A/N: Thank you to those that read along and were waiting on chapter 3, here it is! This is my first fic so I appreciate any reviews and criticism. Thank you for reading and take care of yourselves, and each other.
The team meeting went on into the early morning the next day, the girls doing most of the talking trying to figure out how Alex fit into their dynamic. It started with trying to figure out the bathroom situation (which never got resolved) and the sleeping arrangement. Alex wound up with a bed in the absolute center of the room all to himself while the other fashioned them into the bunk beds of old, but this time more secure (per Weiss' demands, for fear of her own demise by bed.). And lastly, when they get changed, if they are not in their bathroom, he will have to wait in the hall.
Admittedly the talk did take a turn when no one wanted to change partners, and for a bit Alex did feel a bit tossed aside, but it was okay; honestly, he felt he was more there as a guest than anything, since he didn't know this team that well. But it was agreed that he will instead assist their existing pairings. More importantly, they know little of him due to his withdrawn nature and short talking at all times; So, how better to get to know him than to have one on one times?
First off is Weiss, offering to go first if not to get it out of the way, but to actually show an attempt at team bonding. Alex was immediately bored out of his mind as her activity was simply sitting with tea and talking. Alex preferred to always be on the move, from one action to the other and this was a stark contrast to it. However, he would bear it to provide his new team with what they wanted.
"So, where are you from?" A sip of her tea, still steaming and the interview is underway. The alabaster tableware and cups shining with the orange glow of the sun above that shows through undisturbed from the patio that they set up on. The wrought iron chairs covered in expensive looking cushions that were very comfortable indeed. A short question later and she's sitting still, staring deeply into his eyes paying full attention; a very trained action on true display.
"Patch, I was born and raised on Patch and went to Signal as soon as possible. My turn, " Alex takes a sip of his tea as well, Earl Grey, a popular tea and a good choice when you don't know the other's taste. Alex could feel the effort being put forth, however, Weiss froze when he turned the tables to ask his own question. "Why Beacon? I know you could've gone to Atlas just on name alone and done just as well, so why Beacon so far from home?"
"That is exactly why though." She said donning a saddened expression, immediately corrected to the professional demeanor she started with. "I wanted to get away from how things were at home, and this seemed the best way to start. After Beacon did their tests, all of which I passed of course, Ozpin allowed me to attend Beacon. Of course my family was against it, but at the time that seemed to only propel me more towards this place." She looks around, soaking in the beautiful scenery with a smile on her face, small and polite. Alex sips from his tea again and motions with his hand to allow Weiss to ask her question.
"Why did you stay? You've probably got friends of your own to look after. Family, even. So why stay with this team?" She leans forward the more she speaks, nervous shaking of the leg shows this is an important question to her, and Alex takes a moment to think his answer over carefully.
"During the fall, I lost my team, and my family. During the chaos, I was found by you and Ruby and that's where we begin. I've got no one else that needs me, and to be completely honest, I'm waiting for you guys to not need me either." Alex says, his face dropping more and more as his honest thoughts escape his mouth. He feels bad, terrible even to be so cynical, but he still feels that his place is only a temporary Band-Aid for the team even after Ozpin's words earlier.
Weiss sits straight up, her face mixing between sadness and anger. His words stung, but he needed to be honest with her and, to a degree, she appreciated it, but it still hurt. After a tense moment, she lets out a breath and looks at him dead on.
"That's the dumbest thing I've heard." Alex chokes on his tea, and then she continues, "You're a part of our team. Yes, we don't know where you fit in yet, but we've tried to make you feel included. You're also to blame for keeping us out. I know we all have our demons that we have to face, times when we need to be alone, but yours is constant and we're trying to find a way past it. But we cannot, and will not do it without you. We need you, and we can tell you need us."
Alex has looked away at this point. Her words hit a soft point in his heart, reminding him of their attempts to welcome him, only for him to walk away from it. Time's where Ruby would want to talk about their oversized weapons only for him to promise to later and never keep to it. This sit down is the first time he's ever spent time with them not needing to do anything. The realization set down on his shoulders like a lead weight, making him set his cup down as the added weight of the dainty cup was too much. His sight was lined with a cold blue, his semblance kicking in again at the worst time, and he started to shake as if cold. From Weiss' point of view, he was breathing vapor as if it were winter outside right now.
"I'm going to be rude for a second and jump to my next question: what is your semblance?" Weiss asked, again quickly composing herself and trying to avoid staring at her teammate as his, for lack of a better word, colors seemed to take on a colder, wetter tone.
"After you, keeping it fair. Showing me would be easier for me to grasp if possible." Alex replied, taking calming breaths and his colors became more vibrant. Weiss smirked at his retort, showing he's still level headed even during times of possible stress. She stood and straightened out her snow white dress and pulled her Rapier from her side. With a beautiful twirl not unlike a ballet dancer, she stuck it into the ground and a large glyph containing her symbol, the white snowflake, appeared around them, spinning rapidly on the ground. When she removes the sword, the glyph disappears in a flurry of snowflakes fading into the air leaving behind a cool breeze. As she sits down, her smile has grown, and she seems very proud of her show.
"A Deals a deal, mine is Glyphs in varying use. I find myself to be a very effective support for our team and I look forward to how I can support you as well." She says, ending in a nod that makes her off-kilter ponytail bounce forward slightly before resting behind her again.
"Mine is not so fabulous though. It's ruled by my emotions, but in general my semblance manifests as the elements. When I'm mad, I can summon and manipulate fire. Same with ice when I'm sad, wind when I'm happy, etc. I'll show you, right now honestly I feel a little down so it should be ice that forms." Alex says. He holds his hand palm up, and within seconds, ice crystals combine in his hand, forming a not yet obvious object. Sun shining through the sculpture reflects on both of them as it finishes forming in his hand, clear as water and jagged as a snowflake, but the object that form was of Weiss' snowflake down to the last detail.
"It took forever to get this kind of control and my…parents," the colors dull a little more, ",had their hands full when I would throw a temper tantrum and set everything on fire." He finished with a nostalgic chuckle on his voice and half a smile as he remembers the singed walls and tattered curtains that at one point may have been very expensive, even his mother's singed nose and ears from when they first discovered this. He never really forgave himself even though she swore it wasn't his fault.
A cold touch to his hand draws him from his memories; Weiss' hand atop of his.
"I'm sorry to bring up anything painful, I just wanted to know." She actually looks apologetic, so Alex smiles and wills his colors back to normal.
"Its fine, if possible though, can we pick this up at a later time? I would like to do more than just sit here if you'd be interested." He offers, returning Weiss' hand and smiling back at her. She stands after finishing her cup and nods, together they walk off talking of random topics, but noticeably more comfortable together.
Later in that same day was Ruby. When Alex walked into their dorm, she was sitting on her bed giddy with excitement as the door finally opened. Before Alex could speak, a soft stoic voice was heard from Blake and Yang's side of the room.
"Please take her from here; she hasn't been able to sit still since you left with Weiss." Blake announced, not looking away from her book. Alex thinks her bow twitched, but is soon drawn from his wonder when he realized the perfect way to bond with Ruby.
"I know I've been…distant…whenever we talk about weapons, so let's fix that! Grab your stuff for maintenance; it's going to be a long night." Alex says, his smile growing at the same time as Ruby's. She squeals and uses her semblance to dash around the room. Not even a second later, her arms are full of assorted tools and oils and she announces she's ready to go. Alex could've sworn part of her supplies was a bag of cookies, but he's not one to judge.
"Not too late, li'l sis!" Yang yells peeking up from her side of Blake's bed. On Blake's bed, Blake was reading a book and Yang was playing on her phone as best she could, still being down an arm and not too used to it.
"Ugh! You sound like Dad!" Ruby says while rolling her eyes, but immediately perks up as she leads you out of the room. For the first time, Alex really took in what she looked like now that he didn't have to be in big brother mode.
First thing he noticed was her choice of fashion. Gothic style clothing always caught his eye, and this was no different. She had a black blouse overlayed with a corset (or was it built into the shirt, hard to tell with the black on black coloring.). Her hair, having grown about an inch in the past month covered her right eye and was in a messy looking bob that started black and ending in red highlights. Her pale skin and silver eyes a stark contrast to her look, and black stockings ending in red and black boots and combat skirt. She was walking with a skip to her step and humming a tune similar to red like roses, arms still full of her supplies and her beloved weapon strapped to her middle back.
Following her through the halls, Alex stayed silent, eyeing his sword, long since uncared for and in need of some TLC. Thankfully this meeting will have two uses.
The workshop was just like any other classroom in terms of dimensions and chalkboard, but instead of desks, it was workbenches complete with general tools and ammo loading stations for those that needed it.
Immediately they set to work. On one side Alex was working to dull his blade to repair the notches before sharpening and cleaning, Ruby hard at work creating rounds for her Crescent Rose. Almost ten minutes went by with neither of them speaking before Ruby started giggling seemingly to herself, but she got Alex's attention.
"Whats goin' on?" He said, stopping the belt sander to hear her properly. Ruby turned and wore that trademark smile as her face was covered in gunpowder splotches.
"Realized you brought me here for us to talk and learn about each other and bond, but nobody is saying anything. Kinda funny to me, if I'm being honest." Ruby replies, still giggling while expertly loading her cartridges.
"So, say something then. The problem can fix itself." Alex replied, still holding off on working and giving her his undivided attention.
"…Something." Ruby deadpanned, being met with an incredulous look on Alex's face that forced her giggling into full on laughter. Alex had been around Yang enough to know that was a Yang move and she's being a bad influence on little Ruby if this is the result.
Not willing to feed the joke anymore, Alex restarted his sander and got back to work. A presence joined him on his left and he glanced over to see Ruby watching him work. More accurately, she was eyeing his sword in awe.
"Got a question?" Alex said, being loud enough over the sander. Ruby looked at him but a moment before looking back at the sword.
"Why a great sword? And from what I see it doesn't turn into anything long range. I like the classics and all but it seems you're holding back." Ruby says her tone no longer cheerful but mostly on observation and finding ways to fix problems even Alex didn't know existed. Alex saved his reply for when the sanding was done and the blade was fully dulled.
"What did you have in mind then? If this is to be bonding, then let's make this something great together." A fire was lit inside Ruby as she jumped from her seat and ran to a chalkboard. All through the night they were drawing schematics for changes to Alex's sword, even giving it a name.
"It needs a name! It's an extension of you and is your pride and joy, so it obviously needs a name that you came up with!" The enthusiasm and shock from Ruby coming from Alex never naming his weapon. The schematic of his new weapon played off of not only his semblance, but of her mentor Qrow. Meaning his great sword now had a terrifying Scythe form that would feature a dust powered Assault rifle build into it for range.
"Considering how we'll be making this a reality, I think the name needs to symbolize both of us…"Alex pondered out loud, touching his chin while reflecting and showing off a nervous tick of his.
"Considering also that you'll be fighting with a scythe as well as your sword, and what that style looks like, it could also have a fancy name like a dance." Ruby chimed in, mimicking Alex's movements and earning a small smile from the tan giant.
Alex maintained this smile as he grabbed a bit of chalk and in big letters above the schematics, wrote out "Rose Bolero", immediately he felt self-conscious about it, but Ruby seemed over the moon. Her eyes (somehow) got even larger and her smile threatened to reach her ears as she gasped. The rest of their night/early morning was spent gathering supplies to actually re-invent his weapon until he decided they would do it first chance they got after some rest. Ruby seemed to deflate a bit after that, but the promise of doing it later stuck with her. For now, though; bed.
-The next morning-
"Time to wake up, Alex!" Was all he heard before his bed was flipped over, with him still inside it. The floor tasted just fine this morning, but he'd still prefer his coffee and maybe some pancakes. Who flipped him anyway? It's not like he's light by any means, so who would've-
"That doesn't mean sleep on the floor! It's my turn so up and at 'em!" Yang; of course it'd be Yang. Wait, that means she did it one handed. A twinge of fear soars up Alex's spine and he carefully considers just lying there, but decides against it as to not anger the blonde. Standing on still asleep legs, lilac eyes stare at him behind blond trusses, the now familiar friendly smile on full display, wearing her normal body armor jacket and skirt…thing.
"We're going to be doing something a lot more active so I hope you're ready." She announces, her hand resting on her hip.
"Can we get breakfast first?" Alex asks, as if on cue, both of their stomachs let out a room shaking rumble. The sound and force making Weiss speak up.
"Just go get breakfast and leave us to sleep in peace you brutes!" She yells and then buries her head under blankets and sheets and the mound stops moving. One last look to Yang is all that's needed to start the day.
After their hearty breakfast, they gather their weapons and proceed to the designated training area. One whole side was occupied by bleachers for those who want to watch the fighters, but other than that it was a large stage to host the many dances between trained fighters fighting it out to find out who is better. Yang strode to the center of the arena and basked in the LED lighting coming from the ceiling, a feeling of nostalgia emanating from her. Yang was thinking of days long gone by now, her practice fights against Pyrrha, her beatings given out happily to team CRDL, it all flowing back to her.
"You know, sometimes, I miss how things used to be; and not just for my arm." Yang suddenly speaks. As she talks, her remaining hand unconsciously rubs her stub, still sensitive but not hurting her all the time anymore.
"I miss being able to fight properly, more than anything, but I miss the faces we don't see anymore. The ones who couldn't make it, and the ones we couldn't save." She finally faces you, and as she speaks her eyes start to turn to a burning red.
"I never want to lose someone I care about again, and I want to be able to at least try to prevent it. That's why you're here." She starts to form a defensive posture. "Help me learn to fight through this, show me how much you care for the team by helping me through this."
Alex pauses for a second, and then starts to remove his jacket and sword, setting them aside for the time being. Yang wonders what he's thinking, before he gets into his own melee stance, a variation of muay thai taught to him by his father during his time at signal.
"I'll do all I can, Yang. Get ready!" Alex says before his vision fills with red and fire engulfs his fists forming burning gauntlets. Yang pauses for just a second before activating her Ember Celica, her weapon equipped arm held out in defense in front of her.
Alex ran at her, full force and semblance burning away before his fists, the gauntlets made of roaring flames that were also somehow solid. Hitting the Grimm with his hands like this usually left a charred hole in their bodies, but Yang should be alright. Sure enough she was able to deflect his blow, a wild haymaker aimed at her head, blocking it with her arm and wrapping her hand around said arm and up the shoulder. Sensing her moves, Alex drew his arms in just in time to block her powerful knee aiming at his core, and then they separated, both in their stances and staring each other down. However, Yang was smiling at him.
"Go ahead, give me all you got and stop holding back!" Yang announces before charging forward herself, her fist aiming directly for Alex; doesn't matter where it would hit, it would hurt. Seeing her coming dead at him, her eye's burning more fiercely than his own fire, he then jumped at her, aiming his knee at her oncoming fist and shielding it with fire. The world slowed at this instant, these two titans locking in a single moment of bliss at the intense fight they were having, her fist connecting and activating Ember Celica at the perfect time, and Alex's fire connected, emitting a loud explosion and blinding light that would leave a large crater in the floor, even by Yang's standards. The resulting clash knocked both of them back, clearing the arena by a long shot and embedding them deep into the walls. Yang was the first to recover, managing to pull her body from the wall, giggling the whole way and letting out a satisfying stretch and letting her back pop.
"Oh that was so much fun! You're not bad yourse-"She stops short when she sees that Alex hasn't moved. He sat against the wall, hands and knees free of their fiery padding and his head dropped to rest his chin on his chest and his hands loose on his sides. In a panic, she runs over to his and starts to shake his shoulder.
"Come on! You've gotta get up!" She almost screams, panic setting in quickly at the thought that she seriously hurt a friend. Before she could truly freak out though, his hand moves.
"Still here…"He says, pain obvious and he knew he was going to be sore come morning, but he was alright and focusing on calming her down. So he gave her a 'not dead yet' thumbs up that he borrowed from Weiss.
Cleaning up and passing around a joke or two, they went back to their dorm; a near death situation and a sparring match all they needed to become fast friends.