RebelKira here. I know I normally don't do this but I felt left out. Anyway hope you enjoy chapter 6.
Chapter 6: Shining friendship
"Hey Crys you coming?" Ruby asked.
"Huh yeah I guess I was spacing out again." I said. I got up from the table and followed everyone out of the cafeteria. I walked a little slower so they wouldn't notice right away when I ditched them. The first chance I got I went down a different hallway. I made my way to the entrance of the school and looked at my scroll.
"Seven twelve. Alright I'll have to make it quick but I should have enough time to go check on them." I said walking towards the airships. The pilot seemed annoyed when I approached him.
"Isn't it a bit late to be heading into town?" He asked.
"Yeah I'm sorry. I remembered I needed to pick a few things up." I said.
"Fine get on." He said.
"Thanks?" I said. I got into the airship and we took off. "So if you don't mind me asking it seems like something is bothering you."
"Yeah as a matter of fact I do mind." He said.
'Jeez I just keep meeting more and more wonderful people.' I thought. The rest of the ride was quiet. I pulled ten lien out and handed it to the pilot.
"You know this ride is free right?" He asked.
"Yeah but a little generosity can go a long way. Hopefully you'll learn that." I said walking away.
It took a bit to find Tim's home. I knocked on the door but there was no answer.
"Tim. It's me Crys." I said knocking again. Still no answer. I looked in the windows but couldn't see anything. I went around the house and found a backdoor. I tried knocking on it too but there was still no answer. I pulled my weapon and switched to its pistol mode. I loaded it with ice dust. "I knew the silencer option would come in handy. The one thing Watts and I agreed on." I fired at the door handle causing it to freeze. I kicked the door in breaking the handle off. I walked around the house until I saw a small girl hiding behind a chair. I put my weapon back and put my hands up again.
"I'm not here to hurt you." I said. She didn't move or say anything. "Are you Ally?" The small girl nodded. "I'm Crys I'm the one who bought you and your brother the food the other day. Where is Tim?"
"Why do you want my bwofer?" She asked. She was clearly terrified of the stranger in front of her.
"I just want to know that he's okay. Can you tell me where he is?" I said slowly approaching her.
"I don't know. Pwease weave me awone." She said.
"Calm down I promise I won't hurt you or your brother." I said tossing my weapon on a chair across the room.
"Just pwease weave. I jutht want my bwofer." She said starting to cry.
I was about to leave when I heard a noise from in the house. I grabbed my weapon and switched to its pistol mode again. I dove behind the chair where ally was.
"Someone is in here. I know your scared and don't trust me. I promise I won't let them hurt you, but I need you to try to stay quiet." I whispered to her.
"Ally?" Ally where are you?" A voice said.
"Tim!?" I yelled.
"Who's there?" the voice said.
I activated my semblance to light up area around me and stood up. Tim was in the room with a small bag of food.
"Crys? Is that you? Where's Ally?" He asked. Ally ran out from behind the chair and behind her brother." What happened? I went to get us some food and the back door was broken"
"Umm yeah that was me." I said with my hand on the back of my neck.
"Why did you break our door?" he asked.
"I got worried when you didn't answer. So I broke it to make you guys were okay. I may have overacted a bit." I said.
Ally still stood behind Tim scared of me. "It's okay Ally. She won't hurt us I promise. She saved me from the mean guy I told you about." he said.
I set my weapon down again and slowly walked over to them. She ducked behind her brother as much as possible and closed her eyes.
"Hey don't worry as long as I'm around no one is going to hurt you or your brother. I promise." I said.
I spent some time telling them stories I remembered from when I was a kid and I learned a little about them too. I found out Tim was seven and his sister was four. I found out when Tim said his parent's died years ago he meant two years. I looked around to get a better idea with how they were living. The place was in better condition than she expected. With them being so young I'm impressed they are getting by as well as they are. I was able to fix the door by replacing with one from another abandoned building nearby. It wasn't an exact fit but at least it closed. I looked at my scroll only to see that it was past curfew.
"Shoot I really gotta go. I'll come back as soon as I can." I placed some Lien on the table and ran out the door. "Alright think The airships aren't going to be running now. How am I supposed to get back to Beacon." I stopped when I noticed three armed guys walking out of a run-down house. "Well that's not suspicious at all. The white fang don't operate in this area of the city. Who else would be out here?" I decided to follow them. I swore to protect Tim and Ally so I needed to find out if they were going to be an issue. I kept my pistol drawn just in case. I got closer trying to stay as quiet as I could. Either I wasn't as quiet as I thought or they knew I was following them. The one in the middle spun around and pointed an assault rifle in my face.
"Crys, why the fuck is you out here? Get back to Beacon!" The man yelled.
I bolted immediately and hid behind a building.
'Was that Carnel?' I thought. The man's face was covered so I wasn't able to tell. 'I'll have to figure that out later I still need a way back.' I started walking towards the airships again. I finally got an idea and ran to the docks. I looked in the warehouses until I found one with white fang members inside. I kicked the side door in and was surrounded by white fang members.
"What are you doing here human!" One member said.
"Looking for Roman. Although if Neo is around I'd rather talk to her." I said smiling.
"Get out or we will shoot!" Another member said.
I activated my semblance and made a flash bright enough to temporarily blind them. I started walking further into the building. "So I'm gonna have to say no. See I'm higher than Roman in this whole operation. You mess with me there is a high chance you'll all die."
"Alright Crys that's enough." A man in a white coat and black hat said. "Mind telling me why your here? Aren't you supposed to be at that school right now?"
"Yeah about that. I need a ride back. I got busy with something and missed the last flight." I said.
Roman sighed and turned away. "Neo will meet you outside in a couple minutes."
"Thanks." I said walking out of the building. Shortly after Neo arrived with a small cargo ship. I got in and hugged her immediately. "It's so nice to see you again." Neo just smiled and nodded. I wasn't around Neo a lot so the fact that she couldn't talk always slipped my mind. A short time later we arrived at Beacon. I hugged her again and ran towards my dorm. I was almost to the building when a voice called out to me.
"Out a bit late aren't we?" The voice said. I turned around to see Ozpin.
"Oh. Yeah I went out for a walk around campus after dinner and got a little lost." I said.
"I suppose to someone so new it would be easy to get lost. I find that happening to myself once in a while even though I've been on these grounds so many years. I get often get distracted and lose track of time. Whether that be from helping out with the issues some of my students. Taking in the sights or even chatting with some of the other teachers." He said.
"Yeah. Well I figured I'll need to know the campus eventually. Plus the night air is nice. I should probably get in though. My team is probably worried about me, or asleep." I said hopping for the second option.
"Yes I should probably be getting to bed myself. Good evening Ms. Winters." Ozpin said smiling.
"Good night." I said, I started walking away before he made one last comment.
"Oh. By the way should you feel a little nostalgic. The library on campus does contain a small children's section." He said.
'What did he just say?' I thought turning to look at him again. He just kept walking. 'Does he... No there's no way. He's just trying to mess with my head.' I turned back and headed for my dorm. By the time I got back Alicia and Carnel looked to be asleep but Falcon was awake.
"Hey. Sorry I got back so late I went to look around the campus and lost track of time." I said.
"You lost track of time? Outside? In the dark?" Falcon asked.
'Okay that does sound stupid.' I thought. "I may have also got a little lost."
"Why didn't you just use your scroll to pull up a map of the school?" He asked.
"I did... eventually. Look I'm not the brightest person on the team. I'm just the brightest." I said smiling.
"That made no sense." He said.
I used my semblance and made a small glow from my hands. He understood at that point.
"Along with that Ozpin caught me outside the dorms anyway." I said.
"Look I'm not upset you came back late. Hell Carnel got back not long before you did. Just remember your actions can potentially affect the team." He said putting his book away.
"Yeah... Again I'm sorry." I said climbing into bed. As I laid in bed I thought about what Ozpin said. I only have a few storied from before Salem found me. Maybe I should go find a few books for them.
*The Next Day*
The sun entered the room much to my displeasure. I suppose this is karma for being out so late. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes. The bathroom door opened up and erupted with steam. Nothing else came out though. The three of us looked at each other and went over to check it out. We saw Carnel mostly dressed and rubbing a scar on his neck.
"How did you get that scar?" Alicia asked.
"I got my throat slit by a rival syndicate but luckily my boys had my back and were able to get me taken care of." Carnel said,
Me and Falcon cringed slightly but Alicia seemed to be amazed at this.
Carnel pointed to a large burn that was running up his right arm. "This is from a meth lab explosion, Meth is highly volatile and when cooked in what is called 'Shake n Bake' which involves putting the ingredients in a two-liter bottle and shaking it violently, if done incorrectly, it'll explode." Carnel explained as he finished getting dressed. I went in shortly after he did. I rushed after seeing what time it was.
Classes started with a boring lecture from Professor Port. I was asleep for most of it until I heard Ruby yelling. I saw Weiss fighting against a boarbatusk and yelling back at Ruby.
'Didn't they say they made up? Maybe her default emotion is anger.' I thought.
After the fight Port asked if there were any other volunteers. I thought about it but Carnel beat me to it. Sorta. Apparently Falcon had a hand in him "Volunteering." After Carnel quickly dismantled the grimm he ended up getting into an argument with Weiss. Something about selling her brother weed? After a few more classes it was time for the one I was looking forward to.
I was interested in seeing how some of the other students fared in combat. Plus I was looking forward to watching a good fight. That wasn't what happened though. Cardin ended up facing Jaune and wiping the floor with him. Almost literally. I felt bad for Jaune but at the same time he's the leader he should be a better fighter than that. The worst part is Cardin was toying with him. The rest of my team knew it too.
"Man, It's hard to watch this." Alicia said.
We continued to watch as Cardin finished him off with a knee to Jaune's gut.
"Cardin! That is enough! 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. 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. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a beowolf, now, would we?" Professor Goodwitch said.
"Speak for yourself." Cardin said as he walked back to the bleachers.
"What was that Cardin?! I couldn't hear you with all that cock in your mouth! Take that dick out and speak clearly!" Carnel yelled from the bleachers.
"Mr. Melone, watch your mouth!" Professor Goodwitch yelled.
"Nah, I'd rather watch yours." Carnel said.
Carnel was pissing her off even more. It was kind of fun to watch.
"Why don't you shut up, criminal scum! Or I'll call Atlas PD on you." Cardin said holding up Carnel's mugshot.
"How the fuck did you get that?" Carnel asked in a deathly tone.
"Does it matter? Why don't you go kill yourself, like your dad did after he killed your mom." Cardin said.
'And with one sentence. Cardin's lifespan shortened exponentially.' I thought.
"Miss Goodwitch, can I please beat Cardin's ass? If you do, I promise not to make any more sexual comments around you." Carnel said.
"Very well, go get ready." Professor Goodwitch said as Cardin took the floor.
Part of me was hoping that he'd meant that last part but he probably didn't. Music suddenly started playing over the speakers. As the music played Carnel walked out from the locker room carrying a bat. Professor Goodwitch requested that Carnel stop with the music. The fight began and almost immediately Carnel stole Cardin's weapon and tossed it into his rift. Carnel proceeded to beat the shit out of Cardin. Causing multiple bones to shatter. I only know that because they broke loud enough to echo in the room. Apparently the bat Carnel had was able to ignore aura. I really want one except I'd rather it be a golf club. Just cause it would be funny to beat the ever living shit out of Tyrian with a golf club version of that. As the fight went on Carnel continued to beat him eventually causing him to even cough up blood. I was still trying to process what exactly happened and how a bat like that could be possible while Carnel and Professor Goodwitch started arguing again.
As soon as class got out Nora ran directly up to Carnel and started praising him until Ren pulled her back. We went to the cafeteria and Cardin's teammate Russel tried challenging Carnel. Carnel basically pulled the bat out of the rift and Russel ran away. I'm pretty sure he pissed himself. After we all sat down Velvet and another girl approached our table.
"Man, What happened to Cardin?" The girl said.
"Yo." Carnel said raising his hand.
She walked over to him and placed her hands on the table "Seems you know your way around a bone."
"Well, if you want I can give you some private lessons on how I got so good." Carnel said.
She lowered her glasses "Well, I might just take you up on that offer." She said seductively.
"Can you show me too?" Ruby asked.
"No!" Yelled the whole table.
"I'm Coco." The girl said extending her hand. Carnel took her hand into his
"I'm Carnel." Carnel said.
"So, about that training, are you free now?" Coco asked,
"I'm always free." Carnel said as he followed her out of the cafeteria. All of us looked at each other confused
"What the fuck just happened?" Ruby asked confused.
"I'll tell you when you're older, but damn am I jealous." Yang said. I turned to see Alicia blushing afterward.
After a few more minutes I decided to head off to the library. It was surprisingly busy in here. After looking around a while I ran across Velvet.
"Hey Velvet how's it going?" I asked.
"Well aside from the fact I can't be in my dorm right now pretty good." She said.
I blushed a little remembering what happened in the cafeteria. "Right. Sorry about that."
"To be fair Coco started it." She said.
"True. Anyway what are you reading?" I asked.
"It's a manga called Your Lie in April. It's about a boy who was a child prodigy at the piano. An incident caused him to not be able to play anymore. He ends up meeting a girl who mostly plays the violin who tries to help him to be able to play again. I'd say more but it's fairly short and I wouldn't wanna spoil anything." She said.
"That sounds interesting but what's a manga?" I asked.
"I guess the easiest way to describe it is it's like a comic. Except They usually have little to no color and you have to read them from right to left instead of left to right." She said.
"That sounds interesting. Any other recommendations?" I asked.
She took me over to a shelf that was packed with a bunch of different stories. She recommended a Dragon Ball and Naruto for good action ones but warned me that they are kinda long. She also recommended Death Note saying it had little darker tone. Rosario and a Vampire although she did say it has some more "adult" moments. A few others and telling me what she liked about each one. She mentioned that some of them she preferred to watch instead. To which she had to explain anime to me as well. After a couple hours of her explaining different stories to me we agreed that we'd have to get together in a few days to watch some of them together.
"Well I think I'm gonna head off to the training hall for a bit. I told Coco to let me know when she was done so I knew it was safe to go back." Velvet said.
"Alright I'm probably gonna look around a bit more I have a few book's I wanna look for." I said.
She packed up her things and headed out. I headed over to the children's section to look for a couple stories Ally and Tim might like. More so Ally since I'm pretty sure I just have to make up a story of me fighting something to entertain him.
"Don't you think you'd be better off reading something a little more challenging?" a voice said behind me. I turned to see Ren walking up to me.
"What are you talking about? The Very Hungry Caterpillar is very challenging." I said laughing a bit.
"Right. So if you don't mind me asking why are you picking out kid's books." He asked.
"Gotta make up for ditching Ruby yesterday somehow. Although maybe I'll just get her some cookies instead. Probably less rude." I said laughing.
Ren laughed a bit. "Probably better idea to go with the cookies. Having said that you're still looking."
I sighed. "I'd rather not say right now. Maybe some other day. Anyways where's Nora aren't you two normally linked with a set of invisible handcuffs?"
"There isn't any handcuffs. She's in the training hall." Ren said.
"It was a joke. Well maybe some time we can go out together." I said. 'The fuck did I just say!?'
"Sure might be fun." He said.
'The fuck did HE just say!?' I thought
"It would help our teams get to know each other better." He added.
'Am I supposed to be sad or relieved by that?' I thought. "Yeah. Right. Well anyway I should probably get going it's probably gonna take a while to get all my books checked out." I picked up my stack of books.
"Aright I'll see you tomorrow." He said before walking away.
After checking out about fifteen books. Three of which were kids books. Two were books I wanted for myself. The rest were recommendations from Velvet. I started heading back to the room. I saw Carnel walking out of the dorms. I decided to follow him to see if that was him last night. I saw him sit on the edge of the cliff and pull out a small kit of some sort. After he took it away from his face he coughed a little before putting hit up to his face again.
"Is that all you do? Do drugs and have sex?" I asked crossing my arms.
"Well Crys I'll have you know I also mug people." Carnel said. I'm not sure if he was joking or serious. Knowing him it could be both.
"So why were you out in that area last night?" I asked.
He put the object to his face again. "I could ask you the same thing." He said before exhaling slowly.
"I asked you first." I said,
He shrugged "Fuck it, I was taking over a trap house and took over distribution for Vale. Now, why were you out there?" He asked.
'I guess telling one person can't hurt. Hopefully if I tell him he'll at least be more careful around there. So it doesn't put them in any extra danger.' I thought while looking down "Promise you won't say anything?"
"Crys, I live by the code of the street. Snitches get stitches." Carnel said. Stretching out his arms.
"Fine, I'm looking after two children who are living in this run-down house out that way." I said.
He nodded as if he understood "Hey, I got connections, so I can have that house fixed up and someone there to be their guardian as well as armed guards."
I shook my head. "Thanks, I'll keep it in mind, but I want to keep it under wraps for now."
He shrugged as he put the kit away and tossed it back into the Rift.
"So why do you smoke Marijuana?" I asked as we walked back toward the dorms.
He put his hands behind his head. "Well it helps me cope with my mind, I look fine on the outside but on the inside, I haunted by dark thoughts and suicidal thoughts."
Hearing this made me stop. I thought back to Blaze. Watching him fall to his death and not being able to save him. I understood it wasn't the same as suicide. Just the idea of knowing I couldn't help someone. I hardly knew Blaze and I still liked him more than a lot of people I knew.
"What's up?" He asked,
I walked up to him and grabbed his hand "Promise me that if things get bad, you'll come talk to me, Falcon, or Alicia first. Please, don't hurt yourself." I said as tears started to form in my eyes.
He chuckled as he wiped the tears from my cheeks "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything brash." He said patting my head.
I wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. He rubbed my head lightly. I let go of him and we continued back to the dorm. Yang was waiting for Carnel outside the dorm room
"You. Me. Special Training." Yang said as she grabbed him by the arm.
"See you in the morning, I guess." He said turning back to me.
'I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that.' I thought entering my dorm. I opened the door and saw the rest of team RWBY in our dorm.
"I would ask but I just watched it." I said closing the door. Falcon burst out laughing causing me to blush. "That's not what I meant!"
I put most of the books I had gotten from the library on the table next to my bed. I pulled out The Rosario and a Vampire to see how bad it actually was. While not quite as bad as Falcon's Ninja's of Love. This was one I probably shouldn't read with so much company around. I decided to read a little of The Outsiders instead. After a couple chapters I put it back and decided to get some sleep.
*A couple days later*
Class was going about as boring as ever. With Doctor Oobleck talking about twenty miles a minute. I gave up on taking notes. I looked over to see Cardin harassing Jaune again. Apparently Carnel didn't beat him hard enough last time. He had just been released from the ICU and was right back to being an asshole. Falcon and Carnel were both about to cause a scene with him again.
"Guys let me try something this time." I whispered to them. They weren't happy about it but they stopped.
After class I waited for Cardin outside the classroom.
"Hey got a minute?" I asked.
"What you gonna get those assholes to beat me up again?" Cardin said.
"No. Actually I wanted to apologize." I said.
"What?" He asked.
"Yeah I thought about it some and I think what they did was wrong. So I came to say sorry. I know you just got out of the ICU not long ago. Would you like a little help getting back into fighting condition?"
"As long as you make sure those two stay the hell away from me. I guess." He said.
We walked off to the training hall together. We spared a bit hand to hand.
"So not that I'm complaining cause it's kind of funny, but why do you pick on Jaune so much?" I asked.
"He's an easy target. He shouldn't even be here." He said.
"Doesn't anyone who wants to be a hunter or huntress deserve a chance here?" I asked.
"That's not what I meant. The other day I found out he faked his way in here. I worked hard to be here and he cheated. How is that fair to me?" He said.
"Weren't you targeting him since day one?" I asked.
"So?" He asked.
"Alright why did you attack Velvet she's so nice?" I asked.
"She's a freak just like the rest of them. What's with all the questions?" He asked.
"Just curious calm down. I've only got one more question anyway. Everyone has a reason they want to be a hunter or huntress. So what's yours?" I asked.
He stopped. "Beat up monsters and be famous. Happy now?" He threw a hard right hook towards me. I caught his fist.
"Yep I got all the information I needed." I said.
"What?" He said trying to pull his hand back.
I put my other hand up to his face and let out a small flash. Just bright enough to blind him for a few seconds. I released his hand.
"What the fuck was that?" He said covering his eyes.
I moved behind him and locked his arms behind his back and put my hand over his mouth.
"My semblance lets me generate light as bright as I want. The only downside is I have to have light around me. Luckily I have these gloves that collect sunlight. So I always have an unlimited supply of light." I said before kicking the back of his knees. He almost buckled to the ground but I held him up. He still tried to yell in pain.
"Aura is an amazing thing. It can heal bones an a matter of days. Cuts and bruises in a matter of minutes. The pain is still there but it slowly lessens each day." I removed my hand from his eyes and slammed my fist into his ribs. I placed my hand back over his mouth.
"Unfortunately there are some things that it just can't heal. Severed limbs. Death. Disintegrated retinas." I said. Cardin was starting to panic.
"I suppose you can't be a hunter if you can't see can you?" I said. He tried saying something but it was to muffled to understand. "I'm gonna ask you to kindly keep your moth closed until I say otherwise." I moved my hand from his mouth to his eyes. "Now I'm gonna make you a really simple deal. Since I know you don't learn very well. Tomorrow you are going to get on your knees and beg Jaune and Velvet to forgive you in front of everyone in the cafeteria. And you will not bully anyone here ever again. If you do. I will have Carnel break your legs again. Have Falcon and Alicia hold you, and I will use my semblance to blind you permanently. Do I make myself clear pretty boy?"
"Yes! Yes! I Promise!" He yelled.
I let go and kicked him to the ground. I pulled his head up by his hair.
"That message goes to each member of your team as well." I said before walking out of the training hall. I headed back to my dorm. I got back and laid on my bed and grabbed the Death Note manga.
"Cardin won't be an issue anymore." I said.
"What did you do?" Alicia asked.
"I'll tell you after the fun tomorrow." I said. This had the rest of them confused, but I refused to give them any more information. I wanted to see there expressions when Cardin got on his knees in front of us.