Disclaimer: I do not own FMA: Brotherhood or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners.

[-]

Alchemy (noun/al-che-my): An ancient science coined by the first, and only, Alchemist, Alexander Dunistrum. Alchemy was the science soon put into action after the first traces of Dust on Remnant's crust was discovered. Alexander used crude, but effective, tools to break down properties of the first Dust crystals. He was convinced that through understanding Dust, he would be able to harness the energy inside and possibly transmute, or transform, it into other forms of energy.

One of his most famous philosophies was 'equivalent exchange'. He knew that it was impossible to create energy where there was none, and impossible to destroy energy were there was. There had to be some form of energy or resource to transmute. For example, one could not create energy out of thin air: it has to come from another source. To convert a five pound Dust crystal, one could only make five pounds of new energy. Therefore, the Law of Equivalent Exchange was created, but it serves no practical use in today's society.

However, this proved to be far too complex at the time and Alexander was accused of performing sorcery by his fellow townsmen. He was burned at the stake and his precious manuscripts on ancient Alchemy were lost.

Only a few vague accounts of his legacy remain today. His studies on early Dust crystals were lost to time.

If anyone finds such documents, please contact the number below at the bottom of the page and send them to Vale Museum of Arts and Sciences immediately. A Lien prize will be given upon receiving the studies.

At least, that was the official definition for it. Ozpin drummed his fingers on the top of his desk. Surely there was more to Alchemy than turning the energy in Dust crystals to other forms of energy. Of course, they were able to harness Dust now and use its energy to power everyday items, but creating a whole new form of energy? That was groundbreaking. Since Dust lost power once it left the atmosphere, this new type of energy could potentially open up brand new transportation mechanisms free of Grimm. It was a pity Mr. Dunistrum's work was lost to the sands of time.

But Ozpin couldn't help but feel as if this was not the same Alchemy used by young Edward Elric. After all, Alexander's viewpoint on Alchemy was harnessing Dust energy and converting it into another form of more powerful energy. Elric's so-called Alchemy was able to create objects from other objects. And if that was what Alexander was trying to do, Ozpin would gladly give up his position as Headmaster of Beacon and travel as a circus trapeze artist.

He idly closed the one tab out of many on his Scroll. He had spent a good portion of last night studying Alchemy in Remnant's history. He had cross referenced his findings with Glynda and they both came to the conclusion that the data given was too broad and lacking so they couldn't find a clear consensus.

Even Bartholomew was perplexed. Being a history professor, Ozpin assumed he would now a little bit more about Alchemy than him and Glynda. But to his surprise, Bartholomew was just as in the dark as they were.

He launched into a tirade of overlapping discussions about how great it would be to find the lost data by Alexander and how his theory on Alchemy could benefit the whole of mankind.

Ozpin quickly excused himself before he became trapped in the never-ending cycle of words coming from the excitable doctor's mouth.

A full day had passed and Ozpin still learned nothing more about this Alchemy. A gargantuan conundrum was at hand. If this boy was able to use such power, then it must have been magic. But that was not possible. In the tale of the Maidens, it was recorded that the old man who had access to magic gave his powers to the four girls that had changed his life. All other fairy tales were fakes, so Edward could not have received magic otherwise.

Perhaps through experimentation by an unknown party he received strange powers? If someone else had access to the early documents of Alchemy, they could have experimented on the two siblings. Maybe that was how they got those powers. It would explain how the cameras weren't able to analyze the energy coming from both boys.

That would also explain why young Alphonse Elric was so emaciated. Perhaps they were subject to inhumane devices by the unknown party and backfired. It may have also been responsible for Edward's strangely thin and nearly muscle-less right arm and the metal pieces sticking out of his shoulder.

Ozpin sighed and sipped his coffee, noticing to his distaste that it had gone cold. He discreetly poured it into a nearby potted plant, which had maintained a steady diet of old coffee for the past four years. It was a wonder why it was not dead yet.

A light dinged on his Scroll, indicating that someone with Level 5 clearance had entered the elevator along with an unregistered person. It seemed that Glynda had arrived with young Edward Elric.

He put his Scroll away and turned his chair towards the window behind him. When one is in unknown territory and seeks answers, they should give off an air of superiority and feign disinterest. It was a strategy used to intimidate many, and was no doubt effective. Also, it made Ozpin feel powerful and in control.

I do hope that young Elric takes this as seriously as I am…

[-]

The walk to Beacon Tower was long and awkward. It was only made more awkward by Goodwitch herself.

Edward tried many times to initiate any kinds of conversations with her in order to learn more about this world but to no avail.

"So, what exactly do you do as a professor?"

"…"

"Is there a library I can use somewhere?"

"…"

"…eh…nice weather we've been having, huh?"

"…"

He gave up.

Soon, they reached revolving doors at the foot of the tower. They both wordlessly pushed past them and walked into a well-lit and sparkling clean lobby. There was a pretty woman with brown hair sitting at the receptionist desk, and she gave a small nod to the professor and went back to her work.

Glynda pulled some kinda card, which he assumed was her Scroll, and held it up to a small black glass thingy inside the elevator. The thing beeped, so Edward assumed it was some sort of advanced security clearance key.

Glynda pushed on the top-most button and the golden doors slid shut. As the elevator started its ascent, Edward could only marvel at how smooth it was. Edward was never very fond of elevators, seeing how he usually ended up getting in them with fairly dangerous folks, such as Hawkeye, Envy, and many others.

But back at home, elevators literally boxes dangling on a string. They were very unstable and shaky. But this elevator was smooth as hell. He could feel it. He didn't even notice that they were going up at first until his ears popped.

They finally reached to top in silence and the elevator doors dinged and slid open. What greeted Edward was one of the most bizarre sights he had ever seen.

Giant gears grinded and turned above his head, separated only by a sheet of thick glass. A large window encircled more than half of the room, giving an unobstructed view of the forest, school, and a city in the distance. He could see several of those Bullhead thingies flying in the air too, some of them dropping down and landing at the school.

Up ahead of them was a large bronze table with glowing blue figures on the top of it, and a chair could be seen turned away from them.

Glynda and Edward strode over, their footsteps slightly muffled by the constant turning of gears above them. Seriously, how can you concentrate on work with all this noise? Edward wondered.

The blonde professor reached the edge of the table and cleared her throat. "Headmaster, I have brought Edward Elric."

At first there was no reaction. Then the large swivel chair slowly turned, revealing the grey-haired man with folded arms and a serious expression on his face, no doubt to express complete dominance over the room. He looked like an older, less scary, version of Mustang. A wannabe Mustang.

Edward snorted, barely suppressing his mirth. Ozpin faltered for a second and nearly lost composure. Glynda clenched her Scroll. "Now what is so funny, young man?"

Edward hid his mouth from view. "Nothing, nothing, you just reminded me of an acquaintance of mine."

Ozpin nodded slowly. "I see…"

He turned to the blonde professor, who was looking at the chuckling teen with annoyance. No doubt she thought that such attitude in front of one of the most influential people of all of Remnant was inappropriate.

"Thank you, Glynda. If you may excuse us, I would like to discuss matters with Mr. Elric here in private. I will call for you if anything shall arise."

The professor nodded wordlessly and gave one last dirty look to the still shaking blonde. She huffed and turned, her heels clicking on the floor as she made her way back to the elevator.

Ozpin waited until the doors slid shut before he uncrossed his arms and gestured to a chair in front of him. "Please, take a seat."

Edward sat down, preparing some questions and acceptable lies in his head.

"Nice thing you called me here, I have some questions of my own. I was hoping you could help me out."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "As do I."

He was about to make a risky move here. It could be potentially disastrous, but if played off right, he would be able to learn more about who the brothers were, where they came from, and what their Alchemy exactly was.

"In fact, Mr. Elric, I was hoping you would entertain me with a little chess game."

As he said this, he pulled out a grey and black chessboard with silver pieces and black pieces attached, perhaps with magnets on the bottoms of them.

Edward's only response to this was to raise a single eyebrow. He had not expected this. He wanted to ask questions and get answers, god damnit, not play a stupid game of chess with this old guy.

"What the hell does playing chess have anything to do with us asking each other questions?"

Ozpin smiled behind his mug of coffee, this time freshly brewed. "There is a catch to this chess match. Whenever a piece is taken, the one who has taken it must as a question, any question, and the other has to answer no matter what. And the winner of this chess match will be able to make any demand, within reason, and the other has to carry through with it. Equivalent Exchange, is it not one of the fundamentals of Alchemy?"

He noticed young Elric stiffen in his seat, his eyes growing bigger and more wary. "How do you know about Equivalent Exchange and Alchemy?"

Ozpin smiled again. "To answer that question, you have to take away a piece, Mr. Elric. Do you agree to these terms?"

Instead of looking apprehensive and nervous, like Ozpin thought he would, Edward Elric simply grinned. But it was not a nice one. It was predatory and practically oozed with confidence.

He didn't really get how chess pieces and answering deep questions were equivalent at all, but the blonde decided to let it pass. Edward brought his chair closer to the table. He wordlessly moved a silver chess pawn two spaces forward. "I accept."

They both smiled internally. Let the game begin.

[-]

Alphonse sniffed forlornly. He felt warmth drip down his face.

After being trapped in a metal body unable to do regular people things, finally letting everything out was just so…great.

Of course he felt terrible rethinking the horrible things that happened, but it was underlined by relief. It was immensely satisfying.

He felt a warm hand lightly grasp his shoulder. He turned with tearful eyes to see kind and gentle silver ones. Ruby wordlessly handed over a couple of tissues from a nearby tissue box. Alphonse smiled and muttered sincere thanks.

He blew his nose, the noise reverberating in the silent room. Blake and Weiss just sat, stunned, while Yang and Ruby were more calm but still sad. They had dealt with loss before, after all.

Alphonse sniffled once again. He smiled grimly. "Um…sorry about that…I didn't mean to dump all this information on you…"

Ruby flailed her arms around. "Oh, no, we don't mind at all! I think it was better if you just told us! I mean you look like you've been holding this in for a while and needed someone to talk to, and you look too nice to make up a lie. And-"

Ruby's mouth was clamped shut by a Yang's arm. She grinned. "Sorry about that, it's just that Rube's gets real talky when she gets nervous."

Ruby shrugged off her sister's arm and glared back, pouting cutely. "I do not!"

They fell into bickering and even lightly bopping each other on the head. Alphonse giggled a little. They reminded him of the little fights him and his brother had as little kids.

There was a slight knock on the door. Ruby and Yang quieted down. "Come in!" called out Alphonse.

The door creaked open to reveal the impassive face of Doctor Maximillian, presumably here to check up on Alphonse during his morning shifts. "Mr. Elric, if you could please fill out some forms for the school to…"

His voice faltered as he saw four teenage girls sitting on nearby chairs, all trying to look as innocent as possible. They all gave the doctor a small wave and a couple muttered greetings.

The doctor said nothing but nodded back in response. He slowly made his way to the foot of the desk, the awkward atmosphere overpowering. He wordlessly handed Alphonse a clipboard with some papers on it and a pen.

Just before he left, he turned. "I'll come to collect that later. Try to be as accurate as possible." He nodded once more at the teens. "Ladies."

The door clicked shut.

"…Well that was awkward."

Alphonse agreed with Yang. He had no explanation why the entire situation got awkward. It was just one of those things, he surmised.

Blake saw something that caught her attention. A glowing screen showing most of Alphonse's body structure. There were three screens, one showing the bones, one showing the muscles, and the last showing blood circulation.

Normally, such a thing wouldn't have caught her attention. But this was different because it was so…different. What she meant by that was his bones were very underdeveloped and weak. The muscles were more or less unused, and the blood circulation was very slow.

She had no idea how this boy was still alive. By all means, he should have been dead a long time ago, with or without Aura. The damage was just too extensive. It was like the data for a living corpse. She was by no means a doctor, but all her experiences in the White Fang had her dealing with patients that had fallen victim to the extreme measures by both the group and anti-Faunus groups alike.

She glanced back at the group. It seemed Weiss was just as interested in that as she was. The teen's face was whiter than normal, and her eyes were wide with shock as she tried to stare at the data.

Blake turned back to the boy, who was busy asking Ruby what insurance was. What happened to you? How are you still alive?

[-]

Ozpin was about to tear out his hair in frustration.

Normally, Ozpin was a very calm and collected man. While his hair might have told otherwise, he was still relatively young. But even if he was young, he was far more mature than the normal person.

But this sniggering boy was really pulling on his strings. It had only been several minutes into the chess match and he was already losing. Badly.

He had gained some pawns and a bishop here and there, but young Edward Elric had already claimed the lives of both his bishops, one knight, a rook, and five pawns.

The boy had been relentless in his questions. First were pretty basic things, such as how extensive the library was, what exactly they taught here, etc.

Surprisingly, he still didn't ask the headmaster about how he knew about the Law of Equivalent Exchange. He figured the teen was testing the waters a bit. Trying to gain more knowledge before asking what he really wanted to ask.

Ozpin sighed as the teen claimed another one of his pawns.

Ed smirked. "Alright, no more skipping around. The only way you would know about Alchemy is if you observed us earlier. And I doubt you just looked it up for no reason. But nobody was there to see me and my brother. So, my question is: how did you see us use our powers?"

Ozpin smiled a bit. Observant fellow. He pulled up a file on his Scroll and showed the screen to the boy, who leaned in with avid curiosity.

What Edward saw on the screen shocked him. There they were! Smaller moving pictures of Edward and Alphonse themselves, in the forest in which they first came. It reminded him of some of the movies back at home, but the quality was off the charts.

Ozpin waited for the video file to finish before turning his Scroll off and stuffing it back into his suit. "We have camera feed all over the forest. It is impossible for anything to pass under our radar, especially something that's responsible for charring 10 square meters of grass."

Ed leaned back, a wary look in his eyes. If technology was this advanced, it would be wise to watch his step. He really needed to research more about this world.

Well, if all went well, he would have access to just that. Just a few more moves and the headmaster would be backed into a corner.

Edward grinned wolfishly. I guess playing chess with that bastard colonel was worth it.

It was a long story. On one of their missions, Edward and Colonel Mustang were forced to share a train cart for five hours due to unrelenting traffic.

Edward had been bored out of his wits until Mustang pulled out a portable chessboard with magnetic chess pieces and asked if he wanted to play.

Of course, the young alchemist had no interest in such things and said he would rather read some of his alchemy books. The bastard smiled evilly and snatched the book away, much to the ire of the blonde.

"I'm not the only one bored out my mind here, Fullmetal," smiled Mustang through gritted teeth. "Don't make me order you to play a damn game of chess."

And so the remainder of the trip revolved completely around Edward trying to beat the colonel at chess.

He found it extremely trying and infuriating at first. Mustang was just too good.

After the mission, Ed spent most of the train ride back home mulling over strategies on how to beat the bastard, and he was proud to say that he had become amazingly adept at it. Nowhere near the same skill level as Mustang though.

Edward set the claimed pawn down next to the rest of Ozpin's victims. "Alright, time for the money question."

He leaned forward, all signs of mirth gone. "How do you know about the Law of Equivalent Exchange?"

Ozpin sighed. He wordlessly pulled out his Scroll and swiped a couple times, opening up a folder that he had downloaded off the internet for research. He handed the Scroll over.

Edward accepted and scrutinized the machine. On the glowing screen was a drawn picture of some bearded dude who looked like he hadn't shaved or showered in months. Underneath the picture were several headlines and documents, all pertaining to the art of Alchemy.

Ed almost smiled. It seemed that even this world had Alchemy. If he could find out how to utilize it, there was a good chance he could use it to his advantage.

But the more he read, the more disappointed he got. It didn't help that the Alexander dude died and nearly all of his research was destroyed by angry villagers.

Edward sighed and handed the Scroll back to the headmaster, who had been watching with interest.

"Anything interesting?"

Ed waved it off. "Nah, it's not exactly what I was looking for. It would be nice to have the data with me, but there's not much I can do."

"I see…"

Ozpin moved his knight and claimed a rook. "Mr. Elric, what happened to you and your brother? My hypothesis is that you were both experimented on, if there's anything to go by your arm, leg, and your brother's health."

Edward laughed as he mulled over an acceptable answer. Obviously he couldn't give the full truth. He could go with a half-truth instead. A little unfair, perhaps, but he didn't want to be locked in a mental hospital for the remainder of his time on this planet.

"Me and Al weren't experimented on. We just had the bad luck to piss off a couple of people and paid the price. All because we were stupid kids."

They were silent after that. Ozpin narrowed his eyes as Ed took a sip of the coffee he had given him. What did he mean by that? Was their state their punishment? If so, what kind of terrible thing could they have done to warrant such cruelty?

Ozpin shook his head slightly. He could figure that out later. The only question he had left was how this boy was able to use magic. He figured that the two brothers may have dubbed the magic as Alchemy, in a bid to confuse certain individuals and keep their secret safe.

Ozpin scrutinized the board, looking for any openings. Ed's hand wavered over the board. If I can play my part right, I can finish this easily. All Ed has to do is to move one of his rooks and I'll be able to cut him off. It's not over yet!

Edward moved his knight and claimed Ozpin's last rook, opening up his king for a checkmate. A checkmate. Now how did that happen.

Ed grinned in the face of Ozpin's stunned silence. "Now you gotta withhold your end of the deal, headmaster."

The grey-haired headmaster stuck his hands on his face, nearly screaming. He was an undefeated champion in chess for years. Over his time at Beacon, Ozpin had seen countless grandmasters fall to his hand. He had crushed competition and won many a bet through chess games. But somehow this boy was able to trump him at his own game. Inconceivable!

"You said the winner can make any demand within reason and the loser has to follow through with it, correct?"

Ozpin said nothing but nodded. He just hoped this boy was going to ask what he wanted him to ask.

"My demand is that my brother and I be able to stay here for the time being. Just until we can get on our feet. And that includes me having access to the library."

Ozpin blinked. That was it? Granted, it was within reason, but he was expecting something else, like a large sum of money so the two boys can leave the school.

But this was a rare opportunity. If the headmaster had won, he would have asked the boy to stay at the school, only to keep an eye on him. He had no doubt some major repercussions would appear if they were set loose and drew the attention of James.

Ozpin smiled behind his hand. He could still salvage this. So in the end, he had basically still won. And the boy fell right into his trap.

Edward smiled behind his hand. Ozpin had fallen right into his trap. He knew the headmaster would not like the idea of the him and Al leaving the school. He wanted to keep an eye on them. And to be honest, the alchemist didn't want to leave the school. The world was just too strange outside, and they couldn't just run off willy-nilly. He needed info. And the school would provide that. A whole lot of info. It was a win-win situation either way.

Ozpin straightened and stood up. "I agree to your terms. Under one condition."

Ed raised an eyebrow. Whatever this was, it couldn't be that bad.

"You and your brother have to enroll as students here. At Beacon."

"…What? Why the hell would we do that? No disrespect, but I haven't been to school since I was a kid. It's a waste of my time."

Ozpin strode over to his desk and sat down on his swivel chair. "I understand that, but I cannot simply let you stay here like this. We have certain policies to follow. The school system can only take care of the students. We cannot spend resources on civilians. But if you were a student, you would have unlimited access to food, shelter, training, and of course, the library. And you don't have to worry about paying us. As students, education is free. Of course, there are some things you do need to pay for, but the basics will be supplied for you both."

Ed thought it over. On one hand, he really didn't want to go back to school. He had too much on his plate at the moment. But on the other hand, Al would receive proper care to get back on his own two feet and Ed could learn more about this wacky world.

The alchemist stood up and walked over to the desk. He stuck out his right hand. He really needed to start working out his right arm and probably cut his nails. They were long enough to pierce a boar. "Deal."

Ozpin smiled and grasped the hand with his own. He gave a firm shake. "Then let's get you accommodated. I will have Glynda set up a room for you."

[-]

Edward flopped down on his new bed. The room Professor Goodwitch had given him was a relatively big one. There were two queen sized beds, a large closet, two desks on the opposite side of the room, a moderately sized window, and a door that led to a small bathroom. It reminded him of the military barracks back at home.

Edward sat up. Ozpin had escorted him to the infirmary. As they entered, Doctor Maximillian approached him and handed him a clipboard. Ed peeked over his shoulder and recognized it as his brother's handwriting and something about "insurance", whatever that was.

The doctor told him that he had already entered the info into the school database and how the siblings didn't have insurance whatsoever. Ozpin simply took the paper off and tossed it in the trash. "No need for that, doctor," he had said, "Edward and Alphonse Elric are enrolled as students from now on. The school will cover all of their bills. Sorry to make you do all this."

Without a second look, Ozpin walked away, followed by a confused blonde. Ed barely overheard the doctor murmuring and cursing under his breath about the bastard Headmaster and how it would take forever to retrieve the data from the database.

Edward walked in the hospital room and found Al sitting, reading a book about the history of Remnant or whatever. He had told his older brother that Ruby and her friends had come over to meet him and helped clear up the racist issue at hand. They left a little before him and Ozpin arrived.

Ed sighed and thanked Al. That was one less problem they had to deal with.

Edward carefully explained the details surrounding the implications of them entering the school. Unsurprisingly, Al was all for it. He was pretty excited to learn more about this world after he healed up somewhat.

After that, Ozpin escorted him to the student dorms and gave him a plastic card of some sort with a black bar on the back. He swiped it on a grey plastic box with a slot on it next to a door with the number 58 on it. The box beeped and the door clicked open.

Even a mundane thing like this astounded Edward. It was a far-cry from the lock and key doors he had at home. If they had this thing, it would be near impossible to break in without the help of Alchemy.

Ozpin handed him the card, which he gingerly handled, like it was gonna blow up or something. The grey-haired man gave him a piece of paper with a whole bunch of classes and a map on it. Which he appreciated. He hated getting lost.

"Unfortunately, your brother would not be able to attend class due to his…problem, so I would advise taking good notes for him to catch up on after he heals. I apologize if this annoys your brother in any way."

Ed shook his head and smiled softly. "If there's any consolation, Al loves studying more than Ruby loves cookies. He'll catch up in no time."

Ozpin nodded and smiled a bit. "Well then. I hope this room suits to your liking. You will be required to take some classes today, the most important being Combat Training. Professor Goodwitch will be teaching, and if I'm not mistaken," he glanced at his Scroll, "class begins in approximately 30 minutes. I would take this time to change into your school uniform and make your way across the campus."

Ed grimaced. He hated uniforms. He could barely stand wearing those blue military uniforms he was forced to wear at ceremonies back home. Staying in a uniform every day for God knows how long was gonna be hell for him.

They said their goodbyes and went on their separate ways.

Ed sighed as he made his way over to the closet. He opened the doors, dreading they didn't look as bad as he hoped. He had seen some earlier, at the cafeteria, but he never got a close look at them until now. He shut his eyes quickly. Of course they looked like the most constricting things on the planet. Crisp and folded, the uniforms looked like they were cut from cardboard, seeing how stiff they looked.

Ed gingerly picked up a suit vest looking thing and started putting it on. He dumped his clothes on his bed and shrugged on some of those pants.

The pants weren't that bad to be honest. They were a bit constricting, but they were doable.

The most annoying was the vest and suit. The vest was fine enough, if a bit itchy. The suit had golden embroidering on it, and looked like it wouldn't be much use in a fight.

Ed opted to leave his suit unbuttoned. It got in his way, and there shouldn't be too much of a fuss over it. Hopefully.

He neglected wearing the shoes given by the school. He would like to stick with his boots, thank you very much.

He checked himself out in the mirror on the door of the closet. He didn't look half bad. In fact, he looked pretty badass, especially with the suit unbuttoned like that. Casual, yet stylish.

Oh, and he almost forgot. He dug around his pants pockets on the bed. His fingers grasped cool, circular metal. His State Alchemist watch. He would never leave home without it. He was surprised it survived the trip. All that electricity could have knocked some dials out of whack.

Ed ruffled his hair a bit. Time to leave. He picked up the paper on the bed and flipped to the back, where it showed the map of the room. He pinpointed a circular room with the words "Combat Class" on it. It was quite a ways from here, but he figured he could make it before class began.

The alchemist stepped out the door. He made sure to bring his card with him, the map, and his watch.

He could already hear students outside heading to classes, or leaving them. He assumed it was the upperclassmen leaving their classes. They had different schedules from freshmen, after all.

Edward stuck his hands in his pockets and strode out of the dorm hallways. Hopefully he wouldn't get lost again.

[-]

The alchemist didn't get lost, but he was annoyed for a different reason. He got to Combat Class fairly early, right before the bell was supposed to ring. He figured it would be rude to enter early, especially if Goodwitch was preparing something, so he waited outside the door.

But that didn't annoy him. What annoyed him was that after the bell rang, everyone who had class just stared at him. Most with disgust and some with curiosity. He figured they didn't like him very much. After that debacle with the rabbit-eared girl at the cafeteria, it was obvious the sympathizers wouldn't appreciate his presence.

He felt like a particularly hated monkey at the zoo. I better apologize to that rabbit girl later…

Good thing they didn't get too close. After all, he wasn't planning on staying here for too long. Making lasting friendships would make a lot of problems in the future.

A heavy arm slung over his shoulder. "What the heck are you doing here, Eddie?"

Ed staggered a bit before glancing across his shoulder. There stood a grinning Yang Xiao Long, all anger in her eyes he saw just two hours prior replaced with mirth. No doubt her opinion of him changed after their talk with Al.

Ed was dragged into Yang, his head smooshing directly into Yang's…assets. He felt his face turn beet red. If the boys in the audience didn't hate Edward before, they did now. Most of the male populace would have given anything to get up close and personal with those.

"Damn, you're going for that bad boy style, huh? Looks pretty good on you! If you were a little taller, I'm pretty sure I would be all over you."

"Don't call me short!" came the muffled reply as the alchemist desperately tried to escape from the blonde's clutches.

"Miss Xiao Long, such actions will not be tolerated at this school. Do so on your own time."

Yang immediately let go as Goodwitch herself stepped out of the door, quelling all conversation as her icy gaze pierced the crowd.

Yang smiled disarmingly. "No problem, professor. Just admiring Eddie's style of clothing."

The professor raised an eyebrow at Edward's unbuttoned state, but said nothing against it. Obviously the boy didn't like the idea of wearing a uniform.

She walked back into the class. "Everyone take a seat. Class begins in a couple minutes."

Everyone started to pile in. Ed hung back with Yang, fighting to keep the blush down to a minimum. Why were girls so weird no matter what world they were in?

He felt a light hand tap his back. He turned to face Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, who were looking with various degrees of shame and relief.

Ruby smiled softly. "Sorry about the entire thing during breakfast. We all thought you were a racist or something."

Ed raised his hands placatingly. "No, it should be me apologizing! I didn't mean to insult the Faunus at all. I'm just not used to seeing too much of them, that's all."

He looked pointedly at Blake. "I'm not racist. Sorry if I came off that way."

Blake blinked in surprise. Did he know that she was a Faunus herself?

Weiss interrupted. "I know we all are sorry and forgive each other, so can we please get in class? I do not wish to be late."

Ed heard Yang laugh. "Geez, so pushy of you, princess."

"It's heiress!"

"Same difference."

Ruby cleared her throat quietly. "By the way, what are you doing here? I didn't know you were enrolled as a student. First semester is done already!"

Ed gulped a little. "Oh, uh…I'll tell you guys later. I think Goodwitch is gonna say something about it actually. For now let's just get inside."

They walked in before they could continue their discussion. Blake tapped Ed's shoulder right before they entered. He looked back with questioning eyes.

"Did you figure about…you know…who I am?"

"You mean a Faunus?"

Blake reeled back. They barely knew each other, let alone see each other, and he already figured out? No way had Alphonse told him, since she didn't tell him. How did he figure out?

"H-How?"

He pointed to the bow on top of her head and smiled. "I saw it twitch back at the cafeteria. I thought it was a trick of the light, but after that incident, I figured it out."

Blake opened her mouth, but Ed beat her to the punch. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. I'm not gonna tell."

Blake sighed in relief. It would have been a disaster to have everyone other than her closest friends figure out. Especially with White Fang activity increasing in Vale. She preferred to keep her identity a secret.

"Just out of curiosity, what kind of Faunus are you?"

Blake fingered her bow. "Cat," she whispered, as to not catch the attention of any eavesdroppers.

She saw Ed smile. "You're gonna get along fine with Al."

"What do you mean?"

He was already walking in the door. Blake just shrugged a bit. Eh, it must not be that important.

As soon as the alchemist walked into the room his breath was taken away. This place was just huge!

It closely resembled an amphitheater, complete with seats around the stage, which were already occupied by chattering students.

On the ground floor, there was a large circular arena completely made of some kind of metal. There were two doors on one side of the wall, maybe leading to the changing rooms, and a large glass panel on the top of the wall, which was blinking with blue light. Maybe it was a bigger version of the Scrolls here.

Speaking of which, he should get one of those. He had no doubt it would come in handy in the future.

Ruby skipped over next to him and smiled a bit. "Bet you don't see much of this back at your village."

Ed reeled. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, we don't have anything this high tech."

They all sat down on some empty seats. He noticed the people closest to them subtly moved back a few feet. Maybe they still didn't like him, or RWBY was more volatile than he normally thought. He supported both hypotheses.

On the arena floor, Professor Goodwitch swiped through the rosters on her Scroll. It was a huge surprise that Ozpin suddenly called her and informed that Mr. Elric would be part of her class from now on.

Under normal circumstances, Glynda would have declined. But these weren't normal circumstances. It seemed the boy could use magic. Unusual, she knew. But it was true. And that meant they had to keep a close eye on him and his brother for the time being. Until they could find the reason why these boys were able to use magic.

She cleared her throat, her voice easily echoing in the circular room. "Welcome to Combat Class. Today we have a new student, Edward Elric. He had his application process delayed for certain reasons, but now he is a student here. Therefore, he will be participating in school activities from now on."

She glanced over to the blonde, who looked uninterested but she knew he was paying close attention to every single word that came out of her mouth.

"Team RWBY, I am holding all of you responsible for showing Mr. Elric around the school and help him if he has any questions. That is all."

Yang slung an arm around Edward again, who tried to extricate himself with a look of annoyance on his face. Ruby gave a small fist pump, Blake just nodded, and Weiss bowed slightly in affirmation.

The professor looked back at her Scroll. "Today, we will be doing single-battles. One member from a team will be randomly chosen and he or she gets to pick another member of a different team. Keep in mind they must be approximately the same skill level. We can't have the more skilled students taking advantage of this, now can we?"

The class murmured. Sure it made sense and was fair, but most wanted to better their image in this school. Granted, if they won this one, it would help their image out immensely, but there was nothing wrong with taking the easy route too.

The blonde professor tapped her screen and the giant glass panel above burst into color, startling the young State Alchemist.

Several sliding faces zoomed past one side of the glass panel. It was a blur at first, but the faces started to slow down and become clearer. He saw some faces he recognized, like Yang's and Pyyrha's, but a majority of them were unfamiliar faces.

The machine finally decided on a face. A familiar, asshole-ish looking face. Of course it was Cardin Winchester.

Ed leaned forward and smiled behind a hand. He couldn't wait for whoever he would pick to beat his bastard ass into the floor. As mentioned before, he hated bullies. He couldn't wait for the dude to pick someone to beat his ass up…wait a second.

Cardin, who had been walking down the steps to the arena, spotted Edward like a lioness eyeing its prey. He sneered. Time to get payback for the humiliating fight earlier and whatever he did to his clothes. He nearly wet himself trying to use the bathroom because his pants and shirt were fused together.

He had no doubt that it was that blondie kid. But he wasn't worried. The only reason the kid got an upper hand was because of the surprise factor and the sudden attack. And what kinda useless Semblance was able to meld clothes together? Like that would be useful in a fight.

If Goodwitch noticed the vehement gazes coming from the hulking teen, she made no indication of it. "Mr. Winchester, please choose someone to brawl."

Cardin pretended to think about it. He avoided looking at Jaune. Not because he was scared of the wimpy guy, but because he pretty much saved his ass from that Ursa. He was a far cry from liking him as a friend, but he had a grudging respect for him.

After making a show of choosing who to pick, he pointed a finger at Edward, who had a resigned look on his face. "I'd like to fight the runt over there."

Before Glynda could say anything about proper etiquette, Edward had already bounded over the railings and leaped onto the arena floor. He smiled like the devil and cracked his knuckles together. "Wanna say that again, muscle-head?"

Sparks flew as they sneered at each other. The onlooker's closer to the railings swallowed nervously and wisely stepped back.

The blonde professor cleared her throat. "Are you quite sure about this, Mr. Winchester? Mr. Elric does not have his weapon with him at the moment. The only fair treatment would be him to fight you using hands-on combat, which you will reciprocate. We cannot have you fighting an unarmed student with a weap-"

"Ah, don't even worry about it," Edward interrupted, "I have a weapon handy. Even if I didn't, I don't need a weapon to show him who the top dog is."

The professor was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Rules wise, she couldn't stop the fight. The student picked had every right to battle against another student.

But there was the underlying issue of Edward not having an awakened Aura, if he even had one. She received specific orders from the headmaster to keep the boy's "alchemic" powers as far under radar as possible.

Also was the fact that he had no weapon with him. She saw no evidence of him having a weapon as he came into the school. Unless he was talking about that metal leg of his, there was no discernable look of a single gun or blade on his person.

But as she tried to stare him down, he only looked back with determination. Now that wouldn't have been enough to stare her down, but it was what was in those eyes that shocked her so. This boy was a seasoned fighter. And she didn't doubt that he didn't need any powers or weapons to fight.

Nevertheless, she ground her teeth nervously. Oh, why did Elric already have to make a scene and anger one of the most volatile underclassmen this year?

"Are you sure about this, Mr. Elric?"

Edward said nothing but flashed a wolfish smile and quick thumbs up.

Goodwitch sighed. God, she needed some painkillers. Even Oobleck was unable to give her headaches such as this.

"Very well. However, due to certain technical issues, we will not have your Aura readings on screen. If I see the duel getting too dangerous, I call time and both of you will stop. Immediately. Understood?"

The teen's nodded in affirmation.

"…Mr. Winchester, please change out of your school clothes. Mr. Elric, do you have anything to change into?"

A shake of the head.

"No matter. We will supply you with temporary combat clothes until you have time to find or make your own."

With that, she turned to the rest of the class. "As these two changes into their clothes, I will go over what I will be scoring on."

She launched into a tirade of boring rules and guidelines that Edward tuned out. He was more psyched about the future "fight". As he walked into the lockers, he saw Cardin slide a finger across his neck and mouth out words that looked like "you're dead meat". Ed scoffed. Like that was gonna scare him.

He made his way into the lockers. Luckily, it seemed the two teens were separated by a wall of iron, maybe to stop them from interacting with each other or sabotaging each other's weapons and armor.

Speaking of weapons. Ed felt bad about what he was about to do. Hopefully nobody would notice until much later.

He had told Goodwitch that he had a weapon. He was sure she knew he was lying but didn't want to expose him in front of the students.

And he couldn't just transmute his leg into a blade or something. First off, the students would definitely notice his prosthetic limb, and second off, he had no experience using his leg as a blade. He used it for kicking, not slicing. And depending on the weapon Cardin had, it could damage his leg in some way. Best to play it safe for now.

So he had no choice. He walked over to a fairly long bench near the wall and placed his hands on one of the bars making up the seat part. With a little quick Alchemy, he was able to remove a fairly long bar and transmuted it into the shape of a fancy looking spear. It was not much, but hey, better than nothing. And if worst came to worst, he could borrow Greed's strategy and turn the iron as hard as diamond by simply rearranging the atomic structure a bit. It would be barely noticeable to the observant eye.

Now he had a weapon. Next problem. Where were the clothes the professor said she would supply?

A dull whine brought his attention to the opposite wall, next to the lockers. There was a grey box with a red light above it. As the whining stopped, the red light turned green and the box opened up to reveal a grey shirt and long black pants with the Beacon Academy emblem embezzled on both of them.

Ozpin sure liked to put his beloved school's influence on everything, didn't he?

It took the alchemist only a couple seconds to strip out of his clothes and lay it on the mutilated bench. Hopefully nobody noticed that until later.

He heard a knock on the side of the wall. He turned to see Professor Goodwitch in the doorway, a look of apprehension on her face. "Mr. Elric," she said, "Are you sure about this? You have no weapon to fight with, and Headmaster Ozpin told me to keep your…abilities…low profile."

The alchemist flashed a quick smile. "What do you mean I don't have a weapon?"

He picked up his spear from the bench, startling the blonde professor. "But, how did you…?"

Ed raised an eyebrow.

Goodwitch sighed. "Of course. 'Alchemy'. Well if you are so certain about this, I will let you fight. But. I forbid you of using your powers. It is clear you are a seasoned fighter. That is the only reason I am letting you do this. Understand?"

Ed nodded.

It was silent for a bit before the professor turned and walked out. "Make sure you are ready when I call you out."

He grunted in affirmation and sat down, where he waited for a good two minutes, mulling over scenarios.

Ed grasped his metal spear and gripped it tightly. He could hear Goodwitch calling out the fighters. From the sound of things, it looked like Winchester was already outside.

Ed mulled over strategies as he walked towards the door. What kind of weapons would Cardin bring? Due to his size, he wouldn't be surprised if he wielded a giant hammer or a sword. And since he was slow, he would have to wear armor to protect himself.

The blonde stepped past the doors and into the chattering crowd above. Everyone was watching with rapport and it looked like some were…betting?

Sure enough, most of the students were putting down some kinda plastic cards, all different colors. He could only assume it was currency.

He glanced over at where Teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting. It seemed that the second group had moved over to sit next to the four girls. It also looked like they had explained the situation to them, seeing how JNPR smiled and waved at him. Nora was openly cheering while Ren tried to calm her down.

He saw Ruby mouth some words out. He swore she just said "I'm betting good money on you!"

Professor Goodwitch's voice caught his attention. "Fighters, take your spots."

Ed and Cardin moved to opposite ends of the circle, both eyeing each other and their weapons. The rest of the crowd murmured as they finally took notice of Edward's weapon. It was a bit underwhelming. They had expected him to have some kinda flashy weapon of mass destruction, but all he had was a fancy looking spear that looked like it would break at the slightest hit. It didn't even look well maintained. There were weird rectangular marks all over the weapon.

"Awww…" groaned Ruby, "I thought he had some super cool weapon. Like a mechashift or something…"

"Don't count your chicks before they hatch," said Pyyrha, who had been watching with interest, "From the way Edward is holding that spear, it's clear that he's very well trained."

"I agree," spoke up Weiss, "His poise is near perfect. There are only a few flaws in his footwork, but those are fairly minor."

The group watched with renewed interest. Surprisingly, the next person to speak was Jaune. "Uh, I know I'm not one to talk, but that spear looks kinda flimsy. Wouldn't it break after one hit from Cardin's weapon?"

"From the look of things, it seems Edward isn't worried. It seems that he has been in situations like this before." Ren surmised as he scanned the blonde's pose.

Unbeknownst to the group, it was true that Ed had been in this situation before. But compared to the other situations, this was a walk in the park. After fighting crazy religious guys, a terrorist, a crazy Homunculus team, and God itself, this was like taking candy from a baby.

Edward eyed his opponent's weapons. He was half right about his initial hypothesis. The teen was wearing armor, tempered steel from the looks of it. Fairly difficult to transmute.

And he didn't wield a sword or a hammer. He held a giant mace with a weird red crystal in the center of the bladed head. It was clearly meant to do something. The way it looked was…not normal. Plus the fact that it looked a lot like the Philosopher's Stone didn't help out.

Glynda stared at both fighters. "Are the contestants ready?"

Nod.

"Remember. Due to technical difficulties, Edward's Aura meter will not be shown. Instead, I will call time if I feel the fight gets too dangerous. All Mr. Elric has to do is get Mr. Winchester's Aura into the red, while Mr. Winchester tries to overpower Mr. Elric. Understood?"

Another nod. Ed smiled internally and gripped his spear. Finally some action!

Glynda raised her arm. A couple of seconds passed in complete silence. Nobody dared to breathe.

The arm sliced down. "Begin!"

[-]

And, I'm gonna stop there…

Jk, I kept you waiting for waaaay too long, I'm not gonna take it away from you guys. Back to the story!

[-]

Of course, Cardin was the first to leap forward. It was typical of his current behavior. A tank like him would be in the front lines, taking damage and dishing out as much as he could. And that meant charging first into the enemy.

Edward smirked. Cardin's form was predictable. An open stance with both hands gripping the mace high above his head.

Cardin roared as he brought the mace down on top of Edward, who made no move to defend himself. Glynda almost called time right there.

Ed waited until the last possible second to dodge to the side, allowing the head of the mace to barely pass his face. He actually felt a couple hairs on his head move from the force of the swing.

The mace struck the ground with a resounding boom, denting the metal. So it was either heavy or Cardin was just ridiculously strong. Or both.

Ed gripped his spear and lunged forward, jabbing his opponent's left leg.

Weiss, watching from the stands, raised an eyebrow. The logical choice was to jab the weapon under Cardin's shoulder. There was no protection from the armor there. It would also deal the most damage, since most Aura generally settled around the body's center of gravity. So why did Edward hesitate to attack?

As much as he disliked Cardin, Edward couldn't just seriously maim another person. He could dish out a mean beating, but he would never stoop to the level of harming someone to within an inch of their lives.

Of course, it shouldn't be that hard to beat Cardin. But he was scared if he could potentially seriously harm the other student. Goodwitch mentioned something about an "Aura". Maybe this was the same thing that blocked his attacks earlier in the day. Like invisible armor or some crap. How that followed the laws of science was beyond him. Maybe some kind of high technology?

Problem was he didn't know how strong this Aura was. It may vary from person to person; it may be specific to each individual. Will Cardin lose more Aura the more harder he hit? He had no way of knowing. This was why he was testing the waters. Shave off some Aura, look at the screen on the wall to see how much Aura was lost, and act accordingly.

He felt the tip of the spear hit something. Not the armor, nor the actual leg itself, but some kinda hardened air. It was the same kind of feeling he got when he punched that kid earlier at the cafeteria.

Edward hopped backwards, dodging a sweep of Cardin's mace. He took a moment to glance over at the screen.

Just as he thought, Cardin's Aura meter only dropped a little bit. That little jab did nothing but slightly annoy the hulking teen.

Cardin stood straight and hefted his mace on his shoulder. He smirked. "What kind of weak-ass move was that? We're here to fight, not teach acupuncture."

His cronies sniggered from the sidelines, staring Ed down with clear malevolence. Obviously they had trouble using the bathroom because of him too.

The alchemist smirked but said nothing.

Cardin gripped his mace tighter and snarled. "You can dodge all you want, sometime you're gonna tire out. Then I'm gonna beat you to the ground."

He lunged forward again, bringing his weapon in an overhead arc, aimed straight for Edward's body.

The spear looks like it's made out of regular steel, Cardin thought, Even one hit would snap that thing in half.

To his delight, it looked like the blonde was going to block his attack with the toothpick. Cardin smiled mid-swing. Too easy.

CLANG

Cardin's smile slipped off his face as his beloved mace, which had enough force behind it to cave in the skull of an Alpha Beowulf, was stopped by the simple steel spear. Ed grunted as he was forced back a couple feet, but otherwise, remained standing.

Pyyrha's mouth dropped in shock. She had no doubt the others shared her disbelief.

It shouldn't have been possible for Edward to block Cardin's swing like that. She could tell from looking at his spear earlier that it was a flimsy stick of steel. He wielded it with confidence, but it was still weak. There was no possible way for the spear to deflect the many tempered alloys in Cardin's mace.

Unless…

Pyyrha squinted slightly, looking straight at the weapon itself. Her hand glowed black, too slight to be noticeable from the casual onlooker.

She was trying to attract the metal. Only slightly, not even enough attraction to bother the blonde teen. If it was made of steel, she would have known immediately. There would have been slight resistance where her hand was.

But she felt nothing like that. Instead, she only felt the slightest of tugs. If she wasn't paying attention so hard, it would have gone unnoticed by her.

So the spear wasn't made out of steel. It was made out of some kind of metal that didn't exude too much of a magnetic field. Either that or there was something on the spear blocking the magnetic field from being too responsive to her Semblance. But what was it? She could have sworn it was a regular metal spear before the battle started!

Edward smirked right in Cardin's shocked face. It was a simple trick he pulled from Greed's Ultimate Shield. He used some sneaky alchemy to rearrange the atoms in the steel spear. Specifically the carbon atoms.

He hardened the carbon atoms until it was as strong as diamond, and simply shifted them over to cover the entire spear itself. The only noticeable difference it made in the spear was making it harder and have a slightly darker color.

He shoved Cardin's mace away, who stumbled back and settled into a more defensive pose.

He could have bet his life that the runt's spear was made out of steel. It was easy to see when he stepped out of the lockers. So why the hell was it so hard to break?

Ed smiled and gripped his spear. "What's the matter? Scared of needles?"

Cardin got over his initial confusion and snorted derisively. "As if. That twig might be able to withstand a couple hits but it's still steel. It's gonna snap eventually. Then I'm gonna wipe the floor with you, midget-!"

The blonde lunged forward with his spear, the tip of the weapon aimed straight for Cardin's chest. The hulking teen felt the tip being repelled by his armor and Aura as he stumbled back a foot or two.

Edward had steam coming from his ears and fire spewing from his mouth. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT THEY USE FLOSS AS ROPE?!"

Cardin did his best to block the wild lunges. "I didn't even say all of that, you spastic!"

"THAT BETTER NOT BE ANOTHER WORD FOR 'SHORT', OTHERWISE YOU'RE DEAD!"

Along the sidelines of the ensuing fight, Goodwitch groaned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. When she got up this morning, she would have never foreseen such events happening. A sixteen year old boy and his younger brother being enrolled as students a semester late and having one of those siblings, the most volatile one, picking a fight with one of the biggest students of the freshmen class.

She understood why this happened, though. She had heard enough from the cafeteria staff complaining about a fight between a couple of students. They did not see who they were, but the professor had a sneaking suspicion that Edward and Team CRDL was at fault.

Edward swept his spear at Cardin's legs. Just as he thought, Cardin was barely able to jump over it. The armor was too heavy. It would have taken some preparation and a running head start to get above ground.

Without skipping a beat, Ed spun on his heels and kicked upwards, hitting Cardin's chin with his heel. The resulting kick was so forceful, it sent the teen, weapon and armor, a good two feet into the air. A ridiculous feat, but Edward was strong enough to bully around the occasional chimera, so this wasn't much of a problem.

Cardin flew back and crashed onto the ground. He loved his armor and weapon, but sometimes he hated how it was so heavy at some points. Especially now.

Cardin felt something sharp poke his neck. He looked up to see a triumphant blonde staring at him with a wolfish smile gracing his lips.

Ed smiled. That was way easier than expected. "I guess I win. Give it up, you're beat."

Cardin gulped, feeling the tip of the spear ride along his Adam's apple. He spared a glance at the screen above him. Was he really beaten that easily?

Ed stiffened as he saw Cardin smile, his eyes trained on something behind him. "What's so funny, you jackass?"

Cardin trained his eyes on golden ones. "Forgot the rules, shorty? My Aura's not completely gone yet!"

As he said this, his hand inched towards the handle of his mace. He gripped the cool leather on the handle and felt for a button with his fingers.

Ed paled and raised his spear up, presumably to try and shave off as much Aura as possible.

Too slow. Cardin quickly grabbed his mace and swung it as fast as he could at the teen. He was sure Goodwitch would throw a fit, but he didn't care. If he got in trouble, he could play it off as getting caught in the heat of the moment.

And it didn't really matter, did it? After all, that brat had an Aura to protect himself with. He didn't know why Goodwitch wasn't able to show the Aura meter on screen, but she couldn't complain if he roughed him up a little, right?

The alchemist saw the incoming attack and raised his spear to block the head. If he could block the gigantic weapon, he could do it again. But why was the red crystal at the end glowing?

CRACK

Ed's eyes widened as the spear snapped in two, sending metal splinters flying everywhere. The resulting shards flew across the arena, sending it towards the blonde professor, who had the quick wits to grab her weapon and halt them in midair with her Semblance.

But Ed didn't notice that. He was too busy trying to stay alive. Cardin had gotten to his feet and brandished the weapon wildly, not worried in the slightest. Without that weapon of his, the blondie couldn't block his attacks anymore.

Ed threw down his shattered weapon and got into a fighting stance. Back to fighting a heavily armored being with fists again. At least he was better with his own two hands than a weapon. He was able to handle a spear just fine, but nothing beat the feeling of beating up a jerk with nothing but his fists.

The only concern was his right arm. The recently restored limb was weaker than he would have liked. After all, it had spent years in Truth's messed up world, and was extremely malnourished. It was barely noticeable though. The sleeve of the grey Beacon shirt he was wearing covered his arm, making it look like it was normal.

Ed changed position to keep his right arm closer to his chest and his left hand in front of him. He eyed his opponent warily, reading every move he made.

He noticed the professor about to step onto the arena floor. Her mouth was just about to open, no doubt trying to end the fight before it escalated beyond her jurisdiction.

Edward stared back with as much intensity as he could muster. I'm fine. Don't interfere.

Goodwitch faltered and stopped, one of her feet on the arena floor.

"What does he think he's doing?" whispered Jaune, "He doesn't have a weapon! He's gonna be crushed!"

Blake spoke up, her amber eyes trained intensely on Ed, who went back to circling Cardin. "I don't know. Why is the professor not stopping the fight?"

Yang, on the other hand, cheered loudly. "Beat Cardin into the ground, Ed!"

Edward heard these cries and murmuring concerns, but he didn't care. At the moment, all that mattered was the fight between him and the bully.

And a fist fight shouldn't take too long to finish. He did use train with his brother, who for most of his life was trapped in a suit of armor, so fighting an even slower version of Alphonse should be a walk in the park.

The only other concern was the weapon. The blonde's golden eyes stared down at the glittering red crystal on top of the mace. If it was just the mace itself he would have been fine. But that thing was able to snap steel reinforced with carbon in a single hit.

He was curious about the stone. It looked so much like a Philosopher's Stone, it was scary. But it didn't have that ominous feel to it, so it must have been something else. Another high tech machine? He would have to ask Ruby later.

There was no way that thing could have broken through Greed's Ultimate Shield, though. What Edward did was just a cheap copy that he thought would be more than enough to finish the fight. It seemed he was mistaken.

Cardin smirked and flourished his mace. "Since Professor isn't calling time, I guess we're good to keep fighting. Do you really think you stand a chance with me and my weapon, though? Might as well call quits while you still have a head on."

Edward said nothing but his golden eyes flashed dangerously.

Cardin took this as a sign of aggression and charged forward once more, bringing his mace up above his head. He brought it down with a thundering roar, pressing the trigger as he did so.

He wasn't too worried about mortally hurting the blondie. The Burn Dust was brutal, but it would only shave off around 25% of an average Hunter's Aura.

Ed leaped backwards, almost gasping in shock as the ground where the mace hit suddenly exploded, sending chunks of metal everywhere. The alchemist landed on his feet. "What the hell is in that thing?"

"Playing stupid isn't gonna make me pull my punches!"

Cardin bashed his mace at Edward again, trying desperately to land a good hit. One good hit would knock the bastard off his high horse and ruin his image in this school forever.

Ed kept weaving around the weapon, scanning for any openings. He landed a couple of quick punches and kicks where the armor didn't protect his body, slowly whittling away at the huge teen's Aura. It was down to around a fourth. Good progress.

Cardin was fuming. He didn't land a single hit on the blonde at all. It was like trying to swat at a fly. The only difference was the fly didn't occasionally make jeering comments and whittle away his Aura.

The orange-haired teen retreated to the far end of the arena, aware of the many eyes on him. To the observer, it looked like he was scared and backing into a corner. But then he started running.

He ran for a good 10 feet before launching high up into the air with the help of Aura enforced legs and crashed his weapon onto the ground, shattering it and sending cracks everywhere. The resulting miniature earthquake was enough to trip the alchemist. Edward clearly didn't anticipate a hulking teen with equally heavy armor and a weapon to leap a good fifteen feet into the air.

Just what kind of messed up world was he in?

Cardin took advantage of this stumble and rushed forward, swinging his mace forward. He had to make this last swing count. He was barely above the red in his Aura meter. If the runt landed even one more hit, the fight would be over and he would lose.

Ed flipped on his hands and launched himself upwards. If that mace hit him, he had no doubt that it would seriously mess him up. And that trajectory and speed of the mace didn't look too good. The only choice was to…

CRUNCH

The mace impacted against the alchemist's leg, twisting it at an unnatural angle at an almost 45 degree angle.

Cardin faltered a bit. Was this kid's Aura gone already? How was that possible? He didn't land a single good hit on him today!

The crowd gasped and some screamed. Only Ruby didn't look too concerned. She knew the leg that was hit. She saw it just last night after all. Even if it was broken, she already finished the replacement leg in the morning.

The crowd waited for Ed to start screaming in pain. He should have. Twisted and possibly broken legs didn't come without a huge amount of agony.

But he did nothing of the sort. Instead, Edward landed on his one good leg and launched towards the stunned teen, fire coming from his eyes and filled with murderous anger.

He docked the orange-haired teen in the face, knocking him cold. The bar on the Aura meter dropped to five. The teen was out of commission.

Coincidentally, so was Edward. His legs gave out under him and he fell to the floor, an annoyed frown upon his face. "Godamn stupid ass weapons. What the hell kind of school teaches crap like this? Chemistry and history is what they should be learning, not blowing people's heads off with a hug ass mace."

He saw some heeled feet enter his vision. "Are you alright, Mr. Elric?"

He waved the concerned blonde off. He knew full and well that Goodwitch knew about his metal leg. He wasn't sure if she knew which leg, explaining her deep concern.

Goodwitch understood immediately and nodded slightly. She turned back to the crowd, who had been on the edge of their seats, looking down with looks of concern on their faces.

"Team RWBY, if you can please escort Mr. Elric to the infirmary? Team CRDL, please help your leader back into his seat. From what I can see, he only has a mild concussion. He'll be fine in a few minutes."

She glanced back down at the alchemist, who was poking his leg, a forlorn look upon his face. "And Mr. Elric?"

He looked up.

"In the future, when I am about to call time, do not keep fighting. I didn't stop because I had faith in your skills, but do not think you will be so lucky next time. Understood?"

Her burning eyes pierced straight through Edward, who shivered in fear. This woman was pretty much Hawkeye, right down to the blonde hair and deadly serious look in the eyes.

He felt a strong arm pull him up by the shoulder. "Jeez, you sure you're ok? That looks pretty bad…" Yang said, her lilac eyes filled with concern.

Blake and Weiss stepped down, closely followed by Ruby. "You must be in shock; we have to get you to the infirmary as soon as possible!" Weiss said.

Ruby was just about to zoom past, ready to help Edward up, until she felt cool fingers lightly grab her arm. She turned to face the impassive face of Goodwitch.

Her team and Edward looked on with confusion as Goodwitch muttered something to Ruby, who nodded and whispered back.

Glynda let go to go back to her Scroll, and Ruby skipped over, her silver eyes twinkling with mirth. "Come on guys, let's get out of here!"

"Why are you so happy about this?" Weiss snapped. "Edward clearly has a severely broken leg! From the damage it looks like his fibula and tibia are completely shattered! He may never walk again!"

Edward scoffed, bringing their attention to him. "Like that's gonna stop me."

He felt another arm lift him up. Blake had strength that belied her looks. "You think this is something to joke about? Oum, let's just get to the infirmary."

They burst past the double doors leading to the exit. Blake and Yang half carried, half dragged Edward off to the left, who was clearly not enjoying himself. He noticed to his eternal chagrin that Blake and Yang were a little taller than he was, so his unbroken leg dangled off the ground.

"No wait, guys! We have to take a right!"

Weiss looked back. "What are you talking about? The infirmary is this way! The right is the weapons armory."

Ruby heard Edward sigh. "For God's sake, should I just tell them, Ruby?"

Ruby shrugged. "I mean, if you want. Try not to freak them out too much."

Blake, Yang, and Weiss glanced at each other in confusion. Show them what?

The alchemist struggled to reach down to his pants leg, his broken automail sending slight tinkling noises, like he had some bells and coins in his pocket.

Blake gasped in horror. Weiss just stared, her surprise only indicated by a slight widening of her blue eyes. Yang cursed under her breath. "Language!" yelled Ruby.

Several gears and wires fell to the ground. "Thank god Winry isn't here, she would kill me and then figure out how to do human transmutation to revive me just to kill me again."

Blake bent down and gingerly grabbed the metal prosthetic, noticing how Edward didn't seem to care in the slightest. "What happened to you?"

Edward waved off the question. "Does it matter? Right now all I care about is fixing this thing." He glanced back at Ruby. "How long until the leg is done?"

Ruby flashed a smug grin and a thumb up. "Already finished this morning! All it needs is a cool looking paint job, but I'll leave that up to you to finish."

Yang turned to her little sister. "You already knew about this?"

"Well duh. How do you expect that I knew Edward since this morning?"

"Anyway," Edward interrupted, "Let's just get to the infirmary. I'm guessing Professor Goodwitch already told you about what to do?"

A nod.

"Alright, let's get going. I would walk there myself, but I think I might need some help from one of you guys."

Blake and Yang made a movement to grab his shoulders again. Edward stuck a hand out, halting them in their steps. "Only one of you. I don't want to be dragged all the way there."

Yang easily volunteered, having gotten over her initial shock fairly quickly. Prosthetics were fairly not that uncommon, so this shouldn't be that big of a surprise to her.

Blake stayed behind to pick up any trailing gears and wires. He could use them for later.

Ruby took point and led them away, babbling about how cool she made the leg and how strong it was and how much Edward was gonna love it.

Weiss glanced down at Edward's feet. She tried to wonder how long the prosthetic was. From the angle of the broken leg, it looked like the injury extended past his knee, maybe somewhere around the middle of the thigh.

She looked back up. First your emaciated brother and now this? What in Oum's name happened to you two?

Team RWBY's heads were brimming with all kinds of questions. Where did he come from? How did he and Alphonse sustain such tragic injuries? Who were they?

But they held their tongues. It was rude to poke into someone's history, after all. Edward would tell them if he wanted to. Common courtesy and all that.

[-]

Ozpin smiled as he received a message on his Scroll from Glynda saying that young Mr. Elric was off to get a replacement leg.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Maybe he could get someone to see about those metal bits sticking out of his shoulder. He needed to keep his students healthy, after all.

He swiveled in his chair and sipped some coffee.

The boy and his brother was a mystery. They called their magic "Alchemy", and showed up out of nowhere, clearly battered and bruised from what looked to be an intense fight.

Who were they? How did they get magic? Did they seek out the Maidens and steal some of their power?

He sincerely doubted that one, but the possibility was still there. If it could happen to Amber, it could happen to the others.

The locations of Spring, Summer, and Winter were unknown, but if they were somehow discovered and had power siphoned off of them into the boys…

He shook his head and sipped more coffee. Foolish thoughts. The boys were innocent. He could tell. He could always tell.

He picked up his Scroll and replayed the same footage from yesterday for the umpteenth time. His glasses reflected off the screen. "Who are you, Edward Elric?"

[-]

A storm was brewing. Not literally, mind you, but a storm, nonetheless. There was a faint presence in the air, one that reeked of malice and dread.

Far away from any sign of civilization lay an enormous plot of land, dotted with purple and black. The only source of light was the red sky above and the shattered moon.

And in that land was a lone castle, gnarled and twisted with vines and metal. It may have looked amazing, but it was long corrupted to have any sort of gleam to it. Instead it glowed. Not with warmth, but with a bitter cold.

Grimm emerged from the cesspools of black tar that dotted the landscape, all growling and their attention drawn to the castle itself. The Queen was preparing. For what, they didn't know, but they did know that it was evil. Mayhap more evil than any Grimm in history.

Salem smiled, her red eyes burning with pride as she looked down at her newest creation. Well, not really strictly her creation. After all, she had abused most of her power to draw sources of energy from small pockets of energy around the globe.

On the floor in front of her was a large circle, made perfect with lines of chalk. Several symbols were drawn in-between the lines.

An alchemic array.

And in that array was a lone figure, lying down on the cold stone floor, and stirring slightly as he started to wake.

Salem gently knelt down and lightly grasped the figure's shoulder.

She barely had time to yank her hand back as several shadowy spike jutted out from near the figure, nearly spearing through her arm. If she didn't know better, she would have assumed it was the figure's Semblance.

But she did know better. And no Semblance looked remotely sentient, if the sharp white teeth and red eyes were anything to go by.

The figure stood up, not even reaching past Salem's waist. Salem followed suit and stood up also, clasping her hands together. She smiled. This boy was powerful. Just what she needed to follow through with her plan.

Several disjointed voiced, a mix between child and adult reached her ears. "Who are you? Where am I?"

Salem bowed slightly. "My name is Salem, mother of all Grimm. You are currently in my castle. Do you remember anything about yourself, Homunculus?"

The figure stepped into the light of the many candle dotting the room. He opened his eyes, revealing a cruel glare from cold black eyes. The boy's face was childlike; innocent, even.

But Salem didn't trust that look for a single second. She knew his kind. How destructive and manipulative they were.

The sentient shadows around the boy swirled violently. The boy took another step forward, revealing a formal suit ad vest. Although it looked like he had recently been in a fight, seeing how torn up they were.

The boy glared up at the witch as the shadows made spiky formations, all aimed at this new threat. "It seems you are familiar with my kind…"

He gave a mock bow, making sure to never let his eyes leave her person. "My name is Pride, the first Homunculus. How did I get here? And don't lie. You don't know how badly it is going ot end for you if you do…"

The shadows swirled, inching ever so closer to Salem, who just smirked and gestured behind her. "Let us sit first. Then we can talk about business, Pride."

Yes, everything was going according to plan…

[-]

And I'm finally done. Wow, a whopping 13,000+ words, the most I've ever done! Take this chapter as an apology for the extra-long wait, I was pretty busy.

And yay, Pride is in here! And how you may ask? It's obvious it was Salem, but how did she manage it? Find out next time lol.

Before you guys rage about Salem and Pride "randomly" popping up, I did say that Truth wanted Edward to check out a disturbance that had Remnant's Truth worried, didn't I? So you can't really blame me.

And about that fight. I realize that Edward vs. Cardin wasn't as exciting as I hoped… Sorry about that…

Thing is, I don't really know how to make good fight scenes. If you guys can leave a PM or review on how much I can improve, please do so. You would help me out tremendously in the future.

So yeah, I seriously hoped you guys enjoyed, I had a very fun time writing this down.

Please feel free to drop a review and a favorite/follow.

Next chapter may take a while since I'm gonna update my other fic first before that. So I made this chapter really long to compensate (Sorry about that scare right before the fight was supposed to happen lol).

So yeah, I'll catch you all later! Have a great day!