I'm in some sort of interrogation room, but the Huntress told me it was a conference room. I'm still thinking about what Ruby said to me before she went into her interrogation room. "Try not to hurt anyone, okay?", she said before I went into the room. Does she know why I got kicked out? I don't remember if she was there, when I got into the worst fight of my life. I had always been the best in all of my combat classes. I never boasted about it, but most of the guys hated me anyway. Looking back, it was only a matter of time before they tried to take down their biggest competition. More than half of my class turned on me that day, all at the same time. My only option was to fight. Somewhere along the line, I snapped. I stopped holding back, but that ended badly. Even though they attacked me unprovoked, I didn't really want to seriously injure them. Or maybe I did. Almost all of them ended up in the hospital, regardless of my intentions. The door opens, and a man with white hair and dark glasses walks in. He's holding a plate of chocolate-chip cookies in one hand and a mug of what I assume is coffee. He pushes the cookies toward me, and I laugh dryly. "What's this? Incentive to cooperate?", I ask, sarcasm bleeding from my voice. They smell really good, though. "Ruby responded well. I figured you would, too.", he says calmly. I shake my head, but I can't stop myself. I scarf down all of the cookies in a matter of seconds, I haven't eaten all day. The man laughs, and my face goes red. "I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Alister. Monster-hunting on your own for over a year, that's quite impressive.", he says, as if I don't know what I've done. "Why are you so interested in me, now?", I ask, my hand reaching slowly for a knife in my jacket. People have tried to take me in after learning that I don't actually have a Huntsman license. "Honestly, it's because this is the first time anyone has had a chance to talk to you.", the man says, and I feel like I won't need to do anything in self-defense. "What makes me so damn interesting?", I ask, my arms folded. "You were kicked out of Signal for putting almost your entire class in the hospital, then you went off to fight monsters on your own. You made your weapons, but you continue to create.", he says, the accusatory tone I was expecting absent from his voice. I don't answer, not sure what to say. "I want to give you a chance at redemption. I want you to come to Beacon.", the man says, throwing me completely off balance. Holds me here for questioning, just so he can offer me a place at the best Hunting Academy in the nation. My jaw is open, but I recover and close it. "Are you serious?", I ask, my brain unable to wrap itself around the idea. The man is pleased, probably expecting me to refuse. The only reason I hated Signal was because I was always the target because I was better. Beacon is for the more advanced, so I won't stick out so much. "You start tomorrow. I can have someone get your things.", he says. I shake my head slowly. "Everything I own is in my backpack, which never leaves me.", I say. The man leaves, and I walk out of the room. Ruby is waiting for me, humming the way she always does when she's excited. I think she can't tell that I got an offer at Beacon because she got one too. She always said she wanted to go there. "Did you say yes?", she asks me, gazing at my eyes intently with hers. I think I remember people asking if we were related. I nod, and she hugs me tight, squealing. "I'm guessing you said yes, too.", I gasp, trying to breath while a cute girl holds me tight. The next day is my first at Beacon. The students take a dropship to the campus. The one that I'm on has some rich heiress who keeps complaining about the quality of service. "Can you please shut the hell up?", I ask, keeping my voice sarcastically pleasant. "How dare you! Do you know who I am?", she asks, as if I should know. As if I should be bowing in apology. We're not going to get along well. "Do you know that I don't care?", I say, cocky grin on my face. The same grin that led to the fight that got me expelled. We've landed, and this girl continues to rant at me. My weapons are sheathed, hidden by my backpack. My hands are itching to pull them out. While the girl is distracted by her bag, I run off to keep myself from making a terrible first impression. I'm going to be different at this school, not violent. I'm going to have friends here. I hope. I look to the sky, breathing in the crisp air. I hear something behind me, but I don't move fast enough to dodge the orange-haired girl that barrels into my back. I land face-first into the ground. "I'm so so so so sorry! Are you alive?", the girl asks, looking down at me. I groan, sitting up. A guy with long black hair runs up. "I'm really sorry about her.", he says, his hands on her shoulders dragging her away. I brush that off as something that doesn't happen often. At least I hope it doesn't. Just how much crazier can my life be? I go through the day, and the man I talked to gives a presentation about some sort of aptitude test. He says that when we land, the first person we have eye contact with is our partner. Ruby looks at me, and I know she hopes that we see each other. That wouldn't be so bad. When the time comes, I am ready for a fight. He said that monsters are in the forest, and I'm excited. We stand on platforms that seem to launch us off a cliff and into the forest below. I love technology. A blonde guy around my age looks extremely nervous. He's screaming when he's launched. There are a few girls watching from the side. I give them a wink before being launched into the air. I shout with joy, my weapons in my hands. I land feet first on the ground. Hard. I look around me, but I'm alone in this part of the forest. I vaguely remember the man saying something about artifacts in the center of the woods. I suppose I'll meet someone on the way. I walk in that direction, swiveling my head in search of humans and monsters. I almost launch my knives into the bushes, but the false alarm was caused by small squirrels. Waiting for prey and fellow predators, my impatience reaches the breaking point. I climb a tree, trying to see what's going on elsewhere. I hear a little girl scream, and she sounds like she needs help. I climb back down, ready to sprint in that direction. I almost start running when a pack of beowulves materialize out of the bushes. They surround me, growling. Deep down, I must want to go help the girl. I must, humans are supposed to think that way. Sadly, the one thought that is going through my mind is, "Finally! Something to kill!" I bend my knees, a smile on my face. One of the creatures charges at me, but I launch it into the air. I hook my sword in the airborne beowulf, tossing it into its comrades. Another slashes at me, but I flip over it. I jump on its back, driving my swords into its back. The creature is frenzied, slashing at his own pack members. More of them appear, they don't end. My slashing swords can't make a dent in their numbers. I let them chase me through the forest. I've put my swords into rifle mode, and I fire into the stampede of beowulves. I start to run out of ammo when I reach the base of a mountain. I take my rifle apart, using my chains to pull myself up the mountain. The beowulves snarl at me from the bottom, and I laugh breathlessly. I wonder if my entire time at Beacon will be like today. I like the rush, the fighting, but I still need to rest. I look to the side, and I see small people fighting a giant Grimm scorpion and a baby Nevermore. That must be the other pairs. I fought one by myself, breaking a few ribs in the process. I feel like I should help them, but I see something on the outcropping I climbed to. A holo-screen. I turn it on. The woman who saved me the other day is there. "If you are seeing this, you must be very skilled. Your objective is located at the top of the mountain.", she says curtly before the screen blacks out. Maybe someone else will see me there. I start climbing up, but I feel a vibration in the rocky ground. The beowulves are gone, losing interest in me. I can't see it, but something just came out of the mountain. I look down, but nothing is there. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something black headed my way. I turn to see the baby Nevermore's mother dashing toward me. I react, launching my swords upward. I pull myself up in a backflip, narrowly missing the mother's gargantuan talons. It screeches loudly, almost deafening me. On the rebound, I jump onto the mother's head. The Nevemore mother is larger than the one the others are fighting, but it doesn't seem like anyone else notices it. The mother surges upward, flapping its massive wings. We rise in the air, flying away from the mountain's peak. I sheathe my weapons, gripping the monster's massive feathers as tightly as possible. I shout a stream of curses, but they're lost in the winds. I can see the ground shrinking beneath me. That's what unfreezes me. I run and jump above the Nevemore. My chains can reach the side of the mountain. I launch my blades, digging them straight into the unyielding mountain rock. I retract my chains, my feet driving into the Nevermore's skull. The monster bird is forced into the side of the mountain, making a gargantuan crater. The muscles in its neck relax, and I know it's dead. I grapple to the top of the mountain, where a simple stone dais stands against the high winds. A small artifact stands on the dais, a red cross. It looks like a chess piece of some kind. I take it, putting it in my pocket. "I didn't see anyone at all.", I say out loud, kind of disappointed.