Hi! This is my first fanfic, so please, no harsh criticism! It's a RWBY fanfic centred around my OC and Velvet, since she doesn't get as much love as she deserves (in my opinion, at least!). Also, if it seems rushed, I apologise. I ended up accidentally closing the window while I was writing and it got deleted, which, understandably, made me really pissed off. Oh well, at least I can roughly remember what I wrote. Anyway, here it is!
"Guys, really! It's fine!" Jaune attempted to reassure his friends. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."
As if on queue, the group heard laughter coming from another table. They peered over and saw a tall boy, pulling the rabbit ears of a Faunus girl, whilst his friends sat behind him, laughing.
This boy was Cardin Winchester, the leader of team CRDL and the school bully. Saying he was a real piece of work would've been putting it lightly, as he did many things to many people that made them consider him the scum of Remnant.
His victim, this time, was a girl named Velvet Scarletina, a second year student at Beacon. While she still wasn't used to the discrimination for being a Faunus, she wasn't surprised by it, especially when it was from Cardin. Cardin absolutely despised Faunus, not because of any personal trouble caused by them... but because they were different.
"Ow! That hurts!" the poor girl plead. "Please, stop..."
This only made Cardin and his goons continue to laugh.
"I told you it was real!" he cried.
"What a freak!" One of his friends, Russel Thrush, exclaimed.
The members of teams RWBY and JNPR watched in disgust, but took notice when someone walked past them to the bullies' table.
"Hey." a firm voice called to CRDL.
Cardin and his team, as well as Velvet, turned to look at the boy who stood before them. His face was as stern as his voice, with his mouth arching down in a frown and his dark blue eyes glaring straight at them. Two things could be seen in those eyes: rage and sympathy; rage for the bullies and sympathy for the victim.
"Why don't you leave that girl alone?"
The four bullies looked at each other. The shared a look for a moment before turning back to him and laughing. Meanwhile, Velvet stared at him in amazement.
This boy is... standing up for me? she thought.
"Why should I?" Cardin asked. "She's a Faunus. You know, a freak?"
"So, you're bullying her because she's a Faunus? That's your reason?" the boy answered with another question. "So she has rabbit ears, big deal. If anything, I think they make her look cuter."
The last part of that sentence made Velvet blush, with the boy unaware of this.
"So, what, you have a thing for her?" Cardin snickered and started laughing, with his friends joining in again.
"Look, I don't care what you say about me," the boy's voice suddenly took on a more heroic tone, "but I'm not leaving until you let go of her."
Cardin, upon hearing this, stopped laughing. After a few seconds, his friends followed suit.
"Are you... challenging me?" he demanded.
"Yes." was the simple reply he got from the boy.
At first, Cardin just glared at him. Then, he finally released his grip on Velvet's ears. Seizing the opportunity, she moved away from him. As she quickly made her way in a different direction, she saw a glimpse of the boy's eyes. They seemed to be trying to convey a message; 'don't worry, it's going to be alright.' Without any idea why, Velvet suddenly felt a small, yet noticeable sense of... comfort and safety.
Cardin, on the other hand, was feeling nothing but hatred. He looked at the boy's face, realising how serious he was. However, with a second look, he noticed something he was surprised he didn't see before. There was a scar under his eye.
So, this guy's been in a fight or two? Cardin thought. Even if that's true, doesn't mean he has a chance against me.
"You know, you're getting into really dangerous territory, pal." Cardin threatened.
"Don't you 'pal' me." the boy replied.
"And don't you tell me what not to do!" Cardin started raising his voice. "I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into!"
"Look, I'm not looking for a fight. I'm just-" the boy spoke until a fist impacted with the right side of his face, sending him sprawling to the ground. He looked up to see Cardin towering over him, about to deal another blow. However, it never came, because suddenly...
"Enough!" a female voice echoed through the cafeteria.
Cardin and the boy looked to the entrance to see a certain, blond teacher wearing glasses and holding a riding crop. Beside her was the one who called her here; Velvet.
"Cardin Winchester! With me, now!" Glynda Goodwitch yelled with a large amount of anger.
Cardin looked at the boy on the ground, tempted to give him one last punch before he left. Resisting the urge, he started walking towards the entrance.
"Don't think I don't know about you three!" she ordered, pointing at the rest of team CRDL. The three boys quickly joined their leader as he and Ms. Goodwitch left the building. At first, everyone was taken aback by what just happened, before going back to their lunches.
"Atrocious." Pyrrha stated. "I can't stand people like those four."
"They're not the only ones..." Blake reminded her, with a scowl on her face.
However, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Nora and Ren were still looking at the boy, who was only now getting up off the floor.
"Wow." Ruby thought aloud. "He's so cool."
"Yeah." Jaune replied. "It was awesome of him to step in like that."
Velvet, however, was still at the entrance, not having moved since she returned with Ms. Goodwitch. After getting her bearings, she finally walked over to the boy. It was only now that she noticed he was just over an inch taller than her.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, concerned.
"Who, me?" the boy responded. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine! I've survived worse than a punch!"
"Well, thank you for sticking up for me!" Velvet expressed her gratitude.
"Eh, it's nothing." the boy shrugged it off. "Just doing what any guy like me would do."
"Well, my name's Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina. Nice to meet you." the Faunus girl introduced herself, reaching out her hand.
"Duke Monark. And, uh, likewise." the boy, named Duke, replied, taking her hand and shaking it.
"So, Velvet, huh?" he repeated it. "That's a nice name." Velvet giggled in response.
"Thanks. Duke's a nice name, too." Velvet returned the compliment, earning a sheepish grin from Duke as he scratched the brown hair on the back of his head.
"So, um, would you mind if I sit with you?" Duke asked.
Velvet gave him an odd smile. Little did she know though, she was unintentionally causing the blue-eyed boy to mentally panic.
Wait, what's that look on her face? he thought, many scenarios rushing through his mind. Is that amusement? Is that her way of saying that I have no chance? Did I say something stupid? What's wrong with me?!
"Well," he started, trying to correct whatever possible mistake he made, "I mean, I won't if you don't want me to. I just thought that, y'know, after that whole ordeal, you might want someone to keep you company-"
"Sure."
"But I'm not saying- ...I beg your pardon?"
"I said 'sure'." Velvet repeated. "Sorry, I was just thinking about how polite you are."
After a moment of his brain doing flip-flops in his head, he responded.
"Oh, uh, okay. Cool. Then, uh, let's... go." he said, visibly blushing as they began strolling back to the table where they were before. Luckily, Velvet didn't take any notice of Duke's blush. At least, she didn't seem to.
Meanwhile, teams RWBY and JNPR watched with amusement.
Jaune was the first to break the ice. "Well, at least there're some nice people left in the world."
"It would seem that way, yeah." Yang, confirmed.
"If only there were more people like him." Pyrrha noted.
Whilst the others agreed, Blake wasn't listening. She hadn't taken her eyes off the boy in quite a while.
He believes Faunus deserve to be treated equally, she thought to herself.
She couldn't stop the sudden smile that crept onto her face.
Back at the other table, Velvet and Duke had sat down next to each other. The latter then realised his left hand was shaking.
Why am I so nervous? he thought. I just defended her from bullies! I got this! I just need to act like myself and it'll be just fine! There's no way I'll screw this up!
"So..." his thoughts were cut off when he heard Velvet's voice.
"Did you mean it when you said my bunny ears make me look cuter?"
Duke's blush practically exploded, as his face became as red as a tomato. No, even redder.
"Um, uh, I, uh, heh, um, uh..." Velvet couldn't contain her giggles as Duke struggled to speak.
"D- did I, uh, r- really, um, say th-that?"
And there we go! My first RWBY fanfic, my first One Shot fanfic and my first fanfic altogether!
Quick note about Duke's name: he was named after the shade of blue known as Duke Blue. His last name, Monark, was a purposely mis-spelt 'monarch'. You make the connection between the two names.
So, I hope you enjoyed, and again, sorry if this seemed rushed. But anyways, see you in the next story!
P.S. I don't have a specific schedule that I write/publish on. I'll write when I can/have ideas/feel like it and publish it when it's done.
Update (2/2/2017): So, people are actually liking this? I didn't expect this much attention. Thanks so much!