I own nothing. All references and properties belong to their respective creators, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.
'Thoughts'
"emphasis and scroll"
"Talking"
"Anger, Place, Time, and Meaning"
"Hurry fall asleep or the Boogeyman will come for you~ From the swamp he'll come and take the children that don't behave~ The silent night hides everything~
He will sneak up right behind and he will get you~ Close your eyes now~ Someone's outside the house and is knocking at the door~
He is coming closer~ Can you hear him closing in? Lurking around the corner~ Staring right at you~
He is here now~ The Boogeyman has come~... Goodbye~..."
General POV
With Team DRPN
Dusty was in a hard spot the next morning, as the first thing he had to do after he got out of bed was chase down Yang after she had snapped a picture of the scene on her Scroll, showing him and Pyrrha cuddling and the youngest clinging to his back. Once he finally caught up to her and got his hand on her Scroll, he swipes into the picture settings. As he was about to delete the photo, he hesitated before sending a copy of it to himself and then followed through and deleted Yang's copy. He thought to himself as he tossed it to his "older" sibling, 'Sigh... Better keep one for myself, days like today aren't going to last forever. Plus, I've gotta hand it to her, it is a cute scene.'
He returns to his room and sees that his team has finished getting ready, he rushes as he gets dressed and goes toward his class.
...
...
...
1 1/2 Month Later
Sparring Room
Glynda is seen standing at the edge of the arena with her tablet in hand as she turns on the randomizer and announces to the class, "Attention students, we only have enough time for one more round depending upon the duration. Now for the next round it will be... Cardin Winchester versus Jaune Arc."
Jaune looks nervously at Cardin who has his mace perched on his shoulder and Jaune opposite him with Crocea Mors drawn, leaning on his weapon as if exhausted, in the spotlight shining on the Beacon Academy auditorium stage.
Glynda observes from afar and says, "And... Begin!"
Jaune looks at Cardin, who laughs at his opponent's pitiful stance and nervous face, and Jaune gathers his strength to charge forward and swing his blade at Cardin, yelling as he does so. Only for Cardin to sidestep out of the way. Jaune looks back, surprised, as Cardin's mace sends Jaune's shield, and himself, flying back. Now only armed with his sword, Jaune yells again as he swings his sword down. Unfortunately the attack is easily blocked by the hilt of Cardin's mace.
Their weapons locked, Cardin forces himself up, towering over a struggling Jaune. "This is the part where you lose."
Jaune replies. "Over my dead…!" Unfortunately for the blonde knight, Jaune is cut short as Cardin knees him in the groin, making Jaune drop his sword and fall to the ground while groaning in pain.
Cardin raises his mace and is about to slam it down on Jaune just when the buzzer rings, the lights come back on, and Goodwitch's voice causes him to stop.
"Cardin, that's enough!" Goodwitch declared, forcing Cardin to relent his attack and walk out of the way as she comes onto the stage, tapping her tablet.
"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match." As she talks, two holograms are seen behind Goodwitch, showing how Cardin has full Aura and Jaune has very little.
While Jaune still lays on the floor in defeat and Pyrrha Nikos looks at the boy with a sense of pity while her partner comforts her, Dusty says, "Don't feel too bad, as little as it may be, he's improving. The first time he walked into the ring, he knocked himself out, now he can last a few minutes." Pyrrha looks back to him and gives Dusty a firm nod before turning back to the scene with a sad smile.
Goodwitch turns her head to look at the losing warrior as he pulls out a smaller tablet with his low, blinking stats and that of his entire team. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy." Jaune sighs in response.
Meanwhile, Dusty leans forward as he looks down at Jaune with a bored expression with his fingers interwoven while propping his head up, he decides to cut in and save the kid's fragile ego, "In his defense... In the middle of a battle, you can't really afford to take your eyes off your enemy. You don't always have that luxury."
Jaune looks at him in gratitude and thanks him, "Thanks for that Leroy."
The veins on Dusty's head can be seen bulging as the dead last student hasn't remembered his name in the month and a half that they've known each other. Glynda sighs at the boy's remark and mutters to herself about a dusty old crow, "Be that as it may, it does not change the fact that must avoid getting tunnel vision. As for you, Mr Arc, we wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?"
"Speak for yourself..." Cardin mutters a jab at the boy as he walks away with his mace slung over his shoulder.
Glynda looks over at the time on her tablet as she sees that they have 8 minutes left, she speaks up as she walks away and to the center of the ring, "It appears that we have enough time for one last match. Ms Xiao-Long, you are the only one that hasn't participated yet. So, if you'd come up here, I'll start the-."
While Glynda was speaking, Dusty look over to his big sister and saw an all too familiar grin on her face that she'd get before she does something stupid. Yang stood up as she interrupted her professor while she crossed her arms under her bust, "Don't bother, I already know who I wanna fight... I challenge Pitch."
Silence, that was the only thing that could be heard when she said those words. Her teammates were no exception, Weiss wondered how many time the blonde must have hit her head as challenging the person who grades your work is an inane idea, Ruby swung back and forth on the balls of her feet as she was trying to get used to the awkward silence, and Blake's hidden ears twitch as she looks up from her smut in curiosity. Meanwhile, Dusty groans facepalms as he and Pyrrha feel conflicted for very similar reasons. On one hand they want to see how his/her friend/father fights and what kind of semblance he has, on the other they don't want to see Yang get more than she asked for.
Glynda froze in her tracks as she turned to her fellow blonde with a completely flat look, "... What makes you think that you can challenge a teacher, much less him?"
Yang shrugs and looks at her with a semi serious face, "I have my reasons, and I wanted to see if he's as good as he said he was in when he did missions with Team STRQ or if he's all talk."
When Dusty heard what she said, he looked down as he started to massage his temples. Pyrrha looks over at him and asks, "Why is she talking about STRQ?"
Dusty stops rubbing them, looks over at Pyrrha with a tired expression and explains to her, "Well, we've been here for over a month, so you must've noticed how hot headed my sister is. Right?" This receives a nod and a nervous laugh from the spartan as confirmation. "You see, Team STRQ was made up of my dad, uncle, her mother and my mother. Unfortunately, Raven, AKA Yang's mom, only stayed they bare minimum amount of time with us before leaving and going rogue."
Pyrrha looked at her partner with a shocked expression before looking at Yang with pity in her eyes, "Do you know why she left?"
Dusty made a gesture with his hand and said, "Meh, kinda. About a week before the entrance exams, Pitch actually stopped by our house to talk to our uncle and after he went to bed, me and Pitch started talking and Raven came up. From what he's said, the best I can tell is that she really didn't like Ozpin and the missions she kept being sent on. The pay was good, but let's just say that it attracted the attention of the big bad that would gladly target her family. From the stories he keeps telling us in class, Yang must've reached her limit and is gonna try and force the information out of him about where her mom is. Right now the part that worries me is that in the time we've gone to his class, there is one thing that he hasn't talked about..."
Pyrrha nods and finishes his sentence, "His semblance."
Back with the two blondes, "... Ms. Xiao Long, I would highly advise against this decision... Are you absolutely certain that you want to proceed?"
Yang sets off her gauntlets while cracking her knuckles and gives the professor a firm nod, Glynda sighs before calling out to Dusty, "Mister Rose, please bring Prof. Black here. He should be on his break, he usually spends it in the classroom."
He sighs as warps to Pitch, a minute later he returns with Pitch at his side in his black suit. In the time he was gone, he was able to get Pitch caught up on what happened. Pitch laughs lightly while walking toward the center of the ring, he looks over at Yang and tells her, "You truly have no clue as to who you're dealing with. I'm going to make this a tad easy for you, I am not going to leave the tile that I'm standing on the whole time and if you can move me; you win. Also,since it's almost lunch and I didn't have time to grab my weapon, I'll just use this." He takes out and shows her an eight inch slicing knife."
Yang laughs and says, "Haven't ever heard that you shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight."
Pitch looks at his reflection in the blade and shrugs as he tells her, "Yes, but this is more than enough to beat you with."
Yang's eyes turn red as she yells, "Are you mocking me?" Pitch ignored her question.
Glynda walks to the edge of the arena while she presses some buttons on her tablet, as she turns on the monitors a picture of Yang and Pitch appear on one each. Mrs. Goodwitch announces to the class, "Opponents, get into position. Now, I must ask this one last time. Are you sure you wish you proceed."
Yang gets into position and says, "Ready as ever."
Pitch gives his partner a side glance and a nod before turning to the fiery blonde, "Now then... Shall we begin?"
Suddenly, a small shiver goes up Dusty's spine as he could've sworn he's seen this somewhere before, 'Wait... that suit, that atmosphere, those words... ! Oh crap, if I'm right about this then that explains why he was able to handle Salem for so long.'
'Damn it, this still doesn't make any sense, Mercury's dad had that power and I doubt that piece of crap would just give it away, but how else could he save Summer. Man, if I'm right, you're so screwed Yang.'
As Glynda reaches the edge she turns around and says, "The match between Pitch Black and Yang Xiao Long, shall now begin!"
Yang charges in head first as her Ember Celica repeatedly fires behind her and boosts her momentum, she reeled in for a straight right as Pitch looks on. As she was about to make contact, Pitch deflected her punch and knees her in the stomach, making her spit like in a boxing movie. Before she could catch herself Pitch grabbed her by the face and threw her down, cracking the floor. She was about to try and gain some distance before Yang was kicked in the gut and sent flying away. Yang looked up and saw that he had so much as taken a step, she looked at her aura monitor and saw what it read, '36%!? Damn, this guy hits hard. At least my semblance is charged.'
She goes into another charge when she sees Pitch yawning and inspecting his nails, "DON'T IGNORE ME!"
As she speeds his way she acts like she's about to pull the same trick until she shifts herself into doing a dropkick. Pitch saw this and leaned his body to the left, he grabbed her by her hair and brought his knife down.
SLICE!
Her team looks on in horror, as they see what Pitch still held in his hand. Dusty chuckles and says, "Hehe, it's over..."
Ruby looks over to her brother and stared shaking, "Dusty! We need to stop the fight right now or she's gonna kill him."
He looks at his twin and says, "I wasn't talking about it being over for Pitch, keep watching."
Yang slides across the arena and turns around, not yet realizing what has happened, she turns and smirks him as she shouts, "Is that the best you've got!? I can go like this all-!?"
When she turned to him, she saw something gold shimmering in his hand. Yang froze as she shakily moved her hand to the back of her head and felt something missing, she brought that hand back to her face with her eyes widening by the second. What she saw was over a hundred severed hairs between her fingertips and looked back up at Pitch to see was holding three feet of her missing hair as it dropped to the ground and stepped on it while smirked. Yang was filled with a new level of rage as her once long flowing hair was reduced to shoulder length.
Without another word, she roars in fury as she charges for the third and final time. With her shortened blonde hair lit ablaze, she dashes at him. On Pitch's end, he looks at her bored as he lifts his open hand in her direction and says in a calm quiet voice, "Let's end this, shall we?"
At this point Yang, for the first time, makes contact. Her fist clashes directly with his palm as he shows no sign of resistance after a few seconds, Yang yells, "What the-!?" But before she could finish, Yang was blasted away and sent out of the ring. With a loud crash, Yang became pinned to the stone wall behind her with her figure spread out in a way that one would try to make snow angels in. A moment passed as her aura flickered and broke, Yang was completely beaten with her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Glynda watched this and could only sigh in exasperation, knowing that she'd have to be the one to clean this up. She called the match and for the infirmary to grab Yang.
Meanwhile her team ran to her side as Dusty sat in thought, 'Consider yourself lucky, Yang. Maybe this will teach you to be more cautious, better to lose your hair than an arm. Frankly, that death scene with the meat grinder from the second Kingsmen movie still kinda haunts me...' He shudders at the thought.
As finished sending the young woman to the infirmary with the rest of Team RWBY in tow, she then addressed the students. "Now that that's taken care of, I hope you have all learned that my companion here is not to be underestimated. Moving on; everyone, please remember that the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"
The bell rings, and students start leaving while Pyrrha continues to frown sadly. She looks over to her partner who was smirking, "You seem awfully happy after seeing your sister get publicly beaten and humiliated like that, mind explaining?"
Dusty looks over to Pyrrha and says as he stands up to stretch, "Yang, being the stubborn hothead she is, won't last long as a huntress if she can't get a grip. I'm just hoping that this beat down was enough to open her eyes if even a little. She won't stop unless she's stopped by someone else. Come on, let's get something to eat."
Cafeteria
"So, there we were, in the middle of the night..."
"It was day." Ren comments in the seat next to her.
"We were surrounded by Ursai..." Nora continues, as Blake is seen paying no attention as she is lost in her book while Yang was scowling as she mourned the loss of her hair.
(While she was knocked out, Pitch got someone to even out her hair. Imagine Lucy Heartfilia's hair but two inches shorter.)
"They were Beowolves." Ren said before taking a sip from his coffee cup.
"Dozens of them!" Nora screams this as she stands at the table of Team RWBY and DRPN, where Weiss is ignoring Nora and filing her nails, Ruby listening politely, Pyrrha tries to hide the bags under her eyes while she indulges her friend, Dusty ignores her while he rubs the sleep out of his eyes, and Jaune is messing with his food, clearly paying no attention and thinking about other things.
"Two of them." Ren interjects again.
"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs! Then me and Ren fought a giant blue guy with two backs!" Nora finishes her story.
Dusty choked on his food for a moment at hearing that last part, "Nora, there's a thing called TMI. Try looking it up."
Nora blinks in confusion before he explains, "You just described a beast with two backs, I'm pretty sure your fantasy ended in something Blake would like."
Blake, Nora and Ren blush heavily before the pink striped boy coughs to change the subject, "Yes, well, she's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now. How have things been with you Jaune?"
"Jaune?" Pyrrha looks at the blonde boy, disregarding Nora's story. "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" Jaune snaps out of it, turning back toward them. "Oh, yeah! Why?"
"It's just that you seem a little... not okay..." Ruby answers.
The others stop their distractions and stare at Jaune, who responds. "Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" He holds up a thumb while laughing nervously.
Laughter is at another table and everyone turns to see Team CRDL, standing around Velvet. Cardin laughs at her while one of his teammates holds up his hands to his head in a mock interpretation of her Velvet's ears while Dusty starts thinking of a plan to get rid of the eyesore.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha says to her partner.
"Who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune acts oblivious "Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"
"He's a bully." Ruby states plainly at the same time that her brother says, "He's a prick."
Jaune scoffs. "Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me." He giggles nervously.
Pyrrha just gave him a flat look and said, "When he knocked your books out of your hands..."
A flashback starts, showing Jaune on the way to class as Cardin is going the other way down the hall. When the two pass, Cardin knocks his arm into Jaune and makes him drop his book, then continuing on his way with his hands out as if daring anyone to challenge him. "Ah, come on!" Jaune complains.
Dusty looked over to him with the same look as his partner, "When he blocked the door with your shield..."
Another flashback starts, showing where Jaune and Cardin are about to pass through a doorway, but Cardin clicks on Jaune's sheath and extends it into its shield form as he's going out, causing him to run into his own defense and have it block the exit. Jaune grunts in frustration as he tries to lift his shield back out. "Come on...!"
Blake cuts in without looking up from her book, "And when he shoved you into a rocket propelled locker..."
And the final one starts with Goodwitch in the locker room with several students, gesturing at the devices. "Each of you will be assigned one rocket-propelled locker to store your weapons and extra Armour. Additionally, your locker can be sent to a custom location based on a six-digit code."
Hearing this, Cardin looks at Jaune - standing between him and the only open locker in the room - and the cliché plays itself out as Cardin quickly pushes a shocked Jaune into the small dark space and closes the door on him, pressing random buttons on the pad right after that.
"What?! No, wait, wait! You've gotta get me out of here! Please! Don't! Don't! Don't do it!" Jaune pleads.
It's too late to protest as the locker scrunches down and launches up with a burst of blue fire coming from its base. Cardin watches as the locker slowly soars across the sky. "Ah, coooome oooooooon...!" Jaune yells from the distance.
Jaune looks at them at a loss for words when Dusty says, "...Okay, I hate to admit it, but that last one was actually kinda funny."
"I didn't land far from the school!" Jaune attempts to laugh it off.
Ruby looks at him with a doubtful expression, "You landed in the middle of a hot spring."
Jaune tries to defend himself before Ruby opens her mouth again as she shudders, "That had mixed bathing and during their 'senior special'."
"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrha says.
"Ooooh!" Nora gets up from the table with a not-entirely-sane grin. "We'll break his legs!"
Yang just kept repeating to herself, "My hair..."
Dusty waves off that idea and says, "No, how about we bust his balls?"
"Pfft, please what will just annoying the guy do?"
"My hair..."
Dusty looks at her with a smirk, "You do know I meant that literally, right?"
Nora's face beams with excitement and a manic expression as she yells, "SOLD! YOU TAKE THE ONE ON THE RIGHT AND I GET WHAT'S LEFT!"
"Guys, really, it's fine!" Jaune tries to calm them down. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone."
They all look over as Team CRDL's laughter grows louder, mixed in with cries of pain from Velvet when one of her ears is tugged on by Cardin.
"Ow! That hurts!" Velvet stops struggling and grimaces. "Please, stop..."
Cardin continues laughing as he turns to his cronies. "I told you it was real!"
"What a freak!" One of them comments, still guffawing with his teammates.
Cardin finally relents, and Velvet stands up and hurries off, her head bowed and hiding her face from the other people in the room.
Dusty turns to Jaune and says sarcastically, "Oh yeah, because that makes it so much better." After he finished his sentence, an idea popped into his head. 'A little cherry flavored magnesium citrate in his drink will have to do... Would it be racist if I gave her carrot cake?'
"Atrocious." Pyrrha says. "I can't stand people like him."
"He's not the only one..." Blake responds while staring daggers at Cardin as her bow twitches and her pupils narrow into slits.
Dusty sweatdrops, 'I'm surprised that she's lasted this long. When I think about it, doesn't dressing up as a human sound a bit racist? I wonder what would happen if she met a furry.'
"My hair..."
Professor & Doctor Oobleck's Class
"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution-more popularly known as the Faunus War…" Oobleck zooms up to the front of the class and the map covered in papers behind his desk. "…humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." He points at the map of said-area with his stick, then zooms off to the side for a sip of his coffee before appearing in front of the desk.
Dusty thinks, 'Also known as Remnant's Australia. Hm, I wonder if this world's Hugh Jackman is a wolverine Faunus?'
"Now!" Oobleck quickly continues. "While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He continues zooming around the classroom, sipping his coffee again before continuing to zoom and talk. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"
A small number of miscellaneous students raise their hands. Velvet, after a moment of hesitation, does the same. Now all the Faunus other than Blake have their hands up.
"Dreadful, simply dreadful!" Oobleck pities the unfortunate people. "Remember, students. It is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" He takes another sip of his coffee. "I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! I mean, granted that they have calmed down recently and have taken up their more peaceful methods, that does change that the Red Maw has been wrecking more havoc in a month that the Fang has done in a year. Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"
Weiss raises her hand. "Yes?" Oobleck addresses her.
"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss answers.
"Precisely!" Oobleck is pleased by this answer. "And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" sees that Dusty has his hand up and shouts, "Yes, mister Rose!?"
Dusty puts his hand down and asks, "Just to clarify, was Fort Castle a fort or a castle? The name is very confusing and I feel like if I don't get the answer now that it's going to bother me all day."
"Yes, in my days as a historian, that is one of the most asked questions that people have asked me! However, if you must know, it is neither. It was actually more of a bunker than anything... Fort Castle mainly refers to the commanding officers at the time."
Dusty, as well as eighty percent of the class, let out a sigh of relief when Oobleck answered the question, "Thanks."
Meanwhile, unseen by the professor, Cardin flicks a paper football at Jaune's head, causing him to wake up.
"Hey!" Jaune complains.
Oobleck zooms in front of Jaune's face. "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" He asks, not knowing that the response wasn't intended for him.
"Uhhhh... The answer..." Jaune stutters, trying to recall the question. "The advantage... that the Faunus..." He looks behind Oobleck's focused face at Pyrrha, who coughs and points to her eyes. "...had over that guy's stuff..."
Jaune sees Pyrrha cup her hands around her eyes and goes for the first answer he can think of. "Uhh... Binoculars!" he says with a level of confidence.
Pyrrha and her partner immediately facepalm at the answer Jaune gave as the class begins to laugh at him, none being louder than Cardin as he bangs his desk. Dusty thinks, 'Oh god this terrible. I mean, this is probably more painful than a sparring session with uncle Qrow. And that look, ugh I can't help cringe.' He sighed while patting the girl next to him on the back and said, "You did the best you could..."
"Very funny, Mr. Arc!" Oobleck zooms back behind his desk. "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"
"Well." Cardin responds. "I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."
Dusty looks at him as he makes a slow clap and a very fake laugh, "Oh ha ha ha... Very original of you Cardin and to think I had no idea how low your opinion of yourself was."
"What? You got a problem?" Cardin threatens.
Dusty raises his hand in a placating manner as he smirks and tells the bully, "Oh nothing, I just think it's funny that I'd hear that from your mouth considering the only animal I see here... is you. Pyrrha, you mind teaching him the right answer? I don't think he's smart enough to figure it out on his own. Oh and for your information Cardin, training an actual animal takes between four and seven months while a person takes three to four months." This comment earned a laugh from the class, Velvet included, as well as Cardin's ire.
Oobleck cuts in and says, "Excellent burn and follow up, Mr Rose! Ms Nikos, if you may"
Pyrrha hides her laugh underneath the squeaking sound she makes and responds to the doctor, "Why certainly, it's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Cardin growls at the correct response.
Blake continues Pyrrha's explanation. "General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." She then turns to Cardin. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."
Cardin starts to get up from his seat, fist clenched and glaring at Blake and the redheads.
"Mr. Winchester!" Dr Oobleck interferes before anything can happen. "Please take your seat." In response to this Jaune laughs at his tormentor's embarrassment, before Oobleck zooms up to him. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." He takes yet another sip of his coffee.
"Oohhhh..." Jaune groans, his shoulders slumping.
"Now! Moving on!" Oobleck zooms away as the class continues.
When the lesson ends, team DRPN comes out of the classroom, only for Pyrrha to stop near the doorway. "You guys can go on ahead." Pyrrha says to her teammates "I'll wait for Jaune."
Nora and Ren are the first to leave as Dusty looks at her with a pained expression, knowing what is likely to happen. He says, "If you need help, all you need to do is ask." Pyrrha nods as he turns around and tells her, "If you need me, I'll be with Pitch, I have a few things to ask him about the match earlier."
Oobleck zooms out of the classroom and past a waiting Pyrrha in a green and white blur. Jaune comes out first, and Cardin emerges behind him, pushing him to the ground and causing him to groan in pain that makes the bully laugh before walking away.
Pyrrha sees all this and narrows her eyes at Cardin as she goes to help Jaune up. "You know, I could always take away what makes him a man. All I need is for him to use the restroom and use my semblance on his zipper." She tells her friend.
Jaune turns pale as a ghost as he covers his jewels and says, "Well remind me never to get on your bad side, you're really starting to sound like Professor Black."
Pyrrha suddenly makes a sad smile as chuckle bitterly to herself. "Yes, I've been getting a lot of that lately... Back to you, I have an idea! Here, come with me!" She grabs a confused Jaune by the arm and drags him along as she turns down the corridor.
Pitch's Classroom
Pitch, still wearing his suit, can be seen sitting at his ebony desk as he grades papers, without looking up from his paperwork he calls out, "You know, I can sense you. Come in Dusty, I'm sure there's something you wish to ask." A few seconds pass before the door to the class opens, "Stand or sit wherever you like, just so long as it isn't my desk. It was imported from Mistral and I don't want it to get damaged. Shipping fees are ridiculous with the Grimm running about."
Dusty walks towards him while pulling a collapsible chair out of his pocket dimension and sitting down in front of his desk. He looks at Pitch as he puts down the rest of his paper, he asks, "... What did you do during the match?"
Pitch looks at him and says, "You know, teaching is more exhausting that being a student and that's before I took over Port's class... What I did was use my semblance."
Dusty waits for him to continue as Pitch sighs, "...You remember my fight with Ozpin at the cliff, correct? About how I lost an arm after he sent me after a serial killer? Well, the name of the man is Marcus Black, it was the day that changed everything. Back then I hadn't discovered my semblance, but I did when I needed it most. When I found him the battle was long and grueling, my aura was in the red and my left arm was cut off. We were both incredibly tired and he assumed that my semblance granted me stamina, so tried to steal it."
Dusty raises an eyebrow and says, "Keyword being tried."
Pitch nodded as he relished in the memory, "It was only then that I found out my semblance and as it turned out, it was the worst semblance that he could've gone up against. I call it Turmoil, it allows me to switch anything and I do mean anything. What you saw me do in the ring was switch Yang's recoil with her momentum causing power she gained from my earlier blows to come back to haunt her. As for how I still have both my arm and my semblance, I figured that I must have subconsciously activated it and changed his desire from steal to give. After that he lost consciousness and since time was of the essence, I had to let him go so that I could have a doctor sew it back on. The physical therapy was a pain in the ass, but I had to bare with it." He rolled up his sleeve and showed off the large scar that circled around his forearm as it earned a grimace from Dusty.
Dusty then asks, "So how does using All For One feel? "
Pitch chuckles and says as he fixes his sleeve, "When I first used it, it was a little like when you're about to fall down the stairs before you catch yourself, but I got used to that a long time ago. As for how it work; all I need to do is touch a person's skin and I can give or take any quirk- ahem, semblance I wish. I've lost count of the amount that I've gathered over the years. An added bonus is that when I take one I also cripple their aura and improve my maximum each time... I haven't run out in twenty years. Even during my battle with Salem, I was left with a little under forty percent power to spare. The only downside is that actually stealing a semblance takes an insane amount of aura, so using it mid battle isn't going to happen."
Dusty laughs, telling Pitch, "Funny how you were jealous of mine when you have the most potential, don't deny it, you've always wanted Kamui... I'm guessing that you've been using some of them to fix mom."
Pitch nods while picking up a mug of peppermint tea that he had by him and says, "Indeed, I'm using seven healing and preservation semblances right now. Oh! And I've been meaning to tell you that the most recent one has sped up her recovery, she'll be up in about three months. By the way, how are things progressing with your team? I haven't spoken to you in a while so I wouldn't know."
The redhead leans back and tells his friend, "Well, for one I'm sleeping with Pyrrha." Causing Pitch to widen his eyes and choke on his tea mid-sip, he pounds on his chest as Dusty chuckles and tells him, "No, not like that,...-" He starts to frown as he finishes, "-at least not yet. Apparently, Nora thought it would be a good idea to get queen sized bunk beds. I share the bottom with Pyrrha while Ren is sleeping with Nora. Now those two are doing it that way. The reason I said not yet was due to the fact that they've been going at it like rabbits and shaking the bed while we try to go to sleep. The tension is killing me and I think Pyrrha feels the same, we're losing sleep. It sure as hell doesn't help when Nora sleeps in the nude and is a slob that leaves her stuff everywhere. We've only managed this long because of cold showers and training, but we're reaching our limit... The only bright side to all this is that Ruby isn't breaking into our room anymore. They've been calming down though."
"..."
"I don't know if they have protection, but really hope they do. One Nora is enough. And by the way, I found twenty pounds of weed under the floorboards."
"That... would belong to the hippy on my old team... Oh wow, would you look at the time." Pitch stood up and stretched as did Dusty as he put his chair away. Pitch said, "I should really get going to bed. Let's go, my room is a few floors above yours, so we might as well walk there."
Pitch leaves with Dusty at his side when he is asked, "...So, Pitch, you got any embarrassing stories about team STRQ?"
Pitch looked flatly at him and said, "More than you can count."
With Jaune and Pyrrha
A dejected Jaune and Pyrrha come out onto a rooftop of one of the dorm room buildings, with a clear view of Beacon Tower in the distance. "Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed." Jaune looks over the edge of the roof, to the confusion of Pyrrha. "I can always be a farmer or something..."
Realization hits Pyrrha with horror. "N-n-no!" She dashes to push Jaune away from the edge. "That is not at all what I meant when I brought you up here!"
"Jaune." Pyrrha addresses her classmate, both unknowing to the fact that Cardin is listening in on their conversation. "I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so... I want to help you!"
"Wh-what?" Jaune asks.
"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time." Pyrrha explains. "It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"
Jaune turns away from Pyrrha, lowering his head and voice. "You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."
"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!" Pyrrha tries to brighten the mood.
"No, I don't!" Jaune shouts back, then sighs as Pyrrha looks in bewilderment.
"I wasn't really accepted into Beacon..." Jaune turns his back to her so he doesn't have to face her.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Pyrrha asks, understandably confused.
Jaune's voice goes higher as he confesses. "I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I mean, hell, I didn't even know what an aura, semblance or even the Grimm were until Pitch came in and unlocked mine. I didn't earn my spot at this Academy!" He looks at her again. "I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"
"What?" Pyrrha responds in surprise. "But... why?"
"Because this is always what I've wanted to be!" Jaune turns away again. "My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."
Pyrrha approaching him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Then let me help you!"
"I don't want help!" Jaune suddenly turns on her with mad frustration. "I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero..."
"Jaune, I…" Pyrrha tries to talk.
But Jaune quickly interrupts. "I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? It's just so hard to have to live up to a legacy like this. The pressure of knowing that you let your family down. Do you know what that's like?"
Pyrrha gives him an understanding look and tells him a secret, "I do know."
Jaune looks at her in confusion as she continues, "One of the reasons I had for attending Beacon was because I had heard that my father started working here. He doesn't even know I'm his. My father, from all the stories and rumors that surround him and his power. I fear that if I tell him he will reject me. His name is Pitch Black."
Jaune looks at her in shock, "Wait!? What!? That guy is your dad!?"
Pyrrha nods as Jaune asked, "But wait, what makes him such a big deal that the invincible girl wouldn't make him proud?
Pyrrha felt a little annoyed at hearing that name and explained, "Jaune, have you ever heard of Boogeyman?"
Jaune looks confused before saying, "Of course, every kid knows about him. Who doesn't? But he's just a myth, a ghost story to scare kids into behaving or he'll take you in the night from under your bed."
Pyrrha stays silent for a few seconds, waiting for Jaune to take the hint. As his eyes slowly widen and the color drains from his face all he can say is, "Oh."
"I know what it feels like to be constantly trying to get out from someone else's shadow, the ironic part is that another reason that I came here was to escape the attention only to need it more than ever." Pyrrha reaches out for his shoulder and consoles him. "Just know that you aren't alone in this and that I can help you, but only if you let me. Please think about it."
"O-okay, just... leave me alone for a bit, I have a lot to think about. I'll let you know if I change my mind and Pyrrha... thanks." Jaune says.
Pyrrha bows her head. "That's all that I ask for, you know where to find me..." She walks away and towards her room, not noticing that Pitch and Dusty were staring at her back in shock at what they had just heard.
Pitch's eyes were widen and his lips slightly parted while he watches his daughter walk away. He became lost in thought when he heard the revelation, 'I have a daughter... Pyrrha... is my daughter... What am I going to do?' As short as his thoughts were, every word was filled with tremendous weight. He looks over to his friend who was gaping like a fish and says, "Just so you know... I'm not going to kill you, only troll..."
...
...
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Chapter 12, DONE! The truth is out, Yang's hair is gone, Pitch has more than a scar up his sleeve I hope you guys liked it. I worked hard on this one, it's even longer than the last one. I bet that part at the top got you going. As always, please leave a review and tell me what you think. Goodnight and don't forget to check under your beds... I finished this at 3 AM and I'm a little loopy, sorry about that.
