"What the hell just happened!?"

"I don't know! It seems that...that..."

"What, what?"

"The dust, its-"

The air filled with a rage drunken scream.

Mono walked through the hall, searching for the auditorium.

He never knew the layout of the building, so he made some wrong turns into dead ends and such, but found some other students, all heading the same direction.

Wham!

Mono stumbled to the side, catching himself before he fell.

"Oops. Sorry."

Judging from the tone and strength of the push, Mono could easily tell this person was not sorry. He looked to see who pushed him.

The boy was easily bigger than him, standing almost a foot taller than him. He was more muscle bound, his shoulders broader and his arms thick like trunks, crossed across his chest. On his face, he wore a smug look, like he thought he was the greatest thing in the world, though it had a slightly annoyed look to him, like he expected Mono to be on the ground.

"That was plainly a lie, since what you did was a deliberate force of action."

The boys face turned into a sneer. "What you gonna do about it?" He taunted, poking at Monos chest.

"If you intend me to say that I will fight, then you are mistaken. Goodbye." Mono turned to walk away, but the other wasn't having any of it. He grabbed him by his shoulder and spun him around, slugging him across the face, making Mono go to a knee.

"Don't you walk away from me!" He then kicked Mono in the chest repeatedly. When he stopped, Mono slowly got up and felt that his nose was bent to the side.

Broken.

"Ok." He turned to the other boy, grabbed his nose, and snapped it into place with a crack, making the other step back. "What's your name?"

The other laughed. "Cardin. Why, you gonna tell on me?" He mocked.

"No." Mono raised his fists and the one now known as Cardin. "When you fight, it's good to know the name of your opponent."

Cardin smiled, cracking his knuckles. "You asked for it, you shit stain."

Cardin charged at Mono with a ready fist, who held his ground. "You'll the one who'll be a stain." He whispered.

A girl, clad in black, walked down the hall reading a book.

She too, was trying to get to the auditorium for the assembly that would take place, but thought best to take it slow and read her book along the way.

She encountered some students who walked in the opposite direction she was heading, all with either a face of fear, surprise, or confusion. A small group of first years like herself came her way, talking amongst themselves.

"You think he'll be okay?"

"Not sure. Guys out cold."

"I don't think cold should be used in this situation."

They laughed slightly at that last comment, returning to their conversation. "What do they mean?" The girl thought. With slight curiosity, she walked towards the area where these people seem to be walking from.

It was a slight detour of her previous route, but when she got to the destination, her eyes widened with surprise.

A boy, much bigger than her, laid on his back in a eagle spread position, his mouth hanging open with eyes rolled back to show only whites, giving him a disturbing look. He had slow but ragged breathing, like air itself was painful.

He, and around him, was burnt and scorched In multiple areas. His clothes were singed, some areas still smoking. She walked up to him and knelt down to get a better look. She then noticed something about the burns.

"Dust burns?"

She looked at the boys face, her face wrinkling with distasteful she did.

"Cardin." Thought with disgust. She's seen him around the school already, mostly picking on others smaller and weaker.

Especially the faunes.

All pity gone, she left him there, returning to her previous route. "Someone will clean it up." She thought, reading her book again.

Mono made it to the auditorium, just as the assembly ended. He rubbed his nose, still the same blank expression he kept the entire time never leaving his face.

"Unwanted distraction..." He thought, following the crowd out. He then noticed the figure clad in red, who he learned by the name Rose.

He approached her, but a familiar voice rang from the side. "You!"

He turned to find the one named Schnee marching towards him with a hateful look in her eyes.

"Hello again miss Schnee." Said Mono, not flinching when she stuck a finger in his face.

"Don't act like nothing happened, I'm expecting an apology from you!" She fumed.

"I'm sorry." Said Mono, who then turned away to walk to the red one.

"I swear you-wait...what?" She asked, now confused.

"I said I was sorry, is that not what you want?" He asked over his shoulder.

"No, it's just...do you know what your sorry for?" She asked, crossing her arms, her face resorting back to anger.

"Your pride was damage in the courtyard. I am sorry." He turned to walk away, but a hand caught his shoulder.

"Do you think just sorry will cut it?"

Mono tilted his head to the side. "Was it not enough?"

"No it wasn't."

"Then what will be enough?"

She lowered her head, hands curled into fists at her sides. "Tell me..."

"Hm?"

"Tell me what you did! You completely stopped AND drained my red dust based attack, SHATTERED my blue dust, and broke through my semblance like nothing! What did you do?!" She shouted, making some bystanders turn their heads.

Taking note of this, Mono leaned in and whispered. "Not here. Somewhere else more private."

"What, why?" She asked, taking a step back.

He straightened up. "You are of the same blood as the Schnee family that controls 80.7% of dust mining and production, correct?"

"Wha..yes, why?"

"Then it's alright for you to hear, but no one else."

"...alright. Where and when?" She asked lowering her voice.

Mono thought for a moment. "The statue of the hunters in the courtyard, after dark." She looked at him oddly.

"Why after dark?"

"Like I said, best no one hears. You're only hearing because of your blood heritage."

"My blood? You mean my family?" Mono nodded. "Yes, your family is qualified to have knowledge of me." At this point, the Schnee thought this was odd.

"Why would my family have to be qualified to know about you? What's so special about you?" Mono shook his head.

"Not here. Tonight." She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, ok. Names Weiss Schnee, so you know." Mono nodded his head. "Mine is Mono."

"Alright Mono, see you tonight." She walked off, leaving him alone. Mono looked around, and found that the room had emptied. "Hm. Seems like I forgot to ask where to go now."

After wandering through the school grounds for what seemed like a couple hours, Mono found a area of the school were the other students seemed to congregate.

"The ballroom..." He walked through the two massive double doors into a spacious room with a second floor that opened up into the bottom floor. He noticed that sleeping bags almost completely covered the ground, almost all of them occupied.

"Rooms have not been distributed it seems." He thought to himself as he walked around the edge of the room, seeing that all were asleep.

He did not need it though, like the rest. One of the many things that was not essential to him, though it has been urged by his peers prior.

"Come on Mono, at least TRY to do it. It's really relaxing."

"I do not see how submitting yourself into a state of pure helplessness is needed. I do not need sleep, I function properly without it."

"Then lay down and close your eyes. Just standing there all night doing nothing is terrifying."

He could not relate to that feeling of being terrified, since that was the highest point of fear, which he did not have. He then looked at his hands, wondering.

"What does fear feel like? Happiness, sadness, any of those? He only experienced one emotion before, but that had consequences to it, which led to his bandages..." He examined the bandages that covered his hands, arms, and legs, rubbing his thumb and index together. "All this, because of someones fear..."

He then heard noise break the silence of the room, soft, but audible in the room. He moved towards the sound, curious of the source. He found that the source came from the one he met early in red earlier, now known as Rose.

He saw that she was sleeping, but also shaking, a expression on her face that he has seen but never used. The face of fear.

Her face was scrunched up, small whimpering noises escaping from her every now and then.

"I do not understand why people like sleep so much. Even their fears can follow them into their so called peace." He thought to himself.

"Ahem."

He turned to find Weiss standing behind him with her arms crossed, dressed in a silver sleeping gown with her hair let loose.

"Do you always watch people in their sleep, or you just naturally a creep?" Mono shook his head and walked past her.

"I am just observing one that is experiencing fear right now. My intentions are not of the perverse nature." She rolled her eyes. "Riiight. Let's just get to the statue."

After a couple minutes of walking, they made it to the statue in the front courtyard, showing three hunters standing in triumph over a dying Beowolf.

"Alright..." Weiss sat down on a bench infront of the statue, facing Mono. "Start talking."

"What would you like to hear?"

"Tell me what I wanted to know earlier today. How my dust was eradicated and my semblance disintegrated." Mono nodded.

"Ok. In the beginning, man was born from dust, correct?" Weiss nodded. "But ever since, that has not been the case. Man has since then populated by the natural means of procreation."

"Is this going anywhere, or is this just a history lesson?" Weiss groaned. Mono turned away, his arms behind his back.

"There has always been a question that nagged at the minds of science and dust manipulation, one that eighteen years ago has been solved, but not answered." He turned back to Weiss, the one visible eye he shows now burning with a white fire.

"Man has again been born from dust, a new genesis has started. I am the first of ten, my siblings the other nine. I am the one my creators have named the pyromancer." He walked closer and lowered his head to her eye level.

"Wiess, I am dust."