So, this chapter is a thing. Not much to say for this chapter, but I do want to note that several hints of future events are sprinkled in. I thought it would be fun to mention that.
Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 12: The Learning Process
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June 15th (Same day)
Saturday
Cloudy
Two hours had passed, and Azura could say that he was enjoying the peacefulness of it all. Aurora had fallen asleep about twenty minutes before, slumped against his side with the blanket wrapped around her body. Luna was back in her passive form, slowly flicking her tail as they read through the book.
Azura was careful to mark the page they were on before she fell asleep, continuing after doing so. The book was a story about a boy with a big heart, who was searching for his friends. The boy had two companions, a goofy dog and a duck, who taught him of the power that he held inside. It was an enjoyable book, even if he was a few years too old to really be reading it.
The sound of someone knocking on the door, and Azura shut the book, looking over at who it was. Velvet was peeking her head inside the half open doorway, smiling when she saw Aurora sleeping.
"Here, let me help you get out of there." She said softly.
Velvet moved quietly, lightly scooping the girl up in her arms. Aurora woke up, eyelids fluttering open.
"Vel...vet?" She murmured.
"Hey. You should get some sleep. You must have been tired." Velvet replied quietly.
"Mhm." She replied, before becoming more aware of where she was. "Is Azu gone?"
Velvet glanced over at him. "Azura? Yeah, for now. I'll make sure to come with him again."
"You promise?" Aurora asked once she was put on the bed.
Velvet smiled and tucked her in. "Of course." She said, kissing her forehead. "Now, get some sleep."
Once Velvet was confident that she would be sleeping, she turned around and motioned for them to leave, closing the door as she followed him out of the room. Velvet walked with him down the hall in silence, speaking when they had made it a certain distance away from the room.
"I was originally going to thank you for coming with me to this place, but it seems I should thank you for more than that."
Azura looked at her. "Why's that?"
"Well, Aurora struggles with making friends. She doesn't know how to connect with the other kids, and not even Lu has managed to crack her shell completely. I was the only one that had done so, and I think you might be able to do the same. I'm trying to say that you're on the right track, I guess." Velvet explained.
"Oh, well, that's good. I'm glad I could help more than I thought I would." Azura said, scratching his cheek.
Velvet giggled. "Yes, that is certainly good. We just have to grab Blake, then we can return to Beacon."
Entering back into the big room, the group of children were once again playing and messing around. They ignored Velvet and Azura as they walked towards the entrance, finding Lu and Blake speaking quietly. They quickly stopped once they saw Velvet and Azura walking towards them.
"Ah, there you two are. I just wanted to thank you for your constant help and for being so kind, Velvet. And thank you for coming, Azura and Blake. It was nice to meet you two."
"Of course, it was nice to meet you as well." Azura replied.
"Yes, thank you for being so hospitable." Blake said.
Azura and Blake went outside after Velvet said that she needed to speak with Lu. Upon going outside, Azura found Summer sitting on the steps. She was sitting glumly, looking out at the street in melancholy. If Blake wasn't around, he would've spoken to her openly.
Instead, he opted to sit down next to her. She sighed, moving to lean her head on his shoulder.
"You know, it never really hit me that I wasn't able to help raise my kids. But seeing how that girl, Velvet, was treating those children…" She paused, before smiling lightly. "Thanks."
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After Azura promised to visit the children again, with or without Velvet, he was left with just Luna and Summer outside of his dorm. Blake had just entered her dorm and Velvet had already gone down the hall and turned the corner.
He opened the door his dorm, hoping to not find anyone. He really needed to get more training with that journal from Ozpin, since he wanted to return it to the headmaster sooner, rather than later. Plus, he wasn't in the most talkative mood at the moment.
Unfortunately, he was not given that reprieve, finding Ren and Nora having some sort of conversation. They stopped when Nora noticed him walk in, screaming in glee as she tackled him down onto the ground.
"He's back! Renny, he's come back!"
Ren sighed. "I'm aware of that, Nora. Now get off of him before I have to drag you off."
"Awww, don't be like that, Renny! I haven't done this to him in a while." Nora complained, but still complying to Ren's demand.
Azura got up groaning, noticing Summer and Luna looking at him in amusement.
He pointed a finger at them. "Not a word."
"It was pretty funny, to be fair." Summer said.
He waved her off in response as he got back on his feet.
"So, where is everyone?" Azura asked, looking at Ren.
"Training. Pyrrha wanted Jaune to go against Pyra's longer ranged semblance. Today's more of an individual training day, and Nora and I had the day off for our own training days."
Azura moved over to the closet, digging through his bag for the journal. "I see. Well, I have to do my own training for now."
He stood up after finding the journal, moving quickly to the door.
"Just make sure that you join us for what will happen tonight, ok?" Nora called after him.
"Yeah, sure thing." Azura called back.
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As he followed Summer down to the more private arenas for practice matches, he wondered if he really was that inconsistent with team JNPR. Nora seemed rather keen to make sure he would show up to their dorm.
"Have I really been distant at all?" Azura asked, looking over at Summer.
"You've certainly been doing your own thing." Summer said, shrugging.
"And you never thought to mention this to me?"
She shrugged again. "You don't seem bothered by it."
"You got me there. So, what are we doing today? You must have brought me here for a reason."
Summer put a hand up to her chin as they walked down the stairs. "Well, you managed to sense auras with a little practice, even while moving, but it was weak at best. And, while it would help to have a singular person be visible, I realized that you don't know my fighting style. It wouldn't help to switch between the two of us, or even fight with me if you don't know how I fight."
Azura nodded. "That makes sense. So, are we going to spar?"
"Yeah. Well, us ghosts don't exactly have defensive auras, despite being able to use our semblances. Our auras can be sensed, but we can't pull them up. This won't cause any problems, right?" Summer asked.
"No. As long as you are passive, I cannot cause any physical harm. Besides, I'm the only one that could harm you at all, but only when you are in a, for lack of a better word, active or visible state."
Azura didn't notice Summer's dark look or frown at the mention of how he could hurt a ghost, moving ahead to open the door. They entered the room, finding Pyra, Pyrrha, and Jaune all in one arena. Pyrrha was watching the two of them, with a scroll in hand, while Pyra shot fire at him. Jaune was rolling, dodging, and blocking with all that he could. Projectile dodging practice made sense for a purely close-range fighter like him.
"Stop!" Pyrrha called.
Pyra quickly let up on her barrage, wiping her forehead with a free hand. Jaune was laying on the ground. Breathing rapidly as he caught his breath.
"That was excellent, you two! Looks like both of you have improved in some way." Pyrrha stated, the excitement in her voice infectious.
Azura drew closer, calling out to them. "Aren't you quite the harsh teacher."
Jaune gave no reaction, and Pyra simply waved lazily. Pyrrha spun on her heel, a smile on her face.
"Ah, Azura! What are you here for?"
"A sparring match." He said blankly.
"With Luna?" Pyrrha asked.
"Not quite. The other one."
The conversation ended there, and Azura made his way up onto an arena next to theirs. He stretched his legs and arms, prepping them to get moving. He drew Red Fox and Eye of the Rose, the sword in his right hand, and dagger in the left. Luna was floating to the side, passively watching. Summer was across from him, and drew two sleek short blades. The ghostly glow of the replica weapons she most likely used while alive barely hiding the silver gleam that showed. He could see a small engraving, but was too far to properly see.
"I'll lay down a few rules. I won't go all out, nor will I use my semblance. Oh, and no underhanded tactics. Is that good?"
Azura felt that, despite his doubts, he should just not ask about those tactics. "Yeah, that's fine. We can go until first to tap out."
"Perfect. Now fight!"
"So much for no underhanded tactics!" Azura said, blocking the overhead slash of the twin blades.
"That doesn't count!" Summer said.
A cross-slash of the blades forced him to dodge back, followed quickly by a block when she stabbed forward. Forcing her hands apart with the momentum of catching the blades with his own, slashing in an arc in front of him. Summer backflipped away from him with ease, her white cloak flipping into his face.
She quickly jumped back into the fight, barely giving Azura any time to breath. He dodged to the side, merely attempting to match her speed, slashing out to push her away. He pushed while she stepped back, vertically cutting with his dagger, missing her as she bent backwards. She retaliated with haste, once more slashing downwards, forcing Azura to back away.
That proved to be the fatal mistake, with Azura being chucked down to the ground as Summer threw her weight into him. They fell backwards, Azura feeling his back groan from the impact, and her blades placed down on his arms.
"Fine, I concede." Azura stated.
The smug look on her face was the first stark contrast that Summer had compared to Ruby. Well, besides being taller.
"That's what sparring against a full huntress is like. You held decently long despite that." Summer said, getting off of him and holding her hand out towards him.
Azura grabbed it, letting himself get dragged up. "Yeah yeah. I sparred with Luna a lot, so I know the feeling." He said, before quickly smirking. "It just takes practice."
Their conversation was cut as Jaune commented.
"Is it just me, or does that look weird?"
Azura turned towards them, remembering that he wasn't exactly alone.
Pyra was the next to comment. "The part where it looks like he fought the air, or where it looked like he was talking to nothing?"
"The fighting looks more out of place than anything." Jaune said.
"Oh hush, you two. I'm sure Azura didn't need to show who he was fighting." Pyrrha said, giving them a look.
Azura couldn't help but notice the doubt that crossed her face. It was understandable to him. He wasn't lying, but he kept away from the topic of semblances and who his other ghostly companion was. He had good reason to do so!
"Still, he got wiped out there. Reminds me of myself when I spare you, Pyrrha." Jaune said, a smile on his face.
Pyrrha blushed lightly. "Yeah, I guess. What exactly happened, Azura?"
"He was distracted by my beauty." Summer commented, putting a hand on his head.
He shooed her hand away before answering. "Well, a trained huntress is certainly tough, especially when you don't know how they fight that well."
"It was a test." Summer said.
"More like an ego trip." Azura said, giving her a half-hearted glare.
Summer never got to respond, Pyrrha's voice cutting her off. "Well, it was certainly interesting to see how it happened, even if we only saw one side of the fight." She turned towards Pyra and Jaune. "Anyway, we should get going, you guys have been working hard. Thanks for your help, Pyra. It's very much appreciated."
"Of course. It's what a team is for." Pyra said, waving off the thanks.
"As for you, Jaune, we have to talk about what you learned. We can go to the library for that." Pyrrha said.
"Right." Jaune nodded.
They all started to walk off, but Pyrrha stopped after a distance to turn back to Azura. "We'll see you later, Azura. Remember what's happening tonight, be at the dorm after dinner!"
She smiled and waved before jogging to catch up with Pyra and Jaune. Azura finally spoke when they were through the door and gone.
"That was…"
"Different?" Summer finished for him.
"Yeah. Not like the Pyrrha I know."
"Perhaps she is simply getting more comfortable with showing off who she is?"
Azura shrugged. "Weiss did say something about her being famous, so it could make sense."
"Well, enough of that thought process. I had another reason for our spar, one that had to do with what I said before." Summer said, clapping her hands together.
"The thing with sensing auras?" Azura asked, turning to fully face her.
She nodded. "Yep. I was thinking about what I was taught about aura sensory, and I recalled that the more you understand someone's aura, the easier it gets to have a more pinpoint location of where they are."
Azura felt confused. "The more you understand someone's aura?"
"Think of it as getting used to a new location. The more time and experience you get with the area, the easier it gets to go around that area. In terms of aura, you will have an easier time finding people and feeling their aura." Summer said, before moving away from him. "Here, let's test it."
Azura watched her walk to the other side of the arena, right up to the edge, before moving towards the center of the arena. He had an idea of what she was planning.
"Come here, Luna." summer called, waving a hand over. "Just keep some distance."
Luna went over to where Summer was, then walked a few steps away.
"So, we're going to do the same thing with aura sensing that we did last time. What did we look like to you last time?"
Azura took a moment to think about it. "Well, Luna was a pale orange color, and I could see a bit of an outline around her. As for you, you had a red aura, and it was splashing all over the place. It was hard to tell where you went."
"That's exactly what I mean. You have been around Luna's aura for so long that you had a good idea of where she would be. And now, we're testing it again, to see if it looks different. It's possible that it could even help with your semblance, since we're stuck at the moment. Just sit down and focus, then say what you see."
Azura nodded, doing as she said. He closed his eyes, focusing on his aura as the orange and red hues popped into his blank vision. While sitting still, he could easily see Luna figure, like the orange color had become another layer of skin covering over her. It was like the color and Luna had become one.
The red hue was sloppy, but the outline of a person could be seen. He knew that the color represented Summer, but he could only barely see her exact location. The stark contrast between the two was easy to see.
"I can see Luna clearly. Her outline, facial features, all of it. But, I can only see you as a base outline, and the red color around you makes that even harder to find you. Kind of like some game of hide and seek."
He heard a clap of hands. "Perfect. That's exactly the kind of thing that we will do."
Azura opened his eyes, wondering what she meant. "Wait, we're going to play a game of hide and seek?"
Summer smiled. "That is correct. I believe that this aura technique will be rather helpful with discovering things about your semblance. So, I'm going to help you learn to master the aura location technique the old fashioned way. Trust me, it was rather useful when I was learning."
"Uh, the old fashioned way?" Azura asked.
"Oh, you know, just a little blind fighting. You have to fight me while seeing me that way. You dodge and defend against me, while trying to see me through the 'hue' that you were talking about."
Azura didn't like the words, and he certainly didn't like the smile that went with it.
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"That is the last time I easily agree to something you want to test." Azura grumbled, washing the sweat off of him in the showers of the locker room.
"Quit your complaining. You know that it works." Summer replied, her voice a certain distance away.
"Whatever. Why are you even talking to me while I shower? Do you want to see me naked or something?"
"Please, if I wanted to jump your bones, I would have done so already."
Could that even happen? Azura shook his head to banish the thoughts.
"Besides, I'm a ghost, I don't exactly have to deal with those feelings anymore." Summer replied, amusement in her voice. "Besides, it's easy to tell that you like a strong girl."
"What gave you that idea?!" Azura cried out.
"Pft, you should have seen yourself when you fought Ruby about two months ago. You probably thought she was attractive, huh?" Summer said, the taunt in her voice obvious.
"I don't have to answer that question, I am allowed to have my thoughts! Plus, as her mother, you shouldn't encourage that."
He heard her laugh. "As her mother, I get to have some fun. I'm confident that Luna has done it to you as well."
Azura rolled his eyes. "I won't deny that. Mothers are weird."
"Rude." She replied.
Silence was finally given to him, allowing his thoughts to gather. Despite the fact that he was technically threatened by Velvet to visit the orphanage again whenever he wanted to, he found that he wanted to do just that soon. There was something about Aurora that he felt connected to. Was it the feeling of being isolated because of their semblances? It would make sense.
While he wanted to visit her again, he felt that it might be more productive to bring another person with him. It made sense to him, and he could possibly have some assistance with learning more about the girl. Sure, he had Summer and Luna, but some part of his mind was telling him to get someone his age to go as well.
Blake was already a no go. She was spooked by Aurora, of what her semblance could do. Azura knew that the hidden cat Faunus had her secrets, but that moment made him wonder what skeletons she had in her closet. Well, if Blake wouldn't work, who would? Not Yang. He didn't trust her to not do something dumb. That would also cut Nora out of the picture. It wasn't that he doubted she could help him, but her energy would scare off any skittish child. Ren wouldn't work for the same reason as Jaune, which was a lack of knowing them that well.
That left Pyrrha, Pyra, Ruby, and Weiss. Pyra might work, but the girl was abrasive and crude. Pyrrha would work, given her mother hen mentality, but he had seen how she was with Jaune. Poor Aurora would be smothered, and he wouldn't even be able to stop it from happening. So, scratch that idea.
What about Weiss? Sure, he didn't know her that well, but she was intelligent. Surely she would be able to help out. Besides, she was a nice person, despite what he thought and how she acted. It was a good possibility. But what about Ruby? She was kind and had a heart of gold. She was a little young, but so was he, so he doubted that it would matter that much.
He sighed, thinking that he might as well take the help from the crazy lady that was nearby.
"Summer?" He called out.
"Having shower thoughts?"
"Something like that. It's a dumb question though."
"And? You're asking a ghost a question in an empty locker room while showering." Summer replied.
Azura laughed lightly. "True. If I had to bring someone with me to see Aurora, who do you think I should bring? I have shortened the list of people I would choose, but I wanted your thoughts."
It took a few seconds for him to receive an answer.
"Well, if I had to decide between anyone...I mean, what about Weiss? She's a nice enough girl, even if a little cold. You two could play off of each other pretty well, if you think about it."
He shrugged. "Maybe. What about Ruby?"
"They would both work, honestly. Depends on what you want to do. You don't think anyone from your team would work?"
Azura could say that he did indeed think no one from team JNPR would work. He didn't know why that made him feel a bit guilty when thinking about it.
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Not being able to eat dinner sucked, but Blake just had to decide to drag him off to do her ritual of forcing him to do nothing but read while she researched one thing or another. But now that he was in the JNPR dorm, he was glad to have not eaten.
Standing near the door while everyone was looking at him with a look of seriousness was making butterflies bloom in his stomach, and he felt like he might puke.
"Well, isn't this fun." Summer said dryly.
Pyrrha coughed into her fist. "How are you, Azura?"
"Uh...fine?" Azura asked.
He was glad for Luna's support right now, as well as Summer being here for it. It was what kept him from twitching nervously under the gaze of the magnetic warrior. At least Pyra, Jaune, and Ren seemed to not be staring him down.
"We need to talk about...being in a team." Pyrrha said, and he could see that she didn't like her own words.
It wasn't like it made it any less confusing.
"Okay. Then, why is everyone looking so glum?" Azura asked.
Pyrrha looked among everyone else with a look of desperation on her face, before sighing. "We're talking about this for you, Azura. No one wanted to talk about it, but it needs to be done."
Luna's grip tightened, while Summer stepped closer to him. "O...kay. What about me?"
"Well, for starters, we have had several team training sessions, but you've barely made it to any of them. Any time it was brought up, you've simply said that you were busy training by yourself."
Azura blinked. "Well, I need to. I don't mean to miss them as often as I do, but my semblance is untrained as it is."
Ren spoke up next. "While I can understand that, part of a team is the bonding and trust between members. You've been busy with other things, I understand, but beyond your own partner, you aren't even around us."
Azura frowned. "What do you mean? I've spent time with you guys."
"But it's like you aren't even here. You have been so secretive, and we barely know you." Nora said, speaking more quietly than he had ever seen.
Pyrrha spoke up after her. "You know, we had to piece together the fact that your mother was Luna. And you have said nothing about the other ghost following you for the longest time."
"You have no reason to know anything about them." Azura quickly said, his frown deepening.
Jaune sighed. "He has a point, Pyrrha. But, Azura, you have been spending a lot time by yourself or with team Ruby."
"Is that so wrong?" Azura said, feeling his temper rise.
"No, but you are much more distant from your own team than them." Jaune said.
"Then maybe I shouldn't even be on your team!" Azura yelled.
He regretted the words about as fast as he had said them. Nora had flinched back, and everyone else seemed surprised, but he was angry enough to not really care.
Pyrrha finally lost her temper after his words. "You shouldn't be if you can't even put in the effort to be with the team!" She hissed at him.
"Well, it's not my fault that I interact with different people. Who are you to tell me who I can talk to?!" Azura said, feeling his own temper snap.
"Maybe if you even seemed to care about your own team, we wouldn't care!" Pyrrha retorted.
"I apologize for not being the perfect team member for little miss invincible." Azura said, much colder than intended.
He still relished in the feeling of seeing her stop right in her tracks at the mention of her fame. He turned around, opening the door and slamming it shut. He saw most of team RWBY peeking out of the door to their dorm before storming down the hall.
After a few minutes, Azura found himself in what was quickly becoming his favorite area of Beacon, the private gardens. He sighed as he sat down on the bench he sat at several times before, no longer feeling angry.
Instead, he felt shame for what he said to Pyrrha. He stood by his words, but he was pretty harsh to them.
When someone joined him on the bench a few minutes later, he was shocked to see that it wasn't Summer or Luna join him. What didn't shock Azura was who actually joined him on the bench.
"You okay?" Ruby asked, silver eyes gleaming with concern.
"Never better." He replied, cracking a joke.
Ruby smiled at the joke. "I'm sure. Well, both of our teams are in a pickle, you know?"
"Weiss and Blake? Yeah, I guess you have a point there." Azura said, laughing half-heartedly.
"You know that they don't actually feel that way, right? I just...don't like to see everyone getting all split up over some varying opinions and ideas."
"Sorry."
The younger girl shook her head. "No, it's not something to apologize for."
"I felt like saying it to you." Azura said, turning his head to look at her.
He was met with her raising an eyebrow. "To me? Why?"
"I don't know. I mean, you told me about your issues in Beacon...then when you get friends that you can be 'you' around, I find myself arguing with them."
Ruby sighed. "I appreciate the thought, but they are your friends as well."
"I guess so. We all have our fair share of issues, huh?"
Ruby never answered the question, instead choosing to jump to another topic. "Soooo, what about the orphanage you went to?"
Azura felt his brain stop for a moment. "Wait, how did you find out about that?"
"Blake is distant, but she still talks, y'know." Ruby said, amusement in her voice.
Azura liked the idea of Blake going over her day. Honestly, a normal day of being a student of Beacon would be nice.
"You have a point. It was...better than I thought it might be."
"Blake said something about a girl with a special circumstance being there, and that you both met her."
Azura smiled lightly. "Yeah, it's certainly a special circumstance. Aurora reminds me of myself." He shook his head. "That makes me sound like a pity case."
"Don't worry, I don't think anyone would think that. So, could I meet her? I can't right away, but I want to see if I can help with anything." Ruby said, bumping her shoulder into his arm.
"I like the kindness that you have, Ruby. And well, I was thinking of bringing someone with me next time I went. Do you want to see her that badly?"
Ruby nodded. "Of course! It sounds like fun."
Azura laughed, the remnants of the argument from before vanishing from his mind. "Good enough for me. How does next Sunday sound?"
"Well, me and my team were going out to Vale next Sunday. I think Weiss was saying something about the 'first batch of other students for the Vytal festival'. So, we're going out to see the new students coming in. Why don't you come with us? You can bring me along to see Aurora after we see the new students." Ruby said, silver eyes beaming into him.
Azura nodded. "Sounds good to me. Well, I guess I'm going to go find a place to hang out for a bit. I don't feel like going back to the dorms yet."
"Just...take your time, okay?" Ruby said.
Azura never returned to the dorm room that night. His thoughts were more than enough to occupy him, even with Luna and Summer eventually joining back up with him.
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Pyrrha had never felt more tired until this moment. It was like a weight was suddenly dropped on her.
She rubbed her hands over her face, sighing lightly. Jaune was quiet, and Pyra had left the dorm soon after Azura. Nora and Ren were next to each other, the redhead very different from how she usually acted.
She wondered if she had overstepped. She couldn't stop herself in the moment, saying what she first thought of. But that didn't mean that what Azura said didn't hurt her.
Why couldn't she just know what to say in these situations. Her parents had never taught her how to fix these things. She didn't know how friendship worked...how could she?
She wished she hadn't been wrapped up in fame in her childhood. That she wasn't special. That she wasn't given the title of invincibility. She had been wishing for these things for years, yet she was never granted those wishes.
Pyrrha felt like she wasn't meant to have friends. Why was it that having so much for herself meant having so little with others? That hurt more than any words that Azura had said in anger.
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.(Chapter End)
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Well, this was something I had in mind since starting this little adventure, so I hope you like it. Hopefully you still enjoyed what the chapter had in store.
Have a good day/evening! See you in the next chapter.