Welcome to the next chapter of RWBY: Team DUSK, before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:
The School Life Cliché, Pt. 3
Sometime after Team DUSK returned to Beacon after hanging out with one another after school, Daniel, Hunter, Alyssa, and Sandra remained in their room preparing for the night. It was around the same moment, he received a text from one of the first friends he made before and after arriving at Vale on top of their dormitory's rooftop. He and Pyrrha dressed in their pajamas sat down legs crossed in front of one another holding their hands out.
'Good afternoon, Daniel.'
Pyrrha signed out using her hands, then Daniel started doing the same.
'Good afternoon, Pyrrha.'
Daniel replied correctly, but it wasn't to the same level as Pyrrha who did so as if was natural.
'You're getting the hang of this. It even took me a long time to get the right signs correct.'
Pyrrha signed while smiling.
It wasn't the first time that the two of them met on top of the dorm's roof to both practice reading and performing sign language together. Since the beginning, both he and Pyrrha agreed that neither of them could speak once in their signing practice to get a better handle at reading it.
'Well, I do have a great teacher who went to all the trouble of teaching me. Because of that, I'm getting the hang of doing sign language.'
Daniel replied using his hands, wearing a more or less challenging smirk.
He realized that Pyrrha despite her generous and selfless nature, that even she does, in fact, have somewhat of a competitive spirit herself. After returning this smirk, both of them started conversing with one another using sign language in a far more fast-paced manner. Daniel and Pyrrha continued at this pace for a couple of minutes until stopping after deciding to call a truce (of course using sign language).
"Hah, hahahahaha, I never thought learning sign language could be that fun."
Daniel stated leaning back using his hands to hold himself up while laughing about the entire thing.
"Well, I believe that it's fun since you're learning it with a friend," Pyrrha replied. "It was a little difficult learning for me to learn sign language, but Mister Kheiron made it easier to learn. There were times that he could be strict or harsh, but that was because he genuinely cared about his students. Speaking of which, I would like to personally thank you for looking after Hunter the way you have, Daniel. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that Hunter has been the only person back at Mistral that I could call my best friend. But, since coming to Beacon, I've found several people that I can call my friends."
"You don't have to thank me for looking out for Hunter, Pyrrha. I would've done it regardless since he's one of my teammates and partner. Even if he wasn't my partner, he's still one of my friends."
He replied finding the thanks as unneeded since it wouldn't change his actions, causing Pyrrha to smile more.
"I'm glad that Hunter found someone that he can rely on aside from me. The same can be said about Alyssa and Hunter," Pyrrha pointed out. "Despite what she says, I can tell that Sandra does care about people. I saw that for myself after seeing the trouble she went through to get Jaune outside of that locker."
"Speaking of, how's he doing acting as the leader of Team JNPR?"
Daniel decided to ask wondering how Pyrrha felt about Jaune being the current leader.
"Jaune is doing an excellent job as team leader," Pyrrha replied without showing the slightest hint of lying, but he couldn't see Pyrrha as someone who would speak ill of one of her friends either. "Based on what Jaune was able to do during our initiation, I believe that he has the takes of a true leader. So, as his teammate and partner, I'll be there to support him."
Daniel realized that Pyrrha based on her words that she had true faith in Jaune's potential as a leader. He didn't see for himself what happened during their fight against the Death Stalker, he did hear a lot about what Jaune did at the end of the as of yet formed Team JNPR.
"Oh, you sounded a little more passionate after saying that, Pyrrha."
After noticing the light teasing tone behind Daniel's tone, Pyrrha gained a faint blush as she waved her hands out in front of herself obviously embarrassed.
"T-That isn't what I meant about that Daniel. I mean, I simply consider Jaune as a good friend and partner."
Pyrrha tried defending herself, but hearing that response caused him to chuckle lightly as Pyrrha angrily glared at him (at least whatever she could manage). The redhead felt as if she was being played around with by who she believed was a good friend of hers.
"That wasn't funny Daniel. How would you feel if someone did that to you?"
"Too late, my entire team, including my partner have already done that during our little outing with one another. If it was Alyssa and Sandra, then that'd be understandable, but seeing Hunter join in really hit deep," Daniel replied dramatically before pulling out his Scroll. "Alright, it's getting a little late."
Pyrrha retrieved her Scroll to check the time; after noticing the time, she agreed that it was approaching that time for them to return to their dorms.
"You're right," Pyrrha replied standing up from off the ground before stretching out her arms. "I'll be heading back to me and my team's dorm room."
"I'll be heading back too after getting something to drink from the student lounge. Neither of us talked that much, but I still feel a little parched."
"Alright, then I'll see you tomorrow."
Pyrrha cheerfully replied walking past the door leading inside the dorm with Daniel walking behind her until the two of them went in separate directions.
After entering the student lounge, accessible for all students from nearly all hours, Daniel realized that he wasn't alone there. Standing in the somewhat lit lounge devoid of the other students was Weiss drinking from one of the bottled waters from the refrigerator. She was already dressed in her pajamas, meaning that she prepared for bed but looked to have wanted something to drink first. Daniel didn't see any of the other members of Team RWBY, even their hyperactive team leader.
"Hey, Weiss. Was there too much noise in your room?"
"Ah," Weiss almost jumped hearing another voice because of how quiet it previously was to the where she nearly dropped the water in her hands and fumbled with it. After getting a better look at the one who walked in realizing it was Daniel standing there causing the heiress to visibly groan. "Daniel, does it really amuse you to almost give me a heart attack?"
"That time it was an honest greeting. Also, I could've done several things in that situation, but then it would have resulted in the same way."
Daniel replied casually as he walked beside Weiss.
"I guess you're correct in this situation."
Daniel opened the fridge, then retrieved cold bottled water before opening it and drinking from the plastic bottle, which quenched his accumulated thirst. After letting a relieved breath escape from his mouth, he turned to see an impassive expression on her face.
"Come on, you should be used to me sneaking up on you like that."
"Yes, but, after you left Atlas, I didn't need to be worried about being sneaked up on out of at random. So, I think the resistance that I developed diminished a bit," Weiss replied before noticing his smirk. "And if your thinking of continuing to sneak up on me during our time here, I'll be adding more to the requests."
"Alright, I was mildly kidding," hearing 'mildly' caused Weiss to send a sharp glare at him. "Alright alright, I'll stop, just stop giving me the Schnee Glare. Do you want to have a seat?"
"Might as well."
Weiss shrugged her shoulders, seeing absolutely no problem with it, both of them decided to take a seat on one of the couches large enough for both of them. After Daniel and Weiss took their seats, the two of them remained there placing their bottled waters on the table.
"So, have you and the others bonded together as a team?"
Daniel decided to start their conversation from there.
"Well, we're certainly getting along with one another," Weiss replied in her usual tone before opting for a far softer one. "I believe that Ruby and I are at least interacting with one another far more, but I don't care for her attempts at making me her bestie. But, I can agree that she isn't the worst partner."
Weiss attempted to play it off, but Daniel could tell she was enjoying her time with the members of Team RWBY, which he found hilarious since the first time all of them met, they were almost at one another's throats.
"Well, you should work more on building up a relationship with your teammates. It'll end up working great for you all in the long run."
"Aren't you and Sandra still at each other's throats?"
"It's a working progress building relationships with the people involved."
Daniel quickly counters Weiss' question.
"Right," Weiss countered back. "So, what did Professor Peach talk to you about after class ended?"
"I almost forgot Blake did mention that you wanted to give me a lecture."
"I couldn't say a lecture per se," Weiss replied casually. "I simply wanted to know what happened after we left."
"Well, it wasn't much at all. All Professor Peach wanted to know what I was writing to Hunter during classes."
Daniel answered nonchalantly, before proceeding to explain what happened and what Professor Peach talked to him about during the end of class. Near the end, Weiss gave him a judgmental stare recalling the fact that he had admitted to passing notes during class.
"You shouldn't have tried passing notes in classes since the teachers here are genuine Huntsmen. I'm sure most of them are prepared enough to notice students doing such things."
"In my defense, I thought I was being discreet about it."
"Is that one of the skills you picked up on at Mistral?"
"Kinda. And I thought that I was good at it."
"What exactly did you do there to be required to pass notes without being noticed?"
Weiss questioned with a raised brow showing a hint of surprise and curiosity.
"Well, there was a lot of things going on in Lower Mistral," Daniel responded shrugging his shoulders. "First, I had to deal with all the stupid trouble that my idiotic foster father gets into on an almost daily basis and me going to all the trouble of somehow bailing him out. And all he does in return is give me an hour lesson about guns, then the excuse that the experience was training."
"Why choose to go with him? Even if Issac was your mother's former teammate, he wasn't the most responsible person among them."
"I didn't have a lot of options in options. There wasn't anyone with personal connections to my family in Mistral in the end aside from him. And I could somewhat trust Isaac…at least sometimes. Of course, even the foster parent thing was more or less for the Mistral Huntsmen or Policemen since I was still a minor. Also, it started feeling as if I was taking care of him rather than him taking care of me."
Daniel plainly explained as he started getting more comfortable on the couch as he and Weiss continued sitting in the silent lounge. At the same time, Weiss started feeling more comfortable and nostalgic as she realized that it was the first time the two of them were alone.
"This is one of the only times where the two of us were alone without someone else from our teams or little friend group was around. It feels almost like the time, it was just the two of us," Weiss smiled lightly as she reminisced before something entered her head. "You know, I did receive the letter you sent to my house."
Weiss revealed much to his surprise.
"Really, I actually wrote two letters before realizing that either your father or someone who worked for him threw it away," Daniel replied still surprised that she received one of those with Weiss being unable to disagree with that comment. "I, of course, realized that then addressed to good ol' Klein since there was more of better chance that you would have received it."
"Of course, there was the chance that I wouldn't have opened it as I was still upset with you at the time," she had retorted with some sass. "I should also mention that I'm glad that you've improved on your handwriting since that letter was poorly written. I was barely able to even read it."
Weiss' harsh comment and sly smile caused Daniel to become ashamed since he did recall that he did have bad handwriting. But, that was one of the things that he did improve on in Mistral. Noticing his reaction to that, Weiss started to laugh as his face brightened more from embarrassment.
"Seriously, is everyone taking shots at me today? First, Alyssa, then Sandra, and finally, Hunter."
"Really, what did they say?"
After recalling the previous incident, Daniel was unable to give a single response, instead of glancing to the side in an attempt to avoid the question entirely.
"I was nothing."
"I know that look. Come on, is it that bad?"
Weiss seemed to continue prodding him for an answer, Daniel wouldn't give a single response since it might end up causing some serious friction.
"S-Shouldn't we get to bed since we still have classes tomorrow?"
"Now, Daniel are you avoiding the question?"
Weiss questioned laughing as she poked his cheek jokingly, mirroring what he did to her during their first night at Beacon Academy during their wide sleepover.
"Do you want a repeat of what happened on your eleventh birthday?"
Daniel questioned almost threateningly causing Weiss to cross her arms challengingly.
"You wouldn't dare."
Weiss took on the challenge, believing that he wouldn't repeat the same event.
"You more than anyone knows better than to challenge a Norden."
"You more than anyone knows better than to challenge a Schnee."
Daniel and Weiss replied standing in front of one another, their faces inches from one another giving the other a similar challenging smirk. Neither of them seemed to notice how close their faces were to each other but noticed light giggling coming from inside of the student lounge. Both stopped after noticing the giggling and the sound of someone shushing whoever laughed.
"W-Who was…?"
Weiss questioned, but she recognized the voice without even needing to ask.
She glanced to another part of the room where there were three different, but too familiar hair colors ranging from blonde, black, and a second black hair receding behind one of the other furniture in the lounge. Weiss then walked angrily walked in that direction causing Daniel to laugh nervously since it didn't take long to realize who those three were.
"You three?!"
Weiss after turning on the lights, stopped behind the furniture another coach to find her Ruby, Yang, and Blake all dressed in their pajamas huddled together on the ground. Their team leader was laughing nervously, her sister much more amused, and Blake merely opened the book in her hands since the light was on. Weiss didn't appear amused after realizing that she and Daniel were being spied on potentially the entire time.
"What are you three doing here?!"
Weiss demanded losing her composure.
"Don't be mad, Weiss," Ruby quickly stood in front of her partner waving her hands defensively. "You were taking a little longer than usual even though you were getting something to drink. Then, well, we decided to come here to check up on you. We didn't mean anything bad."
Ruby was speaking cautiously, but honestly since she didn't want to become mad at them because the three of them were caught unintentionally spying on them. But, it didn't go so well as Yang stood up to her feet being ever so carefree as always.
"That was the plan, buuuuut, then we noticed that you and Dani here were all alone in the student lounge," Yang replied linking her hands together behind her head before smilingly teasingly. "So, we wanted to see what would end up happening between you."
"W-What…?!"
Weiss blushed at the comment seeing how it could be interpreted about what the two of them would be doing.
"N-No, that's no true. It was Yang who wanted to do that."
Ruby attempted to reason, seeing as Yang wasn't attempting to make anything better at all.
"Blake?"
Seeing that Ruby was tried to reason with her and Yang seemed to instead escalate the entire situation, Weiss had wondered about the most rational among the three.
"I wanted to wait in the room until they went to see what was taking you so long, but then Yang convinced me to come along," Blake replied. "By the time we got here, you and Daniel were talking near the fridge. We didn't want to disturb either of us, but we hid behind the couch after noticing you two turning around out of reflex."
Hearing Blake's explanation, which Weiss somewhat understood, but there was still apart of her that felt a little bit irritated about being interrupted. At around the same time, Daniel started walking toward the Team RWBY who all were still talking about the entire situation.
"On a related note," Daniel added turning to the nonchalant blonde. "I know that I'm going to regret asking. What did you think we were going to do?"
"I thought that the two of you were going to share a saucy kiss," Yang said without much shame causing Daniel and Weiss to gain a faint blush. "Oh, come on, we all saw you two standing in front of each other smiling like that and started getting closer face to face. You know, it was kinda a lot like this."
To further prove her point, Yang stepped in front of Daniel in the same position as Weiss causing him to become a little surprised about this. But, in the back of his head, he recalled all of the times that Yang had flirted with him, and at the same time got a raise out of Weiss. Daniel was once again caught staring straight at Yang who was a lot closer to him than when the time the two first met. This allowed him to get a more undisturbed look at Yang's beautiful face and lilac eyes, which seemed almost innocent.
"I can even smell the hint of shampoo from her," Daniel thought before he mentally berated himself. "Crap, if this continues, I'm proving those three right."
'Oh, does that mean Daniel doesn't find Yang Xiao Long attractive?'
'I might end up telling Weiss. He's been flirting with Yang.'
Recalling the incident about his teammates before Daniel felt Yang grabbing onto his wrist, then was later visibly shocked after noticing her placing it on her cheek. He felt the soft sensation of Yang's skin on his hand. Seeing it caused Weiss, Ruby, and Blake to stare at the blonde in shock about the entire situation.
"He then placed his hand on your cheek and…."
Yang said inching closer to him while blushing faintly, which was almost surprising considering her confidence. In almost a second, Weiss pulled Daniel from Yang and Ruby pulled Yang from Daniel reacting almost immediately from shock about the situation.
"W-What do you think you're doing?!"
Weiss demanded showing her fangs as she seemed to hold onto Daniel almost protectively.
"I was reenacting what happened."
Yang replied nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders while smirking widely.
"A-Are you delusional or something that never happened," Weiss questioned before thinking about the situation in her head for a second before speaking softly. "B-but, if Daniel did…ugh, what're you making me say?!"
Weiss questioned embarrassingly as Daniel appeared to glance to the side regaining his senses and composure after what Yang did. On the outside, he wore a normal look, but on the inside, he was mentally beating himself up after being played around like that.
"I should really start getting used to Yang more because it feels as if I'm being toyed around with. This is actually embarrassing."
Daniel thought as he stared dryly in another direction.
"Yang, you can't keep doing things like that with Daniel! You'll give people the wrong impression," Ruby lectured. "I mean that was going a little far."
"Come on, Ruby, it's not like there are people around watching. Besides, flirting with Dani is too good to pass up."
Yang giggled with a greater sense of hilarity with Daniel wondering if they and his teammates have some kind of agreement in messing with him today. Seeing this caught Blake laugh lightly as her partner glanced toward her wearing a curious look.
"What's so funny, Blake?"
"It wasn't that long ago, but this reminds me of the time we all met, remember?"
Once Blake mentioned that all of them recalled the time that the four of them met one another, which was similar to what was happening before. Blake reading a book as Yang teased/flirt with Daniel much to the joint dismay of Ruby and Weiss, which caused the blonde to laugh lightly.
"You're right. But, I believe that I grabbed onto his arms liiiike…."
Yang replied amusingly before seeming to approach him in an attempt to reenact what happened, which was the blonde glomping his arm.
""Yang!""
Both Weiss and Ruby stood in front of him with their arms held out defensively.
"Come on, it's not like he's complaining."
Yang reasoned again laughing amused.
"Come on, Yang, we already talked about this. What do you think dad would say if he saw this?"
"There's no way he'd like having you hugging onto him like that."
"Well, I guess that it's a good thing that dad isn't really here," Yang replied before pointing at her sister who was a little surprised for a moment. "You know, you've been getting a lot closer to Dani since receiving that prize. Did something happen between both of you on that roof, sis?"
"O-Of course, nothing happened on the roof, right, Ruby?"
Weiss questioned staring toward her partner.
"N-Nothing happened on the roof. We just talked the entire time."
Ruby replied honestly.
"About what?"
Weiss questioned again becoming curious about the conversation, which was enough for her to let go of Daniel.
"I-It was nothing really. Just the usual."
"What usual?"
Yang seemed to jump into the situation to want to know what the usual was.
This caused them to go back and forth with one another as Daniel cautiously moved from them towards Blake, a person he at least felt secure around. Blake stared at the entire scene in front of them, finding the entire situation before her amusing.
"You know this happens whenever you're around."
"You know, in Mistral, I attract the distaste others from doing almost nothing or because of a wisecrack here and there," he stated crossing his arms. "But, this is the first time people are arguing with each other and not me. Will it end if I walk away?"
"Possibly, but then you might end up dealing with the aftermath if they realized you left."
"That might also be true."
Daniel and Blake talked as they watched their friends/teammates still arguing with one another.
The next morning, the students ran through their class schedule until finding themselves inside the Combat Class run by a professor who looked more like an intimidating librarian.
Standing in the arena this time was Cardin and one of the students who was also chosen as the team leader of their own team. It was a student wielding a staff in his hands and against him, Cardin was wielding his weapon, a large black mace with ten flanges that has a red dust stone embedded into it.
A mace, Cardin cockily refers to as the Executioner. Through the entire match, Cardin was swinging around the Executioner one-handed at the staff-wielding team leader blocking it using his weapon, but the force behind them, which pushed him backward.
"Ugh!"
The team leader was pushed backward causing him to land on the ground.
"Hahahaha, come on!"
Cardin arrogantly urged at the staff-wielding team leader as he brought the Executioner on the ground, resulting in an excessive explosion in the direction.
Using the staff as a pole, the team leader propelled himself into the air avoiding the explosions. But, after landing on the ground, he noticed that Cardin charged in front of him pulling it back, and performed a strong swing at the team leader and sent the leader to the ground.
The team leader coughed several times, then noticed Cardin was still approaching him wielding the Executioner in his hands smirking arrogantly. Before Cardin could even reach him and bring down his weapon one more time, he heard the ringing sound, which signified that the practice match was over.
"That's enough, Mister Winchester."
Hearing Glynda's voice caused Cardin to stop walking towards the team leader who seemed relieved that it was all over for now.
"Humph, too bad, he seemed like he could go another round."
Cardin snidely said as he started walking away, which caused Glynda to discreetly roll her eyes.
"That was so lame."
The team leader was disappointed about how the match ended, but he instead received a somewhat kind look.
"It doesn't mean that you've reached your potential. It merely means that you still have much to learn."
Glynda replied, causing the leader to become more uplifted.
Seeing him feeling more invigorated, Glynda smiled as she noticed his teammates were also making him feel far better than he had beforehand. She glanced at the Scroll, tablet model in her hands, then looked around towards her students primarily the ones who haven't fought yet.
"Let's see. Out of all the students who haven't yet entered the arena was," Glynda scanned throughout the entire crowd until finding a student. "Mister Upson, would you mind entering the arena?"
"Uh, I wasn't expecting to be chosen. Most of the time, the teachers ignore me back at Sanctum."
Hunter thought before holding up his hands, then did several signing out of reflex.
'I wouldn't mind, but I don't think that I can do much head-on.'
"Hunter said…."
Pyrrha was prepared to inform Glynda what Hunter signed.
"I know, Miss Nikos," Glynda replied waving her hands surprising Pyrrha. "Mister Upson, a lot of the professors in Beacon have prepared themselves to accommodate whatever student would enroll in school. As such, I'm able to understand what Mister Upson here is signing at the moment. While we're on that topic, Mister Upson, I hope that you'll learn to have more confidence in your abilities as a Huntsman-in-Training. There wasn't one complaint a teacher had about you at Sanctum. And you'll need to be prepared for whatever situation you happen to find yourself in."
Hearing those words caused Hunter to nervously knob his head as he stood up from his seat beside his partner, teammates, and friends. All of them seemed to be giving Hunter much more encouraging looks and comments ranging from Daniel, Pyrrha, and Alyssa, which caused him to feel more confident about himself.
"And, I believe that your opponent should be," Glynda hummed as she looked around among the students before making her decision. "Russel Thrush."
"…eh."
Hunter was surprised about the person chosen at first to be his opponent, but he continued heading towards their locker room. After Russel noticed that he was chosen as the opponent for Hunter, he smirked widely then started heading off to prepare himself with the other members of Team CRDL sharing the same expression.
"Is Hunter going to be alright?"
Blake questioned not liking the looks that she noticed from Team CRDL.
"Isn't Hunter more focused as being more or less a sniper? So, isn't he weak at close-range?"
Sandra chided in recalling the previous fight against the Behemoth and about how Hunter supported them.
"That is true. But, I believe that Hunter will be able to figure something out. I've sparred with him several times at Sanctum for that very reason."
Pyrrha replied, feeling nothing but confidence for her best friend.
Moments later, both Hunter and Russel stood in front of one another with their weapons already in their hands. In Hunter's hands was Actaeon while in its collapsed form, and in Russel's hand were paired curved short daggers with a revolving chamber filled with different dust almost similar to Myrtenaster named Shortwings.
"Alright, begin in three…two…one! Begin!"
Glynda called out the start of the match as both Hunter's and Russel's profiles and aura meters appeared on the monitor, then moved aside. Hunter continued holding Actaeon in his hands as Russel seemed to start walking in his direction holding Shortwings in his hands. Before Hunter could activate Actaeon, his opponent smirked, then started rushing toward him before he could even activate it.
In response to this barrage of slashes, Hunter started avoiding most of the slashes, blocking them using Actaeon as a shield. Seeing this, Russel started moving around more acrobatically in an attempt to overpower Hunter with speed in an attempt to outpace and get in a strike against him.
"Come on, come on! Gettin' scared freak?!"
Russel taunted as Hunter started thinking more about what he was going to do next.
"Alright, alright. All you need to do is concentrate and focus, you've even trained against Pyrrha several times at Sanctum and Russel isn't even close to her level," Hunter surmised feeling more anxious as time passed. "This is an actual training match. You're not a freak. You're not a freak. You're not a freak."
"You're a freak. You know that."
Hunter recalled the words he heard from Cardin previously in one of the times that he wasn't around his teammates or friends. He found himself cornered by the entirety of Team CRDL, which was essentially a group of school bullies with an apparent distaste for faunus like him. Hunter glanced to the side, not wanting to look at the four of them since there wouldn't be anything good that would come out of it.
"Great, I leave from our dorm to retrieve something from class and this happens."
Hunter lamented as he could feel the anxiety starting to build up inside of his stomach.
"…."
Hunter didn't know what else to do aside from bowing his head as if to signify that he needed to leave.
"Come on, where are you going?"
Of course, that wouldn't convince these four who wouldn't accept any peaceful resolution who'd instead escalate a situation as much as possible. After realizing that fact, Hunter gave a light sigh that was almost unnoticeable as Russel held out his arm in front of him stopping his escape attempt.
"…."
Hunter couldn't give a single response.
There wasn't even the slightest chance that either of them could even understand the basics of sign language, a fact that made him a target in the past from other bullies.
"Most of the time, I had Pyrrha backing me up. But, now I'm surrounded."
As if showing off their strength, all of Team CRDL encircled Hunter, leaving him no option to escape from them at all. Cardin stood in front of him, merely showing off just how much his stature superseded Hunter a wide margin, who would simply look meekly.
"Come on, I don't get why the school allows faunus to enter school with the rest of us."
Sky spoke outside as he shrugged his shoulders.
"The answers simple Sky. Right, Cardin."
Dove added.
"Because animals are easier to train than people."
"…!"
Hunter gave a weak gasp as he felt Cardin pulling at one of his antlers causing a sharp pain originating from that spoke. It wasn't a simple pulling of his antlers, it was a powerful grip that nearly resulted in him tearing up from all the pain that he felt from having one of his antlers yanked like that.
"I want to you remember that animals like you are nothing more than domesticated pets. You'll never be able to fit in with anyone normal…even that team of yours."
Cardin's words stabbed Hunter right in his heart, which caused him to feel more down on himself than before.
"Hah, you'll never be a real Huntsman."
Cardin finally let go of Hunter's antler as he started walking off laughing as different members of his team started to walk away from him. But, not before Russel himself intentionally bumped shoulders with him leaving Hunter at the same position looking down to the ground.
'Being something like a Huntsman begets nothing, but foolish dreams. There's no benefit in protecting lives.'
Those were words not from Hunter, but someone he never wanted to see again, which caused him to feel worse.
Hunter snapped back as he felt Russel aiming a sharp kick aimed at his side, causing him to falter on the ground before he recovered. He recovered activating Actaeon receiving three arrows from his quiver, but these three had red engravings on the arrowhead. Letting a light breath escape from his mouth as he pulled back the bowstring in a more prepared manner.
'Focus. This isn't outside in school, but a match. You're a marksman…so, focus.'
Hunter calmed himself down as he stared at Russel who seemed stunned about the sudden serious eyes aimed in his direction.
"W-What the hell? Where did that look come from all of a sudden?"
Russel seemed to stop for a moment surprised about the expression since before he looked submissive.
Russel was expecting that Hunter would shoot him, he was surprised to see that he aimed the arrows upwards.
"Hahaha, where do you think you're…?"
Russel laughed noticing that Hunter wasn't aiming at him, but realized at the arrows descended all around him then exploded from three directions sending him backward. After falling back, Russel recovered from it then started rushing towards Hunter holding his daggers again before he could receive another arrow. But, it was too late as Hunter already retrieved two more arrows from his quiver then aimed at both Shortwings in his hands with accuracy causing both of them to be sent flying into the air out of his hands.
"Wh-Wha…?"
Russel could barely register what was happening until he witnessed Hunter rushing at him, covering the amount of distance that he already ran to reach him.
"I'm not letting some faunus beat me!"
Russel shouted as he balled up his fist in an attempt to punch him, but Hunter easily avoided all the punches that were aimed at him by stepping backward. It was obvious that Russel didn't have little to no actual skill in fighting without using his weapons.
"Fighting like that won't be enough to defeat Hunter in this situation."
Pyrrha smiled as she noticed Hunter avoiding all Russel's pointless attempts at punching him.
After aiming one more punch, Russel found Hunter standing behind him, smoothly receiving an arrow from inside his quiver, then in the same moment aimed an arrow at his head. Even Russel for his stubbornness knew it'd be impossible to move and avoid the arrow.
"Do you surrender?"
Glynda questioned noticing the situation.
"…yes."
Those words felt the most painful for Russel to admit that he lost against Hunter in this situation.
"Well, then the winner is Hunter Upson!"
Hearing those words caused the students in the crowd watching to clap their hands and started cheering for the winner. Noticing this caused Hunter look around surprised to see that he was being cheered on by everyone, it wouldn't be surprising if it was just his friends, but it was everyone.
"Hahaha, that was an awesome match, Hunter!"
Daniel cheered smiling at his partner.
"Even if have to admit that it was seeing that idiot dance around like that!"
Sandra started laughing after recalling what Russel was doing the entire time against Hunter while complimenting her teammate at the same time.
"See, Hunter! All you need to act this confident outside of the field!"
Alyssa called out after her.
Hunter was unable to remove his eyes from his teammates, who he spent the entire time with yesterday having a good time going around Vale. Hearing their cheers and support of him caused the anxiety that welled up inside of his chest to fade away into a warmer feeling.
"They're wrong. Me being a faunus doesn't make me a freak, that's not how either of them sees me and it doesn't matter what those guys think," Hunter thought as a smile graced his face before looking at Actaeon, which rested in his hands. "I'll prove that I chose the right path for me."
After noticing this Glynda gave a faint smile as she proceeded on with one final match before classes ended and the bell ranged signifying that classes ended there.
Inside the cafeteria, the students for their Lunch Period, as per usual, the members of Teams RWBY, DUSK, and JNPR met around at the same table after gathering their lunch from the line. And as always, the conversation of several students talking in unison could be heard resonating throughout the entire cafeteria. But, it didn't stop their group from starting their own conversation. As with most times, Blake had her nose in one of her books.
"Hunter, I wanted to say that I was proud of how you performed during that match."
Pyrrha said as she smiled genuinely toward her friend.
'Thanks, but all I did was what you taught me for maneuvering around hand-to-hand combat.'
Hunter relayed his message using his hands.
"Well, I Mister Kheiron always said…."
'If there's something that you're weak at, then do your best to prepare for it.'
Smiling Hunter replied to the advice from their former teacher, causing the redhead to nod her head.
"I was almost surprised seeing Hunter handling himself in close combat like that. Not the person fighting him is actually skilled without his weapons. It seemed almost as if Pyrrha didn't hold back at all during those sessions."
Daniel replied smirking lightly.
'She didn't. Pyrrha always meant well, but didn't know how to hold back much in those days.'
"H-Hunter."
Pyrrha was flushed after having those embarrassing moments brought up as she didn't have much restraint.
"Is that so, Hunter?"
Daniel questioned as he turned his head toward his partner.
In response to that, Hunter was surprised since that could mean that Daniel was able to understand the meaning behind the words that he hand-signed. As this thought entered his mind, Hunter wanted to test out whether or not Daniel could understand what he was signing to him.
'Daniel, can you understand this?'
"Yes, I can understand that, Hunter."
Daniel replied confidently smirking at his partner who seemed stunned.
"Daniel wanted to learn how to read sign language and asked that I teach him. So, I started teaching him around the time that school started. He's been picking up the basics rather quickly."
Pyrrha replied much to the other's surprise.
"Oh, that's why you've been leaving all the time."
Jaune stated causing Pyrrha to nod her head.
"That's a kind endeavor, learning something for the benefit of your partner."
Ren added stoically but impressed.
"Wait, Hunter," Nora started as if she realized something before looking around excitedly. "Hunter. Huntsman. It couldn't be even more of a perfect name for him, right!"
All of them stared at Nora, who was laughing jovially after coming up with the comparison between both "Hunter" and "Huntsman". They were all sometimes taken aback by Nora's happy-to-go-luck nature, but that was also what made her an enjoyable person to be around.
"Well, anyways, Hunter did end up putting that bully in his place."
Yang stated as she recalled the reaction Russel had after being beaten.
"Yes, Hunter ended up shooting his arrows in ways that I couldn't with Crescent Rose's sniper rounds."
Ruby added recalling how Hunter shot his arrows in a manner where it landed where he wanted them to and in a manner that she couldn't use Crescent Rose.
"…."
Hunter felt more embarrassed as he was receiving praise back to back from everyone.
"Hunter, you shouldn't be ashamed about being a faunus, Hunter. And you shouldn't let whatever those guys tell you because they're bullies who want to appear superior to than they actually are."
Blake spoke stoically as she turned her attention from her book, but there was something about her tone, which sounded more sincere.
"Oh, is that right?"
As if on cue, the three teams heard Cardin standing behind them with his entire team beside him, including a still irritated Russel. Almost all members of the twelve teams made the same irritated look on their faces, but Daniel made the same nonchalant look as he rested his hand on his hand.
"So, is there anything that we could assist you with Team CRDL?"
Daniel asked in a faux attentive tone.
"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you," Russel started off pointing his finger at Hunter who seemed surprised. "It was just a fluke that I lost against you nothing more nothing less. If I hadn't lost my weapons then there's no way that I would have lost against you."
"…."
Hunter remained silent and motionless as he noticed Russel was attempting to make excuses for the reason that he lost against him during their sparring match.
"Come on, this is just pathetic."
Sandra noted as she focused more on the coffee in her hands.
"Hunter won that match fair and square? If you needed your entire team just to come here to complain about the match, then you're more pathetic than I thought."
Alyssa added crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
"Well, what kind of leader would I be if I didn't support my teammates, right," Cardin countered smirking snidely in an attempt to sound justified. "Besides, he got lucky during that match. As if anyone here would ever give any kind of credit to a faunus who's nothing more than a talking animal."
Hearing those words caused Blake to discreetly tighten her hand into a fist as she seemed to narrow her eyes aggressively.
"Seriously, what's your deal with faunus?"
Daniel decided to ask letting a sigh escape from his mouth.
"What's my deal. As I told the walking deer here, faunus are nothing more than walking and talking animals who should have stayed in the same cages humans put them in, in the first place. It looks as if you're the only person here unable to get the hint and get with the program."
Cardin replied as cockily as ever with his team following behind him and their conversation seems to catch the students who were nearby and could hear their conversation. Daniel hears the reasons from Cardin allowed an annoyed sigh to escape from his mouth and removed his head from his head.
"That's the kind of age-old reasoning that causes the faunus to push back against people who continue to push them back. The only people who tend to think harshly are either those who went through something because of a faunus or those who are too ignorant to accept someone different from them. And from the looks of it, the four in front of me are the people too ignorant for their own good."
Daniel countered with unbreakable confidence staring back at the four of them.
To the four of them, it sounded like Daniel was doing nothing more than trash-talking the four of them, wearing a mocking expression on his face.
"The hell's your problem," Russel called out turning his attention from Hunter and instead Daniel. "You're coming to the faunus when he doesn't have anything to do with you. People from Atlas give a damn about none of the faunus. So, why do you give a damn?"
It sounded like nothing more than a forced question in an attempt to receive a personal answer as that's what it sounded like to Daniel.
"Well, not that it matters to either of you in the slightest. But, I'd like to warn you four that you should be careful of the next couple words from your mouths," Daniel replied still sounding as nonchalant, but there was some slight hint of seriousness behind his words. "My dad and brother happen to be faunus, that's why."
His honest revealed caused the people beside him looked shocked about the sudden realization, the members of Team RWBY looked to their white-haired teammate who didn't seem all that surprised or stunned about it. So, to them, it was enough proof that Daniel was telling the truth, not that any of them would think he'd lie about that.
"Also, despite what you believe, my dad happened to graduate from Atlas as one of their top students. And even if the four of you graduated, you together wouldn't even be half the men or Huntsmen he is."
Daniel mocked pointing at Team CRDL who seemed to be fuming at this point.
"This bastard is saying that some faunus is better than us."
Dove seemed to have taken it as such as he gritted his teeth.
"Hahaha, you Atlas people seem to have a knack for talking high and mighty," Cardin stated angrily glaring at him and Weiss who was sitting on the other side of the table who seemed impassive about his comment. "And for all that talk, you seem forgiving to faunus despite your uncle getting blown up by one of them."
Hearing that comment caused the people around Daniel to stop and become more shocked about those words. A lot of the members of his team, Team RWBY and JNPR looked stunned about hearing those words.
"Oh no."
Weiss muttered under her breath realizing what was going to happen next.
"Uh, Weiss?"
Ruby questioned noticing the expression on her face.
"…."
Blake remained silent after hearing those words.
"What're you talking about Cardin?"
"Huh, didn't you hear about it? It ended up being big news. Around seven years ago, his uncle attempted to meet with some faunus leader in an attempt to make discuss peace or whatever. Then en route to the location where they were supposed to meet, the train he was on exploded and he was found dead near where the train landed, but most of the people survived. All over the news, a message from a human-hating faunus left a message about the human-faunus relationship."
"It's ironic, your mother ended up with a faunus and your uncle ended up dying by one."
Russel pointed out laughing.
"Alright, you guys are taking it too far!"
Yang shouted getting more mad than irritated at Team CRDL for trash-talking Daniel over his uncle's death in an attempt at getting one over on him. Daniel hadn't mentioned a single thing about the subject as his expression all but unreadable, but none of them seemed to register it.
"Come on, don't have anything else to say?"
Cardin questioned reaching his hand out for Daniel, but Hunter moved in front of his partner defensively.
"Huh, what do you think you're going to do?"
Cardin asked glaring daggers at Hunter.
"…."
Despite this, Hunter remains standing in front of him unfazed about the glare being aimed at him from Hunter.
"Tch, alright if that's the way you want, then let's see what you've got."
Cardin laughed cockily pulling back his fist as far as possible before aiming it directly at Hunter's face, reacting to this immediately was Pyrrha. But, it was stopped in front of Hunter as all of them realized that Daniel stood right beside him grabbing onto Cardin's wrist tightly.
"Hey, Cardin, remember that promise that I made before," Daniel questioned smiling dangerously at Cardin to the point where he even felt a chill. "About me introducing you to the ground."
"Wha…?"
Before Cardin could finish his question, he felt a hard impact on his cheek, which came from Daniel punching him in the face. The entire cafeteria became silent as Cardin was knocked to the ground still reeling from the pain as it sparked an immediate reaction from his teammates.
"Hey, asshole what do you think you're doing to our leader!"
Dove questioned attempting to punch Daniel who didn't seem threatened.
"I don't think so!"
Alyssa suddenly appeared beside him catching his fist, then kneeing him in the stomach causing him to cough as almost all the air escaped from his lungs. Dove was sent backward landed on his butt holding his stomach from the sudden impact. Daniel looked surprised about the sudden assist from her, which caused Alyssa to shrug his shoulders smirking.
"If my friends get into a fight, then I tend to join."
Alyssa replied as even Sandra stood up from her seat standing beside her partner.
"Not that I consider you my friend yet, but, I hate people who attempt to domineer other people even though they're weak themselves."
"…."
Hunter not wanting his friends to be the ones fighting alone, stood beside his teammates resolving himself to fighting Team CRDL. Pyrrha was surprised to see that Hunter was standing beside them and stand up to the members of Team CRDL. After recovering from the punch, Cardin stood up from the ground shaking his head, glaring at Daniel who smirked in his direction.
"You little pissant!"
Cardin rushed at Daniel first, aiming his fist at him, which was avoided by nonchalantly moving to the side without trying. Seeing that look on his face, caused Cardin to continue making attempts at punching Daniel, but all of the punches by without his expression changing. After noticing Daniel move to the side of him, Cardin swung his arm in that direction, but it was instead caught by Daniel who later put his arm into a joint lock.
"You should be careful who you end up picking fights with. I've dealt with my fair share of bullies before."
"Argh, let me go!"
"Okay."
Following his request, Daniel released his arm, then pushed him forward, causing Cardin to nearly fall forward on his face if hadn't caught himself. Cardin held onto the arm was that placed into a joint lock and started tightening up his fists angrily. Seeing their team leader in a jam caused Dove, Sky, Russel to move forward, but both Alyssa and Sandra stood in front of them prepared for them.
"If I were you, I wouldn't move an inch."
Alyssa suggested, but Sandra shared a different opinion altogether.
"Don't stop them. I've been looking forward to wrecking these guys."
Sandra added cracking her knuckles and smilingly dangerously.
""Hahaha, get him, Daniel/Dani!""
Both Ruby and Yang cheerfully cheered raising their fists into the air seeing Daniel fighting against Cardin.
"Uh, Weiss shouldn't you be stopping him?"
Blake asked, not caring about Daniel fighting against Cardin, but surprised Weiss wasn't stopping him.
"No, Cardin deserved it this time. Daniel's uncle, David was one of the most well-respected men in Atlas and didn't deserve that kind of slander. Besides, Daniel wouldn't listen to me at this point."
Weiss replied this time not desiring to stop Daniel from fighting.
Cardin still held his arms up into the air fighting against Daniel not wanting to surrender against him in this fight, while Daniel stood there placing his hands in his pockets. During their entire fight, he was either avoiding his fists or hitting him in the most open after avoiding his punches or even quickly putting him into joint locks before pushing him in another direction.
"So, are you ready to apologize?"
Daniel asked.
"Come on, Daniel fight me like a man!"
"You'd have to be a man to suggest that."
"What?! Didn't your parents teach you how to throw a punch?!"
Cardin shouted rushing forward to throw another punch at Daniel who instead smirked at the response as Cardin seemed to get closer to him.
"Well to answer that question, my dad favored using a sword rather than hand-to-hand. And my mom didn't really like using her hands," Daniel replied avoiding the punch Cardin aimed at him, then started turning himself around as he started getting into position for a kick. "She did like using her legs, though."
"Huh?"
Cardin uttered as he turned around but then felt Daniel delivering a sharp roundhouse kick aimed at his head, which caused him to be sent flying over the table beside them. At around the same time, the students moved out of the way as their lunches smeared and dirtied Cardin's clothing. Seeing him land on the other side of the table, Daniel started walking in that direction vaulting over the table, and landed on the other side.
"…ugh."
Cardin started standing up from the ground after landing on the ground, then Daniel started approaching him and knelt in front of him.
"I know you're probably not going to stop picking on people, but I want you to remember a couple of things," Daniel spoke grabbing onto Cardin's face, pulling him closer to him wearing a dangerous smile. "There isn't a single person here who'd acknowledge a good-for-nothing meathead good at nothing but needless violence and bullying others weaker than him as a Huntsman. I don't why you decided to enroll in Beacon, but during your time here, if anything, I want to remember two things. I'm going to keep stopping you from picking on others, but my friends and family is strictly off-limits. So, if you mess with either of them again, then either I or them will crush you as many times until you finally take the hint."
"…."
Cardin remained silent as he stared at Daniel who stared back at him, his eyes being the definition of serious.
Daniel removed his hand from Cardin's face as he stood up from the ground, then vaulted over the table again as he noticed his teammates moving from the rest of Team CRDL who ran off to their leader. Seeing this caused several of the students, most of which consisted of faunus to clap their hands.
""That was awesome!""
Both Ruby and Yang declared excitedly appearing in front of him as Daniel laughed dryly.
"Well, that's the first time I've seen someone that excited after seeing me fight someone."
Daniel stated finding the unique quirks of the sisters in front of him lighthearted, then noticed Weiss walking up to him alongside them. He thought that she was going to lecture him for fighting Cardin, but Weiss' words surprised him somewhat.
"Not that I want to condone you making a habit out of fighting, but I can understand the reason this time," Weiss stated crossing her arms. "But, I don't think that the teachers will be as understanding."
"Well, I'll deal with that when…."
"Deal with what?"
Daniel felt more of a chill than whenever Weiss would give him the patented 'Schnee Glare', then turned around hesitantly to find Glynda standing there giving them a serious look.
"Would you mind explaining what happened here, Mister Norden?"
"Uh."
For the first time talking to a teacher, he felt nervous under the gaze of the teacher in front of him and the others all shared a similar feeling despite not being her intended target.
After everything ended and school as well, Daniel found himself dressed in clothing that looks to be appropriate to exercise in. But, he was walking inside a building in Beacon, where a woman was standing behind the front desk. In his hand was a sealed yellow envelope with something inside of it as the outline could be seen along with the sealed paper.
"Good afternoon, sir. Is there something that I can assist you with?"
The receptionist kindly asked.
"Yes, could this be mailed for me?"
Daniel questioned handing her the envelope, which she took in her hands.
Taking it in her hands, the receptionist could see that an address and stamp were already placed on the envelope, with the mailing location being Atlas.
"Okay, everything seems in order. Do you have a special request? We could have it delivered faster if possible."
"That's fine. There's no need to put a rush on this. The recipient can read it whenever they find it."
Daniel replied as the receptionist wondered what that meant.
After finishing the rest of the mailing process, Daniel walked outside of the building as more and more students started walking past him. He started walking further from the building until he found a familiar teacher standing in front of him. It was Ozpin holding his usual coffee mug in his hands.
"Hello, there Daniel."
"Professor Ozpin?"
Daniel was surprised to see Ozpin standing there, but it didn't appear as if he were on a regular stroll, instead, it looked as if he was waiting there.
"So, am I going to get lectured for fighting Cardin."
"No no, of course, not. I believe that Glynda has done enough of that," Ozpin laughed lightly as Daniel nervously recalled the lecture he received from Glynda. "Despite how she appears and acts, whenever Glynda lectures and disciplines the students, she means the best for them and their futures. Besides, fights at Beacon aren't really all that rare as it does happen from time to time. So, what was the punishment?"
"Well, considering that Cardin started the entire thing and tried even punching Hunter, I got off with a warning and an intense lecture. Cardin and his team got a worse one with a week of detention and cleaning up the cafeteria at the end of school."
Daniel replied as he and Ozpin started walking down the street.
"Well, no matter the reason, no one would mock the faunus. They are living beings the same as other creatures of Remnant and exists on the same side of us against the creatures of grimm."
"Well, some people don't share the same opinion."
"Unfortunately, that's true, for all the troubles that remain unsolved in the world of Remnant, the ones who would tend to solve it is the following generation," Ozpin stated as he drank whatever was in his coffee cup. "At the same time, children do inherit something from their parents. Your uncle, mother, and aunt is an example of that belief who inherited something from their father, your grandfather, Gerald."
As they continued walking, Daniel was wondering where Ozpin was going with their conversation.
"Your uncle inherited his charisma, your mother inherited his courage, and your aunt inherited his compassion," a laugh soon escaped from his mouth before continuing. "Aside from the positives, it seems that you also inherited their attitude when they were younger. I heard the entire team your mother led in Atlas wasn't the most behaved in comparison to the others."
"I thought this wasn't supposed to be a lecture."
Daniel noted as Ozpin seemed to chuckle at his reaction.
"Not that it's a bad thing, although those two didn't start as friends and had disputes with one another, neither of them did take to bullies. It's always a good thing to fight for what you believe in, but always remember that you have people who'll support you."
Ozpin spoke to him causing Daniel to think about what he meant about that since it sounded as if he knew about him or something else.
"Of course, there is one more thing that you and Miss Rose inherited from your mothers," Ozpin noted caused an answer to pop into Daniel's head. "Well, as Headmaster, I still have some business to attend to and I think that you have something to attend to as well."
After saying those final words, Daniel watched Ozpin walking away as casual.
"I can't get a clear read on him."
"A clear read on, Professor Ozpin?"
Daniel flinched realizing that Blake was standing behind him without making her presence known.
"Jeez, Blake, are you a cat," Daniel asked jokingly, but she reacted to that with an almost surprised look as soon as those words left his mouth before realizing it was a joke. "Well, I know how Weiss every time I snuck up on her."
"What did you and Professor Ozpin talk about?"
"I think he was giving me a nice lecture about fighting Cardin in the cafeteria. Then started going into detail about me being similar to my parents who caused some trouble at Atlas."
"Right, about that. How did you feel revealing that your father was a faunus?"
Daniel wondered about the reason that Blake asked him that question but shrugged his shoulders.
"It wasn't really that big of a revelation for me, I personally couldn't care less who knows that my dad is a faunus. It really doesn't change anything like the love and respect that I have for him. My dad's a faunus, but that doesn't change the fact that he's one of the best men who became a huntsman in Atlas. Besides, you shouldn't be afraid to tell someone your parent's a faunus."
Hearing those words from Daniel, which all but displayed the love and respect that he had for his father, a faunus caused a genuine smile.
"Well, I haven't really met someone who's parents were a faunus and human. So, it was kinda surprising."
"I'm sure there are others. All the people on Remnant aren't racist against faunus like Cardin or other people that I've met while in Atlas and Mistral," Daniel replied. "Well, I should be going on my jog before it gets too late out."
"Daniel, before leaving, I wanted to know if that reward had a time limit."
"Not really, I promised that I've given you something no matter how much time passed. So, did you figure out what you wanted to ask for?"
"Well, I'm still thinking about it, but there is one thing that I wanted. But, you can finish up first."
"Alright, I'll talk to you later."
Daniel waved his hand toward Blake as he started going off on his jog around Beacon leaving Blake standing in the same position watching him leave.
"You shouldn't be afraid, huh."
Blake said to herself as she was tempted to almost fiddle with the black bow on her head, but stopped herself as it might end up coming undone.
"No, this is for the best."
Blake said to herself as she decided something to herself, then started heading off to walk to return to her dorm.
After Daniel returned to the dorm room where his team resided after going on his jog, the first thing that he chose to do was take a shower. But, the moment that he walked through the door, Hunter signed that he wanted to tell all of them something after he was finished. So, after Daniel finished taking a shower inside of their bathroom, he found himself taking a seat on his bed with Hunter holding his notebook in his hands. Alyssa and Sandra sat in a position where the two of them could see what Hunter was going to show them.
Sitting in one of the chairs in the room, Hunter turned to face them holding the notebook in his hand as his words were already being written in several pages.
'There's something that I wanted to talk to you all about if you don't mind.'
"Come on, Hunter we're all teammates here. We'll be together these four years and hopefully even after that."
"Eh, I don't know about that one."
Sandra said after hearing about the four of them continuing to be Team DUSK after graduating from Beacon.
"Sandra aside, Hunter if you're alright with talking about it, then you can share anything with us."
Daniel finished, causing Hunter to breathe and go onto the next page.
'As a child, I didn't live in Argus, but in a village in the lower area of Mistral. Both my mother was the same kind of faunus I am as my dad, but my mother worked in an inn to make money. However, my dad didn't work in the most 'legal' business…he was a mercenary who worked any job handed to him as long as it made him money.'
Hearing the revelation that his father worked as a mercenary surprised the three of them, even Sandra started to get interested in the story as Hunter continued.
'He, of course, didn't share what his job actually was with my mother when he stayed in the inn that she worked in and just said that he moved from place to place doing freelance work. Well, it wasn't the reason that would be found in a novel where the mercenary meets and falls in love, but instead, he didn't want to be ratted out. None of that changed even after I was born, as a matter of fact, he wanted me to become like him. I was named Hunter for that reason from the moment I was born. After I held enough, we started 'bonding', I learned how to use a bow and how to hunt…humans, faunus, and grimm.'
Hunter stopped for a moment even the use of ellipsis showed his hesitance in talking about it. He looked to read the expressions that all of them were still paying attention.
'It wasn't long until the Mistral Police and Huntsmen found out he was and moved to capture him. And, of course, he didn't hesitate to leave, but not before leaving behind his last words to me. Being something like a Huntsman begets nothing, but foolish dreams. There's no benefit in protecting lives.' Hunter seems to sigh lightly. "After that, she was told everything by the Mistral authorities, then she decided to use the money that he was kind enough to leave behind to move to Argus and started a new life. There, she told me that I didn't need to live the same life as my father working as a mercenary for money. It was then that I chose that I didn't want my mother to undergo the same pain my father but her through. And I decided to instead become a huntsman, then enrolled in Sanctum.'
"Is was then that you met Pyrrha, right?"
Alyssa asked getting into what Hunter was telling them, but he shook his head much to their surprise.
'I didn't meet Pyrrha until a certain incident that caused me to wear this scarf,' he placed the notepad on his lap then started to hesitantly remove the green scarf around his neck. It was then that Daniel, Alyssa, and Sandra all noticed the scars running across his neck, which seemed deep. After placing the scarf on his lap and picking the notepad back up, Hunter went to the next page. 'During a class that was explaining dust, the leader of a group of students decided to steal lightning dust from the teacher without them knowing. I walked into the courtyard where I find them playing around with it since their leader unlocked his aura already. I tried to intervene and tell them it wasn't a toy, he didn't listen and ended throwing it on the ground. But, the dust crystal exploded, scaring them off, but one of the shards ended up in my neck electrocuting me. I honestly thought that no one would find me since it was a secluded area even with that dust explosion.'
His teammates seemed sad after hearing that from him, but Hunter then smiled as he moved onto the next page.
'But, it turns that a certain redhead knew that one of the dust crystals were stolen by them, then followed them to the area to receive it and found me there. She didn't know how serious the injury was, so she called for help and I was taken to the hospital. I didn't need to undergo too serious surgery, but the doctors said that the crystal fried my vocal cords, meaning that I wouldn't talk normally anymore. I wasn't in the best emotional condition after that, but the same redhead and teacher continued visiting me nearly every day. She, in particular, was relentless since she tried different ways to communicate with me and the teacher taught me how to use sign language. She said I was brave for standing up to them in an attempt to do the right thing, but I couldn't do the same thing now. Pyrrha and Mister Kheiron became the only people that I thought I could count on aside from my mom. But….'
Hunter soon gave the brightest smile as he went to what seemed like the last page, which surprised them.
'And then I met Team DUSK,' Hunter said showing them to a picture that he drew that looked to be super-deformed versions of all four of them with "Team DUSK" written above it. 'I never thought that I could be this happy around other people or have this much fun. So, I wanted to thank you three.'
Hearing those words caused a warm feeling to well up in them, even Sandra who seemed to be interested in the drawing of them.
"Those drawings of us are so cute."
Alyssa pointed out getting a better look at the drawings Hunter did of them, then started noticing the attention to detail that was in the drawings of them.
"Wow, you even got the details of my coat. This is awesome!"
"I'll admit that the drawings are accurate and somewhat cute."
Sandra mumbled under her breath as Alyssa wrapped her arm around her shoulder wearing a faint teasing smile on her face.
"Did you say, something partner?"
Alyssa teased poking her cheek.
"N-No!"
That sparked an almost immediate reaction from Sandra whose face was now burning bright red, then swatted it away erratically, which was almost adorable. Noticing her partner was laughing at her reaction caused Sandra to make multiple attempts at hitting her, but Alyssa avoided them while still cheerfully laughing.
"You know if people saw this, then they would think they were sisters arguing," Daniel pointed out in a cheerful tone wrapping his arm around Hunter's shoulder. "I guess that'd make the two of us brothers, right?"
Hearing those words sparked feelings to well up within him as Hunter smiled even more. Alyssa who managed to grab onto Sandra's hands before she could wrap her hands around her neck and apparently chock her glanced in Daniel's direction.
"Right, didn't you mention that your brother was a faunus too? What kind of relationship did you two have?"
Alyssa asked causing Daniel to pause slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by them.
"Yea, but the two of us never really got along all that much. We had kind of a falling out around over a year ago and I haven't really seen him since."
Hearing that caused them to realize that there were more things that all of them need to learn about each other, but even to him, it didn't look like something that he wanted to share at the moment. But, at this moment, it was a lot more progress in learning more about one of their members and that was enough for now.
A/N: Well, this is the end of the next chapter of RWBY – Team DUSK, this was the longest chapter yet. This one was the conclusion of the group of school bullies that make up Team CRDL and Hunter showing he isn't a pushover during a match. Cardin showed more of his ceaseless discrimination against Faunus, with Daniel revealing that his father and brother are faunus. Of course, Cardin kept trash talking to where he revealed his uncle's death…and likely regretted it afterward.
Hunter revealed his past to them, his father being a mercenary and the scar that he got in an accident at Sanctum, where he also met Pyrrha for the first time.
There was also some more bonding between Daniel and Weiss, but as usual, it was later interrupted near the end by her teammates. For those who're likely wondering, it is OC x RWBY since I didn't get a review that was against it after I suggested it for the first time and decided to go for it.