Hey everyone, first I would like to thank everyone. I don't know how I missed this, I really don't, but my little fanfic has passed the 5000 views mark, it's actually over 8000. Again, I have no idea how I missed that. Second, I know I said I'd try to get this fic finished BEFORE volume 4 comes out, but LIFE, so at this point unless I gain control over time and space I don't see that happening. Also, I had a pretty well done outline for the chapters to come, but I watched some anime that were on my "to watch" list and I got a few ideas that I am DIEING to use that tie in so perfectly. That and when I was re-reading the next few chapters I realized there was a GIGANTIC plot hole, so I have to fix that. Also, I'm having a few changes going on at work, so I don't know how busy I will be because of it. If anyone is thinking this is a perfect example of "counting your eggs before they hatch", you are not the only one. :) I Also it appears I just can't follow my script and keep making up new things so…yeah I'm just gonna try to make it as best as I can from my original plan, but still wing it a little. I will still try to post the remaining chapters as quickly as I can without skipping on the quality. In all likelihood, I will finish well after the conclusion of volume 4.
Chapter 11: The gift that keeps on giving
Monday morning calmly rose at Beacon, however for team RWBY it could hardly be called a good morning. Sunday had been concerning for the huntresses in training; they had spent most of that afternoon and beyond trying to at least contact William. At first, it was just Ruby trying to get a hold of him to see what kind of cake he would like for his party to officially welcome him to team RWBY. Not even Ruby was all that concerned at first, William was probably still camping in the Forever Falls Forest, no reason to worry. Nonetheless, as Sunday afternoon became evening her concern grew and spread to the rest of her team. Ruby and later Yang and then Blake called William at least a half dozen times, but never got an answer. They knew that to search the entire Forever Falls was never an option, that alone would take a couple dozen people an entire week, but they still couldn't just do nothing. Running low on ideas the group decided to turn to professor Goodwitch, at this point, even Weiss was beginning to show signs of concern. Ruby remembered William telling her about where professor Goodwitch lived and thought she might know something. By the time they arrived at her doorstep, after searching the entire neighborhood for a blue cottage with white trims before Ruby realized William originally said a white cottage with blue trims, it was around nine thirty. Ruby walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.
The door opened and Ms. Goodwitch stepped out wearing a pink bathrobe with her hair down, without wearing her signature glasses wearing a distinct vanilla fragrance. "Ruby, what are you doing here?"
"Um, professor Goodwitch…what's going on?" Ruby asked scratching her head at her teacher's more "relaxed" appearance as the sound of very soft music flowed from her open doorway as she could see that the lights in her living room had been turned down low.
"Nothing! it's nothing!" Ms. Goodwitch said closing the door as she stepped onto the porch. All of team RWBY raised an eyebrow. "Now, what business do you have this late at night?"
"Oh, um, yeah. Have you heard from William at all since yesterday?" Ruby finally asked.
"No, I have not; has he not returned to Beacon yet?" She asked with a slight crack in her voice.
Blake stepped forward. "Not that we've seen and we asked team JNPR to call us if he came back while we were gone. Since they haven't contacted us I do not believe he has." She explained in a calm manner.
"I see, William has stayed out late before, I do feel your concern, I do, but I believe we should trust William." She tried to reassure albeit shakenly. "However, if he does not show up by breakfast tomorrow please notify me I will tell professor Ozpin and have a search party dispatched to the Forever Falls Forest." The sorceress reasoned trying to conceal her own apprehension.
Team RWBY, not seeing much choice, agreed and headed back to the dorms and went to sleep.
Monday Morning came and team RWBY, now more level headed after a night's sleep, went to see if William was back only to find Ms. Goodwitch standing in front William's door with a concerned look on her face. Judging by the beginning signs of bags under eyes she looked like she had been there for a while.
"Um, Ms. Goodwitch?" Ruby ventured out first.
The platinum sorceress head snapped up, "Oh, um, Ruby, I just wanted to check to see if…"
"You're worried about William too, aren't you?" Yang asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, after your visit last night I tried to call him, but all I would get is his voice mail." The professor stated, with noticeable concern.
"I'm sure he's fine." The brawler tried to reassure seeing the usually stern sorceress' worried expression. "I mean it isn't like I haven't stayed out all night and snuck into my first-period class before anyone realized and everything worked out for me." She shrugged.
"Oh really?" Ms. Goodwitch asked somewhat bouncing back to her normal stern demeanor.
"B-besides, William's scroll probably just died or something and he's just running late," Yang added to draw attention away from herself. "It isn't like we need to worry about something happening him."
"She does have a point." Weiss agreed. "I mean we all saw what he did to those creatures of Grimm. I don't think anything short of an entire army can actually harm him."
Ms. Goodwitch slowly gave her a nod in agreement. "You're right. However, as his guardian, I can't help, but worry. I'm afraid that he may have chosen to give up on being a Huntsmen and run away. Though, given what has happened to him, in recent days alone, he would have every right to." She grimaced, upset at her own thought.
Ruby moved next to her placing her hand on her shoulder. "Ms. Goodwitch, William isn't the kind of guy to just leave without telling anyone. He knows how much you care about him and I think he thinks of you like family." Then red reaper comforted.
"Thank you Ruby." The sorceress slightly smiled.
Ms. Goodwitch and team RWBY agreed to contact each other after first period if William did not show up and seeing as Ms. Goodwitch could use some coffee Ruby invited her to join them for breakfast. Considering she had been up since before sunrise, she was more than happy to oblige.
Making their way to the cafeteria Yang noticed a familiar, still pink haired, wolf Faunus wearing a black hoodie with buckles on it moving towards the cafeteria with something sticking out of the top of his backpack.
"Hey, William." The blonde brawler called out alerting him as well as the others.
Seeing his team and Ms. Goodwitch William ran over to the group and unexpectedly gave them all a big group hug, including the stern sorceress.
"William." Ms. Goodwitch softly smiled leaning into the hug.
"Um, William…need…air." Ruby half-jokingly, half seriously gasped.
"Oh sorry about that." The wolf Faunus apologized releasing everyone while beaming a rather large grin on his face.
"You seem awfully chipper this morning," Blake observed.
He shrugged. "What can I say, I'm in a good mood today."
"So did you figure out what you wanted to?" Ruby asked.
"Kind of, I've sorted a few things out and I have a rough idea of what I want to do, but I still need to work a few details out. I'd like to tell you guys all about it, but first do you mind if we talk about this over breakfast?" William asked rubbing his stomach as it audibly growled.
The group agreed and went into the cafeteria.
While students are encouraged to wear their uniform while on campus before and, required, during classes, before classes start students are allowed to be out of uniform. William was happy to be informed about this, he was too hungry to make it back to his dorm room.
While they waited in line the group proceeded to question William. As it turned out William had left his scroll turned off and forgot to check his voicemail. Not knowing they tried to contact him William didn't consider calling them. He made up an excuse that he had gone back into town Sunday for some food and did some training, but ended up overdoing it. After a nap, he found out the sun had already gone down and not wanting to travel through the forest at night William decided to just set his alarm and return in the morning. Truth be told he didn't even remember to set his alarm. If it wasn't for Neo having to wake up at four thirty to go to work, William would have probably slept through his first class.
The group then gave immediate interested in William's unusually good mood. Commenting how he seemed so much happier than usual. William played it off, but even Ms. Goodwitch noted that he seemed to be smiling more than normal. William couldn't exactly tell them the reason for this, for a number of reasons, but deep down had to agree, he felt happier than he'd been in a long time.
As they approached the buffet line Ruby informed everyone that William's welcome party was at seven in the wreck room on the first floor of the dorms. It was supposed to be earlier, but between William's remedial class with Ms. Goodwitch and Nora, Yang, and somehow Blake getting detention for blowing up a portion of the courtyard everyone felt later was better. William suspected it was primarily Yang and Nora that were the culprits and Blake was only the accomplice, probably goaded/dragged into it by her girlfriend. However, William didn't sense any negativity from Blake so he figured it was just a 'cut loose and do something wild' moments Yang once suggested to him and let it be.
As they finally arrived at the buffet table everyone got their typical breakfasts: chocolate chip pancakes and milk for Ruby, blueberry crepes, eggs benedict and coffee for Weiss, seafood omelet and tea for Blake, accompanied by some lovingly bad puns from her sweetheart, French toast and scrambled eggs with orange juice for Yang, Ms. Goodwitch surprised the group by practically raiding the pastries stand also taking the largest strongest coffee they had, and William loaded his tray to its physical limits to the point he had to place another two trays under it just to make sure it didn't break, with everything that even slightly appealed to his appetite. His bout with Neo last night really took it out of him. even more so than it should have for some reason. The cafeteria lady could only laugh at his portions when he came to her register, but given what she had seen him eat on a daily basis and her friendship with some of the professors, she just chuckled and scanned his student ID.
After they got their food they met up with team JNPR as per their usual morning ritual. Although, Nora was a little uneasy that Ms. Goodwitch was with them. Only William, through his abilities, and Nora actually knew what she did, but everyone could tell she did something, well something other than what she was already serving detention for. For the most part, Ms. Goodwitch just let it slide, she needed coffee and food, although if she had to pick just one, it would be coffee.
Once seated, William's attention was firmly fixed on Ren and the one question he had for him. "Hey Ren, how long does it take to for your hair dye to wear off?" He quickly asked before his bottom even landed on the seat.
"I'd say about fourteen weeks. I buy extra strength so it last longer. It's a little pricier than the regular brand, but you have to admit that it is a quality hair dye." Ren calmly spoke as he cut into his pancakes.
"Yeah, yeah it is a quality hair dye." William solemnly admitted as he slouched his shoulders a little. "Even if I transform my head it still turns out pink. I didn't even know it would work like that, the rest of my body is the same, but not my head. How does that even make sense?" He lamented to no one particular.
"Aw, cheer up William I think it's a good look for you." Ruby patted him on the shoulder trying to cheer him up.
"Thanks Ruby, but if nothing else I can say it will help me hide from those reporters that are still lurking around the gate."
"That's the spirit." The red reaper cheered.
"Soooooo, William what's that sticking out of your backpack?" Yang finally asked having been curious about it since she saw him. upon closer inspection, she saw it was a few items in plastic bags. From what she could see it looked like he bought cake mix, nails, and rubber bands.
"Oh that, I picked up a few things before coming back to Beacon. I figured out a new trick to help me out when I fight. When I finish eating and get my uniform on, I can still have enough time to get it mostly ready by first period and can finish it before your class." William said gesturing towards the platinum blonde.
The sorceress looked up from her half-eaten raspberry filled croissant with a small hint of regret, "While I appreciate the effort, I'm afraid that during the last three days of classes only those participating in the tournament will be taking part in combat exercises."
William's shoulders visibly dropped again. "Oh, I see, well that makes sense." He murmured.
"Hey, cheer up." Ruby patted him on his shoulder. "You can still help us practice for the tournament if you want?" she offered with a smile.
William turned his head giving her a soft smile. "Thank you Ruby, I'd like that very much. Just remember I don't go easy."
"You don't have to worry about us." Yang commented.
As William turned his head to look at Yang Ruby noticed something. "William why are you wearing a collar?" The red reaper asked pointing to black piece of leather buckled around his neck with an ice cream cone with a pink, brown, and white scoop tag on it.
"Oh, this", He said tugging the collar forward, "I think it's actually called a choker. I found it on the ground on my way back to Beacon. Personally, I think it looks pretty good on me." He jokingly mused while mentally screaming that he forgot all about the collar Neo placed on him.
"Heh, it kinds of reminds me of one of Roman's cronies." Yang said.
"Really, who?" The wolf Faunus asked already knowing the answer. He was fairly certain he would find out if it was possible for a brain to go hoarse as his mind was screaming non-stopped, but still had to play along.
"Oh, um, what was her name again?" Yang asked aloud.
"Neo, her name was Neo." Blake inputted.
"Yeah, Neo. Thanks, kitty cat." The brawler grinned.
Blake didn't verbally respond to the nickname, but instead just gave her a weakly annoyed look. William guessed that Yang had almost broken her will to complain about her pet names.
"I fought her on the train and almost beat her little but too." Yang continued.
"As if, she nearly killed you." Weiss reminded her.
"Please, if we ever meet her again, I'll knock her into next week." The brawler announced cracking her knuckles.
"I hope you will remember that while it is important to be confident, it is equally as important to not overestimate yourself." Ms. Goodwitch commented.
"Then I'll have to help you train so much you can cripple a Deathstalker with a single punch." William puffed his chest with a fake smile, hoping to end the conversation before he slips up or anyone figures something out.
For a few moments Yang seemed to, not stare, but more analyze William's face. "Yang, can I help you with something?" William eventually asked feeling a little concerned he couldn't reader her emotions, or her expression for that matter.
"That look." She said plainly before transitioning into a wide grin.
William raised an eyebrow and cocked his head. "Excuse me?"
"That glow about you. The happy mood. you had sex, didn't you?" She blurted out causing everyone to choke on their food or spit out their drink and William to turn thirty shades of red in under a second.
"Miss Xiao Long?!" The usually stern Glynda Goodwitch gasped blushing herself.
"Yang, I spent the last day and a half surrounded by vicious monsters, probably the worst situation to have sex in." William tried to defend/playoff while still profusely blushing.
"Wait, did you fuck a Grimm?" Nora bluntly spat out, with some of the food she had been chewing, causing a repeat reaction of Yang's previous comment.
"NORA?!" The group shouted blushing red has Ruby's cape.
"Nora, I do NOT have sex with creatures of Grimm!" William blurted out, louder than he probably should have. Turning his head, he was relieved to see that he hadn't garnered the attention of the rest of the cafeteria.
"Weren't you lonely in the valley?" She asked still somehow still having a chipper demeanor.
William gave her a completely dumfounded look before responding, "Yes, I was lonely, but I was never THAT lonely." The Wolf-Faunus stated still shaken by the orange haired girl's bluntness and just overall expression that didn't even come close to matching what she was saying. William knew Nora was hard for him to read, but this was on a level he didn't even know existed.
"C'mon Will you can tell me." Yang prodded with a grin and a light nudge. "Who is she? Is she cute? Is she a he? Is he hot? Did you do it doggy- Beowulf style?"
"Yang!" William boomed, "Nothing happened. And stop calling me Will." He said with a bright red face concealing his cerebral screeches that she could pick up on something like that.
"The how do you explain that glow about you?" She asked back with a triumphant grin believing she had him.
"Gee, I don't know, maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with the fact my emotional state can alter my physical appearance to varying degrees and, maybe, having an epiphany about what I want to do with my life and developing some self-acceptance had something to do with it." He explained in a somewhat sarcastic tone, technically not lying. His mood did have some bearing on his appearance in both more obvious as well as subtler ways.
Everyone at the table paused for a moment thinking it over and then unanimously nodded "yeah" in agreement.
"You mentioned self-acceptance, what did you mean by that?" Ms. Goodwitch inquired wanting to change the subject as soon as possible, for obvious reasons.
"Ever since I became a Were-Grimm, I've always regretted- no, more like hated- that part of myself. Heh, it's funny, I kept telling Blake to be herself, all the while I was afraid of who I am. Afraid I'd lose control and hurt someone, or worse. Somewhere along the line, I guess I started to think of myself as a monster, a horrible creature who could go off at any moment, but after the last few days I've come to realize I'm just… me. I mean, yeah, I've got my share of problems, name someone who doesn't," he lightly chuckled, "but now I feel like I can face them instead of running away from them. Just by accepting that I am who I am, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel like this is a new beginning where I can finally move forward. Even the impact of the negative emotions from others has been reduced. Although, I think that may have been my own fear and resentment towards myself." He smiled, happy he could relax his guard.
"So, you're not going to go on a rampage anymore? Aw, that's boring, I wanna see you rip Grimm to pieces." Nora sighed.
William just looked at Nora with incredulity before lowering his head into his palm and shaking his head, "Nora, you are just something else entirely." William joked.
"What, is there anything wrong with wanting to see a Grimm on Grimm carnage?" She asked grabbing a bottle of hot sauce from the table and messily splattering it all over her food and everything else near it.
"Nora, can you please be careful with that stuff, you're getting it everywhere." The male Faunus asked dragging his plate and drink closer to himself.
"What it's not like you can't eat it." The hammer wielder shrugged.
"Just because I CAN eat anything, doesn't mean I want to."
"Don't like spicy food?" she asked jamming three of her hot sauce drenched pancakes into her mouth at once.
"Actually I really like spicy foods, I just don't like hot sauce in my orange juice or on my chocolate chip pancakes."
Nora swallowed all the food in her mouth in one gulp. "Oooooo, then are you going to the chili cook-off?"
William's wolf ears began to wiggle with excitement. "Chili cook-off?"
"Yeah, every year Vale has a chilly cook off on market street and as a bonus, this year it falls on the last day of classes!" the orange-haired girl exclaimed with joy standing on the table.
"Miss Valkyrie" Ms. Goodwitch scolded, having fully woken up thanks to her coffee. "Please do not stand on the tables. Or would you prefer to organize the library, again?" She admonished with her usual stern expression.
"Yes ma'am, I mean no ma'am, I mean, um -I'm just gonna sit down now." She sheepishly replied quickly sitting down in her seat.
"Well, that sounds pretty good, but I have plans Wednesday night after classes so I can't go."
"Your girlfriend?" Yang asked wiggling her eyebrows.
"No, I just have plans." He huffed.
"With your girlfriend." Yang added on.
"Yang, I don't have a girlfriend." William said with a little more anger in his voice.
"So it's your boyfriend then?"
"Yang, I just… have… a thing to do."
"Is this thing a boy or a girl?" She snickered.
William placed his forehead in his palm. "Yang, please stop, you are dating someone who values their privacy and alone time, so please respect mine. Is it so wrong that I just need some time to take care of a few things?" William pleaded. Lifting his head, he saw her about to continue the conversation against William's wishes he thought he'd take the offensive for a change. "So how are things settling between you, your dad, and Junior?" He asked stopping the brawler in her tracks.
"Low blow dude, low blow." She frowned with a monotone voice.
"This isn't going to end in another rampage, is it?" Weiss asked.
William looked at Weiss with a half expectant look in his eyes before shaking his head. "No, no, it is just me running some errands and seeing a guy about some… um… gravity Dust." William lied remembering the owner of 'Dust Til Dawn' telling him that he was getting an extra shipment of high-quality gravity Dust as a gift from his distributor for over thirty years of patronage.
"Is that all? Man I thought it was some kind of Grimm-Werewolf kind of thing. Compared to that, that's actually kinda boring." Yang sighed quickly losing interest.
"Why do you need Dust anyway, wait, are you going to eat it!?" Nora bluntly asked seeming to go beyond unnecessarily and bordering on alarmingly excited.
"No, Ruby and I spent most of Friday night in the Weapon's Lab developing a new weapon for me to use. He sighed. "I wanted to keep it a surprise, but, well, the cat's out of the bag." William sighed.
Yang began to smile before Blake placed her hand on Yang's shoulder, "Don't even think about it, again." She warned earning a smirk from her partner.
"I may have accepted my Grimm half, but a Huntsmen still needs a proper weapon and it helps for when I am either not allowed to or am unable to use my Grimm abilities. Oh, by the way, Ruby that Dust store you told me about, I don't think I'll visit it very often after Wednesday." William continued.
"Why, didn't he give you a discount?"
"Oh, he did. He is also a very good salesman, so good, in fact, that before I even noticed it he convinced me to buy twice as much Dust as I intended and in five times the variety. Including fire, ice, stone, and lighting Dust crystals in addition to the wind Dust crystals I was already going to buy. Though he was nice enough to cut my Dust crystals into the right shape for me for free, but he also convinced me to buy a few small vials of powdered Dust. I didn't even realize this until last night."
"yeah, I probably should have mentioned he is really good at his job. The last few times I've gone there I've ended up spending my entire allowance." She regretfully chuckled scratching the back of her head while averting her eyes.
Weiss gave him a confused look, "Then why are you going back."
"Over the weekend I came up a killer move, but it involves utilizing gravity Dust," William explained.
Ruby perked up, to the point if she had Faunus ears or a tail they would be wagging enough to rival a ceiling fan on max setting. "Ooh, what is it?"
"It's a secret." The black haired huntsmen said raising his finger to his mouth.
"I'm curious what kind of weapon did you two build?" Pyrrha inquired.
"Well, we didn't exactly 'build' it, so much as we designed and sent blueprints to a weapons manufacturer." William clarified.
"So what kind of weapon is it?" Blake inquired further, having gotten invested in the conversation.
Ruby opened her mouth to speak only for William to place his hand on her shoulder. "Remember it's a surprise." The wolf Faunus smirked. "Though, since it probably won't get here until Friday at the earliest, I don't see me getting a chance to show it off until after the festival." He sighed.
"Awwww, that's boring," Nora commented.
William sighed "Yeah, but what can you do?"
"Perhaps I can be of some assistance," Ms. Goodwitch spoke up. "If you accompany me on some errands Thursday, I'll let you have the first match in class after the Vytal Festival has concluded." She proposed with an uncharacteristically soft smile.
For the students there, this wasn't a side of her people often saw, Nora and Jaune in particular, couldn't believe she could make such a kind expression. Even the members of team RWBY, who just this morning saw a more vulnerable and humane side to her couldn't fully register the unusually kindness in her eyes as she looked at William. Ms. Goodwitch was in no way mean-spirited, but with her stern and stoic enforcement of the rules, many have been lead to believe so. William had seen her make this expression a few times before, each time he felt a warmth in his heart. A warmth that felt so foreign yet so nostalgic.
"I'd really appreciate that Ms. Goodwitch," William replied with a slight smile. "I won't let you down- general Ironwood is nearby." William suddenly stated as his expression quickly soured before a few expressions of shock flashed across his face.
Ms. Goodwitch gave William a bewildered look. "How do you know that?"
"He's in a particularly bad mood." William held up his right hand with all his fingers extended upward. "He'll be here in five…four…three…two…one." He counted down his finger before pointing to the nearest window as he passed by.
"How did you do that?" Ruby asked.
"Like I said he is in a bad mood."
"Is he still mad?" Yang asked.
William wore a somewhat perplexed and conflicted expression, "No, more scared than angry."
"What could he be scared of?" The brawler asked in disbelief.
"Well, I got a part of his conversation with professor Ozpin."
"And…?" Yang inquired further.
"Let's just say we should all do everything in our power not to make professor Ozpin angry. I've seen rampaging Grimm less frightening."
"Seriously?" The blonde brawler asked somewhat surprised by the statement.
"You have no idea. Looking at Ozpin it's hard to see him angry, but damn, it freaked me out and I only a part of it. I actually feel a little bad for Ironwood." William said somewhat sympathetic.
"I say he got what he deserved." The blonde brawler commented.
"That reminds me, what happened to team CRDL?" William pondered aloud looking at Ms. Goodwitch.
The platinum blonde made an unpleased expression before setting her coffee down. "Despite the grievousness of their actions team CRDL will not be expelled and will be allowed to continue to participate in the Vytal Tournament." She stated clearly regretting the words as she spoke them. Ms. Goodwitch probably didn't mean to let it slip, but William got a brief image of her yelling at Ozpin. Before he could get any further details the blonde teacher noticed William looking at her. Putting two and two together she quickly guarded her emotions. Her years as a huntress, and, somehow, to a greater extent a teacher, had taught her how to steel her emotions.
"William please refrain from reading my emotions." She stated giving him a somewhat stern yet apologetic look.
William gave a confused look. This was actually the first time someone had ever caught him intentionally reading their emotions. It was, to say the least, a surprise that he had some kind of tell regarding it.
"Sorry about that, I can't really turn it off and when someone I care about is feeling strong negative emotions I…well you know." William ended slightly blushing at his admittance.
Ms. Goodwitch gave him a slight smile, "While I appreciate the concern, please do try not to delve too deeply into another person's thoughts and emotions."
"I will do everything I can."
"Thank you."
"That's well and good, but what about Cardin and his flunkies, shouldn't they at least be punished for their crimes?" Weiss spoke up, somewhat surprising the group a little, showing a more caring side, even if ever so slightly.
"From the end of the tournament and for next two years afterward, they will have detention as well as be forced to perform various acts of community service. Professor Port and I will personally see to their punishment." The professor informed them giving a faint hint of a sadistic smile.
William reacted to the comment, "That reminds me, why was professor Port in the park so late at night anyway?"
The blonde sorceress took sip of her coffee, "If I recall correctly every other Friday afternoon he volunteers at the park to tell stories to children about being a Huntsmen."
"Wait, if it's in the afternoon then why was he still there at eleven at night?"
"As I have learned, if you do not stop him or give him some kind of signal he rarely knows when to stop talking." She said obviously remembering more than one instance of this happening.
"I've actually seen him there when Nora and I went jogging in the park once, it had to be at least ten at night." Ren added producing a thermos, unscrewing the top, and pouring a green liquid into the glass he had been drinking out of.
"Hey Ren, what are you drinking?" William asked curious about the beverage.
"It is an herbal supplement that helps with digestion and replenishes the body. Would you like some." The resident ninja offered.
Nora stuck out her tongue mimicking like she would puke, "Bleh, how can you drink that pond scum."
"I'll give it a shot," William answered extending his glass to Ren.
"William don't, that's stuff is like drinking poison!" Nora warned. "Just thinking about the last time he made that stuff is making me sick." She gestured holding her hand over her mouth.
"Nora you can relax, my semblance is consumption; I've eaten rocks, tree bark, dirt, even a rusty water boiler. I think I can handle a few herbs." William reassured.
"I know I'm going to regret asking this, but why did you eat a rusty water boiler?" Weiss asked slightly cringing at the idea of eating rusty metal.
"At the time I didn't know much about how to preserve food, and it was Winter, so I didn't really have a lot of options. Given my semblance and position, you'd be surprised what people would probably be willing to do to survive." He said lifting the glass of green liquid to examine it while bearing that iconic expression you get when you think something looks good, but when you see it up close and/or smell it you regret it-look.
Turing the glass to the side a few times in front of his eyes he lowered it to sniff the top. William immediately cringed at the smell.
"What's a matter William, don't want to drink it?" Nora taunted, "Chicken?" she continued moving her arms to mimic a chicken's wings.
William made a calm face, "Not at all." He said softly before chugging the entire drink and slamming it down on the table for dramatic effect. "See not a problem." He stated with a sly grin.
"Huh, I guess you really can handle anything," Nora admitted quite surprised he could actually do it without vomiting.
"Your damn righ-" William began before quickly covering his mouth with his hands as his cheeks suddenly bulged out and his face rapidly changed color to match the liquid he had just ingested.
Nora began to grin, "What's the matter Will? Not sitting well."
"No." William shook his head. "I gotta a go." He muffled through his fingers running towards a trash can towards the front corner of the lunch room.
Nora bore a triumphant smile for all of three seconds until William began to stridently vomit into trash can resulting in a very uncomfortable look from everyone watching. The situation became only more unpleasant as William unceasingly heaved for almost three minutes straight, killing the appetite of anyone within audible range. In that time Ms. Goodwitch had run over William's side stroking his back trying to ease his suffering, even if a little. She had intended to guide him back to his room, but with his vomiting fit he couldn't take a few steps before having to dash back to the trash can; leaving them there until his sickness lessened.
"Damn Ren, what was in that juice?" Yang asked slightly cringing as William continued to loudly barf into the receptacle.
"I honestly have no idea what could have happened, it was just a basic assortment of herbs and natural vitamins. It is perfectly healthy and equally delicious."
Nora turned her head giving Ren a look, "Really, really Ren?" the Valkyrie asked with a pan faced expression.
At this point, Ruby, pulling Weiss, went to aid William. "Are you okay?" The red reaper asked still holding onto Weiss' wrist.
William puked once more before raising his head, "I think I'm gonna die." He exhaustedly responded with a wet raspy belch.
"Weiss, don't you have some stomach medicine?" Ruby asked her teammate.
Weiss paused to search her memory of the vast amount of things she had brought with her at the beginning of the year. "Yeah, I think I do. If I recall correctly it should be in my first aid kit." The heiress reported.
Ms. Goodwitch helped William to his feet, "Miss Schnee, I would very much appreciate it if you could give some to William. The nurses will not be in her office today. Also, Miss Rose can you please gather his things, I will escort him to his room." The platinum blonde ordered.
"Why can't we take him to the nurse's office or that doctor William sees every other day?" Weiss posed.
The teacher sighed, "Unfortunately both doctor and Nurse Plum will not be here until later today. Now can you please help me?" She asked showing true concern for William and more than she intended to of annoyance with Weiss.
"Yes Ma'am." The red and white duo responded.
Ruby ran back to the table to grab William's bag before rejoining the group and escorting the Were-Grimm back to his dorm room. Along the way they had to stop a couple of times to allow William to take a break and vomit.
The four made it to William's dorm room, Ms. Goodwitch and Ruby helped William into his room while Weiss went to retrieve the medicine and a bottle of water to wash it down.
/-/
After giving William the medicine and making sure he safely swallowed it Ruby and Weiss helped him out of his hoodie as he kicked off his shoes. The glasses wearing blonde helped him into bed and laid him down for some rest.
"I guess my 'new beginning' will have to wait a little while." The Wolf-Faunus weakly chuckled.
"It's okay William, everyone experiences a rocky start from time to time. Just focus on resting and I will come check on you before lunch. If you feel up to it, how about I take you off campus, my treat." She gently smiled stroking the side of his face.
"I'd like that." He smiled back letting the fast acting medicine take hold as he drifted off to sleep.
Ruby and Weiss were already out of the room when Ms. Goodwitch began to move away from William's bed when she realized this was the first time since the night she had spent helping William filling out the various forms need for his admittance to Beacon and for her to adopt him. It wasn't something of monumental significance, but she couldn't help but take a quick look around his dorm room. She was his guardian, after all, she was only doing what she needed to do to make sure his living space was hygienic and productive to his development as a Huntsmen. Or at least that's what she would tell anyone who asked.
His room was notably very clean. He didn't strike her as a slob, but she didn't expect living in a cave in the wilderness for the last decade to give him a strong standard of cleanliness, but she was pleasantly surprised nonetheless. Even the tape stubs that were a remnant of the room's previous occupants were removed without doing any noticeable damage to the room's walls and coating. On the left wall were two posters of the front of Beacon Academy and the Vytal festival, both of which were in all likelihood purchased at the school store.
His bed, from the door, was placed lengthwise on the back-left corner while two of the unused beds were stacked in the right back corner of the room with his unused school supplies, first aid kit, and other such things neatly organized and stacked on the bottom bed.
The fourth bed was placed perpendicular to the two stacked beds separated by the closet. On it were two mountains of books William had checked out from the library. Between the foot of the third and fourth beds was his closet. As it would so happen the door was open and showed a well-organized closet with his shirts and two pairs of dress pants hung neatly with an extra pair of unopened backup shoes in the bottom corner.
Towards the front of the room were to four desks. It seemed William used each one for something different, or at the very least used the remaining ones for storage. From the door, the two on the right shared a single movable green desk lamp. The one farthest from the door was somewhat messier than the rest of the room, but not by much.
Some of it was organized into a pencil holder and specific spots for things like the electronic sharpener, while other things appeared to be some kind of report, though she couldn't think of any of his professors having anything due during the week. On the one closest to the door were William's notebooks that he had told her about. This peaked the sorceress' interest.
"Ms. Goodwitch, are you coming?" Ruby asked peeking her head through the door as her teacher picked up the notebook from the top of the stack. There had to be at least over a two dozen notebooks precariously stacked on top of the desk, but years of handling paperwork allowed her to remove it without disturbing the tower of spiral notebooks.
"Just a second Ruby." She brushed off turning her head to confirm William was already long since passed out before turning her head as she opened the notebook.
As she had come to expect William's handwriting was by no means the neatest but was still fairly legible. Flipping through several pages she unknowingly let a small smile slip. She had always enjoyed seeing students apply themselves and giving their due diligence to the academic works and this definitely qualified as "due diligence".
His notes were very fastidious about various subjects comparing and sighting the various topics and statistics on everything from Dust manipulations in clothing and objects to Grimm behavior. She found herself flipping through the notebook bewitched by the sheer amount of detail and care that went into the collection of facts. The information was explained in great detail without being difficult to grasp, yet it did not sacrifice any of the information in simplification. There were even annotations and a few examples to aid in comprehension.
"William really gives it his all when it comes to being a Huntsmen." Ruby softly spoke walking up to the bespectacled teacher snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Oh, um, could you repeat that?" The sorceress slightly blushed at her lack of attention.
Ruby just softly smiled, "Every night, William works on adding more to his notebooks. He told me one day he's going to condense and organize his notebooks and make some kind of field guide for huntsmen, or something like that."
Ms. Goodwitch paused for a moment before a soft smile appeared on her face. As she placed the notebook back in its original position she looked at Ruby, "I think whatever he does it will be amazing. I just hope I can get a copy someday." She beamed as the two caped huntresses exited the room slowly shutting the door as to not wake William."
William's body was sound asleep yet somehow his mind was weakly active.
HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE? The all-to-familiar shadowy voice asked.
"What are you talking about?"
YOU KEEP MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES, AND YET YOU NEVER LEARN FROM THEM.
"What are these 'mistakes' I keep making?"
...
"Hello? Anyone there?" He asked to the void waiting a few moments for a reply that never came. "I really hate when he does that." William said to himself.
/-/
William had been sleeping like a corpse until he heard a light knock on the door with a twitch of his wolf ears. He slowly sat up only to see Ruby gently moving into his room.
"Heeeyyyy, RRRubbyy." William yawned.
He could feel every muscle in his body was stiff as though he hadn't moved all day.
"Oh, hey William, how are you feeling?" She asked caught off guard by William being up.
"Pretty good actually. What time is it?" The wolf Faunus asked stretching.
"It's almost six thirty. Ms. Goodwitch said she came to check on you at lunch, but you were still asleep so she didn't want to wake you up."
"I see," he said getting out of bed continuing his stretches. "Where is everyone else?"
"Weiss was studying at the library, but she should be getting hungry and heading towards the cafeteria about now. Blake and Yang got out of detention a half hour ago and so they probably went to relax and cuddle in their favorite tree that overlooks the training field, but I'm pretty sure they should be heading to dinner around now as well."
William gave Ruby a somewhat confused look.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing, I guess. I just didn't think you would know your teammates every movement. I don't know whether that is impressive or a little creepy."
Ruby pouted, "Don't say it like that. It's a leader's job to know about her teammates."
William opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a loud, almost angry, grumbling from his stomach.
"I guess I'm hungry. Hey, since your, um, our teammates are probably heading to dinner, want to head there ourselves?"
"Sure."
The two made their way to the cafeteria, lightly chatting. Though, William was slightly confused as to his sudden recovery. He knew he had an impressive healing ability, but didn't know it worked on things like upset stomachs. It never worked on colds or other sickness before, but at the same time, he wasn't exactly in a complaining mood.
As the two entered the cafeteria they noticed on the far end was the rest of their team just sitting down to eat. As the two drew near to the rest of the group William noticed a few leaves in Blake and Yang's hair and he also noticed the stack of books next to Weiss and the fresh dusty smell of Beacon's library on her clothes. In truth, he was impressed by Ruby's understanding of her teammates and their habits, but he was also wondering just how much she actually knew about him and his habits.
Yang waved to them, "Hey Will, how ya feelin'?"
"A lot better and PLEASE stop calling me Will." He said as the approached the group.
"well, you look a lot better." Blake commented.
"I feel a lot better." He said before his stomach growled again. "Now if you'll excuse me I am going to get something to eat before my stomach decides to eat me alive." He joked.
William and Ruby walked over to the buffet line and proceeded to get their food. William tried to get items that would be easier on his stomach. For a normal person this would mean clearer foods and light soups or broths, but for someone who can eat just about anything it meant eating things in amounts normal for people. Ruby expressed her apprehensions, but William reassured her that he was okay.
They sat down next to their teammates and began eating. All eyes were on William who seemed to dig into his food with his usual gusto seeming to have never been sick at all.
"Are you going to be okay? I mean you threw up a lot this morning and you're eating all that food." Weiss commented with her usual haughty demeanor, but everyone knew that was more out of habit than intention.
"I really do feel fine." He said biting deeply into a large slice of ham.
"Well, just remember if you start feeling like you're going to be sick, please tell us." Ruby stated getting a nod from William, "Then once you finish eating how do you feel about us finally celebrating you becoming an official member of team RWBY?" Ruby proposed clearly wanting the answer to be yes.
"If it's okay with you guys."
"Of course." The red hooded girl let out before anyone else could speak up.
"But first let's finish eating, and I need to call Ms. Goodwitch and tell her I'm okay."
The group finished eating and while the rest of team RWBY was getting things ready in the lounge William called Ms. Goodwitch. She was glad to hear from him and that he was feeling much better. It may have just been that they were talking over the phone, but William could have sworn that his guardian seemed to have expected more from the conversation, but he wasn't sure what. This thought quickly dropped out of his mind along with his mood, a little, when she told him he had to make up all the work he missed, but he was just happy to be feeling better, so it didn't bother him too much.
After about fifteen minutes or so Ruby texted William to head to the lounge in the first year dorm. William made his way there.
The lounge was a decently sized activity room with two couches, big screen TV, and a kitchen with a fridge, oven, and island counter. The students have to provide their own pots and pans as well as make sure to label whatever they put in the fridge or it most likely will disappear.
As William entered the lounge he was greeted by a loud "WELCOME TO THE TEAM!" by his teammates as they sprayed confetti from a couple of poppers only to be followed by a loud "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" from William.
While well-meaning someone pointed their popper towards William effectively blinding the wolf Faunus with confetti.
After a mild panic while trying to calm William down and wash the confetti out of his eyes the group managed to get a second take.
"Okay, " Ruby began, "NOW William allow us to officially welcome you to team RWBY!" She cheered with her usual pep as she trie to get beyond the awkwardness of what just happened.
"Then allow me to say I'm glad to join you." William responded still wiping something out of his eye.
The group cut into the cake, passed out plastic cups with punch in it and began to celebrate.
After a few minutes of light chatter team CFVY walked into the wreck room.
"Hey team RWBY, how's it goin'." Coco greeted as she and her team walked over to the partying group.
"We're celebrating William officially joining team RWBY." Ruby informed.
Coco lowered her glasses looking William up and down quickly for a few seconds, "One guy alone in a room with four lovely young ladies, you're not planning to do anything 'inappropriate', are you?" she teased with a smirk towards the new member.
William grinned, "You're one to talk. I seem to remember a certain fashionista getting in trouble for spying on the guys in the gym showers." He shot back earning a look from Coco.
"Too shea."
"And for the record, I still have my own room." William added.
"By the way, why are you in the first year wreck room?" Weiss asked.
"Well it's movie night, but the second year wreck room's DVD player got shot by someone, again." Coco answered.
"Isn't this the fifth time that has happened this semester?" Blake asked.
"Actually seventh, the dorm administrator told us he isn't going to get another one." Velvet informed them.
"So do you mind if we use the first year wreck room's DVD player and TV?" Coco asked.
"Well…" Ruby thought on the question.
William stepped forward, "If you guys don't mind, I'm game for a movie night."
"We didn't have much planned aside from cake and punch." Blake added.
Yang put her hand on her chin stroking it with her pointer finger, "I don't know…"
"We have popcorn." Coco added, her and her team each holding up a large theater style bucket of popcorn.
"I'm game, let's do it." The blonde brawler smiled.
The group moved the couch around in front of the TV, made sure everyone got comfortable and cut off the lights.
"So what are we watching first?" William asked.
"Well, we usually each have a movie we want to watch and then we view them in the order of our initial in the team name." Velvet explained, "So that means Coco is first."
"Yeah and I got one of the most awesome movies there is Zombie Apocalypse III: Dawn of The Blood Fest." She announced holding up the DVD. "Think you can handle it wolf-y?" She taunted the Were-Grimm.
"Please, I've spent the last decade fighting savage monsters all-day-everyday. Do you really think a little movie can actually scare me?"
"Well let me go to the bathroom before we start." Weiss requested heading towards the restroom.
Coco bent down and put the DVD in the player.
"Aren't you going to wait for Weiss?" William asked only to receive a "Neh" from most of the group as they sat down to watch the movie.
-roughly eight minutes later-
Walking in the door Weiss could hear the movie already playing, "I thought I asked you guys to wait for me-" She trailed off noticing a shivering Ruby huddled up next to a Beowulf behind the couch.
"let me guess, you two got scared already?" She asked already well aware of the answer.
"No, we're just…" William trailed off hoping for ruby to finish the excuse.
"-doing our movie exercises." The red reaper inputted.
"Yeah, our movie exercises…" The Beowulf trailed off giving Ruby a "really?" look.
Coco having not been paying much attention to the two, besides snickering when the two first hid behind the couch, cocked her head to peer behind her before turning her head towards Yang who was cuddling with Blake.
"So why is William a Beowulf again?" the beret wearer asked half interested.
"When William gets scared, like that time he was arrested, he turns into a Beowulf and can't turn back till he's not scared anymore." Blake answered.
"Interesting." The brunet tapped on her chin.
"Why are you rubbing my back?" William suddenly asked looking up seeing Coco reaching over from the couch petting him.
"I've never petted a Beowulf before." She answered not stopping her action. "You're really soft."
Before William could respond he felt something on his shoulder.
"Oh wow she's right." Ruby smiled. "Yang feel this." She gestured to her sister.
"Why is everyone touching me all of a sudden?" William asked more confused than agitated. "And how have you, a huntress, never felt a Beowulf's fur?"
"I have, but I never really felt-felt it before. Your almost as soft as Velvet's ears."
"Oh wow," Yang spoke up petting the Beowulf's fur. "Their right, you are really soft."
"will everyone stop petting me." William pleaded.
"But you're sooooooo soft and fluffy." Ruby hummed. Earning a few snickers from the group.
"I am not some puppy for you to pet." William said standing up.
"Relax Will, we don't mean anything by it." Yang said scratching behind William's left ear completely caught by surprise at his response.
The Were-Grimm began to perk his head upwards with is tongue gently lulled out of the side of his mouth as he panted and his left foot began to rapidly tap. As she continued the Beowulf began to quickly shrink and deteriorate into his normal form.
Surprised by the transformation Yang unconsciously stopped scratching William's ear. The second she stopped William snapped back to reality and the dazed and contempt look on his face was quickly dyed red with embarrassment.
"You saw nothing." William let out with a face that could match Ruby's hood.
This resulted in most of room's responses ranging from Yatsuhashi and Fox chuckling to Ruby rolling around on the ground laughing.
"Please stop laughing." William begged still blushing
"We're sorry, it's, ha, it's just we didn't expect that." Yang got out still chuckling.
"Well I'm sorry, my mom would always scratch my ears to relax me and help me sleep." He said with only a partially weakened blush.
"It isn't uncommon for parents of Faunus children to rub their ears to relax them." Blake informed the group.
"Really?" Yang smirked.
Blake gave her a concerned look for a second before it clicked, "Yang don't you dare." Blake glared, not noticing Yang's other hand sneaking behind her.
Yang began gently scratching the cat Faunus' ears eliciting a purr from her.
Blake quickly covered her mouth, moving further down the couch out of Yang's reach blushing furiously.
Her girlfriend, on the other hand, grinned, "I'm going to remember that one for later." She smirked. "Hey, Coco did you know tha-" Yang began turning her head towards the brunet only to see Velvet resting her head on Coco's lap as Coco stroked her ears causing the rabbit Faunus to lightly grind her teeth (rabbit equivalent of purring).
"I'm one step ahead of you Xiao long." Coco cooed rubbing Velvets ears.
"Okay, can we stop picking on the Faunus and just watch the movie?" William pleaded still showing some red on his face.
Yang sighed a little, "Alright I guess; I can always get Blake later when we're cuddling."
"Oh no you don't!", Ruby shouted, "You two are sleeping in different beds while me and Weiss are in the room."
"Aw come on Rubes, it isn't like you saw anything you haven't already."
William leaned over to Weiss, "What happened exactly?"
The heiress paused for a moment, "While you were gone Ruby and I walked in on Yang and Blake being…intimate with each other." She partially blushed.
Before William could respond Coco decided to give her input, "Damn, I didn't think Blake was the type to give it up so easily." She stated causing Blake to lower her head trying to conceal her shame and growing flush.
"Can we please just go back to watching the movie?" Blake asked this time being the one pleading.
"Sure", Coco sighed, "But I'm not gonna stop petting my little honey bunny."
"Coco", Velvet blushed, "don't call me that." She lightly smiled.
"I didn't know you two were a couple." William commented.
"We aren't." Coco calmly responded, "But that doesn't mean Velvet doesn't like having her ears scratched or that I like scratching them." She said giving Velvet more of her special attention.
"Fair enough." William nonchalantly replied.
The group continued to watch the movie, well everyone except William and Ruby who were more comfortable just hiding behind the couch covering their ears until it was over.
After Coco's movie ended, and the cowering two received some "light" remarks from Coco, especially William, it was then Fox's turn. It surprised a few people, with him being blind and all, but he told them not to worry about it. For his movie he picked the first Brocky movie, stating he liked the classics.
The group enjoyed the movie, though, some were surprised that Fox uncharacteristically talked through the entire movie. Apparently, he can describe the final fight scene by the sound of each punch. Most people would not peg him as a movie buff, but then again people can surprise you.
Velvet, being well Velvet, told Yatsuhashi he could go before her. After a little back and forth between the two the giant swordsman agreed and popped in his DVD. Another surprise for the evening was that Yatsuhashi had a thing for spaghetti westerns.
The story started out calmly enough with a basic intro, but transitioned to a rancher trying to take another's land and that guy fought back. This was when Coco commented about Velvet standing up to Cardin. Apparently, this had been a reoccurring discussion. Due to class schedules, Velvet doesn't have the same lunch period as the rest of her teammates. This left Velvet to have lunch with primarily first-year students, in this case namely Cardin and his team. Though he had dialed back his bullying since his attention has been focused on William, a bully by any other name is still an asshole.
"You need to stand up for yourself, tell a teacher, do something." The brown haired leader besought her Faunus teammate. "He keeps bullying you and since you won't let me kill him, you have to do something. Last time he pulled your ears so hard he pulled out some of your hair."
"It's nothing really and it didn't hurt. I don't want to get anyone in trouble." Velvet said looking away from the group.
Before Coco could speak up William interjected, "You don't really mean that." He said flatly.
Velvet turned her head looking somewhat confused, "What, I do, I genuinely-"
"No, you don't." William interrupted wearing a sterner expression, "You can't lie to me Velvet. I can sense the anger and the sadness dwelling within you. It's perfectly fine to want to take the high road in these situations, but you're not taking the high road, you're just running away."
"I-"
"The only way to get a bully to stop is either notify a teacher or to take matters into your own hand." He said raising his left hand as he transformed it into a Beowulf claw. "And if you do, you don't stop until you leave them on the ground gasping for air with their bodies broken and their minds plague-ridden with fear." He said angrily clutching his claw shut sounding like a steel trap as opposed to flesh and bone as Velvet's gaze met his own red eyes.
The entire group was caught off guard by William's statement.
"What?" He said looking around as his hand returned to normal.
"It's just we've never heard you talk like… that. It was…surprising." Ruby stated.
"Is anyone really surprised I have a dark side, especially for bullies?" William asked to no one in particular as though he couldn't sense the shock everyone was feeling toward him right now.
"Violence doesn't solve anything," Blake spoke up. "It just breeds more violence."
Before William could speak he saw brief glimpses of Blake's memories and what had transpired in her past to shape her opinion. He knew she was right and knew that he probably went overboard in his description. Letting out a sigh, "You're right, I guess part of me is still thinking like I'm in that valley." He admitted.
"Velvet, I don't think you should actually harm Cardin and his goons, unless they attack you first, in which case cripple them," He said earning a frown from Blake and a smile from Coco. "But at the same time don't just let them get away with it either. Just doing nothing at all is the same as painting a giant sign that says 'hey comeback and pick on me again, do it five more times and you get a free yogurt'." He stated earning a smirk from a few people, "If you don't take control of your own life you're just giving them all the power and then one day you could have your entire life dictated by a deranged lunatic who loves to see you get a little glimmer of hope before dropping a house on you." (jwrite: who me?)
"I know it's just…" the rabbit Faunus trailed off.
"You think just taking it won't cause any more conflict," William began calmly, "But the more you let them continue the more you hurt yourself and those that care about you." He said nodding his head directing her to her teammates. "I can tell they really care about you and don't want you to be sad." He continued seeing Velvet give an epiphany-like expression.
"I, I…" Velvet lowered her head in acknowledgment. She realized that William was right. "I know your right, I'm sorry Coco, Fox, Yatsuhashi, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay Vel, we just want you to not let them walk all over you." Coco comforted placing a hand on Velvet's shoulder as the rabbit Faunus received a nod from her other teammates.
"I'm so sorry, I just didn't want anyone to get in trouble and I ended up hurting you and I-" The brown haired Faunus began on the verge of tears before being embraced by her team leader.
"It's okay, just promise me, no us, that you'll at least talk to a teacher." Coco softly said still hugging her favorite bunny.
"I will, I will." She promised hugging back.
Like before after everyone was finished talking, they continued to watch the movie. Though Yatsuhashi wasn't as indifferent to his movie as Coco was to her's, so he rewound the DVD to the part before everyone started talking.
After another hour or so it was Velvet's turn. Her pick was a romantic comedy. After that talk, it was felt everyone could use a good laugh.
"Any popcorn left?" William asked.
Coco looked into the bucket. "Nah, just un-popped kernels."
"That'll work, hand them over." The wolf Faunus said as Coco handed him the bucket.
Pouring them into his mouth William audibly crunched on the kernels.
"Ew, how can you even eat those?" The brunet fashionista asked.
"My semblance is consumption; I could eat the bucket if I wanted to." William shrugged.
"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Ruby stated drawing William's attention to her. "You say you can eat anything does that include semblances that are made of stuff, like Weiss' Glyphs?"
The wolf Faunus turned his head back towards the movie seeming to be thinking his answer over more than the rest of the group believed he should be. "Well, I guess I should say I can eat almost anything. When something emits or is made of aura I can't eat it. I can bite through it, but I can't swallow it. Not that it really matters because humans and Faunus just aren't appealing as food and most semblances aren't even physical substances to begin with." He explained in a fairly nonchalant manner.
"How can you talk about that stuff like it's no big deal?" Weiss asked a little unnerved by William's indifferent attitude towards the subject of eating people.
"You do remember before I meet you I killed over eighty people, right?"
Blake frowned, "That doesn't mean you have to be so uncaring about it."
"I'm not uncaring, at least I don't mean to be, it's just when you've spent the last decade coming to terms with these kinds of things, they don't hold the same significance as they did to me ten years ago or they do to you now. I do regret that people died, but I don't regret doing it because it was either them or me. I say humans and Faunus aren't appealing for my semblance because I've told myself that so many times, I lost track because I knew if I ever crossed that line…I would be just another monster."
"William I'm sorry." The cat Faunus apologized.
"It's okay Blake, it's because of you guys I can finally have some say in my life, I can choose what I do next and it's because of you guys I want to become a Huntsmen so I can protect what is precious to me and what is precious to others. I know it may not seem like it, but I owe you guys more than I can ever hope to repay. Before I hated myself, but I couldn't express it and had to swallow it with all of my other negative emotions. Thanks to you guys I have been given an amazing opportunity, I have come to terms with who and what I am, and can finally move forward."
Ruby placed her hand on his shoulder, "William, you don't need to thank us, we were happy to help you, even though we didn't actually do much. Heh. But, I want you to know you don't need to repay us or anything like that, you're our friend and teammate we'll always have your back." She said with a smile.
"I think I'm starting to see why you're the team leader Ruby." William lightly chuckled. "I might be jinxing myself here, but I hope things can stay like this for a while longer." William contently sighed leaning back against the couch putting his hands behind his head. "But I AM going to thank you, in my own special way."
Coco raised an eyebrow, "…and that would be…?"
"Well, I've kind of already started."
The group looked at him, "You have?" Ruby asked.
"Well, not with you specifically. At least not yet, but I have started with Blake."
The cat Faunus gave him a perplexed look, "What do you mean?"
"Basically my way of thanking you is to help you resolve the negativities in your hearts." William calmly explained taking a sip of his drink.
"I-I don't know what to say."
"I do, isn't that just you manipulating us?" Weiss glowered.
"It isn't like I'm brainwashing you or anything like that. I'm just helping you move beyond the darkness in your hearts that hold you back and torment you. If anything, I'm saving you a lot of drama and therapy bills." The Were-Grimm calmly kidded. "I mean can you or Yang really complain about the results?" He asked looking at Blake.
The raven haired Faunus turned looking at her partner and girlfriend who she was still holding hands with. Blake meet Yang's eyes. The two shared a look for a moment before gently smiling at each other.
"No, no I can't complain." Blake almost hummed.
"So when are you going to work on Weiss?" Yang asked with a grin.
William put his hand on his chin, "That's a bit of a tough one. I can tell that Weiss has changed since she became a part of team RWBY. I can tell her icy heart has begun to melt, little by little. I'll be honest, I've been having trouble deciding if I should do anything or should I just let things take their course." William explained.
Most people didn't catch it, but to William, he sensed Weiss give him his answer. If only for a brief moment, he saw her true desires. Weiss, from what William could tell, had always lived a life where her feelings were secondary and she had to effectively freeze her heart. It was this coldness that made her more difficult to read than her teammates because, unlike Blake who would stew in her own emotions, suffering in silence, Weiss would deny and repress what was tormenting her. She didn't confront her problems or even wish to think of them, she simply just did everything to put them out of her mind. It was only those moments when she was with her team when she lowered her guard that William could get any definitive understanding of the icy heiress.
To say the least, William was not expecting her to desire... that. Granted, he had a few theories and caught a few brief glimpses into her mind here and there, but he never got a direct read, until now.
Weiss realized William was reading her emotions and tried to steel her emotions. She glanced over to William trying her best to be discrete, but when her eyes met William's she knew he had gotten a glance at what she was thinking. William could begin to sense that she was about to panic.
"Tell you what," William began, "Weiss, I think I'll let you pick. You can either let things go as is in which you can move at your own pace and ask for my assistance if you want it or you can let me take care of things my way. So what do you say?"
The white haired huntress was not expecting William to give her a choice and as such was completely caught unprepared. She already knew William was aware of what she wanted, but he was giving her a choice as to how he proceeded. She wanted him to help her soooo badly and yet her pride and fear were screaming for the status quo to remain. That she would be able to handle things being the way they are now and that was all she need.
Weiss eventually let out a sigh, "William, while I appreciate it, I think I'm going to go at my own pace." She admitted with a clearly fake smile.
William tried to conceal his disappointment, "As you wish." He said returning his attention to the movie.
-Meanwhile in professor Ozpin's office-
"Thank you very much, hopefully, these preparations will not be needed." Ozpin said to a faceless image of a rook icon on his screen.
Suddenly there was a knock on his door, "Keep me notified if there are any changes." He said before turning off the monitor, "Come in." He called out to the person behind the door.
The door opened revealing the short portly balding salt and pepper-haired doctor in a white lab coat with a dark purple tie known only as doctor Plum.
"Yes, um, sir, I have the results of my examination of William's emesis." He said adjust his thick spectacles that reminded Ozpin of Dr. Oobleck's.
"And were you able to cure William of his stomach illness?" the headmaster asked from behind his desk.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, according to professor Goodwitch, he doesn't even seem to remember that he was given the medicine I made for him. though given that he was only hours from death I guess it is understandable."
"Have you been able to find any other vendors of those herbs?"
"No sir, it appears that the store frequented by Lie Ren is the only one with a distributor from Feign. Hopefully, William will refrain from eating any more herbs from that shop."
"Well let's hope he doesn't nor that anyone else finds out about this."
"Sir?"
"I want you to destroy your notes. Keep the recipe for the medicine, but destroy all of your other notes and replace it with a cover story saying that there was no conclusive reason for William to get sick into the server you have for your research."
"Sir, I have to ask why? This could be a breakthrough, not only for Vale, but the world as a whole."
The purely gray-haired man gave a very displeased look, "In the near future William may prove to be capable of tipping the scales in our favor. However, there are still those who only see him as an enemy. I believe it is in our best interest to keep something like this to ourselves for the time being."
Well, that is certainly something. What is Weiss' secret wish and will William really let things be? Anyway just to recap, I will be working a lot more and I won't be able to write as often as much as I'd like so please be patient with me. I originally planned on getting the posted before Volume 4 premiered, but LIFE. I'd rather be a little late than post a fanfic I will regret posting. Also, in case no one got it Brocky = Rocky, I know I'm horrible.