Hey everyone! Before starting i would just like to point out somethings:
1.- This IS gonna be about how the remaining huntsman managed to make things better for the survivors of the fall of Beacon.
2.- It will be divided in two parts, one being to introduce characters and give them some development and the second half of the story will be after the fall of Beacon.
Without further ado... ENJOY!
Chapter 1: A glimpse of the future
Beacon.
The first place where the aspiring hero would seek, the light of hope in a dark and cruel world, the peace that the kingdom of Vale has is indeed, thanks to Beacon.
Every single person to ever attend Beacon had made a vow to defend the weak, to protect humanity and on top of all, kill grimm.
And now he was bound to be the same.
Shoulders stiffened and eyes widened to the mere idea of it, clenching hands into fists, stabbing himself with his nails. Killing grimm was no new concept thanks to leaving in a small village in the outskirts of Mistral with his father, and neither was fighting due to the same reason, normally he would be calm as the eye of a hurricane, but now, it felt like a tornado of anger and frustration caused mayhem within his mind, yet what that bothered him was just as simple as a glass of water. Fighting for humanity was an unpleasant thought, although one he need to bear with, as a faunus, with a strange trait on top of it, he lived a life full of discrimination and hate, it seemed that the mere sight of his eagle legs disgusted many, and at some point, he hated them too.
And now he was just expected to swallow his past and leave it to rot in the depths of memory?
"No, I need to calm down, the past is past, I shouldn't let it get in my way," the young faunus whispered to himself as he let loose his hands.
"You said something son?" his father said while looking at him, pale lavender eyes meeting the bright orange of his son's.
"What?" he answered with a slight hint of surprise on his voice, while at the same time remembering that the ears of a wolf tend to be sharper than a human's – I guess I'm just a little nervous about it all.
"Ha!" the man laughed loudly "I know right? First day is always the worst, don't worry, I'm sure the people in there are nice."
"Define nice," the son said, stopping his walk towards the Beacon bullhead to look at the taller figure of his father with a raised eyebrow and eyes that screamed skepticism.
The father stopped as well to give a sarcastic look to his son, leaving a small sigh escape his mouth
"Nice from the verb: they won't bully you for cause' of your legs," the wolf eared man said before turning, letting a small laugh and continue to walk.
"I demand a second choice!" said the boy with the legs of a raptor bird in a joking tone.
"Fine, either you go to Beacon," he said leaving a small gap of silence "or I smash your testicles with a hammer till your pelvis is reduced to dust," said the older man while rolling his eyes.
"And then I get to rest?" the boy answered sarcastically.
"No, then you have to finish the furniture project you've been working on," said the wolf with an ear to ear smile.
"Crap, fine then, I'll bite… I just hope things go fine,"
The wolf stopped his walk, turning to face his son and placing an arm on his still hardened shoulder.
"Look, I'm not saying it's gonna be a garden of roses, I'm just saying the humans aren't as bad as you think,"
"Was mother nothing?" the eagle said with rage in his voice.
"Bronn…" the older man said with concern "look, a people can't be judged by the actions of a few, think of the the White Fang, do you honestly believe that their actions will give a better future to the faunus? They were quick to judge, and look where it got us."
Silence struck like a warhammer, tension could be felt in the air while the man waited for an answer, his father had a point, he wouldn't give him the reason, the blood that many had spilled would not be in vane. Sienna Khan had changed the Fang, in a way that when humans pushed us, we would push them back, peace hadn't work before, protesters were gunned down or arrested, we needed new solutions, and the answer was obvious, we needed to fight the fire with fire, peace didn't worked, and it had it's fair chance, action was needed.
"It did no good," he muttered just to satisfy his old man.
"Good," the wolf said letting out a small sigh, closing his eyes, opening them up, and start talking again "Look, the people you will met have the potential to become your best friends, family even, not mattering if they have tails or not, but only if you open your heart and let them," he then turned back to the front, without letting go of his son's shoulder and gave the raptor a small push to the ramp aboard the bullhead.
"Think about it son," the man said before waiving a hand goodbye.
The son of the wolf waved back as he walked towards the airship, a reminder of the future that all huntsman shared.
The thought crossed the mind of the young man as he stepped into the bullhead that would carry him to his destination, letting out a sigh of relief as his shoulders lowered, leaving his muscles to rest, it wasn't a surprise that he was so nervous, many would be just as well, but most of them fall in the "I go to Beacon for fame, fortune and friends" category or just "column A", however, Bronn Ravine had a goal, something that put him on the "column Z", he wouldn't let it to happen, not again.
The bullhead took of as his mind continued to get lost in itself, until suddenly, a voice interrupted his thoughts, soft, warm like a flame, speaking in an almost whispering manner, like if she didn't wanted to be heard and with a particular accent that made her the more distinguishable.
"Y-you don't seem as nervous like the rest of us," said the voice of the girl that found behind his back.
"A hundred lien says I'll be hyperventilating after this thing drops us," Bronn answered as he started to turn around to face her "It's just the calm before the storm y' know."
"I'm sure you're just exaggerating things."
Meh, she was right about that, he probably wouldn't hyperventilate but nervousness would rise up from 50 to 9000 when the time came. Even he could succumb to panic after all.
"It's just how things go with this type of thin-"
His voice was interrupted by the mere sight of the girl, eyes lightened as he felt his cheeks tainting with a garnet red, brown eyes made the perfect company to her long hair of matching color, however, the thing that caught his attention the most was the pair of rabbit ears that raised above her head.
"C-can you please don't stare at them? It feels weird," said the bunny girl while tilting her ears down.
"Oh! Sorry" Bronn snapped back to reality as he realized eyes were fixated on her ears, while immediately thinking of an excuse "it's just that your ears make you look a lot cuter than what you already are."
It took him a moment to realize how badly he fucked it up, his tongue went faster than his brain, something that he rarely went through, maybe it was the nervousness of being on his way to Beacon, or because he was talking with someone on day one… maybe it was both.
"What?" answered the faunus girl with a slight hint of red on her cheeks.
"Oh, sorry, just my tongue waggling, I guess I'm just nervous," the boy answered quickly with a perfectly calm voice.
"Your tone speaks different" she said with a hand on her waist and a skeptical grin
"Oh but I am," the raptor scratched the back of his head "it's just that my voice doesn't always necessarily reflect my feelings."
She did not looked amused at all.
He moved a hand to his chest and squeezed as he made his best impression of a man with crippling depression having a heart attack, while letting out a small hiss to stage pain.
"That's hurtful, it really hurts."
Before the girl could answer the voice of a exited young man looking through the windows caught the attention of both, soon everyone aboard the bulkhead joined to watch the perfect sight of Vale, however, two people did not seem to care about the view, one of them had tanned skin, scars spread throughout his entire body, wearing black sunglasses to cover his eyes. However, it wasn't him that caught his eye, but rather the boy who stood beside him. His eyes were completely white, not a single sign of life in them, skin pale as the snow, long hair black as ink fell on his face, covering part of it, he irradiated sadness, the way he stood, how his head was tilted downwards, his lifeless white eyes told the story of a man that had seen too much for one lifetime.
The raptor couldn't help but feel pity for the man, and suddenly, the blind moved his head upwards, turning to face him, white staring at bright orange, he couldn't resist the urge to look the other way, moving to stand at the side of the girl he just had talked to, he could feel the stare of the man, he tried to not care, and so the raptor turned his attention back to the view that the windows provided, Beacon was close, they would soon arrive to their destination.
A few seconds past, he smiled at how the city looked so small from where he was, buildings looked like toys, and people like ants, it felt like he could squash them if he wanted to, and then, a hologram appeared, showing the image of a woman, probably one of the teachers at the school.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" the voice of the woman spoke drawing the attention of those who still stared outside "my name is Glynda Goodwitch, you are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy, our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsman and Huntresses it is your duty to uphold it, you have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."
The obviously prerecorded message finally ended, the room went back to being noisy as the rest of the aspirants got back to talking, while he remained silent as he started to move his legs, opening and closing his claws, while the faunus girl at his side watched him with a small smile on her face.
"What?" the boy asked "I told you I would get nervous."
"I thought you were being sarcastic!" the rabbit said while laughing quietly "I truly belived you were joking."
"What's so funny?" the eagle questioned.
"It's just funny to watch calm people losing it," she sighed "if I just had my camera…"
"That hurts my feelings… um," he tried to recall her name, scratching his head in the search of an answer, just to realize a few seconds later that he didn't knew it.
The bullhead stopped, lowering the access ramp, students started to pour out of the airship like an avalanche the only difference being that this was less lethal and a lot more enthusiastic.
"It was nice talking to you, see you around!" the girl waved her hand goodbye as she started to walk away.
"Wait!" he said "I didn't catch your name.
"Oh right, I almost forgot," the bunny stopped and turned to face him "I'm Velvet."
"Bronn Ravine" he said while making a small bow.
"Fancy," she said with a smile.
They shaked hands
"Best I can do," Bronn said with a grin "so, I'll se ya around."
"See you" Velvet waved her hand, and turned around.
Well, first day wasn't going bad, but now the spark of doubt lightened up in his mind, a single question, simple as the air that blew at him, something so simplistic, yet so hard to answer.
"Where was I supposed to go now?"
So there you have it, the beginning of the series, I hope you enjoy it!