"Why?" Silver stared at the Headmaster of her alma mater, with no emotion escaping her eyes. Qrow stood as far as he could away from her, he knew she was not happy to hear such a request from Ozpin.
"I think it would be nice for the students to gain insight from another Huntress. And, as a former winner of a Vytal Festival, it could be inspiring." Ozpin seemed pleased with himself over how much he had thought about this proposal.
"I.. don't think I have the skills needed to give a… lecture… to students. I-"
Ozpin cut her off, "Don't worry about that. You'll be just fine. Please, Silver. This will be good."
"...This is just payback from the other day, isn't it?" She deducted after thinking about it. Ozpin knew that Silver didn't do well with speaking in front of others. Performing in front of millions of people was nothing to her. Mainly because she performed for herself and didn't stop to think of the millions that watched her. She lived in the moment with her performances.
But speaking to just over 20 students in a lecture hall? No, she couldn't fathom to do such a thing. And Ozpin knew that.
Ozpin smiled and coyly tilted his head, "Oh? And why would I ever want to do that?" He was mad alright, about her and Qrow's little joke the other day. "I just absolutely loved your little, dirty, disgusting, gift."
"I can't run from this… can i?" She sorrowfully asked.
Ozpin's smile never faded.
"So, why are we all in the lecture room?" Sun Wukong, leader of Team SSSN of Haven Academy sat near Blake Belladonna of Team RWBY of Beacon Academy. All students that were involved in the Vytal Tournament, no matter their current standing, were gathered in one single room.
It looked like any other sort of class, as if there wasn't any Festival. Yet they were all allowed to wear their more comfortable outfits; school uniforms were not required.
"I have no idea…" Blake was just as perplexed as Sun was, looking around the room to see all of the students who entered into the Tournament. They both noticed this, and couldn't fully figure out why. What confused them even more were the Huntsmen at the back top of the lecture room. Sitting at their seats as if they were ready for a class lecture like any other.
The Headmaster of Beacon Academy, the Headmaster of Atlas Academy, Glynda Goodwitch, Qrow Branwen, Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck and Professor Peter Port. All sat in attendance for the lecture that was about to happen. To Blake, Ozpin seemed very pleased with himself. And he was.
"Hey, look." Sun gestured to Neptune, Weiss and Lynn who sat near each other. Neptune in the middle, which could mean trouble should Weiss's buttons be pushed.
Blake and Sun watched Lynn gesturing and Neptune replying to her gestures with some of his own. Weiss sat there, watching them, confused. After realizing that Weiss was being left out of the conversation, Lynn gestured to Neptune to help Weiss keep her in the loop. Apologizing to Weiss, he helped her translate to get Weiss into the conversation.
This impressed Blake. At first she thought that Lynn was going to be worse than Weiss was when first meeting her. She thought Lynn was going to keep the boys near her, as if she controlled them. But she seriously misunderstood Lynn, and felt terrible for ever thinking such a way.
"Man, Neptune is going to have a tough time." Sun whispered almost underneath his breath, but it was loud enough for Blake to hear.
"What do you mean?"
Sun noticed what he said as his eyes widened. Just then he felt as if he was Neptune himself, with the large mouth of his. "Nep… has adored Lynn for a while now. Close to a crush. I mean, in a way… we all did. One way or another."
Blake's heart skipped a beat, "So, you had feelings for her?"
"At first, I wasn't sure. Then Scarlet put that idea in my head, but in reality… I just saw her as more of a sister. We get along well."
"Is she..?" Blake pointed to Sun's tail underneath the table.
He chuckled and shaked his head, "No, she's human. Tiny, but human. Like a little pixie."
Blake shared a small laugh with him before the door to the lecture all opened. Out from the door, Silver Soteria walked to the front center of the room. She wore her usual attire, yet she seemed a tad tense. Blake had never seen this side of her aunt before.
Silver looked over at all the students who watched her with their questioning eyes. Her heart wouldn't stop beating so fast and so hard. She noticed the five instructors at the back of the room, her eyes instinctively going to Qrow, her eyes pleading for help. Qrow nodded to her, imitating a deep breathing motion.
Taking his advice she took a deep breath, expanding her abdomen, and exhaled. "All of you must be wondering why you're here. And I bet you don't want to be here. Neither do I.
"But, I was informed that speaking to you all would be good for you. Why? Well, to start with, have any of you noticed anything about the other students here?"
Weiss Schnee raised her hand instantly. Silver smiled and addressed the young huntress-in-training, "yes, Miss Schnee?"
"All of the students here have participated in the tournament."
Silver nodded, "Very good. And do you know why they have asked me to speak to you all?" Weiss scrambled to come up with an answer to this question. But a deeper voice answered for her, "You were the winner of the Tournament. Not only that but you were the leader of the team that won years ago. Had you and your team re-entered the competition, you would've won again. People at that time considered you to be the greatest team of your time."
Everyone was taken aback to hear the owner of the voice that spoke so little. Yang sat beside Ruby and stared at the deep-voiced student in awe. Not only her, but everyone there did. Silver's smile turned into a grin, "ooh. Look at you. You've finally decided to speak, Mr. Harceleur."
He remains still as ever, yet has a pleased, almost uncharacteristically smug smile on his face, and he answers this statement with a small nod of acknowledgement; yet he doesn't say anything more.
Silver turns back to her entire 'audience', "So, because I was forced into this. I will go off the path that other instructors go by. Instead of history or Grimm studies. Let's talk about Fables."
Yang noticed that the dark, brooding student lift an eyebrow slowly, his red eyes looking directed at Yang a little bit, as though silently commenting to her 'Fables, eh?' Yang shrugged to him as a reply, unsure herself as to what this Huntress was going to speak about. Ruby watched the two interact and lifted an eyebrow at the both of them.
"Now we all know stories like The Tale of Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the Tower, etcetera etcetera. Yet there have been stories that man has buried over the years. Stories that have lessons that many ignore. Similar to repeating sorrowful history."
Ruby Rose rose her hand up high enough for everyone to see, "Yes, Miss Rose?"
"What kind of stories did man… bury?" Ruby's eyes lit up with wonder, it was not difficult to notice how intrigued the youngest one in the room was.
"Stories of before the Light of the Kingdoms."
Pyrrha Nikos, a member of Team JNPR of Beacon asked without raising a hand. "Such a time existed?" She as well as everyone there, including the instructors, including Qrow had no idea a time, a Fable like that existed.
Silver nodded, "Yes. You see in the beginning, there was Dust; this I'm sure you all know. Dust became the earth, she became the Mother. And at some point she gave birth to the first Human and the first Faunus. A boy and a girl.
But the Mother raised them in different ways, different locations, apart and they had never met. Not until after 100 years of their birth-"
Arthur Grey decided to pitch in, "So they were immortal."
"Yes. Unlike other Men, they were born from the body of the Dust Mother, or Goddess, is another word to explain her. Thus they were granted a more precious gift than other Men. Anyway, when they first met they knew not of the other's origins. And it didn't take too long for them to fall in love."
"Incest?" Qrow lifted an eyebrow, questioning his girlfriend.
"Unknowingly incest, but yes. Incest. But such a thing was common a long time ago. But they weren't entirely ignorant. After their 3rd child they discovered their similar… parent."
Nora Valkyrie raised her hand up high, as if enthralled by the incest love story, "How many children did they have?"
Silver chuckled, "Seven. And with these seven children they created a sort of army to protect the humans."
"So all of them, except the one child of the 'Dust Mother' were Faunus?" Yang asked
"Yes. It was the husband that was human."
Nebula Violette, leader of Team NDGO of Shade Academy raised her hand, "So were there Grimm before the Kingdoms?"
"Of course. It was said that the first Grimm were created by the Dark Aura within a person. And that Aura consumed the body to form something… darker. It was speculated that Grimm were once Faunus, thus their animal-like appearance."
Cardin Winchester added, "So Faunus have always been so… blood-thirsty."
Every Faunus and more glared at the ignorant student, some of them (like Noir) glared at him with much hate over his racism. They all glared at him, even Silver found herself glaring, for several seconds before returning their glares to the front of the room. Silver noticed some of the student's nose flared.
"Not exactly, Mr. Winchester. The story could have been made to demonize Faunus for others' agendas. Doesn't necessarily make it true. Please learn fact from fiction."
The ones who had glared at Cardin, laughed this time. Cardin himself seemed to be uncomfortable with the fact that everyone was laughing at him. Silver was very pleased with herself.
Once the laughter died down, she returned to her lecture, "The origin of this story is actually connected to that of the Xander. The first known Faunus to turn into a Beowolf. Which brings up that speculation that all Grimm were once Faunus. But then again, there is no evidence to prove this. And after all. It is just a story."
"Yet some stories are derived from the truth," Ozpin added. He obtained the attention of the students, to which they could all see Qrow drinking from his flask. Qrow paused for a second then returned to drinking, without any care in the world. Silver could only smirk at her boyfriend's antics, she knew he'd be drinking during her lecture.
"Xander was the name of the family that formed its own 'army'. And as I said before there were seven children of the Human male and Faunus woman. The seventh child was the only Xander daughter. She was also the wife of the first Faunus who turned into a Beowolf."
Professor Glynda Goodwitch raised her hand to ask a question, "What made the husband turned into a creature of Grimm?"
Silver stood there for a bit, thinking as to how she should answer the question. The answer was a rough and terrible one, but Silver saw no other way to put it to the students.
"You see… Faunus were seen to be the protectors of the humans. They were thought to have much power, and thus were respected and awed. But just like some of today's humans, the humans back then had a fearful panic that the Faunus were the ones who were organizing attacks using the Grimm to attack the humans. No one knows who put those thoughts together, but they were there. And when people are afraid; when fear is thick in their hearts… they will do some drastic things.
"The daughter, the White Light, as they called her, was the only Xander child who bore other children. And on a full moon, humans rose to 'overthrow' the Xander, the symbol of the Faunus army. The White Light's children were murdered in front of her and her husband. In pain the husband's Aura turned to darkness and was thus transformed into a Beowolf. The Xander sons were murdered as well; they would not fight the people they swore to protect.
"The Beowolf that was once her husband had begun to attack the people who killed the Xander family. And with sorrow in her own heart, the daughter rose her sword to strike her husband, to stop him, to uphold her honor as a protector and a wife.
"The humans, as thanks, gave the daughter some time to flee. So she did. But she would not allow herself to stop moving forward. She gathered remaining Faunus all around to create the Faunus Kingdom, under her guidance."
Yang Xiao Long sorrowfully added, "She would feel sad to know that the Kingdom she worked so hard for, after something so tragic, was overrun by Atlas."
"Yes, she probably would be…" Silver's voice trailed off, then she sighed, "So… that's all I had in mind really for this lecture. We have… fuck… 30 minutes left…. Well any questions? I mean, you are in the presence of a Tournament winner."
"How do you know all of this if none of this has been recorded by historians or fable tellers? Why aren't we learning this in our classes?" Arslan Altan of Team ABRN of Haven Academy asked.
"These types of stories are… just that. Stories. But there probably was a woman who was known as the White Light. But the main reason why barely anyone knows it is because history is created by the victors. And the victors probably refused the telling of before the Kingdoms, some stories have probably escaped those barriers. But the Faunus have passed down these stories orally. Never truly recording it on paper, like the victors had. Traditions have been passed down to each generation. Even families without Faunus heritage have some of these traditions. It's all…. Complicated. Anyone else?"
A hand slowly raises and Noir Harceleur's expression remains as flat as ever, "This talk of fables in interesting, and I'm sure we've all learned a thing or two from hearing them." His eyes narrow a bit at Silver and he seems to get extremely serious, "however….there is one thing I need to ask."
"Yes, Mr. Harceleur?"
Yang stares at Noir, as if hearing his voice twice in a single day was something of a rare occurrence. Coco Adel, leader of Team CFVY of Beacon Academy, whispered to her teammate Velvet Scarlatina about Noir, "If he's talking, then he's really interested."
Fox Alistair of Team CFVY overheard Coco's comment and whispered to himself, "like getting you into bed."
Coco blushed, "well… that's…" She struggled to find the right words to explain to her current boyfriend about her ex-boyfriend.
"I know. It's all in the past."
"...Yeah." She put her hand over Fox's and smiled a tiny bit; she could see Fox with a smile of his own.
For one long moment Noir is silent as he looks Silver right in the eyes and he finally opens mouth and says in the flattest and most monotonic way possible, "do you not notice your headpiece is slipping?"
Silver quickly reached the top of her head to feel that her headpiece is still intact, where she has always had it. Qrow, in the background, started to laugh his ass off. Slightly embarrassed, Silver found a piece of chalk to whip it at Qrow's face. A few students giggled, some snickered at the couple's shenanigans.
He smirked rather smugly and let Qrow have his laugh before saying, "Okay, okay, in all seriousness. You, as we all know won Vytal all those years ago, quite impressively I should add, I watched the archived footage." He paused for a moment, knowing every eye in the classroom is on him. "My real question is….why didn't you re-enter at the next tournament two years later?"
Qrow's eyes widened, as well as the other instructors present. Silver stands there silent for what seemed to be forever.
"That's…" She took a deep breath before continuing, "After the Vytal Festival, and when my team and I became 2nd years… We were sent to a mission. It was supposed to be like any other. You, Mr. Harceleur, should know this by now, being a 2nd year yourself… but our mission… when horribly wrong…. And next thing you knew.. I was heading back to Atlas, giving my teammate's families the last thing that they had left. Their weapons…"
Noir sat there, his eyes looking right into Silver's as though searching them, to see if she wasn't telling the truth; for a long moment the classroom is eerily silent, and after a long, drawn out moment, Noir stood and said in a voice that sounded uncharacteristically on the verge of breaking. "I'm sorry…..I…." It was the first time in his life that Noir was speechless. Not knowing what else to do, he turned and left the classroom without saying a word to anyone else, not even looking at anyone as he passed them.
All the first year students and non-Beacon second years were confused, "Why did he…?" Jaune Arc asked without knowing who he was actually asking. He didn't even think his question was heard, but Silver answered.
"He is the same as I. Last year, he too lost his team. Midas Turo and Sherry Vulpa. Their leader Check Cremissi dropped out and no one has seen him since. He is all that remains of Team CSMN (Crimson) as I am all that remains of Team SLVR."
Without a second thought, Qrow stood from his seat to walk to Silver, making sure she was okay. He knew that talking about Lakshmi, Ven and Rah is one most difficult things for her. And it would never get better.
Leaning on Qrow she gathered her mental strength to say one last piece of advice, "That's another thing you students need to be aware of. Your own lives. Even as you graduate you still have the chance of death. Team STRQ, that once stood proud and tall even as they graduated fell apart with a disappearance and a death. Rely on your teammates and friends, work together and do not venture off alone. You could pay for it dearly…"
After what seemed to be a millenia of silence, Qrow looked at the students with one of his more serious faces, "Class dismissed." He lead Silver away from the lecture room to their temporary room to help her recover. He knew her mind was getting… dark.
Yang ran after Noir.