Chapter 5: The light despondent
He took his final breath
I hear it to this day
There's no redemption
And the punishments delayed
The only reaction that I face
Is hidden well behind my face
A trace surely can
Lead the law right to their man
Well hurry up
"Ok then, how many friends do I have?" I questioned Fred, as we entered the dining hall.
"I don't know man, a lot." He answered, defiantly.
"Your lack of a real number discredits you." I stated.
"You're not throwing yourself off the roof of the school, no matter how little friends you have, and that's final." Trevor chimed in as we got our food and went to our table.
"But you guys aren't realizing the financial and political possibilities, you see if I-" The awful din of scraping of food trays interrupted me right as I sat down, I looked to my left to see the student who had just scooted away giving me a fearful stare.
"What's his issue?" I asked Fred, who was about to respond before Olivia interrupted him.
"I thought we agreed, Trevor." she seethed.
"You wanted me to tell Nick to pound sand and I told you I would be dead and gone before that happened, what we did was the furthest thing from agreeing." He shot back.
"What's going on?" I asked, confused.
"People think you're a Grimm spy." Trevor answered as Fred stood up.
"Why didn't you think to bring this up to your team leader?" he asked, infuriated.
"Because I don't give a fuck what you think." she answered.
"Well news flash you spoiled brat you don't lead this team, I'm team leader and I say Nick stays, if you can't handle that then you won't be missed." he snapped at her, the whole hall grew silent.
After a few seconds, Olivia got up, picked up her tray and left. Soon after the redhead with the crown left, followed by her team. After that team RWBY followed in suit, with Ruby shooting me an apologetic look.
"Is being a social pariah enough reason to kill myself?" I asked. Trevor just shook his head and sighed.
"Kick his ass Jaune!"
"No mercy!"
"Show him what hunters are made of!"
I turned to look from my cheering classmates to the scrawny blonde boy across from me, nervously holding a sword and shield.
"I think they vastly overestimate your abilities bud." I deadpan only loud enough for him to hear.
"Ya think." he replies nervously.
"I mean, I've never even held a sword before and I can tell you're doing it wrong." I critiqued.
"Am I that bad?" He asked.
"Nah, you just need to learn everything you were supposed to learn while also learning advanced combat at one of the most competitive schools in the kingdom."
"Oh man." he muttered, sadly.
"Tell you what, take a free shot man." I say.
"Are you sure?" he asks warily.
"Yeah, what we're gonna do is called throwing the fight, now on three swing at me on 3...1, 2, 3." I counted down.
Evidently no one ever even taught him even the pre-basics of sword fighting, because when I lunged instead of swinging he threw his entire weight into a thrust that skewered me straight through the abdomen.
"Ahhhhhhhh, you cunt, I said swing!" I screamed as I backed away, the sword still in my chest. At this point, all but pandemonium broke loose, screaming, crying and various forms of yelling were all that could be heard.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, what do I do!" yelled Jaune as Glynda started making a beeline for me.
"Pull it out!" I groaned.
"Back away Mr. Arc, Mr. Nick needs to be taken to hospital!" she ordered Jaune, who was paralyzed in fear.
"Jaune!" I said, "Pull, it, out!"
"Mr. Arc!"
"Pull it out before I tear your balls off!" I screamed a Jaune. That seemed to kickstart him as he quickly planted a foot in my stomach and yanked the sword out of me. I felt my perforated organs quickly start to mend and I fell on my back and sighed. Whispers filled replaced the screaming as I felt my skin seal itself back up.
"Did you see that?"
"It's just gone."
"Grimm don't heal like that."
"Is he a more advanced species?"
"What's all this talk of Grimm?" Glynda asked, confused.
"Long story," I said from the floor I leaned up to see my shirt was covered in blood. "Anybody got a tissue I can borrow?"
Turns out it's perfectly fine to let a student walk to his dorm covered in blood in this school.
On the plus side, the staring was manageable and nobody bothered me now. Except of course-
"Oh my Oum, are you OK?"
I turned to see the Fanus girl, Velma, or something.
"Just some blood, it's no biggie." I tried to shrug off.
"Let's get you cleaned up." she said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me into what was apparently her dorm.
There was another girl there lounging on a bed who got introduced as Coco.
"As much as I love you bringing in blood-covered hunks, Velvet, isn't that the kid half of the freshman think is a Grimm?" Coco asked.
"That's just a rumor." she dismissed as she led me to the bathroom.
"You're going to need to take off your...um...jacket and, uh...shirt." she said, losing her steam and blushing.
After following her requests and gave her my stuff, I took the wet towel she offered me and began to wipe the crusting blood from my chest.
"So what happened?" she asked standing in the doorway.
"Training accident, I got stabbed." I said
"Mhm." she said absentmindedly, one glance in the mirror showed her gaze was fixated on my ass. I snapped my finger, breaking her daze and making her sputter.
"I'm sorry...it's just...it's no excuse but…but..."
"Butt indeed, a very nice butt." Coco said as she walked up behind Velvet and stared at my ass as well.
"Can I have my clothes back?" I snapped.
"You mean the ruined shirt and the raggedy jacket, why did you wear that thing? Jean jackets are so 10 years ago." she insisted.
"It was a gift." I answered.
"From who?"
"A friend." I answered shortly, not wanting to get into it.
"Well, here you go," Coco said, handing me back my jacket. "And if you ever decide to upgrade, give me a call honey."
"What about my shirt?" I asked, curiously.
"I threw it away, you look better without it, right Velvet?" Coco asked slyly.
"It's getting late and Nick has to go now!" Velvet yelled as she pushed me out and slammed the door behind me, leaving me standing in the hallway, holding my jacket.
"I loved that shirt though." I muttered sadly, I was interrupted by another person calling my name.
I turned to see the redheaded girl with the crown walking towards me.
"Hello Mrs...lady whose name is escaping me." I greeted awkwardly.
"Um, I'm Pyrrha?" She answered, "You were going to throw the fight, weren't you."
"You can't prove it in court." I said as I started walking away.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because your boyfriend's beyond abysmal and a borderline danger to people around him." I answered, still walking away.
"You'd sacrifice your reputation to make him look good?" she called to me, I paused, turned around, and walked back to her.
"Ok, first of all, stop making this into some good deed. Second, are you talking about the same reputation that, just this morning, was tarnished beyond all salvageability?" I asked her. She scratched her neck, embarrassed.
"I'm sorry about how I acted, it was wrong and unfair, I'll try to talk to Olivia about it later." she apologized, shamefully.
"Don't bother, I'll just sleep on the roof or something." I brushed her off.
"Are you sure, I can-"
"I'm positive, now leave me alone." I snapped at her before turning to leave.
"Wait, I want to talk to you about Jaune." she pleaded as she grabbed my shoulder.
"What about him." I answered.
"We need to train him, I can see the beginning of a great warrior in him, we just need to help him." She explained.
"Who is this 'we' business? I didn't sign up to take care of some kid." I said.
"Please, don't you want to help your friend?" she pleaded.
"The word friend is a big reach." I said as I turned and started walking away.
"I'm sponsored by several distilleries!" she shouted after me, freezing me in my tracks. I slowly turned around and looked at her.
"You have my attention." I said.
"I got sent some bottles as a gift when I signed with them, my family doesn't drink so they're just sitting in our cellar, my friend could smuggle them out on the pretense that I forgot something." She explained.
"What brands?" I asked.
"Geoff Daniels, Six Swans, Jormunmister, the works." she answered.
I thought for a second, my stash was big, but not unlimited. I would need to resupply soon, and this was pretty high-end stuff.
"You have a deal."
I slowly crept across school grounds, the moonlight illuminating my path. My destination was in sight ahead of me, a small maintenance shack a ways off the beaten path. When I arrived it only took a few coaxing arcs of electricity to get the doors' electronic lock open to reveal the cluttered inside. Once in, I walked over to an air vent where I pulled out a screwdriver and started to unscrew it from the wall.
After a minute of screwing it came loose and fell away to reveal three cartons of cigarettes, a glass, and several bottles of liquor. I grabbed a carton, the glass and a random bottle, which turned out to be a 10 year 100 proof Vacuo whiskey.
"Well don't mind if I spoil myself." I muttered quietly, smiling for the first time today.
I sat down, removed a cigarette and lit it, savoring the flavor. I poured a glass of whiskey and smelled it. Ambrosia didn't even begin to describe it, smoky with the signature Vacuo earthy spices mixing to create the perfect blend. I taste it and for a second everything's good in life, no more school, no more bullshit. Just peace.
But even perfection is fleeting, and soon the glass was empty, the cigarette was stubbed out and my 'me time' over. After replacing the vent and rearranging the room I stepped outside, quietly shut the door and started trying to get the electric lock back closed.
"Damn busted piece of crap." I muttered as I fiddled with it, suddenly a strong hand grabbed my shoulder.
"Shit I'm not doing anything. It was broken when I sho-" I blurted out as I was spun around, only for my deflection to be cut off when the person rammed their fist into my face.
I stumbled backward, cursing, and looked up to see that it wasn't a teacher or staff member that hit me, I wasn't even sure it was alive.
It was primarily composed of floating plates made out of a rough black metal arranged in a humanoid shape. In between the gaps at the joints that allowed it to move, I could see volatile light blue energy storming around. Its 'face'' was completely featureless, but its head was pointing directly at me.
"What the fuck are yo-hng." I started to say before it drove its knee into my gut quick as a flash. After I fell to the ground it kicked me directly in the head, knocking me on my back before it delivered an ax kick into my solar plexus, knocking the wind out of me.
I rolled over quickly, struggling to breathe and got to my knees, whipping around to see that it had vanished. Now that the threat was gone I struggled to pull in a breath, when I finally did I immediately vomited.
"Today just keeps getting better and better." I lamented hoarsely to myself.