RWBY: Origins of a Dragon

Chapter 5: Cracks in the Shell

           Sean kept his feet loosely planted on the floor of the classroom as the Boarbatusk came charging at him, quickly sidestepping as it ran past him. This particular creature of Grimm, closely resembled a boar, roughly around the same size, covered in plates of bone-like armor, and its beady red eyes seemed to gaze into Sean's heart as it ran by. Sean felt nothing for this creature, only hate. As the Grimm turned around and charged towards him again, he sidestepped and slashed across the Grimm's hide with his sword, the blade carving a gash in the creature's armor, but not breaking any pieces off. Switching strategies, he sheathed his blade and converted his weapon to it's Fusion Rifle form, charging it up and firing straight at the head of the beast. The small fire Dust pellets made contact with the Grimm, bouncing off its armor plates and staggering it, causing the creature to lose control of its momentum, falling over and rolling across the floor, knocking over Sean as well. He quickly got back to his feet and saw that Vulcan's Forge was on the floor, and the Boarbatusk was between him and his weapon.
         "Hohoho! What will you do now without a weapon young man?" asked Professor Port, seeming to be almost excited about what was happening. Sean gritted his teeth as the boar squealed and charged at him again. Thinking fast with no real strategy in mind, he leaped into the air and activated his Semblance, igniting small puffs of flame underneath his feet, giving him a sort of "double jump" and somersaulting over the Grimm, landing gracefully on the floor, but as he turned around, he saw the Boarbatusk was already charging again. Sean braced himself for the impact and skidded across the floor as the Grimm rammed into him. Sean grabbed onto the creature's tusks and didn't let go as the creature began to try and lift him off the ground to toss him away. Sean planted his feet firmly on the ground, pushing against the Boarbatusk with all his might, feeling his muscles ache and scream with pain as he began to lift the Grimm off the ground. He bent his back and adjusted his weight as the creature began to squirm, trying to escape his grip, but Sean didn't budge. He let out a battle cry as he used his Semblance again, this time igniting flames on his fists and using them as a booster to slam the Boarbatusk onto the floor as hard as he could.
          The creature squealed, stunned as it rolled on its side, leaving its unarmored stomach and neck exposed. Sean turned around and dived for his sword, his hand quickly closing around the hilt as he got back to his feet and leaped into the air, bringing his sword down on the Grimm's neck, severing it's head from its body with one swift strike, causing it to fade away. Barely breaking a sweat, Sean stood up straight as he twirled Vulcan's Forge in his hand, and placed the sword in its sheath on his back before letting out a long exhale. He turned and faced the rest of the class, who were all staring at him, jaws open and eyes widened, Coco had taken off her shades, glaring at him with her dark coffee colored eyes. Even Lia, who always had a bored expression whenever he saw her, was staring at him, amazed. His three teammates all stood up and started clapping for him, proud of his performance.
"Yeah! Great job Sean!" Kara exclaimed with a smile. Shira and Kya did not say anything, but the looks of pride on their faces were undeniable.
"Young man, that was incredible! What is your name?" asked Professor Port, excitement and amazement echoing off his voice. Sean looked at him straight in the eyes before giving an answer.
"My name, is Sean Hawthorne." he replied, and the color drained from Professor Port's face as he looked back at Sean, before quickly composing himself and clearing his throat.
"Well then, Mister Hawthorne. Based on what you just showed us, we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman in training, one I believe that even the Grimm will fear one day." declared the plump Professor. Sean couldn't help but chuckle at this, shrugging his shoulders.
"I doubt that Professor. The Grimm have no souls, meaning they can't feel any emotions. But it is an interesting concept." he replied, causing Professor Port to force a laugh.
"Indeed Mister Hawthorne, indeed." he remarked, but the look in his eyes betrayed him, he wanted to know something about him, Sean could feel it in his soul. The bell suddenly rang, signaling the end of his first class. The rest of the students grabbed their things and began to leave the room, as did Teams THON and CFVY. Sean walked over to join them, but Professor Port called out to him.
"Mister Hawthorne! A moment, if you please?" he asked, and Sean turned to face him, then looked back at his teammates and friends, who were already at the door staring at him.
"Go on you guys. I'll catch up." he replied, and Coco shrugged her shoulders, but respected his wish and walked out with her team. Shira also respected his wish, but gave him a silent "if something happens, tell me" look.
"Come on, we don't want to be late for our next class." she pointed out as she led her team out of the classroom. Sean walked back down to the center of the lecture hall and stood face to face with Professor Port again.
"What did you want to talk to me about Professor?" he asked, keeping his voice calm.
             "I wanted to talk to you about your performance just now in my class." Professor Port stated, his tone turning serious. The change in his tone confused Sean, it almost sounded like the Professor was disappointed in his performance.
           "What's the matter with my performance? You wanted to see if I could handle taking on a Grimm, I showed you and the class that I could." Sean replied, confused. Professor Port in turn shook his head, looking the fiery 1st year dead in the eyes.
           "That is not what I meant. Your attack style and way of dealing the Grimm was astounding. It was the aura you were giving off during the fight that concerned me." uttered Professor Port, which only confused Sean further.
          "What do you mean Professor? What was wrong with my aura?" he asked.
           "Your Aura was unnaturally strong, and rising in intensity the longer you fought. Now there are several possibilities for that, the most common being that you are still learning to properly control your Aura because of how strong it is. Another is that you already had some training on controlling your Aura, meaning you are ahead of most of your peers. But there is one other possibility, one that does not happen very often. Mister Hawthorne, were you sick at all this past year? Because sometimes that can contribute to these, Aura spikes." Professor Port explained. Sean was taken aback by his statement/question, that wasn't something a Professor usually asked a student, much less on the first day. Nevertheless, he decided to answer honestly, but keep some of the information to himself.
             "No Professor Port, I was not. My village was, but I specifically was not. Now is that all? I have my next class to get to, and I'd rather not be late on my first day." he replied, hoping that the Professor would stop asking questions. Professor Port narrowed his eyes at Sean, a look on his face Sean did not recognize, and for a moment he thought the "interrogation" would continue. To his surprise however, the plump man simply nodded his head and gestures towards the door warmly, and Sean took that as his cue to leave quickly. He ran down the massive halls, heading into the locker room to change back into his uniform and putting Vulcan's Forge back into his locker, than sprinting back out, running past other students and taking sharp turns around corners until he saw Coco, who was leaning against the wall outside their next classroom with her arms crossed.
"Before you ask, Shira asked me to wait for you...she thinks the two of us should find common ground after this morning..." she explained.
             "You didn't have to wait you know. I would've been fine." he commented, in which Coco shrugged her shoulders and uncrossed her arms.
             "You're right, I didn't. And honestly, a part of me didn't want to either. But Yatsu was right before when we were in the dorm after you left. Whether you or I like it or not, we're on the same side now. And that means we need to act like a team, all of us. Friends, not enemies. Which means not leaving anyone behind for any reason, even if it's just for class. Sound familiar?" she acknowledged, and her words startled him. That was close to what he had said to Ozpin before he had run down the side of the cliff to save Team CFVY from the Grimm pack yesterday.
             "Yeah. I talked to Team SCLE yesterday after initiation. Lia told me what you said to Ozpin. She found it quite impressive. Her words, not mine."  Coco commented, a smirk on her face, her shades covering her eyes.
             "I'm not looking to impress anyone, alright? It's just the code I live by. Let's leave it at that." Sean replied.
"Well, Lia found your code impressive. Honestly, I did too...most people are in this life for money or fame...but you...you don't seem like you are..." Coco observed. Sean smirked, and relaxed his shoulders.
"I guess I'm just one of those rare ones then..."he replied gently as he walked past her, but deep down he was a little flattered, he wasn't expecting anyone to be impressed by his actions.
            "Whatever you say, Hotshot." Coco responded with a chuckle as she walked into the classroom behind him. The two of them sat down next to each other, Sean sat with his team, and Coco sat with Velvet, Yatsu, and Fox as the bell rang, signaling the start of class. As he looked around the room, he spotted Team SCLE on the other side of the classroom, but then he also spotted Team Chaos walk in and sit in the middle row at the back of the room.
"Shit. Well this is gonna be a problem..." Sean thought to himself, quickly looking over at his teammates and nudging Shira. She turned and looked at him, her violet eyes gazing at her friend curiously.
"What's up?" she asked, and he tried to motion for her to look behind her with his eyes. But when she kept staring, he sighed.
"Company. Behind you..." he warned, and Shira turned her head slightly, then turned back around.
"Dammit...that's not good...warn the others..." she whispered. Sean nodded vigorously as he turned back around in his seat, gently nudging Coco with his elbow. She turned and faced him, raising an eyebrow.
"What is it?" she asked, taking her shades off, her eyes showing concern.
"We've got trouble. Look slightly behind you." he whispered to her, and her gaze slowly hovered behind her, then quickly faced forward again, putting her shades back on.
"Dammit. What are they doing here? I thought this was a first year class?" she whispered to Sean.
"Guess they never bothered to take the class until now..." Sean replied quietly.
"What are you guys talking about?" asked Fox as he turned towards them, both Yatsu and Velvet doing the same.
"Nero and his teammates are here. They're behind us in the middle row." Coco replied, and Sean saw Velvet's face drain of color as she turned back to face the front of the classroom.
"Don't worry Velvet. They try anything, I'll sock him in the jaw again." announced Coco through their mental link with a smirk.
"That would not be wise. The Professor just walked in." whispered Yatsu, as Fox severed the mental link with everyone. Coco's scroll suddenly chimed, and she looked down as she pulled it out of her pocket.
"What are you doing?" asked Velvet in a hushed tone.
"I just got a text, gimme a sec." she replied quickly.
"From who?" Sean asked, and Coco turned her scroll towards Sean, motioning that it was okay for him to look. Sean looked at the message and saw it was from Silver Anaros, Lia's teammate/team leader. The text read:
"You guys okay over there? I saw Velvet turn pale out of the corner of my eye."
Sean's eyes widened at this, not by the fact that Coco had Silver's number, but that he was checking in people who weren't even on his team, he found it admirable, since it was a quality that he had himself.
"We exchanged numbers yesterday evening while all of us hung out. It's good to have friends in other teams, you never know when you'll need backup on a mission Hotshot." Coco voiced as she put her scroll away.
"I don't need a lecture about teamwork, least of all from you. I've got my team for that. Besides, he shouldn't be sticking his nose into other people's business." he snarled, forcing the words out and hating every second of it.
"Dude, chill out. He's just being friendly. And also, I wasn't lecturing you. I was merely offering advice, you can take it, or you can leave it." Coco replied coldly as she scoffed and faced the front of the classroom again. Sean looked to his left and saw Team SCLE staring across the room at him and Team CFVY, and he just gave a quick thumbs up before facing the front of the room again, ignoring the looks of annoyance from his teammates. A blur suddenly zoomed past Sean and stopped in the middle of the classroom, revealing a thin man with green hair, a white shirt and yellow tie, spectacles, dress pants, and nice shoes.
"Welcome to History class students! My name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, and I will be your teacher to teach you everything you need to know about the history of our kingdom and as such, how not to repeat it. Now, let's begin!" he announced as he took a sip of his coffee. Sean just stared at him with wide eyes, he had said all of that in under a minute.
"Good god, what is this guy on? He's got more energy than my brother did..." he thought to himself as he watched the Doctor zoom around the classroom, asking the other students questions. Sean's mind began to drift, mostly because he was thinking about what Professor Port had asked him, but a part of his mind stayed on alert since Nero and his three teammates were sitting in the section almost directly behind them, and even from his seat, he could feel their eyes on him, his team, and Team CFVY, as if they were waiting for something.
           He suddenly felt Shira nudge his elbow this time, and when he looked at her, she pointed to the front of the classroom with her left hand, while writing down notes with her right. Sean quickly took out his notebook and began to copy the notes from the board as Dr. Oobleck rambled on about one of Remnant's many wars. He paid close attention to the notes as he wrote them down, but he couldn't help himself, he was starting to feel trapped, sitting still for an extended period of time was a real problem for him. He started fidgeting, tapping his feet repeatedly on the floor as he wrote, he tried to keep himself in check, but the longer he sat still, the more energetic he was getting. Before long he realized that it wasn't energy he was feeling at all, it was fear. He didn't know why he was afraid, only that it was getting worse the longer he sat still. This wasn't like in Professor Port's class, where he just felt hyper and needed to keep himself moving. Now he felt almost frozen in place, and all he could do was repeatedly tap his feet and dart his eyes around. He felt the class drone on and on, but it was all he could do to keep from going completely insane. He kept writing the notes down, trying his best to stay focused on the lesson, until Coco gently nudged him.
"Hey, would you stop fidgeting? You're messing up my notes." she muttered, her voice still slightly cold. Sean could only nod slightly as Coco went back to her notes, his eyes darting around frantically until they locked on to someone standing behind Dr. Oobleck as he was walking around the room, someone that was supposed to be dead. He saw Colton, his little brother, staring at him from across the classroom where Oobleck now stood, but he didn't look like his joyous and mischievous self, the version of him that he remembered so dearly. Blood now dripped from his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his hair was disheveled, out of place and dead looking, and his golden eyes, once so full of life, were now completely bloodshot, full of rage and hatred. He saw him open his mouth, as if he was about to say something, and he felt his chest grow tight. Coco suddenly nudged him again, breaking his line of sight as he turned to look at her.
"Dude. Seriously, stop fidgeting. I'm trying to pay attention here." she ordered with annoyance, but when she saw the look in his eyes, her demeanor instantly changed.
"Hey..... are you alright? What's wrong?" she asked, her voice now much more gentle than before. Sean's eyes quickly darted back to the front of the room, but Colt was gone. He looked back at Coco, who was now focused on him completely.
"Y-yeah... yeah I'm okay...." he replied, steadying his heart rate and taking a few deep breaths. Shira noticed that he was shaking and stopped paying attention to the lesson to try and comfort her friend.
  "Hey...hey. It's okay, deep breath in...deep breath out, right?" she asked softly as Sean tried to breathe.
"I-I'm good...thanks Shi..." he uttered shakily. Shira wasn't convinced, and began to softly rub his back to calm him down.
"I know you're not..." she whispered.
"I am...I'm alright, I promise..." he muttered.
"Are you sure Sean? You just turned pale, like you saw a ghost..." voiced Coco gently. Sean was about to reply when Dr. Oobleck shouted up at them.
  "Miss Adel! Miss Torenia! Would you two care to explain why you aren't paying attention to the lesson?!" he asked in a fast but stern tone. Coco quickly turned back to him and replied fast.
"My friend was falling slightly behind on the notes Professor. I was helping him catch up." she explained.
"I was doing the same, Professor. Making sure my teammates aren't falling behind is important to me." Shira added.
"Doctor." Oobleck replied, correcting them both as he turned to face Sean.
"Mister Hawthorne! What confused you about my lesson that caused you to fall behind?" he asked. Sean was still shaking from what he had seen before, but he steeled himself and replied the best he could.
"I was confused in how some of the ancient tribes were able to withstand the cold during the war against the tribes where Atlas now stands, whereas others could not. I thought the freezing temperatures were what caused them all to retreat." he remarked, playing it off like he was fine. Doctor Oobleck frowned at him, his spectacles hiding his eyes from the glare of the lights in the room.
"An interesting scenario at this point of the war, yes! Some tribes were forced to retreat, due to the temperatures, the freezing temperatures! But others, others managed to withstand it, and battle on to defeat the northern tribes. Why? Can anyone answer Mister Hawthorne's question?!" he asked, his tone never slowing down. Sean looked around the room, hoping someone would give an answer, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Nero's teammate Dusk, start to raise his hand, only for it to be pulled back down forcefully by Nero, who pulled him in close so Dusk could whisper something in his ear. Sean couldn't entirely tell from where he was sitting, but it looked like Dusk was in pain. He saw Dusk get pushed away as Nero raised his hand, a proud smirk on his face. Dr. Oobleck noticed and called on him.
"Mister Cort! Do you have an answer for us?" he asked. Nero glared at Sean and smirked before putting his hand down.
"Yes I do, Doctor Oobleck. It's true some of the ancient tribes were forced to retreat because of the harsh weather, but the reason the others were able to withstand it longer was because they were among the first of us to tap into their Auras. That is how they were able to defeat the northern tribes and win that specific battle, while also proving that they had evolved to be better than the rest." he pointed out, that smirk never leaving his face as his eyes glared at Sean.
            "Very good! It is true that some of the tribes, specifically the ones from the country we now call Anima, were among the first to be able to tap into their Auras, thus changing the course of warfare for mankind. This was among the first of many examples of how Aura became a significant part of humanity's defense against each other, and the Grimm! Mister Hawthorne, I hoped this answered your question." said Dr. Oobleck, and Sean gritted his teeth at the idea of entertaining Nero, but right now he had no choice.
              "Yes Doctor, it did..." he confirmed, forcing the words out as he heard Nero snicker behind him.
             "Excellent! Now pay attention everyone, for this next section is very crucial to how the rest of the war transpired!" Dr. Oobleck declared as he began to drone on again, and this time Sean made sure to pay attention for the rest of the lesson.