Author's Notes: Hey guys! sorry about the delay, this chapter required some special attention in order to finish. Anyway I hope you enjoy!
What It Takes
Chapter 15: Rumors
His giant claymore sword clashed against the other boy's katana. Despite the claymores immense size, the man with the katana held his ground against the blow of the giant sword. Porphyrios watched from the stands as the two men clashed. He was sitting in the stands as his combat class proceeded. Because of the Vytal Festival, students from other schools were participating in the class, which made for some good combat practice.
The man with the katana pushed back against the claymore, distancing himself away from the blade. The man with the claymore staggered back slightly, but soon recovered. He had long dirty blonde hair, dark green eyes and light, slightly tan skin. He was very well built and wore a bronze colored sweatshirt with the Beacon Academy logo on the front and black baggy jeans as well as white sneakers. Porphyrios remembered that the man's name was Guilford, as Glynda had stated at the beginning of the fight.
The other man had short, red hair, and silky white skin. His eyes were bright green and had a slight build but with well-defined muscles. He was only a few inches shorter than Guilford and seemed to have the disadvantage in terms of strength. He wore a half-buttoned, red trench coat with a white button up dress shirt underneath. He also wore tan khakis and black shoes. Porphyrios knew this man as Asita.
He's the guy Basil, Aurelia, and Celestia met the other day, Porphyrios remembered; let's see if he's any good in a fight.
The two students stood staring at each other from opposite ends of the arena, trying to anticipate the other's next move. Quickly, Guilford charged in with his claymore swinging straight at Asita. Grinning, Asita deftly dodged the attack and sliced at Guilford's exposed side. Guilford staggered slightly, but recovered quickly enough to swing at Asita once more. Asita ducked under the blade and sliced at Guilford again. This time, Guilford stepped back to dodge the attack. He then split his claymore in half, as the two halves of the blade quickly changed into two carbine rifles. He then fired several shots at Asita, who was able to deflect most of the shots with his katana, but still took a few hits. Asita then grabbed his sheath, using it to block the rest of the bullets as Guilford charged in, switching back to his claymore. The blow connected and sent Asita flying back towards the wall. Digging his heels into the ground, Asita slowed to a stop. He then placed his sheath back on his belt and reached for a red cartridge next to it. Ejecting a black cartridge from his sword, he quickly sheathed it and placed the red cartridge into the hilt.
While this happened, Guilford had split his claymore in two once again, taking careful aim at Asita, waiting for the opportune moment to fire. He found his opportunity as Asita charged at him, one hand on his sheath and the other on the hilt of his sheathed katana. Guilford fired several bullets at Asita's legs, trying to trip him up, but failing as Asita quickly jumped and unsheathed his katana, letting loose an arc of fire from the blade. Guilford quickly shielded his face with his two carbines. Taking advantage of his opponent's reflex, Asita landed right behind Guilford and released another arc of fire at his back. Guilford was sent head over heels into one of the side walls, but he got up shortly after, showing his opponent that the fight was far from over.
However, Porphyrios became distracted from the fight at that point, as he overheard two students talking in the stands. Curiously, he listened in, wondering what was more interesting than the fight at hand. As he listened, he overheard the two discussing what they had heard about Asita, which school he was from, and whether or not he was a good fighter. The discussion then turned to Asita's semblance and how some people said that he had 'Grimm like powers' and had 'possibly killed several men to attain this.'
Rumors, Porphyrios thought angrily, filthy rumors that have been spread around by people who know little to nothing about a person.
Porphyrios scowled and then turned back to the match.
Why do people bother with such false information? Porphyrios wondered, yes perhaps sometimes rumors may seem like truth, but why trust information that isn't proven by fact.
Porphyrios sighed. Being a very serious and quiet person, Porphyrios had heard quite a few rumors about himself as well. He had heard how he had 'grown up in a seedy area.' Others had said how he had 'participated in many crimes in his child hood, making him a very dangerous man.' Some even said how he was 'the lost prince of an ancient kingdom long forgotten and well hidden.'
Not sure how that last one came to be, Porphyrios pondered curiously, it's completely absurd. Even the ones that are slightly plausible are still far from the truth.
Porphyrios sighed again and thought back on his past.
The truth, he thought, is much worse.
The boy woke up and quickly got out of bed. He glanced at the clock. It read 6 am, meaning that he was just on time for work. He quickly got dressed into a dirty brown short sleeved tunic and ratty gray pants. He put on his black boots and looked at himself in the mirror. He was relatively tall with short scraggily black hair which was slightly tinted purple. He had brown skin, well-defined muscles and dark gray eyes. He walked out of his room and sat down at the kitchen table to eat breakfast. His mom was already up and eating hers as well. She was a tired woman, with bags under her dark blue eyes. Her hair was a light brown, like her skin, with bits of gray here and there. She wore a thin black robe, because she had not gotten ready for the day yet. She had a cup of coffee in her hand as she smiled wearily at her son.
"Are you going to be late tonight Porphyrios?" She asked.
"Not sure," Porphyrios responded between bites of egg, "There's a lot of dust to be collected still so we could be there for a while."
"I really wish you wouldn't do so much work," his mother pleaded, "between this, patrol, and the blacksmith you rarely have time to do anything else."
"Mom please, with dad gone we need the extra income," Porphyrios reasoned, "No one else is gonna help us, so I have no choice."
His mom sighed, "Okay, but please be careful."
Porphyrios smiled slightly, "Don't worry I will."
Porphyrios then stood up and walked out the door, waving goodbye to his mother as he headed to work.
He walked out into the town. It was a small town outside the city of Mistral, away from the safety and protection of the kingdom. Porphyrios walked down the dirt roads, looking around at the houses and stores on either side of him. He had seen them before, but it was always nice to look around and observe new things happening. His house was near the outskirts of the town, but that didn't mean much considering that most of the town was close together and easy to get to.
"Hey Porph!"
Porphyrios turned to see his good friend Stormy running up to him.
Stormy had long smoky gray hair, olive skin and mocha brown eyes. She also had well-defined muscles and wore similar clothes to that of Porphyrios, but hers were much dirtier. She was around the same age as Porphyrios was but she looked at least a few years older.
"Hey Stormy," Porphyrios replied, "How are you doing?"
Stormy's smile faded, "Dad's angry at mom again and I nearly missed my alarm for work," She replied solemnly, "so, not great so far."
Porphyrios frowned, "Sorry to hear that. You know you can stay at our house anytime you need to, my mom wouldn't mind."
Stormy gave Porphyrios a half smile, "Thanks, but I'll be okay, just gotta get through it, one day at a time."
Porphyrios grinned back, One day at a time, he thought as they made their way to the gray bus that would take them to the dust mines.
Porphyrios' reminiscence was interrupted as once again the two warriors clashed, blade to blade in the arena. Asita grabbed his sheath again as it transformed into a black short sword. Using it Asita quickly disarmed his opponent and placed his katana against Guilford's throat.
"Well done both of you," Glynda commented, "you should both have no trouble qualifying for the tournament."
Asita bowed to Glynda as show of thanks while Guilford simply nodded, too breathless to speak.
"Alright," Glynda turned her attention to the crowd, "who would like to participate in the last match of this class."
A boy with short, light gray hair stood up immediately. The boy wore a gray button down shirt, dark gray khakis and brown boat shoes. He looked annoyed about something.
"I will, and I'd like to fight Asita," the boy declared pointing his finger at Asita who was still standing in the arena.
"Icarius, Asita has just finished a fight," Glynda stated, "pick someone else."
"No, I want to fight him."
"Why would you want to fight me?" Asita inquired curiously.
"Because you've proven to be a slightly worthy opponent after beating my teammate Guilford," Icarius stated, "you must think you're so tough after that, but I'm gonna knock you down a peg by showing you how strong we really are."
Asita smiled slightly, "I would be polite and say that's an honorable reason for a fight, but the truth is, it's not. You clearly think your team is better than anybody else's, and wish to prove it despite it not being true. So the answer is no, I won't feed into your oversized ego."
Icarius smirked, "Well you refusing to battle me just proves how inferior you truly are, can't say I expected any more from Atlas students."
Now a girl stood up from the crowd. She had short, coarse black hair and hazel eyes. She wore a black hooded form fitting jacket, skinny jeans and running shoes. She had three different silver piercings on her ear, a black face scarf around her neck and a black panther tail that rested on the ground below her.
"If you think you're so much better than Atlesian students, why don't you prove it by fighting me?" the girl spoke.
"Ebony there's no need for that," Asita said calmly.
"Yea, stay out of this girl," Icarius warned, "if you know what's good for you."
Ebony glared at Icarius, "If you don't mind Professor, I would like to fight Icarius."
Glynda blinked warily, wondering if she should allow this to continue any further.
"Very well," she said, "Icarius, you have your opponent."
Icarius grimaced.
"Fine," he said begrudgingly and then he smirked, "If only to put this girl in her place."
The two students entered the arena. Icarius drew his curved talwar sword and held it forward with his right hand. Ebony pulled her facemask over her mouth and nose and then unsheathed her thin bladed short sword. She held the weapon in her right hand so that it faced away from the middle of her body. The fight began and both students circled each other, trying to anticipate the other's first move. Icarius stared at his opponent, trying to look for any clue as to where she was going to strike. However, with her scarf covering most of her face and the rest of her body being completely still aside from her circling, it was near impossible to detect any kind of clue as to where she would strike. Ebony knew this and used it to her advantage.
She quickly sprung from her spot and was upon Icarius before he could even react. Ebony sliced him across the stomach, sending him straight into the wall. Icarius hit the wall hard, but recovered just in time to block the next attack with his blade. Icarius then kicked out at Ebony, hitting her in the chest. Using the momentum of the kick, Ebony back flipped out of Icarius' attack range. She then grabbed a shuriken at her belt and threw it at her opponent. Icarius sidestepped out of the way as the shuriken exploded in a cloud of fire dust, making Icarius stagger back slightly. Ebony used this opportunity to charge at Icarius again with her sword. Once again Ebony's blow was blocked by her opponent's blade, but this time Ebony followed up with knee to Icarius' stomach. With the wind knocked out of him, Icarius hunched over, giving Ebony the chance kick Icarius into another wall. He staggered as he tried to stand up after the onslaught. He glared at his opponent as she stood there, waiting for his next move. Icarius then decided to change tactics.
He pressed a button on his sword which lengthened the blade and transformed it into a sniper rifle. Icarius stared down the scope and fired several shots at his opponent. Ebony blocked the first few blows with her sword but as the shots continued, she became over whelmed and took a few hits. Icarius fired one more shot which knocked Ebony's sword out of her hand. She grabbed a shuriken from her belt, but that was also shot out of her hand.
Good shot, thought Ebony as she crouched down low, her panther tail swishing back and forth, but let's see you hit me after this.
Icarius aimed down the sight for another shot as Ebony lowered her facemask and blew into the air. From her breath, black smoke formed all around her, obscuring most of the arena from view. Icarius stood surprised, looking around for his target, but he could see nothing within the black smoke. Back stepping slightly, Icarius fired a few shots into the smoke, hoping to hit her somehow, but to no avail. Then, as if out of nowhere, Ebony leapt from the smoke and slammed her heel straight into the top of Icarius' head. Stunned by the blow, Icarius hit the ground hard and didn't move for quite some time. Ebony stepped back as the smoke cleared from the arena. Icarius stood up very slowly as Glynda called the match.
"It looks like Ebony is the winner of this match," Glynda said, "You should have no trouble qualifying for the tournament."
Ebony bowed slightly toward Glynda and went back to her seat.
"Icarius next time try to leave your vendettas off the battle field. Lack of focus on your opponent is what led to your defeat in the first place."
Icarius glowered at her, but made no comment as he picked up his sniper rifle and walked back to his seat.
"That's all we have time for today," Glynda announced, "Please continue to train your hardest for the tournament. Dismissed."
Porphyrios stood up along with the rest of his team.
"That was an interesting fight," pointed out Basil.
"Yea," replied Porphyrios, "she's gonna be hard to take down."
"Well I'm sure we can do it," Celestia chimed in, "we're just gonna have to train hard for it."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Aurelia agreed.
Porphyrios followed his team, his pangolin tail trailing behind him as he began to think more about his past.
Namra was at peace.
She was in a field of yellow and purple flowers underneath a bright blue sky. She gazed off to the horizon and saw even more flowers. Laughing, she ran towards the horizon as fast as she could. After minutes of running she finally collapsed in the bed of flowers, giggling.
She then came out of her trance. She was in the Beacon Academy library sitting in a cross-legged position on the floor. Next to her was Wai, also sitting cross-legged on the floor and deep in a trance. She smiled slightly as she sensed the blissful energy from her friend.
I wonder what he's thinking about, she thought to herself as she stood up from her position to face in front of Wai.
Almost as if on cue, Wai awoke from his trance and looked up at Namra who was standing over him.
"How'd I do?" Wai asked tentatively.
Namra smirked at his question, "Wai, as I've said before, the meditation is supposed to calm the mind and keep you more focused on the control and amplification on your aura. You're the only one who can judge how well you do."
"True," Wai spoke as he stood up, "but does it seem like my aura is stronger?"
Namra chuckled, "If that's what you're worried about, yes. It does seem stronger than it was, but it's your control over your aura that will decide whether or not you will be able to control your semblance."
"Ok, that makes sense," Wai replied, "Anything else for today?"
"No, I think that should be it today," Namra responded as she thought it over, "but a couple more days of this meditation should be enough to get you prepared for the next part of the training. Normally it would take longer, but thankfully you have more experience than I did when I underwent this."
"Sounds good teach," Wai said with a smirk on his lips.
Namra giggled slightly at the nickname, "Come one, let's go back to the dorm."
The hallways were crowded as students were heading either back to their dorms after a long day of classes, to the library to do homework, or to the training room to get in some extra sparring for the practice trials in Professor Goodwitch's combat class.
Hopefully I'll be good enough for the tournament, Namra thought to herself as she walked with Wai to the dorms.
However, as they walked, Namra overheard several students making comments as they walked by. Namra had become used to this by now. Being blind, her other senses had become sharper as she relied more on those senses than her sight, meaning that she overheard most conversations in the hallway in between classes. Because of this she heard every single judgment about her being blind. Having been in Beacon Academy for a while meant that the discussions about her died down a bit, and recently she had been hearing a lot about her teammate.
"Did you hear about the blue-haired kid? Supposedly he destroyed an entire training room at school."
"I hear his old school kicked him out for being too violent and destroying part of the school."
"Apparently he attacked some upper classman for no reason and nearly killed him."
"He should be removed from this school! No one wants him here."
These people are just vicious and demeaning , Namra assumed, it's true that Wai attacked a student and destroyed a weight set in the training room, but it was all an accident, it doesn't mean that Wai deserves such harsh rumors spread about him.
Besides, continued Namra, slightly annoyed, this is Beacon Academy! One of the cafeteria's was wrecked in a food fight between two teams. I hardly think one weight set is in any form significant.
Namra sighed; I guess people just enjoy stretching the truth. At least Wai doesn't seem to notice the discussions.
"What's up?" Wai inquired.
"Hmm?"
"You sighed," Wai pointed out, "Usually that means that you have something on your mind. So what's up?"
Namra smiled at her friend, "Nothing," she responded in her calm voice, "just thinking about all the work we have to do this semester."
"Yea," Wai nodded in agreement, "Especially with the tournament this year. Gonna be quite the semester."
They continued to talk about the upcoming work load and the tournament as they approached their dorm. But Namra couldn't help but worry about the amount of rumors being spread about Wai and how far these rumors might go as they spread throughout the academy.
Porphyrios growled in frustration.
He was sitting in front of the computer, once again searching for anything on the people they fought last semester. And once again, he had come up with nothing. No matter which website he searched, he couldn't come up with anything other than what he already knew.
He leaned back in his chair. Damn, he thought, either they've covered their tracks really well, or there really is nothing to worry about.
He shook his head of that last thought, there's gotta be something there, Porphyrios reasoned, the only ones who would be after Basil's family would be the White Fang and there wasn't enough security there for them to be associated with the White Fang.
Porphyrios scratched his beard. There has to be something more about this than just a simple kidnapping. If it was, there wouldn't be such a lack of information on them.
Porphyrios leaned forward, unless I'm searching for the wrong thing.
He began typing furiously, searching for a certain site. He found what he was looking for and clicked on a government site on White Fang criminals. Viewing the page Porphyrios noticed the information was locked out for those who didn't have access.
Let's see if this still works, Porphyrios wondered as he typed in an account name and password. His request was denied and once again Porphyrios sighed.
Figures, Porphyrios reasoned, it has been six years since he's been gone, they clearly would've removed his account.
Something on the site then caught his eye. Underneath a section labeled "affiliations" was some sort of news station. Porphyrios clicked the link and was taken to the news station's site. On it was all of the current news specifically on the White Fang. He then clicked on the search bar and typed in "bear Faunus".
He hit enter and saw as several results appeared in front of him. He scrolled down them until he found a news article on the break out of a bear Faunus. He clicked it and read through it. Most of the stuff there was what he already knew, but below it were related articles, one of which caught his eye. He clicked it and was taken to the next news article, which read "Roano's reign of terror ends."
He read:
Today, the biggest criminal in the White Fang was captured after his attempted attack on the Schnee Dust Company. Roano Brooten will be tried in the coming weeks for his crimes against the community and humanity itself. The bear Faunus has been involved in several robberies, murders and destruction of property.
The article was dated eight years ago and went on to tell of several of his other crimes, as well as the time of his trial, but Porphyrios had already learned something he didn't know before. The bear Faunus' name was Roano Brooten.
Why didn't I look for this before? Thought Porphyrios furiously, I guess we were so focused on how they weren't involved with the White Fang that we completely forgot to check the bear Faunus' connection to the White Fang.
Porphyrios looked at the clock which read 9:45 pm.
I should get back to the dorm room, Porphyrios realized; I have to get up early for class tomorrow.
He got up, grabbed his stuff and walked out of the library. As he walked, he contemplated the new information he got.
Now that I know his name, can search for him and see if I can find anybody he's connected to.
He smiled to himself, and then I can find out who those other people were as well.
"Hahahaha"
Porphyrios turned and saw a few students laughing jovially at a joke that a boy in green clothes just made. The four of them looked so happy together, as if nothing else in the world mattered except their friendship.
He smiled wistfully to himself as he thought about to his old friends from back home.
We didn't have much, but we did have each other.
The bus from the mines had just arrived in the village. A boy with purple tinted short hair and a dirty brown tunic and tattered gray pants got off the bus with a gray haired girl by his side. They chatted as they walked toward the cluster of houses.
"Hard work today, huh Stormy?" the boy with purple tinted hair commented to the girl.
"Yea," Stormy replied, "but I've heard its worse in other areas. At least we don't have to work there, right Porph?"
"True," Porphyrios decided, "but it could be a lot better."
They walked down the street for a bit longer until they stopped outside one of the more ramshackled houses on the block. Two voices could be heard arguing violently inside. Porphyrios looked at Stormy and saw her eyes tearing up slightly.
"Is it ok if I stay at your house tonight Porph?" she asked solemnly.
"Of course," Porphyrios nodded, "Forrest will be coming over for a bit before his patrol shift so we won't mind."
They walked further down towards Porphyrios' house.
"Thanks," Stormy said quietly.
"Any time," Porphyrios replied smiling.
He put his arm around her in comfort as they continued the rest of the way in silence.
Soon they were sitting in front of a campfire in Porphyrios' backyard as the sun was setting. Forrest was sitting with them. He had short spiky brown hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a ratty dark green hoodie and ripped blue jeans. His feet were bare showing his dirty white skin. He was only a few years older than the two of them meaning that he was able to guard the borders of the village. He was currently telling a story about one of his nights on patrol.
"So we were heading back in from patrol," he explained excitedly, "and we heard this noise coming from the bushes. So I asked my partner if he heard it and he said that he did. So we stood quietly and listened closely. Then we heard it again from the bushes. We walked over toward them and saw…a giant bear monster!"
"No way!" Stormy cried, "Those don't exist do they? I thought you only fought wolves"
"Usually. This was the first bear we had seen. Our captain told us it was a different type of Grimm creature from what we usually fought."
"So there are other types of Grimm?" Porphyrios asked curiously.
"I guess," Forrest shrugged, "all that matters is that we attacked and killed it so it wouldn't attack the village."
"That's crazy Forrest," Stormy pointed out, "what if there's some sort of elephant Grimm and it crushes you. I don't want you to die out there."
Forrest chuckled heartily, "Please, there's no elephant Grimm out there, besides I'd be too quick for it. So how's it with you Porph?"
Porphyrios shrugged, "Same as always. Mother's worried about me, work is hard and we're barely getting by."
Forrest sighed, "That sucks man. Why don't you just leave?"
"What?" Porphyrios inquired.
"Why don't you leave this village and go to Mistral. I'm sure the Mistral government can help you with that, after all your father was in a pretty high position when he worked there, I'm sure they can get you and your mother out of this place and on a train to Mistral."
Porphyrios scoffed at his friend, "Do you really think they'd help me just because my father worked for them? They wouldn't offer us a single coin. When my father died, all they did was offer us a hand shake and condolences, and you think they would help us get out of this place? All they care about are the resources and money they take from us."
Forrest frowned slightly, "Sorry Porph. I forgot about how badly they treated you and your mother when your dad died."
"It's fine," Porphyrios reassured his friend, "Besides, I wouldn't want to leave you guys here; you're the only friends I've got."
Forrest laughed, "Don't get sappy on us Porph. We might just have to tie you up and ask where the real Porph is."
They all laughed for a while at the joke and then fell silent. All that could be heard was the crackling of the fire.
"Well I should get going," Forrest said as he got up, "My captain will be upset if I'm late for patrol."
"Don't run into any more bear Grimm out there," Porphyrios called as his friend walked off.
"Don't worry," Forrest called back, "only snake Grimm tonight."
Porphyrios chuckled as he sat next to Stormy by the campfire.
As the night dragged on, Porphyrios noticed that Stormy was playing with her hair, not speaking and staring at the ground.
"What's on your mind?" Porphyrios asked.
Stormy looked up with somber eyes, "Can you promise me something?"
Porphyrios looked quizzically at her, "Perhaps, depends on the promise."
Stormy looked away from him and into the fire, "Can you promise me that when we all get enough money, we'll leave this place and move to Mistral. Promise me that we'll all live together, you, me, your mom and Forrest. Just us and no one else."
Porphyrios smiled at his longtime friend. He turned her face to look into her eyes.
"I promise you, that when we get enough money, we will leave this place and all of the bad people here. We'll go to Mistral and live together happily, just the four of us."
Stormy smiled for the first time since this morning.
"Thanks Porph," Stormy said graciously, "for everything."
Porphyrios smiled at her and put his arm around her. She snuggled up next to him, keeping them both warm as the night got colder.
"Can you promise one more thing Porph?"
"Sure."
"Can you promise me that everything will be alright?"
Porphyrios smiled again, "Everything is gonna be alright, I promise."
Porphyrios sighed as he walked back to his dorm.
If only it were that simple Stormy, thought Porphyrios reflectively as he put his key card into the doorway, unlocking it, So many things have changed.
He opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Basil, Aurelia, and Celestia laughing loudly as they sat on their beds. They all looked so happy just being in each other's company, talking and joking like they usually do when they were together.
Basil turned and saw him, "Hey Porph," he said with a smile, "Good to see you back from studying."
Porphyrios smirked slightly at his teammate's care-free grin. He sat down on his own bed as he listened to his teammates talk more.
As he listened, he remembered something that the man in the bowler hat said to them last semester:
Your friendships will break in due time.
Well I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that never happens, decided Porphyrios as he continued to enjoy his friends' company.
It may not be perfect, but it could be a lot worse.