So here it is as promised. I'll just talk to you guys after the chapter.

"Mr. Callahan!"

"Huh," I said as I snapped out of my daydream.

"Glad that you could join us . Did you enjoy your trip to dreamland?" My professor asked with a frown.

I mumbled a quick apology before he continued on. My teacher was a strange man in fashion sense. He had long dirty blond hair which was in an old style. I believe it was called a mullet. At the moment he was wearing a somewhat traditional style for a professor. Typical button up shirt and beige slacks.

"Now as I was saying," My teacher continued. "The human race was at war, with the creatures of darkness. The creatures of Grimm. Fearsome monsters with no soul, no pity, no mercy. Creatures such as the Beowolf," He pointed to a picture of the beast.

It wore a white bone plate that covered its blood red eyes and the top of its head. White spikes protruded from it's forearm, elbow, shoulder and back. Head to toe it was covered in black fur. Truly it was a fearsome creature.

"Another is the Boarbatusk," He said as he gestured to another picture hung next to the beowolf.

The Boarbatusk looked like a warthog, but with a few massive differences. Again it had a bone plate covering its face, as most Grimm did. The plate had holes for the creature's four eyes. Two sharp tusks emerged from its maw and were covered in red markings. It was also covered in black fur. The Boarbatusk was also covered in armor all over its body except for the belly, leaving it a massive opening for attack.

"And there are many others that we don't have time to mention today. Anyways, the human race was at the edge of extinction, at the very brink of being destroyed when we found the very key to our survival, Dust. We discovered these strange crystals and used them to fight the creatures that craved our demise. Nowadays Dust is used in everyday life, from airships, to the androids that protect our cities, Dust is used in practically everything.

"Though there are other uses that you are probably more interested in, the combat applications. After all this is a combat school, and need to know how to use this most vital tool. Some of you might find that you prefer to use Dust in it's raw form, as crystals or dust. Each type having different effects. Other's however might use it only in their ammunition.

"In today's modern society with all the advancements in weapon production, all you need to do is pick the right cartridge and fire. However there are more... Archaic forms of Dust manipulation. There have been some that have chosen to weave it into their clothing, and some have chosen the more dangerous method of fusing it with their own bodies. I would not, however, recommend this. While we have harnessed this power we do not know everything about it. There could be adverse consequences that we have yet to see.

"Now, moving onto the major battles of the war!"

After a while I drifted off again and I started drawing specs for my weapon I was going to make. I had few ideas rattling around my brain but nothing definite yet. As the final bell rang I grabbed my brown messenger bag and headed out of the classroom. Almost as soon as my feet touched the lawn outside of Signal I felt a large amount of weight increase on my back.

"Rawr!"

"Woah!" I yelled as I tried to keep my balance.

I regained balance enough to look over my shoulder. I saw that my best friend Ruby Rose had almost tackled me.

Smiling I fully regained my balance and started to run around yelling. "Help! A Beowolf's got me!"

Ruby was 14 years old. She stood at about 5'2 standing about an inch shorter than me. She had silver eyes, and black hair streaked red. She wore a black blouse and skirt, or "combat skirt" as she so often corrected me on. She had black stockings that faded to a light red about half way down. On her feet she wore black combat boots with red frills at the top, a red buckle on each boot, and a red sole.

After running around for awhile I finally put Ruby down and I was immediately hugged tightly around my stomach.

I hugged her back. "How you doing Little Red?" I asked, using my nickname name for her.

"Pretty good," she replied, pulling away from the hug. "How about you Ivan? Got your weapon specs ready for Friday?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, my hand brushing through my messy, dark brown hair. Every student at Signal Academy had to design and forge their own weapon to use in combat. It was a class assignment that I had been working on for a while, but I just couldn't come up with the right weapon that fit me.

"Not quite yet," I replied. "How about you?" I asked, as I shoved my hands into the soft fabric of my ivory colored slacks.

She nodded and replied, "I'm almost there, just need to iron out a few bugs."

"Mind if I see the design?"

In response she reached into her bag and pulled out a few sheets of crumpled and wrinkled paper and shoved them into my tan hands. I briefly shuffled through them. The choice she made for a weapon type surprised me.

"A scythe?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah, I just figured Uncle Qrow's looked so cool. So, I figured why not?" she explained.

"Why?" She finished.

"You do know it's one of the hardest weapons to master, right?" I explained.

"Do you think I should to change it?" She asked, looking more than a little nervous.

I shrugged in response. "I'm not telling you to change it, only you can decide that. I just want to let you know what you're getting into."

She nodded, looking more reassured. "I can handle it," She said, as I handed the papers back to

her.

I tilted my head and cocked a thin eyebrow as I smirked. "Can you?" She frowned and glared

at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" She yelled.

My smirk grew larger as I laughed and replied. "Nothing at all Red."

"Hmph." She pouted and crossed her arms as she turned on her heel away from me. "Why do always have to be such a jerk, Ivan?"

I mussed her hair as I laughed. "Calm down Ruby I was just joking." She grumbled as she fixed her red streaked hair.

Finally she got over her anger and her silver eyes turned back to me. "What about you? What

weapon are you planning on doing?"

My eyelids slid over my chestnut colored eyes as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "That, right now is the problem," I replied as I opened my eyes. "What do you think I should do?"

She smirked with a devious glint in her eye. "Only you can decide that," She said, throwing my words back at me.

"Oh ha ha very funny Red." I rolled my eyes as I crossed my arms. She finished laughing before she continued.

"Okay, seriously though. Weapons are extensions of yourself so figure out which weapon best represents you."

I sighed, "Does that mean I have to do some of that self-reflection crap?"

Ruby rolled her eyes and smiled good-naturedly."Yes you'll have to do some self-reflection

crap."

I threw my head back and groaned, "Why did I have to ask you?"

"Because you have no one else to turn to?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"True," I replied. "I need some more friends."

"Like you could find anyone who would take you," She replied. "Sorry to say but it looks like you're stuck with me forever."

I hung my head in mock sadness. "Darn it." We both laughed at this. "Come on

we should get home."

"Kay." She quickly pulled out a pair of red headphones that had a rose imprinted on one ear. She instantly put them on and started blaring one of her favorite songs. "This Will Be The Day" I think it's called.

We got to her house rather quickly as it was only a only a short distance from Signal. "Alright I'll

see you tomorrow. Tell Yang I said 'Hi'."

Ruby nodded and said with a smirk, "Don't forget about those weapon specs."

I chuckled and nodded. "Alright see ya Red."

After that I started walking to my house. It took about 10 minutes to get there from Ruby's house. I unlocked the door to my home, I walked in and reset the locks before removing my white tennis shoes. I hung my white overcoat in the closet to my right. Then I quickly headed into my room and changed into a pair of gray sweatpants that had the word Signal emblazoned on the left pant leg,and a black shirt with a picture of a bear that said 'bearly tame' on it.

I walked into my shabby kitchen and opened the fridge. It mostly contained old Chinese takeout bins and a box of pizza. After smelling the Chinese food I opted for the pizza. I took a slice from the box and jumped onto the couch.

I thought about what Ruby told me. 'Weapons are extensions of yourself so figure out which weapon best represents you.'

"Best represents me, huh?" I said to no one in particular. 'Alright think.' I thought to myself. 'What qualities do I have? Bravery, intelligence, kindness, helpfulness.'

'Is that why you fight?'

'I fight to protect those who can't protect themselves.'

'So no one will have to go through what you did?'

That made me stop. It had been a while since I had thought about that. I didn't know my parents.

The way I saw it, they were either dead or – the option I hated most – they had abandoned me. I

choose to believe the former, not wanting to even think about the latter. It was difficult, growing up.

The earliest I could remember was at an orphanage which name I couldn't even remember. I eventually ran away and lived with a group of orphans, Faunus orphans. The Faunus were a race of part human part animals. The Faunus had actually been in a war with Humanity for equal rights a few years prior. From that the White Fang was born.

It was supposed to be a symbol for peace and unity between Humans and Faunus, however the discrimination continued, so the White Fang became the voice for their. They started doing mass rallies and boycotts of organization and companies that discriminated against the Faunus in any way. Me and my Faunus friends went to numerous rallies. I may not have completely understand what we were doing, but I felt good doing it. We all went to most of the rallies, well that's not entirely true. There was one girl, the oldest out of all of us, older than me by two years. She went to all of the rallies.

She took care of us kids best she could, and while we were all only a few years younger than her we all looked up to her like she was our mother, so we always called her Mama. I probably would have ended up growing up with her, helping her take care of the kids but she ended up leaving us. She never told us why she left and I never saw her again. I can still remember the night she left. I was about 13 years years old then.

We were living in an abandoned warehouse at the time and was awakened by a noise so I got up to go check it out. What I found was mama sneaking out the window.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

She looked up shocked. "What are you doing up?"

"I heard a noise. I was coming to check it out." I responded. I knew she was cursing herself for being so clumsy. "Are you leaving us?" I asked, I didn't want to be abandoned again I couldn't do it again.

"I have to. I have to help my people." She responded. "They're hurting, and I have to help them feel better. One day you'll understand."

"But who's going to look after us."

She paused for a moment, seemingly debating with herself over something. Then she looked at me. She walked over to me, bent down so we were eye level, put her hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.

"You're going to have to look after them." She stated firmly.

I was taken aback by this. "Me?" I question.

"Yes. You're the oldest now. You need look after everyone."

"But what if I'm not ready?"

"You have to be, for their sake."

I thought on this for a moment. She was putting so much trust in me. I didn't know if I was up to it but I had to be.

"Okay, I'll do it."

She gave a proud smile and nodded. "Now come here." She said, arms open wide.

I ran to her, tears in my eyes, as she enveloped me in a hug. "I'll miss you." I cried.

"I'll miss you too. I'll miss all of you." She replied

After that night we were left on our own. I had to take her role as protector and provider. Life was a lot harder after she left. She knew where to get food, how to get money, people who'd be willing to help us. I had none of that.

We were able to survive for a while, I got a job at a Dust shop to support us, but after almost a year I had to send everyone away. I wasn't making enough to feed everyone so I sent the younger ones to an orphanage, while the older ones went there own ways.

Since I only had to look out for myself I was able to save up enough to rent a house, a rundown house in a bad part of the city, but a house nonetheless. I started attending Signal, the training school for Huntsmen and Huntresses which lead me back to my living room.

It was hard thinking about it again, about how I failed those children. I wasn't able to help them or keep them safe, and that ate away at me.

'I wish I could have protected them better.' At that thought an idea hit me like lightning. I quickly grabbed a pen and a pad of paper and started drawing.

1 Year and 2 months later

"Just close your eyes Red!" I yelled at Ruby.

"Ivan, you know I hate surprises!" She whined.

"Well trust me you're going to love this one. So, just close your eyes!" I told her. She sighed and

closed her eyes. "Good now hold out your arms." She opened one eye at this.

"Why?" She asked, as she opened one of her eyes. "You're not doing something mean, are

you?"

I sighed in frustration. "No," I replied aggravated. "Now close your eyes or you won't get

your present."

She quickly shut her eye and thrust her arms out. I pulled a square of folded red fabric from my messenger bag. I quickly placed it in her arms.

"Can I open my eyes now?" She questioned.

"Yes," I replied.

She opened her eyes and immediately looked down at her arms. She looked confused so I told her to open it. She did and when she got to the center her eyes lit up. In the center of the cloth was a black belt, with the same silver rose symbol that she had on her headphones as the buckle, with a box for ammo on the right side, for her scythe, The Crescent Rose. On the back there was a clip to put her weapon when she wasn't in combat.

"An ammo belt?!" She exclaimed in surprise.

I shoved my hands into my waist length jacket and shrugged as I smiled. "Well, you're always complaining about not having a good place to put your ammo so... There you go."

She smiled widely."Seriously Ivan, this is too much."

"That's too bad because we are not yet done in the act of gift giving." She looked confused so I continued. "I got one more gift for you today."

She still looked confused. "So...Um where is it?"

"You're holding it." I replied.

She looked down at her hands and saw the red cloth and the belt. "Is it in the cloth?" She asked.

"Sort of," I replied. "Open it up completely."

She put the belt in one hand and grabbed the cloth in the other. She held onto one end of it and

let the other end drop. When it completely opened up she was holding it upside down. When she

held the right way she realized what it was almost instantly.

"Awesome!" She exclaimed.

And it was awesome it was a red cloak that had a hood at the top. "I thought you'd like it," I said.

"I don't like it," She said. That worried me for a second then she exclaimed, "I love it!" She then

latched onto me in a giant bear hug.

I gave her a quick hug and then pulled away and shivered. The cold winds of October were picking up. "Alright let's get home before we catch a cold."

She nodded in agreement and slipped on her headphones like she usually did. Now though she

didn't just listen to one song over and over again. She also listened to a few others, the ones I

could remember were, Red Like Roses, Mirror Mirror, and I Burn, to name a few. We were

walking from Signal so I had 10 minutes to enact the plan. I calmly, slowly, slipped my phone out

of my pocket, so as not to arouse suspicion from Ruby.

But I had nothing to fear, for she was in her own little world of music, not paying me the least bit of

attention. I quickly pulled up the texts and sent my message 'We'll b there n 8 mins.' Then I

closed my phone. I had done my part now it was their turn to get it ready. We arrived at Ruby's

house 9 minutes after that.

By now she had pulled off her headphones, so I asked her if I could come in to warm up. She

said it was fine and we headed inside. When we went inside we were met with darkness.

"That's weird." She said. "Why are all the lights off?"

I shrugged in the darkness, forgetting she couldn't see me.

"Hmmm." Was all she said as she turned on the lights.

As soon as lights were switched on people jumped out from everywhere yelling. "SURPRISE!"

"Huh?" She asked surprised.

"Happy birthday Little Red!" I shouted, mussing up her hair.

"A surprise party?" She asked,"Awesome! Thanks you guys." She gave me a quick hug then went over to Yang and her father and gave them hugs.

Yang was about 5'6" with blonde hair. She wore a yellow shirt with the image of a flaming heart on the left side. Over that she wore a tan jacket with brown outlines, and black cuffs on the sleeves that ended around her elbow. Wrapped around her neck was an orange scarf. She also wore a pair of black short shorts held up by a brown belt.

The belt on the back ended in a pleated skirt. In the front on the right side was a flap that held the same heart symbol that was on her top. On her feet she wore a pair of brown knee high leather platform boots. Wrapped around her left leg was a gray bandanna. On her wrists were her prized gauntlets which fired shotgun shells on her command.

I stayed for about an hour before I left for my house. It took a little longer than last time because I

ran into… complications. Three guys jumped me as I was walking through an alley across from

my run down little house. One guy, the leader I guessed, held a knife. His cronies held other blunt

instruments that consisted of a baseball bat and a rusted pipe.

"Give us your wallet and we won't hurt you," The leader said.

I looked around for a second, coming up with a strategy.

"Three against one?" I asked. "That's a little unfair isn't it?"

"Who said we fought fair?" The leader asked with a smirk on his face.

"Oh you misunderstand," I replied with a smirk of my own, putting my hands in my messenger bag looking for my weapon. "I meant unfair for you."

They growled in response as I found my weapon and gripped it tight, my hand still in the bag. "Now listen," I continued. "I'm in a good mood today, so if you guys leave right now I'll forget this ever happened."

"Alright punk you're asking for it!" The leader exclaimed as he lunged at me as I quickly pulled my weapon from my bag as it expanded to its full size.

The thug, who was expecting the feeling of steel plunging into flesh, was severely surprised

when his knife met my shield with a satisfying 'thunk'.

My shield was a relatively simple design, a circle with my family crest in the center. The crest

was a blue circle with two parts on the left and right that extended into points. The one on the

right pointing up, the one on the left pointing down. In the center was a wavy line that divided the

circle in half.

"My turn." I said with a smirk. I pushed him back with my shield and prepared for my attack.

"Let's get him boys," The leader said. "He can't take all of us." With that he and his goons

charged at me.

The leader again tried to stab me but I quickly bashed him with my shield. After that I flipped over him and his goons as I threw my shield at the alley wall. It bounced and hit the first goon then it ricocheted and hit the second goon and flew back to me. I promptly caught it like a Frisbee and replaced it on my arm. I then charged the mugger that held the bat and bashed him twice in the face, then a third time into the wall. Then I switched my attention to the man with the pipe.

Having recovered from my first hit he attacked me with his pipe twice. I easily blocked both strikes and quickly struck him in the chest while he brought his weapon back for a third blow. I dealt a quick blow to the head and pushed him against the alley wall, knocking him out.

'Now where's the leader?' I thought to myself.

Just as this thought entered my mind, a sharp pain erupted in my side as the leader dug his knife into it.

"Not so tough now are you?" He asked smugly.

I stumbled away from him and struggled as I pulled the knife out of my side and quickly threw it away. The blood rushed out of my wound. I concentrated and quickly used my aura to help heal the gash in my side. It wasn't fully healed but it was enough to allow me to keep fighting.

"Well done," I chuckled as I advanced toward him. "You managed to land ONE hit on me. Granted it was achieved using cowardly tactics, but it happened none the less. Sadly you've gotten blood on my favorite coat and that is just unforgivable," I said as I shook my head.

I quickly charged and struck him over and over until he fell.

He started crawling back towards his goons. "Please, I'll give you anything you want just please

just let us go," He begged.

"Go," I replied.

"What?"

"Leave and don't ever, EVER, let me catch you, or your goons hanging around here again."

He got up nervously and backed up towards his other goon.

"No problem," He said smiling nervously. "No problem at all. Jackson, grab Peters." He

whispered to the only other goon left awake.

"Jackson", as I now knew him as, went over to the mugger I knocked out, picked him up and all three of them ran out of the alley.

I looked down at my now bloodstained coat and sighed. "This really was my favorite coat." I shook my head and continued on through the alley towards my home.

So there it is all polished up, as well as a few other details I added in. Tbh I was gonna add in parts about Ivan's childhood later but I decided to do it in this chapter. Also I've decided to target this story more towards people who haven't seen the show yet, which explains the more detailed look at the Grim in the beginning. So I'm also going to be revising ch 2 as well, although I'm not sure when I'll get around to that. Anywho let me know what you guys think. Until next chapter.