Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. I just haven't had as much time to write this week as I'd have liked. The good news is I'm probably gonna buy my new computer this weekend so it'll be much easier for me to type. As always, be sure to follow if you want more of this story and comment with your thoughts, opinions and ideas. I hope you enjoy!

Also, if you were hoping for more of Ruby getting teased in this chapter, I'm sorry to disappoint. Ruby will not be teased. I repeat. RUBY will not be teased.

The two wooden swords clashed in the air, filling the practice room with a dull thud. Aero pushed tried to push his way through the lock, but Dunden took a small step back, letting the force of Aero's push go forward and causing him to lose his footing. The black haired boy swung toward the blonde's side, trying to end the match with another win. It would've been over, but Aero quickly beat the wooden weapon away before back stepping away from his opponent.

The two boys were wearing sparring armor and helmets, which kept the two from seeing each other's faces. Acrose told them not being able to see your enemies eyes was like fighting blind. Seeing where they were looking told you were they would try to strike, but he also said the boys, Aero mostly, needed to build up the reflex needed notice the smallest changes in stances and styles. Giving up one second of response time could be the same as giving up your life.

The boys charged at each other again, both using the most basic form of sword fighting: keep the sword in front of you as much as possible, block your enemy's attack and go for the kill. Fundamentals were important.

After a few quick blows, Dunden changed tactics and tried dancing around Aero, but the blonde managed to match him step per step. Knowing he need an edge and fast, Aero decided on a risky move. He stopped one of Dunden's downward slashes with a horizontal block and pushed off like he was trying to knock him back. Dunden's weight shifted forward, anticipating the attack, when Aero switched his grip from forward to reverse. Now, instead of acting against Aero's push, the force of Dunden's blade was acting like point of rotation, around which Aero was hoping to find an opening at the back of his neck.

He almost found it to, before Dunden ducked below Aero's awkwardly angled attack, spun on the sole of his foot and jabbed his weapon forward, making contact right over Aero's heart. Knowing who had won, the two boys stepped away from each other, removed their helmets and bowed.

"Well done you two." Both boys turned to see their instructor, a bulky, dark skinned, scarlet eyed man in black and red armor, walking toward them. "Dunden, congratulations on another victory. Aero, good usage of changing your attack, but make sure you pay attention to your opponents footing. Dunden had already planted his foot before you even made your move."

Aero lowered his head. They had already sparred 9 times that day and Aero had only won the 3rd and 5th matches. He felt disappointed in himself, but then felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Dunden looking him at him with an amount expression so small, only someone who had known him for years would be able to notice it.

You don't need to feel disappointed. You did well.

You did better.

"Overall," said Acrose with a smile, "I'd say you have both made excellent progress in your training."

"So, what's next," asked Dunden. "Are we moving on to aura?"

"Not today," Acrose said. "Tomorrow, you'll begin training to use your semblances in combat situations, but today, you can do as you wish."

"Wait," said Aero. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, young prince," he said as he walked to the door, "that you have the rest of the day to do whatever you want to do. No training. No lessons. Nothing of the sort." He reached the door and grabbed the handle, providing a quick glance at the brilliant red ring on his hand. "Today is a special day after all." The man opened the door and left the room, leaving the two boys alone.

"So," said Dunden as the two walked over the weapons rack, "what are you going to do today?" The black haired boy put his training sword down and started to remove his armor.

"Actually," said Aero, "I was thinking I might spend some more time practicing on the training dummies."

Dunden removed his chest piece and sighed.

"Aero, I told you already that you don't need to beat yourself up."

"I'm not gonna beat myself up. I'm gonna beat the dummies up." Aero chuckled to himself a bit, walked over to the poorly made wooden mannequins and started placing strikes on them.

What's really bothering you?

Aero's last attack echoed through the room as he heard the voice enter his head.

Nothing, he said in response and continued to whack his fake opponent, now with less accuracy.

"Aero." This time, the voice was spoken aloud. Aero relaxed himself and turned to see Dunden standing behind him. He met his lilac eyes for a moment, before lowering his head.

"I... I heard some of the servants talking... about what happened." Aero started whacking the dummy again, now with for ferocity. "Some of the older ones said "Little Ebony wouldn't have gotten involved" and "I don't care what he says. I still think Halos must have...""

Before he could finish his sentence, the door to the training room opened. In walked a woman wearing a long white hood over her red and black attire with a sword sheathed to her side. Dunden turned to see Aero's face light up almost too quickly when she entered the room. He knew what Aero was doing. The blonde was almost as good at hiding his emotions as he was.

"Hello, boys."

"Hey, Summer. What are you doing here?"

Aero, I don't think...

"Well," she said with a smile, "I was coming to see if Acrose really gave you guys the rest of the day off like I asked him too. It is your guys' special day after all."

"You mean he didn't..."

"Do you really think Acrose would give anyone the day off?" Aero had to admit Summer had a point. Their instructor, no matter how friendly, was not one for relaxation.

"He might do it if Selena forced him too," Aero said.

"Oh, she did," said Summer with a gleeful smile. "So, what are you two gonna do with your new found freedom."

"I have to go report to the General," said Dunden with a completely serious tone as he walked toward the door.

"Isn't it a bit weird for you to be so formal when your talking about Risse?"

"Or anyone we know for that matter," Summer added to Aero's question.

"Not at all. Goodbye." And we'll talk about what they said later.

With that, he was gone.

"I've known you two for almost a decade now," said Summer, "and I still don't think I've ever seen him smile."

"He does. You just have to look really, really closely." The two laughed at the overly serious boy's expense before Summer spoke again.

"So, how did your morning sparring go? I'm sorry you had to come at all, by the way. You know how that man is."

"Pretty good," said Aero, not looking Summer in the eye.

"You lost, didn't you?"

"Oh, big time," he said as he hung his head. "And I thought I got out of lessons today."

"I'm not the one who wanted to learn my language," she said with a smirk. That was how they went about their conversations. When Summer first arrived, it was always a game of charades to figure out what she was saying, but, the closer she got to Aero and the others, the more she picked up on the basics of Totum's language. The same was true the other way around, especially in Aero's case, in which he basically became a translator for Summer until she learned to speak for herself.

"Well, I'd say I pretty much have it down at this point." He looked down at the wooden sword in his hand. "Now if I could only say the same thing about this."

"You know, where I was trained, we all had to forge our own weapons. If I'm not mistaken," she said as she patted her scabbard, "I'd say the same is expected here."

"I know. I know. It's just... I haven't decided on what I want my weapon to look like."

"Well, weren't you planning on basing it off your dad's? It was true that Aero wanted to make something similar to his father's legendary blades. That was certain, but something about the idea of his own weapon made his insides feel jittery. Summer had taught him that his weapon should be an extension of himself. He wasn't sure how to, or even if he could, pull something that important off.

"Yeah. It's just... I... well..."

"Oooohhhh," she said, looking at him with an evil grin, "I think I know what it is."

Aero closed his eyes and tried to keep the sternest face he could, but he could still feel the blush rising in his cheeks. He knew exactly what was coming.

"I know exactly what your thinking, and the answer is no."

"Oh?" Her grin grew wider. "What was I thinking then?"

Aero's blush grew deeper as he found himself the victim of Summer, and not to mentions Zek's, favorite pastime once again.

"You were thinking that I wasn't going to the forge because I'm afraid of being alone with Quinn."

"You're the one who said it. Not me."

Aero's face lit up like a fire as Summer let out a laugh that echoed throughout the chamber. For years, Aero had been mercilessly teased about his supposed "relationship" with the forgemaster's daughter. It wasn't just Summer and Zek either. Everyone, even Dunden, had taken a shot at him before.

"You know," she said, switching back to Totomian, "I bet she'd personally help you if you asked her too."

"First off," Aero said defensively, "I DO NOT like her like that. Second," he said as his voice and expression lowered, "she always acts like she's angry with me. There's no way she would ever agree to help me."

"The key word there is "acts," Aero."

"What do you mean?"

Summer rolled her eyes and pinched her brow, leaving the embarrassed Aero slightly confused.

...

"Do you think she'd really help?" Aero's voice was quite and he refused to look Summer in the eye, but he could still hear her squee as she put her hand on his back and pushed him toward the door.

"Let's go find out."

-x-

Aero awoke from his slumber as the sun made it's way over his tired eyes. Stretching himself with a yawn, the boy stepped out of his bed and looked out of his window. He could see several buildings and courtyards beneath him and what he assumed was the city of Vale in the distance. The sun was raised in the sky, signaling that Aero had overslept.

Well, maybe not. It was hard to oversleep when he had nothing to wake up too. Normally, he'd be up at dawn for training or lessons, but on those one-in-a-million days he didn't have to, he'd sleep until noon.

Based on how high the sun was, he guessed it was probably past 9:00. Ruby and the other's said they had classes beginning then so none of them would be in there dorms. He turned around and looked at his own room. Of the four beds, only two had been used. He had slept in one and threw his robes and swords on another.

Currently, he was wearing a pair of blue shorts Jaune had lent him so he'd have something to change into after Weiss forced him to take that weird waterfall bath. He changed into his robes and decided to have a walk around the campus. Anything was better than laying in his bed doing nothing.

-x-

"I would give anything to be laying in my bed doing nothing."

"There is no talking during my test, Ms. Valkyrie," said Oobleck, who didn't even look up from the book he was reading.

"Uggh." Nora slammed her head on the tabletop, knowing both she and her grade were doomed.

-x-

Aero was aimlessly walking through the halls when he heard the sound of a fight coming from the training room. Interested in what the students of Beacon were capable of, he entered the arena-like room to see if Summer's stories Beacon's Huntsmen-in-training were true.

A few rows of seats were being filled by waiting combatants, many of which were wearing different uniforms and all of which Aero did not know. He walked over to the edge of the viewing area, which was glowing with a light blue light, and looked down at the fight.

One of them, a blonde monkey faunus with a staff, jumped into the air and brought him weapon down with a whack. His opponent, a boy with dark, scarred skin and burnt orange hair, jumped out of the way and charged back at the faunus, slashing at him with the two blades attached to his arms. The faunus managed to block slash after slash, but it was painfully obvious he was being forced on the defensive. He broke his staff in two, revealing it to be a conjoined pair of nunchucks, and several loud bangs echoed through the room. The orange haired boy swung his blades in front of him, causing small sparks to fly from their edges.

So, that's what a gun is.

Aero could see the blonde boy's smile from where he was; it was the same kind of cocky smile Zek had whenever he thought he was about to win.

Yeah. He's gonna lose.

The moment Aero finished his thought, the orange haired boy dove at the faunus and grabbed his nunchucks. His smile quickly turned to fear as he was twirled in the air by his own weapons and thrown into the arena wall, earning several cheers from the audience.

"And that's the match." Aero looked down to see Professor Goodwitch enter the arena with some kind of screen in her hands.

"Isn't it a little unfair for a first year to go up against an upperclassman," said the faunus as he stood up.

"Well," said Goodwitch, "maybe you should have thought about that before you picked you picked your opponent, Mr. Wukong." Several students laughed at the boy's expense, except for a group of blue, green and red haired boys, who had all smacked their foreheads.

"Now then," she continued as the boys left the arena, "our next combatant will be another member of Team CFVY: Yatsuhashi Daichi." A very tall boy stood up at the mention of his name. He wore a green robe and large, orange greatsword that looked almost as tall as the boy himself. Next to him sat a fashionable looking girl with handbag and a faunus girl with tall, rabbit ears. On his way down to the arena, he gave a high-five to the orange haired boy, who went over and took the spot where Yatsuhashi had been sitting.

"And who would you like to fight, Mr. Daichi?"

The ethnic boy looked around the room, searching for someone who peaked his interest, when his gaze suddenly fell on Aero.

"Who are you," he asked. Aero was a bit shocked and looked to his sides to see if he meant someone else. He turned to look at Yatsuhashi again and mouthed "Me?," to which the boy nodded.

"My name is Aero, Son of Halos. I'm, uh, new here."

"Aren't you the guy who stole a stretcher from the med-wing," shouted one of the students, causing a murmur among the students. Aero wore an embarrassed smile and laughed nervously upon hearing his reputation at the school.

"Would you like to fight me? You certainly seem equipped for a match." Aero didn't have time to answer before Goodwitch spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Yatsuhashi, but Aero was recently dismissed from the hospital, so I highly doubt he's fit for a fight." Aero thought for a moment and circled his right shoulder around to feel for any pain.

"Besides," she continued, "he isn't even enrolle-"

"I'll do it."

The entire room turned to the blonde haired boy.

"Aero," said Goodwitch, looking cautious, "are you sure?"

"I am." Aero made his way down to the arena floor and stood opposite of Yatsuhashi, who put his fist in his palm and bowed. Aero did the same and nodded to Goodwitch as he rose.

"Hmm," she hummed to herself. "Fine." She tapped the screen in front of her and a far larger one appeared above the arena floor. On it was a picture of Yatsuhashi across from a blank box, both of which had green rectangles below them.

"The match will follow standard dueling rules. The first combatant to knock his opponents aura into the red is the victor. Do you understand?" Both boys nodded, but Aero knew she had only explained the match for his sake.

Goodwitch raised her hand and looked between the two boys.

"Ready?"

Both boys drew their swords, though Aero had only drawn one, and readied themselves.

"Begin!"

Yatsuhashi was the first to make a move. He slashed downward at an angle that Aero blocked with his blade, only to be pushed back on the soles of his feet by the sheer force of the attack. Steadying himself, Aero darted forward toward his larger opponent.

Ok. It's just like dueling Acrose.

He launched a few quick jabs at his opponent, but the sword was so massive it was being used as a shield.

Greatsword. Large weapon with powerful, but imprecise strikes. Slow too.

Aero rolled underneath a surprisingly fast horizontal slash and kicked the giant in leg. He was trying to disrupt his stance, but Aero's attack didn't even make the leg budge.

While thinking about his next move, Aero felt the force of a backhand hit to the face knock him backward. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and saw that his gauge had turned yellow while Yatsuhashi's was still green. His opponent readied himself with his sword in front of him, waiting for Aero to make a move.

In response, Aero decided to draw his second sword and slowly circle around, planning his next attack.

He's stoic. Gripping might work, but his raw strength alone would make that difficult. I have to catch him off guard.

Yatsuhashi raised his sword upward, preparing to bring in down right on top of Aero.

This could work.

The audience gasped as Yatsuhashi brought his weapon down. Instead of trying to dodge, Aero crossed his blades in front of him and stopped the greatsword, the force of the attack causing the floor to crack. Aero looked up in satisfaction to see his opponents startled face.

I may not be stronger...

His arms glowed with a faint silver light.

... but I am more powerful.

With a yell, Aero swung his swords upward in an arc, forcing the greatsword up and causing Yatsuhashi to stagger. Aero switched his grip and dashed forward. He jumped up and did a spinning flip off his opponents face. With the momentum, Aero slashed the greatsword onto the ground and drove one of his own swords down to trap it there.

Yatsuhashi struggled, but he managed to free his sword from it's prison, causing Aero's blade to fly into the air. Unfortunately for him, this created a pefect opening for Aero to launch a blast of energy into his chest before raising his hand in the air.

The blast didn't do much damage, nor did Aero intend for it too. Yatsuhashi was stunned for a moment and made eye contact with Aero. He tried to charge at the boy, but the blonde just smirked and let his hand drop, letting the pommel of the suspended sword drop directly onto Yatsuhashi's head.

Aero moved forward to catch his falling weapon. The giant was staggering backwards and Aero could practically see the stars above is head. Wanting to put an end to the match, ran toward his opponent and slashed his swords downward in an X. The energy released from them hit his opponent square in chest, knocking him onto his back.

The room was silent for a moment, save the sound of Aero's heavy breathing.

Maybe fighting so soon wasn't such a good idea.

Turning to the overhead screen, Aero saw that he and Yatsuhashi's gauges were almost exactly the same. The difference? Aero's was still yellow while Yatsuhashi's had gone into the red.

"That's the match!" Goodwitch walked onto the floor, looking shocked, just like everyone else in the audience. "The winner is... Aero!"

It was silent for a moment and Aero started to worry if maybe he'd done something wrong. Then, slowly, loud applause started to break out among the students. Some students, especially a certain monkey faunus, even stood and cheered.

"Yeah," he shouted. "That's right! Take that, CFVY! Woo!" He turned to look at who Aero assumed were Yatsuhashi's teammates and continued his taunting; however, he quickly sat down with a terrified expression when the girl in the dark glasses pulled them down slightly and glared at him.

Falling on his own back in exhaustion, Aero looked closed his eyes and smiled.

I wonder what the others are up to right now.

-x-

"WOOHOO! I'm Queen of the Classroom! I'm Queen of the Classroom!" Nora jumped and skipped her way out of Oobleck's classroom, holding a piece of paper with a big, red A+ at the top. Following behind her were her mentally exhausted teammates.

"How did she... I mean... why..."

"This is Nora, Jaune," said Ren.

"Yeah," said Jaune, looking down at his own 65. "But still..."