Started College recently so updates are going to come even slower than usual. In the meantime enjoy yet another fic inspired by a sad Author

Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, Bálor to me, etc. etc. blah blah blah

Bálor Moonlight would be lounging outside on the steps of Beacon Academy, it was a beautiful day with the sun shining down on the Academy grounds and the last thing the amber eyed wolf Faunus could see himself sitting inside a lecture hall trying to decipher Professor Port's verbal nonsense or debating the ethics of Faunus who had chosen a life of crime over being productive citizens, no this was one of those rare days where his normal flouting of the rules went beyond just disregarding the uniform in favor of wrestling themed apparel or simply ditching his classes altogether.

He needed out, and badly.

"You'd think that getting dumped by a smoking hot blonde would drive me nuts, I mean Yang demolished my dorm, pretty much torched a good chunk of my wardrobe and is incensed at poor Ruby." The silver haired Faunus felt terrible for causing his red hooded friend a good deal of inner-team turmoil, it seemed that since he had arrived at Beacon anything and everything he had done caused a varying amount of backlash towards Team RWBY.

Ruby Rose, the crimsonette haired team leader had been involved at the nexus in one of his first big stunts as he had shown her the often hidden cookie emporium that was Cookie World, he had let the younger Huntress have carte blanch over what cookies she could take home. As it turned out she had chosen so many that the amber eyed young man had to commandeer a forklift to carry it all back with them.

"Man that was fun, I can't believe we managed to pull that off without getting caught. Although I gotta admit that driving that forklift was a nightmare, so many freaking levers!"

Just thinking about the frustration of driving the forklift was enough to drive poor Bálor to his feet to kick the grass aggressively, unaware that he was being watched the entire time.

"Honestly, what kind of a madman makes a machine with so many levers? It's like prepping a storyline with too many plot holes, a complicated love triangle, AND a cheap finish all at the same time!" The wolf Faunus would stop and take a couple breaths to compose himself, running his fingers through his silver hair and proceeding to walk to the fountain and stare down at his haggard reflection: His amber eyes had been dulled from a loss of sleep, his hair was sticking up and snarled in tangles from constantly raking, pulling, and just generally messing with it. Of course not having any sort of bed to sleep in had contributed to his sleep depravity.

"Still, for all the fun times there were about twice as many awful times, I'm pretty sure there's no way I'm making the Schnee family's Christmas card list any time soon." Bálor's mind would immediately shift to Team RWBY's second, the veritable heiress to the Schnee Dust Company: Weiss Schnee.

Like any sane human being who had no sort of personal relationship with the rich and famous, he took Weiss at face value. Seeing a cold sort of beauty in the pale haired Huntress but not really wanting any part of it, he had heard the rumors of the Schnee Family's misgivings toward the Faunus and resolved to keep his distance. However that would prove problematic as Weiss herself held hidden feelings toward her crimsonette haired partner, and saw the silver haired Hunter as a problem that needed to be dealt with.

"I should've known there was something screwy with her once Ruby showed me that tracking anklet Ice Queen had her on, but I guess I was just too worried about my little Rose to see the bigger picture." The amber eyed wolf would yawn suddenly as he sat down at the edge of the fountain and continued to reminisce on his problems involving the heiress, the tracking anklet serving as the tip of a very bizarre iceberg. Following a rather tense argument between Weiss and Ruby which resulted in the red hooded reaper briefly taking up residence in his dorm room temporarily, it seemed that the crimsonette's increasing infatuation with him was pushing the heiress to inhabit the same moral grey area that her father's company owned prime real estate in and send the monosyllabic assassin Ethel after Bálor in order to have her one roadblock to Ruby's heart dealt with permanently.

"I shouldn't even be alive right now, that crazy assassin had me beat ten minutes into that fight. I had no weapons, my instincts were nowhere near the battle, and I was using my Semblance without rhyme or reason." The amber eyed Faunus would tighten his fist bitterly as he remembered the strange girl and her weapon? Her partner? Whatever it was the fox eared girl named Karin referred to herself as who assisted Ethel into pushing him into a corner both physically and mentally, only for Weiss to interrupt and reveal her part in their ambush.

"If the others hadn't found me and broke everything up I'd be dead…I SHOULD be dead!"

The thought of his untimely demise brought his mind to think about the third and only Faunus member of the team: The cat-eared feline Blake Belladonna, who previously had no issue with continuing the age old rivalry between cats and dogs (or in his case, Wolves). The raven-haired Huntress took every opportunity to point out his shortcomings as a person to her team while avoiding any sort of physical contact with him (often displayed by switching seats with her partner Yang.) the divide between them would only worsen as the brawler and her sister showed a sort of infatuation toward him.

"She blamed me for breaking up the team." His hand would go to his shoulder where a scar was hidden from sight, her Gambol Shroud having been run through it what turned out to be the first of two physical altercations between them. "She would've done anything to bring me down, at least she had the guts to do it herself though." Bálor shuddered as he remembered the one and only time he had ever used his former weapons, the Eight Blades of Jaggerjack outside of Ozpin's many secret assignments. It had hurt him from all three perspectives of combat to have to resort to such drastic measures: Physically, he had only recently awaken from a three day long coma due to overuse of his telekinetic Semblance and his body had been left in less than fighting shape. Mentally, his head wasn't in the battle due to the convoluted love triangle he had managed to build between himself, Yang, and Ruby that he was still desperate to ignore at all costs. And emotionally he considered Blake an ally and a friend, not just because of their shared heritage as Faunus, nor was it their shared goal of being a Hunter and Huntress respectively, it was a matter of the respect and admiration he had for her battle prowess and it sickened him to have to resort to violence just to get through to a friend.

"If it had been that racist Cardin then I wouldn't have batted an eyelash about slicing him to ribbons, hell even that pretty boy Jaune would've warranted at least having to use TWO of my blades against him. Anyone who's partners with someone as skilled as Pyrrha Nikos deserves to be taken seriously as an opponent!" The wolf Faunus could feel his heartbeat beginning to race as he felt himself get agitated, stopping in order to take a breath and steady his frayed nerves. "I barely managed to hold my own against Blake even WITH all eight blades, pretty sure that even if I weren't a physical wreck I would've been lucky to end that battle with any sort of a draw." His memories of the battle were hazy once he had reached the point of exhaustion, but Ozpin later went on to explain that the feline had been one of the many unfortunate souls who fell victim to being a host of the Vacuan Brain Moth. It made sense to the amber eyed young man, who as a resident of the deserts of Vacuo had seen many a kind hearted soul turn into raving savages after running afoul of the creature. It was said the truly lucky were drained to the point of being mindless husks left to die in the heat, while those who were found to be insane were either tortured by their friends and family, or to be put in one of the many "sanitariums" for the good of the public. Bálor himself had heard only vague rumors of what went on behind their doors, but the boys behind bars were adamant that the prison was Heaven on Remnant compared to them.

"Blake's lucky she only got off with just some memory loss, it could've been so much worse if she hadn't worn herself out." Again the silver haired Faunus could feel his heart acting oddly as it skipped a beat, since being freed of the brain moth's influence Blake had agreed to a truce between them for the sake of peace within Team RWBY.

At least that was until he had gotten on Yang's bad side.

"Man, none of this would have happened if I hadn't have kissed her following that stupid prank! If I had just kept my guard up that day then everything would be different: I'd still have my SchneePod, RWBY would be in one piece, and things wouldn't be so screwed up!" The wolf growled deeply as he finally forced himself to face his past with Yang, truly that kiss was only supposed to be retribution for her stupid ice bucket prank but in the end he had fallen for her over time. But like any relationship founded on passionate responses towards traumatic events, theirs was one that burned twice as bright but half as long. In a matter of weeks they were at each others throats, she hated his adoration for renegade wrestling faction Bullet Club while he despised her constant craving for attention from the opposite gender. And while their arguments had never erupted into outright physical violence, she had wasted little time in ending it after finding that he seemingly preferred Ruby over herself before completely laying waste to his dorm and throwing herself headfirst into the sea of testosterone who clearly had less then honorable intentions toward the blonde brawler.

What made things even more disturbing was the timing of said breakup as Bálor had left with Ruby to accompany the latter on a yearly journey to pay her respects to her fallen mother's grave, it also didn't help that the crimsonette had just kissed him mere moments before his now ex-girlfriend forwarded messages to his scroll that displayed just how royally he had screwed up.

"If only she had let me explain everything, then maybe I could've brought us some time to work things out. But no, she's such a fucking hothead that she lost her shit while I was away!" The wolf Faunus could hear the water in the fountain behind him churning in response to his anger, his Semblance causing the disturbance as his blood boiled as he thought back on the loss of those happy days even as heard his knuckles pop in his now clenched fists.

"I NEVER ASKED FOR ANY OF THIS!" He would shout to the heavens, his anger finally getting the best of him as he did. The water behind him would finally settle down as he forced himself into a passive state.

"I'm losing it aren't I..?" He would speak directly to his reflection, hoping that the more depraved and manic side within would appear to mock him as it usually did in times of crisis. However only his normal face would stare back at him, serving to further dishearten the once arrogant transfer student.

"My Dust..who the hell am I at this point, certainly not the same Bálor who was getting into trouble every week.." The wolf would sigh as the sounds of many voices coming out of class could be heard in the distance, he was grateful for his enhanced hearing as it gave him a chance a try and compose himself as cupped some of the fountain water in his hands and proceeded to try and wet his hair back into a more manageable state as he turned to make his way back inside the safety of the Academy's wall. The jittery need to escape that he felt earlier had since been replaced by a soul crushing fatigue, it wasn't just the monotony of classes that had caused him to keep away from his fellow students. He had lost the brooding loathing for the world that had helped him survive as a child in prison, he had become just another boy who happened to have a part in some stupid romantic web.

"I just want everything to go back to the way it used to be, I just want to go back to who I used to be."

There's nothing I can say here that's gonna justify this story, follow if you want but be aware that it will get darker