The exam continued to have it's ups and downs, Tawny saw students of different variety and color show off their creative weaponry. She was having a hard time deciding on which one was her absolute favorite, one student had two daggers that combined together into a bow and arrow. Another had chain and whip that transformed into a sniper rifle. Seeing these students in action made her excited yet scared, her dream was to go into Beacon with flying colors yet seeing these students along with Alice's insults made her start to doubt herself. "I let my ego get in the way..." she muttered.
"Huh?" Ku asked in curiosity, her and Tawny were too hypnotized by the showings that it almost startled her that Tawny broke the silence.
"When I first dreamed about going to Beacon, I thought I would be like my mother" Tawny said "I thought I would pass with no problem, but looking at these other students and listening to someone like Alice say such mean things to me...it slowly starts to drain one's spirit"
Ku looked at her cousin and sighed, it was at that moment that she wanted to blurt out the truth, that her and Tawny were cousins. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak her mind stopped her "remember what mom said..." she thought "protect Tawny...bringing this up right now would only make her situation bad. I'm not one to ruin one's good day" she gritted her teeth and took a deep breath through her nose.
"Tawny," she said "everybody here has their own insecurities, you just don't even know it. I'll bet you right now that one of those students who we were so impressed by isn't going to pass, I mean look at Nero. He has great skills but he almost failed, despite being professor Belladonna's son. There's no such thing as perfection in this world, Tawny"
Tawny froze at Ku's words, she felt her nerves tingle as she thought about her father. Holding back her tears, Tawny slowly grew a smile. "Thanks, Ku" she said.
"You alright?" Ku asked "looks like you're tearing up"
"It's just...I'm just exhausted, that's all" Tawny said.
Alice overheard Ku and Tawny's conversation as she rolled her eyes. She had been fixing her hair and makeup throughout the other students performance's, she didn't have time to watch a bunch of amateurs perform. "Oh please," she thought "as if you two would know anything about perfection" she thought as she remembered her training with the Schnee family.
"Wrong, girl wrong!" Grandpa Schnee yelled at her "heels up and eyes on the target! This is a human opponent you're dealing with!"
"Grandfather," Alice pleaded "My feet hurt, and I keep losing my balance to this simulation, I am not ready fo-"
"You are ready, and you will be ready" Schnee said "even if the threat of the Grimm is gone, evil will always still lurk, man is a much more dangerous opponent than the Grimm will ever be! Our only option left in this world is to protect and serve the strong! As the strong will protect and serve us! In this world, only the strong will survive! If you're not strong than you might as well curl up and die!" he pushed the button to restart the simulation.
The knight swung his giant sword again as Alice jumped back in reflex. She felt the tip of the sword cut through her skin as she screamed in pain. She rubbed her face to feel the mark, she felt it through her left eye and her nose to the end of her right eye. Blood dripping down at a pace from her eye to her nose. The sight of blood made tears drip down her left eye, her left eye crying out blood. The amount of blood on her hands made her clench her face and scream in agony.
The simulation ended as the medical staff busted through the door. They scooped up the crying girl and began to haul her off to the ER. Grandpa Schnee stood in the doorway to stop them, he leaned over to Alice, whispering to her ear "your weakness clouds your judgment, child" he spoke "in the real world, excuses and complaints such as your performance will get you killed. Only the strong survive, the weak shrivel up and die, we're not here to protect those who claim they are weak, we are here to protect those who are strong and in return protect us"
Grandpa Schnee flicked his head to signal medical to take her away "I expect her to be back in her training in no less than three days. Is that clear gentlemen?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The staff nodded as two of them saluted "yes sir!" as they ran off carrying the sobbing Alice. "No more..." Alice muttered throughout her trip to the ER, "no more...no more...no more...no more"
"No more...no more...no more" Alice said, her eyes shut as she clenched her legs on the seat. She opened her eyes to find students staring, their gazes where that of oddity or shock. "S-sorry," she stuttered as she sat normally and continued watching the exam.
Tawny and Ku looked at each other in confusion. "What was that all about?" Tawny asked "it's like she was having a PTSD moment or something"
"Ha!" Ku laughed "a girl like her? PTSD? Yeah, I'm sure she had PTSD on losing her Scroll!"
Cardin dismissed the last student back to his seat as he examined his papers again. "Oh," he smiled "this should be fun. Ku Wan'yu, you're up next"
Ku breathed deeply as she looked at Tawny, she grabbed her shoulder and smiled. "You'll do great!" Tawny said "have the courage you gave me!"
Ku smiled and nodded as she slammed her palms on the seat and sprang up.
"Full of energy now, aren't we?" Cardin asked he examined Ku, his face grew with confusion. "Ms. Xiao Long...where is your weapon?"
"Just start the exam," Ku smiled "you'll see..."
"Wait just a moment!" Alice barked as she stood up "you can't start this exam without a weapon! You can't even get into Beacon without a weapon!"
"Calm, Ms. Schnee" Cardin said "if she didn't have a weapon, she would have been rejected by your mother. Besides, I love surprises, that's why I look forward to this every year. Oh, And Ms. Schnee" he added as he looked at her with a smirk. "If I hear one more outburst from you, I might consider lowering your grade"
Alice's color drained from her face as she slowly sat down on her seat, she tired her best to make her shaking knees not noticeable.
Cardin looked back at Ku and smiled as he raised the dummies, "3...2...1...GO!"
Ku jumped to the first dummy and wrapped her hands around it's neck. It popped off as she threw it through it's chest, the head pierced through the other dummies like a bullet at an amazing speed.
More dummies popped up as she punched the first two out of the way, their bodies flying out of the exam site. "Hopefully that didn't hit any cars or peds..." Tawny thought in awe.
Ku punched through the next dummies shoulders, it's arm popped off as she grabbed it. She snickered as her eyes lit up in excitement "batter up!" she yelled as she swung the arm. It's hand hit the dummies head with full force as it flew off at an alarming speed. Cardin had to jump to avoid the speeding head as it pierced through the schools gate's concrete pillar, luckily for Ku the gate didn't fall from the damage.
A circle of dummies than surrounded Ku, Tawny was shocked to see the sudden reveal as she wondered how Ku would take down them so quickly. Ku snickered as she raised both of arms, her hands transformed into portable miniguns, the guns charged as she opened fire. In just one full circle, the dummies were ripped apart, bits of metal and wood surrounded almost half of the area.
"Impressive..." Cardin chuckled, Ku transformed her hands and smiled "how's that for a weapon?" she said as she looked back at the students, specifically at Nero.
"We'll see who's cocky in the next exam, sweetheart" Nero thought to himself with a grunt.
"Ms. Xaio Long..." Cardin said "may I...examine your weapon please?"
Ku nodded as she walked up to him, he grabbed the middle of her arm and began to examine it. Ku twisted her entire hand, he laughed as he came to a conclusion. "I see, so you've been built with cybernetics," he said "are you from or do you perhaps know anyone from Atlas?"
"Her? Atlas?" Alice wondered to herself "I couldn't possibly imagine the military over there to take such a brute, enhancements like those are extremely expensive and are only given to the best"
Ku shook her head "no, my whole life I grew up in my small village of Pinewood. I also came to Vale quite often since it was so close by"
"Hm," Cardin grunted "well than perhaps...you would like to explain how got cybernetics?"
Ku paused as her face went competently blank. Cardin was still holding her arm as he waved his other arm in front of her "Ms. Xaio Long? Ms. Xaio Long? Are you alright?"
"Huh?" Ku snapped back to reality "y-yeah I'm fine, I was just trying to remember how I got these in the first place"
"You...were trying to remember?" Cardin asked confused as he let go of Ku's arm.
"Yeah...see the funny thing is...I can't remember how I got these" Ku said "I've had them for as long as I remember..."
"What?" Cardin asked "and your mother never bothered to tell you?"
"She said that she gave them to me when I was a toddler," Ku said "but I know she's lying, she's keeping something from me"
"Talk about a bad liar," Tawny thought to herself with a chuckle.
"Have you ever bothered to get the truth out of her?" Cardin asked.
"Many times," Ku said "but she's always said the same thing, my mom's pretty determined to hold the truth from me. So I've given up asking her and decided that finding out how I got them is one of my priorities"
Cardin smiled and nodded "well than, I can safely say I hope you find the answers. As for your performance, that was an outstanding display. What a clever way to trick us into thinking you didn't have a weapon."
"Thank you sir," Ku bowed as she smiled with glee, she paced back to the students as she slammed down onto her seat next to Tawny. She gave a smile and a wink to her as they slapped palms.
"That was amazing!" Tawny said as her eyes lit up. She grabbed Ku's arm and examined every part, she felt around to see if there was any special mechanic to activate her weapon. Sadly to her surprise she found that her arm had the same texture and feeling of human skin "you could have fooled me..." she said to Ku.
"It's activated through thought and emotion," Ku said "I think about how I want it to attack and it obeys, at least...that's what I think anyways. I self taught myself on how to use and control it"
"Wow, I'm sure you've lost control of it many times" Tawny said.
"Yeah..." Ku blushed "I have had several...accidents, luckily I haven't killed anyone through my emotions! Though I have had several close calls, one time a drunk pulled my hair and next thing I knew, I was holding him at gunpoint!"
Tawny thought back to the time Ku saved her from those thugs, she remembered her strength and the distance of her punches. "Her strength is almost unmatched compared to the others," she thought "but that strength can also be her weakness, it itself can be exploited in the wrong ways" she hoped that Ku wasn't one to be manipulated that much.
"Alright!" Cardin yelled "and now for our final performance for our first test!"
"Final student?" Tawny thought, as a chill ran down her spine "that could only mean..."
"Tawny Arc!" Cardin yelled and pointed at her "the stage is now yours!"
AU: Sorry if this chapter is shorter than usual. I have many changes in my life, but the good news is that because of these changes I have more time to write :-) thank you to all for sticking with Tawny!
Also don't forget that RWBY volume 4 premiers this month on the 22nd! The trailer is up right now so go watch it! Stick around for more RWBY and Tawny!