Whoooo boy. I have been gone for WAY too long. Man, I feel bad for being gone as long as I have. But, I'm back, and with a new chapter. And the next chapter was finished the same time as this one, so expect it to be posted soon. Alright, real quick, let's talk about all the new people who enjoy this book even more. First and foremost, Favorites: Cybranify, Matthew 1999, and Primecore. Followers: Cybranify, GamehunterMC, nobalspartan, Primecore, and LightGuard. It amazes me how I get more favorites and follows on this story than He's not like us, yet He's not like us gets more reviews. Please, if you read this, and like it, help me get feedback and make my content better overall. Also, over the next two weeks, I'm going to be overhauling the first few chapters, rewriting them to be more cohesive, read better, and overall improve their quality and fix grammatical errors that I've left in there. Anyway, reviews.
JuniorBLD:Thanks again for your continued support throughout my career on . This last chapter did get a bit deep. Hopefully, this chapter will still entertain you guys, even though it won't be very action-packed.
Anyways, with that over with, ON TO THE CHAPTER!
Chapter Nine: Running from Reality
Bryce hated the nightmares. He knew the images he was seeing were just fake scenarios his subconscious had created. It didn't make them any less terrifying to see.
He watched silently as his home, all of Septon, burned before him. Bodies lined the streets, screams of pain and terror arising from every which way. The horrible image of a group deity blessed Nekropsychi brutally killing every single person left alive. Bryce wanted to hurl, but his brain wouldn't let him, even in the dream.
Bryce watched in forced silence as his family was murdered by attacking terrorists as his family was murdered by attacking terrorists, used as pawns for their goals. He watched as Natalie was stabbed through the heart by the same Nekropsychi he had died too. She coughed up blood, then looked in horror at him. It took Bryce a moment to realize he had replaced the monster, and now his own arm was stabbed through his girlfriend's heart.
"How," Natalie's voice was filled with sorrow, disappointment, "How could you let this happen to us?" She looked at him, the mask slowly starting to form over her face. Tears streamed down her face as the life fled her body. "How could you leave us to die? Why weren't you here? Why weren't you here!?"
Against his will, his arm lifted up, covered in the boney armor of a Nekropsychi, and lifted it to Natalie's crying face. The hand gripped her head by the chin, terror filling Natalie's face. In a sudden movement, the arm removed her head from her body. The image was too much for Bryce to handle, his soul shook, pain lurching through his entire body. As her head hit the ground, one final question fell from her lips.
"Did you even care about us?"
Bryce screamed as his heart cracked.
…
To say teams RWBY and JNPR were scared for their friend would be an understatement. They were beyond terrified for him. Even though they'd unlocked his aura, they'd barely gotten him to medical attention in time, and even the doctors were unsure if they could save him without there being severe repercussions, possibly falling into a permanent coma. None of the normal things were working to wake him up, and even the more outlandish ideas had no effect on him.
The more worrying thing to note was that no one remembered the Nekropsychi attack, bar them, Professor Goodwitch, and Professor Ozpin. Everyone they asked had no recollection of the ground shaking, lightning, boulders crashing through the Beacon, windows shattering because of sonic booms. Anyone in their class with Professor Goodwitch seemed to remember that they'd all been told to head back to their rooms for the rest of the day and that their other classes would be canceled to allow them to recover from the large Grimm attack. This discrepancy caused them to have to come up with a story for Bryce's severe injuries. Thankfully, his staying back in Forever Fall was remembered, and they were able to pass of the injuries as wounds from the battle.
It was four days later after the incident and team RWBY was gathered around Bryce's bed. They had been called there by Professor Ozpin for an important meeting, though, about what was still unknown to the four girls. Team JNPR was on a mission to eliminate a growing threat of Grimm that had appeared near where Bryce had fought the Horde. RWBY sat, waiting for him to show up. Every so often, one of them would look up from what they were doing to keep themselves entertained as they waited, to see if Bryce was waking up. They hoped he would soon. All for their own reasons.
The quiet sound of the heartbeat monitor was the only consistent noise within the room. Ruby looked up at the clock, beginning to grow impatient. Eleven forty-five. Ozpin was five minutes late. Before Ruby could voice her complaint, the sound of the heartbeat monitor grew faster. Ruby and Weiss looked at the machine at the same time. When they saw the machine's beeps grew louder and faster and more erratic, they panicked.
"Blake, call the doctor's!" Weiss shouted as she stood up, leaping to Bryce's side, looking for anything she could do. Ruby looked on in worry as tears began to flow from Bryce's unconscious eyes.
Blake hopped into action quickly, tossing her book to the floor. She scrambled for the emergency call button at the side of the bed she sat on, as Yang looked up from her own scroll, pulling out the headphones out from within her ears. She took one look and heard the sound of the heartbeat monitor going crazy, and immediately knew something was wrong.
"No, no no no no no, that's not good," Yang shouted as she stood up.
"We know, Yang! Grab my dust bag!" Weiss said, gesturing to the large, white handbag next to Yang's chair. Yang grabbed it and passed it to the heiress. Weiss began frantically searching through her back as Blake quickly conversed with the Nurse on the other end of the line.
"Please, you need to hurry. His heart's beating really fast.
"Thank you, we'll be right there."
Weiss shouted in triumph as she found what she was looking for, Weiss pulled out a pair of grayish-green crystals of dust. Ruby drew her eyes from Bryce's crying face, which was growing paler by the second, to Weiss in confusion.
"Weiss, what is that?" Ruby looked at the pulsating rocks warily.
"Expensive healing and lightning dust. Artificially made to create a large shock to the body when two crystals are applied to the body. It's good for treating those who are having heart attacks or need resuscitation.
"Are you sure that's safe!?"
"It's the best I've got right now," Weiss lifted her hands to apply the dust to Bryce's bandaged chest, only for him to wake up suddenly and roll to the floor, gasping for breath. His face was pale, and he hadn't stopped crying, Ruby noticed, which didn't ease the tension in the room. Weiss stood above him, frozen in shock.
"G-garbage," Bryce uttered the words as if they were painful to say. Realizing what he needed, Ruby dutifully grabbed the can and passed it to him. The instant it was underneath his head, Bryce retched twice before hurling into the garbage. The sound made all of team RWBY gag, and Weiss herself nearly vomited as she got an unwanted sight of the vile substance leaving Bryce's body.
Bryce sat there, head resting on the edge of the can, sobbing. He was whispering something, but none of the girls could tell what. Moving closer to the fallen boy, they listened closely till they could make out a single phrase that he seemed to utter over and over again.
"Don't let it be true. Don't let it be true. Please, don't let it be true."
The girls looked at Bryce, unsure of what to do. Looking between each other, they all saw that they had no clue what was wrong and had no idea what to do to help. They just stood there as Bryce cried, his head on the garbage can. What was more worrying was when the phrase he repeated changed.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there."
A fist slamming into the ground scared the girls, causing them to jump back, Weiss screaming a bit in shock. After a few more seconds of Bryce taking deep breaths, Bryce sighed, before looking at the girls behind him.
"Sorry," He muttered, standing slowly, before sitting on the bed. It was only then that a group of nurses hurried into the room, followed by a doctor. Some of them ushered the girls out of the hospital room, as the doctor and the other nurses began to look at Bryce. The girls sat in worry outside the room, unsure of what was going on.
"Is he going to be okay?" Ruby said, looking to Yang. Yang couldn't answer. She didn't know the answer.
"Is who going to be okay?" The four girls jumped at the sound of Ozpin's voice. They all looked to the professor as he walked up to them. In one hand was his cane, and in the other, a familiar sword, held by the middle of the blade.
"Bryce," Ruby's response caused Ozpin's eyebrow to quirk up.
"Oh? And what would be the problem?" Ozpin looked to each of the girls for an answer. Weiss finally answered after a minute of silence.
"Bryce's heart started to beat really fast. Before any of us could do anything to help, he suddenly woke up. He was crying and saying something about how he didn't want something to be true… and that he was… sorry."
"Weiss," Alpha's voice surprised the group this time, "You said Bryce's heart started speeding up rapidly before he woke up and was crying and apologizing for something. Did anything else happen before he woke up."
"I'm… not sure. I was too focused on his heartbeat and trying to figure out a way to stop him from dying."
"He was crying." Everyone looked to Ruby. "He was crying, even before he woke up. And he looked like he was… terrified of something.
Alpha was quiet for a moment. That fact alone was scary, but what he said next was worse. "I need to get in there immediately. Bryce needs help, and those doctors can't give him what he needs."
"Understood." Ozpin nodded to the sword before walking towards the door. As soon as he was about to open it, the door was opened by the doctor that had come with the nurses earlier.
"Oh, Headmaster Ozpin." She looked slightly shocked to see the man who wrote their paychecks in front of her.
"Hello, Amelie." The doctor looked slightly tickled at Ozpin knowing her name, even though it was clearly written on her nametag. "How is he?"
"Well… as far as we can tell, he's perfectly fine. Fully recovered, even the scars he had are gone. Healed as if they were never there." She shook her head. "Even the earlier scare from his sudden increase in heartbeat seems to have been nothing. His heart is fully functioning, his body is perfectly fine, there's absolutely no reason for his heart to have acted like that." The doctor groaned as she rubbed her forehead. "It's all very baffling."
"Thank you, Amelie. If you don't mind, team RWBY and I would like to talk to the boy."
"Oh, by all means, go ahead. I'll get the other nurses to leave so you can have some privacy. But please, call me if anything more happens."
Ozpin smiled at the doctor. "We will. Thank you for your help." The doctor smiled, before calling for the nurses in the room to leave, before leaving herself. Once the room was empty, Ozpin walked into the room, followed by team RWBY. Bryce sat at the edge of the bed, stock still, staring blankly at the wall before him.
"Set me down," Alpha instructed, and Ozpin nodded before doing so. Alpha suddenly rose into the air, before being surrounded by his blue avatar. He walked over to the boy, who didn't acknowledge the A.I's approach. Alpha rested a hand on Bryce.
"Bryce." Bryce didn't respond. "Bryce, look at me." Bryce did, slowly. "You know it wasn't real."
"I… I know that, but…"
"Bryce." Bryce took a deep breath.
"Bryce, you are stronger than the images. Don't let them scare you into believing it to be true."
Bryce was quiet for a moment. He'd closed his eyes, and took a couple long, deep breaths, before opening his eyes, and smiling. "You're right."
"Um…" Bryce and Alpha looked to the group of people near the door, specifically, Yang. "Not to interrupt or anything, but… what are you talking about."
Bryce sighed. "It seems someone forced me to see a vision. A distorted, controlled vision that showed me a twisted version of a possible reality. One where my planet was attacked and burned. Everyone… everyone I knew killed." Bryce's voice grew shaky as he described the events. He took a second to regain his control. "It was meant to shake me, make me scared to do anything. It almost worked."
"It's known as Oroma, a common occurrence among Septonians. These dreams are often brought forth after a brush with death. It's the universe's way of trying to finish the job it started and get their species to kill themselves," Alpha explained.
"Woah." Everyone felt an ominous sense of foreboding hit them. The idea of something beyond them trying to get someone to kill themselves when it failed was beyond horrifying. What made it worse was that this wasn't the work of evil. No, this was the work of Fate itself.
"So, not to continue down this dark path, but how am I still alive," The group flinched as Bryce mentioned his near-death experience, "Cause by my account, I should've died from the impact, and if not that, blood loss. And how did I heal so much? I don't remember being able to heal the amount of damage I'd taken unconscious, ignoring the fact that I had no creation or Omni energy at the time. So… what happened."
"That," Ozpin smiled at the confused teenager, "is among one of the various reasons I called us all together. Alpha informed me that you should be waking up today, though we didn't think it'd be so early, or that it would be because of these… Oroma."
"There is much to talk about," Alpha noted. Bryce's expression became serious as the five guests to the room sat down.
"By talking with Alpha over the last four days, we have pieced together everything that happened, and wanted to inform you all of what is going on." Ozpin sighed. "So, let us start off with what has happened, and why. As you girls will remember, we were attacked by a Nekropsychi, a monster previously thought to only exist in Bryce's universe for the sole purpose of killing his species." Everyone shivered at the memory but nodded nonetheless.
"This incident was brought forth because of his extremely uncontrolled use of his powers. As far as Alpha has explained to me, every universe is pre-driven to keep a stable balance between all forces, light and darkness, good and bad, creation and destruction. Each universe has a limit to the amount of power one being or one side can hold, and Bryce's powers greatly exceeded that, at least at the magnitude he used them back in the Forest of Forever Fall. As a counter-balance to this, it created the Nekropsychi to try and eliminate him."
"But Bryce is still alive," Ruby's voice was shaky, her nervousness showing, "Does that mean…"
"That it will try again?" Ozpin finished. Ruby just nodded her head. "No, it won't, as long as Bryce does not use his powers to the same, or a similar, extent."
"That's great and all, but," Bryce cut in, "Last I remember I was falling to my death and even if I survived the fall, I would've bled out within minutes. What happened after I lost consciousness?"
Everyone else was silent for a moment, caught up in the memory of racing to Bryce's dying, broken body. The image of his organs punctured, visible from the hole in his chest, blood covering the grass, the panic and worry. The image of Ozpin unlocking Bryce's aura and his body beginning to heal.
"Well, uh, after you… fell," Weiss started. "Pyrrha slowed your fall with her semblance, by grabbing your armor."
"Which you still need to show me later!" Ruby interjected, pointing a finger. Weiss glared pointedly at the crimsonette, causing Ruby to grin sheepishly when she realized what she'd done.
"Anyways, upon reaching you, Alpha informed us of your condition and your inability to heal yourself at the time."
Yang now took her turn in explaining as Weiss trailed off, still shaken by the memory. "It was at this point Jaune came up with the idea that we could unlock your aura."
Bryce blinked. "What…"
"We had Ozpin unlock your aura. It was the only way we could think of to save you."
Bryce looked owlishly at the other people present. "Huh… didn't think that was possible if I'm being honest."
"Neither did we, but we were desperate," Blake said, adding her own two cents.
"Okay, I can respect that." Bryce looked to Alpha, who now laid on the bed, "Is there anything else I should know. I mean, as far as I can tell, I'm fine, but we both know what happens when tampering with Septonian souls."
"What's so risky about that?" Yang huffed, "I get that it's tied to your DNA, but your souls just acting like a shield. It's not that big a deal."
"You misunderstand, Ms. Xiao Long," Alpha said, "Septonian souls, as I stated before, do not act, or react, like human souls. As such, what is safe for a human soul, isn't always safe for a Septonian. There have been multiple tests on Septonian souls, most of which were trying to manipulate the soul. All of them ended up with people dead, not always the test subject."
A shiver traveled down the four girls back as it dawned on them how dangerous what they had done truly was. They'd brushed death, and never really realized it.
"You never answered my question, Alpha. Is there anything wrong with me? Anything I should be worried about or know about?"
The silence that followed scared everyone. "Alpha? What's wrong with me?"
"Physically, nothing. But your soul is no longer able to hold a Cardia connection."
Bryce paled. "Does that mean-"
"The connections with your family and Natalie have shattered."
Bryce sat there, not moving for a full minute. The four teens were scared to ask Bryce anything, while Ozpin and Alpha gave him space to act as he felt he should. Bryce stood up slowly after a long time, and walked over to the wall, before smashing a fist through it.
"Dang it. Why?" Bryce sounded defeated. "Why does everything have to be so difficult!?"
"Um…" Ruby's voice was timid, as if she were afraid Bryce would snap at her. He didn't, instead just looking at her silently. "What's wrong."
Bryce took a few seconds to calm himself before responding. "A Cardia connection is something we Septonians are able to develop. It occurs when two people care for each other on a deep, emotional level. This connection basically lets one person know when the other person is in severe pain, is dying, or is dead. It gives people a chance to be saved by those they love, or more often, at least be able to see them in their last moments."
"A connection like that doesn't just shatter, even upon the person's death. Unless their soul was destroyed, in which case it can't pass on to the next life, or the afterlife if you will."
Realization spread across the faces of the girls, while Ozpin nodded sadly. He'd known about this for four days and was still terrible to hear.
"You mean-"
"Right now, my family and friends believe that I'm not only dead, but that I'm gone forever, and that they'll never see me again, even when they die."
Ruby looked stricken with worry and sadness, Yang with guilt and sorrow, Weiss and Blake both looked sad but sympathetic.
"Are you going to be okay?" Blake asked quietly. Bryce just took a deep breath and shrugged.
"I'll be… well, I can't exactly say okay, because that would be a lie," Bryce smiled half-heartedly, "but I'll live. I'll just fix that issue when I get home."
Ruby sniffled. "I feel like this is my fault."
Bryce snorted. "Oh. So, Ruby Rose, care to inform us when you decided to develop the power to manipulate souls?"
Outside of everyone's view, Ozpin coughed and paled ever so slightly.
"Ruby didn't notice this and tried to protest. "But-"
"Nope!" Yang interrupted. "No butts, sis. You're too young to be looking at them."
Ruby blushed and tried to hide in her cloak as the others laughed. Except for Weiss. She would never laugh at something so childish. So she giggled instead.
"In all seriousness, Ruby," Bryce said, "This just means that it's going to be harder for me to get home, as now my family will no longer by trying to get here to save me."
"I guess," Ruby muttered. "Still feel like I contributed."
"You didn't force me to use my powers, that was my choice. You didn't cause me to fall into Remnant, I did. You didn't cause the Nekropsychi to attack me, I did. None of this is on you, any of you. I alone am to blame for my mistakes. Fair?"
Ruby nodded, smiling. "Fair."
"Glad that you could take care of that," Ozpin smiled, "Now, onto more current issues, due to your newly discovered fame around school, we've had to remove you from combat classes with the first years, as none of them except team RWBY and team JNPR are willing to fight you, and I believe that repetitively fighting the same person over and over again will not help you grow."
"Agreed."
"You will be joining our mixed combat class, which will consist of the most talented teams of each age group. Teams RWBY and JNPR will be joining you as well."
"Sweet, I won't be alone."
"Finally, recent events have caused us to reevaluate what to do with you when the Vytal Festival comes around, as, after the video that was posted, people are expecting you to compete, even though you are all alone. As such, we have allowed you to, for now, be the first one-man team to compete in the tournament. But, any new transfer students we receive will be placed on your team. Is that understood?"
"Crystal clear, professor Ozpin."
"Good. Then, if that's all taken care of, we'll leave you be." Ozpin smiled as he got up to leave, gesturing for team RWBY to do the same.
"Actually, if you could stay a moment," Bryce asked the headmaster. "I need to talk to you about something else that came up in Forever Fall, but with the ensuing insanity, I didn't really get to mention it to anyone."
Ozpin's gave him a questioning look. "Is it anything I need to be concerned about?" Bryce chuckled.
"Absolutely not, in fact, all things considered, it's probably a good thing," Alpha said on Bryce's behalf. Bryce nodded.
"You see, during our trip to the forest of Forever Fall, Bryce was watching over Jaune Arc for the sake of Pyrrha Nikos. During a confrontation with Cardin Winchester and his team, Jaune had to combat an Ursa Major on his own." Ruby and Weiss flinched at the mention of the fight, remembering how Pyrrha had asked they not speak of the incident. And now, here was Alpha speaking of it freely to the headmaster, "As Jaune prepared to release his final strike against the monster, both Bryce and I recognized a familiar power stir up within him to empower his strike."
Ozpin looked to Bryce with a little bit of interest showing through his normally calm expression. "And what would that be."
"It seems that I'm not the only one in the academy that can wield Creation energy." Bryce smiled. The response he received was in instantaneous.
"WHAT!" Four female voices cried out at the same moment. Ozpin just smiled and nodded to the discovery.
"I knew there was something special about Mr. Arc, though I will admit it was not this."
"Indeed, it was quite a shock to us as well." Alpha agreed. "Though it seems we've broken your students… again." Sure enough, the four girls stood in blind shock, each muttering about something that had to deal with this most recent revelation. Ruby seemed to be thinking about the cool weapons she could help Jaune build, Weiss mumbled something about Jaune not being deserving of something so amazing, Yang was whining about how Jaune would now be stronger than her, and Blake… well, it seems her fantasy ship was now changing to give Jaune more… interesting options for how he and Pyrrha would do things, if her red face and nosebleed was anything to go by.
"This is becoming quite the habit with you two." Ozpin chuckled as he looked at the four students.
Well, ignoring that, the main reason I wanted to bring this up is I thought it might be a good idea to begin to train Jaune how to control his power. Having someone besides me be able to use something so powerful would be beneficial to Huntsmen in the future, especially if I can train him well enough that he can recognize it in others and teach them as well."
"That is a great idea Mr. Anderson, but you will most likely need to talk to Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos about doing so, as she is currently training him at his request."
Bryce nodded for a second before settling into silence, as he watched the girls, who still had yet to recover from the idea of Jaune having Creation energy.
"So, is it just me, or does Pyrrha have it bad for Jaune."
"It is not just you, Mr. Anderson. All the staff, and I can bet most of the student body have noticed the obvious attraction Ms. Nikos had for Mr. Arc. In fact, there seems to be a betting pool on whether or not she will reveal her feelings or if Mr. Arc will realize before then."
Bryce chuckled. "Well, the benefit of teaching Jaune how to use his Creation Energy is that he'll be more perceptive, especially in being able to recognize people's emotions. Maybe during my time teaching him, he'll realize Pyrrha's feelings for him."
Ozpin's eyes twinkled. "I would love to be present if such a thing were to happen."
Bryce nodded. "It'd be a heartwarming image."
"Indeed." Ozpin stood once more, and began to lead team RWBY out. "We'll leave you be Mr. Anderson. I'll see if can't have Ms. Goodwitch wake these girls up before class. When you're ready, you can head to your dorm."
"Thank you, Professor Ozpin." Bryce watched as Ozpin closed the door behind him. "I have a feeling there's something more to the reason he wants me to be alone?"
"You would be correct on that guess," Alpha affirmed. "He has informed me of much that would be important for us to know about and be prepared for."
"Alright… let's hear it."
"While you were recovering, Ozpin took the time to inform me of some very important things, the main one being this person, Salem, that Ms. Goodwitch mentioned. As far as I understood, Grimm have been around as long as humanity. Ozpin himself has been around for hundreds of years, referring to himself as the Wizard, a man with immense power that lives forever within host bodies. A while back, he came into conflict with Salem, a woman who'd been in hiding for a very long time."
"What does she have to do with all this?"
"Salem, from what I've been told, controls most Grimm, or rather, can choose to do so at any time, and sees over their creation. Her goals seem to be the destruction of Remnant, human and faunuskind specifically."
"Another person with a villain complex. Great, like we didn't have enough of those people in our lives already."
"Here and home are different, and we can't solve this like we normally would. This will require discretion and patience, one of which is very limited with our show of power at this point."
"So what do you suggest."
"Ozpin has asked us to watch over teams RWBY and JNPR, so until we receive different instructions, focus on that. Salem will have to put her plans into motion soon, and it is only then that we will sees us as a threat, if the previous Grimm attack and Tyrian's attempt on your life are anything to go by. She will have someone try again soon, if to do nothing more than rid herself of our possible interference."
Bryce simply nodded. "You're right. She most definitely will." Bryce sighed before standing up. "Well, let's head back to the dorm. No doubt I've got homework to get done, and I definitely do not want to sleep on this hospital bed any longer."
"On that we agree," Alpha chuckled. "It is uncomfortable, even to me."
"How is that even possible."
"I neither know, nor do I care. I just would like to be somewhere else as I work on planning our next move."
Bryce laughed as he picked up the blade. "Alright then. Let's head back."
…
Salem was beyond angry. Ozpin had taken in a powerful new variable, and she didn't like it. Especially when said variable was a fellow Septonian. One who no doubt had family and friends searching for him. 'How did he even get to this dimension?' Salem thought to herself, 'I specifically chose this universe because it was nye impossible to reach.'
Salem glowered at the disfigured scorpion faunus before her, whose tail was almost entirely gone.
"You failed me, Tyrian.
Tyrian flinched as he looked warily up to his goddess, head bowed.
"I-I-I tried, my queen. I did everything I could. He simply… overcame me in a moment of surprise. He was more powerful than I anticipated."
"More powerful than me?" Tyrian paled.
"No, never your grace. No heathen could ever stand before your power, my goddess."
Salem hummed. "Flattery will not dismiss your short comings, Tyrian. As much as it pains me to do so," Salem ran a hand across Tyrian's cheek, the man flinching at her touch, "you must learn from your mistakes and become stronger for me. As such, you must be punished for your failures."
Tyrian whimpered. "Please, Mistress, I'll do anything."
Salem smiled as she lifted Tyrians chin to look directly into her eyes.
"Then receive your punishment and do better. For my sake."
Knowing that arguing would only make things worse for him, Tyrian nodded numbly. "Yes, my queen."
Salem snapped, and a large Beringel, heavily armored with bones, spikes, and pieces of weaponry protruding from its body came into the room. The Grimm led Tyrian out, leaving Salem to her thoughts. She would have to change her plans. Any Septonian would recognize the powers she had, meaning she'd need to rely on her pawns more than she'd wanted to originally. Unless…
Salem smiled as an idea came to her. Unless she could kill him before then. Septonians could only heal so much damage. Especially if they weren't prepared to heal fatal strikes. It seems she would have to call Cinder, one of her favorite pawns, about a change in plans.
…
It'd taken Bryce three days to finish the homework that he had. Apparently, Weiss had ever so graciously gathered all his homework for him, even though he was technically excused from is, so that he wouldn't be behind in class. Yeah, he'd have to talk to her about the meaning of gracious and how it generally doesn't apply to homework.
Over the course of the three days, he'd talked to Jaune and Pyrrha about what he'd discovered. To say it shocked them would be an understatement. Jaune was speechless, and Pyrrha had a multitude of questions to make sure Bryce was telling them the truth. After a lot of convincing, both Jaune and Pyrrha agreed to let Bryce begin training Jaune to use Creation. He'd also be joining them in their training sessions.
Today though, was Friday, and Bryce was trying to relax. Or he'd been trying to till Ruby burst into his room, demanding he come with her and her team, saying he'd promised they'd hang out weeks before and they never did. Bryce had wanted to say no, but even with two younger sisters, he was weak to the power every little sister had within their arsenal. The dreaded Puppy dog eyes.
Now, he was walking slowly behind team RWBY as they traversed Vale, as multitudes of stores began to set up decorations for something. Across a particularly busy street, an old man standing on a ladder was hanging up a sign that said 'Welcome to Vale.'
"Oh, the Vytal Festival!" Weiss said, smiling widely at the scene, "Oh, this is absolutely wonderful."
"I don't think I've every seen you smile this much Weiss," Ruby commented, before muttering. "It's kinda weirding me out."
"How could you not smile," Weiss asked, turning to her team, "A Festival dedicated to the cultures of the world. There will be dances, parades, a tournament, oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking."
Yang sighed in annoyance. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Bryce snorted in agreement.
"No kidding."
"Quiet you two." Weiss glared at the offenders harshly, before turning back to the street before her as they walked.
"Remind me again why we're spending we're spending our Friday morning visiting the stupid docks?" Yang whined as the fog horn of an incoming ship blasted from the ocean. Ruby took a whiff of the smell and gagged.
"Ugh, they smell like fish."
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon, it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom." Weiss said, bowing slightly, before continuing towards the docks.
"Does no one else find it weird how the one from Atlas is the most excited to welcome people to Vale?" Bryce whispered to Yang, who snickered.
Blake turned to Yang and Ruby, "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upperhand in the tournament." Weiss scoffed, before rounding on Blake, pointing an accusatory finger at her.
"You can't prove that."
Bryce laughed quietly, as Yang teased Weiss mercilessly. A gasp from Ruby got their attention. Turning to see what she'd found, they were surprised to find a shop surrounded by VPD, Vale Police Department. The shop had been sectioned off with caution tape, one of the windows were shattered and the door kicked open. Everything inside seems to be gone, with most of the shelves thrown on the floor.
"What happened her," Ruby asked one of the detectives who was writing something down in a notepad.
"Robbery," He informed her nonchalantly. "Second dust shop to be hit this week." As he walked towards the other officer, he grumbled, "this place is turning into a jungle."
"That's terrible," Yang said, as she placed a hand on her hip, staring at the store sadly.
Before anyone could say anything else, they overheard the two detectives begin talking to each other. The second one they hadn't spoken to spoke first.
"They left all the money again."
"Yeah," the first detective just shook his head in confusion, "It just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much dust?"
"I don't know, an army?" The second detective took off his glasses as he responded.
"You, a, thinking the White Fang?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
As the girls began to walk away, Weiss hmphed.
"The White Fang," she crossed her arms in disgust at the name, "What an awful bunch of degenerates."
"What's your problem?" Blake glared at the heiress. Bryce had a guess where this was going to go, and he didn't like it.
"MY problem?" Weiss said, "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of a collection of misguided faunus."
"Misguided?" Weiss' tone was one of disbelief. "They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet."
"So their very misguided," Blake replied in exasperation. "It still doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."
Before Weiss could argue further, Ruby interrupted. "Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that torchwick guys I ran into a couple months ago. Maybe it was him?"
'Torchwick?' Bryce wondered. 'Who the Archon is Torchwick. Alpha?'
"Torchwick is a renowned criminal who resides in Vale. He's wanted for Robbery, Kidnapping, Murder, Extortion, among many other smaller crimes. If Vale has a most wanted list, he's likely near the top of it."
'Huh. Good to know.'
Weiss rolled her eyes. "That doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."
"Woe unto those that operate in broad statements," Bryce said idly. The girls ignored him.
"That's not necessarily true," Yang pointed out. Before anyone could say anything else, a loud voice grabbed their attention.
"Hey, stop that faunus!"
Running to where the voice had originated, the approached the docks to see a blond, teenage monkey faunus running away from two guards on one of the passenger ships. As he leapt to the edge, he smiled at them.
"Thanks for the ride, guys." With that, he jumped off the boat, and ran along the dock before hanging on one of the lampposts by his tail. As he did so, one of the guards shouted at him.
"No-good stowaway!"
The blonde guy only smiled as he began to eat a banana. "Hey, a no-good stowaway would've been caught. I'm a great stowaway!" He leaned back just in time to dodge a coconut thrown at his head by one of the two previous detectives.
"Hey," The first one called out. "Get down from there this instant." Instead of a compliant action, he received a banana peel to the face. His face contorted into one of anger, as he glared at the blond boy, who was now laughing at him. With that, the monkey faunus leapt from the lamp post, and began running up from the docks to street level. As he passed the shocked forms of team RWBY, he winked at Blake, causing the secret faunus to stare at him open-mouthed as he ran by. Bryce, for all he was worth, resisted the temptation to trip the blond, as funny as the situation would be.
As the monkey faunus and the police officers began to run further out of view, Yang pointed in their direction. "Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition. And, there it goes."
Weiss, not wanting to miss an opportunity, gasped. "Quick, we must observe him!"
Weiss, Yang, and Ruby rushed off quickly to catch up to the retreating figures, while it took Blake a moment to gather herself together again before she followed. Bryce simply walked, figuring they wouldn't get far before they lost them. If only he knew how right he was.
The four girls rushed blindly after the blond boy and the detectives following him. As they rounded a corner to follow, Weiss ran into someone, causing the entire group who were running to stumble over each other, falling into a jumbled pile of bodies. As Bryce rounded the corner, at his leisurely pace, he was suddenly very glad he'd taken his time, as no amount of previous teasing could keep him from being embarrassed at being mixed up in the mess before him.
"And this is you slow down when turning corners," Bryce mused as he looked at the mess of females before him. Weiss didn't respond to the jab other than glaring at him.
As the girls slowly untangled themselves, Weiss pounded her hand into the ground in frustration at the sight of the blond boy escaping.
"No, he got away!"
Weiss, oblivious to the person beneath her, starred in anger at where the monkey faunus had disappeared till Yang coughed. "Uhhhhh, Weiss." She said, pointing to the still form of an orange-haired girl who lay stiffly on the cement, staring up at Weiss with green eyes, smiling.
"Ahhh!" Weiss jumped up, backing up to the rest of the group.
"Salutations!" The girl's voiced was a little too cheery for comfort.
Uncomfortable, Ruby responded slowly. "Um… hello?"
Yang looked at the girl in a weird mix of concern, confusion, and hesitance. "Are you… okay?"
Still laying on the ground, the girl smiled. "I am feeling wonderful. Thank you for asking."
The four girls looked betweenst each other, discomfort displayed across their faces. Looking back to the girl, Yang said, "Do you want to get up?"
The girl looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes!"
Placing her hands on the ground, she pushed her hands against the ground to perform a kip-up, before turning to the five other people present once here feet were solidly planted. The sudden movement caused team RWBY to take a quick step back from the girl, while Bryce just raised a single eyebrow in her direction.
"My name is Penny. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang quickly received an elbow to the gut from Blake. Yang looked to Blake for an answer why before she realized why Blake had hit her. "Oh, I'm Yang."
Bryce stood silent, watching the scene as there was a lapse of silence, before he realized Penny was looking directly at him, waiting for his name.
"Oh, I'm no one important. Ignore me."
Penny frowned for a second, but her smile returned quickly before anyone could question the look. "Alright, No One Important, I will leave you alone as you asked."
Alpha laughed from inside Bryce's mind. "You deserved that." THe smiles on team RWBY's faces told him they had the same sentiment.
"It's a pleasure to meet that." Penny smiled to all of them.
"You already said that," Weiss pointed out. Penny looked lost for a moment, before nodding.
"So I did."
Weiss, obviously wanting to get this interaction over with, turned the other direction and began to walk away. "Well, sorry for running into you." Ruby waved to the lone girl as the walked.
"Take care, friend."
Once the girls thought they were far enough away, Bryce looked to Penny, whose eyes were wide with excitement.
"And it seems someone invoked the girls attention." Bryce snickered. He quickly caught up to team RWBY to watch the show play out.
Unbeknownst to team RWBY, Penny dashed forward and stood in front of them looking at them, waiting.
"Well, she was weird," Yang muttered. Looking to Ruby and Blake.
"Now, where did that faunus riff-raff go?" Weiss huffed, looking around the area before freezing with the rest of the group when she noticed Penny. Bryce got some popcorn ready, and began to toss pieces into his mouth.
"What did you call me," Penny looked at the group weirdly.
"Oh," Yang paled, "I'm sorry. I definitely didn't think you heard me." As Yang spoke to the Orange haired girl, Weiss looked back between where Penny had been and where she was now in confusion, steam coming from her head as she tried to process what had just happened.
"No, not you," Penny shook her head, as she walked through the group of girls to where Ruby stood, getting uncomfortably close to her. "You."
"Me?" Ruby's voice squeaked as she leaned back. Ruby stumbled over her words as she tried to remember what she'd said to Penny. Needless to say, Bryce laughed quietly at the scene as he chomped down more popcorn. Blake had joined him, also enjoying the scene.
"You called me friend." Penny leaned closer, her eyes wide, hope gleaming in her irises. "Am I really your friend?"
"Um." Ruby leaned to the side just enough to see her team, or more specifically Yang and Weiss shaking their heads and making motions to say 'no.' Bryce and Blake both just ate more popcorn.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Two people immediately face-faulted, while Bryce just laughed harder.
Penny's face lit up, as she squealed in excitement, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Sensational." Penny clasped her hands together as she began to rant. "We can paint our nails, and try on new clothes, and talk about cute boys."
Bryce leaned over to Blake. "Do you have the inkling of a feeling that we should be recording this."
"Yes, I do."
"I actually have," Alpha spoke quietly to the two, "I thought the interaction would be quite enjoyable to see more than once, and indeed, it's quite the show. It makes me wish I had my own popcorn to enjoy such a scene."
"Your A.I. is quite the character." Blake commented.
"Oh, you don't know the half of it."
Back with the other four girls, Ruby leaned close to Weiss as she stood up from her previous face-fault and whispered. "Is this what it was like when you met me?"
"No." Weiss said. "She seem far more coordinated."
"So," Yang rolled her eyes at Weiss' comment, before grabbing the other three girls attention. "What are you doing here in Vale?"
Turning to Yang, Penny smiled. "I'm here to fight in the tournament."
Weiss did a double take. "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"
Penny raised a hand to her head in a military salute before lowering it in a swipe. "I'm combat ready."
Weiss snorted. "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."
"Says the girl in a dress," Blake said through a mouthful of popcorn.
"And heels," Bryce added.
"It is a combat skirt." Weiss defended. Ruby rushed up to her partner.
"Yea!" Weiss put out a hand, and Ruby high-fived it.
"Notice how she said nothing about the heels," Bryce whispered.
"Wait a minute," Weiss walked towards Penny as if she'd realized something. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey tailed," Weiss hesitated as she searched for a nicer word than the ones she usually used, "rapscallion." Bryce noticed Blake's hand clenching, and took a quick step back, dropping the popcorn in a nearby garbage.
"The who?" Penny looked to Weiss in confusion.
Weiss lifted a poorly drawn and horribly inaccurate representation of the blond they'd been chasing. "The filthy faunus from the boat."
"Why do you keep saying that?"
Turning to Blake, Weiss gave her a questioning look. "Huh?"
"Stop calling him a rapscallion." Blake said, stepping closer to Weiss. "Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Weiss said in exasperation, as she stepped away from Penny and towards Blake. "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as the trash can?" Bryce flinched at the analogy, knowing it was only going to make things worse. "Or this lamp post as a lamp post?"
"Stop it!" Blake shouted, fists clenching tighter. Her teeth began to grind against each other as she glared at the heiress.
"Stop what," Weiss challenged. "He clearly broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join his other faunus in the White Fang."
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake shouted as she turned and began to walk away from Weiss.
Weiss scoffed. "How dare you talk to me like that. I am your teammate."
"Your a judgemental little brat!"
"What in the world makes you say that?"
As Weiss and Blake continued to argue in the background, Bryce approached the two girls and stood next to them.
"Uhh, I think we should go." Yang said tentatively.
"I'm not sure that will stop this from going on." Ruby pointed out as the arguing began to grow in intensity.
"Do you think they'll stop fighting anytime soon?" Yang asked Bryce, who watched the fight play out silently.
…
Bryce's guess was proven to be right. After returning to Beacon, and Bryce reluctantly staying in the room at Ruby's behest, the two continued to argue.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss said in frustration, standing up from the bed she'd been previously sitting on.
"That IS the problem!" Blake said from her bed.
"You realize your defending an organization that hates humanity. The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"
Blake now stood. "There's no such thing as 'pure evil!' Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like YOU that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
Weiss gasped. "People like me?"
"Your discriminatory!" Blake pushed.
"I'm a victim!" Weiss' outburst froze everyone in the room. Blake even looked shock, but disbelieving. Bryce, on the other hand, was beginning to understand Weiss' reaction. He'd read about the Schnee history briefly on his first day in Remnant, but didn't realize what adverse effect it could have on someone growing up in the family till now.
"You want to know why I despise the white fang? Why I don't particularly trust the faunus?" Weiss walked over to the window. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. As in actual bloodshed."
"My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I can remember, board members were consistently executed. My father coming home, constantly furious with everything made a very difficult childhood."
Facing the rest of the people in the room, Weiss continued. "'Schnees don't have friends.' A saying, that for the longest time, I refused to believe. But then, the White Fang made me realize why we don't have friends." Tears welled up in Weiss' eyes as she bit her lip. "Friends disappear after leaving you house one day, only to be found a week later, dead on the side of a the road a week later."
"All of this… made for a very… very difficult childhood."
Ruby approached her partner, and tried to put a hand on her shoulder. "Weiss."
Weiss wheeled around. "NO!" Looking to Blake again as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang! It's because they're a bunch of Liar. Thieves. And Murderers."
Blake snapped. "Well maybe we were tired of being pushed around!"
The moment those words came out of Blake's mouth, she regretted them. Weiss recoiled in both shock and disgust, while everyone else froze. Blake tried to say something. But for the life of her, she couldn't think of anything to say that could save her from the inevitable scorn, hate, and judgment she would receive from her team. So she ran.
Bryce stared at the open door that Blake ran out of for a couple seconds, before looking to Weiss.
"Woe unto those who operate in broad statements," He said, "For their worlds shall crumble down around them."
…
As Blake ran further from Beacon, she felt tears begin to run down her cheeks. SHe felt terrible for running away from her team, but… she just couldn't deal with the chance they may react to her poorly. That they wouldn't accept her for what she was, and what she'd do. Far from prying eyes, Blake slowly took off the bow, revealing her cat ears, the fur on them bristling in the wind.
"I knew you would looked better without the bow."