Chapter 2: Teach and Learn
"Will, I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Nate."
"No, it is my fault. If I didn't intervene… maybe Jacob would..."
"Please… that's enough."
"But Will…"
"The less we talk about what happened to him, the better."
"I…"
"... where is my father?"
"He was talking to that colleague of his again..."
"What did he say?"
"The first phase was a good observation or something like that."
"First phase…?"
"I have a bad feeling about that, Will."
"What do you mean?"
"It sounded like he has more plans for this experiment… I want to go home…"
The Drakken roars loudly as it slowly descends to the ground, docking on its dedicated landing area. Civilians gather around from a safe distance, patiently waiting for their relatives or friends.
A dozen workers storm in the hangar, anchoring the Drakken to a pair of pillars on the sides of the landing zone, using the ropes that the aircraft dropped beforehand.
The aircraft powers its engines down, leaving only the murmur of people and the noises of the airport. The feeble light of the day is breaking the darkness of the early hours of the morning.
The passengers slowly walk out of the aircraft, some of them looking around and waving at the crowd outside, hoping to be noticed.
Nate is the last one to exit the aircraft. He looks around. Not a single friendly face in sight.
He sighs. He knows that no one would greet him back at Beacon. He knows that his squad left as soon as they graduated. And they were his only friends. Thinking about them gives him a mixed feeling of nostalgia.
"The faster I get out of here, the better." he whispers as he adjusts his bag on the shoulder once his mind isn't clouded by his thoughts.
But then he notices a person, distancing a little bit from the crowd. He freezes on the spot as he recognizes the person, a very stern woman that he hoped not to meet first.
Bright green eyes coldly gazing at him behind the thin ovular glasses. Blonde hair tied in the back in a bun and a curl hanging on one side.
She observes him while crossing her arms pressed against her chest.
She nods at Nate who immediately replies with a similar nod, although with a gradually increasing uneasiness.
"Good morning, professor Goodwitch."
"Good morning, Mister Winters." she replies as he gets closer. "Professor Ozpin warned me about your arrival at Vale. We'll need at least two hours to reach the Academy. If you'd please follow me."
"Yes, ma'am."
The whole travel to Beacon is empty of any emotion. The two don't talk to each other. No questions asked, no sign of starting a conversation.
Nate observes the teacher from behind, taking glances left and right to avoid being caught. But once he looks at her again, his eyes meet hers, transforming his expression into shock as he is found out.
Her look seems indecipherable. However, Nate notices a glimmer in her eyes, ready to reply to any of his questions..
"Did the headmaster tell you the reason behind my return?"
"He indeed did so." she says, looking in front of her. "And I must say that I don't fully agree with his decision."
"Is that so…?" He tries to hide his smile behind a stern expression, only to break soon after. His attempt is soon noticed by Glynda who just rolls her eyes back to front.
"Even though I'm blindly following his request, I'm still confused by why he chose me in the first place."
"You can ask him any question soon enough." she says. "You'll be seeing him after the lessons."
"Speaking of… what am I supposed to teach at the students?"
"About that…" Glynda stops and turns to Nate who finds himself confused and dumbfounded by the sudden halt. "Mister Winters, your role might have been slightly exaggerated."
"Excuse me, professor Goodwitch, but what do you mean by that?"
"Isn't it obvious?" she replies. Her tone is irritated but her expression remains severe as usual.
"What is she trying to imply… right… now…"
His confusion haunts his thoughts until something clicks in him, lowering his head in resignation as he realizes the situation.
"So I'm also back to resume my studies as well? You could have said that straight away."
"You're right, Nate." she says without looking back. "But I'm not the one to tell. Ozpin is. For now, we're heading to the dormitories."
She gets a little bit closer to him. Her eyes are no longer neutral. They shimmer with a sense of anger at Nate who is suddenly terrified
"However, I do hope that this time you won't come to dirty tricks like falsifying a license…"
Nate is petrified as she continues walking. Continuing their talk any further wouldn't come to any conclusion, so he decides to fall silent for the rest of the travel.
When they reach their destination, Nate takes a deep breath. A mix of relief and uneasiness invades him as he raises his head and looks at the building in front of him.
"I guess I'm back." he says, smiling with melancholy as he slides the fingers next to the slim columns decorating the entrance of the dormitory building he is walking into. "Still… where am I supposed to stay? I have no longer a team, remember?"
"Teamless or not." Glynda starts, quickly tapping on the screen of her tablet. "You will be given an appropriate accommodation, just like any other student."
Just as she finishes tapping on her tablet, a notification pings on Nate's Scroll. As he checks his phone, Glynda immediately turns her back to him, leaving the dorms.
"The first lesson starts at 8:00, history. I accept no excuses for being late. Especially from you, considering that you missed yesterday's start of the lessons. I do hope I won't need to call you up."
"It was yesterday?" he says, scratching his head. "I guess I can't complain. Where is my room, anyway?"
"I think you know your way to your own room, mister Winters." she says, leaving immediately before Nate can ask more.
"Wait. I don't know what you mean with that…"
He sighs as Glynda leaves, knowing that it would be pointless to follow her.
Nate shrugs his worries away. "I suppose that I have to move up now."
He aimlessly looks around, occasionally finding students walking back and forth in their rooms and receiving curious murmurs from them each time.
"She said that I know my way to my room but she never…"
He stops. He takes out his Scroll once again, checking one last time the thing that Glynda sent him.
It's a simple email containing the code needed to unlock the door of his room, but then he notices something peculiar at the end of the message. Something that he initially skipped.
His emblem is displayed on the bottom of the email. The silhouette of a Beowulf with a black eight-point snowflake pattern on the background. Beside it, there are three more emblems. Familiar emblems that he nearly forgot.
The first one is a clock, framed in a gear. The hands of the clock are indicating midnight.
"Helena…"
The second one is a simple silhouette of a crop, standing on a small mound. A bolt coming from the bottom cuts the image in half, representing an earthquake.
"Lucas…"
The last one makes Nate more uncomfortable, shifting his look to his feet every now and then.
"...Fortuna…"
The last emblem is similar to Nate's background. The only difference is the number of points it has, which is double of Nate's snowflake. A green four-leafed clover is overlapping on the centre of the snowflake.
Fortuna
That name was the reason why he is known as 'Nate Wolfe' and not 'Nate Winters.' And she was the reason why he quit Beacon.
He takes a deep long sigh, "I can't believe that room hasn't been assigned." then he checks once again his old watch. It's 7:30.
"Guess I have to get ready." he says, heading immediately to the stairs.
Just like any student, Nate walks across the corridors, glancing at the dozen teams in Beacon.
After a couple of minutes, he finds himself in front of a door. He slides his Scroll next to the electronic lock that keeps the door shut.
It makes a click, signalling that the door is unlocked. As he opens the room, Nate is overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia… and regret.
Just as he walks in, he turns his head to the left, finding a desk. And on it, he finds a framed picture, standing on top of the desk. He takes it, recognizing himself in it, alongside three more people.
A younger version of himself is kneeling on the front, irritated by the smiling brown-haired guy that is using him as a stand where to lay his arms on. Upon that sight, Nate lets out a bittersweet chuckle. Two girls on the left are hugging each other while looking at the camera.
"I miss you, team." he concludes, smiling at the picture and putting it back on the desk.
When he looks on the other side of the room, he finds a pair of long metal cases lying on a bed, along with a neatly tidied Beacon black uniform beside them.
When he gets closer to it, he finds a small note attached to it.
Here's the gear that you asked for.
Considering that you were one of our most important patrons, not to mention my personal lab rat, I decided to give you the components for free.
Nate sighs at that reveal, thinking that there is no use to complain anymore.
The message continues.
Along with the pieces that you need for Crimson Night, I've also put a little gift for your comeback to Beacon. Professor Ozpin told me everything. Sorry that I didn't tell you that in the call.
"Oh. For goodness sake, Bianca…"
He approaches the boxes, clicking on the clamps that kept them locked. He opens the first one.
Upon a rapid inspection, Nate recognizes the improved hollow blade and the ammo for Crimson Night, fitted in the black sponge that stuffs the box.
He closes the first metal box and opens the second, finding another note inside.
I know you'll be angry at me.
-Bianca
Nate appears confused by that statement, looking inside the box.
Bianca's 'gift' is covered in red cloth on which Nate's emblem is imprinted.
When he removes the cloth, he remains in silence, contemplating the weapon in front of him.
Bianca's gift is a bolt-action rifle fitted in a neatly harnessed sheath. A weapon that Nate immediately recognizes as he grabs it by the barrel and suddenly spins it clockwise.
The rifle transforms itself. The barrel becomes longer and the stock of the rifle opens in the back, releasing a blade with two smaller side blades. The stock collapses, becoming part of the barrel which is now a staff.
"Are you kidding me?" he says with a tone of amusement and surprise. "You upgraded Aurei Miles? You're in so much trouble next time I see you"
(Author's note: 'Miles', in this case, is pronounced as 'Meel-s')
Nate looks at his newly transformed weapon, a partisan, as he whispers the phrase carved in the blade.
"Si vis Pacem… Para bellum…" he is confused by the inscription, clueless about its meaning. "What did you carve on Aurei Miles, Bianca? It makes zero sense…"
He rotates the partisan counter-clockwise, returning it to its rifle-form and placing it on the bed.
As he walks next to his uniform, he slides his fingers on the fabric of the suit, giving him an awkward sensation as he keeps doing it.
After four years in the field, the sight of that uniform makes him uncomfortable, like a fish out of water.
He repeats the process all over the suit for a couple of minutes before he starts undressing and put on the uniform.
When he's fully prepared, he is overwhelmed with a sensation of uneasiness as he looks at himself in the mirror. As if he is looking to a ghost of the past.
His wolf ears pop out from his hair, showing his embarrassment by flicking continuously and nervously.
He finally comes back to senses when he remembers about the lessons. His wolf ears hide back in his messy hair.
"Come on, Nate," he says to himself, slapping his face a couple of times. "get a hold of yourself."
He exits the room, gently closing the door behind him and thinking about one single thing: getting in time to the first lesson of the day.
There is only one problem…
"Which one is it, exactly?"
He immediately put a stop to his senseless haste, checking for any messages that he might have missed. Nothing.
He scratches his head, clueless. "They did keep the original schedule… didn't they?"
He raises his head to look in front of himself, hoping to ask someone a couple of questions.
Then he notices a person, a girl that he didn't expect to find in his same corridor. Or on the same floor. Or in the same dormitory. In fact, he didn't expect to find her at all. Not on his first day, at least.
He can't see her face, but he carefully looks at the girl from behind.
Her short black hair, the way she talks… and her red hooded cape. And when she turns her head a little, he manages to get a glimpse of her silver eyes.
"There's no mistake. That's Ruby." he whispers, showing a proudly smile. "You've gone very far, Thorns."
"She has indeed." Ozpin voice emerges from the stairwell next to Nate's room. When he turns around, he finds himself in front of the headmaster, smiling at him. Both of Ozpin's hands are holding his iconic cane and mug respectively. "Hello, Nate. It has been a while."
"Professor Ozpin?!"
"You're looking well", the headmaster says as he takes a good look at him. "Going for the first lesson of the day?"
"Yes, sir", Nate replies with energic joy, only to turn dubious soon after. "Well… kind of… professor Goodwitch forgot to tell me in which class it will take place. Professor Oobleck, history"
Ozpin appears confused by that statement, shifting to an apologizing expression.
"I'm sorry, Nate." he says. "I warned miss Goodwitch about you only this morning. So she didn't have any papers to hand you over."
"Yet she gave me the keycode for my room." Nate points out.
"Which has never changed, from what I remember, unlike the schedule of some lessons."
"Fair enough, professor. Then may I kindly ask you in which class is the first lesson, then? I'd mind not to upset her."
"It's the class next to the old one. Although, professor Oobleck won't mind if you'll take the scenic route with me."
"And that's how I'll get in trouble on my first day of school." Nate says, sighing, followed by Ozpin's entertained chuckle.
Their walk brings them to the gardens surrounding the Beacon Tower, the huge and tall building that oversees the campus.
Nate raises his head to observe the top of the building where the headmaster's office is located. Then he turns to the headmaster with a clueless expression.
"Why did you choose me, professor?"
"Why are you worrying about it?"
Nate sighs. "Since the start... It sounded really awkward to ask a former student, nonetheless a dropout, to teach at such a young age. What makes you think I am fit for teaching?"
"Don't worry, Nate. You are", Ozpin says with a half-smile. Then he sips in his mug before continuing. "I think Glynda told you already that you aren't exactly a teacher"
"Yes… Are you really asking me to impersonate a teacher?" Nate asks, visibly distressed by the proposition of that possible situation.
"Yes, if I have to be truthful," Ozpin replies, leaving Nate speechless and confused. "but I chose you because the same professor that you're going to impersonate gave me that suggestion."
"What? Who are you talking about?"
"You should know already." Ozpin points out.
Nate is in shock and afraid. "No... No, professor. You can't be serious. He despises me."
"Yes. I understood that from the way he talked about you. 'A kid with numerous problematic quirks.' he said."
Nate rolls his eyes to the other side, glancing to a group of students rushing to their lessons. The blond male in front of the group trips over nothing, forcing the others to help him out and rush soon after he is on his feet.
"It doesn't mean that professor Belnoire doesn't respect your hard work." His words catch Nate's interest who immediately turns back to the headmaster, confused but curious. "I know Lucius is quite the strict type of guy. No wonder they call him the Wolf Teacher of Atlas."
"Nonetheless, he is a professor. And, as such, he is capable of finding the potential in a student"
"If you say so, professor." Nate says, shrugging. He looks in front of himself, noticing that they are now next to the library. "And what am I supposed to 'teach,' exactly?"
"Rather than 'teaching,' you'll be evaluating the students."
"So… like professor Goodwitch…" he says, puffing his cheeks. "And here I thought that I'd be doing something more interesting."
"More or less", Ozpin replies, smiling. "You won't be evaluating the students as a team. At the same time, you'll be working with the other professors in order to hone further knowledge in the aspiring Huntsmen."
"Quite of a stretched task, I must say."
"Likewise, I'm afraid," he agrees. "but Lucius requested this in order to check the extension of his teachings to academies of the other kingdoms."
"What teachings, exactly?" Nate asks, worried. "I'm not sure if professor Belnoire's way of teaching in other academies can be applied. I pity the students who will have to face his teachings."
Ozpin chuckles. "Not exactly his methods. Rather, it's more about the topics of said teachings. I think you already know which ones."
For some unknown reason, the sole idea of Lucius' studies nearly makes Nate hurl.
"You mean his studies about the Grimms? I must say it's an argument to be taken with a grain of salt." Nate replies with a bitter tone. He shouldn't feel disgusted by the aforementioned argument which actually and awkwardly helped him the most. But something in the back of his head forces him to loathe it.
"I know, Nate." Ozpin replies, sternly nodding in agreement. "But his latest researches proved a strong point in his studies on the Grimms. And, so far, it's one of the few information we have ever obtained about them, considering the difficulty of keeping them alive without being eaten or mauled to death first. But we'll talk about it another time. We're already here."
Nate turns his head to the front, finding himself to the double-door entrance of the class. He takes a long and worrying sigh at it, before Ozpin places a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him.
"Don't worry, Nate." he says with a calm tone. "As far as I can tell, the professor will be happy to see you again."
Ozpin turns the handle of one of the doors, leaving it wide open.
The lesson falls silent upon the opening of the door. The students turn almost at the same time, gasping in surprise or murmuring to each other. Only a few are talking about the headmaster.
The rest of them are talking about Nate.
And the more the murmur about him increases, the more uncomfortable he feels, trying to hide behind the headmaster.
The two walk down to professor Oobleck, staring at them through the big round spectacles.
"I'm sorry, Bartholomew. I wanted to have a small talk with your student."
"Don't worry, Professor Ozpin. We were just starting."
Oobleck turns to the students who immediately shift their attention from Nate to the professor.
"Students, as I have mentioned earlier, I want to introduce to you to Nate Winters. Please, Nate. Come closer."
Nate turns to Ozpin who simply nods at him. He takes a deep breath and walks towards Oobleck.
Oobleck places his hand on Nate's shoulder, "Nate was already a student of Beacon, but due to dire circumstances, he was forced to drop school out for a while."
"Nonetheless, he isn't like a freshman. He has his fair share of experience. Just like all of you had so far."
"If there aren't any questions, I'll leave professor Oobleck to his lesson."
"Thank you, Ozpin." Then Oobleck turns to Nate. "You can take a seat, Nate. There should be one next to mister Daichi over there."
He points to Nate his seat, next to a bulky and lightly tanned guy. Nate simply nods in agreement to Oobleck.
Before he can get to his seat, however, he is pulled by Ozpin who whisper at him on the ear. "Nate, about what we said earlier… I do hope we've come to an agreement."
Nate smiles. "I suppose I can't disappoint professor Belnoire, professor."
Ozpin looks relieved by the answer. He lets go Nate who immediately heads to his seat.
"I'm glad that he's back, Bartholomew." Ozpin whispers to Oobleck. "I just hope that he can find himself back soon enough."
Ozpin walks out of the classroom, starting further murmurs as he leaves. Nate observes him from his seat, looking puzzled as he walks out.
"Nate, may you please sit down?" Oobleck asks, receiving an immediate nod of acknowledgement from Nate.
As Nate sits down, Oobleck coughs a little bit. He walks to his desk and picks up his coffee mug, sipping from it.
"Now… where was I?"