Hello there. It's nice to see you all here. I'm surprised I didn't get any angry responses about killing Torchwick. As I said previously, I warn, he is just the first of many. I have a strong belief that when a new person is introduced to a story, things change, interactions change, and reality as a whole will not be the same. Butterfly effect at its finest (though, admittedly, Bryce is a ridiculously strong butterfly). Anyways! I wanted to thank you all for the amazing responses I've received for last few chapters. I'm actually really proud of this story, unlike He's not like us. I don't think I'll be picking that story up again, sadly. However, I may start another story soon. Hopefully I can at least get two or three chapters of it out before I leave. Now, to leave a thanks to the dear people who've decided I'm worth their time!

Thanks to Master Shorty 11, TrimusicaDrag00n90, Firmcarp, Allein Shattern, hyperionslam, Raiden Jones, EXRB, Adaptor1

Also, to anyone whose worried, the surgery went well and I am on the path to recovery. I'm doing good, but it's that surgery that caused me not to upload last week. Sorry about that. Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen: When Reality Sets In

"I hope you're happy Blake. 'Cause this is on you."

"On her?" Yang interrupted. "How is this on her? She didn't do anything wrong."

"Really?" Bryce whirled around to look at Yang. "So running through a city filled with innocents with a criminal who has no regard for life isn't a bad idea? Even when said criminal is in a mechsuit that can cause severe damage to the city?"

"It's not like we had many options!" Everyone turned to Blake as she seemed to have finally gotten over the shock of getting slapped. "You didn't leave us very many when Roman tried to kill you and have Neo kill us."

"Really? I'm the one that revealed you guys? Tell me something, did you know I was there before hand?"

Blake grit her teeth before replying. "No. But I don't see ho-"

"If you didn't know I was there, especially if we didn't interact or walk near each other beforehand, how did Roman know where both you and Sun were, or even know you were there at all?"

Blake tried to find another answer. Some way that it would be Bryce's fault. She couldn't. Bryce's presence wouldn't have made a difference if Roman had already known they were there.

"And you still are ignoring the blatant fact that you ran INTO THE CITY! YOU WERE NEAR THE DOCKS!" Bryce threw his hands in the direction of the docks. "What, did you think it wouldn't hurt to take the long way around, maybe thinking it'd be better to fight him near all the innocent bystanders walking around the city? Because that's a GENIUS idea if you did."

"Bryce, calm down." Alpha's voice surprised everyone, all of them having forgotten the sword's presence in the midst of heated emotions. "All of you, I suggest you take a deep breath and let the logical sides of your minds catch up before things are said that are not meant."

Bryce didn't say anything glaring at Blake for a full minute. The tension in the air was thick, and everyone was trying to calm down and let their emotions settle before they continued the conversation.

"That little girl wouldn't have died if you had taken the fight somewhere else, Blake." Bryce said. "And on a more direct note, none of the sixteen people who died during that chase would've lost their lives if we'd taken care of Roman Torchwick before this point. That little girl died because Roman had a chance to regroup with better weaponry. This is exactly why I say we can't let these people live Blake. Because it's not just Roman Torchwick. The White Fang have that technology now as well, and we can see what kind of use they endorse from the actions of their supplier."

"It also wouldn't have happened if we'd thrown him in prison!" Blake said, hoping to counter Bryce's argument.

"You're right, THIS wouldn't have happened. But whatever he had planned would. Because he would've had someone break him out of jail, releasing dozens of other prisoners in the process, and causing pandemonium just to make it that much harder for the authorities to come after him." Bryce clenched his fists, taking a deep breath before continuing. "It's what any intelligent criminal would do. And Roman Torchwick, while a terrible human being, is a very intelligent criminal. And his goals and plans would've gone as planned, without a hitch."

"You can't know that!" Blake shouted.

"Really? What do you think would've happened? He would've calmly stayed in jail? He'd never plan anything else? The White Fang would've stopped their own plans and given up?"

"No, but… but-"

"But nothing, Blake! They don't stop at a jail sentence." Bryce let out a sigh. "I will acknowledge that some of the grunts may have an opportunity to change. A few of them at least. But those at the top? They won't care and it won't do anything for them at all. They'll just wait till someone breaks them out or even lead from jail."

Blake was quiet to this. She wanted to reject what he was saying. But today. Today was evidence of what he was saying. But she still couldn't accept it in her heart. It just didn't sit right with her. All it made her think about was Adam.

Yang took this silence as a moment to turn the focus on the reason she currently was angry with Bryce. "So how do you justify your giving Ruby hollow point rounds?"

Pyrrha looked at Bryce rather surprised. "You gave her hollow point rounds?"

"Yes, I did." Pyrrha nodded slowly, hesitant about the idea. Turning to Yang, Bryce said "And we need to talk more about that exact thing later. Right now," Bryce looked back to the little girl's still body. "I need to find her family and apologize."

Bryce began walking over to the little girl, but he never made it. He fell to the ground. He tried for a moment to pick himself up, before he lost all his strength and fell unconscious.

"I think that safely means we will continue this conversation later," Jaune chuckled, though his tone was anything but amused. Yang didn't look happy about the situation, but with Bryce being unconcious, she didn't have much of a choice. "For now, let's get back up there and help as best we can."

Jaune pulled out his scroll and began to call someone. As he conversed with whoever he had called, Yang felt Ruby tug her shirt.

"Yang." Ruby said, holding onto a small recording device, "I think it'd be a good idea if we listened to this in the dorm later."

"And what would that be?" Yang asked, still shaken that her younger, innocent sister had taken Roman's life.

"Please, Yang?" Ruby said, looking down. "I just don't want you to be mad anymore and I think this might help."

Yang took a long, deep breath before finally nodding. "Ruby, I'm not angry at you. I'll admit, I'm disappointed in your choice, but I could never be mad at you unless you cut my hair." Ruby giggled at that, before looking at her sister a little somberly.

"I don't mean at me. I mean at Bryce." Ruby said, motioning to the still form of Bryce. Yang looked at Bryce's bloody form and all she could think of was when he'd nearly died the first time. It took the edge off the emotions she felt towards him.

"I… I can try." Yang said with a sigh. "I just… hate the choice he made, and the pain he caused Blake. And for the comment he made about mom."

"Yang, he didn't know. He couldn't have."

"It doesn't make it sting any less."

"Sorry to burst into a sisters conversation." Weiss spoke from behind Yang, causing the two sisters to turn to look at her. "but we've said much worse things to him and about his character, both before and after the attack at the docks."

"That doesn't justify what he said." Yang retorted.

"Yes, but it should show that maybe you shouldn't be holding onto a brick when he has a boulder to throw back."

Yang finally nodded, before looking to a still unmoving Blake. "Blake, you okay?"

Blake didn't look up at first, instead choosing to shake her head before saying "Yeah. I'm fine." Looking to Ruby, she said, "You said you had something to show us?"

"Yeah, but let's do that after we finish helping out where we can."

They all looked up as a bullhead came flying into view, hovering above the bridge, before descending lower to the group of students. As it got closer, they could see Ozpin standing in the bay door, hands on his cane, with Ren next to him. When they saw the serious and obviously unhappy look on Ozpin's face, they all suddenly felt very scared about what was going to happen.

"Team RWBY. I believe we'll need to talk a little about some things personally in interviews later. For now, though." Ozpin looked to the body of the young girl. "let's carefully bring the young girl to her parents and Bryce to the hospital. Again." Ozpin's Grimm expression lightened a little at seeing Bryce's unconcious form. "I have a feeling we may want to rent a room for him."

Everyone chuckled a little, before they slowly got onto the bullhead. It was going to be a long few days.

…

Bryce wasn't sure if this was supposed to be an Oroma or simply a run through of hard moments he'd had in his life. He was standing in a large, black room. Like movie screens, memories played on repeat in the air. They all surrounded him, giving him light to his immediate area. He could see the day Aubrey was almost killed. He watched the day he fought the Nekropsychi that attacked Miles. He watched as he fought in the first actual battle in a war with Miles on Patmos. He saw the terrifying and brutal class trip to Asteroid 49. He saw the attack on his home when he was thirteen. He saw the bully hurting Bailey and her brother. He saw Tyrian threatening Blake and Weiss. He saw Ruby being attacked by the Deity blessed Nekropsychi. He saw the White Fang rushing towards him as he protected Blake, Roman Torchwick shouting at them. He saw Neo attacking Blake and Sun in the warehouse. He saw the little girl falling. While many of these moments had good endings, some, he knew and was reminded of once again, he had failed. And those moments seemed to be the largest.

"They still hurt, don't they."

Bryce turned quickly turned to find the source of the voice. Behind him, staring at the screens, was a Nekropsychi. It looked exactly like the one that had attacked him at Beacon, only It had stripes on both sides of the mask, and they were a deep, Royal blue. Bryce knew he should be scared or try to attack It. But he didn't feel the need to. He felt the craziest feeling looking at the Nekropsychi. Trust.

"Yeah, they do. What are you doing here?"

"We'll, I'm not here by choice." It laughed as it looked at Bryce. It's eyes weren't the bright red color he was expecting. They were a calm, deep scarlet. "But over time, I've come to… I believe the emotion is care? It's not something I felt before I was put here."

"Put here? By who?"

"We can focus on that later. For right now, I want to help you." It sighed, which Bryce found interesting since it didn't have a mouth. "It's never the moment you succeed that we remember the most, do we? It's the ones when you fall short and someone gets hurt or dies."

"That's true, but what does that have to do with you helping me? And why do I trust you? Normally, I'd be trying to destroy you and you'd be doing the same. What's going on?"

"Those are good questions, of which I have an answer to. Though even I don't understand everything about that third question. I'll answer as simply as I can, we trust each other because I've been melded with your soul. Finally, I might add."

"Oh." Bryce could safely say that was not what he had been expecting. "So is this an instance where I'll be told you'll explain later and to trust you?"

"You would be correct on that. If you do, I'll be able to communicate with you much simpler than whenever you run out of energy. Which, while I want to speak with you, I would prefer not happens very often."

"Agreed. So what do you want me to do? If your melded to my soul, It means I can use you, correct?"

"Yes, you can." It looked over at the memories before pointing to one of them. Looking at the screen, he could see it was the argument with team RWBY, specifically the moment in which Yang called him a monster and dragged Ruby out of the room. "But I warn you ahead of time that while you may trust me, this-"

Yang sent one last glare as Ruby walked out the door before yelling one last comment as she herself walked out.

"Have fun playing the monster."

"- May be the outcome, because others will not." Bryce silently appreciated Its honesty. But the memory made him think. Could he be hated by team RWBY even more so than they already did? He appreciated their friendship, and wanted to fix the damage he'd done…

But on the flipside…

"I've said it before. Sometimes its it's good to play the monster that can save their friends. In this case, I choose to be a monster." Bryce reached his hand out to the Nekropsychi.

"I'm glad to hear that." The Nekropsychi laughed, before shaking his hand. "I will be your semblance. Remember, those deities are watching you. I'll be your power so that you can still do the good you need to without their interference."

"I need all that I can get." Bryce grinned as he felt power rush through his veins. "because I'm not letting whoever's behind all this get away with the lives they've taken."

…

One day after the incident...

"I do hope you all have learned something from this experience." Ozpin said, looking at the four girls in the chairs directly across from his desk. They all didn't have the courage to do the same. "Because while I was prepared to be lax with you after the last incident, this is an extreme that you should not be involved with. This should've been left to the professionals."

"But the authorities weren't doing anything!" Blake protested, only to wither at Ozpin's gaze.

"The professional Huntsmen, Ms. Belladonna. I always am for my students doing good and even don't mind a bit of vigilantism. Vale law allows it because we don't discourage it." Ozpin leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at the four, "but getting yourselves involved in a large scale crime bust against a world-wide terrorist organization and the actions of one of Vale's most wanted criminals is not 'a bit,' and is by no means justifiable." Ozpin turned directly to Blake. "No matter the reason or any previous affiliation with said organization."

"We were just trying to do good." Ruby said. At this Ozpin sighed.

"I do admit, I admire your courage. For the most part, your objective was achieved." The girls brightened up for a moment. "But at what cost?"

"Sir," Weiss asked slowly. "What do you mean?"

Ozpin, didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned his scroll to them. It enlarged itself till it was the size of the screens at the CCT. On it, Lisa Lavender speaking over a bullhead view of the destroyed remains of VR 55.

"The city remains in shock at the sudden damage caused by a rampage from one of Atlas' new Paladin mechs, stolen and piloted by Roman Torchwick."

"Streets were destroyed, vehicles tossed left and right, and may people were killed. In total, nineteen people have died, while twenty remain in critical condition from the injuries they've sustained."

"The mech was finally taken off the VR 55 and destroyed by a young team from Beacon, before Roman was killed in his attempt to escape."

At hearing that number, Blake flinched, before her head fell lower than it was before. Her team looked to her with worry, noticing the change. However, their gaze returned to the screen once they heard what Lisa had to say next.

"However, today's story isn't just one of hardship and crime, but on of the heroes of Vale. During all the mayhem, two young Huntsmen-in-training took their job and went above and beyond during the crisis."

On screen, they watched as a shaky camera, most likely a scroll, captured the blurred forms of Bryce and Jaune as they jumped off walls, cars, debris to keep people from being hurt, with Jaune stopping to heal most of those Bryce saved.

"The two young men are Bryce Anderson in the front, and Jaune Arc in the rear. Using their extraordinary training and courage, they saved hundreds of lives, and through Jaune Arc's semblance, healed many of the wounded to a stable condition, significantly lowering number of fatalities."

Yang stared wide eyed as she watched clip after clip of Bryce and Jaune saving people from the damage and danger caused by the rampaging Roman Torchwick.

"Even more astounding, during the collapse of the bridge, Bryce undertook the impossible task of supporting the bridge, after a large piece of it was broken when the other students separated Roman from the city to the concrete below. He held his support, holding every support cable connected to the broken section of the bridge to keep it from collapsing long enough for civilians to be evacuated."

At this point, Ozpin took back his scroll, before looking to each of the girls. "I take it you get the point now?"

Ruby and Weiss both nodded. However, Blake and Yang didn't. Instead, Blake looked at Ozpin, and asked, "Is this my fault then?"

Ozpin smiled softly before shaking his head. "No, Ms. Belladonna, it is not your fault. Nor any of your teams fault. I know I'm being harsh on you, but it is not without reason. I believe the saying was I do not dwell on these things to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good."

"What good would that be?" Blake said.

"To make sure the lesson hits home. And the lesson is take back-up with you and don't get involved with things that you shouldn't. You'll be fully qualified Huntress' one day, and at that time, this behavior would be acceptable, even encouraged. But until that time, be cautious of how much you take on. And ALWAYS let one of the staff know so that if you are hurt or disappear, we can get there quickly."

"Okay." RWB said. Yang remained silent, but nodded to the counsel.

"Then I'll let you all go with a warning. Now you should all go get some sleep. Though, Ms. Rose, you will need to see Dr. Oobleck at some point. Tomorrow would probably be the best."

Ruby tilted her head in confusion at that. "Um, sure, I guess. Why?"

"It's required for students who end up taking a life during their stay at Beacon." Ozpin smiled sadly. Ruby paled slightly before biting her lip.

"Gotcha,' professor Ozpin." Ruby mock saluted, trying to be light about it. Yang glared at her younger sister, before finally speaking.

"We'll make sure she sees him tomorrow." As they went to leave, Yang paused right before she got into the elevators, before turning back to Ozpin. "Did Bryce ever see Dr. Oobleck."

Ozpin smiled. "No, he did not. I think he's well enough acquainted with his decision that he did not need to have any level of counseling."

"Could… could you send him there tomorrow anyway?" Yang said. "I think we need to talk."

"I will when he wakes up. He's still unconscious."

"Thanks Oz."

Yang walked into the elevator, and the door to the elevator closed. Once he knew they had begun to descend, he sighed.

"I had hoped they wouldn't be so irrational. But it seems my decision to have Bryce watch over them payed off."

"Indeed. Without his assistance, there likely would've been more lives lost and Ms. Schnee would be a hostage… however."

"Yes, it does worry me that he gave her the ammunition to accomplish such a task with the obvious intention of helping her kill Roman."

At that moment, Ozpin's scroll began to buzz. Picking it up, Ozpin said, "This is the headmaster."

"Headmaster Ozpin. This is Amelie."

"Well hello Amelie. I'm assuming this call is about Bryce?"

"You'd be correct on that assumption. Bryce Anderson is awake."

Ozpin smiled. "Well that's surprising, I would've expected him to be out for another day or so."

"Professor, I must warn you, there were some… interesting changes that took place. It'd be best if you come here so we can speak about them personally."

Ozpin paused at hearing this. "What kind of changes are we talking about?"

Amelie sighed, before saying "His Aura, professor. His Aura has changed, rather significantly."

"Okay. Thank you Amelie. I'll be there as soon as I can." Ozpin hung up the phone, before sighing.

"Well that is unusual."

"Everything about his time here is unusual. This just happens to be a rather different meaning of unusual."

"That may be true, but I wonder. How different would things be now if he weren't here."

"I don't know." Ozpin responded. "But somehow I doubt it would be much better." Ozpin stood up from his desk and began to walk to elevators. "I hope we never have to find out."

…

When Bryce woke up, he could feel that something was different. It wasn't a complete change from the normal, but it was enough that it just felt… weird. He wondered if it had anything to do with what had happened in his dream.

"Yes, I am the reason you're feeling abnormal."

Bryce about jumped out of his skin. "What the-"

"I did tell you this would happen and that I would be able to speak to you now." As Bryce grasped his chest waiting for his heart to calm down.

'Just give a guy a warning next time. I didn't realize you'd be talking to me so quickly.'

"Bryce. Who is this new voice?" Now, if Bryce had ever had a time in which he wished he could pass out again, this was it.

'Hey, Alpha. Glad to hear from you.'

"Your not answering the question. I'll ask directly then. Who are you, and how are you speaking to Bryce directly?"

"I am a friend, that I promise. I was the foreign entity inside his soul, but after all that's happened, I've melded with his soul. In other words, I became part of the power he now has."

"I hope you forgive me for not immediately trusting a Nekropsychi."

"Forgiven. I wouldn't trust myself if I did not know my current situation."

'So are you two going to continue talking around me, or…?'

"If you had wanted to be involved in the conversation you would have responded to my question."

'I'm sorry, this is the first time I have two voices in my head besides my own and I don't want to have a fight going on between the two of you.'

"I believe we will get along just fine. Alpha, I can assure you the only thing I want is to help Bryce. My goal in melding with him was to give him another path of powers to use that would be less likely to attract the deities attention. We've slipped under their radar so far, but it may not stay that way for long."

"I can appreciate that, but what power would that be?"

"Enhanced aura, regenerative functions, an increased ability to sense emotions and intents, strengthening of physical capabilities, and a semblance of his own rather than the false one you've been having to use."

"A rather impressive boost in abilities. What is the downside?"

"Decreased feelings of fear and worry, affected judgement between safe and unsafe decisions, and a weakness to anti-destri poison."

"Good to know."

'Wait, did you say a weakness to anti-destri poison?'

"Yes. It'll be doubly effective against you, as your soul is now more prone to destroying things, due to the Nekropsychi nature and powers you've been imbued with."

'And how bad is the affected Judgement?"

"It should only affect the process of judging whether a task is safe for him to complete or not. It shouldn't affect the judgement of others safety, or at least, not by much. Though he will be more prone to violence against those he feels strong negative emotions towards."

"In other words, not much different than normal."

"Precisely."

'Hey, I resent that.'

"Resenting truth does not change it in the slightest."

"He's right. You are rather prone to violence and are terrible when it comes to self-preservation."

'No. I like being alive and would rather it stay that way.'

"What was your response to me when I told you the only way to stop the collapse of the bridge was to use creation energy, which with the poison still I your system, could've killed you?"

'...'

"I believe the point has been made."

Bryce sighed. He knew this was not argument he was going to win anytime soon.

'So besides that, are there any other changes I need to be aware of.'

"There might be a slight change in physical appearance, though without a mirror, I would not be able to tell you. I can only see what you see."

"I think it is best you look in the mirror."

'I don't like the way you're saying that. What changed?' Bryce sat up from the hospital bed and looked around. He recognized the room as the on he'd been in on his previous visit here. The two dents where he'd punched the floor and the wall were still there. Ignoring the holes, he got up and walked to the bathroom, turning on the light as he walked in. When he looked in the mirror, he stared at it for a long time. He rubbed his chin absentmindedly, before letting out a long breath.

"Well, this will be hard to explain away."

…

"So from what you can tell, it just suddenly changed?" Ozpin asked Dr. Amelie as she showed him the report.

"Without notice. We were in the middle of scanning to see what other damage his body had taken, and it suddenly changed. The color, the sensitivity, the size. It just… happened. And the moment it did, his body healed in moments. Due to the last time he was here we were paying much closer attention through a monitoring device, to make sure he was okay. It wasn't an hour later that he woke up from what the staff told me."

"And did he behave abnormally?"

"No. In fact, he seemed perfectly normal, and was entirely calm when we informed him in the change in his aura."

"Really?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Were there any other changes?"

"Minor physical changes. The most noteworthy was his hair gaining a dark black streak down the side and his eyes are a mismatched, one being a royal blue color, the other a deep scarlet."

"Well, that is a puzzler. What did Mr. Anderson have to say about the changes?"

"We have him on record as saying when looking in the mirror after he first woke up, 'Well this will be hard to explain away.'"

"So he knows the reasons for the changes then?" Ozpin asked.

"Most definitely, but he has seemed adamant in not telling us why."

"Hmmm…" The headmaster rubbed his forehead before walking past where he stood in the hallway towards Bryce's door. "I thank you for the information, Dr. Amelie. I'll let you know if I discover anything."

"Okay, thank you professor Ozpin."

Ozpin walked in to the room to see Alpha's blade laying across the lap of Bryce as he sat in a meditative state on his hospital bed.

"Bryce."

"Hey, Professor." Bryce responded without opening his eyes. "What's up?"

"Well, I got a very interesting call that one of my students had woken up from a coma after his aura had randomly changed and decided to do a makeover in his sleep. Quite the interesting call."

"Well, I can safely say you weren't the only one that was surprised by it." Bryce said, smiling.

"Now, the big question is, why did the changes happen. Or more particularly," Ozpin leaned on his cane, as he looked directly to Bryce's eyes over his glasses, "what do you know about the changes that happened to you?"

Bryce was silent for a long while, not moving from his meditative position. Finally, Bryce let out a long, slow breath before opening his eyes. Ozpin had been expecting the change in eye color, having known about it before then, but it was quite different. Bryce's right eye was a glowing, Royal Blue color, swirling with some form of energy. His left eye was a deep, calming scarlet color, which seemed to slowly rotate around his pupil. It was an off putting sensation.

"Surprised?" Bryce asked.

"I will admit, that is very different than what I was suspecting. But that doesn't answer the question, Mr. Anderson."

"I know. I'm just trying to understand it myself. The reason for it has to do with my being… not of Remnant descent, if you catch my drift."

"I see." The white haired professor nodded, as he pulled up a chair from nearby to sit at the bed. "So, what do you know about what caused the change?"

"I think it would be better if I explained it. That's what we were doing previously before you came into the room." Alpha said, rising from the ground before forming the spectral blue Avatar Ozpin was well acquainted with.

"What happened to cause the dramatic change? I thought dramatic changes in the soul and body are dangerous to a Septonian."

"They definitely are, but the incident required drastic measures. And this is where the most worrying revelation is found." Alpha said, before lifting a hand to reveal a small, holographic blueprint of a needle. The hologram floated in mid air before Ozpin, before breaking apart to show its individual pieces.

"That is a special Neuro-needle. Specially designed to immediately inject its contents into the blood stream and nervous system. And it was filled with Anti-creati poison. A poison designed to be deadly to Septonians spefically, for the reason it attacks any creation energy through a Septonian's body and turns it into deadly energy that eats away at a Septonians body, and if enough of it, their soul. It can not be countered or healed by creation energy, and it talks a lot of destruction energy to rid a body of it."

"I have a feeling I know where this is going," Ozpin sighed. "You were attacked with this here on Remnant. Most likely in the warehouse while watching over Ms. Belladonna and Mr. Wukong."

"Precisely. And that means someone knows exactly what he is."

"That is worrisome. That fact alone means we'll need to make some changes on how present you are, both on and off campus."

"I think we both agree on that. If there's any left, subtlety is required." Bryce chuckled softly. "That actually what we intended after the last incident, and we can see where that got us."

"Now, back to the point. How did this poison create such a physical change?"

"The change in his aura and physical appearance was his soul stabilizing and gaining the balance it needed. Those changes are a result of the damage from the poison, and the healing of the omni-energy, which did its job a little bit differently than we were expecting."

"Yeah, I wasn't exactly looking to make myself look edgy." Bryce joked as he pointed to the streak of black hair. Ozpin smiled and nodded.

"Yes it does look rather… I believe the term I hear the students using is emo."

"Oh, please don't say that, it's bad enough I didn't want the change, don't make it worse than it already is."

"So you're in a better condition, then?"

"Yes, he's safe. His soul is stable and he's recovered well enough."

"And no pain. Which is nice." Bryce added, with a thumbs up for emphasis.

"I'm glad to hear that. Then, you're free to get back into the school schedule. I will need you to visit professor Oobleck tomorrow after classes. It's mandatory for any student who… couldn't save someone."

Bryce winced at the reminder, before rubbing his hands together as he leaned forward on the bed. "Yeah, I… I can get that. I'm assuming it's a therapy talk to fulfill school policy?"

"Yes, it is. I do hope you can get something real out of the conversation, though."

Bryce was quiet for a moment, opening and closing his mouth a couple times, before finally speaking. "How did the girl's family take it?"

"They were devastated of course." Bryce nodded. "But they asked about you and wanted to make sure you were okay. They appreciate that you tried your hardest to save her, and protected her body from the brunt of the damage. I think it would be beneficial if you met each other one of these days."

"Yeah, I'd like to do that. Is there anything else we need to talk about?"

"No, that should be it. I'll leave you to clean up before heading to your dorm to prepare for classes tomorrow."

"Thanks, professor Ozpin." Bryce paused when he realized something. "Hey, where's Ms. Goodwitch? She normally is with you for things like this. But I haven't seen her recently."

"That is a private matter that she can disclose when she gets back if she chooses. For now, let's say she's on a 'business trip.'"

"Okay then… I guess I'll see you later Professor Ozpin."

"Goodbye Mr. Anderson. Stay safe and please, quit making a scene. I can only cover so much."

Bryce chuckled. "I will try, but I think we can both agree that probably won't happen."

"That leads to paperwork Mr. Anderson, and above all, I hate paperwork." Ozpin smiled over his shoulder as he took a sip of his coffee. "Just remember that."

When he was around the corner, professor Ozpin said, "They're not telling us everything. Interesting."

"Indeed. The fact that Alpha stepped in was obvious, but even Alpha's behavior was abnormal. Whatever it is their hiding is big and isn't something they were expecting either."

"Agreed. My only worry is why don't they trust us with that information?"

"I have a theory."

"Oh dear. While I'd love to indulge you, I think-"

"No, hear me out on this one Maxwell."

The use of his first name caused Ozpin to pause. "Okay, let's hear it."

"I have a feeling that these most recent events have all culminated to help our young friend discover that darker piece of his soul that has been with him since he arrived and accepted it. And they're scared of how we'll take this darker side. In fact, I'd say they're expecting us to be afraid of it."

"That… is a very good theory." Ozpin agreed. "My only worry us, they've told us everything up to this point, and none of that has been pretty. If they're scared of how we'll react at this information, how dangerous is Bryce becoming?"

"To the students?"

"No. To himself."

…

Inside the dorm of team RWBY, they all sat on their beds listening to the audio recording Ruby had received from Cardin. They were all silent as Bryce detailed the events that had almost taken his sister's life, and the change that had led him to. Blake and Yang were especially silent, mesmerized as Bryce spoke of holding his sister in his arms, frantically trying to keep her from dying.

When the audio recorder finally clicked at the end of Bryce's story, Ruby looked at the rest of her team. "Does… does it make a bit more sense now?"

Yang didn't answer Ruby. Instead, she got off her bed and walked up to Ruby. When the crimsonette began to say something, she stopped when Yang hugged her tightly. "Looks like he and I are on the same page. We both just don't want to lose someone."

"So… does that mean your not mad at him anymore?" Ruby asked. Yang just laughed before ruffling Ruby's hair, who squirmed helplessly in her sisters grip.

"Yes it does, Ruby. Except for the part about him giving you those hollow point rounds." Yang added, a bit of red lining her eyes for a moment. "That still wasn't okay."

"Okay, that works for me." Ruby grinned. "What about you, Weiss?"

"I believe I had understood Bryce's reasoning before. This just shows me how he reached that reasoning. And it is quite revealing. It now is clearer why he feels so strongly about the subject."

"And that means…"

"I don't hate him, no. I haven't from the beginning."

"Oh. Okay, cool. What about you Blake?" The group turned around to look to Blake, only to see an empty bed. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we lost Blake again."

…

Blake walked the different isles in the Library, lost in her thoughts. The conflict in her mind was just growing and growing. First, she couldn't talk about it because of how horrible the memory was, than because it reminded her of Adam, but each time it seemed Bryce had a rebuttal. And this time he wasn't even here telling her, it was just an audio recording. Yet, even then, it was stressing her mind. What was wrong with her?

"Blake, you need to choose a new place to go when you try to hide from your team." Blake just about hit the ceiling when she heard Bryce's voice from behind her. She turned quickly to see Bryce smiling, leaning against one of the shelves, arms crossed. However, what caught Blake's attention was Bryce's eyes and the new streak of black hair. Noticing where she was looking Bryce sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, I know. Don't comment on that, please."

Blake didn't say anything, instead choosing to take a step backwards and turning, ready to run. Bryce just sighed, before saying,"Blake, we need to have a serious one on one conversation because this is going on for way too long, and I want you to trust me."

"Why? Why does that matter to you?"

"Do you like it when your friends don't trust you?" Blake didn't respond to the statement verbally, but she did turn back to look at Bryce.

"Friends?"

"It's what we were before the argument. I don't see why I would stop being your friend." Bryce said. He then grinned, before saying, "plus, I'll be hanging out with your team. It'd probably be easiest if we were friends."

Blake looked Bryce in the eyes, which was difficult due to the consistent movement within them, before saying, "We… we can talk tomorrow. Ruby has to talk with professor Oobleck, so."

"Cool, I'll be there as well. I guess we'll talk then." Bryce pushed himself off of the shelf and began to walk away. Before he got far, though, Bryce turned back and said, "Red blur on your six, by the way."

As Bryce rounded the corner, Blake began to ask what he meant, when she was suddenly tackled to the floor with a "Gotcha!"

"Ruby!"

…

It had taken way too long for Natalie to find her way out of the forest she had originally landed herself in. For almost ten days, she'd searched high and low around that forest for any sign of civilization, only to find more of those soulless monster things. Not that she cared about that, she appreciated the stress relief. As did Andromeda.

Now, though, she had finally found a small town, or more specifically, she found herself in the home of a younger man named Tai Xiao Long who graciously let her stay the night before showing her around the small town she was near. It wasn't a large place by any means, but it'd given her a safe place to lay low while she learned about the world she was in.

In the meantime, Tai had a lot of questions for her, most of which she avoided as best she could. Where was she from, where's her family, why does she have robotic angel wings in her shoulders, normal questions any sane person would ask. Ones that, until she knew more about… Remnant if she remembered correctly, she couldn't answer without giving herself away.

Currently though, she sat on the couch in Tai's home, watching the news, hoping to get any amount of good information as she could to help her be less obvious about her… foreign origin. The news anchor was talking about a particularly brutal terrorist attack in Vale that had happened the day before.

Tai walked into the room as they showed the Mech stampeding down the street after two young teens. "You watching a movie?"

"No," Natalie responded. "I'm watching the news. There was some terrorist attack from some guy named Roman Torchwick yesterday. It seemed pretty brutal."

"Huh. Did it say if he was apprehended or not?"

"No, just a young team from that school you too me about, Beacon." Tai just nodded at the response before returning to his coffee cup. As Natalie looked back to the TV her mind screeched to a stop at the next sentence that was said and the video that was played on the screen.

"The two young men are Bryce Anderson in the front, and Jaune Arc in the rear. Using their extraordinary training and courage, they saved hundreds of lives, and through Jaune Arc's semblance, healed many of the wounded to a stable condition, significantly lowering number of fatalities."

Natalie stared wide eyes as the news story told of Bruce's actions, all while showing video of everything he'd done during the incident. Tai noticed the apt attention she was giving the screen as it showed the videos of Bryce, and smiled.

"You find him attractive?" Tai teased before he noticed the tears in her eyes. Natalie looked to him, determination in her voice.

"That's my boyfriend. He's the reason I'm here. I need to get to Vale immediately."

Hey look, I can end a chapter without having it be mean to the characters. But... still a cliffhanger. I just can't help it, you guys, I'm sorry. I've been playing way too much D&D recently to not end things in a cliffhanger.