Author's Note: Alrighty so here we have the remaining chapters of Stardust that should of been uploaded along with the rest of the update. For those not current with my Tumblr or DA page put simply there was a delay but now today I can put them up! Not much to say I pretty much just tweaked it here. I hope you like this. I do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form. My OC's are my own design. Reviews welcome. Enjoy!
Stardust
Chapter 6
Academic Conflict
Cerise closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again raising his head and he looked at the four on stage with them and nodded and the newly formed Team CCTS headed down off the stage onto the auditorium floor.
As they walked Cerise shared a glance with Citrine, the look his eyes saying "sorry" and Citrine's lips quirked up just a little bit and Cerise was able to heave an inner sigh of relief.
Citrine had told him some of his secrets and Cerise hadn't with himself so he'd been worried a bit that this could ruin his new partnership.
Turning back to the stage they watched as Professor Blank announced they were free to head to their assigned dorms turning to head to the nearby holographic screens Cerise and his new teammates made their way over.
Cerise noticed that more than a few students were eyeing him, his own team included and sighed. Muttering lowly so Citrine could hear but it couldn't be broadcasted to others he said "I'll explain when we reach our designated quarters."
Citrine nodded in affirmation but Cerise received a shock when the wolf faunas muttered lowly "good I want to hear this" making him jump and stare as Smoke's wolf ears twitched.
Nodding he watched as Smoke spoke softly to their only female, Titania who nodded and tossed a slightly unsteady smile at him.
Feeling a bit more at ease Cerise and his new friends looked at the screen and saw their assigned rooms and turned to head that way. Making sure to collect their room keys along the way.
As they walked through the halls of Lighthouse Academy Cerise took note of more those glowing blue lines still present wherever they went.
Are those things all over the school? Cerise wondered and had to stifle a laugh a moment later when Titania asked "hey are those glowing blue things all over the school or what?"
Cerise calmed down when he heard Smoke say "probably, they may be a function of the schools system."
As they rounded a corner and entered a hallway full of doors, most of which were open and had students already in the doorway, coming in and out of the rooms, and had voices come out of them nosily. CCTS walked along as they looked for their room number. Reaching it they unlocked the door and headed inside stopping short at the sight of another person already inside.
Citrine, Smoke, and Titania all tensed but Cerise gave a hesitant smile.
"Hey Ao" he said shyly. Not noticing the way his team was staring at him he stepped into the room and closer to the dark Huntsman.
The older male smiled at the teenage and said "hey there kid, I've got to get going but I wanted to stop by and congratulate you and your new team on passing Initiation."
Ao looked over the now curious trio behind Cerise and looked at him "good luck kiddo, here I have something for you." Reaching into a pocket on his all black ensemble he pulled out a slim metallic device and handed it to Cerise, Ao saying "the school would have given you one of these anyways but I wanted to give you one personally. Your own Scroll with all the standard bells and whistles."
Reaching over Ao hit a button and the Scroll came to life in his hands noting with some amusement and how surprised Cerise seemed to be.
"Now this Scroll is no more basic than any of the other school ones but I added something to it for you. Pressing a button on the screen he watched as Cerise's face lit up in delight, wonder, and surprise as an image of the photo of him and his mom Clare appeared in high depth color and clarity.
Ao said to Cerise who continued to gaze at the photo. "I took a picture of that when we met and had a friend touch it up."
Cerise full blown smiling now said "thank you."
Ao smiled and said "don't mention it kid." Looking at the trio who was looking over Cerise's shoulders in curiosity at the photo Ao said "and with that I'm gone later CCTS!" And was out the door swinging it shut.
Cerise looked back at Citrine, Smoke, and Titania now sheepish he rubbed the back of his head saying "sorry about that."
Citrine thoroughly curious slowly asked "who was that?"
Cerise's smile shrank a little and he said "the Huntsman who gave me the chance for a better life here."
Shaking his head Cerise said "let's get settled and I'll fill you in on those answers OK?"
Citrine, Smoke, and Titania all nodded and they surveyed their room.
It was large and airy the door out was in the center of the wall behind them. A window that could be opened was directly opposite the door with a bookcase right under it. To the left on the window was a four poster bed with a storage chest against the end of it. There was another bed a few feet away from the first one placed against the wall with a storage chest placed against the wall between both beds instead of at the foot of it like the first one.
Directly to the south of the two beds were two matching desks with several shelves each above them. One desk facing south the other west. The other side of the room was the same but with pattern mirrored.
Each desk also had a member of team CCTS's stuff on each one.
Going by the desks where each of their belongings had been placed they claimed the bed adjacent to it.
So Citrine was by the left wall Cerise and Titania by the window on the left and right respectively and Smoke with the bed by the right wall.
Grabbing the containers containing their stuff they each went to the chest they assumed was for holding each of their stuff.
Opening it they found a few items already in it!
As they looked at each other they all realized they'd been given school uniforms. Tucked away amongst the clothes was a letter stating that Lighthouse had a dress code they had to follow but they were allowed to use accessories if they wanted.
Cerise was distracted from these musings by Titania exclaiming "you mean I have to wear a skirt?!"
Cerise looked at her and took note of the uniform.
The female uniform for Lighthouse consisted of a blue plaid skirt, a gray jacket, dark blue vest, white shirt, and blue bolo tie.
Smoke then piped up saying to his partner "this is a combat school there's bound to be some form of order like this Titania." The wolf faunas said while examining his own uniform.
This brought Cerise to pay attention to his own uniform which seemed to be the variant all males shared. It was a blue suit, with a gray vest, white shirt, and a regular blue tie.
Cerise looked at his storage chest where two more uniforms had been stored and blinked at the sight of another letter.
Picking it up and opening it Cerise read:
Dear Mr. Nebula,
It has been made our attention that monetary and academic matters may be an issue. Lighthouse academy has a work study program as well as student tutors to aid you in these matters. Please contact Professor Rust to inquire and take part of these facilities.
Sincerely, the Staff of Lighthouse Academy
Citrine's voice pulled Cerise from these notions looking at his partner he saw Citrine focused on the letter "everything okay?"
Cerise nodded and folded it up saying "yes this nothing for you to worry about."
Cerise reached for his rucksack he pulled it out and started to put his dust supplies and clothes into the chest and was distracted by Titania incredulously asking "is that all you have Cerise?"
Cerise looked at Titania who as openly staring at his meager belongings and smiled self-consciously.
"Yes this all my stuff." Looking at her who seemed to be stunned he asked "I suppose I should make good on that promise now huh?"
Citrine, Smoke, and Titania all nodded.
Folding more clothes and sticking them in the chest he explained to the others as they put up their stuff "my name is Cerise Nebula and yes, my mom is Clare Nebula. I was born and raised outside the Kingdoms. My mom taught me about aura, and helped me train my own fighting style when my semblance manifested. In time we became the leaders of a nomadic group."
Cerise sighed "not long after I turned fourteen and got the hang of using my semblance a new family member showed up out of the blue, my Uncle Silver, mom vanished soon after. Time went on and my uncle and the rest of his faith gained power."
Citrine broke in here. "Followers?" He asked.
Cerise looked at him and said "yes my uncle is a high ranking clergy member in the Crushed and leads a huge following."
The three blinked at this news before Titania outright broke into laughter, Citrine chuckled, and Smoke shook his head with a smile on his face.
Raising an eyebrow Cerise said "uh am I missing something?"
Titania managing to gain some control over herself said "uh yeah! The Crushed is a group of lobbying nutjobs. We only ever see in town squares, public parks, or street corners handing out flyers and screaming "the truth"" Titania finished making air quotes.
Cerise blinked at this disbelieving information but carried on anyway "OK… well outside the kingdoms they're a big deal, believe me most of the people are devout members."
The others settled down at this. Looking somehow both concerned and skeptical Smoke asked "oh?"
Cerise noded and said "mhm most of the people out there are Shards."
"Shards?" Citrine asked.
Cerise nodded "yeah it's what members of the Crushed call themselves."
Smoke muttered "I didn't know that." Citrine and Titania muttered accompaniment.
Cerise frowned at this and said "anyways for the past few months most of the younger kids have been vanishing and what family they have didn't seem to care" taking note of the appalled looks on the others faces and the slight shadows in Titania's eyes he continued "I know right? Anyways the day of my seventeenth birthday I went to a spot where nomads like to trade items and news. On my way back to camp I ran into an Anim and killed it, right after I met Ao. He said he was a Huntsman who knew my mom. After hearing me out he offered me a way out that life, he gave me time to think and I made it back to camp."
Cerise sighed and frowned "I got back to find Alice the last child in the group was gone and her parents much like the others didn't even care. Next I_ uh…" Cerise broke off here feeling self-conscious.
Titania a wicked grin on her face and feeling something akin to amusement from her new team leader asked "and…?"
Cerise put a hand to his face saying "I got upset, and caused a huge incident stealing all the dust Uncle had gathered, and made a run for it with Ao's help two days later here we are."
Smoke eyes narrowed and his wolf ears twitched slightly as he said said "so this your first real school?"
Cerise said "yeah."
Smoke grunted at this.
Citrine looking Cerise with admiration and just a little jealousy said "so your mom taught you to fight?"
Cerise nodded "yes up until she vanished than experience was my teacher, if you can't fight you can't survive." Cerise putting his last article of clothing up frowned.
Citrine said "something wrong?"
Cerise sighed "yeah just thinking about mom, I had no idea she was a huntress till I got here and saw that memorial!"
"Surprised?" Titania asked chirpily as she reclined on her new bed done with her packing. Smoke done too was by his desk examining the furniture but looked over his shoulder at this topic.
Shaking his head Cerise sighed "understatement I just wish I knew this but then maybe that's the reason why she vanished."
Citrine done packing said "yeah we can talk about that later though it's late" he titled his head at the window which showed a darkening sky "and we may have classes tomorrow so let's get to bed."
With that the three members of CCTS gathered their sleeping clothes and bath stuff and headed off to the bathrooms.
Cerise reached into his rucksack for his final belonging, a wooden box and idly caressed it thinking mom… Before tucking it away with his dust supplies and grabbing his own sleeping stuff and followed his new team.
(CCTS)
The next morning as the sun rose in Remnant Cerise opened his eyes and got up. Blearily looking around it took the seventeen year old a moment to remember where he was and what was going on.
Shaking his head he slid out of the covers and the bed and onto the floor. Looking at it he considered going back to sleep in what he thought of as heaven as he had never slept in a real bed before but there was the day ahead to consider.
Moving in the in minimal light let in through the window he sighed and went over to what he considered his desk and looked through it. Finding a folder he opened it and blinked at the paper inside.
Picking it up, he read the thing, and found his team's class schedule.
Getting his new scroll and checking the time he decided to let them sleep for a little while longer before seeing about getting them up.
But that didn't mean he couldn't start getting ready.
Walking over to his storage chest he got a uniform out, grabbed his room key and went into the hall.
After visiting the bathroom and changing Cerise looked at the school uniform he now wore and found that he hardly recognized himself in this suit.
Sighing he went back into his room and blinked at the sight of Smoke already dressed in his school uniform and the sight of a bleary Citrine and grumpy Titania sitting up in bed.
At the sight of Cerise also already dressed for the day Smoke merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'm an early riser" Cerise explained to which Smoke nodded "but…" he went on "why are you all up now?"
Titania still grumpy said "Smokey here set an alarm on his Scroll!" She finished with a yell throwing a her pillow at him which Smoke caught and tossed back at her rapidly knocking her onto the floor with an "oof!"
"Don't call me Smokey!" Smoke barked at her.
Butting in Cerise interceded somewhat apologetically "well I was gonna wake you all up anyway, we have classes soon." He finished pointing at the class schedule on his desk.
Smoke nodded and walked over to look at the piece of paper while Citrine and Titania got their own stuff and went to get ready.
As soon as the two of them were back with Titania wearing a pair of blue stockings like the ones from yesterday and they finished grabbing a few things they set off.
Cerise set off right for the first classroom leading the way there quite accurately have already memorized a map of the school and being good at orienteering.
It was the only good point to Cerise's entire day.
Most of the entire day was spent on academic courses. Now Cerise knew how to read and write as well as basic math but the classes they had did stuff that were beyond him.
Cerise felt a new form of depression and inadequacy by lunchtime and Citrine and Titania tried to cheer Cerise up but had only a little success.
The day went on and from there Smoke seemed to get more and more agitated and things finally came to ahead towards the end of the school day.
It was a class that focused on dust and chemicals now while dust manufacture companies did a good job having a basic understanding of creating dust types is handy as is mixing chemicals be it acid or blast mixtures can be helpful too and luckily the other three members of CCTS were as new to this as Cerise was a point Citrine pointed out to attempt to cheer Cerise up and it worked.
However it also set off Smoke in the process.
The professor had been called away to an office and set them to make a basic mixture that he said no one could mess it up it was that basic and left the room.
"And so take the extract and add two drops to the jar and stir for two minutes before letting it stew for five minutes." Cerise read from the textbook's directions and Citrine slowly did as instructed.
Titania eyeing the scene smiled happily while Smoke arms crossed stood behind her.
"Well this is going well" Citrine said examining the miniature mad scientists lab on the classroom desk.
Cerise nodded and Titania said "yyyyup!"
Smoke snorted and walked around the desk and leaned back and said "I'm surprised it is going well considering our leader's current status."
Cerise blinked and handed Citrine the textbook and walked around the desk to talk to Smoke asking "what do you mean Smoke?"
The faunas snorted and faced Cerise "I'm just surprised you can even manage reading those instructions so well considering how slow you are. And Professor Blank made you team leader?"
Cerise blinked "my academic skills aren't good, it's true but_" Smoke cut him off with a harsh sentence.
"The academic thing is only part of your being unfit for team leadership, the main thing is that you're deserter stock!"
Cerise's eyes narrowed, he scowled, and then snarled "you jerk! What gives you the right to say that about me?!"
Citrine eyes wide shoved the textbook at Titania and went around the desk saying "hey c'mon you guys…"
Titania stared at the fight taking place in front of her noticed that aside from a few glances in their directions their classmates were minding their experiments.
Which we should be doing Titania thought to herself before trying to get the boys on her team back on track.
"Hey guys? The assignment?"
The three boys continued to argue.
Letting out a huff of air Titania looks at the experiment and thinks OK then I'll do it myself then how hard could it be?
Opening the textbook she found the right page and reached for the right test tube and picked it up only for her to squeeze it accidentally and pop it right out of her grip!
Eyes wide and staring she froze as the whole thing liquid and glass fell in the bubbling jar.
The thing changed colors and started foaming and bubbling even more furiously than before.
Titania began to panic looking furiously through the textbook for information on what to do but had no clue where to look after flipping a few pages.
Looking at the three boys she calls "guys!"
Titania threw her arms out to get their attention and murphy's law threw its two cents in on the situation as her arms had knocked over two more test tubes and they spilt right into the jar!
The thing immediately turned a maroon color and a slimy bubble began to grow off the top of the jar.
Now nearly reaching hysterical panicking she tried to get her team's attention but they were arguing even more doggedly and louder than before so that was a bust.
Swallowing Titania grabbed a pencil and tried to poke to bubble and get it to pop only for the thing to swallow it and balloon up to the size of a beach ball!
Then it started to shudder and darken. Titania then actually reached hysteria level huntress training be damned!
She shrieked "SHIELD UP OR RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, IT'S GONNA BLOW!"
And with that she darted for the nearest window and with purple wings reminiscent of a fairy made from her aura appearing on her back she escaped through the window into the sky.
Meanwhile the rest of the class had started turning to look but Cerise, Citrine, and Smoke had already faced the disaster in progress at Titania's scream, blanched as one in horror, and dove for the beach ball sized bubble just as the professor opened the door…
(CCTS)
Meanwhile in Harbor the city bordering Lighthouse Academy quite a few citizens raised their heads as they heard a strange sound echo through the air. It almost sounded like an explosion…
(CCTS)
Back outside the classroom the professor lowered his arm and dropped his aura barrier as the shaking stopped.
His eyebrows rising slightly at how some off the goo made it out into the hallway but was stopped by barrier creating a semi-circular pattern he stepped into the classroom and what an ordinary person may call "the apocalypse of the goo" and they wouldn't be too far off.
Goo in every color of the rainbow was everywhere. Somehow a desk had gotten even gotten stuck on the ceiling!
The entire class in here had clearly been caught off guard as noted from their various positions on the floor and how most were drenched in the slimy substances.
We'll need to get the students checked out the professor muses the last thing we need it accidental dust fusions this early in the semester. He thinks.
Examining the slime trails he realized multiple explosions were the cause but it seemed to be chain reaction looking for the source lead him to a large explosions epicenter towards the back where Cerise, Smoke, and Citrine all laid out very much out of it and it at that exact moment that Titania landed on the windowsill.
At the sight of the entire scene she froze and the professor raised an eyebrow at her…
(CCTS)
All classes were beginning to end. Team CCTS were in a classroom very much awake and cleaned up from the incident… at least physically.
The room had five rows of four desks each and the front had a chalkboard on it were displayed the words "Detention. No talking!"
Titania was in the very back row on the far left staring down at her desk.
Citrine was in the third row, the middle one on the far right staring out the window.
Finally Cerise and Smoke were in the very front with Cerise on the far right with Smoke on the far left glaring daggers at each other.
Here was the situation:
Titania was in massive trouble and couldn't even look at anyone, let alone speak to them not she could anyway even if they weren't in detention.
Citrine was shunning Titania for the experiment mess up but was also annoyed with Cerise and Smoke for arguing so he was ignoring them all.
Cerise and Smoke were shunning Titania too and ignoring Citrine after he took his stance on the situation and were spending their time glaring at each other and waging war nonverbally.
And it was in this manner that team CCTS's first day of classes at Lighthouse Academy came to an end…