Chapter 3

Team RWBY had a problem.

That problem came in the form of the mysterious and scarred young boy named Silver Snow who had recently become Team RWBY's newest roommate.

Huh, did that make them Team RWBYS now?

Regardless, it had been three days since their quiet new arrival had arrived and he had spent almost the entire time avoiding her and her teammates.

None of them had been particularly stoked when Headmaster Ozpin had informed them that a late-enrolee would be joining the team out of the blue, explained as the result of an unequal student number. The fact that it was a boy didn't make it much better, in a team of four girls it would undoubtedly be horribly awkward on both sides.

Team RWBY had been a team for several months now, things might have started out poorly—mostly with Ruby and Weiss's initial antagonism, the latter have been furious about being passed over as team leader for a seemingly carefree girl two years her junior—but they had been persevered through it all and could confidently be referred to as close friends now, facing off against criminals and Grimm alike tended to do that. So to hear that a total stranger would be dropped into their lives and completely disrupt their painstakingly built dynamic was rather annoying.

Weiss had been particularly irate about it, she'd spent almost the entire day before Silver's arrival complaining about having to share a room with a boy who wasn't even going to be an official part of their team and the lack of proper warning of it all.

Yang and Blake hadn't been much better but Ruby herself tried to feel optimistic about it all. This guy had to have been pretty cool and strong to get into Beacon so late, she had been dying to find out what weapon he used. Besides, it was hardly his fault that he was forced to be shoved into an already full team because of poor logistics.

Then Silver actually arrived and all of their expectations had been utterly shattered. A short, frail boy with a horrific burn scar on his face who donned a pale cloak that was uncomfortably familiar. There was also the hair, which had been creepily similar to her own, but she just wrote it off as a coincidence and ignored Yang's teasing of having a fan.

How old was he even? They had been informed that he would be on the younger side, which hadn't bothered them initially because Ruby herself had enrolled two years early out of merit for taking on Roman Torchwick, but he was well under their expectations. He barely looked old enough to enter huntsmen prep school for crying out loud!

Things had been pretty awkward for these past three days, she still remembered the way Silver had stared blankly at her when she first met him. He had completely ignored her greeting and just huddled into his cloak before walking off, not even bothering to pick up his luggage.

She had put them in her room of course. Maybe it was her imagination but those bags he brought along were weirdly familiar... nah, probably just her imagination.

The rest of her team had no idea how to react, Weiss had been irritated at his perceived rudeness but had softened when informed of his scars and young age. Yang and Blake has both been curious and concerned about her description of him.

They hadn't seen him since, Professor Goodwitch had just cringed when informed and told them, 'Be patient, he's just going through some things right now.'

That didn't exactly help much.

So that was it for now, they were expected to head back to class, ignore the abandoned luggage and empty mattress at their dorm, and pretend everything was normal. Right now she and her team were having lunch with Team JNPR in the cafeteria after a long day of class.

Ruby rested her head into hear folded arms, groaning in exasperation. "Ugghhh, you guys I've been looking for him like forever now!" she cried dramatically. "I've looked in the library, the courtyard, and even the forge. It's like he's completely disappeared!"

Blake looked up from her book—seriously, who read while they ate?—for a moment. "Don't feel too bad now, it's pretty obvious that he doesn't want to be found."

Ruby sadly stared up at her. "But why? I only said hello to him and then he just walked away without a word."

She couldn't say that didn't sting a bit. Had she done something wrong? She had been rather nervous about making a good first impression so she might have come off too strongly and freaked him out.

Yang leered at her. "You sure that was it? Maybe he got a giant crush just looking at you and ran off in embarrassment."

Ruby shot up in disgust. "Ew, Yang!"

Ren spoke up suddenly. "Sorry to interrupt, but is that him?" The pink-eyed boy pointed over to the other side of the cafeteria.

Both team's gazes followed where his finger was pointing and they saw Silver Snow himself sitting on an empty bench alone, haggard looking and protectively hunched over his tray of lunch like he was scared someone would snatch it from him.

Students were staring at him curiously, no doubt curious and concerned about what someone so seemingly young was doing in a Huntsmen school alone and that wasn't even mentioning the large scar on his face. Silver didn't seem to appreciate the stares judging by the way he huddled into his cloak as if to hide himself.

A few seconds passed between the two teams in silence as they took in his appearance. Dark hair, pale skin, and a worn, white cloak that enveloped most of his body and looked like it had seen better days. Of course, the most notable feature was the nasty looking burn scar covering the right side of his face. The fact that he was wearing gloves indoors while eating gave a worrisome suggestion that his scars went even deeper.

Yang was the first to speak, her voice uncharacteristically soft and subdued. "Holy crap, you weren't kidding about the scar."

"He's a lot smaller then I was expecting," Blake commented, amber eyes narrowing at his figure. Her enhanced vision was clearly unsettled by whatever it was seeing. "And thinner."

"I think he's pretty cute!" Nora chirped. "Like a small, white teddy bear... well, a slightly crispy one anyway."

Beside her, Ren cringed at the comment.

Jaune looked concerned. "Is he... how old is he even? Because he doesn't look much older than ten." The uncertain shrugs he got in return provided little comfort. He had younger sisters, didn't he? Must have been freaky to see a boy their age amongst huntsmen, and in such poor condition to boot.

Pyrrha frowned. "Professor Ozpin didn't even tell you about his age?"

Ruby picked at her mashed potatoes in annoyance. "He didn't say much actually, only told us that an extra student named Silver Snow would be joining us since there wasn't any space for him to form his own team."

Ren raised his brow in confusion. "I don't recall seeing him during the initiation. Is he a transfer student?"

Ruby weakly shrugged. Seriously, would it have killed the headmaster to send a basic student profile on the guy?

Weiss scoffed. "Ridiculous. This kind of behaviour in a place as reputable as Beacon is extremely unprofessional. You never hear about things like this happening in Atlas."

Ruby couldn't help but slightly agree with that statement, it was pretty weird how they got stuck with a new roommate and teammate halfway into the year. "Well, not much we can do about it now, Weiss," she replied, frowning at Silver's solitary figure. "Should we do something? He looks pretty lonely sitting there by himself."

That statement was met by a sceptical look from the pale heiress. "Ruby, have some sense! We barely know the boy. He's probably been ignoring us purely because you don't understand the meaning of personal space," she replied, scowling at her partner. "If he doesn't want to talk to us, then that's his problem."

Ruby flinched, eyes falling to her half-eaten lunch as her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. She thought it was a good idea...

Pyrrha reached over to pat her on the shoulder. "I think it's a good idea Ruby, it's rather sweet of you to be so concerned." Weiss sputtered for a moment, no doubt not wanting to come across as mean to Pyrrha of all people, but the redhead ignored her and looked back at Silver with a frown. "He does look a little lonely, he must have some problems about opening up to new people and being surrounded by so many people older than him must be tough. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you did something like that."

"That's what I'm saying!" Ruby chirped, giving Pyrrha a thankful smile. She scrunched her face up in thought as she stared at her new reclusive roommate. What could they do to make Silver feel welcome? "Hm, how about we..."

" ... Fight him!" Ruby finished loudly.

A round of silence passed as everyone processed her words.

"… You want to fight him?" Blake asked slowly. "He's been ignoring us for three days and your idea of getting him out of his shell is by picking a fight with him?"

Ruby cringed. Well when she put it like that it did sound pretty bad, but she was committed now so no going back. "He's training to be a huntsmen like us right? Then he's gotta love fighting like the rest of us! Maybe he'll open up after a quick spar."

Yang shared an amused look with Blake. "Flawless plan Ruby, really." She spread her arms wide. "Well then, I doubt he'd appreciate us all ganging up on him so which one of us should spar with him first?"

Ruby stood and pressed a hand against her chest. "As leader of Team RWBY it naturally falls to me to get our new roomie comfortable!" she cried out in an overdramatic manner, flapping her cape backwards for extra dramatic effect.

Yang cheered, pumping a fist into the air. "There you go, kick his butt with the power of friendship, Rubes!"

"Good luck with that," Blake replied blandly, going back to her book. "For the record, I'm not involved in any of this."

Weiss crossed her arms and looked unimpressed. "This better work, last thing we need is all of us getting detention because you decided to beat up the new member we were trusted to look after."

Unperturbed, and with JNPR's half-hearted words of encouragement, Ruby walked over to where Silver was sitting with a spring in her step, feeling invigorated by their support.

That feeling gradually fell as she neared Silver, who was still focused on his lunch and had yet to notice her. Ew, he was actually eating the broccoli too. He didn't even seem to dislike it!

Ruby coughed to draw his attention. "Um, hi, Silver!" She waved when he turned to look at her, felt stupid doing so immediately, and then awkwardly dropped it.

Silver froze as their eyes met, the fork he was holding stuck mid-air. He quickly looked back to his meal. "… Hello," he whispered so quietly that she could have mistook it for a gust of air. "Can I help you?"

Oh, so he wasn't great with people either. Well, that was another thing they held in common at least!

"Uh, I was just wondering how you like the food?" she asked, desperate to get a conversation rolling. "I like it a lot! Wayyyy better than the stuff they served back at Signal Academy."

Silver glanced down to the tray that held a plate of half-finished pasta. "It's good."

The conversation continued with no progress in getting him out of his shell.

"How do you like Beacon so far?"

"It's nice."

"Are you doing okay with the class material? I had a bit of trouble at first since I skipped two years."

"I'm getting used to it."

"The statue at the courtyard is pretty cool, right?"

"Yeah."

Ruby's smile tightened at his simple answers. Wow, she thought she was bad at conversations.

Screw it, time to pull out her trump card.

"I was hoping to get a spar in before finishing the day! How about you join me? Since we're roomies now I think it'd be good to be sparring buddies as well."

Now that definitely got his attention. He noticeably perked up and turned to look at her. Ruby felt hope flutter in her chest as her silver eyes locked with his scarlet ones.

He turned his attention back to his food. "No, thank you."

… Oh, so much for that then.

Ruby looked back at her teammates for support.

Yang and Nora gave her a thumbs up, the others just watched in curiosity.

Ruby took a deep breathe and psyched herself up. Time to be a good leader.

Her hands latched onto Silver's arm causing him to stiffen out of surprise. "Pleeeeaseee spar with me!" she pouted. No one in her family could resist her puppy dog eyes! She totally had this. "C'mon, we're supposed to be roommates now! I don't know why you hate me so much but we can totally work it out in the ring and become friends!"

Silver looked horrified.

Ruby was starting to reconsider her choices.

"I-I don't..." his stoic expression broke and his voice cracked. Ruby gaped in horror when she even began to feel him shake violently like a trembling leaf under her touch. "I-I'm s-so sorry. I don't h-hate you I just-"

Silver shut his eyes and roughly yanked his arm free of her suddenly numb fingers. He grabbed his bag and bolted out of the room, leaving his half-finished meal abandoned.

Ruby stared at his retreating figure in a mixture of shock and guilt.

Wow, way to go there, dummy.

She miserably walked back to her table, well aware of the dirty and accusing stares boring into the back of her skull from the other students as she did so. Team JNPR and the remainder of team RWBY cringed at her as she sat back down.

Yang coughed into her fist, awkwardly averting her lilac eyes. "Maybe next time I should do the talking."

Ruby's forehead smashed against the table with enough force to activate her scarlet aura by reflex. Her groans were the only noise that was heard from their joined table for a while.

With the sharp click of heels against smooth, tiled floors, a certain, bespectacled professor briskly made her way through the halls of Beacon with a bundle of papers held against her chest.

Glynda Goodwitch was a busy woman, she had no time to waste on foolishness with a schedule like hers. Classes had to be taught, forms had to be filled, and missions had to be organised. Sloppiness or laziness on her part could very well lead to someone getting hurt in her line of work and that was something she didn't dare abide.

Some would expect her to ignore the soft sobbing coming from the white-cloaked boy seated at the balcony she passed by.

Some would be wrong.

Glynda Goodwitch was indeed a busy woman, but she wasn't a cruel woman.

She slowly approached the distracted boy. "Mr. Sno-" she cut herself off. Hm, no. He didn't look to be in the mood to entertain the masquerade and a quick observation showed that it was safe to be open. "Mr. Rose".

Silver stiffened and whirled around at the sudden noise, but relaxed when he noticed it was only her.

His bloodshot eyes flickered up to her. "Hello Miss. Goodwitch," he morosely greeted in a tired voice. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be out here at this time."

Glynda waved him off. "We'll consider it a learning experience this time," she placed hand on her hip and quirked an eyebrow at him. "But may I ask why exactly you're curled up on a balcony crying alone during curfew hours?"

Silver tightly grabbed a handful of his cloak and averted his false red eyes in shame. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just saw someone I'd prefer not to meet right a little while ago."

Glynda hummed. She could fill in the blanks. "Stand up straight, please."

Silver immediately complied and obediently stood up without hesitation. Glynda's lips narrowed to a thin line as he rose to his full height.

Small. He was so damned small, his head didn't even reach up to her shoulders.

A child even compared to the other youngsters that attended this academy. He should have been returned home to his grandfather to heal from the horrors he'd gone through, instead he was here training to put himself in further danger for the sake of a war he should have never been involved in.

She cursed Ozpin. Silver's knowledge was undoubtedly crucial so keeping him close at hand was the obvious move, but sticking him with the same people he knew as his deceased family members was borderline cruel even if he had good intentions.

It had been a smart move on his part, shoving the boy off with the past versions of his loved ones to ensure he would stay. His guilt complex ran a mile wide, something they had both been able to tell just from interacting with him for a few minutes.

Understandably, she was more disgusted than impressed by the manoeuvre.

"Are you having trouble adjusting to Beacon?" A stupid question, of course he was. But this would hopefully allow him to vent his frustrations.

Silver's eyes fell to the ground. "It's, uh, a lot different then I thought it would be." He fiddled with his gloved hands absent-mindedly. "I haven't started class yet but I think I'm getting the hang of some of the material from those books you gave me."

"So it's the people you have a problem with?"

Silver's eyes widened. "No! It's not that! They aren't bothering me I just..."

"What is it?" she gently coaxed. "I'm here if you'd like to talk."

He clenched his fists. "I... I miss them." He sniffled, slightly shaking. "I miss my mom, I miss my dad, I miss my aunties, and I miss my uncles too. I'd give anything just to see them one more time. I know that they're all here now but they're just..."

"Not the same people," Glynda softly finished.

Silver tiredly nodded. "I can't even talk to any of them about it."

Glynda's heart squeezed in guilt. There was no accusation in his voice but that made her feel worse. It was cruel what they did to Silver, to surround him with the familiar faces he had lost only to leave him unable to even speak to them about it. "It's understandable, the things they went through changed them into completely different people. Now that we know about Salem's plans they'll likely never be the same people you knew no matter what."

It was a blunt, almost cruel thing to say. But with all he had been through, she would not lie to him with honeyed words.

Silver's face fell but he didn't respond.

She sighed, children were always so difficult.

She placed a finger on his chin and gently tilted his head up to lock eyes. "I wish that I could help you further but right now the only piece of advice I can offer is this."

"Sometimes in life, we don't have the chance to keep the ones we love safe. You may have lost them, but they aren't gone. Right now you are fighting not just for your future, but for theirs as well." She fixed him with a hard stare. "Even if they aren't the same people you knew, would you still leave them to fight alone?"

Silver blinked in shock at her bold question. With a hardened expression, he viciously shook his head. "Never."

Glynda nodded in approval. "Good, I understand that they might be different than the people you once knew, but that doesn't change the fact that they loved you, and if you give them the chance they'll love you all over again."

Silver looked to the side in thought. "I never really thought about that." He grimaced. "What if…what if I fail them again?"

Glynda shrugged. "Then they'll die, you'll die, and the rest of us will likely follow shortly after."

Silver's jaw dropped as he stared at her, appalled. "Wha- what kind of advice is that!?"

"The truthful kind, I won't lie to you and say that we'll defeat Salem even with the information that you've given us. We may die, we may not," Glynda replied sternly. "Trust me, I know from experience that wondering on 'what-ifs' never help anyone. Use your regrets as fuel to drive yourself to better heights instead of wallowing in them."

Silver looked up at her with an indescribable expression, nodding slowly in silence.

Glynda sighed. "Now then, I expect you to patch things up with Team RWBY tomorrow. It won't do if you're avoiding each other for the entire semester. Until then, go to sleep. It's well past your curfew."

Silver broke out of his stupor. "Oh, okay," he replied, heading back to bench. "Goodnight, professor."

Instead of grabbing his bag and heading off like she expected, he instead laid down on the bench and propped his head onto his backpack like a makeshift pillow.

"What are you doing?" she warily questioned.

Silver's head appeared over the bench. "I'm trying to sleep?"

Oh Gods, she could practically feel her blood pressure rising.

Resisting the urge to palm her face, she asked him to clarify. "... Outside on a bench?"

He have her a strange look, as if she were the one being unreasonable here. "Well, yes. I've been sleeping here the past few days just fine." At her concerned expression, he just sheepishly shrugged. "It's fine, I'm used to sleeping in the cold."

Glynda closed her eyes in frustration and steadied her breathing.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

"Grab your things, I have a couch in my room that you can sleep on for the night. It's not much but it's far preferable to a wooden bench on the outside." Her tone brokered no argument. She gave him a warning look. "This will be a one-time thing only, I expect you to start sleeping in your own assigned room starting from tomorrow. Am I understood?"

Silver hesitated for only a moment before reluctantly nodding.

Glynda nodded back. "Good lad. Follow me."

They walked to her room in silence, Silver only gathered the courage to speak midway there.

"Um, Miss Goodwitch?" he quietly mumbled.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for, um, for saying all those things. It really helped."

Glynda kept staring forward, a warm feeling in her chest that she tried not to think about to ohard. "… You're welcome, Silver."