ALRIGHT BOYS, WE'RE BACK! IT'S YOUR OLD PAL NERRY WITH A NEW AND REFRESHED LOOK AT THIS STORY AND WRITING IN GENERAL! This is the long awaited rewrite of the first chapter was long overdue for a replacement. This will explain some more differences between Humans/Faunus and the Void Beasts. But without further ado, MY RETURN COMMENCES!
The first thing visible to Kha'Zix was blackness. It was either endless or directly in front of him, but he could tell that his visibility was zero. He attempted to move, but couldn't feel… anything. It was like he didn't even have a body. He was aware of his own heartbeat. But that was all he could hear. An endless heartbeat, beating over and over. It was… soothing, but as time went on, he could slowly feel it wasn't his own. Where on earth was he? All he remembered was his previous victory in the League, and then he was here. Nothing in between as was the usual.
He couldn't tell what was going on around him, simply because nothing was happening around him. His mind was unable to find out what was in his surroundings. But that was only the first most troubling thing. He couldn't sense any piece of the nexus around him, showing he was outside of the league. He began trying to force his ability of awareness, feeling the power of the void burn through him, his mind exiting his body, showing his true surroundings much like the view he had while participating in the league.
For some reason he saw a... Human woman… wait, not Human. She had a strange pair of antennae like his for some reason, but otherwise looked human. She had a bloated stomach of which he believed was a sign of fertility, but he didn't know himself, as he never cared to know. However, based on what he knew, he slowly began to put the pieces together.
He was either in some kind of limbo and he just happened to see her, or…
He was the one she was fertile with. Each thought was unsettling to him. He knew how helpless and weak hHumans were, and he hated the fact he might be born as one of them. He was still uncertain to the reality of the situation.
All he knew, is that no matter what, he would not let this impede his progress to perfection.
17 years later
Kha'zix had grown finely, A thin Faunus with purple hair and deep green eyes, and his purple antennae retained. The humans knew him by the name of Khan Zixas. He had since blended in with the human society, realizing he was not strong enough to stand against them like he had in his previous life, being confined by the pathetic human body he had been given. The Humans called his variation of their species 'Faunus', and the normal humans had a strange prejudice against them.
He had made it well enough through the prejudice, the Humans harmless jests not affecting him, as he was apathetic to the thoughts of what he viewed as lesser life forms.
The Humans in this place had a strange ability called 'aura', which acted like a shield made of their very soul. Void beasts did not have a soul in the human version of the word, and instead had a much simpler consciousness.
To fit in, Kha'Zix had replicated the so called Aura with his void energy. It worked well enough, as no Humans had suspected his true nature. If they found out what he truly was, they would likely target him out of fear due to a species that often targeted the Humans, that being the Grimm.
The creatures were attracted to negativity, but often could not spot him due to his pure apathy towards them. They were pathetically easy to kill. He had no idea why humans feared the creatures.
The Humans also had 'Semblances', which were abilities that seemed to reflect who they were. Some had immense strength, others with Speed, and so on. He easily was able to pass on his adaption as a Semblance. He also had the ability to temporarily revert to his Void Beast form, gaining his immense power once again. It heavily exhausted his shell of a body however, meaning he could not truly revert. He could also convert his individual body parts into his previous form for much longer durations and much less the cost, such as turning his arm into a claw.
He had shown none this ability aside of those who first saw it, that being his Faunus parents. They suspected nothing due to their attachment to their child, of which he showed an amount of gratefulness for, as he would not have logically reached adolescence without them helping through the younger years.
His weapons, as many Humans seemed to have, and were required to fit in, were very much like that used by Rengar, the only person he considered a worthy rival. The large sword strapped to his back with clawed gauntlets. In Between the claws was a small muzzle, meant for firing the bullets used by these humans, fueled by some kind of elemental mineral known as 'Dust'.
He had been forced into a Human education, and had learned their language and fighting fairly easily. It was, no pun intended, leagues beneath those he had seen from the League of Legends.
At the end of the necessary Human education, due to him being the top of his class, he was inducted into the more reputable of the schools, that being a school known as Beacon academy.
While at first he had no interest, he decided in the long run it would help with blending in, and had responded to the invitation.
Today was the day he was supposed to go to the school itself. He was already loaded on the Airship, and was simply waiting for the other students to load on to the aircraft. The others slowly filed in as the day went on, as he had arrived before many of them.
As soon as the Airship was full, it took off with those inside. The news monitor was spouting talk of the human criminal Roman Torchwick. Kha'Zix had no interest in it, simply staring out the window blankly. The land outside was the futuristic landscape he had to get used to due to being in a land that was leagues behind this one in technology.
He had learned, painfully so, not to eat the machinery to try and adapt.
Suddenly, a blond boy ran up next to him and started hurling his guts out into a trash can, causing Kha'Zix to calmly step away, not wanting the Human regurgitation to get on him. The boy got up after a little, his face slightly green.
"Watch it!" Kha'Zix said, pushing the boys body back to face the trash can as the boy regurgitated again. Realizing that others would find the aggressive way he spoke off putting, he pat the boys back to try and give the illusion that he was trying to ease the boy in the ride.
"It's alright. The trip will be over soon." He said to reinforce the act, feeling disgust with himself for treating a human like an equal, but alas, he had gotten used to it through the 17 years of being forced to do so. His voice kept a little of the insectoid feel of it, but was far less animalistic, letting him blend in a little better.
The boy gave a thankful thumbs up from his position at the can, Kha'Zix simply staying with him as the trip to the school went onwards.
When the ride was over, Kha'Zix turned to leave, but was stopped by the boy's hand on his shoulder.
"H-Hey, wait up!" The blond boy said, panting as he looked up at Kha'zix. Kha'zix resisted the urge to toss him off, simply turning and looking at him.
"T-Thanks for helping me out back there." The boy said, extending his hand. "I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it." Kha'Zix supposed he felt no harm in telling the boy his name, knowing if he told him off that would set him apart from the crowd.
"I'm Khan Zixas. It was no problem helping you out back there." He said trying his best to smile in a friendly way.
"So uh, do you want to head to the hall for the orientation together?" Jaune had asked, looking at the other boy. Kha'Zix thought about it, wanting to say a definite no, but knowing that would cause a butterfly reaction of people knowing that he turned down the friendship of a completely normal peer.
"Su-" He was cut off by a nearby boom, his eyes widening as he immediately dived to the ground, ptsd of the towers of the league affecting him negatively.
Jaune looked worriedly at the explosion, offering his hand to Khan to help him up.
"Hey Khan, I think we should go check that out to make sure everyone's okay." He said, smiling a little nervously. Khan calmly took the hand, standing up and looking towards the area that the explosion originated.
The two boys made their way to the origin site, finding a girl in white storming off and a girl in red looking to where someone used to be. Jaune walked over to the girl to help her up, smiling.
"You alright?" He asked, helping the little girl in red to her feet. She dusted herself off, before looking at him.
"Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?" She asked rather bluntly. He looked rather indignant, sputtering a little as Kha'Zix allowed himself to chuckle a little at the humans embarrassment.
"I'm just saying, motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on! How would you feel if I called you crater face?" Jaune said, trying to justify his earlier puking.
"I know I know, it was just the first thing that came to mind!" She said waving her arms around, before huffing.
"Well, anyways, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it." He said with a confident smile. The girl however was not so confident it.
"Do they?" She asked skeptically, looking at him.
"W-Well, that's what my moth-" His talking was suddenly stopped by Kha'Zix's hand. The calm and usually quiet insectoid boy calmly shaking his head.
Inside Kha'Zix's head, it was much less a kind gesture and more of the Void Beast trying to shut the talkative human up before he embarrassed himself.
"So, what's your name then?" She asked, looking to the silent insect faunus. Khan simply stared silently at her, his deep green eyes seemingly glowing for a split second.
"Huh? Oh, this is Khan. He's pretty quiet in my experience." Jaune said, introducing the void beast.
Khan's mind was reeling.
'Her eyes.' He hissed to himself, sensing the eyes power. They wouldn't merit a hero of the league, but they would still be an annoyance, even if just barely. Of course this was rather annoying to him, seeing just another obstacle if he should ever be found out. The girl nodded a little, making an O shape with her mouth.
"Ohhh. Well, I'm Ruby." She said, smiling at Jaune and the insectoid faunus. Jaune smiled and nodded, with Kha'zix calmly giving a acknowledging nod.
"So, is the orientation nearby?" She asked, looking at Jaune.
"I was just following you!" He said quickly, looking around the area. Kha'Zix sighed to himself, gesturing for the two to follow him, walking off to where he remembered the orientation being.
"I guess we just follow Khan then?" Jaune asked, stepping off towards where the insectoid boy was going, Ruby following them as well.
Eventually they reached the Orientation hall, Kha'Zix silently walking away from the humans to find his own seat. Eventually he had found one, doing his crouching squat instead of sitting as he had always done, looking up at the stage. It appeared Jaune and Ruby didn't notice his absence until he was long gone.
When Ozpin walked out onto the stage, he looked over the crowd. His eyes hovered over four places, one of which being complete eye contact with Kha'Zix. Kha'Zix sensed something troubling, seeing that the man had much stronger magic than the girls eyes.
Ozpin's speech went as usual, with him leaving promptly and Glynda announcing where they would be sleeping for the night. Kha'Zix was one of the first ones out, making sure he had enough time to get his own sleeping spot.
"So now you're on my side!" A prissy voiced called in the hall, breaking Kha'Zix out of his sleep, slowly getting up. This body required sleep unlike his old one, which led to great annoyance when said sleep was interrupted.
He glared to the source of the noise, his eyes slightly glowing in the dark, seeing a candlelight and four girls surrounding it. There was the girl in white who was storming off from earlier that day, a feline faunus hiding her ears with a black bow, Ruby, and a girl in yellow. His area of the hall was pitch black, meaning he could pull a small prank on the girls to shut them up.
Slowly he reverted his vocal cords to his Void Beast form, an insectoid clicking noise emitting from his throat, echoing around the hall. The girls' faces went pale as the alienistic noise made them think of various alien media they've seen. The girl in black taking the chance to blow out the candle, resulting in squeals from three of the four girls before they finally ran to their mats and slept.
Kha'zix chuckled, his throat returning to normal as he closed his eyes to sleep, nodding off after a little bit.
Eventually Kha'Zix's eyes flashed open, causing him to sit up slowly and see it was early morning. He got up, throwing on his clothes before packing up his sleeping bag and pajamas, beginning to make his way to the locker rooms to get ready as they had been told to.
He strapped his sword to his back, clamping his gauntlet to his arm and setting out towards the cliff they were asked to meet up at.
Kha'zix calmly crossed his legs, sitting down at his spot and simply waiting for the rest of the students to arrive.
Slowly students began to file in, nearly filling up the area. Kha'Zix was now standing so he wouldn't be trampled, holding his sword close. Eventually a familiar blond boy walked up next to him, to his minor annoyance.
"Hey Khan! There you are." Jaune said, smiling a little at his purple haired friend. "Sorry I wasn't here. I got a little… hung up?" He said, trying to not admit what really happened with him getting pinned to the wall. Kha'Zix shrugged a little, silently looking back to Ozpin.
He gave his usual speech Kha'zix tuning him out calmly, Jaune trying to object and ask his question before being launched away by Ozpin.
Kha'Zix was prepared with a landing strategy, and after being launched had turned his legs into their insectoid counterparts, landing with a resounding thud before immediately turning them back.
He unsheathed his blade and began moving through the forest, knowing the temple must be somewhere relatively close to the cliff face, deciding to move semi close to it.
And with that, the initiation began.
Chapter one end