"You've been well I take it?" she asked him as they sat together.
Sin nods in response, "Yerah. Well, a few problems here and there, but nothing Brick and I couldn't handle."
Cinder Fall, he hadn't seen her in nearly five years and to find her again filled him with joy.
"Good" Cinder acknowledged, "My lessons on you better have not gone to waste" she adds with a smirk, "Joining huntsman academies now?"
"Well I am good at killing grimm" Sin proudly states, "You're the one who taught me after all."
Cinder chuckled, "I taught you how to use your aura, but I didn't teach you how to fight, you taught yourself on that topic."
Sin looked at the ground, "Well I certainly didn't learn it from my father" his last word carrying venom.
"You don't have to worry about him though now do you?" Cinder asked rhetorically, "He's all the way in Mistral and you're here in Vale."
Sin nods once again, "Yeah, representing Shade in the Vytal Festival."
Cider crosses her arms and one leg over the other, "And do you think you're skilled enough to win?"
"Yeah I do" Sin told her before smirking rather confidently, "After all, my team and I did defeat and kill a gloom widow."
Cinder's eyes narrowed in surprise at his declaration, thanks to her master she of course knew those grimm still existed though few in number, but to fell one is far from simple.
"Don't believe me?" Sin asked fetching his scroll from his pocket and playing the video of that day, enjoying his former tutor's reaction at him and his team along with their teachers defeating the supposedly extinct grimm.
"Sin" Cinder began slowly standing up in surprise and disbelief of the accomplishment.
"I know" Sin said in his usual comedic arrogance, "I'm awesome and…" a sharp pain rushed through his cheek as Cinder slapped him, replacing his boastful, smirking expression with one of surprise.
"You are an imbecile is what you are" Cinder corrects before scolding him, "A damn idiot, just what were you thinking engaging a monster like that? It could have killed you!"
"It, we had to" he begins to explain, "It would have killed the others if we didn't go to help."
"You should have let it" she scolds again, "I taught you better than that."
Sin's gaze falls to the ground as she scolds him further, "I'm sorry that worried you Cinder" he says quietly, "I assure you I took the fight seriously."
"I am not concerned with you taking that encounter seriously" she tells him, nearly seething, "I am concerned with how recklessly you went after something so dangerous. Did you even know what it was before you went to fight it?"
"Of course I did" he admits, only for her to slap him again, "What?" he yells.
"You knew? You knew and you still engaged it?"
"I wasn't going to let them die" he finally yells back, "Nearly half of them were already dead when we got there, I wasn't going to let any more of them die and that thing had to be stopped."
Cinder said nothing prompting him to explain further, "You know my semblance Cinder, that thing never would have touched me, and I've only gotten better since you last saw me."
"And what about when you get tired?" Cinder finally spoke, "You still use your aura for offense, once it's gone you can't use your semblance anymore, what then?"
"We weren't going to lose that fight" Sin told her, "Putting jokes aside and my normal bravado, I...I just knew we would win. Besides, Rhia is a great leader and her plans even if made up on the spot tend to be really good, and you know how much of a walking tank Brick is."
She faces him quietly wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "Never again" she tells him, "Never again, if you see one of those again you run do you understand me?"
Sin smiled against her shoulder, "You know the last time you told me to run, was the day before Brick and I fled Mistral...five years ago in three weeks."
"That's right" she replied, "It really has been that long" she held him by the shoulders as she pushed him back, "And look at you now. Ready to take on the world."
"Well" Sin smirks looking away from her, "I am undefeated at my school so may as well check here."
She sighs and shakes her head, "You're still an overconfident ass."
"It works for me" Sin admits, "Also it really helps to provoke my opponents into easily exploitable positions, something else you taught me."
"Yes" Cinder smiles, "I did teach you that, glad to know you remember my lessons."
She hands him his scroll, "It's getting late. We can catch up another time. Maybe you can introduce me to your teammates sometime, it would be nice to see Brick again."
She begins to walk away when Sin calls out to her, "Cinder, uh. Do, do you have any plans for dinner tomorrow night?"
Cinder smirked looking over her shoulder, "Busy, but I'll let you know if my schedule gets an open spot. I am going to be busy after all."
"Not the usual kind of busy I hope" Sin said.
Cinder only chuckled as she continued walking back to the dorms for visiting Haven students leaving Sin alone to head back to his own.
"Finally back? Alena asked him when he entered their temporary room, "Been out starting fights or hitting on every girl in sight?"
"Alena stop it" Rhia told her older sister, "Besides if he had started something we definitely would have heard about it by now" the faunus girl smiles while looking at her human teammate.
Sin laughs at Rhia's jab, "Yeah I do make a lot of noise when I get started, bit of bad news though" he waits for Rhia's expression to change knowing she would begin to suspect him of getting into trouble, "I wasn't able to get us some reservations for lunch or dinner."
Rhia's expression quickly shifts and her cheeks turn pink, she had forgotten about Sin asking her out before they landed, "Oh uh, tha, that's okay I'm sure a lot of places are really busy this time of year, you know with the festival going on and all."
"True" Sin admits, "But I'm not going home until we get that date."
"Date?" the word echoed in her mind as her face became more red, "I uh, I...It's not, I mean it's not really a…" her ears folded back as she shrank into her mattress, a helpless victim to his teasing.
"Disgusting" Alena grumbled, "Just because I tolerate you now Sin doesn't mean I won't take my trident to you if you keep picking on my sister."
"I would never pick on her" Sin defends, "Now pick her up in my arms and carry her to dinner, that I'd do."
Rhia slowly lays down and pulls her blanket over her head, embarrassed by his words.
"Keep your filthy human hands off my sister" Alena warns.
Sin smirks, "Are you jealous? My dear big sister."
Alena flings her pen at him, but Sin intending to rile her activated his semblance and turned his head catching the pen in his mouth and winked at the fox faunus while holding the projectile with his teeth. Alena, rolling her eyes, turns away from him to continue going over her notes from their classes back at Shade, until the festival officially started visiting students were expected to sit in on classes to continue their education. Settling down Sin followed Alena's example and went over notes from their own classes, comparing them to the classes they would be attending at Beacon to get an idea of how ahead or behind the local curriculum was to their own. Sin managed a few pages of notes before his thoughts drifted a continent away from any academia and back to Cinder, he frequently wondered if he would ever see her again and now that he has he desperately wants to spend more time with her.
He hadn't seen her since the day before he and Brick fled Mistral, a day he'd never forget nor the events that preceded it. Even with those critical defining moments for him he clearly remembered every day he spent with her, from the first day he met her and every single day she was teaching him to use his aura. Her lessons were strict, but infinitely preferable to those of his father's, she pushed him, but never to the risk of truly harming him, first it was summoning and holding it, then molding it, focusing and unleashing it and it was with her help that he unlocked his semblance. Every moment with her was clearly carved into his memory, fondly remembered as the best parts of his life, with her, the first woman he fell in love with.
Their first week at Beacon was not devoid of excitement, being introduced to Professor Oobleck, though he prefers people to address him as Doctor, was definitely the most interesting. Watching the caffeinated instructor zoom from one spot to the next while speaking at a pace that probably exceeded his heart rate left the team from Shade winded just from watching him, save for Sin of course who seemed entertained, but not nearly as much as he was by Professor Port and his stories. It was during one of his Grimm Studies class that Sin had raised his hand and asked the veteran huntsman what he knew about Gloom Widows and the exuberant professor answered. He knew of the stories and how ferocious they were, but had never seen or faced one himself, though he admitted to his wish to do so as it would surely be the ultimate test of any huntsman or huntress.
Sin grinned, "Oh it was definitely dangerous, we had a hard time killing it."
Port looked at the boy and laughed, "My boy, while I definitely enjoy telling tales of my own accomplishments and hearing the stories of others need I remind you that I said the gloom widows were hunted to extinction, there are no more."
Sin reached for his scroll, retrieving a picture of the ancient monster holding it up for the class and professor to see, "Hopefully that was the last one" Sin says, "While I brag about how amazing my team and I are, others didn't survive. But there's a story for you Professor."
Port seemed pensive for a moment, surprised that a gloom widow still existed and sad that lives were lost to it, but impressed that a team of first years were able to kill it, even if they had help.
"And it is a story I would love to hear my boy" Port said, "Perhaps you and your team can join me after class, you show great promise to be able to accomplish such a thing."
"Oh Sin never passes on a chance to tell everyone how great he is" Alena spoke with sarcasm and obvious irritation, "I'm sure he would love to tell all about it."
"Nothing wrong with reveling in a victory every now and then" Sin defended.
Port agreed, "Well said young Saber, but keep in mind it is important to remain humble. I know my enthusiasm for my own glories may paint me as a boastful man, but I do it to inspire my students to become greater and hope that one day they'll be even better than I. In older times victories such as that were vastly celebrated and even sung about even if lives were lost they looked at it as an honorable battle filled with glory. Just be sure students to never forsake the memories of those that didn't make it back, but don't let those losses weigh you down as well. Celebrate your victories and honor your allies and friends."
The bell rang before he could continue and the professor dismissed the class mentioning to the visiting Team RUST that he does look forward to hearing their story about their encounter with the extinct gloom widow and even more so he looks forward to their skill in the Vytal Festival's tournament.
By the end of their first week is when the first bit of trouble started however when RUST having just come from a training session witnessed a Beacon student picking on and making distinct comments about a faunus student.
"Brick, could you hold my bag please?" Sin asked, handing his school bag to his brother who silently accepted it.
Taking his sidearm from his bag he walked over to the red-haired student and without a word or warning grabbed his shoulder, turning him around and landing a cross against his jaw before grabbing his throat, lifting and slamming him to the ground. As the racist student coughed from the impact Sin jammed the barrel of his sidearm into his mouth.
"I don't care who you are" Sin began, "I don't care what your background is or where you come from. And I don't care what the law says. I see or hear you do some shit like that again and you eat a bullet, understand?"
Three other students, supposedly the bully's teammates, tried to surround Sin, but when Brick, followed by Rhia and Alena intercepted them, the three quickly backed off and ran leaving their friend on his own.
"Cowards" Sin huffed seeing the three run before returning his attention to the bully he laid out, "Do we have an understanding?" he asked again, watching as the terrified student nodded.
Removing his firearm from the young man's mouth, Sin promptly ordered him to get out of his sight, yelling at him when he didn't flee fast enough. Once the student was gone Sin looked around at the crowd of spectating students, rage still consuming him.
"Anyone else got a problem with the faunus?" he loudly asked, daring anyone to speak up and step forward, "Keep it that way" he said when no one answered.
Leaving the scene Sin reclaimed his bag from Brick tossing his weapon back inside earning a bit of rare approval from Alena and concern from Brick and Rhia. Later they were approached by the faunus student that was being picked on, thanking Sin for helping him. Placing his hand on the faunus' shoulder Sin told him to never allow anyone to treat him like that again.
The obviously timid student nodded, "I'll try" noticing Sin's teammates were faunus he asked Sin, "Are, are you a kind of faunus as well? Claws? Teeth?"
Sin shook his head, "No, I'm human."
The faunus student was taken aback, "Really? I, I was curious, your teammates are faunus and well, while there are some humans that protest for faunus rights I've never actually seen one fight for us like you just did."
Brick said to him, "Zin is fery bazionate apout zee faunus."
The timid student looked at the larger faunus unable to tell what he said through his thick accent.
Seeing his confusion Rhia translated for him, "He said Sin is very passionate about the faunus. Don't worry, it takes a while because Brick doesn't talk much, but you get used to his accent."
The timid student nods, "Well, anyway thank you, it, it really is nice to know there are some humans like that, but did you really mean what you said when you threatened him?"
"Yeah I did" Sin admitted, "I'd stuff him in an oil drum and toss him off the edge of the landing pad, in front of the headmaster, police commissioner and DA."
"That sounds like White Fang talk" the student noted.
"Maybe" Sin replied, "But if your people were treated right in the first place we wouldn't need extremes like that now would we?"
"I guess not" the boy replied, "My name is Kensu by the way, it's nice to meet you."
Shaking his hand RUST introduced themselves before Kensu left, wishing them luck in the tournament.
Elsewhere in Beacon, Cinder smirked to herself asking a young man and woman behind her what they thought after witnessing the altercation in the courtyard.
The silver-haired boy asked, "That's the kid you were talking about?"
The mint-haired girl asked, "You said you knew him from a few years ago right? You trained him?"
"I did" Cinder admitted, "And he has gotten much better since I last saw him."
"He looks sloppy to me" the silver-haired boy commented, "He must've been a lousy student."
"Careful about underestimating him Mercury" Cinder warned, "If the two of you were to fight you'd likely never land a single hit on him, his semblance wouldn't allow it."
Mercury rolled his eyes, "I could take him."
"Maybe a test" Cinder suggested, "You could test his skill for me Mercury, he may be useful to our plan."
"Do you think he'd join us?" Emerald asked her.
Cinder smirked as she stared out their dorm room window, "He will, if I'm the one asking he'd do nearly anything, all I have to do is rope him in until he can't get out."
Emerald said, "If you say he'll be useful I'll follow your lead."
"Good" Cinder smiled, "You're remembering what I taught you."
"And if he's not as good as you think?" Mercury asked her.
"He will be" Cinder answered him, "I just want to see how good he's gotten. Now the two of you get some sleep, I've got a late errand to run into town."
"There's no way that punk is as good as she says" Mercury grumbled after Cinder left.
Emerald watched him drop onto his back, "She said she trained him before he joined Shade. He has to be capable."
"Whatever" Mercury huffed, "Guess we'll find out."
The next day RUST left Beacon to explore the city, taking in the sights and the preparations for the festival. Restaurants were having specials based on the kingdom's individual cuisines, shops were offering select discounts on related merchandise, the owner of the local dust shop was making a small fortune despite a failed robbery against his shop earlier that year. To say the city was lively was an easy understatement.
After enjoying lunch the four of them debated over where to go next, even Alena seemed to be enjoying herself despite her attempts to hide it.
"Ah" Sin exclaimed, "Familiar faces" he said pointing across the street to the mercenary team they met back in Vacuo, Team RXDY, "Excuse me."
Sin quickly got up, sneaking across the street to behind the faunus team wondering if he should target Rena or Yumi first.
"Why choose?" he asked himself before speaking up, "Excuse me" he said from behind them, "What brings an angel and a goddess like the two of you to the mortal coil?"
Turning around the mercenaries see him and Yumi exclaims, "Sin!" before hugging him, "How are you?"
Sin smiled and shrugged, "Well I was just alright until I saw you, then I became really happy."
Yumi blushed and took a step back, "You say that to all the girls don't you?"
"Only the ones I like" Sin answered, making the wolf faunus turn a deeper red and even whimper a little as she failed to formulate a response.
"Still a flirt Sin?" Rena asked, crossing her arms.
Sin told her, "So long as you stay as beautiful as you are."
"Just remember to keep your hands to yourself" Rena tells him in a threatening tone.
"Always" Sin remarks as the rest of RUST joins them.
Joining RXDY for lunch the two teams catch up for a time with RXDY telling them they were there to attend the festival and watch the tournament and RUST or more specifically Sin telling them that they were going to win it.
Draco chuckled, "I'm sure you're not the only ones making that claim."
"Maybe not" Rhia said, "But the difference is the others are wrong, we're not."
Everyone fell quiet at Rhia's statement, the normally reserved girl looking at them, "What?" she asked, confused.
"Nothing" Xavier smirked, "That's just something we'd expect Sin to say."
"Yeah" Yumi agreed, raising her shoulders over her neck and smiling.
"I mean, yeah" Sin said, "Doesn't make it any less true though, those other people are wrong and we're right, RUST is going to win."
A brief laugh was shared between them, "Well we'll hold you to that" Draco said, "Don't disappoint us."
"Too bad you're not in the tournament" Sin said looking at Rena, "Wouldn't mind a rematch."
"Then let's have one" Rena told him, "There's a nice open spot just outside the city where we can do it."
"Phrasing" Sin quickly said, making Rena groan and call him a perv.
"Shall we?" Sin asked her to which Rena nodded and stood up, "Follow me."