Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
CHAPTER 7
"The last pair has been formed. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren." Glynda Goodwitch said, looking up from her scroll at headmaster Ozpin, who merely hummed at her words. "Honestly I feel bad for that boy, I don't see those two getting along… And much the same for Clayton Sanguis and Pale Lee…" Glynda needed a second to recompose herself.
"You're wondering why I let a deranged Anima outlaw known for targeting faunus into my school?" Ozpin asked.
"As well as a known White Fang terrorist under a false name." Glynda added opening the video feed that followed Blake Beaumont. "If they find out who either one is, someone's going to get hurt." She said, trying to reason with her boss.
"That has always been a risk. Allowing Weiss Schnee to attend Beacon paints a target on her back for every disgruntled faunus in Vale, yet she is allowed to be here. Miss. Belladonna, Miss. Schnee, and Mr. Lee have one thing in common that will prevent the worst from happening… They are young and impressionable. There is no belief or behavior that can not be changed, and it seems Mr. Lee has already decided that it would not do well to attack his teammate based on race alone. Besides, Miss. Belladonna's list of crimes is far less egregious than those of the company she kept. It's just as likelly she's run from the White Fang, as it is she's here for nefarious purposes." Ozpin said, smiling softly as he changed video feed, only to frown when what he saw didn't surprise him.
The Arc boy, though son of a great liniage of huntsmen, seemed to be stumbelling through the forest with Pyrrha Nikos. He had his aura already, though Ozpin supposed that was likelly given the large familly he had. It was quite common for an aura to unlock in the event of houshold accidents afterall... Still, Jaune's transcripts were all falsified, and he clearly had no formal training, but that hardly mattered, he'd either fail initiation and die, or he'd push through.
Weiss walked in circles trying to find out which way was north, and if they'd overshot their objective by a few degrees east or west. Ruby had less of a clue where they were than Weiss did, and sat on a rock digging in the dirt with a stick. "Could you just admit you're lost." Ruby said, tossing the stick over her shoulder.
"I'm not lost." Weiss snapped back.
"Of all the people I had to get stuck with." Ruby muttered.
"What was that?" Weiss asked. Ruby looked up at Weiss, and got to her feet.
"I said, of all the people I had to get stuck with, it just had to be you." Ruby said. Weiss narrowed her ice blue eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked practically in a hiss.
"Of all the people going to Beacon, I had to get stuck with the prissy, spoiled brat that looks down on people because they were born different." Ruby said.
"I don't know where this is coming from, but if it's because you're upset I yelled at your pet monkey, he was the one that knocked over my baggage." Weiss said, only for Ruby to wind up and slap Weiss across the face. It stung, but wasn't meant to injure her, either way, the heiress had to take a second to recover from that… The only person who'd ever laid a hand on her in anger was her father up until that point… Weiss felt her hand shaking against her cheek.
"Clayton isn't a monkey… He's a huntsman in training, just like you are, and if you called him that to his face he would have hit you a lot harder than I did. If we're going to be on a team together you're either going to need to keep the racist comments to yourself, or get a serious attitude adjustment… And one more thing. Clayton's not my pet, he's my boyfriend." Ruby said, before walking off in a direction she felt like was north. Weiss rubbed the still warm skin where Ruby's palm had made contact, and grimaced at the undignified way Ruby had spoken to her, but followed her regardless… They had a mission to accomplish. Both girls failed to realize the shadow looming over them.
Clayton and Pale had continued to trek through the forest, and Pale kept looking down at Clayton's feet. Usually he didn't spend enough time around faunus at ranges of less than 50 meters to get curious about their unique extra parts, and even less time spent around faunus that had extra parts with some sense of real utility. Even still He noticed Clayton's gate was a little odd. Not terrible, but weird all the same, he rotated his hips more than normal to walk. Must have been the finger-like toes, and thick short legs relative to his body. "How are your feet not sore walking around like that?" Pale asked, adjusting the rifle on his back.
"I've walked around barefoot my whole life, they toughen up on their own. Same with my knuckles." Clayton said showing the man his calloused fingers, only for Pale to scratch where his head met his hat.
"Why not just wear shoes, I can't imagine how painful stepping on a nail must be." Pale said, only for Clayton to shrug.
"Custom shoes are too expensive, and I wouldn't be able to use my feet in combat." Clayton said. Pale nodded in consideration of that fact. "I guess you don't know many faunas. Usually asking about our features is something people don't do." Clayton said, only for Pale to stick his tongue into his cheek in thought.
"Can't say I do." Pale said, causing Clayton to scoff.
"You've got that look. Like you're not used to seeing us up close… It's alright, most people ain't used to it even if they say they are." Clayton said, as he smiled back at Pale, who hummed in consideration.
"Guess I'm gonna have to get used to it." Pale muttered. They walked in silence for only a moment longer, until Pale asked another question. "That thing you did, beating the grimm's head in with your fists, chipping off the armor? I ain't seen many people capable of something like that… That your semblance?" Pale asked. Clayton chuckled.
"In a way. My semblance is resistance to damage, the more hits I take, the less they do to my aura until eventually I'd need to be hit by something harder. Bashing my fists against a grimm's head like that normally and I'd break my aura down eventually, but after three or four punches with my semblance, I'm not even feeling it, so I can just pound away as hard as I want." Clayton said. Pale smirked.
"And you just so happen to fly into a state of primal rage every time you use it?" He asked.
Clayton sighed. "Unfortunately, my temper has never been too good." He said.
Pale chuckled. "You seem calm right now."
Clayton sighed again. "Yeah, right now."
Siniy was nice enough to carry Halcyone on his back. There wasn't a lot of verbal communication, but the giant bear man looked at her braced leg, and knelt down for her to mount him like a horse, and jerked his head towards his back. She wasn't going to complain if he was offering. There was no shame in taking help when it was given, and certainly Halcyone wasn't going to refuse out of pride. So she saddled up on top of his backpack, and Siniy got to walking as if he didn't have a 140 pound girl on his shoulders.
"So you're a bear faunus eh?" Halcyone asked. Siniy hummed in response. "What kind?" She continued. Siniy just held up his arm to show her the white hair growing from it. "White, sorta dirty white, so polar bear right?" Halcyone asked, only for Siniy to huff.
"It's not white, it's hollow and transparent, light just scatters off the inside." Siniy said, as he shoved a bush out of his way, arriving at a large clearing full of ruins. Yang, and Blake were there, and once Siniy stopped in front of them, he reached up, grabbed Halcyone by her jacket, and set her gently on the ground.
"Hello." Yang said in a sing-song to Halcyone.
"How you sheilas doin'?" Halcyone asked both Blake and Yang, earning a surprised look from her fellow blond.
"Wait, your a girl?" Yang asked, hearing the short haired blond's voice for the first time, as Halcyone pulled her scarf down and goggles up.
"What, saw something you liked?" Halcyone asked, before chuckling at Yang, as she turned red. Siniy just rolled his electric blue eyes, then looked at the "relics" scattered around. "Chess pieces?" Halcyone asked, turning her attention to the giant. Siniy shrugged, taking a black rook for him and his partner.