Hello everybody, I am TimoremCordeNostro and welcome back to RWBY: Fallen from the Rise.
As always constructive criticism is always welcome, this was written with my brilliant Beta-reader and co-writer Billmastergamin115, so a big special thanks to meine Freund!
Cann is pronounced Sh-awn or Sh-aan.
WARNING: - This Fic contains scenes that young people may find disturbing, please bare in mind the rating of this fic is an approximation and I am not responsible for anything that happens or anything caused by this fic, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I hope you enjoy aaaaaaaaaaaaand let's do this!
End Authors Note.
Several hundred seconds after previous events.
He opened his eyes, not reacting to the sudden brightness and resulting blurriness that assaulted his eyesight, even then everything quickly cleared up. The Emerald Forest, as its name suggests, the large woodland is covered with the emerald coloured foliage of trees, grass, brushes and more, the flowers and tree bark added their own colours to the palette making it a striking sight.
You could almost be lost here, in somewhere untouched by the worries and greyness of the world. But most of the beauty of this place was lost on Cann, he'd spent his life practicing two arts, two skills, Life and Death. He may have learned many different methods of taking someone's life, but he also knew how to give life to someone, to save them if he so needed, because in reality he knew that in some scenarios it was better to be dead than alive. That and if those he cared about were injured, he would make it his ultimate priority that they recover to full health.
His mind had wandered when he didn't want it to, habits of a child that never had a chance to play. Instead he spent his life learning and fast, he had to protect those closest to him where his parents could not, even with their death he didn't have time to grieve, he could only take on the sobbing child and raise her as best he could by himself, his only childhood friend helping him however he had to, which he was ultimately thankful for.
That friend however, was someone he could no longer go near, let alone give the honor of what few moments he had spare. Looking back on it all he'd wondered how he didn't spot the signs earlier, the signs of someone slowly becoming power hungry and delusional. But at the same time, he couldn't blame him, the prospect of accepting that your only friend had become quite literally, a sociopath, would've been something even his elder self would refuse to accept.
Another thing to bare in mind is that the views his friend took are ones that he himself partially agreed on because of his logical look at the world. But he is not without morals and knows that the path that his old friend pursues is the wrong way of getting what so many wanted. What many continue to fight and die for, thankfully though, it would soon end.
His mind would've gone deeper into that area if he didn't realise that the students he was meant to be observing were completely unawares of everything in the shadows, until they all had that hazy tingling at the back of their neck, which they listened to. They each took up a stance, one of them unarmed, watching for whatever would rise from the shadows to challenge them. An Ursa major stepped out of the foliage proceeding to stand on its hind legs and roar at them, obviously not a very happy bear.
P.O.V. Switch
"Awwww what's the matter, bee's steal your honey?" Yang said in a mocking tone prompting a giggle from Ruby at her sister's antics. The Ursa charged at Yang only to receive an uppercut at the exact right moment prompting Ruby to fire two shots from her Crescent Rose into the throat of the Ursa making it slowly disintegrate. "That's not all of them." Blake said in her usual monotone.
"Good, I need something to punch after last night." Yang said, her eyes turning crimson for a few seconds before turning their usual shade of lilac. "Weren't the trees enough?" Weiss threw in her own two cents, leading everyone to give off their own smirk or giggle, she had a point though, the clearing had gotten bigger since yesterday. By this point all varieties of Grimm started to pour out of the tree line leading the team to step back a little, Creeps were the first wave, easily taken down by a few slices and punches, or more specifically, Yang charging them head on and punching them all into the ground until there was basically nothing but goop.
As the Grimm horde started becoming more numerous by the second, they found themselves slowly being overwhelmed. Ruby was doing her best to hack and slash every Beowolf and creep that came her direction but for each one dead, three more appeared, soon enough they each had to start slowly retreating as ten soon turned to fifty incredibly quickly leading Cann to have to intervene, though not much intervention was needed.
Weiss was managing to pick off those that strayed around them, laying traps for those that were stupid enough not to look at their feet, if they didn't, incineration was to be expected. Ruby and Yang were at the front, holding the line steadily with many shell casings being expelled. Blake felt almost useless, but without a weapon, she knew it was best if she did not engage. Until, that is, she was given a weapon, one that would match her style in a way.
Cann was stood next to Blake silently and proceeding to hand her one of his shot-saws. "Not a scratch Ms. Belladonna." He said as Blake proceeded to examine the weapon before joining the heat of battle, using the shot-saw in the exact same manner she would've used Gambol Shroud, slicing and dicing everything to pieces, as well as explosive fire dust rounds for that extra oomph.
With Blake running off to do her own thing, Cann stood there and watched idly incase any needed help, seemingly not noticing the two Beowolves and Beowolf Alpha charging at him, until one was directly in front of him attempting to chomp his head off. Instead, it chomped air as Cann cartwheeled backwards, kicking the Beowolf across the face disorientating it. The second Beowolf attempted to cleave him in half as he got to his feet again only to have it's hand cut off by large and jagged wrist blades, he proceeded to slice the Beowolfs face into three sections killing it instantly. Cann barely had time to dodge the attack coming from the Beowolf Alpha and use its large form against it as he kicked it straight into the gut to springboard himself away from the remaining two.
The younger remaining Beowolf charged at him again only to receive a katana through the throat and half its throat was soon removed as he jumped over the youngling, which removed most of the meat in that area, leaving it to choke to death and leaving him with the Alpha Beowolf. He smirked behind his mask as he charged the Alpha, as it surprisingly held its ground, but unfortunately, this would only serve his needs as he blocked a swipe from the Alpha and jumped wrapping his legs around the Beowolf Alphas throat, using both his momentum and strength to bring it down onto it's back, he proceeded to fire a single explosive shell from his remaining shot-saw into the throat practically removing it's whole neck from existence and effectively decapitating it. All three bodies disintegrated at the same time.
Ruby stood there and 'woahed' at the display Cann had put on, demonstrating a superior mind against superior numbers. She was brought out of this train of thought when an Ursa Major attempted to cleave Ruby in half, managing to dodge this and get off a couple of shots however, serving to piss it off heavily, which became evident as it roared at her. "Eh oh." she said as she rolled out the way of another swipe, she used her Semblance to speed up to it and catch its throat with her scythe, after a good two seconds of pulling as hard as she could the Ursa majors head was cleaved clean off.
Weiss was not having a good day. Her favorite dress is dirty and has a few holes in it, she hasn't slept in a bed for a few days, she never thought she would miss those damn bunk beds. She was also running out of dust, much to her annoyance. Luckily enough though, every incendiary glyph put down was used to great effect, Beowolves, Creep and Ursa alike were burned to a crisp. She charged a pair of Creep, cleaving it in half, much to her surprise, and blocked the attacks from the Creep behind her proceeding to hack and slash it to pieces. And now to her 'favorite' Grimm, a Boarbatusk.
Remembering from the last time she fought the annoying little thing. She stood her ground, getting into stance, waiting for the Boarbatusk to charge, she managed a smirk as she lowered her guard, why she did this became evident as the Boarbatusk set alight in an almost beautiful cacophony of flames and the smell of bacon. Weiss gave a dark chuckle at that. I don't think she'll last more than 7 days.
Yang was having a workout with this fight, for once she was breaking a sweat and that was rare, or at least she liked to think so. Beating down Beowolves and Ursas was fun and all, but she also liked punching something bigger every once in awhile, like Deathstalkers, or more specifically, the one she was beating right now. Dodging the tail spike once again, she managed to slip through the guard the Deathstalker had up and proceed to pound the head of the large 'ish Grimm and pound it hard, the shotgun rounds also aiding in making large cracks in the surprisingly tough armour for such a young Grimm. Making all the grunting noises that would insinuate her punching as hard as she could. Though that didn't help anything besides fan-service...I mean motivation...no that still doesn't sound right, ah fuck it move on...how do you make it worse than Yang can unintentionally?
She was eventually swatted away by one of the huge pincers making her give off an 'ooof' and land next to Ruby. At this moment Blake landed on top of where the blonde brawler had made the cracks and proceeded to fire a few explosive rounds removing more armour. Before the Deathstalker could swat away Blake like it did Yang however, she drove the saw blade of the shotgun into the brain of the Deathstalker, killing it nearly instantly.
Blake retreated back to the others as Weiss sliced a Boarbatusk in half. "Everyone in a line!" Ruby said, leading her and the others to notice that the Horde started to thin out, much to the confusion of the team of youngsters, until they spotted the rather large and surprisingly lone Goliath stepping through the trees to see what's going on. After examining the team for a few seconds, it huffed and started slowly walking towards them eliciting the team to get into a combat stance. The Goliath paused a few metres away from the team however, staring down one person who slowly walked a few centiremetres in front of the youngsters, in the centre of them all.
He stared straight back into the eyes of the Goliath, the eyes would look like they were visibly vibrating, but if you saw those eyes, you would never talk again. The symbols on his mask and jacket glowing brightly, the Goliath started shaking, until Cann raised a hand to the Goliath and it simply paused, as if it were encased in ice. Cann then proceeded to take a single Katana seemingly out of thin air and walk towards the Goliath, stopping in front of it and putting two fingers on its head, closing his eyes.
Angst haben. Were the only words he needed to think before the Goliaths mind was filled with foreign yet oh so familiar images and thoughts, even if it was the negative emotion it fed off, it found itself overwhelmed as its mind started falling apart, as if a revolution were taking place in its poor fragile mind. Before long it couldn't do anything, it felt alone, locked away in a cage it was so used to being trapping prey inside...Fear.
The bone on the Goliath started shattering as it let out an ear piercing screech, causing everyone besides Cann to cover their ears, he didn't even twitch. The Goliath soon started cracking like glass, until the screech ended abruptly, the Goliath shattering and disintegrating into the wind as Cann shoved his sword where he placed his finger like lightning, after a couple seconds he fell to one knee, his heart going several hundred miles a minute.
Team RWBY simply stared at the Hunter wide eyed in silence, getting a cold icy feeling crawling up there spines into the back of their minds, giving them a headache and making them shiver, Yang broke the silence. "Well that was...smashing." Yang could only smirk at her own humour as the still partially breathless Hunter walked past Yang. "God I hate puns." He stopped in front of Blake and held out a hand. "My weapon, if you please?" He asked respectfully with a slight bow eliciting her to give it to him with a straight face, as usual.
Before he could disappear however, he was asked a question. "Who are you?" He paused and turned his head slightly. "You'll find out." The words were as reassuring as they were cryptic, but it still made Blake smile, a good, half smile, an uncommon kind, but not a full smile, those were rare. He slowly walked into the tree line, tossing a box filled with treats next to the log seats, Ruby was already there devouring them in the space of a few seconds. "Thankd youb!" she shouted with her mouth partially full.
But with that, Blake had made a good point, he hadn't thought about what got him to this point, to become the man he is now. A long and painful process? or a short and agonizing one? Depends how you perceive time and how you would react to everything in his life. Shake your head and want nothing to do with him? or hug him and tell him that everything will be okay? Either way his reaction would be the same, he would move on, weapon in hand, cutting down or negotiating with every obstacle in his way, that or he'd just walk through it as if it weren't there.
5 days later.
The team had just finished breakfast, before Ruby called the usual morning meeting. "First things first, the Professor watching over us has not given me another box of cookies in five days!" She now wore her grumpy face, which only someone like Ruby could accomplish. Everyone rolled their eyes as they'd heard this every morning since that moment, that and since none of them 100% knew who Cann was, they settled on calling him a Professor since he was technically teaching them...in an unorthodox method to say the least.
Grumpy face nearly instantly switched to cheerful. "Secondly, Blake has notified me that our rations are starting to run short due to lack of things to eat that we'll survive on." Ruby continued to list off things until she said this. "Is there anything else that needs to be said before we continue with everyday boredom?" Her usual cheerful tone all the way. "We can't survive out here in a few days time..." Blake said with her eyes closed, obviously tired since she was the one on watch last night, which they all quickly learned was necessary when they figured out Cann liked to use the night to steal from them, every so often leading Grimm their direction.
"Really? I never noticed." Weiss said, sarcasm dripping like venom from her voice. "To be honest now I'm never not going to miss those bunk beds." Making everyone be thoughtful for a few seconds. "Well, you can tell me when you want to go back to Beacon whenever you want." He said with a mouthful of cooked meat leading them all to say "No!" At the same time, they'd become so prideful over this. "And what are you even doing here?" Ruby asked. "Stealing food." He said while continuing to eat. "But you're eating it." Weiss said obviously annoyed. "Well, you don't get to eat it and I'm hungry so...yeah..." He continued to eat the last of their venison, Team RWBY glaring daggers at him as he did so, the mask soon fully covering his mouth again.
"That was the last of the meat." Blake said in a deadpan tone. Then they all tackled him and started trying their best to punch him and kick him where the sun don't shine. Right up until he forced them all away from him with palm strikes, they each went for their weapons glaring at him with further anger leading him to make a dark chuckle. "Ooooo did I piss you all off?" He asked with a mocking tone, voice modulator, as always, active, making him sound demonic in nature, but this only got on their nerves more.
They all charged him at the same time, Cann was unable to counter everyone despite his speed, Ruby proofing too fast for him at the time as she sliced and shot at him getting a few hits in, Yang and Weiss were his primary focus, blocking everything Yang threw at him and being sure to avoid trap glyphs, though it still worked as a disadvantage since he had limited room to move. Blake also attempted to get hits in, Weiss was doing her best to speed up the momentum of their attacks as well as set traps, all of their attacks were effective, knocking Cann about, he was soon knocked to the side, ever so slightly pissed off now, even though he knew he only brought this on himself.
"You each brought this upon yourselves." Were the last semi-friendly and ironic words before he started taking each of them down quickly and efficiently, starting off with Ruby to shatter their morale to a million pieces. He gut punched her knocking the wind out of her before launching a powerful kick, sending her back a few metres before seemingly teleporting over to a stunned Weiss and slamming his knee into her face pretty much instantly knocking her out cold, if he'd used anymore force, she'd probably be in a lot more pain.
He turned to Blake and Yang, Blake was slightly shocked but still got into stance, Yang however, wasn't quite as calm, far from it, just an itty bitty bit angry...just a little. "You lay a hand on Ruby, you're dead." Her words were the living threat of death, quiet, he just proceeded to push her to the edge and placed the tip of his pinkie finger on Ruby's gut. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" She shouted before they charged each other, Yang only building up power with anger as each blow exchanged was met with equal ferocity and speed.
Yang attempting to only pound his skull into mush, could only continue using the same set of punching motions over and over again, each were blocked and swatted away but every often he had to catch a punch to stop it from hitting him, using his Aura to stop his hands from burning and the bones in each hand from shattering, he could never retaliate as Yang never seemed to run out of energy.
Until Yang's attitude would only serve to push Cann to unexpected lengths. "You've never felt pain!" And now began the hallucinations, as everything went black and white for him, memories of blood, sweat, tears and held back pain bottled into the equivalent of the Tsar Bomba. "You've never felt pain, I'll tear your Family apart, you've got no idea what we've been through!" Were some of the words that echoed throughout his mind, his whisper was one that would seal the deal. "I'll show you pain." The low calmness of it made Yang pause.
She didn't even respond as he hit her with a push so fast and powerful Yang was forced back next to Blake flat on her back. "I don't know what it's like to lose family huh?" He asked, a whole range of emotions starting to steam through his body, he started to laugh a little. "Then please, enlighten me...as to anything you've been through could possibly compare to me...you've never watched your only friend turn into a monster...you've never been forced away from your family...never had to build everything in your life from the ground up...never discriminated from birth...never had everything you fought so hard for crumble in one swift set of events...you've never been forced to watch everything you love die...over and over and over again...until you just...Snap." The words were spoken with a hatred, sadness and madness only matched by those who have spent their life being taken apart and put back together again through torturous means.
"You wanna know something about pain that I taught myself...it doesn't hurt..pain doesn't hurt, love hurts." In a flash he was holding Yang in the air by the throat every punch and kick from Yang not even grazing him despite Yang being at full strength. After Yang fell unconscious due to lack of oxygen he dropped her, the trench coat arm Yang had been punching torn to smithereens, bruising starting to appear all up his arm, swelling a little. Blake could only stare at him horror-struck. "Please don't make that face...it makes me feel dead inside." He said as a single tear made its way down the mask as he looked at Blake.
"I have to call Beacon to get you all home...Yang broke my arm...more shattered though." He said, his voice was trembling slightly but nothing to suggest that he was in pain. Despite everything that had transpired, Blake just put a hand on his shoulder, she knew that it was the only thing she could do. Cann sat down on the grass letting out more silent tears. "I know what it's like to have family torn away from you...to watch someone turn into a monster...to be discriminated against, to watch everything you've fought for dissolve." Blake looked up at him with a reassuring smile as much as she was scared, she really did know his pain and despite her feelings, on the inside she knew that everything that he just said, had been bottled up for so very long, and she had to respect that.
He looked at Blake. "I know...I know...and I'm glad you're trying to rebuild it." He said quietly before taking out his scroll and pressing a few buttons signalling that it was time for a Bullhead to pick them up. "Careful...my arm is broken in four different places." It was meant as humour as much as it didn't sound like it. He shared what food and water he had left, healing the others however he could, they each eventually woke up to find him and Blake staring at the fire, they were all pissed at him but he couldn't blame them. He explained that the Bullhead would be here to pick them up in a few hours and over that time the tension grew less and less to the point everyone was neutral.
"Professor, what does the text on your clothing say? Blake here said it was a story, I'm curious." Weiss eventually asked. "Well...I'm not a Professor and call me Arbiter...Professor makes me sound old." They each stared at him.
"Wait...as in...The Arbiter...the legendary guardian of justice?..." Yang asked almost dumbstruck. He shook his head tiredly "Why does everyone look so surprised when they find out these things and who comes up with the contradictory subtitles?..." He asked himself sarcastically. (I second that.) Everyone stared directly at him. He looked at each of them for a couple of seconds. "What?" He asked. "Sorry, for staring...but you're not what any of us were..." "Expecting?" He finished Weiss's sentence. "I was trying to be polite, but yes, that does sum it up."
"It doesn't bother me any." "What's an Arbiter?" Ruby asked causing the others to look at Ruby who now felt like she was in the spotlight. "To some people I'm just a local legend and to others I'm a sociopathic vigilante that's been a thorn in the law enforcements side for a few hundred years." "So...I'm going to try not to explode out of both excitement and anxiety!" Yang said obviously trying to keep herself in check, Cann just sighed. "Let it out." He said with a sigh to the girl that broke his arm not but a few hour ago. Just as Yang was about to ask the 'are you sure?' question however. "Before I change my mind."
"Before Yang goes crazy, can you answer my original question please?" Weiss was now a bit more respectful being in the presence of someone she now knew to be leagues above her if she couldn't tell from when he fought her anyway. "The text? Ah...it's a story about a boy..." He started as each of them started getting comfortable to listen to the warrior of ages speak.
"The boy in this story was smart and strong for his age...but even children can only take so much."
Flashback.
Another day. Were the words a boy used to reassure himself, to keep the tears and emotion down from what the adult and child humans alike would call him and tell him what they'd do to him, the factory wasn't a nice place, but it helped his family, so he would endure.
The walk home was as usual, slightly exhausting, as he used the rooftops to avoid alleyways and streets, it was also the chance to keep himself in shape. He opened the door of the shared house and saw a masked human male about to pick up his sister, in a split second, he could hear everything every human had told him and he just...Snapped.
He dug his claws into the back of his knee leading the man to kneel and punched his face into the stone wall and proceeded to use a knife from the kitchen to stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. And no matter what happened, how much the man struggled, how much he screamed, how much he drowned in his own blood, or even when the reactions were reduced to twitches of the force he used to stab the man, he didn't. Stop. Stabbing.
After he realised that his little sister was crying, he stopped, shoved the knife into one of the eye sockets and proceeded to pick up his sleeping sister and cuddle her making her smile up at him causing him to smile as a tear dropped.
It was a few hours later, when the child had fallen asleep safely, wrapped up and in the arms of her slightly older brother, when their parents had returned home to the sight of him holding her protectively, with the masked rotting corpse of someone laying slumped against the wall.
Instead of running away, reprimanding him or disowning him, they took him upstairs into his little sisters room and lay him with her, making sure he went to sleep before going back to the current situation.
The peaceful sleep was short-lived however, when he awoke, to look outside and see a sea of people, torches, weapons of all kind, attempting to get in the house. By the time they reached the room he and his sister were in however, they had disappeared completely.
He looked at the place he used to call home from a distance before he started walking, and he didn't stop walking for lord knows how long, because by the time he noticed that his feet were bleeding, he was in Forever Fall. From that point forward, he set up a home for them as best he could, with what little his family used to have, he still used to go camping with his father.
Over the course of a few weeks, it would be quiet, until someone found them, the red hair however was a welcome sight for the boy as he knew him well, explaining that he thought they were dead and the people he'd been with were searching everywhere for him.
He ended up packing his things and taking along his still thankfully healthy sister to a camp, where they were medically treated and fed, he'd learned that the place was a peaceful refuge for 'miss-treated' Faunus like himself and his sister, there was something he could put his thanks into now, the people that took him and his sister in. He trained his body to survive everything thrown at him, whether it hurt him or not, he taught himself to use a variety of weapons and taught others to.
Even during the years, he'd still grow up to watch, raise and teach his little sister, when he couldn't, his best friend would, she developed her own perspective and moral standpoint in the world as he also did.
One day he was asked by his friend why he doesn't seek retribution for anything that has happened to him. His simple reply was: "Why should I seek retribution for something that has only made me stronger? For retribution for their crimes would only make me seem like the animal they call me, why would I give them the right to make their words ring true in the ears of others? Yes I want to kill them all, to burn them until their world is but glass...but who really has the right to do that?"
For most, this would make them admire him. But for his friend, this meant that he would have to go, if he would not see the truth, then he would not be around to see it come to fruition. So he waited until a day he went hunting, tailing him unknowing that the boy was aware of him already, leading him to a cliff edge.
Without resistance, the boy simply smiled at his friend who hid in the bushes as a human Hunter shoved the sword through his chest and pushed him off.
Flashback end.
"There's a quote that particularly inspired me...'I have had the weight of a civilizations hopes and dreams on my shoulders, my bones shatter under that weight. But I still walk to my liberation and never seek retribution, as I am stronger than I was before.'" He quoted.
"Ms. Belladonna there's a reason why I know who you specifically are." He said and Blake could only stare him in his eyes, which were fixed on the fire. "I only wish you've found peace at your brothers death..." Blake however knew that the story was a partial lie, that he knew but didn't want to share, but decided not to ask or think about it as she would break down the moment she continued to think about it.
The others were a bit more down now as they refrained from looking at Blake as they learned a little bit more about her, they seemingly missed that it hinted more of her past, more focused on the loss of family part. A good twenty minutes had passed since the story had been told and Weiss was regretting asking.
"Can you show me your wrist blades?..." Yang asked obviously been waiting to ask that for a long while. He rolled his eyes, without him moving jagged blades extended from his arms from under the trench coat. (Think of Predators wrist blades.)
"Oh that's so cool." Ruby said nearly awestruck. Before they retracted and he took out one of his katana's from seemingly nowhere and holding it by the blade to Ruby who was holding it with wide eyes. "Careful, it's sharp." Ruby only smiled more as she examined the weapon, it was just like a traditional black katana, but the barrel of a gun had been made inside the blade seamlessly, it was a beautiful work of craftsmanship, the magazine of dust rounds at the bottom of the hilt, there was a tiny black block signifying the end of it.
"I've never seen someone fight like you do, where and what were you trained?" Weiss asked. He paused, thoughtful for a second before shaking his head. "Self-taught in my spare time and I based it off many martial arts to form what is essentially a mixture of Sambo, Jeet Kune Do, Systema and Taekwondo. " He said simply making Weiss tilt her head. "Fast strong strikes used to either disable or kill, excellent for multi-purpose but anyone smart enough will be able to read me, until I adapt to the situation and switch through them at seemingly random and rapid pace, I'm strong enough to make each strike hurt, the only people who could beat me if they tried, so far, are Yang and Ozpin...a dusty old Qrow came close once." Yang and Ruby grinned that.
It was Ruby's turn in twenty questions. "How many Grimm and bad guys have you taken down!?" She asked excitedly. "19,869 disabled...I lost count of how many dead...I'll leave that for you to decide whether I took down that many Grimm or bad guys." Ruby had to ask the second question on her mind. "When did you meet my Uncle Qrow?" He looked over to her in surprise. "He's your uncle?" She nodded quickly. "And Yang's to, how did you both meet?" He simply smiled at her, remembering why, very well. "That's a story for another time, when you see your uncle again, tell him I said Autumn." He smirked at his own joke, Ruby and Yang wearing the same confused looks on their faces.
"What's your name?" Blake asked, she'd remained mostly unfazed on the outside, her curiosity about him could only grow as did the emotion inside, and he couldn't blame her, he always responded with the same thing though. "You'll find out soon enough...come...let's get aboard the Bullhead." As he said this, a Bullhead pulled up overhead and landed close by, they each got on board and as the doors closed he turned to Blake who was climbing into one of the bunks in the cargo hold, since this Bullhead was loaded specifically for Team RWBY.
He laid in the bunk across from her and soon fell asleep, as much as he didn't want to. He woke up with a cold sweat, mask still on Yang trying to creep on him, unaware that he's now awake, Blake just has a raised eyebrow at her. "What are you up to Yang?" I asked as she blushed and instantly and quietly switched to the opposite direction and walked back to the others.
"They want to remove your mask." Blake said simply. "They can try but they won't get anywhere unless they want to tear my skull off." Blake raised an eyebrow at him. "The mask folds into the base of my skull." He turned enough for Blake to see the back of his neck and he pointed to what looked like a white block shaped patch of skin on the back of his neck. "Feeds directly into the nervous system, most people with cybernetics have them." "Why do you have one?" He paused and looked at the others then at Blake. "I'll tell you what...I tell you that, you tell them about your past." Blake's eyes widened. "There's a reason why I didn't mention any Names." He said staring directly into Blake's eyes. "I will...soon...when I'm ready." He looked up at the ceiling at that, narrowing down thousands of scenarios of how this could play out. "I hope that's soon...otherwise you may be forced to reveal it."
How does he know and what does he mean? Were some of the thoughts running frantically through her mind at the moment. The amount of knowledge the Arbiter possessed was very unsettling for her and he kept dodging the 'who are you?' Question. "Arbiter?" "Mmm?" "Why won't you answer the question?" He knew what she meant by that. "Because right now..." He looks into her soul. "...you're not ready."
Several hours later, after many questions from Yang, some of them embarrassing.
"Why did you ask me that?" "I was curious." Yang said innocently causing everyone to roll their eyes. "Do you have a girlfriend?" Yang asked causing him to give her a look that said 'really?' "Yes I do..." They all tilted their head at that, obviously not expecting someone like him to be romantically involved with anyone, let alone anyone to be romantically interested in him. "What's she like?" Ruby asked, at that you could basically feel his smile behind the mask. "Beautiful, persuasive, graceful, kind when she wants to be, honest when she needs to be." Yang could only smirk. "Uh huh, but not innocent." At this Cann facepalmed in embarrassment as did Blake and Weiss, Ruby looking hopelessly lost at the innuendo. As they each realized that the Bullhead had landed, they grabbed their things and made their way to exit the Bullhead to find Ozpin waiting for them.
"Professor Ozpin, what a surprise." Cann said offhandedly with an edge of sarcasm. "Arbiter, Team RWBY." he greeted. the Team of youngsters stood in a line. "Welcome back." His smile always remained the same and that tea mug always remained full, I could use one of those. "Arbiter, did by any chance our agent let the information loose?" Ozpin asked leading him to nod. Blake stepped forward. "I told them because it concerned the teams safety and as a result I had to tell them, I won't betray the trust they put in me and I won't put them in danger willingly." Ozpin only smiled more.
"Good." "I don't care what pun- wait what?" At this, Cann spoke up. "That's what we wanted you to do." And then it all made sense to her. A 'Team Building Exercise.' Trust was a part of it as well as team cohesion. Everything about this was a test. "I'm confused." Ruby said. "The entire exercise was created to test each of you, trust, cohesion, survival etc. Are all things that are tested in first year students, I had to go through it, so do the others and you." Blake brightened up a little at that and so did the others, understanding fully. "I think a day off is a suitable reward don't you think professor?" At this Ozpin simply nodded. "Indeed, for the rest of today and tomorrow, you may miss classes as a rest period." The whole Team beamed at that and were dismissed to their dorm room.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Ozpin asked. "Professor...how long have you known me?" He simply smiled at that, Ozpin always had a place for old students such as Cann, to see him come back after a while and willing to help with his current predicament was a breathe of fresh air for him. "What do you think of them?" Ozpin asked, at this Cann paused. "They have alot of potential, the equivalent of what CRMN showed all those years ago, give them time, they'll become the next CRMN anyway." Ozpin continued smiling, thankful that he atleast seemed to be able to cope with his old teams subsequent death a few years ago. "Anything else I should know?" Ozpin asked. "Ruby." Ozpin raised an eyebrow mentally at that. "Silver eyes...she is an odd one." He said. "Ruby Rose, she showed potential so she has been 'taken in' early." Ozpin said, at this Cann responded with a 'Hm'.
Cann turned his head to Ozpin, his mask folding into tiny squares and lodging itself into the back of his head. "What's been happening since i've been gone?" He asked. "White Fang activity has suddenly started shifting as has Grimm activity, ever since the name 'Arbiter' started appearing again a month ago." Ozpin said with a tiny mock accusatory tone. "I got bored." was his humored reply. "Speaking of White Fang, if I find anything, I'll let you know." Ozpin nodded appreciatively. "Cann." "Hmm?" "Go get your arm looked at." "Yes dad." Was Canns sarcastic reply as he started walking off.
Ozpin continued staring out into the open world, inhaling the fresh air and steam from his tea, eventually walking back to his office, likely to refill the tea he just drank, though I doubt he ran out of the stuff, he never does.
The Greybox Unknown Date and Time.
"That's how you met Team RWBY?" Ironwood asked slightly surprised. "Well at least It was a happy confrontation." Cann said with sarcasm causing Ironwood to go back to his neutral expression, this was almost like a game for him, Ironwood feels emotion, goes to neutral, then gets on his grumpy diapers. "Is there anything I missed?" He asked. "Were you listening?" He didn't look happy at that, I told you he'd go grumpy.
"Where did you get the story at the fire from?" Cann rolled his eyes thinking it was an attempt at humor and Ironwood remained silent, at this he started laughing. "Really? You don't know? Bwahahahahahhahahahahaha." Ironwood was getting slowly and slowly more frustrated to the point he started tapping the table with his fingers in a pattern. "What is your name?" He asked and at this Cann managed to stifle his laughter, at least to the point of snickering. "Tsk Tsk tsk, General, General, Geeeeeneeeeralll...that would be spoiling the story." he said with a mocking tone. "Let's start with what happened after that." He said still chuckling darkly.
I'm sorry if the 'Team Building Exercise' thing felt kinda short but I had I had to introduce Team RWBY and Cann somehow.
I hope you all enjoyed, don't forget to review to tell me what you thought, if you've got any helpful tips, tricks or ideas feel free to leave those as well, or if you want general banter and to have a conversation via reviews, you can do that to, or point out every single little Easter egg i plant for you to hunt for, also works. Make sure you favorite if you liked it and to Follow if you want to see more from me, I am TimoremCordeNostro and I shall see you my awesome audience (har har) in the next chapter! Cheerio!