I leaned back in my chair as I took in Ozpin's question, a small frown played across my lips, "Relic? Like the chess pieces?" I played dumb, and got a notification of my deception skill going up.
However, that didn't mean he bought it. He didn't seem upset at me lying to him, instead he sipped his drink, set it down, then folded his hands together on his desk while he leaned forward, "I understand your hesitation, Neve, but you can trust me. I was led to believe there were only four relics, and yet here you are."
I crossed my arms and quickly thought up a response. I couldn't deny that this was a relic, he knew what they looked like, but I could at least get him to maybe ease off the topic. I spoke in an even tone, "I can't disclose a lot to you, Ozma."
A lot of emotions went through his face before he got them under control, shock, uncertainty, worry, and a few others. I continued, "We're on the same side in this war with Salem, our…mutual friend probably wouldn't appreciate me revealing too much about this Talisman right now. It's an unnecessary risk, and I'm sure you understand the need to keep secrets, Ozma." Did the God of Light care if I told Ozma? No, as long as the job got done I had a feeling he didn't care what I did or how I did it, but I wasn't going to tell all to him, not yet.
He leaned back in his chair, now he had gotten his expression and emotions under control, "...I see. I won't pry into the relic too much then, if you're on the same mission as I am. Can you at least explain what you're expected to do, and who you are, exactly?"
I smiled, at the very least I could explain that, "I'm an outsider brought through the looking glass to accomplish the same goal as you. I'm still a student, I'm still nowhere near as skilled as I need to be to accomplish what I'm expected to. Maybe I was expected to seek you out sooner, but I…had a lot to sort out."
Ozma nodded along to my explanation, "I understand. Wherever you were from, coming here must have been a shock. If you were brought here to fight alongside me, it's only right that I extend an offer to you. Would you like to become my…apprentice, so to speak? I can give you special attention to improve your skills, and your knowledge. If you were thrust into this world and expected to join me, then it's only correct."
Well, that was fast, and yet totally expected based on what I knew about him. I hummed, that was a good offer, but it was bound to complicate things. Getting roped into being Ozma's chess piece in this grand game would remove a lot of the advantages I had in being a third element, a variable free from the two immortals. Although trying to assert that right now probably wouldn't mean much when I was so ill-prepared for what was to come. I would just have to walk the line, pursue my own goals away from him while taking advantage of the free training, "Alright, Headmaster. I don't think I'd find a better teacher, considering your experience."
Ozma seemed pleased, "Very good. We can begin your training tomorrow in the afternoon after your classes. For now, you should go back to your team, enjoy some rest and get ready for tomorrow."
There was no doubt in my mind that he was probably going to use training me as a way to keep tabs on me, and maybe try to get me to go along with his plans, but I knew what kind of person he was, it wouldn't work on me.
Well, I hoped it wouldn't at least. As long as he was offering free training, I wasn't going to turn it down. Regardless, I stood up, "Right, thank you Headmaster." I smiled at him and then turned on my heels and left. Ozma was a man with good intentions, but ultimately he still believed his way was the best way, which it often wasn't. I had no doubt that he was probably worried that I would reveal his secrets, but he wasn't the type of man to keep a heavy hand on someone's shoulder. Instead, he watched from afar.
Maybe, at least, he could teach me how to improve my magic skill. I'd have to tell him about that tomorrow.
I was going to need to try to make plans to try and work against the dark forces that threatened Beacon, going with the flow wasn't going to win me any prizes here.
I wasn't sure if I should tell him anything about what I knew. I had no idea how he'd react if I told him I had that kind of foresight. Besides, if he acted on his own to counteract the things I told him about, then everything would change and chances were I'd be in the dark, I'd lose the primary thing that was keeping me a step ahead.
No, if I was going to leave a real impact, I was going to need to do things myself.
For now, though, as I headed down the elevator, my stomach grumbled and I grimaced.
First, I really needed to get some food.
Elsewhere in Vale
Cinder finished preparing for her day. A late start, it was already three. Yet she had to wait for what she was supposed to do, so she figured it wouldn't hurt to stay in the apartment she'd been living in for the past several months, curl up with a book, and relax.
Her mind had wandered a lot while she was reading. She had fought the urge to text a certain someone and ask him how his initiation had gone. She knew he would be busy for most of the day, and besides, if she sent him a text like that, she was worried how it might look.
She was sure that her fretting over how she was perceived from a simple text message would earn her the derision of every one of her 'colleagues', subordinate or not. Cinder had cultivated an image of being calm, collected, and in charge. Yet, she found it hard to keep up that charade when she thought about him.
That oddity, that unknown variable, the one who had appeared so suddenly in her life a scant couple months ago and had unknowingly wormed his way into her heart in a way she had trouble trying to explain to herself.
What was so special about one single coffee boy, anyway?
Maybe it was how nice he was to her. The free drinks, the friendly and relaxed smiles, the way he listened so intently to her talk aimlessly about whatever topic suited her fancy, all as she tried to get away from her work for a short while. At first she just thought it was him being a good employee listening to a customer, but he seemed to get more invested in her stories as time went on, striking up conversations about them and even telling some of his own, although they were rare.
In all her nineteen years of life she'd only been treated with that kind of kindness, without expectation of anything in return and without any ulterior motives, by one other person. It was still fresh in her mind, what she did that day five years ago.
Her stepmother and her cruel, cruel step-siblings had caught her with a weapon. They had started to beat her, started to use the shock collar to keep her down and remind her of her place.
She killed them, all three of them. It was a desperate act, done to make the pain stop. She was certain if she hadn't done it, she would have died. Yet, Rhodes didn't seem to care. He tried to take her in, from one prison to another. All she could think of was the horrible things that awaited her behind bars.
So she killed him too. He had trained her well, too well. She still remembered his last act, a hand on her head. The last bit of affection she would get to experience for a very long time, and it came from a man she killed. Rhodes had told her that she had to fight her urge to kill them before, several times, that she wouldn't get any real happiness from the act, that she would spend the rest of her life running if she did.
He was right, she'd been running for years. Even Evernight Castle didn't feel like a true home. Salem was a brutal woman, and while she was fair in her punishments, she had become another superior when Cinder wanted no such thing. Yet Salem promised her the world, and it was the world that Cinder felt she deserved.
She was sure Salem would regard her feelings, admittedly developed so quickly, as childish. If she knew about it, she would undoubtedly want her to add him to her team, to get another piece in her chess game, but she didn't want that for him. She wondered exactly why she developed these complicated feelings so quickly.
Maybe it had to do with how inexperienced she was with the whole thing? She'd never had a romantic interest in anyone before, and as such had never been in a relationship. It was entirely new territory for her, something she wanted to explore, not just to satiate her curiosity, but because she cared about him. Were she someone else, maybe she would have already been dating him, people didn't always know each other for months before they pursued something like that. However, life was more complicated than that.
And yet… was it so complicated to desire warmth?
As she left her apartment and began to make her way through the city streets, she mused that Evernight was never a warm place, it was cold, in more ways than one. The Grimm that patrolled the halls were not exactly good conversation partners. Cinder would have much preferred somewhere warm, literally and figuratively. Yet, familial affection was not something she received from Salem, because Salem had given up on such things thousands of years ago.
Perhaps it was childish to want it, maybe she should have been as cold and calculating as her master. Yet she wasn't, she couldn't be. She could only continue pursuing her ambition in the hopes that she would get the power she wanted, and with that power she would find the warmth she yearned for, burning atop the volcanic peak of ambition.
Yet even the power of the Fall Maiden, half-complete and burning within her soul, didn't warm her.
She'd only felt warm once, recently. She never anticipated it to hit quite as hard as it had, and yet it happened.
She frowned slightly as she continued through the streets. Fantasies played through her mind like pages from the books she read. Fantasies where she was a normal Valean girl who had met a cute boy at a coffee shop. In the fantasy, she would have shared his ambition to become a hunter. They would go to Beacon together, end up on the same team, and…well, she didn't like to think too much about the rest of the fantasy.
After all, that's all it was. Fantasy.
One day Neve would learn the truth, about how her hands were stained in blood and how she stole half of the Fall Maiden's power, and he would be disgusted. He would hate her, as he should, and he would vow to stop her. Maybe they would even fight. Then, the fantasy would be dead, there could be no warmth in the cold clashing of metal and glass.
Fire and ice were never meant to mingle, either the fire was snuffed out or the ice was melted away.
She reached her destination, the store her target would be in today. Her target was a middle-aged police detective who had been hot on the trail of her joint operation with Torchwick. Normally, she would have had someone else do this, but Emerald and Mercury were still doing reconnaissance in Mistral and laying the groundwork for their eventual cover story for the festival, and Torchwick was useless when it came to subtlety. Neopolitan was better, but she still couldn't be trusted, she worked on a whim and would often screw up assignments just to spite her.
No, this needed to be done right, so she would do it herself. That started by posing as a simple shopper, observing her target and tailing them at a distance, then once he got home, she would slip inside and kill him. One less loose end that could endanger the carefully laid plans that Salem had been developing for years.
So, Cinder waited. She played the part of a customer in the clothing store, even pretended to be interested in buying a few outfits, even though she made all of her own clothes, and when her target left she followed at a safe distance.
Mercifully he didn't have a car, that would have made tailing him a lot harder. Instead she was able to stay inconspicuous even as the detective stopped off at a popular confectionary and bought himself a box of fresh cookies. Artisan Mistrali cookies as well, those were expensive. The shop was well known for the different kinds of sweets it made fresh every day, especially the expensive ones.
Cinder had gone a few times, she had always had something of a sweet tooth. The smell was intoxicating, she told herself she'd come back and buy something after the job was done.
She continued this pattern, following him at a distance and looking for any opening that might make her job easier. If she could dispatch him before he reached his home, that would be even better for her, yet Vale's streets were busy, it was unlikely she'd find such an opportunity.
Finally, after several hours, he went home. The sun had almost fully set by the time he was back, and as she watched the windows of the home, she prepared to slip into a bush to get close enough to take the shot she needed to make.
Once she got there and had Midnight at the ready, she watched as he entered into her view. She had a window view of the living room, and as she began to draw her bow taut, she took aim…
Only to freeze as she saw someone new come into view. A diminutive girl who looked incredibly similar to him.
A daughter.
As far as she knew, he didn't have a wife. He was a single father…
She hesitated, relaxing her bow as she did so.
That hesitation was all the time her scroll needed as it vibrated in her pocket. She produced the device and checked the sender, withdrawing further into the bush to avoid being caught.
It was from Neve, "Hey. I passed initiation and got put in charge of a team! Are you busy? I wanted to tell you about today."
Cinder wanted to swear, she looked between her phone and the window she had been watching. Her target left her view, so she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She decided then and there that she would not be responsible for creating another orphan. She knew what that life was like, and she didn't want to subject someone else to that.
For the first time in a long time, Cinder had wavered on her mission, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She slipped away from the bushes and made her way back to the sidewalk, where she started to head back to her apartment. One nosy detective wasn't going to sink their operation, she figured, so why waste the effort?
Instead, she focused on texting Neve back.
Beacon Academy, Team CALM's dormitory
In spite of how busy today had been, I had been thinking about texting Cinder for awhile. I knew she'd probably find it more annoying than anything else, but I still felt like I should tell her about how everything went.
I had done so after everyone had fallen asleep. We had a balcony attached to our dorm, so I stepped out onto it and closed the door to avoid risking waking anyone up. I was, of course, wearing my night clothes, a pair of black shorts and a dark blue T-shirt. I leaned on the balcony while staring at my phone, waiting for a response.
I saw she was typing, and then I got a response.
Cinder: "I'm heading home right now. Just finished my work for today. Tell me in person, tomorrow night, I'll come by to train you more."
Well, that would certainly work, although I wondered just how tired I was going to be by the end of the first school day…
Me: "Alright, what time exactly?"
We worked out when she could come by. It was going to be late, after the others had already gone to sleep. It was really the only time both of us had, since she was so busy with 'work' and I was bound to be busy with school. I had already decided I wasn't going to tell her about how I was going to be getting trained by Ozpin. I needed to keep that card close to my chest.
After we settled on everything, I wished her a good night and then went to bed myself. Sleep came easily to me after the day I'd been through.
The next day I woke up at six thirty, an hour before breakfast. I was perhaps too used to waking up incredibly early because of my old job, but it came in handy. It meant I could prepare for the day and plan out everything before we even had to go anywhere! After getting changed into my Beacon uniform (way too formal for my tastes, but I lived with it) I looked up Team CALM's schedule on my phone, I had it saved. This was the kind of thing I'd be checking obsessively to make sure we were going to the right class for a while, at least until we got into the routine.
7:30 am - Breakfast
8 am - Grimmology - Professor Port
9:45 am - History - Professor Oobleck
11:15 am - Botany - Professor Peach
12:30 pm - Lunch
1:30 pm - Aura Studies - Professor Blanca
2:15 pm - Dustology - Professor Kyros
4 pm - Combat Studies - Professor Goodwitch
5 pm - Self-Directed Sparring
6 pm - Dinner
It felt cruel that they'd give us the most boring professor to start the day. Not that I didn't like Port, but he really needed to take public speaking classes, if the show was anything to go off of. Oobleck, similarly, needed to learn to slow down, he lived life on two times speed and it showed. Professor Goodwitch, I knew, was strict yet understanding. I still wasn't sure exactly what her deal was with making a riding crop her weapon of choice, but I wasn't going to question it.
The other professors were new, which I expected. The show didn't exactly go into great detail on what life was like at Beacon outside of a few classes and mentions in the books. Only thirty minutes for breakfast, which meant if we were going to actually decorate today we were going to have to do it now, in the twenty minutes or so before breakfast.
Luckily I wasn't the only one who started to wake up early, I saw Jeanne stirring. So I decided I'd finish waking her up. I walked over to her bed, which was on the right of mine, itself close to the door. Her pajamas were a white tank-top and a pair of pajama bottoms, although the only thing visible right now was her head. I spoke softly, "Jeanne." She grumbled and turned away from me, laying on her side. I rolled my eyes and smiled, "Jeanne…"
I reached out and gently shook her shoulder, only for her to take hold of my hand and…cuddle with it? She held it close to her cheek. I huffed, this was not working. I moved my other hand and poked her cheek, "Jeanne!" I raised my still hushed voice ever so slightly.
That seemed to finally, finally wake her up. Her eyes began to flutter open as she muttered, "Mmhhh…?" As I came into her vision and she realized what she had done, she immediately let go of my hand and blushed red as she yelped and rolled out of her bed in the other direction and fell onto the ground, "Ah! Sorry, sorry! I was dreaming about…I think it was puppies!"
I shook my head and smiled brightly as I placed my right hand on my hip, "It's okay. We gotta get moving if we're gonna decorate this place before breakfast!" It seemed that Jeanne's loud way of waking up roused the other two as well, with Lunus rubbing his eyes as he sat up, his night clothes were a simple solid white shirt and pajama bottoms. Violet, in the meantime, had her same silk pajamas as she did the other day. She similarly sat up and yawned before stretching and letting off a moan of relief (not that kind!).
I greeted them both, "Morning! We've gotta unpack all our stuff before class, I get the feeling we'll all be too tired to do it afterward."
Lunus yawned and nodded, "Alright." He said once he was finished yawning, he got out of bed, "I'll go get dressed in the bathroom." Nobody seemed opposed to that, so off he went.
The dorm was overall a bit larger than I anticipated it to be. Not too much, mind, but slightly. There was space for the four extra-large twin sized beds, plus a nightstand next to each one. There were four closets on one wall, where we kept our clothes. We'd need to demarcate which was ours somehow. On the other side of the room, there were two doors. One led to the nicely sized bathroom, the other led to the kitchen/dining room area. Between the two beds that were parallel to the door, there was a pair of glass doors that led out onto a balcony.
I remembered Team RWBY not getting a balcony like this in the show, so I had to assume it varied from dorm to dorm. We were on the third floor, so the balcony provided a nice view of the walkway leading to the courtyard, as well as the Emerald Forest, which our side of the building faced. We weren't close to the cliff at all, but there wasn't much obstructing our view.
I went into the kitchen so the girls could change without me around, even if ultimately I was the only one who was bothered by it apparently. I didn't tell them that was why I went into the other room, as far as they knew I was just looking at where to place our kitchen utilities and utensils. I had to imagine they'd find it strange that for some reason I was so uncomfortable with it, given that most of Remnant didn't seem to care either. Lunus changed in the bathroom, but I think that was more because he was embarrassed with his own form and not so much that he cared about changing in front of the girls.
At the very least when it came to putting on underwear and other things like that there was still the idea of privacy, I don't think my heart could have taken it if not.
I returned from the kitchen after a while only to find that Jeanne had apparently opted to change in her closet. That was…odd, but I supposed I just got sidled with the team of socially awkward people.
There was a big chance of that happening anyway, if I was being honest. Just further proof to my theory that 90% of huntsmen and huntresses were socially awkward in some way or another. At least I knew a few weren't, like Yang, Nora, and to an extent Weiss.
I supposed at least Jeanne and Violet weren't the kind of socially awkward that made people quiet. Lunus was, but hopefully he could come out of his shell more as time went on.
Once everyone was dressed in their uniforms and back in the living room I made a grand sweeping gesture by extending my arms out and gesturing to the room, "Alright! Time to make this place feel like home!" It was time to steal someone else's line, "Banzai!"
Violet was the first to respond, once she had pulled one of her large suitcases onto her bed. She pumped her fist in the air and declared, "Banzai!"
Jeanne, who was standing next to the closets, mimicked her gesture and grinned, "Banzai!"
Lunus looked at all three of us before smiling and joining in the battlecry, "Banzai!"
Thus we set to work decorating the dorm. Jeanne put up some cute motivational posters over her bed, standard stuff like 'Hang in there!' Which would have honestly been a lot less effective if she wasn't the one who put them there. Violet put up some posters of anime she enjoyed and stocked the bookshelf that the dorm came with with her (massive) manga collection. Lunus added a few books of his own, although they were more traditional fantasy novels or booklets on weapon maintenance (things that seemed to count as skill books, I'd have to read them later).
The things I put away were mostly books, I didn't have a lot in the way of entertainment back in the apartment. Although Violet had brought a holo-television that was easily portable, all one had to do was place the scroll-like device on her night stand and suddenly we had TV! Apparently games were played using one's scroll usually, even on the TV.
By the time we finished, everyone had added their own piece of themselves to the dorm, and made it uniquely ours. From the posters, to the bookshelf full of manga and other kinds of books, to the television, to the computer that Lunus brought and set up in a corner using a desk he brought from home, I could say that the dorm was now no longer just a regular generic dorm, it was Team CALM's dorm!
And we didn't even have to stack our beds together in a structurally unstable manner, which was honestly a bonus.
By the time we finished, breakfast was already underway, so we gathered our backpacks filled with our supplies and hurried off to get some food before the day began.
Once we had our fill, it was time for classes to start. I would have been surprised that I didn't see Teams RWBY and JNPR at breakfast, but then I remembered that they were late on the first day of classes, and that probably still rang true. We were only not late because we had a lot less to do than Team RWBY did, and JNPR… well, I had no idea why they were late, but they were.
Professor Port's class was just as they depicted it in the show, an interesting topic somehow made uninteresting by the Professor's long, rambling stories that seemed to only have a point to them after he picked something out and made it a lesson. Jeanne and Lunus both were constantly nodding off, and the only one of us that seemed to enjoy it at all was Violet, who seemed enraptured in the stories he was telling. Although even she after the fact would deride his story-telling skills as 'needing serious improvement.'
After that, Oobleck's class was a test in all of our notetaking abilities as he blew through so much of Remnant's early history in the span of a day. I had to assume he was teaching at this speed because of a mixture of the ocean of coffee he drank and his desire to pack each day with as much information as possible.
Professor Peach was the first normal professor we had that day. The only thing that was odd about the class wasn't even that unexpected at all, which is that it was a lab style class that took place in a greenhouse. We spent the time learning about some basic uses for plants and how we could use them for medicine in case of emergencies. After all, Professor Peach said, aura can't fix everything.
After that lunch rolled around, Violet seemed to have not been too aware of how to regulate her body's temperature with aura, because by the end of Botany she was sweating bullets. She went to go shower while the rest of us waited on her. When she was back, we all made our way to lunch.
This time, Teams RWBY and JNPR were around, albeit sitting at separate tables. Jeanne wanted to go sit with JNPR to see how Jaune had been doing with his team, while Lunus wanted to go talk to Ruby for the same reason. Violet didn't seem to have a preference and stuck with me, saying she'd go wherever as long as she was sitting with her first friend, which honestly warmed my heart.
Thinking about it for just a moment, I shrugged and took a seat with Team JNPR. Jeanne was my partner after all, and while I did want to meet Team RWBY, I could always introduce myself after class at dinnertime. Besides, Lunus was bound to be reminiscing with Ruby and (presumably) Yang, it was probably better to let them do that in peace.
The food I'd grabbed was a rather delicious assortment of every type of food I could get my hands on, from roast beef to chicken to pizza. Just not too much! I doubted I'd be able to eat large portions of these things and not risk losing my lunch during sparring in a couple hours.
Jeanne was happy to see us join her, I sat to her right, directly across from Jaune and Violet sat next to me. Across from us was Team JNPR. Jaune felt the need to introduce us to his team, he was sitting on the furthest right, with Pyrrha on his left, then Nora, then Ren. He smiled and gestured, "Neve, Violet, meet my team!"
Pyrrha introduced herself first, raising her hand and waving with a bright smile and a polite, "Hello! I'm Pyrrha. It's wonderful to meet you."
Next up was Nora, who was so into eating a chicken leg that Ren had to elbow her to get her to remember she was expected to say something, "Hyoh!" She spoke with food in her mouth before she swallowed it, "Nora!"
Ren, after giving Nora an exasperated look, greeted us with an even expression, "Ren." Just as stoic as I expected him to be, in direct contrast to Nora, who was a ball of energy.
The ball passed to our court, so I introduced myself with a friendly smile, "Neve Cadere." Then I quickly looked at Vi and interrupted her prepared introduction, "That's Violet!" She huffed and crossed her arms, pouting. Then, I looked back at the team, "It's a pleasure to meet you guys."
Jeanne seemed over the moon, "Now you guys all know each other! So what were you saying you were doing during initiation, Jaune?"
Jaune remembered something, "Wait…Neve! You partnered with my sister and just left me there. What gives?" He seemed more annoyed than angry, "I could have been stuck up there for hours, until an Ursa came to eat me or something!"
I sipped the hot chocolate I'd grabbed from where they made the drinks. I had no idea why they had hot chocolate even though it was springtime and absolutely not the weather for it, but I wasn't going to complain, it was a sweet and delicious beverage, especially with the complementary marshmallows. I set the styrofoam cup down, "Pyrrha pinned you to the tree, I even heard her yell sorry, I knew she'd come for you." I smiled and leaned forward slightly, speaking in a teasing tone, "Or do you think Pyrrha is the kind of girl who'd just leave someone pinned to a tree like that?"
Jaune's face heated up as he looked hastily at Pyrrha, who was just smiling at him, then he looked back at me and shook his head, "What? No! I just- Uh- Well-" He deflated, "Alright, I see your point."
Pyrrha smiled at me, "I saw how you managed to shoot Jeanne out of the sky. Such precision doesn't come easily, you must be very skilled."
Before I could protest, Jeanne spoke up in a gushing tone, "He is! He landed that arrow on a moving target flying through the sky, then he did most of the work in killing two Ursa, and then he created a tornado so we could kill a Splitback! It was so cool!"
Jaune crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, with the others on his team looking amused, except for Ren, who just looked like Ren. Jaune teased, "And you were saying I was gushing about my team? You're practically fangirling right now!"
I was simultaneously amused and suffering from second-hand embarrassment on Jeanne's behalf as her face heated up and she realized what she must have sounded like, "That's not what I meant at all! What, I can't talk about how cool my team is but you can gush to me over the phone about how-"
Jaune spoke up hastily, eyes widening, "Hey, hey! Don't just say stuff like that, it was told in confidence!"
It was Nora's turn to enter the conversation as she grinned, "What'd Jauney boy say, Jeanne? I bet it's juicy."
Jeanne grinned a devious grin, the kind I didn't know she was capable of, "Oh~ I could tell you, unless Jaune wants to pay the usual price…"
Jaune squinted, "How are you even going to find the time to go get one of those frappes that you love so much now that you're in school?" So that's where she'd been getting the money for her drinks, huh… Jeanne was craftier than she looked. Her brother remained defiant, "Your tyranny must come to an end, Jeanne!"
She giggled, "Well, if you say so! Alright, so Jaune called me and talked to me about how super cool Pyrrha was, and how excited he was to have her as a teammate. He sounded worse than I did when I was talking about Neve!"
The reaction was two-fold. Nora burst out laughing and teased Jaune, "Awwwh, so you're a fanboy too, Jauney boy, and you didn't even know who Pyrrha was before initiation!" Meanwhile, both Pyrrha and Jaune turned red, with Jaune looking away and grumbling about tyrannical sisters and Pyrrha occasionally glancing in Jaune's direction. She didn't look annoyed, no, instead she looked rather happy.
Wow, Jeanne was doing more work in getting those two together than I was at this point. I'd heard siblings were the best and worst part of someone's life, at least most of the time, and this proved it.
Violet jumped in, I don't think she intended to save Jaune from embarrassment, but she certainly did, "So are you guys liking classes so far? I think most of them are super cool! Although Port really needs to work on delivering good stories, I could do better than him!"
The conversation shifted away from Jaune and towards classes, much to his relief. We spent the rest of lunch talking about classes so far, what we were looking forward to, which was sparring for basically everyone, and what we'd do when we were done. I was more excited for Aura Studies personally, because I needed to start working to discover my semblance. From what I had read, it seemed like there wasn't one concrete way to discover someone's semblance.
Some were always there and had only been discovered by chance, others were developed as a direct response to a dangerous situation or desperation, others still came about without much rhyme or reason to them. The question was, could I find a way to discover my own without needing to go through some sort of serious event? That would be preferable to being in a desperate situation.
Although when you talked like that, anything was preferable to that.
After lunch was over, it was time for Aura Studies. Professor Blanca reminded me of something from the old world, although the name escaped me at the time. I'd later remember, a hippie. Colorful clothes, a very relaxed personality, and a general very 'zen' outlook. Although I doubted she was on drugs, at least, I seriously hoped she wasn't.
The first half of class was spent giving a basic introductory lecture on what aura was, what it was capable of, and how we were expected to leave the class at the end of the year with familiarity, if not mastery, of our auras. Although there was an Aura Studies II course the next year that was supposed to get to even more advanced topics still.
The second half of class was us partnering up to focus on each other's auras, trying to detect them while also keeping ours manifested. It was supposed to build control, I was told. I went with Lunus, while Violet and Jeanne paired off. So we sat, cross-legged and facing one another while our eyes were closed and we focused.
Although I had some questions for him, "Lunus, do you know what your semblance is?" I figured I could see how he discovered his, maybe it would give me some better idea of what I could do.
He hummed before he answered, "Yeah, I call it Zero G. I can make things weigh nothing, or weigh a lot. Although I have to be touching it for it to work, at least right now. I'm hoping that maybe if I get good enough at it I'll be able to do it without touching anything."
Oh wow, that sounded useful. I hummed, "Is that why you can lug around Selene so easily?"
He chuckled, I was sure he was shaking his head, "No, I just got strong enough to handle it. Although I do sometimes use my semblance on it, mixed in with some gravity dust. After all, it'd be very difficult to get it to go anywhere fast if I was weighing it down so much."
He didn't seem that heavy, especially compared to the weight of Selene, or Crescent Rose for that matter, "You know I've been wondering exactly how strong Ruby has to be if she can swing around Crescent Rose like that…"
Lunus spoke a bit too quickly, "Very strong. Like…she's probably stronger than I am. Her muscles are…super defined. Chiseled, even." He changed the topic just as quickly as he made his comments, "So, have you discovered your semblance, yet?"
Oh. Oh. I saw what was going on here but I chose not to say anything, "No, I haven't…How'd you discover yours? I'm not sure what I should do to discover it…"
Lunus hummed, "It's different for everyone, I discovered mine because a tree was about to fall on Ruby and I when we were kids. One second we were getting ready to be crushed, the next the thing weighed basically nothing."
Oh, great. Another moment of desperation. It was seeming more and more like I was going to need to put myself in grave danger to unlock my semblance. I'd need to get more stories of people unlocking their semblances to figure this out.
The rest of class was unremarkable, I got a few points in my aura usage skill. I had been getting points in the topics of each class so far, the textbooks provided were also considered skill books, all the more reason to read them. One of them was like the one I had read before to boost my intelligence and gave a steady boost to my 'Grimm Knowledge' skill until I reached a certain threshold.
I'd have to look over my skills and stats at the end of the day to see how I was doing…
After Aura Studies was Dustology, Professor Kyros was perhaps the most 'normal' person I'd had as a teacher today, even more so than Peach or Blanca. He wore a dark blue blazer, a pair of slacks, and a dress shirt. His hair was black and his eyes were green, and an inspection revealed he was in his thirties and also very intelligent. Granted, I observed each teacher and they were all highly skilled in their chosen field of specialization, but Professor Kyros seemed like more of a generalist.
He also had a very relaxed teaching style, and seemed determined to make sure everyone got something out of the class. He never picked on the same person twice for a question, and when they got it wrong, he would work on leading them to the answer, although he did seem to derive some enjoyment in embarrassing students. I supposed professors needed a passtime, and hey, I couldn't say it wasn't funny.
Especially when Jeanne forgot Combustion Dust existed and said people used fire dust to run their cars. It took some leading questions for her to eventually remember that it existed, and while she was squirming while being grilled with questions, she would certainly never forget what Combustion Dust was after that day.
Next up was Combat Studies, which was a mixture of directed sparring followed by using how the student fought as an example of what was done right and what was done wrong. Glynda went through a few different spars and gave some good pointers that boosted my newly developing 'Tactics' skill.
The class took place in an auditorium, with the two students selected going onto the stage and sparring while the others watched. I had honestly gotten comfortable in my chair when, as the two fighters from the last match got off stage, Glynda stepped onto the stage and looked at her scroll that contained a list of names, "Right… As both fighters are too exhausted to pick an opponent and fight again, I'll choose two new fighters. Blake Belladonna and… Neve Cadere. Please come up on stage."
Well shit.
Jeanne and Violet, who were sitting on either side of me, both pat my back. Violet grinned, "Show them how Team CALM does it, Neve!"
Jeanne similarly urged me on as I stood up, "Yeah, even if you lose, go down fighting!"
Well, I was going to try, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do that. We had been directed to change into our huntsman gear before coming to class, so I already had my outfit and weapons on.
I started up on the left side, while Blake came up from the right. While we were getting into position a few feet away from us, I used Observe on Blake.
Blake Belladonna
Age - Seventeen
Level 9 Ex-Freedom Fighter
HP
100/100
Aura
100/100
Stats
Vigor - 14
Mind - 25
Charisma - 20
Endurance - 18
Strength - 12
Dexterity - 30
Intelligence - 12
Skills
Sword Fighting
43/100 (Above Average)
Gun Fighting
40/100 (Above Average)
?
As expected of a former member of the White Fang with loads of combat experience, she was very skilled. My chances of winning were… very slim. At least I could try to put up a good fight! As we drew our weapons, she spoke in an even tone, "I hope you're not expecting me to fight fair."
I smiled and shook my head as I readied Dawn, "I'd be upset if you did." She seemed pleased with my response, the faintest ghost of a smile played on her face before she steeled herself.
Glynda, now standing off to the side, pressed a button that activated the hard-light barriers around the stage, so that none of our attacks would spill out onto the students. Then, she declared, "Begin!"
Instead of leaping at me, she squinted and waited, as if expecting me to attack first. I started to move in a circle, clockwise. She followed suit, walking counter clockwise. Cinder once told me that the best time to attack first was when your opponent didn't know you were there, and otherwise it was best to let them strike first.
Meanwhile, for the first time in awhile, I activated Focus. Blake gained a glowing purple outline, the color of her aura. I should have been practicing it more, but I had too many things to do at any given time to remember every little trick… Honestly, that was probably at least in part my fault.
She made the first move, creating several clones of herself that began to walk in different directions. The clones had white outlines, and as they started to run towards me from several directions, I scanned the mass as quickly as I could and picked out the purple outline of the real Blake. Gambol Shroud was in its katana form, she was primed to strike!
I channeled fire dust from my vambraces into my blades and swiped horizontally outward, sending a wave of flame out. The clones simply dissipated as they kept running, the real Blake jumped into the air, straight over my wave of fire! She raised her blade and brought it down, I blocked with one blade and stabbed outward with the other one. It looked like it would make contact, but instead it dissipated a clone as the real Blake backflipped away.
While she was still in the air I took the offensive by racing forward towards her. I might not have had firearms, but I could at least provide quick ranged attacks by making yet more waves of dust! I channeled one blade with ice and swiped in a rising slash upward. As she touched down, I could see the wave of ice spikes I had created connect with her!
However, she didn't stay, while I was sure she might have taken some sort of hit from the ice, no sooner than when she touched the ground did she use her semblance again, this time to take the brunt of the attack while she ran directly at me!
The ice spikes remained as she closed the distance, running beside them. With her katana in one hand and its sheath in the other, she again moved to slash at me! I skidded to a stop and raised one part of Dawn just in time to block the katana, and as she brought her cleaver-sheath down, I raised the other blade and blocked it as well!
Blake smiled, a visible one this time, she seemed to be enjoying this. She raised her blades and began to bring them down as well in a flurry of blows, which I started blocking as they began coming at me. This kind of fighting I could handle on some level, Cinder used dual blades, after all!
What made things more difficult was when she used her semblance to quickly jolt to my right so she could strike out at my side! She landed a stinging hit that caused me to grimace before I faced her again and started to swing, working on taking the offensive. Now it was her turn to block as I swung my blades over and over, clashing metal ringing out as she did.
While we were swinging I channeled some bright orange dust into my blades, heating them up and causing them to glow orange the moment before I slashed downward with both of them and sent out the bright orange lava-like substance. Blake used her shadow clone to dodge the attack as it made contact with the ground and immediately began to cool down to a reasonable temperature. Good thing this place was reinforced! Not that I didn't expect it to be.
She switched things up, turning her katana into a sickle before starting to shoot at me! The bullets easily made contact with my chest as I was unprepared to take those hits, or block bullets. I gasped in pain and glanced at my aura gauge in the bottom left of my vision, 50/90, not good!
She swung the ribbon portion of her blade towards me as she raced forward, before I could react she wrapped the ribbon around one of my blades and yanked forward, pulling it out of my hand! Her ribbon flung backwards and sent my blade hurtling behind her, it clattered to the ground and left me with just one.
It was easy for her to overwhelm me then, she closed the rest of the distance and began to swing at me again, using her sheath-cleaver to force me to block while she weaved in shots from her pistol. I found that I was terrible at dealing with guns, Cinder didn't use them so she didn't exactly have a way to teach me how to deal with them!
At that point it was just a matter of time, she continued getting in hits and shots as I desperately blocked her cleaver's swings, and eventually my aura flashed an icy blue and Glynda declared, "Neve's aura has entered the red, Blake wins!"
I took a deep breath and sighed in relief as her attacks abated. I half expected to see a big 'GAME OVER!' or 'YOU LOSE!' at the top of my vision, but luckily no such thing happened. Instead, as I deflated and started panting, Blake walked back to where my other blade was, picked it up, and walked back over to me. She smiled, "You're not half bad. Not very good with bullets, I suppose?"
I shook my head, "Hah. Not in the slightest." She held out the other half of Dawn and I reached out and took it while the crowd of students applauded a good fight, "We'll have to do this again sometime." It certainly wouldn't hurt to have sparring partners, and besides, I could get to know Blake more. While that was a great personal reason, the more important reason would be so she'd actually listen when I eventually decided to tell her what the White Fang was planning.
At least what I knew about, like the docks. Her smile grew slightly, "We should. We can trade scroll numbers after this." After that exchange, I slipped Dawn back into their sheaths and the two of us parted ways, we walked down the same steps we took to get up and I headed back to my team.
The three of them looked very happy with my performance, with Lunus grinning at me as I passed him to sit between Violet and Jeanne again, "Man of the hour, you did amazing. Blake was something else!"
I nodded as I relaxed into my seat, "Yeah, she is, and thanks…"
Violet nudged me with her shoulder, "Seriously though! You were doing amazing when she was fighting with her two swords, I couldn't even keep up with how fast you two were moving!"
Jeanne added with a smile as she patted my back, "I have trouble dealing with bullets too, it's okay! We can work on it as a team!"
I smiled warmly at the three of them before I responded, "Yeah, we can. Although we should also make an effort to study the ways other people fight."
On cue, Glynda announced, "Right, it's time for free sparring. Proceed to the colosseum and pick your sparring partner. Those of you who fought already are free to leave early." Well, that was a relief, because I certainly wasn't in fighting shape right now.
Everyone started to leave, I told the others I'd be going back to the dorm to get some rest before dinner. They understood, and as I separated from the moving crowd of students, I heard a familiar voice, "Hey!" It was Ruby Rose, when I turned towards her, she was approaching me with a grin, "Your fight with Blake was super cool! Lunus told me about you, he said you're pretty strong! We should spar sometime."
Before I responded I used Observe on her to see just how skilled she was.
Ruby Rose
Level 10 Grimm Reaper
Vigor - 12
Mind - 10
Charisma - 15
Endurance - 20
Strength - 28
Dexterity - 28
Intelligence - 10
Skills
Scythe Fighting
70/100 (Expert)
Sniping
50/100 (Adept)
Perception
43/100 (Above Average)
?
Dust, she was in a league of her own! She'd wipe the floor with me and not even break a sweat! Which was what I expected honestly, knowing her, but still, she was the strongest person I'd observed so far! Granted, I hadn't observed Ozpin or Cinder yet, which reminded me that I'd need to do that at some point.
For the moment though I just smiled tiredly at her, "Uhm, yeah, some other time though. Blake did a real number on me, she's super skilled."
As if on cue, Blake came over and we exchanged scroll numbers before she turned on her heels and headed towards the colosseum, well, it was called a colosseum, it didn't look like one really. It was a large circular arena located within a normal looking building that was large enough to hold all of the freeform spars that students could possibly want to take part in.
After Blake left, Ruby continued, "Anyway, yeah! We'll have to fight tomorrow or something, it'll be fun!" Fun was a word, not a word I'd use to describe fighting with her, but a word. She left to go spar after I offered her a small nod and a 'sure, why not.' I'd regret accepting that later, I knew.
All of that and I still had to train with Ozma and with Cinder, maybe I could get at least one of them to go easy on me…
After that, I went back to the dorm and spent the next hour relaxing in bed while looking at my scroll. My muscles welcomed the respite of my bed, although I didn't change my outfit because I knew I was still going to want to eat dinner, but I was certainly done wearing the uniform for now…
When dinner came, we ate with Team JNPR again. Tomorrow I'd have to sit with Team RWBY, especially since Lunus was over there again. I needed and wanted to get to know them more, it was imperative that I did if I was going to have any chance of making a real impact on things to come.
Was keeping secrets and working with hidden motives like this scummy? Yeah, it was, kind of, but I did it for them! All of them! So if I ever told them the truth, how could they be mad? Especially if they believed me when or if I told them how things had gone as I remembered them, and we were looking back on a much better outcome.
It didn't make me feel any less guilty though…
After dinner, I had my first training session with Ozma. I told the others I had to talk with some professors and went to meet him. He had set aside a room in the building containing his office for us to train in.
It was a large room with several dummies lined up against the wall, the floors were tilted white and there were a few mirrors against the wall. It looked kind of like a gym, or a dojo, or both. Oz was waiting there, resting on Long Memory like he always did. He smiled as I entered, "Welcome, Neve. I hear you did rather well in your sparring match."
It would have been like him to ask Glynda how I did. I nodded, "Yeah, although Blake was a lot better than me." That reminded me, "Also I needed to explain something to you, since you're my best option for training it." He quirked an eyebrow and I took my talisman into my palm, "This thing gave me the ability to cast magic. It comes from the Talisman, it has… a lot of power reserved, but I can only use a small fraction of it right now. Only one spell a day, and the spells are… not good."
Ozma seemed shocked at first, but relaxed a moment after, "I should have expected something like that. The God of Light wouldn't send you with a relic and have it do nothing." Well, it did more than that, but how would I explain the System to him? Nah, better to not.
Oz continued, "Well, given that you have such limited use of magic right now, it wouldn't do to have you waste all of your magic for a day in an effort to train it. If it's anything like how magic used to be, then it will be like training a muscle…Even if that muscle is, in part, the Talisman."
He spent that day teaching me a new spell, 'Prestidigitation', which only cost one mana and thus could be cast ten times a day right now. However, while it was useful in some ways, it wasn't a combat spell. It could be used to clean, color, or dirty something or someone, from something as large as a person to something as small as a coin. It could also cook, warm, or flavor food up to a certain point, although that had its limits for size. It could lift an object up to one foot off the ground, although the object couldn't be that heavy. It could also make a small selection of tiny objects and tricks.
The tricks were the key for the training, he had me use the spell to make what appeared to be tiny planets and stars in my hand, with the most complicated being basically a miniature constellation.
I was relieved to not have to do anything physically exerting, although casting these spells required a level of focus I wasn't used to. I also gained a new core stat during it all, which was exactly what you think it'd be, 'Sorcery', a measure of just how skilled I was at using magic. Maybe someday, if I got that high enough, I'd actually be able to have some more impactful spells, although Oz pointed out that even a simple spell like 'Light' could be used offensively if I got creative enough with it.
I supposed that was good to know, maybe I really did need to broaden my horizons. My thinking was fairly narrow on these things, but that could change, especially now that I knew it was a problem.
We worked on that for about an hour, and then we spent an hour with Oz giving me pointers on my combat performance. He had a recording of my sparring match with Blake, presumably given by Glynda, and he used it to point out flaws in my maneuvers, as well as things I could try to do to improve. Needless to say, he was giving me a lot of homework, but hey, that's what I was there for.
By the time we finished for the day it was about nine, the sun had fully set and it was dark. It was times like this that I wished I had night vision like a Faunus, but I didn't. Maybe that was a spell I could learn, or create, once I was skilled enough? I had no clue, magic seemed both limited and limitless, a real paradox.
After that, I got a message from Cinder saying she'd be on the roof of my dorm building at ten, I had told her where to go in anticipation of her wanting to train.
Although I was seriously tired after a long day…
In the future I'd need to just train with her on weekends, although I wondered if she'd think I was slacking if I did that. Probably, if I was being honest. I went back to the dorms and went straight to the roof. I was sure the others were probably getting ready for bed and I didn't want to bother them if so. There were a few metal chairs on the roof, likely intended for students who wanted to enjoy a nice day up here, although I doubted this place was used that much. I sat in one facing the courtyard while I waited.
Cinder arrived exactly when she said she would. I saw her leap up a tree, grab a branch, and then after climbing onto it, she used the branch to further climb her way onto the roof. She almost slipped a few times, and she was clearly not well practiced with free running or parkour. It was entirely unnecessary and a bit funny to watch, but I wasn't going to tell her that.
I had offered to let her in through the front, but she refused and said she could make it on her own. The dorms were electronically locked and the building could only be accessed if you had a scroll that was keyed to it. Part of me felt that she was just trying to look cool, but it was Cinder, I doubted she cared that much how I perceived her 'coolness.'
I wondered what she had been doing today? I'd ask, but I knew I wouldn't get a straight answer. Instead, while she dusted off her dress and regarded me with an expression I could almost call warm as I smiled and leaned back, turning my head towards her, "Any chance you could go easy on me today? Honestly, if every day is going to be as busy and exhausting as today, we might need to relegate these training sessions to the weekends."
Cinder smirked teasingly as she placed a hand on her hip, "Too busy for me, Neve? I'm hurt. Would you like me to give you a massage instead? Maybe that would loosen you up to train."
I knew she was just joking, but honestly a massage was exactly what I needed right now. Too bad hell would freeze over before I'd get one from Cinder, "Are you offering? Because I won't say no if you are."
Curiously, Cinder's expression changed for the briefest of moments. It was hard to place what emotion was on her face, and it was gone before I could really figure it out, "No, I'm not. Although if you're too exhausted to train, then trying would be wasted effort right now. Maybe it would be better to do it on weekends."
She was right, I was so thoroughly out of it that I doubted I'd memorize anything she tried to teach me today. I gestured to one of the metal chairs next to me, they were the garden patio type of chairs, with armrests and a fancy semi-open back. They were cozy in this weather, although I doubted they'd be very nice if they sat in direct sunlight for too long. She took my offer, walking over and sitting next to me. I figured I might as well try, even if I still doubted I'd get a real answer, "What'd you do today?"
She hummed and looked out at the courtyard, illuminated by lamp posts placed along the walkways, "I read one of my books and then went to work, after that I went to the coffee shop. June is working there again, I think she wishes you were still there."
I chuckled, "I'm sure she does. I'll have to pay her a visit this weekend." I sighed and closed my eyes and my voice softened, betraying just how tired I was, "How was work?"
As I expected, she only gave a vague answer, "Busy." It sounded like there was something else she wanted to say, and sure enough, she asked, "You're an ambitious person, Neve, so I have to ask… how do you…" She seemed to be struggling with wording this properly, "...enjoy life?"
That… was a much deeper question than I was expecting, where did this come from, I wondered? I opened my eyes and looked over at her, she was staring ahead still, I could see this was bothering her, "Well… I have a lot of reasons to not enjoy life, honestly." I thought of my fragmented memories, how little I knew about the people that I still cared about, how much I knew could happen in the future… "Sometimes, I get really overwhelmed. It's all just… too much. But, I think the most important thing for ambition is to temper it with contentment."
She looked in my direction and gazed at me curiously. I continued, "I'm not saying to give up ambition, that would make me a hypocrite, but… ambition needs to be tempered." I thought of her desire for all of the Maiden powers and wondered if she still held that in this timeline, "If you spend all your life wanting more, you'll never stop and enjoy what you have. You'd just keep wanting and wanting, then die unfulfilled." The aching in my heart told me I did that once already, "Like…" I tried to think of an example.
After a few seconds, I found one, "My ambition is to protect the people that I care about, so I could spend all day every day getting stronger, but… I don't, because then I would never enjoy the time I had with the people I love."
Her gaze softened and her eyes glistened. She closed them and looked away, before opening them again, "...I see." She responded neutrally, I had to wonder if my words would get through to her at all. The Cinder I knew from the show was a woman of fervent ambition, ambition that burned cities and killed thousands of people, but this Cinder wasn't that woman yet. She could be, but I sincerely hoped that she wouldn't be.
She stood up, "If we're not training today, then I'll leave. You should sleep." She walked over towards the direction she came from, the edge of the roof, "I'll be in touch, we can meet again this weekend."
I couldn't blame her, she probably needed to sleep as much as I did right now, "...Alright. I'll talk to you later."
She leapt off the building. I saw her walking through the courtyard not a few minutes later, aura was a wonderful thing… As she was leaving, though, I remembered that I wanted to see her stats, so I used Observe on her.
Cinder Fall
Level 15 Rogue
Age - Nineteen
HP
150/150
Aura
100/100
Stats
Vigor - 35
Mind - 38
Charisma - 10
Endurance - 30
Strength - 25
Dexterity - 37
Intelligence - 28
Sorcery - 20
Skills
Sword Fighting
55/100 (Adept)
Archery
58/100 (Adept)
Fist Fighting
35/100 (Average)
?
So she was nineteen? Just a year older than me… That probably played into why she was so different compared to her counterpart in the show. This Cinder had been under Salem's thumb for far less time and generally had less time to develop sadism and her other nasty habits…
That was good to know, but it also didn't really mean I was going to treat her any differently. The potential for evil was still there, and that was the fear that clawed my heart, even if I cared about the woman herself. I just had to hope my fear was unfounded…
I stood up and made my way down to my dorm, the others were already fast asleep by the time I got inside. I gathered up my night clothes and changed in the bathroom before coming out and getting into bed. The cozy mattress and comfortable blankets were a welcome respite after such a long day.
Before I drifted off, I decided to check my stats and skills, it had been awhile since I did.
Neve Cadere
Level 6 Wannabe Hero
Age - Eighteen
HP
90/90
Aura
100/100
Stats
Vigor - 12
Mind - 17
Charisma - 18
Endurance - 13
Strength - 10
Dexterity - 21
Intelligence - 12
Sorcery - 2
Skills
Sword Fighting
37/100 (Average)
Archery
38/100 (Average)
Fist Fighting
20/100 (Below Average)
Dodging
35/100 (Average)
Blocking
33/100 (Average)
Aura Usage
40/100 (Above Average)
Dust Usage
30/100 (Average)
Deception
30/100 (Average)
Leadership
25/100 (Below Average)
Slow and steady, as they said, although I was sure my growth was exponential compared to the average person. Where would I be by the end of the year? Most stats and skills had slowed down already, but I was still seeing progress.
I dismissed the dialogue boxes and turned over in my bed.
As I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but wonder what else Beacon would have in store for me?
If I planned things out properly, a full four year education. I promised myself there would be no fall, and I intended to see that promise through to the end.
No matter what.