Chapter Text
Sergeant Jinguuji's office
The Sergeant's… Marimo-chan's office was the same as it had been at home. Somewhat of a mess, though an organized one. Her military and teacher personalities seemed to have melded together, kind of like how Takeru's multitude of personalities and previous loops had merged together to form the man he was today. Shirogane was sitting in front of her desk, where stacks of paper both finished and in waiting. A radio in the background played the familiar tunes of Kino, a Soviet and Post-Soviet Rock band.
The Sergeant approached her desk with two cups of warm coffee. She handed one to Shriogane, then sat down in front of him, with the backdrop of a large arched window letting the warm light of a twilight sun peer through. She said, "So… I'm guessing you have as many questions as I do in regards to why we're here."
"That'd be an understatement," Takeru replied, looking at the steaming cup in his hands, watching the warmth wafting up toward his face as his reflection darkened. He blinked when he heard a refrigerator door pop open, then looked up and saw Marimo offering him milk and some non-sugar sweeteners. He asked, "... You looking after your health and stopping sugars, ma'am?"
She chuckled, then said, "Just take them. My Teacher self couldn't stand my coffee this black, which is at odds with my current preferences," as she set them down in front of him, "And I'm not sure how much you used to drink before anyway."
"Maybe a cup every day," He answered, then set the warm porcelain mug down on the desk and started pouring and mixing his own. While he was doing that, he looked into his old Teacher's/DI's eyes and asked, "So… Any idea how we wound up in this mess? Bar the obvious with… Well, Sumika, believe it or not."
"Sumika?" The woman raised a brow, "What does our darling little troublemaker have to do with this?"
"... The Sumika from during the BETA Invasion became Unit-00," Takeru admitted with a hint of bitterness in his voice, "... They recovered her brain from the Yokohama Hive after Operation LUCIFER," then he paused as he saw the woman's eyes widen in shock. She set the mug down and leaned forward…
"You can't be serious. Sumika… Kagami Sumika. She was Unit 00? The one from the BETAverse, if we want to use that term, captured by the BETA and turned into one of those brain pod things…" She whispered, then covered her mouth and asked, "And what about you? The… The you from our war, I mean, from the Japanese Empire?"
"Died protecting her when Yokohama first fell to the BETA," he answered, then visibly shivered as he felt that familiar pain surge through his arms and legs, then his body, "... The BETA tore me apart in front of her… Poor girl was traumatized by that alone. Much more by what they did to her after the fact…" and he growled.
"... Takeru…" Her expression softened once again. Her words became whispered, "I'm so sorry…"
"You've got nothing to apologize for, Sarge…" He answered flatly, leaning back into his seat and sipping his coffee without even tasting it. The slight bitterness hidden behind the artificial sweeteners and milk brought him back to reality. He continued, "The BETA did it. It wasn't your fault or mine that I woke up in place of a dead man…"
"Still, that must've been…" The woman began, then clenched her teeth, "Why the hell didn't Yuuko say anything…?"
"OPSEC," He answered, "I think. I mean, you also didn't even know me or Sumika since you were never our teacher in any of the Timelines involving the BETA. At most, you had passing knowledge of me after every loop because Kouzuki-sensei decided it was really need-to-know. And even if you did know, like I said…"
"I didn't even know either of you, or the rest of 207B before they all became my trainees," Marimo completed, then breathed a heavy sigh, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, "... I always had a hunch of some kind, though. Like… You were supposed to be familiar to me. Maybe it was this whole Causality issue Yuuko kept talking about."
Takeru shrugged, "It's possible. I mean, weirder things have happened thanks to it."
"Don't I know it," She mumbled, then sighed and said, "Again, Takeru, I'm… So sorry. That must've been awful to you. Every loop and every failure. And even the successful one… What exactly happened during the Kashgar raid? And what did they even call the Operation?" then took a sip of her own black coffee.
He smiled, "Operation Cherry Blossom. A clever little play," as he adjusted his position to be more comfortable, "As for what happened? The mass assault of all Frontline Hives as a distraction for our infiltration mission. It was both successful and terrifyingly costly, but I and the rest of the Valkyries made it inside with the XG-70d Susanoo IV."
"They got that big hunk of alien crap flying," The woman smiled, "I missed a lot."
He nodded, then sighed, "The infiltration went well… Mostly. Until we got to the Doors to the central reactor area of the Hive. Then, shit started going wrong. The door was moving too slow to open, swarms of BETA were advancing on us, the Susanoo was nearly out of defensive turret ammo and the others stayed behind…"
Marimo could already tell where this was going. Like the heroes of old Greek Epics, 207A and 207B had gone down swinging. She saw it in his eyes. Then, she listened to him explain the Causality Conductor issues and Yuuko's involvement with Alternative-IV's actions. She almost became uncomfortable at the idea that good old Kouzuki Yuuko-sensei was this much of a crazy woman, but regardless of that…
They talked a bit about the Operations before Ouka, namely the battle on Sadogashima and the Defense of Yokohama where so many others lost their lives, the first Susanoo being detonated by Isumi–which damn near seemed to get Marimo to tears, though the woman hid it well–and everything else the poor woman had missed after getting her head chomped off by a Soldier-class.
She looked the young man she had trained and taught over, then breathed a deep, deep sigh, mumbling, "I'm sorry I died in front of you, Takeru. And I'm even more sorry you went through so much just because you wanted to fix both worlds you've been to. I can't call either ours alone, because we've been to both. And are part of both."
"I know," He answered, "And I don't blame you, Marimo-sensei… It's… I guess Yuuko-sensei really had a weird way of going about things," then he looked at her with an awkward smile, "But hey, it helped light a fire under our asses. And you did really well in training all of us. Doesn't matter if it was Captain Isumi and the other Valkyries or us in 207B."
Marimo smiled a smile that didn't reach her ears, then replied, "You and 207B got so goddamn lucky I'd mellowed out by the time you came to me. The things I put poor Michiru and her team through and everything else that happened during the CCSE… I still feel like a genuine cunt because of it…" and then she let out a chuckle.
Takeru smiled, "Hey, you made the captain and the others tough as god-damn nails. They helped ease us rookies into our actual duties!"
"You're too kind…" The woman replied, then checked her Scroll and said, "I think I kept you long enough. You've got Dust Applications as your final class for today, then I expect you to go to team RWBY and ask them to help with the curriculum…" before she locked eyes with the Lieutenant and asked, "You got me, Lieutenant?"
His smile grew a bit, though it, too, didn't reach his ears. He snapped a salute and said, "Loud and clear, Sergeant Jinguuji, ma'am."
She saluted back and said, "Atta, boy. Go. I think you're gonna like the Dust Class. Professor Peach is very hands-on with its application," before she stood up and prepared her materials for her own next class. The young man followed suit, with the woman turning toward him just before he walked out the door and telling him, "If you ever need someone to talk to, Takeru, my door's gonna be open to you. And to anyone else who might drop by…"
She saw the confusion on his face, smiled and said, "Shirogane, I thought your deductive reasoning was better than that. One of us dropping in would've been a weird coincidence. A second coming in with his TSF and equipment is no longer that, but the beginning of a Pattern. Be ready for anything, would you? When we're gonna have to sally out to rescue more of our comrades from the Grimm, they'll all need your head in the game."
He nodded, "Yes, ma'am," though he wasn't sure he believed they'd have that kind of luck. The woman dismissed him with a wave, then breathed a deep sigh as soon as he left the office, closing the door behind him. She could see the Survivor's Guilt, that glint, that specific question in his face. She could see it because she'd been asking herself the same thing since Korea. Why were any of them still alive?
Takeru breathed a sigh as he stepped out into the empty amphitheater-style classroom. He turned toward the chalkboard, lifted up his Scroll and took a picture of the material with the HD camera of the phone-computer combo before switching from that to the Beacon Map application. He checked where his next course would be, then sighed and walked out through the door.
"Hey, Takeru!" He heard a voice call out, nearly jumping out of his skin, then craned his head to the right. Yang was standing there with the rest of the team, grinning as she asked, "Did Sarge Jinguuji grill ya all that hard about Cardin, man? Jeez, you'd think she didn't know we had other classes… Don't worry, though, we still got five minutes."
He answered, "Nah, we just talked…"
"It seems like you two know each-other," Weiss commented, arms crossed. He nodded, to which the Heiress smugly said, "I guess I can say 'I told you so' to Yang. How, though?" while the blonde started to grumble, much to the amusement of Ruby and Blake. The group began their march toward their next class, with Takeru looking at them as they stared, waiting for answers.
He replied, "... We're from the same time and place to put it simply. She was my Drill Sergeant and my Teacher. Seeing her here again was…" and then actually smiled properly, "It's nice to have someone like her back… Especially as a teacher. And the hell of it is, I think she'll do well in training you girls how to properly fight those Grimm things…" and looked at them.
"Aw," Ruby smiled, "Sweet."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, T-Man," Yang chuckled as they strode forth through a set of doors, arriving at their next classroom. Their classmates were waiting for Professor Peach to arrive there, with the blonde immediately warning him, "Be ready. Prof Peach is an entirely different beast to our good Sergeant."
"She can't be that bad, right?" He asked as they entered the classroom, watching the four girls wince. Great. They sat together again, with the young man saying, "This reminds me, I should probably ask you all for the notes for this semester. Y'know, to actually be caught up with my studies and stuff and not look like a complete idiot."
"I will provide. Worry not," Weiss answered, then said, "Oh, there's Prof Peach…"
Like a whirlwind, a woman with orangeish-blond hair, tan skin and a very fancy and oddly-styled labcoat with multiple patches emerged from her office. With a beaming smile and a ton of lab equipment on hand, she greeted the group with exacerbated cheerfulness. "Welcome to the last class for the day, my darling students! I heard we have a new face among us from Sergeant Jinguuji! Stand up, mister Takeru!"
… Shirogane sighed. Was this gonna become the norm?
About a week later…
Takeru stirred in his sleep. Memories he had hoped would be buried deep in his subconscious mind resurfaced like knives, stabbing into his mind. The final battle at the Original Hive replayed now in his mind. His comrades fighting rearguard action, protecting him, Sumika and Kasumi on their way in. All of them winking off his HUD one by one, falling like flies. Their voices, urging him to press on into the maw of the beast.
Then, the darkness that followed, the blue-hued glow of the Hive's Reactor still flashing in his mind. The rise of the Superordinate from its frame, that ugly multi-eyed BETA bastard who commanded the forces on Earth. The talk they had, the near-continuous attempts on his and his friends' lives… Then Meiya.
Oh, God… Meiya…
"Takeru!" He could hear her strained voice begging, "Please… Don't let the deaths of our friends be for naught…!"
"I can't do it, dammit! Do you hear me!? I CAN'T! I CAN"T LOSE SOMEONE ELSE!"
"PLEASE!" She begged, "Please… Let me at least die by the hand of the man I loved!"
MEIYA!
The Gunfire. Takeru jumped awake when he was squeezing the trigger. His eyes welled with tears that dripped down onto his blanket. He whined, rubbing his eyes and whispering, "God… Meiya…" as he shook his head. He took a deep, shaky breath, feeling his body weakened from the ordeal, then nearly jolted in fear as his alarm blared.
He hit the snooze button, then stood up, rushing to the bathroom and turning on his faucet before splashing cold water onto his face, trying to stifle the last few tears before he would don his Beacon Uniform. He sniffled, wiping his face. He leaned against the sink, letting that nervousness wash away as the few tears that he'd barely managed to clean turned into full-on sobbing.
He let himself cry for four minutes against the sink, feeling his knees shaking as his mind flashed with the images of all of his fallen friends again before settling on both poor Meiya and poor Sumika. He shivered with each sob, coughing from time to time. Then, he took three deep, deep breaths, tightened his grip on the edges of the sink and turned the water back on, washing his face of the salt and snot.
A few minutes later, he was in uniform, his scroll in his pocket and gun hidden in his pants. He heard a knock on the door as he was buckling his belt, steeled his voice, then called out, "Be right there!" as he made sure he had fully cleaned his face. He walked over to the door and propped it open, only to see Yang standing there with a smirk.
"Yo, T-man…" She started, but her voice faded out as she frowned. "You good?"
"Yeah," He answered, arranging the collar of his jacket. He asked, "Why-?' then paused as he realized. Damn, right, his eyes were probably still bloodshot from the crying. He answered, "Oh, right… I just had a bit of a rough sleep tonight. Nothing to worry about," to which the blonde squinted her lilac eyes at him suspiciously, before letting him off with a sigh, smile and a pat on the shoulder.
She tilted her head left and said, "Alright, mister Insomniac. C'mon, we'll be late for Sarge's class," as she turned toward the rest of her team. She mumbled, "Last time we missed classes, we had to do a hundred push-ups and I don't wanna repeat what happened after," as she walked. The man chuckled, then adjusted his tie.
"Yeah, that sounds like Sergeant Jinguuji Marimo, alright," He told her amusedly, "Worked me and my friends half-to-death for mistakes, too."
"Hehe," Yang chuckled.
When they reached the R, W and B of team RWBY, Takeru greeted them with a wave and said, "Before anyone asks," while pointing at his eyes, "I had a bad night's sleep. Can happen to anyone at any time…" and didn't hear anything else from the girls. As they strolled down the halls and took the elevator down to the ground floor, Takeru's mind wandered.
He'd slept relatively okay for most of the god-damned week. So, why exactly was he dreaming of Meiya's death? He had managed to suppress most of those memories pretty well without descending into anything like Alcoholism or drugs, just focused breathing and maybe a bit of that old Post-Hypnotic suggestion stuff.
Heh. He still remembered captain Isumi mentioning that had all been bull just before she died. That she gave him a Placebo as a means of driving home the fact he was by no means a coward. That she knew very well he was a courageous young man that could fight. She and everyone else had made him the man he was today.
To cry for them was normal. To stain their memory by wanting to die again was an insult to their sacrifice.
He smiled a little, then looked at Ruby, noticing she was staring at his pants. He blinked, face flushed, then asked, "Ruby, where the hell are ya staring?" Which caused Little Red Riding-Reaper to jump out of her skin and yelp. Yang started laughing. Blake was hiding her smirk behind her book. And Weiss was pinching her brow, looking annoyed.
"SORRY, SORRY! I SAW YOU'RE CONCEALED CARRYING," She raised her hands defensively.
He blanked, then looked down and said, "It's that freaking visible!?"
"HAHAHAHA!" Yang's outburst stopped the team in her tracks. She hunched over, grabbing her belly as she laughed aloud. She barely managed to utter out, "PHRASING, DUDE!" between each hiccuping laugh. "HOLY CRAP! ESPECIALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVO LIKE THIS!" She finished, which made him crack a smile, too.
Ruby, ever the innocent girl, replied with, "I dunno what the heck Yang's talking about. What kinda gun is it?"
He chuckled, then lifted his shirt and pulled the Minabea P9 out. He examined the weapon to make sure the safety was on, pulled out the magazine and racked the slide to make sure he hadn't loaded a round. Then, he handed it to the Ruby and said, "It's a Minabea P9. Standard issue sidearm of the Imperial Japanese Mainland Defense Forces."
"Woah," She let out, taking the pistol. She racked the slide back again, letting it slam forward, then looked the gun over with a beaming smile. "It's so cool! And it's a bit front-heavy, too. Recoil must be nice considering it fires a nine-mil round and the balance would probably be better with it loaded, but it's cool!" and she examined the markings on the side of the gun. She squinted and said, "Uh… Can't read these."
He snorted, "It's just the serial number, factory markings and acceptance stamps from the IJMSDF, Rubes. Nothing important written on the side except the caliber."
She giggled again, then gripped it by the barrel and gave it back to Takeru. He took it, slid the magazine back in and put it back in its holster, shifting it slightly to the side so the uniform jacket would cover it. Then, he looked back at Yang as she finally began to settle down. Weiss commented, "Gods, the blonde's immature."
"I know how to have fun, Ice Queen," Yang jabbed back with a smirk. Weiss pouted, while the blonde stuck her tongue out at her.
Blake chuckled and shook her head, then looked at Takeru and said, "How are you doing? Getting used to the mess that is Beacon and being friends with us?" as she lowered her book. Honestly, if Takeru spent any amount of time thinking about it, the girls were easy to get along with. Ruby was a gun nut, but she was friendly, Weiss had an icy exterior, but seemed quite warm and friendly to anyone she deemed was worth it, Blake was aloof at times, but he could connect to her love of fantasy books–despite some of the weird recommendations she gave him–and Yang? Yang felt like Sumika if they'd never met… Bar the obvious extra strength.
He joked back, "It's a steep learning curve, I'll admit," which made the catty girl smile a bit more brightly. Yang threw an arm over the man's shoulder and gave him a pat, laughing again. The five continued down the beaten path toward Beacon's main classroom area, passing through the Campus which was yet again alive with the din of students and teachers.
They came upon team JNPR in the waiting area outside of the classroom, with Takeru raising a hand and greeting, "Jaune, Nora, Pyr, Ren. Glad to see you guys again," then looking at Jaune and asking, "How's the Cold?"
Jaune sniffed, then wiped his nose with a red handkerchief with weirdly specific embroidered bronze and gold patterns, then said with a stuffy nose, "It's gotten manageable thanks to Pyrrha. And Nora's pancakes actually helped a bit, too, heh," before gesturing at Ren and saying, "But I think Ren's caught it now."
"I will be fine," Ren replied, then put his hands together and bowed, greeting, "Good to see you again, Shirogane."
"Likewise, Ren, but we literally just saw each-other yesterday," He replied with a smile. He looked at Pyrrha and asked emphatically, "I hope the request wasn't too weird, by the way."
"Not at all," Pyrrha smiled, "Chicken soup does seem surprisingly good for colds, heh," though she was rubbing her shoulder. While Jaune was a bit klutzy, kind of like Mikoto, Pyrrha was closer to Meiya in personality:A sheltered type. Though that would be unfair to Pyr, as she had encountered people beforehand. As for Ren? Well, he was the calm one of the group to offset Nora's own bombastic, seemingly Thor-From-Comic-Books-inspired personality.
He was about to reply to that when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Swiveling about, he saw Marimo standing in front of them, with all the kids looking stunned that she managed to sneak up on him. She said, "Sorry, girls," before turning and saying, "Kids, small announcement! We're cancelling today's class and we'll catch up on what we're teaching today the next time! Move your asses back to your dorms! Shirogane, you're with me."
Though there were cheers around, the urgency with which the woman had grabbed Takeru worried him. They walked away from the group before he asked, "What's going on?" as he felt worry bubble up in his heart. The woman pulled out her tablet as they walked and showed to him footage from the farthest perimeter of the Emerald Forest, right near the mountains.
He went bug-eyed as he watched… Like blurs, a pair of purple-colored Tactical Surface Fighters with red accents dashed across the battlefield. Their blades flashed, cutting swathes through a swarming Division-strength herd of Grimm both small and large. The largest of the creatures looked almost like mutated Elephants and bears mixed with Porcupines.
"... T-Those are…" He stumbled over his words, heart starting to race as he saw the pair of Mechanoids dance with their blades, almost as if they were in a competition of who could slay more Grimm.
"Takemikazuchis…" The woman answered flatly, "Bearing the colors of the Shogunate… I asked Ozpin to cancel classes today and will be acting as your Mission Control for this. Your Shiranui's ready for deployment… Go get them home, Shirogane!" before she gave him a slap on the back and pushed him forward.
Purple Takemikazuchis…
Before he could even process it, Takeru was running in a full sprint toward his room. In about five minutes, he'd donned his full Fortified Suit and dashed toward the indicated area where his Shiranui had been taken. He descended a set of stairwells down to the underground section of Beacon and flicked his com system on, calling out, "This is STORM VANGUARD ONE to Command Post, I'm in," as he jumped into his Shiranui. Meiya…? No way… No way, right?
"STORM VANGUARD ONE, roger. You've got the Green Light. I'm feeding you the exact Coordinates now… Get the Shogun and her escorting comrade home," Marimo replied, her face flashing onto the Heads-Up Display of the Shiranui. Takeru quickly went through the pre-launch procedures, engaging the engines and detaching from the makeshift Gantry in the massive underground area which was seemingly used to store Airships. He turned the mech, stomping his way forward, then powered his Thrust System to maximum.
"I will… STORM VANGUARD ONE, away!" He barked, then slammed the throttle of the bird to full. The TSF lurched forward, before bending its knees and its back and pushing out under the full might of its propulsion. Takeru banked left as he approached the tunnel exit, then turned toward the target area. He grit his teeth, then said, "Your Highness, Koubuin Yuuhi, wait. And if you have Meiya with you…" and shook his head, clearing the thoughts of that final confrontation and letting out a mighty roar as the flew out at NOE-level.
He'd get her back…!