Chapter 1: Titan Rising

A calm breeze blew through the limbs of the Emerald Forest, rustling the leaves and branches. Birds chirped in the distance, suddenly stopping at the sound of twigs snapping from being stepped on. In the distance stood a rather tall man, draped in all black, the sheer sight of this man was enough to stop someone in their tracks. He wore a black hoodie with a red phoenix on the back, he wore a heavy black IBA over the hoodie with a knife attached to the left shoulder. He wore black jeans that had 2 inch thick armor lining in the pant legs, and black steel toe combat boots, slightly blacker from the blood of Grimm he had killed. On his chest he wore a black dog tag, it read Carmine "Titan" Sable, and it had a red King Taijitu with a sword through its head above the name. He wore a pair of black padded gloves that went a little bit past his wrists, which were covered by his sleeves, the gloves were reinforced with steel and carbon fiber plating in the knuckles and fingers. Carmine checked his weapons ammo capacity, he had a Scar-H with a Foregrip, Acog scope, green laser sight, and a muzzle brake which turned into a long sword.

On his hip was an MP7 with a Holographic sight and muzzle brake, the sidearm also turned into a Bowie Knife, Carmine held a gas filtration mask in his hands, the visor was black as night. He reattached the mask, adjusted it to his face and pulled the hood back over his head, breathing in deep to check the filter. As he finished up his diagnostic check he heard a snarl behind him, turning around in time to counter a charging Beowolf. Carmine fired off three rounds, each hitting their mark: neck, head, and chest. The Beowolf was unfazed and stood up on its hind legs and let out a loud howl, as it finished howling, carmine put four more through its chest, where it dropped and started to smoke. Suddenly two more Beowolves appear from the tree line, eyes red as blood, but Carmine was ready. The Titan of a man charged the Grimm, dumping six rounds into one of the Beowolves effectively killing it, he turned the rifle into its sword mode and slashed at the remaining Beowolf, the Grimm swiped at Carmine but missed. Carmine delivered a swift kick upside the Grimm's head, sending it into a nearby tree, he plunged the sword down into the Grimm, finishing it. Carmine collected himself and reloaded his rifle; returning it to his back. He checked the time and saw that it was almost noon "Oh fuck! I'm gonna miss the shuttle!" He exclaimed before he took off towards Vale, he wasn't gonna miss his first day at Beacon Academy.

Carmine finally made it to the air docks where the shuttles to Beacon were docked, he saw students boarding the airships and quickly made it on board one as the door was closing. "Wow, just in the nick of time, aren't you lucky." Carmine looked to see who had said that, his eyes coming to rest on a girl with silver eyes smiling at him, "Oh, your mask looks so spooky, it's so cool." The silver eye girl said in wonder, Carmine couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "Yea, that's me, always at the last second, it's a bad habit." Carmine said as he rubbed his neck, the girl extended a hand to the masked man "I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose." Carmine shook her hand "Carmine, but some know me as Titan." He let go of her hand and adjusted his IBA just as a blonde hair girl bear hugged Ruby "Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" Ruby struggled for air "Please stop." Ruby pleaded, the blonde let go of Ruby who took a deep breath in. The blonde noticed Carmine and whispered to her sister "Who's tall, dark, and silent over there?" Carmine overheard her and decided to introduce himself, but stopped to think to himself quickly 'Introduce myself now or keep up the silent, mysterious charade?' He asked himself but rational thought came flooding back like a freight train when he heard Ruby say his name "Oh, that's Carmine but a lot of people call him Titan." Carmine quickly extended his hand and the blonde grabbed it and shook it "Yang Xiao Long." Yang said, introducing herself "Carmine" he replied.

Their introduction was cut short by a hologram popping up where the news just was "Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" the hologram said. "Who the hell is that?" Carmine said out loud but only the two girls heard him, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch" the hologram said, "I guess that answers your question." Yang said with a smirk. "You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy" Carmine walked to the window and looked out over Vale, slowly tuning Glynda out. He was brought back to reality when he heard the other student's gasps of amazement. "Oh, wow! Look, you can see Signal from up here. I guess home isn't too far after all!" Yang wrapped an arm around her sister, "Beacon's our home, now." Just then they heard someone groaning, a blonde haired boy ran by, covering his mouth. "Well…. I guess the view isn't for everyone" Yang said, rolling her eyes, Carmine chuckled as the airship docked, the blonde boy ran out and emptied his lunch into a nearby trashcan.

Carmine walked behind him and patted him on the back "There there, get it all out it's alright, you're just nervous." The blonde man finished his upchuck session and regained his composure "Thanks for that, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!" Carmine chuckled a bit "You sure about that?" "They will! Well, I hope they will. My mom always said that…. nevermind" Jaune replied, obviously nervous "Well, I'm Carmine but a lot of people call me Titan so you can call me either one, your choice." Carmine said trying to reassure the blonde knight "I like Titan, it's fitting." Jaune said, noting Carmine's appearance "How'd you think I got the nickname?" Carmine said laughing lightly, looking toward the sky. "So, what's with the mask?" Jaune asked, catching Carmine off guard "Huh? Oh, well two reasons: One being that it helps contain a by product of my Semblance and two is it looks cool as fuck!" Carmine said, striking a confident pose. "What's your semblance?" Jaune asked the masked man, "Well, I can make a charged explosive detonation, either directional meaning at something or someone or outward like around me. The longer I use it, the more of my aura it uses up, it's a double edged sword in that it's powerful but if I'm not careful, it'll kill me. The byproduct of my semblance is hot steam which I exhale, the way my semblance basically rearranges the Oxygen and Nitrogen around me and the Carbon inside of me to create an explosive charge that detonates on impact results in hot steam. The longer I charge it, the bigger the blast. I don't intend on seeing how far it can go." Carmine said, taking a deep breath. Jaune just looked confused "Uh… What?" Jaune asked, to which Carmine just sighed and dropped his head before chuckling lightly "Semblance makes big boom, mouth lets out really hot air." Carmine said trying his best not to sound too condescending. "Oh, gotcha." Jaune said, Carmine patted him on the shoulder. Their little chat was interrupted by a huge explosion, Carmine and Jaune ran toward it, Carmine had his MP7 drawn and ready. They arrived where the smoke was clearing, just to find Ruby and a white haired girl covered in soot "I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby said apologetic "Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon? The white haired girl said with frustration in her voice, "Well, I-I uh…" Ruby stammers trying to speak but before she can form a sentence Carmine cuts in but Jaune tries to stop him but fails, "Hey Queen Bitch! Why don't you back the fuck off, it was a damn accident, shit happens all the time." Carmine picks up one of the dust crystals and throws it off the edge of Beacon "Now, that wasn't an accident." The white haired girl looked appalled "How dare you! Do you know who I am?!" she said with anger in her voice "Nope, and I don't think I would want to know the name of the Bitch Queen, Ruler of being a cunt." Carmine said, bowing sarcastically. "It's heiress, actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee dust company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." This came from a raven haired girl with a bow on her head, "Finally! Some recognition!" Weiss said, smiling smugly. "Oh, shut the fuck up, Q Tip." Carmine said, warranting a death glare from Weiss. "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." Said the girl with the black bow. "Oh Damn, bet that hurts the ego, don't it." Carmine said laughing "Wha- How dare you- The nerve of… Ugh!" Weiss stammers and storms off. "Later Bitch Queen, I'll keep your throne warm!" Carmine yelled at Weiss, Jaune is speechless "You spoke to an Heiress like that!? Man, you got some huge balls." Jaune said, dumbfounded. "Eh, it was nothing, I mean someone had to knock her off her high horse, believe me, had the girl with black hair not shown up, I would have said some worse stuff." Carmine said. "Uh, Thanks for standing up for me, Carmine." Ruby said sheepishly "Oh, anytime little red. If anyone starts picking on you, let me know and I'll take care of it." Carmine said to Ruby but she just shook her head "That's what I got Yang for, but I'll keep you as back up, ok?" Ruby said giggling. Jaune coughed a little to get Carmines attention, "Oh shit, my bad man. Uh Ruby, this is Jaune, Jaune this is Ruby." They exchanged hellos with each other and started talking about each other's weapons, meanwhile Carmine walks over to the edge of Beacon and looked out into the distance. 'I made it. I made it to Beacon, Onyx' Carmine thought to himself as he looked up into the sky 'I miss you man, it's not the same without you.' Carmine rejoined his new friends "So, where to now?" Ruby asked questioningly "Wait, we were following you." Jaune said, slightly bewildered. Carmine couldn't help but facepalm and chuckle "Follow me, I noticed 'Her Majesty' head that way" Carmine said sarcastically.

Ten minutes later they arrived at the auditorium, filled to the brim with people. "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang said waving at Ruby. "Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! I'll see you two after the ceremony!" Ruby said, making her way to her sister. "Hey, wait! Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?" Jaune said defeated, he walked into the crowd, unknowingly grabbing the attention of a fiery redhead with emerald eyes, Carmine noticed her attention on Jaune and made a mental note of this "Interesting" he said to himself, joining the crowd. Ozpin gets to the microphone "I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Carmine looked around at the other students, who were whispering amongst themselves, he returned his attention to Ozpin who spoke again "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin turned and left but was replaced by Glynda who made an announcement "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Carmine turned to leave but stopped when he saw Jaune talking to Weiss 'Oh Jaune, what are you doing?' he thought to himself shaking his head. He left the auditorium and entered the courtyard, eventually taking a seat on a bench close to the statue in the middle of the campus. Carmine looked around the courtyard, checking to see if the coast is clear; seeing that he was alone he lowered his hood. Undoing the clamps that secured his mask, he removed it and breathed in deep, smelling the air; he exhaled and a white cloud of steam came from his mouth, hot as always.

Carmine opened his eyes and sat the mask down on the bench, his eyes were red but not a lot of people have seen them, he thought to himself 'I guess I should make friends while I'm here, I mean there's Jaune, Ruby, and Yang' his thought was interrupted when someone spoke up "Taking in the scenery, Mr. Sable?" Carmine was caught off guard and looked to see who had addressed him; it was Ozpin, who was holding a mug of coffee, sipping from it. Carmine relaxed at seeing it was just Ozpin "Man, you can't just sneak up on people like that, I need to put a bell on you or something." Carmine said shaking his head, Ozpin chuckled at his remark before he took a seat on the bench that Carmine was sitting on and addressed the new student "Why didn't you go to the ballroom with everyone else, you can't make friends if you're by yourself." Ozpin asked, obviously concerned for the rifleman's well-being. Carmine sighed and spoke up after a minute of silence "Yea, you got a point but I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone just in case my past catches up with me, I assume you've read my file?"

Ozpin nodded his head "I have Carmine and you don't have to worry about your past, consider your first day here a clean slate." Ozpin said patting Carmine on the back, reassuring him "Now, why don't you go make some friends. You've got a big day tomorrow." Ozpin said leaving the rifleman alone again. "Well, let's do this!" Carmine said to himself as he reattached his mask, testing the steam purge function on the side and lifting his hood back in place on his head.

Carmine entered the ballroom and noticed it was gender separate, boys on the left and girls on the right. He went to the left and found an open spot next to some other students, he sat against the wall and surveyed the crowd, noticing Ruby and Weiss arguing about something which only made him chuckle 'It seems they got off to a bad start, than again, I did kind of insult her by calling her Queen Bitch' he thought to himself. He was brought to attention when he heard someone sit next to him and they spoke to him "Hey there, how'd your first day go?" Carmine turned his attention to the guy next to him, he had an athletic build to him, semi tan skin, and bluish green eyes. He wore a white shirt with a black long sleeve button up shirt, unbuttoned all the way. Black jeans with red and green stripes going down the side. He had spiked brown hair and a scar over his right eye, "It could have gone better but besides a little argument I got into, I can't complain." Carmine said. The new guy smiled and laughed a little "I'm Celadon!" He said extending his hand outward, "I'm Carmine but some call me Titan." He said, shaking Celadon's hand, "It's nice to meet you, Carmine, and I look forward to working with you." Celadon said to which Carmine nodded "Likewise."

The two new friends looked out over the crowd while talking "You ready for tomorrow?" Celadon asked. "Yea, I've been hoping for a challenge and hopefully this will deliver." Carmine replied, sounding eager for the next day "Well, let's hope we get put on the same team." Celadon said optimistically "I have a feeling we will, but who will the other two be?" Carmine said wondering who else will be on his team. Carmine looked up and saw there in the rafters of the roof, a spot that would be comfortable but one problem: there was no ladder or stairs, but he put his problem solving brain to work, spotting heavy duty support beams and ledges, all he would need to do was scale the wall, grab the ledge, climb on to the support beam and walk to the spot he saw, simple. He tapped Celadon on the shoulder to get his attention "Hey Celadon, I'm gonna try and make it to that spot there up in the rafters." Carmine said pointing to the spot, Celadon looked at the spot and the course Carmine plotted out only to shrug his shoulders "Good luck." Celadon said. With that Carmine took off his boots so he wouldn't destroy the wall and put them in his pack which he put on his back, now taking off full speed toward the wall, he planted a foot on the wall then leaped into the air and grabbed the ledge, pulling himself up and sat on the ledge so he could put his boots back on. He stood up and slowly walked across the beam, keeping his balance in check by holding on to the rafter for support.

By this time, a small crowd had gathered and they were quietly cheering him on, he inched his way to the middle of the beam, looking toward his target; he stepped across a gap to another beam, causing the crowd to gasp. He finally made it to the spot and sat in his new temporary throne, taking in the sight below; he leaned back against the wall and pulled out his scroll, the screen lighting up the spot causing Carmine to notice some writing on the roof above him 'Onyx was here' he read it quietly 'Onyx had the same idea, wow. Who knew my brother and I both have the same idea' Carmine thought to himself as he unlatched his mask and placed it in his pack, finally getting comfortable. Tomorrow was a big day, his team would be decided, but how? He would just have to wait and see.

Looking at the writing on the roof again, he couldn't help but smile. He reached into his pack and pulled out a black marker, taking the cap off and writing 'Carmine was here' next to his brother's graffiti. "There, now we both have our mark on this school." He said to himself, putting the marker away. Carmine crawled further into the hidden spot in the wall, stretching out and getting comfortable again, eventually falling asleep.

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it. Let me know what you thought and what I can do better with, [2018: I made some much needed updates. / ] and remember to Favorite and Follow. This is Nightmare 6-4 signing off)