AN: Sup! Tis been longer than expected. Life got in the way of this one... Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any RWBY affiliate products... wait, does this count as that?
We were walking to lunch, the sun shining brightly as I fell into step with my team, laughing as we opened the doors.
An apple shot across the room, smacking Leon in the face as other students ran past us. We stood and watched as two teams fought against each other, at one point someone being launched through the ceiling. I quickly realised that it was teams RWBY JNPR.
JNPR had piled up roughly half the tables into a 'castle' that team RWBY was trying to conquer. The two teams worked in what looked like near perfect harmony as they fought each other, though it seemed JNPR would win as Pyrah launched a wave of cans towards our direction. I took a step behind Griffith, being hidden from their colourful wrath. However, Ruby countered, using the back draft from her semblance to launch the cans back, pinning team JNPR to the wall and finishing them off.
Soon Professor Goodwitch arrived, using her telekinesis to fix and relocate the damaged surfaces. "Children please, do not play with your food." She spoke, her voice calm yet irritation signalling clear from her.
Yang fell back through the ceiling.
We were sat in the library, Jackl and Leon arguing over who got which faction in the board game they were 'playing'. I absentmindedly flipped through more of the book. It continued for a few more pages, each page having fewer and fewer words until eventually being completely blank. My attention was pulled away when Leon asked me a question, "Ay bruv, wanna play Vacuo or Atlas?" The next thing I knew, and couldn't tell when or how it happened, I had completely lost. The rest of my team still in heated 'battle', I decided to head to the dorm early.
I quickly found myself lost, I took a wrong turn somewhere, but I didn't recognise my surroundings apart from the standard beacon academy layout. I kept wandering for several minutes until I heard a familiar voice. "I'm Ruby. Are you… new?" I heard more clearly as I rounded the corner and saw Ruby talking with three students. From listening to their conversation as I approached I learned they were visiting from Haven.
"Sorry to interrupt, I'm a bit lost." I explained, looking towards Ruby, "I'm looking for dorm 346" after a second of thought Ruby quickly responded, "Ah, that's the other side of the building." though the following directions she gave were drowned out by a strong mixture of dread, rage and fear. Looking towards the source, I found what looked to be the eldest of the three other students, making eye contact for several moments before she quickly walked off. "Oh, er, welcome to Beacon!" Ruby called after them.
That was the first time I felt that level of emotion, and while it was probably nothing, a part of me told me to stay wary around that girl.
That night I was restless, the others were already asleep so I opened up the book. Reading the next part.
"So, now that you've got some energy, I should 'show' you how to use it. This is something I've used a LOT. Almost all my techniques use this as a basis.
Picture the feeling of the energy in your body, man I'm using 'the energy' a lot… I'll call it something. 'Mana' should do, like a videogame! Anyway, as I was 'saying'. Focus on the feeling of mana in your body, how it moves within you. Try to move it around yourself, apart from how it normally moves, try to imagine pushing and pulling. Once you can do that, next try pushing it outside your body. Unlike Aura, Mana doesn't decay outside the human body."
Closing my eyes, I followed the instructions and after a few moments managed to move the Mana a small amount. With a slow but steady pace, I got the hang of it, slowly pulling it into the palm of my hand, though it seemed only a certain amount would collect before it started taking up more and more space.
Once I had pooled as much as I could in just the palm of my hand, I pushed it up. Initially, nothing happened except a feeling of resistance, but I maintained the pressure. It took several moments of concentration before I felt something pushing back slightly. As I took the breath I didn't know I was holding, I opened my eyes.
A small, softly glowing, stream of purple flowed out of my hand, quickly wrapping around me in several loops and connecting back on itself. Eventually the bands decreased in number, merging together into three solid rings, the centre of which much thicker than the other two. I released the pressure on my mana and the flow quickly died, allowing the rings to slowly dissipate and return me to the now much darker night.
"Hey! Funnyman!" Jackl yelled, his voice alarmingly close to my bed, "Wake up! We're gonna be late for training!" I quickly sat up, observing the sight before me. Jackl frowned disappointedly as he held abyssal black over his head. Glaring at him as I got up, I quickly changed and, picking up Void Singer's case, we left for training.
As we approached today's battleground, the Emerald Forest, I saw Leon waiting at the edge with his weapons dangling from a bandelier over his chest. Various, brightly coloured, scalpel like blades. "Ey bruv! Griff wai'in bit further, found clearing innit."
Walking a ways into the forest, we quickly found Griffith waiting for us in a clearing. "So Onyx, you mentioned you had something to show us?" I nodded, having sent Griffith a text on the way, briefly explaining my new developments, in the terms of my having magic, and apologizing for not saying anything straight away.
The other two looked at me expectantly as they stepped forward, forming a line in front of me to better see me. Holding out my palms I gently pushed mana outwards, the now familiar buzzing sensation accompanying the stream of purple light as it twisted and twined in the air, slowly dissipating as it got further out.
"So… What do you think?" I asked, looking towards them as I stopped, their faces where almost unreadable. Almost, because Jackl had a look of pure excitement on his face. He began an onslaught of questions, far too quickly for comprehension, before Griffith stopped him.
"Onyx, what else can you do with that?" he asked, my only response was to shrug, taking out the book. "There's this book, but I haven't managed to try much of it." I said, opening it to the first page and handing it to him.Flipping through the first few pages, he stopped and handed me the book back, open to a page entitled "Shield".
"Were practicing that one first" he stated. I looked towards Leon and Jackl, who had already moved away and engaged in a sparring match. "Eh?" I exclaimed, causing Griffith to laugh, "Onyx... you're basically a grimm. There isn't much that can surprise someone after that."
walking over to a nearby tree, he snapped off one of its lowest hanging branches. "My weapon is in for maintenance." He said, taking in my expression, "Now. Try it."
-Shield-
If you do it right, this technique will make a barrier between you and any danger, like a shield. Hence the name…
Anyway…
First push your mana out of your body and then, instead of letting it flow freely, pool it together in front of you. Imagine forming a thin disk, like a plate or something similar. If it doesn't work your mana may be too thin so pictureing it being thick, like honey, should work.
Holding my arm out in front of me, thick disc of purple light slowly coalesced about a pace in front of me as I followed the instructions. Strangely becoming thinner and more translucent as I pictured the mana getting thicker.
Griffith charged forwards, attacking the barrier. On each strike the shield pulsed, a ripple-like glow spreading out from the points of impact. With increasing pace, cracks spread inwards from its edges until eventually shattering.
"Well… that held out pretty terribly." He said, a frown on his face, "I'm pretty sure even Jaune could make a stronger barrier with his aura…" I laughed, "yeah, probably, wanna go again?" With a nod we resumed our 'sparring'.
We kept going until the sun began to set, only narrowly arriving in time for the last bulkhead of the day. Something felt off, however, like I was being watched.