I've been getting comments about how I messed up Archer's abilities and… Fuck it, I'm keeping it that way because I really won't spend another hour trying to understand emiya and his ubw, I'm just gonna say it's for "power balancing"
Why is this chapter so short yet took so long you ask? Well I've been spending most of my time rewriting some of chapter 1 and I really had a problem with writing one part in this chapter (guess which) , aswell as, uhhh reading novels worth of fanfi- gaining more experience by reading more... Yup.
"Shirou Schnee, regarding your team…"
The first year students had been dropped off to Beacon Academy from the Emerald Forest, all told to wait in the auditorium along with the senior students to have their teams announced, save for Shirou Schnee who was called into the Headmaster's office to discuss his situation since he didn't have a partner and consequently, a team.
He was currently seated directly opposite Ozpin in the office, the two separated by an odd looking table. The entire circular office being the interior of the top of the clock tower that overlooked the entire school, the large clock itself being directly behind the grey-haired man, its glass make giving a full view of the Academy, although its lower half was blocked by the office floor. The room having one singular mezzanine, lining up with the walls and being held up by multiple pillars. The entire office itself had a focus on gears, the floor had a design of a single massive gear, some walls having an open view that showed multiple gears spinning within it and the ceiling even had numerous large gears somehow attached to it, leaving shadows on the floor.-which left a bitter taste in Shirou's mouth-
"-I'm giving you two choices," Ozpin continued as he took another sip at his mug "The first would be to have you join another first year team as their fifth member, you may get to choose any team you may prefer," Ozpin paused,
"or," Shirou already had a clue as to what the second option would be and wasn't all that interested. "you would have no team at all. With your future missions, you will mostly be assigned to assist other teams as a temporary fifth member or will be alone if the school believes you are capable of it, and regarding the Vytal Tournament, you won't be able to participate." Ozpin finished his explanation as Shirou spoke up.
"Anything else?" he asked, the Headmaster was silent in thought for a few milliseconds before answering, "I would like to mention that you could join a team,"
…
"but that would only be possible if another first year already in a team were to become… unavailable." Ozpin paused before continuing, "either by them dropping out, or more commonly, if they are killed in a mission. Now I do assume that both of us don't desire that type of outcome?" the man made eye contact with Shirou, to which the teen just responded with a shrug and spoke up.
"That goes without saying, they may be naive brats but that doesn't indicate that their safety shouldn't be valued." the Headmaster could be noticed having a raised eyebrow at the teen's first words but nodded in agreement at the final few.
"So then, what will be your choice Shirou?" Ozpin asked after a moment of silence the silver haired teen answered.
The choice was quite obvious.
"-you will be working as Team CRDL, led by… Cardin Winchester!" The Headmaster of Beacon Academy announced, the face of the smirking brat being shown in the center screen of the auditorium, clapping was heard all throughout the room, though most of the students were only doing it out of courtesy and barely even cared.
All the students and staff were gathered in the school's large auditorium, the reason for the assembly was to announce all the first years and their respective teams.
Shirou knew much of the students in the newly announced team, seeing a brief history from the bladed weapons of three of the members, -said students were also the same ones he was confused as to how they actually got into Beacon at all-; Their skills were lacklustre, they were good at combat but not the level of skill he would expect in the most revered school in the world.
Cardin Winchester, the brat wielded a weapon too far from being a 'sword' so Shirou had no idea what his skill was, but the boy should've been chosen to be the leader of a team for a reason, the expectation formed that he would've been better than his new underlings. but then again, 'it's not hard to improve from garbage'.
A new group of four students had already been on the platform as Shirou ended his small inner monologue,
"Jaune Arc, Pyrrah Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, you four have retrieved the rook pieces. From this day on, you will be working as Team JNPR!" the other students started to clap, "Led by… Jaune Arc!"
…
…
'I feel like this entire school is just deciding things by dicerolls now…'
Jaune Arc was the least student that Shirou would've thought to be competent enough to lead an entire team, nearly dying more than twice in the initiation exam.
Lie Ren would've been suitable, or maybe Pyrrha Nikos for her combat capabilities, the other students seemed to have the same opinion considering their silence and lack of applause, though probably because Pyrrha 'Invisible Girl' Nikos wasn't the one chosen.
The four students got off the platform as four others replaced them, "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, you four retrieved the Knight pieces, from this day forward, you will be working as Team RWBY!" the crowd of students applauded, "Led by… Ruby Rose!"
Shirou hummed at their choice of the team's leader, out of the group of 4 students, he supposed that most of the young girls were sufficient enough to lead, the only exception being the reckless blonde.
Though, his sister looked like she was about to start yelling at the Headmaster, probably because she wasn't the one to become the leader, he was gonna need to talk to her about that later…
As the applause stopped and the four walked off the platform, Shirou Schnee proceeded to the top of the platform, alone. The other students raising an eyebrow at this, while a notable amount of faunus students widened their eyes in recognition as the Headmaster announced.
"Shirou Schnee will have no team."
It was quite the obvious choice for his main purpose here, it would be easier to move around without being confined to a singular team.
The choice of being on his sister's own team was shut down, though he considered it for a moment but joining a team that was entirely made up of young women was just stupid that only his dense, younger self would have been idiotic enough to do.
Not to mention the drawbacks of joining a team at all, so-
"What is wrong with you!? You could've chosen to be in any team and you chose to be alone?!" Weiss screamed at her brother as her team, JNPR, and an indifferent Shirou Schnee were walking towards the direction of the first year student dorms after being dismissed at the auditorium.
Yang Xiao Long smirked before speaking up, "I kinda agree with Weiss-cream here, I wouldn't mind having Handsome here on our team." she said as she did an obvious wink at her sister, Ruby getting flustered, pulling on the blonde's clothes with both hands "Yaaaaang!"
'lucky bastard' Jaune sneered inwardly first taking a small glance at the big chested girl then at the smug asshole she complimented, the blonde attempted to glare at the silver haired teen
-Shirou found it cute-
Weiss did a spittake at processing the words of her teammate, getting a small blush as she began yelling "HEY! Don't call him that!" Yang merely responded with a smirk,
"-And don't use that nickname on me! And i-it's not like I meant that he should've joined our team…" her voice trailed off as the blonde only responded with a sarcastic 'Oh really?', unknowingly speaking the opinions of the other students with them.
"R-Right!" An excuse found itself on her head, "I was just worried about how he was going to do the future student missions without a team!" Weiss held a hand up to her chin, nodding to herself frantically ash
Shirou answered, snuffing out the small smile he had from finding this entire situation just… nice.
"The Headmaster stated that I would be assisting other teams in their missions as a temporary fifth member." Weiss sighed in relief before speaking up,
"So can you choose any team you want or?…" she asked, her embarrassment from before getting extinguished as she grew genuinely curious, her brother staying silent before responding.
"Ozpin didn't brief me in about it, but I would think that I'd just be partnered with teams I'm good with." most of the others walking along them just responded with an understanding nod while Ruby spoke up, a question having formed on her head,
"But then again, Ozpin himself did allow you to be a leader" he gestured to the blonde boy who was with them.
"Hey!"
"-But then how would you participate in the Vytal Tournament?" The question piqued the interests of all the other first years walking with them, "You don't have a team and the Tournament is only for teams of four so you can't really join anybody else's right?"
"I won't."
…
…
"pardon?" Weiss sounded, hoping that her brother really didn't mean what she thought she was implying. Shirou simply took a deep breath, in preparation for a headache.
"I won't participate in the tournament." he stated, the students becoming dumbfounded.
"But why?" Pyrrah Nikos spoke up, genuinely confused, ignoring the speechless Weiss who looked like she was about to faint,
"The Vytal Tournament is an event where students from the entirety of Remnant represent their entire kingdoms," the girl began explaining the importance of the event, all the others agreeing.
"-a few number of huntsmen student teams can only participate in it, and even being a part of it is an achievement, not to mention all the reputation one can have for winning. So why throw away your chance to participate in it?" Shirou already knew all that, -and frankly,
"I really couldn't care less about those things."
Representing one's kingdom? He wasn't one to have pride or honour in many things, and his place of birth certainly wasnt one of them.
The prize for winning? There was some considerable lien involved should a student win, which would've been quite compelling if not for the fact that he would need to reveal his abilities and skills to actually win, -and that was just plain stupid.
Fame? Yeah right.
The teen's words just dumbfounded most of the other students, he clearly wasn't lying from the way he just casually said it with a straight face, the air around the group having a mix of skepticism, interest, and perplexity, with a certain blonde staring at the silver haired teen like he was insane.
"Of course you don't…" Weiss spoke up, getting over her stupid brother's apathy to something like honour or fame or not being an idiot, a trait that was a staple for Shirou Schnee.
"Wow you two are really different, it's hard to believe you're siblings… " Yang spoke up, as Weiss just nodded in agreement.
"That's something I can agree with."
"It seems these are our rooms."
Shirou stated as he and the two teams turned a corner from a shared student kitchen -which he remembered for later-, seeing two doors opposite each other with the labels of the teams on metal plates, a third on the far end of the hallway, with a simple 'Shirou Schnee' written on a bronze plate attached to the door.
"It was nice getting to know you guys." Ruby said, her team following behind her as she walked towards their room, team JNPR following behind as Jaune moved to his own team's room, each member of each team giving their own farewells and goodbyes.
"Weiss." Shirou spoke up, all of team JNPR and team RWBY already in their rooms, well except for the Schnee who was purposely walking slowly.
The girl responded in a quick 'huh?' before turning around, seeing the figure of her brother in front of her. "I suppose I need to talk to you about something."
"You guys can go ahead and take care of your family stuff, don't worry about us Weiss" Ruby sounded, peeking her head out the half open door having heard the taller Schnee's earlier words.
"Tch, it's none of your business."
"Ugh, why are your rooms always so empty!?"
The sight of the interior of her brother's dorm made Weiss groan, nothing but a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk; all the students belongings having been brought to their room.
It was a smaller room than the glimpse she caught of her own team's, which made sense considering he was alone and would just waste space if they had given him a normal sized one for four.
"Couldn't you atleast get some books? A TV? Just anything to make it a little less boring." she sat down on the side of the bed.
"Just to mention that I can't really afford a television with how much father is giving me monthly…"
"Oh, uh sorry…" she looked down in melancholy.
"Anyways," Changing the subject as he leaned on the closed door with his arms crossed, Shirou had a small smile on his face.
"How're they? Mother and Winter that is,"
"Oh uh, Winter is just the same as before you left,
-and I think she also got a little higher ranking in the Atlesian Military."
Tch.
The idea of naivè brats being brought on to risk their lives in a battle, not to mention all the deaths, bloodshed, war that they would witness should they live through their first, completely repulsed Shirou, it being a reminder of himself and his past.
Winter and Weiss were one of those brats, what made it more revolting was that he actually cared for the two's well being, their decision to become huntresses to 'protect others' was something that completely went against what he wanted, not to mention just being plain naivè, -but still...
"Just because you're correct doesn't mean your right"
Even if it was, it's still an ideal worth pursuing. The two had already made their decision, So-
"Well atleast she doesn't seem to be incompetent." Shirou wasn't going to stop them.
"Shirou!" his sister said with a snicker at her brother's attempt at being harsh but still complimenting her older sister.
"-And what about Mother?"
…
…
Shirou's smile was gone, his eyes narrowed.
That… clearly wasn't a good question to ask judging by how his sister's smile disappeared with his as she seemed to become dejected.
"She-"
…
…
Weiss considered lying but-
"She's not well," she finally decided on her words after a few seconds of silence,
"What happened?" Shirou had slight furrowed eyebrows, worried for the well-being of his 'mother', which he thought to be a genuinely good and caring person, though he's still trying to destroy his memories when he was a baby, for a numerable amount of reasons.
"After you left… father and her had a fight over his decision"
That was to be expected considering that she was basically being forced to accept that not being able to see her only son for what is probably a long time,
And since he hadn't seen any news of any Schnee family death or accident from his own scroll, which indicates that the damage that was done was clearly mental or emotional.
Shirou already had an idea of what could've possibly happened and been said, though he hoped he was wrong.
-I heard that... father told her that their marriage was all a farce, just a way so that father could gain control of the SDC and she-... She's started drinking…" Weiss held her fist in a ball, turning it red, her anger and sadness being apparent to Shirou.
Damn it Jacques.
"I've tried to help her but she-... It's not helping much..."
"Sorry. For leaving."
Shirou actually couldn't do anything to help Willow, if the support her favourite daughter wasn't helping, then what could he even do himself?
Besides, leaving Beacon and returning to Atlas would've been too difficult thanks to the measures his father had gone to prevent him from getting back, a chance that Shirou could attend at a Schnee event was something that the old fart definitely wasn't going to take.
"Don't be, it's not your fault, even if you didn't leave the truth wouldn't have been revealed," Shirou narrowed his eyes.
"I suppose you could look at it that way, but even so, do you truly think its better for her to know the truth and become miserable, rather than continue living a lie? A lie it may be but it's a lie that would still keep her living happy."
"Even if she was happy living a lie she could still be able find out in the future, and even if she's depressed now she still has a chance at continuing through it."
Shirou had a smile on his face at his sisters response as overly optimistic and naivè as it was.
...
...
"I think it's getting late, I should go." Weiss stood up, walking to the room's door,
"Night." Shirou said, unknowingly headpatting the shorter Schnee as her face turned red,
"Y-yeah goodnight." She opened the door, Shirou starting walking toward his bed.
"Hey um, Shirou?" She spoke up, the hem of her white dress still being visible as her body was already blocked by the nearly closed door.
"Could you cook for me again tomorrow?"
Shirou had a smile at his sister's request, deciding to tease her at her similarity to Rin Tohsaka with being bad with mornings.
"Only if you wake up early."
Weiss groaned, "I'll try" her last words being said as she closed the door.
'I forgot to talk to her about her team...'
Hate it? Tell me what you hated instead of just being a douche and personally insulting me! Or maybe do both!
Liked it? Tell me what you liked!
Thanks for using your extremely limited time on this planet by reading my fic!