Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There’s so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day, and because of their sacrifice the good guys win, the survivors all cheer, and everybody lives happily ever after. But the hero… never gets to see that ending. …They’ll never know if their sacrifice actually made a difference. They’ll never know if the day was really saved. In the end, they just have to have faith. …Ain’t that a bitch?” 

“When it goes off, I’ll be fine. It only affects computers, remember? And I am a motherfuckin’ ghost.” 

The final fragment of the Alpha AI of Project Freelancer; Epsilon, deconstructed at the end of his rather short life. With all the fragments destroyed the Alpha could once again become whole, even if it was in death.

A second chance was what he needed. To be able to live life without being manipulated and tortured. And so he got just that; another go at life, on a planet that wasn't space faring, they were barely even surviving. But, Alpha was ready. He had faced all kinds of people far more dangerous than some planet's wildlife. Or, at least he was until he found out he now had to live life as a fifteen year old girl. 

Church's eyes snapped open from his spot laying on the ground. He clutched his aching head. He remembered everything, from what the Director had done to him, to the Director's own memories. Church looked at his new body. He was naked, or should he say she? Nope, he was gonna stick with he, that's what he was after all.

Glancing around, he saw trees, bushes, the sky, and a man with a white cloak, just staring at him. “The fuck do you want?”

It had been two years since Church ended up in this universe, on the planet called Remnant. Two years of stupid idiotic teenagers that he was forced to be friendly with. He ended up living with a Ruka Rose, the man that found Church and who was now legally his dad. —Ruka had forced it on him— Ruka had wanted to name Church, Summer. Because Church had actually played it smart for once and said he didn’t remember anything. Ruka had somehow won the name argument. And so Church was named Summer Church Rose, but of course he went by Church, only Ruka called him Summer. Church remembered the day he got his new name clearly.

"Summer is not a good name, Church is way better."

"Church is a male name and it doesn't abide by the color naming rule that we have been going by for over fifty years."

"It's so fucking stupid!"

"You're being named Summer, end of discussion."

"That's not the end of the discussion. The end of the discussion is me taking a fucking leap off the fucking cliff if you name me Summer!"

"Okay, have it your way, you'll be named Summer Church Rose."

"Fuck you! Fuck your family! Fuck the town! And fuck the whole fucking world!"

That was a good conversation. It got even better when Ruka made it official that his first name was Summer. Church actually did take a leap off the cliff, or at least tried to, Ruka wouldn’t let him actually go through with it. Something about how he cared for Church too much. It was some sappy shit like that.

At the moment Church was on his way to Beacon academy, waiting on an airship. It would probably take several hours to actually get to Beacon because they decided to use an airship; the slowest vehicle known to man.

Church had no idea who designed the airships, but if somehow he found them he would give them hell. It was so idiotic. Sure, it could carry a fuck ton of people but what did that matter if it moved a mile per hour.

The angered AI looked out the window, noting the abundance of trees was slowly disappearing. He hadn't ever been out of the village he lived in, so it did spur some excitement into him. Though a part of him was mad. It had taken multiple hours for the trees to even start thinning. He knew he lived way out in the boonies, he didn't need it to be shown so clearly.

Church glanced away from the sight, settling his eyes on his outfit. It was a source of pride with him. Ruka usually won all the arguments, but Church had managed to win this one. He wore black combat boots, dark blue pants, a cobalt blue T-shirt, a black corset, black leather bracers, and a white cloak. The cloak was Ruka’s idea and Church didn’t actually hate it; the cloak reminded him of his ghost self. The corset was also Ruka’s idea; he had said it was practical to keep the shirt from getting in the way. Church’s hair was Ruka’s choice as well. Long hair that went to Church’s mid back. Church kept the hair in a high ponytail instead of the braid Ruka had wanted. Like normal, Ruka had almost won that argument. How Ruka could actually win the arguments, Church had no idea. Perhaps it was his semblance, or maybe he was just that good at manipulating people. The answers would remain a mystery for now.

Church shook his head, clearing himself from those thoughts. It was pointless to try and understand how Ruka could play people like a violin. The only person who could answer such questions was Ruka, but it wasn't likely that he would answer it. Hell! Ruka himself might not even know.

Lifting his head, he took a look at the interior of the airship. It was rather empty, something that surprised him as Beacon Academy was the most prestigious academy. Don’t get him wrong, he loved the peace and quiet, but he was just expecting lots of people. Church shrugged, maybe he was just one of the first stops.

The airship was clean. No stray trash or bits of food scattered under and on the seats. —And yes he checked— Church swore he could see his reflection in the floor with how spotless it was. 'Do they just have people cleaning and polishing the floor twenty four seven?' 

Church rubbed the heel of his boot against the floor, seeing if it made any difference in the sparkling polish. It did not. He rolled his eyes. 'Wow, overboard much?'

Ignoring the eternally clean floor, he opened his scroll, checking the time. What he saw made him groan. He wanted to beat shit into the ground, not sit on an airship for hours. Yes, he knew the ride would be long, but he had hoped looking at things would make time go faster.

A grand idea hit him. The old fall back on passing time, sleeping; it was the answer to everything. 'Shit, I sound like Grif.' He paused, thinking about that for a second. 'Fuck it.' He'd much rather sleep than mull over every stupid little thing on the airship. Unfortunately, Church only slept for three hours, leaving the rest to his awake and angry self.

It was later when a blonde-haired man slammed down into the seat next to him. It was a miracle the seat didn't break under the impact. Church looked away from him. The guy reeked of desperation. 

‘Please don’t make conversation. Please don’t make conversation.’ Church’s pleas went unheard. Or some sick being was playing a joke on him. The blonde-haired man turned to him.

“Hey.” 

Church turned away from him, and stared out the window. It didn't offer a very good view as they were flying over an ocean, which contrary to popular opinion got boring real fucking fast.

“I’m Tai Xiao Long. You are?” 

Church kept his mouth closed, if he opened it he would start yelling. After all this guy stole his fucking voice!

“I’m gonna guess your name is like Hot Stuff or something like that. So did I guess correctly? Miss?” 

Church turned his head sharply to Tai. “Annoyed, fucking annoyed.” Then turned back to the window. Maybe he was wrong about the ocean view. It kept him from punching or tackling Tai. He already hated the guy, and he didn’t even know him, that's how annoying he was.

Tai faked being hurt. “I was just trying to make conversation.” Tai held his hands to his chest for emphasis. 

“Wrong side of your fucking chest.” 

The AI spared him a glance, before turning away. This guy reminded him of Tucker. No, that was an insult to Tucker. He had his good parts, like when the two could just chill and play strip poker together. It was truly entertaining each time Tucker was stripped down to his birthday suit and Church had only lost his boots. 

‘I just hope to god that there isn’t going to be a Caboose double.’ Yes, as much as it pained him to say he did like Caboose. Sure, most of the time he annoyed the ever loving shit out of him, but he had his good moments.

Tai frowned, spraying his arms to the sides. “Oh come on, throw me a bone.” 

Church's boredom glazed eyes narrowed. “If I tell you will you stop fucking talking?” Tai nodded. “Church, my name’s Church.”

There was a pause, a second of silence, of pure bliss. “What kind of name is Church?” 

Church glared. “Fuck you too!” Then turned away from Tai. 'Should've known that he wouldn’t go away.’ 

Tai scoffed playfully. “Please, Church is a male name and you're obviously female.” Tai gestured to Church’s chest and Church flipped him off. 

The rest of the ride was much the same. On the plus side, they had managed to get everyone out of the airship in quite the hurry. Usually it took the students about half an hour to fully clear the airship. They set a new record with five minutes.

Church stepped off the airship, his backpack slung over his shoulder. Immediately he was blasted with hot air, the waves rolling off the landing pads. His eyes swept over the crowd of students, each one more disappointing than the last.

Beacon Academy was just like Church pictured. Big grand architecture made to wow and impress people. Plus, the snobby rich kids who could barely hold a weapon, how those kids even got into the academy was another mystery. It was possible they used money to get in, but he had thought Ozpin was above such things. Or at least that's what news reports on him said.

Church… and Tai made their way to the amphitheater, where Ozpin would give a speech. Church tried to lose Tai in the sea of people, but the yellow haired idiot stayed on him like glue.

“If you do not shut the fuck up! I will hit you a shit ton of times!” Church gripped his head, trying to think. Tai just did not shut up. Right now was one of the times Church wished he was a robot so he could just turn off his ears, it would be so much simpler. 

Was it so much to ask for that he got a little peace and quiet for once? Was he destined to be stuck with people who never shut up? Judging by the way his life was going the answer was yes, but that didn't mean he couldn't bitch about it. He could bitch about anything.

Church plopped down into his chair, letting his head fall against his hand. After a beat he settled more comfortably into his chair and waited. Closing his eyes, he pretended to be asleep. Which finally got Tai to shut up.

He had enough memories for three lifetimes. Oh wait, he did! Plus the two years he had been on Remnant. So this place wasn’t really nerve wracking. He was a soldier, if this got to him then he was a pretty pathetic soldier. Well, okay, he wasn’t the best soldier. His time in Blood Gulch proved that. But he tried, and at least now he was a complete badass with the sniper rifle. Sure, he was an absolutely shit shot with any other gun. But hey, he wasn’t going to look this gift horse in the mouth. 

Alpha was just… tired, so very tired. He just wanted to rest now, but it was that feeling that plodded him along. He had felt that way once before when his memories had been ripped from him, when he just wanted to rest, honestly not caring if he ever woke up again. It was a way that showed even in death the Director was still winning, which only made Church want to prove him wrong.

By the time Ozpin started his speech, Church was half asleep. He listened to the whole thing and he would never forget it. Technically it was because he was an AI, but if anyone asked it was because that was the dullest speech he had ever heard. Obviously Ozpin needed some time to work on that, a lot of time.

Church sat back, waiting for the crowd to thin. He would have been pushed all around and never have been able to go anywhere with how many people there were. Finally, the students settled on moving in one direction, leading to Church joining the swarm, Tai trailing after him. 

Slowly but surely, they made it to where they would be sleeping for the night. The room had a large skylight positioned in the center of the high ceiling. A balcony with cascading steps was on the far side from the entrance. It was a ballroom, but was temporarily being used for a giant slumber party. Hundreds of hormonal teenagers crammed into one room. Great. 

Luckily for Church, it was separated: Boys on one side, girls on the other. Which meant Tai had to leave his side. Unfortunately, they had gotten there slightly later than the others so they didn’t get a big selection on where to sleep. Church and Tai were only separated by two people. Church wanted a hundred between them.

After doing all his nightly rituals; brushing his teeth, hair, and changing clothes he settled onto his sleeping bag. To his relief, the two people between him and Tai were loud and obnoxious, meaning he wouldn’t be able to hear a thing Tai said. Church grinned, then settled in for the night.

Chapter Text

Church woke up, stretching his arms above his head. He glanced around the room, noting the sea of sleeping students. Only a couple had gotten up. Alpha glanced out the windows. The first rays of sunlight were barely showing. Glancing to his right, he found Tai sleeping on another man’s stomach. The man’s sister—from the looks of it—was watching, unsure what to do.

At lightning speeds Church stood up, rushing over to Tai, where he proceeded to take a shit ton of pictures. ‘This is gold. Pure blackmail gold. I can hold this over his head for his entire time here.’

With a shark-like grin that seemed unnatural for his face, he turned to the woman. She only stared back with a questioning look on her face. “You want some blackmail for your brother too?” Church held up his scroll, wiggling it for emphasis.

A second passed before a grin matching Church's flashed across her face and nodded. They traded scroll numbers and Church sent her the photos. "Good choice, blackmail is always better than no blackmail."

The woman hummed, shifting her weight to her other foot. Anyone could obviously see she was uncomfortable with how close Church was to her, but he didn't seem to care. "I… have to agree. You can always use it later on as well."

Church snapped his fingers. "Exactly, no one else understands that. You're the first person I've met here that actually fucking gets having leverage is always beneficial."

She nodded. Clearly she saw the same thing Church did in their peers: arrogance, stupidity, pretentiousness, and most importantly weakness. "Same, everyone else seems to have an ignorant outlook on life. You, you're different though. Did you grow up in the kingdoms?"

The AI flipped his head to the side. "...You could say that. I'm guessing you grew up outside the kingdoms, so I'm not gonna even ask. Do you have a name? If not, I'm gonna make one up and you will probably not like it. Unless you have some weird as shit fetish… You don't, do you?"

She shook her head, her face hardening, but the glint in her eye told him all he needed. "Raven. My name’s Raven."

Church gave her a blank stare. "Raven?" A nod. "Like as in the bird?" Another nod. "Sorry, but that's the weirdest fucking name I've heard."

Raven put her hand on her hip, cocking it to the side. "Oh really? Well, what's your name then?"

"Church; the greatest name ever."

Raven gave him the "you fucking shitting me" stare. "You made fun of my name, yet your name's Church? I don't think you can make fun of someone else's name, like seriously just don't."

Alpha scoffed. "Fuck you too." Raven rolled her eyes. Church glanced at the time, giving a nod. "I'm gonna go get food, you can come along if you want to. I don't care."

Raven shook her head. "I should get my brother up. Catch you later."

Church turned away from her, waving his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah."

Church wondered for but a second if he should wake Tai… but thought better and continued walking away. ‘Seriously, Tai isn’t my fucking problem. I don’t even like him. I hate him. He’s like a Tucker that I can’t boss around. Well, I never really could boss Tucker around, but my point still stands.'

He headed out, wandering around Beacon looking for the cafeteria. Beacon was a lot bigger than he initially guessed. It was large enough to be a town. Large arcades of arches stood proudly on display; the marble polished to a shine that dared to reflect the sun’s rays. 

Church saw plenty of first and second years roaming around Beacon, but oddly he didn’t see any third or fourth years. They could have just been on missions, yet the probability of them all being on missions at the same time was non-existent. 'God, I'm starting to sound like Delta.'

After a little more wandering —a very extended period of wandering— Church found the cafeteria. The place was huge. It had towering ornate pillars that held up the extremely high ceiling. 

Church shook off his momentary shock. That they would go out of their way to make something so… impractical was mind boggling. Remnant was an apocalyptic world, and they were wasting their time making shitty stuff like that. It just didn’t sit right with him.

Church made his way to the food line. A scowl was set on his face as he had to listen to the most boring ass conversations that surrounded him. Eventually he grabbed the garbage food, which was so stale you could probably fight with it. Before he quickly found an empty table.

His mood did improve slightly once he was seated alone at the table. He had dumped Tai, met someone who wasn't in a fucking fairy tale, and now was alone. What more could he want? 

His good mood did not last long as the bane of Beacon plopped down in the seat next to him. ‘How the fuck did he get here so fast? Did I miss a map of the place somewhere? That's it, I must have fucking missed the map.’

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Tai glared playfully at Church, who gave him the "why would I" glare. “Oh, come on Church, you obviously like me. You keep following me around and hanging out with me. So what gives?” 

Church’s eye twitched, before he turned sharply to Tai. “First, you fucking followed me! I ran away from you, a lot. How is that not clear? Second, this is not hanging out. Third, I fucking hate you, go away!” 

Tai shook his head. Clearly the guy had cotton in his ears. ‘What the fuck is with him? Is he physically incapable of hearing anything bad about himself?’ 

Church shook his head, stuffing the remaining bits of his food into his mouth, before getting to his feet. He turned his back on Tai, shoving his hands into his pants pockets, and headed out of the cafeteria.

Hot wind blew across his face, causing him to pull his hood up over his head, trying to at least block out some of the late morning sun. ‘Why can’t this school have some trees? It's too fucking hot.’ With that thought in mind, he hurried over to the locker room. During his trek to find the cafeteria he had stumbled across the locker room, thrice. Finding his way back to it was not that challenging. 

The locker room was far less grand than the cafeteria or the ballroom, but it still had the same high ceilings with detailed carvings on it. Searching for his locker took longer than expected  only because they were organized in an unfathomable way. He punched in his code, the latch making a soft click as it unlocked. He reached in grabbing his baby and cuddled his sniper rifle, giving it soft pets. Yeah, it was odd, but he was a badass with a sniper rifle. He was allowed to be odd; nobody messed with a badass. He grabbed his second weapon, sheathing it on his back, before he hefted his sniper rifle with both hands again.

Glancing around the locker room, Church saw Raven and her brother readying their weapons, having a hushed but heated discussion. Church thought about going over to them, but decided to let them be. It had been a habit for Tucker and Caboose to come running to him with their problems or arguments. Because of them he couldn’t stomach any kind of complaining anymore.

Church walked out of the locker room, to the cliffs. Or he at least tried to: He may have gotten lost once, or twice, or seven times, before he found the cliffs. The academy desperately needed maps, everywhere.

He stood on his launch pad, looking at the other students that were there. Most looked like idiots. Which, sadly, didn't surprise him at all. Raven stood two tiles away from him. Knock-off Raven stood right next to Church. The last student to arrive was Tai, who took the spot on Raven’s other side. 

Ozpin cleared his throat, before he started his speech. “I’ll keep this brief as I’m sure you’re all ready to get started. If you are standing on a black tile, the person to your left will be your partner for the next four years.” 

There were murmurs from around him, but the most easily signified was Raven, her eyes widening as she shouted an undignified. “What?!” 

Church couldn’t help but laugh a little at her; it seemed Ozpin shared his opinion as he smiled and nodded. “Yes, Miss Branwen, you and Mister Xiao Long are partners.” Church did not envy her. “Once you land in the forest you will make your way north, where you and your partner will grab a relic and bring it back here. Any questions? None? Good. Now, let’s get this started.” Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, hiding his smirk as the students were launched into the air.

The reincarnated AI had one word that described Ozpin; sadist. But honestly who could blame the guy? When you had to work with little shits like the snobs screaming for their lives it probably got pretty dull. He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. It was a little difficult at first with the sound of the rushing wind, but it was easy once he imagined the sound as Doc’s whining. After a beat, he opened his eyes and looked for his partner in the air, who was looking for him as well. 

Church grabbed his second weapon from off his back —a sickle— then swung it at his partner; the blade flew off, only attached to the handle by a chain. Knock-off Raven saw it coming and let it wrap around his own weapon, allowing Church to swing himself closer. The two partners were able to pull off a landing together. Sure, they ended up in a big pile of flailing limbs, but they were alive. 

Pushing off Knock-off Raven's head, he got to his feet. Most people would care about smashing their partner's head. Church was not one of them. A groan from Raven's brother let him know the guy was still alive.

Church sheathed his sickle and aimed his rifle. He scanned their surroundings; all he saw were bushes and trees. Nodding firmly, he started moving. His partner, however, was a little slower. “So… My name’s Qrow, what's yours?” 

Alpha glanced at his partner for a brief second, making sure Qrow was going to follow him, before he returned his eyes to ahead of them. Grimm were still a threat. Granted, Tex could probably kick their asses, like she did to the guys, but that didn’t mean that the Grimm couldn’t sneak up on them. 

“Church.” Qrow opened his mouth, probably to say something about his name, when Church beat him to it. “Your fucking name is Qrow you don’t have room to judge.” Church pushed a branch out of his way, letting it swing back and hit Qrow. ‘Haha. Qrow? Raven? I get it. …Wow, their parents hated them.’

Qrow scowled, breaking the branch before chuckling at his remark. “Yeah, you got me there.” He also stomped on it, for good measure.

‘It actually might not be that bad being stuck with Knock-off Raven. As long as I never have to see Tai again, I’m happy.’ With renewed determination Church trampled a path through the brush. Normally, he would have cared about crushing endangered plants but today he truly didn’t give a fuck.

A few paces behind him, Qrow tripped on a root, falling flat on his face. Church placed his hands on his hips, giving him a pointed look. “You’re not an outdoor guy, are ya?”

Qrow got to his feet, patting down his coat, before crossing his arms. “I just have a… bad luck streak.”

The AI raised an eyebrow, slowly nodding his head. “Uh huh. Just don’t bring that bad luck down on me and we're cool ‘kay?” Church had a feeling there was more of a story behind his words, but he was cool not unpacking any of that yet, or ever.

A low growl sounded from their right in the bushes. Qrow pulled out his weapon and rushed in. Church opted for a more patient approach; drawing his rifle and aiming down the sights. He racked a bolt, before a loud bang echoed in the area. A Beowolf fell over a hole in its forehead from Church’s well placed shot.

A large Grimm crept out of the brush, black mist curling off its body, the haunting red eyes twirling with red light, the bone mask staring into them. “Oh great, Beowolf Alpha.” 

Church dived out of the way of a strike from one the other Beowolves, flipping his rifle into its second form, a sickle. He slashed its chest open, then cleaved its head off. Spinning on his heel, he hacked into another one, black goo spraying everywhere. Qrow slashed at one with his sword, before he stabbed its chest, the insides rolling out. 

Rolling to his left, to avoid a strike from the alpha, before he swung at it, but the Grimm had jumped away. Church kicked a Beowolf at Qrow, who stabbed its head. Church ran at the alpha, diving at its legs, under the giant swings from its arms. Dirt and grass covered his vision, but he didn't need it; he knew where to strike. He slashed at its underside, going for the weak point. The alpha finally realized what was happening and kicked Church into Qrow.

Church didn’t waste a moment and leapt to his feet. Qrow pulling himself to his feet. “Knock-off Raven, can you keep the other Beowolves busy?”

“Oh, you mean the fifteen Beowolves that have us surrounded? Sure!” Sarcasm dripped from his words, but Church didn't care.

“Good, I’ll work on the alpha, you take care of the rest.” Church launched himself at the alpha. 

“I was being sarcastic!” Qrow's bitching went unheard by Alpha.

Church grabbed his other sickle, before he jumped over one of the alpha’s swings. He cut at the armor with one of his sickles, while his other blocked the alpha’s other arm. He jumped at its chest, slashing it with both weapons. The alpha howled in pain. Church lodged his right sickle into the alpha’s chest, before cleaving its head off. Black goo flew, coating Church in it.

He swung his left sickle at four of the remaining Beowolves. The chained blade slashing into their sides, killing them all. Qrow finished the last Beowolf off, with a slash to its neck.

Alpha flicked the sickle in his hands trying to get some of the goo off, before wiping it on the grass but his efforts proved fruitless. He gave it one annoyed glance before sheathing the sickle —which he named Caboose’s Retribution— and stepped over to his other sickle which was buried deep in black goo from the Beowolf alpha. 

Church groaned, but reached into the muck, pulling his weapon free. He held it at arm's length, the slime dripping globs off it. ‘At least before I didn’t have to touch the disgusting shit we always had to deal with, I had my armor.’ With a heave he switched the weapon —coincidentally named Tucker’s Vengeance— into its rifle form.

Qrow watched on with a disgusted look. “That’s really gross.” Church merely flicked the goo from his unoccupied arm onto Qrow.

Stepping through the puddles, Church continued on. “Hey Knock-off Raven, come on, pick up the pace. I would like to get to the temple before the fucking sun sets.” 

Qrow jerked his head towards Church before jogging to catch up to him. "About the nickname… What even is that? And why Raven?"

Church blinked back to reality, his mind having quickly wandered. "What? Oh, that. Well, you're like a spitting image of your sister if she was a guy. So, you know, it's fitting."

Qrow stopped walking. It took a second for Church to realize, before he stopped as well. "You know Raven? When did you meet her?" 

Church shrugged nonchalantly. "This morning. We had a friendly chat while you slept." 

"Okay, but how did you know I was her brother? Did she tell you?"

Alpha groaned, flipping his body to face his partner. "No, she didn't tell me, I'm just perceptive. Besides, it's not like you two look the fucking exact same. Oh wait, you do. Yeah, it's a dead giveaway man. Anyone with half a brain can see you guys are twins. I'm sure even the assholes from Atlas can see it." Qrow stared at him in shock; he didn't expect that answer. "You done with your little bitch session? I'm leaving whether you're with me or not."

Qrow stared a second longer, before he snapped his head up to Church's retreating form. "Yeah, I'm coming."

‘What the hell is wrong with everyone in this place? One guy is a perv and this one’s acting like he’s a spy. If this is going to be normal, I don't know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll take up drinking, who knows?’ 

So focused on his inner monologue, he didn’t see the rock in his path that made him fall flat on his face. Church growled, glaring at the inanimate object. “Fuck you! You fucking piece of shit.”

“It’s a rock, Church. I don’t think it can do much.”

Church promptly flipped him off, but continued walking without saying anything else. The two walked for another ten minutes without incident, aside from Church tripping on the occasional tree root or rock. They made it to a clearing, where they saw Raven and Tai fighting a Deathstalker.

Concerned for his sister, Qrow immediately ran in. Church took a calmer approach again and deftly climbed into a tree. He steadied his rifle, then took a shot. The first one smashed into its armor but didn’t do much. The second shot hit one of its eyes. Church sighed, realizing it would be better to get in close. 

He dropped down from the tree with a thunk, transforming his rifle into its sickle form and grabbing Caboose’s Retribution with his left hand. He wished for his semblance to be of some use, but unfortunately invisibility had no real effect against Grimm. The creatures of Grimm saw with emotions. His semblance did not cloak his feelings, just his physical form.

Nodding in confirmation, Church rushed at the Deathstalker. Hopefully it would be too distracted by Raven and the others to notice him. The distance to the Grimm was actually a lot farther than he had originally guessed. His feet slid on the ground; it was torn up from all the fighting, but it did not deter him.

Alpha swung at the Deathstalker's legs, cutting right, then left, avoiding a stomp, then repeating the process. A Deathstalker's weak spot was harder to find; it couldn’t really hit you when you were directly under it, but its stomach was armored to hell, making the legs seem like the correct option. Raven rushed in to help him take out the legs. Tai kept the Deathstalker focused on him at the head. Qrow was behind the Grimm, trying to take out the stinger. 

Church wrapped Caboose’s Retribution around a leg, pulling the severely weakened limb out of its socket. He used the backswing to throw his weapon at another leg. It only sliced it, but it was damaged. 

Raven sheathed her weapon, the bright blue blade disappearing into its sheath, before she flicked the dust chamber and drew her sword; the blade now a deep red. She swung her sword at the Grimm's legs, fire creeping around each hit. Raven struck at the limb once again, finally chopping it off.

Knock-off Raven flipped on top of the Deathstalker. he sliced at the stinger, stomping down at the exoskeleton. The now enraged Grimm stabbed down at Qrow with its stinger, that endeavor only led to it striking itself. 

Tai was… Well, he had managed to hit its face a lot, as its bone shell was now cracked. But he also had to deal with the pincers so his hits were more sporadic then the others. Church was honestly impressed with how Tai had managed not to die, yet. He would have guessed his death on the first pincer strike.

Raven spared Church a glance, before she rushed out to help her partner. Church shrugged, continuing hacking away at its legs; it wasn't like he cared. Church slashed at the last leg that was keeping it up, making the Grimm fall to the ground. He was able to roll out of the way, before the heavy Grimm fell onto him. 

Alpha backed up, looking at his handy work. “Church, what are you doing?! Come help!” Tai bashed its face again, before looking at Church. 

“It doesn’t have legs! What’s it gonna do? Fuckin’ crawl after you?!” Raven too noticed that it was immobile, so she backed up, panting. Tai jumped back as well. Qrow soon joined them. 

Transforming Tucker’s Vengeance into its rifle form, Church lined up a shot. Drawing in a breath like he had been taught, he waited for the cross hairs to line up perfectly before firing on one eye. A bang and squelch was his reward; the other eyes soon followed after, blinding the Grimm. Flipping his weapon back to its melee form, he rushed the Grimm.

He slid to a stop in front of its face. He threw Caboose’s Retribution at it, whipping his weapon around, he sliced up its face. A smash from its right pincer forced him to dodge to the side. While the Grimm was recovering from the attack, he slid under its head, slicing it open; black goo again covered him.

Church breathed heavily as he sheathed Caboose’s Retribution and turned Tucker’s Vengeance into its rifle form. He stood there for a second, letting the goo slowly drench him. Luckily for him his hood had been up so his hair was relatively clean. Turning around, he walked past his partner. “Do you want the fucking relics or not?” Raven looked at Qrow, who shrugged and followed after the reincarnated AI. 

Alpha looked at the relics and couldn’t help but sigh. The "relics" were bags of cookies. Each bag had two cookies, probably one for each partner. But honestly, Church wasn't that disappointed, at least he was able to eat the relics.

Qrow groaned. “Cookies? We were sent after cookies?” 

Alpha patted his shoulder, as he saw his partner struggling to wrap his head around it. Church realized something that made his skin crawl: the bags holding the cookies each had a match that probably decided who was on whose team, but what made it even worse was the fact Church could already tell that Raven would pick the match of whatever bag he picked. 

The AI growled, grabbed two of the bags, tossed one to Raven while he kept hold of the other. He narrowed his eyes on her. “You owe me.” Raven just smirked. Church huffed, opening the bag and eating one of the cookies. 

“You’re eating the relic?” Tai had eyes as wide as dinner plates as he watched Church eat the cookie. 

“The bags are the deciding factor, not the fucking cookies.” Church then walked off, Qrow trailing behind him. Raven grabbed Tai's collar, pulling him the way Church was heading.

Church didn’t really care that they were following him like lost sheep, for the moment all he was focused on was flicking off as much of the goo as he could. Once sleeping arrangements had been settled he would have to do a thorough cleaning of his clothes and weapons.

Tai caught up to Church, walking silently next to him for a minute before speaking up. “That was amazing! The way you just shot out the Deathstalker’s eyes with ease while it was thrashing—” Church tuned him out as he went on in detail about how cool Church was. Okay, it wasn’t that he didn’t love the praise and everything he was saying was true, but everytime Tai spoke it annoyed him. It was a cruel twist of fate that Tai got his voice and he didn't. It was a voice he had used for decades, and a voice he loved. It just wasn’t right coming out of someone else’s mouth. “—I definitely don’t have that kind of skill set. Hey you could teach—”

Alpha slapped his hand over Tai’s mouth, glaring at him. “That thing you were going to say is one hundred percent off the fucking table, got it?” Church dragged Tai by his face down to his eye level. The stone cold look in Church’s eyes made Tai squeak in fear and nod quickly. Church released him, pushing Tai away from him. “Good.”

The rest of the walk back to Beacon was spent in silence. Nobody wanted to anger Church, who they all had recently learned was the most dangerous member of their group. They made it back just in time for the ceremony; they of course were the last team to be made. 

“Celestia Peach. Peter Port. Bartholomew Oobleck. and Glynda Goodwitch. The four of you have claimed the red relic. From this day forward, you will work together as team PPOG(Pomegranate), led by… Celestia Peach!” Ozpin gave the new leader a smile as she was absolutely shocked. 

Ozpin then motioned for the slime-covered Church and Qrow to come up onto the stage. As well as Raven and Tai. “Summer Rose. Taiyang Xiao Long. Raven Branwen. Qrow Branwen. The four of you have claimed the blue relic. From this day forward, you will work together as team STRQ(Stark), led by… Summer Rose!” 

Church’s entire team was confused as they looked at him. “Yeah, my first name’s Summer but I go by my middle name Church, got it?” Church growled, glaring at them all. 

“It looks like things seem to be shaping up to an… interesting year.” Ozpin announced, ending the ceremony. 

Team STRQ however, didn't leave immediately, for they stood off to the side questioning their leader. “Why would you want to go by Church? Summer is a way better name.” Tai had his arms held out, trying to understand why. 

"Why don't you go by shithead? It suits you so much better. I go by Church because I choose to go by Church and if you fuckers don’t stop questioning me, I’m going to kill one, or all of you in your sleep. Or, I’ll just snipe you with this sweet rifle when you're not expecting it. Got it?” Church growled again, petting his beloved sniper rifle, trying to showcase his threat. Not a second later he walked off. 

‘I don’t need this shit. Why can’t they just keep their mouths shut? It would make things a lot simpler. Damn it Ruka, why couldn’t I just be named Church? It’s my real fucking name! And fuck you Ozpin! How did he even know my name was Summer? I signed every paper Church Rose, not fucking Summer Rose! So how did he even know? Did Ruka tell him? No, Ruka never told anyone in the settlement, so no, he would never have told Ozpin. But that begs the question: how did Ozpin know?’ 

Church found the room he was assigned. It was rather small, decorated only with four beds, two dressers, and a single desk. Church shrugged and picked out his bed, the one farthest away from the others. He walked over to his side of the room. He didn’t have much so he didn't need that much space. Church claimed the highest drawer on the dresser, dumping his backpack onto his bed, he sorted out his things. He shoved his backpack into the drawer, as well as all his other stuff, save for the night's sleepwear. 

Alpha went into the bathroom, where he pulled his ponytail out and undressed. He turned on the water and stepped into the shower. He put his arm against the wall and rested his head against it, letting the water run over him. 

He missed the guys. Sure, sometimes they were the most annoying guys in the universe, but they had their good moments too. And right now, he was missing them more than he ever thought he would, or even could he didn't know he liked them that much. Fighting alongside his new team didn’t feel right. 

“Fuck!” Church growled. He hated feeling this way, but at least he wasn’t alone with feeling like that. He was pretty sure Tex and Carolina hated it; neither of them liked to say goodbye either. 

After getting all the goo off him, he stepped out of the shower and pulled on his sleepwear. He grabbed his weapons that he had put in the dry sink, before he started the long process of cleaning them. He was slow and meticulous. He finally knew what soldiers meant when they said a weapon felt like an extension of yourself. When he wielded them they felt like a part of him, just as his armor had felt like a second skin. 

He heard his team enter but paid them no mind as he finished cleaning the weapons, reassembled them, wrapped them in a cloth, and placed them underneath his bed. He flopped onto his bed, sleep quickly overcoming him.

Chapter Text

He was the first to wake up, his teammates sleeping peacefully next to him. Raven slept closest to him, then Qrow, and on the far side was Tai. 'Girls on one side, boys on the other, not bad.' The farther he was away from Tai, the better.

Church grabbed a set of his signature outfit and headed into the bathroom to change and shower. He wanted to put off wearing his uniform for as long as possible. After an amazingly fast shower, he walked back out with his sleepwear slung over his shoulder as he pulled his hair into its high ponytail. 

Raven was up, leaning against the back of her bed as she read something on her scroll. She gave him a glance, then turned back towards her scroll. Church shook his head. Raven was an odd person, but that was probably why Church got along with her so well. They didn't need to try and understand each other, they just knew. 

Alpha went to his side of the room, dumping his night clothes and grabbing his own scroll. He sat down on his bed, his back against the headboard, his right leg tucked up against him, with his left leg hanging off.

He opened his scroll, checking his recent notifications. He had one from a newspaper he was subscribed to: they wrote about a spree of mysterious murders. Ruka had also sent him a text. Church skimmed through the article, making sure it wasn't something from his old world. After all, he had managed to get there, someone else might have as well. After making sure, he switched over to read Ruka’s text. He opened it and saw. ‘Hey Sum, just wondering how your initiation went?’

‘Initiation went fine. Got to kill a Deathstalker and a couple Beowolves, which covered me head to toe in the fucking black sludge! The lack of Grimm was fucking disappointing though. I was hoping for like a hoard or something, not the shit I got.’

He had to wait only a second for a response. Ruka always had his scroll on hand. ‘You killed a Deathstalker? Awesome! You aren’t hurt are you? Also, don’t be mad about not getting to kill a bunch of Grimm. They probably cleared the forest so they wouldn’t have to worry about you guys dying. As for you getting covered in the Grimm goo… I find that hilarious.’ 

‘No, I’m not hurt. Yeah, I guess that makes sense, having your students die the first day would be bad. Asshole, what if I mutate into a fucking Grimm? Wouldn’t be so hilarious then, now would it?’ Church glared at the screen, hoping that somehow it would convey his facial expression.

‘If you mutated into a Grimm? Well, I certainly would have a story for everyone in the village. I would also certainly win the award for weirdest daughter.’

‘Haha, real funny. Seriously so fucking funny. …Did you ever tell headmaster Ozpin my first name?’ He might as well get a direct answer. 

‘No… Why? Did he say it?’ Church bit his lip slightly. Ozpin did announce to the whole school what his name was and Ruka didn’t tell him. How did Ozpin know? 

‘No, just wondering. Anyway, how's it back home? Lonely? Do you miss my awesomeness already?’ 

Church felt eyes on him, leading him to look up and see Raven staring at him. “What?” Raven shook her head then went back to looking at her scroll. Church stared at her for a moment longer, before he went back to his own scroll. She was definitely an odd person. 

‘Ash and Jasmine have been coming over, so I hardly think about you at all.’ Ash and Jasmine were Church and Ruka’s neighbors; the three had gone to Shade academy together along with Ruka’s late wife Iris. 

‘Yeah, yeah, love you too buddy.’ 

Church didn’t expect a response from Ruka as that seemed like the end of the conversation, Ruka however, surprised him by replying. ‘How are your teammates? Don’t think I didn’t notice how you didn’t bring them up.’ 

Church winced. He had hoped that Ruka hadn’t noticed. ‘My partner, Qrow, is okay. I might even grow to enjoy his company, right now he’s bearable. Qrow’s twin sister, Raven, is also bearable. We had an awesome conversation about being skeptical. She's even putting those skeptical skills to use right now. She is trying to get a look at what I’m doing on my scroll, but other than that she’s fine. My last teammate, Tai, is by far my least favorite. He talks non stop, I wish I could fucking mute him. Think I could trade my semblance in for a mute semblance?’ Church had wanted to say more about Tai. Go off on a rant, but he was smart enough to know what makes an angry dad and a very slow painful death for Tai. Church would only sic an angry Ruka on the Director, no one else. Well, maybe Felix, but they were both long dead. 

‘Summer, you have to learn to tolerate people better, nobody is perfect. When I started at Shade, Ash and I always argued. I don’t know how many times Jasmine and Iris had to stop us from fighting. It wasn’t until our second year when Jasmine got seriously injured from us bickering on a mission, that we realized how stupid we were being and started acting like the huntsmen we were training to be. I don’t want it to take you that long. Please, tell me you will try? I know you have trouble with social interactions, but you have to try.’ 

‘Okay… I will.’ With that, Church closed his scroll and looked at Raven. "Alright Raven, this is an issue of utmost importance. We are pranking Qrow. How should we go about it?" Hazing or pranking someone was the best way he could think of to break the ice with his new teammates.

A smirk split across Raven's face, before she hummed in thought. Nearly only a second later, she snapped her fingers. "Kilt." Church gave her the "What the fuck are you talking about" face. "Switch one of our skirts with Qrow's pants and tell him it's a kilt. Trust me, he will definitely go for it."

Church nodded, pausing mid stride. "Why do you want me to do it?"

Raven's smirk grew. "Well, it was your idea. Plus, when he comes after who did it, I don't want it to be me.” 

Alpha's face slipped into a thin line. "Traitor."

"Gotta go where the going is good."

Sighing in resignation, Church grinned. "Fine, but I'm taking all the credit if I'm the fall guy." It was the least she could offer him if he was taking whatever the punishment would be.

The black and red bitch flared her arms out. "By all means, credit is all yours."

He walked over to the uniforms. Quickly swapping the bottom of Qrow’s uniform with Raven’s, before he stuffed Qrow’s pants underneath his own bag. One of Raven’s skirts could easily pass for the uniform’s skirt, so she would be fine. The reason Church didn’t take the mismatched outfit? He didn’t own a single skirt. 'It's good, but I could do better.'

With a grin that would put any shark to shame, Church went into the bathroom, coming back out with scissors and razor. And with delicate accuracy, Church cut off the back of Qrow's hair  before shaving off the last of it. It was perfect, Qrow wouldn't be able to see it unless he was really looking for it. Church loved pranks; it was one of his favorite pastimes.

Raven laughed at seeing the monstrosity Church had created. "Remind me not to get on your pranking warpath."

Church cleaned up the evidence, making it seem like nothing had happened. "Keep helping me and you won't." Church went back over to his bed and opened his scroll to read recent news. He was surprised to see that many of the news articles revolved around the string of murders up in Atlas. There must have been more of them than he had thought.

Tai woke up first out of the two boys, where he grabbed his uniform and went into the bathroom. When he came out, he saw the mess that was Qrow's hair. His eyes flitted over to Church, but after seeing the grin on his face, wisely turned away, acting like he saw nothing. After the threat during initiation and the one after the ceremony Tai seemed to finally be learning to keep his mouth shut.

Alpha turned back to his scroll, filtering out the murders. Instead skimming for any news regarding anyone he knew. Or, at least that's what he told himself. In truth, it was to stave off boredom. They had twenty minutes to kill before they had to start heading to class.

Raven tipped her head to Church, trying to see what her teammate was looking at. Church internally sighed, if that was her normal behavior it would get annoying quickly. “Y’know, you could just ask what I’m reading.” 

She recoiled, embarrassed that she had been caught, which didn’t stop her from looking back over Church’s shoulder again. “Would you tell me?”

“Nope, I’d say fuck off.” He emphasized his point by flipping her off. Raven only rolled her eyes. What could he say? He was a simple person.

Alpha tapped his fingers against his arm, before groaning, and getting to his feet. He swiped his uniform, then headed into the bathroom to change. ‘Alright, first day of class coming up. …I can’t believe I just said that. Going to class for anything besides combat class or maybe Grimm studies is irrelevant. I already know all the answers, I’m a fucking AI. All this hush-hush shit gets real fucking annoying sometimes.’ Church finished his outfit with the skirt —which he was rather unhappy about wearing— before he stepped out of the bathroom, letting Raven slide in.

Church walked over to Qrow, shoving his shoulder. “Hey Knock-off Raven, you need to get up.” When Qrow had yet to wake, Church shoved him off the bed. Qrow sat bolt up, looking around before he remembered where he was. He glared up at Church. “Oh good, you’re awake. We have class in five minutes, you’d better hurry.”

Qrow rubbed his eyes, before stretching his arms above his head. Alpha held his breath, hoping Qrow's hands wouldn't brush the back of his head. Luckily, his hands did not. 

Knock-off Raven got up, walked over to the dresser, and examined his outfit. “What’s this?” Qrow held up the skirt for emphasis. 

“It’s a kilt.” Qrow narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Trust me, I know these things. We were all supposed to be given one, but some fuck up happened where Tai ended up with that disgusting uniform. It’s traditional for the men to wear kilts. Anyways, we don't have time to waste. Now, hurry up and get changed, we’re leaving with or without you.” Church gave Qrow a slight push towards the bathroom, which Raven had just exited.

Once the door was shut, Church let a shit eating grin spread across his face. Raven had one that matched his own. Tai just had his head in his hand, but you could see a slight grin on his face. 'Damn, I don't know if I can make it to the first class. Let alone through it. Honestly, I can't believe he bought that. He's dumber than I thought.' When the door opened, they all put on their poker faces. 

"Alright, come on you assholes. Let's get going." Church gestured with his hand for them to follow him. 

Walking down the hallways was a challenge all in itself. Everyone they passed started laughing incessantly, only pausing to comment that Qrow had "nice legs". That had almost blown the whole prank, but luckily he was able to pull it back together.

It was by pure luck that they made it to the first class without it being ruined. Church kept his composure as they sat down the rest of the class barely holding in their laughter. Qrow noticed many of the female —but also some of the male— students staring at his legs. So being him, he stood and put his leg on the table, gesturing with his arms. “Like what you see?”

At which point, the entire class room was filled with unbridled laughter. It lasted a considerably long time, luckily for Church it seemed Qrow thought they were laughing at his joke. ‘If things continue like this then he’ll for sure go through the whole day wearing a skirt.’

The doors to the room slammed shut as the professor walked in. “Quiet! I want to have a nice orderly class understand?” There were a few nods of affirmation, but otherwise there was no response. She slammed her foot into the ground, shaking the room. “Understand?” That got a verbal reply. “Good. Next time I ask you a question I want you to answer it. My name is Professor Fuchsia, you will address me as such. My job is to teach you all first year battle tactics. There will be tests, so it would be wise for you all to listen.”

Church leaned forward in his seat. He had seen his schedule, there were only a handful of classes that got his interest. This was one of them. He had problems coming up with strategies on the fly; his hope was that the class would give him inspiration. 

By the end of the class he had not increased his knowledge, but it was only the first day, he still had hope for it. 

The following classes were much the same, the only difference being that Church fell asleep during them; they were much more academically based, meaning that since Church was an AI it was redundant and a waste of time for him. 

Church dragged Qrow through the sea of students that were swarming the hallways. Lunch was only for an hour, Church didn’t want to miss any of it. STRQ —without Church’s knowledge— had decided to stick together, since aside from one period, there were always two or more of them together.

“Slow down Church, it's not like the food will run out.” Qrow tried to explain, but Church had none of it.

Alpha snapped his head to Qrow. “The good food will. Next time I’ma leave your ass behind so you can get the crap food, then you’ll know why I’m hurrying.” Qrow merely shook his head.

A large line had already formed when they entered the cafeteria, extending to the opposite side. Church quickly dragged Qrow to the end of the line, cutting off a group of three students who could only laugh at Qrow. Knock-off Raven leaned in to Church. “Do you know what that’s all about?”

Church glanced behind them. “I wouldn’t worry about them.” Qrow raised an eyebrow, but shrugged off the odd behavior as normal for Church.

The line moved quickly through the cafeteria. Church could see the food piled high, last time he had gotten the crap food but now he knew what to go for. Church saw Qrow’s eyes flick around his figure, making him frown. Tucker had once pointed out that he had gained weight so he knew the signs; what Qrow was doing was one of them.

The AI piled his food high, ignoring Qrow’s barely hidden glances. Scanning the room he found an empty table, Knock-off Raven following behind him. They ate in silence until Raven and Tai joined them. “Hey guys, how was your class?”

Church shoveled in more of his food, before mumbling a reply. “Boring as fuck.”

Qrow jammed his elbow into Church’s stomach, making the AI nearly choke on his food. Alpha responded in kind by slamming Qrow’s head into the table. Raven and Tai watched the display without any reaction. Qrow had brought it on himself. “Church wouldn’t know how the class went; she slept through it.” 

Raven gave the AI a pointed look. He paused his eating when he noticed them staring at him. “What? I knew everything already.”

“How do you know that you knew everything if you fell asleep in class?” Tai’s question only received a stare like the answer was obvious. 

Alpha rolled his eyes, before getting to his feet, going back into the lunch line for seconds. His team watched him go, before starting a new conversation. It was strange to him, usually he would have loved a carefree conversation like that, but now he couldn’t care less. Perhaps it had to do with him becoming a full AI again? He knew things had changed when he was split apart. For instance; his ability to aim. He had secretly practiced but had never gotten any better, he had only thought he just sucked but now he wondered if he physically hadn’t been able to aim correctly.

‘Just how much did the Director fuck with me?’ Church clenched his free hand, before taking a long breath, slowly releasing his bubbling anger. ‘Whatever he did doesn’t matter now. He's dead and I’m whole.’ He took a multitude more of deep breaths, before reigning in his anger.

It was still hard for him to think about how much the Director had tortured him. He had many nightmares of being locked in that room, helpless, alone, and in pain. Since remembering the Directors own memories it had gotten ten times worse, seeing yourself torture yourself was an odd, yet horrifying image.

Church shook his head, bringing himself out of his absent-minded state. Burying those memories where he buried all the others: underneath mounds of Blood Gulch memories. Stepping up, he grabbed his food before heading back to his team. He listened boredly to their conversation as he ate, not partaking in the slightest.

There were only two classes left. The first one they all had. The second one it would just be him and Qrow again. So with great reluctance, Church dragged his team to their next class. 

The first class went off without a hitch. There was the usual snickering and hidden laughter, but nothing that the oblivious Qrow picked up on. The second one, however, was more troubling. During the walk to get to the class, Knock-off Raven started getting suspicious, even more so when half the class burst out laughing when they entered.

It was nearing the end of class, but Alpha was getting worried. A team of students were talking in hushed whispers while pointing to Qrow. It wasn't the mocking pointing though. It looked like a whole team of do-gooders might interfere with his prank.

When the end of class was signaled, Church rushed to get Qrow out of the room, but it was too late. A blonde-haired deer faunus pulled Qrow to the side; he couldn't hear what was being said, but by the way she gestured to his “kilt” then to her skirt made his survival instincts kick in. ‘Fuck it! I’m not staying while she tells him about his hair.’ 

Church dashed for the door, before he heard Qrow’s footfalls close behind him. Luckily the AI was faster then Qrow, but just as he started pulling away… he tripped over his own feet.

Alpha felt a sense of dread wash over him as he scrambled to his feet. He felt Qrow’s hand brush over his arms, which made him run faster. He was positive Qrow would have brushed off the kilt, but from what he had gathered, the man loved his hair.

Church activated his semblance but could still tell Qrow was following him, probably listening to the AI’s rushed footsteps. As Church was chased by Qrow, he near continuously tripped or someone stepped into his path; it was as if he had the most rotten luck possible. ‘Actually, it would kinda fit that I have bad luck with my track record, especially anything involving Caboose.’

He dipped down a smaller hallway, slamming into a door that had just been opened. Church didn’t have a moment's hesitation as he shoved himself through the door, shutting it behind him. He could hear Qrow run past, leading him to dropping his semblance.

A cough from behind him signaled his attention. He slowly turned his head behind him, noticing he was in fact in a dorm room. A bespectacled man with green hair stared back at him with crossed arms. The AI at least had the decency to look embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head. “Heh, sorry, I needed an escape.”

The room’s original occupant hummed, nodding. “Might I ask from what?” It was phrased like a question, but that was far from the impression that Church got, as was rightly so when someone barged into your room.

“I pulled a prank on my teammate, he got pissed, wants to grind me into a pulp. It’s a fucking good first day.” Church placed a hand on his hip, forgoing his momentary awkwardness for his usual bravado. 

The green-haired man raised an eyebrow. “Ah, am I correct in assuming your teammate is the one who dressed in a skirt the whole day?” Church merely nodded, to which the man good-naturedly shook his head. “Can’t say I blame him for being mad. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Bartholomew Oobleck.” 

Church did find it weird that he even thought of having manners when the AI was the one to barge into his room, but chose to ignore the train of thought. It would be for the best to quickly move past it. “Yeah… I can’t pronounce that, so I’m gonna call you Barty, ‘kay? Okay. I’m Church.”

Bartholomew snapped his fingers. “You’re the leader of Team STRQ, right? Our whole year heard of the Deathstalker you killed during initiation.”

He was genuinely shocked that killing a simple Deathstalker got such activity, but it shouldn’t have surprised him. He had to remind himself that they were just teenagers, not the middle-aged adults he was accustomed to and frankly preferred. “Word spreads pretty quickly, that normal?” Bartholomew quirked an eyebrow, opening his mouth, ready to question what he meant when Church rephrased his query. “In school, I mean. I’ve never been to one before.”

The bespectacled man gave him an odd look but chose not to comment on it. “Going off my own personal experiences? Yes, many even spread faster. Now that I think of it, it truly is amazing just how fast rumors can spread around. Sometimes they spread around an entire school in a matter of hours.” 

Alpha felt like he’d just opened the floodgates, but kept the feeling to himself. While the good man rambled on, Church slid away from him. The speed at which words were flying out of his mouth was more than Church wanted to process. “Shit man, look at the time; I really have to be going.”

Bartholomew glanced up at the clock on the wall; it was later than he had previously thought. “If you’re quite sure your teammate isn’t still after you, then I guess I’ll see you later.”

Church chuckled dangerously close to a scoff, before tipping his head back and exiting the room. Instead of heading back to his room, he headed for the cliffs to get a little peace and quiet away from yappy teens.

The sun was recessed on the horizon, coating the area in an orange light. The light bounding off the academy’s windows nearly blinded the reincarnated AI. He scowled at the offender, yet the window seemed to shimmer more, almost as if challenging him. Luckily for the window, Church backed down, not wanting to break school property on his first day.

Alpha sank down onto the grass near the cliffs, taking a minute to just enjoy the whistle of the wind. It was something he had found himself doing almost daily now. It might have been the fact that he could now feel the wind against him and the remaining sun rays on his face, or it could have been that he now simply had the time to just sit. Something he hadn’t had in awhile, not since Blood Gulch. But even that wasn’t the same, as someone always wanted something, whether it was his own team or the Reds.

A soft set of footsteps alerted him to someone behind him, making him audibly sigh. ‘One moment of fucking peace! Is that so much to ask for?’ Ozpin stepped up next to him, standing silently, staring out into the dwindling light. Church didn’t acknowledge his arrival, content with not breaking the silence. 

Not a peep escaped either of the two’s lips, the only sound being the chirping of songbirds. It was a test and Church didn’t feel like losing. “How was your first day at Beacon, Miss Rose?” He had spoken first but for some reason, Church didn’t feel like he had won.

Church leaned back on his hands, taking on a relaxed pose. Their game wasn’t quite over yet, he hadn’t won, but he hadn’t lost. “Honestly? A little boring.” Church left it open, waiting eagerly for Ozpin to fall into his trap. The headmaster instead only hummed, giving him a glance to continue. Knowing he had skillfully stepped around it annoyed Church, but he moved on without hesitation. “A combat school centered around academics is not what I would call interesting.”

Ozpin let a smile slide onto his lips. It was hard to tell it was fake, but Church had become an expert on reading such things. “Patience is a virtue.” He did not offer up any more words as the two fell back into silence.

At first glance the silence seemed calm but underneath the tension was thick. The two kept their positions, not moving. Church wanted so badly to outright question how he knew his name but that would have meant losing their little game, something he refused to do.

“A virtue it may be, but I ain’t no angel.” The hands were dealt and Church held most of the cards. Alpha could feel some ulterior motive dripping off Ozpin’s words, it reminded him too closely of the Director. Church remembered exactly what he had sounded like talking to the Freelancers. The way he gave them just enough information to keep them hanging on, just enough rope to hang themselves.

The headmaster smiled, tipping his head. Church wasn’t sure if the man agreed with him or if he was silently laughing at him, but the gestures did anything but give the AI confidence. The wind whistled around them, whipping Church’s hair about, but neither of them moved. If someone had taken a picture of them it would have looked peaceful, serene even. ‘I wonder if it’s too early in our fucking waiting game to leave? I really just wanted some fucking peace and quiet, not this bullshit.’

“I’m sure your team is wondering where you are. You should get back to them.” The statement shook Church from his thoughts bringing him back to the present. He turned his head towards Ozpin, the man only moving to sip his drink. Alpha hummed but made absolutely no effort to actually get up.

It was only once the sun had fully gone down and twilight appeared did Church climb to his feet. It had only been ten to fifteen minutes of waiting, but it felt like an eternity to him. Everything about Ozpin just sent the wrong signals to him; maybe it was his paranoia, but coming from his multiple lifetimes of knowledge, when something felt off, it usually was.

Church wandered back to his dorm room without a second thought, not even sparing the headmaster a glance. He could feel the man’s eyes on him, drilling holes into his head but he continued on. 

Not many students walked the paths; they were reserved to their rooms now, or one of the other buildings they were allowed into at a later time of day. Church spied a sign for the gym but decided to ignore it for the night. He did log it into his memories; he would definitely make good use of that in the four years to come. ‘Shit. I have four fucking years of this left. I just want to kill some shit, is that so much to ask for?’

Oddly, Church did feel like he had answered his own question. He pushed open the door to his dormitory, a blast of chilled air greeted him. He frowned in disappointment; the air was far too warm for his taste. ‘I guess Sidewinder ruined my body temperature to any semblance of cold.’

He accidentally slammed his shoulder into a male student, who glared and offered a retort which the AI promptly ignored. The orange-haired man scoffed, tossing his head back and walking on. 

Ignoring the elevator, he opted for the stairs. The metallic thumping as he made his way up was the only sound in the stairwell. Not many people used it, which was why he did. He was many things, but a people person he was not. 

What had oddly been cleared from his mind was the prank he had pulled on Qrow. So it was to his great surprise when he opened the door to his room and was tackled the moment he stepped into the dorm.

Church quickly brought up his arms to protect his face while he kicked Qrow off him. Knock-off Raven was ready for the defense, he quickly retaliated by pinning Church’s legs under him. The flurry of attacks that followed were too fast for Alpha to get a shot in, he settled with blocking. 

Raven and Tai glanced up from whatever they had been doing: Raven took one look before going back to her scroll. Tai held a more concerned look, but after a second did turn back to playing games on his scroll.

Alpha grabbed Qrow’s ear, pulling to the side, dragging the tall, lithe man off him. Quickly using the surprise of the attack to his advantage, Church threw his legs around Qrow, pinning him in a much harder grip than he had previously held Church in. “Fair?”

Knock-off Raven struggled for a little more before sighing and nodding. The second Church got off him; he socked the AI, who only scowled. “Now, we’re fair.”

Church reset his jaw, holding his tongue from any witty retort. He didn’t want to get wailed on twice in under five minutes. He stood to his feet, grabbing his bag from where it had been discarded upon his attack, before finally slamming the door shut. 

He splayed the number of books from his classes out onto his bed before tapping into his AI side. His silver eyes seemed to glow as he speed read the books. He decided to fully read the books to save himself some time; the only one of which he did not was Dust Studies, which he would read at the pace that the chapters were assigned. 

He grabbed his scroll, ready to read more news to keep himself busy, before he saw Raven struggling with her homework. Normally he would have ignored it, but Ruka’s text stuck in his head. ‘Damn you, Ruka.’ Begrudgingly, he closed his scroll and walked over to Raven. He sat down next to her. “...Would you like help?”

Raven eyed him, her mouth opening to say something, but she soon closed it and nodded, shifting her books so he could get a better look at them.

Chapter Text

Church groaned, bashing his head against the wall. Yesterday he had helped Raven with her homework, he was just trying to be nice. But Raven had somehow convinced him to tutor the rest of the team. So here he was outside the library, trying to work up the nerve to walk inside. ‘That is the last time I help someone. Every good thing I try to do always ends up biting me in the ass.’ His folded arms and the scowl on his face told everyone how he felt about the situation.

Groaning one last time, he pushed the door open, quickly spotting his team at the far side of the library. He felt a sense of dread build in his stomach, but pushed the budding feeling down. He sighed deeply, before resigning himself to his fate.

He approached the table with his scowl still sitting firmly on his face. Qrow, however, had a shit-eating grin that rivaled that of a kid in a candy store, most likely enjoying the sweet karma. “Alright guys, I want this done quickly. Because frankly, I have more important things to do.”

Tai propped his head up on his hand, a grin splitting across his face. Whether it would be intentional or not, the man was prolonging Church’s torture. “And what “important things” would those be?”

The AI growled, slamming down into the fourth chair. “Literally anything else.” He threw his scroll in front of him, a holographic image appearing in the air. “Now, let’s get this shit show started.”

As Church explained—what he thought were—basic rules, a smell hit him. It wasn’t strong by any means, but it was distinct. He just couldn’t remember who it was that always smelled like Dusty Miller plants. It was someone who was around him often—that much he was sure of—someone who greatly annoyed him if the sudden headache was any clue. He resisted the urge to pinch his nose the same way he did when Tucker would annoy the shit out of him.

He tried to turn his brain back to what he was talking about, but his mouth was already on autopilot, so why not delve deeper into his memories? All of which were carefully ordered and grouped. It was almost like looking at a bunch of folders, one of which read, “Do not open under any circumstance.” That particular grouping he knew held a short list of memories of all the times he was killed, mostly by Caboose. Who sadly had a higher kill count than him mainly because of that strange realm he and Sarge had stumbled onto once upon a time while himself and Grif were stuck in a jail cell.

Another folder read “A. Church.” that he ignored without a second thought. It wasn’t good for him to look at those memories, he knew that now. It only took him three lifetimes to learn it, but he did eventually.

Finally, he found the folder labeled “Remnant idiots.” Sifting carefully through it he came across a collection of morons. A girl from his “hometown” Abnus jumped out at him. Her name was Aster and she annoyed the living daylight out of him, but she smelled like dirty socks, not flowers. 

Another person stood out to him, a boy, again from Abnus named Sterling. He had followed Church around like a lost puppy for weeks, sending him bouquets of flowers trying to woo him, not accepting no for answer. Church even had tried to fight him to scare him off, but Sterling’s parents had stopped the AI from doing any real harm. Luckily for Church, when Ruka returned from his mission he scared Sterling into never coming around again. It could have been him, seeing as Church didn’t remember what he smelled like but for some reason he doubted that Sterling would have followed him all the way to Beacon. 

Which begged the question of who followed him? It wasn’t someone from Beacon; the smell wouldn’t be so familiar if he had only been around it for a few days. Wracking his brain for answers, he only succeeded in giving himself a headache. It was someone he had spent time with, which ruled out every other place on Remnant aside from Abnus; he didn’t get out much.

He metaphorically closed his eyes, calming his brain enough to stop the tempest of thoughts. Since it was someone from Abnus that meant he could narrow it down, Abnus wasn’t exactly a city; it was in fact barely a town. With that train of thought, he began recalling all the people in the village. Many people he crossed off without a second thought; others he took his time remembering. That was until he came across one person who had slipped his mind—someone to whom he should have immediately gone—his fucking stalker, Alroy.

He glanced around the room, looking for the aptly named red headed idiot. If it wasn’t the red hair that let Church find him, then it would be his unsettling gold eyes. ‘Like I’m one to talk, I have silver eyes for fuck’s sake. Who has silver eyes?!’

“Church?” The question brought the AI back to the present, who quickly noticed Qrow and Raven were gone. He glanced towards the clock and was surprised to find out two hours had passed since he entered the library. A small part of him wondered what exactly he taught them, but the rest of him just didn’t give a shit.

The hologram was turned off, which told him that they should have been finished. But judging by the way he was standing next to the table with his hands pressed against it, Tai needed some extra help.

Alpha shook his head, pushing away his thoughts on Alroy, setting them on the back burner for the time being. “W-what? Oh, right… uh… what was I just saying?” Church snapped his eyes to the text books in front of Tai, hoping to find some clue, but the plethora of different books on different topics only ended up confusing him more. Surely he hadn’t been staying after to help Tai with extra subjects, had he?

Tai tilted his head, narrowing his eyes; unsure about the sudden change. He slowly nodded his head to the Dust Studies book. “You were telling me about the different dust combinations.”

Church rubbed the back of his head, trying to summon up any and all knowledge on the subject he could. It wasn’t like he’d suddenly forgotten it but it did feel scrambled, probably from poking and prodding at his memories. ‘I really need to learn to not go searching for shit in my memories. Every time I do, I swear something bad happens.’

“Right… Dust doesn’t always follow the rules of nature when it comes to combinations. Take, for instance, Lava Dust, which is made out of Burn, Electricity, and Air Dust. A combination unlikely enough that it wasn’t created until about half a century ago. Important distinction: I said “created,” not discovered. Usually, if it takes three or more base Dust elements, then it is man-made, though there are some exceptions to that rule. One such exception is Gravity Dust, which is an unknown combination. As of the past two months, scientists have narrowed it down to being three or more elements, but it is extremely volatile when in its early stages, making it hard to experiment on.”

Taking a breath, he gathered his thoughts again. “Another exception is Earth Dust. It is oddly plentiful but is commonly mistaken for Burn or Lava Dust because of its orange color. The combination for Earth Dust was figured out accidentally five years ago, when a student messed around with the wrong Dusts. It uses Air, Water, and…” He turned his head to Tai, waiting for him to answer the silent question.

Tai only stared back, before figuring out Church was talking to him. “Um… Uh… Okay, you said it was orange… So, Lava Dust?”

Church shook his head. “No, Lava Dust is not a fucking base element; it cannot be used to create another type.”

“Burn Dust then?”

“Yes. The last Dust type I’m willing to talk about is Hard-Light Dust, which, while man-made, is still an outlier to a rule. The rule being that quantities don’t matter for Dust. Aside from how much Dust you’ll end up with, you could put in a gallon of Burn Dust and a pinch of Water Dust and you’ll get Steam Dust. Flip the quantities and you’ll still get the same thing. Hard-Light Dust, however, will explode on you if you mess up the amount making it one of, if not the most dangerous, Dust to work on.”

The yellow-haired idiot seemed to shiver at the thought, something he had every right to think. Over the past day Tai had proven his incompetence with Dust. 

Alpha grabbed his scroll, shoving it into one of his pockets. None of the books on the table were his, so he simply stood and left. It was a great feeling when the breeze blew across him. He didn’t even care that it was hot, only that it wasn’t the stiff, musty, library air. Before he wouldn’t have cared too much. His time in Blood Gulch had made him not care, but his time on Remnant had him outside—without a suit of armor between him and the world—in the fresh air, it didn’t feel right to be cooped up again.

He stretched his arms above his head, cracking his shoulders. “Damn it, that took so long.” Church hoped that he wasn’t going to be the team’s designated tutor, but for some reason he knew his fate was already sealed.

A sign with the building names caught his attention. Specifically, the one that read “Campus Gymnasium”. That would definitely do the trick to stretch out his stiff limbs. He pushed open the doors; the gym was large and grand. The signature white pillars held up the two story ceiling with a certain elegance that did not fit a gym. The floors were much the same: polished to perfection. Church felt bad for whoever cleaned the floors, it must take hours to get them clean. 

He dropped his bag and jacket in a heap on the floor, not much caring for the school issued things. His hand traced the hilt of his Caboose’s Retribution, he was supposed to store them in his locker until further notice, but he never was a stickler for the rules. This time his… defiant choices worked in his favor. 

Walking over to one of the arenas, he set up a practice robot. The robots weren’t particularly hard to fight but if you had any opening they would capitalize on it, they were programmed specifically for that. How to program something like that? Church did not have the answers. He could probably find them if he searched, but he was better off not wasting brain cells on that.

He brought out his sickles, getting into his normal combat stance, waiting only a moment as the robots slowly came online. The bots were humanoid; the main difference was their limbs were far longer than a humans, giving them an edge over the students who dared to fight them.

The robot rushed him with a speed that at first surprised him. The practice bots at his hometown’s arena were much slower; perhaps a state of disrepair had caused them to slow? He knew for a fact they received no maintenance, unlike the ones in front of him which looked so new he wouldn’t have been surprised if they had just been bought. 

Alpha jumped to the side, avoiding the initial strike, only to be caught by the second one. While the bot’s arm was extended, Church lashed out with Tucker’s Vengeance, slicing just underneath the bot’s armpit, a spot that would have virtually crippled a human opponent's arm.

It jumped back, assessing the damage to it’s body before settling into a stance that protected it’s weakened side. The bots were designed to simulate a human enemy, hence the assessing it did.

Alpha burst forward, throwing Caboose’s Retribution at the bot. The chain wrapped around its injured arm, once Church had felt the blade secured he tugged hard on the handle. The bot pulled against the force but the metastable AI had already pulled the other off balance; a swift kick to the dumb AI’s midsection was his reward. 

A grin formed on Church’s lips. ‘Beating the shit out of things is a fucking good stress reliever.’ He grabbed the bot’s arms, throwing it to the ground. ‘Every single fucking time Alroy comes around, he messes with my head.’ A swift kick from Church had the stomach of the robot bending from the force; the only price Alpha paid was a slightly bruised foot, his aura covering most of the damage. ‘Does he do it on purpose?’ The robot sprung up grabbing Church’s foot, throwing him like he had it. ‘No, probably not. When someone takes up the habit of calling you a goddess they probably respect you.’

Church landed with a thud, his back slamming against the border of the arena. His eyes flickered over to the aura monitor, he was down twenty percent. Ruka had once told him that small aura levels ran in the family; Church knew it was impossible for him to have inherited any of that, but the more Church fought, the more he felt like he had inherited it, somehow.

Deftly jumping to his feet, Alpha transformed Tucker’s Vengeance to its rifle form, taking quick aim of the fast approaching robot. He fired off one of his more… explosive rounds. It pierced the practice bot’s body before an explosion ripped through its core. Sure, maybe he didn’t need to use such excessive force; it was just a practice fight after all, but Church hadn’t quite figured out how to moderate his fighting, either he went full out or not at all.

“Do try to not completely destroy our training dummies, Miss Rose. Nonetheless, an impressive fight.”

Church yelped, training his sights on the voice before his eyes focused on Ozpin. “Holy shit man. Give me a break, I could have shot you.”

The headmaster smiled, bringing his coffee cup to his lips, hiding his expression behind it as he took a small sip. “As much as that would amuse me, try not to harm any fellow students during your training sessions.”

The AI nodded, switching his rifle back to its melee form. His now-free hand coming to the back of his head. “It won’t happen again, Ozpin… probably.” He was still just as suspicious of Ozpin as he had been the day before, but now he was trying to be tactful.

Ozpin nodded. “Very good. I’ll see you around, Miss Rose.” With that, he strode out the doors, his footsteps not making a sound as he walked.

“Yeah, I bet you will.” Something about Ozpin really did just give him a bad feeling. Plus the fact that he kept popping up all over the school, conveniently where Church happened to be. The AI briefly thought of what Ruka would do to Ozpin if he was informed that the headmaster was following his daughter around. It would be a gruesome fight; Ruka probably wouldn’t win, but it would be entertaining either way. ‘Really a win-win for me.’  Tapping his fingers against his leg, a smile crossed his face at the image.

Some would say he was a sadist, but in reality he just didn’t care… about— actually that was worse. He was comfortable with being labeled a sadist, it was better than whatever he was thinking of.

His eyes trailed over to the entrance to the gym, a flock of students had recently entered leaving it pretty crowded. ‘Nope, I’m not dealing with this many fucking people. I’m way too much of a loner for this crap.’ Church collected up his things, heading out just as another group came in. ‘Note to self: Never go to the gym in the evening.’

He shouldered a passing student by accident, only to ignore the burning glare he received. He was used to ignoring little things like that. Some of the time he didn’t see the looks, most of the time he just didn’t care, it was kind of his deal.

Church stuffed his hands into his pockets, his hood pulled over his head, shading his face from the heat. ‘Beacon is gonna drive me crazy at this rate.’ A stone bounced off his foot as he walked, the sudden instinct to continue kicking it was immediately followed. ‘I could go to Vale this weekend. I never have been to the city before, it'll at least be interesting.’

As the sun lowered the noise did as well, the number of students out and about thinned quickly, leaving the quiet warbles of the birds to once again be heard. The AI felt a sense of annoyance and relief as he approached the dorms. He didn't want to deal with the rest of his team, but at least he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone unexpected.

He skittered up the steps of the dormitory, he never was one to use the elevator. Something about the confined space didn’t sit right with him. He wasn’t entirely sure where it had come from. In Blood Gulch, he had hid in multiple small spaces to escape Caboose’s and Tucker’s constant whining; it was only once he had arrived on Remnant did he have the fear. All he knew for sure was that he would not attempt to deal with it. He thought of it like his fear of the dark, an unfound, annoying fear. Yet, one he was okay with not tangling with. A deep buried feeling told him he already knew the answer to those fears, but it was too deep to even guess at what it was trying to tell him.

Alpha saw the door to his dorm room at the end of the hallway, almost calling to him. Once he got there he could sleep the rest of the day away, not that there was much of it left, but that was beside the point.

He approached the door, his hand going to the doorknob before he froze when he heard Raven’s voice on the other side. “No way is she gonna agree to this. I'm only doing it for Qrow, what reason does she have?”

Church heard Tai sigh heavily. “I don’t know, Church might go for it.” Raven’s laugh followed immediately after.

He let his hand fall to his side, before he promptly turned around. Only to bump into Qrow, who wore a large grin as well as a hat to cover his new hairdo. “Where you going, Church? I’ve been looking for you.”

“Anywhere but ‘ere.” He attempted to slip past Qrow, but the larger man snatched his wrist, opening their room door without another second.

“Look who I found!” Qrow’s arm waved around dramatically as he released his grasp on the AI’s wrist.

Alpha promptly smacked Qrow upside the head, a scowl settling on his face. He turned his gaze away from Knock-off Raven, scanning the room for whatever had wound up Raven. He saw nothing until his eyes finally settled on his teammates; Branwen looked uncomfortable, sitting on her bed with one arm latched onto the other awkwardly, while Taiyang sat backwards in the desk chair facing Raven with an anxious, yet excited, look.

He could feel his insides twist, whatever had caused their reaction was something he did not want to tangle with. ‘Of course there had to be something, it couldn't just be a quiet evening where no shit happens.’

Church walked over to his section of the room, he could practically feel the tension in the room. He knew they were waiting for him to settle before they let loose whatever problem or scheme they had cooked up. He dropped his things in a heap on his bed. Many things he was, but a neat and orderly person he was not. Grabbing his discarded nightwear —simple dark blue sweatpants and a light blue tank top— he headed into the bathroom to change.

Upon exiting, he found that Qrow had sat down on the floor with his back pressed against the door, creating a triangle between him, Tai, and Raven. Church’s bed made the triangle into a sort of circle, which was probably what they were going for.

The AI rolled his eyes before tossing his clothes haphazardly on the floor, his back going to the wall as he stood leaned against it. “Alright, what do you assholes want?”

Raven snapped her head to Tai, a glare set on her face that said this was his idea all the way. “Well …uh… Church, we thought it would be best for us to get to know each other. We are gonna be together for four years after all.” Church couldn’t help but notice the “we” he threw into his sentence to cast blame onto the twins if things went south. “Basically, all you have to do is say something about yourself each time it gets to your turn.”

Alpha crossed his arms, staring dully at the blonde idiot. “You want us to share our secrets like a fucking child’s sleepover. Is that what we are Xiao Long, little kids?”

“They don’t have to be secrets, just facts about yourself.”

“It still sounds like the dumbest shit I’ve heard all day.”

Tai rolled his eyes, a sense of bravado rolling off his shoulders that was common for him; it was all but completely overshadowed by the hot anger pouring off Church in waves. To someone who didn’t know Church it would have been frightening to feel that, but they were starting to learn it was just normal for him. “I’ll go first: I was born and raised on the isle of Patch. See Church, simple.”

Xiao Long’s grin in no way, shape, or form helped Church with his anger. STRQ looked to Church to continue on, but one burning glare from him made them snap their eyes to Raven. “Qrow is my only sibling.”

Knock-off Raven paused under the stares of his teammates, but did come up with an appropriate answer. “I was raised in Mistral.”

And just like that it was back to Alpha’s turn, he knew no amount of skulking would save him from answering. A groan sounded from the reincarnated AI, his lips twisting into a frown. “I was raised in the outer settlements of Vale.”

Church stomached one more round before he laid back on his bed with his headphones on, blocking out the annoying sound of Tai’s voice. Which, admittedly, did seem odd to him since it was his own voice, but it made sense since the blonde-haired idiot said the dumbest things.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Qrow lay down on his bed and Raven and Tai leave the room. He raised an eyebrow to Qrow, wondering where his teammates had gone. “They left to get food.” Alpha hummed, nodding his head slightly, before his eyes widened and he tore his headphones off. Qrow beat him to it though. “Don’t worry they're bringing you back some food.”

The AI narrowed his eyes suspiciously, his fingers tapping nervously against his leg. Yeah, he was a glutton but for all the stress that was put on him he deserved some vice. He at one point tried smoking, but it made him cough too much for his liking. Drinking was his next vice, which he did actually pick up, however, since living with Ruka he had to stop that one. Besides, eating was always something that took his mind off things.

He pulled the headphones over his ears again, muttering a quick, “uh huh.” before going back to his music and scrolling through recent news.

Chapter Text

The days leading up to the weekend were a nightmare and a half; like he had suspected his team had taken his one time act of kindness as a normal thing, leaving him as the team's designated tutor. It would for sure be the last time he did something because of the goodness of his heart.

Church stepped off the airship, taking his first look of Vale proper. It hardly lived up to its name; the streets were covered in trash and homeless people sat in the alleys. A frown set on his face, he pulled up his hood, and started walking. Tucker’s Vengeance needed more ammo, he had spent a lot of it on a sparring match against Taiyang… it wasn’t a proud moment.

As he headed further into the city he noticed the streets becoming cleaner, as well as a lower homeless population. The sidewalks were lined with restaurants, cafes, and the occasional shop. His eyes eventually spotted the dust shop From Dust Till Dawn, it was the highest rated one on his scroll. Of course, it had only been open for a little over a year, but that just added to how good it supposedly was.

Opening the door, a bell sounded from above him, leading the gaze of the employee behind the desk to him. The employee was older, probably late thirties or early forties; his hair was a dark black, not a hint of any graying. Behind the man, Church saw the license that allowed him to sell bullets and Dust hung up on the wall like a diploma, judging by the fact that the name on the license and the name on his nametag matched, the man was probably the owner. 

“Flannery, yeah? Do ya sell any sniper rifle rounds?” It was better for establishing connections to use his name, connections Church desperately needed.

Flannery hummed, gesturing with his head behind him. “There’s a small assortment of them in the back. You’re welcome to look.”

With barely a nod of acknowledgement, the AI in human form headed into the back. ‘It must be scary to own a shop where you sell Dust and bullets. All day people come in asking for high piercing rounds and explosive dust.’

Finally he spotted what he was looking for; the 14.5×114mm HVAP (high-velocity armor-piercing), it was the closest he could find to the UNSC’s own HVAP round. It had taken him some time to first get a hold of it but it was worth the wait, they blasted through walls like paper.

“That’s an excellent round you got in your hand. Not many people can handle the HVAP rounds, say they have too much of a punch to them. I would warn you but you clearly seem to know what you're doing.” Flannery’s eerily quiet footsteps put off Church; he wasn't exactly a small man, he should have made some noise.

Church turned the case of bullets over, holding it closely with the Burn Dust in his other hand, scanning his eyes between the two. “I should, seeing as I’ve used them longer than I can remember.”

Flannery quirked an eyebrow, an amused expression on his face. “Young ones think they know everything.” It was muttered under his breath, but Alpha’s above average hearing picked it up. “Do you want me to ring them up?”

He delicately handed over the volatile Dust, as well as the bullets before following the employee up to the front. While Flannery chattered about mundane things that Church filtered out, the AI’s eyes landed on the Hard-Light Dust in the glass case built into the counter. “How much for a set of that Hard-Light Dust?”

The soul employee seemed annoyed that he was cut off, but quickly replaced it with a mock smile that was practiced to perfection. “Good eye, just got them in the last shipment. That would be five hundred thousand Lien for one set.”

The AI reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet, fishing out a red credit card; he flipped it in his hand for a second before handing it over to Flannery. “Give me one set.” With a deft efficiency Flannery packaged up the items, before handing them, as well as the credit card, back to back to Church.

Alpha felt a soreness in his stomach for the large chunk of money taken out of his account, but at least took pride in the fact that it was his money, not Ruka’s, like some other people —namely Tai— did to their guardian. He pulled out his scroll, quickly checking the balance of his account it read; seven hundred sixty thousand Lien. ‘Damn it, I guess I’ll just have to do some more jobs. I didn’t realize how fucking low it was getting.’

Against his better judgment, he decided to head to one of the cafes. It wasn't on the fancy side, merely just enough class to keep gum from being stuck under the tables, or as he would call it affordable.

The cafe had a couple tables set up outside but Church chose an indoor one, preferring the quiet chatter to the noise of the city. He always preferred the quieter option; perhaps it had to do with his first life in the military, but loud noises were not what he’d call his favorite. ‘Maybe it’s from the times I was blown up with my own goddamn tank!’ Some people would think that it had been too long to hold that grudge but he had been killed; it wasn't like he had just gotten a bruise or something, that death was what had triggered the whole Tex mess.

"Don’t say goodbye. I hate goodbyes.”

Alpha’s hands curled tightly into fists, his knuckles going a ghostly white. A slow breath had him release his fingers, letting circulation back into them. ‘Another thought, I need another fucking train of thought.’ His brain raced a mile a second, his AI senses having kicked in momentarily. Everyone and everything around him slowed down to a near stop, his head tilted down to the ground, eyes closed. He recollected his thoughts, burying any and all memories of his past lives back down in the hole they had crawled out of.

Time slowly sped back up to its usual pace as Church pulled out a chair, slamming into it with enough force it was a miracle it didn’t break. A glare and a half to the waitress had her skip the pleasantries and just take his order.

His fingers tapped against the table in a nonsensical order before he pressed his lips into a thin line when he saw someone in the back corner. The one who had been giving him a headache for the past week; Alroy. With a wave of his hand, he summoned the stalker over. It was better to just deal with the problem. His anger level was already through the roof, what was a little more annoyance gonna hurt? “If it isn’t the one who’s the root of my anger. How’s life been to ya? Oh wait, I don’t fuckin’ care. What do you want, asshole?”

Alroy bent into a deep bow before taking a seat across from Church, a slightly worried expression on his face. “I am merely doing my duty, Goddess. I follow you wherever you go. It is my sworn oath.” Feeling the murderous rage roll off his “goddess”, Alroy picked up the pace of the conversation. “I was following you from afar, like we had discussed, but a little under a week ago a Deathstalker as well as a fellow student tried to kill you. So I took it upon myself to follow you more closely where I would be able to aid you, should something happen again.”

Church put his hand to his forehead, feeling the pulsing headache behind his eyes. Oddly, he had never told Ruka about Alroy, he didn’t want the kid killed or maimed. He was fairly certain he didn’t deserve that, as far as Church knew everyone in Abnus loved Alroy. They said he was the most helpful kind hearted soul they had ever met, that if there was one person to trust it was him. Which begged the question of why he stalked Church? It went against his entire character.

“Fuck off.” He muttered the words under his breath, unsure if Alroy heard or not. Sometimes he debated hurting the kid, but usually came to the same decision: he was better off uninjured to Church. Ultimately, another set of hands might come in handy in a jam when out in the field for Huntsman work.

The two sat in uncomfortable silence, letting it hang between them like a blanket. Church’s silver eyes stared piercingly into Alroy’s golden ones, the taller man seeming small under his gaze. The eyes were the window to the soul; if one knew what to look for, one could easily tell what someone was thinking.

“Goddess, you’re staring.” That was if they had a thought in their head. As far as Church knew, Alroy was just a more fanatical version of Caboose.

Church folded his hands, propping his chin on them. “So I am.” His eyes swept over to his right, landing on the waitress who looked reluctant to serve him. The second their eyes met she rushed over with his order, placing it faster than needed before she skittered back to the kitchen, undoubtedly hiding from him.

Alroy glared at the transaction, standing abruptly from his seat. “How dare she treat you in such a manner! I will deal with her.”

The AI chewed on his food before he rolled his eyes at the dramatic behavior. “Sit.” Without a thought the red-haired man sat with a thunk. “If it had bothered me I would have fucking handled it, got it? I don’t need you babysitting me, I don’t need you standing up for me, what I damn well need from you is to back the hell off.”

“...As is your command.” He stood once again, pausing for a brief second. “I will follow your command anywhere goddess, even if it’s to the end of Remnant, even if it sends me to an early grave. Your life is far more important.” On that note, he turned around and left the cafe.

Church heaved a sigh of relief, slumping back in his chair. The thumping headache still sharp between his temples ‘Everyone on this planet is fucking nuts, no one can convince me otherwise.’ A gunshot went off into the ceiling, drawing his attention. A man stood wearing a black mask with a bag in one hand and the gun in the other. ‘Case in point.’

“Hand over any valuables, now!” He rolled his eyes. Was the guy stupid? Why would you rob a cafe? Sure, it probably had some Lien but not enough to risk prison, if the guy wanted valuable items he should have robbed a Dust store.

Taking the final bite of his food, he activated his semblance, sneaking quietly around the tables towards the robber, who was quickly rounding up people’s things. The AI snapped his foot out at the gun, kicking it across the room, his arm back handing the robber, not doing any real damage but it was enough to distract him while Church grabbed Tucker’s Vengeance. Whipping it across the man’s head, he fell like a ton of bricks knocking him out but otherwise fine.

A lot of people would have taken pity on the man, his Faunus heritage showing in the way of a lion tail, but Church wasn’t most people. Sure, he could sympathize with their situation but that didn’t give them a right to just do whatever they pleased, at least without consequences.

Alpha dropped his semblance, letting the scared civilians see him. “It’s okay folks, I’m a licensed Huntsman.” He put the Lien he owed on the counter before bolting out of the cafe. He wasn't technically allowed to do what he did, but as long as no one found out he’d be fine.

Once he was a reasonable distance away from the cafe, he slowed his jog to a walk, pulling his hood back up. His hands dipped into his pockets, giving the allusion of what Remnantians would consider a normal teen. The distant sound of sirens greeted him not a second later. What could he say? The Vale Police Force worked fast.

The sun was low on the horizon bathing the city in an orange hue, it seemed peaceful in a sense, almost like the city wasn’t full of insane super humans. It was at that time that his scroll buzzed harshly against him, alerting him that someone was calling.

He opened the scroll with a huff, not even bothering to check who was on the other side. “Dear god! What do you want?”

A soft chuckle greeted him, before the person actually spoke up. “Hard day Summer?” Church’s annoyance level rose fourfold as Ruka talked, it was the last thing he needed after speaking with Alroy.

“What do you want, old man?”

“Ouch, can’t a father just want to talk to his daughter?” Another twinge of annoyance.

It always irked him when Ruka called him his daughter. The AI wasn’t sure if the man didn’t pick up on his anger, or if he just ignored it. “No, not you.”

He heard Ruka sighed, before there was silence on the scroll. “You can see through me that easily can you?” It was muttered but Church still heard it. “Are you getting along with your teammates?”

A suspicious look drifted across Alpha’s face. He knew Ruka wanted to talk about something more important than that but he had backed out, the AI would let him get away with it this time, but if he called him up again then he would hear about it. “Aside from the fact that they're all assholes, yeah, we're getting along peachy.”

“Glad to hear it, they will be with you for the next four years. You might as well get used to them.” Church rolled his eyes, finally continuing his walk again.

“Thank you for the wisdom, its not like everyone has been telling me the exact same fucking thing.” The man he bumped shoulders with gave him a harsh look, but upon seeing the weapons on Church’s back wisely backed down.

“If we keep telling it to you, that means you're not taking it to heart.” He wasn’t taking it to heart because he didn’t see a reason to, the advice was so basic. Yes, he knew that he should try to make friends with the people he was living with, but his experience from Blood Gulch proved that he didn’t need to be friends with them in order to survive Beacon. “But, I have a feeling you are trying so I won’t press the issue.”

That made him more mad then Ruka telling him to try to make friends with them. He wasn’t trying, that would mean he cared, the only thing he’d done was tutor them and he did charge them too, so it wasn’t exactly charity. 

“Fuck you.” Church closed the call without another thought, his teeth grinding together. ‘Hate, hate, hate all of them! Everyone on this fucking world, and especially Ruka!’

The civilians that he walked past created a wide berth around him, feeling the metaphorical aura pouring off him. Everyone for the past two years had told him to work on his anger, just another thing he didn’t listen to. In his defense, he had a lot of things to be angry about. Most people would have gone insane with what he had experienced. ‘Well, I kinda did… but that doesn’t matter now, I pulled myself back.’

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts before he could go down an unwanted rabbit hole, he sat down on a bench, where at the scheduled time an airship would take him back to the academy.

A few minutes of scrolling through his scroll later, a man came and sat down on the other side of the bench. Alpha’s eyes traced over to the many other benches next to them, which were completely empty. ‘Ah, hell.’ He had an idea of just why the man had taken the spot next to him.

“Beautiful night out, ain’t it?” Church did not reply, didn't even glance his way. “Almost as beautiful as you.” 

In one quick motion, he brought out Caboose’s Retribution and stabbed it into the space between the two of them. The blade severed the wood like it was made of butter.

The man jumped back, his mouth agape, eyes wide. “You’re a Huntress?”

Church finally twisted his head to the man, a frown on his face. “That was your one warning, now scram, asshole.”

He gave a yelp, before taking off with his dog tail between his legs. ‘Honestly, I can’t take much more of this, it’s one thing after a fucking ‘nother today.’ Sometimes it surprised him how quick things angered him, other times he really didn’t care. The quote “I’m too old for this shit” didn’t strike closer to home.

He sheathed his weapon, giving a slight wince at the bench, hoping that they wouldn’t trace back the damages to him. He laid his head back, staring up at the sky; the city lights drowned out any stars but that wasn’t what he was looking for. It was odd, but not seeing the giant Halo ring in the sky still brought a sense of discomfort to him, even though he had been away from Blood Gulch for twelve years now.

‘Shit, I sound like an old man.’

Chapter Text

After a month at Beacon, his team didn’t know much about each other. Church felt himself sigh, except for Tai, everyone knew everything about him. For instance, how he had an older sister named Li Mei or simply Mei; that she was a baker in a small town on Patch; that she was twenty four unmarried but still had the same boyfriend from the past four years. The list went on and on, too long for his taste. 

‘Three years and eleven months, I can make it.’ It had become his mantra recently, which wasn’t exactly a good sign, but it kept his mind in order so he could overlook it for now.

Qrow snapped his fingers in front of Church’s face. “Remnant to Church. Remnant to Church.”

He snatched Knock-off Raven’s wrist, twisting it roughly. Qrow yelped, jumping away from him, Church released his grasp at that. “What?”

“We’re playing a game.” Qrow gestured to the board in front of them. “It’s your turn.”

Church frowned. They were playing a game called Conquer, where you did just that; you conquered the world. “Right.” He breathed out a sigh, before moving his pieces into place.

Games weren’t fun to him anymore, being an AI meant he could calculate all the moves his opponents could make and play accordingly; he hadn't lost a single game during his time on Remnant. The only games he liked were games of chance, but even those he only played once in a while, seeing as how he could remember how many of that type of card had come up, how the deck was shuffled, and by what everyone else had. Games with dice were usually the best, but again, he could usually tell what side was going to come up based on how he rolled the dice. Conquer was one of complete strategy.

“Church, why on Remnant would you move that piece there?”

He stared at Qrow, a dull expression on his face. “Makes complete sense to me, Birdie.”

“Whatever.” Church flipped him the bird at the comment.

Raven rolled her eyes at the two; they were always talking trash about the other but honestly seemed to be the closest out of any members of the team, well aside from herself and Qrow. “You gonna go or what, Tai?”

Tai rubbed the back of his head, furrowing his brows. “Um… yeah, just give me a sec’.”

The black and red bitch hummed, annoyed. Church knew Tai would be the first out of the game; it was funny he was the only one who had played it before, yet was now the only one sweating.

Alpha looked just above the game board where future moves played out in a blue hologram, one only he could see. Xiao Long made his move, the hologram updating accordingly. Sometimes he thought it was cheating since he was using a computer, but then he remembered that he was the computer, so it was only his natural abilities.

A ding from his scroll made him pull it out, only to see a message from Ruka. ‘When’s your next break?’

‘So, you finally decided to rear your head. It’s in a month, why?’ He had a feeling it was related to the phone call during his first trip to Vale, Ruka hadn’t called or messaged him since then.

‘It’s not important. So, I’ll see you in a month?’

Church paused, hesitating for a second, before he just typed out the thing. ‘You okay?’ It was more annoying for Ruka to be silently whining about it than for him to just ask.

“Yeah, just miss you.’

And that was a load of crap. Someone who misses someone doesn’t just stop contacting them for three weeks. ‘Sure, old man.’

The game continued without incident, ending with Church’s triumph and Tai’s utter failure; just as the AI knew would happen. As per the agreement, Tai gave Alpha twenty thousand Lien, as well as cleaned up the game.

Raven and Church —but mostly Raven— gave their farewells to their teammates before heading to their shared class; Dust Studies. It was one of Church’s least favorite classes. Professor Blanche was, to put it simply, boring; he spoke in a monotone voice the entire time. The entire idea of the class didn’t interest him much since he had already researched and tested the combinations, basically everything the class would go over in the later months. He had done the experiments when he first arrived on Remnant, when Dust had been a new concept to him.

Like normal, he fell asleep within the first ten minutes of class; the dull hum of Blanche’s voice always seemed to lull him to sleep without any trouble. Their relationship was as toxic as one would guess, but Blanche never called Church out for sleeping in class since he got perfect grades and didn’t disturb the rest of the class.

He awoke to Raven shaking him relentlessly. He shoved her back, a scowl forming on his face. “What the fuck?”

She crossed her arms, her mouth in a thin line. “You fell asleep again, I wasn't going to wake you up but for some reason I thought you’d appreciate it.”

Church scanned the room, seeing it was all but empty. His eyes eventually landed on Raven again, a suspicious look barely hidden in them. “Didn’t ask you to, but whatever.” He rose from his seat, grabbing his things, before leaving the classroom.

The black and red bitch pinched her nose, before sighing. “Yeah, yeah, not like I was expecting a thanks or anything.”

The AI usually leisurely wandered through the halls until he found his class, sometimes he missed but, eh, he didn’t really care. Usually. But today was different, today was combat class; the one and only class where students tried to pummel each other. He had yet to be selected, even though basically everyone else had gone twice but that just meant that today was his day. And, if against all fucking odds it wasn’t then he would fucking go insane.

He beelined towards the classroom, snatching up a front row seat. Professor Quartz eyed him then the clock but shrugged it off. Church was usually early for his class, something nearly none of the AI’s other classes shared.

Raven filtered in slowly behind him, claiming the seat on his left. She looked like she was lost in her head, so he didn’t say anything, content with waiting in silence. Taiyang and Qrow ran into the classroom sliding on to their seats as the bell rang, Quartz didn’t care when you made it to class, as long as you were in your seat before it started.

Quartz slammed the doors shut on a student’s face, writing down the student’s tardiness on a sheet. Yeah, Quartz was kind of an asshole but nobody touched him, not Ozpin, nor his assistant, probably because no one could deny his results. “Alright students, today will be slightly different. The goal is not to lower your opponents aura but to get them to yield. That being said, if one or both of your auras lower into red I will stop the match and you will both fail.” He stalked to the front of the class, his long white hair draping slightly on the ground. It seemed he hadn’t bothered to tie it up today. 

“Simple, yeah?” He leaned against his desk, dark rings under his eyes. Church could easily see Quartz needed to catch up on his rest; his normally perfect suit and tailcoat were disheveled with an abundance of wrinkles. He picked up his scroll, tapping furiously against it before the holographic screens above them started flipping randomly through the class's pictures. The left screen stopped first, landing on a blonde woman’s picture with the name Glynda Goodwitch scrawled below it; the other screen slowed to a stop on Church’s own picture.

A grin split across his face, it was finally his turn. Church launched himself from the seats landing with a loud thunk on the ground, he drew his weapons from his back as he stepped into the ring. After the first week he had given up wearing the school uniform and keeping his weapons in the school issued locker. Being without a weapon of some kind was unnatural to him, after being with at least a pistol for as long as he could remember.

Quartz sighed, tiredly gesturing for Glynda to come down. She followed the order like a normal human and walked down the stairs. She exited the classroom into the girls locker room for a few minutes, coming back in a tight dress with laughably high heels, in her hands was a riding crop.

“You have fifteen minutes. Your fight begins now.” The professor stepped out of the ring without a second thought.

At the same time, Church transformed Tucker’s Vengeance into its true form, firing a bullet at the unprepared Glynda. She dodged the bullet, raising her riding crop in a hurry. The AI felt a smirk creep onto his face, he had watched and analyzed his entire class, Glynda specifically had fought more times then most of the class, meaning he had her moves memorized.

Church activated his semblance, hiding from her view, and as he had learned… her semblance, she couldn’t use it on something she couldn’t see. A scowl was pasted across her face as she dodged a bullet fired from Alpha. She whipped her hand to the side, a purple glow overcoming her weapon. The gravity around him increased, slamming him face first into the ground. He coughed up saliva as his light blue aura activated around him, shielding him from anymore damage.

Glynda smirked as he came into her view, she released her hold on gravity, trying to switch to a telekinetic grab on Church but she was too inexperienced to switch fast enough. Church left off an explosive blast that she was caught in; he swung Caboose’s Retribution wide into the blast, the chain wrapped around something and without another thought he pulled harshly.

His opponent came flying at him, her crop raised. Instead of dodging, he continued swinging his weapon, flinging her to the side of the arena, smashing her into a wall. His eyes glanced to the side, noticing her aura was at fifty two percent while his own was at forty one, most likely from being crushed by the weight of a goliath.

“You do realize the goal isn’t to take out my aura, yeah?”

She scowled at him upon glancing at the meters, he could see her mind was going a mile a minute trying to come up with a different strategy. Unfortunately for her, his mind was thousands of times faster.

He dashed forward cloaking himself once more. He swung Caboose’s Retribution at her, waiting until she dodged backwards before he shot an explosive blast at her. She was sent flying once more, capitalizing on the opening he slammed the butt of Tucker’s Vengeance into her sternum before stepping on her right hand. 

Just as the blades of his sickles crossed over her throat she threw her leg up, kicking harshly at his lower back. He stumbled forward, nicking her neck with the unimaginably sharp blades. If she was a normal civilian she would have been dead within seconds.

Church gritted his teeth. He had been sloppy, careless even, she wouldn’t get the better of him again. His eyes widened as he rolled to the side, avoiding a lance made of debris. Glynda pursed her lips before flicking her right hand.

The lance hit his back full force, slamming him down, pinning him against the ground. He thrashed as Glynda stalked closer, a thin smirk on her face “Yield?”

Alpha screamed in rage, his legs kicking out, trying with all his might to hit her, to get free, to just do something. But his time was running out; in only a short moment Quartz would call the match. Glynda kicked his weapons away from his hands, confidence pouring off her. She didn’t know all of his tricks though. 

Church’s hands flailed as Glynda stepped concerningly close to him, her guard had dropped. He cut at her ankles with a once hidden dagger clenched in his right hand, the surprise made her lose focus of the makeshift shackles.

He tackled her, pinning her more carefully then the previous time, a second hidden dagger now revealed in his left hand; blades were pressed against her throat once more. Any sense of smugness had vanished from her, as it started all but dripping from the AI. He pressed harshly down against her skin, purple aura coming up to protect her, the aura gauge rapidly ticked down in the corner of his eye. He only let up when her aura was one percent above the red zone, taking his right dagger he placed it against her chest where he would have a good amount of force.

“If I push down, I will have enough power to travel through your aura and into your heart. I win, bitch.” Glynda scowled, she knew he was right. Her hands clenched as she closed her eyes in defeat.

A single beep echoed throughout the arena as Quartz stepped up, cutting off any chance of Glynda returning to the fight. “And that’s the match, congrats Miss Rose-” He paused for a minute, taking a brief look around. “-Is what I would say if I actually thought that. No, you were both sloppy. You two created monumental openings, a more skilled opponent would have capitalized on them, that fight was a disgrace. Miss Goodwitch, you are getting better, but you still rely too heavily on your semblance. Miss Rose, for your first time fighting in my class I will say it was adequate, but you have much to improve on. You rely too much on the element of surprise; which, yes, is a good tool to have but is a terrible idea to have as plan A. It should be somewhere around plan T or U. I do have to give credit where it's due. Having a hidden backup weapon is ideal, don't get a big head though.”

Both Church and Glynda stood in front of Quartz, Glynda had her head and part of her body bowed, while Church merely crossed his arms, leaning back on his heels. His daggers, he’d slid back into place, one in each of his boots. His sickles laid on the floor where they’d been tossed, after being ripped from his grasp. He itched to go pick his weapons up but he knew that would be pushing his luck with Quartz. After every session his classmates would bow to the professor as he personally degraded them in front of the whole class. That wasn’t something he would stand for, clearly seen by him mainly ignoring the man.

Quartz finished his lecture, waving his hand at them, lazily. Glynda scurried off to her team, while Church leisurely grabbed his weapons then joined his team in the stands.

“Good fight, Church.” The blonde idiot made theatrical gestures with his hands trying to distract the AI from the exchange of Lien going on behind him

Church pushed Tai back into his seat with a thud, moving past him to the twins. “Which one of you assholes bet on Glynda?” He had a smirk on his face as he placed his hands on his hips. He already knew the answer to his question, what with Raven’s scowl and Qrow’s grin.

“My dear sister bet against you, claiming Glynda had more experience or something.” Church reached his hand out, fist bumping his partner.

The AI sat down in his seat, crossing his legs as a sharp laugh left his mouth. “Ha, yeah, if only that were true. I got Glynda beat by years, without a doubt.” Repositioning himself, he propped his head up with his hand, staring disappointedly at Raven. “Black and Red Bitch, you doubted my skills?” He scoffed, turning his head and focus to the arena as another match started.

Chapter Text

Church smirked as he sharped all four of his blades, today marked the day of his first mission. He repressed a shutter; it wasn’t his mission exactly, it was his team's first mission, big difference. ‘I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much, it still gets me away from Beacon.’

A dry chuckle escaped his lips, it was funny, during his time in Blood Gulch he had steadfastly refused fighting, going out of his way to avoid it, now it was his lifeline. He stuffed his daggers back into their sheaths, instead focusing on his sickles. ‘Maybe, it’s because I have to deal with annoying assholes all fucking day.’

He shoved Caboose’s Retribution into the sheath on his back, taking to sharpening Tucker’s Vengeance instead. The blade gleamed, reflecting the image of a supersoldier in cobalt armor . He blinked his eyes as the image of a doe eyed girl stared back at him, replacing the soldier. Scowling, he shoved the blade into its sheath.

“You okay, Church?” The AI shoved past his partner, slamming Qrow into the wall, his hands curled into fists; white knuckles signified just how tightly they were clenched. “Woah, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today or something? Actually, you are kinda always angry or pissed off at someone-” Caboose’s Retribution swept over his head, cutting off whatever remained of Qrow’s sentence.

Raven jabbed her elbow into her brother’s side as the chain yanked the blade back to the hilt. Church swiftly put it away before leaving the room. He couldn’t feel a trace of his good mood; it had all been ruined in literally the blink of an eye.

Hot humid air greeted him. ‘God damn it, I hate this weather. Would it really be to much to fucking ask for a cold crisp day instead of this bullshit?’ With a groan, he threw the hood of his cloak over his head and face; the shade brought slight comfort to him.

Trudging through the school grounds, he made his way to the landing pads where he could see a young man fiddling with a backpack. Not fooled by his age, Church identified him as the Huntsman that would be accompanying his team, as well as the other team that would be joining them. Team TEAL, Church hadn’t had the displeasure of running into them yet. Topaz Sky, Ebony Basil, Azura Edaria, and Lilac Castle were about on par with STRQ, if the class scores were anything to go off of.

Church twisted his head, looking for signs of his teammates but the twins hadn’t followed him out. He blew a strand of hair out of his eyes and sighed, knowing they would take a while, because for some reason they had no sense of time. Alpha settled for leaning against the Bullhead in the shade that its “wings” gave off, feeling the miniscule change in temperature.

He closed his silver eyes, listening as the birds flew about in the spare trees, the roar as a Bullhead took off on an opposite landing pad, and the clatter of a pair of feet walking towards him. “Are you one of the members of team STRQ or TEAL?”

Alpha peaked one of his eyes open, staring at the admittedly skinny Huntsman. “Uh huh, I'm the leader of team STRQ.”

The huntsman hummed. “Ah, that makes you Summer Rose. I've heard a lot about you.”

“Clearly not enough.” A look from the Huntsman had him continue. “I’m Church Rose, not Summer.”

The Huntsman brought out his scroll, looking through a short list before humming disinterestedly. “Yes… I’ll change that.”

Church flipped him off. “Sure you will, fucker.” He turned his attention away from the Huntsman, instead to his scroll which coincidentally had a recent text from Qrow.

‘Rae and I will be there in a couple minutes, don't kill the Huntsman without me.’

A part of the AI crawled at the fact he was so predictable, but the large whole of him just didn’t give a damn. ‘Whatever man, just get your asses over here.’ He exited the conversation with Qrow, seeing if he could bug anyone like he would with Tucker when he got bored, except with that came the realization that he didn’t have anyone like that. Hell! He only had three contacts; Ruka, Qrow, and Raven. He hadn’t given Tai his contact info because… that was kinda self explanatory.

Church twisted his head to try and spot his blonde-haired teammate but the idiot wasn’t nearby which was probably for the best one, way or another Taiyang would have gotten hurt. He felt a small smirk creep onto his face as he let his head fall against the side of the Bullhead, staring up at its wing. ‘I never got why you always scared and beat the guys senseless in Blood Gulch, but now… now I see. It’s fucking fun.’

“When is the rest of your team going to get here?”

He snapped his head to the Huntsman, before making a show of looking at his wrist, a wrist that did not have a watch on it. “Any minute now.” A soft hum was his answer. Church’s gaze raked over the man, realizing quickly that he had never given his name. “So you got a name? Or am I gonna have to make one up for ya?”

There was a pause, silence engulfing them as the sounds of birds and a far off airship filled the gap; It was as if he was considering not giving Church his name. The AI’s fingers twitched, something about the guy was making his combat instincts flare up which could only be a bad sign, but for some reason he would give him a chance, one singular chance. “Iwolintshi.” 

Another stretch of silence. “Yeah, I can’t pronounce that, so I’m just gonna call you Hunter.”

Iwolintshi scoffed, muttering something along the lines of “why even bother asking” under his breath. It only made Church mentally jot it down across Iwolintshi’s true name. Hunter turned away from the AI, seemingly having had enough of his shit.

Luckily for the both of them, the twins arrived, with Tai and team TEAL trailing a couple yards behind them. “Sorry we’re late Church, had to drag him with us.” Qrow jabbed a thumb behind him towards Tai, who seemed to be flirting with Lilac Castle and by the look she was giving him, his feelings were not reciprocated.

Church stepped over to them, snatching Taiyang’s arm, pulling forward harshly, “accidentally” sending him face first into the ground. “What the fuck have I told you about being on time, asshole?”

Tai groaned. “Sorry.” He started pushing up only for the AI to plant his foot on Xiao Long’s back, shoving him once more into the concrete.

“That’s why I had you get a damn watch!” Lilac took a step closer only for Qrow to hold out his arm, blocking her path. “Next time be sorry before you fuck up, then don’t fuck up.”

He drew his foot off Tai’s back, stepping a considerable distance away, not out of fear that the blonde would retaliate but rather not liking the close proximity of everyone. He didn't like people touching him; prolonged touches always made him physically ill, while a light touch only made him nauseous.

Azura leaned close to Qrow. “Is this normal?”

Qrow sighed, shaking his head, likely thinking of the plethora of times his team, specifically his leader, had been summoned to the Headmaster’s office. “Sadly, yes, this was actually a light interaction between them. Usually Tai’s aura ends up around midpoint.”

Iwolintshi clapped his hands together, gaining the eight assembled teens' attention. “Now that you’re all here we can begin, the mission is rather simple: exterminate a Grimm nest in a cave. It should be a small nest, no elder Grimm. After we clear that, we will go around clearing the surrounding forest as best we can. It should be simple, but do not drop your guard. You can never truly predict what someone’s or something’s true motives are.”

And with a dramatic flair, he entered the Bullhead then looked at them expectantly. Church was the first to move, Raven right on his tail. The airborne ship was more than a little cramped for his taste but he would persevere.

Lilac picked a spot right next to him, grabbing at the handle above them. “I’m Lilac Castle, you are?”

He rolled his eyes. It was impossible for her not to know who he was. “Church Rose.” She offered her hand to him; he did not take it, merely nodding to her instead. She took it in stride, returning the gesture with a small smile on her face.

“The woman’s Azura and the two guys are Ebony and Topaz.” Alpha bobbed his head, he already knew who they were, which was why he was wondering why the fuck she introduced everyone. It made his fingers click against his thumb in annoyance.

He shook his head, trying to clear his rampant thoughts. “Yeah, right… You seem excited.”

She crossed her arms, nearly falling out of the vehicle as it took off, quickly grabbing onto one of the straps again, a slight panicked look crossing her face. ‘That’s what you get for being an idiot.’ Lilac schooled her expression, taking in a breath. “Why shouldn’t I be? Our first mission! That’s definitely something to be excited about. Are you not?”

“It’s nothin’ new to me.”

“You’ve been on a mission before?”

Church hummed. “I’d rather not talk about that right now.” Setting aside his various world saving missions, he had taken multiple missions with his pseudo-father on Remnant and some solo ones, meaning going with a ton of teenagers was hardly what he would classify as exciting.

She frowned, nodding slowly. “Okay.” It was that moment when he realized he shouldn’t have said that, as Raven and Qrow whispered to each other. ‘Fuck! Stupid fucking shit! I can salvage this, I can fucking salvage this!’

Alpha waved his left hand in the air, his right preoccupied with holding the strap above him. “Nothing like what you’re thinkin’ ‘bout. I’ve just gone on a handful of missions with my d-d-d-doptive father.” His eyes widened the moment the words slipped out of his mouth. ‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! That’s so much fucking worse!’

“You’re adopted?”

He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Ignore that. It’s not important.” Lilac only eyed him before dropping the conversation, opting to instead talk to her teammates. ‘Well, I’ve stepped in some shit now.’

His head fell backwards as he stared at the ceiling, catching his teammates talking in his peripheral. His eyes trailed over to TEAL who carried on with easy conversations and finally to Iwolintshi who was busy talking to the pilot about something, trailing his eyes back to the ceiling a hologram appeared, one only he could see. It was simply a chart with multiple statistics; one such statistic was labeled Risk of Discovery; it had been around ten percent when he started at Beacon, now it was at eighteen. He narrowed his eyes on it as it ticked up to nineteen.

Church had a sneaking suspicion that he would be discovered if he lived the rest of his life out on Remnant; he didn’t plan to stay that long; it made him nearly physically ill to think about but he had to prepare for the possibility that he would never return home.

It was a harsh reality that had settled over Church during the past week. What was everything he was doing for if not to return home? The whole reason he had even wanted to become a Huntress was so he could comb the world for something that could take him home without worrying for his safety.

A thought washed over him so cold that he swore he was naked in a snowstorm: were his friends even still alive? Just as he had said in his final goodbye speech, he only had faith that his sacrifice meant anything, as far as he knew Hargrove could have self-destructed the ship the moment the guys started getting the upper hand. It’s also possible that only Tucker made it out, that the others perished without the help of the Meta’s suit.

A soft blue light drew his attention out of mind, his aura shimmered around his left hand, pulsing as his fingernails tried to dig into his palm. He inhaled slowly, feeling his left hand tighten more with the motion before he calmly exhaled, letting his hand relax. ‘Damn it.’ He just wished for the simple days of Blood Gulch, he hadn’t realized then just what a treasure that place had been, that for all the bitching and whining during his time there to leave, that the moment he left he would throw any number of people under the bus to go back.

A thump brought him into the present, the Bullhead had touched down at the destination, and Church leapt out without a second thought. The others unloaded a moment afterward, Iwolintshi raised his hand in an “all-eyes-on-me” gesture. “The cave is four hundred yards that way, while we make our way there I do not want to hear a peep out of any of you. Once we get to the cave you guys will lead the way. I will be studying you and grading you appropriately. I will only step in if I think it starts to look dicey and not a moment before, got it?”

The others gave varying affirmatives while Church merely nodded. Hunter eyed him strangely but otherwise shrugged it off, gesturing for them to get moving. Topaz and the AI moved first, their teammates took a second before following the two leaders.

Church studied Topaz as he walked next to him; he kept a slight bend in his knees, allowing for easier dodging if anything popped up. His muscles tensed and relaxed, either he was getting them ready for the fight, or he was tensing at every sound only relaxing when he concluded it wasn’t a Grimm; the more likely option was the latter. Especially considering the fact that Topaz’s eyes bounced around the area with intent. The final detail was that his fingers twitched ever slightly. Church knew that feeling well, when he could feel his skin crawl with wanting for a weapon in his hands.

His left hand clenched around the forend of Tucker’s Vengeance, the comforting weight settling in his hand, his right index finger tapping rhythmically against the trigger, Caboose’s Retribution rested on his back in its sheath. The black combat boots he wore thrummed against the dirt, only broken up by the occasional snap of a twig.

He spared a glance behind him at the rest of TEAL: Azura was checking over her weapons, her head turned down to look at them. Ebony watched over her, guiding her around things that would trip her. Lilac skipped next to Ebony, occasionally bumping into him by accident. Trailing his eyes over to his own team, he noticed Raven and Qrow having one of their silent conversations that they did oh so often, while Tai walked next to them counting his ammo.

Iwolintshi walked at the back of the group, he seemed to be relaxed; one hand lazily sitting on his weapon, while his other swung haphazardly at his side. His eyes scanned across the surroundings, combing over STRQ, before deep green eyes locked with Alpha’s silver ones, a smirk falling across the Huntsman’s face.

Church glared, turning his head around to face forward once more. ‘What the fuck is this guys problem?’ It was then he noticed that Iwolintshi hadn’t looked over TEAL; they were an afterthought. ‘So he’s watching my team, specifically me, going off the way he keeps goddamn leering at me. Does he find me interesting or was he put up to it by someone? Ah, yeah, probably Ozpin because that fucker definitely has a problem with me.’

It took them a good couple minutes longer to reach the cave’s entrance. He brought the scope of his rifle to his eye, looking down the sights to try and see into the cave. Unfortunately, he could only see the burning red eyes, counting up the sets he determined there to be around twenty five Grimm near the maw.

Alpha opened up his mouth before he clamped it shut when Iwolintshi raised an eyebrow at him, instead he held up two fingers followed by five. He circled his pointer finger before thrusting his index and middle fingers forward; the two teams got the idea, slowly creeping to either side of the cave entrance.

Topaz was the one to count them down, his fingers ticking down one at a time, as his hand finally conformed to a fist. Church and Topaz dashed forward leading the charge, their respective teams following closely on their heels.

The Grimm did not fail to notice them, springing at the Huntsmen-in-training. In a matter of seconds they were swarmed, Topaz used his ornately decorated halberd to give them some breathing room as Tai dashed forward with Lilac, the two close range fighters getting into the Grimm’s faces.

Tai’s brass knuckles glowed a light blue as he struck out against a Creep, ice coating the Grimm as it was sent flying. A blade stuck out in an underhand grip from his weapon, allowing him to slash into the eyes of a Beowolf.

Lilac matched his pace, holding two gleaming daggers as she sliced at two Creeps. A Beowolf dove for her back but the long red blade of an odachi cleaved its head off; Raven didn’t spare the member of TEAL another glance as she sheathed her sword, changing out the blade for one made of ice Dust. Qrow was by her side in an instant, the twins operating in perfect tandem with each other.

An explosive bolt from a crossbow flew over their heads, arching down towards a cluster of Grimm; the bolt had come from Azura’s crossbow as her eyes glowed a mystifying orange. She racked another bolt, firing it off without a thought. The AI had tracked where the shot would fire, she would, without a doubt, miss… but against all odds the bolt curved sharply, hitting on target; it was clearly the work of her semblance. Ebony stood at her back, fighting off any Grimm that tried to get close to her with his katana.

Church flipped over a Beowolf’s back, slicing open its throat in the process, Caboose’s Retribution whipped around, slashing at other Grimm in the vicinity. He reeled it back in so he could focus on fighting in close quarters. Topaz swiped at a Creep that was charging Alpha’s back; he did not receive any kind of acknowledgement from the leader of STRQ.

He jumped backwards towards Topaz as he flicked Tucker’s Vengeance into its rifle form, the other leader watched his back as he aimed down the sights, snapping the reticle across the heads of multiple Grimm, muffled shots accompanied each Grimm he took aim on. Black goo splattered against the ground, as well as on his teammates that stood too close to the doomed Grimm.

As he looked down the scope, he noticed ten red eyes fastly approaching. “Clear the cave now!” At the AI’s shout the two teams ran for the entrance, but the Deathstalker was faster. It slammed into the cave’s entrance, causing the already unstable cave opening to collapse, as well as the surrounding roof to crumble, trapping the eight teenagers inside.

Church had one thought that summed up all his feelings perfectly. ‘Fuck!’

Chapter Text

A rasping cough racked through Church’s body as he knocked some loose rubble off his legs, bringing out his scroll as a flashlight, he squinted his eyes, trying to see through the dust. He heard someone groan, as well as another voice call out. “That you, Church?”

It took him longer than he would have liked to admit to identify who the voice belonged to. “Raven? That you? Yeah, I’m—” Another cough ran through his body. “—I’m alive. Is Qrow with you?” He could barely even see his own hand in front of his face.

The person from before groaned again. “I’m here, but… I think I’m out of commission for a while, my aura's shattered and I’m halfway crushed.” That sounded bad he could have internal bleeding, cracked ribs, a punctured— Church squashed that line of thought quickly; it was useless to think of such things.

Movement from beside him made him slowly swivel his head around, just barely spotting Topaz shake debris off himself. “Az? Ebs? Lili? You guys still with me?” The nicknames made Church roll his eyes, the affection too sharp for him to stomach with a straight face.

“You can speak I didn’t know.” He knew Topaz was glaring at him now but he didn’t give a shit. The dust settled a bit, allowing him to not only see the glare on the leader’s face but also the scowl that accompanied it.

A higher pitched voice called out from further in the cave. “Don’t worry Paz, I am alright! Oh! I also have Tai with me.” Lilac and Tai would have escaped the worst of it; they were the furthest into the cave. Qrow and Raven should have only gotten hit by minimal damage, which meant Qrow had the worst luck possible, or they moved really quickly running from the Deathstalker.

“Azura and I are here. She’s in pretty bad shape, I’m fine except for my leg which feels shattered.”

That left only Iwolintshi. A growl crept up Church’s throat “Hunter?! Where the fuck are you?!” Silence was his only response. With the dust clearing he could see seven bodies scattered about, seven, not eight. “Damn it!”

He shoved his fist into the ground before he heard his partner’s voice call out to him. “Church, calm down. If you get angry you're only going to either A: bring what remains of this cave down on us, or B: overrun us with Grimm, which by the way I can’t fight off.”

Church noticed Topaz roll his eyes, as he muttered, “As if she’s not angry now.” The AI dug his fingernails into his palms, taking a breath to forcefully stop himself from punching TEAL’s leader. He needed to save his strength so he could smash in Iwolintshi’s face.

“Okay Branwen, okay… but when we find Hunter I’m beating him to a pulp.”

Qrow laughed, followed by a cough. “I’ll help you.”

His fingers drummed against his thigh as his silver eyes shined with something not quite human, quickly shifting his focus between the seven teens he took into account any and all injuries he could find or knew of. Raven had taken the least damage, only a couple cuts and bruises that her aura was working double time to heal. Qrow was possibly in the worst shape, he would not be moving for a while; he was pinned underneath a large slab of rock, while his aura would keep him from being crushed it would not stave off any injuries that he already sustained. Tai had a cracked rib from an unlucky piece of rubble but was otherwise fine. 

Topaz only had bruises to deal with but his aura was shot. Lilac’s left wrist was twisted in an unnatural way, more than suggesting it was broken. Ebony had multiple bruises and cuts, there was also the matter of his shattered leg. Then there was Azura, she might have been in the worst condition, considering she wasn't conscious. Her legs were pinned and there was a gash on her forehead, but otherwise she was okay.

Church turned inward to his own body; his aura was broken but he could feel it returning slowly, his left ankle was broken but he could still walk on it, aside from that he had minor bruising and cuts across his body. He would be fine. “Okay, Sky, Castle, and Xiao Long were gonna head deeper into the cave to see if there’s another way out of the shithole.” Topaz opened his mouth to protest but Church was quicker. “Raven, you watch over Qrow and those two assholes, I doubt any Grimm will slip past us but just in case.” He doubted he could separate the twins even if he wanted to.

He stood up, sucking in a breath at the twinge of pain before walking over to Qrow and Raven. He knelt down by the pair, getting close enough so only their ears could hear. “Don’t let Azura and Ebony out of your sight. I don't know if they're with Hunter or not.”

Raven smirked, but it didn’t reek of her trademark smugness. “Aw, Church, getting soft on us?”

Alpha rolled his eyes. “As if. …You guys fuck up and it hurts my record; my reasons are strictly selfish. Use the lights on your scrolls sparingly, don't know how long we’ll be down here for.” He stood without another word, trying to cover his limp as he shined the light from his scroll deeper into the cave. ‘When I get out of this, I’m gonna need a drink.’

Black goo dripped off his hand as he motioned for Tai to join him. The blonde-haired teenager’s face lit up as he made his way to his leader, happy to not be awkwardly standing in the dark anymore; it was actually the first time Church had seen him like that.

He trudged forward, not truly caring that Lilac and Topaz were still with their teammates. It would be nice to have the extra hands, but he and Tai could handle whatever Grimm remained in the cave. The two members of TEAL did eventually notice their departure and hurried to catch up, stumbling slightly in the dark. 

Tai kept stride with Church as they walked absentmindedly, flicking the blade from his brass knuckles in and out. “Are you good, Church?”

A scowl appeared on his face, as his mouth opened and closed a couple times, tongue tied for words that weren’t vulgar. “No Tai. No, I'm not good.” A growl spilled out of his mouth again. “Iwolintshi was right fucking behind us when we entered, but I didn’t see him when we were fighting, and I definitely didn’t see him when we tried to make a break for it, which means he fucking knew what was gonna happen! Either he set it up, or the bitch copped out! If I ever see fuckface again, death will be a goddamn mercy!”

“Church, you need to calm down. With the amount of negativity radiating off you every Grimm within a square mile is gonna come for us, which in case you’ve forgotten is a bad thing.”

Alpha leveled his glare on Tai, making the larger man squirm under the gaze. “If you ever say something like that to me again, I will not be held responsible for what will happen to you.”

He laughed nervously, putting some distance between the two. He knew better than anyone that Church fulfilled his threats, he had done so many times with him in the past. The AI reveled in the way his eyes trailed to his weapons, specifically Tucker’s Vengeance. It was nice to be the scary one on the team instead of the parent. That was one thing he did not miss about Blue team: the constant whining of Tucker did this, or Caboose did that.

Refocusing his attention to his surroundings, he heard the distinct click of claws on rock followed by the snarls that he had since learned accompanied it, then he saw the red eyes that haunted children's nightmares. He stuffed his scroll into a pocket in his pants, making sure the light still stuck out but he needed his hands free.

He flicked Tucker’s Vengeance into its rifle form, aiming down the scope directly between the glowing eyes, the light from his scroll only helping in casting more shadows onto the Grimm. He sucked in a breath, steadying his hands before he fired off four shots in quick succession; each bullet hitting their marks.

Enraged growls accompanied the shots; four sets of eyes disappeared from his sights as the other Grimm charged forth. Topaz changed his halberd into a railgun as he shifted his stance to accommodate, before he let off a shot; the recoil jerking back into his shoulder, the shot tearing through the Grimm, the Burn Dust inside the projectile exploding on contact with the abominations.

Church pushed the end of the railgun towards the floor. “What the fuck do you think your doing?!” His screech was accompanied by him stepping into Topaz’s personal space; he didn't touch him, only the gun. “Do you want to bring the fucking cave down on us?! Again!”

Topaz scowled, bringing his hand up to push on Church’s shoulder, the AI however stepped back, dodging the hand. “Back off. I know what I’m doing.”

“Sure you do.”

Lilac sliced off a Beowolf’s head, doing her best to keep the Grimm back with Tai, as Topaz and Church argued. Sliding underneath a Creep, she sliced its stomach open before immediately swinging her daggers at the eyes of another, only to get batted into the wall, her weakened aura shattering on impact. Her pink eyes glared at the two leaders. “Hey! Knock off your pissing contest and help us.”

The chain of Caboose’s Retribution wrapped around her ankle, yanking her out of the way of a swipe from a Grimm’s claw. Church didn’t meet her eyes, instead looking forward as he flicked his wrist, unwrapping the chain with the motion. “I’m not gonna save you again, so get your ass in gear.”

Lilac scoffed and rolled her eyes, a smile playing on her face as she picked herself off the ground. “I was only distracted because of you.” She did not receive any kind of response. 

Church fired off a bullet from his rifle, turning a Grimm’s brain into nothing but mush. He flipped the rifle into its sickle form, meeting the Grimm head on instead. A Creep swiped at him; he merely chopped off the offending appendage before his boot found a place against the Grimm’s knee; it collapsed to a sort of kneel before he swiftly stabbed his sickle through its head.

Topaz’s halberd gleaned in his peripheral, the gold sheen reflecting the artificial light from his scroll. The leader of TEAL swung his weapon horizontally, giving him a wide berth to switch his weapon to its long range form. The railgun activated a second time, only without the added effect of Dust coating, leaving it as a semi-normal bullet. It tore through the Grimm, black goo spraying from their bodies, heat vents activated on the side of the gun, cooling off the overheating weapon.

Alpha was pulled back to his own situation when a Beowolf charged him, prompting him to jump off his good leg to land on the demon wolf’s back. He wrapped Caboose’s Retribution tightly around its neck before pulling back on the makeshift reins, causing it to crash into the Grimm behind it.

He sliced another’s hip, putting the leg out of commission as the Grimm fell on top of a juvenile Beowolf. The Grimms screeched in pain as they became a jumbled mass of limbs, both fighting to get up first. He used the distraction to transform Tucker’s Vengeance, popping off two shots that quickly ended their lives. ‘I should probably invest in a sidearm. I have to switch between the forms way too much for it to be efficient. Maybe I can find a magnum, or at least something that fucking resembles it.’

His arm flew back, letting the chain of Caboose’s Retribution fly back, slicing across a Beowolf that tried to sneak up on him. ‘But that would mean I would be carrying five weapons, which does seem to be a bit much, not to mention the added weight.’ Whipping the weapon forward, he cut open a Grimm, flipping over its remains before carving Tucker’s Vengeance —now in melee form— into a Beowolf’s neck. ‘However, sniper rifle bullets are a bitch to buy, so that would help my wallet troubles… Ah, fuck it! The benefits outweigh the cons.’

The echoing ring of Topaz’s railgun going off drew his attention as it obliterated the remaining Grimm. Church flicked the goo off his weapons as best he could before sheathing them, his scroll was in his hands again as he aimed the light down the cave, his eyes narrowing as he could not see an end anywhere near. ‘I thought they said the cave only went back a hundred yards, but I know we’ve already walked three hundred yards. How could they have scouted so wrong?’ Then it hit him. ‘Hunter was the one who scoped the cave out, he did all the reconnaissance, nobody else knew anything about it. Damn it!’

Church pulled himself out of his thoughts, as much as he hated to admit it; Tai was right, he was only gonna bring a hoard down onto them. He drew in a long breath, trying to quell the raging inferno inside him that’d been burning since Blood Gulch. With a clearer mind, he heard the sounds of more Grimm. ‘More? Already? No, wait, that sounds different.’

He turned off his light, ignoring the cries of his teammate and acquaintances, letting them bask in darkness. His eyes scanned the surroundings for any of the red eyes that glowed without anything reflecting against them, there wasn’t any. Shaking his head, he walked forward a couple paces before he nearly fell into a large hole in the floor, one which led to a lower chamber that was filled with red eyes.

“Well, that’s fucking great.”

Chapter Text

Church switched on his light again, before heading over to the others. “Okay, so there’s a large hole over there; I didn’t see an edge to it. Which means… We have three options: we can go back to our teams and try to dig ourselves out, but there’s a high probability we’ll die since those are heavy ass rocks. We could go to the sides of the cave and see if we can climb across that way. Or, we can go down into the pit of death for no fucking apparent reason at all. I’m voting for the sides.”

“How many Grimm are in the pit?”

He rolled his head to Tai, watching as he eyed the edges of the hole. “Too many to count; it’s a sea of glowing red eyes down there.”

“Okay, certain death, got it.”

“It’s not certain death Xiao Long, it's just less than one percent.”

“You know what I call less than one percent, Church? Certain death.”

Topaz cut in between them, putting in his two cents. “We’re going to go around the sides of the pit.”

A thick silence hung over them, no one moved, only the sounds of the Grimm below echoed in the cave. “You just decided that, huh? Not even gonna ask what the fuck the other’s want to do?” 

“You said you wanted to go around the sides too.”

Church rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but I offered other suggestions as well.” Topaz opened his mouth but Alpha cut him off. “All I’m saying is that’s not very democratic of you. Actually, kind of a bitch move to just order us about.” Once again he opened his mouth to speak, but the AI interrupted him, again. “Fucking bitch move my amber-haired cave acquaintance.”

He shone the light in Topaz’s face, causing the man to pinch his eyes shut, wiping the stupid scowl off his face. The leader of TEAL held up his hand to shield his eyes as a groan escaped him. “What do you guys want to do?”

Lilac shrugged, not having an opinion like a dumb lemming. “I don’t know, whatever way you think is best, leader.” God, he could not stand that level of kiss ass. It reminded him way too much of how Simmons used to act. Topaz nodded smugly to Church, as it appeared his subordinate respected him more than Church’s did. 

“Going ‘round the sides seems sensible to me, Church.” No doubt Tai could sense the tension between the two, and rightly sided with his admittedly quick tempered leader. Church’s Cheshire grin seemed to glow in the dark as they traipsed over to the sides of the cave. 

Church slid his scroll back into his pocket, the light shining out like before as he walked once again, over to the hole in the cave floor. He stuck his arm out, feeling for any grips, his right hand found purchase on a small ledge, prompting him to stick a foot out which narrowly landed on an outcropping. He pulled the rest of his body onto the wall, hoping beyond hope that the ledges held under his body weight. Tilting his head back, he saw nobody else had moved. 

“Well? Come on, I don’t want to be here for the rest of my fucking lifetime.” Topaz slowly hulled himself onto the wall, Lilac echoing his movements, while Tai was reluctant to get on. “Move your ass, Xiao Long.” With no small amount of reluctance, he pulled himself onto the wall.

He let out a slight ‘hmph’ before turning back to making sure he didn’t fall into the pit; it would very likely lead to his death if he did so. The ledge his toes were situated on crumbled slightly, prompting him to quickly shuffle his feet to the next. The following outcropping was enough to support his weight and give him room to balance himself without the need of his arms, from his position he could see he only needed to traverse about forty more feet before ground once again appeared.

A groan that turned into a sigh escaped him as he leaned his forehead against the cliff. He was far too lazy for all the shit they had to do. Even if somehow he chugged down all the energy drinks that Tucker used to store in the fridge in Blood Gulch, it still wouldn’t be enough to give him the energy to climb across the lengthy cliff.

“You good, Church?” Tai’s voice came from behind him from somewhere in the dark, that he was admittedly surprised they were able to navigate through.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine, just fucking contemplating the meaning of life because why the fuck not?” A length of silence stretched out through the cavern; that was if you ignored the ever present noise the Grimm made, which they promptly did.

“Are… are you being sarcastic?”

Church snapped his head to where Tai’s voice came from, even though he knew it wouldn’t do him any good. “Yes,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “I was being goddamned sarcastic. I swear you people are dumb as posts.”

With a flip of his finger that he knew they wouldn’t see he started climbing again, his disdain for the activity growing with every second spent doing it. His fingers ached from the jagged rocks pushing against them, and his forearms were fatiguing from the new workout they were experiencing. ‘I swear I’m gonna kill Hunter after we get out of this hellhole.’

He stretched his right foot out, feeling for a foot hold but nothing intercepted his boot, cursing he withdrew his leg back to its previous placement. He inhaled sharply before pushing fiercely from the wall, his broken ankle screaming against the use.

Images flashed through his mind as he soared through the air, images of his squished corpse at the bottom of the hole. Luckily for him, his chest slammed sharply against the lip of where the current level of ground reappeared. A slight crunch echoed in his ears before his arms flung out, snatching for anything to grab hold of as he started sliding back. He finally managed to stop himself from falling by the skin of his teeth; he dangled off the ledge by his fingertips.

“Fuck!” Was all he could think, as he hauled himself to where his upper body was resting on the cliff edge. Church’s feet slid against the wall, trying to find purchase on anything. Eventually, he settled on using purely his arms to pull himself up and over the edge, rolling onto his back he coughed up the slight amount of blood that had pooled in his mouth from the abrupt crashing between his chin and the hard, unforgiving rock.

His breaths were ragged as he tried to settle the thousands of streams of consciousness that ran through his brain like a river. “Goddamn everything in this fucking cave on this stupid fucking planet!” Church angled his scroll towards the other, allowing them to see what exactly had happened.

Tai let out a short whistle. “Wow Leader, I didn't know you could jump that far.”

“Whatever, just wait there while dickwad Sky jumps.” Xiao Long was perched easily on the same ledge Church had rested on.

Topaz let out a disgruntled hum. “I’m not jumping, are you insane?”

Still laying on his back, Church shrugged his shoulders wincing at the movement. “No, I'm quite sane. The jump isn’t as far as it looks.” Of course he was lying, he had jumped with full force and still hadn’t fully cleared the gap.

“Like hell it’s not!”

“Topaz!”

Alpha smirked, letting it eat up his entire face. “Aw, baby’s first swear?” The chuckle that escaped him was beyond painful but the look on Topaz’s face was far worth it. Lilac had an angered expression as she regarded her team leader, but chose not to say another word on the matter.

The leader of TEAL sucked in a breath, closing his eyes for a second before pushing off the ledge, landing skillfully next to Church in a roll. “That wasn’t bad at all, why'd you tell me it was?” 

Church gave him a deadpan stare, flipping him off without another thought. He turned his head back to the two still clinging to the wall. Lilac was balanced on the ledge Topaz had vacated with a look on her face that said she was contemplating her recent choices. “Move your ass, Castle. I don’t want Taiyang falling off because you fucking wussed out.”

“Aww, Church, you do care.”

“Fuck no! Like I said before, can’t have you dying, it will damage my reputation.” He turned the light to focus directly on Lilac as he spoke, lighting up just how much she had to jump across. “So get your shit together, Castle.”

She sucked in a breath muttering something to herself that Church didn’t bother lipreading, before she launched herself off the ledge. Screeching as she landed against the rock on her hips, her legs dangling uselessly as she pulled herself up with her hands and some of Topaz’s assistance.

All that was left was for Tai to jump, Alpha had assumed he would try to weasel out of jumping but apparently he had no such reservations; perhaps he should have. He did not clear the jump, only snagging the edge with his hands: it was enough to stall him for a second, before he was falling down into the pit of awaiting Grimm. 

Church jumped to his feet, tossing Caboose’s Retribution at him; it snagged around his arm as Alpha dug his feet into the ground, the weight and dynamic force trying to pull him over. He was dragged onto his chest, his broken ribs screaming all the while but he did eventually stop sliding a scant foot before the edge. 

“Church! Pull me up! Pull me up!” The AI didn’t need to look to know the Grimm were leaping for Tai’s dangling feet; it didn't help him that his only weapons were preoccupied, one wrapped tightly in chains, the other desperately trying to alleviate the pull on his other arm.

Luckily for Xiao Long Topaz and Lilac weren’t as empty-headed as he’d given them credit for. The two members of TEAL grabbed hold of Church’s weapon, pulling sharply back on it, giving Church a chance to get into a stronger position before the three tugged and heaved as they brought Tai back to their level.

Tai took multiple shaky breaths as he unwrapped his already bruised arm, his previously weakened aura had shattered from the pressure. The second the chain was unwrapped it snapped back into its handle, held by a pissed off Church. “What the hell was that?” Tai opened his mouth to answer but snapped it shut when the AI continued. “That has to be the dumbest thing I’ve seen you do. Perhaps if you exercised the fucking minutest bit of caution and actually set your goddamn footing, you wouldn’t have missed!”

In antitypical Tai fashion he only meekly nodded, letting his leader yell at him without the slightest bit of rebuttal. His head downturned the whole time. “But, I’m… glad you didn’t die.” The blonde’s head snapped up, a grin flashing across his face. Church's face darkened a scowl forming. “I take it back, I fucking hate you.”

“You care about me. You admitted it.”

Alpha crossed his arms, scowl deepening. “I will fucking push you off that cliff if you don’t shut the fuck up.” Tai didn’t say another word, only tried to attempt to sling his arm over Church’s shoulders, which was swiftly dodged. The AI crossed his arms covering a wince as he turned his back on Tai, instead continuing on with their journey before he killed the asshole.

Tai beamed at his side, not even his broken rib and bruised —maybe fractured— arm bringing down his good mood. ‘Does that damned idiot have to be like a fucking puppy?’

“Are you two ready to continue with our journey? Or are you going to continue bickering like an old married couple? Which I wouldn’t be surprised if you were.” Topaz’s voice cut through the silence of the cave like a knife. Church honestly couldn’t have cared less about Topaz’s opinion, but to insinuate he and Tai were dating made him physically ill.

Church turned his head sharply, snapping it to Topaz. “It looks like you're the one slowing us down to me, asshole.”

Topaz opened his mouth to retort but Lilac elbowed his side, giving him a glare before she pulled him by his hand to keep up with the members of STRQ. The whole sight annoyed Church in a way words could not describe. He hated lovey-dovey couples and no matter how much the two were denying it, they clearly were one. ‘Probably shouldn’t admit that out loud, assholes will only use it to pester me and the blond-haired dumbass.’

An offending rock was promptly kicked out of the AI’s way as he nearly tripped on it, the light from his scroll only did so much to illuminate his feet, it’s main usage was for hip and chest height. A smirk ghosted across his face as he heard Topaz trip on something, his palms making a loud smack as they hit the stone.

Turning a corner, a light caught his eye; natural light. Church dashed towards it, taking care to not trip like Topaz had; he couldn't spend another minute without natural light; it made his mind go in circles trying to fill in the blank space.

The light came from a small hole in the ceiling, it was barely the size of a small child much less any of them. Tai appeared by his side, looking up at the hole as well before he eyed Church, a grin spreading across his face. “Well, Church, feelin’ skinny?” Xiao Long laced his fingers together at knee height for emphasis.

“There’s no way I’m fitting through that.”

He rolled his eyes, wiggling his hands a little. “If any of us are gonna fit through it’s you: Topaz and I have a lot broader shoulders and Lilac has… erm, certain assets you don’t.”

Church flipped him off. “Yeah, “assets”. Whatever, just give me the damned boost.” Topaz turned the light on his scroll on, as the AI stepped on the blonde’s hands before he was shoved upwards, his hands clawed at the rock grabbing for any sort of handhold; when he found one he dragged himself into the hole. “Un-fucking-believable!” 

“Everything good?”

No, things were not good. He was the size of a small child. A child! He had picked up on the fact that his new body was small but for it to be pointed out like that was… demeaning. “I’m fine. Go back to the others. I'll bring back help to clear the rubble.”

Tai gave a noise of affirmation. “Got it. And Church, don’t die.” With that, he heard them run off.

With a heaving breath he hauled himself farther into the gap, climbing higher as he squeezed his body between the rock, ripping his clothes as he went. The light became brighter the higher he got until finally he pulled himself out of the hole, his retinas burned as his eyes were assaulted with sunlight; he was blind for a solid minute as he tried to get them to focus on anything. Apparently, being underground in a cave for hours wasn’t good for your eyes, who knew?

Dragging the remnants of his cloak’s hood over his head he finally saw glimpses of the ground, with the shade over his eyes he looked around at his surroundings. ‘Trees. Of course, just fucking trees. I honestly don’t know what I expected, but it was at least something.’

He pulled his scroll out, looking through his contacts for someone that wasn’t currently below ground; he only had two. Ruka, but he wasn’t ideal… since it was Ruka. Then there was Ozpin, which he didn’t even remember getting. The first chance he got he was deleting that. ‘Okay Ruka it is. Fuucccckkkk.’

“Hello?” It was just like Ruka to pick up on the first ring.

“Ruka, I need your help.”

He heard a sharp inhale on the other side of the line, before Ruka steadied his breath. “What do you need? What happened?”

Alpha pulled a pebble out of a fresh cut caused by the gap he had dragged himself through. “My team and another got stuck in a cave. I managed to find my way out to, you know, get help but you’re the only person in my damned contacts.”

“Do you know where you are?”

Church ground his teeth together as he pulled more rocks out of his cuts; he didn't need Ruka to come rescue him, he just needed his help for his team. “The cave entrance is six hundred yards southwest of Amaryllis.”

“Summer, you didn’t answer my question, tell me where you are.”

“Be fast, multiple people are injured.” With that Church hung up on his legal guardian. He glanced upwards trying to orient himself, the sun high in the sky did little to help him, looking at the trees he eventually figured out he needed to head east. 

The forest was oddly quiet as he hurried through it; the animals were silent, the same with any Grimm nearby. It was triggering every single alarm in his head. Something powerful was nearby, creatures with instincts could tell. A pang went through him at that, he cut the head off that train of thought before it had a chance to take root. 

He shook his head, trying to focus his mind before his reflexes kicked in, allowing him to dodge to the side as a ghost-like knife soared through the air where his head had previously been, impacting a tree trunk with a thunk.

Turning on his heel he drew his weapons in time to block another knife summoned by Iwolintshi. ‘A hard-light Semblance. Okay, I can deal, just expect… everything. Goddamn it.’ Time slowed down as he ran calculation after calculation, but not knowing Iwolintshi’s fighting style at all left a lot of unknowns. “Who do you work for? Why do you want to kill me, asshole?”

Iwolintshi clicked his tongue. “So you’re not as dumb as you look, as for who I work for… I work directly under the goddess herself. Now, die.” Another knife was thrown his way, quickly followed by its twin.

Church rolled to the side, swinging Caboose’s Retribution about to try and land a lucky hit on the crazed Huntsman. Luck, however, did not shine on him. Iwolintshi blocked his attack, sending the chained weapon into a mess of tree limbs. In hindsight, it probably hadn’t been a good idea to swing a massive chained blade around in the forest.

Another knife was sent in his direction, prompting Church to block the blade with his remaining weapon; only for the tomahawk that had closely followed the knife to impact his shoulder. A strangled scream left his lips, while his mind reeled at the fact it had bypassed his Aura.

Swinging with all his might, he ripped Caboose’s Retribution free of its entrapment, the blade whipping towards Iwolintshi, slicing directly into his face. Or, it would have, if not for his Aura protecting him.

Iwolintshi’s face contorted into rage. “You bitch! You dare strike me.” Before he summoned a hard-light gatling gun. The fear that washed over him felt like a bucket of ice water as he dove for cover as Iwolintshi started firing, the bullets tore into him with a vengeance, mutilating his right leg which took the brunt of the attack.

He felt his Semblance activate around him; breathing heavily he started limping towards the cave entrance. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he heard Iwolintshi stalk closer. 

The Huntsman abruptly stopped, a scowl sat on his face. “Well played Rose, I’ll give you that, but rest assured we will see each other again.” He then turned around and walked away.

‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I’m gonna bleed out at this rate.’ In an act of desperation he wrapped his cloak around his leg, binding it tight as the white cloak near immediately became red with blood. He continued his slow limping pace before his broken ankle gave out on him, slamming him face first into the dirt. ‘This is not happening. This cannot be happening right now.’

His hands curled into fists as he pushed himself up, his whole body ached. He just wanted to relax in his bed after a nice scalding hot shower, with that thought he pulled himself up. ‘Food, shower, and sleep, I can make it.’

The promise of luxuries bolstered his strength as he stood on shaky and bleeding legs. He limped through the woods, leaving a blood trail behind him that he was sure some type of animal would appreciate.

It was slow going as he walked the forest slowly growing louder as animals returned. ‘Should have listened to the damned things. Would have saved me from that psycho with the fucking hack of a Semblance.’ The crickets chirped and the birds started to sing, the whole area seemed to become lighter.

As much as he appreciated the songs of safety, the much louder sounds of the Bullheads was music to his ears. He could hear Tai’s stupid voice as he was very likely prying Raven away from Qrow, while the emergency responders tried to take care of him.

Stumbling into the clearing, he fell to his knees. “Ruka.” Was all he managed to croak out, his mind busy running over all the new holes riddling his body.

His adoptive father dashed towards him, wrapping his arms around the AI in a heartbeat, clutching him like a lifeline. Church could feel his skin crawl and itch at the contact, protected only by his thin clothing. “Summer, what happened?” He waved the EMTs over as he spoke, his eyes raking over Church’s body locating all his wounds.

Alpha chuckled humorlessly before spitting up some blood. “Bullshit. Complete and utter fucking bullshit.” It was the best way to describe everything that was Iwolintshi, the man that had such a fucked up Semblance and somehow got the Grimm to ignore him.

“Stay awake, Summer.”

He swatted Tai’s prodding hand away, slumping over into Ruka’s hold; everything hurt, his muscles felt on fire. “I’m not gonna die.” The ‘probably’ was mumbled as an afterthought. He didn't feel like being a hundred percent sure on that; yeah, he’d run the calculations and the chances of him dying were slim to none, but he’d rather not jinx himself.

The last thing he remembered was the EMTs picking him up on a stretcher, before his consciousness faded away.

Chapter Text

There was a loud buzzing in his ears as his mind slowly returned to him. Creeping his eyes open he was immediately blinded by brilliantly bright lights, slapping a hand over his eyes relieved some of the pain, only to double it as his shoulder flared.

Slower than before he opened his eyes, now not blinded, he could see he was in the infirmary, his leg wrapped in bandages as well as his shoulder that at the moment was burning with pain, no longer sitting comfortably in the sling it had been resting in. “What. The. Fuck.” His Aura should have healed him. Was something wrong with it?

Immediately, his brain was running a mile a second, going over reasons why his shoulder and leg weren’t healed. Eventually he settled on the possibility that Iwolintshi’s Semblance had more to it than just bypassing Aura; it was entirely possible that the wounds caused by his attacks were invisible to Aura as well. 

He huffed, tearing his eyes away from his leg, he fixed the sling, and examined the room he sat in. To his right were his clothes, all torn to shreds but freshly cleaned and sitting in a neat pile; a spare set of loose fitting clothes were stacked next to them. Behind them his cloak hung off the back of a chair: it was suspiciously darker than it had previously been and had red splotches near the middle; obviously someone had tried to clean it of the blood that had soaked through it.

On his other side was Ruka, sleeping soundly in a chair in a position that looked anything but comfortable. He chose to ignore the man, instead, picking up his scroll from where it sat next to his weapons and clothes.

Scrolling through recent news, he looked for anything on Iwolintshi: there was none but that hardly came as a surprise to him. Things like what had happened tended to stay quiet. Next he tried searching him up in the Huntsman database, and it produced results.

Name: Iwolintshi Uphayinaphu.

Race: Human.

Sex: Male

Years of Service: Ten.

Age: 43.

Semblance: Never manifested.

Family: None.

Significant Other: None.

Birthplace: Mantle, Atlas.

Weapon(s): Katana/pistol.

Team: Diamond Tanta, MIA presumed KIA. Rusty Tanta, MIA presumed KIA. Kelly Avala, MIA presumed KIA.

Contact Information: Not available.

Status: MIA

Background: See other —REDACTED.

A hum escaped him as he skimmed over the information, it seemed he knew more than most people; Iwolintshi had purposely kept his semblance hidden which was odd but not entirely unheard of, especially with people that competed in the Vytal Festival. There was also the glaring piece of information: his team was dead, every single member, except him. Had he killed them? Or had it truly been a mission gone wrong? It easily could have been the latter; Huntsman teams died on missions all the time, it was an occupational hazard. But it was extremely odd that his whole team was dead. One or two could have been excused, all however was suspicious.

He next tried to search up his team members, unfortunately the Huntsman Association kept those records locked up tight, which they apparently did for every dead Huntsman. ‘I get that they’re respecting the dead, but that’s such a damned pain.’

It was at that point in time that Ruka woke up, likely due to all of the AI’s movements. He blinked away the tiredness from his eyes, lazily letting his eyes fall onto Church, the haze immediately clearing from them. He moved to give him a hug, to which the AI only pushed away from. “How are you doing, Sunny?”

‘And there’s that stupid nickname again.’ He hated that nickname with his whole being. He honestly hated it more than flatout being called Summer. “Peachy.”

“You had me worried.”

Church scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Really? I’d thought getting shot and stabbed was a worriless occasion.”

Ruka frowned, his eyes narrowing. “Usually, yes, but you were out for two days so-”

“I was out for two fuckin’ days?!”

He nodded sagely, steepling his fingers as he rested his elbows on the bed watching Alpha closely. “Your team was worried about you as well; stopped in to check on you multiple times a day, had to be herded out of here by Professor Goodwitch a number of times.” 

Choosing not to comment on that, he turned back to his scroll, seeing if he could pull up any old news about Iwolintshi’s team or about the day of their deaths. It seemed to be a deadend until he saw a buried headline, ‘Kelly Avala Wins Mistral Regional Tournament For The Third Time. New Record’. He traced back that site to find hidden and buried articles about their team. ‘First Year Team TTAI(Taffy) Wins Vytal Festival’, ‘TTAI Wins Vytal Festival Without Any Loses’, ‘Rusty Tanta Secures Victory For His Team’, ‘Diamond Tanta: New Rising Star’. 

By all accounts the team had all been excellent fighters, all except Iwolintshi who had been surprisingly average. ‘And I’m supposed to believe they died on a normal job? Right.’ Scrolling through mounds of articles about the first Vytal Festival they won, he soon came to another headline two years after the others. ‘Previous Champions Disqualified From Vytal Festival’, it was only that one article about the incident. The final article mentioning them was years after ‘Mistral Regional Tournament Record Holder Kelly Avala And Team Missing; Presumed Dead’.

Drumming his fingers he placed the pieces together, or as best he could with how little he could scavenge up. Now however he was almost positive Iwolintshi had them killed, maybe even the same way he’d tried to kill Church and the rest of STRQ and TEAL. ‘Is he really just a crazy fucktard? Or was there an actual reason to kill them?’

A finger snapped in front of his face, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Summer, you back with us?”

Church’s head whipped up towards the person the hand was attached to, who happened to be Ruka. Feeling another set of eyes on him, he turned to his right where Headmaster Ozpin sat, that same placating smile still on his face. “Fuck off.” He flipped Ruka the bird, before turning back to Ozpin. “What are you doing here?”

The Headmaster brought his coffee mug to his lips, hiding the lower half of his face. “I was hoping to get a statement from you about what happened. We have already got one from your team and TEAL, but no one could explain your extensive injuries. Would you be so kind as to fill us in?”

“After getting out of the cave I called Ruka to send help, then started making my way back to the cave entrance to wait but I was attacked by Hunter before I could get there.” Ozpin nodded his head, urging Church to continue. “His Semblance allows him to summon hard-light weapons that ignore Aura. The wound on my shoulder is from a summoned tomahawk, and the damage to my leg is from a damned gatling gun.”

Church watched carefully as Ozpin’s eyes narrowed, pressing his fingers together tighter than before. He maintained the sculpted look on his face, but the AI could see his —very subdued— body language. “What about your wounds? Do you have any idea why they aren’t healing as fast as they should be?”

Alpha had the sneaking suspicion that he already knew the answers to those questions, but he’d humor him. “The weapons he summons ignore Aura, sounds reasonable to say the wounds they inflict would as well.”

Ozpin hummed, nodding thoughtfully. “Thank you, Miss Rose. I know this is a difficult time for you.” Church’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, annoyance spreading throughout him like a wildfire. “Your teammates will come by later to drop off the homework for today. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a very busy schedule today. The work of a headmaster never quits.”

He gave a tiny nod as he turned his eyes away from the headmaster. The second he left the room, Church chucked the blanket off him. “Woah, woah, you can’t leave yet. You’re not healed enough.” Ruka moved his hand in front of Church, forcing him back down, unless he was willing to touch him.

“I’m fine.” Church clutched the blankets, using them to push his arm down, before sitting up once more. “I can’t sit on my ass for weeks, or months, or however long this fucking takes to heal.”

Ruka sighed, but didn’t try to stop him. “Just… be careful… please. If not for you then for me?”

Church rolled his eyes, grabbing at a crutch sitting beside the bed; he would only be able to use one without further injuring his shoulder. “Why the fuck would I do it for you?”

His adoptive father closed his eyes, pressing his hands to his temples, rubbing them softly. It took him a minute, before he looked at Alpha. “How about easy? Can you take it easy?” 

The AI paused, halfway through pulling on the grey sweatpants someone had graciously left for him. “Sure, I guess.” Shrugging, he resumed putting on actual clothes instead of the stiff hospital gown. “I was kinda just planning on resting in my room, anyway. You know how I fuckin’ hate hospitals of any kind.” 

That had been one secret Church had not kept well hidden, especially when Ruka had physically dragged him, kicking and screaming to a hospital to get him checked out when they’d first met. His stay had been relatively short, only about a week in which he made thirty six escape attempts, a record for the place.

He proceeded to strip off the gown, throwing an oversized T-shirt over his torso; his shoulder ached from the movement but he pushed on, if only to get out of the infirmary quicker. “Want any help with your things?” 

Church glared at him and shook his head. “No fucking thank you.” He chucked his ruined clothes into the garbage; there was no salvaging them. He honestly didn’t see why they’d cleaned them in the first place. He slipped his scroll into his left pocket, throwing his cloak over his uninjured shoulder, he placed his weapons in his sling with delicacy, wincing slightly.

Ruka watched him struggle, a ghost of a smile flashing across his face. “Are you sure you don’t want any help?”

Gritting his teeth, he started the slow, agonizing journey out of the infirmary. “Positive. Now, fuck off. It’s creepy as shit to be hanging out at a school… Is that your thing now? Being a perv?”

“Okay, okay, forgive me for trying to make sure my injured daughter is well taken care of.” Ruka held up his hands in surrender, stepping out of the room with him. “I’ve got to get back to the village anyway; bunch of Grimm in the area. Not much more than normal, but the mayor is paranoid. First time I’ve been away in years and all that.”

Church huffed, knocking his crutch against Ruka’s shins. “Aren’t you always spoutin’ something about a Huntsman’s honor? Or some shit like that?” A short nod was his answer. “Goddamnit, then just go already, seeing as I don’t give a crap.”

“Love you too, squirt.” Ruka reached over, giving Alpha’s head a quick pat. The AI shivered in disgust and gagged. “I’ll see you soon, Sum.”

“Holy shit! Please leave!”

Ruka laughed, waving goodbye as they parted paths down separate hallways. Church slowly ambled through the empty halls, eternally grateful that class was in session. He did not want to deal with the —sure to be endless amounts of— looks of pity he would undoubtedly receive, that would be a future problem for him.

The following trek to his room was uninteresting and average, except for one short moment when his cloak snagged on a door handle, luckily he was able to quickly get it off. Opening the door to his dorm room had been a bit of a challenge, what with his one arm bound and the other preoccupied.

He sat down on the bed with a thump, letting the crutch clatter to the ground beside it. Grabbing his weapons out of his sling, he placed them gracefully on his nightstand with the utmost care. Not being able to reach his cloak's hanger without standing, he settled for tossing it over the headboard, haphazardly.

His cloak was something he’d grown oddly attached to. It was like a second skin; he felt naked without it, perhaps it was like his MJOLNIR armor but even that hadn’t felt quite the same. Of course, he hadn’t been human then… so it might not have been the exact same situation.

Church grabbed his scroll out of his pocket, trolling through news articles for something of note, really anything that would stave off his boredom. He didn’t have high hopes, but he, surprisingly, found something. It was an article posted by some random civilian, showing a cloaked figure hopping across a couple rooftops before dipping out of frame with the title “Vigilante Sighting” below it.

‘A vigilante? What dumb fuck decided to do that Huntsman are basically vigilantes already but with a license. Honestly, risking getting thrown in jail for years because you got fucking impatient. How goddamn sad would that be?’

He reached out for his headphones, pulling them over his head, drowning out the silence of the room. Rock music blasted in his ears as he scanned through the rest of the article. It was useless, basically just the author complaining about the vigilante. 

Alpha made a mental note to keep an eye on the vigilante because as much as he mocked them, they were traditionally unstable. With that out of the way, he continued scrolling through the newsfeed.

A door closing made him snap his eyes up; it was his team but they shouldn’t have been done with their classes for another three hours. He glanced at the time it was late, much later than it had been last time he checked. 

He saw Qrow’s mouth move so he decided to oblige him by pulling down the headphones. Qrow rolled his eyes, knowing what his team leader’s pointed look meant. “I said, how are you feeling?” Church gestured at himself, staring at Qrow with a raised eyebrow. “Are you even supposed to be out of the infirmary?”

“Technically?” He tipped his head to the side. “No. But there wasn’ no way I was stayin’ in there for any longer then I had to.”

Raven chuckled, nodding sympathetically as she placed Church’s homework on the desk. “I feel that.”

Church gestured at Raven widely. “Exactly, fuck that place. Besides, it's not like I’m gonna be doing anything different there than here.” Qrow sighed, giving his partner a look. “What?” The AI spread his arms, hissing in pain as his shoulder flared.

The younger Branwen twin chuckled, scanning his leader’s injuries. “You’re not making the case you think you are.” Alpha promptly flipped him off, trying and failing to discreetly cover his hurt leg with the bed cover.

Tai mocked a shocked look, pointing at the AI’s leg. “I saw that.” A worried expression flashed across his face, before he crept closer, sitting down on Raven’s bed. Alpha felt a pit form in his stomach at that look; he hated it, it made his skin crawl. “Now, are you gonna tell us why your injuries aren’t being healed by your Aura, or are you gonna make us have to guess?”

“I actually planned on never telling any of you because it’s none of your fuckin’ business, but since you asked…” A silence stretched out across the room, Tai watching with bated breath, while the twins knew better. “You see… there wa- there was a… fuck… I can’t even explain it. It was like a ghost. It stabbed me and then it told me… …That it’s none of your goddamn fucking business! And that you can fuck off!”

The yellow-haired man sighed. “No, yeah, that’s my fault, because why would you ever just be straight with someone.”

Church cackled, throwing his head back. “Come on Xiao Long, we've been roommates for a month and you don’t know yet that I don’t like you, or feelings? Specifically your feelings.”

Taiyang exhaled loudly, dropping his head dramatically. “I’m gonna go lay down and never talk to any of you again.” He let himself fall backwards with a soft thump, his arms in a Y pose. The R and Q of STRQ joined Church in laughing their asses off at Tai’s expense. “I hate you all.”

“Finally, you're learning!” Tai only groaned in response.

Raven promptly shoved him off her bed, letting him fall onto the floor with a much louder thump, accompanied by his whining. “Why?”

“I wanted my bed back.”

Church rolled his eyes, exaggerating the movement greatly, before turning his attention to Qrow, who was looking at him with a curious expression. “I’m gonna grab food, you want anything?”

It was customary for one of them to go out after class and bring back dinner, so Qrow’s quick stay wasn’t odd. No, the real question was if he’d manage to stay awake long enough to eat any dinner. He gave a nod to Qrow. “Yeah, I’ll have some swordfish.”

“Since when have they served swordfish?”

The AI raised an eyebrow, giving a blank stare. “Since the first day. Have you really never fuckin’ noticed the giant ass fish before?” He merely received a shake of the head. “...Right. Well, it’s near the front.”

The younger Branwen hummed and left without a word. Church pulled his scroll back out, ignoring Tai and Raven’s talking to the best of his ability, which wasn’t hard as his vision after a handful of minutes started blurring. ‘Damn it! I really wanted to eat.’

A sigh was all he gave, before he reluctantly closed his scroll and threw the blankets he wasn’t lying on, on top of his legs. His uninjured arm eventually found its place covering his eyes from the harsh lights above him, sleep taking him moments after.

Ozpin glanced at the thick stack of papers on his desk with a sigh; sadly, it was but the average life of a headmaster, never once seeming to quit. The constant thrumming from the gears above his office kept him awake and alert as they shifted and moved, providing a pleasant hum to an otherwise ghostly quiet.

He tried shifting his attention to a report he was halfway through writing, but his mind kept wandering to the enigma that was Summer Rose. He kept a thorough and updated record of all Silver Eyed Warriors. There were only nineteen, now twenty left, but he’d meticulously watched them, and none of what had been thirty-seven, seventeen years ago had reproduced.

Summer was an impossibility. Silver Eyed Warriors had to be born from another Silver Eyed Warrior, which left two possibilities. Either one of the thirty-seven had taken extreme measures and precautions to hide Summer or there was a hidden Silver Eye out there. He greatly wished for it to be the latter; it would be a blessing from the Brothers, but then again, the likelihood that they would still be alive was slim. After all, something had caused Summer to lose all of her memories—something traumatic, as no medical reports stated any damage to her skull. 

The least he could do was protect her from Salem’s minions, of which he’d already failed once; he would not let them kill her or take her sight like they’d recently done to Maria Calavera. Summer had come to Beacon for a chance at a life of adventure and heroism; he would provide her that opportunity, at least until Salem’s agents struck again, where he would make the ultimately necessary but hard task of taking and hiding her away in a far-off village with or without her permission.

Chapter Text

Before Church knew it the day he was dreading had arrived; Saturday. Tai had said that the team needed to spend more time together and “bond”, as if spending the entire week together wasn’t enough, the weekends were his salvation time to spend away from them. Tai had suggested they go into Vale and since Raven and Qrow had yet to explore or see the city any good excuses were null and void.

At the moment, they were wandering through the streets of Vale without a destination in mind, the Branwen twins didn’t seem to care but Church sure as hell did. He was beyond annoyed at the moment, everyone they walked past gave him the deepest of pitying looks, it made him want to beat them over the head with a pipe. They also tried to do things for him because he was injured and they didn’t take the threats that he’d gut them like a fish seriously.

He let out an annoyed hum, before a cafe they were approaching caught his attention. Food would definitely help his mood. “Come on, let’s see what they have.” He didn’t wait for a response from his team as he entered the building.

His team caught up to him as he waited in the small line. “Have you been here before?”

Alpha sucked in a sharp breath, pausing to hold in his building anger. He did not want to risk getting kicked out of the cafe for causing a scene or something before he could get food. “No, I haven’t.”

Tai nodded, muttering a quick, “cool, cool.” Which the AI promptly ignored in favor of looking over the menu. They had a large and rather pricey assortment of edibles, forcing himself to not buy too much would be hard but his bank account would appreciate it. He could afford to indulge a little more than the last time he’d been in Vale, he’d been tutoring people at Beacon and doing odd jobs around the campus for Lien.

His eyes wandered the menu before sticking on tiramisu. The dessert definitely stuck out to him and it was luckily one of the most affordable items on the menu meaning he could splurge on two macarons, something he’d had once before, a year prior.

Then, with a patience he did not know he possessed, he waited in the line for his turn for an agonizing number of minutes, but finally his sweets were placed in his hands and he made his way to a table in the back corner.

Not bothering to wait for his team he dug into his food which was just as delicious as it looked. His good mood, however, would sadly not last. For sitting in the opposite corner, near the front window, was Alroy, his gold eyes wide with concern as he took in Church’s injuries. 

‘Fuck! Please don’t come over here! Please for the love of god don’t come over here!’ Church’s silent pleas went unheard as Alroy started heading towards him. ‘Fuuuuuccckkkk!’

“Church, what happened?” That sentence alone made him nervous. Alroy had never —not even once— called Church by his name.

Alpha was quick to get up, hobbling over to where Alroy had previously been sitting, dragging the conversation away from his team and their eavesdropping. “Nothing happened, I'm perfectly fine.”

Alroy shook his head, narrowing his eyes, clearly unhappy with the answer. “You have a crutch and your leg and shoulder are bandaged. Who did this to you?” He didn’t even want to know how the stalker knew he had bandages on, since they were in fact covered up.

“It was dealt with.”

“Goddess, please, I just want to know who injured you to such a degree?” He was begging now, actually begging. Church wouldn’t have been all that surprised if Alroy got on his knees.

He ground his teeth together in sharp annoyance. “Ugh, fine, it was a Huntsman I was with.”

“Iwolintshi.”

Church saw the way his eyes darkened, the way they promised pain for the Huntsman, it made him quickly cut the stalker off with a harsh shush. “No, do not go after Hunter.” He couldn’t let Alroy kill him before he did, he wanted— deserved payback.

A sigh escaped Alroy’s lips as he bowed his head. “As you command Goddess, but just know I will be accompanying you, whenever you track him down to exact vengeance.”

“Fine.” It was growled out of his throat, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop Alroy. The guy was surprisingly slippery. “Now, get the fuck out of here.” He received a nod before the obsessed follower left the cafe, most likely going to the next store over.

Going back to his team where his midday dessert lay unfinished he sat down, ignoring the looks his team were giving him. “So Church, who was that? Your boyfriend?” Qrow wiggled his eyebrows, a smirk on his lips.

The AI gagged. “Fuck no! Definitely not. Saying he’s my boyfriend leaves the safe god awful aftertaste as you calling Raven your girlfriend.”

Tai nodded. “So, you’re related to him?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know him?”

“He lived in my village. I've known him for some time now.”

Raven hummed, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure he doesn’t think you’re dating? He certainly seemed to like you.” Church was just glad she glossed over the fact Alroy just happened to be in Vale and the cafe at the same time as them.

Church rolled his eyes, shaking his head harshly. “Yes, I’m positive he knows we’re not dating. Now fuck off on the questions.”

Xiao Long huffed, sticking his lips out trying to do a puppy dog face. “But Church, we’re finally learning things about you. Your dad wouldn’t spill anything, just kept telling us it wasn’t his place to say.”

‘I will give Ruka that, he knows how to keep a secret.’ Alpha picked up his silverware, taking another bite of his food and stared at his plate. “Because he knows I’m a private person, just like you should at least have a fuckin’ hint of.”

“Come on, Church, throw me a bone.” Alpha gave him an incredulous stare. “Please, I’ll stop bugging you about it for a month? Two? Three?”

He sucked in a breath, closing his eyes and tipping his head back, before slowly exhaling and opening his eyes. “Okay, okay, fine! One question, you get one question.”

Tai’s grin was practically glowing. “Ooh, I’m gonna need a little time to think. I’ll get back to you next weekend and the question is gonna be juicy.”

The AI groaned, rolling his eyes again, he couldn’t roll them enough. “Whatever, just don’t bring up the damn thing until then.” Tai only grinned wolfishly, winking at him.

Shoveling his delicious food into his mouth, he stood up ignoring his teams whispering about what exact question to ask him. With his lip reading skills he could easily understand what they were saying, which was beyond excruciating, he’d thought Raven was better than them.

Instead he exited the cafe, not really caring if his team decided to follow or not. He wished he’d stayed just a little longer inside, it would have saved him from the agony that followed. “Church!” Well, agony might have been overselling it a little, but damn it if he didn’t absolutely loath the woman. “Churchie, it’s me!”

“Yes, I can see that Aster.” She was a bright, bubbly, woman who contributed to every charity she could and was personally taught how to fight by Ruka, just so she could help protect the village. “What the fuck are you even doing here?”

Aster smiled brightly, her cheeks tinged pink slightly, unknowingly giving him the answer to his question. “Well, if you must know, I was looking for you… and Alroy, have you seen him?”

Church’s hand flew up to his temples, massaging them slightly, trying to ease his growing headache. “God, my stalker has a stalker.” It was muttered but he was sure she heard, he didn’t really care either way. “Leave me out of whatever shit show you have going on with Alroy, please. …Why did you want to find me? It couldn't just have been a very poor excuse to visit your crush.”

She dipped her head, playing nervously with her fingers, which couldn’t have been a good sign; he’d only ever seen her nervous a couple times before. “I don’t know if it’s my place to say but Ruka met a woman, her name’s Scarlett. I thought you could make sure her intentions are pure, you know for Ruka’s sake.”

Ruka had helped raise Aster when she was young before Church came to Remnant; apparently his adoptive father had solely taken care of her while her mother was in jail for murdering Aster’s father, something she had been proven innocent of after seven years in prison. Suffice to say, Aster had always been protective of Ruka and then Church, saying they were basically siblings, he disagreed with that on so many levels.

“I’m not taking no for an answer by the way.”

“Will you leave me alone if I scout her?” Aster vigorously nodded. “Fine, I have a break in two weeks. I'll check in on them then.”

She crossed her arms, stomping her foot lightly for emphasis. “Now, you never answered my question, do you know where Alroy is?” Church swiftly hit her leg with his crutch, hard enough to make her aura flair, a scowl sitting on his face. She hissed, leaning down to rub her leg. “What was that for?”

“You lied.” Aster scoffed, as if the idea offended her very being, as if she hadn’t in fact lied. “You said you’d leave me alone and yet… you're still here, to my great and utter annoyance.”

Sidling up closer, she grinned widely at him. “Really Churchie? You're telling me you don’t like me-”

“I fucking hate you actually.”

“-your telling me all the times you called me sister-”

“Never called you that, not once, never gonna happen.”

“-meant nothing to you? How could you lie to me this whole time? How can you be so cruel?” Alpha started walking away, completely done with the girl.

One day the AI was gonna examine the water to see just what the fuck these people had been drinking, because clearly that could be the only sound, logical, reasoning for them acting the way they did, specifically Aster. “I don’t know where your fucking boyfriend is, leave me alone.”

It was at that moment he knew he had the shittiest luck ever, as a pair of gold eyes stared right into his. “I found him.” It was low, below his breath, but he somehow doubted Aster hadn’t heard it.

The purple-haired menace gasped excitedly, before literally squealing as she skipped over to Alroy, grabbing his hand. “Alroy! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Alpha’s stalker raised an eyebrow, face steeled as he looked at her. Church could see the exact moment her happy attitude was crushed at the realisation that Alroy had yet to reciprocate her feelings, he’d been watching her game of cat and mouse for months now, still trying to figure out which of the two stalkers was the cat. “Right… Goddess, I come with news of Iwolintshi.”

If Church had lesser strength of will, his mouth would have been agape. “What? I just sent you out of the goddamned cafe!” His mind ran the calculations at how fast Alroy would have had to have moved, or how many people owed him favors that he could call in that quickly. “I- I don’t- wha-”

Aster smirked at his reaction; it was almost cheshire on her face. “Cat got your tongue?”

That snapped his mind back to where it needed to be, as he gave a frantic shake of his head to clear his thoughts. A deep breath was pulled in, before slowing letting it out, and relaxing his shoulders. “Fuck it! I don’t care. What do you have for me?”

Alroy pulled his eyes away from Aster, sharpening as they landed on the AI. “My contacts have informed me Iwolintshi is staying in a small frontier town called Ivory, and from what they’ve seen, he seems to be setting up to stay for a long period.”

His fingers curled tightly around the crutches handle, even going as far as to start bending it, a short breath out relaxed his hand. ‘I can’t fight him like I am. I'll just have to be patient for now, and hope he doesn’t leave the town for a month or two.’

Steeling himself he tipped his head up to Alroy. “I need you to keep tabs on Iwolintshi while I recover. However, if I hear that you’ve gone after him in my stead, I’ll kick your ass.”

He nodded, thumping his fist against his chest, bowing slightly. “Yes Goddess, I won’t let you down.”

“You better not. This is the first task I’ve ever given you, don’t fuck it up.”

“I would die before I do that, Goddess.”

Church waved his hand lazily. “Yeah, you do that.” He could practically feel his blood pressure rising the longer he talked to the two idiots. ‘I need a stiff drink and I need it now. Of course, no one fucking serves me, even though I’m older then them by decades.’

Finally, he decided he could get a drink from his private stash back at his dorm room. So, with a rather dramatic huff he started walking, once again, back to the airship that would take him to Beacon.

The walk was long and tedious, but it gave him room to sort, organize, and categorize his thoughts. Iwolintshi was still in the kingdom, which was in itself suspicious, but he wasn’t just staying in any random town; he was staying in a frontier town known for having the first and only church of the Grimm. It supposedly was a cult that worshipped the demons and was very hostile to other humans or faunus.

‘Not to mention it's one of the only notable churches—not a direct callout, but goddamnit if it doesn’t feel like one.’ He breathed out as he finally saw what had been looking him in the face. ‘Yeah, it's a hundred percent a trap. …Well, guess I’m gonna walk straight fucking into it, cause why the hell not?

He flashed his Beacon ID while hobbling to one of the back seats on the airship. He knew it would only take a couple of minutes before it would take off, but he swore he’d aged years by the time it finally did. What could he say? Patience was not one of his virtues, if he had any that was.

Church let his head fall back, looking at the pristine ceiling. ‘Next time Xiao Long suggests an outing, I’m using my team leader privileges to veto that fucker’s ass.’ He could practically hear Ruka already: “You need to get to know your team better,” “You have to build trust,” “Being more social will help you,” and all the other speeches Alpha now had memorized.

His eyes trailed around the ship; it wasn’t as clean as the first one he’d ridden on. He couldn’t see his reflection on the ceiling or the floor; there were even small bits of dirt collecting in small corners and crevices. He absentmindedly concluded they must have spent hours polishing the floors for the grand trip to initiation, and if that didn’t seem like a grand waste of time, he didn’t know what did.

Reeling his mind back in, he started calculating how long his recovery would be. It had been a week, and his tomahawk wound was already showing signs of progress. The many bullet holes on his leg would take weeks longer than his shoulder; he knew that, but he could still use it as a rough time frame for his leg.

‘Month and a half; I just need a month and a half.’ He wrung his hands together, hoping Iwolintshi was a patient man. He didn’t doubt Alroy would track him if he did give up on the waiting game, but the Huntsman would undoubtedly cover his trail. Church didn’t want to test to see which one of them was better.

A ping drew his attention to his scroll, where an “ominous” message from Ruka sat: ‘I need to talk to you.’ Well, that wasn’t odd at all. Nope! Completely normal. 

Church fully opened his scroll, typing out his reply quickly. ‘Well? I don’t have all day.’ He did not close his scroll; he knew Ruka would answer immediately.

‘I would prefer to call you.’

He shook his head violently; he refused to call someone if he didn’t have to, especially Ruka. The less he had to actually hear someone else’s voice, the better. ‘I don’t think so. Whatever you wanna say, you can fucking message as well.’

‘I heard Aster was heading to Vale. Did you talk to her?’

That definitely settled his mind. It was obvious Ruka had wanted to tell him about Scarlett first, but Aster most likely jumped the gun or was just trying to stir up drama. With her track record it was most likely the former, even though he kinda wanted it to be the latter, then he would have an actual reason to punch the purple-haired teen.

‘If you're wondering if she told me about Scarlett, you can save your fingers.’ The slight rumble told him the airship had docked; he collected his stuff before shoving his crutch under his arm and started to hobble off the ship, his other hand holding his scroll to watch for Ruka’s reply.

‘I meant to tell you Sum. I told her to wait until I got to you.’ Did Ruka think he was… hurt by his not being told by him? Alpha felt his eye twitch, he was mad that he was having to deal with it in the first place, he wasn’t Ruka’s dad, he didn’t care who he dated.

Church almost dropped his scroll, as he attempted to type with one hand. ‘I couldn’t give a fuck about this conversation if I tried. The only reason I’m annoyed that Aster told me, is because I had to talk to fucking Aster.’

‘You don’t care?’

He rolled his eyes, he could practically feel Ruka’s surprise. ‘Date whoever you want. Marry a damned whore if you want, just don’t drag me into the damned mess.’

Elbowing his way past a cluster of students, he entered the elevator. He wasn’t able to take the stairs efficiently while injured, so he’d been forced to use the elevator, sharing it with someone else nearly every time.

‘While I’m relieved you’re not upset this is what I’ve been talking about you should at least care who your father dates.’ The scowl that broke across his face had the first year sharing the space with him back away as best she could, but he couldn’t find it in him to care, not when Ruka had called himself his father when he knew he hated it.

Church closed his scroll, stuffing it in his pocket as the elevator doors finally opened to his floor. He needed that drink and he needed it now, he didn’t register that he was in his dorm room until the cool liquid burned his throat.

The bed creaked as he sat down, letting his crutch rest against it. The bottle of scotch was heavy in his hand, but it was a familiar weight, comforting even, as he downed another portion of it.

He huffed, intertwining his other hand around the bottle as well. ‘When did I become such an alcoholic?’ A laugh escaped him as he thought back to just when he’d started drinking compulsively, he’d thought it was in Blood Gulch with Tucker, but the real date sombered his mood severely. ‘It was after Allie died. …Yeah, that’s as good of an excuse as I need.’

Church raised the bottle up with one hand in a mock toast, “Hope you’re having a blast wherever you are Allison.”

Chapter Text

The locker room was a place he used to despise, but ever since learning that no one really used it, he’d taken full advantage of the quiet space, specifically when he needed to get away from STRQ or needed a moment to sort through his memories. Cleaning his weapons helped ease his thoughts whenever he was too caught up in the past; whenever he needed something mundane and simple to settle his mind, it was less frowned upon by society than drinking until he passed out.

“Fuck!” Church slammed his curled hand against the bench, the metal bending slightly, Caboose’s Retribution laid dismantled in his lap. ‘Why do I have to miss them?’ His head turned up towards the ceiling, searching marble for answers. ‘I used to dread and loath any interaction with Caboose, and now I just want to hear him sing that stupid song one more time.’

He clenched and relaxed his hand a couple times before he resumed cleaning the weapon. ‘I just hate not knowing what happened to them. I said so much inspirational crap when I thought I was dying but god damn it if it isn’t harder living without that knowledge.’ 

Church dropped his hand to his thigh, where hidden away from everyone were tattoos with the Reds and Blues, Washington’s, Carolina’s, and Tex’s names. It was a long list, which was why it was on his thigh and not his arm; he'd initially wanted them on his back but eventually decided on some place where he could see the names. ‘Idiots are too dumb to know how to die anyway.’

Caboose’s Retribution practically shined, but Church kept up cleaning it, his hands going through the motions easily while his mind wandered. Unfortunately, his mind wandered a little too much as time passed without him realizing, allowing the biggest asshole in Beacon the chance to get close to him.

Kakar Winchester, a boy that Church was sure skated through on his family’s money. He was flunking every subject except for combat class, which was not enough to keep him in the academy; Alpha had looked into that matter thoroughly.

It honestly surprised him that the Winchesters were able to flaunt their money the way they did; Ozpin didn’t let any of the other rich families skate like the Winchesters, which led Church to believe they held some other leverage over the headmaster; it was the only plausible explanation.

“Hey Summer, How’s the leg? How’d you get that again? Oh right, by being a little bitch and running away from a fight.” The smirk that spread across his face made the AI desperately want to punch him to wipe it away.

Multiple rumors had spread about how Church had gotten injured, why he stayed injured; one particular rumor seemed to cling on longer than the rest: that he was participating in an illegal fight with someone with a semblance that bypasses aura and that he’d run when the fight wasn’t in his favor. That rumor was strikingly close to the truth, the truth that Ozpin had made him swear not to tell. He really didn’t want to look like a snitch.

“Woah boy, calm down, don't need to go and use your whole vocabulary in one sentence.” Church discreetly moved his hand to the handle of Caboose’s Retribution; he had a feeling of how their exchange was going to play out. 

Kakar’s smirk shrunk, a glare sliding onto his face. “Heard Ozpin’s fed up and is gonna throw you out at the end of the month.”

Church raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. “I think that rumor’s ‘bout you, buddy; I even got a betting pool on when you’ll be kicked out. Damn it, I think Qrow had at the end of the month; guess I owe him twenty thousand.”

The scowl that settled on his face was enough to make Alpha grin. “You little bitch.”

“Overgrown fucker.”

The Winchester’s only child moved fast, grabbing Church’s shoulders and slammed him against the wall, making him cry out in pain and disgust. “You think that hurts, just you wait.”

His hand curled into a fist but Church moved faster; swinging Caboose’s Retribution around Kakar, letting the chain wrap around his neck and pull him to his knees in front of the AI.

But before Church could do anything further, he was quite literally tossed away by Professor Quartz into yet another wall. He curled in on himself, trying to steady his hyperventilating  breaths. ‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I’m fine. It’s okay. Shit! Fuck!’

His injuries were screaming at him. The bursting pain would have clouded his mind if it wasn’t locked onto the fact that not one, but two people had touched him. He sucked a breath through his gritted teeth, eyes blurringly focusing on the other two people in the locker room. 

Kakar had his best innocent face on while he explained something to Quartz, but Church couldn’t hear him over the sound of his own breaths and heartbeats. He reached up grabbing his hair before slamming his palms against the sides of his head a couple times. ‘Get your shit together, Leonard. It’s not a big deal, you had a human body once before get a fucking grip!’

Quartz had started making his way over, so Church let go of his head and uncurled, trying to at least act like he was okay, that everything was fine. “Mind telling me what that was about?”

“Self defense.” He shoved his arm against the wall, using it to help stand up. 

The professor raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Mister Winchester says you attacked him.”

Church scoffed, “Really?” It was directed at Kakar, then he turned to Quartz. “I can barely walk, why would I attack fuckface?”

“You almost killed him, that’s pretty good for not being able to walk.” Church rolled his eyes. “Alright Miss Rose, come with me, you as well, Mister Winchester.”

Quartz handed the AI a crutch and stored the two sickles in Church’s locker. The walk to Ozpin’s office was a quiet affair, Church was more than sure Quartz wanted to berate him but was patiently waiting for Ozpin’s say.

The doors to the office opened silently to show off the grand space, but his eyes zeroed in on the headmaster, who had his hands steepled on his desk and a raised eyebrow, showing off confusion that Church knew was fake. “Quartz, what did they do?”

“I found them in the locker room. Miss Rose was strangling Mister Winchester. I got her off him, where he told me she attacked him. She told me the opposite.”

Ozpin narrowed his eyes before making eye contact with Alpha; whatever he was looking for, he must have found, as he turned instead to Kakar, who broke eye contact multiple times and fidgeted with his hands, polar opposite to Church. “Miss Rose, was this the first time he attacked you?”

Church shook his head. “First time he’s ever actually touched me, usually I dodge or redirect, but can’t really move all too well right now.”

“Mister Winchester, was this the first time she attacked you?”

Kakar, oblivious as ever, nodded, a pitifully fake expression on his face. “It came out of nowhere. I forgot something in my locker and she just jumped me while I was walking.” It was probably the worst lie Church had ever heard in his life; he was sure even Caboose could lie better than that.

Ozpin hummed thoughtfully, but Quartz, who now looked slightly regretful, and Alpha both knew he didn’t buy that bullshit. “Mister Winchester, next time I would advise you not to lie to me. You will have a month of detention and two weeks with Professor Quartz, doing whatever he sees fit. Be wise, I will not be so lenient in the future.” With that, Kakar was led out by Quartz, and Ozpin turned his attention to the AI. “Miss Rose, I am sorry that you had to resort to almost killing him for us to see you were being threatened. Please don’t hesitate to tell me anything. That said, you will have detention for the next two weeks.”

“I can accept.” He turned around, hobbling towards the door, rightly assuming the conversation was over but of course Ozpin just had to have the last word.

“Anything, Miss Rose. You can tell me anything.”

He calmly left the office and stepped into the elevator, or at least presented that front; inside he was, in fact, panicking. Ozpin was hinting at something; Church knew he was most likely barking up the wrong tree, but goddamn it, if it didn’t worry him.

The elevator doors closed with a soft thunk as he let himself lean against the wall. It was 100% impossible for the headmaster to know he was an AI; sure, maybe Ozpin could tell something was off with him, but to just suspect that one of your students was, in fact, a computer program would be a large leap with no support.

‘Calm down, calm the fuck down. He won’t know anything unless I tell him something.’ His head tipped backward, hitting against the wall, the ceiling of the elevator suddenly becoming the most fascinating thing in the world to him, anything to take his mind off of… that. ‘Food? Yup, food sounds awesome.’

The elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors opened with a small ‘ding’. It wasn't any scheduled meal time, so the cafeteria wouldn’t have actual food, but they always had snacks set out for peckish students or students that desperately needed to eat their worries away since they had drunk their whole liquor stash.

Next time Ozpin summoned him, he was either going to hide in his room until the headmaster no longer cared or use his Semblance to snoop, because damn it all, he hated being so clueless.

He shoved the doors to the cafeteria open, letting a burst of warm air into the cool building. There was a team at one of the far tables hunched over binders with a few snacks between them and a pair of students at another table talking softly, but otherwise it was empty.

The lunch lady, Bianca Beryl, carefully eyed Church as he made his way toward her. She was an older woman and had a reputation for hating every student, but for some reason she was soft on him. “I thought you were getting along better with your teammates?”

Her answer was a glare. He'd never told her that; she must have thought that since he’d stopped coming so frequently, he’d finally stopped stress eating. He wasn’t about to burst her bubble and tell her he was stress drinking instead. “Got in a fight with a fucker, then called to Ozpin’s office.”

“Language.” He couldn’t roll his eyes harder if he tried. “Was it Mister Winchester?” He gave a quick nod, eyes searching the counter for one of his favorite snacks. Bianca smiled at him, holding up one finger before quickly rushing off into the back of the cafeteria; she returned soon after with a plate of freshly made cookies. “Cedar told me he saw Professor Quartz dragging you two off. I assumed you would come here.”

He scowled; no way was he getting predictable. Blue team’s whole thing was that no one could think like them; he did not want to be predictable. “Well then I don’t need to humor your ass.” A smirk fell onto her face as she retracted the plate. “Ah—Fuck—Fine. Sorry, Miss Beryl, I like our chats very much and am not humoring you in the slightest.” 

Bianca scoffed but returned the plate to his awaiting hand. “I’m not so old that I cannot detect sarcasm, dearie. And also language.”

“Shit, really? I would’ve guessed you were a day from becoming a fucking fossil.”

A frown spread across her face. “Do I need to start a swear jar?”

Church hobbled over to the nearest table to start devouring the cookies. “I wouldn’t pay it.” She slid into the seat across from him. Clearly she had some free time with the lack of people.

Her fingers tapped against the table in a quiet rhythm. “I could take it out of your snacks.” The look of absolute horror he sent her had her laughing, no, cackling. “Maybe I will. Don't tempt me.”

“Well, fuck you too.” It was a light comment that held no malice, but he still received a glare from the lunch lady; he dipped his head slightly, muttering a quick, “sorry.” 

She snatched one of the cookies between her fingers, nibbling on it in perhaps the most proper way he’d ever seen. “Better, but if you keep swearing, I may have to take such… drastic measures.” The silence that rolled over them was far from awkward; instead, Church would have even dared to call it comfortable. “How did the meeting go?”

Bianca was the only person on Remnant he’d bothered telling about his distrust and dislike for the headmaster; she luckily happened to feel the same; something about him apparently rubbed her the wrong way.

Alpha scoffed, letting his head fall onto his hand, his elbow propped on the table. “Could’ve gone better, could've gone worse.” He shoved more of the food into his mouth, uncaring if his manners were more suited to a barn than a trillion Lien academy. “He hinted at something.” She quirked an eyebrow, urging him to continue. “Said I could, and I quote, “tell him anything.” And no, I have no idea what he was hinting at.”

One of the pair of students cried out excitedly, making both Bianca and Church snap their heads to him. It took him a moment to notice the glares before sheepishly mumbling an apology as he sat back down, face red, and head bowed.

He ran a hand down his face, scrubbing it slightly, as he scarfed down the last of the dessert, and stood up. “I’m gonna go to my room and hopefully sleep.”

Beryl stood up after him grabbing the used plate “Have a good day, dearie.” She paused, turning back to face him. “And hon? Unlike the headmaster’s threat, when I say this, I mean it with absolute sincerity. If you ever are in trouble, I’ll help you hide the body.”

That actually pulled a true smile out of him as he nodded his head and left the cafeteria. He knew she meant it too; he could one hundred percent see her helping him hide a body, she's what he’d picture an elder Carolina would act like, she took after her Tex in that regard.

There were many things Church hated about his team; one of the big factors was Taiyang and everything he did, for instance, organizing yet another ambush for the second the AI had stepped into their dorm room. “God fucking damn it! No, not today!” 

“All I asked was if you're okay after Kakar attacked you, no need to jump down my throat.”

Church fisted his hair. All he wanted to do was sleep without interruption, was that so much to ask for? Did the universe have a vendetta against him? “You have no fuckin’ filter, I can see all your thoughts on your stupid ass face.” He made a vague gesture towards the blonde-headed man’s face for heavy emphasis.

Tai scoffed, crossing his arms, trying and failing to put on a mask of indifference. “Oh yeah? And what is my “stupid face” saying?”

“You gonna say that quote correctly, asshole?” Church had an actual blank look on his face as he stared at Tai for a long drawn out beat. “No? Didn’t think so.”

Qrow moved closer to him, leaning against the windowsill next to Church’s bed. “You are okay, right?” He merely received a dismissive gesture in lieu of an answer; the younger twin took it in stride, apparently deeming it an acceptable answer.

Raven was sat cross-legged on her bed, eyes flicking up every other moment from her scroll; the only person who cared about this part of the ambush was Xiao Long.

“Alright, fine, I’m ready to use my question and you have to answer truthfully.”

He bowed his head, hair still firmly held in his grasp. He could not deal with it today, he was exhausted and definitely did not have the mental strength to deal with his teammate. “You know there’s no time limit on this shit, right?”

That only seemed to invigorate Taiyang as he nodded his head, eagerly, the damned extrovert. “Oh, I know, but I already know what I want to ask, right Rae?” And that… that worried him. What was he planning? Why was Raven involved? And why had she agreed? …Actually, the last one was easy, she was a bitch.

“If needed, yes.”

The blonde grinned, leaning forward slightly, hands clasped together. “When we were in the Bullhead with TEAL you mentioned to Lilac it wasn’t your first mission, who'd you go with on your other missions?”

And he knew that slip up was gonna bite him in the ass. Maybe he could still salvage it? With his luck probably not. “I already told Lilac I went with Ruka.”

Raven scoffed, shaking her head, eyes still on her scroll. “Either that’s a complete lie or a partial, neither of which is acceptable.” 

“Fine, I had a team I went on a couple missions with. Happy?”

She finally closed her scroll, eyes training on his own hair covered ones. “Not even a little.” She, similar to Taiyang, leaned forward, resting her weight on her arms. “What were their names?”

Church sighed, finally letting his hands drop from his head, his shoulder stung at the movement but, at the moment, he couldn’t have cared less. “Tucker, Caboose, Washington, Texas, and Kaikaina.” Her name was odd to him, but no way in hell was he explaining why he referred to her as “Sister”.

The blonde instigator softened his face in a show of… compassion? Nope, nah, no, Church was way too tired to deal with their bullshit. “What happened to them?” The glare he received made him backpedal. “I know I already used up my question, so you don’t have to answer, but I thought you might want to talk about them since you seemed kind of fond just now, but–”

“Tai.” Qrow had his arms crossed, a stern look on his face clearly he was the only one of his teammates to have any brain cells. “Leave it.” The order very much reassembled a dog’s commands, but it seemed to work on the blonde.

The older twin rolled her eyes, pocketed her scroll, and stood. “Gonna get some food.” She yanked Tai out the door with her, leaving just the two partners in the room.

Slowly the AI breathed out; he didn't even bother turning to Qrow, his, surprisingly, savior. “You gonna ask your fuckin’ question, Bird Boy?”

Branwen shook his head, chuckling slightly. “And waste the golden ticket you’ve handed me? Yeah, right. I’m saving it for something juicy, just don’t go forgetting about it.”

“If I forget, your time limit’s expired.” Church let himself lie down on his bed, having just enough energy to curl the covers partially over him before he felt sleep pull his mind under, knowing full well he would not be waking up for dinner.

“Night, Church.”

Chapter Text

Abnus looked exactly the same, the routines Church had clocked of its residents months prior were still the same; he didn't know why he’d expected it to be different; the people were practically allergic to change.

The good news was that his shoulder had finally healed enough for him to use both crutches, so he didn’t have to hobble anymore. The bad news was that he was standing outside of Ruka’s house with the key in the lock.

Church sighed quietly before turning the key and pushing the door open; in the living room, on the couch that Church had sprawled on many times, was Ruka and a red-haired woman that was undoubtedly Scarlett, watching some trashy movie that Church wouldn’t have watched even if someone paid him.

Ruka’s head snapped to the door, sharp eyes immediately softening when he identified him; and if that didn’t make him want to hurl, nothing would. “I see you’re shoulder’s better.”

“Getting there.”

“Before you get settled, want to explain why I got a letter from the Academy, stating you nearly killed another student?” 

That had Church chuckling nervously; Ruka had always wanted him on his best behavior. “Oh, that… before you say anything, he had it coming; fucker attacked me, I defended myself.”

The hard expression that was strown across Ruka’s face cracked into a smile. “I know, Ozpin explained the whole thing in the letter.”

Church arched an eyebrow. “Then, why’d ya ask?”

Ruka laughed, shaking his head slightly, swirling his miscellaneous drink in his cracked ceramic mug that he always used; again, allergic to change. “For nearly killing me with worry when you got injured.”

“Fuck you too.”

“You know, Ruka, when you told me you had a daughter, I expected one that was polite like you, not quite so… foul-mouthed.”

Church finally let his eyes examine Scarlett. Her hair was an obscene shade of red, eyes just a bit neon green, even her skin seemed to glow. All in all, she was probably the worst partner Ruka could have chosen. Her whole being was just too… bright. “Scarlett, yeah?” He made a show of tipping his head up and down. “I’m not impressed.”

Scarlett raised an eyebrow, eyes trailing over to Ruka, who merely shook his head. “She’s not usually like this, she just doesn’t like new people.”

“You say that like I’m a damn dog.”

“That’s because you act like one, Sunny.” The scoff that drew out of Church practically echoed in the room.

Scarlett watched the two of them banter with a quirk of her lips, her face soft and open. “So Summer—”

“It’s Church.”

“—Church then. How'd you get injured?”

The AI stared at Ruka with a deadpan expression, he would definitely be the death of him. “You didn’t tell her?”

Ruka had the gall to smirk, setting his mug on the glass coffee table, and crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat. “Can’t let you have all the fun, now can I?”

“I’m going to poison your food.” The man matched his stare. “And coat your fuckin’ mug with it too. You will be dead as a doornail come morning, say your prayers, this will be your last night on Remnant.”

Neither of the two looked impressed. “You finished?”

“Maggots will feast on your corpse that I will dump in the woods, unburied, because you must pay for your crimes.” He let the silence settle over the room for a beat, Scarlett’s confused face practically begging him to continue, alas the stern look on Ruka’s contrasted and overpowered it easily. “I’m a Huntress-in-training, injured on a mission with the biggest fucking asshole I’ve run into in months.”

Scarlett nodded, clearly piecing all the bits of information she’d been given, or learned about Church together. “Are you alright?”

Church grunted, waving her off. “It’s been a couple weeks since it happened. I'm fine.”

“What about up here?” She tapped her head for emphasis.

He groaned, throwing his arms out as much as he could without dropping his crutches. “Oh my god! Yes, I’m fine. Fuck off! I get enough of that already.”

She raised her hands up in defense. “Sorry, I didn’t mean any offense.”

Church scoffed, “sure you didn’t.” It was muttered and low, but Ruka’s eyes sharpened nonetheless. “I’ll be upstairs putting my stuff away.” Without another word, he turned towards the stairs.

“Do you need any help?”

He gritted his teeth so hard he could practically feel them turning into dust. “Are you stupid? The fuck did I just tell you? Honestly.” He was ready to start roasting Scarlett, but he could tell Ruka was getting fed up, so wisely he retreated up the stairs to his room.

The bedroom was exactly as he’d left it, mess and all; neither Ruka, nor him were much for cleaning. It wasn’t the worst state the room had been in, and it certainly didn’t compare to the dump that had been Tucker’s room in Blood Gulch; he still had nightmares about the few times he’d been forced to enter.

Church sat on the bed, pulling his backpack off and sitting it on the ground by the nightstand; he wouldn't be in the town long enough to warrant pulling anything out of the bag. His crutches found spots on the floor, close enough to grab but effectively out of the way.

Laying back, he closed his eyes. The airship had been surprisingly crowded in the beginning in addition to all of the hoard of students being loud and annoying as hell.

He must have dozed off, because he awoke to the delicious smell of freshly made food. Ruka always made dinner at the same time each night, so by his estimate, he’d been asleep for a little over an hour.

Church sighed, weighing the choice between having to talk to people versus not eating, trying to decide which was more of a pain in the ass. Fuck it . He made his way downstairs and to the kitchen, where Ruka and Scarlett were having dinner.

He dragged himself into a seat, piling his plate with food that looked good, smelled great, and probably tasted even better.

Scarlett turned away from Ruka towards him, which he promptly ignored. She could have the decency to wait until after dinner was finished to start making small talk. In the end he only managed to ignore her for his first serving. “So, how long have you been at Beacon?”

Shrugging was his oh-so-dignified response. “I don’ know, three months? …Yeah, that feels right.”

“Two, it's been two months.” She nodded, accepting Ruka’s much more sure answer, but in his defense, he’d truly thought it’d been three or even four months, which was odd; he must have miscounted during his first weeks being injured—he had been pretty out of it.

“What do you even do?” She smiled wide at the engagement. No, not another one! Please, I’ll do anything, just not another one! 

Ruka watched with excited eyes as Scarlett took a sip of her water. Alpha was sure he would never understand the Huntsman no matter how much time he spent with him, which he hoped was very little. “I own one of the local inns; I've been running it for the past couple of years.” The one with all the rose bushes outside. “You must know which one I’m talking about; it has a bunch of roses in front. I planted those myself.”

“Yes, I know it.” They were after all the rose bushes he’d been pushed into a year ago. The fuckers who’d done it had received quite the thank you; their pathetic auras were broken and their fingers shattered. That was when he’d realized Alroy was serious about protecting him from everyone, even against typical bullies who had done little more than scrape his aura.

She hummed, eyes practically shining. “You should stop by sometime, we have the best food in town.” There were two inns in Abnus, both of them doubled as restaurants; the town was too small not too. “And I heard you're quite the food connoisseur, I'd love to see what you think.”

Church glared at Ruka, who would dare tell some random woman facts about him. Oh god, was he bragging about me? I think I’m gonna be sick. “I’m pretty picky about what I like to eat.” He just needed to shut her down politely, then Ruka wouldn’t get mad at him and start the manipulation game.

Her smile stayed prominent on her face, but he saw the way her eyes dipped. “Oh, well, maybe next time?” 

And there was Ruka’s famous stare, the disapproving tilt of his eyebrows, the way the lines of his face hardened slightly, his lips almost in a frown. Church honestly could not have rolled his eyes harder, before he offered Scarlett a meager hum. 

His eyes drifted away from her, instead scanning the room, eventually his eyes landed on her bag where just peeking out of an open pocket was a picture of Scarlett and a small boy. “You have a child.” It was not a question, it was a statement and if his voice practically dripped in venom well then they politely moved past it.

Scarlett’s whole face showed surprise, before she quickly tracked what he was looking at. “Ah, that’s Roux.”

Church sneered, his whole face contorting as he glanced away from the photo to her. “Is this a recent photo? He a fuckin’ rug rat?” 

“A… rug rat? …No? That's an old picture, he's twelve now.”

“Ah, yes, hormonal preteen, even better.” The house had seemed at least tolerable with Scarlett around, but adding a twelve-year-old was beyond his limits; he would just have to rent a place in Vale during the long breaks. He was nearly missing Beacon now, which was strange in the worst of ways.

Her face seemed to soften even more as she watched him with her large, doe eyes that honestly belonged on a cartoon lamb. “He’s staying with one of his friends while you're here. We thought it would be best to slowly introduce you to me and then to him, and vice versa.” And that last part was definitely bullshit for his benefit.

The scoff that tore out of his throat was downright vicious as he scowled at them both. He stood from his chair, threw his hands up, and he walked out of the kitchen. “Forget I even asked.” It was an admittedly strong reaction, but tiptoeing like that had always annoyed him.

Once on the couch, he let his head flop back against the back, listening in on the remains of the conversation in the kitchen. 

“I think I angered her.” No shit, Sherlock. “I’m sorry Ruka, I know you wanted our first meeting to go well.”

“That realistically went better than it should’ve. I had hoped she would be more welcoming to the idea, but Sunny is very closed off, it was unlikely she would’ve liked someone else in her home.”

“Well, she does seem like a nice girl underneath her… prickly bits.”

A small chuckle unlike Ruka rang from the kitchen. “Prickly bits is an interesting way to put it, but yes, she is.” And that was where he stopped listening to them; he had never been nice to Ruka, barely tolerable on the best of days. 

Church turned the news on to help drown out their conversation while he had a small crisis. He was sure he’d never been pleasant to Ruka, positive, or he had been. Had he not, had he actually been companionable? But, then again, he’d never been threatened with being kicked to the curb; him leaving had never actually come up, aside from going off to Beacon, at which point Ruka had assured him he would always have a home with him.

The faucet of the kitchen sink turned on, drawing his ears back to what he was trying so hard to tune out; so he jammed the volume up on the TV, drowning out the kitchen.

The news anchor blabbered on about the Schnee family, something about a new baby. Ever since the growing fame of the Schnee Dust Company, the family had started being treated like celebrities. He didn’t exactly care about the Schnee’s, but he cared about the SDC; they had super good Dust prices, he only knew of one shop in Vale that beat their prices and it was struggling to stay open at the moment.

He let his right arm cover his eyes, breathing out deeply. Ruka would be retiring to bed soon and it was good odds that Scarlett would go with him, leaving the whole downstairs to him. He just had to be patient and wait them out; which, in hindsight, sounded kinda rude but she was on his last nerve. Lifting his arm just enough to look around the room, he noticed multiple pictures hanging around the room of Scarlett and Roux. He’s serious, hmm. It was odd Ruka hadn’t dated once in the time Church had stayed with him… but was he gonna unpack that little elephant? No. No, he was not.