"What are you made of?" Sin asked Rena after their rematch had ended.
Rena opted to not answer, letting the boy stew in his frustration.
Their rematch went similar to their fight, Sin going untouched and using his aura for offense which eventually depleted his level to the red. This time however he managed to bring Rena to the red with him ending the match in a close draw. Exhausted as always after a match, Sin collapsed to the ground with just enough strength to roll onto his back as he processed the results in his head.
"What are you made of?" he asked her, her answer was a mere smirk knowing it would imbed in his mind and fester, driving him mad.
Sin stood up, "Oh well, always next time."
"Want to lose again?" Rena asked, hoping to stir him even more.
"I didn't lose this time" Sin reminded her, "It was a draw, not a loss."
Rena smirked once more, "Yes out of two matches so far you haven't won either."
"We should be getting back to Beacon" Rhia said, "Maybe over the weekend we can all have a match together?"
Yumi perked up at the thought, "That sounds like fun. Rena can we?"
Rena, while normally stoic, couldn't resist Yumi's energy and shook her head, "Sure" she smiled, "But you better not go easy on them."
Xavier said, "I admit after seeing two matches between you and Sin I want to have a go myself."
Rhia said, "It'd be good practice for the tournament and it's not fair that Sin gets to have all the fights to himself."
"It's good exercise" Sin said, "Besides, unlike the rest of you I'm not afraid of asking for a match between friends."
"Oh?" Rena hummed, "We're friends?"
"Well we have been through a lot together" Sin said, "There was that gloom widow, there was...okay just that and our two fights."
"And that's enough to make us friends?" Rena asked crossing her arms, for some reason she finds herself unable to resist attempting to rile this particular human.
"Yeah why not?" Sin replied, "But if you want to be more than friends" he takes her hand, "I'm sure I can find a nice restaurant for us to have dinner."
Rena told him, "So long as you can eat with one hand" her claymore held against the wrist of his hand that was holding hers.
"Right" Sin remembered, "You don't like flirting" he releases her hand, "Hands to myself I got it."
Rena returned her sword to it's holster on her back, "Good."
Bidding farewell to Rena and her team, RUST made their way back to the landing pad to wait for the bullhead. Arriving at the bullhead landing they saw another group of girls wearing Beacon uniforms waiting and seemed to be arguing about something. There were four of them, the shorter of the group had silver eyes and short black hair with red highlights and seemed to be containing laughter. Another had amber eyes and long black hair and was standing off to the side clearly wanting to just be away from the issue. One of the two that were arguing had her pure white hair tied into an off-center ponytail and a scar running down her left eye, the last girl with lilac colored eyes and long sunny golden hair had a wide grin on her face.
"I will see you in court for slander, blondie" the girl with white hair yelled, causing the shorter girl with silver eyes to start laughing out loud.
"Aw" the blonde girl began, "What's wrong Weiss Cream? I'm sure you'll grow up someday. Just because your uniform was too tight around Ruby's chest doesn't mean anything. Just give it some time and you'll turn out nicely, or should I say Weissly?"
"Ladies please" Sin said approaching them, "There's no need for this type of mudslinging, you are both beautiful and angelic just the way you are."
Brick shook his head as Alena growled.
"Beautiful and angelic huh?" the blonde asked before looking him up and down, "You're not so bad yourself."
The white-haired girl bent her knees bowing to him, "Thank you for your compliment, I'm sorry you overheard such a disgraceful exchange."
"I don't see anything disgraceful about it" Sin told her, "A bit of jokes and ribbing between friends is healthy wouldn't you agree?"
The blonde grinned, "This guy gets it. I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long."
"Sin Saber" Sin introduced himself, "And my teammates and brother behind me."
Rhia bowed her head, "Rhia Teysa, this is my sister Alena and this is Brick."
"Brother?" the girl with amber eyes asked, noticing Brick's rounded ears.
She watched the burly faunus nod, "That's right" Sin said, "Brick and I have been together for a long time, he's my brother and best friend, hopefully that's not a problem."
"No" the girl replied, "It just surprised me."
Brick looked at the girl, "Vu are ein faunus as vell."
The black-haired girl paused, she understood faunus, but the rest of his words were hard to understand through his accent.
"He said you're a faunus as well" Sin translated for her.
Rhia chuckled, "Brick doesn't talk that much so it takes a while before you get used to his accent."
A roar of noise drew their attention, the engines of the incoming bullhead quieting their words. The airship's exhaust kicked up dust and litter as it slowed its descent and its landing gear extended.
"Your chariot to take you back to the heavens Angels?" Sin asked Yang and the white-haired girl.
"How'd you guess?" Yang asked with a smirk before walking up the ramp first.
The shorter girl with the silver eyes asked, "So you're not from Beacon then? You're here for the festival?"
Brick nodded as Alena answered, "We're from Shade in Vacuo."
"Oooooh" the short girl replied, "Are you participating in the tournament as well?"
Rhia nodded trying to compose herself, "Yeah. We are. Team RUST from Shade."
"Rust?" the white-haired girl asked, "I guess that's a color."
"It is" Rhia chuckled, "Don't let the name give you the wrong idea. We're harder than steel."
Yang grinned, "Well that'll make things more fun if we end up seeing each other in the ring."
"Just promise not to be angry when you lose" Sin said before smirking, "Or should I say don't be Yangry?"
Yang's grin dropped while her teammates groaned, "Not bad" Yang laughed, "But I hope your fighting is better than your jokes."
"Or I'll be sorey?" Sin asked, making Yang grin even more.
"Oh god there's two of them" the silver-eyed girl cried, "All is lost."
"You I like" Yang said as the bullhead began landing at Beacon, "We should hang out more."
Stepping off the ship when it landed the two groups began walking back to the dorms, "Are you first years as well?" the girl with white hair asked.
Rhia nodded, "Yeah. We all met at the same combat school and we ended up assigned to a team together."
"And I couldn't be happier" Sin said, "Brick and I refuse to be separated and I have one of the prettiest girls in the world as my leader."
Rhia raised her shoulders trying to hide her face, "S, Sin…"
"Well you are," Sin told her.
"Well, this is our dorm" the girl with white hair said, "Maybe we'll see each other in class this week?"
"Yeah" Rhia agreed, "We're encouraged to sit in on as many classes as possible while we're here to continue our education and foster friendly relationships with the host kingdom and school."
"Maybe we can study together and share some notes" the white-haired girl suggested, "I'm curious to see if our curriculum is different from yours."
"No study" Sin said, "Vacation, studying sounds like work and work is boring."
Yang crossed her arms, "Well I'm sure you and I can find something fun to do if they want to waste their time."
Sin grinned, "Yang my golden angel, please enlighten me."
Yang grinned back, "I'll write up a list of some of my favorite places to show you. I know a good club that recently reopened."
"Sounds good to me" Sin said, "See you tomorrow?"
"Count on it" Yang told him, still grinning.
Rhia said, "It was nice meeting you Yang and...We never finished introductions, we don't know your names."
Yang chuckled, "There I go stealing the show again."
The amber-eyed faunus introduced herself first, "Blake."
The shorter girl with the silver eyes went next, "I'm Ruby, leader of team RWBY."
The white-haired girl with the scar curtsied, "Weiss Schnee, a pleasure."
"Schnee?" Sin repeated before feeling Rhia grip his arm and move behind him, lightly trembling, "Rhia?"
"We, we should go" Rhia said, her voice trembling as well.
Alena took her sister's hand, leading her away from the others as Rhia sounded as if she was beginning to hyperventilate.
"Is she okay?" Ruby asked.
"Schnee" Sin said again drawing their attention, "You're the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."
Weiss began piecing what happened together, "Yes" she admitted, "I am. And I admit my family and company have done some disreputable things, but I am not my father. When it finally comes time that I inherit the SDC I will return my family name to its proper reputation."
"Brick?" Sin asked, looking at his brother.
Sin had never been good at reading people, taking everything at face value. Brick on the other hand had a knack for seeing people for who they were. The bear faunus stared Weiss in her eyes, he saw her determination, but also concern. He himself had issues with the Schnee Dust Company, but Rhia and Alena had nightmares about the company.
Reading Weiss' expression the silent giant looked back to Sin and gave him a nod.
"Alright" Sin acknowledged, "Go check on them, I'll join up with you in a bit."
Another nod and Brick left to find Alena and Rhia.
"It's because of my family isn't it?" Weiss asked him, "They worked for the company at some point didn't they?"
"Yeah" Sin said, "Brick has always been a big guy, even as a kid and because of his size they stuck him in a mine when he was nine."
The girls were horrified at that, save for Blake who already knew depending on the type of faunus they could be treated even harsher than others.
"I won't go into details" Sin told them, "But at some point during that Brick got away from the mines and he and I have been together since."
Blake, almost too afraid to ask, looked at him, "What about Rhia and Alena?"
"Worse" Sin told her, "It's not my story to tell though, but there is a lot of trauma there" he turned to face Weiss, "Brick is a good judge of character, he approves of you so I'll take his word for it. Just, give Rhia and Alena time."
"That bad huh?" Yang asked.
Ruby pleaded, "Weiss isn't a bad person."
"I know" Sin answered, "I trust Brick's judgment. Besides if she wasn't a good person then Blake wouldn't be around her" he looked at the faunus girl, "Right?"
Blake hesitated, not because she was unsure, rather surprised that he asked her, "Yeah. The relationship was a rough start, but Weiss is dependable."
"That's all I need" Sin said looking at Weiss again, "I'm sure you want to know so you can properly apologize, but like I said it's not my story to tell."
Weiss closed her eyes and slowly nodded, "I understand, I don't want to imagine the possibilities if just my family name caused that kind of response, but I do want to make it up to her."
Sin placed a hand on her shoulder, "Give her time. With Brick's seal of approval she'll be willing to give you a chance and maybe she'll tell you one day, for now just give her time."
Weiss nodded, "I'm sorry they went through that."
Sin took her hand, "Do not blame yourself for it either, you didn't let it happen right?"
"Of course not" Weiss replied, "I would never allow such horrible things to happen."
"Then don't blame yourself for something you couldn't control" Sin told her, "Just fix it when you have the ability to."
"I will" Weiss promised, "It's just...ever since coming to Beacon I've been finding out just how much about the world I don't know and the struggle of the faunus...and how much I was wrong about them."
"And that already makes you better than most" Sin told her, "She doesn't hate you, just give her time."
"Thank you" Weiss said, lowering her head, noticing he was still holding her hand, "I'm going to go back inside now, if I can have my hand back."
"Oh, sorry" Sin said, letting go of her, "Comforting gesture and all."
"Yeah" Weiss said, hiding her blushing face, "Thank you for that. Please excuse me."
Turning on her heel Weiss quickly left to return to their room leaving Sin alone with her teammates.
"Thank you" Ruby said to him, "For understanding. Weiss is a nice person, well most of the time" she shyly grinned.
"Don't mention it" Sin told her, "I'll see you three around."
Returning to his team's dormroom Sin closed the door and sat next to Rhia, "How are you feeling?"
Rhia leaned against him still trembling and Sin wrapped an arm around her, "I'm sorry" she muttered.
"You don't have anything to apologize for" he told her.
"Of course she doesn't" Alena growled, "She did nothing wrong, but those filthy Schnees did everything to us."
"Alena" Sin began only for her to silence him, "No. You do not get to tell me to calm down or get over it, you're just another damn human who will never know what it's like."
Sin slowly stood up and walked over to her, "No I don't know" he said grabbing her shoulders which angered her further.
"Get your filthy hands off of me" she demanded only for him to hold her tighter.
"I don't know what you went through" he told her, "What I do know is how much I care about you. Even if you hate me I still care about you. You have every right to be angry, every right to hate them for what happened to you. But please, for right now try to calm down because the more you get worked up the worse you're going to make Rhia feel."
Alena looked at her sister, still trembling as she laid down and curled into herself on her bed.
"I care about both of you" Sin said again, letting go of her and watching her quickly rush to Rhia's bed embracing her.
They were silent as they waited for Rhia to calm down, Alena laying next to her and holding her the whole time while Sin sat at his bed and Brick on the floor. A few hours had passed and Rhia drifted to sleep, her big sister petting her hair to keep soothing her.
"It's almost dinner time" Sin noted, "But I'd rather we let her sleep" he stood up, "I'm going to catch a bullhead back into town, I'll grab some stuff for us to eat and make something for her when she wakes up."
Alena nods, "Okay."
Sin stood up, "I'll be back then, do you want anything in particular?"
"I wouldn't say no to some blueberries" Alena said, "Rhia would like some."
"Apple juice" Sin said, already knowing Rhia's favorite, "I'll get extra."
Closing the door behind him Sin left, leaving Alena and Brick to keep an eye on Rhia. Catching a bullhead back to Vale, Sin hailed a cab to a nearby store and began shopping, grabbing what he knew his friends would like and quickly paying for it before leaving and heading to a nearby bus stop only for someone to shove him into a nearby alley. Catching his footing Sin looked at who pushed him and saw two people enter the alley behind him, a man and a woman. The man seemed to be just over six feet tall and was wearing a gray hooded robe with black outlines, a dark red shirt, gray pants and a heavy pair of brown boots and covering his face was a grimm mask, one that resembled a death stalker, "White fang" he wondered.
The woman, also around six feet, didn't wear a mask leaving her face in clear view. Her snow white complexion radiated in the dim light of the back street lamps, her orange-red eyes held an alluring air about them and her pristine black hair reached down her back, a walking bombshell to be sure. She was wearing a maroon sleeveless halter top with a T-Rex skull on the back that hugs her torso to show the swells of her breasts and her abs, black jeans and over them wears red colored chaps, brown steel-toes boots.
"Alright muggers" Sin said slowly, setting his groceries down, "Super not in the mood for this, a friend of mine had a stressful day and needs some cheering up. So you step aside and I don't have to hurt you."
"We're not here for your money" the man said, his voice a deep synthetic baritone obviously caused by his mask.
"Is that voice supposed to be intimidating?" Sin asked him, "Fine I'll bite, what are you here for?"
The woman chuckled and smiled at him, "To see how good you are."
As the man started stepping toward him Sin said, "Oh it is a bad time for this."
The male moved first, drawing one of his weapons in mid lunge, a sword with a gun in the hilt. Sin stepped to the side evading the attack with perfect footwork and dropping his elbow into the guy's shoulder before turning and landing a heavy downward hook into his back.
"I'm a student from Shade Academy" he told them, "I know how to use my aura and I've been in fights before. Think about this."
"We know where you come from" the male said, his voice still a deep synthesized baritone, "Like my partner said, we're here to see how good you are."
"So you're not going to walk away, is that what I'm hearing?" Sin asked.
"That's right" the woman told him with a smile.
"Fine" Sin said, "Let's get this over with."
Readying his weapon the masked man attacked again and Sin brought up his semblance, dodging the attack at the last second. Side stepping the blade to the outside and grabbing the back of the man's neck and kneeing him in the back before turning him around and punching him in the chest. Using his semblance to slow see his opponent move in slow motion Sin raised his wrist batting away his attacker's weapon arm and landed a cross into his shoulder followed by a jab into his sternum. A swift kick to his assailant's knee broke his stance and was followed by another jab to his opposite shoulder and a snap jab to his mask where his nose would be. Stepping back Sin spun on his heel landing a kick into his attacker's chest knocking him into the wall and leaving him vulnerable for Sin's follow up.
Knocking his weapon away, Sin kept his opponent pinned to the wall, landing blow after blow targeting his shoulder joints and sternum before tripping and shoving him to the ground. The man coughed as he got up and drew his second weapon, a twin to the first and attacked again without a word. He swung his blade and Sin dodged, he pivoted letting his momentum carry his swing and Sin evaded again, every attack he made missed and the boy seemed to be dodging at last second, almost as if he was taunting him. Swinging his sword in an apparent overhand, Sin noticed his finger wrapped around the trigger and quickly ducked and stepped forward tackling into him, raising his forearm to block the attack.
Punching the man in his mask once again Sin followed through by locking hands behind his neck and bending him forward landing two knees into his chest and turning to fling him into a dumpster. Rushing his attacker Sin held his arm out feigning a hook, but instead ducked, grabbing his enemy's arm and turning and slamming his head into the dumpster's steel lid. When his opponent's head bounced back from the hit Sin grabbed the collar of his shirt and landed a heavy cross with an expelled burst of his aura knocking the man to the ground and shattering his mask.
"Ashton" the woman called, seeing the mask shatter.
"Oh look at that" Sin said, "Now I have a name to work with."
The man, Ashton coughed as he tried to crawl back to his feet only for Sin to kick his arm out from under him. Seeing the woman rush him in the reflection of the windows Sin ducked and moved to the outside bringing his arms up to defend against her sword swing.
"Just so you know" he began after catching her swing, "I think you're drop dead gorgeous" he stepped back when she freed her arm and blocked her next strike, "But that's not going to stop me from defending myself."
Quickly sliding his arm forward he jabbed her in the nose and kicked her away waiting for her to turn and slash at him again only to duck her attack and land an uppercut, stunning her. She attacked again and he faked a dodge to the left before striking from her right, ducking behind her after the hit and landing a double hook into her back before grabbing her neck and turning to fling her over his shoulder. Throwing her onto her back Sin drew his fist back and punched the ground after she rolled away from the attack and got back to her feet alongside her ally.
Without his mask on Sin could see his face, bright amber eyes, short black hair and seemed to be in his twenties.
"Now I have a face to go with your name" Sin taunted, "We could do this all day and neither of you would lay a hand on me, walk away" he added with a threatening tone.
"Let's go" Ashton said to his ally, "I got what I need."
"He saw your face" the woman whispered to him.
"He can't do anything with it" he said, gathering the remains of his mask and pulling his hood over his head, "Until next time, Sin."
"You don't want a next time" Sin told him, his tone letting them know he'll do worse if there is a next time.
Watching them leave Sin reclaimed his groceries and returned to the bus stop and boarded the bus that would take him back to the landing pad, wondering who those two were and more importantly how they knew his name.
From a nearby rooftop, Ashton and his female compatriot watched Sin board the bus and leave, "So he's pretty good" the woman said.
Ashton growled, his pride a bit wounded as well, "Better than I expected."
"Is he a threat?" the woman asked him.
"If he's associated with Cinder then yes" Ashton replied, fetching his scroll to make a call, "Rena. We need to talk about that boy you met in Vacuo."