Outcasts and Outlaws

Volume 3, Chapter 2

Return to Beacon

Reading this back gave me so much nolstsgia. Even just this volume, which is only two behind what I'm currently at must have been written about two years ago by now. It's insane to think I've put that much time into this series. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Opening Music: https/youtu.be/zL6lJ3cP6kw

[The Pet Girl of Sakurasou OP 2]

OUTCASTS AND OUTLAWS V3

(Cherry blossoms fly past the screen)

Harewataru sora wa aoku!

(Shows Connors feet running) Chikazuitekuru

(Shows Connor's while he's running)

ashioto!

(Shows Ruby in a cherry blossom tree)

(Ruby jumps down from the tree) Hikaridashita kaze

(She lands in front of Connor)

Ni osa

(Shows Ruby looking at Connor) Reru

(Shows Connor looking back at her)

you ni hora

(Shows them both looking at each other)

Deatteshimatta!

(Zooms on Connor and shows flashbacks of him)

Sorezore no yume!

(Zooms on Ruby and shows flashbacks of her)

Sorezore no mirai!

(Connor and Ruby turn around and see each other)

Makenai

(They walk towards each other) you ni hashiri!

(Shows Mars)

Kizuitara zutto

(Shows flashbacks of Mars)

issho ni itanda!

(Shows a young Connor smiling behind him)

Dare yori mo!

(Shows Jim and Yang eating together)

Nayande

(Shows Jim carrying Yangs shopping)

ochikande

(Shows Yang yelling at Connor) naite

(Yang gets Connor in a headlock) Waratte!

(Shows all of them at a table celebrating)

Kasokushiteku!

(Shows Kane)

Kimi ni todoke!

(Shows Irileth)

Sora wo kakete!

(Irileth tries to hug Kane but he moves)

Massugu na

(She tries again and he moves again)

omoi

(Stephane runs in between both of them)

gyutto dakishime!

(Shows Connor and Ruby together) Kitto

(Zooms on Connor's face when he smiles)

umaretate

(Ruby smiles back)

no tsuyosa

(Ruby runs over to Connor)

wa mune ni!

(Ruby hugs Connor)

Kono kimochi ga tsubasa

(Connor takes Ruby's hand)

ni nari!

(Connor and Ruby run to the Beacon entrance)

Watashi wa watashi wo tameteyuku!

(Connor and Ruby meet up with everyone else at the Beacon entrance)

END

Connor looked at the main entrance of Beacon, from the grand oak door to the spires on the roof. It had taken the team two weeks to travel back from Vacuo, bringing their total time away up to four months. As he looked over the old building, Connor couldn't help but reminisce. He'd met Ruby at Beacon, fought for his life on a few different occasions, and now he had finally returned.

"Are we gonna go inside or what?" Mars complained, standing a ways behind Connor with Jim and Kane. "You've been staring at the entrance for five whole minutes!"

"Uh...oh...yeah...ok." Connor quietly responded, then looked as if he was thinking hard about something.

"What's the matter?" Kane asked, more impatient than anything else.

"Oh...it's just..." Connor sheepishly responded. "I wanted to go and find Ruby before reporting to Ozpin, but I've no idea where she'd be at this time since I've been away so long."

Sighing with a smile, Jim walked up and stood next to his friend, then pointed his robot arm at the clock face of Beacon. "It's quarter past twelve, which means she's probably in the lunch hall with the rest of her team." He informed Connor. "We should go in through the side door so Ozpin doesn't see us and call us to his office."

"All right then." Connor replied and then somewhat nervously said, "Let's go."

Meanwhile in the hall, Team RWBY was sat at their table, having just finished eating lunch. Blake had her head in a book as usual, Weiss was busy studying, and Yang and Ruby were talking amongst themselves.

"Alright, question five." Yang said to her younger sister. "When in combat against a Deathstalker Grimm, which parts of its body should you target?"

Ruby groaned in cluelessness and then answered, "The pincers?"

"No!" Yang corrected. "The correct answer is the eyes or the tail! What's wrong with you Ruby? You used to be so good at this stuff!"

"I don't know Yang..." Ruby replied, crossing her arms on the table and resting her head on them. "Since Connor went on that mission, I've felt so lonely..."

"You have us!"

"It's not the same!"

The side doors of the hall swung open. Four sets of feet walked in.

"I just...I really miss him Yang." Ruby continued, oblivious to what was happening just behind her. "I didn't think it would be so bad, but it is."

The four pairs of feet stopped behind Ruby. A robot hand pushed forward a figure in a white coat.

"I kind wish he'd left me something." Ruby carried on, as Yang saw the four figures behind them. "Just something to remember him by...I keep hoping he'll just walk up to me and say 'I'm back!'"

"Excuse me!" The figure behind Ruby said. "I'm looking for a 'Miss Rose'. Short girl, dresses in red, very cute. Seen her around?"

Ruby turned around at the sound of the voice, knowing instantly who it belonged to. She rose to her feet as she swung round to face him, unable to contain her excitement. When she saw his face, despite being pretty sure who it was before turning round, she was too shocked for words. Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Yang sat with her mouth wide open in surprise.

"Oh, hey Rubes." Connor greeted casually, unable to hold back a giant grin. "How've you been?"

Ruby's response was to instantly jump up and run at Connor, then embrace him in a tight hug. She clung tightly to him, wrapping her arms around his back as she happily sobbed into his chest. Connor looked down at her with a content smile, and patted her on the head. "There there Rubes." He comforted. "It's alright, I'm back."

Ruby pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him, her arms still wrapped around him. She stopped the tears that were slowly coming from her eyes and said, "I really missed you. Yang and the others kept me company, but it wasn't the same."

"Speaking of Yang..." Connor said, looking over at still shocked blonde warrior at the table. "Hello there dear sister of mine-"

Connor was then rudely interrupted by Yang jumping from her seat at the table, launching herself over it, and punching Connor square in the face, knocking him out of Ruby's arms and down to the ground. "I told you not to call me that!" She yelled at him.

While Connor lay on the floor, rubbing his red face and being aided up by Ruby, Jim greeted Yang merrily. "Hello Yang!" He said.

Yang strolled up to Jim, temporarily forgetting about Connor. "How's the arm?" She asked, grabbing it roughly and inspecting it.

"It seems to be working just fine." Jim replied, not at all concerned with how roughly Yang was handling his mechanical limb. While he knew that with her strength she could easily break it, he knew that she wouldn't dare. "Uhh...what are doing now?" He asked her as she held is arm up in the air to get a look at his elbow and then started prodding the screws.

"These screws need adjusting, I can do that myself." She responded, then looked down into the wired area behind the steel plated exterior. "The inside of the plating is rusted, how did that happen?"

"I...fell in a lake." Jim nervously answered, looking away from Yang as she eyed him suspiciously.

"You went swimming didn't you?" She accused, not afraid to be direct.

"No!"

"Don't lie to me."

"Okay, yes I went swimming!" Jim admitted, looking back at Yang, as she got a little mad.

"You...idiot!" She scolded, her grip on his metal arm tightening. "I told you contact with water is bad for metal limbs like this! Do you want it to fall off?!"

"How do know so much about it?" Jim asked, trying to change the subject and avoid getting punched like Connor had. "I didn't know you were such a good engineer."

"I attended Signal Academy before coming to Beacon." Yang answered. "All students there are required to make their own weapons, so I had to become a competent engineer."

Having calmed down a little, Yang loosened her grip on the metal and looked down at it, then instantly grew annoyed again. Jim looked down where she had looked and saw that, because of her brutish strength, she had created a dent in the metal. Yang scowled and began walking away, pulling Jim along behind her and ordering, "Come with me! I'm gonna fix it right now!"

As the two of them left the hall and headed for the workshop, Ruby started chatting excitedly to Connor about all that has happened while he's been gone. She told him that she'd recently spent a lot of time training, along with the rest of her team, for the end of year exams. A couple of weeks ago Ozpin had announced that each student would be individually matched against a specially trained opponent, to assess their battle skills at the end of the school year. The same would also happen in teams, meaning all four members of a team would go up against a specially trained team of opponents, meaning each student would be given two practical grades. On top of that, the teachers were also encouraging sparring matches between students as a way to train for the exams, and as a way to bond with the wave of new exchange students that commonly appeared near the end of each year.

Connor and Ruby's conversation was cut off however, when a girly scream was heard from somewhere in the hall. Then out of nowhere, Nora came bounding across the tabletops towards them yelling, "Connor! You're back!"

Before she could jump onto Connor and cling to him like a child clings to sweets, Kane stepped in front of him and put his hand on her head, keeping her back. "Kane! Let me go! I wanna see Connor!" She cried before Ren appeared behind her and dragged her away as she excitedly kicked and struggled.

As Connor and Ruby watched and laughed as Nora was dragged away, Mars stepped forward and greeted Ruby, "Hello there, Miss Rose. Lovely to see you again. Can I interest you in a pickle sandwich?"

"Uh...no...I'm good." Ruby replied, very confused by Mars' actions.

"Good, because I don't have any." Mars said whilst smiling, thinking he'd just created the funniest joke of all time, whilst Connor and Ruby thought it extremely unfunny. "Now Connor," He continued, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We should get to Ozpins office and report to him, before he finds out we didn't go straight there."

Right on cue, Ozpins voice was heard on the megaphone across the entirety of the hall. "Team KALOS to my office, now."

Connor slumped his shoulders and gulped. Ozpin probably wouldn't be too happy with him for not reporting in first thing, but he decided to put on a brave face. "All right, Rubes, I'll see you later."

Before he left, Ruby reached up and kissed him on the cheek, then looked him in the eye and pleaded, "Don't be long, I wanna hear about your mission." Connor nodded in response, silently promising his quick return, then followed Mars out the hall to Ozpin's office, Kane promptly following them.

About ten minutes later Team Kalos (Minus Jim, who was still getting his robot arm repaired by Yang) were in Ozpins office, all stood in a line in front of him. Ozpin himself sat behind his desk, drinking a mug of coffee as always. Ozpin eventually put down his mug, looked at the three in front of him and frowned. "You should've reported straight to me." He lightly scolded.

"I wanted to see Ruby." Connor replied, sternly staring back Ozpin.

Ozpin saw the seriousness on Connor's face and relinquished. "All right, that's acceptable." He said, and then decided to move on the the main point of discussion. "So, what information did Roman Torchwick give you that lead you back here?"

"Damien's heading south from Vacuo." Kane answered obediently. "There's a chance he found out we were gone and is coming back here for something."

"It's probable he knows we've been looking for him," Mars added, "Otherwise he wouldn't be moving around so much, and trying to cover his tracks."

"Alright, I'll have everyone on lookout for anyone suspicious." Ozpin responded. "In other news, you came back at quite the splendid time. To celebrate the new wave of exchange students arriving, I've arranged a formal party in the ball hall. It'll be tomorrow night at six o'clock, so get yourselves ready for then."

"That's a bit short notice." Connor complained, looking down at his tattered and battle scarred outfit.

"I'm sure someone on campus will be able to provide you with the appropriate attire." Ozpin told him. "And Connor, please don't repeat what happened last time. As touching as your confession to Miss Rose was, I'd rather you didn't drink quite as much as you did that night."

As Connor grew embarrassed by the memory of it, Kane and Mars both turned their heads and looked at him. Kane with regret at remembering that night, and Mars with confused curiosity. "You got drunk? That's new, what happened?" Mars inquired.

"I only had two drinks...someone spiked them..." Connor replied, then looked at Ozpin accusingly. Kane and Mars followed suite, staring in disbelief at the headmaster.

Failing to hold back an amused smile, Ozpin ordered, "You're dismissed." Mars and Kane left immediately, but before Ozpin went to work on his papers, he noticed that Connor had stayed behind.

"Do you want something else?"

"Yes sir, it's about me and Ruby."

Ozpin sighed, adjusted his glasses and leaned back in his chair, having a good idea what it was about. "Go on." He prompted.

"Before we left for the mission all those months ago, you promised me I could start planning my and Ruby's wedding upon its completion." Connor reminded Ozpin. "So what of it?"

Ozpin sighed again, then leaned forward and looked Connor right in the eyes. "I promised that you could do so upon completion of the mission." He explained. "While you are back at Beacon, technically the mission is not yet complete. If Damien doesn't come to Beacon as your team has predicted, you will leave again to search for him."

Connor stared at Ozpin with a look of mixed anger, sadness and disbelief. Then as Ozpin gestured for him to leave the office, he muttered under his breath, "I'll make sure he comes here, then I'll be able to be with Ruby."

Ending Music: https/youtu.be/URQJP9UbjdA

[Nisekoi OP 1]

(Shows tiny Grimm bird flying)

Kioku ga hiraku oto! Kikitai kara! (The tiny Grimm bird flies over young Connor's head)

Kimi ni sashidasou!

OUTCASTS AND OUTLAWS V3

(Shows Connor waking up)

Aa, konna ni mo!

(Connor leaves his room and starts running down the corridor) Taisetsu na omoi mo!

(Connor runs past Mars)

Toki no suna

(Connor runs past Kane)

ga ooikakushite!

(Shows Connor run past Team JNPR as they come out of their room)

Aimai ni shite shimau keredo! (Connor stops at the stairs and runs up them)

Unmei nante kotoba

(Shows Connor running to the top of the stairs)

wa chiipu da nante!

(Shows Connor run down the corridor to the other stairs)

Issho ni warai atteru kimi ga! (Connor jumps down the stairs) Sono hito datarri suru no ka na! (Shows Irileth, Stephane and Nora) Kitto!

(Shows Connor on his back and sitting up)

Minna daji na koto!

(Connor looks behind him)

Sokushi zutzu

(Jim, Yang and Ruby are behind him. Ruby seeing if he is okay) wasurete iku kara!

(Connor smiles back at them and stands up)

Kimi to no omoide wa!

(Connor stands with Jim, Yang and Ruby)

Wazuka dake demo

(Jim walks past Connor and pats his shoulder, and then Connor, Ruby and Yang follow him) takusasete yo!

(Shows the Kalos Crystal)

Sorou hazunai pazura!

(Shows Irileth from behind) Kakusheteta

(Shows Stephane from behind) Saigo no kakera!

(Shows Nora walking)

Kioku ga hiraku oto!

(Shows Ruby and Yang)

Kikitai kara! Kimi ni sashidasou! (Connor pops up)

(Jim appears next to him)

(Shows them walking into Beacon) END