A/N

Welcome back to another chapter of The Hood of Remnant.
Quick little update regarding chapter progression/length: For the next five chapters I will be increasing the word count by 300. So that means that each chapter will be 300 words longer than the previous one.

Anyway enough of my rambling on with the story!

The Hood of Remnant

Chapter 2: A Place to Call Home

Shay approached the door. The hallway was empty, and there was no sound from the other dorms. 'Hm, everyone must be out.' He thought to himself. Placing his new scroll against the scanner beside the door, a small beeping sound could be heard, followed by the simple click of the door unlocking. Pressing down on the chrome handle he opened the door and stepped inside. The room was suitable for its purpose; there was a large window across from the door, a bed in each corner with small cabinets beside them, a lamp placed on top of all four.

Shay let out a sigh; he hadn't slept in just over thirty hours. Excitement back in Atlas kept him from resting, and his one sided conversation with Mitz on the flight into Vale did not afford him the luxury either. "Well, now is as good a time as any." He said setting his back pack beside a bed. He pulled down his hood to reveal his black hair; it was long enough that he could tie it back away from his face. His green eyes adjusting to the extra light that could now seep into his vision. He pulled his gloves off and set them on the bedside cabinet, taking a moment to observe it, plain dark wood, it had a drawer on the top half and small cubby on the bottom. Turning to the window, the sun shined in moderately, it was late afternoon, he had a view out over the city which made him feel at home; his bedroom in Atlas had a similar view. Lying down on his chosen bed, he thought of Mai, wondering how she was coping without him, eventually falling into a light sleep.

*Four Hours Pass*

Shay awoke to a gentle knocking on the door, the sun was about to set. So he gauged the time at around six maybe seven, he stood up as there was a repeat knock. Opening the door he saw a black haired girl holding two mugs of green tea. After a short pause she spoke "Hi Shay, I brought you some tea, we didn't get a proper introduction earlier." Realising who she was, Shay immediately bowed his head respectively and opened the door further, gesturing for her to enter. "It's quite alright, Blake was it?" she nodded at his question, handing him one of the mugs of tea as he closed the door.
"I must apologies about Yang, she can come across as loud and flamboyant, but she means well." Blake said sitting down on the end of the bed opposite to Shay's. He only sat down, not responding, waiting to see if she said anything more.

"You are very quiet Shay, is there something bothering you?" Shay shot the girl a quick glance, sipping on the tea that she had presented him with, before speaking. "I… It's nothing major, I just haven't been away from my younger sister, Mai, in so long. I'm not entirely used to her not being around just yet. I can hardly ever get a word in, so I just don't bother. I'm sorry if I appeared to be rude earlier."

"It's alright Shay, you're new here, you had somewhere to be, it would have been rude on both mine and Yang's part to hold you back."

Shay smiled, he could finally get the quiet and civilised conversation that he had been hoping for.
"Tell me Blake, how long have you been here?" he decided that he should be the one to begin.

"This is my third year. How about you? I take it this will be your first year in this grade of combat academy?"

"No actually, I'm transferring into third year. When the opportunity came I just took it, right there and then. Mai is three years younger than be me, but is starting her second year over in Atlas."

Blake smiled at hearing this, it reminded her of her team leader, Ruby. "Just while I'm on the thought Shay, have you been given a team yet?" she asked, taking another sip of her tea.

"It's already been arranged, Professor Ozpin had been monitoring my progress through Atlas Academy for the past few months, and saw fit that I should take the leading role for the team. The other members though have not arrived yet, so they may be in for a shock when they hear that the leader spot has already been taken." He said chuckling lightly. Blake simply smiled at the young man.

After a short pause, Blake spoke up again. "Well, I had best get going back to my dorm, Weiss will probably be starting to question whether I'm going to return at all." Shay gave a small nod in response. "Good night Blake." Shay said.

Blake turned to shay before exiting the dorm. "I'd recommend you get some sleep. I want to face you in the arena tomorrow morning." Shay only just managed to agree to this before she closed the door behind her. It was in this moment that he noticed that they had been talking for longer than he had thought, the sky was completely dark.

Turning around from the door he noticed a black ribbon on the end of his bed "Wait, what? When did…? How? Why did she leave this? It's not her bow, she left with it on, right?" Shay questioned himself once more before deciding to leave it, he would see her in the morning and give it to her then, not knowing what else to do with it, he tied it around his arm in a double knot.

Deciding that sleeping would be a good idea, he laid down on his bed again, allowing himself to fall into a deeper sleep than before.

Meanwhile, Blake walked through the hallway towards her dorm, a small smile placed on her face.

*The Next Morning*

Shay awoke early, it was roughly 5am. He decided that he would go for a morning run. Stretching his arms as he left his dorm, he hear somebody else approaching from behind. Turning his head he saw a tall young man walking along the corridor, wearing green attire with white pants, black hair, pink eyes, he was being followed closely by a girl with ginger hair, she seemed to be acting a bit hyper. Shay decided not to bother them, and went on with locking his door. Turning as they passed him, he headed towards the other end of the corridor as the girl shouted "REENNN! Why won't you answer me?" Who he assumed was Ren replied "Because Nora, I'm keeping quiet until we exit the building, there are people still sleeping, just because we get up early doesn't mean that everyone else does the same." He spoke in a tone that was completely opposite to the girl whom he called Nora. "But what about that guy?" before any answer could be made, Shay made sure that he was around the corner and out of sight before continuing to listen. "I think he's new here Nora, he doesn't count in my previous sentence." Shay smiled. 'Hm. Stoic and logical, I know how you feel friend.' Shay thought to himself. 'I wonder how Mai is coping.'

His run took him all around the beacon campus, working on general cardio before finishing up with breath control leading him towards the amphitheater where the battle arena was located. Going in he saw a few people sitting in the rafters chatting among themselves while two other students battled in the arena.

He had arrived just in time to witness the end of a fight. A girl wearing Spartan style armour had just kicked the living day lights out of a lad wearing a hoodie with knight armour on his arms and legs, a pop-out shield and wielding a fairly run-of-the-mill sword.

A loud buzzer could be hear followed by a woman's voice "Match ended, winner Pyrrha Nikos."
'Wait, is that the same Pyrrha Nikos that's known for winning all of those tournaments?' Shay thought to himself, the amour matched the name.

"C'mon Jaune, up you get." He could hear her say to the other student "even after two years Jaune, you're still improving. You'll soon be ready for this year's tournament." The young lad stood up before replying "Ya really think so Pyrrha?" She simply nodded before planting a light kiss on his cheek, 'I thought the audience would have reacted to that' But Shay stood corrected, not one member of the audience reacted as the two students walked out of the arena.

"Ah there you are Shay." Hearing a familiar voice he turned to see Blake. "You ready for our little sparring session?" she asked unsheathing her sword. "I know Gambol Shroud certainly is." She said with a light smirk. Shay unsheathed his two blades in response. "I hope it's as ready as Rai and Jang are." He said returning the competitive smirk.

A/N

And that is chapter two, I hope you enjoyed, please do continue to show your support, it means the world to me, as this is my first ever fanfic. And I have to say the response has been quite positive so far.

Anyway. Yes a little bit of friendship development in this one between Blake and Shay, nothing huge.

Next chapter will be the fight scene, hopefully I can pull it off well. And before you ask, no it was not Blake's bow that was left on Shays bed, but rather one of her ribbons that she uses for Gambol Shroud (The ones that are normally wrapped around her arms).