Crimson XIX: Rivalry

"So today's when things really begin," Ragna muttered mostly to himself as he threw on his iconic red coat. Proceeding to grab his two weapons, he set his Aramasa on its usual place on his belt while setting the longsword-rifle Clarent inside a diagonally held sheath just above that. Until now he kept the latter sword at his hip, but a little work with the straps on his coat and he was set for an easier time drawing his secondary weapon. "Kinda sucks that Tsubaki and Noel aren't going to be here for the first day."

"We got time for 'em to show, there's still breakfast after all," Azrael remind as he rose from the edge of the bed where he'd been sitting. "Plus, our only lecture today is with our random partners, so covering for 'em isn't on us anyways." The Mad Dog then gave an abrupt laugh. "Don't tell me that you actually miss Red trying to stab you in the back."

"You know she's already well past that; I'm doing the best I can to make the four of us act like an actual team." Ragna shot his teammate a scowl as he opened the door to the dormitory hallway. "Problem is, it's hard to reform a team when half its members aren't present."

"You're not wrong there," Azrael agreed as he shut the door behind the two while they headed for the Cafeteria. "But does that mean we're going to see what it looks like when you get serious as a leader?"

"You'll see something, just don't expect any miracles from me," the Reaper promised as the two walked down the hallway. "Learning how to be a team leader on top of managing four projects and making sure we all get into a Vytal Festival… it's going to be a total pain in the ass."

"It might be a pain in the ass, but won't it be worth the trouble once you get your Huntsman license?" Ragna's non-committed grunt in response caused the Mad Dog to narrow his eyes. "This again."

"Again?" Ragna questioned as his teammate came to a stop in the hallway. He seemed to be waiting for the group just ahead of them to exit the dormitories to exit before moving on, making it clear that he was in for some form of a confrontation… and Azrael didn't strike him as the verbal type.

"Normally I wouldn't care one way or another, but if you keep acting like this it could get in the way of what I'm after," he noted, thrusting his hands into their pockets. "So… why the hell are you even here?"

"Meaning?"

"Quit playing coy, I knew there was something different about you, right when I got a glimpse of you during the initiation tests. You had this aura about you even then; that you barely gave a damn about attending Beacon. I half expected you to drop out during the trails, but you were there to defend your spot here when push came to shove…" Azrael gave a vicious snarl. "And I pushed you quite a bit."

"Not arguing that last part," Ragna muttered, remembering when he and Azrael had briefly fought each other after they'd claimed their relics. "So what? You're mad that I'm not treating this seriously?"

"No, I just don't understand why you're still here, because from what I've gathered…" His eyes gave a shine as he saw through Ragna's facade. "You don't need Beacon's training, in fact you don't need your Huntsman's license either. Not if you've already earned a title like Grimm Reaper."

"That's just a name…" Ragna defended, though he did finally break eye contact with the Mad Dog. "And you're not the type to care about those in the first place."

"Normally I wouldn't, but there's more to your reputation than what you've been able to show off. Even while we were sparring last week, I couldn't help but feel I was barely scratching the surface of what you could really do. Add that to the fact that you were taking jobs just fine in Vacuo without a Huntsman's license and this entire school starts to look pointless. Something's keeping you chained here... and I think that's also what's got you so docile most of the time."

"If that's what you think about what I'm doing, then from where I'm standing you've gotta be one hell of a hypocrite. You're saying that I don't need Beacon Academy or my Huntsman license? Then why the hell are you sticking around?" Azrael only raised an eyebrow. "If all you've really ever wanted is a fight that'll keep you satisfied, you could head to the wilds of any kingdom to get your fix. Even if you were stuck here, I'm pretty sure that no one short of a staff member could even think of standing up to you if you went on a real rampage. If I had to guess, you have to fight to keep yourself in line more than I would ever have to. So why bother playing a student role at all?"

Ragna felt a charge in the air as he finished his retort. Azrael's facial muscles seemed to be tightening, creating the deathly smile of a berserker. The Reaper's arm twitched as he realized he might've just set an already unstable Mad Dog off and would need to go for his swords if he was going to fight off Azrael's battle lust before it destroyed the Academy… maybe he could save himself too, that'd be nice.

"You know, this is the first time I've met someone that's actual gotten it, someone that actually understands how much I really need to hold myself back. You saw what I was like out in the woods, how intense I could allow myself to get when I knew I was fighting someone that could actually stand up to me? Think of what I've had to go through on the regular, constantly keeping myself dormant."

"I figured it was something like that; it always is with you." Ragna didn't let his tension fade just yet. "But my point from earlier still stands, why not just head out into the wastes and look for trouble there?"

"You think I haven't already tried that? Fighting for survival day in and day out in that hellish wasteland was a dream come true… to a point. You're an expert on the Grimm aren't you? Once you get around their high durability and nightmarish ferocity, what's there for a connoisseur like me? An endless hoard of nightmares to most, but there's nothing worth any excitement to me in the small fry." Azrael closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "People like you on the other hand? There's no telling what you could do, and with so many of the cream of the crop gathering in one place… how could I pass a chance like this up?"

"So the Vytal Festival? That's your end goal?"

"Right now it is, but that's more of a mild distraction. You on the other hand…" The Mad Dog gave a chuckle. "Up until now I've only called something I wanted to fight my prey, but you're different. Something about you... I might've found an actual rival here."

"...I take it that's supposed to be a compliment?" Ragna sarcastically guessed.

"It is. But now that I've laid all my cards are on the table, I think it's time you showed me yours. What brought you to Beacon?"

"That's still not any of your business," the Reaper remained unyielding.

"You sure? I figured being a team leader meant keeping all of us in the loop," Azrael noted as he followed closely behind.

"Maybe, but this isn't anything that can come back to bite my team… In fact I'm practically doing it just by being here." 'Though I never expected it to go this far… way too far.' "Also, there's one thing that you got wrong."

"Oh?"

"Maybe I don't exactly need to be at Beacon, but that doesn't mean I haven't improved while I've been here. If you and I had fought for real at the beginning of the semester…"

"What? You wouldn't have survived?" Azrael asked with a cocky smile.

"No… you wouldn't have."

Azrael was about to laugh it off as pure bravado, but there was something Ragna's eyes, something in his stance, in his aura… there was something there that was telling him that it wasn't a bluff. Had Azrael pushed Ragna hard enough… the Grimm Reaper believed that he could actually kill him. THAT was something he'd rarely experienced in prey before.

"...So about that rematch…" Azrael began, trying to be subtle.

"Not until end of term, like we agreed," Ragna shot down immediately.

"...You goddamn tease," he growled. Now Ragna could afford himself a snarky laugh.

-Beacon Cafeteria-

"There he is," Ruby said from her team's usual table. Nodding to her older sister, the two got up from their table and headed to the cafeteria entrance where Ragna and Azrael had just emerged from. Their partners had left the cafeteria already and had headed to the lecture hall, meaning it was just the two of them for this talk. "You got a second?"

"Can it wait until after class? I haven't gotten my breakfast yet."

"We've already been waiting for this since last night and it's starting to drive both of crazy," Yang told him. "I know the timing isn't ideal, but can we do it now so I don't have to worry about during class?"

"Sounds… serious."

"Kinda is," Ruby said. The fact that they weren't just asking him straight out implied that they might want this to be a quieter conversation. Nodding, Ragna turned to Azrael.

"You mind getting a plate for me?"

"Just don't take too long; we don't have much time before the lecture starts," he reminded as he headed off to grab two plates.

"Don't take too long he tells me," Ragna groaned, knowing that the only reason they were late to begin with was because Azrael had wanted to confront him that morning. With the sisters wanting to discuss this in private, he guided them away from prying ears. "By the way, how did you like the cookies I made?"

"If you're trying to change the subject, we're actually here to talk about those," Ruby told him. "Was that really your mom's recipe last night?"

"As far as I could remember it was. I haven't made that recipe in ten years, so I guess I could've messed it up somewhere." 'But if I had, Jin was enough of an ass last night that he'd let me know.' "What's got you so worried about cookies in the first place? I didn't give you food poisoning, did I?"

"You didn't, they were actually really REALLY good. But when we had them last night… it was like we were having our mom's cookies," Ruby told him. The concern in her voice informed Ragna that she wasn't saying this as a compliment.

"You mean it was the same recipe? Huh. That's… something."

"Something's a good word for it. Ruby's had cookies that come from just about every corner of Remnant and she hasn't found any that taste like hers. I'm just trying to figure out how the recipe your mom used is the same that ours did."

Ragna was silent as he thought back to his childhood, the better years of it anyways. "Sorry, but I couldn't tell you where she got it from. She never had to look in any books to make 'em, clearly she knew the whole recipe by heart."

"So you don't think it's possible that she learned it from someone?" Yang asked, throwing out another possibility.

"It's possible for sure, but I don't know regardless. I don't think I ever bothered asking where she learned to bake," he admitted. "And aside from the rare drop in from the man who'd become my master, I don't think we ever had anyone visiting us… but then again that was over a decade ago, so I might just not remember." He shook his head, knowing how little he was giving them. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, it's fine," Ruby tried to tell him, though it was hard to hide how she was really feeling. "It's just, I was kind of hoping there was something else to this. I don't really know what, but… something."

"...If it's any consolation, I at least remember how I made the cookies last night," he began, scratching the back of his hair like he did whenever he felt awkward. "I'm not sure that I'd be able to do your mom's recipe justice, but if you wanted maybe I can try cooking them again."

"You… You'd do that for us?" Ruby asked, huge sparkles forming in her eyes at the offer.

'This is a hell of a promise to make,' Ragna knew all too well, though that didn't stop him from nodding. 'I guess I can give them both this much…'

"Maybe we could even make them together next time," Yang offered, somehow sounding nearly as excited with the prospect as Ruby. "All three of us."

"I don't see why not, you two might even find something that I've missed with that last attempt," he offered. Off to the side, he noticed that Azrael was hoping two large breakfast plates up with a scowl, trying to let his leader know that they needed to start eating if they were going to make it to the lecture on time. "Next time we get a chance, let's head into town, buy some ingredients, and get cooking."

"Let's do it!" both sisters exclaimed with simultaneous fist pumps into the air. The Reaper couldn't help but give a small chuckle as he weakly pumped his own fist in the air.

"See you at class, Ragna!" Ruby promised as she headed off with her sister, clearly in much better moods than before they had their talk.

"Quarter's barely started and I somehow got a date set up," Ragna said to himself half-jokingly. 'Still, I make cookies because they remind me of my mother only to end up reminding Ruby and Yang of their mother's recipe? There's gotta be something else at play… but what the hell could it be?' His stomach gave a small growl, yet another reminder that he should eat while he had the chance. 'Don't think there's much point of losing sleep over it. Maybe I can ask Jin later about-'

"Ragna the Bloodedge..."

"Hmm?" The young woman approaching Ragna was wearing the usual Beacon academy attire, so there wasn't a lot he could tell about her from her clothing. Her face seemed rather plain save for the pair of spectacles she wore and the small mole underneath her right eye, though there was a touch of makeup to heighten her lips and eyeshadow. Her hair was a lighter shade of purple while her eyes were golden amber. Ragna got the slightest feeling he should know who she was. "You're…?"

"We had the same Grimm Study and Survival Technique periods last term," she told him, her facial features tight, though not in a scowl. "My name is Venus Camellia."

"Venus… right." He often had to pretend that he remembered the other students whenever something like this came up, since outside of his own small circle he didn't socialize much. "Can this wait? I'm already almost out of time to eat before I gotta haul my ass to a lecture."

"I'll keep it brief, and the lecture is what I wanted to ask you about," she informed, leaving Ragna to grumble though he did comply and stay put. "I was hoping to ask you about your partner."

"You mean Tsubaki?" Ragna had kept his tone neutral and had spoken his partner's name without any of the ire held at the start of the previous term, but this still seemed to have a negative effect as Venus's anger briefly flashed. He took notice of this, but didn't show it. "What about her?"

"I'm in search of her because the two of us have been assigned as partners in the random project. I was hoping to plan a proper schedule with her, but I didn't see her after we'd been assigned as partners yesterday afternoon or this morning at breakfast. Knowing that you were her partner, I hoped you'd have some idea of her whereabouts."

"I didn't know the two of you were assigned together. The thing is, she sort of went on a trip to her home estate with a bunch of her friends during the break. The reason that you haven't seen her around the last few days is because they all got delayed by those damn storms." Venus only gave him a simple nod in response to the news, somehow her stoicism felt unnerving. "Sorry, but I don't really have any idea of when she'll be making it back to the Academy."

"I see… that's disappointing," she told him before giving a proper bow. "You should eat while you have the time, I'll bother you no further."

"I've got Tsubaki's contact info on me if you want it now," he offered, pulling his scroll out of his pocket.

"While I do appreciate your offer to help, I think it would be better if I ask Miss Yayoi myself," she told him. Ragna couldn't help but feel a bizarre sense of pride from her aura as she began walking away.

"We've got no idea when she's going to be able to make it back; you could lose a ton of time on your project." Venus didn't appear to have heard Ragna's reasoning, heading out of the cafeteria without losing a step. Giving a deep sigh, Ragna turned and headed to his awaiting breakfast. "It's already been one hell of a first day back."

Meanwhile

"Hey Blake, any idea why everyone here is looking so nervous?" Nora asked her random project partner on her while her regular partner sat to her left. There were only a few minutes before class would have officially started and the instructor had yet to show himself. Normally this would mean that most of the students would be standing around and mingling until they were instructed to take their seats, but few were out of their seats and even fewer were breaking the heavy silence. Most of them had grim or at least anxious looks on their faces, contributing to the atmosphere all the further.

"Probably has something to do with our teacher," the cat faunus guessed, only having stayed silent because that was what she usually did. "I don't think it's too unusual that anyone would be nervous for a first class with someone like Relius Clover."

"Is he really that big of a deal?" Nora questioned again.

"You saw what kind of effect his entrance had on everyone yesterday," the casual observer Ren added. "Even Ragna and Kagura were near speechless when they saw him and they're two of the cockiest people I know."

"I'm right here you know," Kagura commented as he sat in the row of seats in front of the three.

"So you're worried about the project then?" Nora asked the Black Gale with a tilt of her head.

"I don't get worried," he promised with a smirk as he tried to play it cool, something which most people we doubting. "Anxious though, I'll give you that one. I went to one of his presentation a few years back and I didn't understand a word he said, but everyone else couldn't stop saying what a genius he was. If someone like him is our instructor, that's going to make this the project to watch out for by a hundred kilometers and then some."

"We all knew that this would be the case when discussed it two days ago," Weiss told him with a small scowl. "Speaking of which, where on earth were you? We still never got a straight answer from Jin."

"I was… out," he told her simply, not ready to get into his details about his most recent trip to Junior's. Weiss didn't like his response and looked to Jin for answers, but the blond only shook his head.

"Phew, looks like we made it," came Ruby's voice as she and her sister approached the regular group. Ruby found Pyrrah in the crowd and sat next to her partner for this assignment while Yang took a seat on the end next to Jaune; both blondes were still waiting for their partners to get back. "Everyone ready for the first official classes of the quarter?"

"I guess, but I'd feel a lot better if my partner was here," Jaune admitted.

"About that, I finally managed to get through to Tsubaki and the others," Jin informed. "Seem that their transport managed to take off earlier this morning. If they don't come across any further delays, they should make it back around the end of class."

"So I've only gotta cover for Makoto's notes today. Nice," Yang said, giving a smile that was filled with some relief. "And we've only got to be here once a week?"

"It's a four hour class, but that's the idea," Blake said in agreement. "Though Ragna mentioned something about him writing books. I really hope its not the case, but he could expect us to cover most of them."

"Meaning that if there's anything we need to ask about for class, Ragna's our go-to-guy!" Nora readily decided.

"...Maybe make sure he's able to handle his own project before you demand help from him? Relius should have office hours after all," Ren tried to suggest, knowing that Nora could go sort of overboard in her requests.

"Okay…" she sighed, realizing that he had a point.

"I'm sure we could still ask Ragna for help, he was more than happy to help us with our Grimm Studies assignments last semester," Blake tried to offer. (Ragna had complained, but everyone sort of knew that was just his way of putting on airs)

"Now that's what I'm talking about partner!" Nora said with a fist in the air. Ren shot Blake an apologetic look for what she was going to have to go through, but the cat Fanus only smiled softly at the both of them.

It wasn't long before the rest of the students arrived in the classroom, barely beating the first bell before class officially started. Since Azrael had started eating sooner than his leader had, he arrived just the slightest bit sooner. His presence reminded the students that the Academy's Mad Dog had to be teamed up with someone, leading to some curiosity over who would have to endure that partnership. Without a word, he headed over to the mix of RWBY, JNPR, and JACK and took the empty seat next to Ren. Jaune looked worriedly to his teammate, but somehow he was still keeping that stoic edge.

Following him just mere moments afterwards was Ragna. He didn't head to his seat immediately, glancing around the classroom first to look for his own random project partner. Shrugging as he didn't see her yet, he headed over to join the larger group of the three teams… only for Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury to arrive through the doorway right behind him. Ragna tried to hide his discomfort with his partner as he gave her a simple greeting. Cinder responded with a seemingly kind smile, only to start guiding Ragna to the empty seats furthest from RWBY and the others. He was about to suggest they all sit elsewhere, but she was already motioning for him to sit with them.

"Uh… what's she doing?" Ruby confusedly questioned as she glanced beside her. There were still plenty of open chairs available much closer to them.

"Maybe they're not comfortable sitting in a crowd of people they're meeting for the first time?" Blake suggested, though even as reclusive as she was she knew it was a flimsy excuse at best.

"But her partners would still have to find who they were teamed with for the final project," Weiss input, trying to hide her small scowl as Ragna took a reluctant seat with the visiting team. "Unless of course they've also been delayed by the storms, but still…"

"Hmmm…"

"That's all you have to say Yang, just hmm?"

"Just hmmm," the blonde replied looking over Ragna and Cinder, noticing that she seemed to be sitting a bit closer to him than she needed to and he was taking notice of it, trying to lean slightly away. He couldn't do it much, not with Emerald on the other side of him. Essentially, they had the Reaper boxed. "You know, nothing is stopping us from heading over and-"

"Everyone in your seats," came the voice of Relius Clover at just about the worst time, walking in with his purple cape flowing behind him. His gaze seemed to be directed towards the rising Yang in something of glare, though it was hard to tell in the mask he was wearing.

"Almost nothing is stopping us," she corrected with a sigh as she sat back down.

"Now… I suppose I should start by welcoming you here to my Understanding and Practical Applications of Semblances course. I know that we still have several students still missing, but I'm afraid we're going to have to endure it and push on this first class without them." His tone made it clear that it wasn't any of his concern, a burden for those unfortunate students to bear for this first lecture. "However, before we begin the class proper I'd like to take the time to answer a few questions about my research that some of you might have. Whether or not it will be relevant towards this project I won't inform you until later, but feel free to ask anything while you have this chance."

Understandably, not many hands went up for questions geared towards a scientist who had such encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, many of them out of fear of looking foolish by asking a stupid question. There was one student that had his hand up right as Relius had finished his offer, so Relius took special note of him.

"Yes? You with white hair."

"Has your Soul Reconstruction theory had any progress in the research since you published your last book on it. Also, how are you even able to gather data for something like this?" Ragna asked.

"My Soul Reconstruction theory?" the researcher mused. "That's one of my more advanced studies… and certainly one of my grislier ones."

"My sensei had an odd taste in bedtime stories." Ragna's comment, caused more than a few people to laugh or at least chuckle at his remark. "Y'all think I'm joking."

"Your sense of humor or lack thereof, perhaps you could explain the theory in your own words first so that the rest of the students understand your question?"

"I guess. To put this as blunt as I could, it's a study that's trying to understand how someone's Soul and Semblance reacts when someone goes through extreme physical harm. Anyone could tell you that a semblance would be weaker after you take a hell of a beating, but this study is trying to find how much of that is the soul reacting to the damage and how much is simply the bodies inability to use it right. What's also important to the discovery is if the soul can recover from that attack… and if it can become even stronger."

'My my, he looks like such a delinquent but he's actually somewhat well read,' Cinder thought beside him. Ragna eyes briefly glanced at her and noticed that she was still smiling at him. He tried not to show that he felt unnerved that she hadn't dropped her smile since she walked into the classroom.

"A good summary of that idea, though I imagine that quite a few of you are wondering where I could've imagined such a concept," Relius noted as he looked over the students. "You with the blue hair; Azrael. You seem to be the type to exercise a good deal."

"I do my fair share," Azrael told him with a smirk as he undersold himself.

"I'll bet, but what's the purpose of putting your body through routines? How do you get stronger by working out?"

"There are plenty of mental reasons tied to it, but the two big physical ones are training yourself to adapt to stress put on your body and to create healthy tears in your muscles so that they rebuild themselves stronger. That's why you'll feel sore after a good workout; parts of those muscles are torn and are in the process of fixing themselves."

"Exactly, and if those two factors can make a body stronger I theorize that similar concepts can be applied to the soul. Adapting is almost a given and any Semblance user can tell you such. The more you use that power, the easier your body acclimates to the stress it's put under and the more it can learn how to use that energy without becoming exhausted."

'But since I don't have a semblance, I can't even practice that much,' Jaune thought to himself with a sigh. 'I'm basically at level zero with using aura.'

"The second part of the theory is where I run into trouble, what is the Soul Reconstruction theory at its core. What I'm trying to discover is if the soul can heal itself when damaged, and if so can it actually go beyond what it was beforehand. As for your question on how I was studying it… that's part of the issue with the project."

"Is it because of ethical issues of looking at someone's soul?" Mercury guessed somewhat cockily from beside Emerald. "Governments clutching their pearls at someone looking so sacrilegious?"

"Actually the kingdoms as a whole have been supportive in my goal, it's a project that should provide a deeper understanding of self healing after all. If they were so afraid of souls being analyzed, I'd be out of a job." The class gave another small laugh while Emerald only rolled her eyes at her partners' behavior. "No, my true issue is having the right control groups. I've been able to find, meet, and even analyze Huntsmen and Huntresses that have undergone serious injury. The problem is it's difficult to tell for sure if the damage truly extends to their soul. I have noticed a decrease in their semblances capability, but that might just have to with their physical injuries or mental state. Their recovery can result in stronger or more efficient semblances, but I suspect most of that can be attributed to the physicians care of them and their own drive to live… So as of yet, no progress I'm afraid."

"Just wondering," Ragna said passively.

"You seem invested in that project," Cinder noted beside him.

"I just found it interesting," he brushed off quickly.

"Let's take another question," Relius began as he searched for another hand. "You there… also with white hair."

"I was curious about a thesis that wasn't published," Weiss began. "I heard rumors that you were looking into the family based semblances of the nobility and how they were forcing their child to adhere to their standards by making sure they inherited their family's semblance."

"Oh, you're asking me about that theory? Tell me young lady, did you know that your father was one of the most vocal voices against that particular piece research?" Relius seemed more than disappointed as his student balked at his words. "In fact he almost single handedly convinced higher forms of government to forbid my already started research, effectively putting the resources and funding I'd invested to absolute waste. And for what, the sanctity of an inherited semblance most of his family won't have reason to use?"

'Knowing him it was probably just another of his under the table business agreements,' Weiss thought to herself. 'Great, now I'm already on my teacher's bad side for the hardest project of the year… just another issue caused by dad.'

"But… out of all of those inherited semblances, you might very well stand the best chance Miss Schnee. You may have inherited your family's standard Glyphs, but if you can master the versatile style of manifestations as well you could prove to develop a skill set completely unfiltered by your family. One that's a pure, untainted reflection of your own soul."

"I… I'll be sure not to disappoint," Weiss promised, even she was taken aback by what Relius was saying. She'd heard her father distastefully call him a radical, but she hadn't imagined this.

"Try to see that you don't," Relius said, his tone making it hard to know whether he actually expected anything of her. "I suppose we have time for one more question. You there."

"Hiya! Do you always wear that golden ma-?"

"Moving. ON." Relius said with a lengthy sigh, facepalming at the question.

"Aw…" a deflated Nora groaned.

"Now I'll explain your project in full. Do any of you play RPGs? Role Playing Games? I hear they've taken off quite a bit with students your age."

'If they have, I haven't played 'em,' Ragna thought bitterly as he looked (willingly for once) to his partner. She only gave him a modest shrug. '...Shit.'

"Think of this entire project as one large series of Role Play Games where you have to manage your forces in order to perform duties as Huntsmen and Huntresses in the field. You'll be given information such as their fighting styles, certain details of their combat experience, their equipment, their physicality, and of course their semblances. It will be up to you to see fit how to handle all of that information and use it to complete your objective."

Relius saw the wave of confusion wash over the crowd. He knew this would happen and allowed himself a smirk at his correct prediction. A student eventual raised their hand, a scapegoat for his goal. Relius didn't say a word, only nodding.

"Sir, we already do that all the time in our Grimm Studies classes," Lie Ren informed.
"We're given a combat situation to solve and though most of the time we're allowed to use our own skills, semblances, and equipment. This seems pretty close to that."

"I am aware," Relius told him. "But answer me this, are you going to approach information gathering the same way you'd handle combat? I'd certainly hope not. What about escaping a dangerous trap deep within some ancient ruins? Even something as basic as how to assign a nightly watch to defend your camp?"

'Not good,' Jin thought as realization hit him. 'He's a leading mind on semblance research and will be teaching us about them, but if the project's about the practical applications of Semblances that could mean anything. He's probably of a mindset that you could use a semblance just about anywhere you want.'

"At the end of this period and about half of my other lectures, you'll each be given 10 diffrent scenarios that you'll have to work with your project partner to solve. There will be 50 total scenarios, each of which can be awarded up 200 possible points depending on your strategy. Every week you'll be able to submit your solutions which will be given a score. You're allowed to spend as many attempts on each scenario as you need to, it's only the final grade at the end of the project that will matter. To compensate, you'll have all 50 of your scenarios assigned as of week seven. The lectures in the five remaining weeks won't be nearly as essential as those that came before, but you may find an essential tidbit somewhere that will complete your strategy."

"Professor?" Ruby voiced, raising her hand. "Are we forbidden from working with any of the other teams?"

"I suppose I have no rules against doing so," the teacher admitted. "But doing that course of action would provide little benefit to either party… seeing as no two senarios are alike."

"But… that would mean that…"

"Yes. Fifty different scenarios for every team here, not an easy task for most," Relius acknowledged. He saw that a few of the students seemed doubtful. "Believe what you will; maybe I'm only saying this to drive cooperation apart, or maybe I actually managed to create all of these scenarios and looking too deep into it would only waste the precious time you have this quarter. The choice is yours."

'And I always thought Ren was hard to read,' Jaune thought.

"But that's all for later, it's time we started our lecture. Start by opening your textbook to page-"

Later

They say you can tell a lot about your instructor by their first class alone. How well they've created their curriculum, their speaking ability during lectures, the ease with which they can answer students questions, small details like that. After this class it was clear that everyone knew the aptitude that Relius Clover carried as a teacher… and that terrified them. Their class may have been for four hours, but aside from the brief 15 minute break halfway through Relius never needed to stop and catch his breath. When he explained a subject, he explained it down to the smallest detail while often going beyond what was presented in textbooks. He'd allow short intervals for questioning, but even those he could easily respond to in a quick and consistent manner. The students felt like they'd learned a lot, but it was a difficult lecture.

"Okay, what on Remnant did we just go through?" an exasperated Ruby asked as she piled out of the classroom with most of the other students. "That… was the semester, right?"

"That was the first class and I think we all know that it's only going to get harder from here," Weiss told her partner, not even up for defending her pride from the onslaught of information.

"We haven't even started working on the project yet and I already feel like I need a nap," Blake moaned, the droop in her ears reflecting how she currently felt.

"..." Even Yang was feeling far too exhausted for one of her quips. Her head slumped over as she barely kept a hold on her textbooks.

"What the-? The hell happened to all of you?" Approaching the girls was a worried Makoto Nanaya, still wearing her more casual clothing instead of an academy uniform. Mai, Noel, Celica, and Tsubaki stood behind her also in their casual clothing (except for Tsubaki who was dressed in Beacon's uniform since she always followed the rules to a T)

"Don't tell me you just got here as class was ending," Yang groaned as she walked over to Makoto. "You know how hard it is to take notes from a guy who literally wrote the book on what you're studying? I'm starting to think he's just plain sadistic, and I'll have you know I had to take notes ALONE!"

"Huh… well I'm sure you're partner will appreciate your-" Yang didn't let her finish, instead trusting her notes into the Fanus's arms. "...Oh."

"Yeah, you owe me for this," she enforced with annoyance. "But I guess I can hold off on that for now, you guys eat yet?"

"Not yet, we were just about to head to the cafeteria for lunch after we checked the classrooms," Mai told them.

"Good, cause I'm starving," Azrael muttered as he passed them by. Even he had a tired slouch after the lecture, his seemingly invincible battle lust wavering for the moment. Ren came out shortly behind his project partner, but instead approached Noel.

"You know, he's actually really consistent in his notes," Ren commended, leaving Noel to give him just the briefest of smiles. He then gestured to inside the classroom, showing Jaune checking over the notes he took in class with Phyrra "Take care of Jaune, you're both going to need to work hard to pull through on this project."

"We'll both do our best," Noel promised. Ren only nodded as he followed Azrael to the lunch room.

"So who's Ragna talking with now?" Tsubaki asked as she noticed her partner standing cross armed while speaking to Cinder's group.

"Well the girl with the dark hair is his partner for the random project, Cinder," Ruby explained. "The other two are Emerald and Mercury, members of her team… I guess their partners aren't here yet."

"If those are members of her team, then where's her fourth teammate?" Celica asked.

"Probably still delayed in the storms," Weiss guessed. While everyone else was focused on Ragna and the other three as they started making her way over, she shot a look to Tsubaki. The redhead didn't say anything to her, but did give a subtle nod to identify she understood the situation between her and Jin.

"So you're Celica," the green haired greeted with a welcoming smile. "I'm Emerald, looks like we're going to be working together this quarter."

"Nice to meet you!" she said with her own friendly smile. "Thanks so much for covering for me the first day!"

"It's nothing, anything for my partner," Emerald waved off. 'We hacked the system to change our partners around and I couldn't get one that was here on the first day!? And to top it off, this girl seems like a total ditz!'

"You're never that nice to me," Mercury joked. Emerald allowed her smiling facade to fade for just a moment so she could glare at him, but he only shrugged.

"You ready for lunch?" Yang asked her still silent friend. Her wording and tone was casual enough, but it was easy to see that she was concerned for the Reaper. She didn't know why, but Ragna certainly seemed more spent than he usually was. Normally when he got through a day of harder studying he'd mouth off a bit for sure, but afterwards he'd be fine. Here he looked pretty stressed by the work already, even more so than the rest of them.

"Gonna have to take a rain check for today, headed to the library," he told them. "Let's just plan on seeing each other at dinner."

"After all of that, you're still going to work on the project first thing? You're insane," Weiss insulted with disbelief.

"No, he's just being an extremely helpful partner right now," Cinder corrected, smiling brightly at Ragna who didn't dare to acknowledge it. "I have a little something I needed to take care of later today and Ragna's such a team player that he's willing to work with me first thing so I can make it later."

"It's no big deal," he said moodily, just to turn the compliment down.

"I mean… it's great that Ragna volunteered to help you and all," Blake started, trying to intervene. "But couldn't you just save this for another time?"

"I mean we could..." Cinder admitted slowly as she playfully twirled a single finger through the end of her hair. "But you saw what we just went through; the last thing we need now is to have a late start and rush the first assignment because we didn't have enough time." She then gestured to Ragna, appearing to be on the defensive. "Besides, that would take away from time he'd need to work on his other three projects. This is the best way for everyone at the moment."

"...I mean, she has a point," Ruby admitted, though it was clear that she didn't care for it. "What if… maybe all of us could try heading for the library now." Her words struck a chord with everyone that didn't want to go now (which was honestly everyone, herself included). "I mean think about it, we should at least try to see if we can work together for this first set. See what it is that all of us are getting into. Maybe we won't be able to help each other, but we can at least try, can't we?"

'Damn, that annoying little pain actually makes a good point,' Cinder thought to herself, but kept her face calm at the suggestion. 'If she and her friends come along I won't be able to keep this subtle pressure on Ragna, but if I protest she might start to get suspicious… I need her team out of the way for the moment, but how?'

"Don't bother; have lunch, get some rest, do whatever the hell you need to," Ragna dismissed, leading Ruby to pout slightly at him. "Don't give me that look; you're all about to pass out after that lecture. I can still go for a bit if I push myself, especially if it's just for one day. No need for all of you to get exhausted with me."

'Interesting, I hadn't counted on having him bail me out,' Cinder thought as she allowed her friendly smile to grow, but with menace behind it. 'This idiot's playing right into my hands and he doesn't even know it. What's more, he seems to care about her entire team and they care for him as well. That's good to know for later… or...'

"Alright…" Ruby relented to Ragna's wishes. "Just don't-"

"Glad we're all in agreement," the Reaper's partner agreed before...

"Huh!? What the-!?"

Ruby clearly flinched as not only was she interrupted, but also at Cinder wrapping both of her arms against Ragna's right one and holding it close. If something had been off putting just by being around Cinder, actually having to make contact with her was a dozen times worse. He just glanced down slightly as Cinder smiled up at him, his face flushed red as he couldn't form words. Everyone watching just felt uncomfortable at the situation. Even Emerald couldn't help but think that Cinder was moving a little quick here, though Mercury only had to stifle a laugh.

"Hope to you see all this quarter! We'll be off then!" she told them sweetly.

"H-Hey! You don't have to drag me!" Ragna tried to protest as he finally found his voice. Either Cinder didn't hear him or she was wasn't listening, guiding him off to the library as she continued to hold his arm to keep the two close.

"Um… so what exactly was that?" Tsubaki asked as the shock lingered in the area.

"...Couldn't tell ya," Yang Xiao Long responded. Her voice had a much lower much darker tone than it usually did, managing to mirror Ragna on his BAD days. Her features were tightening into a focused scowl and her body tensed as she crossed her arms. Had everyone's eyes not been glued to Cinder as she practically kidnapped Ragna the Bloodedge… they might've seen the tiniest flicker of flames coming off of the blonde's hair.

Author's Note (With an update for an upcoming big chapter)

So getting the update out of the way first, everyone knows about the side project to this story Grimm Reaper's Extensions right? Well I've got a big chapter planned for that story coming out. The reason why I'm putting it there is while it doesn't exactly mess with the story I've established here, there is one scene that I can only really put there. You'll certainly know which one when it comes out on Valentine's Day… and no, I'm not writing my first Lemon. Sorry.

If you've got some ideas for Venus (the OC I introduced this chapter) feel free to let me know. I've already got a team she can belong to, VIGR (Vigor) , her equipment and fighting style, and most of her appearance. But if there's something you think I should add to her, go ahead and suggest something.

As for Cinder here… I'm gambling on a couple ideas that I think will work, but I've got to the thread the needle very carefully. Can't have her go too sadistic and reveal herself as an antagonist too soon, but I also can't have her go too light because that's just not her.

Enough of the Author's note, let's handle these reviews… OK, quick thing regarding those first. Normally I wouldn't care about spoilers, but there was one review that basically told the entire plot of the latest episode of RWBY. Please don't do that, not everyone has a Premium access to Rooster Teeth, meaning they'll have to wait until the episodes are up for free on YouTube. The review was issued by a guest so I could easily take it down (I don't usually do that, not even for the rare negative review), but just try to keep it in mind.

Review responses

The Unplanner & Trey Alexander: Oh… you might've interpreted the whole 'mom's' cookies bit different from what I was going for. That's not what I'm going for, sorry I communicated that wrong.

Selias: It's given here for the lore. I don't often read RWBY fanfiction, so I didn't know this was a thing.

Wlyman2009: Not to be negative, but when did it leave?

Hotshot6: Long reviews are fine and a funny skit to boot.

P3R50N4: Okay, so that's the surface level answer, but there's more to it there.

Bismarck Alexander: All interesting note to take into account.

Lovnag: Glad to see you found what you were looking for, check out Grimm Reaper's Extensions for something a little more slice of life.

Fernandamichelleraya: Oh I've rested, end of the year was hell though.

Guest: Well, we'll just have to see how Relius plays out.

Paladin9800: Long time no talk man, thanks for the review.

Until next time!

Ciao!