Author's Note:
Sorry I haven't updated in, like, years. To be honest it will probably happen again, but I hope it won't. Anyways, I just currently have free time due to quarantine, and haven't written anything in months. Thanks for reading my verbal garbage. Also, I changed the whole story name, description, and the name of the first chapter. I also deleted a filler chapter, one that gave me some form of illness writing it, leaving me unable to breathe (this was before Corona). I'm avoiding filler from here to avoid the same fate. Let's just act like nothing happened and that I didn't have a complete and utter overhaul to how I write, probably for the worse. I'm also practicing dialogue, please bare with my terrible attempts. I barely remember the day we learned it in my Language Arts. Looking back, my dialogue in the last chapter was the best it's ever been. Darn.
Fire.
One of the essential building blocks for humanity seemed to be one of the most destructive things on the planet. Though both human and faunus seemed to have harnessed its power, it can easily escape their grasp, and Akamu was witnessing this within his own mind. What was actually happening was beyond his mind. All he saw was the red flame traveling towards his sitting body, unable to move as the flames started to lick at the bottoms of his uncovered feet. Though he instinctively braced for pain, he felt none. He did, however, feel the warmth of the flame. However, even then the warmth was... soft. Instead of a regular fire, it felt like a warm hug. Intrigued by this strange flame, he looked deeply into it. It was there, he saw himself in a bed, looking out the window to an afternoon in a forested area.
Suddenly, this vision approached him rapidly, and it was no longer as though he was looking through a window, but instead he was actually there. He looked around and saw a simple, furnished room, but strangely bleak. As he looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings, the door to this room opened. There he saw a disheveled Ruby in a pair of pajamas, black with pink dots all across them. She appeared to be nervous for some strange reason.
"Hey." The girl said to Akamu, clearly scared about something.
"Hey, Ruby." Akamu said, though he didn't actually mean to say that. It was as if he was watching a movie through his own eyes and couldn't control anything.
"So... Umm... H-how's it... I-I..." Ruby started to squeak out before suddenly rushing over to Akamu to hug him. Though surprised, this dream version of Akamu didn't seem to respond at all to the hug. In fact, his own body clues lead him to believe something was wrong with this scenario.
"It's alright, really." Akamu said enthusiastically, clearly lying to try and make Ruby feel better. Obviously, the girl knew what he said wasn't true and backed away from the hug.
"Can you... Can I help, like, at all?" Ruby said, tears starting to form in her eyes. This show of emotion was very foreign to this boy, and he didn't know what to do. Luckily, his uncontrolled body answered for him.
"If you could get me a glass of water, that would be nice." Akamu's body said. There was a clear elephant in the room that the true Akamu could not see. It was rather infuriating to him.
"O-Oh, yeah, sure." Ruby said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She seemed to be upset with something, but Akamu could not understand what.
"Hey, Ruby?" The dream asked without looking at the girl in question. Despite the clear lack of emotional link and thought link between the two instances of the wolf boy, the true one could feel every motion through the body, which was rather jarring. "I'm not upset with you." Suddenly, Akamu could feel his tear ducts swelling and the large lump in his throat start to form. "Just... Just with myself." And with those simple words, Akamu could feel the tears running down his face, but the lack of movement from his body worried him. Suddenly, Akamu could feel a snap in his body, like a string being broken.
Suddenly, Akamu was once again looking at the fire across his body. However, the warmth was now gone. Instead, the fire felt cold, like an icy tomb. The only thing the wolf boy now wanted was out. Out of this dream, out of this cold, out of wherever the hell he was. Suddenly, the fire ripped away from his body, leaving him in a black void. Now, he truly felt desolate, there was truly nothing here other than him and the freezing cold that seemed to worm its way into every part of his body. Even his heart felt cold. Even his aura.
With a quick jolt, Akamu awoke, bleary eyed. He couldn't see anything, nor was he awake long enough to remember anything being said to him, though he did recognize that he was being spoken to.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Akamu said, trying to wipe his eyes in an attempt to see the person speaking to him.
"Ugh, of course you weren't listening." A snobbish voice said to him, clearly becoming annoyed. "I said that we were given a free day today due to a sudden teacher meeting, so we were gonna spend it with you." It didn't take Akamu much to realize this was the ice queen, Weiss. "I'd recommend you get up now unless you want to spend the rest of the day alone." With that last sentence, the heiress closed the closet door to leave Akamu to his own devices. 'What the hell was that dream?' the wolf boy wondered to himself, putting on his clothes.
"Alright guys, what are we doing today?" Ruby said as the rest of her friends, including team JNPR, got off of the airship. Though Akamu was only introduced to them some ten minutes ago, it was clear the rest of his new team trusted them immensely, and so he was inclined to do so as well.
"Shopping?" Suggested Yang, trying to stay away from the sky-sick Jaune. "I'm sure Akamu could do with some new clothes." She then looked at the very sick blonde. "Probably Jaune, too." She chuckled.
Akamu considered for a moment, then realized that what he was wearing was possibly older than him. "That sounds okay to me." The wolf boy then thought upon the other things he needed. Not only clothes, he also needed supplies to craft his weapons, and some instructional books to assist in his training. Though his team leader was younger than him, he was still in Beacon Academy a year early, and he would need to work twice as hard to keep up with his teammates. It also didn't help he got in by chance.
Due to the constant begging of Ruby, weapons was up first. All Akamu wanted to do was get a sword, however, nothing is that simple when nearby this group. What made it even worse was that Akamu was left alone with the crazed girl, everyone else finding an out as soon as possible to not take the barrage of facts from the red maniac. As the wolf boy wandered through the store, something dawned on him; there were no completed weapons in this store. Instead, there were bits and pieces for assembling your own weapon, something Akamu had no idea on how to do. As they went further into this surprisingly large shop, the shear amount of items started to overwhelm the poor dog, however, something seemingly clicked into place in his mind. He started getting flashes of specific items, and guessed it was his semblance. As the white-haired boy searched the shelves with a newfound fervor, Ruby stood there slackjawed. She couldn't even remember what she was talking about before he suddenly started cherry-picking metal chunks, some of which she had never even seen before. Just as fast as he started, however, he stopped.
"What just happened?" Both questioned at the same time, Akamu sounding far more like he had just suffered an injury.
"Hah, jinx! One two three four five six seven eight nine ten!" Ruby said excitedly, then pushing a finger to the confused boy's chest, "You, my friend, owe me a soda." This only proved to further the boy's confusion.
"Okay, I have the items needed to make a... something." Akamu said exiting the tiny shop, his pocket feeling a sizable chunk lighter. It only occured to him now that he didn't actually have a wallet.
Ruby suddenly stopped, looking at the wolf faunus that looked paler than usual. "What do you mean 'Something'? You just picked out stuff specifically, so I thought you knew what you were doing."
"Honestly, I do not know what happened in there, I just got this... urge to grab all those items. I... Sometimes this happens, it usually works out fine." Akamu explained, somewhat shrugging off the conversation at the end. Ruby knew she had somehow made him uncomfortable, she just didn't know how. She quickly decided to switch the subject matter.
"So... I noticed that one of your eyes are silver. Wanna tell me about that?" Ruby said, grasping for something. Akamu thought her charisma was incredible.
However, it became clear that Akamu hadn't said anything for a startling while, and so he quickly exited the machinations of his mind to answer. "Oh, uh... I don't know, I was just born with it. I know silver eyes are uncommon, and so is heterochromia, so I guess I'm rather, uh, rare."
"Oh, that's what it was called! I always forget the word for two different eye colors, like how I forget the word for the smell after rain. It's pet... See? I forgot it." Ruby said excitedly, clearly happy to get out of the previous conversation.
"It's petrichor." Akamu stated blankly. While he enjoyed the conversation, he barely knew Ruby, even if she was good at talking.
"You got another one! Jeez, are you like a walking dictionary or something? If you are, please proofread my essays, Weiss won't do it anymore." Ruby said, her tone switching from her usual bubbly self to almost pleading in a matter of seconds.
"I learned the majority of my dialect from dictionaries, so, yes, I suppose I am." Akamu said, now trying to amuse the girl by using words that he didn't usually. In fact, he didn't even know if he used 'Dialect' correctly, but he guessed she didn't either.
After a few hours, everyone else reconvened, guessing the red maniac had grown tired of her spiel. However, before they did, the new tag team declared 'Silver Bullets' by Ruby got everything else Akamu needed for everyday life, including even more books. The only thing left was food, but a quick visit to a local fast food joint cleared that off the list as well. Once pleasantries were over and everyone had eaten burgers (something Akamu had never eaten before), the last airships to Beacon were leaving. With a quick journey back to the academy, and the two separate teams saying goodnight to each other, Akamu was now left with everyone else inside of their dorm room.
"Woo, it's been a long time since I've hit the town!" Exclaimed Yang, jumping into her bed. "I don't think I've had that much fun since... I dunno. Taking down a Nevermore was pretty fun, so, since we took down a Nevermore." Yang finished, the cogs in her head practically screeching trying to find a suitable equal.
Akamu quickly snapped out of his inner monologue to what the blonde had just stated. "Wait, wait, wait, wait... You did what!?" The tired look in his eyes were gone, now replaced with a newfound excitement. "Okay, wait, how big was it? How did you get it out of the air? Aren't those things supposed to be bulletproof? Wait, I don't even know what weapons all of you use! That would help me figure out just how-"
"Already spend too much time with my sis'?" Yang asked, having sat up in her bed and started looking at Akamu amused. "For weapons, I just punch and use Ember Celica. They're basically arm shotguns." She explained pulling out one of the yellow bracelets. Almost immediately it was clear Akamu was entranced by yellow circle.
Before Akamu could ask any questions, Ruby took the call to action, pulling out what looked like a red suitcase before suddenly unfolding into a scythe that was easily bigger than Akamu. Everyone else was hiding behind anything within arms reach. "This is Crescent Rose. It's a giant scythe and a high-impact sniper rifle." Ruby proudly stated.
"She calls it her baby." Yang interjected. Before she could get any more words out, Ruby was already trying to cover Yang's mouth. Despite the commotion from the left side of the room, the other half of the team seemed so jaded that it was honestly rather strange. Akamu stood in the center of the room, plastic bags dropped at his feet, and eyelids heavy. He quickly walked back into the closet he considered his living quarters, faceplanted into the small bed, and met the embrace of unconsciousness with open arms.
Despite how quickly he embraced sleep, Akamu's mind clearly didn't want to rest. Very quickly, it was running through diagrams of weapons that he had conceived many a moon ago, and quickly putting together pieces at a startling pace. While all of his main processing power was put into this action, the back of his mind remembered back to when he was a child. As weapons flew around in the background, it was as if he was daydreaming in a regular dream. Was he currently lucid in his dream? Well, considering that he just had that thought, it would seem the answer was a resounding yes. Akamu then quickly decided to get out of this line of thought that usually ended in philosophy, rather reflecting on his life and all the choices that led him to... here. Living in Beacon a year early in the only team of five. As he thought back, he quickly remembered that he didn't actually remember much. It was as if he was just a random new person uploaded into a random child's body. Before he could begin to delve further into deep philosophy, something disturbed his rest another night in a row.
With a quick gasp, Akamu shot up wide awake. A dry throat is what first introduced itself as Akamu began deeply breathing as an attempt to calm himself. As soon as he felt his panicking mind and body were under control, he opened his eyes to look at his scroll. The bright light showed that it was 4:01 in the morning. 'Well, this sucks.' thought the faunus as he slowly got up. Though his natural night vision let him know what he was doing in the dark, that didn't mean he could keep his activities a secret from everybody else. As he slowly opened the door, he could hear the brazen snores of Yang quickly shake the wolf's brain in his skull. 'At least I have a noise cover.' He attempted to be as quiet as possible, locating the parts he purchased just yesterday. Making a mental note of where they were, he started to head out the door before a voice interrupted him.
"Are you okay?" The voice whispered out from the top bunk on the right, almost entirely missing his enhanced senses. Blake. "You better not be getting into trouble." She said authoritatively, but trying to keep her voice down.
Akamu thought for a bit on how much he should tell her. "I- uh- just need some water." He whispered back, trying to sidestep the question. Blake made an unamused noise, making Akamu answer back out of a panicked snapshot. "I had a nightmare and can't sleep anymore, so I'm just gonna work on my weapon as quietly as I can after I go and get a drink. Sorry to wake you!" The silence was deafening before Blake answered back.
"Alright, just keep it down." Akamu quickly exited the room to avoid her changing her mind, his heart pumping like he had just outrun an Ursa. 'Out of the frying pan. Let's just hope there's no fire soon.' As the Silver-haired boy wandered throught the walls, searching for a drinking fountain, he heard a quiet whistle of a blade from a nearby open window. It sounded like someone was practicing, but why this early in the morning? Either they just got up or... He quickly took a drink at a drinking fountain, which was counter intuitive now that he thought about it, and climbed outside. Free climbing buildings was considered one of his greatest skills since he lived at Mount Glenn. As he peered over the lip, he saw a familiar blonde boy practicing swordplay. Even with basic knowledge, Akamu knew he was doing plenty of things wrong, even though majority of hunters did. Even his stance was off, it seemed... Uncertain? It looked like Jaune was standing like he was completely unsure of what he was doing, quickly stopping and restarting cuts as if to get a 'perfect' attack. Akamu knew he was gonna have to talk to Jaune about this later, but now was not the time. Blake was probably already getting suspicious as to why Akamu was gone so long, and she likely considered free climbing up the side of a building 'getting into trouble.'
As the creak of the door rang out, Akamu quickly entered back into the dorm. It seemed that Blake had changed position, now reading a book. "What are you reading?" asked the wolf boy. Blake quickly stammered for a second, but didn't answer. This only made Akamu more curious. As he sat down at the desk, he focued his eyes and caught the title. 'Ninjas of Love.' Akamu thought for a second before speaking his mind. "That looks like a smut book." Blake quickly closed the book and stared him down. However, through the darkness, Akamu could see the blush on her face. He could also see she was very pissed. If she had fangs, they would be bared. "I'm not judging, just stating my thoughts. However, I will state that I have never had an interest in smut, so you don't need to hide it from me." Akamu said calmly, trying to de-escalate the situation. However, judging by the growing blush on her face, he said something wrong. Oh. "I-I mean, like, I'm not going to go searching for the book, not what..." The wolf boy could feel his cheeks growing at least twice as red as Blake's. "Anyways, I'm just going to, uhm, make my weapons." Any and all previous facades of confidence he held were crumbled, leaving only a bumbling idiot in their place. Not only was it a long night, it was also a long morning.