Chapter Text
CHRIST ALIVE! HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN!? Half a year?! Shit man! Well, good news, I'M NOT DEAD YET!
So what's happened in that time? I finished my first year of college. I began playing Sekiro. I have strugged with writers block for what's to come next. I played TONES of Honkai Star Rail, Firefly is baby. No ifs ands or buts about it. Hmm, and that's about it for now?
Listen, I just want to say, I'm sorry if this chapter doesn't have much, but it's something! I've just been struggling on how to proceed with the story, because I do want to get to a point where I can say BOOK 1 is done and move to a BOOK 2! But for now, that's just a dream. Maybe I might just do a plot beat chapter so I can just skip to it, but that'd be rude and would skip a lot of stuff I want to do. Man this sucks! Is this why people have cowriters?!
Anyways, this chapter is somewhat short, but it has something. I hope you enjoy! Enjoy
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“Hrk…”
Big. Tall. Very little body fat. Leo Fabucci stood tall as he examined the various vails at his table. Varying shades of purple liquid with varying consistencies, ranging from water to something a bit thicker. The man stood there, looking down and then back up to the men in front of him. Picking up one that was a reddish-purple up and twirling it in his hands, distorting the facial features of the two noblemen in front of him.
“Powerful. Fresh. And plenty in stock, Lord Da Capino. Your Highness. Me and my people are willing to give them to you, but you know my price,” Leo chuckled as he swirled the viscous liquid. “Miracles do not drop like rain.”
Da Capino crossed his arms, elegant clothes with long sleeves hung from his attire. Glancing at the king and then back at Leo. Sighing, “You make claims and show results. I cannot argue you, your people, and your product are worth good money, but I- we have some concerns.”
“The last batch you sent us,” the king was old, holding himself up with a cane as a crown sat on top of his head. “My youngest grandson, he is a member of our military and we gave him your elixir to fend off the wave beasts. You omitted something of great detail to us on our last trade with you.”
Chuckling, Leo placed down the vile and instead took a seat. His fingers dragging slowly on the desk. “Your Highness, you must understand that the power I hold in these bottles are great, are they not? Of course such an early batch might result in some… unfortunate side effects, but I can assure you I meant you and your line no harm. And as much as I can assure you of that, I can assure you that I have had my best mages working non-stop to minimize the potions' more harmful effects.”
“Of course, if you want the truth I can give it to you. Besides these right here,” he gestured to five bottles of deep red liquid, “My product is safe. Minor irritability for some time, but the boost will be quite great I can assure you. These on the other hand will throw you into a blind range no different than a monster on a mission to kill. I’d suggest you not consume these unless you’re either of very strong mind or you are alone with your foe. Because the moment this enters your body you won’t be able to think of anything else. Why not give it to your guards? I’m sure you would hate it if you were given subpar equipment to protect your employer if you were a guard of some kind.” He shrugs, grinning at the two nicely dressed men.
The noble looked at his king, who let out a long hum, walking and shakingly slow at that, up to the table to examine the potions up close. “You promise me these will help my soldiers?”
“My word is as good as gold,” Leo nodded. “Which means no hordes of monsters will breach the walls. A small group of soldiers bridge the gap between normal man and the heroes. And especially, no rebels will stand a chance. I will give you my word and more.”
Grunting, the king raised his hand. Two knights walked with a chest handle in each hand. Placing it down in front of the table. The knight on the left bent down and unlocked the chest and cracked it open. Gold shining inside.
“Excellent,” Leo then snapped his fingers and the door to the left of him opened. “Pack the product for these esteemed men and when you’re done bring the chest to our treasury.” Two of his men walked out and held a chest and opened it, like foldable stairs, small shelves extending out with staggered holes in it allowing for it to be filled with as many vials as possible.
“Thank you gentlemen for our business. It however is getting late and I do so wish to get up early,” Leo spoke calmly as he strode past the two. Pushing the main door open as he walked down the halls of the Fabucci Syndicate's main base. Many underground halls and rooms with varying entrances and exits were located all over the city. Most of them act as store fronts and moderately popular businesses.
Though most of their current money was being spent on much more important things than setting up the next sale for fast fashion or coming up with the latest and greatest pie recipe. Something else was far more important that all those had to be put on pause for the moment.
Pushing past another door, it led to a catwalk above a training room. Sounds of wooden weapons smacking together and shackles clanking filled and caused the room to echo.
Test subjects 108 and 031. Showing great promise. Their levels were quite low but despite that they were taking on the chained up monsters as if they had been possessed by a ranged filled ghost seeking vengeance. He’d have to reward them if they survived this.
Continuing down and past various other rooms such as the employee break room, the dining hall, and of course numerous labs working on various other contraptions and potions, Leo pushed into door 123.
Sitting on a mattress, chugging down copious amounts of water was a man in a mask. Purple storm tattoos covering his body. Four arms holding up a barrel as his men watched what would have been an astounding sight with the same apathetic look one gave to an ant on the floor.
“Paris, how is our friend?”
“Rather calm, Sir. So far we’ve been able to calm him down till now. His lack of awareness has aided in keeping him at bay,” Paris, one of the mages Leo had under his employ. Small man with round chubby cheeks and a dopey smile plastered on his face. “We’ve been using the key words back at him to walk around setting him off.”
Grabbing a clipboard with a list of names and categories, Leo checked to see if there was anything new here.
The creature was definitely not from the continent. No demi shared its look and the madness it had was making it impossible to question him, but from his ramblings it was possible to get some information out.
He came from a place called Liyue and served as a protector under someone named Rex Lapis. He had four siblings, Alatus, Menogias, Indarias, and Bonanus. His last memories revolved around something to do with something he referred to as demons and how he would protect the people of Liyue from them.
Nothing new.
Passing through a magic barrier keeping the thing inside, Leo smiled, “Feeling better? The demons will be coming soon, so we need you to be in prime condition.”
The thing stopped gulping water down, placing it next to him. The mask covering his face showed mild aggression, something the thing projected physically at few of his men, but Leo was one step away from safety.
“The… the millelith will be here soon. Then we can protect them…”
“Yes, yes. Liyue will be safe from demons, have no fear, my large friend. Now I need you to rest, we have a big day coming soon,” Leo spoke and patted the large thing before walking out of the barrier.
Turning to Paris, Leo’s smile continued to stick to his face as he began to the door, “Make sure we have enough potion by the time for the resistance, I don’t want to hear we don't have enough tomorrow.”
The city of Leopald was… it was not that different from Melromarc in Ruby’s opinion. She felt quite underwhelmed by the lack of architectural diversity in a fantasy world. She expected cool floating castles or weird and oddly shaped towers where a wizard or princess was kept. That is what she imagined. She had not gotten the opportunity to see any of that, but from what she heard none of the others got to see any of that yet either. What a shame.
Maybe her world was more fantasy than she gave it credit for. At least Remnant has one floating city. She missed Remnant. They didn’t have horrible balloon jerky and had delicious and plentiful cookies. And coffee. She missed her three cream and five sugar morning bean juice.
Now though, she had to deal with Mald and Itsuki. Why did she have to be here! Why did Roy stick her with these… these… these!
“Calm down, Ruby… no need to be so upset, you’re just upset about how plain the city is, that’s it… yeah,” Ruby muttered as she walked past the citizens of Leopald. They seemed to be living an average normal life here.
“Oh, look,” Stein said, placing his hand over his eyes and leaned forward, “The size of that apothecary right there is outstanding. I was not expecting to see something this big to be here of all places,” Stein chuckled at that. He might have to stop by before the fight starts.
“Probably it's only good for the rich and nobility here with high prices,” Itsuki spat. “Honestly I can’t wait to take down this tyrant.”
What? That… that was speculative at best! Maybe it was right, but they were close to the entrance of the city, why would one be so close to the walls? Seemed so inconvenient!
“Hmm, probably not, in a place like this there are countless reasons an apothecary would do good in terms of business. Aiding in cases of drug abuse, sickness epidemics in small and impoverished areas, and most likely brothels.”
“A what now?” Ruby asked. “What’s that?”
“She’s referring to a house of ill repute,” Stein quickly said, though the look of confusion on Ruby’s face did not disappear. “A bordello? A call house? A den of iniquity?”
“Um… oh, yeah. Mhmm,” Ruby nodded. Everyone had stopped and was looking at her and Mald looked like he was about to laugh at her, and that was the last thing she needed from him. Well, it seemed like they bought it, well at least everyone but Stein. He was still looking at her like he did not believe her, but he sighed and dropped the subject there.
Placing his hand in his pocket, Stein smiled as he gave the heroes and their party a nod. “Well, we’ve reached our destination and our patient cannot wait a moment long. It was a pleasure traveling with you all.”
“Leaving already, Dr. Stein? Tsumiki?” Ruby asked, a little sad. They were nice. She didn’t want them to leave.
“Unfortunately we have to hurry, I’d hate it if our friend gets worse without proper treatment,” Tsumiki said, a nervous but kind smile on her face. “We’ll see you again, don’t worry.”
“Hmm, well we shouldn’t keep you two any longer. Ruby, come on. We need to go to the meeting now,” Itsuki said as he began to walk to where the Fabucci guys were waiting.
Looking at Itsuki, Ruby grimaced on the inside before returning her gaze to the medical duo, who were waving goodbye to her. Sighing, she should not keep them waiting, so she said her goodbyes before following behind her party. Entering a bar and past numerous patrons happily drinking.
Most of them looked like adventurers or soldiers. The type her Uncle Qrow would describe when he went on a bounty hunting mission after robbing a few too many people or just being unlucky enough to be in his general vicinity.
Though as Ruby was looking around, the one constant in this world had with Remnant was the barmaid wearing a skirt that was a tad too short. She thanked whatever force out there that her Uncle wasn’t here to make a fool out of himself. Or that Mald didn’t seem to notice.
Entering a backroom and down a long flight of stone stairs lit up by torches, the group went through another door and were greeted by a rather nice looking room. Plenty of chairs, an underground bar, even more patrons were there. Only unlike the ones upstairs, they looked more high class.
“Welcome the lounge,” Anton, introduced them, “Here is where the Fabucci Syndicate and their supporters of ours come to discuss the future of our nation once we dethrone the current ruler.”
“So these are the people who want to make a difference, lovely,” Itsuki sounded genuinely happy to hear that. And that was good, Ruby supposed. Though in Ruby’s many fantasies, most rebellions did not have the super swanky bar along with what looked like the elite of society drinking martinis and laughing about minor inconveniences.
“Truly is,” Andrae said, looking at everything around. “Their funding is what allows for our compound to be as extravagant as it is and as large as we have it now. You have not seen anything yet. Which I hope you will after we take you to our war room to discuss the attack.”
“We have plenty of goods for you to sample while you’re here, all of course complimentary, but it’ll have to wait. Follow me,” Anton said as he continued guiding the party deeper into the compound.
“They did what now?” Kairi raised an eyebrow as he sat crisscrossed at a wall while Kuroka and Qrow were next to him. A hat in front of them with a wooden sign begging for change.
“They threw a festival. It was… it was really wholesome,” Qrow said, extending a hand into his jacket, going to a hidden pocket to pull out a flask. “They were even selling donuts. Really good donuts. Would’ve gotten you some, but I ate them all.”
“Geez, thanks,” Kuroka’s ears flickered as she looked at Qrow, day drinking. Rubbing the bridge of her eyes, “Well, as nice as it is to learn about the antics of this world, I would like for Mr. Scruffy here to be ready for the wave when Glass’ arrives. So the info on the other heroes would be much more preferable than donuts.”
Rolling his eyes and putting his flask away. “Take the fun out of it all, why don’t you.”
“It seems rather cruel if we form attachments to this world. It’d be the most humane to the innocent here if we don’t try and “have fun,” Qrow.”
Grunting, Qrow felt his heart tighten at the thought. He was here to destroy a world full of so many people. He had to. To end the waves and return home. What would his family say if they learned about what he was planning. What he was going to do. Tai might kill him. Yang would kill him. Ruby would be so devastated it would kill him emotionally. Hell, Raven might actually be a decent human for a split second if she knew and would try and stop him. That or she would join him, one of the two.
Still, he was a Huntsman, and he was supposed to save people. Yet here he was, trying to kill a whole world. Not enough booze in the world to drown out the demons he was going to give himself.
Opening his inventory, Qrow handed a small stack of pictures to Kairi, with full images of the heroes and their weapons.
“From what I’ve been able to see, the main heroes are the Sword and Shield. I was not able to identify which apprentices were under who. Though from what I can tell, there are the Bomb, Gun, some sort of music one, Glove, and Chain? I think the last one was.”
“Hmm, one of them seems quite young.”
“She is.”
There was something unsaid about that. Kairi grimaced at the idea of trying to eliminate a child who in the very picture in front of him looked like she was having the time of her life, laughing at what looked like fireworks.
Leaning over, Kuroka hummed, that would make things more morally dubious. Killing a world was one thing, but directly killing a child in front of them was another. Looking at the photos, Kuroka wondered who might Kairi get first with Glass? The boy with the gun looked silly, same with the girl with the instrument. The blonde seemed rather competent though. And for the Glove?
“Oh?” Kuroka’s ears went up, her hand snatching the picture of the Brawler Apprentice Hero and smiled. Fate was funny like this, wasn’t it?
“Change of plans, boys. I’m going first, you two can argue over who goes next, but the next wave is mine.”
“Huh?” Kairi raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, why change plans?”
Chuckling, her tails whipping back and forth as she held the picture up. “Well, I can’t in good conscience let you take care of this cutie, old man. It is after all the responsibility of an older sister to look after her little sister.”
Shirone was here. What were the chances? She was no betting girl, but she knew she won some sort of lottery.
“Hold it, that’s your sister?” Qrow questioned, looking at the photo up and down and then back at Kuroka. “Don’t see much resemblance.”
“Hmm, well there is no mistake, it is my Shirone,” Kuroka chuckled, the Gremory girl wasn’t here, so talking to her would be so much more effective. “I’m taking her back with us.” She said, grinning, turning to her companions before that grin turned to a frown rather quickly. “And no, I will not be taking any criticism from any of you. Shirone comes first, the end can be pushed off till late.”
Looking at one another, Qrow and Kairi sighed. Arguing would be pointless. Kuroka’s abilities made fighting her rather pointless. One push of a button.
It would be rather annoying explaining this to the others when they find Kuroka kidnapping a girl. Specifically Glass. She’d probably give them some sort of lecture.
“Fine,” Kairi shrugged as he picked up his hat and grimaced as he saw how few coin he got from two hours of begging. Turns out, begging for money to feed a family and begging for money to support soldiers both made very little money. “Just don’t look at me if things go haywire.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kuroka waved him off, chuckling to herself as she began to walk off. “I’ll tell Glassy to deal with it. Till then, boys.”
Watching Kuroka walk off, the two men, along with many others, took a long look at the nekomata. Though worry only came from two sets of eyes while the rest seemed to hold some lust in them.
“Five gold says something goes wrong in her wave?” Qrow said.
“You’re on,” Kairi said, taking a cigarette out and lighting it, offering it to Qrow who held up his hand. He had his own preferred vice.