Shade

A couple of days later we finally arrived at Shade Academy. During that time I spent with Octavia I learnt quite a few things about Vacuo.

First: Due to the land being mostly desert, there is little order and enforced laws. After the war 80 years ago, the people had rejected the formal government and forced it to disband. Because of this, Vacuo is a lawless zone teeming with bandits, human traffickers and other unsavoury types. The only place that the people of Vacuo accept as a place of order is Shade Academy. But even then their influence only spreads so far.

Second: The people here live nomadic lifestyles. Besides some places that are fortified, most people live in huts and travel with tribes.

Third: Vacuo welcomes anyone as long as their able to survive in the harsh climate.

Fourth: Shade Academy does not have an actual dress code. Unlike all the other academies, Shade does not interfere in how the students wish to express themselves. As long as they don't break any rules or join any bandits, Shade is probably the most carefree academy out of them all.

'Maybe I should have gone to Shade.'

Oh! I also remembered why Octavia seemed so familiar. When we were talking about Shade Academy, she brought up the fact that she was a member of team NDGO (Can't believe I forgot!!). At first she was quite wary of me, but after a couple of days of journeying together she seemed to finally warm up to me.

From our time together I found out how useful she actually was. Different from Yang and the other girls back at Beacon, Octavia was more battle hardened. Apparently that happens to you when you live in the desert. The people here were trained through life and death situations. The lucky ones were met with wandering travelers who arrived at their tribes and taught them a thing or two about combat. A member of team NDGO (Gwen) was taught by a wandering huntress whose fighting style combined ballet and throwing knives.

Octavia and the others were brought out by their village's combat instructor and were given a weapon and told to hunt down a Grimm. Those who survived were welcomed back by the tribe, those who failed… never returned.

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Walking through what looked like a market town, a huge variety of people were moving around buying and selling their wares. There were Faunus and humans both getting along nicely. They all wore light clothes that were easy to manoeuvre in.

"So… This is the heart of Vacuo?" Emiya said sparingly.

"Yep, quite impressive right?" Octavia replied with a prideful tone.

Looking at the dirt houses, merchants and children stealing food, Emiya nodded.

"Very nice."

Walking through the dusty market, the duo approached an area surrounded by guards in Turkish gold armour.

Looking around, he noticed that unlike the rest of the of city, this part still had signs of war left over from 80 years ago. The tower was cracked and knocked over, the area was covered in rubble and resembled an aged ruin.

Noticing my gaze, Octavia explained.

"It collapsed during the war with Mistral and Mantle." She said sounding rather depressed.

"Well, I guess that's what happens during a war. People die and places get destroyed." Emiya commented sounding unsympathetic. "Anyway, lets get to the academy."

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"We're here." Octavia pointed at a huge multi-storey aged building.

'Is that seriously the academy?'

'IT LOOKS LIKE CRAP!!'

Looking at the academy gates, Emiya felt disappointed.

'Guess I shouldn't have expected anything less considering everything I've seen over the past few days.'

Seeing the guards standing at the gates, he noticed that the armour they were wearing were different from the ones that the guards back at the ruins were wearing.

"They're not soldiers from the army are they?" Emiya asked skeptically.

Octavia looked in the direction he was looking at. When she saw the guards she nodded.

"They're mercenaries that serve under the direct command of the headmistress." She explained.

"I see…"

"Geez, stop staring. C'mon I'll take you to see the headmistress."

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Walking through the academy with Octavia, Emiya felt a bunch of prying eyes linger on him. He chalked it up to having a beauty like Octavia walking around with some guy whose face couldn't be seen due to his hood and mask.

Walking up a couple of stairs, the pair came to a hallway that lead to the headmistress's office. A couple of students hanging around saw Octavia and me and started whispering amongst themselves.

A big student around 6 ft 7 purposefully bumped into me and showed a scowl on his face.

Just looking at him I immediately understood his intentions.

The unspoken rule In Vacuo was "If you can survive here you can live here." And looking at the guy in front of him, he knew that he understood that rule more than anyone else.

Tanned skin, flat brown hair and a muscular build. Wearing light brown leather armour, he had grey cargo pants on with military style black boots. His most distinguished feature was his glaring black bull horns on his head.

Emiya stared at him for a moment and caught him taking glances at Octavia.

'She's pretty, but not worth getting your ass kicked for.'

Knowing that the guy stood no chance with Octavia, Emiya decided to give him an out and not call him out for bumping into him.

Unfortunately this idiot saw it as Emiya bitching out.

"What?" he started. "Bitch boy gonna hide behind a woman?" He laughed loudly enough to catch the attention of other students.

Seeing that the situation was about to get out of hand, Octavia grabbed Emiya by the wrist. "Come on Emiya, let's go."

Seeing Octavia's action incensed him even more.

"That's right bitch boy, run away like the pussy you are."

Shaking off Octavia's hand, he turned around to face the bull Faunus.

"*Sigh* What's your name?" Emiya asked tiredly.

Thinking that he had successfully intimidated him, the bull Faunus puffed out his chest and proudly said "Brad!"

'Of course its Brad.'

Seeing how his generic bully name matched his generic personality caused Emiya to sigh.

"Well listen carefully Brad because I hate repeating myself, if you insult me one more time or try anything, I will break your hands, pull your arms out of their sockets and permanently disable you. Understand?"

The hallway fell into silence as everyone including Octavia looked at Emiya in shock.

"Good, now goodbye." Patting Brad on the cheek he turned around and was about to leave.

Feeling humiliated, Brad's face went red as he reached towards the back of Emiya's hood.

*Crack*

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!" A blood curdling scream escaped out of Brad's mouth as he found both his hands being gripped by Emiya.

Reinforcing his hands, Emiya slowly applied more pressure.

"AARRRGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Brad's second scream brought everyone out of their shock as they stared at the scene of Brad kneeling on the floor while both his hands were grasped by Emiya.

Hearing the scream, everyone could only imagine just how much pain he was in.

Even Octavia felt bad for him, but ultimately decided not to get involved.

Feeling the bones break in his grip, Emiya looked at Brad without a hint of emotion on his face.

"What else did I say I was going to do? Do you remember?" He asked the crying Brad.

Shaking his head violently, Brad threw his pride to the ground and wished for nothing more than for Emiya to release him.

"Oh? That's a shame… Because I just remembered." Placing his foot on Brad's chest, he slowly started to push as he pulled on his arms.

"NOOO, PLEASE NOOO, I'M SORRY I'M SORRY PLEASE LET ME GO." He pleaded with snot running down his nose.

Ignoring his cries, Emiya carried on pulling and pushing until-

*POP*

The sound echoed out loud enough for everyone to shiver.

And instead of screaming like had previously, Brad immediately fainted.

Dropping Brad's hands onto the floor, Emiya ignored all the stares he was getting. "Now on with the crippling."

Just as he was about to finish Brad off, Octavia jumped in front of him with her arms spread out.

"EMIYA STOP! If you do anymore then-

Before she could finish her sentence, the door at the end of the corridor swung open and a tanned man with light brown hair walked out.

When everyone saw him, they were immediately silenced.

Seeing everyone's reaction to the new arrival, Emiya whispered to Octavia "Who's that?"

"Mr Berret, our combat instructor." She whispered back.

"Oh?"

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Seeing the unconscious Brad and Octavia blocking a hooded man from approaching him, Mr Berret drew his own conclusion.

Activating his knuckledusters, he charged at the masked man and threw a punch.

'Is every teacher in this school gonna be this hot headed?'

Ducking below the punch, Emiya balled his hand into a fist and shot it upwards, upper cutting him off his feet. Placing his hand on Mr Berret's abdomen, he reinforced arm and with a slight push he sent him flying through the door he had previously come out of.

The students of Shade watched in horror as their combat instructor was tossed away like a rag. Octavia started to worry as she realized that she had previously shouted at someone who was capable of handling their combat teacher with ease.

"Where's the headmistress's office?" Emiya asked the shocked Octavia.

Snapping out of her daze, she pointed at the door Mr Berret had flown through.

"This could be problematic." He muttered under his breath.

Ignoring the students who backed away from him, he walked towards the headmistress's office with Octavia meekly following him from behind.

'Oh God! What kind of person did I bring into our school!'