From where she was sitting, the sight of Shade Academy rising far above the skyline was an incredibly intimidating sight. The ziggurat was an immense behemoth, its size dwarfing the homes and buildings of the small town that rested in its base. It claimed to be a guardian, a protector of those who had flocked to its domain following the devastation of the Great War, but in her eyes, there was another, more threatening, message.
That it could easily crush them all like ants.
Aeronwy Larkspur gripped tightly onto her bindle with a sweaty hand.
She didn't want to be one of those ants.
In hindsight, it was almost funny how pumped she had been the day before; how confident in her ability to sweep the competition and pass the entrance exams with total ease. Except now that she was here, in front of the Academy she desired so strongly to enter, that bravado was gone. There was less than an hour left until the testing was to begin, and she was utterly terrified.
Stay calm, Larkspur. It'll be okay. You got this. No way you gonna fail. You got this.
The crimson-haired girl's cheeks puffed up as she breathed in. She couldn't let all those years of training to end in disappointment. The air was released slowly from her nose. She had worked too hard to fail. Getting into Shade was the only way she could become a Huntress, and she would never be able to forgive herself if she missed this chance. Not when she had so brazenly told everybody back home that she would definitely become the Academy's ace.
There was no way she could show her failure to her family.
Bro'd never let me live it down.
She couldn't help but crack a smile at the thought of them. They were so excited when she told them of the entrance exams. "Of course you'll become a Huntress at Shade!" they had told her. "Where else you gonna go?" And she'd gotten caught up in the enthusiasm, making promises that once seemed rock-solid, but now felt as loose as the sands of the Vacuuan Desert. The possibility that she didn't pass felt so real now.
'Where was she gonna go' indeed; it wasn't like Vacuo had anything else.
No big combat schools. No real teachers. Just survival training and the hope that Shade represented to everybody living in the wasteland.
Aargh, you're worrying again, Larkspur! It'll be okay! Stop panicking and focus on finding the venue!
Aeronwy nodded vigorously with slightly renewed resolve, immediately sliding herself off the top of the crumbling stone wall with a quiet huff. She landed in a crouch on the pavement below, before straightening back up to her full height and brushing a few specks of dirt off her white t-shirt. She just had to focus on getting to the venue first. There was no point in worrying about failing if she had failed to even turn up, right?
She propped her heavy bindle down on the crook of her neck, cradling it against her shoulder as she reached down into her trouser pockets for her Scroll, also making sure to make sure her test admission ticket was still safely secured with a quick pat. The seventeen (soon to be eighteen!) year old girl knew that the exams were probably being held somewhere on Shade's campus, but she needed to double check where those rooms were. And make sure she was going in the right direction too.
Sure, you couldn't miss Shade even if you tried to, but she had run into a few roadblocks and walls already, and not many people were too fond of a girl jumping into their backyards.
"Okay …" she murmured to herself as she loaded up a navigation app alongside the message that had all the examination details (she was Examinee #105), "just gotta make my around to one of the bigger roads, huh?"
That was easy enough. Aeronwy took a hard look at the information being displayed to her before slipping the device away. She still had about thirty minutes until the exam started, so as long as she didn't get lost, she'd probably get there in absolutely no time at all!
A gust of wind blew past her, but the girl ignored it. Slapping her right fist against her left palm, she breathed in once more. She just needed to keep reassuring herself that she was fine. That the tests wouldn't pose too big of a problem to her.
No way I'm gonna fail.
Aeronwy Larkspur began to walk in the direction that her app gave her.
She would be fine.
There was no need to worry.
Aeronwy Larkspur was worried.
To be more precise, she was absolutely terrified.
The teenaged wannabe-Huntress rapidly paced back and forth in front of the entrance to Shade Academy, ignoring the glances shot her way by passerbys, faculty members on standby, and the few other prospective students who were able to take time from fussing over their own fears to focus on the maladies of others. Her long red hair was becoming more and more frazzled as she ran pale hands through their strands, her intensifying stress becoming quite obvious to spot.
She had lost her admission ticket.
Breathe in, Larkspur. Don't panic. We're so close. Don't panic.
Despite having checked that it was still on her person less than half an hour ago, it was already lost. Gone. Disappeared from her pockets like a sock from the drawer. Or an isolated village in a Grimm-infested desert. Somewhere along the way, she had lost it, and now she was doomed.
Failing the entrance exams? She couldn't even participate in them now!
And to think she had been so happy when she first arrived at the venue alongside all the other colourful-looking examinees. She had just gotten enough of her confidence back during the walk, but now that was completely useless if she couldn't find her ticket! No ticket meant no test, and no test meant not becoming a Huntress. She was doomed. Absolutely doomed.
Come on Larkspur, don't panic you can find this don't panic.
It was really easy to tell herself not to panic, but that didn't help a single bit if she didn't even know where to start fixing things! Her heart pounded at her ribs, its loud thudding a distraction that was only adding to her woes. Where could she start? Where did she drop it? During the walk to the venue? She looked around wildly, her face the image of excited terror. She breathed. If she had dropped it here, there was no way she could find it. Not when there were so many people walking around.
"Come on come on come on," were her frantic mutterings. "It's gotta be somewhere, gotta be."
She started retracing her steps, her eyes flitting from spot to spot as she stared at every clear spot on the dusty ground. She didn't care if people were wondering why she was going away from the venue. No time for that. She had to find her ticket. It was just a small, white piece of laminated paper, but it was too important. It was her future.
Nothing around the campus grounds.
Had she dropped it on the road?!
Aeronwy grabbed out her Scroll, nearly dropping it in her panic. Ten minutes until the tests were to begin. Could she find her ticket in time? Did she have time to even go find it? She squashed those thoughts, shoving the device into her pockets and breaking into a run. No time to worry. She had to find it. Had to. She started running.
Nothing right outside the gates. She skidded to a halt, kicking up dust and nearly tripping in the process. Someone shouted at her in annoyance. Aeronwy threw them a finger in response before taking off again. Nine minutes. She couldn't see a single sign of a ticket anywhere. Her breaths were ragged, lungs struggling to keep up with the sudden exertion.
God don't fucking do this to me please, come I just need the ticket.
She could already see the disappointment on everyone's faces. Failing without even getting to do the test? Failing to become a Huntress just because of one stupid fucking piece of paper?! It was almost funny if it wasn't so sad. And terrifying.
She strained her eyes, head whipping back and forth almost in a frenzy as she made it onto the main road. Eight minutes. Nearly seven minutes. Nothing here. She held in a frantic breath. What if she had lost it back near the wall? She didn't even know if she could make it there in time.
Scroll out again. The numbers were mocking her.
Her stomach was a pit. A gaping pit. With butterflies. Grimm butterflies, maybe.
She was wasting time.
She couldn't make it.
Had it been that gust?! Her hopes plummeted once more.
The wind could have carried it anywhere.
Aeronwy felt her legs go weak.
Hah, fucking …
Doomed.
She could feel the blood pumping through her veins. The beating of her heart. The rushing sounds of air past her ears.
Seven minutes, maybe?
She stared unblinkingly down at the dusty pavement.
Absolutely doomed.
She just wanted to collaps-
"Did you drop this?"
Aeronwy looked up.
There was a girl standing there, concern evident in her bright blue eyes. A pretty, warm smile. Violet-haired, extending into two, long braided tails. Flower hairclips. Aeronwy could dimly notice that the other girl was slightly shorter than her.
She wasn't focusing on that.
She was focusing on what was in the girl's outstretched hand.
A dusty slip of paper held towards her between two long fingers.
Aeronwy Larkspur had never seen anything more beautiful in her entire life.
"Beautiful," she croaked out (almost hypnotically), reaching towards the admission ticket.
"Eh?"
"Oh, um." The confused sound redirected her attention to the girl. She pulled her hand back an inch. "It's mine. Yeah. My ticket. I dropped it."
Despite her stumbling and awkward phrasing, the message was received loud and clear by the other girl, if the smile was any indication.
"That's good to hear," said her saviour with a quiet giggle, pressing the ticket into Aeronwy's still-outstretched hand and closing her fingers around it. "I was worried that I wouldn't find you."
That was strange for somebody else to say. The redhead herself had been already incredibly worried about finding her ticket and getting to the venue on time, but someone else didn't need to have to worry for her about tha-.
Wait, rewind that for me.
Time.
Getting to the venue on time.
A second ticked down.
"Five minutes!" she blurted out hurriedly, swivelling around on a foot and breaking out into a run. There was no time for thanks. She was going to be late. She couldn't be late. They wouldn't let her in if she was late. She'd just gotten her ticket back, and she certainly wouldn't let herself fail after this!
There was a panicked exclamation somewhere behind her, and then the sound of running.
It was violet hair.
"You're going to Shade too?!" Aeronwy asked between rapid breaths as the other girl began to catch up. "Seriously?"
"Of course," gasped her saviour, seemingly struggling with having to suddenly start running. "Damn it, I thought we would have more time."
The Academy wasn't too far now, but Aeronwy didn't know if she could make it up the ziggurat steps to where the tests were held in the next four minutes. She pushed more into her legs, begging her muscles to keep her moving. The build-up of lactic acid from before made them ache, but she tried to ignore it. There was no time or that!
"Same," she did manage to reply, even though her strides were already taking her further away from her newly-found companion in 'trying not to be late'. "You better run faster than that if you wanna get in!"
There was the sound of somebody huffing with exertion, and mere seconds later, the violet-haired girl had caught up, her awkward, gasping motions from earlier giving way to a steady run.
"I hope you can too, Aeronwy Larkspur!" she said, flashing the redhead a smile. "There wouldn't be any point in you saying thanks if you couldn't!"
"Wait, how do you kn-"
"Your name was on the ticket!"
With a burst of speed that Aeronwy swore must have been aura-assisted, the other girl immediately overtook her, her laughter growing fainter and fainter as the distance between them grew.
Three minutes.
In her first stroke of good luck since her arrival at Shade, Aeronwy successfully made it into the examination hall with only seconds to spare. She had caught a glimpse of purple amongst the crowd of hundreds earlier, but for all intents and purposes, the girl who rescued her ticket had essentially disappeared, leaving her alone once more. That was a pain; the redhead wanted to at least say 'thank you' for saving her from the frying pan. And find a way to get a race going; she wasn't just going to let anybody beat her that easily!
But she would just have to leave it for next time.
Hopefully, after being accepted by Shade.
It was funny how little she was worrying over actually getting in now. Even though all the prospective students were moving to their assigned seats (her included), the fears of failing the exam seemed so distant. Probably because there was no turning back now; there was nothing else they could do but trust in themselves and get through the tests.
She sat patiently at her desk as the first portion of the exam – the written section – was placed in front of her. She took in a quiet breath. The beating of her heart had slowed. There was still a niggling voice in the back of her mind asking whether or she really could succeed, but she ignored it.
She just had to push ahead.
And when Aeronwy Larkspur was given the go-ahead to begin, the voice disappeared.
She looked at the test before her and grinned.
I got this.
The written exam was over. With a sigh of utter relief, the red-haired girl collapsed onto a seat in the waiting room, basking in the privilege of no longer needing to think. She wasn't free from the exam yet, but she had triumphed over what she considered the harder half: the application of all the weird theoretical hunting knowledge that she needed to study up on before becoming a Huntress. Information on how to make use of Dust, a bit of history, identifying Grimm … it felt like she had been writing her own textbook in there.
But that was done and dusted. Gone. All of it now stuff that Aeronwy wouldn't need to worry about until she actually got in (and unless she really screwed up the combat portion, she was feeling really confident about her chances). It was amazing how many of her feelings had changed since earlier in the day. Her stresses had all but disappeared with the end of that part of the exam, and all that awaited her now was something that she was nowhere near as worried about.
The combat tests.
She glanced around the room, taking in the appearances of her fellow examinees. Given the number of prospective students, they were split into several groups, with each having been sent to different areas of the venue. It looked like that violet-haired girl wasn't here, which was a pain. Then again, it wasn't like she could've said anything even if they had been put in the same group. All of them had to wait here in silence.
It was getting really boring though, and she was pretty sure the short, tattooed boy fidgeting with his twin blades on the seat next to her was thinking the exact same thing.
Aeronwy leaned forward, propping her chin against steepled hands. If the wait had been for the written exam, she probably would've taken the time to try and get some last-minute studying in, but there wasn't any way to get prepped for a fight when the examiners wouldn't let her move around the room. She didn't even know what she was supposed to be prepared for either, and observing the exiting examinees was remarkably dearth of any useful information.
She could recognise the eclectic variety of emotions they seemed to be experiencing, but on what was possibly awaiting her within, there was absolutely no dice.
She let out an exhausted sigh.
It was a waiting game.
Slowly but surely, the number of examinees waiting diminished as more and more of them were called up to the rooms for their tests. Even the boy sitting next to her had been summoned. She idly mused about how he would fare: he really hadn't looked like a fighting type.
Another student, this one barely holding back tears, exited.
And thus, her turn arrived.
"Numbers 104, 105 and 106," said a voice over the intercom. "Please make your way to your respective testing rooms."
Finally.
Aeronwy pushed herself off the chair, lightly stretching her arms out to rid herself of any knots that had developed. There was no way she was going to get into a fight with her muscles cramped. Huffing in satisfaction, she rolled her right shoulder, feeling the tension dissipate before she picked her bindle up from the floor next to the chair. It was go time.
With one last deep breath, she began to walk towards her assigned door.
As Aeronwy stepped past the threshold and into the room, her eyes rapidly glanced around for what she was supposed to be showing off on. They immediately fell upon a vaguely humanoid robot drone – probably one that fell off the back of an Atlesian truck – and the woman boredly sitting against the table next to it, silver eyes glued to the display of a Scroll. The examiner. Except she wasn't even bothering to look in the redhead's direction.
It actually felt pretty insulting.
But before Aeronwy could speak up, the woman's eyes shot upwards faster than a firework, gaze nailing the teenage girl to her spot.
"Oh, you're here," the examiner said blandly. "Number 105, is it?"
"It's Aeronwy," the redhead replied, her tone a bit more snappish and vigorous than necessary. "Aeronwy Larkspur. Here to get this combat test done."
The examiner brushed a few strands of blonde hair away from her face. "Then you're in the right place, Number 105," she continued without much enthusiasm, nor any acknowledgement of Aeronwy's manner of speech. "My name is Niloufar Kərəsāspa, your examiner today and, if you can defeat this android, possibly even a future lecturer of yours."
Aeronwy nodded. "Right, beat the android. That's all I gotta do?"
Without any fanfare, the machine roared to life, a metallic sword flashing from its left arm as it immediately charged the red-haired girl. She squeaked in surprise, barely parrying the swinging blade in time with her bindle before dropping to the floor and rolling past it.
"What the hell?!" she shouted, scrambling back up and holding her bindle out like a makeshift sword as the android began to turn around. "Don't drop that on me without any warning!"
Niloufar shrugged, head turning to face the girl. "Nature rarely gives you warning, and a Huntress shouldn't be too inconvenienced by sudden danger," she commented matter-of-factly. "Although, you would be more effective with an actual weapon in your hands."
Metal met wood once again, and Aeronwy could only hiss as she tried to push the android's weapon away with her bindle. It wasn't working very well, not when her travelling pack wasn't even supposed to be a weapon and would probably break if took any more beatings. This was way more sudden than she'd thought it be! She lashed out with a kick, an aura-infused foot meeting the robot's torso and knocking it back.
"Can't get a weapon out if I don't have time!" the redhead snapped, taking advantage of the brief amount of breathing space she had made for herself. "And which one do you want anyway?!"
Her examiner leaned forward. "Which?" she asked, a note of interest creeping into her tone. "Interesting terminology. You specialise in more than one weapon?"
Aeronwy narrowly ducked under a powerful swing, taking the chance to dash past the android with a burst of aura. "No, I just don't have a preference yet!" she replied, turning around and slamming the machine in the back with another kick. "Been trying things out before I grab one of those expensive, fancier ones."
She unravelled the sack at the top of her bindle, dropping the heavy leather to the ground with a thud. As it spread out across the floor, the examiner would see the weapons she'd chosen to bring along today: a hatchet, a baton that could extend outwards with a press of a button, two daggers, and a handgun she'd actually just picked up from a depot a few days ago. They weren't particularly shiny or fancy little things, and she wasn't planning on making them that way until she had the money to do so, but they were still her weapons, and she'd show the examiner that she could take down the robot with any single one of them!
"A jack-of-all-trades?" asked Niloufar with a hint of bemusement, crossing a pantyhose-covered leg over the other. "Or are you simply pretending in order to show off?"
Aeronwy ignored the examiner, instead ducking down to grab the baton from her pile. The weapon lengthened, the sound of metal scraping against itself resounding across the room once more as she thrusted past the robot's guard, baton tip slamming hard against its chest before it could attempt another strike on her person. No stupid robot was going to get a single hit on her, and that was a promise.
"Think whatever you want," she shot back, taking the chance to grab her pistol. Even if she was hitting hard enough to stagger, the robot wasn't taking any visible damage from all the strikes, and it recovered too quickly for her to land any more blows when that wicked blade of it could easily lop her head off. First time she'd ever fought one of those Atlesian machines, and it damn sure was living up to those expectations of quality. "Only thing you want me to do is beat this guy, right?"
The robot's right arm suddenly began to whir, transforming into the barrel of a cannon. Aeronwy barely had time to let out a curse before it fired, a Dust-infused round rocketing through the air towards her. She took a dive, wincing as she slammed against the cold, hard floor. Behind her, the projectile exploded upon impact with the wall, and even from her position, she could feel the heat wash over her completely.
"That's technically what I want, yes," replied her examiner. "Although, your current weapons do not appear to be very effective in fulfilling that request."
Aeronwy scrambled to her feet, pushing aura into her legs and dashing towards Niloufar as another round impacted the ground behind her. She slammed into the table, only dimly aware that the examiner had floated off before the impact. Wood crashed to the ground, but that was what she wanted. Knocking into a table and taking in the pain wasn't just for the fun of it.
She needed some cover.
"You trying to get me to show off everything or something?" the redhead muttered quietly to herself, pulling out a cartridge of yellow lightning Dust and slotting it into her handgun. Her baton sat at her side, placed down so she could load in ammunition more quickly. The android hadn't fired yet, even though she was pretty sure that some overturned wooden table wouldn't stand up to one of its shots, but maybe its robo-brain just wasn't able to target when an enemy disappeared from view.
It hadn't even noticed her voice.
Her examiner, however, did. Somehow.
"No point in hiding it anymore," sang Niloufar's measured tones across the room. "That is correct. I want to see if you truly can make use of all your weapons against this foe."
Aeronwy poked her head up from behind the overturned table, firing an electrified bullet straight at the still-searching robot. The attack struck it in the shoulder of its cannon arm, lightning immediately running through its metallic body as smoke began to rise from the hole. The built-in firearm, hopefully, had been disabled.
"Aren't you a bit demanding for an examiner?!" she shouted at the older woman (who was now leaning against the damaged wall, arms crossed) before ducking back down before the robot could see her.
"I've overseen too many of these combat tests today," was the reply the redhead received. "None of them were even potentially interesting at this stage. So …"
There was a loud, metallic whine as the robot finally noticed the table, and it immediately began to rush towards Aeronwy. She leapt from cover, firing another shot – this time at the machine's torso, the sudden surge of electricity halting its motions. Its arms jerked and jittered, unable to handle increased current inside its circuits.
"So what?" asked the redhead flatly, pulling herself off the ground where she'd landed. It had seriously hurt, but she was pretty sure her tank of aura was still close to full. "Did you want me to entertain you or something?"
She walked towards the disabled robot, slotting in a cartridge of fire Dust into her gun this time.
"Doesn't matter if you wanna see me thrown down with everything," she continued. "I just needed to take this guy out, right? So, I'm going to do that the way I want."
Aeronwy pointed her weapon at the android and fired. The bullet erupted into flames upon impact, engulfing the entire machine in searing orange.
"There, that's a pass yeah?"
For a second, Niloufar didn't reply.
Then, a smile slowly emerged on her dark-skinned face. It was an eerie transformation from the disinterest of earlier, and Aeronwy felt her heart sink; she had no idea what that could mean or anything, but she was pretty sure it wasn't going to be nice.
"I'm slightly impressed," admitted the examiner honestly, uncrossing her arms, "but something more impressive is necessary ..."
Aeronwy was afraid to ask. But she did it anyway. "Um, and what's that gonna be?"
There was a sudden clacking noise, and from the ceiling there was a loud, low and guttural sound. A strange combination of a roar and a snarl. Hinges creaked. The redhead's blood ran cold.
The trap door swung open.
And the Boarbatusk dropped right in front of her with a massive thud, floor cracking beneath it.
"Behold!" cried out Niloufar, utterly unfazed by the appearance of a Creature of Grimm in her testing room. "The Boarbatusk! Twelve feet and over a thousand pounds of pure hatred in the form of a swine! Armour of bone that can withstand the assault of an autocannon! Inexhaustible power that can overwhelm even a freight train!"
Aeronwy Larkspur was very much aware of those facts. Particularly because it was a Creature of Grimm that was in a confined room with her and was very intent on killing her.
"What the fuck?" she screamed out, shooting as many Dust rounds at the beast as possible as she tried to move to a (slightly) safer distance. Despite the flames that emerged with every impact, the projectiles seemed to only ping off its armour, serving as more of an annoyance than an actual threat. Like a fly.
That it was about to swat.
The redhead barely managed to leap out of the way as the evil boar charged, its tusks whiffing past her and instead ripping an entire chunk of the wall behind her. She was doomed. She didn't even know if it was part of the test. Why was there a Grimm in the test? What the hell? That had come out of absolutely nowhere!
"It's a truly beautiful creature," continued her examiner, utterly disregarding Aeronwy's panicked attempts at finding a weak point in the monster, "one that can easily kill a trained Hunter even if they thought themselves prepared. Any slip of concentration, any sudden hesitation, or even just a plain moment of unluckiness … the Boarbatusk will take advantage of that, and you will die, another victim to its incredible strength."
"Then stop yapping and let me kill this thing!"
The handgun just wasn't working. She slammed her extendable baton against the monster's side, but even her hard swings weren't doing much to the armour. That was out. She jumped back, the stench of the Boarbatusk wafting through the air from how close she had just been to getting gored on those tusks.
Damnit, she needed some way to get around those armour plates. Blunt attacks wouldn't work, but what if she tried to peel it off with something?
"Oh, you don't necessarily have to kill it," explained Niloufar with a smile. "You merely have to survive for four minutes; we don't expect you to 'win'."
Aeronwy dropped the baton to the floor and leaped over the monstrous hog to where she had left her other weapons earlier and grabbing the twin daggers. What did that overly-talky examiner think she was here for? Just needing to survive? Screw that. She'd win this. No pig was going to intimidate her!
"I'll take it down in three!" she roared, charging the Boarbatusk the moment it turned and stabbing the daggers straight into its unprotected snout. It was a risky attack, but all she needed to do was move faster than the stupid pig and she wouldn't get gored on those deadly tusks.
And it paid off.
The boar shrieked in pain, the sound more painful to hear than nails on a blackboard. Aeronwy refused to let that stop her, immediately taking several aura-boosted steps back to sweep her hatchet off the floor.
She wasn't going to just run down the timer.
She'd win this thing on her own terms.
Aeronwy leapt forward, slamming an aura-powered kick straight into one of the daggers and driving it further into the monster's black meat. She took advantage of the impact, throwing herself up and onto the back of the Boarbatusk. She swung downwards, hatchet wedging into the border between the flesh and its bone armour that surrounded its eyes.
The monster roared and shook with wild abandon, blood spilling everywhere as it frantically tried to throw the redhead off with its considerable strength.
She refused to do so.
With a roar of her own, Aeronwy Larkspur ripped the bone faceplate off in a spurt of red.
"This is my win, Grimm!" she screamed, jumping off the convulsing monster and landing unsteadily on the floor. "That was three minutes!"
Handgun out. Bang.
Black smoke poured out of the hole between the Boarbatusk's bleeding, unprotected eyes.
It collapsed.
The corpse began to dissolve.
Tension left her body as her breathing slowly returned to normal
"That impressive enough?" she snapped, her heart still pumping adrenaline through her veins as she turned to stare down her smiling examiner.
Said woman laughed.
"More than enough," said Niloufar Kərəsāspa after her guffaws had died down, walking towards the redheaded girl and patting her shoulder. "I believe this would be called jumping the gun, but …"
Aeronwy took in a sharp breath, waiting for the examiner's next words.
"I hope you can continue to impress me at Shade, Number 105 –" There was a pause as the examiner's mouth quirked up into an honest smile. "– no, Ms. Larkspur."