Disclaimer: I don't have the animation skills to own RWBY.

Author's note: I feel like I forced character development in this chapter but if the characters never change it's not a very interesting story. *Shrugs* It might also be the case that I'm dead tired but I couldn't get to sleep so I finished this chapter off. If you see any dreadful grammatic errors blame insomnia.

School was of course dreadfully boring for the most part. I did manage to test out on math though. It was during one math class where everyone else was learning basic addition and subtraction I was literally so bored I fell asleep at my desk. I was rudely awoken though by a ruler slamming down right next to my head. Now Ms. Brown was one of those teachers everyone loves to hate.

She had a stick so far up her ass it was a wonder she could even bend over. In addition she didn't teach us so much as demanded obedience from us. Basically she would lord over us with her 'superior' intellect and we were supposed to respect her for it. Anyways here how it went down.

A loud bang startled me awake and I heard a shrill voice above me. "Mr. Hood do you find my class boring?" Quite annoyed with her and still a little groggy from my impromptu nap I responded with the first thing that came to mind.

"Dreadfully boring ma'am." I could almost see her puff up in righteous self-importance. Do bear in mind that this is a class of 5 year olds.

"Tut, tut Mr. Hood. How will you get by in life if you couldn't bother to learn mathematics?"

"I already know this."

"Oh you do really? Well then you should have no problem with the problems on the chalkboard." I was getting a little annoyed at this point. Sure it was my bad that I fell asleep but trying to shame me in front of the class was unnecessary.

"Fine." I muttered as I walked up to the chalkboard and quickly wrote the correct answer for each of the 5 problems, they were simple addition problems. Turning back around I saw Ms. Brown's lips had pursed and her eyes had narrowed.

"Hm, maybe you do know something but regardless of that there will be no sleeping in my class Mr. Hood." She reached into her desk and withdrew a slip of paper. Quickly jotted something down she handed it to me. "Take this to the principal's office. He will decide your punishment."

'Wow first week of school and I'm already a delinquent.' I flashed a grin and a small wave to Holo and Gretel on my way out. Almost as soon as I exited the room I realized I had no idea where the principal's office even was. Sighing, I gave a halfhearted search around the school until a hall monitor found me and brought me to the principal's office.

So here I was sitting across from this slightly balding old man as he examined the note Ms. Brown gave me. Setting the note down and leaning towards me he finally spoke. "Do you know why you are here today Mr. Hood?"

"I do. I fell asleep during Ms. Brown's class. I won't deny that, but I can tell you why that happened." I paused for a moment. "I remember your speech about surpassing the current generation and how it all started here at school. When I heard that I was super excited to begin and make my parents proud of me." A total lie. I felt like school was a waste of time for the level I'm at. That being said I do want to make my parents proud of me.

"So I was disappointed when I had my first few class and found myself unchallenged by the course work. It got so bad that I literally fell asleep in class. If I had a chance I could prove that, at least in math, I am far ahead of my class."

I could feel his eyes bore into mine searching for something as I stared right back at him. Whatever he saw he slowly nodded. "You shall get your chance then. I can have my secretary get all the end of the year math tests up to junior high and you can take them. Regardless of how you do on them I will still have to punish you in some way. If you do well I will mitigate the punishment and conversely I will be harsher on you if you fail. Do you understand?"

Wow. I didn't actually expect him to do that but sure it works out in my favor I guess. "I do."

"Wait here then. I'll be right back."

10 minutes later he returned with a stack of paper. He handed them over along with a pencil. "You will have 30 minutes for each test and there are 6 test in total. Begin whenever."

I silently flipped over the first page and began to work. As soon as I was done I set it off to the side whereupon the principal picked it up and began looking it over. This continued until I was done with the last test and I just sat there while he looked it over. When he was done he started tapping his fingers against his desk absentmindedly.

"You know I've seen a lot of students sitting in front of me over the years that have tried to weasel out of a punishment with a lie or an excuse and honestly I didn't expect you to pass these tests. You've actually exceeded my expectations which is excellent by the way. I do love to see children push ahead in life. Tell me do you know what you want to be when you grow up?"

Taken aback by his abrupt change in subjects I took a moment to consider. "I would like to be a Hunter sir."

"Hm, a Hunter you say." He seemed to be deep in thought. "It is a noble profession. You fight to hold back the tide of Grimm that ever seeks our destruction but have you considered doing more?"

"More sir?"

His next words were very solemn. "We need more than just Hunters to fight Grimm. We need people smart enough to invent new ways to combat them, to take the fight to them. We need the kind of people who built Atlas's robots. We need scientists desperately. You don't need to decide now of course, but I want you to think on it as you grow up. As it is I am going to recommend that you receive a tutor in mathematics or you attend a higher level math course than what we offer here."

I frowned in thought at not being a Hunter. I had actually become so infatuated with my Aura I had never considered not using it in some way. I had wanted to continually push myself as far as I could and see what new heights I could find. Being a Hunter would be a big part of it because I was convinced that the higher forms of Aura manipulation were restricted to Hunters only.

This would have to be thought out more, but later not now. It would be impolite to just drift off in front of the principal. "I'll consider it sir." I said noncommittally.

"That's all that I ask. Now on to other matters. I need to call your mother to inform her of what you've done and what should happen now that I've seen you have a gift for mathematics."

My eyes widened and I sunk down in the chair. 'Oh, no mom is scary when she's angry. I don't want any more special lessons in Aura.' The last special lesson was about how to take a hit with Aura and I had nearly collapsed afterwards. 'Maybe the good news will outweigh the bad.'

I was sent out to wait in the lobby for my mom to arrive. 20 minutes later mom arrived in the lobby and spotting me sitting there made her way over. When I first saw my mom I was cautiously optimistic. She didn't seem to be angry with me which was a positive in my book.

Walking up to me she ruffled my hair around. "Hey sweetie I heard you got in a little trouble for sleeping in class because you weren't challenged enough. I always said you were too smart for your own good. Let's go see the principal, alright?"

I didn't really have much input in the conversation between my mom and the principal. They were mostly just discussing options for me and potentially more testing in different areas to see if I could skip any other courses. The only time I did speak up was when they spoke about transferring me to a different school all together.

I had denied that option and said that I didn't want to leave my friends behind. The principal had commended my loyalty and my mom sported an annoying smirk. It was probably from recalling what happened a few days ago with Holo. Regardless that option was taken off the table.

In the end I would take some additional tests to see where the end of my talents in math were and we would go from there. When it was finally over there wasn't much time left before school would let out and we decided to stick around and wait for Holo to be released. She was talking with Gretel when she left the building, but when she saw us she bolted our way after throwing a quick goodbye over her shoulder as she ran.

"Are you okay? Are you in trouble? Was the principal mean?" A stream of questions flowed out of her all of them concerning my wellbeing while her ears twitched wildly. It was adorable really, but my mom answered before I did.

"Holo, can you wait until dinner? I want to talk about it with everyone, okay?" I don't know what set it off but my mom's words didn't seem to reassure Holo at all. In fact she looked like she was on the verge of crying.

Quickly I reached out and took her hand. "Holo, it's fine. There is nothing wrong mom just wants to talk about it later."

"Really?" Her eyes were still watery but they seemed to be clearing up.

"Yep I promise." That was apparently enough for her and the rest of the walk home was spent listening to Holo talk about all the classes I missed and how the other kids talked about me. Since I never came back the rumors had ranged from me being expelled to going off to fight Grimm and rescuing princesses. Not really sure how the latter one came about but I blame it on kids over active imaginations.

Now you may be wondering why we were having dinner with the Lawersons and it was simple really. Mom could cook a decent meal but her real talent rests in deserts while my dad can somehow burn water. We had found out shortly after meeting Kraft that he used to be a head chef at a fancy restaurant but had quit to spend more time with Holo after she was born. We had also found out that he still absolutely loves to cook and so a tradition was born.

We would supply the necessary ingredients and Kraft would cook dinner. It was a good deal for all of us. We got to enjoy professionally cooked meals and the Lawersons got a free meal while Kraft got to enjoy seeing people enjoy his passion again. Anyways my mom had told everyone what had happened at school today and what could potentially happen in the near future.

My dad and Kraft had praised me but Holo was strangely quiet and withdrawn after the announcement. She just played with her food for the rest of the meal and all my gently inquiries as to what was troubling her were rebuffed soundly. I could still see that something was really bothering her by her drooped ears. Everyone else picked up on it as well so when she asked to stay the night it was fine with the parents.

Coincidentally, since Kraft has a night job Holo has stayed over at our house many a time in the past two years. I think that Kraft usually left her at a friend's house each night so she wouldn't be alone before we arrived into their lives. It wasn't a perfect arrangement by any means but then again nothing ever is. He actually admitted to thinking of getting back into his old job now that Holo was old enough to go to school and he couldn't interact with her as much during the day.

Eventually the meal ended and saying his goodbyes Kraft left for his night job leaving Holo behind with us. Holo's mood didn't really improve after the meal and she continued to sulk about something. Nothing I did really improved her mood and eventually I gave it up for the moment. If they're not ready to talk about it that's fine. Sometimes you just have to let someone come to you with their problems instead of picking at it like a scab.

Time passed by and eventually the sun set and everyone went to bed without Holo confiding in anyone about what was bugging her. I drifted off to sleep just a little bit annoyed that she wouldn't let me help solve whatever her problem was. Oh well maybe tomorrow.

Something woke me suddenly. I didn't quite know what was going on but something had changed in my room and woke me up. I glanced around the room to see what had disturbed me but the room was immersed in shadows. A creak came from the doorway and I focused my attention there.

"Alan are you awake?" I heard the whispered voice of Holo coming from the hallway.

Relaxing considerably I whispered back, "Yeah I am. Do you need something?"

Her voice sounded hesitant and unsure now. "C-Can we talk? I can come back later if you don't want to."

I was frowning internally now. 'Was this about her bad mood earlier or did something happen that I didn't know about?' "Of course we can come on in." I leaned over and pulled the chain for the lamp bathing the dark room with glowing light. Meanwhile Holo had slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. Taking a moment I studied her appearance.

She was obviously unsure about something with the amount of fidgeting going on but something had also obviously upset because her ears were flat against her head and her eyes looked puffy as well. Along with her pink onesie and bedhead hair she looked thoroughly disheveled.

Scooting over I lifted the blankets covering me and patted the mattress beside me. She had probably been waiting for me to make some kind of move first because as soon as I finished the motion I saw her blur across the room and felt her slam into my side. By now I was fully awake and thoroughly confused about what was going on. I know she's sad about something but I have no idea what she is sad about.

Suddenly I could feel a damp spot growing around my shoulder right where Holo's head was. 'Is she crying?' My brain kind of froze as I tried to figure out what to do. After a few seconds I slowly wrapped my arms around her, hugging her to my chest. I could feel her stiffen at the movement then relax as I gently rubbed her back.

It took a while but she calmed down enough that we could actually talk. "You said you wanted to talk about something?" I tried to keep my tone as soft as possible while I kept slowly rubbing her back. I heard her say something but it was muffled by my blue onesie. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I had a bad dream."

"Oh, what was it about?"

"It was silly."

"Holo can you look at me for a second." Her head was shaken vigorously back and forth. "Please. Can you do it for me?" A couple seconds passed by and I thought she wasn't going to do it but then she slowly lifted her head. Her red irises were surrounded by her red and puffy eyes from all the crying she had just done.

"If something upset you this much then it is never silly and if you don't tell me what's bothering you I can't help you fix it. Do you understand?" She slowly nodded then buried her head back into my shoulder. "Now do you want to tell me about your bad dream?"

Slowly but then picking up steam she told me about it. "Everything was black and I didn't know where I was. I tried to call out for help but nobody answered me and then I saw you. You were just out of arms reach and I tried to get your attention but you didn't hear me. Then I tried to catch you but you were always just out of my reach no matter how fast I ran. Then you started getting farther and farther away and I tried everything to catch you until you disappeared and left me in the darkness."

"Holo that sounds awful I'm sorry you had to have a dream like that." Another thought hit me. "Is that why you were sad this evening? Did you feel like I was leaving you behind?" The tightening of her arms around my chest was an answer enough.

"Oh Holo, I would never just leave you behind." The pressure on my ribs was almost bone crushing now and I subtly deployed my Aura. Like I said she's a lot stronger than she looks. "If you ever feel like I'm leaving you behind you can do one of two things. You can give up,' she looked up sharply at that, 'or you can strive to improve yourself. To stand beside me and hopefully surpass me. Just know that I will never leave you behind, but I would much prefer someone who can stand beside me as an equal rather than a follower."

"You should also know that I will always provide you with help all you have to do is ask. I can't help you if I don't know you have a problem, alright?"

"I understand." I could see a glimmer of determination deep within her red eyes. Good she'll need that later in life.

"Do you want to talk about anything else?" A shake of the head and then a huge yawn was her response. "Let's get some sleep, okay?" We settled in and as I reached over to turn off the lamp I heard Holo whisper out.

"Love you Alan."

"Love you too Holo." The light turned off plunging the room back into darkness, yet it didn't seem so dark anymore.

Unbeknownst to Alan and Holo Ariel had gone to the kitchen for a glass of water and seeing a glow coming from Alan's room had stopped to make sure the kids weren't up and getting into trouble. Just as she was about to enter she had heard Holo softly crying and squashing the instinct to burst into the room she had listened. At the end when the glow turned off she was left standing in the hallway softly smiling. 'You may be too smart for your own good my little prince charming, but this time it worked out just fine.' Quietly turning around she headed back to her room, water forgotten after her snoop session.