{Some Assembly Required}
43 minutes.
Do you know how long 43 minutes can feel?
Yeah, alright, it might not have been anywhere near 6 years, but during that expenditure of time I could have been doing a lot more than laying on the ground daydreaming.
To be quite frank, I couldn't give a damn who this affinity user was. He/she/it wasted 43 minutes of my time.
And for what? Dare I ask?
To protect the other students in the forest?
This was supposed to be a fucking initiation test. 'Test' being the keyword in that sentence.
The whole point of this battleground simulation was to test potential students to determine whether they deserve a place in this godforsaken school or not.
But no, clearly someone didn't agree with that.
What a nightmare…
Seriously, due to this display of supremacy, I had to cook for three complete strangers.
That's my time and my food wasted.
Needless to say, I was pretty pissed when we returned to the school, of course, I didn't outwardly express it, but internally; I was raging.
And to delicately apply the icing to this cake of shit, we were all going to be amassed into the amphitheatre - yet again – for some idiotic, time-honoured ceremony.
No way was I going to willingly walk into that tacky showground all for some… inane ritual.
"C'mon Ray! We're gonna be late!" Scarlet's whining served only to further aggravate Ray, who in his tired state, was in no position to resist against her insistent lugging.
Turns out he was going to that ceremony, whether he liked it or not.
The collar of his jacket, on the other hand, was doing surprisingly well as it withstood the strength of Scarlet's iron grip.
"This is pointless…" Ray muttered, unfortunately just within earshot of his smaller partner.
In response, Scarlet pulled harder against the collar of his jacket with a pout on her face. She was excited, thus had no intention of holding back due to her reluctant partner.
Gabriel and Kyzal watched as they casually trailed behind them, taking much pleasure in watching the boy in the violet beanie suffer.
"Yeah Ray, we're gonna be late!" Gabriel called over to him, dropping the boy a coy smirk, "Don't wanna upset the headmaster now!"
The gambler received a glare with the burning intensity of a thousand desert suns. Ray's eyes literally glowing through his narrowed eyelids.
"Don't encourage it." The boy growled, before getting his collar yanked once more by Scarlet.
They all gathered inside the amphitheatre and Ray's collar finally received the respite it deserved.
The four of them sat together, with Scarlet on the far right, followed by Ray, Kyzal and Gabriel respectively.
Ray leaned back against the backrest of his seat, turns out Scarlet was wrong, and the four teenagers were actually early to the ceremony, with the first-year students just starting to file in and take their seats with their teams.
If he possessed the willpower to do so, Ray would have immediately began scanning for the affinity user responsible for the death of almost all Grimm in the forest and three of Ray's steaks.
That said, given how deeply embedded the gene is within an affinity user's system, it would take thirty minutes at the very least to perform a complete scan per person until he found what he was looking for.
That was 19 hours and 30 minutes of continuous scanning.
Given he didn't have the time for such a task, he wasn't going to bother.
All he could focus on was the fact that an excited Scarlet Rubine did not possess the cognitive aptitude to shut her mouth.
Fingers shot up to Ray's temples as he tried to work away the headache he was accumulating.
The girl wasn't even talking to Ray, opting to engage in a conversation with Gabriel, two seats to the left of him.
A nudge from his immediate left brought his attention to Kyzal, the marksman donning an expression very similar to his own.
"I don't even know why we're here, I'm sure it's pretty damn obvious that we're on a team together," he whispered, "I mean, we not only picked the same chess pieces, but also spent almost the entire duration of the initiation together."
Ray nodded in agreement, "As much as I would just love to stick around and applaud the other teams for doing practically nothing, other than finding one another, this whole bullshit ceremony is going to be nothing but a waste of time."
"Ain't that the truth… too bad you lost your bottle of alcohol, I could sure use some right about now…"
A lightbulb in Ray's mind lit up at the mention of alcohol - quite literally, since he had status LEDs inside his head.
Bending over, he grabbed his messenger bag sat by his feet and opened it up.
Staring at him, with the light gleaming off of its smooth glass surface, was a fresh bottle of Acolyte, and next to it, champagne.
The latter was going to be for celebrating him lasting his first day at Beacon, but in this moment, the boy deemed it a fine method of quelling their boredom instead.
"Yeah, pity…"
Kyzal's focus switched from the empty stage to the bag and a sly smirk crawled onto his lips.
"Now we're talking…"
The four of them sat there in near silence, waiting on the remainder of the students to finish finding their places.
It wasn't long before the amphitheatre became quickly overpopulated, students all around them chatting away in a blend of white noise that went completely ignored.
Ray and Kyzal, despite being in such proximity to Scarlet's watchful gaze, were slowly downing shots of Acolyte as soon as the girl wasn't looking in their direction.
It was a race, a race to see who could get the most wasted without getting caught.
The winner? Well, they'd receive a hangover the next day and a certified badge of dishonour.
Assuming their Aura didn't burn through the alcohol first.
Which was more likely to be the circumstance?
Probably the former, Kyzal looked pretty smashed as it was.
So far, Ray was winning, clearly having far more experience in subtle drinking than Kyzal did, he was already down to 16 capfuls, ahead of Kyzal's 12.
"You're losing Kyzal," Ray whispered to his newfound partner in crime, flashing a mocking grin soon after.
Ray wasn't just winning in terms of how much he had drunk, but how little the alcohol was affecting him, too. He was practically sober, save for the tingly feeling coursing throughout his nervous system and the blazing fire in his stomach.
Acolyte was some seriously potent stuff, infamous for its ability to knock out even the biggest, boldest, and toughest of Huntsmen.
But Ray had a little trick up his sleeve, a trick that was genetically engrained inside of his DNA that gives him a slight edge against anything he may face off against.
Due to his training, his mind and body were conditioned to withstand a lot of punishment, to adapt to any situation, and to develop resistances to things that have even the slightest chance of killing him.
Ray had been drinking Acolyte ever since he was 16, which meant that he had a whole year's worth of resistance training by drinking it over and over again, destroying his sobriety in the process while his body biologically improved itself to better process and expel the alcohol in his system as it physically changed on the cellular level.
It could still get him drunk, just not as quickly as it would the previous time he drank it.
To boil it down; the more Acolyte Ray had, the more he could withstand its intoxicating effects.
Kyzal didn't have this advantage…
"L-losing…?" He stammered, his eyes hopelessly struggling to focus on the beanie-clad boy next to him.
"I – hic – ne-never lose!"
Ray rolled his eyes, bringing another cap of Acolyte to his lips. "Keep telling yourself that…"
Within a fraction of a second, Ray downed the sweet, honey-tasting liquor, sighing as he brought the cap down and turned his attention to the stage.
"Guys! Guys! It's starting!" Scarlet was giddily bouncing up and down in her seat, her crimson eyes shining in anticipation.
The amphitheatre's ambient noise quickly dwindled into complete silence as Professor Ozpin made his way on the stage. Professor Goodwitch joined him, standing by his side like the loyal dog she was.
Ray noticed that both had the same stoic expression on their face, hinting that the nature of this ceremony wasn't as jovial and happy as most of the first-years probably hoped it to be.
Wasn't his problem though, he was just here to drink and get it over with.
That could be said for pretty much everything else he does, but that wasn't important right now.
"Silence please."
These words drew the attention of all students in the room, without hesitation, without a second thought, the room fell into a peaceful, yet deafening silence.
Ozpin's cane stood by his side, though, not an ounce of his bodyweight was placed onto the walking aid.
Ray hummed in thought. "So, it's a prop, huh?"
"That," Gabriel added, "or a weapon."
Ray nodded to him and downed another capful of Acolyte before Kyzal could inebriate himself any further. The boy had drunk more than his fair share at this point, if his slurring and slightly swaying body weren't already a dead giveaway.
Once he had swallowed the fluid, his attention was immediately given to Ozpin once more.
"Let me be the first to welcome all initiates back to Beacon. You did well. Retrieving those artefacts, however simple or difficult the task may have been, was a means to analyse your characters, your abilities, and your decisions."
Ozpin gazed around the room as he spoke, making it seem as if he was addressing each student personally, without actually referring to any of them by name.
He was effective at captivating an audience, his words magnetised and easily burning into the memories of everyone here.
Ray actually found himself listening to the headmaster's words, something that took him by surprise.
By no means did it incite him to stay longer at this school, but even the hacker had to admit that this was by far one of the more… interesting things he had ever done.
Ozpin mentioned that the initiation wasn't just to test an individual in combat exclusively, but as a person, an intricate culmination of a variety of different pasts and experiences.
Did this mean that Ray was one of those individuals? Was Ozpin not only assessing his abilities in combat, but also how he was naturally?
These were questions that would have to go unanswered for now.
There was something else about the man that Ray picked up on. This speech wasn't to enthuse or brighten anyone's day in the slightest. Ozpin's eyes held a certain level of disinterest in the students amassed in his presence, almost seemingly apathetic to who they were or what they could do.
If that wasn't concerning, Ray didn't know what was.
Considering that the initiation was – supposedly – designed to better aid the man in learning about an individual on a personal level, the fact that he didn't seem to give a fucking damn about the students in his care made the whole thing look pointless.
"That said, your teams will be forged around your choices for which relic you decided to return with. Many of you realised this, given its simplicity, but few of you realised the true driving factor behind the chess pieces you turned in."
"Huh, so there was an ulterior motive behind them, you hear that, Ray? Looks like you were wrong." Gabriel smirked at his beanie-clad associate, his comment working to jokingly belittle the boy.
Ray only rolled his eyes, taking another capful of Acolyte from Kyzal's trembling hands and downing it before the marksman spilled it all over himself.
"Each piece depicts a subconscious decision within you, whether you aware of it or not,"
Gabriel's smirk grew wider as he repeatedly rubbed salt into Ray's minor wound by jabbing his thumb in Ozpin's direction and raising his eyebrows.
"Chess plays by a spectacle of novel rules and architectural ingenuity. Through your choices, your morality was tested, your innate desires were pulled, and your personalities were derived. Each of your personal pieces depicted some combination of these three traits."
Ray's eyes narrowed.
From what he could gather, the pieces did indeed have a deeper, more primal reason behind them. It was the evaluation of a student's entire being, rather than just how good they were at fighting. In fact, the fighting had very little to do with the initiation's grading, all it did was serve to catalyse the reveal of a person's individual traits. To accelerate the process of Ozpin sussing out who a person was, even behind closed doors.
It was a damn trap, and Ray fell right into it.
Ozpin may have more information on him than he initially believed, and this meant bad news.
He could potentially know why Ray was here in the first place, and by extension, manipulate him into staying longer than he would like by hindering the progress of the mission Ray was sent to uphold.
That four-eyed motherfucker…
"This initiation gave us a prime example of what to expect from you. All of you. But do keep in mind, anything is subject to change under the slow advance of time. So, I implore you to take the energy within you and give it a purpose,"
Ray mentally scoffed.
Damn right, I'll be giving it a purpose. I'll be using it to get what's mine so I can get the hell out of here.
"rather than wasting the potential you may very clearly possess."
Ozpin paused for a moment, using this brief period of silence to take a hushed breath.
"Now, your teams will be formed under the rules of four. Four members, four letters, one name, and one leader. Please make your way to the stage in the order you are called."
Scarlet could barely contain her excitement as her fierce hands clamped around Ray's arm and she attempted to shake the boy, though, she only succeeded in pulling herself back and forth in the process.
"This is it! This is it!" She squealed in a muted tone.
Ray pried her hands off of his arm as he boarded a grave train of thought.
A sense of doubt was looming over his mind as he dwelled on Ozpin's words, and Ray suspected that given his past, and who his father was, Ozpin may be keeping a closer eye on him than he had hoped.
Mistake, at this point, was an underwhelming term used to describe the monumental fuck up Ray had made by joining this school.
He didn't belong here, this wasn't his environment, but since he was, he may have undone his six years of lurking in the dark.
Ozpin was the furthest thing from uninformed, neither was Ray, for that matter. The boy knew that Ozpin knew his father.
In fact, aside from his uncle, Ozpin probably knew Orion better than anyone else.
So, it would not be a surprise to the hacker if the Headmaster of Beacon Academy recognised Orion Chroma's direct descendant. It didn't help that Ray had also inherited 90% of his father's looks either, so it wasn't as if Ray could play it off. Hell, if anyone didn't know any better, they would have assumed that Ray was practically a clone of Orion.
The only giveaway?
Orion had piercing blue eyes.
Ray's eyes were violet.
The heliotrope hue that tainted his irises belonged to his godforsaken mother…
Said irises switched their focus from the blank space in front of Ray and snapped onto Kyzal suddenly deciding to drink Ray's Acolyte from the bottle.
Ray's trance was put on hold as his hands soon found their way to the bottle.
"Shit! Kyzal!" Ray hissed, immediately grabbing the bottle from his grasp, "What the fuck are you doing?! Are you trying to get our asses kicked?!"
Ray's gaze swiftly fell upon Scarlet to the right of him and a wave of relief swept over him as he saw her eyes firmly fixed upon the stage, watching as the teams were formed with a wide smile on her face.
Ray breathed a silent sigh of relief as he took a long swig from the bottle of Acolyte and sealed it with the cap.
Kyzal, at this point, had more than his fair share of drink, thus, in order to prevent the boy from contracting severe alcohol poisoning, the archer could only watch in despair as Ray stuffed the bottle deep within his messenger bag.
However, Ray didn't check the bag for any missing items…
Kyzal's hoodie was zipped up as high as it could go before he stuffed his hands inside his pockets and played the role of the innocent bystander.
Ray's eyes soon redirected their attention from his bag to the stage, as a one Team RWBY was in the process of being christened by the headmaster.
Four girls; three Human and one Faunus, though it didn't look like she wanted to reveal that fact, if the black silk bow atop her head was any indication.
They were all very much colour coordinated, especially with the Team's namesake, Ruby Rose, being primarily red with black garments mixed in to break up the pattern.
Who did that remind him of…?
Ah yes, the ever eager, red-haired midget sat to his immediate right, hands once more clamped around his upper arm and shaking with excitement.
It became a solidified fact that Scarlet was very touchy-feely in the short span of time that Ray had known her.
Usually, it wouldn't be so bad, but she seemed to have a constant need to have her hands on someone else.
Maybe it was a comfort thing, Ray didn't know. What he did know, on the other hand, was that he seemed to be her primary victim to lay her small hands on.
At least she wasn't abusive with it, not yet at least…
"Gabriel Stryker, Ray Chroma, Scarlet Rubine, and Kyzal Drave, please make your way to the stage."
Scarlet's squealing increased in volume and pitch as the four of them were finally becoming a single unit.
"Here goes nothing." Gabriel commented as he pulled himself up from his chair.
Scarlet literally leaped up, breaking contact with Ray as she excitedly bounced on the balls of her feet. Ray, lamenting to himself as if he were about to face execution, slowly heaved himself out of his grave, assisting the heavily intoxicated Kyzal in the process. The sharpshooter using him as a walking crutch to assist him walking to the stairs leading to the stage.
Ray caught wind of something as he grabbed his messenger bag, it felt lighter, almost as though something had been removed. He kept a lot of items in there, but even so, the change in weight was very noticeable.
Almost as noticeable as the small, muted clinking of glass coming from the inside of Kyzal's jacket.
"Kyzal…" The boy whispered as the approached the bottom of the steps, "what's in your pocket?"
The sharpshooter's eyes avidly averted Ray's, prompting those twin amethyst orbs to narrow as suspicion began to flower in his mind.
"I'll ask again," the hacker repeated, "what's in your pocket?"
Kyzal, unwilling to resist Ray's unyielding glare, slightly unzipped his hoodie, revealing the neck of the champagne bottle Ray had bought for this occasion.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me…"
They finally made it to the top of the stairs and stood in an orderly line in front of Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch.
The time-kissed man inhaled through his nose before delivering his speech.
"You four retrieved the white pawn pieces, this reflects in your ability to appear to be mere cannon fodder, though, in reality, you have the most potential out of any other piece. Silent, yet deadly, the humble pawn can be the most dangerous piece in the entire game if its opponents underestimate its abilities."
As Ozpin delivered his speech, Ray was subtly wrestling Kyzal with the intent to repossess his bottle of champagne.
Bad idea…
The carbonated drink, with all the quick motions the boys made in order to take it from one another, had begun to build in pressure, and at any given moment, would launch the cork like a cannon.
"Kyzal! Give me the fucking bottle!" Ray hissed, knowing in full what would happen if the archer kept resisting.
"From this day forward, you four shall be known as team R- "
POP!
Silence rolled over the entire amphitheatre as the small wooden plug fired out of the bottle of champagne like a bullet…
"Oh no…"
Kyzal and Ray could only watch in abject horror as the cork's trajectory led it straight into the cleavage of one Glynda Goodwitch.
Hell was about to be raised.
Even Ozpin, in the midst of naming their team, spared a passing moment to look at the cork firmly embedded into the crevice on Professor Goodwitch's chest.
"Ooohhh dear…" Kyzal murmured as he slowly handed the bottle to Ray and shuffled nervously to the side.
Glynda's face wore the expression of a murder. If looks could kill, Ray and Kyzal would have violently exploded.
The ground itself had begun to tremble as her face turned bright red in pure, unadulterated rage. The quaking itself growing more and more intense as her green eyes burned holes through the two boys responsible for this humiliating, yet humorous display of complete and utter disrespect.
Ray glanced over to his right to see both Scarlet and Gabriel, in the heart of this disaster, trying their damn hardest not to laugh.
Scarlet was by far the worst, Ray could see her chest shaking rapidly as her face flushed behind her hands. As for Gabriel, he was desperately fighting off a grin as the corners of his lips twitched in resistance, the boy's hands never once leaving the pockets of his long coat.
Even Ozpin, a man highly respected for his patient and stoic image, held a tiny glint of amusement in his eyes as he turned to his infuriated assistant.
"Are you alright, my dear?"
Not only did he have the capacity to maintain a straight face during what was likely to be the most humiliating moment in her entire career at this school, but he had the balls to mock her for it.
Ray's shoulders involuntarily shrunk as he tried to make himself as small as physically possible, not like it would have any effect on his future instructor's foul mood and almost fatal intentions toward the Chroma heir.
Luckily for Ray, Ozpin was quick to take the initiative and resume his speech after very loudly clearing his throat.
"As I was saying…" he began, "you will be known from this day forward as team…" The man paused for a split second, eyeing the four quickly before deciding on what he should name their team.
"Renegades."
If Ray didn't feel the urge to quiver in fear and hide as far away as possible under the intense glare Glynda Goodwitch gave him, he would have sweat-dropped at the name his team was given.
"Led by, Scarlet Rubine."
Of all people to take responsibility over the four delinquents standing in front of Headmaster Ozpin and his livid assistant, of course it had to be Scarlet Rubine…
The small, red, excitable, and deadly Scarlet Rubine.
They were doomed.
Ray was calling it now; his time here was not going to go well…
Author's note:
As if it wasn't already dead fucking obvious Gabriel, Kyzal, Ray, and Scarlet are a team. Big surprise, right?
Also, if it wasn't made apparent before, Ray is a bit of an alcoholic, there are reasons for this, but we'll get to them later.
Either way, sorry for yet another half-assed note, I literally cannot think of anything insightful to say.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, next one should be out within a week or so.
Please Follow, Favourite, and Review.
Have a good one.
- Hydra