Three weeks passes by after Solace and Team RWBY had their little encounter at the docks. Through out that time Blake and Solace remained quiet about what they had seen and heard, but they kept their eyes and ears open for any White Fang related activities, since the two were the only ones to have heard of Roman's ambitions for the organization. Thankfully for them, no major trouble had knocked on their door and things remained stable. Their actions, or more specifically Solace's actions, did not go unnoticed however as the Headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin had kept an eye out on the lone student. The good professor had always kept tabs on Solace, wanting to know on how he was fairing as a NOVA, and after reading the report of his mission to locate Blake he was genuinely impressed on his actions and decided to pay him a little more attention. Based on what he has observed, everything about Solace was pretty normal when compared to the other students at school, but Ozpin was puzzled on why he and Blake neither reported exactly on what they had saw. After patiently waiting for Solace to possibly come out and tell the truth, Ozpin decides to make his move and calls for him to report to his office immediately. As soon as Solace had gotten the message, he wastes no time to go to the headmaster's office, and before he even comprehended it he was standing in front of Ozpin's door, waiting for permission to enter. The headmaster notices him waiting at his door and gives permission to come in, to which Solace obliges and walks forward to position himself in front of Ozpin's desk; where the man was sitting down and drinking his coffee.
"Good morning sir, you wanted to see me?" Solace asks.
The professor says nothing and he sets his cup of coffee down on a circular coaster that was decorated with Beacon's emblem in the center. He then fixes up his posture by straightening his back, then clears his throat, "so Mr. Krieg, how are you doing this morning?"
"I'm still waking up but overall I'm doing just fine, sir."
"That's good to hear, very good. You haven't ran into trouble as of recent, have you?"
"No sir, I haven't."
"You know, keeping information to yourself is very unbecoming of you."
"I'm at a lost, head-"
"Solace I know full well on what you encountered while looking for Ms. Belladonna. But on what I don't know is on why neither of you two mentioned it to me or one of the teachers. So please, enlighten me on your reasons."
"Sir, please understand. The reason neither of us talked about it was because we thought by reporting it to anyone, things would've been pushed forward against them, which they would've responded by going even further underground. Making it near-impossible to keep tabs on them."
"So you doubt our ability to deal with problems?"
"No sir, I don't. I believe you have the resources that'll allow you to solve anything that comes your way. It's just for this occasion, I had no idea on what to do. I was told that the world I'll be entering is not like the military, no chain of command. So when I got back to Beacon that night, I had no idea on who to report the whole situation to. So I figured I'd just keep tabs on them for the mean time; at least until somebody came up to me and started asking questions."
"Solace, do you not understand by withholding information like that, you and Ms. Belladonna have endangered the lives of hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives? Lucky for you two however, nothing happened. But if something did, how would've you responded?"
"With the risk of sounding very cocky; I would've personally dealt with the situation sir."
"But you're just a kid."
"With all due respect sir, I am not a kid. Or at least, not like the ones here. You've read my profile, you should know on what kind of life I lived in before coming here to Beacon. So it shouldn't have come to you as a surprise when my response is: that I would've dealt with it personally."
"Would you have dealt with it, if you're life was in the balance?"
"If you're asking me if I would've been too scared to do anything if my life was in danger, then I'll tell you that my answer would've still been the same, sir. I understand that keeping us safe is your utmost priority, but I've been trained to deal with people like them before. So even with my life at the balance, I'd still go in, head first, and take the fight to the enemy."
"Your answer couldn't be more wrong." Solace says nothing, and looks down as his pride is hurt from Ozpin's response. "My utmost priority is to make sure, that anyone who attends my school will become a huntsman. " Solace looks back up, and directly into the headmaster's eyes, "and when that huntsman is off in the real world, I'd expect them to always keep everyone's well being in mind. Even going as far as laying down their own life to ensure the survival of others. Based on you're response and records, I'd say you're already half-way there. Although if I were you, I would have brought a fully competent team to back me up. As much as self-sacrifice is held with high regards, I think it's safe to say that, everyone would prefer to have lost no one so they all can celebrate their victory together. Do I make myself clear, Solace?"
"Crystal clear, sir."
A smile forms on Ozpin's face, "good now run along to what ever class you have today, and for heaven's sake will you learn to relax. This is an academy not the military."
"I will try sir. Have a nice day."
Ozpin would respond in kind before Solace leaves his office and goes to his first class of the day, which was being lectured by Professor Oobleck. The time he spent at the headmaster's office doesn't alter his schedule for the day at all, and he was able to make it to class in time without rushing. The time he spends in the class was quite fun as well as enlightening, as he was enjoying the history lesson of Vale and the professor's opinion on the matters; however hard it may have been to keep up with the lessons, due to him speaking very, very quickly. The class was scheduled to last for about three hours, and usually, whenever he's in a classroom longer than an hour he ends up losing interest in the subject. Lucky for Solace the lecture wasn't mundane. He was very interested in the lecture, and time seemed to have just flown by without his notice. But when he and the rest of his classmates were dismissed from the class, he had no complaints about it, and he left the room like everyone else. He walks down the hallway to his next class, when he realizes he has a good hour before it starts. Solace thinks on what he could do to kill time, when he see's Weiss walking the same direction as him. He increases his pace to catch up to her, and when he was close enough, he taps her shoulder to grab her attention but it only startles her as she gasps in response.
"Oh, it's just you. Please refrain from sneaking up on me like that, in the future" Weiss says.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to talk" Solace says.
"Talk, what did you want to talk about?"
"Well, how's your team doing so far?"
"If you must know, my team is doing superbly well. We are excelling in our combat techniques, and thanks to me, our academics have been keeping up with us as well."
"Do you ever stop and wonder, on how cold you sound sometimes?"
"How rude, you're supposed to be an asset to my team, and here you are insulting me!"
"I didn't mean to insult you Weiss. But you were coming off a bit obnoxious, and I just wanted to point that out so you don't give the wrong impression to the people you meet."
"Wow Solace, you really know on how to make a girl feel special. Tell you what, the next time I want to be insulted, I'll just go to you ok?" Weiss increases her pace and in turn quickly creates distance between the two.
"Oh come on, I was just being honest" he says a bit louder than his usual indoor voice. "You really aren't like anything your father talked about..." Solace says under his breathe, but Weiss some how heard him and she stops in her tracks, and he does the same. She turns around to face him but doesn't say anything for about 10 seconds, making Solace confused on what to do, " uh Weiss?"
"Listen, want to grab a cup of coffee or something?" Her tone of voice changed from irritated to solemn, and this confuses him again.
"Sure, I'd like to?"
Solace expected for them to grab a cup of coffee down at the academy's cafeteria, but to his surprise Weiss leads him to her team's room. When they enter the room, he just looks around and is intrigued on how her team decided to make four normal beds to two improvised bunk beds; it's been like this since the beginning of the school year but it always fascinates him whenever he comes over to visit. Weiss goes to her drawer and turns on the coffee machine, that was sitting idle, to brew their drinks.
"Before I forget, how do you like your coffee; sugar or cream?" Weiss asks.
"Cream."
"I only got vanilla, if that's ok with you."
"I'm fine with that."
"That's good. It'll take about 10 minutes for the coffee to be ready, but in the mean time I'd actually like to discuss my father with you. If that's alright?"
"Oh, uh, sure I don't mind."
She smiles before sitting down on her bed and making herself comfortable, "when we were walking in the hallways earlier, you mentioned about my farther talking about me. That's the second time you've done that. I never really knew my farther growing up, being that he was always away, and yet you said 'I wasn't anything on how my father talked about.' So please, can you tell me on how he described me to you?"
Solace scratches the back of his head, as he's a bit hesitant in telling her exactly on what she wants. He has no idea on how she's doing with her family, and he would certainly hate it if he somehow contributes to pushing them apart. But when he looks on to her face, he falls from his doubts and decides to share the info, "well like I said before, he didn't really talked about your family that much, or as often. But when he did, he would describe you as if you're the most perfect living being to ever have come in existence. I understand that, since he was your father that claim can be very bias, but the way he described your upbringings made me think you went through a pretty lonely childhood. He told me that he pretty much had a hand in managing your studies, diet, sparring and even your fitness activities; the reason being that he wanted to, and I quote 'bring you up to the highest standards of society.' He would then tell me, of the gifts he would give you as a reward for your hard work but also, as an apology for not being there. The gifts were pretty sweet of him to do, but even I knew that wasn't enough to apologize for being away from family. With the amount of time I've spent with your father on his business trips, I had guessed that he doesn't really get to see you enough. So in a way, I had felt real sorry for you."
"Why did you feel sorry for me?"
"Because deep down, I had a feeling. Even though this girl, that I had never met, was being pampered and showered with gifts. She would never be truly happy, because the one thing she had always wanted was the attention of her father." As soon as Solace had finished talking, he notices that Weiss was covering up her face with her hands and sniffling, "Weiss are you-" the brewer's alarm goes off to notify them that it was ready to be served.
"I should go get that," she scurries over to the machine and tried to prepare the drinks for them, but she was having a hard time trying to keep everything steady. Solace quickly responds by assisting her in pouring the coffee into the two mugs waiting to be filled, "thanks but you didn't really have to."
"Weiss, you don't have to-" Solace is interrupted by her pushing him away and getting a hold on the pot.
"I have to go into the bathroom for a moment. The cream is next to the brewer, go ahead and help yourself." She puts the pot back down in the brewer, then walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind her; while walking she made sure to always had her back face him so that Solace not see her face. While she attended to her personal matters, he decides to go ahead and finish making his coffee by putting the cream in and stirring it. He wanted to wait for her to finish in whatever she was doing, but it seemed like she was going to be inside for awhile, and he goes ahead and drinks his share. The whole time he was drinking, Weiss remained inside the bathroom, while at the same time he pondered whether it was a good idea to have told her the information she desired. Time would once again, fly right over Solace, as he finishes his coffee without his notice, but at the same time Weiss finished her personal matters and finally comes out of the bathroom, "thanks for telling me all of that Solace."
"It was my pleasure, but are you ok, you kind of stormed off to the bathroom out of nowhere?"
"I'm fine Solace, don't worry about it. But can you please do me a favor, and keep this strictly between us? I would very much appreciate that."
"My lips are sealed," Weiss would give him a hug for agreeing to her request.
"Oh no, you finished you're coffee!"
"Well you were kind of in there for awhile. Your's is still right there, but I'm pretty sure it's cold."
"Eh, you're probably right but more importantly, class is about to start soon. So I have to go like, right now!"
"Professor Port's, right?"
"Correct."
"Well then I guess we should get going."
"I guess we should."
The two gathers their things then sets off to Professor Port's class; while walking together, Solace notices that Weiss isn't acting like she normally does. She seemed distracted, her head looking towards the ground instead of forward.
"Hey, Weiss." Solace says.
"Hmm?" Weiss responds.
"Are you sure you're alright; you seemed like you're distracted right now?"
"I'm fine Solace, really, I am. I'm just thinking of things right now. Nothing noteworthy to bring up."
"Alright, if you say so."
Still on their way to the classroom, the two would turn a corner and at that point the rest of Team RWBY was found. The others were also on their way to Professor Port's class, so they decide to travel together.
"Solace! How are you doing this morning?" Ruby asks.
"I'm doing just peachy, Ruby. Thanks for asking." Solace responds.
"Hmm, so is there a reason on why you and Weiss were walking together?" Yang asks, jokingly.
"I was dismissed from my class about an hour ago, and I ran into her."
"And what were you two, doing in that hour?" Yang asks, with a big grin on her face.
"I was invited to your room and we-"Solace is interrupted by Weiss.
"I invited him to share a cup of coffee with me, while he told me stories of his time while in the military."
"Is that it? Are you sure there isn't anything else that happen, eh, eh?" Yang asks Solace as she nudge on his arm.
"That's it, we had time to kill so we just got a cup of coffee and talked." Solace answers.
"Really? If you just chit chatted over coffee. Then why did you went to our room?" Ruby asks.
"Well we could've gone to the cafeteria and got some coffee, but I had my own in our room so, I thought it made more sense to brew my own." Weiss answers.
"Are you sure that was the only thing you brewed?" Yang asks before laughing.
Weiss gasps, "and please do tell, on what exactly are you implying!?" She becomes very frustrated at Yang as she yells at her, while at the same time embarrassed as her face blushes. The girls and Solace laughs in response to her losing her elegant composure.
Yang would eventually stop teasing Weiss and allows her to regain her cool, which was for her benefit as they arrive at Professor Port's class. The group would sit next to each other when they take their seats, and Weiss would purposely sit next to Solace; she's been ensuring to sit next to him ever since the beginning of the semester, but Solace never really knew on why. At first he thought of it as coincidental but after doing multiple times, he began to think there was more into it. By sitting next to him more and more however, Weiss is giving Yang ammunition for her teasing. But she doesn't seem to be bothered by it all too much, as the teases do not deter her from sitting down next to Solace. Professor Port was already in the classroom and as soon as it officially starts, he waste no time and gets into the lesson for the day. Unlike Professor Oobleck, Solace wasn't really too fond of Port. The two are not on bad terms or have any problems with each other, if anything Professor Port is actually a pretty good teacher; the one thing that does bother Solace is that the man segues into his personal stories excessively. He would like to tell the professor to get back to the subject at hand when ever he does it, but for the sake of being nice he keeps it all to himself. Lucky for him however, today's lesson was going to be a bit different. After going through the standard formalities of greeting the class, a screen rolls down in front of the blackboard that was located in front of the class. The window shutters would come down to block the sunlight coming in, then the lights in the room itself would dim, afterwards a projector was turned on and the screen began to play a movie. The Professor thought it would be a good idea to educate the children about their grim reality they live in, and plays documentaries of tragic events that have occurred after the Great War. The videos that were shown held some sentimental value to Solace however, as he participated in some of them. Watching these triggers his brain to remember the things he saw, smell, hear and feel, on those days and he began to feel anxious. Things would only get worse as the video moves into the Black Marsh Massacre; the documentary claims that this tragedy was an act of hatred against Faunus, when in reality it was miscommunication. Weiss clearly see that he's being bothered by this and tries to comfort him by putting one of her arms around him; she doesn't really know on why he's being bothered by this segment of the video, but regardless of this he appreciated her gesture and was able to calm down enough to get through the class.