Chapter 6: Beacon Man

"Every day of our lives, we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference. "

Robin was, as the kids might say, getting his ass kicked six ways to Sunday. As it turns out a week or two of training wasn't enough to make you able to stand up to an ex-terrorist who was annoyingly keen on seeing you flat on your ass.

His aura was in the yellow, and Blake's was almost entirely untouched. Robin spared a glance into the stands to see his team looking unimpressed while the RWY of team RWBY were all but cheering his demise on. The only one who looked slightly sympathetic was Jaune, of all people, which somehow just made him feel worse. He couldn't beat her conventionally. That much was clear. Then again, he couldn't really beat anyone conventionally.

Before he could devise a strategy, she rushed at him again. Every bleeding muscle sang in pain as he barely raised his sword in time to block Gambol Shroud from cutting him in half. Only for her other hand to swing below, holding the sheath, hitting him in the knee and driving him down to one leg.

Then she fucking triple-backflipped away, cause of course she did. It had been like this the whole fight. She'd rush forward, hit him once or twice, then dash away before he could respond. Rinse repeat till his aura collapsed. Alright, this wasn't working. Time for Plan B. Robin switched his stance, now holding his sword with just his right hand, freeing his left hand.

Aura flooded into his legs, providing relief for his tired muscles and empowering them. He rushed forward with a large overhead swing. It's clumsy and easily blockable but more of a shroud for his actual goal. His left hand snaked in his jacket, grabbing a grey cylinder with multiple holes on its side: a flashbang, one of the many grenades he had due to his subscription with The Forge. She easily dodged to the side, avoiding his sword swipe, but as she brought Gambol Shroud up for a counter-attack, Robin thumbed the pin off his flashbang underneath his coat and punched at her with it still in his hand. "Think fast, chucklenuts!"

A flashbang takes one and a half seconds to go off once its pin has been pulled. Robin let go of it only a half second before it went off, Leaving her with very little time to prepare. Hell, if he had held onto it any longer, he could have damaged his fingers. Robin, who was prepared for it, squeezed his eyes shut and ducked his head into his coat, covering his eyes, just in time for the loud bang to sound.

His vision was sparred, but his hearing wasn't. Everything was reduced to a dull ringing as he lifted his head out of his coat to see the desired result. Blake stumbling around, hands clutched to her bow. He glanced to the side. Even a few of the students in the front row seemed disoriented.

However, he didn't have time to mull over that as he flipped his sword in his hand, now holding it by the blade. Something tugged at his gut as he approached her, still stumbling around disoriented. As he swung the sword like a baseball bat, the guard cracked her in the side of the head, once, twice, then a third time. Somewhere along the way, her bow was knocked off her head by the blows, revealing ears that were probably a shock to someone, but Robin refused to let up, continually glancing at the aura meters as hers dropped.

Then she was down, and Robin was grinning wide despite the constant ringing in his ears. Like a maniac as he breathed hot breath through his dentals. All it took was an underhanded tactic and a little focused violence, and he had won.

He turned to Professor Goodwitch, only to see her eyes hard, arms crossed, staring at him in disappointment. His good mood evaporates. "Why are you mad? I won for once."

He could instantly sense his fuck up as she glared even harder. "Detention for a week. The use of flashbangs in a spar is prohibited. Something you'd know if you read the code of conduct like everyone is required to do."

"There's a code of conduct?" He asked instinctively. It wasn't his fault he hadn't read it; he was busy with other stuff.

She let out a long-suffering sigh."Of course, you- never mind that. See to it you get up to speed on what we allow in spars here. Retinal damage is not pretty, and I won't be having my students blind each other for the rest of their lives over a classroom spar. You are dismissed."

Robin was able to understand the message well enough, even if she didn't outright say it. 'Get the fuck out of my sight before I demolish you' can only be said so politely. He quickly walked out of the area and back to the stands. Even the enraged glares from team RWBY couldn't damper his good mood as he was greeted by cheering from his team.

-2-

Robin was still riding the high of his victory hours later. His team had celebrated by dragging him out to some shitty diner in Vale that Dove claimed to have been going to since before he could walk. It was nice, and for a moment, he was able to pretend he was a typical college student again and not a mercenary in the making. However, that couldn't last. Eventually, they had to go back to Beacon and continue on with their lives.

Robin had secluded himself in the library again, continuing to fill out his journal with different types of Grimm. Knowing was half the battle, and there was so much Robin didn't know. The species of Grimm and their variety are so much more expansive than he could have ever imagined. Take a Beowolf; traditionally, one would imagine them as one of the most standard run-of-the-mill creatures out there. Robin quickly learned that wasn't the case.

There were three primary subspecies of Beowolves present within the borders of the Kingdom of Vale alone, along with dozens of other more localized varieties. In hindsight, it made sense. The Grimm haven't been static since they were first created. They've been evolving, adapting alongside Humanity.

The sound of angry footsteps stomping toward him tore him from his thoughts. Blake was all but charging toward him, eyes narrowed, bow noticeably gone, allowing the world to see her extra set of ears. Robin found it kind of odd how arbitrary the rules on Faunus parts seemed to be. Even with it being an actual world now, it was somewhat random. Some had tails, some had ears, some had other parts, and some had none. He supposed that's what you would get when you turned a fetish into an integral part of a world.

She stopped a few feet from him. "Robin." She practically spat out his name.

For his part, he gently put down his journal, shutting it, then turned his attention to her. "That's the name. What does the very famous nonlocal person whom the very public court records paint in an unflattering light want to do with me, Robin? Very unfamous dude with a heart of hearts and fists of other various human body parts that are mostly my own."

She took a step back as if physically struck. "You knew?"

"Uh, was I not supposed to? It's not exactly a hidden thing. Your bow twitched, for fucks sake." Robin shrugged.

There was a moment of silence as she processed his words. Her face visibly switched between several emotions. Something like confusion, despair, and rage all mixed into one, directed solely at him.

"You are just as bad as Cardin, aren't you? You did this to ruin me, didn't you?" The accusations poured out of her mouth. It seemed like more were about to come.

Instead, he spoke. "No, I didn't. It wasn't some dastardly plan to reveal your ears to everyone." He paused for a moment. "I'm a shitty person Blake. I'm a brick wall idiot, I'm weak as fuck, I cheat, I lie, and I have a hard time bringing myself to care. But I didn't do it cause you're a faunus. Hate me if you want, but hate me fully and honestly for what I am."

He paused, lifted his journal, and pointed at it. "I can't win normally, so I chose to cheat. I chose to cheat against you because I didn't stand a chance. Otherwise, you were too good for me to beat. So I flash-banged your ass so I could get good hits in."

Robin compressed a noise in his throat. "I ain't do it on purpose. Honestly, I'm surprised you made it this far without a mishap. Unless you slept with it on, it had to come off at some point. Otherwise, it'd just look weird. Ya girls plan was doomed from the start in my eyes. I am sorry bout that though, ain't mean to."

The initial hostility faded, leaving the two frustrated and staring down the other. Part of his mind dimly recognized the look on her face. After all, it was the same look he saw in the mirror every morning. Confused, lost, and endlessly frustrated.

She stopped for a moment, wiped her eyes, and let out a pathetic laugh. "So that's it then? You ruined my life and outed me in front of the whole school… and it was just because you wanted to win a spar. It hurts. I had wanted to come over here. Imagine that you had some awful reason, but no. It's just a normal brand of selfishness that ruined everything for me."

Robin raised an eyebrow at her words. "I ain't ruin your whole life. If something like this was gonna keep you down, you wouldn't be here."

"Why, because I'm strong enough to take it?" She scoffed at the mere notion.

He shook his head. "No, 'cause you got enough people around you to hold you up. Ain't nobody strong."

That seemed to take the wind out of her sails as she slowly sat down. They sat in silence for a while till she spoke again. "Guess it doesn't matter 'cause you already know the broad strokes, but you mind if I ask a brick-wall idiot a question?"

"Shoot." He returned quickly.

"I'm avoiding something, and I know I am. This thing; I'm afraid of it. It's going to hurt so much, but I know I need to." She paused for a moment. "What would you do in my shoes? Would you face this thing that'd cause you so much pain?" She looked him in the eyes.

When it's over, her words–he's thinking of home, he swallows. "...no," He eventually croaked out. "I wouldn't. I'd spend my every waking moment running from it. It was… core to who I was, everything I knew. But it was dead, gone, and I know it was dead. Lazarus don't come back without Christ's hand."

He shook his head; on some level, he knew this was the wrong answer, but it was honest. "What's done be done. The dead bury their dead. And we can't scream, Lazarus, arise loud enough to make changes worth a damn. You're not running from it. A part of you has been cut out. And you've got to wait for the scar tissue to form over that wound and become just as much a part of your mask as everything else."

Silence reigned after he finished; it wasn't comfortable. Robin looked up at her as he heard her stand up from her seat. Her eyes were understanding, at least on some level. She might not have gotten what he was referencing, but the message got itself across.

Robin watched as she took a few steps away and then turned. Walking out of sight entirely. With that, he was alone again.

She had her own battles.

Robin had his.

That was the coffin nail, really.

Note: Nother chapter out, hopefully y'all enjoy. Remember if ya see anything like grammar errors or things that don't make sense, point em out. Otherwise, hope you enjoy the chapter and have a wonderful day!