Author Notes: Hi, sorry that this is so late but a lot of things have been going on recently, but hopefully I'm back on schedule. Also due to recent events, I would like to dedicate this entire story to Monty Oum, consideringhe is the one who inspired me to start writing. Thank you for taking time to read my stories, I really appreciate it. -TheBigWaloo

What It Takes

Chapter 7: Nightmares

Wai was running; running through a dark forest in the middle of the night. Behind him was a hooded figure chasing him, but it wasn't running. It seemed to be floating after him, intent on capturing him. Wai tried to run faster, but to no avail; the figure was almost upon him. He decided that he was going to fight instead. Activating the grenade launchers on his gauntlets, Wai fired at the figure. It vanished in the explosion. Turning around, Wai saw the hooded figure again. Extending his gauntlets' blades, Wai swung at the figure. Once again, the figure vanished and reappeared behind him. Expecting it this time, Wai stabbed behind him. The color red consumed his vision as he made contact with his target and fear entered his heart.

A pillow hit him straight in the face. Wai woke up suddenly, confused as to what had happened.

"Hey you're awake now!"

Wai looked around, there was Re perched atop his bed staring straight at him. He assumed that it was Re who had thrown the pillow at him, waking him up.

"Of course I am," replied Wai wiping a tear from his eye, "you threw a pillow at me."

Re chuckled nervously, "Well everyone else is awake, so I thought you should be awake too."

"So you whipped a pillow at me?"

"Oh come on, I didn't throw it that hard."

Wai gave Re a look of disbelief to which Re replied with a sheepish grin. Wai turned and looked at the clock. It was seven o'clock in the morning.

"It's Saturday," complained Wai, "why are we up so early?"

"Well, the girls left early to go train in the sparring room," stated Re, "and I need your help with something."

Wai looked back to Re, intrigued by the blond's statement.

Wai pushed his bangs out of his eyes and asked, "What do you need help with?"

Re grinned widely, excited that his friend was going to help with his plan.

"Well, recently I received my marble collection from back home," Re started to which Wai rolled his eyes.

Seeing this action, Re frowned, "Don't roll your eyes at me, this is a very special marble collection," Re continued, "I used to use them all the time in my many pranks back at Signal."

Now Wai was very interested. During their week here at Beacon, they had learned that both of them had been trouble makers back at their old schools and playing pranks on other students was one of their favorite things.

"I'm listening," decided Wai.

"So, I heard that team Cardinal has recently been bullying the Faunus and other people who they deem 'weak'."

Re smiled maliciously, "I thought we would teach Cardin and the rest a lesson about respect."

Wai smirked at his partner. It was well known that Cardin and his team were the bullies of the first year class, and Wai wanted nothing more than to get back at them any way he could.

"When do we start?" asked Wai

Re smiled again, "Okay, here's what we are gonna do."

Wai was outside of team Cardinal's dorm. The plan was to break into their dorm and set off a make shift flash bang in their room. In the resulting confusion, they would hopefully make their way out the open door and into the hallway. Then, Re would throw his bucket of marbles out into the hallway, to make it very hard for team Cardinal to regain their composure and their footing. Wai was already grinning in anticipation of the prank they were about to pull.

Alright, thought Wai, almost got the door open.

"Good morning Wai."

Wai's heart stopped. Already knowing who was behind him, Wai turned around slowly and came face to face with Glynda Goodwitch.

"Hello," muttered Wai, knowing that he was defeated.

"Now what are you doing in front of team Cardinal's dorm this early in the morning?"

"Helping them wake up?" Wai replied, pressing his luck.

"Well, I'm sure they can wake up on their own," concluded Glynda, "In the meantime, I think you are due for a meeting with Professor Ozpin."

Wai hung his head as he followed Glynda to his fate.

They walked down numerous hallways until they reached their destination. Glynda opened the door and Wai entered. Inside was a desk, two chairs and one light above the table. There was a window on the opposite side of the door, allowing the morning light to come into the room, making it look slightly less like an interrogation room.

"Professor Ozpin will be with you shortly," Glynda said curtly and shut the door.

Wai sat down in the chair opposite of him, facing away from the window. He had assumed that Re had also been caught and expected him to be in the same room, but he was not there. Wai was infuriated by this.

He just left me to get caught, reflected Wai, some friend he is. Friends are supposed to stick together.

Wai thought back to his years at Sanctum and the friends he had back then. They were all great friends, who trusted each other with their lives. They would always stick together.

Friends always stick together…

As Wai pondered his own words, Ozpin entered the room, a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Good morning Wai," he said calmly.

Wai looked up at Ozpin, "Good morning sir," he said very politely.

Ozpin sat down in the only remaining chair, placing his mug on the table and his cane against the table.

"Would you like a drink?" Ozpin asked.

Wai was surprised by the question, "S-sorry?" he stuttered, put off by the question.

"I want to know if you would like a drink," Ozpin repeated, "coffee? tea? Maybe just some orange juice?"

"Ummm, some coffee would be nice," requested Wai tentatively.

Ozpin took out his scroll and sent a message to have some coffee to be sent to the room. A few minutes later coffee was delivered and given to Wai. He sipped at the coffee and let its warmth course through his body. He loved coffee; it both relaxed him and gave him energy for the day. Not only that but it also cleared his head, allowing him to think more efficiently. Having taken several drinks of coffee, he remembered why he was here in the first place. The calm was replaced with frustration as he recalled how Re had just abandoned him to his fate, not willing to accept some of the responsibility. However, he also noticed that Ozpin hadn't said anything to him since the whole coffee question.

Is he waiting for me to finish my coffee, contemplated Wai, or does he want me to tell him what happened?

Before Wai could ask, they were interrupted when someone came bursting through the door.

"I have coffee for Professor Ozpin!" cried Re triumphantly, as if it was the greatest thing in the world.

He looked at Ozpin and then to Wai, and noticed they both already had coffees his face faultered.

"Hmmm," pondered Ozpin, "how peculiar. I never asked for more coffee. Not to mention I'm pretty sure I don't ask students to get it for me."

Re looked at the ground sheepishly, like he had been caught doing something.

What is he so upset about? pondered Wai angrily, he didn't get caught in the middle of the prank.

Ozpin answered the unasked question immediately, "So my thought here is that perhaps you were here to bail Mr. Siril here out of trouble."

Re looked at Ozpin and smirked, "Yeah, kinda was the plan," he said slightly chuckling.

"But why," continued Ozpin, "would you be compelled to do that?"

Re looked sheepish again, "Sir," he said guiltily, "I was also part of the prank. In fact I'm the one who initiated it. If he's gonna be punished I should be punished too."

"I see," spoke Ozpin.

He took a sip from his coffee before he continued, "Have a seat next to Wai. There should be a chair in the corner there."

Re grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and sat down next to Wai, giving him a sad smile. Wai was shocked by what had happened. The whole time he had been angry at Re for abandoning him during the plan when in fact he was planning to bail Wai out the whole time. He had even gone as far as admitting that he was the one who came up with the plan.

Wai drank more of his coffee as he waited for Ozpin to speak.

"I know it's natural to want to have fun here at Beacon," he said his tone calm and collected, "And I also know that fun can be mischievous at times."

He looked at both of them before he spoke again, "I also understand that sometimes people are close-minded and discriminatory toward people, and that good people do bad things to bring justice. While this is not necessarily where you stand right now, I just want to make sure you don't go down that path."

Ozpin leaned in, very serious all of a sudden, "I'm not going to punish you for what happened here, but next time, I will have to take some action."

With that he stood up, picking up his mug and his cane, "If you still feel the need to get back at someone though, please save it for combat practice."

And with that, Ozpin walked out of the room. A few seconds passed and the two boys left as well.

On their way back to the dorm, Wai was still wondering about something.

"You actually came back to bail me out?" questioned Wai.

Re smiled; "Of course!" he said with enthusiasm, "did you really think I would leave you to be punished?"

"Well," Wai began, "for a little bit I did."

Wai felt stupid saying it right now after what happened, but he figured it was best to tell him the truth.

Friends don't lie to each other…

"Really?"

Re's voice brought Wai back to reality.

"We are friends Wai," Re spoke with concern in his voice, "you should know to trust me. Friends trust each other."

Friends trust each other…

Wai looked at Re and smiled.

"You're right Re. I don't know why I ever thought otherwise," Wai stated sincerely.

Re smiled back, "Good, now let's get some breakfast, I'm starving."

Wai nodded in agreement, but there was still one more thing on his mind.

"Hey Re."

"Yeah?"

"What was your plan to bail me out of there?"

Re grinned awkwardly, "Honestly, I didn't know how to. I just went for it, figuring I would think of something on the way to follow through with it."

Wai laughed out loud.

"Well I guess it's the thought that counts," he chuckled.

"Yep," agreed Re also laughing, "But hey now we know we can go all out against him in sparring class on Tuesday."

"That's true," declared Wai, "whoever he faces needs to make sure he knows we won't tolerate any of his bullying and discrimination."

Re nodded in agreement and together they headed toward the cafeteria for breakfast.

Friends trust each other…

Once again the nightmare last night entered Wai's thoughts.

I guess that memory isn't going away anytime soon, thought Wai as he followed Re.

Friends stick together…

Wai only hoped that the rest of his friends would do the same as he would. After all, they were all Wai had left.