0

Chapter 4: Down Time

0

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL. Led by, Cardin Winchester," Ozpin said into his microphone.

Applause rang out as the four students left the stage. As they walked away Delsin only half paid attention as the last two teams were announced, Team RWBY and Team JNPR. It was only when his own name was called that he paid any attention.

"Finally, Delsin Rowe, Alexander Roman. If you could please join me on the stage," Ozpin called to the duo.

They walked up onto the stage.

"At every Huntsman academy, four man teams are the standard. They provide enough support to make sure the members work together, as well as enough versatility to overcome most any obstacle. This is common knowledge. However, this time around we seem to have an exception to that line up. The two young men before me have demonstrated power and versatility, as well as teamwork and compatibility well beyond their years."

Alex and Delsin looked at one another with prideful, if a little confused, faces.

"And so, it is with great expectations, and with even greater enthusiasm, that I announce the first ever, two man team at Beacon," he continued, breaking his trademarked stoicism long enough to smile and applaud.

The whole amphitheater soon joined him as Delsin and Alex were hailed as champions. The two reveled in the adoration. After a minute or two, Ozpin walked over between them and whispered.

"When I dismiss everyone, wait a few minutes, then come to my office."

The two nodded almost imperceptibly, confused looks crossing their faces for just a moment before passing.

0

After the assembly was over, Alex and Delsin split off and went to Ozpin's office like he asked. It was a long elevator ride, since Oz's office was on the top floor of Beacon Tower. When they arrived, they found Glynda and Oz waiting for them. They were reviewing footage they had taken during the battle between the pair and the horde of Grimm.

At first they weren't sure Ozpin noticed them, until he beckoned them forward. He never looked up, even once, until they were right at his desk.

"Thank you for coming. Please, sit down," Oz told them, still looking at the video.

"Sir? What's this about?" Alex asked as they both sat down.

Ozpin put the tablet down and looked at them.

"Straight to the point. Good. I needed to speak with you regarding your placement at my school. Specifically, your team structure."

"What do you mean?" Delsin asked.

"As I said, you are the first two man team in the history of Beacon Academy. Understandably, your team structure and operations are going to be rather different from the norm."

"Ok, keep it going." Delsin said, voicing their shared hope he would get to his point already.

Ozpin smirked.

"Well for starters, your team will have no leader. You two will work together to complete your objectives. I assume you find this agreeable?"

The pair nodded.

"Excellent. Now for actual team based exercises, such as mission deployments, Vale law prevents me from deploying you to outside the kingdom as less then a four man team. As such, for those exercises, you will be deployed alongside another Beacon team of the same year."

"Which one?" Alex asked.

"Team RWBY."

"Why them?"

"Does it matter?"

Alex leaned back in his chair.

"Um, not really, but I would kinda like to know."

"Well, while I did admit her two years before she would normally be eligible, Ms. Rose is still inexperienced, and some of her other teammates-"

"Weiss," Delsin mumbled in a cough.

Ozpin gave him a wilting stare as he continued.

"- will probably not like being led by a leader two years their junior. So, you will be operating with them to not only round out the power dynamic, but also to keep the other team members under control. Is that acceptable?"

Alex nodded.

"Good. Now, regarding the Vytal Festival tournament. I assume you want to compete?"

"The what now?" Delsin asked.

Ozpin looked confused, before he remembered Delsin wasn't from around here. Luckily Alex helped him out.

"Big combat tournament, end of the year, I'll explain more later. Just say yes," Alex explained.

"Ok. Yes?" Delsin said, still confused.

"Good. Now, as that is also a team based competition, you will not be able to compete. That is unless you can find another team that will allow you to sub in for some of their members."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"Well, normally the tournament is 4 on 4, to 2 on 2, to 1 on 1. No team can be larger than four members, so the team you are temporarily joining would build a team of four from a pool of six, and so on as the tournament progressed. Understand now?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now that we are all clear on that, I have one more thing to discuss with you."

"What?" Delsin asked.

"You two are exceptionally powerful, even more so than some veteran huntsman, which is why I made your team in the first place. As such, you will be held to higher standards of performance. Do not think I will let you coast on your abilities."

Neither one of them was shaken by this. They'd lost any illusions of ease in initiation.

"Ok. You may go," Ozpin said as he picked his tablet back up.

The two stood up and walked back to the elevator. As it opened, Ozpin hurriedly put his tablet down.

"Mr. Rowe. I need to speak with you privately," He almost shouted.

Alex looked at Delsin questioningly. Delsin returned the look with a confused shrug. As the elevator dinged, Alex got on alone as Delsin walked back over to Ozpin's desk.

"What is it?" Delsin asked.

"Mr. Rowe, could you explain to me," Ozpin said, turning the tablet to him, "what this is?"

Ozpin had just received an image file. The picture was of a jagged purple rock. It appeared like it was glowing softly. Delsin recognized it immediately, and a look of shock and confusion crossed his face.

"I take it you know what this is?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah," he said, his tone matching his face.

After a moment he regained his composure, and gave Oz a questioning look.

"Why did you think I would?"

"When you escaped the police station, you left behind a composite residue. I collected a sample and ran an initial set of tests. The tests concluded it was ash, but its make-up was unusual. I sent it to a colleague of mine in Atlas to have him analyze it. He confirmed, it was not any kind of smoke found anywhere in Remnant. He then informed me that one of his research teams recently found an object that tested similarly. That object was this. What is it exactly?"

Delsin cleared his throat.

"It's called a Blast Core. In the original explosion that created Conduits, fragments of stone and other stuff got hit with this kind of weird radiation that changed them into those, though that one looks a lot bigger than normal," he explained.

"So it's from your world? How did it end up here?"

"Oz, I don't even know how I got here. How should I know?"

"Fair enough. So what do you do with them? Can they be used to grant people powers like yours?"

Delsin scratched his head.

"Well they have to have the Conduit gene, but past that … I dunno, maybe? Look, I have a little more than a basic knowledge of this from the files I … liberated from a Conduit detention facility. I don't really know how this works."

"So what do you know about it?"

"Give one to a Conduit, pass electricity through it, it boosts their abilities."

"Interesting. I would very much like to see how that works. If I had it shipped here, would you be interested in using it?"

Delsin nearly choked, but managed to stumble out a response.

"Are you kidding? Hell yeah!"

"Excellent. I'll have it shipped and it should be here in around eight to ten days," Ozpin said picking up his tablet.

Delsin turned to leave, but caught himself, realizing there was one more thing he should tell the professor.

"You might wanna know, once I use the Core, it's done. It'll be nothing but a hunk of rock."

Ozpin stopped typing, and mulled it over.

"So be it. They've run all the tests they can anyway."

Delsin nodded and got in the elevator, he gave himself a happy fist-pump.

"Alright! New powers!"

0

Delsin Neon Dashed to his new room. It had been a long day and he all he wanted to do was take a nap. He swiped his Scroll across the lock and the door swung open. Alex had beat him there, and was currently lounging without his shirt and his wings out. He sat up as Delsin walked in.

"Hey man. What was that about?" he asked.

"Just some stuff," Delsin replied.

He walked over to his bed and plopped down. Then he got up, unable to ignore his curiosity anymore.

"Ok, I gotta ask, why aren't you wearing a shirt?" he questioned.

Alex turned to him.

"Dude, do you know how uncomfortable it is to keep these things under clothes all day? Not to mention the amount of times my feathers get clumpy. Sometimes I just gotta let 'em out."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah man. Do you know how much of a pain it is to keep these things clean? It takes me like, twenty minutes in the shower. Per wing! It's so annoying!" he whined.

"Well sure, but you can still fly, right?"

Alex turned onto his back.

"Yeah, that is pretty great, I guess."

After a minute or two, Alex spoke up.

"Dinner's over in a 30 minutes, you should get some before it's gone," he said.

Delsin groaned, and got up. He was walking out of the room, when he noticed no one was following him.

"You not coming Alex?" he asked.

"Not hungry. Already ate," Alex replied.

Delsin shrugged and left the room.

0

He arrived at the cafeteria just as food was being served. In hindsight, Delsin was glad Alex told him to get some food. He'd noticed that the more he stressed his Conduit healing, the more food he needed to stay upright, and today was one of those days he'd pushed it a bit too much.

He got his meal, and found his way to an empty table. There weren't a lot of people there that evening, most people who'd gone through initiation just wanted to go to sleep. He was ok with that, he liked the peace and quiet. After all, quiet meant no trouble.

He was just about to start eating when an accented voice called out.

"Liar!" the voice shouted playfully.

Delsin looked up to find it's source.

"Velvet?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes, you big liar," she replied smiling, "What are you doing here? You said you weren't a student!"

Delsin scratched the back of his head.

"I wasn't lying at the time. I wasn't a student when you asked."

She tried giving him a disapproving look, but her playful smile set the real mood. She broke her poker face and let out a quiet giggle, and so did Delsin.

"Well anyway, it's good to see you. How are you?" she asked, sitting down next to him.

"A little sore still from initiation."

"Oof, I remember that. Not fun."

"Really? How was yours?"

"Wait, you … really wanna know?"

"Why else would I ask?"

"Huh. Ok."

She told him the story of her initiation adventure. She had actually managed the whole thing pretty well after landing, or in her case, crash-landing. As she told her story, the rest of the people in the cafeteria were on their way out. Eventually the sun went down, and the two looked up to find themselves alone.

"Huh. Guess everyone else went to bed," Delsin surveyed.

"We probably should too," Velvet said, standing up.

"Probably."

Delsin cleaned up after himself and he and Velvet walked out of the cafeteria. Their paths soon diverged and they turned away with a quick goodbye. As they were walking away, Delsin turned back to Velvet.

"Hey Velvet!" he called.

The rabbit Faunus turned to face him. Delsin walked up to her.

"I just wanna tell you something."

"What?" she asked.

"Just that, I know what it's like to be hated for what you are. I want you to know that, and that if anyone messes with you because of those damn adorable ears of yours, let me know. I'll take care of it."

The moment he mentioned her ears, Velvet went beet red. Again. But she heard what Delsin said, and smiled gratefully. As she turned away, he smiled and walked back to his room.

0

Alex was in his room asleep when Delsin returned. Unfortunately he was a very light sleeper, and the Conduit was not very quiet with a heavy chain on his wrist. Alex woke in time to see Delsin plop down onto his own bed.

"You're home late," Alex said.

Delsin turned to face him.

"Is that a problem?" he grumbled.

"No, but it has made me curious. What kept you?"

"Ran into a friend in the cafeteria. Can I go to bed now?"

Alex smiled.

"Ok, remember we have class in the morning, about 9:00."

Delsin groaned, and the two soon fell asleep.

0

Delsin woke up first the next morning, and surveyed his new quarters. It was the same size as all of the other dorms, with the same furnishings. He didn't need to unpack, he didn't have any stuff after all, but he did redecorate a little. He took one of the other beds and pushed it up next to his so it doubled his sleep space.

His only decorative work done, he took a shower. As the water washed over him, he had his first real opportunity to think about his situation. Here he was in a new world, one that was completely different from his old one. He started to wonder how he got here, and after that got nowhere fast, his thoughts went to his actual home. He wondered what the Akomish would think when they heard of his disappearance. Did they think he was dead?

Then he wondered how Eugene and Fetch were doing in his absence. He had been the symbol of the Second Age after all, it couldn't be easy now that he was gone. Not that it had been in the first place. He hoped they were still alive at least. After a while he stopped the water and just stood there. His thoughts finally turned to one subject he was intentionally putting off.

What if he never got home?

As he got out of the shower, he wiped the steam away from the mirror, and looked himself in the eye, thinking on that question. After a while, he reached a conclusion. If he did get to go back home some day, he would do his best to leave this world better than he found it. If he didn't, same thing.

He smiled to himself and used his Water power to drain the water in the room. Not only did it leave him dry, he found it was an excellent way to keep the place from molding over. He got dressed and left the bathroom.

He exited just in time to see his partner wake up. Alex had been sprawled out on his bed, facing down since wings made back sleeping incredibly uncomfortable. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and saw his partner already awake.

"Morning," Delsin said with a small grin.

"Mm-hm," was the only response he got.

Delsin smirked a little more and used a little bit of his power to splash his face with cold water. Alex immediately woke up.

"Dude!" he shouted.

Delsin merely smiled and said, "You're welcome."

Alex grumbled a bit as he got out of bed.

"How do you even do that anyway? You implant Dust in yourself or something?" Alex asked, still a little ticked at his rough wake up call.

Delsin had been inspecting his uniform (which he was determined to find a way out of wearing) when he heard Alex's question. It made him pause. He still hadn't told Alex about his powers or his origins. If they were going to work together, he really ought to tell him.

"I'll tell him after class," Delsin thought.

"Something like that. Tell you more about it after class," he said aloud.

Alex merely grumbled on his way to his own shower.

Delsin did his partner a favor and pushed his beds together as he'd done for himself. After that he got back to researching Remnant. It was almost forty-five minutes later when his partner came out of the shower, airing his wings out.

"Hey Delsin?" he asked.

Delsin perked up, but didn't look away from his research.

"Yeah?"

"What time is it?"

Delsin closed his research tab and checked.

"Oh, shit," he said, frantically putting away his Scroll.

"What?"

"It's 8:47. We gotta go, class starts in less than fifteen minutes," he said hurriedly.

"Dammit, but my feathers are still wet," Alex complained.

"Here," Delsin said.

He raised a hand and drained the water off his partner. Alex was a little stunned, but he got over it pretty quick and looked a little smug.

"Alright. Let's go. Race you?"

Delsin smiled and switched to his Neon.

"You're on."

In two minutes, Alex was dressed and had eaten a lightning crystal. They counted down from ten, and they were off, a trail of rose petals and neon markings behind them.

0

Alex won that race, though not by a huge margin. Delsin was maybe ten to twenty seconds behind him.

When they reached the classroom door it was 8:55. They walked in to see several students already there. The teacher was an older man, with exceptionally styled gray heir and a spectacular mustache that hid most of his lower face, including his entire mouth. Somehow.

This was Professor Port, teacher of Grimm Studies. The professor saw them come in.

"Ah! Welcome students. Please come in," he said in an incredibly jovial and upbeat manner. Clearly he was a morning person.

Alex and Delsin went up the amphitheater-style room to the top level at the back of the classroom, and sat down,

At 9:00, just as the bell rang, all the members of both Team RWBY and Team JNPR, entered, just barely on time.

"So glad you could join us. Please do make an effort to make it here on time in ht future," the professor said to the nearly late party.

After a brief round of introductions, he began his lesson.

"Monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey. Ha ha!" Professor Port said jovially.

Whatever the joke was, no one got it.

Delsin barely paid attention. Alex, and most of the other students for that matter, weren't that much better about it. It got worse when he tried to be funny, and when he tried to wink at Yang, Alex nearly lost it. When he descended into story time, Delsin fell asleep.

He woke up thirty minutes later to the sound of explosions.

He stood up with a start, his hands glowing with Neon power. His heart was racing, his mind too. When he saw his partner down on the floor fighting a Boarbatusk, he lost it. His instincts took over, and he launched two Phosphor Beams at the beast. The first hit it in the leg, but the second blasted off its head, obliterating it.

Blake was the first to turn and see him. He had a wild look in his eyes, one that she recognized. It was the face of fear. Fear that someone you cared about was going to get hurt. Or worse. Alex recognized it too, once he stopped to look. He had been in the middle of grappling with the Grimm's tusks when it died.

After a moment, Delsin's mind slowed, and time caught up with him. He slumped down into his chair, only now remembering where he was and what was happening. Alex and Blake rushed too him, Ruby and the rest following.

"Delsin, you ok?" Alex asked.

Blake said nothing. She simply looked at him comprehendingly.

Port knew that look as well, and while the other students were checking on him, he sighed.

"Alright. That's it for today, class dismissed," he said, most of his usual cheer not present in his voice.

The students, Delsin included, began to exit the room.

"Mr. Rowe. Can I speak with you for a moment?" the professor asked.

Delsin looked back at him, a little confused. He went back to a seat at the front of the classroom. Professor Port walked up to him and pulled a flask out of his interior coat pocket. He took a swig and handed it to Delsin.

"Uh, you sure teach?" Delsin asked.

"You're over 21 and you need to relax. Go on, I won't tell if you won't." Port replied smiling.

Delsin took a swig. And immediately regretted it because the drink was vile. And it burned. A lot. He coughed a bit too. Port laughed.

"Not much of a drinker are you?" he said, his joviality returning, "Good."

Delsin was still coughing, but looked at him confused.

Port put the flask away, and waited for his student to stop coughing before continuing. Once he stopped, Port sat down in the chair next to him.

"I saw that look on your face when you killed that Grimm."

Delsin looked him dead in the eyes, but said nothing.

"That look was the look of someone all too familiar with loss. Someone who is fighting desperately to protect the ones they care for, because they know what happens when they don't."

Delsin hung his head a bit, and gripped his brother's badge.

"Who did you lose Delsin?" the professor pressed.

Delsin didn't respond, but his grip on the badge tightened.

Port leaned back in his chair.

"Delsin, do you know the reason we have teams instead of individuals at the academies?"

"No. In case Oz never told you, I'm not from around here."

"He did. He told most of the faculty after you were admitted. Anyway, the reason is support. No man can win alone, not even someone as skilled as me. Not because we lack power, though that may be the case at times, but because after a while, the constant battles and danger can get to you. When that happens, it never ends well for anyone involved. That is why we have teams. If one person falls, the others are there to help him pick himself up. Remember that, because if you don't, you'll wind up looking towards things like this to solve your problems," he said, patting the pocket where his flask was held.

Delsin looked at him, shocked that this professor could be so insightful and serious. Then it hit him.

"Speaking from experience there teach?" he asked.

Port just smiled, and stood up.

"Now why don't you run along. You've got a class to get too, and I've got another one starting in a bit."

Delsin rose, his brother's badge hanging around his neck, and a small smile on his face.

"Thank you professor," he said.

Professor Port just smiled and waved him out of the room.

0

The rest of his first day went a lot better than that, and after class that day, Delsin went back to his room to talk to his partner. Alex was laying on his now double sized bed with his wings out, reading a book. He sat up when his partner came in.

"Hey Delsin, how you doing? You alright?" Alex asked, still worried from Delsin's episode earlier.

Delsin smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, sitting on his own bed.

"Well if you need to talk about anything, I'm here, ok? I've been through some tough times myself, I know how it feels."

"OK. Though if you want I do have something to discuss with you."

"Sure," he said without hesitation, "What is it?"

"Well, if we're going to work with each other as partners, you need to know a few things about me. Including my powers."

Alex really perked up then.

"Yeah, I asked about that earlier."

"Uh-huh. You'd better get settled in, this is gonna be a long story."

CHAPTER END

I just gotta say something: Wow. I'm writing this two days after I posted the first three chapters and I am amazed at the traffic report. 493 views total since 7/18/2017? That dwarfs everything I have ever written combined by a huge margin. You guys are awesome, Thank you so much for your support. Updates will be on Tuesday's from here on out, so keep a watchful eye on it. As always, don't forget to review, even if it's just two words. All thoughts are appreciated.

Also, I have received notice that my OC is OP (Ha ha). Let me assure you, this is intentional, not an oversight. It is part of his character, and I do have my reasons. As for what those are, well I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and see.