Welcome to the next chapter of RWBY: Team DUSK, before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:
Clarent excalibur: I'll ensure that things will be kept interesting since I have multiple ideas about what to do in RWBY: Team DUSK, in addition to the parts that all of them will have.
The School Life Cliché, Pt. 1
The following day, it was their second day as students in Beacon, Team DUSK walked into the cafeteria dressed in their school uniforms for breakfast. Neither of them was able to make it to breakfast since all of them were late for it and almost the same for classes. Having entered the entrance the four of them were almost overcome by all the collective chatter of the other students and smell from the breakfast.
"How did we miss out on this?"
Alyssa said as she noticed the collection of different kinds of breakfast laid out for the students.
"Because a certain group wasted time in the morning."
Sandra pointed out as she walked next to her partner.
"Well, Beacon certainly has the entire layout for their students. It makes it almost difficult to choose."
Daniel added after staring at the different kinds of food that caught his attention before picking out a classic meal, which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash brown, croissants, and coffee.
"Well, not for me," Sandra picked up some breakfast burritos and coffee. "I'd take this rather than to take the food occasionally sprinkled in Vacuo's local spice."
"Well, I'm positive that you won't find sand in the food here."
Alyssa added after picking up a plate filled with french toast drizzled in syrup, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, sliced-up fruit such as bananas, and orange juice.
"I'm surprised that you got that."
Sandra spoke honestly since primarily Vacuans would understand that their 'local spice' would be sand.
"Well, I heard about that once from one of our teachers back at Signal who visited Vacuo once."
Hunter silently picked up a bowl of oatmeal with berries and sliced up bananas with a cut of fruit juice.
"I also heard that Vacuo doesn't have much order there and that Shade is the only true source law there."
"Vacuo in a nutshell, as long as you can survive you can stay as long as you want. But, then you'd have to deal with the people who take advantage of the almost lawless nature and survive the desert. I have to admit, I did have some minor encounters with those kinds of people before."
Sandra stated as she took a seat at one of the tables with Daniel, Alyssa, and Hunter taking their seats in seat beside their partners.
"Well, leaving the desert aside that about sums up the three years I spent in Mistral."
"I've been wondering this, but why would someone from Atlas choose to live Lower Mistral?"
Sandra questioned, finding the entire situation weird.
"Huh? Are you interested in hearing my family history?"
Daniel questioned back smirking slightly before taking a bite out of his hash brown, his question also caught the attention of Alyssa and Hunter who also started eating their breakfast.
"On second thought, I could care less."
"Come on, if you're going to ask a question, then you should go for it all the way."
"He's right. The first step to becoming a good team is getting to know one another's pasts."
Alyssa pointed out, then Hunter held up a notepad.
'There shouldn't be anything wrong with that, right?'
"Look, it's natural that there are some personal things that people don't wish to talk about," Sandra pointed out before taking a bite of her breakfast burrito and started talking again after swallowing. "Just because we're on the same team doesn't mean that we have to share everything about one another. And I find it weirder that there is someone who would share every single about them without question."
"What's weird?"
A familiar voice reached their ears as Yang took a seat beside Alyssa. Following her lead, all the other members of Team RWBY had started arriving as well with their breakfast. Although, Weiss who was intending to sit beside Daniel was instead snatched by Ruby who energetically sat beside him stirring distaste from the heiress, which didn't go unnoticed by her other teammates. Weiss didn't say anything in response to this and instead took a seat beside her partner and team leader.
"Sandra thinks it's weird that Daniel wants to share more about his past with his teammates."
"Seriously, does Dani here do anything that you don't hate?"
"Huh, Dani?"
Daniel seemed surprised about Yang referring to him as "Dani", while starting to drink from the coffee that he had picked up from the breakfast line.
"What? I thought that it would be a cute little nickname, you know. Daniel. Dani."
"I got that. It's just that I have only met like five people who ever called me Dani."
"Huh, that's a shame. I thought I'd be at least the second. Why, is there a problem with me calling you that?"
"Nah, I let Sandra here call me Bumper."
"I thought that you weren't going to stop calling her 'Red Lancer' until she started calling you by your name."
Blake pointed out as she focused on her breakfast, which seemed to be fish.
"Well, in an attempt to form a better bond between Team DUSK, I decided that I should refer to her by her name instead," Daniel replied as he took a bite out of his croissant. "Besides, calling Sandra 'Red Lancer' all the time is kind of tedious after a while."
Blake seemed to have taken that explanation agreeing with those words before continuing to eat her fish wearing an apparent look of glee. As Daniel proceeded to eat his breakfast, he was stopped as he felt eyes peering in his direction, but it wasn't coming from a far distance. Following the source of the peering eyes aimed at him, Daniel turned his side to see that Ruby was staring at him hopefully.
"Is there something wrong, Ruby?"
"So, when am I getting them?"
"Getting what exactly?"
Daniel questioned back in a faux confused manner.
"You know, the prizes I won during the race?"
"What prize would that be?"
Ruby seemed to have believed that Daniel had no clue what she was talking about, which caused almost a look of disappointment to appear on her face. He then started laughing lightly before poking Ruby in the middle of her forehead using his index finger.
"Just kidding."
"Ah, why do you keep doing that?"
"Because teasing you is about the same as teasing Weiss. Both of you give the cutest reactions, you know?"
Daniel chuckled as Ruby and Weiss blushed lightly after both of them were mentioned in that manner.
"Y-You should be careful about what you say or else you'll give people the wrong impression."
Weiss informed as she elegantly ate her breakfast.
"See that reaction there," Daniel leaned himself forward staring at Weiss wearing an amused smirk as she looked to focus more on her food instead. "Don't worry, Red Hood. I'm a man of my word so I'll keep my promise and get you the cookies you won fair and square."
"Yippee! I can't wait!"
Ruby replied raising her hands in the air.
Daniel was again surprised as he saw the cheerful look on her face over cookies before hearing more voices.
"Hello, everyone."
Everyone turned to see Pyrrha and the rest of Team JNPR all gathered holding their breakfast, Nora was hauling an ungodly number of pancakes.
"Hello, Snow Angel."
Jaune said to Weiss as he took a seat at the table, causing Weiss to roll her eyes.
"Snow Angel, huh?"
"Don't you dare."
Getting a hint about what he was intending, Weiss stared in Daniel's direction wearing a blank expression on her face, but the stare itself looked as if it could freeze causing him to relent.
"Well, on a related note, Pyrrha you're still going to give me those lessons, right."
"Of course, just tell me when and we can get started."
"What're you two talking about?"
Yang questioned not knowing the reason behind it.
"I asked Pyrrha if she could teach me sign language so that I can talk understand Hunter more. It would be weird if we have to spend the entire school year conversing using notepads. So, Pyrrha's gonna help me out a little."
"I don't mind teaching out Daniel since he makes a great partner for Hunter."
"Of course, I plan on being the best partner this guy can ask for."
His response caused Hunter to feel happier since it sounds similar to what Pyrrha would say to him, causing him to be grateful that he had him as a partner.
"Mmmph…mmmph….ma…."
Hearing muffled sounds from around them as if in an attempt to communicate, everyone turned their attention to Nora who was eating pancakes and talking without swallowing first.
"Nora, please swallow your food before trying to talk."
Ren sighed but was glad that Nora took his advice and swallowed her food before starting to talk.
"I was wondering what we're going to do for our second day of school since yesterday kinda ended faster than I thought, which was cool since I got to spend the rest of the time with Ren and our new friends. But, I wonder if all of us are going to go out and fight against some Grimm."
Nora talked in a rushed and excitable manner, which most of them could comprehend.
"Well, you probably felt that way since it was simply our first introduction into our classes for that day. I'm sure that our lessons are going to make the days feel longer."
Weiss explained dutifully.
"Don't you sound too excited, princess?"
Sandra stated as she rested her head on her palm as she sipped her coffee.
"Hmph, I'm merely excited to continue my instruction as a huntress in training."
Weiss confidently replied as Sandra continued to finish the rest of her breakfast with the others merely laughing a little at the minor interaction between them. And their conversation continued to menial things until all of them finished their breakfast and headed off to their classes.
"Welcome students, I hope that you're all enjoying your second day at Beacon Academy," standing in front of the entire class was Glynda Goodwitch, their Combat Instructor who informed them that they would be gathered inside the amphitheater since it also doubles as a combat arena dressed in their combat gear. "I also hope that you are attending all of your classes instead of skipping some of them. Doing such is one of the main things I cannot abide by."
Glynda turned her sight on the crowd of students, which also consisted of Teams DUSK, RWBY, and JNPR, all of them could feel the seriousness behind her gaze. Her gaze soon vanished as she looked in another direction causing a sense of relief to well in their chests. Most would think that Headmaster, Ozpin would be the intimidating one, but it was, in fact, the blonde-haired woman in front of them.
"Well, as a refresher why don't talk about your auras first and foremost," Glynda decided to start their lessons from there but heard some groans from some students causing her attention to be caught in the direction where it came from. "I understand that some of you might not be interested in this topic since I know that it was already discussed in your combat schools. However, those were merely the basic lessons. Here in Beacon, all of you will be instructed in more advanced lessons regarding your auras. Since a lot of you will be sent on real missions that will start as menial ones and in your third year you'll be sent on real missions. And in those situations, it would be a shame if anything happened because you didn't realize how to properly use your aura."
Her response alone caused the students who initially groaned to be silenced finding her entire presence alone to be frightening in itself. Seeing that none of her students were talking about any longer, Glynda proceeded on to the lessons.
"I'm sure that all of you have already had your auras unlocked either before or during combat training. Aura is the foremost essential tool in fighting as huntsmen, protecting from attacks no normal person can endure. It also allows conduits for aura such as weapons or other items to become more effective. Effective for both offense and defense, in addition to being needed for dust activation. In essence without at least one or two of these basic skills, then fighting against the Grimm or becoming huntsmen, in general, would be tantamount to suicide."
"Uh, suicide."
Jaune spoke in a hushed down.
Hearing those words from Glynda caused Jaune to become frightened since if Pyrrha hadn't unlocked his aura in the initiation, then he would have died or even been gravely wounded.
"As I said those were the basic applications. As you continue to train in Beacon you'll discover there are far more advanced aura applications. A more personal power more dependent on yourself would be your semblance, which is developed from your aura. By a show of hands, how many of you have already unlocked your semblance."
Among the crowd of students watching, there was a handful of them who raised their hands, among being all the members of Teams DUSK, RWBY, and JNPR aside from Jaune.
"I see. For those, if who haven't awakened your semblance, don't be discouraged unlocking it is different from unlocking one's aura. A semblance is based on the person, as such, not one semblance is entirely similar to each other even if it appears that way. But, there is a certain exception," Glynda explained before she turned her gaze toward two people in particular. "And there happen to be two people who fit those categories. If Daniel Norden and Weiss Schnee wouldn't mind stepping into the arena."
Daniel and Weiss were almost shocked that their names were called, however, it didn't take long to realize it after mentioning an 'exception' among semblances.
"Oh, both the Bumper and Princess are going to duke it out."
Sandra said seeming to be more interested in this next battle.
"But, who are we supposed to root for?"
Blake pointed out since Weiss was her teammate, roommate, and friend, and Daniel was also their friend.
"We should cheer on both of them and enjoy the match!"
Yang cheerfully declared raising her fist into the air, which the others agreed to.
Soon enough, Daniel and Weiss stepped into the arena, both of them standing at a distance from one another as their hands touched their respective weapon's hilts. Glynda would be acting as the mediator for the match was in a close enough position from them to the point where she could spectate properly.
"Since this is merely a demonstration and not an official match. It'll end once at a set time limit or whenever either of your aura shifts to the red. Do both of you understand?"
"Got it."
"Of course."
Both replied nonchalantly and dutifully respective before holding their blades from their previous holders as Glynda looked between them, then started working on the tablet in her hands. Moments later, a monitor came alive as both their pictures and aura levels appeared underneath them. Soon enough, the signal for the match to be reached their ears. But, neither of them started the match and just seemed to be waiting to see what the other one would do instead.
"Daniel, I hope that you aren't thinking about holding back."
Weiss decided to start with that.
"I wouldn't dream of it. Whether it's a man or woman, I always take my opponents seriously in a fight. Besides, I'd be an idiot to underestimate you."
Daniel reassured as he held Retribution in his hand not taking what was an official stance, while Weiss took on a stance holding Myrtenaster in front of her. She stared at him wondering why he wasn't taking on a proper stance in this fight but decided to find the answer in their match instead.
"Well, then I should meet your expectations, right."
Weiss said propelling herself forward toward Daniel aiming Myrtenaster straight at him, to which he responded by knocking it in another direction using Retribution. For a moment, Weiss had lost her posture, but spun around in an almost manner similar to that of a ballerina and continued with the fight. She then proceeded to slash and thrust her rapier in his direction, which Daniel responded to by responding to the slashes and avoiding the faster than normal thrusts aimed at him by either dodging or using Retribution's flat.
"Yahoo! Go, Weiss and Daniel!"
Ruby cheered for both of them energetically enjoying watching the ensuing battle as her friends also joined in.
"Kick his butt, Weiss! Keep going, Daniel!"
Yang looked as if she was cheering for Weiss and against Daniel, but not at the same time. Blake, on the other hand, merely continued watching the fight to see what would happen next.
"Keep fighting both of you! Make sure you represent Team DUSK, Daniel!"
Alyssa called out.
"…."
Hunter held up a sign that read "Do your best, both of you." while smiling as Sandra stood beside him watching it all proceed slightly.
"Don't give up both of you."
Pyrrha was being her usual supportive self.
"Hahahaha, don't give up until one of you drops!"
Nora gave a dangerous response while laughing lightly.
"Uh, Nora that doesn't sound supportive at all."
Ren tried his hardest to calm Nora down but was still watching as the match proceeded.
"Try your hardest Snow Angel."
Jaune still seemed to be attempting to flirt with Weiss.
Unlike the other day, Weiss didn't mind hearing her teammates cheering for her and instead used it to encourage herself, but was annoyed about the fact that Jaune was trying to flirt with her. Daniel seemed to be enjoying all the comments from their friends, but Jaune didn't sound right in his ears.
Holding Myrtenaster in a far prepared stance, Weiss summoned several glyphs in front of her, then propelled herself forward aiming another thrust at him using a high-speed charge.
Daniel avoided the thrust at almost the last second, then aimed a slash at Weiss' back; but Weiss responded to it by making a glyph appear underneath her feet, which propelled her upwards before using another one to appear behind Daniel instead.
"I thought that you were taking this seriously, Daniel."
"I am."
Weiss looked and noticed that Daniel aimed Vanir at her using his other hand then pulled the trigger three times, firing off three bullets at Weiss. Reacting to the assault, she moved to the side by rolling avoiding one of them at almost a hairsbreadth as it sailed past her. Daniel soon created encircling runes in front of Vanir, then fired off several more rounds that seemed to move faster than normal.
In response to this, Weiss formed a glyph that acted as a shield in front of herself, which blocked the bullets. Weiss activated Myrtenaster's revolver spinning to red dust, which he assumed was fire dust, then slashed her blade releasing a flame wave at him.
A breath escaped from his mouth as the runes on Retribution shine blue, causing a blue aura to radiate from it, then split it apart. A smile graced Weiss' face as she pointed her finger in her direction, causing a glyph to appear underneath Daniel's feet.
"…eh."
Daniel smiled slightly as he noticed the glyph, but it took effect before he could even react causing him to be flung into the air because of it. Seeing this chance, Weiss created and jumped onto a black glyph, which she had used to propel herself for Daniel who was still suspended in mid-air.
She aimed a thrust for him, but then noticed that he was balancing off his hand using a platform created from his runes. Daniel propelled himself off the platform using his hand, then held Retribution using both his hands before bringing it downwards. Seeing that it was going to be a stronger swing than before, Weiss changed her plan then placed Myrtenaster in front of her before creating a glyph to protect herself.
Once Retribution was brought down onto it, both Daniel and Weiss were brought down to the ground. Weiss was holding back the large blade but could feel the strength behind the slash and remained firm. Soon enough a slight smile formed on their face appearing to continue with the fight, but a sound soon reached their ears.
"Alright, that'll be enough for now."
Glynda said as Daniel and Weiss stopped moving.
"Now, could anyone notice something about their semblances?"
There was a pause as no one among the crowd of students remained silent until there was a raised hand, which came from Pyrrha who seemed to realize it.
"Yes, Miss Nikos."
"Both Daniel's and Weiss' semblances are similar to one another, but they're also different at the same time."
"Correct, despite how two semblances would appear similar to one another, there are always differences that are a part of them as well," Glynda explained. "Both of them are also a part of an exception where their semblances are instead inherited from parent to child. Of course, there are cases where children inherit the same one as their parents. Well, I believe that would be it for the basics. I believe that there is one more important thing that I need to show all of you before proceeding. If you all would follow me to the locker room."
As instructed all of them followed Glynda inside of the locker room, where there were, of course, several lockers all around the room. Their instructor stood before one of them which has a blue light on top of it as everyone looked as she turned to face all of them.
"Today, all of you will be assigned one rocker-propelled locker to store your weapons and any additional armor or equipment that you might have on your person," Glynda explained. "This will make it easier for all of you to retrieve your weapons from various locations around Beacon if the situation ever called for it. Also, your locker can be sent to a custom location using a six-digit code."
Among the students listening to Glynda as she was assigning lockers to everyone, there was Cardin Winchester, a first-year student and assigned leader of Team CRDL. Despite being a first-year like the others, he stood taller than almost everyone in the room with burned hair and a more muscular build. Instead of focusing on the teacher assigning them lockers, he glanced to the side noticing that Jaune was standing beside one of them, and grinned.
Not letting anyone see him move, Cardin opened the locker and at the same time pushed Jaune inside of the locker. But, the closing of the locker was enough to catch the attention of Sandra who turned to see Jaune being pushed inside of the locker causing a stunned expression to form on her face.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!"
Sandra called out, but Cardin seemed to have ignored her and pressed in several random numbers.
"Jaune!"
Pyrrha called out after noticing that he was the person inside the locker.
"What?!"
His friends noticed that he was inside of the locker as he came alive and appeared to do exactly what it was built for by preparing to launch. Noticing this, Glynda took out her riding crop from the holster inside her right boot with the intent of catching it before it took off. Daniel and the others also tried to move with the intent of assisting too as Jaune started screaming from inside of the locker.
"What?! No, wait, wait! You've gotta get me out of here! Please! Don't! Don't! Don't do it!"
Hearing Jaune's pleading from inside the locker for some reason resonated inside Sandra who started clenching her teeth. Before she could comprehend her thoughts, her body was already moving and she ran toward the locker as it was prepared to take off. Arriving in front of it, Sandra didn't waste time as she made her hand phase right through the door, which caught Glynda's attention. As both of them were being lifted into the air, Sandra had grabbed Jaune and pulled him from inside of the locker.
At that moment, both of them landed on the ground as the locker was launched in the air in whatever direction was randomly inputted into it.
"Hah, thank you, Sandra!"
Jaune thanked Sandra who rescued him from being launched in whatever direction the locker was sent.
"…."
Sandra was surprised that she even did that for someone else since she believed that she would have remained on the sidelines not caring about what was going to happen. This even caught the attention of those who were from her 'friend' group not thinking that she would go to such lengths like that. But, looked down as if she was starting to relive something.
"Tch."
Cardin seemed irritated about the entire thing since Jaune wasn't launched into the air along with the locker.
"Jaune, are you alright?"
Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren ran to their leader's who still seemed to be a little shocked about the situation.
"Y-Yea, I'm alright because of Sandra here."
Jaune replied a little nervously while scratching the side of his cheek.
"That's good. I honestly thought that we would have to go hunting you down."
Nora said in her usual lighthearted tone, but even she appeared glad that he wasn't injured in any way.
Those among their friend group, which consisted of those among Teams DUSK and RWBY allowed sighs of relief to escape from their mouths after realizing Jaune was fine.
"I'm glad that nothing bad happened."
Ruby said as she placed a hand over her heart.
"Yea, that could have ended badly."
Blake added before glaring at the perpetrator who didn't even seem fazed about what happened.
"…."
Seeing Jaune going through that, because of something stupid, Daniel started tightening his fist and clenched his teeth. His change in demeanor didn't go unnoticed by Hunter who turned to see his reaction and realized that this was the first time that he's seen him get seriously mad about anything. This incident itself sparked conversations among the students, most of them consisting of concern for Jaune and others about Cardin.
All except for the three students who were also a part of Team CRDL who seemed to be unable to hold back their laughter at Jaune who was almost sent flying in the rocker-propelled locker.
"Hahaha, Cardin just a little late!"
"Yea, you almost launched the loser!"
"Hahaha, yea!"
Hearing the three of them laughing at Jaune caused anger to swell up in his friends and teammates, even Pyrrha who's shown nothing less than a cheerful smile seemed prepared to pounce. Yang didn't need any more incentive to start a fight with the three of them based on how she clenched her fist and her eyes turned red.
"Oh, I'm going to give you something to laugh at!"
Yang angrily said as she started to approach them, causing the three of them to flinch.
Noticing Daniel walking past her, Yang calmed down for a second after noticing the angered look on his face then realized he was walking toward Cardin. Before he walked past her, she could notice from his expression alone that he was mad about what Cardin tried doing to Jaune. This didn't go unnoticed by Weiss who already realized he wouldn't remain silent and grabbed his wrist before he could take another step towards Cardin.
"Daniel, don't."
She said those two words to get him to talk walking toward Cardin who noticed them in front of him. Her voice did not display the usual confidence, but more so concern.
"Huh, what's with that look," Cardin snidely said holding out his arms out as if in an attempt to challenge him. "Do you want to go? I wouldn't mind getting in a fight right now since there's already a crowd here. Or is the Norden name just a joke?"
"…."
Daniel didn't give a single response, his expression was unreadable, but if his eyes were any indications, there's still a hint of anger in them. The students including their all teammates merely staring at them wondering if a fight would break out between them. It also included Glynda who merely watched the situation play out of nothing but curiosity to see how the situation would be handled.
Weiss still held onto his wrist in an attempt to stop him from getting into a fight with Cardin; however, it wasn't due to her believing that he couldn't win if he fought.
"Daniel, don't waste your time getting into a fight because of something like this," Weiss tried reasoning with him. "It wasn't like Jaune got hurt and Sandra stopped him from being launched. Besides, it was just a stupid prank from merely a dumb bully."
Hearing those words caused Daniel to calm down a bit realizing that Jaune wasn't hurt at all and was saved from being launched already because of Sandra. Seeing that Daniel managed to calm down, Weiss allowed a breath to escape from her mouth and let go of his wrist.
"Huh? Stepping down because your girlfriend told you to," Cardin questioned once again snidely looking at him. "I guess that everyone from your family is just a bunch of…."
"You should be careful about the next couple of words that come out of your mouth. If it wasn't for Weiss, then you would have already been laid out on the ground."
Daniel spoke in a serious tone that matched his expression before turning around and decided to walk away from the situation and rejoin his team.
"She should be lucky that there's someone who'll take damaged goods."
Hearing those words caused Daniel to stop walking after hearing Cardin refer to Weiss as 'damaged goods'. Weiss seemed irritated after hearing those words, as well as Ruby, Blake, and Yang who were prepared to even go after Cardin themselves at any moment.
"What did I say?"
Daniel questioned in his usual nonchalant tone, but there wasn't anything nonchalant about the looks in his eyes.
"Do you want to…?"
Before Cardin could finish his question, Daniel was already in front of him with his fist pulled back without any hesitation of striking him entering his mind. His fist was already aimed forward at Cardin who seemed almost surprised about the sudden movement. As the much taller first-year was preparing for the punch to hit him, it had not made contact with him at all.
"What did you get too scared to…?"
Cardin looked and noticed that Daniel's fist was aimed at his stomach, but it was stopped before making contact merely inches from him. As everyone was wondering what caused Daniel to stop his fist, he instead smiled lightly and seemed to relent a little.
"You got lucky again. If it wasn't for Professor Goodwitch, then you would be coughing something up."
Hearing that from Daniel caused them to turn toward Glynda herself who held her riding crop in his direction with her semblance being put on display. Ruby herself had already seen it for herself before the night before she was admitted into Beacon Academy against Roman Torchwick and another unknown assailant.
"I don't mind students fighting as long as it's in an arena, though I'm conflicted when letting them fight outside of it no matter the reasons," Glynda said as she started to approach them. "You'll have to ask yourself if you have got what it takes to succeed. Honing your skills and the result in power, which is important for both the huntsmen and the huntress. But, great powers come with greater responsibilities. Power should be exercised only when it's needed and where it's needed."
"So, we can do whatever we want as long as we're honing our skills, right?"
"Yes, but at the same time. I believe that I need to talk to Mr. Winchester about his actions in the middle of class," Glynda said in a dangerous tone, causing a chill to run up to his spine more so at the dangerous aura that seems to radiate from her. "Also, Mr. Norden. I understand your reasons full and well, but I hope that this doesn't lead to your previous exploits in your old combat school back at Atlas."
Daniel didn't give a single response to her comment, but his friends and teammates wondered about what these exploits were all about. From there, class ceased for a moment as Glynda was lecturing Cardin about his actions in using one of the rocket lockers to launch Cardin in some random direction. After that matter was done, she had resumed lessons until the bell rang signaling for them to proceed to their next classes.
Once their classes ended, Team DUSK found had themselves walking down the halls of Beacon Academy talking to one another about today's events.
"Well, that was an eventful day," Alyssa pointed out first after recalling what happened. "Seriously that Cardin guy was a douche for doing that to Jaune for no reason. How did a guy like that get into this school?"
"I don't know, but it's not like there's a rule that excludes certain people from enrolling. Well, as long as there isn't anything illegal that they've done in the past. But, I don't see Cardin and his crew having any pure motive to their desire for becoming huntsmen."
Daniel pointed out turning to face Alyssa who agreed with his words.
"But, I didn't think that you would jump in to save Jaune like that, Sandra."
Hearing those words from her partner, Sandra didn't give an immediate response and remained silent for a time.
"…I didn't do anything. I just stopped some blonde idiot from being launched to who knows where inside of a weird rocker locker. I didn't plan on getting him out of there, my body just moved on its own."
Sandra seemed indifferent about doing anything aside from that, but there was something odd about her answer.
"You can dismiss it however you want, but I believe that moving without needing to think about it alone makes you a great person."
Alyssa stated as she glanced in her direction wearing a slight smile.
"Yea, you just have some trouble showing it."
Daniel added.
Both their responses alone caused Sandra to give a faint blush from embarrassment.
"Sh-Shut up. As if I need to hear any kind of opinion from either of you."
Having said those words, Sandra seemed to quicken her pace and went forward ahead of her team without even looking back. After noticing the reaction from their normally cold teammate, the three of them laughed lightly since it was the first time that either of them saw such a thing. Before passing it, Hunter turned his head towards the end of the hall and noticed something.
Standing there were all of the members of Team CRDL, but the entire team was laughing around someone else, however, it wasn't in a lighthearted laugh. All four of them were standing around a Faunus with bear ears who were having them pulled not in the gentlest way. It didn't take long for Hunter to realize that the four of them were bullying the Faunus.
"I want to go over there and do something, but what can I do."
Hunter was split into what he thought he should do. On one side, he wanted to over there and help the Faunus but on the other end, he didn't dare to stand up to anyone. But, it appeared that it didn't come to that since the Faunus ran in the other direction possibly in tears because of what just happened. Cardin and his team continued laughing since there was no one around aside from himself to see what they were doing.
It was then that Cardin looked forward and noticed Hunter staring at them, then recognized that he was not only a part of Team DUSK, but he was also Daniel's partner. Seeing him there caused a vicious smirk to appear on his face, which is was enough to send a cold chill down his back.
"Hey, Hunter. What's keeping you up so long?"
Hunter heard Daniel calling him, which caused him to run forward ignoring the look that Cardin was sending him.
"What was there?"
Alyssa questioned after noticing how Hunter ran to them like that.
"…."
Hunter merely shook his head not wanting to cause any trouble for them, but Daniel caught their attention.
"Well, you guys can head back to our room."
Daniel informed them about catching their attention.
"Where are you going?"
"To keep a promise."
Daniel merely gave Sandra that response without saying anything else, which caused them to recall what it was.
"Ugh, is he talking about getting your weird friend's weird sister those cookies? I don't get what the big deal is."
"I can respect that. I can tell that Daniel is the kind of person who keeps his promise no matter what."
"You're not going to point out that I called your friend and her sister weird?"
"You're not all that wrong about that."
Alyssa laughed lightly, knowing that Yang and Ruby do have some weird quirks, but that went along with their charm. This caused Sandra to shake her head in response to hearing those blunt words.
Meanwhile, inside of the room belonging to Team RWBY, their room was already organized in the manner that all of them planned. Their beds were set in bunk beds; Weiss' was on the ground beside her art and luggage; above hers, Ruby's bed was hanging from ropes on the ceiling with a white blanket used as a tent; Blake's bed was also on the ground; Yang's was raised using stacks of Blake's books on the posts. In addition to the boxes and crates that were beside the bed.
All of them were dressed in their pajamas while working on whatever assignment they were doing or even doing leisurely activities such as Blake reading from one of her books.
"I just don't get it."
Yang sighed as she took a seat in Blake's bed who was preoccupied with reading her book.
"Get what?"
Ruby questioned as she seemed to be reading from a comic.
"Weiss."
"And what did I do?"
Weiss who was sitting at one of their desks diligently doing her homework stopped for a moment to turn towards her blonde-haired teammate.
"I just don't get why you didn't just let Dani wallop that Cardin guy," Yang answered causing Weiss to stare back at her with a baffled look about the response. "He stuffed Jaune inside a locker, then tried launching him in some random direction. He even called you damaged goods because of your scar. It would have been good to see that guy get what was coming to him."
"This sounds more like you wanting to see Daniel getting into a fight with someone," Weiss stated. "I'm not letting him get in unnecessary fights with someone for such a reason. Besides, Jaune was saved by Sandra before that happened and Professor Goodwitch would have stopped him if I didn't. And I don't care what people think about my scar."
"Ah, come on. You have to admit that it would have been romantic seeing Dani fighting for you."
Hearing that from Yang as her cheeks flushed caused Weiss to think about the scenario before shaking the idea out of her head, her cheeks being flushed.
"Hehehe, see you thought about it."
Yang teased causing a sudden reaction from Weiss who didn't take kindly to the teasing.
"Yang, you're surprisingly girly," Blake laughed a little after catching what her partner said. "But, I can agree with Weiss. It wouldn't be a good idea for Daniel to get into fights with people even if some of them kinda deserves it."
"Yea, I guess that you're right. But, I have to say that I wasn't expecting that based on how Dani usually acts."
"Yang's right. Daniel looked about the same as Yang whenever she's mad."
Ruby added after her sister.
"And what did Glynda mean about his 'exploits'?"
Blake added that question in the mix, which caused the three of them to glance at one another before turning all their attention toward Weiss who raised her eyebrow.
"Why're you all looking at me?"
"Well, you've known Daniel the longest."
"You seem to know almost anything about him."
"And you totally have a crush on him."
Blake, Ruby, and Yang gave their responses to Weiss.
"Well, all that is true," Weiss replied before recalling what Yang said at the last part causing her to blush. "B-But, the last part isn't true. I guess that she was talking about all the fights that Daniel used to get into with students back at Atlas' combat school."
"Oh, this is interesting. I didn't think that Dani was that kind of rebel."
Yang seemed interested in hearing the reason that Daniel got into fights back at Atlas of all places.
"Yang's right. I heard that Atlas' school was way stricter than others. But, there's a reason, right? Daniel doesn't seem like the kind of person who would start fights with someone."
"Daniel always got into fights for someone else and rarely for himself," Weiss replied getting invested. "His two cousins attended the same training school, and whenever anyone bullied one of them, Daniel would be the first person to do anything. There was one student who made his second cousin cry because he didn't like Daniel. He, of course, found out, then fought him and his friends. Whenever a teacher gave him the option to apologize or take a punishment, he'd take the punishment each time. Daniel would always say that his mother always used to tell him to apologize only when he meant it. To be honest, he hasn't changed at all from that time."
"Wow."
That was all Ruby could say after hearing about that from Weiss who found herself smiling a little.
"Well, the respect that I had for him rose a little more. He even sticks up for the Faunus."
Yang added smirking a little.
"But, isn't it a little weird," Blake despite finding the story compelling, there was one thing that she found weird. "It wouldn't make sense to pick on Daniel in the first place. His family is one of the most renowned in Atlas almost as much as the Schnee Family. There are a lot of people who would want to be on their good side, but instead, there are people picking fights with the one closest to the position as heir."
It did sound weird to both Ruby and Yang after Blake pointed it out to them.
"That is a little weird now that you mention it. It sounds as if everyone was attempting to get to Daniel."
It sounded as if everyone were picking on his cousins just to get to Dani."
"I think that I heard about his family in a magazine about weapons and dust that I read once."
"Both the Norden and Schnee Family have shared close tied with one another for a long time. But, both my father and his aunt have different opinions causing a rift…even when his uncle assumed leadership, there was still a rift under the surface," Weiss said as she seemed to start aimlessly messing with her hair showing a different kind of expression on her face. "But, the reason that everyone seemed to mess with Daniel was…."
BEEP BEEP
"Hmm."
Weiss was stopped as one of their scrolls binged, meaning one of them got a message. It didn't come to Weiss, Blake, or Yang, but from their leader's scroll.
"Who is it from?"
Yang asked staring toward her sister.
"Oh, it came from…Daniel. He told me to meet him on the dorm's roof."
Ruby replied much to their surprise since how it sounded to meet someone alone on the rooftop.
"Oh, is that right~ A little secret randevú between the silver-eyed leaders?"
Yang teased causing some annoyance from Weiss.
"T-That isn't the reason."
"I know what this is," Ruby said after reading the entire message. "I'm getting my cookies!"
Declaring those words, Ruby excitedly leaped from her bed, then she immediately bolted outside their dorm room using her superhuman speed leaving behind a trail of roses behind her. Leaving all three of her teammates to all stare at the entrance wearing the same stumped expression at her reaction and departure.
"I didn't expect that she'd be this excited about it. But, I came to expect that from her."
"So, Blake. Did you give any thought in about what you're going to ask Dani for?"
"Nope."
Blake replied as she repositioned herself on her bed.
"Well, Weiss, you're not a little bit jealous that Ruby is going to be all alone with Dani?"
"O-Of course not, now leave me alone!"
Weiss replied as she went back to doing her homework leaving Yang to chuckle to herself at her reaction.
After passing through the number of students who witnessed a red blur leaving behind trails of red roses, rushing towards the staircase leading to the roof. Bursting through the roof's entrance to see the night sky right above her with several stars shining in the sky. She couldn't see Daniel let alone anyone else on the roof in her line of sight, but that wasn't until she heard a familiar voice.
"Well, that was an interesting entrance."
Ruby turned to see Daniel sitting in a meditative position with his legs crossed and his eyes currently opened.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you?"
"Nah, I was just about done anyway," Daniel replied getting into a more comfortable and casual position against the wall. "My dad got me into doing this to calm down both as a common practice and punishment."
"Weiss did say that you got into a lot of fights back at Atlas."
"Huh? I didn't think that she would share something like that."
Daniel was genuinely surprised that Weiss would share something like that with others, but it wasn't like he minded since it wasn't meant to be a secret or anything.
"Well, that just proves that we're close to being besties."
Ruby confidently said placing her hand on her hips laughing.
"Well, I can't wait to see her reaction to hearing that. Either way, here you go."
Daniel pointed his attention toward the plate of fresh chocolate chip cookies, which has a glass of milk positioned right beside it.
"I thought that you would also like a glass of milk to go along with the cookies."
"That's perfect!"
Ruby said as she instantly took a side beside him without hesitation, then stared at the plate of cookies wearing a look of anticipation. Daniel watched as she continued to watch Ruby staring at the cookies for several seconds in which caused him to chuckle a little.
"Come on, what're you waiting for?"
"R-Right, sorry."
Ruby apologized then picked up one of them before taking a bite of them out of a simple taste test, then her eyes widened a bit after eating it.
"These are sho delicious~!"
Ruby stated with sparkling eyes and made an adorable expression that caused Daniel to even feel his heart skip a beat from how cute it was, which caused him to cough in his hand a little.
"Well, enjoy your prize."
She did as such, then proceeded to eat the other cookies that were on her plate wearing a joyous expression on her face with each bite taken out of them. Daniel couldn't help feeling good about himself since he was able to do something that made one of his new friends happy even if it was from just giving them cookies. Both of them sat in the same position as Ruby didn't appear to get tired of the cookies' sweetness.
"Did you make these? I didn't know that you could cook."
"I lived in the same house in Mistral with a guy who refused to teach me anything aside from basic stuff and also to cook anything. So, I was either learning to cook or continuing eating microwaveable food or going out to eat. And if I went with either one, then my dad would read me the riot act about proper meals for hours if he ever found out. He did make it a personal mission to ensure everyone he knew ate proper meals."
"Your dad? So, your mom didn't cook?"
There was a slight pause before Daniel seemed to hold back laughter at the mention of those words.
"W-What?"
"Despite all the things that my mom could do, the one thing that she couldn't do was cook," Daniel said laughing a little somberly. "My dad even forbade her from entering the kitchen, because she almost ended up once setting the kitchen on fire. She even becomes defensive about it, storming off angrily, and wouldn't talk to anyone at all until she calmed down. My dad and brother would remain stoic and I'd just laugh because she was acting a lot like a kid instead of an adult. But, there was never anyone in Atlas cooler than her and there's a lot of things that I'm glad that I got from her…like these."
Daniel smirked nonchalantly pointing at his silver eyes and necklace, causing Ruby to feel a little more kinship as she stared into the glass of milk in her hands.
"I feel the same way," Ruby stated, which had caught his attention. "I also got my silver eyes from my mom and a lot like yours, she was amazing at everything. She was an amazing cook, an amazing huntress, and an amazing mother. Being just like her was one of the reasons that I decided to want a huntress in the first place. And…I…I just really miss her a lot."
Hearing the sudden change of her tone, it didn't take him long to realize what those words meant since they felt too familiar to him. Seeing that appeared to be on the brink of almost tears had caused him to unconsciously wrap a comforting arm around her. Ruby was surprised about the sudden contact causing her to turn toward him confused about the sudden hug, but at the same time, she didn't mind it.
"I know the feeling," Daniel said in a comforting tone that matches his actions. "My mom told me that she was once told, my gramps. Even if it's difficult to do, remember all the good times you had with them. Don't focus on the fact that they aren't here. As long as there are people who still remember the life they lived and the person they were, then it's almost as if they'll always be with you. Well, it sounds like we both had pretty awesome moms, Ruby."
Ruby noticed that she didn't need to ask to know what happened to him and hearing his comforting words caused her mood to improve a lot.
"Yea, we sure did."
"Sorry, if I brought up anything sad. It's weird seeing you with anything, but a smile."
"Well, it's weird seeing you mad."
Ruby countered back wearing a smirk on her face.
"Well, everyone has their moments, right?"
Daniel countered back in return as he shrugged his shoulders, both of them soon started laughing as the grim atmosphere that had risen around them started fading away almost as if it didn't exist, to begin with.
"I guess. So, what do you want to talk about next?"
"I don't know," Daniel got into a thinking position before an idea popped up in his head. "How about how a girl like you decided to come up with a scythe-sniper as your weapon?"
"Oh, that's cool! Well, it happened like this…."
Ruby started going into detail about what inspired her to make Crescent Rose as both of them sat on the rooftop in silence and found themselves enjoying conversing with one another about things such as this.
A/N: Well, this is the end of the next chapter of RWBY – Team DUSK, this showed more about their time in Beacon during the first weeks since the episode of Jaundice takes place weeks after their school enrollment. It also showed their time in Combat Class where both Daniel and Weiss sparred a little to show some of the difference between his Runes and her Glyphs. This go-around Jaune wasn't sent flying in a locker because of Cardin (the bully cliché) and was surprisingly saved by Sandra, but there appear to be some hidden meaning behind it.
There was also a change in demeanor in Daniel after seeing one of his friends going through that, but he was stopped by Glynda. It also appears that Cardin has started his mistreatment of the students such as the Faunus in Beacon and even turned his sights on Hunter. Well, we all know that isn't going to end well for Cardin and his friends.
Near the end, it showed a moment between Daniel and Ruby who talked a little more about their mothers, while mentioning his father and a brother. More about them will be revealed in the future.
I chose the more appropriate time to upload this chapter because of Happy Birthday, Ruby Rose, our favorite young team leader.