Look I know this one's short, but I think that this was a better way to split the Chapters of Volume 4. Consider this Chapter 8 and the next one will follow the events of Chapter 9 while adding in some stuff to add to the limited source material. I actually might consider combining Chapter 9 and 10, let me know what you think. Oh just a warning, I will be going full non-canon once volume 4 ends so be wary, and sorry if that deters any future readers.
Five years ago, somewhere in Atlas.
"Give it up girl. You can't beat all three of us," said a boy clad in black
"Says who. I'll kick all your asses!" Cassie responded.
"All we want is that guitar," said a different boy wearing green, referring to the guitar that she kept hidden in the school.
"You're not getting it!"
"Fine. Don't say we didn't warn you," said another boy in red as he threw a punch.
Cass quickly dodged the punch returning with a quick jab to the face. The red boy responded by throwing a punch of his own only for it to miss, causing him to fall due to over-committing. The boy in black landed a kick to Cassie's stomach, not hard enough to wind her, but enough to put her on the defensive.
Each boy was throwing punches and they were pushing her closer and closer to a wall. She managed to duck under the red boy's punch and trip over the green boy. She turned he focus to the boy in black. She threw a quick kick to the kid's family jewels and he went down hard immediately after. Cass suddenly found her hair being pulled and her head followed. She landed on her back with red on top of her punching as she blocked as many as she could. Green got back and pinned her arms and all she could do was take punch after punch. She was struggling when she managed to get enough force to buck Red off with her legs and fell onto green who in turn released her arms.
She quickly crawled out from under the boys and got up. She started to run away, when she ran right into a man.
"What the hell is going on here?!" he said as he stepped between her and the boys.
"She started it!" shouted the boys.
"Oh really? It seems like you boys got your asses kicked that's what. How old are you anyways?"
"Twelve," they answered.
"How old are you missy?" he asked Cassie.
"Ten," she said timidly.
"Wow… Well that's even more hilarious. Three twelve year olds got beaten by a ten year old. That's great. You're not in trouble missy, I can already see how this started. She was on her own and had something you wanted, so you thought you could bully her out of it. Guess what I don't like bullies. The principal's gonna have a hoot dealing with you. You can go to her office now, or wait to be called down. Don't expect me to forget your faces, I have an eidetic memory," he stated with some intimidation.
He turned to Cassie. "So do you have a name?"
"C.. Cassandra," she responded.
"Is it okay if I call you Cassie?"
"Yeah… What's your name?"
"It's Ethan Azure,"
"Thanks…"
"Now because this was a fight, I'm going to have to let your parents know about this. I'm not gonna say anything bad because all you did was defend yourself. And did a damn good job of it. Would you mind giving me their number?"
"I can't sir…"
"Will they be angry, because I will personally speak to them to make sure that you won't get in any trouble. I think the bullies got what they deserved,"
"I can't…. because I live here,"
"What do you mean live here?"
"I… I… I don't have parents…" she said as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"I am so so sorry Cassie. I didn't know. How about we go find the thing that they wanted from you huh? I can tell you stories about my time as a Hunter. They're really cool and I think you'll like 'em," he said trying to stray from the subject.
"It's in the music room…" she said.
"Then we'll head to the music room,"
Ethan began to tell stories about all the Grimm he fought and his time at Beacon academy and Cassie was enjoying listening to them. They eventually made their way to the music room where Cassie made him follow her to a little sound booth.
"No one, but Ms. Sharp and I know about this little compartment right here," she said before opening a cupboard behind some of the sound proofing.
"Who's she?" Ethan asked.
"The old music teacher who moved away. She was the one who let me stay at the school. She liked me. She like listening to me play this," she said as she removed a large case of sorts from the cupboard.
"What's that?" he asked again.
"A present she gave me before moving away," she said revealing a beautiful guitar kept in pristine condition.
"Whoa. That's sweet. How long have you been playing?" he asked.
"Five years. This beauty is the absolute most amazingest gift I have ever gotten, or the only gift I've ever gotten…"
"Cheer up kiddo, how 'bout you play something,"
"Okay, but don't laugh…" she said before she started playing the song "A River Flows in You," (If you wanna here to version I'm talking about search up the song followed by Sungha Jung).
"Damn kid, that was beautiful. I can see why your teacher gave you that guitar," he finally said after a few seconds of awe.
"Thanks, I thought you didn't like it at first," Cassie said.
"Look this might be a difficult question to ask, but where do you, you know sleep?"
"I usually sleep here actually. My sleeping bag's in the same place as my guitar,"
"Look, I know that I just met you, but you seem like a good kid. So I have a offer to extend. I just bought an apartment here and it's a two bedroom place and I don't feel right just leaving you here. You don't need to answer but it would make me feel like less of an asshole,"
"Yes,"
"Wait what?"
"I never thought I'd have a home to go to before I got a job. So yes, I'd love to stay at your place,"
"Cool, I guess that settles it. You now have a new address,"
Present day.
Cassie awoke with a start after hearing some coughing and so did Ruby. They both got up and ran over to the source of the sound which was Qrow. He was clutching his wound and coughing up a storm.
"Are you okay Qrow?" asked Cassie tentatively.
He removed his hand from his mouth only to find purple covering most of it.
"Well, that's unfortunate."