And now this story has returned. Hah, man, it has been a while I apologize for that. Taking care of the rest of Unlikely Hero and taking that break really pushed back the progress of this story. But hey, now that Unlikely Hero is over, planning for this story can go a lot more smoothly. Just like all of my other ones. Thank you all for your support, and welcome all who have transferred over from An Unlikely Hero over to this story. Now all we gotta do is write a crossover and everyone will be happy.

Also, thank you all who reviewed and I did not mention yet. I am sorry I did not respond in this chapter, but next time I will, I promise. The only excuse I have right now is that I am tired.

Beta & Cowriter: CrowSkull

Now let's get this story back on the roll!

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 37- Memories

Darkness.

That was all that Hector saw. He was left standing in a void of black, and it felt cold. There weren't many things he was afraid of, but pure darkness where one couldn't see what could be around them was a certain fear of his that he has had since childhood, and has stuck with him begrudgingly his whole life. At first he was scared, despite knowing that this was just some kind of bad dream. But he didn't know just how bad it could and would get.

Blinking his eyes, he suddenly found his arms and legs were bound to an uncomfortable metal chair. Bound by chains, the panic began to settle in the instant he remembered that horrific scenario he found himself in just a few weeks earlier. He pulled and grunted, whined and cried as he tried to free himself from his bindings all to no avail. Then, the door keeping him locked in there opened slowly, the heavy metal grinding against the floor of the inside of the train car as it was pulled open. He saw the sparks stop flying and a figure standing in the doorway, a head of pink and brown with eyes to match the color smirking at him maniacally as she skipped her way toward him. A thin almost surgical looking blade in her hand in which she was not even attempting to hide from view.

Neo, he recognized her immediately. How could he not? He used to find her adorable once, but that adorableness was but a shield for someone like her. A shield to ward off suspicion for those who might think of her as a potential threat, and rightfully so. He was foolish enough to fall for it. Neo wasn't the adorable young woman he thought she was, she was a sadistic killing machine who enjoyed causing pain to other people at Roman Torchwick beck and call. She was also the source of nearly all of his nightmares. The one who caused him so much pain and suffering, more than he had ever felt before in his life.

He tried to scream out, but no sound was able to escape from his mouth, he was gagged this time around. Somehow, that made this whole nightmare worse. Neo danced up to him and lightly traced her blade along his skin as she skipped a circle around him, giggling silently all the while. Mental torture more than anything, and even though Roman told Neo specifically not to torture him physically, she went and did it in the dead of night anyway. Purely for her own enjoyment.

The pain he felt when Neo pushed down on the thin surgical like blade was the same as he felt back when he was actually on that train, and he felt it too. He couldn't understand any of this, why was he being tortured like this? Why, why, why, that question was screamed and thought so many times he couldn't even count them all even if he spent an entire day counting. Being cut, watching as the more shallow wounds healed themselves up while the deeper ones festered and bled. Neo was ever careful in making sure that she didn't cut too deep in some places. But she knew the anatomy of the human body well enough to know where she could have her fun and not have Roman yelling at her for going against his orders and killing him by accident. Which also just made everything worse.

He felt the tears fall down his face as she carved the letter 'N' into his hip, he could never forget that pain, and he was reliving it now. She made sure to do it slowly, and cut wide and deep as to really make the scar show, just like the many others that he had on his body. The implication was clear, he was to be her toy to play with whenever she wanted. Once he thought she had some strange attraction to him, and he was loathe to find out that he was right. She did have a strange attraction to him, but not for the reasons that he originally thought. Neo noticed his healing when they first fought, something he hadn't even noticed at the time. And now that healing was what was keeping him alive here, only to suffer.

He felt anger, hatred, murderous intent. A dark power flowing through his veins. His muscles bulging and growing to uncomfortable sizes, his mind tear itself apart as a dark voice in his head continued to whisper "Kill them all, escape." Over and over again. In the darkness when he opened his eyes, he could see how the red light glowing from them bounced off of the metal walls in the train car. Neo took on an expression of shock, and broke away into glass as he suddenly gained enough strength to rip off the chains that was binding him to that damned chair. He saw the door before him sliding to a close slowly, a White Fang member barely older than he was scrambling to close it with all his might, but just as he did before he charged forward and crushed the young man against the wall between the door, and felt his blood splatter over the right side of his body.

It played out all the same from there, all he wanted to do was kill, kill, kill. Tear apart the people that tortured him so, make those that made him suffer, suffer even more in turn. He fought with tooth and nail, literally at times. He would bite the necks of those who were foolish enough to think they could stop him, and ripped their jugular open. Spurting blood everywhere.

Then, there was nothing. He stood in the void again, but this time he was able to see. It was a strange greyish color, with all sorts of mirrors facing toward him. He could see the monster he's become. Silver-grey hair, with the skin tone to match it. Red evil looking eyes, and where the whites of his eyes should be was a dark grey on the border of becoming black. Through the splattered blood all over his body, he could see some violet fluid running through them, all the way to his shoulders, and inching its way to his face.

He could see the resemblance he had to Hell, the one he proclaimed a demon living within his body. Or perhaps he was just insane enough to mistake him for himself?

He hyperventilated, his head felt light, and his heart hurt as it beat within his chest. He wanted to pass out, but couldn't. He was already asleep. All he could do was stand in that void for what felt like hours, being cursed to live with his thoughts and painful memories. This place was familiar to him, it was where he went sometimes when he dreamed. All the time in nightmares.

There was just nothing here, not another living soul. He was completely alone.

Except for one other, at least.

"How does it feel?" The deep voice asked him.

Hector didn't respond, he didn't want to and he didn't know if he really could without breaking down again. All he could do was fall down to his knees and hold his head with his hands, he felt like he was about to explode.

"All the dark power flowing through you, it's intoxicating, isn't it? Addicting even."

Forcing himself to look up at the being keeping him here, he saw the mirror image of himself, but something was strange about this one. He looked a few years older than him, despite being the same person as he. It was definitely a near identical image, but with white skin, hair of the same color, and red and black eyes. He had a black jacket on, and his lower half was so dark he couldn't even make it out.

"I would know, I fell victim to its influence as well." The figure revealed to him.

A flash of memories that weren't his rushed through his mind. Flashes of fighting, killing, death, a snowy grave, something being stolen from him. Powerlessness. Hector screamed and kept on screaming as he felt the pain that came along with it.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Hector screamed, thrashing about in his couch as pairs of hands struggled to hold him down.

"Hector? It's us man, you hear me?!" Reggie asked him, holding his shoulders in place while Michael took hold of his legs, throwing his entire body on top of them to keep him still.

"I… I… what?" He groggily replied. Looking down, he could see his hands being held by Ashley, she looked tired and red eyed, apparently from tears. She was tired as well, her chest rising and lowering as beads of sweat ran trickled down her face. Looking around frantically, he could see that his part of the room was absolutely trashed. His sleeping couch was torn up, Ashley's bed was flipped, papers, bags, and books were scattered about the immediate area like a localized hurricane flowed through their room while they were sleeping.

It was his team, he quickly realized. Reggie was holding his shoulders, and he felt him relax once he opened his eyes, and shut them immediately when he saw the red light reflecting off of his friends eyes. Michael was holding his legs, which must have taken much of his strength since he looked tired and spent as well. His blonde hair was let down for the first time he's ever seen, and his glasses were somewhere lost in the room. Ashley was holding his hands, and only now did he realize he was squeezing them so tightly, when he let her go her hands were left bruised and swollen slightly. They were all in their night clothing, and taking a second look around he noticed that it was still dark out. It must still be early in the morning.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked him, ignoring the pain she felt in her nearly fractured hand.

"I…" Hector opened his eyes, and closed them again when he saw the red glow from his nose again. He kept them closed and sobbed as he leaned back into the cushion, Reggie let go of his shoulders, and waved to his other two teammates for them to let him go as well.

"Were you having a nightmare?" Michael asked through his deep breaths. He didn't sound annoyed, but sympathetic. A far cry from how he behaved when they first met.

Whining, Hector nodded once.

He felt something touch his hand, cracking his eye open he saw as his partner slowly and apprehensively slid her hand into his. He let it happen, he didn't squeeze her hand back when she squeezed his to show her support, but he allowed her to show her support.

"Hector… open your eyes." Reggie said softly, Michael and Ashley looked to him with disdain, and when Hector tensed him he quickly added, "It's not anything we didn't already see. You can trust us, we're all a team, a family." He soothed.

Relenting, Hector allowed his eyes to open again, and refrained from shutting them again once he saw the reflection of red light off of his friends orange eyes. He looked away from him and to Michael, who barely showed any reaction upon seeing their red glow, and then momentarily down to Ashley, who was still crying silently. He looked away when she brokenly slipped out a sob, and then back to Reggie.

"We're here for you… you don't have to talk about it, but we're here." Reggie told him. Surprisingly, he was being very gentle and soothing, despite his large size and strong arms. Hector relaxed into the cushion and felt like his body weighed a thousand pounds. He really did love his team, if it weren't for them he would have gone crazy already.

"Stay with me… please." He quietly begged them. His voice sounded so tired and sad that none of them even thought to refuse him. Reggie lifted his head and sat down, letting him rest his head on his lap which was surprisingly comfortable. Michael moved so that he was sitting up as well, Hector's legs draped over his own lap, and with no more room Ashley simply rested her face on his chest, listening to his heart beat while holding his hand.

When he fell back to sleep, he was happy to see that there was no more nightmares to haunt him for the rest of that night.

Mistakes had been made, Robert realized, several in fact, mistake number one was in fact inviting Venom Fang (now renamed Cobra Squad due to the death of it's previous leader), it made for fun times which meant more drinks. But ultimately lead to mistake number two: Cherry Vale Vodka, it was sweet, a delicacy liquor in Remnant apparently. Unlike from what he remembered about drinking alcoholic drinks, this Cherry Vodka didn't really have that alcohol burn or taste. It tasted quite sweet in fact, which lead to more than one shot… Probably more than he should have. But he couldn't help it, Qrow and all of his other pals were there.

It hadn't been even ten at night and most people were already tipsy, then what happened? Rounds for each of the fallen. Mistake number three and it had definitely been more than one round, this time with cocktails. From then on mistake number four appeared to have been a discussion… nothing major but it had been important in a way, together with Qrow, Miara and Seth they discussed how fair or offensive was to call a faunus you hate a filthy animal, not all faunus, but one in specific… why was it important? Well, that's because faunus tend to call each other names when they hate each other, and they didn't hold back, the amount of times they insulted themselves with their specific animal traits was astounding and at a surprising amount of variety… it was the dreaded 'N word' back on Earth all over again.

Verdant and Mackie joined halfway through and together everyone compared notes, since they were Cobra Squad they jokingly started calling each other snake names and insults… apparently there were really a lot of implications for calling someone a danger noodle or a nope rope. After that Robert really didn't remember mistakes number five through twenty seven, he just remembered that they crashed the party at three in the morning somewhere that wasn't where they started. He was only thankful no one was driving. Then Seth went with Miara, Verdant and Mackie went in different directions while stumbling and Qrow… he didn't even know where Qrow went, he didn't come back with him, he came back alone. How he managed to reach the airship all on his own he didn't know, how there were airships available he didn't know either. He didn't even know how he got to his room and when or how he went to sleep… apparently shirtless and bootless, because changing to pajamas was too much of a bother apparently. And now… well now there were headaches, lots of headaches.

"Uuuugh..." Robert groaned into his pillow as he tried to muster out the strength to get up. It was early in the morning but he already should have been half dressed or have had breakfast. Of course he didn't really want to do anything, his eyes felt groggy and the headaches got worse each time time he moved his head… he needed to find the special cold substance sink, some water, an aspirin and some blue aura keg energy drink quickly. And so he got up, ignored the pain and got to the sink. After a submerged head, an aspirin, a quick shower and a quick energy drink he felt… half-way okay, at least he felt more presentable. He was (Thankfully) half dressed when he heard a loud bang on the door.

"Hey, don't knock so hard, it's painful…" He grumbled as loudly as he could, it came out mostly as slurs, but it was comprehensible. "Either way you can come in." Robert said rubbing his temples, he still didn't feel quite right. The door opened and in came his current mentor.

"So… I see that you are having troubles." Glynda Goodwitch said, stating the obvious as she eyed his sick form up and down. "The students will certainly talk."

"Is it that obvious? Do I look that bad?" Robert asked.

"Yes. You look slightly sickly, you haven't eaten anything and you are still not in combat gear, even though you are supposed to have a fight scheduled today." Glynda answered honestly and bluntly, just as she is known for.

"Hey look… I am, at least dressed and showered." He complained.

"You actually took a shower without issues?" She asked, still bluntly but there was a degree of worry there.

"Yeah… why wouldn't I?"

"Because someone in particular has been acting differently around water for the last few weeks. Especially dirty water." Glynda said, crossing her arms, Robert stared at her a bit more wide eyed.

"It's uh… that noticeable?" Robert asked.

"I am a professor in a school full of hormonal and super-powered teenagers. I have had practice with seeing these kinds of ticks. Your reactions to certain things have been enough of a clue, but mainly how your times to shower have slightly changed." Glynda pointed out.

"That doesn't-"

"And also the way you stare at any glass of water you are drinking, or anything with water. You have the face of someone expecting something to go wrong, but more importantly you have the exact same face I've seen on many Huntsman and professionals that suffered losses, and it only appears when water is present, forgive me but I sense a pattern."

"Ugh…" Robert sat back on his couch still holding his energy drink, yes he had an issue, he knew, but at the same time what was he supposed to do? Is not like he fully understood the problem either, he would feel a paranoia near water, and yet he just needed to remind himself that it was okay, that no one was in the water with him and he would forget about it… more or less, other than that, he didn't feel like he could rest, with everything going on, Hector not in the best of states, Aaron out there, and the Vytal festival getting near he couldn't afford to be having issues. There was too much work for that.

"It's not like I've developed a phobia, I don't know what to say really… it is just a… a…" Robert couldn't quite find the words.

"A constant worry?" Glynda helpfully provided.

"Pretty much, still doesn't change the fact that I can get past it after a few seconds."

"You can, but it's not overcoming it… you are just forgetting it and putting it aside for later." Glynda corrected.

"I uh…"

"You are just disregarding it, disregarding your own mental health… you are not letting things go." Glynda stated

"Huh… you figured me out eh?" Robert said.

"Again, I am a professor at Beacon. It doesn't help that you aren't talking much about it, but after our many discussions, our fights and how you've handled you missions, reports and assignments… I was able to put some of the pieces together. I'll be the first to say, you have changed, you are far more talkative now, and you also have been interacting with more people… even if it is just the teachers and Ironwood and Specialist Schnee. But you still have problems, problems you are not willing to talk about." Glynda said.

"How do I talk about my fear of hurting other people, when really all I need to do is focus and keep in mind that taking a shower is something I'm doing alone, how do I talk about an issue that I which I already know the answer for… I already know the answers I just need to keep testing and getting better, better at controlling my semblance and…" Robert started babbling

"Robert, I've read the report, and we both know why you did what you did, and we both know you were in control… you don't have a lack of control, in fact what your control has improved exponentially ever since your mission on the sewers… what you have is different, you are afraid of failure."

"..." Robert had no words to reply with.

"And even though you realize this, even though you can overcome part of it… you are still letting it influence you… but most of all, you are not forgiving yourself, you are not letting yourself go for your actions, actions that barely anyone your age should be dealing with. Even if you are old enough to be a fourth year student."

"... And yet here we are. With still more problems on the horizon, and I saw how… Unprepared I was for this, how real the threat is, the real one." Robert said with a sigh.

"I know." Glynda said with a sigh of her own. "And yet I'm also worrying far more about how are you coping."

"... For what it is worth, thanks." Robert said.

"You are welcome," Glynda nodded back. "But, I still would prefer if we could discuss this more often. You are resilient, you proved that much, and you certainly have made decisions that no many other students can make, faced worse than most… you have a defense mechanism that's keeping you afloat don't you?" Glynda asked, Robert thought for a second.

"I… I guess I do, I just… hate the alternative far more."

"The alternative?"

"You said that I was afraid to fail, of making big mistakes, the kind that involves my life and the ones of others… and that's true, but for me… there's also a bigger failure out there, and that would be to just give up, to drop dead. To just drop to cry and not being able to get up again. Suicide, giving up, to just stop trying to live… that would be the ultimate failure, and I don't dare to sink that low. At the very least, I must push forward into the future with some dignity. And face it." He explained

"I see… it explains a couple things." Glynda said. "Still I hope you can speak more about this, none of us is gonna survive alone, and it would be better for you if you weren't ruled by fear… I would rather see more of the other Robert."

"The other Robert?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in his confusion.

"The one I see that trains and discovers he can do something new, the one that reaches a new limit, the one I see that gets excited with fights, the one that can laugh…" Glynda said.

"... Don't tell me I look even gloomier than before."

"Not particularly," Gllynda smirked out of amusement. "I'm just saying there's a special side to you which seems to appear when you are having fun, and I know it's important for your semblance… I wasted a big part of my life hardening myself, in your case… I would prefer you didn't make my mistakes and that you grew remembering the good things of the world."

"... Who are you, and what have you done with Glynda?" Robert asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Heh, well… she had an apprentice... Now you better eat something and get in gear, you have to fight in a couple hours." Glynda said as she exited the room, closing the door behind her. Robert sat there perplexed for a bit… had he been acting like that? Well it was him, of course he did. Not the first time someone told him that he should laugh a bit more either… well she was right, he did have a fight soon… he still felt odd about the fight, but hey, first time he would fight anyone besides Glynda in recent days. This could be interesting.

"Well… roger that mam, I'll be there soon." Robert said as he got up from the couch… and felt pain in his head again. "Ughh… why did you say yes to the drinks?" Robert asked himself, hoping his hangover would be gone by the time of the fight.

"Why did I challenge him?" Michael whined tiredly as he pressed his head against the locker, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he lethargically wrapped the chains around his arms. It was one of the first times the leader of his team has seen him without the jacket on.

"I was wondering where you kept all those chains…" Hector muttered absentmindedly. Michaels fight with Robert was to be today, and even though they had fewer classes that day, there were more people in the combat class arena than he has ever seen before. Wanting to support their teammate, Hector and Reggie went into the boys locker room meant for the students with him. "Also, why did you even challenge him in the first place? He's pretty strong, and has a lot of training under his belt."

"Because I felt like it." Michael hissed defensively as the chains jingled around his body. "If someone didn't wake up in the middle of the night I might feel more comfortable about this."

Hector winced.

Michael instantly realized his mistake. "I didn't mean that." He sighed. "Sorry, I'm just in a pissy ."

"It's fine." Hector said easily. "But seriously, how do you manage walk around with those things wrapped around your body like that all the time? And not make any sound?"

"Practice." Michael simply answered.

"He puts it up his-" A hand slapped against Reggie's mouth before he could finish that sentence. Michael looked at him with a fierce look of complete unamused hatred that the taller boy couldn't help but obey his silent demand of silence.

"No." Michael said, then turned back to his leader. "Also, to answer your question from before more properly, I mostly wanted to test myself against him. Among other reasons such as my distastement of him."

"And why is that?" Hector asked, curious. "I don't think you and Rob ever really talked before… what happened."

"We didn't." Michael confirmed. "But that doesn't mean that I didn't notice the way he acts and behaves. I am surprised you haven't complained about it yet."

Hector shrugged. "Mostly because it didn't bother me, however he acts, he's still a friend of mine."

"Also from a different planet apparently." Michael pointed out. "That explains some things. Still haven't come to terms about that yet…"

Hector shrugged again. "Yeah, that pretty much makes us brothers at this point. Since we're the only ones from-" He cut himself off, remembering an earlier conversation with Ozpin. "Earth… I think."

Even Reggie was able to notice that, but neither of them sought to call their leader out on that. Hector promised to tell them everything he is able to find out and keep them in the loop, and they trusted in him enough to rely on that promise for him to open up. The most he has told him so far is that this 'Aaron' character also has a history with this Earth, as in relation to them, they do not know as of yet. It couldn't have been easy to find out, however, for either Hector or Robert.

"Well… have you got that dye yet?" Reggie asked suddenly, changing the subject.

Hector looked to him gratefully. "Nope, I don't want to spend any money until I know what I am getting myself into. I talked to Ruby about it, and she is all for team red, so you already got a fan Mike, in case you win, she is more than willing to help me out." He purposely let out the part where he wasn't completely sure that Ruby's hair color was naturally black, and that she has just taken to dyeing it at a young age. The shock that came along with that revelation was enough to confuse him to no end. Thankfully, he was able to recover in time before the young girl was able to notice.

"And if it happens to be blue that wins?" Michael asked, an amused smirk on his face. "I bet Ashley would be happy about that."

Unlike how he might have blushed and stammered and denied before, Hector simply shut his eyes and sighed. His relationship with Ashley was still rocky, and he didn't talk to her much unless he needed to, even after last night. He doesn't know what to make of his feelings, or her own for that matter. She obviously still held some affection for him, and to a certain degree he reciprocated, but a very small one. It wasn't the same, the string of events that happened was all started by Ashley revealing her betrayal to him. That fact was what kept him willing to keep her on the team for right now.

"Perhaps," He said in a sigh. "I'm sure Ruby would still help either way, but either way I am sure I am going to be made to buy clothes of either color for both possibilities."

"What if its a draw?" Reggie asked.

Question marks filled Hectors mind at that possibility, if it were a draw, no one wins but also no one loses. So if that was to be the case… "Purple?" He asked with a shrug.

"I'll just make an effort to not make it that color." Michael said, shuddering.

"He hates the color purple." Reggie whispered to Hector.

"Oh… why?" Hector couldn't help but ask.

"Beats me, but-"

"Okay, I think that's enough support from you two for now." Michael said as he swung a hand behind himself. "You can go now, or people are going to start spreading rumours about you being gay again."

Hector widened his eyes. "Again? What do you mean again!?"

"I'll explain that to you later, Boss." Reggie said in a snicker.

When the two of them left, Michael sighed and wrapped the rest of the chains around his arms. Then using his semblance, he created a small invisible barrier around them so it would pinch his skin, or jingle loudly when he moved. It was a little secret trick of his that amused him to keep, especially since not even Reggie knows of it, and now Hector was going to be wracking his mind thinking about it. The chains were heavy, but he has grown used to them over the years.

He received a flash of memories as he thought of his previous training. Back when his father was his main teacher, and his mother was still alive. They used to train with each other every day, and it was back when father didn't make his distastefulness for his… preference of men.

Years ago...

Michael Cedric was fourteen again suddenly, training with both of his chained Kusarigama. His father used a similar weapon, but with axes on the end of the chains instead of curved blades, and his were shorter as well. He had less reach, but a whole lot more power behind his strikes. As they trained, the most important woman in both of their lives watched them with a fond smile on her face, a sickly dark haired woman with light brown eyes. Michael's mother, and his father's wife. Myst Cedric.

"You're doing great Mikey!" His mother called out to him, leaning bodily on the railing. She had an attendant watching her every move just in case she fell. The Cedric family on his father's side wasn't totally rich like the Schnees, but their name was well known for their combat prowess and abilities. However, they are best known as the rival family to the Nikos family for the past few generations. "You can do it."

Michael smiled and whipped his chains in such a way that it caught around his fathers axe. Tiberius narrowed his eyes as he tried to pull back that arm, only for it to be locked in place. Pulling hard, Michael threw his free arm and unleashed his second blade, but his father simply twisted his body out of the way and yanked hard down on his sons chain.

"Woah!" Michael yelped as he was suddenly flung off his feet, but used his semblance to shield the front half of his body so he wouldn't end up smashing his face into the ground.

"You need to get stronger if you want to pull a trick like that against me." His father berated him as he pulled again on his own chain, pulling and dragging his son along the ground.

"Agh!" Michael cried out as he lost control of his shield, his face grinding on the hard unforgiving floor for several feet. His inexperienced mind couldn't direct his aura fast enough to his face, and some of the upper layers of his skin were cut by the abrasion of skin against pavement.

Noticing his sons wound, Tiberius sighed and let go of his chain. It wasn't his intention to pull that hard. He looked down at his wounded son, and then walked toward his restrained weapon and untangled it from his sons chains, throwing the rest of them back at him.

Michael just managed to push himself back up to his hands and knees, and winced as he felt a stinging from the left half of his face. But before he could say anything a bundle of his own chains were thrown into his lap. "Tie them back around your arms, and we'll go again." His father demanded him.

"W-what?" The young boy asked, wondering if his father couldn't see the scratches and the blood leaking out of his face.

"I said I was going to make you a man," Tiberius snapped, speaking louder than before. "And I intend to follow up on that promise since your mother is too busy protecting you from what needs to be done."

"I-I…" Michael widened his eyes, he couldn't believe what his own father had just said to him, even though it was just said to him right at that moment.

"Tiberius!" Myst shouted as she staggered her way toward her son, panting heavily when she dropped to her knees beside him. "How could you say such a thing to your own son? And he's hurt!"

"...Tch." Tiberius crossed his arms after holstering his weapons, his purple half cape flapped along with his body as he turned to the side, staring daggers at the attendant who was still trying to catch up with the sickly woman. "Pain like that should be meaningless to him, it's nothing compared to some of the things I've seen."

"That doesn't matter," Myst snapped back as she took a small first aid kit out of her dress and took a gauze pad out of it, pouring drops of alcohol onto it. "He is your son, he is our son. However he chooses to spend his life shouldn't matter-"

She was cut off as a barrage of coughing followed, she keeled over halfway and nearly fell face first into the ground. Michael, being right next to her sprung into action and caught her, she rested her head on her son's shoulder as she coughed more and more. It took Tiberius a few seconds to return from his shock, and rush to his wife's side, barking an order to an attendant to go grab her medications.

"I-I'm fine." Myst Cedric said with a blood smile, then wiped it all away with the back of her sleeve. "It's just the illness acting up again, as long as I take the medication, I'll be fine."

"Mom, it's been happening more recently." Michel pointed out, teary eyed himself. "You aren't getting better…"

"I'm taking you to the hospital." Tiberius said as he started to lift her. "I should have done this a long time ago."

"No!" Myst exclaimed, slapping his shoulder and pushing the larger man back with more strength than her frame illused to. "No, I won't be taken away from my son, I need to be here… Besides, the doctors said it themselves, both of you were there." She took Michael's hand, and then Tiberius', and forced them both to hold each others hand's. Once they were, she placed both of hers on top each of theirs, smiling sadly the whole time.

"Promise me you two, promise me that if the worst does happen, you will be alive to live together, love each other, to continue to be a family."

"Myst-"

"No!" Myst cut Tiberius off, coughing again as a result. "N-no, I want you to promise me that… Mikey," Michael allowed his mother to grab his chin, and point it up so that he was looking into her eyes. There were tears in them, just like his. "Whatever happens, please live your life to its fullest. I know you like fighting, but that's not all life is. Get a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, it doesn't matter to me. As long as you're happy." She smiled beautifully at him. "I love you son.

"I… Love you too." Michael sobbed, and leaned his face into her shoulder.

"And you too, Tiberius. Don't ever forget that." Myst said, pulling her husband into the same hug. "Promise me." She whispered into both of their ears as they hugged each other, as a family.

"We promise." Both Michael and Tiberius said at the same time.

We promise…

Michael brushed a tear out of his eye at the memory, his mother died two weeks later after that day. He would never forget that day, nor the promise he and his father both made to her. Despite the hatred he has for his father, the promise he made to his mother was what was keeping him constantly staying in contact with Tiberius Cedric, his father. And his father did the same for him from time to time. They were stretching Myst's words as far as they could be stretched however. The two of them could barely consider the other family after everything that had transpired after her death.

However, that didn't deny the fact that they were related by blood, and they had an obvious history with each other. A history to settle.

The promise they made to Myst Cedric may have been broken before, but it may yet still have a chance to grow into something more filling of the passing words she left them both to live with the rest of their lives.

Someday… Michael thought. Someday… He wasn't able to continue that train of thought.

Instead, he finished getting the rest of his gear ready, and left the locker room with a determined look on his face.

"How are you feeling?" Glynda asked.

Robert himself just finished getting himself into his combat gear, he had his outfit, his gauntlets and now he was just passing time, he was also drinking lots of water to combat the hangover. "I'm doing better." He answered as he took another sip of water. "Just hoping and trying to not make an ass of myself."

"You are expecting something like that to happen?" Glynda asked.

"There's always a chance." Robert said, shrugging.

"Hm, and what about the fight? How do you feel?"

"Odd, first of all is weird to fight someone just because they don't like you… I don't know why that feels weirder than someone trying to kill you, but then again is promising when someone just hates you for how you are, makes you wonder." Robert explained as well as he could.

"Are you sure Mister Cedric hates you?" Glynda asked, this time with a raised eyebrow. "I have had my fair share of students with certain opinions about my teaching strategies, and I can say with honesty that they never truly despise me as they so claim.

"Good points, but I still don't know. He dislikes me in some way, he said as such to straight to my face. I still don't know what I did besides appear cocky and well… maybe my joy in being the unrelenting nutcracker?" Robert said with a laugh.

Glynda sighed. "Have you considered changing that part of your career?" She asked.

"There is no such thing as "to stop being the nutcracker" sorry, but it brings me joy, I don't know why, but it does." Robert said, a bit more serious than he probably should. It was a guy thing, in the sense that sometimes some guys really deserved a good ol' nut cracking.

"Very well…" Glynda sighed. Not understanding. "Regardless of motives and goals, Mister Cedric is an avid fighter, do you think you can defeat him?" Glynda asked.

"I think I can," Robert answered honestly. He wasn't so arrogant as might have been before. "However I've seen that he's better than he lets on, and his semblance according to you is…"

"Annoying to fight against, that is if you let him summon his shields." Glynda said.

"Energy based semblance, good versatility, ranged weapons, definitely a good grappler, annoying to fight in the defense, particularly skilled in offense… sounds like the kind of opponent I I need to fight more often… and he's also someone ideal to try on the new tricks I have in mind." Robert said, finishing his quick analysis.

"Hmm… it would be interesting to see how you use those against a different opponent, and it would be good to see Mister Cedric doing more than his bare minimum." Glynda said.

"You are telling me to make him sweat, and to also make it look good."

"Just to do your best, make sure he's also doing his best, and to not make "stupid mistakes" as you would put it, you been battling me the last few weeks, and each time you have been getting my aura lower, don't disappoint me now, otherwise I'll make sure to whip you harder into condition." Glynda said.

"Duly noted." Robert said. Suppressing a shiver.

"And also do make it look good, maybe then the crowd that gathered will leave a bit satisfied."

"I still feel uncomfortable with how many people are watching… why?" Robert asked.

"Besides bets, I don't know, I may have seen these events before, but I'm a teacher, not a fortune teller." Glynda said.

"Well, either way it's still more reason to not make an ass of myself." Robert said adjusting his gauntlets again.

Glynda hummed as she made her way to leave, she stopped before exit however "Do relax, this match is not the end of the world. Think it more of chance to test yourself, and regardless of the outcome, whatever Mister Cedric thinks of you is his business, and keep in mind it most likely won't change even if you defeat him." She said.

"I know." Robert answered.

"Do experiment however, it's not everyday one gets the chance to fight someone like him." Glynda said as she left. Robert created sparks on his fingertips and then drank more water to settle his head. He still felt weird about this fight, he pondered whether Michael was right about him being a cocky arrogant asshole or not, he also wondered whether winning will either prove that point, or whether losing would prove he was an asshole that needed to be taken off a pedestal… so far he thought he only tried to be himself… was he annoying? Probably… did he deserve a punch or two? Definitely, but he likes to believe he got enough of those already. Well, like Glynda said, he could hardly try and change whatever people thought of him, he couldn't make everyone happy. It was simply impossible. It would be better to just try and do his best, and continue his experimenting.

"Oh… I do plan that, heh, he'll never see this coming." Robert said to himself.

Michael and Robert made their way down to the arena stage, getting cheers from many different people. Both receiving mostly mixed cheers. Michael was never a popular one, and while his surname was known by some for the implications that were made. The former was the same for Robert, he was never the most popular among the students of Beacon, for whatever reason it may be. There were too many to count and already more than one was more than he cared to list, even mentally.

However, both of them have been getting a surge in popularity recently. Michael for his actions in leading Team Hammer as the stand-in leader while Hector was missing, and for his sparring session against Pyrrha which ended in a draw, even while Pyrrha used her semblance on his chains. The match lasted so long and their auras were at the same level for most of the match, eventually Glynda just ended the match early because they were running out of time in the class itself. It was whispered that if Pyrrha didn't use her semblance, Michael might have beaten her. Robert because of his own actions in his mission, his previous mission in going to the sewers was left unknown to the general public, but his most recent mission gained him at least the respect of nearly all of the students. Going out into the Grimm infested city of Mountain Glenn to save a student — Or as the rumour implied, his bae — earned him the more positive side of nearly everyone who didn't already give it already. There were still a few bad apples here and there, but nothing that he couldn't shrug off and forget about.

Robert did feel a tad bit nervous however, he has mostly recovered from his hangover already, and that wasn't the issue. The issue was that for the first time, he had people cheering for him. Approximately half of Team RWBY were cheering for him, specifically Blake and Weiss, who waved blue flags for his support. While Ruby and Yang waved red flags of their own. Yang seemed to have recovered enough to use her arms, although she still had a cast on her left, her right seemed to be healthy and fully recovered finally. He didn't know why they had red flags since to him it seemed like Michaels preferred color would be green given his clothing and aura shade. Red seemed more like Hectors thing, but perhaps that was the point. The leader of Team HAMR didn't exactly hide the fact that he liked red.

Speaking of whom, when he looked back to face his opponent he followed his eyes to see Team HAMR all sitting in the stands as well. It brought relief to him to see Hector sitting with his team, and next to Ashley like he always did before. He didn't know what was going on with them at the moment, but personally he was still on team 'Red Ash'. A bland ship name probably, but it was the one they had. Hector seemed to have noticed him staring at him, and nodded back to him. Adding a smile to go along with it. He would support both of them in silence or with his voice, Reggie would obviously root for Michael, and he didn't know what Ashley thought of this, she was probably the same as Hector for this one.

Then, he felt eyes staring back at him. The same light brown eyes he stared into back in Mountain Glenn when he challenged him to a duel. It was a pretty ballsy claim for him to state in front of him that he thought he could take him, and he respected that to a front, he was like that was well when he was still in training. Although he had a bit of a different way of training being native to a world without aura or Grimm. While Michael mostly trained to battle both humans and Grimm, he trained purely against humans for most of his life. That would most likely give him the advantage in this bout.

Robert raised an eyebrow when not one, but two curved blades slipped out of his opponents sleeves, they dropped and hung in the air halfway to the ground. His Kusarigama if he remembered correctly.

"Using both against me?" Robert asked.

"Why should I hold back against someone like you?" Michael fired back. There were murmurs in the crowd as a result of him inadvertently revealing that he has been holding back the whole time in their combat class. In fact, this might have been the first time seeing him bring out both of his weapons for some.

"Just making sure." Robert noted out loud, today it was the first time he actually used Raios on a public spar at Beacon, most of the time he used other weapons as to keep his initial status of "guy of many weapons", besides teams RWBY and HAMR not many knew what his weapons and semblance actually were, today was special though, he activated both of his lightning blades and heard as there were a couple of gasps and some murmurs from the crowd, some of the students were surprised to see his particular choice of weapons. Noticing all of this, a small smile drew upon his face, he did plan to give a decent show after all.

A shimmer of green aura flowed over Michael's, his brown eyes were narrowed, and he slowly slid his feet into position for a stance befitting of his fighting style. Robert responded in kind, and also appreciated the lack of meaningless banter. Michael was similar to him in a way, neither of them enjoyed pre or during trash talk for a sparring match, and they were probably similar in other ways as well in terms of personality. It made him wonder how the two of them couldn't get along, despite his attempts of doing so.

"This special bout will have no time restrictions." Glynda announced, both Robert and Michael nearly started their fight right as she began to speak. Almost taking it as their cue to. "There are only two ways for this sparring match to end," She made sure to put emphasis on the word 'sparring', and looked to Michael with a warning gaze which he of course ignored. Robert wondered why. "Is for one of their auras to go below the orange, since Mister Cedric is facing against a skilled opponent nearly a fully qualified Huntsman himself, I will call the match the moment eithers aura gets below or at twenty percent. Understood?"

"Yes." Robert said, never looking away from Michaels eyes.

"Mhm." Michael hummed back, doing the same.

"Good, the other way for this match to end is to force your opponent out of bounds, as I am sure most of you already know. Semblances are allowed, explosives are not. I will not be made to fix this arena more time or help me God-" Glynda took a deep breath, and Hector and Yang made sure to hide themselves underneath their desks until she started speaking again. "Are both opponents ready?" She asked instead, and not a minute too soon.

"Yes." Both combatants answered at once, mentally entering battle mode.

As the countdown began, Robert took a deep breath and focused solely on his opponent. He hasn't seen Michael fight too many times, only once or twice and only had second-hand stories to go off of when he got back from his missions, and even then he knew better than most that when Michael Cedric wanted to get serious, he got serious. The White Fang members that he put down completely non-lethally for the most part spoke bounds of his skill. His semblance however, was something he believed he had a good grasp on. Shields. He would need to watch out for those, he remembered that he was able to walk straight through them like he did on the train, but he wouldn't doubt that he could make them completely solid as well. Despite its defensive nature, they could also be used for offensive purposes, like walling him off from a certain area or pushing him away from him. On the other hand, his own semblance could easily be mistaken as pure lightning powers, but he had several abilities to go along with it that might catch him off guard. However, he wouldn't let that get to his head. Michael saw what he could do on the train, and likely knows most of what he should look out for.

When he exhaled, the fight has already begun. Faster than he originally thought. He only had enough time to fully open his eyes when two chains were already flying toward him, blades at the end of them.

Annnnd that is that. I am sorry this wasn't finished earlier, I had some american stuff to do, Fourth of July and all that. But at least Crow and I managed to get this written and finished together, and at my signature cliffhanger maneuver as well. Hah… gotta love those. -Genatools

Hope you guys don't mind too much, but hey, it won't take us months to update next time. -CrowSkull

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