Author's Note: I can assure you I have no plans for shipping an OC with an established character. I may be cringe, but I ain't stupid. Well, too stupid.
"So, there we were, in the middle of the night..."
"It was day." Ren responded, tired of his other half.
Akamu was sitting next to Ruby at the end of the table as he ate lunch, trying to adjust to life among the rest of humanity. Though the packed lunchroom didn't exactly help his anxiety, Nora's story, now matter how fantastical, captured his attention rather well. Though he was listening to the story and eating lunch, he couldn't help but also stare at the failed prototype of Prelude that sat in front of him. The string had snapped due to the high force of the crossbow style launcher, which then caused the arms to break forward, which probably would've happened regardless of the string.
"We were surrounded by Ursai..." Nora continued, unphased by Ren's correction.
Ren corrected her again. "They were Beowolves."
"Dozens of them!" Nora practically shouted, jumping from her seat.
"Two of them." Ren said, exasperated.
"But they were no match..." Nora continued, putting an end to her extremely exaggerated story. "And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"
Ren sighed and continued on for her. "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now." This statement confused Akamu even more, but before he could even think about it, a previously silent Pyrrha spoke up.
"Jaune? Are you okay?" She asked, a concern in her eyes. Akamu realized that Ruby was looking at him in a similar fashion.
After a moment, Jaune shook his head and faced the other team lead. "Oh, yeah! Why?
"It's just that you seem a little..." Akamu saw Ruby searching her head for the correct thing to say. "Not okay."
Everyone seemed to start paying attention to this new conversation. "Guys, seriously, I'm fine! Look!" Jaune said, trying to ease everyone by making a thumbs up and putting on his best fake smile. The nervous laughter also did nothing to help his horrible lying. However, while he was holding the posture, he suddenly looked over at a different table.
Where Jaune's eyes lay was an entire team, one of the members Akamu recognized. It was Cardin, and his entire team appeared to be harassing a girl, just minding her own business. It didn't even click into Akamu's mind what they were making fun of her for until he saw the gray haired one mimicking her faunus ears. At this realization, Akamu felt a small rage burning inside of him, but was drawn back to his own table at the sound of Pyrrha's voice again.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school."
Jaune snapped back to his own table as well, turning to face the expert fighter. "What, Cardin Winchester? Nah, he just likes to mess around! Ya know, practical jokes!"
Ruby frowned at Jaune. "He's a bully."
"Pfft, please, name one time he's bullied me."
"How about that time he knocked the book out of your hands in the hall." Blake offered as an example.
Weiss also pitched in. "Or that time he activated your weapon in the door to class!"
"When he called you weak after our match a few days ago." Akamu also put on the table.
"How about that time he shoved you in your locker and launched it?" Pyrrha added, growing tired of Jaune's defensiveness.
Jaune tried to laugh it off. "Aw, come on, I wasn't that far from the school when I landed!"
"Jaune, if you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrah said, trying to get through to the stubborn boy.
Suddenly, Nora got up with an excited noise and an even more excited face. "We'll break his legs!" She stated factually, punching her fists together.
Jaune also stood, putting his hands in front of him as a calming gesture. "Guys, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."
As Jaune said this, a pained cry came over from where Cardin was, now tugging on the girl's rabbit ears. Akamu felt that same rage from before turn into a bonfire as he started to let out a growl before stopping himself, realizing he probably had a few more, more primal, things he needed to learn to not do. He became even more embarrassed when Ruby looked at him with a surprised face. 'She heard...' However, Akamu looked back at the table, the girl now rushing away hiding her face behind a hand. 'Cardin's gonna pay for that.'
"Atrocious." Pyrrha stated, supporting Akamu's beliefs. "I can't stand people like him."
Akamu then noticed Blake glaring at the brawny boy. "Unfortunate he's not the only one." Akamu again felt the phantom pain in his jaw.
"Hey, Akamu, is it hard being a faunus?" A sad looking Yang asked, head in her hands.
Akamu thought for a second before answering as truthfully as he could without sharing too much. "Sometimes, yeah."
Though Akamu didn't consider himself a thrill seeker, his days on Mount Glen proving to be enough thrill for a few lifetimes over, he still enjoyed free climbing despite the dangers. Though his body had fully healed since his sudden departure, a fall from this height would hurt if he didn't focus his aura. Still, he climbed along the buildings, working on general body strength in the most fun way he knew how when he heard a few familiar voices coming from the top of a nearby building. Leaping over to a closer building and using his brace in place of finger strength, he sidled along the edge when the voices finally started making sense.
"-ittle push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us! I mean, you got into Beacon; that should speak volumes about what you can do!" Pyrrha explained, trying again to get through to her team lead. Though Akamu was relatively close to them, the chatter from inside the building blocked out most of what Jaune said, other than something about her being wrong.
"That's a terrible thing to say, of course you belong here!" Pyrrha argued.
Suddenly, Jaune's voice raised loud enough to where Akamu could hear it. "No, I don't!" Akamu had reached the point to where he could jump onto the building they were on. With a quiet leap, he silently slammed himself into the wall and stopped moving so he could hear the again quiet Jaune. "I wasn't actually accepted into Beacon."
Though Akamu realized what he said, Pyrrha still asked. "What do you mean?"
Again, Jaune got loud. "I mean I didn't go to combat school, didn't pass any tests, I didn't earn my place in this academy! I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and lied." He explained, reaching his breaking point. Akamu was starting to remember how much he wanted to be in this school before it was handed to him. He still didn't know why Ozpin put him in, his skill with weapons was still rather basic compared to the entry-level tests needed to have a chance to get into Beacon.
"Wait, why would you do that?" Pyrrha asked, her voice concerned but soft.
A noise came from Jaune as he tried to make sense of his thoughts. "It- W- Cus' it's what I've always wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and even his father were all warriors and heroes. I wanted to be one too, but was just never good enough."
"Then let me help-" Pyrrha said before being interrupted.
"I don't. Want. Help. I don't want to be that damsel in distress, stuck in a tree while his friends fight for their lives! I'm tired of being the lovable idiot who barely gets by! Don't you understand that!?" Jaune sighed, attempting to calm himself. "If I can't do this on my own, then what good am I?" The shuffle of feet could be heard before he spoke again. "Please, just, leave me alone."
A sad Pyrrha responded. "If that's what you think is best." The sounds of footsteps walking and a door opening and closing was heard.
Before Akamu could start to make sense of what happened, another person decided to throw their way into this situation. Cardin. Fetching his Scroll, Akamu turned on the camera to record what was about to happen. Even if he got into trouble, Akamu wanted to make sure that there was evidence to support Cardin bullying Jaune, possibly even injuring.
A chuckle came from Cardin as he finally crested the edge of the building. "Oh, Jaune, funny meeting you here. You know, I was in my dorm room when I overheard everything you said. So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? Gotta say, Jaune, didn't expect you to be such a rebel."
A panicked Jaune reached Akamu's ears. "Please, Cardin, Please don't tell anyone."
"Pfft, come on Jaune, I'd never rat out a friend like that." Cardin said, his voice dangerous.
"Uh, friends?" Asked Jaune, confused.
Before he could hear the response, Akamu heard the struggle of Jaune being... Choked? Cardin continued. "Of course, Jaune. We're friends now! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a looong time. That being said, I don't exactly have time to do those extra readings Oobleck gave us. Mind doing them for me?" The only response Cardin got was a cough. "That's what I thought. Don't worry, bud, your secret's safe with me." Cardin finished as he crawled back into his dorm window. 'Like the snake you are.'
Realizing that he was, in fact, dangling from the side of a building, Akamu quickly shuffled down to the bottom floor before landing and emerging from some bushes, much to the surprise of a random student. Apologizing, he went back into his own dorm room to process what just happened. He entirely forgot he was avoiding Ruby after his embarrassing outburst at lunch.
As Akamu entered the dorm room, instead of being assaulted by Ruby, he was instead assaulted by Weiss. "And just where have you been?" The Ice Queen asked, pushing her finger into Akamu's chest. Akamu only realized he was slightly taller than her when she was in heels. 'Okay, that's a weird thought.'
"Oh, I was taking a jog." Akamu lied, though it was a good lie seeing as he was a sweaty mess.
Weiss made a 'Harumph' noise. "Well, Ruby's been asking where you were. Went out looking for you, but I'll message her." Her face then scrunched. "You need a shower."
While Akamu had showered before, it hadn't exactly clicked perfectly in his head, and thus the soap bar didn't exactly cooperate with him. At least he smelled nice, especially his now bruised toes. As he hummed away a tune that had been lodged in his head all day, he finished scrubbing his hair, rinsed, and turned off the shower. Though the monotony of it was, well, monotonous, he couldn't help but feel more relaxed than he had in a long time. Until he looked at his face in the mirror, the discoloration of scars peppering his tanned face. Instinctively, Akamu looked away, trying to shake the sight out of all those scars out of his head. Though he tolerated his face, he couldn't stand the sight of all his mistakes staring back at him.
As he dried himself off and put on a standard t-shirt and shorts, he could hear the chatter of conversation outside. Unfortunately, his ears were currently hidden under a towel to prevent heat loss, a very real issue to his sensitive and thin wolf ears, meaning he couldn't understand anything being said. Wrapping the second towel he used to prevent the floor getting wet around his neck, he unlocked the door and stepped out. Immediately, the conversation stopped, and Akamu locked eyes with Ruby who looked somewhat concerned.
"Hey, Um..." Again, Ruby's charisma was infallible. "You doing okay? I know you got upset earlier-" Akamu blushed in shame. "- And I just want to make sure that you're doing okay. I know you've been avoiding people all day and just..." Ruby paused searching for words, only before stopping and looking up at the faunus boy.
Akamu thought for a second on all that had happened today before trying his best to answer truthfully. "I... People like Cardin really upset me for several reasons. I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of that kind of treatment, and it's awful. Honestly, I have been avoiding people since lunch. Needed time to work through my thoughts." Akamu was now sitting at the desk, unconsciously rubbing at his jaw with closed eyes. "I'm doing better now. But!" Akamu held up a finger and looked at his team with the most serious look he could muster. "Don't expect me to be as civil towards him as in the past." Akamu watched as a smile spread on Yang's face.
The breeze blew against Akamu's side as he aimed Prelude at the limbs of a far tree. With the new and enhanced pieces coming in the mail, and with a little bit of help from the resident weapon nut, Akamu had rebuilt the weapon, which was now even lighter than before. As he held his left arm up, braced with his other arm, he aimed with his pointer finger, and twisted his wrist.
Pthew pkrt... Thwack!
Akamu watched as the rope dart flew in the sky, linked to him by a mix between a rope and a power cable, and hit the limb dead on, only to pierce through. With another twist of his wrist back into normal position, the end of the dart sent out barbs onto the other side of the limb and started reeling in. Akamu suddenly felt a tug on his arm, lessened by the brace which now had an entire strap system on his chest under his shirt, and started sliding forwards. As Akamu turned his wrist inward more and more, the speed soon became extreme enough to make his eyes water. Unsheathing Epilogue, he adjusted is grip to make sure he could hit the switch hidden on both sides just under the cross guard. Skirting along the ground, he readied himself, the tree approaching at a fast pace. Suddenly, Akamu flipped the switch with his thumb, feeling the rumble of machinery inside and a button exposing itself on the grip.
Pressing the button, Akamu felt the blade become weightless, empowered by gravity dust, and the edge becoming a dark purple. With a quick slice, the tree was technically felled, only held up at the moment by friction which was not enough to hold it. As the rope pulled Akamu up into the air, he reversed his wrist and felt the tension come loose, watching the rope sans barb return into the Prelude. With a quick fist pump, he heard the reloading mechanism rotate, and watched a new type of dart come into the launching platform. Again, he twisted his wrist and watched as the crossbow style device fired the dart upward, only for an explosion of dust to burst from the back to gain distance from Akamu. With another inward twist, he watched as the cable began glowing red, signifying the dust coming through. Like a rocket, the back of the dart began firing a red flame, slowing Akamu's descent towards the ground. With a soft landing, he let go of the dart, watching it fly into the air before running out of fuel and landing somewhere nearby. He didn't even notice that the tree had fallen during the flight.
Finally, Akamu released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, glad that the more-than-reckless test of his new gear worked. From a distance, he could hear the applause of Ruby, who'd come with him to ensure his safety if something happened. She also just wanted to see it all work. Realizing his fast heartbeat, Akamu began walking back over to Ruby, the adrenaline finally running out of his veins. Weapons were done, Outfit was the next step, but surely a shop could handle that, right? He needed to ask Ruby.
"Nope." Ruby said as they entered the city limits.
"What do you mean 'Nope!?' Surely there must be somewhere that can help!" Akamu argued, clearly upset at the news.
Ruby giggled. "Nope, there's nowhere in this city that can make you an outfit. I mean, sure, you can buy some clothes and call it a hunter outfit, but that isn't the real deal. However! I-" Ruby said, pointing her thumb at herself. "-can help you. It's not exactly hard once you know what you're doing." Akamu was already about to say yes before she interrupted him. "I do require payment, however." Akamu watched as her mood changed quickly. "I'm not passing history, can you help!?"
Akamu giggled and responded back in a light tone. "Yeah, okay, I'll see what I can do." Akamu didn't expect the incoming hug.
The rest of the walk back to Beacon went by uneventfully, minus the quick stop at a clothing store and a noodle shop. Akamu hadn't had noodles in a long time, and he made sure to remember that he liked them. As the two boarded the Bullhead, Ruby's scroll chirped. Checking it, her face had a blank moment before she had a moment of realization.
"Oh, Akamu, we've got a field trip to Forever Fall tomorrow! I realize you're not legally part of the team yet, but I would still like for you to come." Ruby said knowing she should have talked about this earlier. Akamu just shook his head, chuckled, and murmured something like 'yeah okay' and burrowed his face into the new thick scarf he just got.
The rest of the day passed without anything really happening, Akamu helping Ruby with her history homework, and her helping him with his new outfit. She had lied when it was more than just buying clothes for the most part. The thing that was difficult was sowing in the armor padding. What surprised him was Weiss bringing her coffee. Well, it smelled like coffee, but looked more like chocolate milk. 'Well, I guess that does make sense. She likes sweet things way too much.' As Akamu went to bed for the night, Ruby went out to get a drink. She was gone for a while longer than normal, which was an odd thing to notice. 'She's helping the Jaune problem.' The thought intruded his head. Feeling calmer about it, he laid back down, and as he started falling asleep, he felt the the vibration of the dorm door opening and closing.
Akamu had been over a large span of Remnant during his life but nothing came close to the beauty of this forest. The red leaves floating through the air constantly was amazing, and the smell was even better. Akamu was barely paying attention to Professor Goodwitch as they walked through. Suddenly, everyone came to a stop, and Akamu zoned back into what Glynda was saying.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Go, have fun!" Glynda explained. Akamu heard a noise, and then heard a voice.
"Come on, Jauney-boy, let's go!" Cardin said with a fake enthusiasm. Looking back at the boy, Jaune looked guiltily towards Pyrrha, who stared back sadly.
Before Akamu knew it, the only person he knew within sight was Pyrrha, the rest of his team disappearing into the wilds. "Hey, Pyrrha, I um..." Akamu said without thinking, jogging up to her. He checked his senses to make sure absolutely nobody else would hear this. "I overheard you and Jaune talking on the roof." He didn't wait for a response. "I'm not gonna say anything, but I know that Cardin overheard as well and absolutely would. So, because my team up and left, how about I help you get sap while we discuss a way to get him out of his... indebted-ment." Akamu said, making up the final word.
Pyrrha sighed before saying anything. "Alright, come on." Both of them started walking in the direction Ren and Nora went. "So, Cardin really has Jaune in his grasp, huh?" The redhead thought for a moment. "That means that we will need blackmail on Cardin. But how would we get that?"
Time passed as the two threw ideas back and forth at eachother out of earshot from Ren and Nora before Akamu suddenly felt a familiar sensation in his head. 'Look right and up and don't freak out.' What Akamu saw was a Jaune readying to throw a jar of the sap they had been collecting, backed by Cardin and his team. Jaune's hand shook before Akamu read his lips. 'No.' His hand lowered, then raised again to throw the jar at Cardin. 'Well, this could turn out poorly.' He watched as the dirty blonde and the blue haired guys pushed Jaune to the ground, outside of sight, and Cardin approach where he went.
Then a roar rang out. 'Ursa, big one.' Akamu drew his weapon out from the new, permanent sheathe he had created.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asked, suddenly on alert.
"Sounded like an-" Akamu said before hearing a cry approaching.
"Ursa, Ursa!" Any doubt the wolf faunus had was now gone.
Yang grabbed the one with the weird hairstyle. "What, where!?"
"Back there, it's got Cardin!"
Pyrrha dropped the bottle of sap. "Jaune!"
Ruby was clearly in team leader mode. "Blake, Yang, follow them. Get Professor Goodwitch."
"You two." Pyrrha said, unsheathing her blade and shield and motioning towards Ren and Nora. "Go with them, there could be more!"
And then Akamu, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss ran after the source of the noise. As they rounded a tree, they could see Cardin knocked on his butt, trying to use his armor to protect him from the giant Ursa. 'That's the biggest Ursa I've seen in a long time.' As Akamu readied Prelude to launch himself in to protect the abuser, his mind again rang out. 'Don't, just watch.' Akamu begrudgingly agreed, only because his semblance had never lead him astray before. Suddenly, as the Ursa swiped, Jaune jumped in with his shield raised. With a mighty Clunk, the blow was blocked entirely by the struggling Jaune.
As Weiss entered a form, likely to launch herself forward, Pyrrha interrupted and held her hand out to stop the Ice Queen. "Wait." Suddenly, their attention was drawn back to the fight as a slice against Grimm sounded, followed by a dodge by Jaune against the big beast. Seeing the incoming strike, Jaune jumped over. 'No, now you can't dodge anymore!' Akamu's fears proved correct as Jaune was swatted like a fly, sending him tumbling. But Jaune got up and charged again, only for that to be punished again by another strike that sent him flying. Standing up again, Jaune checked his scroll, only to see his Aura in the red. Akamu could only guess what was going through his head as he charged head on again. In a quick motion, Jaune went in for another attack as the Grimm swung. Jaune lowered his shield. Pyrrha raised her hand. Jaune's shield raised. Suddenly, the attack slammed against Jaune's shield, forcing his legs to buckle, but his momentum continued. With a quick upward swing, the Ursa's head came off and fell with enough force to make the ground shake.
"Uhhh..." Ruby said, alongside Akamu's brain. "What."
Weiss looked as confused as the rest of her team. "How did...?"
Pyrrha answered with a nervous chuckle. "Well, Ruby has her speed, Weiss has her glyphs, and my semblance..." Akamu waited with baited breath. "Is polarity." Suddenly, it all clicked.
"Woah, you can control poles." Ruby said in pure astonishment.
"No, you dunce, she controls magnetism!" Weiss corrected in a not-so-kind fashion, though it made Akamu giggle.
As Akamu sheathed Epilogue, he heard Pyrrha start to walk away. "So, does this fix the Jaune problem?"
"As long as this stays our little secret." The redhead said, looking at the proud Jaune.
As the rest of team RWBY followed, Ruby popped a question. "Wait, Akamu, what's your semblance?"
"Oh, uh... To be frank, it doesn't have a name. It's just... Sometimes, something in my brain tells me to do something, or I get a gut feeling about something that always ends up correct." The wolf faunus explained, trying to put it into words.
Suddenly, Ruby found an example. "Like that time at the parts shop?"
"Yeah, actually. That was the most... strange time it's happened. I don't even control it, it just kinda... happens."
Suddenly, Pyrrha jumped into the conversation. "Foresight."
Akamu looked at her with incredulous eyes. "Yes, that- That's it! Finally, I have a word for it!"
As Akamu sat on the windowsill of his currently vacant dorm room, waiting for the upcoming conversation between Pyrrha and Jaune, he thought on the past few days. They had been the most exciting in his life, despite the monotony of most of them. It just seemed like he had a future now. And people who supported him, like Pyrrha – Hell, team JNPR would easily support him if he needed it. Not to mention his own team, that he'd have from now until graduation. Hopefully forever. They had been his only friends in a long time, and he didn't even need to ask. 'They're like family to me.' Akamu felt a warmth spread through his chest at that realization, along with a pressure of tears behind his eyes.
"No Cardin tonight?" Pyrrha said from the rooftop, interrupting Akamu's quiet cry session. "Thought you two were 'best buds'." 'Her lying is terrible.'
Jaune inhaled, readying himself. "Pyyrha, look... I'm sorry, I was a complete jerk. You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"
"Jaune, it's okay!" Pyrrha paused for a second. "Your team really misses their leader, you know. You should come down, Ren made pancakes. No syrup, however. Thank Nora for that one." She said as she walked off.
"Wait, Pyrrha!" The walking stopped. "I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... Would you still be willing to help me..." Jaune brace himself again. "To help me become a better fighter?" There was a pause. And a shove. "Hey!"
"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." Pyrrha said, thinking for a moment. "You know, I might know somebody else who can help that." Akamu readied himself with Prelude and a book. "Hey, Akamu, come on up." With a flair, he lept out of the window, fired Prelude over the ledge of the roof, pulled the dart back with the barbs extended to make a grappling hook. Suddenly, he went from falling to rising. Gliding up past the ledge, he released the dart, went past his target height by a solid meter, realized, and crash landed on the roof.
"Ow." Was all he could manage, holding out the book of sword stances and techniques he'd had in his collection for years.