In the hideout, Blaze laid on the couch of the lounging area. He had a magazine, up and over his head, reading the contents of it. This was pretty much what he had done since his arrival. Anyone, who would ask what he was up to, he would say either, he was resting or planning. Either way, you would find Blaze on that very couch, doing whatever he pleased.
Mercury entered the room and only noticed Blaze doing his usual thing; nothing. Mercury gave a spiteful look at Blaze before deciding to do something about it. Mercury walked up to Blaze from behind.
As Mercury approached Blaze, he could hear Blaze talked about the magazine to himself.
"Wow, I didn't know these people would wear these kind of clothes," Blaze said to himself.
Mercury quickly pulled the magazine from Blaze hand.
"You shouldn't waste your time…" Mercury tried to order, but his expression changed as soon as Blaze disappeared from his sight. At the same time, Mercury froze as he felt someone arm laid over his left shoulder, it was Blaze's. Blaze rested his chest one Mercury's back as he continued to stand motionless.
"How is that possible!?" Mercury said to himself, "I watched him, there is no way he could be that fast."
Blaze grabbed the magazine from Mercury's hand and stared at the cover of it.
"I don't like when people interrupt my time," Blaze spoke near Mercury's ear, Mercury continued to stand motionless. "I also hate," Blaze continued, "when by showing a simple trick, they get easily frighten."
Blaze pushed Mercury out of his way as he proceed back to his spot on the couch. Blaze opened the magazine and began to read once more.
"We wanted to ask you some question," Cinder stated as she entered the room with Emerald. Blaze immediately stopped reading and looked at them with an annoyed look.
"Might as well," Blaze said in irritated tone, "since you already interrupted my reading."
"There a new student that transferred into Beacon recently," Cinder began to explain.
"And I should care why?"
"We wanted to know if you know someone that goes by the name of Arranis Shadow."
"Arranis Shadow?" Blaze repeated the name once more. He simply laid back on the couch to think about for a moment. After a bit, he began to laugh. "I didn't expect him to use that name."
"You know who he is?"
"He is the boy I am after," Blaze explained. "His real name is Asarirn Nightlyis."
"Nightlyis," Cinder said under her breath, "Why does that name sound familiar?"
Blaze stood up from the couch and stretched.
"Just a bit of warning," Blaze said as he started to head for the door, "I wouldn't announce his real name if I were you."
"Why?"
Blaze stopped at the door and gazed back at the three young people. "He would kill you without a second thought, so keep that in mind. Now that I am bored, I'm going to head out."
Everyone gave each other quick looks before looking back at Blaze.
"Where are you going?" Cinder asked.
"Since we are going to have that 'meeting' soon," Blaze held up his hand and made air quotes, "I need to prepare myself."
"Prepare yourself for what?"
Blaze let out a sigh by how annoying they are. He looked straight at Cinder and smiled. "Don't worry about it." Blaze turned around and headed out the door.
Everyone watched as Blaze left the room, leaving them in silent. Mercury looked down in defeat. Immediately, Cinder noticed his behavior.
"What's wrong?" Cinder asked.
"I think Blaze is a lot stronger than we thought…"
Cinder narrowed her eyes by the thought of it. She looked back at the door and stared at it for a bit.
-*RWBY*-
A few days has passed since Asarirn's first day of school. Despite having the lengthy homework from Oobleck, Asarirn thought the classes of this school were rather easy. All he ever does was simply go to class and occasionally worked on homework. The next morning, however, was when things changed for Asarirn.
When the girls came back from the showers, wearing their bath robes and towels that was Asarirn's que to leave. As Asarirn grabbed his school clothes and headed for the showers, Ruby quickly stood in front, stopping him.
"Wait," Ruby stopped him, Asarirn quickly looked away. Ruby blushed slightly in respond by his action, but managed to say what needed to say. "We don't need our uniforms," Ruby explained.
"Why?" Asarirn asked in a confused tone, still looking away from Ruby.
"We have combat class today," Yang spoke. Asarirn didn't bother to look at Yang, knowing that would be a bad idea. "We just wear clothes that we usually fight in," She continued.
"Okay," Asarirn said in respond. Asarirn placed his school uniform on his bed before heading for the showers.
-*RWBY*-
After a peaceful breakfast, Asarirn carried his sheathed blade in his hand as he followed the girls to combat class. As Asarirn entered the classroom, he quickly inspected the area. Asarirn noticed the classroom was more like a stadium. Asarirn sat next to his teammates. The girls noticed how Asarirn carried his blade by hand, but decided not to address it. They sat there and waited patiently.
Glynda Goodwitch entered the classroom and took the stage in the middle of the arena.
"Good morning, everyone," Glynda greeted the class, "I hope everyone had a nice morning." Glynda scanned the seats and noticed Asarirn. "Ah, Mr. Shadow, I suppose this is your first time being here."
Asarirn gave a simple nod.
"I will give you a quickly summary," Glynda continued, "The point of this class is to have students spar against each other and learn what we can from it." Asarirn simply sat in his seat, listening. "Since this is your first day here, you will be the first to go up. Now for your opponent…" Glynda began to scroll through her charts, "I will have you fight Yang Xiao Long."
Asarirn and Yang looked at each other before standing from their seats. Asarirn tried to walk toward the field but Weiss grabbed Asarirn by his wrist, trying to get his attention.
"Are you going to use your Mystical Blade?" Weiss asked with a whisper voice.
"I have no reason to use it," Asarirn responded as he began to walk away.
Asarirn and Yang walked together onto the arena. As soon as they reached the center, they turned direction, opposite of each other, and occupied their side.
Yang watched as Asarirn equipped his blade onto his back waist. Yang made a quick inspection of her weapons before looking back at Asarirn.
"Ready yourselves," Glynda announced.
Yang held up her fist at Asarirn, reading herself. Asarirn slightly leaned forward as he placed his hand on the hilt of the blade. Everyone in the room could feel the tensions rising fast between those two.
"I hope you won't take it easy on me, just because I'm girl." Yang told Asarirn. Asarirn didn't say anything as he waited for the match to start.
Glynda held up her hand in the air, signaling as the fight was about to start. "Begin!" Glynda called out as she threw down her hand. However, both Asarirn and Yang stood perfectly still, holding their stance. All they are doing was staring at each other intensely.
"What are they doing?" Ruby whispered to Weiss and Blake, "they just standing there."
"I think they are waiting to see who is going to throw the first punch," Weiss said as she continued to watch the fight.
After a bit, Yang grown impatiently and decided to charge at Asarirn. As she came close to Asarirn, Yang held back her fist and swung at Asarirn with full force. Asarirn quickly pulled out the blade and held it up in defense, blocking the blow. However, Yang continued to use the momentum of the swing to push Asarirn back. Asarirn tried to leg sweep, but Yang quickly back flipped over the attack. Yang quickly jumped back, putting some distance between them.
Asarirn flipped the blade to the normal positon, placing himself on the offensive. Asarirn charged at Yang as she continued to watch him. As he came come to Yang, he made some quick sword moments. Yang made sure she was careful as she dodged the attacks. Once there was an opening, Yang grabbed Asarirn's arm and quickly disarmed by knocking the blade out of his hand.
As the blade began to fall to the ground, Asarirn swept his leg again, Yang only ready jumped over the leg, but managed to kick the blade back up in the air, spinning rapidly. Asarirn caught Yang off guard as he began to throw punches.
"Yang forcing Arranis to go close quarter combat," Blake stated.
Asarirn swung his leg up, but Yang quickly jumped back from the attack. At the same time, Asarirn kicked the spinning blade towards Yang. Yang, immediately, leaped to the left as she landed, the spinning blade impaled into the ground next to her.
Everyone gazed at the blade in shock, they didn't expect Asarirn to kick the blade at Yang. Yang looked Asarirn before moving her attention to the blade next to her. Yang approached the blade while Asarirn casually watched her. She smiled as she pulled the blade from the ground. Yang tossed the blade back to Asarirn, he caught the blade without issue.
Asarirn moved the blade to his left hand, back-hand style, before charging at Yang. As he approached his target, Asarirn swung his fist with the blade at Yang. Yang forced herself to move left but met herself with a powerful uppercut from Asarirn's right hand.
As Yang took the punch, she jumped back but then jumped toward Asarirn. She threw a huge punch at Asarirn. Asarirn anticipated the attack and jumped back to avoid the attack.
As he was jumping back, Asarirn watched as Yang smiled as she fired a round from her gauntlet. Asarirn couldn't react in time, so he forced to use his power.
"My eyes opened to the new world," Asarirn said under his breath. Asarirn's eyes glowed red. With his blade, Asarirn quickly planted the blade into the ground and flipped himself over the blade, missing the blast.
Everyone was surprised for Asarirn to dodge the attack, especially for Yang. That wasn't the reason she was surprise. Yang watched as Asarirn's eyes glowed red for a brief moment before he dodged the attack. "Maybe he knows something," Yang told herself.
Asarirn sheathed the blade and held up his fist. Yang watched his action and held up her fist as well. The two slowly scooted toward each other. As the two came close, they began to throw punches at each other. Because Asarirn was agile, he managed to dodge most of the attacks. But, also because Yang's body was sturdy, Asarirn barely done any damage to her. Asarirn ended the onslaught as he leaped into the air. Yang held up her fist as Asarirn planted his feet down onto her gauntlets. Asarirn used the gauntlets as a platform to jump away from her. Yang looked at Asarirn before smiling at him.
Yang punched her fist together and surrounded herself with a fiery aura. As for Asarirn, he simply stood there without doing anything.
"Looks like it's time to end this," Yang told Asarirn as she held up her fist once more.
"She not going to hold back against Arranis, is she?" Ruby told the girls.
Yang sprinted at Asarirn with full force. Asarirn reached under his coat and pulled three knives. He quickly threw the knives one by one at the incoming Yang. Yang moved left to right as she dodged the knives, coming closer to Asarirn. As she came close, Yang managed to land a blow on Asarirn. Keeping up with his stagger, Yang threw down punch after punch, after punch. For the final punch, Yang put all her might into one punch, her eyes changed to red, and landed the attack on Asarirn's chest. The force knocked Asarirn a few feet away. However, Asarirn quickly rolled onto his feet like nothing happened. That made Yang angry.
Yang exploded once more before sprinting at Asarirn with unbelievable speed. Asarirn held his position, preparing for what's to come. Yang dashed closer as she held out her fist. Everyone were expecting Asarirn to dodge the attack, but he didn't. Instead, as Yang swung her fist with all her might, Asarirn simply held out his left hand. Asarirn caught the attack with only his hand. The force of the impact destroyed the area behind Asarirn as he continued to hold onto Yang's fist. Yang's eyes returned to normal in shock.
Yang realized she placed herself in a bad position. Before she could move away, Asarirn pulled her closer to him. Yang tripped back as she tried to move away. Asarirn wrapped his arm underneath her to prevent her from falling.
Yang leaned back on Asarirn's arm as she breathed heavily. She stared at the dark figure underneath the hood. After a moment, Yang could feel a cold object on her body. She looked down and noticed Asarirn's blade rested over her body. She looked back up and smiled.
"The winner is Arranis Shadow," Glynda announced to everyone. Everyone was surprised by the result of their fight, even for Yang.
"My, you know how to treat a girl," Yang could only say Asarirn.
Asarirn let Yang slipped out of his arm, dropping Yang to the ground. She landed on her rear and gave a quick glare at Asarirn as he walked away. Before she could make any remarks, she stopped. She noticed Asarirn approached the professor. She could tell he said something that caused her to outburst with anger.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BROKE YOUR ARM?!" everyone heard Glynda's outburst. Glynda was pretty much giving Asarirn a death glare as he simply stare at her. Glynda held up her tablet. "Hold up your arm," Glynda ordered. Asarirn held up his left arm, the same arm used to catch Yang's fist. A red light scanned Asarirn's arm. Glynda looked at the result on her screen and was surprised.
"You broke your arm in three different places," Glynda told him. "You need to go to the nurse's office for medical attention."
Yang watched as Asarirn began to head for the exit. This was the perfect opportunity for Yang to get some answers.
"Can I go with Arranis?" Yang ask as she stood up from the ground.
"I suppose you could go," Glynda stated, "he may need some assistance."
Yang began to head for the exit. As Yang walked by Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, she gave a thumbs up to insure everything was fine.
-*RWBY*-
Yang entered the hallway and found Asarirn leaning by the doorway. Asarirn covered his mouth as he was coughing. Yang grabbed Asarirn's hand and quickly inspected, there was blood on his hand. Asarirn pulled his hand away from Yang's reach.
"You still haven't recover from your exam?" Yang asked as she occupied a wall, opposite from Asarirn.
Asarirn shook his head in responds. "That was from your final attack," Asarirn explained.
"Most people, who would caught that attack, would have their arm blown off. How did you do it?"
Asarirn began to walk away, but Yang followed him down the hallway. Yang would stare at Asarirn, expecting him to answer the previous question.
"I used the energy of your attack to spread out the damage," Asarirn decided to explain. "I used enough of that energy to break my arm three different places before spreading the rest out to my body evenly."
"Why would you do something that reckless?"
Asarirn stopped and looked back at Yang, she stopped in front of him. "Did it caught you off guard?"
"Yeah."
"Then that's why," Asarirn began to walk once more. "I needed to find a way to catch you off guard, which that was one way of doing it."
Asarirn began to stumble a bit. Yang quickly caught him before he had the chance to fall. Yang wrapped his arm around her shoulder and began to help him walk. Asarirn allowed this to happen, since he had no choice in that matter.
After walking through the hallway for a bit, Yang believed this was the perfect time to get some information.
"Hey, there is something I wanted to ask you," Yang asked.
"What is it?"
Yang was hesitate at first, but decided to ask away.
"During our match, I noticed something from you," Yang began to explain, Asarirn didn't respond as he wanted her to continue. "I saw your eyes glowed red for a moment when you dodge that blast."
Under his hood, Asarirn widen his eyes in shook as he didn't expect her to catch him using it.
"What can tell me about them?" Yang continued.
"I have no intention of telling you," Asarirn said. That only made Yang angry a bit. She stopped as she moved away from Asarirn's arm. She looked straight at Asarirn.
"Look," Yang's eyes shifted to red in anger, "we have the same eyes. You know something that I don't."
"Like I said before, I have no intention of telling you."
"Why?!" Yang snapped at Asarirn.
"I don't know anything that I could tell you," Asarirn began to walk away as he want to avoid the question.
Yang let her anger got the best of her.
"People shouldn't hide things from their teammates, it will make them have a harder time trusting you."
Asarirn stopped and turned back at Yang.
"So, I'm not trusted since the beginning," Asarirn stated.
Yang realized what he meant, it was face he was talking about. She couldn't find the word to say as she thought Asarirn would questioned his trust. Yang watched as Asarirn turned away and began to stumble away. She believed, maybe, he doesn't really know anything.
Yang quickly caught up to Asarirn without a second thought. She forcibly grabbed Asarirn's right arm and wrapped it over her shoulder. She began to help Asarirn walk. Asarirn simply turned his head towards Yang.
"Look, I'm sorry," Yang apologized. "I know it's not my business to know, but I thought you are my only connection."
Asarirn let out a sigh as they continued to walk through the hallway.
"Listen," Asarirn began to explain, "Yours eyes and mine are completely different."
Yang widen her eyes as she listened to Asarirn's words carefully.
"What do you mean?" Yang questioned.
"By my understanding, yours eyes amplify your strength and power. While for mine eyes, it only improves my senses and my reaction time."
"So that's why you managed to dodge that attack," Yang commented, "I'm sorry again."
"Why you believed I'm your only connection?" Asarirn asked.
"I'm looking for my mom," Yang explained, "She disappeared since I was little. I'm been looking for her ever since. I will use any means if I could see her again."
"So, you are still looking for her?"
Yang nodded in responds.
"At least you didn't give up," Asarirn said under his breath. Yang couldn't tell if that was a compliment, or there was more to Asarirn's words. Yang smiled.
"Thank you."
Yang helped Asarirn to the medical facility for Asarirn's broken arm. She believed one day, she hoped she will see her mother again.
-*RWBY*-
Later that day, the four girls were standing in their room staring at Asarirn's bed. Asarirn laid on his bed with a cast over his arm.
"Who would have thought of going that far just to win a sparring match?" Weiss asked.
Asarirn didn't respond as he continued to lay on his bed.
"Are you going to be okay?" Ruby asked.
"I should be fine," Asarirn explained, "I don't need to wear this for long."
"Well, we should out for dinner."
"I will stay for a bit, I will catch up in a bit," Asarirn said.
Ruby simply shrugged as she headed for the door. Weiss and Blake followed Ruby except for Yang.
"I will stay back and see if Arranis need any help," Yang told the other girls as they headed out the door. Yang sat on Asarirn's bed and stared at Asarirn. Asarirn returned the stare by staring back at her. "I feel I should keep your eyes a secret from everyone else, right?" Yang asked.
"If possible," Asarirn said. "Do me a favor, hand me a vial with pink liquid from my bag." Asarin pointed toward his bag on the ground.
Yang searched into Asarirn's bag for the vial. Once she found it, she quickly popped off the cap before handing it to Asarirn. Asarirn simply drank the vial without issue. Before he said anything, Asarin held out his arm with the cast to Yang.
"You have enough strength to break this open."
Yang was confused at first before understanding what Asarirn's wanted her to do. Yang was hesitate but forced herself to do. Yang squeezed on the cast before it broke open. Asarirn placed the broken cast by his bed before standing up.
"Well, let's go some dinner," Asarirn said as he began to head for the door.
Yang grabbed Asarirn's 'supposed' broken arm and shook it. Asarirn made no responds as he continued to head out. Yang watched Asarirn left the room before looking back at the empty vial. She couldn't believe something like that could heal his broken arm. Yang only smiled and shrugged as she thought he planned this since the beginning. Yang headed out of the room to catch up with her teammates.
Author's notes: I think I have a solid schedule for uploads. So every week, I'm going to post a new chapter. See you next week.
