Chapter 2: Greyscale

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It was the first day. Everyone on the bullhead was excited; students were in small huddles talking with friends about what they expected to happen. However, Nick had nobody. He didn't know anyone and no one knew him. He thought about approaching the only other student alone on the bullhead, but he really didn't look like he was in a talking mood.

Nick couldn't help but admire the other boy's outfit that reflected his own greyscale scheme. His leather jacket was completely white except for its black lapels and shoulder straps, which were dotted with white metal buttons and beneath the jacket was a simple black t-shirt. He wore black pants that had strips of metal clipped into the front of the fabric seemingly haphazardly, and black combat boots with thick soles. He had several earrings on each ear - made of white gold from the looks of it. His hair was a shock of white, with the left side of his head shaved, and the rest was brushed over so that it framed the right side of his face, almost reaching chin length. Around his throat was a black choker with white spikes. Starting near his ears, two white streaks lined his cheekbones and came to a point an inch below his eyes. And his eyes were two steely teal orbs that remained in a constant relaxed, yet scrutinizing stare as he looked around the bullhead. His skin was slightly darker than Nick's own, as if he spent all of his time in the sun.

Deciding to stick to his corner of the bullhead and people watch for now, Nick glanced around and he mindlessly stroked the vertical scar over the left side of his mouth with his thumb. Chances are one of these people were going to be either my teammate or at least on my team, he thought to himself. He saw two girls, one red-hooded girl with short hair and one blonde with really long hair. They looked nothing alike but the blonde referred to the shorter girl as her "baby sister." Apparently the younger one had been moved up two years from combat school. Impressive. Then there was some blonde guy who seemed to be getting progressively ill.

Nick continued people watching as a news story about some criminal and the notorious White Fang was being aired on the nearby holographic display. It's a shame that whenever the media talks about Faunus it's in a negative light. Humans can be just as despicable, and often especially despicable towards the Faunus. The news story was cut short by the hologram of Professor Goodwitch. She gave some speech about how we are an honored few that get to attend the Academy, and how our world was in a time of peace, and blah, blah, blah... It's not that he didn't care, but his mind was elsewhere as they grew closer to the Academy. He had been there before for orientation, but there was something different about the campus this time. It seemed alive, with all the ships flying about, the view of Vale all around, and all the people already milling around on the campus who looked like ants from the distance.

Of course, the splendor of the view was ruined when the blonde boy seemed to be unable to contain himself any longer and ran to the nearest trash can to vomit, bumping his way past several people including Nick. In doing so he accidentally got some of his vomit on one of the two sisters. The girls quickly grossed out and caused some ruckus on the flight. As Nick chuckled to himself, he spotted a shorter kid dressed in nothing but shades of green. He had noticed the kid earlier chatting with various passengers. He seemed to be different than the others. He laughed and had a genuine smile. He was also shorter than Nick by a few inches which is a rare sight. Not that Nick is short or anything, he's average height and don't you dare say otherwise.

Opposite the green kid was a girl who was similar in stature. Out of everyone on the ship this girl seemed the most energetic. She talked with her hands and rocked back and forth on her feet and when she got excited she practically jumped in place. There was something very familiar about the girl as well. Nick couldn't quite place where he might've seen her before.

There were few other faces that stood out, a boy dressed in all black next to the blue cat girl, a dark skinned boy who resembled a desert wasteland bandit towards the front of the ship, A tall guy with mace that sneered at the blonde boy who vomited, and a short girl with dark red hair wearing black aviators who already looked like she had seen her fair share of battles showed off some of her scars to another student.

"That's a gnarly one you got across your face," said the student. However from her expression it was the one she was least proud of. She stood up and took off her aviators to reveal her lime green eyes.

"You're right, this was the most painful one of all," she stated while staring at him intensely.

"But I thought you said the one on you stomach hurt the most-"

"There's more than one kind of pain," She said and replaced the shades with a wry smile as she walked away, approaching the exit doors. The ship was beginning it's descent and she wasn't the only one eager to get off the ship and explore the campus. Nick was almost disappointed that no one had approached him, although to be fair he didn't approach anyone either. Perhaps it was better to remain reclusive, he should keep people at arm's length anyhow, for their own good.

Hello everyone! This chapter was super short because most of what it was originally got put into the first chapter and it was either scrap it entirely or post this, and, well, I didn't want to scrap it. I was able to add on to it a little by giving a little more detail for the "redhead" character before she was officially introduced and characterize Nick a bit. Anyways I hope you enjoyed!

Don't forget to leave me a review, it motivates me to put out better quality content faster!