Chapter 4: Trial by Combat:

A/N: Reviews would be greatly appreciated. I would like to know how this story is being received. Otherwise, enjoy this next chapter! And just so you know, Solaris's semblance is essentially Biotics from Mass Effect, with powers like Lift, Throw and Stasis being the ones most similar to what Solaris does.

It was class as usual. Some time had passed between Solaris's confession to Weiss and all the details that ensured.

He was sure the others knew, as they maintained an usual quiet around him, with Ruby looking at him out of the corner of her eye, Blake's quiet looks and Yang's (somewhat) dialled down chatter. Weiss herself seemed to act as if nothing had been said, but whenever they were alone in the room, she would regard him thoughtfully. This mood didn't seem to extend to all things, as when he took Blake up on her offer to read "Ninja's of Love" together (With him explaining in great depth that he never actually liked the series-much to Blake's disappointment-rather, he had read them in a period of isolated boredom. So passed a period of vaguely uncomfortable discussion of the books literary qualities (Or, rather, lack of it, in some cases).

Blake found that Solaris had interest in another, far more complex and detailed world, the world of "Dust and Fire". He had read every single one of the books out to date, a series about betrayal and treachery, war and love, lust and greed. He loved the series to death, and passed on that passion to Blake, who begun to read the series, burying her head in the enormous paperback whenever she had the chance.

Yet here and now, there were other things to be occupied with.

Combat class.

It was round after round of randomly determined sparring between two people, from any team. They would fight until ones Aura was depleted, in tournament style conditions. Solaris had yet to be chosen to take the fight to the field, much to his annoyance. He wanted to fight something. That's what they were here for. He sat back in his chair, watching some nameless person beat the hell out of some other nameless person, the fighting having lasted 3 minutes in duration already. The lacklustre skill of one of the participants, compared to the other, made it a one sided bout. The fight ended with nameless figure A using his throwing axe to hit the second combatant square in the chest, removing the last of his depleted Aura. Nameless figure A bowed to the crowd before shaking his opponent's hand.

"He had some skill" Yang leaned over and said to him, watching the nameless figure walk off the stage. "Did you catch his name?" She asked him, her lilac eyes watching him warmly.

Solaris shook his head slowly. "Wasn't paying close enough attention, I'm afraid. Sorry, names were never really my strong suite" he muttered quietly. Yang bumped him in the shoulder.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'll find out later" she said, leaning back over to Blake on her other side to ask the same thing. Yang had a very odd definition of 'later' it seemed. Solaris was about to content himself to another round of silent observation when Goodwitch announced to the class that the next round would be Nora VS Solaris, much to the delight of Nora and the silent note of approval from Solaris.

"Ohhh! It's you!" Yang yelled excitedly as Solaris got up and proceeded to where Nora was already standing, hammer in hand. He heard the cheers of JNPR for Nora and RWBY(S) for him, with Yang loudly yelling "Go SOL! Go SOL! Go SOL!" over and over again, to the annoyance of their professor.

Solaris looked over at Nora, who was already spoiling for the fight, it seemed, her hyperactive nature bent into a destructive eagerness to fight. Solaris remained calmer, and quietly discarded his trench coat, folding it into a nice pile and placing it at the side of the arena, revealing, for the first time for the masses, his silver armour he wore below. Many knew he had this suit on at all times, but few, aside from those in RWBY, had seen it in anything more than a glance. It was a full body suit, shining silver plate mail over a soft black weave below, elegantly curved and shaped to his body, with a large crystalline silver orb in the middle of his breastplate. Nora looked at it and let out a low "Ohhhhhhhhh" at the sight of the jewel, which was easily the size of her fist. Solaris smiled at her, giving a semi mocking half bow before drawing his weapon and aiming it to his eye level.

Goodwitch waited for the crowd to die down in its excitement before beginning the countdown.

"Three"

Solaris reached behind his back…

"Two"

…grabbed the hilt of the knife that lay there…

"One"

…and begun to pull it free from its sheath…

"Commence!"

…and then spun around, using his momentum to throw Desert Wind into the air, the boomerang transformation already in place as it fired its rounds into the ground, right in front of the now charging Nora, while Solaris pulled his blade out and then stretched out his newly empty hand into an open palm, and willed his semblance into action. Time seemed to slow as Nora rushed through the hail of bullets, only to be thrown off her feet by some unseen force. She landed on her back several feet behind, yet, to her credit, turned the violent motion into a backflip to right herself. She narrowed her eyes. Clearly Solaris wasn't messing around. She looked up to see him within hitting distance of her, diving into a low roll and bringing his fist into an uppercut that connected with her jaw, sending her onto her back once more. Solaris pirouetted on the spot after landing this blow to extend his arm and collect Desert Wind from the air as it circled back to his grasp, his knife in the other hand. Nora jumped to her feet and swung her hammer with such speed that Solaris was taken by surprise, resulting in him being flung back into the wall and a hefty amount of Aura lost. Nora followed through with another attack, a sidewards blow, but Solaris leapt to the side, causing Nora to miss the stroke. She maintained her balance and then turned to face Solaris once more, but he was not going to let her gain the initiative. He opened fire with Desert Wind, the bullets shrieking past Nora as she deftly dived under the hail of gunfire, yet the rate of fire was so great that several shots connected, the kinetic force staggering her, badly depleting her Aura. Desert Wind hit like nothing anyone had ever seen before, the bullets leaving glowing smoke trails in their wake and causing visible flashes of light as they struck their mark. The spectators watched with mixed reactions and emotions as Nora and Solaris circled each other, wised to their others ways. Solaris attempted to dive in and under, but Nora parried with her hammers haft, whilst she then attempted a follow through, to which Solaris deftly avoided. Amongst the onlookers, Yang watched in quiet fascination as Solaris danced and weaved past Nora's blows, while, at the same time, Ren quietly urged Nora on to land a blow that could tilt the fight in her favour.

Solaris, however, then decided to do something so unexpected that the entire crown let out a collective gasp. He sheathed his knife and returned Desert Wind to its home on his back, and then faced Nora with closed fists. Nora seemed quietly taken aback by this change in pace, yet decided to exploit this opening. Charging forward, she jumped into the air, preparing a devastating downward blow. She laughed gleefully. It had been a good fight, but it was going to be cut short.

"Sorry about this one!" She babbled as she begun to fall towards the ground. Her elation was short lived, however, as she found her downward momentum had ceased. She looked down, perplexed, to see Solaris holding her in the air with his semblance. Try as she might, there was simply nothing she could do to escape the gravity field he was manipulating. She was frozen in place, quite literally, stuck several meters of the ground. Solaris was holding her there with one arm outright and angled to her, his fist clenched. His other arm was free.

"I'm sorry about this next bit" he replied, and raised his other arm, and Nora felt herself rising through the air, helpless in his little gravity bubble. She protested loudly as she was raised to the ceiling, then felt all the air leave her as she accelerated to the ground at rapid speeds, the floor coming up to meet her. She hit the ground with a crash, the stage buckling beneath the force of impact. Nora felt her Aura weaken to near breaking point when she was lifted free, still suspended in the air. She was raised to Solaris eye level, who smiled grimly at her, the jewel in his armour glowing with an inner silver light, as if there was a storm within.

"This is the part where you might feel it a little bit" he said apologetically, and drew both his arms back, elbows bent, fists clenched and facing downwards. Nora felt herself caught in the field once more, and saw Solaris glow, literally glow, silver, as he drew himself back and then propelled them both forward, into the wall, Solaris's kinetic assault smashing the wall into fragments and shattering Nora's Aura down to the red as she hit the wall like a ragdoll, Solaris standing a few feet away, his armour aglow with the eldritch silver tendrils that crackled and sparked along the length of his armour. His eyes held an inner radiance, a sort of silver sheen, that quickly dispelled as he dialled back his Semblance. His Aura was in the dark orange.

Extending a hand to the stricken Nora, he helped her up, her eyes frazzled, yet swiftly returning to their normal self as she broke out in a huge smile.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" She yelled out excitedly, throwing her arms into their air, jumping up and down excitedly. Solaris smiled and gave her the same half bow as when they started, his arm extended in a flourish. The crowd broke out in cheers at witnessing this new competitor unleash such a power, and even Goodwitch herself admitted that this was the signs of someone who had mastered their semblance with a degree of unnatural talent rarely seen in anything less than a fully-fledged Hunter or Huntress.

In an ecstatic smile, Nora returned to her seat, to a (quietly relieved) Ren's thanks. Jaune and Pyrrha watched her as she regaled them with her experience, whilst Solaris retrieved his coat, and returned to Team RWBY, who greeted him with cheers and excited back slapping (Ruby), nods (Weiss), handshakes (Blake) and hugs (Yang). Solaris, for all his prowess, struggled to free himself from the inescapable might of Yang's hugs, to the rest of team RWBYS's amusement. Solaris shot them a quick glare, a glare which said "Vocalise any thoughts or statements about this moment in public and I shall remove you from this plane of reality".

The room died down as Goodwitch used her powers to fix the shattered wall, with a quick reprimand to Solaris about moderating his power use in future engagements, before moving on to the next fight. Solaris sat back in his seat and felt his head burn from using his semblance so dramatically. He curled and uncurled his fingers to make sure none where broken, doing the same for his toes. After this fight, there were some other opponents who fought with varying degree of skill, yet Solaris cared not, for he had fought, and the fight had proven joyful, a chance to use skills he had not used since he had left the wilds.

XXX

Yang smiled internally at Sol and his victory. She had not seen such a manner of fighting before, combining precision delicacy with brash aggression to form a style unlike any other she knew about. He seemed not to care for the tactics that others would have him use, combining any and all styles he saw fit to achieve his victory…yet with a semblance like his, he could get away with almost anything. She did not know the limits of what he could throw or levitate, but she felt that they would find out. Solaris never really spoke that often by his own violation, but when he did, he seemed to project an air of unnatural intensity, a sort of eccentric madness that spread to people near him. Yang regarded him closely, his blonde hair in disarray after the fight, falling into his blue eyes. He looked so content that Yang found herself feeling a similar sort of easy bliss spreading to her. This feeling was cut short when Blake tapped her on the shoulder, giving her a smile and a nod as she motioned with her head to Solaris.

"Yang…you can't stare at him all day" she said with a smile ghosting her lips. Yang rounded on her, her expression angry. "I wasn't staring…I was thinking!" she retorted, but before she could follow that up with another statement the bell rang, signalling the end of classes for the day. Immediately, the classroom dissolved into the pandemonium a class always does when the bell goes and bright light of freedom shows it radiant face in the class. People scrambled for the doors in a mad rush, yet Team RWBYS took it slow. Well, four of them did. Ruby immediately rushed past them in a whirlwind of roses, leaving the others behind. Solaris shook his head.

"Does she ever walk anywhere normally?" he asked the team in general. "What could possibly be so exciting that it needs to be attended to right away?"

Yang thought for a moment, before her face light up as she remembered.

"Isn't it all you can eat deserts day today?" she asked, and realization dawned on them. They were going to miss out…

The team suddenly fragmented as they all charged forward in a blitz of madness and insanity, each one trying to forge a path for themselves to reach the cafeteria first. Goodwitch watched the students charge out with unnatural vigour, and shook her head at the thought of the madness that would ensure. If only they applied the same eagerness to class, she thought ruefully.

Meanwhile, Yang was moving like a women possessed to reach the promised all you can eat desserts before this once in a lifetime/once in a month day was gone forever. As she charged through (and over) hapless students, she realised she had left the others behind. Ah well. Ruby had left them behind, so if the leader did that, it must mean every person for themselves. She just hoped she could get a seat next to Solaris.

XXX

Meanwhile, many hundreds of miles away, within a dark vault dimly lit by candles and a softly glowing jewel, a figure stood in a dark robe, their face concealed behind a white mask, with eye slits carved in the shape of some ancient, unknowable pattern. Elegant black plate mail extended over their whole body, identical in every single way to the armour worn by Solaris, down to the fist sized jewel in the breastplate, except this jewel glowed red, not silver, and their armour held the reflection of it, the light casted by it projecting the figure in a sinister style. They remained motionless as they examined a device in their hands, a device which was beeping consistently every ten seconds, the green flash lighting up the hidden lair.

"…it seems as if he wants us to find him…" The figure muttered, to which the jewel in his chest alighted in response, heralding the reply within his head.

"…he is still one of us. He still shares our dream. He has strayed, yes, but he knows the end goal he seeks is the same as ours." Rasped this mysterious, second, voice.

"…How can you be sure? Has he not strayed too far? He is beyond our reach to speak to him, and he no longer projects into the void. What could that mean, other than he has lost his way?" The first voice said, the sound solid as the figure uttered the words to the jewel in his armour.

"…we can dispatch someone to retrieve him. Who should be most suited to that task? Would E-" begun the second voice, its ethereal sound hollow and dull.

"…That person has always liked him. That person knew them by name, not by title. That person would be the end of us if they were dispatched. We should send the second one"

"…the second one. Agony incarnate for him. He knows all about what they've done. Are you wanting to terrorize him into returning? Would you be so foolish as to think that would work?" admonished the second voice as it listened to the figures suggestion, to their disapproval.

"…careful now. Just because of your title you're not free of your namesake now are you…Death?" replied the figure, anger radiating of them as they clenched the device in their hands, causing it to shatter apart.

"…and how do you propose to strike me down? I am not there. Don't let your title deceive you. Do not forget what you are…like he has"

The figure stood up for the first time, revealing them to stand tall at eight feet in height.

"…I feel that no matter how we proceed, it is likely that the fourth shall come for the fifth. You are the third, what is it we shall do?"

"…Hatred, Agony, Death, Entropy…and the other…Suffering"

"You still think he would use that name? His title is discarded-"

"We never discard our titles. They are part of us forever once taken. He cannot deny that"

"So…how would you proceed?"

"That is not the question. The question, rather, is how do WE proceed. We shall retrieve him as one, just like we did the first time we met. We shall return him to our fold and then withdraw. The hour draws ever nearer, does it not?"

The figure nodded, and then ended the stream of communication. He promptly left the vault room he was in and entered a second room, full of workbenches, tables, tools and supplies. Retrieving a black staff from a pile of weapons, the figure strode over to a door, dimly seen in the light of the room, and entered a key code into the pad beside it.

It was time that he went to Vale. He had an old friend to see.