Chapter 3, Not The Bad Guy Of This Tale Part 2

A/N: Not yet edited.

Velvet Scarlatina had awoken in Beacon's lush garden, this being her second time this week falling asleep while studying. The rabbit Faunus first noticed she was sitting crossed leg under a tree, homework and books scattered around her. Velvet found the sight comforting especially during night under the shattered moon floating above. The calmness abruptly ended when Her long rabbit ears twitched , detecting sounds of metal meeting metal in the distance.

She assumed a student is training inside the arena, moving to investigate. Velvet looked through the many windows of Beacon's training hall, spotting a dark skinned faunus boy. Velvet's mind clicked in recognition, she heard of him before. Though it's his first day here, so many damaging rumors have spread around campus but she never cared to believe them. Velvet knew rumors is just idiotic gossip and a foul way to destroy a peer's reputation.

The training bot emptied a clip of rubber bullets. Draco risen to life in Desmond's two hands, engulfed in newborn flames. Desmond moved the heavy blade swiftly, whining up for a wide spin slash, repelling the bullets before back flipping. One of the bots slashed at him from behind with a stun baton, he parried the strike sending it to the side then kicked the bot backwards.

Two other bots rushed the young dragon but that proved to be a mistake when Draco sailed towards them, instantly dismantling the bots sending gears and bolts flying. Desmond twisted his body, raising Draco high over his head then slamming it on the floor, with one press of a trigger located on the hilt, the blade's tip generated a massive explosion of fire disintegrating the bots on a molecular level.

"That's a nice sword," Velvet says alerting the dragon of her presence.

Desmond turned to the source of the voice, His cheeks became flustered as he saw her beauty. Even though he wanted so desperately to talk with her, he's afraid that the girl would walk off on him.

"...sorry, " The Faunus girl looked down at her feet."I'm irritating you am I?" Velvet began fiddling with her fingers.

"Wait, I didn't say tha-" Before he could finish a robotic fist crashed on his Desmond's temple

Few Minutes Later

An ice pack was pressed to the side of Desmond's cheek, he didn't even realize he'd dropped his aura. The teen groaned in pain, feeling the red bruise visible on his cheek. Velvet nursed his wound by rubbing a bit of alcohol into it.

"Draco, my sword's name is Draco." Desmond remembered the question. "Listen. I wasn't trying to give you the wrong idea. During my short time here people had either waved me off or threw a glare in my direction. It's kinda of hard making friends in a place like this." Desmond turned away from the rabbit.

"Honestly it was hard for me too, " Velvet said. "My teammates are technically my only friends here, quite sad for a second year isn't it.-" Velvet smiled mirthlessly

"You're a second year?" Desmond's eyes we're the size of dinner plates. "What is it like being upperclassmen? Are the missions more difficult? Do you get special privileges? Is the food better?" The last question almost made Desmond mouth water, if he hadn't caught himself.

"None of those things I'm afraid, " Velvet shrugged, "However, missions do tend to vary in difficulty but they mainly rely on Team coordination and strength to get through them. Even the easiest ones require cooperation to get done, trust me when I say it's never okay to go it alone...my Leader almost learned that the hard way."

"Your leader? What did she do?" Desmond raised an eyebrow, listening intently.

"Her name is Coco," Velvet said looking up into the night sky, where the fractured moon looms over Remnant. "She wasn't always the sweet leader I've come to know, back then she was hard headed and arrogant. The first time we met in initiation, she immediately saw me as dead weight. At first I thought it was racism and I was expecting it, but she berated my other teammates as well, Yatsuhashi and Fox."

"Is there something wrong with them?" Desmond questioned.

"She called Yatsuhashi a big softie and Fox a crippled because of his blindness." Velvet said triggering a wince from Desmond. "Coco thought the only thing she could rely on was her Gatling Gun and her skill, during our first mission we were told to exterminate a Grimm horde in the area. Once we landed, Coco decided to go solo and left us in the middle of the woods."

"It didn't work out, did it?"

"Luckily, I found Coco in time to see a Ursa pinning her to the ground while the Grimm closed in. If I hadn't been there..." Velvet trailed off, taking a moment to regain herself. "Coco changed after that though it was a slow process, but eventually we became friends."

"My dad always told me it's good to have confidence, never arrogance." Desmond said, his father was always strict on that subject, arrogance lead to mistakes, which transitions to failure, and ends in death. Isaac drilled him to remain vigilant of his opponents, that there will always be a bigger fish. The young dragon turned to the rabbit eared girl with a warm smile. "Thanks for the advice, you're the first person in Beacon not to shout at me or walk away. I appreciate it."

"I-It's nothing really,' Velvet blushed, waving her hands frantically in front of her. "I was in the same position as you, like I said, it's hard to start a new life here. Not many people are friendly, especially towards Faunus."

Velvet's averted her eyes to the ground, it was clear to Desmond how she felt about that. He understood how she felt and so did every Faunus in Remnant, to be judged upon appearance rather than what's inside. He thought it was the White Fang's actions that influenced people's opinions,causing segregation among both parties. The dragon hesitantly placed a hand on Velvet's shoulder causing her to look away from the floor and into his draconic eyes, Desmond was a bit shocked she didn't feel horrified by them, it was normally on instinct for people to avoid them yet she kept her gaze.

"I-I like them-y-your ears I mean!" Desmond quickly added. "In my opinion,what makes us unique is what makes us beautiful. Corny...I know." The fact that he technically called Velvet beautiful wasn't lost on Desmond, he would be an idiot to take back what he said now. Velvet realized too and soon began to blush not knowing if she should thank him for the compliment or not.

"Woah, it's getting pretty late!' Desmond attempted to shift the conversation. "Can't stay out pass curfew on my first day, that would reflect badly.'

"Hold up a second!" Velvet raised a hand to stop him, reaching behind her to pull out a wooden box with golden metal bands cover the edges and a heart emblem imprinted on the front. "This is going to sound strange but may I please take a picture of your weapon"

That was definitely a weird request to the dragon, he swapped his focus on the camera-like device, it was obviously more than that unless her hobby was photography. Velvet picked up on his curiosity then giggled. "Anesidora is a weapon capable of creating hard light copies of any weapon I photograph."

"How on Remnant did you make that?" Desmond said dumbfounded.

"Do you really want me to explain?" Velvet grinned cheekily. Desmond imagined how complicated it would be to explain how a camera can materialize hardlight. Draco wasn't as complicated, he infused fire dust into the blade and allowed his semblance to charge it like a battery making the weapon only work for him alone. Velvet was using hardlight dust instead of fire dust so he supposed it should work, besides he wouldn't mind helping.

Desmond held the greatsword outward, giving Velvet a clear shot of the weapon which she happily took. The dragon smiled strapping Draco back on his back and turning to leave.

"C-can we meet again sometime?" Velvet's soft tone made him stop in his tracks and look over his shoulder seeing her flustered face not meeting his eyes. "H-Hopefully that's okay,"

"O-of course it is!" Desmond nodded his head eagerly, however his attitude changed then he abruptly said. "I never got your name!"

"Huh?" Velvet blinked twice in confusion, she internally kicked herself for not asking for his name. "Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina." she held out her hand.

"Desmond. Desmond Royal." He gratefully accepted it, brewing a new friendship between the two. The young dragon felt a sense of achievement for gaining a new friend today. Perhaps Beacon wouldn't be so ruthless after all, he merely needed to dig deeper to reach it's center and it shall accept him. While looking up at the star filled sky a thought came to him, not an intentional one and shared no irrelevance yet he can't help but think how different things would be if Yang and Ruby were by his side.

Scene Change

Yang quietly closed the door behind her careful not to wake her teammates, she found it hard since copious amounts of emotions marathon their way into her head. Guilt, Betrayal, Hurt, Fear, And heartbreak. She remembered every detail of what happened that night and it wasn't how she said it went. Out of all the guys she'd met, some after her body, her heart, and her looks. Why did she have to fall for the scrawny one?

Desmond's a good and caring person when you got to know him. She once did enjoy the dragon's company when they were children. Her and Ruby had known him through their childhood up until they got to their third year in Signal.

Flashback

Yang was 16 back then, celebrating her last year of Signal. The bombshell decided to invite her classmates and friends to a party at one of her classmates' house. Yang had already sent the invites via text message. She wanted to deliver the last invitation personally to her closet friend.

Yang had grown an unexplainable attachment to the dragon boy, was it brotherly love like her sister had? companionship? Yang Xiao Long didn't know. She knew Signal Academy was rough for Desmond since some of the more unlikable people in the school would target him for his heritage. The dragon would merely shrug off their insults or throw some of his own, they were smart enough not to physical. Who would want to punch someone who could light themselves up like a match?

After reaching Desmond's place, she simply offered him the invitation, she instantly expected him to accept since she was going there. Desmond wasn't the social type to say the most, he was opened around Yang and Ruby. The sun dragon also suspected Desmond may have a crush on her, they were similar in some aspects. They both loved excitement in their lives and felt the need to protect Ruby. Yang wouldn't know how to feel if Desmond ever confessed, sure, she enjoyed how he hid his embarrassment when she flirted, his hilariously dense moments, and his determination to complete anything he sets his mind to. Yang hoped if there were any feelings he buried deep within him, he would bring them to surface at the party, so she may learn of her own feelings for the dragon boy.

All expectations soon vanished when he declined the invitation.

Desmond claimed he was studying for the whole night. Yang isn't the fastest worker in the beehive and wasn't sure how to display her feel like she did anger when her eyes swapped crimson. Instead of saying it was okay or pushing Desmond to go with her, Yang Xiao Long ran. She didn't know why she felt so heartbroken when he rejected her invitation. Weren't they friends? Didn't he like her? Why wouldn't he want to spend time with her.

The next night, the party was in full swing and half of Signal made an appearance. Yang wasn't surprised the whole party was advertised on social media. People who didn't even attend Signal showed. However, Yang remained a wallflower which was very uncharacteristic of her. This isn't the first time she partied, in fact, she's the life of it. Guys or girls would flirt with her much to her irritation, she'd send them away with her signature glare. Some of them were in relationships. Right now, Yang wanted to drink and think of ways she could make Desmond confess so she could get rid of this feeling building inside her. An idea sprouted in her mind that moment. She pulled out her slightly scroll, texting her the dragon to walk her home if he was finished studying. The dragon reluctantly accepted since he felt guilty about not going with her.

The pair were walking home together through Patch's fores, the night was lovely a perfect chance for him to...it was like a powerful force had possessed her. Controlling her body and mind, similar to puppets having strings manipulating their movement. Who's the puppeteer? Lust? Passion? Obsession? Love? Or even the alcohol talking. Yang was unaware but she didn't give a damn.

She couldn't stand it anymore, she needed to discover her feelings. Yang's soft lips gently pressed on his warm lips. The blond wrapped her arms around his neck embracing him fully, so he couldn't retract. She managed to bruise their lips. The dragon male struggled to pry her arms due to how strong she was. When he was successful, the look he gave her was one of shock and confusion.

Silence

Minutes of long deafening silence left Yang to ponder negative thoughts. How could he be so cold to her? They were friends for so long and now he probably wants nothing to do with her.

Well fine...neither did she.

Yang ran home leaving Desmond stunned by her actions. Everything after that was a blur, all she could remember when she arrived back home to see Taiyang waiting for her to return. Then saying 'she hated Desmond for what he did to her'

Those words specifically caused disarray. Taiyang immediately thought something terrible had happen, that Desmond did something immoral. Similar to any concern father, he over reacted. She didn't know how but suddenly the whole school found out.

They formulated their own ideas about what happen. Some of those ideas were thoughts of Desmond being malicious. This lead to the downfall of his reputation if it wasn't bad already.

Expecting Desmond to fight back and disprove her claim...he simply shut down.Why couldn't Yang say it was all a lie! She was drunk and Desmond didn't deserve this. There was one answer for her, an answer to refused to accepted.

Because she was scared.

End