AN: Hi everyone, as I promised this chapter will be far longer than any of the previous ones and I hope you enjoy it. Also... sorry for the wait.

Chapter 10 Scarred Body

Michael sighed as he read his textbook on his little futon on the floor. He glanced at the clock to see it was six am, he looked back at his book and the picture of an Ursa Major. He jotted down a few notes about their armor and brute strength that could send any experience hunter flying. He shut his book and notebook before he placed them inside his backpack, he sat up and leaned against the wall. It had been a few weeks since he appeared in the Emerald Forest and it would be the first time going into town, or at least he thought, with the girls. Since he didn't have much in the way of clothes they were going to take him shopping though Yang express it was fine for him to walk around in his skintight bodysuit that he wore under his armor. He blushed at the comment and he could see that the other girls were tempted but Ruby and Weiss quickly changed the subject back to buying clothes in which Yang pouted. He tried to talk them out of it but they wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Also they had a point since he only had his armor, bodysuit, and a few school uniforms to wear so he gave in.

He grabbed his towel from beside his pillow before heading into the bathroom, it was becoming a routine for him to wake up early to get in his quick shower ever since it took Weiss about an hour to finish getting ready making them all late for class one day. He pulled his undershirt off and turned towards the mirror. He was muscular but lean and his body was covered in scars, most of the large ones were surgical as the nurse told him when he was in the infirmary for blacking out during the fight with Holden. The two large scars on his arms ran the whole length even onto his hands and fingers. He looked down at his feet to see the same precise scars on his feet and individual toes. He looked back up and gently touched the X scar on his right pectoral then the other one that ran over his left shoulder and stopped on the shoulder blade. He turned around and looked over his shoulder at the scar that ran down along his spine, even saw what looked like bullet wounds. What the hell was he doing before he woke up in the forest and found Ruby and Weiss. Was he some sort of soldier… a mercenary… a killer? He also felt different from the other ever since he discovered the scars his first night at Beacon, like he was improved upon… augmented to be something more. He tried to focus on the blurry images in his head but it was no use, he couldn't remember and it left him with a headache afterwards. He sighed and got out of the rest of his clothes before taking a step back and staring at his scared body, he wondered how the girls could even blush looking at him or how Yang could cat call at him. Also besides all the physical scars, the nurse said he had some mental scars too, scrolls weren't just meant to read auras, they were meant to track the wellbeing of the user during combat incase officials had to step in and stop the fight. In that moment when fighting Holden, the nurse told him that his scroll had taken a reading of his whole body and found that there was an unusual high spike in Beta and Alpha waves when she reviewed his scroll. She told him he had entered a very high alert meditative state, basically saying his body was moving on its own in a very aggressive manner and that he was forced into the back seat as he relieved whatever event occurred in his mind. He got into the shower and turned the cold water on, he glanced once more at his scarred hands and thought about the silhouette and what he had done to Holden. His body shivered more from his fears then the temperature of the water.

Outside, in the dark of the dorm room a certain ebony haired girl had been watching him from her bed. She didn't mean to stare but she too wondered about his scars and his sad and confused expression on his face upon touching them. Blake sat up and quickly tied her ears up with the ribbon to hide her ears. She laid back down and turned over in her bed wondering about her mysterious teammate, in truth she had wondered where those scars came from ever since they had saw him shirtless and who would do something like that to him. Then from above her the bed shifted and she watched as Yang's feet came into view before she dropped to the floor. Blake sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes pretending she had just woken up.

"Oh snap, sorry Blake did I wake you up?" Yang whispered with a sheepish smile on her lips.

"Yes… But we have to get up soon before snow white over there does so we can shower..." Blake stated as she stretched out causing her back to pop.

"My bad… but I caught a glimpse of shirtless hunk in the bathroom and couldn't get back to sleep…" She whispered.

"Yang, do you ever wonder where those scars come from?" Blake asked bluntly.

The blonde was silent before answering. "I do… but we can only speculate…"

"Aren't you concerned that he may be some sort of criminal?"

"... For a moment I thought about it but I don't think he is…"

"What do you mean?" Blake moved over to their dresser and Yang followed her.

"I mean that he doesn't feel like a malicious guy… After all he saved our butts back in the Emerald Forest and he is quite friendly as he has shown in the last few weeks even protected Velvet from Cardin's constant bullying."

"True…" Blake glanced over at Yang and wondered if she should come clean. "Yang…"

The blonde turned to her when they heard the water stop and Caboose's wet feet met the floor. They heard him shuffle then sigh and pulled the door open to reveal him in his soaking wet glory. Yang let out a whistle and Blake's eyes widened to the size of saucers, Caboose blushed then Ruby and Weiss woken up and turned to them.

"You guys are being to-... Am I still dreaming?" Ruby questioned as she stared at Caboose.

"No way… we have the same dream?" Weiss asked grougly.

Yang and Blake laughed while Michael turned even more red before grabbing his uniform and returning to the bathroom quickly.

"Image of wet skin saved to my memory." Yang giggled as Blake shook her head.

Blake glanced back at Ruby and Weiss, she wanted to ask them the same question but it now seem rude to talk about their teammate now that he could hear them, not that it was okay to talk about them in general behind their back.

Besides Caboose's hiccup, the morning passed by relatively normal for team RWBYC. They entered the main school building to see team JNPR but without Jaune.

"Morning guys… where's Jaune?" Ruby questioned as they approached.

"No clue, he just left a note saying he went out for a morning jog and would be back in time for class." Pyrrha stated.

"Not to be mean, I wouldn't take Jaune as someone who would workout in the morning." Yang said and a few of them nodded their head.

"He must be getting serious… after all the Vytal Festival is approaching." Weiss added in.

Caboose's head cocked to the side. "The Vytal Festival?"

Everyone looked at him and a few chuckled sheepishly before Nora stepped forward and explained. "The Vytal Festival is a massive shindig where all four kingdoms get together and party for a week! And where the four schools get to beat the snot out of each other!"

Caboose was still lost and the group sighed at Nora's explanation, Weiss cleared her throat as she explained. "The Vytal Festival is a celebration of Peace, the Great War ended with the signing of the treaty on Vytal a small island a few hundred miles from here. Hence the name. It happens every two years, Michael, and this time Vale gets to hold the festival along with the Tournament. Also this will be the 40th Vytal Festival to be held."

"There is a lot of parades and dances being held at the time, basically what Nora said was correct. Oooh, I can't wait for us to celebrate. All the delicious food that the stalls will be selling!" Yang grinned and everyone nodded their heads at the thought of the festival quickly approaching.

Then they heard loud and obnoxious laughter come from the entrance, they all turned to look and saw Jaune with team CRDL. Cardin hand his arm draped over Jaune's shoulder and the group arched their eyebrow. Upon seeing them Jaune's eyes widened and Cardin's smile turned into a smirk before releasing him. "See you later chump, thanks for the good laughs."

CRDL walked passed the group but not before Cardin and Caboose glared at each other, they moved over to Jaune, all with a questioning look on their faces. Jaune opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out and he just sighed and wiped his forehead. "Man, that was a great run…"

The group was about to comment when the bell rang and everyone's eyes widened before they rushed off to their separate classes for the morning. Team RWBYC and Jaune entered 's classroom and apologize for being a little late before taking their seats. Caboose listen to the burly man but halfway through the lesson he noticed Jaune was abnormally quiet and staring out the window. He wasn't doodling in his book or trying to talk to him. He gently placed his hands on Jaune's shoulder and he jumped slightly, he looked over at him.

"You alright bro?" Caboose asked quietly.

"Um… yeah, I'm fine… just tired from the run…" Jaune said as he gently shrugged off Caboose's hand.

"So your that excited for the Vytal Festival?"

"The Vytal Festival? Oh! Yeah, totally… Can't wait." Jaune grimace at the thought.

Caboose noted his expression before he decided to try and cheer his friend up. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a large cookie. "Hey want a cookie dude?"

"Oh my god… where did you g- Hey!" Jaune exclaimed as he stood up, knocking his backpack over causing a loud bang to resonant through the silent classroom.

Everyone's eyes were on them and both boys were turning red. cleared his throat before speaking. "Would you boys mind staying after class, so I may speak with you."

"No sir…" They responded as the girls below them giggled.

"Good! Anyways…"

Both guys laid their heads down on the table and looked at each other, Jaune was glaring at Caboose who was mouthing "I'm sorry" and slid over the large cookie to him. Jaune sighed and smiled before he took the cookie and split it in two. Slid one back to him and he took it happily before they tapped the halves together and ate their morning snack. Once they were done, Caboose decided class wasn't important at the moment and put a piece of paper between them. He drew a stick figure with a sword. Jaune looked at him with a cocked eyebrow before his eyes narrowed and he smirked. Both guys mouthed "drawing war" at each other before they began to doodle stick soldiers on either side. For the remainder of class, Jaune and Caboose were grinning like idiots as they had multiple pages of stick figures fighting each other. The bell rung and they all got up to leave but stopped Jaune and Caboose at the door. They were assign a writing assignment about the similarity and differences of Major Grimms and normal Grimms. They sighed and the girls giggled at them when they told them about their assignment.

"I'll make it up to you Jaune…" Caboose stated as they walked the halls.

"I have to know how you keep getting my cookies!" Jaune exclaimed.

"A magician never reveals their secrets." Caboose winked with a smirk on his lips and the others shook their head with a giggle as Jaune sighed.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully until it reached the last period and the class was moved into a large arena like stadium with Glynda Goodwitch and Santa Chorus standing down in the arena. They welcomed the students in and immediately picked two students to duel, Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester. JNPR and RWBYC cheered out Jaune's name while the other students murmured as Cardin walked down to the arena. Caboose glanced over at Jaune who was rubbing his hands together and a nervous look in his eyes. Pyrrha leaned in and whispered, Jaune looked unsure but Pyrrha smiled at him before he returned the smile and got up, sword in hand as he quickly rushed down the steps, stumbling the last few. He stood across from Cardin as he drew his sword and his scabbard transformed into its shield form. With the classical douchebag smirk on his lips, Cardin twirled his large mace before he rested it on his shoulder. Santa yelled begin and Jaune made the first move rushing towards Cardin with his blade raised over head. He brought it down in a wide arc but the large boy parried the attack away before throwing a punch. Jaune brought his shield up in time but he stumbled backwards from the blow and Cardin went on the offensive. Slamming his mace constantly into Jaune's shield with brute strength, the Arc couldn't recover his footing. Then Cardin reared his Mace back and swung with all his might causing Jaune to go flying across the arena before crashing to the floor, hard. Team JNPR and RWBYC winced as he made contact with the floor but cheered as he stood back up with a determined look in his eyes.

Jaune raised his shield up and cocked his sword arm to swing as he advanced towards Cardin slightly more cautious then his opener. Cardin shook his head before he rushed forward and slammed his mace into the shield, Jaune slanted the shield slightly causing the mace to slide off to the side catching Cardin by surprise. At that moment the Arc thrusted his sword into Cardin's chest plate causing the Winchester to stumble backwards. JNPR and RWBYC cheered and Caboose thought he heard Velvet cheer too from somewhere in the crowd. Jaune smiled and looked up at them completely forgetting that Cardin wasn't out just yet and was reminded painfully with a large mace to the side of his head. He hit the ground and rolled a few feet away, he groaned as he sat up only for Cardin's foot to meet his face sending him into the wall.

"Jeez, get lucky once and you think that the fight is over." Cardin smirked. "No more messing around Arc, time for this to end."

Jaune got back up slowly and readied his shield only for Cardin to tear it from his grasp before delivering a hard blow to his chest plate. Then he grabbed him by his chest plate and threw him towards his shield. Jaune moved sluggishly to grab his shield before he stood up again, he was breathing heavily.

"You're weak and pathetic you know that… How did you even get into this school? You don't deserve to be here amongst the future hunters and huntress!" Cardin mocked with a toothy smirk on his lips as Jaune growled.

Throwing caution to the wind, Jaune rushed forwards and swung to wide, allowing Cardin to back step and bring the full force of his strength to bear knocking Jaune's shield from his hand. Throwing him off balance causing him to crash to the floor, the Winchester brought his mace above his head to finish him.

"ENOUGH!" Santa yelled and Glynda stepped forward.

"Students! As you can see 's aura has entered the red zone, in an official tournament duel the match would be concluded." Two images displayed on separate screens flanking the arena displaying the combatants aura with Jaune's in the red and Cardin's barely turning yellow. She turned to Jaune with a frown. " it has been weeks now, please refer to your scroll during a match to check on your aura. And change your strategy accordingly. We wouldn't want you to be eaten by a Beowolf, would we?"

"Speak for yourself…" Cardin scoffed as he was about to walk back up to seats when Santa stopped him and Glynda from finishing her speech.

"How about we make this more interesting, since we have some time left," Santa stated and Cardin arched an eyebrow. "Please enter the arena!"

Cardin smirked as he returned to the center of the arena as Jaune climbed up the stairs, Caboose stood up and walked down to the arena as JNPR and RWBY cheered him on and telling him to beat up that bully. He got up confident and began to walk when everyone eyes turned to him. He could hear them talking about him and Holden. That is the guy that mess Holden Cross up. Really? Yeah I was there, it was terrifying, he almost killed him… Didn't he randomly show up during the entrance test in the Emerald forest? Woah look at his hands… disgusting… What is thinking?! I know, the psycho could fly off the handle and try to kill Cardin...

Caboose bit his lip and clenched his fist, he hadn't meant to almost kill Holden. He had no clue such darkness lingered in his mind… in his past. He thought about feigning illness but then he bumped into Jaune on the way down and snapped out of it as he looked at his friend.

"You did pretty good, my dude." Caboose said with a forced smile. "You should join me and for morning training since you seem to be really hyped for the festival."

"I'll… I don't know Caboose… Maybe?" Jaune said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Just think about it." He patted him on the back before walking passed him.

He entered the arena and stood on the opposite side from Cardin as they glared at each other, Michael drew his buster blade and held it on his shoulder as Cardin twirled his mace.

"BEGIN!" Santa yelled as both hunters rushed towards each other.

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out before both males tried to over power each other, only for Cardin to realize he was was sliding backwards with ever step Michael took. Cardin brought his knee up into the super soldier's gut, catching Caboose by surprise causing him to stumble as Cardin shoved his buster blade away and delivered a haymaker straight to his face. Then he uppercutted him with his mace sending the blue warrior into the air, upon landing Caboose recovered and rolled backwards into a crouch with Cardin slamming his mace down only for Caboose to stop it with his hand catching everyone by surprise as he stood back up holding onto the mace. Blue energy swirled around his hand as Cardin tried to rip it from his grasp.

"My turn." Michael said as he threw Cardin's mace to the ground and delivered a quick blow to the head with his pommel.

Cardin stumbled and Caboose stuck his sword into the ground and rushed forward knocking the Winchester to the floor. Then he knelt and swung with all his might knocking Cardin up into the air, once more Caboose knelt on the ground and swung just as Cardin was about to touch the ground causing the boy to roll a few feet away. The Winchester groaned as he got back up and shook his head before he looked at Caboose who was gesturing for him to come at him. He growled as he charged forwards and swung in a wide horizontal arc but Caboose ducked and turned jabbing him in the gut before he turned back and swung his blade sweeping Cardin off his feet. Then Caboose delivered a punch straight to his chest plate sending the boy flying across the arena, he hit the ground hard before rolling a few more feet. Cardin pushed himself up on all fours slowly as Caboose walked over and simply dropped his buster blade on his back causing Cardin to collapse to the floor.

"Enough!" Santa yelled once again and Caboose holstered his blade back into the sling he had made for it.

Cardin slowly pushed himself up as Caboose offered him a hand, the Winchester glanced over at it then at him. "Get your disgusting hand away from me… freak."

Michael was taken back and glanced down at it, at the surgical scar on his flesh. He retracted his hand but kept staring at them. Even he found his scars repulsive to look at and can't imagine what it felt like to hold such disfigured hands. He glanced up at Cardin who was slowly walking off the stage, he heard his friends cheering before he smiled and raised his fist.

"Impressive show." Glynda stated once again their aura appeared on screen with Cardin's almost completely gone with a sliver of red and Caboose's was in the yellow. "As you all know the Vytal Festival is a few months away, keep up all the hard work and those who choose to partake in the tournament know you are representing all of Vale."

The bell rang and the two professors dismissed the class, most of the students rushed to exit the stadium but a few remained behind to talk.

"That was amazing Big Blue!" Yang shouted as she slugged his arm causing him to wince but smile at her.

"Yeah, you showed that bully, that he can't mess with us without any repercussions!" Ruby said as she glomped him and he chuckled.

"I see that training with has really been paying off." Weiss stated as she smiled at him.

"He is hard on me but its really been helping me out, I believe we are going to spar tomorrow since I told him today we were going into town to get me some new clothes."

"We need a rematch, Caboose, since you know how to handle your sword better." Yang said with a suggestive tone and a wink causing the super soldier to blush and everyone else.

"YANG!" Ruby and Weiss yelled as Blake rolled her eyes at the blonde's teasing.

"Oh come, I couldn't pass up the chance to tease him!" Yang chuckled.

The rest of their friends shook their heads at Yang's teasing when Caboose noticed Velvet coming over with three other people one female and two males. He waved at them and she waved back, everyone turned to them as they joined the group.

"So Velvet these are the guys that's been looking out for you?" The girl asked as she looked at the group.

"Yup, Coco, these guys hung out with me even though I was rude to Michael the tall guy who just beat Cardin's butt." Velvet smiled as she hopped back and forth.

"He was tough but I managed." Michael smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Anyways Velvet is this your team?

The rabbit faunus nodded her head as her team introduced themselves, Coco Adel, the team leader of CFVY, next was Fox Alistar then came the tall teen Yatsuhashi Daichi.

"I'm glad Velvet found a group of friends outside of us." Fox smiled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Thank you for watching over our little hare." Yatsuhashi bowed his head.

"No need for thanks, we're all glad to have another friend to join our group." Ruby smiled and the rest of them nodded.

"No seriously, thank you for taking care of Velvet." Coco smiled and hand shook everyone.

Finally she got up to Caboose and she stuck her hand out, he moved to shake it but paused briefly as he remembered his scars which allowed Coco to see the scars on his hand and slightly retracted her hand. "Dang, what happened to your hand?"

Michael's eyes widened as he retracted his hand quickly and made a fist and looked away, everyone in their little group noticed his reaction. Immediately Ruby and Yang came to his aid but it wasn't need when Coco scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be insensitive."

"Its fine… I would be surprised too, upon seeing such a disfigured hand." Michael said as the air around them all had become awkward with tension.

Coco cleared her throat and offered her hand once again and Caboose glanced at it before turning to her with a solemn smile. He took her hand and shook it, Yang clapped her hands as she remembered the promise Caboose had made to them. "Girls of Team RWBYC, we must get going if we want to make it back before Curfew."

Weiss gasped and jumped up and down for joy but quickly recomposed herself with a clear of her throat and a flick of her ponytail. "Yeah, we should hurry."

"Um… okay, where are you guys going?" Jaune asked slightly put off by Weiss outburst.

"We are going shopping to get Michael some new clothes!" Ruby exclaimed with a grin.

Caboose looked to his guy friends and they shrugged, he hung his head in defeat as Yang and Weiss grabbed both his hands and dragged him away with Blake and Ruby following closely behind.

"May all the past hunters and huntress watch over you, my friend." Ren stated as he put his hands together as if offering a pray up to them.

Team RWBYC made it down to Vale in recorded time and walked the streets of the city until they came to a store known as 'Casual Hunting Attire for Hunters and Huntresses'. They entered the store and immediately separated except for Blake as she followed Caboose to a bench, he glanced over at her as she picked up a magazine from a basket nearby.

"Not going to jump at the chance to dress me?" He asked as he smiled at her while they both could hear Ruby, Yang and Weiss running around in the store collecting outfits.

"Um…." She looked up at him. "I would but… I want to talk to you."

"About?" Caboose's eyebrow arched.

"About…" She looked down at his hand briefly before she looked him in the eyes. "I wanted to ask you about your… scars."

His eyes widened slightly before he looked away and shoved his hands in his pockets and got up off the bench. "I think I should go look around in case I don't like anything they bring back."

"Michael…"

"What Blake?!" He snapped at her and she flinched bring her arms up slightly as if she was ready to defend herself. He sighed and looked away from her, his hair hiding his eyes from view. "So that is your answer…. Just know I don't remember my past, so your reaction may be right… and I'm sorry."

He walked away as she realized she had brought her hands up instinctively to protect herself. She looked up at him and felt bad but her reaction wasn't because of his scars but some of her own. She looked at the ground and gripped her bicep, she didn't notice Yang, Ruby and Weiss approaching with a few shirts, jackets, and pants in their arms.

"You okay blake? Where did Michael go?" Yang asked.

She glanced over at them and frowned which cause Yang to frown. "You asked him didn't you?"

She nodded her head as Yang sighed and sat down. "We all saw his reaction when Coco mention his hands. He has obviously been thinking about it himself and what we can tell he doesn't like them."

"Yeah… his blackout during his fight with Holden, he looked so scared and lost when he told us that he had wanted to kill the silhouette that had taken Holden's place." Weiss added in.

"Yeah when we first found him, Michael was simple minded and smiled a whole lot more, he smiles now but when he catches a glance of his hand or when he stares at himself in the mirror, his smile disappears." Ruby said as she looked at the yellow scarf in her hands.

The girls fell into a thoughtful silence when they noticed Michael walking back towards them with a few jeans in hand and a shirt. He looked up and gave them a small smile as he rejoined them. The girls except for Blake got up and showed him what they had picked before dragging him to the dressing rooms in the back of the store. Blake got up and moved to a small section looking for something to at least give him along with her apology. Something small, that could go with whatever the other girls got him. She took a look at the sunglasses but could see him only wearing aviators but Yang had that base covered already. She could hear Michael yelling for Yang to stop frisking him or to stay out of the changing room which caused her to smile. She then thought back to a few minutes and decided to get him a pair of gloves and hair band incase he ever wanted to keep his hair out of his face. She purchased them and stuck them in her pocket before she went to the back of the store, she spotted them awaiting eagerly for the big guy to reveal himself.

"So, how many outfits have you guys put him through?" Blake asked as she took a seat next to Yang.

"Not enough…" Weiss smiled as she looked through the shirts she had gotten for him.

"Has he picked a few?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, they're are laid out right here!" Ruby showed her.

On one hanger was a nice navy blue vest over a white collared shirt and matching slacks with a black tie. The next one had a black high collared jacket with yellow stripes on the bicep of the sleeves, a navy blue shirt and dark blue jeans. Another hanger that was made for pants were blue sweats with stirpes around the calf right below the knee. She looked at each of the girls with a cocked eyebrow, which caused Yang and Ruby to whistle and look away while Weiss picked at her nails each one of them had rosy cheeks. Blake had to admit, he did look pretty good without a shirt on, broad shoulders, washboard abs… he was something out of one of her novels. She shook her head as her cheeks heated up, she looked at the last hanger and liked the causal clothes they had picked, a blue turtleneck hoodie, a dark grey shirt and black jeans. Then they heard a door open as Caboose stepped out wearing a navy blue duster coat, a yellow scarf around his neck, his shirt was black and his jeans were the same color. He zipped up the duster coat then button down the straps. His yellow scarf wrapped around his neck and ended in twin tails behind him. Ruby gasped in awe as she jumped up and examined him closely.

"I have to admit little sis, that looks pretty good on him." Yang stated and Ruby grinned proudly from the praise.

"It shows off his broad shoulders giving him an intimidating posture." Weiss touched his shoulders as she walked around them. "And I agree with Yang, these is something I can agree on with you squad leader."

Everyone looked at Blake incase she wanted to add her two cents.

"Blue really is your color and the yellow is a nice added touch." Blake stated as she rubbed her hands and stared at the ground.

"Now, Michael how do you like it?" Ruby asked.

He looked down and stretched a little bit in his clothes that he had done with the previous ones. He squatted down then stood back up. "It's pretty good, not tight anywhere and I have to agree with everyone I really like the way it looks."

"Great! Now get back into our uniform and I'll pay for it all." Weiss smiled and Caboose immediately panicked.

"I can't have you pay for all of it!" Big Blue exclaimed as he moved over to her.

"Think of it as a gift…" Weiss said.

"For what?"

"For your new life with us!" Ruby yelled as she threw random confetti which caused Caboose to cock an eyebrow.

"What is that suppose to mean?" He questioned with crossing his arms.

"It means today is your birthday, September 12, 2013… We all know you can't remember your past at the moment but when you do… I don't think much will change." Yang patted him on the back as he looked down at his hands.

"So far you come off as funny, sweet and caring person… you literally rushed ahead to protect Ruby during our entrance exam… you stopped a horde of Grimm from pursuing us while we dealt with the Nevermore. You even give me some helpful advice… to us you're a good man." Weiss smiled as her cheeks turned a rosy pink.

Michael J. Caboose fell silent and stared at the ground, the girls had wonder if they did something wrong then they heard him sniffle. He lifted his head and tears slip from his eyes, the girls were taken back. He smiled at them before he wrapped his arms around Weiss, Yang and Ruby and hug them to his chest. "Thank you…"

They smiled and returned the hug, Blake watched and smiled solemnly. She thought about the gift in her pockets and decided she would give it to him later when the others were asleep so she could talk to him.

With the shopping done, Caboose's burdens seemed to be lift for the time as he joked and laughed with the girls. They ate out at a small restaurant to celebrate a little more before they finally returned to Beacon with a few minutes to spare before the curfew set in. WIthout anywhere to put his clothes for the moment, he hung them off of Ruby and Weiss' bunk bed before they all retired for the night. In truth only Ruby, Weiss and Yang went to bed while Caboose was awake thinking about what had happened at the store and Blake waiting for her chance to apologize. Once Blake thought everyone was truly asleep, she got up and slowly walked over to Caboose. She looked at his resting form, that was illuminated by the moonlight coming through their window, and hoped she wasn't really waking him up. She gently shook his arm and he turned over on his futon.

"Blake?" He whispered.

"Yeah… it's me."

"Hey, is something wrong?"

"Yes… I didn't get to apologize for earlier back at the store… and since everyone else treated you like it was your birthday today." Her cheeks turned red as she held out a pair of gloves and a black headband. "I too bought you something even though it's not much…."

He smiled up at her as he took his gifts and looked at them, he put the gloves on and clenched his hand a few times. He looked at the hairband with an arched eyebrow then at her.

"When we walk the halls, I could hear people talking about you and commenting on your scars and the fight with Holden which got me thinking about your past too. We all have seen how their words affect you, so I decided to get you gloves. I know it won't stop people talking about them but I thought it would help. Even if it is just a little..." Blake turned even more red. "And I just thought the headband would look cool on you and help keep your hair out of your face…"

He placed the hair band around his neck before slicking his hair back and pulled the front of the headband over his forehead. "So how do I look?"

Some of his hair fell over the top of the headband and framed his face without any of it covering his ocean blue eyes that seem to shine in the moonlight. "You look handsome…"

It was his turned to blush and he looked away with a smile on his lips before he looked back at her. He sat up and opened his arms and she blushed. "Today, in the store I noted how you react to me yelling and it made me feel terrible but I felt as if you didn't mean to do that intentionally… I feel like you have some scars too… You don't have to say anything about it now or at all, just know I'm here."

Her eyes widened as she stared at the strangely perceptive boy in front of her as tears slipped from her eyes causing Michael to panic. He immediately whispered an apology but she shook her head and whipped the tears away. "I'll take the hug now."

It took him a second before his arms wrapped around her and pulled her close.

"Happy birthday… Michael."

"Thank you, Blake."

After a few minutes she pulled away and they said goodnight to each other before she returned to her bed and he laid back down. Unknown to them, three others were still awake and smiling at the encounter they just listened to.

AN: I hoped you enjoyed it and what I brought to the Caboose, if you have questions for me for what i was thinking in this chapter message me so I may clear up anything confusing. Also please leave a review, cya guys later.