Roderick Hill
-----
Roderick never would've guessed he'd get the special two in one offer of a doctor's visit with an extra hot scolding on the side.
"I still can't believe you did something so incredibly foolish." Goodwitch scowled and paced the medical room. "Just what were you thinking, shutting off your Aura like that? Unbelievable. Do you have any idea what could've happened to you?"
The doctor shined a flashlight into Roderick's eyes.
"I think we're about to find out," Roderick said.
"Don't you start with me, young man." She slapped the examination table he sat on. "If it were up to me, I would disqualify you from the tournament and then give the officials in charge of the tournament a piece of my mind."
Goodwitch sighed and removed her glasses.
"But it's not up to me." She massaged the bridge of her nose. "And despite how it may have looked, apparently, no rules were broken today."
"Alright," the doctor said and turned Roderick's head side to side. "You're good to go."
"Are you sure?" Goodwitch checked Roderick herself. "Nothing's wrong?"
"His Aura took care of all the superficial wounds already. And if there was anything, I certainly can't find it." She laughed and waggled her flashlight. "Consider yourself lucky. All you really have to worry about is laundry duty."
Roderick grimaced and picked at his clothes.
Gross.
Goodwitch frowned. "Don't think you're out of the woods just yet. We are far from done."
"Sorry if I worried you so much, but I'm alright, really," he said in the nicest way possible. "If it makes you feel better, I won't do it again."
It seemed like she wanted to stay angry with him but ultimately slumped her shoulders as if he were a hopeless child.
"I'm holding you to that, Mister Hill."
"Thanks, professor." He hopped off the table. "That's why you're the best."
Her face twitched, and she faced the wall. "Just hurry along and get yourself cleaned up now."
Doing that, Roderick left, and his scroll chimed once he made it to the locker room entrance.
A message from Reynold, asking to meet up with him in his luxury box.
Before he could reply, the door opened.
A blob of orange popped out, revealing the one person he never wanted to see ever again.
Roderick blinked. "Ah."
Rebecca blinked. "Ah."
They stared.
"You!" She snarled. "Come here!"
Oh, crap!
A swell of panic pumped his engines, but she snatched his collar and threw him inside the room.
"You're going nowhere." Rebecca slammed him against a locker and pinned his head between her arms. "We need to have a little chat, Hot Rod."
By 'chat' did she mean beat him to a bloody pulp again?
"L-look, Rebecca," he rummaged for the scraps of whatever escape plan would work, "I don't want any more trouble. The match is over."
The way her glare sharpened and pressed deeper into his neck told him he was on the wrong track.
He was so dead.
Suddenly, her face cracked.
Huh?
"Pfff!" She backed off and doubled over laughing. "I can't even."
"Um," Roderick tilted his head, "what's happening?"
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold it in when you're so damn cute?" A sunshine of happiness beamed out of her. "I could just eat you up."
The door opened, and Lewis entered.
"Rebecca, what's the hold—" He paused. "Oh."
"Hey, Lewy." Rebecca waved him over. "Just giving him the talk, is all."
Since it was probably easy to spot the bewilderment spray painted across Roderick's face, Lewis held his hands up in peace.
"What she's trying to say," he said kindly, "is to not take everything we did out there too seriously."
"Don't be like that. It was fun, wasn't it?" Rebecca rested her hands on top of her head. "And if it counts for anything, I didn't mean to get carried away like that. How could I resist, though? You did way better than I thought you would."
"I'm not getting you here." Roderick racked his brain for a clue to what was going on. "Are you saying that you faked the whole thing?"
"You know exactly how real it got in there." She clapped his arm. "Sure we improvised and said some harsh things, but it made for one damn good show. No hard feelings, yeah?"
"Your reactions wouldn't have been genuine if you were in on it." Lewis shrugged. "Otherwise we would've told you beforehand."
"Gotta give the fans what they came to see." Rebecca stretched her arms out and moaned. "So, you can bet we'll do whatever it takes to sweep them off their feet."
Talk about having a screw loose.
Rebecca crossed her arms, playfully annoyed. "Any idea how rich I'd be if I got some lien every time people looked at me like I was a crazy lady?"
"Then I'm sure you know what I'm thinking about here." Roderick glanced between them. "What's the reason for all of it?"
They snorted like they heard that dumb question too many times before.
"Isn't it obvious?" She picked a piece of lint off her clothes and flicked it. "All we're doing is fulfilling our duties as Huntsmen and Huntresses, same as always."
He furrowed his brow. "Really?"
"Huntsmen and Huntresses can only do so much in the heat of the battle, so we use those titles differently compared to the rest of you. Think on that." Lewis went for the exit. "Time to go, Rebecca. The others are waiting for us."
Once Lewis left, Rebecca hung back a little longer and admired him like a museum artifact.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing." She scratched her chin and sheepishly turned to the side. "Just wanted to ask if you could say hi to your brother for me."
Roderick gave her a weird look. "Why?"
"Long story short, I'm a big fan." A spark lit up her eyes. "Been one ever since his team rescued those villages, and in a way, you can say it's thanks to him I can do what I do and be the best at it."
An overwhelming flutter of pride he had for Reynold filled his chest, and Rebecca's motivations for being a Huntress touched his heart.
"Will do," he said.
She slapped on her biggest grin yet and gave her finger a loud smooch.
"Let's do it again sometime, Hot Rod." The finger gun touched the tip of his nose. "Bang."
-----
Getting to Reynold's luxury box was going to be more complicated than he thought it'd be.
People whispered to each other as they passed him by. Others waved or called him, and a brave handful went out of their way for his autograph. He wasn't exactly sure what to do or say, especially when it came to making up a signature on the spot, and the awkward photos he took was an embarrassment that needed to be scrubbed clean from his memories.
How did Pyrrha deal with all this?
"Rod!"
Red and black blurred, knocking the wind out of Roderick's chest.
"That was totally awesome!" Ruby clung to him, starry eyed. "I still can't believe that actually happened!"
"Damn right he did, sis." Yang pried her off and lifted him in a bone crushing hug. "He was so cool! I'm so proud of you."
"You're hurting him."
"No, I'm not."
"Yang." He wheezed. "You. . . are. . ."
"Right." She dropped him. "Sorry."
"There he is!"
Roderick peeked past the girls.
A news crew locked on to him like heat seeking missiles and leading the salvo was none other than Vale's number one reporter, Lisa Lavender.
"Roderick Hill!" Lisa scurried towards him while holding a microphone. "A word, please!"
Great.
Should he make a run for it?
In a divine stroke of luck, someone spilled their drink in the reporter's path, and she slipped while the whole crew tumbled over each other on top of her in a pile.
Ruby cringed. "Ouch"
"Will you look at that," said a man strolling past them. "Wish I got that on video."
Roderick couldn't believe it.
Tattered red cape, dull red eyes, five o'clock shadow, and the stench of alcohol that wasn't for the faint of heart. Yup, that's him alright, give or take a few wrinkles and graying hairs.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby squealed and latched onto the old man like an adorable puppy. "Nice to see you again!"
"Hey, Qrow." Yang pulled Roderick in a headlock and ruffled his hair. "Did you see Roddy fight?"
"Ow. Yang, quit it."
"Sure did." Qrow pretended to poke out his eyes. "And it made me want to blind myself. Seriously. What's Reynold been teaching you?"
Roderick snorted and popped his head out. "Nice to see you, too."
"Same here." He dropped his niece. "Now, what does a guy have to do to get a drink around here?"
Ruby rubbed her butt as she got up. "You're sticking around to watch, right? Yang might be up next."
"What kind of uncle would I be if I didn't?" Qrow walked off. "I'll be rooting for you. Just be sure to put on a good show or else I might fly on out of here."
Yang scoffed. "I'mma get ready. Wish me luck."
"Break a leg, sis." Ruby pointed towards the concession stand. "Wanna get snacks, Rod?"
Roderick turned her down and left to meet up with Reynold.
Soon after, he reached the luxury box up high in the Colosseum stands and let himself inside, only to run into a financial shock that his wallet would never be able to afford.
The private room was the equivalent of a miniature apartment.
A bar lined with shelves full of alcohol connected to a kitchen in the corner of the room. Several monitors were pinned up to the wall, replaying highlights of the tournament while analysts debated on who'd win. The end of the room was nothing but a row of windows with a door leading to the balcony overlooking the entire arena.
The most surprising thing was what was in the middle of the room.
More accurately, who.
Reynold and Roderick's team sat across from one another on the leather couches, pleasantly chatting over a card game they played on the coffee table.
"Is that so?" Reynold shuffled the deck. "What happened next?"
"You should've seen it, Ryan!" Cooper slurped his drink. "Radek took charge and held down the big rhino long enough for us to take it out."
"Really now?" He dealt the cards. "At least your initiation was more straightforward compared to mine. In my year, Ozpin made us go on a treasure hunt. . . And he didn't even give us shovels."
Without paying him a glance, Reynold flicked a card at Roderick.
"Hey, guys." He caught the card. "Having fun?"
Reynold touched one of the many soda cans sitting on the table and snapped his fingers. The card in Roderick's hand was instantly replaced with the can. He cracked it open and pointed at a bag of chips. Tapping the bag, Reynold flicked a card at the empty spot on the couch and swapped it with the chips right before Roderick sat down.
Roderick popped it open. "Thanks."
The team stared, puzzled.
"Oh, sorry." He offered the bag. "Guys want some?"
An awkward silence filled the air.
Okay, guess not.
"By the way, Reynold," Roderick ate a chip, "Rebecca Blayze says hi. She's a fan."
He smirked, but it fell just as quick.
"Speaking of her. . ." Reynold came around and snatched Roderick's face. "How're you feeling?"
Roderick flushed. "Let go, man."
"What were you thinking shutting off your Aura like that? She could've killed you." He examined him side to side. "That was idiotic."
"You gotta admit, though," Cooper chuckled, "it was bloody exhilarating."
Alexander grunted. "Extra bloody."
"I'm fine." Roderick tried to push him off. "The doctor said so."
Reynold pinched his cheeks. "Hmm."
"Quit it, already." He wrenched his head free. "I wouldn't even be here if something was wrong."
A dark gloom clouded above him. "How could you? My only brother. . ."
"Geez. It's not like I let her stab me or anything." He rubbed his cheeks. "Besides, I won."
"Barely." He scoffed and shook his head. "At the rate she was disarming you, you might as well have thrown your prosthetic just to slow her down."
Roderick groaned and drowned his embarrassment in his can of soda.
"Not a word," he said to his team.
They nodded and zipped their lips shut in sync.
"So, now that Roderick's here, I bet you're wondering why I gathered you all here." Reynold returned to his couch and sipped his glass of icy water. "Think of this as an apology for involving Stiofan and Alexander into our business yesterday."
Stiofan and Alexander nodded.
Roderick quirked an eyebrow. "What business?"
"Code White," Reynold said.
"Oh, man." Roderick checked their surroundings. "Was it bad?"
"I escaped like usual." He shrugged. "Thankfully, Laurence was at the fairgrounds to cover me."
"That's not good." He recalled hearing about a huge brawl happening there. "At least the fairgrounds are still intact. That lady just doesn't know when to quit, huh?"
Stiofan chuckled and held up a finger. "Lady Weiss' sister is rather hard headed."
"Weiss' sister?" The realization punched Roderick in the nose. "That explains a lot."
Alexander snorted. "Guess Hills and Schnees don't get along very well."
Reynold let out a sad sigh, and Roderick facepalmed.
"Oi, Radek." Cooper frowned and flicked a thumb at the door. "I just noticed that you walked in here."
"I did." Roderick gave him a weird look. "Like you're supposed to do."
"Well, not us!" Cooper groaned and turned a little green. "Ryan came out of nowhere and did his snappy finger thing to each of us. Next thing we know, we're here, forced to wait for you. Ugh. I'm getting sick thinking about it."
Roderick stared at Reynold in question.
"What?" He grinned and pushed up his glasses. "I hunted them."
Everyone sweatdropped.
"Anyways, I believe we strayed off topic." Reynold looked directly at each team member and gave them a nod. "The other reason I brought you here was so that I could thank you all for putting up with my no good little brother."
Roderick's eye twitched. "Hey."
"I know he could be a handful, especially when he starts getting outrageous ideas from time to time."
They hummed in agreement.
"Guys?"
"But please continue to take care of him in my stead."
They nodded.
"You can count on us," Stiofan said, "to look after your no good little brother."
"Stiofan, seriously?"
"That's good to hear." Reynold flourished his hands. "I believe the next match is starting soon, so feel free to stay here and watch. Help yourself to whatever snacks and drinks are available."
Cooper's face split wide open.
"But before that," his glasses glinted, "let's continue where we left off and share more humiliating stories of my brother."
Roderick's eye twitched harder. "I'm right here."
Reynold shrugged. "And?"
Ugh.
Someone start the next match already.