Chapter 2: Truth and Reconciliation…Or Not.

With the Assembly Hall incident now over, the students were free to move about the campus at their leisure. Except for two: Blake Belladona and Crimson Blackwell, the two participants of the aura demonstration turned grudge match. For their efforts, they were disarm ex and escorted to Professor Ozpin's office. Thanks to the down time, their auras had repaired the damage the two fighters had inflicted on each other. However their memories of the battle were still fresh. As such, neither person was talking, seated on opposite sides of the hallway outside of Ozpin's office.

Crimson sat in the chair nearest to the door with his arms crossed. He was taking a nap while waiting for Professor Ozpin to return to his office. The only addition to his attire was a dusty black baseball cap with the letters "GRX" on the front in white letters with a red streak going diagonally through them. On the other side of the hallway, Blake sat with her hands in her lap and legs crossed. She had averted her eyes from Crimson, deciding to stare out the window at the cloudless blue sky.

The sound of clicking heels broke up their silent contemplation. Crimson opened his eyes and watched as Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch made their way towards the students.

"Mr. Blackwell, where did you get that hat?" Miss Goodwitch asked Crimson.

Crimson looked up at her and tipped his cap up so that his eyes were visible. "My dad's company makes them for promotional events. I could get you one if you'd like."

"That's NOT what I meant." Ms. Goodwitch furrowed her brow at Crimson.

"I know what you meant," Crimson smirked and opened the right side of his jacket, revealing a pocket on the inside. "Had it on me the entire time."

"You should take this more seriously, Mr. Blackwell." Ms. Goodwitch scolded him. "We'll be with you and Miss Belladonna in a moment," She told him before entering the office behind Professor Ozpin. Ms. Goodwitch closed the door before sighing, while Ozpin walked towards the pitcher of tea behind his desk.

"I should have acted faster to stop them." Mrs Goodwitch sighed.

Ozpin didn't respond to her at first, instead grabbing a mug and pouring himself a cup of tea.

"Ms. Goodwitch, did you watch that fight as intently as I did?"

"Yes, I did." Ms. Goodwitch answered.

"Well, did you notice how many times they could have struck the final blow, yet relented?" Ozpin asked before taking a sip.

"I did," Ms. Goodwitch answered, more hesitantly.

"Aren't you as curious as I am as to why, if they were so intent on killing one another, they held back?" Ozpin asked as he finally sat down.

Ms. Goodwitch gave Ozpin a disapproving look, but did not give any more objections.

"You may send them in." At Ozpin's command, Mrs Goodwitch opened the door and asked for Blake and Crimson to enter. Crimson entered first and sat down with a sigh. Blake sat down soon after, her eyes flashing quickly in Crimson's direction before looking straight at Ozpin.

"That was quite the display you two put on." Ozpin complimented both of them. Blake and Crimson said nothing in reply.

Ozpin continued. "If I were to guess, there were some personal feelings behind your actions?"

"Maybe…" Crimson's mumbling broke the silence between them.

"Whatever the issue, now is the time for both of you to talk about it, without holding each other at blade point." Miss Goodwitch told them.

"I have nothing to say." Blake said quietly. Crimson scoffed in reply. "Funny, you're speechless now? You seemed awfully talkative outside my window at 3am."

Ozpin sipped his tea and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Blake's eyes flashed again as she glared at Crimson. "I was TRYING save your life!"

Crimson sounded unconvinced. "You sure about that? You got there pretty late for someone on a rescue mission."

"By the time I knew what was going on, the attack was already under way; I did the best I could!" Blake shouted.

"Well the 'best you could do', got my old man crippled and put my sister in a coma for two months!" Crimson roared back.

Blake tried to reason with him. "But none of you DIED! A 'thank you for saving my life' would be nice!"

Her words fell on deaf ears. "A whole lot of 'saving' you did! You don't get a thank you for half finished jobs!"

Miss Goodwitch stepped forward. "Alright. That is enough you two..."

"Well the next time I get a chance to save a spoiled rich kid's life, I won't waste the effort!" Blake's eyes were full of rage.

"And the next time a half-wit with a guilty conscience knocks on my window, I'll roll over and go back to sleep!" Crimson glared right back at her.

Blake spoke through gritted teeth. "You do realize you'd be DEAD right now if you had."

Crimson raised his voice "Better than dealing with a second-rate, bitch!"

Ozpin raised his eyebrow again as he took another sip of tea.

Blake shot up from her chair and spoke in a threatening tone. "What did you say?!"

"You heard me! If you're gonna save a family, YOU SAVE A FUCKING FAMILY!" Crimson stood up and got face to face with Blake. Both of their hands were balled into fists as they stared one another down. With round two preparing to break out, Ms Goodwitch intervened.

"Mr. Blackwell, Miss Belladonna!" With a wave of her riding crop, the two were pushed apart, and back down into their seats.

Ozpin put his mug back down on the table and leaned forward, steepling his fingers. "Well, now that we have all of that in the open, I'm sure you'll have no more issues working together."

Blake and Crimson both say nothing.

"The headmaster asked you both a question." Miss Goodwitch said with a hint of agitation in her voice.

Both Blake and Crimson mumbled "Yes Headmaster." Ozpin smiled. "Good. And we can expect not to be putting weapons to our fellow classmates' throats anytime in the future?"

Crimson muttered, "No promises."

"What was that?" Miss Goodwitch's green eyes flashed.

"Nothing, ma'am." Crimson said quietly.

"Good." Ozpin said and leaned back in his chair. "You two are free to go now. Your weapons are waiting for you in your rooms. As I understand it, your rooms are on the same floor. Miss Belladonna, would you be so kind as to show Mr. Blackwell where his room is? It's room 406."

"Yes, sir." Blake said quietly.

" Then that will be all for now," Ozpin said. "And Mr. Blackwell?"

Crimson stopped on his way out the door. "Yes, sir?"

"Keep an eye on that sister of yours."

While Crimson and Blake were seeing the Headmaster, Ruby and Diesel were back in their rooms, talking via scrolls about Ruby's favorite subject: weapons.

"So this is my baby, Crescent Rose. I made it myself!" Ruby said excitedly. She held up Crescent Rose, a black and red scythe that transformed into a sniper rifle.

"Wow, amazing," said Diesel approvingly. He was just as fascinated with weapons as Ruby was.

"It's cool, right?" Ruby grinned "That's not even the coolest part! It also doubles as a sniper rifle! I can even use the rifle while in scythe form!" Ruby said with glee.

"That's really fascinating." Diesel nodded. "Sounds like you've been working hard on it since Beacon.".

"You have no idea." Ruby giggled.

"Well, now that I've seen yours, let me show you my weapons." Diesel said. He went to reach for his katanas when Ruby interrupted him.

"Weapons? I remember you only having one. I remember when you and I took out final exam together. I specifically recall you having a broadsword that converted itself into a shotgun, that could be used simultaneously as a blade and ranged weapon." Ruby said

Diesel showed off some type of weapons that Ruby never saw before. They looked like saws with handles attached to them.

"Ruby let me introduce you too my two babies, Jet Wolf and Crimson Fang. Jet Wolf is a saw cleaver that can extend itself into something similar to a executioner's axe which comes equipped with a pistol that can fire single shot, semi-auto, and full auto with the flick of a switch. Crimson Fang is a saw spear that can be turned into a assault rifle that fires in the same way as Jet Wolf. The only downside is that I can't dual wield them both while In gun form." said Diesel.

Ruby was speechless. "I've never seen that before! Saw weapons?! Cool!

"Yeah, it really is." said Diesel.

"But what happened to your old weapon?" Ruby asked.

"Ah. That. It was taken from me….a long time ago. I know who took it, and I know she still has it. And I will get it back...someday." said Diesel with sadness in his eyes.

"II know you will get it back, and I'll be there to help you. I would be devastated if I lost Crescent Rose." said Ruby.

"By the way Ruby, may I ask you a question?" asked Diesel.

"Ask away."

"What's the deal with your partner Blake?"

Ruby sat back and thought of the best way to word her response."Blake is, uh, mysterious. She's kinda different from us…" Ruby said

"Mysterious how?" asked Diesel

" Well...Blake likes to keep to herself. And she doesn't really talk about her past. " Ruby counted the reasons on her fingers. "She can also be very sarcastic. But she warms up when you get to know her!...Slightly." Ruby said with a nervous chuckle.

"I see." Diesel shrugged. "Well I hope I can meet up with her face to face soon."

"I wish you luck." Ruby smiled softly. "Well I need to get to studying. I'll talk to you later."

"Peace." Diesel waved before signing off the call.

"Diesel, do we have any soda?" said Orchid.

"I think there's a soda machine in the hallway; I'll go get us something to drink. Rebecca, you want something?" asked Diesel, moving towards the door.

"A Cola." Rebecca didn't look up from her book when she gave her reply.

"Okay, be right back," Diesel said as he left the room.

"Diesel seems really interested in Blake, doesn't he?" said Orchid.

Rebecca looked up from her book and shook her head.

"What's your problem?" Orchid cocked an eyebrow.

"It's just going to bite him in the ass. She's bad news." Rebecca snapped.

"You don't even know her!" Orchid shouted.

"And neither do you." Rebecca replied.

Outside, Diesel was buying three drinks: Grape for Orchid, a Cola for Rebecca, and Lime for himself. After collecting the sodas, he turned around and bumped into someone. He heard a stranger hit the ground with a thud.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" Diesel asked a girl with wavy black hair and a matching black bow.

"Oh no, it's my fault. I wasn't paying attention," said the girl on the floor.

"Here let me help you," Diesel extended his hand. The girl took it.

"Hey, I recognize you..." Diesel said. "You're Blake right? You were the one in the aura demonstration!" said Diesel

"Yes, I assume you were there, just like the rest of the school." Blake deadpanned. "And you are?" she asked flatly.

"My name is Diesel my good lady," he bowed to her.

"Aren't you one of the transfer students from Signal?" Blake narrowed her eyes. "You came here with Crimson, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. I take it that you and him have history?" Diesel replied uneasily.

"That's personal." Blake said uneasily

"My apologies. I didn't mean to pry into your personal life." said Diesel with a bow

"It's alright, it's just something that I don't like bringing up." Blake said

Diesel and Blake were in the middle of their chat, when Crimson walked by, glaring at Diesel

"What's his problem?" Diesel thought.

"I don't think he likes you talking to me." Blake said with sadness in her eyes.

Diesel put his hand to Blake's face.

"Don't stress yourself out. I can deal with Crimson. Besides, he's not gonna stop me from talking to you. I control my own destiny." Diesel said.

Blake looked at Diesel and nodded. Suddenly there was commotion coming from Diesel's room

"I'd better go. It was nice meeting you Blake. I'll see you soon." Diesel said and he hurried to his room.

Blake watched him go, and a smile formed on her lips. Once Diesel walked into the room, he was greeted to Crimson and Orchid having a shouting match.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU MEAN MY BROTHER CAN'T TALK TO BLAKE!" yelled Orchid from her bed.

She's dangerous, that's why!" Crimson yelled back.

"Dangerous to who?! The only one that seems to have a problem with her is you!" Orchid screamed. "Mostly because you picked a fight with her within three minutes of meeting her!"

"I had a reason!" Crimson spiked his hat into the ground.

"And what reason is that?!" Orchid inquired.

"It's private." Crimson said through gritted teeth.

"So you want us to just take your word for it? Just like that?" Orchid jumped off her bunk and stood toe to toe with Crimson.

Diesel then piped up.

"Let me tell you something Crimson, I decide who I want to talk to. You don't get to dictate my decisions. Just because you and Blake have history, doesn't mean that you can prevent me from associating with her." Diesel said with anger in his eyes

"So you're gonna trust some strange girl over your own damn teammate?!" yelled Rebecca

"Without any information to go on other than your word, yes!" Diesel shouted.

"Fuck it..." Crimson picked up his hat and started towards the door. "You want to talk to her, go right ahead, but when shit hits the fan, don't come crying to me!" Crimson grabbed his weapons and put them on before leaving the room.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Orchid through her hands up and sighed. "Your brother is such a drama queen."

"You wanna run that by me one more time?!" Rebecca growled and started to move towards Orchid.

"Now don't you two start!" Diesel glared at them both. "I don't know what's going on, but it's not going to be solved by the four of us going for each other's throats!"

"Sorry, bro." Orchid said

"Whatever." Rebecca huffed. "So, who wants to go find him, before he tries to kill Blake a third time?"

"Your brother isn't stupid, he wouldn't go after her a third time." Diesel said.

"You obviously don't know my brother." Rebecca rolled her eyes.

Diesel tried to reassure her. "He may be a hothead, but he's no fool."

"You'd be surprised." Rebecca sat back on her bed and opened her scroll.

"What are you doing?" Orchid asked.

"Calling someone that Crimson won't chew out immediately." Rebecca never took her eyes off her scroll as she replied. "Hey Yang? This might be weird, but we need a favor…"

Instead of hunting down Blake for a third time, Crimson found himself on the roof. He sat against the far wall, staring out at the evening sky. His face was shaded from the setting sun by the hat still on his head. He was alone with his thoughts on what had happened that , the door to the roof opened, and Yang walked out. She turned to face him and waved, but Crimson was not in the mood for kind greetings.

"What do you want, Yang?" He grumbled.

Yang was caught off guard by his gruff reply "I...just wanted to know why you tried to kill my best friend earlier today."

Crimson sucked his teeth and looked away from Yang. "I did NOT try to kill your best friend."

"Yeah...because banging her head into the ground repeatedly means nothing." Yang said sarcastically.

"I was trying to teach her a lesson." Crimson said. "It...got out of hand…"

"Right…" Yang shook her head. "What's with you two, anyway?"

Crimson sighed and got up from his seat on the ground. "It's complicated." He dusted himself off and walked over to the railing. He placed his arms on it and leaned forward as Yang walked over and stood next to him with her back against the rail.

"Complicated...how?" Yang asked.

"Don't worry about it." Crimson said through gritted teeth. "Anyway, I'm fine now, you can go back downstairs." Silence fell over the two again. But Yang didn't move.

"So..." She seemed to want to take his mind off things. "You use gauntlets too, huh?"

"Yeah, I made em myself." Crimson smiled and raised his right arm to show off Saffron Aero.

"You know, I have a pair of gauntlets myself." Yang said proudly." They're gold, and beautiful… and they help me punch through walls with their mini grenade launcher/shotguns."

"How the heck do you keep that from blowing your hand off?" Crimson asked out of concern mostly given his own experiments.

"Their HEAVILY insulated." Yang said.

"Huh… Well I had an issue with chamber explosions with these because of the rounds I use." Crimson squeezed the handle on his right gauntlet, and three seven inch gun barrels sprang forth. "See, i designed all three barrels to fire custom super-HE rounds."

Yang did a double take. "Did you say SUPER HE rounds?"

Crimson grinned. "Yeah. a coating of red dust goes over the outside of the shell, with the center hollowed out and filled with a yellow dust crystal. I call them Grim-crackers. "

"That's CRAZY!" Yang exclaimed. Then she paused. "I like it."

"Well thank you." Crimson chuckled. "My mother didn't like it when I blew a hole in the workshop wall."

"Speaking of your mother..." Yang said. Crimson grimaced. He knew this was coming eventually. "How did your mother become so…"

"Hateful?" Crimson finished her sentence then took a deep breath. He turned back to look out at the main building. "My mom's parents grew up in a time when Human-Faunus relations were at their worst. They taught their little girl that Faunus were the product of a curse from God. As such, she grew up resenting them so much that when the Faunus-Human war started, she was one of the first to join. After she retired from the Military, she got into politics with the sole purpose of tearing down what few gains the Faunus had made."

"Wow. Your mother's...kind of a bitch." Yang rubbed the back of her neck and braced for his reply. Surprisingly, Crimson took it quite well.

"Tell me about it…" Crimson actually cracked a bit of a smile.

Yang cocked her head to the side. "Yet you came out so normal."

"I guess you can say that…" Crimson nodded slowly and looked at her.

"How?" Yang asked flatly.

Crimson pointed at his hat. "The man that gave me this, my father."

Yang nodded. "What's he like?"

Crimson smiled proudly. "My dad's a good man. He never bought into the Faunus hatred. Instead, he lived his life and built his company on the principle that all people are created equal."

"So...and forgive me for this…." Yang turned her body to face him. "What in the HELL does he see in your mother?"

Crimson struggled to hold back a laugh. "Ya know, I ask myself that all the time. The way he tells it is that he sees the goodness in her. He's been trying to work on her. You know, soften her stance a little?"

Yang nodded. She rested her right hand on her chin as she listened.

"Well, he tried his best. Got her to ratchet down some of her rhetoric." Crimson continued. "He didn't want his kids to grow up with the same hatred in their hearts that was permeating throughout the rest of humanity. Mom was just about to turn the corner." Crimson paused and his head dropped.

"And then the attack happened..." Yang said softly.

"Yeah…" Crimson said quietly. "Thanks to the White Fang, Dad ended up in a wheelchair, Rebecca ended up in a coma, and mom? Well, she became even more racist than before."

Yang leaned into him and put her arm around Crimson. "You know Crimson, your childhood sucked."

Crimson looked at her with a look half way between confused and angry. But before he could speak Yang put a finger to his lips.

"Ah ah, ah don't speak." Yang smiled gently. "Despite the crap you went through, you came out okay. That something to be proud of." Yang took her finger away from Crimson's mouth. For his part, Crimson was trying his best to fight back a blush.

"You really think so?" Crimson asked as he looked into Yang's eyes.

"Definitely." Yang squeezed him gently with her arm. Crimson blushed even harder, and rested his hand on hers.

"Thanks Yang." Crimson rested his head against hers. The pair stood in silence until the door creaked open, and Jaune and Pyrrha stepped out.

"Now today, Jaune, we'll work on…" Pyrrha's instruction tailed off as she caught sight of Yang and Crimson. "Umm, are we interrupting?"

Crimson and Yang both jumped apart, blushing madly from embarrassment

"Whoa...Yang...working fast don't you think?" Jaune chuckled. Yang scowled at him.

"S-shut up Jaune." Yang stammered.

"Actually, she was helping me think some things through," Crimson said and gently patted Yang's shoulder.

"That's very nice of you, Yang." Pyrrha smiled softly.

"I t-t-think I'll head down now.." Crimson said. "Thanks again, Yang. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah…"Yang sputtered out."Oh, and Crimson," she reminded him, "I think there's some people downstairs you need to apologize to."

Crimson pulled his hat back down over his eyes to hide the blush.. "Yeah, you're right," he said before walking towards the door. Pyrrha and Jaune moved out of his way, allowing Crimson to head downstairs. Once he left, the three of them stood in silence.

"So…" Jaune awkwardly broke the silence. "You got the hots for the new ki-"

"Jaune…" Pyrrha put her hand on Jaune's mouth, seeing Yang ball her fists. "If you know what's good for you, you won't finish that sentence."