Chapter 18
Sunday, Mid-day: Ozpin's Office
Ozpin sat at his desk looking at his scroll. On the scroll is a live video feed watching the streets of Vale. He took a sip of coffee as he concentrated on the video. His gaze never leaving the device. He would sometimes look at the feeds to watch the city for suspicious activity while he is at Beacon. This time though he found something else to watch or someone. His full attention on someone he had a growing suspicion of recently.
Streets of Vale
"Come on Micheal! Hurry up!" Yang excitedly shouts at the corner of the street waving at her date.
"I'm coming! I'm coming! We have all day, no need to rush," Micheal shouts back at the blonde. He lets out a small groan as he runs to catch up with his date. The wolf faunus is aware he was going on a date with the blonde. He wasn't nervous, but he did feel a little bad he didn't have anything better to wear or at least something else. The blonde girl was, in fact, wearing something different than her usual outfit. Her new outfit is a gray jacket over an orange tank top that bears her hips. An emblem that Micheal doesn't recognize is on the left sleeve. She is also wearing gray-brown cargo pants with ribbed knee paneling. High on the left leg is a red shield-shaped patch with imagery of three Ursa masks, and her emblem is stitched on the right thigh. The wolf faunus eventually caught up to the brawler.
"I know but we need to make a quick errand first," Yang says. She then turns to get ready to run as the pedestrian light turn to signal it was safe to cross. "So come on, I want this done with so we can move on to our date," the blonde says. But Micheal grabs her arm.
"We've been running like this for the past ten minutes, you're telling me we are not even close yet?" The wolf faunus questions.
"Well…," Yang stops for a second, tapping her chin thinking. "It should be close, so I guess we can walk the rest of the way," she finishes her thought as duo walk across the street. She pulls out her scroll to confirm their distance to their first stop. The wolf faunus found himself eyeing his date's outfit, he found himself staring too long. Something Yang caught onto as she turns to her friend "What?" she questions.
"Nothing, I just wasn't expecting you to dress in something else," Micheal answers.
"I just decided to mix it up that's all, it's nothing special," the blonde says twisting her upper body a bit as to show off the outfit better. "Don't like it?"
"No, I like it, you look great," the wolf faunus says looking his date in the eyes. He then eyes himself in the same clothes he's been wearing since he appeared in this world. While he felt fortunate to have multiple pairs of clothes to wear at all, the lack of variety is off-putting. "I just wish I could mix it up as well, at least for the occasion," Micheal says slightly disheartened. He then felt her hand grab his, intertwining their fingers. He looks at Yang giving him a warm comforting smile, her eyes radiating the same warmth as her smile.
"You're fine, I think you look good as well, but you could use a new set of clothes," she says reassuring, though she did agree with him needing new clothes. 'Maybe next time, I promised Weiss I'd only use her card on his armor,' she notes to herself.
"Thanks," Micheal says with a smile of his own and a small blush. Then Yang suddenly stopped causing her friend to stop on a dime as well. "Why did you stop?"
"We're here that's why," the blonde says pointing at the building with her free hand. Micheal sees the weapon store that Yang, Weiss, and Hitomi visited yesterday.
"Why a weapon store?" he says questioningly
"Well, because we're getting you your own set of armor," the amethyst-eyed girl answers.
"Wait, why would you guys do that?" the grey-haired boy inquires.
"Because you suck at fighting," Yang answers truthfully. Micheal cringed a bit but didn't say anything. He just sighs in response. "Look, Micheal, we're doing this because we don't want you to get seriously hurt or die on us, we just want you safe," the brawler says solemnly as she squeezed her date's hand tighter. The wolf faunus squeezes her hand in response. Yang turns to smile at her date, only for her smile to falter when she noticed his dishearten face looking at the ground. Micheal shifts himself so he stood in front of Yang. His eyes closed for a second as he took a deep breath.
"I appreciate everything you girls are doing for me, really I do, but I'm starting to feel like a bother to you all," Micheal admits returning his gaze to Yang.
"Look Micheal…," Yang starts as she brings the wolf faunus's hand that she had been holding up in between them. She then clasps her other hand on Micheal's. "Blake, Weiss, and Hitomi are honest about this whole situation, Ruby is trying to be nice not admit her own disappointment, and I will admit, even I'm a little frustrated with it as well, but at the end of the day, we like you, that's the major reason why we do this, if we didn't, we probably would have transferred you to another team, so don't beat yourself up over this okay, as we keep saying, and will keep saying till we finally get it through to you, we're with you no matter what, all of us," Yang says giving the warmest smile she could to the wolf faunus. Her date returned the smile with his own, his tail wagging in response. The blonde's smile widens as she quickly kisses the faunus on the cheek. "Now come on! let's get this over with, so we can move on to the actual date," the blonde says excitedly dragging the wolf faunus with her into the building.
"Not so rough, you'll tear my arm off," Micheal complains in pain, his face red as Ruby's cloak.
Ozpin's Office
As Ozpin watched the feed, he felt his desire to trust Micheal grow. Every time he sees when observes the hunter-in-training, all he sees is a decent young man just living his life. But he couldn't just cast away his suspicion of says man as it could be an act. He couldn't stop now till he knew for himself whether it's all an act or this is who the wolf faunus is truly someone he can trust. He continues to watch the date for some time. He eventually turns off the feed, as nothing of note appeared to be happening, and places his scroll down as he begins his paperwork. As he glances through the sheets of paper, ranging from campus complaints to his student's schoolwork, he begins to think of a way to catch the wolf faunus alone and then invite him to his office, away from his team.
Tuesday Afternoon, Beacon Grounds
Micheal rolled his shoulder as he tries to adjust to his new armor that fit snug against his chest. Covering his entire upper torso and back is a set of studded leather plate armor with pauldrons on his shoulders and segmented rerebraces covering his upper part of his arms. The armor starting from the center of his torso and going lower is segmented as well. The wolf faunus sighs as he felt the slight restriction to his movements becoming apparent. This is only his second time putting on the armor. Weiss ordered him to have it on as much as possible so could adjust to it as quickly as possible, so basically, he will have it on every afternoon and weekend till he fully adapts to it. He also notes it is a fair amount heavier than he thought it would be. 'Video games make this look so much lighter than it actually is,' the wolf faunus comments to himself.
"So, how does it fit?" asks the heiress. The grey-haired boy looks at his friend who is walking beside him. The duo was on their way to the library from the dorms, in their regular clothes, to meet up with Ruby and Blake for a little study session on aura and to look up the history of Elder Scourge appearances. Yang and Hitomi were in the training building having their own exercise session. The fox faunus needed a partner for sparring and the blonde was quite eager to join her.
"It fits good, if a little snug, but it's not tight either, I don't feel that constricted in movement either," Micheal answers.
"Good, I spent a fair amount of money on that, I expect high-quality work," Weiss comments. The comment earned a hum from the faunus.
"So, what's the lesson today Weiss? More aura manipulation?" The wolf faunus asks as he gazes towards his employer.
"Yes, but this time we are going to work on defensive applications," the heiress replies looking at the faunus. Her employee tilts his head a bit in curiously of the subject. "Well, I conclude you are ready to move on to the next lesson of your training," Weiss explains.
"I haven't really master aura refinement yet," Micheal protests slightly to moving on to another subject.
"I know you haven't," the white-haired girl agrees. The wolf faunus was going to question why she wanted to move on. "But," she interrupts bringing her left hand up in between them with a single finger extended. "By what Blake explained during you sparring match with Noire, you were able to hold your aura in your sword during your strike, meaning you could hold your concentration even with your mindset at the time," she explains as she lowers her hand. "The fact that you held your concentration is adequate for now, I would have liked you to be able to do the same with refined aura, but we are working on an accelerated schedule, so it will have to do, plus we can also practice in our spare time," Weiss finishes.
"I guess you're right," Micheal says in response.
"Of course, I am," the heiress proudly states with an equally proud smile crossing her arms. "Now hurry up, the faster we get to the library the more time we have to practice," she states as she quickens her pace with her teammate following her lead.
"So, Weiss, is defensive measures mean like the barrier around my body?" Micheal asks.
"Part of it," Weiss answers as looks toward the wolf faunus. "It also encompasses strengthening your equipment too, making your armor or shield able to block attacks that were unlockable before."
"What about that thing Ren did during initiation?" Micheal asks. Nora mentioned her partner's fight against a King Taijitu during initiation.
"You are referring to when he blocked the King Taijitu's strike?" the heiress asks in return. Her employee nods in response. "Yes, that is also an example of a defensive application of aura, though not one would indorse doing unless it's an emergency or in dire straits, like he experienced," Weiss explained.
"Okay," the faunus of the duo agreeing. "So curious, am I just enhancing the barrier on around my body when I concentrate on it?"
"No, you are actually turning the barrier on," the white-haired girl answers. Her employee tilts his head slightly in confusion. "It may appear like it's always on from your eyes when watching us or from your past experiences, but we just can activate it without actively thinking about it, if it was always on you would not have some of the scars you nor would have suffered the kind of bruises you received," Weiss explains a bit.
"Then why is it that it did turn on in some cases? Like when the Gigas was crushing me," the wolf faunus asks referring to the time the dinosaurian grimm as stomping on him.
"Well, in some extreme cases, your aura can automatically manifest itself to guard you against serious or life-threating injuries," the white-haired girl clarifies. "You have been a remarkably fortunate person to have your aura when you did, but I rather rely on your own skill than luck to survive," She comments. Then her features turn slightly unhappy as she looks at the ground and utters quietly "Eventually, your luck will run out." Her employee's wolf ears caught that remark and he wrapped his right arm around her in assurance. Weiss blushed a bit from the contact as reclaims eye contact with her teammate.
"Look, I don't plan on dying anytime soon, I promise that I won't actively do anything stupid okay," Micheal says with a comforting smile. Weiss returns a slight smile of her own. Then glances at the arm around her shoulders.
"Let go please," the heiress asks kindly as she shrugs the arm off.
"What? You get hugs from Ruby all the time as well," the wolf faunus complains playfully as he removes his arm.
"And I wish she didn't hug so much as well," Weiss sighs as she tilts her head to the side closing her eyes crossing her arms, her smile never leaving her face.
"You like it, admit it," Micheal teases.
"I don't hate it, I'm just…," she stops for a second to ponder the right words. "I'm just not used to the physical contact, though to be honest, I prefer hers to her sister," Weiss says holding a finger up. "Yang can just be so rough with them," she adds on.
"Hey, at least your get getting along with her," the grey-haired boy says reassuring.
"That is true," his employer agrees. Micheal's wolf ear twitches as it turns to the sounds of footsteps quickly approaching the duo, the pitches of the footsteps varied between light and soft to loud and heavy.
"Hey!" a voice shouts from behind the duo. Micheal and Weiss turn their heads to the origin of the voice. Before Micheal could react a muscular hand roughly grabs him by the front of his shirt's collar and lifts him up off the ground. The next thing the wolf faunus sees is the rage-filled brown eyes of a fellow student. The grey-haired boy's eyes widen slightly at the sight. He did remember Yang mentioning that some of the students weren't fond of him, to put it lightly. He did take heed of her words but didn't feel all that bothered by it, assuming he would never encounter such students head-on. 'Welp, there goes that thought,' he annoyingly comments to himself. "What the hell is your problem?"
"You're the problem here!" the student yells at the faunus. A white glyph appears between the two as it forced the aggressor of the two to let go out of shock. Micheal drops to the ground as turns to look at Weiss, who had her hand raised.
"Thanks, Weiss," the wolf faunus says with a smile. The heiress returns it with a nod and small smile of her own. The duo returns their attention to the group consisting of various human and faunus, male and female members of each race, all their combined anger, and grief directed towards Micheal. The leader of the group, or rather the one who acted first recovered from his shock. He is a tall, well tall to Micheal anyway, muscular dark-skinned male human with short black hair. His attire consisted of nothing more than a rust-colored sleeveless leather vest, that showed of his muscular arms and tan jeans and stands at around Jaune's height. "Seriously, what the hell is your problem?"
"As I said, you're the fucking problem," the man says, venom in his voice.
"How?" the wolf faunus asks seriously confused. Thanks to his teammate and team JNPR, he became aware of some of the student body's contempt for him and his supposed relationship with Magaru. A thought that appalled him, due to how senseless and absurd it was. He never did anything wrong to receive that ire. He is targeted by Magaru for whatever reason it wanted.
"That dragon maims and kills people that live here, some of them my friends, and yet you get off scot-free, even when it had you pinned, why is that?" He says ending in a question, his voice filled with rage and venom.
"Like the hell I know, you think I know what goes through a grimm's head," Micheal says, keeping his voice calm despite being extremely annoyed at the situation.
"Then why didn't it kill you?" the man yells his question again.
"I don't know," Micheal says, emphasizing each word.
"Because you're in league with the thing," the man says.
"That is absolutely preposterous, what seriously brought that thought into your heads?" Weiss asks angrily.
"How else could he have survived then huh," the young man says trying to back up the claim.
"Do you think we know," Weiss starts. "If we knew, we would tell Professor Ozpin and we could prepare, I won't say we could stop what happened but we can prepare for the future, my teammate is in as much danger as everyone, that thing is targeting him specifically," Weiss explains.
"How do you know that?" another person from the crowd asks.
"When he pinned me, he called me his prey, he's the reason I fought a Gigas by myself," Micheal answers.
"It should have killed you," the guy says coldly.
"How can you say something like that?" Micheal asks appalled.
"Because I don't give a fuck about you or the wolf faunus! I just want my friends back!" the unruly man says as he cracks his knuckles. The wolf faunus turns his body sideways to obscure himself slowly reaching behind his back for his gun. Now someone may judge him for holding his weapon concealed on his person, but it was something he learns from his dad. A habit that may be controversial to some but to Micheal, it was something could pay off in a pinch when the situation arises. Once he wraps his hands around the grip, he flips the safety off. He had put a round in the chamber earlier, so he didn't have to worry about loading it during a fight. Now the grey-haired boy wasn't planning on killing anyone, just hopefully scare the attackers off and if he did have to use his firearm, he would just shoot them in the leg. Though if the situation escalated, he wasn't averse to killing someone if necessary and deal with the consequences later. He is going to make sure he and Weiss, not that she couldn't take care of herself, made it back to the dorm. The sound of a new set of footsteps rapidly approaching could be heard behind the heiress. The guy pulls back his as he prepares to brutally beat the source of his ire. In the next moment, as the aggressor swung a fist and Micheal begins to pull his weapon out, a large hand invades the space between the two and grabs the attacker's hand with a loud smack. Micheal looks up the equally large, muscular arm and sees the largest person he has ever seen in his life.
The new guy is an athletic young man with shaved-short black hair and tan skin, wearing mostly pale-green and brown attire. He wears a long short-sleeved robe, which he wears on one shoulder over a black muscle shirt. The robe is fastened in place at the waist by a leather armored belt with two pouches on it. He also wears brown pants with black-and-green boots. His left arm bears a 5-layer sode which extends up past his shoulder. His sheer size is astonishing to the short wolf faunus. He is at least a foot-and-a-half taller than him. It hurt his neck to bend back far enough to look the man in the eyes to give him a look of appreciation as he relaxes. The massive man just nods with a small smile his head in return.
The massive guy quickly grips the aggressor's arm and easily lifts him off the ground as he glares the group of students. The sheer size of the man and strength, as he held the frantic man with one arm, causes them to halt their attack. The attacker kicking his legs wildly in the air as he tries to pry his hand free with his other hand. Micheal felt a gentle pressure on his weapon and turns to see a new guy with white eyes.
The next guy is of a far more reasonable height than the last. He has dark skin with messy, dark copper hair that has a long fringe and a cowlick. He wears a sleeveless, muted orange zipper vest with black lining and a high collar, a pair of black jeans, and brown laced shoes. He also wears a pair of long black gloves with several pouches attached to his belt. The physical features that stuck were that his arms were covered in scars and a vertical one on his lip. Though what stuck out the most is his pure white eyes, that left Micheal confused as to whether the guy is blind or that is natural eye color.
This copper-haired guy just slowly shook his head, a message not lost to Micheal. The wolf faunus nods as he flips the safety on as he holsters his gun. The new guy just nods in return.
"Rust, Rust, Rust," a new voice says coolly, dragging out the word with each repeated use. Micheal turns to see a woman this time joining the group defending the wolf faunus.
The next one is a young woman with fair skin with short dark-brown hair and dark-brown eyes, that was partially obscured by a pair of black, wire-rimmed aviator sunglasses. She has wavy locks on one side of her face, dyed in a gradient that starts as dark brown and transitions into a caramel color. She wears a long cocoa-colored shirt with a dark-brown waist clincher. She wears long, dark-brown trousers with ribbons on the left side and a brown belt with cartridges and a gold crosshair shaped belt buckle. What appears to be a drape of a black skirt hangs on her right side. She also wears a pair of dark-brown, high-heeled leather boots with buckles. She is adorning multiple accessories such as bracelets with black roses, black gloves, and necklaces. The wolf faunus could think of one word to describe this girl and it would be, fashionable.
"We've told you to cut that shit out, it is not his fault," she says, slowly emphasizing the last four words, in a knowingly vain attempt to calm the angry man. She has tried this before, multiple times, yet Rust wouldn't listen to her. She delicately pulls her sunglasses down as she looks at Micheal. She gives him a friendly wink with a confident smile and then readjusts her glasses as she walks past him.
"Fuck you, Coco! it's his fault! I know it is! let me go!" the man named Rust shouts in defiance.
"Are you okay?" a soft-spoken voice came from Micheal's left. He turns to see a familiar face, the brown rabbit faunus Velvet Scarlatina.
Velvet Scarlatina has long, brown hair and brown eyes with a pair of brown rabbit ears to match. her outfit is comprised of a short, long-sleeve brown jacket with a golden zipper, brown shorts with a gold zipper and black leggings. She also wears a black- semi-translucent undershirt beneath her jacket, along with golden spaulders and vambraces on both arms, as well as a similar belt, and her heels and toes are protected as well.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Micheal replies. He sees Weiss appear at his right with a relieved look on her face. She had been worried about getting into a fight but thankfully this new team came to stop it.
"That's good," Velvet says with a warm smile. He eyes drifting to the wolf faunus' back. "You were not really planning on using that firearm, were you?"
"Honestly, I didn't want to, but I will if I have too, I would have just shot him in the leg the worst though," Micheal admits, not mentioning he would have gone farther if pushed. The rabbit faunus' face drops a bit in response and sighs, but nods in understanding.
"Well, it is a good thing you didn't have to," Velvet says. Micheal nods in response.
"Yes, it is," Weiss comments herself, a slight glare in her eyes. Micheal doubts it because of his weapon, many of the students carry theirs on their person. He had a feeling she could see through him and read his mind. He was right, Weiss wasn't angry about the firearm. She is angry because she had the feeling he was planning to go further if needed. She would have to have a discussion with him about that, at least with no prying ears around. The sounds of people running caught the trio's attention as they turn to see the group of unruly students running away. Rust hobbles behind the group with the help of two of the members of the group.
"That takes care of that," the woman named Coco says with a frustrated sigh, rubbing her temple. She turns to the trio behind with a confident smile from little earlier returning to her face. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that, he is usually a decent guy."
"You don't have to apologize for him, everyone responses to grief differently, and thanks for the help," Micheal says with a small smile.
"It still doesn't give him any right to his actions," the gigantic man comments.
"Besides it's the least we can do in return for helping our team out," Coco says. Micheal's face drops in thought as he looks up trying to remember what he did to help them.
"You saved me when that dragon grimm pinned me under its foot," Velvet reminds the wolf faunus.
"Oh right, that was you," Micheal says with clarity finally remembering. Then the rabbit faunus suddenly hugs him tightly, catching him off-guard as the unexpected weight of another almost causing him to topple over
"I never got to say thank you for saving me," she says gratefully burying her face into the grey-haired boy's neck.
"Your welcome," Micheal says quietly, still a bit in shock at the sudden action. Velvet let go after a minute.
"Sorry, I got a little too excited there," Velvet apologizes.
"It's okay, I was just surprised that's all," Micheal says in response with a warm smile.
"We would have lost our cute little bunny without you," Coco says, with hint gratefulness in her voice, as she gives Velvet a one-armed hug. "I'm Coco Adel, leader of team CFVY," as she gestures between her, Velvet and the other two guys. Micheal held out his hand and Coco let go of her friend to shake it.
"I'm Velvet Scarlatina," the rabbit faunus says as she shakes Micheal's hand after her leader. She gestures to the impossibly, large man. Micheal and Weiss had to painfully crane their necks back to look him the eye. "This is Yatsuhashi Daichi," the man gives the wolf faunus a friendly smile as his large hand envelopes Micheal's to shake it. Velvet then gesture to the last member of their team. "This is Fox Alistair," she says as Fox shakes Micheal's hand as well with a courteous nod. Micheal invited them to walk with them to the library, which the team CFVY accepted. The group then began to walk together to the Weiss' and Micheal's original destination, chatting along the way.
Ozpin's Office
Ozpin sat hunched over his desk as he watched the entire scene play out through the cameras on his computer. His eyes slightly narrowed as he listened to the students vent their misplaced anger at the resident wolf faunus. His grip on the handle of his coffee mug tightens in his own building frustration. While the headmaster's own feelings on his mysterious student are uncertain, he will not tolerate the actions that these students are taking. His words to his students nearly a month ago still ring true to this day and the simple fact of accusing someone else of the actions of another is intolerable. It also convinces the professor to discover how many of his students share the same mindset as the misguided group. He commends the gesture of the members of team CFVY for helping to quell the unruly group. He'll have to think of a way to thank them. He reaches out with his free hand towards his scroll. He absent-minded grabs it and punches in his password to unlock his scroll. His eyes glance toward as he looks through his contact for a familiar number and taps the number. A few rings rang as he waited for the person he was calling to answer.
"Hello," the familiar voice of Glynda Goodwitch says through the scroll.
"Glynda, are you busy at this moment?" the headmaster asks his coworker.
"Not particularly, I'm just reviewing today's classwork," She answers as the quiet sound of rustling could be heard proving her statement. "Is there anything you need of me?" the woman asks.
"There is a group of students I need you to reprimand as soon as you can after I send you the list," he says. He didn't need to see the woman to tell she looks at her scroll curiously, wondering why. Ozpin then explained to her before she asked why he wants them reprimanded.
"Of course, sir, I'll get on it as soon as I receive your list," she replies. Though her voice sounds professional to those who don't know or are not particularly close to the older woman, to the headmaster who had known her for a long time he could tell there was a slight venomous tone to her voice. Signifying her intolerance towards the kind of behavior she was just told about.
"Glynda," Ozpin says getting the woman's attention one last time. He received a hum in return, telling him she had his full attention. "Your free to punish them as you see fit," the professor says to his college.
"Of course, thank you, sir," Glynda says with a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. Ozpin ends the call as he places his scroll on his desk. He then props his elbows on his desk and intertwines his fingers as he looks at his computer one more time. He sighs sadly as he watches the wolf faunus peacefully chats with the members of team CFVY. He continues to watch as the group walks away from the camera. He then rests his forehead against his hands and takes a deep breath. He remembers the small speech he had given the faunus' leader on the first day of the semester, more particularly how he mentions how he made numerous mistakes in his long life. 'I just hope I'm not making another,' he prays to himself. He then decides that he will either invite the faunus this Friday or Saturday to his office to confirm whether he could trust Micheal or not. If he could trust him then life proceeds almost like normal for the young man and the professor, if under a watchful eye. If he can't trust him, well, he will find some way to deal with him.
Thursday, Afternoon, Beacon Grounds
Ruby, Weiss, and Micheal were on their way to the training building. The red and white duo was going to be Micheal's sparring partners today and help him with defensive aura techniques. The trio discussing aura again to make sure the wolf faunus remembered.
"So, do you still remember what I told you about yesterday?" Weiss asks the faunus.
"Yeah," he responds assuring. His face contorts a bit in confusion. "Did you want me to try applying those lessons today?" he asks a little worried. While he thinks he could probably do it mid-match at least once, he wasn't sure he could do it reliably. The heiress gave it the idea a bit of thought.
"I would say at least try," Ruby answers before her partner. Weiss shifts her gaze towards her partner. She in turns shifts her attention to the heiress. "Well, he won't get better or any experience if doesn't at least try it," the brunette explains herself. The white-haired girl brought a finger up and taps the side of her head.
"I know you are right Ruby, but I worry if it would be too dangerous right now," Weiss counters.
"I mean we are just using the training weapons like Micheal and Blake used last time, right?" Ruby asks to confirm they were.
"Yes, but they can still cause some serious harm, Micheal has barley just recovered from the last time, he was just lucky to get away with some bruises," the heiress explains.
"I know, but it's not like I'm going to use my full strength into the hit," the reaper tries to counter.
"Maybe, but I know you can get carried away," Weiss says lightly chiding her partner, to which says partner gave a light whine. "Though…," she turns her head towards the Micheal for a bit before returning to her younger teammate. "We can at least practice in a more controlled scenario," the heiress says with a small smile. Her partner then hugs her with a wide smile on her face. The fencer blushes lightly at the contact as she just accepts the hug. "Yes, yes, your welcome, but please let me go," was all she says to her partner, who did as she was told. Weiss was about to say something when a squeal caught her attention followed by the sound of a light impact and a grunt. The red and white duo turn to see Micheal regaining his balance as a young girl with long, wavy platinum blonde hair that has a single strand of hair dyed violet clung to his back. The wolf faunus blushes as he felt two distinct soft objects press against his back, knowing what they were.
"Get off," the wolf faunus struggled to say as he finally regains his balance.
"Oh ho, why would I do that?" the girl asks jokingly. The tone of the voice is familiar to Ruby and Micheal. The wolf faunus turns his head to look to confirm who it was, to receive a kiss on the cheek. His blush darkening at the soft feeling. Weiss's left eyebrow twitches at the sight and Ruby gave a groan of disapproval herself. The girl separated her lips from the wolf faunus' cheek. She gave Micheal a cheeky grin, as he recognizes her immediately.
"Violet let me go, you're making it hard to stand," the wolf faunus orders as he tries to shake her off. Which she did take the hint and let go, to which the wolf faunus immediately lost his balance and fell. He turns to see her giggling mischievously.
The girl, Violet Corvus, is a tall young girl with violet eyes, standing equal in height to Coco. She has a slender, muscular, curvy, figure that could rival Yang. She wears a short, black t-shirt with an amethyst colored lining that shows off her toned muscular stomach. She also white jeans with the right pant leg ripped-off half-way down the tight, showing off her long, lean, muscular leg, with the remaining pant leg having three amethyst stripes down the side. A singular earing hung from her right ear that bears the shape of a small raven. She also wears a long amethyst scarf around her neck with a matching ribbon on her left wrist.
"See, if you continued to let me hug you that wouldn't have happened," she says with a slightly smug grin, her hands on her hips.
"Violet, what do you want?" Ruby asks slightly annoyed.
"Ruby roo, cute as ever I see," she says cheerfully with a friendly smile. Even though her nickname and compliment were in playful fun, as Ruby did give a small smile, her presence did kind of annoy the brunette a bit. "Oh, I just happen to have seen Micheal across the courtyard and had felt the need hug him, plus I need to protect him from all those mean people, who blame him for something he didn't commit," she says both playfully and honestly.
"Who is she?" Weiss asks her partner, sharing her partner's attitude toward the woman.
"Violet Corvus, me and Micheal, share Heavy Weapons Class with her," Ruby answers. "She's not a bad person, just kind of annoying." The tallest of the girls gasped in response taking a step back with a hand on her chest, all melodramatic.
"I forgot Micheal was in that class," the heiress comments quietly to herself.
"Ruby roo, I'm hurt you would say that," the tall girl says trying to sound hurt. "I thought we were friends?"
"Someone I can get along with, yes, but the two of us as friends is kind of a stretch," Ruby answers her smile never leaving her face. The violet-eyed girl just shrugs in response.
"Oh well, but I really do want to be friends with a cutie such as you," Violet says honestly. Ruby's eyes roll to the side as she scratches her flushed cheek. The taller girl looks at Weiss quizzingly.
"What?" The heiress snaps at the taller girl.
"Oh, nothing much, I do remember Ruby roo saying the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company was her partner, but I wasn't sure till today," she answers as she held out her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Schnee," she politely greets the smaller of the duo. Weiss takes a moment to ponder shaking the girl's hand before grabbing the hand and shaking it.
"A pleasure to meet you as well," the heiress strains to say politely. Weiss notes how firm the other girl's handshake was. She also looks in her eyes and doesn't see any dishonesty in them, nor did the vibe the girl gave off. The shorter of the two girls could believe her partner's word, not bad, just annoying. She let go of the taller girl's hand as a sound caught the groups' attention. They all turn towards the origin of the voice to see a small group student walking their way. The wolf faunus had just picked and dusted himself off as he felt a hand grab the collar of his shirt.
'Not again,' he complains in his mind as he was picked off the ground. He saw it was the same person as yesterday. "You again Rust," Micheal says annoyed at the same person wanting to bother him. Weiss was about to activate her semblance again before other members of the group grabbed her by her arms and an arm wrapped around her neck. She looks toward her partner for her to help, but only to see her in the same position as her. She looks toward Violet and noticed she was bound in the same manner. The blonde female winks at her, as to tell her she can handle this. The heiress just angrily sighs and decides to trust her.
"Of course, you damn mongrel," he seethes at the smaller of the two, his grip tightening on his collar. He rears his hand back as a rust-colored glow covers his hand. "I don't give a damn what you or anyone says, you're the reason my friend is dead, and you got to pay for it!" He yells in the wolf faunus's face. Miceal began to pulls his legs back ready to kick out Rust's legs. The dark-haired boy threw his punch at the wolf faunus. Two different sounds were heard during the next second, first, the sound of something hitting stone. And second, the audible sound of his fist connecting with something was heard, but instead of the wolf faunus, it instead was caught by a hand with a faint black colored glow. Both Micheal and Rust look toward the owner to see Violet, who's entire body was glowing black as a raven.
"Your pathetic," the girl says with venom in her voice. She grabs the back of the wolf faunus armor and effortlessly tears him out the boy's grip, ripping the collar of Micheal shirt off in the process. Everyone is wide-eyed at the strength of this girl as she not only casually rips the wolf faunus out of Rust's but as carries him with one arm as though he weighed nothing. Then there was the speed, Ruby and Weiss were the only ones who could see as she moved to intercept the punch in such a brief time. The glowing girl the moves her arm carrying the wolf faunus so he was against her back, with her other arm she then tosses Rust's arm up, throwing him off balance. In the next moment, Violet slams an open palm into the dark-haired boy's chest. The impact sends the boy flying five feet away, landing hard on his back.
"You…, you bitch," Rust says staggering to his feet. He noticed the person originally holding Violet was throw into a wall, leaving an impression in it with cracks forming around the impact. Then he felt a hand grab his shoulder. He looks to see Cardin Winchester standing next to him. Rust looks at the boy excited that he was getting some backup. What no one was expecting was for the bully to roughly toss the dark-haired boy into the nearest wall, cracks forming from the impact. The students who were holding Ruby and Weiss let go and ran over to their leader.
"Get lost, dumbass," Cardin orders seriously with a glare.
"What?" Rust questions quietly at the unexpected action. "You hate faunus! Why the fuck are you defending him!?" the boy yells at the orange-haired boy.
"Yeah, I hate faunus," the bully answers calmly as turns to face the smaller boy. "But I hate people who blame others for the action of another even more," he explains as he brought his right fist into his left palm. "As I said, get lost," he orders again emphasizing the last two words as he popped his knuckles. The group staggered away and around a corner. Cardin let loose a huff in annoyance as he turns to the others. His eyebrow quirked a bit as he stares at their stupefied faces. There was also the fact that Violet, who was no longer glowing, was now holding Micheal with arms around his chest suspended in the air like a doll. The wide-eyed confused expression on his face could either from Cardin's actions or the fact he is being effortlessly carried around like a girl's toy.
"What?" he asks annoyed at their expressions.
"Why did you help me?" Micheal answers with a question.
"Because I wanted to that's why," he answers with a huff.
"You have shown nothing but contempt for faunus since we have known you, we surely would have thought you would have been part of the crowd antagonizing Micheal," Weiss says glaring. The bully's face scrunches up in anger.
"Hey, I have morals, I hate people who pin blame on others, I was there when that grimm attack, as far as I could see the little mutt didn't kill anyone, the grimm did," Cardin answers, glaring back at heiress. His gaze shifting to the wolf faunus. "Why didn't it kill you by the way?" He asks plainly.
"I don't know," the wolf faunus answers honestly. The bully just shrugs in response as his face relaxes.
"Grimm will be grimm, no idea what they're thinking," he says as walks past the group. Before he passes Micheal and Violet, he quickly grabs Micheal's ear and pulls hard on it and gives a smug grin for a second. The wolf faunus groans in pain. Then the bully walks off with a mean-spirited chuckle.
"Asshole," Micheal snarls as he soothes his aching ear with his right hand.
"And here I was thinking he could be a decent person," Ruby comments as she watches Cardin walk off.
"He is, deep down at least," a voice says. The group turns to see the rest of the Cardin's team standing there, in front of the group stood Russel Thrush.
"What? Him, I sincerely doubt it," Weiss chides the guy. He just sighs with a shrug and smile.
"I know he is; I've known him for a long, he didn't always hate faunus, it was just something his family forced him to learn," Russel replies. He walks after his leader, but before he passes the group, he puts a hand on Micheal's shoulder. "Your opinion of him probably isn't all the good, but know that he is on your side, at least as far this situation is concerned, so don't worry about him," he says with a friendly smile as he gently pats the faunus' shoulder. The other members give thumbs up of their own before they run to catch up with their leader.
"Well, that was interesting," Violet comments as she watches the team of ruffians walk off.
"Indeed," Weiss agrees as she watched them as well. She then turns to the taller girl. "You are going to let go of him, right?" She asks. Said girl just hugs him a bit tighter.
"But I like hugging Micheal, he is just so cuddly, with his soft hair and tail," Violet says gleefully burying her face in Micheal's hair. That earns an annoyed breath out of the heiress.
"Damn it, Violet, you ripped my shirt, I don't have a lot of these okay," the wolf faunus complains.
"I'm sorry, I was trying to get you away Rust, I'll buy another for you, I promise," Violet says with a apologetic grin.
"Besides I think now would be an appropriate time to get you another set of clothes to wear," Weiss comments somewhat jokingly. She sighs relieved that the issue was over for now and they could back onto their previous task. "Thank you for the help Mrs. Corvus, but we really have to get going, so please let go of our teammate," the heiress says politely, not strained this time.
"What were you going to do?" the blonde asks, ignoring the request.
"We were going to the training building for some sparring practice with Micheal," Ruby answers. Weiss gives a light glare towards her partner.
"Can I come? I can help," the tall girl asks pleading. The heiress wanted to say no and looks toward her partner to gauge her response. The brunette shrugs with a smile on her face.
"Sure, think of it as a way to repay for helping us," Weiss answers, which cause Violet to shout in joy. 'I'll just have to make a good cover for Micheal poor combat skills' the heiress notes in her head as the group walk towards the building together, well most of them walking anyways.
"Violet, please put me down now, I'm not a doll," the wolf faunus pleads. Unfortunately, his pleas were ignored.
"By the way, is your semblance super-speed?" Ruby asks the tallest of the girls.
"Part of it, it's actually an increase to my physical capabilities, strength, speed, etc., to an extreme level, sadly I can't hold it long as it does hurt quite a bit to push my body that far, for a short burst like before is fine, but long battles are a problem," Violet explains.
Ozpin watched the scene with a quired eyebrow. Never would he thought that Cardin would come to the aid of a faunus. During the brief time of the unruly student's stay at this academy, he had only seen the student cause nothing but trouble. Between causing trouble in class, bullying Jaune, making crude jokes and being physically abusive to faunus, the headmaster had written off the young man as nothing more a troublemaker who wouldn't make it through his academy. Though his opinion of the ruffian has improved a little. He had at least some redeemable factors if only a few. 'Maybe there is some hope for Mr. Winchester' he notes to himself. He pulls out his scroll and types a message to Glynda to lighten the latest punishment on team CRDL, at least only a little bit. He also decided to make a note to personally punish Rust and his group this time. He took a small sip from his mug as he walks back to his office. He needs to work on his speech for the memorial tomorrow.
Friday, Afternoon, Amphitheater
Team RWBY sans one-member walk into the amphitheater along with their fellow students. There were many chairs situated in front of the stage for the student body to sit, as well as on the stage itself for the staff. Along the right wall were the pictures of those who died during and after Magaru's assault, decorated with numerous arrangements of flowers, mementos, and some even had letters. Following right behind them are the members of Team JNPR, CFVY, and Violet along with them. They could hear the chatter among the student body, with topics varying from simple chatting among friends to crude comments about the wolf faunus. They could see students in front of the memorial, some crying, some saying farewell, some somberly remembering good times with their departed friends while others simply listen or quietly laugh about some those times. Anytime someone sent a glare their way, one of the members of the group would return it, usually Yang, Violet, Coco, or Yatsuhashi. Ruby sighs in response as looks behind her out the doors of the building, looking for her friend in the crowd of students pouring in. The brunette felt a hand on her shoulder as turns towards the owner.
"You okay?" Velvet asks softly. The reaper nods slightly in response.
"Yeah," she says softly herself. She expression saddens slightly "Just looking for Micheal."
"He'll be here little sis, don't worry," Yang says comforting her worried sister wrapping her arm around her sister with a warm smile on her face.
"Does not trust us to be on his side?" the brunette asks a little hurt that her friend didn't come with them. Yang notes her sister's expression makes a promise to herself to invite, or rather drag, Micheal away for a round of "sparring," when she sees him later.
"I'm sure he does Rosebud," Coco says assuring as she glares at some of the fellow students.
"I don't see how he wouldn't we drill into his head all the time," Weiss says annoyed. She then looks at her partner. Her expression softens as she sighs slowly.
"He did it so not to cause any problem," Pyrrha says assuring with a small smile.
"I know that, but I don't agree with his decision, but we need to respect, despite what we keep telling him," Weiss says as she grabs one her partner's hands to give it a light reassuring squeeze. Ruby turns and gives a small appreciative smile, which her partner returns. The group of friends walk towards their seats to sit down together as the crowd of students stopped entering the building.
Micheal slowly snuck closer towards the amphitheater. It was as Pyrrha said, the grey-haired boy didn't want to cause a commotion, or a bigger commotion, with his presence. He knew his presence would cause the misguided students to lash out at him. An unneeded outcome for the event today. It was a time for mourning and remembering, not for anger. He decided to attend the memorial in secret and when everyone was gone, he would pay his respects in private. As he inches towards the entrance of the building his sharp ears could pick up someone speaking. The vocal tone of the voice belongs to a female. As he got closer, he makes out voice the belong to Glynda Goodwitch. From he could hear she was simply getting the crowd's attention and getting them to settle down. The wolf faunus then made his way to the doors. He leaned in to see inside as Glynda walks away from the front of the stage as Ozpin walks up to take her previous spot. The headmaster glances around the amphitheater at the crowd of students. His eyes looking through the numerous faces in the crowd, looking for one specific individual. His sharp gaze then catches him leaning in the entrance of the building. He takes a deep breath as he turns his vision towards the crowd.
"A month has passed since the grimm assault on Beacon, I know for some of you it has been a difficult month," He stops for a moment glancing around, his gaze stopping for a bit on some of the misguided students. "Some more than others," he adds on to his last statement before continuing. "But unfortunately, this is the kind of situations that comes with this path of life that you have chosen, and you will experience more of them, and some even worse than a month ago, it will not be your last time you will see friends, both new and old, die," he explains. His eyes again scan the room, reading the mood of the crowd. Every one of them had their undivided attention towards the headmaster. The somber air was palpable to the headmaster as he took a deep breath. "The only thing we can do now is to look towards the future and carry on for those who we have lost, that is the only way we can honor them…"
"No, the way you can honor them by getting rid of that bastard!" Rust shouts, interrupting the speech, as he stands up. Everyone in the room turns their heads towards the man, many of them glaring at him.
"Mr. Saber, you will stop this nonsense and sit down this instant!" Professor Goodwitch orders the unruly student, anger palpable in her voice. This student who had once been a decent student turn into this also made the woman sad and disappointed seeing how easily he turned.
"No, I will not, you keep the one who caused this happen here!" Rust shouts defining the professor.
"Would you shut the hell up already! How man ties do we have to tell you he isn't in league with the dragon!" Yang yells back standing up as well. The crowd twists their heads toward Yang, though few were glaring at her.
"Mrs. Xiao Long, you will down as well," Glynda yells at the young girl, though with more annoyance than actual anger. She could at least understand brawler's irritation and is honestly on her side, but she had to keep everyone in order.
"Not until he backs off with his accusation of my friend," Yang says defiantly as she entered a glaring contest with Rust. It would have seemed like the two were about to get into a fight until voice interrupts them.
"Silence, both of you!" Ozpin voice deafeningly reverberates in the amphitheater, his authority, and annoyance palpable in his voice. All the students were taken back by the usually kindly and composed headmaster's outburst. Even some of the teachers were quite surprised, having never seen it before or in such a long time. He turns Yang first "Mrs. Xiao Long," his voice calm but firm. Yang looks at him worried, her team, friends, and people close by that got to know her a bit were surprised to see she was shaking a bit. "I understand you are defending a friend, but I will not tolerate any fighting today, I will let Mrs. Goodwitch deal with you, you are not in any serious trouble but interrupting the event today and almost causing a fight outside of combat class is still against academy rules, you may sit now I will deal with Mr. Saber myself," he ends.
"Yes sir," Yang says, both slightly dejected and content, as she sat down. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and turns to see her partner giving a comforting smile. She smiles in return herself. Ozpin turns to Rust.
"Mr. Saber," Ozpin starts as the crowd returns their attention towards the unruly man. "To see you become this way deeply saddens me, but as I have told you I will not tolerate your actions."
"But…," Rust tries to interrupt to for his piece.
"Silence!" Ozpin stops him cold. The black-haired man freezes in place and takes a deep breath. The headmaster takes a deep breath to calm himself "Mr. Saber, look around you." Rust did as he was told. It was then when he noticed the sheer number of glares he was receiving. It was at that moment he realized how alone he was. He looks around for the people that were in his group. He noticed they were looking away from him or looking down in shame. Rust anger dropped at that moment as he looks back at the headmaster. "As you can see, you stand alone in this matter, I had talked with students throughout this whole debacle, you should know that very few students actually blame Mr. Law for what happen that day, even the ones who were with you have abandoned you." In truth, many of them were still confused as to why Magaru didn't kill Micheal, but after much discussion amongst themselves, they decided they would never know. "Mr. Saber, I understand you are grieving and confused, but this is not how you act out, you are in enough trouble as it is, if you wish to continue this course of action then I will expel you from this Academy, I don't want to do that but I will if I must." Ozpin stops for a moment to let his words sink into Rust's mind. "Your choice now, do wish you still wish to attend Beacon or do you wish to be expelled."
"I want to stay," Rust says.
"Sit down then, I want you in my office tomorrow morning to discuss this issue," Ozpin orders as his student sits down. Micheal watched the whole scene amazed for may reasons. Seeing Ozpin handle was a sight and just the fact he heard him get angry for once.
'Though realistically, he probably has lost his patience with students before, but still never thought I'd get to see it,' Micheal comments to himself. He also found himself surprised and delighted by the fact the few students blamed him. It made him give a bitter smile as he felt ashamed for not attending the event in person. He could hear Ozpin start to speak again and so the wolf faunus returns his focus on the headmaster listening intently for the rest of the ceremony.
After the speech ended, the crowd of student began to funnel out of the amphitheater back to their dorms. Micheal immediately darts to get out of sight. Ozpin steps down from the stage as he spots Professor Port by in front of the memorial studying it. The headmaster walks over to Professor Port's side in front of the wall of photos. Peter Port lets out a deep mournful breath as he looks at all the photos.
"You know Ozpin, I must shamefully admit, with all my stories, jokes, and my rousing optimism I try to bring to the students every day, I can never seem to find anything to say during these times, so many good people gone," the usually rambunctious teacher says, sorrow palpable in his voice. He sees some of his old friends on the wall, many them he shared a good laugh and many drinks with. Some of the students he saw came to him for advice or a good laugh at his usually outlandish stories or jokes.
"Peter, these are confusing and tough times for us all, there is no shame at being at a loss for words," Ozpin says comfortingly as he puts a hand on his friend's shoulder. Professor Port nods slowly in conformation.
"I know, just wish I could say something," he says before taking a deep breath and exhaling loudly. "Well, that is enough of my melancholy mood," he slaps his stomach as if to fix his current temperament. "I have to remain optimistic for the students, they won't recover their spirits while we are all depressed ourselves. Besides they would not want me sad, they would want me as before, boisterous, cheerful, and full of life!" he shouts out loud. Ozpin couldn't help but smile at the energy Port was radiating. "Though one more drink to honor those we have lost won't hurt."
"You drank alcohol on campus?" Ozpin asks slightly angry.
"No, no, of course not," Professor Port defends himself, slightly hurt at the comment. "At a bar in town on the weekend after the dragon attacked, plus I told my students I wouldn't be available that weekend till I sobered up next Monday, so they would not see me in my stupor," the portly professor explains.
"Fine, just don't drink too much okay," Ozpin says ashamed at accusing his friend.
"Of course," Port says cheerfully as he turns away from the memorial. He then spots the two fellow instructors who would be the most likely to join him. They would also help in controlling him if necessary. "Ah, Bartholomew, Nicholas, care to join me for a drink?" The instructor asks as he walks towards his old friends. Ozpin could hear a bit of banter between the three as they head out of the building. He decides to walk out as well. As he exited the building, he caught Glynda scolding Mrs. Xiao Long, but couldn't hear the conversation. He could see the young woman tremble slightly at the scolding. The headmaster looks around to see if he could spot Micheal but didn't see anything. He decides to return after a bit to see if the young faunus had entered the amphitheater.
A/N: As always, criticism is good
So, this and the next chapter were meant to be one chapter, but it kept getting longer and longer, so I ended up splitting it. For one, it went way past my word limit for chapter, which is about ten thousand words, not including author's notes. Two, I did so it would be easier to take a break before reading the next chapter.
It's always a pain try balance this between work and school, and sometimes I just come home so tired I just don't want to do anything. But I do my best to stick with it and at least open the file to stare at it and think how to approach the matter at hand.