Fallen Flame
Disclaimer
I do not own RWBY or any of the characters in this story except for one.
Chapter 1 The Blank Slate
It was mid afternoon and both Teams RWBY and JNPR were training in the Emerald Forest together. As they looked for an appropriate area they heard as something crashed through a number of trees.
"What was that?" asked Jaune.
"I don't know but I say we go find out." replied Ruby suddenly taking off followed shortly after by everyone else.
"Hyper active as always." sighed Weiss. It wasn't long after that they arrived at the end of a destructive trail that led into what used to be a large boulder but now had a young boy with mid length black hair, tattered pants, and a tattered black shirt who had no shoes. As soon as they saw him the two teams ran up to him and Ruby and Ren checked him.
"Is he okay?" asked Yang.
"I don't feel a heartbeat." said Ren holding his hand to the boy's chest.
"But he has a pulse." said Ruby before moving her hand just below his nose. "And he's breathing."
"We should take him back to Beacon." said Yang as she picked him up in her arms and group started heading back up until a group of Beowolves. "Okay so it looks like we're gonna have to fight but someone's gonna have to watch the kid." Ruby was about to say something when the kid's eyes suddenly shot open and he jumped out of Yang's arms.
"Hey what do you think you're doing?" asked Weiss. The kid's eyes darted around.
"I think he's freaking out." said Blake.
"So what do we do?" asked Pyrrha.
"Get him out of here." said Ruby.
"That might be a little tough." said Yang.
"How come?" asked Ruby.
"Because he's charging at the Beowolves." replied Yang pointing at the boy who was running straight for the pack. The eight of them ran after him but become surprised when he jumped on a Beowolf's head and somehow set it on fire before jumping to another and repeating up until a Beowolf slashed at his face causing something green to fly off it which shatter the second it hit the ground. The boy landed on all fours and then ran in the same manner.
"I guess he can handle himself." said Yang surprised as the kid burned every Beowolf he came in contact with eventually causing the rest to turn in an attempt to leave until the boy held out his hand causing a shiethed sword to appear which in turn caused his hair to become white. Then he got into a stance as though he was about to draw his weapon but when he did he disappeared in the blink of an eye before reappearing looking like before. For a moment he stood there looking around as the Beowolves fell apart. The two teams stood as the boy walked towards them.
"How did you do that?" asked Ruby. The boy didn't reply. He just cocked his head to the side in confusion. It wasn't until a few seconds later that they noticed two things. The first was that his eyes were to different colors. His left eye was red while his right eye appeared to be golden. The second was that he had three scars on his face. One on his cheek, one that went diagnally across his face and one that parallel to it near his eye.
"What's your name?" asked Yang. The kid looked at her completely clueless before looking at the others.
"Do you think he's okay?" asked Jaune. It was then Blake approached the boy and took hold of his face staring at him straight in the eyes. The boy stared back.
"I don't think he'll be able to answer any questions." she finally said.
"Why not?" asked Yang.
"His eyes. They're almost like a child's." replied Blake.
"Soooo what does that mean?" asked Ruby.
"Right now I don't think he knows anything. I don't even think he remembers how to speak." explained Blake.
"So he's like a baby?" asked Ruby.
"I suppose that's one way to look at it." said Blake.
"But then how did he just take out a pack of Beowolves?" asked Jaune.
"My guess would be battle instincts." said Blake.
"Battle instincts?" asked Jaune.
"Yes. Often when one fights for long enough battle become second nature so even if the person forgets who they are they still remember how to fight." explained Blake.
"So if he was able to take down that many Beowolves he might be some kind of prodigy." said Ren as they watched him walking on his hands.
"I don't think he is." said Weiss.
"How do you know?" asked Ruby.
"If there was such a prodigy don't you think he'd be famous?" Weiss asked her partner.
"Maybe unless he was a recluse or something like that." countered Ruby.
"So what do we do?" asked Yang.
"I guess we should take him back with us to Beacon." said Ruby. "But first we should decide on a name for him."
"Like what?" asked Weiss.
"How about hothead?" suggested Nora. Everyone just stared at her, minus the kid who was now doing flips up until he crashed into a tree. "What?"
"It seems a little weird but maybe it should be fire related." said Ruby.
"How about scorch?" suggested Yang. Upon hearing the word scorch the boy looked at Yang almost like a puppy who found its owner.
"Looks like he likes it." said Ruby.
"So what do we do once we get back to school?" asked Ren.
"I would guess take him to Professor Ozpin's office." said Blake as they boy went up to her and stared at her bow. "Would you like to come with us to Beacon Academy?" The boy they now call Scorch tilted his head to the side before he jumped onto a tree branch and then let himself hang from his legs.
"He almost seems like a Faunus." said Yang.
"Shouldn't we get him down?" asked Weiss.
"I've got it." said Nora before striking the tree with Magnhild causing it to shake. Scorch lost his balance and nearly fell before grabbing onto the branch with his hand. Then he let go and landed on his feet.
"Come on boy. We're going to Beacon." said Ruby patting her knees.
"Ruby he's not a dog." said Weiss just before Scorch ran up to her.
"Maybe not but he does act like a lost puppy." said Pyrrha as Ruby took his hand. Afterwards the group made their way back arriving shortly after at the place where they had been launched from during their initiation. Upon seeing the platforms Scorch ran up to one of them.
"Hey be careful." said Ruby as he stood on one.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure they only launch during initiation." said Yang as Scorch poked at the platform he stood on before it suddenly shot him.
"Oh man. Now we're gonna have to find him again." said Ruby as they saw him getting further away before he stopped in mid air.
"I don't think we'll have to look for him." said Ren.
"Why not?" asked Ruby.
"Well because I think he can fly." replied Ren as they saw him moving towards them with a smile.
"How is that possible?" asked Yang.
"It could be his Semblance." said Pyrrha as he landed next to Ruby which was when he noticed Ruby's weapon and started poking it.
"Whoa. Easy boy." said Ruby pulling out her weapon as she switched it to scythe form. "This is my weapon Crescent Rose." she said as he took hold of the blade. For a moment Ruby thought she felt a slight shock coming from her baby before he let it go. "Pretty sweet, right?" At that the boy swung his hand causing a sword to appear in it. Then, to everyone surprise, his weapon changed shape taking on the form of Crescent Rose.
"Did he just turn his weapon into Ruby's?" asked Jaune.
"Interesting." said Blake. "Hey Weiss let him touch Myrtenaster."
"O...kay." said Weiss before drawing her weapon and holding it out to him. Scorch touched the weapon causing her to feel a slight shock. Afterwards the fake Crescent Rose changed forms once more and became a duplicate of Myrtenaster.
"Oooo do Magnhild next." said Nora holding out her weapon in war hammer form. Scorch held a part of the handle which was followed by Nora feeling a slight shock and the Myrtenaster duplicate changing shape to look like Magnhild.
"So this boy can somehow turn his weapon into any weapon he comes in contact with." said Ren as Scorch swung his version of Magnhild around.
"I'm more curious about whether or not his versions of our weapon can do the same things ours can." said Blake as the boy suddenly started sniffing.
"Is something wrong boy?" asked Ruby. At first they weren't sure up until they saw the expression on his face which told them he was about to sneeze but when he did he sneezed out a burst of fire that shot him straight up. "Huh. Didn't see that coming." she said as they watched him moving up. "It wasn't long before he was falling back down. "I don't think he's slowing down."
"Hey might still be dazed." said Blake. At first it seemed like the boy was going to crash down but then saw as he flipped so that he would land on his feet allowing him to land on one knee once he did land. However his landing was a bit hard causing a part of the place where he landed to crack.
"Are you okay?" asked Weiss. Scorch turned to her and than ran up to hug her which caught her by surprise.
"I think he likes you." said Ruby before he ran up and did the same thing with Blake who was also caught off guard. At first she was going to hug him causing her to be surprised when he suddenly took her bow causing her Faunus ears to come out. Scorch looked at her curiously causing her to sigh.
"I'm a Faunus." said Blake. The boy looked her ears and then seemed to start stretching by arching his back which, to everyone's surprise again, to large red wings came out of his back.
"So is he like a Faunus?" asked Yang.
"I honestly have no idea." replied Blake as Scorch retracted his wings. She walked up and touched his back becoming surprised by two things. The first was that there didn't seem to be a trace of his wings while the second was that she felt what she could only assume to be scars. "Is it okay if I remove your shirt?" Scorch only tilted his head before Blake began pulling up his shirt.
"Isn't he a little young for you?" asked Yang.
"That's not it." said Blake as she pulled off his shirt revealing something which shocked them. His entire torso was riddled with scars.
"What happened to him?" asked Ruby in horror. "How could someone do this to a kid?"
"Who knows but maybe that's why he was in the forest." said Yang.
"You're thinking he ran away from someone who was torturing him?" asked Blake as she put his shirt back on and Yang nodded.
"Look we've done enough dilly dallying. We need to get back." said Weiss.
"She's right." said Ren turning to Ruby and Jaune who both nodded. It wasn't long after that they got back to Beacon with Scorch looking around in wonder.
"This is Beacon. Our school." said Ruby proudly before turning to Scorch. "What do you think?" Scorch just continued to lookin wonder.
"Come on. We need to get to Professor Ozpin's office." urged Weiss.
"Right. Right." said Ruby as she pulled Scorch along. Not long after they were at the door of Professor Ozpin's office. Ruby knocked and waited before hearing a 'come in' from the Professor which was when they entered.
"Ah Teams RWBY and JNPR. What can I do for you today?" asked Professor Ozpin.
"Professor we need your help with something." said Ruby as she pulled Scorch who had begun hiding behind her when they entered.
"Who's this?" asked Professor Ozpin.
"Well we don't know his name. We decided to call him Scorch." replied Ruby.
"Very well." said Professor Ozpin as he approached and knelt down to the boy's level. "Hello Scorch. I'm Professor Ozpin. Headmaster of Beacon Academy. How are you?" Scorch just looked at Professor Ozpin curiously before sniffing. "Can you tell me where your parents are?" Scorch looked at him with no idea what he was asking. Professor Ozpin frowned at the lack of response. "Strange. Normally if someone suffers psychological trauma it can cause them a small case of amnesia but his situation it almost seems like his mind is a blank slate."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that sir." said Ruby.
"Why is that?" asked Professor Ozpin.
"Well we watched him take down a pack of Beowolves by himself." replied Ruby.
"He also seems to have a weapon which he can summon at will." added Blake.
"And he can turn his weapon into any weapon he touches." added Weiss.
"Plus he can fly." added Yang.
"I see." said Professor Ozpin placing his hand on his chin.
"What should we do?" asked Ruby.
"For now he will enrolled as a part of Team RWBY while I search for any missing person's reports to a boy matching his discription. So for now you will be known as Team RWBYS." explained Professor Ozpin as he looked out the window.
"Why us?" asked Weiss.
"He seems somewhat taken with you all." replied Professor Ozpin as he turned back to look at them. "Where did he go?" The two teams looked around and saw Scorch was gone. They started looking around until Blake looked up and became surprised.
"He's on the ceiling." she said. They looked up and saw him seemingly standing on the ceiling walking in a circle.
"What is he doing?" asked Professor Ozpin.
"Your guess is as good as ours Professor." replied Weiss.
"How do we get him down?" asked Yang. It was then that he stopped moving and suddenly fell head first into the ground before getting up dazed.
"Are you okay?" asked Ruby concerned. Scorch simply stood up and smiled. "I guess this means someone's gonna have to keep an eye on him."
"And it's so great that you're willing to." said Weiss.
"Wait. Why me?" asked Ruby.
"Well you are their leader." said Pyrrha.
"Yeah but..." began Ruby before she looked at scorch who, while looking like he didn't know what was going on, used a technique on Ruby that only she had ever used. The impossible to resist puppy eyes. Ruby tried to resist but even with his scarred face she was beaten. "Fine."
"Professor there is one more thing." said Blake.
"Yes Ms. Belladonna?"
"We checked him and he appears to be heavily scarred." replied Blake.
"How badly?" asked Professor Ozpin. Instead of replying Blake lifted Scorch's shirt revealing his scarred torso once more. "This is terrible. For such a young child to have such scars. I will have this matter investigated immediately."
"Thank you." said Blake.
"In the meantime he'll be enrolled here until we can locate a parent or guardian to watch over him."
"Professor do you think such a young boy will be able to handle Hunter Classes?" asked Ren.
"It remains to be seen but do not forget that if we have him here we can not simply have him roaming around and a child of such an age is likely to become bored if he is kept in a room by himself for too long." explained Professor Ozpin.
"Yes Professor." they all said before they left. By now it was night time so they headed to the cafeteria for some dinner. It was obvious Scorch wouldn't be able to pick something himself so upon arriving the picked him a plate of mac and cheese with a sandwich with some milk. After they all picked their own meals and took him to a table where they began eating while Scorch looked at his food curiously. Ruby noticed looked at him.
"Is something wrong?" Scorch just placed his hand together as if in prayer and then started eating the sandwich. Not far from them they take notice of team CRDL bullying Velvet as per usual. Scorch looked up from his sandwich before getting out of his seat and walking up to Cardin. "Hey get back here." said Ruby only to be ignored. When Scorch got near them team CRDL noticed but still didn't release Velvet's bunny ears.
"Aren't you a little young to be here?" asked Cardin. Scorch just looked at him as his eyes began glowing. "What? You wanna fight?" he asked poking Scorch's chest who merely reacted by grabbing Cardin's fingers and twisting them causing the older boy pain and rage. "That's it!" he said before throwing a punch which, to his surprise, the younger boy caught with relative ease. After Scorch struck Cardin's throat just hard enough to cause him to cough. Then he struck both of Cardin's temples simultaneously and following up by grabbing his right arm and then jumping in a twist causing him to land with his feet at Cardin's shoulders but the landing was hard and caused Cardin's to become dislocated which in turn caused him to yelled out in pain. Then he turned to look at the other three with his eyes still glowing. The three took Cardin and left. Once they did Scorch's eyes returned to normal and he smiled at Velvet who looked at him surprised. Scorch poked her cheek to get her attention.
"Um...thank you." she said. Instead of responding Scorch took her hand and pulled her towards the table Teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting. She tried to pull away but was caught off guard by the young boy's strength and shortly after found herself with the two other teams.
"Hey Velvet." said Ruby cheerfully.
"Um hello."
"I see you've met Scorch." said Ruby.
"Is he you're younger brother?" asked Velvet.
"No. We just found him in the Emerald Forest." replied Yang.
"He's got some crazy skill." added Nora. "Like he can fly and copy weapons."
"Really?" asked Velvet knowing of Nora's tendency to exaggerate thing. The others nodded as Scorch made a fire ball which he was using to heat his sandwich before he continued eating it. "How come he doesn't talk?" she asked curiously.
"We think he may have suffered some kind of trauma which may have caused him to lose his memories and possibly his speech." replied Blake.
"We do?" asked Ruby. "I mean yeah we do."
"That's so sad." said Velvet patting his head causing him to smile. "Well I need to go back to my dorm. Thank you for helping me." she added before leaving. It wasn't long before they finished and returned to their dorms. For team RWBY having Scorch in their room felt a bit strange because to a certain degree they felt like older sisters which was Yang was no stranger to but was a little foreign to Ruby since she'd only ever been used to being the younger sister.
"Alright then let's get ready for bed." said Yang.
"Not so fast." said Weiss catching the attention of her teammates. "We need to decide on sleeping arrangement for our 'new' teammate."
"I hadn't thought of that." said Ruby with a frown.
"Sooo what do we do?" asked Yang.
"I think he knows where he wants to sleep." said Blake. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang looked at Blake in confused before she pointed to the floor and they saw Scorch lying on the floor as though he were a dog in front of a fire.
"We can't just have him sleep on the floor." said Weiss.
"I'm starting to think he might actually think he's a puppy." said Blake as they saw him twitching on the floor. Despite the weirdness of it none of them could help but smile a little. After Blake walked to Scorch and picked him up before placing him on her bed. "He can sleep with me tonight." The others nodded before they each got ready for bed. Once they were all in bed they turned off their lamps.