A/N: Patrick is certainly in deep waters if anyone were to discover his symbol in those photos. What's more, Marina is now working as a Professor at Beacon. I wonder if anybody saw that coming, a girl who can't even fight to save her own life is teaching Huntsmen and Huntresses. Let's see what awaits for them.
Chapter 32: New Professor
"The Great War lasted for over Ten Years. The Kingdoms were divided into two teams: Atlas and Mistrel against Vacuo and Vale. Even though they were allies, tensions were high between Atlas and Mistrel. However, Vale was on a different level. During the incident of the Grimm, citizens of Mistrel struggled with their lives in danger, to both the war and the Creatures of Grimm. During these dark times, they make their way to Sanus to seek refuge. Even though they fought against their enemy kingdoms, the leader, whom the world known as the Legendary King of Vale, showed compassion and shared the land with the settlers."
All the students are focused on their school work, taking notes on everything Marina speaks of The Great War. While Patrick does work on taking notes, he often keeps his eyes on Marina. From a distance, the young New Professor is stern and focused. But Patrick isn't so easily fooled. With his Scope vision, he gets a good look at Marina. During her teaching speeches, he takes notice of signs from her.
Her hands shaking.
Her chest moved quicker than normal, a sign of nervous breathing.
Detecting mild sweats on her forehead.
Clearly, Marina is very nervous. Who can blame her especially with Professor Ozpin is sitting by observing her?
One thing Patrick does find surprising is that the other students are behaving normally. From the start they all find Marina to be a very attractive young woman. Maybe not as much as Mashika but he felt like it was enough to have the males crushing on her. Even Patrick finds her looking lovely.
A young adult with shiny long blue hair, amber eyes, and wearing a dark red blazer and skirt.
The bell rings, ending this class session, which caught Marina by surprise. "Oh, that's all for today. Please be sure to read chapter 14 of your textbook."
The day goes on for the students of Beacon. When lunchtime came, Team PASM take their seats and discuss what has happened in the first class.
"I can't believe that woman is our professor. I did not see that coming." Selena says.
"That is certainly unexpected. She didn't seem the teaching type back at the mansion." Akira says.
"From what Mashika and I heard, she was studying to become a teacher." Patrick says. "But it's surprising to see her becoming a teacher at a Huntsmen academy." What Patrick says is mostly a lie, but it's not something he can just tell his own team.
"Still, she seems to know what she is doing. I can tell that she is a professional." Marlene says.
"She seems really friendly too, even though we did have a tough start." Selena says.
"I hate to be reminded of it." Patrick says, disappointed. Thinking back to the moment when Marina went berserk and attacked him, even when weakened by the effects of Lovers Poison. Once the poison came to Patrick's mind, he now starts to wonder how she is doing. He hasn't heard anything from Elizabeth about her conditions. He believes that she is cured but he's never treated a condition that severe.
Later, when classes ended, Patrick remains in the classroom with Mashika. Once she's ready, they both head out to the classroom Marina is running. Marina is about to receive her report from Ozpin, and Patrick and Mashika are here for support.
"Well, I must say I am very impressed with how you've handled your students. You have a ton of experience, I expected nothing less from the daughter of the Dragon Beast." Ozpin lowers his head. "My condolences for your loss."
Marina shook her head. "No, it's fine Mr. Ozpin sir."
"I don't normally do this to someone with no experience as a fighter or a teacher but seeing what you have done, and given the condition that Miss Kirei and young Patrick Aki told me, I would be happy to have you as a Professor here at our academy." Ozpin extends a hand to Marina. "Welcome to Beacon, Miss Marina."
Marina smiles happily as she accepts and shakes Ozpin's hand. "Thank you, I won't let you down Headmaster Ozpin."
"Bear in mind that I will be around to see how you progress during this semester. But don't let it worry you, whatever happens, won't affect your position." Ozpin makes his leave. "I wish you the best of luck."
Mashika and Patrick are excited for Marina, even though Patrick doesn't really show it at all. Later that night, the three of them decided to celebrate by going out to dinner at the Wine and Grilled. Patrick and Mashika are sitting together on one side of the table while Marina is on the other side.
"Cheers!" Marina and Mashika cheer their glasses of wine together.
They drink as the three of them wait for their meal. The whole time Patrick is just sitting there looking annoyed. "Congrats on the new job, Marina."
"I have you two to thank. The students are really friendly. However, there was this one male student who was staring at me and drooling, I got chills the way he's looking at me. Then there was this cat Faunus that was pulling on his ear."
Marina has a flashback during one of her classes, where she's standing in place nervous as Peter is staring at her and Clawdia begins pulling on his ear. 'Wake up, mew Purr-vert! Mew're making her feline uncomfortable!'
Mashika can't help but giggle. "Yes, Mr. Kazuto and Miss Stone. Peter has a bit of a weakness for pretty girls."
"I think 'a bit' is putting it too lightly." Patrick whispers.
"But he's not so bad. You could say he's all bark and no bite. And Miss Stone is pretty much keeping him in check. You don't have anything to worry about for those two." Mashika says.
"I suppose that explains why Headmaster Ozpin just let them be." Marina says with a nervous laugh. "The way they behave, I'm assuming they much be siblings." Marina says.
"Close. They're cousins." Mashika says.
Marina laughs. "Well, I'm glad I'm able to do this. My father had wished I could be a great huntsman like he was. I hated him for forcing it upon me, but you know what? I'm glad that he did. I can never fulfill his legacy on the battlefield, but as a professor at a huntsman academy, I can pass on his teaching to future generations of Huntsmen and Huntresses."
Mashika smiles. "Zovaal would be proud of you, love."
As they all sit and wait for their meal, Marina can't help but notice Patrick is the only one who isn't enjoying the night. "Is something wrong, Patrick?"
"Nothing is wrong." Patrick says, giving her the cold shoulder.
"Don't mind him. He's probably just not too fond of coming back here." Mashika asks.
Marina is left confused hearing that. Mashika tells her about what happened on Patrick's Birthday, how she took him here to dinner. It was going fine until one of the waitresses accidentally gave him a liquor beverage. And in one sip, he was out like a light.
"And so on the way back, he kept babbling on about what a good person I am. As a teacher, and aunt and a mother who never had a child."
Marina laughs with a smile. "That sounds so cute."
"I'm gonna kill you for this, Kirei." Patrick says in a growling tone.
"Aww." Mashika warps an arm around Patrick and holds him close as she pokes his cheek and speaks in a teasing tone. "Why can't you just admit you love me, Love? You know you do."
"Oh, I do...When Boarbatusk's fly!" Patrick says.
"That's not a no. You didn't deny it!" Mashika says.
"Shut up, Mashika!" Patrick shouts at her. Marina just looks at those two with a clueless expression, then ends up laughing. "And just what is so funny?" Patrick asks her.
"I'm sorry, seeing you two like this. It almost makes me wish I had a young sibling of my own." Marina says.
Patrick just shoves himself away from Mashika, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all. "Yeah, well." Mashika puts a hand on Patrick's head. "Being prisoners together in that agency really made us close. But, back then Patrick was so young, being with him made him feel like a son to me. All though he really disapproves of the idea."
"How come?" Marina asks.
"I can't say. He doesn't like to talk about it." Mashika says.
"But enough of that. Just how are you doing, Marina?" Patrick asks. "Did your doctors say anything?"
"I'm still due for another check-up at the end of the week, but they say that the results have been negative so far." Marina says.
"It's better than nothing...or the other way around." Patrick says, feeling disgusted by the 'other way' comment. "Let's just hope that they won't find you here."
"I'm sure Marina is in good hands, Love." Mashika says.
Marina smiles. "It's not so bad. I may have to share a room with Mashika but I don't mind the company, and young Rin is such a sweetheart."
"I'm pretty sure she's too busy to spend some time for you two getting to know each other." Patrick says.
Marina laughs nervously. "You got me there. That's just one of the perks of being Student Council President, I guess."
With their meal arrived, Mashika, Marina, and Patrick dine in. Once they are finished, Marina and Mashika had dessert. Patrick, on the other hand, said he had other plans and decides to leave. Despite Mashika's disapproval even though he did leave his share of paying the bill.
When Marina and Mashika are finished, they made their way back to Beacon. When they have returned, Marina heads back to the dorm. Mashika decided to search around for Patrick, he is nowhere to be seen. When she can't find him, she decided to check up on his team. She asked them about the whereabouts of Patrick.
"Sorry, we don't know where he is." Marlene says.
"You know, we are wondering where he disappears to at night. We always thought he could be doing some special training." Akira says.
"You don't think he could be doing something...devious, do yea?" Selena asks.
"I sure hope not." Mashika says, whispering to herself.
Later that night, Marina finds herself laying on the ground in the darkness. She looks all around, there's nothing but the endless void. "Where am I?" Marina asks, her voids echoing in the dark. Marina tries to stand up, but her body won't listen. She looks to see there is nothing holding her back. No chains and ropes holding her down. "Why can't I move?" What's more, is Marina sees that she isn't wearing any clothing. She's exposed. As if things couldn't get any worse, the eerie sounds of moaning fill the air, startling the young woman when her ears catch them. She looks to find herself surrounded by shadow figures, with devious creepy smiles on their dark faces. This makes Marina really nervous. "What's going on? What's happening!?" The shadow figures have their hands out, reaching out to Marina, hands open ready to grab as they slowly move towards her. Marina pants heavily as her heart bounds like crazy. But she's frozen in fear when she sees one of them is holding onto a needle, with a very familiar and terrifying serum within. The needle moves closer to Marina, who starts to panic. "No, no, no! Please don't!" Marina is helpless to resist. The hands of the shadow figures are only inches away from her exposed body, and the needle draws closer and closer to Marina's neck. "Don't do this! Please! Someone!" And the needle injects.
"HELP!" Marina screams as she sits right up, her eyes dirt wide open in shock as she pants heavily and sweating. Marina repeatedly slaps a hand on her neck where the needle was injected but found nothing. Marina looks around. She's not in the endless void of darkness, but instead is in the darkness of her own room. Marina's heart is still pounding even as she familiarizes her surroundings.
Marina decided to get out of bed and into the bathroom. Marina splashes some cold water in her face, rubbing the feeling of panic and insomnia from her face. When Marina is finished she turns off the faucet, and takes a deep breath. She looks at her own reflection and see's an image that feels strange to her. Her hair a message, her skin pale, eyes tired and slightly bloodshot.
"Still having those nightmares, even here." Marina says to herself.
Marina returns to her room. She slowly walks to her bed in a daze and lays on it face flat. Marina turns to her sit, she sees a picture frame on the nightstand. She reaches to grab the photo, holding it as she looks at the picture of Zovaal in his younger years. "I wish you were here..." Marina holds the picture in a close hug as she closes her eyes. "...Father." And the waterworks begin.
In the early morning, the bulletin board is once again filled with the Inappropriate Photos. And Patrick got an early rising to once again tear doesn't those photos. "Honestly! That little bugger is gonna need plastic surgery once I'm through with him." Once his work is done, he stomps off muttering angrily.
Patrick returns to his dorm where his team greets him with a good morning. Only from the look on his face they can tell it's not a good morning. "Let us guess: The photos?"
"Yeah. More of them on that board." Patrick says.
"This has gone long enough, we need to find the culprit responsible for this." Marlene says.
"Indeed. And when I find him, I'm gonna make him wish he's never born." Patrick says with a flaming aura. Seeing him like this terrifies the rest of Team PASM.
Team PASM is on the hunt for their target. They wander around in the courtyard. As they have, they have taken those that the other students are giving them unusual looks, some expressions either mad or disgusted.
"Why are they looking at us like that?" Marlene asks.
"I don't know, but I got a bad feeling about it." Selena says.
Team PASM tries their best to ignore the other students but the looks won't change. Not only that but they catch on that the students are whispering to each other as they stare. This starts to make Team PASM feel uncomfortable.
"What's going on?" Akira asks.
As they cross the courtyard, Glynda marches from the school towards Team PASM with several female students with her. "There he is." One of them says.
Patrick notices the girl is pointing at him. "Wha...Me?"
Glynda takes Team PASM bake to their dorm, with two female students and Rin with her. "As I'm sure you are aware, there is a student in this school who is posting inappropriate photos of our female students. Well, we have found some footage evidence that Mr. Aki here is responsible for this." Team PASM has their doubts, especially Patrick. But Glynda shows a holoflim of a video shoot that takes place at the bulletin board in night. The video shows a figure is posting the photos on the board, and once he's done, he turns revealing his face. The girls of Team PASM gasped seeing this.
"Patrick? But...that can't be." Selena says.
"This is certainly unexplainable." Akira says.
"What you say could be true, Miss Watts." Glynda turns to Patrick. "Mr. Aki, do you perhaps have an alibi to prove your innocence?"
"Of course, I was elsewhere at the time." Patrick says. Nobody says anything, the female students just give them a serious mean look. Clearly not buying his story. "What?"
"Patrick, that's not good enough for an alibi." Selena says.
"Agreed. Can't you tell us where you were at the scene of the crime?" Akira asks. Patrick doesn't say anything, this only raises suspicion in the room. "You often disappear on us nearly every night, can't you tell us where you are and what you are doing during those times?"
"I...can't tell you." Patrick says.
"He obviously did it!" One of the female students says. "He's nothing but a lying creep."
"Calm down, I'm sure there's a reasonable explaina-" Rin gets cut off before she can finish by another female student.
"Hey, I found something. Under one of the beds." Everyone turns to her, who drags out a closed laptop.
"That was under Patrick's bed." Selena says.
Patrick takes the laptop, examining it. "That's impossible. I don't even own a laptop."
"Here, let me see it." Marlene takes the laptop. She opens it up and does some typing with only one hand. "It's certainly not mine. But..." Marlene looks shocked. "Oh dear." Hearing that has everyone curious. They all look at the laptop behind Marlene and are shocked as well. On the laptop is a photoshop workshop app on with several window pictures of the inappropriate photos.
"See? That proves it! This boy is guilty!" The female student says.
Patrick slams the laptop shut. "You're being ridiculous. I didn't do any of this!" Nobody says nothing. "What? You don't believe me?" Patrick turns to his team. "Say something." They don't, then Patrick turns to Rin. "What about you? You know I'm innocent in this, right?"
Rin hesitates before she speaks. "Headmaster Goodwitch, with all due respect, I don't think-"
"I have seen enough." Glynda says. "Mr. Patrick Aki, you are Expelled from Beacon Academy!"