The Hood of Remnant
Chapter 5: Black Ribbon and Sheng Biao
"Thanks for the ribbon Blake. But I believe in returning tenfold, so." Shay said to Blake after a little moment. Rolling up his left sleeve, he revealed his Sheng Biao. "Shay, you don't have to." Blake started, but was interrupted by the small clicking of the clips being removed from their buttoned position. "I want you to have this one. Keep your spare ribbon. You might need it someday." He said. "But what about you? You don't have a spare do you?" Blake argued. "You're right, I don't, but come on. I have too many combat choices as it is, and if I'm going to use the ribbon, I'll need to remove the Sheng Biao anyway. If you have it, then I'll know it's safe." He said, with honesty. "You trust me with this?" Blake questioned. "Exactly like you trust me with your ribbon." He replied smiling. 'You're a good person Shay.' Blake allowed her mind to wander, taking care not to speak out loud.
Shay took Blake's wrist and fitted the Sheng Biao launcher onto the back of her arm, lightly tightening the straps around her forearm to fit comfortably. Leaving the launcher ring hanging for Blake to put on later. "Please do use it won't you?" he said as he let go of her wrist.
"Shay, I'd best get back to my dorm, the other's will be starting to worry." Blake said attempting to stand up. After falling back into her seated position, she made another attempt this time making it. "Alright Blake, I'm coming with you. I can't help but feel that your team isn't impressed with me at the moment. Maybe if they know you're safe with me, they can gradually build up some level of trust." He said with hope. Blake only smiled at this. "Don't worry about it Shay, they will get used to you. It took Weiss twelve hours to come to terms with the fact that I was a Faunus. She thought I was associated with The White Fang at first. But in the end she didn't even care. Ruby and Yang in true fashion just accepted it right away. Nobody else knows now apart from you, the rest of my team, and Ozpin." She said hobbling over to the door. Shay opened it promptly for her. "You still didn't answer my other question…" Blake let out a subtle chuckle. "Of course you can walk me back to my dorm."
-RWBY Dorm-
"Ok, I swear if she isn't back in one minute, I'm going looking for her." Yang was pacing the room with Weiss waiting for Blake to return. Ruby had gotten into bed already but the other two remained adamant that they would wait for Blake to return before going to sleep. "C'mon Weiss you said that three times in the last three minutes." "Where you really counting the seconds Yang?" "YES!" "Would you guys to go to bed already?" Ruby rang out from her bunk. "NO!" was the resounding answer from Weiss. Ruby quietly grumbled before covering her ears with her pillow.
(CLICK) The door opens, Yang and Weiss immediately go to greet the person entering, but realise suddenly that it wasn't who they were expecting. In the doorway stood Shay. "What do you want?" was the immediate greeting from Yang. "Woah steady on, I was just bringing Blake back to you." He explained quickly. "Oh yea? Well where is she?" As if on cue Blake poked her head around the corner of the doorway. "Be nice to him." She said hopping through the doorway towards her bed.
"Oh hi Blake didn't see you there. If we'd have known you were with him, we might have been a little nicer." Weiss said as she returned to her bed. "I mean it. Be nice. He has been very kind. The least he deserves is the same in return. Anyway Yang, wasn't it your idea to welcome him to Beacon? You should have no quarrel with Shay." Blake explained as she sat down.
The sound of fire crackling suddenly subsided, Shay was pretty sure there was a fireplace somewhere in this room. The door slammed shut behind him by Yang. "Alright buster, interrogation time. SIT!" Weiss ushered Shay over to a chair that had been sitting next to one of the beds. Shay sat, deciding to go along with their little game of good cop-bad cop. "Name." Yang started abruptly. Shay complied "Shay Lang." "Weapons and their names." Weiss states. "Katana and Wakizashi, Rai and Jang. One Sheng Biao, nameless." "Why is it nameless?" Yang questions further. This hit a dark corner of Shay, but he held his nerves. "My adoptive father gifted it to me on my sixth birthday, fashioned it from his own hands, told me that if I was to become a huntsman, then I would need tools of the trade, he never named the Sheng Biao, when he died. I saw fit to keep it nameless, in his honour." Shay explained, diving into a little bit of his childhood. "That's fine by me." Yang stated flatly. "Siblings." Weiss states, continuing down a large list that she was holding. "One sister, not blood related, her name is Mai. I've been the closest thing to a role model for her entire life." Once again Shay dived into a little bit of history. "Do you guys really need to be asking him all these personal questions?" Blake managed to query between Yang and Weiss' interrogation. A simple "Yes." was the reply from the two girls. "Semblance." Weiss stated again going down the list. Shay paused. "I don't know. I have had two semblance related occurrences in my life. Both were different, so I am yet to determine a sole acting semblance." Yang and Weiss were not convinced. "C'mon Shay, tell us the truth. No student could get into Beacon without a semblance and you know it." Weiss chimed. "It is the truth, I have no solid semblance that I can give a name to." Yang began to grow impatient, Weiss' question was taking too long for her liking. "So what if Shay hasn't discovered his semblance yet. Jaune didn't discover his full potential until second year. And Nora is still yet to show even a slight hint at hers." Blake intervened. "I think you've asked enough questions guys. Lights out in five minutes." Ruby added. "Yea, lights out. Is that an actual thing here?" Shay questioned. "It's for first and second years. First years fall under a curfew law until they are fully familiar with the surrounding grounds. Third years well they can stay out longer than normal but when they return to the dorms lights will not work, at all, so they have to fumble about in the dark." Yang said. Shay took a mental note of this, he usually liked to stalk around the shadows at night, though that may be a cat Faunus thing that he has. He used it as a method of meditation. Traversing land in the dark made him more aware of his surroundings, and the silence of night allowed him to train his hearing.
"Hometow…" "YANG!" Yang began another question, but was immediately silenced by Ruby's sharp tone, "Enough. Please go to sleep." Yang would never question her sister's authority, so she complied. "That goes for you too Weiss." She extended the order to the heiress. "Wait where'd he go?" Weiss questioned turning to see the chair empty. "He left while you two were arguing with our leader. Wait arguing is not the right word… being ordered, that's the right one." Blake said lying on her side, facing Weiss.
-Hallway-
Having had enough of the shouting that was going on the dorm, Shay decided to leave quietly while the attention was turned to their leader. 'I really don't know how Blake puts up with them. They're wild, but, I have to admit they are very protective of her. So maybe I have that in common with them.' He let his mind wander before shaking himself out of it. "Wait, I protect Blake? Pfft, don't be daft Shay." He said to himself. "I wouldn't call it daft." A voice sounded, at the end of the hallway. Shay recognised it from that morning. "Show yourself." He said, wanting to lure out the person that he presumably owned the voice. They complied walking out from the shadows a tall man appeared to shay, he wore the same forest green attire with pink accents that he had been wearing before.
"You must be Ren." Shay stated. "That's right. And you're Shay. I over heard the conversation. You were having with yourself." He said calmly, Shay leaned against the wall. "Oh did you now." He questioned, Ren immediately dodged the question and went straight to the point. "Blake is not your usual huntress. She has seen things, heard things and done things that no person should ever have to. She is always improving her skills, always ready for the next fight. In the arena, she observes every manoeuvre, checks for any weaknesses, examines every strategy, after two or three sparring sessions, she'll truly know everything about you. I should know, Nora does the exact same. It's a form of analytical fighting. Yang for example is the complete opposite, using anger to fuel every punch that she throws, it can sometimes be very predictable." There was a small pause. "What I'm saying is… Don't underestimate Blake, she can hold her own."
Shay stood silently, taking on board all that Ren had just said. "Quick question Ren. Why tell me all this?" Ren remained composed at this question. "I've said this before. Team RWBY always performs exceptionally in the field. As does team CFVY, and my team JNPR. We are all a single unit, and we all teach each other new things. I'm sure team SFIR will be exactly the same." Something twitched in Shay's head. "Wait, how do you know about team SFIR?" He questioned the stoic quickly. "You haven't seen the posters?" "What posters?" "Ok you haven't seen the posters. They are dotted around the academy. It shows the face of each team member. You're the only one on it so far. I imagine that the other three will be filled in soon." Shay was slightly relieved at this. "Does it say who the team leader is?" he questioned further. Ren only shook his head to say no. "I imagine that when each member arrives it will be filled in." Shay remembered back to the conversation he had with Ozpin earlier that day. "Two of them will arrive tomorrow, the final one will arrive the next. Ozpin said that earlier." Shay stated. Suddenly the lights in the hallway switched off. "Damn." Was Shay's blunt response. He could hear Ren turn and start to walk away. "Goodnight Shay." was all that Ren said as he returned to his dorm. Deciding that he was tired enough to get a light sleep Shay decided that he would also retire.
-Elsewhere in Beacon | Midnight-
A mysterious female figure stood in front of one of the posters depicting team SFIR, one of the pictures faded in, showing a girl with aqua hair, fair skin, and jade green eyes, shorter than average. The name showed up underneath as Ilona Greni. She observed Shay's picture for a moment. "Hm, Welcome to Beacon Ilona." She stood for a little while before she heard sound of somebody approaching. Another picture faded in on the poster. "Fiela Chen." She said silently to herself. "That is the name, don't overuse it." Turning she saw a tall girl standing before her. "We're on the same team Shorty." Fiela said grinning. "Please don't call me that." Was the girl's response. "Come on, let's get to the dorm before it gets any later."
-SFIR Dorm-
Shay awoke to a subtle tapping on the door. He had been in a light sleep for around half an hour. Clearly a little annoyed by the sudden interruption he walked over to the door and tapped back before opening the door. "Yes?" he questioned, unable to see the two girls standing in front of him. "Are you Shay?" one of the girls asked. "Yes. You must be Ilona. And you're Fiela." "Get in quick before people start investigating the noise." The two girls walked into the dark room, barely able to see, the moonlight provide some light around the window but not much. "There are three beds available. Pick one, and get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." Shay said as he lay back down on his bed. "And trust me, you'll need it."
A/N
(07/04/15) – US
(04/07/15) – UK
Ok, so it's my last day on the cruise, no stops today just straight back to England arriving at 4am tomorrow as of writing this.
Started and finished this chapter in the space of two hours, which isn't bad. It took me five days to get chapter four done and it was already started.
Anyway. I'll probably post another 'A/N' before this gets uploaded.
Luv u long tiem
A Blank 'A/N' Hurr Hurr