A/N: So I'm now in college. I have homework and shit. Ugh.

So, this might mean my updates take longer than usual. In fairness, a chapter takes me anywhere from 2 to 4 days to write, edit, and publish. It just takes way longer to get up inspiration for one.

So yeah. Timeline altered, new OC's introduced, etc, etc. Also, on ELSV's two other members:

Lilla Ostrum is a glaive fighter, with a dark purple pixie cut and yellow eyes (more true yellow than Blake's). She's not as much of a bitch as she acts. Credit to Frenchy, who is awesome.

Eirian "Ventus" Lunadant is the meekest member, and the little brother type. He's sort of in the middle of short and tall, with a trim build. His arms are very strong, a side effect of his archery. He has a tan, shortish black-green hair, grey-green eyes, etc. He dresses like a modern archer, with obvious differences. Credit to Key18 for the character concept, weapon, Semblance, and personality, and Ghost for helping out on the appearance.

As far as why fights go differently than they do in canon: people here are specialists, not multitools of mass destruction. Blanc is a close-range fighter, so he'll be better at it than, say, Ruby, who mixes long and mid range. Weiss is a mid-range fighter, with limited close range abilities. Most of her skills are Dust-centered.

And finally, before I start, I need to cover about… 6 months of time. I'm guessing that Beacon starts in September. The replacement for the Vytal Tourney takes place in April-ish. Send in ideas for chapters, scenes you'd like, or questions I can address. The Vytal Tournament takes place NEXT YEAR, and the villains plans get pushed back because they are terrified of what Blanc would do if they hit his Berserk Button again. And then there're the other unknowns in Beacon's arsenal.


RWBYS

Chapter Eight

Have some Class, Man!


Monday


Ruby was not normally one to be awake at 6:30 in the morning, preferring to sleep in until the sun was up and breakfast was ready. But something had woken her up, and she wasn't quite sure what. She lay still for a moment to try and detect any foreign sounds that might have woken her up, but she couldn't.

A normal person might have gone back to sleep, but anyone who signed their life away to fighting monsters had an unhealthy streak of curiosity. Ruby slid out of her bed, landing lightly on the floor with a wince as her foot hit slightly wrong. She looked at her teammates. Weiss was sleeping soundly, somehow stiff even while asleep. Yang was sprawled every which way. Blake was curled up like a cat. Blanc, however, was conspicuously absent. In the predawn light, he should have been instantly noticeable with his bright silver hair. But instead, he was conspicuous by virtue of his absence. Frowning slightly, the young team leader slid on her slippers and went to look for her friend, noticing that Blanc's twin weapons were still hanging from the stand he'd set up.

Ruby's first stop was the dorm hall's common area, and her hunch was spot on. Her friend was seated in one of the windows, watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee in hand. Unlike usual, though, he wasn't smiling even a bit; he looked troubled, upset even.

"Hey, Blanc. You alright?" Ruby asked as she walked over to him, nearly tripping over a chair leg on the way. She recovered in her usual graceful fashion, nearly tripping on top of her friend.

Blanc turned to look at the younger Hunter, starting to nod, then shaking his head. "Hey Red. You're up early."

Ruby shrugged. "I woke up about five minutes ago and saw you were gone." She sat down beside Blanc, looking out the window for a few moments before returning her attention to her teammate. "You're worried, aren't you?"

"What gives you that idea?" Blanc demanded, looking at her askance.

"You're not smiling, and you're always smiling." Ruby smiled at the boy, half amused and half disbelievingly. "You were smiling the entire time we fought Roman's guys."

"Roman?" Blanc asked, drawing a blank on the name for a minute. "Oh! You mean the guy cosplaying the one movie guy!" He laughed quietly, nodding. "Yeah, that was fun."

"Fun? Why was that fun?!" Ruby demanded, glaring. "People almost died!"

Instead of responding, Blanc seemed to sink further into his depression, staring out the window again. His smile was gone too, replaced by a troubled frown. After waiting a minute, Ruby reached over and pushed him gently. "What's the matter? You're never this quiet."

Blanc turned to look at his captain, then sighed with a troubled scowl. Hesitantly, he asked, "Ruby… You're my friend, right?"

Ruby scowled at him, offended. "Of course I am! What kind of question is that?!"

"And… If you found out something about me you didn't like… You'd still say that?" Blanc asked, his eyes vulnerable for once, all of his usual defenses gone and his masks removed.

Ruby blinked, not used to having Blanc sound so… well, vulnerable. "I am your friend, Blanc. I will be no matter what, okay?" She smiled at the confusing teenager, her eyes curving upwards.

Blanc shuddered, then squared his shoulders. "You know that fight you just mentioned? How… Horrified you were at what I did to those people?" At Ruby's nod, he took a deep breath and admitted, "All I felt then was… joy. The thrill of fighting, of knowing I was able to beat my enemy with only my own skill. I didn't care that I'd almost killed them… I came here because I was bored. Ozpin only put me on your team to make sure I don't go rogue and start killing people…" His head fell, shrouding his face behind silver hair. "I don't belong here…"

Ruby blinked, then looked at Blanc more closely. His face was screwed up in a pained grimace, as though his admissions were physically injuring him. Then she realized something: Blanc was afraid. His questions before starting to explain suddenly made sense. He wasn't afraid of dying, or of being hurt, he was afraid of being kicked out.

"If you only came here because you were bored, why are you so upset?" she asked quietly, leaving Blanc with some space.

Blanc laughed then, a disbelieving chuckle that seemed to mock itself. "Because I found something here, Red." He looked up at her with a sad smile on his face. "I found people I care about. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ozpin, Blake, Elian. Ashes, even Yang's alright." His face tinged pink, he looked out the window again. "But… You… Ashes, what am I trying to say?" He took a deep breath and looked back at her. "They all matter to me, alright? I'd die to save them. But I feel the same around them; like there's nothing wrong with me. But around you… I look at myself and I feel sick!" He let out an explosive breath, slamming his hand to his face and gritting his teeth. "I'm not a good person. I don't know who I am, or where I'm from. I laugh when other people get hurt, and I like fighting. I don't care what happens to the world…" He hung his head, limp and defeated. "How can you stand to be near me?"

Ruby stared at her silver haired friend in disbelief. She'd never seem him seem so broken before. He was Blanc. He wasn't supposed to be weak, or vulnerable. He was a sarcastic, unapologetic cynic who always had a smartass comeback or joke. She honestly didn't know what to do with him. He looked like a child who'd been told Christmas was canceled.

Maybe that peculiar analogy was what prompted her next action. She laid a comforting hand on Blanc's shoulder and when he looked up, she pulled him into a hug.

Blanc went rigid in shock. 'I tell her all this, and she can still hug me and not hate me?' he though in utter wonderment, looking at the slight girl who had pulled his head to her shoulder. 'Though this is embarrassing. Ashes and Hellfire, is she strong, or am I that weak?'

"Blanc… You're my friend. I trust you, a lot." Blanc swore he had something in his eye, because he never, ever teared up. "I think you're a really nice guy, at heart. I mean, you're kind of strange, but it's funny. And…. If you're really that bad, why didn't you attack me?"

Blanc recoiled, looking at Ruby as though she'd suddenly declared undying love for Weiss. "Why in the name of the Mother of Ashes would I attack you?"

Ruby blinked. "You said you like fighting, right? I'd have been a better challenge than Roman's guys. So why didn't you?"

Blanc looked like a poleaxed cow for a moment, then began to laugh. It began quietly, then grew until he was shaking with mirth. "I have no idea! But I didn't, did I?" he managed between fits of laughter, a relieved grin appearing on his face. "Thanks, Ruby. I never thought about it like that."

"Anytime, Blanc. After all, you're my friend, and my partner!" the girl replied cheerily, smiling at her friend's relieved countenance. Then she flushed bright crimson as her stomach growled loudly.

"Was that you or did a Beowulf break in during the night?"

"Blanc! Shut up!"


Later


The thirteen Hunters in training were gathered around the table, once again enjoying the morning's labor from their unlikely chef, which was a few steps short of the last day's breakfast.

"Classes start today. Where's everyone heading?" Elian asked, ever the older brother. He took a swallow of his tea and looked at his hands. "I'm headed to History first."

"They've all got Grimm Studies," Blanc said, pointing at his female teammates before they could answer. Then he hung his head. "Of course, so do I… It's going to be awfully grimm…"

"That's a very dark outlook, Mr. Argent." Another silver-haired menace waltzed into the room, eyebrow raised from behind his coffee cup. "But accurate, I suppose." He looked around the table before shrugging and helping himself to a plate.

"Old Troll."

"Professor Ozpin."

"Headmaster."

"Sir."

The school's master nodded to his students' varied greetings before digging into his plate. His eyebrows rose and he blinked. "This is surprisingly good." He stared hard at the cook. "What poison did you use?"

Blanc's own eyebrow began to twitch irritably. "Did you come here for a reason, or just to insult my cooking abilities?"

The older man blinked, then shrugged. "Yes, but there was an opportunity, so…" He shook his hand in a 'so-so' gesture.

"You're still eating."

"Fair point," he conceded, before leaning back and drinking his coffee. Everyone else at the table was wondering what, exactly, their headmaster was doing there, and just looked at him curiously. He looked up innocently. "What, you all aren't dead yet? I suppose the food isn't poisoned, then." He began to eat again.

"Professor… Kindly don't use my team as taste-testers again," Elian requested mildly, levelling an amber-eyed stare at the man as he continued to munch on his toast.

"See, he really does care," Elian's bane teased, grinning at her leader, who blushed, embarrassed.

"Is there a reason she keeps trying to seduce him?" Lilla asked the nearest person, her delivery utterly deadpan. The entire table, minus Blanc, Ozpin, and Blake, all choked at that.

Yang coughed a few times. "Er… I don't think that's what Sirena's trying to do… She's always like this around cute guys. Well, most of them."

Sirena glowered at Yang. "I am not! You hypocrite!"

The two women began to argue heatedly, while the rest of the table went back to their previous conversations. "Er… So professor, why are you here? Not that we mind, it's just that… Well, it's really early," Jaune asked the older of the table's silver-haired occupants awkwardly.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Right. I came here to talk with Mr. Lyras, Mr. Argent, Ms. Belladonna, and Mr. Arc." He set down his coffee cup and laced his fingers together, holding them in front of his mouth. "You four use swords, and I think I can help you all."

"Yes!"

Everyone not arguing looked in surprise at Blake, Blanc, and Elian, who had all spoken in sync as soon as Ozpin's mouth had closed. "Ah… Are we… missing something, Captain?" Lunadant asked Elian timidly.

Elian spared his teammate a quick smile before explaining. "Headmaster Ozpin is one of the world's finest swordsmen. The chance to learn from him is too good to pass on." He looked at Blanc curiously. "All in all, where do you think you're at?"

Blanc shrugged carelessly. "I'm not the best, but I'm not the worst. Never had formal lessons, really." He began to clear away the empty dishes with a familiarity that nobody could quite believe, before flickering into existence in front of Ozpin, offering him a soapy rag. "Rules are, ya don't cook, ya clean. Get to it, Old Troll!"

"Really?"

"Yes, sir."

Old Troll: 2

New Troll: 5

Third Party Trollings: 1


Later


"So the moral of this story is, never listen to our headmaster?" Blanc asked as he casually strolled after the three sprinting teams. It was 8:55, and classes began at 9 sharp. Ozpin had kept them in the common area until 8:45, at which point he reminded them that it was not a weekend, and they did in fact have classes. That sent everyone into a panic; well, most of them. Blanc simply flickered out of sight for a minute and reappeared fully dressed (with his tie loose, the top button on his shirt undone, and his jacket hanging open). Elian, Pyrrha, Blake, and Lie Ren were already set to go.

"You have no room to talk!" Weiss spat back, thoroughly annoyed by the younger teen's habit of letting them get ahead of him and then flickering ten or so feet ahead, extolling them to go faster.

"Funny-" Flicker- "I have twenty feet to talk."

"I hate him," Yang ground out to Blake, who simply shrugged.

"Blanc, stop taunting everyone else!" Ruby ordered, glaring at him enviously.

"Ah, but it's so much fun!" He flickered into their midst. Running on his hands. He grinned cheekily. "Besides, just running is boring!"

"I am going to kill him!" Weiss screamed in frustration as Blanc vanished yet again.

"Geez Schnee, keep talking like that and I think Ruby might have some competition!" Sirena chimed in from her place in Team ELSV's formation, which was moving just as fast as Team RWBY's. Team JNPR had fallen behind at some point due to Nora seeing a squirrel and Lie Ren stopping to get her moving again. Jaune and Pyrrha…

Everyone who looked back felt a sweatdrop form on their foreheads as they found the two shield fighters on the ground, arms and legs tangled chaotically.

"BLANC!" Ruby's irritated shout was met with an innocent look of confusion from the silver haired boy, pointing at his chest in feigned confusion as he dropped the rope that had tripped the duo.

Above them, Ozpin smirked as he watched alongside his assistant. "They seem eager," he noted without emotion.

"Sir?" Glynda looked at him askance before turning her attention back to the teams. "I still disagree with your decision about the boy. He's far too rebellious; he'll damage the team's ability to work as a unit."

"That's probably true," the headmaster admitted, taking a sip from his cup. He looked over at his fellow professor, an oddly boyish grin on his face. "But he's making it more fun for me!"

"Oh dear Lord…" Glynda groaned, slowly covering her eyes with the hand not holding a clipboard. "Now I have to deal with two of them…"


Blanc was completely and utterly, irrevocably, bored. He was slumped in his seat, busily staring at the desk in front of him. The professor, who he thought resembled a walrus, was saying something to the class, but the teenager had already tuned him out. 'I hate this. Why is this necessary?' he wondered, looking at his teammates. Ruby was doodling, Yang was dozing off with her face propped up on her arm, Blake was looking about as interested as he felt, and Weiss was actually taking notes. 'I wish I could skip class. But, Red and the Cheerleader would kill me, the Ice Bitch would probably cut my throat that night, and Blake… Well, who knows?' He pulled out one of his many gadgets, this one looking suspiciously like an incendiary. Without any safety precautions he began to disassemble the object, first sliding off the casing, then dismantling the trigger assembly. He then slid out the small canister of Dust, inspecting it for any flaws. Finding none, he began to reassemble the thing. Having no other way to occupy himself, he reluctantly turned his attention to the teacher.

The walrus-related being seemed to have stopped reading over his notes and was beginning class. "Monsters! Deeeemons… Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" He looked around the room to find most of his students either paying attention, or ignoring him entirely. The sound of crickets seemed to fill the room, and he quickly continued his speech. "Uhhhh… And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses!"

Blanc and the rest of Team RWBYS winced as the old man sent a wink Yang's way. "Are all the professors here insane, or is it just me?" the male wondered quietly.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Ayyyy-yep!" The entire class turned to stare at the boy who had leapt to his feet and enthusiastically punched the air as if he were a strange, somewhat diseased creature. After a second or two, he sat down, red enough to warrant entry into the infrared spectrum.

Professor Port cleared his throat and drew the class' attention back to himself. "That is what you are training to become. But first: a story. A tale of a young, handsome man… Me! When I was a boy…"

Blanc's interest went from 'minor' to 'listening to paint dry' as the man began his long, rambling tale. Making certain he was unseen, he flickered over to his teammates and landed crouched on the floor between Weiss and Ruby. "This is a joke, right?" he asked, looking at his captain hopefully.

"I really hope so," Ruby sighed, her head drooping towards the desk. Weiss glared at the two immature children, one of whom didn't notice. The other simply grinned infuriatingly. As if sensing the conflict brewing, Ruby mumbled, "Blanc, stop irritating Weiss."

"What, I didn't do anything yet…" Blanc complained with a childish pout. "I was going to, but now you took all the fun out of it…" Everyone who heard that chuckled a bit, except for Weiss and Blake. Weiss just scoffed haughtily, while Blake rolled her eyes in amused exasperation.

"You know, if you listened, you might learn something," Weiss hissed at the two.

"Yes, I can tell," Blanc deadpanned, listening in for a moment.

"Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me…"

Blanc's eyes weren't so much mocking Weiss as asking, 'Are you really that stupid?' He smirked. "Yes, that is clearly life-changing information that'll save lives. I'm so glad I listened in class today!" And somehow, he said all of this quietly enough to not draw the man's attention. Yang had her lips pressed together so hard they turned white, Blake was shaking from suppressing laughter, and Ruby had her hands clamped over her mouth, making strange choking noises.

Weiss was not amused.

"Ah-heh-hem!" Professor Port cleared his throat thunderously, waiting for the class' undivided attention. He somehow missed the antics going on in the front row, and the fact that the only student to pay close attention was looking like she wanted to murder her team in cold blood. "In the end, the Beowulf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!" He took a bow and looked very satisfied with himself.

"If he was that good, when did he lose a fight with a walrus?" Blanc wondered, making the team giggle again.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"

"Not very likely," Blanc muttered, his smirk now self-mocking and bitter. Regardless, his interruption pissed Weiss off even further.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"

"Only when the people matter…"

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

"Sounds like Lykaon to me. He'd love this lesson."

Weiss began to spit venom, although she did wonder who Lykaon was.

"So, who amongst you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Furious with her teammates' juvenile attitudes and antics, wanting nothing more than to be away from them, Weiss' hand shot up like a dog with its tail on fire. "I do, sir!"

The Professor's grin turned slightly insane, and Blanc felt the tiniest bit of his combat instincts kick in. "Well, then, let's find out!" He pointed grandly to the cage he was standing in front of, where a pair of feral red eyes glowed from between the sturdy bars. "Step forward, and face your opponent!"

Weiss paled, and Blanc cursed quietly. "Why didn't I say that?"


Meanwhile


"I wonder how classes are going…" Ozpin mused as he leaned back in his chair, taking a leisurely sip of his midday beverage. He was meant to be doing paperwork, but he felt more like lazing around. Besides, it wasn't due for weeks!

And by that time, Glynda would be fed up with his excuses and do it for him. The headmaster allowed himself a satisfied smirk at his success where so many other administrators failed: the struggle against paperwork. He looked up at the ceiling without seeing it, idly wondering whether he would be able to con his protégé into cooking for the staff at some point.

On the topic of his protégé, Ozpin had done more digging on the boy. No information dated before four years prior, when a twelve year old with silver hair and red eyes was reported for stealing food. That incident ended with the pursuing officer running face first into a wall when the boy vanished into thin air as the officer tried to tackle him. The rest of the reports were all similar: the same boy, either stealing, pulling pranks, or hunting down criminals and Grimms before making a dramatic exit.

Ozpin didn't know who exactly he had at his school, but he liked his style.

"PROFESSOR OZPIN! YOU HAD BEST HAVE THAT PAPERWORK DONE BY THE END OF THE DAY!"

Sighing, Ozpin began to wonder if Glynda would object to him using the papers to practice burning things.


Back with the relevant people


"I think the ice Witch is in trouble." Yang and Ruby gave Blanc a slightly confused look, while Blake just nodded.

"Why do you say that?" Yang asked, only half-paying attention to her team as she kept an eye on the fight.

"She's not a close range fighter, at least not that good at it." Blanc's eyebrows furrowed as he watched Weiss walk into the impromptu arena. "She doesn't really have room to dodge, or to set up Dust attacks. And fencing isn't all that good against Grimms unless you're a specialist. Which she is not."

"So she's in trouble?" Ruby wondered, worried for her teammate. She checked her side, where Crescent Rose sat in its collapsed form.

"Maybe. She's good at thinking," Blake answered for the silver swordsman, narrowing her eyes at the cage. "If she doesn't try anything fancy, she'll be fine."

"So she is utterly screwed." The entire team groaned at Blanc's prediction.

On the floor, Weiss let out a deep breath as she slid into the standard opening stance for fencing rapier, using her Aura to activate the Dust cartridges in her MADR's guard assembly. 'Keep the front leg loose, keep the back leg bent. Present only your side to the enemy,' she coached herself, trying not to be nervous. The sound of her teammates distracted her for a moment.

"GO, WEISS!" The loud, somewhat irritating cheerleader-like girl.

"Fight well!" The tolerable one.

"Yeah, represent team RWBYS!" The immature brat she was forced to call a leader.

"Keep distance and don't screw up!" The arrogant fool who shouldn't even be in the academy.

She glared back at them, hiding the small spark of gratitude she felt behind waspishness. "Can you be quiet?! I'm trying to focus!"

"Oh! Um… Sorry." Ruby had the decency to look ashamed, while Blake and Yang shrugged. The annoyance, though…

"WHAT'S THAT? BE LOUDER?! OKAY!"

Gritting her teeth together, Weiss tried to tune him out. The Professor, next to the cage, looked to her for a signal to begin the fight. She nodded slightly. "Allllright!" He pulled out his strange axe-blunderbuss object. "Let the match… BEGIN!" He swung at the lock, breaking it easily and letting the cage door fall like a puppet with its strings severed.

The next second, a massive Grimm shot out of the cage, hurtling towards the fencer. Remembering the first lesson in fencing against Grimms (Avoid force, do not match it), she let her left leg collapse and rolled out of the way, lashing out with Myrtenaster as she did so. The attack, meant as a distraction, hit the porcine creature near the eye, making it flinch and lose its chance to change course midcharge. It managed to stop before it hit the wall, turning around to face her with its red eyes glowing with hatred. Weiss reset her stance, blade between her and the Grimm with its point leveled between its eyes.

"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?!" the professor jovially asked the Grimm from his place on the stairs. He'd moved out of the way earlier.

"Hang in there Weiss!"

Weiss scowled at her leader and began a longe-range fleche, attempting to skewer the Boarbatusk in the center of its mask as it charged at her. However as she began the final extension of her arm, the Grimm tossed its head and trapped her MADR between its tusks. That threw her off balance and made her perform an awkward ballet-esque spin around the thing's head. She landed off balance and began a tug of war for her sword.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!" The professor announced like it was his job.

Ruby was about to yell encouragement, but was distracted by an ominous sounding click that seemed to come from where Blanc was seated. "Schnee! Spin right and back off at one-third!" Everyone blinked in surprise as Blanc shouted actual helpful advice to his least-favorite teammate.

The Ice Witch turned to glare at the fool, giving the creature the precise opportunity it needed to overpower her low (for a Hunter) strength and tear the sword away from her. Myrtenaster flew gracefully through the air, catching the light beautifully before landing- behind the Boarbatusk. A half-second later, with Weiss still of balance and her hand now stinging and slightly scuffed, the Grimm drew back and slammed its tusks heavily into the girl's ribcage on the right side. The sheer force of the impact threw her back nearly ten feet, a few of her ribs cracking slightly where she hadn't flooded Aura fast enough. With a pained gasp, Weiss landed on her back, then skidded backwards, rolling until she came to rest on her face. Sucking in a deep breath and pressing lightly on her injured ribs, the Huntress-in-training braced herself up on her free hand and knees.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?!" commented the professor, far too cheery for a man who just watched one of his students be inured.

Weiss looked up in time to see the Boarbatusk barreling towards her full-tilt. She tucked and rolled to the left, springing to her feet as she came upright again. Wincing as she regained her feet, she began to run towards her fallen MADR. She slid the last few feet with enough poise for a modelling agency, minus points for pressing a hand to her ribcage, but regaining her weapon regardless.

"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-"

"Stop telling me what to do!" the fencer screeched, turning to glare at the two loudest members of her team so hatefully they were surprised she wasn't spitting venom. Ruby fell silent, a hurt frown on her face while Blanc's own face lost its veil of cheer. He began to dig in his backpack for something.

Back on the floor, the Boarbatusk leapt into the air and began to spin like a buzzsaw. It thudded back to earth with a grating sound like rock being crunched to gravel and hurtled at Weiss, picking up speed as it went. The Huntress' eyes went wide and she panicked for a moment before regaining her composure. A high-pitched screech filled the air and the blade of Myrtnaster began to glow as dark blue Dust ran up its length. Moments before the Grimm would have smashed Weiss into a fine red mist, she stabbed forward. A dark blue Glyph sprang into existence five feet in front of her, which the Boarbatusk steamrolled into. It came to a complete halt on its back, bouncing backwards slightly to land on the ground stunned. Weiss jumped into the air, summoning a black Glyph with a flick of her wrist. She landed on it, and then shot off at a speed only Blanc and Ruby could surpass as the Glyph flashed red before fading. Myrtenaster emitted its screech again as icy white designs spread over the blade.

The glowing rapier stabbed into the Grimm's chest at a severe angle as Weiss hit the ground beside it, wincing as her ribs twinged in protest to the harsh landing. The Boarbatusk shuddered, then lay still, its heart pierced by Weiss' empowered rapier. Its corpse began to turn to ice shards, which in turn dissolved. Weiss let out a huge sigh of relief and sank to her knees.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" The professor stepped back into the lowest part of the room, clapping heartily. The rest of the classroom echoed the sentiment. Weiss stood slowly, not stopping until she was standing at full military attention. The professor looked at his class. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today! Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and… stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Weiss glared at her teammates and stormed out of the room, grabbing her bags as she went. Team RWBYS looked after her in concern and confusion, while Jaune wandered down to join them. "Sheesh, what's with her?" he wondered. The others, minus Blanc, looked at each other with the same question obvious in their eyes.


"Weiss! Wait up!"

Ruby turned a corner, chasing after her obviously irate teammate. The female in question spun, her entire posture radiating hatred. "What do you want?" she hissed venomously, glaring through narrowed eyes at her captain.

"What's wrong with you?" Ruby dwemanded worriedly, coming to a full stop with a bewildered, hurt look on her face. "Why are you being-?"

"What's wrong with me?!" Weiss' voice went up an octave, which was an impressive feat. Her eyes narrowed further in dislike. "What's wrong with you?! You're supposed to be a leader, and all you've done is be a nuisance!"

Ruby blinked indignantly, then scoffed. "What did I do?"

Instead of calming the irate teenager down, this simply made Weiss even more enraged. "That's just it- you've done nothing to earn your position. Back in the forest you acted like a child! And you've only continued to do so! You're worse than that idiot Argent- at least he can fight well!"

Ruby took a step back, her eyes going wide and hurt. "Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about 'working together?' I thought you believed in acting as a team…" She trailed off, her eyes silently pleading with the older girl to help her understand.

Weiss, of course, ignored that supplication. She hissed, "Not a team led by you. I've studied and trained. And quite frankly, I deserve better." She turned around. "Ozpin made a mistake."

Ruby had been reaching for Weiss but withdrew her hand as if she'd been stung at that, tears threatening to fall.

Weiss began to walk away.


"Well, that was nice of you."

Weiss looked up to find the other nuisance blocked her intended path. "Get out of my way, Argent. I don't have the time for you immature children."

The next second she felt something hard and circular being pressed roughly into her stomach. About the width of a 20-gauge shotgun barrel. The next…

The next second heard a loud gunshot echo in the halls, followed closely by the loud thud of a body hitting a solid wall with a lot of force.

Weiss sucked in a pained breath from where she sat crumpled against the opposite wall, gasping when the lower half of her ribcage screamed in protest. The next she was forced to look up as something metallic, razor-sharp, and glowing bright silver was pressed harshly against her neck. What she saw was to haunt her nightmares for months, if not years.

Blanc Argent stood over her, his face frozen in a rictus of complete and utter hate. His teeth were bared and his lips drawn back, brows drawn together like a thunderhead before a massive storm. The hand holding his sword was white-knuckled and shaking slightly from rage. His entire body was tense, as if it were a struggle to not stab forward and spear Weiss through the throat. The two most terrifying things, though?

One were his eyes. If such a thing as frozen Hellfire existed, it would have looked something like the swordsman's eyes at that moment. They were enraged, full of hatred for the gasping form in front of him. The worst part was their utter lack of regard for her; he was more than ready to kill her, then and there.

The other was the fact his entire body was glowing bright silver, from his hair to his feet to his weapon. Except for his eyes, his body was too bright to look at comfortably. And he wasn't in the least bit of pain, unlike the last time she'd seen him call on his Aura.

Blanc Argent was, for the first time since anyone had met him, enraged to the point of possibly committing murder. Leaning forward he grabbed Weiss by the shoulder and jerked her upright before shoving her back against the wall, Argent Ward's second blade coming out in a millisecond. The two slightly curved weapons crossed just below Weiss' jaw in an x that would sever her windpipe if she fell.

"Listen to me, you bitch." Blanc's voice was a low growl, full of frozen hate and fury. "You are a spiteful, ungrateful piece of trash! Ruby has been nothing but nice to you since the team formed, and how do you thank her?! You have no room to complain about anything! You think you're a Huntress? More than Ruby, or Blake, or Pyrrha, or even Yang? Don't make me laugh! You are a cruel, selfish snake who doesn't have the smallest ounce of care in you. Ruby may not be the best in terms of fighting skill, or book knowledge, but she's the best of us where it matters. She is the ideal Hunter because she cares. She cares about everyone, even scum like you. You are nowhere near as good a Hunter as she is; Ashes, you might be worse than I am! You put on this act of being some noble, ideal Huntress when you're just in this for yourself. If you're going to be human scum, be honest about it! You have no place on a team. I thought I was the worst human at Beacon, but at least I'm loyal! You? You make me sick!"

By the time Weiss was trembling in terror, certain that she was about to die at the hands of the utterly insane, hyperprotective being that was Blanc Argent.

"Blanc! Let her go."

Blanc stiffened, warring with himself, before he slowly lowered his swords to his sides. He jerked his head to the left. "Get out," he spat dismissively, returning Argent Ward to its magnum form. Weiss needed no second telling and nearly tripped over herself in her eagerness to get away from the glowing silver teen. Blanc stared at the wall blindly for a moment before letting out a massive sigh, the brilliance of his Aura vanishing.

"Um… Blanc?" Ruby asked timidly, walking slowly towards her male teammate, slightly afraid he was going to suddenly turn on her. That fear must have translated into her voice, because Blanc turned, a stricken look on his face.

"Ruby- I… I didn't- I wasn't-" Abruptly he flickered away, his red eyes screaming something painful.

"There goes a very troubled young man." Ruby jumped and spun midair to find Headmaster Ozpin calmly regarding her, his coffee in hand.

"Professor…"

"Miss Rose."


Blanc reappeared on top of the roof of Beacon's highest tower, having run nonstop from the hallway until he had reached somewhere nobody else could find him. There, he sat down heavily on the edge, burying his face in his hands and cursing himself again.

'I didn't plan on threatening the Ice Witch like that…' he thought morosely to himself, slitting his fingers enough to watch the play of the clouds on the horizon. 'I just heard her talking like that to Red and I just… Lost it… Dammit! Why am I always like this around Red?!' He slammed a fist into his leg, scowling at the city below. 'I can never stay normal around her... It's like she forces me to care just because she exists…' He raised one of his hands, staring hard at it. He knew it was a trick of the light, but he felt like he could see all the blood he'd spilt over the short four years of his memories. 'She makes me hate myself. Or maybe I always do, and she just makes me see how fucked up I am… Ashes, what do I do now?'


Ruby and Ozpin had moved to an empty classroom. The professor was sitting on the unoccupied teacher's desk, while Ruby was just standing in the middle of the floor.

"Professor? Was what Weiss said true? Is me being leader… a mistake? And… Why did Blanc do that to her?"

Ozpin sighed, wondering which question would be simpler to explain to the young Huntress-in-training. He took a deep draft of his coffee, then began to speak. "On your first question… What do you think? It's only been one day. Miss Rose, I've made more mistakes than almost any man, woman, or child on this planet. But at this moment? I do not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them. Do you?" The man sighed, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. Ruby blinked at how old the gesture made him look. Ozpin was certainly in his late forties, but he never seemed a day over thirty, at the oldest. HE looked seriously at the youngest student in his school before continuing. "Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you're not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you? You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Miss Rose. I advise you take some time, and think on what it means to you."

"I will, sir! But, what about Blanc?" Ruby seemed to have cheered up, now more worried than depressed.

Ozpin sighed, draining his mug of its contents. "Mister Argent… He is the most broken one of your peers, I think. The others at least know why they're broken. He doesn't even know his own past." He replaced his glasses. "I've seen people like Blanc before. Hunters, mostly, the last two survivors of teams that died on missions. One strives to protect the world for their fallen comrades. The other…" He frowned mournfully. "The other tends to forget the world matters, and focuses on keeping the people they care about alive to the exclusion of everything else. I'd say he lost something, or someone, and that pain broke him."

"How do you mean?"

"I've checked the records we have access to. Mister Argent was nonexistent until four years ago, when he began to appear all over the world. Petty theft, pranks ranging from the small and benign to the massive and borderline malicious- all funny, though, and fitting-, odd jobs from shop work to mercenary assignments, random acts of heroism attributed to a 'Silver Spirit.' He was searching, I think." Ozpin stared into his empty mug as though the dregs would begin to speak the secrets of existence to him.

"Searching? Searching for what?"

"A purpose. A reason to care again." The teacher turned to Ruby with a wry smile on his face. "Him being in Vale was simple chance, and him running into you either luck or fate. But for some reason, he's chosen to care about you. Granted, he likes many of the people here. That's good, it means he's closer to normalcy. But right now?" His face turned completely serious. "At the end of the day, he will probably burn the world down to keep you and the people you both care about safe. I'm not certain which will be harder: leading your team, or turning him back into a normal human being."

"He's… really like that?" Ruby asked quietly, surprised and a tiny bit frightened.

"Hm? Well, it's my best guess. No two people are the same." Ozpin's cheery self returned. "Now, you have ten minutes until your next class. Mister Argent has been counted as 'too ill to attend' for the rest of the day. See you around!"

He then waltzed out of the room, leaving Ruby staring disbelievingly after him. "And he says Blanc is strange. He's… just plain weird!" With that observation, she ran to get to her next class.


"I thought you'd be somewhere like this."

Blanc froze, then turned incredulously to find, of all people, Elian Lyras standing just behind him. "How the Ash did you- No, better yet- Why the Ash are you here?"

Elian smiled politely before walking forward to sit beside Blanc. "Yang told Sirena, who… Er… Asked? Me to talk to you." The man's face flushed for a few seconds.

Blanc's gaze was unconvinced. "She threatened to repeat yesterday, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did," Elian laughed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You are a really strange pick for team leader, ya know that, Ellie-boy? You're way too nice!" Blanc cheerily informed the older male with a grin.

"I suppose so. But, we all change, don't we?" was the rhetorical reply. Elian looked out at the horizon before glancing sideways at Blanc. "So, who did you lose?"

"I don't know."

Elian nodded. "We all forget what we lose at times, and all we know is there's a hole that we can never quite fill."

Blanc smiled slightly. "Yep. And we try to fill it, and it makes us change."

"Exactly. The only thing I want to ask you, Blanc, is this: Which changes us the most at the end of it all? Who we were before the loss, who we were during that loss, or who we became as we tried to fill the void?" Elian's smile was knowing. "I, for one, think it's the third."

"I hope it is," Blanc answered as he stood. He looked down at the older man. "Thanks for the theory talk, Lyras. Match blades?"

"Sure thing; I've never fought a dual swordsman good enough to count as a blademaster."

"And I've never fought a legend. Don't get your hopes up." With that strange comparison, Blanc flickered away, leaving Elian with a half-shocked, half-amused look on his face before he followed.


It was late, probably around ten. Blake and Yang were already asleep, Weiss was MIA, and Blanc hadn't been seen since he nearly killed aforementioned albino. Ruby was nearly dead on her feet, but was soldiering on through her Grimm Studies report.

The door opened quietly and Ruby looked up in time to see a tired, but normal, looking Blanc Argent appear through the opening. She stared for a moment.

Blanc's long silver hair was slightly damp and hung messily around his face, which looked fairly relaxed by his standards. He was wearing his usual 'after hours' outfit, except he'd replaced the long-sleeved t-shirt with a shorter one.

"Er, Red? You're sorta staring."

Ruby blinked, then shook her head rapidly to clear it. Also to hide her slight blush. She looked back up to find Blanc stowing his gear and bags, before turning back to her. She smiled towards him, remembering what Ozpin had said earlier. "Hey, Blanc. How're you feeling after… you know…"

Blanc's face fell into a sheepish smile. "Yeah… I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to go that far. I just... saw you upset and... lost it. "

"That's why!?"

"I guess so. I don't care about a lot of people, Ruby, but the ones I do care about... I will not let get hurt." A small flash of the bright silver Aura appeared around him for a moment, making him wince before he shut it down. Ruby looked at him in a mix of concern and worried consideration. The other early admit shook his head quickly to clear it, then flickered over to her side, reading over her work so far. "You realize this isn't due until next week, right?" he asked with an amused chuckle. "Also, King Taijutu don't have any petrifying abilities. You're thinking of Gorgonites and Cockatrices."

Ruby looked at the pages on the respective creatures and realized he was right. She quickly made the necessary changes. "Did you already do the paper?" she demanded suspiciously.

"ME?! Write a paper before the deadline?" Blanc laughed quietly, but heavily. "Nah, I've just had a lot of experience fighting the things that go bump in the night. I've probably hunted Grimms in every region of the world, come to think of it..."

"Really? Alone, or with help?"

Blanc's face split into a small grin. "Usually alone, but I worked with a few other people. Three in particular, I guess. A noble wolf, a spirit of vengeance, and a lazy pervert of a detective." He chuckled fondly at the thought. "Ashes, but they were fun to be around. Good fighters, too." He grinned at his captain. "So, need any help on the paper?"


It was late, and the two youngest Hunters had dozed off working. Weiss opened the door silently and surveyed the room. Satisfied she wasn't detected, she stealthily made her way to Ruby's bunk, where she lifted the makeshift tent to find a minor shock. Blanc and Ruby were both asleep, open books scattered around them and a half-written report between them. Going by appearances, they'd fallen asleep as Blanc was explaining something about Nevermores. Tentatively, Weiss shook them both awake, not eager to tempt fate again. More specifically her captain's guardian devil. He slept on, shile Ruby woke up.

"Weiss! I-I was studying and then we fell asleep! I'm sorry-" She was silenced by Blanc's hand gently covering her mouth, followed a second later by Weiss' own.

"Shh! The others' are asleep," Blanc cautioned, cracking his eyes open and sitting up. "What's up, Ice Witch?"

Weiss scowled for a moment at the nickname before noticing the pair of coffee mugs on the side of the frame. Marveling for a moment at Blanc's ability as a handyman, she picked them up and asked, "How do you take your coffees?"

"I… I don't…"

"Black."

"Oh! Cream and five sugars!"

Weiss sighed, then glared at the two. "Don't move." She ducked down to her own bed and set the appropriate information into her personal coffee machine.

"Five sugars?"

"Yes, five. You have a problem with it?"

"Nah, it explains why you're so sweet all the time."

Weiss chuckled slightly at the frightening boy's flirtation, knowing they'd both be blushing. She picked the two cups of caffeine up and returned to their height, proffering the cups. "Here."

"Um... Thanks, Weiss."

"Thanks, Ice."

Weiss smiled, then looked apologetically at her captain. "Ruby… Sorry about earlier. I think you have what it takes to be a good leader." Ruby grinned hugely, and Blanc muttered something about optimists. "Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have!" She paused, then grinned so evilly that in another world a fiery eye shuddered. "Except maybe for tall, silver, and strange here. Good luck studying, you two." She climbed back down the built-in ladder, making for the doorway where she paused. "Oh, and Ruby? Argent?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Ye-es?"

"I always wanted bunk beds as a kid…"


A/N: It is almost midnight. Fuck it, I'm too tired. Credit to Ghostfire for being awesome and making coverart. Anyone know the definite abilities of Dust varieties and Glyphs and various combinations thereof? If so, lemme know.

Shoutout to anyone else in Chattanooga. Review, ya goofs- That's gonna be more important than ever for getting me to update, given my current workload.

Signing off till later;

D. Gordon.