My name is Blake Belladonna, and I am…
An orphan.
Black, furry ears twitch beneath a knit toque, and I can hear whispers of a thousand students, as if they're standing right next to me.
A freak.
Someone, Cardin, push me down into my desk. It cracks long before my face feels the blow, and I feel the power, my… whatever began to react to a threat. My muscles tense, my hands clench into rock-solid bricks. I could get into a slugging match with a brick wall and win right now. The sniggering idiot has no idea how close he is to dying.
I'm not normal.
I sigh, and close my journal. Seven words. Far below the mandatory 500, but it's all I can write for the question. Who am I? Really?
I don't even know what I am, let alone who.
The bell rings, sending students flooding out of the room in a tidal wave of bad odour and text books. The shrill sound cuts deep within my skull, bring pain in one of the few ways I know can.
The teacher, Mr. Robinson, merely waits for the requisite minute before I find my bearings and leave his classroom. He's one of the good teachers, the kind that knows me, not what I am.
That almost makes up for the rest.
I pick up my language arts and physics texts, easily slinging them over my shoulder as if they weigh nothing. Waving goodbye, I breathe deeply, before slipping into the horde of students.
I've got superpowers. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true. I'm strong, fast, almost bullet-proof, create illusionary copies of myself, and… I've got cat parts. I can see in the dark, hear better than a musician, and my sense of smell is phenomenal.
Except when it's gym class, then it's horrible.
But the part that everyone sees is my ears. I don't know why I have them. My parents, little that I know about them, didn't have anything like them. The countless doctors I've been to certainly don't know anything.
Of course, they don't know about everything else.
I glance at my watch. I've only got one more class left until the end of the day, and then it's time for me to go to my new foster 'home'.
Yay me.
My name is Yang Xiao Long, and I'm…well, awesome!
The man in front of me, a big, burly sack of muscle, stumbles back after my jab, his nose gushing blood. I start grinning, my eyes flashing red.
He shakes his head, and charges at me, screaming. I step to the right and he sails past right into the ropes.
I didn't have to dodge. I mean, unless he can lift cars too he might as well be throwing marshmallows at me, buuuut it looks weird if I don't.
My opponent turns himself around; his eyes alight with rage.
"Oh come on now Junior, it's just some bruises!" I taunt, beckoning him with my hands.
He starts shaking, his fists balled tighter than a misers purse. Yelling out curses, he starts swinging a left uppercut.
Of course, I'm faster. I slide under his arm, griping it, and twist. His bone snaps with a crunch, and he's on the floor crying like a baby.
I lower myself down to his ear, "If I ever see you go near my sister again," I swing my hand towards his face, stopping just before I hit him, "I'll finish the job. Got me?"
He nods.
"Good." I say, and then stand. The crowds gone wild, cheering my name. I wave, and send them kisses.
Ducking under the ropes, I jog to the guy running this shindig. He's wearing an expensive looking suit and tie, and only has a wisp of hair left on his wrinkly head. He's… not the kind of person you want to deal with any more than necessary, but he's got loads of cash.
"Well done Miss Xiao Long. It was a stunning victory. Short fight though."
I blow some hair out of my eyes, "Don't give me that crap. I won the fight, fair and square. Rewards five hundred bucks, doesn't matter how long it took."
He pauses, and starts stroking his imaginary beard, "Perhaps, but you see, my best fighter has been, how do I put this?" A scream draws my attention to the right. Juniors being wheeled out on a stretcher, and I can see an ambulance down the road.
"Disabled, and I need a new combatant."
I shake my head, and then lift him by his tie and pull him close.
"Not. My. Problem. Pay up, or I do to you what I did to him!" I growl, deliberately making sure to spit. I drop him.
He straightens his tie, "Very well. Take this." He hands over a freezer bag full of five dollar bills. "Five hundred dollars for winning the fight."
I grab it. "I find out you cheated me, I'll be back."
He walks away.
Lameo.
I, Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee technology corporation, have a problem. This problem is simple, yet so very troublesome. It was a problem that occurred nearly every day, but despite my best efforts, it continues to annoy me.
Ruby Rose was sleeping in class, again.
I flick my snoozing best friend/sister/something in the ear, but the dolt just shifts her arms to block my attack and continues to snooze.
Ugh! You are going to be the death of me!
I start smirking. Alright then, if that's how she wants to play it…
I cast a little wake me up under her head, the spinning snowflake just barely reaching the outskirts of her hair.
I clench my hand, and feel the power flow through the symbol, blasting a wave of air into Ruby's face and finally waking her up.
Her eyes zip around the room, clearly panicking. Perhaps the spell was a bit much. Neither Ruby, her sister, nor I react very well when we get rudely awakened. Once, Cardin had the brilliant idea of pouring cold water on her during lunch. He ended up in the hospital with three broken ribs, and that was before Yang got to him.
I kick her, focusing her far too intense gaze on me. She calms down, recognizing me.
She leans over and whispers to me, "Did I fall asleep again?"
I roll my eyes, and then point towards the front of the room.
She silently groans, and to be honest, I can't blame her. Professor Port can be… difficult to listen to. Still, his lecture contains valuable information about tomorrow's test, so it would be best for her to pay attention.
Maybe it'll make her sleep through the night.
Why does Weiss have to wake me up all the time?
I mean, really, she knows why I'm asleep, and it's not like she can't just give me her notes later.
The clock by my bed strikes midnight.
It's time!
I quickly grab my mask and hoodie, red of course, and leap out the window, rose petals trailing behind me.
The moon hangs low in the sky, just above the lights of the city. I race across the rooftops faster than the eye can see. I check every alley, every dark corner for trouble.
I hear a scream in the distance.
Maybe it's a fight?
I race over, creating a flurry of petals in my wake—no, I have no idea why I do that when I run—the air rushing against my body.
The scream originated from the rear entrance to a shady looking bar. There's a guy there, big, dark hair, kinda looks drunk. He's got a gun, and he's threatening this other, smaller guy.
I grin; this is going to be fun!
I leap down from the five story building, leaving a small crater in the ground. The gunman turns around, what little I can see of his face clearly showing shock.
He screams at me, threatening me most likely, but I don't listen. Instead I run, smashing my shoulder into his chest. He goes flying straight into a dumpster. Not in the dumpster, he just hits it.
He gets back up, wincing and clutching his ribs. He pulls the gun and fires at me. I don't dodge, just letting the bullets bounce harmlessly off my face.
I know by now I'm glowing red, the light making the ground look almost hellish. The gunman is shaking like a washing machine. He drops his gun and turns to run.
I pop in front of him.
He skids to a stop, and holds out his hands, cowering.
"Please! Please don't hurt me! Please!" he cries, tears streaming down his cheeks.
I tilt my head, considering.
"Nope!"
I hit him in the nose. Blood rushes out, coating my hand in a layer of the sticky fluid. He drops.
Well, that was fun!
Most people after a boxing match need some first aid, or at least some rest.
Not me.
I can keep going all day, even if I spent the better part of a day fighting. It's useful, especially when I'm doing these fights in my free period. Which reminds me, I've only got…
I pull out my phone.
Twenty minutes until I have to be back at school, or else my parents are going to freak, and ask where I was.
Well, I was off paying for my collage fund. And Ruby's. And Bumblebee.
I jump on to the above mentioned Bumblebee and slide on a helmet. I chuckle, if I hit anything that's punches through my toughness force field thing, a helmets not going to do much. Still, better to avoid the ticket.
I gun the engine and ride off.
Fifteen minutes later, I arrive at the front gate of Beacon High school. It's an older building, with red bricks underneath green vines. But it's one of the best high schools in town, and best of all, its public.
If it wasn't for its reputation, my little sis would have never met her best friend, Weiss. She's rich enough that her daddy wanted to put her in private school, but there's no private school in town that's better than Beacon.
Thanks to that, she and Rubes met up for a project or something, and we found that we weren't the only ones to have our powers. (Although hers are decidedly weirder)
And if Rubes having a best friend freed up time for me to do my thing, it's perfect!
I step inside the school, the thick oak doors easily swinging from a small push from my hands. It's nice not having to worry about how heavy things are.
Let me think, today I've got some… oh its gym today! Yes! Easy class here I come!
Despite how… humiliating it can be to have doctors poking and prodding me whenever I see one, having a note telling teachers to let me wear my hat is almost worth it. I change quickly, grateful I don't have a tail to match my ears, and start walking around the gymnasium.
This is my first class with this teacher. Thanks to my abilities, my previous gym class was… less than challenging (It was more of a challenge to not look superhuman), so they pushed me up into the advanced classes.
The teacher, an older, tall women with blond hair, blows her whistle. My ears, now concealed under a baseball cap, fall flat. My skull feels like it's getting hit by a sledgehammer, and from the looks of the other students, I'm not alone. Completely, anyways, I doubt they're hearing the parts that only dogs should.
"Alright, welcome to Physical Education 11-1." She says, clearly bored, "My name is Miss. Goodwitch, but I expect to be called Ma'am. Is that clear?" She glares out into the student body, as if daring them to say otherwise.
No one does.
"Alright. Now, attendance." She pulls out a clipboard and begins to call out names.
Now we get to the only bad part of my name.
"Blake Belladonna?"
I sigh, "Here."
She writes it down, and I can hear the whispers start up.
"Why is she wearing that cap?"
"Lame outfit."
"Wait, Blake Belladonna? I know that name…"
Okay, that last one was weird. I start looking around the room, trying to figure out who said it.
"Today I'll be assigning you partners. Your partner will be assigned to you according to your skill level, with the exception of Miss Nikos, who will be acting as my assistant." She gestures to a red haired girl, who shyly waves. "These partners will be set throughout the year, and in any activity where partners are called for, you will be expected to work with your partner.
"Miss Nikos, if you would go bring out the basketballs…" The girl nods, and walks over to the storage room.
It wasn't a surprise Nikos was being taken out of the rest of the class. She competed in the Olympics, what was a school gym going to teach her?
Goodwitch clears her throat, "The partnerships are as follows: Jaune Arc, Cardin Winchester."
A small, blond boy and a large brown-haired man. Jaune was clearly terrified to work with Cardin, and I feel a twinge of sympathy. Cardin was not a good person to work with.
"Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie." A squeal from a smallish girl with orange hair and far too much pink on her clothing. Ren, a black haired guy, just nods.
"Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long." Okay, who was this Yang…?
A tall girl with a rather… well developed figure slides next to me, a wide grin stretched across her face. Goodwitch continues to drone on about partnerships, but my attention falls elsewhere.
Because Yang starts talking.
"Sooooo… Blake." She whispers, leaning over. "I think I know you from somewhere."
I pull back, startled. Where could she know me from?
"I think you're the girl moving into our house tonight, aren't you?
Oh God, I'm being paired with someone I have to live with. No no no no…
"Anyways, uh, early welcome to our house then!" She leans away, just as Goodwitch starts to explain the activities.
"To begin with, we're going to start with small games between partners. If you would please pick a net, we can begin."
Yang starts pulling me towards one of the higher nets.
Oh, this is going to be fun…
What are the odds?
I wound up partnered with the same girl that was moving into our house. This was perfect! I could show her all my moves, well, the ones that won't put under the knife at some creepy science lab.
It took me a minute to realise that I was squeezing too hard with my hand. I let go and turned around, expecting to see Blake clutching a broken arm and crying in pain.
Instead, she seemed confused as to why I let go.
…Maybe I wasn't squeezing as hard as I thought?
I shake it off. "Alright, so…" I pick up a ball from the floor.
"Watch and learn!" I yell, and then jump up. It's not nearly as high as I can go, but it's more than enough to lightly toss the ball in.
Nothing but net.
I turn to face her, "So, what'd you think?"
She raises her eyebrow.
"Really?" I cross my arms, then smile, "Fine, then let's see how you do."
She closes her eyes and sighs. Then she picks up the ball and dribbles it.
"Just letting you know, if you miss, I will never let you live this down."
She glares at me, and then runs at the net, each dribble creating a loud thump against the ground. She leaps, flying through the air, and sinks the ball.
Then the backboard shatters, spraying her with dozens of shards of glass. I run towards her, completely ignoring the broken glass. The other students have stopped their games, and I hear Goodwitch stomping over.
"Blake! Blake are you okay?" I pull her up, expecting to see her face covered in scratches and blood. Instead, I see nothing.
Nothing, but a thin, black glow surrounding her.
She mouths at me, "Don't talk."
I nod, and she runs off to the change room. Anyone watching, which is everyone, assumes she's going to go clean off.
Goodwitch starts to yell at me, demanding to know what just happened. But all I can think about is what I just saw. I start to smile.
Ruby's going to be so excited!
I burst through the change room doors, locking myself in the toilet. What was I thinking? I shouldn't have done that; I shouldn't have even tried to do that. It was completely stupid!
But she had to open her mouth, start talking. It just… it made me so mad! Why?
I was going to live with her. That's why. She wasn't going to leave me alone, not unless I made her hate me.
I curl up on the toilet, listening in to the conversation outside. Yang was telling them about how the board was old and easily broken, that she had done it before.
That sentence made me perk my head up. It wasn't old, and even if it was, the thing was still made of Plexiglas. I was the only one in the room strong enough to break it.
Wasn't I?
Goodwitch couldn't really fault me for what happened; it wasn't like we were doing something we weren't supposed to, so she let me go with a reminder to stop breaking school property.
I would love to explain to her how difficult that is, but Weiss tells me that would be irresponsible.
Anyways it should have left me time to track down and question my new housemate about what exactly happened back there, but I couldn't find her.
Gym wasn't the last class of the day, so I still had to sit through Math. Joy.
Still, once the day was over I knew where she would show, so all I had to do was wait.
Sure enough, the bell rang, and Blake walks up to my mom's car like she hadn't disappeared off the face of the earth for a few hours. I slug her on the shoulder, only slightly surprised when she barely flinchs
"Hello there Blake," my mom—step-mom technically—says, "It's very nice to meet you." She holds out her hand.
Blake takes it, gently, like she might crush it.
"Um, thanks."
"My name's Summer Rose. Good grip!" She laughs. My mom does that a lot.
"I know you'll love it with us."
I don't think I've ever been hugged that much in my life.
The moment I walk into that house, a red blur crashes into me. The girl, Ruby, starts blathering hellos and questions faster than I could even make out. Their father, a blond man, is slightly less glompy, but he still grabs my shoulders and gets far too close for comfort. Surprisingly, there's a third teenager here. A white haired, regal looking girl, called Weiss. She isn't part of the family, but she was Ruby's best friend. I was never the best with crowds, but this is too much. I wanted to start hitting things.
Surprisingly, the other three girls seemed to catch on. Ruby and Yang push their parents away, claiming 'private time'. Weiss stays away, content with examining me from a distance.
The two sisters drag me into a bedroom, adorned with dozens of posters and drawings, all showing some form of weapon. Across the desk is dozens of little screws and unrecognizable parts. It was… maybe a little creepy.
I sit down on the bed, cross-legged, clearing off a few blueprints. The other three somehow find a spot in the mess of the room.
Yang clears her throat, "So, uh, yeah, welcome to our house." She gestures to the room, "This is Ruby's room. Don't touch anything. Trust me, don't."
I nodded.
Ruby, who had been shaking in her seat, finally spoke up.
"Do you have powers too?" She yells, her body vibrating like she was about to explode.
"What? No I don't…too?" I ask, completely confused.
Weiss groans. "Really Ruby, for once could you just stick to the plan?" She looks at me. "Yes, too. Yang told us what happened during your class together."
I stare at her.
She raises her hand and she starts twirling her fingers. Suddenly a snowflake thing appears above the ground.
"Step on it." She commands.
"What?"
"Step on it!"
I gingerly lift my foot, slowly setting it on the glowing snowflake. Surprisingly, my foot stops once I touch it.
"No way…"
Suddenly Yang is by my side, "Yes way! This is so cool! What can you do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Ruby can run really fast," she explains, her arm flailing all around, "Weiss can do… whatever that is, and I… well, I'll find out someday."
I pause, thinking it over.
"I… look." I concentrate, and suddenly there's a copy of me, standing on the desk. Her/my feet move, but none of the many parts scattered across the desk move.
"That. Is. So cool!" Ruby yells before she appears at the desk in a cloud of red petals. She starts prodding the illusion.
"So… holograms?" Yang asks.
I shake my head, "Only of myself. Or, at least, I've never tried anything else."
"Still cool."
I smile, much to my own surprise.
"So, uh, the guy earlier mentioned some stuff about your records…" Yang says, much like one would to a wounded animal.
I push away. My illusion disappears, much to the disappointment of Ruby.
"Wait! I'm not trying to be a jerk! I just… kinda thought it was cool, what you did."
"Really?" I ask, startled.
The event in question happened a few months back. Adam, one of my foster siblings at the time, had just discovered I had asked to move to a different house. It turns out he had some possessive behaviour issues, so he threatened me. Eventually he got violent.
He attacked me the day I left the house, him and three of his friends. They were armed with baseball bats, and I had my hands.
The four of them were put in the intensive care ward at the hospital.
I walked away.
Justified? I think so. But few people agree with me. Most either don't believe me or think I went too far. So to hear someone saying that they liked it was…
"Yeah, somebody uploaded it to YouTube, and I watched it a thousand times." Yang says.
I smirk. Of course, she likes it because of the violence.
"So… where's my bedroom?" I ask, pushing myself off the bed.
Ruby jumps up, "Oh yeah! It's down the hall, just follow me!" She runs off; albeit not as fast as she can clearly go.
I leave the room, but Yang speaks up, making me pause.
"One last thing, Mom and Dad, they aren't in the know. So whatever you can do, don't do it outside of our rooms, alright?"
I nod.
"Good." She grins, "Welcome to our house Blake. I really hope you enjoy it here."
Something tells me I will.
My name is Blake Belladonna, and I am not alone.