Hey, I'm back again and better than ever. A lot of things came up it recent times and I've been juggling school and fanfictions like crazy, but nothing I can't handle. I'm also really happy that I've managed to reached nearly 40 followers and I really appreciate all the support you guys have been giving the story.
Since this was my first time writing fanfictions, I was actually really nervous about it. But after seeing all the positive reviews and stuff, you guys have really made me happy to write this. So I'm gonna continue to push through and see this story to it's conclusion! And I apologise for the few spelling errors here and there, I'll try to reread and edit after I'm done writing."
Also shoutouts;
na,misfit,fox: I totally understand where you're going with the Blake X Soap thing and I totally agree, *Finger Guns* so not to worry ma boy I got chu.
rapidmaster88: Yang X Soap, I can see that. Though I'm gonna have build up their relationships one by one, though I can say Yang might get a head start.
Anyway, without further ado... let's get it.
CHAPTER FOUR: New Friends Bring Back Old Memories.
Remnants shattered moon hung helplessly in the night sky as the students of Beacon slept. Resting their minds and bodies in preperation for the next day where they would prove their worth as future Huntsmen and Huntresses.
But among the prospective young teenagers who slept listlessly and sliently (well apart from a certain orange haired girl that snored like a cement mixer) one young man tossled and turned in his sleeping bag as in his minds eye he revisited memories from his past.
Soaps Mindsacpe...
Flashback; 13 years ago in the Scottish highlands...
"That'z the second time thiz week! I'm not kiddin' John, if ya don' straighten out yer attitude soon, you'll be outta thiz school!" roared the vice principal to a 15 year old Soap, who sat across from him with a scowl.
"Now get tha hell out me office." muttered the principal as he began to massage the headache forming on his temple, "Yer mum's comin' round ta pick ya up."
Soap merely 'tched' as he roughly rose up from the metal chair he sat on and snatched his bag off the floor. Making his way to the door of the office he raised a heavily bloody and brushed fist as he turned the nob and stepped outside, making sure to close the door harder than necessary as he left.
Soap wore a dark blue hoodie, black jeans and sneakers as he stuffed his bruised knuckles into his hoddies pockets and stormed down the hallway filled with students. Soap's middle school was just like any other public school in the world, a place where degenerates and geniuses alike strived to succeed in the life god had given them.
Soap belonged to the degenerate category, as indicated by the hushed whispers and fearful glances his fellow students sent his way.
"Jezus, he sent Carter straight to ER." whispered one girl fearfully.
"Heard he broke his bottom jaw an' completely destroyed his teeth." added another boy.
"Apparently he waz talkin' shit 'bout his mum," supplied yet another student to the discussion.
"What'd he sa-" before the student could ask his question, Soap sent him a death glare that immediatly silenced him and the rest of the gossiping students as they quickly shuffled away.
Soap made his way to the entrance as he waited by the vacant lot for his ride home.
After a few minutes a dark gray minivan that looked like it'd seen better days pulled up to the school's lot, and under normal circumstances Soap would've smiled but when he saw it his face scrunched up in guilt as he let out a resigned sigh and made his way to the minivan.
Arriving at the passenger side Soap opened the door and saw the dissappointed face of his mother, Masey Mactavish. She had the same dark hair as Soap cut into a pixie bob cut. She had the same heart shaped face as her son but her eyes were a calming grey contrast to Soaps deep blue. She also had a beauty mark on her upper right cheek.
"John, what happened this time?" she asked, in a less pronounced Scottish tone since she was half American.
"Nothin'..." mumbled Soap incoherently as he placed his bag in the back seat and climbed into the passenger side. His mother shot him a look before taking her hands off the steering wheel and folding in front of her modest bust.
"Alright, enough mumbling and muttering. Tell me what happened, because your principal didn't wanna digress the details over the phone."
"Ya didn't really 'ave to come all the way 'ere. Your shifts gonna be startin soon anyway and it's rush hour time soon." said Soap hoping to change the subject.
"My son is more woefully more important than my shift, so I'm not leaving until ya tell me what happened." she said finally, not giving any room for Soap to escape.
Soap sent one more look at his mother before turning to face the window, "... said... you..." Soap muttered lowly. Masey frowned at her son's refusal to speak up.
"I said no mumbling and muttering, so speak up." she said with a stronger tone. Soap muttered slightly louder but she was still not able to properly hear him, getting fed up with his refusal to speak clearly she threw her hands in the air and shouted at him.
"John Mactavish, speak up and answer the question!"
"The basturt' called you a whore!" bellowed Soap in anger. "He said it durin' football practice so I broke his bloody jaw an' I don't regret a thing."
Masey, upon hearing her sons reasons let out a sigh before placing a hand on his head and stroking it affectionately. "How many times do I got to tell you not to get upset on my behalf. You know their not true so you don't have to beat up every bloke who say believes local rumors and heresay."
Soap grunted but didn't say anything to voice his displeasure. Although it was clearly present on his face.
Soap didn't exactly have a model childhood and family. His father left as soon as he found out his mother was pregneant with him and she had to leave college to take care of him. It wasn't all bad since Masey's sister and mother helped her raise Soap, and even though Soap's grandfather was angry at first his love for his youngest daughter overcame his anger and he also pitched in to help whenever he could.
Masey would often work tirelessly at bars and diners to provide Soap with the things he'd need, working double, triple and even late night shifts. But not once did she ever complain or bitch about her responsibilites to her son, she had an optimisstic and hoepful personality. Never letting anything stop her from doing her absolute best for her one and only son.
But then rumors went around about how 'Poor Masey was knocked up by some dirty bloke and now she has to do all sorts of jobs to look after her bastard son.' and more like that. And being the forever optimist that she was, Masey never let the rumors bring her down. It just strengthened her reslove to prove those rumors false and to keep pushing through.
But Soap however, was a completely different story. As soon as he could listen and understand he'd been busting in skulls since his days in the playground. Hearing false and horrible rumors about his mother at a young age caused Soap to get into countless fist fights and bashings. His mother was a kind and honorable Catholic, who loved her son, family and friends wholeheartedly. So to hear all kinds of things said about her, dirtying her good name, it caused Soap to become an avenger of sorts.
Masey sighed as she looked at her son's face before starting the car and driving out the lot. "So what did ya do this kid?" she sighed.
"Nothin' too bad. Though he'll probably be drinkin' blended food for a bit till his jaw heals." replied Soap. Masey inwardly sighed in relief, it wasn't as bad as most of the kids he's sent to the hospital. In fact, she would consider this an improvement.
Driving in silence for bit the car eventually came to a red stop light, "Are ya still mad at me?" asked Soap suddenly, with his head resting on his palm as he stared out the window at the closely approaching thunderstorm.
Masey shook her head in response, "You know I won't stay mad for long. I'm just dissapointed again."
Soap's head hung low in shame. This wasn't the first time she had picked him up like this and had the same conversation, but after a few days or if he was lucky, a few weeks, the two would end up in the same position again. Sitting in an awkward silence after Soap greviously beat up another student.
Masey had almost run out of idea's on how to deal with her son's short temper and negative outlook on people and life in general. Even being raised in a Roman Catholic household could only do so much for his outbursts. Soap cpuld be rather pessimisstic at times, but she wasn't one to give up.
Suddenly an idea came to her, thinking deeply for a few seconds she came to a decision. She immediatly took a left at another intersection just as the thunderstorm from earlier began to pour, causing the windows of the minivan to slightly fog up.
"Um, Ma... where are we goin'?" asked Soap as he turned to look at his mother, Masey only smiled thoughtfully back in response.
"I just thought of showing you something is all."
"..."
Soap decided to keep quiet as he stared ahead. They eventually left the well paved roads of the town and began to follow a long winding path towrd the nearest mountain range. The town was conviniently located in the valley of two large mountain ranges, making it an ideal tourist spot.
The rain fell less and less the higher up the mountain they drove and eventually they reached an intersection where one road led directly back to the otherside of town, while the other continued upward to the top of the mountain range. Nestled snuggly by the side of the road was a look out point with several benches laid out in a straight line, looking out over the town and directly to the mountain range opposite of it.
A long, wide shelter sheilded the benches from the rain as they remained dry and protected. Parking beside the lookout point, Masey opened her door and stepped out. Motioning for Soap to follow.
The rain had stopped and with the clouds parting, it was a beautiful sight of the orange, purple sky lighting up against a downcast but bright background as the sun shot it's calming warm afternoon rays towards them. Soap took a moment to appreciate the view, it was strange how he'd lived here for his whole 14 years of life, but never knew such a place existed nor had he seen such beauty.
"Beautiful, right?" asked Masey with a small grin. Soap nodded in agreement, still in awe.
"You know," began Masey as she took a seat on one of the many benches, with Soap following suite, "this place has a very important place in me and your aunt's hearts."
Masey was the youngest of two girls born from an American mother and a Scottish father. Her elder sister by 5 years, and Soap's aunt Cassidy Konick was what could only be described as an overly obsessive and clingy parent/guardian. Soap had lost count how many times she'd handcuffed the two of them together during family outings, when she was in charge of watching him. (Yep, she was that overprotective.)
And even his own mother wasn't safe from his aunt's... questionable tendencies even as adults.
Soap tilted a head quizically, urging her to elaborate. She had a resolved look on her face as she sighed, her eyes trained straight ahead.
"You may not have known this but... I once tried to kill myself here." Soap felt like two trucks had just rammed into both of his lungs. He gasped in shock, but his mother continued, "I was at an unbelievabley low point in highschool, and thought that offing myself would be the best option."
Soap was sputtering as he tried to form words, but the revealation had practically shut down his speaking functions. So he could only listen numbly to his mothers words.
"I know it's not exactly the best parenting thing to do to tell your kid about your past tramaus, but seeing the road you're going down you might end up like me when I was your age." continued Masey, "I may seem all happy-go-lucky and optimisstic nowadays, but that was just the result of growing up."
"I was moody, violent and an all around bitch," his mother chuckled in a self loathing tone, "It was a wonder why your aunt put up with me for all those years."
Soap finally found his voice as he began to question his mother, "Why are ya tellin' me all this now!? This is somethin' I should've known a long time ago." He was shaken by the shocking revelation, but he knew his mother wouldn't just make stuff up in order to get a message across. The pain and resignation in her eyes was enough to tell him that much.
She turned to look at Soap, "I'm not telling you this just to guilt trip you to change how you do things, or how you are, no. I'm telling you as someone who has lived life already and has experienced enough of it to make sure you don't make the same mistakes I did."
"Mistakes?" echoed Soap.
"I don't mean you of course!" she said hurriedly, upon realizing what she said. "I made a lot of those, but do not ever think you are a mistake."
Soap simply nodded in response. He had said she wasn't one to get angry easily, but when someone called him anything resembling the word mistake or anything synonimous with it she would go ballistic. Even though it only happened a few times when he was still a child, he could still vividly recall those moments.
Upon realizing those thoughts he began chuckling internally. The two really were mother and son in their fierce defence of the other.
"So I'm guessin' ya don't want me ta' end up like how you did, huh?" Soap asked solemnly. "I won't ask fer' details but... how do ya plan on makin' sure I don't make the same mistakes you did."
His mother smiled in response, "By making you realize what you want to do with your life obviously."
Soap had question marks floating around his head. "What I want to do with my life?"
"The first step to change is to realize what you want to do with yourself that requires change." she said sagely, "Who knows, your aunt and uncle will be coming down to visit tomorrow along with Kray, maybe you'll find out then."
Before Soap could respond or do anything for that matter. His eyes suddenly shot open and he was greeted by the ceiling of Beacons ballroom.
Back in Beacons ballroom...
Soap sat up with a start as he began to breath heavily with sweat leaking off his brow. He looked around to see that everyone was still asleep with the morning sun rising in the distance as it cast it's warm rays over the sleeping students.
Still breathing heavily Soap managed to heave himself out of his sleeping bag, and with a sigh he walked off rubbing his eyes to get rid of the sleep as he made his way to the bathroom. Immediately after he left the rest of the Beacon initiates began to stir, but one although already awake, still lay curled up in her sleeping bag deep in thought.
"Was he having some sort of nightmare?" whispered Blake to herself, somewhere in the middle of the night Blake had woken up to use the bathroom, but when she tried to go back to sleep she heard Soap muttering and moving about in his
She heard him mention somehing about his mother, although she wasn't able to catch everything he said. She even saw his brisk awakeaning a few minutes ago and immediately assumed he was a having a nightmare of sorts.
"Should I ask him about it?" she asked herself as she too began to rise from her sleeping bag and ready her things for initiation, "Maybe... after initiation?"
Although she didn't know too much about him, he seemed to have a fairly troubled past. Something Blake was familiar with since she escaped her past by running away to Beacon. Little did she know his past was far more complicated that she thought.
While Soap stood in front of the bathrooms mirrors and brushed his teeth he was deep in thought. Most of the dreams he had were about his time serving in the SAS and 141, this was the first time he had dreamt as far back as when he was still a troublemaking teen.
The small episode he had with his mother on the hillside look out was actually the moment when he resolved himself to try to be better, for her and for himself. It was also directly after their heart to heart that Soap met with his cousin Kray Konick who in turn, spurred him into deciding to folllow him to join the military.
Although in his dream it stopped before his mother would've given him some sound advice that he'd keep with him till his adult hood.
Deciding to push those thoughts aside so he could focus on the initiation, he was pretty surprised to see an orange haired girl wearing a pink skirt that stopped over her lower thighs, with white stockings that came and went past the skirt. She also wore a breast plate with a heart shape cut out over her cleavage with a black short sleeved, high collared vest. She was sitting idly on one of the benches humming while kicking her feet back and forth. Breast size; E.
'What the hell?! I thought this was supposed ta' be the mens bathroom!' Soap screamed internally. Her cyan colored eyes gleamed with excitement, anticipation and... hunger?
"Reeennnn, hurry up. You're taking too long." she drawled in a bored tone. Soap was lucky he had just finished his shower and was wearing a black skin tight sleevless vest and his combat boots and pants.
"Um, excuse me but aren't ya supposed to be in tha' girls locker room?" asked Soap, approaching the seated girl.
"Hm? Oh, hi!" she said enthusiastically upon noticing the Scottsman, "I'm just sitting here waiting for my friend Ren. Who are you waiting for?"
"Uh, no one." replied a confused Soap.
"Really? That sucks, oohh I know. Why don't we wait for Ren together, so that way you'll have someone to wait for if someone asks who you're waiting for." Soap took a second to process the girls words.
'Why would she ask who I'm waiting for, only to suggest we wait for her friend together?'
Soap stared at her for a bit before shrugging and taking a seat next to her, she immediatly began to rapid fire questions at him.
"Hey what's your name? Cool tattoo's, where'd ya get them? You speak kinda weird, where did you learn to do it? I'm Nora, and you? Are you excited for initiation? I'm hungry, are you feeling hungry? I like pancakes do you like pancakes? I-"
"Whoa, whoa easy there ginger, one question at a time." Soap stopped her from continuing with her random question, he was pretty sure she asked for his name twice in that span of short quick changing questions. "The names John Mactavish, or just Soap. And you are?"
"Nora Valkyrie, nice to meet you Soap. Though that's kind of a strange name to have."
Soap chuckled, "It's more of a nickname really. Nice ta' meets ya Nora."
"A nickname? Oohhh, I wanna have a nickname, but I should give Ren one first and then he can give me one back." Nora said excitedly.
"Speakin' of that, why are ya waitin' fer ya friend here?"
"Because it has a bench to sit on." she answered simply.
"Oookay, but why sit 'ere in the boys locker room is what I'm askin'?" asked Soap once again, emphasizing the why. 'Something tells me she may not be fullest bottle 'o beer in tha' pub.'
"Oh that's easy. Because as soon as I see Ren I can make sure it's him." she answered proudly, like she had just used an above average IQ to answer an incredibly difficult question.
Soap sighed and decided to try and pick another topic. He could've just up and left Nora sitting there, but since he already went through the trouble of introducing himself and engage in conversation with the ginger, he was determined to see his decison through.
"So, this Ren person must be a pretty good friend o' yours." Nora nodded enthusiastically and proudly.
"He's not just any friend, he's my best friend. We've been bestest friends for years and so we thought that it would be pretty cool to be best friend Huntsmen together."
'Jeezus, poor bastard must've been friend zoned.' Soap thought mournfully, internally offering support to the poor sod.
"What about you, do you have a best friend?" inquired Nora. Sopa went silent for a moment as he thought back to his friends. Well friends would be a rather mediocre word to describe them, the right word would be... brothers.
"No. My best friends... they're not around anymore." Soap said solemnly, " Though I wouldn't exactly call em' best friends, they were more like brothers ta' me." His head lowered slightly in thought.
"Boooop." Nora poked a finger at his cheek, causing the Scottsman to look at the hyperactive ginger, "You looked sad, so if It'll make ya feel better I can be your best friend, or what did you call em? Brothers? Why not I be your brother!"
Soap stared at her before he burst out laughing, it was a light but jolly sound. "Jezus, ya really are a weird girl."
Nora grinned at the... praise? "You, me and Ren can all be brothers together. I'm sure the two of you will get along great, since you're both guys."
'What kinda logic is tha'?'
Soap decided that it was best not to voice his question. Even though Nora was rather... eccentric, he found her hyperactivness a breath of fresh air from the doom and gloom of the military life.
It seemed to be a reacuring theme to the Scottsman. Even though all the people here were training to fight murderous, souless monsters they still found the time to have fun, joke about and just act their age most of the time. Something Soap found both strange and peaceful, since as soon as you fired your first rifle and spilled your first blood in the army it would change you as an indivdual and person. Though some people managed to keep the innocent parts of them despite that fact.
So seeing people like Jaune, Yang, Ruby and Nora still living their life to the fullest despite the unknown future ahead of them, it made the Scottsman think twice about how he had been living his life.
'I've been on countless missions, killed without mercy and guarded the worlds security fer' years, and even after all that I can't remeber the last time I actually had... fun.' Fun. That was something he hadn't experienced in a while, or atleast not as often as he would've liked.
His life became more severe and serious after the Sheperd debacle and his disgraceful discharge, travelling constantly with Price, Nikolai and Yuri. Going all around the world in hopes of putting a stop to Makarov's madness, so the small things like shopping with Coco and Velvet, crafting his weapon, training and meeting new people those were the times he actually had fun.
"Hey, you doing okay? You've been staring at that wall for a while now, is there something on it?" Nora popped her head infront of Soap, disrupting his train of thoughts.
"Aye, it's nothin'. Just thinking." reassured Soap, "And no, there's nothin' interestin on the walls either."
Deciding he had spent more than enough time sitting about Soap rose to his feet, "I should be headin' out to grab me gear. You gonna wait fer' your friend Ren?"
"Our friend Ren," corrected Nora, "And yeah I will, though I wish you could stay for a bit more then maybe you could meet him."
Soap shook his head with a smile at Nora's empahsis on our friend when refering to Ren, "We're all gonna be headin' to initiation together anyway. Maybe we'll meet up back there.
"If that's the case we should have a signal, so we can know where the other is." stated Nora excitedly.
"A signal?" Soap said with a raised brow.
"Yeah, a signal like... oh, what about a sloth!" Soap facepalmed upon hearing Nora's suggestion.
"Um, Nora I don't think sloths make a whole lotta noise." sighed Soap, Nora paused in thought for a bit before her face lit up once more.
"That's exactly why no one will know it's us!" Soap shook his head in exasperation, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
"How about a whistle instead, yeah."
"What kinda whistle?"
"Like this." Soap did a steryotipical New York taxi whistle, "There, tha' should be approppriate."
"I like it." said Nora approvingly.
"Well, I'll be off now. See ya at initiation." with that Soap bid his farewell and left, leaving a grinning and waving Nora as he exited the bathroom. Shortly after Ren appeared and raised a brow at the still waving Nora.
Yang and Ruby stood in front of their lockers dressed in their combat outfits getting their weapons ready, they had just overheard a rather starnge conversation coming from two other students. Something about sloths, though the sisters decided to ignore it.
When the two woke up, they were surprised to see Soap already up and out. Ruby was secretly dissappointed that she wasn't able to hang with her first friend at Beacon, but she decided he was probably up getting ready for initiation and that she'd probably see him sooner or later when he came to collect his gear.
"Wonder what those two were so worked up about?" asked Ruby as she unlocked her locker and reached inside.
"Oh, who knows," said Yang dissmissively, turning to face her sister, "So! You seem awful chipper this morning."
Ruby giggled in a slightly maniacle fashion as she pulled out Crimson Rose in it's compact form, "Yep. No more awkward small talk and getting to know you stuff, this time I let my sweetheart do the talking~" Ruby began to stroke Crimson Rose lovingly as she rubbed the side of her face against the cold steel.
"Well remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation," lectured Yang with her hands on her hips, "If you wanna grow up you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together."
"Ugh, you sound like dad." groaned Ruby as she placed Crimson Rose back in her locker, "Okay, first of all what does meeting new people have to do with fighting and secondly I don't need people to help me grow. I drink milk."
"I don't think tha's what she meant Ruby." said Soap suddenly, coming to standing with the two. He was already in his combat gear and he had Beira slung over his shoulder. "Besides, are ya sure yer' buyin the right type of milk. Cause I'm not seein' any changes."
"What? But I do drink the right type of milk. The ones that say I'll grow stronger and my bones will become harder, thats what the carton says." said Ruby stubbornly before she realized that Soap had just appeared out of no where.
"Whoa, where'd you come from?" asked Yang, "We didn't see you when we woke up, did you head out early."
"Eh, more or less. Anyway what's this about Ruby and growin', cause I'm kinda confused 'ere." Soap turned to look to see the miniature reaper pouting.
"I'm more or less trying to help her get out of her shell, because it'll be an obstacle when we finally form teams." explained Yang before turning to address her sister, "And what about when we form teams?"
Ruby immediatly deflated upon hearing the question and Soap raised a brow, waiting to hear her answer. "Um, I don't know... I guess I'll be on your team, or something."
Soap could see that Ruby had a few qualms about working with other people. Not like she didn't want to, he saw it was more she didn't know how to. He turned to see Yang begin to grab at her hair nervously as she looked to the side as she talked. "Yeah, about that... I don't know maybe you should try being on someone elses team. Right Soap."
She immediatly asked him for support, while Ruby's eyes narrowed as she approached Yang, "My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not want to be on the same team as me."
'I should probably keep quiet and see how Ruby reacts ta' this. She seems ta' have a problem with interactin' with new people, tha' much was obvious when we first met and it does sound like Yang has the right idea. But I'll just keep me mouth shut, sorry Yang no words from me.' Soap took a step back as Ruby moved to stand directly infront of Yang.
"No, no of course I do! I just thought... I don't know, that maybe it'll help you break out of your shell."
"What the!" shouted Ruby appaulled, " I don't need to break out of my shell that's absolutely-"
"She's right ya know." Soap cut in, walking over to stand between the two, "Yer' gonna have ta' learn how to learn and interact with other people better."
"Bu-but I interact with you just fine, right?" asked Ruby, slightly miffed that her friend was taking her sisters side.
Soap nodded, "Ya do tha' just fine, but I'm not the only person 'ere. There are a bunch of new people tha' you could meet and maybe like too. And I'm not sayin' that I wouldn't want ya on me team, I would, but there are probably better people out there. Besides, I don't even know how teams are even formed ta' begin with."
Ruby took a second to ponder on Soaps words while Yang looked gratefully at the Scottsman, who nodded back with a smile.
"Thanks for the help. I don't think I would've explained it as good as you did and I doubt Ruby would've listened." whispered Yang.
"It's nothin'. Besides I didn't do anythin' worthwhile." shrugged Soap nonchalantly, to which Yang responded by punched his shoulder lightly.
"Come one, quit being humble. A hot blonde just complimented you, take the W." joked Yang.
"Really? Where's the hot blonde?" Soap said in feigned ignorance while grinning. "Yeah, yeah, real funny." Yang rolled her eyes before leaning closer to the Scottsman, a strange glint in her eyes.
"Ya know," she purred in a suggestive tone, "That's not the only thing that's hot~" Soap cocked a brow at her direct tease, but before he could respond the two heard the familiar shrill voice of Weiss echo around the corner. Yang was quietly pissed that her chance to score some points with the hot Scot was interupted, but she decided that she would try another time.
The shrill voice was followed by the familiar voice of Jaune and a third that Soap didn't recognize. "What's going on over there?" asked Ruby, as she came to stand beside the two. After hearing out Soaps reasoning she decided she'd put her best foot forward when trying to interact with more people going forward, it was the least she could do for her friend.
"Don't know?" replied Yang, "Should we check it out?"
"Well, it's on the way to tha' exit so why not." suggested Soap as he began to approach the chatting trio, Ruby and Yang looked at eachother before shrugging and following along.
When they came closer they saw that Weiss was indeed there, along with Jaune and a taller girl with red hair that Soap never met before. Weiss seemed to be struggling to explain something to Jaune who just stood there and listened meekly, while the taller red head stood as if she didn't know what to do.
"What do you think they're talking about?" asked Ruby as she watched Weiss face palm from something Jaune said.
"Don't know." shrugged Yang, "But knowing Ice Queen, she's probably getting on Jaune for not brushing his teeth before talking to her or something."
Soap saw that Jaune went from utterly crushed, from something Weiss said, to joyful the next from something the red haired girl said. She wore what Soap percieved to be traditional Greek armor with a tight fitting and sturdy leather vest that hugged her slim and muscled physique, along with a pair of short shorts with a red sash tied around her his with a few golden buttons over it. She wore the same golden colored armor from her thighs down to her feet. She laso had striking green eyes that seemed to compliment her fiery red hair perfectly which was tied into a ponytail, not to mention she was quite the beauty. Breast size; G.
Jaune then began to move closer to Weiss, making the girl rather uncomfortable. "Um, Phyrra. A little help here." she called out.
Soap's eyes widened slightly as he saw her pull out a spear as she raised it toward an oblivious Jaune. Ruby and Yang didn't see too bothered by it, but Soap wasn't gonna let her shoot that spear at his friend, lethal or not.
Phyrra threw her spear at an unsuspecting Jaune. She was trying to pin him to the wall since he seemed to be making Weiss uncomfortable, and she didn't really know how to handle it any other way. Besides, Weiss was the one that asked her for help.
Before the spear could pierce Jaunes hoodie, a hand grabbed the spear, putting it to a complete stop.
"Huh? Soap, how'd you get over there so quickly?!" exclaimed Ruby in surprise. One second he was standing with Yang and Ruby and the next he was already at where Weiss, Jaune and Phyrra were, a spear in his hand.
"Soap?" echoed Jaune as he turned to see his friend behind him, his eyes slightly hidden by a shadow. Weiss was confused as to where the Scottsman came from, but before she could ask him anything he began to make his way to Phyrra.
"Ya could've hurt him." said Soap simply as he roughly tossed Phyrra's spear back at her. She was shocked that Soap was able to swiftly intercept it, although she didn't throw it at full strength it was still impressive that he manged to catch it and stop it completely.
"Um, well-" Soap raised a hand to silence Phyrra, his eyes steely and hard as his deep blue stared directly into her bright green, "What if you'd been a few millimeters off, what woulda' happened then, huh? You'd have stabbed him in tha' fuckin' neck."
Phyrra winced at Soap's rough tone. Jaune, Ruby and Yang (the latter of which had just realized the red head was Phyrra Nikos aka, 'The Invincible Girl') stood by silently, surprised by Soaps action.
Weiss was beside herself with fury. How dare this nobody talk to Phyrra Nikos of all people in such a brass and rude manner. "Excuse me," said Weiss hotly, marching up to stand beside Phyrra as she scowled at Soap, "do you know who it is you are talking to?"
"No, I don't. And I don't care." replied Soap, not even bothering to look at Weiss as he continued to stare Phyrra down. Said girl was quietly shrinking in on herself, there was just something about Soap's look that said that if she tried interupting him or saying anything out of line, it would mean hell.
"I-You-Why you-!" Soap glared at her, effectively shutting her up before looking back at Phyrra.
"I can tell by yer' stance and the way tha' you carry yourself that yer' an efficient fighter. But just cause I acknowledge that yer' a fighter doesn't mean I'll ignore things ya do that don't really sit right wit' me. Case and point, yer' spear. I don't care how good ya are at it, even people who have mastered weapons can still take lives accidentally, just as much as they do intentionally. So the next time ya try shootin' tha' thing, make sure it's at an enemy and not some mild annoyance." said Soap coldly before turning and gesturing to Ruby, Yang and Jaune.
The three glanced nervously at eachother before following Soap, but before he left he decided to put one last word in. For Weiss's sake.
"Just so ya know Schnee," he said, turning slightly to look back at a still scowling Weiss, "I'm not someone who really cares about' a person's reputation or prowess. If ya prove yourself, that's fine but don't think I'll care for the fact that yer some kinda bigshot, cause I won't. And even if ya are, I'll still fight ya tooth and nail if ya do something tha' pisses me off."
Weiss stopped scowling momentarily when she heard Soap say he didn't care about a persons fame or background, but how they held themselves and showed their worth through their actions.
'D-did he really mean what he said?' said Weiss to herself as she frowned in thought, 'I don't really understand the brute all that well, but if he really does practice what he preaches then maybe there might be more to him than meets the eye.'
While Weiss tried to figure out the Scottsman in her head, Phyrra was feeling absolutely terrible. After thinking through the Scottaman's words she realized he was right, she could have seriously injured Jaune. Aura or not, it still would've been dangerous especially since they were about to head off to initiation. If his aura was even slightly lower than normal it would've affected his fighting prowess.
'Who was he anyway? Weiss seemed to know him, maybe I could ask her? Although he probably thinks I'm a terrible person right now, I should find the time to apologise later if I can.'
"Would all first year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. I repeat, would all..." the PA system blared as the remaining students began to leave and head toward the cliff.
All the students lined up in a single file line along the edge of the Cliff. They were ordered by Goodwitch to stand over metal pads for some reason.
Soap stood with Jaune to his right and Ruby to his left, standing readily in his position as second last out of all the assembled students. Ozpin stood tall in front of everyone, observing them with his coffee cup in hand.
"Today you will be taking your initiation. Some of you may or may not make it. Your abjective is to travel through the Emerald Forest and toward an old temple."
Goodwitch stepped forward to give further instructions, "There you will find a couple of Relics. You are to grab one and make your way back up the cliffs. Failure to do so will automatically be a fail."
Most of the assembled students gulped in nervousness and fear (Jaune included), a few more confident students smi
led at eachother thinking the initiation would be a breeze (Yang included). Most forgot the fact that they were going to one of the most prestigious Hunstmen academies on Remnant, meaning nothing was gonna be as easy.
"Today will also be the day where you will be formed into teams and once you land inside the forest, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the rest of your time at Beacon." The top of the cliff was so quiest you could almost hear a pin drop.
"WHAT!" Ruby shouted, which caused some of the other students to send her looks. But Soap had the same thoughts in his head as her, 'WHAT! Is right! I didn't know they had such a half-assed system for formin' teams.' shouted Soap internally, 'This must've been one of the "surprises" Coco was talkin' about. Bloody hell, wish she would've atleast told me.'
Before Soap could ponder on his predicament Goodwitch stepped back allowing Ozpin to speak, "Are there any questions?"
Soap glanced to his right to see Jaune raising his hand whilst the other students stood by idly.
"Um... sir, I have a question," tried Jaune but was promptly ignored. Soap only shook his head in pity for Jaune, the poor boy looked terrified.
"Good, now everybody get ready." ordered Ozpin, all the students obliged and got into varying stances. Soap lowered his back slightly as he placed his hands loosely down his sides and wiggled his fingers, waiting for the go.
Soap looked to the head of the line and saw one student get launched into the sky. His body stiffened as he looked on in shock as the next student was launched followed by another as his turn was slowly approaching. "Bloody fuckin' hell." cursed Soap under his breath as he readied himself for his inevitable launching.
Parachuting and leaping from buildings were different from being launched staright off a cliff.
"Um, are you going to give us like parachutes? How are we going to land safely?" Jaune asked once more, seeming to get more and more nervous as the faint, 'click' sounds were getting closer.
More and more students were being launched into the sky. Soap saw Weiss launched into the sky with her rapier in hand. Next in line was Yang who put on sme aviator glasses and gave a thumbs up to her little sister and lowered her glasses slightly to wink at Soap before getting shot into the sky.
"No, you will be using your own landing strategy." explained Ozpin to Jaune.
"Oh... are you going to-"
"You will also be falling too."
Ruby readied herself to be launched and sent a quick glance toward Soap, who locked eyes with her and gave her a reassuring smile. Ruby smiled back, determined to prove herself capable of attending Beacon as she was launched into the sky.
Soap and Jaune were the last two standing and Soap heard the faint 'click' coming from his metal pad. Soap looked to Jaune and gave him a two finger salute, "See ya on the otherside Jaune."
Before he was launched he locked eyes with Ozpin, "Best of luck Mr Mactavish, I expect great things from you." with those words Soap was launched into the sky, followed soon after by Jaune.
Beacons initiation was already underway.
And done... :P
Phew that was rough. Sorry this chapter didn't have a lot of action, but Soap was able to meet with a few of the other main cast.
Next chapter is when Soap begins his initiation in the Emerald Forest, fighting off Grimm and looking for a partner. Who will he meet up with first? Will he be okay with Beacons system of team formations? Will he make it out unscathed? These questions will be answered next time on SAS On Remanant; A Scottmans Initiation.
Please leave review if you have any suggestions, or if you have any complaints. I always have time and room for improvement. :)
PurpleVixen404 is out. See ya.