Location: Beacon Cafeteria
Aura's PoV
"So… There we were… in the middle of the night…" Nora said telling a story in a mysterious tone of voice
"It was day…" Ren corrected in a unamused tone of voice.
By this time it was already about a month later, and things were still ok. Weiss had let up a bit on her stuck up attitude and was all around a bit kinder to everyone, especially Ruby. Yato was slowly making his advances towards Yang, and by that I mean he actually talked to her instead of blubbering like a idiot. And we all ended up hanging out together, so that was a plus too.
Right now we were all in the cafeteria. Blake was reading a book, Weiss was filing her nails, and Yato was admiring Yang from across the table. Zinex, Cypher, Ruby, Pyrrha and I were listening to Nora's story, which started to sound like a dream because Ren had to continuously correct Nora on various details.
"We were surrounded by Ursai" Nora continued.
"They were Beowolves" Ren corrected again.
"Dozens of them!" Nora exclaimed, almost sounding happy.
"Two of'em" Ren said correcting Nora for a third time.
"But they were no match, and in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora said finishing her story. And this was the point where my suspension of disbelief disappeared. I, and everyone knows, for a fact that was false because when you kill a grimm, the body disintegrates into dust.
"Ah… She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now…" Ren said unamused, as if we already didn't know it was a dream or not.
"Jaune…" Pyrrha said worryingly to her leader. "Are you okay?"
"Uh? Oh, Yeah! Why?" Jaune lied.
"It's just that you seem a little…" Ruby began.
"Not okay" I said finishing her statement. Everyone at the table was looking at him, waiting for a response.
"Eh, guys, i'm fine… Seriously, look!" he said putting on a fake smile. If it weren't for the nervous laugh, I would have dismissed it there.
Then something caused my fox ears to perk up, it sounded like mocking. I looked over and saw Team CRDL messing with a bunny faunus not too far from our table. That just made me sick, part of me wanted to go over there and smack him upside the head, but I held back.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school" Pyrrha said almost authoritarian.
"Who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asked trying to sound unaware. "Nah… He just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes!"
"He is a bully" Ruby said flat out.
"A major one" Cypher said in agreeance with Ruby.
"A dickhead." Zinex added quickly glancing at the man in question.
"Oh please… Name one time he's 'bullied' me…" Jaune said challenging us.
"Well let's see… he's done the stereotypical 'knock the book out the hands' routine" Yato said listing and example.
"The time when he shoved your sword into a wall, which took you 3 hours, butter, a pair of non-slip shoes, and then me to happen to walk by and pull it out for you." Zinex said in a slightly amusing tone, as if he thought that was funny.
"He's opened your shield while you were going through a doorway, easily wedging you between" Ruby said listing yet another.
"And then there's his most recent one where he stuffed you into one of the rocket-lockers, put in a code, and launched you from the school" I said putting the final nail in the coffin.
Jaune waited a few seconds to let it soak in, and said "I didn't land far from the school" trying to dismiss the subject.
"Jaune, you know if you ever need help you can just ask…" Pyrrha reassured.
"Ohh" Nora said standing up from the table. "We'll break his legs!" She said with a disturbing amount of joy in her voice.
"And his pretty boy face." Zinex said glaring at Cardin, I quickly wondered how he had encountered the bully, but however it was he sure didn't like him.
"Yeah! Let's do it!" Yato cheered in agreeance with Nora's idea. I, however, threw an apple at his head again to get his attention. When he glared at me, I merely shook my head, basically telling him "no".
"Guys, really, it's fine" Jaune reassured as he stood up, with his tray in his hands. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."
Just as he said that, someone cried "Ooww, that hurts!" We all looked back over to where Team CRDL was to see Cardin pulling on the bunny… or rabbit faunus' ear. But then, there were three things that pushed me over my limit; One was the fact that they were pulling on her ear, The second was that she teared up a bit, but the third reason was the fact that one of his teammates had said "what a freak!" That was more than enough to push me over.
"Yato…" I said gritting my teeth in anger, I even felt my eyes burn red as my anger was increasing.
"Yeah?" He said cracking his knuckles, I guess he and I were on the same page.
"Back me up" I said hopping over the table to the aisle Cardin and his team's table was. "Hey" I said grabbing his attention. I walked over to him, grabbed his wrist and made him let go of the girl. Cardin turned towards me with a glare in his eyes of pure anger but I didn't back down.
"Thank you" The bunny girl thanked before quickly sliding away as fast as she could, I couldn't blame her.
I turned back to Cardin, who asked me "what's your problem fox?" In a smug tone of voice, ripping his arm out of Aura's grip then wiping off the non-existent dirt.
"What's his problem? What's your problem!?" Yato asked in frustration, getting tired of having to listen to this asshole.
"What's my- oh right, you two are faunus. More specifically, a dirty monkey and a dumb mutt." He said in an arrogant tone of voice. The more I listen to him, the more I want to stab him, but I still held back.
"Why you little-" Yato said winding up to punch him, but I held him back before he could. I had seen Yato in a battle and if he didn't pull his punches he could seriously hurt someone not prepared, and Cardin had never seen him fight.
"Let's just go Yato, it's not worth it" I said while trying to hold back my own urges.
"But-" Yato tried to say but I raised a finger in protest.
"Hey you dirty faunus, let this bug monkey fight me. I'll show him where he really stands." Cardin mocked, his team laughing alongside of him. Yato strained against my grip but I could tell it was a losing battle for me. Yato was just much stronger than I was, but luckily I had help. Cypher seemingly came out of nowhere, kind of like Zinex did sometimes… guess he had taught him whatever trick that was. Cypher, who might have been a little weak unwieldy his semblance, made up for it with his muscular strength which was even enough to hold the extremely angry Yato back.
"Let's. Just go." I said fighting a losing battle inside. I, much like Yato, wanted nothing more than to tear this piece of shit up, but I kept fighting it. We started walking back to our seats, but before I got back, Cardin decided to deal a very low blow to me.
"Ha, you know I think I recognize that filthy fox. If I remember right, he was off with his bastard family. Oh they were the worst, especially that little girl with the annoying voice, what a bitch." He had said in a loud mocking tone.
I immediately stopped in my tracks as soon as he said that, and the chatter in the cafeteria instantly stopped. He dared to say that about me and my family? How dare he! "What was that?" I said in an emotionless tone of voice, as I closed my eyes and clenched my fists in rage.
"What? You didn't hear me the first time you genetic abomination?!" He said amused. "Let me dumb it down for your tiny brain. I remember your family, they were even filthier than you, and that bitch little sister you have sounds like a real shitbag." he said followed by the laughter of his team and the emotionless laughter of a few in the cafeteria, his reign of terror didn't just start with us.
"Aura-" Jaune tried to say nervously, but it only hit deaf ears, ears deafened by rage. I turned around slowly towards the table Team CRDL was at and held my right hand out. Within seconds, the cafeteria was once again quiet. As I had held up my right hand, the table Team CRDL had been sitting at was now in the air. I was once again using my semblance, luckily tables weren't that heavy.
"Um… du-" Cardin tried to say nervously, trying to be apologetic, but I wouldn't let him. I opened my eyes, revealing my pitch black eyes which had a red pupil in the middle, looked upon them with an angry scowl on my face, and brought my hand down, launching them and the table clear across the cafeteria. It took a few seconds, but the table eventually hit the wall on the far end of the room, leaving a table sized indent into the wall along with the imprints of Team CRDL, who were extremely dazed by this unexpected event.
I heard various whispers and murmurs from the many students who had just witnessed the terrifying spectacle I just performed. I don't care what they say, no one messes with or makes fun of my family, especially Nexus!
"Alright guys nothing to see here, we're just exterminating the pest from your school. One little clown after another." Zinex said aloud with a wide grin on his face standing on yet another table close to where the dazed Team CRDL was.
"MISTER SHARP!" A loud feminine voice yelled from across the hall and immediately all anger flew out of me, instead replaced with the realization of what I had done. I turned around and saw Glynda Goodwitch marching down the aisle, with her riding crop in hand.
"Uh oh…" I said, which was all I could say, concerning what I had just done. I saw the serious anger in Glynda's face and knew this wasn't going to end well for me.
Location: Ozpin's Office
"Assault on another student, Destruction of Campus property, Endangerment of others, just what do you have to say for yourself Mister Sharp?" Miss Goodwitch asked in her intense authoritarian voice. I just stayed silent as a response, if I were to try and answer her question, it would have made matters worse for me than they are now. I was currently in Ozpin's office, which made me feel like I was in a giant clock because you could see winding gears underneath the floor. Both Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch were here, concerning what happened.
"If it were up to me, I would have expelled you and sent you home" Miss Goodwitch threatened. "However, as per usual, Professor Ozpin would like to talk to you about what happened." And with that, she left the office via elevator to her class. I had never let out a bigger sigh of relief before.
"Mister Sharp" Professor Ozpin began calmly, through with a sly smile as he noticed my relief of Glynda's leave. "Do you care to tell me what happened in the mess hall?"
"Well, sir, I… uh… used my semblance and threw a… um… table that team CRDL was on, across the… uh... mess hall" I said answering his question honestly, though kind of scared he would be the one to expel me.
"That would be the case." He said in a calm voice before taking a sip from his mug. "However, what I meant by the question is what brought you to do that in the first place. Nothing happens without a reason ." He said asking the all-important question. I took a deep breath as his intense eyes looked at me. I felt odd in his company, it felt like he already knew a lot.
"The reason…" I said deciding whether or not to give an honest response. If I did, I could get expelled or I can get let off the hook easily. But if I didn't, I could still be expelled or get off scot-free. Either choice had a fifty-fifty chance to either end horribly, or end greatly. So in the end, I chose the truth. "Ok Professor, if I say the reason, promise this stays between you and Miss Goodwitch."
He silently nodded as a response to my statement, indicating he would keep to my promise.
"Ok…" I said, nervous on how to say this. "The reason I did what I did was because of two reasons. One, he was bullying another student who was a faunus; and the second reason is that he blatantly insulted my family, especially my little sister."
"You had a family?" Ozpin asked in his bland, unwavering tone of voice… It seriously felt like he already knew what I was talking about. Even though his voice was bland, and unemotional, I could tell he was trying to be nice.
"Yeah, I did…" I said remembering what happened. "If it's alright with you, may I tell you what happened to them? And why I'm here at Vale?"
"Go ahead Mister Sharp, take all the time you need to explain" Ozpin said with kind smile on his face.
"Ok, well… it was an early Saturday morning…" I said explaining my backstory once again. It took a while to explain this time, because as I was trying to explain I was stuttering trying not to cry.
"And that's how it happened. H-how I got seperated from my family, how I got to Vale, and why I attacked team CRDL." I said finishing my explanation. "So… how much trouble am I in?" I asked ready to accept any punishment that would be given.
"None" Ozpin said blandly and bluntly. "While you acted in a way that was dangerous and could have gotten people hurt, you were doing it with good reason, that and provoked you in a way that was hurtful to you and your family. There will be no punishment for you " Ozpin said with a genuine kind smile.
"Really?" I said both amazed and confused about his choice. "I'm not in trouble?! Th- Thank you sir."
"Your welcome . Now, as for Team CRDL, they will be punished accordingly." He says as he takes a look at the time. "Classes are about to be dismissed for the day. I advise you next time to think about your actions before taking them, understand?"
"Yes, sir, thank you sir" I said making way towards the elevator.
"Oh, and …" Ozpin said getting my attention once again. "May you find your parents and family" he said with a smile. I nodded, entered the elevator and descended down to the main floor of the building.
As I walked towards my dorm, I started to think about my family. How they were doing, where they are, if they missed me, and if they were… alive. But I was shaken out of my thoughts when I felt someone or something tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw the faunus girl I protected earlier today. She had long, brown hair and brown eyes as well as a pair of long, brown rabbit ears.
The outfit she was wearing was comprised by a short, long-sleeved brown jacket with a golden zipper, brown shorts with golden detail and black leggings. She was also wearing a black, semi-translucent undershirt beneath her jacket, along with golden spaulders and vambraces on both arms, as well as a similar belt, and her heel and toe are likewise protected.
"Um… hi" She said shyly, probably because of what happened earlier in the mess hall.
"Oh hi… uh..." I said with a pause because I didn't know her name.
"V- Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina" she said holding out her hand in introduction, though she was very nervous.
"Hello Velvet, my name is Aura Sharp" I said kindly introducing myself. She giggled a bit before shaking my hand with a smile on her face. "Gods, I hate my name. At one point or another it gets laughed at. Only one person yet hasn't laughed at it."
"It's ok, I think it's cute" Velvet said genuinely, which resulted with me blushing slightly. "Um… anyway. Thank you for helping me out earlier today" she said also blushing slightly.
"Your welcome, It was no problem" I said taking a bow, trying to hide my blush.
"But you didn't need to do that" she said with her voice starting to deflate. Why would she feel like that? She didn't do anything, she was just minding her own business and Cardin decided to bully her for no reason.
"But I did, he was bullying you, I had to step in." I said reassuring everything was okay.
"But, you got in trouble, and-" she started to say.
"It's no big deal, that and he deserved what happened to him. If I didn't stand up to him then no one would" I said interrupting her. I took a look at my scroll and saw a message from Yato, telling me to meet them back at the dorm. "Anyway, gotta go. It was a pleasure to meet you Velvet" I said running to the dormitory.
"Oh, same with you Aura!" Velvet yelled to me. How was I going to tell the others what happened in Ozpin's office? Eh, just tell the truth I guess.
Location: Beacon Dorm Building
Zinex pov
"... so luckily Professor Ozpin let me off the hook." Aura said, finishing his explanation of what had happened while we walked to our dorm. I was honestly surprised we hadn't met any opposition from Cardin's three goons. Aura had plainly embarrassed those idiots in front of the whole school.
"Guess the professor likes you." Cypher said with a huff, obviously tired from the hard day of training we had today. "But while you sat in his office, Glynda pushed us hard in training."
"You can say that again." Yato said with the same huff, though I didn't feel tired or angry from the training itself. The training was hell for me for a different reason. Everyone in this place had what was called an 'aura' and the irony of my fox dude friend, these people called a faunus, had finally reached me. Basically an aura was something of a natural shield against any type of danger the world possessed, not to mention it was a really good healer. The issue with this is that I didn't possess one, and during training they would monitor our aura's to teach us when to keep fighting and when to back off. I had spent hours our first night figuring out how to trick their computers into reading one for me and luckily my power was lightning. During training I would have to form a very thin layer of electricity right at my skin, not noticeable to the human eye, but enough to fool the computers. Though, keeping that barrier up and adjusting it to read lower when I was hit seriously wore me out and distracted me in our training fights but until I could hack the computer systems… it was all I had.
"Glynda pushed u-" Cypher began to say again but Yato sighed loudly.
"That's not what I meant smoke for brains." Yato said facepalming which led Cypher to growl, having no comeback. As we neared a stairway next to our dorm Aura stopped.
"What are you doing dorms over here, did you forget already Mr. Leader?" I asked sarcastically but judging from his face and his now blue eyes, he really wasn't feeling well. Guess what the assclown had said really got to him.
"Hey, I'm going up to the roof for a little while. I just need some… time." He said in a soft voice. His whole demeanor really wasn't usual, the usual dorky smugness he had was gone and was replaced by an all too familiar emotion.
"Wait w-" Yato started to ask but this time it was my turn to smack Yato upside the head. He shot his head towards me but I was much quicker than Aura and reverted to my normal stance, confusing the hell out of Yato but making Cypher laugh.
"Alright Aura, we will see you later." Cypher said as the three of us made our way away from Aura, as he entered the stairway and disappeared from sight. It took us a few minutes to reach our dorm, which we had marked with a sign that said 'For the tank of the team: this is where we live.' which was a horrible comedy attempt by Aura.
"Well now that we're here, bye." Yato said disappearing faster than we could even question his disappearance. We both entered the room without even asking the question of where he went, as this hadn't be the first time he's just disappeared.
"Ah just us, now I can finally relax without Yato trying to talk to us about Yang." Cypher said with a breath of relief as he laid in his bed. He then glanced at me. "Speaking of Yato's crush, who's yours."
At that point I realized why Yato left so much.
"Ooo Just remembered I got a uh… appointment with uh… Gl- Ozpin, Yeah Ozpin. So… yeah." I said quickly exiting the room, there's was no way my crush on… oh you really thought I was going to give it away that easy?
I closed the door behind me, cutting off Cypher's protest. I quickly looked left down the hallway where I assumed Yato had gone down then right where Aura had gone. I decided to go right and walked past the door our leader had gone through and headed to a much more important place.
Timeskip: Night
Location: Dormitory Rooftop
Aura's PoV
Why? Why did my life turn out this way? How did Cardin know about my family? Why did he say that about them? Why!? These questions were the questions that passed through my head as I walked up the stairwell to the roof. I eventually made it to the roof and gazed upon the night sky. The broken moon, shining brightly down upon Remnant as I held back my tears.
I slowly made my way to the edge of the roof, my mind racing with many thoughts of my family as I did so. When I reached the edge, I sat down, my legs dangling down over it. Thinking back to that fateful day, I pulled out the only photo I had of everyone. Serenity, Marx, Alice, Jaxson, Liem, and… Nina… I want to be with them, I wish they were here, I wish-
"Big Bro…" I heard a familiar voice that I haven't heard in two years. I look over to my right to see Nexus standing there.
"Nina…" I said in disbelief of what I was seeing. I felt a tear slide down my face in pure happiness as I saw the smiling face of Nina looking.
"I love you" she said smiling warmly. I put the photo between my index and middle fingers as I slowly reached forward to touch her face, only for it to go straight through her. I slowly retracted my hand and looked at it, when I looked back to where she was, she had disappeared. She wasn't there, it was just a figment of my imagination. I tried desperately not to cry as I was still longing to see them again. But this happened before life decided to be a douche-nozzle to me again.
There was a sudden gust of wind that blew the photo between my fingers, straight into the sky, away from my grasp. "No!" I yelled in desperation and sadness as I tried to grab the photo before it was too late. But the wind was too strong, and blew it away out of my reach. I wanted to use my Psychokinesis to try and grab it, but it would be useless because I couldn't see it clearly.
The only thing I had to remind me of my family was… gone… just like they were. The tears I was so desperately trying to hold back were flowing freely, as I cried my eyes out. I don't know how long I cried for but it didn't matter… my whole body didn't matter. I just wanted to see my family again, to hug all of them, to just be by them. But I couldn't, the people who had raised me were as gone to me as the picture I thought to be fluttering in the wind.
"Just let it out" I heard a voice next to me say. I thought it was going to be Marx or maybe even Ozpin, but as I turned to the person, the first thing I saw were glowing yellow eyes and the word SnickerDoodle printed on a little package being handed to me. "Let me tell you a story."