A/N: Bit later in the day but this one was rough to get written. I'm hoping that things will get smoother the longer I right. Anywho, I hope you all enjoy.

Monster King: Glad you are still enjoying things.

KatzSmile: I know, I was disappointed at how few BtVS crossovers with RWBY there were. So I decided to write one myself. I hope you continue to enjoy.

Chapter 8

First Depressions

"We don't know where she came from," the redhead said as she looked over the infirmary's latest patient. "If I had a clue, something, then maybe..."

"Demon dimension," the one-eyed man said in response from where he leaned up against the wall. "Has to be. We don't have weapons like that on earth."

An older man who was young in body shook his head, "Not all worlds other than our own are demon dimensions. Or did you forget about...," he cut himself off suddenly, glancing at her.

"No one's forgotten anything," she said, quickly covering the uncomfortable silence. "We just don't get many people coming from anywhere else without some serious mojo, and we remember what it almost cost us last time that happened."

"No, I don't mean just the higher planes," the old young man said. "There are entire cosmologies separate from our own. She may well have come from one of those. Granted, they are only theoretical."

"Oh, you're talking about String-Theory!" The redhead interjected excitedly.

"What do strings have to do with this," she asked, "Are we playing cats cradle with the universe now?"

"No, not physical strings, and while it isn't a bad example, it isn't exactly what I'm referring to, Wi..."

Summer yawned as she came awake. It wasn't the instant wakefulness she was used to but it wasn't entirely slow either. Instead, she was caught in a half-awake state for a few moments as her mind processed where she was. Then the events of the previous day fought with the dying remnants of a dream before yesterday rushed back to her all at once. The initiation, fighting the Beowolves with her new partner, catching the Schnee girl, the Death Stalker, and of course, being assigned not only a team but as the leader for said team.

Summer groaned as she swung her legs off the bed and stood with a full-body stretch. She remembered being a leader. Like everything else it was foggy, hidden between the Land of Nod and the World of Memories. She knew she had been effective, she had never lost when it truly mattered. Not when the world was at stake. Not when lives were on the line. Yet she also knew she had failed. She could remember friends turning against her even if she couldn't remember those friends or what caused it.

Looking at her sleeping teammates, Summer silently asked herself what Ozpin was thinking. She was the youngest of the four, never mind the previous life that she only half-remembered. Pyrrha had trained her whole life to come to Beacon. She chose this life and wanted it more than anything. She could tell that Ren and Nora were equally driven and while neither showed it outwardly, she could tell they had learned their skills through trial by fire. At some point, they had been shoved into the deep end and learned to swim. Knowing what little she did about Remnant it was a testament to their skill and ingenuity.

What did she have that they could not surpass her in? She had not chosen to be the Slayer, she had been Chosen. She knew she had faltered in her duty in her old life. She had let others take the burden that should have been hers alone.

With a quiet sigh, she turned to her things, still packed in a pair of duffle bags with her Academy uniform atop them. Grabbing the uniform, Summer dug out what she would need for a shower and headed to the bathroom. She couldn't allow herself to dwell. She knew that road would lead to only further heartache. Instead, she would do something about this. Ozpin made a mistake. She knew it. She would speak with him and he would put Pyrrha in charge.

Her road set before her, Summer slipped into the bathroom, never noticing a pair of green eyes watching her silently from one of the room's other beds.

By the time Summer had completed her morning rituals and came out of the bathroom dressed and ready for the day, her teammates were up and about. Pyrrha was stretching her limbs out in an obvious routine. Ren was on the floor doing push-ups, again another obvious morning routine. Nora had her uniform and other clothes in hand and raced past Summer, the bathroom door slamming shut behind her.

"Good morning," Pyrrha chirped from where she was finishing some side-to-side stretches. "Did you sleep well?"

Summer couldn't help the smile that came to her lips despite trying to hold onto the gloomy desperation from earlier and nodded. "Yes, thank you. It looks like you both did as well if you are up and moving already," she said with a nod towards Pyrrha and Ren.

Ren only gave a brief nod at the apex of his latest push-up while Pyrrha answered verbally. "I am used to performing a light workout in the morning before my day starts. I find it helps to get me prepared to deal with whatever comes along," she said as she began twisting side to side at her waist. "Do you have a morning exercise routine, Summer?"

Summer shrugged, sitting down on her bed. Ren stood up from his place on the floor giving one last stretch before sitting on his own bed and giving Summer his full attention. Whether because he had finished his routine or was actually interested, Summer wasn't sure. "Eh, not so much. I'm not entirely sure, actually," she finally said.

That certainly caught Ren's attention as a single eyebrow rose up, his head tilting ever so slightly. Pyrrha was suddenly still as well, looking at Summer intently. It took a not inconsiderate amount of willpower for the Slayer to not squirm under the attention. With a sigh, she reached back and rubbed her neck and said in an embarrassed tone, "I, well, I'm an amnesiac. Woke up in a destroyed village with one of the student teams from here and their professor fighting a Death Stalker. Ran up and killed a small group of Ursa, then blacked out again. I don't really remember anything from before then. Impressions, vague concepts or ideas, that is about it."

Even as she gave her explanation, Summer saw how this would work for her. Her new teammates might be willing to work with her, they had seen she could fight yesterday after all. She was certain they would not accept a leader whose own memory was suspect. After all, they would have to be...

Summer's train of thought was suddenly derailed as she was tackled from behind, arms wrapping around her tightly in an embrace. The oddest thing about the sensation was that she hadn't known it was coming and hadn't reacted on instinct. Whatever had just happened, her inner Slayer seemed content to let her suffer through it.

"Don't worry, we'll make new memories with you. And Ren will make pancakes for us," Nora said from behind her, still hugging her tightly, damp hair pressing against Summer's cheek.

When the impromptu hug ended, Summer blinked, turning to look at Nora even as Pyrrha was heading into the bathroom. She looked past the ginger to the bathroom door which was still standing open as Pyrrha reached it. Then her eyes slid back to Nora in confusion. "How did I not hear you?" She muttered to herself.

They had managed to make it through the day in one piece. So far classes had ranged from the intensely dramatic and over the top Grimm Studies to the hyperactive fast forward through the History of Remnant. She had tried to pay attention to Professor Port's rambling about his youth but it had all been one long waste of time. Until Weiss had stepped up to be a class demonstration. Watching the self-destruction of Team RWBY on the first day had not been fun.

Doctor, not Professor she reminded herself, Oobleck's class on the History of Remnant was more helpful. History gave context to current events, context she was lacking. Summer knew she had only won some of her past battles through knowledge of the past and present. Despite behaving as if an intervention was needed to stop his abuse of caffeine, Doctor Oobleck's lecture style was surprisingly easy to follow along with if you were used to babbling best friends. Which it seemed she was.

The last class for the first day was going to be the Combat Class. Summer had been looking forward to this for two reasons. One, she needed the physical exorcise just to keep herself from going stir crazy. Two, once the class was done she could go and speak with Ozpin. Then the mistake of making her the Team Leader would be corrected. She just had to get through this one class.

They had been watching spars for nearly an hour now. The class was quickly coming up to its end and Summer couldn't have been happier. Professor Goodwitch had been using a randomizer to determine who would be sparring who today to allow her to get an unbiased view of as many different students' skill sets as she could. There had been four such spars and the fifth was underway.

Summer couldn't help but smile as Yang stood across from Cardin. The boy had seemed like a jerk from the moment he led his team into the room. When Professor Goodwitch had taken the time to point out that most of them were only months from their age of majority and thus, she would treat them like the adults they would soon be, Cardin had spoken up with a wise comment about Ruby and herself. Goodwitch hadn't done or said anything at the time. Now, she had to suspect that the randomizer wasn't if Goodwitch didn't want it to be.

The spar was over almost before it began. The moment the buzzer signaled the start, Yang had rocketed forward with help from Ember Celica. When Cardin tried to come at her with a wide swing of his mace, Yang had simply grabbed it and yanked it out of his hands. The Yellow Dragon had then proceeded to introduce Cardin to a Patch Beatdown. The entire thing lasted less than 30 seconds before Cardin's pleas for it to stop reached Goodwitch and she ended the match with Yang winning by submission.

A glance at the clock on her scroll showed there were only three minutes left of class. Summer let out a small sigh of relief. Soon, classes for the day would be done and she could take the time to go and speak with Ozpin about the mistake of having her as the team leader. He would understand and make one of the...

"Summer Dawn and Lie Ren will be our last spar for the day," Professor Goodwitch said as she looked back at them from the scoreboard above the training ring.

Summer froze then let out another sigh. "Come on Ren, let's get this done," she said, getting a nod from her teammate. She had mixed feelings about this. On one hand, she relished the chance to stretch her muscles in a fight. On the other, it was only going to delay her chance to speak with Ozpin. A brief moment of consideration led her to the conclusion it could only be a good thing. If she went up to meet him as she was now, she'd be too likely to snap if he didn't immediately agree with her. Of course, that might only prove her point better.

Stepping into the sparring ring, Summer took Willow from the small of her back and extended her into her sword configuration. They would be starting far enough apart that she knew there would be no stopping Ren from getting at least a few shots off at her before she could close the gap and a ranged fight would benefit her teammate much more than it would her. Her best chance was to close quickly and finish the fight as fast as she could.

"Professor is it not," Pyrrha started to say from her seat before falling silent. Summer glanced behind her and saw Goodwitch leveling her gaze at Pyrrha, effectively silencing her. Summer knew what she had been about to say and evidently, Goodwitch didn't want it said. Summer didn't have an unlocked Aura. With firearms tossed into the mix, this was far more dangerous for her than it was for her fellow students.

That thought actually brought a smile to Summer's face. She was the Slayer, danger was simply an old friend. They never parted company for long and always returned to walking side by side with one another. Vague memories of sparring with other Slayers came to mind. She had taken them on five and six at a time, once upon a time, and had come out victorious. No matter how much she didn't want to be a team leader, she wasn't about to roll over in a fight, even a practice one.

When Ren took his position opposite her and bowed to her before taking up a fighting stance. Summer couldn't help but smile slightly as she took it in. His stance came almost directly from Tai Chi, though modified for use with his weapons. Well versed in Tai Chi, she knew that the style was not particularly suited to actual combat. There were certainly foundational aspects of it that could be used but as a whole style, there were much better styles.

She studied his weapons next. Each was an automatic pistol that would have less range and accuracy than Willow in her rifle configuration. That wouldn't matter much to the spar, since there wouldn't be enough room to make use of her range advantage unless they were both near opposite ends of the small arena. On the front of each was a blade similar to a bayonet, but pointed down and away from the barrel. They resembled the fangs of a snake and had their edged portion pointed outward. They honestly made Summer frown. The impracticality of the design alone made her believe that the weapons would be less than optimal if what she thought of Ren's fighting style was true, based on his stance. She could already feel her mind running through options to improve them and increase her teammate's advantages in the field.

That was something to think about later. For now, she needed to focus.

When the buzzer sounded, Summer didn't waste time. Ren had immediately moved to fire at her with his pistols, firing the automatic weapons in bursts as she dodged to her left even as she began to close the gap. He adjusted his aim and fired again, Summer quick-stepping out of the way just before he could pull the triggers, causing the bullets to harmlessly pass by her.

Summer smiled as her teammate tried to be sneaky then. One gun tracked her while he kept the other in a loose hold pointed away from her. As she dropped into a shoulder roll to avoid fire from the first gun, he snapped the other into position to fire before she could move out of the way. He had timed it nearly perfectly so his shots would hit as she came back to her feet from the shoulder roll.

Summer knew that she would be hit if she did nothing. She decided to try and replicate something she had seen once in a movie. As she rose up from the roll, she brought Willow around in a graceful arc across her body. The blade sang in her hand as it passed in front of the bullets, deflecting them away from her. She couldn't help the grin that formed as she felt the ricochet of each. 'Jedi Summer for the win,' she silently congratulated herself. Then she was in close range with Ren and all thoughts of Jedi fled her mind.

The two of them started to trade blows. Willow's blade met the twin blades of Stormfang repeatedly with kicks and elbow strikes mixed into their attacks. Now that she had closed the distance, Summer was enjoying the reach advantage. She was over half a foot shorter than Ren but that was countered by Willow's much longer blade. It meant that Ren was now the one forced to try and close the distance and get inside her guard. Every time he did, she punished him with knees to the gut, kicks to his legs, and elbows to his head. It was quickly becoming apparent to her that Ren was very skilled in his chosen disciplines, he had managed to land his own blows during their exchanges. She was simply better.

Ren finally managed to step back from her a moment, giving Summer a chance to glance up at the scoreboard. She had taken off a good chunk of his aura so far, pushing him down into the yellow. Her own name showed a completely green bar despite not having an unlocked aura. Summer could only give a mental shrug to ask Goodwitch about it later. Beyond the small arena, she could hear muttered comments that she chose to ignore. For now, she had a fight to finish.

Willow lashed out, ringing off of Storm Flower as the three blades connected once more. Summer broke the lock by dropping low and going for a leg sweep that Ren lept over, putting distance between them again. He fired a quick burst from Storm Flower that Summer was forced to try and intercept with Willow, preventing her from following after him. It didn't matter, though, because Ren used the moment of distraction to zip back in, hooking Willow with one half of Storm Flower just above her hand while he struck out with the other.

Summer reacted by letting go of Willow as she leaned back from the blow, the blade of Storm Flower slicing through the air just millimeters from her chest. She turned the dodge into a reverse flip, kicking up at Ren's chin and forcing a bit of distance between them. With no weapon in hand, Summer unlimbered the Slayer Scythe from its sheath while still in the air. As soon as her feet were under her again, she spun, holding the ancient weapon by the grip behind its blade and slamming the already off-center Ren in the chest with the blunt end of the weapon.

Time slowed at that point. Summer heard the crack of breaking bone as the Slayer Scythe made contact. Ren flipped in the air like a beached fish. When he hit the ground, he tried to stand back up, but Summer could tell he was hurt and seriously so. Summer slung the Slayer Scythe back into its sheath and raced to her teammate's side.

"Professor, call the match!" She screamed out as she got alongside Ren. She could hear he was having trouble breathing, a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. When Goodwitch didn't move to call the match off, Summer screamed at her, "Call the damn match! He can't breathe!"

Summer sat with the rest of her team outside of the Infirmary as they waited for any information about Ren. Nora had been crying near the whole time, cradled by Pyrrha as the ginger girl cried into the redhead's shoulder. The two had been whispering to one another, Nora about her fears for Ren's health and Pyrrha trying to comfort the girl. Summer had only half-heartedly heard the quiet, broken conversation, to taken up in her own feelings of guilt.

Summer had sat holding the Slayer Scythe in her hands. Looking it over as she replayed the fight in her mind over and over again. She kept coming back to one conclusion, it shouldn't have happened. Ren's aura was still active and strong. The hit to his chest should have simply weakened it as it knocked him further off balance. She had meant to take the fight to the ground, not end it with that blow.

So if the impossible happened, why? It wasn't her. She had sparred with Velvet going nearly full tilt. Her fellow Faunus had taken every hit Summer threw with a smile. It hadn't been until she tried attacking the joints directly through a submission hold that she had felt any real pain. During her practice spars with Fox once Willow had been completed, she hadn't seen anything like today happen either. That left the only explanation for Ren's injuries being the Slayer Scythe itself.

Summer remembered a time when the Scythe had cut through magic itself, parting raw eldritch energy before its blade as if it were a physical thing to be cut down. It had turned aside magics intent to destroying her with less difficulty than she had deflecting the bullets that had been aimed at her today. With more success as well as it turned out. The several already fading bruises attested to how effective her bullet blocking had actually been. Judging from the number of hits she had actually taken, she had only defended against half of the total rounds fired at her. Her combat outfit's armoring had kept her from even realizing it until after the adrenaline crash hit her.

Ozpin had been insistent that Aura wasn't magic. He insisted that it was something intrinsic to who you were as a living being. Summer knew that didn't rule out magic. It could be just as tightly bound to who you were. This incident only reaffirmed her certainty. Aura was magic, no matter what Ozpin believed. And magic always came with a price.

"Summer," the voice was quiet, restrained in a way that seemed so very wrong as Nora called out to her. Summer looked up from the weapon in her lap to meet the jade-colored eyes that were looking at her. She had expected anger, fear, anything other than the concern she found in them. "Are you okay?"

Summer looked away from Nora with a brief nod as she forced herself to answer with a short, "Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed then forced herself to meet Nora's gaze once more. "My combat outfit managed to stop the bullets. I just have some bruising that will be fine by tomorrow." It was a small lie. Already the bruising would be fading beneath her clothing.

Summer watched as Nora looked up at Pyrrha then detangled herself from the taller redhead. She felt her heart pound as Nora stood up and walked over to her, looking down at her as she stood there. Summer was waiting for the slap, the accusation, the anger to finally make itself known.

Nora instead dropped down into a squat in front of her and took Summer's hands in her own. Summer looked up, meeting those jade green eyes again without a clue what was going on. She had injured her teammate. It hadn't been a plan gone wrong. It hadn't been an enemy stronger than expected. It hadn't been anything but her own self that led to Ren laying in the infirmary while they waited to hear what his condition was. It was her fault. So why was Nora looking at her like that? Why was she being so gentle?

"Did you know it would happen?"

Nora's gentle question caused Summer to blink. She tried to answer but her voice caught in her throat, choking on all the apologies and self-blame that tried to come out all at once, forcing her to answer with a simple shake of her head in the negative.

"Then it isn't your fault," Nora said as she gripped Summer's hands tighter. "You stopped the match as soon as you knew something had gone wrong. It isn't your fault," she said with all the certainty of time, just as inevitable. Summer felt her arms pulled forward, her body following suit as Nora pulled her into a hug. "It's not your fault, Summer."

Summer wasn't sure how long she sat like that, wrapped up in the arms of a girl her own size even if she were two years older. She broke, though, in that protective embrace, tears finally letting loose. Summer cried. She cried for the life she couldn't remember. She cried for the fear of the future. She cried for her wounded teammate in the next room. She cried for the simple assurance that her teammate's partner was now giving her.

Eventually, as all things do, Summer found her tears ending. Nora leaned back, holding Summer by her shoulders as she looked her square in the eyes. "Better now?" Summer nodded with a small smile in response, still not trusting herself to speak. "Good, because next time you're going to spar me and I'm going to knock you into next week for hurting Ren," she said with a smirk.

Summer couldn't help but laugh at the declaration and nodded as Nora stood up, patting Summer on her head.

The door across from them opened up as the doctor stepped out, looking at the assembled teens. "Are you Lie Ren's teammates?"

Ozpin read the medical report. Lie Ren had two broken ribs and severe bruising along his chest where Summer's weapon had struck him. The Doctor had indicated that had he been hit any harder one of the broken ribs would have punctured his lung. It was the sort of training accident that didn't happen. Not while the injured party still had half their total aura available.

"Do we know how it happened, Glynda?" He asked as he looked up from the report.

Glynda nodded, connecting her scroll to Ozpin's monitor and bringing up the end of the recording of the spar. She let it play through as she began to explain what she believed had happened. "Miss Dawn and Mr. Ren showed no sign of anything of note at the start of the spar. You can see that both are exchanging unarmed strikes while parrying each other's attempted weapon attacks repeatedly. Mr. Ren had managed to shoot Miss Dawn early in the match, but her combat outfit was evidently designed to accommodate her lack of aura by being armored. If it is only the corset itself or if the entire outfit is armored in some way, I'm uncertain," she said as the match played on.

When they reached the final moments, Ozpin watched closely as Summer flipped away from Ren, releasing her primary weapon only to draw the Slayer Scythe. "This is where things changed," Glynda said as Summer spun the blunt end of the weapon into the off-balance boy's chest. "I believe that the issue is that weapon. It completely bypassed her Mister Ren's aura."

Ozpin nodded, letting the scene replay a few more times from different angles. "Interesting. Obviously, we will have to ask Ms. Dawn to not use it in class in the future."

Glynda shook her head, "No, Headmaster, that most assuredly will not happen." Ozpin looked up sharply at his Assistant Headmaster, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "She already fights at a disadvantage since she does not have her aura unlocked, something that many of my students realized today during this spar. I also believe that Miss Dawn will avoid using the weapon of her own volition unless there isn't another option." Glynda paused as she considered her words carefully. "Our first years always come in with a feeling of invincibility. It is something we work very hard to train out of them. Between Miss Dawn's skill with joint locks and that weapon, I may have an easier time of it than usual."

Ozpin took a deep breath and looked back to the replay. "Very well, Glynda, but do be careful. We can ill afford to have Summer Dawn putting our entire first-year class on medical restriction."

Glynda Goodwitch smiled brightly. It was the kind of smile that students through her years at the school had learned to dread. "Don't worry, Sir, I already have a lesson plan in mind to ensure that does not happen."