Chapter 14

"Sun!" Aurum cried, jumping between the Faunus and Slate's stumbling form.

"Don't you ever call her an animal," Sun said through gritted teeth. He tried to push past Aurum, but the golden-haired boy kept his arms spread wide, preventing Sun's every move.

Slate spat out a blob of blood.

"You're going to regret that, monkey boy," he said, eyes glinting dangerously. "Wait until the entire school hears that Blake Belladonna is a goddamn Faunus."

"You-" Sun launched himself bodily at Slate but Aurum managed to hold him back.

"Hey!" Yang yelled. She and Blake came to a running stop beside the boys. Blake helped hold Sun back while Yang stared down Slate. "What's going on?"

Slate looked Blake over and sneered. "Well, look what the cat dragged in."

Blake gasped, eyes wide in shock and something else. Was she afraid? Afraid of what? Slate hadn't said anything that…

Her bow. The shape of it was perfect to hide cat ears. How did Slate notice that before Aurum had?

It took Yang a moment to piece together what Slate meant but that was all Sun needed. While Aurum was busy peering at Blake's bow, Sun pushed him aside and swung again at Slate.

Slate was ready Sun this time. He ducked the bow, grabbed Sun's follow up punch, twisted Sun's arm and threw the Faunus off balance, planting a kick to Sun's back for good measure.

Aurum had seen that move before: he had had it used on him multiple times in training sessions. Slate usually used it whenever he went up against two opponents. It was a way to get rid of one attacker so Slate could focus on the next.

Yang didn't know this.

Before Aurum could even call a warning, Yang charged Slate, eyes red with fury.

Yang was a good fighter, one of the best Aurum had seen. But Slate was a better one. He was a second-year student, a student who had had years of training prior to Haven. And Slate was an unmovable foe once he had good footing.

Yang tried two lightning quick punches to the stomach followed by an uppercut. Slate sidestepped the punches and grabbed Yang's arm on the uppercut. Whipping a leg around, he swept Yang off her feet. Yang fell to the ground with a painful smack.

Blake didn't move. She took a step back but glanced at Yang and Sun. If it weren't for the two of them there, Aurum got the impression she would've run, which was very unlike Blake. The Blake Aurum knew would have fought back.

Looks like it was up to him.

"Slate, stop it," Aurum growled at his teammate.

"You're not defending these animals, are you?" Slate spat. "Anyone who sides with Faunus and the White Fang deserve to be punished."

"Slate, shut your mouth." Aurum pointed a finger threateningly. "I'll get you kicked out of Haven if you don't shut up."

"So that's how it is," Slate said. "Animals and bimbos before teammates."

"Excuse me?" Yang demanded, staggering to her feet. Maybe it was just the sun, but Yang's hair looked to be glowing.

Aurum took a step forward. He needed to end this before the situation got any worse.

"Slate, I'm warning you-"

Aurum recognized the blow micro-seconds before Slate threw it. A calmness overtook him: his semblance activated automatically.

Something that shouldn't be possible in his injured state. His Aura was still nearly depleted and what little Aurum had was working on fixing his sprained leg and broken arm.

Regardless, as Slate took a step forward, Aurum took a step back, instinctively leaning back.

Slate's fist missed his nose by centimeters.

Slate was off balance. Not knowing what he was doing, Aurum threw two punches at Slate's exposed stomach. Neither were very hard punches since Aurum did not want to hurt Slate, but he forgot about the cast on his left hand.

"Gah!" Slate gasped. Slate collapsed like a folding chair, staggering away from Aurum.

Aurum cradled his hand. Pinpricks of pain were starting to shoot through it. His semblance had shut down, allowing the unwanted feeling of pain to return to his broken arm.

"Slate, I'm sorry," he told his teammate. Aurum stepped forward to help but Slate pushed him aside, venom in his eyes.

"You… you…" Slate wheezed, clutching his stomach. Whatever Aurum was, he didn't find out. Slate just couldn't form the words, whether from having the wind knocked out of him or from how red his face was from anger.

"Are you done?" Yang demanded. She was back on her feet and looked ready for round two with Slate.

Slate's eyes flickered from Yang to Aurum to Sun to Blake and then back to Yang.

"This," he rasped. "This isn't over."

"I think it is," Yang said fiercely.

As Slate stumbled away, Yang turned to Sun and Aurum. "What was that even about?"

"Slate knows Blake's a Faunus," Sun said, glaring at Slate's retreating back. "He called her an animal."

"How'd he even find out?

"Well, I, er…" Sun sputtered.

Sun's reaction to Slate's taunts had revealed Blake as a Faunus. If he told Blake this, Aurum had no doubt that she would never talk to Sun again. Sun would lose all chances of getting together with her.

Aurum couldn't have that happen. A horrible idea sprang to mind.

Aurum had been the one to tell Slate to meet him by the fountain. He thought he knew Slate but the fight showed he didn't know his teammate. Maybe if he had known how deeply Slate hated Faunus, how hearing what Leo Tawny had done to humans would set Slate off, Aurum could've stopped the fight before it started. All of this was his fault and so, no matter how much he didn't want to do it, he couldn't have Sun be in trouble for his mistakes.

"I told him," Aurum said. He braced himself for one of the girls to do something. Punch him, scream, cuss him out. Yang definitely looked ready to: Aurum was thankful she didn't have her gauntlets with her. But she seemed to be waiting for Blake's reaction.

"Only he knows," Aurum insisted, turning to Blake. "I swear, I only told Slate."

Sun gawked at Aurum but the girls didn't pay him any mind.

Blake's eyes watered with fear. Yang moved to put an arm around her friend, but Blake shrugged her off. Blake shot Aurum a glowering look before stalking off.

"Blake," Sun called but the Faunus didn't even acknowledge him.

"What the hell is wrong with you? With the both of you?" Yang demanded. When Sun opened his mouth in protest, Yang raised her hand, shushing him. "No, it's obvious you told him Sun."

"Sun didn't tell me. I figured it out myself," Aurum said. "I've worked with Faunus before and Blake behaved like many of them."

"So what? You thought it was okay to go tell your teammate that she's a Faunus? She obviously wanted to hide it."

"I know-"

"Oh, you know." Yang scowled. "Then why the hell would you tell your lunatic of a teammate? No, don't say anything. We're done."

"Yang," Sun protested but Yang cut him off.

"No Sun. If he's to stupid and insensitive to do something like this, then I don't wanna see him again." Yang turned to leave but paused. "Aurum, if we have to fight in the tournament, consider yourself dead."

"Yang," Aurum began but she was gone, running after Blake. Aurum watched her leave all the way until Yang disappeared inside.

Yang didn't look back once.

There was silence for a few moments.

"Why'd you do that?" Sun asked. The Faunus stared at him with a mixture of guilty and gratefulness.

Aurum sighed.

"You're still got a chance with Blake now," Aurum said. He had never sounded more defeated: Sun was safe but Aurum had lost all chances of winning Yang over. Hell, he had burned every bridge he had with Yang.

"Yeah, but-"

"I gotta go." Aurum didn't feel like being with anyone right now. "See you later Sun."

"Okay. Yeah. See you later."

What was he thinking? Yang hated him now, apparently wanted him dead. She would probably tell the rest of her team and they would all hate him as well.

And Slate? He would definitely tell Silvia and Henna about how Aurum attacked him. Forget about the fact that he had been defending Sun and Yang. Henna already distrusted Sun and Silvia didn't seem to be a fan of Yang one bit.

Aurum had alienated himself from both team ASHS and team RWBY.

Sorry for such a short chapter. I remember when I wrote this: I had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life. I can safely say, however, that this is the shortest chapter for the rest of the story. I'll keep editing what I have and keep posting new chapters every Sunday.