Ch. 6 First Night at Beacon Begins

The ballroom is packed with every first year Beacon student and their sleeping bag. They're all winding down and getting ready to sleep since the next day would be their initiation.

The lights inside are dimmed since it's already night time and the shattered moon has begun to rise in the sky accompanied by the numerous stars.

The doors to the ballroom open for the first time in a while and Daemond walks in with a pair of white angel wings on his back.

Daemond doesn't notice all the attention he is getting and quickly looks around for someone he knows. He doesn't see a bunny-pajama-man or his two sisters, but he does see someone who let their white hair down.

Weiss is peacefully sitting in a corner of the ballroom on her sleeping bag with her back to a wall. She's reading 'Advanced Dust Theories' which is a book students use at Beacon in their second or third year.

As she reads she notices something move in her peripherals and looks up to see what it is. "You have GOT to be kidding me"

Daemond walks up to Weiss and gives a small smile. "Hey Weiss"

"Don't 'Hey Weiss' me" Weiss regrets not hiding better as she tries going back to reading her book.

"Is that 'Advanced Dust Theories'? Some topics are interesting towards the middle where it discusses how Aura interacts with Dust, but the book itself is pretty dry in its wording. And some points are vague even for theories" Daemond remembers having to drag his feet through the book. It was difficult to read, not to understand.

Weiss flips to the table of contents and sees that Daemond is right. She has been trying to get through this book for a while now, only moving on once she fully comprehends the theory. Not even halfway through and this guy read it who knows when.

Turning back to Daemond she decides to just move past whatever nonsense he said. For all she knows it was a lucky guess or he was faking it till he makes it. Weiss squints her eyes at the weirdly realistic wings on his back. "Are those wings also a part of your fashion statement? They don't exactly match your corset"

"It's a waist ci-" Daemond blandly begins to correct.

"I know that! Just forget it and go bother someone else" Weiss starts to try and read her book again. Her curiosity was not worth losing her sanity.

"Well you see…" Daemond kneels down and gets Seraphina off his back.

Weiss can't help but look at the Faunus girl before looking back at Daemond. "Kidnapping is a very serious cri-"

"I didn't kidnap her" Daemond quickly and flatly states. "She cried herself to sleep and I couldn't leave her in the auditorium so I took her here"

Weiss is baffled at how such a thing could happen and rubs her temples. "Everyone left the auditorium over an hour ago"

Daemond shrugs. "One thing led to another and I ended up taking the scenic route again"

"Again?" Weiss incredulously blurts out.

"Ruby, Jaune- this blond guy, and I took the scenic route after you left" Daemond says while setting Seraphina down next to Weiss.

Seraphina peacefully sleeps while she lays on her side, her head is resting at the end of Weiss' sleeping bag.

Before Weiss can ask why Daemond set the girl down he speaks up. "I need to go shower and change, thanks for looking after her!"

"Hey!" Weiss calls out as her book falls to the side. But it's too late, Daemond is already running away. "What am I supposed to do with…"

Seraphina grabbed onto Weiss' left leg and uses it as a pillow, a small smile adorns her face.

Weiss' left eyebrow twitches. She isn't mad at the girl, but at Daemond for leaving her with a Faunus. She tries getting her leg free but Seraphina only tightens her hold.

When Weiss reaches out to wake the girl up she hears her mutter something.

"I knew you'd come back… mom" A small tear rolls across Seraphina's face.

Weiss picks up her book, her expression unchanged. She's not a fan of the Faunus, but hearing the girl's words reminds her of herself when she was younger and her family started to split apart.

——————

Daemond quickly made his way towards his locker. He puts his weapon away and grabs his pajamas. They're nothing fancy, just a black shirt and red shorts. His symbol, a silver rose which is the same as Ruby, is printed in the center of his shirt and on the front right side of his shorts.

He takes his pajamas, a towel, and his toiletry bag towards the showers when he sees Jaune heading the same way.

"Hey Jaune" Daemond puts his hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Gah! Oh, hey… where have you been? I've been looking for you for a while" Jaune barely managed to not drop anything.

When Jaune turns around Daemond notices that Jaune isn't wearing his chest plate and the guy's sweatshirt has a picture of a cartoon rabbit head in the center.

Daemond shrugs. "Had to help someone out, and I just got here a few minutes ago. Why're you just now heading to the showers?"

Jaune looks to the side and scratches the back of his head. "I didn't really want to fight someone for a shower so I waited until everyone else finished"

"Reasonable" Daemond agrees with Jaune, no point trying to wait in line to shower. Not like Beacon is going to run out of hot water anytime soon. "So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Jaune walks next to Daemond on their way towards the showers. "Not really, just everyone messing around. I think a few of the guys started a shirtless wrestling tournament or something"

"I'm sure Yang enjoyed that" Daemond facepalms.

An awkward silence follows them on their walk until:

"REN~! Hurry up~! Or I'll come in there and drag you out myself!"

Jaune and Daemond turn towards the person shouting and see an orange haired girl peeking her head through the doorway. When she sees Daemond and Jaune she waved at them and smiles.

A guy with long wet black hair, and a streak of pink, comes out from the shower room with a towel around his waist. His light pink eyes narrow when he looks at the girl in a white shirt and pink shorts. "Nora, let me get dressed first"

"Okie Dokie, the wrestling has already gotten boring so hurry up!" Nora shouts then disappears out of sight.

Ren sighs as he facepalms.

Jaune shrugs before continuing towards the showers.

Daemond isn't far behind and feels a small bit of pity for Ren. However, also a bit jealous. To have someone that loves you as much as Nora loves Ren is rare. Sure Daemond has his family, but that's it. Saving the world does come first though, even if he finds love it won't last long due to the evils lurking in the shadows.

After getting into the shower room Daemond makes his way over to an open curtain. He hangs up his towel and spare clothes on a rack and puts his toiletry bag on a ledge in the shower stall.

He takes off his cloak and carefully places it next to his pajamas. Next is his waist cincher that unclips relatively easily. He looks at the vials of dust strapped to it and clicks his tongue, he forgot to remove his extra ammo at his locker. Nothing bad should happen with it being here, but it would have been safer to have left it in the locker.

After removing his black hoodie and red long sleeved shirt Daemond takes and releases a deep breath.

"I know, right?" Jaune comments and hangs up his own hoodie. "I don't understand how you make it look so easy under those layers. I thought I was dying of heatstroke earlier"

Daemond turns around and gives Jaune a puzzled look. "What do you mea-. Oh, right"

"Hm?" Jaune turns around and tilts his head. Then he sees Daemond's muscles that were previously hidden by his sweatshirt. "You have got to tell me how you got those"

Daemond's muscles are practically hyper defined. It actually freaked him out for a while when he first noticed it. He looked he was in Baki with the amount of definition he had. Even before his Aura was activated forcefully he had some definition for a 6 year old.

Looking at Jaune Daemond can't help but think scraggly is a proper definition for the guy's physique. It's not terrible, at least he doesn't have any fat in sight but that's not good either. He has practically zero muscle mass, but what muscle he does have is probably hidden.

"Just have to work out and watch what you eat" Daemond answers, he remembered that Jaune doesn't have his Aura activated yet so that's why he paused mid sentence. "And it doesn't matter if it's a snow or heat storm. My Aura keeps me at a comfortable temperature at all times"

"Your what?" Jaune doesn't understand what Daemond meant.

"Don't worry about it, you'll find out soon enough. And if you want to get muscles you'll have to put in the work" Daemond turns back to his shower stall and gets in.

Jaune can picture it now. Huge muscles bulging with strength, him saving a damsel in distress.

Daemond leaves Jaune in fantasy land and closes the curtain.