Okay, this is chapter 2. I've been having a hard time deciding what genre this fall's in as I feel there is more than two present.
Anyways reviews are appreciated, I don't have a beta or editor, and any help is appreciated, If you hate it, tell me, if you love it, Tell me. If it doesn't interest you at all please tell me, I want to improve. I'm certain I'm doing many thing wrong and I need notes, or if not that at least encouragment to keep going.
I was orginally going to cut all the chapter into shorter protions, but have since deiced to only to that with eh first chapter, as I feel the first chapters shoudl be shorter to introduce people to the story.
Well here's Chapter 2.
Chapter 1
Thor awoke the next morning, suddenly but not in any exaggerated way so his roommates would know something was wrong.
The pain was this there; it hadn't faded with the dream. A burning agony all over his body that only started to fade a minute or two after waking up. It was only through his tenacity he didn't make a noise.
That was no ordinary dream, it was prophetic, and he'd had them before. The fact the pain lingered on into the waking world was proof. It was a sign of that the dream was linked to the real world.
It was bad, whatever was coming was bad. But these dream were very rarely ever literal in content, you needed a mystic or soothsayer to accurately interpret them, and he didn't think they would be easy to find.
He was brought out of his thoughts by sudden cries of pain coming from Yang bed.
The girl was throwing things apparently in a total panic, shouting nonsense. Her eye's wide and full of fear, she was attacking anything in sight, which included her teammates, who had awoken to the disturbance.
In their sleep clouded stupor none was ready for her, this was evident as Blake was tossed across the room.
She only shouted "Him, he's here!", but that wasn't what caught Thor attention, her right arm was limp at her side, and she had reached up and grabbed her bicep as if it was hurting her.
Thor had seen enough and tackled her to the ground.
She fought, and she was strong. But she was also panicked and not using one of her arms. Thor wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a bear hug with her face to his, and started to whisper in her ear.
"Come back to us, the dream is over, it fades into mist, and the waking world takes grip." It was a saying his father had taught him, it carried minor magic in it, to help clear the fog sometimes caused by these dreams.
As he said it, Yang struggle weakened, and her breathing becomes more even, and slower.
After a few moments, he felt it was safe enough to let her go, and slacken his grip and let her go. Looking her in the eyes. To his relief, they lost their panicked and frenzied appearance.
"Yang! What the hell was that?" Blake shouted as Thor took a step back to give her some breathing room.
With the panic and fear leaving her face, all that was left was confusion, like she couldn't reconcile her actions with logical thought. Which was normal for a person who had experienced what he was certain she had, especially if they had no experience with them.
Looking around the room, he examined the other members of team RWBY. Ruby herself was near tears, clearly terrified of what had happened, and, Thor thought to himself, maybe something more, her face seems to telegraph many fears at once.
Weiss, for her part, did the best of keeping her composure, but it was evident she was rattled.
Blake was scared, he could tell, but did he see a twinge of anger in there as well? Maybe, but he turned his gaze back to Yang.
She looked visibly upset, near tear herself after what she did. She flopped down on the floor, putting her face in her hand. "I'm sorry, I don't know what….I just…."
No one seemed to know what to say, but Thor stepped forward "Was it your dream?"
The room wouldn't have been called loud before, at least not after Yang had calmed down, but it was silent as a grave now as Yang looked at him, shocked.
Thor didn't need more of a response; he got dressed as quickly as he could.
"Thor, what are you talking about?" Blake asked after a moment's silence.
He didn't answer, but pulled on his boots and ran out the door.
"Thor! What are you talking about!" she shouted after him as he ran down the hall.
He ignored her as he ran to his locker.
"Blake wait!" Weiss cried as she grabbed Blake to keep her from following Thor. "We need to stay here for now." She said as she gestured to Yang.
"Yang." Weiss began, "What did he mean by your dream?" she asked as calmly as she could, but there was still the note of a quiver in her voice.
"It's …. Nothing," Yang said in an utterly unconvincing tone.
But the glares of her team, quickly broke down he resolve, and she began explaining what she thought Thor was talking about.
Her dream, as she described it was an unpleasant experience. But it was just a dream, or at least that what Weiss thought. But Yang had put a clear emphasis on how real it had seemed, that even the pain had carried over to when she woke up.
Weiss didn't want to think there was a link between Yang dream and here's. Her's too had been incredibly vivid, but that had to be coincident. But as she looked to her other team mates, their faces seemed unusually stoic, even Blake, who was normally the coolest of them all.
Ruby spoke first. "Ummm, I have something to tell you guys."
Thor flew over the forest he'd first appeared in a couple year earlier. His hammer carrying him quickly, if not accurately over the space.
He soon found what he was looking for, the crater he'd been found in by Ozpin two years ago.
Landing with a crack of lighting, he cleared all the Grimm out of the immediate area. At the center was what he was after. Dropping his hammer, he gripped it with all his might and pulled…..to no avail.
He pulled on it for a few more minutes before giving up. Not yet, but he needed it soon. His dream was not something to be taken lightly, and he presumed Yang's wasn't either. He needed to be whole again, or else tragedy would soon follow.
Team RWBY was silent for a quite some time. After Ruby had told them her dream, the other had come forward to describe there. They didn't wake with the pain sensation Yang had, but other feeling had carried over into the waking world.
Weiss felt cold despite the temperature of the room, Blake felt like her eye's had been staring into the sun and Ruby felt the exhaustion of the battle she had dreamed she fought.
"This is crazy," Weiss said after everyone's silence. "It was just some nightmares, nothing more."
"Then how did Thor know?" Yang said, a little bitterly, her mood not entirely repaired "And what are the odds we all had this type of vivid dream on the same night at the same time!"
"Hardly evidence of anything, a coincident at best," Weiss said dismissively. "Bad dreams happen, and they are often vivid, it's nothing to worry about." She said with a confidence she didn't really feel. For all she said, she was pretty shaken by her nightmare.
There was a silence after this, because as much as they didn't want to agree with Weiss, the fact was their dreams, while not similar in content, had left them all feeling similar ways, lingering effects that carried on past the dream.
Ruby would have liked to agree with Weiss, to dismiss this all as some bad dream. But some things didn't ring true. One being the obvious vividness of all the dreams, another was the lingering sensations that continued even after they had woken up. Then there was Thor knowing what had upset Yang, that was eerie, but there was something else bothering her.
"Yang…What did he say to you to calm you down." She asked in a tentative voice.
Her sister looked at her for a moment, before answering her. "I honestly don't remember, it was something about dreams fading? I don't really remember it, but after that, I did start to calm down, it was like…I don't know, someone poured water on fire, everything I was feeling just felt less intense."
That was all Ruby needed to know, at least for now. Thor knew something about what he happened, Blake had suspected that as well. But regardless, they needed to find him and find out what was going on.
As Thor packed away his gear, he couldn't help but let his mind wander. What did he need to do? This wasn't meant to be easy, but he just couldn't figure it out.
But his time was limited, and the worst part he didn't even have exact number, or really a vague idea. If he had a proper interpreter, he could get it down to within a few days, but as it stood, all he had was the idea it was in the near future.
He didn't even know what the threat would be. His dream may have had some familiar ideas, but that didn't mean much, these types of dreams could occur in figurative as well as literal.
He wasn't one to usually sweat over something like this, but he felt vulnerable without his full power. He was strong now, but a far cry from what he really was. He had been hurt over the years, never to any great degree, but in his real state, the causes of the injury would have done nothing to him.
If he faced a powerful enough force, he might not be able to win.
He started to trudge back to his room, still deep in thought he passed other students, early risers no doubt, wanting to get the most out of their weekend.
Lost in his own thoughts, he bumped into a much smaller student, sending them sprawling to the floor. Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked down to notice Velvet on the floor.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." He said quickly as he bends down to help her up.
"It's okay, actually I wanted to talk to you." She said, not quite looking him in the eye, her shy nature showing.
"Yeah? About what?" he said a smile he really didn't feel graced his lips. Most of the time he was genuinely happy and boisterous, but moments like this made him have to put up a front, to keep him from attracting attention, any sudden change in personality would draw attention he didn't care to have.
"I just wanted to say thank you, for standing up for me…I'm not used to having someone other than my teammates stand up for me."
She was blushing, and Thor was a bit curious at this, talking someone shouldn't cause such a reaction, at least in most people, but he supposed her shy nature may make it harder for her to approach a relative stranger.
"But, I was wondering if, maybe, if you weren't too busy that is, would you like to maybe….." she sputtered as her face was now beet red.
Thor knew what this was, but decided to let her try and get it out herself.
"Would you like to go out? Like, Sunday or something?"
She looked like it had practically killed her to ask this. He didn't have, much of interest in her, as cute as she was, but she just wasn't his type really, to shy, to demur. But she had asked him despite her fears, and bravery deserved a reward.
"Actually, my lovely lady, I'm free this after noon, if you'd like to go out on the town. Meet me out front at the statue." He said smiling as he walked past, her face a red as Ruby's cloak.
Turning back he said, "I look forward to it."
As he turned away, his smile dropped and a brooding expression appeared. He wanted to delve deeper into his vision, but with no means to, all he could reasonably hope for was to be a prepared as he could for whenever what was going to happen happened.
This date might help clear his head, he couldn't do anything now anyway, and having a day off in the city with a cute girl might be just what he needed to get his head straight.
As he went into his room, he felt a like the air surrounding him had dropped ten degrees. Looking up, he saw Team RWBY glaring daggers at him.
"What?"
Thor should have known, he'd been far from inconspicuous after the whole ordeal with Yang. It would have taken someone extraordinarily dim not pick up on something.
He sat there as the four girls interrogated him.
"So…" Weiss said, pacing back in forth in front of him, she having taken the role of lead interrogator. Not the worse choice for the job in his opinion, but Blake probably would have been better.
"Is it some sort of drug? Having you been slipping us some kind of chemical concoction. Perhaps a tranquilizer with vivid nightmares as a side effect? Hmmm?" she said looking him dead in the eye with what she apparently imagined was a cold-steely gaze, and maybe to most other students it would work, but he was made of tougher stuff and frankly found more cute than anything else.
"Why in the world would I do that?"
"So you could do…do….stuff…" she said as her voiced weekend and trailed off.
Clearly, she had meant for that too much more specific, and much sterner ringing accusation. But her nerve had failed her and came off very weak. Probably what she was thinking, she realized would sound much crazier out loud than in her head.
"If you want to say you think I did something say it, I don't appreciate minced words, and I don't take kindly to baseless accusation."
Weiss's face getting red, not from embarrassment, but from him getting her flustered. "You know what I mean …..molest…" she whispered the last part again so only Thor could hear it.
"Ahh, there it is, I knew it!" he said raising his hands in exasperation. "Look, I didn't molest any of you alright?", he said, but unlock Weiss he didn't whisper.
Weiss' face was beet red, Yang had covered Ruby's ear, much to the younger girl protest. The only one who didn't visibly react was Blake.
"Quiet! Do you want everyone to hear?" Weiss hissed at him
"I don't care because if I did what you think I did, it's gonna come out eventually right?" Thor near roared at her, making Weiss step back in shock.
Thor was visibly angry at the accusation, and Weiss had never actually seen him in a rage like this, and it was scary. Wait? She had seen him like this before, just yesterday. The Cardin incident. Her blood ran cold, was he going to attack her? Without her weapon, there was little doubt between the two of them who'd come off the better in a fight. In fact, she suspected there wasn't another first-year student who could handle him bare handed, with the possible exception of Yang.
But he didn't do anything, he just sat there leering at her.
Blake stepped forward as Weiss retreated "Weiss, that's a severe accusation, one that could ruin someone's reputation, even if it proved false, you can't just make that type accusation without proof."
She turned to Thor, looking at his rage filled face. He suddenly looked much older than his age, and it was scary. But she was going to give him the chance to explain what he knew, if anything, and didn't plan on accusing him of anything, yet anyway. This maybe the answer she was looking for in him.
"Thor…" she began softly, "Can you tell us anything about the dreams?"
Thor looked Blake in her Amber eyes and let out a sigh, calming himself down a bit. He needed to come up with a story quick. This wasn't really his area of expertise, his brother would have done so as easily as breathing, but you didn't spend that much time around Loki without picking up some trick.
One thing his brother had told him once, came to his mind, "The best deception is almost entirely true."
"It's…" he began. "Something from my father."
That was a mistake at once, and he knew. He'd told them before that he was from the Vale orphanage, which was true, but he'd never told them about before that. Now he had to answer those questions, someday, but hopefully not today. But the confusion was evident in their eyes, he was going to have to push through hope they bought his line.
"His…semblance…he could see a vision of the future." Which was true of his father, at least in part.
"But, he had no control over it, and being exposed to it for so long, seeing possible futures, drove him to be a distant man. But what he didn't know was…." He stumbled there, but he thought it just made it look like he was having a hard time reliving the memory. "His power bleeds over into the dream of those who were near him, and they began to experience visions in their dreams from time to time…myself included."
This was not a very convincing story to him, but it was the best he could do.
"Is that why you left home?" Ruby said, speaking up suddenly.
He wasn't prepared to answer that question, but it seemed she had given him an idea. "No….he sent me away because of it, for my own good." Again, sort of true, he didn't really know what his task here was, but this was a possible explanation for his apparent lack of a family.
Yang, Blake and Ruby's face had changed drastically from when he first came in the room, from anger to sympathy. He hated sympathy, but it was better than picking a fight with them.
But Weiss looked angry again.
"Maybe that is true, but why would we have the dreams now, even when you didn't?" Her tone accusing again.
"Who said I didn't?" he replied coolly.
She dummied up at that for a moment but turned on the attack again.
"But that was your father's semblance, why would it affect us?"
At this, he could be candid. "I don't know, I haven't had once since I left home."
"Okay." Blake spoke up "Let's say all this is real, what do they mean?"
"I couldn't say, my father could accurately interpret the visions, but I never learned how to, all I can say is they aren't necessarily literal."
Yang stepped forward and spoke up "What did you dream of?"
Thor looked her in the eye, and responded: "Tell me yours first."
Yang recounted her dream to Thor, followed by Ruby, Blake and finally Weiss, who was still too angry and embarrassed at the whole situation to really want to cooperate.
There were theme's he recognized, the fire giant, the frost giant, the serpent. But he wasn't sure if that was his influence on them or if they were literal.
He told them his, of the dragon, and the pain, but didn't go into great detail.
"All I can say is, something bad is likely to happen sometime in the near future. "He said, "I can't really tell what or when, but the overall theme of dread, seems to be clear."
The reactions of the team ranged from stoic but stiff in Blake, an apparent agitation in Yang, fear in Ruby, and confusion in Weiss.
"What are we gonna do Thor." Ruby squeaked out.
That hurt him, in the short time he'd now the girl, she was probably the only person here he was close with, like a little sister in a way. The thought that he'd brought the nightmare to her told her it was real, in a way, and now he had to tell her it couldn't be stopped or planned for.
No, he didn't want to cause her worry, he didn't have to outright lie to her, but he felt an urge to ease her fear.
He smiled, an award winning smile "We don't have to worry about a thing!" He said standing up to his full height, causing Weiss and Ruby too step back. "Don't you have the Mighty Thor on your side? What could possibly stop me?" as to put emphasis on the point he flexed his arms in a very boisterous pose.
Yang smiled and rolled her eyes, Weiss huffed and turned away, and Blake just shook her head. But he hadn't done this for them, and it had the right effect.
Ruby went wide eyed, squealed and jumped forward to hug him. Which he returned.
"You're so cool Thor! You can beat any baddie!"
"Of course! There is nothing to fear while I'm around."
Letting her go, he looked her in the eye. "So as for what we are going to do, we need to seize the day, I, have a date this afternoon with a very cute Faunus."
Ruby looked confused and looked at Blake, who turned red.
"It's not me!" she shouted.
"It's Velvet." He said as he walked away to get ready. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready."
Later that Night
Yang stayed up, waiting for Thor to return. She needed to have a private conversation with him about a couple things.
For one, she and he were the only ones to have any sort of pain waking up, and she wanted more clarifications on that. Then she wanted to thank him for all the bluster that had eased Ruby's fear. She was certain that's what it was, all bluster an act to relieve her. His sudden shift in tone was almost enough on its own sell her on that idea.
Ruby, bless her heart, was still in love with the stories of heroes and legends, and Thor seemed to of walked whole and breathing out of one. His prowess, which was unmatched by anyone else in their grade except maybe Pryyha, made him seem a living legend. But he also carried himself with such an air of confidence and swagger, that it was hard not to see him as a hero of old. Then there was the fact he was really just a good guy.
His public thrashing of Cardin was the visible way to see it, but in the time they had shared a room with him, aspects of his kind heart showed through all the bravado and bluster. He was nice to Ruby, humoring her constant request to have a look at his gear. He always denied her but did it a way that made Ruby much more interested in his equipment, almost teasing her.
Weiss's opinion of Thor, at least to Yang, was entirely unwarranted. She was probably the smartest person on the team in the traditional sense, possibly even in their whole class. But she wasn't very good at judging people. She's been ranting to the team for weeks that having a boy in their dorm would lead to trouble, despite the fact that they were far from the only coed dorm room. That had come to the forefront today, with an accusation she had no proof of. Yang knew what a false rumor could do to a person's reputation, she had a few follow her at Signal. Granted she had eventually slipped them, but what Weiss accused Thor was far worse.
Then there was her point blank refusal to give Jaune a chance. The kid was a good guy, sweet in a dorky way, he kind of reminded her of Ruby in a way. Now if Weiss didn't want to date him, well that was her choice, but her reasons for not doing so were based on what she thought Jaune was, rather than what he really was. That wasn't fair of her, even with no dating involved, it wasn't fair to the kid.
But she didn't hate Weiss for this trait. She had been hard wired to think the way she did. And by God she was trying her hardest to change, she saw it, her fighting with who she was raised to be, and who she wanted to be. But she needed to trust people.
Coming out of her thoughts, she looked at the clock, it was past midnight, and Thor still wasn't back. She didn't know Velvet all that well, she was the year ahead of her, and seemed like a sweet girl, and she couldn't imagine her wanting to be out this late, too meek to want to party the night away like Yang would of like to do.
She wondered what they were doing.
"I had a really nice time tonight Thor." Velvet whispered, and she held onto his arm lightly.
"Me too, a nice change of pace for me, I'm not normally one for a quiet night." He said smiling at her.
He had had an excellent time, it wasn't what he usually enjoyed, but the pleasant company helped. They had gone out to eat at a quiet little café, a museum, and finally a walk down by the ocean.
"So…would you like to do it again sometime?" she asked, her voice not as meek as before.
Thor stopped and looked her in the eyes. His smile a little sad. "Velvet, you are a wonderful young woman, and this was a lovely evening. But it wouldn't work out long term, we're too different, my idea of a fun night out is going the rowdiest bar I can find and getting into fights, watching a fight or partying. "
He hated this part, but he didn't want to lead her on. It still didn't help when her face fell. "You'll find someone better than me, someone, who like all the thing you do, you can really bond with them."
"Thank you, but don't have to lie to me, no one would go out with me." She said looking at the ground.
Oh, he hated himself right now. Not just for her mood, but for silently thinking this was why it wouldn't work. She was too meek, and down on herself, he liked women with confidence and a bit of swagger, that Coco girl on her team was a good example of that, but that wasn't going to happen either.
"Listen." He began, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You are talented and beautiful, and a genuinely sweet girl. You could have your choice of these boys."
"Except for you." She mumbled.
"Well, I'm not a boy, I am a man!" he tried at a joke, and he thought he saw a slight smile on her face.
"Tell you what?" he started, thinking on his feet "You know the dance next semester?"
"Yeah?"
"If you can't find someone to go with you by then, or I can't convince someone to go with you. I'll take you myself, and give you that second date."
She smiled at that, clearly certain he'd have to follow through on his end of the deal. He knew he wouldn't, she was already the idol of several of his male classmates and some of the girls. Getting her a date wouldn't be hard.
"You know Thor, you're so much more mature than most of the guys here, in some ways at least." She said, starting to smile as he headed back to Beacon.
"Thank, now, if you don't mind, I'll walk you back to your room, as fitting of a gentleman such as myself."
She giggled at this, and he smiled at her comment as well. She was closer than she knew, while his body may be young, her soul and mind were ancient by humans and Faunus standards.
Just as Yang was getting ready to go to bed and talk to Thor the next day when the door creaked open. Thor crept in as quietly as he could, which was actually really quiet, given his size.
Jumping out of her bed, she made her way to him as quietly as she could.
"Thor?" she whispered.
"Hmmm, Yang, thought you'd be asleep by now." He said a voice that was so quiet compared to his standard boom, it was off putting.
"Yeah, couldn't sleep, needed to talk to you." She gestured to the door "Outside."
Thor looked a bit perplexed but nodded in agreement.
They both quietly made their way into the hall so they could talk in normal voices.
As they exited the room, and Yang closed the door, she turned to Thor.
"So how'd the date go?" she asked deciding to start with small talk.
"Fine, she's a sweet girl."
"You going to see her again?"
"No, I don't think so, like I said, sweet girl, but we're too different for it to work. Why are you asking? Jealous?" he said smirking and raising an eyebrow.
Yang just signed, early on that might have made her blush a bit, but he always flirted with every girl, or well near every girl. She was used to it by now and knew he was just poking fun at her.
"No, but your love life isn't what I wanted to talk you about anyway." She sighed and continued, deciding to start with the softer topic.
"Thanks, for that little show you put on for Ruby, she's still a kid many ways, you're hero act helped her a lot after that scare."
Thor smiled and responded "What act? I am a great hero!"
Yang raised a single eyebrow and said "Thor." In a measured tone.
Thor sighed "Sorry, have some trouble turning it off sometimes. But, you're welcome at any rate, your sister is a sweet girl, I didn't want to be the cause any undue stress of fear on her part."
But this brought up another question for her ask him, one she hadn't even really considered until this point "What's with all the bravado? I mean, I get confidence, but all the shouting and bragging? Making sure everyone knows how strong you are? You come off as a pompous ass to anyone who doesn't know you."
"Oh, and you know me?" Thor said, this time his eyebrow being raised.
"Well enough to know you aren't an uncaring bastard like Cardin. You actually look after people, even if the wider student body doesn't always see. You have compassion for people weaker than you and are a surprisingly smart man. Why act that way?"
Yang was much more observant than Thor would have guessed, he'd of thought Blake would pick up on it first.
But the truth was, it wasn't an act, not really. He'd grown up in competition, among warrior and poet who retold their tales. Bragging and boasting were part of life for years beyond compare. He'd tempered it over the years, but it was still there. And here it all came back, why, he wasn't exactly sure, he wasn't certain why these sort things happened. But if he were to guess, it was fear, fear of never seeing home again, so he brought out some of his heritage.
Yang thought it was an act, but it wasn't, but she had seen what that attitude typically covered up, rather unintentionally really, but most people didn't see past it, at least at first.
People would usually see an arrogant man, and assumed he wasn't up to any good. But he didn't act maliciously, and people, at least those close to him, would see through.
But how to answer.
"I'm not sure, I think I do it protect myself if that makes sense."
It did make sense, in a way. At least to Yang, for all his bravado, she thought he might fear real close relationship, which would also mean those he had, he cherished, like the one with Ruby.
"Well, I think I can get it, but I'm getting side tracked here. The dream."
Thor's eyes widened, very slightly, but she caught it.
"Why did it hurt? Why did yours hurt?"
Thor's face told her he didn't want to tell her. But she wasn't going to have that.
"I'm not going to let this go. My arm didn't just hurt, I couldn't use it at all, what does that mean?"
Thor sighed and looked her in the eye. "All visions carry some sort of physical sensation that brings's over when you wake up and lingers for a short time. The other experienced more tame versions of this than you or I, but these sensations are the easiest thing to read in these dreams, and typically the one thing you can be certain of."
"So, something is going to hurt you and me, pretty badly, at some point in the near future."
"I would say that is likely, yes." He said with a face showing an emotion she hadn't ever seen there before. It was a dark cloud of sadness like he wished he were wrong. Then she thought he probably wish he was.
Yang wasn't sure what she believed in the whole vision thing, but she trusted Thor to be honest and give them what he at least believed to be the truth.
"So, what's the plan?"
Thor looked at her with an expression she couldn't precisely place. "Same as I said before, none."
"But!" she felt her temper spike, how could he not have a plan if he knew, or at least suspected something was coming?
"I can't help in preparation." He cut her off "like I said, I don't know near enough to correctly interpret the dream. I can tell you some basics of the visions, but as for specific…I'm as lost as you."
"That can't be all, you have to know something!" her voice was getting louder, and she needed to reign it in.
"Yang, I can't help. I just know the general tone isn't right. I can't tell you if it will come tomorrow, three days, three week or three months. What's more, I couldn't even say what the threat was or where it came from, it could do more harm than good."
Yang gritted her teeth. "Well then what are we supposed to do?!"
"Seize the day for what it's worth. But if you want to prepare for whatever is coming, all I can say is get stronger, and you may be able to withstand the coming storm."
Yang looked ready to attack him in frustration, and he didn't need that right now.
"I know you want answers, but I can't give them, and you getting mad won't change that."
That seemed to temper her anger, but by no means appeared to cause it to dissipate.
"Well." She started "What about your dad? He'd know, right? Let's go find him!"
Thor's eye went wide at that. Finding his father would be a fool errand. He couldn't, or at least shouldn't tell her why. But he'd have to tell her something.
"My father is gone, I don't know if he is even alive anymore, and even if he was and I even knew where to find him, we'd never find him. He doesn't want me home, and he'd know where we'd look for him even before we thought of it."
True enough. His father didn't want him back right now, and that was something he needed to fix on his own.
Looking Yang in the face, he was startled to see her anger seemed to have completely disappeared. Why what he said had affected her enough to kill her anger, he didn't know but was grateful to see it was gone.
"Look, it's late, we'll talk more in the morning." He said, pulling the door open.
As he did, three figures tumbled out onto the floor, startling Yang and Thor.
"UGH! Blake, get your elbow out of my ribs." Ruby cried, trying to push her teammates of her.
"You dolt, if you hadn't been leaning on the door we wouldn't have fallen!" Weiss yelled.
"Just get up!" Blake shouted.
"Quiet! You're going to wake up the whole dorm!" Yang hissed at her teammates, but smiling and laughing at the same time.
Thor for his part, looked like he was holding back an incredibly violent fit of laughter.
As the two blonds held the three girls to their feet, Yang started asking the questions.
"How much did you hear?"
"Well, we came in about half way through, and you guys were talking about visions, and stuff, it wasn't really easy to hear, you guys were whispering," Ruby said, looking more than a bit ashamed.
"Yes, well people tend to do that when they want to have a private conversation," Yang said smirking at her little sister.
"But you guys shouldn't be keeping secret from us! Or at least you shouldn't Yang!"
Ruby said, her voice getting louder like her sisters.
Weiss spoke up this time "If what you say is true, then all we can do is get stronger, which is why we came here anyway. But if these dreams are visions of the future, well we'll have to double our effort." She looked Thor dead in the face as she spoke like she was talking to him. "Which means, getting a good night's rest to start our training tomorrow."
With that, she started shoving her team mates back into their room. Ruby protested, about having to train on the weekend. Blake went much more passively, and Yang, while not taking kindly to being told what to do, seemed too tired to actually fight it.
Thor made his way to the door, but Weiss stopped him. "I'd like to talk to you for a moment."
Thor gave the girl a quizzical look, but let her talk.
"I'm….sorry, for accusing, and for…giving you hard time." She said, looking both sincere and a little embarrassed. "I didn't have any reason to think what I did, other than…well, I guess I'll say my jumping to conclusions."
Thor nodded but waited to see if she had more to say, but the look on her face told him that this was hard enough as it is for her.
"It's…okay…I suppose I have been to…free with myself around you. I accept your apology, and I'll ease up on you."
Her face seemed to lighten up considerably at this, and with that, he extended a hand to her saying "Let's start over."
She smiled and took his much larger hand, shaking it.
"Now, let's get some sleep." Was all he had said before they both headed in.
Ruby watched as Thor and Weiss entered their room. 'What were they talking about,' was all she could think of.
She watched Thor change for bed, but to her mild surprise, he didn't strip down to his underwear, he kept a t-shirt on as he climbed into his cot, and fell fast asleep.
Sneaking out of bed, she crawled up to Weiss bed and whispered in her ear. "Hey, Weiss."
The other girl jumped out of her doze but didn't make a sound. "Ruby! What is it, we need our sleep!" she hissed.
"I just wanted to know what you talked to Thor about." She said in a pouty tone.
"I just apologized to him, that's all!"
"Oh…did he accept it?"
Weiss signed "Yes Ruby, and he agreed to lay off me a little with all the flirting. I'd take it that's why he's wearing a short now."
"Oh…I just thought."
"What?" Weiss said defensively.
"I don't know, just, he and Yang had a pretty significant conversation, yours seem a lot shorter."
"That's because it was, now go to sleep." She hissed at her and turned on her side, ending the conversation.
Ruby climbed back into bed. Thinking about what she had heard tonight.
And sort of missing Thor's flirting with Weiss.
Blake lay in her bed thinking. She's listened to the entire conversation between Yang and Thor, her sensitive hearing picking up on it. Thor's coming into their room, and Yang hoping out of bed had woken her up, and she couldn't help but hear them.
But in her curiosity, she'd climbed out of bed to listen more clearly. Their volume shifting dramatically, and through the door it muffled it. She probably could have stayed in bed and heard it all, but she didn't want to miss anything.
But she was too eager not to miss anything, and while climbing out of bed, hadn't noticed her own book she left on the floor. He slipped, and fell into Weiss, bed, waking both her and Ruby up.
She'd kept them both quiet enough, so Yang and Thor didn't hear, but they wanted to listen in as well.
But the first part of the conversation wasn't as important as the latter half, at least in her eyes.
She wondered if what was coming was a White Fang attack. She knew one was in the works, but it wasn't supposed to happen for a few years yet.
Like Thor said, they needed to improve. But, she could help but feel a bit guilty over eavesdropping on her friend, and…sort of a friend. She knew she shouldn't have done it, but she was a naturally curious person.
Deciding to leave these thoughts for the morning, she drifted off to sleep.
Yang didn't consider herself a morning person, not really. But Weiss's sudden waking of them, especially after how little sleep she got the night before.
Looking around, she noticed Thor was already gone. He, unlike her, was an early riser, in most regards.
As they marched down the hall to the training room, Weiss and Blake walked as if they'd been up for hours. Whereas Ruby and herself were slump shouldered and dragging their feet. She needs coffee or something to wake her up. That or a good fight.
As they entered the training room, which was deserted, this early on a Sunday, it was unlikely anyone else would show up, even later in the day.
But…no she was wrong, there was someone else there. Standing in the middle of the arena, in full battle gear, was Thor.
"I see you slept in! Well, let's get to work." He greeted them, that smile of his covering his face. That's when it really hit her, he was almost always smiling. That seemed unusual, even the happy go lucky Nora didn't walk around with a perma-smile like him. Thoughts for another time, now she wanted to know why he was here. And apparently so did Weiss, as she spoke up.
"What are you doing here? This a team exercise!" Weiss shouted at him
"You want to get stronger right?" he said, "Well, then, face the strongest." He said with that smile still on his face. Yang wasn't sure if it was her lack of sleep or the fact it never left his face. But that grin was starting to get on her nerves.
"You want to train with us!" Ruby said excitedly.
Of course, her little sister would like it, she was the only one of the four whom he probably actually considered friends, and she was head over heels for that damn hammer of his. The damn this wasn't even really a hammer, it was more like an ax.
She caught herself in her thoughts, and was certain she needed coffee, she wasn't normally that spiteful.
"Yeah, so you guys get started." Yang said to them all "I need some coffee or I'm going to die, Ruby, you want to come with me?"
Her sister looked caught between the idea of a pick me up, and seeing Thor used his weapon. But the bags under eyes apparently won out, and she followed Yang, shouting "We'll be quick!"
As they left, Thor lifted his hammer saying "Who's first?"
"Ohh, that's just was I needed" Ruby muttered as she sipped the coffee. She never used to touch the stuff, but now it was a welcomed friend. Looking at her sister, who was carrying a tray of coffee for their team, she began to wonder something.
"Yang, what do you think of Thor?"
Her sister gave her a gaze that made her feel like she was under interrogation before she responded with "Why?"
"Well,…you don't think he might be…I don't know crazy or something? I mean his story about his father and visions. It's….it's weird right?"
Yang had sighed before she answered "I don't Ruby, I don't think so. I mean it's far-fetched, but I've heard of weirder semblances, and I believe he 's honest. For what it's worth, he doesn't seem unhinged."
Ruby nodded as she thought on this. She didn't want him to be crazy, he was cool, and sort of like the big brother she'd never had. She loved Yang and was the best big sister a girl could ask for, but a lot of times she was also kind of like a mom. She wondered what a big brother would be like, and not one who also acted as a parent.
"Do you like him?" she continued.
"I guess he's a kind of cool a guy, a bit too eager to fight, likes to party a bit too much. But he sticks up for people, even if the rest of the school doesn't see it."
"Yang, you pick fights and party all the time," Ruby said, looking at her sister in confusion.
"Yeah, but that different." She said, apparently not taking Ruby's point.
"Either way, that's not what I meant. Would you ever consider, like, dating him?"
That took Yang a bit by surprise, but not enough to really rattle her.
"I mean, he's hot and all. And I like a strong man, but no, why?"
Ruby didn't really want to answer. She had thought her sister might like Thor, at least a little, they were so much alike, and if they started dating, well it would make Thor even more of big brother to her. But she didn't want to tell her sister that, it was far too childish of an idea for her to still be having.
"I've…just got a friend…who might like him…is all." Trying to keep her response as vague as possible.
Yang did her best to hide her emotions, but she felt an incredibly odd combination of emotions the moment Ruby said that.
Anger, relief, pride and anxiety and…was that jealousy? She had long since thought her earlier ideas of Ruby crush on Thor were simply a mistake, but the "I've got a friend line" was the oldest one when asking for advice for yourself without wanting to admit it.
She was happy her sister was starting to come more out of her shell. She really didn't have a friend outside to teams RWBY and JNPR, much less a boyfriend or girlfriend. Her interest in someone was a relief, she should have really been having crushes way before this.
But she wished it wasn't Thor. Like she said to Ruby, she thought he was pretty cool, but there was the simple fact he slept in the same room as her. That could lead to problems in and of itself. Then there was the fact her personality was so different from his.
True they had a lot in common, but Thor was an extrovert to the extreme and Ruby was extremely introverted.
But, now wasn't the best time to talk to her about it. They had training exercises to do, and Thor had barged his way into that.
She'd leave it for another time.
As they approached the training room and opened the door, they were greeted by a sight of an exhausted and beaten Weiss and Blake.
Minutes earlier
Weiss stumbled back as Blake landed gracefully next to her. This was insane; they couldn't break his defense.
When he'd offered to fight the two of them together, Weiss wasn't sure if it was overconfidence or bravado. But she had agreed to it.
Now she had wished she'd waited for Ruby and Yang, although she wasn't sure how much of a difference they would make.
He didn't fall for Blake's shadow clone, he broke out of every attempt to restrain him she had tried, and either dodged or blocked all their attacks.
What was so mind boggling was how fast he was. Cardin, who was of similar size, couldn't move with anything near his grace of precision, she dare say he even rivaled or exceeded her in that regard.
But he was also built like a tank, and his attack hit like a truck. He hadn't even used his dust or semblance yet.
She'd seen that first hand on the day of initiation and was glad he hadn't yet pulled it out.
It wasn't fair. He was their age, but he was fighting on a level with her sister, who was one of the best huntresses she'd ever meet.
He was just a first year; he shouldn't be this strong, yet, here he was. She'd trained her whole life to get this far, yet he was miles ahead of her.
Gritting her teeth, she lunged, using her glyphs increase her speed, while locking him in place at the same time, and she had him now.
But Thor didn't look remotely concerned, and as the tip of her sword neared him, he just leaned out of the way, grabbed her wrist, twisted it to make her drop her weapon, and threw her away.
And she landed hard on the ground as Yang and Ruby entered.
'Holy Crap! What happened to you guys?" Yang shouted, setting down her coffee and the tray, running to her team mates. They didn't look seriously hurt, but they looked exhausted.
"Him." Blake panted, face flushed red for effort. "He's too strong; we aren't going to beat him, at least right now." She finished.
Yang and Ruby looked at Thor as if seeing him in full light for the first time. They'd seen him in action against Grimm, but Weiss and Blake were two of the best student in their year, and he didn't even look tired.
Dropping his hammer, he walked over to Weiss and helped her up.
"Perhaps this wasn't the best way to train you; maybe you should address your short comings first."
"What that supposed to mean?" Weiss shouted defensively.
But Thor didn't bat an eye "You need to work on your stamina, and your instincts, you spend too much time thinking, and not enough acting, you hesitate as a result and give your opponents time to counter."
Yang hadn't expected such a concise response from Thor; she'd expect more along the line of "You're too weak, get stronger." But that was a very intelligence explanation of Weiss's manner in battle.
Looking at Weiss, she saw she thought so as well, but wasn't ready to admit it.
"You." He said pointing to Yang "are the opposite, you don't think at all, you rush in to bulldoze over your opponent, and are so confident of yourself, you leave yourself open to attacks."
'Ouch!' was all Yang could think of, but she knew he was right. But it had always worked for her, so she'd never bothered to change it. "But it works."
"Until you meet someone who can overpower you and go around your semblance, then you are wide open. Think, sometimes it's better to go around an obstacle than through it."
'Okay, he's not bad at this.' She thought.
"Well then, what's Blake's short coming?" Yang asked, as her partner glared at her.
Thor looked at Blake and said "You are truly skilled, speed, skill and grace…you have them in spades, but your ability to finish a tough target on your own is limited. Your weapons don't pack the punch of Ruby's or Weiss, and you don't have a semblance like Yang's to counter this."
"Oh, do me next! Do me! Do me!" Ruby shouted jumping up and down.
"Yours is simple." He said walking up to her and snatching Crescent Rose from her.
"Hey! Give it back!" She shouted jumping, trying to get it, and Thor simply held it over her head, and just held her away with one arm, while the other held Ruby's weapon out of reach.
"You are too dependent on your weapon; you need to increase your combat skills without it." He said before finally throwing it to her.
Thor felt he'd tipped his hand too much, in his experience and knowledge as well as the information he'd given them. But he meant to prepare them as best he could, and if they got suspicious, then so be it.
"So, with that out of the way, if you'll have me, I'll train you." He said looking from one to the next. Their faces didn't tell him much; he glimpsed embarrassment, but also a bit of admiration.
"Of course! If you train us, we'll be unstoppable, and we are going to win the tournament hands down!" Ruby shouted. "So where do we start!"
Thor smiled at her enthusiasm, but looked to the other's, to see if they were on board. Weiss looked dejected, possibly because he had just hijacked her training regime, but seemed to resign herself to this. Blake and Yang both seemed on board, but Blake looked much calmer about it, Yang appeared to have an intense stare in her eyes.
"Good, we'll start like this. Yang!" he said pointing at her as he spoke, "Take your sister and start giving her the low down in hand to hand combat and don't go easy on her if she can't stand up to your attacks or block them, lay her out."
The sisters looked startled at this, but he continued "it may not be fun, but it's better she takes her like in a practice fight with her sister than an enemy." He said.
"Weiss." He said turning to the white haired girl. "Follow me; I've got something for you." He said as he walked off.
"What about me?!" Blake shouted after them.
"Go look up some weapon designs, something to increase your damage dealt, you need to improve your power, and a weapon is the only way you can achieve that."
Blake looked dejected because she wasn't getting physical training, but went off anyway.
As they reach the end of the room, Thor picked up a vest and tossed it to Weiss.
She caught it and nearly fell to the ground, then stood up straight, and grunted as she lifted it, and asked: "What is this?"
"Weighted, vest, put it and start running laps."
"But you said I was over thinking things! How will this…"
"I also said you stamina needed work; well address that first, then we'll go onto the next."
Ruby was trying her best and wasn't as bad as he thought, but she had a long way to go.
Weiss was struggling with the weighted vest, but it would do her good in the long run.
Blake had disappeared to the library, and he felt a bit bad about it, but she was probably the most refined fighter of the bunch, where she needed help was in her equipment.
As he watched for a few more moments, Then he called for them to stop.
"Ruby, take five, Yang get your gauntlets, you're going to be sparring with Weiss."
"What!" Weiss shouted, already exhausted from her earlier fight with Thor and her exercise, she wasn't in the mood to fight with Yang of all people.
"You're tired, so use this as an opportunity to relax your mind, and try to let reactions flow. Yang, Weiss is a much craftier fighter than yourself, so practice some level of caution."
Ruby sat down next to Thor, beaten up, but in good spirits. She didn't have any injury that would heal overnight.
As she watched her sister and friend spar, she noticed that both were moving differently than normal. Yang was more cautious, and Weiss seemed more relaxed, although she thought it might be fatigue for the earlier exertion.
"So Thor, where did you learn so much about fighting?" trying to start up conversation
He glanced sideways at her as he watched the spar "My father taught me many things. He was a great leader."
Ruby felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She'd heard him talk to Yang about his dad last night. That was a complicated relationship, she was certain.
"So." She decided to get right to her point. "Do you like my sister?"
He raised an eyebrow at this and smiled. "She is an exceptional young woman, fiery, powerful, and passionate about her family, yes I'd say I like her."
'Why did they both not get her point on the first go, she didn't want to ask more directly if she didn't have to.'
"No, I mean, would you ever ask her out?"
If Yang didn't feel that way, maybe Thor did. They were perfect for each other; they just didn't know it yet.
Thor laughed one of the quietest laughs she'd ever heard from him "I don't know, sure, I supposed I might. Why?" He turned to look at her, smiling.
"Oh, it's just….nothing."
"What? You can tell me."
"I…no it sounds stupid." She muttered as she blushed. She didn't want to tell him what she was thinking.
"Well, I won't push you then." He said turning back to the spar. "Alright!" he called "That's enough, hit the showers and get something to eat! We'll pick this up again Tuesday!"
"What!" Ruby said, "Why not tomorrow?"
"You need to give your body time to rest; recovery is as important as training, remember that." He said then stretched his back. "Now, I'm starving, hit the showers, and I'll meet you in the cafeteria."
Blake didn't see this as training, not really. But she saw the logic to it. But her weapon was perfect for her fighting style, modifying it too much could screw it up. She thought maybe making a supplemental piece of equipment might be the way to go. What, she didn't know yet, but Thor had pointed out something she was aware of for some time. She couldn't hurt stronger target on her own, she had to chip away at them as it was, and she'd always thought that was all right. That was until Thor trounced her and Weiss at the same time.
She didn't need something to level a building, but she needed to pack a bigger punch her attacks.
Well, at least she got to read some books while she was at it.
Thor walked down the hall to the cafeteria, his gear stowed in a locker. He'd thought it had gone reasonably well; he'd helped them each a bit in area's they were weak.
As he thought about it, someone stepped out in front of him from one of the classrooms. It took him a moment to recognize Cardin. In full combat gear, carrying his mace over his shoulder.
"Well, if it isn't the bunny lover?" He said smirking. As he did so his team mates walking out behind, ready to fight with their weapons.
"Oh, so this is when you either try to intimidate me into apologizing, or you assault me?" Thor said smirking at them. He wasn't remotely afraid of them. They were skilled enough in their own right, but even without a weapon, he'd be able to deal them.
Cardin gritted his teeth his flippancy. "You know what, just get him!" he shouted, apparently still stinging from his past humiliation.
His three goons rushed, their weapons drawn. The first Thor punched in the throat, causing him to gasp, drop his weapon and clutching his throat.
Taking advantage of opening Thor grabbed and threw him into one of his teammates. Sending them both flying hard enough into the wall it cracked.
The third was quicker than the first two, but Thor just ducked under his wild swing, grabbed his collar and belt and lifted him up and brought him down onto the ground head first, knocking him out cold.
Thor looked at his handy work, smirking. But just he did, he had Cardin rushing him, Mace over his head, shouting.
But before he could land a hit he felt his feet leave the floor. But he wasn't even close to Thor. Confusion crossed his face, then he felt it. The wind was whipping around him; he was caught in a miniature tornado.
Looking Thor in the face and saw the smile that now irritated him so much. Thor waved to him before he felt a gale force wind carry him down the hall to the Cafeteria.
Jaune sat with his team eating breakfast, nothing too out the ordinary. Then the doors burst open with hurricane force winds, and a body was thrown violently onto the table he was eating.
He was proud of himself for not screaming as he would use to do. But he still ducked and covered as his food and everyone else was thrown everywhere.
After the sudden commotion, he took the time to see who had just thrown into the cafeteria. And with no small sense of pleasure, he saw it was Cardin, his tormentor, as well as the tormentor many others students.