My alarm wakes me up in the morning. I really wish I could get out of the armor, sleep in a real bed and not on the floor. I stand up and stretch.
"Gavin, what's the weather like?" No response. Right, he's with Weiss. Miss that British sounding guy. I reach for my helmet, about to put it on. I decide against it, putting the helmet under my arm. Today we're heading out to Forever Falls, a quaint little forest. We all load onto a bullhead, and Weiss strikes up conversation.
"S-so... G-Gavin has b-been a t-treat." She said, not even looking at me. I catch an angry look from Jaune. Great... I'm caught up in a love triangle, I think. I mean, it's all one sided, Jaune crushes on Weiss, Weiss on me, me on, well, nobody. Great.
"Gavin's a good AI. I miss him already."
"I h-have him u-until Wednesday!"
"Not saying you don't. And stop it."
"W-What?"
"That, your nervous. If it'll make you feel better..." I put my helmet back on.
"No!" Everyone shouts at me. I put my hands up, taking it off. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. We land and walk out, the forest is nothing like I've ever seen. It's beautiful. I look around in wonder, because nothing on Reach looks this amazing.
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so. And Mr. Noble, I wish to speak with you before you head off." Goodwitch said, and everyone went off, and Jaune was taken by CRDL.
"What do you need?" I ask her.
"We had your vitals and anatomy scanned to see if there's a reason we shouldn't unlock your aura. And we found-"
"A neurological implant at the base of my brain stem, I know. If I never had it installed, the weight of the armor would break all my bones and kill me in the most excruciating way possible."
"Oh... well, I'm unlocking your aura now."
"Ah, whatever. So, is it a surgery... or..."
"More of a ceremony... no..."
"An initiation?"
"No... an activation! That's it!"
"Alright. So what do I do?"
"Stay still. Unlocking your aura should be easy, considering your current... past."
"Right." She puts her hand on my chest, her hand on my head. This isn't awkward at all. A light starts to emit from both of us, and now I'm just confused. Soon it fades, and she opens her eyes.
"Mr. Noble, your aura is unlocked."
"And I haven't died in any horrific ways... yet, so I'm off to collect samples."
"Off with you, then." She shoos me away, so I grab the last jar and walk to a nearby tree, driving the tap into the tree, and the pink sap starts dripping into the jar. It's supposed to be dangerous out, so I put my helmet back on, just in case.
"Thank gods! I needed to escape her!"
"Gavin?!"
"Yes, it's me. Miss me?"
"Yes, actually. Something I forgot to ask... well, something I only care to ask now, what did you do to Cardin's scroll awhile back?"
"I downloaded about eight gigabytes worth of gay pornography onto his scroll. I was particularly proud of that one."
"You're kidding, right?"
"I'm afraid I'm not. Should I be afraid?"
"You're one sick son of a bitch. But I like it."
"I aim to please. Now, that jar should fill in about fifteen minutes, so we should-"
"To long." I pull the kukri off my shoulder and I stab it deep into the tree repeatedly, causing sap to pour out. I'm topping my jar a couple of minutes later.
"That works. Now, I'm particularly concerned about Mr. Ark..."
"As am I, Gavin. Let's get going." I start walking to where I saw them run off to, tossing my jar up and down. I reach the location, and CRDL has Jaune held up, Cardin covered in sap.
"Oh, you've done it now!" Cardin shouts at a terrified Jaune.
"You lay a single finger on him!" I shout, taking my helmet back off. They all look up, Cardin terrified. "You'll know what a Spartan can really do."
"Know how to count, dipshit?" Dove pointed out. "There's four of us, one of you!" I pull my magnum.
"I like those odds." Damn, what a cool and totally original line I just came up with. Our stand off is interrupted by a large roar.
"That's a big Ursa!" Russel said. I look to the side, sure enough, it's really big. RDL flees while the Ursa looks for a sweat snack that's Cardin. He's easily disarmed, and he's about to kill him, but I run over, giving Jaune a signal to wait. I come in front of a cowering Cardin, the Ursa bites down on my arm. My shields shatter, but the newly unlocked aura bonds to my armor, saving it from being destroyed, not to mention my arm. I take my other hand and shoot the thing multiple times with my magnum, causing it to stumble back. Jaune charges the thing, but his shield is to low. It's mysteriously raised up as the Ursa swipes at him, sliding straight under the blow and killing it. I give Jaune the thumbs up as he walks over to Cardin.
"Don't ever means with my team, my friends, ever again. Got it?" Cardin doesn't respond, just nodding. Jaune walks away. I walk up to Cardin next, grabbing him by his chest plate, raising him to his feet.
"I'll break your neck, otherwise." I shove him off and walk away. Guess this fight was nice, got to see how much I needed aura. My shields are plenty good, but this is on a whole new level. Now I just have to discover my semblance. I walk up to Jaune.
"Thanks for the assist." He said, laughing.
"All I did was get bit. You were the one who actually killed it."
"Yah... that's some insane armor, though! Where did you even get that?!"
"Take a guess."
"Classified?"
"Yup. Now, where did I leave my jar..." I start looking around, and I put my helmet on for a Gavin assist. Jaune walks away. "Gavin, can you track my jar?"
"Sure, and let me also track down the Lost Ark of-"
"Alright, I get it." I go deeper in the forest, looking. I'm pretty deep when I hear a deep voice.
"Looking for this?" Another Elite... this one has field marshal armor and is missing one of his mandibles. I pull MES, preparing to fight.
"You don't belong here. You've destroyed Reach already..."
"Ha! I've never had more fun than that cleaning!"
"You bastard!" I charge, so he turns on a pitch black energy sword. My modified blue energy sword clashes with his traditional black energy sword, causing sparks to fly. He kicks his leg out and sweeps, but I jump up and kick him in the face. He uppercuts with the sword, so I step to the side, but he reaches out and grabs me, throwing me away. I roll to a stop, and notice him picking up my magnum. Must have come off of me.
"What would happen is they discovered me?" He asks. I don't respond, getting up and readying myself again. "No answer? Well, guess I'll just find out myself." He shoots my gun into the air multiple times, so I charge him again. He throws the magnum to the ground, and we get into another clash.
Ruby Rose PoV
"Where did Noble go?" I ask Jaune.
"Um... he went off to find his jar. Lost it apparently."
"Oh, that makes-"
BANG BANG BANG BANG
"What was that?!" Pyrrha asks.
"Oh, it's Noble's pistol. Probably just a pack if Grimm. He's fine." I point out.
"I mean..." Weiss said, concerned. She's been talking about him A LOT for some reason lately.
"I'll check him out. Be back in a sec!"
Noble 6 PoV
I get kicked by him again, my shields breaking. I slash his leg, causing him to fall to a knee, shield gone as well. He immediately gets up by uppercutting me, hitting me so hard my visor cracks, my aura takes the blow however. I take my helmet off, throwing it aside.
"You have a second energy shield?! How?!" Guess he wouldn't know about aura. I charge again, but I'm stopped.
"6? Noble? Where in the world are you?" Ruby?! Damnit!
"Ruby! Get out of- hrgh!" He kicks me in the chest, causing me to roll away again.
"Noble!" She petal bursts over, taking out Crescent Rose.
"Ruby! Get out of here!" She ignores me.
"You hurt my friend... er..." Her thoughts are cut off by the field marshal attacking her. Tiny swipes down, but the elite steps to the side, then he punches her in the face, causing her to drop her weapon and roll back, colliding with a tree. She gets up and tries punching him, but he just grabs her fist. He raises her up by the neck, and prepares the energy sword. I stand up, but it's to late. He takes the sword and plunges it into her gut, the blade coming out the other side.
"No!" I get a brief flash of Carter, a hole in his armor and coughing up blood. I snap back, and I charge the elite. I tackle the marshal, and pin his arm to the ground. I pull my kukri, stabbing him in the shoulder multiple times. "You bastard! You're done!" I'm about to plunge it into his skull, but he takes my combat knife from my back, stabbing me in the shoulder. I reel back, and he kicks me off and runs. I run over to Ruby, who can barley breathe, and she looks up at me, blood soaking the area around the wound, and the wound is burned, just like mine. I pick her up bridal style, and she can't even speak.
Yang Xiao Long PoV
"She should be back by now..." I'm nervously pacing.
"If they aren't back in five minutes, we leave without them." Goodwitch said, angry.
"They'll be-"
"Help! It's Ruby!" Noble shouted from the distance. I don't hesitate and run over to them, and Ruby is in his arms, bleeding from the gut.
"What happened?!" Blake asks, now running over. We bring her back to the ship, the pilot takes off with haste, just RWBY, Noble, and Goodwitch.
Noble 6 PoV
I'm holding her wound, my hands covered in blood. Glynda runs over with a medical kit, helping me out.
"Who did this?" She asks, doing her best to patch her up. At this point, Ruby is unconscious from blood loss. I can't exactly say aliens are here to RWBY, so I quickly lie.
"I-I don't know. Some bull Faunus with a katana did this!" I say, basing this off of the Adam guy I saw during my raid. This scares the shit out of Blake for some reason. Great. She knows who that is.
"A-Adam?"
"I don't know! When will be back to school?!"
"Now!" Goodwitch said. A full team was waiting for Ruby, and they put her on a stretcher and put a breather on her mouth. I follow closely as they push aside students, and me and WBY are sitting outside the ER in Beacon, and they dim the windows, so we can't see. I lean against the wall, sliding down and onto the floor, gripping my head. Yang is a crying mess, Weiss is pacing back and forth, Blake is sitting in total silence. Who ever Adam Taurus is, he's clearly scarred her. An hour passes. I stand up and sit next to Yang, and she immediately grabs me and starts crying on my shoulder. Then another hour passes, and another. Finally, a doctor comes out, still in his scrubs. We all stand up, Yang's letting go of me.
"She's stable and will make a full recovery." Yang laughs in relief, reflexively hugging me. Everyone else celebrates, but I'm left in silence. He goes back in, after making up some lies about her wound. I walk outside, and it's pitch black.
"I don't know what I saw back there 6. You were like a wild animal."
"C-Carter?!"