The Schnee Black Sheep

A/N

WOW this chapter was a bitch to write. Though I don't regret anything I wrote. I actually love this chapter though the amount of times it has changed while I've been writing it have annoyed me beyond belief. Seriously I had this all ready to go when I uploaded chapter 15 and since then I've pulled an all-nighter constantly rewriting this damn chapter because I either didn't like it or felt like I could do better. I didn't want to miss my deadline so I hope you guys enjoy my hard work.

As of right now the poll for Coal's pairing is also officially closed and that the winner is none other than… Well if you actually give a shit, I'll keep the poll result on my page for about a week before I get rid of it. I'm kind of looking forward to writing an emotional Coal as well as his dark side at the same time. And putting him in awkward situations… I can be such an evil guy when I want to be.

And one more thing.

Big, massive shout out to Lelouch of Zero for his surname for Coal. I hope I done you proud on how Coal come to decide taking it as his name.

Blah Blah Blah I don't own RWBY.


Chapter 16: A Valiant Acceptance.

The morning after Coal had left Beacon was quiet. Ruby had explained to team JNPR what had transpired after they had all left the room after Coal. Weiss had received a cryptic message from her twin and due to the fact that he still had yet to return, it indicated that he had left and was dealing with personal demons that he needed to resolve. But the biggest question on their minds was who he was comparing himself too. His father seemed like the most obvious figure, Blake had other ideas though.

Weiss had not said a word for the entire day and had even ditched classes all together and stayed locked up in her twin's room. She seemed rather shaken up after hearing such a story about his past that she had never knew, despite claiming to know the boy better than himself sometimes. And after finding out he had left, she was distraught.

Eventually, after 3 days of keeping herself locked in her twin's room, the rest of her team had coaxed her out of bed to go on the field trip organised for the day after. Though she didn't seem to care about the marks, she just seemed to want to pacify her teammates. It was getting late in the evening and each teen had used the time to think about what he had told them about his past. Each coming to their own conclusions about it. Weiss had remained in her twin's room again for the night which got no protest from her friends, she needed her space to be able to come to terms with all that had transpired having been lied to for so long by her twin.


(Day 1 – Coal)

After hijacking one of the bulkheads at Beacon, Coal made his way straight to the one place where he knew he was welcome. A place where he felt like he deserved to be. The institution that his father had locked him away in all those years ago.

The building was located in an isolated area of the world with no roads that lead up to it. Kept out of prying eyes of the government, this privately-run facility was created for the sole purpose of housing the most insane humans and Faunus criminals and psychopaths the world had known. Picking away at their conscious in order to either cure them, or break them.

Coal was lucky enough to only have to endure six months of the place the first time he was here. His second visit came after a terrifying relapse a year after his discharge where he spent another month behind the reflective glass of his isolated room, with only his other persona to keep him company, before Ironwood found him again.

Walking inside the main recaption of the pristine building, he was hit with a smell of disinfectant and blood. He didn't even notice the receptionist who had picked up a phone and began to urgently speak through it to someone in a terrified voice. Probably because he just waltzes up to the front desk and slammed down his revolver and unequipped his gauntlet and placed it alongside it.

"He's back Sir… I don't know he's just standing there… Yes Sir right away." She said down the speaker before addressing the teen across the counter. "Your room is untouched from the last time you were here Mr. Schnee, I've been instructed to see you to it." She said timidly, making her move to stand up rather slowly.

"No need, I know the way. And it's just Coal." And with that he was off. walking down the white walls of the corridor that led to his room, his prison, his home. As soon as he entered his confinement he sat on his bed and looked directly at the mirrored glass to see himself staring back. Well something that looked like him looked back anyway.

The monster that stared back at him, covered in blood with blue glowing eyes and a dark malicious grin, that Coal would swear he didn't have on his own face at the moment, spoke in a dark voice that rang only inside the boy's head.

Welcome home


(Forest of Foreverfall. Team JNPR)

The students of Beacon were preparing to set off into the forest for a day of collecting samples for one of the professors at Beacon.

Cardin, who had recovered from his frozen state a few days ago, had started his bullying spree once again as soon as he heard that Coal had disappeared. The red head boy walked up to Jaune and forced a crate for empty glass jars into the boys hands.

"Thanks for offering to help us out Jauney boy."

Jaune looked down at the jars before returning his gaze at his tormenter. Right now, he didn't have the mental patients to deal with Cardin.

"Piss off Cardin." He said as he force the crate back into Cardin's arms and walked off with his team. Leaving Cardin in a pissed off state.

As Jaune walked with his team he asked the question that had plagued everyone's minds the past week. "Do you think he's coming back?"

It took a moment for anyone to answer, but they all agreed on the one response.

"No." Pyrrha said somewhat hurt.

"Unfortunately, I agree with Pyrrha on this one." Ren confirmed.

"Hard to see it I guess." Nora also agreed.

"Come on guys." Jaune said hopefully. "I'm sure he'll be back. He's just… Got some things to work out."

"Jaune just shut up." Pyrrha snapped. "You heard what he said. I'm surprised he was able to remain somewhat human at all after all that."

"Pyrrha is right Jaune." Ren backed up. "After being experimented on, thrown inside an insane asylum, stabbed and almost had his arm dismembered, all by his own farther, that must have left a pretty major scar on the guy."

"He was always so upbeat though." Nora countered.

"But was that just a mask that he wore?" Ren countered again. "He did say that he wasn't very truthful with us from the very start."

The team fell into an uncomfortable silence as they started to gather their samples and complete the task set to them by the professor. Little did they know that they were being watched the whole time by Cardin and his team.


(Day 2 – Coal)

You going to say anything?

You can't keep denying me Coal. we are the same person after all.

"You didn't have to go that far with Cardin." Coal said to his reflection.

We did what was necessary.

"Did you have to try and kill them!"

They deserved to be punished.

"Not like that! Your no better than father. Fuck, your no better than Adam!"

We are not Adam! We only kill those who deserve to die.

"Just shut up."

You know as well as I do that we need to be strong if we are going to kill Adam

"SHUT UP!"

It's like father said. We are powerful like this.


(Forest of Foreverfall. Team RWBY)

Team RWBY had begun collecting their own samples in a dull silence. Weiss still had yet to say a word to any of her teammates and friends and by this point everyone was starting to grow concerned about the girl's mental state.

Ruby was struggling to come to terms with what had been said the night Coal disappeared, but unlike her partner she had a sibling to rely on.

"Yang, can we talk?" Ruby asked timidly. Getting a nod from her older sister, Ruby and Yang moved away from the rest of their team in order to converse unheard.

"What's up Ruby?" Yang asked somewhat worriedly.

"I just don't understand why he left…" Ruby explained timidly. "I mean, shouldn't he be here with us so that we can help him or something?"

"Maybe he didn't want to be helped." Yang suggested. "He was still hiding something after all."

"What?"

"You remember when he went to talk about the White Fang?" Ruby nodded to her sister. "Well he said that he only had a run in with them, but I'm sure he was going to say something else to begin with. What kind of a run in leads to two people dying anyway?" Ruby cast her gaze towards the ground understanding what her sister was saying. Even after revealing all that, he still didn't trust them with all the information.

"But what if he just couldn't talk about it?" Ruby tried, getting a curious look from her sister. "What if it's too painful for him to remember? Maybe it's still hurting him?"

"You might be reading too much into it Ruby." Yang shrugged as she turned to walk back to her samples. "All I know is that until he comes back, there is only one other person who can answer those questions. And even she didn't know until just the other night. Though one thing does now make a lot more sense..."

"What's that?" Ruby asked. Yang stopped walking to look over her shoulder at her sister. A compassionate understanding look in her eyes as she looked into her sisters silver eyes.

"He asked me once, 'what would I do if someone tried to kill you.' If he killed those two White Fang members to protect Weiss… Then I can understand why he did it."

Yang walked away from her sister to leave her with her thoughts. Ruby stood motionless trying to understand exactly what had transpired during the twin's lives. She understood that he had killed, whether or not to protect his sister still eluded her, but did that make killing right. He even killed two high ranking criminals but she still couldn't justify that as right. Ruby remembered the fight he had against CRDL. Trembling in fear of the memory.


(Day 3 – Coal)

"Mr Schnee." A low voice came over the speakers of his room. "My name is Doctor Alexander Jacks. I'm here to help cure you like last time. Do you remember me?"

"Well I think I can take that as a yes. Now like the previous times you have been here, we are going to have to equip you with a collar which can administer a small electrical charge. Purely in order to ensure the safety of any attendee who needs to administer any treatment of course. Is that understood?"

"I'm sure I heard a yes there. Now once these doors open there will be a few security personnel to help with the process of attaching the collar. Please refrain from lashing out Mr. Schnee, it will only make things worse."

The door slid open to reveal a dozen armed guards decked out in riot gear with shields and batons, slowly edging into the room.

Coal whispered pleadingly to his inner self, "Promise me you won't kill them."

No.

Then the guards charged at the helpless boy, whose eyes started glowing blue.


(Forest of Foreverfall. Team JNPR)

Jaune had separated from his team in a fit of rage. He couldn't believe that his whole team had just damned his best friend at Beacon to wherever he had ran off to. Jaune figured that he had already been through enough, but to also be turned away from what was possibly his last chance at a normal life from the lack of acknowledgement from any of them. But when Coal had told him about taking lives, Jaune only felt fear. For a brief moment, he agreed with his partner… How did he remain human?

"Must have been hard to admit to all that…" Jaune whispered to himself. Coal hadn't even told his twin any of that until just before he himself had heard. Jaune figured that maybe the boy was so strong because he was never given the chance to choose another way of life. He had been forced down one track and made to stay on it in order to survive. Whereas Jaune himself chose this life, he chose to become a hunter and even stole forged documents to get him a place at beacon academy. It was obvious that he was no fighter. That he was really the odd one out.

As Jaune continued to walk away he heard hushed voices coming from one of the bushes and immediately crouched down to conceal his own presence and listened as best he could.

"-Paybacks a bitch."

"Don't you think it's a bit much?"

"Yeah, I mean he did threaten to kill you if you did anything."

"I say we do it. Right Cardin."

'Cardin?' Jaune thought. Just what was that prick up to now. As Jaune shuffled forward to see what he was planning Jaune caught a glimpse of some creates and jars of sap that he and his classmates had been collecting. he heard Cardin continue.

"The bastard needs to pay for what he did to us in the arena. These rapier wasps will send a perfect message."

Jaune grew worried as well as confused as he looked around once more to work out the bullies plan. His eyes grew wide as he noticed down a small hill below them, Weiss and Blake were collecting jars of sap completely oblivious to team CRDL. Jaune saw Cardin stand up clutching one of the jars of sap and prepared to throw it in the direction of Weiss.

'Come on Jaune! Do something!' He inwardly yelled. Only one idea formed in his head and that idea involved his own jar or sap.


(Day 4 – Coal)

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"

"He is still moving… Up the volts and hit him again!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

"That's more like it. You can administer the aura dampeners now." Doctor Jacks said to his assistant.

As the door to Coal's room unlocked and slid open once again, a single nurse walked into the cell and up to the prone unconscious boy on the floor, injected him with a large amount of chemicals and exited in just a few moments.

"Good. Now wake him up." Doctor Jacks said as the nurse pressed the button on a small remote to send more volts through the boy waking him up in another shocking scream. "Now Mr. Schnee, that wasn't so bad was it? I bet you hardly felt the needle at all." The doctor laughed as he and his assistant exited the room behind the one way glass.

Coal crawled and managed to climb his way back onto his bed to recover. His breathing was shallow and unbalanced. His muscles ached all over due to the electricity and he had the worst headache he had ever had since the day he was kidnapped by the White Fang. He never accounted for the lack of alcohol he would have in his cell. He couldn't remember the last time he had a hangover this bad, or even if he had ever stopped drinking long enough to get hangovers. He would get used to the shocks, but getting used to being sober was a different story.

You should have let me kill those men who put this thing on us

"No one else… Needs to die." Coal managed to force out.

You really want us to remain weak? I can protect us!

"No… We are not weak…" He said as his vision faded into blackness.


(Forest of Foreverfall. Team RWBY)

Blake and Weiss were sat collecting sap in a very awkward silence. At least for the Faunus girl anyway. She had no idea how to apologise about being the cause of the girl's brother's disappearance, if his message was accurate. As Blake saw Ruby and Yang walk off together, she decided that it was either now or never to confess to the Schnee girl. That she was responsible for all of this.

"Weiss I…"

"Save it Blake." Weiss said. Blake was taken by surprise at the words and tone the girl had used. She sounded exactly like Coal had when he told her the exact same thing, when she tried to explain that she was no longer in the White Fang at the end of their first mission. If he didn't care then maybe Weiss wouldn't care now.

"It's my fault that Coal left."

"I said I don't care Blake."

"Weiss let me finish please."

"NO!" Weiss snapped causing Blake to flinch and back off slightly. "It's not your fault… It's the White Fang's. I should have known that he wasn't alright after what happened." Weiss said quietly, as she turned away from Blake and started to rub her left eye absentmindedly. As soon as she finished she reached into her bag and pulled out a small makeup case and started applying something around the same eye she had been rubbing.

"What did happen?" Blake asked trying to understand why Coal had run off.

"We don't like to talk about it…" Weiss said softly still facing away from the hidden Faunus. "All you do need to know is that the next time I come face to face with anyone part the White Fang. I will make them suffer, just like we did." Her tone darkened at the end. Causing Blake to see a side of the girl that she had never seen, she could be just as dark as her twin and Blake knew there and then that Weiss wouldn't accept her past like Coal had done. She never said a word after that. Weiss broke the silence once more.

"He's coming back."

"What makes you so sure?" Blake asked still somewhat weary of the girl.

"Because he promised he always would. No matter what happened, he could even die and he would still somehow make it back to me." Weiss said confidently as she turned back to face the hidden Faunus, a fire burning in her icy blue eyes. "He never breaks a promise."


(Day 5 – Coal)

So when are we planning to leave this place?

"When I'm sure that we won't kill anyone other than Adam." Coal said to his reflection.

We kill anyone who stands in our path.

"That is what you want."

And what is it that you want?

"To be free of you two."

You could at least refer to me by my name. It's not fair that I'm the only one without one.

"So, you have a name too?"

Well you and the other one got your names from your eyes, so why should mine be any different?

"So what do I call you?"

Cobalt.

"So Cobalt, what is it that you want?"

To be free of you.

"For once we agree on something."

Maybe we can make this work. So that both of us get what we desire.

"I'm listening."

Makes a change I guess.

"I'm out of options. You're the only one by my side at the moment."

Then here's what I'm offering…


(Forest of Foreverfall. Team JNPR)

"Is Jaune mad at us?" Nora asked after being ditched by their team leader.

"No Nora." Ren assured. "He's just having a hard time accepting it all. Like all of us."

"But Coal never did anything wrong. He only kept it to himself because he probably though that we would react badly to hearing it all. Which is exactly what happened!" Nora protested knowingly, surprising both Ren and Pyrrha from her insight.

"That may be." Pyrrha started. "But that doesn't excuse the fact that he basically isn't human anymore." Having finally given up on the boy and his darkness. Truth be told she had softly cried herself to sleep, clutching the plushy that he had given her on their trip to the arcade, the night she had found out Coal had left, unbeknownst to her teammates.

"Because no one is there to help him!" Nora yelled. She had grown tired of her friends stupidity. "When you've got no family to turn to then you turn to your friends. That is how me and Ren have survived this long. Yes, he had Weiss but do you really think he could put all of this on his twin's shoulders when she was obviously struggling with her own faults? Seriously you are all being idiots, he cares to much about his sister so he was only trying to protect her." She looked at Ren and continued. "We all have secrets we would rather keep buried, but those secrets are still apart of us. I don't care about what he had to do to survive, we have done some pretty bad things ourselves Ren, so who are we to judge."

Ren and Pyrrha locked eyes for a moment before bowing their heads in shame. Ren knew that his childhood friend was right. Who was he to judge on the actions of a survivor. If things had been slightly different, maybe he would have become someone similar. Pyrrha was disgusted with herself for even giving up on Coal at all. He didn't seem to be able to talk to anyone about it when it happened so he had resorted to keeping it bottled up inside himself for so long that eventually he was unable to tell anyone at all. Pyrrha thought back to the moment she first found out about his father's experiments on him and couldn't help but realised that when he was trembling in her arms, he wasn't trembling out of fear, he was shaking because he was forcing himself to tell her. it hurt him more to tell her then the memory itself. No wonder he only revealed anything when she asked him about it. He never wanted anyone to know. How much pain must he had he been in to finally tell them all about his past?

"You know Nora." Pyrrha said. "You really do like to speak your mind don't you."

"Yep!" Nora agreed with a cheesy grin. Ren continued.

"She is right though, we never really considered what he was feeling at all." Ren added.

Pyrrha couldn't help but agree. In hindsight she should have followed him and made sure he was alright rather than just letting him wonder off. Just like she had let Jaune walk off a few moments ago…

"I'm going to find Jaune." She said as she made for the direction her partner had left in. she was worried to say the least. She was not going to risk losing any more friends. Not because of this.


(Day 6 – Coal)

A bulkhead landed just outside the hospital where the boy was staying. Two figures, a man and a woman, exited the airship and made straight for the front entrance with a fast, determined pace. Upon entering the building the two were immediately approached by several armed security guards to which the man pulled out a silver handgun and shot them all in the kneecaps, pinning them all to the ground and proceeded to point his weapon straight at the receptionist.

"I take it he's in the same room?" General Ironwood questioned darkly. The young receptionist merely nodded having been scared almost to death at the return of the general and his associate. The last time they came to retrieve the boy in question, the hospital ended up with a few more patients. "Go ahead Winter, I'll keep things covered here."

"Thank you General." Winter Schnee said as she made her way down the corridor to where she knew her brother would be. She was pissed at herself for only finding out that he had come back to this place six days ago, she should have kept a closer eye on him. She figured that his twin would be able to keep him in check but she was wrong. She entered the observation room first so that she could see the state of her younger sibling before revealing herself to him. After literally kicking down the door to the boy's room last time she had almost be killed herself due to waking the boy from his slumber.

She looked through the one way glass to see her sibling sitting on his bed facing the glass looking at his own reflection in silence, emotionless. Winter immediate proceeded into drawing her sword and slashing straight through the glass and stepping though the now open space. Sheathing her sword she addressed her brother like she would any other day.

"Coal." She stated in a militaristic fashion.

Sighing, Winter knew that he was in the worst position he had been in since he had first been taken out of this place five years ago. He hadn't even moved a muscle at her smashing the glass and speaking to him in her usual tone, hadn't gotten his typical reaction to seeing her. Knowing that, she knew she needed to use a different approach if she was going to help the boy.

In the most kind and sisterly tone she could manage, she wasn't used to using it, she tried again.

"Valiant"

Coal's eyes softened slightly as they recognised his older sister. Winter took this moment to move over to the bed and sit beside the troubled boy.

"You know I don't deserve that name Frostbite." Coal said in a timid voice, casting his eyes back down.

"Of course, you do. Why would you think otherwise?" Winter asked still using her kind tone.

"Weiss knows everything… They all do. Teams RWBY and JNPR." He stated as he shifted his gazed to a broken piece of the mirrored glass, seeing only his other side as the reflection. "Once they knew they didn't see me as me. They only saw the monster."

"You're not a monster, Valiant."

"Then what are we!" Coal Yelled, his eyes flashing blue, yet his sister didn't flinch.

Taking a deep breath Winter calmly wrapped her arms around the boy who started shaking and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"You are you. That's all you've ever been. Since the day you were born you've been looking out for Weiss, done everything you can to make sure she is happy, even at the cost of your own happiness. And it's not just Weiss you sacrificed yourself for… When you became a soldier you always took the harder hits to make sure others stayed alive. Even when someone didn't make it, no one took their deaths harder than you and you pushed yourself to be stronger for the next fight. You want to know who you are? You're my brother, my brave little soldier. My Coal Valiant."

Coal's shaking only increased when Winter used his nickname. He only ever got called Valiant when she was in a good mood, which was very rare indeed. He couldn't take it anymore.

"We're none of those things. Just let us go. It'll be easier that way… We can only bringSuffering." He whispered, though Winter could still hear him.

"You have always been those things and you always will be and you never caused any suffering to me or Weiss, and I doubt you caused any of your teammates it either. You are too thick headed to change who you are. But that isn't a bad thing Coal… I love who you are and who you have become little brother. You call yourself a monster yet that is not what I see. I only see my brother standing against anyone who would do the people he cares about harm. You have a strength that few people have in this world. The strength to die fighting against those who would dare touch your loved ones and still rise again to protect them. That is what makes you who you are Valiant. That is why you deserve that name." Coal's shaking continued, Winter knew that his silence meant that she was getting through to him when he couldn't make a comeback. "Let it out Valiant… You've kept it in long enough."

And let it out he did. It started with small whimpering sounds that evolved into a soft sob. Before long he was screaming, crying out and lashing out into the chest of his older sister, releasing 17 years' worth of bottled up tears and emotions. Winter knew for a fact that this was the first time he had shed a single tear throughout his whole life, the first time he had cried at all. He screamed and thrashed about for a solid 20 minutes before eventually crying himself to sleep in his sisters arms. Winter had taken all his abuse from his body's outburst and had wiped away every bit of the waterfall of tears that he produced during that time. She had expected to receive a few bruises when she came to collect her brother, but not this way. She had never seen her brother so vulnerable. She would make sure that he would never need to feel like this again as she smiled down at the peaceful expression on her sleeping brother's face. The most peaceful sleep he had probably had in years.

"It doesn't matter who you were Coal." Winter said as she brushed a strand of black hair from her brother's face. "It only matters who you are." Winter noticed her brother crack a very small yet soft smile in his sleep. He had heard her.


(Forest of Foreverfall - Jaune)

'Come on Jaune! Do something!' he inwardly yelled. Only one idea formed in his head and that idea involved his own jar or sap.

Jaune took aim at the ginger bully and threw his jar hard. Smashing the glass against the boys chest plate. Cardin looked down at the sap stain and grew a malicious smirk looking back at the person who threw it.

"Hey Jauney boy. That wasn't a very nice thing to do." He said as he started walking towards Jaune. The blond knight could only back away in both fear and regret of his actions. "Someone needs to be taught a lesson." Cardin smirks as he prepared a fist to strike the blond teen. Which landed hard.

Cardin continued to smack Jaune around, much to the amusement of his own teammates who just stood off to the side and laughed at the spectacle. Cardin, like his teammates was also laughing the whole time as by the time he let up on the blond, Jaune was bleeding from both his nose and lip and also had a rather swollen right eye. Doubled over in pain on his knees, Jaune caught his breath and managed to climb back to his feet, spat out some blood from his mouth, and stared Cardin down.

"I… Won't let you… Hurt them…" He promised in a hollow tone due to his pain. Only to get sucker punched in the gut once more and fall back to his knees.

"You can't even protect yourself." Cardin laughed. "You really think you can protect them? Who the hell do you think you are!" He yelled as he kicked the downed boy and continued his onslaught. Once again getting a round of laughter from his team.

GRRRRR~

Cardin stopped his beat down and looked to his left at the bushes to see a pair of crimson red eyes behind the amber leaves. Out of the forest emerged a large Ursa major, and it looked hungry.

Immediately team CRDL began to run away screaming in fear at the sight of the beast, unfortunately for Cardin, being the closest meal to the beast, got cut off and took a hard slash to the side. Thankful that his Aura took most of the hit, Cardin started to crawl away as quickly as he could manage in an attempt to escape the beast's next downward slash.

But he was protected, by none other than Jaune.

Jaune reacted on instinct and raised his shield above his head in order to protect his tormentor. It didn't matter who it was, it was a knight's job to protect those who can't protect themselves. Just like the hero's he was told stories about, just like his grandfather and just like Coal had done for his twin. Jaune swore in that moment that he would become strong enough to stand in front of those who needed protection, take the hits that were intended for them and no matter how close he was to death, he would stand up once again with his shield raised in defiance to those that would hurt the innocent and to swing his sword at those who deserved it.

Jaune thrusted he shield forward and pushed the beast back, standing back to his feet and setting his stance, Jaune began a series of wild strikes and slashes which cut deep into the flesh of the Grimm. Once the beast recovered from its stunned state, it made to swipe at the boy who had caused it pain, its hunger deepened.

Jaune saw the strike coming and raised his shield once more to deflect the swipe from the gargantuan creature. Directing the creature's blocked arm downward and away from himself, Jaune used the momentum he created to follow through in a spin and strike at the beast's falling form. Cutting its head clean off in a swift strike.

Jaune flicked his sword, ridding it of the black gunk that was the remnants of the Ursa and spoke in a dark voice that he himself didn't think he could use. He had only heard his friend use it a few times but he had learned the impact it had and sought to utilise it himself.

"Do what you want to me… I don't care what happens to me… But if you try and hurt my friends or anyone else for that matter." Jaune rounded and held the tip of his sword flush with Cardin's neck who was paralyzed with fear from both the Grimm and now the knight. "I will kill you."

Pyrrha watched from the shadows of the bushes close by. She thought that she would have to intervene at some point when she found Jaune defending against the Grimm looking very battered and bruised, but he had killed the beast all by himself without her assistance. She knew that he needed the confidence boost and after what had transpired here she knew that Jaune would be feeling a lot better. If necessary, she would have used her semblance to assist the knight.

One thing she did observe as Jaune began to walk away from the still paralyzed Cardin was that Jaune was serious about his statement to Cardin. Jaune had a heart just like her rivals, they both wanted to protect everyone no matter the cost. But there was several differences between the two boys. Jaune wasn't plagued by a darkness that was brought about through pain and despair. Coal was gone, he had left in order to go to who knows where in order to either escape from himself or to protect his friends from himself. Pyrrha didn't really know the true answer to that part. The last and final difference, was that Pyrrha thought that Jaune had a much tighter ass. She enjoyed the sight of her partner walking away more than she should have.


(Airship - Coal)

After being discharged once again from the hospital, Coal had been taken to an airship where he would be transported back to Beacon. He was forced into a clean bedroom which also had a small bathroom connected to it with a shower and been ordered by his older sibling to take a good scrubbing. He hadn't showered since he had admitted himself to his prison so he quickly agreed.

Coal stood facing the mirror inside the bathroom starting at his reflection. Taking long and deep breathes he knew he needed to do something that he used to avoid doing for a long time. Taking one more final breath he stood up straight and called upon his semblance, creating a time dilation glyph beneath his feet and entered his timeless void. A place where he was isolated from everything, except for himself. Both sides of himself. As soon as Coal stepped into his void, Cobalt appeared in the mirrors reflection also, standing just behind his original. Coal turned to finally speak face to face with his other half for the first time in a long while.

It had been years since the two had conversed like this. Yet something was clearly different. For the last five years Cobalt, his second persona, had always reflected himself. The major difference was that he had glowing blue eyes and was usually covered in the blood of his victims. Now though, Cobalt wore a black hooded trench coat which was similar in design to Coal's. the rest of his attire also matched Coal's and he even donned the Schnee brand of the back of the coat, though it was white. He really was the boys true reflection with the reverse colour scheme. Yet there was no blood. For the first time in years Coal was able to look at himself without seeing the cloak of blood. A sight which made him truly happy.

"You know this isn't part of the plan Coal." Cobalt said.

"I know… But Please, let us have this. Let us be the person who she sees us as. For her and for Weiss, let us be their Coal Valiant."

Taking a deep sigh Cobalt answered.

"Alright. For the sake of our sisters, I will remain dormant as well so that you can play house with those fools you deem as friends. But when the time comes, we stick with the plan."

"I promise." Coal assured his counterpart. "You know we don't break promises right. This plan of yours better work Cobalt. It's already a pain splitting my soul to summon, never mind what you have planned."

"I know. Least we can say for sure who we are now." Cobalt replied as the two shared a quick fist bump. Coal grew an evil grin while his counterpart grew a childish smirk.

"Of course we can…We are Coal Valiant."They both said at the same time with determination. Silently promising each other to remain true to themselves.

Coal deactivated his glyph and immediately headed for the shower, stripping in the process and grabbing a bottle of dye remover. He did promise his twin that he would always come back, even if he died in a fiery explosion, he would somehow make it back. This time, he would be a changed man. He needed to be.

Coal felt for the first time in five years, that he was finally on the right path to becoming whole...

HUNGRY


A/N

I know what some of you are thinking. How the fuck can there be two Coals? Well basically it's all to do with his glyph on his back. It's a gateway to his summoned Grimm and monsters which he subconsciously relies on. The pain it causes him leaves him so delusional that he imagines Cobalt as though he was really there inside the timeless void with him. The only reason Cardin was also able to see Cobalt at the end of their fight was because of Coal's mind being at war with itself about killing Cardin, thus he subconsciously split his aura into two halves, one as the original Coal and the other Cobalt, who had merged with the mist and left over dust around the glyph to basically appear as a ghostly figure to Cardin's eyes. Coal and Cobalt are the same person yet different at the same time. They survive inside the same vessel yet neither is in full control at any one time which results in a mass of headaches and pains on the original Coal's body and Cobalt's voice as a ringing in his own head which his delusions translate into actual words. However that does not mean the Cobalt doesn't truly exist…

Cobalt is a part of Coal. a side to him that was brought about from his past experiences. The part of him that will shut off all other emotions in order to survive and also punish those who he deems necessary. Cobalt is not a second soul. He is other half of Coal's soul that was split since childhood.

By the way did anyone get my little reference?

Dr Alexander Jacks

Dr A. Jacks

Ajax - Deadpool

HA! I crack myself up.

Please review. I want to know what you guys think so far. If there's something you either want to see or think I can do better at. please let me know. I'm still learning here so let me know how I can improve.

BYE! BYE!