The 'Lone' Hero of Vale (RWBY & Link)

by SRenthusiast

Team RWBY runs into a classmate while on a self-assigned mission, when they realize he does not have any teammates because he is a one person team. Link quickly proves he's not just a swordsman and is very much worthy of calling himself a huntsman despite a dark past that correlates with major events. (More of a fusionfic since its Link in Remnant.) (Story is undergoing re-writes)

20. The Beginning of the Dark Truth

Beacon Academy: The Dormitories, Link's Room

Five Minutes ago, the collective unit of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Coco, Velvet, Sun, and Neptune had just finished watching the security footage of a shop that caught the moments where Atlas military tried to apprehend Link, and then kill after he refused to surrender. Ruby jumped in to make the save, the two fatigued students did their best to fight off a fleet of Atlesian Knights relentlessly firing away at them. Eventually, Link went down, Ruby took a massive shot from James Ironwood's revolver and seemingly died right in Link's arms. Afterward, the 'demon' started to emerge from Link but it was suppressed enough to not emerge fully but regardless, this 'newly' discovered used was used to put the beating of a lifetime on Ironwood and put him on the brink of death. Luckily for him, Velvet jumped in to save him when Link was a couple of feet and one sword slash away from putting the finishing touches on the Atlas general's life. Now in this current time, the nine students are caught by none other than Link himself, after having broken inside his room, snooped around and found the footage a tablet only seen in Professor Ozpin and Glynda's hands

"Who is going to answer me?"

Link looks to his friends who all stand up at the same time, having previously been sat and crowded around the desk whilst watching the security camera video Pyrrha first as she is the most honest one, but gets no answer. Then Blake, the most trustworthy and still no answer. Next is Velvet, someone who breaks down under pressure but STILL, no answer

"I hope you guys know that I could easily report you to Glynda for this. How did you even get in? I will say thank you first because I left my scroll in my room so that would've been a hassle but seriously, what are you people doing here?"

"Link!" Ruby opens her mouth. "We were just-!"

"No. You know what, never mind." Link shakes his head, "Just get out." He looks right at Ruby, the only person who has working vocal words at the moment. "I'm being serious too. All of you, leave now."

"What?! Why?! We're here to help you." Yang frowns and violently pounds her fists together. "And like we agreed on, if you won't accept our help, we'll punch-!"

"We did not collectively agree to that!" Weiss shakes her head. "Stop getting us in trouble, Yang!"

"I clearly don't need it otherwise I would come to you guys." Link sighs and rubs his temples. "I'm fine, you can ask Ren and he would've told you that I was alive at minimum."

"Link..." Blake speaks up and glares at him. "What was that? Against Ironwood? That was horrifying."

(Yeah it was only a matter of time before somebody asked me about this damn thing inside me. What should I say? I should lie but that would be wrong, they deserve to know the truth. However, I'm not ready to tell them...) Link sighs and internally debates with himself over what to say

"Our match from a while ago!" Weiss gasps. "That's what that gold eye was, wasn't it?" The Schnee heiress trembles. "Whatever that was! It was coming out to kill us wasn't it-!"

"Wrong." Link shakes his head again, "That time during our sparring match was me willingly. I was doing it for a simple purpose really: it was me trying to control its power in order to one day fully have it under my control."

"W-why would you use whatever that is on us?" Ruby's eyes widened in shock. "What if it came out and hurt one of us?!"

"He... It, whatever it is, was not going to hurt any of you, that I can guarantee." Link closes his eyes and does his best to explain simply. "That kind of thing only happens when I lose control or in other words, experience a traumatic event. It's like it's linked to my anger or when I suffer. Anyway, that's not important to you guys. What is important however, is the less I use, the less I can practice to take full control one day. I don't want to EVER let 'him' or 'it' out entirely, not again anyway. That footage with Ironwood was just the beginning of what I can do."

"Link." Blake sighs. "I see now. You have a monster inside you but you don't want it to be public knowledge. Is that right?"

"Yes." Link nods in agreement but his expression quickly changes as he mumbles coldly "I would like for you all to leave now. We'll talk again before the tournament stands, unlimited lunches on me throughout the Vytal Festival for being such a jerk right now."

"We can just leave you alone, Link!" Velvet softly speaks but blurts out when the boy continues to demand everyone leave. "We're here to get to the bottom of why you're upset and-!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me, Velvet. But I am kindly requesting all of you to get out of my room, immediately!" Link mumbles with a freezing cold tone

"L-link?" Velvet mumbles as she backs away with fear in her eyes

"I swear, if you take up that tone with her ONE more time!" Coco frowns and clicks a button on her handbag, within seconds it turns into its gatling gun form. "And I'll make you regret it! I like ya, kid but you're being too rude to people who genuinely care about you!"

"You want to fight?" Link grabs his sword and shakes his head. "Step out into the hallway then."

"Fine by me." Coco nods

"Coco!" Velvet shouts

"No!" Pyrrha shakes her head and stretches out both of her arms, both of her hands glow with a faint black color as Link's sword and Coco's gatling gun fly out of both of their respective owners' hands. "We're not here looking for a fight, that goes for both of you. We came because we were worried about you, Link."

"Y-you were worried?" Link shakes his head, "Well I'm sorry for worrying but I'm okay. Or at least I was until this happened."

"Oh really?" Weiss frowns

"If you're so 'okay' then why have you been ignoring us?" Yang asks

"I know you've seen the footage already. You should know why then." Link shrugs. "That thing... I did not want that to be seen by any of you. Coco, Velvet and Ironwood are more than enough."

"W-what?" Yang shakes her head. "But you protected Ruby? That's awesome-!"

"Wrong, there is nothing awesome about what I almost did. At that point it was not about Ruby anymore, I thought she was dead, Yang." Link frowns. "I was ready to kill General Ironwood and more than likely leave Vale afterward without saying goodbye to anyone. I refused to be seen as the one who caused Ruby's death, I didn't want to see the emotional reactions from you, Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Coco, Velvet, Fox, Yatsuhashi, Sun or Neptune. I figured it was better to run away from the problem with no solution."

"Why?"

"Because Yang." Link's tone returns to normal to the delight of everyone in the room. "The second anybody sees the curse dawned on me, they fear me and keep their distance. It's happened too many times already and I didn't want that treatment anymore. That is why I was happy when Professor Ozpin declared me my own team, but who would be happy about being alone? It was not my choice, I just simply got used to being alone."

"Why would you assume that about us?" Velvet speaks up despite seemingly fearing her friend and person of interest. "Not everyone is the same."

"Because it has happened before, Velvet. And I've heard that before too, people who think they can handle a secret like mine. Then they finally see it and I never see them again."

"O-oh..." Velvet looks away in embarrassment

"Not to say I've 'been around a long time' or anything like that, but when you travel a world as big as Remnant, you come across small villages, and a lot of them. The secluded village folk are my kind of people too, I don't really know why but they are. You form friendships with people you figured would be forgotten within days, and then those people die before your own eyes, with the blame getting assigned to you because of awful lies. How would that make you feel, Velvet?"

"I..." Velvet shakes her head as she has no answer

"This particular village I'm talking about is very real too. News of the village's destruction spread. 'Somehow' I was named and described with perfection, they referred to me or... 'it' in this case." Link shakes his head and grasps his chest "They referred to 'it' as a demon, with the golden eyes of a monster, they described those lines on my face as those of a possessed killer out to destroy anything in his path, they even gave 'it' a name be even bigger jerks."

"The Twilight Demon." Blake's voice is heard faintly as she is away from the group and looking through Link's bookshelf, she grabs a black and white book with no title or cover. "This book right? I read it and heard what people had to say, opinions were mixed. People claimed it was real, others were quick to cry fiction. Your particular copy has no title or cover. You ripped it off and kept it stored away, crushed in between many fiction and non-fiction books."

"I..." Link opens his mouth to reply but it immediately closes as everything Blake says is factual. "I don't even know where to start. When did you even find that? And how-!"

"In my short time here, I noticed all your books. They all have covers and titles, flashy artwork and reviews at the back, except for this one." The cat faunus smirks at her teammates. "I wasn't in here just bickering; I actually looked for clues. I figured, if you dismissed us without hearing us out, I could ask you about this at least."

"The Twilight Demon?" Ruby raises an eyebrow. "I don't get it, they made a book about Link?"

"To some extent, Link's name isn't in the book but there is a drawing that looks almost like him before the table of contents." Pyrrha shakes her head. "I heard the book itself was described as just a myth created by a young writer one year ago."

"Yes, the crimes piled on my shoulders and said to be my responsibility are definitely fiction, that's for sure. The part about the actual demon wasn't a myth, he's real as day." Link backs away from everybody and closes his eyes. "Here, you can see him up close and personal."

(What? Are you stupid or something? I'm totally going to kill someone today!)

(Don't get any bright ideas, I will hold you back.)

Link gets into a defensive stance and concentrates intensely. The one person team struggles briefly, despite practicing here and there, it proves to be a strenuous process that forces grunts of pain out of his mouth. Then at last, he stops moving entirely and opens his eyes, revealing the bright golden color engulfing his blue eyes, despite the twilit lining making its way out of his eyes and onto his face, Link manages to hold it back and establish full control

"These eyes are just the opening stage and yeah it only gets worse from here." Link growls and looks at his friends staring at him with plenty of intrigue. "The 'demon' has only taken over twice... and on one of those two occasions, people were murdered."

"What about the other occasion?" Pyrrha asks

"I'd prefer not to go into detail about it. Telling Professor Ozpin was difficult enough. Let's just say it involved my 'father' who I haven't seen ever since. Maybe I will elaborate on it another day." Link closes his eyes and within seconds upon opening them, they are back to their normal blue color with the golden color and lines vanishing. "Look, during my exploration of Remnant, people got hurt on my behalf when it was never their fault. Watching Ruby pretty much die brought up all those bad memories if I'm being completely honest with you guys. And I don't want to be the reason any of you get hurt or even worse..."

"Killed?" Ruby fearlessly walks up to Link with plenty of joy in her eyes. "Is that what you mean by worse?"

"Yes." Link nods. "I never had anything or anyone worth fighting for... Well, I did but they got taken away from me. It wasn't until I came to Vale that things were finally changing for the better. This is the longest time I've spent in one place which is crazy to me. Crazy because I expected to be run out of here immediately, but instead, I was able to enroll into Beacon and start over. My desire was to run through Beacon on my own but of course, you guys just had to run into me at that damn club?" Link chuckles and glances at Ruby, Weiss and Yang. "Ever since then, I only kept making friends, I met Blake, then Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Velvet, Coco, Yatsuhashi, Fox... ultimately culminating with Sun and Neptune not too long ago." His chuckle results in a smile forming, that is sadly short lived. "However, that fresh was close to ending and I was almost out of here because of what happened to Ruby and how it actually almost resulted in her death. I mean, you basically were dead, Ruby."

"Forget about it!" Ruby shakes her head "I'm okay now Link. I'm so sorry for scaring you, the same way I'm sorry for scaring all of you who thought I died, but please Link. Just relax and-!"

"How can I relax when I almost caused your death?!" Link frowns but that expression quickly dies down as well. "S-Sorry. Ugh just look at me, you saved my life, almost paid for it with yours and I'm screaming at you."

"Yeah, you should be ashamed." Ruby smiles. "Jokes aside, I'm being serious. Nothing came from that and you really have nothing to worry about."

"Sorry Ruby, but if you were in my position, you would understand." Link heavily sighs. "It was my fault, my criminal activity, my wanted level, it's the reason Ironwood tried to capture or kill me, rather than focus on arresting Torchwick. My presence causes harm to those around me, you weren't the first, and you certainly won't be the last either."

"Seriously, stop blaming yourself for what happened to me. I had the choice and I chose to jump in and help you, when I could've ran away you know." Ruby lowers her head "I'm surprised Weiss didn't scold me... You know, 'Why would you run into battle when you're inexperienced and outnumbered? You're such a brat!' You know Weiss, that's something she would say."

"H-hey!" Weiss frowns and turns her head. "That's not what I sound like and I wouldn't use such basic wording!"

"SEE? It's even worse... Just kidding." Ruby chuckles and picks her head back up. "Like I said, instead of running away I decided to fight for a friend! I get why you blame yourself Link, I didn't understand at first but now I do. However, I do have to put my foot down and say enough with the self pity! It was my choice to jump in and save my friend! All of us would've done the same, even Weiss and she hates you!"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!" Weiss crosses her arms. "And YES I would have defended Link!"

"What?" Link rolls his eyes. "I doubt that."

"Hmph!" Weiss turns to the side to avoid eye contact with the one person team. "Fine, be that way."

"Anyway, I was ready to leave Vale like I said previously as well" Link mumbles, "I just couldn't imagine the thought of continuing to attend Beacon with all our friends here as if nothing ever happened. I understand that life goes on but it's not that simple when you lose someone you love. Showing my face to your friends and family or even walking around Vale as a proud 'huntsman' despite knowing that because of a target on my back, somebody died for it. To state it clearly, it would've been impossible to continue living here if you stayed dead, Ruby."

"If you wanted to leave Vale, then why did you stay? I know eventually you found out like the rest of us did that Ruby was fine but, we know you very, Link. When you take action, it's fast and you don't look back." Weiss asks as she turns to face Link again, "You already thought she was 'dead'... Unless you knew that she was somehow still alive?"

"I did not know." Link wags his index finger. "Nor did I really know what to think, that's the truth. I told myself I was going to leave Vale and was seconds away from running off but, I don't know why I stayed. You're right Weiss, I could've easily ran off without even knowing Ruby was okay and your lives would have resumed as normal at least."

"No they wouldn't have!" Ruby points a shaky index finger at Link whilst shaking her head. "We're here, breaking into your dorm and inspecting all of your stuff because you wouldn't even talk to us, can you imagine what we-! Or at the very least, what I would have done if you really left without saying goodbye?"

"Right." Link chuckles. "I get that now, but at that moment... All of my emotions were running wild annnd, I didn't have a clear thought in my brain. I was torn between staying and going to the point where I'm glad I was indecisive. Since you know, Weiss, Yang, and Blake found you on the street and soon after they revealed that you survived and were gonna be okay."

"I see." Ruby giggles. "I'm glad you stayed, Link. It would have been really unfortunate if you didn't and who am I kidding? It wouldn't be just me missing you, everybody would have missed you too."

"That's great to know." Link smiles politely and nods at everyone individually. "I definitely would have missed you guys too."

"Good, now that that's out of the way." Yang shoves Link to make him sit down on his bed. "Now it's our turn to ask some questions. I'll start with the tablet, where did you get that?"

"That's interesting, I figured you'd want to ask me any other question. Consider me surprised. Professor Ozpin 'gave it' to me but not really, he just loaned it. He was made aware of what happened because of Glynda, so in other words, he knew what I did. The 'demon', what you guys just discovered today."

"Right." Yang nods. "Keep going."

"Of course. So to add some context, on the same day we almost stopped the train, fought off all the Grimm, and Ruby almost died protecting me. I went to Ozpin's office myself to tell him I was going to enter and qualify for the tournament..." Link's expression drops. "While I initially intended on telling him what happened, I got scared and decided not to. But that was foolish because he already knew so all that tells him is I was willing to lie that day. He warned me that if anything that happened against General Ironwood happened in the tournament, my ongoing match would be canceled and I'd be pulled from the tournament."

"Wow..." Weiss gasps. "Would Professor Ozpin really do that? But if Link can control that thing... No matter, I just hope I don't have to face him in the tournament."

"Before I left his office, Ozpin said he wanted to talk to me before the tournament started. After a few days of isolation from absolutely everybody, even Ren, I made my way to his office and that's how I got my hands on this tablet. Professor Ozpin gave me his own tablet and told me to look at the ENTIRE footage at least once a day."

"B-but!" Blake stutters with a perplexed look on her face. "That's just mental torture on yourself!"

"I agree." Link nods at the cat faunus. "But apparently and eventually, I will learn something about myself? I don't know, those were Professor Ozpin's words. He didn't punish me and there were no demands from him that I suppress the demon or anything of the sort, only leniency."

"That's weird." Ruby rubs her chin

"I have a question." Pyrrha raises her hand as if they were in a classroom, she blushes in embarrassment when everyone turns to her. "S-sorry!"

"Don't be sorry." Link chuckles and covers his mouth to cover a smile. "Continue, Pyrrha."

"Yes!" She nods. "I was curious if you asked about the general. Specifically regarding what he did to Ruby and what is going to happen with him next?"

"I did ask about Ironwood, yes but Professor Ozpin decided to bite his tongue and barely give me any answers of substance." The blonde boy shrugs. "He told me that the General and himself had come to an agreement. Normally, whether he almost killed Ruby or not, I would've been put in military jail for the beating and near murder of an Atlas general."

"What changed?" Sun asks

"Besides Ironwood almost killing Ruby?" Link scoffs sarcastically. "Wanting and purposely trying to arrest me, despite having no evidence that I, team RWBY or Doctor Oobleck caused the train crash. It was his intention to pin the train crash on me IF he captured me."

"T-that's crazy." Weiss frowns

"I know, and in my opinion, it was all to tell himself that it was okay to prioritize arresting or hunting someone for his own personal gain, as opposed to arresting Torchwick, who caused the train to crash."

"The train crash? Blame it on you?" Ruby shakes her head with disappointment. "But... General Ironwood knows who we are? Why would he do that? Not to mention that you yourself Link, said he-!"

"Link said what himself?" Weiss looks at Link with skepticism

"Nothing unusual really. I said Ironwood was clearly just after me and he was going to say whatever needed to be said or take any action he felt like he could." Link furrows his brows. "But deep down inside, I and everybody in this room knows that he knew I didn't cause the crash, hell a quick call to Professor Ozpin, his long time friend and Ozpin could have told him I along with team RWBY are there on a mission with Doctor Oobleck. I suppose, it would've been the perfect opportunity to capture me and bring me in, no doubt in my mind he would've framed me as soon as he threw me in a cell!"

"You said it is just speculation on your behalf but I trust you. Now it's my turn to ask a question." Blake speaks up. "Why is General Ironwood after you? For him to be after you to the point of ignoring capturing Torchwick, it has to be something serious. Are you a wanted criminal in Atlas? Or internationally?"

"The simple answer is yes, I am wanted in Atlas and Internationally." Link nods. "I've mentioned traveling all around Remnant but I have only spent one day in Atlas. It only took that one day to realize I made a mistake, then immediately left after learning I was not wanted there."

"What?" Weiss' jaw drops. "You've been to Atlas? What happened-!"

"Is it true that you worked for the White Fang?!" Blake blurts out and purposely cuts off her teammate in the process

"Blake, you've asked about four questions by now." Link weakly smiles, "But I did work for the White Fang, that's right." He nods. "I was a mercenary for the White Fang and a few other smaller criminal organizations. I was a part of my own group but we were hired by anybody who wanted to pay us a lot. We weren't fools however, we looked over what kind of job they wanted us to and only accepted what we wanted to do."

"Well, just... Why?" Blake closes her eyes as all of her past memories begin to resurface in her head. "Why would you be a mercenary for the White Fang? Or a mercenary in general. What was your purpose?"

"I have a few answers but I'll give you the one that led me to becoming a mercenary." Link reluctantly speaks with shame. "Money."

"What?" Blake raises an eyebrow. "Money?" She then shakes her head and growls with anger, her ears dropping when hearing his disappointing answer. "Money?!"

"You think I didn't know what the White Fang was up to? It's not like we had a choice anyway. They threatened our lives if we didn't work with them." Link rolls his eyes "I wasn't Adam's personal mercenary because we were best friends, I was there by force but tried to look at the positive side, despite being forced to work with him, I would at least be receiving money."

"How could you do that and not even feel remorse?!" Blake snaps. "I thought we were the same! Not that you're a faunus or anything. But I thought you and I were fighting for the same cause! For justice!"

"We are!" Link shouts back. "Don't act like a saint, Blake. You didn't know what Adam's real intentions were either! He never told you, did he? There's a reason why you and I never interacted back then and now I see why. We were so close and yet so far at the same time. He knew I would tell because I don't particularly care for his plans with the White Fang. You want equality but he wants to take over the world!"

"R-right..." Blake stutters and struggles with what to say next. "That doesn't mean we are fighting for the same thing, though. I was never doing it for just the money!"

"Yeah well..." Link stands up and walks over to his window, staring out into the entrance of Beacon Academy. "That's because you had something worth fighting for, Blake."

Silence

"What do you mean? You're not making any sense right now, man. Isn't that all mercenaries want, money? That's something to fight for even if it's shallow." Sun asks

"SUN!" Weiss frowns

"It's true!" Sun shamefully smiles. "Why do you care anyway? I saw that look in your eye, when Blake said Link was a criminal at Atlas, you were ready to pounce."

"Well I'm not going to do anything like that, since it has to be said." Weiss clenches her jaw at Sun's consistent jabs

"Thanks Weiss... I guess." Link nods. "Back to what I was saying... Right, what was I going to do with money?" The boy frowns. "I had no use for it, ever really."

"I still don't understand." Blake shakes her head. "If you didn't even need money, then why fight for it? What purpose did you serve by working with the White Fang?"

"Not a single meaningful purpose at all. My group of mercenaries and the White Fang had zero in common. I just kept telling myself to stay financially stable because if I'm going to be traveling all over the world, I can stay in an inn from time to time and eat a hot meal. Not sleep outside and eat berries while risking being mauled by a Grimm in the middle of the night. It was more than just that, too."

"What do you mean?" Blake asks

"I wanted to accumulate money so that I could one day find my 'brother' and 'mother' to make them happy again." Link stands and paces around his room, "That is what I wanted. That's why I traveled around the world, I did not care about the White Fang nor did I care about becoming rich. There's just one massive problem with that goal. I don't know where they went or what they even look like. I just remember the back of their heads and..." He sighs and continues watching students go in and out of the school. "Screw it, I may as well tell you all. What I remember from that fateful day is my father burning down a tiny little wooden cabin I called home. I helped my mother and brother escape and had to make a run for it myself because clearly my father intended for us to burn inside that cabin. I escaped him and never looked back. I only remember his face unfortunately and like I said, have no clue where my other family ran off to. Are you happy now, Blake?! That's why I wanted money but it's pointless anyway because I am never going to reach my goal."

"That's so... Sad." Weiss drops her head

"I know." Link mumbles. "I'm a sad guy, pushing forward and trying to do his best."

"You shouldn't have to do that alone, Link." Ruby walks to him and hugs his arm, then leans close enough to whisper. That's what friends are here for."

"Thank you, Ruby."

"I'm so sorry." Blake's cat ears drop even further. "I shouldn't have implied all you cared about was money."

"It's okay." Link shakes his head. "I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Link closes his eyes, exhales and then suddenly shakes Ruby off his arm. The boy turns around, opens his eyes and walks towards the door. Everyone in the room follows, assuming he is about to leave but they are shocked when Link simply picks up his sword, slides it into its sheath, and follows it up with Coco's gatling gun; he lifts it with one arm and lightly tosses it to her

"Thanks." Coco nods as she catches it with ease. "Damn kid, you're strong. How can you even lift it up? Even Yatsuhashi struggled to hold it in his hand."

"No problem and um, I don't know, Yatsuhashi is definitely stronger than me." Link smirks at Coco but then he turns around yet again, only to stop at the door. "This has been a nice talk guys but... If you won't leave after I asked you nicely then I will leave. Please don't follow me."

"I won't let you!" Ruby quickly spins in place and charges at him full speed

"H-huh what do you mean-!" Link turns with his guard down. "What the fu-!"

Without any time to react, the team comprised of one person is tackled by Ruby and both of them crash to the ground hard

"You can't leave Link! I won't let you! You cannot leave us and continue to cloud yourself with darkness and loneliness! No! You are getting over this right now! And we'll stand by your side the entire time!"

Ruby screams out her entire sentence without taking a second to breathe or pausing, during which she gets right in Link's face and refuses to let him retort until she is completely finished speaking

"Uhh..." Link cracks a smile, impressed by her persistence. "Hello Ruby."

"Hm?" Ruby turns her head to see all of her friends laughing at them being so close. "O-Oh, hi Link!"

"What did you think I meant by me leaving? Did you think I was leaving Vale or something?" He laughs. "That's ridiculous!"

"Well I... Ya know." Ruby cackles. "You could have run off, you already almost did."

"What my sister is saying." Yang grabs Ruby by her hood and pulls her off Link. "Is that your words didn't have a whole lot of... context? I wasn't confused but clearly my sister's brain is soup today."

"RUDE!" Ruby playfully frowns

"I don't have any intent on leaving Beacon if that's what you or anybody else got from my words." Link sighs and sits up. "Besides, I have business I need to take care of here."

"The tournament?" Weiss asks. "That has to be it, right? After all, you did change your mind about participating at the last second."

"Not exactly, the tournament is just a distraction for me." Link shrugs and gets up to his feet. "To keep my drive to fight alive and skills sharpened up."

"So you're not going to be taking your adversaries seriously?" Weiss scowls at him. "If you lose when you're expected to go far-!"

"I didn't say that either." Link rolls his eyes whilst rotating his shoulder, the only part of his body that took all impact from Ruby's tackle. "If I were not to take an opponent seriously then why enter at all? Of course I care about the tournament, there's plenty of people I want to fight. There are people I think and know can match me."

"Oooh really now, who?!" Ruby asks with a lots of intrigue

"I'll begin with this one right here." Link points at Weiss

"M-me?" Weiss blinks in confusion. "But you've already defeated me before. Shouldn't I be at the bottom of your list?"

"Nonsense." Link smiles. "Everyone is better in a rematch, at least I think so. I caught you and your team off guard the first time, I won't count on that happening again either. I look forward to a match between myself and team RWBY or just you individually."

"Likewise." Weiss nods and resists the urge to beam out in excitement. "He actually sees me as a threat, wow..."

"Now that I'm name dropping people I'll keep going as well. Fox to me is a horrific matchup, I've seen him go hand to hand with other students, he's relentless and never lets you breathe. I rely on counter striking and the occasional slowing down moments of a fight, if Fox has that kind of stamina for a long fight, he will be unstoppable."

"He will be very happy to know that you're scared of him." Coco lowers her sunglasses to wink the the blonde boy

"Very funny." Link glares at the team CFVY leader but with a soft smile present. "You and Velvet are clearly skilled on your own behalf too. Velvet has her quickness, it may not be rapid speed but she will definitely have me missing ninety-five percent of my strikes and Coco? You're pure power and have the weapon to keep a fight long distance too."

"Thank you." Velvet nods, as does Coco but she does not respond

"Yang has superior punching power, I think..." Link winks

"You're on thin ice mister!" Yang jabs a finger into his shoulder

"I know, I've felt your fury before. Realistically, I look forward to matchups with all you but one person intrigues me the most." Link walks past Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Coco, Velvet, Sun and Neptune to approach the person who exited his room last, none other than Pyrrha, "Miss Polarity, you are definitely a better fighter than me. You're more skilled and talented, faster, smarter, you're proven... And you're the best this school has to offer." He gently places his hands on her bare shoulders. "But I still think I can beat you. I won't ever give up and my heart will see to that."

"The top two rookies of our class." Weiss nods "Now that would be an excellent match up."

"Indeed it would be." Pyrrha smiles and seeing as he is already touching me slight, she steps forward to embrace Link with a quick hug

"I'm glad you agree."

Link nods and hugs Pyrrha back, soon enough the two friends let go of each other and the latter returns to his earlier position of walking away from the group, only to hear barking in his path

"Huh" Link looks down and notices Zwei staring him down, with a little bit of aggression in his eyes

Zwei barks at Link and stands his ground

"Hey buddy, I thought you liked me?" Link takes a few steps back "Umm, Isn't Zwei supposed to be back with Taiyang?"

"We decided to keep him for a few more days." Yang chuckles. "Dad understands and happily allowed it to happen."

"Hold on a second!" Ruby's eyes squint, she thinks carefully for a couple of seconds, then immediately points a finger at Link once again. "How did you know my dad's name?! Because I certainly didn't tell you!"

(S-shit... Ren gave himself away and now I've given Yang away.) Link has a regretful look on his face as he pulls on his collar awkwardly. "Yang? A little help here? You should take over and tell them."

"Tell them?" Weiss frowns. "Yang what is going on? What do you need to tell us?!"

"N-nothing, nothing at all... Hehehe" Yang chuckles. "Link is making stuff up to get you guys off his back... Totally."

"You lied to us sis?!" Ruby turns around and gasps at her sister. "How could you do this?"

"Damn it Link!" Yang groans, annoyed but defeated. "I figured when Ren got caught, I could easily cover my tracks. Link and I have been working on our hand to hand, and in exchange, he's helping me with my kicking and how to combat short to medium ranged attacks against someone with a sword."

"That's why you were too calm when we were all worried." Blake speaks as she and the rest of the group look on in disbelief. "Your acting skills are pretty good, I'll give you that at least."

"Hehe, thanks." Yang giggles

"Figures why you would downplay Link's combat skills as well." Weiss nods confidently. "As opposed to before when you were furious that he kept up with you the morning after the dance."

"You did what?" Link shrugs, "Thanks, Yang. I'll remember that."

"S-sorry Link." Yang waves. "I had to sound convincing and I did until someone ratted me out."

"Sorry as well then." He chuckles. "I guess, with all of you here and us talking again, I let my guard down and it feels like we are back to how we were before I disappeared on you guys."

"Okay guys, this is great and all you're back to not being mopey like Blake but this isn't over yet." Sun steps past team RWBY to directly talk to Link himself

"Huh? What do you mean?" Neptune steps forward to question his leader

"I'm saying that regardless of the good vibes, it still leaves questions unanswered." Sun nods. "Now Link, what about your days with the White Fang? I want to know about that. And your wanted level with Atlas military? Annnd well... Anything you want to tell us really. You kind of just gave us brief summaries."

"Another day." Link turns away, "I'm really not in the mood to discuss that right now, it's a lot to say and a lot to take in. I don't know if you guys are ready for it. Plus, it kills me on the inside to even relive it all, especially the part where-!" Link stops himself as shivers run down his spine, he shakes his head and refuses to finish the sentence. "How about never?"

"What about why the Atlas Military is after you?" Weiss asks. "Is it because you were a violent criminal? Especially helping the White Fang."

"Weiss!" Blake furiously turns away. "I thought we were over that issue."

"You know I'm right!" Weiss frowns. "You and I might be over it because I understand that you don't stand for what the White Fang does now... But Link is another story."

"Okay! Alright!" Link covers his ears, "I'm getting a headache and I've already lashed out at you guys once, I really don't want to do it again because I love you all." He rolls his eyes and turns back around to head into his dorm. "You already wasted your time on me, I may as well pay back the favor. Do any of you want a drink? Water, Coffee? That's all I have. Any other beverage and we're moving this conversation to the cafeteria."

"Coffee? Blake asks. "It's the afternoon."

"That doesn't answer my question." Link smiles

"I'll take some." Coco chuckles

"Me too." Weiss nods

"See." Link looks at Blake while pointing at Weiss and Coco

"Extra strong. No cream or sugar." Coco mumbles

"I will have a moderate amount of cream and sugar. Please do not make it the way Ruby takes hers." Weiss claps her hands together and sarcastically pleads

"Got it." Link nods. "Anyone else?"

Silence takes over the open dorm as Link turns on the coffee maker and prepares enough for a full pot of coffee

"Uhhh, okay..." Link shrugs. "Pyrrha? Ruby? Velvet? Sun? Yang? Neptune?"

"No thank you." Pyrrha shakes her head but smiles brightly. "Thank you though."

"Sure." Ruby nods. "Extra extra cream and extra extra sugar!"

Sun, Yang, and Neptune do not respond verbally but do shake their head to let the one person know about their decisions

"Okay. Velvet?" Link looks over at the rabbit faunus

"O-okay." Velvet stutters. "I'll take the same as Ruby."

"They both like heaps of sugar and Link." Coco chuckles to herself. "How adorable."

"Where'd you get the coffee maker?" Weiss asks and in an instant is in Link's face, their eyes are inches away

"The store?" Link raises both eyebrows in shock. "You okay Weiss?"

"R-really?" Weiss blushes from embarrassment but then quickly retreats, but with more questions in mind. "How did you pay for it?"

"My money." Link nods and then sighs as he is a sixteen year old with no job. "Money that I made by being a mercenary."

"Aha!" Weiss nods. "I knew something was suspicious."

"You still accused me of stealing." Link rolls his eyes. "Have a seat anywhere, I kind of only have one chair, that's my bad. I only accounted for me and just me being in my dorm so I only bought one chair. There's the floor and my bed, I fixed it up already but I don't mind."

"Oooh finally it's story time." Yang smirks. "Who knows maybe it'll be storytelling so good, we can convince you to write it as a script and publish it."

"Oh haha." Link shrugs playfully. "It's not my entire story but it's enough information to take in for one day. Although be warned, it may change your views on General Ironwood, or your views on me."

"Trust me, my views on General Ironwood have been different." Ruby rolls her eyes

"More importantly, why would it change our views on you?" Blake turns her head to the side in confusion

"Sun, you wanted to know about my 'White Fang days' correct?" Link asks

"Y-yes?" Sun shrugs his shoulders. "Of course, I want to know as much as you're willing to share with us."

"There's your answer Blake; The White Fang and Atlas Military. Two forces that despise each other and I was thrusted in the middle of it all. Another tale which I will be telling you guys today, seeing as it's associated with another part of my life I feel as if-!"

"Sorry to cut you off again, Link." Blake mumbles. "But what happened? Five minutes ago, you were about to go off on us and demand that we leave you alone to be alone yourself. Now you are… Trying to make amends? Did someone or something change your mind?"

"Hmm…" Link looks up at the ceiling after previously watching the machine begin its process, "I thought you guys were going to cast me off as a monster, like so many people have in the past. It's happened before so this time I was kind of prepared. I got used to not being wanted anymore and thought it was going to happen here too, especially after you saw that footage. However..." He smiles, his back turned to everyone. "All of you are different, in a good way."

"I see." Blake nods. "We are different indeed."

"Yeahhh that's right! You misjudged us, Link!" Ruby cheers before her tone becomes snarky. "As usual…"

"Hey!" Link looks over his shoulder, shuts his eyes and smiles politely, expressing a great deal of positivity

"We all have flaws and unique traits, it's no big deal really." Yang spoke up. "Just be thankful you have such awesome friends."

"I am very thankful." Link nods. "And yes we all have flaws but some are not as bad as others. Neptune being afraid of the water doesn't compare to a demon haunting me and trying to take over my body."

"W-what?" Neptune cleared his throat. "I-I-! Blake! Why did you tell him?!"

"S-sorry." Blake giggles. "I didn't know you wanted to keep it a secret."

"WHAT?!" Ruby shouts and begins to snicker loudly. "Y-you're afraid of the water?"

"N-NO!" Neptune hangs his head in shame whilst denying. "I AM NOT!"

"How is that even possible? It's just water?" Yang raises her eyebrow. "ANNND! Your name is Neptune."

"I'm working on it okay?!" Neptune turns away with embarrassment

"Neptune... It was sprinkling outside a few days ago and you brought five umbrellas... For yourself." Blake's giggling transitions into full blown laughter

"You're one sad human being, kid." Coco smirks

"He sure is." Sun laughs along with them

"I'm only one year younger than you!" Neptune glares at Coco before it switches back to his friend and leader. "N-not cool! You're supposed to back me up!"

"Alright alright." Link clears his throat as the coffee maker is almost done. "Here's how I'm telling my story. Girl who saved my life, White Fang, Atlas Military, Small village... that's how I'm doing it, no questions asked."

"Wait." Weiss shakes her head. "But we didn't-!"

"I know you didn't ask about the village, but it correlates with those scumbags in the Atlas military being after me... And one of the two occasions where 'it' took full control." Link looks down at the floor, slightly admiring the red carpet draped in his dorm, his body tenses up and heart begins to pump rapidly until...

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Whoa!" Link snaps back to reality and looks up, his eyes fixate on the full pot of requested coffee that is now ready

"Coffee's ready?" Velvet asks

"Sure is." Link nods

"Oooooh sweet!" Ruby nods as well

"That's neat. What a fast coffee maker you have there." Weiss smiles weakly

"Well then, get to it. You don't want to be a rude host, right?" Coco snickers under her breath

"Hey! I can still report all of you to Glynda ya know? This is an invasion of privacy and you broke into my dorm."

Link rolls his eyes and sighs deeply as he mentally prepares to tell his story. Then he grabs four mugs, cream, sugar, spoons and a rag. His deep sighs reduce down to soft sighs, the boy is clearly nervous and very afraid despite already being assured by his friends that their opinions of him will not change. Link pours Coco's coffee straight from the pot to the mug and then gets to work on preparing the coffees of Weiss, Ruby, and Velvet. The boy takes this time to stall as much as he can, knowing that these people who he calls good friends will be the first to know of his past. And more importantly, the main reason why he almost left Vale...