A/N: Hello again, I hope you are all doing well... that's everything I can think of to say, please enjoy
Chapter 2: A Second Chance
Ben had slept on a park bench that night, surprisingly he was left undisturbed, typically in Vale the police had woken him up and had once tried to take him to the orphanage.
Ben shook his head trying to focus. 'well I got here now I need to find a source of income.' Back in Vale he took money from criminals, which ordinarily would be a bad idea, but not when you can turn into a lava monster. He looked down at his gauntlets frowning, Ben could no longer afford to maintain them, the green lightning dust he used was expensive. Ben began walking around Patch, if he was going to live here he might as well get the lay of the land.
A few hours of walking later, Ben felt a tap on his arm. Turning around he was greeted with the sight of two girls, one of which was the girl that had knocked him over yesterday, the other was slightly older, most likely only by a year or two. Now that Ben got a better look at them, the shorter on was wearing a red cloak with what looked like black combat cloths underneath, her hair was black with red highlight, but the most striking thing about her is her eyes, they were silver, not an eye-color Ben had ever seen before.
The taller girl was wearing an orange scarf, a brown jacket on top of a yellow shirt, the jacket and by extension her shirt exposed her midriff, her short's where black, she also wore brown boots that came up to just below her knee. Her hair was a beautiful golden color and her eyes where lilac.
"hey, I'm Yang, this is Ruby" as she spoke the last part of her sentence she grabbed Ruby and pulled her close before continuing. "by any chance are you a student of the pre-combat school?" As she asked her question Ruby had finally squirmed her way out of Yang's grasp. "um, no?" Ben spoke in a meek voice almost a whisper. "then why do you have those weapons on you?" Yang asked in a suspicious tone. Ben out of nowhere collapsed onto the floor.
A few hours later
Ben awoke on a soft bed, in a room he didn't recognize, it certainly wasn't a hospital room, it appeared to be a bedroom. The door at the opposite side of the room opened, and a man with blond hair and blue eyes walked in. The man blinks before speaking "I wasn't expecting you to wake up so fast, not with how you looked when my daughters brought you to me." He spoke in a calm non-threatening tone, as he sat on a chair facing towards the bed. He took a deep breath and then spoke "my name is Taiyang, I'm a Huntsman, and judging by the symbols on your gauntlets, your related to Maxwell Tennyson."
Ben looked like he was going to break down crying at the mention of the name, Ben took a second to compose himself before speaking in a shaky voice "y... yes I'm... was his grandson." Ben was now looking down at the floor, tears welling in this eye's. Tai cocked his brow at that "what do you mean was?" Ben attempted to answer but the words where caught in his throat, the tears began to flow freely as Ben choked out his response. "I... I... it's my fault that he... that he." Before Ben could finish his sentence, he broke down crying.
Later that night
Tai, walked down the stairs into the living room, upon arriving he was greeted by the stench of liquor, Tai know that could only mean one thing, Qrow's back. Walking into the kitchen, their sitting at the kitchen table was none other than Qrow. "Tai, it's been awhile, how have you been?" Qrow asked in his usual gruff voice. "I've been fine, but I doubt that you came here just to check up on me, what are you doing here Qrow?" Tai asked in a quizzical tone.
Qrow sighed "That kid you took in, Oz told me to keep an eye on him." Qrow took a drink from his flask before shrugging "I don't know why, and it's been bugging me ever since Ozpin told me to watch him." Tai scowled "what does Ozpin want from him?" Tai asked narrowing his eyes. Qrow puts his hands up in mock surrender "I honestly have no idea, I've been following him for a few days and nothing unusual happened, I even asked Qzpin about it, but he wouldn't tell me." Qrow sighs before laying down on the couch, instantly passing out.
The next morning
Ben woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon, he quickly jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Tai turns around seeing ben and begins laughing, after Tai composed himself he spoke to Ben as he placed a plate of eggs and bacon on the table "you must be starving." Ben could only nod, eyes glued to the plate of food, before Ben could do anything else Tia spoke up "the plates for you, dig in." Ben cautiously sat down, picked up a fork and began eating.
After Breakfast
Ben now stuffed spoke in a quiet voice, almost a whisper "t... thank you" Ben then stood up and began to walk towards the front door, before he made it half way there, a hand was placed on his shoulder, Ben turned around and saw a man with black hair and blood red eyes. "where are you off to?" The man asked in a gruff voice, the man sighed "look kid I know that you slept in the park not two days ago, and I'm guessing that means you have nowhere to go." The man spoke in a matter-a-fact tone that made Ben's eye twitch.
Tai then walked up to Ben and spoke in an even tone "Look I think you should stay here, at least until you can get your own place." Ben's eyes widened in surprise as he thought 'why are these people being so nice to me? It doesn't make sense." Noticing Ben's surprise, the black-haired man smirked "But if you're going to be living here, you're going to have to have to go to pre-combat school, and you'll have to go to signal afterwards." Ben was speechless "I... I don't deserve your kindness" Ben's voice was trembling as it had been last night. "well too bad because were offering it to you" Tai gave a genuine smile.
A few hours later
Ruby's P.O.V
I was having a strange day, first I told Yang about how she knocked a boy over while running away from her after stepping on her golden hair, then I saw the guy and pointed him out to Yang, and then Yang DRAGS ME OVER TO HIM, TO SOCIALIZE! And if that wasn't bad enough he had collapsed seemingly out of nowhere. Yang and I panicked, but then suddenly Yang just picks him up and runs home with him slung over her back like a sack of potatoes.
AND THEN I WAS SOOOO WORRIED THAT I BARELY GOT ANY SLEEP, I let out a long sigh as I walked home wondering it that guy was alright.
After making my way home and opening the door, I was surprised by the sight before me. Uncle Qrow, Dad and the brown-haired boy where sitting in the Livingroom, talking about something, but before i could find out Dad got up and walked over to me, grinning at my confusion he told me that Ben would be staying with us and starting tomorrow he would be going the same pre-combat school as me.
Wait, wait, wait. I forgot to ask him the most important question. "what kind of weapon do you use?" Ben looked confused for a moment, he then pointed to the coffee table. Looking at the weapons poor state my heart felt like it shattered. I turned to Ben and asked in a pouting tone "why are they broken?" After a moment of silence Ben spoke up in a hushed tone "I... I didn't have the money to fix them."
The next morning
Ben's P.O.V
I had spent most of the night Laying in the bed I had first woken up in, every time I was about to fall asleep I kept seeing their faces, hearing their voices, what little sleep I did get was plagued with nightmares.
Hearing the alarm clock's high pitched 'BEEP, BEEP, BEEP' I got out of bed and walked into the bathroom and started to brush my teeth, Mr. Xiao Long had bought me a toothbrush yesterday. After rinsing the sink, I hopped in the shower and turned it on. I walked into my new room and grabbed my broken weapons. Now ready I went down stairs, opened the door and left for school.
As I was walking I couldn't help but realize that their where no other kids walking to school. Now that I think about it I didn't see anyone when I woke up, sighing I turned around and stared to walk back to the Xiao Long residents.
Opening the door, I sat on the couch and waited, and waited, and waited. Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, I turned around expecting it to be Ruby. I was surprised to see... Yang? Walking into the Living-room, she looked ready for school.
She turned to me and her eye's widened as if just noticing me. After composing herself she asked "what are you doing awake? You and Ruby don't start school for another two hours." She then pulled out her scroll and showed me the time, it was 7:00 A.M. she put the scroll back in her pocket and began walking to the door. Just before reaching it she spoke "see ya later" and with that she left.
Two hours later
Ruby and I were walking to school when she asked, "where are you from?" Her tone was full of childlike curiosity, I answered "I'm from a small town outside of the four major kingdoms" I replied giving as little detail as I could. She then asks "what's its name?" I let out a short sigh and replied curtly "Bellwood." After that I started to walk faster, but Ruby kept pace with me, but thankfully didn't ask any more questions.
At school
Apparently their where only four classes, combat, dust science, Grimm anatomy, history and lunch. As it turns out Ruby and I have the same schedule. First is Grimm anatomy, next Dust Science then lunch, after that we have Combat class, and finally at the end of the day we have history.
I breezed through the first two classes. I stood ready to go to the lunch room, but before I could do anything my arm was grabbed and I was pulled away in a blur of red. Suddenly stopping in the cafeteria, I gave Ruby a questioning glance, and asked "what just happened?" Ruby giggled at my confusion "I used my semblance to get us here before the huge crowd of people."
Ruby and I grabbed our food and picked a table near a window. She looked kind of nervous, before I could comment on it a group of girls walked over to us. Their where three of them, the one in front had a scowl on her face as she addressed Ruby "well, would you look at this" she gestured to Ruby and myself. "looks like you already made a move on the new guy, whore" at that the other two girls started laughing. Ruby looked like she wanted to become invisible. "what's the matter, now that your sister isn't here to protect you..." She couldn't finish her sentence, because I had heard enough, my anger boiled over and I transformed into the fire creature.
I spoke, no growled out "why don't you pick on someone your own size, you over grown cow." She looked to her friends, but they did the smart thing and backed off. Everyone in the room was staring at me, I willed the flame's that made up my body to become hotter. The girl started to sweat "I... I... um" she ran away her face red and tears welling in her eyes. I turned back into a human and sat down again and continued to eat my food. Ruby didn't say anything for the rest of lunch.
As I took my seat in combat class next to Ruby, the teacher stood in front of the class and said, "we have a new student today, and so he will be fighting in the first sparing match today." Everyone knew that I was the 'fire man' from earlier, most of them where apprehensive about fighting me. The teacher then called out the name of my opponent "Ruby Rose, both of you go change and get your weapons ready."
The moment he said weapons, I remembered that mine where broken. 'could I beat her with just my semblance, especially sense she's so fast, and I don't even know what kind of weapon she has.' Ben and Ruby's forms disappeared into the changing rooms, unaware of a certain Crow watching the match.
A/N: So, what did you think, was it good, bad, somewhere in-between, well that's all, hope you enjoyed, bye-bye.
