Chapter 10- Orion
At first, I thought the White Fang had spotted us and were preparing to attack again, but as I turned toward the doors I realized only about a quarter of the faunus were wearing White Fang uniforms. This was a recruitment rally, and anyone who knows anything about the White Fang knows what happens during a recruitment rally. They choose an anti-faunus establishment to burn in order to boost morale and build bloodlust. The people inside the restaurant grew uneasy as the mob passed the Windows. Luckily, it didn't stop there. The board of angry faunus kept walking, paying the restaurant no mind.
Neo let out an audible sigh when they were out of sight. She must've been thinking the same thing as me. She settled down closer to me so our shoulders were almost touching. Blake smiled at me and shook her head, prompting an eye roll out of me.
We were all done eating and thoroughly out of things to talk about by three, so we decided to head back to Beacon. Ruby and Weiss had finished shopping, so we were going to meet back up with them there. Also, Neo had fallen asleep at some point during the conversation and now had her head resting on my shoulder. I felt bad waking her up, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact she practically jumped out of her seat when I mentioned Yang's motorcycle.
Neo
'I love this motorcycle so much,' I thought as Yang and I raced back to Beacon. Blake had a pretty nice truck which Orion was riding in, but Yang's motorcycle was one of the most thrilling modes of transportation, right next to the bullheads I'd learned to fly under Roman. It only took us five minutes to get back to Beacon Academy. I hugged Yang around the waist and giggled like crazy the whole way. There was no way Yang could hear me over the sounds of the wind and the motor, but it was still the most noise I'd made since Roman died. I automatically calmed down when we arrived, taking on the professional persona I'd perfected working under Cinder.
"Ha! Those two are gonna be shocked when they see us getting along!" Yang pulled me into another awkward bear hug, then started toward team RWBY's dorm room with her arm around my neck. I happily kept pace. 'This is gonna be fun.'
The door opened immediately after we arrived at their dorm room. Ruby was behind it, beaming at Yang. "Hi, Yang! I knew I heard your footsteps! Didn't I tell you, Weiss? I said 'My sister has the loudest footsteps in all of-' whoa!" Now she noticed me under Yang's arm. "Yang, please stop this! I understand you're angry with her, but please don't strangle her! You'll be expelled!" Yang started cracking up and I let on a small smile, but Ruby and Weiss were just confused.
"It's fine, Ruby! Neo I made up. We're friends now." Ruby still didn't quite get it.
"Then why are you trying to strangle her?"
"It's called a hug, Ruby. I'm hugging her." And with that, the blond yanked me into our third awkward hug of the day. I could hear Ruby and Weiss through the massive cleavage, giggling at the position of my head. 'Does she realize where she's putting my head? I really hope this doesn't become our "thing",' I pondered as she pulled away and I gave her a sheepish smile. We entered the RWBY dorm room, which was a mess. Clothes and papers littered the floor and there were two roughly-made bunk beds in the far corners. One of the top bunks was suspended from the ceiling and had a sheet draped over it to make a suspended fort-looking area. Ruby jumped onto this one and laid down. Weiss took the bunk under it and Yang hopped up on the other top bunk, which appeared to be held on top of the bottom one by tape. Strangely enough, Ruby's bed looked like the safest place to sleep. I sat on what I assumed to be Blake's bed and Yang explained what happened between the two of us.
Orion and Blake arrived shortly after, but with only two hours left before Ozpin's introductory speech, Orion and I headed back to our dorm room to unpack.
Ozpin was planning to give his speech in the mess hall, right before dinner was served. When Orion and I arrived he was standing next to the stage with a blond woman in black, white and purple and two people, a boy and a girl, who seemed to be students. They looked remarkably alike. Both had short blond hair and dark green eyes. The girl was wearing a black and yellow striped suit of armor, but no helmet. A shield was built into her left arm and a short lance hung from her back. The guy was wearing a black and red cloak over a red tunic. He had belt looped through the outside of his cloak with a wakizashi at each hip.
"You arrived right on time," Ozpin stated. "I will be making the announcement shortly, but first I would like you to meet your teammates. Yellowjacket, Xavier, these are the people I was telling you about: Orion and Neopolitan. Now, let's get up on stage." We didn't even have time to shake hands before we were directed up the stairs to the stage. The hall immediately fell silent as Ozpin walked up to the microphone and I stood off to the side with my new team.
"Good evening, everyone," the headmaster started. "As you know, it's rare for me to give unscheduled announcements, but today we have the honor of greeting four new students to our school." There was some murmuring among the audience, and a number of people gave me death stares. 'I guess Yang and Ruby told people about me after our fights. I'm famous. Or infamous, rather.' I returned each look with a confident grin. 'Never show weakness to your enemies" was one of the many lessons I'd learned working with Roman. A very important one.
"These are not your enemies anymore," Orion whispered in my ear. "They're your allies and classmates. It couldn't hurt to look a little apologetic, or at least less defiant." I swear he can read my mind sometimes. 'Maybe he can,' I thought. 'I've never seen anybody fight like him, as if they knew what their opponent was going to do before the opponent does. He never told me his semblance, after all.'
"Now," Ozpin continued. "It is my utter pleasure to present Beacon's newest team: team ONYX!" Orion and I looked at each other. I couldn't see his eyes through his glasses, but I could tell he was pleased by the small smile that was starting to creep along his face. He was happy to be the leader of our team. And nobody would've been more qualified.
"This team," Ozpin continued, "consists of Orion (he gave a casual salute), Neopolitan ( I gave a small nod), Yellowjacket (her fist pumped in the air), and Xavier (he waved)." Suddenly, Ozpin's expression grew stern as he stared down a couple students in particular. "Now I'm aware that a number of you know about the role Neopolitan played in the two grimm invasions, but the fact of the matter is that she's reformed and is now a fellow student of yours. If Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao-long could forgive and forget, then I expect the rest of you could as well. If I catch anybody picking a fight with her outside of the regular sparing areas, that student will face probable expulsion." Most of the faces who had been glaring at me a moment ago were now turned toward the ground.
Ozpin dismissed the students for dinner and walked back off the stage with the newly named team ONYX. "Sorry we had to go up so fast," he continued. I had a hall full of hungry teenagers waiting for us. Seeing as you are now a team, it would be wise of you to start getting to know each other as quickly as possible. Every other team here has a 4-month head start, and don't think that just because you're all here for protection from the police or a major crime syndicate means you're off the hook with grades. I expect you all to continue honing your skills and knowledge while you're here so you have a better chance of taking down Cinder and the others. Do I make myself clear?" We all nodded. "Good. Oh, and Orion- Yellowjacket and Xavier have already been briefed on the role your team will play in the capture or defeat of Cinder Fall and the White Fang. They have also been given a tour and know where team ONYX's dorm is, but they do not yet have keys. Now have a nice night, you four. As of now, you are young hunters and huntresses studying at my school, with no official record of your past lives. My school will look after you as it does everyone else."
With that, Ozpin turned around and headed back to his office with the blond huntress I'd noticed earlier. I took the two extra keys out of my jacket pocket and handed them to Yellowjacket and Xavier as Orion lead us to a table with team RWBY and four other people I hadn't seen before.
Welcome back, everyone! Starting today, I'll be back to posting one or two chapters every week!
On top of that, I've received a comment and a couple private messages asking for specifics on the abilities and backgrounds of certain characters. To answer these questions, I will be posting a new story entitled Neopolitan Stars Character Descriptions. Each chapter will provide in-depth descriptions of a certain character and his/her background. Subscribe to this other story if you want to get to know Neo and the OCs better!