Whew finally, I can't even remember how many times I changed this chapter. I shifted between a half dozen plot twist, and at one point even contemplated how to kill Jaune (not sure why I thought that), but now it is done. I'd also like to take this time to apologize for the long wait, FYI robotics classes are HARD. Now for some good stuff, HOLY CRAP, for the last chapter I was hoping to make it to 1,000 views, now it's over 2,000. I cannot express the love I have for all of you, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. Last thing, I swear, please remember I started all this to improve my writing skills, so if by the end you found something wrong, right, or somehow both, please comment.

Chapter 7: Spaghetti, ice cream, and combat

William eventually exited the room in the change of clothes Yang had brought carrying his gifts in the large bag his combat uniform was in.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked instantly noticing a slight backtrack in William's emotional state.

"My joints keep popping from where I haven't been moving around for so long." He said walking forward as his leg joints loudly popped. "But I'll get over it after I walk it off. So let's eat."

The group made it to the cafeteria, when they entered the entire room that had only a moment ago be quite noisy, was not almost dead silent and William didn't need anyone to tell him that all eyes were on him.

He and his group walked to cafeteria line, everyone was still incredibly quiet. That is until he reached the lunch lady.

"My oh my, every time I see you, you have a huge plate, but this time you really are going for some kinda record." She pointed out. This was true in addition to the hunger he felt from his transformation, he hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday. On his way to checkout, he had almost emptied half the buffet. His tray was loaded to the max with everything from pancakes and eggs to bacon and hash browns even two full bowls of Pumpkin Pete's Cereal.

"Are you sure you can eat all that?" Detective Holms asked holding a modestly portion of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and sausages.

Yang turned to him and smiled "Oh trust me, he can eat all that."

Shortly after they sat down and William began digging into his food mountain, was detective Holms' concern put to rest. Ozpin, Ms. Goodwitch, detective Holms, and general Ironwood sat on one side of the table, William and team RWBY on the other. Detective Holms then began to question William while he continued to eat. William took note how they were sitting in the most isolated part of the cafeteria and yet everyone still fixated on them. More specifically they were doing their best to appear interested in other things, but kept 'secretly' glancing over at William. He doubted anyone could hear them, even for a Faunus with this many 'conversations' going on it would be difficult. He also noticed the four adults taking notice of their surroundings as well, but took them not suggesting to move as a sign that they were okay with things going the course, so he didn't question it. The questions were what one would expect; what led up to the events, who was involved, but when it came to what happened. Then conversation shifted as he went into detail about the attack.

"… and then Topaz did something with her sword and shot two centipede-like Grimm at me…"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there." Detective Holms interrupted. "Do you really expect me to believe that someone actually had a weapon that could shoot Grimm?"

"I've never seen anything like it either, but that's the truth."

"I highly doubt that." General Ironwood commented.

*sigh* "You asked for this…" William said as he put down his fork and his right arm from the shoulder down turned into a Grimm centipede like the one he had fought yesterday.

"AAAHHH!" A few screamed in surprise, Detective Holms included. However, others like Ruby and Nora responded similarly to "coooool!"

"That's a Death Crawler." Ms. Goodwitch stated. "They are almost exclusively found near Mistral."

"Do you believe me now?" William asked self-assured.

"Well that is certainly proof, and there seems no way you would have contact with a Grimm found on another continent, but how it 'fired' the Grimm is what I would like to know." Ozpin said sipping his coffee. "Although if you would be so kind, can you please return your arm back to normal, the other students are taking notice."

William looked behind Ozpin seeing that he was right and the Death Crawler disintegrated leaving his arm as it was before. "I don't know everything, but I think there is some kind of trick to the handle, like maybe twisting it. I didn't really get a good look during the fight."

"Wait, I thought you could only turn into a Beowulf?" Detective Holms interrupted. "And only be able to change during a full moon, like a werewolf."

William sighed again. "I'm sorry to tell you, but you seem to be GREATLY misinformed. I took the name Were-Grimm because it was convenient at the time, I by NO MEANS am anything like a werewolf. You see my semblance is consumption, meaning I can integrate the properties of whatever I eat into my biology. Usually this is only temporary, however Grimm has proven to be the only known exception. As for why I typically appear as a Beowulf, it is because of all of the Grimm I have consumed it is the one that most closely resembles my normal form in terms of anatomy and are readably available. And yes, Ursa are similar to us from an anatomical perspective, however I have trouble moving with those short stubby legs. "He elaborated. "….By the way who told you that anyway, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Some of the other students." Detective Holms meekly said.

"I…I can't… I don't even know how people come up with these kinds of things." William muttered looking the perfect blind of confused and disappointed at the same time.

After that, Detective Holms continued to question William who continued to eat, cleaning his plate spotless, and then went back for a second helping returning with one of his 'normal' servings. They continued with who did what, where, etc. Ms. Goodwitch chimed in once in a while when the detective asked a question about something William didn't remember or that happened after he had lost consciousness. The questions lasted a good thirty minutes, by then William had finished eating his third and fourth serving.

"Well, I think that should just about do it, with this we can probably put those two away for a very long time." The detective said standing up. "If you have any questions or remember anything else, please call me." He said handing William his card.

"Actually there is something, what will happen to Topaz's sword?"

"Her sword?"

"Why would you like to know?" General Ironwood asked in his usual cold manner as he and the others stood up.

"Just curious."

Ozpin walked in front of Ironwood. "We will be examining her sword to see how it works. Afterwards if we deem it okay you may have it if you wish. "

"That's ok you can keep it. I do have one other question, though. How common is it for someone to use Grimm as a weapon?"

"There have been rumors and myths about them, but until now I have never actually encountered any tangible proof."

"I see, if that is the case then let me give you a piece of advice; I don't think studying the sword will do any harm, but trying to use it or carry it around for an extend period of time and I'm certain you'll regret it."

General Ironwood's eyes narrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's merely a warning, I don't know why, but I get the feeling there's a reason people using the power of Grimm like that are normally reserved for myths."

"And what proof do you have?"

"Aside from the weird feeling I got from both the sword and its late wielder and as someone speaking from experience, using the power of Grimm without being emotionally and mentally prepared can have some VERY dangerous side effects to the user and those around them. But other than that, nothing."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "Are you, by chance, suggesting that the sword may have had an effect on the members of team JPIT?"

"I can't be one hundred percent sure, but given what happened to their other teammate I think if it did anything it only helped bring to the surface what was already there."

"I see, well thank you William we will be sure to heed your advice. I'd also like you to keep your transformations to a minimum. I have informed all of your teachers and I have given them the ability to authorize you to use your Grimm powers, but only in the confines of their set parameters. One last thing before we leave." He said producing a gray plastic card with Beacon's insignia on it and handed it to William. "While we have your scroll in evidence you will need this to get into your dorm room. I'll have a replacement scroll sent to you when it is ready."

"Thank you." Replied the black haired wolf Faunus.

Ozpin and company soon left, shortly afterwards so did William and the rest of the group. Much of the remainder of William's day went like he had predicted; switching between sleeping and reading the book Blake got him, at least that is what he told everyone. True he did take a quick nap and he did read the first few chapters of his book, but the bulk of his day lying on his bed staring at his photo and rereading the contents written on its back.

What could he do, what SHOULD he do? He couldn't see anyway where telling them the truth would end well and for once in his life he was actually happy. He mulled it over for hours at a time trying to figure out the best course of action. By the time he was ready to go to bed he had decided that he couldn't tell them until he had more information about Summer, Ruby, and maybe even Yang. Although he wasn't sure if any information about Yang would be helpful, but he reasoned 'better safe than sorry.' He also decided that it would be too dangerous to continue to carry his photo with him so he hid it inside of the lining of a cover of the book Blake had bought him.

William attended classes on Thursday and, for the most part, it wasn't too bad. There were more than a few people who were cautious around him, but the majority were just genuinely curious about him. Classes resumed as normal; lectures, professor Port's "lectures", and normal combat practice. Despite his healing ability, Ms. Goodwitch decided, in light of the events two days prior and his recent surgery, William would not participate for the next few classes. William assured her he was fine, but eventually yielded to her decision. Even though he initially protested the idea, William eventually found himself enjoying the others' sparring matches and even saw some cool moves and weapons that piqued his interest. Afterwards he had his first cram class with Ms. Goodwitch, much to his, and Ms. Goodwitch's, surprise he was able to easily grasp the material and had already began making connections to things he had already known as well as a few things he didn't fully understand beforehand. In spite of this he still felt the day's toll on his mind, it had been a long day and a two-hour cram class only added to his fatigue. By the time they had finished William was almost ready for bed, but then Ms. Goodwitch reminded him that he still had to go to the doctor for his check-up and for his first day as a Grimm "consultant".

She escorted him to the doctor's office where he saw the same doctor who gave him his physical to clear him to enter Beacon. He later found out he was the one who performed surgery on him. William had forgotten his name and called him "Doc", much like Yang did during their first encounter. In addition to Doc there were about seven or eight other individuals with him, all of them said they had experience studying Grimm before. First was a quick serious of test to see if he had recovered from his surgery, to no one's surprise he passed with flying colors. William did however get the feeling that Doc had rushed through the test, clearly eager to begin the testing of his other form. This made William more than a little nervous.

As the tests began William found them to actually be pretty simple and not as invasive as he had feared. All he had to do was transform into a Beowulf and let them x-ray him. Afterwards was a CAT scan, MRI, and allowing them to take some blood and hair samples from his normal form as when they tried taking them from his Beowulf form only to find out doing so caused the samples to evaporate like normal Grimm.

When all of the testing was finished the doctor informed him that they would notify him when they needed him next, noting that they would be as flexible as possible about him coming in if he had any plans and would try to notify him with enough notice in advance. The part that really struck William as weird was the fact that the doc and his colleagues were so thankful, some of them almost seemed to be crying with joy. William just tried to play it off and reduce the awkwardness as much as he could.

After he managed to get the doctors to stop shaking his hands, Ms. Goodwitch invited him to her place for dinner. She called it her way of celebrating his clean bill of health. As it turned out she didn't live too far from the school, only a short ten minute airship ride and about another ten or fifteen minutes of walking. Her house was a small well-kept white cottage with blue trims, and a small rose garden on out front that seemed very well maintained. The inside was as well-kept as the outside, the living room had a clean white carpet, a large bookshelf on the right covering the side of a stair case leading to the second level with just enough room for a person to walk between it and the wall, standing from the door, a green couch, to the left, with a nightstand with a lamp on it next to it, a class coffee table in front of the couch, and a fire place on the back wall next to the open doorway leading into the kitchen. On the fire place mantle and all over the walls were pictures and framed awards for various accomplishment spanning her professional career as a huntress and seemingly before that.

"William, is there anything, in particular, you like to eat?" She asked.

"Anything's good, I'm not really a picky eater."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, if I had to pick anything, I'd say I'm a fan of spaghetti."

"Well, you are in luck that happens to be my specialty. I'll get to work making dinner, do you like garlic bread?"

"Sure."

"Okay, just wait in the living room while I fix dinner."

"Actually, do you mind if I help?"

"Do you know how to cook?"

"Well when I was stuck in the valley, I found a few cookbooks and tried a few of the recipes. I'm not great, but I'm still pretty good."

"Well, I don't mind."

The two entered Glynda's kitchen; it was a modern kitchen with a granite countertop in the middle of the kitchen with a number of assorted appliances on one side and a small dining table on the other. They washed their hands and got to work. Glynda said she would make the pasta if William made the sauce. True to his word William was proficient a converting the tomatoes into a rich sauce. What really impressed her was that William could identify seasonings that would complement the sauce just by smelling them. She knew he had a well-developed sense of smell, but this was still unexpected.

After they finished cooking, they sat down to eat. William's plate had a small mountain of spaghetti that was more than four times Glynda's portions.

"William, I've been meaning to ask, how do you eat so much and still remain so thin?" She asked half kidding with a joking tone in her voice.

William froze for a brief moment, in his short time at Beacon this was the first time she seemed to let down the serious nature of hers. To say the least, it was a surprise.

Catching himself being speechless he said the first thing he could "Well, my semblance IS consumption, is it really all that weird." He joked back.

"No, it's just that you when I see that it reminds me a little of your mother."

"My mom, really?" he asked quite confused. He could never remember his mother eating anything other than modest portions, and barely that, she would sometimes say she didn't have enough room and gave the rest to William.

"Yes, when she and I attended Beacon together she would get so worked up about studying or training that she would sometimes forget to eat for a few days and then once she realized it she would eat herself silly. We often joked about how she kept herself so skinny."

"I never knew that, what else do you know about my mom?"

As they ate Glynda told William stories about his mother; how she got into Beacon, apparently though they were on different teams they had come face to face with a giant Grimm beast and had to fight it together. She also told him it reminded her of a similar experience the future members of teams RWBY and JNPR had during their initiation. She told him about how they had once stopped a bank robbery and how they once fought over the same guy almost burning down Beacon in the process. They both laughed hysterically about that. For William it was actually a big surprise that the always stern Glynda Goodwitch could have such a side to her. He also got to hear things about his mom he never knew. He had wanted to ask her about his mom before, but with everything that happened; enrolling in Beacon, the combat exam, and the whole thing with team JPIT it just sort of slipped his mind.

After a while it came her turn to ask about William and what other skills he may have that she didn't know about. Referencing his superb pasta sauce.

William told her about how he could sew, knew minor medical aid, had experimented with carpentry, and even learned how to do minor electrical repairs after messing around with the discarded electrical devices. Seemingly not very entertained by his answer she asked if he had any interesting stories. William responded with a few; such as the time he dressed as an old lady and transformed into a Beowulf to trick someone who was trying to collect on his bounty that he was just a dream about his grandma brought on by stress. He eventually managed to convince him to abandon his hunt, drop his gear, and run back to Feign naked. To this day William still could not believe that actually work. Then again Glynda did point out, prior to meeting William, that if she encountered a talking Beowulf dressed as her grandmother she probably would have believed she was dreaming as well.

The two continued to talk, long after they finished their food and washed the dishes. Eventually their conversation turned towards his new job, as it turns out that tomorrow was the first of the new month. When William asked about how he would be paid for this month she told him that do to school policy he will be paid in full for his work. As it turns out if he was not needed he could not go to work and still be paid for the month. William wasn't really comfortable with the whole idea of doing nothing and getting paid, to which she commented he was a good boy for that. However, he was happy he was going to get paid tomorrow. He had forgotten to get the detergent he needed and still hadn't returned the clothes he borrowed from Ren and Jaune. The money was to be put into an account and William could pick up his card when he came to her office for their cram class tomorrow. Throughout their conversation William covertly slipped in questions about teams RWBY, JNPR, and the rest of the group that he had meet during their first encounter. While William's interest in the groups was genuine, he paid extra attention to the details about Ruby and Yang.

As the conversation continued William tried to lead it towards combat class, specifically when he would be allowed to participate. Feeling he wouldn't let it go Glynda decided that if William felt up to it he could participate on Wednesday's class. William didn't like the idea of waiting that long, but also knew that was about as close as he going to get so he accepted her terms. She also mentioned that while he couldn't participate in class that he should still try and train outside of class, making sure to stress the fact he shouldn't overdo it. As it turned out Beacon has a number of training rooms that a student can use for as long as they like and they were available 24 hours Monday, Wednesday thru Friday and Saturdays. Apparently they clean and repair them twice a week or as needed depending on how intense a person's training is. After that Ms. Goodwitch brought up the topic of William's Grimm powers.

"'William, I've been meaning to ask you about your…abilities."

"You mean my Grimm powers. I don't think I'll be able to use them during your class."

"May I ask why?"

"I'd prefer you didn't."

"William, if I am to be your instructor and guardian I need to know as much about you as possible." She said giving him her sternest expression.

William looked her in the eyes and could tell he wasn't getting out of this unless he told her. "Okay, but first you have to promise me and I mean PROMISE me that this doesn't get back to general Ironwood."

She hesitated for a moment. "I promise."

*sigh* "I can't use my aura and Grimm powers at the same time."

"You can't?" The platinum blonde responded raising an eyebrow.

"It's kind of embarrassing, but that's my big weakness and that's why you can't tell Ironwood. He'd probably use it against me and you've already seen what could happen."

"What do you mean?" The sorceress asked confused.

"When I fought team JPIT I tried to transition into my Beowulf form, but they attacked me in the middle of my transitions and as a result they nearly killed me. The same thing happened afterwards, I was so distracted chasing them, that by the time I saw the attacks from the other professors and students I ended up taking the brunt of the blast before I could fully shield myself with my aura." The young Were-Grimm morbidly explained.

"But I saw your Beowulf body disintegrate after the attack."

"What you saw was nothing more than a disconnected shell. I can undo my power two different ways; the first being having the entire form dissolve into ash and the other where I only sever the connection to my body producing a temporary Grimm suit."

"I see, is there anything else I should be aware of?" She asked sympathetically trying to fully comprehend the magnitude of what he was explaining.

"Yes." William replied lowering his head. "Do you remember when we first met, how Ruby noticed my eyes change colors? As you've already seen when just my right eye turns red I become significantly more… aggressive, but when both of my eyes turn red…I…I lose control." William said shuddering.

"What about when we first met, you transitioned between one and two red eyes several times during your fight with Ruby and the others?"

"It's more complicated than that. When both my eyes turn red it means I'm not in control, it's when my Grimm is. The only reason I could switch between the two states during our first encounter was because that ensured the highest probability of everyone dying. As long as someone dies, my Grimm power won't fight me as much and are more than happy to take over when it comes to the finishing blow, but now is different. I never wanted to kill before, but I HAD to in order to survive. Now…now I don't, but between that thing with team JPIT and the students who fear me…." He trailed off. "In the valley I couldn't allow myself to feel anger or sadness, otherwise the Grimm in the valley or my own Grimm would respond to it. I thought visiting my mom's grave would help, and it did, but now it feels like I can't hold any of it back anymore….And when you combine that with the negative emotions of the other students….it…"He trailed off again this time shaking like a leaf.

"William." She said softly reaching across the table and placing her hands over his.

"I don't know if I'll be able to take control again, if anything, I may lose control permanently, but at the same time if I don't use my power and continue to consume Grimm the side effects will continue until I either give in or die." He said with his eyes starting to swell with tears.

"William, you are a very strong individual, just from what I have heard tonight and have seen thus far, I believe you will be fine."

"T…Thank you." He said choking on his words as a few tears slipped out.

Ms. Goodwitch got up from her seat, walked over to William, and wrapped her arms around him. They remained there for a few moments not talking, just enveloping themselves in the embrace.

By the time the two had disconnected it was already eleven o'clock. Seeing this Glynda suggested William stay the night. William agreed. She got him a spare pillow and blanket and he got comfortable on the couch.

As the sorceress began making her way towards the stairs.

"Ms. Goodwitch."

"Yes, William?"

"Thanks for everything."

"Your welcome, you're always welcome at my home."

"I mean it, you didn't have to become my guardian, and you've already shown you care just by being there for me so many times already. I just want to say thank you for everything."

"You are most welcome William, good night."

"Good night." He yawned as she turned out the light.

William hadn't noticed it because she had turned away from him, but the strict Glynda Goodwitch, known for her "no-nonsense" attitude, was smiling and even let slip a few tears of joy as she ascended the stair case.

At first William was comfortably sleeping until he drifted back into THAT dream again. William was aware it was a dream and managed to muffle his screams so as to not alert Ms. Goodwitch, but William couldn't stop the dream from continuing. He could feel himself crying as he watched as he killed everyone again. Each death more brutal then the last. It finally came to an end like before, William closing in on Ruby and Weiss as they lie on the ground dying. Just as he brought down his claw for the final blow an alarm sounded causing William to fall off the couch and face first on to the floor. It was Ms. Goodwitch's alarm clock. Despite her short commute Ms. Goodwitch liked to get to work early to deal with any necessary paperwork and to decide the next sparring matches as well as prepare or adjust her lesson plan. Fortunately for William he was able to whip away the tears he cried and fold his blanket to cover-up the spots soaked in sweat before Ms. Goodwtich could finish walking down the stairs. This time she insisted she cook, William still half asleep didn't argue. One thing that surprised him was that she seemed, somehow, used to preparing what most people would call excessive portions. When William asked about it she told him that she and his mother inadvertently did this every week or so. His mom would lock herself in some secluded area or go training in the woods for a few days and comeback to Beacon half-starved, and Ms. Goodwitch "out of the love of her heart" (William suspected it was more like pity) would feed her.

After they did the dishes they headed out for another day at beacon. Along the way Ms. Goodwitch told William that if he ever didn't feel like staying in the dorms, for whatever reason, he could come over to her place. All she asked in return was a little heads-up. William may not have admitted it, but for the first time in a long time he felt like someone truly cared about him. Neither of the two could or needed to say it, but they both felt like they had someone, at least close enough, that they could consider family and enjoyed the commute to Beacon in a pleasant silence.

Friday's classes were the same as before and William tried to enjoy it as much as he usually did, but with the guilt of Summer's death, the fears of his recurring nightmare, and the annoyance of some of the students, he found it more than a little difficult. The other students either kept their distance and whispered about him or went up to him and asked him a barrage of questions over and over again. In truth he preferred the former, he was happy people weren't afraid of him, but when eight people in a row ask about if your Grimm form has a penis or if Grimm can poop, a person's patience can only go so far. William was truly baffled as to why so many people's first question either involved his genitalia or his ability to expel waste from his body. Still Ruby and her friends managed to help him through it. After finishing his cram class with Ms. Goodwitch he received his debit card linked to his account in his name. Since he didn't have to go in for work with Doc he decided he was going to go shopping so he could get the laundry detergent and FINALLY give Ren and Jaune their clothes back.

By the time he got to the Silver Guard Mall it was a little past six. He quickly picked up the detergent and then proceeded to walk around and browse the various stores. William had been wondering around for about twenty minutes before a familiar voice called out.

"Hey, ice cream wrecker!" A soft voice jokingly called out.

William turned around to see a short young woman with pink, white, and brown hair. "I thought you forgave me for that." William joked back walking towards the girl.

"I did, I'm just joking. I haven't seen you around lately."

"Well it's been a pretty busy week for me; I started school and got a job recently, so things have been pretty busy."

"I know how you feel my job has me running all around the kingdom."

"Sounds rough, what do you do for a living?"

"Oh…uh… I work in urban development."

"Sounds interesting."

"It really isn't. Believe me." She said obviously trying to brush it off and change the topic. "So do you wanna hang out or something?"

"Sure."

William never really got a lot of chances to play with others growing up, so he wasn't sure what to do or even how to "hang out". Feeling a little unsure about what to do William tried to play it off "So what do you want to do?"

"Well there is an arcade at the other end of the mall, we can try that for a while."

"Sounds good."

The two entered the arcade, it was a large space filled with rows upon rows of arcade games. Apparently they even had a laser tag ring in the back. They took their time playing the different games. At some point they somehow arranged a wager in that the first person to win at ten games could get the loser to do one thing they want. William normally wouldn't agree to something like this, but he soon learned the power of a cute girl's smile can be very persuasive. The first four games were air hockey, Neo didn't want to stop playing till she beat William. Though she did eventually beat him the score was still 3:1 in William's favor. Then they tried a co-op shooting games with the plastic guns. This however only proved neither one of them could hit the broad side of a barn with an airship, so they decided to just call it a tie and both of them get a point. From there they tried skeeball and basketball, despite her height Neo completely dominated William at these games bring the score to 6:4 in Neo's favor. The two continued competing until the score was tied at nine wins a piece. The final game would be a game of Pic Man, William had never played the game before, but still managed to get a score in the hundred thousand range.

"You better get ready to do what I say." Neo proclaimed cracking her knuckles.

Before she could even insert her coin for the game she was pushed by a large very heavy man.

"Hey, you pushed me."

"Oh, sorry little girl." He began turning around. He was about three or four inches taller than William with long unkempt dark hair and a matching beard with what looked like half eaten cheese curls in it. "But the grown-ups get first dibs."

"Hey buddy, there's no need to be rude." William cut in trying to minimize the potential damage, still remembering all those people fleeing the ice cream shop the last time he saw Neo.

"Well, what are you and pipsqueak gonna do dog boy?"

-5 Minutes later-

"William let me down!" barked Neo as he carried her over his shoulder, her facing his back, as he ran through the mall at top speed.

"That depends, is mall security still chasing us?"

"Stop you deviants." A loud deep voice bellowed.

"That answer your question?" Neo replied seeing the angry mall cops chasing them, waving batons in the air and shouting.

He sighed "Unfortunately."

William ran out of the mall and into the downtown area. After running through the city zipping back and forth through the varying alleyways and streets for about fifteen minute they eventually escaped their pursuers. Realizing they were in the clear William stopped and finally let Neo down.

"Did you really have to bash that guy's head through the game screen?"

Neo responded by giving him a stern look.

"Ok, I know he was a jerk, but that doesn't mean you had to assault him."

"You do know he called you a dog Faunus when you are clearly wolf Faunus?"

"It doesn't mat…wait you can actually tell the difference?"

"Yep."

"Wow, you are the first to actually be able to tell the difference, on occasion even some Faunus mix it up."

"I know more than that, I also know you're half human."

"How did you know that?"

"Your left wolf ear told me all I needed to know." She answered pointing to his cut ear. "You were culled, and by the look of your ear I'd say it was when you were very young."

"Wow, color me impressed. You're actually the first human I've meet to actually know what 'being culled' means."

"Well my job has me working with a lot of Faunus and I picked up a few things."

"Huh, I can see a lot of Faunus working in 'urban development'."

"You have no idea." The two chuckled a little.

"Well, Will this has been fun, but it's getting late, so I need to start heading home. Raincheck on that last game okay."

"I'll walk you home."

"What do you think this 'young maiden' needs a knight to protect her virtue from the scandalous villains and thugs hiding in the shadows?" She joked.

"Perish the thought, I only asked to escort you because if I let you walk home alone those 'villains and thugs' will have their entrails decorating Vale's walkways before they even realize it. And I'm pretty sure that is a bad thing for 'urban development'."

"hehe, good point. Then, my fair knight, you may escort your maiden." She joked.

"With pleasure my lady." William joked back. "Oh, and please don't call me Will, I hate when people do that."

"Ok, Willy."

"You're just gonna keep that up until I tell you Will is ok, aren't you?"

"Yep." The short girl answered with a grin.

"Alright, you can call me Will." The Faunus boy admitted in defeat.

"Yay."

The two walked toward Neo's apartment, Neo guiding William by the arm. When they stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the light to change Neo noticed William was blushing as they stood there, arms locked. This gave Neo a few ideas. "You know you're pretty cute when you blush." She said with a grin.

"W..what?" William responded obviously flustered.

Neo chuckled "Heh, that's revenge from before. How do you like a taste of your own medicine?"

William raised an eyebrow and grinned "So you think I'm cute do you?"
"Well... I mean."
William's grin widened.

"Oh you." She said lightly shoving him. "Hey, by the way, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

"Sure go ahead." He replied as the light changed and they crossed the street.

"You struck me as one of those goody-two-shoes who would normally just go to the cops, so why did you grab me and run?"

"Well, normally I would have just gotten security, but I understand that sometimes you need to do something. Even if that something isn't necessarily the lawful way. I've encountered people like that guy before and I know sometimes you can't just let that go."

"Huh, I guess I had you pegged wrong, there's more to you than I thought Will."

"That …and I wasn't sure or not if you would have slaughtered the security guards."

"Heheheh." Neo laughed. "I was considering it."

The two continued walking arm-in-arm with one another asking each other about themselves. William tried to answer as honestly as possible, but still tried to down play much of his past. Specifically, anything regarding being a Were-Grimm. As they neared Neo's apartment the weather quickly turned nasty, as it began to pour down heavily on them. The two, quickly becoming drenched, ran as fast as they could to Neo's room. The apartment she was staying at was an upscale hotel with rooms facing the parking lot. Neo unlocked the door and they ran in as fast as they could. Even though it only had been raining a few minutes the two were already soaked.

"Well, we can't stay in these wet clothes," Neo stated. "How about this; you hop in the shower and I'll see if I can get you something besides a towel to wear?"

"I'm fine you can go first."

"You just wanna see me in a towel first don't you?" She cooed in his ear as she walked to the closet to get some towels.

"I, uh, NO, NO... I swear I didn't mean it like that…it's just you're so small… and-" Neo raised her hand to signal him to stop.

"I'm just messing with you." The triple colored girl said blatantly. "Relax, its fine I'll go first. Oh and for the record women prefer to be call petite or thin, not small." She said going over to the dresser and grabbing some clothes from the dresser then walking to the bathroom, making sure to sway her hips in a way William couldn't help but notice. "See something you like."

"I, uh, well…" He stammered. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" He sarcastically asked regaining some of his composure.

She walked into the bathroom slowly closing the door enough for only her head to be visible. "Yes, yes I am. Oh, and the remote is on the nightstand if you want to watch anything." She said before full closing the door.

Neo's apartment was what most people would expect out of a hotel. The room was a little smaller than the William's dorm room, there were two beds, a closet, two dressers, one with a TV on it, a comfy chair in the corner, two nightstands, one next to each bed with a lamp on it, a mini-fridge with overpriced snacks, and a long AC unit on the wall. There were two rolling suitcases in the corner, one a mix of pink, white, and brown, William felt he could safely assume it was Neo's, and the other he wasn't sure. He didn't peg Neo to have Jack O' Lantern themed, well, anything. He reasoned that perhaps she had a roommate.

Not wanting to get too curious William decided to just watch TV. He grabbed the remote and began channel surfing, eventually deciding on the local news. They were doing a story on the upcoming Vytal Festival and trying to predict you would win. William watched for a little while before, "Breaking news, from the Silver Guard Mall we just received a report that a two culprits, both assumed to be Faunus are responsible for the brutal assault and attempted murder of a local man."

"OH COME ON, WHAT THE HELL!" William shouted as Neo, almost on cue, exited the bathroom.

"What's going on?"

"Apparently they're saying we tried to kill that guy…oh and you're a Faunus."

"What?" She chuckled.

"How can you be so calm?" William asked clearly upset by this.

"You can relax, I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeve, one of which is that the second I entered into the mall all of their security cameras will show false images so chances are none existent that they saw you do anything."

"Really, how did you do that?"

"Trade secret." She said putting her finger to her mouth with a cute smile.

It was then that William noticed what she was wearing. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a large triple tomoe emblem with the other two colors being pink, brown, and the white of the shirt and pink pajamas with white and brown bunnies on them.

William didn't think he was staring until Neo spoke up "Are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to take a shower?"

"Oh…um…well…it's just you're so cute and…" William paused "-I'll take that shower now."

Neo smirked. "First let me get you some clothes to wear." She said moving toward the two rolling suitcases and unzipping the Jack O' Lantern one. After a few minutes of rummaging around in it, she produced a plain white t-shirt that seemed far too big for her and a pair of black pants also too big for her.

"Any particular reason you have clothes for someone twice your size." William half-jokingly asked.

Neo looked down. "They belong to someone important to me." She said solemnly.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you." He apologized taken aback by her change in mood.

"It's ok it's not like he's dead or anything, he's just on a…extended stay and can't come and get his things at the moment."

"I see, well I hope you two are able to see each other again sometime soon." The wolf Faunus comforted.

"Thanks." She replied handing the clothes to him. "When you finish showering you can just hang your clothes up on the rack next to mine. Oh, and don't turn off the light, it may hurt your eyes, but it works almost as good as a dryer."

William entered the bathroom and took off his clothes placing them on the folding towel rack, presumably Neo brought it, next to hers. He then turned on the shower, adjusted it to his desired heat, and went in.

What a crazy day this has been. He thought to himself. First I run into Neo, then we play games, she beats up a guy, I run from the police carrying her, people think I'm an attempted murderer, and now I'm taking a shower in her hotel room. William felt his face redden, trying not to think about it too much. Wow, this cannot possibly get any crazier. Then again this is Neo we're talking about. Chances are somethings going to happen, again. And why am I even here, I could have just run away and left her there. She's a big girl, well age wise anyway, she can take care of herself. But then why does that idea not feel right, I mean I've spent the last ten years doing stuff like that, why is she different. Just because she's cute, and she treats me like an actual person, and she said I was cute and… HOLLY CRAP! What am I thinking, I barely know the girl? How can I have feelings for her?

William's thoughts were soon interrupted by a loud burst of thunder. Being snapped out of his mental debate over his feelings he realized he had been in there too long and decided to wash up and get out. The clothes Neo had handed him were a little loose on him, it seemed Neo's friend was a little taller than William.

When William exited there was another large boom of thunder. When he got close to the beds he noticed a conspicuous lump on one of the duvets shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Neo, are you okay?" William asked.

"I…I'm ok…just great."

*loud clap of thunder*

"EEEEHHHH!" She cried shaking more quickly than before.

"Neo are you scared of thunder?"

"No…"

*Thunder noise*

"Well, maybe a li-"

*Thunder noise*

"YES, I'm scared, really, really scared." She said trying to not cry. "I bet you think I'm just a little kid, don't you?"

William didn't reply. He walked over to the bed. "Mind letting me in?" he asked.

"What?"

"When I was little I was scared of thunder and lightning, but my mom would always hold me tight and it always helped me calm down."

"You're not just using this as an excuse to touch me?"

"I'll tell you what, if I touch you anywhere inappropriate or make you feel uncomfortable you can kill me."

"Like I need your permission." The ice cream themed girl snapped.

"Do you have any better options?"

"I…"

*loud thunder noise*

"Ok, ok get in here." She said lifting up the covers.

William slide under the covers and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. William tried to stay calm, but he felt his heart beat start to speed up and he could feel Neo's doing the same. When the two looked at each other's face they could see the other was blushing deeply. Upon seeing this the quickly look away but did not disconnect. The two soon began enjoying the warmth of the other.

"Hey Will?" Neo asked quietly.

"Yes." He softly whispered.

"Remember when the news said they thought I was a Faunus?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"What kind of Faunus do you think I would be?"

"Well, given it's you, I'd say something with carnivorous and predator animal traits, but also is kind of cute. So maybe a cat Faunus…with a tail matching your hair."

"Heh, I'd actually like that. So do you prefer Faunus girls or human girls?"

"I'm not going to lie I do find Faunus girls with tails attractive, but not having a tail isn't necessarily a deal breaker for me. I guess I always hoped to meet a girl who would just accept me for…well me."

"I'm sure you'll find her someday Will," Neo said, not moving out of William's embrace, turned off the TV and the light next to the bed. "Good night." She yawned cuddling up to him.

"Goodnight Neo." He replied pulling her closer into their embrace.

About halfway through the night William felt himself slipping back into his recurring nightmare. However, this time was different, before he could even harm someone in his dream the world of fear quickly began to disappear. He wasn't sure what was going on until he felt Neo hugging him. He had begun to whimper in his sleep and she was trying to comfort him. Somehow that was all it took to silence his nightmare. As he fell back to sleep he quietly whispered "Thank you Neo."

/-/

Saturday morning came too early for the two. Neither wanted to let go, for all their embarrassment the two couldn't deny the fact they felt calm and safe holding onto each other. It was William who caved first with a loud rumbling coming from his stomach.

"Heh, hungry are we?" Neo asked looking up at William resting her head on his arm.

"Yeah, tell you what if you know where I can find a good diner I'll buy us breakfast."

"Really, well I know a nice place a couple of blocks from here that makes the best pancakes."

"Do they by chance cater to individuals with big appetites?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You'll see." With that the two got ready, Neo changed in the main room while William changed in the bathroom. Then they headed out for the diner.

"Hey Neo."

"Yes."

"Do you know any places around here I can buy some laundry detergent?"

"Yeah, there's actually a place right next to the diner, I think it's a Ceiling Blue. Why do you ask?"

"Well you see I need to do some laundry and I had bought some yesterday. However, I kind of forgot to grab it after what happened the arcade thing yesterday."

"I see, sorry about that," Neo said quietly.

"Did you just apologize?"

"You must be hearing things."

"Guess I am," William smirked.

The two made it to the diner. William ordered three helpings of pancakes and Neo ordered just one. What William didn't count on was Neo convincing him to try bananas on his pancakes or that it was really good. The two finished eating and readied to head out.

"Hey Neo, do you have a scroll?"

"Who doesn't have a scroll?"

"Well for the time being me, but if you don't mind can I get your number."

"Sure." She said taking a napkin from the dispenser and producing a pen from her purse. She wrote down her scroll number and handed it to William. With that the two left, going their separate ways waving each other off.

William bought his detergent, for the second time, and headed back to Beacon. William took his time, unsure of what the others would do or say given the fact this was his first time ever being out all night.

Just as he had entered the airship port William notice a large party of people exiting the Beacon airship.

"William!" a familiar voice called out.

At the front of the large group was Ruby running into William, embracing him in a big hug. "William, what happened to you? You didn't come to dinner last night and no one had seen you. Are you okay?" She asked in a rapid pace.

"Relax Ruby, I'm ok." William calmed as the rest of the group caught up. William was a little surprised at those who showed up to look for him; the rest of team RWBY, team SSSN, team JNPR, team CVFY, professor Goodwitch, professor Oobleck, professor Port, general Ironwood, and a dozen or so of his mechanical soldiers.

"Where have you been?" General Ironwood asked.

"I got lost walking around and then fell asleep waiting for the rain to stop."

"Do you expect me to believe that?" He barked.

"What reason would I have to lie?" The wolf Faunus scowled.

"Okay, that's enough you two." Beacon's resident sorceress interrupted. "William, I do not believe you would intentionally lie about your whereabouts, however I would like you to try and not stay out all night." She said with her usual stern tone, with just a hint of anger in it, enough to cause both general Ironwood and William to take a step back. "Now William, I suggest that general Ironwood and I escort you to professor Ozpin's office to give him a full report."

/-/

William followed them to Ozpin's office where he gave them a full report. William wasn't sure why, but he decided on not mentioning Neo or the arcade. He did however tell him he was at the mall and just said he accidently forgot the first bottle of detergent somewhere and went to get another bottle after breakfast. William knew they could track his spending, so he needed to be as honest as possible. He knew they would think all the food he ate at the diner was for him so there shouldn't be any problem. After a little of the usual back and forth with general Ironwood and Ms. Goodwitch ending it, professor Ozpin dismissed William. However, as he left William felt like Ozpin may have actually seen through his lies, but merely not said anything. William mulled it over for a bit, but just decided to not think about it.

William realizing it was only 10am, decided to go to the cafeteria for breakfast (those pancakes were good, but not filling, at least for him). On his way there he ran into teams RWBY and JNPR who were heading to the same place. They got their food and then everyone began asked him about what happened to him. William did feel less inclined to lie to them, but still did. He knew Neo's "urban development" story was a lie, but he couldn't bring himself to possibly get her in trouble. The conversation soon turned to a suggest reading list that Dr. Oobleck hinted to on their way to look for him.

"Uhh, why does he plan on having us do a report?" Yang whined.

"Don't worry, as long as you go to the library, you can be more than prepared." Blake calmly replied.

"This school has a library?" William said almost jumping out of his seat.

"Didn't the school in feign or the village itself have a library?" Weiss asked.

"They did, however it was merely just a small room in city hall that use to be a janitor's closet. The books themselves were old and beaten, often missing entire chapters."

"Well I think you'll like Beacon's library." Pyrrha smiled.

After they ate the group headed to the library. William upon seeing the vast amount of information and the condition of the library itself almost fainted. There were books on almost every subject a huntsmen could ask for "Advance Aura Manipulation", "Grimm Migration and Hunting Patterns", "Applications of Dust Woven Fabric" and countless more. Ignoring his friends and the whole reason he came here William began devouring the content of book after book. Little knowing that this would be his entire weekend.

After reading for a little while William went back to his room to grab a notebook and pen to jot down anything he found interesting. By Dinner time William had completely filled nine different notebooks, thanking Weiss for convincing him to buy them in bulk, each categorized by different subject. By Dinner time Sunday the number of notebooks had increased to thirteen, but what bewildered William was a strangely recurring set of names; Zoroaster, Isaac, Oscar, Phadrig, and Norman. It seemed like whenever he read one of the books regarding a revolution in the field of being huntsmen at that point in time it was published those five names, without any last names, would continually to show up. More perplexing was the fact some of these books were written during or even before the Great War eighty years ago. Much of William's Sunday night was spent pondering this.

On Monday the court case against the remaining members of team JPIT began. Both members called to other anti-Faunus groups and somehow the information about William's abilities was leaked to the press. The news story spread throughout not only Vale, but the entire world.

By Tuesday reporters from the four kingdoms were trying to get information about William. It quickly got to the point that Ozpin had prohibited reporters from entering school grounds and general Ironwood had his mechanical soldier walking the parameter of Beacon to make sure that no reporters tried to sneak in.

Being the careful men they were, Ozpin and Ironwood had already redacted William's place of origin to say Vale, which was technically true, and since Feign Village couldn't risk losing their support by revealing any information about William and their treatment of him there was no need to worry about them saying anything.

However, this did not stop the students. While the rumors about William being a Were-Grimm certainly did spread after the events with team JPIT there were still many who did not believe this, stating it was little more than a myth or an exaggeration. Yet, after it be spread all over the news there was hardly anyone who didn't believe it now. Many believed he was some kind of monster, some were paid by reporters to try and get information about William, even going as far as trying to steal things from his dorm room, and others just feared him.

Although to William who knew their darkness, arguably better than they did, he just let them go, if asked directly he would set them straight, but for the most part he left them to their own devices. He knew that no matter what he said or did, they would only believe him when they WANTED to believe him. Despite the apparent stress of the whole matter William did manage to gain some normalcy in his life through his classes and friends.

Then came the fateful day of Wednesday. William could hardly contain himself, it was the day he would finally be allowed to spar with someone. As William walked into the auditorium he noticed general Ironwood and that cute red head he fought who used wires to fight.

"General Ironwood and Penny was it?" he asked receiving a nod. "Good to see you two."

"Salutation William, how are you today?"

"Considering the fact I can finally participate in this class instead of just watching, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. ...So general Ironwood, what brings you here?" He asked sarcastically. "Come to keep an eye on me and possibly see how to take me down." Turning his smile into a sly grin.

"Someone has to." The stoic general replied.

"Well, I'll try and make it an interesting show."

As everyone got seated professor Goodwitch made good on her promise and the first fight of the day would be William and Cardin.

"OH COME ON!" Cardin shouted.

"Do you have a problem, Mr. Winchester?"

"YEAH, how can you expect me to fight that monster?"

William loudly cleared his throat. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the job of a huntsman to fight monsters? Besides, if you haven't been informed, I'm not allowed to fight with my Grimm powers unless given express permission. But if you don't think you can be a Faunus with next to no combat training whose only armaments are a pair of pocket knives you can sit down little kid, I'll find a more grown-up opponent."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Cardin yelled looking like he was about to bust a blood vessel. "You think you're so great you mutt, well I'll show you whose a grown-up." He said storming onto the stage. Everyone in the auditorium was smirking at how William had tricked Cardin into fighting.

As William walked towards the stage his change took over, his right eye turned a glowing blood red and a sinister smirk crept across his face. Like before the air about William changed, even the lesser experienced huntsmen-in-training like Jaune could feel the thirst for blood oozing off of him. Those like professor Goodwitch and general Ironwood, who had already seen it, were still taken aback by the change in mood.

"Are both participants ready?" professor Goodwitch asked uneasily.

"Yep."

Cardin looked at William and loudly gulped. "Yeah."

"Then begin." She signaled raising her hand.

The battle began, Cardin charged at William taking a wide downward swing that William dodged with ease. This continued with Cardin swinging his weapon wildly with William avoiding his attacks like they were in slow motion.

"Well if that's all there is to it, let's end it right now." Taunted William.

"WHY YOU!" Cardin yelled bringing down his mace with all his strength only to have William grab his arm with his left hand completely stopping it.

Before Cardin could even respond in one fluid motion William chopped Cardin in the throat and then into bend of his right elbow. At the same time William tricked his leg around Cardin's left leg striking behind the knee cap bringing him down to one knee. Then taking his left hand he crushed Cardin's right hand as he grabbed hold and began pressing the button on his mace blasting him in the face with his own weapon as he used his right hand to hold Cardin's head in place. This continued for a full minute until William heard the buzzard sound, signaling that his opponent's aura had dropped below the safety level. William released Cardin allowing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

William looked up at his aura meter, feeling a little let down as his aura level had only dropped about sixteen points and those were from holding Cardin's head in place.

While William was looking at his aura level the rest of the room was in shock, they couldn't believe the overwhelming difference in skill and power. Even those that Cardin regularly bullied were also shocked at the one sided match to enjoy it.

"A-And that's the match." Ms. Goodwitch called out finally coming out of her shock.

There were some applause and even a few cheers, but every so often William heard a whisper like "Wow that guy really is a monster" and "he's vicious." This really didn't bother him all that much, he had been conditioned to fight in order to survive at all cost. He watched as two of Cardin's teammates carried Cardin to the nurse's office.

"Well then… let's move onto the next match."

"Actually Ms. Goodwitch, do you mind if I go another round?"

"William, don't try to do more than you can."

"I'm not, that didn't even count as a warm-up." The wolf Faunus replied.

"Are you sure?"

"The board doesn't lie." He replied confidently pointing to the score board.

"Ok, then let's see if we can find you an opponent."

"How about Pyrrha?" He grinned.

"What?" a number of people in the audience shouted out in surprise.

"William, I know you're pretty tough, but this is Pyrrha Nikos we're talking about." Yang tried to reason. "She's like one of the toughest people at this school."

"That's the point." He calmly replied resulting in a number of confused faces. "Most of my fighting experience comes from being in my Grimm form. Truth be told, I don't know how strong I am in my normal form and the best way to do that is to see how I stack-up compared to the best."

"Alright, let's do our best." Pyrrha said standing up.

Pyrrha took her place on the stage across from William as he brandished a knife in each hand. It was clear that William was serious about wanting to fight Pyrrha.

"Are you both ready?"

"Yes." They replied in unison.

"Then begin." She signaled.

This time William made the first move charging at Pyrrha, feinting slashes and thrust trying to gauge her skill level. Pyrrha evaded by the narrowest margin possible. William couldn't figure out how he kept missing, no matter how quickly he moved she always seemed to be just out of his reach. All the while Pyrrha landed a couple of blows lowering William's aura. Then William saw an opening, as he dodged a thrust from Pyrrha's sword he hit the switch on the handle of one of his knifes the blade collapsed back into a chain. His plan was that the chain was to wrap around her weapon and he would disarm her. However, he watched as the chain unnaturally twisted failing to circle around her weapon. He then felt the Pyrrha's shield against his face.

He then felt the Pyrrha's shield against his face.

William swiped at her forcing her to block and allowing him to jump back and gain some distance between them.

"So that's the trick." He chuckled grinning ear to ear. "Ok then take this!" He shouted throwing his knife at Pyrrha.

She dodged, but before she could prepare to counterattack she heard something. In that instant she looked up to see glass shards falling towards her. She just barely managed to dodge it. William had thrown his second knife up at the stage lights while she dodged his first knife.

She then suddenly heard a large crash. She looked down to see William in a crater with a number of large rocks forced up.

"Now the fun begins." William chuckled loudly grabbing two of the larger rocks both the size of at least three Zweis and hurled them one after another at Pyrrha. She dodged the first one and readied to dodge the second when she noticed a third one behind it with something black behind it. Seeing this Pyrrha dodged the second boulder and cut the third in half, but didn't see William. Before she could process what was happening she felt a strong fast force on the side of her head sending her flying. William had slipped out of his hoodie and hooked it on the third rock as a distraction. William charged at Pyrrha grabbing both her hands in his left hand ready to strike her again. As he drew back for his punch Pyrrha triggered her spear to fire causing William to fall back to avoid it.

"Hehehe, you really are something special, but now I'm gonna get serious." He proclaimed.

Again he charged at the Spartan. As the two were about to collide William opened his mouth and released a thick cloud of dust and sand that enveloped the arena. Pyrrha jumped back to gain some distance and get the dust out of her eyes. Pyrrha could barely open her eyes when she saw a human shaped mass flying towards her. She swung her sword cutting the mass in half. Pyrrha looked to the side as halves of the mass of what she identified as stone passed her. She was then jolted back to reality as she was struck several times by a long sword made of stone in rapid succession. When Pyrrha turned her head she looked on to see William clad in an armor of stone, wielding two long swords made of the same jagged stone as his armor.

While a number of the audience couldn't figure out what was going on, Pyrrha knew what this was in an instant, when he threw that third boulder he had used his semblance to covertly eat some of the rocks. She also realized he had figured out her semblance and made sure to prevent her from using it against him, at least directly. She smirked this was the first time in quite a while that she had been pushed this far.

The two continued to furiously clash. Pyrrha utilized her advance combat skills, engrained into her since she was young, and her natural talent. While William relied on the feints and skills he had forged in his ten years in the Valley of Grimm. The fight was truly a balancing act; William would use another part of his semblance as a feint to allow him to close the gap between them and attack or evade as Pyrrha adapted to his style and each new move countering and delivering her own blows.

The battle continued until William made the first mistake; as Pyrrha advanced on him after breaking his swords William raised his arm to form a shield, but it failed as the limit of his ability had been reached.

He realized this too little too late as her thrown shield struck him in the face, shattering his stone helmet, followed by quick successive slashes smashing the rest of his armor and knocking him several feet on his back and setting of the buzzard.

"That's the match." Ms. Goodwitch called out.

The entire auditorium went wild cheering for Pyrrha AND William. There were cheers of encouragement and even a few apologies to William.

"You did quite well." Pyrrha complemented giving William a hand up.

"I can say the same thing about you. I don't think I've ever felt this good after losing a fight."

"You both did extraordinarily well." Ms. Goodwitch added.

Ruby and the others moved down the aisle to meet the two "William that was soooooooooooooooooooo awesome, you were all like BAM, BOOM, POW, and Pyrrha was WOOP, BAM, PEW, PEW. IT WAS AWESOME!" The red reaper praised.

"It was one tough fight alright, you really proved your metal today man." Yang added.

"Thanks, but if anything this proves I have a LONG way to go." He humbly replied.

William taped Ruby on the shoulder as she was heading out of the class. "Hey Ruby do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"I've been thinking I need a new weapon and I was hoping you could help me out with it a little later."

"Sure, just text me when you want my help."

"Thanks."

The remainder of class was far less exciting, even though they managed to fit in three more matches they were all pretty uneventful; Ruby thrashed Russell Thrash, Sun all but tore apart some guy from Haven named Nadir, and Sky Lark was knocked sky-high by Yang in a matter of moments.

/-/

William then went to his cram class with Ms. Goodwitch. At the end she handed him a scroll to temporarily replace the one still in evidence and she took back the card Ozpin had given him as he would no longer need it.

When he returned to his dorm he decided to text Neo.

Hello Neo, it's Will this is my temporary number. A second later he received a reply: Cool, r u ok?

William confused text back: y wouldn't I be? Again she replied after only a few moments. I saw the news, is what they said true? William almost felt his heart sink at the thought of what she might say. Before he could reply he received another text. If you need to talk I'm always here. Feeling relieved William replied: most of it is completely false. He waited a while for her to reply. Somehow William felt like time was moving slower as he waited for her reply until his phone rang signaling he received a text. That must be really rough, remember no matter what they say I don't believe ur a monster. She ended it with a smiley face emoji.

William felt so relieved, and text her the only words he could think of. Thank you.

Well I like the ending today, but who knows about tomorrow (I tend to flip flop on these things A LOT). I'm gonna try to keep getting better at my writing, however saying that I probably won't be able to post again for a while (school, work, etc.) so please be patient. Also before anyone says it I know I made the Walgreens/blue ceiling joke again (I don't know why that is so appealing to me) and if anyone is wondering about the whole 'urban development' thing, I was watching TeamFourStar's Final Fantasy VII abridge series. I highly recommend it if you want a good laugh.