Chapter 28: Acquiring Knowledge
[A/N:
"No way, another update? But it hasn't been several months yet!"
Yes, the unthinkable miracle has occurred, I have uploaded another chapter so soon after the last one.
Now before you go on and hopefully enjoy this chapter, there is a situation I have found myself in that I will be bringing up now. Though the full effects of this decision will not take place until RWBY canon start, it will still have some general sway over how some people feel.
I may or may not have fucked up on the ages of Argento and the main cast. We all know the age of the main cast at the beginning of RWBY - everyone is 17 except an early induction at 15 for Ruby. I do not know if anyone kept track of the ages of the three of them, but currently Argento is 13 and Yang is 7, meaning he is older than I want him.
My original plan was to have him be a 4th year student when the main cast rolled into Beacon, but to do that I would have to take a few major author liberties and just pretend their ages all make sense and line them up at 15, 17, and roughly 21. However, this doesn't quite sit right with me, and that's when another tantalizing idea came to play.
I would still be slightly fudging their ages, but the new plan would be for him to stick around Beacon, probably as a teacher, and for his first year of teaching have the main cast be his students.
After a lot of thinking and some pretty janky math, I have concluded that by stretching logic to its fullest, it would make sense for these series of events to occur.
Keep in mind, the only reasons I am giving this information to you all is both because the age fuckery would likely be noticed by some anyways, and I would enjoy your intake on this.
It is the same as always, there are no guarantees your input will affect what and how I write, but there is a chance I find something I enjoy, so I will happily read your ideas and suggestions.
Also, small note, there will be a big time-jump to Argento's time at Beacon. Before it is asked he did not go to Signal or any other school, he trained on his own, with Taiyang, and with Qrow. He will have not seen Ozpin since this point of the story, but that's mostly irrelevant compared to his powers.
Speaking of, you'll see it later in the chapter, but I don't go over what he learns. This information will be given as he uses it during the Beacon Initiation (the scene where Oz chucks the students off the cliff). It will also be listed in a new Auxiliary chapter covering Argento's powers, and it will be updated here and there as he deepens his understanding of his Semblance.
That's all I can think of, I hope this didn't bore you all too much (if you even read this, hopefully you all did). I wish you all a great time, and I hope you enjoy!]
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As I stared into the dark abyss above me, I noticed dots of shining light scattered everywhere. Taking a moment to absorb the beauty of what I was seeing, I eventually looked down to see in front of me three blobs of some sort, one gold, one purple and the biggest one being pure white.
In the background was a large hill, colored sporadically with blue, green, white, orange and even purple. As my eyes wandered over the scene in front of me, a very dull murmur reached my ears, pulling my attention back to the blobs that seemed to be… speaking?
With a sharp pang of pain running through my head, I closed my eyes hard, and when I began opening them again I felt that pain spread throughout my whole body, but in a much more mild version. With more effort than I normally have to give, I finally opened my eyes, wincing at the light coming through the window.
As I smelled the more sterile form of antiseptic from the room and the floral scent flowing through the slightly ajar window, I quickly concluded I had to be in the Patch hospital. It wasn't necessarily a large hospital, but considering the population of Patch and relative proximity to Vale it rarely ever reached a higher occupancy.
Lightly moving my body, which hurt every moment I tried to do so, I felt my left hand being stopped in place, causing my gaze to go to the side of my bed. Sitting there in a chair and holding my hand was Yang, waking up from dozing off after she felt something pull her hand.
As she roused from her sleepy state, taking a second to confusedly look around, her half-lidded lilac eyes finally found my open golden ones. This seemed to erase all traces of her ever being tired, with tears only slightly welling in her eyes.
"Argento, you're finally up!"
"Finally up?" As the raspy words left my dried throat, I remembered my near-death attempt to save the girls.
"Ah, you must be thirsty. I'll go get some water and Uncle Qrow!"
Before I could say anything, the energetic child ran out of the room calling for Qrow, leaving me just ruefully smiling at her sudden burst of energy upon seeing me awake. Honestly speaking, this either means she has been impatiently waiting for me to wake up or that I have actually been out for a while now, which wouldn't surprise me.
With the fight now on my mind, I was surprisingly calm about the whole situation. Back when the ambush had seemingly ended, I was more focused on everyone else to fully digest the situation and my depressive state after I woke up stopped me from feeling much other than anguish.
However, now that I have gone through another fight, still almost dying, but this time successfully keeping everyone alive, the first thing on my mind is to analyze what I did right and wrong. On one hand this is a great boon, because now in this dangerous world I will be much more focused on my improving and saving others rather than the imminent danger I end up in so often.
On the other hand, it concerns me that my Argento half, the one that has more active sway over how I feel and act, doesn't seem to be feeling even the slightest shred of negative emotions from this. Not bad in an emotional aspect, I'm pretty sure that part of me is slightly broken anyways, but when it comes to keeping myself alive I fear eventually I may lose my sense of self-preservation if I'm not careful.
As I was ruminating about my current situation, I heard footsteps coming my direction. Choosing to analyze my fight at a later date, I began sitting up, which although it was most definitely painful it was more like how my body used to feel after a particularly grueling training session with my father.
As Yang walked in the room followed by Qrow and, judging by the outfit, a doctor, they saw me checking each of the areas I remembered having a particularly nasty wound; or at least, I was checking the areas I could see, since I distinctly remember having some nasty feeling impacts on my back.
"You probably shouldn't move too much kid, those were some nasty wounds you got."
As Qrow began talking Yang walked over with the cup of water, and giving her my thanks I steadily quenched the thirst that was beginning to bug me. Though I had many things I wished to talk about, there were some bigger questions I had on my mind at the moment, so I looked over at the medical professional.
"Hello Argento, my name is Dr. Maron. Seeing as you are checking the areas we healed, it seems we correctly assumed you may have a few questions for us."
"Yes, I do have a few. I would like to first start with how long I was out."
"Assuming you woke up at the time Ms. Xiao Long came out for water, you were unconscious for approximately 42 hours. In your case, that amount of time was less than our original estimates based on your injuries and the amount we had to heal."
"That leads to my second question, how was I healed? I'm unsure what methods we currently use for the type of wounds I received."
"While there are many doctors in bigger hospitals that have Semblances related to the healing process, in our case we only have aura-capable medical professionals to supply your body with aura healing for the major wounds, regular medical methods for the moderate wounds, and leaving your body to heal the minor wounds."
"Aura Healing?"
"To put it rather simply, the aura of a knowledgeable user can medically and safely speed up a patient's recovery speed. It is a rather taxing use of aura, so that is why we use it only for major wounds."
As I continued to converse with the doctor, he pulled out a rolling stool as he laid his clipboard, presumably holding all the relevant information on my status, onto his lap. Qrow took the seat by my side, already knowing most of this information but choosing to stay once Yang claimed his lap as her seat.
"I see; then my third question is if you have a list of the injuries I received and if I could see it. If there are any pre-healing images or times I received them they would be appreciated as well." At my request Qrow seems to pay more attention above the dozing Yang, slightly confused but intrigued at why I would request it.
"We do not have any pre-healing images, but I do have a list of your injuries with the rough order you acquired them in that I can get you before you leave. May I ask why you would want said list?"
"I am an aspiring Huntsman, so I wish to have a list that I can compare to my memories in hopes to improve however I can."
With the doctor giving a hum of both surprise and approval, he nods and jots something down in {Doctors Cant}. [A/N: Doctors Cant is like Thieves Cant from D&D, but it refers to the scribbles that doctors call their notes/signatures, even though it's practically only legible to others in the same profession and/or fields.]
"Any other questions you wish to ask? As you are primarily healed and just need some rest, we can discharge you if that is what you wish, but we implore you to take it easy for at least the next week; even if you have healed, some of your wounds will have to finish healing through rest."
"Just two more, what counts as minor and moderate wounds, and why are minor wounds left to heal by themselves?"
"I'll start with your second question, and that's because of an aura user's natural regeneration. While it cannot be used by itself to survive major damage to the body, nor is it available to those without the capability to actively use aura, it is able to slow down the deterioration of a wound's condition if it is too much to heal and deal with minor wounds with some time.
For your first question, minor wounds can be paper cuts, sprains, bruises, some fractures, clean breaks, shallow cuts and stabs, and other wounds similar to these. Moderate are more complex breaks and fractures, as well as decently deep cuts and stabs to non-vital areas. Should you find yourself with moderate and above wounds I would recommend finding aid from someone versed in medical practice."
"I will keep that in mind. Thank you, and those are all of my questions."
As the doctor excused himself to acquire the forms I asked for, I finally looked over to see a gently surprised smile on Qrow's face as Yang snuggled into his chest, wrapping the red cloak around herself as a blanket.
"I knew you handled these situations well kid, but had I not known your past it would've been scary how calm you were. On top of that, even most Huntsmen don't bother with their injury reports to analyze and improve on their fighting."
"Well us Chronos are built different, or at least that's what my dad would say. You remember how I told you I would explain that whole 'death wish' comment you made?"
With a nod of confirmation from him, I proceeded to explain to him the basics of Chrono Bravery, both the pros, and cons. Then I explained how I had been trained from an early age because mine appeared earlier than it did for all previous Chrono, focusing mostly on the portion where I was trained to always be ready for anything to catch me off-guard and to always improve.
"Damn kid, that sounds like a rough thing to have. If my Semblance weren't Misfortune then I'd say you had the same thing."
"Oh, speaking of Semblances-"
"Not yet, kid."
Giving him a confused tilt of my head, Dr. Maron walked through the door and it took a few seconds for Qrow's words to make sense. My survival is meant to be a secret, so if openly talking about my powers could cause problems then that must mean it's a hereditary Semblance; that means the only person who knows is Ozpin, and probably at least Qrow from how he's talking.
"Here you go Argento, a simplified report of your injuries, when they were obtained, and a ranking of which ones were at what level. Whenever you are ready to be discharged just change into the clothes your guardian brought and go down to the front desk, they will do the final check to make sure nothing else is needed and you'll be good to go."
"Thank you very much, doctor."
Giving a final nod goodbye, the doctor leaves the room for good, and my gaze settles on Qrow.
"I can go over this list when we get home - I'm starving."
"Now you're speaking my language kid! I'm sure Ruby and Tai will be happy to see you back home and safe."
Expertly carrying the now sleeping Yang in his arms, Qrow slowly led me out of the hospital until we came to a stop at the closest thing to a sports car I've seen since coming to Remnant. After putting Yang in the backseat, Qrow noticed I wasn't near him, and looking back he saw me slowly shuffling forward while admiring his car with slightly widened eyes.
"Oh? I didn't know you were interested in cars, kid."
"Neither did I, but how could someone not appreciate THIS?"
"I know, ain't she pretty?" As he was saying this he lightly pushed me into the car, where I sat on one of the most comfortable seats a car has ever had. Stepping in on his side he starts the car, and when I say I could feel none of the noises I could hear the car making that is not an exaggeration; it's like the car never started on the inside.
"For all the hell this job puts me through, the deeper inside the circle you are the greater the benefits."
"Isn't that just because your missions end up being classified so you can't be paid for them?"
"Hah, cheeky kid."
After a relatively short drive, we finally made it to the house, where as soon as I stepped out of the car I could smell something delicious being made. Suddenly I was acutely aware of just how long I have gone without real food, and a loud grumble could be heard originating from my stomach.
After Qrow was finished laughing at me and getting Yang out of the car, I went inside to find a sullen Ruby sitting at the table and a more level-headed-looking Taiyang finishing dinner preparations. After nearly losing both his daughters, it seems the man has decided to pull himself together.
At the sound of the door, Ruby excitedly looked back to find me, bandaged but okay, and she nearly rocketed straight into me. The only thing stopping her was Qrow, who grabbed her by the scruff of her clothes, and a look of realization seemed to go through her.
Once she was put down, she just as fast came to my side but stopped there, giving me a gentle hug like I would die if she squeezed any harder. I couldn't help but chuckle at this, hugging her tightly but comfortably back.
As she left my side and Tai set the table before I could sit down I found myself in another hug, but this time by the father of those who I saved.
"Thank you so much, Argento. If not for you, I would've had to deal with losing three family members in just as many months."
"There is no need to thank me Taiyang. If not for all of you I would still be a lost soul, so to me, this is barely even starting to make it even."
A single silent tear rolled down his cheek, away from the notice of the girls. As he let go and turned around, it was as if it didn't exist and he smiled brightly, like he hasn't since Summer went MIA.
That dinner was the most joyful one we've had since she's been gone, and with the familiar feeling of soreness mixed with the joy I once again set the questions and analyzing for later.
Then finally at exactly 19:34, though I had no clue how I instinctively knew that number was correct, the girls ran up to their room to play around, and the adults grabbed the alcohol that Tai hides in a cupboard hidden and out of reach of children.
"So kid, now that we're away from prying ears and the children are busy, you may ask away and we'll answer anything we can."
"I'll gladly do so, starting with what you know about my Semblance. I assume Ozpin told you something for when this occurred, and among those details, I'm guessing it's hereditary?"
"Yes, he did share the details with me, and yes it is hereditary. The name for your family's Semblance is Chronokinesis."
"Wait, really?"
"Yes, though I wouldn't know what it means had Oz not told me what Chrono means. Kinda odd your last name is the same as your power though."
"Well, that's probably because of the patriarch, seeing as he was the original Chrono. But how is it time-related if I made a barrier of light?"
"That would be one of the aspects of your powers that Oz had explained to me, though keep in mind this is just what he has learned from observation after having a long friendship with your parents."
It took a little while for me to understand what Ozpin had been able to understand from experiencing the powers my parents held, but the understanding was very different from being capable of doing. While I could feel the powers at the tip of my fingers, I wasn't quite sure how to access them, which brought me out of my thoughts to the two adults quietly drinking and watching me absorb this information.
"This isn't going to be easy, is it?" At my words, both adults began hysterically laughing, probably a mix of the alcohol and my redundant question.
"Kid, when is it ever easy?"
"That is a fair point." As I stared at my hand, focusing, I was able to pull up a small bubble of gold, no bigger than a softball, but it was enough to make a smile come onto my face. Though because my concentration was thrown off it popped, causing the smile to strain.
More laughter came from the adults across from me, though they were impressed I got that on my first try. Most people who first get their Semblance need at least a few tries to recreate what they first did with it.
As their laughter began dying down, an idea popped into my head, and I looked up toward Qrow.
"Would you be willing to train me?"
"Are you asking me to dedicate my time to training you full-time?"
"No, I need to figure out the ins and outs of my power on my own. All I'm asking is whenever you're free and able, for you to take the time out of your day you can and train me."
"Even if it is at ungodly hours or for just short periods?"
"Anything is better than nothing. Since I'm currently capable of going without sleep comfortably for about 52 hours, as long as I sleep at a good time every night I'll be ready at any moment." After a few moments of thought, Qrow lightly slams his glass on the table and sticks his hand out for a shake.
"I'm in, kid, but be warned that I will not go easy on you whatsoever."
"I wouldn't ask for it any other way!"
As I shook Qrow's hand, I knew I was going to have a rigorous schedule ahead of me. Now with my aura and Semblance, I would have to train that and my body, as well as find the time to indulge in the passive training method I found in the journal back at the estate; of course, on top of this I must not forget to spend time with those around me.
After my week-long rest as per the doctor's orders, I'll finally begin my real training. I only have about 4 years left until my Beacon years, and I can't hold back when I get there.
No matter if I would automatically be given a spot, I would have others my age to compare my prowess to. But most importantly, I'll be going in with my real name, so my survival will become public knowledge to any and all people who know the Chrono name.
Whether it is Salem or some self-indulgent bureaucrats, my name is bound to make waves, so I must prepare to defend myself against the world; if it comes to it, that is.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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