A New Lease on Life.
Chapter Five: Hard Fought Life.
As a member of the Licht Kries, Orie Ballardiae lead a life of professionalism and routine. Never did she step out of line, or risk her reputation as a golden student. One would even think it was a lonely life, but far from it actually. She had friends and partners like Lex, Mika, and Kaguya, whom she pictured living a life dedicated to putting a stop to the evils of the Hollow Night with.
Still, she couldn't deny feeling a tug of longing when she found herself posing as a mundane student in Kanzakai as "Orie Harada."As an In-Birth, she was brought up for a certain purpose, she knew such a life was impossible. Voids would always hunt her to drain her EXS, so she couldn't afford to ever stop fighting.
That's why she had grown to admire those who attended Beacon Academy, like Team RWBY, in the short time she had been aware of them. They chose to be Huntsmen and Huntresses. To dedicate their lives to slaying the Creatures of Grimm. They had a choice... which is more than she could say truly.
True, she wanted to avenge her parents' death at the hands of that Void that could speak like a person, but she never let it completely take her over. She had been raised by the Licht Kries for the majority of her life, and her mission as an Executor had become her main priority. To her, revenge was simply the most worthless of causes.
Now that she was stuck in Remnant however, obviously her duties as an Executor were out the window. So she figured the only thing she could do now would be dedicating herself to her studies in Beacon Academy. If what Ozpin said is to be taken seriously, like it should, they would be treated no differently than any other students aside from being... y'know, foreigners. That meant she would have to put in a lot of effort into her studies, and ensuring that her grades were kept up as much here as if she were back in her own world.
She had gotten up early for her first day of classes, before anyone else in the dorm, even Naoto, and immediately showered and got dressed in the Beacon Academy uniform. By the time she was out, she found Naoto right behind her, and they swapped places, with Naoto going to the shower as Orie finished getting ready outside. As Orie finished brushing her hair, Naoto came out of the bathroom... in a boy's uniform.
As Orie had gotten to know Naoto, she had learnt of her "preferences," so Naoto's request for a male uniform came as no surprise to the Licht Kries member. All the same, she gave the Detective Prince a smirk. "It's comfortable," Naoto said simply, knowing full well what Orie was silently insinuating.
Orie chuckled and turned to the other two beds in the dorm room, to see both Hyde and Kanji still sound asleep. Kanji was one thing, as according to Naoto he didn't exactly have the best of habits, including when it came to sleep. But Hyde was different, as he was usually a very responsible boy. Him sleeping in too late would be out of character.
"Hyde?" Orie said, shaking him gently. "Hyde, wake up!" Hyde merely moaned and muttered in his sleep.
"Something tells me they won't be so easy to rouse," Naoto said. "Perhaps," Orie said, already coming up with a plan. "Sorry Hyde. Hopefully there will be no hard feelings."
She picked up her rapier from its position leaning on the wall, and with a swing she shouted "Thanatos!" An avatar of EXS proceeded to come crashing down upon both boys, who screamed in pain upon awakening!
Hyde released the yawn of a lifetime as he found himself stumbling down the halls of Beacon Academy later that morning. "Damn," he said quietly. He had an odd time sleeping that night, to say the very least. Same as the night before, he had dreams that behaved more like memories that did not belong to him. And more specifically, memories that seemed to belong to Ruby.
This time around, he saw her comforting that blonde guy he'd seen a few times, John or something like that, saying something about being a leader. She had said that he was a failure, which had sounded surprisingly blunt coming from Ruby, but then she said that he couldn't afford to be one now. "Because it's not just about you anymore," she had said. "You've got a team now Jaune. We both do. And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second."
Hyde couldn't help but smirk over how she had behaved during that instance. She was remarkably mature, despite normally coming off as a bit of a ditsy, childish girl. Although it had been a rather spur of the moment decision, perhaps they made the right choice in making Ruby the leader of their whole group.
"Something funny?" Orie asked. Hyde looked to see the bluenette that was walking alongside him. After waking up that morning, Naoto and Kanji went on to find the rest of their team, leaving the dual In-Births to themselves. "Forgive me," Orie said, "it's just, you haven't been that smiley in awhile."
"Yeah," Hyde said. "I just... slept well last night. So, what about you? Have you been having any weird dreams?" "Not really," Orie said. "In fact, I haven't had any dreams the past two nights." Hyde scowled a little. That did not seem to bode well for him.
Izanami had said that she would be tormenting everybody's sleep. Yet it seemed to specifically be him that has been affected the past two nights, and nobody else. But why? Hyde wasn't even from Izanami's world. He hadn't met her before he had awoken in that dream world. So why was she so intent on messing with his head?
Regardless, he and Orie got to class on time, to be met by a blur of red and rose petals that came upon them! "Finally!" Ruby said. "You two are the last to arrive! Come on, get inside!" Ruby grabbed onto their hands and pulled them into the classroom, sitting them down in seats next to the rest of Team RWBY!
"She's been frantic over ensuring that everyone get here in time for class," Weiss said. "I suppose," Orie said, "she's doing everything in her power to be a good team leader. I think that's very good of her." "But still," Weiss said, "seeing Ruby being this remarkably responsible is somewhat unnerving."
Hyde couldn't take his eyes off of Ruby. It seemed there was a lot more depth to that girl on the surface than she let on. Even now, as she sat giggling and shaking with excitement like a puppy dog, he couldn't help but wonder what else was going on in her head.
He heard a loud groan right behind him, and turned to see Yosuke slam his head on the desk. "You okay?" Hyde asked. "I still can't believe this," Yosuke replied. "How does that principal or whatever he is think it's a good idea to have us take classes? We're not even from this world. We don't have any idea what's going on!"
"Just relax," Weiss said. "We already went over this! We'll do everything we can to help tutor you." "Oh, yeah," Yosuke said, "tutoring is totally going to help us learn about the geography, history, culture, and pretty much every-freaking-thing else about a world that feels like it was pulled out of a fantasy novel!"
"Would you quit it!?" Weiss said. "At least be happy I'm being so gracious as to help you! But behaving like a brat is certainly not going to help at all, and would actually make me less likely to do so!"
"She's got a point," Yu said. "Come on man," Yosuke said, "have my back in this!" "I'm just saying," Yu said, "she's not that far off. Acting irrationally won't help anything." "Same here," Hyde said, putting his view in on this. "I'm not that happy about having to take classes in this world myself. But I figure the best we can do is endure and trust Team RWBY to help us." "It's not just us either," Ruby said, "Team JNPR will be willing to help to! They said so!"
Everyone collectively turned to the team in question, who'd moved to the second row of seats due to the sheer amount of Phantom Fielders that had been sitting in the spots they typically shared. Jaune currently had a comic in hand that he was giggling like a fool over, Pyrrha sitting dangerously close to him in order to read it with him, Nora was fast asleep, and the only one that seemed to be somewhat acting appropriate was Ren, who was reading a book that fit the class he had propped up on her head. "Joy," Yosuke said. "I'm sure they'll be a... big help." "Y'know Yosuke," Yukiko said, "you're normally a stick in the mud, but this is much even for you." "What do you mean a stick in the mud!?" Yosuke asked nervously.
Before too much longer, the teacher, a round man appropriately named "Professor Port," came inside and began class. Hyde took a breath, cherishing his last moment before his understanding of how he viewed the world, which he now understood as not the only one out there, would irrevocably change forever.
The first period was... odd, to say the least. From what the In-Births and Persona users had been told, Port's job was supposed to be teaching the students about the Creatures of Grimm, those that had been discovered at least, and how to combat them. But for the most part, it seemed that Professor Port wasn't exactly teaching much of anything, but was rather more engrossed with telling tales of old about his youth and all that jazz.
"Is he... supposed to be doing that?" Hyde asked. "He sure seems to think so," Yang replied. Ruby was busying herself by balancing a pencil on her lips, which Hyde was taken by for a moment. He was startled the next moment when he suddenly heard a 'slam!' behind him, and turned to see that Weiss had seated herself between Yosuke and Yu, and had a gigantic book sitting in front of her that she proceeded to open.
"Read," she said to Yosuke, pointing to a particular section. "Wait, huh?" Yosuke asked. "But... uh, that is, shouldn't I be listening to the teacher?" "He scarcely ever teaches anything," Weiss replied. "Your time will be much better spent studying now, rather than later." Yosuke continued to look stubborn, but eventually relented under Weiss's powerful gaze of ice blue eyes, and began reading the passage she was indicating.
Intrigued by what she was looking at, Orie jumped to the row of seats behind her and the Unknown Actor curiously followed. Before long a mini study group had been formed, with Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha instructing the group. True, Port wasn't exactly doing much, but they still did their best to keep quiet out of sheer politeness.
The classes continued the rest of the day, and Weiss had made it perfectly clear when they got to History that they take as many notes as they can to build upon later when they head to the library to begin studying that afternoon. Nobody was exactly objecting to that, not even Yosuke. But there was a major problem with that, in the fact that the teacher, Profes-er rather, Doctor Oobleck, was a man capable of speaking at a trillion miles per hour!
"Now after the Great War had come to a close," he said rapidly, "the four Kingdoms were at peace with one another, and had since gone their separate ways, though alliances still remained! The Kingdom of Mantle and Mistral continued to trade with one another, buttheyfocusedmoresoontheirownmeansofcontinuingintothefuture,whichcollectivelyhingedsorelyonthedevelopmentofDustinordertocombattheCreaturesofGrimm!"
He took a swig of coffee, as he returned to the board, which showed a large map of the world of Remnant that he gestured to in several different spaces as he continued speaking something outright incomprehensible to his captive audience. "Does... does he honestly need that?" Hyde asked. "He seems to have had quite enough caffeine already." Orie could only nod in agreeance, a look of fear on her face.
Yosuke was trying to keep up in his notebook, but eventually raised his hand due to missing what felt like several sentences at once! "Yessir!" Oobleck said, coming to an abrupt halt in front of Yosuke's seat, startling poor Yosuke! "Uh..." Yosuke said, "do you think you could maybe just, slow down a bit? I'm trying to take notes on what you're saying and it's... difficult."
"Ah yes," Oobleck said, "you must be one of the new students? Your name sir?" "Yosuke. Yosuke Hanamura," the Prince of Junes replied. "Well Mr. Hanamura," Oobleck said, "do you know what the Kingdom of Mantle rebranded itself as after facing many a difficulty against the Creatures of Grimm? And what events particularly lead them to make the decision to transform itself in such a manner?"
"W-what?" Yosuke asked. Chie raised her hand next. "Professor?" she said. "Doctor!" Oobleck said, moving in front of her now. "Uh, whatever," Chie said, "we really... don't know about that stuff." She sweatdropped in dread, as she knew that revealing to everyone that she and her companions were from a totally different world may bring chaos. Especially since they didn't know if Professor Ozpin took the time to actually bother explaining their situation to the other teachers.
"It's just, we're transfers y'know. So we weren't exactly... covering the same things that you are here. So, how can you expect us to answer that?" "Quite right, miss...?" Oobleck replied, prompting her to say her name. "Uh, Satonaka?" Chie said. "Miss Satonaka," Oobleck said. "But you see, in order for me to help you in the future, I expect to know just how far we have to go together! So, can any one of you answer the question?" Naturally, none of them had a response. Well, except for one.
"Atlas," Hyde found himself saying. Everyone looked at him with confused looks. "Come again?" Oobleck said. "Atlas," Hyde said again. "The Kingdom of Mantle became Atlas." "And, can you answer how the Kingdom made its way to becoming what we know today as the Kingdom of Atlas?" Hyde looked thoughtful for a moment, as if struggling to recall something. "I... wasn't it-?" "Don't answer a question with a question my boy," Oobleck said, "you'll find that won't fly in the future." "S-sorry," Hyde said. "I think, it has something to do with them militarizing their country."
"Not far off at all," Oobleck replied. "You see, the Kingdom of Mantle, as it was known then, found that the best way to avoid the Grimm, was to find means to controlling their peoples' emotions, by keeping all freedom of expression from being permitted. By doing so they, in a way, did begin militarizing their entire land. Henceforth, the Atlesian military began to control the central government of Mantle. Thus, Atlas became an entire kingdom unto itself."
"Very well done Mister...?" "Kido. Hyde Kido," the In-Birth said quietly. "Mister Kido," Oobleck said. "It's good to see that one of you began studying before today. All the same, to make certain that all of you are on the same page, you shall go over some of the quizzes and tests we've had last semester. I'm sure again that as your 'guides' so to speak, Team JNPR and Team RWBY will do nothing more than help you in the future in getting on the same wavelength."
As Oobleck returned to his rapid fire demonstration, everyone else turned to Hyde with wide-eyed expressions. "Wow Hyde," Ruby said, "that was seriously cool!" "How did you know that?" Orie asked in awe. "I... I wish I knew," Hyde said.
Something was terribly wrong with Hyde. That much should be clear. But the problem was, he wasn't saying anything about it.
Yu Narukami had overheard Hyde talking to Ruby the other day, and was touched by how he had confided in her. He hoped that if anything like this would happen again, he would tell somebody else about it. And knowing information about a topic that clearly nobody had informed him about, at least according to RWBY, was definitely up there.
Yu had a feeling this had something to do with Izanami. But why target Hyde? He had nothing to do with her, or the events that had lead up to the Investigation Team eliminating her from the TV World. Whatever the case may be, Yu knew that if Izanami truly was tormenting Hyde in his dreams, Yu would have to put a stop to it.
"Hyde?" Yu asked, as the boys got changed for their combat class with a professor Team RWBY called Professor Goodwitch. "Can I talk to you?" the Investigation Team leader asked. "Sure, what's up?" Hyde asked. He had looked spaced out since history, which did not bode well.
"Hyde," Yu said, "It's safe to say we all know that something isn't right with you. How did you answer that question back there?" Hyde looked downtrodden, before taking a breath. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Does it have something to do with Izanami?" Yu asked. "Not sure," Hyde replied. "Maybe. But it's weird, it had nothing to do with the dreams I've been having."
"What dreams have you been having?" Yu asked. "I'd rather not say," Hyde replied. "Hyde," Yu said, "I can't help you if you don't tell me." Hyde looked Narukami in the eyes, before taking another breath.
"It's been memories," Hyde said. "Not my own. But memories from this world. Memories that belong to... other people. Nothing that could teach me something like how Mantle became Atlas, or something." "That is odd," Narukami said.
"But what worries me the most," Hyde said, "is the fact that I'm the only one that seems to be having dreams like this. Why is that? What do you think Izanami wants with me?" "I'm not sure," Yu replied. "Teaching you about Remnant doesn't exactly fit with what she was doing when we last saw her. But whatever the case, she must see something interesting in you, which can't end well. So the best course would be, having us put a stop to it."
"And do you think you can?" Hyde asked. Yu was taken aback by the determined look that Hyde was giving him. An almost angered expression. "You tried to destroy Izanami once," Hyde said, "and you failed. All you did was destroy her physical form. Do you really think you can kill something that only exists as a psychic form now?"
Yu wasn't offended as he could tell that Hyde was just venting. He was used to dealing with situations like this. So he merely answered as truthfully as he could. "It's not about killing her," he said. "We just have to stop her."
It was now Hyde's turn to look taken aback. "You're right," he said. "Let's just hope that we can. Somehow."
"We will," Yu said. "Like I told you before, you helped one of my friends when they needed someone to help them. That more than makes you a friend of mine. And I take care of my friends. Even if that means protecting them from themselves."
"I didn't really save Yukiko," Hyde said. "I just kept her from eating some toxic looking curry." "I know," Yu said. "But you brought her back to me. You helped her, no matter how small the gesture might've been. That is more than enough for me."
Hyde looked at Yu with admiration. He was really something else, wasn't he? Hyde could see just why Yu was the leader of the Investigation Team, same as why he trusted Ruby as being the leader of their joint team.
The two of them went on to sit in the bleachers for Professor Goodwitch's class. Turns out, she taught Combat. Meaning, they would be able to use their weapons and abilities in sparring matches to learn just how to fight the Creatures of Grimm.
"Alright students," Goodwitch said, "we have a few new classmates joining us today. As such, I feel it's only right that we allow them to introduce themselves to the rest of the class. And of course, in a class like this, the best way to get to know a person, is by analyzing their abilities."
"So, who shall enter the first fight?" "Me!" Chie yelled. "Chie, are you sure?" Yukiko asked. "We don't know if we can use our Personas in this world," Naoto said, "and we already know that people from this world are capable of things that exceed normal human abilities." "Don't worry, I got this," Chie said.
"Very well," Professor Goodwitch said, "now who would like to be her challenger?" Does it even need to be said? Yang naturally got up next to take her on!
Hyde watched the battle with intrigue, looking at the both of them fight, attempting to utilize the "training" that Yuzuriha had set up for them. Speaking of which, where was Yuzuriha anyhow? She hadn't been seen since the other night.
Well he supposed he could worry about that later. Knowing Yuzu, she would sneak up eventually. He kept watching as Chie continued holding her own against Yang, but was merely outmatched. She didn't know if she could use her Persona in this world, and that was normally her trump card. Without it, she was just a fairly skilled human girl that happened to be scary good at kicking. Yang meanwhile had Aura, which allowed her much greater defensive capabilities. Unless you had the utmost superhuman levels of strength, or had a nearly as potent piercing shot, you weren't cutting through Aura.
...Okay, now this is just getting annoying, he thought. How the effin' hell did I know that!? I mean, I know that Team RWBY mentioned stuff about Aura or Semblance, but that was beyond what they talked about!
Chie got throttled the next moment when Yang used her Semblance to blow a crater in the arena floor, knocking Chie off her feet and flat on her back, blasting the air from her lungs! "...no...fair...!" Chie gasped. "I didn't even... get to... see if I... could use m-my... Persona!"
Yang laughed. "Sorry Chie," she said. "But I wasn't losing this fight. Still, you fight good. Kicks are kinda my weakness." Yang helped Chie back to her feet, as Hyde and the other members of... they needed to think of a team name eventually, so we'll just say "Phantom Fielders" gave them both encouraging claps.
"Nice work sis!" Ruby said. "Yeah, you too Chie!" Yosuke said. "Good work to the both of you," Goodwitch said. "Now then, who next?" Orie looked to Hyde without a second's hesitation. "What do you say?" she asked. "Want to go for the round two we never had?"
Hyde was hesitant. With the way his brain was scrambled, he wasn't eager to go into a fight. But he wasn't one to simply turn down a match either.
So, he found himself standing across from Orie in the stadium. Naturally the students were all wondering what could possibly top Yosuke summoning Jiraiya, but they would soon be pleasantly surprised.
Hyde planted his right hand in a fist into the palm of his left, and in a glowing red aura, he summoned his weapon, the Indulgence of Insulation, or Insulator, into his hand! Naturally, this got students to release even more awed expressions! "Did you see that?" one asked. "He just pulled a sword out of his hand!" another said. "How did he do that?" another asked. "Is it made of Dust?"
"So cool!" Ruby said happily. "Eee! No matter how many times I see that, it's always so awesome looking!"
"Ready?" Orie asked. "Ready," Hyde replied. Goodwitch told them to begin, and Orie dove forward, he rapier thrust out! Hyde blocked the strike with Insulator, causing her to falter off to his left from the strike! He attempted a jab with Insulator, but Orie countered it with a high kick, sending him back!
She jabbed again with her blade, catching him in the side, but Hyde pushed her off, and caught her in a series of slashes from Insulator that he powered with his EXS, Void Red! She stumbled from the hits, before catching herself and managing to keep upright! Hyde charged, and Orie responded by thrusting her sword upward, knocking his momentum off!
She slashed at him once and twice, before following up with a kick in the gut, and another into his own leg! He swept her away with his sword, and slammed a blow into the ground, sending out EXS energy to wash over her! She felt the pain from the attack, but did not fall!
Hyde followed up with energized slashes that Orie desperately had to dodge around, unable to deliver her own strikes to retaliate! She had no such advantage on her own weapon, which was nothing more than a simple sword. She found one opening and tried to take it, only to have Hyde slash her in the side! She backed up, as Hyde attempted a serious blow of EXS at her! She jumped back, and used her own power! In a flash of gold, a spiritual figure emerged from her body and blocked Hyde's strike with a blade of their own, before vanishing quick as it came! Thanatos, Orie's own EXS manifested as an avatar.
"What in the name of crap was that!?" Kanji yelled. "Was that a Persona!?" Chie said. "It can't be!" Naoto said. "She's never even heard of a Persona before!" "Perhaps you could say," Yang said, "she didn't know that they existed? ...Eh? ...Eh?" "No," everyone collectively said.
Back in the battle, Orie uppercutted Hyde with a maneuver she dubbed "Holy Arrow!" However, Hyde recovered in time to blast her away with a ball of energy he called "Dark Lotus!" She bounced off the ground, and summoned Thanatos in time to knock him back when he tried another midair attack! He fell to the ground, but when Orie tried to press the advantage, he stabbed backward with a move called "Shadow Shock," jabbing her in the gut with Insulator and knocking her back!
It was clear that both In-Births were far from giving up! As Hyde stood to face her, he summoned another attack called "Black Orbiter," as almost a disc of EXS energy he sent toward her! Orie summoned Thanatos again to block the attack, but that was what Hyde was anticipating. He raced around her, and swung towards her with a "Veil Effect!" The blow was enough to stagger her, and he pressed onward!
He knocked her upward with an energized blade, and struck down with another attack! Orie slammed into the ground, air blown from her lungs! However, she still had something left in her! Hyde moved in, and Orie knocked Insulator away with a kick, and followed up by slamming her heel into his jaw with her other leg!
"Dang," Yosuke said, "she's nearly as good with her legs as Chie." "Hey!" Chie said angrily. "I work hard to make my legs my pride and joy!" "Then maybe you should train with her?" Blake asked. "Uh... I dunno," Chie said. "After Yuzuriha, I'm not exactly keen on letting anybody train with me." "Oh come on Chie," Yang said. "I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it!" "Goddammit Yang!" Blake said.
Orie stabbed Hyde multiple times with her sword, before he was able to free himself and graze a hit on her with Insulator! Attempting one final stand, Orie summoned Thanatos to enter a flurry of strikes with its energized body! But Hyde was not backing down either.
He ducked beneath Thanatos's first strikes and stabbed Insulator in the ground! A positive geyser of Void Red EXS came up and eliminated the EXS avatar! As Orie felt the blow, he delivered one final slash to knock her off her feet! Afterwards, she staggered up onto her hands and knees, and Hyde stood over her. He put Insulator in the ground, and offered a hand.
"You fought well," he said. Orie could only smile, saying "you too," in response. The students erupted into applause, all of them awed by their skills and their powers! "So... awesome!" Ruby said. "I don't think there's any Semblance that is even close to being like what they have!" "Their abilities are something else," Weiss said. "I would sure like to know how a Persona user ended up in their world," Yu said. "Narukami," Naoto said, "we don't know if she's a Persona user. It's highly unlikely." "Is the resemblance not uncanny?" Yu asked. "...You do have a point there," Naoto said.
After Hyde and Orie returned to their seats, everyone naturally sat much closer. "Okay, spill," Chie said to Orie. "Huh?" the Licht Kries member asked. "That thing you summoned," Chie said, "what the heck was it?" "It looked just like a Persona to us," Yukiko said. "But you've never heard of them before. So... what was that?"
"That was my EXS," Orie replied. "Hyde and I mentioned before about our own abilities that make us unique. Ours is EXS. And mine manifests as an avatar that I can control. I'll admit, it does seem similar to the Personas that you use. But I can ensure you, on a fundamental level they are really nothing alike."
"But still," Chie said, "it looked just like one!" "Just let it go," Hyde said, "they're nothing alike. Just because they look similar, doesn't mean they are the same." "Hey, relax Hyde," Yosuke said, "we were just curious."
Hyde nodded and apologized. Ruby tilted her head as she looked at the Unknown Actor, wondering just how he was holding up.
Hyde was rather quiet as he sat down to eat his lunch after class. His mind was reeling with everything that he was going through in his head. Information that he shouldn't know. It was all getting a bit too much for him to bear. And unfortunately, the others were not going to bother giving him the time alone that he desired, as Team RWBY came down upon him as he was minding his own business.
"Okay Hyde," Yang said, "we get that you're upset. We can understand. But we hope that you can help us help you, by telling us what's been going on in that head of yours lately." Hyde sighed heavily. "I already told you," he said, "I don't really know how I suddenly just knew things about Remnant. That was totally beyond me." "But stuff like that doesn't just happen," Weiss said. "What're we missing here?"
"It's about Izanami," Yu said, sitting down beside the others. "Izanami?" Ruby asked. "You mean that ghost lady that we saw outside of Ozpin's office?" Yu nodded. "We think she's been invading Hyde's dreams lately, and that might have something to do with how he suddenly knew more information about Remnant. But why she is doing that is a mystery to us."
"Hyde!" Ruby said. "Why didn't you tell us?" Hyde bit his lip. "It's because... I just didn't know what to do," he said. "Ruby, you should leave him be," Blake said. "Clearly this is a lot for him to take in." "I get that," Ruby said, "but we're a team now. All of us." "She's right," Weiss said. "I know from experience how it feels to not want to bother asking for help from others. But we went through something pretty serious in the past, and it taught us the values of depending on your teammates to be there and to be understanding for you."
Weiss's eyes looked over at Blake, who avoided her gaze, bearing a face that read very clearly that she knew exactly what Weiss was talking about, and did not want to bring it up. "So please," Weiss continued, "if this keeps up, trust in us to be there for you."
Ruby put a hand to Hyde's shoulder, causing him to look her in the eye. "We're here for you Hyde," she said. "We may not have known each other for very long, but we want to help you. I want to help you. It's kinda my fault that you're stuck here and all this is happening to you, so I want to take responsibility for it."
Hyde could not look away as he stared her in the eye. Her eyes were so... amazing. They were not gray whatsoever, they were silver. There was just this shine about them, a certain brightness that made them totally distinct.
They were unnatural in their appearance alone, and yet Hyde found no real aversion to them. They were totally beautiful in their own being. That was it. Beautiful.
"You gonna eat that?" Yang asked. Hyde looked down in time to see Yang sneak a chicken nugget off his plate and pop it into her mouth! "Hey!" he said. Ruby laughed happily.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully enough for Hyde. Later that night, he found himself settling into his dorm room for the night. As he exited the bathroom after changing, he found Orie sitting on her bed, waiting for her opportunity to change. "Hey," she said. "Hey," Hyde replied.
"Great fight earlier," Orie said. "You're really something else with that sword." "Thanks," Hyde said. "It's... special." Orie did not know about Insulator's true abilities, and Hyde wasn't exactly keen on the idea of revealing the fact that his sword was actually capable of killing anything. If he did, Linne would probably kill him in turn.
"Listen," Orie said. She hesitated before replying, Hyde sitting himself on his own bed across from her. "Kido," she finally said, "are we... good?" "What do you mean by that?" Hyde asked. "Well," Orie said, "it's just, we haven't really talked about anything that happened back in Kanzakai. So I was just wondering if we were, okay?"
"Sure we're okay," Hyde replied. "I mean, with everything that's happened to us recently, I just figure there wouldn't be a whole lot left to talk about." "But you've been having deep talks with Team RWBY and that Yu guy," Orie said. "You were watching us?" Hyde asked. "Well," Orie said, her face flushing, "it's not like I'm that acquainted with anybody in this world outside of those of us from the Phantom Field. But it's not like I was going to interrupt you either."
"Just, don't misunderstand me either, please. I don't want you to think I'm jealous. I think it's great you're getting to know the others. I hope I can do that too soon. It's just... I can't help but feel like I betrayed you by keeping my life as a member of the Licht Kries a secret. And you were... mad at me."
"Well I'll admit," Hyde said, "the shock of learning you're some kind of a demon hunting, super-nun was pretty heavy." "I'm hardly a nun," Orie said under her breath. "But," Hyde added, "I got over it. Truth be told, I kinda did the same to you by hiding the fact that I became an In-Birth from you. Plus my relationship with Linne. So, I guess we both kinda suck in that regard."
Orie looked relieved, and visibly relaxed. "Look," Hyde said, "I think we just overreacted towards one another. I mean, we only knew each other for a few weeks. That's a short amount of time to feel betrayed by any of this. Even if it's about us being In-Births." "Perhaps," Orie said. "Regardless, thank you Kido." "Your welcome," Hyde said. "We should get to bed before too much longer. Who knows when Tatsumi and Shirogane might come back." "Sure," Orie said, gathering her sleepwear and heading for the bathroom. Hyde meanwhile lay on his bed, on top of the covers, holding the back of his head in his hands as he stared at the ceiling.
All stress between himself and Orie was gone now. That was good. He knew now that he could trust her as a true ally in the near future. Did that mean that he might try and be with her? Well, that was still complicated.
Truth be told, Hyde had never had a girlfriend before. But of course in his adolescent years, as his hormones were on the rise, such a thing was bound to come up, that much was dead obvious. But he'd learnt the hard way that he couldn't just ask a girl to be his girlfriend!
These kinds of things had a lot, a LOT of variables and possibilities. So much as one thing being incorrect would spell utter disaster for him. But that still didn't answer, could Orie be the one?
True, they shared a bond. They had become fast friends back in school due to his gentlemanly nature of offering to become a guide for her. She was just his type too, with that long hair, and her stunning figure. And they clearly shared something with the Hollow Night. But did that mean they could become a couple?
It was too hard to tell. Orie clearly lived a life that was far outside of Hyde's comprehension. Who knows, maybe she was even living a strict life of being a virgin warrior forevermore or some crap like that. In layman's terms, no boys allowed inside. Plus, with all the stuff they were going through with being stuck on Remnant with evidently no way to return, pretty sure the last thing that Orie needed on her plate was the distraction of having to deal with a boy biding for her attention.
Hyde suddenly took a huge yawn once more! He still hadn't gotten a full sleep thanks to the previously mentioned Orie's rude awakening that morning. Before he could even so much as get under the covers, he felt his eyelids closing on their own accord, as his limbs went limp, and he felt himself drifting off to sleep. Just please... he thought. no weird dreams... m'kay?
His wish was not granted.
Author's Note: This chapter just kinda... grew out of nothing. After a lot of pondering on how to start out the Phantom Fielders' days in Beacon Academy, I just sort of did this one as the first thing to naturally come to me.
I tried once more to narrow the focus on the characters down a bit more, looking namely at Hyde and Orie whilst sparkling some of Yu in there too. I really do like Orie as a character, and I want to do a bit more with her, but I didn't know exactly how to do it. But after doing a bit with her in this chapter, I like to think I did good with her.
Another thing I wanted to focus on for this chapter, was the relationship between Hyde and Orie. The original Under Night: In-Birth video game did hint a bit of a possible relationship between the both of them, and I know some people do honestly ship the both of them. So I figured that I'd look at the obvious ideas of how Hyde thinks of Orie after the situation with them during the Hollow Night.
And we also have some more mystery with what's going on with Hyde. How is he able to know about what is happening in Remnant without learning about it? Well, only time will tell.
Now as for the "Update" part of this story. I'm planning on reuploading this story. I was initially going to wait on publishing this chapter until I had a clear goal in mind, but it's been a slow process. So I figured that I'd give you this chapter for now, and announce the reupload. I think that leaving this version of the story is for the best, to savor the initial start of this project, but have a redone version at the same time.
There are many factors that came into it. Unhappy with the inconsistency of the first chapter when compared to the later ones. Some character involvements that I wanted to edit, ergo ones that I no longer wanted to have and some that I feel should be a part of it. Overall just thinking that things could be better than it really is, and wish that I had waited before publishing it.
I've wanted to do a RWBY story ever since I first found the series back in 2015, just before Volume 3 started up. And it went through a lot of phases over time. A LOT. Most of them were embarrassing.
One of the earlier ones was an entire rewrite of the RWBY universe in a massive X-Over world with a ton of different action shows. It was really juvenile and looking back on it is completely laughable.
When BBTAG came out, it was a blessing from above. So naturally I learned about the "new" franchises that I was introduced to. And as I said, I feel this story came out too soon.
In other news, there is another story that I plan to publish soon that is unrelated to this one. It's been in the work for nearly a year now, much longer than this one, and has gone through all nine yards of the editing experience to make something I'm proud of and more than happy to publish whilst I go through this little brain child and give it another once over.
Until that time, I thank you all for the amount of support you've shown for this story. It really gives me the effort to keep going and make this story better. To give you something I feel you deserve.
Until then, as always, have a fantastic evening, and whatever other advice you think I should have for the rewrite, please let me know. And I'll see you in my other project, and the redone version of this one!