A/N: Finally. I can tell a chapter that I've had from day one.
Sarah: Really?
Soap: For once, I can actually say yes to that question; I have had this in my head in one form or another since before you had weapons.
Sarah: Fair enough.
Soap: With that said, let's begin the story.
Chapter 13: is hope that
The next day...
After dropping off team RWBY at the front of the school and receiving directions from Ozpin as to where to park his Bullhead, Soap led his team to Ozpin's office to introduce them to him like he promised.
Sam, Bucky and Drake waited patiently outside the door while Soap and Sarah walked in first, "Good morning Ozpin." Soap said.
Ozpin looked up from his desk and replied, "Good morning you two." He stood up and walked to the front of his desk.
"We're here to introduce you to some people like we promised." Soap said. He turned to the door, "Come on in guys."
Soap wasn't sure if Ozpin was impressed, disappointed, or scared for Beacon's future, by the people that walked through the door. After Ozpin gave his teammates a good look over, he turned to Soap, "I'm surprised."
"Why is that?" Soap asked.
"Mainly two reasons. One, you never told me the range of ages that your team had."
"You never asked." Soap replied.
"That's true. If you don't mind me asking, what is the age range of your team?"
"The youngest on my team is 15 while the oldest is 21. What is the other reason?"
"I didn't know that Sam Krestfield was still alive." He said. "The last I heard was that she disappeared a little over a year ago, never to be seen since."
Sam looked surprised, or embarrassed; Soap couldn't decide which. Ozpin was the first person to recognize her since Soap had found her. "Officially, I am very much dead." She replied. "However, I don't go by that name anymore. Thanks to Soap, my name is Sam Krest." She held out her hand, "It's nice to meet you Professor Ozpin."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Sam." Ozpin said, shaking her out stretched hand.
Bucky introduced himself next; he took a step forward, "Hello Professor Ozpin; my name is Andeus McGillicudy, but please call me Bucky."
"And I shall. It's a pleasure to meet you." Ozpin said, shaking his hand.
Bucky stepped back.
Next was Drake. He looked at Soap and connected his mind to Soap's and asked, "Do you mind introducing me to him and explain why I can't talk; I will say hi afterwards."
"Sure." Soap replied to him wordlessly. He did just that, but not in the way that Drake was expecting. "And finally we have our rather weak, unskilled, shy, timid, and silent friend, Drake Hemington." Soap said. Sam punched his arm while Ozpin just raised an eyebrow.
Drake connected his mind to everybody in the room, walked to Soap and punched him in the stomach, "Damn it Soap! You know that wasn't what I meant!" Soap knew Drake would try to punch him for the statement that he made and reacted accordingly, he teleported himself away just in time, avoiding the punch.
Ozpin looked around for a second and confused, "Who said that?" Drake turned and waved.
"That was me sir."
Ozpin looked a little less confused but still had a few questions, "Why are you not actually speaking?"
"I was a hostage of the White Fang between ages 12-16. During that time, they used me as a practice dummy for fighting and torture techniques. The last of those techniques being the removal of my vocal chords and my arms." Drake tilted his head up and traced the scar on his neck where the White Fang had cut to get to his vocal chords.
"But you have arms." Ozpin said.
Drake held up his left arm and grabbed it just below the elbow. He gave it a twist, and to Ozpin's surprise it turned. Drake pulled it off with ease revealing a stump of an arm.
"You have a prosthetic arm." Ozpin observed.
"Two prosthetic arms." He held up his other arm and in less than a second, his right hand was replaced with a sword.
"I see. Did you build these yourself?" Ozpin asked.
"How could I have been able to? They were built while I was unconscious, so no. The designer and builder of these arms is none other than the man who leads us. Soap." Drake said as he reattached his left arm.
Ozpin turned to Soap, "Do you mind sending me the blueprints to those? I am interested in taking a look at the design."
"Sure." Soap replied. He made a mental note to send him a modified version of the blueprints to him later. Modified because he didn't want to give away all of his secrets.
"So, Sarah, Bucky, Sam, and Drake," said Ozpin, they all turned to face him, "why do you follow Soap as a leader?" he asked.
They all looked to Soap, who just stood there with a smile on his face, then to each other. Sarah spoke up for the group and turned to face Ozpin, "We follow him because he gave us a second chance. For some of us this means literal life and death. For others, it meant a chance at starting over, a clean slate if you will, and redemption for things that we thought were inexcusable and unforgivable. We follow Soap because even though he knew all of these things about us, he choose to look past that. That's why we follow him."
Ozpin nodded. He turned his attention to Soap, "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why give them a second chance?" Ozpin asked.
"Because I was given a second chance at life when the rest of the village I lived in was executed by thugs for what they believed in; my parents, friends, and sister among them." Soap said. "It's funny. 120 years ago, the things that my parents believed in, was considered common sense; but look at the world now, what they believed is seen nowhere. I was the last follower of what they believed in and the only person on Remnant that knows the truth about the Grimm War. If at all possible, I would like to speak with Dr. Oobleck about this."
Ozpin looked at him and said, "Dr. Oobleck's class starts in thirty minutes. Today's lecture is about the Grimm War. I'll let him know that a guest will be speaking today. What will you say?"
Soap smiled, "I will tell them about the reason we nearly lost that fight, along with the things we lost because of it. Something that my team knows well, an art that nobody has seen nor heard for more than 100 years."
"Very well. I will inform Dr. Oobleck of your arrival."
"Hello. Are you Dr. Oobleck?" Soap said upon entering the classroom with his team.
The professor at the front of the room moved quickly to various points around the room. At the sound of his name, he looked to see who had said it. "Yes. That's my name."
"Ozpin said that he has informed you that we will be speaking during your class today." Soap said.
Oobleck nodded, "Ah yes he has. That would make you Instructor Soap and Team BNTY."
"Yes. Yes it would." He made his way towards the desk on the other side of the room with his team, stopping just in front of it. "I have some information regarding the Grimm War."
"I would prefer it if you waited till my class arrives to tell me of this information." Oobleck said.
"That's the thing. I wish to speak to you about the manner in which I were to present this information, but first I have a question. 150 years ago, what did the world sound like compared to now?"
"What it sounded like," he thought for a moment, "I am afraid that I cannot answer that question. There are no known documents that could suggest what the world were to sound like, 150 years ago. Why do you ask?"
"Because the Grimm War forced us to abandon a lot of what we had; the biggest being how it sounded. Sounds that filled the world; every coffee shop, every home and every public place. I will save the rest for the class." Soap said. He turned to his team, "Sarah, Drake. I want you two to grab what we will need for three songs. I've sent the names of which to your scrolls. Sarah, while your there, I want you to grab five projectors and five mini-disguises." They nodded.
Sarah put her hand on Drake's shoulder and activated her semblance. Within minutes, they returned with what they needed and scattered them across the front of the room in a display like fashion. The finishing piece was the Cajun-box that Drake put in the center of the stage-like area near Oobleck's desk.
With that finished, the only thing that they had left to do was activate their mini-disguises, they now looked like students, and wait for class to start.
They all sat at a table at the back of the room and waited for the bell to ring.
Soap sent the girls of Team RWBY a message:
Make sure that you aren't late for Dr. Oobleck's class, I hear he has something special cooked up for everybody today. -Soap
Pressing send, he put away his scroll and went to Oobleck's desk and said, "Dr. If you could, just start class as you normally would. Mention that there are guests speaking today, but do not mention who they are specifically. I have a bit of a show planned."
"Of course." He replied. Soap went back to his seat.
Students started pouring in. Soap spotted RWBY and watched them take a seat towards the front of the room. He smiled, they have the most knowledge as to what they were going to see and yet they probably didn't have a clue.
The bell rang and Oobleck began as Soap had instructed, "Hello class, welcome back. Today is going to be a little different than normal. Some individuals have stepped forward to fill in some of the holes that were left by the destruction of the Grimm War, but before they begin, I'm going to simply state that I do not know what they will be talking about, however, I do know that it will be interesting. So let us not waste anymore of their time."
After Oobleck took an open seat among the students. Less than a second passed before a holographic screen appeared in the center of the stage-area by the professors desk.
Soap tapped Drake's shoulder, who turned to look at him. He tapped his temple and pointed to the rest of his team, signaling for Drake to connect their minds.
"Done." He heard Drake say in his mind.
"Alright guys, connect your headset to the speakers around the room. It's show time!" Soap said. He took out his scroll and connected it to the screen at the front of the room, he began to type '150 years ago, The world looked and sounded very different that it does today.' The words appeared on the screen. 'While we can't do very much in showing you how it looked, we can do a lot in regards to showing you how it sounded.' Soap looked to his team and nodded. Drake activated his projector, a near perfect image appeared on the stage. The projector was designed to make a holographic representation of the user with the color representing their semblance; Drake's was blue which represented ice. The image walked up to the Cajun-box and sat down on top of it. (if you don't know what a Cajun-box is, go look it up)
Soap typed again, 'Nearly 120 years ago, we lost something that was invaluable to life.' Soap typed one last time before putting away his scroll, 'This is an example of what we lost.' The last sentence appeared on the screen and fell away after a couple of seconds.
Soap held up his hand so that only his team could see and counted to four to indicate the tempo of the song. *cue Rather Be by Pentatonix*
(let me quickly just say that Sarah is Soprano, Sam is Alto, Bucky is Tenor, Soap is Bass, Drake is the beat-boxer/percussion. Even though Drake can't speak, he can still use his mouth as a normal person would be able to, just not to talk, this includes beat-boxing.)
Drake's image made eight claps before Sam's flowing white image appeared behind Drake's. Her image put it's arms around Drake's image's neck affectionately. She sang her part into her headset on time. After Sam sang her part, two more boxes appeared next to Drake's, one of which Sam sat on. After Sam sat down, Bucky appeared on the last box and sang his part. When it was his turn, Soap appeared standing next to Bucky with his arms outstretched. Finally Sarah's turn came, her image appeared in Soap's outstretched arms so that it appeared that he was carrying her. He set her down as she started to sing her part and got ready for the rest of the song.
(Sarah is singing the words below. I highly suggest looking up the song to get an idea of what it sounds like.)
We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea
But as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be
I would wait forever, exalted in the scene
As long as I am with you, my heart continues to beat
With every step we take, Kyoto to The Bay
Strolling so casually
We're different and the same, gave you another name
Switch up the batteries
If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Know with all of your heart, you can't shame me
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
We staked out on a mission to find our inner peace
Oh, make it everlasting so nothing's incomplete
With every step we take, Kyoto to The Bay
Strolling so casually
We're different and the same, gave you another name
Switch up the batteries
If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Know with all of your heart, you can't shame me
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Know with all of your heart, you can't shame me
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
*End Song*
As the end of the song approached, Soap and his team left their table and walked to the front of the room and stood behind their respective projection.
Soap turned off his disguise, the process surprising almost everybody in the room. He looked around the room and landed his gaze on the Professor. "This is what the world has missed for many, many years. This is what the world lost during the years of the Grimm War." He motioned for his team to turn off their disguises, a gasp sounding throughout the room as they did so. "My name is Soap. Leader of team BNTY. This is my partner, Sarah Hearts."
She waved, "Hello."
"This is Sam, her partner Drake, and finally Bucky." Soap pointed to each of his teammates respectively, who waved when their name was said.
"Before we continue, are there any quest-" Sarah started to say but was cutoff by a rather familiar voice; the same racist voice that tried to discriminate against her when she first arrived at Beacon. A voice that belonged to none other than, Cardin Winchester.
"What have those animals done to gain the right to teach a class?" Cardin said, not bothering to hide the demeaning tone in his voice.
Soap teleported himself to Cardin, taking him by surprise. Cardin stood up, trying to intimidate Soap. "You got a problem with something I said?"
Soap looked at Sarah and gave her a questioning look. She shook her head no in response to his unspoken question: 'Do you care about what he said?' He looked back to Cardin who was standing with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. "Yes. I have a problem. Two actually. One, you completely disregarding the warning I gave to you regarding discrimination, especially regarding my girlfriend or team. Two, it seems that you do not know how to show respect to your superiors." This made Cardin really confused, what the hell was this kid talking about? "What? Didn't you get the memo? My team and I are instructors here at Beacon."
"How did a bunch of kids manage to get hired by Beacon?"
"Simple. For my team, the fact that they are my team was how they got hired. As for me though, I'll let that be a mystery to you Mr. Winchester. Now please, sit down." Cardin's face was full of confusion when he sat back down, the way that Soap wanted. "Now, are there any questions?"
One hand shot up. The hand belonged to a Fanus as indicated by the two bunny ears that were sticking out over her head. By the look on her face Soap could tell that she was a little shy, and he had good guess as to why. "What were you even doing?" She asked timidly.
"Doing with what?" Soap asked.
"With your voices."
Soap smiled, "That would be called singing." As expected, his response only made her confused.
"Allow me to clarify, but before I do, let me get some vocabulary out of the way." Soap said.
A few minutes later...
(I figured that you didn't want to read about Soap explaining all of the terms for music, as such, I left said section out.)
"The song that we just performed was called 'Rather Be', that was a rather unique song because it was meant to be played with only the voices of those performing it." Soap said concluding his explanation of some of the terms that he would be using. "Any other questions?"
A hand shot up in the back of room, "What was Drake's role in that song?"
Soap turned to look at his teammate, "I think I'll let him explain that."
Drake looked at Soap and asked to only his team, "Do I have to explain?"
"Yes Drake you have to explain, I am not doing it for you."
"Can I use my scroll?" Drake asked.
"Drake, your talking to a class; so no you cannot use your scroll."
Dr. Oobleck spoke up, "Soap, You do realize that he hasn't said a word?"
"He has said plenty, just not to anyone who want's to hear it. Drake, please explain what your role was in that song."
Drake sighed heavily, "My role in that song was to provide a steady beat for which my team, including this asshole," he pointed to Soap, "to sing to. Without a steady beat, songs would fall apart the second they started." The class looked around for a second before he quickly added, "Before you all ask why my voice is in your head; I have no vocal chords and telecommunication is part of my semblance."
The class collectively let out and "ohhh" after hearing that last part.
Soap let a small laugh and looked at his scroll, realizing the time, "If anybody else has questions, come find us in courtyard after class." Soap turned to the professor, "Dr, the class is once again all yours." Oobleck nodded. Soap and his team gathered their things and walked to Soap and Sarah in the middle of the room, making sure that some portion of their body was touching them, "Bye guys." Soap said before teleporting himself and his team back to their rooms.
A/N: Well that's another chapter out.
Sarah: Took ya long enough.
Soap: Oh hush you. You know you enjoyed it.
Sarah: Well...
Soap: That's what I thought. See you all next time.