Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on multiple existing anime/manga series. The characters and settings used in this story belong to their respective owners and creators, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and is not intended to infringe upon any existing intellectual property. I do not own any of the original works that inspired this fanfiction, and I fully support the original creators and their works.
I'm also exceedingly rarely chilling in JaxWolf4's (Author of Nah, I'd Adapt and Zenin Days) Discord Server. It's a chaotic lobotomy mess. Not for the faint of heart.
Here's the link:
Disc: HrPrTeam
The sparks of Black are... fading.
-Story Start-
The fractured moon hung above the cloudy sky, its illuminated fragments peering through the clouds.
The minutes passed into hours, as Team CFVY's shift, which Alex had intercepted mid-way through, had already switched to his supposed designated time to take over the shift.
But he was still there, standing guard at the front undefended pathway leading into the hilly town of Vache.
Alex, unsurprisingly, found the whole situation rather relaxing - something only he could admit.
The occasional Grimm or two, or three, or four, or five, or ten at once would charge towards him.
Boarbatusk, Ursa, Ursa Major, a car-sized Nevermore were the majority of his encounters. Five moderately-sized King Taijitu and two Death Stalkers were the minority of those he had dispatched.
None of them lasted a moment longer than the other, however.
Sometimes he'd get a small warning from the old-fashioned walkie-talkie that some of the Grimm are attempting to enter the Town through an unorthodox pathway - that being climbing. It's noisy and efficient, but it happens and is easily noticed - so there's a change of scenery as well when he needs to circle the hill to eliminate the stray Grimm.
Minus the whole mud on his clothing and the smell of cow manure, it was rather pleasant indeed.
Except there was one small disturbance to his peace.
"How long are you going to just watch me? Don't you want to catch up on sleep before your shift?" Alex turned his head to the side, noting the easy-going Coco sitting on a stone with an oddly analytical and sharp look in her eye.
"Oh, stop being a killjoy~! I told you not to mind me, right?" She waved her hand dismissively, a casual grin on her face.
She's been here for hours, arriving about a few minutes after Velvet went radio-silent.
Alex feared that she'd start yapping like Nora, digging a hole in his head.
'But thankfully, she hasn't been irritating.'
Just quietly watching, observing through those sunglasses of hers when the sun was already long gone, as he calmly stood or at times sat and went up to eliminate the Grimm that were mindlessly charging like moths to a flame.
Pursing his lips, Alex warned, "I'm not taking over your next shift." He declared matter-of-factly.
"Don't worry your pretty little head over it." She retorted in dismissal once more.
"Whatever floats your boat," Alex grunted with a shrug, continuing to... stand there, enjoying the fresh air and breeze on his face.
As more and more Grimm charged without a single sign of success.
A few more hours passed, and it seemed that fewer and fewer Grimm were coming.
And by now, Alex had reached into the hundreds he'd sent into oblivion.
Prompting a comment from the bystander whose shift was rapidly approaching, "Looks like you got all of them. At least, the young and stupid ones who can't hold themselves back."
Her observant tone prompted Alex to turn to her with a questioning look, to which her smile widened, "Well, I think I've seen enough. Plus, my ass's sore from sitting so long," She mentioned as she hopped from her little stone throne with a good-natured, or so she believed, joke.
It had almost, but just almost, managed to hide the slight hint of groginess from her tone. Not that Alex gave it any mind, "Vital information." He deadpanned.
Much to his displeasure, the steps of her heels, which were not fit for combat, resonated as she approached him amid the quietude of the semi-open grove of the lower section of the hill.
"Hmm..." She hummed, her eyes danced with thinly veiled intrigue as they met with the dull amber of Alex, as if she were trying to decipher a puzzle.
A moment later, her eyes momentarily darted to the sight before them.
It was fortunate that Grimm left no corpses, but the land is another matter.
Cobweb cracks on the coarse ground, dirt scattered, toppled trees, and those lucky few who only tilted, barely hanging by their deep roots, as all their leaves were blown away. The battlefield was even more scarred by the sheer strength of Alex's swings than by the usage of her lovely explosive Dust.
Even looking at the ruined field, Coco couldn't suppress the feeling that even with all this damage, Alex was still being nice about it.
Only further confirmed as she met his eyes once more, noting not a single trace of struggle, or sweat, or even waning of his aura. She could feel it even from a distance, growing stronger with each step she took, every breath he exhaled felt... heavy.
It wasn't even the sheer number of Grimm that he took down that unsettled her; she could take on all those as well if she had the ammunition - it was at the ease he did it.
Add a thousand more Grimm, ten thousand even - she questioned whether he'd even perspire.
Her close look told her all she needed; this man was the equivalent of the entirety of Vale's Huntsmen bundled into one.
She shook her head, 'Maybe I'm overthinking it, but he's like a hundred at least... not including myself.'
Pausing but a step from him, Coco graced him with a look of sheer confidence and bluster as she lowered her shades to give him a good look at her self-proclaimed dazzling eyes, "I've conversed many times with Ruby, cute little thing she is, realizes she's not good with lies, so she just doesn't say anything... So I'd like your help picking apart a little puzzle I'm struggling with." She emphasized the gravity of the puzzle with a tiny pinch of her fingers.
She continued, pressing on with her request as she looked down at Alex, as she was as tall as Pyrrha. "Whatdy'a say? Care to help a gal out?"
Alex took apart that statement, analyzed it thoroughly, and...
"Hard pass."
That appeared like the wrong thing to respond with, as she had a rather threatening closed-eyed smile, "Great! So here's my question..." Her eyes opened as her tone turned rather unreadable:
"Why are you even staying as a Student? You can be a full-blown Huntsman even now, what is there to teach...you?" She gestured at the brutalized battlefield and then with her hand at his unfazed, inexhaustible expression. "Why waste time?"
In hindsight, it was a pretty simple question. But to Alex, it was rather loaded.
Why was he still a student?
The answer came immediately to is mind, 'I can't quit, I'll be punished.'
He shook his head, answering her after giving it another thought, "I could say it's because I still don't know the more delicate things. Brute force works in most things, but I don't know how to properly deal with a hostage situation. I don't know a lot of things; all I'm good for right now is hacking away at Grimm, Ancient Grimm or not."
'Hacking away at Ancient Grimm...' Coco fiddled with the absurd statement in her head; she had wanted to dismiss it immediately with a snort.
Yet, the calm and blunt with which he snuck that idea into his sentence sent an unsuppressible shiver down her spine.
He continued his answer with a blunt yet genuine tone with naught change of expression, "Even if what I've said is true, that's just an excuse. The real reason is I don't want to be a Huntsman just yet."
"I want to complete my four years with my Team and friends, get my Professional Huntsman License, do my job as a particularly powerful Huntsman for a while, contribute and get paid a decent salary for a Huntsman, and then retire somewhere preferably quiet, just like most of my peers."
Before Coco could reply, Alex's head lowered from meeting her eyes steadfastly to gaze at Excalibur hanging on his hip, whose light burned in the darkness surrounding them.
He added with finality, with a look of deep emotions amid his stoic mask, "And eventually, when the need arises, I'll pay my debt of gratitude and do my duty. It's the least I could do."
Coco could stare with an enigmatic look, repeating his words, "Your... debt?"
She shook her head, snorting loudly at his rather surprisingly sincere response, "Is that all?"
"Yeah, pretty much my reasoning."
"I had the impression, at least from my last conversation with Ruby about you is that you weren't even keen on staying in Beacon, let alone being a Huntsman... what changed? Is it the debt?" She reiterated his prior words.
He nodded, "Yes, in a sense. Things are... getting more tolerable. Certain interferences make it hard to tolerate, however."
"Who do you owe it to?"
[Without me, that adoration would have never flourished. 'Stick' was it?] The System sneered.
"Excalibur." He stated simply, gesturing to the blade of Promised Victory.
"...What? Your semblance?"
"I'd rather not talk about it, and I frankly don't really know you well, but I owe Excalibur a great deal." Alex nodded without divulging his issues and strongly dictating a line she can't cross.
As confounding as that statement was, and as many more questions had arisen in Coco's head from this conversation, her main point of... curiosity and worry had been assuaged.
Huffing, Coco's broad smile relaxed as she complimented, "You know, I'm actually glad that you are the person with that kind of power."
Alex met her with a questioning, yet grateful look, taking a compliment as easily as always. "Thanks."
She snorted, her hand extended as she patted him proudly on the head as if he were a good puppy, "I mean it, your lack of ambition is, oddly enough, a great thing! You're a far better option than most. I don't have enough toes or fingers to count the number of fiendish people who would use that power for far less than tasteful things."
Stopping her head patting, a lecherous grin formed on her face as she leaned forward, whispering to the nonchalant Alex, "Me included~"
She leaned back, noting his unchanged expression, adding. "As perfect as I am, even I'd get corrupted by that kind of power... what of others? I'd say they'd fall into temptation in an instant! Praiseworthy, my dear overpowered freshman!"
"Appreciate it." Alex nodded once more.
Shaking her head, she tilted her head, "Mind answering one last question for me before we return to more fun topics?"
"I'd skip the fun topics, but sure, shoot."
She pointed her thumb towards the dark, particularly in the direction of the valley where the Third, Fourth years, and even some licensed Huntsmen were struggling even at this moment. "While you're here, why aren't you going out to deal with the mines? We can hold the ground here, while you clean-up the mess over the-"
Alex lifted his palm, putting a stop to her rant, "No reason really, Ozpin asked me not to interfere... for reasons I don't think I can talk about, but he hadn't really revealed to me anything in the first place." He shrugged.
He added after a moment's contemplation, nodding firmly. "If it takes too long, and I get sick of this place, I'll go and take care of it. Or if they ask for help. Whichever one comes first, really." His words were followed by the gentle tapping of the old communication device that was stationed for emergencies. "While we're not allowed to stop guarding this place, if I hear a message on this thing calling for an SOS, I'll leave things here to you guys."
Coco smirked, teasing, "Could've given us the memo of your plan a bit earlier than just off-hand conversation, rather than now?"
"You wouldn't have to hold out for very long; the valley's nearby. And my Aura should be far enough to lower the amount of Grimm coming here."
She hummed, unconvinced, "Hmm..." After thinking it through by placing the adjusted perception necessary when dealing with Alex Andrite, she managed to convince herself, "Fair enough."
...
The stillness returned, nothing but the wind and distant crickets, and the echo of distant mooing cattle.
The atmosphere was about to turn awkward, but Coco never let it as she backpedaled and inquired good-naturedly, "Say, on a pretty unrelated note, do you like 'em older?" She grinned like a loon, wiggling her eyes provocatively at Alex.
The question had granted Alex the impression that she was an old lecher, judging by that strange glint in her eye. "I do." He affirmed.
Tapping her chin, she gasped in understanding, "Ah! Now I get it! At first, I thought you might be a prude, but I understand it now. This is why you haven't made a move on any of your teammates!"
The cringe was immediate, "The fuck's wrong with you?"
"No, no. The fuck's wrong with you?! They're all drop-dead gorgeous. What? You think inter-team romance is rare? I mean, sure, a team that bones one another is kind of weird, but a pairing or two is quite common! Who can love an absent Huntsman husband as much as an absent Huntsman wife? Beep! No one!"
Alex had, for a moment, slowly but surely garnered some respect for Coco, managing to differentiate her from the... Nora thing.
Now? The garnered respect was taking a nose-dive off a cliff.
She leaned in, wrapping her hand around Alex's shoulder as if they were old buddies, "Cmon, you can share with Mama Coco... unless you're into Mama Coco. I'll warn you, I like girls."
His response was also immediate shutdown, "Not into you, woman."
"Wow, instant response. Way to lower a girl's confidence, pal." She gave a thumbs-down and a vocal boo.
Alex ignored her and deflected, "What about your team?"
"Classified...not, Velvet's cute, but totally not my type~"
She swooned, "I like them with a little sass, a little spice, a touch of temperament and a sizeable serving of bodacious hips... like Professor Goodwitch." She gave a live example.
Stroking his chin for once, playing with the idea, he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she's not bad."
She nodded fervently, "Mhm... but alas! Some fruits cannot be tasted!"
"Sure."
Thus, the conversation drew into nonsense, Alex curtly replied with a healthy dosage of:
"You know, when taking a good look at you and your Semblance, it's the equivalent of a supermodel and some soulless, CCT worker with smelly armpits dating each other walking side-by-side."
"Okay."
"What came first, the chicken or the egg?"
"Egg probably."
"Hey, did you know that Humans and Faunus apparently rose from Dust according to myth? Pretty cool, right?"
"More of a believer in rising from the mud and the earth."
"And so, I went to my favorite store and I got scammed! Can you believe that!? Now, it's no longer my favorite store, humph!"
"Really? Tell me more."
"Did you know Ozpin picks his nose when he thinks no one's looking?"
"Yes"
"Say, wanna prank the others real quic-"
"No."
And other manners of countering the older Nora variant as taught by proxy of the wise Ren.
Eventually, the world around them began to brighten up, as the sun peeked over the horizon in quite a breathtaking view.
To Alex?
Fantastic news.
"Nice, shift's over. Good luck." He immediately put one leg before another and strode towards the gate, leaving the frankly visibly tired Coco to stand there with a disheartened look.
He looked and noticed from afar as the other three of Coco's teammates headed their way to take over, "You'll be fine with Velvet losing her weapon?"
"She's capable with ANY weapon, don't underestimate her!" She pointed at the approaching figure of Velvet, holding what seemed to be a mechashifting axe.
"I didn't, was just asking."
And so, the first, technically uneventful day in the outskirts of Vale came to an uneventful end for Alex.
Just how he liked it.
He only hoped it stayed that way, but he kept those hopes close to his chest and unspoken - he knew better.
To Be Continued!
-Author Note Start-
Hey bruzzahs.
Apologies for the late chapter.
I'm afraid the sparks of black are fading away... My Reversed Writing Technique has not been regained.
In any case, I hope this yap-filled chapter was to your enjoyment. I have sprinkled a very sneaky, innocent hint in this one, so see if you can find it.
If you do, kudos to you; maybe it'll help you understand something.
I'm interested in your interpretations as readers. I think up to this chapter, and especially this chapter, you can see the developing philosophy of Alex as a Wielder of Excalibur. So I'm curious as to your opinion of it. Is it right? Is it wrong? Could it be better?
My personal opinion is that it's 'okay', it could be better, obviously. In fact, it's quite lazy as I see it, as one of the many downsides.
But then stems the question of whether it is the responsibility of those who hold power (especially such as Excalibur) to use it?
Leave the world to its devices, or interfere.
I think what will fully cement the idea of Alex's values is when he is faced with the option of wiping out all the Grimm in the world. Except for the 'It's a bother'. What do you think his answer would be?
In fact, he's already got an answer ready for that kind of question.
Well, the only question for now is whether these values will remain when it's all said and done.
Anyway!
Here's to praying the quality has not diminished with the loss of the Reversed Writing Technique.
Also, I appreciate all who submitted any criticisms - I have read through them and taken them to heart, and will be improving the story/addressing the gaps properly.
The greatest difficulty, in my opinion, is assessing what is interesting AND important and when something isn't. It is a learning curve, and I thank you for the assistance! I promise to get better over time.
At the very least, trying my best lol.
On that note. Love ya and bye-bye!
Next chapter... 24-48 hours maybe?