Afore the Veil Chapter 1.
Summer
"Are you certain Beacon will help her?" A deep raspy voice was heard in the darkness.
"I certainly do, it's close enough to patch where we can intervene if anything goes wrong and bring her right back" answered a smoother more calm voice.
It must have been an hour or two before the sun was due to rise. While the two men had their conversation, they were unaware that there was a small girl listening to every word they said.
Her eyes seemed lifeless, a circle of red surrounding them.
It sounded as if someone had slammed their fist on the table. The small girl was not shaken by the sudden noise.
"Things are not that simple! Why are you so calm about this!? If the other Kingdoms find out-"
The smoother voice interrupted with a light laugh.
At this the small girl did react, her hands tightened around her shoulder and gritted her teeth.
"I'm funny now am I?" she thought aggressively.
"Summer is just a young girl, if we keep treating her like some type of monster that's exactly what she will become. Beacon trains the best heroes and that is where she will learn how to control her power"
The girl's grip on her shoulders relaxed a little.
"Me…a hero…? Could they actually be serious?"
"Not only do we need to keep her close, we also need to give her the opportunity to grow up normally. We have been entrusted with her"
The girl heard steps and was momentarily concerned that she had been discovered. With that she quietly fazed through the wall behind her, which lead to what she had been using as her bedroom for a couple days now.
She had almost gone through the wall entirely when she felt someone yell her name.
"Summer!"
"Yikes!" she squeaked as she fell back through the wall.
"Owww…" she mumbled.
"Summer, why aren't you asleep? And what have I told you about eavesdropping?" said the man with the raspy voice.
"Sorry Mr. Branwen…" Summer said insincerely, staring at the dirty floor.
"Summer" said a different voice.
She sighed "Yes Mr. Goodwitch?" not turning to look at him.
"Come here and sit down. I'm sorry we were discussing you without making you aware of it."
"There isn't much more to say" spoke Summer quieting her tone. "I'm going to Beacon to control my new powers right? Nothing else too it"
Mr. Goodwitch frowned, he leaned in to his hands and pushed his glasses back. "But…how do you feel?"
"How do you think!?" she answered back sharply, and dashed through the wall.
"Ness…I don't want to raise a teenager" Mr. Branwen cleared his throat
Ness Goodwitch retorted with laughter. "Crane…" Ness tried to speak but only laughed more "You have two!"
"Ness this isn't funny!" snapped Crane.
Suddenly there was silence.
"Crane…did you hear that?"
After a few moments, mild howling was heard.
"Grimm...just what we need" Groaned Crane standing up. "Still better than the teenager"
"I'll go get Summer" said Ness.
It was Cranes turn to laugh "What? It's not like we can't handle it"
"I know that" said Ness, with an unusually rude tone. "She needs practice"
"Oh..." said Crane "Okay well, I'll get a head start." Heading towards the door he pulled out a small flask from his breast pocket. "but first a drink"
As Crane walked into the darkness he was greeted with a lot more red eyes than he expected. Still he smirked, and put the flask to his mouth.
From her window Summer was watching. All she could see was a pitch black abyss, then suddenly everything was visible. Before her, she saw fire but it wasn't chaotic.
"Is he breathing fire?" she asked her mouth slightly open. She didn't want to admit it but she was impressed. His fire was so precisely aimed at the Grimm.
"Well at this rate all the Grimm will run away before you can practice." Ness said suddenly appearing behind Summer.
"You're quiet" she stated not turning.
"Why yes, I learned at Beacon. As did he."
"Is fire his semblance?" she asked trying to not sound impressed.
Ness chuckled. "No, that's just a trick he learned from a friend"
The Grimm had all gone back into the forest at this point. Both Summer and Ness heard the door open and Crane whine.
"I didn't even get to fight" and slumped onto the chair.
"They weren't yours to fight. You didn't give Summer the opportunity-"
"They'll be back" Summer interrupted "Grimm...they won't rest until everything is destroyed" her voice was monotone.
Both Ness and Crane looked at her with sad eyes, approached her and simply put one hand on her shoulders.
"That's why we are here, to make sure that doesn't happen."
"Thank you" she breathed
She wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep, when she woke up the afternoon. No nightmares. It had been the first time she had slept a complete amount.
She instantly sat up and peered through the window expecting to see singed grass, but all the plants were still intact.
"Did I dream it?" she asked silently.
"No" said Ness Goodwitch with a knock on her open door "Crane is gifted in control. A package arrived for you"
Summer furred her eyebrows "Who could possibly care enough, or even know..." she reached for the package and noticed the label.
There was no name, just a snowflake.
"Is this from the Shnee's..." she said darkly. Eyeing the box with disgust.
"...yes..."answered Goodwitch sounding almost afraid.
Fury was in Summers eyes as she angrily threw the package out the window.
"OW!"
"That was Mr. Branwen..." thought Summer...the color leaving her face.
"Oh now you've done it..." said Ness slowly shaking his head as they both heard the rapid footsteps approaching the window.
"Summer!" yelled Crane showing his angry face at the window and trying to climb in through it. "Why the hell are you throwing shi-"
"Language, Branwen please" interrupted Ness.
"Mr. Goodwitch maybe we shouldn't agitate him anymore..." mumbled Summer, noticing Crane's eyes becoming a more vibrant red as he continued to try to climb in through the window. The way he looked at her, reminded Summer of a Grimm.
"Why? It's not like he can do anything stuck in that window sill. Just leave him there until he calms down" said Ness.
Crane yelled gibberish as he struggled to get his arms through the window, aware that he wasn't supposed to swear.
A few moments later, Crane was winded and just hung limply. "Okay, get me out. I'm calm."
Ness nodded at Summer, who then approached Crane cautiously. "I'm not going to hurt you kid" still he glared as he said it.
"Why didn't you use your aura?" asked Ness "Getting tired? Old man"
Crane laughed a little. Summer was using her own semblance and was helping Crane faze through. "She just throws that hard"
Once inside the room, Crane turned to Summer and handed her a pure white cloak.
"The box broke" he explained. "It's a gift, and its for you and the polite thing to do is to accept it"
Summer held the cloak for a few seconds, she then loosened her grip on it and let it fall in front of her bare feet.
"You both know what the Schnee's did to me right?" her voice was breaking a little but her eyes were dry.
"Yes we do, but the family didn't" he picked up a note with it "It seems this cloak is special too"
"I don't care" snarled Summer, her fists clenched tight. "I don't trust anything coming from that family! Even if they didn't know what happened to me. They knowingly do everything else, how many faunus lives have they taken? Who do you think they deal dust with!?"
Ness stared at her silently then spoke "That is all true yes, the Schnee's are currently changing their ways. The new CEO just took over and he seems to have promising intentions. They are learning from their mistakes, as all of man kind must learn from there's. Now what changes do you hope to bring to Remnant if you hold on to your grudges?"
He picked up the cloak and offered it to her.
She glowered at it then snatched it from Ness's hand while storming off. "Fine! I'll wear the stupid cloak!" she declared.
Both Ness and Crane sighed as they heard the door slam. Ness cradled his face on his hands "I don't want to raise a teenager" he groaned.
Crane laughed remembering he said the same thing last night "Well you raised Glynda just right"
"Yes but Glynda is my blood. Besides I've been with her every step of the way. Summer..." he paused "Summer has been through a lot more than we can imagine. She's no monster, and she's no weapon. She's just a young girl and-Oh my! Is she slashing those tree's with my precious Axe!?" Ness stood up in shock and darted to the window.
"Heh well you told her you she could borrow one of your weapons" responded Crane amused.
"I didn't mean Guiltna!" and he ran out of the room.
"Oh well now shes done it" and Crane Branwen smirked watching Ness chase Summer around. It was amusing seeing Ness, disgruntled once in a while.