A/N: Okay so this is out so damn late. I'm dumb sorry haha. So this is essentially the lead up to the end of the Vale tourney arc and from there will begin a couple of special chapters. A few things. Thanks to anyone who has review because those are awesome and serve as some inspiration to keep going. The favs and follows are amazing too. I never really thought I would make anything that would have a little bit of popularity but damn much better than I thought haha. One last thing before the chap. If anyone can draw or do something along the lines of artistic then I would love to see someone make a cover for this fic. You'll not only have my undying gratitude but maybe a cameo? *wink wink* Well thats about it for this. Hope ya like this chap.
Chapter 11: Choice Words
Jaune sighed as he sat down by the remainder of team RWBY who was still waiting on news about Weiss. He leaned forward and watched as the arena was being fixed from Yang and Weiss' match. The verdict had gone to Yang but the damage was severe enough to force a large portion of the audience to leave in order to take a breather from the action.
The knight looked over and noticed that Blake was meditating while Ruby was taking care of her Crescent Rose. He thought about the two days he sent away from everyone and the damage done to his left arm.
The knight grit his teeth as he ducked under a beowulf's claw and followed up by beheading the Grimm with a swift slice from Crocea Mors. He turned and deflected a claw meant to impale him before returning the favor to the Grimm causing it to fall back. He looked around and his eyes widened as a large Grimm charged at him and threw him into the ground. Its roar causing him to cover his ears before it pounced on him. He grit his teeth as he struggled to push its head back but one of the claws pierced through his arm causing him to scream.
The adrenaline was pulsing through his veins and he went into overdrive as the pain he felt no longer existed. Using his aura he kicked the creature, knocking it away and into the ground before jumping up and rapidly stabbing the creature with his uninjured arm. With a war cry he stabbed once more, this time it entered the beast's head causing it to lay still. He looked down at the blood sliding down his arm and realized that he was still fighting.
Minutes later he stood at the center of a field of dead Grimm. His chest rapidly rising and falling as he caught his breath and allowed his body to return to normal. He took a couple of steps forward but simply collapsed and let his vision fade to black.
When he awoke he noticed he wasn't in the forest anymore. He was in a cabin somewhere in the woods he had decided to train in. "You're a brave man to face off against so many Grimm at once." He winced as his body demanded more rest instead of action. "Lay down. You've been out for a few hours. 3 to 4 give or take." The knight obliged and looked at the ceiling of the cabin which was intricately made. "Well this will sound kind of rude but. What's a kid doing in the middle of a forest full of Grimm?"
"I don't even know to be honest." The person talking to him sounded feminine but he wouldn't know whether or not they were male or female till he saw them face to face. "I got into an argument with someone important then I just wandered. After a few hours I ended up there and just chose to fight. Maybe I just wanted to disappear…"
The laugh he heard was definitely female. He turned his head and was met with stunning emerald eyes which caused him to quickly turn away with a blush. "Hehe Don't be shy now." She tapped his shoulder causing him to face her once more. "You're stronger than you think." She had taken a chair and placed it by the bed and leaned forward in order to get a clear look at the knight. She had dark purple hair and she wore a headband that kept it from getting in her eyes. "A hell of a lot more than most people I've met here."
He raised an eyebrow at her statement but decided not to question it before he watched her walk into the kitchen and prepare something to eat. "I know you're a stranger but… I want to ask a question." She looked over and nodded as if telling him to ask away. "I'm the leader of a team and one of my teammates was severely injured. I want to be able to handle his role as well as mine. Is being able to do everything really that impossible to do?" Her response was a burst of laughter which caused the knight to bite his lip. "You're so stupid." His eyes widened before he shot up to retort, he heard her speak again.
"I say you're stupid because you are." She turned off the stove and walked back over to the chair before sitting down. "It's impossible. You will never be able to do everything." She saw his face drop but before he could react further she continued. "But there is a reason why we can't do everything. You have a team because the burden is split equally among all of you. You're not the only one suffering. There's bound to be someone on your team blaming themselves for your teammate's injury another one suffering because they could only watch while the last is worrying about what the team will become when this ordeal is over." She pat his head and smiled. "This is an ordeal that you have to face. TOGETHER."
He sighed and nodded before she stood up and went back to cooking. "Carrying the burden. Together." He chuckled bitterly as he thought about his actions before allowing his hair to fall over his eyes. "I-I'm such an idiot…"
He was knocked out of his thoughts by someone shaking him. When he looked up, Blake was gently nudging him in order to wake him up. "The next match is about to start." After speaking, the faunus walked over to the edge and jumped down into the arena where both Cardin and Pyrrha were waiting. Linzer followed the trio and jumped down as well this time he held a microphone and all the screens lit up. When the knight looked around, the stands were filled up once again.
"And now for the final match of the second round!" The screens began to scroll through pictured until he snapped his fingers causing the pictures to stop on Pyrrha and Cardin meaning Blake would be getting the free pass onto the next round. The gladiator simply tightened her grip on Milo while Cardin grinned from ear to ear. Before the match could start, the faunus simply stepped forward. "I'll be facing Pyrrha. Not Cardin." The crowd watched in awe as the warrior simply left the arena and left the two huntresses staring at each other while getting ready to fight.
"Well well well. Due to the sudden choice of Miss Blake Belladonna. It will be Pyrrha Nikos versus Blake Belladonna to end the second round!" Pyrrha glared daggers at Blake before closing the distance between them.
The faunus reacted by drawing Gambol Shroud and stopping her attack. "I wanted to fight Cardin! I wanted to keep him from doing what he did to Ren to anyone else!" The two separated and immediately charged at each other once again. The two entered a dance of blades where they countered and parried each other until the gladiator unleashed her aura and sent the ninja flying away.
Using her agility, the faunus simply flipped in midair and unleashed her blade turned sickle and pulled on the ribbon allowing the weapon to arc towards the gladiator who was busy trying to follow up on her attack. The ribbon found its mark and caused her to trip and fall down before she could move any further. Blake pulled the ribbon and enhanced her strength in order to slam Pyrrha into the ground knocking the wind out of her. She quickly pulled back on the ribbon allowing it to gently fly back towards her. Catching the blade, she watched as the gladiator pushed herself up and simply used her aura to heal her wounds.
They sized each other up as much as they could before charging at each other once more. Blake swung diagonally but missed as she let go of the blade causing it to fly past Pyrrha who simply jumped to the side and thrust her shield out into the faunus' chest causing her to stumble before she took a series of punches followed by a burst of aura knocking her back once again. By the time she saw the spear, she had been forced to roll in order to avoid being skewered.
'Pyrrha's fighting on pure rage right now. She can hide it well.' Taking a deep breath, Blake closed her eyes and waited. Seconds passed but when she felt the slight change in the air, she opened her eyes and avoided the thrust of Milo and countered with a swift palm strike to her jaw which knocked her off balance. Using the momentum, she pulled on the ribbon and allowed gambol shroud to wrap itself around the gladiator before she followed up with a head-butt that knocked both fighters back. 'No one wins with a head-butt' she groaned mentally as she pulled on the ribbon causing the gladiator to stumble forward and into the faunus' fist.
Pyrrha winced as she pushed herself up. She looked over at Blake who was ready to hit her as much as possible but she simply readied herself once again. Jaune watched as the two continued fighting but he grit his teeth as he studied his teammate's movements. "This isn't her." He continued watching and stood up and walked down towards the balcony railing where he got a closer view of the match. He noticed the dark expression on his teammate's face and the struggling expression on Blake's as she tried to force everything out of the gladiator.
Linzer narrowed his eyes as he watched the fight go down. "She's succumbing to her anger. This won't end well for anyone if I let this continue." When he was about to move, he felt an arm clasp his shoulder. He looked at Ranulf who simply nodded to the stands where Jaune was watching. "I see. Let the leader handle this." He rubbed his chin and finally agreed but if it went out of control he would have to stop the match.
The two opponents were breathing heavily as they expended all of their skills in order to wear each other down at least that's what everyone thought when the gladiator simply raised her shield and readied Milo once more. Blake followed her actions and readied Gambol Shroud.
Pyrrha took a look around and noticed Jaune starring at the match intently then she realized what he was studying. He noticed all of her movements and she herself knew he already figured out what she was doing. She calmly returned to her regular stance and focused as she and Blake began to exchange blows once more.
Instead of wild swings, they were now calm and controlled. She attempted to predict wherever the blade would go in order to block it while her opponent continuously looked to outplay her in this game of mental chess where one wrong move would mean a loss.
The crowd cheered as the two exchanged their final blows. Pyrrha forced herself to stay standing while Blake simply chuckled and fell to one knee with a groan. "Good to see you back in fighting form Pyrrha." The gladiator simply nodded before kneeling down so she was eye level with her opponent.
"Thanks for snapping me out of that. I wasn't in my right mind while fighting." The faunus chuckled as she looked down and accepted her defeat. Linzer jumped down and held his hands out allowing both fighters to stand. The crowd waited in anticipation for the winner until both arms were raised. "Both of you put on an amazing match. Its only right that both of you get praise but." He pointed to the screen where the picture of Pyrrha was the one that was lit up. "Our winner is Pyrrha Nikos!"
At the Vale city Hospital, Nora watched the match go down and smiled when her partner was declared the winner. She sat in the waiting room and she was waiting to see the medic that was treating her friend. She had bags under her eyes from the sleepless nights as she had heard he would barely react to any outside stimulation. While he had improved in the last two days he simply wouldn't wake up.
After a few minutes, a doctor walked into the room and asked Nora to follow him as he led her through the halls he explained that his body had begun to become more active with outside stimulation which meant he had high hopes for having him wake up within the next few days if not that day. Once they entered the room, she looked at the sleeping Ren who was now breathing without the oxygen mask as well as his head lacking the nasty looking bump.
"Once the swelling went down his body has begun to recover at a faster rate. Most likely from his aura kicking in. The nurses keeping an eye on him have stated that he's been heard mumbling at times which means he may wake up soon." Nora was ecstatic about the news and could jump for joy but decided against it as it was a hospital.
Once the doctor left the room, she decided to sit down next to the aura specialist and she placed her hand in his and closed her eyes as she waited for anything to happen. Anything at all. Suddenly her eyes widened as she felt his hand close against hers. She looked at him as his magenta eyes opened slightly. He weakly muttered. "Best…..nap…ever"
Weiss winced as she sat up from where she had been laid down. She looked around and noticed a series of glyphs and writing on the walls of a strange cave. "Where am I?" She stood and winced as her body protested against her sudden movements. She studied the glyphs and noticed that they were just like the ones in Soren's tome.
The Arc-Mage sat at the center of the cave in a meditative pose where all the glyphs around him were glowing different colors. "I see you're up." She froze at the sound of his icy voice. She nodded and noticed that she was sitting at the center of a large glyph. "You recognize that right?" She nodded once more and watch him stand and walk over to her. "I'm not going to punish you nor cause you any pain but I will let you know that what you did was foolish beyond all reason!"
"I-I was trying to use the magic in the tome!" He simply sat in front of her and opened the tome. He pointed at the glyph and then turned the page but her eyes widened when she noticed that the page he had turned to wasn't one she read. "Does that mean?"
"You used an incomplete spell. In your eagerness to learn my arts you skipped the most important part of the flare technique." He closed the tome causing a loud bang which caused the heiress to flinch. "If that spell had continued any longer. You would be dead!" She looked down at the ground before she felt his hand gently reach under her chin and lifted her head up. "I will teach you the proper way to use my magic but ONLY if you use them properly."
Tears began to form in her eyes as he heard everything he said. 'I would have died..dead...' Once the realization hit her the tears began to flow gently sliding down her pale face which were stopped by his soft fingers. "Weiss you have incredible talent. More so than my own but, talent will only take you so far." He sat down in front of her once again. "I'm angered but only because you remind me of one of my closest friends. She nearly died while trying to learn the exact same spell you did. I just don't want to see you succumb to magic you could have controlled." She nodded as she wiped her eyes on her sleeves and watched him open the tome once more.
Her body trembled slightly as the words Soren spoke were still sinking in. She tried her best to suppress her tears but they would come out eventually. She watched him move through the pages with ease as her mind wandered back to his statement. 'Father would be all alone. Nothing would hold him back.' She wrapped her arms around herself and continued to make an attempt at calming herself. The mage looked up and sighed as he thought about what to tell the heiress in order to calm herself down.
He tapped his fingers on the ground and then realized what to do. He held his hand out which she stared at suspiciously before she reached out and felt his hand close around it. "In death one releases the soul. In life one must walk the path to ruin. Whether or not they keep moving forward depends on the willingness of the soul." Weiss closed her eyes as she heard him speak. His monotone voice showing hints of emotion as he continued speaking. "I have walked through the valley of despair and made it to the promise land where I remain free. Let go of the rope which binds you to the earth and fall into the abyss which is our existence."
As the words passed his lips, all of the runes and glyphs began to unleash an unearthly glow. "Awaken the soul and burn the impurities away in order to harness the potential which makes you strong." He let go of her hand and then placed his hands on his lap. "Awaken to the gift Ashunera left you. Weiss Schnee of Remnant." Minutes passed when her eyes burst open due to a sudden rush of energy that entered her body. It didn't feel like the aura that coursed through her body. It was different, like a rush of adrenaline that was permanent.
When she looked up at the mage he was breathing hard as his face looked extremely pale. "Soren?!" He simply held out his hand as a sign that he was okay. He simply took a deep breath and then looked over at heiress who was busy trying to figure out the strange sensation her body was feeling. Once he started speaking, she looked at him intently. "There was potential in you. It was locked but the ritual I just finished allowed your body to freely use its own power for the techniques I am about to teach you."
He held his hand out and she watched a flame appear and suddenly disappear, replaced by a faint light that seemed to call out to her. "This is Ashunera's gift, her wisdom." He chuckled when she raised an eyebrow. "In short I just gave you the tools to use my abilities. Now you understand every last word in those tomes." He allowed the light to disappear. "Your spells with dust and Aura were great but they were shallow imitations of what you could really do. He slid the tome to her and she followed up by opening it. "Now that I've unlocked your latent potential, we'll be able to hone and perfect your techniques."
As night fell, a certain faunus woke up with a grunt as he felt his body had nearly recovered. He stood up and noticed a shadow was against the wall causing him to grab a nearby needle and launch it towards the mysterious person. "Whoa there!" He simply entered a hand to hand stance before the man stepped out of the shadows with a chuckle. "Its me." The man simply nodded as he sat down on the bed with a sigh. "I see you're doing better due to the effects of that healing dust we pumped into you."
The faunus simply grunted as he clenched and relaxed his hands. "Y'know what the doc was giving you wasn't healing dust." He man nodded as he pushed himself up and looked at Damon with a blank stare. "It was a depressant that was created to dull the faunus' overly powerful senses. You would essentially become human in all but appearance." Within seconds, the man slammed the umbra-kinetic man into the wall causing him to grit his teeth. "I stopped him and healed you! I'm not your enemy Adam!"
Adam simply nodded and let go causing Damn to slide to the ground. "Why are you here?" He walked over the dresser and picked up the fractured mask which he then placed back down before seeing a set of clothes on the bed. He looked at them and realized that they most likely were supplied by Wesson Schnee himself. He simply walked into the bathroom and turned on the water as he noticed the multiple burns and scars that were across his body. The newest ones were slightly pink due to the still healing flesh. He winced as he washed himself careful not to disturb his healing wounds any more than he had to.
Damon leaned against the wall as the door opened to reveal a girl slightly older than Weiss sneaking in with a mischievous smirk at least until she noticed the person she was looking for was not there. He heard her mumble something along the lines of 'Damnit I wanted to see him again. I guess the doctor is checking up on him.' Before she could leave, he grinned as he slipped into the shadows and silently crept to the door before proceeding to slam it shut. The girl screamed and tried to open the door but to no avail at least until she heard footsteps.
She closed her eyes at least until she heard someone call out to her. "You again?" The girl simply chuckled nervously as she tried to think of what to say but simply stared at the half nude man in front of her. Seconds later she hit the floor as Damon stepped out of the shadows in hysterics. "Did you have to do that?" The man simply chuckled once more as he watched Adam slip on the white shirt that had the Schnee emblem on the sleeve followed by the black jacket that he always wore. When he looked closely, there was another emblem on the left breast pocket.
After leaving the unconscious girl in her room, they both walked towards the top of the building they were in which caused the horned faunus to pinch the bridge of his nose as if fighting a headache. "Still feeling a bit under the weather?" The faunus shook his head as they continued their walk through the darkened halls of the mansion. Upon reaching the top floor, the two stood in front of a large door which opened on its own. "I brought him in sir." Damon signaled to Adam who simply nodded as he stepped into the room.
"yes. yes. Ironwood. Penny will be taken care of until you arrive next week. Yes she will be monitored." The white haired owner of the schnee company sighed as he continued his conversation on the screen in front of him. "I will see you when you arrive then General." The screen disappeared which caused the man to sigh as he looked up at the two men in the room. "My my don't you look dashing." The faunus simply grunted in response before sitting down on a chair in front of Wesson. "I would assume the dust worked its magic?"
"I feel good enough to move around now. A bit of discomfort but I've dealt with worse." The man nodded as he signaled for Damon to come to him. The two spoke silently before Adam crossed his arms over his chest. "If I could be told why I'm being asked to come here. Maybe that would be a start or maybe why that scientist was trying to dull my senses with his crazy medicines." The second statement caught Wesson off as he simply placed a tablet in front of the faunus who hesitantly took it and scanned through it. On it was information on the scientists many achievements as well as his membership in a human supremacy coalition. "I see."
"I'm glad you're doing well Adam but you're here because I'm going to give you a special task that I can only give to you as a way to see if I can trust you or not." The man simply pulled out a crest which was worn by those who attended Beacon academy. "You will be attending Beacon as a member of the security team but this will only be a cover for I want you to keep my daughter Weiss safe from all harm. Be it friend. or Foe." The faunus nodded as he slipped the badge into his pocket. "As for meeting with miss Belladonna. She attends Beacon as well. In fact she and my daughter are on the same team."
Adam simply nodded and leaned back into his seat. "There was something else I want to let you know." He grabbed the tablet then on the fragment of his mask a small chip fell out. Upon sliding the chip into the console, it lit up revealing a map which was marked in multiple areas. "These are the White fang's plans. If you're to get rid of Torchwick and place me as their leader. You'll want to know where they will strike next." Wesson stared at the map causing his eyes to widen. "Yep. They want the Elysium Paladins."
A/N: OK so the little ritual that Soren did is a sort of non existent thing but I did this to contrast the aura awakening ritual. Essentially Soren opened her mind to the 'Tellius' Language and word so she can now fully understand the tomes. What she does with it who knows. It will be explained in the next few chapters why dust spells are a "Shallow" Version of true magic. Well this wraps up chap 11 hope ya liked.