Cole turned once more to look behind him as Crystal called out to him. Offering his kid sister a smile, the male bent down to allow the white haired girl to throw her arms around his neck in a crushing hug. Well, as crushing a hug as a girl of nine was able to give. Still, Cole bent his head to envelop the young girl in his own crushing hug, smirking when she left out an indignant gasp. The raven haired male loosened his grip, pulling back to grip her shoulders as he stared into her pale green eyes. "You will keep Mom safe from the big bad Grimm while dad and I are away, won't you Crystal?"

The girl's face lit up considerably, and her mint green eyes flared in fierce defiance. "Of course!" Crystal's voice was pitched high, excited. "Nothing with harm her while I'm here!"

Cole laughed, mussing up the silvery white hair atop Crystal's hair, causing her to squeak indignantly and bat his hands away; Cole chuckled harder. "That's my girl." He placed a quick, chaste kiss to the girl's forehead. "I'll miss you, little sister. Be good for mom, and eat your vegetables."

Cole pulled back and smiled, shaking his head as Crystal glared at him. He stood up, and finally turned to face his mom. Ariana had been standing silently off to the side while her two children said their goodbyes to each other, but stepped forward when Cole stood. "I'm so proud of you Cole, good luck, and behave." She pulled back as she spoke, staring sternly into her son's turquoise eyes. Cole, humbled, nodded his head. Ariana was a kind and caring woman, but she could be stern when it got her the results she wanted.

"Good," she stated proudly, patting the male's cheek twice, "Now go board the airship, it'll be taking off shortly."

A holographic projection of a blonde haired woman appeared before him, forcing Cole to stop. "All personal belongings, including weapons, are to be left here with the school personnel, who will place them in the airship's luggage section for the duration of the transport." The woman flickered out of view after the message was delivered. The male dropped his three duffel bags onto the ground beside him, glancing around for one of the mentioned personnel, unwilling to leave his possessions unguarded. It wasn't that his belongings had much monetary value, but its sentimental attachment was not something Cole was willing to replace. Especially his weapon, Glíwere.

The weapon had been Cole's father's idea, who had also helped him craft it. With Cole's larger height, Roan thought it would be a good idea for him to make use of a polearm. Cole was ambidextrous, so Roan had thought it would be best to teach Cole to make the most of that. At first, they had tried to dual wield two swords, but instead of using weapons separately yet simultaneously, the male would use both swords as if they were connected to one another by an invisible string. So Roan helped Cole transform the weapons from two separate swords into a single polearm. And as it turned out, Cole's efficiency with the polearm was far superior to that of him using twin swords. Cole's performance with Glíwere was uncanny, and Road always said that there was only one other he'd ever witnessed utilize such a weapon as effectively as Cole had. Though he was unwilling to reveal a name; Cole had pried, but Roan was always quick to push the subject away.

"I'll be taking your belongings, Sir. Please relinquish any weapons on your person and board the airship, it will be taking off momentarily."

Lost in thought, Cole nodded offhandedly, grabbing the weapon draped diagonally across his back and held it in his head. The long weapon shrank, its bladed edges disappearing into the handle on either side as the weapon collapsed to make it easier to carry. When complete, the weapon, now resembling a simple staff, reached just below Cole's hip, if it was placed level with the ground.

Cole handed the weapon over to the elder male, and turned to board the airship.

This year was going to be different, Cole was certain of that. Most hunters who came to the school had at least one other friend they could talk with, but Cole was not so lucky. Not many of his friends wanted to enroll into the Academy, and those who did and had, they each had been denied. There were many a rumor that Beacon was getting a lot more picky with their selection process, often credited to the recent influx of Grimm attacks. Being a hunter or huntress never did have a low fatality rate, but these recent past few years, there had been a rise in Grimm related attacks, both for hunters and the citizens they vowed to protect. The cause of the influx was still unknown, despite the abundant amount of hunters and huntresses who sought the answer out.

Even his father seemed concerned, and his father hadn't actively been hunting Grimm for many years now, not since Crystal was born. Roan was by no means retired, but he did not travel anymore, and any job he undertook was strictly local. When he found out Cole wanted to become a hunter, and when Cole's skill improved enough that Roan did not feel guilty about taking his son out, the two of them would traverse the local wilderness together, killing any and all Grimm they came across. There were other hunters that lived in the village, but those who did live there either were currently attending Beacon, or they were taking on other missions. He was worried about leaving Glade unprotected, but Roan had reassured his son that he wasn't leaving their village unprotected.

Turquoise eyes glanced around the airship, the male seeking someone out to talk with. He figured now would be as good a time as any to get to know some of his fellow classmates. It'd also be a good idea to start looking for a partner for the next four years. Since none of his friends were able to attend, his original plan of partnering up with one of them had fallen through, leaving the male at a bit of a lost. Cole looked around, wondering if there was a lady standing all by her lonesome that he could talk to. He was a gentleman, but that didn't mean Cole couldn't partake in a bit of harmless flirting with some of the more aesthetically alluring women who were also strong enough to be traversing the path to becoming a huntress.

He spotted a girl standing alone, short hair adorning her head, cherry in color. Cole started approaching her.

"I'm so excited, Butterfly friend! I'm going to the academy where Mommy and Daddy first met!"

Hm, maybe she wasn't the best person to speak with after all.

He turned around instead, searching out someone else. Someone a little more, mature, hopefully. Almost instantly, his eyes were drawn to a woman dressed flamboyantly. The female was making her way over, and and Cole couldn't help but notice how her long sleeved top, a glimmering silver in color, seemed to shine brightly as she passed a group of darkly dressed hunters, making her stand out. Somehow, Cole had a feeling the girl's path was chosen for that exact reason; her outfit just screamed 'notice me' and from the corner of his eye, he could tell he wasn't the only one to take notice of her.

Cole offered the woman a smile as the other came to a stop beside him. "Hey, I'm Cole, Cole Filak. What's your name?"

As Cole turned his head to gaze at her, he took notice how an easy smile crossed her face. "Argent Ciel." Her gaze was relaxed as she stared back at Cole, confident and sure. "Are the Grimm attacks as deadly as the news lets on?"

Cole gave her a puzzled look, surprised she didn't know. "Of course, they've increased steadily over the past five years, though no one knows why. The villages that lie on the edges of the kingdom are the most threatened." Every huntsman or huntress knew about the increased attacks. "Are you from one of the inner cities?" Were they blocking the news so the innermost cities wouldn't panic?

Argent shook her head. "No, I'm from Mistral originally."

"Mistral?" He asked, eyebrows raising, "Why are you on this airship instead of one headed to Haven?"

Argent gave Cole an affronted look. "Have you seen their outfits?" Cole's face must have given away his confusion because Argent chuckled softly and elaborated. "They're drab, dull, colorless. Black, white, and gray." The female motioned down to her own outfit, a silver long sleeve shirt with a dark azure undershirt beneath it. Dark black-green pants hugged her legs, white boots over top of them, lined with golden trim. "Black is such a dull color."

Cole glanced down at his own outfit, a predominately jet black coat, only marred by the lighter gray accents that outlined the straps used to hold Glíwere in place alongside his back, and the waist straps that closed the coat shut in colder weather. There was no color on neither his pants nor his boots, nothing to create some sort of contrast among the pitch black color.

"Like I said, dull." At the girl's teasing voice, Cole lifted his attention back to her, fighting his smile.

"Dull huh?" Cole questioned lightly. "Alright then, you're the fashionista. What color would you suggest?" His hands were on his hips, feigning offense.

"White."

The male gawked, stunned by the answer, an eyebrow arching at the woman. "White, really?" Again, his turquoise gaze traveled back down to his outfit, trying to picture it as white instead of black. And Cole struggled to keep from laughing at the image his mind conjured for him.

The blonde was silent for a while, green eyes staring at his outfit, seeming to deliberate over her initial response. "No," she finally stated, shaking her head as her gaze lifted. "White is definitely not your color." Cole laughed at her reply, and Argent was quick to follow suit. "You should just stick to black."

"I thought you said black's a drab color."

"Oh it is," She replied simply, "But it's the only color you can pull off."

The male wasn't sure whether to feel offended or laugh at her response, but the smile she offered him had him deciding on the latter. "I think I may like you."

"I try."

After a brief pause where the two of them just stood there, lost in their own heads, Argent took a step forward, standing in front of him and holding out her hand to him, palm up. "Here, give me your belts."

"Why?"

"I'm going to help you out. Fashionista, remember? Don't worry, I'll return them tomorrow, brand new." Her hand didn't waver, and Cole, albeit hesitantly, took both his weapon's belt, and his waist belt off, and handed them over. She took them, clasped his waist belt shut, and slung both over her shoulder.

The two of them continued chatting among themselves for the remainder of the ride, quietly getting to know one another more. Cole found out that despite her dislike of Mistral's outfits, the real reason she enrolled into Beacon was because of the increase in Grimm attacks, only (reportedly unfounded) rumors in Mistral, and she wanted to help fix it. Her father supported her journey to become a huntress, however her mother was against it, believing monster hunting was not a proper job for a lady.

But it wasn't her history that intrigued Cole the most, it was her weapon. She explained that it only had one form, and a rather inconspicuous one at that: a harp. Argent explained how it was one of the hardest weapons to control because of its dust properties, which converted the dust into various forms of attack, depending on the tune she played. If not performed meticulously, the weapon could cause extreme harm to the receiver. Cole told her his was a double bladed polearm, and while it was difficult to use, it wasn't quite as lethal as hers was. He mentioned how he had been reluctant to part with his own weapon, and Argent had laughed. She'd nearly gotten into a fight with the staff when they tried to confiscate it from her before she boarded the airship, and how they had won their debate.

Cole felt safer knowing she hadn't been able to bring it into the main hangar.

Ariana: Welsh name meaning silver.

Argent: Old French word for silver, derived from the Latin word argentum, meaning white money, or silver.

I would like to apologize how long it took me to get this chapter out, I roleplay, and something went down on one of my sites that just sucked all muse out of me for a while, and I was in a bit of a writing funk and everything I wrote was complete garbage. Things have settled now though, and I have a bit of a better plot in mind for this story, so hopefully it will be better than it was originally!

The accepted characters are as follows, in no particular order:

Cole Filak (Everest Legionaire) (Shin, Amnesia - though with jet black hair, turquoise eyes, and teal tips instead of red)

Argent Ciel (Deadly Animals Are Cute) (Andreja Pejic) - It should be noted this is actually a male, however he looks and dresses like a female. So when in his point of view, he will be referred to with male pronouns, when in another's, it will be what gender they think he is

Sakura Aka (0B13) (Fuuka Yamagishi, Persona 3 - though with a cherry color scheme instead of teal)

Yami Hikari (Magick From Your Heart) (Wild spiky black hair, blonde streak in bangs, violet eyes that fade to blue near the rim)

Hazel Sherwood (Inkly) (Halle Berry - shoulder blade length, worn mostly in bun, dark, stormy blue eyes)

Jackson "Robin" Sherwood (HiroshitheHawk) (Ryuu Tsuji, Special A)

Aila Izayoi (Lagstabbing Devil) (Esdeath, Akame ga Kill)

Nickol Melanzane (FireDusk) (Black ringed white hair, windblown style and indigo eyes, white tail with black tip - leopard faunus)