Chapter 1 - Prologue

Before

Alfie sat in the hospital bed, his head throbbed dully under the wrap of bandages.

"We need to get the boy somewhere she won't be able to get to him." He heard a man say his voice was so calm, "Somewhere no one will know what he is,"

"I'll try my best to find him a good home, Oz." A woman said, he knew the voice, where had he heard it?

"Argh," Alfie curled up on the bed, his head erupting in pain, there was blood everywhere, there was the woman. She smiled as death reached for him. He clawed his hands at the bandages.

"Alfred," Someone called in alarm, grabbing for his slender arms.

"It hurts," He cried, "it hurts."

"Alfie," The woman's voice said gently touching his hair, "Breath, little one, just breath," Alfie gulped in a breath,

"You're safe," the woman cloaked in white soothed. Alfie let his hands fell to his lap. He leaned into the woman who hugged him.

"No one's going to hurt you," He hiccuped a sob.

He felt a pulsing warmth against his chest. Alfie reached up and wrapped his hands around the small violet crystal pendant.

"Safe," He mumbled.

Now

"Stop," Alfie told his brother, Lenox, as he entered Alfie's bedroom.

Lenox grinned, "I haven't even said anything yet." Alfie stood up from his place on the floor, where his suitcase was laid out before him. It was halfway packed with clothes and personal items.

"You're gonna pester me about if I've finished packing and how I'm feeling about starting at Beacon."

Lenox's grin widened, "I wasn't aware your semblance involved mind reading." Alfie gave him a bland look.

"Call it experience from being your brother for all these years."

"Well, it saves me from having to ask," Lenox replied, "So?" He waited with an expectant look in his crimson eyes.

Alfie sighed, "I'm almost done packing and I'm perfectly fine otherwise." Lenox shook his head, taking a seat on the chair at Alfie's desk.

"You're not worried about anything?" Alfie scowled at him, running a hand through his dark blue hair.

"I'm fine," He repeated, "I'm just going to focus on becoming a hunter."

"Denying being nervous doesn't actually prevent you from being nervous," Lenox said cooly. Alfie frowned, turning away from his brother. He went to his window, looking up at the broken moon of Remnant.

"I'm not nervous," he muttered, "just anxious." Lenox stood up, giving Alfie a reassuring smile.

"Don't be," he said kindly, "This; going to Beacon, training to become hunters; is gonna be a great adventure. You and me and whoever we meet at Beacon." Alfie looked at Lenox and grinned slightly.

"Okay," he replied, "Now, get out of my room. I need to finish packing." Lenox grinned cheerfully, patting Alfie on the back.

"Got ya, Little Brother," he said. "Oh, and I'm borrowing your headphones," Lenox called behind him, grabbing Alfie's headphones off his desk. Alfie frowned, returning to his packing.

"Why do you need them?" he called after Lenox.

"I'm going for a walk," Lenox called back from the hall.

Lenox put on Alfie's headphones and let the music from them drown out the noises of the city. He, unlike his brother, felt nothing but giddy anticipation for their impending arrival at school. He wandered down the street, enjoying the warmth of the night. Yet, he wondered how he could cheer up his brother; somehow ease Alfie's nerves about going to Beacon. Lenox tapped his finger on his jeans as he went around [wandered about] the streets.

I should probably get some extra dusts, Lenox pondered as he took a turn toward Dust Till Dawn. When he heard a crashing sound faintly through his music, he snapped the music off and pulled the headphones down around his neck. Gunshots tore through the night air. Lenox ran down an alleyway, his heart beating with excitement. Lenox jumped up onto a dumpster, pulling himself onto the roof of a building. He glanced around, pulling out his twin swords. Lenox looked towards the dust shop, where he saw a group of suited men laying knocked out on the street. The front window was busted out into pieces. Lenox scanned the rooftops for trouble when he saw a flash of red leap onto a nearby rooftop. He took a step forward seeing the caped girl facing a man in a white coat.

Ruby, he thought, his black hair getting ruffled as a bullhead emerged from beyond the building. He walked closer to get a better look at the man and recognized him as Roman Torchwick. Lenox's mind raced as he debated his next action. Should he rush in and help Ruby try to stop Torchwick or back down and call his boss to report this? Then, he saw the dust crystal fall to Ruby's feet. Torchwick raised his cane and fired, Lenox, lurched forward.

"Ruby!" The dust exploded with a fiery bloom.

Lenox stopped, seeing another woman standing before Ruby. A huntress, Glynda to be sure. Lenox took one last look at the scene, his heart thudding in his chest. He didn't need to worry and sticking around would just earn him a lecture from her. Ruby was safe now.

Thank goodness, he thought, imagining how pissed Yang would have been if he had allowed something to happen to her little sister. Lenox sheathed his swords not seeing any reason to interfere now. He turned taking a final look at the battle he caught the briefest of glances at a woman in a red and gold dress. He stood there, a wolfish smile spreading across his face.

"Interesting," he whispered, jumping down to the alleyway and landing with a thud. He headed away as bystanders and officials hurried towards the scene.

"I should probably call Qrow," he said aloud as he headed for home.

Neely Wells sat on the balcony of the apartment she shared with her sibling. It was a relatively quiet night, aside from the sound of police sirens that had followed the battle at the dust shop. She had watched the scene from a safe distance until her older sister returned home. Neely now sat watching the city as it smoldered with activity. She wrung out her fingers as her nerves were feeling particularly restless at the moment.

"Worrying isn't very productive," a mechanical voice said behind her. Neely looked over her shoulder and was greeted by the mismatched eyes of her sister. She was holding up a scroll that spoke for her.

Neely sighed standing up.

"I'm aware of that," she said, strolling pass her sister, back into the small apartment, "but starting tomorrow, I'll be in Beacon, remember?" She looked back at her sister.

I know she signed at Neely, a skill she had promptly taught Neely after they had begun living together, but you're good at fitting in, so there is no need to worry.

"Easy for you to say Neo," she replied sitting down on the arm of the couch, "You get to be a bodyguard for Roman and help out with our mysterious boss, that you never talk about." It was a childish remark, Neely knew it, but Neo's all-knowing smirk got under her skin sometimes. Which was the same one she gave to Neely at that moment.

The less you know about our boss the better off you are, Neo signed to her, walking over to where Neely sat.

Trust me. She placed a hand on Neely's shoulder and her eyes, one brown and the other one pink, looked into Neely's emerald ones, looking for anymore challenge to the orders Neely had been given.

"I got it," Neely said shortly sliding onto the couch, thinking of how little she knew of their boss. All she knew was that a potential alias was The Queen. "I won't mess this up," she added. Neo smiled knowingly at her, sitting down beside Neely.

I know you won't she signed.

"You made a promise to take a break once you started Beacon," Qrow said rubbing his neck.

"Yeah, but this changes things," Lenox insisted pacing around the living room of his mentor/partner's house, "Torchwick and this mystery woman who took on Glynda appearing in Vale," He went on, "I can't stop looking into this now."

Qrow leaned back in his chair, "I agree with you, Len," the older hunter said, "but Glynda and Ozpin are at Beacon, they'll notice if you're up to something." Lenox halted in his pacing.

"I'll be careful," he replied crossing his arms, "No one will notice unless I want them to."

"Don't underestimate those two, Lenox," Qrow said with an amused smile, "Not to mention you'll be sharing a dorm with your peers and your future teammates."

Lenox sighed, "I'll work around it," he said, "something big is coming to Vale, Qrow," He met the boy's steady gaze, "If these people are in anyway related to what happened to Alfie, I need to find out."

Qrow sighed standing, "You're not budging from this?"

"Not a chance," Lenox said smiling.

"Alright, but promise me you'll be careful, no stupid or reckless stunts, "Qrow told him.

"I'll leave the stupid stunt to you," He said. Qrow chuckled.

"Good, I'm better at them," He replied, "but if you get caught, you have to accept the repercussions," Lenox nodded dropping his smile.

"I understand."

Alfie leaned against one of the windows of the airship that was taking Lenox and him, along with all the other new students, to Beacon. Lenox stood beside him going on about something. He nodded absently as a blond haired boy staggered past them looking pale.

"Alfred," Lenox said, practically right next to his ear.

"Why would you do that?" he yelled at his brother, taking a step away.

Lenox grinned, "You weren't paying attention, so I got bored."

"Child," Alfie muttered. Lenox leaned against the window looking amused with himself.

Then, the news feed talking about the white fang was interrupted by the image of a blonde haired women wearing glasses.

"Who is that?" Alfie asked.

"Glynda Goodwitch," Lenox said as the video did the same.

"Right," Alfie said, listening to the huntress speak about the Beacon. He crossed his arms to stop his hands from shaking with nerves. Lenox bumped his shoulder lightly.

"Don't worry, little brother," Lenox reassured, "This is going be a great adventure." Alfie smiled as he and Lenox looked out the airship's window at Beacon.

"Yeah," Alfie agreed, smiling ever so slightly when he heard the yelp of a girl from the other part of the airship.

"See," Lenox said with a bright smile. Alfie just shook his head.

Thanks to NekrounRose for editing this story.

I updated the story they should have better grammar now. Enjoy!