Chapter-56

Weiss

Days later, the first day of their academic year arrived.

Weiss woke up in the early morning, a habit she'd developed to dodge Ruby's 'whistle deadline'.

Weiss instinctively looked to the right, but instead of Blake, there was only a wall.

I'm still too used to our dorm at Beacon. Weiss thought as she got up from her bed, noticing Ruby sleeping on her bed.

Weiss then went to the washroom to brush her, her scroll in her pant's pocket.

Weiss did feel a slight gagging motion seeing the state of the washroom, but forced it down to brush her teeth.

At that moment, Weiss felt her scroll ring and let out a soft groan.

Who's calling me this early in the morning now? Weiss thought in annoyance as she brought it up and squinted at its screen to see 'Winter Schnee'.

Weiss sighed. After their argument at Vale General Hospital, she had apologized to Winter after they went back to Atlas, but there was an air of awkward tension whenever they talked after that.

Weiss' finger hovered over the call button as she contemplated answering it before pressing.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, Weiss." Winter's voice came in.

"Good morning, Winter." Weiss spoke, brushing her teeth.

"...Have you settled in?"

"Yeah…"

"Are the accommodations fine?"

"They are…not what I expected."

"What? Were you expecting a hotel?" Winter spoke as Weiss shook her head.

"No…But still…"

"Well, other than that there's no problem, right?"

Weiss looked at the mirror.

"..."

"Weiss?"

"No."

"Good. Enjoy your second year, and do call from time to time."

"Right." Weiss spoke before the call was cut off.

Weiss exhaled and washed her face a number of times, before she walked out, dabbing her face with the towel.

"Good morning." She heard Blake's voice.

"Good morning." Weiss replied tiredly.

"Has Ruby woken up?"

Weiss shook her head.

"Well, Yang's not woken up as well." Blake replied before looking at Weiss.

"Is there something wrong? You're looking pretty down in the mood.

"No, no." Weiss spoke. "It's nothing."

Blake frowned. "Weiss…"

Weiss shook her head.

Blake sighed. "Fine then. You know the drill." She spoke before entering the washroom.

Weiss leaned against the wall, as memories of last night came back to her.


"Perthro…dealing with fate, mystery and secrets." Weiss spoke, reading through the sheets, sitting on her bed. She and Ruby had been doing their respective reading into the night, but Ruby soon closed up Thane's diary and had gone to sleep.

Weiss continued reading until she noticed the room's lamp flickering.

Weiss sighed. Brun did tell her to pick up the batteries from the chest downstairs should such a thing happen.

Weiss took a look at Ruby and closed up the book, getting up from her bed and walking downstairs.

"I shouldn't make too much noise." Weiss muttered. Because of the accommodation, Brun was sleeping downstairs on a mattress. She'd told the girls where the key to her chest was being kept, so Weiss thankfully didn't have to wake Brun up.

But as Weiss came downstairs, she noticed the living room's lights were on, and Brun's mattress was empty.

"Brun…?" Weiss spoke before hearing Brun's voice come from outside, as if she's in a conversation.

"Oh, that's strange." She spoke before shrugging and walking to the drawer where the key was kept.

Weiss took the key, walked up to the chest and opened it to get the batteries. But just as she was getting up, Weiss heard another man's voice.

"I cannot believe you actually chose to do it." He spoke.

"Mr. Derakt, s-surely y-you didn't c-come to m-my house for this." Brun's nervous voice came back.

Weiss looked up in curiosity through the curtains, and noticed Brun standing outside with the same old man who had scowled at them when they first came here.

The man scoffed. "You have a Schnee living in your house. Many of us in the neighborhood have decided not to set a single foot in your house until that Schnee has left and we call in Pasha to clean your house."

He then shook his head. "You were already treading a thin line when you decided to invite foreigners to your house, but a Schnee…do you have any idea how ashamed your parents would be of you now?"

"Mr. Derakt! She's just a child. You can't go treating her as if she's some sort of monster!" Brun snapped back.

"A child who will inherit the same monster her father controls. I have no desire to shame myself by coming into the same house a Schnee is living in."

Weiss grunted slightly at the overly harsh words, which started picking at terrible memories of that horrifying brand again…

Weiss shook her head.

He's just another person who hates the SDC. Don't let him get to you. She thought. She knew there was Xenophobia in Vacuo and a particular hatred against Atlas and the Schnee family. She shouldn't be acting so extreme over something she was expecting.

"Mr. Derakt, could you p-please not say s-such words about another p-person…this i-isn't the side of you the children want to see."

Derakt glared at Brun. "You know very well what I feel about the SDC…" He growled.

"Do you want a reminder of that?" He spoke before suddenly raising his right hand as Weiss' eyes nearly bulged out.

Derakt's right hand had no fingers, it was just a stump from his right wrist.

Brun looked down.

"I still haven't received my compensation from that day." Derakt spoke. "For years I've lodged complaints to get my compensation for the accident, but the SDC officers clearly have no interest in such a thing. I'm just one of the many workers who were thrown out by the SDC because we were 'unfit' to work." Derakt spoke shaking his head.

"Jacques Schnee is too busy sitting comfortable in his frozen castle in Atlas to care about his labour in Vacuo, not to mention the rumors of the conditions of Solitas' own mines." Derakt continued on, despite with a hint of fear.

"If those rumors are true…then I am happy I no longer work for the SDC and why the Schnees are grimm in human form."

Brun gasped as Weiss' moved away from the window, leaning against the wall as she started remembering that terrible brand again.

Weiss' breath quickened as she stumbled up the stairs, getting back to her room which was now completely dark.

Weiss didn't even bother to put the batteries onto the lamp. She simply set them down, put away her sheets and immediately went to her bed.

Weiss stared up at the ceiling, beads of sweat running down her forehead.

J-Just go back to sleep, Weiss. Weiss thought.

But it would take a long time, as the SDC brand and Derakt's missing hand kept plaguing Weiss' mind.


"Should have known it would happen…" Weiss spoke. After all, she'd been expecting all of this ever since she had left for Vale's railway station.

I can't even blame them. After Adam, I don't think I can really claim any sort of high ground anymore. Weiss thought, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the thought of her father relaxing in his mansion at the moment, completely uncaring of all the problems faced by those who work within his company and their issue with her family.

But that was soon replaced by a lingering fear. After all, this was the first day of school. She would be meeting all the local students of Vacuo's huntsman academy.

And I will definitely face insults there as well. Weiss thought.

Soon, the rest woke up as the girls got themselves freshened up. According to headmaster Theodore, the assembly would be at Shade's auditorium at 8:30 AM. Before that, the girls had their breakfast and put on their outfits and carried their books and notebooks.

Soon, Mr. Beech came in with his car, and RWBY bade Brun goodbye before driving off towards Shade Academy.

Weiss stared out at the streets as the car passed by, frowning at all the people. Ruby was sitting beside her checking her notebook.

"Mr. Beech?" Yang spoke up. "You'll be dropping us back to the house once our classes our over, right?"

Beech scratched his head. "Well, the problem is I actually can't. My shift's clashing with the timings."

"Don't worry about that, Yang." Weiss spoke in a bored tone. "There are shuttle facilities available to drop back students to their temporary homestays. We can just take our shuttle bus to the nearest bus stop and walk back to the house."

"Isn't that…dangerous?" Yang asked.

True. Considering we have A Schnee, A Silver-eyed warrior and A Maiden on our team, we'd definitely be target, especially after Tezcatlipoca's visit. Weiss thought.

"We'll just have to watch out in that case." She spoke.

"I don't want to sound skeptical, but are you sure it's fine for you to do that? Ms. Schnee would be a target for a lot of thugs in the area." Beech spoke.

"Don't worry, Mr. Beech. We can handle it." Ruby assured him with a smile.

Soon, Mr. Beech reached Shade's outer walls, which like Beacon were swarmed with huntsmen patrolling the academy's sandstone walls. At the gates, there were a line of cars and buses that carried Beacon students entering the campus.

After some waiting, their car came up. Two huntsmen came up and began checking the car while another gestured for Beech to open his window.

"Team Name?"

Ruby leaned forward. "Team RWBY, sir."

The huntsman nodded. "Team leader?"

"Um, me, Ruby Rose."

"Got it. Please show your ID." The huntsman spoke.

"All of our IDs?"

"No, just yours. Your credentials will be enough to verify that of your team at the CCT." The man replied as Ruby handed her scroll with her Beacon ID showing.

The huntsman pulled out his own scroll and tapped on it, before handing the scroll back to Ruby.

"It's matching. Welcome to Shade, Team RWBY." The huntsman spoke.

"Where do I drop them off?" Beech asked.

"Take the first right to the parking space, Sir." The huntsman spoke as Beech nodded before taking the route.

"Huh, this is way different from Beacon's fancy airship entrance." Yang spoke.

"Well, from what I know, Shade's really connected to the rest of Vacuo, to the point that the whole 'entrance' thing was basically coming to Vacuo itself. So in that sense, your 'welcoming' is already done."

"Really? Aw, It would have been nice for such a thing." Yang spoke.

"As I said, we Vacuans tend to stick together, and that applies to our huntsman academy as well. Vacuo's the only kingdom whose huntsman academy is not disconnected from the general populace."

"Really?" Yang asked.

Ruby nodded. "Makes sense. Beacon's it's own fortress located north along the cliffs off of Vale, Haven sits at the peak of Mt. Sakra overlooking the rest of Mistral located at its foothills and…"

"...Atlas is the huntsman academy AND the headquarters of the Atlesian military, so it is closed off to the general public…"

"Shade, on the other hand, opens up its gates to Vacuo's public during Bahrām."

"Bahrām?" Yang asked.

"I know this one!" Ruby spoke. "A 1000 years ago, there was an elder grimm called Asag that swam from beyond the Storm Wall surrounding the Dragon Continent to Vacuo. It terrorized the landscape before a man named Malik gathered an army of aura-users and brought it down after a difficult battle. By killing Asag, Malik established the Kingdom of Vacuo with him as its first ruler."

Beech smiled. "Good answer, Ruby. It's also known as the 'Day of Victory'. On that day, Shade's open for celebration."

"And it's at the beginning of Austral, right?" Blake asked.

"Yes." Beech spoke before parking at a spot.

"Alright, enjoy your day!" He spoke as the girls got out, looking at the towering pyramid of shade in front of them.

"No gushing over the weapons this time, Rubes?" Yang asked as Ruby grinned.

"Well, they're nice. Not as nice as Crescent Rose, though."

"Let's get to the auditorium first, girls." Blake spoke as the Team walked towards the building.

Weiss could see a flood of Beacon students go through the gates, with had the symbol of Vacuo on them.

She remembered Ozpin telling about these emblems, how each kingdom's emblem was actually a reference to the Relic that was hidden in them. So according to that, Vacuo's relic was the Relic of Destruction.

Before she even knew of its true nature, the stories famed sword wielded by the King of Vale had scared Weiss as a child. To know that one single sword had managed to defeat the best of Mantle's technological advancements was something she didn't want to believe at first.

Entering the gates, they came onto a large reception area with doors leading further into the academy, with another line of Beacon students waiting at the desk.

"Do we have to do something, here?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed. "Ruby, did you not read the instructions we were sent?"

"Um…no?"

"As I expected," Weiss spoke, ignoring Ruby's indignant cry at the jab, "We have to get our Team marked for attending the Second Year here. We're foreign students after all."

Once they reached the desk, Weiss walked up and began filling up the details in a form, although she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at the receptionist staring at her.

Weiss then had everybody sign on the form before they walked further into Shade's auditorium.

The auditorium itself was massive, with torches on the walls along with bronze and golden pillars. At the sides, Weiss could see four elevators on each side, while at the opposite end of the auditorium, there was a statue of a naked human and a naked bull faunus fighting a bull. The bull faunus was wrestling the bull down while the man had his sword raised. In front of the statue was a podium on which stood Shade's headmaster Theodore.

If I remember, that's Kurush and Dārayavaush, who united many scattered people into Vacuo's first nomadic tribes at the dawn of humanity. Weiss thought, hearing a soft gasp from her side and looked to see Ruby shaking her head and blinking rapidly, her silver eyes slightly flickering.

"Ruby? Everything fine?" Weiss asked as Yang leaned towards her sister.

"Nothing, nothing." Ruby spoke, as they made their way through the crowd. On the way, Weiss also heard some words from conversations between Shade's students.

"Atlesian brat…"

"Foreign dog…"

"Schnee bitch…"

Weiss could hear all the colorful words being spoken about her, and it only made her want to simply go hide in a corner.

At that moment, Weiss bumped into a Shade student.

"Oops, sorry about that." The student spoke, but Weiss could catch a smirk on their face as they walked off.

This is not going to be fun. Weiss thought as they finally found a position from where they could listen to headmaster Theodore.

"Ahem, morning to all of you and welcome back to Shade!" He spoke as the students started cheering.

"Show us your moves, headmaster!" Weiss heard some of the students yell as more cheers and yelling came from the Shade students, while the Beacon students were simply either quiet or slightly annoyed at the hollering.

"SILENCE!" A woman beside Theodore yelled as the students immediately shut their mouths, staring at the woman with the same fear the Beacon students regarded Professor Goodwitch.

"Is it me or does that woman look really short?" Yang asked.

"I think she's shorter than me…" Ruby spoke in surprise."

Wait, really?" Yang spoke. "Damn."

"Xanthe, is it really necessary to start yelling at our kids on the first day." Theodore spoke in an exasperated tone.

Xanthe scowled. "They can pursue their antics later. Right now, we are running short of time."

Theodore sighed. "Right, right. Anyways, I can see the excitement on all of your faces." He spoke, pointedly not looking at the glares the Beacon students sent at him.

"And for good reason. You've managed to make it one year through this torture, and you've got three more to go." Theodore spoke.

"I also know some of you were at Vale when the Battle happened, and I"m really proud to say you all did a good job there." Theodore spoke with a smile.

"But! You can see your second year is going to be different…because you have a lot of guests coming over." He spoke.

"We all know Beacon Academy was destroyed by the grimm at the end of 80 AGW, and it will take a lot of time before it is rebuilt. So, Oz and I reached an agreement that except for the first years, the Beacon students will be spending their academic year here in Shade."

A bunch of groans and shouts of protest erupted from the group of Shade students.

"Now don't complain like a bunch of wusses. You're Vacuans, you're tougher than that. You can't start complaining already just because a bunch of foreign students are going to be here with you?"

The protests kept coming.

"Anyways, this is where I am supposed to say 'Please treat our guests with respect'. But knowing you little monsters, that's a fever dream. So, all I ask is not to waste my time dealing with your squabbling. You have some beef, challenge them and duke it out in the arena, so that I don't have to give myself a headache."

"Hah! We'll beat them black and blue!" A Shade student boasted.

"Oh shut your mouth!" A Beacon student yelled back.

The two students then began yelling at each other as many more students started joining in, with Weiss looking around in worry as Theodore sighed.

"HEY, HEY!" He spoke as the students looked at him. "I won't show my moves if you start fighting at the auditorium! I've already told you where you guys want to blow off steam. And if you still don't like that, I'll send the culprits straight to Quetz for another 'luchador' course."

Weiss heard several gasps of horror at the mention of 'Quetz'.

They seemed to be even more scared of this Quetz than they are of Professor Xanthe. Weiss thought.

"Alright, that's all I have to say. Get to the elevators and to your respective classes." He spoke.

"Students of Beacon, just stay back. I need to talk." He spoke as the Shade students began moving towards the elevators. Once all of them were gone, Theodore's smile vanished.

"Again, Welcome to Shade." He spoke in a more serious tone. "I usually place a lot more care on my students than foreign ones, but Ozpin would pretty much skin me alive if I decided to be careless to you all. Not to mention you all have had a really shitty experience with the Battle of Vale." Theodore spoke.

"I know how much Oz loves giving depressing speeches, so I'm just going to say something different. Look, you all have had a rough time, and I know many of you have come out from that battle with your own scars, physically and mentally. I've told my staff not to go so harsh as to start affecting your mental health, and if you have any issues, please come over to my office and talk. I'll do what I can to help you out. All of you showed courage in the face of danger even professional huntsmen like myself are scared to face, and you all want some peace."

"But I also want to tell you that many of my students have not gone through that. They still live in a bubble, coming from a background that told them they were the best because they could survive in a pile of sand. They are spoilt, and they will be skeptical of your capabilities, even after what you've seen. They will try to belittle all of you and sabotage you because of that sense of superiority ingrained in their minds."

"I just want to ask all of you not to make matters worse. I know that restraint is something that you can only hold onto for so long before you snap. As I told my students, if you have something to settle, do it in the combat arena. Blow off some steam, and then get back to your daily lives. Just don't try anything extreme outside of that because that will only make public opinion worse regarding your coming here to Shade."

Weiss thought back to the rude behavior of the Shade students towards her.

"If you're wondering where your friends are, I already talked to them the day they arrived here. Anyways, it's time for you to go now." He spoke before smiling.

"Enjoy your year. And I'll be paying surprise visits from time to time." He spoke before the students began heading to the elevators.

"What do you think of the Shade people?" Yang asked.

"The staff's nice… but the students are a bit…" Ruby spoke scratching her head.

"They'll be like that until you can prove you can also 'survive' like them." Blake spoke.

"Really? They think a huge battle with grimm even professional huntsmen are afraid of is not enough?" Yang asked.

"Nope. Many people say that Vacuans have an inferiority complex. They live in the least developed nation after Menagerie, and they try to cover that up by boasting about their ability to survive in such a dangerous place. The only way you're getting respect is if you show them you can 'survive'." Blake spoke.

That is stupid. Weiss thought with a scowl as they kept on walking to their first class.

"History. Xanthe Rumpole." Ruby spoke. "Oh gods, our first class is with her?"

"Really, Ruby? First day, and you're already working towards a less than ideal relationship with your teachers?" Weiss asked as Ruby huffed.

"Look, history has been yours and Blake's alleyway. You know how I was back in Professor Oobleck's…"

"Doctor Oobleck's."

"Not this again! Anyways, you know how I was in his classes, Weiss? What are you expecting out of me?"

Weiss simply shook her head. "And to think I had hope you actually decided to change your opinion towards studying…"

"Don't listen to her, Rubes. You're doing fine. Keep being a member of the anti-history club." Yang spoke, wrapping an arm around Ruby's shoulder as the sisters walked forward.

"I thinks its better you just stop trying, Weiss." Blake spoke as Weiss rolled her eyes.

Coming up the elevator, they found themselves in a much more open space, with a courtyard in the middle of the building whose ceiling was located about 3 floors above it, which could be seen from the railings. There were stairs leading up to the upper floors and there were numerous doors on the opposite side of the pathways, which seemed to stretch on forever.

Students were coming out of those rooms and heading towards the classrooms, which were towards the upper floors.

"According to the information, these three floors are the dorms. Above them is the combat arena, and above that are the classrooms. Headmaster Theodore's office is right at the top." Weiss spoke.

The girls then took the stairs, moving up into another large rectangular space that had Shade's emblem on the center, and with numerous doors on the sides, each with a plaque saying the class on it.

"There's ours." Blake spoke as Team RWBY walked upto Rumpole's classroom and entered.

Inside, was a another large room with three massive arches acting as windows along with red silk curtains with golden embroidery draped by their sides, protected by a railing. In front of the arches, there were numerous paintings on the walls that Weiss could make out represented historical, as opposed to the artifacts in Doctor Oobleck's classroom.

Among those paintings, Weiss noted with a curiosity a painting of Thane, except he was dressed in armor with only his dark red hair visible as he was wielding a scythe against a massive white wolf with glowing black circuit lines on its body leading upto its eyes, which were soulless like a grimm's.

Wonder what that is. Weiss thought.

To the left side of the room was a black board, in front of which were mats on the floor on which students were seated which also had wooden desks that were slanted, having flat surfaces only on the sides of the slanted desks.

"Uh-!" Yang went to speak before Blake elbowed her.

"It's weird, I know." She spoke as Ruby stared at the students with unease. Weiss could make out several Shade students sitting towards the back, all of whom were smirking or scowling at their group.

At the front, Weiss could see some Beacons students, among whom was JNPR. Jaune smiled and gestured for them to come over and sit with them.

"So, how are your accommodations?" Jaune asked.

"Pretty nice. We've got two rooms with two beds each." Ruby spoke before Nora jumped at her.

"TWO ROOMS?!" She yelled in shock as Ruby jumped back.

"Woah there, Nora! I know the dorms here have four beds in one room…"

"No! It's not even that! They're smaller than our dorms in Beacon!" Nora exclaimed. "It's making me feel really uncomfortable."

"W-Well…" Pyrrha spoke. "Nora is…correct. The rooms are quite small."

"Exactly! You know its bad when Pyrrha's actually calling it out!"

"Hey! Quit badmouthing our academy!" They heard a voice from the back.

"What? I'm just saying what I saw!" Nora yelled back as Ren dragged her down.

"Nora, calm down. You've been trying to get into a fight with the Shade students for days now." Ren spoke.

Nora scowled. "Not my fault they're a bunch of jerks."

"Nora…" Ren spoke sternly as Nora huffed.

"Things are not great here in Shade, huh?" Yang spoke as Weiss' lips thinned.

"Not really." An unfamiliar voice spoke as Weiss looked to her left to see a Shade student standing by them, although they weren't really regarding with them with as much hostility as Weiss thought.

"Wait a minute…I recognize you." Ruby spoke as Jaune's eyebrows shot up.

"Nolan?"

Nolan Porfirio, member of Team BRNZ which had fought JNPR in the team matches, stood looking at them, with a poker expression on his face, although Weiss could definitely recognize the same grief that almost all of the Beacon students had on their faces.

"Hello." He spoke in a quiet voice. "Welcome to Shade, I guess…" He spoke looking away.

"You…want to say something, Nolan?" Jaune asked as Nolan was silent.

"What happened to your team?" Nora asked as Nolan's expression immediately changed to that of sorrow.

Ruby immediately put a hand on Nora's shoulder and shook her head vigorously. Nora's eyes widened as she immediately understood what Ruby was trying to say and didn't say anything further.

"Uh, Nolan!" Jaune spoke hastily. "Do you want to say something?"

"...Not everyone is hostile here." Nolan spoke before turning to leave.

"Yo, Nolan! Where are you going?" Team RWBY heard another familiar voice as Blake brightened up.

"Sun?" She asked as the monkey faunus came into the classroom, grinning with Neptune and two other boys who seemed to be a part of their team.

"Hey, guys! Been a while, huh?" Sun spoke.

"How did you get here? You're a Haven Student."

"Well…Sun decided to take an exchange program." Neptune spoke up. "Plus, Vacuo's where he grew up."

"That's right!" Sun spoke. "We've already made some good friends. Right, Nolan?" He spoke as Nolan and Scarlet looked away from each other.

"Oh gods…really?" Yang asked as Sun grinned.

"Exactly. Now, anyways…"

"Has everyone got to their seats?" A voice spoke as all students standing immediately rushed to their seats.

"Gotta go, bye." Sun spoke as he and his team dragged Nolan away before Professor Rumpole came in.

Rumpole's eyes immediately swept across the classroom before she cleared her throat.

"Greetings to all of you. To the Beacon students, I am Professor Xanthe Rumpole, Deputy Headmistress and professor of History…"

"Oh great, she's got Goodwitch's position too." Yang muttered.

Weiss nodded before something hit the back of her head. Weiss picked up the paper and opened it, noticing a very crude drawing of herself with a…

Weiss' eyes felt like they were on fire.

What is this vulgar drawing?! She thought in rage as she turned back, trying to spot the people who did it, and noticing a bunch of students snickering.

"...And to my dear sweet students, QUIT YOUR ANTICS!" Rumpole bellowed as Ruby nearly jumped up in fright from the volume of her voice.

"I SAW THAT, MR. BLANC!" She yelled as Weiss saw the same students immediately stopped snickering.

Rumpole massaged her head.

"First day of School, and you band of nightmares have already started your ruckus. Oh well, looks like Quetz is going to enjoy this year as much as the previous one."

Weiss again noticed the Shade students pale.

What is going on? Who is this 'Quetz'? Weiss thought as Rumpole adjusted her glasses.

"Anyways. I am sure you all have learnt a basic history of your own kingdoms in your first year. Henceforth, in the second year, we shall be moving to more international subjects, specifically the great war." She spoke.

"The Great War will be a significant portion of our curriculum this year. We'll be covering everything from the state of the kingdoms, the issues that motivated each kingdom to enter the war…and the efforts that were done to ward off against the grimm."

Ruby and Yang smiled at that.

"Really, we have to learn about that?" A student spoke.

"Absolutely. The Great War has had a lasting impact on our society uptill this day, and I don't think no one understands that better than us Vacuans."

A low rumble of grumbling could be heard.

"They're already at it." Yang whispered to Weiss. "Really hate that."

"Ms. Xiao-Long." Rumpole spoke, suddenly in front of them as Yang stiffened up.

"Perhaps you should ask my students how things work here in my classroom. Distraction…is not welcome."

Yang slumped as Rumpole stepped back.

"Alright now. Bring out your textbooks. We shall first be studying about Remnant in the years before the Great War."

Weiss immediately pulled out her book and notepad to start writing, deciding to set aside that little insult for her studies.


The rest of the classes went in a similar fashion. They would come in, be treated with a hint of hostility by the Shade students, and Weiss would be the main target of their abuse.

Weiss had spent the entire day listening to jokes, insults and even some students intentionally bumping into her whenever the rest weren't around.

Weiss had ignored that, but after some time, all the bullying was starting to grate on her nerves.

The others had received their share too, but not as much as her.

The First day, and I'm already starting to hate it here. Weiss thought. She had no idea how she was going to make it through this entire year.

Morning and afternoon went by, and soon it was time to return to Brun's house for the day.

As they came out of their last class, they noticed Rumpole walk up.

"Team RWBY, the headmaster is calling you to his office." She spoke. "...On the business of some coffee."

That's our call. Weiss thought. Finally, she could perhaps use some time talking to the sensible members of Ozma's order after dealing with the crude brutish buffoons of Shade.

The girls followed Rumpole further up, until they reached a narrow corridor that again had pillars and torches leading to two doors, which were located below a bronze sculpture of a bull.

"So, you're a member?" Yang asked.

"Of course."

"Where are the others?"

"Many of our servants were actually out, and we do have Rowena as well."

"Rowena? As in our weapons training teacher?" Ruby asked, referring to Rowena Sunnybrook, the weapons training teacher who was quite energetic and much more lax, a sharp contrast to Rumpole.

"Yes. Come on, let us introduce you to our operatives in Vacuo." Rumpole spoke pushing open the doors into the headmaster's office.

Theodore's office had a floor of grass. At the back end of the room, was Theodore's desk, which was in front of a terrace. In the office, there were sculpture of numerous people wielding swords along with the portraits of the headmasters of other academies on the walls.

Theodore was sitting at his desk, with Professor Sunnybrook, with her black hair in a braid, standing with a smile.

But the others…Weiss could tell they were servants. One was a young pale-skinned man with gray hair and purple eyes, wearing a grey vest with a red cloak and white sash and black pants carrying a wooden staff.

Another was a young girl with purple hair wearing a black hood over her head that had a an eye emblazoned on it, wielding a purple scythe.

Then, there was another girl with gray hair and green eyes draped in a torn black cloak wielding two knives.

There was a woman with gold and purple ear and odd jackal-like ears coming out of her head wielding an Onyx and gold sceptre.

And finally, a tall blonde woman with emerald eyes in a red linen shawl along with a blue and gold cloak draped around her shoulders. She had a short red skirt with golden embroidery and jade necklaces around her neck. On her head, she had some sort of metal helmet that had long feather plumes coming out of them. She had a shield and some sort of club with rows of obsidian spikes on it.

"Ah, looks like our last members have arrived." The man spoke.

"I can see that." Theodore spoke as the blonde woman started smiling.

"Ooh, ooh! New candidates?" She asked before suddenly appearing beside Yang.

"This one has some good potential!" She spoke, squeezing her hand against Yang's shoulder.

"Um, Hello?" Ruby spoke as Theodore sighed.

"Well, no need for introductions, except maybe for the servants." He spoke. "Who wants to start first?"

"I'll go. Greetings, I am Caster, True Name: Moses." The man spoke. "Pleased to meet you."

"Caster. True Name: Nitocris." The Jackal-eared woman spoke in a rather confident and stern voice.

"Lancer…just call me Ana." The purple-haired girl spoke in a bored voice, as Ruby stared at her purple scythe.

"What?" She asked as Ruby shook her head.

"S-sorry, I was just looking at your scythe."

Ana was silent. "...Oh." She spoke.

"Assassin. True Name: Jack." The young girl spoke before skipping towards Weiss.

"Can you be my Mother?"

What the…?! Weiss thought, flabbergasted. What kind of question was that? Although Weiss did think the girl was cute…being her mother?

"Weiss…" Weiss heard Ruby and noticed her leader giving her an intense stare.

Weiss stared at everyone else in the room, but no one seemed to tell Jack to pull back.

Weiss tried to send a silent pleading look to Ruby, but her team leader was not budging.

Oh, you little… Weiss thought before putting up a smile.

"O-Of course."

Jack's frown then turned into a smile. "Ok, mommy!" She spoke before skipping over and sitting on the couch.

Weiss tried not to look at a snorting Blake and Yang, trying to stop themselves from laughing at her.

"And I am Rider! True name is Quetzalcoatl, but you can call me big sis Quetz!" Quetzalcoatl spoke as Team RWBY suddenly looked at her with the same thought in their minds.

This is the 'Quetz' who every single Shade student is afraid of? Weiss thought in surprise. The only imposing thing she could possibly make out would be Quetzalcoatl's muscular body, but after spending a year with Yang, that wasn't really too surprising anymore.

Other than that, she couldn't imagine how Quetzalcoatl's bright and cheerful personality could be more scary than Rumpole's cold stare.

"Don't be fooled." Theodore spoke. "She may be all sunshine and rainbows right now…but you come to her in the ring, and she'll show you exactly why she's got everybody in this school scared of her."

Yang smiled. "For some reason, that makes me kind of excited to fight her."

Quetzalcoatl laughed. "And she has that spirit for battle! Oh, I am already liking this one!" She spoke slapping Yang's back.

"You will make for an excellent partner."

Theodore shook his head. "Moving on, that is my circle…"

"...And me!" Another voice spoke as RWBY noticed Maria at the doorway.

"Grandma?" Ruby spoke in surprise.

"Our grimm studies professor is…busy, so Maria decided to take over his role while he's gone." Theodore spoke.

"Plus, I wasn't going to let Ruby run away without finishing her training!" Maria spoke. "I don't trust Ruby for a second to forget everything she's learnt."

"G-Grandma!" Ruby exclaimed in indignation as Theodore stood up.

"Family reunions aside, I welcome you all to Vacuo, on behalf of the Vacuan Branch of Oz's circle. Oz told me about your situation, and I've already set up the schedule." Theodore spoke.

"You'll be staying back after the classes and will be training with the servants and our staff." Theodore spoke.

"I'll keep Ruby's training with her silver eyes." Maria spoke. "While according to Theo, Ana here is going to be her sparring partner." She spoke, ignoring Theodore's low grumbling.

"Oz said Sigurd will take up Weiss' training." Theodore spoke as Weiss spoke up.

"Has he arrived?"

"Nah, he contacted us a few days back. His team will be reaching Vacuo tomorrow. Anyways, Blake is under Jack."

Blake looked at Jack. "Really?"

"She's still a servant, despite her looks. Besides, she was quite infamous back in her town." Theodore spoke as Jack twiddled her fingers.

"Yang, you'll be under…"

"Me!" Quetzalcoatl spoke.

Theodore coughed. "Well, if you want to. But mainly under Rowena."

"That's because I'm the Summer Maiden!" Rowena spoke with a grin as RWBY went silent.

"...Did I reveal that a bit too soon?" Rowena spoke as Rumpole shook her head. "Nothing like that."

"Wait, so you're the Summer Maiden?" Yang asked as Rowena smiled.

"That I am. Ozpin told me about you, Yang, and I'll be taking up the role of teaching you how to use your powers in Ozpin's absence."

"But that doesn't mean you'll be getting away from me." Quetzalcoatl spoke. "I'll teach you to be a luchadora!"

Yang chuckled. "Sounds fun."

Theodore simply shook his head as Weiss noticed pity in his eyes.

"I'll make this short, just to get you four up to date with how things are going over here." He spoke tapping some buttons on his table as a holographic projection appeared of Vacuo.

"First of all, let me talk about the city." He spoke as an image of Vacuo appeared.

"Right now, you all may have heard of The Crown?"

"Weiss told us." Ruby spoke nodding.

"Good. Qrow was the one who alerted us to the Crown's existence a couple of years back, and ever since we've been trying to gather information on them. So far, we've only got the names of their leaders and their allies." He spoke before a number of pictures appeared.

"There's Jax and Gillian Asturias." Theodore spoke, pointing to a man and a woman who look like twins.

"They were formerly Shade students who were expelled on the account of first-degree murder, and after that, they had delusions of being the heirs to our fallen Monarchy and changed their earlier names to 'Asturias'. Considering the time between their expulsion and the Crown's emergence, it's rather suspicious they were able to gather such a large network so quickly, which essentially confirms…"

"They're working for Salem." Ruby spoke.

"Yep. As for allies, The Crown has sadly attracted a lot of our huntsmen and former soldiers on the promise that it will restore Order to Vacuo and expel foreign elements to make Vacuo great again."

Of course. Weiss thought. She was aware Vacuo did not have a stable government, and was pretty much run by influential businessmen and crime lords. It was on the verge of turning into an anarchial state.

"Along with that, they've obviously got the White Fang roped in, since Vacuo's rather progressive views towards faunus means a proper government would ensure better lifestyles for them."

Blake took a sharp intake.

"Other than that, one of Vacuo's councilmen, Abi, is a supporter himself and has called several times for the Council to investigate Jax and Gillian's ancestry and push for the restoration of monarchy."

"Those are the obvious ones, now for the obscure ones…" Theodore spoke as the symbol of a dragon coiled in a circle around a coin, with Mistralan character below it, appeared.

Weiss of course recognized it. "The Mistral Trading Company."

"Pretty suspicious where the Crown gets its money from, plus Thane has talked about the MTC's involvement with Salem during the Great War in funding the Kaze Empire's war against Vale."

"Yep. During Thane and Sophia's mission to confront Emperor Hu, some of the other assassins he was allied with struck a blow against the MTC's board members in the Imperial Capital. Although after that, we didn't get any information regarding the MTC's involvement with Salem. But, I guess Theo's got some bad luck."

Theodore scowled.

"First of all, Ms. Calavera, I appreciate it if you call me 'Theodore' and not 'Theo'. But anyways, now we believe the MTC may be the chief financier of Jax and Gillian's network, although we'll need a lot more evidence before we can investigate further." Theodore spoke.

"Besides that, outside of Vacuo the desert tribes are reportedly coming together under someone's leadership and have been clamoring to declare their independence from Vacuo and form their separate kingdoms. Other than that…" Theodore spoke as the image of a jungle appeared.

Quetzalcoatl immediately frowned. "Ah, that. That insufferable sorcerer's handiwork."

RWBY stared at the Jungle dumbly.

"A jungle? In the middle of the desert?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"Quetz knows about that actually."

"That Jungle, is my brother's work." Quetzalcoatl spoke as Weiss frowned.

Her Brother? Didn't Tezcatlipoca mention he had a little sister at Sha…

Weiss' eyes widened.

"Uh, Headmaster?" She spoke as Theodore looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"On the day we arrived at Vacuo, someone came to our lodgings. They were a man, and they said their name was 'Tezcatlipoca'..."

Quetzalcoatl immediately walked up to her.

"You did?" She asked, her cheerful persona completely disappearing as Weiss found herself getting a bit intimidated.

"Y-Yeah." Weiss spoke as Blake gasped.

"Wait a minute, didn't he mention…"

"That he had a sister? Yes, you are correct." Quetzalcoatl spoke, crossing his arms. "I am Tezcatlipoca's sister. And the fact that my brother decided to personally come meet you does not look good."

"So, he is a servant?" Ruby asked as Theodore shook his head.

"He's not just a servant, Ruby. You're aware of the Four gods, right?"

"Yeah, Ozpin said Salem was working with four gods who were each leading her faction in the kingdoms." Ruby spoke before her eyes widened.

"...Tezcatlipoca is the God of Vacuo." Theodore spoke, confirming Ruby's thoughts.


Tezcatlipoca lounged back on his couch in the hotel he'd bought, with his underlings all with him in the massive hotel room.

Tezcatlipoca looked out the window at the sunset.

"Ah, sun's setting." He spoke. "Once that felt really bad. Now, I love nothing more than to see that happen."

He then looked back at his group.

Mercury, Emerald, Neapolitan sat on another couch, with Tyrian sitting beside them with his tail propping him up.

On another couch, Tezcatlipoca saw Perseus, the assassin who killed Roman Torchwick, a persian man with green armor with a red bow, A blonde-haired man with a gold mask and a roman soldier with a red cape and a spear and a shield.

To the corner, the massive figure of The Hound rested on the floor, silently regarding the humanoid occupants.

"So, our opponents are gearing up for our grand plan." Tezcatlipoca spoke as Emerald crossed her arms.

"You say you know where Ruby Rose and her friends are staying."

"That I do."

"So, why don't you tell us?"

Tezcatlipoca was silent. "...Well, I won't tell you. But if someone else knows…"

"They are at the house of a woman named Brun, located in the outer parts of the city." The assassin spoke.

Emerald nodded. "So, in that case…" She yelped as a bullet landed at her feet.

"...I have heard from Prometheus about how you all worked at Vale." Tezcatlipoca spoke as he had his weapon raised.

"And I am telling you this - You're not setting foot inside Brun's house."

The Persian archer hummed. "Really? No one?"

"No one. Brun's a great woman. She actually offered me a drink when I was sweating in the afternoon, even though I didn't really need it. I already feel a little bad for trashing up her table on my visit, and if you morons cause more trouble - or even kill her…"

"We get it, we get it." Mercury spoke, putting a hand on Emerald's shoulder, who scowled. "We won't go to the house."

Tyrian giggled. "Fair enough. But she is fair game outside, right?"

"That she is." Tezcatlipoca replied before clapping his hands.

"But you'll have to work together, you know? Ruby's going to have a lot of protection with her, and even with servants it's going to be difficult to attack...Except for maybe doggie over there..." Tezcatlipoca spoke as Mercury looked at The Hound.

"Why is this mutt here with us?" He asked before The Hound let out a low growl and stared at Mercury.

"Ooh, careful what you say, looks like doggie's got a set hierarchy in his mind." Tezcatlipoca spoke as Mercury gulped.

"...Sorry."

"Plus, there's another reason. I may or may not have put up a bounty on her head." Tezcatlipoca spoke as Emerald looked at him.

"You what?!" She spoke before another bullet whizzed past her head.

"Oi, I'm your boss, and I won't put up with that kind of tone." Tezcatlipoca spoke as Emerald fell silent.

"Anyways, I put up a bounty, so you can expect some intruders to interrupt your work."

Neo's fists clenched.

"...Which is why you need to work together. You can't get your revenge or your satisfaction on little old Ruby if someone else merks her first?" He spoke as Tyrian, Neo, Mercury and Emerald looked at each other.

"Aaaanyways, killing Ruby is just a part of our big party on Bāhram." Tezcatlipoca spoke looking at the servants.

"I want you all to be ready when Austral begins. Ozpin's sending some really tough servants here, and I want you all to be prepared to fight them."

Perseus nodded. "I have informed them of the servants dispatched, milord. We will train against them."

Tezcatlipoca flashed a thumbs up. "Always the brilliant one, Percy." He spoke before leaning back.

"Emiya, Sigurd's arriving tomorrow?"

Emiya nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Great. I'll make sure he gets a warm welcome." Tezcatlipoca spoke before looking at The Hound.

"Hey doggie!"

The Hound craned its neck to look at him.

"You think one silver-eyed girl is enough for you."

The Hound cracked its neck.

"Yes…"

"Great, so…"

"Ruby Rose…" The Hound spoke as Tezcatlipoca tilted his head.

"Something wrong, doggie?"

"Rose…" The Hound spoke again, not responding before a bullet bounced off its hide.

"Hello, I'm talking to you." Tezcatlipoca spoke as The Hound looked back.

"You recognize that name?"

The Hound nodded slightly.

"Well, now that's interesting. Our doggie's even got a past with Ruby. What, you scare her as a child?"

The Hound was silent.

Tezcatlipoca hummed.

"Alright then, as much as I want to shoot you again, I'm overstepping boundaries. Whatever, you've got some beef with Ruby, you'll just have to hope your human allies don't get to her first."

Tezcatlipoca got up and then walked out of the room.

As the others talked, The Hound muttered something softly.

"Revenge…Thane Rose…"


A/N: Well, here's the Shade chapter. I know there are some details here that clash with what's given about Shade Academy in canon, because I decided that it would be much easier if I just made my own structure of Shade Academy instead of trying to adhere to what we know in Canon. But, there will be still some canon characters, all taken from the book 'After the Fall'.

There's Theodore the headmaster, there's his goodwitch Xanthe Rumpole, and there's Rowena Sunnybrook, who's the weapons training teacher in Canon. Now, Rowena's a minor character, but I decided to make her the Summer Maiden because of 'Sunny' in her name. That way, I won't have to make a complete OC.

It was focussed on Weiss because honestly, ever since I saw the SDC symbols on Vacuo's 'factories', I just knew Schnee hatred is something that needed to be there in Vacuo. So, Weiss is sadly the best POV to write on when looking at the Xenophobia issues in Vacuo. She's atlesian, and a Schnee, a recipe for disaster, and helps highlight both the hatred of Vacuans for Atlesians as well as the impact that hate and abuse has on Weiss' psyche.

As for servants, we've got Jack, Nitocris, Moses, Quetzalcoatl and Ana. As for the villains side, we've got Perseus, Assassin Emiya, Arash, Avicebron, and a Roman servant who you can figure out if you know your Fate Lore.

There, that's four heroines and zero villainesses, Maglad. You happy now?

And about the servants, the most difficult here to deal with is actually fucking Quetzalcoatl, because of her craze for Hispanic culture. Really hilarious how she mocks Tezcatlipoca for wearing modern clothing and essentially turning his back on Aztec Culture when she pretty much calls all of her noble phantasms by a Spanish name instead of a Nahuatl one, and is obsessed with Lucha Libre, a form of wrestling that is heavily inspired from Greco-Roman wrestling. But oh well.

Nothing much to say beyond that, except I went and made some changes to Chapter-35 because of something I'm about to do for next chapter for Sigurd.

Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!


Response to Reviews:

longbowchris50: Guess so.

TrueVirtuoso: Heck yeah I will. It's weird in the game, but I honestly think a 'WOOOO' wouldn't be so bad for Tezcatlipoca in other situations.

ReDestrobo: I know, I know. There is a tendency to kill off a member of CRDL for Cardin's character development, but honestly...I want CRDL to make it past Beacon. Though, that does not mean I won't kill them off later on.

Maglad: I am Indian, but I love other cultures and myths too. I'm saving up my own culture's myth for later on. And yeah, I honestly think Quetzalcoatl and Yang would hit it off with how similar they are in personality.

Zoukuyuujinchou: That is a spoiler, so I'm afraid I can't answer that.

Stickmanreader: A lot of 'mature Ruby' fics tend to really glance past Ruby's altruistic tendencies and make her jaded and cynical without giving a satisfactory backstory. I just feel that those fanfics tend to remove the core of Ruby's character, her desire to help others, too quickly and only keep a jaded part of it. I personally don't subscribe to the idea that 'maturity means you get more serious' and lean more towards 'you get calmer and more quieter as you mature', and I have a pretty clear cut plan that even if Ruby does turn a bit edgey in this story, she keeps her core principles close to her heart.

And the whole 'familial bond' part is just to remind myself not to go down canon's route. I don't mind WBY not noticing Ruby's inner turmoil in V9, but that honestly sends a bad message of RWBY's friendship.

Tezcatlipoca is honestly depicted as a very grey character by Fate, something that I like, because his character is really satisfying to write due to his chaotic neutral alignment. Also, he's a sort of the embodiment of the Vacuo plot line.

Jebest4781: Thank you