Hello, loyal readers and newcomers! I'm WaterDragonMaverick and I'm here with the next chapter of my RWBY Original Character fic, "Sideline: Another Story". For this chapter, it's been about the same amount of time that Team RWBY and JNPR have been at Beacon before Jaune comes clean to Pyrrha about how he got into the school. In this installment, we'll see how well the three teams have adjusted to Beacon and have backstory on a setting that is important to a number of my characters.
Story Time!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
I only own my RWBY Original Characters in Team SLVR, Team FCSA, and Team SAFR.
It has been quite some time since Azalea had first come to Beacon Academy, but she was adjusting pretty well. Each of her classes were interesting and kept her on her toes at times. For example, despite his 'unique' storytelling, Professor Port had students fight Grimm he caught or help him track them to catch the monsters. And every time that Combat classes were held, Azalea always managed to hold her own. Eventually, everyone heard that the Vytal Festival was approaching and that students from the other kingdoms would join them for classes during the next semester before the Tournament started.
This news excited several members of SLVR, SAFR, and FCSA enough that it was all they talked about during their lunch break. "I'm so ready to take on those other teams! Just let me at 'em," Silver said with his tail actually wagging behind him like an excited puppy.
"Down, boy," Rua remarked with a smirk on her face as she shoved Silver back into his seat. "I wanna fight as much as you, but I'd rather save it for class."
"Speaking of class, we have Doctor Oobleck this afternoon," Lapis said to everyone. "If the lesson plan is correct, then we'll be learning about areas in western Anima." Upon hearing of where she grew up, Azalea turned her head back to Lapis with a hint of intrigue. "I wonder what they were like then and how they are now," Lapis said her thoughts out loud.
"Nerd," Vixen said with a snicker.
"At least she's better than a prankster with secrets to hide," Cereza playfully teased while enjoying a few cherries. Vixen looked slightly nervous at Cereza's mention of the Fox Faunus.
"Everyone has their secrets," Slate stated. "Same with their origins."
After a few more minutes of various topics, the conversation soon looped to Team SAFR. "How's your Semblance been developing, Sunset," Layla asked. Everyone turned to the girl in question and awaited her response as they were unsure of their friend's progress with her newly developed power themselves.
"Actually, I can hear some of your thoughts right now," Sunset answered. "Celadon is worried if her makeup is on right, Silver and Slate are still thinking about the Vytal Festival, and Azalea is feeling a little excited for Doctor Oobleck's class later."
"Impressive," Vinyl said as she fixed her bangs to stay out of her eye.
"Yeah. It is," Sunset remarked before she looked down with a thoughtful look on her face. "I just think that there's more than just mind reading to this. My teachers at Garrison had their own powerful Semblances, but there was more to them than they let on."
Layla put a hand on Sunset's shoulder to comfort her. "Don't worry. We'll figure out everything. That's why we're here at Beacon," the Vacuo girl said. Sunset smiled at that and the group continued to talk the last of their break away.
Eventually, the group got ready for classes again and headed off to Doctor Oobleck's History class. But as they got there, the group of twelve found trouble in the form Team CRDL, who were ready to pick a fight with them. "Well, looks like we have company to wait with," Cardin said to his teammates.
"Don't even start, Winchester," Slate said as he moved his hat to show his viridian eyes. "We don't want to deal with you."
"Speak for yourself," Silver and Rua remarked as they glared at Team CRDL. The staring contest went on for a few moments until Silver and Rua were dragged to a few seats far away from the other team.
After another minute, other students arrived in the room and took their own seats around the lecture hall. Team RWBY and Team JNPR actually had a few classes with Azalea and her friends, so they were seated around the others. Soon, Bartholomew Oobleck arrived with his usual hyperactive energy and began class. Most of the students who had Professor Camellia and Doctor Oobleck in their schedules agreed that the two were pretty different from each other. While one needed tea to wake up before class started, the other looked and behaved like he needed an intervention for a caffeine addiction.
"Settle down, students! We will be covering a lot today, so I hope that you'll pay attention," the green-haired teacher said to the teenagers in front of him. A few groans were heard scattered around the room while a few were looking forward to the lecture. "Alright, we'll start with..."
"...and that is how the village was founded. However, there are still claims as to if these details are accurate or not. A few associates of mine have been looking into them, but only one of them has found enough proof to continue her searches," Oobleck continued. By this time, everyone was either asleep, ignoring most of what was happening, or paying attention to the 'gliding' history teacher. Among the students in the former two were Jaune Arc, Team CRDL, and even Rua Amaranth. Vinyl was listening to her music, but managed to pay attention to the lecture by reading Oobleck's lips. Everyone who knew Vinyl thought that she had to have some amazing skill to follow along to the rapid-talking Huntsman.
"Okay then. We'll now move onto our next topic," Oobleck said to everyone as he slapped the map behind him and pointed to a spot on the continent of Anima. "Who can tell me about the village of Mirabelle," he asked. Immediate upon hearing the name of the town, Azalea bolted up and raised her hand in excitement. Seeing and hearing the change in the shy student, Oobleck was ecstatic. "Miss Holstein! Contributing to class! This is excellent! Care to tell us what you know about Mirabelle?"
Azalea nodded and cleared her throat before beginning her explanation. "Long before the Great War, a clan of Faunus decided that they had enough of the discrimination against them and they left their homes to find settlement elsewhere in Anima. Soon, they came across an abandoned village near a plot of land that was perfect for setting up a farm. The clan's matriarch decided that the Faunus and their families would repair the village and start a farm," Azalea stated with enthusiasm. All of her friends were surprised at the girl's knowledge, but continued listening to the Faunus.
"Eventually, their new home was renamed 'Mirabelle' as more people moved into the area and helped with either repairing the town or working at 'Plum Blossom Farms' with the clan's matriarch, Diana Demeter Holstein. As time passed for Mirabelle and the Holstein clan, the village became well know across western Anima and even eastern Sanus," Azalea continued. Everyone was intrigued by the fact that Azalea said that her own ancestor founded a village from before the Great War. "During the tension of the Great War, Mirabelle and Plum Blossom Farms became its own sanctuary for Faunus and those who wished to not follow the Emperor of Mistral's decree of abolishing self-expression. And during the war itself, the locations were a safe area that all sides took refuge in before heading back to their own sides."
Azalea's euphoric face while giving her own 'lecture' about her hometown was a sight that her friends and Doctor Oobleck were glad to see. "Plum Blossom Farms itself is a successful business that supplies food to a number of locations throughout its surrounding areas. The farm even lends horses for traveling Huntsmen and others to get around easier," Azalea added before returning to the topic of Mirabelle. "Anyways, because of the origins of Mirabelle, it is one of the locations in Anima with little-to-no discrimination against the Faunus species." As Azalea finished, most of the room applauded her presentation and Oobleck smiled gently at her.
"Excellent! Just excellent, Miss Holstein! If I didn't know any better, I would say that you were the teacher today," Doctor Oobleck congratulated the Faunus girl. "Because of the detail in your oral presentation, I will be excluding you from your assigned readings today. You may enjoy an afternoon off, if you wish."
Most of the room either groaned at the fact that Azalea got out of having homework or they congratulated the girl for a job well done. Unfortunately, four boys just glared at the girl with annoying smirks on their faces. "Tsk. Leave it to the dairy cow to know about a farming town," Cardin commented loud enough for everyone to hear him.
At his words, Azalea froze and stared off into the distance. She heard what he said and kept repeating in her head with two words getting the most emphasis. "Leave it to the dairy cow to know about a farming town. Leave it to the dairy cow... Dairy Cow... Dairy Cow... Dairy Cow..." As the words repeated in her mind, Azalea's eyes filled with tears and started to spill over. Vinyl was the first to see Azalea's face and removed her sunglasses to see the crying girl.
Doctor Oobleck saw the sobbing girl and slowly approached her. "Miss Holstein? Are you alright? Azalea," he asked cautiously before the girl he was speaking to began to make a sound. Wailing at the top of her lungs, Azalea bawled her eyes out and used her Semblance to turn invisible before she was heard running out of the room at full speed.
"Azalea! Wait," Sunset and Layla said before they ran after the weeping girl with Slate and Vinyl following behind them.
Everyone who stayed behind was shocked to see Azalea act like that, except for a few people who were laughing harshly instead. "Seriously? She's explaining things like she's the teacher one minute, then she bolts off crying the next? HAHAHAHAHA," Cardin said before he and Team CRDL laughed.
Several students were baring their teeth or glaring at how harsh Team CRDL was acting, but one reacted much more violently than the others and nobody could see what happened until it was too late. In a flash of purplish-red light, Rua Amaranth appeared above Cardin and slammed his face into his desk before she kicked the rest of his team in their faces. "WHY DON'T YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, YOU PIECE OF SHIT BULLY," Rua screamed with a look and tone of pure righteous fury.
Cardin growled as he pushed himself back up off his desk and turned to viciously glare at Rua. The two stared each other down like wild animals before the next move was made. With a swift punch, Rua slugged Cardin in the face and he recoiled in pain. As the bully removed his hand from his eye, Rua rushed him and grabbed Cardin's head to deliver a knee strike to his nose. Before the assault could continue any further, Oobleck intervened by grabbing both Cardin and Rua by the arms. "That's enough. The two of you are going to be punished for these actions," Oobleck sternly stated. "Your insensitive comments," the teacher said to Cardin before turning to a snarling Rua. "And your violent outburst. Detention! Both of you are to stay after class and do what say until I allow you to leave."
Both students glared at each other while Oobleck turned to the rest of his class. "I believe this would be an appropriate time to dismiss you all. Pages 21 to 42 in your textbooks. I want a summary of a village of your choice on my desk when I see you for next class. Run along students," he instructed to everybody. Just as Team SLVR was leaving with their friends, Team RWBY, and Team JNPR, Oobleck spoke to them again. "Oh, and please keep an eye out for Miss Holstein. She... seems to have taken this badly, to say the least."
"That's an understatement. We need to find her," Yang Xiao Long said as she and the others left to either do their assignments or search for Azalea.
"Azalea! Wait," called out a familiar voice, but the Faunus girl ignored it and kept running. Azalea kept hidden with her Semblance and managed to avoid being discovered by her friends. As the sound of footsteps faded away from her location, the effect of Azalea's Semblance ended and revealed the crying girl. Curled up in a ball against the wall, Azalea could only let her tears fall off her face.
"I'm not one... I'm not a dairy cow...," Azalea sobbed to herself. Because her heritage, Azalea's body matured faster during puberty and it made her the target of most kids her age when she left Mirabelle for classes at Sanctuary Academy. All of the taunting voices she knew as a young teenager were all she was hearing now. In Azalea's childhood, she absolutely hated being called 'dairy cow' because of it not only an insult to her, but also to the entire maternal side of her family.
Minutes passed for Azalea as she cried to herself, but she soon found that she was no longer alone. Looking up, she saw three faces that appeared periodically around Beacon. The first was a tall girl wearing black sunglasses and a beret that looked like she was more into fashion than combat. The second was a Rabbit Faunus that looked like she had gone through similar troubles before. And the third person was a giant of a boy that looked seven feet tall and seemed to give off a feeling of protection. "You alright, kid," the girl with the beret asked as the Faunus helped Azalea to her feet.
"N-n-no," sniffling and faltering, Azalea could barely answer the question. "I'm n-not."
"What happened," the Rabbit Faunus asked with an accent.
Hesitating, Azalea tried to give an answer to the girls. "I just... ran away from class."
"Why would you do that," the large young man inquired.
"S-somebody called me a slur I hate," Azalea managed to say.
When she answered, Azalea saw the Rabbit Faunus lower her head and the other two had angry looks on their faces. "Velvet gets way too many comments like that because of her heritage," the fashionable girl said. "But, we try and help deal with those kinds of problems."
"Coco, you kicked the last few boys who did that in their groins and they couldn't walk straight for two days," 'Velvet' said to her friend.
"They deserved it. They're lucky I didn't tell Yatsuhashi to use them as training partners," Coco retorted. "Isn't that right, Yatsu," she asked the giant of a teenager.
"Nobody hurts my team on my watch," Yatsuhashi said with an intimidatingly deep voice.
Azalea smiled sadly and looked down before speaking again. "But, I've been dealing with this since I was a kid. I can handle this on my own," she said with more tears falling from her face.
"Where is she," Sunset said as she searched the dorms for the second time. After Azalea's outburst, Sunset ran after the Faunus with Layla, Slate, and Vinyl. The four decided to split up to search for the girl, but none of them were having any luck. Soon, Sunset's Scroll got a message from Vinyl that said 'She's not at the training hall or locker rooms'. Sighing, the redhead slumped onto the floor and messaged Vinyl back about where she checked.
"She couldn't have gotten far. She says that her Semblance only lasts a minute or two," Sunset thought out loud. "Well, I should check near the classrooms again. Maybe I missed her," she said to herself and headed off.
As she got closer to her destination, Sunset thought of something. 'Maybe if I use MY Semblance,' she pondered before clearing her mind and searched for Azalea. After a few moments, Sunset couldn't hear anything and sighed in defeat. "I'm still learning how to use this power anyway. It's not like I can master it in a week," Sunset said to herself before she felt something on her face. Bringing a hand to her eye and cheek, Sunset felt something wet and looked to the sky. Seeing it was a clear and sunny day, Sunset was confused as to why water was on her face before she felt something else. Overcome with a feeling of sorrow, Sunset was freaking out over everything that was happening and began to tear up.
"What's going on? Why am I feeling so horrible? Why am I crying," Sunset asked herself. Before she could ask another thing, Sunset felt something nearby and walked in that direction. As she reached a hallway near an empty lecture hall, she heard a few voices talking about 'nobody hurting their team'. Turning a corner, Sunset found three upperclassmen talking with Azalea and trying to cheer her up.
Relieved to see her friend okay, Sunset approached the four while keeping her gaze focused on Azalea. "Azalea. I'm so glad that I found you. Everyone was looking for you after that thing in Oobleck's class," she said to the horned Faunus.
"You know this girl," Coco asked Azalea as she looked at Sunset. "Nice jacket, kid," she complimented the newcomer.
"Yeah. She's one of my friends. I guess that we should head back. I'll see you around," Azalea said to Coco, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi. Walking with Sunset by her side, Azalea still looked down at her feet while the two headed to their dorm rooms. "You didn't have to look for me. People said that kind of stuff all the time back in Sanctuary," Azalea explained to Sunset as the latter messaged the others on her Scroll. "I dealt with it alone and I can deal with it now."
"I don't think so. I might not have been social back at my old school, but you're my friend. I'm going to help you when you're upset," Sunset countered.
Azalea wiped tears from her eyes as she smiled at Sunset. "How'd you find me anyway?"
"It's really weird. I was trying to use my Semblance to hear your thoughts, but it wasn't working. Then, I felt something dripping down my cheek and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. And I just followed this strange feeling until I found you with those guys," the redhead began to explain. "It's just too strange. Seriously, why is my Semblance so confusing," Sunset said with an increasingly irritated tone.
"I know you're trying to learn, but you don't need to get more riled up than a Grimm in one of Professor Port's cages," Azalea said to her friend.
"I'm not angry about my Semblance. But, something's ticking me off right now," Sunset explained before something appeared in front of them. In a flash of purplish-red light, Rua was in front of the two girls and grumbled to herself as she clenched her fists. "Rua? Are you okay," Sunset cautiously asked.
"No, I'm not okay! Because of that piece of Grimm bait saying what he did to Azalea, I have to be in detention with him," Rua snarled out. "Cardin Winchester can go suck a d-"
"Why do you have detention," Sunset and Azalea interrupted with a question.
"BECAUSE I WAS BEATING HIS STUPID FACE IN," Rua practically screamed through the courtyard. Her voiced echoed through the area and drew attention to the trio of girls. "HE SHOULDN'T BE A RACIST SON OF A-"
"Okay, that's enough out of you," Sunset acted quickly and covered Rua's mouth to make her stop screaming. "Try dealing with your anger some other way."
"Speaking of, Rua and you were both angry like that. And just after you found me," Azalea mentioned to Sunset. "Could your Semblance be why?"
Thinking about it for a minute, Sunset did feel sad and angry when she was near Azalea and Rua respectively. And the first instance was from trying to find the former in an emotional state. "I think you might be right, Lea," Sunset said.
"Today's been eventful, hasn't it," Rua dryly commented. "Azalea gets out of homework for today before she runs off crying, I get detention for beating up the jerk that insulted her, and Sunset learns more about her powers. Whoo-hoo," she sarcastically cheered.
Sunset didn't need to use her Semblance to figure out that Rua was still mad. The latter's anger would probably last as long as one of Professor Port's anecdotes about his youth, so Sunset had to do something about that. However, Sunset could still sense Azalea's lingering sadness from earlier and had to help with that a bit. "So, wanna head into the city for ice cream or something," Sunset asked the two girls.
"Yes," Azalea and Rua immediately answered.
"Well, let's see if anyone else wants to grab some," Sunset said with a smile as she messaged the others on her Scroll.
After messaging the others, the ones who came joined Sunset and the girls to a local frozen yogurt shop in Vale called 'Magnolia's' for a treat. All of Team FSCA was there, but Rua was the only member of SLVR in the shop at the moment because the others were either studying or training. As for Team SAFR, Rebecca opted to stay behind to catch up on her training while Vinyl and Celadon joined Sunset. "Should we bring something back for the others," Celadon asked as she added some cookie crumbs to her dish.
"I say we should. Vinyl says this place is great," Sunset said before tasting a spoonful of her fro-yo. "And it IS," she exclaimed in happiness at the flavor.
As everybody sat together, they soon noticed that Azalea had the largest helping out of the eight of them. "That's a lot of yogurt, Azalea. You sure you're okay," Layla asked with caution.
"I agree with Layla, darling. Are you alright," Celadon inquired.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah... I'm fine. It's nothing," Azalea tried to reassure them. However, Sunset just raised an eyebrow at her and crossed her arms. "It's just... This reminds me about home too much," Azalea admitted.
"How so," Cereza asked as she took a bite of her frozen treat.
Azalea sighed before explaining what she meant. "Whenever I was upset about being bullied at Sanctuary Academy, my mom and dad would usually take me to my favorite ice cream parlor in Mirabelle. I guess all the constant visits made ice cream and fro-yo my own personal comfort food. So, just being here without them around is just..."
"You're just homesick, aren't you," Sunset summarized.
"Darling, everyone gets homesick when they're away for a while," Celadon explained.
"Yeah. I miss my mom back in Vacuo," Layla said as she hugged Azalea.
"Same with my folks," Slate said as he adjusted his hat. Azalea smiled at all of her friends trying to cheer her up and continued having her dish of frozen yogurt. "By the way, that's a LOT of what you have," Slate commented after getting a better look at Azalea's cup. Everybody turned to see that it was the largest out of all of them all.
Azalea was embarrassed by all the looks she got from her friends. "It's comfort food. And we're warriors in training. Sunset eats a lot, too," the Faunus girl commented as she nervously took another bite.
"Yeah. But, I'm sure that YOU eat more than I do. I wouldn't be surprised if your figure was a result of your eating habits," Sunset retorted. "Um, uh... No offense," she said awkwardly after realizing she might have accidentally insulted Azalea.
"None taken," Azalea reassured her friend about her comment. "My family cooks a lot anyways. You would all like the farm. My parents would be happy to meet everyone."
"We would love to meet them for ourselves, Darling," Celadon said. "Perhaps when we have the chance in the future." The group were soon talking about all sorts of things while they enjoyed their time at Magnolia's.
Back at Beacon Academy, a few students were not enjoying their time after classes ended. Cardin returned to his room after serving detention, but he was remembering what happened earlier with Rua Amaranth. "That shrimp thinks she can do that to me," Cardin muttered to himself as his teammates listen in. "Okay, guys. We've got some planning to do. We're not going to let that runt from earlier walk all over us."
Hope you all liked the chapter. I really wanted to show off the background of Azalea's home for the story and I also thought this would help show off some details of other characters as well.
What does Cardin have planned for Rua? Will this end up being something like Jaune and the Rapier Wasps or something else entirely? Find out next time!
WaterDragonMaverick, signing out.