Just in time before the Volume 4 finale of the show, here is the next update for All the Lights Above! 6 brand new chapters, over 15k words, hope you all enjoy! :)
To any who followed and favorited, new and old alike, thank you so much for wanting to stick with the story to see where it goes, I promise you, you won't be disappointed!
LiveTake and Yang Wright-Thanks for kind words, glad you both liked the characters! I took great pains to make sure they were well rounded and complex, and most importantly, believable within the universe of RWBY! Hope you enjoy where it goes!
And once again, huge shout out to halvetyl000 for his amazing editing skills! Without him, this story would not be nearly as good or well written. couldn't ask for a better editor! :D Special thanks my awesome beta reader for this update LightningLink, who really helped me make sure that this update was up to par quality wise :)
Hope you all enjoy the new chapters :) Please leave feedback if you want, I'm always trying to improve as a writer, not to mention reviews are like fuel for me to write more, faster! :)
Chapter 20: Venting Perspectives
Beacon Practice Field, Vale
The snickering and odd stares were easy to ignore for the first few days. By the fifth day, it had started becoming too annoying to block out. Now, six days after the team match, Umbra was ready to punch the next person who even dared to look his way. It was a surprise to him that people were giving the slightest care towards what had transpired the week prior, but an even bigger surprise that they were seeming to think he was at fault. He had even seen people offer sympathy towards Leif, encouraging the weakling between classes.
It was infuriating. With no way to vent his anger properly, he found himself running the training course behind Beacon far more as of late. Rarely were other students out here outside of regularly scheduled classes, fewer than in the practice room indoors. It was perfect for him to vent without interruption. While it wasn't much of a challenge, it beat trying to ignore the simpletons that seemingly filled the school. Far less chance he'd blow his cover too.
Yet as he slid under the final barbed wire obstacle, crossing the finish line, Umbra knew this was just an equal waste of time. Slowing to a walk, he grabbed his scroll off the bleachers to check the timer. Another two seconds shaved off, but it was all pointless. He needed to be in the library researching, but it was just so frustrating with all the whispers and the looks and the people! He let out a wordless snarl in anger. He just wanted to go home, leave this backwards place and its failure of warriors behind.
'Leaving would make me just as much a failure as them though' Umbra muttered in his mind. This whole situation sucked. He had no choice as he began to march back to the main building. Time to hit the books, annoying surroundings or not. The library was open for another few hours, leaving plenty of time to check at least two more rows. His stomach growled as he reached the entryway, but he ignored it. There were times back home when he had to go days without food, sometimes as part of training, other times when the hunt was bad. The wilds of Vacuo could be a cruel mistress to those who wandered its wastes. Yet that is precisely what made those who survived it stronger than the rest, and the Skugga certainly qualified better than most.
His face scrunched up in anger as he passed a few first years. While they quickly moved out of the way, they didn't look away fast enough for Umbra to miss the look of suspicion on their faces. Cowards. If they had a problem with him, they should just face him like a warrior. Not that anyone here seemed to be anything close to resembling one, at least among the first years. The upperclassman may provide the challenge he sought. A chuckle came out as that idea crossed his mind. It wasn't half a bad idea-
"Aww, is little Miss Shields all alone again?"
"Little 'Miss Shields' is about to punch you in the face if you don't get out of mine."
Two voices, one unfamiliar and one unfortunately familiar, were heard as Umbra came up to a four-way intersection just before the library. Unconsciously slowing to a halt, confusion filled the young huntsman's mind before he realized he was actually listening to the conversation to his left. Sighing, he turned and looked to see what scene had caught his attention.
To no surprise, the familiar voice was Murasaki, while the other belonged to Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL. The rest of CRDL was present as well, surrounding the purple haired teen, with similar smirks as their leader. If Mura seemed intimidated, she didn't show it.
"Oooooh watch out Cardin, she might shoot her team leader at you!" mocked Russel as the rest of his team laughed.
"Nah, he never seems to be around his failure of a team anymore," laughed Sky as Mura grit her teeth.
"Says the one who turned his pants a different color when one of those 'failures' had him pressed against the wall," Mura cut back. Sky's face flushed red while a smile crossed Umbra's face at the memory, ignoring the fact that Mura had just called him a failure.
"And yet our team won while yours just squabbled amongst yourselves. So who're the real failures here?"
"I think I know," Umbra called out, his eyes narrowed as he walked towards the five. Declaring themselves the winners? He wouldn't let that one stand; their match had hardly been decided. Cardin's face fell flat as he saw just who it was approaching. Both Russel and Dove quickly backpedaled from in between Mura and her teammate, both looking far less confident than before. Good, they still remember that fear.
"Whatever," the tall leader scoffed, trying to brush off the fear in his face. "Better watch out shield girl, otherwise he may put you in the infirmary next." With that, CRDL scampered off in retreat, leaving Mura stamping her foot down, growling.
"I hope you don't expect a thank you," she snapped at Umbra as he approached.
"Why would I expect one?"
"Because-never mind, you're hopeless." No jokes, just barbed words. Clearly something was off. Not his problem. Without saying anything else, Umbra set off to the library. He didn't make it two steps before getting stopped once more.
"How do you deal with it all?" Not the question he was expecting, but then again he wasn't expecting any question. While not feeling particularly compelled to answer, it might be easier than just ignoring her in the long run.
"I just ignore them. If they can't hurt you, they won't try."
"I meant Leif. Us. LUMO in general."
"I doubt any of you could hurt me if-"
"Don't get smart with me, you damn well know what I mean." He didn't, but he was starting to regret engaging in this conversation at all. He couldn't actually answer honestly either as it would just give away his real reason for being at Beacon. He couldn't have Mura getting suspicious.
"Why would I waste my time with three strangers who don't even care enough to work together? Zero point."
"It's hard to work together when one of us is off on our own all the time."
"Look at the Beowolf calling the Creep a Grimm," scoffed Umbra, reciting an old line he heard from an elder Skugga once.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. It's not like you've been around the others much since the practice fight." Mura was taken aback as Umbra pressed his attack, "I've seen you avoiding the other two this whole week. While I can understand the weakling, you've even been avoiding wolf girl, who you actually seemed to get along with. Yet you sit here chastising me for avoiding the team?"
"I-what-wait have you been keeping an eye on us this whole time?" Mura stammered out. Now Umbra was taken aback. It wasn't like he was doing it solely to watch them, it just came with the territory of trying to avoid said teammates while doing research for his mission. Memorize their routines, their tendencies, nothing more. Not that he could just say that. The gears in his brain spun fast to find a way out.
"Well yeah-I-I have to figure out if you are worth the time and effort to get to know after all. So far, hardly even seem worthy of acknowledgment," he hastily explained. Not the best lie, but hopefully it would hold up. He needed something, anything to try and get her off his case now.
"How has Luna been then?" Stunned a second time now. Luna? The question was asked so softly that it seemed like Murasaki didn't even want to utter it. Umbra wasn't going to question a way out though.
"Hurt. Badly hurt. Whatever you two fought over she took very personally." While Luna seemed to be blaming herself more than Mura, the short girl didn't need to know that. As predicted, more concern and guilt spread throughout her small face. Time for the kill.
"Not surprising though. This whole 'team' is a farce. No one here gives a damn about one another when it comes down to it, everyone cares far too much about themselves to-"
"Shut it." Mura cut him off suddenly. Unexpected, yet not unwanted.
"Too much truth for you to handle?" Umbra sneered.
"Too much of you right now for me to handle," she countered, walking off past him. Umbra suppressed a hearty chuckle at her rage. While he much preferred a battle of strength, winning a battle of words had it's-
"But thanks. You're an asshole for sure, but…at least you still care enough to keep an eye out." With that, his teammate's footsteps faded off into the distance behind him, leaving a very stunned and very confused boy standing alone, wondering who truly won.
"But is ten rounds really enough though?"
"It is when you're accurate."
"But what if there are more than ten bad guys?"
"That's why we have teams, Ruby."
"But what about-" Leif and Jaune sighed in amusement as the leaders of teams RWBY and OBDN continued their debate that had begun that day at lunch. They were supposed to be working on the special homework assignments that were given to team leaders, but that lasted all of half an hour before the weapon chitchats began again.
Semblances draw on Aura as they both are utilities of living beings with a soul. As semblances get used, aura will drain accordingly. This means Team LUMO
Leif frowned as he looked back over what he had so far. Professor Alabaster's normal homework on Aura hadn't given him too much trouble up until now, but these extra assignments proved to be more difficult for him. The assignments varied from professor to professor, from writing about how to properly brief for a mission for Professor Oobleck to analyzing Grimm hunting patterns and deploying the team accordingly for Professor Port. This particular one from Professor Alabaster regarded monitoring Aura levels and how they affected semblance use in battle. Unlike the subjects he excelled in back at Lantern, this was much more than just regurgitating facts and applying scholastic concepts like mathematics and the sciences. Tactics, stratagems, the science of Aura, Grimm studies; all of these he had to be able to apply to leading his team. While he had certainly benefited from the unorthodox bonus tutoring he received through various stories he heard and read back home, none of that helped him here. The three leaders with him were supposed to be doing that.
"I mean what do you think Jaune? How many rounds?" Ruby asked suddenly, dragging the blonde next to Leif into the fray.
"I'm-uh-well-you know, might not be the best person to ask on account of you know, my weapon not…having…ammo," JNPR's leader stammered.
"Oh right…."
Leif cleared his throat, cutting into the conversation before someone else could sustain it, "So this paper…"
"Right, sorry," both girls muttered, cheeks red as they refocused. There was definitely a difference between the students here and the ones he was used to at Lantern. Students there were much more focused on studies, while here at Beacon the attitude seemed much laxer, almost laid back, when it came to non-huntsman training, or at least to the non-physical side of it. Both Ruby and Opal had attended Signal Academy over on Patch, although only Opal actually graduated from the combat school. Ruby apparently got in on special circumstance due to her being younger than the rest, not that Leif really tried to look too closely into it. She had more than proved her skills since coming here, something he had yet to do.
That being said, if he ever was having doubts about his own personal skill, he didn't have to look much farther than Jaune Arc, who was probably the only first year on par if not worse than him at basic huntsman skills. Yet team JNPR was ranked higher than LUMO in practically every aspect. On one hand, most would probably say it had a lot to do with having the world famous Pyrrha Nikos on the team. She was damn near perfect after all, but she wasn't the deciding factor in Leif's opinion. It was the fact that Jaune's team actually worked together, coordinated and practiced as a united team, as opposed to whatever the hell LUMO was trying to be. At least they wouldn't be an embarrassing wreck against Team WAVE during the team fight rematches that were scheduled in two weeks.
Leif pushed aside his frustration and tried to clear his mind, tapping his pen on the common room desk out of habit. Aura was the powerhouse of the semblance; no aura, no semblance, at least in most cases. Yet it seemed to vary from semblance to semblance; depending on what they did, aura could be used for more or less. Something like his memory semblance seemed to take little aura, while Mura's levitating semblance probably took a much larger toll depending on the conditions surrounding what she was using it on. This would mean carefully watching Mura's aura levels so he could strategically decide when it would be best for her to act…granted, if she actually listened to him. Meanwhile, with Umbra and Luna's semblances, he would have to…have to…
His pen stopped mid-tap. What were their semblances? It actually had never come up in the very few conversations they had, and Professor Alabaster had yet to do any sort practical tests in class. In fact, it actually struck Leif as quite peculiar that he hadn't seen their semblances yet; they didn't seem like Jaune, who legitimately lacked some serious knowledge about this sort of thing. But why hadn't either of them-he jumped as the door to the common room suddenly opened to his left, interrupting his train of thought. The wide dark green eyes staring at him told him that he wasn't the only one startled.
"Mura, hey!" Leif blurted out. Opportunities to talk with her had become as scarce as they were with Umbra, so he wasn't going to pass up on this chance. "Need something? Or just coming to relax? Or ummm, something?" She looked slightly taken aback at the sudden questions. Might have over done it. He looked to his fellow team leaders for help, but all three seemed far more interested in their books than they had been minutes earlier. Well Ruby wasn't anyways, looking back and forth between the two curiously before Opal shoved her head down to end her awkwardness.
"Um, no, no, just umm, looking for my Scroll is all." Her nervous voice indicated otherwise. Well that, and the fact he could clearly see her Scroll in her front pocket. Yet this may have just provided an opportunity in itself.
"Well where did you see it last? I could help you look for it."
"No need!" she quickly replied, "I'm sure you have other things to do." He figured she wouldn't go for it, but Leif had one other tactic to try. A gamble to be sure, and he hoped Luna would forgive him for it.
"Oh by the way, Luna was looking for you."
"Wait what?"
"Yeah, I think she went looking around the practice field, maybe? Think she wanted to talk to you about something, not sure, kind of gave a 'none-of-your-business' look when I asked," Leif lied. Luna was definitely at the practice field to work on her archery, but was in no way looking for her partner. Every attempt Leif had made to encourage her to talk with Mura had been a failure. Maybe approaching from the other side would work better. Didn't have many better options at any rate and things could hardly get worse.
"She is?" Mura finally questioned quietly, eyes looking away from his. Got her.
"Yeah, she seemed anxious. Something happen between you two or-"
"No no, just homework stuff, Port's assignment. I'll go find her." With that, Murasaki backed out of the room, shutting the door as she left. A huge exhale released from his lungs, yet the sound of frantic page flipping was heard over it.
"Ummmm wait, I though Port didn't give any homework this weekend? Crap crap crap!" Jaune exclaimed, eyes twitching as they raced across his journal.
"I must have forgotten to write it down too! Wait! Weiss would know!" Ruby exclaimed, bounding up from her seat and rushing down the dorm halls. Opal just rolled her eyes before giving Leif a sympathetic look.
Mura's excuse to leave was a flat out lie. They both knew Port had given them the weekend off of homework in order to study for their test next week. Leif glanced back over his shoulder out the window, where he could see the sun just starting to dip into view as the late afternoon carried on into evening.
'Sorry Luna, hope I didn't just spark a fire'