"Mr Narvaez," Headmaster Burns sighed, "For the last time, could you please stop doing that to Mr Free."

"Pfft, Nope!" Ray exclaimed, rapidly hip thrusting behind Gavin while holding a large orange cone to his crotch. Gavin, being his regular oblivious self, had no idea what was happening and blindly continued tying his shoes.

"Besides Burnie," Ray added, dropping the cone and holding both hands behind his head, "It's not my fault I'm not good at following directions, I'm Puerto Rican, which pretty much makes me a Mexican! And blaming me for that makes you a racist, a fuckin' racist!"

"Oh please," Burnie scoffed dully, "Professor Sorola happens to be Mexican, and he is quite intelligent; aside from the fact that he doesn't listen to anyone's opinion other than his own, he is a very competent leader."

"Well then he's a bad Mexican!" Ray yelled, throwing his arms out to his sides, "The only competent leading he should be doing is across borders!"

Headmaster Burns looked around the two Teams, seeing a thrusting Puerto Rican, a bent over Brit, and four Americans and an Australian rolling on the ground in hysterics. Taking a sip from his almost comically large coffee cup, he sighed.

"It's gonna be one of those mornings."

"Alright," Geoff gasped, finally standing up and dusting himself off, "What are we doing today Mr Burns?"

"Seriously guys, just call me Burnie," Headmaster Burns waved, shaking his head in the general direction of Gavin, who seemed to be becoming less and less competent at tying shoelaces, "Today we will be learning a few basic defensive stances and ways to properly utilise your surroundings in a fight. The key to-" Burnie was cut off by a loud beeping from his back pocket, pulling out a scroll, he tapped the screen a few times and his eyes almost popped.

"Shit!" He exclaimed, quickly shoving the scroll into his back pocket, "Part of cafeteria is starting to collapse from yesterday's earthquake, we gotta go guys!"

"Nah," Geoff said dismissively, "We'll stay here and practice our defensive stances Mr Burn-, uhh, Burnie, it's only a short walk back to the school anyway."

"Oh, alright," Burnie allowed, "But if you get lost or die, it's all on you, all seven of you!" Burnie rushed towards the small transport ship he had used to get the two teams there and quickly took off back towards the school, a whirlwind of leaves blasting into the group of friends as he rocketed away.

"All seven of us?" Michael asked, turning to face everyone, quickly counting out everyone he could see on his fingers, "Wait, who's missi-, Oh god fucking dammit!"

"What is it Michael?" Gavin asked, finally standing up, causing Ray to jump back in surprise and almost fall over. The entire group looked amongst themselves before realising what Michael was so annoyed about. Sighing angrily, the group all spoke at once.

"Where the fuck is Ryan?"

The group of walked through the forest, calling Ryan's name in a mix of anger and worry, a feeling of Déjà vu washing over all of them.

"This is the last fucking time!" Geoff yelled over his shoulder, obviously angry, "We've been here a week and he's spent more time god knows wherever the fuck he is than with his own fucking team!"

"Well what do you expect?" Ray jabbed back, trying to make a joke, "You're all assholes!" Ray laughed, but he was the only one, everyone else still mad with Ryan.

"Not in the mood Ray," Geoff sighed, gritting his teeth and shaking his head, "I'm really not." All of a sudden, Geoff stopped, standing up straight and listening intently. Slowly, the rest of the two teams caught on and began straining their ears, trying to hear what Geoff had heard. Then, in another short burst, a faint noise could be heard from deep in the forest. Everyone's eyes widened, a confused look moving across their faces, and turning to face each other, they all silently asked the same question.

"Is someone laughing?"

Everyone crept through the undergrowth as quietly as they could, not wanting to alert the laughing stranger. As they got closer, the laughing became more and more maniacal, almost bordering on insane. They reached a small clearing and the laughing suddenly stopped, making them all close their eyes and hold their breath, crouching down to remain unseen. Looking over a small cluster of bushes, they saw a something that made them all gasp.

There, in the middle of the small clearing, was a hole.

It didn't seem more than five metres across, but it was still surprisingly large nonetheless. Standing next to the suspicious hole, was a large man, facing away from them and breathing heavily, holding a beanie in one hand, and a bloodied crown in the other. The focus of the group moved towards the man's head, focussing on two small brown bumps protruding from his light brown mop. They couldn't have been more than an inch tall, but what they were was unmistakable.

They were horns.

"Is- Is that?" Gavin whispered in shock, pointing to the man in the clearing.

"Ryan," Jack replied, eyes wide, gesturing towards Ryan's head, "Are those what I think they are?"

"Yup," Geoff whispered, sighing and lowering his head, "This is bad, very bad. What are we gonna do?"

"Shut up," Ray remarked, "He's doin' something!" The seven friends crept as close as they dared as Ryan bent down to look in the hole.

"Now," Ryan said childishly, "We're gonna be a good little friend and stay in hole, now aren't we?" A muffled moan came from inside the pit, which scared the friends even more.

"Good boy," Ryan chuckled, "Daddy's going now, goodnight."

Ryan walked to the other side of the hole, and reaching down; he picked up the edge of a large, red, metal sheet.

"That looks like a sheet of corrugated iron," Geoff whispered back to his friends, "He must've have taken it from the school when the earthquake hit."

"How did he get it out here?" Michael asked, "That thing looks heavy as dicks dude."

"Well it can't be that heavy," Jack replied, "He's moving it as we speak, look at him. And what do you mean heavy as dicks?"

"Dicks are heavy Jack," Ray shrugged, Michael nodding in approval, "Maybe he's using his semblance or something."

"Wait," Lindsay interrupted, "Does anyone actually know what his semblance is?"

The entire group stopped and turned to look at each other, losing all focus on Ryan, who was just sliding the large sheet into place, the loud scrapings that filled the air quickly dissipating. Sitting down from their crouching position, they all formed a tight circle to talk without being heard.

"Well," Gavin whispered, shrugging, "I'm guessing its super strength or something, because that roof piece looked really heavy."

"That might have to do with him being a Faunus though," Caiti explained, "Most Faunus can see in the dark, but from what I can see, Ryan definitely has bull horns, which I haven't seen before. Maybe his strength is a radical offshoot of that, seeing as though he's basically half Minotaur. What is really want to know is what's down that hole?" The pack nodded in agreement, they needed to find out what was in the hole, maybe even help whatever it was.

"Uhh, guys?" Ray said awkwardly, sitting up and looking out into the clearing, "Rye-bread is gone, are we gonna go look in the hole or not?"

The seven friends got up, brushed themselves off, and began slowly and, almost silently working their way into the clearing.

Geoff was the first to arrive at the large, square sheet in the middle of the clearing. Grabbing a hold of the nearest corner, Geoff tried to pick it up and move it, but to no avail.

"Hurry up guys!" He yelled, "We need to move this sheet, fast!" Everyone rushed over to the same corner of the large metal piece Geoff was holding, and with all their might, they made a small gap, just big enough to fit a head through.

"Here," Michael sighed, pushing between his friends and kneeling down to look in the hole, "Ray, I need some light, could you please blaze it up?" Ray was quick to oblige, happy to do anything that had the words Blaze and Ups Machetes, Michael got down on his stomach and stuck his arm and his head into the hole, using the light of the Machete as a torch.

Squinting as hard as he possibly could, Michael scanned the empty room. It was definitely larger on the inside, but then, against the back wall, was something that made Michael's stomach churn. There, up against the wall, there the bodies of two bloodied, beaten, slaughtered Beowolves, and in between the two bodies, was an Ursa, a bloodied, beaten, breathing Ursa. Attracted by the light, the Ursa raised its head and stared at Michael, letting out a small moan, almost like a call for help.

"Oh my fucking god," Michael said uneasily, shocked, "Get me out of here right fucking now!" Geoff and Jack grabbed Michael's legs and quickly pulled him back, the sudden change in brightness hurting his eyes.

"What is it?" Gavin yelled, tossing Ray his Machete, "What did you see Michael?" Michael rolled over onto his back and simply breathed heavily, colour slowly returning to his face.

"Terrible, terrible things," Michael stuttered, "There were dead Beowolfs, and there was an Ursa, and it was all torn up and shit, but it was alive, and it was bigger inside, and-"

"Wait," Geoff interrupted, "What do you mean, torn up?"

"Like, you know," Michael thought out loud, slowly sitting up, "All cut and shit, like someone had deliberately cut it all over with a really sharp blade or something. Like it had been cut by, by, Ryan's crown?" The group gasped, shocked, but not doubting the accusation. Groaning, Michael spoke.

"See for yourself."

As Lindsay rushed over to help Michael stand up, the other five quickly moved the sheet a little further away, widening the gap between the hole and the sheet. Making their own space, Michael and Lindsay shoved between their friends and look down into the bloodied mess of a hole, even making Jack begin to feel sick.

"Do you really think that it was Ryan?" Jack asked the group, not taking his eyes from the hole.

"It, it couldn't be," Gavin stammered, trying to think of another answer, "Maybe he found it like this and he's keeping it safe from the weather or something?"

"Who knows," Ray shrugged, no-one taking their eyes away from the hole, "Also Geoff, how many of us are there?"

"Seven," Geoff said quietly back over his shoulder.

"Seven," Ray repeated, "Okay. Uhh, guys? We have a problem."

"What problem?" Geoff asked, everyone's attention completely transfixed on the hole.

"Well," Ray explained, "Seven of us came right?"

"Yeah," Geoff replied quickly. There was silence for a few moments, before Ray swallowed and spoke.

"So why can I count eight pairs of shoes?"

"That is soo creepy!" Ruby interrupted, causing her three team mates to glare at her, "Who do the shoes belong to?"

"Well," Weiss huffed, screwing the cap off her water flask, "Maybe you should stop talking and we can find out?"

"Great idea!" Ruby beamed, her excessive cookie consumption now causing chocolate chips to re-enter her blood stream, "Yang? Can you keep reading please?"

"Well," Yang punned, quickly putting on a pair of Aviator sunglasses, "All this hole talk is gonna make me cave under pressure. I want to dig a pit that I can call mine and then fill with animals to leave it void of space!"

Yang laughed heartily, once again proud of her puns.

"Yang," Blake sighed, shaking her head, "Where did you even pull those glasses from?"

"I- I don't really know," Yang replied, surprised, "They just, well, appear when I make a pun or do something awesome. It's pretty sweet."

As all of Yang's team sighed loudly, she stopped thinking about her glasses, took them off and placed them on the table next to the book. Focussing on the current page, Yang found their spot and looked back across at the glasses, which had promptly vanished into thin air. Shaking her head and biting her lip, Yang continued.

"Hey guys," Ryan said cheerfully, arms folded, smug expression on his face, "Whatcha lookin' at?" The group jumped back, all of them almost tripping down into the hole.

"Ryan?" Geoff yelled surprised, pointing down the hole behind him, "How? Who? Uhh, what, is this, Ryan?"

"Yeah you sick fuck!" Michael yelled, "Did you do this?"

"Oh," Ryan chuckled, adjusting the crown and beanie now resting back atop his head before dropping his arms to his sides, smirk once again occupying his face, "Let me tell you all a story." Ryan's face quickly changed from a look of happy contentedness to a look of pure anger and bottled-up rage.

"Please, take a seat."

The group gingerly moved away from the hole, Ryan herding them with his arms. Moving into the shade of a large tree at the edge of the clearing, the seven friends sat down as Ryan moved closer and cleared his throat.

"Let me tell you a story, about a young, Faunus boy, who was taken from his home. From his family." Ryan's voice was getting louder, "A story about a little boy who was only just old enough to remember the destroyed look on his mother's face as he was ripped from her arms, burning her tears into his mind forever. A- A little boy who was put somewhere, somewhere safe. A place where everyone was free to make jokes about him, all because of two, little, horns." Ryan gazed past all his friends into the forest, devilish scowl lurking across his face while his breathing intensified. "The little boy didn't like being teased, oh no, he really hated it. He hated the words, he hated the whispers, he hated the pulling, and punching, and beatings he took, all because of two, little, horns."

Ryan began laughing as he spoke, his neck twitching slightly with every sentence. "The little boy was growing up! The little boy was no longer a little boy, and his little horns were no longer little. One day, the boy was angry, very angry. He was sick and tired of being pushed around! He grabbed another boy who had yanked on his horns, and he threw him back. All the boy could remember from the day he arrived at this place was this other boy hurting him, day after day after day!"

Ryan's nostrils were flaring massively with every deep breath he took; his eyes turning blood-red. "The boy charged at the mean one. He didn't know what he was doing, he didn't mean to hurt the boy, or did he? The boy didn't remember, but he remembered blood, lots of it. The boy was smiling as he was taken away. The boy smiled as his horns, his horns, we're grotesquely and inhumanely cut from his head. The boy smiled as the tears rolled down his cheeks, the pain almost unbearable. But the boy smiled."

Ryan's voice had changed, becoming more distant and devoid of emotion, standing perfectly still, with his arms at his sides and his head tilted, still staring into nothingness. "Why did he smile? Why does anyone smile? The boy had realised that all hope was gone, that there was nothing left for him to do but smile. His family was gone, his emotions were gone, his, his horns were gone, and he had nothing. Nothing, but, a smile." Ryan began yelling, louder and louder, "Nothing but a smile, and the pent-up rage of an entire lifetime of discrimination and suffering at the hands of everyone else!"

His voice faded back to normal, his eyes fading back to their usual colour. "The boy needed more, he needed to vent. He had made himself a king, a king of solitude, and revenge. A king hell-bent on eliminating every single scrap of pain that filled his body. A Mad King, the Mad King. King, Ryan."

Ryan stood, unmoving, staring into oblivion for what seemed like ever, before shaking his head and blinking his eyes in surprise, like a shock had travelled up his spine.

"Wow," Geoff said absently, sincerity in his tone "That was, that was, just, wow dude."

"That was brutal," Michael exclaimed, standing up and brushing leaves off his pants, "I'm so sorry dude."

Ryan simply shrugged without saying a word, before reaching up to his head and removing his crown. Hanging it on his arm, he reached up again and slowly began sliding off his beanie, revealing two deformed stumps.

"They don't look too bad," Ryan muttered, watching his seven friends stand up and brush themselves off, "They've definitely had time to fix themselves." He scanned the group, looking for signs of unwanted emotion, Lindsay and Caiti looked very close to tears, and Gavin didn't seem too far behind, the rest of the guys seemed shocked, not knowing what to think.

"Well now that that's all sorted," Ray cheered, trying to lighten the mood, "Let's get Mr Ursa out of that hole!" As Ray began to walk towards the hole, Ryan stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Uh-uh-uuh," Ryan smiled, waggling his finger at Ray, "You do not go near Edgar."

"Edgar?" Jack pondered, "Wait, you named that fucking thing?"

"Yup, Edgar." Ryan smirked, looking incredibly smug, "Well, now that I think about it, that's actually Edgar III, and if you do anything to him, you'll be front flipping' for style down into the hole with him."

Everyone cringed at the thought of being in the hole with Edgar, making them rather quickly decide to leave, without waiting for Ryan.

Watching them disappear into the foliage, Ryan smirked and turned back towards his hole. Looking down into it, He saw Edgar III, and the body Edgar II, and what was left of Edgar.

"Goodbye Edgar," Ryan smirked devilishly, before grabbing the edge of the sheet metal and quickly covering the hole.

Replacing his beanie, Ryan stared at his crown, examining it.

"Kings rise and kings fall," He said to himself, slowly lowering his beautiful crown down onto his head, "But a Mad King lives forever." Staring at the metal sheet, he noticed a small gap next to him. Bending down, Ryan's face turned almost devotedly serious, and lowering his head towards the hole, Ryan whispered three words before covering it up, leaving the hole bathed in pitch darkness.

"Edgar, Always Edgar."

Author's Note:

Oh my, that was definitely fun for me to write.

Hello everyone! I would like to very quickly thank everyone who reads my FanFiction, every single one of you is important to me, and I just wanted you to know.

So yeah, Ryan's a little bit, hmm, Out there. We'll just have to see where it goes!

Tell me what you think of Ryan by posting a review, and feel free to offer story and chapter suggestions, I'm open to all of it!

Welp, I've gotta stop staying up late to write, I'm gonna go get some Z's. Sleep Tight!

And Thanks for Reading!