*Enjoys a good chicken with a cold cola. Sees readers and hides everything* Gee, guys, you must like my little fic if you keep coming back for more. Not that I'm complaining about it. This would be chapter 3 of Ashen, right after the forest. Hmm. After this, teams were made. But Ozpin told Ash he'll be a wild card of sorts. Guess this is it for that piece of vagueness from everyone's grey-haired reincarnated old man. Seriously, how many lives as he went through exactly? I don't even wanna know.
But now, let's throw our favorite character with silver-Ha! Though Ash's secret was silver eyes? If so, then he would've reacted to Ruby having them as well. No, he doesn't have, nor knows of them.
But I digress. I know most of ya are interested in the other juicy details and whatnot, so without further adieu(Again, not sure if I am spelling it right), let us proceed.
Right after the group of 9 finished off the Grimm and made it to the finish, they each went on their way towards the auditorium. Except for Ash. He was approached by the Headmistress, Glynda Goodwitch, and told he was going to stay closer to Ozpin during this. What she meant was pretty vague to him...Until he found out that was she said is exactly what she meant.
Ash found himself behind one of the curtains while Ozpin announced the teams. He did recognize the other 8 who were with him, and heard the names of their teams; RWBY and JNPR. But Ozpin has yet to clarify Ash's position as the 'wild card', which made Ash anxious a bit not knowing what that grey-haired asshole had in mind.
"And this concludes the teams." Finally, he was finished. But just as the students were about to leave…"Before you go, I'd like to introduce a surprise addition to Beacon's student body." Ozpin gestured to Ash to walk out of hiding, which he did and found himself standing right next to him. "This here is Ash Auburn, a student who got my attention during the exam. Hence, I decided to enroll him, but with a twist."
The whole room was filled with whispers and gossip as the rest looked at Ash, but teams RWBY and JNPR were more silent as they waited for the Headmaster to finish. Putting his cane down, and grabbing everyone's attention in the process, Ozpin continued. "I'm sure you all have questions. But for now, know this: Ash Auburn is not part of any team, nor does he have a partner. So that's why, during missions and various assignments, any team can recruit him temporarily. But only if he agrees to help the said team. Questions?"
Multiple people raised their hands, but Ozpin gave them no attention. "Perfect"
"Wait a minute, Ozpin, care to tell me what-"
"We are finished here then." He cut Ash off, then walked away. Every team then walked to their dorms, but Ash felt a cold shiver ran down his spine.
"Mister Auburn?" The voice of Glynda echoed behind him. She gave off strange vibes towards him, and he doesn't know why, but they feel like vibes of anger, hate, maybe revenge. "Follow me to your dorm room" Ash did as told, following behind Glynda all the way to the dorms. He was pretty surprised by their layout as it seems both the male and female students live in the same dorm, and share rooms among themselves. From what Ronan told him it was never a good idea to put 2 hormonal teens in one room.
But seeing as some teams are all female or male, with some having an unusual balance with only 1 male or female member, or, like team JNPR, a nice even pair. Kinda hard to do anything in either case when sharing a room with 2 others.
Glynda led Ash through the dorm, a small handbag on hand since he didn't have much to his name anyway. But going through the dorms he couldn't help but notice the large rooms made to accommodate 4 people in them, So maybe he'll get one of those large rooms all to himself? That'd be nice. But as they walked through the dorm, students freezing at the sight of Glynda, the Headmistress was looking kind of tense all the way. And believe me when I tell that Ash could smell a strange grudge the woman held. But against him? What did he do to deserve her fury? Well, except the part in which he broke in the middle of the exam without presenting any papers first, and getting put in the Academy by the Headmaster by using a little blackmail. Actually, she might be mad about the paperwork that brings.
Alas, they reached a door. A dusty and old, ready to fall, crimson door. Ash raised an eyebrow at it but didn't get to talk as Glynda opened her mouth first. "This here is an old room made before the team-system, hence it is smaller than all other rooms." She explained. "When remodeling the dorms this one was left intact because of the unfair extra space it would've given otherwise, but as you can see it has not been used since either."
Ash went forward and pushed the door slightly, and as he did the dust began to rise from the floor with the slight current made by the door opening, making Ash sneeze. "Any chance of this place getting cleaned before I move in?" He asked, but the Headmistress' expression didn't give him too much hope.
"I'm sorry, but the ones in charge of the rooms have finished their jobs before the year started. From here on the rooms are in the hands of the students." She explained and looked at him with a cold, stern glare. "You'll have to take care of the filth yourself, Mister Auburn."
"What, but I-" His words had been interrupted as she brought her riding crop to his face, shutting him up.
"We are done here, Mister Auburn." those were the only words she said before leaving. Ash couldn't believe how cruel that woman was leaving him with a room that looked like it harbored a corpse in it. Oh Gods, maybe it even does!
Pushing the door forth, he entered the room, and his fears, for the better and the worse, were confirmed. The place had 2 beds sitting in parallel one from each other along with a door that led to what he believed was a bathroom of sorts. The beds were pretty small, only able to fit only one person at the time in them, which meant the room itself was meant for partners to share during their 4 years at Beacon. Ok, now this is somewhat worse if they ended up being a male-female pair.
Only one window, covered with planks, was visible along with the light that shyly crept through the spaces between the planks. And now the bad aspects of the room; the place was dusty like the bottom of a canyon, the beds were in the worse shape possible with only one of them even having a mattress but with the wooden frame being extremely old and most likely ready to break, the walls had no color to them and were full of cobwebs from spiders, the closets behind the bed looked bad as well.
Lastly, once he arrived in the kitchen, Ash was forced to run out once he saw what was there. For the sake of the Gods, did they forget to wash hands or died right there? One thing was certain, he was going to miss the first week of classes as he was going to be busy cleaning around here and asking Roman for money to buy new furniture. Gods damn it, this meant that the cane-walking criminal could give him some of those 'jobs' and Ash wouldn't be able to say no.
Just his fucking luck. At least taking the planks off the window proved easier, allowing for light to flood the room. But that only revealed more filth to him. Grunting and muttering curses to fate, Ash placed his bag down and sat on the only good bed in the room. He sighed. "This is going to take ages…"
Then his scroll beeped, notifying him about a message.
"Wow, this room is VERY dirty. I guess it fits you in some way seeing as you lived in the forest most of your life with barely any cleaning products on hand to keep the place clean." Neo. There was no doubt in Ash's mind. That and the fact that she was with him in the room.
"You don't need to hide, Neo. There is only you and I here." As soon as Ash spoke he was greeted by a certain pressure and warmth over his head. Neo was behind him, standing on the bed while leaning forward and using the boy for support.
Ash didn't bother to shake her off, nor expect a verbal answer. She was mute. So he only held his scroll in hand as Neo texted. "You know, I could always go shank that hag for you. Just give me the word and the job will be done overnight."
"Although I can tell she has...something with me, I wouldn't go that far." The short mute rolled her eyes in disappointment, lifting herself from Ash and jumping down on the floor, making more dust rise which made her sneeze. No sound to it, of course.
Neo began texting again. "One thing is for certain though; you have a LOT of cleaning to do."
"..." Ash remained silent for a couple of moments. "I also need furniture, and-" Suddenly, he will up with a parasol pointed in his face. What's up with women pointing stuff in his face today?
Neo pulled back her parasol and waved her finger around before texting again. "You know how Roman is, Ash. You want money to fix this place? Work for it. But you can still clean around the place."
"Yeah...I only dread what I might discover while cleaning. I have yet to check the bathroom as well." A cold chill ran down both of their spines at the thought. This place, and the kitchen, were horrible enough as it is. But the bathroom?! Gods have mercy. "By the way, since when were you following me?"
Neo texted. "Since you jumped like a suicidal junkie out of the ship" Of course.
"You've been with me for that long and didn't bother to let me know?" Ash asked looking at the mute woman before him as she texted.
"Hey. This ain't my Academy to go to. So why do I have to risk getting placed in here with you?" Although it didn't seem to have sense, it did. If Ash knew about Neo being around he might have slipped. Not very probable, but Neo and Roman never really liked taking risks. And she, because of her size leaning people to mistake her age, might have just become Ash's partner. Taking back the bathroom comment, cleaning sounds better all of a sudden.
"Ugh. Can you at least tell Roman to prepare an easy, not-too-long job for me?" Ash asked. "I'd like something that both pays well and is done quickly and swiftly. Can't really pull long nights anymore."
Neo texted, a smug on her face. "I'll see what we have"
"Great" Just as Neo was texting again, a few knocks were heard at his door. Then a pretty noticeable dent appeared on the door followed by a familiar voice throwing a small curse. Neo wasted no time using her semblance to vanish, leaving Ash with his guest.
He sighed and inhaled, getting up and opening the door to see the 2 sisters from earlier at his door. The tall, blonde one named Yang, and her younger sister wearing a red cloak, Ruby. "Heyo, Ash!" The blonde said cheerfully.
"Yang?" Ash asked seeing them. "What's with you here?"
"Well, I guess my sister can answer that." Yang pushed Ruby forth, the girl pretty short compared to Ash.
"Yes?" He looked down at the girl.
"Hi. I don't think I had the pleasure to introduce myself properly earlier-"
"Borriiingg" Yang said as her sister talked. "Stop beating around the bush, Ruby, and just ask him!"
"Ask me what exactly?" He looked at the two, curiosity taking over.
"My sister wanted to ask if you would need help settling in- GOOD GODS, YOUR ROOM'S A MESS!" As soon as the blonde brawler saw Ash's room, she and her sister were awed by the sheer amount of filth. "Not even 1 day in and you already smashed the place."
"Not like I like it…" Ash muttered. "Something about me being a 'surprise addition and 'only space left', and other pieces of crap like that"
"Do you need help?" Ash turned to the little red before him, looking at her through his glasses. "We already finished setting up in our room. We're just down the hall, 5 rooms, 6th door's ours, by the way. So we could come and help you clean." Tempting offer. Too tempting. Who is he kidding?
"Please…" He sighed out. "I also believe there's something in the bathroom."
"Leave it to me!" Yang exclaimed and invited herself in. "Go get Weiss and Blake, Rubes. I'll check the damage in the meantime-" As she talked she threw herself on the only good bed, breaking the already fragile, old wooden frame and making dust rise up, making her cough heavy. "Get reinforcements!" She said through the coughs.
True enough, Little Red sped without a second thought back to their room and the neighboring one, getting team JNPR as well for this. Ash helped Yang up and she dusted herself, the others arriving shortly after.
"I got them as fast as I could!" Little Red said as the other came inside, making obvious the limited space within that room.
"Wow, dude, this is really…" Jaune looked around the room, trying not to sound offensive. "Bad"
"Bad? It's a goddamn filthy empire!" Nora exclaimed throwing her arms around. "It even has a broken bed!"
"That was Yang when she threw herself on it," Ruby said. "But yeah, it's bad."
"And why should we help?" Weiss asked. "From what I can recall, we owe him nothing!"
"You do own me, Ice Queen!" Ash said using the nickname other people gave her. "I saved you, remember? Or should I have just left that Gigas to squash your petite frame?"
"Gigas?" Yang echoed. "You have to tell me the story later, Ashie boy"
"You said I owed you nothing back then!" Weiss argued.
"Well, I changed my mind!" Ash retaliated. "Now, be a dear and put your ass to work"
"Why you-"
"Ok~" Ruby intervened before Weiss ended up freezing someone solid. "How about we stop the fighting and focus on cleaning?"
"I agree with her. " Lie Ren, the more cool-headed member of team JNPR, added. "Besides, it does look like it'll take a while."
"And classes start tomorrow as well" Pyrrha added further. "We wouldn't want a fellow classmate to miss it because of a disease or infection"
"It's still very, " Blake rubbed the wall with her finger, surprised by the amount of dust on it. " very filthy."
"Then let's get to work!" Ruby shouted as she turned into a storm of rose petals and went down the hall, returning with some cleaning products and trash bags. "Here!"
"You do realize you just made more of a mess right now, yes?" Ash pointed at the petals she left behind.
"Oh, sorry"
"It's ok…" He sighed, strapping on some rubber gloves. "Let's just clean this place for now. I can deal with the furniture later."
"Why not have Weiss use her money to- Ouch!" Jaune's words were cut by the heiress placing her heel into his foot. She gave him a sharp gaze, making him gulp. She was not a bank.
"I'd rather do it by myself, thank you for the offer," Ash said.
The group worked on the room for what seemed like a few good hours. But the amount of filth just kept amazing them and making Weiss curse her own luck. Nora was mainly messing around, making angels in the dust on the floor. Ash opened the window to allow the dust to fly out, but it also ended up as a quick way to get rid of the useless wooden frames from the beds. Courtesy of Xiao Long for throwing them out through the window.
But as they kept going, and Jaune losing half his launch when he and his team reached the kitchen, it was time for the real challenge; the bathroom. Yang was behind Ash along with Blake, products readied like guns in the hands. He slowly turned the handle, then instantly regretted ever coming to Beacon.
The following was a series of screams of terror from Ruby who was unfortunate enough to see what was inside. Ash was right. There was a corpse in there. Not human, but a rat. Worse. Yang made an obvious sound of disgust seeing it, but Blake and Ash were not that affected. Picking up the rat, revealing maggots underneath which really disgusted them, and throwing it in a bag, the rest of the bathroom was, to their luck, not as dusty. But filthy beyond belief as well. And don't get me started on what they found inside the toilet.
Safe to say that it took a while until the place was inhabitable. But it looked...decent. The mattress could be saved, so they only washed it. The bathroom and kitchen were conquered, much to Jaune's incoming nightmares. But all he had as furniture was the mattress...not even a freaking carpet. Just...the mattress.
"Phew!" Nora whipped away the sweat. "Finally, the kingdom of filth has fallen!"
"Wasn't it an empire?" Ren asked pointing out Nora's change of political structure.
"Whatever. It has fallen!"
"Along with my lunch…" Jaune said sitting outside next to the door. "What could've done something like that in the kitchen?"
"Wait to hear what we found in the bathroom," Yang said, Jaune almost throwing up again. "Easy there, vomit boy, I just got my shoes cleaned!"
"Thanks," Ash said as he sat on the lonely mattress. "This took way less time, thanks to you, and I was definitely spared some terrible things"
"No kidding…" Jaune added.
"Ugh." Weiss scoffed as she threw the gloves away. "I can't believe I was forced to clean…" she muttered.
"Oh, come on, Weiss, it wasn't so bad," Ruby said.
"Not so bad? Ruby, you screamed in horror when they opened the bathroom door!" The heiress had a point.
"Don't remind me…"
"He still needs furniture" Blake pointed out. "His room looks like a homeless lair. "
"I got a plan for that," Ash said holding his scroll, Roman's number on the screen. "An old family friend can offer a hand."
"In that case, we're done here" Weiss stormed off, not able to bear staying in that room a minute longer.
"I apologize about her," Ruby said. "She is a bit difficult at first, but I promise that once she warms up to you she'll act nicer."
"Are you all coming or what?" Weiss yelled from their room, making Ruby flinch.
Yang chuckled. "Looks like the Queen needs her attendants. See ya, Ashie boy" She went towards their room, and shortly after her everyone followed, leaving Ash in his freshly cleaned room. His clean, empty room.
Well, time to make a call. One that Ash was wary of making. He put the number in and traced the scroll to his ear. Waiting for Roman to pick up.
"Ash! How good it is for you to call me" And to his dismay, Roman answered. Of course. Neo must have told him already Ash's issue. "I hear you need some extra Lien for furniture. Something about your room being a biohazard." Called it.
"Neo told you?"
"Careful there, Ash, those words are quite badly put." Oh, right. Mute. "But yeah, she did put me up to speed. And I'm happy to tell you that, only this one time, you can have the necessary Lien without any strings attached."
Wasn't that a surprise. "Say what? I thought you were going to take advantage of the opportunity to have me do some crazy job for you or something"
"And I still am. But next time. For now, take this as your gift for getting into Beacon. You even have a whole room to yourself, how lucky!"
"Yeah. I was helped by a group of 'friends' if I can call them that. One of them was at least 2 years younger, a girl with a red cloak"
Roman seemed to choke for a minute. It seems like he was having some coffee. "Does she happen to swing a big scythe around?"
"Funny you ask. Yeah, she was" Ash could hear Roman mumbling and curse on the other side. Then a message popped up from Neo alongside a video. Ash couldn't help but almost break out in laughter once he saw it.
"What's so funny?" Roman asked.
'Just you getting your ass handed to you by her"
"What?! Who told you that?" Roman Torchwick just snapped.
"A little bird," Ash said, enjoying Roman's outburst.
"I'm regretting my gift already…"
"What's given can't be taken back, Roman. Plus, her team was nice. All girls though."
"ONLY girls?" Roman asked. "Wait, how do you know that?"
"They announced the team's out loud, Roman. And we share the dorm"
"YOU'RE IN THE GIRL'S DORMS?!" He broke out into a laugh. "Oh, gods. It's too good. Didn't they have any more room at the sausage party?"
"Nah. They don't separate the girls and the boys, everyone lives with their team. Whatever they have both or none." Roman's laugh grew rarer.
"Oh...Well, that's interesting." He cleared his throat. "So, there are girls next door to you? And plenty of chances to sneak a peek?"
"What the heck, Roman!" Ash said raising his voice but then covered his mouth as Roman shushed him from the scroll.
"Easy there, kid. You want everyone to know you have connections with me or something? Believe me, you don't want people knowing about you and me" He said, keeping a stern tone. "Besides, I was messing with you. You are not ENTIRELY your father."
That sounded like both a compliment and an insult to the dead. But Ash let it slide. Now is not the time to argue. Besides, Ash did remember his old man telling him some questionable bedtime stories. At least now he knows what 'big watermelons' stands for.
"Anyway, you should get the needed Lien at the end of the week. Meaning you'll have a shopping weekend." Roman explained. "Who knows? You might get to invite one of those girls to go with you. Gods know a man can have terrible taste in things at times."
"Like you when you paid an amateur to make your hair?" Ash couldn't pass on that one. Not at all.
Strangely though, Roman laughed. "Just like your father. He said the same thing to me once as well. It seems the apple really hasn't fallen far from the tree after all" Somehow, he sounded pleased about it. "But, as the saying goes, time is money, and I have lost enough of it already. Until next time, Ash." And with that he hung up, leaving Ash to wait for an entire week before furnishing his room.
"Well, at least it's clean."
The next day, in the morning, Ash was on the mattress with his eyes closed, sleeping without a care in the world. His father's sword was next to him since he didn't want to leave it out of sight. Speaking of which, his glasses were off. At least he didn't wear them whilst asleep. But as the rays of the sun slowly crept through the window, and his scroll began buzzing, he was mostly awakened by the ruckus going on down the hall.
"The heck…?" Getting up from the mattress, having nothing on the top side and only a pair of white pants with black flowers on it-interesting pajamas-he grabbed his glasses and peeked his head out the slightly broken door. Couldn't really replace or throw this out easily. "What in the name of the-"
Suddenly, a door busted open and one of the 2 teams he'd come to know here rushed out...making him wonder what time it was. Rushing to his scroll he saw that he was actually running late-if he was not already. "Crap baskets" a swift curse later and a quick morning routine, and he was already running as well after locking up his door. He left his father's weapon inside since he couldn't really take it with him everywhere.
Running towards class he just barely spotted team JNPR's redheaded member walk into class and closing the door behind her. And Ash, to his dismay, got locked out. "Crap…" Another curse left out through a couple of small pants knowing what needs to now be done. He'll simply sneak in through the window. If he remembered correctly, this was Port's class, and if the rumors were true then everyone will be asleep during it as the old Huntsman yaps his tongue around telling his stories of youth.
Why did he need to sneak in again? Oh, yeah. Roman.
As much as he would like to skip class, he couldn't. That criminal, although sly and not trustworthy, does look out for him a bit. It's not hard to imagine him sending Neo to give Ash a spanking if he finds out he skipped class. So without too much thinking, he went around and snuck under the window.
He peeked in and saw many students already asleep inside, as well as hearing Port yapping away with stories of his youth. The rumors were way too kind. He snuck towards the back of the class, thinking it'll be a better place to sneak through. Slowly, he opened the window. Slowly, he jumped through. And slowly, a pair of amber eyes looked down at him.
Ash looked up to see Blake looking at him, not taking the girl long to figure out what he was doing. But it did puzzle her as to WHY he'd want to sneak into this class. This was literal torture in its own way. But she didn't snitch on him, on the contrary, she reached out to close the window.
"Hm?" But the teacher saw her. "Something the matter, Miss Belladonna?"
She turned to the teacher, Ash staying ducked down out of sight. "Just felt a draft and saw the window being open." Didn't even stutter once. Ash noted this down, this girl was used to faking and lying.
"Very well." Thankfully, Port returned to yapping, Ash taking a seat next to Blake not to stir up more prying eyes.
"Why'd you help me?" Ash asked looking at Blake.
"I have my reasons." She replied keeping her attention towards the class. Or rather said, towards trying to stay awake. "But what are your reasons for sneaking into this class? If it was one of the other, then I would've understood. But Port has rumors warning us about his class."
"Didn't want to be late on the first day?"
"Mister Auburn!" Oh no…"Glad to see you could join us! Now, can you tell me the difference, which I stated in my story, between an Alpha and an average Grimm? Size excluded."
What's up with that question? It was easy; age. "It's age. Alpha's posses more year's behind them and have more fighting experience."
"Hmm." The professor rubbed his mustache. "And what was the Grimm which I faced?"
Oh! Now it made sense. Yeah, Port acted dumb about the window. "Umm, a Nevermore?"
"Incorrect!" He shouted. "Ursa. So maybe try to at least eavesdrop a bit before jumping into the class through the window"
Busted. "Y-you knew?" Ash tensed up, as did Blake. This man, despite his seemingly endless mouth marathon, he was aware of Ash sneaking in.
And he gave it a quick laugh. "Boy, you have to wake up earlier to get past me! Which reminds me of another story from my golden days. I was out in the snowy peaks in Mistral, tracking down a pack of Apathys…"
And so did his great punishment begin.
After what seemed like an eternity, the bell had finally rung and many people darted out through the door. Port didn't bother lecturing Ash about being late or sneaking in. Looks like having someone sneak in instead of out was a nice change of things for him. This was good news for both Ash and Blake since she'd helped him get in.
But anyhow, it was time for the much-needed break everyone required after a long, seemingly endless and unproductive, class. People usually go to the cafeteria, but Ash had another place in mind at the moment; the forge.
He knew Beacon must have possessed a place for students to fix or modify their equipment, so he was searching for it. But this place was huge. And he got a bit lost. It was almost time for the next class when he found the cafeteria and went inside, stomach grumbling.
He simply went in and grabbed himself some food. He looked around for a place to sit and heard a certain voice calling for him.
"Ash! Right here!" Figures. Little Red and her team, along with blondie's team. Well, better them than no one. So he went to them and took a seat right next to Ren. But the guy was too busy eating to even acknowledge Ash's presence.
"So, sneaking into Port's class?" Yang asked leaning to him.
"Didn't want to miss it?"
"Right…" she looked at Blake, recalling how they were sitting next to each other. "And what about you, Blake? Did you see him sneak in, or was he too stealth for you?"
"I only lend him a hand." She answered.
"Yeah, right!" Nora said butting in. "Who would want to sneak in Port's class anyway? Most of us, literally all of us, didn't listen to the rumors and looked what happened! I'm. So. Bored" She exclaimed out dramatically. "Ren! Entertain me!"
He just got eating his supper. Not even paying attention to his partner. Nora scoffed seeing that he didn't raise a finger. "Meanie-"
"Maybe try a sloth next time. It's bound to be more interesting to pay attention to"
Everyone at the table was silent for a few seconds, then Nora broke into a laugh. "Of course!" She kept laughing. Cheerful girl. Energic one as well. Poor guy, this looks a match between water and oil.
Weiss cleared her throat, grabbing some attention to herself. "I for one believe we should pay attention to his stories. They do provide certain bits of information about the Grimm."
"Oh, come on, Snow Angel." Snow Angel? The heck, blondie. "You have to admit that his class was-"
"Zip it" she cut him off rudely.
"Alright…" Oh, such an easy defeat. Good luck next time, Jaune.
"Weiss does have a point…" Pyrrha, the apparent prodigy of the bunch, if you do not include the obvious kid too young to be here, spoke up. Wait, isn't she-? Oh, now this is a match between a bear an a scared wolf. And the bear has red fur. And she just sided with Ice Queen. Good luck, Jaune, for you'll need it ALL.
The heiress curled her lips into a coy, arrogant-looking smirk. "But of course I do."
"Is she always like this?" Ash asked pointing at Weiss. The heiress looking annoyed by his question.
"Wouldn't know, to be honest. I just met her a few days ago. Yet, she's my sister's partner" Yang's answer made Ash raise an eyebrow. Little Red, the girl who kicked Roman's butt and was currently fighting with Nora over a cookie, was HER partner? He was barely holding back his laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" Weiss called him out, noticing his suppressed outburst.
"Nothing, nothing…" Ash replied keeping a hand over his mouth.
"At least you don't have to worry about a partner, or worse, roommate!" Blake's ears perked up hearing Weiss. "You have a room to yourself. And whilst it is not as spacious as ours, it is still made for 2. That's unfair…"
"Hey, I think karma fixed that by having us clean the place" The images ran through everyone's mind again; Jaune gagging as he remembered the kitchen, and Ruby dreading the memory of what was in the bathroom…"I am so going to buy some cleaning products…"
"Yeah, you do that" Jaune said. "Also, I've been meaning to ask."
"Yes?"
"I noticed your makeshift gauntlet" Now Ruby perked up, hearing the subject of weaponry getting opened. "Care to tell me what's up with that if you already have your sword?"
"Well, while the sword was my father's, I did have my own weapon design in mind and trained to use it," Ash answered looking at his arm. "What you saw was like a prototype. But it could only hold 3 make-shift bullets and it blocked sometimes."
"I see. So the sword was more viable" Jaune said thinking to his weapon. "But old classics are not bad either, don't you agree?"
"Indeed." Ash leaned back on his chair. "Dad's sword is so simple, yet so effective in its own sharp way."
"Yeah. Kinda the same thing I have with Crocea Mors. My family's sword and shield have been passed down through the generations for a long time and it still hasn't lost its edge" A smile grew on his face. His weapon is sometimes underestimated at times most likely, so maybe hearing a compliment about it is a welcomed change of scenery for him. "You're the second one to agree to that." Wait, second?
Ash raised his brown. "Who's the first then?"
"Me!" Ruby raised her hand, getting his attention.
"Yeah. Ruby here was actually the first I met when I arrived. We were both lost, to be honest, and she'd just made a crater in the front of Beacon"
That explains the rumors I heard about that Ash thought and looked at Little Red, his glasses reflecting her image in them. "It's good to have someone who appreciates a good weapon."
"It's good to know someone using one." Touche, Little Red. "But anyway, regarding your weapon, do you already have a design in mind for it? Do you need help? Have you decided on a name for it?" The girl was asking questions faster than a bullet left the barrel of a gun.
"Uhhh…" Ash didn't know how to reply so quickly honestly, but luckily for him, Yang stepped in to help.
She caught her younger sister in an arm lock and ruffled her hair a bit. "You have to excuse my little sister. She can be a weapon's maniac at times." Her slight grin indicated that she found this funny.
"Yang! Air!" Ruby cried out as her cheeks became red from lack of air and her sister let go. Everyone at the table sharing a laugh over the antics of the sisters.
"To answer your question, Little Red, I do have a design and a name in mind." The nickname Roman had for Ruby, and Ash used it. The girl did react to it, but she must've ignored any suspicious flags that raised. Good. On the other hand, she seemed somewhat disappointed. "What's with the long face?"
"It's nothing…" She sighed then began poking her food with a fork.
"She wanted to give you a hand into making and naming your weapon. " Yang said.
"Yang!"
"What? He was going to find out eventually!" The blonde brawler had a point.
Ash chuckled. So much goofing around and positive vibes did him good. "Alright."
"Huh?" Ruby looked at him with slight confusion in her eyes.
"You can come to help me with my weapon if you wish and maybe, just maybe, I'll let you suggest a new name, alright?"
"Deal!" The girl shouted and extended her arm towards him.
Ash slowly took her hand, shaking it. "Deal."
"I regret striking that deal…" After leaving the cafeteria and finishing classes for today, Ruby, who was boiling with excitement the whole time, took Ash straight to the forge.
The hot, hard-to-breathe air of the place along with the various materials organized into different categories and the extremely high temperature accompanied by the dim light offered by the fire dust crystals embedded into the wall made for handling the metals easier but did not help with one's own sweating.
Ash even considered that he'll need to strip a piece or two to survive in here. But that was not the case.
What the actual problem was, was the fact that Ruby was so into this weapon-making deal that she, with her semblance, gathered all materials in one go. And Ash had to admit that while some were the correct ones, a big part of them spelled total overkill. Seriously, he saw some blades in there.
"Ruby?" Ash called out to her as the girl was putting some stuff together.
"Yes?" Thank Gods, she answered.
"Can you let me handle it, please? It is my weapon to make after all." The girl looked at him for a second, then jumped out of the chair she was sitting in.
"Why?" She asked looking down.
"Look, I appreciate your help. But looking at your weapon, which is cool, don't take me wrong, but I am feeling rather...overwhelemed."
"Overwhelmed?" She looked at him, silver eyes meeting dark lenses. "What do you mean by that? Crescent Rose is not THAT overwhelming!"
"Red, you have a scythe that is also a high-caliber sniper rifle."That nickname again, ignored by the girl as simple coincidence. "Look, I get it you are trying to help, but I don't want something too crazy like gauntlets that have a retractable blade or an entire grenade launcher into them. I have a design." He tried being polite and smooth about it.
"Alright…" And she gave him a soft answer. "But can I still, like, help? You know, getting you the materials and such."
"Of course! Whatever you want! Just be careful about suggesting anything, ok?"
"Alright!" And so she stormed off.
Roman was right. Kids nowadays are crazy, and I count among those kids. He thought as he started the work on his fresh set of weaponry. But then a problem came into play. "I...I cannot see with those on…"
Figures. As long as he was standing he had some vision, but now that he was down at the desk and looking downwards he was being blinded. The worse part was that he couldn't take off his glasses with Red around.
Long story short, he bumped his fingers more than once before finally allowing Ruby to do the assembling as he got the parts. But he did leave her with the blueprints. Very explicit blueprints.
Finally, after a long session in the forge, his weapon was done. Ash walked out with Ruby, his new weapons in a suitcase, and headed towards the dorms. He wished he could try them on, but it was already late at night and they had classes tomorrow. So he had to make his way back to his room.
But imagine his surprise when he tripped over a box and fell on the floor nose-first. "What the heck?" He got up and looked at the box, putting down the suitcase next to the mattress. Opening it he noticed multiple dust crystals inside of multiple types and color. "That bastard pulled through."
"Which bastard?"
Ash's blood froze as a feminine voice came from the kitchen and slowly revealed itself to him. It was Blake from team RWBY. But what was she doing in his room? At this hour? And what's with the bag in her hands?!
"Oh, Blake, um, what are you doing here?" Ash turned to her while trying to hide the dust.
She let out a small chuckled seeing him getting rather flustered. "Relax. That box was already here when I invited myself inside, and I promise you that I have not looked inside." That was a relief for Ash. Wait for a minute. He locked his door when he left, did he not? So how come she got inside?
"Question: How come you are in my room? I am pretty sure I locked the door." His question was answered when Blake pulled out a hairpin from her pocket. Son of a-she lockpicked his door! "Ok, this answers my question. But why are you here, exactly?"
"Well, during the cafeteria talk I couldn't help but notice the part in which you do not have a roommate and the whole room is yours alone." She put the bag down and opened it. At this point all Ash was hoping is that she is not going to move in with him. He cannot have a roommate. Not that he would mind, but he has to hide his...thing.
"Look, Blake, you can't just walk inside someone's room and-"
"Can I hide those in here from my teammates?" She pulled out...books. A lot of them as well. "There is not enough space in our room for all my books and I decided to hide the more sensible material here. Is it alright?" Seeing as she did not, in fact, want to move in was a relief.
"Thank the gods. For a second I thought you wanted to become roomies." Ash said as he pushed the box aside with his shoes.
"No thank you." And she gave him a straight answer. "But can I?"
"Only if you promise me to never break into my room without letting me know."
"Deal."
"Alright then. Let me help you place them somewhere. Not like I have a space crisis going on." Ash said pointing out at the emptiness of his room.
She gave him a chuckle. "Let's begin then."
The 2 spend some time putting the books in order in one corner of Ash's room. But the boy couldn't help but wonder what Blake meant by sensitive. He'd have to ask the black-haired girl himself.
"Hey, so, mind telling me what those books are about?"
Blake went a bit red in the cheeks when she heard him ask, but she just inhaled and replied. "It's my personal...romance novels collection. Yeah, that's right."
She was slightly nervous, a red tint in her cheeks, a delayed answer; Roman told him about this kinda stuff. This girl was hiding something. "Romance novels?"
"Romance novels." The girl echoed.
"Care if I read one then? I was always curious about this gender." Without giving Blake time to answer, Ash took a book and opened it. The girl blushing like mad as he flipped through the faces without so much as saying a word.
The beginning was pretty normal. The book seemed to be about some forbidden romance between a boy who keeps visiting the princess which is locked inside her own palace at her father's orders to protect her despite her wish to go on adventures and see the world. Pretty mundane until now.
Blake remained silent though as if she was waiting for a certain reaction. If she didn't want Ash to read her books then she could've just said so, but she just remained silent. Strange. Anyway, back to the book. The story went on for a good amount until-Wait just a freaking minute, what?! Oh boy, Ash did not expect this. And the blush on his own face said it all.
He didn't need to be a criminal mastermind like Roman to know this was smut. In translation, it meant mature content. Sugarcoating off, porn. This girl, this girl right beside him, which acts all cool all day not showing too much reaction to things, was into THIS kind of books?! Ash cleared his throat before speaking. "So...this is...interesting."
Blake groaned in embarrassment as Ash put the book down. "So you need to hide those in my room because of your teammates, right?" He asked trying to break the wall of ice which erupted among them.
With a bit of hesitation, Blake answered. "Yes...Ruby caught me with one yesterday when unpacking and read it…"
So that's what I've picked up yesterday while going through the dorms with Glynda. I thought it was her. As thought while recalling yesterday. "And?"
"Well, she called it filth and threw out the window." Ash raised an eyebrow. That was a bit much for a book, even if it was smut.
"That sounds a bit...extreme."
"I'm just grateful she didn't tell the others. She must have been too embarrassed to even recall it." The more they seemed to talk, the more her blush went down. This was good. "I swear, the last thing I want is people calling me a perv or something."
"Hey, who are they to judge? From what you know they might be using their scrolls for other things apart from the norm. You at least do something more healthy such as reading." Ash said pointing out the slight positive aspect of her hobby.
Blake was quite surprised by his point of view, but she knew he was right. It was not like she going to come out to others with her collection, Gods no! But hearing him say this was reassuring to her. Maybe it was because they were fellow Faunus. Wait, what?
"Say, where are you from? Mistral? Menagerie?" Blake asked giving him a slight shy gaze.
"Why do you ask?" Ash asked back looking at her through his glasses.
"Cut the crap, Auburn." She sighed and pointed at his mouth and hands. "You have cut claws and your mouth shows slight feline fangs." Ursa on a stick! She's good. But Ash was relieved. This was not a big secret.
"Guilty as charged." He admitted with a smile. "I am a hybrid though. My father, Pluto Auburn, was human." Blake went back a bit and looked at him. It sure explained the lack of more feline traits.
"I see…" Ash knew what was going through her head. Some humans and Faunus hate the other, and hybrids are in the middle of that hate. They receive hate from both sides. "Life must've been hard for you then."
"Not really. " Ash said, making the girl looked at him with a bit of confusion in her eyes. "You see, I grew up outside the kingdom of Vale at the border with Mistral, so I never came into contact with anyone. I never really had any issues with the fights between humans and Faunus. Especially the White Fang."
"I see…"
"But since you asked such a question…" Blake tensed up. He got her. "That can only mean 2 things: You are either a Faunus hater or a Faunus yourself. And I am willing to bet on the later. "
Blake sighed and, very slowly, took off her bow. 2 car ears poking out to reveal her Faunus heritage. "Don't tell anyone else about this alright?"
"Whatever you say, kitty."
"I can give you the exact same nickname, you know!" She hissed back at him, claws on the ready. Ok, never call her kitty.
"Easy, easy. I get it. But for the record, I am a rare black leopard." Blake rolled her eyes, not caring what he was.
"Still feline." She pointed out.
"I know, I am still a kitty myself." They both stayed silent for a second before laughing. But Blake was laughing more silently than Ash.
"It's good having another Faunus who hides his traits around here. " Blake said.
"About that, why are you hiding your ears?" And the cool atmosphere died down.
"I...have to go." She tied her bow back. "It was a pleasure talking to you, Ash. If you need help sneaking into class again, let me know."
"Wait, you haven't-" She left, leaving Ash a bunch of questionable books."Dang!" He said throwing himself on the mattress and taking off his glasses for the night. But he couldn't shake what he felt from her...fear. She was afraid of something, and that was the reason for her hiding her Faunus traits. Ash did not inherit much, to begin with, no ears or tail, so he could easily pass as human. But Blake was putting a lot of effort into this. If Roman thought him anything about secrets, is that they are a very powerful weapon in the hands of someone who knows how to use them.
But for now, he was going to sleep. Tomorrow he had combat class with Glynda Goodwitch...why did he feel like someone is plotting to kill him?
On another note, in a different location somewhere in Vale, Roman was looking over some papers while Neo was out on an assignment. A man wearing a strange white mask with red details on it dressed in a white outfit came to him from behind pushing a container along.
"Yes?" Roman asked as he looked back at the man. "Oh, it's another one of you, animals." He said looking at the person's evident wolf ears, earning a growl from him. "No need to bite the hand which feeds you. Open it up."
Per his order, the man opened up the container to reveal multiple dust crystal of the highest quality to him. Roman smirked as he traced his finger among them and picked one up to his eye to examine it better. "This is quality." He put it back down and pulled out some Lien to give to the man, then he left.
But Roman was left with a bitter aroma in his mouth. This was no usual business. He would never work with the White Fang willingly. He was not so stupid as to get involved with extremist groups and risk getting unwanted attention from the authorities. Sure, they were already on his tail. But only as a thief and, maybe, murderer. Never as a terrorist. And truth be told, he'd like to keep it that way.
"Roman?" If not for a certain smooth voice calling out to him and the sound of heels walking towards his direction. This was the only reason he couldn't pull out now. "Is everything going according to plan?"
Roman inhaled and turned to her. 'Yes. Soon, all dust in Vale, or at least the most of it, will be in our possession, making the price rise up a lot and causing the huntsman and huntresses to fall short on resources." He stated while lighting his cigar. "How could I forget? It was my plan, after all."
"Yes." The woman admitted while she stayed in the shadows. "But what about a small box with dust which was shipped out to Beacon?"
Roman's blood froze. He hoped that little will be easy to smuggle to Ash, but apparently he was wrong. A rare occurrence, but possible nonetheless. Gods, he hated it when it happens so much. "Just a small gift towards the son of an old friend." He didn't lie. But he did not give names. She knew he had friends.
But she didn't know he liked to become a family friend, nor did she find this to be the case. "And who might this person be?"She asked, further putting pressure on Roman.
"He's just a kid my old friend left behind before kicking the bucket. " Roman said smoking from his cigar like there was no tomorrow. But with this woman, one word and there really won't be any tomorrow.
"Hmm. Very well." Roman blew out the smoke relieved. "But!" And then he looked up again. "If you were going to give him dust and Lien, I might as well meet this Ash."
Roman dropped his cigar, completely shocked how she knew his name. "How do you-"
"Please, Roman…" She walked out of the shadows. The woman was dressed in a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, mini dress with yellow designs. On her right hip, atop an open portion of her dress, rests a blue feather accessory. The dress ended in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, just above her knees.
On the back of her dress was a baseball diamond-shaped keyhole at the same level as her chest with a black tattoo visible through the keyhole resembling 2 high heel shoes placed sole to sole to form a heart. Her sleeves ended in a triangular shape wrapping around her middle fingers with a golden design taking over at the wrist. A black choker on her neck, and one golden loop earring with a black gem on her right ear, then a jeweled anklet on her right leg above dark, high-heeled, glass shoes.
Fair skin, and a rather young appearance along with lipstick and violet eyeshadow. Ashen-black hair covering one of her amber eyes and dark-painted fingernails. If not for her being who she was and how dangerous she actually was…"I do not trust you. "She said bluntly.
Roman scoffed realizing he was being tapped. "So you had someone take and wiretap my scroll." He said as he kept smoking.
"You catch on quick." She walked around him, a hot air going around his neck as she ran her hand across it. "But what I want is an insider."
"Of course…" Roman snarled. "Sorry to disappoint, but Ash is off-limits-" He suddenly felt the back of his neck on fire as the woman gripped him.
"You don't get a call on this, Roman." She said as Roman was put on his knees. "You will call him here as soon as possible, or else." She removed her hand, leaving a mark on his neck.
Roman got up, his cigar now on the floor. With gritted teeth he said. "Alright, Cinder. I'll give him a call tomorrow. He is most likely asleep by now."
"Marvelous." Cinder walked away, knowing she got what she wanted. Just as she always does.
Roman looked through the window over to where Beacon stood. Sorry kid, but it looks like you and I are going to make business.
So, that happened. As you can see I have Roman not liking working with Cinder and the White Fang because he draws the line when it comes to terrorism. he might be many things, but a terrorist he is not. Also, Cinder is taking a liking to Ash. Watch out.
please remember to review.
Bloodfiend out.