RWBY: Son of Salem
Marek's POV, a few days later
I sat in the cafeteria, eating my breakfast alone. I sat at a table in the corner, away from everyone else.
"Ow, that hurts!" I heard a girl yelp.
Without hesitation I stood up and quickly walked over to the girl.
A group of guys surrounded her as one of them pulled on her rabbit ears.
I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, causing him to yelp in pain and let go of the girl.
"What the hell man!?" he grabbed his wrist.
"Leave her alone!" I growled.
He looked up at me as I smirked under my hood.
"You'll pay for that!" he growled.
I heard the girl yelp again and glanced back to see her pushed down by one of the others.
I was about to help but felt someone grab my arm and pull me away from her. The guy then kicked my stomach causing me to fall back.
My hood fell off my head as I stood up. The room filled with gasps.
"You're not tough." the guy said.
"Cardin Winchester." I said, remembering his name from initiation. "Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark." I smirked. "All 4 of you just made a huge mistake."
"Oh yeah and what are you-" I threw a punch and connected with Cardin's nose.
The force of the punch caused him to hit the table behind him.
"Picking on Faunus?" I said with a smirk. "Lemme ask you, Cardin, why pick on the Faunus, hm? Do they prove a threat to you? Did they hurt you? Give me a good reason why you hate Faunus. Go on, I'll wait."
He stood there, glaring at me.
"That's what I thought." my smirk widened. "Now, I will give you one chance, one, to either leave the cafeteria or return to your seats before things get...fun." I popped my knuckles.
"You think you're better than me?" Cardin growled.
"I know I'm better." I crossed my arms. "Why do you think that Deathstalker cowered at the sight of me?" I glared at him. "You have no idea who I am or what I can do." my red eye started to glow. "You should take my offer while it's still on the table."
"I'm not scared-"
The red veins started to cover more of my face as my blue eye turned black.
"O-of y-you." Cardin started stuttering.
"Take the offer, Winchester."
He backed away before sprinting out of the cafeteria with his team close behind.
I took a deep breath and felt the veins start to go back to normal as did my blue eye.
I glanced at the rabbit Faunus and saw a look of appreciation and fear.
I approached the girl and extended my hand.
She looked at me then my hand before taking it.
"T-thanks."
I put my hood up and headed for the exit. "Don't mention it."
I was halfway to my room when my scroll vibrated. I pulled it out and saw a message from Ozpin.
'My office, now. -Prof. Ozpin.'
I sighed.
A few minutes later
The elevator doors opened and I walked into Ozpin's office, taking a seat at his desk.
"If this is about Cardin and his team-"
"It has something to do with them but that's not why I brought you here." he cut me off as he placed a datapad in front of me. It was a video of what happened on the cafeteria.
"You got this fast." I said as I pressed play.
"Glynda gave it to me." Ozpin said. "How did you manage to scare Mr. Winchester?"
I turned the datapad around so Ozpin could see it. "I'm sure you watched it already." I tapped the screen. "This should answer your question."
Ozpin's POV
I watched the video and saw Marek's veins started to grow across his face as his blue eye darkened until it was just black.
It was enough to make me a bit fearful. But as I watched I noticed something. His fingernails grew and sharpened as well.
Interesting.
"Are we done here?" Marek asked.
I nodded. "You may leave."
He stood up and walked back to the elevator.
Marek's POV, later in the day, Oobleck's class
I sat at the back row, away from everyone else.
I watched as Oobleck dashed across the room while teaching. This guy drinks way too much coffee, if that is what he's drinking.
I rested my head on my hand as I somewhat paid attention.
"Can one of you tell me what many theorists consider the turning point in the 3rd year of the war?" Oobleck asked the class.
Weiss raised her hand. "The battle at Fort Castle."
"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" Oobleck asked.
"Hey!" I looked over to see Jaune sit up from his nap.
"Mr. Arc!" Oobleck rushed over to him in the blink of an eye. "Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"
"The answer...the advantage...of the Faunus...had over that guy's stuff..." he looked over Oobleck's shoulder to see Pyrrha cup her eyes. "Um, b-binoculars!"
"You can't be serious!" I said out loud.
Cardin was dying of laughter.
"Very funny, Mr. Arc." Oobleck went back to the front of the class. "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"
"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin replied.
"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha asked him.
"What? You got a problem?"
"No, I have the answer!" she turned to face Oobleck. "It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."
"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep." Blake added. "His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." she said the last part to Cardin.
Cardin stood up and glared at Blake.
"Sit down, Winchester!" I growled at him.
"Or what?"
I glared at him and felt my red eye start to glow again. "I'll do more than scare you this time."
He sat back down.
"Thank you, Mr. Marek." Oobleck said. Jaune started to snicker. "You," he turned to Cardin. "And Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."
The bell rang and everyone started to leave.
I walked to the cafeteria for lunch.
I sat down away from everyone else again, eating in silence when a tray was put down in front of me.
"I-is this spot taken?" I glanced up to see that girl with rabbit ears.
"Not at all."
She sat down and started eating.
I glanced over the cafeteria. "Don't you have friends you eat with or something?"
"Yeah, but they're a bit late." she replied. "And I wanted to know, why did you help me?"
"Faunus are treated unfairly every day." I stated. "And if I help out, then maybe people would stop seeing me as a monster because of my face. It's a win/win, ya know?"
"I don't think of you as a monster." she said softly.
I looked up at her. "The first time you saw me you didn't think that?" I asked.
She was silent.
"Exactly my point." I sighed. "It doesn't bother me as much as annoy me."
She kept silent.
"I just realized, I never caught your name."
"Velvet."
"Marek." I held out my hand and she shook it.
"There you are!" 3 other people walked up to the table.
"Your team?" I asked Velvet.
She nodded.
"Who's this?" the big guy asked.
"This is Marek." Velvet replied. "Sit."
They sat down.
"Marek, this is Coco," she gestured to a girl with sun glasses and brown hair. "Fox," she pointed to a guy with dark skin, a few scars and red hair. "And Yatsuhashi." she pointed to the big guy with short black hair.
"Cool."
"Coco, this is the guy." Velvet said.
"This is him?" Coco asked. "Really?"
I looked over to the girls. "I'm the what?"
"I guess I should thank you for helping Velvet." Coco said.
"Oh. Don't mention it." I continued to eat my food.
"Why the hood?" Coco asked.
"I thought the whole school knew about me." I replied, pulling off my hood. "People tend to judge."
"Oh." Coco said.
"Oh?" I repeated. "Just...oh?"
"What did you want me to say?"
"No, it's not that." I shook my head. "I'm just used to stunned silence or something negative." I finished the last bit of my food. "It was fun talking to you guys."
I got up and left the cafeteria.
I was heading back to my room but felt my scroll vibrate. I pulled it out to see another message from Ozpin.
'My office.' is all it said.
A few minutes later
I walked in and sat at his desk. "What's this about?"
He had a very serious look on his face.
"I have a few things I want to ask you."
End of chapter 4