Hey guys! I just finished chapter 3 and I'm starting chapter 4 soon! This is where the story is coming together about Skylar! Please inbox me what you think! :)
Chapter 3
*8 years ago*
Under a large tree sat a woman with fox ears and tail and a child basking in the coolness of the shade provided by the tree. The mother was carving wood while the boy was enjoying the view around him. The view was on top of a hill, surrounded by trees with a city in the distance.
"Mom! Why do you and sis have those ears and tail and I don't?" asked the boy.
"That's because you have your father's looks son," said the boy's mother.
"And my eyes?" asked the boy. The mother stopped carving. She then handed the now finished carving to her son.
"This yours now," said the mother getting up from her spot under the tree. "You have my eyes, use them to see beyond society's ignorance; you and your sister are the result of your father and I being able to be together."
"What do you mean result? Are we special?" asked the boy watching his mother start walking towards a small house nearby next to a patch of woods.
"More than you two know," hinted the mother while turning to throw a smile that made the boy cheer gleefully. The boy got up and chased his mother while trying to catch her tail. The mother gave a pleasant laugh playing along with her son who she kept just out of reach until the boy surprised her mother with a sudden dive and playfully tackled his mother with an embrace. The two started to roll on the ground laughing in front of the small house.
*Present Day*
My eyes opened suddenly, I sat up in my bed drenched in a cold sweat. I felt tears running down my face, as if I had tears of joy. What was that dream? Why did I dream of that woman and child? Was I there? Or was that child me? I was speculating on these thoughts for a few minutes. I looked at the clock and realized the time was 9 am.
"I'm glad today is Friday, I was able to sleep in," I grumbled, half-asleep. I crawled out of bed, and walked towards the shower. I sat under the shower for a good 30 minutes waking up from a heavy sleep. I walked out of the shower and threw on some clothes, a pair of light blue jeans, sneakers, and a grey hoodie. I'm glad Ozpin lent me some money for clothes and other stuff, what was the money called again? Lin? I thought about Ozpin and his generosity towards me. I did realized that I was actually not the only person that came into the school by Ozpin's invitation, Ruby was able to enter beacon two years early from an helping the attempt to stop some robbery. Ozpin saw her fighting skills and had Ruby come to Beacon. There was a knock on my door, it was probably Yang or Nora trying to be my wakeup call or something silly like that. Even though it has been only a week so far at Beacon, I have felt as if I have bonded with teams RWBY and JNPR pretty well. I walked over to the door with my hoodie in my hands trying to pull my shirt out from inside the hoodie. I opened the door without looking and said "Come on in, make yourself at home."
"Uhm, thank you," said my guest. I stopped fumbling with my hoodie and realized that my "guest" was not Yang or Nora, but it was Blake.
"Oh sorry about this!" I began, throwing on my shirt as quickly as possible. "I wasn't thinking when I answered the door!" Blake gave a soft smile, which reminded me of the dream I had of that woman.
"It's ok, I just dropped by to see if you were ready to go; but I can see that you were just about ready, I'll go tell the others," addressed Blake walking out towards the door.
"Hold on for a moment, I did have a few questions to ask," I blurted. Blake stopped and turned to me looking slightly confused. I cleared the small table and set up some tea for the two of us.
"So what do you want to ask?" Blake inquired. I took a sip of tea, and let out a refreshed breath trying to form my thoughts into an intelligent manner.
"Well remember that picture I drew on Monday?" I mentioned. Blake took a moment to recall what picture I was talking about. I showed her the picture of the family.
"Yes I remember now, what about the picture?"
"I well this morning I just woke up from a dream involving the woman and the little boy, I they had a conversation about the boy being special or something like that."
"What do you mean by special?"
"I think by who the child is, and his twin sister."
"Sister?"
"Yea, he has a twin sister who is also like him but they look different."
"So why bring this up to me?" asked Blake. I took a long look into eyes, almost as if they were piercing my soul.
"I only brought this up to you because you a Faunus yourself," I stated sounding sure of myself. Blake's eyes told me the truth. "Your eyes show me the truth, cat eyes from what it looks like; am I wrong?"
"What gave you the suspicion that I was a Faunus?" asked Blake. I explained from the time I first saw the Faunus girl and the talk about the Faunus in general.
"And that is how I guessed that you were a Faunus, by the way you reacted."
"I am a Faunus, but don't tell anyone."
"I won't tell anyone your secret is safe with me," I vowed. Blake seemed glad that someone knew and didn't care that she was a Faunus. "The reason I'm asking you in particular about this photo is because when you saw the drawing, it seemed as if you knew the woman." Blake nodded in reply.
"I knew her, she was part of the White Fang with me from the beginning."
"The White Fang?"
"It is, well was, a civil rights group that wanted the Faunus to be treated like equals."
"So what happened?"
"At first it was not working, then the leader stepped down and the White Fang became more radical; having turned their signs into weapons of war."
"So I take it you were part of the violence for a while then you realized that it was wrong, so you left."
"Right, that woman in the drawing never agreed with the more radical ideals of the new leader; so she was one of the first to leave to White Fang."
"Wow, she must have been a very peaceful person."
"She was a Huntress, but one day she vowed to never take arms again no matter what."
"Do you know anything about her now?"
"Well…she died in a fire, her home was near a small patch of woods outside of the city."
"In front of the house had a large tree on top of a hill?" I asked sounding shocked.
"Yes, how did you know?" Blake replied waiting for me to answer. I looked down at my cup of tea in shock. She was probably my mother and I was that little boy in the drawing! I thought excitedly. I finally knew something of my past, but I now had no mother either.
"Her home was in my dream, and I think that the dream was a memory of my childhood," I said. Blake took a sip of her tea and looked at me.
"So you are saying that your mother was Elizabeth Volpe?"
"I believe so, I must regain my memories to find out what happened to me and my family!" I bellowed. Blake stared at me for a long moment.
"So that would mean you are a Faunus as well, but you don't look like a Faunus," Blake said looking for ears and such.
"Well in the dream I had my father's looks, and her eyes; do my eyes seem like a Faunus' to you?" I asked, if it was true, then I am Elizabeth Volpe's son. Blake stared at my eyes and her eyes opened in surprise.
"Your eyes, they are just like hers…" Blake uttered in total disbelief.
"What are they like?" I asked excitedly. I want to know what my mother's eyes look like.
"They are a light brown with a mix of grey, as if it was a dull gold color…" whispered Blake. "The pupils are narrow vertically too."
"It sounds amazing," I said in awe. Blake nodded, seemingly calm on this news; or she could be in a slight shock.
"It is, a human with Faunus eyes; but you have Faunus blood, is it possible to be half Faunus half human?"
"Maybe that is how I am special, showing that humans and the Faunus can coexist with each other."
"That would seem to be the case, but let's find more about your past before we say anything," Blake suggested, taking another sip of tea.
"I agree," I said. If everything was true about my family, then there must have been enemies to my family.
"Maybe we can find out more when we go to Vale today and tomorrow we can do our own searching," suggested Blake. I nodded in agreement smiling. I can finally find out who I really am.
"Did you happen to know who my father is too then?" I asked as I gathered up the tray that had the kettle and tea cups.
"I'm sorry I don't know who it would it be, I have seen your mother since I was a little girl and that was just by chance," Blake explained sadly.
"Oh…" I muttered looking down. "Do you know what she was like though?" Blake looked out my window as if to remember a good memory.
"Oh yes, she was a beautiful and wonderful person; she helped everyone who needed help, she believed in helping everyone no matter who they were." reveled Blake. I looked at Blake, she admired my mother; she must have been a really good person to have leave such an impression on Blake. I packed away the milk and sugar cubes, and cleaned up the dishes as Blake played back her memories in her head. After a few minutes of being done and gathering my bag for the unavoidable shopping trip, I grasped Blake's shoulder and she turned to face me.
"Everyone is waiting for us, let's go," I said giving a friendly look. Blake smiled and nodded.
"Yes, let's go to the others; I hope we can find out more about your past," whispered Blake. She sounded as if she has now found a lost memory and is now finding it herself as well.
*A Few Hours Later*
"So what took you so long to get Skylar?" asked Yang. I was with team RWBY and JNPR in an airship.
"We started talking," replied Blake.
"Ssssuurrreee," suggested Yang giving a wink. I brought my face into the palm of my hand. Why does Yang have to be like that? I whined on my head. Blake just shook her head and pulled out her book and started reading.
"I have seen your nose in that book since we boarded the airship; what is the book about?" I asked. Blake seemed so engulfed in the book, that I was almost sure that she didn't hear me.
"Uhm…Bla-"
"It's about a man with two souls; each fighting for control of his body," explained Blake. I was intrigued by the sound of the book.
"Great! Now I want to find a copy of the book myself! And you are going to help me find a copy!" speaking light heartedly. Yang started laughing, the others look confused on why she was laughing.
"Nice try lover boy," laughed Yang. "Trying to ask Blake out on a date? It was pretty smooth and all, but I think Blake won't go with you buddy." How does she come up with stuff like that? I thought. I just wanted help from Blake and maybe we can find more about my past and mother while we are out and about.
"Look…Yang…you got it wrong…I jus-," I started to explain, starting to feel embarrassed from the attention that Yang was causing to me.
"Actually, I would love go," Blake said suddenly. Yang's eyes shot open with surprise and everyone that was listening to our talk turned their heads in surprise. I was worried that Blake was misinterpreting what I said thanks to Yang. "Plus we can finish where we left off from earlier this morning." Yang nearly died from hearing what Blake said; as well as everyone else, except Ren and Nora. Ren was napping and Nora was looking out the window not paying any kind of attention at all. I was nearly thrown off by Blake myself, but I realized that wasn't paying attention to Yang's whole date fiasco idea. So I smiled knowing that Blake was on the same page as me.
"Great, sounds like a plan!" I exclaimed. Poor Yang, she thinks that we are going on a date; and she convinced everyone else on the ship too. I thought. So when the airship landed, Blake and I got up got up with Ruby and Weiss; I had to help Yang up who was on the floor in shock. Pyrrha followed Jaune off the ship while Nora woke Ren up and dragged him off the ship while talking about what she wants to do. Yang went to go shopping (probably to a mall to look at boys), Ruby went to a dust shop to do reading of weapon magazines, Weiss went off to a fancy café, Pyrrha and Jaune decided to wander the streets together, and Nora had taken Ren to a candy shop. Blake and I found a book store after walking around for a few minutes. As we walked inside, Blake greeted the shop keeper; and the shop keeper waved at Blake.
"It's been a while Miss Belladonna!" beamed the shop keeper.
"Yes it has Mr. Walker, and this is my friend Skylar," smiled Blake while introducing me.
"Ah, a new face! A pleasure to meet you Mr.…?" asked Mr. Walker.
"Sorry, I don't know my real last name because I lost my memories; but Ozpin at Beacon gave me the name of Auditore," I explained and told Mr. Walker about my story of waking up in the forest while leaving out Elizabeth Volpe story because I wasn't even sure of the whole story.
"Well that is a tale," said Mr. Walker sounding intrigued in my story.
"That it is sir," I said agreeing. After another few minutes of small talk, Blake went off to search the second floor of the bookstore, while I searched the first for the book that we came for.
"Mr. Auditore, hold on for one second," called out Mr. Walker
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"You look a lot like a young man who used to come in here all the time when he was your age, he was a brilliant strategist and peaceful man," reminisced Mr. Walker.
"What was his name?" I inquired now having my attention him. Is he talking about my father possibly? I wondered feeling excited for a clue about my family so soon.
"His name was James Maslow, he also was a Huntsmen; a darn good one too," stated Mr. Walker. I wanted to ask more, but Blake came down the stairs with a copy of the book that we were looking for.
"I found it," announced Blake. I turned towards her and nodded appreciatively. I took the book and paid for it, and placed it in my bag.
"Fantastic! We still have a few hours before we meet up with everyone else, so do you want to go sit at a café for relax?" I asked. Blake seemed to like the idea.
"Find us an outside table at this place," said Blake as she scribbled a name and rough directions to the café from where we were at.
"Where are you going?" I asked curious on why she was going off on her own.
"I just remembered a thing I have to do real quickly, it won't take long," explained Blake as she hurried out the door. As soon as she left, Mr. Walker chuckled softly.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I have never seen Mrs. Belladonna this sociable with anyone before, you must be a good person for her to talk to you so casually."
"That so?" I noticed a small book with no title or author on a small shelf next to Mr. Walker's counter. I picked up the book and flipped open the book. There was no words at all in the book.
"Ah, you seemed to have found a journal book," said Mr. Walker craning his neck to peer over at the book I was looking at.
"Cool, how much will it cost?" I asked reaching into my pocket for some money.
"Just take it, it's not even supposed to be in a bookstore so I can't charge you for it; but why do you want it if I may ask?"
"So I can record everything that has happened to me and maybe make it into a story and sell it as a novel."
"Now that is an idea."
"Thank you so much for the books Mr. Walker," I said giving him a tip.
"It is my pleasure to help out any associate of my favorite customer Mrs. Belladonna," replied Mr. Walker. "Oh and please call me Zayden, I do hope to see you again soon."
"As do I Zayden, thank you again for everything; I now must take my leave and find that café that Blake told me to go to," I said. I left the store feeling good, about everything. Maybe there are school records of Mr. Maslow at Beacon, I should talk to Ozpin about that. I speculated. I followed Blake's directions and eventually found the café no problem (after asking for directions a few times). The only outdoor seats that even had were on a second floor balcony, which I had no problem with. I ordered a two cups of tea explaining that I had someone meeting me here. As soon as the waitress walked away, Blake came up the stairs from inside the café and took her seat across from me.
"Welcome back," I said.
"Thank you."
"So if I may, what thing did you remember?"
"I can't say, it is personal."
"Alright I understand, by the way I already ordered tea for you as well for myself."
"How did you know I would want tea?"
"Because you never asked for coffee whenever you came to visit my room."
"How observant of you," noted Blake. I smiled and the waitress came by with our tea, it came in a kettle still, sugar cubes in a little bowl and a tiny pitcher of milk. Blake poured her tea and added a sugar cube with milk. I just had three sugar cubes in my tea. We sat in silence for a while looking at the view of the city skyline over the sun that was slowly settling. I some of the local police taping off a shop.
"I wonder what happened there," I said to Blake pointing to the scene.
"It was probably a dust shop robbery," hypothesized Blake.
"Who would steal dust?"
"Probably some criminal organization, like Roman Torchwick; but everyone thinks the White Fang is responsible because people still have trouble accepting the Faunus."
"Why is that?"
"Remember the war from history?"
"Oh yea, the Faunus war."
"Correct."
"That is stupid, the war is over so people shouldn't be so hard you guys," I said.
"You do know you are also one of us," Blake said reminding me. Right, I almost forgot that I am part Faunus, I realized. The feeling of this knowledge is exciting, as if I have a job to do. I laughed suddenly, Blake looked at me confused.
"I'm sorry, it's just I have had a nice time today being so casual today," I admitted.
"I'm glad you did and all, but we didn't get to find anything about your past."
"Actually, we did."
"When?"
"Mr. Walker from the bookstore said there used to be a young man who looked a lot like me."
"Really? Did you get a name?"
"I did, his name was James Maslow; he was a Huntsmen himself." Blake looked down at her tea, she seemed confused.
"That doesn't make sense, how can he of all people be your father?"
"You have heard of him?"
"Yes, he used to a very large supporter of the anti-Faunus movement."
"What?" I asked feeling crushed by that news. My dad hated Faunus? How can that be possible? I pondered on this for a while.
"Well when we head back to the school, we can look him up and maybe find anything about him."
"Yes, we can."
"You look like you just came up with something."
"I did, so if my dad WAS anti-Faunus, that could mean my mother had done something to change his thoughts about the Faunus, and he fell in love for my mother; I mean that is a bit of a stretch and all, but it's all I can hope for."
"I grew up in an all Faunus environment, and the facts may not even be true; I only heard that Maslow was a supporter, he could have easily have been in a situation where he was labeled as anti-Faunus."
"Thanks for the reassurance Blake, I'm thankful to have a person like you helping with this situation." Blake reached across the table and placed her hand on top of my hand.
"Anything for a friend, no a comrade, in need of my assistance." I smiled in knowing that Blake was such a great person. I held my stare towards Blake for a while. After a while, I saw Weiss, Yang, Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune in the corner of my eye. Jaune was holding a large load of shopping bags with Pyrrha spotting him.
"Well, I guess our time alone together is coming to an end; let us greet our friends!" I said. Blake seemed to be trying to hold back a laugh as she watched me lean back on my chair and peered down over the edge of the balcony that we were sitting on. "Hey guys we're up here!" Ruby waved at us smiling.
"Oh hey guys! We were just wondering where you two were at," called out Ruby.
"I thought you two would have been snogging," joked Yang. I dropped my head down while shaking my head in disbelief. Yang is still going on about the whole date. Blake gave a soft chuckle at my discomfort.
"Are you two done?" injected Weiss impatiently. "We do have a ride back to Beacon! So if you can stop goofing off we just MIGHT make it to the airship in time!" I waved at Weiss in acknowledgement. She turned her head away from me and speed ahead of everyone. I shrugged and paid for Blake and I's tea and we walked down to the street with everyone else that were waiting.
"Where's Ren and Nora?" I asked noticing that they were missing besides Weiss who walked off away from us.
"Ren said that they were going to meet us in front of the airship," explained Pyrrha.
"I hope so," I said.
"Don't worry-I am confin-WOAH!" began Jaune as he tripped and started to drop all of the shopping bags.
"Whose bags are theses?" I asked as I spilt the carry load with Jaune.
"Yang's she made Jaune carry everything for her, he sadly had no problem at first until he started walking for the past hour," revealed Pyrrha almost as if she was giving praise to Jaune for carrying everything for such a long time.
"Well have no more worries, I am here to help now," I said. I took the majority of the bags in my arms, while carrying shoe boxes between my arms.
"How come you can do that so easily?" whined Jaune.
"Because I have more confidence in my ability," I explained.
"That's it, let me give you some advice, if you have more confidence in yourself while keeping a cool-tempered head, always thinking one step ahead you will never fall short of your goals," I suggested to Jaune. Jaune seemed to take in the advice well and gave me a goofy grin as he walked away.
"I couldn't have said it any better myself, thanks Skylar," thanked Pyrrha. I gave a nod and she sped up to Jaune to stay by his side.
"I like Jaune, he has a good heart; and Pyrrha seems to like him," I said.
"I always thought that Jaune was just a bit weird, but I can see what you mean," agreed Blake. Blake and I followed Jaune and Pyrrha to the airship, everyone else was already there waiting for us.
"Finally!" exclaimed Weiss. "We almost would have to leave you four behind! I had to convince the pilot to wait five minutes, hurry up and get on."
"It's good to see you too Weiss, thanks for the warm welcome," I called out towards her. Jaune and I set down the bags and we gave a sigh of relief.
"Finally! A break at least," panted Jaune.
"I agree, Yang went overboard didn't she?" I said plopping myself in a seat next to Jaune. I quickly thought that I was going to be exhausted, but I noticed that I wasn't even tired yet.
"So, what did everyone do in town?" I asked.
"I went to a dust shop and read magazines about weapons," said Ruby cheerfully.
"Anything new about any weapons and weapon parts?" I wondered. Ruby started to list off these new attachments that would be great for her Crescent Rose.
"I just can't wait for a chance to try that new ammo for Crescent Rose!" squealed Ruby.
"Crescent Rose? What's that?" I asked.
"That's right! You haven't heard what our weapon's names were have you?"
"I haven't, I didn't even know that your weapons have names."
"Right, my scythe is called Crescent Rose; it is also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle!"
"That would explain how you can launch yourself at high speeds."
"You noticed?"
"I did, so what are everyone else's weapon names?"
"My weapon is called Ember Celia," said Blake gesturing to her gauntlets.
"Mine is called Gambol Shroud," said Blake pointing to her weapon on her back.
"Mine is Crocea Mors, it is a bit old school but it gets the job done," said Jaune slightly embarrassed.
"I actually like your weapon Jaune, it is simple and elegant in its craftsmanship," I comforted Jaune.
"Thanks," said Jaune.
"I call my weapon StormFlower," spoke Ren. He pulled out his pistols that seemed to have very sharp axe like dagger blades attached to the ends of the barrels.
"That is actually pretty cool."
"Oh oh! Mine is called Magnhild," beamed Nora.
"I remember your weapon quite well, kind of scary that you would have a weapon like that," I admitted.
"How so?" asked Nora.
"No reason," I said grinning a little. "What about you Pyrrha?"
"Mine are called Miló and Akoúo̱, my sword is also a carbine and spear; I can cover all ranges of combat if need be," explained Pyrrha.
"How well thought out; and Weiss what is yours if you care to share?"
"Mine Myrtenaster, a rapier with dust loaded into a chamber for dust attacks."
"That is very interesting, but I am not even going to attempt to pronounce the name your weapon nor Pyrrha's!" I said laughingly. Everyone started to laugh with me.
"So what are the names of your weapons?" asked Ruby sounding very curious.
"I don't know, I don't even think I have a name yet," I said sadly.
"Right, your memories and all that stuff," said Ruby feeling bad.
"Well let's see," I said. Ruby looked up excited. "From the way I use my blade, I can name it Cavaliere Del Vento,"
"That sounds so cool!" said Ruby with awe.
"And my pistols are called Ombra and Luce,"
"Now you have your weapons' names! They are like people, or an extension of ourselves! So we have to treat them like they are people," explained Ruby passionately. I nodded in agreement feeling Ruby's passion about weapons.
"Oh yea! We got side tracked, I almost forgot what everyone did today!" I said.
"Well I'm sure you know I did today, I went to the mall to shop and look for the new cd of the boy band Achieve Men," said Yang.
"Jaune and I walked around the city looking at the sights," said Pyrrha.
"Ren and I went to a candy store!" exclaimed Nora.
"She dragged me all over, going from one candy to another," complained Ren looking exhausted.
"That sounds like you had a good time Nora, and Ren seemed to have had his day cut out for him," I said feeling bad for Ren. I thought that Nora had a thing for Ren but it seems that Nora and Ren are childhood friends. "What about you Weiss?"
"Well unlike everyone else here, I went to fix my weapon; I had to get it cleaned and sharpened, and I went to a dust shop and bought some more dust to use," said Weiss.
"Well, thank you for being responsible and all, but today was supposed to be a day to relax wasn't it? I asked.
"Yup!" piped Ruby.
"There you go, just have fun more Weiss and relieve stress by relaxing more," I suggested. Weiss was going to say something but she changed her mind and walked away to another seat away from everyone. Our ship landed not to long after and we all got off, with Jaune and I carrying Yang's bags again.
"This is not going to be fun," muttered Jaune.
"Hey Jaune, you carried these in town mostly, just stack the rest on me and I'll take over form here, get some rest buddy," I said. Jaune looked grateful and complied with my offer.
"Ok, that's all of it," announced Jaune.
"Alright, have a good night Jaune!" I said feeling the weight finally settling in as Jaune went ahead with the rest of team JNPR to their room.
"You got it Skylar?" asked Yang.
"No problem," I said. I carried Yang's bags all the way to team RWBY's room.
"Here we are, thanks Skylar for being such a sport!" thanked Yang.
"Sure thing, well I think I'll get some shut eye and read tomorrow then maybe start my writing later that day," I said.
"Good night Skylar!" said Ruby!
"See ya later!" Yang grinned.
"Night," stated Weiss.
"Good night," Blake gently spoke. "I enjoyed our day today, maybe we can do it again sometime."
"I would love too," I said smiling. I waved everyone goodbye and walked towards my room. I walked into my room and placed my new book and the Journal on the table; and I quickly changed into a pair of sweat pants and crawled into bed. Today was such a good day, no worries and I even found out who my dad might be! And even my time with Blake was great, I am so glad to be friends with everyone here. I thought in my head as I drifted off into a peaceful slumber.