Welcome to Phase 9 of Still Alive!

I'm really happy that this story came this far. And believe me when I say that this story is going to get more interesting in the future Phases.

Thanks guys, for all your support and reviews. Gives me the energy to write, like literally.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy Phase 9.

I do not own RWBY nor BlazBlue.

-IIXII-

The dining hall was as lively as always. Team RWBY and Team JNPR were seated at their table, chatting to one another about classes and such.

"I'm telling you guys! That woman started the whole fight with me first. All I wanted was a Strawberry Sunrise, and she told me to leave! Can you believe that?"

Yang was currently telling them about an incident that had transpired a few days ago, which involved herself entering a bar somewhere in Vale. Well, Yang being Yang, she simply trashed the whole place for unknown reasons.

"She was strong, I'll give her that. But eventually, she was overpowered by my Semblance."

Weiss merely rolled her eyes after she was done listening to the blonde brawler's tale. She then scoffed. "Yang, you should really stop getting yourself into trouble. If the police are after you, then don't expect me to help or anything."

The others nodded in agreement.

"B-But guys come on! It wasn't my fault!" Yang pouted as no one listened to her.

But fortunately enough one of them did.

"W-Well in my opinion it was her fault, because all you wanted was a drink. And if I remember correctly, you did asked kindly for that drink, did you not? Beating up your customers is pretty stupid, to be honest."

Upon turning to see the person who had just said that, it revealed to be none other than Kval himself.

"See!? I told you guys!" Yang exclaimed with a smug grin, winking at Kval afterwards. Kval, of course, smiled at her in return, right before taking a large bite out of his boiled egg.

"Hey, isn't that Cardin over there?" Ren sounded, causing everyone at the table to look at where he was currently looking.

A few tables away from them, they watched as Cardin and the rest of his team apologising to Velvet. And Velvet, on the other hand, was currently staring at the group of bullies with a confused expression, unsure of what to do. She was clearly puzzled, that much was clear.

But upon taking a closer look at Cardin's face, it showed that he looked as if he was forcing himself to do it. Though, it was no surprise. The day he would start being nice would be the day Ozpin would stop drinking all his coffee, and that's saying something apparently.

The sight was rather weird, simply because it was not everyday people get to see Cardin apologising to others.

"I wonder what happened to them," Jaune found himself saying.

After a few seconds of silence, everyone at the table slowly turned their heads to Kval.

And boy were they taken aback at the sight of the sly smile which was playing across his lips. Hell, he looked evil. Really evil.

"Are…are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, sounding concerned.

Kval quickly looked to Pyrrha, his earlier smile already converted into something that was much more kid friendly. "Yes, I'm fine," he answered. "Why asked?"

Ruby squinted her eyes. "You didn't…do anything to Team CRDL, did you?"

Kval shook his head sideways in response to that. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened really. I just had a talk with them. That's all."

Everyone quickly tore their eyes away from Kval, as they began imagining all the sinister things he could have possibly done to Team CRDL. If a simple talk from Kval was enough to make Cardin and his gang apologise to Velvet, then they did not want to think of what a small threat could do.

Noticing the silence, Kval couldn't help but scratch his cheek and chuckle nervously. "S-So guys, what class are we having next?" he inquired with a tilt of his head, successfully changing the subject.

"We'll be having History," Weiss answered.

"That…sounds interesting," Kval said, sounding genuinely interested at that. However, the groans which he received from the others greatly confused him. Did he do something to upset them?

"Trust me. You'd be surprised to see everyone falling asleep in Professor Oobleck's class. I know deep down he's a good guy and all, but I just can't stand him at times," Jaune said with another groan.

"Seriously, that guy talks way too fast. Not to mention he has an addiction towards coffee!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yeah, just like you and your cookies," Yang teased, which earned her an annoyed look from her younger sibling. "What? It's true!"

"Time we left guys. Lunch break is almost over," Ren announced. He eyed his friends with his magenta eyes, then stood up, quickly followed by Nora.

Yang sighed. "This is going to be a long day, isn't it?"

Kval looked to everyone with an awkward smile. "Well, I guess I should prepare myself then…"

The walk to their next class was quiet. No conversation whatsoever. Kval turned his head to his friends, and took notice of the gloomy looks on their faces. Though, Nora and Weiss seemed normal, along with Pyrrha.

If his friends were this gloomy just because of attending History Class, then there was probably an important thing they weren't telling him. Kval was curious, and so, he decided to satisfy his curiosity by simply asking the first person who came to mind.

"Hey Nora?"

The Valkyrie girl turned herself around with a cheerful grin. "Yes?"

He smiled. "About Professor Oobleck. Is he strict, or something?"

The energetic girl shook her head and answered his question in an instant. "He's not strict. He's just fast! Really fast! He's so fast that you could-" She was unable to continue as Ren covered her mouth with his hand.

The silent ninja stared at Kval, before shaking his head. "You're lucky. I just saved you from a lot of trouble."

This prompted the young vessel to give Ren an utterly confused look. "I-Is he…really that fast?"

After a couple more minutes of walking, the group of friends finally reached their destination. And upon entering, they noticed that the professor wasn't anywhere inside the classroom, which greatly confused them.

"That's weird. He's always in class before us," Ruby said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Professor Oobleck is probably getting his coffee. The guy needs energy to teach us, y'know," the leader of Team JNPR said as he went on to take his seat.

Time passed by, and students began to fill up the classroom. But the peaceful atmosphere did not last long, when the voice of Cardin Winchester caught some of the students' attention.

"Move it brat! That's my seat you're currently sitting on."

The tall bully was currently glaring at a student. The innocent guy was scared, obviously, and Cardin grinned at the sight. He felt powerful.

"Hurry up! Move-"

A chill ran down his spine.

"Cardin, have you forgotten what I told you before?"

Cardin slowly turned himself around, and to say that he was scared shitless was an understatement.

Kval was glaring daggers at him, tilting his head to the side as he did so. The bully started sweating all over when his eyes began to brightly glow.

"Sit somewhere else."

"B-But that's my seat!" Cardin shouted, terrified. However, he took a few steps back in fear when Kval rose up from his seat. "O-Okay okay! I get it! I'll sit somewhere else! Damn it!"

And with that, Cardin walked away, hoping that there was a free seat somewhere at the back of the classroom. He didn't dare turning around, not that he was planning to anyway, lest he wanted to die early.

The others stared at Kval in amazement. He simply sat back down with a smile, acting like nothing happened.

"W-Well…that was a thing," Yang stuttered, eyeing him. Scratched that, everyone in class was eyeing him, though he did not seemed bothered by it.

That is, until a certain someone with messy green hair zipped his way inside the classroom with a small cup of coffee in his hand.

"My apologies for being late, class! Something urgent came up!"

After taking a good look at the person who had came in so suddenly with no warning whatsoever, Kval found himself feeling horrified and terrified at the same time. All the memories of his past came flooding back to him like a huge tsunami.

It was painful.

And why was he here!?

"Terumi!"

Professor Oobleck was slightly startled by the sudden shouting, and was confused when Kval suddenly rose up from his seat and started shooting death glares right at him.

"What are you doing here!?" Kval shouted again, his body trembling ever so slightly.

"My boy…I have no idea what you are going on about," Professor Oobleck said to him in a very calm and professional manner. He took a quick sip of his coffee, eyeing Kval's every move just in case if anything were to happen.

"Don't play dumb with me. Because of you…"

Dark energy began engulfing Kval's entire frame, and not too long after that, three serpents came appearing right behind him.

"Snakey!" Nora called out while grinning, not fully understanding the situation.

"Kazuma, wait! He's Professor Oobleck! Don't hurt him!" Ruby yelled out. She tried holding him in place by wrapping her arms around his waist from behind, preventing him from getting any closer to Oobleck. Though it was all in vain. Kval was still able to take a step forward with ease.

"My boy, I think you're mistaking me for someone else," Professor Oobleck calmly added as he eyed the serpents. Slowly, he reached for his thermos. "Now, calm down."

"You're trying to trick me again, aren't you?" Kval growled. Though, before he could do anything, a certain cat faunus decided to slam her thick Ninjas of Love book into his head from behind, thus immediately rendering him unconscious. And thanks to her, the serpents quickly began to fade away.

Everyone looked to her in utter shock, and she simply returned the stares with an indifferent expression.

"We can't have him hurting anyone," Blake pointed out, shrugging.

-IIXII-

His head hurt.

Kval couldn't help but let out a painful groan. He slowly sat himself up in the bed which he was currently on, holding the side of his head in pain soon after.

"What…happened?"

Kval slowly opened his eyes, and soon found himself staring into a pair of amber ones. In fact, the two intimidating orbs were currently glaring daggers at him.

"E-Eh?"

Kval tilted his head slightly in confusion, not minding the glare at all, before his eyes started widening in horror when everything from before suddenly came rushing back into his mind. "N-No! Where is he!?" he shouted.

"Calm down!" Blake snapped, before giving out a tired sigh. "We're in our dorm room, and you were lucky Professor Oobleck was nice enough to excuse you for the rest of the day," she explained in a calm manner. "And that includes me as well. I was ordered to watch over you in case if anything bad happens."

This prompted Kval to calm down somewhat. But even then, he couldn't help but still feel a bit uneasy about all this. Though it was understandable why. "So, he's…Professor Oobleck?"

Blake nodded in response. She eyed him for a couple of seconds, before deciding to ask him a question of her own.

"Now tell me. What happened back there?"

Kval quickly looked elsewhere, clearly trying to avoid direct eye contact. "I-I don't know what you're talking about…" he muttered.

Blake, not having none of that, immediately reached out and smacked the back of Kval's head with an annoyed expression.

"Ow!"

"You tried to kill Professor Oobleck!" she snapped once more.

All Kval could do was stare at the floor in shame.

"H-He just…triggered some bad memories. I wasn't thinking straight."

Walking up to the side of the bed, Blake lowered herself down and stared him in the eyes.

"Terumi," she said.

"Eh!?" Kval immediately faced his faunus friend with a shocked look, only to quickly avert his gaze away from her upon realising his mistake. "U-Um…well…"

Sighing, Blake smacked the back of his head once more, though this time it was not as hard as before. She probably did that on purpose.

"O-Ow…" Kval rubbed his head slightly, still looking elsewhere. "You just had to do that…"

"You're not going to tell me?" Blake asked. She grabbed a nearby chair and placed it beside the bed, then slowly sat down. "The others were really worried when I knocked you out," she murmured, earning an irritating look from her green-haired teammate.

"And whose fault was that?"

Blake narrowed her eyes. "Well then, what did you expect me to do!?"

Silence was all she received.

Then a sigh was heard.

"You really want to know?"

Blake perked up a bit at the sudden question, eyeing Kval curiously as she nodded.

"If you say so."

"I'll just stay quiet then," Blake said.

"Good. Now, remember when I told you that I was a vessel?" Blake slowly nodded, and seeing that she was paying absolute attention, Kval continued. "Then you asked me who I was created for, correct?" Blake nodded once more.

"Well, I was supposed to be a vessel for someone dangerous. And his name…was Yuuki Terumi."

Blake gasped, undoubtedly caught off-guard. "B-But what about Professor Oobleck back there!? What does he have anything to do with this Terumi person?"

"Well," Kval paused. "Professor Oobleck looks a lot like him."

Blake's jaw dropped.

"But…I guess I overreacted. Terumi was sealed away by…someone. Long ago, I guess."

Blake gulped. "W-Wow…" She then moved her gaze down at her feet. "Your past…sounds a bit rough."

Kval laughed bitterly at her little statement, which did not go unnoticed as she focused in on him again almost immediately.

"You have no idea what I've been through. Because of Terumi…I went insane…" His voice cracked, and Blake could have sworn that she had heard him wrong.

And so, she repeated for confirmation.

"I-Insane?"

Kval nodded.

"W-What happened?" Blake asked, concerned. She wanted to know more. About his past. She just has to.

"He's like a ghost, you see, and I was created specifically for him."

Blake nodded slowly, taking note of the tears forming in his eyes.

"He tricked me. Terumi was rather insane, and after inhabiting my mind for so long, I went insane myself." Kval held up his hands in front of him, silently staring at them with a tragic look in his eyes. "I did a lot of unforgivable things, Blake. I…I even killed a close friend…because of him."

Blake gasped, eyes widened in horror. "W-What…?"

"But after arriving here and meeting you guys, I'm not insane anymore. I still don't know the answer to that, however." Kval dropped his hands back down. Slowly, he turned his head to face a still shocked Blake, and offered her a pitiful and sad little smile.

And now all Blake could do was look at him.

"I-I messed up back there. It's my fault. And because of me, she died. I was a fool. Blake, please…keep this quiet…" Kval tilted his head slightly, his sad smile still present. Tears began trickling down his cheeks, but he paid it no mind. "…will you?"

Blake was speechless. She could not even comprehend what he had just told her. This innocent looking individual had actually murdered someone, and a close friend at that. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't terrified. Sure, she was a member of the White Fang in the past, but who said that she didn't regret her actions during her missions with her previous partner?

Unlike her previous partner, Blake wasn't a cold-hearted person. She knew how wrong it was to kill an innocent human.

Of course, she had gone out and kill a few before, but that was because she was forced to. Kval, on the other hand, was a different story entirely. He killed a friend due to sheer insanity, but after regaining back his sanity, he regretted his actions and was unable forgive himself. The feeling was much more devastating than how she felt when she began to realise how different the White Fang had became over the years and all the things she had done.

It…must have been painful.

Blake quickly snapped back to reality and took a good long look at Kval, who had been sobbing with his face buried in his hands for the past minute. Acting on instinct, she rose up from her chair and hugged the vessel's head to her chest, much to his surprise.

"Don't worry, Kazuma. I won't tell anyone. I promise," Blake said in a soft voice. She then started stroking his hair gently to offer him some comfort. Though in all honesty, Blake had never comforted anyone before, but she could clearly tell that it was working, albeit slowly.

Then after what felt like an eternity, Kval was finally calm enough to speak.

"T-Thank you, Blake. It means a lot to me." Kval sounded tired, but Blake could tell that he was smiling. "You're the best…" he added.

"It's alright, Kazuma," Blake whispered, smiling softly with her eyes closed. "I'll keep it quiet. I won't tell a soul."

"Y-Yeah. Um…c-could you please…l-let go of me now?"

Blake seemed puzzled. She opened one of her eyes and looked down at Kval.

"Hm?"

She could feel his face heating up at her chest, which confused her even more.

"They're…t-too soft," Kval mumbled.

And with that, Blake immediately released Kval's head and took a few steps back due to sheer embarrassment. She then started to fidget, her cheeks as bright as a tomato. "I-I um…I'm so sorry…" she mumbled out.

"I-It's okay. But I'm the one who should be sorry though." Kval scratched his cheek, looking all disappointed for some reason.

"Why should you be?" Blake found herself asking, utterly puzzled.

"Well, you missed History Class today because of me. S-So I apologise for that."

Blake silently stared at Kval for what seemed like a decade, before quickly smacking him at the back of his head for worrying over something so trivial "Let's just call it even then, since I knocked you out cold in class earlier," she said.

"H-Hey! I completely forgot about that!" Kval yelled out.

"Serves you right…" Blake rolled her eyes, but then suddenly her cheeks started becoming red as a thought crossed her mind. "W-Well…t-take that hug earlier as an apology from me then," she mumbled.

"E-Eh?" Kval went as red as a strawberry in an instant. "U-Um…i-if you say so," he mumbled, earning a nod from Blake.

"Good."

"O-Oh, and Blake?" Kval called out.

Blake slowly turned to the vessel, still blushing from earlier. "Yes?"

"W-Well…" Kval pressed his fingers together, embarrassed. "C-Can you…t-take off your bow for me? I want to see how they look like."

And boy did she light up even more after that.

"S-Shut up!"

-IIXII-

And that's the end of Phase 9.

I hope you guys enjoyed it, because I prepared some Artificial Cat fluff in this Phase. Although, it was pretty short and I'm not really good at this sort of stuff. I'm also bad at writing sad things, soyeah.

Anyway, see you guys later in Phase 10!