"Barry, you've got a letter from Beacon!" his mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
"I'm coming! I can't believe it's finally here, the answer to whether or not I will be attending Beacon next year is just inside of this envelope. I don't know if I can open it..."
Barry Shrike is a 5'9", medium built, 17 year old with scraggly, dark brown hair and bright green eyes. He is very tan after spending almost all of his time outside training in the abandoned quarry, and he is always covered in dirt, even if he just got out of the shower.
"I just got to get in. I have to be able to fight, to protect my friends and family. I can no longer be weak, especially after what happened to dad."
Barry's dad, Adam, was his hero. Adam Shrike was a simple man who worked for the Schnee Dust Company mining dust. He started at the bottom of the company, mining day in and day out, for several years until he got his first promotion, as a supervisor for a small section of the mine. After that he kept rising through the ranks, until he was one of the few people in charge of the whole mining operation. Not only was Adam a great miner who loved his job, he always made time for his family. He never missed a single one of Barry's birthday's and every year he gave Barry an assortment of cool looking minerals as a present and Barry absolutely loved it. Barry wanted to be a miner just like his father, so he was extremely happy when on his 15th birthday his father took him to work with him.
It was almost quitting time and Barry was having the greatest day ever. Sure mining was hard work but it was quite rewarding as Barry found a new mineral to add to his collection (It wasn't dust so it would have been tossed by the SDC anyways). As Barry and his dad were just about to head home they heard a large explosion coming from the other side of the quarry. The quarry was being attacked by a radical group of faunus protesting against the SDC for its use of faunus slave labour. The protestors were not being peaceful however as they were killing anyone who wasn't a faunus.
"Barry, go hide in that big crack in the wall, I will protect you." his dad told him.
As soon as Barry went into hiding, two faunus showed up wielding swords and charged at his father. Adam picked up the pickaxe and started fighting back, and to Barry surprise he was actually winning! Where did his father learn to fight like this, Barry thought, he is just a miner. Adam had quickly disarmed one of the faunus and bashed his head with the pickaxe, knocking him out instantly. The other faunus was getting a leg up on Adam, but then out of nowhere a boulder came crashing down the side of the quarry and nailed the protestor square in the head. Adam just smirked as he looked upon the two unconscious bodies lying on the floor next to him, he was about to call out to Barry to tell him it was safe when he saw a frightened boy, around Barry's age, walk around the corner.
"Excuse me boy, why are you out here all alone? There is a battle going on, you need to get to safety" Adam asked the young man.
"My father... my uncle... both dead... I'm all alone." The boy sobbed.
"Come here, you're not alone anymore. What's your name?"
The boy came up to Adam, and went to cry on his shoulder, but his tears never came out. What did come out was a knife the boy had concealed underneath his clothing, and he plunged the knife right in Adam's chest. "My name is Ash."
"But why? Why are you doing this? You are not even a faunus." Adam said, fighting for his life.
"Just because I am not a faunus, doesn't mean I don't support the White Fang." Ash replied as he took the knife and delivered the final blow.
Barry just stood there motionless, watching from afar as his father was murdered. He stood there silently as he watched Ash, the boy who killed his father, walked off. After about an hour he got the courage to go out in the open to his father's body, then he kneeled over his dad and cried.
"I can't hide in the shadows anymore, I have to go to Beacon and become a hunter. I will be stronger, I still remember that boy's face, Ash's face, when he killed my father, my hero. I may not be able to change the past, I may not even be able to get my revenge on Ash, but I will make sure that I never have to stand by and watch someone I love die."
Barry opened the envelope and read the first line aloud. "Congratuations Beryl Shrike, you have been accepted into Beacon Academy."