Yang looked boredly at the fifth page she had reviewed all day, her blonde hair was partially disheveled and her eyelids remained half closed because she was just awake, a quick look at her Neo-Scroll revealed that it was only 6: 30 in the morning, classes would start soon, so she still had some time to review the ton of paperwork she owed.
Going back to work didn't exactly mean reviewing a lot of pages a day, Yang hoped to be able to go back to see her beloved students and teach them a few things about Grimm and some other fighting moves, unfortunately for her, classes have become overwhelming as soon as in her first week back, which was certainly depressing for her.
She put the paper aside for a moment, assessing the current situation of the WBRN team, from what she had heard from some first year students, Waylon and Roy seemed to talk more frequently and kindly than before, from what Yang could tell, It was assumed that her advice had been taken and that the Schnee cousins were now on better terms.
Yang put the paper back in front of her, looking at the names with some boredom "Tatsuno Dagoth, Ivonne Krat, Kaito Nakamura and Yona Herman...did I teach these kids?" Yang asked herself, looking with concentration at the profile pictures she had of the mentioned students, her brain gave her the answer sooner than she thought: she didn't remember them.
"Knock knock, are you busy?" Blake Belladonna peeked through the wooden door that led to Yang's office, the blonde woman under the sheet in front of her, clumsily getting up from her desk and approaching her wife.
"Blakey!" Yang called out to her wife lovingly, planting a quick, soft kiss on her lips "You look great, as always"
"I haven't slept since yesterday" Blake confirmed with a grimace, taking her beloved's robotic arm "I wanted to come visit you a few days ago, you left home so quickly that you forgot you had a wife"
"Please, I had already told you that Bryan's team was a total surprise to me" Yang quickly returned to her desk, taking a report away from the rest located in the right drawer, she returned to stand next to her wife and showed her the sheet of paper with emotion "Waylon, Bryan, Roy and Neithan, isn't it like seeing yourself in a mirror?"
"Myself? Bryan looks more like you than me." Blake laughed softly, grabbing her son's team sheet "Waylon is the leader...that's impressive."
"When I read their names in the presentation I went completely blank, it was like watching team RWBY, but with the gender reversed..." Yang muttered under her breath, walking backwards until she collided with her desk, so she jumped a little and sat on it "Come here"
Blake looked at her wife's gesture somewhat strangely, but did not refuse the invitation, sitting next to her "You look happy, does it feel good to stop being the unemployed person in the family?"
"Yes, helping these new children is very nice" Yang confirmed, letting her head fall into her wife's "What about you? Does the White Fang keep taking away your sleep?"
Blake nodded, her cat ears moved happily at the contact with the blonde "The protests have intensified since the Black Fang became a more serious problem than a simple group of extremists with weapons, they are only in Mistral, for now, but the problem can escalate to much more"
Yang moved her head up and down in understanding, she was not unfamiliar with the existence of the Black Fang as a movement against the discrimination of the faunus in the kingdom of Mistral, since the war against Salem ended, the White Fang had dedicated themselves entirely to the fight for the rights of the faunus in a peaceful way, under the guidance of Blake and Ghira (The father-in-law that she adores so much, although he not so much) the old criminal organization had returned to its glory days, it was no longer a threat to anyone.
The Black Fang is its direct antithesis, violent attacks against small and medium-sized towns, the Mistral authorities have shown concern about how explosive the problem could be in the long term, Adam Taurus had shown that uniting people through hatred was an effective way to create an army, it was obvious that they wouldn't want to see Haven be another Beacon.
"...What do you plan to do?" Yang asked, wanting to know her wife's opinion first before giving any off-base ideas.
"The White Fang has more problems right now, some charges for illegal protests in some parts of the kingdoms and the Menagerie project is becoming more and more expensive, I have a lot on my hands" Blake explained, moving her head to the side and burying her face for a moment in Yang's neck "Aphra told me that Ruby came to the house a few days ago, did she have anything to do with your sudden passion for teaching these teenagers?"
"You could say" Yang answered simply and short, staying silent and enjoying the feeling of being next to her wife "...What about Aphra? Is she doing well?"
"She's Kirina's new best friend" Blake explained, smiling brightly "At this rate, she'll forget about you and take Aphra as your replacement"
"You want to replace me too, then?" Yang asked quietly, running her right hand along her wife's lower back, a smile appearing on the woman's lips as Blake let out a strangled gasp.
"I could never do that" Blake responded, planting long, passionate kisses on her wife's neck, Yang felt a thrill settle into her chest, if she used her time correctly, then maybe-
"Professor Xiao Long, your first class will start in 10 minutes" The artificial intelligence with the appearance of Pyrrha Nikos appeared on Yang's Neo-Scroll, smiling softly at first, although her smile faded when her holographic eyes focused in the pair "...I'm sorry!"
"It's okay, Pyrrha" Yang groaned, taking Blake's hand and helping her get off "You heard her, I have to work"
Blake laughed softly, quickly greeting Pyrrha's hologram as she was pushed hard by her wife, Yang grabbed the doorknob and turned it hard, pulling the vertical surface completely back, finding herself in the presence of a rather handsome young boy facing the other side of the door.
His black hair was the same color as ash, his eyes were yellow and somewhat threatening, Yang remained completely silent as she stared at the boy, he was taller than her, practically the same height as Waylon.
"Professor Xiao Long" The boy muttered, looking strangely at Blake as the latter stood next to her wife "...I didn't want to interrupt anything"
"Easy, easy, Blake, seriously, you have to go" Yang leaned into her wife's ear and murmured pleadingly, Blake let out a mischievous giggle and gave Yang one last kiss on the cheek, beginning to walk away down the desolate hallway.
Yang stood firm as she looked at the boy in front of her, she couldn't recognize him from anywhere, although his physical characteristics seemed strangely familiar, she had never seen him before, a quick trip through her memories gave her the answer once again, yes, she saw him once, in team formation, he must be-
"My name is Hawk Kogan, first year student" Hawk introduced himself, slowly extending his arm with his palm open, Yang took a few seconds to understand the gesture, squeezing the teenager's hand with moderate force "I know my corresponding class it's not with you right now...but I wanted to meet you as soon as possible"
"Hawk, I remember you, you're in my Grimm class, right? I have a bad memory, I'm sorry" Yang quickly apologized, vaguely remembering the boy's presence in her classes"I'm always willing to talk with anyone from time to time, but I'm in a bit of a hurry now, maybe you want to talk to me later, does that sound good?"
"Sounds good" Hawk smiled slightly, moving out of Yang's way "I'm looking forward to our meeting"
"Sure" Yang moved her hand from side to side with fervor, starting to run in the opposite direction to which Blake went, she had to quickly get to room F of the third year student area, the faster she finished teaching, then she would be able to see her favorite students again more quickly.
Hawk stared at Yang as she disappeared after turning a corner, the boy's right fist trembled somewhat discreetly, revealing his displeasure with the way the conversation had ended, he quickly found calm in the fact that, talking to her was already an achievement, he was definitely on the right track.
Hawk just needed more time.
...
"Your combat style is one of the most important things you should define in your first year at Beacon, the way you kick the horrible Grimm's ass is not something you should take lightly, my husband would call it like, an expression of the body, I call it, well, kicking Grimm butt with style" Nora Valkyrie walked from side to side in her classroom with excitement, she was known by the upperclassmen for her unwavering passion for her class related to combat, something that used to scare the newly admitted students at times.
"There are many reasons why it is important to know very well how to hit and how to adapt our body to hit that way, you see, when you are graduated Huntsmen, there will be missions that will be out of your reach for some reason or another, usually those we leave stealth to the boring people of Rovemid, those that are related to high-tech manipulation are usually the thing of the brains of Atlas, Haven is in charge of the wide and enormous terrain that is usually the green areas of their kingdom, Nexorum...well, they're crazy" Nora shrugged her shoulders, continuing with her explanation.
"Shade students are usually adapted to extreme weather situations and physical endurance, here, in Beacon, I will create a perfected version of yourself in every existing sense, your physical condition, your fighting style, all of that is important when you take your first assignment in a couple of months...and I think I have the best example in the entire kingdom here at my side" Nora smiled excitedly as she grabbed Waylon Branwen by the shoulders, placing him in the middle of a kind of circular arena similar to a Ring, perfect for one-on-one combat.
"Waylon Branwen has been champion of the Vytal tournament of lower ranks 5 years in a row, since he was 11 years old! He won the Vale regional championship 3 times in a row, some low level tournaments were devastated by this monster here, you may wonder why I'm using him as an example...this boy is a beast when it comes to combat, he is the most complete student I have seen in almost my entire life, he knows how to fight against the agile Grimm, against the slow ones, against the resistant ones, against the flying ones, and with other students" Nora continued with her explanation (more like it was a record of Waylon's achievements) while the boy simply smiled with pride, feeling well valued by his teacher.
"We'll use him as an example, just this once" Nora approached the boy and handed him some bottles of Dust with the SDC symbol engraved on the top and bottom, the boy took the containers and placed them on a stand located in his jacket, feeling everyone's gaze on him.
Riana admired the boy in silence, it was simply ridiculous, having him in front of her and that he had considered being her friend was simply a miracle considering his status as a prodigy as a Huntsman candidate (Although he had not spoken to her again since their last meeting), Riana couldn't help but put him on a pedestal, handsome, athletic, with a trophy case behind him, he's practically-
"His history of events is practically perfect, not even Pyrrha was that good" Telsius stated, firmly taking the spear he had between his fingers "Aunt Nora makes it sound almost invincible..."
"He never lost a fight against Pharos' students" Myrian only added fuel to the fire, looking at Waylon with unclear interest "I always tried to get him to notice me...what could he want in a girl?"
"It's better to learn from his sections as a student" Samuel commented nervously, looking at how focused Riana was on Waylon "...Riana, your eyes will pop out"
"Oh really?" Riana placed her fingers on her eyelids, gently pushing the skin that covered her eyes, finding them more than perfectly in place "I feel good..."
"How adorable" Myrian laughed peculiarly.
Nora had been observing all the students in an analytical and undisguised way, she was completely convinced that she had some kind of gift to be able to form the most incredible combats between students ever seen before, she boasted so much about her ability that she claimed to be capable of any than again to be able to organize the teams and their matches in the first Vytal festival tournament in 27 years, claims that were usually only mocked by Ruby and Yang in the past.
For her it was very important to be able to perfectly build the fighting styles of her students, a weapon is useless when you do not know how to use it or how to handle it, she was in charge of devising exercises and physical tests that could provide all kinds of benefits to the adolescents which she was in charge and made the necessary observations, a practically impeccable teaching job.
She knew Waylon's achievements very well, she always kept an eye on what Pharos and Signal had to offer, Waylon Branwen was more impressive than Pyrrha Nikos, his combat style was so mixed that it was incredible that he was so solid and marked for his age, Nora did a little more research on him a few years ago, discovering that he had been trained by Qrow, Winter, and even Taiyang Xiao Long, so she gave herself the task of completely analyzing his combat style, to find a weakness that he can work on.
Waylon was extremely dependent on his sword.
Harbinger's appearance in the boy's arsenal was certainly impressive and seemed to have helped him a lot when fighting the gigantic Nevermore in the initiation test, yet, without his sword and glyphs, his combat style became incredibly defensive and little harmful to his opponent, concentrating more on tiring him than attacking him with his fists, Nora quickly recognized this, it was a defensive style devised by Tai, which explained where the white-haired boy had gotten it from.
His opponent had to be someone capable of subduing him, someone with the strength to force him to use his body instead of his weapon...maybe there was someone like that in this classroom.
"Hawk Kogan" Nora raised her voice, pointing to the boy next to her team, HARM "Go to the platform next to Waylon, you will be his opponent"
Hawk obeyed without putting up any type of resistance, crossing the classroom until he was in front of Waylon, Nora quickly analyzed the situation and her memory worked, Hawk Kogan had a completely physical semblance, in fact, like Waylon, he had no really a weapon of his own, if not using both his arms.
Absorption.
Hawk has the power to absorb the property of Dust and apply it to his arms, changing his structure at a molecular level and giving him several special abilities, the boy's report was interesting, there was not much information about his past, and there was no information that related him to a combat academy, he had parents far from Vale and his sister was adopted, that was the most relevant thing she could remember regarding his information before Beacon.
The interesting thing was at the beginning, Nora completely studied the recordings that the camera system captured in the emerald forest, Hawk was good, very good, in fact, he could even defeat Waylon with some luck, they were similar in terms of power, that it's the important part.
The circle closed in an energy shield with that same shape, Waylon summoned Harbinger without waiting a second, hitting the edge of the blue sword against the floor, his red eyes analyzed his opponent, trying to look for a weakness.
"I promise not to leave a scar" Waylon stated with a half-smile, placing his gun on his shoulder "But I can't guarantee it won't hurt..."
"Same here" Hawk cracked his fingers, there was no trace of nervousness or fear on his face, his body language betrayed his almost non-existent excitement for combat "I always wanted to fight a national star...even if his achievements are more because of his parents than himself"
Waylon frowned, lifting his foot slightly and starting to walk to the side, an action that was perfectly replicated by Hawk "You can go to Pharos whenever you want and ask the professors how many times I have been defeated, that's totally my achievement"
"Several of the tournaments you won were sponsored and completely financially dependent on Schnee Corporations, did mommy have to lend a hand to her son?" Hawk's voice was completely free of venom, yet Waylon couldn't help but get annoyed by the comment, crashing the edge of his sword against the floor several times.
"Reputation is everything in this world, Hawk" Waylon completely deflected Hawk's accusation, he knew that Winter had nothing to do with his victories, they were not fixed, but he preferred to avoid explanations "Even without my parents, I still Being the best student of Pharos, I defeated the best students of all the academies of Remnant 5 times... tell me, who the hell are you supposed to be?
Hawk tensed for a moment, giving Waylon a satisfied smile, Nora watched the interaction with interest, she had seen many students have personality clashes from the beginning, which always ended in a rivalry that could mean problems or success for them and for the academy, it was only the first day, so she couldn't say anything, she could only put a physical limit on them.
"When your aura runs out, you stop, any kind of actual physical damage to the other's body will be penalized" Nora stated firmly, sliding her finger down on her Neo-Scroll, partially reducing the lighting in the room "... Begin!"
Waylon was the first to attack, he raised his left arm strongly and created a glyph at his side, firing an energy projectile towards Hawk, the black-haired boy dodged the attack with ease, propelling himself forward and putting his hand into a bag he had on his back, taking out a reddish Dust crystal.
Hawk's arms lit up in flames in an instant, Waylon quickly raised his sword and launched a lateral slash towards his opponent, the blue edge of his weapon was completely held by Hawk's incandescent hands, who moved his head back and I land an accurate headbutt on Waylon's face.
The red-eye barely staggered in a way that was not worrying, he swung his sword once again and attempted to land a cut on Hawk's chest, being blocked or deflected in each attack, Waylon continued his pressure until the yellow-eye collided with the wall of energy, letting his guard down for a second.
Waylon hit the boy's stomach hard, making him impact and bounce off the energy field, stunning him, a dark purple glyph appeared at the black-haired boy's feet, binding him to the ground firmly, Waylon landed a painful knee on Hawk's jaw, making him moan in pain.
"You do not talk anymore?" Waylon asked, trying to stab Hawk squarely in the back, being surprised when the latter managed to escape the gravity glyph and rolled to his side panting "...You escaped the glyph..."
"You haven't had any real opponents on Pharos" Hawk stated, slowly standing up while high-fiving his hands with a half-smile "You're going to feel humiliation for the first time in your pathetic life"
Waylon growled and lunged at Hawk, being grabbed by the neck as soon as he was in front of his opponent, the black-haired boy tightened his grip on the red-eyed boy, throwing him to the ground firmly and dragging him a few meters forward, picking him up and throwing him towards the energy shield
"He's hitting him..." Roy muttered, looking with some concern at his cousin "Hawk Kogan, I don't know who he is"
"Whoever it is, he seem to be capable of giving Waylon problems" Bryan added, his voice free of its usual pleasantness "...Anyway, he'll win"
Waylon used his right leg as support and launched himself upward, directly impacting the handle of his sword against the back of Hawk's neck, the blow was strong enough to knock the black-haired boy to the ground, Waylon took advantage of the advantage and created three glyphs at his opponent's sides, charging them with an Ice Dust crystal.
Hawk groaned in pain as three icy projectiles hit his body, he quickly turned his body to the side, grabbing Waylon's legs and making him stumble, the amber-eyed did not take a second to launch himself towards the young Branwen, beginning to hit him the face.
"Is this the best of Pharos?" Hawk asked, each punch from his hands made Waylon grunt slightly, the impact added to the fact that he was on fire only increased the damage more "You don't know what to do? You've never been on the ground, you're just a spoiled child"
Waylon roared in response, creating a glyph under Hawk and summoning another Harbinger replica, the sword came out halfway, stabbing firmly into the aura of the amber-eye, which grunted loudly due to the impact, Waylon raised his right leg and kicked with force Hawk in the chest, managing to create a necessary distance between them.
"A SPOILED CHILD COULD DO THIS?!" Waylon practically screamed because of the anger that ran through his body, he took both Harbingers quickly and nailed them on Hawk's chest, the black-haired boy's aura flickered multiple times and ended up breaking in a sound similar to glass, being accompanied by a last moan from his part, Waylon panted heavily, kneeling on the ground to try to catch his breath.
Nora looked at both students with a frown, deactivating the barrier and approaching them both "Waylon Branwen wins the match, young Kogan's teammates, I ask you to come help him"
A boy with brown hair shaved on the sides and silver eyes approached Hawk, giving him a couple of touches on his face to check his condition, the amber-eyed boy groaned in annoyance and threw useless slaps into the air, making the silver-eyed laugh strangely.
Rybol Cauldfield lifted his companion with little difficulty, dragging him up the stairs until he reached his chair, throwing him on top of his sister, Monica Kogan, who did not make any type of noise that indicated any discomfort, she simply cupped her brother's cheeks and began to evaluate his condition.
Waylon got up from the ground with difficulty, walking slowly and clumsily to his team, Bryan and Roy helped him sit down, both looking at him with concern and happiness, he won the fight, even if his ego had been hurt in the process.
"All good?" Bryan asked, cocking his head to the side and checking to see if Waylon had any major damage, there were some ash marks on his cheeks, and his lip seemed to be slightly swollen, even if his aura had protected him, some of the damage had leaked towards his face.
"Better than ever" Waylon smiled, managing to sit fairly straight in his seat, then looking at Roy "...Do you have any advice?"
Roy opened his eyes slightly surprised, he had not expected his cousin's question "Uh, eh, maybe you could have infused his arms with Ice Dust to freeze them, that could have blocked his semblance, or something like that"
Waylon nodded, his eyes completely revealing how hurt he was by Hawk's comment, even if he didn't know him, he couldn't help but feel upset by such accusations, he made an incredible effort to be where he is, to be who he is, his mother had nothing to do with it, she didn't help him, she wasn't in those victories, she never-
Waylon shook his head, he didn't want to think about his mother right now, Roy bit his lip nervously, smiling kindly at his cousin "Hey, don't mind him, I know better than anyone that you've worked hard for where you are, you even walked away from your family to achieve it, didn't you?"
"Your traumas your jokes, right?" Waylon laughed lightly, receiving a punch on the shoulder from Roy "...Thanks for the advice"
"The combat was beautiful to see, even if there were comments out of place in it, we were able to see two different combat styles come into action, remember that in this world the Grimm is not your only enemy, you will have to fight against other humans many times, so get ready" Nora spoke with some emotion, returning to the combat platform and analyzing the rest of the students with her eyes, there was still some time to present another combat...she had to choose it well this time.
"Neithan Rose" Nora raised her voice, several students began to whisper things in low voices, which was no surprise, the rumors confirmed that the son of the legendary and heroic Ruby Rose had been fortunate enough to be two whole years ahead and now he was here, in Beacon, seeing him fight must have been something incredible for those who were not with him in Signal.
The boy with black hair and red tips moaned slightly as he lifted his face from the half-moon-shaped table, looking at his surroundings sleepily and distracted, Waylon covered his face with his hands and suppressed his urge to scream, he didn't even realize that his teammate had been asleep.
"Rybol Cauldfield" Nora called to the other member of the HARM team, Rybol pointed to himself in a somewhat comical way, getting up from his table and approaching the circular platform, Neithan was practically pushed by Waylon towards the stairs, beginning to walk in a distracted towards Rybol.
"Silver-eyed warriors, they are rare, they contain an incredible power that is capable of leaving this class as the most useless thing in the world... even so, being able to use them is not a simple child's action, it requires training and something more...for the moment, we have to settle for watching two of them fight each other" Nora stated, once again activating the energy field around both teenagers, enclosing them completely.
Neithan looked at his surroundings, already fully awake and beginning to get excited about the combat, he took the circular-shaped disc from his lower back and activated the mechanism with the push of a simple button, activating the weapon and deploying Red Reaper completely.
Rybol did practically the same action, taking out a medium-sized disc with two practically tiny blades, his finger pressed the button and the weapon was completely transformed, giving rise to two blades joined by a single handle, both blades were long with a moderately curved shape, each tip was curved in the opposite direction, the weapon had the name: Purgatory.
"Wow!" Neithan groaned with excitement, looking at Rybol's weapon with quite interest "Your weapon is incredible! It looks a lot like my scythe, how did you design it?"
Rybol let out a light laugh, looking at Neithan with some contempt "Ruby Rose's son... isn't it? It's strange to see you here, you look something, kid"
"My dad was two years ahead of me" Neithan responded, practically not understanding the comment Rybol had made "I'm 14, but, that doesn't matter-"
"Does it matter when I'm about to kick a kid's ass?" Rybol replied ironically, spinning the handle of his sword and crashing the blade against the platform "Shouldn't you be in Signal? Playing with kids of your size?"
"Hey!" Neithan muttered, clearly offended by Rybol's words "...Did I do something wrong?"
"Not really" Rybol responded, looking at his own weapon with little interest "I'll say the same as your leader, I promise not to leave a scar...but it will hurt, I can assure you of that."
Neithan didn't wait for Nora's order and activated his semblance, Purgatory's handle caught fire and forced Rybol to let go of it, Neithan's lips curled into a smile as he jumped forward, raising his scythe and swinging it up to his opponent.
Rybol raised one of his hands and touched the Red Reaper's blade, quickly sliding his foot to the side to dodge Neithan's attack, the scythe ended up stuck firmly in the ground, forcing Neithan to turn around.
"You better be careful" Rybol mentioned normally, clenching his right hand in a simple movement, the Red Reaper's blade emitted a medium range explosion, sending Neithan flying across the terrain until he collided with the energy shield, clearly in pain.
"His semblance is to blow things up?" Bryan asked quietly, wincing as he imagined how painful it would be to practically have a grenade explode in front of you.
"Apparently" Waylon muttered, still recovering from his fight with Hawk "Still, he's unarmed and...Neithan too, forget it"
Neithan got up quickly and ran towards his weapon, managing to pull it out of the ground and turning it a couple of times without seeing anything, the smoke screen that the explosion had created was dense enough to block any type of vision for both students, which left young Rose simply listening to Rybol's laughter.
"That aggressiveness! It seems that your faunus cousin taught you the special technique of his kind" Rybol mocked, causing Neithan to stop and try to look for him in the smoke "...This way"
Rybol had recovered his dual sword and delivered an accurate blow to Neithan on the ankle, making him kneel involuntarily, the brunette swung his weapon a couple of times for no reason, practically mocking the younger boy, whom he ended up dealing a heavy cu. and strong in the face.
Neithan felt his aura flicker a couple of times, his eyes lit up with a fire-like orange, quickly a circle of flames surrounded Rybol, locking him in a makeshift jail, giving Neithan time to recover.
"Pathetic" Rybol snorted, doing a basic maneuver with his weapon and spinning it in circles, dispersing the fire with ease, his eyes focused on Neithan, who had a hunched and wobbly posture, he was struggling to stay upright "... You give up?"
"No!" Neithan whispered, launching himself forward and swinging his scythe in a half circle, Rybol jumped up and placed his foot on Red Reaper, pushing it down and propelling himself once again, managing to fall behind Neithan, the brunette barely gained momentum with his weapon, hitting it squarely in the back of the black-haired boy's head.
"Rybol Cauldfield wins the match, young Rose's team, come to the platform to help him" Nora said as she evaluated the recently completed fight and deactivated the energy field, shaking her head somewhat disappointed "Young Cauldfield, I must warn you that racist comments are completely prohibited in my class or in that of any other teacher, if you commit such a mistake again, the punishment will be according to your lack of respect"
"Whatever" Rybol shrugged and transformed his weapon once again into a metal disc, placing it on his lower back and turning around, but not before giving Neithan one last look "Being the son of the Headmaster and Ruby Rose doesn't give you powers, kid, you're still too far away to be a real Huntsman"
"Damn..." Neithan muttered, placing his hands on the concrete platform and trying to push himself up, groaning in pain when he realized that his aura had completely disappeared.
"Let me help you" Bryan extended his hands and wrapped them around his cousin's shoulders underneath, pushing himself up to try to lift him up, suddenly Neithan put all of his body weight on his back, pushing the cat faunus back.
"Leave me alone!" Neithan growled, walking away from his team and consequently from the combat area, the classroom became completely silent, a rather dense silence that Nora took charge of breaking.
"Young Rose got carried away by his emotions and attacked without thinking, when you are in a fight, you must think with your brains, not your hearts" Nora explained, sliding her finger up on her Neo-Scroll and turning the illumination back to its original state "That's all for today's class, we'll see you tomorrow at this same hour..."
The students began to leave the classroom, some murmured their unnecessary opinion about the combat and some corroborated Rybol's words, some students felt strange and somewhat offended at seeing a 14-year-old boy in Beacon, not because of his abilities, but for being the son of Ruby Rose and the Academy's own Headmaster, Oscar Pine.
Waylon looked towards the exit, finding Riana looking back at him, the girl smiled softly at him, leaving the classroom, the red-eyed returned to his team, speaking firmly "It seems that Neithan and I have a problem with that make us less for our parents"
"It's different" Bryan responded, feeling somewhat hurt by the sudden rejection his younger cousin had shown toward him "Neithan hasn't won consecutive championships, or been the best in his class...on Signal they made fun of him from time to time for being Aunt Ruby's son"
"Teasing? Shouldn't them be afraid of him or something?" Roy asked, being completely unaware of his cousin's situation.
"...Almost every parent meeting at Signal it was my uncle Oscar who was going to review Neith's grades and things like that, he wasn't one of the best in the class either, he didn't even make it into the top 10...some of the guys made fun of him, saying he didn't deserve to be Ruby Rose's son" Bryan explained quietly, looking down thoughtfully.
Waylon frowned, looking back at the exit of the classroom "It seems like he wants to be alone for the moment...Oscar will forgive him for skipping class once, at least that's what I want to believe"
"Let's go then, we're on the break" Roy said with a smile, walking up the stairs to the entrance "We'll see what to do later"
...
The breaks at Beacon used to be quite busy and congested, practically as it always was throughout the academy, each group of students of all years was divided into different buildings according to their age, so each building had its own cafeteria, its own bathrooms and an exit to the outside located strategically, it was easy to get lost in the hallways due to the large size of the academy.
Part of the reconstruction process had been to create more structures to protect the refugees in the fall, Glynda Goodwitch was the one who was in charge of the majority of the reconstruction of the academy with the help of the remaining teachers, the academy had a triumphant return with a huge number of students in their first year, managing to completely fill the dormitories in just a couple of days.
Riana walked around a few hallways, getting lost in the process several times before finally reaching the entrance to the third year building, she had no idea how the hell she had walked so far without getting tired, but she was going to ignore that for now.
The sight was certainly peculiar, Waylon Branwen was leaning on the wall next to a digital board that had some team names engraved along with some words on the side, ACTIVE or COMPLETED, Riana could fairly remember that they were indicators of the missions of students of second year or higher, these students had the ability to take missions that they themselves could select (although these were first approved by the Headmaster) and be able to add them to their student history, one of the new features that were added in the reopening of Beacon was that third and fourth year students had to complete 40 to 80 low and medium rank missions respectively.
Yang Xiao Long looked at one of the teams located on said holographic list, EVLV, Riana knew that team perfectly, but from what she knew, it would take a while for them to return to the academy, even knowing that, there was no real reason why Waylon could be here.
Riana moved a little closer, trying to listen to her teacher's conversation.
"So he ran away, huh" Yang muttered, staring at the ACTIVE status next to the EVLV name "Neithan seems to have inherited some of the social anxiety that Ruby had when she was young like him, it's not that surprising"
"The silver-eyed guy was insulting him more than mocking him" Waylon responded, snorting clearly in annoyance, perhaps at the fact that his teammate was getting too carried away with his emotions, or perhaps also because he identified with him " I thought he would be here..."
"Nora told me what happened," Yang added, finally looking away from the holographic screen "You lost control with that boy, Hawk Kogan, he also attacked you verbally, didn't you?"
Waylon didn't respond immediately, his arms crossed each other and his voice became a little more vulnerable "He spoke as if he knew me, he said that everything I have achieved has been because of my mother and father, I couldn't help but get out of my head for a moment...I'm sorry"
Yang smiled softly, grabbing her cousin's shoulder in a friendly way "Its okay, I used to lose control too when I entered Beacon, but don't let other people's words get to you, okay?"
Riana looked a little further forward to try to hear more, unfortunately for her, she was pushed by a third-year student, the girl turned quickly to see the other boy, her hair was a purple color similar to Myrian's, his eyes were yellow and his skin had a certainly dark tone, he was somewhat wide and quite tall, which made him look intimidating.
"Get out of the way" The boy growled, not even bothering to help the girl up, Riana simply sighed in defeat, being the daughter of the academy's assistant-headmistress wouldn't save her from being pushed away for being nosy.
Riana looked up when a shadow stood in front of her, she recognized Waylon immediately, the white-haired boy simply extended his arm towards her, helping her up and giving her a look without any emotion.
"Spying is rude, Riana" Waylon commented, finally half-smiling "I'm accompanying my cousin waiting for the EVLV team, she says I'd be very interested in meeting them...I guess you're a big fan of those guys too"
"No, well, yes" Riana responded, scratching her head with a radiant smile "Actually...I was looking for you"
"It seems like I got popular pretty quickly" Waylon commented somewhat egotistically, receiving a confused look from Riana in response, which practically forced him to put on a poker face "What do you need?"
"I heard your little chat with Hawk during their fight, you were great, incredible, and you showed off a lot" Riana began to speak, her smile slowly beginning to fade "...But I saw you hurt when he insulted you so openly, I just wanted to ask you if you were feeling okay"
"It seems that I haven't completely inherited the magical power of hiding my emotions like my mother" Waylon laughed humorlessly, correcting his posture to a straighter one "I'm fine, seriously, being a spoiled child isn't that bad"
"You're a spoiled child," Riana confirmed with a smile, causing Waylon to frown in confusion "We still don't know each other completely, and I don't know what's going through that pretty little head of yours, but I'm sure that you are incredible and very strong on your own, a legacy doesn't define you, you define yourself"
Waylon opened his eyes, somewhat impressed by Riana's words, his altercation with Hawk had brought out (apparently) an insecurity that he had half buried inside of him, all those achievements, those victories, that training, all of that he had achieved were the result of being someone worthy of the legacy that his mother was giving him, his last name may be Branwen, but he had been raised as just another Schnee, perfection is the only possible result in all his actions, failure is not allowed.
Hearing Hawk diminish his achievements and claiming that they were gifts from Winter hurted him considerably, he was calling him a failure, and he couldn't allow that, he had to prove that he was the son of Winter Schnee and Qrow Branwen, and he had proven it, even if he had lost control in the process.
Riana's words sounded genuine and honest, he didn't know her at all, in fact, they had barely spoken, but even with that in mind he could feel how she was trying to make him feel good, which not everyone do for him very often.
He never had a friend on Pharos, just for mention.
"Thank you," Waylon smiled softly, unconsciously showing his teeth, creating a rather genuine smile "I really appreciate it"
Riana nodded, blushing slightly and beginning to rub her hands together nervously "So, since you're in a better mood, I thought maybe we could-"
"THEY'RE BACK!" Yang screamed with barely concealed excitement as she began to run forward quite carefully, Waylon watched as Riana repeated the blonde's action and also screamed like a madwoman, launching herself forward towards a group of four people.
"BROTHER! YOU'RE ALREADY RETURNED FROM YOUR MISSION!" Riana screamed, tightly hugging a boy taller than Waylon, his hair was black and his eyes had a dark pink tone, he was dressed in a greenish trench coat with light pink floral details, Waylon swore he had seen it somewhere, but he couldn't remember where.
"EIJIRO REN, UNFORTUNATE BOY" Yang grabbed the now known as Eijiro, shaking his shoulders as he was hugged tightly by Riana "I'M BACK AND YOU'RE NOT HERE TO RECEIVE ME?! I WILL PUNISH YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE"
Waylon bit his lip, staring at the EVLV team, there was a girl with blonde hair somewhat away from Eijiro, Riana and Yang, the same blonde was accompanied by two girls of somewhat similar height, one of them had magenta hair completely braided and dark blue eyes, while the other girl had bright blue hair tied into a ponytail, her eyes had a reddish hue a little lighter than Waylon's own eyes, even so, he didn't know the name of each one of them.
Riana seemed to feel Waylon's penetrating gaze on Eijiro, so she didn't wait another second and decided to introduce them "Waylon! This is my older brother, Eijiro Ren, he's the leader of the EVLV team, doesn't he look great?"
"EVLV is the strongest team that Beacon has right now, Waylon" Yang joined the conversation, still maintaining her hug on poor Eijiro "Eijiro is the son of Ren and Nora, and brother of Riana, but he is also the best student I have taught!"
"You're exaggerating, Miss Yang" Eijiro finally spoke, his voice was soft and calm, he was practically a carbon copy of his father "Waylon, it's a pleasure to meet you, Riana told me a little about you while I was on my mission"
"She did, huh" Waylon approached Eijiro and extended his hand, receiving a friendly shake in response "You're the best thing Beacon has, I can believe it if you're the son of Professor Ren and Headmistress Nora"
"Eijiro is more than just blood ties" A third voice caught Waylon's attention, who turned his head slightly, finding the same blonde girl of before "My name is Valerie Miller, it's a pleasure"
Waylon returned the gesture, quickly returning his attention to Eijiro "We should talk when you have free time...I see you're a little busy right now" Waylon pointed to Yang and Riana, causing the dark-haired boy to laugh gently.
"I'll be more than willing to do it" Eijiro replied, Yang finally separated from him next to Riana, giving her a little more room to breathe "Miss Yang, I'm glad to see you working again."
"Where does that education come from? It's just Yang" Yang replied, laughing softly "I decided to get back into the swing of things, now that my son is in Beacon and my nephews are too, besides my cousin, I want to keep an eye on them"
"I see" Eijiro responded quietly, noticing Yang shift her attention to the two remaining girls.
"Lotta! Verena! Come give me a hug" Yang said happily, lunging at the two girls and starting to choke them.
"I'm kind of sorry to see her act like that" Waylon murmured, turning around and giving Eijiro and Riana one last look "Eijiro, Riana, I'll see you there"
"Miss Miller" Waylon said goodbye to the missing blonde with a slight nod of his head, showing that he knew the girl's status as Councilor Miller's daughter "I hope to see you in the near future"
Waylon finally left the place, hoping to meet Neithan on the way to his next class.
...
The birds sang eagerly as they flew through the skies of the outskirts of Vale, the greenish territory was always quite pleasant to cross with caution, tranquility was the predominant emotion throughout the land, there was practically no sign of violence in the area.
Felicia hated tranquility to a certain extent, she was not just any bandit who looted stores and trucks, no, she was an artist, an artist who had the terrible luck of having to ally herself with a tribe of rude and vain bandits, incapable of understanding the depth and complexity of her art.
Her father, Roman Torchwick, was a unique man in his time, no criminal from the city of Vale had achieved what that orange-head achieved, setting fire to Beacon, being part of Salem's great plan for all of Remnant, Felicia couldn't help but admire him and wish that he was still alive to tell him all about her plans related to causing chaos.
Apparently, wrecking was something unique in the Torchwick blood.
Felicia gave her magic wand a couple of turns, looking with little interest at the bandits who were lifting the wooden boxes and putting them in cheap and dirty trucks belonging to the tribe, she had been in charge of managing to capture some Schnee Corporations trucks and to plot their routes, they usually carried some Dust and some military-grade weapons, weapons that were incredibly useful to the tribe.
"Felicia" Raven Branwen called the younger woman, her face always stoic and unflappable "I wanted to congratulate you on your recent successes with these trucks belonging to Schnee Corp...soon, even our teeth will be able to put a bullet in the heads of those Huntsmen and Huntresses of Beacon"
"Shouldn't you call your sister-in-law and ask her for a gift or two?" Felicia scoffed, smiling in Raven's direction "I appreciate your congratulations and all, but I'd like to go back to town and rob a couple of stores, destroy some orphanages, maybe kidnap some kids..."
"Ruby Rose is in town, she hasn't left" Raven stated harshly "She's an unexpected impediment...normally she's outside the kingdom, but, apparently, your own chaos was the one that caught her attention, and she's staying here" "
"Boring" Felicia groaned, stretching exaggeratedly "Ruby's no big deal"
"She murdered Salem and gained the trust of the brother of light, I think that it's a big deal" Raven added, turning around and walking slowly towards the trees, watching out of the corner of her eye as the bandits do their work "I will return to the main camp, when you finish working here, send me a message"
"Sure Rae" Felicia just watched as Raven transformed into a crow and began to fly through the air, disappearing over the horizon in a matter of seconds.
Felicia growled somewhat irritated as she turned around and began walking to one of the trucks, the enormous symbol of the Schnee family stamped on the whitish metal was the first thing that caught the woman's attention, she was always interested in learning something new thing about mechanics and engineering, after all, her semblance, creation, depends merely on her basic knowledge about Remnant, she had already learned the structure practically at the atomic level of the weapons created by Schnee Corp, one more example of her enormous intelligence .
Felicia moaned in pain when a person hit her hard in the lower back, throwing her towards the truck and slamming against the metal, leaving her stunned for a few seconds.
Ruby Rose got up from the ground quickly, grabbing Crescent Rose firmly and swinging her in just 4 accurate movements, which were enough to destroy the rubber of the tires of the vehicles, leaving the bandits who were transporting the weapons and Dust stranded.
The bandits each took one of the weapons inside the trucks and began to shoot towards Ruby's direction, the woman transformed once again into a cloud of petals and in practically a blur she managed to disarm all the bandits and gave them a blow with the edge of her scythe, shattering their auras in a single movement.
"Really?" Felicia groaned, getting up from the ground with difficulty "How the hell did you find me? Are you Joe Copperberg or something?"
"Winter Schnee gave me the routes of all her trucks that leave the kingdom, it was a matter of not sleeping for two whole days to find you" Ruby practically growled, her usually combat-ready posture was slightly hunched, accompanied by her baggy eyes very noticeable, adding that her voice sounded clearly tired and exhausted "You're cornered, Felicia"
"It looks like the show will start sooner than I planned" Felicia reached into her cloak and pulled Melodic Cudgel out of it, stabbing her cane into the grass "Do you want to see a magic trick?"
Ruby roared and lunged at Felicia, raising her scythe and swinging it in three spinning movements that would have been devastating to anyone, the mage covered herself with her cloak and her body completely vanished, causing Ruby to have to lean on her weapon to avoid falling count the ground.
Ruby turned quickly, dragging her scythe from the ground and trying to return some kind of surprise attack, Crescent Rose's handle was deflected by Melodic Cudgel, the staff ended up in Ruby's face, making her stagger back a couple of steps.
"Schnee Corp most secret technology, this should go to Haven in Mistral" Felicia smiled, her body suddenly appeared as if by magic, in her left hand she had a metallic object with a triangular shape, a kind of crystal embedded in the center of The luminous blue color was the first thing that caught Ruby's attention "I admit that it's still a little difficult for me to create these, but practice makes perfect in the world of magic"
"YOU BASTARD!" Ruby pounced on Felicia using her semblance, managing to land the blade of Crescent Rose squarely in the mage's stomach, making her moan and throwing her to the ground "...Do you think this is a joke?"
"It's not a joke! It's a show" Felicia laughed, raising her wand and pointing it directly at Ruby, the white tip of the object separated from the stick in an upward direction, firing a small reddish cartridge, soon, a sonic explosion ended on the face of the legendary Huntress.
Ruby clutched her head in pain, staggering sideways as she tried to open her eyes, her brain seemed to want to explode inside her skull and paint the beautiful greenish grass a deadly red, the woman couldn't help but fall to the ground with a thud, still sore.
"As long as you don't know the tricks of a magician...the show will still be just as impressive" Felicia groaned, she also felt a horrendous migraine in her head, but the explosion had been so close to Ruby that the damage the magician received was minimum compared to hers "If I kill you, I can return to the stage..."
Felicia was unable to dodge the direct hit of a brown cane into her mouth, making her aura flicker and leaking the damage directly, causing her teeth to bury themselves in her tongue for a moment, making her moan from the sudden pain.
"Stay away from my wife" Oscar Pine muttered as he leaned on his cane, he quickly knelt next to Ruby, looking at her in an attempt to look for any further damage, the man grabbed the lids of Ruby's right eye and carefully opened it, finding that the woman's iris lacked any kind of existing brightness.
She was asleep.
"Honey?" Oscar murmured, gently pushing Ruby's arm in an attempt to wake her, not receiving a direct answer, he got up from the floor and returned his attention to Felicia, finding that she was no longer there.
The track of a tire seemed to have completely marked part of the greenish grass, Oscar approached and activated his Neo-Scroll, taking a high definition image of the tracks so he could analyze them later in Beacon.
The man approached Ruby again, lifting her with some difficulty and carrying her as if she were a princess, the Headmaster of Beacon dragged the woman to the car that she had bought him a few years ago, having some difficulty getting her into the passenger seat.
"We'll have a nice discussion later" Oscar murmured with a smile, giving his wife one last kiss on the forehead before closing the door and getting into the driver's seat himself, beginning his way back, this time towards the Rose-Pine residence.
...
Neithan Rose looked at the entire Beacon campus from the terrace of the building for first-year students, he had been observing the terrain for practically 8 hours straight since the combat class taught by Nora Valkyrie had ended, luckily for the young Rose, Oscar Pine, who is his father and also the Headmaster of the academy, was apparently missing, so no one had gone looking for him.
Well, his team looked for him.
He could hear Waylon, Bryan and Roy shouting his name in the two breaks they had available, apparently it hadn't occurred to any of them that Neithan knew about this secret place, which was certainly understandable, after all, none of them had been here before.
But he did, several years had passed since Oscar brought him to Beacon and showed him this secret place, which could only be accessed from a specific window and by climbing riskily to the top, the boy had decided to come here to isolate himself for a moment from the world and think about the fight he had against Rybol, reflecting on his combat moves and how he could have won.
Neithan sighed as he realized that he couldn't fool himself, he was obviously up here so he could get away from the mere fact that Rybol was right, he wasn't impressive at all, maybe he didn't have any kind of physical problem from birth like Roy or the strange problems that Waylon seemed to have, however, he certainly felt somewhat worthless compared to his teammates.
He still needed to learn what was necessary in Signal, but Oscar and Ruby decided between them to give him the two missing years and give him the opportunity to begin his path through Beacon, he wanted to think that it was because he impressed them, that it was because of his abilities, but to be honest with himself, he knew that he was a simple child who was lucky enough to be the son of the most important Huntress in the entire history of Remnant.
Summer Rose and Ruby Rose had been very special since they were young, Ruby at the same age already had a very well defined combat style and had received training from Qrow Branwen, Neithan on the other hand was barely able to train a couple of times with his mother, and he didn't even learn much about her.
Sometimes he wished she passed more time at home, that's all.
He can't blame her, Remnant needs someone capable to protect it and Ruby Rose was much more than capable, but Neithan couldn't help but feel that he was less important to his mother than he wanted to admit, he misses her, he misses her all the time, he can't even boast about he trained with her or of being incredibly close, because they are not.
Neithan groaned and let his head fall back, making it crash firmly against a layer of gravel that covered the terrace, he was being dramatic, he was supposed to be the one who was always happy and willing to give everything for victory, Waylon could take care of being the weird one with emotional problems.
"Hey" A feminine voice practically left Neithan's heart on the verge of heart-atack, the silver-eyed boy turned his head to the side quickly, finding himself with a girl with gray hair and red eyes, her hair was tied in a ponytail, letting some locks fall to her side, her skin was dark, contrasting slightly with her predominantly silver and certainly strangely designed clothing.
She was also smoking a cigarette, just to mention it.
"Hello" Neithan said, trying to regain his usual spirits "I didn't hear you come up, I'm sorry, I'll be right away"
"Calm down" The girl smiled slightly, moving her hand downward, indicating for him to relax "You're Neithan Rose, right? You fought with that guy named Rybol, he beat you up and you left the classroom screaming"
"When you say it like that you make me sound like some kind of crybaby" Neithan said, feigning offense, standing next to the girl, showing that he was shorter than her "...What's your name?"
"Sapphire Sustrai" Sapphire introduced herself, extending her open palm in greeting, a gesture that was accepted by the younger boy "Don't feel bad about what he said, there is no problem with being 14 years old"
"At Beacon apparently it's a problem" Neithan murmured, staring at the cigarette Sapphire held in her fingers "Is smoking allowed here?"
"No" Sapphire responded, pausing for a moment to sigh a little from the poisonous object and let out a puff of smoke "But it relaxes me...do you want to give it a try?"
"No, no, my parents would kill me" Neithan responded somewhat fearfully, making Sapphire laugh "I think it's a little late...I have to go"
"I'll see you around" Sapphire stretched for a moment, causing Neithan to stop to admire the girl's slender figure, when she opened her eyes again, she met the boy's gaze, which surprised her slightly.
"Easy kid, are you going to ogle me now?" Sapphire asked teasingly, bowing slightly to the shorter boy.
"N-No! uh...forget it, I'll get out of here" Neithan quickly slipped down the terrace and re-entered the academy, leaving Sapphire completely alone once again.
"He's kind of cute, even though he's practically a child" She murmured, taking one last drag on her cigarette before throwing it to the ground and crushing it with her boot.
...
Neithan approached the WBRN team's room carefully, he could hear just a few murmurs and groans of moans in some rooms, it was probably people trying to sleep due to the heavy day it was, however, for him, it simply made the fact that it was his own room where the most noises came from.
"We have to find him, he's been out all damn day, I don't know who he thinks he is, but he'll be back here" Waylon's voice forced Neithan to stop right in front of the door, pressing himself against the wooden door cautiously, after all, Bryan could easily hear him if he made a lot of noise.
"Maybe he just got lost and ended up going to Aunt Yang's room" Roy said with some difficulty, almost as if he were unintentionally searching for an answer to Waylon's demands "...Bryan, his Neo-Scroll is it still out of service?"
"He should have turned it off" Bryan said, raising his right arm and letting it fall, accompanying his gesture of defeat with a sigh "...I'll go look for him with Uncle Oscar's help"
Bryan approached the door and opened it with a somewhat abrupt movement, finding Neithan crouched in front of the door, the silver-eyed cleared his throat exaggeratedly, smiling nervously as he looked at his blonde cousin.
"Sorry I'm late, I was, uh, doing stuff" Neithan assured, looking at Bryan intently "...Do you want to let me in?"
"Are you OK?" Bryan asked back, Neithan noticed that Waylon and Roy poked their heads out to see him "What Rybol said doesn't matter, does it? Not about your mother or about me being a faunus"
"I didn't remember Blake letting racist comments go like that" Waylon said harshly, practically scolding Bryan for not showing any signs of anger "...Neithan, you shouldn't have left like that, you know? We are a team now"
"That's funny coming from you, the same one who swore it was a bad stroke of luck to meet me in the Emerald Forest" Neithan complained, pushing Bryan away with a simple move and climbing the stairs to his bunk, laying down on his bed and crossing his arms "...Idiot"
"We have our differences, Neithan, but now we are a team and we must support each other in everything we need...even with our emotional problems" Waylon articulated each of his words, having clear difficulties when having to express himself "Roy, help me with this"
"Waylon is right, Neith, we are a team, we were already family before Beacon, you're really not going to tell us what's going on?" The blue-eyed asked, with a pleading expression.
"...Well, I just had a little letdown, you know, the whole thing about me not being as strong as my mother and embarrassing my legacy with my foolishness and...my lack of ability" Neithan muttered, clearly uncomfortable about the way he sees himself "...It's no big deal, tomorrow I'll be fine"
"We have to be the ones to build our own legacy, not our mothers, us" Waylon said firmly, remembering Riana's words and transforming them so that Neithan understood his point "If you're not as strong as Ruby...does that matter? You are Neithan Rose, not only the son of the most legendary Huntress of all time... you are also yourself, that's why we are here at Beacon, to be the best Huntsmen the world has ever seen"
Neithan opened his eyes slightly surprised by Waylon's words, the white-haired boy looked to the side while evaluating his own words, he opened his mouth to speak again, confused with himself "I have problems with the whole legacy thing just like you...but we can get through it, together"
Neithan nodded, feeling somewhat inspired by his cousin's words, he quickly jumped over the small rail of his bed and fell to the floor, surrounding the red-eyed in a soft hug "Thank you, Waylon"
"Don't touch me" Waylon growled, placing his finger on Neithan's head and trying to separate him, only to be crushed by Bryan and Roy, who joined the hug with a victory smile "...I hate all of you"
It took them a moment to separate and call it a day, their trip was just beginning and they already had individual problems that they had to solve, even so, they shouldn't do it alone, they were going to support each other in every possible way to be able to improve, that's why it is that they are a team.
Waylon closed his eyes tightly as he tried to sleep, feeling terrified at having the enormous weight of his legacy on his back, and not being able to carry it himself.
He couldn't do it, no one could help him.
The boy finally slept, beginning a round of nightmares that had been haunting his mind for years.