Author's Notes: After about a month, Chapter 11 is now here! Hope you enjoy, I put a lot of work into this chapter!
What It Takes
Chapter 11: War
Wai stood his ground as the girl lunged at him with her katars, triple bladed gauntlets. The sound of metal on metal rang out through the arena, as both teams clashed with each other. They were participating in a volunteer sparring match against the members of Team Indigo, who were a year above them. He was unsure what this match was supposed to teach, but all Wai knew was that he wanted to beat them.
We easily have the capability, reasoned Wai as he parried another strike from his opponent's katar, we just gotta plan correctly.
His opponent was a tall female bird Faunus with a thin face and pale white skin. He knew that she was a Faunus because she had black feathers on her head instead of hair. As he clashed the blades from his gauntlets in between her triple bladed katars, his blue eyes met her yellow ones. They glared at each other, trying to gain the upper hand in their clash. She had a small silver hoop earring in one ear, which swung back and forth as she struggled against Wai's brute force. He was easily stronger than her, and Wai knew it. He smirked at her as he pushed against her, attempting to put her off balance. Unfortunately, that was exactly what the Faunus wanted him to do. As she felt the increase in pressure on her black gauntlets, she quickly sidestepped, her dark purple cloak swishing with her. While Wai was off balance the girl quickly kicked him in the chest, sending him a few feet across the floor, his blue boots scraping against the floor. Trying to catch his breath, Wai stood up shakily.
She thinks she's so smart, thought Wai as he took ragged breaths. As he stood there, he took in the rest of his opponent's appearance. She wore a long sleeve, button up, purple blouse with a black under shirt and black skinny jeans. The jeans came up a bit short, showing off her ankles and her blue belly flats.
Certainly odd attire for combat, Wai pondered to himself, readjusting his leather jacket. Alright, let's see how you deal with plan Alpha.
Wai retracted his blades to defend his upper arms as he prepared his grenade launchers. The girl charged in, preparing to bull rush him. Wai raised his gauntlet and fired a single grenade. The grenade hit the Faunus' feet, causing her to take a reactionary jump. However, when she landed, Wai was no longer there. He had run to get behind her while the smoke was clearing. Blades drawn, Wai charged at his opponent.
She turned around just in time to go on the defensive; fortunately, this gave Wai the advantage, allowing him to take control of the fight for a bit. Unfortunately, this girl was skilled at being defensive; she quickly blocked each and every blow that Wai tried to hit her with. Finally, she parried a stab at her stomach away from her, and delivered a quick kick to Wai's chest with the flat of her foot. The blow did the trick, keeping Wai at a distance from her as she retracted her katars into her gauntlets. She then unleashed a hailstorm of bullets from her gauntlets, like some sort of submachine gun. Wai quickly raised his gauntlets in defense, protecting his upper body from the bullets.
When there was a break in the storm, Wai raised one of his gauntlets and fired a grenade at his opponent. She was hit square in the chest by the explosion, giving Wai time to gauge the situation.
He looked around and saw that his team wasn't fairing any better. Re was fighting a muscular, dirty-blond boy with a claymore that easily over powered Re's scimitars. Namra was trying to keep a short, pink pig-tailed girl with two bladed tonfas at a distance. This was failing immensely, as each time Namra used her chain to throw one of her short swords at the pigtailed girl, the girl would evade and quickly sprint toward Namra, causing her to quickly go on the defense.
The pink girl must have a ton of energy to be able to keep that up, thought Wai.
Sylvia was the only one who was not struggling. She was locked in a fairly even sword battle, her falchion against this guy's talwar. The guy was tall with short, light grey hair that matched his attire, a grey button down shirt, dark grey khakis and brown boat shoes. He was more dressed up for a semi-formal gathering than a fight.
Either way, it was clear that they would all be overwhelmed eventually. Even if Sylvia kept pace with the other team's leader, the rest of them couldn't last much longer against their opponents.
And Sylvia is completely oblivious to this, thought Wai irritably.
As the thought entered his head, his opponent charged at him again. Regaining his stance, Wai extended his blades and blocked the girl's attack. He pushed her back swiftly before grabbing Sylvia's attention:
"Sylvia!" Wai called out.
Sylvia turned to see Wai once again struggling with his opponent. The distraction cost her, as the boy in grey sliced her with his sword. Sylvia was smacked backward, almost causing her to lose balance. She looked around and realized that her other teammates were struggling as well.
"You'll have to do better than that," taunted the grey haired boy with a sneer.
Sylvia scowled, she couldn't wait to take this guy down, but first she had to help her friends.
As the boy rushed at her, Sylvia switched her weapon to its bow form, drew a red arrow from her side quiver and fired at his feet. The arrow caused a fiery explosion that sent him reeling back.
"To me!" called out Sylvia.
Wai heard the call and fired two grenades at the Faunus, causing her to deftly dodge out of the way, giving Wai time to get to Sylvia.
The entire team grouped up around Sylvia, as the other team recovered from the distractions.
"What's the plan sis?" Re asked quickly.
"We're gonna switch up positions, like what we did in the forest," Sylvia ordered, "Wai take the big guy with the claymore, Re you get the short one with pigtails, and Namra you take the Faunus with the gauntlets. The cocky one in grey is mine."
"Sounds like a plan," agreed Namra with a slight smile, she had been much more at ease with Sylvia during their time at Beacon. The two of them, through some slight disagreements, had become good teammates and even better friends.
Normally Wai would agree with this plan, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't work. For one thing, he was pretty sure the guy with the claymore could out muscle him. Wai was also pretty sure the girl in pigtails could out speed Re and that the Faunus would be too good of a counter to Namra. Realizing these weaknesses, he decided to relate them to his leader:
"You sure about this?" he questioned, "I don't know if these are the best matches."
"Yes I'm sure," Sylvia snapped, "now get ready: here they come!"
Their opponents came at them quickly, ready for round two.
"Go!" yelled Sylvia.
The plan failed utterly. Wai was quickly out muscled by the severe blows from the blond's claymore, causing Wai to collapse to the ground. The pink-haired girl ran circles around Re, beating him down quickly and the Faunus disarmed Namra, sending her into one of the walls. Sylvia, distracted by the fall of her teammates, was quickly disarmed and knocked to the ground. While Sylvia was on the ground, the boy put his blade to her throat, signifying that he had won. Wai was infuriated at this gesture, thinking of it as an insult to put the blade so close to her throat.
"And that's the match," called out Glynda.
The boy in grey lowered and sheathed his weapon. He extended a hand toward Sylvia.
"You put up a good fight," he said, a smirk still on his face.
Sylvia accepted the hand and stood up with his help.
Wai watched as Re and Namra got up slowly, but did not notice the grey haired boy helping Sylvia up.
As he tried to get up himself, he saw a hand extended out toward him. The muscular blond boy smiled at him as he held out his hand.
"Hey, sorry about that," he apologized with a shrug of his shoulders, "but it is combat class, am I right?" He chuckled at his own joke as Wai accepted his hand grudgingly.
They all turned to stand at attention, while Glynda addressed the class.
"Now as you can see, Team Indigo easily defeated Team Sunrise. Let this show you that just a year of training can help you improve immensely. Hopefully this will keep some of you from slacking off in class." She turned and glared at another blond boy in the crowd, who flinched at her gaze.
"Remember, huntsmen and huntresses must always be performing at their very best, otherwise they won't be able to handle the situations that they are put in. You are all dismissed."
That was quite the match.
Re had entered the locker room after their showdown with Team Indigo. His clothes were only a bit dirty and sweaty from the encounter, after all it was just a sparring match, and barely any damage is done in those battles, usually.
Re frowned, I still feel pretty bad about my last sparring match with Basil, he thought as he put away his shoulder armor, bracers and Scimitars into the locker, he said it was his own fault for not paying attention and he was fine after the nurse took care of him, but I still feel a bit responsible for what happened.
The slam of a locker brought Re out of his thoughts. He turned toward the sound to see Wai standing in front of his own locker next to Re's.
"Tough fight, huh Wai?" Re asked, giving Wai a little nudge.
"Yea," Wai replied, a bit of anger evident in his voice.
Yikes! Must have been really bad on his end, Re supposed.
Wai would get mad sometimes if something didn't go right in a match or if one of his plans had a flaw that he didn't know how to work around. He even dented his locker after a particular match went south. Usually these fits of anger were few and far between, but when they happened, it was usually quelled quickly after leaving Wai alone for a bit.
"Don't worry," Re assured, giving Wai a pat on the back, "they are a year above us, so they have more fighting experience than we do."
"Not a very good excuse if you ask me," Wai mumbled gruffly.
"Excuse or not, it's the truth," shrugged Re, "anyway, I'm hungry, meet you in the dining hall!"
Re walked toward the door, stomach rumbling in anticipation for dinner.
"Wait."
Re turned to see Wai staring at him with cold blue eyes.
Re frowned; it looked like something was troubling him.
"What's up?" Re inquired, concern for his partner evident in his tone.
"What do you think of your sister's leadership skills?"
What an odd question, pondered Re, why on Remnant would Wai be interested in that?
Re shrugged, "I don't know, she can be strict at times, but she ultimately wants what's best for the team."
"Yes, that's off the battlefield," Wai reasoned, slight anger in his voice, "but I mean on the battlefield, what do you think of her then?"
"Well…" began Re, not quite sure what Wai was getting at, "she has good strategies and she's able to get everyone together, even in the middle of the fight."
"What about her listening skills?"
What? Re thought, shaking his head.
"Wai, what's this all about? Why are you asking all of these questions?"
"Because our leader had a lot of issues this match, in case you didn't notice."
"Issues?" Re was baffled; usually Sylvia was nearly flawless on and off the battlefield. For Re the fact that Wai thought there were issues was frankly unbelievable.
There didn't seem to be an issue with her performance today, contemplated Re, but then again maybe Wai noticed something I didn't.
"Yes issues," continued Wai, "she didn't know her teammates were struggling, she didn't use her knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses to plan our match ups, and she didn't try to listen to any suggestions that I had."
Re gave Wai a warm smile, "Look Wai, it was a tough match, but it was just a match. It's not that big of a deal."
"Well it will be a big deal when we're surrounded by Grimm with an incompetent leader."
Re's face fell into an angry frown. He jabbed a finger in Wai's face.
"Don't you dare talk about Sylvia like that in front of me," Re spoke, a deadly undertone in his voice, "she may have her faults but there is a reason she was picked as leader of our team. She's smart, strong and has a good heart, don't forget that."
Re lowered his hand and walked off with one final note:
"You're a good strategist Wai, but a person has to be much more than that to lead a team."
And with that he left the locker room, leaving Wai to his own thoughts.
Being leader may mean more than being a strategist, thought Wai, but I still don't think that Sylvia possesses those qualities to be a leader.
Namra sat in the dining hall. She was surrounded by the rest of her teammates, as well as Team Peacock on her right. They had all become pretty good friends during their time at Beacon. Celestia and Aurelia had always been kind to Namra ever since they had protected her from Sylvia the night before initiation. Aurelia was still a bit cold toward Sylvia due to when she accidentally hit Celestia, but no one's perfect.
I'm sure Aurelia will get over it , thought Namra as she sipped at her soup, after all, Sylvia and I got over our differences.
She looked in Sylvia's direction as she chatted with Re about the sparring match with Team Indigo.
The match was intense; Namra reflected excitedly, it certainly got me motivated to become as powerful as them.
She turned toward Wai who was directly in front of her. He was staring menacingly at his spaghetti.
I guess we all have our own reactions to the fight.
"Wai, you awake in there?" Namra asked.
"Huh?" Wai looked up suddenly at the voice.
"You look like you're trying to bore a whole into your plate. What's bothering you?"
"Nothing," he replied curtly.
At this point, Re and Sylvia had turned to join this conversation.
"Something up Wai?" inquired Sylvia.
"Nothing's up," Wai snapped at her.
"Well don't get all huffy with me," retaliated Sylvia, "I'm just trying to make sure my teammates are okay like a good leader should."
Wai's fist clenched. If she didn't know him better, Namra would have thought he was about to punch her. Wanting to defuse the situation, Namra grabbed his attention.
"Look, we just want to know what's wrong. Was it the match? Are you frustrated with how it turned out?"
"Goodwitch told us it was to motivate us to always do our best in class. Did you find that unnecessary? Or were you offended that she thought you were not motivated?" inquired Sylvia.
Wai stood up quickly, almost flipping the table over.
"I came here to eat dinner, not to be berated with stupid irrelevant questions!" he yelled, making most of the students in the dining hall stare at the scene unfolding.
Before any retort could be made against Wai, he turned and stormed out of the dining room.
Sylvia turned to Namra and Re, "Was it something I said?" she asked, concern in her voice.
Namra shook her head, "It's nothing to do with you. I think he's just frustrated at the fact that we lost the match. Give him time, I'm sure he'll calm down."
Re, however, was silent during this conversation, stirring his chowder absentmindedly, not looking at either of them. He almost looked as angry as Wai did.
Why is he just sitting there? Namra thought, does he maybe know more than he's telling us?
Namra decided not to push the issue, as she was sure that if Re wanted to say something he would have said it already. Instead, they just sat there and ate there food in silence, wondering why their friend was acting like this.
POOMP!
Wai hit the punching bag again as he tried to figure out exactly how he was feeling right now. The impacts of his fists echoed through the gym. Only a few people were there besides him, a blonde girl also at a punching bag, a brunette with red highlights on a treadmill, and two male figures that he couldn't make out. Wai was dressed in a white tank top and black baggy pants. Barefooted, he paced back and forth in front of the bag, breaking from his stream of punches.
Sweat poured over his well-toned muscles as he continued to work the bag, trying to let out any emotional confusion with his fists. He hoped that maybe working the bag would help to clear his mind, but so far it was not working.
She's a horrible leader. She cares. She doesn't pay attention though. She's trying. She's not.
I'm not cut out. I'm perfectly fine. I won't be able to protect them. I can do this. No I can't.
But there was one thought that was clear and had no conflicted feelings accompanied with it:
I hate that grey haired kid. He's cocky and disrespectful. Holding his sword to Sylvia's throat was completely unnecessary and rude.
His punches started to become more and more forceful.
Stupid. Rude. Uppity. Little. Brat.
He punched the bag with all his might, causing the whole bag to nearly come off its chain. Wai took a few deep breaths while the bag swung back and forth for a bit. He wiped the sweat off his brow before taking a swig from his water bottle. When he finished he saw the gym door open and the grey haired boy walked in with his dirty blonde teammate. They were also dressed in workout clothes, the blonde in a yellow shirt and black shorts and the grey kid in an off-white tank top and grey sweatpants. The two of them walked up to the sparring mat and prepared for hand to hand combat.
More anger rose up in Wai at the sight of the grey haired guy, but he ignored them, wanting to focus more on the punching bag. As he continued, he overheard the conversation between the blonde and the grey kid.
"So she didn't study and she still got a B on the exam?" asked the grey kid.
"Yea! I'm telling you, Carissa is really good at retaining information in class, even without writing it down!" replied the blond, "And it certainly pisses off Orchid, she studies so much for everything and then Carissa just goes in and gets a B without studying."
"She really should study," commented the grey haired kid, "she may have gotten a B this time, but next time could be different."
"Come on Icarius," reasoned the blond boy as he took a swig from his water bottle, "give her a break. You're always giving her a hard time about that, but she always does fine using her own methods."
They both took stances preparing to spar.
"All I'm saying is that you should let her use her own method, as long as it works," finished the blond kid.
"Look Guilford," replied Icarius, "I'm the leader of our team, I'll decide how to lead it."
With that they began to spar. Icarius was certainly taller than Guilford, but Guilford had more muscle mass. The two traded blows back and forth, pretty evenly matched as they sparred. Wai watched them for a bit longer before going back to his punching bag.
A few minutes went by and Wai finally felt satisfied with his workout. Sweat still glistening on his arms and forehead; he took a drink of water when he overheard the two talking again.
"So what did you think about the match earlier today?" asked Icarius as he blocked a punch to his stomach.
Wai put his drink down and listened intently. Normally he would have ignored the conversation they were having, but he wanted to know what impression they had made on the upperclassmen.
Besides, thought Wai, I want to see if Icarius is as much a jerk as I thought.
"I thought they fought well," replied Guilford, "We may have won today, but I'm sure with another year or two under their belts they could beat us."
Wai cracked a slight smile at that, appreciating the compliment from Guilford.
Icarius laughed, "Really?" he asked, "Is that what you really think?"
Wai frowned at this, anger starting to swell up from the grey boy's attitude.
"Yes," replied Guilford, "the ending call made by their leader may have been questionable, but overall they performed well."
Icarius chuckled again, "Well, you must not have seen all of the fight, because they were struggling against us the entire time. The end call made by their leader was merely the end result of their poor performance."
Anger flooded over Wai as he continued to listen to this guy bash his team's performance.
"What about the silver haired girl you were fighting?" asked Guilford, "She seemed to hold her own against you."
"Please," Icarius replied, "I took it easy on her; she wasn't worth any of my skills. How on Remnant she got into this school is a mystery to me, never mind the fact that she became leader of a team. She and her team don't deserve to be at this school."
That was the last straw. Wai walked away from the bag and towards the sparring mat.
"You should watch what you say," Wai declared through gritted teeth, "you never know who could be listening."
Icarius looked at Wai and laughed, "Aww are you butt hurt about what I said? I guess it's true, the truth really does hurt."
Wai walked onto the mat and took a stance. He was not going to let this punk get away with saying such things about his teammates.
"You. Me. Right now."
Icarius laughed again, "Go back to your dorm already," he said, still chuckling, "you're not worth my time. Maybe one day you'll be slightly better than you are now, but I doubt it."
Wai had had enough. He charged forward quickly, slamming his fist into Icarius' side. He was sent tumbling to his right and onto the mat. He got up swiftly as Guilford moved in front of him to fight Wai.
"No," Icarius commanded, steel in his voice, "he's mine."
Guilford walked off, as Icarius readied himself.
The entire room had gone quiet as they watched the two students circle around on the mat. As they stared each other down, Wai's mind worked furiously as he analyzed his situation.
He's taller than me, giving him the height advantage. He's also lighter, making him more agile. But I'm stronger and more versatile, which makes it easier to defend against him.
Wai's blue eyes stared at Icarius' cold grey eyes, trying to anticipate his first move.
I'll have to be careful though; he has more experience in combat than I do.
Icarius continued to circle around the mat as they each waited for the other to make the first move. Tension filled the air as the room waited for the battle to start.
Finally, Icarius lunged at his opponent, jumping and launching a spin kick to Wai's right side. Unable to move out of the way, he blocked the kick with his right arm, and readied a counter attack. Icarius landed back on the mat and jumped away from Wai. As Icarius got back in his stance, Wai had reached him. He launched his right fist directly at Icarius' face. Icarius grinned and then deftly dodged out of the way, stepping to Wai's left side. He then delivered a swift kick to Wai's side. Wai recoiled from the attack and turned to face his opponent. Icarius then charged again, delivering another jumping spin kick. Once again, Wai blocked it with his right arm, taking minimal damage. Icarius, once again, jumped away, distancing himself from Wai.
Wai grew frustrated at his inability to hit him, as they continued to repeat the process a few more times, with Wai missing a punch, receiving a side kick and then blocking a spin kick.
Come on, thought Wai, there's gotta be a way to hit this guy.
After blocking another spin kick, Icarius changed it up. Instead of jumping away, he spun back around, delivering a second kick with his left foot towards Wai's head. Seeing the sudden change, Wai ducked under the second kick and followed it up with a left handed jab to Icarius' lower back. He then swung a right hook toward the same spot, dealing as much damage as he could, until Icarius rolled away. Standing back up, Icarius faced Wai again.
"You'll have to do better than that against me," he taunted.
Frustrated by his taunt, Wai charged at Icarius against his better judgment. Icarius merely sidestepped out of the way of Wai's fist and delivered a punch to his ribs. Regretting his decision, Wai quickly moved out of the way, but Icarius followed him throwing quick jabs at his opponent. Wai put his arms up and blocked the incoming jabs. Fortunately, he prevented most of the damage coming at him, but this was not a position that Wai wanted to be in.
I gotta figure out a way out of this.
Icarius sent a roundhouse kick toward Wai's left side. Wai moved his arms and blocked the kick. Then Wai got an idea. Wai grabbed Icarius' foot and elbowed him right in the stomach. Icarius stumbled back from the blow as Wai proceeded to kick Icarius square in the face, sending him backwards, and landing flat on his back. Icarius jumped back up and took up his stance again.
"Lucky shot."
Once again Icarius charged. Wai began to run at him as well, hoping his weight would topple Icarius over. However, at the last second before impact, Icarius sidestepped and tripped Wai. He was sent tumbling into the mat, landing on his stomach. Wai slowly stood up and turned toward Icarius, but was greeted by Icarius' fist in his face, knocking him right back down to the ground. Wai just lay there, exhausted and in pain.
"Pathetic," Icarius spoke, "it's no surprise though. You and that silver haired girl are perfect for each other; you're both just as weak."
Wai's anger flared inside him. He quickly stood up and faced Icarius. His eyes had turned bright red and he was surrounded by a red aura. He rarely felt this much rage before, and he quickly struck.
Icarius barely dodged out of the way, as Wai's fist swung at where he was. Icarius went back to his stance and swung a roundhouse kick at Wai's head. However, the kick was blocked by Wai's arm almost instantaneously. Before Icarius could react, Wai stepped forward and smashed his fist straight into Icarius' face. The punch set him reeling, nearly falling off the mat. Icarius rolled off the mat to face his opponent again. But instead of seeing Wai, all he saw was a foot as Wai delivered a kick to Icarius' chest. He was then sent crashing into a weight rack, breaking the rack upon impact. Icarius was visibly shaken and taken aback by both the power and speed of Wai. At this point the crowd was panicking, and some started to flee after seeing this display of aggression that Wai showed. Icarius looked up again, to see Wai charging again.
Before Wai could strike, Guilford grabbed him from behind, trying to restrain him.
"Let go of me!" Wai yelled, struggling to break free, "He insulted me and my team! Nobody does that and gets away with it!"
With that, Wai delivered a powerful kick to Guilford's thigh, getting the boy to let go. He then provided with another kick to the blond's chest, sending him to the other side of the mat. Wai then proceeded toward Icarius, picking him up by his tank top and threw him back onto the mat. He then approached Icarius, red aura still glowing around him. Icarius lay on the ground, beaten and bruised by the fight, clearly the worse for wear. But the rage inside Wai was not satisfied; he picked Icarius up by the throat and lifted him up.
"Wai stop!"
Wai turned to see Sylvia and Namra in the doorway of the gym. Before he could respond, he felt a kick hit his side. Crying out, Wai dropped Icarius into a crumpled heap, and turned to see Re wearing his red hoodie and standing in a fighting pose. This was a mistake, as now Wai's rage was focused on Re. Wai charged and delivered a powerful punch to Re's head. Thankfully Re blocked the punch in time, but was surprised at the force of the punch. Before he knew it, Wai had delivered a kick to Re's side, sending him tumbling to the mat. Wai then got ready to charge again.
Suddenly, Sylvia grabbed his arm.
"Wai stop it!" she shouted again.
Turning towards Sylvia he delivered a punch toward Sylvia with his free hand. But Sylvia was actually quicker, as she dodged the punch, ducking down and grabbing his other arm. Using his momentum to her favor, Sylvia then threw Wai to the ground behind her. The shock of the ground snapped him out of his rage quickly. The red aura dissipated as well as the red from his eyes. He looked up to see Sylvia standing over him, a fist out stretched, ready to knock him out if he tried anything. Wai put his hands up to show that he was good, and got up. He looked around and saw everything he had done. Icarius was in a crumpled heap, with Guilford hanging over him. Re was getting up, not a scratch on him thankfully. Still frustrated with the day's events, Wai grabbed his stuff and walked out of the gym.
"What were you thinking?!"
They were all back in their dorm room. Wai was sitting on his bed with Namra on the bed to his right. Sylvia was standing up, arms crossed and a stern expression written on her face. Re was leaning against a wall; his expression was unreadable as he stared at Wai.
He knows that I don't think Sylvia is a good leader, Wai pondered; he probably wants me to tell her the truth and start talking about what's wrong. Should I?
"Well?" asked Sylvia again, fury in her eyes.
Wai turned to face Sylvia, "It was a simple sparring match," he responded simply.
This did not resonate well with Sylvia.
"A simple sparring match!" yelled Sylvia, "Wai you nearly killed him!"
"Yea, well maybe he had it coming," Wai retorted, anger in his voice as he thought back on Icarius' attitude.
"Listen to yourself!" Sylvia cried, "What on Remnant could he have possibly done to justify nearly killing him?"
Wai looked away; anger filled him as he recounted what Icarius had said about Sylvia and the team. 'How on Remnant she got into this school is a mystery to me.' 'She and her team don't deserve to be at this school.'
"Well? Tell me? What could he have possibly said to make you do that?"
"He insulted me," Wai said through gritted teeth.
If she thinks it was just about me, I won't have to explain everything that's been going on, reasoned Wai, plus I don't want them to know what he said about them.
Sylvia nearly exploded over this information.
"You nearly killed someone because they called you something you didn't like?!" she shouted, making everyone flinch at her words, "Wai you can't just lash out at anyone who thinks you're scum!"
"It was more than that…" Wai trailed off as he received her verbal beating.
"Oh really?!" Sylvia shouted, her hands moving as she reprimanded him, "It was more than that? Well please enlighten us as to what exactly it was!"
"I can't tell you," Wai stated, hoping she wouldn't push it.
"You can't tell us," Sylvia said exasperatedly her hands falling to her side, "you know Wai I thought you were a nice quiet kid, but I guess I was wrong. You're childish, hot-headed, and don't care about anybody but yourself!" Sylvia's voice started to rise again as she continued, "Wake up Wai and realize the world isn't about you!"
That's it! Wai didn't want to tell Sylvia what had actually pissed him off, but he wasn't going to sit here and be called selfish for it.
Wai stood up, "Fine!" he yelled back at Sylvia, "You wanna know why I fought him? You want to know why I nearly killed him?!"
Wai's eyes pierced Sylvia's as he stared at her in a rage, "I fought him because he insulted our team! I fought him because he insulted my friends! But mostly I fought him because he insulted you, our leader!"
When Wai finished, he stood in the silence that he had caused. He looked at Sylvia, who had been taken aback by his words. He looked into her green eyes, seeing her trying to process this new information. She closed them as she continued to think.
Finally she took a deep breath and spoke:
"Look, Wai, I know what you're saying. And I understand why you were angry, but you can't just pick a fight with anybody who decides to insult us. There are people out there who'll think we aren't good enough, but we can't let those people discourage us."
"Yea I know that, but the worst thing was, I agreed with him."
Once again, Sylvia was taken aback, confused by what he had said.
"What?"
Wai looked away from Sylvia, "Ever since the match against Team Indigo, I've come to the conclusion that you're not a good leader. In battles you only focus on your opponent, you lack the analytical mind to make a good strategy, and-"
"Excuse me?!"
Wai looked at Sylvia and saw anger in her eyes.
"How dare you accuse me of not being a good leader!" she bellowed, "I always make sure that my teammates are alright and my mind is analytical enough to come up with good strategies! Also, the match against Team Indigo was supposed to show what an upper-class team can do, we weren't supposed to win that fight!"
"It's not even about the fight today; it's every team fight we've had. I've noticed these things over several battles and not just today's," Wai's voice was increasingly rising as he spoke, "against Team Peacock, Team Ruby, and Team Juniper. You never listen when other people have ideas that might be better than yours."
"So what, you think you'd be a better leader?"
"Well…"
"You think that you could handle the pressure of having to make every decision on and off the battlefield for the better of the team? You think you can notice every little detail on the battlefield?"
"I don't…"
"Do you think you can be selfless for longer than two seconds?"
Wai flared up once again, "You know what? Yes! I know for a fact that I could be twice the leader that you are! I would be a way better leader than you will ever be!"
Re moved in front of Sylvia as a flash of red aura emanated from Wai's body. He looked at Re and saw defiance in his face, saw concern for both him and her, saw slight anger and confusion at the situation. But most of all he saw fear in those eyes, fear of Wai.
A mixture of feelings rose up in Wai. He had seen those eyes before, long ago. Confused and frustrated, he pushed past Re and Sylvia and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
It was getting darker in the library as the sun set outside. Wai was sitting at a mahogany table near the window, trying to use the last of the light to study for an upcoming exam. He stared down at the book, the dying light of the sunset hitting his body, casting a shadow over the page he had been reading for the past half-hour. The words might as well have been in a different language, as Wai's brain couldn't process nor comprehend what he was reading.
That look, I've seen it before, thought Wai as he reflected back on the look that Re had given him.
He remembered back to the dream he kept having for the past few months. It had changed since the first time he had had it; he was running through a dark forest, pursued by a floating hooded figure. Deciding to fight, he turned on the hooded figure and fired a grenade at the figure, causing it to vanish. Extending his swords, he started swinging at the figure as it reappeared and disappeared. The figure fired blasts of some form of energy at him, connecting and throwing him into a tree. The roots pinned him to the ground and Wai struggled against them. The hooded figure approached him and said something, Wai always forgot what, but the end result was the same. Wai's anger flared up, his eyes turned red and a red aura surrounded him and he broke free of the roots and renewed his attacks against the figure. After a bitter struggle, Wai stabbed the figure and watched in horror as the figures hood fell, revealing the figures face. Each time it was one of his teammates, Sylvia, Re, or Namra. Each wore a face of fear and pain, similar to the look that Re had given him back in the dorm.
Wai looked up from his book and turned around to look at the sunset, I don't want to ever cause any of them pain, but how can I promise to keep them safe from myself.
Wai curled his hands into fists; I wish I hadn't gone to Sanctum. I wish I hadn't decided to become a huntsman. Things would've been much better off.
The thought of Sanctum brought up another part of his recurring nightmare. There was one other person whom the hooded figure became. A boy of merely thirteen years old, with jet black hair and dark brown, nearly black, eyes would stare up at him, a nearly blank expression on his face. He would stare blankly into Wai's face and always said the same phrase to him.
"Don't…forget…"
Wai's eyes watered and he hastily wiped them.
"There you are."
Wai whipped around to see Namra standing across from him in her beacon uniform. She walked toward the table as she continued to speak.
"You know, it's really hard to have a conversation with you if you storm out of the room," Namra pointed out.
Wai stood up from his seat and stared at Namra's face.
"There was nothing to talk about," Wai replied simply.
"Nothing to talk about?" Namra asked skeptically, "Wai, you and I both know what happened in the training room."
"I…" Wai paused as he processed what she had just said, "wait, what do you mean both of us?"
"Hello? My semblance allows me to see energy remember?" Namra stated, "Your energy in that fight was much different from normal, you clearly weren't yourself."
Namra crossed her arms, "Am I wrong?"
Wai hung his head and turned back toward the window and the setting sun, "You're not," he replied ashamedly.
Namra smiled slightly at her progress, but it quickly faded as she continued, "With that in mind, why were you like that? It seemed like you were someone completely different."
Wai hesitated as he watched the sun descend further to the skyline.
"I don't want to talk about it."
Namra frowned, "Why not?"
"It's best kept under wraps," he explained, "It's a part of me that I don't want any of you to know."
Namra uncrossed her arms. She started to walk toward and Wai and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I understand what you mean," Namra replied, "more than you know. But you don't have to say anything about it. You just have to apologize to Sylvia and Re. Just talk with them, make everything better, just-"
"Namra," Wai interrupted, "Stop."
The library was silent for a few moments before Wai spoke again.
"I'm not going back."
Namra stood there, confused by his statement. She removed her hand from his shoulder.
"So, you're gonna sleep here and mull things over? I mean I'm sure Sylvia will let you-"
"No Namra," Wai interjected again, "I mean I'm leaving Beacon. I'm leaving the team."
A heavy silence fell as Namra took in Wai's words.
"But…" Namra started but couldn't finish her sentence.
"You're all in danger with me around; you saw what I almost did to Icarius. I couldn't live with myself if I did that to any of you."
"But…you don't have to leave," continued Namra, "You can stay here, work things out with Sylvia. Be extra careful. You can-"
"Namra, please," Wai spoke, his voice cracking, "it's hard enough to make this decision as is. But it's the best for everyone if I leave. Just trust me."
They stood in another heavy silence. Tears began to fall down Wai's face as he waited for his friend to respond.
Just leave, Wai pleaded in his head, just leave me here, and make it easier for me to leave this all behind.
Something collided with Wai's body and he felt Namra's arms wrap around his body. Her head buried into the middle of his back.
"Please don't leave," she pleaded, her voice muffled, "I don't want to lose you…"
Wai closed his eyes, but he did not reciprocate the hug. He had to let go.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in a controlled voice.
After a pause, he felt Namra slowly release him from her hug. She turned away from Wai and walked away from him and toward the library's exit, leaving Wai in his misery.
Wai stood there, taking in the decision that he had just made, wondering if he could really leave everybody behind.
I have to, he reasoned with himself, even if I don't want to, it's for the best.
The door opened, it was dark and quiet, just as Wai had expected. It was night time and everybody was lying in their beds as the moon shown against the closed curtains. He could hear the steady breathing of his teammates showing that they were definitely asleep.
Good, thought Wai, That'll make this much easier.
He listened intently, making sure he hadn't woken anybody up. Satisfied that he hadn't, he moved over to his luggage. He packed silently, put his blue leather jacket over his white shirt, put on his boots and walked out of the room. He closed the door, taking one last look at his sleeping teammates, the ones he had bonded with over the past couple months, the ones who he had had great memories with, his true friends.
Wai shook his head, No, it's better off this way.
He walked through the empty halls, hoping that he didn't run into anybody on the way to the front doors. Luckily, he reached the doors without any incident. He took a deep breath, mustered up what courage he could, and opened the doors. The cool air hit his face as he took a step forward into the night. As he took another step, he couldn't help but second guess his decision.
Do I really need to do this? Will leaving the team really solve this?
Wai turned back toward the entrance to Beacon. He didn't want to leave; this is where he met his greatest friends. This is where he and Re had tried to prank team Cardinal. This is where he had made so many great memories.
Why not stay?
Wai shook his head, "I can't stay," he said to himself, "I'll only be putting them in danger."
"Do you really believe that?"
Wai whipped around to see Professor Ozpin. He stood there in his usual attire, his cane in his left hand.
"Professor Ozpin," Wai spoke, trying to collect himself, "what are you doing out here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, calmly, "but I already know why."
Wai hung his head, slightly shameful that he had been caught leaving by the headmaster of Beacon.
"Wai."
Wai raised his head as the headmaster addressed him.
"I understand that there has been some tension among you and your teammates lately," Ozpin continued, "would you like to tell me why?"
Wai averted his gaze from Ozpin. He didn't want to discuss the issue with his headmaster, but Wai figured that Ozpin probably already knew what was going on.
"It's Sylvia."
A moment of silence passed between them as Ozpin waited for Wai to continue.
"She's rash, hot-headed, and inexperienced. She doesn't know how to formulate a working plan and she doesn't listen to other people's suggestions during battle."
Another pause waned on as Ozpin clicked his cane slightly on the pavement.
"I see," Ozpin replied, "so you think you'd be a better leader in her place?"
Once again that question floated around in his head. Do I really think I'd be a better leader than Sylvia?
"No," Wai realized and he looked at Ozpin, whose head was tilted in curiosity.
"Why not?"
"Because for what she lacks in, she makes up for it by trying harder than any of us. She is always working and training us to be better than we are. She cares about every single one of us and shows it by working so hard to improve us. Every time I go into our dorm, she's either working on classes, or training regimens for all of us. While she may not be able to formulate a plan in the middle of battle, or know when to listen to other people, she makes up for all of it through her determination to make all of us infinitely better."
Wai stopped and looked at Ozpin for a reaction.
"I see," he responded after some time, "it seems that you have a lot of respect for her then."
Wai nodded, "More than I can articulate. Which is why I regret ever doubting her today, and why I regret everything I said to her after the battle."
Once again Wai paused. The cool air brushed against his face, almost comforting him.
"Sure she's wasn't top form today, but I know for a fact that she'll work even harder to push past her bad days."
Ozpin nodded in agreement. He had seen their team grow and prosper with her as their leader. She put them through every rigorous test that she could find, even ones that Ozpin had never thought of. Work outs, spars, she even had them trade weapons once so that they would understand what their teammates had to work with.
Ozpin smiled, "And I'm sure that your teammates hold her in such high admiration as well. However, what I can't understand is why you would leave. If you hold that much respect for someone, despite what you've said, you should stay and try to make it up to her."
Wai hesitated, He's right, I should. It makes the most sense, especially considering I regret what I said.
"But something else is stopping you, am I correct?"
Wai looked at Ozpin again, but then quickly looked away as he remembered the real reason why he was leaving.
"There was an incident in the sparring room today wasn't there?"
Wai met the headmaster's gaze, "How did you-"
"Believe me it's not hard to hear about it considering the spread of gossip throughout this school," Ozpin noted with a chuckle, "however; I first learned it because I've been keeping a close eye on you."
Now it was Wai's turn to look curious, "A close eye on me? Why?"
"For the very same reason actually," remarked the headmaster, "When you applied to this school, you passed the entrance exam with flying colors. However, when it came to your transcript, it was a different story."
Wai looked at the ground, knowing what his transcript had said.
"Only two and half years of combat training at Sanctum Academy, kicked out due to an uncontrollable and dangerous semblance."
Ozpin clicked his cane against the ground as he turned toward the school.
"Glynda wanted me to reject you immediately after seeing that on your transcript, but I stood firm, saying that you had passed the entrance exam and should be allowed to enroll at Beacon. She suggested that I should keep an eye on you in that case, which I did. I've had you monitored ever since you entered this school by our staff, each of whom were ready to respond in case something went wrong. In fact, they were about to intervene with your fight with Icarius, but your friends stopped you first."
He turned back to Wai, who was staring at Ozpin, "It's a good thing I did, otherwise I wouldn't have known that you were trying to leave school."
"Yea well even you can't stop me," Wai said, trying to be firm, "It's true, my semblance activated again and I nearly hurt my friends. I won't stay here if it's a risk to their well-being."
With that, Wai turned and walked away from the school, carrying his luggage with him.
"And what about your teammates? You're not going to at least say goodbye to them? Maybe explain the situation?" Ozpin asked his voice still calm and collected.
Wai stopped walking.
"What's the point? If anything that would make leaving harder. It's better that I just leave without them trying to convince me to stay," Wai responded in a low tone.
"I see your point," Ozpin stated, "it's easy to leave people behind when you don't have to see their reactions."
"Easy?" Wai turned around, "You think this is easy for me?" He growled angrily.
"That doesn't mean this is easy for me," Wai yelled out angrily, "do you really think I want to leave my teammates and friends because of this? Well I don't."
"Then don't," Ozpin said plainly.
"But I have to!" Wai cried out, "You saw what happened in the training room. You've been keeping an eye on me specifically to know if something like that happened. You've seen the kind of damage I can do, you know why I have to leave."
"I don't think you should leave."
"Why on Remnant not?"
"Let me start by asking you a question," Ozpin started, "why did you leave the first time?"
Wai was confused by the question, "Why? Because I was expelled, I had no choice."
"Exactly," declared Ozpin, "You weren't given a choice, but you had a choice afterwards. Now tell me where did you go after you were expelled?"
Wai was puzzled.
Why is he asking these questions?
"Well I went home and decided to teach myself combat," Wai humored his gray haired headmaster, "After about a year, I applied to Beacon Academy so that I can continue my dream of protecting the world from the Grimm."
Ozpin nodded, "Yes, that makes perfect sense. After all, it is your dream. Now you are also left with a choice, and what did you choose?"
"What do you mean?" Wai inquired frustrated with his headmaster, "Professor, I have to leave; otherwise my friends are in danger from me."
"But you see, that's what I find so weird," Ozpin remarked.
Wai lost his temper, "What are you talking about?!" he yelled, "How is this weird?! It's perfectly logical; I have to leave to keep my friends safe!"
Wai turned away from Professor Ozpin, "I have no choice."
"But you do," Ozpin responded.
Wai turned around to speak again, but Ozpin held up a hand and stopped him.
"Just hear me out Wai," Ozpin began.
Wai let out a breath and signaled for him to continue, begrudgingly.
"Here's the thing. You had no choice last time; because you were expelled after the event had occurred, preventing you from completing your four years. To make up for that, you trained for a year and then applied to my school to continue your goal of becoming a huntsman. And from the sound of it, you have a lot of respect for your leader and I'm assuming your other teammates as well."
Ozpin looked at Wai who nodded in confirmation.
"And you have also made several friends during your time here at Beacon, some of whom are your teammates. If this is truly the case, why would you leave? It seems that you have everything that you would want here. You're following your dream, you have good friends, and you have teammates who are amazing."
Ozpin put a hand to his chest, "I'm not expelling you for the fight today, because I believe that you have potential, and anyone who has potential deserves the chance to attend this school. With that in mind, why would you let this deter you from your dreams, your teammates, and your friends? If they really are as great as you say, wouldn't they be willing to help you out if you just explained the situation?"
Wai looked down, "I…well…"
He couldn't form a response to Ozpin's questions. Everything Ozpin had said made perfect sense to him, but still…
"Now let me ask you this last question."
Wai looked up, staring into his headmaster's blank face.
"If you hadn't been expelled from your last school, would you have left your old friends behind?"
Wai thought about this for a while, thought back to his friends at Sanctum and how they had reacted to his semblance. About what he had done.
"Yes," he said nodding his head.
Ozpin had not been expecting this answer, and he looked intently at Wai, curious as to what the boy was going to say.
"After what had happened, they all treated me like a monster; they shunned me like I was a wild Grimm. Even if I hadn't been expelled, I would have left of my own accord. I wouldn't have been able to deal with my friends treating me that way."
Wai looked up at Beacon and smiled, "That's why I came here, to get away from any past that I had back in Mistral. I wanted to start with a clean slate. New people, new teachers, new friends."
Ozpin nodded in agreement, understanding Wai's reasons for wanting to go to Beacon rather than to Haven in Mistral, "Yet, your friends took it differently this time. Otherwise you wouldn't be speaking so highly of them right now."
Wai nodded, "They wanted to try and understand what had happened. Not about the semblance though, they just wanted to know why I fought Icarius. They were angry, sure, but it wasn't because they thought I was a monster, they were just concerned about why I was acting that way. They were worried about me, and that was it."
Wai sighed, "They only asked for an explanation, and I only gave them half of the story."
He picked up his luggage and started walking toward Professor Ozpin.
"Thank you," he spoke softly.
Ozpin just smiled and stepped aside to let Wai pass.
He entered his dorm. Everyone was still asleep in their beds as he put back his luggage, changed into a white tank-top and some black shorts, and climbed into bed.
Tomorrow, I'll apologize and explain everything, like I should've done from the start. And my friends should be safe considering there are people ready to interfere if something should go wrong.
Wai turned over and closed his eyes. As he fell into his dream world only one thought entered his mind.
Friends trust each other...