Chapter 1: Azure Skies
A warm breeze blew through the old graveyard, gently comforting the lone figure standing near the back, dressed in a formal black suit. The girl placed a white tulip on top of one of the plots, her eyes red and damp, and stared quietly at the tomb in front of her.
"Hey, Dad. I brought you one of those white flowers you loved so much, I know you always said they reminded you of Mom." She paused for a moment, waiting for a response that would never come.
Spots wet the ground as a few tears fell from her cheek. After a few moments she wiped her eyes and looked back at the grave. "I got accepted to Haven Academy a few days ago. I'm going to be gone for a while, so I came to say goodbye for now."
She knelt down, her brown feathered wings laying limp on her back, hovering just above the ground. Her black pants collected dirt as she cleaned off the mossy grave, "I'll be back after I become a Huntress." She gave a last dusting and stood up, turning away from the headstone. "Say hi to Mom for me."
Azure Neomea grabbed her large, wrapped claymore off the front gate and slung her pack around her shoulder, being careful not to restrict her wing. After a few steps, her wings spread wide and a dim blue circle flickered around her before she leapt off the ground and flew towards her home.
She landed just outside her house a few minutes later. It stood in a small clearing in the woods just outside of town. She savored the view of the house before she walked onto the welcome mat. She hesitated briefly before reaching for the knob entering the living room. After she collected herself, she walked in.
"I'm home!" she called silently into the room. No response came from the living room. She peeked inside to see her grandfather sleeping peacefully in his rocking chair, his short sword leaning against the wall next to him. Azure walked past him and into her room, making sure not to make too much noise.
She practically tore the restrictive clothing off her body and pulled on her normal clothes. "Ah, so much better." She stretched her wings freely and grabbed her suitcase.
Azure looked in her bedroom mirror one last time. Her auburn hair was still messy and windswept from the flight, just the way she liked it. The backless, blue crop top she wore let her large wings stretch without rubbing on any fabric and bared part of her midriff which led down to her grey capris. She equipped a bullet belt that held numerous large shells around her waist, slightly crooked and nodded in satisfaction.
She stretched her arms and wings with a content sigh and left her room for the final time after grabbing a small, charred box and slipped it into the side pocket of her bag. Just in front of the main door, Azure took the key out of the little clay bowl and walked back to the sleeping man in the chair.
"Hey, Gramps." She placed her hand on his shoulder, while holding the sword from the wall in the other.
The man exploded to life and immediately grabbed for his sword. "Huh?" he grasped a couple times, finding nothing but air, until he finally looked up. "Oh, Azure. Good morning, Moonlight." He yawned and squinted at the clock. "You were supposed to wake me several hours ago." He motioned for his sword. "And you shouldn't take an old man's cane like that, I should be calling elder abuse."
"Yeah, yeah." She tossed him the sword without much grace, "If I hadn't taken your cane." She gave air quotes, "I would have been the one abused." Her grandpa gave a chuckle and stood up.
"You know fully well you can beat me in a fight now." He smacked her on the leg with the flat of the sword, "Although your guard still needs work. You're always so full of openings."
Azure rubbed her leg in exaggerated pain, "And you know full well I was only able to beat you a few weeks ago. You may be older now, but you're not exactly old enough to feign weakness." She attempted to give him a slap back, but was parried swiftly.
"See, you're too predictable. Remember to work on that while you're in Haven." He walked Azure to the main door with his hands behind his back, not leaning on his "cane" at all.
"I know. I'll have plenty of people to spar with. You don't have to worry about me improving." She opened the front door and placed her suitcase outside. "I'll leave the spare keys in the pot outside, in case your senile butt gets locked out again." she said, jangling the keys in front of him.
"I left the keys in town once! I'm not senile yet missy. And I'm not only talking about your fighting abilities." He smacked her lightly on the back of the head. "You be good out in Haven, OK? I'll be watching for any tournaments or broadcasts of your fights and heroism while you're gone." He hugged her close, giving a slightly stronger than usual hug. "And go make some friends for goodness sake!"
"I'll be sure to tell you all about my escapades in Haven, Gramps." She hugged back strongly as well, holding back tears. "And just because I don't have any friends here, doesn't mean I'm hopeless! They just don't understand us, you know that." She relaxed her hold a bit, "I'll see you around, OK?"
"I'll be here, my brilliant moonlight." The old man released his grasp on her and took a step back. "I love you, so much." He looked at her with such pride she had never witnessed before.
"I know. I love you too, you old coot." She smiled, letting a tear pass through her waning willpower. She grabbed her bag and sword and turned away from the door.
The closed the door behind her and she heard the door slowly lock behind her. She took the keychain of a baby brown owl off the key ring and stored the spare key inside the pot next to the doormat. The owl hooked onto a zipper on her bag where is made a slight jingle each time she took a step. Azure looked at it with sad eyes before she started walking towards town.
After only a few minutes of walking on the forest path, Azure came to a large, wooden sign that read, "Welcome to Tsukihana!" Past the sign were several wooden cabins scattered around, most were markets and smithies with a single Dust shop in the center next to the leader's home.
She walked past all of her usual hangouts and training areas before finally coming to the transport station. There were a few glares towards her, maybe a few whispers just outside her range, but not much more than that. She was used to the disgusted stares and chatter by now.
Azure rubbed the keychain through her fingers as she waited for the airship to land. She rested on her weapon that stood around five feet, only six inches shorter than herself, and found the arrival times on her scroll. She checked the time and impatiently tapped her foot for the remainder of the thirty minutes.
A modest wooden airship rumbled into the boarding zone and she stepped on after sliding her card through the reader. Once the ship was moving again, she put her earbuds in and tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in.
"Goodbye Tsukihana. Hello new life in Haven." She closed her eyes and slept the length of the trip heading towards Haven Academy.
Near the middle of the trip, Azure woke up to a pair of eyes watching her from the seat next to her. The girl was obviously bothered by something going by her glances. She awkwardly kept her head facing forward while taking nervous glances over to her. She was sitting near the edge of the seat because of Azure's poor sleeping posture on the seat.
The girl was wearing a bright red vest with flames sewn into it over a sarashi, and her extremely flashy orange and red skirt was reflecting some of the light from the window onto Azure's face, making her squint a little. She noticed scars that littered her tan torso and arms, most of which looked like various sizes of burns and cuts. She caught herself looking at her long ashen grey hair and vibrant pink eyes for longer than she'd admit.
Azure sighed and sat up straight, making more room for the girl next to her to sit properly, instead of nearly half off her seat. The girl jumped at her motion and froze, not daring to take another glance in her direction.
"You could have woken me up if you were that uncomfortable, you know." Azure said through a yawn.
The girl scooted slightly towards her, "Eh," she gave a shrug, "I didn't want to be rude, plus you looked like you needed the sleep." The girl was about the same age as Azure and seemed to be losing her awkwardness as she spoke.
"I'm usually a light sleeper, guess you were right about me needing that sleep." She gave an inward stretch, "It's been a busy week, I guess." She kicked her feet out slightly and touched something on the ground, she assumed it was her bag and payed it no mind.
She jumped slightly at the words and attempted to regain her composure. "Are you…" the girl next to her looked to her weapon and back to her, "Going to Haven too?" Her voice was uneasy as she spoke, despite her more relaxed posture.
"Yep, just got the news yesterday. I'm going to officially be a Huntress in training after a few more days." Azure looked at the girl's face trying to get a read on her. "How about you?"
"Ah, I'm the same. Just flew in from Menagerie and had a transfer in a small town a bit south of here." She shook her head and gave a smile. Reaching out her hand and finally looking her in the eyes she spoke, "I'm Zinnia. I guess this makes us classmates. Or colleagues. Whatever people at academies are called."
Azure accepted the handshake with a strong grip, "Azure." She realized she put a little too much force on her shake and smiled apologetically when she let go. Zinnia's face was still nervous and she kept fidgeting every so often. "Is… something the matter? You look troubled."
"Um… I couldn't keep my tail in the aisle." She shifted uncomfortably, "So I had to move in towards you and you keep tapping it with your feet."
Azure looked down in confusion and found a skinny black salamander tail trailing over to her side over her feet. "Oh! How did I not notice that?" She shifted her position in order to give her tail more room. Zinnia stiffened when she moved her tail, but relaxed once she made proper room for her. "Sorry about that! I know what it's like having a trait that gets in the way." She only had to extend her wings slightly before she ran out of room on the seat and pulled them back in.
There was a small gasp from beside her, "What are you talking about? Those are beautiful! Though I'm not sure if having the ability to fly can be worse than a tail." Zinnia pointed to her tail, "This thing just gets in the way. It's also very sensitive, making it really hard to move around cramped spaces like these."
"Just one of the perks of being a Faunus, am I right? My wings are pretty sensitive too and they are hard to take care of, but, you're right, flying is a pretty great ability to have." Azure grinned at her new friend.
"So what's your story then?" Zinnia asked, now much less fidgety, "You from far away?"
"I lived in a small village called Tsukihana, it's pretty far southwest. Only a few miles off the coast actually." Azure looked back out the window, "This will be my first time in the city. Any city really."
"You've never left your village? I mean, I never left Menagerie, but that's a bit different considering the whole island thing." Zinnia was leaning over to her side more, talking a bit quieter to avoid eavesdroppers.
"My father wanted to make sure I could fend for myself before I left. He told me I couldn't leave until I mastered my Semblance, at least." She poked her sword, "And he helped me make this thing. He was a master gunsmith, and he shared all his little secrets with me."
"He sounds like a pretty strong guy then, huh?"
"Yeah, he was." Azure thought back to the grave and looked out the window to try and take her mind off it.
"Oh… I'm sorry." Zinnia deflated a little, "I'll uh, shut up now."
"No, no." Azure looked back to Zinnia's eyes. "This trip is boring with no one to talk to, and now it's your turn to tell me your story." She motioned to her longsword resting beside her. "And why your sword has eight different triggers on it."
"Ha!" she laughed loudly, "Noticed that one did ya?" She pat her sword with a cocky smile, "I won't reveal any details just yet, in case we end up in a fight sometime, but you have a good eye, girl."
"Touché. Then your story?"
"Oh I'm just a simple dancer looking for some extra excitement by becoming a Huntress." She waved over her attire, "Want to take a guess at what kind of dancing?"
"Ballroom dancing? Seems like a spicy dance to pair with those clothes." She smirked, obviously teasing her.
"You are absolutely correct, I guess my attire didn't throw you off as I expected." Zinnia deadpanned.
"Well, I'd love to see some sparks in your fiery little Waltz sometime." Azure suddenly yawned again.
"If you keep those puns up I'll Waltz you right out that window." she gave a more genuine smile now, "But seriously, you should come see me dance sometime. It'll be fun to watch, I bet my pride on it."
"Hmm, OK." She brought out her scroll, "How about we exchange info?"
"I guess we ought to. How else would you be able to be mystified by my performance?" She grabbed her own scroll and made a new contact. "Full name? In case I run into another Azure out there?"
"Azure Neomea." She spelled it for her and gave her number as well. "And yours? In case I run into another Zinnia who likes to Waltz?"
"Heh, keep saying that and you won't be invited to my next show." She finished her settings for her contact and put away her scroll. "Ashbell. Or you could just put "smokin' hot" instead, I wouldn't mind."
"OK, your nickname is Smokin' Hot now." Azure showed her scroll to Zinnia.
"Woah, really?" There it was, in the nickname box of the contact.
"Yeah, why not? You don't like being called that? I could call you "Hotness" or "Dancin' Flower" instead?"
"N-no, keep it like that." She gave an embarrassed cough and focused on her hands to avoid any more embarrassment. "Just getting used to making new friends I guess. Although I should find something clever for you now." She hummed for a bit, thinking deeply. "Argh, I can't think of anything on the spot. It'll come to me just you wait!"
"Well, while you wait for your epiphany, how about you keep telling me about Menagerie? I've lived in my village all my life and haven't had much contact with any other Faunus. What's it like living over there?"
"Cramped, first of all." Zinnia was still trying to come up with a name. "It's a quiet city, I guess, mostly peaceful Faunus who live together just like any other city. I doubt there's much else to say that you wouldn't learn from a history book."
"I see." Azure sounded slightly disappointed.
"Don't get me wrong. It's a beautiful place to see, and the perfect place to practice my craft." Zinnia seemingly gave up on her thoughts with a sigh and looked back to Azure, "You gotta help me out here. I gave you a nickname for me, how about you throw me a bone?"
"Hmm… Usually my nicknames refer to the moon, a family tradition if you would. You cannot use Moonlight though, as a warning. That one's reserved."
"Got it." She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, "How about… Moonbeam? Moonshine? This is harder than I thought it was."
Azure laughed. "You'll figure it out."
"Hey, you know how Haven's team system works right?" Zinnia asked a bit more serious.
"Kind of. They give a test and pair people up based on the test, then sort us into teams of four."
"Right. If you don't mind, want to try to fight for my team?" Zinnia looked at her sword in nervousness.
"You barely know me, and you want to team up immediately?" Azure thought about it. "Any reason besides I'm the first person you met?"
"Uh… You seem nice enough. I can tell you're strong just by looking at you. If we teamed up I would have another Faunus friend to share my rants about my tail."
"Hmm, well," Azure said, watching Zinnia's face falter under the hesitance, "If it is within my power, I will try my best to get you on my team."
Zinnia looked up. Her nervous expression replaced by a happy one, "Oh, thank you! It feels good to be able to have someone on my side already. I wasn't sure how many Faunus there are in Mistral and I didn't know what I'd do if I were with a team of three Humans… Not that Humans are bad, it's just…"
"Breathe, Zinnia, take a moment." Azure gave a deep breath for her to mimic, "I get it, I do. Even if we do get separated, we'll still hang out, yeah?"
Zinnia gave a sigh of relief, "Thank you. That's all I needed to hear." She stared into Azure's eyes for a moment before she coughed again to break the awkward silence. "So what are you gonna do when we get there?"
"We have a day before orientation, right? I'll get a good look at the city first. Then, after orientation we'll probably be sleeping in the lobby. I'm a bit of a night owl myself," Zinnia looked at her with an amused face, "No pun intended. So I'll be up for a bit before I can sleep again, especially after the nap I just had."
"How about I show you a dance then? I'll do it just for you, in honor of our budding friendship." She gave a wink. "I could set one up tonight if we find a nice spot, if you don't mind looking around with me."
"I'd love to see it! Nothing interesting ever happened in my village. They were a bunch of rugged workers, no imagination or flair in anything they did."
"Then it's settled. We'll take a stroll and find a quiet place to make the flames dance for you."
"I thought it was a Waltz?" Azure feigned confusion.
"Not funny." Zinnia pretend scoffed, "I would never lower myself to such a tedious plod! I only live for the thrilling things in life."
"Well I can certainly… relate…" Azure looked past Zinnia to a group of people gathering around one of the windows whispering about something outside. "What are they looking at? I don't think we're at Haven yet, right?"
Zinnia shrugged, "Maybe it's a battleship? People love staring at those things."
There was a collective gasp from the group and panic as they all tried desperately to move away from the window. The wood on the side crunched and creaked as the airship buckled under some large force outside. Azure looked out her window after she helped Zinnia off of her.
Outside were a flock of large black bird Grimm. Making a quick count, Azure grabbed her weapon and stood up. "Damn it." She looked to Zinnia, "Nevermore. Six of them." Azure started moving past her to the aisle.
Zinnia grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?!"
"Giving my wings a stretch." Zinnia moved her hand to Azure's shoulder. "I'll be fine. Tell the pilot that I'll try and gain their attention while you get out. And tell him to open the back doors. This thing is not built for fighting, and I doubt it can take many more hits."
"And what about you? Those aren't small Nevermore, I don't know many that could take on more than one at a time, much less six! And how would you catch up after the battle?"
"I can take them, or I can hide in the forest if I get outmatched. Besides, I'm sure the pilot will radio for backup, I'll hitch a ride with them when they show up, or I'll just have to fly to the next station."
Azure grasped Zinnia's hand, taking it off her shoulder, "Protect the ship. Calm these people down, or they'll attract more. I'll meet you during orientation, OK?" She dropped her hand and ran towards the back room closing the shutters behind her.
"You'd better! I'm still working on that nickname!" Zinnia called after her before rushing to the pilot's seat.
Azure unwrapped her sword slowly, waiting for the doors to open. The golden edged claymore shone even in the dark lighting of the room. As the doors slid apart she spread her wings fully and cast a blue circle around her and her weapon. She took a deep breath and leapt out the back, dodging the engine's fire and catching a breeze to keep her steady in the air.
"Come get me you damn crows!" Her weapon split down the middle and released a smaller short sword from its grasp, leaving a hollow, bident-like sword in one hand and a shorter, lighter sword in the other. Electricity flowed through the larger sword in wavy lines between the two sections and Azure loaded a large shell into the hilt from her belt.
The Nevermore charged at Azure predictably, attracted to the smaller target. Three dove off their path to the ship and glided towards her at increasing speeds, all from different angles.
Azure looked over her sword affectionately, "Come on Stella, let's show them what we've got." The sword charged for a few seconds creating a low rumble in the air. She felt the charge radiate onto her skin as it finished.
A bolt of lightning crashed out of the gun, cleaving one of the Nevermore in half. The recoil sent her backwards into the one behind her. She effortlessly plunged the short sword into its head, cracking the mask open. Both dissolved simultaneously in a black mist.
The third Grimm blew through the mist, coming from above. It came out shrieking in pain from the wing it lost while it was blinded by the mist before dissolving as well.
Azure watched the airship slowly drift away from her, leaving her behind as she told them to. She felt a buzz from her scroll. "Not now, I'm concentrating." She pushed the thought aside, knowing it was probably from Zinnia.
The sound of large trees snapping below her caused her to fly higher to assess the threat. "Did I say six?" Three more Nevermore rose from the forest below her, each one circled below patiently, waiting for their chance to strike while the original three circled above. "Alright, just six more, easy." She looked back to the struggling airship and found it hadn't gotten too far. Its engines on the damaged side were now spewing out a light trail of smoke.
She sighed and readied her weapons. Loading another shell into her claymore. She pulled a small lever and released the heat from the first blast by opening some cooling vents on the hilt. The sound of charging electricity sped up as the vents closed and the railgun primed for a second shot.
"Let's have a little fun shall we?" She flew into the bottom of an unsuspecting Nevermore and gave the stomach a few slashes, wounding, but not killing it. Disappointed with her result, she kicked off the large bird and ran her sword through the oncoming Grimm from below, slitting its neck. The momentum of the corpse sent it crashing into the wounded one, killing both.
"Four more." She saw two birds crossing paths and took aim, shooting a large streak of energy directly though both, ending one in an instant, while the other plummeted to the ground.
"Two." A shriek came from behind as feathers flew past her, a couple clipping her sides and legs. Her aura held out, but was draining fast from her fighting. Angered, Azure flew into the assailant's neck, dodging the second volley of feathers. It clawed at her in a savage fury.
Several strikes managed to crack through her aura field and cut her in several places. It finally dissolved, after landing a few more gashes on her. "One." She panted out, exhausted from the constant flight and exertion of aura. She quickly scanned and found the Grimm following after the airship, ignoring the fight behind it.
"Oh no you don't!" she vented her gun and flew at the bird in a last sprint of her energy. Catching up to it, still a bit behind the struggling airship.
She stabbed her short sword into the back of the Nevermore, stalling its progress and dropping its altitude. "Where… do… you… think… you're… going?" she yelled through gritted teeth as she climbed up the back of the Grimm, stabbing the full length of each sword after each word. She reached the head of the bird and slammed her sword through its head.
The sword slipped and only grazed the mask. It shrieked and spun over, slapping Azure one last time with its wing, finally breaking her aura. She made a final push towards its head and slashed the head several times until it finally stopped moving. The Grimm dissolved with a dramatic tailspin, leaving Azure gasping for breath, both blue circles faded into nothing.
"Oof! This is heavy without my Semblance." She flapped harder as she loaded another round into her gun. Watching the ship in the distance. She placed her short sword under her arm and pulled out her scroll.
Sure enough, there was a message from Zinnia. "If moonlight is taken, how do you feel about Starlight?" She lowered herself near the top of the forest canopy, starting to feel fatigued from the extra weight. Azure chuckled and started typing a response.
As she looked down through the semi-transparent screen, she saw a Nevermore with a hole in its wing bursting out from below the forest's cover. "Shit!" She dropped her scroll and grabbed for her swords, but it was too late. The Grimm bit down on Azure's right side and tossed her around until it lost its height from the jump and fell back down.
Both figures tumbled into the darkness below. A railgun blast shot out from under the leaves and the land fell silent, save for the distant hum of a fleeing airship.
