Author's Note:
Well, RWBY Volume 7 has been a rocky ride. I have not seen Chapter 13 yet, but, if the last few Chapters are any indication of what is to come, it will make the Fall of Beacon look like a gentle walk through a children's playground. I will have to wait until Saturday to find out.
On the subject of this chapter of 'Demi-Human Students of Beacon,' this chapter is a calmer one, and more of a set-up for future chapters. It will also have its fair bit of exposition, but tell me if it is too much. Aimed to get this out before January ended, and would have come out sooner, but personal stuff got in the way.
Hope you enjoy.
A New Face
"Tragedy struck the people of Avalon in the early hours of Monday evening, when Oberon, Faery King of Avalon, was shot upon leaving a gathering of the Avaloni Parliament. Receiving two gunshot wounds to the chest by a gunman hiding in a crowd of demonstrators, the King was hurried to Angitia Hospital, but was declared dead after six hours spent in surgery."
"The culprit, 32 year old Peregrin Slate, was immediately taken into custody by Avaloni Police, where he claims to have been acting on his own. Despite this, and though no individual or group has claimed responsibility, Avaloni officials are treating the incident as a terrorist attack, and are launching an intensive investigation. The late-King's wife, and newly declared Queen Regent of Avalon, Titania, had this to say-"
With a press of a button, General James Ironwood of Atlas paused the news report right then and there.
"To think, our enemy would be bold enough to assassinate Oberon," Ironwood mumbled to himself as he sat alone in his office in Atlas Academy. The news of Oberon's death had been the hottest topics of all news outlets across the world for the last two days now. While he had not been an incredibly famous person, or a particularly well-liked person in certain circles of society, the manner of his death had really shocked all of Remnant.
Even then, no matter what wild accusations or theories people made up regarding Oberon's death, nothing would be more shocking than what the Order had gone out of its way to cover up.
For Oberon's death had not only been because of the gunshots he received, which were fatal by themselves. Upon the bullets entry into Oberon's body, a tiny capsule within the bullet's tip cracked open and released its contents. The contents being a highly virulent poison, one produced by a deadly fish native to the oceans of Southern Anima, that slowly killed Oberon as the surgeons fought to keep him alive.
The Enemy had gone out of their way to ensure Oberon's demise, for even if the surgeons knew of the poison's presence, there was nothing that they could do to counter it. For, despite extensive research, there was no known antidote for the poison that ultimately killed the Faery King.
All that was just one more secret he and the Order had to keep from the rest of the world. All for the greater good, as Ironwood had to remind himself for the fifth time today.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Ironwood stood up from his desk and opened a compartment hidden in one of his office's walls. His predecessor had commissioned its addition to the office two years before it became Ironwood's, and while he did not fully approve of its inclusion, the general saw no reason to have it removed. With a stony face, he took out two of its contents, a drinking glass and a half-empty bottle of Caledonian Whisky. Taking a seat back at his desk the Altesian General poured some of the bottle's contents into the glass and quickly downed all of it.
Ironwood rarely drank, but when he did, the occasions were usually serious and never something to be celebrated.
Now, James and Oberon had not been friends, and had never looked eye to eye with each other on several matters. The latter's status as a monarch being one among them. But his death saddened the general on an emotional level. Not only that, but on a practical level, the Faery King's death also meant the Order's influence in Avalon had been significantly reduced and their operations thrown into disarray.
As he sat there, Ironwood's mind began to race, as it had when he first heard the news, and wondered just what the Queen planned for Remnant after having assassinated a world leader such as Oberon.
There was the possibility that the Enemy killed Oberon just to eliminate another member of the Order, for they had done so several times before, but that was beyond unlikely in Ironwood's eyes. Could it be that the Queen intended to have other important governmental figures across Remnant killed to weaken and destabilise the world? Was the loss of someone such as Oberon meant to divert the Order's attention and resources to Avalon, while the Queen and her forces struck in other locations? Just what was the Enemy planning, and where did they aim to strike next?
It was as Ironwood deliberated over the numerous possibilities that ran through his head, that an idea hit him with the force of a sledgehammer swung by a Beringel. There was one perfect, almost irresistible target that the Enemy could go after, and if they did, it could prove more destructive than the killing of a single person. The Vytal Festival.
While the City of Vale was nowhere nearly as hectic as Avalon had recently become, certain happenings there indicated that something big was about to happen.
The increase in robberies of Dust shops in Vale had not gone unnoticed, and that the Dust was the sole objective of the thieves was enough to set off alarm bells in Ironwood's head. In fact, on the same night as Oberon's assassination, the White Fang were revealed to be absconding with as much Dust as they could get their hands on after trying to steal an entire shipment of Dust at Vale's docks. What made matters worse was that the notorious Roman Torchwick, of all people, had been sighted working with the terrorists.
Latest intelligence reports on the White Fangs inner workings reported that the radical ideology that the White Fang now followed demanded its members do not cooperate with Humans, or even Demi-Humans. Any 'cooperation' with either was meant to be one attained after asserting the Faunus's dominance over these 'lesser species'. So why were they not only working with Roman, a human criminal, but also taking orders from him as well?
Whether the Enemy had a hand behind this, Ironwood could not determine, but he erred on the side of caution and would keep an eye out for any further White Fang activities in Vale. The Vytal Festival was too important of an event to let a group such as the White Fang run around the city that would host it.
In the face of all these threats to Remnant's peace and people, what they needed to do was to show not just the Enemy, but the people of Remnant, that they were strong and protected. To demonstrate the power he and the people of Remnant had thanks to their unity. That, by killing one of their number, all they had accomplished was steeling the Order's conviction to fight against them.
An idea began to formulate inside of Ironwood's mind. Getting back onto his feet, the general activated his office's holographic-display table, and produced images of the latest developments to the Atlas Military's android soldiers. The Altesian Knight-200 and the Altesian Paladin-290. Final tests of these new robots had been completed over a month ago, and were now being mass-produced and distributed to all of Atlas's military installations. In fact, every Altesian Airship currently within the Kingdom of Atlas had replaced their complements of AK-130s with the newer models.
Sure a few of the prototype Paladins had been stolen by an unknown party, but Ironwood was sure his men would return them back to Atlas before anything could be done with them.
Perhaps the time was now ripe to officially unveil these new robotic warriors and mech-suits to the rest of Remnant. In fact, Vale and the Vytal Festival might just be the right setting to officially reveal them to the rest of the world. Weighing the pros and cons of this new plan of his, Ironwood finally came to a decision after pondering on it for a good couple of minutes.
It was going to be a hard call, and he sensed an argument somewhere in his near future, but this was the right decision to make. The only decision that Ironwood believed could work against the Enemy.
Elsewhere in the world, there were others whose minds were also occupied by dire thoughts of the future.
Within Team JNPR's dorm, Grey stood with her team, her back leaning against the wall beside the dorm's window. Also with them were Teams RWBY and JNPR.
All of RWBY were here, even Blake, who had finally returned to her team and Beacon after quite an eventful night in Vale. Of FFOG, everyone but Faen was in the room with them. Finally, the members of JNPR present were Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. Jaune's absence from their present company was the reason why the group had gathered together in JNPR's dorm.
For today was to be when Jaune's place in Beacon Academy would be decided.
Most of them had given Jaune some last minute pointers or something more substantial to get him prepared for the upcoming test he would soon face. People like Ruby, Pyrrha, and Friesian gave him advice and outlined some tricks he could try. For her part, Grey made him a hearty lunch so Jaune could have enough energy for whatever test or duel the Headmaster had in mind. She was not the only one, as Nora convinced Ren to make for Jaune a stack of the 'Energy Pancakes' that she ate in preparation for big events such as these.
JNPR's team leader greatly appreciated all of their efforts, but his nerves were obviously beginning to get the better of him. When the others tried to teach him those lastminute tips of theirs, Jaune was messing them up. Hells, he had only gotten through half of the lunch Grey made for him, and a quarter of one 'Energy Pancake', before he set down his cutlery. The excuse that left his mouth was that he did not have much of an appetite at the time.
He could be forgiven, though. This test would determine what his future in this Academy would be, so it was understandable why he would feel that way. It did not stop Nora from forcing him to consume the rest of the pancake he had started eating, however.
Nora could be pretty terrifying if she was motivated enough.
None had fretted over Jaune more than Pyrrha, who, quite amusing, triple-checked everything before her team leader left; from his stance, his armour, to even whether or not he had tied his shoes correctly. She would have quadruple checked him had the rest of them not pulled Pyrrha away from Jaune, and convinced her Jaune was as ready as he could be.
After all of their preparations and attempts to encourage Jaune were done, a text message from Headmaster Ozpin himself notified Jaune where his test would take place, and so Jaune left for his test. All the rest of them could do now was wait for the blonde human male's return. If he would return.
Waiting was probably the hardest part of all this, and, if something did not happen so, Grey was sure she would have a breakdown or something.
As if on cue, something did happen.
"So... does anyone have anything to talk about?" Ren spoke up, surprisingly. He was not much with words, but when did speak, he usually said something smart. Heeding his words, the group of assembled students steadily began to talk among themselves, searching for any topic to occupy themselves with as they waited for Jaune's return.
They actually had a fair few subjects to talk about, for the week thus far had been eventful, but not entirely in a good way. Two of the most noticeable, while still things somewhat related to the group, mostly involved the members of FFOG and RWBY. The both of them happening two nights ago.
First of all, the entirety of Team RWBY had been reunified, after a fashion, and a couple secrets held close to one tea member's chest had been revealed to them all. The event that brought Team RWBY back together was actually the talk of the Academy for the last two days now, although, the full truth of what happened that night known to none except a few, the members in the dorm right now among them.
When Grey learnt of what they had done that night, she could hardly believe it, and even when hearing it from RWBY's own lips she still struggled to understand.
What everyone knew was that members of Team RWBY, specifically Ruby and Blake, had interrupted a big Dust heist that was being perpetrated by none other than Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. Learning that had raised the eyebrows of everyone in FFOG and JNPR when RWBY got to that part of their explanation of that night's events yestreday. They had not been alone in the endeavour for a monkey faunus, Sun Wukong, from Shade Academy had helped Blake and Ruby. What no one else apart from the people in this room and the Beacon staff knew about was that a fourth individual had assisted in the effort.
To Grey's great surprise, and that of the others in their group, it had been that odd Penny girl RWBY had spoken of.
Ruby's explanation of what Penny had done could be summed up as her shouting the words pew, pow, and awesome. Asking that monkey faunus, who had gone off to reunite with the rest of his team, was little better as he more or less spouted the same things as Ruby. In the end, everyone turned to Blake for a more coherent answer.
What she told them was even more unbelievable, for the way she described Penny made her out to be even more powerful than anyone here. Using her weapon, apparently numerous floating blade-guns produced from a backpack according to both Blake and Ruby, Penny had been able to take out numerous White Fang in a matter of moments. What was even more staggering, was how Penny supposedly sliced two Bullheads in half with an energy beam, and pulled a third down using her blades.
Penny did say she was going to be a contestant in the Vytal Festival's tournament, if Grey remembered Yang's words correctly. On the occasion she was, well, the werewolf felt nothing but pity for whosoever had to fight this girl.
The secret that Team RWBY divulged to the two other teams was the truth about Blake. More specifically what Blake was and had been.
To the shock of almost all members of FFOG and JNPR, Blake removed her black bow in front of them, and revealed the black cat ears that rested on top of her head. She was a faunus. Grey knew that there was something up with Blake, and made those thoughts known to Faen one time, but she had not expected her to be this. It certainly explained why she caught a measure of cat in Blake's scent, and maybe she should have figured that out earlier. Oh well, the secret was out, and she did not think any less about Blake for being a faunus.
Blake being a faunus might be something Grey took no issue with, but, her having been a White Fang member was absolutely something Grey felt pretty iffy about. The White Fang had not affected Grey's life in any way, yet their violent acts against the humans and demi-humans had seen them earn her animosity.
In response to the obvious thoughts that played out in their minds, Blake went on to assure them all that she had left the White Fang, and devoted herself to bringing faunus and the other races together in another way. How she could do that while studying in an Academy, the werewolf had no clue, though her dedication to that goal was admirable. Overall, Grey was willing to have Blake around, for she sort of missed having that bow-wearing bookworm around anyway.
Her teammates's reaction and opinions towards Blake and her being a faunus were varied.
For his part, Faen had been rather neutral, claiming to have accepted the knowledge of Blake's true identity after having been told it in a conversation with Ruby. The elf went so far as to say he was alright with Blake being among them, as long as she did not disappear on everyone again.
In a similar vein to Faen, Akagi stated that she was fine with Blake and her former involvement with the White Fang, so long as she spoke the truth that is. Saying that, Akagi went on to claim she would turn Blake into a shamisen if her rejection of the White Fang and their ideals were not sincere. Grey was not sure what to make of her kitsune teammate's words, and assumed she said it as a sort of threatening joke. If it was an actual threat Odori was willing to carry out, well, Grey hoped for Blake's sake that she did not give Akagi reason to.
Of all her team, it was Friesian who seemed the most conflicted about the truth behind Blake. It was understandable, given his own history with the organisation, and that history had really shaken up whatever relationship the two shared prior to this revelation. Grey saw it in the way Friesian would send Blake cautious sidelong glances every now and again.
Blake had taken note of this too, and the two went on to have a private discussion to work out the issue between the both of them. What was said had never been revealed to anyone, but it appeared Friesian and Blake had formed a sort of understanding. The dullahan was still a little tense around the cat faunus, and there was a curtness in his voice whenever he addressed her, nevertheless, the pair still got along. Somewhat, and with a little unease if Grey had to be frank.
Well, at least the two were okay with being in the same room as each other. She was even more thankful their situation had not turned into something alike to what was going on with Faen and Jaune.
Then there was the other, more personal event that had happened on the same night as RWBY's scuffle with Torchwick and the White Fang.
That evening, Faen had made the startling decision to announce a new face had been added to FFOG's team roster. Her name was Yasmin Doronlas, and she was an elf-dracon Demi-Human from Avalon, just like herself and Faen. During their team discussion Faen told the three other members of FFOG how he had first met Yasmin, and to say it was dramatic would be understating it.
From what Faen told the rest of them, Yasmin approached him when he was done training
Earlier that day, Faen was approached by an elf-dracon hybrid demi-human named Yasmin, and the two duelled each other to a draw. After that, Professor Taupe had come along and took the pair to Professor Ozpin, who had the elf-dracon instated as FFOG's fifth team member.
That was an honestly brief summary of what happened, and Grey had a feeling there were things that Faen was leaving out for some reason. Especially when it came to the reasoning why Ozpin chose to include Yasmin to their team roster. It was a gut feeling, and she could see that her elven best friend was burdened by something other than Yasmin that night. Whatever his reasons for leaving out information, if her gut was right, Grey trusted him to tell her and the others in time.
As with the others, Grey was still coming to grips with how FFOG had been augmented by the addition of one more team member without any prior warning. The same could be said for their new addition's personality and attitude towards them all, which did not help the situation whatsoever. Honestly, it was like dealing with a really stuck-up female version of Faen.
Speaking of Faen, Grey scanned JNPR's dorm for the third time, and shook her head slightly at the elf's absence from this gathering. As this entire matter involved Jaune, her best friend had done his darnedest to not have anything to do with it whatsoever. Even when Grey had personally insisted that he at least say a few words of encouragement to the human, Faen stubbornly refused to do anything. Instead, Faen had gone off to gods know where to concern himself with a 'more worthwhile distraction.' His words.
He really could be an asshole from time to time.
Faen had not been alone when he left, as FFOG's latest member had gone with him. A fact that drew out a tonne of anxiety from Grey, Friesian, and Akagi.
"You think he's okay?" Friesian whispered to Grey as she watched Ruby and Weiss have another discussion about the uses of Dust. Looking over to the dullahan, more specifically the head he kept hanging from his belt, the werewolf saw he was using the fingers of his left hand to massage the knuckles of his right. A behavioural habit of Friesian's that gave away whenever he felt apprehensive of something.
"I'm sure he is," Grey tried to reassure her teammate, her words as much for herself as they were for Friesian. Though, she guessed it was not just Jaune that the dullahan was talking about. While she tried to come off as calm and confident, a feeling of trepidation lingered within Grey as she thought of what both her male friends were doing right now.
"We shouldn't be leaving Faen with her. She might try something, like challenge Faen to another duel, and actually try to kill him this time," Akagi viciously butted into the conversation all of a sudden. Her voice dripped with contempt and her teeth clenched not out of anger, but of pure, unadulterated fury. Grey had no doubts as to just who it was these extreme feelings were directed to right now.
When Akagi first met their newest team member, a strong mutual dislike for each other instantly blossomed between Akagi and Yasmin. It was something that just sort of clicked right in the moment they met one another. To be fair, Yasmin had come across as rather uppity and haughty, to Grey at least, so the werewolf could see why Akagi might come to dislike the elf-dracon. Yasmin, being who she was, took Akagi's dislike like anyone else with a demeanour like hers and reciprocated it. There was, however, one other reason Grey believed might explain their mutual sense of loathing.
That reason being none other than Faen himself.
"Good grief. This feckin' thing again?" Friesian groaned at Akagi's comment. The dullahan did not distrust or dislike Yasmin to the same extent as the rest of them did, but he found the whole thing between Akagi and Yasmin to be tiresome, and wished for no part in it. "Give it a break already, Akagi. You've been whining about it for the past two days now."
"We know nothing about Yasmin, and what we do know is too little I say," Akagi hotly shot back.
"Do you really mean to whine about it forever? Faen says she's here to stay, as does the Headmaster, so there's nothing we can really do about it." Friesian continued to argue with the kitsune
That did nothing to put a stopper on Akagi's mood or opinions, if that had been his intent. In fact, his words only seemed to darken Akagi's mood, as a shadow appeared to come over the eyes of their kitsune teammate. She might also have unconsciously activated her Semblance, for, despite being right next to her, Grey could not smell her all of a sudden.
"That's it, I need to go find him and make sure that bitch isn't doing anything to him!" Akagi tried to make for the door, but Grey was quick to grab hold of the kitsune's arm and pulled her back. Friesian looked as though he were about to do the same, yet, she had beaten her to the punch.
"You are going stay here," Grey hissed at Akagi out of annoyance with her teammate.
No argument against her came from Akagi, nor did she attempt to physically defy Grey. The kitsune did, however, cast an unsettling look her way. It was unsettling to Grey in how intense the look Akagi shot her was, and for a brief instant, the werewolf believed a manic light flashed through the kitsune's eyes.
Driven to do so by her Werewolf instincts, Grey responded to Akagi's look by wrinkled her nose, perking her ears up as far as they could reach, and showing her sharp canines off to Akagi. That actually appeared to cow Akagi into line, as the kitsune's fox ears went flat, her tails lowered, and she averted her eyes from Grey's. Seeing this, the werewolf cast a look to the rest of the room, before speaking once again.
"C'mon, guys. We have company with us right now. If you want, we can have this conversation later, let's have it somewhere else and somewhere more private." Grey muttered to her two teammates, nodding her head towards the others in the room to emphasis her point. Those who stood in the dorm with FFOG had overheard the demi-human's discussion, as well as seen how Grey had pulled Akagi back, and were trying their best to look as though they had not.
Really, Team RWBY's missing teammate problem had to be resolved, only for FFOG to have a problem with a new teammate. The universe had a very messed up way of screwing with people.
Hells below, she was starting to sound like Faen with all this fretting about everything she was doing right now.
"Fine, fine." Akagi grumbled to herself as she forcefully pulled her arm from Grey's grasp, and glowered at the floor with crossed arms out of frustration
Grey could not help but shake her head at the way the kitsune was acting, as well as the reasons for doing so.
When Faen formally introduced Yasmin to the rest of the team the morning after telling them of her, it was clear to everyone what Yasmin's thoughts of them were. The whole lot of them were beneath her, it could be seen in the way Yasmin looked and spoke to them. All of them except Faen. For some reason, one that Yasmin adamantly and frustratingly refused to elaborate on, the only person she considered worth her time was Grey's best friend and team leader.
This brought Akagi and Yasmin into conflict with each, for the both of them had an interest in Faen, and were completely unwilling to share with the other. What lay behind Yasmin's interest in Faen was, as mentioned before, unknown and as enigmatic as the elf-dracon herself. On the other hand, Grey had an idea as to just why Akagi was acting all territorial when it came to Faen, which was better than what she could say about Yasmin.
Her best friend and Akagi spent much of their time together, as a result, the both of them had become rather attached to one another. Becoming the second true friend that Faen had in his life, perhaps even more was going on between them. Of course, if she knew Faen, the elf would outright deny or brush it off if he were ever confronted by such a claim. Akagi once revealed she never had any true friends until meeting the rest of FFOG, sort of similar to Grey and Faen childhood situation but far less fortunate, and while she hid it behind a very convincing smile, the kitsune must have been lonely for most her life.
Now, Grey was no expert in psychology, but she was damn sure living without a soul to call a friend should negatively affect a person in more ways than just being lonely. If she had to take a guess, Akagi had probably grown emotionally attached to Faen, and greatly disliked when someone seemed to be taking him away from her. That was just a guess, however, and Grey could very much be wrong. Who knows, maybe the werewolf was looking into things too much.
Maybe Akagi and Yasmin seemed to loath each other because of how much of a bitch the latter was.
Whatever the case, things were only made even more complicated due in part because of Faen's decision to spend time away from his team and with Yasmin instead, but also to listen to whatever whispered words she had to say to him. Faen had already confided to the rest of FFOG why he was doing this, but it did not make things any less difficult than it already was. Grey honestly hoped this would not negatively affect FFOG in the long-run.
Some more time passed, where the present members of FFOG, RWBY, and JNPR tried to pass the time as calmly as possible. In that time, Weiss and Friesian had gone out to make the rest of them some drinks, though the dullahan was weirdly insistent that they have some hot chocolate instead of Weiss' offer of Altesian coffee. Pyrrha, who had been in a state of great anxiety since Jaune left the dorm, drank two whole mugs of hot chocolate before any of them could have a chance to drink one. The only person in the room who appeared calm were Blake and Ren, while the rest of them were a slew of other emotions.
After what felt like hours of waiting, while it had only been about thirty minutes of so, Grey heard footsteps in the corridor outside. While it could very well be just some random students whose names Grey could no for the life of her remember, she became alert and turned her eyes towards the door. She was not alone, for shortly after, Akagi and Blake followed suit. Grey could pick up two pairs of feet; one of which she recognised to be Jaune's, the other the werewolf was uncertain of.
"What is it?" Yang asked her, having taken notice of how Grey, Akagi, and Blake, had become alert all of a sudden.
"I think I can hear Jaune coming back here," Grey responded as she strained her ears in an effort to make out if she was correct. The moment those words left her mouth, the others in JNPR's dorm sat up or got to their feet in the blink of an eye. None were faster than Pyrrha, who leapt from her bed faster than a speeding bullet, and was at the dorm before anyone else.
She must be really worried for Jaune if she was acting so out of character, at least in Grey's opinion.
Both pairs of feet now reached the door to the dorm, and stopped right in front of it. The electronic lock to the dorm clicked open, and, lo and behold, there stood Jaune Arc.
The blonde-haired human boy looked pretty winded, and he almost stumbled forward as he seemed to tiredly open the door with one hand. Grey, and surely most of the others in the dorm, opened her mouth to say something to welcome him back and ask him how his test had gone. However, before any of them could say a word, Jaune keeled forward as though all of his energy had left him.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out as she hurried caught her team leader right before he could fall onto her. Upon closer inspection, the human was still very much conscious, but he appeared too exhausted to do anything. Worry began to dance through Grey's thoughts as she puzzled over what could have happened during Jaune's test to make him like this.
"Good afternoon students. May I come in?" A calm voice politely asked them from the outside the door. None of the students in the dorm needed to look at its owner to know just who they were, for they instantly recognised that it belonged to none other than Headmaster Ozpin. Such was the surprise generated by the Headmaster's unexpected presence, plenty of the students almost dropped whatever they had been holding. That included Pyrrha, who nearly let Jaune collapse onto the floor when she momentarily let go of him.
Good thing she had a damn fine reaction time, as Pyrrha was quick enough to grab hold of him before he fell face first onto the floor. Or her bust. Grey could only imagine how embarrassed the two of them would be if that actually happened.
"Professor Ozpin?!" All the occupants of the room exclaimed their surprise as soon as they laid eyes on the Headmaster of Beacon, who was calmly waiting at the doorstep of Team JNPR's dorm. Quickly gathering themselves, the lot of them stepped away from the door and allowed the Headmaster Ozpin inside.
"My apologies, but Mister Arc has been through quite a strenuous experience." The Headmaster stated as he stepped through the doorway and closed it behind him. Seeming to perceive their anxiety regarding Jaune's physical state, he continued speaking. "He will be quite alright. I suggest you all give him some time to rest, and maybe a mug of hot chocolate once he does."
That was good, very good. Still, there was the other reason that all eleven of them had worried over for the last thirty minutes or so.
"Professor Ozpin, sir, did Jaune pass his test or..." Ruby began, but failed to finish her question. All the students knew what the red-hooded human was going to say, and they intently looked to Ozpin for the answer.
"Oh there is no need for you all to worry. Mister Arc passed with flying colours," Ozpin swiftly said in response to Ruby's unfinished question. Hearing this, Grey and the others let out a collective sigh of relief. Grey would have given Jaune a congratulatory slap on the back if he were not exhausted as hell right now. Oh well, that was something to look forward to one the human had properly recovered.
Still, there was something Grey and the others wanted to know.
"Professor, can you tell us what Jaune did in his test? Did he really have to fight someone?" It was Ren who voiced the student's shared question, and, once more they all focused on the Headmaster. To their bewilderment, he let out a light chuckle before finally answering Ren's question.
"Why, your team leader fought me, Mister Ren."
Now that really caught all of the students off-guard.
As part of his test to remain in Beacon or not, Jaune was meant to duel someone. That had been made clear to them when this test of Jaune's was privately announced to the students. They had all thought Jaune's opponent would be another Beacon first-year, an upperclassman, or even one of the professors, not the Headmaster of Beacon. Immediately these thoughts raised questions as to just how Jaune could have passed his test, for there was no way he could have possibly beaten Headmaster Ozpin of all people.
Jaune had greatly improved since he first set foot on Beacon, that was an undeniable fact. But, as mentioned before, it was impossible that he could have bested the Headmaster.
Ozpin apparently picked up on their confusion, or had already anticipated it, and proceeded to explain himself.
"At first, I most certainly did plan for Mister Arc to duel another student. However, I decided to take a more personal hand in testing if Mister Arc should remain here in Beacon. I also hoped the test would unlock his Semblance, sadly, that was not the case." As the Headmaster spoke, all ten students silently listened to him with undivided attention, taking in every word he said. "Now, the test involved more than just his ability to fight. I hope you are all aware that being a Huntsman takes more than just know how to swing a blade or shoot a gun."
Grey guessed the Headmaster was right about that last part. The whole bunch of them were meant to become the defenders of the people of Remnant, and the best were not some oaf with a one-digit braincell count who got themselves killed over a simple stupid decision. Had they made him do a written exam first then, to gauge his intelligence? Because that was what Grey was getting from what the Headmaster had said.
"Before we began his duel, I proposed two options Mister Arc could take. The first option; I offered to call off the duel, modify Mister Arc transcripts so they were more convincing, and only let him remain so long as he pledged to constantly better himself as a fighter and leader. If he continued to underperform, or not meet my expectations, he would be removed from Beacon." For a third time today, the Headmaster was able surprise them all. He was not done, however, and the man continued to speak. "The second option I gave to Mister Arc was that we commence with the duel, and that his place be decided by his performance in it. In the event that I found his performance acceptable, I would guarantee his placement in Beacon for the next four years. If not, Mister Arc would be expelled immediately after the duel."
Now those were some real shockers right there. Now, Grey could see which of those two options Jaune had chosen just by looking at the state of him. Thing was, why exactly had the Headmaster given those two choices to Jaune? What did they have to do with being a Huntsman?
"Now, I was prepared to let Mister Arc remain in Beacon if he chose either of the two options, but, I wished to see how he would act when presented with them." Headmaster Ozpin continued, resting both hands on the top of his cane as he did. "Mister Arc mulled over his choices for, hmm, almost two minutes, until finally coming to a decision. As I am sure you can all guess, he chose the second choice."
"So... what did giving Jaune those options have to do with being a Huntsman?" Nora asked Headmaster Ozpin, whilst also scratching the side of her head in confusion. Thank goodness she was not the only person who was confused as hell.
"Being a Huntsman or Huntress is more than just a job, students. It is a promise to the people of Remnant. A promise that you will focus all of your power to safeguard them from the threat of the Grimm." Headmaster Ozpin replied, speaking in a sagely tone. "At times, Huntsmen will be confronted with situations where one route seems the easiest, but will have long lasting repercussions if taken. Meanwhile another is more difficult and filled with the unknown. The two choices I gave Mister Arc was to give him an idea of what those situations were like, and I am glad he conquered his fear and chose the one he did."
No one said anything once the Headmaster was done speaking. They all had something to think about after having heard what he had to say, it was after all some pretty heavy stuff to drop on them all. Stuff that made them all think about their future as Huntsmen and Huntresses, or at least, that was what Grey believed they were all doing. It was certainly what Grey was doing anyway.
Damn, she had been doing a whole lot more self-analyzing here in Beacon than she had done in her life before. Felt really weird when she tried to think about it.
"I will leave you all be to think on it. Classes will be starting again on Monday, just so you are aware. Have a good day students." With that, the Headmaster turned from the students and left through the door without another word. Leaving the ten students, and one conscious but barely responsive Jaune, alone in JNPR's dorm together.
"Well, thank goodness all this business has been cleared up." Weiss remarked once they were all sure the Headmaster had moved on from the dorm.
"Same here, Glyph Girl. Same here," Friesian spoke, adding to what the Schnee Heiress had just said. Addressing the white-haired girl by the nickname he liked call her in private. He seemed only to realise what he said after pausing for a couple seconds, but made no attempt to correct himself or apologise, and just shrugged his shoulders upon noticing the annoyed look fixed on Weiss' face.
"'Huh, 'Glyph Girl.' Mind if I use that one from time to time?" Yang asked of the dullahan, a wicked smirk on the blonde's face, probably because she was imagining the possible situations she could use the nickname played out in her mind. That heightened the levels of irritation Weiss was feeling right now, which Grey could see as the human locked a chilling, narrow-eyed glare on both Yang and her dullahan teammate. "Yeesh, chill out with that glare of yours, Weiss Queen. What are you trying to do, turn me into an ice statue with it?"
That ticked Weiss off enough for her to start yelling at both Yang and Friesian, her face flush out of annoyance with them. It was not terribly serious, and there was no need at all for Grey to get involved.
Turning her gaze from the three, Grey looked over to see what the others were up to. Pyrrha had placed Jaune on his bed, and it looked as though he might be coming too. Akagi resumed leaning against the wall beside the windowsill, and now had a distant look in her eyes as she looked at the grey clouds gathering in the sky outside. Blake was similar in how quiet she was, but was stood beside Yang with an inpenetrable look on her face as she watched Weiss rail against Yang and Friesian. Ruby, Ren, and Nora, stood together and entered a conversation with each other, which Grey decided to join in on.
"So, what do you guys think we should do now?" Ruby asked loud enough for everyone in the dorm to hear her. It was a good question, and Grey immediately began to try and think of what they could possibly get up to now they had the rest of the day to waste away. As she did, Grey slowly became aware of a light pattering of rain on the window that was growing in frequency.
"We could go and study," Ren suggested to the rest of them, although, none of them acted as though they had heard from them. Studying during the semester break, as if.
"Food? I could run over to the cafeteria and pick up some stuff for all of us," Grey seized the opportunity to propose to her friends. All that waiting and talking made her more hungry than usual. Unlike with Ren, her words brought out more of a reaction from the others, but not ones of great excitement as Grey had expected she would get. Which was complete bullshit as far the werewolf was concerned, for how could these people not be excited about food?
"I say we have a party, or at least have a huge cake topped with an adorable sloth to celebrate fearless leader's victory over Headmaster Ozpin!" Nora laid out her own idea, which was not that bad, if Grey had to be honest with herself. However, she did have some questions about the sloth Nora had mentioned. Did she want one of those edible cake decorations, or an actual living sloth?
It was probably for the best that she did not ask so to avoid getting a weird answer as Grey half-expected she would.
"Nora, that's... not-not what happened," Jaune called over to Nora from where he lay on his bed. Looking over to him, it appeared the human had recovered enough to sit up and correct his boisterous teammate, before collapsng back onto his bed with an audible thump. It must have been one hell of a fight between him and Ozpin if he was like this right now.
"A party doesn't sound bad," Yang joined in, all the while still having Weiss indignantly squawking at her. Seeing that she was being ignored by both Yang and Friesian, who had now shifted their attention from Weiss and to the conversation Grey was in, the heiress let out a low grumble and joined them. "Anyone here know where we can get some part poppers and other stuff like that?"
"Shouldn't we still keep this all to ourselves?" Blake piped up from where she stood behind Yang. "Wouldn't people start questioning why we're having this big party?
"C'mon, Blake, we can make something up to hide why we're having a party." Yang nonchalantly responded to her teammate as she wrapped her arm around the cat Faunus's shoulders, and dragged her into the group. Blake seemed to instinctively flinch at the contact and looked ready to bolt out of Yang's arm, but ultimately allowed herself to be brought over to them. Now where had she seen someone act like that before?
"Ooh, I know a good cake recipe! So we can totally have a cake in our party!" Ruby ecstatically jumped in, the little human bouncing up and down on her tippy-toes with her hand raised high over her head.
Despite the positive energy that began to take over the dorm and those occupying it, Grey found herself wondering about Faen and where he was right now. No word had come from him since he had left, and while she knew he could take care of himself whenever in a spot of trouble, she worried for him nonetheless. Since coming to Beacon, that too had seen an increase, and Grey was really not liking it. After a few moments of silent pondering, the werewolf gave up and returned her focus to the friends that were with her right now, and started to help them with the party they were organising.
Elsewhere in the Academy, Faen looked outside the library window as the rain began to fall fast and hard. Students caught in the rain began to hurry to whatever shelter they could find, using whatever they currently held to shield them from the increasingly horrendous deluge. It had come rather suddenly and quite unexpectedly.
The forecast claimed today was going to be another sunny day, but, the current scene before him said otherwise. His parents always treated an unexpected bout of rain in summer as some omen of future misfortune. Faen did not put too much stock in this superstitious belief; however, a piece of him hoped it was not a portent of bad luck out of genuine fear of the possibility. He already had a lot on his plate already, and he had no wish to see more added to it.
Turning from the window, the white-haired elf strode over to a table, three hard-backed books held in his hands, and sat himself down on a chair where he had previously laid his coat on. Reclining on a chair across from him with an open book in hand was Yasmin Doronlas. The pair had just come out of another sparring match with each other, one meant to definitively determine who the better fighter was, and it had actually ended in a close victory for Faen. He did not celebrate the occasion, for his victory was won by the slimmest of margins.
How slim?
The length of a fingernail, that's how much it was.
As with their first duel, Faen and Yasmin had proved to be on par with each other in regards to their combat prowess. Because of this, Faen had been forced to perform more daring actions and tap into his Aura reserves more frequently every time the two fought to achieve victory. In the last fight Faen had been forced to catch her axeblade with his hand, and even used her Aura to rapidly launch himself at her whilst in midair.
They had sparred the day before, twice in fact, but those had ended in the same way as their first fight against each other. An indecisive draw that ended with neither a victor nor a loser. It was partly because of this reason they fought today, and why the two resolved to duel each other tomorrow, if they had the chance to anyway.
All this time spent with Yasmin was not due to a growing fondness Faen had for the elf-dracon. It was done simply because Faen did not trust her to wander the Academy on her own, no matter what Headmaster Ozpin said.
Sure the Headmaster himself claimed that Yasmin was a person who could be trusted; nothing could easily assuage Faen's suspicions of her.
Still, despite his lingering distrust of her, a strange sort of bond was forming between Faen and Yasmin. One forming from the shared desire to prove they were the better combatant. The two of them were not friends, that was a fact they both made clear to one another and wholeheartedly agreed on. What the two were was something more along the lines of... rivals, though not in an intense enemies or arch-nemesis kind of way, but primarily in a way of warriors who had found a match for their skills.
As with their odd relationship, the fact he had found someone who almost perfectly matched his skills as a combatant was just as strange to him. Never had he wanted, or thought, he would face a true equal in the ways of the warrior. He read stories, watched shows, and heard tales of warriors would repeatedly battle against an equally skilled opponent, yet ultimately fail to determine who the better between the two was.
Had such a thing truly happened to him of all people? Faen was sure it had, but the concept was hard for him to fully grasp.
Only one other had pushed him as much as Yasmin did now. His Dwarven nemesis from back in Vigil. However, unlike when he duelled Yasmin, there was a clear difference between his and the Dwarf's skills. A difference Faen had to begrudgingly admit was not stacked in his favour. That, and one other factor that marked his spars with Yasmin as different when compared to those with the Dwarf.
On every occasion Faen and Yasmin duelled, a thrill began to take hold of him the longer their fights were drawn out. Sure he felt varying levels of elation during fights, but duelling with Yasmin was a special case that brought an even greater degree of it out of him. Perhaps it was because of the aforementioned possibility of being equals in a fight? Was it, maybe, their Elven blood?
That last one certainly seemed to be what influenced Yasmin's decision to hang around him so much. One only had to observe how she looked on others, be they demi-humans, humans, or faunus, to see that. Yasmin treated anyone other than himself and Headmaster Ozpin with a level of disdain, albeit rather begrudgingly to the latter. It was obvious that the Elf-Dracon believed herself better than everyone else, but seeing as he, apparently the only other person of Elven lineage studying in Beacon, was the only person she showed a modicum of respect to, Faen suspected a level of xenophobia to exist within Yasmin.
Now, the elf did not wish to make such a weighty assumption about her, but he could not help it. Especially if such an attitude would affect FFOG's cohesion in battle.
On the subject of their Elven blood, Faen had taken note of another thing about Yasmin during his observations of her. To his surprise, he noticed Yasmin seemed to put a great deal of emphasis on the Elven aspect of her heritage. Sure she was part-Draconic, a fact that Faen felt compelled to give her some respect for being, yet, the young woman before him appeared resolved to focus more on being Elven than Dracon. He never once heard her speak of the Dracon part of her family, and when the Headmaster spoke of her being an Elf-Dracon hybrid that night, Yasmin fidgeted in her seat for a second before returning to her usual cool expression.
The Demi-Human race of Dracons was considerably older and more advanced when compared to most others on Remnant, which included the Elves, so it was a curious choice she was making. He had heard stories, not that he fully believed all of them, of Dracons not being able to shut up about their proud history and greatness of their culture. The question of why she chose to take this course of action intrigued Faen. It tugged at his mind, begging for him to search for an answer to it.
Faen shut his eyes and inhaled deeply. He already had a tonne of crap to deal with, and had been dragged into several other peoples' affairs already. There was no way he was adding this to the pile, as much as he felt tempted to.
Looking to Yasmin herself, Faen took a moment to examine her. She wore her full combat outfit, with the exception of her veil-like facemask and her tailcoat, the former she had put away in her newly acquired locker while her coat had been put on the back of her chair. Apart from that, and the fact she was cleaner, little else was different about Yasmin from when he first met curious of all was the previously mentioned book she was reading from. It was honestly one of the few possessions of hers not geared towards combat or survival in the wild.
The name of this book? Path to Excellence.
Faen was very familiar with his book, as his family kept a copy of their own back home. This book was written by an Elven scholar thirty years ago that espoused the ideal behaviour, attitudes, and characteristics a 'true' Elf should follow and possess at all times. Within its pages were chapter after chapter of rules and guidelines, from matters such as the proper conduct in battle to the appropriate table manners. That was not all, for with them were various philosophical and religious teachings created over the course of Elven history, each one dedicated to further emphasising the 'ideal Elven character.'
He had read the entirety of the book two years ago on the insistence of his parents, and while he found a good number of the ideas inside to be agreeable, parts of it were complete drivel or were too impractical to implement into his own life.
It had gained a remarkably bad reputation among non-Elf audiences, for one of the core ideas espoused within the book's pages was the concept of Elven supremacy over the 'lesser races.' The scholar's view of what 'lesser races' were included humans, faunus, and even the majority of other demi-human races. It was so unpopular, Faen's family took care to conceal the book when people came over, and never took it outside of the house. Not even Grey had been made privy to the knowledge of such a book being in their possession.
Yasmin's willingness to read this particular book in the open spoke either of her daring, arrogance, or stupidity. Considering what Faen currently knew of Yasmin, he was leaning towards arrogance.
All in all, it was not easy putting up with Yasmin, neither was keeping his teammates in the dark as to the exact reason why she had joined them. But Headmaster Ozpin made it clear that this arrangement, and the motives for why it had been made, would remain the way it was until he said so. And Faen was currently unwilling to gainsay the Headmaster.
Figuring that he should do something other than puzzle over all this, Faen turned to the books he had taken and opened the first of the three. Two were books concerning some species of Grimm he wanted to go over, particularly those that lived outside of Avalon, while the other was one that contained details on the Kingdoms. There was still a great deal he needed to learn about both, and now was a fair enough time to expand his knowledge on these subjects. It was not as though there were places or persons he had to be with as of right now.
Picking one of the books on the Grimm to be his first choice to read, Faen opened it up to the first page and began to read away in silence. This book was not a new one, its publication date listed it as nearly forty years ago, and the signs of that age could be seen in how the cover was slightly worn, and the pages within had turned yellow due to oxidisation. Along with the typical signs of age, it had been victim to vandalism, for, much to Faen's annoyance, some halfwit had used a black pen to draw a crude penis on the table of contents page. Specifically besides the heading of Chapter 69, which showed just how so very mature the vandal was.
Such was the dangers of giving horny teenagers free access to materials like this.
Aside from being defaced by even more crude drawings done by the same ass who drew the phallus on the table of contents page, that and it being a pretty old book, it was actually fairly informative. If this book was a bit more up to date, and not defiled by dumb drawings of crows and sword-scythes, he would borrow the book and take it back to his team's dorm for further reading.
Time passed, with the rain outside steadily becoming even more relentless, Faen carried on reading through the books he had taken, all the while looking around to keep an eye on what was happening around him. Looking over to the entrances of the library, more students were coming into the library to stay out of the rain outside, increasing the background noise with their footsteps and voices. Most had the decency to speak in hushed whispers, but a few needed a remainder from the librarian and other students to pipe down. It was as he took up the second, far newer, and vandalism-free book on the Grimm, his silent reading was interrupted by Yasmin.
"Ghastly weather outside," Yasmin commented out of the blue. Looking up from the quite detailed pages on a disturbing, humanoid Grimm known as 'Wendigos', which were known to eat their victims and drive people into states of immense greed, Faen saw she she was watching the rain failing outside the nearby window. "Rain as bad as this at the beginning of Summer. Think it a sign of something?"
"If it is, you should be asking for whom." Faen responded in a low voice, biting back a want to make a sarcastic remark involving superstitions and fools. He did, however, rolls his eyes at Yasmin while she was looking away from him, before turning his gaze back to the pages he was on.
"Too true," the elf heard Yasmin reply back to him in a tone similar to what he had used
Silence came over the two once again. It seemed, and Faen did hope, this silence would last much longer than the initial quiet the two lost themselves in earlier. Before anything like that could happen, though, Yasmin spoke up once more.
"Tell me, Faen, from which of the Avaloni cities do you hail from?" Yasmin asked him all of a sudden, arousing both his caution and interest. She was so very, very pushing the limits of his patients and ability to tolerate her. "Are you from Lossendol? Perhaps Caranenost, maybe? Could it be that you are from Caras Fuin? Surely not Celebithil, you do not appear... conceited enough to be from there."
Faen furrowed his brow at Yasmin's question. While he did let out a quick, amused snort at the jab Yasmin made at the Elves from Celebithil, he had no wish to reveal that particular bit of information.
Truth be told, Faen had never told anyone where he and his family had come from. Promises had been made when they left, and while the memories were hazy, his parents had drilled the wish to keep their original home a secret when they first moved to Selene. Even in the time he knew Grey, Faen had never felt a need or even a flicker of desire to reveal such information to her. Why they had to was... complicated.
The Elven Cities, even within the already isolated Enclaves, secluded themselves from all others. Functioning as independant, or semi-independant, city-states for the greater part of their existence. Even now, in this time of globalisation and change, the Elven Cities had chosen to maintain this status, and had probably grown even more restrictive of who entered them than ever before. While he had not been there in years, what Faen could remember of the four Elven cities of Avalon; Lossendol, Caranenost, Caras Fuin, and Celebithil, were that they were prime examples of those qualities.
Back on topic, if he was unwilling to tell his best friend, there was no way in hell Faen was going to tell a stranger.
"You must forgive me, for I do not feel inclined to divulge such personal information to you." He slowly answered back to Yamin, putting particular emphasis on that last 'you' he uttered. She was undeterred, however, and continued to speak.
"Come now, Faen. All I wish is to know where you came from. What harm could come it? Who knows, perhaps we might be from the same city." Yasmin said as she closed her book, placed it gently on the table, and leaned forward with a tender look mixed with her usual cool facial expression. If she was putting up this look to coerce him into opening up, it was not working, and Faen retained the cold demeanour he kept up whenever they interacted. Seeing what she was attempting had no affect on him, Yasmin dropped the tender facade and matched his facial expression with one of her own.
This was not the first time the Elf-Dracon had tried something like this on him, and, honestly, Faen had also attempted similar techniques to gleam more about Yasmin. Attempted and met with limited to no success. Even when not armed and armoured in a sparring arena, the pair of them were fighting one another in another form and way.
It was... a curious experience to Faen, and one he had mixed feelings on.
As those thoughts swarmed around in his mind, Yasmin leaned back in her seat, crossed her legs, and locked a deep, analysing stare on him. It seemed she was pretty persistent in learning as much as she could from him today, and was trying to think up of some other strategy to pry into his secrets. Well, given his luck so far, Faen allowed himself to feel confident in his ability to deflect whatever she came up with.
Interrupting this little stand-off, Faen's Scroll buzzed all of sudden. In all honesty, the elf was grateful for the distraction, as the stare Yasmin was sending his way was transfixing in a strange sort of way, and he quickly averted his eyes from her and towards his Scroll. Checking what it was, the Elf perked up an eyebrow when he saw it was from Grey. It was most likely an update on Jaune's 'special' situation, and, being extra sure that no one else but him could see his Scroll, Faen opened up the message to see what the Werewolf had to say.
"Jaune passed his test! Me and the others are gonna have a party, you wanna come over? There's cake." That was what Grey had texted him, going so far as to add a smiley face and cake emoji at the end of her message.
'Hmph. So, he passed. Good for him,' Faen thought to himself before stowing his Scroll away. Well, it seemed that Jaune was a worthy enough person to have in Beacon, somehow. He had no idea just how the Human could have possibly succeeded, even if he had received training from Pyrrha, and had half a mind to outright denounce the results as fraudulent as Jaune's original transcripts.
However, Faen pushed those desires down into the deepest recesses of his mind, and surrendered to the knowledge Jaune would most likely be remaining as a Beacon student for the next four years. There were worse things in life, Faen supposed. Who knows, maybe, with further training from the professors and Pyrrha, Jaune could become a great warrior and Huntsman someday. That is if he could survive that long.
Pausing to think of what to do next, Faen shook his head before picking up the three books he had taken out from the shelves, and proceeded to return them to where he had found them. He had learnt enough on the Grimm, and there were plenty of opportunities in the future to learn more about Dracons. Besides, the promise of cake being in this party his companions were having was irresistible to him, that is, if they would have him be a part of their celebration.
Yasmin took note of this and watched him closely. She did not ask what he was doing, nor why he was doing it, just silently watched the Elf pack his stuff away and make ready to leave. It seemed as though Yasmin would remained seated where she was, until she decided that she would not.
"Going somewhere?" The Elf-Dracon abruptly asked while also standing up from her chair, an inquisitive tone to her voice. With slow, cat-like grace, Yasmin walked around the table until she was stood at least two paces from him.
"Back to the dorms. I have business with my teammates that need attending to," Faen responded, taking care to not going into detail what was going on. Of course, because of the vagueness of his response, he suspected that she might become suspicious of him. He had an idea of how he could avert her interest, but there was only way to be sure. "It as to do with the Human comrades my team has taken a liking to."
The mention of 'Human comrades', Teams RWBY and JNPR, seemed to do the trick. No overly visible sign could be seen, but Faen saw Yasmin's right eye twitch for a moment, before she retreated back to her chair.
"If that is so, I will walk back to the dorms with you. However, you can amuse yourself with the Humans on your own, for I will not involve myself in that business of yours whatsoever."
'I would have it no other way,' Faen mentally smirked to himself as he watched his current companion pack her stuff away as well. This did sort of confirm his assumption of Yasmin being xenophobic, which was nothing to be glad about, but Faen had found a way to annoy the enigmatic Elf-Dracon. That too was probably not a good thing, and it probably said something about him if it was the first thing that came to mind, but Faen did not care enough to bother with such thoughts.
Looking out the nearby window, he saw it was still raining. Quite a bummer, but he was accustomed to moving around in the rain, though it did not mean he enjoyed it in any way. Steeling himself for his second shower today, Faen picked up his coat and made for the library's exists, Yasmin striding at arm's distance beside him.
Today was not bad, and he secretly hoped in his heart the coming days would not be as well.
Not far from Faen and Yasmin, though, far enough that it would be hard for the two to notice her, Professor Taupe watched the two interacting with each other. The two seemed well enough.
It was an incredible gamble Ozpin had taken, bringing Yasmin into the Academy. While the background check done on the night of her induction had proven insightful, as did Taupe's own investigation on Yasmin, her current motives were suspect. From Yasmin's student record, she left the Martial School with grades good enough to get herself into any of the Academies, but she efused to enter into further education, and had almost disappeared from the face of Remnant after leaving Sentry.
That night, Yasmin revealed she had gone to the north of Vale and did a brief stint as a vigilante of sorts before witnessing the events in Forever Fall. In her words, Yasmin had been 'hunting rats.' What she could possibly mean by that Taupe had no idea, but Ozpin seemed to know, or had an idea what she was talking about, and accepted Yasmin's words.
Ozpin's act of accepting what Yasmin had to say was equal parts confusing and absurd in Taupe's eyes. Yet, she had to agree with it, for he was his boss after all, and Taupe actually did like having this job.
Nonetheless, the gorgon could not help but suspect there was something going on between the Headmaster and the elf-dracon. What it could be, the professor had no idea, and she was unsure whether she wanted to know or not.
Putting those concerns aside, Yasmin, just like several of the current body of Beacon students, could become an exceptional fighter if trained properly. Taupe had watched the surveillance recording of Yasmin and Faen's duel, and the professor had to admit she was impressed with what she had seen from both duellists. No matter how impressive her combat prowess was, Yasmin's personality and views of others was what she needed to work on the most, however. If Ozpin wished for her to attend Beacon, that attitude needed to be fixed, or at least cooled down so to make it easier for people to work with her.
Fat chance of that happening, though, for Yasmin had Elf and Dracon blood flowing through her veins. A combination like that would no doubt give rise to some trouble in the future. Truth be told, after going through her records from Sentry, it had already caused its fair share of problems.
Well, Ozpin had made his decision, questionable as it was, and Taupe could do nothing but wait for the consequences of it. Whatever they may be.
Turning from the two as they stood up from their table and made to leave the library, Taupe walked up to a window and gazed at the heavy downpour outside. As the rain continued to fall hard outside, and water droplets began to trickle down the window before her, the professor gazed at the reflection looking back at her.
There was her iconic impassive mask, the multitude of snakes that stemmed from her head, and eyes with cyan irises peered from the mask's eyeholes back at her. Yet, the reflection's eyes were not as worn by time, and what little exposed skin around them was smoother and bore no wrinkles. Not for the first time, and definitely not the last, was Taupe looking at a younger image of herself.
She did not know or understand just why this sort of thing happened. It could just be a trick of the light and her imagination was just going wild, could be her age was very much starting to catch up to her, or maybe Taupe really needed to go see a doctor and have this checked out. Whatever the case, in times where the gorgon was under a great deal of stress, or became engrossed in sadness, her mind would drift from the present and go to that innocent and careless girl looking back her right now.
With her mind locked onto those younger days so long ago, Taupe allowed herself to wonder just how she would react if ever she got the chance to come face to face with her pre-Beacon self.
Would a younger Taupe look with pride at how far she had come, or become terrified by how much time had worn away at her? Could she, her present self, muster up the strength to even speak to her younger self?
If she could go into the past and tell her younger self one thing about her future as a Huntress, it would be the sheer number of burdens that she would be forced to carry.
First would be the burden of her team.
Second would be the burden of Themyscira's destruction by the Grimm.
Next, would be the burden of being viewed as some sort of heroine or saviour for saving less than half of the town of Baltia's population and buildings.
After that, Taupe would tell her of the burden of teaching the next generation to be the same as her.
Finally, after having all of that stacked onto her shoulders, the gorgon now carried the weighty truth of the world. The knowledge of the secret war that had been raging on right under everyone's noses. Of the true enemy that sought the destruction of all intelligent life on Remnant.
Blinking her eyes, Taupe saw that the reflection was no longer herself from those halcyon days. It was now, or perhaps had always been, the tired and worn-out woman Taupe had grown to be after so many years of fighting.
Sighing deeply to herself, the gorgon professor turned her mind away from her youth, and focused it on recalling what had taken place in the Headmaster's office three nights ago. For more had happened that night than just a new student being added to Beacon.
After Headmaster Ozpin had spoken to and dismissed Faen and Yasmin from Beacon Tower, he had asked Taupe to remain behind as he wished to discuss something important with her. Shortly after, the two were joined by Professor Goodwitch, and once she had arrived Ozpin got around to telling Taupe why he wanted her to be here. That night Ozpin, alongside Professor Goodwitch, spoke to her of many secrets they had taken steps to keep secret from her and the rest of Remnant. Each greater and more terrible than the last.
The knowledge revealed that night had shaken her, really, and the gorgon had gone through a terrible internal crisis after hearing what the Headmaster had to say on... well, everything about Remnant.
Two students passed behind Taupe, the both of them saying a quick greeting two her as they went by. Taupe only let out a half-hearted greeting of her own in return as she carried on ruminating on what happened three nights ago.
What Ozpin and Goodwitch disclosed to Taupe included just who they, and the headmasters of the other Academies, really were. They told her the full truth behind the creation of the Huntsman Academies. They told her the reason why the Grimm existed and how all life had come to be on Remnant in the first place. Then, probably the most shocking of all the secrets they told Taupe that night, were what they had to say on Demi-Humans.
All they had to say was already shocking enough on their own, but the secrets revealed to her about all Demi-Humans dwarfed almost everything else.
For one, the Order, as this secret faction Ozpin was running referred to themselves, had existed for centuries, and in that time they had been very well aware of the existence of the Demi-Human Enclaves around the world. What was more, they played an active part in maintaining the secrecy and isolation of the Enclaves. True the Demi-Humans themselves went to great lengths to preserve their secrecy; from making entire human settlements disappear to forcing any lost soul unfortunate enough to stumble upon them to stay in the Enclave till their dying days.
However, the idea that an organisation of outlanders going out of their way to do the same was alien and almost unfathomable to Taupe.
The reasons Ozpin gave for his predecessors' actions were, given how Faunus were treated and how Humans began to view Demi-Humans, to conceal their existence until the rest of Remnant was ready to accept and peacefully coexist with them. If that were the case, Fate had really gone and taken a fat shit the size of a six-storey house on that plan of theirs.
With the emergence of the Great War, and the rising threat of the Grimm that came with it, the Order had been forced to act and they proceeded with their plan ahead of schedule. As the war reached its climax, their agents made contact with the Faery King of Avalon and, after no small amount of convincing, persuaded him into helping fight in the war on the side of Vale and Vacuo. That, as well as aiding in locating and pressing the other Enclaves into emerging from their long isolation.
Then they spoke of how Demi-Humans came to be.
Like so many others, Taupe had wished to know from where and why the myriad of Demi-Human races had been created. So many of them had traits that verged on the supernatural, or were outright impossible, the question continued to baffle Remnant's best minds. Recent sciences had done a fair job of trying to explain their origins, but most were speculation or completely unsatisfactory.
Now knowing the truth, the gorgon found whatever lie the Demi-Humans told themselves to be far more preferential. Only chaos would come about if the truth were revealed to the world.
The reason why Ozpin and Goodwitch had chosen to reveal all this to her was for one simple reason. They wanted her to be a part of the Order.
This 'Order' of theirs had existed for centuries, perhaps even millennia, and had served as the hidden guardians of Remnant from the equally secretive enemy that sought their destruction. Its members had consisted of a multitude of people over the course of its long history. To Taupe's great surprise, even that dusty old crow had been a member for almost as long as she had known him.
If the old crow came back to Beacon, they were going to have a long, long conversation.
She had been listed as a potential inductee to the Order as far back as her student days in Beacon, and placed higher on that list due to her 'heroics' at Baltia twenty years ago. Why they wanted her to be a part of their group now was because of an upswing in activity from the Order's enemy, the most prominent and recent being the assassination of Faery King Oberon. The King of Avalon turning out to be in charge of all of the Order's activities in the Enclave he was the sovereign of.
Ozpin assumed the Enemy, those who wished to see Remnant burn, were planning something big, and the Order needed as many agents they could get to be ready for them.
He gave Taupe time to consider his offer, but what choice did the gorgon really have? Her entire worldview had been shaken to their very foundations, and she now aware of a grave threat that conspired against the people of Remnant. She had to accept the offer to join the Order, so to protect what she and innumerable others had sacrificed to achieve and protect. To guard the ignorant masses around her from a sinister threat they knew nothing of, and, for their sake, Taupe desperately hoped they would never know.
Looking down to the rough, scarred skin of her right hand's open palm, the gorgon found herself wishing to hate Ozpin for doing this to her. She wanted to defy him, and refuse his offer. To be angry at the Headmaster for forcing her into the position he had placed her in. Yet, despite what she wanted, Taupe found herself unable to go ahead with it.
More important matters occupied her mind, and while she was miffed at how Ozpin had kept her in the dark for all the years she worked for him, she could see why he had done all he did. Anger would be pointless, and trying to lash out at him would be childish, destructively so if what he said about the Order's enemy was true.
Looking up from her hand, Professor Taupe returned her gaze the window and what was happening outside it. As she looked on, she witnessed Faen and Yasmin pass her by along with the few other students who had decided to brave the heavy rain. Seeing as they had no umbrellas on their persons, the pair were holding their coats over their heads to shield themselves from the rain.
Knowing what she did now, the gorgon wondered how many of the students outside, and those in the library with her, were being watched and assessed by the Order. How many of them was the Order considering to be future members and agents? Only a few select individuals? Entire teams maybe?
One need only look to the first years to see how many potential candidates the Order could choose. From the heiress of Remnant's largest provider of Dust, to the 'invincible' warrior.
Taupe's eyes followed Faen and Yasmin as they hurried through the rain, which, much to everyone's visible relief, had begun to die down. Ever since the trip to Forever Fall Forest, the gorgon's interest in him, and by extension the other members of FFOG, had heightened. There was much promise in him, and if subject to a bit of refining and nudging in the right direction, Faen and the rest of FFOG could become great Huntsmen and Huntresses.
Sure Faen himself had his fair number of flaws. Among them his aloof character, and his lack of a certain level of charisma that would make him an exceptional leader of others. All those, accompanied by his lack of vision for what to do in the future, did not paint a pretty picture of his prospects later in life. In spite of all these worries, Taupe had decided to rate him among other first years who held great potential to be a future Huntsman in her eyes. Others greatly outshone him that was true, yet, Taupe felt a certain pull towards seeing him progress and grow into the Huntsman he could become.
While he might not become an inspirational figure, as plenty of Huntsmen did, there were other ways people in their occupation operated. Perhaps he could benefit from a more personal hand in his education.
Now, Academy professors were not meant to show favouritism of any kind towards their students, but that was hardly ever enforced. Heck, Ozpin himself appeared to be showing a bit too much leniency with Teams RWBY and JNPR's antics when compared to others, especially the former. What harm could come from her giving FFOG some leeway and advice?
Before the gorgon's thoughts could meander to some other topic, Taupe's Scroll noisily vibrated as she received a message from gods know who. Taking the electronic device out of the inside pocket of her Jacket, the gorgon checked what the contents of the message was. Immediately upon seeing it, the professor pinched the bridge of her mask's nose, for the message was a notification for her of a violent altercation between a Yeti, Faunus, and two Human students. It had apparently gotten pretty damn messy, and her personal intervention was needed to help sort it all out.
"Duty calls, I guess," Taupe sighed to herself. The transfer students from the other Academies would be arriving tomorrow, so it was best if she took care of this today. Goodness knows how much trouble the transfer students would bring with them.
Looking outside the window one last time as she stuffed her Scroll back in her pocket, Taupe saw that the clouds had begun to disperse and sunlight streamed down through the growing cracks. At least the weather was getting better; hopefully it was a good omen of things to come.
Hopefully.
That is done. Again, this is pretty much a set up chapter, so nothing too big about it apart from a certain few points.
Next chapter will take place at the start of Volume 2, although, remember that this is FFOG's story, so I will leave out the parts where RWBY takes centre stage. What you can expect from next chapter is Friesian dragging his friends, that includes members of RWBY and JNPR, into my knock-off of Dungeons and Dragons. I swear I'll make it funnier, deeper, and more meaningful, than it sounds. Besides, that will not be the only thing happening next chapter.
I will see you all when I next see you.