AN: This is my first story set in teh RWBY universe, even if it is an AU where Beacon was never attacked. please review.
As the bullhead ground to a halt Alyssa Vansmith rubbed the back of her neck to ease a crick that had formed and joined the rest of the new students in walking into beacon academy.
When she walked off the bullhead she couldn't help but stop for a second and look up at the clock tower that was the focal point of beacon. Soaring into the sky, it looked immortal. A testament to all that is good in this world. She scoffed at it after a second. This is but one speck of light in a world of darkness. Alyssa hoisted shadow's grasp higher on her shoulder, and walked down the path to the main hall of Beacon. As she stalked down the path someone bumped into her on her blind side, causing her to stumble. "Hey, watch it." she called as she turned to look at the person who had bumped into her, slightly annoyed. Her first thoughts were: How can this giant not die of hypothermia right now?
Standing about a head taller than her, which is to say, about 1.87 meters, the man who had bumped into her was very muscular, with a bare chest in the cold weather that permeated this late august day. Leather shoulder armour held in place by straps that held a two spears and a shield on his back were the only pieces of clothing her was wearing from his waist up. At least he's wearing pants alyssa though as her stare travelled upward to rest on the man's face.
A pair of lively black eyes, like cheery bits of charcoal, stared back at her from a sharply angular face. The man stepped back quickly as Alyssa met the man's gaze, his eyes flicking down. "I'm sorry, I um..." the man said, trying to formulate an apology, clearly put off by not only the intensity of the stare Alyssa was giving him, but also the network of scars that covered not only her face, but also every other visible part of her body.
Alyssa cocked her head at him. She was used to this reaction by now. It had been discomforting at first, but soon became a part of her life. The scars she wore were as much a part of her as her steel grey hair. She extended a hand towards the man who was still staring at her and said. "I'm sorry about that. Should have watched where I was going."
The man stared at her, then caught himself and said. "It's all my fault. I should have payed more attention to where I was going. I'm Thato by the way, Thato Clark." Thato rumbled, clearly embarrassed. Alyssa raised a her one visible eyebrow and paused for a second, before continuing.
"My name is Alyssa. It's nice to meet you, Thato." Alyssa stated, a faint smile ghosting across her face for a second before her normal apathetic expression returned. Thato was looking at her. A faint frown touched his face as he observed the flickering emotion on Alyssa's visage, before he hastily covered it with a cough and backed away, put off by the lack of emotion on Alyssa's face.
"I hope that we can be friends in the future, Thato Clark. You look like a man able to hold your own in combat. If nothing else, I would like to learn how you ignore the cold. Any man who can walk around shirtless in near-freezing temperatures deserves respect." Alyssa stated without changing expression, holding out her hand.
Thato stared at the hand offered to him before grasping it. "Likewise." Thato turned towards the main hall and started along the path, pausing after a few feet. "You coming?" Alyssa smiled, and fell into step behind thato, following in the bare-chested giant's wake.
As the smattering of applause died away and people started to leave, preparing for the initiation test tomorrow by getting a good night's sleep after a good dinner. Thato Clark turned his head to look down at the girl who he had met just before the welcome speech, Alyssa.
She neglected to mention her last name Thato thought as he smiled ruefully at her. Something about her one eye, and its piercing green colour, combined with the network of scars crossing every visible part of her body made her look like a woman beyond her years.
Most huntsmen get three scars in their lifetime on average Thato remarked to himself. I've counted at least thirty visible scars, though I'm certain that there are more.
"One hundred and four." A voice interrupted his thoughts. Thato glanced down to find alyssa staring back up at him with her trademark emotionless expression.
"One hundred and four what?" Thato asked, puzzled.
Alyssa gave an exasperated sigh and muttered something under her breath. Thato thought he heard "This guy needs to learn how to react." before she responded to his question. "One hundred and four scars of course. As for how I know you were wondering, you were staring at my left arm for the past fifteen seconds, where I have seven scars visible, out of nineteen. Does this answer your questions, unspoken though they may be?" A slight veil of sarcasm touched Alyssa's words, and thato jerked back like he'd been slapped.
"No, nothing like that. I was just wondering how you got all those scars. Have you been in a lot of fights or somethi-ack!" Thato's question died mid-sentence as alyssa slammed her palm abruptly into thato's midsection. As Thato bent double, clutching his abdomen, Alyssa grabbed his left arm.
"I don't appreciate people prying into my past." Alyssa hissed into his ear.
Alyssa released Thato's arm, and whirled away. As Thato recovered, he called out to the withdrawing figure. "I'm sorry, I didn't know!" Alyssa stopped at these words.
"I know. If you press me on such matters again, a fist to your chest will be the least of your worries." Alyssa casually threw back, shocking him into silence. "Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to find a premium space to sleep and get dinner.
The start of the exam went well enough. Alyssa thought as she dropped from her perch in a large tree obtained by using Terminus' larger recoil in order to slow her down, followed by an anchoring with Umbra. Landing in an empty clearing, she immediately straightened up. She knew from the positioning of the launch pads that the two closest people to her were Thato Clark and a tall girl with dark skin and blue eyes. Thato would be somewhere to her right, the girl to her left. While she was interested in the girl, alyssa also knew that pairing up with someone you know, however slightly, is a good way to forge a strong bond, at least in theory. On the plus side, thato wasn't the most annoying or uptight person around.
With these facts in mind, Alyssa darted to her right, blending in with the shadows, her eyes searching for the first sign of movement. THe noise of battle drew her attention, and she ghosted towards the sound.
Thato Clark was outnumbered, that much he knew. The four beowolves surrounding him were proof of that. Still, he was confident in his chances of getting out unharmed. If he could just manage to get rid of one of them before the circle closed, he could escape. Then, he would be able to lose them or find a partner before they caught up with him.
As he pulled Regter off his shoulder and set Amajaji at an angle to the nearest Beowolf, the largest of the pack. Checking his back was safe, he quickly pulled a twist and brought Regter to intercept the beowolf's attack, only to see it fall dead as a burst of rifle fire sounded. A grey and black blur flashed past him as he slowly turned, struck dumb by what just happened, only to see Alyssa Vansmith, the girl he met yesterday, grunt in pain as her arm was torn from her body at the shoulder by the largest beowolf.
The sensation of her right arm being torn from her body again gave slight pause to Alyssa. She had admittedly only jumped in after making sure that the closest threat was taken care of, before jumping to the most dangerous one. She was not expecting another limb to be torn off, much less her right arm. Grimm always seemed fascinated with her right arm. Maybe it held some special powers?
Dismissing her idle thoughts, alyssa quickly shot the alpha beowolf three times in the skull. She turned to her left, and shot at the beowolf there, missing the first shot because she had to brace Shadow's Grasp on her hip instead of holding it in two hands like usual.
Once the beowolf fell, she pivoted 180 degrees to finish off the last beowolf, only to find Thato tearing into it with ferocity that surprised her for a second. Within five seconds, all that was left of the beowolf were several dissolving chunks of grimm flesh.
Seeing that the threat was taken care of, she walked over to where her arm lay on the ground. She quickly picked it up and pressed it against the stump of her shoulder.
Why my right arm again? Alyssa thought to herself as she activated her semblance, fusing the two stumps together. Do grimm have some fascination with my Right Arm? THis is the seventh time I've had to reattach it.
If Thato Clark thought that his day could not get any weirder, his day decided to surprise him yet again. He had torn into the Beowolf on his left with both Regter and Amajaji, quartering it in a matter of seconds. He turned to advance on the final beowolf to find its corpse already dissolving as alyssa…
He watched with morbid fascination as alyssa casually picked up her severed arm and pressed it against the stump of her shoulder. A small pop was heard, and her arm was reattached to her body. Alyssa flexed her right arm experimentally, before setting her rifle on her shoulder and looking directly at Thato's face. He inhaled sharply as he looked at Alyssa's eyes. She was totally unconcerned. Without saying a word, she then turned away and headed to the north, only stopping once to check a compass she kept on a wrist strap. A small rumble interrupted his scattered musings.
"You coming or not? Even if we are registered partners, I need you to be punctual." Alyssa called back, paused for the moment.
"Yes mam!" Thato saluted slightly mockingly, then hurried to catch up with Alyssa. As the two teammates travelled under the green boughs of the Emerald Forest, Thato couldn't help but steal looks at Alyssa's right arm. Eventually, alyssa sighed, and looked up at Thato.
"You have questions." It was a direct statement, not a question. While it was true, Thato couldn't help but feel like the eyepatch concealed an all-seeing eye. "Yes, each of my scars represents an attack on my person. Also, My Semblance heals me quicker than most. Any other questions?" her eyes bored into him, discomforting him far too much.
"What's a semblance?" Alyssa rolled her eyes at Thato's comment, exasperated.
"You know what Aura is, right?" it was a pointed question, but one that Thato knew the answer to.
"Aura is a reflection of a person's soul. Unlocking one's aura allows one to block attacks against one's person by using their Aura, though doing so depletes one's aura, depending on the amount of force used." Thato replied confidently.
"Correct." Alyssa's mouth twitched upward for a split second as she turned away from Thato, pretending to focus on the path. "A semblance is a unique application of one's aura, which varies from person to person. Semblances tend to run in families, though they can also be random." Thato filed this information away obediently, then prompted another question.
"How varied can a semblance be? I mean, you told me that your semblance is the ability to heal, but what else could a semblance do?" Thato asked.
"I once met a man who was a bad luck charm." Alyssa replied, with an unspoken shut up thrown in. Thato shut up, satisfied with what he had learned for now.
As the trees thinned out, the view of dilapidated ruins grew clearer, until they were right on top of them. When they reached the open, an open circular room was in clear view, with twelve pedestals set in a semicircle on the opposite side. Ten of the twelve pedestals still had objects on them, while two were missing. Thato hovered over the pedestal third from the right, which held a crudely carved wooden raven. "Do you think that these are the relics?" Thato asked.
Alyssa gave thato a pointed look, under which Thato shrank back, before crossing to the pedestal in the middle left, grabbing the figurine of a wolf from it. "It would seem that the relics come in pairs. It stands to reason that paired relics decide teams." She turned the figurine of the wolf in her hands as she mused. "Currently, an eagle and a horse statuette are missing, while there are still two wolf, raven, bear, and snake figurines. Rather than taking one of the totems that is already missing, we should wait for another group to come, and then take a matching figurine. That way we both know our teammates in advance.
Thato stared down at alyssa in amazement. The biggest surprises come in small packages. Thato mused, placing the raven figurine back on its pedestal. A flash of inspiration then struck him. "If the figurines only determine who your teammates are, then we should try and find some teammates." Thato offered.
"No point." Alyssa shot down Thato's idea without remorse. "If we go back into the forest, we'll be risking not finding anyone and losing our shot at getting into beacon. There are about twice as many applicants as there are slots, after all." Thato considered Alyssa's words for a second. They made perfect sense. The rustling of the forest where they had come from distracted him, and he instantly set into combat stance, Amajaji held in front of him, with Regter at his side. He quickly pinpointed the origin of the sound he heard, and advanced on it, only to see two people walk out of it. The first to appear was a short man of medium build. He was dressed in a loose deep brown jacket over watching pants, belted at the waist. Two sheathed blades were shoved through the wide strip of black cloth that made his belt, one being twice the length of the other. The second person to walk through struck a neutral chord between male and female, managing to look like both at the same time. A crossbow hung across his back, on a light brown strap over a belted cream tunic with deep green leggings. The person's face, like everything else, was decidedly neutral, despite having a softness that one would expect of a girl. As the two walked into the clearing, they stopped for a split second, before visibly relaxing. The man with the swords walked over to the fifth pedestal on the left, and grabbed the wolf figurine on top of it.
"Well, it seems that we will be working together, will we not?" Alyssa's voice took the newcomers by surprise, and the one with the crossbow moved to draw it before relaxing.
"If we are to be working together, then I expect some introductions are in order. My name is Neil Oda, but you may call me Neil. My partner is Domonick Lopez. It's a pleasure to meet you.
Dominick curled his upper lip and spat. "How do you know that we're working together. The teams are assigned randomly."
Thato ventured to stand beside alyssa and explained. "These relics come in pairs. Each corresponding pair represents two partnerships, or one team. You have chosen the wolf piece, as have we."
Dominick huffed, then made to grab the raven piece on the third pedestal from the right. Neil pulled him back by the collar of his tunic, before asking "We have given our names, but you have declined to name yourselves. Might we have your names?"
Alyssa responded without missing a beat. "My name is Alyssa, and my partner is Thato Clark. It is a pleasure to work with you, Neil, and you, Dominick." Dominick snorted at Alyssa and stomped off, clearly upset.
"I'll go grab her. She normally gets like this when we meet new people she doesn't like." Neil apologized, turning to follow Dominick. Thato looked at the three members of his team with slight misgivings. He had not expected to find such a group of misfits, though Neil and Dominick seemed to know each other from before Beacon.
Sighing, he grabbed Alyssa's arm and moved towards Neil and Dominick, intending to collect them all before heading to the top of the cliff.
"Finally, I present to you, team ADNT (Ardent), formed of Neil Oda, Dominick Lopez, Thato Clark, under the leadership of Alyssa!" Ozpin's words were followed by a smattering of applause as the members of team ADNT stepped forward. Ruby Rose, third year student of Beacon and leader of team RWBY nudged her older sister, Yang and said. "THe woman on the extreme left looks so serious. Someone should go cheer her up."
Yang turned back to her sister and responded. "I'm more into the guy next to her. Just look at that chest!" Ruby blanched at the comment, her face turning as red as her cloak.
"Why are you so interested in the new team?" Weiss Schnee, Ruby's partner and close friend cut in. "They're just new students, so what?" Ruby grinned at Weiss and pointed towards Alyssa, who was on the extreme left of team ADNT.
"What are you…" Weiss's words died on her lips as she turned to look where Ruby was pointing. "How did she get all those scars?" Weiss demanded, shaking her head as if trying to clear away a dream.
"It's simple. She has been in a lot of fights before unlocking her aura." Jaune Arc, also know as Vomit boy, and a member of team JNPR, interrupted.
Ruby smiled at her partner. "I don't know!" Weiss huffed at the comment, deigning any answer a strike against her dignity, and instead observed the newly formed team in silence. As the ceremony ended, Team RWBY moved back to their dorm, while team ADNT was escorted to their new dorm. As Alyssa stepped over the threshold, she remarked to herself "The home of heroes, champions and fools. We are but students in all we do and say, no matter what we may think. The wisest man is one who knows nothing. Let us sleep for tonight, and not wonder what tomorrow will bring, for we would be fools to predict the future, but heroes to face it."