19 Ch. 19 The Light In His Darkness

Alabast opened his eyes and saw Yang and Blake standing over him.

He knew his hair wasn't covering his face.

"Good morning Ashy?" Yang scratched her cheek and looked awkward.

Blake just looked to the side a bit with a neutral face.

Then he felt a movement on his lap and looked down. He saw Ruby still sitting on his lap, leaning against him and looking up at him. He also knew what his current state was in his pants. Both Pyrrha and Weiss were also looking at his face.

He takes his arm from around Weiss and fixes his hair to cover his face again. He puts his arm back around Weiss. Then he leans his head back down and sees Yang and Blake again. "So what did I miss?" He flatly spoke.

"Your hair changed and your scars changed!" Yang uttered very quickly.

Alabast looked at his hair and saw that the light gray had spread a bit more. It's like Ruby's hair that is black and has red tips.

Alabast uses his darkness and takes his scroll out to see his face. And sure enough. There are less scars. The only ones remaining were the ones from his torture at the 'Bloody Hours' protest.

"Ok…." Alabast didn't know what this meant. The original scars didn't fade at all while the others were completely gone. Did this have something to do with his dream? Of course it did. Why would he have that weird dream at the same time this happens.

Alabast still has his arms around Pyrrha and Weiss but make his palms face eachother. He concentrates on a different feeling within himself, presumably the light he dreamt of.

Between his palms a dim white light that was as thick as a piece of string formed.

He looked at it and was confused and disappointed. It was similar to his darkness but felt like it was weak. So weak that it's like when his darkness semblance just awakened.

"Is that your semblance evolving or do you have a second semblance?" Blake asked extremely curious.

"It feels like my darkness, but I'm not sure. Should I be able to tell?" Alabast doesn't know if it's the same or different. He focuses on the light and how it feels.

"It's similar, but I can already tell there are differences. I can't make objects out of this" Alabast tries to move the string of dim light but can't. He makes it go away and faces his palms up to the ceiling. In each palm a string of light instantly forms to the ceiling parallel to each other. They're still dim, but he can move them separately by moving his palms.

"This is gonna suck" Alabast says.

"Why do you say that?! You have another new power!" Ruby says watching the light show.

"Because that means I have to train this Ruby. And training Darkness was hard enough. Now I have to train….light? But I guess you're right. I should be happier" Alabast has his mind thinking about how he will train and what his light can and can't do at the moment.

"Why now? Why unlock or activate now?" Alabast asked aloud.

Everyone immediately thinks back to the fact he just started dating 4 ladies at the same time. They knew exactly why it could have. But it could still be random, as unlikely as it is.

"Maybe it's your despair and your happiness?" Pyrrha voiced her opinion.

"The darkness and the light" Weiss continued.

"How poetic" Alabast says.

"It's your semblance Mr. Speareshake" Yang references an old poet and playwright.

"And?" Alabast looks into her lilac eyes.

"Nothing" Yang scratches behind his ear and he closes his eyes. The light shines a bit brighter from his palms.

"I think that's enough evidence. Maybe it's linked to negative and positive emotions. But I don't feel my darkness shrinking. It's still the same". He makes the beam of light in his left hand disappear and then replaces it with darkness.

"Sometimes semblances are never awakened. And sometimes semblances change. There's also the people that awaken their semblance but either can't achieve its full potential or don't know how. You may never figure out why" Pyrrha says.

"Whatever, guess it's like my multiple traits then"

"Or could they actually be linked?" Blake wonders.

"I'll worry about it tomorrow. I just need to train it and find out. Now can we talk about something else?" Alabast doesn't feel like talking about this for hours since it won't get them anywhere.

"I guess there will be more training sessions now. But that doesn't mean you can slack on your studies Alabast!" Weiss won't have her boyfriend fail a class. He will have to study much more. "I guess there's no helping it, I'll have to tutor you more"

"I can help with that" Pyrrha nods to Weiss who nods back.

"Good luck Ashy!" Ruby says and shifts her weight.

Alabast flinches from the sensation. He looks at Ruby and feels like he needs to punish her later.

"Watch it Little Red" Alabast is really testing his will. He just started dating them and Ruby is already testing him.

Ruby smirks at Alabast and he now knows that she's doing it on purpose. He thought she was innocent, but it seems she has a devil whispering into her ear from her shoulder.

They talk for some time. Yang and Blake sat across from the four on the couch in the comfy chairs. Alabast was eventually able to calm down.

It was getting late and they had class early in the morning the next day. Alabast and Pyrrha left after saying good bye and went to their dorm room. They saw Ren sleeping on his back while Nora was on his side hugging him with her head on his arm.

Alabast and Pyrrha changed into their pjs, Pyrrha changed in the bathroom.

Alabast was laying on his side messing with his new abilities. He had light beams coming out of his finger tips on his right hand. The lights were off in the room. The beams made no sound and he could somewhat control their brightness.

Pyrrha came out of the bathroom and walked over to Alabast. She sat down on the edge of the bed near where his legs were. "Having fun?"

"Not really" Alabast was annoyed if anything. He decides to make the beams of light disappear. "Care to sleep in my arms again, my Ember?"

Even with the light gone he could see her blush. It was very dark but he was a Faunus. Night vision.

Alabast didn't wait for a response and pulled her down next to him. Unlike last time, she wasn't facing him this time. He put and arm around her and grabbed her hand. His tail stayed behind him and he used his darkness to bring the blanket over the both of them.

"I guess I will…." Pyrrha squeaks out.

Alabast whispers behind her. "You don't have to if you don't want to"

Pyrrha scoots back closer into Alabast's embrace and puts her back against his chest. "I don't mind. I just wasn't prepared is all"

"Careful where you are Ember, I'm still a guy" Alabast gives her a fair warning. After Ruby teased him for an hour he was really pent up.

"I-I know" Pyrrha was blushing heavenly and glad that Alabast couldn't see her face.

She was already pressed against his body, but then she felt something poking her bottom. And it kept growing. Alabast held her tighter. His head was getting hazy but he didn't want to go that far with her yet. He wanted to know her better. They had only started dating the previous night. "Thanks for being her Pyrrha"

Alabast could have sworn he saw steam coming from her head. He felt her tightly holding his arm he wrapped around her. "Love you Alabast"

He could barely hear her. "Pyrrha". It was extremely hard to hold himself back. He had to bite his tongue.

They just laid there not talking until they eventually fell asleep. It was a while and neither really moved much. Just enjoying the silence and each others warmth. Pyrrha felt conflicted about her situation. She loves Alabast but wanted to develop their relationship more before doing nightly activities. And there was Ren and Nora across the room as well. She thought about this until she fell asleep without realizing it.

Alabast's scroll alarm was going off. Alabast quickly shut it off with his darkness and opened his eyes. Then he felt something move against his groin. He saw and felt Pyrrha waking up.

He moved away from Pyrrha and sat up. "Morning Pyrrha"

She was blushing and flustered. She got up from the bed and gave Alabast a quick greeting before going to the bathroom and getting ready for the day.

Ren and Nora got up. Alabast talked with them and caught them up. Nora was excited and happy for them. She had so much energy for the morning. She kept telling Ren that she was right. Ren was just trying to wake up about Nora was content on talking with him like he has been up for hours.

Alabast watched their charades. Pyrrha came out and sat next to Alabast. Nora went into the bathroom next and after her was Ren, last was Alabast.

They went to class with team RWBY and passed the time. It was almost like nothing changed. Except Ayaka kept bugging Alabast any chance she got. Cardin was also as stale as ever.

It finally came time to train and Alabast had to train on his own. He was still at the field but he was focusing on training the 'light'. For now he focused on familiarizing himself with the power. If it grow with his happiness he doesn't have to worry about it being weak for now. But he should focus on controlling it because if it becomes too strong in the future it could be more of a hinderance.

He thought about how he is able to move through the darkness and tried doing it with light. While he didn't succeed he did notice that his aura turned whit while he used the light. It made no sense to him. But when he used both his aura was dark so it means that his darkness will consume the light. Which he confirmed with a simple test. His light beam didn't go through a thin layer of darkness.

Alabast took a break to let his aura recharge. Making the light consumes more aura than he anticipated. His darkness used to be the same way. Now the aura consumption is minimalistic.

He sat down in the shade and drank from his water bottle. He watched the others practicing. It seems they are also trying to train their semblances more. Ruby has made so many rose petals in the area. Weiss is testing and pushing her limits with her glyphs. Blake is making her clones. They're pretty basic at the moment and can't even stay around for long. Pyrrha is still trying to manipulate metals in close proximity differently. Ren is training his stamina since he can't really train his semblance of hiding others emotions and presence. Nora is testing her electricity limits before she hurts herself. And Yang, well. Her semblance is her dealing more damage back to the enemy than she has taken. The more damage she takes the stronger she gets. So she is also working on strengthening her body.

Alabast remembers that Ayaka had given him her number previously. As much as he didn't want to deal with her he had to. It's better than her trying to cause trouble for him until he does it anyway.

He adds her into his scroll and sends her a text. 'This is Alabast. Don't bother me'

But of course, it would be too easy.

'Aly! It took you long enough! I was worried you had forgotten about me! So how are you doing! You looked different in class today, did you do something with your hair?'

Alabast just put his scroll back in his pocket. He really didn't want to deal with anything Ayaka related.

Alabast looked up and saw Ren getting lapped by Yang…..again. Yang really is trying her best, in fact….they all were.

Alabast stood and walked over to Pyrrha. "Hey Pyrrha. Can you manipulate the metal while me and Yang train with it on?"

Pyrrha puts down the metal she had in the air and turned to Alabast. She was sweating lightly. "Yeah, I don't see why I couldn't. It's still me training my semblance that way"

"Yang! Come over here!" Alabast called out to Yang who turned towards the pair and made her way over. She had a thin layer of sweat and whipped her forehead with the back of her wrist.

"What's up? The three of us gonna have some fun?" She asked while moving an eyebrow up and down.

"Eventually Saph. But for now Pyrrha said she can make it so that the metal will give us resistance in training. I would offer it to Ren but…." The three of them look over and see Ren not doing so well. He really lacks stamina.

"I don't know how he is going to keep up with Nora in their….adventures together" Yang really held back but still said it. Nora would absolutely sap Rens stamina.

"At least we know Alabast won't have that problem" Yang whispers as she nudges Pyrrha with her elbow.

"I-I suppose not" Pyrrha bashfully responds.

Yang laughs and Alabast turns towards her. "I heard that"

"Did I say you weren't meant to" Yang smirks at Alabast.

"Fair enough" He says.

Pyrrha bends some metal to fit around their arms, torso, and ankles. She made sure that the metal wouldn't break and injure them or dig into them. Yang and Alabast start doing various exercises while Pyrrha does her thing. She's very careful to not hurt her friends.

She has to put more effort into Alabast due to his strength and speed. While he hadn't been exercising previously, he isn't using his aura to be stronger or faster. Only to not get injured by the metal pressing on his body and messing around with his light when his aura regenerates enough.

They train for some time and then call it a day. They all rest for a bit and enjoy talking together. Alabast takes out his scroll and sees so many messages. He sighs and reads a few. They're all from Ayaka. She just kept texting him. It was like clockwork. Every 5-10 minutes. Then he gets a new one.

'Already ignoring me Aly? I guess I'll just have to pay your girlfriends a visit'

Alabast was not very pleased with this. There were many messages that were random and asking him various questions.

Alabast narrowed his eyes as he responded. 'What do you want. I was busy training. And do not go near them'

He immediately got a response.

'You?'

'Training?'

'Did your semblance disappear or something? You've only really trained your body. What have you been doing for the past hours?'

'Wait!

'They are youre girlfriends now?!'

'How did you manage to make Blake finally fall for you?!'

'She didn't even give you the time of day not even a month ago!'

'Did you hypnotize her? Or did you force her into submission? Did you make her meow?'

Ayaka then proceeded to ask various nasty ways he could have turned Blake into his 'pet' kitten.

'Knock it off Ayaka. No, she hasn't decided yet'

'Then does that mean she's considering it? Even that's amazing! Didn't know you were such a player. And the fact you managed to score the others is mind blowing in its own right. Yet you always turned me down. Unless you are willing to now?'

Alabast was really just not wanting to deal with her.

'Haven't in the past, and won't in the future'

"Who are you cheating on us with already?" Yang asks. Alabast doesn't text anyone on his scroll.

"I'm not. Why would I cheat when I've already gotten the best? And it's just Ayaka being a pest" Alabast sees Ayakas response.

'Offers still stand wolfy. And I'm looking forward to this weekend! <3'

'Whatever. I've got other things to do now' Alabast puts his phone away.

"She won't be a problem after this weekend" He says seriously.

"You're not….gonna….yknow…..kill her or anything right?" Yang asked weirdly.

"What? Why would he do that?" Weiss interrupts. Why would Alabast kill Ayaka? Even if she is annoying and trying to get with her boyfriend she didn't think Alabast would kill her.

"I'm not going to kill her. I'm just going to hear what she wants. I don't even plan on touching her" Alabast shakes his head.

"That's good" Yang says that and the others look relieved. It's not because they thought he would kill her, but it's because he said he wouldn't touch her. They weren't worried, but it was reassuring.

Nothing particularly happened over the rest of the week. Alabast got closer and spent more time with the girls. He had to study more which he wasn't pleased about. But the time he spent with them meant a lot to him. Blake hadn't talked about their relationship but still hung out with them, even if she was reading a portion of the time.

Pyrrha would sometimes sleep in her own bed, but enjoyed Alabasts presence while she slept.

Cardin challenged Alabast to fight him again. Alabast offered to fight the entire team CRDL. He was ready to just put the team in their place. His teammates weren't that bad, but they weren't saints either. They sometimes joined in on the bullying but tended to keep it low when they did. Cardin was clearly the one leading their group in the bullying.

Ayaka had told Alabast that they will be meeting up in the afternoon on Saturday. She told him to wear something good looking. That ticked Alabast off, but he was getting used to her annoyingness again. She also said they would be getting dinner in Vale.

His light had grown stronger, only a little though. He has been training it daily whenever he had free time. And even when he didn't he multitasked to get used to using it. He planned on taking the girls out individually on dates in the near future.

And so his Friday ended with him going back to his dorm room from team RWBY's. They had just been playing cards, and Yang mentioned 'strip-poker' which immediately got rejected by Weiss and she received a flick to the forehead. Alabast lost tremendously and they didn't let him forget. Yang pointed the out the fact he would have definitely lost 'strip-poker' and that they had missed a great opportunity to which nobody said anything against.

Alabast was thinking about what he would do with them before he had to leave. Maybe just laze around and watch a few movies, that actually seems rather nice to him.