Crossing the line

My first fanfic, so go easy on me.

Characters

Existing: Velvet Scarlatina, Cardin Winchester, Glynda Goodwitch.

Original: Oliver Wind-Stream, Lennox (Both Team OPAL).

Plot: Cardin Winchester takes his habit for tormenting the Faunus too far.

Setting: Winter, Beacon Academy, RWBY.

Oliver leaned against the wall next to the door to Grimm Studies class. It seemed so unfair. No, it was so unfair. Not just that he was here, but also that she was.

Professor Port had split the class up into pairs. Most had been paired up with their own team members, but since Lennox had been granted an early week off prior to the winter break, he had been sleeping in the dorm. He was a snake-type Faunus, so his cold-bloodedness didn't agree with the winter. He had now been asleep for 43 hours, but he wasn't missing anything too interesting. Anyway, since Lennox was hibernating and his two other teammates had been paired up with each other, he'd had to find an alternative. Fortunately, there was someone in the same boat as him; A Faunus girl who he had seen around, but not spoken to. Her team members were paired up or absent too. He heard that her name was Velvet.

Oliver lifted himself up from the wall and began to pace from one side of the corridor to the other, his face hanging toward the ground.

The pairs in the class had to kill a Beowolf as fast as they could. Two teams went at a time, and each pair had to kill their Beowolf before the other team did. Simple. At least it would have been if he wasn't facing off against half of Team CRDL. While backing up from his beowolf for a clearer view, he had bumped into Sky Lark. Sky Lark turned and pushed him to the ground. Port seemed oblivious to this. In anger, he had turned and delivered a kick from the ground into Lark's leg, bringing him to his knees. Lark's Beowolf took a slash with its claws at Lark, and had scratched Lark's face. He never wanted that to happen. Anyway, Velvet had single- handedly killed their Beowolf, Lark was taken to the emergency room, and now Velvet and Oliver were waiting outside for class to finish, so that Port could give them both a scolding. And, most likely, a month's worth of detentions too.

Oliver looked up toward Velvet, who glanced back into his eyes. Both were giving a look of sympathy, but they both quickly dropped their heads again. Oliver stopped pacing the corridor and returned to leaning against the wall next to her. He stood there for a moment, and decided that he did not like this awkward silence. He turned to Velvet and opened his mouth to say something, but at that exact moment, the doors to the class swung open, and the students started filing out and crowding in the corridor. Out almost, but not quite last, was Cardin Winchester.

Cardin Winchester left the classroom with a look that said he was on the warpath. He stopped and looked around the corridor, and Oliver knew he was looking for him and Velvet. He turned his head their way, and stopped. There the two were, him, that self-righteous goon leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking like he thought he was untouchable, and her, ever innocent, staring at the floor, with her arms behind her back. Cardin approached the two, and Velvet looked up. Her eyes widened with a sense of fear when she did.

"You two are a pair of damn freaks", Cardin half-shouted into Oliver's face. A few heads turned their way. "Sky could have been killed in there. And I don't see a reason why I don't just claw your face while I'm standing here".

"Stop", said the light voice next to Oliver, "Leave off, Cardin"

Cardin seemed a little surprised that the rabbit-eared girl much shorter than him was suddenly acting so boldly. He looked at Oliver, broke into a half smile, let out a single chuckle, and turned back to Velvet.

"Shut up. I'm talking to tall, dark and human over here" he said, nodding in Oliver's direction. Velvet dropped her head and retreated back into the silence that she came from. Oliver was aware of the cafeteria incident a few months ago, when Cardin was bullying her because of her rabbit ears. He was there actually. He cursed himself for a while after it happened for not intervening.

Cardin turned back to Oliver, who glared back. How dare you, he thought, how dare you speak to her like that. What did she do? You have no right to talk to her or anyone else like that! But in the end, these were just thoughts, and Cardin would hear none of them. Sub-consciously, Oliver had brought his arms to his sides, and his fists had begun to clench.

"So, what, you think do can just do that to one of my teammates? You think you're gonna get away with this? 'cos trust me, you got another thought coming. And you'd better watch your back, 'cos you can bet that my friends will be watchin' it".

"Are you threatening me, Winchester?" Oliver asked. It served as both an inquiry and a warning.

"Me? Not at all. Just a heads-up"

Oliver remained silent.

"But he didn't do anything" The light voice said. Cardin's enraged face shot over to Velvet, who was suddenly half-crouched against the wall, tears swelling in her eyes. Cardin shifted his eyes to her rabbit ears. She folded them over her forehead and did her best to cover her face. That was all it took. He just had to stare her down. Cardin turned back to Oliver. He could tell, soon, this bully is going to cross the line.

"You should but your bitch on a leash" Cardin had the nerve to say.

Enough. Oliver threw his fist into Cardin's face, and brought his other into his stomach once it was exposed. Cardin was now doubled over, one hand on his face, the other on his stomach. Oliver took this all in in less than a second. Oliver sent one foot to his right and knocked Cardin's leg off balance. Cardin was now on one knee, with his hands on the ground, but pushing himself back up. Once Cardin had regained balance (again, in just under a second), Oliver saw Cardin was still on one knee, Oliver sent a fist downwards along Cardin's jaw, knocking his whole face sideways. A small spray of blood hit the floor behind his face, the sound of the drops hitting the floor followed swiftly by an "OH!" from the crowd of students watching them.

"Apologize to her" Oliver demanded. Cardin looked over at Velvet, a look of shock on his face. She now had one hand on her chest, the other on her mouth, as if she had just let out a loud gasp.

"Screw you", Cardin replied, shortly before throwing his shoulder into Oliver's stomach. Oliver kicked him over his head with his knee and quickly got into a defensive crouch. Cardin tried to get up too, but Oliver delivered a direct kick into Cardin's side, knocking him into a wall. Cardin screamed out in pain, clutching the area below his arm. That's a fractured rib, Oliver thought to himself. This movement also brought another loud "OOH!" from the audience that had accumulated. Some even shouted in approval.

"I SAID APOLOGIZE TO HER!" Oliver shouted. This time Cardin didn't reply. He just sent him a horrible look of rage. He approached him and sent two decoy attacks around his sides, then landed one punch square in Oliver's face. He allowed himself no recovery time. Cardin attempted a right hook, but Oliver leaned back and dodged the attack, and grabbed Cardin's arm with both hands in a way that that threatened to break it. He then brought his leg around and swept Cardin's feet out from under him. He now had his opponent in an arm lock on the ground.

In retrospect, it was probably a good thing that Professor Goodwitch showed up when she did. Another minute longer and he may have been facing a police charge for Grievous Bodily Harm. The other good thing is that it was him who was fighting Cardin, not Lennox. Lennox would have definitely broken Cardin's arms within 30 seconds of him calling them freaks, and wouldn't have waited for an apology. He had that kind of vengeful impulsiveness. At least he had a story to tell him when he woke up in a few weeks' time. But by now, everyone else in the academy had heard about the fight. He thought all this while he was sitting on one of the benches in the snow-covered forecourt of Beacon Academy.

He looked down at his fingers. He was already aware that he was doing the thing again. Whenever he was nervous or bored, he would begin to tap his fingers in a certain order. His parents had both been musicians, and he had been taught to play the piano from a young age. He remembered one song vividly. He came home one day, after having a rough day at school, having been bullied. His parents weren't home from work yet, but they left a key under the mat, so he could let himself in if they were late. Actually, being truthful, on this one day in question, his parents were not late. He was early. Too early. He received threats from one of his bullies, and was terrified of going into class. So he ran out of school, and missed his last lesson. When he let himself in, he almost broke into tears. That's when he walked into the living room and sat in his father's piano stool. It was far too low for him, he was only about 6 at the time, but he could still play the keys. He sat up straight and played the sheet music that was already on the piano. And it seemed to calm him down as well, and after 5 minutes, he had forgotten he was so distressed. Ever since, he had developed a habit of assuming that finger position and begin the finger sequence that was used to play that piece. It drove his teammates up the wall, but he was alone now, and he could do whatever the hell he damn well wanted. A little snow began to fall. He drew his gloves from his pocket and slipped them onto his hands, and resumed his imaginary tapping.

His mind skipped forward 5 years. 11 years old. His first self-defence lesson. By this time he had got to high school and had met bigger, tougher bullies, and he was finding that telling the staff didn't help. It was time that he had learned how to defend himself, and his lunch money. At the first lesson, he could be downed by people who had been learning self-defence for years, and the most embarrassing thing was they were only half his height, at 7or 8 years old, and they could bring him to the ground in less than half a minute. At the end of the lesson, his Sensei told him something he would never forget. He said that he should never let his emotions control everything he does, and that in a fight he had to maintain a logical frame of mind. These words stuck with him for every lesson after that, and after that first lesson, he became one of the fastest learners his Sensei had ever seen. By the time he was 13, he could beat regional tournament winners. At 14, he could take down experienced professionals and at 15, he once even beat his own Sensei. This was in large thanks to the logical mind-set which he placed himself in. That fight where he finally beat his Sensei was 2 years ago. He'd easily had enough time to become more than better than Cardin. At 16, someone at Signal decided it might be a good idea to pick a fight with someone just to prove how cool he was. He had also decided it was a good idea to choose Oliver for his fight. He had also decided to try to embarrass him in the cafeteria. That boy left on a stretcher with 2 black eyes, a broken nose, 3 fractured ribs and a severely damaged collarbone. Oliver didn't like to go on about how he could fight like this if he had to. It made him seem violent and unapproachable. And at a place like Beacon, Someone really needs friends.

Fortunately, new friends would soon be coming his way. The ironic thing was, he was about to gain new friends because he could fight.

In this train of thought, Oliver was oblivious to the soft crunching of the snow making its way toward him. At least, until it got closer. He broke his thought when the footsteps stopped. He looked up and saw that face again, below those rabbit ears protruding from 2 custom cut holes in a hat designed to cover human ears. He stood up (his parents always told him it was the gentlemanly thing to do when a lady approached you).

"Hi" She said to him, raising up her hand covered up by a light purple mitten.

"Hey", He replied "Listen, I'm sorry you got caught up in all that earlier-"

"No", She quickly replied "don't apologize for that. I was actually here to thank you".

"What for?"

"Well, Cardin will probably leave me alone now. And you've show others that he's not as strong as he thinks he is. Maybe others will stand up to him now".

"I was doing only was any decent person should have done".

Velvet hesitated. "Most people I know wouldn't have got involved".

"Then doesn't that say something about the number of decent people here?"

They were both silent for a moment. It seemed a little awkward, but then she spoke.

"Listen, my team heard what happened, and they said they would really like to meet you. Perhaps you could come by our dorm later?"

Oliver considered the offer.

"Well, I will if I can, but first I'll have to talk to Professor Ozpin. He's still deciding what disciplinary action to take".

Velvet gave him a look of understanding. Then she smiled at him.

"Well, even if you don't, thanks again". She then got slightly closer to Oliver and stood on her toes. She pulled him down slightly and kissed him on the cheek. She went back off her toes, smiled at him again, turned and left.

"You're welcome", He said as she left. She turned back around, smiling, this time showing her teeth. Perfect white, same as the falling snow. She turned her head forward and continued walking back toward the main building.

20 minutes later, the snow was far heavier than it was. Fortunately, Oliver was already in his dorm room, waiting for a call from Goodwitch telling him to come to the headmaster's office. As he sat there, his back against the wall, seated firmly on his bed, he thought about the girl he had helped earlier. He remembered seeing her in Dr Oobleck's history class. Man, she was shy then. Oobleck asked if any Faunus in the room had been picked on because of their Faunus heritage, she almost didn't respond. It was only after another student raised their hand that she raised hers. It was a little brave considering Cardin was in the room. And there was that other time he saw her crying in the corner of a corridor by the window (He really hated himself after doing nothing in that one). He had committed an act of violence in her defence. Was that enough to redeem his past inaction? Maybe. Suddenly his scroll buzzed. He lifted it off his belt and slid either end apart. A call from Goodwitch. As expected. He answered.

"Mr. Wind-Stream, please come to Professor Opzin's office".

"Understood", he sighed. He closed the scroll. He began to make his way across the bed and stood up.

He looked across the room at the pile of bedclothes covering his snake-based Faunus roommate. He wasn't visible under them, but he could just make out his figure. He pondered a moment. He had had told Oliver that Lennox wasn't his real name, and that anyone not a reptilian-based Faunus couldn't pronounce his real name properly. But "Lennox" was Faunus enough to be cold-blooded, so his environment needed to be warm for him to survive. Come winter, he would hibernate, just like a real snake. He had already been complaining about the cold, even in heated environments like the classroom. He had asked for early time off to hibernate, but this quickly achieved a negative response from Ozpin. On the way to one lesson, he'd collapsed from hypothermia in the corridor. He would have died if Professor Peach wasn't there with him. Once he came to, Ozpin granted him early leave. He didn't even say I told you so, 10 minutes later he was in bed, fast asleep. And a damn heavy sleeper he was too, even when he wasn't hibernating. Ailith once dropped a glass on the floor in the middle of the night, and it even woke up some of the students from across the corridor, but Lennox stayed asleep. Still, he was only postponing the inevitable. His eyes darted to the wardrobe where his battle gear was hung. 2 Katanas, sheaths crossed and pinned to the back of a cloak coloured onyx, with dark blue accents. Onyx. He liked it. It matched his personality. He left the room, shut the door behind him, and made his way to Ozpin's Office.

Well, That's the whole story so far, but I might do another chapter if this gets enough positive response.

I do encourage criticism, but only constructive criticism.

PS. That's how you spell color where I am from (GB).