Magic. It was a funny thing. Most would say that Dust was the real magic, but they didn't know what true magic was. My father showed me when I was young, about 8 years old. We went to a parade that was showing off the newest hunters and huntresses in Vale, as well as the alumni that he graduated with. We stood in the front, right where we could see Ozpin and Glynda in their own float along with the top of the class.

He hollered up to them, and they noticed, in shock that he was not on the stage with them. Glynda, being the serious one, yelled for him to get up there with them. I couldn't believe it at the time, but my father was one of the greatest magicians of all time as well as one of the best hunters. But I never saw the hunter side of him, he was just my dad. The one who taught me my first few tricks, the one who believed in my magic and how it could help people. But from on top of that float, I saw how the people looked at him. They cheered for him as their protector, not for the entertainment he provided them. Some of the newly graduated students even recognized him, and I could hear them admiring his work as we rode. They knew that he wasn't all show, and that he was a warrior of unconventional means, all for the sake of protecting the people he'd loved.

That's true magic. He had found the formula, but I'm still trying to work on mine. I knew it wouldn't be easy one upping his moves, but I already had an idea of what I could do. Time also wasn't on my side, considering I didn't even have a weapon yet, or even armor, so I needed to hurry and find my formula.

But for right now, on a Friday night, I could settle for a little brush up. "Alright, ready Velvet?" I said to the bunny faunus across the table.

She pumped a fist. "I'm gonna figure you out this time!" she said.

I faked a sarcastic eye roll and began to shuffle the cards. "Alright, you know the drill." I spread the 52 cards in a fan. "Pick a card, any card. Make sure you don't show me which one you pick."

Velvet's hand hung in the air as she scanned each one, deciding which one to pick. As if it made a difference, I thought. It made me smile, because I knew what was going to happen next.

She snagged a card near the middle. "Okay, so I memorize it and don't tell you, right?" I nodded. "Alright, so now I put it back into the pile…"

I took the pile and began shuffling. "You're not gonna figure me out," I said with a smirk.

"Oh, stop it!" she huffed. "We've done this ten times already, so I have to figure it out. If I don't then you truly are a magician."

"Alright, watch me shuffle then. I'll even make sure to go extra slow for ya." We both leaned in to watch me shuffle, and when I caught her staring, I glanced up to my partner beside her. He smirked as he pulled her card out, looking for an opening as I kept shuffling. "You're watching right?" I asked her, trying to stall for time.

"Yes, of course." Her eyes seemed to light up. "I think I figured it out!" she exclaimed.

"Oh?" I asked with fake curiosity. I shot a look to Cibble, who was just placing the card behind her ear. Now it was time to go to work. "So tell me, what did I do then? How do I know which card is your card?"

A sneaky smile fell on her. "Okay, so you shuffled the cards, but during your shuffle you felt the card I put back from when I grabbed it, so you shuffled until you saw the crease!" Oddly enough, the card on top did have a crease on it, but I knew what that was from. I had been fooling with it earlier because I thought that the cards were cheap. I had gotten them from the local thrift, because I was running low on playing cards. It was the nine of diamonds, but I entertained her idea.

"Really? So I was able to feel the crease when you were the only one touching it?" I asked.

"That's gotta be it!" She exclaimed. "You know these cards inside out, so you have to know how each one is different!"

I chuckled. "You know these are all mass produced at some factory right?"

She huffed again. "I know I'm right! You're just mad I figured you out so quickly!"

If only she knew, I thought. I was done shuffling at this point, with the nine of diamonds on top. I drew it from the deck, not revealing it to myself and faced it towards her. "Is this your card?"

A look of triumph took over. "Not even close! Looks like I was right!"

"Even though you said the one with the crease was yours?"

Confusion replaced triumph for a second, but her confidence came back. "It doesn't matter, you didn't show me the right card! That means you lose, and I win," she said.

I looked at Cibble. He could hardly contain himself. I smiled back at Velvet. "Of course it's not the right card."

Her expression flipped. "What?"

I pointed to her left ear. "Your card is behind your ear."

A second passed, her expression full of confusion and shock. She tentatively patted a hand behind her ear, and became even more shocked to feel that there was indeed a card back there. She pulled it and glanced it over, and I reveled in my glory as her jaw dropped to the floor. "How…what…how?!" she exclaimed. She shoved the card in my face. "This is my card!"

"I know," I simply responded.

She jumped out of her seat and stomped the ground. "I thought I had you figured out!" After a huff, she sighed. "I give up, you win." Her expression then lightened up. "You know, that is so cool that you can do that! I have no idea how you do it, but you never cease to amaze me, Aaros."

It made me feel good when she said that. Especially because it was Velvet. She never really goes out of her way to be friendly to people. Most of the time, she sticks with her team or does things alone. "Thanks, Velvet," I said with a smile. As I went to go shuffle my deck again, she pulled out her camera and took a snapshot before I could react. "Hey! What was that for?" I said.

The picture slid out of the slot at the bottom of the camera, and Velvet pulled it out and began to wave it. She smiled back at me. "I just wanted to catch that smile of yours! I haven't seen it for quite a while."

I didn't know what to say. Was she being sarcastic, or did I not smile that much? I looked to Cibble for confirmation, but he was snickering to himself as well. "I do to smile," I said, trying to defend myself. "Maybe not a lot, but I do have my happy days."

"As opposed to your sad ones?" She glanced at the picture, noticing that it was starting to come into view. "Look! It's a really good one too!" She turned it towards me and I saw myself, a smile across my face as if I had heard the happiest news in the world. But that wasn't the only thing I noticed. I saw my fair complexion, my weird green eyes, my messy orange hair that I hadn't been able to keep down, and the stains on my shirt from jumping all around the quad with Cibble during sparring practice. I looked a wreck, but I guess I'm pretty used to seeing it that way.

As did everyone else. I felt my smile fade a little, but I tried to keep it up. "Heh, yeah! That's a good one Velvet."

She must have noticed, because her smile had gone too. She sat down next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong, Aaros? Was it something I said?"

Some part of me was eating away at my core for quite a while, but recently I haven't been able to figure it out. It all started when I came to this school, but I couldn't let my burden become my friends'. And considering that Velvet was my only friend other than Cibble, I didn't want to make a scene. I put more effort behind my fake smile, and tried to light up the best I could. "Don't worry, it's nothing. I'm just tired from our sparring match earlier today. To be honest, I'm excited to get a little more sleep tonight than I usually do."

Her eyes didn't waver. "You've been worrying about your battle gear haven't you?"

God damn it, I thought. Now I couldn't lie anymore. I let out a sigh. "Yeah, you're right about that. I don't even have my own weapon or piece of armor yet. And I know that I could easily just make my own, but I don't want to settle for any old sword or gauntlet. I want to make mine unique." I motioned at Cibble. "I mean he even has his own weapons. Three of them in fact." I put a hand through my hair, remembering my status right now as the worst fighter on campus. "I haven't won a single match against anyone yet. To be honest, I don't know if I will. It makes me wonder why I'm even here sometimes."

Cibble's ears retracted and he let out a slight whimper. I could feel Velvet scoot closer towards me as she hesitantly placed her arm around my side and pulled me closer. Then, with her other hand, she tilted my face towards hers so I'd have to look at her.

This was unheard of. I never knew she was this outgoing.

"You're not the worst, Aaros. You just don't have a weapon yet. If you were, it wouldn't matter what weapon you had." She let me go and got up out of her seat. "I mean, yesterday you went toe to toe with Ren until he had to use his weapons! That guy is a pro at hand to hand combat!" she exclaimed. "And then you fought against Blake Belladonna! Do you know how many people can say that they put up a fight against those two?"

I grunted and crossed my arms. "Well, that still doesn't excuse the fact that I lost." I faked a glance at my nails. "Maybe I'll just become a street magician and make my money hustling people."

Velvet socked me in the shoulder. "That's not funny!" she exclaimed. And then, she did something that I didn't expect. Her cheerful demeanor vanished, and her eyes grew worrisome. "I don't want that for you, you know? And no one else does. You're just as welcome here as anyone else! You just have to find your way, Aaros. Weapons, armor, it doesn't matter if your heart isn't in it."

My heart. Was it not already in it?

"Anyway," she said, "I have to go, I have night classes with Dr. Oobleck, and he is teaching us about the Great War. That means I have to pay a lot of attention to the lecture, and I can't afford to fall asleep again."

I chuckled. "Why don't you ask him for some of his coffee?"

"I could," she said, "Or, I can take it upon myself to make sure the job gets done." She put the camera back in her purse, along with the picture that she waved in my face once more. "I'm keeping this you know," she said with a grin.

"Good," I said leaning back, "That way you can always have a piece of me wherever you go."

A moment of silence passed before I realized what I said. "I mean…"

A wave of crimson swept over her face. "I-I should get going!" Velvet stammered as she put the photo back into her purse. "See you two later!"

"W-wait-!"

She turned her back and ran to the exit. The bell went off for the afternoon classes, and I realized that I just made her late to class. I sighed. "Oh well." Cibble looked at me with a piqued curiosity. I shrugged, "I don't know, women are weird."

Cibble chuckled. "She is funny."

"She is," I confirmed. "However, something she said stuck with me."

"What was it?" he said, gobbling down the rest of his dinner. "Hearts?"

"Close." I looked down at the cards I had just shuffled. They were neatly stacked, no edges protruding from the pile. "Something about my heart not being in it."

Cibble smacked his lips as he finished swallowing. "How can your heart be in something?" he asked.

"It's a saying. You don't actually put your heart into something."

"Oh?" he asked.

I nodded. "It means that you put your whole will into it, you give it your all, you know, that stuff?"

"Ohhhh!" he exclaimed between a bite. He gobbled down another leg of chicken, this time gnawing on the bone for a little. "Like magic?" he asked.

I smiled. "Exactly. Just like magic."

Cibble's face lit up. "Then you are all in!" He paused to correct himself. "Um, I mean, your heart…is…all in?"

I waved it away. "Don't worry about it man, I know what you mean. And yeah, I feel like my heart is in it. But what if what she is saying is somehow true? What if I'm not doing all that I can do right now to make myself feel like I belong here?" I glanced at my hands, the calices already forming from my training. On a night like tonight, they would usually be stinging and I wouldn't be up for practicing my tricks, but today they seemed to be okay. "I just wished some of my efforts would begin to show that I'm actually making progress…"

Cibble finished his meal, and wiped his face with a nearby stack of napkins, forgetting that he only needed one. I gave an awkward smile to the team next to us that needed them. Cibble looked at me and said, "What about weapon? Armor?"

"Ahhhh, don't remind me!" I groaned. "You know as well as I do that I'm not going for some grandiose thing here."

"Grandy…Ohs?"

"No, gran- I mean extravagant. Big, large, complex, confusing."

"Oh! I get you!"

"Good." I sighed. "Something like that would just get in my way. But I don't want anything so mundane either."

"Monday?"

"Simple."

"Oh!"

I buried my face in my hands. I had no idea where or how to even begin to make my weapon, let alone find the materials. Fortunately, students in Beacon who had the same problem as me could go to the school's forge, where they could pay to create a weapon using school credits. However, the variety wasn't too good, and unless you knew what you were doing or knew how to mod your weapons, you were stuck with the boring mixes you got. I already knew every single combination of weapon they offered without going into mods, and I didn't like a single one of them. What was I going to do?

"Well," I said, picking up my cards, "We should probably get out of-"

A metal clang sounded from across the mess hall, and a heap of chicken legs and mashed potatoes was flying from the other end to ours. Part of me was transfixed at the perfect alignment of the food, and how it didn't splatter everywhere, but simply traveled in a straight arc. I merely stood as I watched it come.

Right to me.

As I brought my arms up to cover myself from impending stains, my vision was darkened as a body got in front of me. Cibble had poised himself in front, and brought his hand to his belt. He picked out a vial of black liquid and sprayed it into the air. Then, he used his metal tooth flintlock and snapped his jaw down on the end, sending a flame scattering into the air. The food fell right threw it, burning to ashes that scattered before exiting the flame.

I let my arms dangle as he turned around, big grinned and happy. "Saved!" he exclaimed.

I let out a chuckle. "Indeed I am! Thanks buddy." I gave him a pat on the head, which I knew would elicit unwelcome responses from across the room. "Now, let's see whose food got away from them…"

I looked around the room, not really trying to meet the eyes of the people scanning us, looking for the perpetrator. After a couple of seconds with no luck, I turned back around. "Looks like it was a hit and run. Oh well, let's get out of here."

And then a snicker from the back of the room caught my attention. I snapped my vision in that direction and instantly recognized Cardin Winchester and his group of cronies. I fought back the urge to groan, not because of the fact that I didn't need to deal with this today, but that he was right next to the exit.

Whatever, I thought. He won't stop us once we got out of the room. "Let's go Cibble, we're leaving."

"Okay," he simply said. He packed up his things and got right next to me. As we walked, I took a moment to look around me. Some people continued eating, but most were simply staring at us. They all knew like I did that it was Cardin's group who threw the first punch, but what they wanted to know was what I would do. Which was nothing. I couldn't justify getting myself in more trouble than I already was in.

So I made sure Cibble was next to me, and I hummed a cheery, melodic tune. It was only three notes, but he knew what it meant. We picked up our pace, and I kept my vision straight on the door.

We were almost to the exit when Cardin got up out of his seat and stood in front of us, blocking our path. I didn't stop however, and I tried to step around him, which resulted in me being pushed back. I tried to make it look confrontational by exclaiming, "Hey, what gives, Cardin?"

Cardin smiled menacingly. "I just wanted to say sorry for that little accident back there. I mean, I only thought that your little wolf-pet was still hungry, so I wanted to be nice and give him my leftovers."

"Wolf-pet?" Cibble asked me.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it Cibble." I tried to poise myself up, making myself look like I didn't want any trouble but was ready to give it. "Listen Cardin, I don't care how much of a toddler you are, but we are leaving." I grabbed Cibble's arm and tried to fast walk my way to the door, but was again met with a shove that put me back into place. "What the hell is your problem, man?!"

The rest of his team gathered around us. Then, Cardin leaned in real close, as if to act like only I could hear it. "My problem is you, Magic Man. You and your little pet don't belong here, and everybody knows it." He raised his voice now so everyone could hear and faced everyone else. "I don't know, I guess I'm a little upset because I know how everyone else had to work so hard to get into Beacon, it just makes me wonder…" He then turned to me again. "What did you do to get here?"

I looked around me to meet the faces of my so called peers. Each one of them glared at me, feeling the same as Cardin's words suggested. I looked at the ground, angry that he dared to question my worth, but felt a pang of guilt as well.

Cibble must have felt my anger, because now he was growling at Cardin.

"And what are you gonna do, lap dog?" Cardin said. "You gonna fight for him like you always do?"

"Shut up, Cardin," I said. But Cibble kept growling. "Cibble, it's okay."

But he wasn't listening. His growl grew more intense, and I could see him hovering over a vial.

I knew this wasn't going to end well.

A voice rang out from a table next to us. "Leave them alone Cardin!" I turned my head to see who had actually decided to defend us.

And it was Pyrrha. She and the rest of her team were sitting across from Team RWBY. She was the only one who looked like they expressed any sympathy though. The rest looked as if they wanted to do something but didn't want to cause trouble.

All except for Blake. She simply watched, waiting to see what I'd do. There wasn't any sign of worry, longing, or sympathy coming from her. If anything, it looked like she wanted to see if I'd fight back.

Or if Cibble would fight for me again.

Pyrrha spoke up again. "If you don't leave them alone, then I'll be forced to go get Professor Goodwitch." She stood up from the table, ready to walk out the door.

Cardin flashed a look of anger and disgust, but retorted with a laugh. "Relax, he and I just like to have a little fun." He went to go put his arm around me as if to pretend his lie was real.

I swatted it away. He held a tone of shock, but it was all I needed. I grabbed Cibble and we bolted past him, exiting the mess hall. As we ran, I looked back at the Prryha's table. She had a look of worry still, probably wondering how we would survive the rest of the year. Everyone else simply watched us go.

And then there was Blake, who seemed disappointed in me.

Whatever, I thought. We rounded a corner and made our way from the building to the quad, and then through the quad we went to our dorms. As soon as we reached our room on the fifth floor, I felt safer. No one was on this floor except for two people in the one room right across from us, and we hadn't ever met them. I used my Scroll to unlock the door, almost rushed in with Cibble right behind me, and bolted the door. I then stood there, half expecting someone to bombard it with pounds and knocks.

When none came, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god, I thought we were actually going to fight for a second there." I heard Cibble behind me, growling from the encounter still. I turned around to face him. "Stop it!" I snapped. He instantly dropped his expression, retracting his ears and whimpering. "Ugh, this is exactly what I'm talking about, Cibble." I walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, and I could feel him shudder. I knew he wasn't used to contact that much yet, but I couldn't help it. He looked at me anxiously. I could tell he was worried. "Listen to me," I said, "We can't go around fighting anymore. Professor Goodwitch will hammer us the next time we start a fight, and it won't be good news for either one of us. Right?"

He looked away, knowing he was wrong. Hesitantly, he nodded.

"Good. Now, you need to listen to me when I tell you stop growling. I know you want to protect me, but I was in no danger." I took my hand off his shoulder and he looked back at me. "We had a whole room full of people to help us."

Liar, a voice said inside of me. Nobody wanted to help you.

"B-but what if he hurt?" Cibble asked.

"Then I would have taken it straight to Goodwitch," I stated, not knowing the truth in that either. We were already on her list of students to watch out for, and I didn't know if she would even believe us. But I had to make him believe. "Even that girl was ready to help us, you heard her! She was about to go straight to Goodwitch before Cardin even threw a punch!"

His expression lightened up some, but I could tell he felt bad about it still. I tried to think of something to say to make him feel better. I didn't have the patience to show him a magic card trick, and I felt too conflicted to talk about his feelings because I didn't know what to think of the situation myself. I knew deep down that we did nothing wrong, and that it was Cardin who was the jerk. But, everything Cardin said about him being my pet, as much as it hurt to think about, fit the bill. His growling over my protection, him fighting for me, it all didn't help shake the fact that I was looking like a manipulator. And this was happening for a couple months now, so it wasn't as if he had the idea on the spot. As long as this kept going on, people would still think of Cibble and I the same way as they already did. He would get no respect because he was too scared to face anybody without me, and I would be seen as a manipulator.

A human using a faunus for his advantage. And I was no idiot, because I knew that some faunus still see humans that way. Even if they didn't say it, I could tell they felt it just by looking at them. Almost like Blake, but I couldn't tell if she felt that way or not.

I sighed. "Look, let's try and get some sleep, okay? We need it if we're going to go searching for them again tonight." He didn't look like he appreciated that thought too much, but he didn't look as sad. He took off his belt and got changed. I walked back to my side of the room, contemplating whether or not it was even worth it to sleep tonight. I didn't have class tomorrow, and I only had in class sparring on Sunday. Every first year is required to go through Sunday sparring practices every week, as a chance to keep up your skills.

But considering I had no weapon as of now, I could only do hand to hand combat. It was good for me though, because it kept me agile enough to get through the class.

I began to get changed myself. I put my bag on my desk and took the cards out, but they slipped out of my grip and scattered on my desk. I cursed under my breath. I slipped out of my clothes and into my night hunting gear, and I made sure I had my belt all configured with vials. Even though Cibble had been using vials for combat, he also had his claws and his belt to hold him steady. It was only logical, since no one could bring all of that gear and still be mobile. I adopted his style because I needed to, and because this mission we were going on required us to switch places.

I turned back to see him in bed, looking up at the ceiling. He had a small look of worry, but that was common before we went on these missions. It was the same one we did every weekend, but it was the most important to him, so I made sure to carry it out.

For his sake. I walked over to the light switch and heard a whimper.

He had lifted his head, probably wondering if this was the end of the night.

I tried to reassure him. "Don't worry, Cibble. We'll sleep for a couple hours, then we'll go on the mission."

He finally seemed content with that answer, as he turned over in his bed. I flicked the light switch off and slipped under the bed covers myself. I took out my Scroll and set an alarm for 1:00AM. Placing it on my nightstand, I looked out the window and saw that there was a full moon tonight. I'd hoped that there wouldn't be any activity, but our sightings usually said otherwise on nights like these.

Hopefully we could put these missions to an end soon.

"Goodnight, Aaros," Cibble said.

I turned over, thinking about what the next coming hours would hold for us. "Sweet dreams, bud."