"The scars of our past will always follow us, what matters is how we deal with them"
The bullhead VTOL landed, and the side door opened with a clean silence to reveal the sunny Beacon Academy. My combat boots made a loud clunk as they slammed against the heavy metal of the landing dock. I breathed in the pure air as I looked at my new home. Beacon tower's colossal emerald pendulums shone a continuous light as it stood to testify against the darkness that plagues Remnant. Well, that's what the brochure said. I just thought they looked nice. The rest of the buildings followed its regal design, with spires made of similar dark granite and arches shaped from the same soft grey marble as the rest of the tower.
With the calm sea and setting evening sun behind me, I walked to the admissions building with the help of some timid students. Wow. I was not looking forward to wearing that uniform, but it was a small price to pay. After taking in the scenery of the grounds, I noticed the increasing number of stares and hushed mutters I was getting. I couldn't blame them, nor did I stare back. I just hurried my pace a little.
The stares continued until I got to the admin building which was in between the CCT and the landing bays. The room was as I expected: the walls a soft cream and the floors covered in a dark carpet. A few chairs with mint green sponge seats surrounded a small coffee table that was littered with books and magazines. There was a large oval oak desk in the centre of the room with a few staff members behind it. As I approached the receptionist also gave me a stare but quickly composed herself.
"Hello, what is your business at Beacon Academy?"
"I'm a new student, Shadow Fireforge," I replied as politely as my deep voice would allow.
"Ok, let me just check the database. While I'm doing that you have a few forms to fill out," she said as she thrusted a surprisingly large pile of paper with a pre-clicked black pen on top.
"Bollocks," I groaned as I picked up the stack of legal papers.
Taking a seat not too far away, I skimmed through the papers, signing when needed. There were some I expected like 'no illegal substances and/or combat drugs' and 'no inappropriate sexual conduct on school grounds'. But then there were a few more unorthodox like 'Will not prosecute the school or any members of staff for limb dismemberment (including head)' and 'teachers are allowed to grapple, beat and shoot students in accordance with school guidelines.' I signed them all, but if a teacher shoots me, I will shoot back.
After about 2 hours of reading and signing the extremely lengthy and worrying task was interrupted as I was pulled aside to get measured for my uniform before returning to signing. I focused the extensive list of consent forms, my mind entering a state of one way thinking, a tunnel vision clouded my eyes as I scanned for words that could act as loopholes for me to exploit. In other words, my default mindset for contracts. Once finished I handed over all the paperwork to the slightly agitated receptionist, who probably wasn't allowed to leave till I was finished, and it was already dark outside.
"You know most of those are just formalities," said a seated old man in a dark grey suit and green scarf. 'How did I not notice him earlier?' He looked through his spectacles, his oak eyes judging me.
"I've signed a few contracts in my time Professor Ozpin and they... they ain't formalities," I told him as I took a seat across from him.
"So you know who I am then?"
"Just because I was late doesn't mean I'm an idiot, I just needed to finish a few things first."
"Like dealing with a Grimm attack at a support tower just outside Vale I presume," Ozpin inquired.
"Yeah that about sums it up."
"So, Mister Fireforge…"
"Shadow is fine," I interjected.
"So Mister Shadow, what is a very young but also very successful and skilled mercenary doing at my school?" Ozpin questioned. "Or, more importantly, what do you hope to find?"
I leaned against my chair to let the question sink in. The question wasn't hard, I was just deciding if I should lie. Choosing truth, I told him. "I'm done being the bad guy."
"Hmm...well if that is truly the case I don't see a reason for you not to stay, but you did miss the making of teams and will need catch-up lessons, though the more immediate issue is where you are going to sleep," Ozpin confessed.
"I got a roll mat, sleeping bag and three pillows, I can sleep anywhere," I assured as I kicked my large, bulging bergen.
"Well one team did get a slightly bigger room than most…"
"I'll take it."
"Very well, it should be marked on your scroll. Sleep well Mister Shadow."
"Night sir."
As I walked outside, following my scroll with little care, my pride forced me to admire my reflection in the glass walls of a nearby building. My underarmour was a loose fitting black jumpsuit, like that of a prison uniform only more durable. There was a network of Gravitas Dust woven inside the cloth, so that instead of me moving in the armour, the armour moved around me. The separate plates of armour were a dull grey with orange highlights. My skin was pale and white, made even paler by the three powerful black scars running across my right eye. My jet black hair was spiked with gel, and the short fringe was flexed up. To top it all off, my normal eye had a burning orange iris. Hopefully I wouldn't stand out too much.
My scroll buzzed loudly in my hand telling me that I now had access to room 665. 665?! How many floors are there for christ sake?! I opened my GPS to see the coordinates to the room. A pulsing blue line directed me down the wide paved path with a line of lamp posts carpeting it in light. As I followed it I got a feel for the grounds. Linking the various buildings I could see to the map on my GPS to get a sense of scale. Far to my left were two large hangars closed off behind a mesh fence and up ahead stood a large monument and fountain. As I grew closer I saw a statue of two armoured humans on the fountain, a man with an arming sword holding it high in the air with honour and a woman with a battle-axe standing proud. They stood high atop a rock with a dying Beowolf beneath it. Out of four holes at the base of this statue were jets of water, shooting smoothly into the air and landing cleanly in the still water below. Engraved into the circular wall of the fountain were hundreds if not thousands of names, every single one carefully carved deep into the stone. At the end of each name as an Anima emblem: a soul symbol, representing a person with an active Aura. A memorial. Steeling myself from searching for any names I knew, I carried on with my walk to the dorms.
Now taking on a faster pace I tried to figure out which dorm was mine as I grew closer. There were six identical blocks, each with six floors and flat roofs which made them stand out from the rest of Beacon's design. My GPS guided me to the final block to my right. Above the door was a bold 6. Once inside I climbed the spiral stairwell to the top floor. Still aimlessly following the blue line, I reached the door very close to the end. My scroll buzzed and the door clicked. Confused, I reached out to the handle and it opened with no strain. Ok, magnetic door locks, good to know. Being as quiet as I could I opened the door to my new room. Activating a red light on my burgen strap gave me just enough light to set up my sleeping gear on the floor without waking the other people in the room. I couldn't make out their faces but introductions would have to wait till morning. Removing my armour as quietly as possible, I placed my blades next to where my head would be. Worming my way into the sleeping bag, I slowly fell into a peaceful slumber in my new home and new life.
My natural body clock kicked in as I stretched in my sleeping bag. Oddly, I felt a weight on my stomach. Smacking my lips and opening my eyes I saw…
"AHH!" I screamed as some ginger girl was giving me the death stare while pinning me to the ground. My instinct took over as I broke free of her grip and grabbed Duro, one of my swords about the length of my forearm. I was about to slice her head clean from her shoulders no questions asked before an invisible force stopped me a few inches from her neck.
"So what are you? A spy from one of the other teams?" she pressed, completely unfazed by my blade as she brought her crystal turquoise eyes right up to my scarred black and normal orange ones.
"Nora why would the other teams need to spy on us? And if he was, what is he still doing here?" pointed out a fellow normal person standing in green pyjamas.
"WHY ARE YOU SITTING ON ME?!" I roared as I threw her off me and jumped out of my sleeping bag, blade still in hand.
"Hey we ask the questions here buddy!" 'Nora' jabbed both literally and figuratively.
"I was sleeping, what's the problem?" I twitched angrily. Jesus, this girl has got balls for trying to start with me especially this early in the morning.
"You were sleeping in our dorm," a blond boy pointed out.
"Correction, our dorm."
"But aren't teams supposed to only have four members?" a red haired girl quizzed.
"Look, all I know is that I'm sleeping in here, that is all I fucking know." The fire in my chest grew a little but I steeled myself from saying anything else, I really need to take some of my 'meds.'
"Oh... well then I guess welcome to team JNPR's room... uhh..." Blondy began.
"Shadow, Shadow Fireforge."
"Well Shadow my name's Jaune Arc, that's Pyrrha-"
"Oh shit, you're Pyrrha Nikos."
"Yes I am," she sighed.
"So I might actually have a challenge then," I grinned, to which I received an inquisitive look from her.
"And that's Ren and you've met Nora," she quickly said. They nodded their heads as they were mentioned.
"You have a metal arm?" Nora pointed to my exposed arm, its matt grey surface absorbed the morning rays. It, like most cybernetics, was based off the Atlesian Knight-130's arm just with the raises in the forearm flattened. The arm was modded to contain a 6-cylinder Dust dispenser the length of my forearm, loaded with ejectable tubes of Dust. The pulsing rainbow colours of the Dust pierced through my forearm through the holes I had in it so I could tell what Dust I was using. I usually leave the arm exposed, even ripping the sleeve off of my normal clothes as threads and loose cloth tend to get tangled in the older joints and connectors. On my shoulder my Anima Emblem was ingrained, painted a fiery orange.
"Nora don't be rude," Ren hissed.
"No, it's fine, it's my own fault for losing it a few years back," I chuckled and began fabricating a lie.
"How'd you lose an arm?" Pyrrha asked with shock.
"Deathstalker," I replied bluntly. "And for the record I still killed the damn thing."
Jaune gasped. "Why were you fighting a Deathstalker at what, 15? 16?"
"14."
"That's even worse," he groaned.
"I was offered a lot of money to kill it, so I did. What's your problem?"
"Why would someone hire a 14 year old to kill a Deathstalker?!" Pyrrha added, clearly also disturbed.
"I was a merc, kinda have to expect a few scars."
"You were a mercenary?" Jaune asked in surprise.
"Yeah I was, so what?"
"Nothing, just surprised because of your age. You look the same age as us."
"Don't worry Blondy, I can handle myself in a scrap."
"Yeah well you might not against us," Nora smirked. "We've been at Beacon a whole term longer than you so you better watch out."
"Yes, though our time here has been short, many of us have gotten vastly better," Ren added. There was then a loud growl that echoed around the room.
"Ren! I need food! Can you cook me some pancakes?" Nora begged.
"You cook?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes, is that unusual?" Ren asked.
"Nah, I just thought l was gonna be the only person that could cook," I admitted.
"You cook?" Ren asked.
"Kinda have to on the road."
"IT'S A COOK-OFF!" Nora beamed in glee.
"Come again?" I cocked my eyebrow, internally in terror. I'd never done anything like this before, well, whatever this was.
"Ren has normally cooked breakfast for us in the past," Pyrrha explained.
"Oh, do you want to cook then Ren?" I asked, face stone cut but still internally petrified. "I don't really care."
"Well I don't care either, however I do want to see who can cook the best," he said with a neutral, stoic tone.
"Damn it, fine, let's get cooking," I groaned.
"MAKE PANCAKES!" Nora squealed.
"I've never made pancakes." Nora's eyes widened until I thought they were going to explode out of her head.
"REN! YOU WILL TEACH THIS POOR SOUL HOW TO MAKE THE FOOD OF GODS!" Nora commanded while gaping in horror.
Me and Ren were all but pushed into the small kitchen compartment that was tucked to the side of the room. It had three small wooden cupboards, a small shiny sink, and oven with a stovetop. Beyond that there was a small work space with a toaster and kettle. We worked in silence. It wasn't the awkward kind, just focused. Part of me enjoyed the peace, but it was still eating at me. I watched Ren mix the batter then tried making my own, turns out it's pretty simple.
"Okay, I need you to put this blindfold on," Ren told me as the batter began to solidify.
"Why?"
"I don't want you seeing my special ingredient."
"Argh, fine," I grumbled. With that he tied the cloth tightly round my eyes. I then sat at one of the stools that circled the central work space. I tried to listen through the crackling of the pancakes to ascertain what he put into them. Smelling the fumes I detected cinnamon? Vanilla maybe? No, not strong enough. Some form of Dust? No I would have heard the Dust burning and they all give off a distinct smell. Fuck it.
Sitting with nothing to do the silence began to tear at my miniscule patience, so I tried to start some small talk.
"So Ren... what were you doing before coming to Beacon?" I asked, no idea if I was looking at him.
"Me and Nora were at combat school near Vacuo called Vindico, and before that we were at an orphanage."
"Shit, that musta sucked. I take it you got adopted before heading to Vindico."
"No. We got to go because we were part of a government funded project to get ill-fortuned kids into better ways of life before gangs and drugs got them, also I think Nora is the only family I really need."
"Yeah, well you can't say it gets boring," I smirked.
"No, I certainly can't."
"Well be happy you have someone 'cause I don't anymore and I damn well wish I did..." I trailed off, where did that come from? I really need to take a pill soon before I start bawling my eyes out. "Well let's get the pancakes served up cause I'm starving," I refocused as I undid the blindfold.
After we finished I carried the hefty plate through and Ren brought everything else, we began eating at our beds/roll mats. I took the opportunity to look around, familiarising myself with my new room. Probably about 10 meters long and 6 wide, the room would be very cramped if wasn't for the lack of... stuff. The single beds, straight and simple. Looking under I saw a few bags under each. The windows were symmetrical with the placement of the beds, giving the feeling of dull order. In the corner next to my stuff was a desk will a few books on it, probably the most chaotic thing in eyesight. There seemed to be no life or passion in the room.
As pancakes quickly disappeared there was a knock on the door. Pyrrha answered and a package was handed to her before she closed it again. I saw my Emblem, a black hollow sun with the symbol of chaos inside, printed on the package so it was probably for me.
"Its for you Shadow," Pyrrha stated as she chucked it to me.
"Thanks," I said as I grabbed Dux, my combat knife, and sliced it open to reveal my uniform. "God I hate this uniform," I groaned. I put it on in the kitchen and took a pill, only to see that I had two more left. 'Shit, that is not good.' "Am I allowed to carry my weapons?" I yelled through the door as I pulled a black leather glove over my metal hand. I would prefer not to draw any stares to it without medication.
"No, not in class but why would you want to?" Jaune answered, sounding concerned with the concept.
"Consider it a habit," I quipped as I put Dux in its sheath on my combat boot.
"Well you can't, but we'll show you where the lockers are so you can keep them and your armour in there. Were you assigned one?"
"Nope." My scroll vibrated, I got a message telling me about my new locker and its code. Freaky. "Nevermind."
"Well let's get you situated and run to our first lesson, Dr Oobleck hates late students."
With that we left to put my gear in the locker before racing to our first class. I'm glad they offered to walk me there as this place was a maze. It didn't help that there were students everywhere giving me stares because of my grotesque facial features, I ignored them and walked faster. We managed to get to class only slightly late.
"Well what time do you call this then?" A very angry looking Dr Oobleck barked as he glared at us. His lime-green hair almost vibrating in anger as he took a rapid sip of his drink. He wore an unironed shirt that was only partially tucked in with a yellow tie hanging from his untidy collar.
"Sorry sir, I'm a new student and I got lost and my friends here were searching for me," I lied before anyone else responded.
"Doctor. Very well then, sit down and open to page 747." He twitched and another took a sip from his thermos.
The lesson dragged on endlessly. The room was an elevated half-circle centered on Oobleck's desk and a massive chalkboard filled with a giant map of Remnant with labels and pictures of artifacts and other historical sights. The rings of long wooden curved counter tops had small trays for books and other things with cushioned benches for students to sit on. Wanting to remain close to someone I knew, I sat next to Ren in the far right corner in the middle ring.
Oobleck's method of teaching comprised of talking at break-neck speed and expecting us to instantly understand everything. Most just looked at Oobleck pretending to care or understand what he was saying, others, like Jaune, slept and Nora was drawing on his face. I decided to try reading the textbook at my own pace trying to take the information in.
Not long in, however, my attention was diverted by a group of bullies pulling some girl's rabbit ears. God I hate people like that girl, people who aren't willing to fight back. But at the same time there was a very big part of me, all of me in fact, that wanted to smash the bullies' heads into the tables for personal satisfaction, but I knew I needed to keep my anger in control. However, Oobleck noticed I wasn't following and appeared in front of me shouting, "boy what are YOU DOING?!"
"Reading about the White Fang doctor," I lied in case he asked a question on the Battle of Fort Castle as I was really struggling to make sense of most of it.
"Oh good, so you can tell me everything about its formation, the purpose it was formed, its goals and its new way of working," he asked obviously hoping to catch me off guard.
"Yes Sir, I could."
"Doctor. Go on then," he sneered. Clearly my being late had left a bad impression.
"It was formed after the Faunus Rights Revolution and it was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Faunus and Humans, this was also their goal. They protested outside large companies and businesses that discriminated against Faunus in any way. Despite this it was getting the Faunus nowhere, so five years ago a new leader took over and turned it into a group of terrorists," I deadpanned.
"Maybe we should report the freak and say she's with the White Fang," I heard one of the bullies say. I felt my trigger finger twitch.
"Yeah and we beat her a little for good measure," another grinned. My finger twitched again.
"Or a lot," the leader smirked, cruelty gleamed in his eye. The moment Dr Oobleck looked away, presumably to get back to the lesson, I pulled the glove off my right hand and rolled up my sleeve. I mentally triggered the barrel to spin to Bolt Dust before firing it through my metal index finger, right into the leader's head. His body exploded in shocks and twitches before he fell to the floor and continued to convulse as the whole room laughed, except for me and Oobleck. Dr Oobleck turned in confusion as I quickly put my glove back on.
"What happened?!" Oobleck glared at the bully as he zoomed towards him. "Cardin what happened?"
"I think his brain exploded from too much bigotry sir," I sneered.
"Doctor! Take him to the infirmary now!" Oobleck ordered as Cardin's team carried him off. "EVERYONE BE QUIET!" he roared when they left. Silence filled the room.
"You boy, what is your semblance?!" he hissed at me as he appeared in front of me, his eye twitching furiously.
"My semblance is called Ghost, the power to phase through anything and anyone," I smirked, knowing he couldn't pin Cardin's little shock on me.
"Well, can you explain Mister Winchester's very random and unexplainable seizure?"
"No doctor, I can't."
"Well then, if that's the case, let's carry on with the lesson," Oobleck said returning to his 'normal' energetic state, although clearly still suspicious of me.
So the lesson carried on as normal just with a bit more chatter about me, a small expense to pay for getting back at ignorance. I saw the Faunus girl they were bullying staring at me, I just grinned and winked at her before resuming reading.
"Ok class, using the information I just told you, answer the questions on page 748, hopefully you will all do better than the last time I asked you to do these questions."
I looked over to the next page, the questions were, to me, jibberish. "Who the hell is general Lagoon?"
"I think you mean Lagune?" Ren corrected.
"Yeah that prick, what did he do?"
"He was a very well respected general until he lost the battle at Fort Castle."
"Ok... how'd he manage to fuck up?"
"He attacked the Faunus occupying the fort at night, but forgot to take into account their superior night vision."
"Ok… so what do I put as the answer?"
"General Lagune was a respected general with considerable power and influence within the Atlesian military and-"
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down," I urged as I scribbled down the words as quickly as possible. "How do you spell considerable?"
"C-O-N-S-I-D-E-R-A-B-L-E."
"Thanks, ok carry on."
"And he was a very-"
"Could you start again from considerable?"
Ren remained stoic to my stupidity. "Considerable power and influence within the Atlesian military and he was a very radical man: he believed humans to be superior in every way compared to the Faunus. This affected the way he fought the Faunus leading to his downfall at Fort Castle."
"Thanks Ren."
"You know, if you read the right page you wouldn't need my help."
"I was reading the right page, I'm just not that good at reading fast."
"You were staring at the same page for ten minutes."
"Yeah, when it comes to things like this I ain't a fast reader. So what's the answer for the next question?" Ren just passed me his already complete work. "Oh, thanks."
After the bell rang JNPR introduced me to their friends. There was Yang, a mischievous, rough, top-heavy blonde. Her younger sister Ruby who was her polar opposite with short messy black hair and a red hood. And then there was Blake, a quiet girl with a small black bow on her head. Something about that bow sparked my interest about her. I couldn't tell why. The way it sat on her head? The way it seemed to move and twitch ever so slightly? It seemed the very air around her was, not threatening, but still dangerous. It puzzled me as we walked to the cafeteria, everyone making small talk with everyone else. I just walked at the back, trying to hide my face once more from all the students that looked my way. To make matters worse, I was the tallest of the group. Jaune was a close second but he still only came up to my chin or thereabout. Fortunately we arrived at the cafeteria and my brain just switched off. The cafeteria was nothing more than a massive hall with tables and benches all in rows along with vending machines and a kitchen in the far corner. There were also a lot of people. A lot of people. As everyone walked in I just moved to the wall adjacent to the entrance, trying to slow my racing heart rate and tighten chest. "Shit, I'm gonna need a double dose for this," I sighed as I swallowed both the pills.
"You ok Shadow?" Ruby asked, appearing out of nowhere. Her silver eyes reminded me of my mum's and she wore a genuinely caring smile.
"Ah nothing, just not good with crowds, you know."
"Oh yeah, I know what you mean. I wasn't too good with them either, but you know how I dealt with it?"
"How?"
"I went in," she grinned as she yanked me into the hall by the arm, she was surprisingly strong for a 15 year old.
"Wait, Ruby?!"
"Nope, now sit," she ordered as she all but forced me to sit between her and Blake. "I'll get you a sandwich, what would you like?"
Well I was already in here may as well get something. "Bacon and cheese please."
With that Ruby disappeared, reappearing moments later with two sandwiches, one was mine, the other chicken. As we all sat and ate, the conversations flowed from one topic to another but quickly got to my actions against Cardin.
"Shadow that was so funny!" Nora laughed a little too evilly. "One minute he's pulling Velvet's ears the next he's flailing around on the floor like a ragdoll."
"It was certainly entertaining," Ren added.
"Well he was pissing me off, so I do what I always do to people that piss me off: shoot them."
"At least he'll be thinking twice before bullying anyone for awhile," Ruby pointed out. "But he might come after you now."
"Then I'll shoot him again." Ruby laughed lightly at that, acting as if it was a joke.
"Anyway, thanks for standing up for Velvet, I can't stand people like Cardin," Blake said with a smile.
"Then why not do something about it?"
"I don't like drawing attention to myself."
"And you think I do?" I replied rhetorically.
"We have different ways of dealing with things."
"Like you not doing anything about it and me fixing it," I sneered. This coward was getting on my nerves.
"That's not called for Shadow," Yang argued, defending Blake.
"Yes it is. We all got morals, just some stand by them."
"Hey, where's Weiss?" asked Jaune suddenly. That made my heart skip a beat and forced a whole lump of sandwich to get lodged in my throat.
"She's in the bathroom, I think she should be back soon," Yang told him.
"By... any chance.. you don't mean Weiss Schnee?" I was able to voice between whacking my chest and coughing up sandwich, fear quickly creeping into my mind.
"Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh? You know her?"
"Doesn't matter," I chuckled nervously, getting up from my seat, if Weiss was here that meant an argument, and without my pills I knew that that wouldn't end well. "Well I best be off..I need to… ah… sharpen my swords… yes, that's it! Sharpen my swords! Well see you guys soon!" I blurted out before spinning and knocking over a jarringly familiar white clad girl.
"Watch where you're going you…" Weiss groaned as she rubbed her head, suddenly looking up at me. "Shadow? What are you doing here?" she gasped.
"Bollocks."
"Did my father send you?!" she glared, her icy stare piercing through me worse than any sword could.
"No, I'm attending Beacon now," I reassured. 'Do not piss her off again Shadow, do NOT piss her off' was all the help my useless brain gave me.
"Why on Remnant would you do that!?" she demanded. Her eyes glaring icy daggers.
"I had a change of heart, what can I do?"
"Not be here would be nice."
"Yeah well tough luck Snowflake, cause I'm staying," I declared.
"Why you! You're a mercenary! A hired gun! you don't even belong here!" that statement cut through my drug-enhanced restraint like a hot knife through butter.
"Wait, you're a mercenary yet you say I don't follow my morals?!" Blake barked. Hearing this I felt a snap and the rage came pouring back. My chest burned with a feeling of something being coiled around it, squeezing it ever tighter, only forcing more anger to form.
"What do you mean by that, kittycat," I threaten as she gasped.
"How dare you!" Weiss screamed and jabbed her finger into my chest.
"Weiss, I can deal with him." Blake told her. Weiss, knowing better, backed off and Blake took her place. "You said that the white fang were terrorists yet you're a mercenary!" She roared at me, getting up in my face and I just sneered back. "The darkest, most corrupt job there is in the whole of REMNANT!" She screamed. "You people prey on the weak and helpless, using your misfortune as an excuse to rob and kill whoever you like, you are no better than the White Fang if not WORSE!"
Well that did it. The rage had all the fuel it needed.
I lunged for her and grabbed her by the throat with my metal arm, lifting her high into the air as a few bystanders screamed. "Listen here you. Naive. Little. Girl. I've done some bad shit yeah, but that is nothing compared to what the White Fang have done and what they continue to do. They dropped Ursae and Beowolves on my town because my mother didn't agree with the change in management," I hissed at her, my words tasting like acidic fire, as she tried feebly to kick me into letting go. She went for my chest, hitting my ribs and core trying to get a reaction out of me. Each kick created a hollow feeling in my chest, not quite pain but definitely didn't feel good.
"Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and seeing your whole world ablaze. Can you? 'Cause I don't need to. It already happened! The White Fang razed my life to the ground and I was forced to take desperate measures, so am I really that bad!?" I dropped Blake as I finished my wrath filled monologue.
"Calm down Shadow!" Jaune commanded. The red fog clearing from my eyes to see that everyone at the table was standing ready to defend Blake, from me, the bad guy, the scarred cybernetic mercenary with a temper. Nora, Pyrrha and Ren were struggling to hold back Yang from probably attempting to pound my face in. And that wasn't including the hundreds of pairs of shocked eyes that were upon me, silence reigning throughout the previously loud room.
"Fine," I spoke through gritted teeth. With that I left, but not before punching a metal fist-sized hole in the wall on the way out.
I went straight to my locker to get my stronger meds, but all the while my mind became more and more clouded with pure, burning rage. The thought of tearing Blake limb from limb, breaking every bone in her body, making her feel the same pain I felt gave me a malicious sense of satisfaction.
Finally at my locker, I jammed the unlock code in and pulled out a cybernetic needle from my combat belt, fully loaded with Numb. My medicine. As I linked with the port on my shoulder I shut down. Sliding down my locker, my back resting against it, I felt the calm soothing wash of peace and clarity and embraced it. I breathed in and out slowly and strongly, anger leaving with every puff. Soon all that was left was my realisation that I had, once again, been labelled the bad guy because of my stupid inability to control my emotions; because of my anger I just threw away my last and only chance to escape. Tears of fear and anger ran down my face as the pain of knowing I've just ruined my life forever only continued to grow. I had no one that cared for me, not anymore. And the past year of working for favours to get here just... wasted. This was my only chance to make up for all of it.
And it's gone.
"Shadow?!" I heard someone call out "SHADOW!" My unfocused eyes saw blob of brown and cream kneel down to my eye level. "Shadow can you hear me? Shadow!" Velvet, I think, screamed as she shook me violently. Then I just, let go…
I awoke with a start, inhaling sharply as I tried to regain my bearings. I was in a hospital bed. A green-why is everything green here?-curtain surrounded my bed. I went to wipe the sleep from my eyes, only to be stopped immediately. Looking down I saw I had been restrained.
"What the?" I pondered as I tried to free my arms. I tried brute force, slipping out, even using my semblance, but nothing worked. 'Guess they pumped me up with Comoinis Dust,' I mentally groaned, knowing there was no way out.
"Hello? HELLO?!" I called out, hoping that the nurse was nearby.
"Ah, you're awake I see," Ozpin smiled as he came round the corner.
"Hello Ozpin," I moaned, avoiding eye contact.
"Oh, why so down?" He seemed to taunt.
"I figured you were here to expel me."
"I hadn't planned on it, the restraints were advised by Miss Schnee."
"Of course they were." 'Bitch.'
"What happened at lunch Shadow, what caused you to…" Ozpin began then stopped to search for the right word.
"Explode?" I suggested.
"Well, yes."
"Blake said I was worse than the White Fang."
"Why did this distress you so much to lash out?"
"Because I did what I had to stay alive," I told him, my rage returning slightly. "I had no choice, I was trapped so I torn my way out, avenging as many as I could along the way but I just kept falling down the hole, deeper and deeper, but now I'm starting to pull myself out, to try and become better and then someone goes and says everything I've done wasn't good enough. That to the world I was a monster. It made me remember everything I've lost to get here and I… I wanted her to feel my pain," I whispered in rage.
"Ah, I see," Ozpin said in thought, urging me to carry on.
"I've lost everything and everyone I loved. I fought through hell and back to get the money and skill I do now, and just when I think I can move on from all that shit, she goes pisses all over it," I stared at the empty ceiling before letting out a sigh, feeling as if a massive weight was lifted from my shoulders.
"Well, though I can't relate, I do understand how painful that might be, but you can't go nearly killing other students."
"I know, and when I get out of here intend to fix everything that happened."
"Does this mean you're fit to go back to your dorm?"
"I think so. Thank you sir, I needed that."
"Yes well my door is always open so please, if something similar happens please come to me and vent instead of strangling other students. If it does happen again I won't take it as you getting used to a new environment."
"Yes sir, thank you sir."
Shortly after the nurse came by to remove my restraints and sent me on my way.
I opened the door to my dorm to see the cautious eyes of JNPR. Nodding an awkward hello, I sat on my roll mat facing away from them and began violently sharpening my swords that I retrieved from my locker. I was probably doing more damage than sharpening that I would have to fix later, but right now I needed a distraction from the glares I was getting from everyone. I could hear their mutters, arguing about what to do with me.
"Hey Shadow we need to talk," Jaune said, shattering the silence.
"If it's what I think it's about it then it can wait," I shot back. Though I did intend to fix what happened I knew I was too unstable to talk to Blake.
"No it can't Shadow," Juane protested. "You strangled her."
"Jaune, I've shot a Nevermore out the sky, should I show you how?" I threaten.
"Do that and I'll show you what a challenge looks like," Pyrrha threatened back.
"Shadow you can't do that to people," Juane started.
"I know," I growled through gritted teeth then sighed. "I know."
"Then why did you do it?" Pyrrha inquired.
I took a deep breath before replying. "Because she doesn't understand, none of you do, but I need to fix what I've done. The question is, how?"
"Well it's not like you can just take away those bruises you gave her," Ren's voice was filled with venom.
"Or could I?" I said as I grabbed a vial of Dust from my bag.
"Where are you going now?" Jaune asked worriedly.
"To fix shit."
As I approached the door I could hear voices and very angry sounding footsteps. I put my ear against the door to listen to the talking.
"I can't believe he did that," I heard Weiss huff.
"Yeah, earlier he was talking and laughing with everyone and then he just went nuts," Ruby replied. I guess I got one friend in the team then.
"I can just go over there and hit him once," Yang said, anger clear in her voice.
"No Yang," Blake groaned, her voice sounding broken and cracked from having her windpipe crushed. "Velvet told me earlier that he took some drugs from his locker."
"So what."
"It might mean he's on medication," Ruby pointed out, her voice carrying a bit more hope.
"So, that doesn't give him the right to hurt Blake like that Ruby."
"And I don't remember him taking anything when he worked for my father," Weiss added.
"Maybe he's only started taking it recently, people don't just attack people like that."
"No Ruby, he does. One time, when my sister refused to pay him, he hospitalised her!" Then she should have payed me the tight cow! And there is a lot more to that story.
"Wow, that's harsh."
"Yes it was, and my father did nothing about it." Yeah because he knew she overstepped her bounds.
"Weiss, bigger issues at hand," Yang pointed out.
"Oh, right. Anyway, what surprised me the most was that he knew you were a Cat Faunus, Blake." It was pretty obvious once she started thanking me for helping Velvet. That and I once met a rabbit Faunus who grew her hair long to hide her ears under it, after that I just grew to notice the different ways Faunus hide from dicks like Cardin.
"Yeah, how did he do that?"
"I don't know, my bow was on the same way it always is so he couldn't have seen them."
"Very strange, and Shadow was never the most observant of people either." Hey! That bitch!
I stopped listening to the conversation and, breathing slowly, I knocked on the door. After a few seconds Yang opened it. Before I could say or do anything I felt a very hard object strike my jaw with incredible force. The pure rage she felt for me flowed through that right hook and sent me to the floor. My face now ablaze in agony, I stumbled backwards, my eyes quickly focusing on a very pissed Yang. Actually, that was a terrible understatement. She was the incarnation of wrath itself, descended from the heavens and infused with her.
"What do you want?" She glared lasers from her glowing red eyes, trying to melt me.
"To … fix... what I did," I stuttered. Though I have been in very similar situations before, the person I was apologizing to usually didn't have an active Aura so this was quite terrifying.
"And how do you plan to do that?" she growled, baring her fist for another punch.
"I just want to talk to Blake… say I'm sorry and… try to help." I pleaded out of both a wish for redemption and not wanting another bone splintering punch.
"Fine, I'll ask if she wants to speak to you, but hurt her again and you. Will. Die," Yang huffed as she slammed the door. A few minutes later Blake stepped outside, her eyes showing nothing but hatred. But what I found more interesting was the scarf she was wearing over her neck, obscuring the damage I caused.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice still broken.
"I just want to talk," I begged.
"Go on then, talk."
"Shouldn't we go somewhere more private?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to push her too much.
"We're alone here."
I kicked the door to my dorm, a few thumps and a single 'ow' from Jaune was all the evidence I needed.
"Fine, my friends might be listening in but why should I go with you? " She growled. "You crushed my neck and destroyed my voice for who knows how long!" She started to have a coughing fit after this little rant.
To this I was silenced, I had no leverage to get her to even consider trusting me. I knew she was a cat Faunus from listening in on her conversation so I knew a few tricks to put the odds in my favour, but I needed something to get her to care first. Well, you know what they say: actions speak louder than words.
I looked down at the floor with my hands behind my back, not needing to fake speechlessness. I switched a random vial of Dust for the vial I grabbed from my bag. I looked up to see a still angry Blake expecting me to say something and took aim. An arc of rich green and golden light grew out of my hand before went round Blake's scarf and latched onto her purple wounds. She recoiled in panic but the Dust followed and after it started to do its work she quickly stopped struggling. I could hear small whimpers of Blake's voice cracking as it healed. After a few moments the Dust's light grew to near blinding levels until it shut off completely.
"Ahh… Shadow what was that!?" Blake glared, her voice was much stronger and I could already see that the bruises had faded into nothing. After she said this she reached up to her throat in surprise.
"Uber, Healing Dust. I'm surprised Weiss didn't give you any, thought she would have loads," I explained as passively as my voice would let me. "If I wanted to hurt you I wouldn't have said sorry." I couldn't help but grin.
"Ok, that makes sense… so what now?"
"I don't know, I healed your bruises so you can go back to whatever you were doing before I got here, but I'm getting a drink so goodnight Blake." I nodded in farewell before I started to walk down the hallway. 'Ok time to hook her in.' After a few paces I turned and said, "but Blake, just so you know, you're not the only one trying to start again." To this she looked surprised and, I hoped, intrigued.
She cautiously started to follow me, success. "Well the cafeteria is still open and they sell some good tea, but you're paying."
"Then lead the way."
We walked down the hall in silence and sat down in the cafeteria which was open to the late hours. Tonight, however, no one was around. Good. Buying the tea, one black and the other blackcurrant, we sat in silence.
"I'm surprised Shadow, I didn't see you as the type to drink herbal tea."
I chuckled at this, "I have a sweet tooth, what can you do?" I knew what Blake was trying to do, I could see it in her eyes where curiosity was burning: she wanted to know about my earlier statement.
I took a sip of my tea before beginning, "I know you were in the White Fang."
Blake, who was mid way through drinking her tea, started to choke at my statement. "I...I… I'm not anymore," she said, her voice quieter and more nervous than before.
"Then I don't have a problem with you, I'd be a hypocrite if I judged you for past mistakes and heaven knows I'm no saint."
"But how did you know I was with the White Fang or even a Faunus in the first place?"
"You're not the only Faunus to hide their ears you know," I pointed at the black bow that sat on her head. "But you are one of the more creative, most just use Forma Dust if they know how. I remember seeing a rabbit Faunus grow her hair out so long that it completely covered her ears, after you see stuff like that you tend to notice it ."
"Ok, I guess that makes sense, but how did you know about me being part of the White Fang?"
"You defended them even though they were in the wrong, people don't do that unless they care about what they're defending or they've seen something to change their opinion, either way you would have to be with the White Fang." I took a quick sip of my tea.
"You sound like you're talking from experience."
"Why do you think I got so angry when you said I worked the darkest, most corrupt job in the whole of Remnant," I smirked.
"I… Shadow…"
"Like I said, you're not the only one trying to start again." I stared at my tea observing my reflection, my hollow scars filled my sight. The more I stared, the more pain I remembered. "Can I tell you something Blake?"
"Agh sure go ahead."
"When I was a merc I did a lot of different jobs, some good, some bad - but I never killed a single innocent person, no matter how much money they put in front of me. But the temptation was still there, to forget my morals. Then one night I had dream. It was… of me, walking down a dirty beaten road, cybernetics grew on my body like a disease, my face more machine than flesh. I looked around me, there was nothing but a trail of dead bodies in my wake, I was a monster, a cold hearted killer. And the worst bit? Even now I know exactly how to become that monster. Every day I'm scared of losing who I am. So I came here. A place I could be better, do better, become better. I came here to save myself. But is it possible? Can I be saved?"
"I don't know Shadow," Blake sighed. "I barely know you, you attacked me six hours ago and now you're here apologizing for it. It just seems so confusing that you jump from one opposite to another."
"Yeah, I guess, but I'm scared Blake. I'm truly scared… of waking up and… and I'll be… be the villain, and I just don't know what to do 'cause try as I might, it always turns out that way."
As I poured my darkened heart out to Blake I could only pray that my scarred face could show her how truthful I was being, even just enough for her to forgive me.
Blake sighed. "Ok fine, I'll forgive you on one condition: you have to swear you won't let your anger get the better of you again."
"I'll try kittycat," I smirked.
"Shadow."
"Fiiiinnne, I promise. Now let's get going." Without another word we both got up to head back to our dorms.
As we walked down the dorm hallway I noticed the differences in the way me and Blake walk. Her gait was smooth, so soft as if her feet were air. They seemed to barely touch the ground let alone disturb the others in the rooms around us. I took a very different approach. My heavily armored boots stamped and drummed creating a laughably loud racket. Even against the carpet I made enough noise to wake many and I even drew a few out of their dorms to check if a Goliath had gotten into the hallway.
"Wow, you have a serious case of merc boots," Blake chuckled before she realised what she said. "Oh Shadow I...I didn't mean it like that."
I laughed at this. "Haha Blake, I'm a merc and I'm proud of it. I've learned so much, seen so much, and I enjoyed most of it. You don't need to avoid the word mercenary or something like that. And besides, it makes me look more intimidating Softpaws."
"Oh shut up Shadow."
"Hey, you mock me I mock you," I shrugged as we arrived at our dorms.
"Well goodnight Shadow," she nodded as she entered her dorm.
Opening the door I saw Jaune sitting on his bed with an icepack on his forehead and Pyrrha fussing over him. Again. Is there something there? He gave me a sour look and I just grinned.
"Oh what happened Jaune? Put your ear hole where it don't belong?" I mocked.
"Very funny Shadow, how'd the talk go?" he asked back.
"The plan worked perfectly," I told him with my victory smirk spread wide across my face as I laid on my rollmat smugly as I reflected on my conversation with Blake. I felt a spike of guilt for not telling her a few details about me, but I felt it was for the best if she didn't know everything about me yet.
Jaune and his teammates shared a few uncertain glances at my answer but decided to accept it. "Oh, by the way, there was a package delivered for you, didn't say who it was from though." He chucked a small rectangular box to me. Opening it a small note fell out reading 'Sorry for the wait Boss new guy runnin' the deliveries, gave u a few extra to make up 4 it, enjoy -Junior'. I held the bottle of pills in my hand that came with it. Had a good weight to it, at least a week's worth, though maybe less if today was anything to go by.
Author's notes
Holy damn it's been a while, nearly two years since this chapter went up…
Shit that's a long as time and I'm sorry about that but life's a bitch, from GCSEs to college to working I've been sapped of passion but NOW I'm back and I ain't leaving.
And on the plus side I got an editor, yeah I'm really trying this time. And I promise that this is the last time I redo this chapter but it was bugging me. Anyways thanks for waiting and I wanted to talk about a few issues that I feel like I have to address:
If you look into my morse code and it is broken take off the underscores at the ends if that still doesn't work let me know and I'll fix em.
Shadow's name isn't that weird. Yes it's unusual but compared to other names in RWBY I don't think it's that bad and it does has a purpose
Shadow will come off as a gary su to start of with, he's just one of those characters that has that issue but just know that me and my editor are making sure not to do that
Because RWBY's lore is confusing as fuck and very patchy I'm using as more guidelines than rules but as we learn more I will try and get it to fit
With that done I would like to thank you for getting this far please leave a message, positive or negative, as it gives me the drive to write more but just be warned I will message you if your comment interests me. Anyways thanks to my Editor Spencer and my sister for their input and motivation.