Chapter Text
-o-
It began, as it so often does, on a cold and rainy night.
-o-
Were one to listen at the door, they would hear the hissed voices and raised whispers of three unhappy figures.
Of course, any such eavesdropper would likely be dead at the hand of the horned man in a dark suit who exited the room mere minutes before.
As for those in the room, the first was the leader of the three. Her ponytail swished to and fro as she paced. She gnashed her teeth and bit her lips, yet her agitation can be seen most clearly in the way her skin and hair shifted their colors with every step.
The second stood with her arms crossed, and appeared calm to most. The fingers idly tracing the dark veins running along her arms said otherwise, but only those closest to her would know that.
The last wore her heart on her sleeves, and failed to hold back her tears. She wrung her hands, and tried to keep her gaze squarely on the table. On her head were two small antlers.
If one were to strain their ears, they would hear a fourth presence, though the wheezing and sobbing have become much softer now. Not much distinguished this person from any other on the street, except for the injuries he bore.
And that was the oddest thing one might notice in this room. Not anyone's unique features, or the bone-white masks that resembled a Grimm's countenance, but the fact that the boy bled at all.
As a Huntsman-in-Training of Beacon Academy, he should have been able to take dozens of attacks without a flinch. Fists, blades, bullets, and Dust could all be blocked by Aura, the manifestation of one's soul and a Huntsman's constant companion.
At least, for as long as it held out.
-o-
It began with a simple soul, a weak and fading light.
-o-
When Jaune Arc came into the store, he expected Tukson's Book Trade to have the newest issue of X-ray & Vav, not a band of White Fang terrorists in the back room. He had opened the door for a second, spotted the people inside and the masks they wore, before one of them set upon him. Less than a semester of training in the Academy proved insufficient to save Beacon's weakest student from the battle-hardened man with horns, especially in a confined space and lacking his sword and shield.
His Aura, vaunted as the highest among his peers, lasted all of a minute. Then, he felt every kick of the man's boots, every cut from his sword.
Captured and beaten, his Aura and pride broken, Jaune begged them to believe him. That it was all a misunderstanding, a wrong turn on his way to the restroom of the bookstore.
They did not believe him, and made him suffer for his supposed lies.
Now, he slumped on the chair with only the tightly-bound ropes keeping him from crashing to the floor. His hazy mind registered that the man had left, but that spelled little relief for him. The women, girls really from their youthful tone, continued to argue with each other, and he listened with half an ear. From what he could make out between the bouts of unconsciousness, they were distressed over the task thrusted upon them. He heard repeated suggestions of bringing him to a hospital, inevitably answered with "Adam will kill us!" or variations thereof. These girls were terrified of their boss.
Heh. They weren't the only one. He stared at the ground, where his blood continued to trickle. Each falling bead splashed into the puddle, forming small concentric circles. His delirium made the drops hitting the floor sound like thunder, a countdown for his mortal life. Had he any strength remaining, Jaune would be struggling to escape.
Or, perhaps, he would use that strength to speak to the man's subordinates. To ask their names if they'd give it, and to reassure them that he did not blame them. Because strange as it was, they were shedding tears for him. They had objected to the torture, melodious voices ignored and now snarling in anger, torn between loyalty and righteousness. From the glimpses he managed to see behind the masks, their eyes held horror and pity for his plight, and fear for their own lives.
"Kill the human," the horned man had said, "And dispose of it."
That moment made Jaune hate the man, for it was his words that upset them so. Sorrow didn't suit their beautiful voices, he thought, or their pretty eyes.
So many things Jaune wished to say, yet when he tried to form the words, his thoughts blanked and his vision waned. He feared that, at last, his time has ran out.
-o-
It began in that moment, when hope gave way to fright.
-o-
"If only you had another day, if only you were not so weak."
Wasn't that true. Jaune wished he could have had more time to train or prepare before today. His partner turned out to be wrong. His efforts will never pay off.
"Do you wish to stop their tears, and hear their song and laughter?"
Oh, how he wanted to. He imagined their smiles, and what joy it could bring the world. What poor monsters these girls make, to cry for their enemy. Jaune cursed this cruel Remnant that crushed the lives they might have led, and drove them to this course.
But, with his end mere moments away, what could he even do about it?
"Let your dream be your nourishment. Accept this curse, this gift, and feed. "
Jaune Arc was weak. Jaune Arc was human.
Jaune Arc foolishly heeded the whisper that came from no one, and he
Let.
It.
In.
-o-
It began with a wish, and eyes shining bright
-o-
The girl of shifting colors noticed it first. The human boy's ragged breath ceased, and she realized their hesitation had cost him his life. She turned away, hiding her shame and guilt. Had she been brave, and defied her commander, the boy might have had a chance. Had she risked capture, and delivered him to aid…
What a poor excuse of a hero she turned out to be.
In that silence, a rattling cough drew the trio's attention. A body took its first gulp of air, then another. As the three girls looke at their captive in disbelief, a head raised to match their gaze. Its lips twisted into an eager, almost fawning, smile. The body, the living boy, licked his lips.
And he spoke those ancient words, the whispers his kind had crooned into the ears of innocent maidens and impressionable lads since time immemorial.
He said, "How would you like to be famous? Because, darlings, you've got potential."
If one were to look too closely at his face, one would swear that there were two little stars in Jaune Arc's eyes.
Beacon Cafeteria, a week later
Blake Belladonna, Huntress-in-Training and former White Fang infiltrator, stared at the video on her scroll in shock, intrigue, and complete confusion.
The video showed the events of yesterday night, where Vale's newest sensation performed their surprise debut single Running in the Moonlight. Blake found the lyrics a bit vapid at times, with too many references to 'love', 'dreams', and other cutesy words that overshadowed the handful of lines relating a particular history that she knew well. That was the ways of pop songs, though. Shallow and easy to digest.
No, her opinion didn't come from her being 'a moody, edgy emo' like Yang kept accusing, and were instead backed by her personal experiences that mirrored the singers' own. Any sorts of love and dreams associated with the lifestyle they sang of tend to crash like a train-wreck in Forever Fall.
Ask her how she knew.
Still, something about the video demanded her attention, enough so that her tuna sushi lay forlorn and forgotten on an untouched plate. It might be the outfits, fetching ensembles of frills and lace mixed with leather corsets and boots, speaking to her taste. She could also point to the unique features of each dancer being highlighted by the outfits and stagecraft, rather than zealously concealed as they so often were by those catering to mainstream media. Yes, this might be the first element of this video that fascinated her so.
Because-, because the three girls dancing and singing to the world were, to a one, Faunus.
Blake has heard of the brief period in history where Faunus performers took the world by storm. That era ended just before she was born, and Blake sometimes suspected that her parents were simply coming up with stories to indulge her. A memory flashed through her mind, and she blushed upon recalling scene of a young girl jumping on the bed and singing along to her favorite song, telling her mother that she'll invite everyone on the island to her show someday.
Yet, how farfetched could those stories be, if there were people praising such performers at this very moment?
Nobody in the cafeteria could mistake them for humans, but Blake saw her fellow students, including known bigots within Beacon, holding their own scrolls open and watching the same video. Some didn't look happy, sure, but most bobbed their heads to the music with smiles on their faces.
She even caught comments of how cute the girl with deer horns was, or how cool the girl with dark veins on her arms looked. After seeing the leader of the trio changed her hair to fiery-red locks, and shifted her skin tone to a different color every time she perform a spin or jump, Vale's news stations this morning had crowed of her ingenuity and natural affinity for the stage. Blake wondered what they'll say if they knew the girl could change even her eye colors or adopt neon hues.
Well, she can't say for sure that this girl can do that. Blake based the assumption on the abilities of her friend Ilia from Menagerie, and nobody could be certain that the two are the same people. Neither can she assume the other two members of the group were in any way connected to Deery and Trifa, two people she knew from her past. The trio gave no personal names, after all. And while they flaunted their Faunus features, the girls made sure to hide their faces.
And that was the second unbelievable part, because all three girls were wearing masks. White Fang masks. In a public place. With a massive crowd of Valeans cheering them on as they sung.
Apparently, Atlas banned the video within the first hour of its upload on the scrollnet late last night. Then, they called on all Kingdoms to follow suit. The insults and mocking laughter from every other Kingdom hasn't stopped yet.
There was no way to stop this. There was nothing to stop. It's viral entertainment, and the world demanded more.
That kind of scared Blake a little. And made her want to cry in joy.
White Fang recruitments will go through the roof with the help of these girls, the so-called Fang Fang Fang idol unit (or FX3 for short), in one of the smoothest maneuver she had ever seen in the organization. A bloodless maneuver, too, in defiance of everything she knew of the current leadership. Who could have championed this pivot in their strategy? A genius, no doubt, both dangerous and visionary.
The song was winding down, and Blake hurried to tap the replay icon. Worrying implications aside, the sight inspired and Blake wanted to enjoy their performance now that the initial incredulity has worn off. The menu popped up, and she noticed that the video had a few minutes left to go. Letting it run, she munched on her sushi and watched the predominantly-human crowd applaud the performance. Unbelievable.
Soon after, the unit's lead singer (who might or might not be Ilia Amitola. Wink wink.) stepped forward and raised her microphone. She looked about ready to keel over from exhaustion, yet gave the happiest smile since Blake has known her.
"We -huff- we wanted to take this chance to thank our agent. It was his hard work that got us where we are! So-"
Her partners joined her, and all three shouted in sync.
"-Thank you, Jaune Arc!"
Blake choked on her tuna.
-o-
His thralls- ahem, his lovely idols never said outright that they were White Fang. His current state of not-being-jailed-for-treason depended entirely on that argument, although Headmaster Ozpin has warned him to avoid the Atlas delegation when they arrive for the Vytal tournament.
He wasn't sure who James Ironwood was, and that will hopefully continue to be the case.
The most important thing to know was that Jaune Arc, Agent Extraordinaire (Agent to the Stars? He'll work on the title), walked proud and free. They didn't post any minders on him, either, those fools. As if his plans for FX3 ended with merely this. His ambitions extended to all of Vale. To all of Remnant!
Also, Jaune might have screwed the world over by emboldening the White Fang. He'll have to rectify that before more people noticed and hunt him down. Especially Weiss Schnee, heiress to the White Fang's most hated enemy.
It was for that purpose that he stalked the edges of Beacon's cafeteria, heading for one table in particular.
"Hey, everybo-"
"""Jaune, what the fuck?"""
Well, hello to you, too.
His friends and acquaintances crowded around, shouting questions that blended together in an incomprehensible babble. His partner, Pyrrha, knew of his leave of absence following that fateful night, though he hadn't told her the bloody details. She fussed over him, nevertheless. Ren stayed back from the chaos, and Nora was the chaos herself.
"Whooo! The law can't keep my Fearless Leader down!"
How…how did she know about that? Never mind. Nora is as Nora does. Later, he might carefully inquire if she drew her knowledge from a similar source as his power.
Jaune turned to Team RWBY, who have been shouting nonstop and seemed to be pointing towards a scroll…ah, they've seen it. Good.
"Let me sit, let me sit. I'll answer as best as I can," Jaune said, and joined the table. He made his excuses, avoiding loaded words like terrorists, interrogation, betrayal, and expulsion. Blake's questions on his sanity warranted a more serious response, mostly because she had pulled his tie tight enough to strangle him.
"I reasoned that the Faunus, specifically three girls who may or may not have wanted posters of themselves, deserved a chance to shine. Wouldn't you agree that being idols suited them better than anything else they might be doing, Blake Belladonna?"
The pointed look got his meaning across, and Blake settled down. Who would have thought that he was studying alongside a former White Fang? It's a small, small world.
"Look, I had my circumstances, and I know it has implications that might cause trouble for some." He raised a brow at Weiss, who hadn't stop screaming invectives from behind the impromptu gag that was Ruby Rose's hand. "And that's why I'm making things right. There's only one way to curtail the influence of FX3."
Weiss slapped away Ruby's hand and suggested, "Yes, you can cancel whatever deal you have with them and end this farce."
Immediate pain wracked his being, and Jaune clenched his teeth to hold back a groan. He moved to quell the sliver of doubt against his bonds that has sprouted before it can gain momentum, and made a mental note. At this stage of his development, the mere threat of a broken contract with his talents can stoke an adverse reaction.
"NO! No. We're riding the Giant Nevermore now, and the worse thing we can do is jump off to let it run wild. What we need, what I need from you, is simple. An idol unit for Beacon, to counter the popularity of FX3." And to stoke their competitive spirit, vaunting both groups (and his power) to new heights.
"I don't think my agent will allow it."
Dammit. He was still coming into his power, and now was not the time to challenge a full-blooded agent by poaching their talents. A shame, because Pyrrha had all that he was looking for. Stage presence, grace, a beautiful voice. Enthusiasm by the bucketful. An infectious laugh, too.
Oh well, Jaune thought, and wiped the possibility of walking this path alongside Pyrrha from his mind. Perhaps in another life.
"And I will have nothing to do with this farce." Weiss scoffed in finality. "A Schnee does not prance around for the masses to ogle."
Jaune knew his Affection Level with Weiss was currently rock-bottom, and took his loss for the time being. Putting those two aside, the crucial talent he needed to acquire was...her.
Lovely, sexy, cool, and cute, Blake Belladonna with her fluffy kitty ears will be the center of his new idol unit, his greatest star among those representing Beacon.
The leading face of the White Fang's foe must be a Faunus. With his backing, she will grow into an icon of her people's alternative path and show that a Faunus does not need to be a White Fang to bring change. Moreover, her complicated friendship and enmity with Ilia created a beautiful narrative that would, if he can bring it to the Best End, boost the two units' popularity to the stratosphere and set up the foundation for a *pant pant* a mega-idol group with sub-units*shiver*.
Ahem.
This was also the best way he saw to stop people from joining the White Fang en masse after the completely unrelated Fang Fang Fang idols' debut video.
And so, he whipped out a contract, and his devilish whispers wrapped the girl that was once a friend under his thrall, "With her fame and influence, an idol can become the symbol for the cause of Faunus equality. The stage will be the medium through which her message reach all the corners of Remnant. If you sign the contract then I swear, on my name as an Arc, that I will make you that idol and ensure that you stand on that stage. Think of the good you can do."
All he had to do was wholeheartedly promise to support her dreams until the end, through thick and thin, and the innocent beauty fell in his clutches with sparkling eyes. Seeing the girl sign her future away on the dotted line, a pang of guilt shot through his heart.
Perhaps, one day, he may be able to forgive himself for this heinous act. He put the thought out of his mind, and returned to the task at hand.
Preferably, the unit would add three more talents to start, forming a simple quartet covering many different niches. Jaune smirked and, from shadows, pulled out more stacks of paper and red-inked pens. The rest of his potential recruits might not have the charm and drive of Blake Belladonna, but their simple desires made securing their contracts a cinch.
"You'll be heroes, and bring happiness to the people of Remnant!"
Ruby perked up in eagerness, trusting his words implicitly. Jaune now knew that only hell awaits his tainted soul.
"Pancakes."
As everyone else tilted their heads in confusion at the non-sequitur, one pink bomber swore unto Jaune her eternal loyalty.
"Also, it'll be fun, and I think I can get Ozpin to let us skip Port's class for practice."
And with that, Yang's heart was his.
And soon, so will the hearts of every man on Remnant.
…
Wait, he didn't mean it like that.
-o-
As the newly-formed idol unit ran off to their first practice session with their agent, followed by assorted hangers-on, one boy remained at the cafeteria table.
Lie Ren's ever-calm façade cracked as repressed fury broke free and rose to the surface.
An idea that barely seemed to be his own? Her as the lead idol? For all of Jaune's talks of making things right, the signs were all too clear. And finally, he has seen deep within Jaune's blue eyes two miniscule shapes, almost invisible.
Little hearts in his eyes! Ren seethed.
It was obvious that his former leader has succumbed to his new powers. The curse that plagued all agents throughout the ages, the mad allure of singing and dancing cat Faunus, has overtaken Jaune's humanity.
Even now, he recalled the terrible story his mother told. The story of a star rising from the East, of an agent sacrificing the world to his thirst, and of the day a million hearts shattered, including his father's own.
The day the Agent of Chaos abducted the World's Idol away to early retirement.
Have you not heard the legend of A/Kali? Of Accursed Ghira!? There is a reason no living agents scout cat-eared girls as idols. They cannot withstand such power!
Ren's eyes followed the thing that was once his sworn brother as he caressed a sharp wooden stake hidden in his sleeve.
For his mother. For his father. And for himself. He must end this.
-o-
As Jaune and his new group of idols ran off to prepare for their debut, he felt the warm and proud gaze of his brother on him.
Heh, good old Ren, always watching over me. I should do something nice for him. Maybe I'll make one of those garlic pizzas he likes?
Author's Notes: All. That. Edge! It's fun to write over-the-top, sometimes.
Apologies to those who thought The Agent meant a secret agent, for it actually referred to the other sort. The vilest of leeches. The talent agents.
The narrative and prose were heavily influenced by Dracula and other vampire stories because 'leeches', with some influences from The Mask for that blend of creepy personality shift and humor, plus the theme of competing idol units from Idolmaster and similar for a central plot.
A/Kali, a mix of K/Da and Akali. Hehe.
This might get an occasional chapter from time to time. Second chapter has a very basic outline for the introduction of a third idol unit from Vale, with not much thoughts beyond that yet. The one thing RWBY does not lack are female characters.
The first Faunus war was fought with guns and Dust. The second was fought with fear and shadows. The third…the third will be fought with Cute .