Dragons in Remnant-9
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK, KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK
"Yeah, yeah I'm coming hold your horses." Scythe groaned getting up out of bed to answer the door. "What?" He asked opening it.
"We need to talk." Yang stated pushing herself in.
"What is it this time Yang, I swear to you I convinced Natsu to not put any temporary hair dye in your shampoo again." Scythe groaned.
"You're taking my little sister out on missions as mercenaries. Explain before I feel the need to beat your ass."
"As much as I doubt you could do that, I'll explain." Scythe sighed sitting on his bed. "Not to mention I signed that contract three weeks ago and you're just now confronting me about it is a little surprising."
Yang pulled the chair out from the desk and sat next to him with it backwards.
"The only targets that Ruby will be taking down are Grimm, I put a condition in the contract stating that she, under no circumstances were to kill another living soul, no matter how corrupt they were." Scythe explained.
"So, you're basically going on jobs like normal huntsmen and huntresses." Yang exclaimed.
"Yes, but we might do some recon work, and if need be, take out White Fang. I know that's a bit contradictory to the condition I made, but in the couple days I had to think about taking this offer, I looked up some of the things the White Fang have done. So instead, I put that condition down for Ruby, and I put down the one explaining that the only souls I take, are the ones of terrorists and their organizations."
"You basically put yourself up as a merc you know that?" Yang asked.
"Normal huntsmen and huntresses do it all the time, legally to." Scythe exclaimed.
"So why not put Ruby down for the take down of the White Fang as well?" Yang asked.
"She's fifteen, she doesn't need guilt like that on her conscious right now." Scythe explained.
"You do?" Yang asked. "Scythe you're only a year older than her, and younger than me, even I would get P.T.S.D from the kind of stuff you're going to be doing." Yang sighed.
"I've already seen things, which still haunt me to this day." Scythe stated putting his head down. "I still have nightmares, reliving the death of my sister every night for the past year since she died."
Scythe put a hand to his face trying to supress the fear he showed.
"You're shouldering this White Fang missions because you've already lived through the most traumatic thing possible." Yang said putting the pieces together.
"I wasn't fast enough, or strong enough to save her, so for that I'm cursed to live for eternity as a dragon." Scythe explained.
"Well, I can't stop my sister from going on these missions." Yang stated getting up. "I can't stop you either, just promise me you'll look after her out there."
"That is something I can promise, not sure how well I'd be able to keep it though." Scythe chuckled putting his hand down.
"Do your best, that's all I ask." Yang smiled. "Another thing, you don't have to go through this alone."
"I guess you're right." Scythe exclaimed smiling.
"I have my moments, now get up, I want to join your team for the training today." Yang exclaimed.
It was the first time Scythe noticed Yang was dressed in an orange tank-top, a pair of black shorts, and her hair done up in a ponytail.
"You sure? Fiore Military is a lot rougher than Remnant Military." Scythe exclaimed grabbing his gear.
"C'mon, I can take it…" Yang smiled.
…
"I… can't… take this… anymore…" Yang wheezed out as she tried to keep up with the other five.
Scythe ran back to her and stopped in front of her, running in place chuckling.
"I told you it would be rough. And we're not even half way through the first exercise yet." Scythe explained.
"What?" Yang asked.
"C'mon, even Ruby's doing better than you." Scythe stated pointing up the hill where the others are.
Thanks to Ruby's semblance, her endurance was a lot better than Yang's when it came to running and she was keeping up pretty well. Ruby insisted to Scythe she join them, telling him it would be good for her when they started going on missions, and he agreed with her logic, giving her the same warning he gave Yang.
"If you wanna go back in, you can." Scythe exclaimed.
"No, I'm seeing this through."
…
Jaune and Cardin stood in the arena of the training room, each of them having looks of annoyance.
Jaune charged wildly at Cardin, making the club swinger smile a bit as he swung and sent Jaune flying a bit, near the edge of the arena. Once he regained his bearings, Jaune went charging in without his shield, swinging his sword in an upward motion, then swung down, but Cardin blocked with the handle of his club.
"This is the part, where you lose." Cardin said with a smirk.
"Over my dead…" Jaune never finished that sentence as Cardin kneed him in the gut.
Cardin lifted his club intending to give a killing blow.
"Cardin, that's enough." Glynda stated ending the sparing session. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red, in a tournament style duel, this would indicate Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match. Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now, please try to refer to your scroll during combat; gauging your aura will help you to decide when it is appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more… defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now would we?"
"Speak for yourself." Cardin hissed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Scythe asked.
"What's what supposed to mean Mr. Knight?" Glynda asked.
"I believe Cardin does wish Jaune dead." Scythe stated looking back at Cardin, who had a perplexed look upon his face as to how he heard. "Faunus have good ears remember?" Scythe asked with a grin, and a tap of his left ear.
"Mr. Winchester, is this true?" Glynda asked.
"I… well, uh…"
"Answer the question dumbass." Natsu shouted.
"Grr, yes. It's true, weaklings like him are only good for being shields for the strong and feeding the Grimm as distractions so the real Huntsmen can get away." Cardin stated, sounding angered with defeat.
"Detention for a month Mr. Winchester, we do not tolerate bullying at this school, especially from those who actually want another student dead. Go to professor Ozpins office." Glynda stated with a menacing glare.
Cardin cringed at the glare and gave one of his own to Scythe, angry at the practical Faunus for getting him detention.
"Remember everyone, the vital festival is only a few months away, it won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale so keep practicing. Those who chose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale." Glynda explained before the bell rang.
Pyrrha was looking at Jaune, with a look mixed with sympathy and curiosity.
…
In the cafeteria, Nora was explaining another dream of hers, over exaggerating it as usual while Ren kept correcting the false parts. Jaune however was picking at his food, his attention on something.
"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked.
"Huh, oh, yeah why?"
"It's just that you seem a little… not okay." Ruby stated.
"Dude, you look majorly depressed." Scythe stated after taking a large bite out of the full Christmas ham he was eating.
"Something on your mind bud?" Natsu asked eating his plate stacked full of burritos.
"Eh, guy's I'm fine… Seriously, look." Jaune stated with a nervous laugh, a fake smile, and two shaky thumbs up.
"You don't seem fine." Wendy stated eating some of her salad.
Over at another table, Cardin and the rest of his team were picking on a Rabbit Faunus, gaining glares form everyone in team JNPR and RWBY.
"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school." Pyrrha stated.
"Eh, who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asked. "Nah, he likes to mess around you know? Practical jokes."
"What about what he said in the arena today?" Ruby asked.
"Well…"
"Jaune, I'm a guy, and as I know, I do like to protect my masculinity by asking for help as little as possible, but even I know, when it's really needed." Gajeel explained setting down the last turkey bone.
"Gajeel's right, besides… He's a bully." Ruby stated.
"Oh please… name one time he's "bullied" me." Jaune stated.
"There was the time he knocked down your books." Blake stated.
"When he shoved your head into a toilet and gave you a swirly." Ruby exclaimed.
"There was the time he sent you flying through the Emerald forest from the cliffs again." Pyrrha stated.
"The time he used your own shield against you to get you stuck in a door way, for three hours before the joints of the shield became loose again." Nora added.
"Or when he somehow put your bed in the Emerald forest filled with Grimm. I still don't know how he and his team didn't wake the rest of us." Ren exclaimed.
"Or how about the time he sent you flying in one of the rocket lockers when Ms. Goodwitch was instructing us what they were for?" Yang added.
"I didn't land far from the school." Jaune stated.
"Wendy and I both had to use our sky magic to heal your broken arm, leg, and ribs, not to mention a concussion." Scythe stated, listing off the injuries with his fingers. "You should really consider joining us for our morning training sessions. Ruby and Yang have already joined."
"Jaune you know if you ever need help you can just ask." Pyrrha stated.
"Ooh, we'll break his legs." Nora stated in excitement.
"I'm up for that." Natsu smiled.
"Count me in." Gajeel chuckled.
"I'll admit, the idea does sound appealing." Scythe said with a small smile.
"Guy's really it is fine. Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everybody." Jaune stated.
"A racist one at that." Scythe hissed, crushing one of the ham bones in his fist.
"Oww, that hurts." A soft womanly voice stated.
Scythe and the rest looked over to see Cardin, pulling on the Rabbit Faunus's ears. Cardin and his group were mocking her and pulling her ears.
"Please stop." The Faunus asked.
"I told you it was real." Cardin stated as his team continued laughing.
"What a freak." The guy with the green Mohawk stated. Cardin let go, and the Faunus girl walked off, tears in her eyes.
"Atrocious, I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha stated.
"Me neither." Blake hissed.
Nora made a few noises gaining there attention, then pointed at the empty seats where Scythe, Natsu and Gajeel were once seated at.
They turned back over to the table where Cardin was and saw the trio walking towards it. Though they couldn't see it, they knew the three of them had anger in their eyes.
"Apparently them to." Ruby exclaimed.
"Hey." Scythe stated stopping behind them with Gajeel and Natsu by his side.
"Well, you come to let me pick on you to?" Cardin asked with a smirk. Obviously he had forgotten the beating that Natsu, and Gajeel gave him, but his team hadn't and they backed off. His head was slammed into the table; a few pops were audible as the vertebra in his neck cracked.
"Let's get one thing straight, I see or hear of you picking on another Faunus, or anyone ever again, I'll use your head as a speed-bag and your body as a punching bag, in my room. Got it?" Scythe hissed.
"G-got it," Cardin stated, feeling intense heat on his neck.
Scythe released him and walked back over to their table, Gajeel and Natsu put a few nasty glares at Cardin's teammates before joining their TL, and sitting back down. Scythe took the remains of his lunch, turning the rest of the ham bones to dust with his hands.
…
Later that night, Jaune was on the roof, Pyrrha came to see what was wrong, but he pushed her away again. Scythe was walking down the hall when he noticed she was crying, running, and decided to go confront Jaune about it, but stopped when he heard Cardin's voice.
"Oh Jaune…" Cardin stated, climbing up from his window.
"Cardin?" Jaune asked.
"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room." Cardin smiled. "So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel."
"Please Cardin please don't tell anyone." Jaune begged.
"Jaune, c'mon, I'd never rat out a friend like that." Cardin said, a mischievous smile on his face.
"Uh, a friend?" Jaune asked.
"Of course. We're friends now Jauney boy, and the way I see it, as long as your there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." Cardin laughs.
Scythe hissed, but resisted the urge to barge in, knowing his interference would only make things worse for Jaune. Blackmailing someone was something on the list of top twenty things he hated.
"That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today." Cardin smiled. "Think you could take care of that for me, buddy? That's what I thought. Don't worry Jaune, your secret's safe with me."
Scythe had to clench the metal post to hold back his anger and just barge out there, seriously contemplating whether he should make his threat from earlier a reality. Looking out the door, he saw Jaune was just staring down at the ground, so he snuck behind him and knocked him out, karate chopping his neck as lightly as possible.
Jaune fell to the ground, and Scythe caught him before he could hit his head. He swung him over his shoulder, and hauled him to the Team JNPR dorm room, explaining to his teammates that he was training him and fell asleep soon after it ended.
They seemed to believe the excuse he gave and just let Nora and Ren put him in his bed. He didn't see Pyrrha anywhere, so he guessed she was off needing some space.
Scythe called for a meeting with his team in his dorm room, and when they got there, they found Pyrrha sitting there, waiting for him.
"Scythe… sorry, I just… I needed someone to talk to right now, and when I ran past you in the halls, I thought you were going somewhere and I figured I'd wait for you here. I see you're about to have a team meeting, I'll just leave." Pyrrha exclaimed.
"No stay, it's actually good you're here, you're a part of this to." Scythe stated as his team came in.
"So, what's this emergency meeting about?" Gajeel asked.
"Yeah man I was just about to hit the hay." Natsu groaned.
"Same here." Wendy stated rubbing her eyes.
All three of his teammates had shown up to the meeting wearing their pajamas, Scythe tried hard to supress his laugh seeing Gajeel and Natsu wearing one article of clothing, whether it was sweat pants, or a tank top, with Pumpkin Pete on them. Wendy was just in gray sweats and a sky blue tank top.
"This emergency meeting is about Jaune, and Cardin." Scythe explained.
That got them wide awake.
"What happened, did Cardin push Jaune off the roof?" Pyrrha asked.
"Let me explain." Scythe sighed. "Cardin overheard your talk with Jaune about how his transcripts are fake, and how he snuck his way into Beacon."
"He what?" Gajeel asked.
"Never thought Jaune would be so gutsy." Natsu laughed.
"Wow, I'm a little surprised." Wendy exclaimed.
"How'd you find out?" Pyrrha asked.
"After I saw you running down the hall, crying, I knew it had to be because of something with Jaune, so I went to confront him and I found out by Cardin giving him his first blackmail order." Scythe explained.
"That creep is blackmailing Jaune?" Gajeel asked clenching his fists.
"He is. Most likely though he's not going to stop at just one thing. He's going to continue on." Scythe sighed. "This meeting is over, we'll figure out what to do tomorrow. Everyone get some sleep. We have a field trip in a couple days and we'll be skipping morning training for the next couple mornings."
Everyone left for their rooms, but Scythe stopped Pyrrha for a moment.
"I knocked Jaune out and brought him back to your teams dorm room, the excuse I gave was I was training him, but he fell asleep right after it ended." Scythe explained. "Try going along with this, until we can get this Cardin thing situated."
"I will." Pyrrha exclaimed before leaving.
Scythe closed the door and leaned against it. He knew what he was about to do was wrong, but he had a feeling that it needed to be done.
…
Cardin was sitting in his dorm room with his team, writing down a list of things he was going to have his new 'friend' Jaune do, as payment for keeping his mouth shut.
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK
"Huh, who could that be?" Cardin asked.
He opened the door and out of the blue, he had a potato sack on his head and was dragged out. His team were busy enough with their own things, that they didn't even notice that he had left until five minutes after.
Cardin was panicking at this point, he was being hauled somewhere and he couldn't see. His panic got worse when he was thrown to the ground, and the sack was removed. But it subsided when the light became blocked by Scythe's form standing in front of him.
"What the hell do you want freak?" Cardin demanded.
"Let me see, I want my sister back, I want my own house, I want to help people, I want to get my friends back home. Honestly the list goes on and on." Scythe stated messing with Cardin.
"What do you want with me?"
"Or right, that, well see here's the thing. I can't tolerate bullies, especially ones who blackmail my friends by threatening to reveal they got into Beacon using fake transcripts, unless they do what they're told." Scythe exclaimed pacing in front of Cardin.
"How did you find out about that?" Cardin asked.
"You should really take your own advice, and pay more attention if someone is listening in or not. I came up to have a word with my friend, and there I find you making a blackmail threat to him." Scythe stated rubbing the back of his head.
Cardin looked around and smirked, thinking he had just won. They were in training room B, and he knew every training room, had at least five security cameras in them.
"You do realize that Ozpins cameras just recorded you saying that right, you stupid animal?" Cardin asked thinking it was all over for Scythe. "Now that weakling will be kicked out for sure, all thanks to you, you brainless beast."
"He knew from the beginning Cardin. He knew about the fake transcripts and knew that Jaune hadn't unlocked his Aura until Pyrrha did it for him in the Emerald Forest. Despite all that, he let Jaune in because he saw a young man with great potential in his future." Scythe explained.
Cardin clenched his fist in anger and punched Scythe in the face with a right hook. Cardin stepped back as Scythe's head was still facing where Cardin forced it with his assault.
"You're just itching to fight aren't you?" Scythe asked, turning his head back with a few audible pops of his vertebra.
(Que Music… Monster: Skillet)
"Then I'll give you one." Scythe stated cracking his knuckles.
Cardin knew that he was a little weaker without his mace, but he still believed himself superior to any Faunus, even if he fought in hand to hand combat only.
Scythe threw several punches at him. Uppercuts, hooks, cross, jabs. Cardin blocked most of them, but still received more than he would have liked.
Cardin jumped back and then forward, a little closer and kneed Scythe in the stomach.
Scythe stepped back from the blow and held his stomach. His uniform did well for protecting his vital organs from any blades, bullets, or explosives, but the draw back came in the form of little to no shock absorption, and he didn't have any scales under to protect him either.
Scythe narrowed his eyes and rushed to Cardin, returning the blow to the stomach.
"You're lying, there's no way Ozpin would know about that runts fake entry into the school. He would have never let him in." Cardin stated grabbing a training mace from the rack of training tools.
"Believe what you want. I'm not going to tolerate you blackmailing my friend." Scythe stated dodging the swings Cardin was sending his way.
"What are you going to do about it?" Carding asked as he kept swinging wildly.
Scythe didn't answer, he was more focused on how Cardin was fighting.
'He's swinging the mace just like how Jaune was swinging his sword at him.' Scythe thought.
"You're not used to fighting guy's bigger than yourself, are you?" Scythe asked catching the mace in his right hand.
"What?" Cardin asked in anger.
"You prefer fighting someone smaller and weaker than you? Like Jaune." Scythe growled, red scales covering the exposed parts of his arms.
"No, I can fight anyone that's any size easy." Cardin stated yanking the weapon out of his grasp and swinging it at his face.
Scythe blocked the practice mace with his arm, and the metal shattered to pieces and everything went slow motion.
In the mess of metal shards, Cardin's face went wide eyed and paled. Through the gaps in the flying metal pieces, he saw Scythe's reptilian eyes burning with a hell fire, and a holy fire.
Time sped back up as Scythe grabbed Cardin by the face. His hand was covered in scales and his fingers and nails seemed longer and a little more boney.
"Dragons are protective of their friends, and those they care about." Scythe stated lifting Cardin up off the ground. "Sometimes, we get a little steamed when they're in trouble."
Cardin tried breaking away from Scythe's grasp as he felt the heat on the palm of Scythe's hand rising.
"Let go of me you freak." Cardin shouted, feeling pain the left side of his face, where Scythe's pinkie was.
"No one has ever seen me in this form. Not that it's complete anyway, only my arms have turned." Scythe stated throwing Cardin to the side.
Cardin stood up and felt the burn in the left side of his face. It ran from his left temple of his head, down to under his eye in a slightly crescent motion.
"You freak, how'd you burn past my aura shield?" Cardin asked.
"A fire dragon's flame can burn through anything, you're not safe in battle with me." Scythe growled, crimson flames seeping from his tear ducts.
"Get away from me you freak." Cardin stated.
Scythe stopped and looked at his hands.
"Indeed, someone would be scared of a creature they know nothing about, just like you know nothing about my true power." Scythe stated.
Scythe pulled Cardin up by the collar of his suit.
"What are you doing?" Cardin asked in fear.
Scythe set Cardin down on the ground, on his feet and flicked some debri off his shoulder.
"You're not worth my time." Scythe exclaimed.
(End Song…)
"Consider this battle between us a warning. I won't hesitate to take you down. Go to Professor Ozpin, he'll tell you I told the truth. You'll be lucky if he doesn't suspend, or worse expel, you for blackmailing Jaune." Scythe explained walking away, his arms returning to normal.
…
Up in his office, Ozpin had witnessed the entire scene through the security cameras, the battle between Scythe and Cardin, he even considered going down there to stop it, but when he saw Scythe pick Cardin up and dust him off, he knew everything was fine. He was taking into deep consideration what he had heard from Qrow about who Scythe might really be.
The elevator dinged, and in walked the booze reeking man himself.
"Well, Oz, was I right?" Qrow asked.
"I'm not too sure. True Scythe can lose control of himself if enrage enough, we saw that in this video, and in the one of him saving Wendy's life. But I'm not a hundred percent sure he's the younger brother in mortal form. I know his power, and this doesn't seem like it." Ozpin stated.
"Then what kind of power does it seem like?" Qrow asked.
"Honestly Qrow, it seems like a balance of the light and the dark is within Scythe. We saw how easily he took down Roman Torchwhick, we just witnessed that he can change his form to. But we also witnessed he can somewhat control himself when angered, he could have killed Cardin Winchester, but he picked him up, brushed him off, and walked away. The younger brother wouldn't do that, he would have killed Cardin without a moment's hesitation."
"So my theory is wrong?" Qrow asked.
"Not entirely. Come take a look at this, it's something I noticed when Scythe's arms changed." Ozpin projected the large video footage for Qrow to see, and stopped, playing frame by frame until he was where he wanted.
"His shadow…"
"Though his entire body didn't change, his shadow's entire form did." Ozpin exclaimed. "Meaning we might just be dealing with something involving the two brothers in this young man after all."