Ch. 3
"I must say, the way you handled that small pack of Grimm was impressive," Ozpin said. He and Abaddon were inside the Trennair house. They were seated at the kitchen table across from each other. Emma's father, Daniel, was standing near the counter making hot coffee.
"You saw that? The whole thing? Then how did you get here before me?" Abaddon thought he would've seen Ozpin on the way back. The man was faster than he looked, despite the cane he carried.
"I have my ways, but that does not matter. I have come to make an offer." Daniel placed a hot white mug of coffee in front of Ozpin. "Thank you Daniel."
"No problem Ozpin." Daniel took a seat at the table next to Abaddon. He also had a coffee mug in his hand and took a sip from it.
"What kind of offer?" Abaddon asked. He didn't know what to expect from Ozpin, but he hoped it was good news.
"From what I've seen concerning your fighting skills and the high amount of praise I've heard from other people around the island, you have the aptitude to become an adept huntsman. So I would like you to attend my school, Beacon Academy, where you will be taught to bring out your full potential." Ozpin took a small sip of his coffee. "What do you think young man?"
Abaddon scratched the back of his head, deep in thought. He wasn't expecting this, but it would be foolish to decline the offer. Both his father and Emma's parents attended Beacon, and Abaddon knew both of his parents would be proud of him for getting accepted. Although, he hadn't been to a combat school before like Emma and his other friends. He wasn't able to attend Altair Academy, the combat school present on the island, because of an accident involving the headmaster's son. As a result, Abaddon was forbidden to enter the school grounds and attained most of his current training from his grandfather and Emma's parents.
"Don't worry about combat school experience, it's not required. I know of your situation with Professor Linthrope. He was always the kind of individual to judge a book by its cover, and he wasn't very pleasant with every faunus he came across either. But rest assured, you've shown to have skill equal to a combat school student." Ozpin took another sip of coffee.
"Alright then, I accept your offer." Abaddon said with confidence.
"Me too." Emma appeared seemingly out of thin air. Abaddon had a startled look on his face, Daniel almost dropped his coffee mug, and Ozpin merely smiled kindly.
"She gets me every time," Daniel whined before steadying himself in his chair.
"What the hell Emma!" She always did that kind of thing around her friends and family, but only her mother was used to it and wouldn't show any signs of surprise whenever Emma tried to scare her.
Emma made a face at her brother. "Don't you dare leave me behind Abby. If you go, I go."
Ozpin cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "I've already taken care of that. I wouldn't have come without giving you the same offer Ms. Trennair. I have also taken the liberty of talking to your friends Kathleen and Jurano beforehand, who have also delightfully accepted. After all, what is a huntsman without his team?
"Thanks Professor." Abaddon and Ozpin shook hands.
"Eeeeeek!" Emma jumped on Abaddon and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She was excited not only to be going to one of the most prestigious combat schools in Remnant, but to also be accompanied by her closest friends.
"Alright kitty, calm down." Abaddon wrapped his arm around her in response to her clinging hug.
Daniel stood up and rustled Emma's hair. "Congratulations honey. Your mother's gonna be proud when she hears this."
Ozpin drank a long sip from his mug. "I suggest you two go ahead and pack your luggage. We leave for Vale first thing in the morning."
XXXXXXX
"Yo bro, wake up. It's the first day of class." Jurano was shaking Abaddon as he slept in his bed.
It had been two days since they left home. The first day at Beacon was quiet since only very few students and the teachers were there. It was also that day that they met their first huntsmen team, Team CFVY. They managed to get along well with the second years, but they couldn't hang out for long due to preparations and other incoming freshman. They were also given their school uniforms, their schedules, and their scrolls.
"Abaddon, get up!" Jurano yelled into his ear for extra effect, but the wolf faunus only stirred a bit.
"Five more minutes." Abaddon uttered. He wasn't ready for class, nor did he want to wear the uniform. He thought that if he could just stay in bed, his team would go on without him and he wouldn't have to do anything.
Jurano wasn't sure of what else to do. He was lost in thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. It was risky, but he thought it might work. "You've forced my hand dude."
Jurano reached down, grabbed Abaddon's black tail, and gave it a hard yank.
Abaddon's eyes flew open at the sudden pain in his tail. He quickly jumped up and stood in Jurano's face, pointing a finger into his friend's chest.
"You remember the rule about my tail right?" He growled in his best friend's face, glaring dagger's at him.
The green haired boy had his hands up. "Sorry man, sorry, but you wouldn't get up. Kathleen told me to wake you and she said she would have my hide if I didn't. Besides, we have to get ready for class."
"Alright, alright, I'll get dressed," Abaddon grumbled. He walked over to the trunk at the foot of his bed, his folded uniform lying on top of it. It consisted of a black suit lined with gold, along with a blue vest, white shirt, red tie, and black shoes.
Much to his dismay, Abaddon put on his uniform, but had trouble putting the tie on. As he struggled, Jurano sat on his bed and silently laughed.
"Not funny bro. You know I don't do ties," Abaddon said after he saw Jurano's face.
"Hey, I'm not the one wrestling with the red 'snake' around my neck." Jurano continued to laugh at Abaddon's expense.
Just then, Kathleen and Emma came out of the bathroom. Their uniforms were similar to the boys, but it included a brown jacket, tan vest, white shirt, red plaid skirt, a red ribbon instead of a tie, and black stockings. Kathleen had just finished putting her long purple hair into a ponytail using a black bow when she noticed Abaddon having trouble with his tie.
"I knew you were gonna have trouble with that. Here, let me help you." Kathleen went up to him and fixed the tie in the correct fashion. When she finished, Abaddon noticed she was blushing a little. HE didn't know why but decided not to say anything about it and merely smiled at her.
"Thanks Kat," Abaddon said. "So what's the agenda today, what classes do we have?"
Kathleen checked her scroll for her schedule. "We all have the same classes. So far we have Grimm Studies, Remnant History, and Combat Class. Its 7:30, so we have about an hour and a half till class starts at 9:00."
After hearing that, Abaddon's eyes widened. "You're telling me that you woke me up an hour and a half before we actually have to go to class?!"
Kathleen responded with a smile and a nod.
"I'm goin back to sleep," Abaddon said plainly as he lay back on his bed. Kathleen crossed her arms and sighed.
"It's alright. We don't expect you to be awake anyway. I bet you couldn't even stay up for Grimm studies," Emma teased, sticking her tongue out at him.
Abaddon's wolf ears perked up after hearing her. He quickly sat up in his bed and faced her. "Is that a challenge Kitty? Is that what you want?" He may have no valuable patience for his classes, but he was always up for a challenge.
Emma winked at her brother with confidence. "Sure is Abby. I bet that you'll fall asleep before lunch. And if I win, you get to be my personal slave for the rest of the semester .You'll be carrying my books, bringing me food every day, and be used as my personal pillow." Emma seemed to smile maniacally for a second. When they saw her face, Jurano and Kathleen laughed.
"But he's already you're personal pillow. You use him as a cushion almost every night," Kathleen mused.
Abaddon was unfazed. He knew Emma better than anyone, so what she said wasn't a surprise to him. He knew just the right way to push her buttons, so he would have the upper hand in the end.
"Alright, but if you so happen to fall asleep before I do, then I have to enact the 'Psycho Protocol,' if you know what I mean." Emma and Kathleen were confused by Abaddon's words, but Jurano literally burst out with laughter. He was laughing hard enough to be on the verge of tears.
Emma looked at both boys in confusion. "Wait, what's the Psycho Protocol? Is it something I should be afraid of?"
"Trust me, if both Abaddon and Jurano came up with it, then there is reason to be afraid," Kathleen said to her.
"Well, what would I have to do Abby?" Emma asked. She was a bit scared of what would happen, but she was willing to prove that she was as daring as they were.
"We'll tell you after the winner is decided." Abaddon carried a huge smirk on his face. "Do we have a deal Emm?"
Emma looked up at Kathleen, who shrugged in response. 'It can't be that bad. Abby always goes easy on me. Jurano's probably just laughing to make me chicken out,' she thought. Hopefully it was a bluff and Abaddon would just ask her to make him a batch of cookies.
With her mind made up, Emma looked at her brother with a smirk of her own. "It's a deal."
XXXXXXX
As Professor Port was giving his lecture, about himself in his 'glory days', Kathleen tried her hardest to pretend that she was listening. Although, both Abaddon and Emma were quietly snoozing to her right and his tail had been swaying back and forth since the beginning of class, brushing her side. Of the two, Emma had gone down first. She came in strong in the beginning, but Kathleen could see her wearing down in their previous class. Then, as Professor Port started his speech, she was out like a light. Abaddon followed suit a few minutes later and now they were lying on the desk, heads down, with Emma using Abaddon as a pillow like she usually did.
Kathleen continued to listen to Port's 'self-absorbed' story about how he fought a Beowulf with his bare hands. 'Yet Abaddon's already done that and more. If this is Grimm Studies, then why is he babbling on about his 'adventurous' youth? No wonder those two went to sleep.'
Kathleen looked to her left where Jurano was sitting and saw that he was listening to music on his red earbuds, also pretending to be interested in Port's lecture. His red and white headphones sat around his neck since he couldn't really hide them from the teachers.
Kathleen looked back at Abaddon, witnessing his ears twitch. She scratched his left ear, which caused him to stir a bit.
'He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping. I wonder what sound he makes when I stroke his tail.' Kathleen was curious about that, but the other reason was to make him stop brushing against her side. She slowly reached for his tail, all the while taking glances at him to see if he was awake. She managed to lightly grab it and stroked the obsidian black fur. It was soft to the touch, and she felt his tail move to acknowledge her hand.
Although, when she glanced at Abaddon, she noticed his left eye was wide open and he was staring dead at her! She started to back her hand away, giving him an apologetic expression, but then he smiled and shifted himself closer to her seat, laying his tail right in her lap. Surprised by this, Kathleen merely sighed as she continued to stroke his tail while he went back to sleep. It was a good distraction from her boredom.
The class lasted for another half hour before the bell rang. Professor Port stopped his lecture and laughed heartily. "Oh, looks like I'll continue my tale tomorrow. You're all dismissed."
Jurano heard the bell through his earphones and took them off. "Man that was some story. I didn't think another teacher could be even more boring than the ones back home." He put his earbuds in his pocket and donned his headphones.
Kathleen stood up from her chair and shook Emma. "Emma, it's time for lunch. Let's go."
Emma woke up and rubbed her eyes. "Did I win?" she asked.
Kathleen and Jurano laughed, but before they could say anything Emma interrupted them. "I knew I would win! Abby, wake up, your my eternal slave now!" She shook Abaddon until he awoke with a yawn and stood up.
"Huh? What happened?" he asked. He looked around and saw that the classroom was empty. "Oh it must be time to eat. I'm starving." Abaddon was about to walk out the room when Emma teleported right in front of him, carrying a mound of books in her arms.
"Not so fast Abby. You lost the bet, and now I order you to carry everyone's books back to our dorm. Be sure to put mine on my bed nice and neat." Emma pushed the mound of books they had into Abaddon's hands and began walking out the room. She couldn't help but smile at the fact that she beat him. She wanted to jump around for joy, but there would be time for that later.
As she left, Kathleen and Jurano followed, with Abaddon being the last to leave the room. As the others went left down the hallway, he went right. He didn't want to carry their books all the way to their room, but he never went back on his word, and so continued forward.
Abaddon made his way to his team's dorm and took out his scroll with his right hand to open the door. He went in and placed their books on the floor next to Emma's bed. He exited the room and closed the door behind him, then started to make his way to the lunchroom.
"Excuse me!" said a voice coming from behind. Just as Abaddon turned around someone crashed right into him, sending both Abaddon and the other student to the floor.
"Damn, who was that?" Abaddon asked as he stood up and gazed towards the other person. On the ground was another student: a girl with lilac eyes and long, unruly blonde hair.
"Sorry about that. Kinda in a hurry to get to my team." She said with a bright smile.
"Same here," Abaddon said. "You okay?" He held out his right hand, which she took, and pulled her up to her feet.
"Am I okay? What about you? I'm the one who crashed into you." The girl didn't understand why he was acting as if she was the only one hurt.
"I'm fine, trust me." Abaddon gave her a thumbs up. "I'm Abaddon Rizer by the way. From team KAJE."
"Yang Xiao Long. Team RWBY," she replied. "Hey, why don't you join me and my team at lunch? It's nice to make new friends."
Abaddon smiled. "Sure."
He and Yang then made their way through the school to the cafeteria. The room was huge with students sitting at rectangular tables that stretched the lunch room's width and tall windows lining the far wall. Yang and Abaddon grabbed their lunches and began searching for their teams.
"You see them yet?" Abaddon asked.
"Nnnnope," Yang answered.
After a couple of minutes of searching, Yang saw the unmistakable red cape that her sister usually wears. "I found them!" Yang exclaimed.
Abaddon gazed where she was looking and saw a little girl with short red tinted black hair. Beside her, he caught sight of a pair of magenta colored cat ears.
"My team's sitting right beside yours," he pointed out.
Yang laughed. "Well, isn't that a happy coincidence. Come on, we should introduce everyone." She grabbed Abaddon by the arm and pulled him towards their friends. Once they made their way there, Yang let go of him and hugged the little girl with the red hood.
"I'm back Rubes." Yang was crushing the girl, who seemed to be trying to get away.
"Yang, I can't breathe!" The little girl's voice was raspy from lack of air.
Yang let go of her teammate, who gasped as air flew back into her lungs. "Oops. Sorry Ruby," she apologized. She then looked at Abaddon. "You said your team was nearby right?"
Abaddon turned to his left and saw Emma. She had her head propped up on her arm and was trying not to fall back to sleep. Abaddon crept up behind her and yelled, "Emma!"
Startled, Emma jumped up from her seat. "It wasn't me!" Realizing where she was, Emma faced Abaddon and lightly punched him in the chest. "Don't do that!"
"Hahaha, but I couldn't help it," Abaddon told her.
Before Emma could say anything else, she noticed Yang standing next to him. "Abby, who's that?"
"And why is she hanging with you? Look at that beauty! She's way out of your league," Jurano chimed. Kathleen and Emma giggled at Jurano's joke while Abaddon flicked him off.
"Are you making friends without us?" Yang's red caped teammate stood near them, along with two other girls who were part of their team.
"Ok, introduction time. I'm Yang, and these are my teammates Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. Together we make team RWBY."
Ruby was a small girl with short black hair that had red highlights on the ends, silver eyes, and a red hooded cape. "Hi," she said in an energetic, childish tone. To Abaddon she looked too young to be a student at Beacon.
Weiss was a girl with snow white hair put in an offset ponytail and light blue eyes. She also had a scar over her left eye. "Pleasure to meet you," she said cheerfully.
Then there was Blake. She had a light complexion with long wavy black hair, a purple bow on her head, and amber eyes with purple eyeshadow. "Hey," she said with a small smile on her face.
Abaddon noticed her bow slightly twitching and he moved his wolf ears in response. Blake must have seen him because she then moved behind Weiss. He became curious, but decided to look into it later as it was his turn for introductions.
"Well, my name is Abaddon. Yang, you already know that. These are my friends Emma, Jurano, and Kathleen." In response to Abaddon's introduction, Emma stuck her tongue out at Ruby, Jurano stood up and bowed, and Kathleen smiled and waved.
Abaddon then turned to Weiss. "Hey Weiss, isn't you last name Schnee?"
"Why yes it is. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Weiss seemed to take pride in that title, maybe a little too much pride
"My grandfather has told me things about you. He said that you were a beautiful and talented young lady with a bright future," he said to her.
Weiss blushed at the compliment.
"Did he mention bossy and somewhat bratty?" Yang chimed in with a smirk.
Weiss glared at the blonde. "Quiet you. At least someone is being a polite gentleman today. By the way Abaddon, who is your grandfather? Does he work for the company?"
Abaddon nodded. "Nope, he works for the Atlas military along with Ironwood. His name is General Heracles Vesuvius."
When Weiss heard that, she froze in astonishment. "What? Are you kidding? THE General Vesuvius!?"
Abaddon nodded. He was surprised by Weiss' reaction, given that to him the old man was just his ordinary grandfather. He didn't see anything celebrity wise, besides the fact that he worked alongside Ironwood to command the strongest military on Remnant.
Yang shrugged. "What's so special about him?"
"He's easily considered the strongest man on Remnant!" Weiss blurted out.
"Woww, he must drink a lot of milk," Ruby said.
"Ehh, I bet I could take him." Yang flexed her right arm, showing off how great her confidence was. Abaddon thought about what would happen if she actually fought his grandfather, but he also felt bad considering her pride would crushed by the old man's humongous strength.
Jurano whistled in order to grab team RWBY's attention. "Umm, Yang. You don't wanna tangle with the old man."
"Why not?" Yang said. She was totally clueless as to why they were riled up by this one old man. What exactly did he do to gain his title?
Before Abaddon could answer Yang's question, Emma jumped on his back. "We'll tell you later. Right now my eternal slave needs to take me to bed." She yawned loudly in Abaddon's ear.
"Wow, the girl's got a slave. What did you do for that to occur Fido?" Yang asked.
"It's a long story," Abaddon replied.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Jurano held his hands up. "Sorry Emma, but I've gotta stop you there. You see, you didn't actually win this bet."
Kathleen gave Emma a sad look and nodded in agreement. "It's true Emma. You fell asleep before Abaddon did in Port's class. Sorry."
Hearing this, Emma slid off Abaddon's back in defeat. She thought she had won. She thought she had finally gotten an edge on Abaddon, but she should've known that it was too good to be true. She looked down at the floor, but quickly lightened up when Abaddon stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
Emma gazed up at Abaddon. "Sooo, what do I have to do?"
Abaddon gave Jurano a wide smirk. "Jurano, if you please."
Jurano proceeded to pull a hidden scroll from within his uniform. "I sometimes keep the list with me in case this happens."
"Wait, what's going on?" Blake asked, looking suspiciously at the scroll.
Kathleen explained the situation to team RWBY, which caused Yang to chuckle a bit.
Weiss and Blake were a bit confused. "But what's this 'Psycho Protocol?" Weiss asked.
Kathleen shrugged. "Beats me, but since the boys created it I have to guess its bad news."
Jurano tossed the scroll to Emma. "Go ahead and look through it. Each task is labeled either by day or week, and the later ones might be even worse than the last."
Emma opened the scroll and as she read through it, her eyes began to widen in terror. When she finished looking through it, she looked up at Abaddon and quickly asked, "Can I choose something else?"
"Nope. You agreed to this. Now you gotta go with the flow," said Abaddon.
Emma looked back at the scroll and gulped. Some of things on the list were doable, while others were very, very questionable.
"Alright, well we gotta study for class. We'll catch you later girls." Abaddon picked Emma up and placed her on his back. She still had a worried look on her face, but still wrapped her arms around Abaddon's neck as he walked out of the cafeteria with his lunch in hand.
"Is Emma going to be ok?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Yeah she'll be fine. Abaddon and Jurano like to kid around with me and Emma all the time." Kathleen then gave Jurano a small punch to his shoulder.
"It's just a gag joke. Don't worry, the list was actually created by our friend Jack. He has written and done every single task on that list. We never meant for anyone to try them, just to hold on to a copy in case Jack ever loses his," Jurano assured them. "We'll talk to you lovely ladies later." He and Kathleen then followed their friends out of the lunch room.
"What do you think their friend wrote on that list?" Blake asked. Just looking at the scroll gave her bad vibes.
Yang happily shrugged. "Beats me. Could be anything I guess, but I wouldn't mind trying something crazy."
"Only a maniac like you would Yang," Weiss chimed in.
"From the look on Emma's face, they must be pretty horrid. I hope I don't get tricked into doing anything related to that list," Ruby said as team RWBY left for their dorm as well.
