don't know how you did it. I liked that blue haired girl though. She looked like a doll, she looked the part-.." His dad kept talking but Dash didn't receive any of his words. It was just all muffled background noise. It was like the anger was shutting all of his senses off. That is, every sense except his speech, and all the filters that programmed him to keep quiet in his dad's presence were tossed aside.
"Shut the fuck up," Dash said. This stopped the voice on the other end dead in its tracks.
"Excuse me?? What did you just say to me??" his father fired back incredulously with rising temper after a moment to process.
"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." He repeated it, this time slower, as if his father was too stupid to comprehend. It made each word sink in and become that much more potent. He could hear his father stammer for any meaningful response, but again Dash cut him off.
"Let me tell you something. And you're going to actually listen, not just shut me up like you used to do at the dinner table. I'm going to teach you a thing or two about Team DASH. That 'doll' isn't just eye candy. She's the sharpest shot Beacon has to offer. And that shy boy? Under the hood, he's got the resourcefulness and the tech prowess to shut down half the world if he wanted. And that 'faunus street punk'?" That phrase instantly shot Auburn's ears straight up. She marched toward Dash with an enraged look on her face before trying to swipe the phone out of his hand. The only reason she missed was because Sapphire intervened by holding her back and clasping a hand over her mouth.
"She's the toughest person I've ever met and it's not even close. There's no one else I'd rather have to back me up in a fight. So you see, Beacon gave me the best damn tools possible. And if I can't win with those tools, then that's on me as a leader. So if you wanna blame somebody, blame me. Cause you will not blame my friends." Without a second's notice, he denied any chance of a rebuttal and hung up. Then with an angry scream, he spiked his phone on the floor. The only thing keeping it from shattering into pieces was Solomon's custom modifications.
Dash sat down on a bench and put his head in his hands. His stomach ached as his heart sank past it. His pulsating temples caused his head to throb. All he could think about was how those comments would come to bite him. The hand he was tethered to would eventually drag him back home, back to the line he was forced to walk for so long. However, a tender hand landing on his thigh ceased his anxiety fueled spiral. He raised his head just enough to see Sapphire offering him a gentle, sympathetic smile. Solomon was sat across from him, nodding his head softly as if he was processing Dash’s words still. Auburn, leaned against a wall by herself, arms folded and fox ears down.
“So. Sharpest shot at Beacon, huh?” Sapphire finally broke the deafening silence. She hugged the resident “number 1” as tight as she could to where his head was resting against her. “Well I can speak for all of us when I say we’re just as lucky to have you.” Dash did not have the energy to reciprocate the hug or even say anything, perhaps a first for the young Ospreay. He just remained motionless with an overwhelmed and dumbfounded look on his face.
“That was some high praise, brother,” Solomon spoke up next. “I know to you he might just be your dad, but you just stood up to one of the most powerful men in Remnant for us. Thank you.”
“Was it that big of a deal?” Dash said.
“A strong man stands up for himself, but a stronger man stands up for others.” Before Solomon’s wisdom could linger in the air for too long, Auburn meandered her way toward the others, arms still crossed. After a few painful moments of Auburn’s crimson eyes peering directly into his soul, she outstretched a hand toward Dash. He responded in kind, and Auburn pulled him up so they were face to face.
“You’re not the daddy’s boy you were when we first met after all,” Auburn said. A soft but proud grin crept over her face. Her ironclad grip on Dash’s hand didn’t waver. She then pulled him again, this time into a brief embrace, marked by a pat on the back at the end for good measure. It was probably as long of a hug as she’d allow herself to anyone but Sapphire. But, to Dash it meant the world. While the two had gradually gotten away from each other’s throats and learned to coexist over the past several months, this was the ultimate confirmation. Solomon was right. This was a big deal. He may have said to Dash he was “just dad,” but that made it so much more meaningful. It felt like the first time he had ever stood up to his father. It felt like the Dash that Auburn, Solomon, and Sapphire had gotten to know over long missions or late nights in the dorm had finally taken his first step out into the world. It was the first decision in becoming not the man he was destined to be, but the one he wanted to be.
A decision that Dash Ospreay had a lot of time to think about lately.
As his eyes strained open, first the fingers on his outstretched hand came into focus against the backdrop of the gray ceiling above, then his hand, then the rest of his arm. He rolled over in the cot he had been confined to for the past… who knows how long it’s been. Couple weeks, maybe? In fact, calling it a cot was generous. Soldiers in bootcamp had better. As he rolled over and slowly sat up, he tried to mask the grimace of pain. It had dulled into a constant soreness instead of the sharp stabbing feeling, but it was still painful nonetheless. He peered through the bars of the holding cell he was forced to call home. All there was of note was a white haired rabbit faunus, eyes concealed under a White Fang mask, filing her nails. The only thing sat on the small table next to her was a silent radio. Her legs were crossed and her lips were pursed. Last thing Dash needed to do was disturb her. She was displeased enough.
Dash laid onto his back once more, taking into account any creaking from his “bed”. With a soft sigh, he closed his eyes and resumed his indulgence in reminiscence. Not like there was anything better to do. Left to its own devices, his brain analyzed on loop every decision, every interaction that brought him here to his cell. There was one in particular that he found himself coming back to more often than most. It happened a week before the Vytal Festival as students from the other academies were converging on Beacon. Felt like a lifetime ago to Dash.
Fresh off a training session with a team from Atlas, Dash strolled through the courtyard of Beacon. It was what he and his team called their first “dress rehearsal” of the week, a gilded opportunity to get some practice against other schools within the same arena setting they would be in for Vytal. He walked with that satisfying soreness after a good, hard workout. As he passed by, he noticed a fairly large congregation at the heart of the courtyard. At first, he thought nothing of it. There were plenty of events put on by the academies to have their students intermingle prior to the main festivities. So, he plugged in his earbuds and kept on his way. But, the booming voice couldn’t be drowned out by any music.
“No longer should we have to share the spotlight with humanity when humanity is not interested in sharing!” He removed one earbud and skirted around the outer edges of the courtyard. Through the sunlight he could see a tiger faunus at the center of all the commotion with megaphone in hand. As Dash scanned through the crowd, he couldn’t help but notice one thing. Every other person there was also a faunus.
“Huh? What’s this guy on about?” Dash thought to himself. “Plenty of faunus are about to have the spotlight in the tournament. Is this guy even a student, who let him in here?”
“No more being treated as second-rate citizens for the circumstances of our birth! No more cages! No more slums!” The crowd was reacting with varying degrees of keenness to the man’s words. Some gave out impassioned rallying cries, while others were more tepid and unsure. "The richest families in Remnant flaunt their wealth off our backs! Wealth that we were forced to generate just for our mere right to exist It's time they learned our plight!" The energy in his speech was reaching a fever pitch right as a group of teachers from different schools began intervening and breaking up the affair. The audience began to disperse, so Dash took the opportunity to make himself scarce. He couldn’t afford the wrong faunus zealot seeing him. But, as the front row of the spectators finally made their exit, Dash spotted the familiar fox tail of Sienna Umberon swaying as she grumbled more than loudly enough about being forced to leave.
“Yo, Sienna,” Dash waved to flag her down when she got close enough. While their teams were good friends, he and Sienna mixed like water on an oil fire. However, he was half hoping that by leaving with her, he could make it back to the dorm in peace. “What was all that about?” Dash asked as the two began walking side by side.
“A pro-faunus rally,” she answered matter-of-factly.
“Coulda fooled me,” Dash said with a dismissive chuckle. “It sounded like some White Fang recruiting rhetoric. Trying to use all the schools being together to brainwash even more faunus students.” Sienna’s ears shot straight up. She stopped in her tracks. The ends of her lips curled downwards into a scowl she couldn’t repress.
“Brainwashing? That’s all you think it was? You don’t think everything he said up there was legit?”
“Oh c’mon. He’s talking about faunus not having the “spotlight” when you’re literally going to have the world watching you fight in the tournament.”
“So one week every couple years is supposed to make up for the rest of the abuse and racism and mistreatment?” The tip of Sienna’s tail was beginning to flip sparks. But, Dash stubbornly held his ground, arms crossed. “And what about the ones who can’t afford to go to huntsman school because they get paid less than dirt? Where’s their spotlight?”
“This random dude comes in here sounding like he’s borderline trying to incite violence, and you’re gonna sit here and vouch for him,” Dash growled.
“Apparently that’s the only way we can get any fucking change around here!” The blaze in her voice suddenly spiked before lowering once more. But, every word burned nonetheless. “So what if I agree? Maybe you need some violence. See what it’s like in our shoes.”
“You really don’t think I know the target that’s on my family’s back? The White Fang have been sending threats to us since I was a kid. I read the letters promising to kill my 5-year old sister personally. So I don’t wanna hear anything about some White Fang bullshit!”
“Oh boohoo, you can curl up and cry in your 30 bedroom mansion. Good for you your sister was threatened. Ask any faunus and they’ll tell stories of what humans do to us. It’s more than just threats. You wouldn’t last a single day with the life I had to go through.”
“You think that’s justice?! All these faunus want change? It starts with you!”
“How many families have to suffer so yours can sleep good at night?!?”
A clanging on the bars of his cell dragged Dash out of his anxiety-induced daydreaming when the heavy footsteps approaching that preceded it could not. It forced him to marinate on Sienna’s question a little bit longer. He barely cracked his eyes open to see an imposing ram faunus, the same one he encountered at the party, with bandages wrapped around his forehead. Guess there was no love lost. Like there was any love to begin with.
“I know you’re awake, silver spoon,” he bellowed. Dash didn’t even flinch. He didn’t care if the guard knew he was awake. He just wanted to avoid any chance of interaction. Anything Dash said or did was used as ammunition against him, any small step out of line would be punished. A lesson he had to learn the hard way over the past couple weeks. “Fine,” the ram growled, “let’s see if you’ll move for this.” With a small click, he heard the radio fizzle to life with a woman’s voice.
“Breaking news out of Atlas, Tone Ospreay is set to begin a press conference any second now with an update on the whereabouts of his two missing children.”
Dash shot straight out of bed despite his pained body angrily protesting at the sharp movement. No information had trickled down to him on even if his father had tried to contact the White Fang. Were there some kind of negotiations going on? Were the Fang refusing his every offer? Surely there had to have been some effort in trying to get him and Dawn out of here. The ram’s snide cackle at Dash’s sudden attentiveness was drowned out by the flood of rapid camera shutters and the bombardment of reporters’ questions before Tone had even taken his place.
“Thank you all for coming.” The familiarity of the methodical industrialist that Dash would see in news articles and interviews, as opposed to the man Dash saw at his games, came through the radio feed. “We have been working tirelessly in conjunction with every special force Atlas has at their disposal. We have been at it basically 24/7 investigating all the leads we can.”
“Have you made any contact with White Fang officials regarding negotiations?” a reporter interrupted.
“I have not personally spoken to anyone, no. I have tried to send envoys representing Ospreay Industries, but all of my attempts were rejected. They say they will only speak to me directly, but I have no desire to negotiate with terrorists.”
“Do you feel like it is a potential race against the clock to ensure your children come back alive?” the same reporter came in again.
“Yes, of course, I feel that immense pressure. I want nothing more than to have Dash and Dawn back safe. All I will say for now is we have information that leads us to believe they are still alive.”
“Will this spark any changes regarding treatment of faunus in your factories?” another reporter asked, barely allowing Tone to finish his sentence. There was a brief but poignant pause. Dash could vividly picture his dad adjusting his suit to collect his thoughts.
“No. If they wanted change, then they wholly went about it in the wrong way. Faunus like to clamor for change and say that it takes all of us to do it, but it starts with them. These crimes they commit, the riots at my facilities the past couple weeks, kidnapping people, it’s on them. They think the entire world is owed to them.”
“So you have no response to any of the criticisms your company has fac-”
“I had to work for everything I have today. Why don’t faunus think they have to do the same? Like I said, they think the world owes them something, and for what? Because they don’t want to work like I did to make Atlas the best it can be? Because they hate humans and try to deflect that onto us?” More questions began to pour in, so much so that nobody could interpret one from another. But the last thing Dash heard his dad say was, “That’s all the information I have to share today, thank you.” And as quickly as it came, the deluge of press was replaced by the same news broadcast that started it all.
“We believe they’re alive, huh?” the ram yelled at the radio in a mocking voice. “You know we can change that in an instant, right Toney??”
“Why the fuck are we still babysitting them to begin with? I guarantee you there’s a buyer out there that can give us more money for their heads than he can alive!” the rabbit girl finally spoke up, tossing the nail file aside onto the table.
“You know the drill. Boss wants them alive. She wants casualties to a minimum, and this one does keep giving us info. Besides, not many people are going to be able to match Ospreay money. She’ll be back from Vacuo in a few days. We’ll talk with her about what she wants to do then.” Everything being said was registering to Dash faintly, almost like he was underwater. Even the ram’s taunting at Dash’s maniacal, fire-wielding captor fell on mostly deaf ears. Tone’s words, echoes of his own, reverberated.
“He… hasn’t called? He shouldn’t be negotiating, he should be giving them what they want! Do what you have to get us out! Not even for Dawn…?” As the two Fang foot soldiers wobbled back into focused view, Dash could really hone in on the expression of outright disgust on the rabbit faunus. All of a sudden, instead of reflecting on the past like he had spent so much time doing lately, a flash of a plausible, very plausible future crossed his mind and paralyzed him with a terror never felt before.
“I’m… I’m going to die here.”
#rwby#oc#rwby oc#rwby fanfic#rwby fanfiction#wf!sienna#dash ospreay#sienna umberon#auburn vulpes#solomon roxos#sapphire hyacinth#tone ospreay#flames of change
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Flames of Change
Here is the chapter list in order of Flames of Change! My RWBY OC fanfic detailing Sienna Umberon and her delving into chaos and menacing society - even by her standards - as she targets her old friend from Beacon, Dash Ospreay, all while their friends race against time to get them both back.
1.) Home Invasion
2.) Back to the Streets
3.) Always Forward
4.) Home Turf
5.) Memory Lane
6.) The Mission
7.) Firesale
8.) Scarlet Hearts and Blue Blades
9.) Flashback
10.) Just my Luck
11,) Down in the Second Period
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Family
An angsty flash fiction prompt given to me by @gruntnuker-rwby in less than 1000 words. An important conversation between Sienna and Riley
Team JASR belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby
“Sienna. The What are you saying?”
Sienna’s fox ears instantly flattened. It took her days to muster up the courage to open up about this to someone. Even when she did, she was barely able to croak the words out. Her heart was in her throat. Her fingers fidgeted, tapping her hip. She knew Riley’s first reaction would be far less than supportive, but maybe she could give her the guidance she was looking for.
“I know you come up with crazy ideas all the time, but please just take a step back and think. This is the White Fang we’re talking about!”
The fox faunus’ eyes darted away. Although not her intention, Riley’s words stung. Every feeling she had was suddenly illegitimate.
“I have been thinking. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head in the past week. Ever since that pro-faunus rally in the courtyard.”
“You mean the guy that kept saying Beacon wasn’t fair to its faunus students when the academies are one of the few places where we’re all equal?”
“Is it equal?” Sienna muttered halfway under her breath. A simple question, but one that caused Riley to draw back slightly. She brushed her maroon locks aside from her face and crossed her arms over her oversized pajama shirt.
“You can’t be-”
“This is as good as it’s supposed to get for a faunus? I can’t go a day without hearing someone like Ospreay badmouth you just for hanging out with me!” Riley wanted to argue it, to say it was just Ospreay being his usual self, but even she couldn’t excuse it. She tried her best to just let it go, but it was never that easy for Sienna. “If that is the best it gets for me, then the rest of the world sure looks like shit!”
“I get it,” Riley said softly in a voice that she could rely on to soothe Sienna when she gets fired up. “I really do. But if it means being with you, I’ll go through it all.” Sienna’s eyes lost their intensity and softened up. “I know you want change. I do too. That’s why we’re becoming huntresses. We’re being the change Remnant needs.”
“Huntsmen have existed for decades now. And nothing’s changed. The White Fang is still fairly new and they’ve made more progress in five years then huntsmen have in a hundred!”
“Yeah, through violence and bloodshed! Is that what you want? They’re too radical!” Riley’s voice picked up in volume again.
“As long as it’s not murder, I don’t care how it’s done! Arson, vandalism, it’s all fair game! Just the same torture faunus receive thrown back at them,” her disdain turned into a low growl by the end of her statement. Her fists clenched tight. The tip of her tail sparked as her semblance flared. With eyes closed, Sienna didn’t see Riley approach it and gently put her hands on her shoulders. Sienna’s eyes open to directly lock with Riley’s.
“Sienna, the White Fang don’t fight for equality. They fight to make faunus the dominant species. Beacon fights for you as much as you fight for it. This is home, and Jade, Amber, and I are your family. And you better believe I’ll fight the world for my family.” Riley leaned forward and planted a small kiss on Sienna’s nose, at least soliciting a small bit of warmth from her girlfriend. She stepped back, but slid one hand down to caress her back, almost as if she didn’t want to let go. “It’s late. I’m gonna get some rest. You should too.” With that, Riley turned around to climb into bed, checking to see if their argument had woken up Jade and Amber before doing so.
That memory was as vivid replaying in Sienna’s head as it was when she first experienced it. Months had passed. Beacon had long fallen. It had been so long since she’d seen Riley’s face. She sat alone, staring at her custom White Fang mask through eyes that were desperately trying to not tear up.
“I’m sorry, Riley,” she whispered to herself. Her squadron was calling for their commander, but she didn’t flinch. Just a few more moments. “I’m sorry I’m not worth it. Not worth having people say we can’t be together. Saying I don’t matter. You shouldn’t have to fight the world for me.” Their calls got louder, but she couldn’t care less. “But I won’t just let us fall apart without putting up a fight.” A bang on the door. With a deep breath, she slid the mask on.
“I wish I was there. But this is how it needs to be. For our family.”
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Howl
Woo, picking up where Home Invasion left off! First off, a happy belated birthday to my boy @gruntnuker-rwby. He’s been such a good friend to me for so long. Second, some new faces enter the fight, thanks to another friend that has supported me so much. Hope you guys like this one!
Dash belongs to me
Sienna belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby
Team WOLF belongs to @bunbun6969 (not her main social media lol)
Far away from the factories and mines of Atlas, the tribes of the Solitas mountain ranges thrived in the harsh conditions. Through peace and war, these villages remained hidden in the mountains as one of the Remnant's best kept secrets. Despite technological and industrial advancements within the kingdom, these areas laid isolated in time. Not many other than the ones who called it home knew of its existence. Even fewer would be crazy enough to brave the ice and the howling winds to live in the beauty of untouched nature.
The sun was just rising on a new day for the village known as Kavik. Some of the townsfolk were awake bright and early, including the chief's daughter. Stepping outside of her cabin, the girl's turquoise jacket was tied around her waist despite the light snowfall that was hitting her pale skin. Silver hair cascaded down her back, almost reaching her wolf tail. She stretched her arms out to embrace the rush of the cold against her body and the smell of pine trees before making her way into town.
"Priestess Wolverina," an elderly lady called out, stopping her morning walk. "You should really be wearing that jacket."
"Ma'am, it's Wolfie, you know that," she said, her carefree smile not fading for even a moment. "And I'll be fiiiiiiine. I've grown up in this all my life. This is my element!" The old woman knew Wolfie was always one to let her addiction to fun get the best of her, and sometimes it took half the village to make sure she stayed out of trouble.
"This is the priestess we're talking about!" a young boy spoke up, his ear lined up next to a radio. "The Battle Angel! The Wild Wolf! She can handle anything!"
"Awooooooo," Wolfie playfully howls before letting out a small giggle. The old lady couldn't help but smile at seeing the silliness in her heterochromatic eyes, but she still remained adamant.
"One of your new friends you brought back with you should make sure you stay warm."
"They do, Fernie especially. But, he can't stop me from being one with the snow!" she said.
"You guys kicked ass at the Vytal Festival! The whole village was listening on the radio cheering for you!" the boy said. Wolfie smiled at him then ruffled his hair, meanwhile the old woman was ready to smack the kid’s head. Through the kid's excited rambling, she caught a snippet of the news report playing on the radio.
"…following the developing story of the White Fang raid on the Ospreay estate…"
"Turn that up! Turn that up NOW!” Wolfie yelled. The serious tone she suddenly carried in her voice caught the boy off guard. He immediately went quiet and fumbled with the dial to turn up the volume.
"Atlas officials report no casualties, but millions of lien worth of property damages. There is still no word on the whereabouts of the two missing persons, the Ospreays' son Dash and daughter Dawn. Investigations report of a scuffle in the garage, where they found collateral damage and a puddle of blood. Both Tone Ospreay and his eldest son Tone Jr declined to comment on the situation. If you have any news on the status of Dash and Dawn Ospreay, call-". Wolfie reached over and shut the radio off. Listening to it any longer wouldn't help her believe it. Her gaze was fixed on the snow beneath her feet. Her mind and heart alike were racing.
"Priestess? Is everything ok?" the old lady asked. Her head snapped back up to see concerned looks from her and the little boy. She couldn't formulate an answer, only able to bolt back toward her cabin. There, the ram faunus Fern Tremblay was waiting in the doorway. Dark-skinned with curly white hair, his leather jacket was buttoned up over a green tank top.
"Wolfie, why even have a jacket if you're not gonna wear it?" Fern said. But Wolfie almost ran past him without even acknowledging him, let alone firing off a snappy comeback. "Wolfie? What's up?" Ignoring him again, she stepped past him and looked into the cabin. Inside, another boy was looking at himself in the mirror, trying to fix his scruffy green hair. A black-haired girl was asleep in the corner, her beautiful body hidden underneath blankets. The green-haired gentleman, Owen Walsh, turned to see his leader's distress.
"Lead? What's wrong?" Owen said, his Irish accent prevalent. "Did Fern and ya have a fight last night?"
"Hey! This isn't my doing," Fern said, walking in behind Wolfie.
"Oh crap, she's still asleep," she murmured in reference to other woman in the room. "What is she gonna say?"
"Babe! What's wrong?" Fern said louder, spinning Wolfie around and holding her by the shoulders. He caressed her chin to make her look into his green eyes as he tried to give off the most comfort he could muster. Owen dropped his comb aside and slowly stepped toward them as well. Wolfie eventually sighed and brought her heart rate back to normal with a deep breath.
"It's the hothead," she said.
"Hothead? Ospreay?" Fern asked.
"What's Red got to do with any of this? Did te lad mouth off too much like usual?" Owen chimed in.
"He's missing. He and his sister were kidnapped by the White Fang," Wolfie said. Both guys shut up on the spot, and could only exchange glances of disbelief as Wolfie struggled through that sentence. Neither one of them could find anything to break the silence, so it was done by someone else.
"What?"
The female voice grabbed everyone's attention as each of them turned to face the dark-haired woman. She was now awake, sitting up in her bed. Her button-up top was ruffled and the blankets were now pushed aside. Her own face of disbelief was mixed with more outrage than the others' expressions.
"Liddy, I…"Wolfie said.
"Sis, take it easy," Owen said softly as he slowly approached her. But, she stomped out of bed before Owen could get to her
"WHAT? Kidnapped?! Please tell me this is a bloody joke, lead!" Lidiette said angrily, her British accent cracking with an overflow of emotion. Wolfie could only shake her head, feeling the tension as Lidiette's face grew dark. She screamed through gritted teeth loud enough for her brother to cringe slightly. Before anyone could think of the right words to tell her, she immediately walked back to her bed. Rummaging through her stuff, she put on her tailcoat, vest, top hat, and laced on her knee high boots. She grabbed her cane that was leaning on the wall and gripped it tight.
"I'm going to find him!" She stormed toward the exit until Fern stood in the doorway with arms up to block her.
"Nope! He could be anywhere in Remnant, and you are never gonna find him by blindly marching around," Fern said. Lidiette knew he was right, and she definitely knew that they weren't going to let her go alone. But, she still wanted to lash out at something, anything. Knowing his sister all too well, Owen stepped in, wrapping her up and lifting her in a hug before she could do anything.
"We have to do something! I will not just let them take my darling from me! I’ll kill them before they lay another hand on him!” she yelled, thrashing around in Owen's arms.
"We will do something," Wolfie said confidently, trying to console her. Her leader prowess was kicking in, the rally cry that united her team so many times before. "I want the hothead back too. He's like a little bro to me. Not to mention how much he means to you, Liddy. We just have to figure out where he is."
"How do you suggest we do that?" Owen asked, setting Lidiette back down on her feet.
"Simple. We get it from the mouth of the White Fang itself. With so many members, one of them has to give us what we want if we force it out of him. We just gotta grab the Fang's attention. Which means…" A crazy and mischievous smirk came across her face as she panned back to her teammates with eyebrows raised.
"Which means we got to piss 'em off!" Owen said with a laugh. "Oh I'm in. That's one hell of a fight!" Wolfie then looked over her shoulder to Fern next.
"Crazy, probably gonna die? Nothing unusual as far as your plans go. I'm in too. Let's go save the idiot and his sister."
Wolfie pumped her fist then walked to Lidiette. Looking down at her cane then back to her leader, Lidiette saw the conviction that made her such a great leader, especially in the biggest of crises. She set the cane down then hugged Wolfie tight. After stepping back and scanning over the rest of her team, she met them with a nod that replicated Wolfie's assurance. Owen shouted excitedly and grabbed his jacket. Wolfie smirked at her team's eagerness, and Fern wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Team WOLF was back in business.
It took Dash several moments to process that he was awake. He couldn't tell where he was, or how much time had passed. The room was dark, barely lit enough to see a sizeable red blot on the bandages that were wrapped around his stomach. In fact, the pain was the only thing confirming to him that he was awake. He tried to reach for the wound, but his hand only made it a few inches before restraints forced him to stop. After a moment of confusion, he pulled harder, but again only heard the rattle of chains.
The lights suddenly came on, blinding Dash temporarily. Once his sight came back to him, he saw Sienna stroll into the room, mask in hand. She was still in her White Fang uniform tights, but only had a black tank top on her torso.
"Not gonna hide yourself behind that mask?" Dash said, his voice shaky compared to the usual confidence it carried.
"I don't need to hide from your bullshit anymore, Ospreay," Sienna said back, dropping her mask on a nearby desk.
"Someone gets in one cheap shot and all of a sudden they can topple an empire?" Dash said. Sienna couldn't contain her laughter.
"You're still so arrogant. You don't get it, do you? A cheap shot is still a shot, and it's the one that got me one of the most powerful families in Remnant in the palm of my hand." Dash's eyes zeroed in on the fox faunus, squinting like it was all a fever dream that he was expecting to dissipate any second now. "What do you expect? You have a very punchable existence."
"I almost beat you in dress shoes. You really think you stand a chance?"
"Your own little world must be one hell of a place, Spicy!" Sienna said, laughing even harder. "You're unable to grasp that none of that matters anymore. For the first time in your pretty little life, you've lost. You're nothing more than my little plaything until I can turn you over for ransom."
"Plaything?! Ransom?!" Dash fired back, fury spilling from his voice.
"What? Didn't think I've got some anger pent up in me? From every time you put me down, insulted me, trashed me, treated me like dirt!" The giggling was gone, and now her voice was matching Dash's in intensity. She slowly stepped forward and knelt down, looking the All-Atlesian shortstop in the eyes. "I've been looking forward to this."
"If you're that fed up with me, why don't you just kill me then? Too scared?"
"Oh, please. You're far too important to let slip through our fingers. I can - and will - get every bit of information I can out of you and use it to burn your precious family business to the ground." She stands tall, looking down upon her prey. "I would've dumped your barely conscious corpse for the Grimm, but my squad doesn't kill faunus and human alike."
"How noble," Dash sarcastically snapped. Sienna's anger flared again, her semblance kicking in with her tail flicking a small spark. "Why would I talk anyways?"
"Don't you want to see your little sister again?" His heart froze. His eyes widened. The last few moments of the party played in his head, a rush of memories overruling all his other senses. Dawn's cries for help. The blood on his fingers. He couldn't get up. He couldn't rescue her.
"Don't worry. She's safe," Sienna said, snapping him back to reality. She turned her scroll for Dash to see, and on the screen was Dawn, either asleep or unconscious. Even not awake, it was clear she looked terrified, and her eyes were still puffy from crying. But, she didn't have many bruises on her. "For now."
"Fuck off, Umberon! You were always a wasteland lowlife! Just some criminal who crawled out of the scrapyard!" He thrashed against his restraints harder, as if he could break free and reach through the screen to pluck Dawn to safety. But, with each enraged yank on the chains, he only exhausted what energy he had left.
"Watch what you say, boy," Sienna said back sternly. "Or I'll make an exception to my rule and send you back to your family too charred to recognize!" She roughly grabbed his face by the jaw and ignited her semblance. Without her gloves, the embers were more uncontrollable, but they were burning his face all the same. Dash winced and pulled on his chains again, not out of anger this time, but just trying to avoid the pain.
"Aw what's the matter?" Sienna said, backing off to admire her handiwork. "Not enough aura for just a tiny little burn?"
"Shit," Dash thought. "It hasn't had time to regenerate yet." With a devilish smirk, Sienna ran a finger across his jaw once again.
"Now. Tell me what you know about your shipments. Gimme locations of your biggest ports." Dash didn't answer though. Fatigue was already setting in once again. The pain from the claw marks and the burns was turning everything into a haze. Sienna grabbed his arm and dug her fingers in, sending a shockwave through Dash's body that was too much to shrug off.
"Kuchinashi, Izolim, Lugine. Weekly shipments for each of the kingdoms. A truck convoy goes directly to the Atlas capital," Dash cried out. Sienna's grip lessened, and Dash sighed at the little sweet relief he could get. Sienna smirked once again before taking a half step back.
"There ya go. Was that so hard?" she teased amidst more cackling. "This could be good for both of us, Ospreay. I get to watch your evil corporation crumble and you get to hug your adorable little sister one day. But, you gotta behave." She glances at her scroll then nods. "Especially while I'm gone."
"Gone?" Dash questioned.
"This kidnapping job got me some notoriety amongst the White Fang ranks. I just got a couple missions in some of the other kingdoms. I'll make sure to stop by those ports along the way." Dash tilted his head in confusion. He didn't know which were the 'other' kingdoms because he didn't know which one he was currently in. Sienna continued, "That's another day though. Today, I get to play more with my new toy." Dash didn't speak back due to a combination of fear and tiredness, but neither stopped him from putting on his best scowl. Sienna met the daggers being glared at her with nothing more than amusement.
"That's adorable. Clinging to the illusion of power still," she said while turning her back. After a long pause, she looked over her shoulder and went on, "Remember when my team and I first came to Beacon? You heard we were from Vacuo and tried to brand us as 'violent anarchists' in front of everyone."
"Yeah. I remember that," he softly said, not exactly feeling proud of that moment.
"I hated that day. I was so worried that was going to ruin us on the first day. On the outside, I was fine. On the inside, I wanted to scream." Her speech was now irate in tone as she approached Ospreay once again. After a brief staredown, she surprised Dash by tightly grabbing his abdominal wound with a hand that was aflame. Tears welled in Dash's eyes as he cried out in agony.
"Well. Now it's your turn to scream for me."
#rwby#rwby fanfic#rwby fanfiction#rwby oc#team dash#dash ospreay#team wolf#wolfie kavik#owen walsh#lidiette walsh#fern tremblay#team jasr#sienna umberon
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Home Invasion
Wow, this one was really fun to write. Action turned up to 11 created a grittier and more intense story. This takes place after the fall of Beacon, where we catch up with one Dash Ospreay as he finds a familiar face in the least likely of places.
Dash belongs to me.
Sienna belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby
"Ospreay Industries: Celebrating 25 Years of Being #1"
"Hm. That's what they came up with?" Dash muttered to himself. He stood on the upper balcony, a staircase spiraling to the ground floor on each side. He watched as everyone was filing into the ballroom, exchanging small greetings while waiting for the party to really begin - or at least whatever Atlas qualified as a party. It had only been a couple years, but Dash couldn't help but feel so far removed from this world of clinking martini glasses and fancy suits, such as the one he was clad in now. However, being the heir to one of the biggest corporations in all of Remnant, Dash knew that it almost virtually guaranteed that he would have to show up to its anniversary celebration.
The next hour consisted of Dash standing by his father's side as he was introduced to several business associates and Atlesian upper class members, none of which were memorable enough for him to recall. He tried to feign interest but it was clear he was not engaged at all. Any attempts of conversation he tried to make were only met with "Why did you leave Atlas for Beacon?" or "You should've kept playing ball" or "You should be starting to run the company". Even when Mr. Schnee himself came to visit his Ospreay Industries partners, Dash couldn't be bothered to listen. He only noticed Weiss mirroring his expression of boredom, shackled to her father just as he was to his.
To his relief, Dash was eventually set free. He retreated to a corner by himself and spent most of his time staring at gold watch on his wrist, hoping it would tick faster. When he looked up, his eyes glanced toward catering tables. Sat there was his little sister Dawn, clad in a fluttery red gown and her hair let down. She didn't notice her brother approach her, as she was too focused on working in her sketchbook.
"Do Mom and Dad know you have that with you?" Dash said sternly, arms folded. Dawn's head snapped upwards to face him, and she timidly pulled the book to her chest. Dash shook his head and broke his mock coldness with a chuckle. He lightly messed with Dawn's hair, getting her to let out a childlike giggle.
"Hey! Quit it!" she said. When she lowered the book to continue where she left off, Dash peered over his shoulder.
"Whatcha working on?" he asked Dawn. He saw a sketch of a building, one that looked amazing given her age. However, the building looked all too familiar, and when Dawn pointed to a mural on the wall, Dash figured out why. It was a painting of Beacon Academy, one he had seen before at Weiss' concert.
Gravitated to it, Dash approached the picture and studied it for a few moments. All the memories came back in a vivid rush. Sapphire constantly keeping the team up at night with talk of pillow fights. Bickering with Solomon over car culture. Making bets with Auburn with absurd stipulations. Meeting different teams from all schools for the tournament. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes before a deep breath recomposed him. This was definitely the last place he could have his public persona crack, something that he took great effort in maintaining.
"I hope they're all ok," he thought to himself. He turned back around and leaned against the wall next to the painting, and moving his sport coat sleeve out of the way, he checked his watch again. "Almost done." Blankly staring forward, Dash sighed as he expected his boredom to resume throughout the night. That was, until a female voice loudly called out from the balcony above him, one that he couldn't see the source of but instantly recognized.
"Tone Ospreay."
Everyone's discussions were quickly stopped and replaced by hushed murmurs of confusion. Their attention was drawn to above Dash to someone on the balcony. He sprinted out from under it and his eyes widened in shock at seeing Sienna Umberon. However, she looked far removed from her days at Beacon where her team and Dash's would regularly hang out. Now, her usual outfit was traded for a White Fang uniform, and her heterochromatic eyes hidden behind a personalized mask.
"Faunus labor, child labor, frequent factory explosions, the list goes on. Quite the rap sheet. One that could almost rival your master's," Sienna said.
"What is the meaning of this?! I don't care how you got in but I'll have every force in Atlas come to throw you out!" Dash could hear his father yell back, while he was still too stunned to react.
"Oooooh Schnee's lapdog thinks he's got a bite," Sienna said with a chuckle. "Don't bother with that. You're gonna listen to what I have to say." Dash snapped his head back around to see his father still adamantly stubborn. A sudden shatter of glass pierced the scene and made way for the sound of something metal clanging across the ground. Dash surveyed the middle of the ballroom floor and caught glimpse of a cylindrical object rolling to a stop. "Stun grenade!"
"Whether you want to or not."
A bright flash. A deafening bang. It was enough in itself to cause Dash to stagger back. But something else - or someone - had also thrown him off his feet. By the time his senses had returned to him, he had realized a deer faunus with short brown hair and a similar mask was on his back, keeping his head forced to the floor. From what he could see, a whole White Fang squadron had invaded the party, all armed to the teeth. Each one of his family members was held back by a Fang member, and Dash could feel anger swell up at seeing a muscular soldier with ram horns with his arms around Dawn. Sienna sauntered down the stairs and headed towards Tone.
"Thousands of faunus go into your factories with the hope of making enough to feed their families. They desperately try to survive through godawful working conditions just to get paid like dirt. And if they actually manage to stay alive, there's a good chance they'll get laid off anyways." She was now in Tone's face, with the White Fang soldier behind him forcing the owner of Ospreay Industries to look up at her.
"I've seen firsthand just how flashy your family is," she continued, side-eyeing Dash with that comment. "And the fact that you act so flashy without even a hint of guilt is a fucking kick in the teeth to faunus everywhere." Her speech was now through gritted teeth, years of anger and frustration finally culminating. Stepping back to scan the area, she saw everyone paralyzed with fear, unable to do anything against the surrounding fleet of troops.
"You're all guilty here!" Sienna said to address the whole room now. "You've all helped create this Atlas empire that has made it a crime for a faunus to even exist! No money for bills. No way to raise a family. No escape." She clenched her fists and turned her back to everyone.
"Well, Ospreay. If I'm not allowed to have a family, you're not either. Tear this place to the ground!"
The girl on Dash's back yanked his head up by his hair, forcing him to watch as the White Fang squad began dismantling the party. They vandalized anything in sight, and would not stop until everything the Ospreay family owned in this household was ruined. Dash watched as Sienna made her exit through the two grand doors that led to the rest of the house. The ram faunus followed suit, still with a tight grip on Dawn, taking her with him despite her cries for help.
"Dawn!" Dash yelled. The deer faunus jerked him up to his feet and slammed him into the wall, keeping him firmly pressed against it.
"Not prepared for this one, were you Richie Rich?" she said in Dash's ear.
"I'm always prepared," Dash replied. Without a moment's hesitation, he moved his leg free and kicked his captor in the back of the knee. She groaned and reeled back, loosening her grip on Dash enough for him to spin around and catch her in the temple with a jumping knee strike that knocked her out on impact. All of the other soldiers turned their attention to him, and he quickly ran toward the direction that Sienna left in. He slammed the doors to the ballroom shut behind him, then toppled over the shelf next to it to serve as a barricade.
He sprinted through the Ospreay estate as fast as his dress shoes would allow him, following the trail of carnage Sienna was causing. Along the way, he ditched his sport coat and his tie. He only had one thing in mind: getting his sister safe. And he knew he would have to fight for it. He eventually made his way to the garage, where he saw Sienna and the ram destroying the red sports car parked in it.
"I knew you were a wasteland punk, Umberon. But I didn't think you'd stoop this low," Dash said to reveal himself. Sienna's fox ears twitched at the sound of his voice. Dawn smiled brightly at the sight of her big brother, but the smile was abruptly cut off at the sound of Sienna laughing.
"Y'know. I really should thank you. The way you treated people was one of the main reasons I decided to join the Fang. I can finally repay you for all the disrespect you've shown me," Sienna said, all the while approaching Dash slowly until they were face to face.
"I'm honored," Dash coldly said back and barely finished that statement before aiming a right kick to her head. Sienna immediately caught his foot and whipped him into a dragon screw takedown. Dash landed hard on his back, temporarily winded, allowing Sienna to put her boot on his chest.
"The Fang has made me stronger, Dash. Faster, too. Better than training at Beacon had ever made me," she said before driving her heel down on his sternum.
"You think I've been slouching around?" Dash roughly said back before he suddenly swiped at Sienna's other foot, tripping her up enough to kip back up to his feet. He went for another kick, this one similar to the first but coming from his left foot this time. Sienna caught him again, but this time Dash followed up by leaping up and driving his right foot into her ribs in a modified dropkick. Now she was the one flat on her back.
The ram faunus charged at Dash, and Sienna moved back to grab Dawn and tie her down before she could escape. Dash sidestepped him and stayed close, firing off a flurry of kicks. But, they had little effect on the monstrous soldier, as his physique dwarfed Dash's athletic 5'10 frame. The ram picked Dash up with ease and slammed him onto the hood of the car with enough force to crumple the hood and break the windshield. He rolled off of the car to avoid another incoming blow, then before the brute could get to him again, he swung open the passenger side door, hitting him and keeping him back momentarily.
"C'mon big bro! You can do it!" Dawn said to cheer on her brother. But, the ram faunus closed in on him again and lifted him by the collar of his now disheveled dress shirt. He threw Dash into the electrical box on the wall, denting its cover. It creaked open, so the ram repeated the process, this time sending Dash into breakers underneath, causing sparks to fly. The ram smirked at his handiwork until he noticed that Dash was unfazed. What he didn't know was that Dash's semblance was kicking in - conductivity.
He lurched forward again, and Dash responded by grabbing him by the throat. All of the voltage that was going through Dash's body was suddenly going into his as if Dash was a human lightning rod. Upon letting go, the ram staggered back, gasping for air. While he was struggling to regain his breath, Dash nailed him with a kick to the midsection, finally dropping the behemoth to one knee. He then stepped back, jumped above him, and drove his head into the ground with a vicious curb stomp.
With the goon now rendered unconscious, Dash turned his focus to Sienna. She looked up at him, looking less than pleased, flicking her fire dust infused claws to make a spark. The spark ignited and she got into a ready stance with her claws now ablaze, putting her own semblance of fire manipulation to use. Bolting to her, Dash aimed a baseball slide to her ankles. Sienna telegraphed his move and jumped over it. Dash rolled back to his feet and ducked his head to miss a right hook from Sienna, then a left.
He rolled under the next punch to get behind her, but Sienna was a step ahead and turned around quicker than Dash could react. She wrapped him up in a bear hug, the fiery gloves searing his chest. Dash screamed loudly, the agony in his voice too much for Dawn to handle as she cringed and tried to look away. He eventually mustered up the strength to flip Sienna over his shoulders and get her off, but the damage had already been done. Dropping to one knee, he glanced down at his singed chest through the remnants of his burned shirt. A red sheen glowed across the length of his body. His aura was depleted.
He weakly got back to his feet as Sienna walked toward him again, looking to end the fight. But, with a roaring battle cry and a last burst of adrenaline, he charged his assailant again. He hit her with a series of punches and kicks, each one doing more visible damage than the last. Finishing the combo off with a heel kick to her chin, he was finally able to ground Sienna. But, he wasn't able to revel in the moment for long, because a sharp cry of "Dash help!" from his sister swiftly spun him around. Two White Fang marked aircrafts had landed in the front yard, one of which had unloaded two soldiers that were taking Dawn away.
"Dawn, no!" He took half a step forward then suddenly stopped in his tracks. His eyes widened before looking down. Shakily moving his hand to his stomach, he could barely fight the tremors to see his hand now holding a crimson pool.
It hurt to stand.
It hurt to breathe.
He collapsed to the floor. He still couldn't process what was happening. The adrenaline was long gone at this point. His usually electric yellow eyes expressed anguish as they looked up to see Sienna looking at her blood stained claw. Dawn's pleas filled the air one last time before being silenced by the distinct sound of a jet taking off. The ram faunus had now regained consciousness and joined his squad leader.
"What do we do with him, boss?" he asked Sienna.
"What's our one rule?" she said in response.
"No deaths."
"Then he comes with us. And he does not die. I’m not finished with him," she said. The last thing Dash saw was the ram leaning down next to him before everything faded to black.
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