(Aw shit...here we go again...)

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A Familiar Cliffside, Patch

Early Morning

Seeing as hindsight is, in fact, 20-20, early morning was a slight understatement. Okay, a BIG understatement. It was around four in the morning, and Y/n had not had a wink of sleep all night. Although, most who know of his routine would likely observe that as normal, which in all fairness, it is.

The day prior, Ruby, Yang and himself had taken advantage of their break before the festival to return to Patch once more, much to the delight of Tai, who Y/n was fairly certain was just happy to have the company.

Tai was a kind man for certain, and it was obvious that he didn't like the idea of burdening others with his issues. Y/n however, having wielded plenty of damage of his own, could tell when someone was bothered, and despite Tai still teaching at Signal Academy, it was obvious the man got quite lonely at times.

But despite the relatively eventful evening of catching up, and other general activities, Y/n found himself wide awake as his slumbering Rose slept deeply beside him. His restlessness this night proved too deep for the warmth her embrace brought him. And so here he found himself walking through the forest, his enigmatic link with Ruby ever present as his form flickered from the distance.

The last remnants of morning dew dripped from the last auburn leaves of the forest, which now mostly littered the forest floor, omens of Autumn's approaching climax. The sky cast its dim blue in the atmosphere, the morning sun still too young to crest the distant horizon. His heavy boots crunching with every step over the grounds fibrous coating, he relished the feeling of the cool morning air filling and cooling his lungs, still heavy with moisture from the previous nights rain.

Exiting the edge of the trees however, his solemn stride came to an end some 20 yards further, coming to stand before the familiar black tombstone he had visited some weeks prior. Much to his delight, his father's grave remained pristine. One of the many beneficial properties his shadow constructs sported.

The topic of his strange power floating through his mind,  he gazed absentmindedly at his hand as he freed it from his coat pocket, flexing the appendage as his thoughts wandered. What were these powers of his? Were they a semblance? He didnt think they were...using them never affected what little aura he has.

He had a feeling that, if they were here, the Kindred could tell him. But  nonetheless, the weren't. For now, he would simply have to hope awnsers found their way to him.

Snapping himself out of the corners of his mind, he absently scratched the top of his head before looking back to the mortal reminder before him. Sighing to nobody in particular, he spoke to the air, as if he believed it might carry his message to whom it was meant for.

Y/n: "Sorry. You always did get on me for spacing out like that."

...

"In case you couldn't tell, im still not any better at small talk. I...never did inherit your social...finesse. It sure as hell made you a good salesman."

...

"I could never have lived that life. Talking to people for a living. I think this suits me better. Makes me feel like I'm finally able to make a difference i guess. I have a purpose now."

...

"Guess I still drone on when I get going don't I? Never been sure what my deal is with that honestly. I...maybe I should just shut up for a bit..."

And so he stood, opting to look out over the cliffs edge, watching as the sky brightened slowly but surely, the sun peeking its fist rays of white light over the horizon. The occasional bird taking flight from a treetop, off to start the day.

He couldn't quite help as he wandered in his thoughts once more. The first words that wandered in from his subconciouss simply seemed to...slip out...

"Sometimes...I still wonder how mom is doing. She put us through the ringer, and I can't deny the piece of hate I have for her, but she is still my mother. Even after all the lies and...everything really...I still love her. Can't really help it...I guess we both left a lot behind."

...

"A-alright, I'll...I'll stop talking your ear off. I better go before Ruby catches me sneakin out anyway...love you dad..."

And so he made his way back to his still sleeping Rose, perfectly content, to sleep in for a few hours before they had to return to Beacon. He wouldn't be joining Ruby when she visited her mother. She had decided it was for the best while he was still adjusting to the whole process. Besides...

He would be needing his energy.

30 minutes ago...

Ruby: "Whaaat?!?! What do you mean he can't fight in the tournament!"

Not fazed in the slightest by the young Rose and her ear-piercing volume, Professor Ozpin took a casual drink from his coffee as he stood in the doorway of team RWBY's dorm, Ruby and Y/n however were the only ones present.

Ozpin: "I'm sorry Ruby, but I cant pit a team of four fighters against a team of five. It simply would be a fair fight. Besides, Y/n here I'm proud to say is likely one of the best fighters here at the tournament. I think his battle with Ms. Nikos proved that."

Y/n, simply shrugged at the logic behind Ozpins response. In truth he had given it some thought, and kinda saw this coming. Ruby however was less content, flailing her arms like a child.

Ruby: "But that totally stinks! Why should he get thrown out of the whole TOURNAMENT for something he can't even control."

Simply raising his free hand to silence the distressed team leader, Ozpin spoke once more.

Ozpin: "Please Ms. Rose, calm yourself. Believe me there is nothing I'd like more than to see you all fighting together as a team. It would be a spectacle I'm sure, but my hands are tied. Besides..."

Pausing for a moment, he was met with looks of confusion from the two students as Ozpin let an almost schemish smile cross his lips as he looked over his glasses at the two.

"I only said he couldn't fight WITH you in the tournament."

The Present

The air practically vibrated at the noise. The howls and cheers of a thirsty audience reverberated off the walls like locusts made of sound, the collective mass loud enough to be heard from the fairgrounds far below.

High in the sky, Amity Arena defied all logic, its mighty bulwark hanging in the air, brought far from Atlas, its great walls held the arena for the Vytal Festival Tournament, as well as the adoring crowd witnessing it firsthand.

And in the center of the arena, team RWBY has for the last several minutes been locked in a fierce battle against team ABRN of Haven Academy in a LITERAL arena of fire and ice.
Well, that is to say, most of team RWBY, as Y/n was nowhere to be seen in the ring, but seeing as his bond with Ruby wasn't visible, his location was a mystery to team RWBY.

His activities however were very much made aware, as on every one of the giant screens lining the walls of Amity Arena, he had been seen locked in his own battle with another student. A tiger Faunas from Vacuo, wielding a mean looking pair of hand axes. It was still unclear whether any side was leading.

Team RWBY'S battle however wasn't set to last much longer though, as team ABRN was...well...

Ruthlessly and painfully launched off of the ring by Yang, clashing hard with the edge of the arena, and subsequently knocking them all unconcious. High above the ring, Professor Port cried out from the announcers booth, his voices mighty baritone carried throughout the entire arenas spectacular sound system.

Port: "A spectacular knockout from team RWBY! It would seem this match is decided!"

Sitting just beside Port, Doctor Oobleck fixed his glasses as he further carried with the announcers duty. Of, well...announcing thing's.

Oobleck: "Right you are Peter! An astounding performance indeed! However, if the audience would turn their attention to the screens, you can still watch the battle between Y/n L/n of Beacon Academy and Jeremiah Birch of Shade Academy...! Is what I would be saying, if they were still in their ring!"

And he wasn't inaccurate. Much to the confusion of both the audience, and the present members of team RWBY, Y/n and Jeremiah were nowhere to be seen on the massive screens. Whoever was operating the camera seemed to scan their room for a moment, before suddenly jerking the camera to said chambers ceiling, which had a sizeable hole in it.

Port: "Oh, my. Where have they ended up?"

Not even a full second of silence passed before the center of the ring team RWBY just finished fighting in exploded. Leaping from the dust a bulky figure spun rapidly in the air, before violently throwing another figure to the arena floor below, landing rather elegant despite his massive size on the frozen half of the arena.

The other however, violently crashed into the floor, kicking up literal smoke as part of the fiery half of the arena detonated beneath him.

Oobleck: "Whats this?!? It would seem young Jeremiah has dragged young L/n through an ENTIRE STORY OF CONCRETE, and joined us in the main arena!!!"

Temporarily resting his axes in their holsters on his hips, the massive tiger Faunas known as Jeremiah stood unflinching as he watched his opponent writhe temporarily. The boy was a third year student at Shade Academy and had an uncomfortably bad history behind some of his time at the school.

His hulking 6 foot 11 inches of raw muscle and bulk stood tall in the arena, the brown of his skin as well as the red and gold of his leather jacket and jeans contrasting violently with the icy blue floor beneath him. A practical mane of dirty blonde hair adorned his head, and a long black and orange striped tail curled in the air, almost as if the tail itself was flexing. Jeremiah was certainly a tough character, and his axes only highlighted this.

Resting on his hips were two dangerous looking hand axes, both their handles colored a deep crimson, although both were metal, with what seemed to be shotgun barrels on the tops, with triggers resting just below the axe blades. Said blades were onyx black in color, and sharply serrated. They also appeared to have a rectangular hollow center, which both were filled with different dust munitions, clearly meant to be how the weapons were loaded.

Jeremiah's honey golden eyes continued to observe Y/n, who had now brought himself to one knee as smoke slowly cleared from the boy, his head hung low however as he panted heavily. The boys form flickered between its shadow black and the enigmas natural white skin from being caught on the opposite end of the arena from Ruby, who looked on with worry. Their bond however was nowhere to be found.

Temporarily moving his eyes to the aura board outside the arena, Jeremiah observed that while Y/n's aura was now in the orange, his own aura wasn't far itself. Although he did seem to have a lead.

Port: "Things aren't looking good for mr. L/n ladies and gentlemen! Jeremiah is leading by a whole 20 percent in aura!"

Oobleck: "Indeed Peter, Y/n will have to be extremely careful to pull a victory put of this one! He doesn't seem in good shape however!"

Sighing to himself, Jeremiah uncrowded his arms as he drew his axes again, spinning them idly on his index fingers. His deep, booming voice easily carried across the arena floor as Y/n shakily stood on his own two feet, head still low, still panting.

Jeremiah: "A shame, I expected a little more fight after all that struggling down below."

With a sudden, stoic movement, Jeremiah sent his left-hand axe hurdling through the air towards Y/n with astounding speed. The thing was flying fast and hard enough, you could hear the weapon whipping through the air.

Jeremiah's stoicism was suddenly shattered however, left mouth agape as in the last few moments, too fast for Jeremiah to see, Y/n suddenly lifted his hand, and perfectly caught the axe mere inches from his cranium, the crowd roaring at the spectacle. The tigers eyes widened even further when Y/n lifted his piercing silver eyes to meet the honey gold ones opposite him.

Oobleck: "Whats this?! Y/n has caught Jeremiah's axe!"

Smiling like a madman,  Y/n spit a small spat of blood to the floor beside him, tossing Jeremiah's axe up and down in his hands.

Y/n: "You didn't actually think we were done here, did you?"

Shadows gathered for a moment before the familiar glaive Y/n had used during the breach appeared in his left hand, resting the large weapon casually on his shoulder. Jeremiah furrowed his brow in annoyance, his eye twitching slightly as he squared his footing, bending slightly at the knees as he tightened his grip on his remaining axe.

Y/n had been his usual jesting self the entirety of the fight, and it seems Jeremiah was finally losing his cool. He could only take so much harassment. Growling at the boy across from him, the older student shouted across to him.

Jeremiah: "What, you think you're being cute?!"

Smiling even wider, Y/n disappeared in a burst of darkness, materializing behind an unaware Jeremiah.

Y/n: "Bitch..."

Jeremiah was only able to whip his head around, being met with a confident smirk, and the barrel of his own weapon, forced to watch as the purple gravity dust in the weapon ignited violently, and sent the tiger Faunas flying across the arena, back colliding hard with a pillar of ice created earlier by Weiss.

Dropping to one knee, the axe Jeremiah was shot with suddenly collided hard with the wall he just did, its blade lodging itself into the icy structure. Absolutely enraged, Jeremiah faced Y/n with a growl, who spun his glaive before holding the massive weapon vertically behind him.

"...I'm adorable."

Snarling with rage, red lightning crackled around Jeremiah as he stood tall. Ripping his axe from its icy prison, subsequently shattering the frozen wall, he charged Y/n axes low at his sides, the icy floor beneath cracking with every rage filled step. Y/n himself charged as well, meeting Jeremiah halfway and blocking a double overhead strike with the shaft of his weapon, the crowd raving overhead as the battle finally resumed.

Port: "And it seems we are back in the action ladies and gentleman! As the battle continues, we finally get to see Jeremiah's semblance at work!"

Oobleck: "That we do Peter! Jeremiah Birch's semblance is quite unique. The lower his aura gets, the angrier he gets! His semblance fuels his rage, and increases his already tremendous strength and fortitude tenfold! Whenever he reaches critical condition, the air around him heats to a nigh unbearable degree, wearing down his opponents, and even burning hot enough to stop bullets at times!"

As if to demonstrate Ooblecks point, Jeremiah began to push down on the weapon lock with his axes as the air around him heated slightly, applying so much force, the icy floor beneath Y/n began cracking. Allowing his smile to widen however, Y/n disappeared in another burst of shadow, reappearing behind Jeremiah, who stumbled forward as his balance was lost, allowing Y/n to send the large 3rd year flying with a large diagonal swipe of his glaive.

Not wasting any time, Y/n charged towards Jeremiah with incredible speed, his glaive disappearing as he drew his pistols and began unloading at the tiger Faunas. Most of the rounds made it through, but as Jeremiah's aura got lower and lower, the space around him heated more and more, eventually glowing hit enough to stop all of the smaller caliber rounds.

Surprising everyone with his own burst of speed, Y/n was forced to holster his pistols once more as Jeremiah quickly entered striking range. Now deprived of his axes however, he had to rely on his fists. Normally, Y/n would be able to handle this fist fight just fine, but the boosts in strength Jeremiah was receiving from his semblance, as well as the unbearable heat around him was too much. Y/n could feel it eating away at what little aura he had left.

That was it. Y/n had decided. Now, it was all, or nothing. Dodging a wild haymaker, Y/n used the opening created to get inside Jeremiah's space, beginning to deliver blow after blow to the larger students gut. With Jeremiah thoroughly winded, Y/n warped behind him, grappling and, with great effort, suplexing the massive Faunas into the icy floor.

He wasn't done yet though, if he was going to break through Jeremiah's stone wall defense, he was gonna need to pull out some stops. Standing straight, Y/n concentrated for a moment before a heavy sledgehammer appeared in his hands. Resisting the urge to scream during the process, Y/n began to beat Jeremiah relentlessly with the heavy weapon. Strike after strike, he swung again and again, until he heard the magical buzzer.

Oobleck: "Ladies and gentlemen, after an outstanding match, Y/n L/n is our winner!!!"

Managing to cease his onslaught, Y/n looked down at Jeremiah, now about 3 feet deep into the ice. Looking over to the board, he saw Jeremiah's aura was barely in the red, while his own wasn't far from it. Y/n looked back down as he heard the large man groan below him in the ice, the lightning crackling around him disappearing as the air once again returned to its normal temperature.

Dismissing his hammer, Y/n squatted down and hoisted Jeremiah to his feet by his tree trunk of a shoulder, sitting the large student down on the edge of the crater Y/n had used him to make with a pat on the back.

Looking around the arena stands, he cringed slightly at the level of attention on him, but allowed his nervousness to fade as he watched his team walk over to him, only one thought on his mind.

'I am fucking starving...'

Of course his one track mind however, wasn't going to stop Ruby from nearly knocking him over.

Ruby: "WE DID IIIIIIIIT!!!!"

Stabilizing himself as he adjusted to support the rose on his shoulders, he was able to catch sight of Jeremiah walking away to the edge of the arena. As if sensing his gaze, the tiger Faunas turned to face Y/n.

Instead of a cold glare though, Jeremiah gave Y/n a true smile, throwing a thumbs up to the boy before turning around, and walking away before Y/n could respond.

Coming back to the real world, Y/n smiled and began to walk, with his team, out the other side of the arena. Ruby gushed over their victory the whole way.

And also the entire airship ride out of the arena to the festival grounds below. It was hard for Y/n to really take too much notice though. He suddenly didn't want to go back for another fight. Some old piece of him woke up when he looked around at the arenas audience cheering. All focused on him. By all accounts he believed it should've felt great.

Of course, Team JNPR, as well as Sun's team, his friends were up there. Cheering for him. That part felt good. But everybody else having eyes on him...

In short it made him wish he could still turn invisible. He figured his old, more awkward self really wasn't so far gone after all.

Then again...today was...different. He didnt know how, just that it was. It was like he couldn't focus. Like his mind couldn't breathe. His head hurt, bad. He couldn't control where his thoughts ran. Moments, sometimes even minutes just seemed to-

Ruby: "You mean he can still fight?! Awesome!!! I gotta tell the others!!!"

*slam!*

...

Ozpin: "She certainly excites easily, doesn't she?"

Y/n: "What? Oh, uh, yeah."

...

Ozpin: "Although im quite sure i won't get an actual awnser, I'll still ask. Is something bothering you Y/n?

Y/n: "Would you believe me if I told you it was just, post-mortem paranoia?"

Ozpin: "I suppose that could explain some of your demeanor."

Y/n: "You say that like you have experience with it."

Ozpin: "Hmm. Of course, what I think believe doesn't really matter does it?"

Y/n: "Pardon?"

Ozpin: "You ask me if I believe you're paranoid, and nothing else. But let me ask this."

...

"Do you?"

...

Ruby: "Y/N!!!"

Y/n: "Huh?"

-slip away...what?

Damnit! There it goes again! When did they get to the fairgrounds? Almost as if she didn't notice his issue, Ruby giggled, tugging him along the fairgrounds he only just now realized they were in, his slowness putting them just a couple paces behind their team.

Ruby: "Come on ya big goof! We're gonna go get food!"

Unable to stop the smile forming on his face, he laughed quietly to himself as he sped up his walk slightly to match hers, finally walking beside his teammates.

???: "Ah! What-?!"

That is, for about three seconds before out of pure reflex, he was now crushing somebody's hand with his own. Turning his head with his team to see exactly who he caught in the act, he was met with a very, very frustrated Emerald, who was currently trying not to crumble over Y/n's vice grip on her wrist. The hand attached (barely) to said wrist was also hovering mere inches away from Ruby's pockets, and holding said Rose's wallet.

Y/n: "Feeling a little grabby, are we Emerald?"

Emerald suppressed another gasp of pain as the grip on her wrist temporarily tightened, forcing her to drop the wallet in her hand, before it was subsequently released. Massaging her wrist in violent irritation, she gave her recent captor a cold glare, before swiftly turning on her heels and disappearing into the crowd.

Picking up Ruby's wallet, Y/n handed it back to her as he continued to stare in the direction Emerald walked off.

Yang: "Uh, what was that about?"

Facing the questioning gazes of his friends, he scratched his nape nervously as he realized the scene he had caused. He figured he needed to say something.

Y/n: "I don't like pickpockets."

...

Weiss: "Well at least we agree on something. Now hurry up! I'm hungry too!"

Y/n: "Right..."

...

'What's happening to me?'

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(I'll keep this one short because of the nature of the chapter. Looks like you guys are stuck with me a little longer. I ended up getting covid, and now my ship-out date for the navy is February 18th rather than in 4 days.)

(Until Next Time)