A/N: I had this one in the works since...probably two days ago. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 9: is love that
After their sudden assault on Yang, Sarah and Soap vanished from the forest and reappeared in Ozpin's office.
Ozpin was waiting for them. "Hello you two."
"Hello." They responded in unison.
"You wanted to see us?" Soap said.
"Yes. You said that you wanted to be instructors, but instructors of what?" He asked.
"Personal instructors sir." Soap responded.
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "Do you have anybody in mind?"
Soap looked at Sarah then back to Ozpin, "Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose's team. Their pairs retrieved the same pieces. I know how you form teams." Soap said.
Ozpin thought about this, "Alright. As their personal instructors, you will be responsible for teaching them combat and weapon skills, as well as covering aura and semblance techniques. You have permission to take them off campus for missions and such. I know that you would rather train them at your own personal training grounds rather than use ours, thus I am permitting you to do so as you see fit. They will not need to make up the work that they missed because of you pulling them out of class, however, they will need to get a copy of notes from their professors. You may also keep them for extended periods of time as you see fit. I legally have to ask that you keep them inside the walls of the kingdom, but I will not say anything if a bounty takes you out of the kingdom as long as you return them in one piece."
"Deal."
"Blake Belladona, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight Pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team RWBY. Led by...Ruby Rose."
They watched the ceremony on the screen in Ozpin's office. Soap could tell that Yang was proud of her little sister, since she was literally saying just that. Team RWBY started to leave the stage but were stopped by Ozpin saying, "Just a moment if you will."
All of them nodded and took a few steps back, leaving him some room on the stage.
"This year, I have decided to do something differently." The Headmaster said.
"That's our cue. You ready?" Soap said to Sarah, who nodded. Instantly they vanished from the office.
"This year, one team will receive additional training along with the training that they will be receiving here at Beacon. I am proud to announce that team RWBY is that team." As soon as he finished his sentence, two flashes appeared on stage. One of smoke and fire and one of electricity which left everyone blinded for a few moments. As soon as the effects of the flashes died off, Soap and Sarah were standing where the flashes had been.
"Team RWBY, these are your personal instructors. After the ceremony, please come see me in my office. We have things to discuss." Ozpin said to RWBY. He turned back to the rest of the crowd, "This is shaping up to be an interesting year."
As soon as he finished the statement, Soap and Sarah teleported themselves to Ozpin's office, where they waited for the Headmaster and team RWBY to arrive.
"I wonder what our personal instructors are going to teach us." Ruby wondered aloud as team RWBY entered the office, not noticing Soap and Sarah standing behind them in the shadows of the room.
The voice that answered them was not who they were expecting nor was the answer.
"So do I." Ozpin said.
This seemed to concern Weiss more than anyone else. Weiss Schnee, Soap thought when he saw her, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, the largest supplier of Dust in the world. Wow, is she going to have a serious wakeup call. And I'm going to have fun giving it to her.
"You don't even know what they're going to teach?" Weiss asked with a shriek.
"No, I don't. It is not my job to know. However, if you want to know, I suggest you ask them yourselves." He replied, motioning for Soap and Sarah to show themselves.
Team RWBY turned around to see what their Headmaster was looking at to come face to face with their new trainers.
"So Weiss, what was it that you wanted to ask us?" Soap asked, speaking for himself and Sarah.
Weiss just stood there, not saying a word, with her arms across her chest. With no questions being asked, Ozpin allowed the couple to introduce themselves to team RWBY.
Soap stepped forwards putting his hood down, when he remembered that he didn't look like himself, "Before I introduce myself, let me do something real quick." Soap said, pulling out his disguise device, which he promptly turned off. RWBY watched as the man in front of them went from having no scars whatsoever on his face and light brown hair, to having a couple of scars and pure white hair with a streak of red and a streak of black on the right side of his head, (I was specific here because I forgot to put it in the character sheet) not to mention that his blue eyes were now silver-brown with more silver than brown but the brown was there.
"Much better." Soap said, "Hello, my name is Soap." Weiss looked at him strangely.
"Is that your real name? And do you not have a last name?" Weiss asked.
"It was a nickname I got a long time ago from an old friend. After a while, it took it's place. My real name has since been lost to the passings of time. As for my last name, I once had one. Don't think about asking though?" Soap replied. He looked to Sarah, "This," pointing to her, "is my girlfriend and my partner."
Sarah stepped forward, "Hello, my name is Sarah Hearts." She said with a friendly voice. She lowered her hood, revealing her white and light-pink cat ears. When she did, she accomplished two things. One, she made Weiss give her a judgmental look. Two, she made Blake, Yang, and Ruby look at her ears slightly surprised, but they didn't question it.
Weiss was the first to speak up, "Why is a fanus training us? Is she even qualified to teach us?" Weiss asked with a criticizing tone in her voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Soap saw Blake look at Sarah sympathetically. At first, he didn't understand why. His eyes wandered to her bow when he saw it twitch, Blake's a fanus, Soap thought. He would tell Sarah about this information later, deciding that it would be best if he just watched the events that were currently unfolding.
Sarah's brows furrowed, giving her an angry look, "Although my legal name is Sarah Hearts, Weiss. it wasn't always. 'Hearts' is just a nickname that I got over the years in the field and after I met Soap, it became my real name." Sarah said with anger in her voice. Soap was about to speak when he was met with a look from Ozpin telling him to let her finish. Ozpin, thinking of this as entertainment and wishing that he had a bag of popcorn, wanted to see how things would end. "Unlike Soap, who was a bounty hunter, I was the world's youngest and most infamous mercenary. Soap never killed anything with a soul. I, on the other hand, have many times." Sarah's eyes had turned blood red, rivaling Yang's eyes when she was mad.
Weiss looked genuinely afraid when she spoke next, "Who are you?"
"My real name is Sarah Kirtsov." The name made Weiss back up a step with wide eyes. She had heard the legends of Sarah Kirtsov, a mercenary that would not stop at anything until she accomplished her mission. The legends that began with how a young cat fanus brought down an entire squad of White Fang members with only her semblance and a metal pipe. "The last person that told me I was unqualified for a job because I was a fanus, ended up six feet under with air still in their lungs. So Weiss. I am giving you one, and only one, warning. If you say anything like that, or anything discriminatory for that matter, to me, or any other fauns ever again, I will not hesitate to kill you. The world would do well with one less racist." Weiss was stunned.
Weiss tried to regain some of her dignity, "You wouldn't kill me." Weiss said, not exactly 100% sure of herself.
"You know what Weiss? You're right, she won't." Soap said. Weiss visibly relaxed for a second, "Sarah was also right when she said that I never killed anything with a soul. With that said, you clearly do not have one. I don't take kindly to racism, especially racism that is directed towards my girlfriend. If I ever hear you say anything racist to her Weiss, I will not hesitate to kill you. Is that understood?" He said, his face uncomfortably close to hers.
Weiss was now terrified again, "Yes sir." She said, trying to avoid eye contact with him.
"Good." He said smiling. He took a step back from Weiss to address everybody in the room, "We have been given permission from your Headmaster to take you off-campus when I deem it necessary. Myself and Sarah, along with the rest of my team will be responsible for teaching you the skills necessary to being a Hunter. I will tell you right now, you will be spending most of your time outside of the walls of Beacon's. This is to give you more field experience than the other teams. Tonight will be spent here. Tomorrow's classes will start at 9:00 sharp. I suggest that you don't be late. I will be giving one of you information tomorrow morning about where and when you shall meet us afterwards. That is all." Soap finished, nodding to Ozpin who handed RWBY their scrolls.
"Team RWBY, You are dismissed." Ozpin said.
As soon as RWBY left, Ozpin spoke, "Well. That went well." His voice laced with sarcasm.
Ozpin had a few things he wanted to discuss with Soap and Sarah.
"I honestly think you handled that well." He said with a serious face.
Soap raised an eyebrow at this, obviously not believing him, "I hope you know that Sarah wasn't kidding when she said that."
"I know." He said reaching into his desk for something. That thing, was revealed to be a data chip, "I believe that this will prove to suffice your need for knowledge on the WF's recent activity and their relations with the recent Dust robberies."
He tossed Soap the chip, "I know that the terms of our agreement only lasted to initiation, however I suspect that you will be staying to help Ruby and her team out for a lot longer that originally stated. Why is that?"
"You never told me that Ruby Rose was attending Beacon." Soap said looking out the window of Ozpin's office.
"You never asked. What makes makes her so special?" Ozpin asked.
"Her mother, Summer Rose, was the one who gave me the nickname Soap. I was with her when she died. Had I known what I do now, Summer would still be alive, but I was unable to save her. Instead, she died in my arms, me trying to stop the flow of blood from her body. Before she died though, she made me promise something." Soap said.
"What did you promise?" Ozpin asked.
"I promised that I would watch over her daughter, Ruby, to the best of my abilities. Currently I see no better way to do so than giving her the knowledge and skills necessary to stay alive when the world falls. Summer was a mother and a friend to me, I will see to it that I keep my promise."
"I knew Summer, not only as a friend, but as a teammate during our time here attending Beacon. You can do whatever you need to do to keep your promise." Ozpin said.
The couple went to the room that Ozpin had provided to them for the night which was right next to RWBY's room, saying that it would easier to keep an eye on them. When they finally arrived at their room it was already midnight, but that didn't bother them though. As of late, both Soap and Sarah had been rather restless when it came to sleep. Since they already knew that weren't getting any sleep, they headed to the roof with the guitar that Soap had brought with him and settled into a night of singing song. Songs of romance, songs of war, songs of peace, and songs of a lifestyle long forgotten.
~RWBY Dorm (Yang)
She awoke in a cold sweat and gripping her bed sheets. That was the second time that night that Yang had been ripped from sleep by a nightmare. For the past 3 weeks, she had been having the same dream every time she managed to fall asleep. The woods...Ruby...Summer...The Grimm, oh the Grimm. 'It's just a dream...' she told herself as she tried to get back to sleep. After what felt like an eternity, she looked at the clock on her scroll. '3 A.M? Whelp...I'm not getting any more sleep tonight...I might as well see if anyone's on the roof.' She thought to herself as she exited the dorm and headed towards the roof access. As she neared the door she heard Sarah and Soap's voices. 'They're obviously up...wait...what am I hearing?' she thought to herself as she opened the door.
~Soap (normal POV)
Soap continued to sing even after he saw Yang walk out onto the roof. Sarah, tell her to come sit down next to us. Soap said to Sarah, not even bothering to stop singing.
Sure thing. She said in reply. She got up from her spot on the roof and went over to Yang and said, "Why don't you come join us?"
"What are you doing?" was the response she gave.
"If you sit down we'll explain."
"Ok." Yang responded.
Sitting down, Yang saw what looked to be some sort of weird weapon looking thing in Soap's hands. It had a giant hole where his right hand was currently moving across six wires that went down the entire length of the thing.
Yang didn't appear to notice him stop singing, so he spoke, "What are you doing up Yang? Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"You know I could say the same to you two."
"Fair enough." Soap said, defensively raising his hands. "My response, however, can wait. Your's, cannot. What's bothering you Yang? You look troubled."
"Nightmares."
"What about?"
When she spoke, it was obvious that her nightmare shook her to the core, "A twisted and fucked up version of what I actually did when my mom disappeared."
"What happened?" Sarah asked, remembering the nightmares she had after the first time she killed something.
"I'm 8 years old and Ruby had just turned 6. I was so distressed about her disappearing, that I put Ruby in a wagon and trekked out to where she supposedly died. When we get there, we get attacked by Beowolves. I can't fight back because I'm still exhausted from getting there. They knock me away from Ruby and pin me against a tree. Then they drag a sleeping Ruby out to where I can see her from the tree. And then..." Yang said, failing to fight back the tears.
"You don't have to continue if you don't want to."
"No...I have to get this out." Yang said through her sobs. Managing to gain control of herself, she continued, "Then ripped Ruby apart piece by little piece until there is nothing left. Then they proceed to slowly kill me."
The next few minutes consisted of Sarah trying to calm Yang down. After Sarah had managed to do so, Yang remembered the strange thing in Soap's hands. Curious, she asked about it, "What were you doing when I first came up here?"
"Playing music." He replied instantly and nonchalantly. However, his answer only made Yang confused.
"What?"
Soap smiled as he held back a small laugh, "Sometimes I forget that Remnant has gone more than 100 years without any sort of music." Soap said looking at Sarah who nodded in agreement, "Music was lost to time after fighting Grimm became a priority and time for pleasure no longer existed. Thus, it disappeared." He let out a heavy sigh, "Let's see, how do I begin to explain this? Music is a form of art, art is means of expressing yourself in a way that normal words would fail to do. Music has an almost magic effect on people, it has the ability to alter a person's mood. It also has the ability to calm people down if they're scared or worried or whatever." He paused, "Yang, I'm going to play a song and when I do, I want you to listen with everything that you have. I guarantee that if you do this, you will be able to sleep. So, what do you say, give it a shot?"
Without so much as even waiting for a response, Soap started to play the intro to I'm Yours and watched as Yang began to relax with just the intro.
*Cue I'm Your's by Jason Mraz*
"Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it,
I tried to be chill..."
'Sarah?' Soap asked her in his head as he sang the first verse.
"...but you're so hot that I melted,"
'Hmmm?' He heard in response.
"...I fell right through the cracks,"
'Do you mind joining me at the second verse? You have a better voice than me. Angelic actually. You will certainly put her to sleep with how soothing your voice can be.'
"...Now I'm trying to get back."
'Sure.' Sarah said smiling at him before she joined in. Soap lowered his voice to let the beauty that was his girlfriend's voice ring out over his own.
"Before the cool dawn run out, I'll be giving it my bestest...,
And nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention,
I reckon, it's again my turn to win some or learn some."
Soap looked over to Yang who was leaning against the wall, swaying with the music, and smiled. Now there were six people on Remnant that knew the magic of music.
"But I won't hesitate, no more, no more.
It cannot wait, I'm yours."
"Well, open up your mind and see like me,
Open up your plans and damn you're free.
Look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love, love.
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing,
we're just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved, loved, loved."
"So I won't hesitate No more, no more.
It cannot wait, I'm sure.
There's no need to complicate,
Our time is short.
This is our fate, I'm yours."
*End song*
The rest of the song passed by in the blink of an eye for Soap. When the song was over, he looked over to Yang and saw that her eyes had shut and her breathing had slowed, which signaled that their mission was accomplished. After he finished what little was left of the song, he got up and handed Sarah his guitar, telling her that he would meet her in their room. Shortly after she left, he lifted Yang off the roof and brought her back to her team's dorm. Placing her gently in her bed, he whispered the words, "Sweet Dreams Yang." Soap promptly left the room to get some sleep of his own.
A/N: Don't you love it when you plan a chapter one way and it goes off in a direction that you didn't plan.
Sarah: Kinda like the last couple chapters?
Soap: Yep. I try to plan, I go as far as to make a very detailed outline for the thing, but then I end up going against it.
Sarah: Well...It makes it interesting. Right?
Soap: *heavy sigh* Nope, It just makes it harder to figure out where the hell this story is going. Oh well. On to the next chapter.
Edit: 11-6-2014; rewrote the first scene so it should make a little more sense. Also fixed grammar, spelling, verb tense, and punctuation issues.