RWBY

The Strength Of Revenge

Volume 1 - Chapter 1 - Welcome To Beacon

An indescribable heat was hitting his skin, and a weird smell of a mix between burning cloth and wood wouldn't leave his nostrils. He could feel the tears in his eyes almost evaporate off of his cheeks because of the heat around him, and he was too afraid to open them. But even then, that hauntingly dark orange glow was still there, no matter how hard he shut his eyelids.

A gunshot. A whistle of an arrow. A scream in the distance that could make even the toughest soldier´s spine tingle. His skin began turning to goosebumps, and a seething feeling along his shoulder and upper arm was burning deep into his memory.

He finally managed to open his eyes, but to his shock, he didn't see the burning buildings that he had been surrounded by all this time. Instead, he saw a pair of dark glowing eyes staring back into his own, and he felt a scream build in his throat.

The monster attacked, and…

He yelped as he sat up in his bed, his heart beating frantically in his chest. He was back in his school dorm room, the same room that headmaster Ozpin had permitted him to have for himself in the first few days he would stay at Beacon. It had been that same dark dream again, every night lately. But the seething warmth in his arm from his dream had not disappeared, like it never did.

He looked up at his shoulder and traced his fingers over the dark scar that seemed to almost pulsate off of his skin, shaped like three claw marks that had slashed him, all the way from his right shoulder and down the right side of his chest. The scar had darkened to a dark black over time, and his touch over the scar made the burning sting, the scar having haunted him ever since he was little.

"God dammit…" He mumbled irritated, pulling his t-shirt back in place "Can I have some damn sleep for once?"

His lack of sleep lately had made him irritable, impatient and moody, which had also had an impact on his training. Why his scar was acting up now of all times, he was unsure, but he knew that whenever he would dream that horrible nightmare, the sizzling pain in his shoulder would be back.

"Let's hope it's just that once tonight" He mumbled as he pulled the sheets back over his head.

The grimm. A horrible monstrosity that roamed the lands of Remnant, with their only intention being to kill everything in sight. They were responsible for the most casualties in the country, and if it hadn't been for them, he would neither have that scar, nor that horrible dream.

"Whatever…" He rolled around and cuddled up into his sheets before slowly snoozing back to sleep, the dream no longer haunting him for the rest of the night.

He hadn't always been a student at Beacon. He actually still wasn't, seeing as he hadn't enrolled just yet. In fact, it was only a few days ago that he had been approached by Ozpin, and asked if he wanted to enroll. Weirdly enough, Ozpin wouldn't tell why he had chosen him as an exclusive exception to join Beacon even after the enrollment ceremony, but Ozpin had had that certain glint in his eye that told him that there was more to the story than Ozpin let him on.

He had told Ozpin that he would have to speak with his adoptive parents, since his home laid maybe 200 kilometers away from Beacon Academy, but Ozpin had told him that he had already gotten approval from the two of them. So a few days later he had packed his things, said goodbye to his adoptive parents, and was on his way to beacon Academy.

The following morning after his nightmare, he was still tired and irritable, when he packed his books in his backpack for the first lesson that day. Since he enrolled a few days ago, he had made sure to stay by himself. He didn't feel like talking to anyone, since he needed to get used to this new feeling of having his own room.

He couldn't stop the intense beating of his heart in his chest as he walked down the path towards Beacon Tower. If it was because of a lack of sleep, or that he was simply unable to forget that dream from last night he was unsure, but he knew that he couldn't keep up with this for much longer.

Whenever he would have that dream, he would have a strange feeling. It was like the dream somehow had an impact on his aura, but so far, he had no idea how. Whatever it was, he knew that his semblance was somehow connected to what had happened in his past. When he checked the scroll he had been given by professor Ozpin, he could never see any significant change to his aura or semblance, but he still had a feeling that something was wrong.

He finally came to the conclusion that some fresh air probably would help him calm down, so when he got to the courtyard, he took a left and headed towards Beacon Tower.

He smiled quietly as he reached the base of the tower, looking up at the tall building. From up there, he was sure he could be alone and get some time to maul things over. Without a second thought, he used a black gravity dust crystal he had "borrowed" from a shop in town, to burst himself upwards and onto the building's roof.

He knew he was different than everyone else. Even though he had an aura like every other student in the academy, even headmaster Ozpin had commented on his Semblance's apparent difference to everyone else's. He had a feeling that the difference between his own Semblance and everyone else's, was the reason that Ozpin had sought him out in the first place.

But despite everything, Ozpin did tell him that his Semblance had a weird feeling to it compared to any other Semblance Ozpin ever had seen. The young man had this funny feeling that, that conversation with Ozpin would be far from the last.

But as much as his Semblance apparently was weird compared to the norm, he didn't care much. He was sure that everything would come along eventually, and to dig into the matter more than he already had probably wouldn't make Ozpin suddenly give up his secrecy and just tell him everything he needed to know. Besides, he didn't want to be distracted from his actual goal. These thoughts raced through his mind as he sat down at the edge of the roof and looked across the campus.

His thoughts once again drifted back to that nightmare. Ozpin knew more about him than he was happy for. Not only did Ozpin know from before he had approached him that his Semblance was special, but he also knew more about his past than he was entirely satisfied of. Ozpin's best argument for him to enroll in Beacon, was all based on his past.

A long time ago, he had promised himself that he would rid the world of Grimm, that horrible monstrosity, manifested of darkness and fear, the beings that had taken everything and more from him. When he was young, the grimm had attacked his village. Those who didn't get slaughtered, fled to the surrounding mountains or other villages, to warn them of this incoming threat.

He himself knew that he had been attacked by a huge Ursa Grimm, but he didn't remember much after that. He had awoken on a carriage on one of the aerial carriers, on their way to one of the nearby capital cities. There he was nursed back to health, but the both mental and physical scars that remained with him was still present, even to this day, hence the dark scratch scar over his arm and chest.

He had tried to meet up with his family, but he later discovered that both his parents and his sister all had been killed by the grimm. At first he didn't want to believe it, but when he has spent the good part of 3 years looking for them, he gave up, and fell into despair. Why was he the only one who had survived? He was only a young teenager at the time, his parents being adults and his sister being a trained graduate from the nearby huntsmen academy. How could they be killed, when a teenage boy with no training to speak of, apparently could survive the grimm's onslaught?

"You okay?"

He widened his eyes, and looked over his shoulder in surprise when someone behind him raised their voice. Pyrrha, one of the most highly praised girls at the school for her physical prowess, was suddenly standing on the top of the tower's spire, looking at him with a worried expression.

"What are you doing up here?"

Pyrrha was surprised at how deep and gruff his voice seemed compared to other boys his age. He had been the talk of the school lately, not only because he had enrolled on special terms, but because headmaster Ozpin himself had asked him to enroll.

The way his hair fell over his eyes, gave his gaze a dangerous shine to it, something that gave Pyrrha a feeling that he had seen more than most people at his age ever should.

"I saw you in the hallway" she said with a small smile "Decided to follow after you, and see what was wrong. Are you okay?"

He sighed softly. He didn't need anyone prying into his personal business.

"It's nothing…"

She sighed silently and looked in his general direction. She didn't know him, but she still had this feeling that she wanted to help him with whatever issue he was dealing with.

"You know, it often helps to talk about your problems" She mumbled softly as she sat down beside him.

"No, I just need some fresh air to clear my head" he objected. He had a hard time seeing the meaning behind it, since it wouldn't help much anyway.

"Sure, that seems to help for me too" She said with a chuckle "Just saying, your problems aren't going to disappear by keeping them to yourselves…"

"I'll just need to train harder so I can sleep deeper tonight" He mumbled as he got to his feet. "I'll make sure to kick Cardin's butt extra hard this afternoon"

Pyrrha giggled quietly at his promise of this apparent "Butt-kicking" he was going to give the school bully later. It sounded like this young man already knew of the role of school bullies Cardin and his team had established, even though he had only been at the school for a few days.

Pyrrha looked over at the young man and took a deep breath before speaking.

"What's your name?"

"Ebris. Ebris Eacho"

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos. If you ever want some tips on how to fight, come see me"

"Alright, sounds good"

He could sense that she was of good intentions, so he didn't see any reason to blow her off. He had heard of her before, from that sparkling fanboy, not sure what his name was. Apparently she was widely recognized and a powerful fighter.

His train of thought was soon put to a stop as the bell rung from the tower, signaling the beginning of the first session of classes. Since Ebris had neither been put on a team, nor in a class, Pyrrha was the only one who quickly got to her feet and began walking towards the edge of the roof.

"Sorry Ebris, I need to go!" Pyrrha said hurriedly as she stepped into the elevator "We have Grimm studies with Professor Port this morning!"

Ebris smiled and nodded as he raised a hand in goodbye, watching Pyrrha falling from the roof and using a gravity dust crystal to soften her fall before she hit the ground elegantly, and began running to class. Since all the students had their own classes to go to, he didn't have any sparring or training partner either.

"Maybe I should just spar with the training robots…" He mumbled, as he headed back to the elevator as well.

He tightened his hands around his trusted ebony daggers, Sinistral and Dextral. He closed his eyes and concentrated his aura for defense.

´Next attack is from behind, top right´

He smirked quietly and quickly whirled around, his semblance glowing a dark black as he cross blocked the blade of his opponent with his daggers. A quick glance into his opponent's eyes said it all. They were both fully determined to win their brawl, no different than any other sparring opponent he had faced so far at Beacon, alive or mechanical. He smirked quietly and pushed his opponent away, before doing a series of acrobatic jumps backwards.

He widened his eyes as in the middle of his third somersault, as his opponent suddenly rushed forward and attacked him with a series of kicks, and he barely managed to move his head to the left to avoid having his teeth kicked in. He put his hands on the ground and did a handstand, before spinning around and kicking his opponent across the face, making him stagger backwards.

Out of his spin he put his feet to the ground, and kicked at his opponents feet, sending him to the ground with a heavy thud. Ebris panted quietly as he stood up properly and jumped back, creating even more distance between him and his opponent.

"Damn, you're good" The guy he was fighting, smirked as he got back to his feet while rubbing his sore chin "That hurt you know?"

"Sure, I meant for it to hurt" Ebris said with a smirk "I wouldn't want my enemy to stand after all"

"Point taken"

Ebris took a deep breath just as his opponent rushed forward.

´Jump, dodge left, right, and kick at his chest, followed by a few slashes to his legs´

Following his own instructions, he raised his daggers in preparation. Just as the guy swung his sword, he stopped mid-swing and crouched, before kicking at Ebris' feet, but just as he had predicted, he jumped to avoid the kick and followed by dodging the opponents slashes by dodging left and right, before breaking his block with a kick on the flat end of his blade that he had put over his chest.

He staggered backwards and Ebris' followed, ducking and slashing at his opponent's legs, but as much as he tried to block with his blade, it was unprepared and slobby. Ebris' powerful strikes with his daggers was too much for his opponent, and he managed to jerk the blade out of his hands and into the air, before it dug into the ground somewhere behind his opponent.

"And the winner of this sparring match is Ebris Eacho!"

Professor Goodwitch declared the match was over with a smile, and clapped a bit as she approached the two sparring partners.

"Good work, both of you" She said sharply "Mr. Eachos, I'd like to talk to you later today, if you don't mind"

"Of course professor" Ebris nodded softly before shaking the hand of his sparring partner "Nice work"

"I still don't get how you managed to predict my moves, dude" He said with a smirk.

"Who knows?"

He smiled a little as he watched his sparring partner leave. ´Who knows? ´ He asked. Of course he knew. Using his semblance, he could temporarily predict whatever his opponent would do. The only downside to the whole thing is that whenever he would use his powerful semblance, he would become extremely exhausted, and he would often only be able to use this power for a very short amount of time. Of course everyone gets tired when overusing their semblance, but his semblance had such a powerful impact on him that he could barely use it for a minute before he would collapse from exhaustion.

Generally he preferred to avoid combat all together, and whenever he had no choice but to fight, he would use visual illusions and what he himself called "Dark clones", to manipulate his opponent into confusion. Though he had never actually used this in battle before, as he had proven more than enough of an opposition just with his predictions alone.

Ebris groaned a bit as he collapsed under his own weight from exhaustion and his professor widened her eyes as she caught him and supported his weight.

"Please, sit down and rest, Mr. Eacho" She said with stern look "You seem to have overworked yourself"

"Heh, give me five minutes and I'm back in the game" he chuckled weakly as she helped him out to the tribunes surrounding the arena.

She sighed silently, giving up on him for now.

"Just rest" She said, a stern glare in her eyes "The next sparring match is about to begin"

"What, I don't get to face Cardin?" he said with a smirk.

"Mr. Eacho, you can barely stand on your feet" She said with a raised eyebrow. "Plus, what did I tell you about your aura?"

Ebris rolled his eyes and huffed. He had only been at the academy for a few days, and he might have had the same rule told to him a million times.

"Always take a look at your aura's condition, and know when it's time to switch out with a teammate" He said irritated "For that is how you know when to go by an aggressive or more defensive fighting method"

"Very good. It seems that at least a bit of my teachings have been sticking" Ms. Goodwitch said with an approving nod Just stay here"

He nodded quietly as he watched his professor leave to check on the other sparring participants. He was so tired at this point, that even if he had tried, he wouldn't have been able to leave his seat.

After a few seconds of sitting by himself, he heard a confident voice from somewhere behind him.

"Nice fight, Eacho"

He looked up at the person that had addressed him, and saw a tall blonde girl approach him with a confident smirk, her aura practically glowing off of her. She was powerful, he could tell.

She was tall and slim, and her hair was reaching down to the lower of her back, her hips swaying left and right as she walked. Even her steps were filled to the brim with self-confidence. She was wearing a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow low-cut top with a black crest that resembled a burning heart. The vest had puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs.

Around her waist a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object was sitting. The same burning heart crest from before was on this banner, except golden in color. She was wearing black shorts under her belt, which resembled a pleated skirt in the back.

In his head, he couldn't help but think of her as beautiful, hot even, but of course that wasn't anything he was going to tell her.

"Thanks. Are you about to spar?" He asked her, and she smirked as she smashed the gauntlets on her hands together.

"Damn straight I am" her confidence was practically shining off of her, Ebris noticed "I'm about to get my Yang on!"

He smiled a little and nodded at her confidence.

"Good luck with that" he said with a smile "If your opponent is not too much trouble, would you be interested in sparring later?"

"Please, you can barely stand as it is" she said with a laugh "I think the big bad rogue needs to cool down for today"

"Oh well, it was worth a shot" He chuckled softly "Good luck with your match"

They waved at each other as she parted ways from him, but he suddenly got a weird shiver down his back. He turned around and realized that several of the boys in the arena was glaring daggers at him. Was it because he had been talking to the blonde girl?

He sighed a bit and leaned back in his seat as he checked his aura on his scroll.

"30% huh?"

He sighed in frustration and put his scroll back in his pocket.

He knew he wasn't strong enough to complete his mission right now. He knew he had to get stronger, and in the meantime, there was no logic in obsessing over it. Might as well live his life when he was able to.

Because for some reason, he had this annoying feeling that peace wouldn't last forever.