This is an archive since my pastebins keep getting deleted for some reason.
Anybody have any idea why? Guess not.
Anyways here is #1-#4

#1

I was running away. It was the only thing I could do.

It was so dark, so dark. I think it happened in the middle of the night, or it may be my memories exaggerating again. I lived with my parents in a settlement outside of the safe walls of Vale. Why did my parents choose to live outside? They never lived long enough for me to ask them.

The Grimm came in droves. It rolled over the village like it was nothing. Our hunters tried to hold them back, but they just ended up as appetizers. My father pulled out his 'trusty old friend', a flimsy, useless gun. Mother stayed back with him. Then they told me to run to the walls, so I did.

I remember stumbling on hidden roots and ancient potholes. I was not gifted with the extraordinary night vision of the faunus. I ran so fast that my breathing was louder than me falling onto the ground. Fall, stand, run, fall again, stand again, run again. To be truthful, I was almost at my limit. I wanted to lay down there and let the Grimm kill me.

But then I saw it, a light. A powerful, reddish light, much more intense and powerful than the sun itself. It took awhile for my eyes to adjust to it, and once it did, I saw a tall, powerfully built man, holding up what seemed like to be a Dust torch. Without a word, be pulled out a sword, and cut the Grimm that was right behind me in half. Then he charged into the whole pack. It was like he was dancing. Sword in one hand and torch in another, he slashed through the Grimm as gracefully as a dancer would after years of practice.

I didn't remember much after that, but I did remember the man bringing me into the walls and giving me what seemed like a piece of rock salt. He patted my head and told me to chew it, said something about salt being good for nerves. He then handed me to a friend of his, the head of some Academy.

I didn't get the chance to thank him.

That's why I'm here today at the head office of the Nightwatch, a group of people who watch the walls of Vale during the dark and cold nights. After years of training, graduating from Vale's top combat academy, Beacon, I finally think that I'm worthy enough to meet the man again and finally thank him after all these years. However, this place certainly isn't what I thought it was, instead of looking like a gloomy armory, the place resembled a common room of a dorm, with a elevator to go up the walls. There was a comfy-looking sofa and a (gambling?!) desk in the room. I searched around the room until I found a door labeled 'Administration, Reception and Pizza destination(?)'. I checked the note Professor Polt gave me, , the time (my appointment was at 4) and the door again before knocking.

"Come in, it ain't locked," said a voice.

What greeted me was a weird sight. A young man (barely any older than me) in a t-shirt that said 'Boop' and jeans was laying down on the floor with his limb spread apart like when one does to make snow angels. He was chewing on a piece of salt (or was it sugar?).

"You're the new intern, right?"

#2

You decide to ignore everything, "my name is Atari, I believe I made an appointment?"

The guy sat up, looking severely disappointed for some reason. He pushes several stacks of important looking documents off a chair before directing me to sit on it. I complied.

"I can see that you're one hell of a boring guy, mate. School got to your brain?" asked the guy as he pushed several more stacks of important looking documents off another chair before sitting on it, "name's Nero, leader of this group of shitheads."

I continued to ignore everything he says. Is it a test of some sort? I pulled out my resume and handed it to him, "I'm here to apply for the open position in the Nightwatch."

"Put that away, and don't pull it out in front of the others," said Nero as he leaned in close, "they're all dropouts."

I kept my resume back into my bag. Somehow, I don't the Nightwatch will be at all like what I envisioned. For one, this guy, the leader, acts like a slob. Secondly, he mentioned that everyone here were dropouts. But I chose to ignore it and went on, "my condolences to the guy who had this position before me."

"Avant-garde?" said Nero, somewhat impressed that I did my homework, "nah, that guy was an idiot through and through. You know how he died? He tried to impress the pizza delivery lady by jumping off the wall towards her. Landed on his Torch. Well, he died and now the pretty lil' lady won't deliver to us anymore."

"Okay," I had no idea how to reply to that.

"Well, it's two or so hours until our shift, walk around the place and make yourself at home. I'll call you back for some more briefing right before the shift," said Nero as he pulled out a whole can of sugar... sticks? "sugar, rookie?"

"No, thank you," I stood up and exited the room. Well, that was a weird experience. While the leader was... bizarre, I'm quite certain that the others may be more decent.

I looked around the room and saw that a few people had already arrived. One was facing away from me on the sofa, looking at his scroll and making weird breathing noises. Another two were chatting at the gambling table. Maybe I should introduce myself?

#3

Convinced that the others are decent, I walk up to the table to introduce myself. The first guy looked slightly older with his grey-ish hair. He was looking at the second guy, who was holding something in his hands.

"You see, Ivan, using Dust outside of bullets is an art," said the second guy, as he opened his left hand, revealing a small fire Dust crystal. Ivan looked on, not sure what to expect. I also moved closer to see closely.

"You just apply a tiny bit of my semblance into it and..." said the second guy, while moving his hands around mystically, "and TADAAAA!"

The Dust crystal flashed brightly for a moment, blinding both Ivan and me. After the sudden burst of light was gone, the second guy was holding a flower. Ivan started clapping, "great trick! Great trick! Terra you good magician! Good tricks!"

"No," I said, instantly coming between Ivan and Terra, "it's not possible to synthesize Dust crystals into anything resembling a flower."

"And who would you be, smart boy?" asked Terra, obviously not impressed, "I should let you know, I graduated top of class in Beacon, and I've been involved in-"

"I don't remember you from the graduation ceremony," I am quite confident in my memory, by the way, "my name is Atari, the new intern who'll be joining the Nightwatch."

Terra looked stunned for a second but made an almost instant recovery, "just pulling your leg, kid, I'm Terra, the leader of the Nightwatch."

Before I could try to correct him, Ivan interjected, "Terra not leader, leader is Nero. I Ivan, good soldier of Nightwatch. May we be good comrades in duty."

So, Ivan's an honest idiot and Terra's an slightly less idiotic liar. My original vision of the Nightwatch is already shattering, "Nero sent me to learn a little from you guys and 'make myself at home'."

"You already met him? Oh. Well, welcome to the Nightwatch, guardians of the night and watchers of the wall, bla bla bla. Wish you'll stay long, kid. Being here is boring. With the occasional distraction or so."

Boring? The Nightwatch is one of the longest living teams in Vale, dating back to the days when Vale was just fighting to expand its formerly tiny territory. He must be lying.

"You must be lying."

"For once, I'm not. Ask Ivan or something."

I turned to Ivan, who already walked away from the table to what I guessed was his locker. He was sitting in a chair slowly spinning the barrel of what looked like a minigun for grenades. I decided to go straight to the point.

"Ivan, since I'm new here, I want to ask about life in the Nightwatch. How is it? Terra was lying when he said it was boring, right? You guys are the protectors of the town at night, right?"

Ivan slowly looked away from his weapon to look at me, he looked like he was thinking what to say, "Ivan's opinion is Ivan's own, but life in Nightwatch? Boring. It dark, cold, like old home at Atlas. But Grimm? Grimm no attack walls at night. Grimm move in packs to sleep. Rarely attack."

Lovely. After thanking Ivan, I stood up and checked my watch. I had an hour left until my briefing. So what should I do next?

#4

I decided to go up the wall, maybe seeing Vale from that perspective will bring my spirits (and dreams) up again. I entered the elevator, ignoring the fact that it was lined with what seemed like Nevermore feathers and horrible elevator music was being played at full volume. It was a long ride, this segment of the wall was about ten stories high.

While in the elevator, my mind started to wander. Maybe my memory of the old man was just some kind of fever dream. Maybe he wasn't part of the Nightwatch in the first place? Maybe this was all a test? No, it can't be. This is reality. I probably exaggerated my past a little too much.

Not wanting to think about depressing things, I let my mind go back to actual solid facts like back in Beacon. The wall ranged from two stories to ten stories tall and served as a seal to block off the chink in Vale's natural terrain armor. Originally, it was just a one layer thick wooden wall to block out Grimm, but it became what it is today during the Great War, when Vale needed a vantage point tall and strong enough to observe and withstand 3 armies. The Nightwatch is a traditional name given to those who watch the wall at night.

My train of thought was broken by a loud 'ding!' as I reached the top of the wall. Unexpectedly, what greeted me first as I stepped out of the elevator was not a great view of Vale, but the edge of a blade whizzing towards me. By instinct, I dodge backwards and let the blade fall short. My hand automatically moved to my side to the small dispenser I use to keep my throwing knives.

A kid (he looked 14) was holding up a gigantic sword taller than he was with lots of weird moving parts at me. Somehow, the sword looked familiar. Must be one of those super unique custom weapons I've seen once in my years in Beacon. The boy started to speak ,"stranger on the wall, identify yourself."

"My name is Atari," I replied, but I kept my hands free so I can pull out a knife anytime.

"I don't recognize that name," said the kid. Before I could say anything, he charged at me again with his sword.

I pulled out a throwing knife and flinged it to his sword. Sparks flew as the blade clashed together, and the knife was knocked aside like nothing. But it was enough to slightly change the trajectory of his sword. I dodged to the side and pulled out two more knives, then I hesitated. However I looked at it, I was pulling out weapons and throwing them at a kid. I'm pretty sure this violated at least 4 laws.

The kid spun in midair and stabbed the sword into the ground to change his direction. In one fluid movement, he detached a part of his sword and threw it at me. Instincts took over again as I threw one of my knives at the flying sword-boomerang. It just glanced off it, not even changing its trajectory. I focused my aura into the knife in my other hand and with all my will, activated my semblance. The knife accelerated well beyond logical speed as it left my hand, generating enough force behind it to blow away all the dust and tiny objects behind me into the air.

The knife slammed into the boomerang with the force of an angry Grimm Ursa charging downhill. Both projectiles ricocheted and flew in opposite directions off either side of the wall. The kid then pulled out his sword and did a jumping attack on me as I pulled out six more knives, three for each hand.

Just at the moment that we were about to clash, a piece of Dust crystal flew between the both of us and exploded. I put my arms in front of my face to block out the explosion, but it didn't hurt, nor did it even felt remotely like an explosion. Or anything at all. I slowly put down my hands and there was a very grumpy and sleepy looking guy grabbing the kid by the scruff of his shirt.

"Haruharu. I told you not to wake me up before sunset, didn't I?" asked the guy, pure rage emanated from his voice, "and you. Who are you and why are you fighting a little kid on a ten story wall?"

##Strawpoll link: /2797808