A/N: Hello, all! I'm back with more Golden Knight, finally! Sorry for the long delay. This is the other half of last chapter and is most from my OC, Shadow Blake's POV - That's not her actual name, by the by. (Thanks again to Warrior of Six Blades for the suggestion.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Also, I rewrote chapter 3, like I said I would. Hopefully it's a bit better now.

RWBY is owned by Viz Media and was created by the late Monty Oum

The Golden Knight and his Awkward Maidens

Chapter 5

After messing with the human ma - with Jaune - for a while longer the living shadow eventually left his room and made its way toward the center of their shared living space, carefully avoiding the various deep shadows made by the moonlit drifting into the apartment complex from the several large windows in the sitting area. A human may have had trouble seeing in that dim light, though creatures like her were entirely unaffected.

She took a moment to familiarize herself with the kitchenette, the wash room and the small, tucked-in space for the apartment's reading area, really, one measly bookcase. Though, she didn't read like they used to, even she found that disgraceful. She knew Blake would've said much the same once she found out about it.

Not that her other half would've ever say such a thing out loud. She was too shy to do that, so her Shadow would have to do so for her.

To that end she wrote a very scathing letter to the Academy's faculty to be mailed tomorrow before promptly forgetting about it halfway through as she decided to look around some more.

After growing bored with wandering around the small spaces of the apartment she then decided to... peek in on their other new housemates, merely to see how they were handling things, of course. She already liked them all, because Blake liked them all, after all.

Though, again, Blake would never say that to their faces. Such a coward, she thought.

They did seem like the sort to always be entertaining, though, and, thanks to her unique situation, she craved constant stimuli. So, she supposed that she did like them herself, she supposed. She certainly liked Jaune for sure.

She grinned to herself at that. Such a cute little mouse, he was.

The first room she entered, via the crack under the door, was the Snow Elf's. She was unsurprised to see that the room was already stuff full with all manner of magical paraphernalia in regards to a Wizard or Sorcerer Class, of which the Snow Elf was. She was curious as to which the female actually was but not that curious. No, really. She wasn't.

Though, a single, miscast Fireball spell was not enough to go by, at least, as far as she was concerned. Blake might know, having been at the Academy, for over a year now. Perhaps she should ask her?

She paused as she floated above the scattered bits of whatever-they-were, thingamabobs and thought about it, finger tapping at her chin silently. Then she shrugged dismissively.

… Nah. Maybe later…

She had to stop herself from wanting to knock over a few of the precariously stacked tomes around the luxury bed, a beautiful burgundy red, four post masterpiece created by some famed Atlesian artisan. The elf female was indeed a princess, if she could effortlessly toss around the kind of gold needed to sleeping some like that.

"Mhm!"

The female in question suddenly moaned in her sleep. The shadow turned to observe the sleeping subject, hoping for some kind of dirty scene to play out, the perfect bit of blackmail, only to be disappointed by a nightmare occurring instead. She huffed at that, having experienced a few alongside her host, and turned to leave, not wanting to experience another's.

"No, Big Brother. I'll be good, I swear. I won't, dishonor the Family's name. Not again." The female mumbled into her pillow before rolling over to bury her head under the covers. "Please. ...Not the brand."

The shadow paused at that, turned, and looked over at the small, sad little bundle lying in the center of the great, big bed and frowned. If she recalled correctly, the elf female was the youngest of three siblings, and an overbearing despot of a mother. Moreover, she was the youngest member of the ruling family of a very warlike country.

One that would be lathering at the mouth if they ever found out that how the female had been treated in this situation, if only for the excuse to go to war with Vale. The Headmaster - What was his name again? - had been right to enforce some level of punishment on them all, she supposed…

Without really knowing why, she suddenly strolled over to the dreaming female as silently as the shadow she was and started to softly brush a hand through her hair. Under her tender administrations the female eventually settled down into a calmer, deeper sleep. The shadow smiled, pleased, at that before she then left the bed as a streak of black, wispy energy and swiftly flew away back out under the doorway before rising up to shudder in place as she turned to the next room.

Just why had she done that? She wasn't normally all that interested in other beings unless they provided some means of entertainment for her.

Maybe it was Blake's influence again?

The Faunus female was far too sweet for her own good, she swore. Her shadow knew that intimately. As had her last partner. At least, the one who had survived her wrath.

That one would never touch anyone like that again, male or female, not without thinking about what she had done to him beforehand. At any rate

Good.

She licked her lips at the memory of what she had done to him again and shuddered in pleasure. All that blood, all the fear that the Faunus male had released as she revealed her true form to him in that moment.

Yes, he would never do something like that again.

As she remembered the pain, the fear her other half had tried to hide under his administrations she felt the rage, the wrath boiling under surface. Felt her form twisting to that which she hid from everyone, be it her host's parents to the Council of Elders who had investigated the situation.

Her form grew and grew, thickening as she shafted into something that could no longer be considered humanoid, the shadows in the main room being drawn into her form, being eaten.

Then, abruptly, she flashed back into her "natural" form as she huffed and panted from the exertion of the change. She swept a claw-tipped hand through what was her hair as she finally calmed back down reciting amantra of "No one touched what was hers." Over and over again she recited that before letting out a sigh of relief as the shadows finally returned to their natural dimensions.

Blake. She thought Blake was hers, yes. Yes, that's right.

She let out another, more shuddering sigh and looked around to see if anyone had noticed that. There was no one up.

Good. Very good.

She didn't want to ruin the fun so soon, after all.

She almost let out a giggle at that as made her way over to the next room then and arched a brow at what she saw. She smirked at it.

The wolf had blocked the cracks at the bottom and top of her doorway, perhaps as some kind of a misguided defense against her, but it meant little to the likes of her. Any gap, any crack, any hole, and she could invade a person's most deeply guarded sanctum, just like with this female. She squeezed her way through the locking mechanism, after seeing that there was nothing blocking the keyhole, to find herself in, well, the exact opposite of the Snow Elf's room.

There was no bed, no furniture of any kind in fact, besides a desk. The only means of a personal touch was a thickly knotted, crocheted rug that the wolf was currently using as a bed. The walls were blank as well with no posters or paintings of any kind to reveal anything about the female.

It wasn't completely asture, mind you.

On the opposing wall to the door hung not only the wolf's personal weapons, a pair of sickles, but also a massive scythe in the same red and black color scheme as her Gothic Lolita outfits, which were piled up loosely under the red cloak that she was wearing earlier, which itself was hanging directly over her "bed", as well as a New Age hunting rifle from the Valean Frontier, various types of spears from Vacuo, and-Now, that's a katana the shadow found herself thinking as she twerked an eyebrow at the blade before her.

Then she jerked her gaze away from the assorted weaponry to look around the rest of the room while ignoring its occupant.

There was also a desk covered in what appeared to be machine oil, spare parts, and tools of so many types and kinds that she couldn't even begin to name them all, pliers, clippers, screwdrivers, hammers, etc. She blinked at she looked around at all the haphazardly placed... things in the room again.

It was like the wolf had just taken everything from her old room and set them back down in here in the exact same state they had been in.

What a strange creature. She thought as she gaze at it all in perplexed wonder.

The shadow cat just did not understand how any being could reside in all this, this ... mess. Dogs she thought dismissively as she shook her head and made to leave only to stop as the wolf moved from where she was sleeping.

She vanished as with a couple of flicks of her suddenly-shifting-ears the wolf sat up from under the thin blanket covering her and surveyed the room, sleepily, her silver eyes glowing eerily as it did so. She then growled and sniffed at the air before looking about once more.

Finally, after seeing nothing, she yawned and stretched her arms overhead, causing the blanket to fall away from her, revealing the fact that she was naked.

She looked about again, seemingly discreetly, before stretching her arms again and causing her pale, perky breasts to bob slightly as she did so. Then, with a huff of breath, she flopped back down on her "bed" as she shifted near instantly into a great, red and black-furred beast and promptly went back to sleep as she curled back up into a ball of fluff while somehow drawing the blanket back over her form.

The shadow waited for a moment more in silence from where in hid in the pool of deeper darkness under the room's window seal before once more streaking across the room in an essence of wispy darkness only to pause at the door for a moment to make certain that the dog wasn't merely tricking her, then she flowed into and through the lock again.

She shifted back into her humanoid form on the other side where she shuddered in place at almost being found out. She had yet to meet a being who could discover her while she was hiding.

It was all… rather thrilling, truth be told.

Then she shook herself yet again. She couldn't let her curiosity get the better of her just yet. Again, it would ruin any fun that she might have in the immediate future.

And, she craved stimuli.

After making certain that the wolf wasn't going to be leaving her room any time soon she made her way to the last room.

Once more, she found that the gaps above and below the door were blocked; though, this time it was from some kinds of magical barrier. She chose to ignore that, as, of course, a dragon would have magic, and looked to see if the door's keyhole had anything blocking her from entering. There she froze as she looking into the room to find the dragon glaring right at her. It then growled heavily at her, its deep red, cat-slitted eyes thrumming with sudden power.

She gasped at that and immediately vanished in a swirling puff of darkness and streaked back towards her and Blake's room, where she quickly squeezed under the door to against the other side, gasping from the sudden pulse of fear at seeing that.

She stayed there for an indeterminate amount of time, waiting for… something, anything. When nothing happened she sighed and brushed at her hair as she made her way over to the far wall, opposite of the sleeping form of the cat girl in the room, and leaned her back against it before sliding down into a sitting position, tucking her knees in close as she did so.

She sighed, letting her head rest against her knees, before looking over at Blake's sleeping form, and almost, almost got up to join her, but stopped herself at the last instance.

She sighed again at that, at the emotions the welled up inside from looking over at her… sister, mother? Friend? She didn't know. She really didn't.

She sighed again and brushed the hair from her face as she gazed at the room without seeing it. Now came the worse part of her day, her existence.

The waiting. The silence.

The… everything.

First her thoughts wandered to earlier in the day and she found herself smiling as she recalled how they had all met each other. Such wonderful, new friends. She thought about the dragon, suddenly.

Well, maybe.

Then she thought about Jaune again and her smile turned into a toothy grin. Such an interesting, clever mouse. So amusing, so cute. So sweet.

She wondered how he would taste.

She licked her lips in anticipation of what was to come. She wondered, did the mouse know that if he had simply said yes, she would've let him go out of boredom. After all, she had only offered to sleep with him. She never said that she would.

Now, though. Now she found him even more interesting. So much so that she wanted to see what he did next.

She giggled eerily at that, only stopping as Blake shivered in fear from the noise. She glanced over at her as she made a soft, nondistinct sound of in her sleep, and simply thought to herself in the deepening quiet of the night.

Due to how she had been "born", and the essence that made up the matter of her being, she didn't really need to sleep or eat all that much. In fact, not only could she go days without eating anything, even when she did eat, she barely needed anything.

She liked the taste of fish, though.

She sighed and rubbed at her face as the old familiar pain and fear started again. Her's was a half-life, an illusion of existence. She could only form a physical shape in light, and so naturally feared the deep darkness of the night, especially that of a New Moon.

Indeed, she so feared being enveloped in that type of darkness because she felt like she might never appear again, should she fall into it. She shivered as she remembered having to hide from that dog earlier in those very shadows, and feeling the cold as she did so. It felt like she was dying when she did that.

Not being able to form a solid form was terrifying to her. If she didn't have a solid form she couldn't see, couldn't hear. Couldn't speak. And if she couldn't do that… Then, did she really even exist?

She didn't know, and that terrified her even more than losing herself to the shadows.

She blinked as she watched Blake and grimaced at that, wanting to hit her. Stupid girl, sleeping soundly when she couldn't. She growled at the girl, who instinctively shivered at the noise before snuggling in deeper within the covers, which she then scoffed at angrily.

Ever the Audience and never the Actor, that was her existence.

Then she sighed as she let go of her anger and frowned sadly as she laid the back of her head against the wall as she looked out into the moonlit night.

It was an old hurt, that one. One she had long since grown used to.

Again, it was a part of how she had been born.

It was strange, really. The ritual a very young Blake performed on herself was called the Rite of Sundering and was used by the Faunus nobility to aid in their endeavors against each other, and the other Kingdoms of Remnant. It was a sacred ritual performed on the Faunus Royalty when they came of age as well, and was never to be used on anyone younger than that for fear that the Shadow born would be uncontrollable unlike with those born from one who was of age, and who had been trained specifically for it.

Just like her.

Menagerie had a wealth of stories of Shadows who had broken with their hosts and killed them before unleashing a series of bloodbaths upon the population of Kuo Kuana before they were finally destroyed by the Dawn Guard, a special detachment of the Menagerie Guard used for just such an occasion.

However, this Rite was still performed even with this threat due to the advantages it bestowed on those who took part in it.

Blake's Shadow, or Shadow Blake as many called her, was born uncontrollable. And, all because a lonely, little girl just wanted a friend.

And, she had been that. For years.

But, unlike Blake, she didn't age the same, both mentally or physically, and so, she had been confused when Blake stopped wanting to run around, to play, to perform the pranks like they did when they were younger. And that confusion had led to first sadness and then, eventually, to anger.

First, she had tried to Blake to play with her, not understanding what the girl was responsible for as the Crown Princess of Menagerie, then she ahd demanded, and finally they had fought, constantly, over Blake's seeming unwillingness to interact with her anymore. She had berated her, belittled her. Hurt her. Hated her.

She closed her eyes at the memories. Especially, at the one where she had broken Blake's arm in one of their fights.

She remembered, the nausea bubbling up until she had to swallow it back down, the phantom pain and surprise linking the two of them through her connection to Blake as she did so. She would never do that again, not because she didn't want to feel that kind of pain again, but because she never wanted to hurt Blake like that ever again.

She still berated Blake at times. Still belittled her. Hurt and traumatize her mentally, but, to physically harm her? No. Never.

She loved her too much to do that.

She blinked and sighed at that as she rubbed at her eyes, looking out at the night. She did love Blake. She did. It was just, all the times that Blake had tried to hide her away, blocking her from manifesting, from living, it hurt.

And, that meant nothing during those years where Blake had abandon not just her, but her responsibilities. Her shadow was aware enough to realize that she might've been the reason why Blake ran to those abusive partners of hers. First one then another, after she had finally gotten the courage up to leave the former, only to be tricked by the lies of the other.

That last one was the one she had hurt. No, not hurt. She had killed that one, eaten them as punishment for harming someone so important to her. It was the other one that she had hurt in such a way that they would never harm another like that again.

By doing so, though, she and Blake had been sent away from Menagerie, by order of the Crown. By Blake's parents. Outcasts from their own.

It was her fault. But, she had been so angry at what was done to her friend/sister/mother. She didn't know!

She sighed again as she looked out at the night, ignoring how the shadows spun around her for a movement.

By her recollection it was somewhere around 3AM. She had "played" with Jaune at around 12AM. She had more time to wait for before the morning came, and she could interact with others again.

Finally, she went over laid down next to Blake, spooning her. Then she whispered, "Please wake up soon. I miss you."

As she tucked in behind her, wrapping her arms tightly around the girl's torso, she failed to see the soft smile that then graced Blake's face as she wrapped her arms over those of her shadow's.

/ /

Jaune sighed as he got up for the day.

He hadn't slept much after the shadow had, after his unexpected visitor last night and today was the first day of the semester. It was going to be, interesting. To say the least.

He stood and got dressed after making his bed. Then he left his room to find that no one else was up yet, and sighed at that. This wasn't home he said to himself. Nor was it the barracks down in the capitol.

This was something new. A new start for him.

No longer did he have to worry about his family's ambitions. No longer did he have to put up with their… oddities, even the ones that he missed.

No, this, was a new beginning, both for him and the others.

To that end, he smiled as he decided to do something for everyone else and made his way towards the kitchenette. A quick look in the fridge revealed a paltry collection of food, but not enough to where he couldn't come up with something. A quick bit of cooking on his part had the makings of a small assortment of fried eggs, bacon, and pancakes being laid out on the table just as Blake and Weiss got up.

The two briefly greeted him as he continued to cook before Weiss made her way to the wash room and Blake made herself a small plate of food. She ignored him after that. Instead, reading a book while she ate.

Then, with an audible squeal of delight, Ruby rushed out of her room, half-dressed. Jaune chose to ignore the pale skin of her stomach, or anything higher up, as she finished putting on her shirt and made her way over to him.

She grinned at him then as she called out hopefully, "Hey, Jaune! Ready for a great day, friend?"

He paused in plating up some eggs and bacon for her as he recalled what he said yesterday. Then, on recalling the shadow's words last night, he smiled tightly at her and said, "Yes, Miss Rose. I am quite ready for today. I hope that we all learn a lot today."

The werewolf's tail wagged heartily at that and said enthusiastically, "Oh, good! I'll show you all my favorite places to rest and eat at today. It'll be great!"

He found himself smiling at her enthusiasm before asking while unfolding their schedule for the day, "What about classes? Any favorites there?"

She almost wilted at that, her ears and tail noticeably drooping as she turned away from him then. "Uh," she started with poking her index fingers together. "Um, I don't, really have any."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she continued as her ears and neck flushed brightly. "I, um, haven't really taken. Um, completed any of the courses."

Jaune blinked at that and stared at her in confusion for a moment before finally asking, "Why, though? Not to be insulting, but, haven't you been here for over a year?"

"I, uh, yeah," she answered, steam seemingly rising from her in her embarrassment as she explained, "But, you see, to complete the classes for being an Adventurer, here at Beacon, you have to have a team or a partner to help you." She looked up at him, her silver eyes bright and said, "And, no one wanted to be my partner once they saw how… clumsy I was."

Jaune frowned at that before saying, "Well, that's not right. Sure, you're a little foolish, and quite clumsy at times, and, you can be overly eager in your endeavors at times" - Ruby shrunk in on herself with each now statement. - "But, you have a good heart, and you're earnest."

She looked up at him, wary, but with hope in her eyes. Jaune smiled softly as he looked down at the food on the stove before glancing up at her to say, "I'd happily be your partner, Ruby. If you'll ha-"

His sincere offer was interrupted by the girl as she squealed happily and launched herself at him to him to hug him tightly. Jaune found himself laughing helplessly at her.

Maybe the Shadow had been right. Perhaps, he shouldn't have been so strict in how he treated her, treated them all. After all, it wasn't her fault that they had all gotten into this mess. At least, not intentionally.

He, would give her a second chance. She deserved it.

/ /

Yang awoke, as it were, with the dawn. Well, the morning anyway.

She yawned as she did so, while glaring at the rising orb of blazing light outside her window. Then, she sighed as she clamored out of bed while scratching at her arm and backside.

Normally, she'd sleep in until noon at least, but she found herself trying to put on a good impression with the others, especially the knight. She liked the knight, and, oddly for her, not just because he was strong. And, she knew that he was strong.

But, she liked how he interacted with the others. Unlike so many others she had been around, he didn't force his influence, his opinion, on the others. He treated them with respect.

She found that she liked that about him. She found that she liked the eager little wolf, the haughty elf, the silly, scaredy-cat Faunus girl. And, she wanted to see what came next.

If nothing else, this would make for an amusing past-time before she and the knight could have their epic battle.

It would be legendary!

To that end, she got up, stretched, and began to remove the various protections she had put up around her room. Then she waited while she brushed at her hair, making certain that she was looking her best.

She was the Yang Xiao Long, after all. It wouldn't do to not look her best. Even if that meant that she missed breakfast.

A pity that. It smelled good, too.

It didn't take too long before she heard someone going about outside her room, making noises in the kitchenette. That was followed by the rest of her new roommates going about their morning business.

Eventually, there came a knocking at her door, and a muffled voice asked, "Yang? You ready. Classes begin soon."

She grinned as she waltzed towards the door, paused, and then swung it open suddenly to reveal the knight, her knight, standing there. He blinked at her appearance as she then leaned against the door frame, saying, "S'up?"

He looked down briefly before jerking his eyes back up to stare at her face while he flushed and said, "Uh, um, cl-classes begin soon, Miss Xiao Long. I, uh, are-are you r-ready to go?"

"Oh, I don't know. Do you think I can go out like this?" She answered with a grinned and a sweep of her arm to herself. Her very, very naked self.

"I, uh, I'll see you soon then. Miss Xiao Long." The knight spoke after forcing his eyes from traveling back down her form as she gestured at herself. Then he nodded at her, about-faced, and swiftly fled from her in a stiff, jerking manner.

She laughed at that before closing her door, turning to tying her hair up into a ponytail. Oh, she just couldn't help it. She found him so cute!

She quickly put on the various bracelets, both for her wrists and ankles, and collar that the Academy's staff had provided for her to restrict her power before donning a set of leather armor and her sword. As she did she found herself grinning at it all again.

Did they know that the Power-dampening bracelets they had provided actually did little to restrict her powers, short of turning into an actual dragon, or should she leave that bit of knowledge to herself?

She thought about it for a moment more then shrugged and grinned to herself. Nah, it was more fun this way. Then she closed the door to her room and their apartment before making her way to where the rest of their group was waiting.

This was going to be an interesting day!

A/N: So, yeah, bit more back story for each other characters, other than Jaune and Yang. I did point out earlier that Weiss was afraid of dishonoring her family's name. That wasn't because of what they would do to others, but instead what they would do to her. It's her backstory, she usual has a pretty bad one. More will be elaborated on that later.

Also, yes, Ruby is still a gun nut, as it were. Just with weapons in general in this story.

Blake, and, for that matter, her shadow have had a rough, and rather strange relationship growing up. As I alluded to, technically speaking, in the strictest sense of the word, Blake did kind of give birth to her shadow, but they were also the same age at the time due to the nature of the magic. Also, yes, her shadow is kind of an Eldritch or Fey-like Abomination. Such things are not the nicest of creatures, and can be quite capricious as well, even the nicer ones. Still, she, like the other girls, will have an arc, obviously.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and good night. Essiter out!