RWBY: The Redeemer
Sorry, I completely forgot to mention this:
For those who are wondering; I decided to take down the poll because I felt the audiences were trolling me. When this story was first published, the majority of the reviews and PMs I received said that I shouldn't bring Claude x Raven back together. Then, after the poll was posted, suddenly everybody wants Claude x Raven back together.
It confused the crap out of me, and after some discussion with a friend and self-reflecting, I decided that the pairing will... follow how the plot and character development go.
That's all, now enjoy!
Beta-read by SkyRig, formerly known as Starlight's Poet.
Chapter 31: D.D.D (I)
When Claude had returned to the dorms of Beacon Academy where his room was, he was greeted by the sight of team RWBY waiting for him by the steps leading to the building - sitting against the cold doors.
The first who noticed his presence was Ruby, who immediately blurred and slammed against Claude's chest, wrapping her arms around him in the process.
Claude had to take a couple of steps back to keep himself from falling over due to the impact. "Whoa, there." He then noticed the frame of his niece was subtly shaking, and then he heard the small sobbing noises coming from where Ruby was pressing her face against him. "...Ruby?"
Claude placed his hands on Ruby's trembling shoulder as his face plastered with worry over Ruby's sobs, only to receive a single reply from her.
"...It's not fair."
Claude blinked and his expression softened, as he wrapped his arms around Ruby to pull her closer.
"It never is." Claude replied with a calm tone before he regarded the rest of the girls. They all were sporting guilty looks - Blake in particular, could not meet his gaze.
Claude let out a breath before speaking, "...I take that Glynda had told you girls what's gonna happen to you?"
The girls perked up, at least Blake and Ruby had rosen their faces up to look at him. "I'm not gonna bother to go over what happened tonight. I can tell by the looks alone that you girls are feeling crappy enough as it is; and to be honest? I'm feeling kind of crappy myself and just want to sleep it off. Your counselling session with me will go for an hour, and tomorrow you will be given online forms where you can fill in the schedule whenever you're free during the week. You're also free to decide who goes first, as long as you girls come in time. Any question?"
The girls looked uncertain as they exchanged glances for a few seconds before they nodded, which Claude returned with his own.
"Good. Then have a good night, girls. I'll see you all tomorrow." Claude gave a tired smile before he proceeded to walk ahead.
However, something caught the hem of his coat, stopping him on his tracks as the girls looked at the sight of Ruby holding her uncle in place.
Claude then crouched down so he could see Ruby on eye-level. The tears had stopped, but her face was still a little bit of sobbing mess with some tear tracks and stain on her cheeks.
"Ruby." Claude gave a more genuine smile as he proceeded to clean off the tear stains with his fingers, meeting Ruby's gaze with his own. "Everything's okay, Ruby. It's all good."
Ruby did not seem to believe so as she bit her lower lip. Noticing that her mood was not lifting up, Claude then pinched both of her cheeks hard enough that he could tug the edge of her lips up.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Claude, shtop it!"
The girls of team RWBY raised their eyebrows at the sight of Ruby flailing her arms around with her cheeks being stretched out.
"Look at me, Ruby." Claude said as he finally released his hold, allowing Ruby to nurse her swollen cheek with her hands.
Ruby pouted at the sight of her uncle still smiling at her. "You're gonna be a huntress, aren't you? So you can't afford to keep sulking like that. Do you want to know what Summer and I do in the face of adversity?"
Ruby blinked when Claude's smile grew into a grin. "We grin and laugh at it" He then shrugged awkwardly. "...Or at least Summer did, I just tagged along most of the time until the habit rubbed on me. There's a saying that the strongest huntsmen and huntresses out there laugh in the face of danger." He then patted on Ruby's face. "So where's that winning smile?"
Ruby found the edge of her lips slowly twitching upwards, as she pulled her hood down her face to hide the amusement and embarrassment plastered on her face. "...Dork."
"Haha! I love you too." Claude replied with a chuckle as he proceeded to ruffle Ruby's locks through her hood.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Claude said one last time as he stood up, receiving a nod that showed Ruby's better mood. He sent one last nod as he walked past the girls who were wearing better expressions on their faces - Yang in particular was giving him a grateful look.
"I'm just saying, sometimes the children just need a good listener, not a professional psychiatrist or counsellor."
Peter said his piece as he, Oobleck and Claude were having breakfast together in the faculty break room.
"Really? Coz the books I've crammed myself in didn't say so." Claude spoke while nursing a mug of coffee; pointing his thumb over a stack of books regarding psychology on the table at the corner.
"That is we're talking about mentally ill person. From what I can gather, team RWBY are distraught over the incident from last night - Ms. Belladonna in particular." Oobleck put in his two-cents, before he leaned against the table with a somber look. "Among the team, I say she took it the worst."
The three teachers nodded in silence - it was never an easy thing to watch a bunch of people being gunned down. The only silver lining was that Blake used to be a part of a terrorist group, so she was not a complete stranger to it, although that was not a good thing either.
"But in any case." Oobleck then spoke up to remove the depressing atmosphere. "These are teenage girls we are talking about here. Sometimes, if you are lucky, they will arrive at their own best conclusion after sharing their thoughts. It happened when I had to counsel students before."
"That sounds comforting as it can get." Claude shrugged.
Then, the door to the room was opened, revealing the Brunesteid and Griswald - ready for the day.
"Brune, Waldo." Peter was the first to greet with a jovial tone. "Good morning, you two! How's your sleep last night?"
"With what took place last night? I gotta ask how you're doing." Griswald nodded to Peter, but his concern was mostly to Claude.
"There is an actual footage of you and the entourages from Atlas fighting the Paladin. It was quite a sight." Brunesteid replied with a small amusement as she and Griswald took their seats on the same table as team CBP(R).
Claude shrugged at Griswald. "Meh, just peachy. It's not as if this is my first time, anyway. You guys know this comes within the territory."
Everyone else could not really refute Claude's statement. It was not uncommon for huntsmen to receive scorn from civilians in the Kingdom when bad things happened. In fact, it had become some kind of a norm for the people that bad things tend to happen if huntsmen were around.
"Anyway, how's Beacon so far to you two?" Claude then decided to move on from the topic.
"Pristine as the last time I remembered it." Griswald replied first with a smile. "I should submit a petition for Rumpole and Theodore for renovation when I return to Shade. Oh, and I have to thank Ozpin and Glynda for lending me a training room for myself every morning."
"Fair, I suppose. I can also see where Lionheart had his inspiration in renovating Haven Academy from." Brunesteid replied with a small huff as she relaxed into her seat.
Griswald then spoke up again, "Say, I recall that headmaster Ozpin said that you are Beacon's part-time counsellor, correct? But I don't recall you don't have any qualifications for counselling people before."
"I don't think Ozpin was looking for a professional in the first place." Brunesteid chipped in as she pointed at Claude. "Thanks to the peculiar circumstances we found around Claude here, he has become the most suitable for the job - the most relatable to the students who are only a few years younger than him at most."
"She nailed it. That's pretty much what Ozpin had in mind when he appointed me for the position." Claude replied. "Actually, I haven't asked this, but who's technically and officially the student counsellor in Beacon?"
Peter and Oobleck exchanged glances before the former replied, "The Academy's doctor and nurse usually have to provide some counselling for students' mental health… If you know what and who I'm talking about?"
Claude blinked and scowled after his mind had quickly connected the current 'official' nurse of Beacon. "Oh, good god…"
Even Griswald winced slightly at the idea of Jersey giving students counselling.
"But I soon took over the counselling job, and sometimes Glynda volunteered to substitute me when I was too busy." Oobleck interrupted, which earned a relieved sigh from Griswald and Claude. "And believe me, Claude. The counselling is basically just you and students having heart-to-heart. You don't need to have every solution for every problem you hear, just listen. That already means a world for them."
Claude nodded thoughtfully at Barty's advice. Before he could have said anything in return, however, Glynda made herself known as she stepped inside the room.
"The morning briefing is about to begin, ladies and gents. General Ironwood, Mr. Ebi and Ms. Ederne are already present in the meeting room."
The teachers turned from their seats to regard the deputy headmistress before they stood up.
"Say, Glynda." Claude called her out as they stepped out of the break room. "Barty told me that you'd give counselling session for students sometime. Any advice you can give me before I go in with team RWBY?"
The deputy headmistress raised an eyebrow before she hummed softly in thought. Then, an imperceptible smile graced her lips. "Just listen to them and be yourself, you'll pick things up shortly enough." She then gave Claude's back a light pat. "...And drop that look off your face, I know what you're thinking, but now is not exactly the time and place to do so."
When everyone walked out of the break room, Glynda stayed a little behind to let the others go ahead - Claude also fell behind so he could talk to her. However, she found that while Claude was asking her for advice about counselling, his eyes were trained towards Brunesteid's back ahead of him.
She understood that Shamir was working for the enemy, but today was not the day they could act as huntsman and huntress without disturbing the hornet's nest, they needed to be teachers first.
"Blake? Remnant to Blaaake?"
The aforementioned girl blinked as she turned to see Yang waving her hand before her face.
"H-huh? What?" Blake replied as she shook her head.
Yang sighed not unkindly, "Sheesh, get a grip will ya? We haven't even made it to the lunch period yet."
"Sorry." Blake gave a small sheepish smile. "What did I miss just now?"
"The teacher from Mistral just asked Claude for a quick match. Man, we're getting a lot of shows lately!" Yang grinned in excitement - an expression that was mirrored by Ruby, and much less mirrored by Weiss - albeit the heiress was also looking forward to the spectacle.
It was during a joint-combat class between students from the four kingdoms - and despite having her mind still clouded by the events of the other night, at least Blake got herself a good distraction for the day, as she looked curiously on the stage.
"Never thought Professor Shamir to be the one who proposed the match between instructors." Sun commented - he was sitting with his team SSSN on the row just behind team RWBY.
The boy himself was wearing a Haven-issued school uniform with his top left unbuttoned, revealing his chiseled abs - something that he appeared to take great pride in.
The team itself was an all-male group, next to Sun was his partner Neptune, sporting his uniform properly but kept his goggles on his head. "I don't think it's that weird, but I can see Sun's point, the lady strikes me as the type who doesn't show off much."
The next person was a boy with red hair and complete undercut. He also sported red markings below his left eye. "She might want to test Beacon's supposedly new combat instructor. No offence, but he looks rather young to me. What do you think, Sage?" The boy who had introduced himself as Scarlet David when Sun introduced his own team to team RWBY that morning, turned to the last member of the team - a tall teenager with dark skin and sage-green hair.
"Anything is just speculation at this point. Why don't we just watch?" Sage Ayana simply replied as he did not leave his eyes from the arena.
"It'd be a sight, I'm sure."
Team RWBY and team SSSN turned to look at Pyrrha, who sat with her team on the row in front/below RWBY. The dubbed 'invincible girl' smiled at them in a quick greeting. "I attended a combat school back in Mistral, and while Professor Shamir works at Haven, she's kind of... famous around the few parts of the Kingdom."
"Ooh, I smell a history between you two." Nora grinned from her seat, noticing the pause in Pyrrha's sentence.
Pyrrha grimaced but kept her smile. "Yeah… It's nothing bad, I assure you, but I personally can't really say it was a good one either." She said after she saw the worried glances from her classmates.
With her team - Nora in particular, RWBY and SSSN giving her curious looks, Pyrrha decided it would not hurt to share with them. "The Lone Wolf of Mistral, the Beast of Haven, those are what most people call Brunesteid Shamir sometimes. I first saw her when she was invited as a guest commentator for my fourth regional tournament."
"Ah, yes. I remember her name being mentioned." Weiss quipped with a thoughtful nod. "...But I wasn't aware that Professor Shamir has that kind of moniker in Mistral."
"They're monikers by some selective group of people, but we digress." Pyrrha carried on. "It was not long after the tournament frenzy had died down when she suddenly came to my house and asked for an audience with me, saying it was some sort of interview for my future plans of huntsmen academy…. And by audience, she asked me for a friendly match."
Eyebrowse began to rise at Pyrrha's story.
"I was at my hometown back in Argus, and I felt bad if I were to turn her away after she came all the way from the capital, so I accepted." Pyrrha sighed in pause. "...Suffice to say, I didn't stand a chance."
Everyone sported various degrees of mild apprehension on their faces as Pyrrha nodded in understanding of their reaction, as she rubbed her arm uncomfortably.
"Her skill, combined with her Semblance puts her on a completely different level, and I was reminded that she was one of the top contenders of 30th Vytal Festival." She then creased her eyebrows. "...Which keeps begging me the question, who was the opponent that beat her that time? I feel like the answer is at the tip of my tongue." She then shook her head. "Anyway, we agreed that my loss to her could open a can of worms if it went out to the public, so the only ones who knew about my encounter with her were my family."
"Claude did mention to me that Professor Shamir has some infamy in Mistral…" Ruby muttered.
"...Well, I guess she's a professional huntress, after all." Weiss commented after listening to Pyrrha's story. "However, this makes me wonder why you chose to come to Vale instead of going to Haven. Professor Shamir could have been a suitable instructor for you, no?"
"You're not wrong, but…." Pyrrha's sheepish smile returned. "Professor Shamir kind of scares me for some reason."
Yikes and ouch - Yang could not help but wince at the last remark. Still, if this Shamir lady was capable of beating someone of Pyrrha's calibre to the point of scaring her, she could only imagine how strong Brunesteid Shamir was. Claude might have been in the same years as hers back in the day, but now?
"Professor Shamir can be scary, sure, but is it really that bad? She's strict, but I heard her cracking a joke or two during classes sometimes." Neptune retorted.
Sage snorted, "More like sarcasm. Her jokes can be too cynical sometimes."
Jaune, however, ended up putting the conversation to a close. "Oh, hey. They're about to start."
oXo
"Never pegged you as someone who puts on a show, Brune. What are you trying to pull?"
Claude asked with a slightly narrowed look at Brunesteid, as they just finished gearing up for a match.
"We are to chaperone students from different schools and kingdoms for the next few semesters, Claude. None of us are acquainted with each other." The woman faunus simply replied with a stoic, calm tone. "I suppose a small exhibition between two teachers from different schools is a logical way to lighten the atmosphere. Mistral and Vale didn't have a good history thanks to the great war, after all."
"So this is basically an ice-breaker? Still strange to see this coming from you of all people."
Brune merely smirked, "Will you believe that I simply miss crossing blades with you again?"
"...Alright, I believe you in that case." Claude eventually nodded before he caught on something else. "But does this mean Waldo, Clover and Elm are doing their own ice-breaking session with the kids from Atlas and Vacuo next door?"
To accommodate the rooms for every student within Beacon, the entire student body from four kingdoms combined were divided into two groups - Beacon with Haven and Vacuo with Atlas; with the former being overseen by Claude, Brunesteid and Glynda, and the latter with Griswald, Clover and Elm.
Claude and Brune then heard a subtle rumbling, along with some muffled cries from the classroom next to theirs.
"I believe it is safe to assume so." Brunesteid replied to Claude's question.
"Poor bastards..." Claude commented as he regarded the wall connecting the two classrooms.
Soon the two arrived at the stage with Glynda waiting for them.
"This might be too late, but are you sure you don't want to use your weapon? I won't mind." Brune asked with a faint taunting tone as she sported a practice dummy sword - modelled specifically after her own weapon.
"Please, this is a spar, it'd make us look bad if I take your offer." Claude replied as he also sported his own dummy sword.
He then glanced at Glynda - who sent him a brief look of concern, which he replied with a small nod and a wink as if saying, 'trust me'. The deputy headmistress then gave him a flat look before she sighed in acceptance.
Glynda then addressed the students watching from their seats. "We will hold a quick exhibition match between Professor Rose and Professor Shamir, to demonstrate to you a glimpse of what Vytal Festival entails. You will do well to pay attention." She regarded the students for another few seconds to make sure that they had listened to her, before returning to address the two combatants. "Aside from your agreement to exclude the use of Semblance in this match, anything else you'd like to say?"
Both Claude and Brunesteid simply regarded each other without a word.
"...Then you may begin when you are ready." Glynda then stepped away from the stage.
Claude and Brunesteid then began by simply circling around, sizing up each other for the first few seconds. They both were using different stances - Brune was holding her sword with her both hands in a conventional Mistralian swordsmanship, while Claude only used one hand.
Then Brune was the first to attack by stepping forward and throwing several swings and thrusts at Claude, who met every strike with his sword.
The man was put on a defensive for a few seconds until he countered with a vertical swing, which Brune simply parried as she spun her body before she countered with a low swing which Claude met with his own. Claude then quickly followed with another vertical swing which Brune simply jerked her body to the side to dodge, before she hopped to avoid a swing aimed for her legs, and Claude used her evasion as an opportunity to step past her guard to blindside her.
However, Brune lowered her body to increase her speed and momentum while turning around, and began to press on with her attacks, pushing Claude back as he countered with a swing and a thrust towards her head, which she skilfully dodged while maintaining her momentum.
They traded more blows, and Claude managed to see an opening and break through Brune's momentum with quick low swings towards her torso and legs, forcing Brune to leap back and gain distance, hence creating a stalemate.
oXo
It was not even 20 second since the duel had begun, yet the display of sheer speed and skill of the combatants left an impression on the audiences. Back to the spectator/students seat, team RWBY, JNPR & SSSN were watching with awe plastered across their faces.
"...Damn." Scarlet managed to get a word out. "He's actually able to keep up with Professor Shamir."
"Are you kidding? I can actually see why P-money is scared of this lady now." Yang quipped without leaving her eyes off the match.
Ruby was biting her lip in silent excitement as she was sitting on the edge of her seat; which was mirrored by Nora and Jaune.
Pyrrha, Ren, Sage, Weiss and Blake did not comment in favour of paying attention to the match with critical looks.
Sun, on the other hand, noticed something on the stage and his eyes widened in apprehension. "...Oh, shit."
"What? What did you see?" Neptune blinked at his partner and followed where Sun was looking at, until he also arrived on the same conclusion. "Oh…. Yeah, shit."
Weiss sent the couple of boys a quick disapproving glare at their use of profanities, but she was also curious of what they referred to. "What is it?"
Neptune glanced at Weiss - whom noted that the members of team SSSN sported the same expression as their leader.
"Professor Shamir is smiling." Ignoring Weiss' confused look, Neptune shifted his sitting position. "Buckle up, fellas. We're in for a show."
oXo
Meanwhile, Claude raised his eyebrows at Brune's expression, "Well, someone's having fun."
Brune blinked for a couple of times before she reached out and traced her lips with her fingers, and only realised herself that she was indeed smiling.
The woman let out a short laugh, "...My goodness, I truly missed this."
Claude snorted, "Well, hate to ruin your fun, but we still have a class to look after, don't we?" He glanced at the students watching.
Brune seemed reluctant to agree as she took a deep breath to school her features.
"Yes…. Yes, you are right." She said as her sharp looks returned, albeit she was still smiling slightly.
The two then dashed forward and met one another in even more fierce exchanges, as they attacked, parried, and attempted to exploit every possible opening and blindspots on each other.
Claude was able to eventually catch Brune off-guard with a powerful swing that broke her guard and forced her to stumble back. Claude went after her to perform another horizontal swing, only for Brune to jump to the air, allowing the sword to glide right below her before she landed in a low stance and pushed forward in retaliation.
This time, Claude was the one who was forced to retreat while defending against Brune's rapid low strikes, before he spotted another opening and seize it with another swing, in which Brune slammed her palm on the floor and got her body up to the air, evading the counter-attack.
More clashes, exchanges and blindsiding later - the two ended up creating another distance after another clash of their dummy swords.
However, Claude made a surprise comeback as he kicked at the ground behind him, propelling him forward for another thrust.
In return, however, Brune merely smirked - as if she had seen the attack coming as she outsmarted her opponent by spinning her body, allowing Claude's thrust to fly harmlessly past her, and used the momentum from her spin to bring her sword down in retaliation.
Claude barely had the time to stop and turn his body around to throw a swing to meet Brunesteid's downright swing as their weapons clashed again.
A loud crack then echoed across the room, the voice caused some of the students to wince as the noise was followed by the sound of something clattering on the floor. Both Claude and Brunesteid were standing still after their final attacks; but the students noticed that Claude's dummy sword had been broken and the remains were laid on the floor next to them.
Soon, the two combatants relaxed as Claude inspected his broken weapon. "Huh… I guess I lost." He shrugged as he gracefully admitted defeat.
Brunesteid simply smirked in return, "True, and it was fun."
They both then turned to Glynda, who seemingly exhaled before addressing the students. "The match has ended with Professor Shamir's victory."
Despite Glynda's announcement of the result, as well as the duel being short-lived, the entire class still responded with applause and cheers at their teachers.
Brunesteid and Claude smiled at each other before they made their way out of the stage to their changing rooms. However, on her way to the lockers, Brune noticed cracks were forming on her own dummy sword. She stared at it for a second before she gave the sword a light tug around the cracked part.
Brunesteid blinked when the sword easily crumbled after the first pull, apparently having received too many strains and damage from her earlier duel with Claude.
Despite learning that her victory was not as satisfying as she had expected, Brunesteid's smile grew into a grin as she resumed her way.
It was evening, after school period and before dinner, when Jaune had to stay for his regular special class with Claude per his apprenticeship.
At the moment, the son of the Arc family was crouching and panting on the floor, holding on his shield and sword embedded to the said floor to support himself. Claude, on the other hand, merely exhaled as he slowly walked towards the boy, while prepping another dummy sword on his shoulder.
"I have to say, you did well on taking my advice to heart. Your stamina has significantly improved." Claude commented, before he bent his knees to prepare another stance. "...But that's just an emergency measure while you're still improving your overall combat skill. Sheer vitality alone won't save you in the face of overwhelming power. Again." He beckoned Jaune to come at him again with his free hand.
The boy stood up and took a deep breath to regather whatever stamina remained in him, before he charged again with his shield forward and his sword ready to strike from behind.
Claude then responded with a downright swing, and Jaune was able to stop his charge in favour of stepping back quickly to avoid the attack instead of taking it head-on.
Better reaction - Claude smirked briefly as Jaune resumed his charge to him and threw several swings with his Crocea Mors blade, which the former easily dodged until Jaune ended up overreaching - allowing Claude to step past his guard and latch on Jaune's shield-arm, yanking it down to lower his defence before Claude sent an upward swing.
Jaune managed to jump ahead and roll forward to avoid the counter-attack. He did not even have a second after getting back on his feet as he had to defend against the following attack. Each strike on his shield caused Jaune to grunt from the weight of the attacks he had to withstand.
The boy was tired, the bones and muscles of his left arm holding his shield were screaming in pain as Jaune kept defending against Claude's attacks. Honestly he wanted to just call it a day, but another part of him could not afford to, and he found it frustrating.
Suddenly, in that fit of frustration, Jaune felt a surge of power welling up inside him.
Claude blinked when he suddenly sensed a huge spike of aura from his apprentice; the latter's aura suddenly flared up as he roared and swung his shield to break Claude's chain of attacks.
Claude whistled at Jaune's impressive counter. However, the spike of aura disappeared as soon as it appeared, leaving Jaune breathless, and Claude did not waste the opening as he spun around to deliver a solid kick to Jaune's gut, sending the boy skidding on the unforgiving floor.
Jaune groaned as he was laid on his back, massaging his throbbing abdomen. Claude stared at the boy's form briefly before he turned to check on his Scroll - Jaune's aura was dangerously in the red and it was almost time for dinner.
"I guess we can call it a night." Claude called out when the door to their training room was opened, revealing Nora and Ren.
"Hey, hey, hey, you two! How's the knuckling down?" Nora greeted with her usual full-energy tone, while Ren simply flashed a cordial smile.
"Ren, Nora." Claude greeted in return. "You guys finished your homework? And Pyrrha's not with you?" He honestly expected the redhead to come along and proceed to smother over her partner as soon as she saw his state.
"You bet we have! It was tedious, yet we prevailed! Also, Pyrrha just went somewhere after she finished hers and made some notes for Jaune-jaune." Nora replied.
"Pyrrha said she needs to make a quick call with her parents back to her hometown, she will re-join us by dinner." Ren said his piece.
"Right." Claude nodded as he walked over to Jaune, who was still panting on the floor. He offered his hand to his charge. "How are you holding up?"
"...You tell me." Jaune could not help but to be snappy, yet he still accepted the offered hand as Claude pulled him up with an amused look.
"Hm, you're still good." Claude nodded and waited for a second for Jaune to regain his bearing before speaking again. "I say you're pretty much on a level of a combat school graduate. You've covered the basic forms, your reaction and stamina have improved as well. We will keep working on your spatial awareness, perception, and… discovering your Semblance."
"Yeah, sure. Great." Jaune said with a slightly dejected tone.
"What's wrong, young man?" Claude asked with a mix of bemusement and concern in his tone. "That tone of yours sounds like you're doubting yourself again."
"Aw, come on! Cheer up, fearless leader!" Nora quipped as she and Ren had come over to greet their leader. "Even I only discovered my Semblance around a year after my aura was unlocked, and it was by a pure accident!" She said with an encouraging tone.
"Nora is right, Jaune." Ren concurring with his partner. "To be fair, you also only unlocked your aura not too long ago, so I'm afraid discovering your Semblance won't be so easy. But we will be with you along the way."
Jaune seemed to cheer up, if only a bit, as he smiled at his friends. "Yeah… You're right. Thanks, guys."
"That's the spirit. Now go get yourself a shower and dinner. Tomorrow we will approach aura manipulation. Have a good night, you three; and send my regards to Pyrrha." Claude clapped on Jaune's shoulder one last time before turning away.
"Ah, Claude, wait!"
The man paused on his track to look at Jaune calling him out. The boy looked around nervously for a second before speaking up.
"Do you have anything to do after dinner?"
Claude blinked at the question but answered nonetheless. "Yes. Why did you ask?"
Jaune rubbed the back of his head as he replied, "I… was wondering if we can talk after dinner. I need advice."
Claude raised both of his eyebrows before he glanced at Ren and Nora, who were looking as clueless as he was about Jaune's sudden request.
Claude then returned to address his apprentice. "I've already made appointments with some members of team RWBY for counselling sessions. Is this something important?"
"Well, yeah, but… Nah, it's nothing that important. You can take care of Ruby and the others first. Sorry for asking." Jaune gave a sheepish grin.
Claude became more curious after he had seen Jaune's expression and body language. "I haven't said no; but you know what? If you don't mind, I can probably make some time after I talk with those girls, depending on how long we will talk. So it will be quite late by the time I'm free. What do you say?"
Jaune blinked as he contemplated again before he met Claude's gaze with his. "I can do that. Sure. So, see you later?"
Claude then nodded with a smile. "Sure. I'll text to your Scroll later by the time I'm done with RWBY. See you later, Jaune."
Blake Belladonna could not help but to feel restless as she sat on the reclining chair in Claude's office.
She ended up taking the first turn to have a counselling session with Claude, following the incidents that involved an Atlesian Paladin and the White Fang, which resulted in damages on public property, injuries and even deaths of some faunus civilians.
"Here."
Blake blinked to see Claude offering a cup of hot tea, which she accepted easily enough.
"I hope you're fine with an instant bag one. I don't know how to brew tea leaves." Claude smiled apologetically with a hint of joke as he took his own seat.
"Thank you." Blake returned his smile with her bitter one - considering how much trouble she had caused him, she was already thankful that he even bothered to provide her with drinks in the first place. Besides, judging from the smell she got from her drink - for someone who never brewed tea, Claude sure knew which brand to pick.
The man then sat on the chair opposite of her, "Okay, so let's begin with some quick rules." Claude held up a hand as a sign of calming gesture, before continuing, "One, if I end up saying something rude or insensitive, don't hesitate to correct me, I'm honestly still new to this job."
Claude began with a small smile to lighten up the mood, which Blake accepted easily enough with a nod.
"Two, I might be your teacher, but considering what we're doing, what we talk about in this room will remain in this room unless you allow otherwise, so I hope we can be honest with each other."
Again, Blake nodded as she looked down on her tea.
"...And three, related to the second rule - can you take that ribbon off whenever we're in session?"
Blake's head shot up as she looked on in a mild panic, but Claude instead merely met her gaze with his own. The girl bit her lip as she sported a contemplating look for a few seconds, before her hand slowly reached up to undo the black fabric covering her feline ears.
When Blake regarded Claude again, she noticed that he was looking particularly at her ears. "...Claude?" She asked as she held down the urge to cover her ears with her free hand.
The man blinked as he shook his head with a small smile on his face. "Sorry. It's just…" His smile then turned kind of sheepish as a nearly-imperceptible blush adorned his cheek. "You do look better without the ribbon." He spoke before he bowed his head down and ran his hand through his locks.
Blake had heard Sun complimented her faunus features before, and while appreciated, she simply brushed it off as a light flirting attempt from his part. When Claude said it however, his slightly embarrassed reaction indicated sincerity; Blake was glad that he was bowing his head down, so he would not see her own flustered face as she hid it by sipping her drink.
"...Thanks."
Claude then clapped his hands and placed them on his laps. "Anyway, let's get this started. Anything you'd like to say first?"
Her embarrassment vanished as Blake looked down back on her tea, her mind went back to the Paladin incident. She had spent an entire night feeling awful about the absolute mess she caused, the fact that Claude had not been incarcerated after taking the blame for her and her team only did so much for her conscience.
"I… want to apologize." Blake began.
Claude blinked, "...What for?"
"Everything." Blake replied with closed eyes. "What you told us not to, the mission, the Paladin, the highway…. Everything. I should've listened to you." She opened her eyes to reveal the sheer regret in her orbs.
Claude sighed as he closed his eyes briefly, "I could've told you something to give you a peace of mind, yet I didn't. So what happened that night was partly my fault too."
Blake's eyes shot up to him - she wanted to say that he was wrong, that the whole mess was because she was too thick-headed and arrogant to trust him, believing that she was the only one who could do the job when it came to the White Fang.
However, Claude's soft expression stopped whatever that was about to come out of her mouth. Eventually, Blake only looked down as she felt conflicted.
"But at least, with this I hope you understand to leave this kind of thing to us adults. Your job as a student is to learn and grow while our job is to ensure that you can learn and grow without much distraction."
"I'm sorry." Blake apologized again; her eyes were closed in inner turmoil. "It's just… The robberies, White Fang, Roman Torchwick…"
"I know." Claude nodded in understanding. "I get that you're worried, with the tension around is high and all, but I need you to calm down."
Blake lifted her face up to meet Claude's silver orbs with her amber ones, but she could not say anything as she was still conflicted.
Claude only smiled as he mused, "You know, one of my teachers once told me when I was still a student like you; while you're not wrong to be ready for what's to come, the best preparation must be held between tension and ease. You need to be able to stand between alertness and relaxation - ready to take action, but restful enough not to drain yourself dry; it's an act of balance, balance being the keyword here."
"...How do you do that?" Blake asked with a curious tone.
"No clue." Claude shrugged, causing Blake to blanch slightly at the reply. "It's something that you need to figure out on your own. Find your own balance. Though, I believe a good starting point will be to take it easy with your team - have fun, relax. It's okay to look into things to stay updated and to train to keep yourself ready, but never forget to rest. You will need to be in your tip-top shape when the time actually comes."
Blake looked at the faint reflection of her face on the tea in her cup, letting Claude's words sink into her mind. Soon, a small smile gradually crept up her lips as she nodded. "I will give it a shot, sir. Thanks for the advice."
"What's with the 'sir' all of sudden? But you're welcome." Claude smiled in return.
Claude glanced at the clock and clapped his hand lightly. "Now, since we still have time; mind telling me some of your days in the White Fang? No need to get into details, I'm kind of curious when the White Fang was actually helping people. There had to be one or two moments."
Blake blinked and looked down on her drink again before replying, "There…. Actually were." She then took another sip. "Moments where we did some good; a change for the better. Things that made me think I've made the best decision."
"...Can you tell me about them?"
Blake glanced at Claude's soft smile, which caused her to mirror his expression as well.
"Yes, I guess I can."
oXo
Ruby was not sure what to make out of her current predicament.
"So, how are you feeling at the moment, Ruby?"
Claude asked from his seat which was only a few steps away from hers. The young girl was holding a cup of hot milk tea that Claude once brewed to her back at Patch.
"Um… Okay, I guess?" Ruby did not like finding herself feeling nervous, she then brought something up to keep herself happy. "Oh, and that fight you had with Professor Shamir was awesome! You both were like 'fwoosh'! Then 'clank'! Boom! Hyaah!"
Ruby's rant went on for a full-minute until she realised that Claude had been watching her with an amused smile on his face. In response, Ruby pulled her hood over her head to hide her blushing face as she tried to sink deeper into her seat.
"...Sorry."
At his niece's timid apology, Claude simply chuckled. "Relax, Rubes. This session is meant to make you feel better. I'm glad to see you being cheerful without me doing anything."
Ruby gave a sheepish smile "Yeah… I guess I just want to move on from the incident that night."
Claude nodded in understanding before replying a few moments later. "That's the best I can ask you, Ruby."
Ruby then slowly met her uncle's eyes with her own. "So… Have you gone through something similar before?"
"Yes." was all Claude said that caused Ruby to scowl sadly.
"But that's a part of being a huntress and huntsman entails." Claude urged Ruby to look at him again. "People within the Kingdom tend to… not understand hardship. They've been living in peace and sometimes see a huntsman's presence as a sign of bad news - like something bad was happening that a huntsman needed to be around."
"But… we're there to help them." Ruby commented.
"Yeah, that's the weird thing. It's our job in the end." Claude nodded.
Ruby's face then grew more anxious. "Then, does that mean my mom…?"
Claude gave a solemn nod, "Most likely, I don't know all of them myself, but I don't think it's anything too bad for her to handle. You know how strong Summer was." He grinned as he reached out to pat on Ruby's head, who silently giggled at Claude's touch.
"Still, it's not bad all the time." Ruby then looked up as Claude pulled his hand back. "On the contrary, outside the kingdom's walls, most people on settlements and frontier are quite appreciative and welcoming towards a huntsman. Sometimes, as long as they're within reason, they tend to hand out free services and commodities if we do our job well. My team and I once got a free lodging, complete with dinner and breakfast at the inn of the settlement during missions. Even Summer once told me a settlement practically threw them a feast."
Ruby let out a silent 'oh' as her head bobbed up and down.
"So… Yeah, being a huntsman has its ups and downs. But after what you witnessed, what happened to me, do you still want to become a huntress?"
Ruby's silver orbs met with Claude's own and the two merely regarded each other silently for a good few seconds, until the girl nodded.
Claude's own reply was a pleased smile as the two joined in for a hug.
oXo
Claude texted on his scroll a minute after Ruby had walked out the room. A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in." Claude called out and the person from behind the door went in.
"I half-expected for this talk to wait for another day, Jaune." Claude addressed his apprentice.
Jaune Arc only smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry again about this. But I… kind of needed this talk."
Claude exhaled, "Okay, so what's up?"
"Well…. You know that the dance party is coming up soon." Jaune began.
However, the boy was interrupted by Claude raising his hand up with a questioning look on his face, "Wait, hang on a sec. Dance party? What dance party?"
Jaune blinked, "Err, you know? The ball? The dance party that is issued by Beacon Academy to welcome the students from other Kingdoms before we all go for our field mission?"
It actually took a good few seconds for Claude's mind to click, as he placed his knuckle on his open palm. "Oh, right! The dance. Whew, it actually slipped my mind." He spoke as if he was amused by himself. "Okay, so what is this about the dance?"
Jaune looked anxious for a second before he decided to blurt it out. "I need your advice on how to ask Weiss out to the dance."
Claude simply inhaled and exhaled deeply through his nose as he regarded Jaune's request with a neutral expression.
Oh, boy….
Omake
It was evening in Beacon Academy and Claude was standing in front of a door-room inside the first-year dormitory building, and for the first time, it was not Team STRQ's room.
Earlier that day, Qrow ended up in a fight with another first-year student, whom according to the former and some other eye-witnesses, began the altercations after taking his teasing on Raven and Summer too far.
Summer and Raven - the former, especially, was in a bad mood for the rest of the day and currently waiting with her team in her room; while Claude - being a good older brother he was, volunteering to 'straight things up' with the offending first-year.
On that note, Summer had repeatedly asked Claude to settle things up maturely and without violence.
Claude inwardly scoffed after knocking the door. Please, I can talk down some first-year brat just fine - easy.
The door was opened, revealing the leader of the team, and long-story short, Claude had been given permission to have a private talk with the first-year that fought Qrow - Kit, while the rest of the team would wait in the common room.
The first-year in question was sulking while reading a comic book on his bed, while Claude opted to stand and try to act cool to smooth things up.
"Alright, Kit. The name's Claude, I'm the older brother of Summer, y'know, team STRQ? I'm from CBPR, by the way." Claude began with an amicable tone.
In return, Kit merely closed his book to throw a defiant glare. "The name's Claude." He parroted with a mocking tone.
Claude blinked at the blatant mockery, but chose not to rise up to the bait. "Okay, that's not anyway a cool start at all. Look, I just want to let you know that what you did with my sister's team today was wrong."
"What you did with my sister's team was wrong."
When Kit parroted again with the same tone, Claude's eyebrows began to furrow as he crossed his arms. "...You're not making this easy, Kit."
In response, Kit simply mocked harder. "You're not making this easy, Kit. My name is Claude Rose, I'm a big fat numb-nuts."
Claude was also feeling confused at the choice of mocking words directed at him. "I don't know where you got to choose that word from, but I need you to shut up now."
Kit did not listen as he kept mocking the older student. "I'm Claude Rose, I'm a big fat dumb fuckface."
Claude felt his patience running thin. "...I said, shut up, Kit."
"Fuckface!" the first-year simply stood up and pointed at Claude in a display of further defiance.
Claude simply narrowed his eyes before he moved.
oXo
Back in the second-year dormitory, the rest of team CBPR was lounging and enjoying their leisure time on their respective beds, when Claude suddenly walked in while looking strangely disheveled and seemingly in a hurry.
"Oh, Claude. Welcome back." Barty was the first to greet him.
"How was the talk with the first-year team?" Peter followed suit. "I hope everything went well?"
"Hey, Bart, Peter, Rome, what's up?" Claude replied somewhat too fast as he combed his hair back with his fingers without looking back at his team. "Oh, and the talk was okay. Thanks for asking."
The team blinked as their leader looked pensive for some reason, as he just dropped on his bed and laid there, staring at the ceiling.
"Is everything alright?" Barty asked while fixing his glasses.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything's cool right now." Again, Claude replied with a fast pace, which sounded nervous to all of them. "...Well, maybe some problems later, but, err... I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."
Barty, Peter and Roman exchanged glances until the latter noticed one particular detail on his partner/leader. "Um, Claude? Is that blood on your nose?"
Claude wiped the stain and noticed the bloody trace on his finger. "This is not mine…" Then his eyes widened as if alarmed, "I mean, it's definitely mine. Not some random poor sap's blood or anything." His tone was downright suspicious at this point.
Before the team could have asked further, someone suddenly rapped on their door. In response, Claude suddenly got up as well and stretched up. "Welp, gotta go now."
"Where are you going?" Barty asked, and he was further confused that Claude walked up to the window instead of the door. "Err, Claude? The door is the other way around."
"Haha, you said it." Claude simply grinned and pointed knowingly at Barty. "Okay, guys. See ya later, take it easy."
When Claude opened the window, a familiar voice echoed from beyond the door, along with another knocking.
"CLAUDE, GET YOUR BUTT UP AND OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"
The team winced at the sheer volume of Summer's voice before Peter decided to open the door to Summer, who was looking positively livid. The girl scanned around the room and found the window was open with no sign of her brother in the room.
"Um, Summer?" Peter asked. "May I ask what's going on?"
"He just beat the tar out of my classmate! And I thought he's supposed to just talk!" Summer shouted, which prompted the team CBPR to connect the dots and groaned.
Tai then popped in - apparently had followed his leader. "I want to say Kit had it coming, but-" When he received a warning glare from Summer, he wisely stopped talking and walked away. "I'll go get Raven."
Thoughts? Good? Bad? I hope the chapter doesn't come out as bland or not making sense... too much. Anyway, please review!