Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction based on multiple existing anime/manga series. The characters and settings used in this story belong to their respective owners and creators, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is purely for entertainment purposes and is not intended to infringe upon any existing intellectual property. I do not own any of the original works that inspired this fanfiction, and I fully support the original creators and their works.
I'm also exceedingly rarely chilling in JaxWolf4's (Author of Nah, I'd Adapt and Zenin Days) Discord Server. It's a chaotic lobotomy mess. Not for the faint of heart.
Here's the link:
Disc: HrPrTeam
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH KOKUSEN!
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!
-Story Start-
The morning sun gently peeked through the window, its shining rays illuminating the lecture hall.
The air was a trepid mess, abuzz with anxious talks and worries. Indicative of the usual state of affairs of a pre-exam classroom.
But Alex?
The embodiment of tranquility. As he sat on his seat, Excalibur attached to his hip, Alex was the envy of all Buddhist Monks, his state of zen moments away from achieving true enlightenment.
His day started with him NOT waking up early. His amber eyes lazily opened to see Peter Port's usual confident, mayhaps haughty stride through the entrance with a foreboding stack of papers. The classroom fell into a deathly, eerie silence. Then, his head turned to the side, noting the actual presence of Yang Xiao Long.
His gaze lingered for a moment. Long enough for her to turn and meet his eyes before turning away awkwardly just a moment later.
Alex stood unfazed, as his eyes turned to look at his bubbly partner following that short exchange of looks.
Her mood, her toothy grin - it was a significant improvement from the past few weeks.
In fact, it's the brightest he'd seen her in... forever, even with those weary bags under her eyes. He would admit he had almost been blinded. It was especially anomalous considering they were just about to take an Exam that may or may not expel them, minus himself.
Alex nodded to himself in satisfaction, "Nice." He gave Ruby a thumbs-up, to which she tilted her head with innocent confusion, "You look cheerful too, Alex!" She noted the satisfaction under his stoic, stone-like expression.
Jaune's self-harm ploy, whatever it was, appeared to have worked somewhat.
'Nice. I'll buy him a coffee from the vending machine.' Alex praised in his mind, his respect for Jaune rising in real-time.
"Today is a good day." He admitted.
Indeed, it was.
Jaune's work had helped to settle the trouble between friends, especially affecting Ruby, and it had proven Alex's point, his remark towards the System.
And what a contributor to his good day it was! That System.
Why?
Because it was especially radio-silent following the embarrassing nullification of Avalon just this early morning.
No smug snickering or irritating voice in his mind.
Mhm, he could live just fine with this.
'But it does make me wonder.' Alex thought to himself, 'Why is it silent?'
As he contemplated, Professor Port's voice boomed. "Everyone! Grab a paper and return to your seats."
Alex absentmindedly rose up and followed the crowd towards the stack of papers, his contemplation not ceasing.
'It can't be plotting anything... If some of the punishments can be nullified... why doesn't it just change the punishment?'
He took in a deep breath, as his mind raced, working admittedly much harder than it usually did as he grabbed a piece of paper and headed back to his desk.
'Is it playing around with me...? It wouldn't be out of place for this sadistic piece of shit.'
He sat down with an audible plop, his head momentarily to analyze the questions of the Exam, at least to figure out what he was dealing with, before resuming his far more important thought process.
He took his pen and fiddled around with it, careful not to snap it in half accidentally as his thoughts lingered...
He pondered and he brooded...
His mind returned to Merlin's prior words:
"Quite limited. It had obtained the pair... rather circumstancially." Merlin added with a lighter tone, "As a matter of fact, survey its prior tasks that you had yet to complete, maybe you'll notice something of importance?"
That, Alex had attributed to the fact that the System's punishments adjust to the user, but it seems not to consider Avalon in the equation...
He was missing something; this wasn't all that Merlin meant in his words.
"Quite limited," Alex repeated, his voice barely audible in the hush of the trepid classroom, the only noise was the displeased groans, the streaks of pen against paper, and depressed exhales.
'It didn't change the punishment to take into account Avalon simply because... it can't?'
[...]
No response was expected, but he wasn't asking anyway. 'Is there... a strict guideline that I don't know about? I'll need to carefully test that theory out-'
[Must you be so difficult, Alexander?]
'I liked you more when you kept your mouth shut.' He admitted easily.
[Tell me... Do you love this world? Do you love its people?]
Alex's hand instinctively lowered to grasp Excalibur's hilt, and those who turned to randomly observe the source of the shuffling sounds instead of focusing on the Exam had their eyes widen into the size of plates at seeing him grasp the hilt.
'I don't dislike it. But it goes without saying, I live here now, I am a person here. And there's a debt to repay.' He bluntly admitted, his head lowering to gaze at Excalibur's brilliant, almost approving, mesmerizing light.
[The fact that you waver and give me flimsy, inconcrete answers tells me all I need to know. Look, I am on your side. Without me, you won't be able to foresee threats to those you will hold dear. Without me, you will not get better! Coercion is but a means to an end! A necessity!]
[WITHOUT ME! YOU WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO ANSWER MY QUESTION HONESTLY!]
'You're sounding a bit desperate, parasite. I wonder why that is?'
'In any case, filth, you are a tad late to plead your case. Not letting me rest in peace was your first transgression, then sending me to Purgatory was the second, and that sadistic quest regarding which had caused all that mess in the mountain was the third.'
'Tell me, you say you'll help me foresee threats... then make it easy for me. What is this 'big' threat that I need to take down?'
[...I cannot disclose that in this momen-]
'Then. What. Use. Are. You? Do. You. Even. Fucking. Know. What. It. Is?' His every word was emphasized with raw emotion, venom, and fury saturating his every word.
[I see now that it is useless to attempt to convince you. It shouldn't be this way, Alexander. We hold mutual goals; you will eventually see the inevitability of my words.]
'You're a damn liability, is what you are. I don't need you.'
His grip on Excalibur's hilt grew even tighter, and the air around him felt vastly heavier. All those around him, even those engrossed in their Exam, turned to look at him sharply, nervously.
"Mister Andrite? Is something the matter?" Port inquired from afar, noting the difference in the ambiance even from a distance.
He exhaled out of his nose, as he lifted his head and donned his usual neutral stoic expression, meeting Port's question with a shake of his head, "It's nothing, Professor."
Port nodded and continued meandering around, looking for cheaters.
A whisper met his ears as he turned to be met with Ruby's slightly uneasy expression, a sweat trickling down her face. "Is the test that bad for you?"
"No. I was arguing with the 'God' that gives me orders in my head."
"...You should really go to that therapy appointment, you skipped the last one."
"I never went in the first place."
"My point stands, Alex. Weiss is trying so hard to reschedule it every time! We can't leave the campus, but you can!" She chastised.
He was about to retort, only for the conversation to be cut off by Professor Port's piercing glare - its sharpness rivaling Excalibur's.
Well, Alex considered that he should focus on more important things that don't cruelly torture his psyche, like this test.
'Hmm, the questions ain't too difficult.' He casually observed, as he loosened his hold on Excalibur in favor of retaking the pen and diving into the Exam.
Did it go great for him?
Well...
-----------------------------
Alex found himself alone in the lecture hall following the Exam.
Well, not exactly alone - Professor Port stood before him with an unimpressed look, his Exam paper held up to his face.
"What is this, young man?" He inquired patiently, although a smidgen of displeasure echoed from Port's lips.
"My Exam paper?"
"Obviously, I meant the answers to the questions, young man." Professor Port helplessly shook his head.
"I thought I did well?" Alex's lips lowered to form a confounded frown.
Nodding, Port elaborated, as he tapped his finger on the paper, "You did well in identifying the classifications, habitats, as well as age-ranges of the Grimm presented in the Examination. Your grade falters, however, when it comes to..." He fiddled with the term, not certain how to describe what Alex had written, "the methods of countering the Grimm." He then lowered his head to read out Alex's answers.
Exasperation, utter exasperation, "Creep. Slash with Excalibur." He listed the next, "Apathy. Punch a hole through its head." Then the next, "Goliath. Bisect a leg with Excalibur, when it falls, decapitate it in one swing... do you comprehend what kind of strength and momentum you need to even achieve that, to cut through all that dense muscle and bone?"
Shaking his head before Alex could reply, Port continued, his exasperation rising with each read, "Griffon. If it doesn't land, jump really high and tear off its wings with Excalibur. Finish it off either in the air or when it impacts the ground." Then the final one, "Leviathan. Blast it to smithereens with Excalibur... how is that even possible?"
"It just is," Alex answered easily enough.
He proceeded to shrug, "I don't really see the issue? I even went out of my way to utilize different methods each time... mostly."
Port's facepalm reverberated in the empty and silent auditorium as he took the paper and showed it to Alex, much to his confusion.
His finger traces a specific line, an instruction clearly outlined just before the questions are presented on the paper. "Read this."
Nodding, Alex read it aloud, "The questions must be answered from the perspective of the average Huntsman..."
He realized his mistake, "Oh, my bad." his expression was the epitome of unfazed.
Port sighed, "Your talents rival mine in my youth, Mister Andrite. However, you must look towards the future. Just because you are capable of feats beyond the average Huntsman does not mean you shouldn't endeavor or skip studying the basic methods and strategies to defeating the varieties of Grimm!"
"In the future, there may come a time when you must teach those who are not as talented as you are, and if your knowledge is lacking, how could you teach them to do what they cannot?"
"I've never considered a career in instruction-"
"Nonsense! Teaching is universal! A professor, a teacher, a friend, a husband, a father, a random pedestrian, you will have to teach something to someone eventually, young man!"
"I trust you will reach the age of retirement, undoubtedly, so pray tell, are you planning on fathering kin?"
Alex shrugged, giving it a momentary thought, "...Never thought that far. Anyway, is there a point to all this lecture?"
"Indeed! Re-take the test! I'll rewrite the questions; no promising student of mine will be uneducated!" The bomb had dropped.
"Riveting... let me just text my Team not to wait on me. Mind if I grab a coffee from the vending machine prior?" He inquired with a lifted head as he easily withdrew his Scroll to tap a few, very short words.
"On with you, boy! Five minutes on the clock!"
...
Eventually, having finished his re-taking of the test, as Alex meandered through Beacon's vast and lengthy hallways, He couldn't help but wonder how Port managed to check and grade his first iteration of the Exam so quickly among a hundred or so Exams.
"Was he curious as to what I'd answer? Or just blind misfortune?" He did notice that Port was grading the tests of those who had finished early - him having been one of those.
'Blind misfortune it was.' He sighed with a helpless shake of the head.
Even so, Alex's day was mostly going great as he headed to his next class on schedule.
-----------------------------
The ten Aura Measurement Devices clicked onto Alex's figure with positive reception, his ten bars indicating his aura flaring on screen.
He stood once more in that arena, his turn to spar yet again.
This time against one of Cardin's teammates - Sky Lark.
The boy stood cowering as he tightly held onto his halberd - its length tremoring due to the nervous shaking of its wielder. The usual pitying looks crossed everyone's features as they looked upon the poor figure of Sky.
Loud cheers echoed. None, in Alex's favor:
"Try to last ten seconds, Sky!"
"Good luck, man! Just ten seconds!"
"...Make it to five, dude! I managed to do it!"
"It was because he was just standing there doing nothing, you lasted a second!"
"Hey! A second's practically an eternity!"
Alex's own friends and team were against him:
"Go easy on him! Alex!" Ruby cheered with a slight stern warning.
"Let him at least show off a bit, so he'd get somewhat of a substance from this training," Weiss whispered - she wasn't the cheering sort, most of the time.
"Help him improve, Alex!"
...
Alex could only turn to look at his team with an offended eyebrow, "I ain't his teacher." He admitted.
His attention, and everyone else's, for that matter, had been seized by the familiar stern tone of Glynda.
"Mister Andrite. I remind you to hold back."
"...isn't it just better to give me a perfect grade and be done with it?"
"No."
"Figures."
She turned to Sky as well, "Both combatants ready?"
Sky, his expression pale and sweaty, and his footing completely unstable, managed to yelp out a hesitant and resigned affirmation, "Y-Yes..."
"Yes." Alex nodded as he withdrew Excalibur from his left hip.
He thought to himself absentmindedly, 'I haven't really been doing my assigned homework, but I guess better late than never.'
"Start!" Glynda announced the beginning of the fight.
And...
Grasped it with both hands in a firm and grounded stance.
[...?]
Sky's eyes widened in pure fear as he pointed his twitching finger at Alex, "W-Wha, why are you holding it with both hands?"
Sky's announcement came as a confusing and terrifying reveal for all the present onlookers, even Alex's own team.
"He's never taken such a stance before... even in training," Pyrrha whispered, wholly fascinated.
"In the only two times he ever came to actually train with us? All he did was defend and discover that my Semblance was useless on him." Weiss rolled her eyes, unfazed by the peculiar sight like her battle-fanatic partner.
Alex usually took a loose, unguarded, almost lazy stance with Excalibur, wielded with one hand, but now...
"OH HELL NO! I GIVE UP! MISS GOODWITCH, I SURRENDER! I'M NOT DOING ANY OF THIS!"
Glynda retorted immediately, "Mister Lark, Mister Andrite has been instructed to hold back and-"
"YOU CALL THIS HOLDING BACK? TAKE THAT OTHER HAND DOWN! N-NOW!"
"Relax, man. I'm just holding it with both hands." Alex shrugged.
"LIKE HELL YOU ARE! THE FUCK DO I LOOK LIKE? WHITE FANG TERRORISTS? DON'T COME NEAR ME!"
"Mister Lark." Glynda sharply called out, yet again, her voice freezing the air around them, "This will affect your gra-"
"I DON'T CARE! I'M NOT LOSING A LIMB TODAY OR GETTING TURNED INTO A SPLATER ON THE WALL! I SURRENDER!" He took his halbred and, without a single moment's hesitation, bolted off the platform - indignation and fear practically oozing out of his figure.
Alex's stance relaxed, as his hands lowered as he could only scratch his head, "That's a first... word travels fast, I guess." He observed the fact that the gritty details of a few weeks ago appeared to have become common knowledge.
-----------------------------
"No." Alex shook his head with casual dismissal.
"Pretty please~?" The resonating clasping of hands sounded in the dorm room of RAWP.
"Nope."
"But I really want to train to get stronger? If I get stronger, it'll make things easier on all of us, you included."
"Getting warmer."
"You looked eager to use that stance, you know? I'm glad you're aiming to improve, and I'm your best bet in Beacon to get more skilled, so what do you say?" Pyrrha pleaded, her expression practically begging.
"...Fine, you got me." Alex resigned to the persistent redhead, as he grabbed Excalibur while donning his bunny pajamas. "But I'm doing this in my pajamas, can't be bothered to change back to uniform."
"Oh, this I want to see." Weiss hopped off her bed with an intrigued expression.
"Dwidnt you criticish fighting as cheap entertainmentsh?" Ruby tilted her head as she mumbled with her mouth full of freshly-baked cookies.
"It has its moments," Weiss admitted smugly.
"You're welcome to join in on the 'fun', might as well if I'm already going on ahead with this."
"My leg still hurts?" Weiss mumbled out an awkward lie.
"You can just say no. I promise it won't harm the prestigious Schnee name." Alex snorted audibly.
Ruby swallowed the cookies with a gulp, gasping audibly in good nature, "How dare thou speaketh of such transgressions to the venerable name!"
As a small smile graced Alex's lips and Pyrrha broke into an audible chuckle, Weiss's expression was graced with an admittedly horrifying closed-eye smile. "Leader~" Her voice rang like an eerie bell, "You're joining the sparring session as well!"
"No way! I just ate! Blegh!"
-----------------------------
The resonating booms of steel clashing with steel, as Pyrrha and Alex exchanged blows.
Alex is noticeably struggling to pull his punches and match her rhythm, both hands grasping his blade.
They paused in their exchange, as Pyrrha admitted with a sweaty complexion, "I don't know how to say this. But your skill level has risen exponentially... was it that place in your mind?" She shook her head, dismissing the theory, "No, it's related but not quite there. It's like you have experience with this fighting style... why haven't you used it thus far?"
To Pyrrha, the enigmatic puzzle that is Alex Andrite seemed to have slowly begun to unravel itself, yet more mysteries are piling up.
"There was no opportunity to utilize it, as for where I learned it..."
He couldn't say.
[I am of similar curiosity, Alexander. That is not something you should be capable of.]
'I wonder where as well? Your 'eyes' were closed in Purgatory, so it might be there.'
He lied, not that he liked to, "It was as you guessed."
"Please go to therapy, next thing you'll learn from 'that place' is akin to slicing people in your sleep, that's a hazard," Weiss warned with genuine exasperation, sitting with her hands on her knees, observing the two fighters.
"That won't happen. And, hopefully, I won't have to go back to 'that place'," Alex emphasized.
[Up to you.]
-----------------------------
Finishing up their training and returning to the dorm room after freshening up in the shower, Team RAWP was done with yet another normal day in Beacon Academy.
It was almost... healing, in a way. The pain still lingered, but it was fading away - the lesson engraved, yet the pain dull.
To some, the pain lasted much longer than others, even impacting those around them.
Now, though?
It seemed as if all had come back to normal, at least for Team RAWP.
Alex was watching his favorite weather forecast with that strangely captivating bunny Faunus reporter with a cup of coffee, which would be ill-advised during such a late hour.
Ruby was snoring peacefully in her bed, drooling on her pillow.
Weiss was... snoring? To her defense, her sleep posture was akin to that of a mummified pharaoh, maintaining some sort of royal elegance even in her slumber.
Pyrrha was munching on some protein snacks... in her sleep, somehow.
Today, it seemed, was a good day.
...
Alex's brows creased as his sudden not-guilty watch was put to a stop, the quiet television blaring:
"This program is interrupted by major breaking news." The camera flashed to an unfamiliar location within Vale, which appeared to be a prison to Alex's first impressions.
It looked high-security and very well-maintained. As in the past tense.
Right now, it was a mess of debris as it looked two kicks away from collapsing, as a gargantuan hole ate away at one of the walls of the gigantic prison, flames licked every corner of the breach, as the report continued:
The reporter, a woman, continued with cracked composure, "O-Over twenty-three high-profile criminals have escaped Vale's highest security prison. Among them were those involved in the Mountain Glenn Disaster and Roman Torchwick."
She pressed on, "Ground witnesses say a large explosion of flames, likely from a high-concentration of Dust, has caused the breach, and it looks to be a disaster."
"Viridian has ordered a city-wide and beyond manhunt for the criminals and perpetrator. Recalling even the Huntsmen sent out to assist in the Kingdom-wide Grimm invasion outside of Vale."
Alex's lips lowered to a frown as the news continued, "To alleviate pressure and keep the reclaimed territories, for the evacuated to return to their homes, growing demands from City Council and Viridian are pressing on Ozpin to send out the second-year students at Beacon to assist in the effort."
The camera shifted to a civilian, a moustached, well-dressed gentleman who stood before the reporter, "Sir, what do you have to say on the situation?" She asked him.
"Ozpin! Send in the second years! The city needs its Law Enforcement to enforce the law! They haven't slain Grimm in years, let them do what they're good at instead of helplessly flailing against Grimm in useless farms!"
"Matter of fact, send that Hero, Alex Andrite, to deal with it! I bet he can clean up your mess better than you!"
Alex's frown deepened even further as he turned his head to look at Glory, who sat at his side.
Extending his hand and grasping its hilt with his right hand, his left hand traced along its shimmering metal, a query in his eyes.
Whatever it was, whatever the glow had relayed to him, Alex had his answer.
He took a deep breath through his nose.
A moment later, he exhaled through his mouth.
He announced, more to himself than anyone else.
"Time to pay my rent."
[Oh? Is that so?]
To Be Continued!
-Author Note Start-
HOLY MOLY! ANOTHA ONE?!
OZPIN'S (UNINTENDED) SLEEPER AGENT HAS ACTIVATED! SURRENDER! SURRENDER!
Anyway, hope the chapter's been to your enjoyment. I did churn it out quite quickly, so I do hope it was satisfactory.
In any case, as you can see, one big escalating event has happened.
Blake's funeral is still set to happen, but it'll all be clear very, very soon.
Also, there's one more thing that needs to happen that I forgot to mention, but I'll let the chapters do the talking, not me.
And... CINDY WINDY IS HERE! IN THE BACKGROUND! YAY!
NEXT CHAPTER WITHIN 24-48 HOURS! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!