A/N: Hey everyone, this is a note to all readers. I will be making some revisions to this story in the very near future. To see the revised version go to my account on Archive of Our Own to see updates as they come.
'Shit shit shit shit shit!' The young man in a sweater and tactical vest screamed internally before face-planting in the middle of the sidewalk. The two suitcases that were once under his arms now skidding to a stop a good ten feet down the concrete path. His overstuffed, bulbous backpack slamming down onto him while a set of cute little birds, on a nearby terrace, squawked and chirped their dust-forsaken minds away.
Lying face down on the hot, grimy, late-summer sidewalk the young man furrowed his brow as his brain stopped rattling and tuned in the ambient sounds of birds. And with that epic face-plant his morning went from horrid to blisteringly infuriating in an instant. Drawing a short, hard breath the boy reared back and shouted "Shut the hell up!" at some birds who were just minding their own business.
Problem was though that there was also a fairly cute girl, at least by the young man's standards, standing on the terrace with the birds. So, when the birds flew away and the two inevitably locked eyes, the young man couldn't help but feel a thick, greasy guilt slug slither down his throat.
"Umm, sorry about that." His voice cracking with the grace of prepubescence colliding with puberty at Mach ten. Frowning at how awful his voice sounded he aggressively cleared his throat, tugging at the long and thick, black and yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. Not to his surprise she still seemed a bit more than irate given his less than heartfelt apology.
"What are you doing?" She snapped, staring down at him with a minty-green glare; her pale face half-burried in her own black and green scarf.
"I was- uh- r-running a-and I when fell…"
She continued to glare. "Mhmm,"
Cheeks burning and conscience cringing he trembled. "Uh-Uhm I uh… I'm actually lost… Do you know where the Vale Station is?" He managed to stammer out, unsure if he were actually lost or not.
The young lady gave a groan. "The Train Station is back that-"
"No, no –er sorry, I meant the Airship Station."
By some marvelous feat her glare became even colder. "The Air Station is closed. Beacon registrations,"
"I-I know, I'm a huntsman."
And just like that her eyebrows dropped to form an even more imposing and purely unamused look of contempt. "Mhmm…" She turned to look down the street and lazily pointed. "Air Station is down that way. You take the first left on Maple, go down four blocks, turn on-"
"Umm, C-err would you write that- or uh could you write this down." Anxiously wiping sweat from his sun-tanned forehead with his sleeve.
A bitter sigh breezed from her as she hung her head. Pivoting, her black hair whipping with her, she snatched up a sketchbook.
Staring up at her as she threw the book open in a huff he began to blush. 'C'mon dude, she's cute. She wears thick scarves in the summer, she's kind of gothy, and she hasn't spit on you yet. You can do this. You can do this. You can totally do this! '
"So uh… you, uh, you do draws?"
'Damn it!'
Regardless of how poorly he flubbed the sentence she clearly understood, which was plain to see in her unmoved bitter expression. "Yes, I draw. And I was going to draw those birds before you came along."
"Oh… sorry…"
"No, it's fine. I'll just draw clouds." Her frosty, sarcastic lilt hinting at the fact that she was probably not going to be drawing clouds. And before he could finish calculating his next line she dismissively tossed aside her pencil. With a loud rip she tore the page from the sketchbook, crumpled it into a tight ball, and threw it down at the boy's head.
The small projectile hitting his face with a soft "poff" he stumbled back as he struggled to catch it. Eventually, after solidifying himself as an idiot, he planted himself and glanced over the paper. A warm smile parted his lips. "Th-thank you,"
"You're welcome," Her response quick and curt.
"Umm," the young fool still straining against his embarrassment, bold thoughts prompted him to try his hand again. Running a hand through his hair he took a quick breath and tried to tap into that little self-confidence he had. "Hey uh, I didn't catch your name. I'm -"
"I have a penis."
He paused for a brief moment, his eyes set on their gentle face. "Oh… Sorry… I uhh, thought you were a girl."
"I am a girl. I just have a penis."
"… O-okay, that's cool, imma get going! Thanks for your help!" He slurred as he hurried off, collecting his things as he went, her green eyes following him and his black-and-yellow diamond print scarf as he scampered away.
The young man fought hard to catch his breath as he shuffled round the last street corner and up to the Vale Air Station. At this point he was coated in sweat and, despite his best efforts, he couldn't stop panting.
Running aimlessly down city streets wasn't exactly something he had trained for, and running down said streets with nearly thirty pounds of gear in tow didn't exactly make things easier. Regardless of his exhaustion, he had places to be and he was not willing to let his substandard endurance get the best of him today. So, gasps rolling from his mouth, he wiped the sweat from his brow, pretended like he worked on cardio regularly, and he mustered his way into the station entrance.
Magnificent in their stature the airships floated just above a vast, stylish terminal. The terminal was somewhat barren however. The place had clearly been built with a bustling crowd of thousands in mind, but today there were roughly two-hundred people there. And as soon as that crowd came into the sights of the sweaty scarfed young man he began to instinctively shuffle towards them.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up there pal." A security guard placed a hand on the center of the young man's chest. "Only students of Beacon Academy are allowed in there. I'm gonna need some identification."
"Oh, sorry," The young man slurred as he set down one of his bags and pulled his Scroll off of his belt. He handed it to the guard and watched him thumb through the screen patiently.
The guard only gave the young man a couple of glances, "Automne… Interesting name, you from around here?"
"Uh, no I've actually just moved here recently." Automne replied quickly.
The guard gave him one more inquisitive glance before closing his Scroll. "Everything looks good, go check in your bags over there at that desk and have a nice day. And kid, trust me, you're gonna like it around here." He said with a smile as Automne took back his Scroll.
"Oh, thank you," Automne said graciously before he marched over to the baggage registration desk. Once there he nervously handed over his bags and watched as the lady behind the desk slapped some barcode stickers onto them before hurling them straight onto a conveyor belt. With a meek half smile Automne watched as the conveyor belt whisked away his possibly damaged bags into the cargo hold.
As much as he wished the lady was a tad gentler with his bags he was just relieved to be at the station. From there he quickly moved into one of the large groups accumulated around the entrance to the airship. Lucky for him, he was so late that he only had to spend a few minutes amongst the throngs of loud, excited, rainbow colored teenagers before they were all ushered onto the ship by flight attendants.
Once inside Automne let his eyes wander amongst the interior. To his surprise the inside of the ship was rather spacious, and it was well illuminated by large windows running all along the sides of the ship. There were even a few holographic monitors stationed throughout the cabin. Down side was they were all broadcasting the local news, which Automne wasn't exactly fond of due to the fact that he found the news to be as entertaining as a locally-sponsored snail race.
'I wonder if there's anything interesting around here?' Automne thought to himself as he began to walk around the sleek gray ship. But to his astonishment, after an absolutely exhilarating stroll through the entire cabin Automne realized he was going to be subjected to a painfully boring flight. He also found out that all the chairs were uncomfortable. 'Well, there's nothing to do, I don't have my bags, and I know none of the people here… what now?'
The young man took a breath as he plunged into his hypothetical think-box. But when the cool tasteless air hit the back of his mouth his throat tensed and forced him to let out a loud yawn. In a short time his muscles slackened and when he returned to normal an idea came to his mind. 'How 'bout a nap…'
Automne fell backwards onto the hard metal floor with a thud. Considering the chairs were as hard as a thirty year old carpet Automne decided it would probably just be easiest to fall asleep on the floor and get some much needed rest. Sure the floor was cold and dirty and yes, he knew that people were staring at him, but it was nice… sort of.
He let out one large sigh and tried to let the world around him slip away. Slip away into a peaceful and quiet drift through the sky.
"Oh my gosh!" The sound of footsteps pounding against the floor could be heard growing louder until it came to a stop right next to him. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" The hyper rambling clearly coming from a distressed girl who must have seen him fall on the floor.
Automne figured that she was simply going to ask him to get off the floor, but then she suddenly knelt down and quickly pressed her ear against his chest. Automne's eyes shot open in confusion, 'Umm what-'
The girl let out a shocked gasp and quickly pressed both her hands to Automne's chest. Muttering something to herself she began to push down on Automne's ribcage.
'What is happening?' Automne thought as the girl continued to push down on his chest. Strangely enough Automne was beginning to enjoy the rhythmic chest pumping, but then she changed things up. A bit too suddenly the girl grabbed Automne under the chin while a hand was placed behind his head for support. Tentatively, she began to tilt her head in towards his. 'Okay, say something!'
"What are you-"
The girl let out a small shriek and jumped backwards. "Y-y-y-you're a-a-all r-right?" The girl stammered in confusion.
"Yeah, I was just laying down for a quick nap." Automne explained, his confusion utterly palpable as he sat up.
The girl began to quiver and point between their mouths with a single shaking finger. "I-I-I-I almost gave you C-P-P-PR. I would've k-k-k-k-kissed you." The girl wrapped her arms around herself and began to shake uncontrollably.
"Umm, are you alright?" Automne asked with concern as he watched the girl tremble on the ground.
The girl had a head of long, midnight black hair. Straight bangs that touched her eyebrows, but the rest of her silk like hair cascaded down her head in long straight strands which lightly brushed against the floor as she trembled violently. She wore a pair of semi-rimless, gray glasses over her soft, almond shaped periwinkle eyes, which complimented her sweet, heart shaped face rather nicely.
Automne stammered for a minute as he tried to compose himself in front of the distraught girl. He quickly pulled himself onto his feet, "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry about that. Here let me help you up?" He bumbled nervously as he extended a hand to the girl.
The girl flinched slightly and ran her eyes over Automne, and then his hand, and then Automne again before hesitantly placing her small gloved hand in his own and allowing him to help her to her feet. Once the girl was on her feet she brushed her hands over the seat of her white pants a couple of times.
Automne scanned over her curiously, sparing a small glance to the red cross on her shoulder before he followed her thick curtain of black hair halfway down her back. He paid a fleeting glance to the silvery gray emblem emblazoned on the coattail of her jacket before quickly averting his attention from the region near her rear.
'How do people even manage hair like that?' Automne thought to himself as he began to examine the girl's tidy white and gray clothes. Each piece of her clothing bearing a hygienic and unusually sterile air to it which only made Automne even more curious.
The girl loudly cleared her throat, her cheeks a warm shade of pink. "Would you kindly stop gawking at me?" The girl asked politely as she glared at Automne with what felt like anger, but looked like a forced nervous front.
"I-I'm not gawking, I'm uhh…" Automne quietly trailed off as he struggled to find the appropriate words.
The girl nodded her head as if she had just won some sort of battle, "A-all right, now, I think I deserve an apology for you trying to kiss me." The girl said shyly as she tried to avoid eye contact.
"What? I didn't try and kiss you; you were trying to give me CPR!"
The girl flinched, "I thought you had passed out... I couldn't hear you breathing."
He knocked his hand against his chest, "I'm wearing a tactical vest. There's no way you could hear me breathing through my armor." Automne said, cocking an eyebrow.
The girl looked back and forth while trying to maintain her obviously withering air of a dominant presence. "Well… you shouldn't lie on the floor." The girl added soft frumpy whisper, "It's concerning." Folding her arms to her chest she turned away slightly.
Automne gave a small sigh. "I'm sorry I was lying on the floor; I didn't mean to worry anybody."
The girl glanced in Automne's direction and gave him a small sincere smile before turning back to him. "Apology accepted," Her tone absolutely sincere. "My name is Eve Howlite." She said, offering her jittery hand for a handshake.
Automne gave a small smirk and shook Eve's hand, "I'm Automne Ombre Noire."
"So, may I ask, why were you trying to sleep on the ground?" Eve asked with a raised eyebrow.
Automne ran his fingers through his hair and gave a bit of a chuckle, "It's kind of a long story."
"I don't mind." Eve responded with a polite smile.
Oh yeah, Disclaimer! RWBY is owned and licensed by Rooster Teeth Production Studios. Please support the official release.
Hey everybody I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter. I've had this idea for a while and I'm finally happy to present it. Leave a review and follow the story if you want; there's more to come. Until next time, Peace out.
-CS