So he was a mercenary?" Ozpin asked the hunter in front of him. That hunter was obviously Qrow.
"Yeah, it's complicated, but he was born into them." Qrow said.
"I should have asked you this yesterday, but with all the excitement, It slipped my mind. How did you get Guts to reveal his origins?" Opin asked with a raised eyebrow. Qrow chuckled darkly in response.
"I put on the old ScareQrow bit I used to do. Kid actually thought I was going to kill him," Qrow said as he tried to hold down his laughter. (little did Qrow know, Guts saw through his act) Ozpin gave the vaguely drunk a look, as Qrow is always somewhat under the influence, a very annoyed look.
"Qrow, you know what you did could have very well traumatized the boy? Based on what you've told me, I believe that, had you simply asked him, the boy would have told you his story, intimidation or not." Ozpin said as he seriously questioned whether or not it was sad that the slightly intoxicated man-child in front of him was actually one of his greatest assets.
"I don't mind that the kid fears me," Qrow said with a shrug of his shoulders. "In fact, I hope he does. It might make him think twice before he tries anything with a certain niece of mine," Qrow said. "What? There's no way in Hell that Taiyang's going to do it himself." Qrow said when he noticed the blank look Ozpin was giving him.
"Qrow, this isn't a joke. I expect you to exercise more caution in the future. Understand?" Ozpin said as his voice took a commanding tone. That, combined with his posture, really showed that anything less than a
"Yes," was the wrong answer. Luckily, Qrow was sober, sober being a relative term, enough to understand this.
"Yeah, yeah. I was just trying to have a little fun." Qrow said as he took out his trusty flask and took a swig. Ozpin knew that was about as good as he was going to get from Qrow.
"Going back to our original topic, you put everything you learned from the boy in your report, right?" Ozpin asked.
"Of course I did. Stuffs actually pretty interesting. You know he was their group's breadwinner for a while?" Qrow commented.
"No I did not. I'll be sure to look for that in your report." Ozpin said. He skimmed through the report looking for something specific, then he came across it, the vision. He read the first part, in it explains Guts' earliest part of the vision on how he was a boy raised with the mercenary band then enlisted into battle eventually it lead to his betrayal. He took note that some events were similar to his current life. It doesn't escape the notion that these could be fabrications, but he can't be careless and brush it off, further investigation must be conducted.
"You're wondering about those visions?" qrow said
"Yes, it is something that intrigues me." the headmaster admitted, without breaking eye contact from the report
" what do you make of it? i mean it some gnarly stuff and way to descriptive to be a dream"
"I'm not sure. Has he had any other vision after he woke up"
"No, only appear when he was fighting off the grimm and during their time when he was out"
"Hmm... i see"
The hunters spent the next half hour discussing Guts' situation, and, more importantly, what to do about it. Ozpin had had a couple of days to create some form of a plan, and he was ready to put it into action.
"I think he'll be fine by this," Qrow commented upon hearing Ozpin's plan.
"Well I hope so because we can't risk this getting out to the public." Ozpin said. Qrow sighed as he knew he would have to be the one to tell Guts.
"I better go tell him then. Hopefully he hasn't told anyone else yet." Qrow muttered as he stepped out of Ozpin's office.
__________________________________________________________________________
PATCH HOSPITAL
"So you want no one else to know about me?" Guts asked the hunter in front of him.
"No... well... technically you can't tell anyone else about your former life." Qrow said . Guts narrowed his eyes at the older hunter.
"I feel as though I should ask you how you came to this dissection?" Guts said with a raised eyebrow.
"I told you, I'm one of the world guardians." Qrow said
"And who appointed them to protect us?"
"Listen, the point is that you have keep everything you told me a secret, now that being said, have you told anyone?" Qrow finally asked, having decided to answer Guts' question with a question. Guts paused. He thinks back and sees if he told anyone else about his old life.
"....there might be... on my first night in the orphanage, i tried to leave but Casca stopped me, she figured that i was trained and thought that i was a soldier. Though that how much she speculated"
Qrow chuckles at the notion of Guts being a soldier under Ironwood and how unruling he'll be.
" If you're confident on that, then I see no reason to fear" Guts nodded, as he thinks, he was comfortable in telling Qrow and so far their relation has not changed so far.
"And im sure that you know, if word got out about your circumstances, you, and anyone even remotely affiliated with you, would be a target. People would find an excuse to try to kill you Guts." Qrow said with a faint grimace. Guts was very surprised by this.
"I haven't done anything to anyone. So Why the hell would they want to kill me?" Guts asked with fury in his voice
"Because you're different kid. Very different. You realize your name alone sets you apart from almost everyone else right?" Qrow asked the former mercenary. Now that Guts thought about it, pretty much every kid his age he's met had some name affiliated with some form of color or artistic expression. His own name was radically different. The fact his name can be boil down to a title really
"There are people in this world who, if they were to find out about the circumstances concerning your... birth for lack of a better word, would stop at nothing to try to erase you from existence." Qrow said. Guts clenched his bed sheets so hard that his knuckles turned white. The black eyed boy was all too familiar with being hated just because he existed, both right now and in his vision
"So what? Let them try. They can't kill me," Guts growled in defiance. "I've barely shown you what I can do. Wait until I get out of here and I'll show you what I'm capable of." Guts stated as he pull his sword from his bedside, in front of him
"Calm down kid. You're gonna have the hospital bill us for property damage." Qrow said as he watched Guts sliced a medline. Guts noticed this and calmed down enough and mind his surroundings. "I know you can take care of yourself, but what about Yang? Ruby? Casca ?" Qrow asked. "If your story gets out, they'll be targeted too."
All of Guts' anger evaporated almost immediately. Guts could take care of himself if anyone ever tried to attack him. He was already able to keep up with other combatants and can take on grimm. Yang and Ruby didn't have those luxuries. Once they went to Signal they would have aura and weapons. They would be fine then. Right now though, they were nothing but children.
Then there was Casca. Although she was a hunter, that is no longer her focus, now it's too raised a bunch of orphans like himself and offered them a better path. Qrow had a very good point. It was absurd to think that there would be no negative repercussions if he let everyone know about his past life.
" alright i get it... I won't tell anyone about my past life. But with that can I still train" Guts asked as he hung his head in defeat. Qrow smiled for the first time since he got to the hospital.
"yeah. Of course you will, I mean you're going to be a hunter right." Guts sighed in relief. Until he realize what he said, becoming a huntsman was more of a convenience than a goal, but chooses not to refute it
"One more thing though." Qrow said. "Don't freak out kid. I'm just going to unlock your aura. And as for your little curse. I think it best to keep that under wraps as much as possible" Qrow said.
"Yeah you don't need to convince me for that one" Guts said.
"Alright, I have other stuff to do, so let's get this over with." Qrow said as he unlocked Guts aura. He raised his eyebrow at the amount of aura Guts seemed to have within him. That's more than usual. Qrow gave Guts one last look before walking towards the door. He was about to leave when Guts spoke up.
"Qrow?"
"Yeah kid?"
"Do you think it was a... mistake for me to exist here?" Guts asked as he stared down at his hands, holding the sword. with his situation and curse, his right to live was apparently up for debate. Qrow stared at the kid for a few seconds. Though Guts hadn't told him every single detail of his life, Qrow was willing to bet that Guts had questioned his own existence before.
"No kid, I don't think you being here is a mistake at all." Qrow said before exiting the room, leaving Guts to consider what he had just said.
__________________________________________________________________________
LATER THAT NIGHT, Xiao Long Residence
"Ah!" Ruby woke up with a small scream, though it was loud enough to wake Yang up. The blonde haired girl looked at the digital clock on the nightstand and saw that it was close to midnight,
"Another nightmare sis?" Yang asked as climbed up to the top bunk. Ruby nodded in agreement. This was the second night in a row she'd been having nightmares. "What was it about?" Yang asked.
"Same as last night, about the Grimm attack." Ruby said as she tried to crawl further into her covers. Yang felt a pang of guilt at that moment.
"How about I read you a story?" Yang hopefully asked.
"What's the story about?"
"It's about heroes, Ruby." Yang said as she retrieved a book from a small bookshelf. She lit the lamp on the nightstand so she would have enough light to read, and sat down next to her sister
ELSEWHERE
"You did what?" Taiyang asked his team mate. Qrow took a swig from his flask before shrugging.
"I unlocked the kid's aura." Qrow nonchalantly stated. Tayang openly gaped at Qrow.
"I don't want to know what train wreck of a thought process you went through to come up with that idea." Taiyang stated as he pinched the bridge of his nose. There was a reason you didn't have your aura unlocked until you've spent at least two years at Signal. Giving a child the enhanced physical attributes that came along with aura was just plain irresponsible.
"The kid seems to attract danger Tai. I just wanted to make sure that he would be safe in the future." Qrow said. Taiyang gave a surprised stare at his partner.
"That's... actually a legitimate excuse. An irresponsible, but legitimate excuse." Taiyang admitted. "You realize that the people over at Signal are going to be pissed."
"So what? I piss everyone off." Qrow said as he smirked at the former hunter in front of him.
"Besides, with his aura unlocked, the kid'll heal up at a faster rate than usual." Qrow said.
3WEEKS LATER
"Wait... you want to have a what now?" Guts asked with a bewildered face. Ever since Qrow activated Guts aura, he has been using it to speed up his healing progress, to the point where he will be released the next day. When the girls heard this they wanted to celebrate the occasion.
"We said 'let's have a sleepover'!!!!" the sisters cheered
"...ok, but why"
Yang let out an exasperated sigh "because tonight will be your last night here, after that you can get to go home with us" she said as ruby pulled out her blanket and weapons magazines. Guts throughout all of this was still confused, but seeing how much this meant to the girl so he'll go along with it. "Alright then, what do we do?"
The rest of the day went by with the children playing renament, blowing balloon gloves, raiding the cafeteria and much more, until eventually it was night time. Guts will sleep in his hospital bed and the girls will sleep in a recliner that was in the room, it was big enough for the two of them to sleep in. After some chatting and bad jokes from Yang, the children soon after went to sleep, however not all seemed alright. In the dead of night ruby is in a state of dred, drawing short breaths and whimpering, until final she cant take it any more
"AAHH!!" ruby cried out waking her sister as well.
"(sigh) sis you can't be doing this every night" yang said as she tried to get out of her drowsiness. Ruby poted "i'm sorry it just that i'm scared"
Yang looked at ruby and could help and feel saddened that ruby has to go through her nightmare and be reminded of that day. "I'm sorry I know that it's hard on you, it's been hard for me too. But they're just bad thoughts. They have no control over you, so don't let them be in you life"
"(sniff)ok" ruby answer making yang smile "ok now let's go to sleep i doubt that Guts will be-" as yang was talking she glanced to guts bed only to see him gone. "Yang, wheres Guts" ruby asked as she was looking around the room for any sign of him. Yang did not answer as she got up and looked for Guts; she then noticed that his sword was missing. Before she could call out his name, ruby interrupted her "yang, was that window always open?"
She looked to ruby who was pointing to the window. The currents were shut but the wind blew on them gently. She looked outside and saw that there was a path that lead to roof, knowing Guts she figured the he might of climb outside, but for what reason
"Ok ruby stay here i'm going to see if Guts is up there"
"But i want to come too" she pleaded with puppy dog eyes, this however doesn't phase yang "no,now stay here i'll be back " she said as she started to scale the roof, the way up was rather easy but she was still cautious since she was at the third story. She made it to the top and surveyed the area then she saw Guts near the edge sitting on an A\C unit she then made her way to him before she got any closer she heard struggling grunts. She snapped her head behind her and saw it was ruby climbing up.
"Ruby, what are you doing?" Yang quietly cried as to not want to draw attention. "I said i want to come too and also I was scared" she chimed meekly. Yang let out a sigh and grabbed her sister's hand, proceeding to walk to Guts. They got near him from behind although hesitant to speak to him, they could see that he had his sword laying on his shoulder standing upward.
"....Guts... are you ok?" Yang asked. Guts turned his head slightly toward them "oh hey uh did i wake you guys up?"
"No i've lately been having night terrors"
"Night terrors?" He asked curiously, the girls then stood next to him "yeah she's been having them since will.." Guts piece together what they were talking about.
"hmm"
The three of them stayed quiet, continuing to look at the light of the town. Wanting to break the silence, Yang tried to start up a conversation and get some answers. " Guts what are you doing up here?"
"Hmm it was getting a little stuffy in there, so i come up here when ever i want to cool down abit" Guts then run his fingers back and forth on the edge of the bandages near his collarbone, Yang figured that he comes to the roof before , he mention that his favorite spot his on the roof of the orphanage.
Ruby notices Guts playing with his bandages '' hey Guts why don't you take them off, i mean you're going to leave tomorrow so why not take them off"
Guts furrowed his brow wondering why hasn't he taken them off. "Yeah ok" he set his sword on his lap and started to take them off, however he couldn't find the an end and did not want to use his sword to cut the not wanting to scare the girl "i could use a little help" he said admittedly, ruby was more than happy to help with yang being a bit hesitant.
Ruby went in front of guts and undid his bandage around his head, then commenced to do the ones on his torso. Yang took off the bandages from the back but stopped when she saw the scars on his body, it was evident on which ones were from grimm but the others made her curious, still knowing nothing about Guts past. She glanced at ruby who was talking to Guts, laughing on how ruby got tangled up. She continues to take off the bandages slowly, as she doing so reveals a scar that was near her hand. Yang subconsciously hover over the scar tracing where it ended and began. " that an old scar that i got way before i met you" Yang was brought out of her trance, as she looked up and saw both guts and ruby looking at her, her face lit up red in embarrassment as she struggled to form a sentence.
"You won't find any of the recent scars" he took over and removed the rest of the bandage "no my aura healed most of the except these two" he pointed to his shoulder and showed his left arm, yang moved to the front to get a better look. She sees a pinkish circular scar looking as though it was relatively healed, there was an older scar just underneath it.
She then glanced at his arm showing the scar to be the shape of a bite mark, it looked to be in a similar state to his shoulder.
Yang kept on looking at the arm, considering guts to be lucky that he did not lose it. She then let out a sharp gasp when something grabbed her hand. She sees that it guts who placed her hand on his scar feeling the new flesh, implying that he doesn't care about them. He then let go of her hand as she continued to feel out the scar. Ruby took note that he said that they were resent
"How come you dont heal them so you wouldn't have any new ones" Gut and Yang looked at her, Yang tooked this as a chance to move her hand away. Guts let out a small chuckle before answering.
" I used my aura to heal my insides, I didn't pay much attention to the scars. It took a while but my bones and organs healed. And I saw most of my scars healed but these two, however I figured that it was good enough and not to waste any aura on it."
While ruby was nodding accepting the logic behind that, yang looked at the scars though they might be old she could still see them as the one he got in the forest. Gutsy noticed this and let out a sigh " you can stop worrying about it. I don't blame you, this is my doing, my choice."
"But you got hurt and almost died. It would have never happened if you came."
"Then where would you be and ruby dammit!" Guts snapped surprising the sisters.
He breathed in and out to calm down. "Listen, I didn't do it for you. I wanted to come, I wanted to stay and fight, I wanted to face those Grimm bastards and all you wanted was to see your mom. You and i dont have the right to stop each other in what we want, however we have the right to go after it" he paused and let them process what he said, looking at the two he knew that they were conflicted. Yang understood albeit flawed, what guts was trying to convey but could help and feel at fault. Although it was something between Guts and Yang, Ruby couldn't help but listen in. she too understood what guts tried to explain, but does that really excuse that what you want might kill you and what you want isn't what you need.
"(sigh) so you can stop making that face. you don't have to thank me, i did as i please. I like to face my enemy rather than run away from them" he said to himself out loud. They stayed quiet and left a heavy atmosphere. Guts feels responsible that they are going through this, but not just them but Casca, Tai and Qrow. he just wants them to forget about this but they all feel that they're all in on this.
Silence followed through and it started to take its toll feeling the second go by. ".... so you wanted to fight a hundred Grimm?" Guts locked eyes on Ruby who has a glint of sadness in her eyes. "No, of course not-I... I really don't know what I want" he said tiredly. Yang thinks about everything that was just said, and becomes confused "what do you mean?"
"I mean that I don't have a desire to go after. a dream if you will... what i did in the forest was nothing but me swing the sword back and forth so it means nothing"
He stared down at the town , as the girls stare at him they think back and realized Guts has never mention anything about his want and desires, they figured that Guts was just reserved, but it surprise them that he has none "but you saved us that mean something to us" Yang said
"I know and I'm not saying that you mean nothing to me, it's just that...-argh! It's hard to explain but me just fighting a hundred Grimm means nothing, that's probably the best way i can explain it" he said finally surrendering trying to make sense. Although confused they understood that the situation was meaningless but the circumstance was dire
"I alway didn't have a dream. I just did what I do, driverless essentially.... When I'm up here and look at the light they almost look like a campfire and I like to think that each fire is a dream that glows bright" girl were wrapped in what guts was saying as they looked at the light, from the distance they did look like a bunch of campfires. Guts would practice this almost every day, even during his time as a mercenary, on the hill top that he and griffith spoke on
"You know Casca's dream is to help every child that goes through her door, she wants to find them a place in the world. What about you ruby what's your dream?" ruby was caught off guard by the question but proside to answer him " um what i want is to be a huntress and well my parents said that it's good to help others so that is my dream." Ruby said in a nervous and swift fashion, this prompted Guts to chuckle a bit and nodded. If this was anyone else who said this, he would have called them out for their bullshit, but he knows Ruby and knows that she is a far better person than he will ever be, so although it might be a simple dream he knows that she is dead set on accomplishing it. "And you yang, what is your dream?"
"My dream... is to explore and travel all over the world" She said, Guts nodded and understood the undertones she was saying.
Yeah that's a good one to follow... When I see these flames, each one small, each one a person's dream. They are all small and easy to put out, but together these 'campfires' form a huge bonfire... a bonfire of dreams" he looks on and sees the light imaging them forming a huge flame, Yang looks at him then at the light, she is amazed that he can think this way. So fill with hope
"Wow, Guts, I never heard you talk like that before" Yang said in genuine awe. "Yeah you talk like a prince or something" ruby said
"Heh sorry i didn't mean to drag on" Guts smiled but it soon fell "but..."
This caught the girls attention " there no flame lit for me. I...im just a temporary visit, taking comfort in the flame"
"Guts?"Yang then came over and hugged Guts, surprising him, Ruby saw this and joined too. "We help you gut. We'll help you and find your dream so that you can be happy, ''Yang said, deepening the hug. Guts wanted to interject, but figure it what they want to do , so he leave them be
"Hehe, sorry i didn't mean to bore you let's head inside. I'm sure you guys are cold." when guts mentioned the cold the girls didn't notice it, but their face felt cold and their fingertips were freezing. They all hurried in through the window making their way to their respective beds, however before turning in guts remember something "hey ruby what usually help you with your night terrors?"
"Oh,uh. yang would read me a story then i'll just fall asleep. Guts nodded, if he knew some stories he would help ruby but the only one he knew were during his time as a mercenary and they were inappropriate, that is until he got an idea "hey how about i tell you a story
Ruby perked up "oooh what kind of story"
"One about a black wolf " Yang turned her head to Guits with a raised eyebrow as for ruby she tilted her head in curiosity "ok what's about?"
"It is about how a wolf that was different from the rest of the pack, but despite that he kept on fighting" guts figured he could tell her about the vision in the form of a story.
"Hmm ok it sounds interesting" she got out of the recliner laid next to ruby, much to guts and yang surprise. "Come on yang" she said, patting on the bed, she was nervous but crawled in next to ruby near the edge and ruby in the center. One they got settled in, ruby looked to guts signaling him to tell the story. "Alright there once was a black wolf in a pack, he was different from the other wolves. He had a pitch black fur, large paws and alway bare his fang despite his appearance he was like any other wolf. However he is ostracized for this not just by the pack but nature itself, but he never lets it bother him..."
guts continue his story reciting events like fight with a gorilla, befriend a white hawk, scaring off a herd of rams and much more. Ruby was enthralled with the story listening to the black wolf adventure and his will to never give up. Yang sees ruby finally in a better mood, she's happy that she will sleep fine tonight, as for the story she couldny help and see some similarities with guts and the wolf, but chalked it down to guts relating to the story. The night went on and eventually the children fell to sleep, Guts was thinking on how pissed will qrow be when he told the girls these "stories", as for ruby she slept soundly, more longer having night terrors thanks to the black wolf watching over her.
In the next day Qrow and Casca came to pick up the children and get Guts checked out, qrow was to speak to Guts later, agreeing to meet up at the fort.
"So this is the fort huh" qrow said looking at the grounds, he was impressed that guts manage to have a large cache of weapons. Guts showed him to the canopy, he saw a cot, a workshop table and a bin filled with magazines probably courtesy to his nieces. He then sees a box underneath the cot.
"What is that?" Guts, who was organizing the table, looked to see what qrow was talking about, he sees that he was talking about the box, as qrow picked up the box and saw the content.
" thats some momentous from my time as a mercenary" Qrow looks at the content inside, not much to write home about. There were some dust crystals, some bullets, a small knife and some lien, but one thing that piqued his interest was a silvers circle with a black design of a wolf emitting flame from the base of the neck. "And this?" showing it bto Guts
"Oh that's an insignia that the guys put together they felt i need to promote myself" Guts explain
Qrow cocked his brow "promote yourself"
"(sigh) because of the name that i receive... which is... Mad Dog Guts" he mutter, upon hearing the name he dropped the insignia to the box and turn to Guts with wide eye
"Wait... you're the 'mercenaries mad dog'?"
"Mercen- wait there other names?" Guts said in disbelief
"Yeah from all over Sanus and Anima, like the black hound of the mercenary, dog soldier,the mad dog of Gambino and the black mongrel of fortune. So that's all you?" he said cracking a smile, Guts could only groan as he loathes being call a dog and the fact that he known almost all around the world, he figure that it was only in the camp
" yes i guess that me"
"Heh ok... so why did you not tell me?"
"Because I hate being called Mad Dog let alone a dog" he said in spite, Crow could understand the boy's anger, it was demeaning and encetally called him a "bitch". He picked up the insignia and walked out with guts following suit. They made their way to the weapons rack. Looking at it , it was an assortment of regular weapon from sword to ax, spears, a large spiked mace and even staffs
"Huh not bad "Qrow committed "so what is going to be your replacement " he asked referring to his damaged sword.
Guts cracked a grin and walked to his next weapon, it was not on the rack but near the tent wrapped in tarp, he unwrapped it presenting a great sword. It was it was a five foot sword with a long handle wrapped in tape and a blocky crossguard
Guts then attempts to lift the sword, by lifting it from the handle with the end of the blade still, he then turns his whole body and supports the blade on his shoulder doing a small squat and lift off. Picking up the whole sword being supported by his shoulder and blanched with is hand
"Ha nice kid but you could use your aura to help you lift it"
"Yeah, but I don't want a crutch. I will wield this sword with my own strength."
"Alright. I can respect that, so what's you plan now kid" Qrow pulls out the insignia tossing it to guts, he catches it almost losing his balance "... i'll continue to be strong and become a huntsman"
__________________________________________________________________________
5 YEARS LATER SIGNAL ACADEMY
"So this is Signal," a now thirteen year old Guts observed. Besides growing taller, Guts haven't really changed all that much. He still has a scar on his nose and short spiky black hair. Right now he was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a military green jacket with a gray hood, adorned with a printed insignia on his right shoulder and blue jeans. On his hands he was then wrapped in black bandages. his footwear black military boots.
"It looks nice enough," Guts said as he stared at the giant building before him. The blonde girl next to him nodded in agreement.
"Looks a lot bigger up close," the blonde girl, Yang, stated. Both she and Guts were standing side by side outside the entrance to the academy. Yang had grown as well during the last five years. She was roughly Guts' height and had ditched her pigtails a while ago in favor of a single ponytail. Today she was wearing a light red, long sleeve shirt with the words "Penpals" written on the front in dark green letters. She had recently become a big fan of the boy band. On her legs were regular jeans and on her feet were sneakers.
"It feels weird not having Ruby with us." Guts said while looking to his side, as if he expected his little friend to appear at any moment. Ruby had suffered from a mini-breakdown when she realized that her two best friends wouldn't be close by her anymore.
"I know right? Too bad she won't be eligible for another two years." the girl said. "Guess it's just you and me for now, huh Guts?" Yang said with a smile while throwing her arm around the boy's shoulder. The boy chuckled in amusement.
"So what class do we have first?" Guts asked. He was lucky enough to have most of his classes with Yang. Guts suspected that Qrow may or may not have had something to do with that.
"We got... First year History at 8:15." Yang stated as she looked down at her schedule.
"It's 8:09." Guts observed while looking at the message board outside . The two sparred each other a glance before bolting inside. Now, six minutes was usually more than enough time for someone to leave their belongings at their lockers and then head to class. The problem was that Guts and Yang didn't know where their lockers and classes were located. They had skipped orientation in favor of spending the day with Ruby, as she would be all by herself for the next two years.
Guts and Yang frantically looked for their lockers. By the time they found them, they had less than four minutes to leave their stuff and find their classroom. Guts, in his hurried state, didn't put in his combination correctly. So he opted to rip the lock off the lid, however he accidently tore the lid off of its hinges. Guts stared at the broken locker lid in his hand.
"Being really strong can be super annoying sometimes," Guts said while his left eye twitched in irritation. Since their lockers were right next to each other, once again Qrow had pulled some strings, Yang let Guts put his stuff in her locker. Pressed for time, Guts took the locker lid he had broken and bent it in half, he then shoved it into his empty locker space.
Once the whole locker ordeal had been sorted out, the two kids bolted to their class. Being the faster of the two by a wide margin, Guts ran ahead to check each hallway. Any other student who was still going to class found themselves shoved aside as Guts bolted through the hallway.
"It's over here." Guts told Yang while pointing at the classroom at the end of the hall. Yang checked the time and slowed down upon seeing that they still had time to get there. They entered their first class of the day and sat down at a pair of empty desks. After the bell rang, the teacher walked up to the front of the class. He was a middle aged man with slicked back brown hair.
"Hello and welcome to Signal. You may call me Professor Paul. Let's jump right in. Open your textbooks to page 1."
And so began the first day of Signal Academy.
LATER THAT DAY
Guts walked into one of the few classes he didn't have with Yang. The reason was that this was an aura manipulation class for fourth year students. That is, these students have already had two years of experience using aura. Since Qrow had unlocked his aura five years ago, Guts was already familiar enough with it to qualify for this class. As he looked around, Guts noticed that every person in this class was noticeably about two years older than him, so that made sense. He also noticed that the desks were set up in tiers and around an arena.
"I'm sorry, but I think you might have the wrong class." a boy stated as he gave Guts an apologetic smile. He had blonde hair tied in a pony tail and blue eyes with freckles on his nose
"Nope. I'm supposed to be here." Guts said as he handed the boy his schedule. The blonde boy had a moment of surprise as she realized that Boy was indeed in the right class.
"Sorry, my bad. You must've been really young when your aura was unlocked." He remarked before taking his seat. Guts found a desk near the blonde boy at the front of the class and sat down.
"Na, it's fine, I get a lot." Guts said brushing it off
"Well then my name is Judeau, and welcome to signal academy" he said offering a handshake which Guts responded in kind, soon a larger muscular boy sat next to judeau. He was dark skinned and has black hair with a high fade but the most distinct feature was his eye are shut close
"Oh, and this is a friend of mine, Pinpin." The boy turns to guts and gives him a grunt and nod of acknowledgement. "Hi, names Guts"
"Guts huh that an odd name" Guts simply shrugged as the bell rang
The teacher walked in soon after the bell had rung.
"Good evening everyone. I am Professor Caesar, and welco-what is a child doing in my class?" Professor Caesar asked as he stared at Guts. "You must be in the wrong room."
"No, I'm supposed to be here." Guts said.
"What is your name, child?" Guts gave the man his name. The professor with a raised eyebrow quickly checked the school database and scowled at the name that appeared in his roster.
"I told those idiots in administration that I don't tolerate children," he muttered as he looked back at Guts. "Since it seems that you are in the right class, let me get a couple of things straight with you. I don't know who unlocked your aura for you at such a young age, but I will tell you that this is not a daycare. I do not tolerate whining, understand?" Professor Caesar asked as he looked at Guts.
"Yes"
"Yes,what?"
"Yes sir" Guts mutter in a monotone voice
"Now that's better,now tell me who activated your aura so young?"
"...no"
Professor then looked to guts and began to scowl "I asked you a question, boy. Answer or face the consequence" he demanded, the class hasn't started and there already tension
Guts then gritted his teeth for how much of a prick this guy is "sorry sir but i feel as though that really none of your business, sir"
"You dare mock me child?" The professor asked in a low, dark tone.
"I didn't do anything!" Guts stated what the hell is up with this guy is like he's trying to rile me up.
"You must learn to respect, boy and know the proper order over things ." The professor stated as he made his way to his desk. "I think I'm going to personally test your aura capabilities, Guts, so make your way to the arena."
"Hey i don't want-"
"Now, boy." Professor Caesar said as he stepped into the arena. Guts muttered a few choice words under his breath as he made his way to the arena at the center of the class. Guts took off his jacket and threw it on his desk and had the whole class' undivided attention.
"Seeing as how you haven't created your weapon yet, this will be a hand to hand battle only." Caesar stated as a screen on the wall behind him turned on. On it appeared a picture of the two combatants along with an aura meter for each one.
"This isn't a combat class, so why is it set up like one?" Guts asked as he stared at the screen.
"In order for one to manipulate his or her aura, one must be fighting to do so. While we may spend time going over concepts and theories, most of our time will be focused on improving our aura control through combat." Caesar said as he took off his sports jacket. "I will not go easy on you boy, so you better hope your hand to hand combat is decent." Caesar said as he brought his hands up to his face and made two fists. Guts could only scoff as he took a stance. He would show the teacher that he was "decent," in hand to hand combat.
Guts ran at Caesar with surprising speed. The professor was so startled that he couldn't defend against Guts' quick one-two combo followed by a kick to the side. The older hunter was sent skidding to the side a couple of feet. Maybe this boy is better than I thought. The older man quickly composed himself and adjusted to the speed Guts had displayed, This time Caesar was the aggressor. He ran at Guts and sent a jab at the boy's head. Guts ducked under the attack and sent his foot at Caesar's stomach. He caught Guts' foot and tossed him to the side. Guts did a quick flip mid-air and landed on his feet. Guts once again took charge and sped at his teacher. What followed was another brief, yet intense exchange of attacks. Neither combatant landed a very solid hit though, as their attacks were usually dodged or blocked. Both combatants backed off for a moment to regain their bearings.
The other students, meanwhile, were left utterly shocked that this child was exhibiting very surprising amounts of strength and speed.
"Wow he's really good isn't he" Judeau whisper to Pinpin not looking away from the fight
"Impressive. I didn't expect this kind fight from a child." Caesar commented. Guts remained silent still on guard, "However, there is still much for you to learn." Caesar stated before he sprinted at Guts with a much faster speed than he had exhibited before. Guts was caught completely by surprise and suffered a knee to the chin as punishment. He recovered quickly and attempted to hit his opponent's stomach with his elbow. Caesar caught the elbow and threw Guts straight up into the air. Gits did another mid-air flip so that he was facing Caesar. Guts then cocked his hand back and threw a punch as he fell back to the ground.
What Caesar did next completely surprised Guts. he brought his hand up and envelope with aura and swiped it across the air, projecting it . Aura strike hit Guts. Caesar's aura swipe overwhelmed Guts and sent him skidding out of the arena.
"What was that?" Guts asked in awe.
"Aura manipulation." was Caesar's simple reply. The class stared at the board, and then back at Guts. If it was possible, they would have even more shocked expressions on their faces. On the screen, neither Guts nor Caesar's had gone down much at all. No one was surprised to see that Caesar still had almost all of his aura. What was shocking was that Guts still had most of his aura even though he was only thirteen and had taken hits from a professor.
"As much as I would like to continue our brawl, I do have a class to teach, so go ahead and take your seat please Guts." Caesar said as he put his sports jacket back on. Guts could only stare at him wondering what's with the mood change , he then shrugged and sat back down. Caesar went on to give a brief outline of how the year would go. The bell rang soon after, and everyone filed out of the classroom. Caesar stayed at his desk, organizing papers.
"Did you get that Qrow?" Caesar asked while still focusing on his papers.
"Yep," came Qrows reply as his face appeared on Caesar's computer screen. "Thanks again for helping me out with this. I really appreciate it," Qrow said as a video recording of Guts and Caesar's fight came on.
"Don't mention it. I still don't understand why you wanted me to fight the boy," Caesar said as hes soothing his arm
"I told you. It's Ozpin's orders. That should be reason enough," Qrow said before his face vanished from the computer screen.
"I can certainly see why Ozpin is interested in the boy," Caesar muttered to himself. Said boy was currently walking to his final class of the day, which was another class for third year students. Because of his advanced physicality, which had only increased as he grew, coupled with his unnaturally large aura reserves for his age, Guts was put into a combat class for more advanced students until further notice.
"Not sure on what I will want for my second mode" Guts said himself as he stared at the weapons of every other student. He noticed a woman older than all the students by a few years walk up to him.
"Are you Guts?" The lady asked. Guts nodded in agreement. "I'm Professor Kim. I'll be teaching this combat class. I have to say, Qrow spoke rather highly of you. He's confident that you'll excel at this class, even without a weapon. I hope you live up to expectations." Kim said with a good natured smile. Guts didn't bother mentioning that he was far more comfortable fighting with his great sword.
"Your records also show that you haven't unlocked your semblance?" Kim asked. Guts over the years hasn't developed a semelance just yet
"No not yet " Guts said, shaking his head. She asked Guts to take his seat as class was about to start. Guts did as he was told. He didn't notice the confused stares he was getting from some of the other students.
"Huh Isn't he a little young to be in this class?" a boy with a crooked nose and long face said. The other boy just so happened to be in Guts aura manipulation class.
"Dude, trust me when I tell you that age doesn't matter with him." The other boy said, with a distinct voice.
"(tch) i'll believe it till i see it" Both boys quieted down as the bell had rung.
"Welcome to combat training class everyone," Kim said as she did a small hand wave. "This class is fairly straightforward, so I won't bother explaining the curriculum. Today I'm going to see where each of you stands compared to the rest of the class. That way I'll know where to help each of you." Kim said as she pressed a button on her computer. Everyone's name immediately appeared in a tournament style bracket.
"We're obviously not going to finish today, so we'll do what's left tomorrow." Kim said. The rest of the class period was spent watching random students fight it out. Guts, being far ahead of most of the other students in terms of ability, dispatched his opponent without too much trouble, even though his opponent had his weapon with him. He spent the rest of the class period watching the other students fight. It's important to remember that these are only fourth year students. They haven't had that much experience using aura. In short, most of them weren't very good fighters yet.
The teacher seemed to know this as she cringed at some of the "fights," that took place. She had her work cut out for her this year.
"Alright, class is about to end. We'll finish up tomorrow." Kim said as she stared at the tournament bracket. Based on what she'd seen, Kim knew that Guts would make it to the finals. Who would be his opponent was a different question altogether. There were one or two students that had stood out among their peers. Maybe they could give Guts a challenge. The bell rang and everyone filed out of her class.
"Standards get lower every year, don't they?" A voice behind Kim asked. She turned around and saw Qrow stroll in through the front door
"You saw the fights?" Kim asked as she gave a dry chuckle.
"I wish I hadn't seen a few of them, like that girl who didn't want to break her nails. Isn't she aware that aura will keep her from breaking anything?" Qrow asked his colleague.
"Not that I don't like talking with you Qrow, but what do you want?" Kim asked as she packed up her bag.
"I want you to record all of Guts' fights." Qrow said. Kim raised her eyebrow at him.
"Ozpin?" She asked.
"Ozpin." Qrow confirmed with a nod of his head. If Ozpin was interested in the boy, then Kim knew something was going on.
"Want to tell me why he wants the boy's fight recordings?"
"You saw the way the kid fought. He's a prodigy if I ever saw one. Ozpin's just scouting out new future students." Qrow smoothly lied. Of course he couldn't tell his fellow professor the truth. Kim nodded.
"That makes sense." Kim said. "You think he's a little too advanced for this class?" Kim asked.
"We can't get him into a more advanced class. Trust me, I tried. Just getting him in here took a lot of persuasion." Qrow said. "You'll get me those recordings?" Qrow asked Kim.
"Yeah, I'll record tomorrow's fight." Kim said.
"Thanks. Well, that's all I came around here for." Qrow said as he walked out of the classroom, not even bothering to say goodbye. He walked by a window and saw Guts meeting up with Yang down in the courtyard.
"So how'd your classes go?" Yang asked her friend.
"I got into a fist fight with my teacher." Guts nonchalantly said. Yang chuckled in amusement.
"nice." The blonde girl muttered with a smile.
"What about your classes?" Guts asked his friend.
"Boring. We didn't even do any actual combat in combat class." Yang complained.
"You guys don't have any aura. Of course they're going to take it easy on you." Guts pointed out.
"Easy for you to say. You didn't have to sit around and listen to a whole bunch of safety rules. You got to go and fight people. I don't know if I could take two years of that. Say, you think you could convince uncle Qrow to unlock my aura?" Yang asked. This wasn't the first time she had asked either. Ever since she found out that Guts had had his aura unlocked, Yang had been dying to have the same done to her.
"If he won't do it when his niece asks him to, what makes you think I would have better luck?" Guts shot back. Yang shrugged in response.
"Why don't you unlock it for me?" Yang asked as a new idea popped into her head.
"Don't know how to. Qrow recited some strange stuff when he unlocked mine, but I can't remember what he said." Guts said in response. Yang's shoulders slumped in disappointment.
"I still don't get why Qrow unlocked yours." Yang complained with a sigh. Guts suppressed a wince. He always felt bad when this was brought up. It reminded him of the secret he was keeping from everyone. Guts didn't respond. The rest of the walk home was filled with silence. They entered Yang's house and were immediately tackled by a eleven year old Ruby. The red haired girl hadn't really changed all that much. She was just a slightly taller version of her six year old self. The general consensus was that she would be short for her age, like her mom.
"Take me with you tomorrow!" Ruby said as she refused to let go of her only friends. Yang and Guts looked at each other before turning back to the youngest member of their trio. Frankly, they knew that Ruby would do something like this once they went to Signal.
"Rubes, you know we can't do that." Yang said as she tried to pry her sister's arm off of her.
"What happened? You were completely fine yesterday." Guts asked, though he suspected that he knew the answer.
"I don't have any friends." Ruby said as Yang had her sit down on the couch.
"It's only been one day Ruby." Yang pointed out. "Besides, have you actually tried to make any friends?" Yang asked her sister. Ruby rubbed her arm.
"Well.. not really, but you know how anti-social I am." Ruby pointed out.
"First of all I'm antisocial. And second you're going to have to meet new people eventually, Ruby." Guts said. Ruby fixed him with a small glare.
"Easy for you to say. I bet you just spent all day with Yang." Ruby said as she crossed her arms. Guts was about to deny that, but, when he thought about it, he and Yang hadn't really bothered meeting anyone during their first day. They really did just hang out with each other. Yang seemed to realize this as well. She exchanged another glance with Guts.
"Fine, you got us there." Yang said.
"See? It's not fair. I don't have anyone that I'm comfortable with." Ruby said as she kicked her legs in frustration. Guts knew that this disagreement could potentially go on for at least half an hour. He wasn't in the mood to go through that, so he quickly thought of a solution that would cut this short.
"How bout we settle this with a bet?" Guts asked.
"What kind of bet?" Ruby asked in confusion.
"Will if i break that chain ball at the fort by the end of the week then you can't complain any more." Guts said. Ruby seemed to consider his offer.
"And if you don't?" Ruby asked.
"I'll get Qrow to let you into Signal." Guts calmly said. Ruby fist pumped in excitement while Yang looked at Guts with worry.
"What are you trying to prove, Guts?" Yang asked.
"I'm trying to show Ruby that with hardwork and patience you can accomplish an objective," Guts said.
"Those are pretty high stakes for proving a point." Yang warily said as Ruby pranced around the room, already certain of her victory. How could Guts break an iron ball in the next four days? Victory was pretty much hers. Now all she had to do was wait until the end of the week.
In the next guts was looking for someone in class to help him. "Hey Pinpin" getting both Judeau and Pinpin attention. "Look I know we don't know each other that well but I need to ask a favor..." as Guits explain the situation to Pinpin, judeau smirks at the plan
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
"Wha...? What is this?" Ruby stuttered as she watched the huge group of people cluster in front of her house
"I-i don't know did Guts invite these people?" Yang too witnessed the mob of students from her school come to the house.
"No actually that was me" a voice cried out, showing to be Judeau with a cheek smile
Who are you?
"I'm Judeau, I'm Guts' classmate and I figure that it might be interesting to bring some people to the 'show'." he explain to yang "and you are"
"Um Yang and i live here, but how did you know about this"
"Well you see Guts ask a favor from my friend to help him out with a bet and i couldn't help but listen in"
"Help him with what ?" before Judeau could answer someone cried out
"Oi what the hell is this!?" Everyone turns to see guts and pinpin each carrying a weapon. Yang just jeted her thumb to judeau the latter chuckled nervously. Guts more or less figured out the situation as he let out a sigh. "Whatever.. Het ruby come over here" as ruby goes to Guts there two boys voicing their opinions
"Is he seriously planning to break the big chain ball with that sword?" the crooked nose boy said think how it's impossible to break the ball let alone swing that long sword.
"Ah come on Corkus he might pull it off"his friend said explain that he will have Pinpin throw the ball at him and Guts will break it
"Oh shut up Gaston, don't be so gullible" Corkus scolded at.
With Guts and Ruby explain that he will have Pinpin throw the ball at him and Guts will break it with his sword, with which Ruby nodded and got out of the way. Both boys got ready with Pinpin ready to throw and Guts getting the appropriate distance, as he does he unbuckles his sword and swing it a little with one hand
" is he really going to use that"
"No way it got be heavy, not to mention that chain ball"
"Eh dont worry if he fail he can use his aura to help him"
As Guts got into position he cut himself a little on his arm, drawing everyone's attention including the girls "oh Ruby one more thing ..." he brought the sword up with two hands drawing it close to him "i will not use my aura to do it. it will be my own strength" as guts announced this it cause a uproar of disbelief, not only will he be using his own strength to swing the sword but break the ball which is a meter wide diameter " yup he's going to kill himself"
The air was filled with anticipation as everyone waited to see Guts perform his stunt.Guts grips his sword and focuses all of his strength. In the past five year he trained his body to handle the sword, able to wield it and use it to its full extent. This bet serves a purpose to him as well. As it will mark his progression. " ready when you are Pinpin" the large boy nodded and an proceeds to spin the chain ball as it spins and spins and spins and spin, building momentum the air was filled with the thick whooshing noise
After a few spins Pinpin finally launches the ball, giving it its all at Guts, in seeing this Guts grit his teeth and lets out a war cry "GGGRRRAAHH!" Guts cries out as he put all of his strength in the strike 'CR-CRACK-CK' the sound made everyone wide eye as the blade hacks through the ball making it in two piece as they fly pass by Guts, he couldn't help but smirk
"Guess I win Ruby." Guts stated as Ruby looked at him in disbelief. She alway knew he was strong but this... this was out right ludacris
"Fine. I won't complain anymore." Ruby said as she kicked the ground in disappointment.
"Heh alright thanks Pinpin. But can you all leave now?" Guts told the mob behind him. They left with smiles on their faces, they couldn't believe that he pulled it off. Yang stood to the side, grinning at her sister. They didn't notice Tai walk up the road the group had left through.
"Hey kids. Does anyone want to tell me why there was a mob of kids walking away from my house?" The blonde haired man asked the trio in front of him.
"Just proving a point," Guts said with a smile. Yang snickered in amusement while Ruby sighed again. She glumly walked back inside, Guts and Yang following her.
"Wanna hear more of the story?" Guts asked in an attempt to cheer up Ruby. After a lot of arguing with Qrow, Guts had been allowed to continue telling Ruby his "stories" as long as the girls thought that it was just fiction. Upon hearing Guts offer, Ruby's mood did change
"Yes please!" Ruby ecstatically said as she grabbed Guts arm and dragged him to the couch. Yang followed behind, just as eager to hear more of the story.
"So which one do you want to hear"
The one where the black wolf meets the white hawk" ruby exclaimed with glee. "Hmm ok now it starts with...
________________________________________________________________________________
BEACON ACADEMY
"Thank you Qrow," Ozpin said as he reviewed Guts combat recordings. Qrow's face was in the upper left hand corner of Ozpin's computer screen.
"Yeah, you're gonna want me to send these to you weekly?" Qrow asked.
"Yes, just send me the week's videos every friday." Ozpin said as he clicked on another one of Guts' fights. Qrow nodded and his face disappeared off the computer screen.
"None of these students seem to be a challenge for you Guts," Ozpin muttered as he cycled through a couple more of Guts fights. The closest Guts had come to being challenged was in the finals of his class tournament. He ended up fighting a dog faunus. While she did a better job than the other students, it was obvious that Guts was in control during the whole fight, weapon or not.
"I'm going to need to get you a better opponent if I want to see your battle prowess." Ozpin said to himself. As of now, he had never actually seen Guts full extent. He had hoped that a class of older students would challenge him enough to see his progression. Obviously, this was not the case. I've heard that the Mistral tournament has some prodigies of their own. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee as he got up and left his office.
ATLAS
"You've finished the schematics?" Ironwood asked.
"Yes, we believe that we've ironed out the imperfections. We are ready to begin the construction process." A thin scientist said.
"When will she be combat ready?" Ironwood asked the scientist in front of him.
"Combining construction and education, it could take anywhere from three to four years." The scientist said. Ironwood nodded, not at all bothered by the long period of time he would have to wait. He knew what he was asking of his scientists. He knew that they were doing things never done before. Ironwood dismissed the scientist.
"Things are going to get interesting once she's finished." Ironwood said to himself