Howdy Folks!
Here we go.
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
(I don't own RWBY.)
VOLUME 1 CHAPTER 5 - Insert Cash or Select Payment Type
In theory, there are three parts to the unconscious level of a person's psyche. The ego, the superego, and the id. The ego is a mediator. Standing between the superego and the id. Think of it as a judge in a courtroom. The superego is morality, a representation of all the values and principles assimilated from your environment and the people that surrounded you from a young age.
The id is savagery unleashed. Primal instinct driven by pleasure. The pointy and biting thunderbolt of euphoria that is short term relief. And all in the face of corporeal oblivion that is the 30 seconds it takes for dopamine to come and go.
It's punching a hole in your drywall and feeling relieved you took out your anger on something. Then you disengage goblin mode only for you to realize you were weak and pathetic and you couldn't control yourself. And you'll probably never be able to control yourself no matter how much you try because you're a piece of shit who is addicted to your own brain's rewards.
And the worst part is now you have a hole in your wall.
I don't really have a point to all of this. I'm just internally rambling in some half-assed effort to ascertain why I am the way that I am. But I guess Freudian psychoanalytics is at least a somewhat productive use for my brain this time around.
Moving on…
Yesterday I told myself there was nothing back home for me, so there was no reason trying to find a way back that most probably doesn't exist. And I meant it. I got nothing.
It's definitely something to tell people in case I want them to give me pity privileges. I've used it a few times before. But something tells me it won't work here.
Ozpin stared down at me. His eyes somewhat narrowed. Yeah…trying to play victim won't work here unfortunately. Alright fine, I'll be mature for once in my life and take full responsibility. My unbalanced superego needs to shine through.
"I've got a concussion." There we go. Absolutely brilliant Jack. Masterclass move. A pat on the back for me.
He was quiet for a moment before he exhaled through his nose loudly and closed his eyes.
"Given the circumstances, and the credible truth that you very well might, I will let your impudence slide this once." He said.
Oh good.
"Now, explain to me how a civilian managed to get his way into Beacon without being discovered."
Not good. Welp, here we go.
"Terrible security." I shook my head in faux disappointment.
"You must have come in through the airship. I know that much, Mr. Horus. So how did you get on board in the first place?"
Quick rehash. I don't like lying, but it's mostly because it's one of those things where if I try too hard to come up with a convincing lie it makes my brain hurt. But the answer to this question is one he won't believe and think I'm lying about anyway…
"You do know that if you walk around anywhere and pretend you know what you're doing, 90% of the time no one tries anything to stop you?"
"And if they do?"
"Well, I tell them I'm supposed to be there." It really does work, I've done it several times before. Hang on, this is lying. So am I lying about the fact that I'm not an avid liar? What the fuck is wrong with me? Maybe I should rephrase: I don't like lying if it's a situation where I don't care if the truth is out or I'm too lazy to come up with a good one.
There's a better way to put it. Man, I am just a walking bundle of contradictions lately. Oh well, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't make much sense/I'm bipolar. Wait, what were we talking about? Ozpin was talking but I missed what he said.
"Are you even listening?" He asked as he fixed me a look that translated to 'are you fucking serious asshat?'
"No." Far too tired right now buddy. He waited a moment to see if I would say anything else before sighing.
"You will need to work on that If you don't want to fail classes."
"God failed me my entire life so…wait. " I looked at him with wide bruised eyes.
"You will be attending Beacon obviously." He said with a raised brow.
I gasped.
"Don't say that word! 'Obviously'. Things are only obvious to you!" I pointed at him while making my demands.
"...An interesting way of thinking." He lowered my arm that was outstretching my index finger towards him.
"Yeah I bet. You're probably just-" I stopped just short of finishing. I shook off a little of my tiredness as best I could but my fatigued brain still took a moment to catch up.
"Holy shit, you're letting me in?" I asked, looking at him like he was lunatic. It takes one to know one I guess.
"Despite having no Aura and no training you managed to survive a launch into the forest, remained strong in the face of being injured on the battlefield, and decisively coordinated an attack on an airborne Grimm with efficiency. So yes. I'd say I would be remiss to let that sort of talent go to waste." Wooo! Alright. Now for phase 2 of my life in this universe. Uhhhh. Eat, sleep, and die? Yeup, sounds good. Definitely the sleep part.
Ozpin grabbed my shoulder as I tried to walk off nonchalantly. He put pressure down. A lot. I buckled a bit under the pain but remained standing with a wince.
"Ow ow ow ow!" I turned to him as he kept the vice grip on my shoulder. The look in his eyes was more intense than I've ever seen anyones.
"You broke the law. You trespassed into Beacon and tried to impersonate a student. You could have died. You very nearly did. And because of this there will be stipulations." His voice had an edge to it I couldn't describe.
"Despite the passing of initiation showing great promise you are still nothing compared to everyone here. So I will expect more from you than any of the others." Gulp. That wasn't what I wanted to hear.
"Firstly, you have no Aura or weapon. If you don't get both of them by the end of the month, I will be forced to expel you."
"WHAT!?" I shouted. Another great example of my luck in action. I got accepted into Beacon, yippee! Guess what cucklefuck? You can't stay unless you get gud. Fuck off.
"I call bullhonkey! Juane doesn't have training or Aura either but you still let him in!" He raised his brow again, still maintaining his sharp look.
"I wasn't aware he didn't have Aura. I suppose he will have to be in the same boat as you then." Oh…oh fuck did I just rat him out?
"Don't tell him I said that." I rubbed my forehead and grimaced at the dull pain that was pretty much blanketing me. Don't know why I care what he thinks of me…whatever. Maybe I can mooch off my team to pass classes. Poor Blakey. Turns out she'll be my partner after all I guess. Although for how long is anyone's guess.
"Can't you unlock my Aura now? I have no idea how to get it myself. Besides, it would be easier."
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. Unlocking an Aura for someone is a deeply personal process. And undergoing said process with someone unfamiliar to you will have fatal consequences for both parties. You will need to unlock it yourself." of course it had to be that way. 'A dEePlY pErSoNaL pRoCesS.' Fuck off again.
"Shitfuckcunt!" I kicked the grass multiple times in anger. Only resulting in me stumbling and barely managing to regain balance. I looked like an idiot but at this point I didn't care what he thought of me.
"Let me just say one thing-" He started as I faced away from him looking at the view of the forest that nearly killed me. Sneering at it.
"I don't know why you wish to become a huntsman, but I can tell that whatever reason it is, it isn't good enough." Duh. so far my limited meddling has had some pretty dark consequences. Well I dunno If I would call it meddling since I barely did anything but that doesn't necessarily absolve me of fault when it comes to Dove's death.
Cardins team wouldn't be taking it well. Great, that's another fucking thing to look out.
"Whether you're here for a flimsy reason or not, you have a chance to learn something. And an opportunity to do great things." He said. I boiled with ire at his words.
"And what the hell makes you think I won't use what I learn for more questionable shit?" I said
"I'm just doing what one might verbalize as trusting my gut." He said. I spun around.
"Yeah well, last time I trusted my gut I went and shit myself!" I responded with a scowl.
He gave me an unimpressed look. You can't look down on me like an ant!
I barked out a laugh.
"Oh ho kay! Fine! You win. But when you find skid marks in your underwear just know I warned you." Two steps forward two steps back. I'm still alive. I got into Beacon. Now I need to get my Aura and my own weapon if I want to stay here. I groaned.
Ultimately though? I think it's a better position than where I was yesterday, still questioning If anything was real and just sort of floating along with a simple goal.
"I expected you to be more injured from your encounter with that Ursa." What? Oh he's talking about fluffy.
"I was, you prick." I lifted my wrapped up hand with a frown. He looked at my hand. I thought he saw this all on the cameras or whatever. Guess he didn't see everything.
"What is the extent of your injuries exactly?"
"Lost a fingey." I waved my other pinky at him.
"Hurry yourself to the infirmary. I won't take no for an answer." He said with a frown. Like I would go anywhere else first.
"Yeah, yeah." I started walking off towards Beacon before I stopped and turned back to him.
"How do I get to the infirmary?" He pulled out this world's version of a phone, I think it's called a scroll, and he messaged someone.
"What? Can't take me there yourself?"
"Since I'll be busy naming teams, yes."
"Why did they make this place so big exactly? There is literally only like, what? 300 kids here?"
Goodwitch looked down slightly at me while she guided me to the infirmary. I mean dayum. Is it wrong that I find her kind of hot?
"328, including you Mr. Horus." hmmm that's…fuck I can't do math well.
"How many teams is that?" I asked.
"82."
"Are you stoked that I'm here or what?" I said with a wide smile as I elbowed her arm.
She looked at me with a questioning eyebrow.
"I will be 'stoked' when you take things a little more seriously. You were almost killed in the forest and have quite a ways to go before you are even on par with the skill level of most first year students by the looks of it. Professor Ozpin's choice to let you in was-" Snore. Immediate turn off. I tuned her out as we kept walking. Occasionally nodding along to keep her going on her lecture or rant or whatever the fuck she was on about so I didn't have to talk to her anymore.
I got used to doing that a lot with people.
Eventually, we made it to the door of the infirmary. I only let my ears pick up her words when we stopped by the door.
"-nce you are finished you will need to make your way to the amphitheater. Then you will rest for the day and start classes tomorrow." I frowned at her words.
"There is no way I should start classes that early, especially after almost dying. I doubt I'll feel that much better tomorrow." She fixed me with a stern look.
"As I have stated, the headmaster along with all the other professors are holding you to a different standard than the rest of the students. They have Auras so their recovery will be shorter, yours will not." Wonderful, the whole staff knows I'm a fraud. I'm going to be in such a shitty mood tomorrow.
"Still sounds a bit like your trying to subtly torture the shit out of me."
"Watch your language." She warned sternly.
"Maam, yes ma'am." I gave her a low effort salute with a blank expression. She shook her head and sighed.
"You will be fine if you take the pain medication that will almost certainly be prescribed to you. But you will still be expected to attend classes at the same time as your peers. Consider it a punishment for commiting a crime." That doesn't exactly make it much better.
I opened the door to the infirmary. Goodwitch bidding goodbye and walking off to do…whatever it is she does. Maybe spank bad boys with her riding crop. Oh lawdy.
"Can you hurry up and say what's wrong?" I was graced by the sight of an old guy with white hair and holy mutton macaroni of facial hair that would make even Ambrose Burnside jealous.
I waved a hand in front of my battered face and presented my bandaged hand like he was stupid.
"Yeah, that doesn't help you little shit. I need you to actually articulate what's wrong." He said. Wow, this man is my kind of doctor.
"Hand got fucked by Grimm, and I lost a finger."
He nodded and rolled his eyes.
"Over here then. I'm doctor Fern Dorf." he waved me over. I followed him to a room separated by the rest of the infirmary with a curtain.
"The hell kind of name is that?"
"Well what's yours?"
"Jack." He looked at me for a moment.
"And your last name?"
"Horus."
"Ah and to be clear, you think my last name is odd?" Fair. I huffed.
"Yeah whatever." I rolled my eyes as I started unwrapping the bandages on my hand.
Still a bit upset my cat bitch partner of mine had to go and rip up my shirt. I don't have many clothes left. Blood made the makeshift bandages stick to my skin like syrup. I peel it away with a pained expression. My hand has been pulsing with pain pretty much the whole day but once the stump was exposed to the open air it felt much worse.
He brought it up close to his face with focused eyes for a moment.
"Grimm huh, does that mean your finger was bitten off when they tried to eat you?" He asked. He had a deep voice that almost commanded me to pay attention to him. It was a hard thing for anyone to do.
"Yeah, they just thought it looked so tasty, you know?"
"I'm sure. If they heard you talk a little more though they probably would have left you alone from how annoying you are."
"You got a really weird bedside manner." I frowned.
He got to examining my hand, taking his damn sweet time too. Until he told me to hang tight as he got something. I was a little confused but obeyed the 'doctor's' orders.
A few minutes later he came out with a tray of surgical instruments, wipes, and a syringe.
"Ooooh kay. I'm a little in the dark here you wanna clarify what the fuck you're doing?" I backed up a little bit.
"Debridement, then I'll clean and rewrap with actual bandages." He said. His voice clipped.
"Uhhh what's that?" He sighed.
"Well, since the separation of your pinky wasn't very clean by the looks of it, I have to go in and debride it a little. Clean out bone fragments and excess tissue, that way it can heal properly. Then I'll clean it and get it all snug and tug in your bandages."
"At least tell me you'll anesthetize my hand."
"Well damn, I was hoping you wouldn't notice and I could get to operate on you without it." He held up the syringe in his sterile gloved hand.
Fuckin hell. Best get this over with.
We both sat down in a room only separated from the rest of the infirmary by a curtain. I set my hand up on what I assume is a surgery table.
He numbed my hand, injecting the anesthesia. After a few minutes, it was soon deadened of all pain. It was a bit of a relief after spending a while being in pain. Immediately he got to work. Digging out small pieces of bone from the stump and setting it to the side and into a small metal bowl he got out. Regularly dabbing at the wound with saline wipes to clean it.
I wasn't squeamish but it made me feel a little unpleasant being able to watch him cut and dig into what was left of my pinky. That being only a small stump. So I looked away and focused on other things while he worked.
"Hate to be a doubting Thomas, but do you even know what you're doing Dorf?" I couldn't help asking.
"No, I'm just a guy they let perform surgery on kids because they felt like it." I felt my face scrunch up.
"Chill man, you look cracked out. I just wanted to be sure." he didn't dignify my words with a response.
It seems he was finished cleaning and debriding. He started getting actual bandages out and wrapped up my hand. In just a few minutes he was done.
"So, do I have to get pain meds?" Please say no.
"Yes, you'll need to take them for a couple of weeks." I sighed.
"I'll just take it periodically till the bottle runs out and we'll call it good." He shrugged and got me my painkillers.
"I don't really care, hope I don't see you in here again." He said. His words have a double meaning. Firstly meaning don't get hurt again, and the second meaning I don't want to see your annoying ass again. I got up and made my way out.
"Uh huh." I walked out of the infirmary, closing the door behind me.
Now I guess I need to make my way back to the auditorium. I looked at the ceiling for a moment before popping a painkiller in preparation for when the anesthesia wears off and stuffed the pills into my backpack. Then I began my saunter.
Blake was eager to get the team assignments over with. Seeing as the day was starting to catch up with her. Getting to bed early and waking up early was how she always did things. Bit of a habit from being in the fang.
The residuals of an extra palpitation within her heart made itself known at the thought of her past affiliations. She closed her eyes and sighed.
The amphitheater was now bustling with first years who made it past initiation. Except for a few who didn't make it. Including Dove. her gaze turned downward in a moment of silence as a gloomy look crossed her face.
Gloomy. Jack had called her that a few times. But how could she not be gloomy? Her life isn't exactly anything to be happy about. She left her parents, Adam, and now…
She let out a shaky breath. She can't keep thinking like that. She has a chance here. To do something positive in the world. For once.
She was in the back of the amphitheater near the entrance, waiting for her name to be called so she could go up, get her team, then make their way to their dorm. The spacious room wasn't loud per se but it was full of people conversing in low voices. Which is why when Jack walked in doing batty lip burbling as loudly as he could, a lot of peoples eyes flicked to him, including Blake's.
Her eye's went as wide as Jack's when he noticed that everyone was staring at him. He froze like a deer in headlights before a few seconds passed and then everyone went back to whatever interactions they were having before.
Except for Blake of course. She stared at him.
She saw him earlier talking with Ozpin but didn't feel like sticking around to listen to him get the boot. How on Remnant is he still here?
"Fuckers are just jealous I be thuggin my shit out." Her hidden faunus hearing could pick up what Jack was mumbling as he surveyed the room. An inexplicable outrage rose from her as she slid over to his side and grabbed his arm.
His head snapped to her as she spoke before him. She kinda had to or she would lose her train of thought from the next brain dead (or at least rotted) thing that came out of his mouth, words she is entirely convinced will be made up with the aim of distracting her.
"Why are you here!?" She demanded through gritted teeth.
"You should be on your way out of here by now." She continued. Jack's face went forlorn for a microsecond. Such a small amount of time she wasn't sure if it even happened at all, before his expression shifted to indifference.
"Well, because I was so badass the main man himself, Ozgeek let me in."
"Which means…" he continued. Then tapped a finger on her nose.
"Boop-" she then recoiled from the touch with a scowl. Somehow managing to resist the instinct to break his arm before it came into contact with her.
"-We're partners. Sucks to be you." She was silent as he said this, her face slowly morphing into one of horror.
She didn't have time to fully process it however as Ozpin began announcing teams.
"Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Juane Arc, and Sky Lark" faces came up on the screens above as the four walked up onto the stage in front of everyone. Both of their focuses were now front and center. Although Blake still seethed a little.
"You four will make up team CRJL. Or team Coral. Led by Cardin Winchester." Blake with her vision could see Cardin on stage. The expression on his face is dismal, along with his friends. Barring Juane, who snuck glances of worry at his new teammates. Losing a friend while they just started Beacon together. She couldn't even imagine.
A moment later the next team was called up.
"Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren." The next team walked up.
"You all shall be team RPNR. or team Ripener.-"
"That's kind've a shitty name. Who's the idiot that came up with that?" Blake had to begrudgingly agree. That was a pretty bad name for a team.
"Led by Ruby Rose."
"Wow." Jack began clapping vigorously along with a deadpan along with the crowd as the new team walked off the stage. Blake had a feeling there was some inside joke here only he understood. And a good thing too, because every joke he has is terrible anyway.
"Jack Horus, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao-Long."
Jack walked up quickly. She was going to be on a team with the Schnee, the blonde, and worst of all Jack. Blake followed after a moment of going catatonic from the tragedy of it all and before she knew it she was standing on stage with the only other people at Beacon that she didn't want to be around.
"Your team will go by JBWY. or Jubilee."
"Say what now?" Jack asked in a low voice as if he was talking to himself. His head tilted to the ceiling as he started picking his nose with a far off look on his bruised up face. Gross. Blake clenched her jaw.
"Led by Jack Horus." In that moment she could swear everyone could hear a pin drop. Blake could hear Yang groan in exasperation.
The Schnee had wide eyes and tried but failed to stutter out a response until eventually settling on - "WHAT!?"
Blake witnessed Jack turning his sight back to his team, taking his finger out of his nose, and pointing it at them while letting out bellowing laughter. In fact, he laughed so hard he started to cry a little. He hunched over trying to get control of his breathe while Blake could only look down at her feet and wonder what the quickest and most efficient method of suicide was at that moment.
"The three of you can go ahead and bow to your new overlord now!" Jack spread his arms as wide as his shit eating grin was at that moment. Ozpin came up and clenched his shoulder, satisfyingly wiping the smug look off that fuckers face.
"Behave yourself Mr. Horus."
"...Aye aye cap'n" Jack responded a little solemnly. As if it was a bummer he had to act normal.
Blake rubbed her eyes and sighed again. Hopefully her team can manage something aside from annoying the hell out of each other. But the more and more she sees of their new leader the more she doubts it.
Our new team walked the halls down to our dorm. Thankfully, the painkillers started kicking in so I was feeling a little better than I was earlier.
"What could you possibly have done to be the leader!?" Weiss, my new teammate, was having a little trouble shutting the fuck up. Normally, I would let people who were mad at me or something go on their little rants while I ignored them, kinda like I did with Goodwitch. But icicles' existence just made me too furious to ignore her I guess.
"I give out some pretty good sloppy toppy. Ozgeek was so impressed he instantly decided I was leader material."
"Yeah, you look like you could suck a mean dick." Yang said.
"Why, thank you Yang! You happen to look like a slut." I responded.
"You're gonna look like you went through the meat grinder if you say that shit to me again." Did she just threaten me? Awww, it's adorable how she thinks she can scare me.
"Right, well let me fill out my will first before you kill me. I'd rather none of my shit goes to you clowns."
"Can everyone just…stop." Blake interrupted from the back of the group. She sounded tired. And it was a feeling I could sympathize with if I was capable of it. Still, I haven't slept in days.
"Yeah can you all stop, Jesus!" I said childishly.
Yang shoved me forward with a scowl.
"Just move it and shut up." I chuckled, much to the obvio-
My smile was wiped off my face. Right, unbalanced superego.
…
I sighed.
Then I did as she said and walked on to our room.
Once we all arrived I opened it with my scroll. Ozpin gave it to me after we got our team. It's cool and all. I mean I'm still learning how it all works but it's not too dissimilar to a phone for all intents and purposes. Except of course for the fact that it also works like an identification card. And can apparently be used to open the electronic locks for our dorm.
I looked down at it, seeing my face (which was kinda weird, don't remember them taking a picture of me but whatever) and my name. And the words 'huntsman in training'. The surrealness of being stuck in another world is never really lost, but there are moments that make it feel more uncanny than it usually does. This is one of those moments.
I stared down for a second before shrugging it off as best I could. Then I walked into the room. The others followed after me as I made a beeline for the bed in the far corner. Throwing my backpack on the ground beside it.
"I sleep now, do whatever the fuck you want I don't care."
"Not like we really needed your permission, but ok." Blake said.
"I'm your leader, so of course you need my permission." I flopped down face first on the bed.
"I refuse to listen to anything you have to say." Weiss said.
"Oh no…anyways goodnight goobers. Anybody touches my shit and you're dead."
"That might be fun to see, twig boy." Yang said with a smirk.
"Shaddup big booby face." I grumbled into the pillow as I got comfortable. The painkillers and the extreme lack of vitality were finally catching up with me. And in only a minute, I fell into the deep sleep I've been trying so hard to get in the past few days.
Yang noticed Jack fell asleep in record time. Dude must have been tired as shit.
She could sorta see why. The guy was beaten to hell and back and his aura would take the rest of the day to recover.
She went back to unpacking all of her stuff. Staff members had dropped all their things inside before they got here. Which was nice. What wasn't nice was the fact that all of her partner's shit was taking up like half the damn room.
"I think…you packed a little too much Ice Queen." Yang stated as she looked at Weiss starting to unpack and organize her pile of suitcases.
"I thought I told you not to call me that!" She said, her voice was a little indignant.
"You know it's a bit ironic how little chill you have, Weiss." Yang said.
"Maybe it's because I'm stuck with you and that dolt we have for a team leader."
"Ok, him I can understand. But what the hell did I do to you?" Weiss sighed and massaged her temples before turning to face Yang.
"Nothing, I…apologize. It's mostly just him." She points to Jack. He seemed like a heavy sleeper. Didn't even stir at everyones conversations. Despite not liking him and obviously everyone else he ever came into contact with sharing that opinion. Ruby still has taken somewhat of a weird liking to him.
Mostly due to her lack of experience in actually having friends.
"Right. Well, it is what it is, ya know?" Weiss turned to her with a scrutinizing gaze. Before the white haired girl shook her head and surveyed the rest of the room briefly.
"What do you think Blake?" Weiss asked. Yang curled an eyebrow and looked at the unlucky emo girl.
"Nothing, the team just formed." She was on her bed reading a book.
"Cop out response. Just say you think he's an asshole and move on." Yang said.
"Can anybody here try and sound at least a little mature for once?" Weiss butted in.
Yang and Blake ignored her.
"I'm just trying to give our team the benefit of the doubt." Blake said even if the expression on her face told Yang that it was hard to say. Then Blake returned to her book.
"Ugh, whatever. We need to get this room organized." She spoke like she had authority of what Yang could do. Yang rolled her eyes and went back to unpacking her stuff. While Blake simply kept reading. She briefly wonders if Jack is even going to be a good leader.
Then he started snoring loudly. Crushing those thoughts away and replacing them with other ones.
CUT!
It's Beacon time, finally.
took me long enough.
As always fanfic-ites, let me know your thoughts.
till next time amigos.