WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL SHIT! It's been a while, hasn't it?! Oh man, I am just so sorry for the wait. Seriously, I am. I've just been busy with a crap ton of other stuff that I just completely lost track of where all the time was going. BUT! I'm happy to see so many people sending favorites and follows towards my story! So thanks a lot for that, everyone. Truly that means a lot to me. Honestly, it does. I never believed that any of my crossovers could get so popular, but here I stand with this particular crossover over 300 follows with only 7 chapters! AMAZING! Again, thank you so much, and stay tuned for another endorsement towards my stories, including a new one I recently wrote…

What?

…

OK! I said I was sorry about the long wait! Quit harassin' me!

…

Ok, I'll stop being weird now…

…No I won't.

Disclaimer: In the first chapter.

Outside the Beacon Cafeteria

The sun was slowly beginning to set as the students made their trek towards the cafeteria to confront the salmon-haired mysterious teen. Handfuls of footsteps quickly stomped on the concrete walkway that led towards the Huntsman school's lunch area. However, food wasn't on the mind of either of these children as they neared towards the cafeteria. No. Instead, numerous thoughts concerning the salmon-haired dragon slayer swam through the group of teenager's brains. Some being ones of curiosity; how could the boy do the things he did? Where had he learned such techniques? Was he born with them, or were they taught to him? And how did he get such toned abs with all the food he ate? So many important questions… Others, however, fell more into the realm of a sense of fear. Most were present when the boy lost his temper and lashed out rather harshly when it came to people questioning his past. So a repeat of those turn of events was not something most of them were yearning for. Unfortunately for them…

"Okay, I'm guessin' he got all his powers from murdering a bunch of Huntsman/Huntresses! Or or, he got them a bunch of Dust! OOOOOOOOOOO or, he was experimented on as a child, and from those experiments, he got a buttload of superpowers!" Nora thought out loud to herself, rubbing her chin as the salmon-haired boy stayed prevalent inside her mind as she walked with the group towards the cafeteria.

"Nora!" Ren shouted to her, causing her to throw her arms up in surprise.

"What? Are most of those too cliché?" The orange-haired Huntress replied, getting a nod of disapproval from her close friend/not boyfriend/soon-to-be boyfriend.

Ren sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in agonizing annoyance. "No, Nora, I didn't shout at you because most of those were cliché." 'Although most of them are.' "I yelled at you because I don't want you spouting stuff out like that when we get into the cafeteria. However Natsu gained his abilities is his own business, and nobody else's. So I want you to promise me you won't say anything like that to him, ok?" He asked his close friend/annoying pain in his backside.

"But-"

"Nora…"

Nora sighed as she stared into her crush's eyes and could see that he wouldn't budge on the issue. He was always such a buzzkill when he got that look in his eyes. "Fine!" She pouted, stomping loudly as they made their way towards the cafeteria.

Ren nodded, seeing his friend agree with him. Although, he was ashamed to admit that a small part of him wanted his over eager friend to get the better of him in this argument. There was just so much mystery surrounding the salmon-haired boy and his strange powers that a part of him wanted to unravel. Still though, the stoic teen kept his composure and walked calmly along with his pouting pain in the backside beside him.

Most of the others just stared at the two with ranging looks from confusion to straight indifference. Finally, the group had reached the cafeteria after what felt like nearly a year and looked to see, strangely enough, Natsu once again eating heavily, with numerous bruises covering his body, next to a still embarrassed Weiss who had her eyes closed and arms crossed while, also strangely enough, sitting next to her apparent archenemy/possible romance option. Instantly, the boy's head rose as he sniffed the air and waved them over to the two's table. As the group began to walk over, they saw the fire mage offer up a piece of his own biscuit from the mountain of food covering his tray to the frowning ice queen and watched her move her head away from the piece, refusing it. However, as the group reached the table and took their respective seats (Yang beating out Ruby to take the other seat next to Natsu, which caused her to pinch her older sister's side in irritation, and took the seat next to Weiss/her soon-to-be bestie, Blake took the spot next to Yang, and the JNPR crew to take the other side of the table) a sudden growl emanated from a mysterious point of origin. Simultaneously, the entire cast pinpointed the origin and lowered their eyes to Weiss' apparent empty stomach.

Natsu grinned devilishly, offering up the piece of biscuit back up to the Schnee-devil, "So-"

"Shut up!" Weiss growled towards the grinning dragon slayer, quickly taking the piece of food and softly began nibbling on it.

The dragon slayer chuckled to himself seeing the oddly cute scene and turned to his friends. "Heya guys! It's been so long since we've been seen each other, huh?"

"But…we just saw you not even ten minutes ago." Blake raised her eyebrow at the odd comment.

Natsu shrugged nonchalantly, "Yeah, but it feels longer, y'know? Kinda feels like it's been almost a year…"

Ruby teetered her head side to side as she thought to herself. "Yeah…kinda does, huh?"

Suddenly, a pair of overexcited hands slammed down onto the table, causing several of the students to jump up in surprise. They suddenly turned to see a frowning Nora staring at the grinning salmon-haired Huntsman. "Enough stallin', you damn…uh…Staller! Tell us your secrets!"

"Nora! What did I just say?!" Ren shouted to her, outraged, while at the same time, unsurprised to see his friend utterly ignoring his words to her not even ten minutes ago.

"…I have a secret?" Natsu asked, his eyebrow raised. He snickered to himself, "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Nora quickly slammed her palms back down on the table, causing several of the students to jump up again. "No more jokes, you…uh…" The hammer wielding Huntress suddenly stopped her sudden interrogation and began scratching her head as she began mumbling to herself.

"What's happening?" Pyrrha whispered to Ren in the hopes of gaining some insight into their very strange comrade.

Ren merely sighed. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"The short version pleeeeeeeeeease! I've been holding it in since we left the cafeteria!" Jaune whined, tapping his feet rapidly as he fought to hold in the impending urine accident if he so much as blinked wrong. Unbeknownst to the boy however, a certain mischievous dragon slayer immediately perked up at hearing the blonde teen's problem and quickly began forming devious little plan inside of his mind.

"…Why don't you just go now, idiot?" Weiss asked, giving him a 'what the hell is wrong with you' face.

"Hey." Natsu growled, looking at the white-haired girl through his peripheral vision. Hearing the seriousness in his voice, the Schnee apologized to the dorky Huntsman, getting a smile from the dragon slayer. "Go on, Ren." He motioned towards the Chinese teen.

"The mercifully short version: She's thinking of a word to continue her interrogation." He said, shaking his head.

"Haha what? Seriously?" Ruby laughed. "Yo, Nora! Hello!" The giddy girl yipped towards the head-scratching Nora, whom was still frozen and searching her mind for the right word to continue.

"Is there any logistical reason as to why she does this? I don't even understand why she's yelling at this stupid, dumb, idiot, dolt." Weiss replied, while pointing towards the salmon-haired boy.

"You know, it's stuff like that that allows him to keep teasing you." Blake said, a small smile twitching at seeing the frustrated blushing face on the Schnee's face.

"Shut up! Grrrrrr! I keep telling everyone that I do-"

"Quiet, my future wife/love slave/just kidding because I respect all women! What the heck is going on here?" Natsu covered the Glyph-using Huntress' mouth and asked the group, getting several of the teens to awkwardly whistle as they looked as far away as from the dragon slayer as they could. "Yang?" The dragon slayer whispered, giving the blonde a raised eyebrow.

"Jokester?" Yang said with a shrug, allowing Nora to suddenly awaken from her odd frozen state.

"YEAH! Jokester! I knew there was a word for a person who made jokes a lot! Alright now-…why is everyone looking at me weirdly?" Nora asked, getting deadpan looks from everyone at the table.

"Nora, seeing as how everyone suddenly lost their freaking voice and won't answer my simple question, I ask you, you crazy loon, what the hell is going on here?!" The fire wizard yelled at the loon, suddenly getting a pointed finger thrust in front of his face.

"You're not normal!" The teal eyed girl shouted.

"Well, glad to see you've managed to debunk that mystery. What gave it away? My hair, my sense of humor, my powers-"

"Powers!"

"Powers."

"You freaking heal!"

"Your abilities."

"Your powers are strange."

"I mean, you're hair-I mean, powers!"

Natsu just stared blankly forward for a while. "Uh huh…I see." The boy stayed silent as the rest of the teens just stared at him awkwardly and waited for him to say anything.

"Uh…Natsu?" Pyrrha called to the silent, blankly staring teen.

"…I guess I can't hide it anymore, can I?" Natsu whispered to himself, his hair covering his eyes, getting the teen's attention.

"W-What?" Several of the Huntsman's/Huntresses' uttered out.

The dragon slayer nodded. "Yeah…you guys are smart. I never thought my secret would be found out by a bunch of snot nose brats like yourself. Yes…I have a secret." He whispered, a growl emanating from the recesses of his throat. The boy folded his hands in front of his face as he closed his eyes.

"N-Natsu…you're scaring me." Ruby whimpered, grabbing ahold of her older sister's arm in fear.

"Yeah…c'mon, Natsu, q-quit fooling around." Jaune chuckled, getting Natsu to open one eye that glared straight through him, a glare that a predator gave to its prey before lunging for the kill. 'Okay…nightmares…I'm gonna have soooooooooooo many nightmares.' The frightened teenager whimpered, his hold on his bladder slowly beginning to wane from the salmon-haired teen's monster-like glare.

"I have a secret." Natsu whispered, staring at each of the shaking teens as his glare moved from one teen to the next, getting a gleeful amount from the fear on their faces. "Do you want to know my secret? For you see, if my secret were to be uttered, a thousand curses would befall not only you, but everyone in this school. Curses that will haunt you forever…will stain your very soul and keep you from everything you've ever wanted! Is this what you peasants want?!"

"No-" Jaune began before Nora quickly interrupted.

"YESS!"

A chuckle echoed throughout the cafeteria from the salmon-haired teen, quickly growing into a malevolent evil laugh of sorts. A laugh that quickly caused one of the teens to lose control of their body and well…let's just say that mistakes were made and Jaune would never wear this set of pants again. "HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! You fools! Now you've done it! Now I'll tell you my secret! A secret, that when uttered, will make you pee your pants, just like Jaune has!"

"EWWW! Are you serious!" The Schnee heiress cried out, scooting as far away from the blonde Huntsman as possible.

"WHAT?! N-No, i-it's my juice! Yeah, my juice! I-I didn't-w-what?! P-P-Pee my pants?! What no way! I'd never do that! I haven't done that since prescho-NEVER! I've never done that! NOPE! Nu-uh!" Jaune exclaimed, making various hand motions that signaled that he did NOT pee his pants…even though everyone knew he did. "Never…now, if you excuse me…I have to go…change my clothes because…reasons." He said, quickly running away from the group while covering the very comically large stain on his jeans with a tray he stole from another group's table.

A laugh then caught the group's ears as they slowly turned to see Natsu covering his mouth, trying with all his might to contain his laughs from the poor lanky Huntsman's motions as he tried desperately to exit the cafeteria before anyone else noticed his "accident." Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he quickly cleared his throat. "S-So be it! You've all b-be-haha-en warned! N-haha-Now I-I…I-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you see his face?! 'I-It's my juice!' HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA! Oh my gosh! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The dragon slayer bellowed with laughter, falling out of his seat and rolled to the ground with his excessive fits of merriment from his charade.

Yang was the first to connect the dots and quickly began joining the boy in laughter. "Oh my gosh! You're such a dick! Hahahahaha!"

The rest of the other's just looked at the two with strange looks before Nora suddenly burst out in laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA! Jaune peed his…HAHAHAHAHA! B-Because Natsu-HAHAHHAHAHA!"

Blake merely stared at the three's strange behavior before her eyes widened and a quiet snicker came out from her mouth. "Wow…I can't believe you did that."

"WHAT! What the heck is so funny! I mean, sure Jaune peed his…OH! Hahahahahaha! …I don't get it." Ruby muttered, scratching her head in confusion.

Yang, wiping the tears from her eyes, shook her head and patted her younger sister's head as she explained, "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Oh what am I going to do with you, my sweet innocent younger sister. What does Natsu love doing more than fighting?"

The scythe-wielding girl scrunched up her face as she began thinking. "Hmm…eating Pyrrha?" The girl said, causing many of the people around to spit out whatever food or liquid they had in their mouths.

"RUBY, NO!" Yang screamed out towards her little sister.

"What? I heard them say it in the locker room! We all did!" Ruby shouted back, causing many of her friends to either laugh, blush (mainly Pyrrha), or scratch their heads in awkwardness.

Natsu slammed his hands on the table, "I already said I meant that…I didn't…it was cereal!"

Nora said, giving the dragon slayer a cheeky smile "Really?"

"YES!" Natsu responded with a growl.

'*sigh* I probably should be bewildered and shocked by what I'm witnessing before me…then I realize who made me this immune to crazy….' Ren thought to himself, looking towards the crazily cheering Nora. "ALRIGHT!" The dual gun wielding teen yelled, causing the rest of the teen's to stop their bickering and gained their attention. His eyes then focused on the dragon slayer. "Natsu, I don't know how you did it, but you somehow managed to deflect any and all questions we all initially had for you before we all came to talk to you. Whether that was your intention or not matters not, what does is this. We don't know you. What I mean by that is this, you have strange abilities, as do we all, but yet you contain not just one Semblance, but several; the ability to wield fire and electricity, while also somehow retaining a healing factor? Impossible. I've never heard or seen a Huntsman or a Huntress who was capable of this. If I have, I've scoffed at that impossible scenario. Yet, here I stand, in the presence of a boy, near my own age, who meets those criteria. I'm…I'm baffled to say the least and I want to know more..." His eyes stayed focused on the dragon slayer, noting the grin on the salmon-haired boy slowly wane, before his face rectified it and grew back to its normal length, as if it was programmed to look humorous at all times. Most of the others looked to Ren only to trail back to Natsu, who gave them a shrug.

"Fine, I'll tell ya. I come from a land down under, where women grow and men plunder." Natsu laughed, causing most of the teens to sigh at another of the boy's jokes.

"C'mon, Natsu! Just tell us! We're you're friends, right!" Ruby pouted at the boy, causing him to roll his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes! I thought you cared all about friendship and all that! You've always lectured Yang and I about how you should always be honest and loyal towards your friends. So why won't you be honest now!"

The dragon slayer's smile then began to fall at the young girl's words. She was right…but…NO! He couldn't…how could they…they'd never believe him. He didn't want them to believe him…they'd never look at him the same way. Here he was…he was so close…SO DAMN CLOSE! Finally he'd be able to throw away his loneliness and surround himself with friends…people he could trust. Who he'd give his life for! Just like…just like before. His eyes began to grow serious and hardened as his thoughts moved to darker places, getting most of the teen's attention. Pyrrha was the first to speak up for him, "Wait, Ruby. P-Perhaps we should let Natsu's past…well, stay the past. After all some of us just met him and…well, we have no right to ask him if he doesn't wish to speak of it." A small sigh of content came out through Natsu's mouth after hearing those words. At least one of them was more understanding than Ruby. Although, he couldn't blame his young friend. How could he? His powers were far different than the people in this place, so how could he lay any blame on people who were confused and wary? Especially if some were his close friends, and hopefully soon to be close friends. Still, this was something he couldn't talk about with anyone. The pain…the agonizing torture of having to suffer his special fate bestowed upon him through trifecta of his brother's supposed love for him, a true monster's hatred for humanity, and his own arrogance in his beliefs. He couldn't…because having to relive his memories even through words…

…he'd rather die.

"Look…" He whispered, getting the teens' attention. "I know…I know some of you are confused and probably suspicious. But, just trust me. My powers aren't dangerous to you, and they never will be. I use them just like any one of you; to protect and defend. I…I won't ever use those abilities for anyone else…" He stopped, his voice dying in his throat. A black-haired girl appeared in his head. 'No…she's gone…let her rest...' Several other faces appeared inside his head; a blonde-haired woman smiling kindly, a black-haired man grinning cockily, a petite blue-haired girl waving, a white-haired cat fighting back a smirk as a blue-haired cat offered up several fish to her, and a beautiful scarlet-haired angel wielding a sword in her hand…a fighter…to the bitter end. '…Let them all rest… Natsu stopped himself, clearing his throat loudly. "I just…don't wanna talk about it, okay? I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Blake quickly cut him off, getting the group's attention, causing the girl to slightly blush from the attention. "D-Don't be mistaken. I-I could care less about whatever is bothering you." She said, crossing her arms and made sure to avoid any eye contact, lest her eyes give her away. "…It's just….I agree. The past…should stay just that. The past, nothing more." To say everyone was shocked twice now was another understatement. The gothic teen was straight up winner for being the person to talk the least amongst everyone inside the group; only usually speaking when spoken too or to give a sarcastic retort (mostly to a certain Schnee heiress). But now, here she was, partially defending Natsu's agonized response to the questions of his past, and sticking up for him. It was…honestly a little heartwarming, especially in the dragon slayer's eyes. The two had barely shared any words with one another, yet, the amber-eyed teen seemed sympathetic to his words, almost as if…she shared a similar kind of torment?

'No, that couldn't…could it?'

Natsu stopped the thought before it could stray any further. It all must've just been his imagination. "…Thanks." He muttered, a small smile peeking through the edges of his mouth. Several of the teens blew out a sigh of relief seeing as how most of them were in fear the boy would hold a serious grudge over them for what they had almost made him share. Still though, there was so much secrecy revolving around the boy and what he could do. They were ashamed to admit that there was still a sense of wariness that hovered over their feelings for the salmon-haired Huntsman, but none held their own grudge against him. Just like them, he was entitled to hold secrets close to his heart, regardless of how they all felt about the situation. Besides, Natsu had promised to use his powers to protect, and right now, that was perfectly acceptable in the teen's eyes. Wariness aside, the boy was one of their comrades; someone who would be at their side in battle, through thick and thin, and to be perfectly honest, they'd rather have someone with incredible powers on their side against the Grimm than have him as their enemy. The dragon slayer could see the group of teens begin to relax after his words, along with the slight amount of woe at failing to decipher just how he did what he did. But he could live with that. It saddened him to keep his comrades in the dark, but he had to. If they knew what had happened to him…how he got to where he was today, they'd never look at him the same. He'd be alone again…and feeling alone was the worst feeling in existence. Still, the salmon-haired mage wanted to at least somewhat rectify some of the hurt feelings that his friends may have been feeling. "Believe me, it's not that I don't trust you. Quite the opposite really. I like you guys…a lot surprisingly."

Yang snorted at that. "Gee thanks." Hearing the girl's words caused the fire-wielding Huntsman to smile, which caused the blonde-haired Huntress to feel slight delight at seeing her friend/crush/future hubbie slowly revert back to his jubilant natural self.

Natsu continued his thought, "Seriously, I like you. I want us all to be friends. I want us all to be able to do stupid shit, say stupid shit, and not feel judged about it, you know? I don't know about you guys…but I want that. Need that." His face then began to tighten. "But there are just things…that I have to keep beside me, only with me. And it's not a matter of trust. It's just something that I…" The boy stopped, his eyes falling downwards to stare at the table. "It's something that I need to atone for. And maybe…just maybe, through this school, I can do it. I don't…I don't know if any of you have ever felt like this, but if you have, then you know why I just can't. And if you never have, then I pray you never will. But like I said, regardless, I will fight…for all of you. You have my word." A stare of determination formed through the dragon slayer's words, strangely filling the group of Huntsman/Huntresses with a sense of security. Smiles began to form across the teens' faces at seeing the boy begin to come back to his usual self and-

"*sniff* *sniff*" Weiss sniffled, taking out a handkerchief from…one of her skirt pockets?

"Weiss, are you…crying?" Pyrrha asked, concerned for the white-haired heiress.

"N-No, I'm not crying from that dolt's speech." She said, her eyes runny and red as she blew her nose into her handkerchief loudly. "N-Not even close." Suddenly, seeing the heiress, who always prided herself in being rather haughty and snooty, in a particularly embarrassing form immediately broke any outlying tension that hovered over the group, and was quickly replaced with loud bouts of vivacious laughter echoing the practically empty cafeteria. Hearing her annoying comrade's amusement at her humiliating appearance caused her to blush and cover her face by pushing her face onto the table and covering it with her arms.

"Hahaha-oh my gosh-hahaha oh I really needed that!" Natsu bellowed, wiping his own tears from his eyes. As he did, his smile grew as he saw his new, as well as old, friends joining him in his jubilance. Seeing all it around him filled him with a rather melancholic feeling, but quickly pushed it away before it took him over once more. With a smile as warm as the sun, the fire wizard patted the blushing Schnee atop her white-haired head. "Who'd a thunk ol' grumpy heiress girl would've been the one to erase all the rotten tension covering us, huh?"

Ruby snickered at his comment. "Tell me about it. Usually she's the one to cause it."

Weiss was quick to take offense, as always. "Oh shut up! It's not my fault I'm surrounded by knuckle-draggers like you!" She argued back, getting Ruby to push up against her forehead to forehead.

"Oh yeah! Well you're a…a…"

"Oh what? A spoon, Ruby?"

"*Gasp* How did you know I was gonna say that?!"

"Ugh, you're such an idiot!"

Everyone took a collective sigh as they watched the two bicker back and forth, certainly lacking any sense of sexual tension, unlike a certain dragon slayer and haughty heiress. The crew then took a look outside the windows to see the sun steadily lowering, signaling that daylight was ending and soon darkness would befall soon enough. Seeing that, the group quickly pulled the bickering teenagers aside and dragged them each towards their respective room; Yang in charge of Ruby, and Blake in charge of Weiss (to each's dismay). As everyone began to exit the cafeteria, Natsu was strangely pulled aside by someone he never thought to expect. "Nora? What the heck was that for?" He asked, surprised to see an expression of what seemed like guilt across her face. His eyes then caught sight of Ren slightly behind her with his arms crossed with his own guilty expression.

Ren was the first to speak. "I…well we just wanted to both apologize to you, Natsu. I knew I shouldn't have budged on the issue of your past…but I let my curiosity gain the better of me, and through it, hurt you. Please accept my apologies." He apologized, bowing towards the surprised dragon slayer.

Nora quickly followed suit. "Y-Yeah! Listen, I know I fool around a lot, but making people sad is definitely NOT something I wanna do, ya know? I've got enough bad karma on my plate, so you better accept my apology, ok?" She said, pointing with a smile on her face.

"Nora!" Ren growled, angry at Nora letting her manic tendencies to ruin what was supposed to be a heartfelt apology.

"What?" The teal-eyed girl shrugged, surprised to see her friend so angry with her. She meant every word of her apology after all!

Fortunately, those two just so happened to be dealing with a rather unusual boy. "Wow, you two really are polar opposites, huh?" Natsu grinned, seeing the two quickly back off the other at hearing the boy speak. "It's alright. Really it is. Like I said before, I know why you all got all curious and stuff. It'd be hard not too considering how much I can do and I should've readied myself for this…but there are just some stuff you can't ever be ready for, you know?" The salmon-haired boy said with a somber grin and a shrug.

Unbeknownst to the boy however, the two did know what it was like to suffer from a horrifying past. A past that even to this day still haunted them, one event in particular. An event that continued to drive them to this day; to be the best Huntsman/Huntresses their abilities could take them to. 'To avenge the fallen…' A dark thought entered into the Chinese teen's mind as he thanked Natsu for accepting their apologies. Afterwards the three continued their trek towards their various bedrooms with heavy hearts and clouded minds.

As the four beautiful Huntresses along with their handsome Huntsman entered their room, a yawn escaped their mouths, realizing that the day had nearly reached the end and all that was left to do was to close their eyes and rest for the next day. Unfortunately, for a certain dragon slayer, he knew his body would refuse to sleep tonight. The memories inside his head, memories that he wished desperately he could forget all together, would haunt his dreams tonight if he so much as gave away slightly into Morpheus' grasp. Quickly, the salmon-haired Huntsman began to depart from his shared room, but before he could, a voice stopped his trek.

"And where do you think you're going?" Weiss asked with a suspicious look, already changed into her satin bluish-white pajamas.

"Yeah, it's bedtime, Natsu. Aren't you tired?" Ruby was quick to hop onto Weiss' question, even though the scythe-wielding girl's question was out of more concern as opposed to the heiress' being more suspicious.

A sigh escaped the fire mage's mouth as his grip on the doorknob tightened, nearly breaking it off the door. "I am…and I'm not. I just…I just want to be alone for a while, ok?" His response was curt and quiet, which surprised both Ruby and Yang. Usually, the boy would give a sarcastic or witty response whenever the two would ask him where he would go in the night back when they all hung out in Patch. But this time there was no sarcasm, no wink, no joking smile. All there was just…a boy. A tired and melancholy boy. After he looked towards the girls, Natsu then departed from the room, leaving a room full of girls filled with diverse emotions concerning the dragon slayer and his behavior.

"Wow…" Yang muttered to herself, utterly shocked to see her friend still hung up on what was said during dinner time.

"I know…usually he'd be right back to his normal self, but…" The scythe-wielding girl stopped herself, lowering her head as she laid on her bed, concerned for her friend.

"So he's never been like this ever?" Weiss asked, torn between her somewhat concern for the boy and the slight suspicion she held.

The two sisters looked at one another and tried to piece just when they might have seen the boy resemble this type of behavior, and remembered when they had first met the pink-haired teen. "Well…I mean, he was like that for a while, but that was before we all got to know each other. He did seem kind of sad back then…" Ruby mumbled, her fear slowly eating away at her own jubilant persona.

Surprisingly though, both Yang and Ruby's fears were waylaid from the person they least expected it too once again. "He'll be fine." Blake said, flipping through another of her many novels she had brought along to the school in the hopes of preventing any conversation from being brought her way. Unfortunately for her, she just had to be roomed with two socialites, an introverted small girl, and a snobby heiress. To say she was annoyed was an understatement. Yet still, inside her beat a kind heart, something she was desperate to hide from anybody on account of herself being an introvert. All she wanted to do was to hide herself away and bury herself in her novels. Stories that could transport her away from the hell that was this world full of bigots and xenophobes that despised anything that had any type of animal appendages on their body. Alas, time and time again it was shown to the secret Faunus that something like that was impossible, and the real world would always find a way to drag her back into this hell. And here she was now, being dragged once again from another one of her novels just so she could placate two sniveling girls on behalf of the boy's apparent depression. But, like it was said before, inside her beat a kind heart, and even though it was buried underneath cynicism and aloofness, the Faunus could at the very least sympathize with whatever was bugging the strange salmon-haired teen. Blake looked up from her book to see the three other girls in the room staring at her and sighed to herself as she put the book down on the stand next to her bunk bed. "Look, all the guy wants is peace and quiet, ok? Is that so bad? Everyone needs that once in a while, and I'm sure you've all been like that once before, so why is it any different for him?" She asked the girls in front of her, glad to see that they seemed to be taking what she said now to heart. "Listen, I can see that you care for the guy-"

Weiss was quick to waylay that sentence before it was finished. "But I don-"

But Blake was two steps ahead of her. "Don't care? Yeah, sure. And the reason you're biting your nails now is because Daddy didn't send over your favorite manicurist with you."

A blush spread across the pale face of the Schnee heiress as she grit her teeth in frustration. "W-Well he didn't!" She yelled, getting the three other women to roll their eyes at the white-haired girl's retort.

"Whatever. You want to keep playing the snobby Ice Queen, go ahead. Be my guest." The amber-eyed girl replied with an uncaring shrug. "As for the fire-breather, leave him alone for the night. Let him sort out whatever is bugging him, and if he's still the same tomorrow, then it's a problem. But it's only your problem if he lets it be. He's obviously the kind of guy that wears his heart on his sleeve, and if he's holding something inside him that he's never told you, then obviously he feels it's something that he needs to deal with something on his own. And if he feels that way, then there is nothing-"

"I don't accept that!" Ruby interrupted. "We're…we're all supposed to be a team, right? Friends…friends are supposed to help each other when they're in need, and if we can't help the people closes to us, than there's no way we can ever hope to be Huntresses!"

Blake merely shook her head at the girl's retort. So naïve. Did she honestly think she could just change how someone felt just off her feelings alone? Pff, what bull. If that was the case, then the eight year old version of her would've already started the movement when she went to her first Faunus equality rally. Instead, what she was treated to was nothing but contempt and racial slurs. The amber-eyed girl still remembered where she had been hit when a rock was suddenly thrown at her face. She could still taste the blood falling onto her tongue as it dripped downwards from her forehead. "Get out of our town, you freaks!" They yelled at her, at her people. Feelings meant nothing to the world. It didn't care if you felt sad…felt alone…felt rejected. It merely laughed at you and your pain. And just when you felt like you found someone who promised to always protect you…to love you…he was just as bad as the person who threw that rock at you and called you a freak. "…Fine then. Do whatever the hell you want." She muttered, turning over in her bed and pulled the covers over her body, holing herself away once again…desperately hoping that it would be forever.

The rest of the girls looked at one another with various different expressions on their face and quickly departed to their beds wordlessly. Unknown to each of them, neither would fall asleep for some time, all simply lying wide awake as thoughts of their own pasts kept them from falling into a deep sleep. Even the JNPR teens were having their own troubles falling asleep, except for poor Jaune, whom was curled up inside his own bed, dreaming of not pissing his pants in front of everybody…only because he had forgotten his pants and was forced to give a 24-hour long presentation to Huntsmen/Huntresses and Grimm alike. As for the dragon slayer, the boy merely found a small tuft of grass to lay his head on as he stared up at the night sky, away from all the pressure the school was currently giving him. The school year hadn't even started, and yet, he was already contemplating whether to throw in the towel or not. 'Maybe this was all a mistake…maybe…maybe I should just go tell Ozpin I've had second thoughts. Heh, I'm sure Glynda would just fall hard for me leaving and I'm sure Ozpin wouldn't so much as bat an eyelash. What was I thinking? Coming to this school…what did I think was gonna happen? That everything would suddenly set into place and be hunky dory? That not a single soul would ask me about my past? Fuck, I'm such an idiot. Should've just stayed back in Patch and lived a normal life. Maybe…m-maybe…'

"Such a beautiful night for a stroll, isn't it, Mr. Dragneel?" A voice caught his attention, forcing Natsu out of his thoughts and to turn around to see-

"O-Ozpin?" He said, bewildered to see the headmaster of the school out and about so late in the night.

The headmaster smiled down at the boy, wearing a long green robe around his body, and strangely enough still carrying around a mug. "Do you mind if I take a seat near you?"

The boy merely shrugged. "It's a free country…I think." The teen said, getting a chuckle from the older man as he sat down next to the boy.

"Haha, yes I suppose it technically would be, if not for the bloodthirsty monsters that caused death and destruction, regardless of the consequences. Oh, and the Grimm too of course." Ozpin chuckled to himself, also getting a laugh from the salmon-haired teen as well.

"Hahahaha! Wow, never pegged you for a cynic. I should introduce you to Blake. I'm sure you'd both find some common ground somewhere in those mocking brains of yours." Natsu grinned, shaking his head at the concept at Blake and Ozpin forming a somewhat healthy friendship that was derived from holding a disparaging view of how the world worked.

Ozpin, however, shook his head. "I'm no cynic. Quite the opposite really. I'm a realist. I understand that humankind isn't as perfect as we'd all like ourselves to believe. Just ask any Faunus and they'll tell you." The aged man shook his head once again as he sipped from his mug of…whatever was in there. "Regardless of whether you're a Faunus or a human though, the real threat is out there. Waiting for us to slip up, if even for a moment, and then…well, I'm sure you've seen what the Grimm can do I'm sure." He said, staring at the boy, somewhat intently as if he was studying him for any sort of reaction, making the boy uncomfortable.

"…Well I mean, who hasn't?" Natsu shrugged, staring back at the headmaster, neither giving an inch in their stare-down.

It felt like forever before the aged headmaster dropped his stare and replaced it with his usual friendly smile. "Yes, I suppose we all have." He nodded, choosing to turn his head to look at the sky above them. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" Ozpin asked, asking the same question he had first asked the boy before taking a seat next to him.

The dragon slayer continued staring at the strange man sitting next to him. What was his deal? Why did he come out here? Was he watching him? Had he always been watching him? And if so…why? "Yeah…it's really beautiful."

Ozpin closed his eyes with a nod. "Yes. It would truly be a shame if these happy, peaceful nights would come to an end to only be replaced with more darkness, wouldn't you agree?"

"…Yes." Natsu agreed, understanding just what the headmaster was hinting at.

"Good." Ozpin nodded, letting out a yawn before standing back up. "If you'll excuse me, Mr. Dragneel, I believe it's time that each of us departs back to our room." He smiled down at the boy, getting a soft chuckle from the dragon slayer as a response.

"Yeah, yeah. Message received." The fire mage waved him off while picking himself up off of the ground.

"Well then, my work here is done. Pleasant dreams, Mr. Dragneel, and I look forward to seeing you and your friends improve in the coming years at this institution." The aged man said, giving the boy a nod before walking off. Before the boy could depart himself however, "And if you ever need someone to talk to…about anything, my door is always open to my students." He said, continuing his trek towards his own bedroom.

Natsu watched as the headmaster walked away, a small smile stretching across his lips. 'Right then…heh…he almost me reminded me of…' He stopped himself. This had to stop. Blake was right…the past was the past. Nothing could change it. All anybody could do would just be to move forward, and prevent the same mistakes from happening twice. That was all he could do. The dragon slayer took one last look at the night sky; the stars shining brightly with not one cloud blocking one from radiating its glow. Seeing that, Natsu closed his fist intently as he took a deep breath pushing himself down to the ground and continuing his training from the night prior. He couldn't give up. Not when he had people counting on him. After all, he had promised his friends that he would use his power to protect…and that included them. Regardless of whether how much he knew them, Natsu still felt like it was his duty to protect them. To keep them all shining amongst the darkness that threatened them, and in order to do that, the boy had to train. Train harder than he ever had. That way…

…that way he'd never lose anyone he loved again.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD THAT'S A WRAP! FINALLY! Holy hell! Did I take forever or what?! Hahahaha, shit, seriously, I'm sorry to all the people that kept hounding me and asking me just when the next chapter was gonna be out. It took me damn near almost a full year, but its back baby! Shit just tends to pile up on me, plus with all my other stories, I tend to have trouble deciding how much time I should put into each story. I mean, sometimes I just get a surge of inspiration to write something and I just completely throw all my other stories to the wayside. And I ask you forgiveness for that, as well as thank you for all the support and patience.

As for this story though, I'm sure most of you have noted my…well weird sense of humor for the characters and how they can say or do some…well crass things. But hey, they're teenager. Not just that, but teenagers who are also putting their lives on the line almost every day to fight dangerous creatures that could kill them! So, I could naturally see them (I.E. Natsu, Yang, Ruby, Nora, Sun, Neptune, and other people like them) having not a lot of reservations towards saying or doing those…well crass things. Obviously though, I'm not gonna have Pyrrha or Weiss start cussing people out and saying vulgar things, but in the rare occasion that I do, I promise it won't be as excessive as say Natsu or Nora.

Also, you can also see that Natsu isn't the only one holding back secrets of the past. As watchers of RWBY, I'm sure we know what's troubling them (aside from Natsu…ONLY I KNOW!...but you will too, don't worry! …unless you've already figured out, or at least think you have…if so, DAMN YOU! But if not…HAHAHAHAHAHA!), but it'll be some time before they really divulge anything, you know? Like Blake won't really get into that with the team until she runs away in like episode 10 I think it was in season 1. As for Nora and Ren, probably not gonna be till volume 4, but I'll still hint at their past. However, Yang will be sooner than those two though because I've got a little plan on slightly changing something that happened in her past. Be prepared for that! ;)

Anyways, if you liked this chapter than please leave a favorite, follow, and a REVIEW!