AN: ayy I got four followers. Good looking out. feel free to drop a review or something if you want. I want to know what you think about this.

The next day, after spending most of the day in the city, Rock sat on the roof to the school's dorm building. Looking at his scroll he had missed most of his classes for the day. The events of the previous day kept playing in his mind, making him unable to focus on anything else. Frustrated, he leaned back and saw someone standing over him. Scrambling to his feet, he realized that it was the headmaster.

"Jeez, you scared the piss out of me," Rock said.

Ozpin chuckled. "That is unfortunate, I hope you have a change of pants."

Rock opened his mouth to retort, but stopped. "You're messing with me. Didn't expect you to have a sense of humor."

"The occasional joke is good for the soul, but I didn't come here to discuss comedy with you."

"That right? Then what did you come here for?"

"I simply wanted to know how you were adjusting to Beacon. It is quite different from fighting in empty warehouses and back alleys, I'm sure."

Rock blinked in surprise. "You know about that?"

Ozpin smiled, but it wasn't a friendly one. "I know quite a bit about you, Rock. I must say, your choice in aliases needs some refinement."

Rock stepped back. "What are you saying?"

"Did you think you were the first person to lie their way into Beacon?"

"Hod on, if you know who I am, then you have to know all the shit I did, and where I come from. Why would you even let me in this place if you know all that?"

Ozpin stopped smiling. He stared at Rock with hard, unblinking eyes. "If you would, allow me to ask you a question. Do you believe that you are beyond redemption, that you do not deserve a second chance? I have met many people like you, coming to Beacon hoping to start over. I see great potential in you, and it would be a shame to see it squandered. If you continue down the path you are on now, you will be back where you started with nothing to show for it."

Rock scoffed. "So what, you just want me to bare everything to those people? Tell them all my deep, dark secrets?"

"I wouldn't ask you to go that far right from the outset, but telling them your real name would do for starters."

"No way in hell. If they find out who I really am my life is worth shit in this place. Thanks for the advice, but I'm doing just fine right now."

Rock walked past Ozpin and went to the school. As he walked to his final class, he spotted the rest of his team. He made to walk past them, but felt someone grab onto his arm. He turned and saw Giallo glaring at him.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Rock jerked his arm free. "What do you care? I'm here now aren't I?"

"I thought I explained it already, I don't want anyone on my team I cant count on. It's bad enough I have to deal with Lucia and Nigel."

Lucia laughed. "Don't be too hard on him. If he wants to go off and cry, that's his prerogative."

Rock grabbed Lucia by the shirt. "How about I wipe that grin off your face?"

"Oh my, are you coming on to me? I must admit, you are cute. Maybe we could have some fun." Lucia slowly licked his lips.

Rock dropped Lucia and stepped back. Nigel got in between them, gesturing frantically.

"Can we please not do this here? Why don't we try talking things out?"

Rock glared at Lucia. "Fuck no. I've had enough of this guy. I'm gonna teach him a lesson."

Lucia's grin grew even more lecherous. "You're welcome to try."

The two stood nose to nose. The air was thick with tension, tension that was immediately deflated by more students arriving.

"Ah, the clashing of souls. Such a beautiful sight."

Lala strode toward the four boys, with Yasmin following close behind. Her face bore the same vacant smile as always. She was a million miles away.

Nigel waved. "Hey, Lala."

Lala walked up to Nigel and wrapped her arms around him. "Hello again, little lamb. It is good to see you."

Nigel went bright red and squirmed. "It's good to see you too. Please let me go."

Giallo whistled. "Nice, man. You gonna introduce your friend."

"This is Lala, and that other girl glaring at me is Yasmin. I met them the other day."

Lala waved at Giallo. "The brilliant shining sun. I've heard so much about you. You are quite different from what I imagined." Her eyes went to Lucia, and a line of blood flowed down her nose.

Yasmin rushed to her side and wiped her face clean with a cloth. "Are you okay?"

"I was not prepared for such a malignant mind. It has been quite a long time since I felt something like that."

Rock pointed at Lala. "What's wrong with her?"

Lala chuckled. "All manner of things. But I would ask the same of you. Your mind is clouded, obscured by many things. I wonder if it is due to the discord in your heart."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rock said.

Lala answered like she was reading off of a list. "You are frustrated by your lack of strength. This frustration causes you to lash out at others. You wish to tell your teammates the truth about yourself, but you are worried that they won't accept you if they knew. But, louder than all the others is your feelings about your mother."

Rock grabbed Lala by the collar. "Who the fuck are you?"

Yasmin's hand flashed out and wrapped around Rock's arm. Her fingers dug into his wrist and he dropped Lala. Rock and Yasmin locked eyes, both of them enraged.

Lala's distant expression never wavered. "I appreciate your concern, Yasmin, but you do not need to worry. A barking dog's fangs cannot harm anyone."

Yasmin's hand went to her sword. "Perhaps, but this dog needs to be put down."

"I'd like to see you try," Rock growled.

Rock and Yasmin prepared to fight, but suddenly the two of them were suddenly lifted off the ground. A different girl had them suspended by their collars, their feet dangling off the ground.

"Please stop fighting," the girl said, her eyes welling up with tears.

Rock was too busy being choked by his collar to respond, but he took a look at the girl. She was massive, both tall and broad. She had thick, muscular arms that clashed with her soft, round face. Her straight, black hair went down past her waist, and there were a pair of curved horns on her head. Rock couldn't feel anything from this girl. She was weaker than he was, but that was only in spirit. In terms of raw physical strength, she was top of the line.

Yasmin sighed and put her arms down. "I won't fight anymore, Iris, so can you put me down?"

Iris set the two of them down. "Why were you fighting?"

Lala raised her hand. "It was over me. I'm quite popular."

"You know Lotus doesn't like you two going off alone. She's gonna be really upset."

Yasmin sighed. "I'll talk to her, don't worry."

Giallo looked Iris up and down. His eyes settled on her shirt, her buttons struggling to stay fastened as her chest pressed against them.

"Hi, I don't believe we've met. My name's Giallo."

Iris shrunk backwards. "Hi. I'm Iris."

"Well, Iris, maybe you and I could be friends."

Giallo tried to take a step forward, but stopped as a wave of raw enmity washed over him. He focused on it, feeling someone approaching him.

It was another girl. She had pink eyes that stood out against her dark skin. Her hair was tied in a single large braid that went down to her waist. There was a large pink gem on her forehead, and she had multiple golden bracelets around her wrists. Her arms and legs were long and slender, like a dancer's.

Iris cowered behind the girl. The newly arrived girl glared directly at Giallo. Giallo felt a chill go through his body. This girl was a monster, just like him. He could tell immediately, this girl was incredibly powerful.

"What are you people doing?" the girl demanded.

"Getting to know each other," Giallo said. "It'd be nice if I knew your name."

"My name is Lotus," she gestured towards the other girls, "and I'm in charge of these girls. Who the hell are you people?"

"I'm Giallo, and these guys are the rest of Team VNGR. I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I hope we can be friends."

Giallo extended a hand, but Lotus simply walked past him.

"Stay away from my team," she said.

Giallo felt that he had done something wrong.

"It's not you, Lotus just hates men," Lala replied. She went to follow Lotus, with Yasmin and Iris following close behind her. "Goodbye, everyone. I hope to see you again."

"Well, that was interesting," Lucia said.

Rock grumbled and walked ahead of his team to the next class.

"I wonder what what Lala meant about Rock?" Nigel said.

"Who cares?" Giallo said. "If Rock wants to keep things close then that's his right."

XxX

Glynda tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the last of her students to fill into the amphitheater. Once all the students arrived she began her address.

"Now then, if there are no further delays, let us begin." She pressed a button on her scroll and two fighters were selected.

"Very well. Our first match will be Yasmin versus Weiss Schnee."

Yasmin and Weiss stood on the stage nose to nose. Both girls had a vicious scowl on their face. Weiss ground her teeth in anger as she glared at Yasmin, while Yasmin kept a tight grip on her sword. With great effort, the two turned away from each other and stood on opposite ends of the stage.

"Begin!" Glynda shouted.

Yasmin placed one hand on her sword's handle and another on the sheath. She bent her knees slightly and exhaled.

Weiss rushed forward and thrust her rapier at Yasmin. Yasmin's blade flashed from its sheath. The blade slashed across Weiss' chest, depleting a large chunk of her aura. Yasmin placed both hands on the sword's handle and raised it over her head. She slashed down, Weiss avoiding the blade at the last minute. Each one of Yasmin's strikes flowed into the next, giving Weiss no time to counter. Weiss was forced onto the defensive, blocking strike after strike with no hope of mounting an offense.

Watching in the audience, Rock let out a low whistle.

"That hat girl's pretty good. What's that sword technique called?"

"It's called Battoujutsu," Nigel responded. "It's an eastern sword technique based around sword drawing. But it looks like she knows Kenjutsu too."

Weiss thrust into the ground with her rapier, sending up multiple shards of ice. Yasmin jumped back, but lost sight of Weiss. Weiss appeared from behind and stabbed Yasmin in the back. Yasmin fell to the floor but sprang right back up. Weiss performed several thrusts with her rapier, but Yasmin deflected them with the tip of her sword. Yasmin stabbed at Weiss's stomach, but Weiss dodged and slashed at Yasmin. A jet of fire spouted from the tip of her rapier, engulfing Yasmin in flames. Yasmin jumped back and caught her breath. A glowing glyph appeared beneath Weiss. Several projectiles floated into the air and shot towards Yasmin. Yasmin cut all of them down, but in the process she had taken her eyes off of Weiss. A series of white glyphs appeared on the stage, and Weiss shot forward like a missile. Yasmin's eyes narrowed, but she made no move to avoid the attack. Instead, she parried the attack with her sword. Weiss' sword veered off target. Yasmin's arm shook from the force of the strike. Of course, Yasmin's sword was off target as well.

Then something strange happened. Yasmin was clearly in a disadvantageous position, her sword nearly slipping out of her hand. But then, in what couldn't have been more than a second, Yasmin had both hands on her sword and had it raised above her head. She slashed Weiss across the chest with full force, completely depleting her aura and sending her to the ground. The buzzer signaled the end of the fight.

"The winner is Yasmin," Glynda announced. "Weiss' semblance is both versatile and powerful, but proper technique can overcome raw power in most cases."

A smattering of applause sounded through the theater. Yasmin looked down at Weiss on her knees. The look on Yasmin's face was hard to read, but it looked like she was deep in thought about something. After what looked like much consideration, Yasmin sheathed her sword and left the stage.

"I wonder if there's something between them?" Lucia asked himself.

"Pretty obvious," Giallo said.

Glynda loudly cleared her throat. "Now then, let us proceed to our next match."

She selected another pair of fighters at random. Her eyebrow raised slightly when she saw who had been selected.

"Our next match will be Lucia Verde versus Jaune Arc."

Lucia was giddy with excitement. "Lovely. I've finally got an excuse to get closer to him."

"Try not to kill him," Rock said.

"Don't worry, he's far too pretty for that."

Lucia walked up to the stage and examined his opponent. Jaune was tall, but scraggly. His blonde hair fell moppishly around his face. He held his sword like he had no idea what he was doing. His eyes betrayed his lack of confidence. Lucia could hardly control himself. He felt his cheeks growing hot and he could hear his heart pounding. He wanted to tear the boy's armor off and **** him right here on the stage in front of everyone.

Lucia shook his head. He needed to take it slow. That last thing he wanted was to scare the boy off. There'd be plenty of time for the two of them later on.

"Begin!" Glynda shouted.

Lucia slowly strode towards Jaune. Jaune swung his sword wildly, Lucia easily dodging every strike. Jaune swung as hard as he could, but Lucia caught the blade in his hand. Lucia looked down at Jaune's hand and frowned.

"You're holding it wrong," he said. He wrapped his fingers around Jaune's hand and guided them to the correct position.

"There, doesn't that feel better?"

Jaune nodded. He tentatively swung a few times and was astonished at how much easier it was to swing this time. Jaune's smile lit up the room.

"Thanks."

Lucia felt like he was floating. He had to make this boy his.

Jaune resumed his attack. Despite his corrected stance, he still wasn't any closer to hitting Lucia.

Lucia got closer and closer to Jaune until they were standing toe to toe. "You're hesitating. What is holding you back?"

With a loud pop, Lucia's aura disappeared. "Come, I am defenseless. Strike me down, and don't hold back."

Jaune's eyes went wide. "What are you doing? Isn't this dangerous?"

Lucia frowned. "What's wrong? Have you never cut anyone before? It's easy, let me show you."

He grabbed Jaune's sword and slowly drew a line across his chest. Blood began to trickle from the wound as Lucia sighed in ecstasy.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Lucia asked.

A panicked murmur went through the audience. Jaune looked around searching for a sign of what to do. Glynda merely shrugged. Jaune sighed and kept fighting, getting no closer to victory.

Lucia couldn't stop smiling if he tried. "I think I've seen enough. Don't worry, I'll make it quick."

Lucia drew his right arm back. A few people in the audience noticed the way his hand turned, nearly a full three-sixty degrees. If not for Lucia's aura such a motion would have broken his wrist and shredded his muscles. Lucia rushed forward and slammed his palm into Jaune's stomach, his hand springing back on the other direction. The impact was like getting hit with a giant drill. Jaune's aura was rapidly depleted and fell below the line for elimination. Lucia stood over Jaune's defenseless body, his fingers still tense. He took a step forward when he heard a sharp whistle ring in his ears. He turned and saw Giallo motioning for Lucia to join him. Lucia looked down at his hands and realized what had came over him. He felt like he'd been drenched with ice water. When he went to rejoin his team, he saw the look Giallo was giving him and shrugged.

"What? I didn't kill him."

XxX

After dinner, Lucia wandered outside the dorms taking in the night sky. He sat on a bench staring up at the stars.

"I see you like stargazing," someone said.

Lucia suddenly found himself surrounded on both sides. He recognized the two as Jaune's teammates, Ren and Nora. Nora waved happily while Ren was as stoic as always.

"Did you need something?" Lucia asked.

"I just wanted to talk for a bit. You know, all friendly like. That's how I want us to be, nice and friendly."

Lucia relaxed slightly. "Alright, what did you want to talk about?"

"Why'd you try to kill Jaune?" Nora asked.

Lucia suddenly heard the sound of a gun's hammer being pulled back. He felt the barrel being pressed against his side as Nora took a firm grip on his shoulder.

"It's too late to run, now answer the question."

Lucia sighed. "So you noticed. It's true, for a moment I did contemplate killing your friend. It was an impulse. I did not have the best upbringing. In my life, I have killed many people. Every battle I've ever fought was to the death. For a moment, those same familiar urges came over me again. But, I made a promise not to kill my fellow students, and I intend to keep it."

Ren and Nora shared a look. Then, they both rose and walked away. Lucia felt his entire body go slack. Their bonds of friendship were a powerful thing indeed. He wondered if he would find something like that for himself. But the thought that dominated his mind was one in particular.

Ren and Nora, he had the feeling those two were more like him than they let on.