-Semblance of Brotherhood-

Chapter 8: Preparations

The days seemed blend into each other, after those first two. Roman never contacted him, and that was probably for the best. After the general student body had settled in, they'd all been swamped in schoolwork. He made it a consistent point to spar with Pyrrha at least every couple of days, the redhead had quickly become something of a friend, if just because they stood on the same level in the ring.

And then there was the his Team. Every night, he would drag them up to the roof so that they could vent. Well, except for Lark. He'd actually become quite managable as of late, didn't mouth off every time Silva took them to task. Russel was still... well, Russel. Cardin? He was a bit of mixed bag. He did what he was told, but there was always this lingering contempt beneath his faux obedience.

"Stay, fucking, still!" Silva smirked as he swayed back, making small dips to either side as Thrush did his best to walk the Faunus down with his daggers.

"Getting pissy won't make it easier to hit me, Thrush. Start fighting with some sense." He shot back, ducking a horizontal slash before planting a kick into the boy's sternum. The blow sent him skidding back, barely maintaining his balance enough to not fall on his ass. There was no hesitation, no thought of any kind, Russel just charged in and slashed wildly.

Okay. Guess he didn't get the message.

This time, just as one of his subordinate's blades came within range, Silva slipped under his arm and turned back to face him. "At this point you're just being predictable. Anger is only useful if you keep some sense of wit, and right now you look like a raging Beowolf." He criticized, backstepping another lazily telegraphed swing. Russel just kept on, barely even managing to keep his Leader in range.

Just to prove his point, Silva caught Thrush's next right slash by the wrist and threw him to the side. "Get up." He ordered.

The nearly animalistic growl that escaped Russel's throat was pleasing to the ears. Shoving himself to his feet, the boy glared at him for several seconds.

"Why won't you draw your sword!?" Ah, so that was where all of this excessive fury was coming from. Kid felt disrespected.

"You were the one who said the others were getting in your way. With just you, I don't feel the need to." That truth just seemed to infuriate him further.

"Fuck you!" He barked.

"Not for anything in the world, kid." Silva saw the instant where Russel's temper snapped. With a feral roar, he made to drive both of his daggers into Silva's skull.

Sloppy.

He caught both strikes by the wrists before they landed, his grip like an iron vice that Thrush could only squirm uselessly against. "Let go!" He snapped. Silva pulled him close enough that all the boy could see was his blank face.

"There is a simple way out of this, Russel. Stop losing your shit and think." The use of his first name seemed to knock the boy's blind rage down a peg, Thrush actually taking a moment to analyse his position with some form of cognitive thought.

Then, he seemed to connect the dots. With a mighty crack, he slammed his forehead into Silva's with a burst of Aura. The sudden concussive force caused the Faunus to lose his grip, stumbling backward as both daggers grated against his own Aura for the first time since their fight in Goodwitch's class.

He looked back up at Russel, who was just staring at him with a look that Silva didn't really get. "Good job. You see why I told you to calm down?" His only reply was a stiff nod. "Like it or not, I have your best interests as a fighter in mind. If I say you need to cut a habit, it's because it would lead to complications on the battlefield." He turned away from the boy, and began to walk towards the stairwell.

"Now try and apply that kind of thinking during training tonight." With that, he stepped into the shadows and left. He'd have liked to stay and make sure the lesson stuck, but he had a promise to keep.

Keep your shitty temper in check, Taro, this is supposed to be an apology.

When he reformed in the hallway outside of Team RWBY's dorm, Yang was just stepping out. She flinched upon seeing him, obviously not expecting him to just be there.

"Jeez, Sil, you need to give people a text or something before you just pop up like that!" The complaint was recieved with a smirk. The nickname, though, caught him off-guard. He didn't show the surprise, however.

"And what if I find making people jump satisfying?" Back in the Fang, everyone around him had gotten so used to his Semblance that it was practically expected for him to blip around camp. Here? It scared the shit out of people, and he loved that.

"Then you're an asshole." She deadpanned, drawing a small laugh out of him.

"I never claimed to be a good guy, you know." He pointed out, though he knew she had no idea just how deep that answer went. She rolled her eyes, shoulder bumping him to the side as she walked by him.

"Whatever, broody-moody. I'll see ya around!" He met her wave with one of his own, before turning back to her Team's room. The door had closed again, and after a few knocks the lock clicked.

On the other side was Weiss herself.

There was a long moment of silence, the two just staring at each other before the Schnee finally spoke. "Taro."

"Weiss." Then another pause. It took him nearly half a minute to start talking.

"I wanted to apologise for my behaviour the other day. If I'm being honest, I was just projecting my issues onto you, and that wasn't fair. I'm not asking for you actually forgive me or anything, but I do regret how I treated you." He explained, pushing all of it out even though every word felt like a nail being driven into his fingers. It took her several seconds to say anything. Her eyes, while still cold and sharp, seemed to soften ever so slightly.

"I appreciate you having the maturity to actually apologise to me. That means a lot, and it only enforces what I've learned since then." When his gaze became questioning, she glanced away. "When you mentioned the fatalities in SDC owned mines, I didn't believe you. So, I decided to look into it and prove you wrong." She began, "But... it was just like you said. Two thousand Faunus employees died last year, all under Schnee Dust Company supervision. When I saw that..." She drifted off for a second, moisture gathering in trace amounts in her eyes.

"It just made me think, you know, 'why hasn't there been some sort of lawsuit?' And then I remember that my father has the best solicitors on Remnant, and enough money to keep any suit in court until it disappeared." She said, her words laced with frustration.

Did... did a Schnee just agree with me!?

The shock had him rooted in place. It went against all feasible logic, everything the Fang had ever taught him completely rejected the notion of a Schnee feeling remorse. Yet he could not deny the reality.

"Are you paralysed or something? It's not like I'm some mindless slave, you know." As soon as she said it she flinched, and stopped to gauge his reaction, though Silva hardly found the term offensive.

"Sorry, and you're fine, I just... wasn't expecting this go as well." He muttered, the girl giving him a condescending 'really?' sort of look.

"Well, I'm willing to accept your apology, regardless. What you said obvously came from genuine pain, and it wouldn't be fair of me to hold a grudge over that. And, though I loathe to say it," She let out a mildly annoyed breath. "you were right."

He wasn't sure what to say, but she seemed to pick up on that.

"Now, I believe it would be prudent for us to start over. Hello there, my name is Weiss Schnee. I have a habit of being stubborn and bitchy, but I'm working on it." She said with an amused grin, reaching out with an open hand. The gesture caused him to tip his head back and laugh, not the cynical chuckle from before, but a real, hardy laugh that shook his body. It took him a bit to get over the insanity of the situation. Without warning, he took her hand and shook it firmly.

"Silva Taro, I'm shitty at being a good person in general, but I'm here to try and fix that." He replied, earning a giggle from her in return. Silva couldn't help but notice again how absurd this whole thing was. "Do you have any idea how strange it is, as a Faunus, to see someone from your family be so open to the truth? I had every expectation that you would just cement yourself as correct and not bother looking into it objectively. Forgive me if that sounds biased, but it's almost surreal."

Her eyes snapped wide at that, but she actively seemed to stifle her immediate reaction. Offended rage was forcefully quelled into a pointedly annoyed glare. "By all rights, I should slap you for that. But I won't, because then I'd just be falling into old habits." She reached out and gripped the door. "Good day, Silva."

And then it slammed into his nose with enough force that the entire hallway shook as he collided with the opposite door. Pain blossomed in his face, a pulsing headache setting in before he could even pick himself up.

Probably deserved that, honestly.

But, overall, that had gone a hundred times better than he'd expected.

Later...

"Ah, come the fuck on, man! I literally just got done with Port's essay!" His partner begged, brandishing the assignment as though it would change something. Silva gave him a flat look.

"Do you think the Grimm will leave you be just because your mind grows weary?" He pointed out, earning an exasperated glare. "What? It doesn't do us any good to treat training like a game. Our enemy does not tire, and so we must prepare for the inevitable exhaustion of a prolonged battle with them." Cardin didn't seem to have any arguement ready, because there wasn't one.

"Well," He began, eyes flicking over to Lark's for some form of support. He recieved none from the boy, who was sprawled out on his bed in an attempt to relax some before training. "Ugh, god damn it. Fine, Mutt, I'll be ready in a few." He grumbled, turning away and dragging himself over to the bathroom.

"You'd think he would know better by now." Sky remarked, one arm draped over his eyes. "Dumbass." He scoffed. Silva paced to his own bed, shedding his jacket and folding it before laying it down on the mattress. Lark lifted his arm and glanced over to him, "You look like shit."

"How perceptive." Silva drawled, palming his forehead as another throbbing pulse of pain shot through his head. Sky cracked a grin.

"Let me guess, Nikos kick your ass again?"

"Not quite. Door slammed into my face, wasn't expecting it." He corrected.

"Ouch. Who'd you piss off?" Lark asked.

"No one important." With that, he reached over to his nightstand and retrieved a small bottle of painkillers. Popping the lid open, he swallowed one of the small pills and resealed the bottle. He let out a sigh as he fell back, flopping onto his bed.

"Yo, you got any idea why Russel was acting weird earlier? I asked him, but he just called me an animal-loving fag and stomped right back out the door." The recounting put a sour look on Silva's face.

That fucking prick.

"We did some one-on-one after class, he said you and Cardin were getting in his way. I think he was offended that I didn't bother drawing Regalis, but frankly that's his problem." He heard Sky shift in his bed.

"We were getting in his way!?" He exclaimed, "That short fucker, I literally cover his ass twenty-four seven!" Silva just gave him a shrug. He had a point. Most of the time nowadays it wasn't Silva who checked Thrush's delinquency, it was Sky. Granted, the boy still had a subtle distaste for Faunus, and was certainly not a good kid by any stretch, but he did seem to understand that being abrasive was pointless. Instead, he just rolled with it.

Silva didn't bother saying anything as he vanished, they were familiar enough with his Semblance to not jump.

He reformed a moment later at their usual spot on the roof, the moonlight dulled by the cover of clouds.

"Took ya long enough, freak." Silva was barely able to jerk himself into a sidestep in time to dodge an overhead slash from behind. His eyes snapped over to Thrush, who was standing there with a pleased smirk on his face. "Feels good to finally put you on edge."

"Given that you still missed, I wouldn't get too proud." Silva shot back as Regalis flashed from its sheath. "Cardin and Sky are going to be here within the next five minutes. Try and land a hit before then."

Russel's smirk widened, "Don't mind if I do." Then he rushed forward, his daggers lashing out with more control than Silva had expected. He stepped aside, his blade intercepting one of Thrush's and slinging it away. The boy recovered quickly, his second dagger rising from below as he pivoted to keep Silva in his line of sight. He backstepped the strike.

Guess he decided to actually try thinking for once.

He parried a jab, before reversing Regalis' momentum and redirecting Russel's follow-up to his left. "You need to be more aggressive." He noted, easily catching both knives as the boy attempted a cross-slash. He applied heavy pressure, locking the two in place so he could explain. "Being cautious comes second to fighting smart. You use dual blades, each nearly a foot in length, and so you're at a constant disadvantage in terms of reach." To further his point, he released the deadlock and slipped Regalis between Russel's blades, letting it rest with the tip pressed against the boy's forehead.

Thrush tried to retaliate, but he simply didn't have the reach. He flailed uselessly for a brief instant before falling still. His eyes locked with Silva's, teeth bared in frustration. "First you tell me to think, and now I'm thinking too much?" He griped, "Fuck's sake."

"Combat is complicated, Thrush. On a base level, your weapon benefits from creativity, speed, and calculated aggression. I'm not saying you need to think less, I'm saying that you need to do that thinking while eating up my space. Stop trying to out-duel me at my most comfortable range, make the fight one you are comfortable with." He pushed lightly, just enough to send Russel stumbling for a couple steps. He recovered quickly, taking a deep breath as he settled into a low stance.

"Gotcha." Before Silva could do anything, Russel had burst into a full sprint, Aura flaring across his legs. Within a half-second he was on him, blades flashing about in a whirlwind of careful fury.

Silva was immediately put on a backpedal, jerking Regalis from one block to another in a bid to keep up. There wasn't room to use circular momentum now, the best he could manage was keeping his blade close and bashing each strike aside with the base of the sword. It still wasn't anything close to what he'd fought in the past, Adam and that Death Stalker outclassed Russel's raw speed several times over, but unlike either of them, the boy was devouring every inch of space between them without the slightest hint of overextension.

Since when did Russel learn this quickly?

He couldn't help but smile at the sudden progress, it was exactly the kind of improvement they needed for Forever Fall.

"Yo," Sky's voice cut their spar short before Russel was able to press his offensive any further. Silva flickered over to the boy's blindside and kicked him in his partner's direction. He caught himself, if only barely. "Agh! Asshole!" He growled.

"I think you'll get over it." Sky quipped, palming Russel's shoulder in reassurance. He shot the ash-haired boy a venomous glare, jerking away.

"Fuck off, I was this damn close to beating that mangy bastard!"

Silva rolled his eyes, "Sure, if you call making me give ground beating me." He remarked, just as Cardin lumbered put of the stairwell. It was easy to forget just how massive the kid was. He towered over even Sky by a solid foot or so.

The two smaller members of Team SCRL stood at attention in his presence, having come to see him sort of as their defacto leader. Silva had been more delegated to drill instructor, but he hardly cared. Winchester was a good commander, no two ways about it. He, on the other hand, preferred to just fight. He kept things simple, and violent.

"Cut the shit, you two." Cardin snapped, shoving his way through them and coming to a stop a few feet from Silva. "Oi Mutt, the Headmaster stopped by our room after you left. Said he wanted you to head to his office when you get a chance." Silva nodded in acknowledgement.

"Alright, SCRL, enough idle chit-chat." He said, causing the other two to pay attention if only because that was the first time he'd called them by their Team name. "As you know, we're going to Forever Fall in the morning. There will likely be significantly higher concentrations of Grimm than the Emerald Forest, so I want to make several things painful clear to each of you." He paused for a moment, "But first, I have a single question. What, in your opinion, is the single most dangerous aspect of any Grimm?"

The three seemed caught off-guard at first, before Sky spoke up. "I'd say it's their tenacity. Fuckers just never quit."

"You're close, but not exact. Thrush?"

"They don't need rest. You'll never outlast a Grimm in a fight."

"A good thing to remember, but not what I'm looking for." Before he could call on Cardin, the boy cut in.

"Their numbers." He said simply, and Silva couldn't help but smirk.

"Bingo. Now give me specifics."

"Even if you kill a thousand Grimm, twice as many will come for you because of the stress of battle. Unless you have a way out of the whole situation, they'll just keep throwing themselves at you until your body gives out." Cardin explained.

"Exactly. When you think of Grimm, most people envision a single Beowolf or Ursa, but in reality it's never like that. If you hunker down and try to weather the storm, that's signing your own death warrant. When dealing with Grimm you must stay moving. Control your position, make it so difficult for them to pin you down that they never take your flank." Silva's gaze turned cold. "Out there, tomorrow, we'll be in the thick of it. Expect pain. Expect blood. Expect for this entire trip to go to hell the moment we let our guard down. I refuse to bring a body back to Beacon with me, and if that means being overly cautious, then so be it."

He stopped, drawing in a deep, soothing breath. "Point blank, stick together like sap tomorrow. No wandering, no stupid lapses of judgement. Cardin, you'll be calling the shots during battle. I'll kill as many as I can before they reach you three, but once that perimeter is broken it'll be your job to keep us together." Cardin gave him a firm nod.

"That said, I am still the Leader of this Team. If I give an order, it takes priority over anything else. I will not waste your time, anything I tell you to do will be absolutely essential to our survival. Can you live with that?" They didn't give him a straight answer to that, but the lack of immediate retort told him they would listen when it mattered.

I guess that's all I could ask for. He gave each of them one more once over, "Now then, lets get to the part where I kick the shit out of you." He remarked, lips curling maliciously as the three shifted into a defensive formation.

No hesitation. That's good.

Silva kicked off into a sprint, rapidly closing the distance between them and popping off of one foot into the air. Before any of them could act, he snapped his arms close, throwing his body into a tight spin. After two full rotations, his left leg flashed outward, slamming into the shaft of Cardin's Mace with enough Aura-infused force to buckle the boy's guard. By the time Silva's toes reached the ground again, his eyes caught a flicker of movement and the shimmer of metal from his left and right. In response, he threw his upper body backward as Lark's spear skewered the air he'd been occupying a moment ago, and spun out of the lean into a sidestep that left Russel overextended.

Still too eager, though.

In a blur of motion, Silva used his off-kilter sidestep to lash out at Sky with Regalis, who was only just able to retract his weapon in time to deflect the strike. What he failed to stop entirely, however, was the sucker punch that followed as Silva let his structure crumble against his foe's staff to close even more distance. Satisfied with his assault thus far, he leapt back a couple of yards to give his Teammate's an opportunity for an offensive of their own.

No words were spoken, they'd all figured out very early on that he tended to punish conversation more severely than most other mistakes.

Instead, he noted Cardin inclining his head slightly, and how both Sky and Thrush seemed to mirror that exact movement in response.

Without further warning, Russel rushed towards him with both daggers held in a reverse grip. The delinquent of the Team led with a series of quick, concise swipes that Silva merely backstepped. This seemed to be the expectation, though, as Russel just maintained that pressure. Not enough to challenge his Leader, but enough to capture his attention. Then, just as Silva was about to retaliate, his instincts sent a pulse of adrenaline through his heart as he leapt backward once more, barely avoiding Sky's blade as it slipped underneath Thrush's armpit.

Something new every day, it seems.

Ignoring the grin that tugged at his lips, Silva rejoined the fray.

Hello again!

Sorry for the wait, had a lot of irl bullshit going on for a while.

So, we're already beginning to see Silva affect the world around him in the form of Weiss, and her views of Faunus. It's not exactly the most massive shift, but it will make things later in this volume a bit more complicated. Note that her opinion on the White Fang specifically hasn't been touched, however.

Next chapter should be up soon, Buh-Bye!