"So, to be clear, the seven of you are not having any problems integrating?" Professor Ozpin asked.
"Not in the least sir," Lunare answered. "As you correctly assumed, team Dandelion and my own have been able to continue our successful working relationship. Beyond missing a member, team Lustered Lion is performing optimally."
Professor Ozpin nodded and made a note upon his scroll. The two of them were seated on opposite sides of Ozpin's desk, both drinking from mugs of steaming coffee. While Professor Ozpin typed on his scroll, Lunare's hands gained a mind of their own and slipped into his pockets. Within seconds, he was absentmindedly tinkering with one of his Aural Disruptors, steadily taking it apart piece by piece.
"That is good to hear," Professor Ozpin said. "Although that does bring me to my next question. How are the members of your team doing with the recent changes?"
Lunare paused his disassembly, seemingly snapping out of a trance. "My original team is adjusting fairly well," he said after a brief moment of consideration. It's good that we were able to remain in our own rooms, although having people walk in between ours and the old Dandelion dorm is admittedly annoying," he added with a bit of a forced chuckle.
"Lunare," Professor Ozpin said, "How is your team coping with Daniel's absence?"
Lunare took several moments to compose thoughts before taking a deep breath and answering. "It has not been easy," he said. "My team is upset and understandably misses him, but what they feel is tame when compared to how team Dandelion is fairing. They feel how we feel and more so, even if they do not always show it. In my opinion, I cannot blame them," he added as an afterthought.
"In your opinion?" Professor Ozpin prompted.
Lunare stirred uncomfortably, searching for the words to the question he wished hadn't been raised. Wishing he hadn't opened his mouth, Lunare steeled himself and explained himself. "After everything that they have done for him, Daniel left them when they least expected it. It didn't help that he made his decision right after the incident with the assailant, which I believe they view as a, knee-jerk reaction," he said.
"Have there been any violent outbursts?"
Lunare looked around the room nervously before speaking up to answer the question. "Lewis has his… own methods that seem to be working in his favor. Dakota," Lunare took a deep breath before choosing his next words carefully, "Dakota has been, fighting outside of class."
"Fighting?" Professor Ozpin inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes sir. You have probably read the reports, he spars with other students after class."
"Indeed," Professor Ozpin said. "I've seen his detention slips, he has been pushing himself rather hard, hasn't he? See to it that he doesn't push himself too hard, or anyone else for that matter."
Lunare nodded and glanced back down at his Aural Disruptor.
"And what about Nicholas Ochre?" Professor Ozpin asked. "You have neglected to mention him at all today."
"I'm afraid that Nick's emotions are unknown to me," Lunare admitted. "Dakota and Lewis' emotions can be seen physically relatively easily, but Nick keeps much of his emotions to himself. I'm afraid I can't tell you what he thinks, beyond disappointment."
"Indeed," Professor Ozpin said. "Thank you Mister Nacht, I think that will be all. Please let me know if Mister Harding goes to far, or if Mister Lemon's compensating becomes any more serious."
"Of course, sir," Lunare said, finishing his tea and standing up, shoving the disassembled Aural Disruptor into his pocket. "Is there anything that I can tell team Lustered Lion about Daniel?" he inquired.
"I have been told that he recovered well from the operation, and is undergoing tests to see how he has been affected by it," Professor Ozpin answered. "And as promised, I will continue to keep your team informed of any information I am given.
Lunare nodded and turned to leave, but Professor Ozpin wasn't done speaking. "However, you must understand that Daniel is no longer a student at Beacon. As such, there are not many reasons for General Ironwood to keep the headmaster of another school informed on a single student, no matter how interesting that student may be."
Lunare nodded. "I understand sir," he said. "I suppose then that the only thing to do is to wait and see."
The sound of a bugle over a loud speaker pulled Daniel from what had until that point been a comfortable slumber. Groaning, he tried to roll out of his bed, only for it to shake and swing underneath him. Daniel uttered a cry of alarm and began flailing as the adrenaline shot through his system. The swinging worsened, and Daniel was thrown from his hammock and landed on the floor below.
"Good morrow to you," Yarrow said brightly as he slung down from his bunk bed. I see you're quick enough to rise, that's quite the good trait for life in the military."
"Wait, what's going on?" Daniel asked blearily as the day before came back to him. The building of the hammock, the trip to the quartermaster for clothes, and the warning from Greeve before lights out that Atlas had their huntsmen teams wake up at an early hour. A glance out the window to see the sun not even up yet confirmed the warning.
Around Daniel, team GREY was working like a well-oiled machine, getting out of their sleep-wear and pulling on gray sweatpants and shirts.
"Morning calisthenics," Greeve explained as he grabbed Daniel under an arm and hauled him up. "We're out the door in two minutes, come on!"
Daniel turned around and immediately ran into his twisted hammock. He stumbled and would've fallen had Greeve not grabbed him once more to steady him.
"Roll your hammock up and stow it in the bag," he instructed Daniel as he unhooked the hammock from one bunk bed and handed it to Daniel. "It's taking up room it doesn't have to."
Daniel did as he was instructed, roughly jamming the hammock into the bag attached to its side. He then rushed over to the drawers he'd been instructed to put his clothes into and began searching desperately for his exercise clothes, which he had haphazardly stuck into the drawers with all his other clothes the night before.
"Thirty seconds Grigio!"
"I'm trying I'm trying!" Daniel yelled back as he finally extracted what he was looking for from underneath a pile of underwear and socks. Casting off his pajamas, he pulled the clothes on, grabbed a pair of socks, and began searching for his shoes. He searched frantically until they were tossed in front of him by Ebon, who'd found them underneath his own bed.
"We'll be working on your organizational skills later, for now we're going for a run," Greeve said as Daniel tied his shoes on. "Fifteen laps around the courtyard people, let's go!"
"Fifteen laps, but it's got to be twenty degrees out there!" Daniel said.
"Mmmm, more like negative twenty, at this hour," Yarrow said cheerfully. "Nothing like a brisk run in the arctic weather to get your blood flowing, eh Daniel?"
As Lunare reentered the room, Schatten looked up from a newspaper he was reading on his bed. "What's the word boss?" he asked.
"Daniel is responding well to the operation and is already on his feet," Lunare answered as he sat down at his workbench. "Although Professor Ozpin has hinted that we will have to use alternate methods to gain updates from this point forward."
"Right. Coffee cans and yarn then?"
"Indeed," at the dump looking for wood to build his rooftop garden," Schatten said, adding air quotes around 'rooftop garden', "Tiberius is having his weekly fight with the local dry cleaner, and Lewis and Nick are helping Dakota blow off some steam. Oh, and your guy called; said that if you can wait until next week for more cans of Rage that he can get you three cases of 'limited edition' grape flavored cans."
Usually, a shipment of banned energy drinks being delayed would be brought to the forefront of Lunare's attention. However, Dakota had taken to blowing off steam nearly every day since Daniel left. So far, he'd landed four other students in the medical center for everything from burns, sprains, to dislocated shoulders and racked up a week's worth of detention for his troubles. In all likelihood, Lewis and Nick had gone not to spar with their teammate, but to keep him from hurting his opponent too bad.
"This late?" Lunare asked. "Normally they would have returned by now."
"Goodwitch banned him from fighting other students without supervision," Schatten said. "He's going to some sort of fighting ring he knows about."
"We have got to do something about Dakota," Lunare said as he put down the disassembled Aural Disruptor he hadn't even realized he'd taken out of his pocket. "If he keeps this up, he could be expelled."
Schatten looked up from his paper once more. "Some days I think that he wants to be. You're right though, we've got to get his mind off of Daniel."
"I will take Lewis and Nick aside when they return," Lunare said. "Perhaps a night on the town might improve their moods?"
"Worth a shot," Schatten said.
The two of them were distracted from their conversation by a commotion at the door. Two people were arguing vigorously as they walked in their direction. Schatten and Lunare glanced at each other, both recognizing the voices and prepared for what was about to come next.
"I have had it up to here with your outrageous antics!" Tiberius shouted as he and Ryler barged through the door. "You are absolutely infested with bugs and termites from your trip to the dump! Look, there's one in your hair right now!"
"I told you Ty, this is all about sustainability!" Ryler shouted back. "If I go to the hardware store, I'll be violating the spirit of this endeavor!"
"And so you skipped any other alternative and went straight to the trash? I could have named a dozen places you could have gotten your wood! You insufferable little ow!"
Tiberius' exclamation of pain came from the rolled up newspaper hitting him in the head. Schatten had rolled his up and stormed over to hit them both with a resounding thwack.
"Thank you for that Schatten; Ryler, go get in the shower," Lunare instructed. "Tiberius, you do have a point-"
"Hah!" Tiberius said triumphantly.
"-But Ryler was simply working on a side project. I'm certain he was on his way back here to clean off."
"Well actually Lunare," Ryler began, only to falter as Lunare shot him a look. "That is, exactly what I was going to do! This grime is absolutely dulling my clothes, and that just won't do!" Gingerly, he stepped around Tiberius and made his way towards the bathroom, grabbing his toiletries as he went.
"Hang on, did he really have bugs in him?" Schatten asked Tiberius as the door to the bathroom closed shut.
"Yes, and they were massive!" Tiberius said. "Their maggots were as thick as beans!"
Schatten sighed. "Well, there goes the dorm room," he strode over to his bed and grabbed his scroll from the covers. "Lunare, I'm going to go get some bug killer spray, you build a roach killing robot or something."
Tiberius huffed as Schatten closed the door behind him. Lunare turned around to look at him. "Is there anything you would like to say.
"Well, I did pick up the mail before encountering Ryler," Tiberius said as he reached into his suit and pulled out a letter. "It's for you I believe.
"Really? Who is it from?" Lunare asked.
"I don't know," Tiberius said huffily, "There's no return address and I'm not a detective. "But the postage does say Atlesian Air."
Lunare took the letter and opened it, briefly scanning it. His eyes widened in shock and he went back to read it more thoroughly. The paper crumpled in his clenched hands as they shook with outrage.
"We're canceling our order of your Aural Disruptors as they're labeled Class Four 'Huntsmen Killers'? Please cease production immediately and turn over all blueprints for confiscation?" he read out loud. "How dare they!"
He shoved the paper into one of his jacket pockets and stood up abruptly. "Tiberius, hold down the room until Schatten returns, I have a phone call to make."
Tiberius opened his mouth to protest, but Lunare was already out the door, slamming it shut behind him.
"Certainly," Tiberius sighed. "Leave me, alone, in the room with the teammate I despise the most. What an incredibly bright idea Lunare."
From the bathroom, there came the sound of a bottle falling to the ground followed by Ryler's yell. "Ty!" he called, "I think I accidentally spilled your shampoo!"
All Tiberius could do was place his head in his hands and groan quietly to himself.
All Daniel could do was collapse to the icy ground, groaning and gasping for air. Fifteen laps had turned into twenty as Greeve seemed to get a second wind halfway through the tenth. With two more laps to go, Daniel couldn't go any further. Greeve paused on the nineteenth lap to scowl at Daniel before motioning for Ebon and Rojoe to carry Daniel inside.
"You get a break today Grigio, but tomorrow I expect you to finish the run!" he called out as the doors shut behind Daniel.
"Take it easy, deep breaths," Rojoe instructed as she and Ebon guided Daniel to a bench and sat him down. Ebon disappeared for a moment and returned with a paper cup of water which Daniel accepted and drank greedily. "It looks like the operation took more out of you than we thought."
"No… never had to… exercise this long at, Beacon." Daniel panted out.
"Really?" Ebon asked. "Then how the hell did that guy from Vale knock Greeve out last year?"
Daniel shrugged and stood up carefully to go and get more water. As the cup filled from the fountain, the door they'd come through burst open. A gust of icy wind announced the arrival of Greeve and Yarrow.
"Breaks over you three, Showers and then mess hall!"
"Joy. Lukewarm oats and powdered cereal?" Ebon asked.
Yarrow clapped his teammate on the shoulder. "Ebon my man; you know that they don't serve the same thing twice in a row! I'm betting today is yellow and runny bacon, and brown and crunchy eggs!"
As it turned out, neither of them was right. When they got to the cafeteria after showering in lukewarm water and changing into the light gray uniforms of Atlas Academy, their trays were loaded with plain bagels that had been undertoasted, and an assortment of butter and jam packets. Ebon grabbed a bunch of bananas from a table as they passed by on their way to a table the four older students seemed all too familiar with. They sat down as Ebon broke the bandanna bunch apart so everyone could have one, and Greeve pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.
"Our new schedule," he read aloud. "O-five-hundred, bugle and morning calisthenics. O-five-thirty, breakfast. The rest of the day until twelve-hundred will be year one classes on history and basic tactics, I assume the four of us remember them well enough to teach."
Daniel looked up from his bagel. "So you guys are teaching me in the mornings and having your own classes in the afternoon?"
"No, at thirteen-hundred hours we have combat practice," Greeve said. "We'll practice for three hours, and then spend the rest of the time until dinner at eighteen hundred hours reviewing the day's lessons."
"But, aren't you guys students?" Daniel asked confused.
"Yeah, but we're seniors," Ebon said. "Atlas does things a bit differently. Most of us finished pretty much all our classes last semester so we've got time to do that whole student teacher thing. We'd still be taking a couple classes though if some sophomore hadn't decided we should cram our semesters and get everything done by the end of our junior."
"And look how it paid off," Greeve said remorselessly. "We've gone on multiple missions this semester and gotten more real world experience than any of the other teams."
"Don't listen to him Daniel, it's actually been pretty boring," Yarrow said. "I haven't had this much down time in a semester since that stakeout mission. Remember that one Ebon? The circus with the hoops and the fire, and the trapeze dance number?"
Ebon's lowered down to his waistband. "Yes Yarrow, I do," he said through gritted teeth. "And do you remember what I told you after it was over?"
"Yarrow, don't," Rojoe warned as Yarrow opened his mouth to further antagonize his teammate. "Greeve, weren't you telling me earlier that the increased course load would be a good stepping stone for what we'll have to do with Daniel."
"Say what now?" Daniel asked. "why is it a stepping stone?"
"We have less than six months to train you Daniel," Greeve said. "Under a normal accelerated schedule, that is barely enough to get someone to what a freshman should know coming in. What we're going to do is to get you more experience than what most incoming freshmen could ever hope for. Next Vytal Festival, you and your team will be taking the gold medals."
"Come on you oversized meatheads!" Dakota yelled out at the ring. "I got a better workout from fighting my professor to the death! And I didn't even throw a punch!"
At his feet, Dakota's latest opponent groaned weakly as he dragged himself to the sidelines. When Dakota had thrown open the doors to the underground fighting ring and placed himself as a contestant, most of the fighters had assumed that he'd be an easy win. He was stocky to be sure, but he was just a teenager, whereas they'd been fighting in the ring for years. Even though he had unlocked his Aura, that was nothing unusual down here. Dirty Huntsmen and expelled students were some of the regulars here. If they'd paid attention to the dark look in his eye, perhaps they would've thought twice before jumping in with him.
"This is gettin' down right nasty," Nick leaned over and whispered to Lewis. "Might have to intervene 'fore he gets in real trouble."
Back in the ring, Dakota was still circling, calling the other fighters every ugly name under the sun. The surrounding audience had a mixture of deep irritation and general concern on their faces. If no one stepped up soon enough, the raging kid in the ring might be obligated to choose one of them to fight. And right now, no one wanted to fight Dakota.
"Give him a bit more time man," Lewis said. "Let him tire himself, then we can take him home with us.
"I reckon he's tuckered out as it is," Nick said, glancing at Dakota. Their teammate was panting hard as he wiped sweat from his brow as he swayed in the middle of the ring. Nick had also noticed in his last two fights that Dakota's attacks were becoming sloppier than usual.
"Yeah, well, this is his twenty-fourth fight, and I bet fifty Lien he'd last twenty-five." Lewis said.
Nick looked at his friend with disappointment. "Lewis," he said. "You didn't-"
"You! I want to fight you!"
All eyes turned to the man that Dakota was pointing at. Immediately, everyone knew that this would be an unfair fight. The man in question was a few inches taller than Dakota, but was scrawny; as thin as a wire. As he nervously took off his wire rim glasses and stepped into the ring, Nick couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. This wouldn't be a fight, it would be a massacre.
"That's it, we got to stop him now," Nick rasped.
"Too late man," Lewis said. "It's about to start."
"The hell we can't," Nick began to say when from the ring, the bell tolled out. Lewis was right; it was too late.
As predicted, the fight was over before it even began. The bell hadn't finished ringing through the building, when the unwilling contestant took a hit directly to his face. Backpedaling, he retaliated with a right jab which Dakota sidestepped before delivering a left jab of his own. As the man stumbled backwards, Dakota slammed his fists into the sides of the man's head. As the man began to scream in pain, Dakota brought the it all to an end by delivering a kick to the man's sternum that sent him flying backwards into the ropes. As he hung onto the ropes like wet laundry on a line, he wearily raised his hand, signaling the end of the fight. In all, the fight had been the shortest; running at less than ten seconds.
"Well? Who's next?" Dakota shouted out as the crowd booed the teenager and helped the injured man out of the ring. Dakota had crossed the line, and they'd had enough of him.
"Now," Nick said.
"Now," Lewis agreed.
"I'll take you on!" a man shouted from the back.
"Damn," Nick muttered as the crowd parted to reveal a mountain of a Faunus with bull horns. Easily a foot taller than Dakota with biceps thicker than his skull. On a good day Dakota wouldn't even stand a chance. Maybe if he was well rested and weapons were allowed in the ring, things might be different. But right now, his opponent would clean the ring floor with him; if Dakota didn't collapse from exhaustion first.
"Bring it!" Dakota shouted. "I'll, I'll take you out in under a minute you lardball!"
The most definitely not lardball of a man grinned menacingly as he flexed his chest muscles, ripping his shirt apart at the seams.
"He just signed his own death warrant," Nick said. "Lewis, we got to save him."
"But how man?" Lewis asked. "He just accepted, we can't stop him now."
"You're right, but I got us a plan," Nick said. "Lewis, I'm gonna need a favor from you."
Hey everyone! hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! Next one is going to be a long read, around 10,000 words or so. Unfortunately, once it drops next month it's going to be the last chapter for a while. I've had to make the tough decision to put To Be Human on a temporary hiatus. When I start releasing stories to the internet, I do so at a point where I think I can keep up with writing new chapters so I don't have to go on hiatus. Unfortunately, life loves to throw little speed bumps your way, and I haven't been able to keep up. I promise to return to regular monthly updates as soon as I am confident I'm not going to go on hiatus again in Book 2, but as of now I don't have an exact date. Maybe towards the later part of this year I'll be able to make that call.
But hey, there's still one more chapter between now and the hiatus, so don't worry too much! See you all in a month!
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