Beacon Hallways
Things once again were looking bad for Jaune Arc. Just the night before, he had come clean to his team regarding his transcripts. Apparently Jin and Kazuki had overheard everything and Kazuki had given him a pep talk while Jin suggested turning himself in. At first he was determined to stay but now he was starting to rethink that, especially since he found out that Kazuki and Jin weren't the only ones who overheard his little secret. That's right, Cardin of all people had overheard and was now blackmailing Jaune. How Kazuki noticed Jin but not Cardin was beyond him but it was too late for that now. Currently, Jaune was tired and slowly, but surely, making his way back to his team's dorm, all the while Cardin's words rang through his head.
"Remember, you just keep doing this and I might just forget about your little problem, but that depends on how good of a job you do and my mood. Oh, and don't even THINK about going to that freak for help, got it, Jauny boy? Hope you don't mind pulling an all-nighter for this. And I've got your scroll number in case I need you again, later." Cardin's words rang through Jaune's head on repeat. It was obvious to his team what was happening and most likely they knew what would happen should they intervene, even Kazuki had begun restraining himself around Cardin at any of his racist remarks to other faunas, afraid he'd accidentally get Jaune kicked out of Beacon. At least Ragna, Naoto and Kazuma were there to deal with his bullying of others. Jaune had finally made it back to his team's dorm after spending most of the free period doing Cardin's essay for Professor Oobleck, someone whose class had been cancelled due to the Professor supposedly passing out after running out of coffee. But that just made things slightly easier for Jaune, thankfully.
"Ugh…" Jaune groaned as he flopped onto his bed after entering his team's dorm.
"Jaune, are you sure you're okay?" Pyrrha asked her partner.
After the rest of Team JNPR had found out that Cardin was blackmailing Jaune, they had been rather quick in offering him help with dealing with Cardin's assignments, only for Jaune to turn them all down.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just…. Tired…" Jaune said to her, his voice muffled from having his face flat on his pillow.
"Jaune, we're here to help you, let us take care of Cardin's assignment this time so you can get some rest."
"No, it's fine. It's my fault anyway for not being careful." he told her, lifting his face off of his pillow to face her.
"Let go of my tail, Cardin, NOW!" A voice called out from the hallway outside the dorms, it was Kazuki's voice and he sounded….like he was panicking…
"Or what? Did you actually think I was really scared of a double freak like you?" Cardin's voice asked mockingly before Team JNPR heard a yelp, most likely Cardin had yanked back on Kazuki's tail.
Being in their own dorms were teams RWBY, BLAST and RJNN minus Jin who was once again studying. Ragna, Makoto, Ruby, Blake and Bang all rushed out of their dorms to see what was happening, Jaune and Pyrrha also ran out while Nora was quick to grab her hammer. They all came out to a rather shocking sight. Kazuki was on the ground, looking genuinely afraid while Cardin was holding his tail, a smug smirk adorning his face.
"Bastard! I would've thought that Kazuma's beating was enough for you!" Ragna shouted as he glared at the bully, his hand already hovering over the grip of Aramasa, Cardin looked at Ragna dead in the eyes and yanked at Kazuki's tail once again, this time getting a pained howl from him.
"Careful now, wouldn't want him to lose his tail, now would we?" Cardin taunted, letting out a chuckle.
"Please stop it, you're hurting him!" Ruby pleaded, Yang had finally exited the dorm and her eyes were now red.
"Let him go!" She yelled.
"Not another step." Cardin warned, he then pulled out a small knife, "or his tail goes bye-bye."
All of the others could only stare at Cardin in shock, sure, he was a racist asshole but he actually intended to cut off Kazuki's tail?! Sure, Kazuki's aura would protect him for a while but it would still be painful.
"Please… Just let me...g-go!" Kazuki pleaded, his voice was strained, he was very clearly in pain but it didn't take long for Ragna to realize that this time, it wasn't from his tail being pulled on.
"Shut it, freak! And what the hell's with this scarf? You're inside idiot. Or are you just THAT used to having a collar around your neck?" Cardin taunted again, this time, putting the knife back into his pocket and yanking Kazuki's scarf from his neck. Everyone there now had a full view of the scar going all around Kazuki's neck, shocking everyone there, except for Ragna who just looked even more pissed than before.
From her team's dorm, Weiss covered her mouth with her hands from shock, not believing what she was seeing. "D-Did my father do this….?" She thought to herself.
"Huh, I guess I was actually right!" Cardin said as looked genuinely shocked too.
It was at this point that Kazuki stopped struggling.
By Team BLAST's dorm, Tao had begun freaking out, causing Bullet and Amane to shift their focus on trying to calm her down.
"Calm down Tao! We know you're angry but please restrain yourself!" Amane asked his partner.
"Wait, that's not anger, it's fear." Bullet said, noting the look in Tao's eyes.
"Fear?" Amane asked, he then looked back to Kazuki and saw exactly why.
Makoto and Blake's fight or flight instincts were screaming at them again as they began backing up.
"C-Cardin, I think you should REALLY let go now!" Makoto warned, for once, actually concerned about the bully's safety.
Ragna could only look into Kazuki's eyes and all he saw was pure, unyielding rage. Noel had gripped her head in pain as she had used The Eye on Kazuki, only this time, she didn't get any images of anything but instead, she heard the screams of a child.
"Noel!" Yang called out to her.
"Cardin, you have to let go right now!" Noel shouted at him.
Cardin was confused as to why most of them were beginning to back up away from him with fear and shock in their eyes. He then looked back to the faunas and he saw why. His eyes were still blue but his eye's scalera had turned pitch black.
Suddenly, a miniature explosion erupted around Kazuki, knocking everyone back and sending Cardin slamming against a wall.
"What was that?!" Bang asked aloud, covering his face with his arms.
In Kazuki's place was a large dust cloud, but that did not conceal what lay within. For once it settled, everyone now saw a massive suit of armor that was at least 8 feet tall. The black and red wings that Kazuki had used during the initiation were on its back. The armor itself had a similar color scheme with parts of the forearms being a dark blue. The bottom of the feet and hand covers were also a dark blue. On its head was a black double v-fin with the smaller parts of the v-fin being a crimson red. The eyes of the machine were a glowing golden color. On its left shoulder was the Tekkadan insignia in red. In its left arm was the mace Kazuki said was used by his friend, Mikazuki, and in its right hand, as well as its arm, was a unique weapon. It was Black with a large red circular piece in the middle, it resembled a shield and yet it had a gun barrel. Under it was also a rather large blade pointed in reverse.
Cardin looked up to the suit of armor and was terrified at what he saw, it was then that the true meaning of Oobleck's words sunk in, "Should he let out all his anger on you, then even I might not be able to stop him." He had done it, he had pushed him past his boundaries and now he was probably going to die. Suddenly, the blade attached to the gun-shield hybrid on the suit's right arm swung up, placing it in a forward position that covered the gun barrel. It was now aimed at Cardin's throat.
"You were warned, fool." Kazuki's voice boomed from the armor, causing everyone to stiffen. Cardin had begun shaking, sweat was rolling down his face and, if he was being honest with himself, was on the verge of tears, "But I suppose I shall live up to my name as Tekkadan's Fallen Angel and spare you. Now scram, lest you become a red stain on the walls." Kazuki told him. Cardin got up and ran all the way to his team's dorm fearing for his life.
The armor had begun to dissipate in blue motes of light, allowing Kazuki to fall to the ground and land, rubbing his tail, his eyes back to normal, he muttered to himself, "Seriously, fuck that guy…"
"K-Kazuki…?"
He looked up to see everyone staring at him, most of them with fear in their eyes and others with pure disbelief. He noted Ruby's look of absolute terror on her face, something that made him feel like absolute shit, "S-Sorry about that, he just brought up some… repressed memories…." He told them.
It was then Weiss walked up to him, both looking afraid and rather judgmental.
"Were you actually gonna kill him?" Weiss was about to ask until Makoto beat her to it.
"No, I wasn't, he hasn't done anything to warrant it."
"And what would?" Weiss asked.
"Murder and other stuff I ain't saying in front of Ruby." He told her, his tone showing that he wouldn't delve any further into it.
Makoto and Ruby couldn't stop eyeing the scar around his neck, something that wasn't unnoticed by him. Blake was now much more wary of him. Black armor, a so-called v-fin. It was almost a perfect match to the armor that was hunting down and killing white fang hideouts, almost a perfect match.
"I'm not gonna pry but…. Do you wanna talk about-" "No." Kazuki interrupted Makoto's question. He could understand her trying to help, he could, but wished that she left him alone, or else she'll just end up hurt… just like everyone else…
"A-are you sure…? If you don't wanna talk about it right now that's fine! B-but… if you ever do then just know that we'll be here!" Ruby told him, a nervous smile on her face.
Kazuki really just couldn't say no to that smile, but for a very different reason than one might think. He let out a large sigh, running his hand through his hair, "Fine… meet me at one of the balconies, preferably one away from CRDL's dorm, how about the one of your team's?" He told them.
"Sure! Uh.. when though?" Ruby asked.
"In a few minutes… I need a shower…" Kazuki said, walking into his team's dorm, it was currently empty as Naoto was oddly insistent on sparring with Kazuma.
"S-Sure…" Makoto said.
Balcony above Team RWBY's dorm
"Honestly wasn't expecting Mr. Tall Dark and Brooding to show up." Makoto teased, elbowing her leader in the side.
"I'm here cause I saw that scar around his neck awhile ago, figured now would be the best time to ask about it." Ragna explained to her.
"Huh? When?!"
"It was before the initiation in the locker rooms, I was walking past and I saw him without the scarf around his neck, I didn't say anything cause I figured that the early morning wouldn't exactly be the best time to ask." He explained further.
"I really hope he's actually okay with this…" Noel said nervously.
"I'm sure he's fine with it… I think…" Makoto said to her friend, but deep down she also was feeling like it was a bit too soon..
Teams RWBY, JNPR and BLAST had yet to arrive and Jin was on the way but said they'd be a few minutes, mostly because team RWBY was arguing with Blake about her apparent bad feeling and Team BLAST because Tao had kind of tore up the dorm.
The three members of RJNN turned around after hearing the door slam open and were shocked to see Ruby supporting a slumped down Kazuki. He appeared to have some sort of black and red ooze leaking from his mouth.
"What the hell happened?!" Ragna asked, sounding extremely concerned.
"I don't know! I was on my way here and just found him lying on the ground like this!" Ruby told him, freaking out.
"Ruby-URK- let me go!" Kazuki told her.
She looked ready to argue but that look in his eyes told her that it was safer that way, still, she didn't want to leave him to possibly collapse again. Ragna had noticed this and had to pull Ruby away from him, who struggled.
"Ragna…"
"Yeah..?"
"Cover Ruby's eyes."
Ragna was about to ask why when Kazuki projected Clarent in a reverse grip, having an idea as to what he was planning, Ragna quickly covered Ruby's eyes. He, along with Noel and Makoto were shocked as Kazuki raised Clarent up before bringing it down, impaling HIMSELF with it. Noel and Ragna could only stare wide-eyed as Makoto shouted, "What the hell!?" and made a run to pull the sword out of him, only then for red lighting to erupt from Clarent, shocking the outside and inside of Kazuki's body, turning the black and red ooze into vapor.
Kazuki collapsed to the ground and kept himself somewhat upright by using Clarent to support himself. Ruby had managed to move Ragna's hands from her eyes and was about to scream with tears beginning to fill her eyes, only then did a green light appear from Kazuki's wound and began to heal him. All four of the onlookers had a look of astonishment and relief written across their faces and they each felt strangely…. warm. Kazuki then stood up straight once more, panting and wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Never gonna get used to that…" He said to himself.
"What the hell just happened?!" Was all Ragna could say.
"I'll explain when everyone else arrives…" Kazuki told him
"Yeah, you better."
Several Minutes Later
"Alright, start talking, now." Ragna demanded. It had only been a few minutes since Kazuki had stabbed himself and been healed by a mysterious green light. The others had been informed as to what had happened by Makoto and Noel and now Kazuki was getting cold glares from Ragna and Jin, while Yang was giving a furious one while the others could only look disturbed. His own teammates, Kazuma in particular, looked like they wanted to punch him in the gut.
"Alright, I'll answer SOME of your questions, just not all of them…" He told them all in a tone that allowed no arguments, no matter how much they wanted to.
"Alright, you can start with whatever the fuck that shit coming from your mouth was!" Ragna demanded, not caring at all for the glare Yang just sent him.
"To put it bluntly… Curses." He told them seriously.
"Yet again you say things that are practically impossible to believe, but considering last time, I'm inclined to believe you, now how many? You said curses, as in plural," Jin stated.
"All of them… I think?" Kazuki replied, scratching his head.
"I'm sorry, you THINK?!" Kazuma asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yes, Kazuma. I THINK. Sorry for not counting just how many of the world's curses decided to hide in my body, I'm more concerned with destroying them!" Kazuki snapped back.
"H-How did that happen?" Ruby asked nervously.
"Some crazy bastard from my village. That crazy nutjob destroyed almost everything, the curses had poured out from some hole he opened up and I went in to end him before he could be absorbed… clearly, I took some of them. If you're gonna ask about him, don't, he was killed by an old friend of mine called Majin Okita." Kazuki explained.
"Majin Okita?" Naoto repeated.
"Yeah, she didn't really have a name but she looked so much like Okita Souji that she just started calling herself Majin Okita or Okita Alter. I only hope the others actually managed to survive that mess…" Kazuki said, "next question, please?"
"Okay… how about that green light? It just… healed you and it honestly felt… warm." Makoto said.
"I… have no idea honestly…" He lied, something that his team, Ragna and Jin were quick to notice.
"Bullshit," Ragna said.
"Fine, look, here." Suddenly, seven identical looking gems of different colors materialized. Everyone looked at them in awe while Kazuma seemed incredibly intrigued by them.
"The amount of magical energy coming from these are immense! Just one of them could serve as a power source for at least a hundred years!" He thought to himself, eyeing the gems.
"These… are the Seven Chaos Emeralds… and I am their guardian." Kazuki explained, "Most likely, these are the reason I haven't been completely consumed by the curses." He explained further.
"What can they do?" Kazuma asked.
"Simple, they can turn your thoughts into power, but alone they each have their limits… have all seven however, and you can perform miracles." He told them all.
Ragna perked up at that, so far, Kazuki has not once lied to them… or at least, lied and gotten away with it. If this was true then… he could bring back Saya and the Sister from the church!
"Wait…. Even…."
"Yes Ragna, they can even bring the dead back to life."
Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Bringing the dead back to life? That's impossible! Kazuki noted the looks of disbelief and so, he took aim at a robin that was sitting on a tree branch and killed it. Ruby was devastated but when Kazuki brought the bird over, he uttered a chant.
"The servers are the Seven Chaos, Chaos is Power, Power enriched by the Heart, the Controller serves to Unify the Chaos." Then, a bright light enveloped the bird and when it faded, the robin was alive once again. Everyone still had a look of disbelief, a disbelief about the things they knew about the world.
"See?" He told them all with a smirk, that smirk soon faded however, "unfortunately… even all together, they have their limits, especially when it comes to bringing the dead back to life…"
Ragna's hope began to waver, "What the hell's he talking about? No… no no no no no no!" He thought.
"There's a time limit, isn't there..?" Makoto asked Kazuki, to which he slowly nodded.
"What's the time limit?!" Ragna asked loudly, surprising everyone.
"It changes…. Maximum is twenty four hours…. Shortest is…." He stopped…
Ragna's hope had been utterly crushed, was there really no way to bring Saya back? To bring back the Sister?
"What's the shortest?" Bang had asked, breaking the silence.
"A full minute… just long enough to get to the body and perform the chant… that, and there has to be something left of the body, clothing doesn't count, and if it's ashes, you'd have to restore the body first…" Kazuki told them all, "If I'm being completely honest… I've only even been too late twice…" He told them, shocking them while Ragna's mind was on his past and Yang's mind was on her half-mother who was Ruby's full mother.
"W-what were they….?" Jaune asked him.
"Remember Blizzard? I lied, he's been dead for a while…. I failed to save him because I went batshit insane on his killer… I wasted too much time on him that I was too late.." Kazuki could hear sniffling… oddly enough, it wasn't from Ruby or Jaune or Nora…. But from Makoto, Noel and unbelievably enough, Weiss, "I'd rather not remember my past failures… we're done here." He said as he walked to the door.
"Hey, that scar around your neck… who gave it to you?" Ragna asked, his face hardened with anger.
"Doesn't matter…" Kazuki told him.
"OF COURSE IT FUCKING MATTERS! There's someone out there putting collars on faunas and shocking them and YOU know what the prick looks like! So tell me why it Doesn't matter?!" Ragna roared.
"Ragna! That's enough!" Bang scolded him.
Kazuki turned around, all eyes were now on him and he looked tired, not physically but mentally, "It doesn't matter because the bastard's dead… I made sure of that myself…. I'll see you all in Combat class.." Those were his last words as he walked away.
Those words were now echoing in everyone's minds. He had just admitted to killing somebody, granted, Makoto knew he killed before. After all, he told her that he had a tendency to spare his enemies, as in it was a common thing to happen, but didn't always happen. Then, they all found out he had the power to bring the dead back to life but had failed to do so twice. One of which was apparently his student he said was alive. They could all only really hazard a guess as to what other kind of stuff he had gone through. And for once, Ragna didn't want to know.
As they were all leaving, Noel noticed something on the ground, it looked like some kind of makeup, "What's this…?" She said, rubbing her finger across it.
"Huh? Hey, what's…." Makoto stopped herself once she noticed its color. It was the same as Kazuki's skin.
Kazuma looked at it as well, rubbing his chin, "Just how many more scars might he have?" He questioned out loud.
"We'll find out another time when he's calmed down… he's just had to remember some pretty nasty stuff cause of us…" Naoto told him.
Combat Class.
There had been quite a few good fights so far, one of which was Makoto against Bullet, a match that Makoto had lost due to her mind being elsewhere. Another match was Jin vs Bang. The match was relatively quick but Bang had managed to give Jin quite a hassle.
But now, the air was cold. Not because someone had pissed Jin off or because Weiss had made a giant ice shard. No, infact, the fight hadn't even begun. All that was there was the images of the two fighters.
"Would Mr. Kazuki and Mr. Winchester please come forth!" Goodwitch called out.
That's right, possibly the worst match-up ever to happen. Kazuki had walked down to the stage with no emotions showing on his face while Cardin looked like a nervous wreck.
"May the match begin!"
[Cue: Babylonian King - Fate/Zero Sound Drama (Update Edition) OST]
Both of them stared each other down, with Kazuki looking bored as all hell.
He let out a sigh, "I'm feeling a little generous right now, so I'll let you get in the first hit," Kazuki said, catching the attention of his opponent and causing Goodwitch to raise an eyebrow, "But I want you to hit me as hard as you can."
"Is that it?" Cardin asked, getting into a fighting stance with renewed confidence.
"Now hold on a moment, you might have misheard me," Kazuki said, confusing Cardin, "Not half as hard, not some arbitrary percentage, no. I want you. To hit me. As hard. As you can." Kazuki explained.
"And if I don't?" Cardin asked, starting to get annoyed.
"Then I guess you really are a pathetic, little, weak nobody who can't actually do anything." Kazuki taunted, a smug smirk on his face.
Cardin let out a roar as he charged at the faunas in front of him who merely crossed his arms. He swung his mace sideways intending to hit the faunas in the ribs, the blow connected and-
"Did you not hear me?"
Fuck off… no way, he just stood there and took the hit! Not even a grunt of acknowledgment, nothing! This… THING was a monster!
"Let me show you… a REAL mace…" Kazuki said, holding his hand in the air, blue motes of light took the form of a gigantic mace. The mace head was larger than Kazuki's whole body and the handle was longer than one of his arms. Bringing it to his side, he swung it sideways, knocking Cardin off of the stage and into the seats.
"A-and the winner is Mr. Kazuki!" Goodwitch announced.
[End Song]
Kazuki let the monster of a mace dissipate and walked back to his seats, ignoring the stares he got from everyone. Despite expending practically zero energy on Cardin, the bully's attack had dropped Kazuki's aura by 15%. That, and he was too tired to acknowledge the actual pain he was in, so tired that he failed to notice Makoto calling him. His head was getting heavier and he was struggling to keep his eyes open. If Naoto or Kazuma were to look at their scrolls to check his aura levels, it would now be down to 3%, as it had been rapidly decreasing.
"For the next match, would Mr. Kurogane and-" Goodwitch was interrupted as a loud BANG could be heard. All heads turned to Kazuki who had passed out, his face slamming onto his desk. Those around him could just barely make out his light snores, "Ms Nanaya, would you kindly take Mr. Kazuki to his team's dorm room?"
"Huh? Me?" Makoto asked, confused.
"Yes Ms. Nanaya, you're the only one who he gets along with that's already fought today." Goodwitch explained.
"Okay then.." Makoto got out of her seat and helped Kazuki to stand up with relative difficulty, once he was upright, she had started walking out of the classroom but heard some members of team CRDL snicker, except for Cardin oddly enough, they shut up however once they got glares from herself, Ragna and team Tekkadan, even Bullet and Tao gave them glares, though Ragna made an audible growl to emphasize his point.
"Now then," Goodwitch started again, "Would Mr. Kurogane and Ms. Xiao Long please step forth." She called out.
[Cue: BlazBlue Central Fiction OST: Jaeger]
Both Naoto and Yang shot each other a look, Naoto looked serious but held an underlying layer of excitement while Yang made no attempt to hide hers. The two of them had been rather stressed after what had happened on the balcony, with Naoto only now finding out that his team leader has several curses living in him and has seven magic gems, both of which probably coming from two separate universes if he knows anything about Kazuki, and Yang had been concerned for the safety of Ruby, as well as Kazuki after she saw the scar around his neck and found out about the curses. There was one thing that both of them could agree on, it's that this match was the perfect way to take their minds off of all that.
"Sorry, but I'm busting straight through you." Naoto told Yang as he stretched his legs before getting into his fighting stance.
"You're gonna have to if you wanna get with Ruby." Yang teased him, causing him to simply roll his eyes, while Kazuma looked at her with a face that said as if, she then stretched her arms a few times before getting into her own fighting stance.
"YANG!" Ruby called out in embarrassment at the teasing her sister was doing.
"The match may now begin!" Goodwitch announced.
As soon as the words had left her mouth, Yang rushed at Naoto, aiming to hit him in the face at full force. Reeling her arm back, she then shot it forward in an attempt to hit Naoto, shooting a shotgun blast from her gauntlet for extra damage. Extra damage she wouldn't get as Naoto had tilted his entire upper body to the right, just barely dodging the shotgun blast and Yang's fist. He then launched his own counterattack with a blood-infused punch to her midsection that was completely exposed, both due to her fashion sense and her fighting style.
Tanking the attack, Yang attempted once again to hit him with a shotgun-enhanced punch, the attack landed, hitting Naoto right in his ribs, she then launched into a flurry of punches with Naoto doing his best to dodge and/or block what he could. Chancing a glance at his aura levels on the screen by the stage, he noticed that his aura had already gone down by at least 30%, a testament to how strong Yang's punches were. Deciding he's had enough, Naoto ducked under the next punch and hit Yang in the chin with an uppercut, sending her into the air. He jumped up after her and landed a kick on her side that would've cracked her ribs had she no aura. Naoto sent Yang back to the ground by punching her in the gut, slamming her into the ground and launching up a dust cloud.
When he landed, he was immediately besieged by shotgun round after shotgun round as Yang had started firing at him from inside the dust cloud. Naoto quickly ran into the dust cloud, launching a kick in a random direction, unfortunately for him however, he just missed Yang's head as she had grabbed onto his leg and threw him out of the dust cloud before charging at him again, this time her hair was glowing like it was on fire.
Naoto quickly brought up his arms to block the punch that was headed his way, only for it to make little difference as he felt like he was just hit in the gut by a truck. He was sent skidding across the ground as he just barely managed to keep himself standing, looking at Yang, he saw that she had a confident smirk on her face.
"Come on! Show that white-hair stuff!" She told him, dropping her guard and standing more relaxed.
"Big mistake." Naoto thought as he then charged at Yang, leaving behind blue afterimages. Before Yang could react, she was suddenly kicked in the head by Naoto, an attack that dazed her. Before she could even regain her focus, Naoto launched into a series of attacks, the same ones he used on the Ursa Major in Professor Port's class.
"Banishing Fang!" Naoto yelled, as he punched Yang in the face, following it up with a kick to the back of her head, hunching her upper body forward, and ending with a devastating uppercut that hit her square in the face and once again sent her into the air. Jumping up once more, Naoto had leapt above Yang and had entered his Blood Repulsor state and sent a powerful blood-infused punch right into her gut, once again sending her slamming onto the ground, this time creating a massive crater.
When he landed, he took a look at their aura meters again and saw that they were both now just above the red, turning his attention back to Yang, the two fighters charged in at each other, letting out their own respective roars. Yang had tried to punch Naoto again only for him to leap back. Yang looked on in utter shock as Naoto then created a blood-whip and slashed her across the face with it, finally dropping her aura below 20%.
[End Song]
"And the winner is Mr. Kurogane!" Goodwitch announced.
There were several people clapping, mostly Team RWBY and Tekkadan's friend teams but even some of the other teams that they never once interacted with were applauding them. Naoto walked up to Yang and helped her get to her feet as his blood-whip had sent her off-balance and caused her to fall.
"Damn, you really pack a punch, I can still feel it!" Yang complimented him, rubbing her stomach from the punch she had been dealt in the air.
"Yeah, you and those gauntlets are no joke either. I'm gonna be feeling those tomorrow." Naoto told her, rubbing the places where he couldn't block the shotgun blast-enhanced punches. The two of them then made their way back to their seats as Goodwitch then began calling out the next combatants.
Beacon Hallways
She was tired, mentally, and dragging Kazuki's body to his team's dorm wasn't helping, he was also a lot heavier than he looked. Eventually, she reached the Team Tekkadan dorm only to find it locked. Makoto proceeded to groan as she fished through Kazuki's pockets for his scroll so she could get in, she found it and unlocked the door, walking in, she placed Kazuki on his bed before slumping onto the ground.
"Ugh… so… tired…." She groaned, "I could honestly just fall asleep right here… actually, better not. Don't want people getting the wrong idea…" She said to herself, getting up.
She thought about just how little she truly knew about Kazuki, and as his friend, she wanted to help him, to understand him more. She was about to leave the room when one of the gems, a chaos emerald if she remembered correctly, materialized above Kazuki. She was going to ignore it but curiosity got the best of her and so, she grabbed it.
Looking into it with curiosity, her mind was suddenly filled with memories. Memories that she knew weren't hers but instead, she could only guess, Kazuki's.
Kazuki's Memories
"MOMMY! DADDY!" She could hear a young Kazuki crying out as she saw, through his eyes, two full grown men, both with blood on their hands staring him down.
"Look, we got two more of these freaks," one of the men said as he walked towards Kazuki.
"B-Brother… are we gonna die…?" This time, she heard a voice that was equally as young and clearly belonged to a female, Kazuki's sister.
Kazuki wasn't moving, he was frozen with fear, but then, in the next second…
"HOLY SHIT!" One of the men screamed, "You damn brat! You fucking killed him!"
Through his eyes, Makoto saw that Kazuki's hands were covered in blood, there was also blood dripping from his forehead, turning around, Makoto would puke if she could. Kazuki had apparently flown RIGHT THROUGH one of the men's chests.
The memory cut to another one and now, Kazuki was in some sort of lab.
"How's the testing going?" A female voice asked one of her subordinates.
"Things are going steadily, ma'am. Honestly, if we had found him at the same time as all of the others then perhaps we wouldn't be rushing things but he's still amazing at combat… there's one problem however…" the male scientist said.
"What is it?"
"It's that golden sword, ma'am. When one of our guards went in to take it off him, No. 619 cut his head off."
"And? We're fighting for humanity's survival here, people are dying all the time so-"
"That's the thing ma'am, he DIDN'T die. He was still alive and could feel everything. That sword had kept him alive"
"What!? Where's the sword now?"
"We don't know, it arrives and leaves through some sort of bright blue portal…"
"I see...and what about the growth serum? How much will we need for his body to reach the appropriate age?"
"Just one dose ma'am"
"But that'll just give him the body of an average teen"
"Exactly, his muscle mass is already rather unusual for a child… then again, a normal child doesn't have a wolf tail or ears…."
The memory fast forwards again, this time, Kazuki was in black and red armor that looked a hundred times more advanced than a majority of Atlas' machines, it had a sky blue visor on its face too. He was standing in a hallway, blocking the paths of several people, most of whom don't look any older than Weiss or Blake.
"Oh my god… you're…." a blonde girl in a red jumpsuit started as she stared at Kazuki, sadness and anger filling her eyes. She was currently holding a gun to the head of a scientist, as were several others.
Kazuki slowly walked up to her and grabbed the gun from her hand. Though Makoto had no idea what face he was making, she was afraid that he'd kill this girl, then he pointed the gun at the other scientists.
"Go, run… don't let them catch you and break you…." Kazuki told the girl, his voice sounding dead and emotionless.
"619! What do you think you're doing?! This is treason! I will have you court martialled for this!" Kazuki ignored the threat from the high ranking scientists who began quivering when he turned to him.
The memories fast forwarded yet again, this time, he was atop a building without his helmet on.
"Director… what are we doing here…?" Kazuki asked in a suspicious tone, eyeing the man Makoto guessed was this 'Director' guy. He had on a grey militaristic uniform and wore rectangular glasses, he had black hair and beard and his face looked emotionless.
"Well it's quite simple really, we're going to test your destructive capabilities." He told him.
"But… this is a city…!"
"Yes, it is. Now then, I want you to fire upon the city center that's just ahead of our building."
"GO TO HELL! I'M NOT GONNA KILL THESE PEOPLE! They haven't even done anything!" Kazuki shouted, his voice full of rage and anger.
The 'Director' sighed as his assistant pushed a button on some sort of device. Kazuki's eyes widened in pain and he began screaming at the top of his lungs, clawing around his neck, trying to remove the collar around it but to no avail. Slowly, Kazuki's arm was raised up, aiming at the city center. If Makoto could still feel her body, her hands would be over her own mouth right now as she could only stare in shock at what was about to happen. A blue orb of energy was forming in front of Kazuki's hand as his eyes widened further, now in horror.
"NO! PLEASE! DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS PLEASE!" He begged, tears streaming down his face. Then the orb was launched. When it hit the ground, a massive explosion occurred and the city began to be consumed by flames, people could be heard screaming and children crying as they were all slowly burned. Kazuki too let out his own scream of anguish and pain as his collar had begun to shock him again.
"Eventually, you will learn not to disobey orders, agent. Am I understood?" The Director asked, his tone serious.
"Go-AGH!- TO HELL!" Kazuki soon collapsed, passing out from the pain.
Makoto was slowly starting to regret having wished to see any of this. None of this is something anyone should have to bear, especially not Kazuki whose body was apparently aged up due to some serum made by those scientists from before.
Now, Makoto was in a dark room, she could see the 'Director' sitting on a chair with a gun on his desk, looking at someone in cyan armor, similar to Kazuki's but different enough. The woman was about to walk out when Kazuki came in through the door.
"I finally found you, you bastard!"
"Kazuki?" The woman in the cyan armor asked in surprise, she had red hair and green eyes and honestly, reminded Makoto of Pyrrha.
"You were seriously gonna let him die on his own terms?! After EVERYTHING he's done?! After the countless lives that were ended because of HIM?!" Kazuki asked in a fit of rage, "Fuck RIGHT off Carolina! I'M killing this bastard!"
Kazuki then rushed past the woman, now confirmed to be called 'Carolina' and grabbed the Director by the neck, slamming him into the wall, "THIS is for everyone you made me kill! All those innocent people! All because you wanted to see how DESTRUCTIVE I could be!" There was then a loud CRACK as Kazuki had crushed the man's neck.
Makoto barely had any time to process everything that was happening as the scene changed yet again, this time to Tekkadan, supposedly during their fall.
"Behold! Tekkadan's fearsome devil has been slain!" Someone in a giant robot had announced, the head of another robot stabbed through with its blade. The robot then turned around and Makoto could hear its pilot gasp in shock.
"You… you bastards…. Why…? Why why why why whywhywhwhywhyWHY!? I finally had family again… and now… you… you BASTARDS had taken them from me…. I'll kill you… I swear I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Kazuki screamed, it was obvious that everyone there was absolutely terrified of him.
Suddenly, two portals opened up, one beside Kazuki from the inside of his robot's cockpit, and one outside of the robot, "What?! No! NononononononNO! I have to avenge them! Let me avenge them!" Kazuki screamed yet again, as he and his robot were pulled through the portals.
Makoto had no idea what had just happened but now she was in some sort of strange corridor that was silver in color. On the wall was a giant C with the word Chaldea written under it. Kazuki then came flying through the portal slamming into the wall.
A man in red and black with white hair, tan skin and silver eyes came running out of the door, alongside a girl with blonde hair, green eyes, a red jacket with a white sports bra under it. After the two of them was a man in a full blue skin tight suit with silver shoulder pauldrons, he had blue hair with a long ponytail and red eyes.
"What the? Master! What happened?!" The girl asked.
Master? What was that about? Makoto had no idea.
"Oi, Weren't you with Tekkadan? What happened?" The man in blue asked, only to look at the closing portal and see why, "Oh damn…"
"Archer… Lancer… Mordred I…. Couldn't save them…" Kazuki told them, tears forming in his eyes.
Archer and Lancer both looked uneasy, not sure what to do when Mordred suddenly hugged Kazuki, something that caught the two of them by surprise, "Master-no, Kazuki I… I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea how to actually comfort you… I'm not the type of person for this crap but… I'm sorry…" Mordred said to him, trying her best to comfort him. Kazuki then began to cry more.
The scene changed to that of a forest, in it was Kazuki and Mordred, both sitting on a large tree stump. Kazuki was clearly upset about something and Mordred had just followed him along.
"Oi, Kazuki.. You… ok?" Mordred asked him.
"I…. I don't know… I know it wasn't her fault but… if she hadn't disappeared then maybe her brother wouldn't have had to go looking for her… maybe then my parents would still be alive… and I wouldn't be searching for my sister… It's stupid I know but it's just…. Frustrating.. I mean, she disappears, my parents die. My sister and I get separated by a random dimensional opening, I get kidnapped and experimented on, I lose my second family and THEN Hikari has the nerve to show up like nothing ever fucking HAPPENED!" Kazuki vented aloud, "I feel dumb… I mean… I won't lie, I had a crush on her when we were younger but now…. I just wish she'd not come back…"
Mordred looked like she was taken aback by that last bit, then she spoke up, "W-was there anyone else…?"
"Huh?"
"Was there ever anyone else you had feelings for…?" Mordred asked, looking slightly flustered.
Kazuki too became flustered and turned his head away, "I mean… y-yeah, but I doubt she feels the same way, she's not that kind of person…."
Makoto didn't know why but she was beginning to feel slightly jealous, it's not like she had a thing for Kazuki... Right…?
"What about you? You ever fall for someone?" Kazuki asked her.
Mordred looked away from him, failing to hide her blush as even her ears had turned red, "Y-Yeah… I still do have a thing for him…"
"What's he like?" Kazuki asked her, thinking it was one of the other servants at Chaldea she had a crush on.
"W-well… He's amazing, more so than father. He doesn't hide behind other servants and instead fights alongside us.. The kid servants love him and even Jack calls him 'Big Brother' instead of 'Mommy'... He also didn't just see 'Mordred, the Knight of Rebellion and murderer of King Arthur' when he saw me but instead he just saw… me 'Mordred' he didn't see me as a disposable tool or meat shield to hide behind while I took all of the attacks… I was a huge jerk to him at first now that I think about it… almost killed him when he accidentally called me a woman but now… I don't mind…"
"Who… who is he…?"
"I-it's…." Mordred muttered the last part and so Kazuki didn't hear it.
"Who?"
Mordred once again muttered their name, her ears had gone completely red now.
"Mordred you're gonna have to speak up, I can't hear you."
"Oh for the love of… IT'S YOU DUMBASS!" Mordred shouted at him, turning around, her face was completely red now.
"Eh…? WAIT WHAT!?" Now Kazuki's face had gone red, he wasn't expecting this, in fact, he was frozen stiff.
Despite the underlying jealousy Makoto felt at the moment, she couldn't help but feel like giggling at the scene she was witnessing, thank Gods she could still emote.
"B-but why me!? Why not Ritsuka?! Why not-?!" Kazuki didn't get to finish as Mordred had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shut him up with a kiss. The two of them stayed like that for a few moments that felt like hours to the two. Eventually, Mordred pulled away from the kiss.
"T-There! I'm sorry about that but you're as dense as the younger version of the Red Archer! I… I hope you don't feel any different about me but I… I hope you can be happy with whoever-wha?!" Mordred is interrupted as Kazuki pulled her into a hug.
"And I see you're no better, Mordred I…. jeez we're both pretty shit with the sappy stuff aren't we?" Kazuki asked her, a bright smile plastered on his face.
"Sh-shut up…"
"So… we a thing now…?"
"Y-yeah… but.. Let's not tell anyone yet… especially Male Father.."
"Alright, this will be our secret then."
The two then went back into another kiss as the scene began to change once again. And once again Makoto was seeing things from Kazuki's point of view and she was… scared, Kazuki and a Blonde man in silver armor with royal blue robes were facing off against what looked like another Kazuki but with Green eyes and a green ring around his wrist. His eyes were completely green, not another color at all, he was bloody and battered but Makoto could FEEL that the Kazuki she knew… was dying..
"Master… Are you ready for this? You may die…." The knight warned.
"That's fine… so long as this bastard dies too!"
"I see, then, here." The knight hands Kazuki his sword.
"Thanks, Arthur… if you get summoned back to Chaldea then make sure to comfort Mordred for me… be the father you never were in life…" Kazuki said as he raised the blade above his head.
The knight placed his hand on Kazuki's back and began to glow a bright gold.
"Seal Thirteen, decision START" Kazuki and Arthur said in unison,closing their eyes as if to focus, then a female voice began calling out names.
"Approved by; Bedivere, Gareth, Lancelot…" There was a pause, as if someone was hesitating, Makoto had an idea as to who, "...Mordred, Galahad-" Kazuki's eyes now opened, revealing the bright blue orbs as he looked at his enemy with a determined face while the voice continued to call out names.
"This is a battle… to save all of existence!" Kazuki said aloud, the sword now flashed a bright gold, it now looked as though it was opened.
"Arthur."
"Ex-" Kazuki started, Arthur was no longer there as his spirit origin had now fused with Kazuki, allowing him to use Excalibur as if it were his own, "CALIBUR!"
Kazuki shouted as he brought Excalibur down, a bright beam of golden light shooting forth from it; it had begun to envelope the green-eyed Kazuki. When it hit, a large pillar of golden light erupted, launching high into the sky, as it was fading, so too was Kazuki.
Then, a large blue orb of energy with black in the middle appeared before him.
"Fuck off, I ain't becoming one of your damn attack dogs… I've killed enough people… innocent or otherwise… this weapon has outlived its usefulness…" Kazuki said to the orb, just barely able to lift his arm up to flip it off.
The scene had changed for one last time, Makoto was now in Chaldea again and she saw Kazuki, standing in front of a large number of people, in that group, was Mordred and someone who looked like Kazuki, Makoto assumed it was his sister.
"Oi… K-Kazuki what's…" Mordred tried to ask him, unable to continue.
"Sorry Mor… guess this is it for me…." Kazuki said, regret in his voice.
"W-Wait… what are you talking about… we… we only just reunited a month ago, Kazuki you can't die now!" Kazuki's supposed sister told him, tears forming in her eyes.
"Sorry but… I don't think I have a say… after all… I'm not a homunculus like Sieg… I can't fuse with a servant's spirit origin and survive…" Kazuki told her, Makoto noted the shocked looks on everyone's faces, especially the others who were wearing knight armor.
"So does that mean that once again our King has…" A purple haired knight in purple armor started.
"Don't worry Lancelot, you can re-summon Arthur, oh yeah, that's right. I think it's only fair if I give you guys another chance at life." Kazuki told them all, a smile on his face.
It was then that the Chaos Emeralds surrounded several of the servants, mostly all of the knights and a man in Golden armor and someone with long green hair, some of the lance wielders there were also surrounded.
"Master, you…." A lancer in green armor and black hair and hazel eyes spoke.
"Oh yeah, Diarmuid, you can turn that damn mole of yours on and off, you don't have to worry about the curse."
"You… IDIOT! Why!? Just wait for me in the throne you dumbass!" Mordred yelled at him, tears slowly streaming down her face, catching everyone by surprise.
"Sorry… can't do that… I'm not known in this world at all… and I turned Alaya down, gave that piece of shit the middle finger too…"
"Then… why? Why the hell do I get to live while you fade away?!"
"Because you didn't get to live a proper life, Mordred… so.. Live… for yourself… and for me…" Kazuki told her, a sad smile adorning his face. It was then that several of the servants flashed gold, now, they had physical bodies again, no longer were they 'Heroic Spirits' but simply 'Heroes'. Kazuki then faded away in golden motes of light.
For some reason, it didn't end, Makoto could still see everyone from Chaldea but it was heartbreaking to say the least.
"Sir Mordred…" A girl who looked exactly like Mordred but whose armor was more like Arthur's walked up to her and went to place her hand on Mordred's shoulder, only for it to be slapped away.
"SHUT UP! DON'T COME NEAR ME! I… I finally… had someone who saw me as me… we… we were actually a thing… and...now he's gone… I…." Though she tried her hardest, Mordred was failing to keep her tears down.
Makoto looked at Kazuki's sister, who was hugging three smaller servants who were bawling their eyes out, one of them calling Kazuki her 'big brother', supposedly that was Jack, while another was calling him… 'Father'... Makoto didn't know what to think other than she was another one of those 'Child Servants' and Kazuki had adopted her but… the look on Kazuki's real sister's face was just as upsetting as Mordred's…
Real World
Makoto fell backwards, breathing heavily. The Chaos Emerald had disappeared and now she looked at Kazuki with pity… what she was shown… she could only assume that what she saw was his past life. Kazuki had gotten a second chance at life and… she came to the realization that Kazuki's most likely heavily depressed, everyone he knew and loved are gone now and all he has to remember some of them by are two pictures and whatever weapons he makes.
"Kazuki…." She muttered. She got up off of the ground and walked up to him. He was sleeping soundly but after what she saw, she couldn't help but feel like he was troubled. Gods know what he was currently dreaming about. She gently stroked his hair looking at his face. It was clean, not a scratch on it. Who knew how many scars he had on the rest of his body though. She got up to walk away but felt something on her hand. She looked down to see Kazuki holding onto it, "Please…. Don't… go…" She heard him mutter in his sleep. Sighing to herself, she tried to kick the door closed but only managed to close it most of the way. Better than it being completely open.
She moved back over to Kazuki and sat down beside him on his bed, "It's okay, I'm here… I won't go anywhere."
She couldn't help but want to make him feel better, well, she'd do her best to do that, and she'd make sure that his second life was as fun as anyone could ever want! But right now… her tiredness was very quickly catching up with her.
Beacon Lunch Hall
"Man I'm starving!" Ragna said aloud before proceeding to scoff down his food.
"You and me both." Naoto said, digging into his own food.
"The two of you eat like a pair of wild animals…" Weiss told them, slightly annoyed at their lack of table manners.
"Whatever Ice Queen!" Ragna said to her, his mouth full.
Jin looked at his brother in annoyance as he had spit some of his food out of his mouth, "Please, don't talk with your mouth full, you idiot." He said to him.
"Were you two ever taught any kind of table manners?" Kazuma asked them, a sigh escaping his lips.
"Don't try to lecture us, Mr. I only ever eat hard-boiled eggs. And besides, can you really complain about our table manners when you've got Tao over there?" Naoto said to him, pointing at Tao who was scoffing down food left and right, even her own team's food, as well as team JNPR's… except for Nora's pancakes of course.
Noel was looking around the lunch hall, trying to spot someone, this didn't go unnoticed by Jin who pointed it out the only way he was capable of doing, "Where are you looking, trash?" By insulting her.
"Watch it, Jin." Ragna warned with a glare, something Jin would return to his brother.
"I-I'm looking for Makoto, Goodwitch's class ended a while ago and she still hasn't come back…" Noel explained.
"Perhaps she is taking care of Kazuki's health as he is unconscious, he might have a serious head injury." Bang told her.
"But wouldn't his aura protect him from that?" Bullet asked.
"No, when I looked at my scroll, I saw that his aura was rapidly decreasing, I'd say it's probably empty by now." Naoto told them, bringing up his scroll to show them.
"Yes, it does seem to be rising back up again though, however slowly." Amane added.
"Meow, Maybe Hy-guy is just really hungry!" Tao said aloud, causing everyone to stare at her.
"Uh… Hy-Guy? What's that even mean?" Yang asked her.
"Meow, he's two animals in one!" Tao told her.
"That has to be the most believable thing about him…." Jin said, sighing loudly.
"Huh? You knew Jin?" Noel asked him.
"Yes I knew, it wasn't really that hard to notice the way his hair and the fur on his tail spike up like quills whenever he's agitated." He explained.
"Yeah, I actually noticed that too, I think I heard him say something about being called a freak by other faunas before as well." Ragna added.
"Hmm…" Jin got up and began walking away.
"Where are you going?" Naoto asked.
"To my team's dorm, I borrowed a few history books so I'm going to go and see if there's ever been a hybrid faunas before or if Kazuki's the first of his kind." Jin told him, walking away.
"I'm actually a little curious now too… w-wait for me, Jin!" Noel said, getting up and following him.
"Huh… Hey Blake, you've got some secret stash of books right? Anything like that in them?" Yang asked her partner.
"No." she responded bluntly.
"Then what are your books about?" Weiss asked.
Blake had now become a little flustered, not wanting her team to find her… Novels… it didn't take Yang long to notice this and quickly made a break for her team's dorm with Weiss following behind her.
"H-HEY!" Blake shouted at them before getting up and chasing after them.
"Well I better get back to our dorm, I still have that essay for Professor Port from earlier this morning that he assigned us." Kazuma told those still left at the table before leaving himself.
"And Tao has some studying to do, come on now Tao." Amane said, wrapping Tao up in his scarf and dragging her back to Team BLST's dorm.
"NYOO! Tao wants to eat more food!" Tao complained, struggling to get free but to no avail.
"Nora also needs to write that up." Ren said as he started walking off with Nora following close behind, although a little depressed looking.
"I'll go and use the training rooms, I need to get better if I want to beat your team's hand-to-hand fighter." Bullet told Ragna as she also left.
"Well… guess it's just us leaders now… oh and you too Naoto, Pyrrha!" Ruby said.
"Yeah, don't forget about me," Naoto said with fake disappointment in his voice, pretending to be hurt by Ruby's sudden forgetting of him while Pyrrha giggled.
Beacon Hallway, Dorms
"Today sure was… something…" Jaune said as he, the other team leader and Naoto walked to their dorms.
"You can say that again…" Naoto said.
Ruby and Ragna had stayed quiet when Jaune brought up Kazuki and the idea as to what other things might have happened to him. As they neared their dorms, they noticed that everyone from their teams were standing outside of Team Tekkadan's door, Jin included,
"Jin?" Ragna called out to his brother.
"Brother." Jin said in a low tone as he turned to him and then back to Tekkadan's dorm.
"What's going on?" Jaune asked.
"See for yourself." Amane told them.
Looking in, Ragna, Ruby, Naoto, Jaune and Bang saw Makoto sitting on Kazuki's bed, leaning over, asleep, while Kazuki himself apparently had his head on her lap, also fast asleep.
Noel was currently gushing over how cute the scene was while Ruby had joined her, even Blake and Weiss had to admit it was, though they'd never tell anyone that. Amane had a knowing smirk on his face as if he had seen this coming while Kazuma looked happy for them. Pyrrha and Jaune's minds were elsewhere, Jin looked indifferent about the whole thing while Naoto had a look of surprise on his face. Ren had a soft smile on his face and was currently trying to stop Nora from taking a picture with her scroll, most likely for blackmail purposes and Yang had already gotten a picture.
"What and when the fuck?" Ragna asked in a whisper.
"Perhaps we should leave them be for a while?" Amane had suggested.
"Yeah, we should. But isn't it getting kinda late? Goodwitch is taking us to Forever Falls tomorrow, right?" Ruby said.
"Yes, that is correct. We should all get some rest now while we can." Bang said.
"Yeah, okay but what about the two lovebirds there?" Ragna asked in a bored tone as he pointed to Kazuki and Makoto.
"Yeah, I'd rather she didn't wake up while I was getting changed." Kazuma said.
"It'll be fiiine. I'm sure she'll wake up in the middle of the night and run out from embarrassment!" Nora said.
"I don't know…" Naoto spoke.
"I think we should just leave them as well." Noel said.
"Fine, but if she wakes up when one of us is getting changed, you owe us." Kazuma said to her.
The teams then went back to their respective dorms in order to get some rest for the next day. Yang had gotten the perfect material to tease Kazuki, Noel got some inspiration for a new poem and Team Tekkadan now had a new roommate for the night. Good thing the room came standard with four beds in case this ever happens again.
Author's Notes: welp… shit load of Kazuki's past revealed, more of the universes that he's been to have been revealed as well as how he died. There's still more however, and that will be revealed during the Beacon Student's first REAL fight for survival, and no, it's not in Forever Falls. Though Cardin will definitely still do something drastic, just Jaune won't be around to be the reason any Grimm show up. See ya next time!