Chapter 9 Souls

POV John

As I came up to the locker room, I was glad to find that hall was devoid of people. I guess there was still more of the combat class going on. Not that I was going to be found participating, in any classes for the rest of the day. No, I needed space from my classmate and teammates.

It was not that I had a problem with my team I probably should have listened to them and not fought. It was the looks in their eyes and the rest of the class that I didn't want to see. The look of fear, why would they be looking at me in fear? I was more terrified of them. Sure I managed to beat that asshat, but was it more his fault than anything else. He was the one to make more amateur moves than a fresh boot.

He had let his anger give him that defeat, instead of coming at me with a calm mind. He had more than enough skill to have walked away from that fight with me on the ground. I on the other hand was just glad the kid blinded himself. Because that whole fight I was scared shitless. I was terrified, and I was fighting for survival. I was pretty sure the only reason I didn't try to kill him was I was more scared of Professor Goodwitch than him.

It had struck me again once I got in the ring the fear that I had felt in the forest. The almost petrifying fear of the children and people that surrounded me. I don't know what it was with all these kids and their auras but it was as if I had walked into a Japanese camp. Alone with nothing but a knife, the amount of bloodlust. Or at least the desire to see me fall was so tight in the room I had just left that I could barely stand it. It was like being in that forest again, I could feel every person's aura that was in the room. It was suffocating.

But they still looked at me and fear, as if I was worth being feared by them. My team especially had no reason to fear me. They were the second scariest people in that room after Professor Goodwitch.

I finished changing when I heard a knock on the door of the locker room. Was that one of my team looking for me?

I opened the door not to find my team. Instead was I was greeted by a white-haired older man. Who was once again holding two mugs, a ritual that had become familiar with us.

"I heard that there was a very interesting spare in my combat class today," Ozpin said offer me one of the mugs. I smirked taking the mug, Ozpin was the one person who I had encounter so far whose aura didn't feel like a threat. "I also heard you seemed to have scared quite a few of my students."

"I don't know how, they are the ones to be feared. The only reason I won that fight was that my opponent was green and cocky," I said taking a sip, letting the coffee warm me up. Also, it seemed to ease the pain in my head and body. The hell was this drinking?

"What makes you say that, from where I'm standing I see a man that has survived more than his fair share of close calls. If anything they have very good reason to fear you," Ozpin sagely commented. As we started to walk down the hall, I assume toward my next class. I don't think the headmaster would let me skip a class on my first day. There went my plan for getting space, between me and those terrifying children.

"I guess seeing some without an aura beat a person with theirs unlocked and with training. Would cause some fear, even if it is misplaced."

"Guess I still don't understand your feelings? What do you mean misplaced?" Ozpin asked giving me a confused look.

I stopped walking cause the headmaster to stop as well and turn to face me. The man had been kind to me, how was I to tell him that the children he was in charge of. Were just terrifying to me as the enemy I had been fighting for years. What would he do if he found out after he found out I held such feeling for the people under his charge. Especially since he knew of my past and what I had proven what I had done.

"It didn't hit me again till I was in the ring, the fear that I felt in the forest," I started my eyes glued to the mug of coffee in my hand. "I thought it was just the fact that I had shown up somewhere I had never seen, or the sight of creatures, weapons, and humans doing things I hadn't thought possible."

"But now I know what it is. It's their aura, I could feel every single person's aura in that room. It was stifling, like I was in the middle of the enemy's camp, like every person in the room wanted me dead. Even now I can still feel your aura but that's because you are the only person here."

"And what do you feel from me?" The white-haired man asked, his eyes scanning me looking for a reaction.

"Nothing, yours is the only aura that does feel like a threat," I said taking a shaky drink of my coffee. The older man smiled, before he once again started walking me following behind.

"I believe I know what the problem is, it is also the reason you won't find many normal civilians interacting with hunters and huntresses," Ozpin explained. "It's the fact that you don't have your aura unlocked. People will naturally sense the stronger person, that much is natural, a survival instinct per se. For you the fact that you have seen death having to fight to survive, those instincts are stronger."

Now that I thought about it, it made sense, and as for why I didn't feel it till I got into the ring. Must have been because I was relaxing after I had gotten to Beacon. My mind wasn't thinking like it had been while was on those islands or when I was in the forest.

When I stepped in the ring however I was preparing to fight. So my body was more aware of what was around me. Causing me to inadvertently react to all the aura around me as a threat. But now that I was aware of their auras my body didn't seem to want to relax enough so I could ignore them. This needed to be fixed before I saw my team again.

"Ok, well then do you think we could unlock my aura now. You know before you send me to class," I asked looking expectantly at the headmaster.

"I don't see why not." He nodded turning to face me. "We can do it now in fact, I just need you to clear your mind for me."

Closing my eyes I felt the headmaster put his hands on my chest and forehead. As I focused on my mind going blank, tuning out the world around me. Soon I could feel a warm comforting sensation enter my chest. Filling my body, as if searching for something. I could feel it in all parts of my being, looking, searching, exploring.

But it found was not what it wanted, and I felt it pull out saddened and scared. Depressed and empty as it exited my body. I open my eyes to see a teary-eyed man, staring at me with a look I had seen in many men, my brothers who had seen too much of the war. I was pretty sure I had held that look from time to time as well.

"Are you okay, Ozpin," I asked the distraught headmaster. His clouded eyes cleared at the sound of my voice. He taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes.

"John, I have lived many years, I have unlocked hundreds of auras," He started taking a sip of his coffee in a poor attempt to calm his nerves. "I have never in my years seen a soul as scarred as yours."

"So, what are you saying. If it's that hell is where I'm going when I pass I'll have to say that it didn't want me the first time." I laughed trying to add some humor to the situation. Ozpin just shook his head, looking at me with disbelief. As if the fact I could joke about my soul being scarred shouldn't have been possible. Let alone healthy.

"No John, I'm trying to say that your soul should already be dead. You shouldn't even be dead, forgetting the fact you died in your homeworld. Your soul looks like it should be dead here as well." The distressed headmaster answered slowly recovering from whatever he saw.

"So what does that mean for my aura?" I asked now confused. When I was taught about aura earlier, I was told as long as a living being had a soul it had an aura. So what was the problem, sure my aura was scarred, just like every other person that had fought on those islands.

"John, an aura is the manifestation of a being's soul in the living world. Your soul is so scarred it is all but dead to the living world," Ozpin said looking into my eyes. His hazel eyes filled with the look of a man that has seen too much in his life. One that had just caught a glimpse at a war that made the wars he had seen look like a child's argument. Eyes that had just seen what their owner thought impossible.

"John, you don't have an aura your soul can't make one."