RWBY told from the perspective of Lie Ren. But considering his small impact until the end of season 3, this is, as the author admits, just an excuse for him to tell his own story about the world of Remnant. Slightly AU until the end of Volume 3. Rated T for violence.
Through The Eyes Of An Assassin
is a RWBY Alternate Universe fic by Wuolong77 that centers around a "Lie Ren" who hopes to finally escape the reach of the foreign intelligence service-like Organization which he was formerly attached to. While the story follows the plot of RWBY, much of the plot concerns Ren's struggle to reconcile his talents in assassination with those more appropriate for Beacon, his operations in Remnant's underworld, the balance he must strike keeping both his civilian and criminal identities separate, and the agenda of the Forgotten Kingdom which he once served.
Through the eyes of an assassin contains examples of:
- Badass Bookworm: Like "perfect student" canon Ren, this Ren studies as a hobby and uses his detailed knowledge of meridians to his advantage in combat.
- Cultured Badass: Quiet and taciturn, Ren mingles easily with the crowd when out clubbing with Yang as a precursor to meeting his contact at Junior's bar. Yang even notes how eerie it is that he can blend in so well. He retains his skill in cooking as in canon, and even briefly attempts to repair a tunic using Dust.
- Child Prodigy: Ren was fifteen when he fled the Organization with Nora, and had already been known as a prodigy in qi manipulation by then.
- Gun Kata: The text that Ren references in his efforts to figure out a fighting style that would harmonize his skills munipulating qi with the recoil of guns outright references the movie Equilibrium.
- Morality Pet: Nora serves as this for Ren. While she's less innocent than Ren believes, she prompted his defection from the Organization and his efforts to secure them a spot at Beacon are all primarily for her benefit than his. Ruby also becomes this when Ozpin suggests they partner to learn more from each other.
- Red Baron: Ren's birth name was deemed anathema after he killed the twelfth assassin sent to kill him for treason. The Organization now refers to him as Dushou (a compound word in Mandarin for a traitor that literally translates to "poisoned hands").
- Shown Their Work: The author leans on his knowledge of qigong, thermonuclear energy, Chinese culture, and martial arts theory. Explanations for readers unfamiliar with certain concepts are included in author notes. The author also includes a "World of Remnant" series of supplemental background info like social castes and the global drug trade similar to the one in the source material.
- Technicolor Eyes: Ren wears pink contacts to hide his golden eyes. Revealing them to Senior is enough to verify his identity as Fengchu's contact. He shares this trait with Fengchu, and this seems to be "the mark [he] carri[es] since birth" that allows him access to the Forgotten Kingdom's most classified secrets.
- Unspecified Apocalypse: Senior and Ren reference an "old world" and "home planet" in Chapter 10, suggesting that the name "Remnant" is a very literal one.
- Underestimating Badassery: Fidelius and his goons make the mistake of trying to extort more money out of Ren beyond the terms of their deal.
- Wainscot Society: Agents of the Forgotten Kingdom do interact with the rest of Remnant on behalf of the Organization, but the rest of the world is unaware of the fifth kingdom's existence.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 10 adds "post-apocalyptic" to the fic's list of genres, reveals that Senior's impossible task is to introduce nuclear energy to the rest of the kingdoms (or at least Vale), and ends with Fengchu asking Ren to assassinate Weiss Schnee.
- Weak, but Skilled: Ren isn't weak, but he's lacking the voluminous qi pool of the typical Beacon student. He's an assassin geared toward disposing human targets, not giant beasts where sheer power would often be more effective. He neutralized Ruby, a far more powerful opponent, in his HvH fight through, as Glynda puts it, "sheer skill."
