Forward: Hey guys, thanks for checking out my new story. If you read the description, you know what its about. I have no idea if I had this idea first, it just came to me in the shower (seriously, it is the best place to think) so if someone else had something similar first, I'm sorry. This is my story, and I hope you enjoy! -newwriter2016
"It'll be fiiiine," Nora Valkyrie said, tugging on her best-est friends arm. Lie Ren, better known as just Ren, was lollygagging behind the exuberant, orange-haired girl. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was carrying both of their stuff, but surely that wouldn't slow him down too much.
"You know," the quite ninja – is that redundant – said. "You could carry your own stuff."
"Yeah, but you're just such a nice guy Renny," she smirked at him, skipping towards the school. They passed a white haired girl yelling at a shorter brunette who had dyed the tips of her hair red. "I don't know what you're so worried about."
"Yes you do Nora," Ren grimaced. Painful memories began to surface in Ren's mind, before he shook his head. You're a monster, a demon, a murderer.
"Ren?" He looked up into the hammerers' concerned face.
"I'm fine, in control," he said, adjusting the pair's stuff on his back. He sighed at her worried face. "Come on, we don't want to be late." The pair of them continued walking toward the school. Eventually, they found themselves in the main hall of the school. The brunette was being yelled at by the white haired girl – Ren couldn't tell if it was still or again – while trying to cower behind a blonde with a massive…
…head of hair. (A/N what did you think I was going to say ;) ) Ren watched the exchange with amusement. Some blonde guy had walked up to the group and had tried hitting on the white haired girl – he was going to have to learn names at some point – before being shut down. Suddenly, he felt a tugging on his arm.
"Ren!" Nora whined. "I want pancakes!"
Ren sighed, "I can't make any until we get settled into the dorms." Nora tried to whine/plead/beg, but he quickly shushed her. Nora's temper tantrums were the stuff of legends, or nightmares. Depends on your point of view. "I'll make you some for dinner once we are settled into our dorm with our team, or teams?"
"Teams?" Nora asked, suddenly worried.
"I don't know how they decide the teams, so it isn't safe to assume we'll just be put on the same team." He replied. The headmaster, Ozpin, had walked up to the microphone. He began giving a speech about them and their education. It was pretty standard stuff – Ren briefly wondered if all teachers had a list of speeches/lectures that they shared or something – but the man held the audience's attention with his perfect delivery. When he was done, a woman stepped up from behind him and began listing off instructions. Apparently, they were going to be sleeping on the floor in the ballroom. Slowly, students began drifting towards the ballroom, and Ren and Nora joined the crowd.
"Hey Reeen," Nora asked, grabbing his sleeve. "Is that the girl from the cereal box?" He turned to see her pointing into the crowd, but Ren couldn't see anyone resembling the champion of Mistral, Pyrrha Nikos.
"Where?" He asked, scanning the crowds.
"I lost her," pouted Nora, slumping her shoulders. She suddenly perked up. "I'll find her, and trap her, and get her autograph – maybe a selfie – and then you can make pancakes, then-"
Ren interrupted, "Are you sure you even saw her, and not just someone who looked like her?" Nora paused for a moment.
"Well, you could still do the last part," she offered.
"Nora," Ren chuckled. All of a sudden, a headache began throbbing behind Ren's eyes. He knew this pain, what it meant. Deftly, he grabbed Nora and worked his way to the side of the hall, dragging her behind him. When they had left the main flow of traffic, he whispered to her. "Take our stuff, find a quiet corner in the ballroom, and set it up there, please?" By the end of the sentence, he was almost begging her.
Nora's face dropped dead serious for a moment. She nodded and took their bags from the ninja before leaving. Ren waited there on the side until the group had passed. When the hall was empty, he sprinted out into the courtyard. He sat down on the edge of the fountain and, with trembling hands, drew out a bottle of medication. He unscrewed the top with one hand – a skill he had gotten from the innumerable times he'd done it – and poured out a single, midnight black pill. He tossed it up into his mouth before dry-swallowing the pill. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the pain.
A fire swept through his body, and despite himself, he gave a quiet growl from between his clenched teeth. But as quickly as the pain had come, it vanished. Panting for a few moments, he regained his composure. He was a lotus, fragile and delicate, neutral and calm. You killed them all, Lie Ren. You did that. Ren shook his head hard, trying to make the voice go away. Eventually, it did.
"A most dangerous Semblance, Mr. Ren," a smooth voice came from near him. Ren's head snapped up in a near panic, his eyes flying open to find the speaker. His eyes settled on the form of Professor Ozpin. The slim teacher was standing there holding a coffee cup – was that thing attached to him? – and gazing at the boy through spectacles.
"It's not my semblance," the boy panted out, forcibly calming himself.
"Ah, my mistake," the teacher said, sitting down on the bench next to him. Ren scooted away on pure reflex, but the teacher simply gave a small smile. "I am not here to hurt you Mr. Ren, so please calm yourself." Ren most certainly did not calm down. "I was briefed on your…condition?" Ren nodded to this. The term was close enough to be considered accurate. "by your last teacher. You are in no way in trouble, but I wanted to talk to you before we began the school year."
"I understand sir," was all the student said in reply.
"First, I'd like to ask you a few questions, is that all right?" The teacher asked. Ren nodded, but didn't say a word. "Very well. First, you do not have complete control over your powers, is that correct?" Nod. "And your medication, it helps you to control it?" another Nod. "Are you still able to perform the tasks and challenges that you will face in this school. And before you just nod, think about it. This is an academy that will transform young children into capable hunters. It will be difficult. It will be stressful. It is my duty to ensure not only the security of the students here, but also to help them succeed. I don't want you to fail out because of the rigors coping with your…condition entails."
"I understand your concern," Ren began. "But I assure you, I can perform up to standards."
A few silent moments hung in the air as the slim headmaster gazed into the eyes of the equally slim student. Finally, the man spoke, "I believe you. Last question, but it has three parts. Does anyone else know about you? If so, who are they? And Finally, do you plan on telling your team?"
"Nora Valkyrie knows, my doctor, my old teacher, and you know, but that is all on remnant," Ren immediately answered. His head cocked to the side as he pondered the last part of the question. "I…don't want to commit to answer yet on that last part, if that is alright with you sir. I don't even know who my teammates will be yet, but if I determine that I can trust them with the information, then I will share it with them."
The older man nodded and stood up. "Very well, you may go then. As fair warning, Ms. Goodwitch will most certainly be looking at you for by now, wondering where her lost student went. I would recommend talking to her over just slipping inside. Feel free to blame me for this, she's used to it by now." The boy simply nodded before turning and jogging back inside.
Ozpin simply sat there for a few minutes, staring around at the scenery of the courtyard. His thoughts were miles away – in the emerald forest to be exact – thinking deep thoughts. How do I get him not only with strong, competent, trustworthy hunters, but with this Nora Valkyrie as well?
Ren had found the infamous Ms. Goodwitch quickly enough. She had been stalking through the halls, white knuckled fist wrapped around a riding crop. Ren had been half worried she was going to spank him with it for disappearing. After a few words, she had led him to the ballroom where the students had set up their belongings and were lounging around. After a few minutes of diligent searching, Ren found Nora in the back corner of the room, and he couldn't stop himself from groaning. Four boys were standing in front of her, brandishing weapons. Nora stood facing them, holding Magnhild, and sporting a maniacal grin. A small crowd of curious onlookers, including a somewhat familiar red-head, had gathered to watch whatever was about to go down.
"Move it short stuff," one of the boys said, brandishing his mace. He was obviously the leader of the bunch. Quietly, Ren slipped up behind him. Lashing out with his foot, Ren hit the larger boy behind his weight bearing knee. The leg buckled and the boy crashed to the floor. The kid had enough skill to land on one knee instead of his face, but that was what Ren had hoped for. A slim arm wrapped around the kid's neck, and Ren locked the kneeling boy into a headlock. Before the boy had a chance to stand up, Ren leaned back, forcing the kid into leaning back too.
"So Nora, care to explain what is going on?" Ren asked calmly, almost as if he were oblivious to the large student he had trapped.
"They wanted to take our spot," she said, gesturing with her hammer.
"No way," one of the boys said. Ren raised a skeptical eyebrow. Sure, Nora would exaggerate her tiny butt off to anyone else, but Nora was always honest with him.
"She's telling the truth," someone said behind him. Ren turned his head to see who the speaker was. It was the red-head he had noticed earlier – he swore she looked familiar, like someone he should know – gazing at them.
"See, I told you so," Nora said. Slumping in defeat, the boys backed away. One of them muttered something about an outlet. "Ren, you're still holding one of them." Sighing, Ren let go of the now red-faced boy. He stood up and furiously spun around.
"Who the dust do you-" he started to say, but was cut off as Nora gave him a hard kick in the…lower extremities. Ren winced, fully aware of just how strong Nora was. Wheezing, the boy toppled sideways to the floor. One of his friends came back and dragged the crying boy away.
"Thank you for the help. My name is Ren, and this is Nora," Ren said, turning to the red-headed girl and offering his hand.
"It is a pleasure to help potential friends, Ren," the girl smiled taking his hand. "My name is Pyrr-"
"PYRRHA NIKOS!" Nora practically screeched. It drew every eye in the room, but thankfully it was mostly unintelligible. Nora tackled the other girl to the floor and started babbling, asking for an autograph, or a souvenir, or some cereal because she was starving and Ren wouldn't make her pancakes. Several minutes later, Ren had peeled Nora off the poor Spartan – earning several bruises in the process – and began apologizing to her. To his surprise, she was just laughing.
"Ha, you're a strong one," the champion wheezed out, clutching her side. "And don't worry about it Ren, it's no different than normal. And I'm sorry Nora, I don't just carry cereal with me, so I don't have any to give you. But I do hope dinner is soon, I'm ravenous."
Ren exhaled a huge sigh of relief. They weren't going to be sued for assault. Once, when Nora had seen the mascot for a local arcade, she had tackled the poor worker through a wall. It was not a fun experience to clean up. "I hope we have dinner soon as well. Would you like to eat with us?" he said.
"That sounds lovely," Pyrrha said, beaming at her new friends. As if summoned by their conversation, Professor Goodwitch appeared and announced that she would lead them to dinner. Happily, the three friends strolled off into with the crowd, anxious to get some food.
Hey reader, thanks for reading this. Hit the favorite button if you liked what you read. Follow if you want to keep up with the story as it progresses. Please leave a review if you liked it, hated it, didn't care, or just because. I appreciate the feedback, and it does help the story go. Anyways, glad you enjoyed. Peace out